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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38214-8.txt b/38214-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d829a28 --- /dev/null +++ b/38214-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11065 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters of Lord Acton, by Lord Acton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Letters of Lord Acton + To Mary, Daughter of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone + +Author: Lord Acton + +Editor: Herbert Paul + +Release Date: December 4, 2011 [EBook #38214] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS OF LORD ACTON *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Portrait of Lord Acton] + + + + + +LETTERS OF + +LORD ACTON + + +TO MARY, DAUGHTER OF + +THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE + + + + +EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR, BY + +HERBERT PAUL + + + + +LONDON + +GEORGE ALLEN, 156, CHARING CROSS ROAD + +1904 + +[All rights reserved] + + + + +COPYRIGHT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 1904 + + + + +Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. + +At the Ballantyne Press + + + + +{iii} + + "_Through such souls alone + God stooping shows sufficient of His Light + For us i' the dark to rise by._" + + + + +THIS VOLUME + +IS DEDICATED TO + +LADY ACTON + +BY M. D. + + + + +{v} + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +DEDICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii + +PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii + +EDITOR'S PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix + +INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi + +LETTERS OF LORD ACTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + +INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +PORTRAIT OF LORD ACTON (Photogravure) . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +GROUP AT TEGERNSEE, 1879 (Photogravure) . . . . . _to face page_ 1 + + + + +{vii} + +PREFACE + +It does not seem likely that any one, after reading these letters, +would question the desirability of their publication. In general they +speak for themselves; a few notes have been added to explain allusions +which by lapse of time have become obscure; some names and passages, +and some letters, have been omitted. After 1885 Lord Acton touched +upon questions which are still matters of controversy, and therefore +the selection closes with that year. The letters were written to the +daughter who lived with Mr. Gladstone from the time of her own birth, +in the middle of the last century, to the day of his death, at its +close. The idea of publishing a selection of them arose in 1898; and +Lord Acton, with certain reservations, assented to it. But it was felt +by competent judges that it would be trespassing in Mr. Morley's +domain; and Mr. Morley himself was strongly of opinion that the +mutilation which at that period would have been necessary, would +seriously impair the interest and the significance of the book. So, +for the time, the project was abandoned. On the other hand, in the +judgment of the eminent authorities to whom the letters were submitted, +their value was of such a nature that it was evident they ought to be +published as soon as Mr. Morley should have completed his task. + +With the exception of passages critical of himself or his policy, the +letters were not read by Mr. Gladstone; for, while he made it a rule to +shun all that was laudatory of himself, he always welcomed and +carefully studied anything deliberately thought out or written in an +opposite sense. His own correspondence with Lord Acton extended over a +period of some {viii} thirty years; but it does not cover nearly so +wide a range of subjects, or appeal so much to general interests, as +the series now printed. + +To the recipient of these letters from Lord Acton they will always be +precious, not merely for the judgments they contain and the memories +they recall, but also as the outward symbol of an inward and priceless +possession--the treasure of his friendship. + +MARY DREW. + +10th _January_ 1904. + + + + +{ix} + +EDITOR'S PREFACE + +In compiling the Introductory Memoir which follows I have been chiefly +indebted to Dr. Shaw's excellent "Bibliography of Lord Acton," edited +for the Royal Historical Society, and to a most interesting article in +the _Edinburgh Review_ for April 1903. I have also consulted Mr. +Bryce's "Studies in Contemporary Biography," Sir Mountstuart Grant +Duff's "Out of the Past," and an obituary notice in the _Cambridge +Review_ for October 1902, signed "F.W.M." Mr. Morley was good enough +to lend me the copies of Lord Acton's letters to Mr. Gladstone which +had been made for the purposes of his Biography. Neither the materials +at my command nor the circumstances of the case justified me in +attempting to write a Life of Lord Acton. I have merely sought to +furnish such information as the readers of these letters would +naturally desire to possess. + +HERBERT PAUL. + + + + +{xi} + +INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR + +Lord Acton was dimly known to the general public as a prodigy of +learning. He left no great work behind him, and is often quoted as an +example of natural gifts buried under an accumulation of excessive, or +ill-digested knowledge. The image of a Dryasdust, of a bookworm, of a +walking Dictionary was excited by his name among those to whom he was a +name, and nothing more. To those who had the privilege of his +acquaintance he appeared almost the precise opposite of a picture too +unlike the truth to be even a caricature. For Lord Acton was a +thorough man of the world. An insatiable, systematic, and effective +reader, he was anything but a recluse. No man had a keener zest for +the society of his intellectual equals. No one took a stronger +interest in the events of the day, and the gossip of the hour. His +learning, though vast and genuine, was never obtruded. Always ready to +impart information, he shrank from the semblance of volunteering it. +Indeed, if no direct appeal were made to him, he would let people +without a tithe of his knowledge lay down the law as if they knew +everything, and would betray no other sign of amusement than an +enigmatical smile. He had something of Addison's tendency, exhibited +in a much more remarkable and much less agreeable form by Mr. Froude, +to draw out rather than to repress the sallies of conceited ignorance. +But for any one who wished to learn his resources were in their fullest +extent available. To be in his company was like being in the best of +historical libraries with the best of historical catalogues. A +question produced {xii} not only a direct and complete answer, but also +useful advice, about the books which the inquirer ought to consult. On +matters of opinion he was much more reticent. Sometimes, without a +moment's warning, he would utter a paradox which from any one else +might have seemed the mere recklessness of sciolism, but which, coming +from him, was treasured in the memory. I remember, for instance, his +telling me that Rousseau had produced more effect with his pen than +Aristotle, or Cicero, or Saint Augustine, or Saint Thomas Aquinas, or +any other man who ever lived. But such sweeping assertions were few. +His general attitude was one of rigid adhesion to certain facts, and +careful avoidance of hasty judgments. It was not that Lord Acton had +no strong opinions. Few people had stronger opinions than he, and +their foundation was so solid that it was almost impossible to displace +them. But he liked to hear all sides of every question, and to make +allowance for all errors which did not involve a violation of the moral +law. Any apology, or even excuse, for departure from the highway of +the Decalogue he regarded as in itself a crime. + +The force and originality of Lord Acton's conversation are reflected, +and may be inferred, from his epistolary style. In absolutely +uncongenial company he would maintain the silence of the tomb. But +when there was any community of taste or subject, he shone equally as a +talker and as a listener. It was not that he tried to shine. He did +not aim at epigram, and his humour was as spontaneous as it was +delightful. He loved to stimulate conversation in others, and no man +had more sympathy with a good thing which he had not said himself. His +manner was such that his compliments sometimes suggested a faint +suspicion of insincerity. The suspicion, however, was unjust, and was +merely the result of a subtle, half ironic manner. He was entirely +free from jealousy, vanity, and egoism. {xiii} A merciless +intellectual critic he could hardly help being. He had so trained and +furnished his mind that it rejected instinctively a sophism or a false +pretence. + + Antonio Stradivari has an eye + That winces at false work and loves the true. + + +His intimate friends agreed that he was the raciest and most +stimulating of companions, with an instinctive perception for the true +significance of a hint, so that they never had to tell him a thing +twice, or to explain it once. That letters take their tone from the +recipient as well as from the writer is a commonplace, almost a +platitude. While therefore only Lord Acton's half of this +correspondence is printed, the nature of the other half may be surmised +from what he says himself. Such letters as the criticism of "John +Inglesant," or the view of Mr. Gladstone as he will appear to +posterity, or the estimate of Ultramontane ethics, stand out as solid +documents with a permanent and independent value of their own. The +more numerous specimens of his more familiar writing will readily +suggest why he found this correspondence so congenial, and what was the +reason in each case for his choice of topics. The pliability and +adaptability of his mind, his easy transitions from grave to gay, his +sympathy with all a friend's interests and feelings, are visible in +every page. + +Lord Acton's personality was a negative of all shams. His spacious +forehead, his deep sonorous voice, his piercing eyes, and his air of +vigilant repose, were the outward signs of genuine power, in which the +latent force behind is greater than anything the surface displays. He +might well have sat to Titian for one of those ecclesiastical statesmen +whose mingled strength and subtlety have attracted the admiring gaze of +three hundred and fifty years. He was a good talker because he was a +good listener, always interested in the subject, not seeking to exhaust +it, rather putting in from time {xiv} to time the exactly appropriate +word. To draw Lord Acton out, to make him declare himself upon some +doubtful or delicate point, was a hopeless task. His face at once +assumed the expression of the Sphinx. To students, on the other hand, +his generosity was unbounded, and the accumulations of a lifetime were +at the disposal of any one who was willing to profit by them. It will +be seen from these letters that Lord Acton was not merely a learned +man. His perceptions were quick and shrewd. His judgment was clear +and sound. He watched every move in the political game with a vigilant +keenness quickened by the depth of his interest in the great leader +whom he followed to the end. Circumstances had made him from his +boyhood familiar with the best political society not merely of England +but of Europe. He was as much at home in Italy and in Germany as in +his native land, so that he could compare Mr. Gladstone with foreign +statesmen of his own time as well as with British statesmen of the +past. Although it has been roughly estimated by his friend Mr. Bryce +that Lord Acton read on an average an octavo volume a day, as often as +not in German, he was never a bookworm. When he was in London he +constantly dined out, and he corresponded freely with continental +friends. Few people were more agreeable in a country house. No one +assumed more naturally the aspect of disengaged leisure, and it was +possible to live in the same house with him for weeks without ever +seeing him read. Even the frivolities of the world were not beneath +his notice. He liked to know about marriages before they occurred. He +was an excellent judge of cookery and of wine. Yet the passion of his +life was reading. It was, as has been well said, like a physical +appetite, and it seemed, if it changed at all, to grow stronger as he +grew older. His reading was chiefly historical. He was no great +classical scholar. The voluminous notes to his inaugural lecture at +Cambridge {xv} do not contain a single quotation from any classical +author of Greece or Rome. He cared little for poetry, for art, or for +pure literature, the literature of style. Of physical science he knew +only what most educated men know. But he was well versed in +metaphysics, he was a deep theologian, and his knowledge of modern +history was only bounded by the limits of the theme. + +John Emerick Edward Dalberg Acton was born at Naples on the 10th of +January 1834, the only son of Sir Richard Acton, seventh baronet, and +the heiress of the German house whose name, Dalberg, he bore. An +Italian birthplace, a German mother, and an English father stamped him +from the beginning as a citizen of the world. His grandfather, Sir +John Francis Acton, had been Prime Minister of Naples under Ferdinand +the Fourth, and had reorganised the Neapolitan navy. His maternal +grandfather entered the service of France, and represented Louis the +Eighteenth at the Congress of Vienna. No wonder that Lord Acton spoke +German and Italian as well as French, or that the chief foreign +languages were as familiar to him as his own. In fact, as well as in +blood, he was only half an Englishman. His entire freedom from insular +prejudice, which was peculiarly noticeable in his opinions on Irish +affairs, must be attributed not less to his religion than to his +origin. He adhered throughout his life, notwithstanding many +difficulties which would have shaken a less profound faith, to the +Church of Rome. Nor was he one of those Catholics who remain Catholics +because they do not care enough about the matter to change. Liberal as +he was, tolerant as he was, broad as he was, the central truths of the +Christian religion and of the Catholic Church were not merely articles +of his creed, but guiding principles of his conduct. If these letters +show anything, they show that in Lord Acton's mind, and in his estimate +of human affairs, religion overmastered all mundane considerations. It +was with {xvi} him first, and last, and everywhere. Upon that noble +text, "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," his life and +writings are a sermon. Hating Ultramontanism and Vaticanism as only a +passionate believer in the Church which they disfigured could hate +them, cherishing the right of private judgment within the widest limits +which Rome had ever allowed, he died, as he was baptized, in the faith +of his ancestors. Perhaps his allegiance was none the less staunch +because it was ethical and rational; because he clung always and before +all things, in the clash of creeds, to "those things which are certain +still, the grand, simple landmarks of morality." "If," said the +greatest preacher in the Church of England sixty years ago, "if there +be no God and no future state, yet even then it is better to be +generous than selfish, better to be chaste than licentious, better to +be true than false, better to be brave than to be a coward." Lord +Acton would have been unable to conceive the protasis. The apodosis he +would not have denied. + +Sir Richard Acton died while his son was a child, and at the age of +nine Sir John was sent by his mother to the Roman Catholic College at +Oscott, of which Dr. Wiseman was the head. Wiseman, until Mr. Wilfrid +Ward published his excellent biography, was chiefly known to English +Protestants as the instrument of papal aggression, and the subject of +Robert Browning's satirical poem, "Bishop Blougram's Apology." He was +in truth an able and accomplished man, a really great organiser, +thoroughly well qualified to preside over an educational establishment +like Oscott. He was not in any sense of the word a Liberal, and in +later years the pupil did not always agree with the master. But of +Oscott Lord Acton always spoke with affection, and the five years which +he spent there in the pursuit of knowledge were among the happiest in a +happy existence. It was the young man's own desire to enter {xvii} the +University of Cambridge. For he did not, like some Catholics, hold it +sinful to receive education from a Protestant source. The law would +not even then have prevented him from matriculating at Cambridge, as it +would at Oxford, and yet the colleges, more bigoted than the law, +refused, on what they doubtless considered religious grounds, to +receive a student as hungry for learning as ever sought admission +within their venerable precincts. Sir John Acton, so peculiarly fitted +by nature and education to adorn and illustrate a University, may well +have asked with Macaulay, what was the faith of Edward the Third, and +Henry the Sixth, of Margaret of Anjou, and Margaret of Richmond, from +whose foundations the head of a Catholic family was turned away. If +Acton had gone to Cambridge, he would have known more about Herodotus +and Thucydides, Cćsar and Tacitus. Of history in its more modern +sense, and its more specially ecclesiastical aspects, he would probably +have learnt less. Instead of keeping his terms under the walls of the +Fitzwilliam, he went to Munich, and studied with the illustrious +Döllinger. Döllinger was distinguished for learning even among German +professors, and though, unlike his pupil, eminent in classical +scholarship, as well as in theology, was before all things an +historian. He it was who taught Acton to look at everything from the +historical point of view, and to remember that, in the immortal words +of Coleridge, "The man who puts even Christianity before truth will go +on to put the Church before Christianity, and will end by putting +himself before the Church." The time came both to Döllinger and to +Acton, when the voice of the Church said one thing, and the voice of +truth another. They did not hesitate. But the results to the priest +were different from the results to the layman. + +At Munich, meanwhile, Sir John Acton laboured prodigiously. Latin and +Greek he never mastered as {xviii} he would have mastered them under +Munro and Kennedy. But he learned them well enough for the purposes of +an historian, with more help than Gibbon had, though not with the same +innate genius. Of French, German, Italian, and Spanish, he became a +master. At any subsequent period he would just as soon have written or +spoken in French or German as in English. About this time he began to +collect the splendid library which he formed in his country house at +Aldenham in Shropshire. It consisted, when complete, of sixty thousand +volumes, many of them covered with his marginal notes. Unlike most +libraries, this one had a definite object, and reason for existence. +Lord Acton was from the schoolroom to the grave an ardent, convinced, +and enthusiastic Liberal. It was his aim to write a History of +Liberty. The book was never written. Not indolence but a +procrastination, which resulted from cherishing an impossibly high +ideal, prevented it from coming to the light. One of his reasons for +not beginning the History of Liberty was that the whole truth about the +French Revolution had not yet been discovered. But the library was +collected to illustrate the History, and thus the books, now at +Cambridge, have a peculiar interest, or rather a peculiar character of +their own. When they were at Aldenham, Lord Acton knew the precise +position which each volume occupied in its case and shelf. It is +related that on one of his visits to his beloved room, while the house +was let, the servants found him reading when they came in the morning +to open the shutters. He had forgotten to go to bed. Mr. Bryce +("Studies in Contemporary Biography," pp. 396-97) has described in a +peculiarly vivid and impressive manner how Acton was dominated and +haunted by the idea that he never fulfilled. Late one night, in his +library at Cannes, while Mr. Bryce was staying with him, it found vent +in speech. "He spoke for six or {xix} seven minutes only; but he spoke +like a man inspired; seeming as if, from some mountain summit high in +air, he saw beneath him the far-winding path of human progress from dim +Cimmerian shores of prehistoric shadow into the fuller yet broken and +fitful light of the modern time. The eloquence was splendid, yet +greater than the eloquence was the penetrating vision which discerned +through all events and in all ages the play of those moral forces, now +creating, now destroying, always transmuting, which had moulded and +remodelled institutions, and had given to the human spirit its +ceaselessly changing forms of energy. It was as if the whole landscape +of history had been suddenly lit up by a burst of sunlight. I have +never heard from any other lips any discourse like this, nor from his +did I ever hear the like again." + +With Professor Döllinger Sir John Acton visited France, and made many +distinguished friends, including the foremost among French Liberal +Catholics, Montalembert; Alexis de Tocqueville, the famous author of +"Democracy in America," whose memoirs record the blunders of the Second +Republic in France with a concentrated irony not unworthy of Tacitus; +and Fustel de Coulanges, whose _Cité Antique_ was as well known thirty +years ago in Oxford as in Paris. His German friends were innumerable. +Bluntschli, the great jurist, and von Sybel, the historian of the +French Revolution, were among them. Of the illustrious Ranke he +proclaimed himself a disciple, and it is intensely characteristic of +him that his favourite among the moral philosophers of his own day was +a Protestant, Rothe. Rothe's _Ethik_, he said, was the book which he +would give to any one whom he wished to turn out a good Catholic. But +as Lord Acton would not have crossed the room to make ten proselytes, +the value of this selection may easily be exaggerated. To Protestant +theology he paid as much attention as to Catholic. Those who feared +{xx} God and followed Christ in every nation belonged to his household +of faith. + +Lord Acton deserved as well as Cobden, though for quite other reasons, +to be called an international man. Not a great traveller, as +travelling is understood in these days of universal locomotion, he was +familiar with the chief capitals of Europe, and, so soon as his formal +education was completed, he paid a visit to the United States. He was +then, and always remained, an ardent admirer of the American +Constitution, and of the illustrious men who made it. Its temporary +breakdown in 1861 was scarcely then in sight. Slave States and Free +States were flourishing side by side, and the vital question whether a +State had the right to secede from the Union, which could only be +determined by civil war, still slumbered in abeyance. Acton held +strongly Calhoun's doctrine of Sovereign States, and that is why he +"broke his heart over the surrender of Lee." If the point had been +decided by the letter of the Constitution, so that the Supreme Court +could have given an authoritative decision upon it as upon the right of +recapturing fugitive slaves, many thousands of lives might have been +spared. When Sir John Acton went to Washington, the Abolitionists, +though busy, were a small minority; they carried their lives in their +hands, and the Republicans were no better prepared than the Democrats +to adopt abolition as a principle. The Constitution did not expressly +forbid slavery. Neither, as was often urged, did the New Testament. +But the one said that all men were born equal, without specifying white +men; and St. Paul declared that, within the pale of Christendom, there +was neither Jew nor Greek, neither barbarian nor Scythian, neither bond +nor free. + +At the age of twenty-two Sir John Acton found himself in a country +whose institutions differed as widely as possible from those of the +United States. His mother had married Lord Granville, and he +accompanied {xxi} his step-father to Moscow when Alexander the Second +was crowned there in 1856. Lord Granville's reception was not a +pleasant one, and even so accomplished a master of tact was driven to +remonstrate against the coldness of his treatment, which was made more +remarkable, though not more agreeable, by the flattering attentions +paid to the French representative, M. de Morny. The Crimean War was +hardly over, the ink on the Treaty of Paris was scarcely dry, and +already Russia was on better terms with France than with England, while +England was on worse terms with France than with Russia. The Emperor +Napoleon had taken no pains to secure the fulfilment of the Treaty, +whereas Lord Palmerston could not have displayed more zeal on behalf of +Turkey if he had been the Sultan's Minister instead of the Queen's. +The singularity of the situation could not fail to strike such a mind +as Sir John Acton's. For the result of a war in which England had +sacrificed twenty thousand men and seventy-six millions sterling to +maintain what were called in a licentious phrase the liberties of +Europe, was that she had not a friend on the European Continent, except +Turkey. The distinguished company with whom Sir John Acton associated +at Moscow were astonished "by the vastness of his knowledge and his +mode of exposition" (_Edinburgh Review_, No. 404, page 502). Between +Sir John and his step-father there could not be much real sympathy of +taste or disposition. Lord Granville, as Matthew Arnold says, had +studied in the book of the world rather than in the world of books. +Nature seemed to have destined him to lead the Liberal party in the +House of Lords. A thorough and genuine Liberal he always was. He +belonged to the Manchester school, the school of Cobden and Bright. At +the same time his finished manners, his imperturbable temper, and his +ready wit, were just the right equipment for the chief of an +aristocratic minority. He knew little, and cared {xxii} less, about +the serious study of historical ethics, and historical politics, which +was the essential business of Acton's life. + +When he was twenty-five, Sir John Acton came to live at Aldenham, his +country house in Shropshire, where there was ample room for many +thousands of books. At the General Election held in the summer of 1859 +he was returned to Parliament. Although Catholic Emancipation was +thirty years old, its effects were almost exclusively confined to +Ireland. It was hardly possible for a Roman Catholic to find a seat in +England, and Sir John Acton sat for the small Irish burgh of Carlow, +disfranchised in 1885. He was counted as a Whig, and a supporter of +Lord Palmerston. But there was no sympathy, no point of contact, +between the jaunty Premier and the erudite, philosophical, reflective +Member for Carlow. "No one agrees with me and I agree with no one," +said Sir John, with unusual tautology. It was not quite true. During +those almost silent years of Parliamentary life he watched with +critical and yet admiring interest the career of the illustrious man +who was destined to be Palmerston's successor. Although Mr. Gladstone +had not time to acquire the learning of his disciple, and upon the +negative results of German scholarship was inclined to look askance, he +was the best theologian, as well as the best financier, in Parliament, +and few men were so well qualified to appreciate the range or the depth +of Acton's researches. Acton, on his part, was fascinated by the +combination of intellectual subtlety with practical capacity which made +the Chancellor of the Exchequer the first man in the House of Commons. +It was Palmerston's House, not Gladstone's, and the Derbyites were +almost as numerous as the Palmerstonians. There was then no +Gladstonian party at all. The Peelites were disbanded. Some had +fallen back into the Conservative ranks. Some, {xxiii} like Sidney +Herbert, who died in 1861, Cardwell, and Gladstone himself, sat in the +Cabinet of Lord Palmerston. Others had fallen out of public life +altogether. Mr. Gladstone was still to the general public somewhat of +an enigma. So lately as May 1858 he had been earnestly entreated both +by Lord Derby and by Mr. Disraeli to accept the Board of Control on the +resignation of Lord Ellenborough. He had voted for the Conservative +Reform Bill of 1859, and against Lord Hartington's motion which turned +Lord Derby out. When he accepted office in a Liberal Administration, +his Tory constituents at Oxford were so much surprised and annoyed that +they did their best to deprive him of his seat, and almost succeeded. +The Whigs regarded him as a Tory and a Puseyite. The Tories bore a +grudge against him because he had imposed a succession duty on landed +estates. The Radicals considered him a lukewarm reformer, and in short +hardly any one except his personal friends knew what to make of him. +Then came the opportunity, and with it was displayed the full grandeur +of the man. The Parliament of 1859 passed no successful or memorable +legislation which was not connected with finance. Mr. Gladstone's +Budgets were the great events of the Sessions from 1860 to 1865, and +nothing at all like them has been known since. Almost every year taxes +were repealed, expenditure was diminished, revenue was increased. +After an obstinate conflict with the House of Lords the paper duty +disappeared, and with it the power of the Lords to interfere with the +taxation of the people. The duties on tea and sugar were so reduced as +to bring those commodities within the reach of the working classes. +The income-tax fell from ninepence to fourpence. The Commercial Treaty +with France preserved the peace of Europe, and by the trade which it +created between the two sides of the English Channel more than made up +for the {xxiv} losses inflicted upon British commerce by the American +War. The speeches in which Mr. Gladstone's Budgets were expounded, +especially those of 1860 and 1861, are superb specimens of the +eloquence which increases, while it dignifies, the force of reason. +His speech on the taxation of charities in 1863, though it failed to +convince the House that charitable endowments should be taxed, was +pronounced by a French critic to combine the grandeur of Berryer with +the subtlety of Thiers. Acton was no financier. Neither his tastes +nor his training qualified him to be a critic of Budgets, and when he +became, as will presently appear, a political editor, he left that +business to Mr. Lowe, claiming, with some apparent justification, that +he thus made him Chancellor of the Exchequer. But he loved historical +processes quite as much as historical results, and the hours which he +spent in the House of Commons while the future leader of the Liberal +party proved himself to be the economic successor of Walpole, Pitt, and +Peel, fixed his political allegiance for the remainder of his life. + +All the time that Mr. Gladstone was dazzling the country by the +brilliance of his finance, and convincing practical men by the hard +test of figures at the year's end, he had to fight his colleagues in +the Cabinet as well as his opponents at St. Stephen's. Lord John +Russell nearly ruined the Budget of 1860 by the persistency with which +he pressed his unlucky Reform Bill. Lord Palmerston was continually +demanding money for safeguards against a French invasion in which the +Chancellor of the Exchequer would not believe. Cobden, from the +outside, was urging the one genuine economist in the Cabinet to promote +the cause of economy by resigning. Acton, though dissatisfied with +"bald Cobdenites," as he termed them, was always on Gladstone's, and +never on Palmerston's side. On the other hand there was a question of +{xxv} European importance which united Mr. Gladstone hand and glove +with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary. Italian unity, and +Italian independence, were as dear to Palmerston and Russell as to +Gladstone. Lord John's famous despatch of October 1861, vindicating +the right of the Italians to choose their own rulers, was greeted with +enthusiastic delight throughout the Italian peninsula. The cause for +which Cavour lived, only to die in the moment of its triumph, was +nowhere pleaded with more persuasive power than by Mr. Gladstone in the +Parliament of 1859. Although Lord Palmerston's Government could never +reckon upon a majority of fifteen, the opposition to their Italian +policy came chiefly from a few Irish Catholics. Sir John Acton, though +a Roman Catholic, and an Irish Member, took no part in it. He was +deeply imbued with the spirit of liberty, and he held with all the +strength of his mind that the cause of religion was the cause of +freedom. To maintain Austria in Italy, or even the temporal power of +the Pope, did not belong to Catholicism as he understood it. To +identify soundness of faith with arbitrary rule was, in the eyes of a +Liberal Catholic like Acton, one of those blunders which are worse than +crimes. He was drawn to Mr. Gladstone both by admiration of his +splendid capacity and by agreement with his continental Liberalism. In +the House of Commons he hardly ever spoke. For six years he only put +two questions, and made one speech (May 4, 1860). The questions were +unimportant. The speech was characteristic. It was in effect an +appeal for information about the government of the Papal States. No +Catholic, said Sir John Acton, would defend bad government because it +was exercised in the name of the Pope. In this case the evidence was +contradictory, and all he wanted was the truth. Lord John Russell was +unable to give a satisfactory reply, because {xxvi} the Queen had no +accredited representative at Rome. Macaulay's description of the Papal +States a few years before this time is well known. If, he said, you +met a man who was neither a priest nor a soldier, and who did not beg, +you might be pretty sure that he was a foreigner. Sir John Acton, +though he deprecated hasty judgments, was incapable of defending +oppression or injustice. The fact that it was the work of Catholics, +so far from prejudicing him in its favour, would simply have increased +the severity of his condemnation. It would, in his eyes, have been +falling from a higher standard. + +The two political questions to which Sir John Acton attached most +importance were ecclesiastical establishments and agrarian reform. The +land laws were safe from disturbance under a Premier who flippantly +remarked that tenant right was landlord wrong. The Irish Church, to +which, as a Catholic and an Irish Member, Acton could not be +indifferent, suddenly flashed into fatal prominence, when, on the 28th +of March 1865, Mr. Gladstone declared that it did not fulfil its proper +functions, because it ministered only to one-eighth, or one-ninth, of +the community. This speech, coupled with his declaration of the +previous year that every man not mentally or morally disqualified was +on the face of it entitled to come within the pale of the Constitution, +gave Mr. Gladstone for the first time the confidence of the working +classes and of the Radical party. Sir John Acton went with him, then +and afterwards, in all confidence and hope. As a Catholic he would +naturally have been opposed to the maintenance of Protestant ascendency +by law. As a Liberal he was in favour of extending the suffrage, and +of religious equality. But indeed the foundation of his agreement with +Mr. Gladstone lay deeper than any political principle or measure. +Belonging to two different branches of the Christian Church, they both +{xxvii} desired the reunion of Christendom, and both held that religion +was the guiding star in public as in private life. Between a High +Churchman like Mr. Gladstone and a Liberal Catholic like Sir John Acton +there was plenty of common ground. Both men became, in every sense of +the word, more Liberal as they grew older, and Acton's belief in his +leader ripened into a reverential devotion which nothing could shake. + +At the General Election of 1865, Sir John Acton stood in the Whig or +Liberal interest for Bridgnorth, the nearest town to Aldenham, and then +a Parliamentary borough. "On that occasion he assured the electors +that he represented not the body but the spirit of the Church of Rome" +(_Edinburgh Review_, No. 404, pp. 375-76). What the electors made of +this assurance we do not know, and it would be vain to conjecture. +They placed him, however, at the head of the poll. But his majority +was a single vote, which disappeared on a scrutiny, and he never again +took his seat on the green benches of the House of Commons. He had +none of the gifts required for winning large popular constituencies, +even if his creed had not been a fatal objection in the mind of the +average voter five-and-thirty years ago. + +While Sir John Acton sat in the House and silently voted with his +party, he had not been inactive. The views of the most cultivated and +enlightened among English Catholics were expressed in the fifties by a +monthly periodical called the _Rambler_. The editor of the _Rambler_ +was the greatest of converts, John Henry Newman. In 1859 an article of +Newman's on consulting the laity in matters of doctrine was condemned +by authority at Rome, and Newman withdrew from the editorial chair. He +was succeeded by Sir John Acton, and no better choice could have been +made. He edited the _Rambler_ till 1862, when it became merged in the +_Home and Foreign Review_. His first contribution, {xxviii} in +November 1859, was a criticism of Mill on Liberty, which he took up +again in the following March. The subject was peculiarly his own, +though he could not, as a Catholic, approach it from Mill's point of +view. He wrote, contrary to his custom, in the first person singular, +and signed the article "A"; which, in his own review, amounted to +acknowledgment. "By liberty," wrote this Liberal Catholic, "I mean +absence of accountability to any _temporal_ authority," and he added, +"I make no reservations." He afterwards learned that liberty was +positive, and that spiritual as well as temporal authority might be +pushed to a point inconsistent with freedom. These youthful +contributions to his favourite theme show rather the wonderful +knowledge which he had acquired at five-and-twenty than the delicate +and subtle discrimination which distinguishes his later work. One +exquisite quotation deserves to be quoted again. _Cui Christus vim +intulit?_ wrote Count Boniface to St. Augustine. _Quem coegit!_ To +whom did Christ apply violence? Whom did he coerce? The final failure +of persecution was in Sir John Acton's opinion the act of Louis the +Fourteenth when he revoked the Edict of Nantes. "Coercion," he added, +"is an educational instrument which Western Europe has outgrown," +though indeed it had not much success in the age of the Cćsars. On the +Inquisition he was discreetly silent. But he concluded with a plea for +the sacredness of moral responsibility, which hardly came within the +scope of Mill's eloquent and powerful treatise. For a Catholic organ, +however, the treatment of Mill is, if not sympathetic, at least +appreciative and respectful. Of this article Mr. Gladstone wrote to +the author, "I have read your valuable and remarkable paper. Its +principles and politics I embrace; its research and wealth of knowledge +I admire; and its whole atmosphere, if I may so speak, is that which I +desire to breathe. It is a truly English paper." + +{xxix} + +Among Sir John Acton's other contributions to the _Rambler_ one of the +most interesting is his account of Cavour, which appeared in July 1861, +just after the Italian statesman's death. Acton had an abhorrence of +Carlylean hero-worship, and he did less than justice to Cavour's +regeneration of Italy. His criticism of a man who for many years of +his too brief life was engrossed in a desperate struggle for national +independence is cold and dry. He cannot conceal either the scanty +resources which Cavour had at his disposal, or the magnitude of the +results which those resources were made to achieve. But, true to his +favourite subject, he analysed the Minister's conception of liberty, +and found it wanting. It was liberty for the State, not liberty for +the individual, nor for the Church. Yet Cavour's cherished ideal was +"a free Church in a free State," and he would probably have replied +that from the purely individual point of view Piedmont might well +challenge comparison with the Austrian provinces of Italy or the States +of the Church. If Cavour's life had been spared, we may be sure that +he would, as his dying words about Naples imply, have governed in +accordance with the principles of constitutional freedom. A year +later, in July 1862, Acton inaugurated the _Home and Foreign Review_ +with a characteristic article on "Nationality." He traced the rise of +national sentiment in Europe to the infamous partition of Poland, of +which Burke said that no wise or honest man could approve. It was +fostered by the French Revolution, and became afterwards the instrument +by which Napoleon fell. The Holy Alliance suppressed it for a time, +but it soon revived in Italy. By Nationalism, which Englishmen forty +years ago favoured everywhere except in Ireland, Acton meant, as he +explains, "the complete and consistent theory that the State and the +nation must be coextensive." "Exile is the nursery of nationality," he +proceeds, "as oppression is the school of liberalism; {xxx} and Mazzini +conceived the idea of Young Italy when he was a refugee at Marseilles." +To the idea of Nationalism, as he defines it, Acton opposed the +principle that "the combination of different nations in one State is as +necessary a condition of civilised life as the combination of men in +society." To overcome national differences was the mission of the +Church, and patriotism was in political life what faith was in +religion. There could be no nationality with any claim upon men's +allegiance except what was formed by the State. "The Swiss are +ethnologically either French, Italian, or German; but no nationality +has the slightest claim upon them, except the purely political +nationality of Switzerland." The instance was well chosen. +Unfortunately Acton goes on to say that "the citizens of Florence and +of Naples have no political community with each other," which had +ceased to be true before the article appeared. Nor was it altogether a +fortunate prediction that no organised State could be formed in Mexico, +which after the departure of the French became a stable Republic. +Paradoxical as the essay in some respects was, it is valuable as an +analysis of political ideas, and its concluding sentence is full of +suggestion even to minds which do not accept the opinions implied. +"Although," so it runs, "the theory of nationality is more absurd and +more criminal than the theory of Socialism, it has an important mission +in the world, and marks the final conflict, and therefore the end, of +two forces which are the worst enemies of civil freedom--the absolute +monarchy and the revolution." + +There is nothing in Sir John Acton's essay on "Nationality" which would +be likely to excite suspicion at the Court of Rome. But the _Home and +Foreign Review_ was known to be a Liberal as well as a Catholic organ. +It was marked by independence of tone, as well as by originality of +thought, and it soon fell under suspicion. Even its motto, _Seu vetus +est verum diligo sive {xxxi} novum_, "I love the truth, whether it be +old or new," was ambiguous. For how can Catholic truth be new? In the +month of August 1862, Cardinal Wiseman, the acknowledged head of the +Roman Catholic Church in England, received an address from his clergy. +His reply contained a severe censure of the _Home and Foreign Review_ +for the "absence of all reserve or reverence in its treatment of +persons or of things deemed sacred, its grazing even the very edges of +the most perilous abysses of error, and its habitual preference of +uncatholic to Catholic instincts, tendencies, and motives." The +particular charge of personal misrepresentation against which the +Cardinal protested has long since lost whatever interest it may once +have had. The general tone of Acton's remonstrance, made in his +editorial character and in the periodical condemned, illustrates his +attitude towards the Church to which he belonged. Of Wiseman he writes +not merely with the reverence due to his ecclesiastical rank, but with +the affection of an old pupil at Oscott. "In the Cardinal's support +and approbation of our work," he says, "we should recognise an aid more +valuable to the cause we are engaged in than the utmost support which +could be afforded to us by any other person." He then proceeds to +describe the foundation of the _Review_. "That foundation is a humble +faith in the infallible teaching of the Catholic Church, a devotion to +her cause which controls every other interest, and an attachment to her +authority which no other influence can supplant. If in anything +published by us a passage can be found which is contrary to that +doctrine, incompatible with that devotion, or disrespectful to that +authority, we sincerely retract and lament it. No such passage was +ever consciously admitted into the pages either of the late _Rambler_ +or of the _Review_." The aim of literature and the function of the +journalist are declared to be on a lower level than the work and duty +of the Church, {xxxii} though directed to the same ends as hers. "The +political and intellectual orders remain permanently distinct from the +spiritual. They follow their own ends, they obey their own laws, and +in doing so they support the cause of religion by the discovery of +truth and the upholding of right." These manly and sensible words are +followed by a still more eloquent and significant passage, which +expresses the deepest convictions of Acton's mind. "A political law or +a scientific truth may be perilous to the morals or the faith of +individuals; but it cannot on this ground be resisted by the Church.... +A discovery may be made in science which will shake the faith of +thousands; yet religion cannot regret it or object to it. The +difference in this respect between a true and a false religion is, that +one judges all things by the standard of their truth, the other by the +touchstone of its own interests. A false religion fears the progress +of all truth; a true religion seeks and recognises truth wherever it +can be found." + +When Acton wrote thus, the Darwinian controversy was at its height, and +many Protestants, who thought that they believed in the right of +private judgment, showed much less tolerance than he. Against the +timid faith which feared the light, against the false morality which +would do evil that good might come, Acton waged incessant war. Truth, +morality, and justice could not in his eyes be inconsistent with the +doctrines of the Church. If they appeared to be so, it must be because +the doctrines were erroneously expressed or imperfectly understood. To +identify the Church with a cause, with a party, with anything lower +than morality and religion, was a betrayal of duty and a surrender of +the fortress. The policy of the _Home and Foreign Review_, as +expounded by the editor, was to leave the domains of faith and +ecclesiastical government alone, but on all other matters to seek the +highest attainable certainty. The progress of political right {xxxiii} +and scientific knowledge, the development of freedom in the state and +of truth in literature, were its objects. Here for the time the +quarrel rested. It is not to be supposed that Pius the Ninth and his +advisers were satisfied with this lucid and pungent exposition of +Liberal principles. But Wiseman had learned from experience that the +interests of Catholicism in England were not promoted by a policy of +aggression, and he was aware that Sir John Acton spoke for most of +those Catholics who did not belong to the extreme or Ultramontane +school. For nearly two years Sir John remained editor of the _Home and +Foreign Review_. Then the final thunderbolt was launched by a higher +power than Wiseman. At the Congress of Munich in 1863 Acton's friend +and teacher, Professor Döllinger, delivered an eloquent plea for the +union of Christendom, lamenting the want of dogmatic standards among +Protestants, and at the same time urging Catholics "to replace the +medićval analytical method by the principle of historical development, +and to encounter scientific error with scientific weapons" (_Edinburgh +Review_, No. 404, page 513). Sir John Acton attended this congress, +and reported its proceedings to his _Review_. In March 1864 the Pope +addressed a brief to the Archbishop of Munich, in which he declared +that the opinions of Catholic writers were subject to the authority of +the Roman congregations. After this Acton felt that it was useless to +continue the struggle, or to carry on the _Home and Foreign Review_. +In a farewell article, entitled "Conflicts with Rome," he explained +that he was equally unable to admit the doctrines of the brief or to +dispute the authority which proclaimed them. In these circumstances he +had only one course to take. He could not abandon principles he +sincerely held. He could not reject the judgment of the Holy See +without committing the sin of apostasy. "The principles had not ceased +to be true, nor the authority to be legitimate, because the two were in +contradiction." {xxxiv} He could only sacrifice the _Home and Foreign +Review_. He regretted its discontinuance, because, while there were +plenty of magazines to represent science apart from religion, and +religion apart from science, it had been his special object to exhibit +the two in union. But he had no alternative, if he were to preserve +his intellectual honesty and also his loyalty to the Church. + +It would have been difficult to emerge with more credit from a +peculiarly painful and delicate position. The article, and with it the +last number of the _Review_, appeared in April 1864, when Sir John +Acton was thirty years of age. The surpassing prudence which +accompanied him from boyhood through life had no connection with +weakness nor timidity. It resulted from a very rare faculty of +apprehending all aspects of a question at once, and of keeping them +separate in his mind. In this same year 1864 Acton told one of his +parliamentary friends, now Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, that he had +never felt the slightest doubt about any dogma of the Catholic, meaning +the Roman Catholic, Church. A time was to come when his faith would be +more severely tried. But, independent as he had always been, Acton was +not formed by nature to be a leader of revolts. Moral or intellectual +anarchy was the last thing he desired. If he had been brought up a +Protestant, he would probably have remained one. In that case, +however, he would have seen the danger of private interpretation even +more clearly than the perils of dogmatic despotism. He would have +asked, if, as Bishop Butler says, we must judge of revelation itself by +reason, whose reason it was to be. + +At the close of the year 1864, the tenth anniversary of the date on +which he had himself proclaimed the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin +as a dogma, the Pope issued his Encyclical Letter against modern +thought. In the Syllabus of Errors which this epistle condemned, Pius +the Ninth, who had once been reckoned a {xxxv} Liberal, included the +heresy that the Holy See ought to seek reconciliation with progress, +with Liberalism, and with modern thought. He further pronounced that +the Catholic religion should be the exclusive religion of the State; +and that liberty of worship, and freedom of the Press, promoted moral +corruption and religious indifference. There was, he added, no hope +for the eternal salvation of those who did not belong to the true +Church. Although Sir John Acton had had some share in provoking the +publication of the Syllabus, he made no reply. He had withdrawn from +the controversy without surrendering either his faith as a Catholic or +his principles as a man. + +In 1865 Acton's connection with the House of Commons ceased, and in the +same year he married a Bavarian lady, the eldest daughter of Count +Arco-Valley. From this time too he abandoned the practice of regular +editing and reviewing, nor did he write again for avowedly Catholic +organs, though he was throughout the remainder of his life an +occasional contributor to secular organs on historical and theological +subjects. The popular idea that he wrote little, and passed his whole +time in reading or talking, is erroneous. That he did not put out much +in his own name is true. But the list of his anonymous articles fills +more than twenty pages of an octavo volume, and their variety is quite +as remarkable as their number. He read every new German book of the +smallest importance. In the _Home and Foreign Review_ alone there are +more than seventy critical notices from his pen. The pen, however, was +not the only instrument by which he imparted to others some fragments +from his vast stores of knowledge. To his neighbours, one can hardly +call them his constituents, in the little town of Bridgnorth, he +delivered several lectures, now out of print and scarce, which for +range and quality must have been very different from {xxxvi} anything +his audience had heard before. The first, delivered on the 18th of +January 1866, when he was still supposed to be Member for the borough, +is now only to be found in the _Bridgnorth Journal_ for the 20th. Its +subject is "The Civil War in America: Its Place in History." Nothing +can be more characteristic than the tone and temper of this discourse. +Though dated only a few months after the fall of Richmond, when, as +Acton says in one of these letters, he "broke his heart over the +surrender of Lee," it is as calm and judicial, not to say as dry, as if +he were investigating an antiquarian problem. Its dryness never +becomes dulness. Unless, however, the Literary and Scientific +Institution of Bridgnorth was far above the ordinary level of such +bodies, they must have been puzzled and perplexed by the paradoxical +subtlety which traced the causes of the war back to the birth of the +American Constitution. "Slavery," he said, "was not the cause of +secession, but the reason of its failure." Then what was the cause of +secession? According to Sir John Acton, it was the failure of +Jefferson, Hamilton, and their colleagues to provide against the +omnipotence of the majority, which he regarded as inconsistent with +true freedom. They might have answered, if they could have been heard, +that they had made the method of choosing a President indirect, and had +given the Supreme Court control even over Congress itself. The first +expedient had, no doubt, entirely failed, and the electoral college was +a mere machine for registering the popular vote. But the Supreme Court +was a substantial reality, and it had before the war decided that a +fugitive slave could be reclaimed by his master even in a free State. +Nobody will now dispute Sir John Acton's proposition that by the middle +of the nineteenth century slavery was an anachronism. Yet, if the +Southern States had been more instead of less numerous than the +Northern, {xxxvii} they would have probably won, and they would then +undoubtedly have set up a great Slave Power in the heart of western +civilisation. The immediate, or proximate, cause of hostilities was +not slavery, but the claim of South Carolina to secede from the Union. +Not till the third year of the war did Lincoln proclaim the abolition +of slavery. Yet without slavery there would have been no war. If not +the _causa causans_, it was the _causa sine quâ non_. The value of Sir +John Acton's lecture lies chiefly in the ability with which he dissects +the American Constitution, and indicates, sometimes in the words of its +authors, its weak points. Whatever may be thought of his constructive +faculty, his critical acumen was not surpassed by any of his less +learned contemporaries. + +In 1867, and the early part of 1868, Sir John Acton wrote regularly for +the _Chronicle_, a weekly paper of high repute during its brief +existence, contributing a narrative of current events in Italy during +the period of Mentana and the second French occupation of Rome. On the +10th of March 1868 he lectured again at Bridgnorth on the Rise and Fall +of the Mexican Empire.[1] This is in my opinion the best popular +lecture that Acton ever gave, and I do not know where I could lay my +hands on a better. It is clear, spirited, eloquent, and so perfectly +well arranged that the whole story of Louis Napoleon's Mexican +Expedition, with its plausible pretext, and its miserable failure, was +told, not meagrely but completely, in the compass of an hour. The +joint intervention of England, France, and Spain in the affairs of +Mexico did not last long. Its object, like the object of the +Anglo-German intervention in Venezuela, was to obtain redress for +injuries to European residents, and payment of debts {xxxviii} due to +subjects of the three Powers. England and Spain soon discovered that +the French Emperor had quite other designs, being minded to substitute +a Mexican Empire for the Mexican Republic. Sir John Acton explained +why in his opinion, which has not been justified by experience, Mexico +was unable to stand alone. "A society so constituted could not make a +nation. There was no middle class, no impulse to industry, no common +civilisation, no public spirit, no sense of patriotism. The Indians +were not suffered to acquire wealth or knowledge, and every class was +kept in ignorance and in rigorous exclusion; when therefore the +Mexicans made themselves independent, the difficulty was to throw off +not the bondage but the nonage in which they had been held, and to +overcome the mental incapacity, the want of enterprise, the want of +combination among themselves, and of the enlightenment which comes from +intercourse with other nations. They formed a Republic after the model +of their more fortunate neighbours, and accepted those principles which +are so inflexible in their consequences, and so unrelenting in their +consistency." Between the Mexican Republic and the Republic of the +United States there is no doubt all the difference between Alexander +the Coppersmith and Alexander the Great. But Benito Juarez was both a +better and an abler man than Acton gave him credit for being, and his +successor, Porfirio Diaz, proved himself to be a most efficient ruler. +A Civil War in Mexico, simultaneous with Civil War in the United +States, gave Napoleon the opportunity he wanted. The one furnished a +pretext, the other removed a barrier, and it was not till long after +the Austrian Archduke Maximilian had been put upon his pinchbeck throne +that President Johnson was in a position to order the French troops out +of the American Continent. The poor Archduke himself, basely deserted +by the unscrupulous potentate who had sent him to his {xxxix} doom, +showed a chivalrous honour and an unselfish courage that fully justify +Acton's description of him as "almost the noblest of his race." The +lecture describes the pathetic isolation of Maximilian in a passage of +singular power. "There was nothing for him to look forward to in +Europe. No public career was open to the man who had failed so +signally in an enterprise of his own seeking. His position in Austria, +which had been difficult before, would be intolerable now. He had +quarrelled with his family, with his Church, and with the protector to +whose temptations he had hearkened. And for him there was to be no +more the happiness of the domestic hearth.[2] In Mexico there were no +hopes to live for, but there was still a cause in which it would be +glorious to die. There were friends whom he could not leave to perish +in expiation of measures which had been his work. He knew what the +vengeance of the victors would be. He knew that those who had been +most faithful to him would be most surely slaughtered; and he deemed +that he, who had never been seen on a field of battle, had no right to +fly without fighting. Probably he felt that when a monarch cannot +preserve his throne, nothing becomes him better than to make his grave +beneath its ruins." Sir John Acton closed his lecture with the +expression of a hope that the United States would not undertake the +government of Mexico. "A confederacy," he observed, "loses its true +character when it rules over dependencies; and a democracy lives a +threatened life that admits millions of a strange and inferior race +which it can neither assimilate nor absorb." The warning was unneeded, +for the days of American Imperialism were not yet. But the words have +a perennial wisdom which the new owners of the Philippines might find +it worth their while to consider. + +Sir John Acton stood again for Bridgnorth, this {xl} time +unsuccessfully, at the General Election of November, 1868. His +personal friend and political leader, Mr. Gladstone, became Prime +Minister in December of the same year, and his first legislative work +was the disestablishment of the Irish Church. With this policy Sir +John Acton, not as a Catholic, but as a Liberal, was in full and +complete sympathy. He regarded it as "no isolated fact, but an +indication of a change which is beginning to affect all the nations of +Christendom, and bears witness to the consciousness that political +obligation is determined, not by arbitrary maxims of expediency, but by +definite and consistent principles." "The political connection," he +added, that is, the Liberal party, "which, in spite of many errors and +shortcomings, has been identified with the development of our +constitutional liberties, and with the advance of science in our +legislation, has entered on a new phase of its existence. And it +follows a wise and resolute leader, at whose call the nation has +arisen, for the first time in history, to the full height of its +imperial vocation" (_Edinburgh Review_, No. 404, p. 516). + +Although, as has been said, Acton held that the two great political +questions of the time were first the relations of the Church with the +State, and secondly, the reform of the Land Laws, events were impending +which affected him for a time far more deeply than either. Believing, +as he did, that "the full exposition of truth is the great object for +which the existence of mankind is prolonged on earth," he could not +allow the Papal Syllabus to deter him from following truth with all the +knowledge and ability he could command. The _Chronicle_, for which he +had written so often, came to an end in 1868. But the same editor, Mr. +Wetherell, took over next year the _North British Review_, to which +Acton contributed a learned essay on the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, +marshalling the facts in favour of {xli} the theory that the murder of +the Huguenots had been premeditated at Rome. Researches such as these, +and the consequences which they involved, were not congenial to the +Vatican, nor to the personally amiable, dogmatically unbending Pontiff +who was still under the protection of foreign bayonets. But to no one +was Acton's freedom of speculation and inquiry more repugnant than to +the able and ambitious prelate who had succeeded Wiseman as Catholic +Archbishop of Westminster. Dr. Manning was at that time a rigid +supporter of extreme Ultramontane doctrine, and of authority as opposed +to freedom in opinion. With the ardent zeal of a convert, and a +convert, as his recent appointment (1865) showed, much in favour at +Rome, he strove to suppress the religious independence of the English +Catholics. But an historical controversy with Acton was a serious +affair. It resembled nothing so much as going in for a public +examination with a reasonable certainty of being plucked, and that +prospect did not smile upon dignified ecclesiastics impressed with a +due sense of their own importance. Moreover, Manning was already +absorbed in a policy which would put down moral and intellectual +rebellion in the Church of Rome once for all. + +So early as the 8th of December 1867 the Pope had signed a Bull, +convening the whole episcopate of his Church to an [OE]cumenical +Council at Rome in the same month of 1869. Although it was not +officially stated, it was perfectly well known, that the object of the +Council was to proclaim the infallibility of the still Sovereign +Pontiff. A famous book, emanating from Munich, "The Pope and the +Council," by "Janus," which from the Catholic point of view combated +the doctrine of Infallibility, received appreciative notice from Lord +Acton in the _North British Review_. This magazine, though +short-lived, and never very widely circulated, appealed more +successfully than any of its {xlii} contemporaries to the lettered and +learned class. Some of its articles, such as the essays of Thomas Hill +Green, the Hegelian philosopher of Balliol, occupy a permanent place in +the literature of metaphysics. The article on "The Pope and the +Council" was therefore sure to be read by those who, by voice or pen, +exercise an influence over the minds of others. The reviewer did not +mince his words. He pointed out to the bishops that they had already +committed themselves to a very grave extent. In 1854 they had allowed +the Pope to proclaim a new dogma, the Immaculate Conception. In 1862 +nearly all of them had pronounced in favour of the temporal power. In +1864 they accepted the Syllabus. In 1867 they expressed their +willingness to believe whatever the Pope might teach them. "Janus" had +passed lightly over the Council of Trent, the subject of a work by Fra +Paolo Sarpi which Macaulay considered second only in historical value +to the books of Thucydides. Lord Acton, who had much in common with +Fra Paolo, expressed his own view with unmistakable energy and force. +"The Council of Trent," he said, "impressed on the Church the stamp of +an intolerant age, and perpetuated by its decrees the spirit of an +austere immorality." It should be the object of the forthcoming +Council to reform, to remodel, and to adapt the work which had been +done at Trent. + +What actually happened was very different from that which Acton +desired, though not very different from what he expected. Sir John +went to Rome some time before the opening of the Council, full of +interest in the result, and full of sympathy with the distinguished +minority who were prepared to resist the forging of fresh chains upon +their freedom. Among this minority the most conspicuous was +Monseigneur Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, whose tragic death at the +hands of the Commune encircled his name with the halo of a martyr and a +saint. "The Archbishop of {xliii} Paris," wrote Acton, "had taken no +hostile step in reference to the Council, but he was feared the most of +all the men expected at Rome. The Pope had refused to make him a +Cardinal, and had written to him a letter of reproof, such as has +seldom been received by a bishop. It was felt that he was hostile, not +episodically to a single measure, but to the peculiar spirit of this +pontificate. He had none of the conventional prejudices and assumed +antipathy which are congenial to the hierarchical mind. He was without +pathos or affectation, and he had good sense, a perfect temper, and an +intolerable wit" (_Edinburgh Review_, No. 404, page 521). By the end +of December 1869 Darboy had exacted a promise that the dogma of +Infallibility would not be proclaimed by acclamation, so as to take the +majority by surprise. Lord Acton wrote frequent reports of the Council +and its proceedings, chiefly to Mr. Gladstone and Professor Döllinger, +some of which were afterwards collected and published as the "Letters +of Quirinus" in the _Allgemeine Zeitung_. Lord Acton considered that +the cause of the minority was lost when, on the 24th of April 1870, the +Council adopted the Supplement to the First Decree. This was to the +effect that the judgments of the Holy See must be observed, even when +they proscribe opinions not actually heretical. Lord Acton's comment +upon this vote of the episcopal majority does not lack incisiveness. +"They might," he wrote, "conceivably contrive to bind and limit +dogmatic infallibility with conditions so stringent as to evade many of +the objections taken from the examples of history; but in requiring +submission to Papal decrees on matters not articles of faith, they were +approving that of which they knew the character; they were confirming, +without let or question, a power they saw in daily exercise; they were +investing with new authority the existing bulls, and giving unqualified +sanction to the inquisitor and the index, to the murder {xliv} of +heretics and the deposing of kings. They approved what they were +called on to reform, and blessed with their lips what their hearts knew +to be accursed." + +A private letter to Mr. Gladstone, written a month before the first +meeting of the Council, shows how gloomy were Lord Acton's +apprehensions. "Everything," he says, "is prepared here for the +production of Papal infallibility, and the plan of operations is +already laid down in a way which shows an attentive study of Sarpi's +'History of the Council of Trent.' They are sure of a large majority." +A majority, however, would scarcely do. [OE]cumenical Councils, if not +absolutely unanimous, are supposed to attain that moral unanimity which +the insignificance of a minority implies. The attitude of the French, +and still more of the German and Austro-Hungarian bishops, inspired the +Vatican with some alarm. Darboy and Dupanloup were names known and +esteemed throughout the Catholic world. Bishops Strossmayer and +Hefele, the latter a man of prodigious learning, were still more +strongly opposed to the Papal policy than their French colleagues. +Against the expediency of promulgating the doctrine there was a +resolute and well-organised mass of opinion in the Council. There were +few prepared to call the doctrine itself false, and therefore ready to +resist it in the last extremity. To drive a wedge between the majority +of the minority and the minority of the minority was the obvious +tactics of the Pope and his Ultramontane advisers. "If the Court of +Rome is defeated," Lord Acton wrote, "it can only be by men of +principle and of science." He believed that a letter from Mr. +Gladstone, dealing with the secular side of the question, and with the +effect which the decree would have upon the future of English and Irish +Catholics, might do much to counteract the influence of Manning. It +was impossible for the English Premier to interfere directly with the +{xlv} affairs of another Church. But he allowed Lord Acton to state +what he thought about the effects of Ultramontanism on the prospects of +educational measures in England. Lord Acton estimated that the bishops +opposed to the expediency of the dogma were about two hundred in +number, while only as many score would vote against its truth. + +No sooner did the Council meet than regulations were issued which gave +the Pope the sole right of making decrees and defining dogmas. To this +the Council submitted. "The sole legislative authority," Lord Acton +wrote on the 1st of January 1870, "has been abandoned to the Pope. It +includes the right of issuing dogmatic decrees, and involves the +possession of all the Infallibility which the Church claims." "We have +to meet," he added, "an organised conspiracy to establish a power which +would be the most formidable enemy of liberty as well as science +throughout the world. It can only be met and defeated through the +Episcopate, and the Episcopate is exceedingly helpless." So it proved. +But Lord Acton, besides helping the minority with the resources of his +knowledge and the power of his logic, endeavoured to invoke the secular +arm. He was sanguine enough to hope that, as the Pope had +anathematised modern civilisation and progress, the governments of +Catholic and even of Protestant countries would take some steps in +self-defence. The opposition in the Council, he held, was "almost sure +to prevail if it were supported, and almost sure to be crushed if it +were not." The change of Ministry in France at the beginning of 1870, +and the substitution of M. Ollivier for M. Rouher, alarmed the Vatican, +although the French ambassador, the Marquis de Banneville, declared +that there would be no change of policy. De Banneville was wrong. The +new French Government announced that if the dogma were carried the +French troops would be recalled, although Cardinal Antonelli assured +Count Daru, {xlvi} the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, that the +Council was purely theological, and had nothing to do with secular +affairs. The threat, however, had no effect. The Pope had gone too +far to recede, and the forces of the opposition became daily weaker. +There was no hope, and no future, for those bishops who set themselves +against the majority of their colleagues and the head of their Church. +Except in France, they could not look for the protection of the +Government, and the French Emperor was a bruised reed. "Two days ago," +wrote Lord Acton on the 16th of February, "a definite message was sent +by the Emperor to Cardinal Antonelli, in which the Emperor declared +that he could not afford to have a schism in France, where all the +_employé_ class, all the literary class, and even the Faubourg St. +Germain are against the Infallibility of the Pope. He added that it +would dissolve all the engagements existing between France and Rome." +But Antonelli, a remarkably shrewd specimen of the Italian diplomatist, +calculated that if the bishops yielded, the rest of the practising +Catholics would follow them. In another passage of the same most +interesting letter Lord Acton says that the _Schema de Ecclesiâ_, +already adopted by the Council, "makes civil legislation on all points +of contract, marriage, education, clerical universities, mortmain, even +on many questions of taxation and common law, subject to the +legislation of the Church, which would simply be the arbitrary will of +the Pope. Most assuredly no man accepting such a code could be a loyal +subject, or fit for the enjoyment of political privileges. In this +sense the French bishops have written to the French Government, and +that is what they ask me to write to you." How deep an impression this +letter made upon Mr. Gladstone's mind became apparent when, a few years +afterwards, he entered into controversy with the Church of Rome. +Strange as it may seem, these Gallican prelates appealed through Lord +Acton to the Government {xlvii} of the Queen, seeing "no human remedy +for this peril other than the intervention of the Powers." But the +British Government could not have acted, even in concert with France, +unless they had been prepared to face a storm of indignation, +Protestant as well as Catholic, which no British interest required them +to encounter. + +After the decree of Infallibility had been produced, the German +prelates made an important protest against bishops without sees, +chiefly Roman Monsignori, being allowed to vote, and also complained, +in words furnished by Lord Acton himself, that the claim to enact +dogmas by a majority endangered the freedom, as well as the +universality, of the Council. But "the minority were in great +confusion and uncertainty, and disposed to rely on external help." +That help they never received. Lord Acton put the danger as strongly +as he could. Catholics, he declared, would "at once become +irredeemable enemies of civil and religious liberty. They would have +to profess a false system of morality, and to repudiate literary and +scientific sincerity. They would be as dangerous to civil society in +the school as in the State." But between Catholics who held that with +such matters it would be profane for any Protestant to meddle, and +Protestants who rejoiced that now at last the Catholics were coming out +in their true colours, the Cabinet, if they had taken Lord Acton's +advice, would have had an uneasy, and barely defensible, position. So +what Acton calls "this insane enterprise" of conferring upon the Pope +an unconditional and unlimited infallibility was suffered to proceed +without any political remonstrance from England. Mr. Odo Russell, +afterwards Lord Ampthill, Lord John's nephew, was instructed to keep +the Foreign Office informed of what happened the Council, but his +information was much less copious than Lord Acton's. He was not +instructed to do anything more, and officially he was a member of the +Legation at Florence. While other governments {xlviii} did nothing, +the Italian Government, in Lord Acton's opinion, made matters worse. +Their measures of what he called confiscation against the property of +the Church would, he thought, prevent some Italian bishops from voting +in the minority who would otherwise have been disposed to do so. Yet, +if Lord Acton were right in his description of the Papal policy, he +could hardly have been surprised that Liberal governments in Catholic +countries should regard the Church as an enemy. + +On the 15th of March 1870, a curious protest was presented to the +Council by some bishops of the United Kingdom. The substance of it is +thus described by Lord Acton: "They state that the English and Irish +Catholics obtained their emancipation, and the full privileges of +citizenship, by solemn and repeated declarations that their religion +did not teach the dogma now proposed; that these declarations made by +the bishops, and permitted by Rome, are, in fact, the conditions under +which Catholics are allowed to sit in Parliament, and to hold offices +of trust and responsibility under the Crown; and that they cannot be +forgotten or overlooked by us without dishonour." Lord Acton +complained bitterly of France because she maintained the temporal power +of the Pope, and excluded Italians from their national capital, by her +troops, while yet she would not attempt to restrain him from abusing +the jurisdiction she enabled him to exercise. "The religious houses +are suppressed, the schools of divinity reduced, the priesthood almost +starved, because France is determined to keep the Pope on his despotic +throne. It is a policy which degrades the Italian Government in the +eyes of the nation, nurses the revolutionary passion, and hinders the +independence of the country, and which can no longer be defended on the +score of religious liberty. The French Protectorate has become as +odious to Catholicism as to the {xlix} Italian State, and it is about +to prove as pernicious to other countries as it is to Italy." When a +division was taken on the dogma of Infallibility, 451 bishops voted +with the Pope, 88 against him, and 62 for further inquiry. Then the +minority gave up the struggle, and when, on the 18th of July, three +days after the declaration of war between France and Germany, the +principle was formally defined, only two bishops resisted the +acclamation of 533. A few weeks later the French troops left Rome, and +the temporal power was at an end. + +Such was the miserably futile result of the Opposition led by Darboy, +Dupanloup, Rauscher, Schwartzenberg, Kenrick, Conolly, Hefele, and +Strossmayer. They were borne down by the dead weight of numbers, and +the traditional authority of the Holy See. Catholics were offered the +choice of submission or excommunication. The official head of the +English Catholics, Manning, was among the most zealous supporters of +the Papacy. Newman deeply deplored, but humbly submitted. So even did +Strossmayer, the brave and eloquent Croat, who had been shouted down at +the Council in violent and abusive language when he denied that +Protestantism was the source of Atheism, and pleaded for the old +Catholic rule of unanimity. Döllinger, challenged by the Archbishop of +Munich to accept the decree, refused, and was cut off, like Spinoza, to +his eternal honour, from the congregation of the faithful. Lord Acton, +on the other hand, the stay and support of the minority throughout the +Council and before it, was not molested, perhaps because he was a +layman, perhaps because he was a peer. + +While he was at Rome, in November 1869, Acton had received from Mr. +Gladstone, and accepted, the offer of a barony. For a young man of +thirty-five this was a great and most unusual distinction. It was {l} +made all the greater by the fact that his name occurred in the first +list of such recommendations submitted by the Prime Minister to the +Queen. At that time the general public hardly knew Sir John Acton's +name. But he had all the usual qualifications for a peerage, except +wealth, being connected with the aristocracy by birth and marriage, the +head of an old English family, and the inheritor of an old English +baronetcy, who had gained six years' political experience in the House +of Commons. "His character," Mr. Gladstone wrote to the Queen, "is of +the first order, and he is one of the most learned and accomplished, +though one of the most modest and unassuming, men of the day" (Morley's +"Life of Gladstone," ii. 430). No praise could be better deserved, or +expressed with more studious moderation. Lord Acton pursued in the +House of Lords the same silent course that he had adopted in the House +of Commons. He remained, unlike many peers of Mr. Gladstone's +creation, faithful to the Liberal party, at that time, and for so many +years afterwards, led by his step-father, Lord Granville. + +Lord Acton was made an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy by the University +of Munich in 1872, the last year of the _North British Review_, after +which he ceased to write regularly for the Press. In 1873 a very +different honour was in contemplation. He had been consulted by Lord +Granville upon the European situation, then regarded as critical, and +showed such remarkable knowledge of it that the idea of sending him as +Ambassador to Berlin was seriously entertained (_Edinburgh Review_, No. +404, page 528). The appointment would in many ways have been +desirable, and in some unexceptionable. For Lord Acton was a born +diplomatist, and, though the German Emperor was a Protestant, half the +empire was Catholic. But the prize was apparently thought too high for +a man outside the diplomatic service who had filled no {li} other post +under the Crown. Lord Acton remained at home, and in 1874 found +himself suddenly once again in the thick of a theological battle. The +echoes of the Vatican Council, and of Papal pretensions, seemed to have +died away, when, in November 1874, Mr. Gladstone, freed from the +trammels of office, and regarding his leadership of the Liberal party +as near its close, startled the world by a pamphlet on "The Vatican +Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance." He had previously, in +an article on "Ritualism," contributed to the _Contemporary Review_, +expressed his opinion that Romanising in the Church of England was +least to be feared at a moment "when Rome had substituted for the proud +boast of _semper eadem_ a policy of violence and change in faith; when +she had refurbished and paraded anew every rusty tool she was fondly +thought to have disused; when no one could become her convert without +renouncing his moral and mental freedom, and placing his civil loyalty +and duty at the mercy of another; and when she had equally repudiated +modern thought and ancient history." While in this frame of mind, Mr. +Gladstone paid a visit to Munich, and had many long talks with the +venerable Professor Döllinger. The spectacle of a man so wise, pious, +learned, and holy under the ban of the Church seems to have kindled in +him a burning indignation against the authors of the Vatican decrees. +He wrote a pamphlet, and informed Lord Acton from Hawarden in October +that he meant to publish it. Lord Acton deprecated this step. He was +far nearer to Mr. Gladstone in opinion than he was to the Court of +Rome. But he had no desire to see the subject reopened, knowing that +the withdrawal of the decrees was impossible, and fearing that public +opinion might be dangerously excited against his fellow-Catholics by so +powerful an onslaught. He did not sufficiently allow for the great +progress in the direction of tolerance made since the passing of the +Ecclesiastical {lii} Titles Act, which Mr. Gladstone himself had +repealed three years before. The pamphlet appeared in November 1874, +and more than a hundred thousand copies of it were sold. The English +Catholics were disturbed. Some were indignant, and some were alarmed. +But in the end they were none the worse. On the contrary, Mr. +Gladstone did them a service by giving them an opportunity to declare +that they were, and always would be, as loyal and patriotic as their +Protestant countrymen. It is impossible not to trace in Mr. +Gladstone's pamphlet, as in the passage already cited from the +_Contemporary Review_, the effect of Lord Acton's letters from Rome in +1870. The substance of the argument is that the Catholics obtained +emancipation by denying that Papal infallibility was a dogma of their +Church, and that the Power which had changed their faith might change +their allegiance. The Vatican decrees reversed the policy of Clement +the Fourteenth, who, by overthrowing the supremacy of the Jesuits, had +"levelled in the dust the deadliest foes that mental and moral liberty +had ever known." Equality of civil rights should be maintained without +regard for religious differences. But Mr. Gladstone thought himself +entitled to ask the Catholics of England and Ireland whether they would +assist in the re-erection of the temporal power by force. Many were +the answers to this famous pamphlet. The most eloquent was Newman's. +The most hostile was Manning's. The most interesting was Acton's. It +is characteristic of Lord Acton's courage and candour that he should +have answered at all. He was regarded at Rome with something more than +suspicion, and nobody quite understood why he had escaped the fate of +Döllinger. There was nothing that Mr. Gladstone could say of the +decrees too strongly condemnatory to command his assent. But his +invincible integrity of mind would not allow him, for the sake of his +own peace, to acquiesce in the practical conclusions {liii} which Mr. +Gladstone drew from irrefragable premises. In several letters written +for the _Times_, one of them addressed personally to Mr. Gladstone, +Lord Acton gave the only reply which could in the circumstances be +given. Mr. Gladstone's reasoning was unassailable in argument. But +man is not a logical animal. People are sometimes better than their +principles, sometimes worse, very seldom consistent. As Mr. Gladstone +himself had said a few years before, "The limit of possible variation +between character and opinion--aye, between character and belief--is +widening and will widen." Lord Acton, with all his subtlety and all +his learning, could only take refuge in the old and familiar truth that +what a man will do cannot be inferred from what he believes. The +_Corpus Juris_, he said (_Times_, November 9, 1874), makes the murder +of Protestants lawful. Pius the Fifth justified the assassination of +Elizabeth. Gregory the Thirteenth condoned, or rather applauded, the +massacre of Saint Bartholomew (_Times_, November 24). Was it therefore +fair to assume that all Catholics who accepted the Vatican decrees, or +even all Ultramontanes, were potential murderers? "Communion with +Rome," he said at the same time, "is dearer to me than life." He +concluded his letters in dignified and moving sentences, which made a +deep and just impression upon Catholics and Protestants alike. "It +would be well if men had never fallen into the temptation of +suppressing truth and encouraging error for the better security of +religion. Our Church stands, and our faith should stand, not on the +virtues of men, but on the surer ground of an institution and a +guidance that are divine. I should dishonour and betray the Church if +I entertained a suspicion that the evidence of religion could be +weakened or the authority of councils sapped by a knowledge of the +facts with which I have been dealing, or of others which are not less +grievous or less certain because they remain untold." It was not to be +supposed that {liv} this language would give satisfaction to the +dominant party in the Church of Rome, which had already been much tried +by Lord Acton's energy behind the scenes during the Vatican Council. +An apology which was more injurious than the attack added fuel to the +flames. "If I am excommunicated," he wrote to Mr. Gladstone from +Aldenham on the 19th of December 1874, "I should rather say when I am." +Yet he was not. He satisfied his bishop, Browne of Shrewsbury, that he +was dogmatically sound, and that it would have been inconsistent with +his argument to attack the Vatican decrees. He had indeed accepted +them as the foundation of his case. What he wanted to show was that +neither the Jesuits nor the Inquisition, neither false doctrines nor +bad Popes, had made Catholics indifferent to the moral law. Manning, +now a Cardinal, was not so easily contented as Bishop Browne, or as +Bishop Clifford, who also absolved Lord Acton. His haughty and +commanding temper had been stimulated by promotion, and by the favour +of the Pope. It was one of his most cherished aims to humble the pride +of the old Catholic families, and make them feel the discipline of the +Church. He wrote three letters to Lord Acton, and received, it need +scarcely be said, the most courteous replies, which left him as wise as +he was before. But he went no further, and the correspondence was +never published. Manning was not without prudence, and he shrank from +proceeding to extremities with a man whose intellect was as keen as +his, and whose knowledge was vastly superior. It would not have cost +Lord Acton much research to produce a summary account of the +Inquisition, or a biographical sketch of selected Popes, which would +have done more to prove the soundness of his position than to edify the +Christian world. The new cardinal, if he had indulged in an historical +controversy with "Quirinus," might have emerged from it with less +credit to himself than amusement to the learned society of Europe. For +{lv} these, or for other reasons, he concluded to leave Lord Acton +alone. + +Henceforth, Lord Acton abandoned theological polemics, and devoted +himself to his true life, the life of a student. He loved truth too +much to love controversy for its own sake, and he was conscious that, +though he had escaped penalties, orthodox Catholics would not receive +his arguments without prejudice. Mr. Gladstone wrote another pamphlet, +in which, while maintaining his own position, he accepted the loyal +assurances of the Catholics as sincere, and with that the controversy +ceased. But in June 1876 Lord Acton wrote him a private letter, which +contains the clearest statement of his own opinion upon Ultramontanism +and Ultramontanes. "I have tried in vain," he wrote, "to reconcile +myself to your opinion that Ultramontanism really exists as a definite +and genuine system of religious faith, providing its own solutions of +ethical and metaphysical problems, and satisfying the conscience and +the intellect of conscientious and intelligent men. It has never been +my fortune to meet with an esoteric Ultramontane--I mean, putting aside +the ignorant mass, and those who are incapable of reasoning, that I do +not know of a religious and educated Catholic who really believes that +the See of Rome is a safe guide to salvation.... In short, I do not +believe there are Catholics who, sincerely and intelligently, believe +that Rome is right and that Döllinger is wrong. And therefore I think +you are too hard on Ultramontanes, or too gentle with Ultramontanism. +You say, for instance, that it promotes untruthfulness. I don't think +that is fair. It not only promotes, it inculcates, distinct mendacity +and deceitfulness. In certain cases it is made a duty to lie. But +those who teach this doctrine do not become habitual liars in other +things." + +With this plain and straightforward language we may leave Lord Acton as +a theologian, and pass to {lvi} other aspects of his busy life. His +great work should have been, and was intended to be, a History of +Liberty. For that purpose his library at Aldenham was collected, and +to frame different definitions of liberty was one of his favourite +pastimes. He loved liberty with all the ardour of Milton, and +investigated it with all the science of Locke. Even Liberalism, which +may be thought an inferior thing, was with him "the beginning of real +religion, a condition of interior Catholicism" (Acton to Gladstone, +March 22, 1891). This History was never written, nor even begun. All +that there is of it, all that there ever was of it, except books and +notes, materials for others to use, consists of two lectures delivered +at Bridgnorth in the year 1877. One was called "The History of Freedom +in Antiquity," and the other "The History of Freedom in Christianity." +These lectures are exceedingly rare, and the only copies I have seen +are in the British Museum. If the audience listened to them with +pleasure, and absorbed them with ease, they had intellects of unusual +calibre, and employed them to the best advantage. Read carefully and +at leisure, they are full of suggestion and of insight. Their fault is +that, in homely phrase, they pour a quart of liquor into a pint pot. +They are so much crowded with names and references, that to follow the +chief thread of the argument is made needlessly hard. "It would be +easy," the Bridgnorth Institute was told, "to point out a paragraph in +St. Augustine, or a sentence of Grotius, that outweighs in influence +the Acts of fifty Parliaments; and our case owes more to Cicero and +Seneca, to Vinet and Tocqueville, than to the laws of Lycurgus, or the +five codes of France." The sentence and the paragraph should have been +pointed out. Something should have been said, if not about Vinet and +Tocqueville, at least about Cicero and Seneca. A geographer may have +too many names in his map, and a learned man may condense his knowledge +until it has {lvii} no meaning for those who know less than himself. +But, on the other hand, these lectures contain passages at once lucid +and worth their weight in gold, which could only have come from a mind +at once acute, meditative, and well stored. Such, for instance, is the +declaration, "By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be +protected in doing what he believes his duty against the influence of +authority and majorities, custom and opinion." "Liberty," proceeds the +lecturer, "is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the +highest political end.... A generous spirit prefers that his country +should be poor, and weak, and of no account, but free, rather than +powerful, prosperous, and enslaved. It is better to be the citizen of +a humble commonwealth in the Alps than a subject of the superb +autocracy that overshadows half of Asia and of Europe." This will seem +a hard saying to many, and it is indeed far removed from the sensual +idolatry of mere size that vulgarises modern Imperialism. But it was +with Lord Acton a fundamental principle, and it is not the size of +Periclean Athens, or of Elizabethan England, which made them +imperishably great. "It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it +is worse to be oppressed by a majority." Worse, because more +desperate, with less hope of rebellion, or escape. We must look, Lord +Acton warns us, to substance and essence, not to form and outward show. +The martyrdom of Socrates was the act of a free Republic, and it was +Caćsar who liberated Rome from the tyranny of Republican institutions. +The fault of the classical State was that it tried to be Church and +State in one, and thus infringed upon individualism by regulating +religion. The three things wanting in ancient liberty were +representative government, emancipation of slaves, and freedom of +conscience. In Christian times Thomas Aquinas anticipated the theory +of the Whig Revolution. The worst enemy of freedom in modern times was +that mock hero of sham greatness, {lviii} Louis Quatorze. The only +known forms of liberty are Republics and Constitutional Monarchies. +"It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their +own business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven for the acts +of the State, ideas long locked in the breast of solitary thinkers and +hidden away in Latin folios, burst forth like a conqueror upon the +world they were destined to transform under the title of the Rights of +Man." Ever since his visit to America in the days of President Pierce, +if not before, Acton had made a special study of the American +Constitution in its strength and its weakness, in the amplitude of its +safeguards, and in its fatal want of elasticity. A Monarchy cannot be +too constitutional. But a too constitutional Republic is a difficult +machine to work. England, said a French critic, is a Republic with an +hereditary President: the United States are a Monarchy with an elected +King. + +From this time forward Lord Acton wrote less, and read, if possible, +more. Dr. Shaw's careful Bibliography, my obligations to which I have +already acknowledged, contains nothing between 1877 and 1885 except a +review of Sir Erskine May's "Democracy in Europe" for the _Quarterly_ +of January 1878. Sir Erskine May, the well-known Clerk of the House, +was a pleasant and popular writer, who dealt largely in +generalisations, and sometimes condescended to platitudes. He was an +earnest Liberal, though his office imposed some restraint upon his +opinions, and it is creditable to the impartiality of the late Sir +William Smith that he should have allowed a Liberal critic to deal with +a Liberal author in the traditional organ of Conservatism. He +certainly had his reward. For it would be difficult to find in the +_Quarterly Review_ from the days of Gifford and Southey to our own an +article of more fascinating interest and more solid value than this +masterly essay, which its author never took the trouble to republish. +{lix} Notwithstanding Lord Acton's minute and conscientious accuracy in +points of detail, he is always best and most characteristic in broad, +luminous inferences from large masses of history and long periods of +time. He contented himself on this occasion with a few civil remarks +about the public servant who made so industrious a use of his leisure, +and devoted the rest of his space, which was far too small, to a +comparison or contrast of democracy with freedom. He showed that for +eleven hundred years, from the first Constantine to the last, the +Christian Empire was as despotic as the pagan; that it was Gregory the +Seventh who made the Papacy independent of the empire; that Luther +bequeathed as his political testament the doctrines of Divine right and +passive obedience; and that Spanish Jesuits, in arguing against the +title of Henry the Fourth to the throne of France, had anticipated the +doctrines of Milton, Locke, and Rousseau. Passing on, with the ease of +a man at home in all periods of history, to the dynastic change of +1688, he described the Whig settlement not as a Venetian oligarchy, but +as an aristocracy of freeholders, while from the American rebellion of +the following century he drew the moral that a revolution with very +little provocation may be just, and a democracy of very large +dimensions may be safe. The defect in the principles of 1789 was that +they exalted equality at the expense of liberty, and subjected the free +will of the individual to the unbridled power of the State. + +After 1879 Lord Acton ceased to live at his country house in +Shropshire, dividing the months when he was not in London between +Germany and the Riviera. Besides his great Library at Aldenham, there +was a smaller but complete library in each of his three houses. He +usually spent the winter at Cannes, and the autumn in Bavaria, at +Tegernsee, which belonged to the family of his wife. This {lx} +cosmopolitan existence was by no means uncongenial to him, and, +correspondence apart, he was not cut off from his English friends. +Cannes in the season is as much English as French, and when Lord Acton +was in London he made the best use of his time. The hours he spent in +reading were so disposed that he could enjoy at the close of the day +the sort of society he liked best. He was a member of Grillions, and +of The Club. He knew almost everybody worth knowing, and no one so +fond of study was ever more sociable. But, as these letters show, the +man whom above all others he esteemed and revered was Mr. Gladstone. +Mr. Gladstone, with characteristic humility, always deferred to Lord +Acton's judgment in matters historical. On the other hand, Lord Acton, +the most hypercritical of men, and the precise opposite of a +hero-worshipper, an iconoclast if ever there was one, regarded Mr. +Gladstone as the first of English statesmen, living or dead. The +reason for this opinion will be found in the following pages. The +opinion itself is not the less important because Lord Acton was in many +respects cautious to a fault, and had little of the enthusiasm which +sustained his idol. Except Döllinger, "the glory of Catholic +learning," as Mr. Bryce well calls him, there was no other contemporary +for whom Lord Acton felt unqualified reverence. Mere oratory had not +much effect upon him, even if it were John Bright's or the Duke of +Argyll's. Admiring, as he could not but admire, the charm and power of +Newman's style, he considered Newman himself to be a "sophist, the +manipulator, and not the servant, of truth." Knowing Mr. Gladstone +from the inside, as few outside his own family knew him, he felt his +simplicity as well as his greatness, and realised that he had no object +except to learn what was true, and to do what was right. In politics +there was no difference between the two men, unless it were that Lord +Acton could never {lxi} quite forgive Mr. Gladstone's eulogistic +tribute to the memory of Lord Beaconsfield. Even in religion that +which divided them was small indeed when compared with that which +united them. Lord Acton was as staunch a believer in religious liberty +as any Protestant, and no Catholic could desire more fervently the +reunion of Christendom. In politics, as I have said, the sympathy was +complete. Unlike most Catholics, Acton had been in favour of Italian +independence, so dear to Mr. Gladstone's heart. He had always belonged +to the school of Liberals who put the rights of the individual above +the claims of the State, and he had as little liking for Socialism as +Mr. Gladstone himself. He held in utter detestation the foreign policy +of Lord Beaconsfield, and that temper of mind which goes by the cant +term of "Jingoism." No one rejoiced more heartily over the Liberal +victory of 1880, or attributed it more exclusively to Mr. Gladstone. +No one worked harder to keep him at the head of the Liberal party, and +no one can have foreseen more clearly the disastrous consequences of +his final retirement. Perhaps the nearest approach to a schism between +Lord Acton and his political chief was that each had a favourite +novelist, and that neither would acknowledge the transcendent merits of +the rival. Lord Acton was unjust to Scott. Mr. Gladstone underrated +George Eliot. Lord Acton's estimate of George Eliot may be found in +some of the ensuing letters, and in the _Nineteenth Century_ for March +1885. This article, one of the most elaborate Lord Acton ever wrote, +was translated into German, and, so far as the general public were +concerned, might as well have appeared in that language at first. It +is an extreme and provoking instance of the writer's passion for +condensation, reference, and innuendo. It is well worth the trouble of +reading, although fiction is not the province in which Lord Acton's +opinion was most {lxii} valuable. But the trouble is due to congested +sentences, and might easily have been spared. + +When in 1886 Mr. Gladstone made his great attempt to settle the Irish +question by Home Rule, Lord Acton gave him a zealous and cordial +support. Although, as we have seen, he was far from holding the +doctrine of nationality in an unqualified form, he had grasped for many +years with increasing strength the conviction that Ireland could be +orderly and peaceably governed by Irishmen alone. So far back as +October 1881, when the Liberal Government and the Land League were in +open hostility, and Mr. Parnell was arrested under the Coercion Act, he +wrote, "The treatment of Home Rule as an idea conceivably reasonable +(in the speech at Leeds) which was repeated at the Guildhall, delighted +me." There were not many readers besides Lord Acton who discerned at +that time the trend of Mr. Gladstone's ideas. But a very few months +later, in February 1882, Mr. Gladstone, speaking on the Address, used +language of a much more significant kind, to Lord Acton's great +delight. "I have long wished," he wrote on the 20th of February, "for +that declaration about self-government.... The occasion last week gave +extraordinary weight to the words.... The risk is that he may seem to +underrate the gravity of a great constitutional change in the +introduction of a federal element." Lord Acton, it will be observed, +much as he desired the change, did not ignore its risks, or even its +perils. When the decisive moment came, which Mr. Morley has described +with so much eloquence and power ("Life of Gladstone," vol. iii. pp. +311-12), Lord Acton sounded a note of warning in the midst of his +felicitations. "From the point of view of the ages," he wrote on the +18th of March 1886, "it is the sublime crown of his work, and there is +a moral grandeur about it which will, I hope, strengthen and console +him under any amount of difficulty, and even disaster." It was {lxiii} +this faculty of seeing the case against his own most deeply cherished +principles and predilections which made Lord Acton so valuable a friend +and counsellor to Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Gladstone's splendid enthusiasm, +and indomitable optimism, sometimes led him to ignore obstacles against +which he might have provided. Acton, whose temperament was critical, +as his mind was judicial, pointed out, with the sincerity of true +friendship, though with unfailing tact, the clouds above, and the rocks +ahead. No man admired Mr. Gladstone more. No man flattered him less. + +The following letter to Mrs. Drew expresses his opinion at the time, +and also the judgment of a distinguished Italian statesman who was +always friendly to England:-- + + +"Your letter comes in the midst of the living echoes of the speech, and +of the uncertainty that follows, and does not quite relieve my feeling +of apprehension. Rome is not a good place for accurate news, and I +hope for more letters at Cannes in a couple of days. My old friend, +Minghetti, is sinking under an incurable illness. The other night, +when several people were attacking me about the Irish Bill, he said, +very solemnly and in his best Italian: 'The one will be happy even if +he fails, and the other will repent even of his success.' The other +was Bismarck. Next morning came Herbert's letter saying that he feels +that for himself the best thing would be defeat. + +"I hope that there is not any real inconsistency in my language or in +my thoughts at this crisis. I am more decidedly in favour of the +principle of the measure than anybody; and there can hardly be one +among your father's friends who urged it more decidedly, though some +followed more or less contentedly. The Bill is better than I sometimes +expected it to be, on one or {lxiv} two important points. It is not +only right in my eyes, but glorious as the summit of his career, and if +I was on the spot I should be the warmest and the most convinced of its +supporters. + +"But what makes it more admirable to me is that the stimulus is not +hope but duty; that it is very much more clearly dictated by principle +than by expediency, that the supreme motive is not strongly sustained +by sordid calculation. I do not see a real likelihood of its +succeeding in this Session, and I am not sanguine about success in +Ireland. + +"Arguments founded on the presumed good qualities of the Irish do not +go very far with me, and I am ready to find the vices of the national +character incurable. Especially in a country where religion does not +work, ultimately, in favour of morality; therefore I am not hopeful, +and it is with a mind prepared for failure and even disaster that I +persist in urging the measure." + + +His adhesion to the cause, though it had no weight with the mass of +electors, who did not know his name, had a deep meaning of another +kind. When many men of the lettered, scientific, and learned classes +left the Liberal party rather than vote for Home Rule, one of the few +English names that enjoyed a European reputation did something to +counterbalance others which were paraded so often that they seemed +indefinitely numerous. + +Lord Acton, however, did not come forward as a popular champion of Home +Rule, for which he could have furnished a host of historic precedents. +In the sphere of action he was too apt to distrust himself. The House +of Lords was not favourable for the purpose, and he never appeared on +public platforms. He was more congenially occupied in founding the +_English Historical Review_, of which the late Bishop Creighton, then +Professor of Ecclesiastical History at {lxv} Cambridge, was the first +editor. In 1887 he criticised, not without severity, the third and +fourth volumes of the editor's great work on the Papacy. Some editors +might have demurred to the insertion of the article. But Creighton was +far above all petty and personal feelings of that or any kind. Among +the other books noticed by Acton in the _Historical Review_ were +Seeley's "Life of Napoleon," Bright's "History of England" (by the +Master of University), and Bryce's "American Commonwealth." Academic +honours were now coming in rapid succession. In 1888 Lord Acton was +made an Honorary Doctor of Laws at Cambridge, in 1889 a Doctor of Civil +Law at Oxford, and in 1890 an Honorary Fellow of All Souls, thereby +becoming Mr. Gladstone's colleague. For a man who had published +scarcely anything in his own name these compliments were as rare as +they were just. + +When Mr. Gladstone formed his final Administration in 1892, Lord Acton +was appointed a Lord-in-Waiting to the Queen. This may seem a singular +method of rewarding literary merit. But the circumstances were +peculiar. Lord Acton was desirous of showing his devotion to the Prime +Minister, and his belief in the cause of Home Rule. His Parliamentary +career had not been distinguished enough for more purely political +office, and I am told by those who understand such matters that the +lowness of his rank in the Peerage precluded him from a higher place in +the Household. The incongruity, however, though Lord Acton felt it +himself, was not quite so great as it looked. Besides their month's +attendance at the Court, the Lords-in-Waiting are sometimes employed to +represent public departments in the House of Peers, and Lord Acton +represented the Irish Office for the Chief Secretary, Mr. Morley. In +that character he showed, when occasion came, that his {lxvi} long +silence in Parliament had not been due to incapacity for public +speaking. At Windsor he was agreeable to the Queen from his German +tastes and sympathies, not to mention the fact that he could speak +German as fluently as English. Every moment of leisure during his +"wait" there was spent in the Castle library. Yet the position was an +unnatural one, and Lord Acton soon became anxious to escape from it. +His thoughts turned to his favourite Bavaria, and he humbly suggested +the Legation at Stuttgart as a possible sphere. + +But something infinitely better than any political or diplomatic post +remained for this born student and truly learned man. In 1895, just a +year after Mr. Gladstone's resignation, Sir John Seeley, Professor of +Modern History at Cambridge, departed this life. The Chair was in the +gift of the Crown, that is, of the Prime Minister, and Lord Rosebery +appointed Lord Acton. The appointment was singularly felicitous, and +the opportunity came in the nick of time. For the Liberal Government +was tottering to its fall, and Lord Salisbury was not wont to overlook +the claims of political supporters. Lord Rosebery's choice was bold +and unexpected. But it was more than successful; it was triumphant. +Lord Acton was of the same age as his predecessor, and it is a +dangerous thing for a man to begin the business of teaching at sixty. +An academic Board would not have had the courage to appoint Lord Acton. +They would have dreaded his want of experience. The advantage of +retaining a connection of this kind with the State is that a Minister, +rising above the purely academic point of view, will sometimes overlook +or ignore technical disqualifications in favour of learning or genius. +Even Cambridge herself was at first a little startled by the nomination +of this famous, but rather mysterious stranger. Lord Acton had to make +his own way, and he was not long in making it. The opening {lxvii} +sentences of his Inaugural Lecture on the Study of History put him at +once on good terms with his audience, and through his audience with the +University. "I look back to-day," he said (June 11, 1895), "to a time +before the middle of the century, when I was reading at Edinburgh, and +fervently wishing to come to this University. At three Colleges I +applied for admission, and, as things then were, I was refused by all. +Here, from the first, I vainly fixed my hopes, and here, in a happier +hour, after five-and-forty years, they are at last fulfilled." It is +probable that the happiest hours of Lord Acton's life were spent at +Cambridge. As the writer in the _Edinburgh Review_, so often quoted, +says, "He loved Cambridge from his soul; loved the grounds and the +trees, the buildings and the romance of the old colleges, the treasures +of the libraries, the intercourse with scholars." In his first lecture +he tried to find some point of agreement with Seeley. But their views +of History were fundamentally different. To Seeley, History was purely +political. In Lord Acton's view it included social and intellectual +movements neither propelled nor impeded by the State. Lord Acton +reckoned Modern History as beginning with the close of the fifteenth +century, "when Columbus subverted the notions of the world, and +reversed the conditions of production, wealth, and power; Machiavelli +released Government from the restraint of law; Erasmus diverted the +current of ancient learning from profane into Christian channels; +Luther broke the chain of authority and tradition at the strongest +link; and Copernicus erected an invincible power that set for ever the +mark of progress upon the time that was to come." That "history is the +true demonstration of religion" was one of the maxims which Lord Acton +impressed upon his pupils at the first opportunity. But perhaps the +most characteristic feature of the discourse is his insistence upon the +necessity of keeping {lxviii} up the moral standard. Better, he +exclaimed, err, if at all, on the side of rigour. For "if we lower our +standard in history, we cannot uphold it in Church or State." When +this brilliant and fascinating lecture came to be published, it was +unfortunately encumbered by more than a hundred notes, all quotations, +many of which merely expressed Lord Acton's meaning in language less +forcible than his own. "As if," says Macaulay of some pointless +reference to a Greek play by a Shakespearean commentator, "as if only +Shakespeare and Euripides knew that mothers loved their children." +Lord Acton was rather too apt to think that an expression of opinion, +like a statement of fact, required an authority to support it. + +Even under the stimulus of Cambridge Lord Acton did not work quickly. +During the five years of his active professorship he only delivered two +courses of lectures. The first was on the French Revolution. The +second was on Modern History as a whole. He would naturally and by +preference have begun with the more general subject. But the +exigencies of the Tripos, or of the Curriculum, prevailed, and the +thoroughbred animal was put, not for the first time in this world, into +the harness of a hack. Lord Acton's lectures were, as they were bound +to be, crowded. But they were only a small part of what he did for +Cambridge. An Honorary Fellow of Trinity, he received graduate or +undergraduate visitors with equal courtesy and kindness at his rooms in +Nevill's Court. To them, and to any one who could appreciate it, he +would always readily impart the knowledge he had spent his life in +acquiring. He was not merely a willing answerer of questions, and a +generous lender of books. He had boxes full of the notes he had made +since boyhood, each box appropriated to its peculiar subject, and these +notes were at the disposal of all historical {lxix} students who could +make a proper use of them. His pupils were, as Mr. Bryce puts it, +"awed by the majesty of his learning." "When Lord Acton answers a +question put to him," said one of them, "I feel as if I were looking at +a pyramid. I see the point of it clear and sharp, but I see also the +vast subjacent mass of solid knowledge."[3] + +The following letter from Dr. Henry Jackson, Fellow of Trinity, for +which my warmest thanks are due to the distinguished writer, will be +interesting to all who desire to know more of Lord Acton's Cambridge +life:-- + + +"You ask me for information about Acton's life and work at Cambridge. +I am not competent to write anything systematic about either the one or +the other; but it is a pleasure to me to put down some of my +recollections and impressions, and I shall be glad if my jottings are +of any use to you. + +"When Seeley died in 1895, my first thought was--'If they are good to +us, they will send us Acton;' but I hardly hoped that he would be +thought of, and I did not expect that, if he had the offer, he would +accept it. So the news of his appointment was to me a very joyful +surprise. When he came, he appeared heartily to like his new +surroundings--his rooms at Trinity, the collegiate life, the informal +conversation, his lectures, his pupils, and the University library. +Quietly but keenly observant of men and things, he was very soon +completely at home in the University, with which, as he related in his +inaugural lecture, he had wished to connect himself forty years before. + +"In hall, in combination-room, and where men smoked and talked, he took +an unobtrusive but effective part in conversation. His utterances, +always terse and epigrammatic, were sometimes a little oracular: {lxx} +'I suppose, Lord Acton,' said some one interrogatively, 'that +So-and-so's book is a very good one?' 'Yes,' was the reply; 'perhaps +five per cent. less good than the public thinks it.' But a casual +question not seldom drew from him an acute comment, an interesting +reminiscence, or a significant fact. 'When was London in the greatest +danger?' asked some one rather vaguely. 'In 1803,' was the immediate +answer, 'when Fulton proposed to put the French army across the Channel +in steamboats, and Napoleon rejected the scheme.' + +"Others will tell you of his influence upon the historical studies of +the University, of his help given freely to teachers and to learners, +and of his judgment and skill in planning and distributing the sections +and the subsections of the 'Modern History,' which he did not live to +edit. He was an active member of the committee which recommends books +for purchase by the University Library. But, in general, he shunned +the routine of business. Even at the Library Syndicate, though he +followed the proceedings attentively, he seldom or never took part in +discussion or voted. Indeed, I thought that I noticed in him a paradox +which extended beyond the limits of academic affairs. On the one hand, +he was observant of everything, and he made up his mind about +everything. On the other hand, except where supreme principles--Truth, +Right, Toleration, Freedom--were in question, he was cautious and +reserved in the expression of opinion, and he always preferred to leave +action to others. + +"Like other specialists, I found that my own study had not escaped his +attention. He had a good general knowledge of the work done by modern +students of ancient philosophy, and his criticisms of them showed a +sound, clear, and independent judgment. One or two trifling incidents +seemed to me significant. The first time that he came to my rooms, +looking quickly along {lxxi} a bookshelf, he soliloquised: 'I never +knew that Bonitz had translated the _Metaphysics_.' It surprised me, +not that Acton did not know of the posthumous publication of this work, +but that he expected to remember all that a specialist in Greek +philosophy had written. On another occasion he was talking of German +professors--first of professors of history, afterwards of others. He +could tell us about all: he had heard many. At last it occurred to me +to ask him about a forgotten scholar who had written a treatise about +Socrates. The book was in no way important, but it had given me a very +agreeable impression of the writer's personality. I found that Acton +had known the man, had attended his lectures, and could testify to the +personal attraction which I had surmised. + +"When Acton died, writers of obituary notices appeared to regard him as +one who, while he devoured books and accumulated facts, passed no +judgments, framed no generalisations, and cherished no enthusiasms; and +I fancied that Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, in his very interesting +letter to the _Spectator_, unconsciously encouraged this +misapprehension. Nothing could well be further from the truth. To me +it seemed that Acton never read of an action without appraising its +significance and morality, never learnt a fact without fitting it into +its environment, and never studied a life or a period without +considering its effect upon the progress of humanity. + +"His judgments were severe but just. Neither glamour of reputation nor +splendour of achievement blinded him to moral iniquity. He had a +wealth of righteous indignation which upon occasion blazed out +fiercely. 'Are you aware,' he once asked, 'that Borromeo was a party +to a scheme of assassinations?' 'But,' said some one, 'must we not +make allowance for the morality of the time?' 'I make no allowance for +that sort of thing,' was the emphatic answer; and {lxxii} the contrast +with the measured and sedate tones of Acton's ordinary utterance made +the explosion all the more impressive. + +"This righteous indignation carried with it a corresponding +appreciation of anything good. I remember well how he told me the +supplement to the old story of the Copenhagen signal--that Parker made +it with the expressed intention of relieving Nelson from +responsibility, but in the confident expectation that, if skill and +daring could do anything, Nelson would disobey. Acton could admire +Parker's magnanimity as well as Nelson's genius. + +"It would be presumption in me to say anything about Acton's historical +attainments; but I may note one or two peculiarities which I noticed in +his attitude to the study. History, as he conceived it, included in +its scope all forms of human activity; so that scholars whom others +would describe as theologians or jurists were in his eyes great +departmental historians. This, I thought, was the explanation of his +miscellaneous reading; for he was always methodical, never desultory. + +"But despite this width of view, he did not grudge the expenditure of +time and trouble upon details. On the contrary, he would not only +ransack archives, but also interrogate those who had witnessed, or been +concerned in, great events. Of course he minutely scrutinised and +scrupulously weighed the testimony thus obtained; but when once he was +satisfied of the accuracy of his information, he was prepared to use it +for the interpretation and explanation of documentary evidence. + +"Acton could never have written anything which was not literature of a +high order--dignified, incisive, vigorous; and yet history was to him, +not literature, but political philosophy; not an interesting narrative, +but a scientific study of cause and effect. He had, {lxxiii} however, +no faith in political forecasts about anything more than the immediate +future. + +"It is impossible not to regret that Acton has not made his mark in +literature as the writer of a great book, or in politics as a great +statesman; but he preferred to _know_, and the men who know as Acton +knew are few. The world is the richer whilst they are with us, and the +poorer when they go. Acton will not be forgotten at Cambridge." + + +A brilliant and penetrating judgment of Lord Acton's services to +Cambridge was paid in the _Cambridge Review_ a few months after his +death (October 16, 1902) by Professor Maitland, who had been associated +with him in preparing the "Cambridge History" as a Syndic of the Press. +Himself one of the most learned men in the University, Mr. Maitland was +amazed by the extent of Lord Acton's range. "If," he writes, with a +laudable wish to avoid extravagance, "we recall the giants of a past +time, their wondrous memories, their encyclopćdic knowledge, we must +remember also how much that Lord Acton knew was for them practically +unknowable." His reading was not for amusement. His daily consumption +of a German octavo meant mastery of the book, with copious notes in a +neat handwriting on slips of paper, which were always, like his books, +at the disposal of his pupils. He "toiled," as Professor Maitland +says, "in the archives, hunting the little fact that makes the +difference." He was "deeply convinced that the history of religion +lies near the heart of all history," while it was his fate to be +suspected by Catholics as a Liberal, and by Liberals as a Catholic. +"This man," I again quote the Professor, "who has been called a miser +was in truth a very spendthrift of his hard-earned treasure, and ready +to give away in half-an-hour the substance of an unwritten book." Some +writers, especially bad writers, do not shine in conversation, because +{lxxiv} they are keeping their best things for the public. Lord Acton +would pour out to a sympathetic listener the most recondite history, +or, on a different occasion, the spiciest gossip, if that were the +commodity in demand. So far as knowledge and power went, and if time +had served, Professor Maitland is convinced that Lord Acton could +himself have written all the twelve volumes of the "Cambridge History." +The "History" is his best memorial. Another memorial is the famous +Aldenham Library, bought by Mr. Carnegie, and presented by Mr. Morley +to the University of Cambridge. + +The article which I have ventured to associate with the name of +Professor Maitland is signed "F.W.M.," a signature which the writer +would not have adopted if he had desired to preserve his anonymity. +The authorship of a letter signed "H.J.," and written from Cambridge, +which appeared almost simultaneously in the _Daily News_, is not more +difficult to identify. "H.J.'s" words are a memorable and eloquent +protest against the ignorant fancy that Lord Acton spent his life in +the mere accumulation of learning. The exact opposite, as he says, was +the truth. Lord Acton "was no mere Dryasdust: he was a watchful +observer of men and affairs. If he studied the detail of history, it +was in order that he might the better elicit its significance and its +teaching. He was slow to express an opinion; but in his judgments +there was never any indecision. In the advocacy of intellectual +freedom he was eager: in the denunciation of tyranny and persecution he +was at a white heat. He was a man who loved to prove all things, and +to hold fast that which is good." Every one who knew Lord Acton, or at +least every one who could appreciate him, must recognise the justice +and fidelity of this eloquent tribute. But it was at Cambridge that he +put forth to the utmost the whole power of his mind. It was at +Cambridge that he showed most clearly how his whole {lxxv} life had +been devoted to the cause of freedom and of truth. It was there that +he planned the "Cambridge History" in twelve volumes, of which two, the +first and the seventh, have already appeared. Unhappily they were +posthumous. Lord Acton did not live to see them, nor to write the +Introduction. At the age of sixty-seven he was suddenly struck down by +paralysis, and, after lingering for more than a year, died at Tegernsee +on the 19th of June 1902. He was "buried by the side of the daughter +whose deathbed he had comforted with the words, 'Be glad, my child, you +will soon be with Jesus Christ.'"[4] Such through life and in death +was his simple faith. + +The lustre which Lord Acton's name reflected upon Cambridge was not +felt more deeply, or more sincerely, than the higher standard of +learning which he introduced into a learned professoriate. He was the +one man in England, if not in Europe, who could have brought with him +from the outside an equal knowledge of books and of the world. +Cambridge saw his weak side quickly enough. The keen-witted men who +enjoyed and appreciated his talk, or watched him listening with an +attention that nothing escaped, could understand why Döllinger +predicted that if he did not write a great book before he was forty he +would never write one at all. As a matter of fact he did not write a +book of any kind, small or great. He did not even, as he once thought +of doing, republish his Essays. His contemplated Life of Döllinger +dwindled into an article of forty pages on Döllinger's Historical Work +for the _English Historical Review_. + +But the article, which appeared in October 1890, shows Lord Acton at +his best. His affectionate reverence for his great master gives a +colour and animation to his style, which it often lacked. This is by +far the most readable of all his essays, and by no means {lxxvi} the +least instructive. Döllinger was in some respects like himself. +"Everybody felt that he knew too much to write," and the best part of +his erudition was given to his pupils at Munich. In tracing the course +of Döllinger's studies, and of his mental development, Lord Acton wrote +the best, because the most characteristic, biography of the Old +Catholic leader. Besides the interest of the subject itself, Lord +Acton contrived to bring into this wonderful summary a number of +judgments on other things and persons as vivid as they are acute. +Freeman rather horrified him by preferring printed books to manuscripts +as material for history. But then he "mixed his colours with brains." +Lord Acton was inclined to think Stahl, the philosophical and +Conservative statesman of Prussia, "the greatest man born of a Jewish +mother since Titus." Döllinger, however, considered that this was +unjust to Disraeli, and most Englishmen will probably agree with him in +opinion. + +Whether Lord Acton ought to have left the Church of Rome when Döllinger +was excommunicated, or when the Vatican decrees were pronounced, is a +question which it would not become a Protestant to ask, much less to +answer. He did not shrink from the risk of speaking out, and it was +not his fault that he escaped. No earthly reward or peril would have +induced him to say what he did not think, or to profess what he did not +believe. The truths which all Christians hold in common, and the moral +principles to which Sophocles ascribes an unknown antiquity, guided him +in history as in life. His emphatic statement that he had never felt +any doubt about any Roman doctrine was made some years before 1870, and +the secession of the Old Catholics, which failed for want of an +Episcopate. In 1878 Pio Nono died, and was succeeded by a more liberal +Pontiff. Manning lost his influence at Rome, Newman was made a +cardinal, and the Broad Churchmen {lxxvii} in the Roman communion were +tolerated, if not encouraged. Even Lord Acton's old enemy, Manning, +turned from theological controversy to movements of social +philanthropy, to Irish politics, in which he agreed with Acton, and to +good works among the poor. The strictest of Roman Catholics were not +sorry to think that the most learned Prelates of the Anglican Church +were less learned than a Catholic layman. The more a man knew, the +larger was his idea of Lord Acton's knowledge. But for the years +between 1895 and 1900 that knowledge would have been comparatively +wasted. It would have profited only a few readers here and there +beyond the circle of Lord Acton's friends. At Cambridge, the Professor +of History was in perpetual contact with fresh minds eager to know, and +to transmit what they acquired. He did not altogether understand the +Greek mind, for he told Mr. Gladstone that it was unscientific. But he +had this much in common with Socrates, the father of science, that he +required the clash of dialectic to bring out his full force. When +ignorant people laid down the law, Lord Acton smiled, and, it is to be +feared, enjoyed himself in an almost sinful degree. When scholars and +philosophers conversed with him, they found him often indeed more +inclined to listen than to talk, but always appreciative, suggestive, +and awakening. To genuine students he was a mine of information, and +would give what was asked tenfold. Nobody ever entrapped him into a +path which for good reasons he was disposed to avoid. Attempt to draw +him into controversy, and he became cautious, subtle, enigmatic. But +every one who came to him, as his Cambridge pupils came, for assistance +and instruction, went away not merely satisfied and enlightened, but +moved and touched by the profundity of his knowledge, the generosity of +his temper, and the humility of his soul. + + + +[1] I owe the opportunity of reading and quoting from this lecture, +reported in the _Bridgnorth Journal_ of the 14th, to the kindness of +Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff. + +[2] His wife had become insane on the failure of her mission to France. + +[3] "Studies in Contemporary Biography," 398. + +[4] _Edinburgh Review_, 404, page 534. + + + +[Illustration: + + Mary Gladstone + Herbert Gladstone Mr. Gladstone Mrs. Gladstone Dr. Dollinger Lord Acton + + Group at Tegernsee, 1879.] + + + + +{1} + +LETTERS OF LORD ACTON + + +[Sidenote: _Mentone Oct. 31, 1879_] + +You were threatened with a long letter from me, about people at Paris, +but I could not finish it, ... and so I lost the only days on which +Paris information could be of any use. After a week of care, varied by +pleasant visits from Lacaita, F. Leveson, and H. Cowper, we started, +and rested at Milan and Genoa, and yet were nearly the first arrivals +here. We expect to have the Granvilles for neighbours at Cannes, as +well as Westminsters. + +Let me first of all transcribe a passage from my unsent letter: "If you +see Madame Waddington you will find her a very pleasant specimen of +American womanhood. Her husband wants the qualities that charm and win +at first, and I suppose he will not hold his own long. He has no dash, +no _entrain_, no personal ascendency, like the men who succeed in +France; but there is not a deeper scholar, or a more sincere and +straightforward Christian in the country." I see from your letter that +the unfavourable part of my remarks came true more than the praise. +Something may be due to awkwardness connected with the Ferry[1] Bill. +The interview with Scherer consoles me. He is a man of the first order +as far as that can be without showy gifts. But he is guarded, cold, +unsympathising, and {2} the intellectual crisis by which he came to +repudiate the Christian faith was so conspicuous that he is embarrassed +with people who are notable for religious conviction. + +I wanted to say so much about Mignet, who was celebrated before your +father went up to college; of St. Hilaire, the best Grecian and +earliest Republican in France; of Dufaure and Simon, the leaders of the +Left Centre, who hold the fate of the Ministry in their hands; of +Laboulaye, the political oracle of Waddington, who solves every problem +by American principles; of Vielcastel, the most sensible and +experienced of Conservatives, and the only surviving Doctrinaire; of +Broglie,[2] who has all but ruined the Republic, in order to expiate +his former ecclesiastical Liberalism; of Pasquier, who possesses the +good qualities in which Broglie is deficient; of Taine, who has almost +the solidity of Scherer, and more than his brilliancy. But it is all +too late now. + +You describe the Professor[3] most justly. Serenity has grown on him +with years, although they were years of conflict and of the great grief +that men who do not live for themselves can feel for the cause they +have lived for. Strength, too, though in less degree, by reason of a +vice which besets another great man. From a sense of dignity and of +charity he refuses to see all the evil there is in men; and in order +that his judgments may be always charitable, generous, and leaning to +the safer side, he is not always exact in definitions or rigorous in +applying principles. He looks for the root of differences in +speculative systems, in defect of knowledge, in everything but moral +causes, and if you had remained with us longer you would {3} have found +out that this is a matter on which I am divided from him by a gulf +almost too wide for sympathy. + +Boutney I never saw. But he is a sound and useful man, who makes it +his business to spread political knowledge among those classes that +govern France. A cousin of ours lectures, under his auspices, to +half-educated Parisians. + +"Le Gendre de M. Poirier" at the Français is one of the greatest treats +imaginable. Your stay at Paris must have been full of new impressions +and experiences, even in its levity. + +And now, after a short interval of Victor Hugo at Keble, I fancy you +will start for the Midlothian campaign. You were very wrong to +suppress that second sheet of your letter, and I hope you will make up +for it by letting me know how things go on, and bearing in mind that +one learns nothing at Mentone, except the bare outside of public events. + + +[Sidenote: _Mentone March 15, 1880_] + +There is so much to ask and say that I have not the courage to begin. +I am afraid you will forgive the length neither of my letter nor of my +silence, and will be as much bored by the silver of the one as by the +golden of the other. But when all the world has its rendezvous in +Harley Street, admit me, perdu in the crowd. + +In this out-of-the-way region we have been kept up to the mark in home +politics by pleasant visits from Freddy Leveson--a robust +Gladstonian--Cowper Temple, who told me more than I knew about the +world of spirits; Goschen, who spent several days with us, and whose +footsteps are very visible on the road that leads away from the Liberal +party, through {4} Brookes's, to a moderado coalition; Reay, ... fresh +from Midlothian; Mallet,[4] doctrinaire, disputatious and desponding, +but abounding in criticism of the policy which he represents. Lord +Blachford passed, but I did not see him. Nothing carried me back to +England more than the two Italians[5] whom you overheard at Venice, who +were here when I was very ill, but who took me over the whole ground +traversed since 1842. Bonghi's essays[6] are appearing successively, +and they are meant as a lesson for Italians, and break up the career in +a way which loses the thread of continuity and the law of its progress +and the wealth of the unity therein. But he is exceedingly intelligent +and sympathetic, and I hope that he will recast his materials when he +puts them together in a volume. When he asked me: Why is Mr. Gladstone +so much attached to the Church and so much against establishments? Why +is he so generous towards R. Catholics and so hard on the Pope? Why is +not Ireland reconciled? Why is not England won?--you will believe that +I found my voice again. I don't think the book will ever suit our +public, but I should like it to appear in French. + + * * * * * + +A certain letter of mine acknowledging the gift of the Lancashire +Canvassing Speeches was written between the election and the summons to +Windsor, in November 1868.[7] If it leads you to look at the Bristol +electioneering speeches mentioned in it, you will be disappointed; for +they will seem to you poor in comparison. In reality, they are an +epoch in constitutional history. Burke there laid down, for ever, the +law of the {5} relations between members and constituencies, which is +the innermost barrier against the reign of democratic force. Charles +Sumner once said to me: "Mr. Burke legislated from those hustings." +When you met John Morley at Glasgow he had just written a very good +life of Burke. It is impossible not to be struck by the many points of +resemblance between Burke and your father--the only two men of that +stature in our political history--but I have no idea whether they would +have been friends or bitter enemies. + +Madame de Staël is the author of that saying about liberty, whom I +commemorate in terms studiously excluding rivalry with George Eliot. + +Do you remember a question as to the number of words in Shakespeare and +in Milton? There is all about it in Brother Mark's[8] "Life of +Milton," which is in the same series as Morley's "Burke." + +And another, as to the title of the "Imitation"? I find that it is not +the title given by the author--so that Milman's very plausible remark +falls through. + +Plenty of muffs have written in the _Edinbro'_, but I am not one of +them. + +You see so many interesting and eminent men that you can spare a miss +sometimes. But I am sorry for that silent evening near Lowell. The +easy brightness of his mind surpasses all I remember in America. I sat +next to him at a dinner at Boston twenty-seven years ago, and spoke of +the burying, by Constantine, of the Palladium in a vault at +Constantinople. Longfellow would not believe my story. I quoted a +passage. "Yes," said Lowell, "but the passage we want is the passage +into the vault." Somebody questioned whether the statue of Cromwell +would stand {6} among the sovereigns at Westminster. "At least," said +he, "among the half-crowns." + +I have never met him since. But if I had been fortunate enough to drop +in that evening at Ripon's, I rather think I should have liked to sit +next to him. You would have seen the difference between a live dog and +a dead lion. + +Scherer ought to be much obliged to me for the conversation and for the +readers I procured him. He is, I think, one of the three best living +writers in France--deeper and more subtle than Taine, and infinitely +better versed in political questions than Renan. If you see that arch +person you will find his conversation, easy and tripping as it is, very +inferior to his writings. There are volumes of essays which I am sure +you would read with pleasure. And he has a special bone to pick with +the author of "A History of Liberty."[9] + +I sent for Seeley,[10] and read him with improvement, with much +pleasure, and with more indignation. It is hard in a few crowded lines +to explain my meaning on a question so fundamental. The great object, +in trying to understand history, political, religious, literary or +scientific, is to get behind men and to grasp ideas. Ideas have a +radiation and development, an ancestry and posterity of their own, in +which men play the part of godfathers and godmothers more than that of +legitimate parents. We understand the work and place of Pascal, or +Newton, or Montesquieu, or Adam Smith, when we have measured the gap +between the state of astronomy, of political economy, &c., before {7} +they came and after they were gone. And the progress of the science is +of more use to us than the idiosyncrasy of the man. Let me try to +explain myself by an example of to-day. Here is Ferry's article 7.[11] +One way of looking at it is to reckon up the passions, the follies, the +vengeance of the republicans, to admire or deplore the victory of the +Conservatives, to wonder at the Democrats. But beyond the wishes of +the Democrats there are the doctrines of Democracy, doctrines which +push things towards certain consequences without help from local or +temporary or accidental motives. There is a state built on democratic +principles, and a society built, largely, on anti-democratic elements, +clergy and aristocracy. Those elements of society must needs react +upon the state; that is, try to get political power and use it to +qualify the Democracy of the Constitution. And the state power must +needs try to react on society, to protect itself against the hostile +elements. This is a law of Nature, and the vividness and force with +which we trace the motion of history depends on the degree to which we +look beyond persons and fix our gaze on things.--This is dreadfully +didactic prose. But this is my quarrel with Seeley. He discerns no +Whiggism, but only Whigs. And he wonders at the mistakes of the Whigs +when he ought to be following up the growth and modifications of their +doctrine, and its influence on the Church, on Toleration, on European +politics, on the English monarchy, the Colonies, finance, local +government, justice, Scotland, and Ireland. So you may read in Alison +of the profligacy of Mirabeau, the ferocity of Marat, the weakness of +Louis, the sombre fanaticism {8} of Robespierre. But what we want to +know is why the old world that had lasted so long went to ruin, how the +doctrine of equality sprang into omnipotence, how it changed the +principles of administration, justice, international law, taxation, +representation, property, and religion. Seeley is as sick as I am of +the picturesque scenery of the historians of sense, but he does not +like to go straight at the impersonal forces which rule the world, such +as predestination, equality, divine right, secularism, +Congregationalism, nationality, and whatever other ruling ideas have +grouped and propelled associations of men. And my great complaint is +that he so much dislikes the intriguers of 1688 that he does not +recognise the doctrine of 1688, which is one of the greatest forces, +one of the three or four greatest forces, that have contributed to +construct our civilisation, and make 1880 so unlike 1680. See H. of +L.,[12] page 50,000. All which things make me more zealous, eager, +anxious about the coming election than you who are in the midst of it, +mindful of the blessing of repose and credulous of Seeley. Therefore I +read with delight the address to Midlothian--more even than the speech +in Marylebone--and am daily refreshed by Lowe, John Morley, even +Rogers,[13] and fancy how happy the inquisitors were, who put a stop to +the people they disagreed with! But I can quite feel your sensation in +watching all this. + + * * * * * + +If we win, then there will be no rest in this life for Mr. Gladstone. +The victory will be his, and his only. And so will the responsibility +be. Then will come the {9} late harvest and the gathering in of its +heavy sheaves. And then there will be not much Hawarden for you. + +I heartily wish your brothers success--even the riotous +one[14]--especially the riotous one. I will come and wish him joy. If +we are beaten, I shall be ashamed to let you see my grief. And as it +is, I am ashamed to tell you how much I should like to hear from you, +because you will suspect that I only want a supplement to the _Times_, +or a later edition of the _Echo_. But the next few weeks are going to +be a great turning-point in the history of our lifetime, and I believe +you know how to be generous. Be generous before you are just. Do not +temper mercy with justice. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes April 10, 1880_] + +There is nothing to regret. Your brother has held a conspicuous +place[15] in the most wonderful election contest of this century. He +has held it in a manner which will never be forgotten in his lifetime, +and which will do as much for him as victory; and the picture of the +young untried son bursting into sudden popularity and turning men's +thoughts from the absorbing exploits of his father adds an affecting +domestic feature to that great biography. That meeting at Hawarden, +after such a revolution and such a growth, is a thing I cannot think of +without emotion. + +So I cannot offer you anything sincere, except congratulation. We know +now, indeed, that the British Democracy is neither Liberal nor +Conservative in its permanent convictions, and therefore the party +triumph is not as altogether satisfactory and secure as it should be. +But the individual triumph, the homage rendered to a single name, could +not be greater; and {10} there could not be a fuller atonement for the +desertion of 1874, than a success so personal as to convey dictatorial +authority, apart from party merits and combinations. + +Your idea has this advantage, that one must strike when the iron is +hot, and it is now at white heat, and our legislative measures, even +though they involve an early dissolution, ought to be begun soon. What +I should fear most would be that, content with the intense reality of +power, Mr. Gladstone should repeat the unhappy declarations of five +years since in a way that would commit him for all future time; +absolute abdication would be a misfortune all round, and the +Conservative reaction would soon set in. But if an eventual return to +power is not absolutely excluded, if no word is said of what might +happen under certain contingencies, then we should still feel that we +have an invincible reserve force, that, when our first line is broken, +we can proclaim the Jehad and unfurl the green flag of the Prophet. +For the patchwork settlement of 1875 depends on the life of a man who +is several years older than your father,[16] who is a duke, and who has +a deplorable habit of falling asleep early in the afternoon. But I +only express this premature fear in view of circumstances which I am +sure every influence in the country, except, perhaps, the influence of +Windsor, will be strained to avert. + +Your description of Lowe's generous and feeling sympathy is really +touching. How little I thought, fourteen years ago,[17] when he was +the hardest hitter your father had to meet, and when your father said +he {11} might well shrink from crossing swords with such a man, that he +would close his active life as your brother's sponsor before vast +constituencies, or that we should come to think of him listening with +tears in his eyes to your brother's speeches, and muttering the words +you tell. + +Please tell Herbert that I have followed his proceedings as carefully +as one could at a distance, that I don't think much of his defeat, +that, in short, I go halves with Lowe.[18] + +I see that your sister made her way into the fray. I trust all the +worry and toil was not too much for Mrs. Gladstone. + +We are ending the season here, not as far out of the world as you would +suppose; for I just saw your neighbour Westminster, and here are +Argyll, Cardwell, and Goldsmid. + +If Disraeli waits to meet Parliament, and to fall in the daylight, I +may hope to have an opportunity of expressing to you myself all my +sense of the meaning of the victory, and my want of sympathy for you in +your defeat.[19] + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Paris May 23, 1880_] + +I have been in Paris only a few hours, and have seen nobody yet but +Broglie, Gavard, and Laugel. I must see Scherer and talk to him about +your visit here in the autumn. I have not been here for two years, and +many of my friends are growing so old that I don't like putting off my +visit to them. So I must keep those who have not that defect for a +happier time. + +{12} + +[Sidenote: _Paris May 14, 1880_] + +I shall be delighted to inaugurate breakfasting in Downing Street on +Thursday; and I should very much like to drop in the night before, as +you are to be there. But it seems very indiscreet; and if I dine with +Lord Granville, I shall not be able to get away until very late, when +you will be gone to bed. Tegernsee late hours cannot be kept in +London. I will hope for the best, and keep all I have to say, partly +for next week, partly for some more propitious season. + + +[Sidenote: _Würzburg May 23, 1880_] + +Although ink was not invented to express our real feelings, I improve +my first stoppage between two trains to thank you for three such +delightful days in London. It was a shame to take up so much of your +busy time, and to persecute you with the serpentine wisdom. I did not +wish to turn into bitterness the sweetest thing on earth, but I fancied +that there are things good to be observed in your great position which +nobody will tell you if you do not hear them from the most wicked of +your friends. Hayward, indeed, who walked home with me the other +night, might claim that title and dispute my prerogative; and I thought +he would be useful to you in many ways until I found out that he is +only solicitous about getting invitations for ----. + +Since you detected ... lending herself to a humble intrigue, you can +never be surprised at the revelations of disappointment and +self-seeking, and must not believe that the smiling faces you see +express unmixed loyalty and satisfaction. So I want you to be vigilant +not to resent, but to pursue the work of disarming resentment, and not +easily to persuade yourself that it is done. + +To begin at the top. Here is Lowe, positively {13} wounded at the +letter offering him a peerage instead of power, and wounded by the very +thing which showed Mr. Gladstone's anxiety not to give him pain, by the +absence of any reason given for being unable to offer him office. For +one so often finds that acts specially showing delicacy and +considerateness, little supererogatory works of kindness, are taken +unkindly. Now that is just a state of mind you can improve away by an +initiative of civility, bearing in mind that what Lowe says to me, his +wife delivers from the house-tops. + + * * * * * + +The animosity of the defeated party is natural, manifest, and +invincible. They have offered Greenwood Ł110,000 for his newspaper, +besides general offers of indefinite sums--enough to start it four or +five times over. But the danger is not there, but at home; danger of +disintegration and drifting. Both in church questions, and, +ultimately, in land questions, your father is at variance with the +great bulk of colleagues and followers--Chamberlain and Argyll in one +Cabinet is an anomaly sure to tell in time, especially with Argyll +discontented. So do not undervalue, or neglect, or waste, the social +influence which centres in your hands. + +Bismarck is so angry with Münster, that I hope he will transplant him; +meanwhile it ought to be remembered that he, M., not only scouted the +idea of Tory defeat, but wrote most disparagingly of Mr. Gladstone's +influence and position. + +Hayward will tell you what I learn from other sources, that Chenery +really wishes to bring the _Times_ round. Mr. Gladstone dislikes +thinking of those things, and allowed Delane to slip from him. Don't +leave the whole thing to be done at No. 18.[20] + +{14} + +I hope, towards the end of the session, you will consult MacColl about +the Bavarian mystery. It would be nice if Leeds does not require its +member just then. Above all things keep a very regular diary. You +will be so glad afterwards, unless you have some distant correspondent, +and make your letters to him, or her, do for a regular diary, which is +also a good plan. + + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee June 1, 1880_] + +I received your letter last night on my return from Italy, and read the +enclosure with interest. There are two things to be said in its +defence. It is true that Hartington has, of late, shown higher +qualities than the world attributed to him, and so far his adoring +kinsfolk may consider their higher estimate justified. His whole +attitude during the election was creditable, and his conduct towards +Mr. Gladstone was correct. + +Then, there is a grain of truth in the notion that the force that +creates, and sustains in a crisis, is not quite the same that is wanted +in time of prose to continue and to preserve; or in other words, that +creative power makes a great consumption of party resources, and, if +Burke gave up to party what was meant for mankind, it is better still +to give up to mankind what some people mean to use for party. This is +only a half truth, because party is not only, not so much, a group of +men as a set of ideas and ideal aims; so that I do not admit +Goldsmith's antithesis.[21] But taking party in the practical and +popular sense, of an instrument for homing office, people are uneasily +conscious that Mr. Gladstone will sacrifice it to loftier purpose +sooner than they would like. Nothing is more untrue than the famous +saying of an ancient historian, that power is retained by the same arts +by which it is {15} acquired; untrue at least for men, though truer in +the case of nations. + +But don't you see, pervading the letter and guiding the pen, the great +intellectual and moral defect of the present day? I mean, the habit of +dwelling on appearances, not on realities, of preferring the report to +the bullet, and the echo to the report. To spend and lose a majority +in some great cause, to be abused and ridiculed and calumniated, seems +to the writer a misfortune so great that it is worth while to haul down +one's flag rather than incur the risk of it. This is the power of +journalism, of salons and club life, which teaches people to depend on +popularity and success and not on the guide within, to act not from +knowledge, but from opinion, and to be led by opinion of others rather +than by knowledge which is their own. Not only ----, nearly everybody +yields up his conscience, his practical judgment, into the keeping of +others. I do not accuse Hartington, but it is clear from the words of +---- and ----, that there was a scheme to get Mr. Gladstone out of the +way. To expect him to take the first step was to expect him to resign. +It is so easy to do a dirty thing with self-satisfaction when it +consists in abstaining from action. The one letter is only the +plausible, affectionate, amplification of the other's impertinence, +with a saving clause, on the first page, inserted from dictation, when +the grievous indiscretion had been committed.... + + * * * * * + +It does not matter seriously; but it serves to corroborate that grave +speech of mine: trust nobody. I don't want you to think ill of people, +or even to suspect them until the evidence is strong. It is not their +virtue I question, but their attachment, and {16} consequently their +discretion. And I question their attachment because I doubt their +thorough agreement with Mr. Gladstone. I don't say they are +perfidious; but they are bound by an alliance they do not mean to last +for ever. + + * * * * * + +I do not cite Northcote and Carnarvon in confirmation. Soon after his +resignation Carnarvon certainly wished to come over. At a solemn +dinner inaugurating him as President of the Society of Antiquaries, he +asked the secretaries to get me to propose his health. In a preceding +speech he spoke of himself as a true Conservative at heart; and so I +took those words up, congratulating him upon them in an Antiquarian, +and eventually in a Liberal sense, indicating that they meant no more +than we mean by constitutional, that there were no Pyrenees between us, +that we entirely agreed with each other. We became close friends from +that hour, and he made it very clear that he was pleased to be so +interpreted. But he got little encouragement afterwards; and I fancied +he honestly took this line--there are intelligent High Church men who +dread, in the looming future, an alliance between democratic +nonconformity and the predestined chief of the stern and unbending +Tories, on the basis of anti-Erastianism. They say that the late +election, swamping the vulgar Whig, has made those two allies stronger +than ever, making each depend upon the other. They would stand a +Liberal Government made up of Spencers and Cowpers, but they say that +the demagogues have been strong enough to force their way in, and will +make their power felt. So that property and the Church are in danger. +I am ashamed to say that I thought this was Carnarvon's line. But +Liddon knows what he says. {17} Be sure that I also know what I say +when I assure you that the victoria pilgrimage will be a help to your +father, and that Lady R.'s coachman will grease wheels more important +than her own. Do go on, this summer at least, and see whether it is +not true. Lady R. is, moreover, a friend of Lady Blennerhassett, and +will sympathise with your feelings. + + * * * * * + +I should not have supported our side in its attack on Sir Bartle Frere. +It was not merely a question of empire, but of lives he would be unable +to protect, against a savage army[22] far stronger than the whole armed +population of Natal. I fancy that the analogy, or apparent analogy, +with the Cabul policy, which he had so much promoted, turned Liberal +opinion against him. But Frere is a strong, an able, and a plausible +man. It is true that his strength is akin to obstinacy and self-will, +that he is rather too plausible, and that he will gain his ends by +crooked paths when he has tried the straight in vain. He is a +dangerous agent, but, I should think, a useful adviser. Indians are +not generally a healthy element in the body politic, and he has the +constant vice of Indians, belief in force. But he has a breadth of +mind that is rare among them; and I have known people who hated him, +because he is so good. I do not suggest that that is the motive of the +three Anabaptists who ply you with advice from which I disagree. + +Thanks, a thousand thanks, for all the kindness of your letter. I +enjoyed the Sherbrooke-Airlie-Trevelyan dinner very much, and shall +envy Lady R. every Monday to come.... + +{18} + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee June 9, 1880_] + +My letter was posted with the one to you, though written, I think, the +night before, so that it must have been stopped and opened by some +postmaster whom the direction attracted, and who, like yourself, +exaggerated its importance. There are truths so prosaic, so dense, so +dull, that one can hardly state them without suggesting the idea of +something subtler or more interesting beyond. Of course, to one who +spends his time in watching and trying to understand the progress of +political life and thought, no public event could equal the late +progress from Dalmeny to Downing Street, and no prouder thing could +happen than to be able to serve Mr. Gladstone's policy. Indeed, if I +was not lured by his genius, his persistent friendship, and a curious +sympathy in many deep questions, I should be, now, by qualities never +so apparent as in the last few days, by the power of grasping principle +in one hand and policy in the other, without clashing, which was shown +in the opium speech, and just before, in the speech on the liability of +employers. I don't know whether I could ever have been of use abroad, +in other circumstances, if my nearest relation was not Foreign +Secretary,[23] for there is only one place for which I could pretend to +any special fitness. But as to trying to qualify as a candidate for +anything at home, you would soon be satisfied that it is impossible, if +I had a good opportunity of talking--if we climb a mountain, a very +high mountain, or cross a broad and stormy lake some day.[24] But I +think I must remind you of the old lady at Carlisle in Forty-Five, who +shut herself up in terror of the Highlanders, and, not being pursued, +{19} grew impatient, and cried out: "When are they going to begin?" + +I am a little disturbed at the highly ingenious and easy solution of +the great party[25] question. It is dangerous, at any time, to +multiply sources of weakness. Now there is a source of future weakness +in the idea of power assumed only for a term limited and defined. A +Parliament near its end becomes helpless and unable to act. When the +period fixed, or supposed to be fixed, is approaching, power will slip +away. Disappointed people, men impatient of having to wait, hungry, +jealous, reluctant supporters, will gravitate in other directions, will +promote rivalry, will speed the parting chief, will magnify the rising +sun. By having only Free and Easies, you establish a festive Centre +elsewhere, and the world, revolving in an improper orbit, may lose its +way. There has been, in this direction, a slight waste of capital.... + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _June 9, 1880_] + +Your card came just after my letter was posted. I shall be at Munich +on Friday, and have written to Hallam Tennyson, _poste restante_; but I +hope to waylay them at the station. It will be pleasant to pilot the +great man through Munich, or on the road to Achensthal, and I will do +my best.... + +I hope you will not quarrel with John Morley, for he seems to be making +the _Pall Mall_ the best Liberal paper in England. But he has so many +points of antagonism to Mr. Gladstone that I am afraid. He is a +sceptic; his studies are all French, eighteenth century; in political +economy he is a bald Cobdenite, and will do scant justice to the +political aspects of the {20} French treaty; he is a friend of +Lytton's, and I suspect, of the peccant Strachey;[26] he has the +obstinacy of a very honest mind. But I perceive that I am getting to +be a bore.... + + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee June 21, 1880_] + +The Tennysons came and went, I am sorry to say, prematurely. They +spent two days with us, and would have gone by Achensee to Innsbruck, +but the rain sent them back to Munich, where they took the train for +Italy. You will be surprised to learn that the Poet made a favourable +impression on my ladies and children. He was not only a gracious Poet, +but he told us lots of good stories, read aloud without pressure, +walked repeatedly with M., and seemed interested in the books he +carried to his room. Lady Acton took him to Kreuth and round the lake, +and liked him well. Yet our ways were very strange to him, and he must +have felt that he stood on the far verge of civilisation, without the +enjoyments proper to savage life. Even I was tamed at last. There was +a shell to crack, but I got at the kernel, chiefly at night, when +everybody was in bed. His want of reality, his habit of walking on the +clouds, the airiness of his metaphysics, the indefiniteness of his +knowledge, his neglect of transitions, the looseness of his political +reasonings--all this made up an alarming _cheval de frise_. + +But then there was a gladness--not quickness--in taking a joke or +story, a comic impatience of the external criticism of Taine and others +found here, coupled with a simple dignity when reading ill-natured +attacks, a grave groping for religious certainty, and a generosity in +the treatment of rivals--of Browning and {21} Swinburne, though not of +Taylor--that helped me through. He was not quite well, in consequence +of the damp and of the mountain fare. + +I write for news to your hotel at Venice, the weather having been +against the Dolomites. + +Hallam is a much better and clearer politician than his father, and the +only time we differed he was the truer Blue. If I add that I +discovered why he refused a baronetcy, I suspect it is no more than you +know very well already. + + * * * * * + +I have made Liddon's acquaintance at last. Nothing but Tennyson +prevented me from seeing more of him, for I found in him all that I +love Oxford for, and only a very little of what I dislike in it. + +------------ + +... Let me suppress truths only when they are pleasant, and confess +that I have a doubt about the scene with O'Donnell. Mr. Gladstone +brought against him an engine as obsolete as the Veto,[27] not for the +sake of France, for he could have his say in another way, but for a +disorderly act which was not the worst on record. It seemed a stretch +of severity when the claim to have been severely treated is the most +telling feather in an Irish cap, when the fact of having been silenced +in a new way inflates the lungs, if it does not strengthen the hands, +of a Home Ruler. But perhaps I am so fresh from the history of the +Plebs and their Tribunes that I am not quite sound as to the management +of Obstructives. + +{22} + +Challemel Lacour is the scholar, the philosopher, the ascetic of that +republican school of which Gambetta is the Tribune and the platform +hero. He is their Minister in reserve; and Albert Gate is so +manifestly the stepping-stone to power, he is so conspicuous a leader +of untried policy, that the civility of his reception will be taken in +France as a tribute to his party in a way there has been no example of. +He is probably the most interesting specimen in existence of the school +from which Robespierre would have chosen his colleagues. I should +very, very much like to know how he impresses you; and there is so much +more I should very much like to know, that I must learn to be less +obtrusive. + +... If the Bavarian Fawcett[28] opened one of my letters, I suspect it +was because they have not got over their perplexity at the Queen +informing the King of Bavaria of the Rammingen misalliance. Only, when +I ask indiscreet questions do not suspect me of asking for indiscreet +answers. + +I think Reay deserves a seat in the H. of L. (in the vulgar sense of +those mystic letters),[29] because he would perhaps not recognise your +portrait of a barren, contradictory, envious, dissolving cynic. But +the cap fits only too well, and I must acknowledge the fidelity of the +likeness, and the art of Lenbach in the deeper shades. Do you +remember, now, my prophecy on the Piazzetta, when I rejoiced that you +would not stay long enough to learn to hate me? + +In worldly quarters you will probably meet with the objection to Reay +that he is more instructive than amusing; but I hardly know a more +genuine good fellow. {23} Do you know Morier, who is in town? Another +man much objected to, but exceedingly able, resolute, and energetic.... + + * * * * * + +I hope you will see Blennerhassett, and think him worthy of his wife, +who is still at Munich. Thank you for the good news you give from high +places, and for the greasy wheels. Your sister's ears ought to have +tingled at the good things said of her here last week. + + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee July 1, 1880_] + +... I hope you have not many correspondents as unmerciful as I am, or +as much inclined to forget that you are living the most interesting of +lives, by the intensest blaze of light in all the world. Only let me +just thank you for your letter of yesterday and for your kindness in +asking me to future entertainments. My prospects are too uncertain for +me to accept. I must come only if I am wanted, and we shall hardly +have any close divisions of importance until the end of July. Your +invitations have doubled in value since Reay, whose particular group of +friends is so well known as to betray him to the worst of guessers, has +supplied you with a key--a false key--to my Venetian Mystery. + +Don't get tired too easily of London and its duties, for they are very +real. They will not get on without you. And it is of no use coming +over, if you are away on all kinds of larks. + +We must wait till Sunday before the result of this evening's debate +reaches Tegernsee. There is not any doubt the motion[30] is right; but +I can imagine a much {24} stronger statement of objections than the +righteous indignation of the Tories produced. + +Let us hope that John Morley was not discouraged by _encountering Sweet +Cćsar's ghost on Tuesday_. The _Pall Mall_ is getting a little +personal, and too highly coloured in reports of fact. Do you know my +intimate friend Lathbury, political editor of the _Economist_? A +Weekly is easier to conduct than a Daily; but his articles seem to me +excellent in tone, judgment, and impartiality. He wrote much formerly +in the _Daily News_ and the _Pall Mall_, and I was negotiating with +Delane to put him on the _Times_ when Bagehot's death gave him the +other opening. His wife was Bonamy Price's daughter. You never saw a +man more frank, cheery, and well-conditioned. + +I suppose Hayward has brought ----. Let him bring Chenery, that he may +be useful as well as ornamental. It is not a matter of indifference +that, when other journalists come, he should be left to stay away. +Only don't let his sins be cast in his teeth. + +I am afraid you will not take to Morier; but he is the greatest force +in our diplomatic service, in spite of his discomfiture at Lisbon. He +would be the very man to meet Challemel Lacour, who will be an offence +to so many. + +Liddon repeated at Munich the story of Carnarvon. He also gave the +excuse which I suggested--that Chamberlain, Fawcett, Dilke alarmed him. +But it is not a pretty story as he tells it, considering the way +Carnarvon turned against the new Ministry. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee July 10, 1880_] + +I am heartily glad to hear what you say of Mr. Gladstone's health and +strength and spirits, and of the {25} nook behind Hampstead,[31] so +much better than the dull air of the Thames Valley. There must be so +much to harass him besides what appears, and what he can wind up and +swamp in dazzling speech. Rosebery's anxiety is shared by many +thorough Liberals, and it is not, perhaps, unfortunate that the perils +of the position have made themselves felt at once, that the full +warning comes in time, and the remedy can be taken early. + +I wonder whether, for a reason you know as well as I do, a thing we all +perceive remains a mystery to the person most concerned to know it. +The Liberal party is held together, not by forces within, but by a +force above it. It consists, like the being that declined a chair, of +two wings and a head. Without Mr. Gladstone's ascendency and the +lustre of his fame, Harcourt, Argyll, and Bright would soon offend +every group into insubordination and incohesion. The jealousy between +the old Liberals, who are losing ground, and the usurping Radicals, and +all other familiar elements of discontent, cannot be restrained by +Parliamentary management alone. There remains a great sphere for +direct personal influence. The men Mr. Gladstone used to look up to, +Peel and Aberdeen, had not much of this, and I fancy he takes from them +the belief that it is unnecessary or undignified. He has been so long +without holding the threads of party: it is so natural, in one who +writes and speaks so much, to suspect those who misunderstand him doing +it voluntarily: it is so natural to him to underrate the effect of +personal contact, that he may think that the sole legitimate method of +mastering men is Parliamentary speaking, or writings addressed to +mankind. But it is worth anything that people should know and see more +of him, in society if possible. {26} First, because people are +flattered. Next, because they are awed. Last, because they are +conciliated, and so disciplined. And this applies to three sorts +especially--members, diplomatists, and journalists. I am sure all that +public policy can do to strengthen the Government will be done. But I +note an unhappy impatience of those inferior arts my earthy spirit +relies on. + +I see how willing the _Times_ is to be taken in hand, in spite of +Walter. Sir Henry Maine, like Stephen, used to write in the _Pall +Mall_. I don't know whether he has joined Morley. Maine's nature is +to exercise power, and to find good reasons for adopted policy. +Augustus or Napoleon would have made him Prime Minister. He has no +strong sympathies, and is not at heart a Liberal, for he believes that +Manchesterism will lose India. He considers also that the party, +especially Lowe, has treated him less well than Salisbury. He is +intensely nervous and sensitive. After that, I may say that I esteem +him, with Mr. Gladstone, Newman, and Paget, the finest intellect in +England. For some reason he is one of the men whom Lord Granville's +arts do not reach. I wish you would see him.... + +It would be very kind of you indeed to ask the Lathburys some Tuesday +or Tuesdays. I say that because he is so much my friend, but he is +also an eminently useful and trustworthy man. His wife wrote much in +the _Saturday_--I don't remember the article you speak of. When I am a +little in doubt about anything I consult Lathbury, who steadies and +encourages me. When I feel very sure of some conclusion I go to Maine, +who always knocks it to pieces. He is much the more instructive of the +two. The other is more pleasant. + +With Maine, above him indeed at the India Office, {27} is Sir Louis +Mallet, a thoughtful economist, a sincere, almost passionate Liberal, +but under Cobden's influence, one of those sincere Liberals least +attracted by your father. He is very sound beyond the Indus, and I +wish you sometimes saw him; but I ought not, perhaps, to say it, for I +half suspect the Prime Minister has some ancient reason for objecting +to him. + +The breakfast with the archbishop,[32] the philosopher,[33] the +Frenchman,[34] and even with G---- does not suggest hilarity. What you +will do for sketches of character after the Reays leave England, I +cannot imagine. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Marienbad August 8, 1880_] + +I don't know how to thank you for thinking of me at such a moment.[35] +It was hard to bear being away just then, and you must have gone +through a dreadful time. Even with the scraps of information that +reach one here, I have been able to realise much of it. Almost the +first consoling thing was the report of your escapade with Wolverton. + +Every line of your letter is a monument of your goodness, even your +disinclination to go into details. But I am afraid you must have been +terribly knocked up--so soon, too, after your own illness, of which I +will not speak now, but which, indeed, I was very sorry to hear of. +And I do trust that Mrs. Gladstone was enabled to go through it all +without excessive alarm or fatigue. She will not need words to be +assured of all my sympathy. I am persuaded that your greatest +pleasure, just now, comes from the expressive conduct of adversaries, +not from the vain words of friends. + +{28} + +Our defeat in the Lords[36] opens a wide vista of difficulty and +trouble--partly because it injures the Government, but not much, and +will probably increase the ascendency of the P.M.; particularly because +of the H. of Lords itself. Nobody will ever believe that such a +majority was due to honest and disinterested motives. People will say, +and will say truly, that an assembly which is moved by selfish and +sordid motives, when there is a question of preventing ruin and +starvation, is not only an injury to the poor, but a disgrace to the +community, and there is no way out of it. Small majorities may give +way or abstain; but after so determined a demonstration, repentance +will be suicidal. And the one instance in modern times where the Lords +have proved stronger than the Commons, because postponement here was +prohibition, is a question of helping the poor who suffer, at a slight +sacrifice and slighter danger to people immensely rich. + +We are only beginning with questions of this kind. Did you hear the +speech at the end of May in which Mr. Gladstone spoke of that class +which is so numerous that it is virtually the entire nation? Graver +words were never spoken in Parliament, for the entire land is virtually +in the hands of another class. The considerations which this contrast, +this contradiction suggests, have a mighty future before them, a future +damaging to my boy's prospect of ever sitting on a red leather bench. + +I am sorry we were not 52.[37] It would have been impressive, like the +Doctrinaires of whom it was said: "Ils sont quatre; mais quand ils +veulent imposer par {29} le nombre, ils prétendent ętre cinq." Indeed, +for all the reasons which Argyll repudiates, justifying my prophecy +about him in the spirit, if not to the letter, there has been no +measure for which I should be so anxious to vote. I wrote to Lord +G.[38] to send me timely warning, as there was no trouble I would not +take. + +Having been to a doctor, without any idea that I was seriously out of +order, I was sent here suddenly, and am forbidden, for reasons I must +acknowledge, to move for some weeks to come. It could not have +happened at a worse moment for me. + +I was sorry for Frere, and should probably have allowed his daughter to +come round me.... + +It is too kind of you to remember, after all that has passed over you +and the nation, details of former letters. Unless there has been a +change lately, there are two editors of the _Economist_, one for money +matters and the other for politics. Maine will be proud and happy, and +ought to be much obliged to me for supplying a topic for so pleasant a +conversation. I wonder whether he showed you the luminous side of his +mind, whether you saw why he always disagrees with me, and why some +people are more afraid than fond of him. Whatever passes at the end of +the Session, I do hope that a season of rest is included in our friend +Dr. A. Clark's prescriptions. It might give me some remote chance of +seeing you again. + + +That Dutch Interior is charming, and I hope you enjoyed the circle of +widowers as much as I did your graphic account of them. It is +delightful to think of the repose after the storm has been weathered so +{30} well. Argyll practising his next speech in the solitude of night, +----'s diplomatic deafness and yet more artful slumber, his brother +with a hook placidly fixed in Bright's aggressive nose, the refined +American[39] offended by the rigidity of the Democrat, the group of +listening Senators, the harmless youth, the envious beauty--and then +the great historic background and the one overshadowing figure--there +is not a page in Mme. de Rémusat approaching it. Do you write like +this to other people? Do you write at least six pages of diary every +night? Please do; and let me read it now and then. And remember that +one touch of ill-nature makes the whole world kin. If you are really +going to be left at Hawarden, you ought to shut your door, shut your +eyes, recall all that you have seen and heard during the last six +months, and write it carefully down. You have such an opportunity and +such a power. I am not like the Roman:[40] I envy almost as much as I +admire. + +You make me happy by allowing me to conclude that I gave no offence by +what I wrote of our exalted House. I don't mean that your uneasiness +was quite unreasonable. When a Bill[41] gets knocked about in +Committee, even when an artful Minister means it to be knocked about, +it can never go up to the Lords harmonious, consistent, and the genuine +expression of a policy. There are not two sides to every question, but +there is always an opening, in such cases, for sincere criticism. The +way out of that is to pass the second reading, and to correct in +Committee what was done wrong in Committee. What I mean in this case +is that the Bill involved a principle of infinite force and {31} value, +which the Ministry probably veiled to their own eyes, and which the +Lords were right to resist as a private association, which they are +not; wrong to resist as a disinterested national institution, which is +their claim to exist. + +It is impossible to exaggerate the depth of aversion the Bill has +evoked. You must have heard enough of it. One man has spent two days +here for the purpose of telling me how wrong it was. Another writes to +me that he has paired for the session, feeling that Government will be +obliged to those who help them when they are hopelessly wrong, although +the help consists in pairing and going to Vichy. These are idle men, +representative of thousands. + +It reminds me of the great landowner, Bedford, who reminds me of +Arthur,[42] who reminds me of Maine. I suppose it was a refuge in +Piccadilly that revealed the secret to me. Arthur's one fault is a +delight in secrets. Although Maine is unfitted to be P.M. (under any +but a despotic monarch), nobody has so large a conception of all +questions relating to the tenure of land. I dare say he has been asked +to say what he knows about Ireland. What pure reason and boundless +knowledge can do, without sympathy or throb, Maine can do better than +any man in England. + +I am sorry to think of Lowell's sun sinking behind your horizon. At +first sight one always fancies that those who question the certainty of +history sap the certainty of religion, or are the victims of those who +do, and I fancy I should have had a word (with corners) to throw at +him. The Rémusat volumes are one of my landmarks in judging Napoleon. +It is, of all accounts by competent people, the most injurious to his +memory, as {32} Segur's are the most favourable. Until I read them, I +thought the fixed intention to put Enghien to death, the charge of +murder, not proven. If the authority of these recollections breaks +down, I must invent for myself a new Napoleon. After allowing for the +fact that they were written, or re-written, years later, like the Diary +of John Adams, the Memoirs of S. Simon, the History of Burnet, of +Clarendon, the Annals of Tacitus, the Nine Muses of Herodotus, the +Eight Books of Thucydides, which are the most conspicuous sources of +all history, and for the suspicion that there was a great secret she +not only could not tell, but wrote in order to obliterate, and after +giving whatever weight it deserves to the little joke that calls it: +"Souvenir d'une femme de chambre renvoyée," I am so persuaded that the +book is authentic and true, that I should have liked to hear the +argument. But this is true, history does not stand or fall with +historians. From the thirteenth century we rely much more on letters +than on histories written for the public. I need not add that the +history of our Lord which we find in the Epistles is one most valuable +testimony in favour of the Gospels. So that even if Lowell can damage +the reports in this book, we can restore the certainty of history by +the aid of letters, of documents and of those facts in which +independent witnesses agree. + +Is it not heroic of your sister renouncing a life like your own for the +toil of Newnham? I wish her success and happiness in her pilgrimage +most sincerely. By-the-bye your other sister is the real pilgrim, and +I wish I had known in time to warn my belongings of her movements. + +My time here is up, and I go home to-morrow. As a proper P.M.'s +daughter you ought to say you hope {33} I was really ill, to justify +fifty-one.... It is absurd to come all the way to England and not to +see you; so I shall come only if I am ideally wanted. I write at once +to discover whether and when. Your telegram is a great disappointment. +I wonder where they will go. Cannes is the place I recommend, but not +till October. If I am not summoned home from Tegernsee for Hares or +Burials,[43] I look forward to Ammergau, and wish you were coming. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee Sept. 21, 1880_] + +I ought to write no more. I ought to hide my useless hand altogether. +There was a week during which I looked forward to a summons home, a +summons that never came; and after having persistently applied for it, +I thought that it was better not to make the offer of my vote more +urgent than the demand for it. I know how much I have missed and lost. +Circumstances over which I have no control would probably have arrested +my maritime enterprise at Gravesend.[44] But how pleasant Holmbury +would have been! And then there was, and is, so much to talk to you +about, so much that evaporates in writing and will not keep, so much +that will. As there can hardly be an autumn session after prorogation +in September, I must wait for the end of January. Meanwhile I hope you +will cultivate the notion of Tegernsee. Such a break with the great +world would do Mr. Gladstone good, and I fancy we could make you like +the place once more. Let me have that hope before me. + + * * * * * + +{34} + +My children went to Ammergau and came back not deeply moved, but +strongly impressed. I let them go without me from a sort of dread many +people must have felt, not because of the chief actor, for a pious, +simple-minded peasant's conception of the two natures is probably not +more inadequate than my own, but what we do gradually realise in +meditating the Passion is the character and experience of the +disciples, the effect of that companionship, the utter human weakness +that survived in the midst of the intense feelings it must have +awakened in them. Those are contrasts that can be expressed, and are +apparently too subtle for the performers at Ammergau. I am told that, +on the whole, the audience remained cold. + +The answer to my telegram was signed in a way that led me to doubt +whether it came from you. I trust it was sent by your brother, and +that Mr. Gladstone was not molested by my inquiries on the top of so +many more. It is beginning at the wrong end to read David Copperfield +first, but he is worth anything to busy men, because his fun is so +hearty and so easy, and he rouses the emotions by such direct and +simple methods. I am ashamed to think how much more often I return to +Dickens than to George Eliot. + +Do some of the brothers or secretaries make a point of reading the +_Temps_? Of all that is written against the Ministry and its general +policy, the _Temps_ articles seem to me the most serious and +suggestive, and at Marienbad I went through a course of Austrian +newspapers, which are very hostile, and better written than our Tory +organs, but not near so good as the _Temps_. I am afraid it is my +friend Scherer. Not being a Frenchman, his patriotism is peculiarly +lively. Don't call Chenery my friend. I have never seen him, and {35} +only know that he is making a mess of the _Times_. But my reasons were +those you know well, and they will hold good next year. + +You are quite right in all your corrections. ---- ---- is a very good +fellow. His only artifice is his discretion. His mind is accustomed +to travel along roads straight, and wide, and beaten, so that it +accumulates conventional truths and borrowed convictions, but he is as +well meaning and as sincere as a man can well be who is not on the +watch to root up prejudices. His son is threatened with Toryism as +with the gout. I don't know which is worse.... I talk nonsense at +times, because sense is monotonous. It won't do to shrink from hard +speeches and judgments when they are necessary. But it is horrible to +make them when one is not compelled. Do believe me when I say that is +what makes you delightful, and a certain generous, unselfish, +courageous credulity is part of it. Commynes says: "It is no shame to +be suspicious, but only to be deceived." That is a contemporary of +Machiavelli. Two centuries later you will find in Télémaque these +words: "Celui qui craint avec excčs d'ętre trompé merite de l'ętre, et +l'est presque toujours grossičrement." That is the progress of 200 +years. Don't you think you see the distance between Bismarck and your +father? + +You have had an excellent idea about those letters. If you go on and +arrange them, it will be very precious to him some idle day, if that +should ever come, and to you all. The inner reality of history is so +unlike the back of the cards, and it takes so long to get at it, which +does not prevent us from disbelieving what is current as history, but +makes us wish to sift it, and dig through mud to solid foundations. I +conclude that all {36} political correspondence has been set in order +regularly, otherwise that ought to be thought of too. + + * * * * * + +The bit of scandal suspected in the unwritten part of the Rémusat +Memoirs, was supposed to have belonged to the time of the camp at +Boulogne, of which she gives very full accounts. But it is not +necessary to believe all those things. There would be no pure +reputations. I suspend my belief even about Fersen.... They cannot +publish Talleyrand's Memoirs because he tells so many tales of that +kind, and people still living would be surprised to find out who they +are. + +I was flattered to know that I had supplied topics of conversation and +even of dispute at Holmbury. I should like always to be accused by +Lord Granville, defended by your father, and sentenced by you. But +don't always associate me with bottles of physic, even in dreams. + +From something you wrote I gather that Mr. Gladstone did not altogether +disagree with Forster's sentiments; I am sure I did not; yet it seemed +to me very hazardous to make such a speech in Mr. Gladstone's absence, +suggesting wide differences in the Ministry, rousing expectations which +will go on growing through the autumn, making the Lords more angry than +repentant, using terms so vague that they can be almost honestly +misrepresented, and a great deal more. Home Rule will make great +capital out of the events that happened after your father fell ill. + +J. McCarthy's two last volumes[45] are not equal to the first, but you +will be interested in reading them. But here is post-time, and I +cannot say one-half. + +{37} + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee Sept. 27, 1880_] + +It is not easy to add to the panegyric pronounced on St. Hilaire by a +too zealous friend in Friday's _Pall Mall_. That gratifying +description is not quite satisfactory. The writer affirms that St. +Hilaire is an Orientalist of the first rank, and a Greek scholar +unsurpassed in France. He knows Greek thoroughly for working purposes, +but not exquisitely as a scholar; and he has done little, on the whole, +for his idol Aristotle in the way of consulting the manuscripts and +improving the unsettled text. And although he has studied Eastern +religions deeply, I do not believe that he is a master of Eastern +languages. Nor does he live on a third floor in that good street the +Rue d'Astorg. He does not live there at all, but three miles away, in +a charming little bachelor's house at Passy. His rooms, formerly in +the Rue d'Astorg, were "au fond de la cour au premier," and his +maid-servant is not (and was not) elderly, but young, though +ill-favoured. And it is not fair to say, with obvious purpose, that he +never deserts the Thiers dinner-table except for the Germans. I made +his acquaintance at a dinner at Lord Lyons's. + +From all which I conclude that the letter is a vehement endeavour to +recommend the new Minister abroad. Last summer St. Hilaire gave me the +three big volumes of his Aristotelian Metaphysics, and, when I +remonstrated, said, "Vous me le rendrez un jour, d'une autre façon." +That is what I am doing at this moment, when I tell you how very highly +I rate the man. + +St. Hilaire is quite at the top of scholars and philosophers of the +second class. Not a discoverer, not an originator, not even clever in +the sense common with Frenchmen, not eloquent at all, not vivid or +pointed in phrase, sufficient in knowledge, but not abounding, sound, +but not supple, accustomed to heavy work in {38} the darkness, unused +to effect, to influence, or to applause, unsympathetic and a little +isolated, but high-minded, devoted to principle, willing, even +enthusiastic, to sacrifice himself, his comfort, his life, his +reputation, to public duty or scientific truth. He is not vain, so +much as didactic; there is a method about him that is a little severe, +a solidity that wants relief. His character has been shaped by long +devotion to a cause that was hopeless, by which there was nothing to +gain except the joy of being a pioneer of ideas assured of distant +triumph. So that he is disinterested, consistent, patient, tolerant, +convinced, and brave. Indeed, courage, contempt of death, is the one +thing I have heard him speak of with something like display. The +Republican party, to which he belonged even under Charles X., and of +which he is the patriarch, had a good deal of dirty work to wash off; +and I have observed that he was not communicative when, in an interest +which it were superfluous to mention, I have tried to learn the secret +history of Republicanism under the monarchy. There are few of them who +never touched pitch. But he and Littre are distinct from most others +by their hard work and their voluntary poverty. + +This makes him peculiarly hateful to opponents. A legitimate Marquis +said to me: "C'est un honnęte homme, qui nous coupera la tęte de la +maničre la plus honnęte du monde." People who admit that he is +unstained by the gross vices of his party, speak of him as an +enthusiast, and a dupe, and no doubt expect him to acquiesce, like +Pilate, in all manner of wrong that he will not initiate. + +I do not feel that there is no truth at all in these imputations. I +have found that he thinks accurately, that he is even penetrating, but +not impressive. He {39} told me the speech he had prepared against the +Jesuits, which, I believe, he never delivered. The argument was: The +conscience of man is his most divine possession. Jesuits give up +conscience to authority, therefore they forfeit the rights of men, +which are the rights of conscience, and have no claim to toleration. I +won't undertake to refute this argument; but it is pre-eminently +unparliamentary, and smells of the oil he burns all day. St. Hilaire +does not believe in the Christian religion, but he has Descartes's +philosophic belief in God, and the elevated morality of the Stoics. +Not the least of his merits is that having spent his life on Aristotle, +he told me that he thought more highly of Plato; and in his +Introduction to the Ethics he shows the weakness of his hero's attack +on Platonism. In saying this he overcame a strong temptation. +Scientifically his great achievement is the transposition of the +several books of the Politics--which were in hopeless confusion before +him. All Germany accepts the arrangement he proposed, and as the work +is the ablest production of antiquity, this is no small matter. As a +moderate, unambitious, totally dispassionate Republican, he belongs to +the Thiers Centre. He thinks Jules Simon the most eminent public man +in France, so that he is scarcely to the Left of Freycinet. He +despises and detests Laboulaye, the oracle of the Centre Gauche. I +often heard, but am not sure, that St. Hilaire turned the scale, and +made Thiers adopt, and enforce, Republicanism. + +Forgive me for writing so soon and so confusedly. + + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee October 3, 1880_] + +Don't think me as prolific as ----, but I must begin again, as I had to +send off my letter with nothing but an answer to your question in it. +Lord Granville's {40} visit must have been more busy than pleasant; and +their dinner topic is provoking because one always hears that the best +men were those one could not have known. Remembering Macaulay, +Circourt, and Rémusat, I do not care to believe that Cousin or Radowitz +was far superior to them in talk. But then I, again, look back to the +people I knew with regret, and think my contemporaries less amusing. + +If ever I see Hawarden again, I hope it will not be for a night and +half a day, but I do not know when that will be. Let us fix our +thoughts on Tegernsee, and pave the way to rest and distraction here +next summer. + +Without claiming the discernment of Tennyson, I hold fast to what I +said. There may be people you dislike for one or two reasons. You +have no tenderness for Dizzy; and I am not sure you cared much for +either of our gondola companions. There are one or two unpardonable +crimes in your code, and one or two chasms that even Dante's mercy +cannot bridge. But you never show it, and ill-nature must show itself +in speech. I have no doubt at all that the relish with which you held +up the mirror of my vices the other day had more of sorrow than of +anger, and only a scrap of malice. It must have been Cheney, +especially if it was a reminiscence of Holmbury. Freddy Leveson has a +touching fidelity to monotonous friendships. This one was laid down, I +think, on Holland House foundations. + +If I wrapped my poet in too thick a hide of mystery (observe the +joke--own cousin to the Bite of Ecuador), it was because I fancied you +knew that you have no business to be the P.M.'s daughter, and would +never have been, but that Lady Waldegrave, lured by the sweep of the +Thames at Nuneham, neglected, or failed, to hook that brilliant Young +Englander, Monckton {41} Milnes, poet and statesman. But I know +several men, some you never heard of, who, looking back along the road +where they took the wrong turning, say to themselves, or at least to +their friends: "Well, well; but for this or that I should be P.M. now!" + +I have been prevented from finishing by interruptions, one of which was +the brief appearance of the Freddy Cavendishes, spoiled by their +uncomfortable haste to get away. I suppose what makes her so nice is, +partly her affection for her relations. There certainly was no +_arričre pensée_ in her way of speaking of your father. + +You cannot too much cultivate his taste for Dickens. Beware of "Little +Dorrit," "Oliver Twist," and "Dombey." In "Chuzzlewit" the English +scenes are often amusing, but there is a story about Pecksniff that may +repel him. + + * * * * * + +Please do not destroy the ease and serenity and confidence of my +letters, which are chatted and whispered, more than written, by wanting +to show them--even to Morley, in whom I have great reliance. I should +write quite differently, as you rightly say, if I was not writing to +the most chosen of correspondents. To Mr. Gladstone I already wrote +what was due to my friendship with St. Hilaire, especially as I fancied +that Downing Street would be strongly prejudiced against him. Do not +turn yourself from an end into a means--one does not justify the +other.... + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Dec. 14, 1880_] + +I have been afraid to write. The delicious and most spiritual gift[46] +was sent to me here, whither we came early, only to find ourselves in +sore trouble, for {42} a child had died of diphtheria in our villa just +before we arrived. We had to settle in half-furnished apartments, +where Mrs. Flower[47] found us, bringing a flavour of Hawarden. What +has stood in my way is this: Some time ago, recalling a foolish speech +of mine, a year old, and spoken under the spell of a great charm, you +asked me to repeat it on paper. I hesitated long, and whilst I +hesitated, the little volume came, and made it churlish to decline any +wish of yours. I resolved that the best sign of the sincerity of my +gratitude would be to do what you had asked, and to be much more +foolish than ever by putting on impertinent record the evanescent +conversation of Tegernsee. But I have been so fearful of giving you +more annoyance than pleasure, whether by the seeming of flattery or of +censure, that I have allowed myself to slip into a much more grievous +fault. Will you understand me and try to forgive me? I can never +thank you enough for all the friendship of which that beautiful volume +is the treasured symbol. There is so much of your thought in the +beauty of it, and so much in the choice of it--more than you could +guess. A dear friend of mine, now dead,[48] devoted himself to the +study of the Sonnets, as the real key to Shakespeare, being the form of +his own ideas, not what he gave to his characters. We discussed them +much together in long evenings at Aldenham, and he wrote a book about +them, which he followed up with a volume called "The School of +Shakespeare"; and the two together are the best introduction to him +that I know.... Swinburne himself has recognised their merit; so that +a lost part {43} of my life came back to me with your gift. All which +is to say that, whereas all that comes from you is very precious to me, +if anything could add to its price it was the happy chance that guided +your hand. + +Beyond that I must thank you very heartily for the confidence you +showed me in sending me that early letter.[49] It fills a large blank +in my conception and understanding of his life, for it shows--for the +first time to me--how large a part of what we know and contemplate with +wonder is an original gift, and was born with him, and how little, on +the other hand, has been added by the training of life. There are +things which experience has restrained, and checked in their +exuberance; but there are almost all the germs of the power that rules +the movements of half a world. When I read that skit of the revered +philosopher,[50] it almost seemed to me as if I had sometimes doubted +his greatness, and I think you were very good-natured. He is one of +the few Englishmen of genius; one of the most perfect masters of our +language that ever wrote; and when one has said that, and said it as +forcibly as can be, one comes to a deplorable catalogue of evil +qualities with which I shall not darken my pages. It was very good of +you to send me that introduction. + +I went to the Ghetto, and was amazed at the knowledge and conversation +of a lady who turned out to be Mrs. Mark Pattison.... She seemed to be +much in the secrets of the Chamberlain-Morley-Dilke faction, and +despondent about the _Pall Mall_. But I like Mrs. Flower exceedingly, +though I had only a glimpse of her. I thought her intelligent, +sensible, and good--things not to be lightly spoken of anybody--and +especially {44} not to you. As to Lady Blennerhassett, she is +kind-hearted, knows how to think straight, and is the cleverest woman I +ever met out of St. John's Wood.[51] If I ever said less than this in +her favour, it would be injustice to do so now. Sir Rowland +Blennerhassett fell at one time into bad hands--hands of Midhat and of +Newman.... I fancied he was half a jingo, half an Ultramontane; and +his wife seemed to back him, and held much aloof from us. They have +richly made up for it since, and there is no Irishman whom I should +more wish to see in conference with your father just now. He told me +so much that was curious and important and concrete, that I begged him +to put our conversation on paper, that I might use it in the proper +quarter. He has not chosen to do it, I fear from a motive of delicacy. +For we suppose that a set is being made against Forster; and he would +not like, by private letters, to contribute to it, as his statements +certainly would have done. But all these are words of wisdom: it is +time for foolishness. I remember the occasion. You wished that you +could disengage your mind from its surroundings, and learn the judgment +of posterity; and I said that, if you chose, you might hear it at once. +How I retrieved my audacity I cannot tell; and it is an awkward matter +to recall, unless, like the ghosts that looked so foolish in the +vestibule of the "Inferno," I avoid both good and evil. + +The generation you consult will be more democratic and better +instructed than our own; for the progress of democracy, though not +constant, is certain, and the progress of knowledge is both constant +and certain. It will be more severe in literary judgments, and more +{45} generous in political. With this prospect before me I ought to +have answered that hereafter, when our descendants shall stand before +the slab that is not yet laid among the monuments of famous Englishmen, +they will say that Chatham knew how to inspire a nation with his +energy, but was poorly furnished with knowledge and ideas; that the +capacity of Fox was never proved in office, though he was the first of +debaters; that Pitt, the strongest of ministers, was among the weakest +of legislators; that no Foreign Secretary has equalled Canning, but +that he showed no other administrative ability; that Peel, who excelled +as an administrator, a debater, and a tactician, fell everywhere short +of genius; and that the highest merits of the five without their +drawbacks were united in Mr. Gladstone. Possibly they may remember +that his only rival in depth, and wealth, and force of mind was neither +admitted to the Cabinet nor buried in the Abbey. They will not say of +him, as of Burke, that his writing equalled his speaking, or surpassed +it like Macaulay's. For though his books manifest the range of his +powers, if they do not establish a distinct and substantive reputation, +they will breed regret that he suffered anything to divert him from +that career in which his supremacy was undisputed among the men of his +time. People who suspect that he sometimes disparaged himself by not +recognising the secret of his own superiority will incline to believe +that he fell into another error of wise and good men, who are not +ashamed to fail in the rigid estimate of characters and talents. This +will serve them to explain his lofty unfitness to deal with sordid +motives, and to control that undignified but necessary work, his +inability to sway certain kinds of men, and that strange property {46} +of his influence, which is greatest with multitudes, less in +society--and least at home. And it will help them to understand a +mystery that is becoming very prominent, that he formed no school, and +left no disciples who were to him what Windham, Grenville, Wellesley, +Canning, Castlereagh were to Pitt; that his colleagues followed him +because he had the nation at his back, by force more than by +persuasion, and chafed as he did by the side of Palmerston. + +Some keys, I imagine, will be lost, and some finer lines will yield to +the effacing fingers: the impress left by early friendship with men who +died young, like Hallam, or from whom he was parted, like Hope Scott; +the ceremonious deference to authorities that reigned in college days +under a system heavily weighted with tradition; the microscopic +subtlety and care in the choice of words, in guarding against +misinterpretation and in correcting it, which belonged to the Oxford +training, which is a growth of no other school, which even in such +eminent men as Newman and Liddon is nearly a vice, and is a perpetual +stumbling-block and a snare for lesser men--these are points +appreciable by those who know him that must be obscure to those who +come after us. They will wonder how it was that an intellect +remarkable for originality and independence, matchless in vigour, +fertility, and clearness, continued so long shrouded in convictions +imbibed so early as to be akin to prejudices, and was outstripped in +the process of emancipation by inferior minds. The pride of democratic +consistency will aim its shafts at those lingering footsteps, as a +scientific age will resent the familiarity and sympathy with Italian +thought to the detriment of more perfect instruments of knowledge and +of power, and that inadequate estimate of the {47} French and German +genius which has been unfortunately reciprocal. + +But all the things about which no New Zealander will feel as we do, do +not disturb your appeal to the serene and impartial judgment of +history. When our problems are solved and our struggles ended, when +distance has restored the proportions of things, and the sun has set +for all but the highest summits, his fame will increase even in things +where it seems impossible to add to it. Ask all the clever men you +know, who were the greatest British orators, and there are ten or +twelve names that will appear on every list. There is no such +acknowledged primacy among them as Mirabeau enjoys in France or Webster +in America. Macaulay told me that Brougham was the best speaker he had +heard; Lord Russell preferred Plunket; and Gaskell, Canning. I have +heard people who judged by efficacy assign the first place to Peel, +O'Connell, Palmerston, and to an evangelical lecturer, whom I dare say +nobody but Lord Harrowby remembers, of the name of Burnett. But that +illustrious chain of English eloquence that begins in the Walpolean +battles, ends with Mr. Gladstone. His rivals divide his gifts like the +generals of Alexander. One may equal him in beauty of composition, +another in the art of statement, and a third, perhaps, comes near him +in fluency and fire. But he alone possesses all the qualities of an +orator; and when men come to remember what his speeches accomplished, +how it was the same whether he prepared an oration or hurled a reply, +whether he addressed a British mob or the cream of Italian politicians, +and would still be the same if he spoke in Latin to Convocation, they +will admit no rival. "C'est la grandeur de Berryer avec la souplesse +de Thiers," was {48} the judgment of the ablest of the Ultramontanes on +his speech on Charities. + +There are especially two qualities that will not be found in other men. +First, the vigorous and perpetual progress of his mind. Later ages +will know what in this critical autumn of a famous year is only +guessed, that even now, at 70, in his second ministry, after half a +century of public life, his thoughts are clearing, moving, changing, on +the two highest of all political questions.[52] + +His other pre-eminent characteristic is the union of theory and policy. +Bonaparte must have possessed the same mastery of infinite detail; and +the best democrats, Jefferson, Sieyčs, and Mill, were firm and faithful +in their grasp of speculative principle. But in democracy that +doctrinal fidelity is neither difficult nor very desirable of +attainment. Its disciples embrace a ready-made system that has been +thought out like the higher mathematics, beyond the need or the chance +of application. The sums have been worked, the answers are known. +There is no secret about their art. Their prescriptions are in the +books, tabulated and ready for use. We always know what is coming. We +know that the doctrine of equality leads by steps not only logical, but +almost mechanical, to sacrifice the principle of liberty to the +principle of quantity; that, being unable to abdicate responsibility +and power, it attacks genuine representation, and, as there is no limit +where there is no control, invades, sooner or later, both property and +religion. In a doctrine so simple, consistency is no merit. But in +Mr. Gladstone there is all the resource and policy of the heroes of +Carlyle's worship, and yet he moves scrupulously along the {49} lines +of the science of statesmanship. Those who deem that Burke was the +first political genius until now, must at this point admit his +inferiority. He loved to evade the arbitration of principle. He was +prolific of arguments that were admirable but not decisive. He dreaded +two-edged weapons and maxims that faced both ways. Through his +inconsistencies we can perceive that his mind stood in a brighter light +than his language; but he refused to employ in America reasons which +might be fitted to Ireland, lest he should become odious to the great +families and impossible with the King.[53] Half of his genius was +spent in masking the secret that hampered it. Goldsmith's cruel line +is literally true.[54] + +Looking abroad, beyond the walls of Westminster, for objects worthy of +comparison, they will say that other men, such as Hamilton and Cavour, +accomplished work as great; that Turgot and Roon were unsurpassed in +administrative craft; that Clay and Thiers were as dexterous in +parliamentary management; that Berryer and Webster resembled him in +gifts of speech, Guizot and Radowitz in fulness of thought; but that in +the three elements of greatness combined, the man, the power, and the +result--character, genius, and success--none reached his level. + +The decisive test of his greatness will be the gap he will leave. +Among those who come after him there will be none who understand that +the men who pay wages ought not to be the political masters of those +who earn them, (because laws should be adapted to those who have the +heaviest stake in the country, for {50} whom misgovernment means not +mortified pride or stinted luxury, but want and pain, and degradation +and risk to their own lives and to their children's souls,) and who yet +can understand and feel sympathy for institutions that incorporate +tradition and prolong the reign of the dead. Fill the blanks, deepen +the contrasts, shut your eyes to my handwriting, and, if you make +believe very much, you shall hear the roll of the ages. + + +[Sidenote: _Dec. 14, 1880_] + +Don't let me be unjust to Lecky. Dr. Smith asked me to review his +"Eighteenth Century," but added that if I found myself inclining to +severity he would wish to recall the proposal, inasmuch as the +_Quarterly_ had just attacked Tyndall. For it happens that Smith[55] +and I sometimes dine at a self-satisfied place that calls itself The +Club. Good men belong to it, but stay away: Lowe, that he may not meet +----, whom he dislikes sober, and detests drunk; the P.M., because he +too much appreciates the sweetness of home; others, for other futile +reasons. The group that continues faithful and carries on the +tradition of Johnson and Garrick is consequently small, and it is a +delicate matter to meet in such close lists men one is editorially +holding up to ridicule and obloquy. Indeed, the presence of both +_Edinburgh_ and _Quarterly_ on that narrow stage imparts a taste of +muttered thunder to most of our meetings. Tyndall and Lecky are +members, and Smith did not like to be on with a new quarrel before he +was off with the old. He had spoken unfavourably of an early and +unripe book of Lecky's, who was gratified when he heard of the message +I had received, and still more when Hayward reviewed him instead of me. +I {51} declined, because I was already in the clutches of a longer +task, and because I find that people quarrel with me for reviewing +them--not from dislike of the book. Hayward could find nothing in it +he did not know before. But I was more fortunate; I learned a great +deal, and should have said that it was solid, original, and just. +Perhaps not deep or strong or lively, or even suggestive, for that is a +refined quality, inconsistent with the habit of telling all one knows +and thinks, and dotting all the _i_'s. The book is lop-sided, having +grown out of a desire to demolish Froude's Irish volumes. And it was a +mistake to treat the central, political history as a thing generally +known, that could be taken for granted. No part of modern history has +been so searched and sifted as to be without urgent need of new and +deeper inquiry, and the touch of a fresh mind. Here is a new volume of +600 pages on Mary Stuart, by a man I never heard of, in which every +other page tells us something unknown before, and the times of Walpole, +Pelham, Pitt, being stirred by no surviving strife, have been much less +studied than the great dispute whether Protestant or Catholic should +reign in England. Neglecting the inexhaustible discoveries before him +in the Archives, Lecky has to give sentence when he gives too little +evidence, to describe characters more fully than careers, and to +obtrude his own very good sense where a true scholar and artist would +take care not to be seen. + +There is another defect, due to the secular tone of Lecky's mind, but +common to most historians. The age he writes of was the last in which +permanent political doctrines were formed by ecclesiastical principles. +Men very easily shape their notions of what government ought to be by +their conception of divine right, {52} of that domain in which the +actual legislator is God. As to one class of minds Church interests +are the supreme law in politics, to others, Church forms are the +supreme example. Nobody is so fanatical as Nigel Penruddocke; but +through subtle channels the influence works, and it was not merely a +propelling, but a constructive force in politics from the end of the +Middle Ages until the middle of the eighteenth century, when it became +fixed in the theories of men like Atterbury, Toland, Hoadley, Wilson, +Warburton--whose innermost instincts might be better exposed. + +As to the novel of the season,[56] it is so dull and so absurd that I +cannot get beyond the first volume. Except querulousness, it has +nearly all the bad qualities of old age; and if St. Barbe is meant for +Thackeray, it is contemptible even in caricature. My neighbour +Salisbury must feel that his time is soon coming. + +There is a little disappointment for Hayward even in the "Life of Fox." +There is less pioneer's work in it than in Fitzmaurice. But the +fulness of knowledge, the force and finish of the style (you see by my +three F's that I have been studying the Irish question) have revealed a +new man. I see him compared to his uncle,[57] and I think it is not an +exaggeration, though Taine says there have been only two men in the +world who had Macaulay's perspicuity. G.O.[58] is as transparent as +graceful, and more easy. The only thing that has shocked me yet is his +presumptuous assurance about the authorship of Junius. It is a Whig +dogma that Francis was Junius; but that is mere Macaulayolatry. I have +seen half the arguments that convinced me {53} thirty years ago fall to +pieces; and I am provoked that Trevelyan gives me old conclusions +instead of new proofs. If his speaking has made as much progress as +his writing, the Government has acquired a future Secretary of State. +But I am still unhappy at their meeting Parliament with Courtney out in +the cold. + +As I quote Taine, I ought to say that I do not agree with him. The +problems Macaulay made so clear were not the most difficult. Fenwick's +attainder, and the theory of standing armies--purple patches in the way +of exposition--are trifles compared with questions which jurists, +divines, economists have to discuss. The phases of the Pelagian +controversy, or the principles of government about which the Lutheran, +Zwinglian, Calvinist, and Anglican Churches contended, would better +have tested his power of making darkness clear. + +I am glad that I wrote to Fagan before reading his book.[59] For I +wrote about the Italian correspondence, which is curious. But the +biography does not deserve the praise it gets from partial people in +Downing Street. Houghton, I hear, has written ill-naturedly about +Panizzi; but the book is as full as an egg of mistakes, and of things +worse than mistakes, so that even remonstrance would be thrown away. +You will read with interest two volumes of Mérimée's letters to +Panizzi, just coming out. He was a bad man, and generally wrong; but +few men ever wrote so well. + + * * * * * + +I will get the _Church Quarterly_ at Nice, where I go to see my friend +Arnim, who is dying there, and shall {54} be very curious to read the +article.[60] There is not a more interesting or unexhausted topic in +all history than Julian, but I would have waited for the promised +edition of his work against the Christians, which had not appeared when +I left Germany. + +Here is Parker,[61] fresh from Hawarden; and when I think of your long +and obstinate cold, I cannot help regretting that you did not make the +Cardwells bring you to Montfleury, where they are our nearest +neighbours. He is much better than half a year ago, but very weak. +For three weeks the sun has shone all day. Greatcoats and umbrellas +are obsolete; and we have the most beautiful walks. + +T. B. Potter, also at Montfleury, and a great favourite with my +children, keeps me supplied with Cobdenian literature, and I have read +Brodrick[62] with much pleasure. + +Of course we are always thinking of Ireland, wishing for heroic +treatment, such as would have saved Louis XVI. and the old French +Monarchy, despairing of the needful overwhelming majority in the +Commons, of any majority in the Lords, of union and strength in the +Ministry; cheered by several intelligent letters and articles in the +newspapers, sure only of the chief, and more sure of his strong mind +than of his strong hand. If he has time for anything else, I hope he +has read _La Belgique et le Vatican_, the volume published by +Frere-Orban, the Belgian Minister, a weighty study of Vaticanism. + +I am under the shock of the sudden Cabinet and of {55} the Standard +article, and am waiting for an answer to a telegram to know whether I +must come at once. If not now, then on Monday or Tuesday before the +opening, for I want to get the cue of the situation from the P.M. (an +affair of five minutes), to see you, not quite so rapid a proceeding, +and to hear the first debates. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Dec. 27, 1880_] + +Your patient and forgiving letter is my best Xmas gift. It will be a +joy indeed to see you again next week. I hope not only in the midst of +gilded ceremonial. + +It is so like you to take my nonsense kindly and only to dispute the +praise. But I am not quite so far off as you imagine. In speaking of +home I must have indicated by a--break, that there was a change of key; +that I could not stay among the lofty entities that surround Tennyson +even when he butters toast, that I was coming down from the silver side +of the clouds and groping for things of earth. So that my climax is +not quite literally meant. Having thus paved the way to retreat from +an exposed position, let me take my stand for a moment, and say that I +think it not quite untenable.... You yourself, who have shared so much +of your father's thoughts and confidence, have hardly adapted yourself +to his chosen tastes and special pursuits? In more than one of the +later phases of his life, I fancy you hardly recognised the secret laws +of the growth of his mind, and join him sometimes by an effort, over a +gap. There is an ancient scholar at Cannes, who told me that he has +such confidence in the P.M. that he feels sure he will succeed in +defending his policy. I partly said and partly thought that anybody +can be on {56} Mr. Gladstone's side who waits to be under the thrall of +his speech. The difficulty is to hear the grass growing, to know the +road by which he travels, the description of engine, the quality of the +stuff he treats with, the stars he steers by. The scholar is old and +ugly, and, it may be, tiresome. It is impossible to be less like you. +But is there not one bit of likeness--in the stars? + +Really it is time for me to adopt the Carey tactics and run away from +my post of defiance. + +You know one of the two subjects. You will know the other on the last +night of the debate on the address. I am only listening to the grass. + +You will not resist what I said of our five Ministers if you will +consider one word. I think I spoke of their best qualities, not of all +their qualities. Pitt's art of making himself necessary to the King +and the constituencies is unapproached. But then it is a vice, not a +merit, to live for expedients, and not for ideas. Chatham was very +successful as a War Minister. Mr. Gladstone has not rivalled him in +that capacity. I fancy that both Pitt and Peel had a stronger hold +than he has on the City. Please remember that I am possessed of a Whig +devil, and neither Peel nor Pitt lives in my Walhalla. The great name +of Mr. Canning and the greater name of Mr. Burke[63] are the only names +that I hold in highest honour since party government was invented. + +You can hardly imagine what Burke is for all of us who think about +politics, and are not wrapped in the blaze and the whirlwind of +Rousseau. Systems of scientific thought have been built up by famous +scholars on the fragments that fell from {57} his table. Great +literary fortunes have been made by men who traded on the hundredth +part of him. Brougham and Lowe lived by the vitality of his ideas. +Mackintosh and Macaulay are only Burke trimmed and stripped of all that +touched the skies. Montalembert, borrowing a hint from Döllinger, says +that Burke and Shakespeare were the two greatest Englishmen. + +But when I speak of Shakespeare the news of last Wednesday[64] comes +back to me, and it seems as if the sun had gone out. You cannot think +how much I owed her. Of eighteen or twenty writers by whom I am +conscious that my mind has been formed, she was one. Of course I mean +ways, not conclusions. In problems of life and thought, which baffled +Shakespeare disgracefully, her touch was unfailing. No writer ever +lived who had anything like her power of manifold, but disinterested +and impartially observant sympathy. If Sophocles or Cervantes had +lived in the light of our culture, if Dante had prospered like Manzoni, +George Eliot might have had a rival. + + * * * * * + +I do think that, of the three greatest Liberals, Burke is equally good +in speaking and writing; Macaulay better in writing, and Mr. Gladstone +better in speaking. I doubt whether he feels it; and if he does not +feel it, then I should say that there is a want of perfect knowledge +and judgment. That want I see clearly in his views as to other men. +He hardly ever, I think, judges them too severely. Sometimes I am +persuaded he judges with an exceeding generosity, and I fancy it is +because he will not charge his mind with uncharitableness, because he +{58} does not allow for the wind, that he does not always make bull's +eyes. + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Athenćum Jan. 14, 1881_] + +It is impossible to leave England without emotion, when my last glimpse +of your father was lying in bed and in the great doctor's hands. It +will indeed be such a charity if you will send a line on a P.C. by +to-morrow, Saturday's post, to me at Goschen's, Seacox Heath, +Hawkhurst, Kent, that we may have Sunday's comfort in good news, and I +say advisedly a P.C. that you may not suspect me of an artifice to +obtain that other delight, of an early letter, such as those you write. +Don't let the lesson of suspicion turn against the teacher. Don't even +let it damage anybody much. I will not spoil my own ideal. That +American book is too wicked![65] + +Forgive me if there is one point, if only one, on which I do not agree +with Ruskin, who never writes to any one what might hot be written to +the world, on the fly-leaves of books. + +Your mother must think me an ill-mannered wretch, even if she did not +discover it before--for going away without thanking her for that +beautiful photograph. I did not feel sure, at first, how much she was +weighted with trouble, for I had never witnessed her serene courage. I +will leave it to you, if you please, mindful of an exquisite proverb +quoted this evening in the House as follows: Speech is silence, but +silver is golden. + + * * * * * + +{59} + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Jan. 20, 1881_] + +What I said of Ruskin was only to excuse the platitude I wrote in his +book, not to rescue my letters from appropriate destruction. + +You evidently think that George Eliot is not the only novelist at whose +feet I have sat, and that I have learned from "Endymion" the delicate +art of flattery. So that the seed of suspicion has taken root after +all, and I hang by my own rope. + +We might perhaps agree about Trevelyan better than you suppose. I +probably started from a lower estimate of the man, and was astonished +at his fulness of knowledge and the vigour of his pen. The oblique +style of narrative is said to be an invention of Gibbon, and Trevelyan +is of course full of Gibbon's times and writings. And I quite agree +with you that the business of historians is to get out of the way, and, +like the man who plays Punch, to concentrate attention on their +personages. Nobody, however, did this less than his illustrious uncle. + +I shall look out with extreme interest for your kinsman's[66] review of +George Eliot. I heard so many hard things said of her by Arnold and +Palgrave, but Wolseley is one of her admirers. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Jan. 21, 1881_] + +My letter was hardly posted when yours arrived. Besides what you +mention, Arthur Lyttelton would find an important paper in the _Pall +Mall_ of the last week of the year, on the early Warwickshire life of +George Eliot, and a letter of hers on the original of Dinah. I fancy +it would be worth while to look up {60} some of her Westminster reviews +between 1850 and 1854; and the last word of her philosophy is more +outspoken in Lewes's scientific writings than in her own. + +It is hard to say why I rate "Middlemarch" so high. There was a touch +of failure in the two preceding books, in "Felix Holt," and even in +"Romola." And it was "Middlemarch" that revealed to me not only her +grand serenity, but her superiority to some of the greatest writers. +My life is spent in endless striving to make out the inner point of +view, the _raison d'ętre_, the secret of fascination for powerful +minds, of systems of religion and philosophy, and of politics, the +offspring of the others, and one finds that the deepest historians know +how to display their origin and their defects, but do not know how to +think or to feel as men do who live in the grasp of the various +systems. And if they sometimes do, it is from a sort of sympathy with +the one or the other, which creates partiality and exclusiveness and +antipathies. Poets are no better. Hugo, who tries so hard to do +justice to the Bishop and the Conventionnel, to the nuns and the +Jacobinical priest, fails from want of contact with the royalist +nobleman and the revolutionary triumvirate, as Shakespeare fails +ignobly with the Roman Plebs. George Eliot seemed to me capable not +only of reading the diverse hearts of men, but of creeping into their +skin, watching the world through their eyes, feeling their latent +background of conviction, discerning theory and habit, influences of +thought and knowledge, of life and of descent, and having obtained this +experience, recovering her independence, stripping off the borrowed +shell, and exposing scientifically and indifferently the soul of a +Vestal, a Crusader, an Anabaptist, an Inquisitor, a Dervish, a +Nihilist, or a Cavalier without {61} attraction, preference, or +caricature. And each of them should say that she displayed him in his +strength, that she gave rational form to motives he had imperfectly +analysed, that she laid bare features in his character he had never +realised. + +I heard the close of Friday's debate, and was much distressed at the +hopeless badness of C----'s speech. But the situation gained by the +result, and still more by what passed on Monday. + +The topic of the reason for delay is, as I hinted at my last moment, a +very delicate one, and not to be discussed lightly. Suppose there is +bloodshed in Ireland before the Protection Bill passes; then a reproach +would lie at their door for thinking more of eventualities that regard +themselves than of the immediate danger to life, and the heavy strain +on families of small means dependent on their own or other people's +rents. And there will be this argument to meet, that less severity in +October or November would go farther than greater severity in March. + + * * * * * + +The journey across France was really freezing. So I remained at Paris +for a few hours' rest and no visits. Bisaccia came south in the same +train, and Goldsmid, who gives me a dinner to-night. I see by the +papers that it is still too cold for your pony-carriage. + +My whole social philosophy consists in the desire not merely to gratify +by civilities, but to bring men into contact with Mr. Gladstone--be it +by breakfast, dinner, or small and early, or even by a formal talking +to like ----'s--and your best art, together with the due discharge of +pasteboard, will be to bring him to bear, directly, on the seventy or +eighty men who want it, and are fit for it, and don't neglect Lady +Spencer's {62} parties, or Lady Granville's less multifarious evenings. +It is the confrontation, not the ceremony, that matters. False +believer,[67] because impostor, not to say hypocrite. I mean that, +beyond his charitableness and a written eloquence that always fills me +with an unspeakable admiration and delight, I do not believe in your +artful philosopher; that the differences revealed to us by his +writings, his conversation at Hawarden, the letter you treated so +generously, cut down to the bone, and leave me no space or patience for +anything better than a gracious courtesy. Therefore, in abetting your +studies in Ruskinese, I am no better than a humbug, which is not a word +to be written in books that will live and will irritate as long as the +language. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Jan. 28, 1881_] + +My faults are to you an opportunity of displaying those qualities to +which you will not let me allude. + + * * * * * + +Those are not truisms about George Eliot. The reality of her +characters is generally perfect. They are not quite always vivid, or +consistent. They degenerate sometimes into reminiscences. But they +live a life apart from hers, and do not serve her purposes. I wonder +whether Arthur Lyttelton knows any good German criticism of her; I +don't think I have seen any. + + * * * * * + +The Tories were sure to cheer as wildly as the Irish hit. You have, I +fancy, felt the weakness of Forster's great speech,[68] which, to the +eye of a practised revolutionist, slightly disparages the Government. + +He makes out an irresistible case against those who {63} think all is +right in Ireland, so far at least as to need nothing exceptional from +Parliament. He thinks little of the man--the imaginary hearer--who +thinks that the Irish peasants have a case; that the suffering and the +wrong are real, and are partly the work of the law; that the horrors +which fill us with impatience are the direct--though not the +unmixed--consequence thereof; that the first way to remove effects is +to remove the cause; that, whereas all this is certain, it remains to +be proved that the evil is beyond that treatment; and that the movement +which has its root in the soil, cannot be so dissociated from the +movement that has its root in America, that the one may heal and the +other may starve. Probably he does not wish to speak of remedial +measures beforehand, and in the same comminatory breath, or to dwell +too much on the purely revolutionary peril, which is a delicate topic, +about which people are not agreed, and which it is awkward to prove. +But he is so little occupied with the one real objection, in this +speech charged with the wisdom of many Cabinet discussions, that one +wonders whether that other line of thought, so repugnant to the +Castle,[69] was ever forcibly put forward in the Cabinet. + +What you say of great men manifesting only themselves in their +works--the predominance, one should say, of the lyrical mood--is +profoundly true. Milton and Byron are supreme examples. It is the +reason why there are so few great epics, and so few great--there are +many good--histories. It is, in higher literary work, the same +solicitude that makes it almost impossible for men to think of the +right instead of the expedient. You can hardly imagine how people +wondered what Mr. Gladstone's motives were in the {64} Bulgarian +affair. Most politicians would be ashamed of having done any +considerable thing because it was right, from no motive more clever +than duty. + +Fancy the _Encyclopćdia Britannica_ asking me to do their article on +Jesuits! I answered that I hoped they would have one on Mrs. Lewes. I +have written my testimony to Mr. Cross,[70] encouraging him about the +intended life.... Thank you a thousand times beforehand for every +chance line you promise me. You do not know how to say things that are +not interesting. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Feb. 2, 1881_] + +There is no way of describing the light and the joy which your letters +bring to this place of exile, with all the reality of the old country, +and with the ideal which belongs only to you and yours. I was hoping +that you had heard the glorious speech.[71] It must have been a treat +for you; and we saw at once, from our _Pall Mall_ itself, how profound +the impression had been. My imaginary listener, if he had listened, +might not have remained unconverted. Certainly, as you say, the +strongest confirmation of both speech and policy is the attitude of +these ill-conditioned Irishmen. As I have paired with Lord Limerick +(who has married a Miss Colquhoun of Cannes, and prefers bondage at his +father-in-law's villa to the protection of the land-league in his +ancestral domain, and who would support the Bill), I have virtually +paired against it, and am, I dare say, the only peer on that side, +unless Henry Stanley[72] escapes from Clare, where he is detained, +under pretence of Boycotting, by the transparent artifices of +friends.... + +{65} + +I was prepared to believe the _Standard_ account by a visit from +Wolverton, who offered to show me his last letter from Downing Street, +and I told him I thought he could do it. He was delighted to find the +Hawarden photograph at Cannes. You will not see him for a fortnight, +unless he lost all his money to-day at Monte Carlo. He deserves to +lose it. He wants a strong Coercion Bill and an illusory Land Bill; +but his party and personal loyalty make up for much obdurate deafness +to the Morley predications. + +I am very much obliged indeed for your message about Trevelyan. I +talked about bringing in outsiders, and men not of one's own politics; +and I spoke of Trollope and Morley in the former capacity, and of +Goschen in the latter. Trollope is condemned as noisy. There are +obvious objections to a newspaper editor, and the particular Lyttelton +objection was urged, in a letter to me, by Reeve.[73] Derby and Arthur +Russell put forward G.O.,[74] and I leave Goschen in the lurch until he +answers my letter from Paris pointing out the error of his ways; but I +hope you will be gracious to him before he goes. Goschen is above +sordid motives. He dreads the Radicals, detests ----, despises ----, +and, if left to himself and the nearest influences, he will drift away. +His lips have never been touched with the sacred fire of Liberty. His +international soul has never glowed with the zeal of the good old +cause. He is moved by the fears to which City men are prone, and there +are people more calculating than he is, who work those fears, partly to +check the Government, partly to provide a new chief for the Opposition. +Nobody can keep him straight but Mr. Gladstone. There is nothing +present to offer him, as {66} I take it for granted that one Budget +will not satisfy his--the P.M.'s--vast financial designs. But he can +employ the plan of Napoleon, who said to reluctant tribunes: "Que ne +venez vous discuter avec moi, dans mon Cabinet? Nous aurions des +conversations de famille." It is not a profound constitutional view of +the uses of an opposition; but there is a hint in it for Mr. Gladstone, +who underrates his own power over men in private. The bill as sketched +by the _Standard_ will strengthen his hold on Goschen. + +Chamberlain has been often as indiscreet as the theory he expounded to +F. Cavendish implies, but he can hardly have prompted the _Standard_. + +I am glad to think of Dizzy dining at No. 18. I wonder whether it is +because Lord Granville has heard he is Rowchester.[75] Your choice of +topics shows how you were on your guard with Sir Bartle. The true +thing about him is the strength, not the softness. I know that many +have been taken in by that assumed quality, and much resented it. The +right place for him would be in Asia Minor. + +If you were to see those letters you would say that Burne-Jones is not +the only hand at missing a likeness; but in politics you would +recognise exactly what must have been your impression, that I had +strung my expectations a little above practicable height, and came down +with anguish to the baseness of prose--like the heroine of my dreams (I +mean Dorothea, not the lady whose name is in your letter). + +I fear there is a perceptible change for the worse in Cardwell. + +{67} + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Feb. 10, 1881_] + +You have gone through an anxious time, and I need not say where my +thoughts were fixed during the week of Revolution.[76] I trust you are +well out of it, and found relief at Lubbock's. Wolverton is growing +excited and goes back. I shall miss his good spirits, his keen +pugnacity, his singularly practical and unphilosophical view of +politics, and Godley's[77] letters. And I don't know whether the +Government will gain an adviser prompt, if they make a mistake, to help +them to find it out. + +I have suggested to May[78] a precedent for the action of the Speaker +in stopping the discussion. It was three days before the Little +Gentleman in Black Velvet[79] at Hampton Court changed the dynasty. +The House was in Committee; the Tories were getting the worst of it and +wished to prevent a division. The Whigs would not hear of an +adjournment, and were jubilant, when one of their number had a stroke +of apoplexy. Harley, the Speaker, in concert with the Chairman, seized +the opportunity, took the chair, and closed the debate. Although the +majority was floored, nobody seems to have remonstrated. I presume it +is not on the Journals, and does not count. + +In the hundreds of reflections suggested by the day of the scene, and +of the superb speech, there is one slightly laced with regret (laced is +a metaphor taken from toddy and negus). Once in 1816, the extreme +Royalists, taking offence, walked out of the Chamber of Deputies. The +majority were about to vote when {68} De Serre[80] said: "Personne ne +croira que j'approuve, męme indirectement, l'espčce de scission dont +nos yeux sont frappés en ce moment. Mais je demande s'il ne serait pas +de la sagesse, je dirai męme de la générosité de la majorité ici +constatée et qui pourrait delibérer trčs légalement, de remettre la +séance ŕ demain. Il importe qu'on ne puisse pas dire que vous avez +refusé d'entendre ceux de vos membres qui pourraient avoir des +observations ŕ faire." And the debate was adjourned. + +I like to quote De Serre, for though a Tory in those days, he would +have developed if he had lived; and there is no statesman in French +parliamentary history who has so much analogy with Mr. Gladstone. + +Arrival of your letter from High Elms,[81] with enclosure--I was +surprised at those Irishmen going astray so hopelessly, when they had a +man amongst them who knows so much about parliamentary tactics as +Justin McCarthy. Their anger at the arrest of Davitt shows that it was +not properly deliberate. One argument with which you must have grown +familiar in the autumn comes to one's mind again since the Resolution. +Free government is government by consent; and consent is conveyed by +the choice constituencies make of their representatives. In a local +and circumscribed, not imperial question, legislation must, as a rule, +depend on the consent of those concerned, as represented in Parliament. +This argument is not conclusive against Coercion, because the Land +League has not even an Irish majority on its side. But it might apply +to the three quarter vote.[82] In a purely Irish question the {69} +whole Irish representation might be swamped and silenced by half the +House. I think the Irish might make some play here by insisting on the +distinction between wanton obstruction--stoppage of imperial measures +and paralysis of the House--and obstruction on their own exclusive +ground. Wanton obstruction cannot be tolerated in a Parliament that +legislates for one-fifth of mankind, although it was the method by +which Rome acquired liberty. But the Resolution makes even local +obstruction impossible to the unanimous people of Ireland. It +establishes a degree of subjection that did not exist before. As the +test of liberty is the position and security of minorities, it has to +encounter a very grave objection which is not felt in Mr. Gladstone's +time, but might be, under men like Harcourt, or the late Lord Derby, or +George Grenville. + +As the police[83] are responsible, I hope Mr. Gladstone will always be +ready to listen to their advice. But he knows very well that it is the +function of the police to take fright, and to wish to be very much +indeed on the safe side. + +I am glad you saw more of Lubbock, and liked him better. He has +astonishing attainments, and a power of various work that I always +envy. And he is gentle to the verge of weakness. He has something to +learn on the gravest side of human knowledge; apart from that he would +execute his own scheme[84] better than almost anybody. How I should +like to see my own List of Authorities drawn up by you! There was a +Pope who said that fifty books would include every good idea in the +world. Literature has doubled {70} since then, and one would have to +take a hundred. How interesting it would be to get that question +answered by one's most intelligent acquaintances: Winton,[85] +Dunelm,[86] Church, Stanley, Liddon, Max Müller, Jowett, Lowell, +Freeman, Lecky, Morley, Maine, Argyll, Tennyson, Newman, W. E. G., +Paget,[87] Sherbrooke, Arnold, Stephen, Goldwin Smith, Hutton, +Pattison, Jebb, Symonds, and very few others. There would be a +surprising agreement. One is generally tempted to give a preference to +writers whose influence one has felt. But that is often accidental. +It is by accident, by the accident that I read Coleridge first, that +Carlyle never did me any good. If I had spoken of him it would not +have been from the fulness of the heart. Excepting Froude, I think him +the most detestable of historians. The doctrine of heroes, the +doctrine that will is above law, comes next in atrocity to the doctrine +that the flag covers the goods, that the cause justifies its agents, +which is what Froude lives for. Carlyle's robust mental independence +is not the same thing as originality. The Germans love him because he +is an echo of the voices of their own classic age. He lived on the +thought of Germany when it was not at its best, between Herder and +Richter, before the age of discipline and science. Germany since 1840 +is very different from that which inspired him; and his conception of +its teaching was a grotesque anachronism. It gave him his most +valuable faculty, that of standing aside from the current of +contemporary English ideas, and looking at it from an Archimedean +point, but it gave him no rule for judging, no test of truth, no +definite conviction, no certain method and no sure {71} conclusion. +But he had historic grasp--which is a rare quality--some sympathy with +things that are not evident, and a vague, fluctuating notion of the +work of impersonal forces. There is a flash of genius in "Past and +Present," and in the "French Revolution," though it is a wretched +history. And he invented Oliver Cromwell. That is the positive result +of him, that, and his personal influence over many considerable +minds--a stimulating, not a guiding influence; as when Stanley asked +what he ought to do, and Carlyle answered: "Do your best!" You see +that I agree with the judgment of the _Times_ (outer sheet); and the +_Daily News_, preferring him to Macaulay and G. Eliot, and +constructively to Mill or Newman or Morley, seems to me ridiculous. I +should speak differently if, reading him earlier, I had learned from +him instead of Coleridge the lesson of intellectual detachment. + + * * * * * + +How could you read Laveleye's foolish letters? Pray don't believe him. +His speech about Herbert Spencer is an after-thought. He said he +thought him inferior to Mill; the rest is padding. As he has emptied +his sack of compliments on me I am sorry to think of the other things +you would have him say, for they must be in the other key. Have you +read the _Nineteenth Century_ on Liberal Philosophy?[88] Mr. Gladstone +certainly would not allow the definition of Liberalism attributed to +him to stand alone. My book begins with 100 definitions,[89] but that +is not to be one of them, and I wish I knew of one fit to stand in your +father's name. + +{72} + +The royal dinner-party was evidently a high success, and, apart from +royalty, I was glad to think of Derby frequenting Downing Street. I +hope his time will come soon, although when he and Goschen are in the +Cabinet I am afraid I shall lose my tenant at Prince's Gate.... + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Feb. 16, 1881_] + +Your kindness to B---- is like nothing but yourself--not only for +procuring him his innings so opportunely, but for interpreting so +generously his perplexity and irresolution. I dare say you are right +to lay the blame on me. It will be very amusing to get remonstrances +from bewildered friends, and I think I shall have to write to Arthur +Russell, as the most inquisitive and idle of them all, and therefore +the best to trust with a secret that is to be told. For pray believe +that there is no real truth in the report. + +I paired for the Government with Lord Limerick against.[90] No doubt, +if he was present and voted, he would support the bill. Therefore, in +balancing or neutralising his vote, I am virtually pairing with a +supporter, not an opponent, and am myself practically opposing. But +that is only my metaphysical commentary, founded on the fact that an +Irish Conservative is sure to like the bill much better than I do. +There is no understanding of the kind between us, and neither of us +mentioned this particular measure to the other. I am simply in Cork's +list, paired with a good Tory. And it all comes to nothing, for none +of us expect a division on the second reading. + +The only people with whom I need disclaim the impeachment would be +Morley & Co., as I should only be making Radical capital out of a +little joke. The {73} joke consisting in your representing me as a +worse enemy to Ministers than all the Tories and half the Irish. + +I made out in the autumn that Blennerhassett laid a good deal of blame +on Forster's want of flexibility of mind and of _coup d'oeil_. I dare +say he is quite right. There is evident truth in one remark you quote. +The excuse for agitation is by no means always its cause; and I would +not be too hopeful of the effects even of the most perfect or most +popular Land Bill. Ultramontane priests will never, permanently, be on +the side of the State. To nurse their own influence and the religious +faith of the people, they always magnify antagonism and persecution, +which implies denunciation of antagonists and persecutors. And there +are deeper reasons still, why it is useless to apply to Irish measures +the usual test of success. However, I am more often angry with our +clergy for absolutism than for revolution, so that I will say no +more.... + +I never knew Amalie v. Lasaulx; but her brother was one of the best +friends I ever had. For two years I followed his lectures on ancient +literature, philosophy, &c., and he left his library to me when he +died. His whole mind was occupied with religious ideas and studies; +but it was an intellectual religiousness, without a notion of a church +or any fervour of prayer. His sister had his independence of mind and +the same generous idealism, and a humble piety which he had not, and +which is remarkably rare among intellectual Germans. + +... The Speaker[91] seems to be a physician as well as a statesman. +The victory over the disturbing Irish must bring your father immense +relief. It is twenty-one years since I met him at Brighton, horribly +jaded, {74} and getting rapid baths of sea-air. I hope he will benefit +this time. + +You will have seen Scherer on Carlyle. The passage in Monday's _Pall +Mall_, exalting Arnold at his expense, only shows that his[92] +burlesque language provoked the rigid and highly white-chokered critic. +Froude will be a worthy biographer for so unscrupulous a hero. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Feb. 19, 1881_] + +What I said of St. Hilaire has become a little obsolete since his +resolute denial that the Greeks have a European decision--or award, as +it stood in the English draft--in their favour. I cannot remember +whether I indicated the mental peculiarity which has developed into +such impolicy; but whatever I did say is for you to apply and employ +entirely as you please. The Arthur Russells, moreover, know him enough +to introduce the necessary vinegar. + +The little joke about Forster is no deeper than Ćsop. One said: "He +has a woman's heart with a lion's spirit." Somebody answered: "Rather, +a lion's skin." + +It was reported that Ecuador[93] was preparing a Bark in defence of the +Pope. Your father suggested that it must be a vocal bark. Others said +it was probably Jesuit's bark (they prevail in Ecuador). And so it +went on--that it was worse than their bite, &c., &c., &c. + +I thought the _World's_ apology to the Irish utterly impudent, but one +of the best strokes of wit I can remember in my time. + +I meant it as you say; only the slightest tinge. One need only look at +them to see that generosity would {75} be as completely wasted on them +as on Salisbury, though there are three or four very much better than +others. De Serre was, except Chateaubriand, the only man with a streak +of genius among the politicians of Louis XVIII.'s reign; and he had +virtue and governing power, which that brilliant impostor had not. It +seldom happens that parliamentary debates cut down to the bone, or tap +the bed of principle. There are about half-a-dozen series of debates +that do, because they constructed a system of government from the +foundations--the French National Assembly, in 1789-1791 and 1848; +Frankfort, in 1848; Belgium, in 1831; the French Parliament, after +1815, are among the rare instances. And in that latter instance the +most eminent orator, the finest character, was De Serre. He stood +nearly where Canning stood at that time--between the parties, disliked +by both, persuaded, without the least prejudice or passion, that a +strong monarchy was necessary in the levelled society of France, +willing to make some sacrifice of strict principle in that cause, yet +looking forward to better times, which he did not live to see, for his +health broke down in 1822, and he died in 1824. One story will explain +the man to you. In one of his speeches he laid down that the bulk of a +representative assembly is almost always well meaning (an axiom of +constitutional philosophy). Furious outcries from all the royalist +benches interrupted him; shouts of: "Vous oubliez la Convention!" He +answered: "Yes, even the Convention! (order! order!) ... and if the +Convention had not voted under the terror of assassins, France would +have been spared the most terrible of crimes!" + +Laveleye has great knowledge of Political Economy and of politics, and +his peculiarity is that he does not {76} think of party, or power, or +wealth, but is thoroughly anxious about the condition of society. That +separates him from orthodox Economists (Lowe, Mallet, Newmarch), who do +not attend to the problem of Distribution, and are not made sleepless +by the suffering and sorrow of the poor. He is slightly heterodox; +what Germans call Kathedersozialist, and what even Maine would call +downright Socialist. His chief work is an account of early forms of +property, an indirect and rather confused plea for common property in +land. Ingram,[94] Cliffe Leslie nearly represent him in England. He +is a special enemy of the Catholic priesthood, like M. Frčre-Orban, the +Belgian minister, and Laurent of Ghent; but differs from them in the +wish to give the people something better than negations. He has +married a Protestant lady, and attends Protestant service; but whether +from any dogmatic conviction, or as a bulwark against Ultramontanes, I +am not sure. He is a very estimable man, well informed, earnest, +slightly tiresome, and not at all original. + +Don't mind coming to grief over parallels. A disposition to detect +resemblances is one of the greatest sources of error. To me parallels +afford a blaze of light, but they are rare, and hard to find. + +... What you tell me of Mr. Gladstone's health is good news indeed; and +I hope you will not listen to his regrets about a measure contrary to +the law of freedom. As much authority as is wanted to protect the few +against the many, or the weak against the strong, is not contrary to +freedom, but the condition of freedom. The disease lies in society, +not in the state. The other view, that the only dangerous enemy {77} a +nation has is its government, is pure revolution, and was invented by +St. Just. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 7, 1881_] + +When the accident[95] happened, the Cardwells had a favourable telegram +from a friend of yours, and we learned the news and Paget's verdict +together. You must have passed through terrible moments at first. But +the best thing about it was your setting off to amuse yourself at +Oxford. All England has been made to feel the truth of what you say, +and Mr. Gladstone is almost the only man who does not ask the question: +What is to be done if he is disabled? + +I must give up my friend Sir Bartle at last. I thought he had courage +and self-command; but he has been showing the mean spirit of recent +Toryism in a way I did not suspect. + +Your father's resolute adherence to principle, and his ascendency over +weaker colleagues will be put to a grievous trial by the folly of the +hapless Jingo[96] Wolseley bequeathed to the new government. + +I had a cousin who travelled beyond the Vaal, and at last died there. +He taught me to believe that the Boers were excellent fighting +materials. But Sir Garnet pretends that they are liars and cowards, +the only white race retrograding. So that Sir Bartle is not the only +South African authority I must relinquish. + +I hope you really like Sir James Paget. You know that he is one of my +Blue Roses, and makes up for my manifold disbeliefs in great +contemporaries. The author[97] of the novel just mentioned is here, +and is {78} our amiable and hospitable neighbour. There has been such +a Whip for Candahar that five people asked to pair with me. They are +not, on the whole, interesting travellers, except one, with a handsome +and over-married wife. And we have had Sir Louis Mallet, very +interesting, and very sound about Afghanistan. + +I am just off to Rome, to bring my mother-in-law away, who has spent +the winter there, and to see what ten years, and a new pope and new +king have made of it. I am only allowed a week's holiday, and must +crowd a good deal into it. The Sermons[98] will be my first resource +when I come back next week. Thank you, beforehand, so very much for +them. I did not guess the secret history, and, after your letter, the +Arms Bill was a disappointment. When in England I convinced myself +that there was, at that time, no threat of invasion or insurrection; +but when I saw the Bill going on, I fancied "Endymion" might be right +about that hidden danger. + + * * * * * + +Your letter came in the middle of this one of mine, and I can hardly +send a word of gratitude for such kindness. Until George Eliot I +thought G.S.[99] the greatest writer of her sex in all literature. I +cannot read her now. But that is individual taste, not deliberate +judgment. She is as eloquent as one can be in French--the unreal, +unhealthy eloquence that Rousseau brought in, that the Girondins spoke, +that Chateaubriand, Lamennais, Lamartine made so popular, that nobody +but Hugo strives after now, and that was modified in her case by Polish +influences. Some of these Frenchmen live on nothing else; and if one +plucks {79} them, or puts their thoughts into one's own language, +little remains. But she had passion, and understood it, and deep +sympathy, and speculative thought, and the power--in less degree--of +creating character. She could rise very high, for a moment, and her +best prose is like a passage from good poets. It is a splendid +exhibition, diffuse, ill-regulated, fatiguing, monotonous. There is +not the mastery, the measure, the repose one learns from Goethe and the +Greeks. She scatters over twenty volumes the resources her English +rival concentrates into a chapter. There is beauty, but not wisdom; +emotion, but not instruction; and, except in her wonderful eye for +external nature, very little truth. I would call her a bad +Second--such as Swinburne is to Shelley, or Heine to +Schiller--comparisons which involve a great deal of disparagement. + +The conversation of those three great men[100] is very curious--I +should have liked to see and hear them.... If, by chance, there was a +message or a commission for Rome, I shall be at the H. d'Angleterre +until next Monday. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 25, 1881_] + +Rome is the cause of all my delinquency. I remained a week, very ill +with sunshine and south wind, but very happy, and supremely grateful +for your letters and Illingworth's Sermons. Travellers' Rome is what +it was; but in the real city the change is like the work of centuries. +The religious activity and appearance that were of old are gone, and +their place is usurped by things profane. The State has so thrown the +Church into the background, that the Leonine city sleeps like a faded +and deserted suburb, and one must look behind the scenes for what used +to be {80} the glory and the pride of Rome. The bewildered +Girondin[101] at the Vatican, who stands so well with the Castle,[102] +I did not see, but heard much of his moderation, patience, and despair. +I think he is the first Pope who has been wise enough to despair, and +has felt that he must begin a new part, and steer by strange stars over +an unknown sea. + +I found a British ambassador devoid of political influence and +understanding, but splendidly hospitable, and good-natured even to the +friends of his own government. Layard, after serving the Court as a +stick to beat Paget with, had left before I came. Almost all my time +was spent with the two friends[103] whom you remember at a memorable +examination at Venice, and seven days passed like hours. But why do I +write all this? Am I not going to see you soon? I hear of a friendly +yacht in the Mediterranean, and of his family accompanying the P.M. +That can only mean embarkation at Cannes. It will be a joy for us +indeed, and nothing shall be left undone to make your stay here as +pleasant and as long as possible. You will not take long to understand +that it is one of the sweetest spots in Europe. Let this be an assured +element in all your Easter plans, that you will find here a haven of +rest and friends not to be surpassed in affection by any elsewhere. +Tell me what rooms to take at a neighbouring snug hotel. Or do you +stay at Capodimonte? Nothing here spoken of must be to the detriment +of six weeks with the Professor[104] at peaceful Tegernsee, between +August and October. + +Lecky seems to me to have composed unconscious of another tune running +in his head. The likeness is {81} greater in the description than in +the reality. Chatham had public virtue, genius, energy, coupled with +the magic power of transmitting it, the strength that comes with +unselfish passion, and a grand way of spending popularity that others +meanly hoard. He had few ideas, less instruction than Fox or +Shelburne, too little political knowledge for a clear notion of his own +place, of the stair he stood upon in history, or for any definite view +of the English or European future. I admit no comparison,[105] except +with the Burke of 1770-80. That early Burke would have made the peace +with the Africanders, which is the noblest work of the Ministry. + +When you seem to doubt what I think of it, you mean that Coercion has +robbed me of my footing in your confidence. Four weeks ago a very +eminent foreigner wrote to me that the discovery of the Afghan papers +would chill your father's Russian sympathies. After explaining that +the discovery was not new for Ministers, I begged my friend to dismiss +sympathies for principles, and to understand that there are in the +world men who treat politics as the art of doing, on the largest scale, +what is right; and I informed him that he would presently see peace +made with the Boers on terms of great moderation, after disasters +unavenged, in defiance of military indignation, in spite of lost +prestige. You see that I knew what I was saying. Bearing in mind how +strong a weapon of offence is thus given to enemies at home, +considering the strength the offended feelings lately showed, and the +weakness that lies in the attitude of the Government down to the time +of our defeats, I declare that I rejoice in this inward victory with +heartier joy and a purer pride than {82} I have been able to feel at +any public event since I broke my heart over the surrender of Lee.[106] + +Carlyle's two volumes are crowded with grotesque eloquence, but they +make him smaller in my eyes (nothing could make him worse). The +account of Southey seems to me to do him less harm than the rest. +"Common Sense" I read and recognised as Hayward. It seemed to me +nearly true; but I thought the _Times_ and _Temps_ near the truth. + +Your question about my injustice to Germany before 1840 touches a vital +point, and you narrowly escape a very long answer. Scientific Germany +was hardly born in all those years when Goethe, Schleiermacher, +Schlegel, Richter reigned. The real, permanent, commanding work of the +nation has been done by a generation of men very many of whom I have +known. To me it seemed that Carlyle spoke of great men before +Agamemnon, and the bonfires that were good in the dark obscure the +daylight. + +And there would be much to say about the appreciation of the French and +German genius, and the unpleasant reciprocity of chilled sympathy. But +even if I could convince you of the fact, I do not know the reason. +Let me only say, to prove that I am not fearful of giving you pain, +that I think there is some want of method in his[107] pursuit of +foreign literature. Things come to him by a sort of accident, are +pressed on him by some occasion, and are taken up with absorbing +vigour, not always with a distinct recognition of the book's place in +its series, of the writer's place among other writers. That sort of +knowledge can only be obtained {83} by close and constant study of +Reviews, by men having more patience than urgent steam pressure, by +much indistinct groping and long suspense. This seems unreasonably +confused; yet I think you will see what I mean by the time we have +taken a walk over the hill of Californie,[108] from which you gaze on +fifty miles of the Riviera. + +To-morrow I must be away from home; so I write in ignorance of your +brother's speech on Candahar. I am sure, if he spoke on so good a +subject, he justified Challemel. It will be a real privilege to hear +Lowell discourse on Dante. I am sorry the _Paradiso_,[109] which is in +the press, has not appeared. It is a good thing for all parties that +Lowell should be linked by more than political chains. + +The Sermons[110] have been unjustly taken by Wickham before I could +read them; but I shall have them soon. I saw enough to justify all you +said, in former letters. There is an originality about them which +obliges one to think again before acquiescing in everything. The next +number of the _Church Quarterly_ will be very interesting to me. But +there will be a dreadful cold shower-bath when the "Life"[111] appears. + +"Consuelo" is a very great novel. Afterwards she[112] threw herself +away on Monographs. I know that I don't like her; but I don't think I +could ever have compared Miss Brontë or Miss Austen to her. + + * * * * * + +Do you know an M.P. of the name of Lea? He is a rich Kidderminster +carpet manufacturer, and is member, now, for Derry. I have seldom met +a more {84} thoughtful, intelligent, and satisfactory man. He has been +to Aldenham, and I have stayed with him at Kidderminster, and thought +him so sensible, so full of resource, that I should think him worth +talking to about Ireland.... He was an Independent, and has, I think, +conformed. Among your friends, apart from Whips, I should expect Bryce +to know all about him. If he comes to a Tuesday I entreat you to +remember that he has impressed me, and friends who are better judges +than I, in a way not common among the people one meets in small +provincial towns and societies. I have a good deal more to say, but I +fancy it will lose nothing by waiting for the Paris Express. Meanwhile +the great veil will be lifted from the Budget and the Sempronian +Law,[113] and I await a rare excitement. Keep Cannes and Tegernsee +steadily in view. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes April 2, 1881_] + +It was a short dream, but a pleasant one, not to be quite forgotten +until Tegernsee fairly looms on us. Herbert's speech seems to me to +deserve all the praise it brought him. That evening I met Henriquez, +who spoke at Harrow during his canvass, and who says that as a speaker, +apart from political experience and knowledge, he has nothing to learn. +At the beginning the Skobeleff argument struck me as wanting a more +elaborate introduction, but my doubt was soon dispelled. Please tell +him, with my hearty congratulations, that the Roman empire perished for +want of a good Land Bill. That criticism[114] which Palgrave has +disinterred makes me think of the judge who was not tied to a stake, +and of Roger Collard's answer when asked whether he had called Guizot +an austere intriguer: {85} "I never said austere." _It_ is rather a +gift of inventing picturesque, and often grotesque epithets and +nicknames, than general power of expression. The sentences are seldom +good, and not comparable to those of the faithful Ruskin. But the man +who called Stanley a body-snatcher deserves a monument in Westminster +Abbey. + +You must have snubbed ---- at Lady Reay's. Or did he think you laughed +at him? That, you know, is a possible error. There is no doubt that +the opinion others have of us is one of the very many sources of subtle +error in our judgments which have grown into such a prodigious +catalogue since Bacon feebly began to enumerate them. People who study +them, and stand on their guard against this particular temptation, fall +easily by identifying themselves with their principles. It is almost +an axiom in controversy that to attack one's adversary personally is to +confess disbelief in one's cause, where doctrine and not conduct is in +question. And I do see men who are personally attacked, conclude that +their adversary is dishonest and knows that he is in the wrong. On the +other hand, there is an institution in London founded on the belief +that private acquaintance and good-fellowship softens the asperity of +public conflicts. You know about Grillion's, where men dine without +quarrelling, and where, by a pleasant fiction, no bore is supposed to +live. There the effect is what your father says. People make +opponents like them, and soften to their opponents, in consequence. + +I write under the shadow of Disraeli's illness. Our last accounts are +very threatening; and I, who think that the worst part of the man was +his cause, and who liked him better than the mass of his party, look +with dismay on the narrowness and the passion of those who {86} will +succeed him. He, at least, if he had no principles or scruples, had no +prejudices or superstitions or fanaticism. You have heard it said of +---- that he would have been a good fellow, if he had not been a +drunkard, a liar, and a thief. With a few allowances ... a good deal +may be said for the Tory leader who made England a Democracy. One must +make so much allowance for so many public men besides Midhat.[115] + +The Pope[116] probably had no clear view about policy. If he had, he +would hardly be Pope. But he sees that the old spells have lost their +power over men, and so he gives them up. It does not yet appear +whether he knows that the power is gone for ever; but visibly, for the +time, he is trying new arts, and endeavours to restore, by conciliation +and management, what Pius ruined by authority. The attempt to +disengage himself from the crash of the Legitimists is the most +remarkable instance of the change. He explains that the Church must +not be so committed to any political party as to stand or fall with it. +But that has been, since 1849, the entirely unvarying policy of Rome, +and has forced all the enemies of absolute power to turn their forces +against Catholicism. If once the two things are separated, there will +be a great change in the position of things in Europe. If the Pope +does not maintain Legitimacy he gives up the temporal power. He has no +legal or political claim to Rome that Chambord has not to France, for +arguments derived from Canon Law are without validity in politics. By +weakening his one resource, he shows that he thinks the game is up. +And then there is no insuperable obstacle to reconciliation with the +Powers. Solicitude for temporal sovereignty {87} has been the cause of +all the faults and disasters of our Church since the murder of +Rossi.[117] To surrender it implies such a conversion that I shall not +believe in it till I see clearer signs; for his chief confidant is the +Archbishop of Capua, an old friend of mine, who is what Newman would be +without his genius, his eloquence, and his instruction. + +I don't know where to stop. Capua is a bad stopping place. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Palm Sunday April 10, 1881_] + +Don't mind my weak handwriting and brief letter, but I have spent most +of this great parliamentary week in bed, and this is my first attempt +to write. + +I so much want to hear from you that your father is well and happy. +The achievement seems incomparable, and the policy wonderful.[118] But +I am too confused in mind yet to understand the whole thing and the +flight of the Thane.[119] Probably it has been long foreseen, and is +taken almost as a victory from coming alone. It portends tremendous +opposition in the Lords, unless Derby has succeeded him,[120] and even +then. I have seen nothing but the _Times_--stormy weather delaying all +English papers; and I read the peroration to my family as explaining +why the speaker is in my eyes so much the best of statesmen. I wonder +what an intelligent Socialist would make of the sentence which says +that the Irish landlords would have been guilty of injustice by +appropriating the results of tenant labour in improvement of the soil. +In a rough and ready way {88} they might apply the maxim to +manufactories too. Then comes an extract from the ninth paragraph of +the Bessbro' Report to the effect that Irish rents are lower than +English, which might, I fancy, serve when they try to stop the way by +getting up an agrarian movement in this country. I should add, having +been so recalcitrant, that the Court ought to be able to effect what is +substantially just in the Irish claims. I don't much believe in +peasant proprietorship; but I should like much done for emigration, and +have not been converted from what he said about that in 1845. The +threatening close of the eleventh[121] Budget speech must not, I hope, +be taken literally--not only because the Budget, laid down on partly +Tory lines, is not a very great one; partly because the speech is full +of promise and suggestion, and even menace; also because the only +successor whose succession would not seriously weaken the Ministry, +Goschen, declared his resolution not to join it when he returns.... + +You will not have had time to read French newspapers and academic +speeches. They elected Rousse,[122] a lawyer, not famous, but much +trusted by the expelled monks. Falloux was not ashamed to say to me: +"au moins, c'est un honnete homme--chose precieuse aujourd'hui." His +speech was an exquisite composition. But d'Aumale, in his reply, said +that Cicero was a much better man than Demosthenes--in politics. I +hope that sentiment would vex your father, the one man who has the +right to pronounce between them. A good historian says of Demosthenes: +"Er war Idealist und uberschätzte in gefahrvollen Zeiten die Wirkung +sittlicher Kräfte." + +I am anxiously watching the change of Ministry in {89} Italy, where I +saw this mischief brewing so lately. A worse administration than the +present seemed to me almost inconceivable. They avowed the doctrine +that there is no resisting the priesthood except by definite +Spencerianism; and that whatever is given to God goes to the Pope.... + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine April 14, 1881_] + +... Your welcome and consoling handwriting quickly followed by the +appearance of Wolverton fresh from home, brought me all I was wishing +for almost as soon as my letter was gone. Thank you so much for +knowing so well what one is thinking of. + +We rather expect Argyll to take refuge here too during these holidays. + +The _Pall Mall_ is worth anything for its concentrated essence of +opinion. Much of this is stupid. But the accusation begun by +Argyll--that the measure abandons the old lines on which the Liberal +party won its battles, introduces new principles not tested yet by the +experience of nations, and begins, in short, a new departure--is one +that will be urged with great force and some truth, and it will not do +to disguise the magnitude of the change. The suspicion that the P.M. +was changing on the two[123] greatest of all political questions comes +true after all; and I wonder which of the twenty-two texts was in the +ascendant when I thought myself convicted of false prophecy! + +I don't feel to know how much German Herbert reads, for I don't rely on +what he picked up at Tegernsee. But I want to draw his attention, if +it avails, to one literary matter. + +Within the last ten or twelve years there has been a wonderful change +in political economy in the {90} direction of which Laveleye, Ingram, +Cliffe Leslie are popular exponents, and which Sherbrooke and Bonamy +Price anathematise. The essential point is the history and analysis of +property in land. It is important that our people should be exactly +acquainted with these views and results before the debate comes on. +Two volumes contain all that it is necessary to read:--Roscher, +_National oekonomik des Ackerbaus_, and Wagner's _Grundlegung der +Volkswirthschaft_. + +He that has read these two books knows a good deal about the lines on +which Society is moving that he cannot well discover elsewhere. + + * * * * * + +You will not agree with me in rejoicing that Cairns[124] has done +himself so much credit at the same moment when Salisbury has injured +himself seriously by his offer of Tunisian hush money. All this is a +misfortune for the Italians, as they cannot have a reasonable Ministry +with the present Parliament, and the circle is closing round them. +Perhaps it will teach them to dismiss ambition. + +Punch's Irish landlord spoils a very old Italian story. The poet +Mortola, out of envy, shot at another poet and missed him. He had to +get relieved of his excommunication by the Pope, and his confession +was: "E vero, Santo Padre, ho fallito."[125] ... + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes April 24, 1881_] + +I am not sure that there is any quite available and compendious answer +to the two reproaches of setting the poor against the rich, and of +giving power to those least fit for it. There lurks in each an atom of +inevitable truth; and the sententious arguments which serve to dazzle +people at elections may generally be met by {91} epigrams just as +sparkling and as sound on the other side. Politics are so complex that +almost every act may be honestly seen in very different lights; and I +can imagine so strong a case against our African policy as to drive +from his moorings any man not well anchored in justice. + +Assuming that the first objection culminates in Midlothian: it was +necessary to bring home to the constituencies, to needy and ignorant +men, the fact that Society, the wealthy ruling class, that supported +our late Mazarin[126] in clubs and drawing-rooms, was ready to spend +the treasure and the blood of the people in defence of an infamous +tyranny,[127] to gratify pride, the love of authority, and the lust of +power. Nearly the same situation arose in Ireland, and in other +questions not so urgent. Secondly, as to Democracy, it is true that +masses of new electors are utterly ignorant, that they are easily +deceived by appeals to prejudice and passion, and are consequently +unstable, and that the difficulty of explaining economic questions to +them, and of linking their interests with those of the State, may +become a danger to the public credit, if not to the security of private +property. A true Liberal, as distinguished from a Democrat, keeps this +peril always before him. + +The answer is, that you cannot make an omelette without breaking +eggs--that politics are not made up of artifices only, but of truths, +and that truths have to be told. + +We are forced, in equity, to share the government with the working +class by considerations which were made supreme by the awakening of +political economy. Adam Smith set up two propositions--that contracts +{92} ought to be free between capital and labour, and that labour is +the source, he sometimes says the only source, of wealth. If the last +sentence, in its exclusive form, was true, it was difficult to resist +the conclusion that the class on which national prosperity depends +ought to control the wealth it supplies, that is, ought to govern +instead of the useless unproductive class, and that the class which +earns the increment ought to enjoy it. That is the foreign effect of +Adam Smith--French Revolution and Socialism. We, who reject that +extreme proposition, cannot resist the logical pressure of the other. +If there is a free contract, in open market, between capital and +labour, it cannot be right that one of the two contracting parties +should have the making of the laws, the management of the conditions, +the keeping of the peace, the administration of justice, the +distribution of taxes, the control of expenditure, in its own hands +exclusively. It is unjust that all these securities, all these +advantages, should be on the same side. It is monstrous that they +should be all on the side that has least urgent need of them, that has +least to lose. Before this argument, the ancient dogma, that power +attends on property, broke down. Justice required that property +should--not abdicate, but--share its political supremacy. Without this +partition, free contract was as illusory as a fair duel in which one +man supplies seconds, arms, and ammunition. + +That is the flesh and blood argument. That is why Reform, full of +questions of expediency and policy in detail, is, in the gross, not a +question of expediency or of policy at all; and why some of us regard +our opponents as men who should imagine sophisms to avoid keeping +promises, paying debts, or speaking truths. + +{93} + +They will admit much of my theory, but then they will say, like +practical men, that the ignorant classes cannot understand affairs of +state, and are sure to go wrong. But the odd thing is that the most +prosperous nations in the world are both governed by the masses--France +and America. So there must be a flaw in the argument somewhere. The +fact is that education, intelligence, wealth are a security against +certain faults of conduct, not against errors of policy. There is no +error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest +men. Imagine a congress of eminent celebrities, such as More, Bacon, +Grotius, Pascal, Cromwell, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Jefferson, Napoleon, +Pitt, &c. The result would be an Encyclopćdia of Error. They would +assert Slavery, Socialism, Persecution, Divine Right, military +despotism, the reign of force, the supremacy of the executive over +legislation and justice, purchase in the magistracy, the abolition of +credit, the limitation of laws to nineteen years, &c. If you were to +read Walter Scott's pamphlets, Southey's Colloquies, Ellenborough's +Diary, Wellington's Despatches--distrust of the select few, of the +chosen leaders of the community, would displace the dread of the +masses. The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. +Every class is unfit to govern. The law of liberty tends to abolish +the reign of race over race, of faith over faith, of class over class. +It is not the realisation of a political ideal: it is the discharge of +a moral obligation. However that may be, the transfer of power to the +lower class was not the act of Mr. Gladstone, but of the Conservatives +in 1867. It still requires to be rectified and regulated; but I am +sure that in his hands, the change would have been less violent. + +{94} + +Nor do I admit the other accusation, of rousing class animosities. The +upper class used to enjoy undivided sway, and used it for their own +advantage, protecting their interests against those below them, by laws +which were selfish and often inhuman. Almost all that has been done +for the good of the people has been done since the rich lost the +monopoly of power, since the rights of property were discovered to be +not quite unlimited. Think not only of the Corn Laws, but of the fact +that the State did nothing for primary education fifty years ago. The +beneficent legislation of the last half century has been due to the +infusion of new elements in the electoral body. Success depended on +preventing the upper class from recovering their lost ground, by +keeping alive in the masses the sense of their responsibility, of their +danger, of the condition from which they had been rescued, of the +objects still before them, and the ancient enemy behind. Liberal +policy has largely consisted in so promoting this feeling of +self-reliance and self-help, that political antagonism should not +degenerate into social envy, that the forces which rule society should +be separate from the forces which rule the state. No doubt the line +has not always been broadly marked between Liberalism where it borders +on Radicalism, and Radicalism where it borders on the Charter. Some +reproach may visit Bright and Mill, but not Mr. Gladstone. If there +were no Tories, I am afraid he would invent them. He has professed +himself a decided Inequalitarian.[128] I cannot discover that he has +ever caressed the notion of progressive taxation. Until last year I +don't think he ever admitted that we have to legislate not quite +impartially for the whole nation, but for a class so numerous as to be +{95} virtually equal to the whole. He dispels the conflict of classes +by cherishing the landed aristocracy, and making the most of it in +office. He has granted the Irish landlords an absolution ampler than +they deserve. Therefore, though I admit that the condition of English +society tends in some measure to make the poor regard the rich as their +enemies, and that the one inveterate obstacle to the welfare of the +masses is the House of Lords, yet I must add that he whose mission it +is to overcome that interested resistance has been scrupulous not to +excite passionate resentment, and to preserve what he cannot correct. +And I do not say it altogether in his praise. + +It is the law of party government that we contend on equal terms, and +claim no privilege. We assume the honesty of our opponents, whatever +we think or know. Kenealy and Bradlaugh must be treated with +consideration, like Wilberforce or Macaulay. We do not use private +letters, reported conversations, newspaper gossip, or scandals revealed +in trials to damage troublesome politicians. We deal only with +responsibility for public acts. But with these we must deal freely. +We have to keep the national conscience straight and true, and if we +shrink from doing this because we dare not cast obloquy on class or +party or institution, then we become accomplices in wrong-doing, and +very possibly in crime. + +We ought not to employ vulgar imputations, that men cling to office, +that they vote against their convictions, that they are not always +consistent, &c. All that is unworthy of imperial debate. But where +there is a question of unjust war, or annexation, of intrigue, of +suppressed information, of mismanagement in matters of life and death, +of disregard for suffering, {96} we are bound to gibbet the offender +before the people of England, and to make the rude workman understand +and share our indignation against the grandee. Whether he ought, after +that, to be left to Dean Stanley[129] is another question. + +But I am not surprised at the complaint you heard. To many people the +idea is repugnant that there is a moral question at the bottom of +politics. They think that it is only by great effort and the +employment of every resource that property and religion can be +maintained. If you embarrass their defence with unnecessary rules and +scruples, you risk defeat, and set up a rather arbitrary and +unsanctioned standard above the interest of their class or of their +church. Such men are not at their ease with the Prime Minister, +especially if he is against them, and even when they are on his side. +I am thinking of Argyll in Lytton's first debate; of Kimberley always; +of soldiers and diplomatists generally. + +Whilst you find Conservatives surprised at the moderation of the Bill, +I have had the pleasure of meeting two members of the Government who +think it goes much too far. And now the papers announce two more +impending secessions.[130] I really don't know what is to become of us +in the Lords. + +The _Pall Mall_ résumés of Lord Beaconsfield have been intensely +interesting. None seemed to me too severe, but some were shocking at +the moment. He was quite remarkable enough to fill a column of Éloge. +Some one wrote to me yesterday that no Jew for 1800 years has played so +great a part in the world. That would be no Jew since St. Paul; and it +is very startling. But, putting aside literature, and therefore +Spinoza {97} and Heine, almost simultaneously with Disraeli, a +converted Jew, Stahl, a man without birth or fortune, became the leader +of the Prussian Conservative and aristocratic party. He led them from +about 1850 to 1860, when he died; and he was intellectually far +superior to Disraeli--I should say, the greatest reasoner that has ever +served the Conservative cause. But he never obtained power, or +determined any important event. Lassalle died after two years of +agitation. Benjamin,[131] the soul of the Confederate ministry, now +rising to the first rank of English lawyers, had too short and too +disastrous a public career. In short, I have not yet found an answer. + +I think, failing sons and secretaries, it is really important that the +P.M. should set somebody in Downing Street to read Wagner's +_Grundlegung_. It would be a great advantage to an outsider if he were +to get it up, and to know exactly where the agrarian question now +stands in Europe, both as to theory and practice. It is an exceedingly +able, bold, and original book, and the author occupies, at Berlin, the +first chair of Pol. Economy in Germany. I would even venture to ask +you to mention it to him, as flotsam from the Riviera. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine April 30, 1881_] + +Like you I am sorry for the omission[132] on Monday, and for the sequel +to it next week. The homage of the House in which he was so long +distinguished was due to Disraeli, and it would have been a fit +occasion for a panegyric which might have appeared natural and {98} +informal. The Monument is a homage paid by the nation, demanding more +than parliamentary or other intellectual distinction, and implying +public service of some exceptional merit and amount. This is wanting +in Disraeli. And we deem not only that the good was absent, but that +the bad, the injurious, the immoral, the disgraceful was present on a +large scale. Let us praise his genius, his wit, his courage, his +patience and constancy in adversity, his strength of will, his +originality and independence of mind, the art with which he learned to +be eloquent, his occasional largeness of conception, his frequent good +nature and fidelity to friends, his readiness of resource, his +considerable literary culture, his skill in the management of a divided +and reluctant party, even his superiority to the greed of office; let +us even call him the greatest Jewish minister since Joseph--but if we +say that he deserved the gratitude of the nation, and might claim his +reward from every part of it, I am afraid we condemn ourselves. This +feeling will certainly be expressed out of doors, if not in the House, +and will not only mar the general effect, but will almost seem to have +been provoked, by the formality and the postponement. Its existence in +any considerable measure is a reason against doing what offends many +consciences, and is gracious only when all but unanimous. Personally +it will be a great opportunity for your father. I am afraid I deplore +it from every other point of view. + + * * * * * + +Here is Lord Morley going home to-morrow, and much to be envied. If +you see him, he will tell you that Cannes is a very nice place indeed. +I see, by the way things are going, that the Land Bill is pretty safe +in the Commons; but I wonder how {99} much ascendency Northcote has +with his colleagues elsewhere.... + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine May 7, 1881_] + +The defect of the argument is that it will neither wear nor wash. It +cannot be employed in public. Nobody can say:--"I who overthrew Lord +Beaconsfield's ministry, reversed his policy, persuaded the nation to +distrust him, and brought his career to a dishonoured end--I who, +altogether disagreeing with a certain friend of mine, thought his +doctrines false, but the man more false than his doctrine; who believe +that he demoralised public opinion, bargained with diseased appetites, +stimulated passions, prejudices, and selfish desires, that they might +maintain his influence; that he weakened the Crown by approving its +unconstitutional leanings, and the Constitution by offering any price +for democratic popularity,--who, privately, deem him the worst and most +immoral minister since Castlereagh, and have branded him with a stigma +such as no other public man has deserved in my time,--nevertheless +proceed, in my public capacity, to lock my true sentiments in my +breast, and declare him worthy of a reward that was not paid to Fox or +to Canning; worthy not only of the tribute due to talents, efficiency, +and courage, but of enduring gratitude and honour; and I do it because +I am not the leader of the nation, but the appointed minister of its +will; because it is my office to be the mouthpiece of opinions I +disapprove, to obey an impulse I condemn, to execute the popular wishes +when they contradict my own." + +That is a position which cannot be held, a motive impossible to avow. +But then there is no answer to Labouchere when he recalls the scathing +denunciations of {100} last year and asks "whether they were seriously +meant, or whether, having served their purpose, they have been +abandoned and committed to oblivion; whether the Prime Minister +declares their injustice and invites the country to join him in making +reparation, whether the responsibilities of power have effected the +usual transformation from the exigencies of electioneering agitation, +and whether we are to understand that the career of Lord Beaconsfield +appears in a different light to those who have inherited his +difficulties and have learned to appreciate his aims, from that which +blazed on so many platforms. If the Rt. Honble. gentleman maintains +his maledictions, if his soul is still vexed by the memory of +disgraceful peace and disgraceful war, of tyranny protected, of +bloodshed unavenged, then let him not forget the picture which he drew, +which still dwells in the hearts of millions; the praise that comes +from the lips that uttered those burning words must be hollow, for the +soul cannot be there; it would be better that he left the task to more +congenial hands, to some who could speak from the fulness of the heart, +to some less prominent critic of Tory policy, to some less austere +apostle of national duty." + +The nation, it is true, supported Lord Beaconsfield, but the same +nation also very decidedly condemned and rejected him. The author of +the rejection is the worst possible mouthpiece of the former approval. +And in a question which is really one of morals everybody must judge +and act for himself. If the degradation of public principle spread +from Lord Beaconsfield to his party, and from them to the Liberals, to +whom are we to look for a stricter spirit and a loftier standard? Is +it for him who, as a volunteer, stemmed the tide of corruption, to ride +on it now that all authority, moral, political, {101} personal, is +concentrated in him? No doubt, the opposition will be overdone; but +there are materials which a light and skilful hand, P. J. Smyth, for +instance, might use with telling force. + +I will propose a double Cartoon: The P.M. proposing the monument, +correct, slightly white-chokered, wearing what Whiteside called his +oratorical face, making the splendour of words do duty for +realities--and the Philippic Demosthenes of Midlothian rousing the +sleepy Lion with tumultuous argument and all the unceremonious energy +of a deep conviction. + +As to Lord Granville's motion on the same subject, I am not sorry to be +out of the way of it. + +To "sweep away" the House of Lords would be a terrible revolution. The +more truly the House of Commons comes to represent the real nation, the +more it must fall under the influence of opinion out of doors. It has +less and less a substantive and independent will of its own, and serves +as a barometer to register the movement going on outside. Now the +opinion of a whole nation differs from that of any limited or united or +homogeneous class by its inconstancy. It is not pervaded by one common +interest, trained to the same level, or inspired by one set of ideas. +It is rent by contending motives, and its ideas cannot get a firm grip +because there is nothing solid to lay hold of. The whole is not more +sure to go wrong than a part, but it is sure not to go long the same +way. This sort of fluctuation which is unavoidable in the nation has +to be kept out of the state, for it would destroy its credit, its +influence abroad, and its authority at home. Therefore, the more +perfect the representative system, the more necessary is some other aid +to stability. Six or {102} seven such aids have been devised, and we +unite three of them in our House of Lords--Primogeniture, Established +Church, and an independent judiciary. Its note is Constancy--the wish +to carry into the future the things of the past, the capacity to keep +aloof from the strife and aims of the passing hour. As we have none of +the other resources proper to unmixed governments, a real veto, a +federation of states, or a constitution above the legislature, we must +treasure the one security we possess. A single assembly has an immense +preponderance of authority and experience against it. Chamberlain +would soon bring it under the control of instructions, that is, would +convert it into a democratic engine, and the empire, I apprehend, would +go to pieces. + +The worst anybody can imagine is a modification of the House of Lords, +such as would make it less independent, less affected by tradition, +less united in one interest, but more intelligent and, probably, more +powerful. That seems to me possible, though difficult, and uncertain +and hazardous in an infinite degree. 1 do not plead for this, but I +cannot set myself absolutely and irrevocably against it. The House of +Lords represents one great interest--land. A body that is held +together by a common character and has common interests is necessarily +disposed to defend them. Individuals are accessible to motives that do +not reach multitudes, and may be on their guard against themselves. +But a corporation, according to a profound saying, has neither body to +kick nor soul to save. The principle of self-interest is sure to tell +upon it. The House of Lords feels a stronger duty towards its eldest +sons than towards the masses of ignorant, vulgar, and greedy people. +Therefore, except {103} under very perceptible pressure, it always +resists measures aimed at doing good to the poor. It has been almost +always in the wrong--sometimes from prejudice and fear and +miscalculation, still oftener from instinct and self-preservation. +Generally it does only a temporary injury, and that is its plea for +existence. But the injury may be irreparable. And if we have manifest +suffering, degradation, and death on one side, and the risk of a +remodelled senate on the other, the certain evil outweighs the +contingent danger. For the evil that we apprehend cannot be greater +than the evil we know. I hope the Drawing-room was not very cloudy. +Why did not you sit next Lord Granville? He would have been less deaf. + + * * * * * + +... The arrest of Dillon will produce its effect in the House and on +the action of his colleagues, and may be a source of new difficulties. +But I cannot find fault with it, not even with the prosecution of +Most,[133] although Harcourt is in disgrace.... ---- takes the line +natural in a newspaper, and does not choose to distinguish murder from +insurrection--a besetting sin of democrats. + + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee June 3, 1881_] + +... I thought his[134] speech on the 2nd Reading[135] admirable, but +for the allusion[136] to the larger measure the Tories would have to +bring in, which might put Shaw & Co. into some difficulty. + +They say that Lenbach has gone on painting him, and has succeeded +admirably, but that the likeness is severe and depressing. + +{104} + +Lord Granville told me of his Roman troubles, and I had to give an +opinion, which was not that of the importunate widow. But a +representative so foolish and so hostile would have been more dangerous +at St. Petersburg than at Rome, where he is only throwing away the +mighty influence of your father's name, but where there is not critical +interest at stake. Lord G. seems to me to have done well about Tunis; +but I am sorry I wasted my eulogy on B. St. Hilaire. + +The _Contemporary_ was very interesting. There was a saying of Carlyle +that Germany had produced nothing since Goethe, which confirmed what I +said to you about the limit of his information. I don't know who +Shirley[137] is; but the small divine[138] amused me very much, and his +article would have been just and good if it had not ended by implying +that the judgment of the late elections settles the question of +right--a sentiment fit for Gambetta and the punch-drinking politicians +of Cahors. + +You asked me the other day a perplexing question, suggested, less by +the loss in the house of your friend, than by the observation that men +are passionately fond of talking about themselves, and practising +autobiographical arts. My answer must be what you anticipated. Being +refused at Cambridge, and driven to foreign universities, I never had +any contemporaries, but spent years in looking for men wise enough to +solve the problems that puzzled me, not in religion or politics so much +as along the wavy line between the two. So I was always associated +with men a generation older than myself, most of whom died early--for +me--and all of whom impressed me with the same moral, that {105} one +must do one's learning and thinking for oneself, without expecting +short cuts or relying on other men. And that led to the elaborate +detachment, the unamiable isolation, the dread of personal influences, +which you justly censure. + +Please write that censure is not anger, and tell me what you are all +doing, what the prospects are, how much social trouble you take, and +whether you liked Matthew Arnold and his airs.... + + +Your letter has been indeed a joy in the midst of trouble.[139] You +have understood so much of what it is hard to write.... + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Munich Oct. 15, 1881_] + +She has taken with her one of the strongest links that attached me to +this world, but I do not follow less keenly the movements of the man +who, of all now living, has the greatest power of doing good. The +Irish speech on Friday, and the economic speech on Saturday, made the +strongest impression on me. + +I fancy the man who attacked the calculation of national profit in the +latter, misunderstood his own case, and might have made something of it +if he had spoken of the distribution, not of the increase of wealth. +The treatment of Home Rule as an idea conceivably reasonable, which was +repeated at Guildhall, delighted me. I felt less sure of the +distinction between that as a colourable scheme, and the Land League, +as now working, as one altogether revolutionary and evil. At least, +the censure and arrest of Parnell made me regret more than ever the +monument and the eulogy of Disraeli. But then, you know that that is +my favourite heresy. + +{106} + +What has most struck me in these speeches of the Recess is that they do +almost more than the parliamentary oratory to make the whole country +familiar with Mr. Gladstone's ways of thought, and to stamp his mind on +the nation. I fear they must be fatiguing to him, because I have +always thought that he found an intellectual audience most easy to deal +with. In the Palmerstonian days I remember your brother[140] asking me +at Twickenham what I thought of our prospects; and I answered that the +Chancellor of the Exchequer did not water his wine enough. And I +believe he thought me a fool. But it was quite true: he tried to make +us understand his figures, in the House; but he did not much unfold his +thoughts for the public; and I used to be surprised to find that men +who knew him well, Lord Granville, Argyll,[141] S. Wilberforce, saw +neither the connection nor the consequence of his ideas. This is so +much altered now, that he does not dislike to sit for his mental +portrait, and his philosophy of government is the study of thousands. +So he is moulding the mind of the nation as no man ever did. + +I wonder whether you will have patience to talk to me about him at +Cannes? We are just starting for the Madeleine, through Switzerland.... + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine, Oct. 27, 1881_] + +What might, possibly, be done in a moment of triumph,[142] would be +desertion and disaster to the party at any other moment. Nobody can +hope that next Easter, or for a couple of years, we can be altogether +crowned with laurel. In the presence of Mr. Gladstone {107} himself +the Tories are recovering spirits. They would take a leap forward if +Achilles was safe in his tent. + +That is so clear to any one looking below the surface that it suggests +another objection--there might be an appearance of retreat at the first +turning of the tide, of an inclination to escape, individually, from a +prospect of losing battles and declining prosperity, and to leave +others to face the renewal of disintegration and reaction, such as we +saw in 1873. I know that this is not a consideration where duty is +visibly concerned; but it is a valid consideration where policy is +concerned. And it must be remembered that he may resign office but +cannot abandon power. + +Herbert's constituents[144] were probably more deeply impressed than I +was by the repeated, but too suggestive, eulogy on Hartington and Lord +Granville. Has Mr. Gladstone fairly faced the question, What will the +party do without him? I may quote my own sentiment, because I grew up +among Russells, Ellices, Byngs; and though I am very suspicious of +early impressions and of doctrines unaccounted for, I know I am much +more favourable to the great Whig connection, to the tradition of Locke +and Somers, Adam Smith and Burke and Macaulay, than Mr. Gladstone would +like. Yet it would seem dust and ashes, but for him.... The idea that +politics is an affair of principle, that it is an affair of morality, +that it touches eternal interests as much as vices and virtues do in +private life, that idea will not live in the party. Indeed it is +already overshadowed by the Beaconsfield monument, described by that +prophet, Pope.[145] + +Besides, the party would become unable, from internal divisions, to +govern the country. I take the letter to {108} be a recognition of the +fact that the P.M. ought to be in the House of Commons. In that case +it is on the cards that Lord Granville would retire at the same time. +Where should we be in the Lords, if neither Argyll, nor Derby, nor Lord +G. sat on the Treasury Bench; if Northbrook, Carlingford, and Kimberley +were left to face Salisbury and Cairns? And then, if Selborne resigns +the woolsack, and it becomes necessary to choose a Chancellor for his +debating power? The future is as gloomy in the Commons with Bright and +your father away, Goschen out of office, Hartington liable, any day, to +leave it. In both cases we come to the level of mediocrity; we depend +on the second rank.... + +The new constituency gives increased weight to the Democratic leaders, +and it will be impossible for the Whigs to control them or to do +without them. They will force their programme on the party by keeping +it out of office until they prevail. This must come sooner or later. +But Mr. Gladstone ought not to retire until he has provided for the +future of the party he has remodelled. With respect to persons, if he +does not bring Derby and Goschen in, nobody else can. As to +Goschen--whose position will be a considerable one, as the best +financier of the party, afterwards--it has been unfortunate that the +overtures were not made by the P.M. himself. They would have been far +more flattering; probably also more clear and definite. The +measure[146] he objects to is considerably postponed. The way is +crowded with bills on which he agrees with ministers. + +As to Derby, I hope to learn all about your visit,[147] how you get on +with her, and whether you all took {109} care to acknowledge her good +influence and services. There will never be any great intimacy between +him and your father. But, in his proper place, he could be made very +useful. + +There is something graver than the question of persons. There is his +own Church policy, the Eastern--especially Egyptian and Armenian +question, the decentralisation of H. of Commons business, +redistribution of seats, and ever so much more. I should like him to +see more of the Prince of Wales,[148] that something of his influence +should survive in the Royal Family. And his present power is such that +there will be a real failure in his career if he retires without +employing it to secure the future of the party. It would be wasting or +burying the fortune of Rothschild, the most enormous capital ever +collected in one hand. + +The resistance to G. Eliot, the preference for Scott, the desire to +confide in ----, are all one and the same thing: idealism. When +Disraeli sat down exclaiming, "The time will come when you will hear +me," his neighbour slapped him on the back and said, "So they will." +That encouraging neighbour was ----. He can never take to a man of +strong principle and purpose. He is little better than a vague Jingo: +and he is the most indiscreet, and not the most accurate of men. To +trust him with such a secret is like rejecting G. Eliot as cynical, +gloomy, and uncharitable in her views of life. A man can be trusted +only up to low-water mark. There is just one thing on which the P.M. +is wilfully a little superficial! + +Private Secretaries have no time for letters of their own; otherwise I +think with pleasure of your new occupation. Don't let it tire you. In +many ways it {110} will interest you; and J. S. Mill would highly have +approved of it, as portending an end to the subjection of women. + +Please let me beg that you will not read anonymous communications. If +you receive any, I think they ought to go to the police. Not, of +course, to Mr. Gladstone. What he does not mind himself might worry +him being sent to you. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Nov. 9, 1881_] + +I am sorry to have lost the Knowsley letters, as I know something of +your accounts of country houses. The envelope raised expectations +which added to my disappointment; for there was no danger that the +dulness of the company would affect the record. The newspaper list of +visitors surprised me.... + +The point, however, is the good impression which Derby made during +their walk, as there was no previous liking. + +Your suggestion of a visit to Hawarden is as tempting as it is kind. I +should like nothing so much if I thought it suited Mr. and Mrs. +Gladstone; but at this moment I am wanted, sadly wanted, here; and the +ingenious indiscretion of somebody has provoked a demonstration more +impressive than any arguments of mine. It has shown what the triumph +of the Tories, what the helplessness of the Liberals would be. Mr. +Gladstone must see now that his resolution must depend on facts, and +not on wishes. What he is to the cause and the party I fear he will +never understand. + +Touching the future, I can abate nothing of what I said. It is odd, +especially for me to say, who often disagree with him in maxims if not +in aims, but you undervalue him in comparison with other men. Is it +the {111} strife in the Cabinet, the defection of friends, the zeal of +opponents, the slow growth of results, the versatility of popular +feeling, the coldness of Continental opinion, that depresses you? or is +it Morley's book?[149] T. B. Potter has just arrived, I hope with a +copy for me. I see from the extracts that it is a piece of very +superior work. At first I expected an oblique attack on your father, +as a dilatory and inconsistent convert, prompted by Cobden's long +distrust, by Bright's early denunciations, by the aversion of literal +economists, of Equalitarian Democrats, of stubborn unbelievers in those +qualities which raise him above the highest level of Liberalism. But I +can fancy that you might be impressed by so vigorous, sincere, and +complete a system of politics very distinct from his own. The +lieutenants of Alexander, Napoleon and his Marshals, are the only fit +comparisons to describe the interval between the P.M. and the best of +those who come next to him. + +We lose a weak, an ornamental, an unstable, but patriotic man in ----. +As he has been the guiltiest misleader in ecclesiastical questions, his +retirement is appropriate at the moment when we are trying to get the +ear of the Pope. There are, of course, better reasons for that just +now than the state of Ireland, and I think he (the Pope) deserves the +kind of help it must give him. His impulses seem almost always right, +whilst his execution, depending on others, and requiring force of +character as well as good intentions, is generally poor and shabby. If +the Powers had been quicker to understand how strongly he contrasts +with his predecessor they might have enabled him to prevail against his +court. + +John O'Hagan, the chief of the new Land Court, is {112} a man whom I +tried to bring forward, and made much of in the beginning of his +career. He has the stamp of 1848 upon him as deep as Duffy,[150] and I +found him rather literary than politic, more full of good and gracious +aspiration than practical and solid. The Court has done two things +which must, I imagine, raise doubts at Hawarden. They undertake to fix +a rent such as will fairly enable a man to live--that is a rule which +would reduce rent per acre in proportion to the smallness of the +holding, and would extinguish it altogether in the smallest. And they +judge not by the land and buildings, but by the capacity of the +tenant--that will lead them to do more for the worse farmer and less +for the better. On the other hand, it is terrible to read that farmers +cultivating 20 or 30 acres never eat butcher's meat. In France I find +that the families of day labourers have meat for dinner every day. I +am told that there is scarcely an exception. + +Hawarden after Knowsley must have been a relief, especially with +Lightfoot, Goldwin Smith, and may I say Harcourt? There is no +room--there never is--for what I have to say. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Nov. 25, 1881_] + +I have been away from Cannes for a few days, and am ashamed to be again +behindhand. + +If I had not known it before, I should discover now what a good fellow +Alfred Lyttelton is. F. C.'s view does not convince me. The impeding +facts will be there, but the strong will[151] and the untimely gift of +self-disparagement may be too much for the facts. + +I am struck by what you say of the omission in Morley's book, which I +am to receive in a few days. A person who has had a large and +legitimate share in {113} its preparation spoke to me some time ago in +a manner which led me to expect that the Treaty narrative would be +hostile to Mr. Gladstone, and would reveal soreness against him on the +part of Cobden. I discussed the thing with him a good deal, but +without materials which would justify me in hoping that I had made an +impression. Since then, Mr. Gladstone has become P.M. and Morley is +editor of one of the principal organs of a part of the ministry. That +explains some degree of reticence, if my former impression was correct. +I do not think such reticence quite worthy of the occasion and the men; +and it would be well that the true story should be told, unless it +should be likely in any way to embarrass the new negotiation. That is +a question that can only be settled at Hawarden. + +Knowles proposed that I should review the book, having a Tory review +already undertaken. He offered to bring the volumes to Cannes before +the end of this month. That would not give me the needful time. It +would be necessary, in the dearth of books here, and of all sources of +information besides T. B. Potter, to have some things looked up in +England, by slow process of post. And it would be quite essential to +ascertain how much of what is omitted may be supplied. Not feeling +sure of that, and of the time, I was obliged to decline. If Knowles +comes here, as he portended, I shall have an opportunity of talking it +over with him. + +Many, many thanks for the glimpse into that precious Diary.[152] You +will have observed how he {114} demolishes his own argument. He +compares what I say now with what people said of Palmerston. Those +people were wrong because Palmerston left a better man than himself +behind him. But Mr. Gladstone goes on to say that there is nobody +behind him fit to lead, except ----. Just work out the sum in +Proportion: as G. to P., so is X. to G. + +And it is not only a question of men, but of elements. There are many +things in the glimpse that are {115} very notable. I fancy that +Goschen's late speech has done him good; but it still seems clear that +he will not shut the door on the Tories. I am in communication with +them[153] again, and should perhaps see them on my way back, if I could +come to Hawarden. + +I write this off in haste, before I have an opportunity of showing Mrs. +Gladstone's most kind letter to Lady Acton. I don't like to answer her +until I have done so. + +Of course I should like to come beyond anything. If Parliament does +not meet before the proper time, it might be possible to come early in +January. The middle of December would not be quite so easy, for +reasons here. But please tell me if it would be very much better for +reasons paramount. Two thousand miles would be nothing for a good +hour's talk with him, and several hours with his Secretary. I hope the +Temple of Peace would not lose that character by my invasion of its +pacific precincts. + +Seeley would be hard on Lecky if he applied those words to his +"Eighteenth Century," which is a weighty, thoughtful book. But the two +former works, by which he became famous, do not really rise much above +the vulgar level. There is nothing in his writings nearly equal to the +new Bampton Lectures.[154] + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Nov. 29, 1881_] + +Hartington's speech has not arrived yet; but the French papers describe +him as differing about Ireland from the P.M. and not repelling the idea +of Compensation. As this was not urged at the time, it would now be a +reproach to the Act, which might never have {116} passed with such +conditions. And one neither sees how compensation is to be regulated, +nor by whom; whether by a commission stultifying the present one, or by +the same contradicting itself. And it is very unlike the economic +policy of the P.M. But I can conceive a very powerful argument on the +other side, which the Tories are not likely to use. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Dec. 2, 1881_] + +I have not fired all my shot, and I don't rely on Hartington's +translation. His last speech does not strike me favourably. + +He puts away the compensation argument in a fashion more parliamentary +than statesmanlike. In debate, where effects are immediate and +momentary, one is glad of anything that tells against opponents, and +gets used to phrases instead of reasons. + +Macaulay was indiscreet enough to write to his constituents on Windsor +Castle paper. It was good material for a laugh, and no more; but Peel +and Graham never let him hear the end of it. "From the proud Keep of +Windsor you bade the lieges have no fear," and such like seemed +equivalent to argument. When one addresses the Nation, with a sort of +Manifesto on a difficult, new, and dangerous question, one must go +straight to the point. We expect of a real statesman that he will take +the case of his adversary not by its weak end, but at its strongest; +that he will see whether he cannot even strengthen it before he +replies. If he deals with the weak points, like a lawyer, somebody +will follow, and will beat him. That is part of the integrity of +public men. And I must say that H.'s idea that he meets the case for +compensation by asking whether rack-renting landlords are to be paid +for their iniquity, {117} exposes him to a rejoinder so crushing as to +damage his position and to strengthen my plea. + +There is no constructive power among the Whigs. There is some among +the Democrats, because their principles have been thought out, and +provide legislation for generations. But the two men capable of +working out thoughts into system on other than purely democratic lines +are Derby and Goschen. And they are outside, and do not really +contribute to the force of the party. + + * * * * * + +There was that omission in my former letter--not quite by accident. +Many things are better for silence than for speech: others are better +for speech than for stationery. I have a large store of these. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Dec. 14, 1881_] + +---- is so much stronger that I really believe that I shall be able to +run over for a short visit, and the temptation is strong upon me to +take your kind words literally. May I come--by the morning train from +town--on Monday, the second day of 1882? It would be the pleasantest +beginning of a New Year that I could possibly imagine, after a +melancholy autumn. + +To-morrow I am off to Nice with M., after the Blue Rose, and Christmas +presents for the others. They tell me that Mr. Cross[155] is here. If +so, I hope to have a talk with him about the difficult life he is +writing. + +I have been looking forward to the books of the Year, which I have not +had courage to send for, especially the life of the most fascinating +writer[156] of the day, and the letters of Bishop Thirlwall. I am glad +to {118} think that I need not stop in London to read them, and am +extremely interested by what you say of Thirlwall. I never found him +very attractive or accessible, personally. + +The success of Newnham is a thing to congratulate your sister on. As +to Herbert, the papers enable me to follow his wanderings and +conversations with old Irishwomen. He must be making himself very +useful to Mr. Gladstone; and I rejoice at symptoms in this day's papers +which tend to weaken my inclination to compensation. + +Of course you will tell me if the proposed date had better be exchanged +for another, if there is any incompatible visit just then or for any +other reason. I should not start until Thursday, the 29th. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Dec. 27, 1881_] + +The telegram summoning me for Saturday arrived late last night. If the +trains keep time, I shall catch the Boulogne tidal from Paris on +Friday, and so obey the summons. I presume there is a 9 or 10 A.M. +train which will land us at Chester early enough in the afternoon to +reach Hawarden about sunset. It looks like an early departure for +Downing Street, which will be an affliction. Or perhaps some visitor +with whom I ought to clash. But I am quite prepared to find the secret +agent of the Vatican at Hawarden, and to look as if I took him for an +African lion.... + + +[Sidenote: _Athenćum Jan. 7, 1882_] + +... I met three Ministers last night at dinner, and the impression is +that Mr. Gladstone is remarkably well. But the Conservatism of London +is something too excessive. + +I met at the Russells', Maine, Monck, F. Leveson, and Reay. At the +Athenćum, Hayward, {119} H. Spencer, May; and there are much worse +croakers than these. + +It will be quite refreshing to spend Monday at Seacox, with a man[157] +who is understood to be travelling towards the Ministry, and no longer +away from them. It has been impossible to call in Downing Street; and +I dare say your mother was rushing about. But I am to meet them, +thanks to you as usual, at Lansdowne House this evening. + +At the Museum, Poole gave me the papers to read that Mr. Gladstone +spoke of. + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Jan. 17, 1882_] + +In London I saw everybody I had designed to look for, except John +Morley.... Sir Henry Maine got me to criticise the proof of a lecture +on the King and his Successor, which you will see in the February +_Nineteenth Century_. I hope he accepted some of my amendments; but he +was obdurate about the most important. He says that Primogeniture has +been of very great political service. I admitted this, but objected +that there is another side to the question, that Primogeniture embodies +the confusion between authority and property which constitutes modern +Legitimacy, that Legitimacy has, in this century, acted as an obstacle +to free institutions, and that a one-sided judgment thrown off as that +sentence is, gives a Tory tinge to the entire paper. He answered: "You +seem to use Tory as a term of reproach." + +I was much struck by this answer--much struck to find a philosopher, +entirely outside party politics, who {120} does not think Toryism a +reproach, and still more, to find a friend of mine ignorant of my +sentiments about it. And I am much tempted to have it out with him, +and discover what he really means. Besides which, I spent some hours +in Mark Pattison's company; found Reay desponding, but eager to speak; +May,[158] very much depressed; H----, pottering feebly, as I thought, +over Montlosier,[159] whom he does not understand, in the _Quarterly_, +and Junius, whom he does not discover, in the "Encyclopćdia"; +Monck[160] remarkable as the one happy Irishman. + + * * * * * + +I should like to impress one thought on your mind: Much will depend on +your success in making the work of the Session sit lightly on the P.M. +in getting him to yield to distractions, even to amusements, and no +longer to consider change of work an equivalent to rest. A house near +town, the play, I had almost said the opera, might be a help. If he +would be unprincipled enough to refuse tiresome dinners, however far +off, and then to accept pleasant ones, at short notice, it would be +worth a great deal. In short, a little demoralisation is the best +security I can see for the supreme perfecting of his career. + +By-the-bye, you condemn me for my indefinite answers to some very +searching questions; and I find you are right. At least I have read a +paper on the Revised Version which satisfies me that I ought to have +joined more heartily in Mr. Gladstone's censure of it. But I have been +reading it to my children, and it had got associated with very sweet +moments. Once {121} more, I perceive that my letter is full of +everything except yourself.... + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Jan. 25, 1882_] + +I return the letter of my heroine[161] with many thanks. It reminds me +of what she wrote to me. If I could find it I would send it to you.... +I think there is a piece of truth in Mr. Ottley's remark. Her +strongest conviction, the keystone of her philosophy, was the idea that +all our actions breed their due reward in this world, and that life is +no reign of reason if we put off the compensation to another world. +That is a moral far more easily worked in cases of outward, transitive +sin than in those which disturb only the direct relations of man with +God. These indeed are cases which may partly depend on our belief in +God, not only in humanity and human character. Deny God, and whole +branches of deeper morality lose their sanction. Here I am preaching +against Bradlaugh, after all! + +Her genius would no doubt reveal to her consequences which others +cannot imagine. But still the inclination of a godless philosophy will +be towards palpable effects and those about which there is no mistake. +Especially in a doctrine with so little room for grace and forgiveness, +where no God ever speaks except by the voice of other men. Defined and +brought to book, that is a detestable system. But it is not on the +surface--and many men can no more be kept straight by spiritual motives +than we can live without policemen. + +Still there is a piece of truth in this paganism. Looking at history, +not at biography, taking societies, and not individuals, we cannot deal +with things seen by God alone; things take other proportions; the scale +of {122} vice and virtue is not that of private life; we judge of it by +its outward action, and hesitate to penetrate the secrets of +conscience. The law of visible retribution is false even there. But +it is true that the test and measure of good and evil is not that of +the spiritual biographer. + +I shall punish Sir H. Maine with your very striking remark about +Toryism. + + * * * * * + +That is a perilous point, about suspiciousness. By all means we should +think well until forced to think ill of people. But we must be +prepared for that compulsion; and the experience of history teaches +that the uncounted majority of those who get a place in its pages are +bad. We have to deal chiefly, in life, with people who have no place +in history, and escape the temptations that are on the road to it. But +most assuredly, now as heretofore, the Men of the Time are, in most +cases, unprincipled, and act from motives of interest, of passion, of +prejudice cherished and unchecked, of selfish hope or unworthy fear. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Feb. 20, 1882_] + +I spent at Rome a most interesting fortnight, explaining the history of +the Church and of the world to M., listening to a great debate on the +representation of minorities, and hearing a good deal of the M.P.[162] +who neither has nor has not a mission. We wound up with two days at +Florence, and I accompanied M. to Genoa, along the finest part of the +Riviera, and then went to Bologna, to a dying relation. All which has +stood in the way of coming home, of writing, and of knowing what is +going on. I am reading up the debates, and your letters light up the +task. + +{123} + + * * * * * + +Bonghi, who has a volume of Roman History ready, spent an afternoon +with me in the Forum; but proved unsound about Ireland. Minghetti took +us over the palace of the Cćsars, as they call the Palatine. I took M. +the round of imperial statues and monuments of the Popes, hanging a +tale to each, and I am afraid her impressions of history are gloomy. +We made up for it a little at Santa Croce, with Dante and Fossombroni; +and in Savonarola's cell at S. Marco, I sat in his chair, and told her +of the friar who died for his belief that the way to make men better +was to make them free. + +I was not happy about Errington. Everybody spoke well of him. But +there was too manifest a desire to amplify the significance of his +position, and to entangle him in Roman schemes and views. + +Schlözer's first visit was to me, as we lived in the same house, and +are old friends. They, at least, have something to offer; but the +mission seems to me very ambiguous. + +I have long wished for that declaration about self-government; but I am +persuaded that there has been as much statesmanship in the choice of +the time as of the terms. There is so much danger of being deserted on +that line, and of one's friends combining to effect a reaction. It +will not do to make too much of the speech of 1871. The occasion, last +week, gave extraordinary weight to Mr. Gladstone's words; and he would +not now say that the movement is superfluous, or that Ireland always +got what she wanted. The risk is that he may seem to underrate the +gravity of a great constitutional change, in the introduction of a +federal element. + + +{124} + +Liberty depends on the division of power. Democracy tends to unity of +power. To keep asunder the agents, one must divide the sources; that +is, one must maintain, or create, separate administrative bodies. In +the view of increasing democracy, a restricted federalism is the one +possible check upon concentration and centralism. + +But I am very anxious about one thing. If Mr. Gladstone thinks that he +cannot carry his colleagues, his party, Parliament, or the nation with +him, and declines to take the lead in this movement, the throwing out +of the idea may become a source of weakness. They will say that he +waits for the initiative of others, that he is expecting a wind, that +he is ready to be squeezed, if others will do it for him, that he looks +on opinion as a thing to be obeyed, not to be guided--and so will +proceed to put pressure on him and to make demonstrations not at all in +conformity with his spirit and purpose. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Feb. 25, 1882_] + +Goschen agreed to go with me to Paris, and changed his mind at the last +moment. The consequence was that I did not stop at Paris, and some +letters which were sent there from Seacox have only just reached me. +And so I have left unanswered your birthday letter, and seemed to +disregard the reproach as well as the kindness it expresses. + +I will not say that, in the former, there is not much that I have had +to consider. Still, in giving up one's home, and country, and friends +and occupations, there is at least a mixture of good motives with +selfish ones, and something sacrificed, if there is also a good deal of +calculated pleasure-seeking and ease. If I held an appointment abroad, +keeping me permanently away {125} from my--very modest--estate, you +would say that the Government was insane to offer it, but you would +hardly think it wrong of me to accept it. And the duty I have allowed +to precede all other duties is one that possesses a strong, and +unmistakable, claim on me. Between my children and my Shropshire +neighbours my choice is indeed decided. Do not, when I have the +happiness of seeing you again, allow these shortcomings and these +backslidings of mine to interfere with that better topic--which is +yourself, but which gets no chance. + +I am seeing a good deal of the Mallets. He is getting over a very bad +illness, and seems to like Cannes, in spite of Sir E. Colebrooke and +the _Pall Mall_. I have succeeded in making Sir Louis shake his head +over the secret Jacobinism of his friend Morley. Yesterday I had the +pleasure of dining with your favourite correspondent. + +Your view of the speech introducing the new Procedure is far more just +than R.'s. It displayed that serene mastery and lightness of touch +which are the latest growth or ripest form of his talent, rather than +the controlling and compelling power which we know so well. As to the +censure,[163] I hold the necessity of keeping the working of the Act +from interference; but I cannot admit that the case of the +Commissioners is good, at the weakest point. The defence of their +general action seems to me triumphant; but I don't think the attack has +been met in the particulars; and the common maxim of all constitutional +governments, to stand by one's subordinates in their need, is, I think, +a very dangerous one. + +{126} + +"John Inglesant" has been begun but not finished, for want of time in +London. Here is a letter which it can be no indiscretion to show you, +on that interesting subject. I did not, in reply, quite confirm the +critic's doubts, though I probably could not remove them. I would +rather regard it as a philosophical than as a historical work. + +And I missed the _Athenćum_ Summary. When one comes to classify all +that appears, the gaps strike one as much as the bulk. Still, in the +narrow domain of my own book--"The Madonna of the Future"[164]--every +week brings several new publications that are sure to contribute some +light or some difficulty. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 4, 1882_] + +We have no particulars yet, and I still hope it was not an +Irishman.[165] The villa at Mentone stands in the midst of dark olive +woods, scarcely a mile from the frontier, and less than a furlong from +the sea. It will require to be well guarded. + +I have followed the conflict with the keen attention you may imagine, +and rejoice quite as much as anybody in Downing Street at the personal +triumph, and at the accession of strength which is due so entirely to +his own efforts and belongs exclusively to himself. It is a gain for a +better cause than the Ministry. We are just in that intermediate state +in which the issue at Northampton[166] is unknown, but seems certain, +which will be a relief. + +The correspondence with Gardiner has gone on at {127} some length, and +the problem is very interesting. He persists in rejecting the story. +I now understand that John Inglesant is willing to be received, but is +told by the Jesuit that he is safe if, with that belief and +disposition, he remains an Anglican. + +I imagine that he might have argued in this way: Roman Catholic divines +hold that the 39 Articles may be understood in a favourable sense. +Anglicans hold that they are not literally binding on the clergy. +Still less on the laity. Therefore his position in the English Church +does not involve this layman in any error. It may involve him in +certain dangers and difficulties. But these are not greater than the +dangers and difficulties which would follow his conversion. For there +are many opinions, not only sanctioned but enforced by the authorities +of the Church of Rome, which none can adhere to without peril to the +soul. The moral risk on one side is greater than the dogmatic risk on +the other. He can escape heresy in Anglicanism more easily than he can +escape the ungodly ethics of the papacy, the Inquisition, the Casuists, +in the Roman Communion. The solicitation, the compulsion, will be more +irresistible in the latter. A man who thought it wrong to murder a +Protestant King would be left for hell by half the Confessors on the +Continent. Montagu, Bramhall will not sap this man's Catholic faith so +surely as the Spanish and Italian moralists will corrupt his soul. + +There were men, in the XVIIth century, who would have argued in this +way. I can even conceive a Jesuit doing it, for they were much +divided, and there were men amongst them far more deeply and broadly +divided from the prevailing teaching of their own Church, than from the +Catholic party in Anglicanism. But I cannot name any Jesuit living +{128} in Charles I.'s time of whom it could be said with any +probability. So that I am sure not to shake Gardiner's conviction. He +is not well informed in religious history; but as a friend of Brewer he +must have read the life of Goodman, which, I think, Brewer edited. + +Gardiner is Irving's son-in-law. His position in that Church inclines +him to Conservative views, and it would be hard for him to admit that +illustrious Catholic divines who did so much for Christian revelation +and for spiritual doctrine were in reality so infamous in their moral +teaching as my hypothesis implies. But I am letting the cat of the +Piazzetta[167] out of the bag. + +I do hope that the social duties are not too irksome. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 9, 1882_] + +I was at Mentone yesterday, and as I do not much like the place where +the Queen is to live, I took pains to ascertain what is doing for her +safety. The Vice-Consul is a singularly intelligent and practical man, +and I saw with satisfaction that the peculiar drawbacks are fully +understood. Every precaution will be taken, without attracting +attention, or being perceived by the Queen herself. + +I shall not get credit for my loyalty, for it caused me to miss a +meeting which was held here, during my absence, to vote an address. +But I was rewarded by finding Green, the historian, at Mentone, in good +spirits--but in bad health--and I spent an interesting hour with him. + +Gardiner tells me that I understand nothing about the question, that +the Jesuit was only a conspirator and intriguer, and that "John +Inglesant" is abominably overrated. So let us wait for Fraser, with +open and {129} unsettled minds. Brewer published in 1839 "The Court of +James I.," being the Memoirs of Goodman, Bp. of Gloucester, possibly +not the book in question, but one that would make the situation clear +to the intelligent reader. Green, who does not agree, much, with +Gardiner, tells me that he has made great sacrifices by adhering to +Irvingism, and that he has still to struggle with extreme poverty. +Being one of the two or three most solid historians in England, he has +to teach at an inferior girls' school. He has had the misfortune to +lose several children, as well as his first wife. Do you know his +Outline of English History? I make my children read it, to keep out +----. I wonder what the numerous Wickhams will learn history in. I am +so glad that I have a new friend of the same kind as those I like so +much. + +As Mr. Gladstone has had various correspondence with Mivart, it may +interest him to know that that very distinguished philosopher, the most +eminent man of science our Church has had in England, was constrained +to decline election at the Athenćum, being certain of blackballs, by +reason of his quarrel with the Darwinians. In the hope that the +Committee may elect him, he wishes to be put down in the books again; +and he asks me to propose him. As I have never spoken to him in my +life, it is against the rule; but I have agreed to do it, in +acknowledgment of his unquestioned eminence and because of Mr. +Gladstone's weakness for him, which I, otherwise, do not share. The +wicked Sclater, vendor of Jumbo, is the Seconder. + +Even without knowing the conversation with Gibson, who seems to me a +most able specimen of his kind, the attitude taken up towards the Lords +seems to me {130} in all ways excellent. As to Bradlaugh, as he is +there, I wish the amendment[168] had succeeded--for I have not read the +_Nineteenth Century_.[169] But have you seen in the _Century_--once +_Scribner_--Bryce on Disraeli? It is a good paper. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 21, 1882_] + +In the middle of John Inglesant came the enclosed,[170] which I return, +with dismay. The impression given seems to be that by speaking of +dogmatic danger in England, and of moral danger in Rome, I ingeniously +laid a silent imputation of heterodoxy on Anglicans, whilst implying +that we are free at least from that suspicion; so that I thought of +1882 whilst I spoke of 1640, and meant controversy, though pretending +to write history. + +The reward of history is that it releases and relieves us from present +strife. My only endeavour was to recall what might have occurred two +centuries and a half ago, to a sincere and upright priest, that is, to +one who studied to detach his mind from its habitual surroundings, to +look behind his own scenes, to stand apart with Archimedes, to practise +the _doute méthodique_ of Descartes, to discern prejudice from faith +and sympathy from truth. There was no such problem, and I know now +that my zeal was wasted on a personage whose notion of religion was not +worth inquiry. But I was not pleading a cause. I scarcely venture to +make points against the religion of other people, from a curious +experience that they have more to say than I know, and from a sense +that it is safer to reserve {131} censure for one's own, which one +understands more intimately, having a share of responsibility and +action. + +It would have been more accurate to sacrifice my antithesis by +referring to doctrinal trouble as well as moral risk on our side. If I +did not do so--I have no recollection of my words--the reason may be +that I am too deeply impressed with the moral risk to have the other +very present to my mind. Encountering an associate of Guy Fawkes and +Ravaillac, I do not stop to ask what he makes of the Apocrypha, or how +far he goes with the Athanasian Creed. I believe that our internal +conflicts spring from indifference to sin, and not from a religious +idea. A speculative Ultramontanism separate from theories of tyranny, +mendacity, and murder, keeping honestly clear of the Jesuit with his +lies, of the Dominican with his fagots, of the Popes with their +massacres, has not yet been brought to light. Döllinger, who thinks of +nothing else, has never been able to define it, and I do not know how +to distinguish a Vaticanist of that sort, a Vaticanist in a state of +grace, from a Catholic. + +Let me supply my omission by declaring that my hypothetical divine +would not have found all the moral evil in one quarter, and ambiguous +doctrine only in the other. I dare say he would think that in England +too little was done for the spiritual life, and, unless he had a taste +for Donne, that devotional literature was backward; and he might even +agree with Thorndike that the neglect of the discipline of penance +threatened the Church with ruin. In like manner, he would not view +with favour some of the dogmatic theology that flourished amongst his +friends. He might, for instance, deem that Molinism or Jansenism, +neither of them yet {132} approved or rejected, but severally dominant +in many lands, were false systems, and that, between the two, a +Catholic doctrine of grace was hard to find. He would be aware that +Rome still cherished the idea that roused Luther, that, by committing a +sin one may save a soul; and he would perhaps conclude, with a famous +Jesuit of his day, that Luther did well to attack it. + +Of the instances suggested, one, the Cultus of the Blessed Virgin, was +partly of later growth and would not seriously disturb a contemporary +of Charles the First. It does not offend in the older, classical +literature of the Church, in the Imitation, the Exposition, the +Pensées, or the Petit Caręme. Sixty years ago, a priest who is still +living was sent as Chaplain to Alton Towers. At Evening Prayers, when +he began the Litany of Loretto, Lord Shrewsbury rose from his knees and +told him that they never recited it. He was a man, as the "Life of +Panizzi" shows, without an idea of his own. + +Images would probably impress him as a danger to be warded, rather, I +think, than Transubstantiation. Here the difficulty that strikes a +dialectician hardly reaches the people. Many Catholics are practically +conscious of no difference from the higher Anglican or Lutheran view of +the Real Presence. Hegel's argument, that a mouse which had nibbled a +Host would become an object of adoration, would strike nine laymen out +of ten as a poor joke. I know not whether the confusion of thought was +greater then or less; but he would remember so many cases of +Protestants ready to conform on no harder condition than the concession +of the Cup that his scruples would be likely to melt. Montagu saying +that he knew no Roman tenet he {133} would not subscribe, unless it +were Transubstantiation, would have made him wonder why a +Catholic-minded prelate should be more stiffnecked than the unbending +Lutherans or fiercer Bohemians. + +But whatever the dogmatic perils he might apprehend, he would meet them +in the same spirit of charitable construction he had employed on the +other side. I will presume that he took the oath of allegiance, for, +in 1635, the Jesuits allowed their penitents to take it. He would even +admit the Royal Supremacy, like Father Caron, as not exceeding the +prerogative of Kings in France and Spain. He would drop the imputation +of schism, seeing that Bramhall wrote that there was no formed +difference with the Church of Rome about any point of faith. Finding +that an Archbishop denied any necessary articles of faith beyond the +Apostles' Creed, he would regard the 39 Articles as Hall, +Chillingworth, Bramhall, Stillingfleet, and, according to Bull, all +that are well advised, considered them--pious opinions which no man was +obliged to believe. With Bossuet, he would acknowledge the force of +the case in favour of Anglican orders, and with Richard Simon he would +admit that the Caroline divines had not their equals in his own Church, +and would revere them as the strongest enemies of the specific heresies +of Luther and Calvin, as the force that would sap the fabric against +which Rome still contended in vain. If he heard that there was a +bishop who begged prayers for his soul, another who tolerated the +Invocation of Saints, a third who allowed Seven Sacraments, and so on, +he might be willing to believe, with Davenport, that the chasm was +filled that had separated England from Trent. + +To reach that point of conciliation it would be {134} necessary to make +the best of everything, so far as could be without sophistry, violence, +or concealment. And the same rule of favourable interpretation would +be applied by the same man to his own Theology. He would be bound by +the limits of Richelieu's proposals, and would keep within the lines of +Bossuet, and those which Spinola afterwards drew, with the assent of +Pope and General. + +He would have been confirmed in this method by the response it drew +from such eminent Protestants as Grotius, Bramhall, La Bastide, +Prćtorius, Fabricius, and Leibniz. Their judgment would have +encouraged him to abide in his own communion, and would have taught him +that he was as safe as his friend on the other side. The same +impartiality would have led to the same result. There were even +Protestant divines who sanctioned conversions to Rome. + +The last time I saw Count Arnim he asked about Newman's Vatican +defence. I said that he had explained the decrees away by declaring +that he meant no defence of persecution and tyrannicide. That was a +canon of interpretation strong enough to blow any other ingredient into +gas. Arnim objected that Newman's manipulations were not accepted at +Rome. Just then he became a Cardinal, and so they were indirectly +sanctioned. + +I endow my seventeenth-century divine with the ingenuity and the +integrity of Newman. Having given England the benefit of No. 90, he +would gild Rome with the answer to the Expostulation. Shutting one eye +to the Articles, like Chillingworth, he would, like Spinola, shut the +other to the Council of Trent. Having expounded Anglo-Catholicism by +the light of Bramhall, he would, in the same spirit, choose {135} +Cassander, Bossuet, Corker as genuine exponents of Roman Catholicism, +and he could do both without insincerity or surrender. + +Don't let me make too much of that passage in Newman. He defended the +Syllabus, and the Syllabus justified all those atrocities. Pius the +Fifth held that it was sound Catholic doctrine that any man may stab a +heretic condemned by Rome, and that every man is a heretic who attacks +the papal prerogatives. Borromeo wrote a letter for the purpose of +causing a few Protestants to be murdered. Newman is an avowed admirer +of Saint Pius and Saint Charles, and of the pontiffs who canonised +them. This, and the like of this, is the reason of my deep aversion +for him. + +There is not time for Shorthouse to-day. I will tell you about him as +soon as I can. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 20-22, 1882_] + +Wickham lent me John Inglesant yesterday, and I finished it before +bedtime. I have read nothing more thoughtful and suggestive since +Middlemarch, and I could fill with honest praise the pages I am going +to blacken with complaint. But if I had access to the author, with +privilege of free and indiscreet speech, it would seem a worthier +tribute to his temper and ability to lay my litany of doubts before +him. Not having it, I submit my questionings to yourself, as the +warmest admirer of his work. Probably the difficulties which occur to +me have been raised already in reviews which you have read. For +instance:-- + +I. 29. Inglesant's name does not appear in the trials of the +Protestants. Did the Marian persecution rage in Wilts? + +73, 74. Here is a Puritan party in Parliament and a {136} scheme to +pervert its leaders, in August 1637. No Parliament had sat for eight +years. + +83. Juan Valdes was not a papist but a Protestant. + +90. Would Foxe be the favourite and characteristic author of such +Arminians as the Ferrars? + +101. The Mass is the strongest of all the motives that lead men to +Rome.--I really doubt it, for I remember more instances of men +attracted by our orders, by authority, unity, confession. + +107. Hobbes thinks it is the consecrating power by which a priest, in +the hour of death, can save a soul.--He should have said, the power of +absolution. + +207. Something similar to the feeling in England during the Sepoy +rebellion. Read: Mutiny. This is an understatement. The Irish +massacre was more appalling to the imagination because it was nearer +and of vaster reported proportions. A respectable writer who lived in +Ireland believes that there were 300,000 victims. + +272. Charles contrasted most favourably with his judges, whose sole +motive was self. Ludlow's Memoirs, and other sources, show that +something was at work besides selfish fears. The men perhaps were no +better for that. They may even have been worse, inasmuch as the higher +and better part of them served as the motive of crime. Carnot may have +been as infamous as Barčre; but it is unjust to tar them with the same +brush. + +277. Eustace loses his suppers with the French King--Louis was eleven +years old. + +279, 312. I don't remember the term Quakers in current use as early as +January 1650, but very soon after. + +327. In opposition to this, the Jesuits about the {137} time of the +Reformation came forward with what was called a new doctrine.--The book +in question came out in 1588. + +Vol. I. 339. II. 12. Legate and nuncio are treated as the same thing. +They are as different as Prćtor and Dictator. + +II. 3. The learning of the Fathers was not what it had been a century +ago.--These Fathers must be Italian monks generally, or else the +Jesuits. It is not true of either. The Jesuits had no very eminent +scholars in the first generation. Salmeron, the most noted, lived to +be told by Bellarmin that his books would take a good deal of +retouching before going to press. The middle of the seventeenth +century, especially the second quarter, was the golden age of Jesuit +learning, when their supremacy was uncontested. The Benedictines did +not begin to rival them quite so early as Cressy says, I. 334. + +4. Chigi is never di Chigi, and the pope's sister-in-law was called +Olimpia Maidalchini. + +106. An age or two ago the priestly government was better. Yet +Machiavelli brings much the same accusation against it in his time. + +138. Some confusion as to the name of the English College. + +272. The steps of the Trinitŕ were hardly built then. There might be +more of these little scruples, and, by themselves, they do not build up +a strong misgiving. The picture may be true in spite of slips in +accessary detail. But is the picture true, I will not say +controversially, but historically? There are glaring faults in it, not +open to dispute or controversy, and I will begin with these. + +Inglesant comes to Rome about 1654, where Molinos {138} has already +resided some years; and he then attends to the business of the Duke of +Umbria. Umbria is Urbino. The last Duke of Urbino died nearly forty +years before Molinos settled in Rome. Inglesant is present at the +condemnation of Molinos, and afterwards visits Worcester, in Charles +the Second's reign--II. 369. Charles the Second had been dead two +years when Molinos was condemned. + +In the pontificate of Alexander the Seventh, we hear all at once that +Molinos is arrested, and are told of a meeting, at the Chigi palace, of +persons belonging to the time of Innocent the Eleventh. II. 333. +Without a single word, we are carried over three pontificates and an +interval of thirty years. + +The Jesuit who is so hopeful of Anglican re-union that he will not +allow his favourite pupil to join the Church of Rome is called Sancta +Clara. There was a Father Sancta Clara in those days, who is +peculiarly well remembered among English Catholics as the greatest +writer we had between Stapleton and Newman, less acute than the one, +less eloquent than the other, more learned than either; remarkable for +opinions so conciliatory as to resemble those of his imaginary +namesake, and to make him the originator and suggester of No. XC.; +remarkable also for the extreme difficulty of getting his books. But +he was a Franciscan, not a Jesuit, a scholar, not an intriguer; and his +name was not Hall, but Davenport. + +This is surely a wilful and wanton confusion of persons, times, and +things. It destroys confidence in the writer's carefulness or +knowledge, gives a tone of unreality, and makes one feel that the whole +is out of keeping. + +The book depicts the religious strivings of the age {139} so far as the +hero would come in contact with them, keeping a sort of syncretism[171] +in view. Some of the most remarkable currents of thought are left out +of sight, and others, which were not within reach, are introduced by a +tyrannical use of time and space. The Rosicrucians can hardly have +been talked about in England within twenty years after the Fama +appeared. The Quietists had not appeared in Rome under Innocent the +Tenth. The wonderful teaching of Bohme, which did reach us under +Charles the First, is not alluded to; and Inglesant lives in the same +house with Van Helmont, and never discovers that he is more than a +physician. The most intense religious force of all that which +prevailed during Inglesant's English career, Independency, is nowhere +named, as well as I remember. The writer does not differentiate +Puritans. He lumps Arminian with Predestinarian, the man who looks on +Schism with the horror felt by Baxter and the man who made Schism a +principle of organisation. Monarchy, he tells us, was restored because +the Puritans hated the tyranny of Cromwell. It was restored, because +Presbyterians would not stand being oppressed by Congregationalists; +and for another reason which was discovered by Harrington,[172] and may +still be discovered in his Works. We are introduced to Hobbes and to +More--Hobbes much better drawn than More--but we never meet +Chillingworth, and though at one time very near to Hammond we do not +hear him. Ussher offering terms to Presbyterians, Baxter seeking for +peace with Prelacy, Bramhall holding out a hand to Gallicans, Leighton +consorting with Jansenists--all this good and {140} apt material is +disdained. Instead of the original thinkers among the English +Catholics--Barnes, Holden, Davenport, White, Caron, Serjeant, +Walshe--we have only Cressy, by way of a foil to the Jesuits, and with +a vague reminiscence of a page in the writings of an Edgbaston +neighbour. Of the efforts making in France and Holland to mitigate +Calvinism, and in Germany to tone down the dogma of Augsburg, not a +word. Lutherans only appear in order to be saddled with a doctrine by +which they would be sorry to stand or fall. Jansenism, odious, +probably, to the author, is not displayed; and the definition of the +Oratorian spirit as contrasted with Benedictine and Jesuit, is quite +inadequate. + +Mysticism and High Church Anglicanism are so highly favoured that the +hero, when the Jesuit relaxes his grasp, acquiesces in both. At Rome +he is a hearty Molinosist. Driven from Rome he is a hearty Anglican. +Perhaps Malebranche or Fenelon might have facilitated the transition +from Petrucci to Norris and Nelson and Ken. But there is no +transition. The passage is made by the help of no subtler agency than +a Newhaven smack. The thing is unexplained, inartistic, inorganic, but +quite consistent with the drifting nature of Inglesant. Coming to more +debatable ground I proceed with greater diffidence: Who sat for the +profane and sceptical Cardinal? There is some likeness to Retz, +without his genius or any premonition of the change which, in +Inglesant's time, came over him. But it would be an unpardonable error +to paint an Italian prelate with colours owned by a Frenchman. I +suspect the author of having no authority for this description, both +because his account of the Conclave is so superficial, and for the +following reason. Rinuccini, {141} alluding to persecution, goes back +a century for an example, to a foreign country and a hostile church. +One later instance occurs to his company, but he rejects it. +Evidently, he thinks that there is nothing of the sort nearer at hand. +If, he says, they once commenced to burn at Rome, they would not know +where to stop. + +An account of Catholicism which assumes that, in the middle of the +seventeenth century, Rome had not commenced to burn, is an account +which studiously avoids the real and tragic issues of the time. The +part of Hamlet is omitted, by desire. For when Rinuccini spoke, the +fires of the Roman Inquisition were, indeed, extinct, but had been +extinguished in his lifetime, under the preceding pontificate, having +burnt for nearly a century. Familiar instances must have been +remembered by his hearers; and they had read in the most famous +theological treatise of the last generation, by what gradation of +torments a Protestant ought to die. They knew that whoever obstructed +the execution of that law forfeited his life, that the murder of a +heretic was not only permitted but rewarded, that it was a virtuous +deed to slaughter Protestant men and women, until they were all +exterminated. + +To keep these abominations out of sight is the same offence as to +describe the Revolution without the guillotine. The reader knows no +more than old Caspar what it was all about. + +There was no mystery about these practices, no scruple, and no +concealment. Although never repudiated, and although retrospectively +sanctioned by the Syllabus, they fell into desuetude, under pressure +from France, and from Protestant Europe. But they were defended, more +or less boldly, down to the peace of {142} Westphalia.[173] The most +famous Jesuits countenanced them, and were bound to countenance them, +for the papacy had, by a series of books approved and of acts done, +identified itself with the system, and the Jesuits were identified with +the cause of the papacy. A Gallican was not quite so deeply +compromised. He might say that these are the crimes and teaching of +the Court, not of the Church, of Rome; and he was on his guard to +restrict the influence and to disparage the example of the popes. +Nevertheless, to say: If you believe the books which Rome commends; if +you accept the doctrines which Rome imposes under pain of death and +damnation; if you do the deeds she requires, and imitate the lives she +proposes as your patterns, you will be probably hanged in this world, +and assuredly damned in the next--this would have sounded like derision +even in the mouth of Pascal or Bossuet. To a Jesuit it was impossible. +He existed in order to sustain the credit of the Popes. He wished the +world to think well of them. They were a tower of strength, an object +of pride to every member of the Society. He was obliged to swallow +them whole. Therefore, though he might wear the mask of Lancelot +Andrews or William Wilberforce, within it was a lining of Saint Just. +It is this combination of an eager sense of duty, zeal for sacrifice, +and love of virtue, with the deadly taint of a conscience perverted by +authority, that makes them so odious to touch and so curious to study. + +You will be prepared to hear that I no more recognise the Jesuit than +the Cardinal. Something indeed may be urged in behalf of the sonorous +wickedness of those instructions in which he betrays his spirit, in the +strongest passage of the book. It matters not what {143} cause we take +up, provided we defend it well--that is Probabilism. It matters not +what wrong we do in a good cause--that again is the maxim that the end +justifies the means, which, like Probabilism, was just then in the +ascendant. It matters not whether the cause for which we sin is +religion or policy--even that is paralleled by the way in which the +French Jesuits, all but one, supported Richelieu in his alliance with +the Protestants, in the Thirty Years' War. But it is the character of +an exceptional Jesuit, not a type. It is not indicated that he goes +wrong from the worthiest motive; that the disinterested spirit of +religion, which to other men is a safeguard, is as fatal to him as +vulgar passions to other men. The true Jesuit falls better than that. +His decay begins at the top. He does not find his way to +Malebolge[174] until a guide misleads him whom he takes for an angel of +light. The sordid, lying, selfish, ambitious specimen does not appear +unless grafted on a fanatical stock. The essence that vitiates so much +discipline and virtue is so subtle that we seldom feel the resemblance +when Jesuits are portrayed from outside. + +The author seems hardly to detect his own rogue. When Hall coolly +announces that a lie must be told which will cause a man's death, and +is therefore equivalent to murder, it is not clear whether this is +infamous or not. For Charles betrays Glamorgan as his son afterwards +betrayed Montrose, and we are still expected to revere him as something +better than the enemies who, to save their necks, resorted to Pride and +Bradshaw. So again, speaking of Laud and Strafford, he implies that if +they were unsuccessful tyrants, they were no tyrants at all. That is, +to be a tyrant, you must {144} succeed, just as, to be a rebel, you +must fail. The model of tyrants is Cćsar Borgia. When he was down, +Machiavelli, who had thought him worth attentive study, said to him +that he wondered so good a player should have lost the game. He +answered that he had foreseen every combination except that of himself +being prostrate with illness when the crash came. That miscalculation +would become his excuse. + +If this propensity to absolve royal and loyal culprits comes from +sympathy with them, it seems to me no better than the crooked canon of +Macaulay, Carlyle, and Froude. The standard, in another place, is a +low one: The priest who invites Inglesant not to die with a lie in his +mouth reminds him that they subordinated their religion to their +political intrigues. But what if they subordinated politics to their +religious interest? To waver about ship money until one knows whether +Charles or Hampden is on the side of one's Church is dishonesty. To +have no moral test of duty apart from religion is to be a fanatic. +What Inglesant imputes to the Catholics is very near the definition of +an honest man. For reasons less obvious I am not satisfied with the +character of Inglesant. We learn in the first volume, p. 34, that he +never formally joined the Church of Rome; and in the second, p. 318, +that he must have been formally received into it. There is a more +serious contradiction still. His life is singularly blameless and +heroic, but one does not perceive the safeguard. Three channels by +which God speaks to the soul are excluded. Inglesant will do anything +but read the Bible. He has never studied to distinguish the voice of +the Church, the constancy of her teaching, the line of least +resistance, the law that regulates her movements. Conscience is a word +that does not occur during the first 200 pages of {145} religious +training. Then she asks him, what if they ask him to do something that +his conscience cannot approve? He very truly answers that it is too +late to think of that. Then the word returns two or three times, but +the idea is gone. We repeatedly find that he knows not right from +wrong, and is not scared by sin. When reminded of the horrors of the +Inquisition he calmly observes: Not one of these practices but has some +shadow of truth in it. A priest, defending imaginary relics, says: +These things are true to each of us according as we see them. +Inglesant is content, and does not ask who invents or promotes the +fable. Having, with some pains, forced his master to confess the +iniquity of his scheme, he adopts it with alacrity. There is not a +momentary struggle between self-devotion and the shock of indignation. +The spring is broken. The sense is dulled. The voice within is +hushed. What then kept this man's life so pure in court and camp? The +book is not written to suggest that honour and chivalry are a genuine +form or a substitute for grace. + +One might suspect that it is the idea which Plato transmitted from +Socrates, which Cameron, in 1624, had revived--that the knowledge of +good and evil is virtue. But Inglesant possesses the virtue without +the knowledge. He is as destitute of conviction as he is free from +vice. His one security is Direction. He passes from hand to hand, and +successive teachers impress him for a time, but impart no principle. +When they fail him, he stands where they found him, a safe and +contented Churchman, not because he has examined all things and chosen +the best, but because the master he preferred happened to be in prison. + +A fine opportunity had been wasted. A clever, refined, high-spirited +youth, who has won, in a religious {146} philosophy, a standing ground +apart from Churches, who yet learns to sympathise with them, and who +sheds his prejudices and illusions as he grows in spiritual experience; +that would be a noble study in the days of Grotius, Descartes, Lord +Herbert, Hammond, Baxter, Roger Williams, Elondel, Raynaud, and Pascal. +None of these appear on the platform with Hobbes and Cressy and +Molinos--as though, two centuries later, a man should seek rest for +conscience without going near Channing, Arnold, Newman, Vinet, Neander, +Rothe, Schelling, or Grundtvig. Last, the terms Romish, papist, +popery, in so good an artist, make me ask myself whether a papist who +respects himself would talk of heretics, schismatics, apostates, and +infidels? But I have become confused from my prolixity. + +I shall be very glad if there is anything in what I said that Arthur +Lyttelton can turn to account, after careful verification. If he will +take the trouble to examine for himself, there can be no reason to +allude to anybody else. + +He will abstain, I know, from raising those points respecting +persecution which would give just offence, appearing in this indirect +way. To mark the enormity of supposing that the Cardinal did not know +that people used to be burned in Rome; it would be enough to say that +he cannot have forgotten the reign of Paul V. Down to that reign, from +1542 to 1608, the thing was common and notorious. After Paul V. there +is little that anybody would remember who has not made a study of such +things. This also must be borne in mind, that in Rome, unlike Spain, +the victims were usually strangled, and were not committed to the +flames until they were dead. + +The book alluded to, I. 327, is Molina, on grace. {147} The defence +about the appearance of the name of Quakers would be that it appeared +in that very year 1650. But they are here talked about as early as +January, as if quite well known. The answer to my objection about +Sancta Clara would be that the similarity of opinions suggested the use +of the name. But the man is too well known to be treated in that +unceremonious way. + +To say, I. 137, that among Puritans self-restraint and concealment were +sins, is so serious an imputation, especially the first word, that it +should be defined which sect was meant. Nobody says that Baxter was +rude, not even Howe, in private life. There is a slovenliness in this +use of a big brush. Cardinal Howard does not deserve the praise he +gets, II. 333. He was a very pale figure. + +Observe II. 273. There are no spires in Rome. I hear that the author +has never been in Italy. That accounts for many topographical +mistakes, and leaves a margin to his credit. + +The date of the steps of the Trinitŕ might perhaps be discovered in the +life of Cardinal Polignac, or in the article on him in Michaud or +Didot. It matters not; but the correctness of local and chronological +colour turns on such points as these. I think Cressy could hardly have +justified what he says of the Fathers. + +On looking over my lengthy prose I find something that I must +add:--Valdes never renounced Catholicism, but his writings, only lately +made accessible, are the writings of a Protestant. The numbers +mentioned in the Irish massacre are, of course, monstrously +exaggerated, as were the numbers given by Clarendon, Milton, and +Baxter. I quote them to show the greatness of the {148} alarm. The +French Jesuits stood by Richelieu and allowed one of their number to be +exiled for his opposition to the German war when, after the peace of +Prague, it had ceased to be a war in defence of the Protestants, and +was purely aggressive. This was because, in 1627, he had made them +understand that they must leave France if they resisted his will. It +was easier to associate resistance to Puritanism with the Catholic +cause than aggression on the Catholic Powers in Germany. I do not say +that the care taken to prevent conversion is absolutely impossible. +Some Franciscans at that time might have done it; and something like it +is told of a Jesuit a few years later. + +There is a very curious passage, II. 385, on persecution: It was these +selfsame ideas of the future and its relation to this life that +actuated their tormentors. This is an attempt to look beneath the +surface, and a soothing tribute to the feelings of those who admire +Galerius and Calvin and Gregory the Thirteenth. The Natural History of +Intolerance has not yet been written; but the analysis is not so simple +as these words imply. Half of the persecution in the Roman Empire, all +the persecution of Huguenots by the Valois, and of Roman Catholics +under Elizabeth, was due to other ideas than those of the future. And +where religious ideas induced men to side with the tormentors against +Toleration, there is much that is not more sincere or more excusable +than the ideas that have led to political massacres. The opinion +expressed covers some of the ground, but only a very small part of it. + +But I must stop somewhere. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 29, 1882_] + +If there are judges and juries in Britain, Macmillan would expose +himself to fine and imprisonment by {149} printing what I write to you. +You will see in a moment, I am sure, why it could never be. + +It would be an offence to the author, because there is no allowance of +the large measure of praise and even of admiration due to him--nothing +but the Catalogue of objections suggested to me by the belief that I +was writing to a too fervent admirer of the book. Without my signature +it would be a stab in the dark; and with my name it would be +insufferably pretentious, uncalled-for, and unfair. And I, who make a +profession of knowing about Conclaves and the like, should be bound to +visit more amply, if not more severely, the strangely inadequate and +pointless narrative of the election of Chigi. Few things are more +curious and dramatic than the Conclaves, and this one is particularly +well known. + +Besides, Fraser is sure to be very hostile, both in detail and in +respect of the scope and spirit of the work. He is sure to quarrel +with Jesuit and Cardinal, and to say much of what I have said in strict +confidence. Please, dismiss the thought; and if you compliment +anything, let it be the paper and handwriting. + +That is a very kind question about Gardiner; and as I have at hand, +here, the means of learning more without risk of indiscretion, I had +better postpone my answer. If, as a rule, those pensions are granted +to people almost destitute of means, the case could not well be +admitted. He ought to be at the Record Office instead of the present +Hardy. It is in Jessel's gift, and he asked my advice, specially +excluding clergymen, and thereby losing the two best men, Brewer and +Stubbs. I suggested Freeman, Gardiner, and Bond. Freeman sent me word +that he would not take it. Jessel told me he would appoint Bond--who +is now the very good {150} and estimable, but gloomy successor of +Panizzi--but that he had been told that Bond was a Catholic. He said +that a Jew was not strong enough to appoint a Catholic Keeper of the +Archives. Bond is a Broad Churchman, and the report arose only from my +recommendation. Gardiner therefore remained; but it was resolved, +under I know not what pressure, to keep the thing in the Hardy family. +Meantime, I think Gardiner succeeded Brewer in his professorship at +King's College--not, I imagine, remunerative, but still an obstacle. + +Yes, I agree about Forbes, and rather think he is one of the men Simon +speaks of, and defies the Sorbonne to meet--unless I am mixing up the +two divines of that name. + +Spinola wrote no book. He was a Franciscan bishop, Imperial Confessor +at Vienna, and produced several schemes of union, on the part of Rome, +which differ from other such by being definite and sincere. Leibniz, +and the Calixtine school of Lutherans, were very near adopting his +plan; but as he was an agent of pope and emperor when Louis XIV. was +the enemy of both, Bossuet contrived to baffle him. What was known of +these transactions down to our day is in Pichler's work on Leibniz. +Much more has since come out in the "Correspondence of the Electress +Sophia," and there is more to come, whenever the Madonna of the +Future[175] is unveiled. + +Of John Inglesant, let me say that it would be a very fair text to work +on--how far the pagan, human virtues, coupled with qualities which are +not, in a spiritual sense, virtues, such as courage, delicacy, good +nature, veracity, pride, can accomplish the outward, visible {151} work +of grace. But that is clearly not the author's design. + +If Gardiner's paper is very hostile, and you then think it worth while +to send my remarks to Mr. Shorthouse,[176] through his publisher or +otherwise, that is a case governed by the saying of the younger +Pompey.[177] + +I liked what I saw of the Fox Memorials during a very short inspection; +and yesterday, lunching at the parsonage at Mentone, I found the Life +of Lowder. The accounts of Prince Leopold were distressing. Fancy my +finding myself with two excellent clergymen, both ardent Gladstonians, +and both wishing for the admission of Bradlaugh. Otherwise my journey +was not altogether successful, as I got half a sunstroke, which you +have already seen traces of in my letter. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Cannes April 27, 1882_] + +The description you quote of Coleridge is not more inaccurate than +epigram requires. I have just drawn up a list of recommended authors +for my son, as being the company I should like him to keep, after me; +and after some hesitation I included S. T. C. in the number. But he +has to be balanced by sounder stuff. + +Lecky only arrived two days ago, and is scarcely begun. But the +beginning, and the account of Junius struck me as very far indeed ahead +of all his former writings. There is a good deal of slovenly writing, +and it is puerile to write modern history from printed books; but this +is a wonderfully solid performance. You will not think it as amusing +as Froude's "Carlyle," when you come to it, but much more nutritious. + +{152} + +You depressed my spirits the other day by showing that the majority of +39 did not amount to quite so much as I, from a distance, had imagined. +And the Budget, though open to very little remark, does not do much to +raise them. If I was not conscious of being the worst accountant yet +discovered, I should say that there is a slip in one of the +calculations of Savings Bank deposits. + +Gardiner for some reason did not publish his article.... If Arthur +Lyttelton, out of pure cussedness, wishes to put in the note you speak +of, I would like to see what it is he says, starting from the materials +buried in my letter. + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Cannes May 3, 1882_] + +Lecky's merits stand undiminished by further acquaintance, but the +deficiencies become more glaring. The character of Burke, though in my +opinion very defective, seems to me the best I have read in the +language. + + * * * * * + +The May _Fraser_ contains his article,[178] and I greatly fear that his +judgment will be as critical as my own. + +I wonder whether you have the _Temps_ or _Débats_ in Downing Street, +and have read the speeches of Pasteur and Renan. I do not remember so +interesting a reception, and what is serious is that the most powerful +intellectual force in France has declared, virtually, for materialism. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes May 5, 1882_] + +We have nothing later than Tuesday's speech, so that the lines are not +traceable into the future, and I am still in a very anxious and +doubting stage. + +{153} + +It is not apparent why Spencer occupies a position between earth and +heaven. He looks like a warming pan. Not for a prince, for that is +out of the question. For Dufferin?[179] But Dufferin, who is easy, +dexterous, and popular, has not the sterling and transparent quality of +Spencer himself. It may well be the basis of a vast change in the +machinery for the government of Ireland; but that would require +legislation for which there is no time. Perplexity No. 1. + +Then one must conclude that the change comes from assurances given by +the moderate Irish members, that it would enable them to moderate the +raging ones. But to ensure that, they must have a finger in the pie, +and Russell or Shaw would have to have the offer of the Irish Office. +It seems clear, from the delay, that that is not to be; and one hears +of Lefevre and Chamberlain.... Perplexity 2. + +There is a look of uncertainty and want of clearness about the whole +thing. Cowper resigns; after an interval, half a successor is +appointed; then the suspects are released; then Forster resigns; and +then, after another interval showing want of preparation, there is a +new Secretary. This way of doing whatever is to be done suggests that +the Ministry had not the foresight to anticipate opinion, or strength +to lead it. Dropping one colleague after another in their Irish course +makes that course appear wanting in deliberation and design, and +strengthens the notion that, under heavy pressure, they may be driven +nobody knows where, like men who yield, not like men who lead. I +presume that there is some evidence of ensured improvement, consequent +upon concession. But one doubts that again, when {154} Forster +resigns; and it seems that the change is in the ideas more than in the +facts. As to any gain on Irish opinion from the grace of concession, I +should not expect it, as so many suspects remain in custody. If so, +then the advantage would be derived from the new position of the Irish +leaders--a very doubtful policy. Then again, I don't like the moment; +immediately after Cairns's stroke, and the untimely publication of his +draft report.[180] I don't like anything which looks like +overtrumping, because it is not fit for such a Prime Minister to follow +initiative, whether that of opponents, or of English or Irish opinion. + +These misgivings occur to me although you know, if nobody else does, +that I was not convinced by the argument in favour of coercion, and saw +no evidence of greater demoralisation than was the direct effect of +actual suffering. Since then there has been so much atrocity in +Ireland, so much foreign influence, and so manifest a change for the +worse in the conduct of the clergy, that I have grown reconciled to the +strong hand. Even if full of sympathy with the spirit of the present +policy, I cannot satisfy myself with the mode of its inception, and I +shall not feel comfortable for some days, until the design grows clear. +To you, they will be intensely interesting, and I shall be very glad +indeed to hear that confidence reigns in Downing Street. + + +POST OFFICE AND SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHS. + +CANNES, 5.14, 8/5, 11.54, on the 8/5, 1882. + +Do not let him lose confidence in himself.[181] + +ACTON. + +{155} + +[Sidenote: _Cannes May 9, 1882_] + +We have only vague reports in French newspapers, but I cannot wait for +full accounts of the tragedy that touches us all so nearly, to give you +my warm tribute of sympathy and sorrow. It is shocking to think of +her, so worthy of happiness and so afflicted. You, I know, have, of +all people, the most soothing hand for the most cruel wounds. + +It must have been a dreadful blow in your own home, and at a distance +one grows anxious about many things. I apprehend a violent burst of +passion in the country, with despair of healing such disease with +lenient arts; and, if the tide turns, the change will be felt in +Parliament, and will be used by men quite capable of seeing that Mr. +Gladstone's statesmanship is confirmed by the very crime which will +condemn it in common minds. Assuming that some of the Cabinet assent +reluctantly to the heroic policy, and that the last few weeks have not +added to his personal ascendency, I fear that they will either forsake +him or urge him to forsake his own ideal lines. Thinking of this, of +his strong affections, of the shadow on the hearth, I could not +restrain my wish to send you my small vote of confidence. + +For we heard at first that Spencer had instantly resigned.[182] I was +ashamed to show myself, and whispered to my family how Nicholas, the +bad emperor, faced a rebellious army. There is very different news +to-day. I gather that Spencer remains, that Forster redeems many +faults by offering to go back, that Parnell has made his choice between +murder and conciliation, that the Opposition holds its hand, expecting +Mr. Gladstone to turn against himself. + +{156} + +It seems to me that much ground must inevitably be lost, and that the +true moral of this catastrophe can never be made visible to the average +Englishman. Still I see great opportunities of recovery, and I know in +what spirit I hope that he has had the strength to receive the blow +aimed through Freddy Cavendish at himself. + +I long so much to hear from you. If you can think, in sad days like +these, of anything but the sorrow that is near you, do give an +affectionate message from me to Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, and send me, +when you have a quiet moment, a line to Munich. I start almost +immediately. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _St. Martin Ried Haute Autriche July 20, 1882_] + +Alexandria, Bright, and a vote of censure have been a great distraction +from our Irish troubles. If Bright, the Minister, agreed to the +orders, and if Bright, the Quaker, woke up at the execution of the +orders, then his conduct is unstatesmanlike and weak. I conclude,--not +having Monday's debate yet,--that he resigns not because of the +bombardment, but because, having troops on the way, remembering the +example of Paris, warned by the terrified correspondents, we +nevertheless bombarded without taking precautions against consequences +that were not improbable. If he takes that ground, he will, I suppose, +be angry and mischievous, and his position will encourage the +disaffected Whigs; and it will be awkward even if part of the blame +rests on the Powers; because, when we took things into our own hands, +we were bound to do all that was necessary. + +I very much wish for a completer defence than {157} I have seen yet; +and at the same time I think that a good defence, with some measure of +political success in Egypt, will be a source of new strength, and if +there is some blame, I anxiously ask myself whether it lies at the +Foreign Office, at the War Office, or at the Admiralty. + +It is provoking not to know most of the names of the people going out +on this difficult errand. That is one side of the question. The +other, nearer home, for me, is that you are still going through +terrible worry, and that the wear and tear must be telling on Mr. +Gladstone. I ask myself one question, which most people would think an +unlikely one, whether he thoroughly controls his colleagues, and +whether the work of the House absorbs him too much.... I hope you sat +next to Bright.... + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _St. Martin July 29, 1882_] + +We are living here in my brother-in-law's house; and I will tell him +that he must prepare for better guests, as soon as you tell me that it +is not the baseless fabric of a vision. He is not married; so that +there is no one to be on ceremony with; and his house is as big as many +Tegernsees. Alfred[183] will be as welcome here as he is wherever his +bright face is shown. + + * * * * * + +It is impossible not to feel that the Ministry grows weaker by the +associates it has lost as well as by the associates that decline to +join. There are now the ingredients of an alternative Liberal Cabinet, +consisting of men fairly equal to those now in office--with the +necessary exception--and hostile to them. The ground is getting narrow +under our feet, and the full {158} force of the party does not support +Ministers. The want of a successor to Bright indicates too clearly +that Mr. Gladstone, though still master of his majority, is not what he +has been, master of his party. I hope for new arrangements at the end +of the session, and for a real gain of strength from ultimate success +in Egypt. But, like Ireland, it is a harvest that will ripen slowly. +I wonder whether things have seemed to you as gloomy as this, or +whether the light before you dispels the darkness. + +Mozley's book, and all others published in England since January, I +have not seen. He interests me more than almost any other of our +divines, and I look forward to a good time with his reminiscences, if, +as I understand, it is the divine, and not the manifold writer.[184] + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee August 4, 1882_] + +With all my heart I adopt your scheme, Reform, Dissolution, and then, +let Politics make way for a still higher and worthier cause. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Paris, August 12, 1882_] + +Salisbury's collapse[185] is less decisive than mine, and although +there is a pleasant corner in the House of Lords, my journey ends in +nothing better than disappointment and in having set you to write notes +all day. My accounts show that they are not comfortable at home, so +that I have no right to be basking in the ethereal sunshine of Downing +Street. + +It was a monstrous thing to do, suggestive of {159} Mrs. Todgers, but I +left the Dante in his[186] room at the H. of Commons. It was too late +to ring at No. 10,[187] for I kept him talking till near eleven. But +there was some symbolic propriety about the title[188] of the unbound +volume--unbound because they did not remember the binding of the rest. +Of course the impression of my one well-filled day in town--even with +the part of Cordelia left out--is the very opposite of that under which +I lately wrote. The session ends with a great blaze of his mastery and +power. But the best of it all is, that I found him so wonderfully +vigorous and well and even content. It did indeed impress me most +deeply. + +It is remarkable how little he chooses to realise the tremendous loss +of authority and power which the party will incur by his retirement, +and he has no idea how little he would soon be in harmony with them. +However, Ireland is not all right yet; and there are obvious +complications impending in Egypt which he cannot leave unsolved. With +that, there will still be time for the Reform Bill. + +Late at night I found slipped under my door your rejected letter, which +will be cherished with the rest. If writing made up for sight! + +This letter is written by scraps, in various places and countries. I +crossed with Forster, on his way to Russia, and got him to tell me his +inner history. I shall be at St. Martin the day after to-morrow.... + +Shorthouse's[189] letter could not go with Dante, and I will enclose it +in my next. I have got Democracy. The Mays, considered an authority +on the subject, do {160} not think much of it. Forster does, and says +it is not by Mrs. Adams. He says that Bright has no idea that he left +either too early or too late. Will you--very earnestly--put my excuses +before Mrs. Gladstone for my way of dealing with her boundless +hospitality? + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Cannes Feb. 2, 1883_] + +I wonder whether you would come to lunch to-morrow, Saturday? Perhaps +I could inscribe in your most private book the list of the hundred +works that have most influenced human history. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Feb. 13, 1883_] + +... These books are enclosed to show Mr. Gladstone what good German +prose is, in expounding difficult, very difficult, questions. Also, a +little book, by a very famous Dane who has grown more and more to be a +power since his death.... + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine March 3, 1883_] + +After seeking a moment's distraction at a chateau near Marseilles I +came home to find your letter, so kindly written in the intervals of +Parisian dissipations. + +The failure of Challemel was truly sad, but I hope that Fedora,[190] +following the little dinner on the Boulevard, made up for it. The +tranquillity and sameness of Cannes will soon be thrust far out of +sight by the centre of European life. We do our best, in your absence, +to be a little worldly. Bright, Houghton, and the Mallets lunch +to-day. I am to meet Colonel Hay at tea, and the little bishop[191] at +dinner this evening. + +... It is pleasant to think that Lyons made you enjoy Paris, and +divined the one thing you all have a passion for, and he seems to have +done the political part of his work very well by bringing you into +contact {161} both with the ruling men and with the Left Centre. That +was just what was wanting to redress the Wolvertonian balance. + +I am a little sorry that the visit at the Elysée was not more +interesting. Grévy's speeches in 1848 were very sensible indeed, but +he seems to be pushing the theory of the _roi fainéant_ much beyond the +American, or even the Merovingian, limit, if he avoids politics with +such a visitor. Then I rejoice much at the visit to Jules Simon, +though you don't say whether it was spontaneous or a return, and a +curious question is, where was the limit drawn? Did he and Broglie, +Decazes, Harcourt, avoid each other? If these former ambassadors did +not call, it is matter for speculation. At Marseilles, I found myself +in a nest of Legitimists, and learnt that the chief of them, Coriolis, +lately asked the Count of Chambord for leave to raise the white flag. +If there was more of this kind, it is odd that the advocates of +expulsion made so little of it. If it had been possible to stay longer +at Paris, it would have been a very desirable thing, for they do not +really know or understand him,[192] and the conflict of forces there +would be worth observing otherwise than in Blowitz' or Lyons's +despatches. + +It is a pity to have missed Mrs. Craven, who would take to you +intensely if you saw more of each other--a woman of great talent and +elevation of mind, but who has just written on the Salvation Army a +paper that seems to portend the approach of mental decay. Lady +Blennerhassett is very far her superior. Tell her all about Cannes if +you see her.... Mrs. Green writes me a touching letter to say that she +has no hope left.... + + * * * * * + +{162} + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine, March 7, 1883_] + +This is only a hasty line of thanks and congratulation on your +prosperous journey. I have not yet seen either the Wolvertons or the +Anson family, and to-day there are a couple of inches of snow over +Cannes. Incorrigible Potter circulates the Financial Reform Almanack +in the name of the Cobden Club, for which Reay, A. Russell, and others +have denounced him. He asked me to read it through, which has been the +melancholy occupation of a whole day, ending in agreement with the +critics. + +I am losing Mallet, who is less well and goes to Mentone. Also, +Colonel Hay,[193] Lincoln's secretary and biographer, who proved a most +agreeable acquaintance. Yesterday, there was an expedition to Pégomas +(Houghton, Dempsters, &c.) and I find that the old lady[194] is the +original of St. Monica in Ary Scheffer's picture. Myers, translator of +Homer, is here, with a nice, newly-married wife, and Cross is in great +force, writing the biography[195] and wanting me to read the papers. + +Thanks for the MS., with the answer for which pray express my +acknowledgments. + + * * * * * + +You have heard that the Ashburnham MSS. are offered to the Museum, and +that some of them were stolen from public libraries in France. We +propose, if we buy at all, to resell to France as many of these as can +be proved to be stolen, and Delisle, the French Panizzi, comes this +week to produce his evidence, amicably, before the Museum experts. + +I say nothing about the purchase, and have only insisted that ---- was +a thief, and that we must, as we did before, make terms with Paris. +But I want you to know that Léopold Delisle is one of the most eminent +{163} scholars in France, that he is a most estimable and high-minded +man, tho' not a conspicuous bookmaker or littérateur, that he stands as +high in Germany as any Frenchman living, and that I have long enjoyed +the privilege of his friendly acquaintance. So that, if it should be +otherwise feasible, any civility shown him by the P.M.[196] on this his +very peculiar international mission, would be taken in France as a +marked sign of courtesy and goodwill, just after the visit to France. + +This is quite independent of the decision the Treasury may come to +about the grant. I may add that Delisle is perfectly trustworthy, and +that we are safe in the hands of the Museum people, to come to right +judgments as to the MSS.... + +Cross has shown me, with some secrecy, a very curious letter of +Dickens, declaring that only a woman could have written the "Scenes +from Clerical Life." But he gives no good reason, and I am persuaded +that he had heard the secret from Herbert Spencer, who at once detected +it. I dare not express my doubt. John Morley writes pleasantly, but +says he still feels like a fish out of water on the benches. + +This is written at your table in considerable solitude and vacancy. + + * * * * * + +I have just heard that Green is dead, and I must go to Mentone.... + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine March 21, 1883_] + +I hope to see them at the station, and then we can make plans for next +week. The hotel is very full, but Cross tells me that there is just +room for them. Ill-timed is really all I say against that passage of +the {164} lecture;[197] and, if other people had gone straight, it +would not even have been ill-timed. My censure has never gone farther +than that. + +Nobody can well be more strongly persuaded than I am of the necessity, +the practical and moral necessity, of governing nations by consent, +national consent being proved both by the vapour of opinion, and by the +definite mechanism of representation. I am not even surprised that +many Irishmen should be suspicious of the goodwill of a country which +turns as readily to a Tory government as to a Liberal, which is seldom +awake to its sins and the consequences of its sins, unless roused by +terror, and which has made amends only under compulsion, or under the +intense, but not permanent, influence of one resolute mind. Even that +is not all that I concede to them. Therefore, in substance, Herbert +has all my sympathy; only, if anything awkward arises, it is his father +who has to find the remedy or bear the burden. The danger now is that +the great wave, of his own raising, that has sustained his policy of +generosity, and even of eventual confidence, will fall. People will +lose, not only sympathy, which is not to the point, but hopefulness. I +cannot even say that they will be wrong to lose hope. But if men cease +to look forward to success, they cannot be made to go straight by +looking back to their own evil deeds. Nobody, then, would stand by the +P.M. except pure Democrats, like Chamberlain and Morley. If I was a +Minister, I would say, not that we shall devise new schemes to disarm +this new evidence, not that we shall relax our efforts in just +indignation and despair, {165} but that we shall go on with our appeal +from the ill-disposed to the well-disposed, pursuing a policy which is +not dictated by momentary hope or momentary fear, but proceeds from the +heart and spirit of the principles which are our _raison d'ętre_ as a +party and as a government. But I don't say that I should succeed. + +If flurry and apprehension penetrate Downing Street, nothing can +sustain Mr. Gladstone better than your own serenity. Be true to him +and to his cause even if these odious crimes continue, even when you +feel that the harvest will not be reaped in his time. The mills of God +grind slowly. + +It is very easy to speak words of wisdom from a comfortable distance, +when one sees no reality, no details, none of the effect on men's +minds. What is glorious is the way in which Mr. Gladstone rides on the +whirlwind. You need not wonder much what I am thinking of it all. + +As long ago as 1870 I ceased to be sanguine that we could govern +Ireland successfully. The best influence over the Irish people is the +influence of the clergy, and an ultramontane clergy is not proof +against the sophistry by which men justify murder or excuse murderers. +The assassin is only a little more resolutely logical or a little +bolder than the priest. + +I hope you will read and like Montégut's articles on George Eliot, +especially the second, in the _Revue_ of March 15. See pp. 307 and 329 +for some very excellent criticism. + +Miss B. met Cross here at lunch, was intensely excited, and explained +it by saying that he is Ladislaw. But I cannot believe it. They say +that Dorothea is here too. H---- has been in great force. He is +unwell now, but looks forward to M----'s arrival to-day, {166} +declaring, with accurate self-knowledge, that he likes nothing so much +as an impostor. + +He has given me Bradley's Recollections to read, from which I learned +very little, and Stephen's very curious history of our criminal law. + +Oscar Browning is here, divided between the French Revolution and the +Gracchi--the most interesting of all purely secular topics. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine March 31, 1883_] + +The Wickhams are most inaccessible people, only to be seen on the road +to Gourdon or St. Cézaire. I have had only a glimpse of them; but we +hope to overtake them between Château Scott and S. Paul's on Sunday. +They have some wild scheme of visiting Languedoc. + +Cross told me that he had asked for some criticisms of mine which you +told him of. I answered that I did not believe you would send them, +and he said that if you did, he would forward them unread. But I am +sure there is nothing of any possible use to him. He is very +communicative, and I am to see her letters and to advise as to +publication. What I have seen is of such a kind that merely strung +together with a few short notes, it would make a very interesting book: +"Memorials of George Eliot." + +The real answer to your remark[198] about that list[199] is that which +Johnson gave about fetlock.[200] I have nothing to say about physical +science that is not a reminiscence of conversations with Owen or +Hooker, Paget or Tyndall; and it would be important to put down all the +decisive works in those branches. I have {167} tried to know the books +on the history and method of discovery, the laws of scientific +progress, and the tests of truth and error; and I find that this is a +matter which very few scientific men take any interest in. + +If I must defend my list, this is the sort of sophism I would employ:-- + +We all know some twenty or thirty predominant currents of thought or +attitudes of mind, or system-bearing principles, which jointly or +severally weave the web of human history and constitute the civilised +opinion of the age. All these, I imagine, a serious man ought to +understand, in whatever strength or weakness they possess, in their +causes and effects, and in their relations to each other. The majority +of them are either religious or substitutes for religion. For +instance, Lutheran, Puritan, Anglican, Ultramontane, Socinian, +Congregational, Mystic, Rationalist, Utilitarian, Pantheist, +Positivist, Pessimist, Materialist, and so on. All understanding of +history depends on one's understanding the forces that make it, of +which religious forces are the most active, and the most definite. We +cannot follow all the variations of a human mind, but when we know the +religious motive, that the man was an Anabaptist, an Arminian, a Deist +or a Jansenist, we have the master key, we stand on known ground, we +are working a sum that has been, at least partially, worked out for us, +we follow a computed course, and get rid of guesses and accidents. +Thirdly (I am thinking, let us say, of my own son), we are not +considering what will suit an untutored savage or an illiterate peasant +woman who would never come to an end of the Imitation or the Serious +Call. Her religion may be enough for heaven, without other study. Not +so with a man living in the world, in constant friction {168} with +adversaries, in constant contemplation of religious changes, sensible +of the power which is exerted by strange doctrines over minds more +perfect, characters that are stronger, lives that are purer than his +own. He is bound to know the reason why. First, because, if he does +not, his faith runs a risk of sudden ruin. Secondly, for a reason +which I cannot explain without saying what you may think bad psychology +or bad dogma--I think that faith implies sincerity, that it is a gift +that does not dwell in dishonest minds. To be sincere a man must +battle with the causes of error that beset every mind. He must pour +constant streams of electric light into the deep recesses where +prejudice dwells, and passion, hasty judgments and wilful blindness +deem themselves unseen. He must continually grub up the stumps planted +by all manner of unrevised influence. The subtlest of all such +influences is not family, or college, or country, or class, or party, +but religious antagonism. There is much more danger for a +high-principled man of doing injustice to the adherent of false +doctrine, of judging with undeserved sympathy the conspicuous adherent +of true doctrine, than of hating a Frenchman or loving a member of +Brooks's. Many a man who thinks the one disgraceful is ready to think +the other more than blameless. To develop and perfect and arm +conscience is the great achievement of history, the chief business of +every life, and the first agent therein is religion or what resembles +religion. That is my sophism, beyond Dr. Johnson. But I think I +represent Anglicanism by only one book, or two at most. Others, such +as books on Church and State, cover much secular ground. Luckily, the +paper limit stops me in the middle of a long prose. + +{169} + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Hotel Klinger Marienbad Sept. 1, 1883_] + + +... Here, at last, I am resting from hard times at Marienbad, where the +waters get into one's head, as my letter will probably show. You +insist on my recording everything on which you will disagree, so I must +say that I should have voted more in royal than episcopal company.[201] +In our Church and in the countries I have lived in much, one is so +accustomed to those marriages that one does not think of a law to +prevent them. Then as to Egypt, I was not orthodox as to the policy of +the argument in favour of Lesseps, but vehemently comforted by the line +taken, to make no sordid profit out of our military position, and to +resist every entanglement that would indefinitely prolong the +occupation. When I consider that our presence there should be the +pivot for the settlement of the Eastern question, and the means of +civilising Africa, I can see so much to dazzle ambitious politicians +that I fear no Minister but one will ever be strong enough--in +ascendency as well as in moral power--to evacuate, and I complacently +take note of that additional steam to my propeller, whenever the +question of retirement stirs again; and my third heresy is about the +Pope. His declaration was concerted, I suppose, to hit some of the +clergy between wind and water, and so had a political, not a moral aim. +We may get embarrassed if we prompt and promote the political influence +of the Pope, whose principles are necessarily, whose interests are +generally, opposed to our own. It is as dangerous for us that his +political authority should be obeyed in Irish confessionals as that, in +this instance, it should be defied. Having morally supported the +movement which upset his sovereignty, being prepared to oppose {170} +any movement to restore it, we come with a bad grace to ask him to prop +and protect our authority in our dominions. Long ago I remember +writing to headquarters that it would become impossible--impossible for +Liberals--to govern Ireland after the Council; and although I am +avowedly the worst of prophets, this prophecy has had a good deal of +confirmation. It was an interesting question whether the Pope would +definitely and unconditionally condemn murder, whether from religious +or political motives. It would have borne untold consequences, as a +direct revocation of the Vatican system, which stands or falls with the +doctrine that one may murder a Protestant. But I don't believe that so +audacious a change of front would have moved a single priest in Ireland. + +Of George,[202] in the sixpenny edition, I had a glimpse at Cannes. +The better part of him, with more moderation and philosophy, and a +wider induction, may be found in the writings of the academic +Socialists, who, in the last ten years, have occupied almost all the +Chairs of Germany, and who have been the warmest admirers of the Irish +policy. + +One can hardly congratulate you ... about St. Peter's.[203] At +Montreux I met a newly-married young clergyman whose ugliness almost +made me take him for ----, and who assured me that it was offered to +Holland. The dean of St. Paul's[204] was at Munich the other day, and +delighted Döllinger, who believes, in consequence, that a more +mischievous fellow than Chamberlain does not eat bread. He also sent +him, and enabled me to read, Mozley's washy "Recollections." Liddon, I +see, is busy with Rosmini, in the intervals of {171} Pusey.[205] +Rosmini will interest you if the book ripens. He had much of Newman, +and nearly reformed the papacy. But I am troubled with a doubt. His +book was answered, by Passaglia, Thenier, Curci, and others, and it was +condemned by the Index. Rosmini wrote a long and curious defence of +it, which he printed, but did not publish, so as not to defy his +censors. Liddon ought to have this defence before him, to strengthen +his text withal. Perhaps Lockhart, and the other English Rosminians, +may scruple to give it to him, lest they break the measured silence of +their chief. It may be worth while to ask the eloquent and impulsive +Canon, whenever you see him, whether he knows of it. Do let me thank +you warmly for speaking of me to Mrs. Craven. She was almost my +earliest friend, and I am shocked to think that I seemed unfaithful to +memories forty years old. She was intimate with my mother before I was +born. What does it matter that she also bores me a good deal by her +restlessness, her curiosity and indiscretion, her want of serenity, +&c.? I always liked her in spite of it, and she was always a great, +but uncomfortable, admirer of Mr. Gladstone. Not so Waddington. You +must have seen at once that he is a very estimable, solid, deeply +religious man. There is hardly so great a scholar in France, and I +think he is the only Frenchman before whom Mommsen has retracted a +statement. That indeed is his proper line. Like George Lewis, he is +really happiest among his coins and inscriptions, and was never made +for the active life in which his high character, his knowledge, and now +his willingness to serve a party not his own, have carried him so far. +He has more caution than go, and has neither eloquence, nor influence +over men. {172} Above all things, he is cautious to do nothing that +would enable adversaries to accuse his patriotism. His language about +Egypt, and the future of France in the East, would seem exaggerated, +but I dare say you have read "Memories of Old Friends," a book meant +for invalids at Bohemian wells, and curiously displaying English minds +as they were about 1840. In the second edition Mill's letters are +appended, in one of which he describes Tocqueville's opinion that one +must not lower national pride, "almost the only elevated sentiment that +remains in considerable strength." Waddington might adopt those words +with even greater justice now. He once befriended me, so that I am +bound to speak up for him. We had met but once, at the Embassy, when +he asked me to dinner, and arranged that I should meet, besides Lyons, +Wimpfen and Hohenlohe, whom he knew to be old friends of mine, Louis +Arco, and the three most learned men in Paris, and then he gave me his +box at the Français. But whilst I testify what a good fellow he is, it +is necessary, highly necessary, to add that he is not a friend of Mr. +Gladstone. That class of scholars to which he belongs, men busy with +inscriptions, ruins, medals, vases, contriving thereby to amend a text +or fix a date, inevitably resent the spirit in which Mr. Gladstone +studies antiquity, carrying with him emotions and ideals derived from +elsewhere, and considerably disturbing accepted habits and conclusions. +Then it is very hard for an extra patriotic Frenchman to see with +patience a powerful government that does not always use its strength, +that accepts rebuke and repulse, and is ready to draw in the outposts +of the empire. Whatever the true cause, I am pretty sure of the fact +that he will come to Hawarden, like Ruskin, curious to probe the great +Gladstonian {173} mystery, not favourably prepossessed. I hope you +will have him soon, and deal justly with him. + +When you sit down to Macaulay, remember that the Essays are really +flashy and superficial. He was not above par in literary criticism; +his Indian articles will not hold water; and his two most famous +reviews, on Bacon and Ranke, show his incompetence. The essays are +only pleasant reading, and a key to half the prejudices of our age. It +is the History (with one or two speeches) that is wonderful. He knew +nothing respectably before the seventeenth century, he knew nothing of +foreign history, of religion, philosophy, science, or art. His account +of debates has been thrown into the shade by Ranke, his account of +diplomatic affairs, by Klopp. He is, I am persuaded, grossly, basely +unfair. Read him therefore to find out how it comes that the most +unsympathetic of critics can think him very nearly the greatest of +English writers. + +My good friend Bright[206] got me into controversy by sending me +Beard's "Hibbert Lectures," on the Reformation. There was a great deal +to say, with the usual result; but you would think them interesting as +a stimulant. Have I ever told you that I have read the Diaries, +letters, &c., of G. Eliot? Cross wants me to review them in the +_Nineteenth Century_, or at least wanted; but I know not where he is, +or whether he still wishes it. + +I always see Miss Helen Gladstone in the papers, and suppose she is +with you. I don't know whether Miss Renouf is in her house.[207] She +is a sort of god-child of mine, and her father is, without exception, +the most learned Englishman I know. The daughter of {174} such a man +should be something unusual; the mother, too, is of a clever family, a +Brentano. + +Lady Blennerhassett gave me some accounts of you at Holmbury. +Minghetti, whom I saw lately, tells me that our friend Bonghi has a +Roman History in the press, which the Italians hope to set up against +Mommsen. I forgot, to complete my confession, that I have never been +happy about our policy with Cetewayo. But the general result of the +session cannot be lamented, only it is not heroic success, such as Mr. +Gladstone's supremacy and the flatness of the Opposition would demand. +The great thing is his health. I did not come over, not being once +summoned, so that we shall only meet at Cannes. Do talk about plans. +Can there be anything before Cannes? It can never be too soon to meet. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Feb. 9, 1884_] + +You make writing as difficult as living afar, by your unspeakable +goodness, but also by the infusion of the contrary quality. If I +promise not to attack the Government, and to believe in Lord Derby, +will you agree not to hit me so hard? I cannot well help doing what I +do, taking all things into consideration; and as to my tiresome +book,[208] please to remember that I can only say things which people +do not agree with, that I have neither disciple nor sympathiser, that +this is no encouragement to production and confidence, that grizzled +men, except ----, grow appalled at the gaps in their knowledge, and +that I have no other gift but that which you pleasantly describe, of +sticking eternal bits of paper into innumerable books, and putting +larger papers into black boxes. There is no help for it. But your +reproaches are much more {175} distressing to read than you suppose, +and make me think them better to read than to hear. Otherwise, I too +would have a dream, to describe, and wish that yours came true from +January 1 to December 31. + +George[209] did not catch me at Marienbad, and came from Munich in a +big box, only the other day. I had partly read him, but I was in a +difficulty about thanking you for it with full honesty as long as I +only knew it casually, by unhallowed copies. But I do thank you, if I +may do so even now, most gratefully for the kindness of it altogether, +and particularly for your belief that I should understand it, and care +for it apart from the sender. Although in this you have flattered me; +for there are points in which I dare say I do not like him as much as +you do. + +Do not think ill of the people they call academic Socialists. It is +only a nickname for the school that is prevailing now in the German +universities, with a branch in France and another in Italy, a school +whose most illustrious representative in England, whose most eminent +practical teacher in the world, is Mr. Gladstone. In their writings, +inspired by the disinterested study of all classic economists, one +finds most of the ideas and illustrations of Mr. George, though not, +indeed, his argument against Malthus. This makes him less new to one; +but nobody writes with that plain, vigorous directness, and I do +believe that he has, in a large measure, the ideas of the age that is +to come. + +I am glad, too, that you like Seeley's book. It is excellent food for +thought. But so is the first article in the January _Quarterly_.[210] +I wrote eight pages of criticism and should have liked to send them to +{176} you instead of Maine, but perhaps you have not read him. + +Liddon's objection to saying what may damage a very meritorious body of +surviving friends of Rosmini is practically reasonable; but it is +rather a reason for not writing at all on the subject. Rosmini made a +vigorous attempt to reform the Church of Rome. He was vehemently +attacked, repelled, censured; and he defended himself in a work more +important, argumentatively, than the first. If this dramatic incident +is left untold, if his stronger statements are omitted from his case, +we shall get an imperfect notion of a memorable transaction, and of an +interesting, if not a great, divine. + +I am so very glad that Mr. Gladstone is in his best health, and that +the troubled times have put out of sight the notion of retirement. For +that reason I could almost console myself in looking at the Soudan. +That affair has been in the hands of a colleague without much original +resource, attentive to the wind, and glad to follow the advice of local +agents. It chances that I have been reading ----'s confidential +letters written to a friend sure not to show them to Ministers; and I +have thought him deficient in imagination--in the discovering +faculty--and also in independence. There is no denying that there has +been a lack of initiative genius in the last few weeks, and that Mr. +Gladstone would have done more if Bonaparte had been his departmental +colleague. + +Of all critics of my list,[211] Lubbock is best informed in a vast +region where I am a stranger. I by no means disregard his criticisms. +I have not got the list myself, and should like nothing in the world so +much as to sit {177} with you and talk over the objections you have +collected. But will that, or will anything like it, ever be? If it +may, do send one line on Tuesday to wait arrival at 18 Carlton House +Terrace. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _18 Carlton House Terrace S.W. Feb. 13, 1884_] + +Here is a ceremonious invitation to dine to-morrow, which I most gladly +accept. + +I gather, from something I have just heard, that Froude will not wish +for the Professorship. As to Freeman, I am not quite sure. There can +be no real competitor but Gardiner. + +Dinner without any prospect beyond will be mere dust and ashes; but +what awful fun Oxford[212] would be! + + +[Sidenote: _Feb. 15, 1884_] + +... It was such a delight to meet the greatest of all our +historians[213] at this particular moment. There never was so much +kindness in this world. I can think of nothing but our journey, and +the wretchedness of having only one day there. Of course I am going to +live at the Clarendon. If any doubt arises, do not let it exist for a +moment. Then I must visit the Bodley for an hour, and Stubbs, Liddon, +M. Müller, Jowett, Brodrick, Bright of University. + +But these are my private wanderings. Do remember that, and let them +not spoil the _cachet_ of their own grouping. As all passes through +you, do take an opportunity to say how thankfully and joyously I accept +his invitation. + +{178} + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine March 17, 1884_] + +May I employ the fleeting and disrespectful pencil to express +sentiments of the most opposite kind? I am still so stupidly weak, +unaccountably pulled by an illness which is an anachronism here, that I +am afraid to wait till I am quite ripe for ink, to speak of the happy +time I owed to your companionship in the two capitals of greater +Britain. There has never been anything like it, and I wonder when +there will again. Cambridge is in reserve; but nothing can ever equal +the sensation of festive home among people I had never seen, that you +procured for me at Keble. The worst recollection is the parting at +Paddington. I chose my hour next day so badly that, coming at 6, I +found your mother invisible, yourself out, and your sister gone. I +have said nothing yet to M----; but I do look forward two months to +another meeting. I am very glad that my last conversation with Mr. +Gladstone left no worse impression, for in the obscurity of St. James I +preached heavily on my favourite text: "aprčs moi le déluge;" and on my +favourite preacher. + +Meanwhile the troublesome question of retirement is in a new phase. +The half Reform bill is floated by a half pledge as to redistribution +which is personal to himself. He cannot leave it to be redeemed by +others, who, he expressly stated, are not parties to it. He is +virtually pledged to complete the work himself; that is, to meet the +next Parliament. For they will inevitably force him to dissolve in the +autumn, if they do not succeed in crowding out the Reform question. If +not carried by an immense majority, it will be carried by Irish votes. +The Lords will be able to say that England ought to be consulted +definitely, that it ought not to be overruled by Ireland, in an old +Parliament, and that such a change in the Constitution {179} is not to +be carried by enemies of the Constitution until the country has +pronounced. + +I don't imagine that it is a bad point to dissolve upon--at any rate, +there is no swopping in such a crossing. + +But I suppose he has abandoned the hope of himself retiring from Egypt, +and if he does not, nobody else will; and so one must begin to face +what is inevitable, and to acknowledge that the Soudan has altered our +position in Egypt. A further complication cannot be far off. The best +time to re-open the Turkish question will be whilst we are a little +damaged as to disinterestedness by Cyprus and Egypt, whilst our +increased security makes us less anxious and less nervous about +Constantinople, and whilst the censor of the Turk resides at No. 10. +The position in the East is so much altered since Berlin[214] that +Russia will not long be bound by that Treaty, having a price by which +Austria can be won. Every step of that sort will help to fix us in +Egypt. + +And as long as we are at Alexandria or even at Souakim, the future of +Central Africa will depend on us, or at least on our people. I do not +believe that Mr. Gladstone would revive John Company and send him to +the Equatorial lakes; and yet I fancy there is an opening there for +inventive statesmanship. + +My eagerness about Liddon's elevation does not mean that my head was +turned by the ambush of that deferential Sacristan at Oxford +Station,[215] or that the Warden[216] talked me over--though he talked +wisely. For I am not in harmony with Liddon, and scarcely in sympathy. +He has weak places that nobody sees and resents so sharply as I do; and +he has got {180} over, or swallowed, such obstacles on the road to Rome +that none remain which, as it seems to me, he ought logically or +legitimately to strain at. I will even confess to you alone--that that +affair of Rosmini leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. But one might +pick holes in any man, even in the new Bishop of Chester.[217] Nothing +steadies a ship like a mitre--and as to his soundness, his +determination to work in and through the Church, and not on eccentric +courses, I satisfied myself with the supreme authority of Dean Church, +on my last night in town. One cannot help seeing that Liddon is a +mighty force, not yet on its level. He knows how to kindle and how to +propel. Newman and Wilberforce may have had the same power, but one +was almost illiterate; the other knows what he might have learnt in the +time of Waterland or Butler; whereas Liddon is in contact with all that +is doing in the world of thought.... + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine March 30, 1884_] + +... You ask a question on which I can express unexpected agreement. As +long as property is the basis of representation, I think it hard to +exclude female owners. There is an obvious principle in it, of course. +But though obvious it is not stringent; because female influence is not +excluded. We not only have no Salic Law, but we allow women to vote on +matters not political, and we have attached political influence to +property so closely, that rich old women, like the +Duchess-Countess,[218] or Lady Londonderry, are {181} dreadful powers +in the land. The argument from consistency does not, therefore, make +for exclusion. + +At the same time, I think it an evil in many ways. Girls and widows +are Tories, and channels of clerical influence, and it is not for them +so much as for married women that your argument tells. If we ever have +manhood suffrage--dissociating power from property altogether, it will +be difficult to keep out wives. The objections to voting wives are +overwhelming. + + * * * * * + +You open a delightful vista of Colleges and Chapels at Cambridge. It +is not so easy to answer quite definitely. If the Reform Bill, read a +second time before Easter, is sent up by Whitsuntide, the division in +the Lords will be early in June. My difficulty would then be that, +having to come in June, I could hardly come to England in May. +Supposing my Reform vote to be wanted only after Midsummer, then my +probable plan would be to come to London by the middle of May; and I +should be at your orders for Cambridge any time between 20th and 30th +May.... + +Subject to these conditions, I shall be only too happy to escort you +down to the Sidgwicks', to whom, please present my best thanks. If +Maine is there, I dare say we can count on a luncheon there.... I am +talking of myself and own plans; but all the time I am thinking of your +cares and troubles, of which you say so little. If you can send me a +line of good news to Rome, I shall be so glad. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine June 19, 1884_] + +You will be careful, another time, I hope, as to the enclosures you +forward, seeing how long a reply they involve, and how great a delay. +The difficulty which prolongs and has delayed my letter {182} will be +very apparent to you before you reach the end. + +First, as to the personal question:-- + +It was not my purpose to depreciate Canon Liddon. I came over with the +highest opinion of him--an opinion higher perhaps than Dr. Döllinger's, +or even than Mr. Gladstone's, whose ostensible preference for divines +of less mark has sometimes set me thinking. Impressed by his +greatness, not as a scholar to be pitted against Germans, but as a +spiritual force, and also by a certain gracious nobleness of tone which +ought to be congenial, I tried, at Oxford and in London, to ascertain +whether there is some element of weakness that had escaped me. + +Evidently, Liddon is in no peril from the movement of modern Science. +He has faced those problems and accounted for them. If he is out of +the perpendicular, it is because he leans the other way. + +The question would rather be whether a man of his sentiments, rather +inclined to rely on others, would be proof against the influence of +Newman, or of foreign theologians like Newman. + +On the road Bishops and Parliament were taking a few years since, there +would be rocks ahead, and one might imagine a crisis in which it would +be doubtful who would be for maintaining the National Church and who +would not. I have chanced to be familiar with converts and with the +raw material of which they are made, and cannot help knowing the +distinct and dissimilar paths followed by men like Newman himself, +Hope, Palmer, R. J. Wilberforce, Ward, Renouf, many of whom resembled +Liddon in talent and fervour, and occupied a position outwardly not far +from his own. + +{183} + +He once called the late Bishop of Brechin[219] the first divine in the +Church. I knew the Bishop well, and am persuaded that the bond that +held him in the Anglican Communion might easily have snapped, under +contingencies to which he was not exposed. + +Putting these questions not quite so crudely as they are stated here, I +thought that I obtained an answer. At any rate, I was assured that +Liddon is made of sterner stuff than I fancied, that he knows exactly +where he stands, where others have stood before him, and where and why +he parts with them; that the course of Newman and the rest has no +secrets and no surprises for him; that he looks a long way before him, +and has no disposition to cling to the authority of others. In short, +it appeared very decidedly that he is--what Bishop Forbes was +not--fixed in his Anglican position. + +Under this impression, I could not help wondering why Wilkinson, +Stubbs, and Ridding are judged superior to Liddon. I could have felt +and have expressed no such wonder if I had not taken pains to discover +that he has tried and has rejected the cause of Rome, and that neither +home difficulties nor external influence are at all likely to shake him. + +Far, therefore, from meaning disparagement, I rate him higher than any +member of the English clergy I know; and touching the question of +stability, I have the sufficient testimony of his friends, of men +naturally vigilant on that point, of which I am not competent to judge +or to speak. + +So little competent, indeed, that I should be at a loss to define his +system, or to corroborate, of my own knowledge, the confidence which +others have {184} expressed. It seemed to me necessary to indicate +that, for myself, I could not speak without some qualification or +reserve, such as perhaps would only occur to a close student of Roman +pathology. To do more, will be giving undue and unfair prominence to a +parenthesis. It lays stress where there ought to be none, makes the +deduction, the exception, greater than the positive statement, and +gives me the air of a man whose praise is designed to convey a slur of +suspicion. + +That is why your letter with its formidable enclosure has afflicted me +with dumbness. The doubt which I indicated in writing to you has been +suggested chiefly by what passed in reference to Rosmini. + +You will remember that you sent Liddon word that Rosmini wrote a very +long defence of the little book which he was translating. He preferred +not to make use of the information and not to see the book; and he +avoided the subject when we met at Oxford. The reason is, that the +Rosminians wish the Defence to be ignored, as it qualifies the +submission of the author when the book defended was condemned. + +The suppression injures nobody; it only puts the readers of the +translation slightly off the scent, and gives an imperfect article +instead of none. There is some trace of complicity with those who are +interested in a _suppressio veri_. But it may have been due, as he was +under obligations to them, and this is only preliminary matter. + +My real difficulty is, that he speaks of his author with great respect, +and evidently thinks his doctrine sound and profitable. + +{185} + +Now Rosmini, allowing for some superficial proposals of reform, was a +thorough believer in the Holy See. His book itself, by the nature of +the reforms proposed, implies that no other defects of equal magnitude +remain to be remedied. Apart from the Five points he accepts the +papacy as it stands; and he has no great objection to it, Five points +included. + +He was what we vulgarly call an ultramontane--a reluctant ultramontane, +like Lacordaire. An Anglican who views with satisfaction, with +admiration, the moral character and spiritual condition of an +Ultramontane priest, appears to me to have got over the principal +obstacle on the way to Rome--the moral obstacle. The moral obstacle, +to put it compendiously, is the Inquisition. + +The Inquisition is peculiarly the weapon and peculiarly the work of the +Popes. It stands out from all those things in which they co-operated, +followed, or assented as the distinctive feature of papal Rome. It was +set up, renewed, and perfected by a long series of acts emanating from +the supreme authority in the Church. No other institution, no +doctrine, no ceremony is so distinctly the individual creation of the +papacy, except the Dispensing power. It is the principal thing with +which the papacy is identified, and by which it must be judged. + +The principle of the Inquisition is the Pope's sovereign power over +life and death. Whosoever disobeys him should be tried and tortured +and burnt. If that cannot be done, formalities may be dispensed with, +and the culprit may be killed like an outlaw. + +That is to say, the principle of the Inquisition is murderous, and a +man's opinion of the papacy {186} is regulated and determined by his +opinion about religious assassination. + +If he honestly looks on it as an abomination, he can only accept the +Primacy with a drawback, with precaution, suspicion, and aversion for +its acts. + +If he accepts the Primacy with confidence, admiration, unconditional +obedience, he must have made terms with murder. + +Therefore, the most awful imputation in the catalogue of crimes rests, +according to the measure of their knowledge and their zeal, upon those +whom we call Ultramontanes. The controversy, primarily, is not about +problems of theology: it is about the spiritual state of a man's soul, +who is the defender, the promoter, the accomplice of murder. Every +limitation of papal credit and authority which effectually dissociates +it from that reproach, which breaks off its solidarity with assassins +and washes away the guilt of blood, will solve most other problems. At +least, it is enough for my present purpose to say, that blot is so +large and foul that it precedes and eclipses the rest, and claims the +first attention. + +I will show you what Ultramontanism makes of good men by an example +very near home. Saint Charles Borromeo, when he was the Pope's nephew +and minister, wrote a letter requiring Protestants to be murdered, and +complaining that no heretical heads were forwarded to Rome, in spite of +the reward that was offered for them. His editor, with perfect +consistency, publishes the letter with a note of approval. Cardinal +Manning not only holds up to the general veneration of mankind the +authority that canonised this murderer, but makes him in a special +manner his own patron, joins the Congregation of Oblates of {187} St. +Charles, and devotes himself to the study of his acts and the +propagation of his renown. + +Yet I dare say I could find Anglican divines who would speak of the +Cardinal as a good man, unhappily divided from the Church of which he +was an ornament, and living in error, but yet not leading a life of +sin--I should gather from such language that the speaker was not +altogether averse from the distinctive characteristic of +Ultramontanism, and had swallowed far the largest obstacle on the road +to Rome. + +The case of Rosmini is not so glaring, but it is substantially the +same. Language implying that an able and initiated Italian priest +accepting the papacy, with its inventory of systematic crime, incurs no +guilt, that he is an innocent, virtuous, edifying Christian, seems to +me open to grave suspicion. If it was used by one of whom I knew +nothing else, I should think ill of him. If I knew him to be an able +and in many ways an admirable man, I should feel much perplexity, and +if I heard on the best authority that he deserved entire confidence, I +should persuade myself that it is true, and should try to quiet my +uneasiness. + +That is what I have done in the case of Liddon. When he speaks of an +eminent and conspicuous Ultramontane divine with the respect he might +show to Andrewes or Leighton, or to Grotius or Baxter, he ignores or is +ignorant of the moral objection, and he surrenders so much that he has +hardly a citadel to shelter him. I dare say he would give me a very +good answer, and I do not hesitate to utter his praises. But I have no +idea what the answer would be, and so must leave room for a doubt. + +I should hardly have resolved to say all this to anybody but yourself, +relying on you not to {188} misunderstand the exact and restricted +meaning of my letter. I should like my reason for misgiving to be +understood. But I care much more to be understood as an admirer, not +an accuser of Canon Liddon. My explanation is worthless if it fails to +justify me there. + + +[Sidenote: _St. Martin Haute Autriche June 20, 1884_] + +The idleness of Coombe Warren[220] has much to answer for. I was taken +by surprise when you sent me that letter,[221] and would have given a +great deal to escape the necessity of answering it. Ever since, it has +stood grievously in the way of writing to you; and I have conquered my +difficulty with extreme reluctance. Try to forgive my not +writing--try, much harder, to forgive my writing. + + * * * * * + +When I come I shall have to congratulate you on your authorship. I do +not do so now, because it would be meaningless, the C.R.[222] being due +here to-morrow only. I do hope you liked doing it, and like having +done it, and like to think of doing it again. + +I still think that we ought to evacuate;[223] but I thought there would +be no time for Mr. Gladstone to do it, and no obligation on others. +The convention is a very dexterous way of laying compulsion on the +Ministers, whoever they may be, several years hence. It meets what I +thought an insurmountable difficulty, if it succeeds, as I hope it +will. But I cannot look with satisfaction on the principle as +compensation for the risk of failure. The cause does not seem to me so +sacred or so pure as to offer consolation for the fall of the Ministry. + +{189} + +It is an indefinite principle, depending for its application on +variable circumstances. It is not clean cut. We retain certain +ill-gotten possessions, obtained by treaty or by necessity. It is not +evident that we should surrender a possession which is not ill-gotten. + +Our motives for surrender are mixed. It is to relieve us from a very +troublesome and very dangerous engagement, to avoid a formidable +expenditure, to disarm the menacing jealousy of other Powers. The +mixture of motives is obvious, and we are not in a position to claim +the merit which belongs to the purest among them. + +The Ministry would not be united for common action on this question, if +the motives of expediency did not come to aid the motive of principle. +The bit of gold has to be beaten very thin to gild the whole of them. +One sees and recognises the surface gilding, but one knows that there +is inferior metal beneath. + +The position would be loftier and more correct if we retired from an +enterprise crowned with success, in the fulness of conscious +superiority as well as of conscious rectitude. But we have not +accomplished triumphantly the work from which we withdraw. We are not +incurring the sacrifice of stopping short in a career of victory and of +political triumphs, so that the world wonders at our moderation and +self-control. We are giving up an undertaking in which we have +disappointed the expectation of the world, in which we have shown +infirmity of purpose, want of forethought, a rather spasmodic and +inconclusive energy, occasional weakness and poverty of resource; and +our presence and promise have been mixed blessings for the Egyptian +people. So that the principle is not {190} large enough as a basis for +such a structure, nor clear enough to yield me comfort for the enforced +close of such a career. + +Do not be angry with me for saying all this--you have heard it before. + + +[Sidenote: _St. Martin Aug. 15, 1884_] + +In spite of breakfast, dinner, and tea, of garden parties and evening +parties, of road and rail, I have brought away with me a feeling of +having hardly seen you, and of having had very little talk, so that I +begin at once to look forward to next time and the good opportunities +it may yield. It will, I hope, be very early in November. We left you +for a very pleasant day at Seacox with Morier, and an easy journey, +diversified by meeting young Lacaita at Wurzburg, and travelling with +him all night. + + * * * * * + +You never told me what plans there are for the short recess. I am glad +the Scottish campaign is to be soon, so as to give guidance to the +popular movement. There is a good deal of nonsense in the air; but I +hope there will be strength. + +Salisbury's avowal of numerical principles set me thinking. I cannot +make out whether it is a surrender or a snare. It confirms the +expectation that they will put the minority theory forward, which is, I +think, their best card. Not so much because I agree with them, as +because it divides the Liberal party, and rescues them from the +position of mere resistance. + +The objections to Northbrook's mission[224] are obvious; and yet I +should have liked to go out with him, and try to understand the problem +as it now stands; for it is taking a new shape, unwelcome, I fear, to +{191} Mr. Gladstone, and yet not unforeseen, at least since the +appearance of Bligničres. It does not seem impossible to combine rigid +principle with practical necessities. + +There is not a brighter spot in my retrospect than our visit to +Cambridge, the execution of it, as well as the delight of it, due to +you. Looking back I fancy that I can never have said to you nearly how +much I was impressed by Sidgwick's conversation--to say nothing of +their hospitality. But the fact is we never talked over anything, and +it is all to come. + +Alfred's[225] triumphant bowling makes me hold his coat and umbrella +comparatively cheap, yet I suppose we got beaten after all.[226]... + +I have been staying at Tegernsee with Döllinger. The impending vacancy +at Lincoln was announced while I was there, and I am sorry to say that +we did not quite agree in the speculations which it suggested. I hope +you will see my dear friend at Chester.[227] There is not a greater +Tory in England, or a greater ornament to that perverse party. + + +[Sidenote: _St. Martin Aug. 29, 1884_] + +There was nothing definite to quote in my conversation with the +Professor[228] about Liddon. He hardly knows the better side of +Liddon, as a preacher, and as a religious force. He sees that he is +not a very deep scholar, and thinks his admiration for Pusey a sign of +weakness, I think he once used the term fanatical--meaning a large +allowance of one-sidedness in his way of looking at things. Indeed, +Döllinger is influenced by nearly the same misgivings that I felt some +months ago; and he has not had the same opportunities for getting rid +of them. For instance, {192} the Dean of St. Paul's[229] assured me +that Liddon, far from reclining on others, is masterful and fond of his +own opinion. Moreover, Liddon's attitude in the question of Church and +State, is a matter which the Professor and I judge very differently, +and it is a difference which it is useless to discuss any more. + +I am waiting very eagerly for the speeches in Midlothian. They will be +almost the most important of his whole career. + +Forwood's proposal of equal electoral districts is another sign of +dissolution in Toryism. The principle of setting a limit to inequality +might be defended much more plausibly. I am glad to figure in your +company in Northumberland as well as at Cambridge. Your +experiment[230] is perhaps worth trying, and Stuart knows his people +too well to promote it if it is likely to fail. An outsider has not +any secure means of forecasting; but I shall retain some hesitation. + +Your letter was waiting here when I came from Tegernsee, where I have +spent another few days with my Professor.[231] Knesebeck, the Empress' +secretary, was there; and I was dismayed to learn that Morier has +spoken to him in the most hostile terms of our foreign policy. I was +sorry, in London, that you did not see more of that strong diplomatist +in Downing Street. + +In the doubt as to your movements I direct to Hawarden, where I hope +you will see the excellent, learned, homely, humble Bishop of Chester, +whose virtues ought to disarm even the recalcitrant Dean.[232] In +about two months I hope we shall meet. + + * * * * * + +{193} + +[Sidenote: _St. Martin Sept. 10, 1884_] + +I was able to realise your late experience,[233] even to the tones of +voice in certain passages, and I envied you. It must make one change. +He[234] cannot any longer elaborately and perversely ignore the fact +that he himself is the life and the force of the Liberal party. His +reception by Midlothian in 1880, when he did not appear as a candidate +for office, constrained him to become Prime Minister; and the more +definite issue laid before Midlothian in 1884, still more emphatically +answered, determines that he must remain P.M. Just as he accepted the +consequences then, when they involved withdrawal of public +declarations, he must accept them now, when they compel, and are very +definitely designed to compel, the surrender of private aspirations. + +The public voice has spoken this time more loudly and more consciously. +It would not be right towards the country, but especially towards his +colleagues, to obey it then and to resist it now. It would be not only +a breach of the contract now made by something more than implication, +but a yielding up of the party to its enemies in an inextricable +crisis. I have not the least doubt that the position will be so +understood. + +I think less of the gain which the Ministry derives from the policy, +the limitation and the enormous effect of the speeches. It is +possible, I think, to detect a weak place in them. When one speaks in +answer to opponents who are present, and who state their own case, the +thing to do is to demolish it. But when one addresses the public, in +the absence of debate, it is often good policy to state the opposite +case in one's own way, prior to demolition; one's own way is the way +one would state it if it was one's own: and {194} everybody knows that +he would make the Tory position more logical, more plausible, and +stronger than they make it themselves, if he was on their side. It is +a process one has to go through for oneself, to see what the +adversary's case looks like, stripped of all the passion, ignorance, +and fallacy with which he presents it. We are not sure we are right +until we have made the best case possible for those who are wrong; and +we are strictly bound not to transform the sophisms of the advocate +into flaws in his case. + +An intelligent Tory might say that this figure or precept of rhetoric +was not followed, and that their argument was presented, not unfairly, +but not at its best. + +Of course he would see the point of the speeches in the restraint of +agitation, and the offer to make terms. I hope--against hope--that +this moderation is founded on knowledge of what is going on among the +Tories. One sees signs of collapse in their policy of reform, but not +in their determination to resist, and my own impression is that even +Wemyss meant to fight it out, only in another way. But if there is no +collapse, I see no resource except the agitation which Mr. Gladstone +still deprecates. + +To my mind the most significant passage was that in which he spoke of +the probable fall of several Ministries. That means that the Home +Rulers are going to be the arbiters of party government. That means +ruin to the Liberal party. Many Liberals see the moment looming when +they will have more sympathy with a party led by moderate Conservatives +than with a party inspired by Radical Democrats. The looming will be +quickened by the necessity of presenting a front to the Irish. But +that is only a small part {195} of the argument accumulating against +retirement before the next Parliament, when the new constituencies will +be fixed for generations. + +Odo Russell[235] leaves a larger gap than he filled, and he is +difficult to replace at a moment of peculiar soreness and strain. In +the service, I should prefer Dufferin; out of it--Bedford! I +understand that he would not accept. I find Lord Granville quite feels +that our strongest diplomatist, Morier, is out of the question at +Berlin, but it will be ten times worse to send Carlingford, and an +indication of weakness. + +Many, very many, thanks for your letter, which did not seem to me to +suffer from the distractions and dissipations of Dalmeny. The best +part of it is the good report of your father's health and spirits. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Nov. 12, 1884_] + +Your delightful letter came from Munich this evening after I had posted +mine. + +It is an exquisite pleasure to look forward to meeting in such a short +time. I should so much wish to have a glimpse of you, and a chat, +before the plot thickens with us, so as to get the bearings. If all +goes well, I have some chance of arriving pretty early on Monday, and +my first business will be to ask if there is a line from you at the +Athenćum. There is an uncertainty about the through trains, as there +are no travellers yet, and so I may be disappointed. + +It is a very important crisis, as there is a possibility of such +complete and perfect success for Mr. Gladstone's policy of Reform; and +I do so hope he may have it in all fulness. There never was such +personal ascendency; and I trust nothing will happen in Africa to +disturb it. + +{196} + +Yes, I would give a trifle to have heard the discussion of our +Revolution by our greatest statesman[236] and our greatest +historian.[237] The latter betrayed his uncompromising Conservatism by +half a parenthesis at Keble. It is very superficially disguised in his +book, and he ought to have been more grateful to me than he was for +abusing Macaulay. Brewer was just like him in judging those events, +and Gardiner contrives only by an effort not to revile the good old +Cause. We are well out of the monotonous old cry about Hampden and +Russell. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Nov. 12, 1884_] + +We have had a long journey from St. Martin, and are hardly settled down +in the midst of a vast solitude, when the unreasonable success of the +Government compels me to pack my bag once more. + +What makes it a pleasure, I need not say. If all things go as I +expect, I shall be in town on Monday night or early on Tuesday. + +If you are so very kind as to send a line to the Athenćum suggesting +the right end and object and reward of travel, please put outside, _to +wait arrival_. + +I do not stay with the Granvilles this time, that I may vote against +Ministers at my ease. And I do not bring M----, which is a grief; +still, I look forward to a deal of riotous living, and to many sources +of public and private satisfaction. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Dec. 9, 1884_] + +... M-- received an account which pleased her, of my bath of goodness +and spirituality at Oxford; and the writing to her about scenes and +people she knows, {197} and trying to explain thoughts and facts, has +been half the pleasure of my solitary journey. + +The meeting at your door[238] of the professors of heterodoxy[239] and +chatterboxy[240] in political economy is delightful, and I hope it will +fructify. But my friend the "nice little old gentleman"[241] will +always be too strenuous and urgent for the Fra Angelico of Economists; +and besides, we live in the Gladstonian era--and the glory of Europe is +extinguished for ever. That, however, might be a bond of union between +those Sophisters. + +In London I could not escape a luncheon with ----, who threatens me +with a friendly visit next month at Cannes. Next week I expect Bryce +with Robertson Smith. Did I tell you of my pleasant dinner with them +on Wednesday, and meeting Creighton?[242] He is an agreeable and +superior man, whom you would like; and he is full of general knowledge. +But I am afraid you will find his book[243] a severe study. + +Thursday--Rather an uninteresting dinner at ----; but one goes there to +eat. Lord G. not in very good spirits. I conciliated Enfield, who ... +was a little shocked to find that I agree with Courtney. + +There was not a gap of time for a farewell in Downing Street, and I had +to decline dinners with the Granvilles, Mays, and Pagets, and a visit +to Seacox--Hamlet left out. + +The journey succeeded beautifully, for it was the roughest passage I +remember, and I was none the {198} worse for it. At Calais one gets +into a sleeping-car and gets out of it at Cannes, after dining and +sleeping comfortably. A young Englishman described the Grasse Hotel to +me, where he had lived with Cross, who was writing a book. He did not +discover that it[244] was the book in my hand. I have sent it back +with some considerable suggestions. + +Mrs. Green writes an amusing account of Dr. Stubbs's violent language +in politics when she approaches him with her history. I have advised +her to sacrifice everything and everybody to the object of securing his +help. Leviathan will not aid her. + +I have strongly urged May to write a new chapter of Constitutional +History, coming down to this our era of Good Feeling, as Americans call +the last administration of Monroe.[245] It is the greatest landmark in +English Politics; and it has the merit of all well-defined epochs, that +it is not going to last. + +At the British Museum, Gardiner was working, and I wished him joy on +the endowment of Research. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Dec. 18, 1884_] + +If sleeplessness comes on again do represent the merits of Cannes in +their proper light. January is often the finest month, and this is the +finest season ever known. Also it is the emptiest. I hear that +Thorenc is not to let, in the hope that the Wolvertons may take it. +Such rest and change as he would get here, after so much hard work, +might be quite invaluable, especially if it is in his thoughts that the +Session of 1885 is to be his last in office. That would be {199} worth +refreshing for; and we shall do our best to occupy and distract him, +and all of you, during your stay. + +Croker[246] was so large and promising a morsel that I postponed +temptation and read no part of him carefully; besides it is a question +hot with hidden fire. Have you not discovered, have I never betrayed, +what a narrow doctrinaire I am, under a thin disguise of levity? The +Duke of Orleans nearly described my feelings when he spoke, +testamentarily, of his religious _flag_ and his political _faith_. +Politics come nearer religion with me, a party is more like a church, +error more like heresy, prejudice more like sin, than I find it to be +with better men. And by these canons I am forced to think ill of Peel, +to think, if you won't misunderstand me, that he was not a man of +principle. The nature of Toryism is to be entangled in interests, +traditions, necessities, difficulties, expedients, to manage as best +one may, without creating artificial obstacles in the shape of dogma, +or superfluous barriers of general principle. "Périssent les colonies +plutôt que les principes" (which is a made-up sentence, no more +authentic than "Roma locuta est"), expresses the sort of thing +Liberalism means and Toryism rejects. Government must be carried on, +even if we must tolerate some measure of wrong, use some bad reasons, +trample on some unlucky men. Other people could recognise the face and +the sanctity of morality where it penetrated politics, taking the shape +of sweeping principle, as in Emancipation, Free Trade, and so many +other doctrinaire questions. Peel could not until he was compelled by +facts. Because he was reluctant to admit the sovereignty of +considerations which {200} were not maxims of state policy, which +condemned his own past and the party to which he belonged. + +But if party is sacred to me as a body of doctrine, it is not, as an +association of men bound together, not by common convictions but by +mutual obligations and engagements. In the life of every great man +there is a point where fidelity to ideas, which are the justifying +cause of party, diverges from fidelity to arrangements and +understandings, which are its machinery. And one expects a great man +to sacrifice his friends--at least his friendship--to the higher cause. + +Progress depends not only on the victory, the uncertain and +intermittent victory, of Liberals over Conservatives, but on the +permeation of Conservatism with Liberal ideas, the successive +conversion of Tory leaders, the gradual desertion of the Conservative +masses by their chiefs--Fox, Grenville, Wellesley, Canning, Huskisson, +Peel--Tory ministers passing Emancipation, Free Trade, Reform--are in +the order of historic developments. Still the complaints of Croker are +natural. He had been urged along a certain line, and being a coarse, +blatant fellow, he overdid it, and wrote things from which there was no +release. It was not in his brutal nature to appreciate the other side +of questions. He did not begin by seeing the strong points of his +enemy's case, and so far he was dishonest. + +My impression is that Peel was justified towards his party in 1846 by +what occurred in 1845. He explained his views; some of his friends +declared against them; and he resigned. After the exchange of Stanley +for Mr. Gladstone, it was a new Ministry, a new departure on distinct +lines. Nobody was betrayed. Peel did not carry his friends with him +{201} because he had not the ascendency which his great lieutenant +possesses. The Radicals have been made to look as foolish as Croker. +The bread has been taken out of their mouths, as they are not to devour +the Lords. They have consolations in the future which the +Protectionists have not; but they are in as false a position as the +Protectionists were; and yet they stand fire on the whole well, and +without secession.--But I am conscious of more nearly hating Croker +than anybody, except Lord Clare, in English history. It was my one +link with a late, highly-lamented statesman and novelist.[247] + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Jan. 14, 1885_] + +Yes! at last, foreign affairs are in a very wretched way, and are +unjustly and unreasonably injuring Mr. Gladstone's own position. If +Morier is still in England, I wish he could see him before Petersburg. +He is our only strong diplomatist; but he is only strong. + +I have bored the P.M. to extinction with praise of Liddon, and as all I +could say is obvious to others, I am not tempted to repeat the offence. +But the death of that uninteresting, good Bishop Jackson[248] disturbs +my rest. It is clear, very clear to me, that it would not be right to +pass Liddon over now that there are two important vacancies to fill; +and one asks oneself why he should not be chosen for the more important +of the two, and who is manifestly worthier to occupy the greatest see +in Christendom? The real answer, I suppose, is that his appointment +will give great offence, and that he is {202} a decided partisan, and a +partisan of nearly the same opinions as the P.M. himself. + +No doubt there would be much irritation on the thorough Protestant +side, and in quarters very near Downing Street, and I feel, myself, +more strongly than many people, that partisanship in Liddon runs to +partiality, to one-sidedness, to something very like prejudice. And +with all that strong feeling, I cannot help being agitated with the +hope that the great and providential opportunity will not be lost. + +Assuredly Liddon is the greatest power in the conflict with sin, and in +turning the souls of men to God, that the nation now possesses. He is +also, among all the clergy, the man best known to numbers of Londoners. +There must be a very strong reason to justify a Minister in refusing +such a bishop to such a diocese. + +The argument of continuity does not convince me, because it was +disregarded when Philpotts died. Still more, because so eminent a +representative of Church principles had not occupied the see of London +within living memory, and there is a balance to redress. When I think +of his lofty and gracious spirit, his eloquence, his radiant +spirituality, all the objections which I might feel, vanish entirely. + +The time has really come when the P.M. has authority to do what he +likes, and to disregard cavil. He is lifted above all considerations +which might weaken action at other times and in other men. No ill +consequences of his use of patronage can reach him. He can be guided +by the supreme motive, and by the supreme motive only. It may well be +that these are the last conspicuous ecclesiastical appointments that +{203} will be his to make. He is able now to bequeath an illustrious +legacy to the people of London. + +And, speaking on a lower level, the shock of Liddon's elevation might +be blunted by the contemporaneous choice for Lincoln. + +One qualification ought to be remembered. He is more in contact than +other churchmen with questions of the day. Not only politics and +criticism, but science. Paget delights to relate how Owen was +discoursing on the brevity of life in the days of the patriarchs, and +how beautifully Liddon baffled him by asking whether there is any +structural reason for a cockatoo to live ten times as long as a pigeon. +If it was my duty, which it is not, or my habit--which it is still +less--to speak all my mind, I would say that there is, within my range +of observation, some inclination to make too much of distinguished men +in the Church. I name no names, but if I did, I might name Pusey, +Wilberforce, Mozley, Church, Westcott, as men whom there has been some +tendency to overestimate, at least in comparison with Liddon. Not that +he is their superior, but that he seems to me to have fallen short of +his due as much as they, in various ways, have been overpaid, in +praise, confidence, and fame. If there have been reasons explaining +this, I think they ought not to operate now. + +Who are conceivable candidates? Temple, Westcott, Wilkinson, Butler, +Lightfoot? Two of these are more learned and more indefinite +theologians; but I can see no other point of rivalry. And I do not +learn that Dunelm possesses unusual light in dealing with men. Fraser? +Who can say that he has the highest qualities in Liddon's measure? +Temple {204} is vigorous and open; but he is not highly spiritual, or +attractive, or impressive as a speaker; he has an arid mind, and a +provincial note in speech and manner. But he also understands science. +The Dean assures me that, Pusey being gone, Liddon will be under no +personal influence, that he has more confidence in himself and more +backbone than I was able to discover for myself. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Jan. 22, 1885_] + +Of course I know very well that we shall not make our Bishop of London; +and ever since I wrote to you I have been seeking points of +consolation, and magnifying to myself my own sources of misgiving. +Yesterday I chanced to see, at Mentone, the best of the Anglican clergy +that I have ever known, a Mr. Sidebotham. He told me of a luncheon at +Bishop Hamilton's, where he sat, a young clergyman, between Liddon and +Tait. Liddon, after a few words, shut up like an oyster; and Tait took +a good deal of pains to please his neighbour and to draw him out. From +which experience, my friend, himself a truly Catholic Anglican, thinks +that Liddon, whom he deems the greatest preacher living, would not make +a good Bishop of London. This testimony, from a personal admirer and +theological adherent, was rather welcome to me. When I asked him +whether there was any dark horse, any candidate not obvious to +outsiders, he said "No"; but seemed to think that _Bedford_[249] would +be the sort of strong-backed prelate you mean. He fully expected +Temple's appointment. Thank you so much for speaking of Morier. You +know that for all people not private friends of his {205} own ---- is +disappointing. He is a bad listener, easily bored, and distrustful of +energetic men who make work for themselves and for the Foreign Office. +Morier, in particular, has force without tact, and stands ill with a +chief who has tact without force. He feels that he is unsupported and +not much appreciated. A few friendly words from above would set him up +wonderfully. + +Although Chamberlain is not the only source of weakness in the +Government, he will be the cause of dissolution if your threat is +executed at Easter! I really must come over and make myself very +disagreeable if that goes on. It is time to play the last card in +one's hand, for one year more of office and power, for the sake of the +indefinite future. But perhaps the Vyner Cottage[250] may give me the +desired opportunity. + +For this is a very central part of Europe. I have had Dilke and Ripon; +I saw Salisbury yesterday; and Scherer dines here on Saturday. + +Cross is coming with his book[251] next week. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Athenćum Club Pall Mall Feb. 26, 1885_] + +I shall be delighted to dine in bad company on Thursday. Goschen will +speak against Government to-morrow, but will vote for them. I dined +there yesterday with Morier, Milner,[252] and Albert Grey;[253] and the +same party dines with Morier this evening as soon as the P.M. sits +down. Several Ministers (Hartington, Spencer, and others) have said +too much that they wish to be beaten. + +A very strong speech to-night would retrieve the {206} position. If +the enemy came in now, England would soon become no better than the +Continental powers, and our true greatness and prosperity would depart +from us. + + +[Sidenote: _Athenćum March 3_] + +I am so glad to know that he is getting better. + +If you will burn my letters there will be less difficulty in voting for +Government. Certainly a peer cannot vote absolutely only as he +approves or disapproves--or I must have voted on the other side. I +shall be delighted to call at 12, and also to be your escort. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine April 9, 1885_] + +The book[254] reveals a mental flaw I had not suspected. Because +Newman, or some of Newman's set, Faber, Ward, Morris, were narrow and +fanatical, he concludes that their doctrine is that of narrow-minded +fanatics. This is stumbling at the Ass's bridge. Scientific thought +begins with the separation between the idea and its exponent, just as +much as religious thought; and our peculiar difficulty in keeping them +apart is notoriously the great elementary defect of the English--not +the Scottish--mind. + +Pattison himself suffers from the extreme narrowness of the Oxford +horizon in his time. He knows nothing about the other side of the +hill; and when he came to know, in later years, his religious spirit +was extinct. Newman had unfitted him for Rothe. A strong mind cannot +rest without thinking out its thoughts. But Pattison rests without +caring to explain which of the several systems which exist outside of +the churches {207} satisfied his conscience. He grew impatient of +theology. He does not recognise the great importance of Casaubon in +religious history, or of Milton's theological treatise on the progress +of his mind. Once, having reviewed Pascal, he said to me that he +thought, after all, the Jesuits were in the right. I disagreed, but I +remember that I was delighted at the openness of his mind. But now I +again find him hooded with prejudice. He rightly discerned that the +French Protestants created independent scientific learning, and +glorifies Scaliger as the type of them: and then he treats Petavius as +an impostor, got up by the Jesuits in defiance of Scaliger. Whereas +the Jesuit was one of the most deeply learned men that ever lived, by +no means inferior to Grotius or Ussher or Selden. + +Every year some zealous Frenchman exposes the iniquities of the Tudors, +hoping to discredit the Church of England; and Taine fancies that to +show the horrors of the Revolution is a good argument against +democracy. Pattison must have stood, as to his inner man, nearly on +the same level of logic. + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Cannes April 22, 1885_] + +Scherer writes that he is going to publish a new volume, in which his +recent essay on the Life of George Eliot will be included. You will +read it with interest and surprise at the moral judgment. + +He is also the great patron of Amiel, whom I read with delight as +having a savour of Vinet--with more serious culture and curiosity, and +inferior understanding for religion. There is a plot in Arnold's +circle to make him known and popular in England. Nobody thought +anything of him in his lifetime, at Geneva. + +{208} + +A careful study of my _Pall Mall_ has left me quite in the dark as to +Zulfikar, &c.[255] I thought there was a deliberate intention to force +us into war, and I did not imagine that there was any way out of it. +To my cheap and pacific mind it seemed a disaster not only without +remedy, but without even a remote compensation or consolation, in which +victory could do us no good, and in which the mere conflict would +degrade us to the brutal level of continental powers. + +Nothing has so completely puzzled me for the last two years as the +hesitation of Russia to re-open the San Stefano question, while we are +not only at Cyprus, but in Egypt, and without any moral vantage ground +from which we can resist the overthrow of the European Turk. I would +willingly give up the whole country from Bulgaria to the Ćgean for a +few miles of Afghan desert. + +But it would be bad policy to give up both and have to fight for +existence in India whenever a capricious bell rings at Petersburgh. + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Cannes April 27, 1885_] + +I cannot imagine Russia drawing back in so supremely favourable a +position. What is hard to understand is her having gone so far, and +deliberately resolved on war. But I see that there is something in all +this that has entirely escaped me. It seems so clear that our policy +is to restore Russia to the position she had attained before the +Congress of Berlin, that, therefore, we are not only her best, but her +only friends--that I am quite bewildered, and half {209} suspect that +there has been some tremendous mistake in our management. I should +like to have the chance of distracting Mr. Gladstone with various talk, +in all this anxiety. Probably I shall be at Carlton H. Terrace on +Friday week. Will you tell me there when we can meet? ... Tennyson's +really profound animosity[256] against the P.M. has long been known to +people in his confidence, and has come out at last. It was one reason, +but not the only one, of my dislike to his peerage. + + * * * * * + +Maine, whose series of articles form in reality an assault on the +Government, promises to adopt all my remonstrances in the reprinting of +them. These filled twenty-six of my pages, in all; so I count on a +considerable modification of the text. + +I hope there will be a possible play ... when we come to town. + +---- is very intelligent, agreeable, amiable, a little complex in +design; accurate calculation sometimes resides in the corner of her +eye, and she knows how to regulate to a hair's breadth, when she +smiles, the thin red line of her lips. + + +[Sidenote: _Prince's Gate June 20, 1885_] + +No one ever saw Mr. Gladstone in better spirits than he was at dinner +yesterday. I hope it was the hitch.[257] It is a bore to be away when +the thing is to be decided. May agrees with me, and with that other +Radical[258] from Cambridge, that even the ingeniously remodelled +assurances ought not to be given; when we {210} have preserved peace +with so much difficulty, no concession not absolutely required should +be made to these dangerous successors.[259] But it will need great +fortitude, and I do not seriously hope for success against the strong +wish of so many colleagues. + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _April, 1885_] + +I have said that I am divided from G. Eliot by the widest of all +political and religious differences, and that political differences +essentially depend on disagreement in moral principles. Therefore I +cannot be suspected of blindness to her faults. More particularly +because I have insisted on another grave delinquency which has struck +few persons, her tolerance for Mazzini. That is a criminal matter, +independent of the laws of states and churches, which no variety of +theological opinion can by any means affect. We must never judge the +quality of a teaching by the quality of the Teacher, or allow the spots +to shut out the sun. It would be unjust, and it would deprive us of +nearly all that is great and good in this world. Let me remind you of +Macaulay. He remains to me one of the greatest of all writers and +masters, although I think him utterly base, contemptible and odious for +certain reasons which you know. And I might say as much of many other +men. To be truly impartial, that is, to be truly conscientious and +sincere, we must be open equally to the good and evil of character.... + +{211} + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Nov. 11, 1885_] + +I wish I had been with you in Norway or could have seen Hawarden during +this most interesting time. Other trouble and travel have made havoc +of my correspondence, and when you receive these superfluous lines, the +die will have been cast in Midlothian. For I fancy that the enemy's +only hope now is that Mr. Gladstone will not be able to address his +audience. + +Lord Granville has kept me up to the mark as to important matters, and +announced the manifesto[260] in very warm terms; but his abrupt style +of composition is not favourable to the more delicate shades of party +division. One makes out, from afar, that Chamberlain is going off from +the X.P.M.[261] while Goschen is elaborately advancing towards him; +also that he, in fact, agrees better with Chamberlain, whilst the +policy of the moment draws him to Goschen. + +Our Joe ought to know how to bide his time. I suppose he thinks that +something must be offered to the new voters that they care for. I +imagine that the Church question forms a very real cause of division. +Mr. Gladstone's authority will be able to keep it down for the time, +and no more. + +Let us hope for an utterly overwhelming victory, in spite of some +perceptible progress on the part of the Tories. Through a friend I +have explained to Bismarck that he must be prepared for this, if only +the voice holds. Tories here tell me that they have no real hope. +Selborne's name being on the Grey manifesto, I conclude that he will +not be Chancellor. It will be possible to strengthen the new +Government immensely with new men, but I am afraid a certain {212} +friend of ours will claim the Woolsack. The Eastern question makes me +very impatient to see Mr. Gladstone in Downing Street again. + +If Morier only came to luncheon, you hardly can have seen the change in +him. He is a strong man, resolute, ready, well-informed and with some +amount of real resource. But ambition long deferred, activity long +restrained, a certain coarseness of grain which is coming to the +surface, have turned him into a bully, quarrelsome and dangerous. A +dexterous Muscovite will always be able to provide an opportunity of +putting him in the wrong and getting up an ugly fracas. It is +extraordinary what dull men make sufficient diplomatists. Arnold +Morley is new to me; I gather from what you say that Russell[262] is +sure of his seat. I was disturbed to find the Duke so hard on him, and +so little support on the more amiable side of the family. + +I quite agree with Chamberlain, that there is latent Socialism in the +Gladstonian philosophy. What makes me uncomfortable is his inattention +to the change which is going on in those things. I do not mean in +European opinion, but in the strict domain of science. A certain +conversation that you remember, when Stuart, fresh from the horny hands +of Democracy,[263] produced his heresies, was very memorable to me. +But it is not the popular movement, but the travelling of the minds of +men who sit in the seat of Adam Smith that is really serious and worthy +of all attention. Maine tells me that his book, a Manual of +unacknowledged Conservatism, is selling well. It is no doubt meant to +help the {213} enemy's cause, and more hostile to us than the author +cares to appear. For he requested me not to review it. You know that +the new Hatzfeldt is the son of the lady who protected Lassalle, and +that it is desirable to speak of his wife as little as of his mother. +He is a Berlin bureaucrat, _pur sang_. I have something to write +against time, which keeps me at work during the night until the end of +November. Don't mind it, but please tell me what happens, and whether +I may come and see you re-installed. + +Fancy my disappointment: Paget[264] passed under our windows, and +Liddon--as he told the World--was at Tegernsee, and I missed them both. +The Pagets have set up a delightful daughter-in-law, and a near +relation of hers, a Balliol man, son, I believe, of the chief Tory +wire-puller in Shropshire, has just come out here.... + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Nov. 28, 1885_] + +It was a serious blow to find in your letter that you had no confidence +in the election,[265] but I am glad now to think that you were so much +better prepared to lose than I was, in spite of what I had also heard +about Bright's despondency. I only hope that it has not been a bad +time, otherwise, at Dalmeny, and that Mr. Gladstone has not suffered +from so much effort. + +At this moment I know only the result of the first three days, and have +no Scottish news since Goschen got in. I conclude that we are beaten +past recovery, and wonder whether the Dark Horse[266] will make the +{214} Government independent of their Irish supporters. If not, the +rift in the lute will betray itself any time after the first Session. + +As I am the only Englishman still so besotted as to feel Salisbury's +presence in Downing Street exactly as I should feel Bradlaugh's at +Lambeth, I will say nothing about my own sensations to a correspondent +necessarily unsympathetic. What strikes me most strongly is the +probability of Mr. Gladstone thinking that his release has come, and +that he is not bound to embark on a voyage which is very unlikely to +lead back to power until he is in his seventy-eighth year. For I +suppose that the secret of the situation is that Chamberlain has so far +played false, played, I mean, a private game, that he looked far ahead, +and did not care to come back to office in the old combination, +especially with the prospect of losing Dilke at first. So that, in +fact, the Gladstonian influence, which would be unshaken in the country +at large, was unable to control his own colleagues, and the old +inferiority in the management of men, compared with the management of +masses, which Goschen exemplified before, has appeared in the direction +of the Radical wing. + +As I know his characteristic of caring for measures much more than for +the organisation which is to carry them, I conjecture he will say that +he is not harnessed for ever to the coach, that he will be grievously +tempted to give up leading an active opposition. Of course I should +deeply deplore such a decision, but my old arguments, which +circumstances did so much to impress, will be weaker now. + +Three legitimate causes have told in favour of the Tories. They have +not done much to make them odious, and the position abroad is easier, +very decidedly, {215} though not very considerably, easier. Then, the +case against us in the Soudan is a very strong one. I may say so now +that Mr. Gladstone does not really resist it; and you, at any rate, +know how strongly I thought so before. That is not a positive +recommendation of the Tories, but it does weaken us, and the reproach +is not met, in the judgment of impartial men, by saying that the Tories +did nothing to restrain or to correct us. Thirdly, the Church argument +is logically against us. Mr. Gladstone's attitude gave no security +that the Liberals, if they returned strengthened from the poll, would +not eventually employ their increased strength to pave the way for +disestablishment. + +What you say of a flaw in his reckoning is very true indeed. In his +literary occupations it appears still more strongly. The grasp is +often more remarkable than the horizon. I do not think that it has +been much of a drawback in politics, and the minds it would estrange +are very few. + +You would have written a capital review of Greville.[267] It is very +odd that a man should be so shrewd, and so full of experience, and yet +so destitute of positive ideas. I see that I thought too much of him, +having known him before I knew the difference between common sense and +capacity. My friend Maine certainly did not fear that I should spoil +his effects, for I should never have found a point of contact with the +views of the general reader. I don't think he likes to admit that one +can have gone over the same ground, and have come impartially to +opposite conclusions. His book is a symptom of the change which is so +remarkable in the _Times_. + +{216} + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Jan. 1, 1886_] + +It would have been a very great pleasure to be at Hawarden during these +festive days; and only very strong local ties oblige me to say that it +is impossible. There has never been a time when I was more anxious to +learn what is really going on, and to see things from the centre, and +it is therefore a disappointment to be away. But there is nothing that +I could say or do that would contribute an element to the momentous +decisions to be formed. That Mr. Gladstone will, in this great and +perhaps final crisis, put himself into the position of Irishmen and +view things not only from the point of their present wishes, but with +their historic eyes, and that he will hold that the ends of liberty are +the true ends of politics, that is the one thing certain and known to +all men, and it is the whole of the political baggage with which I set +out on the Irish expedition. + +I know neither how to resist the claim of the Irish nation to govern +themselves nor even their claim to possess the land, and nobody really +familiar with the events of this century can say that the one is beyond +the resources of political, or the other, of economic science. They +are problems which have been solved repeatedly within the experience of +two generations. Many experiments have been made, and it is not +difficult to determine which solutions have failed, which have +succeeded, and to tell the reason why. + +I have thought so for twenty years, and now that the question has +become perforce a practical one, nobody can be more heartily than I am +on the side which I understand to be Mr. Gladstone's, or, to speak +definitely, on the Irish side. The claim of duty exactly coincides +with the claim of necessity, and {217} that is all about it that one +can say from a distance, without having seen what is on paper, or felt +pulses all round. + +Duty and necessity settle the question, but not as to policy in detail, +which I have no right to talk about without hearing more what is said +by people on the spot. Only let me say that I would not be influenced +by hope of a very brilliant success, even if it is possible to do what +would satisfy the better part of the Irish party. The people are so +demoralised, both laity and clergy, that we must be prepared to see the +best scheme fail. No Irish failure is so bad as the breakdown of +parliamentary government, so that even from a sordid point of view that +is not insuperable. But I would arm myself against disappointment. +There is another point of view from which I see much to apprehend and +prepare for. The elections send back Mr. Gladstone to Westminster, and +even to Downing Street, with some loss of influence. I see it not only +in the reduced majority, but still more in the increase of Conservative +minorities at the poll, the infidelity of most important colleagues, +and the reluctance with which he will be followed by members under +pressure from their constituencies. + +We saw the centrifugal forces at work last Session in the Ministry +itself. Mr. Gladstone only retained office after the Egyptian vote by +the neutrality of Rosebery, and in the question of concession to +Parnell he had to yield to the Lords in the Cabinet. + +How can they stand by him now, to support measures much more +formidable, probably, than that which they rejected last spring? And +could not Salisbury dexterously put the question in such a way {218} +that their vote then given should disable them altogether? + +One sees the danger that Mr. Gladstone would be almost isolated among +his friends, even if there is a majority in the House, and I can +imagine no way of getting any considerable scheme through the Lords. I +wish you would tell me that all this has been provided for, and that +very careful negotiations have been carried on. Taking the question +grossly, in outline, I can only say that I hope fervently that he will +have strength to accomplish the only scheme of policy I can think +worthy of his fame. + +It seems obvious that, in the mass of letters that afflict your +postman, there have been plenty of communications from good men of all +sorts in Ireland. I speak of that from a slight, a remote, fear that +the study of details, of conflicting and undigested suggestions, may +have become distasteful to him. Writing to Lord Granville the other +day in answer to a question, I proposed that his former private +secretary, Wetherell, should make a tour in Ireland, as he has a very +large acquaintance among people who do not clamour in the street. He +would bring valuable information to bear. But I hope that there is no +lack of information or of advisers. + +One has to think of people in the background just because they are the +minority. That may justify me in sending you the enclosed letter from +a man who had, I think, a good deal of Spencer's confidence and +good-will. I would not send it if I thought it could discourage, but +Mr. Gladstone has faced heavier artillery every day since Christmas. +Happy New Year never meant so much as to-day!... + +{219} + +P.S.--A frightened and discontented voice says, by this day's post, "If +there is a vote of censure we must join in it and take the consequences +of a majority, for we have no other mandate from our constituents but +to bring back Gladstone, and if we abstained from voting we should lose +our seats." + + + +FOOTNOTES + +[1] Jules Ferry, see p. 7. + +[2] Duc de Broglie, statesman and historian (1821-1901). + +[3] Dr. Döllinger. + +[4] Sir Louis. + +[5] Minghetti and Bonghi. + +[6] On Mr. Gladstone. + +[7] Mr. Gladstone was an unsuccessful candidate for South-West +Lancashire in 1868. He was at the same time elected for Greenwich. + +[8] The Reverend Mark Pattison, then Rector of Lincoln. + +[9] The book on which Lord Acton was then at work, and for which he +amassed vast hoards of material. + +[10] "The Expansion of England." + +[11] For the expulsion of the Jesuits and other unauthorised +congregations from French schools. + +[12] "History of Liberty." + +[13] Thorold Rogers, sometime M.P. for Southwark, and Professor of +Political Economy at Oxford. + +[14] Herbert Gladstone. + +[15] He stood for Middlesex. + +[16] The late Duke of Devonshire, who lived till 1891. + +[17] In 1866, Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Lowe took opposite sides on the +question of Parliamentary Reform. + +[18] Mr. Lowe, on hearing one of Mr. Herbert Gladstone's speeches +during the Middlesex election, declared that in the pure gift of +eloquence, there was nothing to choose between him and his father. + +[19] In Middlesex. + +[20] _i.e._, by Lord Granville. + +[21] See p. 49, note 54. + +[22] The Zulu. + + +[23] Lord Granville. + +[24] An allusion to expeditions at Tegernsee. + +[25] Evening parties in Downing Street. + +[26] Sir John Strachey had seriously under-estimated the cost of the +Afghan War. + +[27] Mr. O'Donnell, an Irish member, moved the adjournment of the House +for the purpose of attacking the new French Ambassador, M. Challemel +Lacour. Mr. Gladstone moved that he be not heard, and the debate on +this motion occupied the whole sitting. + +[28] Then Postmaster-General. + +[29] House of Lords, not "History of Liberty." + +[30] That any member claiming the right to affirm instead of taking an +oath should be allowed to do so, subject to any liability imposed on +him by statute. Under this motion Mr. Bradlaugh took his seat +provisionally for Northampton. + +[31] Littleberries, rented by Lord Aberdeen. + +[32] Trench. + +[33] Herbert Spencer. + +[34] M. Tachard. + +[35] Mr. Gladstone had just then a short, but serious illness. + +[36] On the Compensation for Disturbance Bill, intended to protect the +Irish tenants from eviction during the winter. + +[37] The majority against the Bill was 230, of whom 51 were Liberals. + +[38] Granville. + +[39] Lowell. + +[40] Non equidem invideo; miror magis. + +[41] See p. 28, note 36. + +[42] Lord Arthur Russell. + +[43] The reference is to the Ground Game Bill, which enabled tenants to +shoot hares and rabbits on their farms; and to the Burials Bill, which +permitted the interment of Dissenters in parish churchyards with their +own religious rites. + +[44] Mr. Gladstone's voyage in the _Grantully Castle_. + +[45] "History of Our Own Times." + +[46] Shakespeare's Sonnets, pocket edition. + +[47] Now Lady Battersea. + +[48] Richard Simpson (1820-1876), author of an "Introduction to the +Philosophy of Shakespeare's Sonnets" (1868) and "The School of +Shakespeare" (1872). + +[49] A letter from Mr. Gladstone on the choice of a profession. + +[50] Mr. Ruskin. + +[51] George Eliot lived in St. John's Wood. + +[52] Agrarian Laws and Ecclesiastical Establishments. + +[53] He stood by Ireland to the end, and his last letter to Sir +Hercules Langrishe reaffirms the principles of his youth. + +[54] "And to party gave up what was meant for mankind." + +[55] The editor of the _Quarterly Review_. + +[56] Lord Beaconsfield's "Endymion," in which Nigel Penruddocke is one +of the characters. + +[57] Lord Macaulay. + +[58] George Otto Trevelyan. + +[59] "Life of Panizzi." + +[60] "Julian the Apostate." By the Rev. the Hon. Arthur Lyttelton, +afterwards Bishop of Southampton. + +[61] Charles Stewart Parker, then M.P. for Perth. + +[62] "English Land and English Landlords." By the Honble. George +Brodrick, late Warden of Merton. + +[63] An allusion to Mr. Gladstone's speech on the Reform Bill of 1866. + +[64] George Eliot's death. + +[65] "Democracy," a political novel, published anonymously, which made +much noise at the time. + +[66] Arthur Lyttelton's. See his "Modern Poets of Faith, Doubt and +Paganism, and other Essays" (Murray). + +[67] This refers to the inscription Lord Acton inserted in Ruskin's +"Arrows of the Chace"--"From a False Believer." + +[68] Speech on introducing the Peace Preservation Bill. + +[69] Dublin Castle. + +[70] George Eliot's husband. + +[71] On the introduction of the new rules of Procedure after the +expulsion of the Irish Members. + +[72] The late Lord Stanley of Alderley. + +[73] The Editor of the _Edinburgh Review_. + +[74] Trevelyan. + +[75] In "Endymion." + +[76] The obstruction of the Peace Preservation Bill, which ended in the +autocratic intervention of the Speaker, and the removal of the Irish +Members from the House. + +[77] Sir Arthur Godley, at that time private secretary to Mr. Gladstone. + +[78] Sir Erskine May. + +[79] The Jacobite description of the mole whose burrowings caused the +death of William the Third by making his horse stumble. + +[80] The Comte de Serre was a Minister under Louis XVIII., and a leader +of the Moderate Royalists after the Restoration. + +[81] Sir John Lubbock's. + +[82] For closing debate. + +[83] At this period shadowing Mr. Gladstone's movements. + +[84] Sir John Lubbock, in conversation with Miss Gladstone, complained +of the lack of a guide or supreme authority in the choice of books. +She suggested Lord Acton, and mentioned this talk in writing to him. + +[85] Harold Browne. + +[86] Lightfoot. + +[87] Sir James Paget, the great surgeon. + +[88] By Robert Wallace, afterwards M.P. for East Edinburgh. The +definition, "trust in the people, tempered by prudence," was laid down +by Mr. Gladstone himself in a speech at Oxford in 1877. + +[89] Of Liberty. + +[90] On the Peace Preservation Bill. + +[91] Mr. Brand, afterwards Lord Hampden. + +[92] Carlyle's. + +[93] See page 40. + +[94] John K. Ingram, Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and author of +the article on Political Economy in the _Encyclopćdia Britannica_. + +[95] Mr. Gladstone fell on the ice as he entered the gardens of Downing +Street, and cut open the back of his head. + +[96] Sir Bartle Frere, then Governor of Cape Colony. + +[97] Miss Dempster. + +[98] "Sermons in a College Chapel," by J. R. Illingworth. + +[99] George Sand. + +[100] Gladstone, Tennyson, and Paget. + +[101] Leo XIII. + +[102] Dublin Castle. + +[103] Minghetti and Bonghi. + +[104] Dr. Döllinger. + +[105] _i.e._, of Mr. Gladstone. + +[106] Lord Acton said elsewhere of Lee--"The greatest general the world +has ever seen, with the possible exception of Napoleon." + +[107] Mr. Gladstone's. + +[108] At Cannes. + +[109] Scartazzini's. + +[110] Illingworth's "In a College Chapel." + +[111] Of George Eliot. + +[112] George Sand. + +[113] Meaning the Irish Land Bill. The reference is to the agrarian +laws of Tib. and C. Sempronius Gracchus. + +[114] On Carlyle. + +[115] Midhat Pacha was the head of the reforming party in Turkey at +that time. + +[116] Leo XIII. + +[117] November 15, 1848. After the murder of Count Rossi, his Liberal +Minister of the Interior, Pius IX. left Rome, and fled to Gaeta, from +which he only returned under the protection of French bayonets. + +[118] The introduction of the Irish Land Bill. + +[119] The late Duke of Argyll's resignation. + +[120] Lord Carlingford succeeded him. + +[121] Mr. Gladstone's eleventh. + +[122] To the Academy. + +[123] See p. 48. + +[124] The first Lord Cairns. + +[125] "It is true, Holy Father, I have failed. + +[126] Lord Beaconsfield. + +[127] The Sultan's. + +[128] See Diary in Ruskin's "Letters to M. and H. G." (privately +printed). + +[129] For burial in the Abbey. + +[130] Lord Lansdowne's and Lord Listowel's. + +[131] Judah Philip Benjamin, Q.C., author of "Benjamin on Sales." He +left America after the defeat of the South, and attained great +distinction at the English Bar. + +[132] Mr. Gladstone did not arrive in time after the Easter recess to +give notice of his own motion for a public memorial to Lord +Beaconsfield, who died on the 19th of April 1881. The notice was given +on Mr. Gladstone's behalf by Lord Richard Grosvenor, now Lord +Stalbridge. + +[133] Convicted at the Old Bailey for incitement to the murder of the +German Emperor. + +[134] Mr. Gladstone's. + +[135] Of the Irish Land Bill. + +[136] Mr. Gladstone predicted that, if the Conservatives defeated the +Bill and came into office, they would themselves introduce not a +smaller, but a larger measure. + +[137] Sir John Skelton, K.C.B., author of "Thalassa," Scottish disciple +of Disraeli, a brilliant and scholarly writer. + +[138] Canon Maccoll. + +[139] The death of a little daughter. + +[140] W. H. Gladstone, M.P. + +[141] The late Duke of Argyll. + +[142] Mr. Gladstone's retirement. + +[144] At Leeds. + +[145] "Like some tall bully, lifts its head and lies." + +[146] The County Franchise Bill. + +[147] To Knowsley. + +[148] The King. + +[149] "The Life of Cobden." + +[150] The late Sir Charles Gavan Duffy. + +[151] Mr Gladstone's. + +[152] (HAWARDEN, 15_th Nov._ 1881).--"_Tęte-ŕ-tęte_ breakfast. A long +most interesting talk on the great vexed question of his retirement; +started by his saying that he and Lord Granville had discussed it, Lord +G. good-humouredly declaring it out of the question. I quoted to him +Lord Acton's words, how it would be a serious flaw in his political +career to damage and perhaps ruin the Liberal party, by retiring from +the leadership while in full possession of health and strength. He +said the same arguments had been used in Lord Palmerston's case--that +it was said the power and cohesion of the party depended on one man's +life; that history had proved in that case that this was not so; that +in his own case he had retired in '74 for good; that his reassumption +of office was accidental, conditional, and temporary; that it was +undertaken for certain purposes foreshadowed in his Midlothian +Speeches; that these purposes were all or nearly all accomplished; that +if he did not retire after Ireland was settled, and House of Commons +procedure readjusted, there was no moment in the future when it would +be possible--that Lord Hartington (now Duke of Devonshire) was a man of +unusual strength and ability, but that before becoming Prime Minister +he required more training as House of Commons leader. (I objected that +he might at any moment go to the House of Lords, which would immensely +weaken his influence; and besides, who could then lead the House of +Commons?) The future leader of H. of C. was a great puzzle and +difficulty. Sir Charles Dilke would probably be the man best fitted +for it, he had shown much capacity for learning and unlearning, but he +would require Cabinet training first; that as time brings nearer Lord +Hartington's move into House of Lords, force was added to the argument +in favour of his own retirement. That he did not foresee great +difficulties ahead for the Liberal party; that the Conservative ditto +had thrown away what should have been their strength--the return to the +principles and policy of Sir R. Peel; that they were demoralised and +degraded; that they had inherited the vices of Lord Beaconsfield +without his tact and judgment: (Lord B.'s climax was reached in his +attack on Sir Robert Peel. What a magnificent virulence he had shown; +what a power of cutting and piercing the man through a searching +knowledge of his character); that this jingoism was perpetuated in +them, and must eventually be their ruin. That of Forster, Harcourt, +and Childers it was hard indeed to say which was best qualified for +leading; that Forster would probably be the best, but that he had shown +occasional incapacity; that Goschen had sadly injured himself by +following up his errors as to franchise with an elaborate eulogium of +weak-kneed Liberalism--(I quoted Lord A. again 'that he might resign +place, but could not resign power'). He demurred to this: for two +years--1874 to 1876--he insisted he had had no influence on the Lib. +party, that he should attend the H. of C. very rarely, and possibly +begin by going abroad before the Session." + +[153] The Goschens. + +[154] The late Dr. Hatch's Lectures on the "Organisation of the Early +Christian Churches." + +[155] The husband of George Eliot. + +[156] A short Life of Newman, by Mr. Jennings. + +[157] Mr. Goschen. + +[158] Sir Erskine May. + +[159] The Comte de Montlosier, a French emigrant, Royalist, historian, +antiquary, feudalist, and Liberal Catholic. + +[160] Lord Monck, first Governor-General of Federated Canada. + +[161] George Eliot. + +[162] Sir George Errington. + +[163] The vote of censure on the Lords for appointing a Committee to +inquire into the operation of the Irish Land Act. + +[164] His correspondent's name for his "History of Liberty." It was of +course taken from the title of Mr. Henry James's delightful novel. + +[165] On the 2nd of March a lunatic named Martin fired at the Queen and +Princess Beatrice at Windsor Station. + +[166] Bradlaugh's re-election. + +[167] This refers to a conversation at Venice in October 1879. + +[168] That Mr. Bradlaugh, having been re-elected for Northampton, +should be allowed to take the oath and his seat. + +[169] A protest by Cardinal Manning against the admission of Mr. +Bradlaugh. + +[170] A letter from Mr. Gladstone to his daughter. + +[171] Union, fusion. + +[172] James Harrington, 1611-1677. Toland edited his work on the +"Theory of the State," which was seized by Cromwell. + +[173] 1648. + +[174] Situated in the depth of the Inferno.--Canto xviii. line 1. + +[175] "The History of Liberty." + +[176] The letter in question was sent to Mr. Shorthouse, and was +answered in detail by him. + +[177] "Ah, this thou should'st have done and not have spoken on't. + In me 'tis villainy: in thee it had been good service." + +[178] Mr. S. R. Gardiner's review of "John Inglesant." + +[179] The late Marquis of Dufferin. + +[180] On the working of the Irish Laud Act, 1881. + +[181] Sent immediately after the murders in the Ph[oe]nix Park. + +[182] It need hardly be said that for this rumour there was no sort of +foundation. + +[183] Lyttelton. + +[184] It was the "manifold writer." + +[185] Lord Salisbury was unsuccessful in persuading his party to throw +out the Irish Arrears Bill in the House of Lords. + +[186] Mr. Gladstone's. + +[187] Downing Street. + +[188] "Paradise." + +[189] Letter written by Mr. Shorthouse in answer to Lord Acton's +criticism of "John Inglesant." + +[190] Sara Bernhardt. + +[191] Of Gibraltar. The late Dr. Sandford. + +[192] Mr. Gladstone. + +[193] Mr. Secretary Hay. + +[194] Mrs. Hollond. + +[195] Of George Eliot. + +[196] Prime Minister. + +[197] Mr. Herbert Gladstone's Lecture on Ireland, in which he used the +words "Irish Parliament." + +[198] The predominance of books on religion and the few on science. + +[199] The list of the hundred books given by Lord Acton to his +correspondent. + +[200] "Ignorance, madam, sheer ignorance." + +[201] On the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill. + +[202] Henry George, author of "Progress and Poverty." + +[203] Eaton Square. + +[204] R. W. Church. + +[205] Liddon translated Rosmini's "Five Wounds of the Church." + +[206] The Master of University. + +[207] At Cambridge. + +[208] "History of Liberty." + +[209] "Progress and Poverty." + +[210] "The American Constitution." + +[211] The hundred books. + +[212] Lord Acton's first visits to Oxford and Cambridge (to Dr. +Talbot's, Warden of Keble College, and to Professor Sidgwick's) were +arranged by his correspondent. + +[213] Stubbs. + +[214] Treaty of Berlin, 1878. + +[215] Dr. Liddon met Lord A. and Miss G. at the station. + +[216] Dr. Talbot. + +[217] Dr. Stubbs. + +[218] Duchess of Sutherland, Countess of Cromarty in her own right. + +[219] Forbes. + +[220] Lord Wolverton's residence near London. + +[221] A letter from Mr. Gladstone to his daughter. + +[222] _Contemporary Review_. + +[223] Egypt. + +[224] To Egypt. Its object was financial. + +[225] Lyttelton. + +[226] England _v._ Australia, Kennington Oval. + +[227] Bishop Stubbs. + +[228] Döllinger. + +[229] Church. + +[230] Scholarship (Ł10) for Northumberland miners, comprising a month's +residence at Cambridge. + +[231] Döllinger. + +[232] Dr. Howson. + +[233] The third Midlothian campaign. + +[234] Mr. Gladstone. + +[235] The first Lord Ampthill. + +[236] Mr. Gladstone. + +[237] Bishop Stubbs. + +[238] At Oxford. + +[239] Ruskin. + +[240] Bonamy Price. + +[241] Mr. Raskin's playfully affectionate description of Mr. Bonamy +Price, Professor of the science which he most abhorred. + +[242] Afterwards Bishop of London. + +[243] "The History of the Papacy during the Reformation." + +[244] "Life of George Eliot." + +[245] President Monroe formulated, at the suggestion of Mr. Canning, +the doctrine that the American continents were not to be colonised in +the future by foreign Powers. + +[246] The Croker Papers. + +[247] Disraeli. + +[248] Bishop of London. + +[249] Walsham How, then Suffragan Bishop of Bedford. + +[250] At Cannes. + +[251] "The Life of George Eliot." + +[252] Now Viscount Milner. + +[253] The present Earl Grey. + +[254] Mark Pattison's Memoirs. + +[255] The Afghan frontier. See Mr. Morley's account of the Penjdeh +incident in his "Life of Gladstone," vol. iii. pp. 183-5. + +[256] The reference is to Tennyson's lines on the Franchise Bill, +"Steersman, be not precipitate," &c. + +[257] Disagreements in the Cabinet on Ireland had been cut short on +June 8 by the defeat of the Government, through a combination of Tories +and Irish, on the Budget. + +[258] Mr. James Stuart. + +[259] When Lord Salisbury came into office in June 1885, he required +assurances of support from the Leader of the Opposition, which Mr. +Gladstone refused to give. + +[260] Mr. Gladstone's Election Address, partly written in Norway, +containing the Authorised Programme of the Liberal party. + +[261] _i.e._, ex-Prime Minister. + +[262] Mr. George Russell. He stood for Fulham, but was not elected. + +[263] At his election for Hoxton. + +[264] Now Bishop of Oxford. + +[265] The General Election of November 1885, consequent on the County +Franchise and Redistribution Acts. + +[266] The county voters. + +[267] The Greville Memoirs, Part III. + + + + +{221} + +INDEX + + + Aberdeen, Earl of, 25 and _note_ + Acton, Lord-- + _Career_-- + Birth, xv; Oscott, xvi; Munich, xvii; visit to France, xix; to + United States, xx; Moscow, xx-xxi; Aldenham, xxii; member + for Carlow, xxii; in Parliament, xxv; stands for Bridgnorth, + xxvii; editorship of the _Rambler_ (_Home and Foreign Review_), + xxvii, xxx-xxxiii, xxxv; at Congress of Munich, xxxiii; marriage, + xxxv; lectures at Bridgnorth, xxxv-xxxix, lvi; again stands for + Bridgnorth, xxxix; at the [OE]cumenical Council, xlii-xlvii; + peerage, xlix; honorary Doctorate of Philosophy at Munich, l; + reply to Gladstone's "Vatican Decrees" pamphlet, lii-liii; death + of his daughter, lxxv, 105, and _note_; residence in Germany and + the Riviera, lix; founds _English Historical Review_, lxiv; D.LL., + D.C.L., and All Souls Fellowship, lxv; made lord in waiting, lxv; + appointed Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, lxvi, lxix; + death, lxxiv + _Characteristics_-- + Caution in expressing opinions, xii, lx, lxxiv + Conversational ability, xii-xiv, lxix + Cosmopolitanism, xiv, xv, xx, lix + Critical temperament, xiii, lxii + Foreign languages, facility in, xv, xviii, lxv + Integrity of mind, lii + Irony of manner, xiii + Learning, xi, lxxvii; range of subjects, xv + Liberalism, xxvi + Morality, high estimate of, xii + Personal appearance, xiii + Prudence, xxxiv + Reading, fondness for, xi, xiv, xxxv, lxxiii + Religious views, xv + Sociability, xii, lix + Estimates of, xi, lxxi, lxxv + Affirmation as substitute for oath, 23 and _note_ + Afghanistan, 20 _note_, 78, 81, 208 and _note_ + Africanders, _see_ Boers + Airlie, Earl of, 17 + Aldenham library, xviii, lv, lxxiii + Alexander, 47, 111 + Alexandria, 156 + Alison cited, 7 + America, _see_ United States + Amiel, 207 + Ammergau, 33, 34 + Ampthill, Lord (Odo Russell), xlvii, 195 and _note_ + Anglo-Indians, 17 + Antonelli, Cardinal, xiv, xlvi + Appearances _v._ realities, 15 + Arco, Louis, Count, 172 + Argyll, Duke of, incompatibility of, with Chamberlain, 13; resignation + of, 87 and _note_[119]; misunderstandings of Gladstone by, 106; + otherwise mentioned, lx, 11, 25, 29, 30, 70, 89, 96, 108 + Arnim, Count, 53, 134 + Arnold, Matthew, 59, 70, 105 + ---- Dr., 146 + Ashburnham MSS., 162-163 + Atterbury, 52 + Aumale, Duc d', 88 + Austen, Jane, 83 + Authorities, list of, 69 + + + Bacon, 93 + Banneville, Marquis de, xlv + Barčre, 136 + Barnes, 140 + Battersea, Lady (Mrs. Flower), 42 and _note_, 43 + Baxter, 146 + Beaconsfleld, Earl of (B. Disraeli)-- + Bryce on, 130 + Croker, views on, 201 and _note_[247] + "Endymion" criticised, 52 + First speech of, 109 + Gladstone's eulogy on, lx, 99-101 + Granville, Earl, dinner with, 66 + Illness of, 85 + Memorial to, 97 and _note_[132], 98, 107 and _note_[145] + Peel attacked by, 114 _note_ + Press opinions on, 96 + Supporters of, 91 + Otherwise mentioned, xxiii, lxxvi, 11, 40 + Beard's Hibbert Lectures, 173 + Bedford, Duke of, 195 + "Belgique et le Vatican, La," 54 + Benedictines, 137 + Benjamin, J. P., 97 and _note_[131] + Berlin, treaty of, 179 + Berryer, xxiv, 47, 49 + Bessborough Report, 88 + Bible, Revised Version of, 120 + Bisaccia, 61 + Bismarck, Prince, Minghetti on, lxiii; Gladstone contrasted with, 35; + mentioned, 13 + Blachford, Lord, 4 + Blennerhassett, Lady, estimate of, 44; otherwise mentioned, 17, 23, + 161, 174 + ---- Sir Rowland, estimate of, 44; on Forster, 73; mentioned, 23 + Blignieres, 191 + Blondel, 146 + Bluntschli, xix + Boers-- + Characteristics of, 77 + Peace made by Gladstone with, 81, 91 + Bohme, 139 + Bond, 149-150 + Bonghi--essays of, on Gladstone, 4 and _notes_[5, 6] + Roman History by, 123, 174; mentioned, 80 and _note_[103] + Books, list of hundred best, 69; Acton's list of, 166-168, 176 + Borromeo, St. Charles, lxxi, 135, 186-187 + Bossuet, 93, 133, 150 + Boutmy, 3 + Bradlaugh, Charles, re-election of, for Northampton, 126 and _note_[166]; + Manning's protest against admission of, 130 _note_[169]; otherwise + mentioned, 23 _note_, 95, 121, 151, 214 + Bradley's Recollections, 166 + Bramhall, 127, 133, 134 + Brand, Speaker (Viscount Hampden), 73 and _note_ + Brewer, 128-129, 149, 196 + Bright, Rev. J. F., Master of University, lxiv, 160, 173 + and _note_[206], 177 + ---- Rt. Hon. John, lx, 25, 30, 94, 156, 213 + Brodrick, Hon. George, 54 and _note_[62], 177 + Broglie, Duc de, 2 and _note_[2], 11, 161 + Brontë, Charlotte, 83 + Brougham, Lord, 47, 57 + Browne, Bp., of Shrewsbury, liv + ---- Bp. Harold, 70 and _note_[85] + Browning, Oscar, 166 + Bryce, Rt. Hon. James, paper of, on Disraeli, 130; cited, ix, xiv; + quoted, xviii-xix, lx, lxviii; otherwise mentioned, 84, 197 + Burke, Edmund-- + Electioneering speeches of, 4-5 + Estimate of, 49, 56-57 + Gladstone compared with, 5, 49, 57, 81 + Lecky on, 152 + Party policy of, 14, 49 and _note_[54] + Otherwise mentioned, xxix, 45 + Burials Bill, 33 and _note_[43] + Burnett, 47 + Butler, Bp., xxxiv, 203 + Byron, 63 + + + Cćsar Borgia, 144 + Cairns, first Earl, 90 and _note_[124], 108 + Cambridge, Acton's visit to (1884), 177 _note_, 181, 191 + "Cambridge History," lxx, lxxiii, lxxiv + Cambridge University-- + Acton refused admission to, as a student, xvii, lxvi, 104; made + D.LL. at, lxv; appointed Professor of Modern History at, lxvi + Aldenham library presented to, lxxiv + Scholarship at, for Northumberland miners, scheme of, 192 and + _note_[230] + Cannes, lix, 33, 54, 80, 83, 160, 162, 198, 205 + Canning, estimates of, 45, 47; otherwise mentioned, 46, 56, 99, 200 + Capua, Archbishop of, 87 + Cardwell, Lord, xxii, 11, 54, 66, 77 + Carlingford, Lord, 87 _note_[120], 108, 195 + Carlyle, Thomas-- + Estimate of, 70-71, 82, 85, 104, 144 + Froude's Life of, 151 + Palgrave on, 84 + Scherer on, 74 + Carnarvon, Earl of, 16, 24 + Carnegie, Andrew, lxxiii + Carnot, President, 136 + Caron, Father, 133, 140 + Casaubon, 207 + Cassander, 134 + Castlereagh, Visct., 46, 99 + Cavendish, Lady F., 41, 155 + ---- Lord F., 66, 154-156 + Cavour, xxv, xxviii-xxix, 49 + Cetewayo, 174 + Chamberlain, Rt. Hn. J., incompatibility of, with Argyll, 13; + indiscretions of, 66; policy regarding House of Lords, 102; + Döllinger's view of, 170; defection of, 214; on Gladstone's + socialism, 212; otherwise mentioned, 24, 43, 153, 164, 205, 211 + Chambord, Count of, 86, 161 + Channing, 146 + Charles I., 136 + Chateaubriand, 78 + Chatham, Lord, 45, 56, 81 + Chenery, 13, 24, 34-35 + Cheney, 40 + Childers, Rt. Hon. H. C. E., 114 _note_ + Chillingworth, 133, 134 + _Chronicle_ (1868), xxxvii + Church, Dean, at Munich, 170 and _note_[204]; on Liddon, 180, 192, 204; + over-estimation of, 203; otherwise mentioned, 70 + Churches-- + Anglican-- + Distinguished men in, overmuch made of, 203 + Establishment of, 182 + High Church party, attitude of, towards Gladstone's alliance + with democratic nonconformity, 16 + Ireland, in, xxxix + Ritualism in, Gladstone's pamphlet on, li + Thirty-Nine Articles, 127, 133 + Cavour's ideal, xxix + Establishments, xxvi, xl; Gladstone's progress of thought + regarding, 48 and _note_, 89 + Roman Catholic-- + Benedictines, 137 + Burnings of, 141, 146 + "Conflicts with Rome," xxxiii + Conversions to-- + Obstacles to, 185, 187 + Protestant sanction of, 134 + Identification of, with morality and religion, xxxii + Infallibility dogma, xli, xliii-xlviii; civil allegiance in + relation to, xlviii, li + Inquisition, 141, 146, 185 + Jansenism, 131, 140 + Jesuits (_see that title_) + Legate and Nuncio, 137 + Legitimacy supported by, 86 + Marriage with Deceased Wife's Sister, attitude towards, 169 and + _note_ + Mass, the, 136 + Modern thought, Encyclical letter against, xxxiv + Molinism, 131 + [OE]cumenical Council (1869), xli-xlix + Papacy (_see also below_ Ultramontanism) + Creighton's work on, lxiv, 197 and _note_[243] + Ethics of, 127 + Inquisition the work of, 185 + Temporal power of, xlii, 86-87 + Perilous opinions enforced by, 127 + Persecution in, 148 + Roman Catholic-- + Quietists, 139 + Rosmini's attempted reform of, 171, 176, 185 + Syllabus of Errors (1864), xxxiv, xlii, 135, 141 + Thirty-Nine Articles, views on, 127 + Transubstantiation, 132 + Ultramontanism-- + Acton's attitude towards, xvi + Immorality of, lv, 131 + Irish clergy, of, 73, 165, 170 + Nature of, 185-187 + Policy of (1869), xliv + "Vatican Decrees" pamphlet, l et seq. + Vaticanism, Frčre-Orban on, 54 + Cicero, 88 + Circourt, 40 + Clare, Lord, 201 + Clark, Dr. A., 29 + Clay, 49 + Clifford, Bishop, liv + Club, The, lix, 50 + Cobden, Richard-- + Economy urged by, xxiv + Life of, 111 and _note_, 112-113 + Otherwise mentioned, 19, 27 + Coercion, xxviii (_see also under_ Ireland) + Colebrooke, Sir E., 125 + Coleridge, S. T., 71, 151 + Collard, Roger, cited, 84 + Colquhoun, Miss (Lady Limerick), 64 + Commynes, cited, 35 + Conolly, xlix + Conscience-- + Development of, 168 + Independence of, 15 + Jesuit attitude towards, 39 + "John Inglesant," case of, 145 + Consent, government by, 68 + Conservatism, _see_ Toryism + "Consuelo," 83 + Contract, freedom of, 92 + Coombe Warren, 188 + Copenhagen, battle of, lxxi + Copernicus, lxvii + Coriolis, 161 + Corker, 134 + Coulanges, Fustel de, xix + County Franchise Bill, 108 _note_[146] + Courtney, Rt. Hon. Leonard, 53, 197 + Cowper, Earl, 16, 153 + ---- Henry, 1 + Craven, Mrs., 161, 171 + Creighton, Bishop, editor of _English Historical Review_, lxiv; + estimate of, 197 + Cressy, 140 + Croker Papers, 199-201 + Cromwell, Oliver, 5-6, 71, 93 + Cross, Mr., 64 and _note_[70], 117, 162, 166, 173, 198, 205 + + + Dante, 40, 57; "Inferno," 44, 143 and _note_; "Paradiso," 83, 159 + and _note_[185] + Darboy, Archbishop, xlii-xliv, xlix + Davenport, 140 + "David Copperfield," 34 + Davitt, Michael, 68 + Decazes, 161 + Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, 169 and _note_ + Delane, 13, 24 + Delisle, Leopold, 162-163 + Democracy-- + Danger of, 91 + Disraeli's transformation of England into a, 86 + Doctrines of, distinct from wishes of Democrats, 7 + Government by, success of, 93 + Inconstancy of, 9, 91, 101 + Principles of, 48 + Progress of, a certainty, 44 + Unity of power the tendency of, 124 + "Democracy" (American novel), 58, 159-160 + "Democracy in America," xix + "Democracy in Europe," lviii + Democrats-- + Constructive power of, 117 + Murder identified with insurrection by, 103 + Whig dependence on, 108 + Demosthenes, 88 + Dempster, Miss, 77 _note_[97] + Derby, 14th Earl, xxiii, 65, 69 + ----, 15th Earl, estimate of, 109; otherwise mentioned, 72, 87, 108, + 110, 117, 174 + ----, Lady, 108-109 + Descartes, 130, 146 + De Serre, 68 and _note_[80], 75 + Detachment, 71, 105 + Devonshire, Duke of (_d._ 1891), 10 and _note_[16] + D'Harcourt, Marquis, 1 + Diary of Miss M. Gladstone, extract from, 113 and _note_ + Diary-keeping, 14, 30 + Diaz, Porfirio, xxxviii + Dickens, Charles, 34, 41, 163 + Dilke, Sir Charles, Gladstone's estimate of, 114 _note_; at Cannes, 205; + otherwise mentioned, 24, 43, 214 + Dillon, John, 103 + Disraeli, _see_ Beaconsfield + Döllinger, Dr.-- + Acton's studies under, xvii, xix; article on, lxxv; estimate of, 2 + Bryce's estimate of, lx + Chamberlain, views on, 170 + Congress of Munich, plea at, xxxiii + Excommunication of, xlix + Gladstone's visit to, li + Liddon, views on, 182, 191 + Otherwise mentioned, xliii, 57, 80, 192 + Donne, 131 + Drew, Mrs., viii, lxiii + Dufaure, 2 + Duff, Sir M. Grant, ix, xxxiv, xxxvii _note_; _Spectator_ article by, + lxxi + Dufferin, Marquis of, 153 and _note_, 195 + Duffy, Sir C. G., 112 and _note_[150] + Dupanloup, xliv, xlix + Durham, Bishop of (Westcott), 70, 203 + + + Ecclesiastical Titles Act, li + _Economist_, 24, 29 + Ecuador, 74 + _Edinburgh Review_, 5, 50, 65 _note_[73] + Egypt-- + Alexandria, bombardment of, and complications, 156-159 + Evacuation of, views on, 169, 179, 188-189 + Northbrook's mission to, 190 and _note_ + Eliot, George-- + Death of, 57 + Dickens on "Scenes from Clerical Life," 163 + Estimate of, 57, 60-61, 62 + Gladstone's attitude towards, lxi, 109 + Letters of, 121, 166 + Life of, 64, 83, 162, 198 + Lyttelton's review of, 59 + Montégut on, 165 + Philosophy of, 121 + Political divergence from, 210 + Scherer on, 207 + Otherwise mentioned, 5, 34, 109 + Ellenborough, Lord, xxiii, 93 + Eloquence, French, 78 + "Endymion," 52 and _note_[1] + Enfield, 197 + Equality, doctrine of, lix, 8, 48 + Erasmus, lxvii + Errington, Sir George, 122 and _note_, 123 + "Expansion of England, The," 6 and _note_[10]-8 + + + Faber, 206 + Fabricius, 134 + Fagan, 53 + Faith-- + Patriotism analagous to, xxix + Political, 199 + Sincerity implied in, 168 + Falloux, quoted, 88 + Fanaticism, 144 + Fawcett, Rt. Hon. Henry, 24 + Female suffrage, 180-181 + Ferry, Jules, bill of, on unauthorised congregations, 1, 7 and _note_ + Flower, Mrs. (Lady Battersea), 42 and _note_, 43 + Forbes, Bishop of Brechin, 150, 183 + Forster, Rt. Hon. W. E., speeches of, 36, 62; Blennerhassett on, 73; + Gladstone's estimate of, 114 _note_; resignation of, 153-154; on + "Democracy," 160; mentioned, 74 + Forwood, 192 + Fox, C. J., estimate of, 45; Trevelyan's Life of, 52-53; Chatham + compared with, 81; otherwise mentioned, 99, 200 + France-- + Best living writers of, 6 + Commercial treaty with, xxiii, 113 + Debates, famous, in, 75 + Democracy in, 93 + Eloquence of, 78 + Gladstone's attitude towards literature of, 46-47, 82 + Peasants in, condition of, 112 + Fraser, Bishop, 203 + Free government, 68 + Freedom, _see_ Liberty + Freeman, lxxvi, 70, 149, 177 + Frere, Sir Bartle, estimate of, 17, 66; Toryism and jingoism of, + 77 and _note_[96]; mentioned, 29 + Frčre-Orban, 54, 76 + Freycinet, 39 + Froude, J. A., "Life of Carlyle" by, 151; otherwise mentioned, xi, + 70, 74, 144, 177 + + + Gambetta, 22, 104 + Gardiner, S. R., correspondence with, on "John Inglesant," 126, 128; + poverty of, 129; recommended for the Record Office, 149; at + King's College, 150: contemplated paper on "John Inglesant," + 151; otherwise mentioned, 177, 196, 198 + Gaskell, Milnes, 47 + Gavard, 11 + "Gendre de M. Poirier, Le," 3 + George, Henry, 170 and _note_[202], 175 + Germany-- + Carlyle's view of, 70, 82, 104 + Gladstone's attitude towards literature of, xxii, 46-47, 82 + Socialism in, 170, 175 + Gibbon, 59 + Gibson, Rt. Hon. J. G. (Lord Ashbourne), 129 + Gladstone, Helen, 32, 173 + ---- Herbert, Middlesex candidature of, 9 and _notes_, 11 and _note_; + eloquence of, 84; eulogy of Hartington and Granville by, 107; + lecture of, on Ireland, 164 and _note_; mentioned, 118 + ---- W. E.-- + Accident to (1881), 77 + Acton, estimate of, l + Beaconsfield, eulogy on, lx, 99-101 + Bismarck contrasted with, 35 + Bonghi's essays on, 4 and _note_[3] + Burke compared with, 5, 49, 57, 81 + Characteristics of-- + Eloquence, xxiii-xxiv, 47 + Financial ability, xxiii-xxiv + Idealism, 109 + Progress of mind, 48 + Self-depreciation, 66, 112 + Charities, speech on, xxiv, 48 + Church establishments, progress of thought regarding, 48 and + _note_, 89 + Contact with, desirable for members of the party, 25-26, 61-62 + Control of certain men not possible to, 45, 214 + Criticism, attitude towards, vii + De Serre compared with, 68 + Döllinger, visit to, li + Estimate of characters by, defects in, 45, 57, 109 + Estimate of, by posterity foreshadowed, 44-50 + _Grantully Castle_, voyage in, 33 _note_[44] + Illness of (1880), 27 and _note_[35] + Inequalitarianism of, 94 + Influence of, on the nation, 106 + Italian independence, attitude towards, xxiv-xxv, lx + Lancashire speeches of (1868), 4 and _note_[7] + Land tenure, progress of thought regarding, 48 and _note_, 89 + Letter of, on choice of a profession, 43 + Liberal party-- + Cohesion of, dependent on his ascendency, 25, 110, 193 + Divergence from, 13, 16, 46, 158 + Future of, 107, 109, 113 _note_ + Midlothian campaign (1880), personal victory in, 8, 9-10; campaign + of 1884, 193 and _note_[233] + Nonconformist alliance of, 16 + O'Donnell affair, the, 21 and _note_ + Personal ascendency of, 8, 9-10, 195 + Police protection for, 69 and _note_[83] + Position of (1859), xxii-xxiii + Principle and policy, grasp of, 18, 48 + Retirement of, objections to, 10, 106-107, 159, 169, 178, 193, + 195, 214; diary extract on, 113 _note_ + Socialism, attitude towards, lxi, 175, 212 + Strachey's observation on, 55 + Tennyson's attitude towards, 209 and _note_[256] + Vatican decrees, pamphlet on, l + ---- Mrs., 11, 27, 58, 115, 119, 160 + ---- W. H., 106 and _note_[140] + Godley, Sir Arthur, 67 and _note_[77] + Goethe, 79, 82 + Goldsmid, 11, 61 + Goodman, Memoirs of, 129 + Goschen, Rt. Hon. G. J., estimate of, 65; financial ability of, 108; + otherwise mentioned, 3, 72, 88, 114 _note_, 115, 117, 119, 124, + 205, 211, 213, 214 + Government-- + Consent, by, necessity of, 164 + Constitutional, maxim of, concerning subordinates, 125 + Party, by, law of, 95 + Unfitness for, in every class, 93 + Grace, three channels of, 144 + Granville, Earl, estimate of, xxi; reception of, in Moscow, xx-xxi; + Disraeli dines with, 66; motion of, on Beaconsfield, 101; suggested + retirement of, 108; Gladstone discusses retirement with, 113 _note_; + views on Morier, 195; on Gladstone's election address (1885), 211 + and _note_[260]; otherwise mentioned, 12, 18, 26, 29, 36, 39, 103, 104, + 106, 196 + ---- Lady, 61 + Green, J. E., 128-129, 163 + ---- Mrs. J. R., 161, 198 + ---- T. H., xli + Greenwood, Frederick, 13 + Grenville, George, 46, 69, 200 + Greville, 215 + Grévy, 161 + Grey, Earl, 205 and _note_[253] + Grillion's, lix, 85 + Grosvenor, Lord R. (Lord Stalbridge), 97 _note_[132] + Grotius, 93, 134, 146, 207 + Ground Game Bill, 33 and _note_[43] + Grundtvig, 146 + Guizot, 84 + + + Hall, 133 + Hallam, 46 + Hamilton, 49 + Hammond, 146 + Hampden, Viscount (Speaker Brand), 73 and _note_ + Harcourt, Sir William, 25, 69, 103, 112, 114 _note_ + ---- Marquis de, 161 + Hardy, 149 + Harley, Speaker, 67 + Harrington, James, 139 and _note_[172] + Harrowby, Lord, 47 + Hartington, Lord, attitude of, in elections of 1880, 14, 115-116; + Gladstone's estimate of, 114 _note_; on compensation in Ireland, + 115-116; otherwise mentioned, xxiii, 15, 108, 205 + Hatch, Dr., 115 _note_[154] + Hatzfeldt, 213 + Hawarden, Acton's visit to, 117-118 + Hay, Colonel, 160, 162 and _note_[193] + Hayward, Lecky reviewed by, 50; on Carlyle, 82; otherwise mentioned, + 12, 13, 24, 118 + Hefele, Bishop, xliv, xlix + Heine, 79, 97 + Henriquez, 84 + Herbert, Lord, 146 + ---- Sidney, xxii + Heroes, doctrine of, 70 + History-- + Conscience, development of, the aim of, 168 + Ideas the essence of, 6-8 + Inner reality of, 35 + Letters as sources of, 32 + Moral estimates based on, 121-122 + Printed books as sources of, lxxvi, 151 + Religion demonstrated by, lxvii + Religious forces in the making of, 167 + Scope of, lxxii + "History of Liberty, A," xviii, lv-lvi, 6 and _note_[9], 8, 174; + called "The Madonna of the Future," 126 and _note_[164], 150 + "History of Our Own Times," 36 + Hoadley, 52 + Hohenlohe, 172 + Holden, 140 + Hollond, Rev. H. S., 170 + ---- Mrs., 162 + Holmbury, 33, 36, 40 + _Home and Foreign Review_, xxvii, xxx-xxxiii, xxxv + Home Rule, _see under_ Ireland + Hooker, 166 + Hope-Scott, 46, 182 + Houghton, Lord, 53, 160 + How, Bishop Walsham, 204 + Howson, Dean, 192 + Hugo, Victor, 3, 60, 78 + Hundred books, Lubbock's scheme regarding, 69; Acton's list of, + 166-168, 176 + Huskisson, 200 + Hutton, R. H., 70 + + + Ideas-- + Carlyle's notion of, 71 + Expedients as opposed to, 56 + Exponents as distinct from, 206 + History in, 6-8 + Party an embodiment of, 200 + Illingworth, Rev. J. R., Sermons by, 78 and _note_[98], 79, 83 + "Imitation of Christ, The," 5 + Imperialism, lvii + Ingram, J. K., 76, 90 + Intolerance, 148 + Ireland-- + Acton's representation of, in House of Lords, lxv + Arms Bill, 78 + Arrears Bill (1882), 158 _note_[185] + Burke's policy regarding, 49 and _note_[54] + Church disestablishment in, xxxix + Clergy in, 73, 165, 170, 217 + Coercion for, 65, 68, 81, 154 + Compensation for Disturbance Bill, 28 and _notes_, 30 + Emigration from, 88 + Gladstone, Herbert, lecture of, on, 164 and _note_ + Heroic treatment for, 54 + Home Rule for-- + Advocates of, 36 + Failure regarding, probable, lxii, lxiv + Federalism in, 123-124 + Gladstone's references to (Oct. 1881), lxii, 105; (Feb. 1882), 123 + Historic case for, 216 + Liberal party in regard to, 194 + Necessity of, lxi, 164, 165, 216-217 + Land League in, 68, 105 + Land tenure in-- + Bill of 1881, 73, 84 and _note_, 87 and _note_[118]; criticism of, + 89 _seq._; opinions of others on, 96; parliamentary prospects of, + 98-99; Gladstone's speech on second reading, 103 and + _notes_[134-136]; compensation question not urged in connection + with, 115-116; Lords' Committee of Inquiry on the Act, + 125 _note_; Cairns' draft Report, 154 + Compensation, idea of, 115-116, 118 + Irish ownership, case for, 216 + Land Court (1881), 111-112 + Landlords, 87 + Peasant proprietorship, 78 + Rent, 88, 112 + Massacre in, 136, 147 + Papal authority in, undesirable, 169 + Peace Preservation Bill (1881), 61, 62 _note_[68], 67 _note_[76], 72 + Ph[oe]nix Park murders, 154 and _note_[181]-156 + Priests in, _see above_, Clergy + Resignations of officials (1882), 153 + Suspicion of England natural in, 164 + Wetherell's tour in, suggested, 218 + Wolverton's views on, 65 + Wrongs of, 63 + Irish members, _see under_ Parliament + Italian independence, xxiv-xxv, lx + + + + Jackson, Bishop, 201 + ---- Dr. Henry, letter from, lxviii-lxxii; cited, lxxiv + James, Henry, 126 _note_[164] + Jansenism, 131, 140 + Jebb, Professor, 70 + Jefferson, 48, 93 + Jennings' "Life of Newman," 117 + Jessel, Sir George, 149-150 + Jesuits-- + Clement XIV.'s attitude towards, lii + Divisions among, 127 + _Encyclopćdia Britannica_ article on, 64 + Ferry's bill on expulsion of, 1, 7 and _note_ + Learning among, golden age of, 137 + Luther approved by one of, 132 + Papacy supported by, 142 + Pattison on, 207 + Richelieu supported by, 143, 148 + St. Hilaire's argument regarding, 39 + Spanish, lix + Jingoism, lxi, 114 _note_ + "John Inglesant," criticism of, 127-128, 130, 135-149, 150-151 + Journalism, power of, 15 + Jowett, Benjamin, 70, 177 + Juarez, Benito, xxxviii + "Julian the Apostate," 54 and _note_[60] + Junius, 52, 120, 151 + + + Kenealy, 95 + Kenrick, xlix + Kimberley, Earl of, 96, 108 + Knesebeck, 192 + Knowles, Sir James, 113 + Knowsley, 108 _note_[147], 110 + + + La Bastide, 134 + Labouchere, H. L., 99 + Laboulaye, 2, 39 + Labour, Adam Smith on, 92 + Lacaita, Sir James, 1 + ---- Charles, 190 + Lacordaire, 185 + Lacour, Challemel, O'Donnell's attempted attack on, 21 _note_; + estimate of, 22; otherwise mentioned, 24, 160 + Lamartine, 78 + Lamennais, 78 + Land tenure-- + Anomalies of, 28 + Brodrick on, 54 and _note_[62] + Gladstone's progress of thought regarding, 48 and _note_, 89 + Importance of subject, xxvi, xl + Ireland, in, _see under_ Ireland + Landed aristocracy, Gladstone's attitude towards, 95 + Lords, House of, as representing, 102 + Maine's knowledge of, 31 + Political economy in regard to, 90 + Lansdowne, Lord, 96 _note_[130] + Lasaulx, Amelie von, 73 + ---- Ernest von, 73 + Lassalle, 97, 213 + Lathbury, D. C., 24, 26 + Laugel, 11 + Laurent, 76 + Laveleye, 71, 75-76, 90 + Layard, Sir H. A., 80 + Lea, Mr., M.P., 83-84 + Lecky, "Eighteenth Century" by, 50-51, 115; estimate of, 151-152; + otherwise mentioned, 70, 80 + Lee, General, 82 and _note_[106] + Lefevre, Rt. Hon. J. G. Shaw, 153 + Legitimacy, 86, 119, 161 + Leibnitz, 134, 150 + Lenbach, 22, 103 + Leo XIII., Pope, 80 and _note_[101], 86, 111 + Leslie, Cliffe, 76, 90 + Lesseps, 169 + Letters-- + History dependent on, 32 + Privacy of, 41 + Leveson-Gower, F., 1, 3, 40, 118 + Lewes, G. H., 60 + ---- Mrs. (George Eliot), 64 + Lewis, George, 171 + Liberal party-- + Achievements of, xl + Gladstone-- + Dependence on, for cohesion, 25, 107, 110, 193 + Divergence from, 13, 16, 46, 158 + Future without, 107, 109, 113 _note_ + Home Rule in relation to, 194 + Liberalism-- + Aims of, 94 + Definition of, 71 and _note_[88] + Gladstone, in relation to, 111 + Nature of, lv, 199 + Toryism permeated by, 200 + Liberty-- + American realisation of, lvii + Ancient, three things lacking in, lvii + Contract, of, 92 + Definitions of, xxvii-xxviii, 71 and _note_[89] + Division of power essential to, 124 + End in itself, lvii + Ends of, 216 + Equality at expense of, lix + "History of," xviii, lv-lvi, 6 and _note_[9], 8; called "The Madonna of + the Future," 126 and _note_[164], 150 + Law of, aims of, 93 + Mill on, reviewed by Acton, xxvii-xxviii + Minorities, security for, the test of, 69, 76 + Savonarola's martyrdom for, 123 + Two worst enemies of, xxx + Liddon, Canon, first meeting with, 21; on Lord Carnarvon, 24; verbal + subtlety of, 46; on Rosmini, 170-171 and _note_, 176, 180, 184-185, + 187; Gladstone's attitude towards, 182; suggestion of, for see + of London, 201-204; anecdote of, 204; at Tegernsee, 213; estimate + of, 179-180, 182-183, 187, 202-203; Döllinger's estimate of, 182, + 191-192; otherwise mentioned, 16, 70 + Lightfoot, Bp., 70 and _note_[86], 112, 203 + Limerick, Lord, 64, 72 + Listowel, Lord, 96 _note_[130] + Littleberries, 25 _note_ + Littré, 38 + London, conservatism of, 118 + Londonderry, Lady, 180 + Longfellow, 5 + Lords, House of, _see under_ Parliament + Lowder, Rev. Charles, Life of, 151 + Lowe, Robert, _see_ Sherbrooke + Lowell, J. R., reminiscences of, 5-6; otherwise mentioned, 30-32, + 70, 83 + Lubbock, Sir John, estimate of, 69; otherwise mentioned, 67, 68 and + _note_[81], 176 + Luther, lxvii, 132 + Lyons, Lord, 37, 160 + Lyttelton, Alfred, 112, 157 and _note_, 191 + ---- Rev. the Hon. Arthur, 54 and _note_[60], 59 and _note_, 146, 152 + Lytton, 20 + + + Macaulay-- + Brougham, on, 47 + Cited, xvii; quoted, lxvii + Conversational power of, 40 + Estimate of, 59, 210; estimate of _Essays and History_, 173 + Letter of, on Windsor Castle paper, 116 + Taine on, 52-53 + Writing of, 45, 57 + Otherwise mentioned, 57, 95, 144, 196 + MacCarthy, J. H., 68; "History "by, 36 + MacColl, Canon, 13, 104 and _note_[138] + Machiavelli, lxvii, 144 + Mackintosh, 57 + Maine, Sir Henry, disagreements with, 29; on land tenure, 31; on + primogeniture, 119; on the government, 209, 212-213; estimate of, + 26, 31; otherwise mentioned, 70, 118, 181 + Maitland, Prof. F. W., cited, ix, lxxiii-lxxiv + Malebolge, 143 + Malebranche, 140 + Mallett, Sir Louis, on Afghanistan, 78; illness of, 125; moves to + Mentone, 162; estimate of, 4, 27; otherwise mentioned, 76, 160 + Manning, Cardinal, ultramontanism of, xli, 186-187; on Vatican + decrees, lii; correspondence of, with Acton, liv; influence lost + by, lxxvi; protests against admission of Bradlaugh to Parliament, + 130 _note_[169]; views of, on Borromeo, 186-187; Wiseman succeeded + by, xli + Marat, 7 + Marriage-- + Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, 169 and _note_ + Female Suffrage in regard to, 181 + Maximilian, Archduke, xxxviii-xxxix and _note_ + May, Sir T. Erskine, "Democracy in Europe" by, reviewed by Acton, + lviii; otherwise mentioned, 67, 119, 120 + Mazzini, xxix, 210 + Men of the time, estimate of, 122 + Mentone, 151; Queen's villa at, 126, 128 + Mérimée, Prosper, 53 + Mexico, xxx, xxxvii-xxxix + "Middlemarch," 60, 135 + Midhat Pacha, 44, 86 and _note_ + Midlothian campaign (1880), personal victory in, 8, 9-10; campaign of + 1884, 193 and _note_[233] + Mignet, 2 + Mill, J. S., on liberty, reviewed by Acton, xxvii-xxviii; otherwise + mentioned, 48, 71, 94, 110 + Milman, 5 + Milner, Viscount, 205 and _note_[252] + Milnes, Monckton, 41 + Milton, 63 + Minghetti on Gladstone and Bismarck, lxiii; otherwise mentioned, 4 + and _note_[5], 80 and _note_[103], 123, 174 + Minorities, protection of, a condition of liberty, lvi, 69, 76 + Mirabeau, 7, 47 + Mivart, 129 + Molinism, 131 + Molinos, 137-138 + Mommsen, 171 + Monck, Lord, 118, 120 and _note_[160] + Monroe, President, 198 and _note_[245] + Montagu, 127, 132 + Montalembert, xix, 57 + Montégut, 165 + Montesquieu, 6, 93 + Montlosier, Comte de, 120 and _note_[159] + More, 93 + Morier, at Seacot, 190; criticisms by, on British foreign policy, 192; + estimate of, 23, 24, 195, 201, 205, 212 + Morley, Lord, 98 + ---- Arnold, 212 + ---- Rt. Hn. John, represented by Acton in House of Lords, lxv; + Aldenham library presented to Cambridge University by, lxxiv; + "Life of Burke" by, 5; estimate of, 19; _Pall Mall_ under, 19, 113; + "Life of Cobden" by, 111 and _note_, 112-113; Jacobinism of, 125; + in Parliament, 163; quoted, l; cited, lxii, 208 _note_; otherwise + mentioned, ix, 8, 24, 41, 43, 65, 70, 72, 119, 164 + Morris, 206 + Mortola (the poet), anecdote of, 90 + Most, 103 and _note_[133] + Mozley, James, 170 + ----, John, 158 and _note_[184], 203 + Müller, Max, 70, 177 + Münster, 13 + Myers, Ernest, 162 + + + Napoleon I., Mme. de Rémusat on 31-32, 36; Lee compared with, + 82 _note_[106]; otherwise mentioned, lxx, 48, 66, 93, 111 + Napoleon III., xxxvii-xxxviii + National pride, 172 + Nationality, _Home and Foreign Review_ article on, xxix-xxx + Neander, 146 + Nelson, lxxi-lxxii + Newman, Cardinal, retires from editorship of _Rambler_, xxvii; on + Vatican Decrees, lii, 134; made a cardinal, lxxvi; verbal subtlety + of, 46; Life of, by Jennings, 117; influence of, 182; narrowness + of set of, 206; estimate of, lx, 26, 180; otherwise mentioned, + 44, 70, 87, 146, 171 + Newmarch, 76 + Newton, 6 + Nonconformists, Gladstone's alliance with, 16 + _North British Review_, xl + Northbrook, Lord, 108, 190 and _note_ + Northcote, Sir S., 16, 99 + + + O'Connell, 47 + O'Donnell, 21 and _note_ + O'Hagan, John, 111 + Opponents' case, statement of, 193-194 + Ottley, Rev. E. B., cited, 121 + Owen, Prof., 166, 203 + Oxford, Acton's visit to, 177 and _note_, 178, 196 + Oxford University-- + Acton made D.C.L. at (1889), and Honorary Fellow of All Souls' + (1890), lxv + Verbal refinements a product of, 46 + + + Paget, Sir Augustus, 80 + ---- Dean, 213 and _note_[264] + ---- Sir J., estimate of, 26, 77; otherwise mentioned, 70 and + _note_[87], 79 _note_, 166 + Palgrave, 59, 84 + _Pall Mall Gazette_-- + Estimate of, 19, 24, 89, 113 + Jacobinism of, 125 + Maine a contributor to, 26 + Morley's editorship of, 19, 24, 113 + Palmer, William, 182 + Palmerston, Visct., on Treaty of Paris, xxi; Acton's disagreement + with, xxii; on French invasion, xxiv; party's relations with, + 114 _note_; otherwise mentioned, 46, 47 + Panizzi, life of, 53 and _note_ + Papacy, _see under_ Churches--Roman Catholic + Parker, C. S., 54 and _note_[61] + Parliament-- + Commons, House of-- + Consent of representatives in, a condition of free government, 68 + Irish party in-- + Degrees among, 74-75 + Liberal party dependent on, 214 + Obstruction by, 21, 67; two kinds of, 69 + Tory alliance with, 209 _note_[257] + Obstruction in, 21; two kinds of, 69 + Outside influence on, 101 + Procedure Rules, Gladstone's speech on, 64 and _note_[71], 125 + Weakness of, when near its end, 19 + Debates in, few famous, 75 + Lords, House of-- + Character of, as an institution, 31, 102 + Compensation for Disturbance Bill thrown out by, 28 and _notes_, 31 + Home Rule Bill in, prospects for, 218 + Injury done by, 103 + Interests of, 102 + Irish Land Act, Committee of inquiry on, appointed by, 125 _note_ + Modification of, 102 + Popular view of, 95 + Radical attitude towards, 201 + Taxation not in jurisdiction of, xxiii + Use of, 101-102 + Parnell, C. S., 105, 154, 217 + Parties, evening, in Downing Street, 19 and _note_ + Party-- + Burke's policy regarding, 14, 49 and _note_[54] + Government by, law of, 95 + Ideas the justifying cause of, 200 + Religious view of, 199 + Pascal, 6, 93, 146, 207 + Pasquier, 2 + Pasteur, 152 + Patriotism, xxix + Pattison, Rev. Mark, Life of Milton by, 5 and _note_; estimate of, + 206-207; otherwise mentioned, 70, 120 + ---- Mrs. Mark, 43 + Paul V., Pope, 146 + Peel, Disraeli's attack on, 114 _note_; personal influence neglected + by, 25; justification of, 200; estimates of, 45, 47, 56 + Peelites in 1859, xxii + Penjdeh, 208 and _note_ + Persons _versus_ things, 6-7, 14, 85, 109, 200, 206, 210 + Petavius, 207 + Pitt, 45, 46, 56, 93 + Pius V., Pope, liii, 135 + Pius IX., Pope, Encyclical Letter against modern thought, xxxiv; + death of, lxxvi; otherwise mentioned, xxxii, xl + Plunket, 47 + Political economy, changes in, 89-90 + Politics-- + Complexity of, 91 + Differences in, dependent on disagreement in moral principles, 210 + Ecclesiastical principles in, 51-52 + Ends of, 216 + Moral basis of, 96, 107, 210 + Parentage of, 60 + Patriotism in, xxix + Religion and, borderland of, 104 + Religious view of, 199 + Potter, T. B., 54, 111, 113, 162 + Power, acquisition and maintenance of, 14-15 + Prćtorius, 134 + Price, Bonamy, 24, 90, 197 and _note_[241] + Primogeniture, 102, 119 + Principles, self-identification with, 85 + Probabilism, 143 + Progress, conditions of, 200 + "Progress and Poverty," 170 _note_[202], 175 + Property-- + Limitation to rights of, 94 + Representation based on, 180 + Puritans, 147 + Pusey, Dr., 171, 203 + + + Quakers, use of term, 136, 147 + _Quarterly Review_, 50 + Quietists, 139 + + + Radicalism, 94 + Radicals, attitude of, towards House of Lords, 201 + Radowitz, 49 + _Rambler_, xxvii-xxviii + Rammingen marriage, 22 + Ranke, xix + Rauscher, xlix + Raynaud, 146 + Reay, Lady, 85 + ---- Lord, 4, 22, 23, 27, 118, 120, 162 + Reeve, Henry, 65 and _note_[73] + Reform, nature of, 92 + ---- Bill (1884), 178, 181 + Religion-- + Antagonism founded in, an obstacle to sincerity, 168 + Church, identification of, with, xxxii + Fanaticism in, 144 + History the true demonstration of, lxvii, 167 + Key to actions provided by, 167; unreliability of key, lii-liii + Liberalism the beginning of real, lv + Politics and, borderland of, 104 + Scientific discoveries, attitude towards, xxxii + Substitutes for, 167, 168 + Rémusat, Mme. de, 30, 31-32, 36 + Renan, Ernest, 6, 152 + Renouf, 182 + Renouf, Miss, 173 + Representation, property the basis of, 180 + Representative systems, 101-102 + Retz, 140 + Reviews, value of, 83 + Richelieu, 134, 143, 148 + Richter, 70, 82 + Ridding, Dr., 183 + Ripon, Marquis of, 205 + Robespierre, 8, 22 + Rogers, Thorold, 8 and _note_[13] + Rome-- + "John Inglesant" in reference to, 147 + Visit to (1881), 79-80; (1882), 122-123 + Roon, 49 + Roscher, cited, 90 + Rosebery, Earl of, appoints Acton to Cambridge, lxvi; otherwise + mentioned, 25, 217 + Rosicrucians, 139 + Rosmini, 170-171 and _note_, 176, 180, 184-185, 187 + Rossi, Count, 87 and _note_[117] + Rothe, xix, 146, 206 + Rousse, 88 + Rousseau, xii, 56, 78 + Ruskin, John, writings of, on fly-leaves, 58; at Hawarden, 172; on + Bonamy Price, 197 and _note_[241]; estimate of, 42, 62; otherwise + mentioned, 59, 85 + Russell, Lord Arthur, 31 and _note_, 65, 72, 74, 162 + ---- C. (Lord Russell of Killowen), 153 + ---- George, 212 and _note_[262] + ---- Lord John, xxiv, 47 + ---- Lord Odo (Lord Ampthill), xlvii, 195 and _note_ + Russia-- + Granville's reception in, xx-xxi + Policy of, 179, 208 + + + St. Hilaire, B., estimate of, 2, 37-39; argument of, regarding + Jesuits, 39; Aristotelian work of, 39; view of, on Greeks, 74; + otherwise mentioned, 41, 104 + St. Just, 77, 142 + St. Simon, memoirs of, 32 + Salisbury, Marquis of, Irish party compared with, 75; assurances + required by, from Gladstone, 210, _note_; in Tunis affair, 90; on + Irish Arrears Bill, 158 and _note_[185]; otherwise mentioned, 108, + 190, 205, 214, 217 + Salmeron, 137 + Sancta Clara, Father, 138, 147 + Sand, George, 78 and _note_[99]; 79, 83 + Sandford, Bp., 160 and _note_[191] + Savonarola, 123 + Scaliger, 207 + "Scenes from Clerical Life," 163 + Schelling, 146 + Scherer, estimate of, 1-2, 6; patriotism of, 34; on Carlyle, 74; on + George Eliot, 207; otherwise mentioned, 11, 205 + Schiller, 79 + Schlegel, 82 + Schleiermacher, 82 + Schlözer, 123 + "School of Shakespeare," 42 + Schwartzenberg, xlix + Sclater, 129 + Scott, Sir Walter, lxi, 93 + Scottish mental characteristic, 206 + Seeley, Sir John, death of, lxvi; Acton contrasted with, lxvii; + "Expansion of England," by, 6 and _note_[10]-8; otherwise mentioned, + 115, 175 + Selborne, Lord, 108, 211 + Selden, 207 + Serjeant, 140 + "Sermons in a College Chapel," 78 and _note_[98], 79, 83 + Shakespeare-- + Defects of, 57, 60 + Montalembert on, 57 + Sonnets of, 41-42 + Shaw, 103, 153 + ---- Dr., cited, ix, lviii + Shelburne, Lord, 81 + Shelley, 79 + Sherbrookr, Viscount (Robert Lowe), attitude of, towards H. Gladstone, + 10-11 and _note_; hurt regarding offer of peerage, 12-13; + Maine's views on, 26; indebtedness of, to Burke, 57; on political + economy, 90; otherwise mentioned, 8, 17, 50, 70, 76 + Shorthouse, Mr., correspondence with, 151 and _note_[176], 159 and + _note_[189] + Shrewsbury, Lord, 132 + Sidebotham, Rev. H., 204 + Sidgwick, Prof., 177 _note_, 191 + Sieyčs, 48 + Simon, Jules, 2, 39, 161 + Simon, Richard, 133 + Sincerity, 168 + Skelton, Sir John, 104 _note_[137] + Slavery, xx, xxxvi + Smith, Adam, 6, 91-92 + ---- Goldwin, 70, 112 + ---- P. J., 101 + ---- Robertson, 197 + ---- Sir William, lviii, 50 + Socialism, lxi, 170, 175, 212 + Society, State as distinct from, 7, 76, 94, 101 + Soudan, 176, 179, 215 + Southey, 82, 93 + Spain-- + Inquisition in, 146 + Jesuits in, lix + Mexican expedition of, xxxvii + Spinola, 134, 150 + Spinoza, xlix, 96 + Spencer, Earl, estimate of, 153; rumoured resignation of, 155 and + _note_; otherwise mentioned, 16, 205, 218 + ---- Lady, 61 + ---- Herbert, Laveleye on, 71; opinion of, on "Scenes from Clerical Life," + 163; otherwise mentioned, 27 and _note_[33], 119 + Staeël, Mme. de, 5 + Stahl, lxxvi, 97 + _Standard_, 55, 65, 66 + Stanley, Dean, 70, 85 + ---- of Alderley, Lord, 64 and _note_[72] + State, society as distinct from, 7, 76, 94, 101 + Stephen, Fitzjames, 26, 70; on Criminal Law, 166 + Stillingfleet, 133 + Strachey, Sir Edward, 55-56 + ---- Sir John, 20 and _note_ + Strossmayer, Bishop, xliv, xlix + Stuart, James, 192, 209 and _note_[258], 212 and _note_[263] + Stubbs, Bishop, estimate of, 149, 177, 191, 192, 196; approached by + Mrs. J. R. Green, 198; otherwise mentioned, 180, 183 + Sumner, Charles, 5 + Suspicion-- + Commynes on, 35 + Desirability of, 12, 15, 122 + Moderation to be observed in, 58, 59 + Sutherland, Duchess of, 180 and _note_[218] + Swinburne, 21, 42, 79 + Swiss nationality, xxx + Sybel, von, xix + Symonds, J. A., 70 + + + Tachard, M., 27 _note_[34] + Taine, estimate of, 2; Soberer compared with, 6; Tennyson's attitude + towards, 20; on Macaulay, 52-53; on the Revolution, 207 + Tait, Bishop, 204 + Talbot, Dr., 177 _note_, 179 and _note_[215] + "Talleyrand's Memoirs," 36 + Tegernsee, lix, 33, 80, 84 + Temple, Bishop, 203-204 + ---- Cowper (Lord Mount Temple), 3 + Temporal power of Rome. _See_ under Churches--Roman Catholic--Papacy + _Temps_, 34, 82 + Tennyson, Alfred, estimate of, 20; attitude towards Gladstone, 209 + and _note_[256]; otherwise mentioned, 40, 55, 70, 79 _note_ + ---- Hallam, 19, 21 + Thiers, xxiv, 39, 47, 49 + Things _versus_ Persons, 6-7, 14, 85, 109, 200, 206, 210 + Thirlwall, Bishop, 117-118 + Thorndike, 131 + Thucydides, 32 + _Times_-- + Carlyle, views on, 71, 82 + Change in, 215 + Chenery's dealings with, 13, 26, 35 + Tocqueville, Alexis de, xix, 172 + Toland, 52, 139 _note_[172] + Toryism-- + Attitude of, 199 + Female adherents of, 181 + Frere's exemplification of, 77 + Gout, compared with, 35 + Liberal ideas permeating, 200 + Maine on, 119 + Transvaal, 77 + Trench, Archbishop, 27 and _note_[32] + Trevelyan, G. O., "Life of Fox" by, 52-53; estimate of, 59; + otherwise mentioned, 17, 65 + Trollope, 65 + Turgot, 49 + Turkey, tyranny of, 91 and _note_[127] + Tyndall, Prof., 50, 166 + Tyranny-- + Success as essence of, 143-144 + Turkish, 91 and _note_[127] + + + Ultramontanism. _See_ under Churches--Roman Catholic + United States-- + Abolitionists in, xx + Civil war in, Acton's lecture on, xxxv-xxxvii + Constitution of, French critic on, lviii + Democracy in, 93; Tocqueville's book on, xix + Dependencies in relation to, xxxix + Liberty, doctrine of, realised by, lvii + Monroe doctrine, 198 and _note_[245] + Ussher, 207 + + + Valdes, Juan, 136, 147 + Van Helmont, 139 + Vaticanism. _See_ under Churches--Roman Catholic + Victoria, Queen, Acton agreeable to, lxv; shot at, by a lunatic, 126 + and _note_[2]; Mentone residence of, 126, 128 + Vielcastel, 2 + Vinet, 146, 207 + + + Waddington, M., v, 171-172 + ---- Mme., v + Wagner (pol. economist), cited, 90, 97 + Waldegrave, Lady, 40 + Wales, Prince of, 109 + Wallace, Robert, 71 _note_[88] + Walshe, 140 + Warburton, 52 + Ward, Wilfrid, Wiseman's "Life" by, xvi; otherwise mentioned, 182, 206 + Waterland, 180 + Wealth, labour the source of, 92 + Webster, 47, 49 + Wellington, Duke of, 46, 93, 200 + Westcott, Dr., Bishop of Durham, 70, 203 + Wetherell, 218 + ---- (editor of _Chronicle_), xl + Whigs-- + Acton's sympathy with, 56, 107 + Constructive power lacking in, 111 + Democrats, dependence on, 108 + Seeley on, 7 + White, 140 + Wickham, Dr., 129, 135, 166 + Wilberforce, R. J., 180, 182 + ---- Bishop, 95, 106, 203 + Wilkinson, Bishop, 183, 203 + William III, 67, _note_[79] + Williams, Roger, 146 + Wilson, 52 + Wimpfen, 172 + Winchester, Bishop of (Winton), 70 + Windham, 46 + Wiseman, Dr., xvi, xxx-xxxii + Wolseley, Lord, 59, 77 + Wolverton, Lord, Irish views of, 65; estimate of, 67; otherwise + mentioned, 27, 89, 161, 188 + Women's Suffrage, 180-181 + _World_, 74 + + + Zulfikar, 208 + Zulus, 17; Cetewayo, 174 + + + + +THE END + + + + +Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. + +Edinburgh & London + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters of Lord Acton, by Lord Acton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS OF LORD ACTON *** + +***** This file should be named 38214-8.txt or 38214-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/2/1/38214/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Letters of Lord Acton + To Mary, Daughter of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone + +Author: Lord Acton + +Editor: Herbert Paul + +Release Date: December 4, 2011 [EBook #38214] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS OF LORD ACTON *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Portrait of Lord Acton" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +Portrait of Lord Acton +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +LETTERS OF +</P> + +<P CLASS="t1"> +LORD ACTON +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +TO MARY, DAUGHTER OF +<BR> +THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR, BY +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +HERBERT PAUL +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +LONDON +<BR> +GEORGE ALLEN, 156, CHARING CROSS ROAD +<BR> +1904 +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +[All rights reserved] +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +COPYRIGHT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY +<BR> +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 1904 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. +<BR> +At the Ballantyne Press +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Piii"></A>iii}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "<I>Through such souls alone<BR> +God stooping shows sufficient of His Light<BR> +For us i' the dark to rise by.</I>"<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="dedication"> +THIS VOLUME +<BR> +IS DEDICATED TO +<BR> +LADY ACTON +<BR> +BY M. D. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pv"></A>v}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +CONTENTS +</P> + +<PRE STYLE="font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 10%"> + PAGE + +DEDICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#Piii">iii</A> + +PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#Pvii">vii</A> + +EDITOR'S PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#Pix">ix</A> + +INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#Pxi">xi</A> + +LETTERS OF LORD ACTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P1">1</A> + +INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P221">221</A> +</PRE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +PORTRAIT OF LORD ACTON (Photogravure) . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +<A HREF="#img-001"> +GROUP AT TEGERNSEE, 1879 (Photogravure) . . . . <I>to face page</I> 1 +</A> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00b"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pvii"></A>vii}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="t3B"> +PREFACE +</P> + +<P> +It does not seem likely that any one, after reading these letters, +would question the desirability of their publication. In general they +speak for themselves; a few notes have been added to explain allusions +which by lapse of time have become obscure; some names and passages, +and some letters, have been omitted. After 1885 Lord Acton touched +upon questions which are still matters of controversy, and therefore +the selection closes with that year. The letters were written to the +daughter who lived with Mr. Gladstone from the time of her own birth, +in the middle of the last century, to the day of his death, at its +close. The idea of publishing a selection of them arose in 1898; and +Lord Acton, with certain reservations, assented to it. But it was felt +by competent judges that it would be trespassing in Mr. Morley's +domain; and Mr. Morley himself was strongly of opinion that the +mutilation which at that period would have been necessary, would +seriously impair the interest and the significance of the book. So, +for the time, the project was abandoned. On the other hand, in the +judgment of the eminent authorities to whom the letters were submitted, +their value was of such a nature that it was evident they ought to be +published as soon as Mr. Morley should have completed his task. +</P> + +<P> +With the exception of passages critical of himself or his policy, the +letters were not read by Mr. Gladstone; for, while he made it a rule to +shun all that was laudatory of himself, he always welcomed and +carefully studied anything deliberately thought out or written in an +opposite sense. His own correspondence with Lord Acton extended over a +period of some +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pviii"></A>viii}</SPAN> +thirty years; but it does not cover nearly so +wide a range of subjects, or appeal so much to general interests, as +the series now printed. +</P> + +<P> +To the recipient of these letters from Lord Acton they will always be +precious, not merely for the judgments they contain and the memories +they recall, but also as the outward symbol of an inward and priceless +possession—the treasure of his friendship. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MARY DREW. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +10th <I>January</I> 1904. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00c"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pix"></A>ix}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +EDITOR'S PREFACE +</P> + +<P> +In compiling the Introductory Memoir which follows I have been chiefly +indebted to Dr. Shaw's excellent "Bibliography of Lord Acton," edited +for the Royal Historical Society, and to a most interesting article in +the <I>Edinburgh Review</I> for April 1903. I have also consulted Mr. +Bryce's "Studies in Contemporary Biography," Sir Mountstuart Grant +Duff's "Out of the Past," and an obituary notice in the <I>Cambridge +Review</I> for October 1902, signed "F.W.M." Mr. Morley was good enough +to lend me the copies of Lord Acton's letters to Mr. Gladstone which +had been made for the purposes of his Biography. Neither the materials +at my command nor the circumstances of the case justified me in +attempting to write a Life of Lord Acton. I have merely sought to +furnish such information as the readers of these letters would +naturally desire to possess. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +HERBERT PAUL. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00d"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxi"></A>xi}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR +</P> + +<P> +Lord Acton was dimly known to the general public as a prodigy of +learning. He left no great work behind him, and is often quoted as an +example of natural gifts buried under an accumulation of excessive, or +ill-digested knowledge. The image of a Dryasdust, of a bookworm, of a +walking Dictionary was excited by his name among those to whom he was a +name, and nothing more. To those who had the privilege of his +acquaintance he appeared almost the precise opposite of a picture too +unlike the truth to be even a caricature. For Lord Acton was a +thorough man of the world. An insatiable, systematic, and effective +reader, he was anything but a recluse. No man had a keener zest for +the society of his intellectual equals. No one took a stronger +interest in the events of the day, and the gossip of the hour. His +learning, though vast and genuine, was never obtruded. Always ready to +impart information, he shrank from the semblance of volunteering it. +Indeed, if no direct appeal were made to him, he would let people +without a tithe of his knowledge lay down the law as if they knew +everything, and would betray no other sign of amusement than an +enigmatical smile. He had something of Addison's tendency, exhibited +in a much more remarkable and much less agreeable form by Mr. Froude, +to draw out rather than to repress the sallies of conceited ignorance. +But for any one who wished to learn his resources were in their fullest +extent available. To be in his company was like being in the best of +historical libraries with the best of historical catalogues. A +question produced +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxii"></A>xii}</SPAN> +not only a direct and complete answer, but also +useful advice, about the books which the inquirer ought to consult. On +matters of opinion he was much more reticent. Sometimes, without a +moment's warning, he would utter a paradox which from any one else +might have seemed the mere recklessness of sciolism, but which, coming +from him, was treasured in the memory. I remember, for instance, his +telling me that Rousseau had produced more effect with his pen than +Aristotle, or Cicero, or Saint Augustine, or Saint Thomas Aquinas, or +any other man who ever lived. But such sweeping assertions were few. +His general attitude was one of rigid adhesion to certain facts, and +careful avoidance of hasty judgments. It was not that Lord Acton had +no strong opinions. Few people had stronger opinions than he, and +their foundation was so solid that it was almost impossible to displace +them. But he liked to hear all sides of every question, and to make +allowance for all errors which did not involve a violation of the moral +law. Any apology, or even excuse, for departure from the highway of +the Decalogue he regarded as in itself a crime. +</P> + +<P> +The force and originality of Lord Acton's conversation are reflected, +and may be inferred, from his epistolary style. In absolutely +uncongenial company he would maintain the silence of the tomb. But +when there was any community of taste or subject, he shone equally as a +talker and as a listener. It was not that he tried to shine. He did +not aim at epigram, and his humour was as spontaneous as it was +delightful. He loved to stimulate conversation in others, and no man +had more sympathy with a good thing which he had not said himself. His +manner was such that his compliments sometimes suggested a faint +suspicion of insincerity. The suspicion, however, was unjust, and was +merely the result of a subtle, half ironic manner. He was entirely +free from jealousy, vanity, and egoism. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxiii"></A>xiii}</SPAN> +A merciless +intellectual critic he could hardly help being. He had so trained and +furnished his mind that it rejected instinctively a sophism or a false +pretence. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Antonio Stradivari has an eye<BR> +That winces at false work and loves the true.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +His intimate friends agreed that he was the raciest and most +stimulating of companions, with an instinctive perception for the true +significance of a hint, so that they never had to tell him a thing +twice, or to explain it once. That letters take their tone from the +recipient as well as from the writer is a commonplace, almost a +platitude. While therefore only Lord Acton's half of this +correspondence is printed, the nature of the other half may be surmised +from what he says himself. Such letters as the criticism of "John +Inglesant," or the view of Mr. Gladstone as he will appear to +posterity, or the estimate of Ultramontane ethics, stand out as solid +documents with a permanent and independent value of their own. The +more numerous specimens of his more familiar writing will readily +suggest why he found this correspondence so congenial, and what was the +reason in each case for his choice of topics. The pliability and +adaptability of his mind, his easy transitions from grave to gay, his +sympathy with all a friend's interests and feelings, are visible in +every page. +</P> + +<P> +Lord Acton's personality was a negative of all shams. His spacious +forehead, his deep sonorous voice, his piercing eyes, and his air of +vigilant repose, were the outward signs of genuine power, in which the +latent force behind is greater than anything the surface displays. He +might well have sat to Titian for one of those ecclesiastical statesmen +whose mingled strength and subtlety have attracted the admiring gaze of +three hundred and fifty years. He was a good talker because he was a +good listener, always interested in the subject, not seeking to exhaust +it, rather putting in from time +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxiv"></A>xiv}</SPAN> +to time the exactly appropriate +word. To draw Lord Acton out, to make him declare himself upon some +doubtful or delicate point, was a hopeless task. His face at once +assumed the expression of the Sphinx. To students, on the other hand, +his generosity was unbounded, and the accumulations of a lifetime were +at the disposal of any one who was willing to profit by them. It will +be seen from these letters that Lord Acton was not merely a learned +man. His perceptions were quick and shrewd. His judgment was clear +and sound. He watched every move in the political game with a vigilant +keenness quickened by the depth of his interest in the great leader +whom he followed to the end. Circumstances had made him from his +boyhood familiar with the best political society not merely of England +but of Europe. He was as much at home in Italy and in Germany as in +his native land, so that he could compare Mr. Gladstone with foreign +statesmen of his own time as well as with British statesmen of the +past. Although it has been roughly estimated by his friend Mr. Bryce +that Lord Acton read on an average an octavo volume a day, as often as +not in German, he was never a bookworm. When he was in London he +constantly dined out, and he corresponded freely with continental +friends. Few people were more agreeable in a country house. No one +assumed more naturally the aspect of disengaged leisure, and it was +possible to live in the same house with him for weeks without ever +seeing him read. Even the frivolities of the world were not beneath +his notice. He liked to know about marriages before they occurred. He +was an excellent judge of cookery and of wine. Yet the passion of his +life was reading. It was, as has been well said, like a physical +appetite, and it seemed, if it changed at all, to grow stronger as he +grew older. His reading was chiefly historical. He was no great +classical scholar. The voluminous notes to his inaugural lecture at +Cambridge +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxv"></A>xv}</SPAN> +do not contain a single quotation from any classical +author of Greece or Rome. He cared little for poetry, for art, or for +pure literature, the literature of style. Of physical science he knew +only what most educated men know. But he was well versed in +metaphysics, he was a deep theologian, and his knowledge of modern +history was only bounded by the limits of the theme. +</P> + +<P> +John Emerick Edward Dalberg Acton was born at Naples on the 10th of +January 1834, the only son of Sir Richard Acton, seventh baronet, and +the heiress of the German house whose name, Dalberg, he bore. An +Italian birthplace, a German mother, and an English father stamped him +from the beginning as a citizen of the world. His grandfather, Sir +John Francis Acton, had been Prime Minister of Naples under Ferdinand +the Fourth, and had reorganised the Neapolitan navy. His maternal +grandfather entered the service of France, and represented Louis the +Eighteenth at the Congress of Vienna. No wonder that Lord Acton spoke +German and Italian as well as French, or that the chief foreign +languages were as familiar to him as his own. In fact, as well as in +blood, he was only half an Englishman. His entire freedom from insular +prejudice, which was peculiarly noticeable in his opinions on Irish +affairs, must be attributed not less to his religion than to his +origin. He adhered throughout his life, notwithstanding many +difficulties which would have shaken a less profound faith, to the +Church of Rome. Nor was he one of those Catholics who remain Catholics +because they do not care enough about the matter to change. Liberal as +he was, tolerant as he was, broad as he was, the central truths of the +Christian religion and of the Catholic Church were not merely articles +of his creed, but guiding principles of his conduct. If these letters +show anything, they show that in Lord Acton's mind, and in his estimate +of human affairs, religion overmastered all mundane considerations. It +was with +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxvi"></A>xvi}</SPAN> +him first, and last, and everywhere. Upon that noble +text, "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," his life and +writings are a sermon. Hating Ultramontanism and Vaticanism as only a +passionate believer in the Church which they disfigured could hate +them, cherishing the right of private judgment within the widest limits +which Rome had ever allowed, he died, as he was baptized, in the faith +of his ancestors. Perhaps his allegiance was none the less staunch +because it was ethical and rational; because he clung always and before +all things, in the clash of creeds, to "those things which are certain +still, the grand, simple landmarks of morality." "If," said the +greatest preacher in the Church of England sixty years ago, "if there +be no God and no future state, yet even then it is better to be +generous than selfish, better to be chaste than licentious, better to +be true than false, better to be brave than to be a coward." Lord +Acton would have been unable to conceive the protasis. The apodosis he +would not have denied. +</P> + +<P> +Sir Richard Acton died while his son was a child, and at the age of +nine Sir John was sent by his mother to the Roman Catholic College at +Oscott, of which Dr. Wiseman was the head. Wiseman, until Mr. Wilfrid +Ward published his excellent biography, was chiefly known to English +Protestants as the instrument of papal aggression, and the subject of +Robert Browning's satirical poem, "Bishop Blougram's Apology." He was +in truth an able and accomplished man, a really great organiser, +thoroughly well qualified to preside over an educational establishment +like Oscott. He was not in any sense of the word a Liberal, and in +later years the pupil did not always agree with the master. But of +Oscott Lord Acton always spoke with affection, and the five years which +he spent there in the pursuit of knowledge were among the happiest in a +happy existence. It was the young man's own desire to enter +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxvii"></A>xvii}</SPAN> +the +University of Cambridge. For he did not, like some Catholics, hold it +sinful to receive education from a Protestant source. The law would +not even then have prevented him from matriculating at Cambridge, as it +would at Oxford, and yet the colleges, more bigoted than the law, +refused, on what they doubtless considered religious grounds, to +receive a student as hungry for learning as ever sought admission +within their venerable precincts. Sir John Acton, so peculiarly fitted +by nature and education to adorn and illustrate a University, may well +have asked with Macaulay, what was the faith of Edward the Third, and +Henry the Sixth, of Margaret of Anjou, and Margaret of Richmond, from +whose foundations the head of a Catholic family was turned away. If +Acton had gone to Cambridge, he would have known more about Herodotus +and Thucydides, Cćsar and Tacitus. Of history in its more modern +sense, and its more specially ecclesiastical aspects, he would probably +have learnt less. Instead of keeping his terms under the walls of the +Fitzwilliam, he went to Munich, and studied with the illustrious +Döllinger. Döllinger was distinguished for learning even among German +professors, and though, unlike his pupil, eminent in classical +scholarship, as well as in theology, was before all things an +historian. He it was who taught Acton to look at everything from the +historical point of view, and to remember that, in the immortal words +of Coleridge, "The man who puts even Christianity before truth will go +on to put the Church before Christianity, and will end by putting +himself before the Church." The time came both to Döllinger and to +Acton, when the voice of the Church said one thing, and the voice of +truth another. They did not hesitate. But the results to the priest +were different from the results to the layman. +</P> + +<P> +At Munich, meanwhile, Sir John Acton laboured prodigiously. Latin and +Greek he never mastered as +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxviii"></A>xviii}</SPAN> +he would have mastered them under +Munro and Kennedy. But he learned them well enough for the purposes of +an historian, with more help than Gibbon had, though not with the same +innate genius. Of French, German, Italian, and Spanish, he became a +master. At any subsequent period he would just as soon have written or +spoken in French or German as in English. About this time he began to +collect the splendid library which he formed in his country house at +Aldenham in Shropshire. It consisted, when complete, of sixty thousand +volumes, many of them covered with his marginal notes. Unlike most +libraries, this one had a definite object, and reason for existence. +Lord Acton was from the schoolroom to the grave an ardent, convinced, +and enthusiastic Liberal. It was his aim to write a History of +Liberty. The book was never written. Not indolence but a +procrastination, which resulted from cherishing an impossibly high +ideal, prevented it from coming to the light. One of his reasons for +not beginning the History of Liberty was that the whole truth about the +French Revolution had not yet been discovered. But the library was +collected to illustrate the History, and thus the books, now at +Cambridge, have a peculiar interest, or rather a peculiar character of +their own. When they were at Aldenham, Lord Acton knew the precise +position which each volume occupied in its case and shelf. It is +related that on one of his visits to his beloved room, while the house +was let, the servants found him reading when they came in the morning +to open the shutters. He had forgotten to go to bed. Mr. Bryce +("Studies in Contemporary Biography," pp. 396-97) has described in a +peculiarly vivid and impressive manner how Acton was dominated and +haunted by the idea that he never fulfilled. Late one night, in his +library at Cannes, while Mr. Bryce was staying with him, it found vent +in speech. "He spoke for six or +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxix"></A>xix}</SPAN> +seven minutes only; but he spoke +like a man inspired; seeming as if, from some mountain summit high in +air, he saw beneath him the far-winding path of human progress from dim +Cimmerian shores of prehistoric shadow into the fuller yet broken and +fitful light of the modern time. The eloquence was splendid, yet +greater than the eloquence was the penetrating vision which discerned +through all events and in all ages the play of those moral forces, now +creating, now destroying, always transmuting, which had moulded and +remodelled institutions, and had given to the human spirit its +ceaselessly changing forms of energy. It was as if the whole landscape +of history had been suddenly lit up by a burst of sunlight. I have +never heard from any other lips any discourse like this, nor from his +did I ever hear the like again." +</P> + +<P> +With Professor Döllinger Sir John Acton visited France, and made many +distinguished friends, including the foremost among French Liberal +Catholics, Montalembert; Alexis de Tocqueville, the famous author of +"Democracy in America," whose memoirs record the blunders of the Second +Republic in France with a concentrated irony not unworthy of Tacitus; +and Fustel de Coulanges, whose <I>Cité Antique</I> was as well known thirty +years ago in Oxford as in Paris. His German friends were innumerable. +Bluntschli, the great jurist, and von Sybel, the historian of the +French Revolution, were among them. Of the illustrious Ranke he +proclaimed himself a disciple, and it is intensely characteristic of +him that his favourite among the moral philosophers of his own day was +a Protestant, Rothe. Rothe's <I>Ethik</I>, he said, was the book which he +would give to any one whom he wished to turn out a good Catholic. But +as Lord Acton would not have crossed the room to make ten proselytes, +the value of this selection may easily be exaggerated. To Protestant +theology he paid as much attention as to Catholic. Those who feared +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxx"></A>xx}</SPAN> +God and followed Christ in every nation belonged to his household +of faith. +</P> + +<P> +Lord Acton deserved as well as Cobden, though for quite other reasons, +to be called an international man. Not a great traveller, as +travelling is understood in these days of universal locomotion, he was +familiar with the chief capitals of Europe, and, so soon as his formal +education was completed, he paid a visit to the United States. He was +then, and always remained, an ardent admirer of the American +Constitution, and of the illustrious men who made it. Its temporary +breakdown in 1861 was scarcely then in sight. Slave States and Free +States were flourishing side by side, and the vital question whether a +State had the right to secede from the Union, which could only be +determined by civil war, still slumbered in abeyance. Acton held +strongly Calhoun's doctrine of Sovereign States, and that is why he +"broke his heart over the surrender of Lee." If the point had been +decided by the letter of the Constitution, so that the Supreme Court +could have given an authoritative decision upon it as upon the right of +recapturing fugitive slaves, many thousands of lives might have been +spared. When Sir John Acton went to Washington, the Abolitionists, +though busy, were a small minority; they carried their lives in their +hands, and the Republicans were no better prepared than the Democrats +to adopt abolition as a principle. The Constitution did not expressly +forbid slavery. Neither, as was often urged, did the New Testament. +But the one said that all men were born equal, without specifying white +men; and St. Paul declared that, within the pale of Christendom, there +was neither Jew nor Greek, neither barbarian nor Scythian, neither bond +nor free. +</P> + +<P> +At the age of twenty-two Sir John Acton found himself in a country +whose institutions differed as widely as possible from those of the +United States. His mother had married Lord Granville, and he +accompanied +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxi"></A>xxi}</SPAN> +his step-father to Moscow when Alexander the Second +was crowned there in 1856. Lord Granville's reception was not a +pleasant one, and even so accomplished a master of tact was driven to +remonstrate against the coldness of his treatment, which was made more +remarkable, though not more agreeable, by the flattering attentions +paid to the French representative, M. de Morny. The Crimean War was +hardly over, the ink on the Treaty of Paris was scarcely dry, and +already Russia was on better terms with France than with England, while +England was on worse terms with France than with Russia. The Emperor +Napoleon had taken no pains to secure the fulfilment of the Treaty, +whereas Lord Palmerston could not have displayed more zeal on behalf of +Turkey if he had been the Sultan's Minister instead of the Queen's. +The singularity of the situation could not fail to strike such a mind +as Sir John Acton's. For the result of a war in which England had +sacrificed twenty thousand men and seventy-six millions sterling to +maintain what were called in a licentious phrase the liberties of +Europe, was that she had not a friend on the European Continent, except +Turkey. The distinguished company with whom Sir John Acton associated +at Moscow were astonished "by the vastness of his knowledge and his +mode of exposition" (<I>Edinburgh Review</I>, No. 404, page 502). Between +Sir John and his step-father there could not be much real sympathy of +taste or disposition. Lord Granville, as Matthew Arnold says, had +studied in the book of the world rather than in the world of books. +Nature seemed to have destined him to lead the Liberal party in the +House of Lords. A thorough and genuine Liberal he always was. He +belonged to the Manchester school, the school of Cobden and Bright. At +the same time his finished manners, his imperturbable temper, and his +ready wit, were just the right equipment for the chief of an +aristocratic minority. He knew little, and cared +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxii"></A>xxii}</SPAN> +less, about +the serious study of historical ethics, and historical politics, which +was the essential business of Acton's life. +</P> + +<P> +When he was twenty-five, Sir John Acton came to live at Aldenham, his +country house in Shropshire, where there was ample room for many +thousands of books. At the General Election held in the summer of 1859 +he was returned to Parliament. Although Catholic Emancipation was +thirty years old, its effects were almost exclusively confined to +Ireland. It was hardly possible for a Roman Catholic to find a seat in +England, and Sir John Acton sat for the small Irish burgh of Carlow, +disfranchised in 1885. He was counted as a Whig, and a supporter of +Lord Palmerston. But there was no sympathy, no point of contact, +between the jaunty Premier and the erudite, philosophical, reflective +Member for Carlow. "No one agrees with me and I agree with no one," +said Sir John, with unusual tautology. It was not quite true. During +those almost silent years of Parliamentary life he watched with +critical and yet admiring interest the career of the illustrious man +who was destined to be Palmerston's successor. Although Mr. Gladstone +had not time to acquire the learning of his disciple, and upon the +negative results of German scholarship was inclined to look askance, he +was the best theologian, as well as the best financier, in Parliament, +and few men were so well qualified to appreciate the range or the depth +of Acton's researches. Acton, on his part, was fascinated by the +combination of intellectual subtlety with practical capacity which made +the Chancellor of the Exchequer the first man in the House of Commons. +It was Palmerston's House, not Gladstone's, and the Derbyites were +almost as numerous as the Palmerstonians. There was then no +Gladstonian party at all. The Peelites were disbanded. Some had +fallen back into the Conservative ranks. Some, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxiii"></A>xxiii}</SPAN> +like Sidney +Herbert, who died in 1861, Cardwell, and Gladstone himself, sat in the +Cabinet of Lord Palmerston. Others had fallen out of public life +altogether. Mr. Gladstone was still to the general public somewhat of +an enigma. So lately as May 1858 he had been earnestly entreated both +by Lord Derby and by Mr. Disraeli to accept the Board of Control on the +resignation of Lord Ellenborough. He had voted for the Conservative +Reform Bill of 1859, and against Lord Hartington's motion which turned +Lord Derby out. When he accepted office in a Liberal Administration, +his Tory constituents at Oxford were so much surprised and annoyed that +they did their best to deprive him of his seat, and almost succeeded. +The Whigs regarded him as a Tory and a Puseyite. The Tories bore a +grudge against him because he had imposed a succession duty on landed +estates. The Radicals considered him a lukewarm reformer, and in short +hardly any one except his personal friends knew what to make of him. +Then came the opportunity, and with it was displayed the full grandeur +of the man. The Parliament of 1859 passed no successful or memorable +legislation which was not connected with finance. Mr. Gladstone's +Budgets were the great events of the Sessions from 1860 to 1865, and +nothing at all like them has been known since. Almost every year taxes +were repealed, expenditure was diminished, revenue was increased. +After an obstinate conflict with the House of Lords the paper duty +disappeared, and with it the power of the Lords to interfere with the +taxation of the people. The duties on tea and sugar were so reduced as +to bring those commodities within the reach of the working classes. +The income-tax fell from ninepence to fourpence. The Commercial Treaty +with France preserved the peace of Europe, and by the trade which it +created between the two sides of the English Channel more than made up +for the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxiv"></A>xxiv}</SPAN> +losses inflicted upon British commerce by the American +War. The speeches in which Mr. Gladstone's Budgets were expounded, +especially those of 1860 and 1861, are superb specimens of the +eloquence which increases, while it dignifies, the force of reason. +His speech on the taxation of charities in 1863, though it failed to +convince the House that charitable endowments should be taxed, was +pronounced by a French critic to combine the grandeur of Berryer with +the subtlety of Thiers. Acton was no financier. Neither his tastes +nor his training qualified him to be a critic of Budgets, and when he +became, as will presently appear, a political editor, he left that +business to Mr. Lowe, claiming, with some apparent justification, that +he thus made him Chancellor of the Exchequer. But he loved historical +processes quite as much as historical results, and the hours which he +spent in the House of Commons while the future leader of the Liberal +party proved himself to be the economic successor of Walpole, Pitt, and +Peel, fixed his political allegiance for the remainder of his life. +</P> + +<P> +All the time that Mr. Gladstone was dazzling the country by the +brilliance of his finance, and convincing practical men by the hard +test of figures at the year's end, he had to fight his colleagues in +the Cabinet as well as his opponents at St. Stephen's. Lord John +Russell nearly ruined the Budget of 1860 by the persistency with which +he pressed his unlucky Reform Bill. Lord Palmerston was continually +demanding money for safeguards against a French invasion in which the +Chancellor of the Exchequer would not believe. Cobden, from the +outside, was urging the one genuine economist in the Cabinet to promote +the cause of economy by resigning. Acton, though dissatisfied with +"bald Cobdenites," as he termed them, was always on Gladstone's, and +never on Palmerston's side. On the other hand there was a question of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxv"></A>xxv}</SPAN> +European importance which united Mr. Gladstone hand and glove +with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary. Italian unity, and +Italian independence, were as dear to Palmerston and Russell as to +Gladstone. Lord John's famous despatch of October 1861, vindicating +the right of the Italians to choose their own rulers, was greeted with +enthusiastic delight throughout the Italian peninsula. The cause for +which Cavour lived, only to die in the moment of its triumph, was +nowhere pleaded with more persuasive power than by Mr. Gladstone in the +Parliament of 1859. Although Lord Palmerston's Government could never +reckon upon a majority of fifteen, the opposition to their Italian +policy came chiefly from a few Irish Catholics. Sir John Acton, though +a Roman Catholic, and an Irish Member, took no part in it. He was +deeply imbued with the spirit of liberty, and he held with all the +strength of his mind that the cause of religion was the cause of +freedom. To maintain Austria in Italy, or even the temporal power of +the Pope, did not belong to Catholicism as he understood it. To +identify soundness of faith with arbitrary rule was, in the eyes of a +Liberal Catholic like Acton, one of those blunders which are worse than +crimes. He was drawn to Mr. Gladstone both by admiration of his +splendid capacity and by agreement with his continental Liberalism. In +the House of Commons he hardly ever spoke. For six years he only put +two questions, and made one speech (May 4, 1860). The questions were +unimportant. The speech was characteristic. It was in effect an +appeal for information about the government of the Papal States. No +Catholic, said Sir John Acton, would defend bad government because it +was exercised in the name of the Pope. In this case the evidence was +contradictory, and all he wanted was the truth. Lord John Russell was +unable to give a satisfactory reply, because +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxvi"></A>xxvi}</SPAN> +the Queen had no +accredited representative at Rome. Macaulay's description of the Papal +States a few years before this time is well known. If, he said, you +met a man who was neither a priest nor a soldier, and who did not beg, +you might be pretty sure that he was a foreigner. Sir John Acton, +though he deprecated hasty judgments, was incapable of defending +oppression or injustice. The fact that it was the work of Catholics, +so far from prejudicing him in its favour, would simply have increased +the severity of his condemnation. It would, in his eyes, have been +falling from a higher standard. +</P> + +<P> +The two political questions to which Sir John Acton attached most +importance were ecclesiastical establishments and agrarian reform. The +land laws were safe from disturbance under a Premier who flippantly +remarked that tenant right was landlord wrong. The Irish Church, to +which, as a Catholic and an Irish Member, Acton could not be +indifferent, suddenly flashed into fatal prominence, when, on the 28th +of March 1865, Mr. Gladstone declared that it did not fulfil its proper +functions, because it ministered only to one-eighth, or one-ninth, of +the community. This speech, coupled with his declaration of the +previous year that every man not mentally or morally disqualified was +on the face of it entitled to come within the pale of the Constitution, +gave Mr. Gladstone for the first time the confidence of the working +classes and of the Radical party. Sir John Acton went with him, then +and afterwards, in all confidence and hope. As a Catholic he would +naturally have been opposed to the maintenance of Protestant ascendency +by law. As a Liberal he was in favour of extending the suffrage, and +of religious equality. But indeed the foundation of his agreement with +Mr. Gladstone lay deeper than any political principle or measure. +Belonging to two different branches of the Christian Church, they both +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxvii"></A>xxvii}</SPAN> +desired the reunion of Christendom, and both held that religion +was the guiding star in public as in private life. Between a High +Churchman like Mr. Gladstone and a Liberal Catholic like Sir John Acton +there was plenty of common ground. Both men became, in every sense of +the word, more Liberal as they grew older, and Acton's belief in his +leader ripened into a reverential devotion which nothing could shake. +</P> + +<P> +At the General Election of 1865, Sir John Acton stood in the Whig or +Liberal interest for Bridgnorth, the nearest town to Aldenham, and then +a Parliamentary borough. "On that occasion he assured the electors +that he represented not the body but the spirit of the Church of Rome" +(<I>Edinburgh Review</I>, No. 404, pp. 375-76). What the electors made of +this assurance we do not know, and it would be vain to conjecture. +They placed him, however, at the head of the poll. But his majority +was a single vote, which disappeared on a scrutiny, and he never again +took his seat on the green benches of the House of Commons. He had +none of the gifts required for winning large popular constituencies, +even if his creed had not been a fatal objection in the mind of the +average voter five-and-thirty years ago. +</P> + +<P> +While Sir John Acton sat in the House and silently voted with his +party, he had not been inactive. The views of the most cultivated and +enlightened among English Catholics were expressed in the fifties by a +monthly periodical called the <I>Rambler</I>. The editor of the <I>Rambler</I> +was the greatest of converts, John Henry Newman. In 1859 an article of +Newman's on consulting the laity in matters of doctrine was condemned +by authority at Rome, and Newman withdrew from the editorial chair. He +was succeeded by Sir John Acton, and no better choice could have been +made. He edited the <I>Rambler</I> till 1862, when it became merged in the +<I>Home and Foreign Review</I>. His first contribution, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxviii"></A>xxviii}</SPAN> +in +November 1859, was a criticism of Mill on Liberty, which he took up +again in the following March. The subject was peculiarly his own, +though he could not, as a Catholic, approach it from Mill's point of +view. He wrote, contrary to his custom, in the first person singular, +and signed the article "A"; which, in his own review, amounted to +acknowledgment. "By liberty," wrote this Liberal Catholic, "I mean +absence of accountability to any <I>temporal</I> authority," and he added, +"I make no reservations." He afterwards learned that liberty was +positive, and that spiritual as well as temporal authority might be +pushed to a point inconsistent with freedom. These youthful +contributions to his favourite theme show rather the wonderful +knowledge which he had acquired at five-and-twenty than the delicate +and subtle discrimination which distinguishes his later work. One +exquisite quotation deserves to be quoted again. <I>Cui Christus vim +intulit?</I> wrote Count Boniface to St. Augustine. <I>Quem coegit!</I> To +whom did Christ apply violence? Whom did he coerce? The final failure +of persecution was in Sir John Acton's opinion the act of Louis the +Fourteenth when he revoked the Edict of Nantes. "Coercion," he added, +"is an educational instrument which Western Europe has outgrown," +though indeed it had not much success in the age of the Cćsars. On the +Inquisition he was discreetly silent. But he concluded with a plea for +the sacredness of moral responsibility, which hardly came within the +scope of Mill's eloquent and powerful treatise. For a Catholic organ, +however, the treatment of Mill is, if not sympathetic, at least +appreciative and respectful. Of this article Mr. Gladstone wrote to +the author, "I have read your valuable and remarkable paper. Its +principles and politics I embrace; its research and wealth of knowledge +I admire; and its whole atmosphere, if I may so speak, is that which I +desire to breathe. It is a truly English paper." +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxix"></A>xxix}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Among Sir John Acton's other contributions to the <I>Rambler</I> one of the +most interesting is his account of Cavour, which appeared in July 1861, +just after the Italian statesman's death. Acton had an abhorrence of +Carlylean hero-worship, and he did less than justice to Cavour's +regeneration of Italy. His criticism of a man who for many years of +his too brief life was engrossed in a desperate struggle for national +independence is cold and dry. He cannot conceal either the scanty +resources which Cavour had at his disposal, or the magnitude of the +results which those resources were made to achieve. But, true to his +favourite subject, he analysed the Minister's conception of liberty, +and found it wanting. It was liberty for the State, not liberty for +the individual, nor for the Church. Yet Cavour's cherished ideal was +"a free Church in a free State," and he would probably have replied +that from the purely individual point of view Piedmont might well +challenge comparison with the Austrian provinces of Italy or the States +of the Church. If Cavour's life had been spared, we may be sure that +he would, as his dying words about Naples imply, have governed in +accordance with the principles of constitutional freedom. A year +later, in July 1862, Acton inaugurated the <I>Home and Foreign Review</I> +with a characteristic article on "Nationality." He traced the rise of +national sentiment in Europe to the infamous partition of Poland, of +which Burke said that no wise or honest man could approve. It was +fostered by the French Revolution, and became afterwards the instrument +by which Napoleon fell. The Holy Alliance suppressed it for a time, +but it soon revived in Italy. By Nationalism, which Englishmen forty +years ago favoured everywhere except in Ireland, Acton meant, as he +explains, "the complete and consistent theory that the State and the +nation must be coextensive." "Exile is the nursery of nationality," he +proceeds, "as oppression is the school of liberalism; +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxx"></A>xxx}</SPAN> +and Mazzini +conceived the idea of Young Italy when he was a refugee at Marseilles." +To the idea of Nationalism, as he defines it, Acton opposed the +principle that "the combination of different nations in one State is as +necessary a condition of civilised life as the combination of men in +society." To overcome national differences was the mission of the +Church, and patriotism was in political life what faith was in +religion. There could be no nationality with any claim upon men's +allegiance except what was formed by the State. "The Swiss are +ethnologically either French, Italian, or German; but no nationality +has the slightest claim upon them, except the purely political +nationality of Switzerland." The instance was well chosen. +Unfortunately Acton goes on to say that "the citizens of Florence and +of Naples have no political community with each other," which had +ceased to be true before the article appeared. Nor was it altogether a +fortunate prediction that no organised State could be formed in Mexico, +which after the departure of the French became a stable Republic. +Paradoxical as the essay in some respects was, it is valuable as an +analysis of political ideas, and its concluding sentence is full of +suggestion even to minds which do not accept the opinions implied. +"Although," so it runs, "the theory of nationality is more absurd and +more criminal than the theory of Socialism, it has an important mission +in the world, and marks the final conflict, and therefore the end, of +two forces which are the worst enemies of civil freedom—the absolute +monarchy and the revolution." +</P> + +<P> +There is nothing in Sir John Acton's essay on "Nationality" which would +be likely to excite suspicion at the Court of Rome. But the <I>Home and +Foreign Review</I> was known to be a Liberal as well as a Catholic organ. +It was marked by independence of tone, as well as by originality of +thought, and it soon fell under suspicion. Even its motto, <I>Seu vetus +est verum diligo sive +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxxi"></A>xxxi}</SPAN> +novum</I>, "I love the truth, whether it be +old or new," was ambiguous. For how can Catholic truth be new? In the +month of August 1862, Cardinal Wiseman, the acknowledged head of the +Roman Catholic Church in England, received an address from his clergy. +His reply contained a severe censure of the <I>Home and Foreign Review</I> +for the "absence of all reserve or reverence in its treatment of +persons or of things deemed sacred, its grazing even the very edges of +the most perilous abysses of error, and its habitual preference of +uncatholic to Catholic instincts, tendencies, and motives." The +particular charge of personal misrepresentation against which the +Cardinal protested has long since lost whatever interest it may once +have had. The general tone of Acton's remonstrance, made in his +editorial character and in the periodical condemned, illustrates his +attitude towards the Church to which he belonged. Of Wiseman he writes +not merely with the reverence due to his ecclesiastical rank, but with +the affection of an old pupil at Oscott. "In the Cardinal's support +and approbation of our work," he says, "we should recognise an aid more +valuable to the cause we are engaged in than the utmost support which +could be afforded to us by any other person." He then proceeds to +describe the foundation of the <I>Review</I>. "That foundation is a humble +faith in the infallible teaching of the Catholic Church, a devotion to +her cause which controls every other interest, and an attachment to her +authority which no other influence can supplant. If in anything +published by us a passage can be found which is contrary to that +doctrine, incompatible with that devotion, or disrespectful to that +authority, we sincerely retract and lament it. No such passage was +ever consciously admitted into the pages either of the late <I>Rambler</I> +or of the <I>Review</I>." The aim of literature and the function of the +journalist are declared to be on a lower level than the work and duty +of the Church, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxxii"></A>xxxii}</SPAN> +though directed to the same ends as hers. "The +political and intellectual orders remain permanently distinct from the +spiritual. They follow their own ends, they obey their own laws, and +in doing so they support the cause of religion by the discovery of +truth and the upholding of right." These manly and sensible words are +followed by a still more eloquent and significant passage, which +expresses the deepest convictions of Acton's mind. "A political law or +a scientific truth may be perilous to the morals or the faith of +individuals; but it cannot on this ground be resisted by the Church.... +A discovery may be made in science which will shake the faith of +thousands; yet religion cannot regret it or object to it. The +difference in this respect between a true and a false religion is, that +one judges all things by the standard of their truth, the other by the +touchstone of its own interests. A false religion fears the progress +of all truth; a true religion seeks and recognises truth wherever it +can be found." +</P> + +<P> +When Acton wrote thus, the Darwinian controversy was at its height, and +many Protestants, who thought that they believed in the right of +private judgment, showed much less tolerance than he. Against the +timid faith which feared the light, against the false morality which +would do evil that good might come, Acton waged incessant war. Truth, +morality, and justice could not in his eyes be inconsistent with the +doctrines of the Church. If they appeared to be so, it must be because +the doctrines were erroneously expressed or imperfectly understood. To +identify the Church with a cause, with a party, with anything lower +than morality and religion, was a betrayal of duty and a surrender of +the fortress. The policy of the <I>Home and Foreign Review</I>, as +expounded by the editor, was to leave the domains of faith and +ecclesiastical government alone, but on all other matters to seek the +highest attainable certainty. The progress of political right +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxxiii"></A>xxxiii}</SPAN> +and scientific knowledge, the development of freedom in the state and +of truth in literature, were its objects. Here for the time the +quarrel rested. It is not to be supposed that Pius the Ninth and his +advisers were satisfied with this lucid and pungent exposition of +Liberal principles. But Wiseman had learned from experience that the +interests of Catholicism in England were not promoted by a policy of +aggression, and he was aware that Sir John Acton spoke for most of +those Catholics who did not belong to the extreme or Ultramontane +school. For nearly two years Sir John remained editor of the <I>Home and +Foreign Review</I>. Then the final thunderbolt was launched by a higher +power than Wiseman. At the Congress of Munich in 1863 Acton's friend +and teacher, Professor Döllinger, delivered an eloquent plea for the +union of Christendom, lamenting the want of dogmatic standards among +Protestants, and at the same time urging Catholics "to replace the +medićval analytical method by the principle of historical development, +and to encounter scientific error with scientific weapons" (<I>Edinburgh +Review</I>, No. 404, page 513). Sir John Acton attended this congress, +and reported its proceedings to his <I>Review</I>. In March 1864 the Pope +addressed a brief to the Archbishop of Munich, in which he declared +that the opinions of Catholic writers were subject to the authority of +the Roman congregations. After this Acton felt that it was useless to +continue the struggle, or to carry on the <I>Home and Foreign Review</I>. +In a farewell article, entitled "Conflicts with Rome," he explained +that he was equally unable to admit the doctrines of the brief or to +dispute the authority which proclaimed them. In these circumstances he +had only one course to take. He could not abandon principles he +sincerely held. He could not reject the judgment of the Holy See +without committing the sin of apostasy. "The principles had not ceased +to be true, nor the authority to be legitimate, because the two were in +contradiction." +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxxiv"></A>xxxiv}</SPAN> +He could only sacrifice the <I>Home and Foreign +Review</I>. He regretted its discontinuance, because, while there were +plenty of magazines to represent science apart from religion, and +religion apart from science, it had been his special object to exhibit +the two in union. But he had no alternative, if he were to preserve +his intellectual honesty and also his loyalty to the Church. +</P> + +<P> +It would have been difficult to emerge with more credit from a +peculiarly painful and delicate position. The article, and with it the +last number of the <I>Review</I>, appeared in April 1864, when Sir John +Acton was thirty years of age. The surpassing prudence which +accompanied him from boyhood through life had no connection with +weakness nor timidity. It resulted from a very rare faculty of +apprehending all aspects of a question at once, and of keeping them +separate in his mind. In this same year 1864 Acton told one of his +parliamentary friends, now Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, that he had +never felt the slightest doubt about any dogma of the Catholic, meaning +the Roman Catholic, Church. A time was to come when his faith would be +more severely tried. But, independent as he had always been, Acton was +not formed by nature to be a leader of revolts. Moral or intellectual +anarchy was the last thing he desired. If he had been brought up a +Protestant, he would probably have remained one. In that case, +however, he would have seen the danger of private interpretation even +more clearly than the perils of dogmatic despotism. He would have +asked, if, as Bishop Butler says, we must judge of revelation itself by +reason, whose reason it was to be. +</P> + +<P> +At the close of the year 1864, the tenth anniversary of the date on +which he had himself proclaimed the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin +as a dogma, the Pope issued his Encyclical Letter against modern +thought. In the Syllabus of Errors which this epistle condemned, Pius +the Ninth, who had once been reckoned a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxxv"></A>xxxv}</SPAN> +Liberal, included the +heresy that the Holy See ought to seek reconciliation with progress, +with Liberalism, and with modern thought. He further pronounced that +the Catholic religion should be the exclusive religion of the State; +and that liberty of worship, and freedom of the Press, promoted moral +corruption and religious indifference. There was, he added, no hope +for the eternal salvation of those who did not belong to the true +Church. Although Sir John Acton had had some share in provoking the +publication of the Syllabus, he made no reply. He had withdrawn from +the controversy without surrendering either his faith as a Catholic or +his principles as a man. +</P> + +<P> +In 1865 Acton's connection with the House of Commons ceased, and in the +same year he married a Bavarian lady, the eldest daughter of Count +Arco-Valley. From this time too he abandoned the practice of regular +editing and reviewing, nor did he write again for avowedly Catholic +organs, though he was throughout the remainder of his life an +occasional contributor to secular organs on historical and theological +subjects. The popular idea that he wrote little, and passed his whole +time in reading or talking, is erroneous. That he did not put out much +in his own name is true. But the list of his anonymous articles fills +more than twenty pages of an octavo volume, and their variety is quite +as remarkable as their number. He read every new German book of the +smallest importance. In the <I>Home and Foreign Review</I> alone there are +more than seventy critical notices from his pen. The pen, however, was +not the only instrument by which he imparted to others some fragments +from his vast stores of knowledge. To his neighbours, one can hardly +call them his constituents, in the little town of Bridgnorth, he +delivered several lectures, now out of print and scarce, which for +range and quality must have been very different from +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxxvi"></A>xxxvi}</SPAN> +anything +his audience had heard before. The first, delivered on the 18th of +January 1866, when he was still supposed to be Member for the borough, +is now only to be found in the <I>Bridgnorth Journal</I> for the 20th. Its +subject is "The Civil War in America: Its Place in History." Nothing +can be more characteristic than the tone and temper of this discourse. +Though dated only a few months after the fall of Richmond, when, as +Acton says in one of these letters, he "broke his heart over the +surrender of Lee," it is as calm and judicial, not to say as dry, as if +he were investigating an antiquarian problem. Its dryness never +becomes dulness. Unless, however, the Literary and Scientific +Institution of Bridgnorth was far above the ordinary level of such +bodies, they must have been puzzled and perplexed by the paradoxical +subtlety which traced the causes of the war back to the birth of the +American Constitution. "Slavery," he said, "was not the cause of +secession, but the reason of its failure." Then what was the cause of +secession? According to Sir John Acton, it was the failure of +Jefferson, Hamilton, and their colleagues to provide against the +omnipotence of the majority, which he regarded as inconsistent with +true freedom. They might have answered, if they could have been heard, +that they had made the method of choosing a President indirect, and had +given the Supreme Court control even over Congress itself. The first +expedient had, no doubt, entirely failed, and the electoral college was +a mere machine for registering the popular vote. But the Supreme Court +was a substantial reality, and it had before the war decided that a +fugitive slave could be reclaimed by his master even in a free State. +Nobody will now dispute Sir John Acton's proposition that by the middle +of the nineteenth century slavery was an anachronism. Yet, if the +Southern States had been more instead of less numerous than the +Northern, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxxvii"></A>xxxvii}</SPAN> +they would have probably won, and they would then +undoubtedly have set up a great Slave Power in the heart of western +civilisation. The immediate, or proximate, cause of hostilities was +not slavery, but the claim of South Carolina to secede from the Union. +Not till the third year of the war did Lincoln proclaim the abolition +of slavery. Yet without slavery there would have been no war. If not +the <I>causa causans</I>, it was the <I>causa sine quâ non</I>. The value of Sir +John Acton's lecture lies chiefly in the ability with which he dissects +the American Constitution, and indicates, sometimes in the words of its +authors, its weak points. Whatever may be thought of his constructive +faculty, his critical acumen was not surpassed by any of his less +learned contemporaries. +</P> + +<P> +In 1867, and the early part of 1868, Sir John Acton wrote regularly for +the <I>Chronicle</I>, a weekly paper of high repute during its brief +existence, contributing a narrative of current events in Italy during +the period of Mentana and the second French occupation of Rome. On the +10th of March 1868 he lectured again at Bridgnorth on the Rise and Fall +of the Mexican Empire.[<A NAME="chap00dfn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap00dfn1">1</A>] This is in my opinion the best popular +lecture that Acton ever gave, and I do not know where I could lay my +hands on a better. It is clear, spirited, eloquent, and so perfectly +well arranged that the whole story of Louis Napoleon's Mexican +Expedition, with its plausible pretext, and its miserable failure, was +told, not meagrely but completely, in the compass of an hour. The +joint intervention of England, France, and Spain in the affairs of +Mexico did not last long. Its object, like the object of the +Anglo-German intervention in Venezuela, was to obtain redress for +injuries to European residents, and payment of debts +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxxviii"></A>xxxviii}</SPAN> +due to +subjects of the three Powers. England and Spain soon discovered that +the French Emperor had quite other designs, being minded to substitute +a Mexican Empire for the Mexican Republic. Sir John Acton explained +why in his opinion, which has not been justified by experience, Mexico +was unable to stand alone. "A society so constituted could not make a +nation. There was no middle class, no impulse to industry, no common +civilisation, no public spirit, no sense of patriotism. The Indians +were not suffered to acquire wealth or knowledge, and every class was +kept in ignorance and in rigorous exclusion; when therefore the +Mexicans made themselves independent, the difficulty was to throw off +not the bondage but the nonage in which they had been held, and to +overcome the mental incapacity, the want of enterprise, the want of +combination among themselves, and of the enlightenment which comes from +intercourse with other nations. They formed a Republic after the model +of their more fortunate neighbours, and accepted those principles which +are so inflexible in their consequences, and so unrelenting in their +consistency." Between the Mexican Republic and the Republic of the +United States there is no doubt all the difference between Alexander +the Coppersmith and Alexander the Great. But Benito Juarez was both a +better and an abler man than Acton gave him credit for being, and his +successor, Porfirio Diaz, proved himself to be a most efficient ruler. +A Civil War in Mexico, simultaneous with Civil War in the United +States, gave Napoleon the opportunity he wanted. The one furnished a +pretext, the other removed a barrier, and it was not till long after +the Austrian Archduke Maximilian had been put upon his pinchbeck throne +that President Johnson was in a position to order the French troops out +of the American Continent. The poor Archduke himself, basely deserted +by the unscrupulous potentate who had sent him to his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxxxix"></A>xxxix}</SPAN> +doom, +showed a chivalrous honour and an unselfish courage that fully justify +Acton's description of him as "almost the noblest of his race." The +lecture describes the pathetic isolation of Maximilian in a passage of +singular power. "There was nothing for him to look forward to in +Europe. No public career was open to the man who had failed so +signally in an enterprise of his own seeking. His position in Austria, +which had been difficult before, would be intolerable now. He had +quarrelled with his family, with his Church, and with the protector to +whose temptations he had hearkened. And for him there was to be no +more the happiness of the domestic hearth.[<A NAME="chap00dfn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap00dfn2">2</A>] In Mexico there were no +hopes to live for, but there was still a cause in which it would be +glorious to die. There were friends whom he could not leave to perish +in expiation of measures which had been his work. He knew what the +vengeance of the victors would be. He knew that those who had been +most faithful to him would be most surely slaughtered; and he deemed +that he, who had never been seen on a field of battle, had no right to +fly without fighting. Probably he felt that when a monarch cannot +preserve his throne, nothing becomes him better than to make his grave +beneath its ruins." Sir John Acton closed his lecture with the +expression of a hope that the United States would not undertake the +government of Mexico. "A confederacy," he observed, "loses its true +character when it rules over dependencies; and a democracy lives a +threatened life that admits millions of a strange and inferior race +which it can neither assimilate nor absorb." The warning was unneeded, +for the days of American Imperialism were not yet. But the words have +a perennial wisdom which the new owners of the Philippines might find +it worth their while to consider. +</P> + +<P> +Sir John Acton stood again for Bridgnorth, this +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxl"></A>xl}</SPAN> +time +unsuccessfully, at the General Election of November, 1868. His +personal friend and political leader, Mr. Gladstone, became Prime +Minister in December of the same year, and his first legislative work +was the disestablishment of the Irish Church. With this policy Sir +John Acton, not as a Catholic, but as a Liberal, was in full and +complete sympathy. He regarded it as "no isolated fact, but an +indication of a change which is beginning to affect all the nations of +Christendom, and bears witness to the consciousness that political +obligation is determined, not by arbitrary maxims of expediency, but by +definite and consistent principles." "The political connection," he +added, that is, the Liberal party, "which, in spite of many errors and +shortcomings, has been identified with the development of our +constitutional liberties, and with the advance of science in our +legislation, has entered on a new phase of its existence. And it +follows a wise and resolute leader, at whose call the nation has +arisen, for the first time in history, to the full height of its +imperial vocation" (<I>Edinburgh Review</I>, No. 404, p. 516). +</P> + +<P> +Although, as has been said, Acton held that the two great political +questions of the time were first the relations of the Church with the +State, and secondly, the reform of the Land Laws, events were impending +which affected him for a time far more deeply than either. Believing, +as he did, that "the full exposition of truth is the great object for +which the existence of mankind is prolonged on earth," he could not +allow the Papal Syllabus to deter him from following truth with all the +knowledge and ability he could command. The <I>Chronicle</I>, for which he +had written so often, came to an end in 1868. But the same editor, Mr. +Wetherell, took over next year the <I>North British Review</I>, to which +Acton contributed a learned essay on the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, +marshalling the facts in favour of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxli"></A>xli}</SPAN> +the theory that the murder of +the Huguenots had been premeditated at Rome. Researches such as these, +and the consequences which they involved, were not congenial to the +Vatican, nor to the personally amiable, dogmatically unbending Pontiff +who was still under the protection of foreign bayonets. But to no one +was Acton's freedom of speculation and inquiry more repugnant than to +the able and ambitious prelate who had succeeded Wiseman as Catholic +Archbishop of Westminster. Dr. Manning was at that time a rigid +supporter of extreme Ultramontane doctrine, and of authority as opposed +to freedom in opinion. With the ardent zeal of a convert, and a +convert, as his recent appointment (1865) showed, much in favour at +Rome, he strove to suppress the religious independence of the English +Catholics. But an historical controversy with Acton was a serious +affair. It resembled nothing so much as going in for a public +examination with a reasonable certainty of being plucked, and that +prospect did not smile upon dignified ecclesiastics impressed with a +due sense of their own importance. Moreover, Manning was already +absorbed in a policy which would put down moral and intellectual +rebellion in the Church of Rome once for all. +</P> + +<P> +So early as the 8th of December 1867 the Pope had signed a Bull, +convening the whole episcopate of his Church to an Œcumenical +Council at Rome in the same month of 1869. Although it was not +officially stated, it was perfectly well known, that the object of the +Council was to proclaim the infallibility of the still Sovereign +Pontiff. A famous book, emanating from Munich, "The Pope and the +Council," by "Janus," which from the Catholic point of view combated +the doctrine of Infallibility, received appreciative notice from Lord +Acton in the <I>North British Review</I>. This magazine, though +short-lived, and never very widely circulated, appealed more +successfully than any of its +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxlii"></A>xlii}</SPAN> +contemporaries to the lettered and +learned class. Some of its articles, such as the essays of Thomas Hill +Green, the Hegelian philosopher of Balliol, occupy a permanent place in +the literature of metaphysics. The article on "The Pope and the +Council" was therefore sure to be read by those who, by voice or pen, +exercise an influence over the minds of others. The reviewer did not +mince his words. He pointed out to the bishops that they had already +committed themselves to a very grave extent. In 1854 they had allowed +the Pope to proclaim a new dogma, the Immaculate Conception. In 1862 +nearly all of them had pronounced in favour of the temporal power. In +1864 they accepted the Syllabus. In 1867 they expressed their +willingness to believe whatever the Pope might teach them. "Janus" had +passed lightly over the Council of Trent, the subject of a work by Fra +Paolo Sarpi which Macaulay considered second only in historical value +to the books of Thucydides. Lord Acton, who had much in common with +Fra Paolo, expressed his own view with unmistakable energy and force. +"The Council of Trent," he said, "impressed on the Church the stamp of +an intolerant age, and perpetuated by its decrees the spirit of an +austere immorality." It should be the object of the forthcoming +Council to reform, to remodel, and to adapt the work which had been +done at Trent. +</P> + +<P> +What actually happened was very different from that which Acton +desired, though not very different from what he expected. Sir John +went to Rome some time before the opening of the Council, full of +interest in the result, and full of sympathy with the distinguished +minority who were prepared to resist the forging of fresh chains upon +their freedom. Among this minority the most conspicuous was +Monseigneur Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, whose tragic death at the +hands of the Commune encircled his name with the halo of a martyr and a +saint. "The Archbishop of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxliii"></A>xliii}</SPAN> +Paris," wrote Acton, "had taken no +hostile step in reference to the Council, but he was feared the most of +all the men expected at Rome. The Pope had refused to make him a +Cardinal, and had written to him a letter of reproof, such as has +seldom been received by a bishop. It was felt that he was hostile, not +episodically to a single measure, but to the peculiar spirit of this +pontificate. He had none of the conventional prejudices and assumed +antipathy which are congenial to the hierarchical mind. He was without +pathos or affectation, and he had good sense, a perfect temper, and an +intolerable wit" (<I>Edinburgh Review</I>, No. 404, page 521). By the end +of December 1869 Darboy had exacted a promise that the dogma of +Infallibility would not be proclaimed by acclamation, so as to take the +majority by surprise. Lord Acton wrote frequent reports of the Council +and its proceedings, chiefly to Mr. Gladstone and Professor Döllinger, +some of which were afterwards collected and published as the "Letters +of Quirinus" in the <I>Allgemeine Zeitung</I>. Lord Acton considered that +the cause of the minority was lost when, on the 24th of April 1870, the +Council adopted the Supplement to the First Decree. This was to the +effect that the judgments of the Holy See must be observed, even when +they proscribe opinions not actually heretical. Lord Acton's comment +upon this vote of the episcopal majority does not lack incisiveness. +"They might," he wrote, "conceivably contrive to bind and limit +dogmatic infallibility with conditions so stringent as to evade many of +the objections taken from the examples of history; but in requiring +submission to Papal decrees on matters not articles of faith, they were +approving that of which they knew the character; they were confirming, +without let or question, a power they saw in daily exercise; they were +investing with new authority the existing bulls, and giving unqualified +sanction to the inquisitor and the index, to the murder +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxliv"></A>xliv}</SPAN> +of +heretics and the deposing of kings. They approved what they were +called on to reform, and blessed with their lips what their hearts knew +to be accursed." +</P> + +<P> +A private letter to Mr. Gladstone, written a month before the first +meeting of the Council, shows how gloomy were Lord Acton's +apprehensions. "Everything," he says, "is prepared here for the +production of Papal infallibility, and the plan of operations is +already laid down in a way which shows an attentive study of Sarpi's +'History of the Council of Trent.' They are sure of a large majority." +A majority, however, would scarcely do. Œcumenical Councils, if not +absolutely unanimous, are supposed to attain that moral unanimity which +the insignificance of a minority implies. The attitude of the French, +and still more of the German and Austro-Hungarian bishops, inspired the +Vatican with some alarm. Darboy and Dupanloup were names known and +esteemed throughout the Catholic world. Bishops Strossmayer and +Hefele, the latter a man of prodigious learning, were still more +strongly opposed to the Papal policy than their French colleagues. +Against the expediency of promulgating the doctrine there was a +resolute and well-organised mass of opinion in the Council. There were +few prepared to call the doctrine itself false, and therefore ready to +resist it in the last extremity. To drive a wedge between the majority +of the minority and the minority of the minority was the obvious +tactics of the Pope and his Ultramontane advisers. "If the Court of +Rome is defeated," Lord Acton wrote, "it can only be by men of +principle and of science." He believed that a letter from Mr. +Gladstone, dealing with the secular side of the question, and with the +effect which the decree would have upon the future of English and Irish +Catholics, might do much to counteract the influence of Manning. It +was impossible for the English Premier to interfere directly with the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxlv"></A>xlv}</SPAN> +affairs of another Church. But he allowed Lord Acton to state +what he thought about the effects of Ultramontanism on the prospects of +educational measures in England. Lord Acton estimated that the bishops +opposed to the expediency of the dogma were about two hundred in +number, while only as many score would vote against its truth. +</P> + +<P> +No sooner did the Council meet than regulations were issued which gave +the Pope the sole right of making decrees and defining dogmas. To this +the Council submitted. "The sole legislative authority," Lord Acton +wrote on the 1st of January 1870, "has been abandoned to the Pope. It +includes the right of issuing dogmatic decrees, and involves the +possession of all the Infallibility which the Church claims." "We have +to meet," he added, "an organised conspiracy to establish a power which +would be the most formidable enemy of liberty as well as science +throughout the world. It can only be met and defeated through the +Episcopate, and the Episcopate is exceedingly helpless." So it proved. +But Lord Acton, besides helping the minority with the resources of his +knowledge and the power of his logic, endeavoured to invoke the secular +arm. He was sanguine enough to hope that, as the Pope had +anathematised modern civilisation and progress, the governments of +Catholic and even of Protestant countries would take some steps in +self-defence. The opposition in the Council, he held, was "almost sure +to prevail if it were supported, and almost sure to be crushed if it +were not." The change of Ministry in France at the beginning of 1870, +and the substitution of M. Ollivier for M. Rouher, alarmed the Vatican, +although the French ambassador, the Marquis de Banneville, declared +that there would be no change of policy. De Banneville was wrong. The +new French Government announced that if the dogma were carried the +French troops would be recalled, although Cardinal Antonelli assured +Count Daru, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxlvi"></A>xlvi}</SPAN> +the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, that the +Council was purely theological, and had nothing to do with secular +affairs. The threat, however, had no effect. The Pope had gone too +far to recede, and the forces of the opposition became daily weaker. +There was no hope, and no future, for those bishops who set themselves +against the majority of their colleagues and the head of their Church. +Except in France, they could not look for the protection of the +Government, and the French Emperor was a bruised reed. "Two days ago," +wrote Lord Acton on the 16th of February, "a definite message was sent +by the Emperor to Cardinal Antonelli, in which the Emperor declared +that he could not afford to have a schism in France, where all the +<I>employé</I> class, all the literary class, and even the Faubourg St. +Germain are against the Infallibility of the Pope. He added that it +would dissolve all the engagements existing between France and Rome." +But Antonelli, a remarkably shrewd specimen of the Italian diplomatist, +calculated that if the bishops yielded, the rest of the practising +Catholics would follow them. In another passage of the same most +interesting letter Lord Acton says that the <I>Schema de Ecclesiâ</I>, +already adopted by the Council, "makes civil legislation on all points +of contract, marriage, education, clerical universities, mortmain, even +on many questions of taxation and common law, subject to the +legislation of the Church, which would simply be the arbitrary will of +the Pope. Most assuredly no man accepting such a code could be a loyal +subject, or fit for the enjoyment of political privileges. In this +sense the French bishops have written to the French Government, and +that is what they ask me to write to you." How deep an impression this +letter made upon Mr. Gladstone's mind became apparent when, a few years +afterwards, he entered into controversy with the Church of Rome. +Strange as it may seem, these Gallican prelates appealed through Lord +Acton to the Government +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxlvii"></A>xlvii}</SPAN> +of the Queen, seeing "no human remedy +for this peril other than the intervention of the Powers." But the +British Government could not have acted, even in concert with France, +unless they had been prepared to face a storm of indignation, +Protestant as well as Catholic, which no British interest required them +to encounter. +</P> + +<P> +After the decree of Infallibility had been produced, the German +prelates made an important protest against bishops without sees, +chiefly Roman Monsignori, being allowed to vote, and also complained, +in words furnished by Lord Acton himself, that the claim to enact +dogmas by a majority endangered the freedom, as well as the +universality, of the Council. But "the minority were in great +confusion and uncertainty, and disposed to rely on external help." +That help they never received. Lord Acton put the danger as strongly +as he could. Catholics, he declared, would "at once become +irredeemable enemies of civil and religious liberty. They would have +to profess a false system of morality, and to repudiate literary and +scientific sincerity. They would be as dangerous to civil society in +the school as in the State." But between Catholics who held that with +such matters it would be profane for any Protestant to meddle, and +Protestants who rejoiced that now at last the Catholics were coming out +in their true colours, the Cabinet, if they had taken Lord Acton's +advice, would have had an uneasy, and barely defensible, position. So +what Acton calls "this insane enterprise" of conferring upon the Pope +an unconditional and unlimited infallibility was suffered to proceed +without any political remonstrance from England. Mr. Odo Russell, +afterwards Lord Ampthill, Lord John's nephew, was instructed to keep +the Foreign Office informed of what happened the Council, but his +information was much less copious than Lord Acton's. He was not +instructed to do anything more, and officially he was a member of the +Legation at Florence. While other governments +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxlviii"></A>xlviii}</SPAN> +did nothing, +the Italian Government, in Lord Acton's opinion, made matters worse. +Their measures of what he called confiscation against the property of +the Church would, he thought, prevent some Italian bishops from voting +in the minority who would otherwise have been disposed to do so. Yet, +if Lord Acton were right in his description of the Papal policy, he +could hardly have been surprised that Liberal governments in Catholic +countries should regard the Church as an enemy. +</P> + +<P> +On the 15th of March 1870, a curious protest was presented to the +Council by some bishops of the United Kingdom. The substance of it is +thus described by Lord Acton: "They state that the English and Irish +Catholics obtained their emancipation, and the full privileges of +citizenship, by solemn and repeated declarations that their religion +did not teach the dogma now proposed; that these declarations made by +the bishops, and permitted by Rome, are, in fact, the conditions under +which Catholics are allowed to sit in Parliament, and to hold offices +of trust and responsibility under the Crown; and that they cannot be +forgotten or overlooked by us without dishonour." Lord Acton +complained bitterly of France because she maintained the temporal power +of the Pope, and excluded Italians from their national capital, by her +troops, while yet she would not attempt to restrain him from abusing +the jurisdiction she enabled him to exercise. "The religious houses +are suppressed, the schools of divinity reduced, the priesthood almost +starved, because France is determined to keep the Pope on his despotic +throne. It is a policy which degrades the Italian Government in the +eyes of the nation, nurses the revolutionary passion, and hinders the +independence of the country, and which can no longer be defended on the +score of religious liberty. The French Protectorate has become as +odious to Catholicism as to the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxlix"></A>xlix}</SPAN> +Italian State, and it is about +to prove as pernicious to other countries as it is to Italy." When a +division was taken on the dogma of Infallibility, 451 bishops voted +with the Pope, 88 against him, and 62 for further inquiry. Then the +minority gave up the struggle, and when, on the 18th of July, three +days after the declaration of war between France and Germany, the +principle was formally defined, only two bishops resisted the +acclamation of 533. A few weeks later the French troops left Rome, and +the temporal power was at an end. +</P> + +<P> +Such was the miserably futile result of the Opposition led by Darboy, +Dupanloup, Rauscher, Schwartzenberg, Kenrick, Conolly, Hefele, and +Strossmayer. They were borne down by the dead weight of numbers, and +the traditional authority of the Holy See. Catholics were offered the +choice of submission or excommunication. The official head of the +English Catholics, Manning, was among the most zealous supporters of +the Papacy. Newman deeply deplored, but humbly submitted. So even did +Strossmayer, the brave and eloquent Croat, who had been shouted down at +the Council in violent and abusive language when he denied that +Protestantism was the source of Atheism, and pleaded for the old +Catholic rule of unanimity. Döllinger, challenged by the Archbishop of +Munich to accept the decree, refused, and was cut off, like Spinoza, to +his eternal honour, from the congregation of the faithful. Lord Acton, +on the other hand, the stay and support of the minority throughout the +Council and before it, was not molested, perhaps because he was a +layman, perhaps because he was a peer. +</P> + +<P> +While he was at Rome, in November 1869, Acton had received from Mr. +Gladstone, and accepted, the offer of a barony. For a young man of +thirty-five this was a great and most unusual distinction. It was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pl"></A>l}</SPAN> +made all the greater by the fact that his name occurred in the first +list of such recommendations submitted by the Prime Minister to the +Queen. At that time the general public hardly knew Sir John Acton's +name. But he had all the usual qualifications for a peerage, except +wealth, being connected with the aristocracy by birth and marriage, the +head of an old English family, and the inheritor of an old English +baronetcy, who had gained six years' political experience in the House +of Commons. "His character," Mr. Gladstone wrote to the Queen, "is of +the first order, and he is one of the most learned and accomplished, +though one of the most modest and unassuming, men of the day" (Morley's +"Life of Gladstone," ii. 430). No praise could be better deserved, or +expressed with more studious moderation. Lord Acton pursued in the +House of Lords the same silent course that he had adopted in the House +of Commons. He remained, unlike many peers of Mr. Gladstone's +creation, faithful to the Liberal party, at that time, and for so many +years afterwards, led by his step-father, Lord Granville. +</P> + +<P> +Lord Acton was made an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy by the University +of Munich in 1872, the last year of the <I>North British Review</I>, after +which he ceased to write regularly for the Press. In 1873 a very +different honour was in contemplation. He had been consulted by Lord +Granville upon the European situation, then regarded as critical, and +showed such remarkable knowledge of it that the idea of sending him as +Ambassador to Berlin was seriously entertained (<I>Edinburgh Review</I>, No. +404, page 528). The appointment would in many ways have been +desirable, and in some unexceptionable. For Lord Acton was a born +diplomatist, and, though the German Emperor was a Protestant, half the +empire was Catholic. But the prize was apparently thought too high for +a man outside the diplomatic service who had filled no +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pli"></A>li}</SPAN> +other post +under the Crown. Lord Acton remained at home, and in 1874 found +himself suddenly once again in the thick of a theological battle. The +echoes of the Vatican Council, and of Papal pretensions, seemed to have +died away, when, in November 1874, Mr. Gladstone, freed from the +trammels of office, and regarding his leadership of the Liberal party +as near its close, startled the world by a pamphlet on "The Vatican +Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance." He had previously, in +an article on "Ritualism," contributed to the <I>Contemporary Review</I>, +expressed his opinion that Romanising in the Church of England was +least to be feared at a moment "when Rome had substituted for the proud +boast of <I>semper eadem</I> a policy of violence and change in faith; when +she had refurbished and paraded anew every rusty tool she was fondly +thought to have disused; when no one could become her convert without +renouncing his moral and mental freedom, and placing his civil loyalty +and duty at the mercy of another; and when she had equally repudiated +modern thought and ancient history." While in this frame of mind, Mr. +Gladstone paid a visit to Munich, and had many long talks with the +venerable Professor Döllinger. The spectacle of a man so wise, pious, +learned, and holy under the ban of the Church seems to have kindled in +him a burning indignation against the authors of the Vatican decrees. +He wrote a pamphlet, and informed Lord Acton from Hawarden in October +that he meant to publish it. Lord Acton deprecated this step. He was +far nearer to Mr. Gladstone in opinion than he was to the Court of +Rome. But he had no desire to see the subject reopened, knowing that +the withdrawal of the decrees was impossible, and fearing that public +opinion might be dangerously excited against his fellow-Catholics by so +powerful an onslaught. He did not sufficiently allow for the great +progress in the direction of tolerance made since the passing of the +Ecclesiastical +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plii"></A>lii}</SPAN> +Titles Act, which Mr. Gladstone himself had +repealed three years before. The pamphlet appeared in November 1874, +and more than a hundred thousand copies of it were sold. The English +Catholics were disturbed. Some were indignant, and some were alarmed. +But in the end they were none the worse. On the contrary, Mr. +Gladstone did them a service by giving them an opportunity to declare +that they were, and always would be, as loyal and patriotic as their +Protestant countrymen. It is impossible not to trace in Mr. +Gladstone's pamphlet, as in the passage already cited from the +<I>Contemporary Review</I>, the effect of Lord Acton's letters from Rome in +1870. The substance of the argument is that the Catholics obtained +emancipation by denying that Papal infallibility was a dogma of their +Church, and that the Power which had changed their faith might change +their allegiance. The Vatican decrees reversed the policy of Clement +the Fourteenth, who, by overthrowing the supremacy of the Jesuits, had +"levelled in the dust the deadliest foes that mental and moral liberty +had ever known." Equality of civil rights should be maintained without +regard for religious differences. But Mr. Gladstone thought himself +entitled to ask the Catholics of England and Ireland whether they would +assist in the re-erection of the temporal power by force. Many were +the answers to this famous pamphlet. The most eloquent was Newman's. +The most hostile was Manning's. The most interesting was Acton's. It +is characteristic of Lord Acton's courage and candour that he should +have answered at all. He was regarded at Rome with something more than +suspicion, and nobody quite understood why he had escaped the fate of +Döllinger. There was nothing that Mr. Gladstone could say of the +decrees too strongly condemnatory to command his assent. But his +invincible integrity of mind would not allow him, for the sake of his +own peace, to acquiesce in the practical conclusions +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pliii"></A>liii}</SPAN> +which Mr. +Gladstone drew from irrefragable premises. In several letters written +for the <I>Times</I>, one of them addressed personally to Mr. Gladstone, +Lord Acton gave the only reply which could in the circumstances be +given. Mr. Gladstone's reasoning was unassailable in argument. But +man is not a logical animal. People are sometimes better than their +principles, sometimes worse, very seldom consistent. As Mr. Gladstone +himself had said a few years before, "The limit of possible variation +between character and opinion—aye, between character and belief—is +widening and will widen." Lord Acton, with all his subtlety and all +his learning, could only take refuge in the old and familiar truth that +what a man will do cannot be inferred from what he believes. The +<I>Corpus Juris</I>, he said (<I>Times</I>, November 9, 1874), makes the murder +of Protestants lawful. Pius the Fifth justified the assassination of +Elizabeth. Gregory the Thirteenth condoned, or rather applauded, the +massacre of Saint Bartholomew (<I>Times</I>, November 24). Was it therefore +fair to assume that all Catholics who accepted the Vatican decrees, or +even all Ultramontanes, were potential murderers? "Communion with +Rome," he said at the same time, "is dearer to me than life." He +concluded his letters in dignified and moving sentences, which made a +deep and just impression upon Catholics and Protestants alike. "It +would be well if men had never fallen into the temptation of +suppressing truth and encouraging error for the better security of +religion. Our Church stands, and our faith should stand, not on the +virtues of men, but on the surer ground of an institution and a +guidance that are divine. I should dishonour and betray the Church if +I entertained a suspicion that the evidence of religion could be +weakened or the authority of councils sapped by a knowledge of the +facts with which I have been dealing, or of others which are not less +grievous or less certain because they remain untold." It was not to be +supposed that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pliv"></A>liv}</SPAN> +this language would give satisfaction to the +dominant party in the Church of Rome, which had already been much tried +by Lord Acton's energy behind the scenes during the Vatican Council. +An apology which was more injurious than the attack added fuel to the +flames. "If I am excommunicated," he wrote to Mr. Gladstone from +Aldenham on the 19th of December 1874, "I should rather say when I am." +Yet he was not. He satisfied his bishop, Browne of Shrewsbury, that he +was dogmatically sound, and that it would have been inconsistent with +his argument to attack the Vatican decrees. He had indeed accepted +them as the foundation of his case. What he wanted to show was that +neither the Jesuits nor the Inquisition, neither false doctrines nor +bad Popes, had made Catholics indifferent to the moral law. Manning, +now a Cardinal, was not so easily contented as Bishop Browne, or as +Bishop Clifford, who also absolved Lord Acton. His haughty and +commanding temper had been stimulated by promotion, and by the favour +of the Pope. It was one of his most cherished aims to humble the pride +of the old Catholic families, and make them feel the discipline of the +Church. He wrote three letters to Lord Acton, and received, it need +scarcely be said, the most courteous replies, which left him as wise as +he was before. But he went no further, and the correspondence was +never published. Manning was not without prudence, and he shrank from +proceeding to extremities with a man whose intellect was as keen as +his, and whose knowledge was vastly superior. It would not have cost +Lord Acton much research to produce a summary account of the +Inquisition, or a biographical sketch of selected Popes, which would +have done more to prove the soundness of his position than to edify the +Christian world. The new cardinal, if he had indulged in an historical +controversy with "Quirinus," might have emerged from it with less +credit to himself than amusement to the learned society of Europe. For +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plv"></A>lv}</SPAN> +these, or for other reasons, he concluded to leave Lord Acton +alone. +</P> + +<P> +Henceforth, Lord Acton abandoned theological polemics, and devoted +himself to his true life, the life of a student. He loved truth too +much to love controversy for its own sake, and he was conscious that, +though he had escaped penalties, orthodox Catholics would not receive +his arguments without prejudice. Mr. Gladstone wrote another pamphlet, +in which, while maintaining his own position, he accepted the loyal +assurances of the Catholics as sincere, and with that the controversy +ceased. But in June 1876 Lord Acton wrote him a private letter, which +contains the clearest statement of his own opinion upon Ultramontanism +and Ultramontanes. "I have tried in vain," he wrote, "to reconcile +myself to your opinion that Ultramontanism really exists as a definite +and genuine system of religious faith, providing its own solutions of +ethical and metaphysical problems, and satisfying the conscience and +the intellect of conscientious and intelligent men. It has never been +my fortune to meet with an esoteric Ultramontane—I mean, putting aside +the ignorant mass, and those who are incapable of reasoning, that I do +not know of a religious and educated Catholic who really believes that +the See of Rome is a safe guide to salvation.... In short, I do not +believe there are Catholics who, sincerely and intelligently, believe +that Rome is right and that Döllinger is wrong. And therefore I think +you are too hard on Ultramontanes, or too gentle with Ultramontanism. +You say, for instance, that it promotes untruthfulness. I don't think +that is fair. It not only promotes, it inculcates, distinct mendacity +and deceitfulness. In certain cases it is made a duty to lie. But +those who teach this doctrine do not become habitual liars in other +things." +</P> + +<P> +With this plain and straightforward language we may leave Lord Acton as +a theologian, and pass to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plvi"></A>lvi}</SPAN> +other aspects of his busy life. His +great work should have been, and was intended to be, a History of +Liberty. For that purpose his library at Aldenham was collected, and +to frame different definitions of liberty was one of his favourite +pastimes. He loved liberty with all the ardour of Milton, and +investigated it with all the science of Locke. Even Liberalism, which +may be thought an inferior thing, was with him "the beginning of real +religion, a condition of interior Catholicism" (Acton to Gladstone, +March 22, 1891). This History was never written, nor even begun. All +that there is of it, all that there ever was of it, except books and +notes, materials for others to use, consists of two lectures delivered +at Bridgnorth in the year 1877. One was called "The History of Freedom +in Antiquity," and the other "The History of Freedom in Christianity." +These lectures are exceedingly rare, and the only copies I have seen +are in the British Museum. If the audience listened to them with +pleasure, and absorbed them with ease, they had intellects of unusual +calibre, and employed them to the best advantage. Read carefully and +at leisure, they are full of suggestion and of insight. Their fault is +that, in homely phrase, they pour a quart of liquor into a pint pot. +They are so much crowded with names and references, that to follow the +chief thread of the argument is made needlessly hard. "It would be +easy," the Bridgnorth Institute was told, "to point out a paragraph in +St. Augustine, or a sentence of Grotius, that outweighs in influence +the Acts of fifty Parliaments; and our case owes more to Cicero and +Seneca, to Vinet and Tocqueville, than to the laws of Lycurgus, or the +five codes of France." The sentence and the paragraph should have been +pointed out. Something should have been said, if not about Vinet and +Tocqueville, at least about Cicero and Seneca. A geographer may have +too many names in his map, and a learned man may condense his knowledge +until it has +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plvii"></A>lvii}</SPAN> +no meaning for those who know less than himself. +But, on the other hand, these lectures contain passages at once lucid +and worth their weight in gold, which could only have come from a mind +at once acute, meditative, and well stored. Such, for instance, is the +declaration, "By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be +protected in doing what he believes his duty against the influence of +authority and majorities, custom and opinion." "Liberty," proceeds the +lecturer, "is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the +highest political end.... A generous spirit prefers that his country +should be poor, and weak, and of no account, but free, rather than +powerful, prosperous, and enslaved. It is better to be the citizen of +a humble commonwealth in the Alps than a subject of the superb +autocracy that overshadows half of Asia and of Europe." This will seem +a hard saying to many, and it is indeed far removed from the sensual +idolatry of mere size that vulgarises modern Imperialism. But it was +with Lord Acton a fundamental principle, and it is not the size of +Periclean Athens, or of Elizabethan England, which made them +imperishably great. "It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it +is worse to be oppressed by a majority." Worse, because more +desperate, with less hope of rebellion, or escape. We must look, Lord +Acton warns us, to substance and essence, not to form and outward show. +The martyrdom of Socrates was the act of a free Republic, and it was +Caćsar who liberated Rome from the tyranny of Republican institutions. +The fault of the classical State was that it tried to be Church and +State in one, and thus infringed upon individualism by regulating +religion. The three things wanting in ancient liberty were +representative government, emancipation of slaves, and freedom of +conscience. In Christian times Thomas Aquinas anticipated the theory +of the Whig Revolution. The worst enemy of freedom in modern times was +that mock hero of sham greatness, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plviii"></A>lviii}</SPAN> +Louis Quatorze. The only +known forms of liberty are Republics and Constitutional Monarchies. +"It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their +own business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven for the acts +of the State, ideas long locked in the breast of solitary thinkers and +hidden away in Latin folios, burst forth like a conqueror upon the +world they were destined to transform under the title of the Rights of +Man." Ever since his visit to America in the days of President Pierce, +if not before, Acton had made a special study of the American +Constitution in its strength and its weakness, in the amplitude of its +safeguards, and in its fatal want of elasticity. A Monarchy cannot be +too constitutional. But a too constitutional Republic is a difficult +machine to work. England, said a French critic, is a Republic with an +hereditary President: the United States are a Monarchy with an elected +King. +</P> + +<P> +From this time forward Lord Acton wrote less, and read, if possible, +more. Dr. Shaw's careful Bibliography, my obligations to which I have +already acknowledged, contains nothing between 1877 and 1885 except a +review of Sir Erskine May's "Democracy in Europe" for the <I>Quarterly</I> +of January 1878. Sir Erskine May, the well-known Clerk of the House, +was a pleasant and popular writer, who dealt largely in +generalisations, and sometimes condescended to platitudes. He was an +earnest Liberal, though his office imposed some restraint upon his +opinions, and it is creditable to the impartiality of the late Sir +William Smith that he should have allowed a Liberal critic to deal with +a Liberal author in the traditional organ of Conservatism. He +certainly had his reward. For it would be difficult to find in the +<I>Quarterly Review</I> from the days of Gifford and Southey to our own an +article of more fascinating interest and more solid value than this +masterly essay, which its author never took the trouble to republish. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plix"></A>lix}</SPAN> +Notwithstanding Lord Acton's minute and conscientious accuracy in +points of detail, he is always best and most characteristic in broad, +luminous inferences from large masses of history and long periods of +time. He contented himself on this occasion with a few civil remarks +about the public servant who made so industrious a use of his leisure, +and devoted the rest of his space, which was far too small, to a +comparison or contrast of democracy with freedom. He showed that for +eleven hundred years, from the first Constantine to the last, the +Christian Empire was as despotic as the pagan; that it was Gregory the +Seventh who made the Papacy independent of the empire; that Luther +bequeathed as his political testament the doctrines of Divine right and +passive obedience; and that Spanish Jesuits, in arguing against the +title of Henry the Fourth to the throne of France, had anticipated the +doctrines of Milton, Locke, and Rousseau. Passing on, with the ease of +a man at home in all periods of history, to the dynastic change of +1688, he described the Whig settlement not as a Venetian oligarchy, but +as an aristocracy of freeholders, while from the American rebellion of +the following century he drew the moral that a revolution with very +little provocation may be just, and a democracy of very large +dimensions may be safe. The defect in the principles of 1789 was that +they exalted equality at the expense of liberty, and subjected the free +will of the individual to the unbridled power of the State. +</P> + +<P> +After 1879 Lord Acton ceased to live at his country house in +Shropshire, dividing the months when he was not in London between +Germany and the Riviera. Besides his great Library at Aldenham, there +was a smaller but complete library in each of his three houses. He +usually spent the winter at Cannes, and the autumn in Bavaria, at +Tegernsee, which belonged to the family of his wife. This +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plx"></A>lx}</SPAN> +cosmopolitan existence was by no means uncongenial to him, and, +correspondence apart, he was not cut off from his English friends. +Cannes in the season is as much English as French, and when Lord Acton +was in London he made the best use of his time. The hours he spent in +reading were so disposed that he could enjoy at the close of the day +the sort of society he liked best. He was a member of Grillions, and +of The Club. He knew almost everybody worth knowing, and no one so +fond of study was ever more sociable. But, as these letters show, the +man whom above all others he esteemed and revered was Mr. Gladstone. +Mr. Gladstone, with characteristic humility, always deferred to Lord +Acton's judgment in matters historical. On the other hand, Lord Acton, +the most hypercritical of men, and the precise opposite of a +hero-worshipper, an iconoclast if ever there was one, regarded Mr. +Gladstone as the first of English statesmen, living or dead. The +reason for this opinion will be found in the following pages. The +opinion itself is not the less important because Lord Acton was in many +respects cautious to a fault, and had little of the enthusiasm which +sustained his idol. Except Döllinger, "the glory of Catholic +learning," as Mr. Bryce well calls him, there was no other contemporary +for whom Lord Acton felt unqualified reverence. Mere oratory had not +much effect upon him, even if it were John Bright's or the Duke of +Argyll's. Admiring, as he could not but admire, the charm and power of +Newman's style, he considered Newman himself to be a "sophist, the +manipulator, and not the servant, of truth." Knowing Mr. Gladstone +from the inside, as few outside his own family knew him, he felt his +simplicity as well as his greatness, and realised that he had no object +except to learn what was true, and to do what was right. In politics +there was no difference between the two men, unless it were that Lord +Acton could never +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxi"></A>lxi}</SPAN> +quite forgive Mr. Gladstone's eulogistic +tribute to the memory of Lord Beaconsfield. Even in religion that +which divided them was small indeed when compared with that which +united them. Lord Acton was as staunch a believer in religious liberty +as any Protestant, and no Catholic could desire more fervently the +reunion of Christendom. In politics, as I have said, the sympathy was +complete. Unlike most Catholics, Acton had been in favour of Italian +independence, so dear to Mr. Gladstone's heart. He had always belonged +to the school of Liberals who put the rights of the individual above +the claims of the State, and he had as little liking for Socialism as +Mr. Gladstone himself. He held in utter detestation the foreign policy +of Lord Beaconsfield, and that temper of mind which goes by the cant +term of "Jingoism." No one rejoiced more heartily over the Liberal +victory of 1880, or attributed it more exclusively to Mr. Gladstone. +No one worked harder to keep him at the head of the Liberal party, and +no one can have foreseen more clearly the disastrous consequences of +his final retirement. Perhaps the nearest approach to a schism between +Lord Acton and his political chief was that each had a favourite +novelist, and that neither would acknowledge the transcendent merits of +the rival. Lord Acton was unjust to Scott. Mr. Gladstone underrated +George Eliot. Lord Acton's estimate of George Eliot may be found in +some of the ensuing letters, and in the <I>Nineteenth Century</I> for March +1885. This article, one of the most elaborate Lord Acton ever wrote, +was translated into German, and, so far as the general public were +concerned, might as well have appeared in that language at first. It +is an extreme and provoking instance of the writer's passion for +condensation, reference, and innuendo. It is well worth the trouble of +reading, although fiction is not the province in which Lord Acton's +opinion was most +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxii"></A>lxii}</SPAN> +valuable. But the trouble is due to congested +sentences, and might easily have been spared. +</P> + +<P> +When in 1886 Mr. Gladstone made his great attempt to settle the Irish +question by Home Rule, Lord Acton gave him a zealous and cordial +support. Although, as we have seen, he was far from holding the +doctrine of nationality in an unqualified form, he had grasped for many +years with increasing strength the conviction that Ireland could be +orderly and peaceably governed by Irishmen alone. So far back as +October 1881, when the Liberal Government and the Land League were in +open hostility, and Mr. Parnell was arrested under the Coercion Act, he +wrote, "The treatment of Home Rule as an idea conceivably reasonable +(in the speech at Leeds) which was repeated at the Guildhall, delighted +me." There were not many readers besides Lord Acton who discerned at +that time the trend of Mr. Gladstone's ideas. But a very few months +later, in February 1882, Mr. Gladstone, speaking on the Address, used +language of a much more significant kind, to Lord Acton's great +delight. "I have long wished," he wrote on the 20th of February, "for +that declaration about self-government.... The occasion last week gave +extraordinary weight to the words.... The risk is that he may seem to +underrate the gravity of a great constitutional change in the +introduction of a federal element." Lord Acton, it will be observed, +much as he desired the change, did not ignore its risks, or even its +perils. When the decisive moment came, which Mr. Morley has described +with so much eloquence and power ("Life of Gladstone," vol. iii. pp. +311-12), Lord Acton sounded a note of warning in the midst of his +felicitations. "From the point of view of the ages," he wrote on the +18th of March 1886, "it is the sublime crown of his work, and there is +a moral grandeur about it which will, I hope, strengthen and console +him under any amount of difficulty, and even disaster." It was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxiii"></A>lxiii}</SPAN> +this faculty of seeing the case against his own most deeply cherished +principles and predilections which made Lord Acton so valuable a friend +and counsellor to Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Gladstone's splendid enthusiasm, +and indomitable optimism, sometimes led him to ignore obstacles against +which he might have provided. Acton, whose temperament was critical, +as his mind was judicial, pointed out, with the sincerity of true +friendship, though with unfailing tact, the clouds above, and the rocks +ahead. No man admired Mr. Gladstone more. No man flattered him less. +</P> + +<P> +The following letter to Mrs. Drew expresses his opinion at the time, +and also the judgment of a distinguished Italian statesman who was +always friendly to England:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Your letter comes in the midst of the living echoes of the speech, and +of the uncertainty that follows, and does not quite relieve my feeling +of apprehension. Rome is not a good place for accurate news, and I +hope for more letters at Cannes in a couple of days. My old friend, +Minghetti, is sinking under an incurable illness. The other night, +when several people were attacking me about the Irish Bill, he said, +very solemnly and in his best Italian: 'The one will be happy even if +he fails, and the other will repent even of his success.' The other +was Bismarck. Next morning came Herbert's letter saying that he feels +that for himself the best thing would be defeat. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope that there is not any real inconsistency in my language or in +my thoughts at this crisis. I am more decidedly in favour of the +principle of the measure than anybody; and there can hardly be one +among your father's friends who urged it more decidedly, though some +followed more or less contentedly. The Bill is better than I sometimes +expected it to be, on one or +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxiv"></A>lxiv}</SPAN> +two important points. It is not +only right in my eyes, but glorious as the summit of his career, and if +I was on the spot I should be the warmest and the most convinced of its +supporters. +</P> + +<P> +"But what makes it more admirable to me is that the stimulus is not +hope but duty; that it is very much more clearly dictated by principle +than by expediency, that the supreme motive is not strongly sustained +by sordid calculation. I do not see a real likelihood of its +succeeding in this Session, and I am not sanguine about success in +Ireland. +</P> + +<P> +"Arguments founded on the presumed good qualities of the Irish do not +go very far with me, and I am ready to find the vices of the national +character incurable. Especially in a country where religion does not +work, ultimately, in favour of morality; therefore I am not hopeful, +and it is with a mind prepared for failure and even disaster that I +persist in urging the measure." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +His adhesion to the cause, though it had no weight with the mass of +electors, who did not know his name, had a deep meaning of another +kind. When many men of the lettered, scientific, and learned classes +left the Liberal party rather than vote for Home Rule, one of the few +English names that enjoyed a European reputation did something to +counterbalance others which were paraded so often that they seemed +indefinitely numerous. +</P> + +<P> +Lord Acton, however, did not come forward as a popular champion of Home +Rule, for which he could have furnished a host of historic precedents. +In the sphere of action he was too apt to distrust himself. The House +of Lords was not favourable for the purpose, and he never appeared on +public platforms. He was more congenially occupied in founding the +<I>English Historical Review</I>, of which the late Bishop Creighton, then +Professor of Ecclesiastical History at +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxv"></A>lxv}</SPAN> +Cambridge, was the first +editor. In 1887 he criticised, not without severity, the third and +fourth volumes of the editor's great work on the Papacy. Some editors +might have demurred to the insertion of the article. But Creighton was +far above all petty and personal feelings of that or any kind. Among +the other books noticed by Acton in the <I>Historical Review</I> were +Seeley's "Life of Napoleon," Bright's "History of England" (by the +Master of University), and Bryce's "American Commonwealth." Academic +honours were now coming in rapid succession. In 1888 Lord Acton was +made an Honorary Doctor of Laws at Cambridge, in 1889 a Doctor of Civil +Law at Oxford, and in 1890 an Honorary Fellow of All Souls, thereby +becoming Mr. Gladstone's colleague. For a man who had published +scarcely anything in his own name these compliments were as rare as +they were just. +</P> + +<P> +When Mr. Gladstone formed his final Administration in 1892, Lord Acton +was appointed a Lord-in-Waiting to the Queen. This may seem a singular +method of rewarding literary merit. But the circumstances were +peculiar. Lord Acton was desirous of showing his devotion to the Prime +Minister, and his belief in the cause of Home Rule. His Parliamentary +career had not been distinguished enough for more purely political +office, and I am told by those who understand such matters that the +lowness of his rank in the Peerage precluded him from a higher place in +the Household. The incongruity, however, though Lord Acton felt it +himself, was not quite so great as it looked. Besides their month's +attendance at the Court, the Lords-in-Waiting are sometimes employed to +represent public departments in the House of Peers, and Lord Acton +represented the Irish Office for the Chief Secretary, Mr. Morley. In +that character he showed, when occasion came, that his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxvi"></A>lxvi}</SPAN> +long +silence in Parliament had not been due to incapacity for public +speaking. At Windsor he was agreeable to the Queen from his German +tastes and sympathies, not to mention the fact that he could speak +German as fluently as English. Every moment of leisure during his +"wait" there was spent in the Castle library. Yet the position was an +unnatural one, and Lord Acton soon became anxious to escape from it. +His thoughts turned to his favourite Bavaria, and he humbly suggested +the Legation at Stuttgart as a possible sphere. +</P> + +<P> +But something infinitely better than any political or diplomatic post +remained for this born student and truly learned man. In 1895, just a +year after Mr. Gladstone's resignation, Sir John Seeley, Professor of +Modern History at Cambridge, departed this life. The Chair was in the +gift of the Crown, that is, of the Prime Minister, and Lord Rosebery +appointed Lord Acton. The appointment was singularly felicitous, and +the opportunity came in the nick of time. For the Liberal Government +was tottering to its fall, and Lord Salisbury was not wont to overlook +the claims of political supporters. Lord Rosebery's choice was bold +and unexpected. But it was more than successful; it was triumphant. +Lord Acton was of the same age as his predecessor, and it is a +dangerous thing for a man to begin the business of teaching at sixty. +An academic Board would not have had the courage to appoint Lord Acton. +They would have dreaded his want of experience. The advantage of +retaining a connection of this kind with the State is that a Minister, +rising above the purely academic point of view, will sometimes overlook +or ignore technical disqualifications in favour of learning or genius. +Even Cambridge herself was at first a little startled by the nomination +of this famous, but rather mysterious stranger. Lord Acton had to make +his own way, and he was not long in making it. The opening +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxvii"></A>lxvii}</SPAN> +sentences of his Inaugural Lecture on the Study of History put him at +once on good terms with his audience, and through his audience with the +University. "I look back to-day," he said (June 11, 1895), "to a time +before the middle of the century, when I was reading at Edinburgh, and +fervently wishing to come to this University. At three Colleges I +applied for admission, and, as things then were, I was refused by all. +Here, from the first, I vainly fixed my hopes, and here, in a happier +hour, after five-and-forty years, they are at last fulfilled." It is +probable that the happiest hours of Lord Acton's life were spent at +Cambridge. As the writer in the <I>Edinburgh Review</I>, so often quoted, +says, "He loved Cambridge from his soul; loved the grounds and the +trees, the buildings and the romance of the old colleges, the treasures +of the libraries, the intercourse with scholars." In his first lecture +he tried to find some point of agreement with Seeley. But their views +of History were fundamentally different. To Seeley, History was purely +political. In Lord Acton's view it included social and intellectual +movements neither propelled nor impeded by the State. Lord Acton +reckoned Modern History as beginning with the close of the fifteenth +century, "when Columbus subverted the notions of the world, and +reversed the conditions of production, wealth, and power; Machiavelli +released Government from the restraint of law; Erasmus diverted the +current of ancient learning from profane into Christian channels; +Luther broke the chain of authority and tradition at the strongest +link; and Copernicus erected an invincible power that set for ever the +mark of progress upon the time that was to come." That "history is the +true demonstration of religion" was one of the maxims which Lord Acton +impressed upon his pupils at the first opportunity. But perhaps the +most characteristic feature of the discourse is his insistence upon the +necessity of keeping +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxviii"></A>lxviii}</SPAN> +up the moral standard. Better, he +exclaimed, err, if at all, on the side of rigour. For "if we lower our +standard in history, we cannot uphold it in Church or State." When +this brilliant and fascinating lecture came to be published, it was +unfortunately encumbered by more than a hundred notes, all quotations, +many of which merely expressed Lord Acton's meaning in language less +forcible than his own. "As if," says Macaulay of some pointless +reference to a Greek play by a Shakespearean commentator, "as if only +Shakespeare and Euripides knew that mothers loved their children." +Lord Acton was rather too apt to think that an expression of opinion, +like a statement of fact, required an authority to support it. +</P> + +<P> +Even under the stimulus of Cambridge Lord Acton did not work quickly. +During the five years of his active professorship he only delivered two +courses of lectures. The first was on the French Revolution. The +second was on Modern History as a whole. He would naturally and by +preference have begun with the more general subject. But the +exigencies of the Tripos, or of the Curriculum, prevailed, and the +thoroughbred animal was put, not for the first time in this world, into +the harness of a hack. Lord Acton's lectures were, as they were bound +to be, crowded. But they were only a small part of what he did for +Cambridge. An Honorary Fellow of Trinity, he received graduate or +undergraduate visitors with equal courtesy and kindness at his rooms in +Nevill's Court. To them, and to any one who could appreciate it, he +would always readily impart the knowledge he had spent his life in +acquiring. He was not merely a willing answerer of questions, and a +generous lender of books. He had boxes full of the notes he had made +since boyhood, each box appropriated to its peculiar subject, and these +notes were at the disposal of all historical +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxix"></A>lxix}</SPAN> +students who could +make a proper use of them. His pupils were, as Mr. Bryce puts it, +"awed by the majesty of his learning." "When Lord Acton answers a +question put to him," said one of them, "I feel as if I were looking at +a pyramid. I see the point of it clear and sharp, but I see also the +vast subjacent mass of solid knowledge."[<A NAME="chap00dfn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap00dfn3">3</A>] +</P> + +<P> +The following letter from Dr. Henry Jackson, Fellow of Trinity, for +which my warmest thanks are due to the distinguished writer, will be +interesting to all who desire to know more of Lord Acton's Cambridge +life:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"You ask me for information about Acton's life and work at Cambridge. +I am not competent to write anything systematic about either the one or +the other; but it is a pleasure to me to put down some of my +recollections and impressions, and I shall be glad if my jottings are +of any use to you. +</P> + +<P> +"When Seeley died in 1895, my first thought was—'If they are good to +us, they will send us Acton;' but I hardly hoped that he would be +thought of, and I did not expect that, if he had the offer, he would +accept it. So the news of his appointment was to me a very joyful +surprise. When he came, he appeared heartily to like his new +surroundings—his rooms at Trinity, the collegiate life, the informal +conversation, his lectures, his pupils, and the University library. +Quietly but keenly observant of men and things, he was very soon +completely at home in the University, with which, as he related in his +inaugural lecture, he had wished to connect himself forty years before. +</P> + +<P> +"In hall, in combination-room, and where men smoked and talked, he took +an unobtrusive but effective part in conversation. His utterances, +always terse and epigrammatic, were sometimes a little oracular: +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxx"></A>lxx}</SPAN> +'I suppose, Lord Acton,' said some one interrogatively, 'that +So-and-so's book is a very good one?' 'Yes,' was the reply; 'perhaps +five per cent. less good than the public thinks it.' But a casual +question not seldom drew from him an acute comment, an interesting +reminiscence, or a significant fact. 'When was London in the greatest +danger?' asked some one rather vaguely. 'In 1803,' was the immediate +answer, 'when Fulton proposed to put the French army across the Channel +in steamboats, and Napoleon rejected the scheme.' +</P> + +<P> +"Others will tell you of his influence upon the historical studies of +the University, of his help given freely to teachers and to learners, +and of his judgment and skill in planning and distributing the sections +and the subsections of the 'Modern History,' which he did not live to +edit. He was an active member of the committee which recommends books +for purchase by the University Library. But, in general, he shunned +the routine of business. Even at the Library Syndicate, though he +followed the proceedings attentively, he seldom or never took part in +discussion or voted. Indeed, I thought that I noticed in him a paradox +which extended beyond the limits of academic affairs. On the one hand, +he was observant of everything, and he made up his mind about +everything. On the other hand, except where supreme principles—Truth, +Right, Toleration, Freedom—were in question, he was cautious and +reserved in the expression of opinion, and he always preferred to leave +action to others. +</P> + +<P> +"Like other specialists, I found that my own study had not escaped his +attention. He had a good general knowledge of the work done by modern +students of ancient philosophy, and his criticisms of them showed a +sound, clear, and independent judgment. One or two trifling incidents +seemed to me significant. The first time that he came to my rooms, +looking quickly along +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxxi"></A>lxxi}</SPAN> +a bookshelf, he soliloquised: 'I never +knew that Bonitz had translated the <I>Metaphysics</I>.' It surprised me, +not that Acton did not know of the posthumous publication of this work, +but that he expected to remember all that a specialist in Greek +philosophy had written. On another occasion he was talking of German +professors—first of professors of history, afterwards of others. He +could tell us about all: he had heard many. At last it occurred to me +to ask him about a forgotten scholar who had written a treatise about +Socrates. The book was in no way important, but it had given me a very +agreeable impression of the writer's personality. I found that Acton +had known the man, had attended his lectures, and could testify to the +personal attraction which I had surmised. +</P> + +<P> +"When Acton died, writers of obituary notices appeared to regard him as +one who, while he devoured books and accumulated facts, passed no +judgments, framed no generalisations, and cherished no enthusiasms; and +I fancied that Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, in his very interesting +letter to the <I>Spectator</I>, unconsciously encouraged this +misapprehension. Nothing could well be further from the truth. To me +it seemed that Acton never read of an action without appraising its +significance and morality, never learnt a fact without fitting it into +its environment, and never studied a life or a period without +considering its effect upon the progress of humanity. +</P> + +<P> +"His judgments were severe but just. Neither glamour of reputation nor +splendour of achievement blinded him to moral iniquity. He had a +wealth of righteous indignation which upon occasion blazed out +fiercely. 'Are you aware,' he once asked, 'that Borromeo was a party +to a scheme of assassinations?' 'But,' said some one, 'must we not +make allowance for the morality of the time?' 'I make no allowance for +that sort of thing,' was the emphatic answer; and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxxii"></A>lxxii}</SPAN> +the contrast +with the measured and sedate tones of Acton's ordinary utterance made +the explosion all the more impressive. +</P> + +<P> +"This righteous indignation carried with it a corresponding +appreciation of anything good. I remember well how he told me the +supplement to the old story of the Copenhagen signal—that Parker made +it with the expressed intention of relieving Nelson from +responsibility, but in the confident expectation that, if skill and +daring could do anything, Nelson would disobey. Acton could admire +Parker's magnanimity as well as Nelson's genius. +</P> + +<P> +"It would be presumption in me to say anything about Acton's historical +attainments; but I may note one or two peculiarities which I noticed in +his attitude to the study. History, as he conceived it, included in +its scope all forms of human activity; so that scholars whom others +would describe as theologians or jurists were in his eyes great +departmental historians. This, I thought, was the explanation of his +miscellaneous reading; for he was always methodical, never desultory. +</P> + +<P> +"But despite this width of view, he did not grudge the expenditure of +time and trouble upon details. On the contrary, he would not only +ransack archives, but also interrogate those who had witnessed, or been +concerned in, great events. Of course he minutely scrutinised and +scrupulously weighed the testimony thus obtained; but when once he was +satisfied of the accuracy of his information, he was prepared to use it +for the interpretation and explanation of documentary evidence. +</P> + +<P> +"Acton could never have written anything which was not literature of a +high order—dignified, incisive, vigorous; and yet history was to him, +not literature, but political philosophy; not an interesting narrative, +but a scientific study of cause and effect. He had, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxxiii"></A>lxxiii}</SPAN> +however, +no faith in political forecasts about anything more than the immediate +future. +</P> + +<P> +"It is impossible not to regret that Acton has not made his mark in +literature as the writer of a great book, or in politics as a great +statesman; but he preferred to <I>know</I>, and the men who know as Acton +knew are few. The world is the richer whilst they are with us, and the +poorer when they go. Acton will not be forgotten at Cambridge." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A brilliant and penetrating judgment of Lord Acton's services to +Cambridge was paid in the <I>Cambridge Review</I> a few months after his +death (October 16, 1902) by Professor Maitland, who had been associated +with him in preparing the "Cambridge History" as a Syndic of the Press. +Himself one of the most learned men in the University, Mr. Maitland was +amazed by the extent of Lord Acton's range. "If," he writes, with a +laudable wish to avoid extravagance, "we recall the giants of a past +time, their wondrous memories, their encyclopćdic knowledge, we must +remember also how much that Lord Acton knew was for them practically +unknowable." His reading was not for amusement. His daily consumption +of a German octavo meant mastery of the book, with copious notes in a +neat handwriting on slips of paper, which were always, like his books, +at the disposal of his pupils. He "toiled," as Professor Maitland +says, "in the archives, hunting the little fact that makes the +difference." He was "deeply convinced that the history of religion +lies near the heart of all history," while it was his fate to be +suspected by Catholics as a Liberal, and by Liberals as a Catholic. +"This man," I again quote the Professor, "who has been called a miser +was in truth a very spendthrift of his hard-earned treasure, and ready +to give away in half-an-hour the substance of an unwritten book." Some +writers, especially bad writers, do not shine in conversation, because +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxxiv"></A>lxxiv}</SPAN> +they are keeping their best things for the public. Lord Acton +would pour out to a sympathetic listener the most recondite history, +or, on a different occasion, the spiciest gossip, if that were the +commodity in demand. So far as knowledge and power went, and if time +had served, Professor Maitland is convinced that Lord Acton could +himself have written all the twelve volumes of the "Cambridge History." +The "History" is his best memorial. Another memorial is the famous +Aldenham Library, bought by Mr. Carnegie, and presented by Mr. Morley +to the University of Cambridge. +</P> + +<P> +The article which I have ventured to associate with the name of +Professor Maitland is signed "F.W.M.," a signature which the writer +would not have adopted if he had desired to preserve his anonymity. +The authorship of a letter signed "H.J.," and written from Cambridge, +which appeared almost simultaneously in the <I>Daily News</I>, is not more +difficult to identify. "H.J.'s" words are a memorable and eloquent +protest against the ignorant fancy that Lord Acton spent his life in +the mere accumulation of learning. The exact opposite, as he says, was +the truth. Lord Acton "was no mere Dryasdust: he was a watchful +observer of men and affairs. If he studied the detail of history, it +was in order that he might the better elicit its significance and its +teaching. He was slow to express an opinion; but in his judgments +there was never any indecision. In the advocacy of intellectual +freedom he was eager: in the denunciation of tyranny and persecution he +was at a white heat. He was a man who loved to prove all things, and +to hold fast that which is good." Every one who knew Lord Acton, or at +least every one who could appreciate him, must recognise the justice +and fidelity of this eloquent tribute. But it was at Cambridge that he +put forth to the utmost the whole power of his mind. It was at +Cambridge that he showed most clearly how his whole +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxxv"></A>lxxv}</SPAN> +life had +been devoted to the cause of freedom and of truth. It was there that +he planned the "Cambridge History" in twelve volumes, of which two, the +first and the seventh, have already appeared. Unhappily they were +posthumous. Lord Acton did not live to see them, nor to write the +Introduction. At the age of sixty-seven he was suddenly struck down by +paralysis, and, after lingering for more than a year, died at Tegernsee +on the 19th of June 1902. He was "buried by the side of the daughter +whose deathbed he had comforted with the words, 'Be glad, my child, you +will soon be with Jesus Christ.'"[<A NAME="chap00dfn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap00dfn4">4</A>] Such through life and in death +was his simple faith. +</P> + +<P> +The lustre which Lord Acton's name reflected upon Cambridge was not +felt more deeply, or more sincerely, than the higher standard of +learning which he introduced into a learned professoriate. He was the +one man in England, if not in Europe, who could have brought with him +from the outside an equal knowledge of books and of the world. +Cambridge saw his weak side quickly enough. The keen-witted men who +enjoyed and appreciated his talk, or watched him listening with an +attention that nothing escaped, could understand why Döllinger +predicted that if he did not write a great book before he was forty he +would never write one at all. As a matter of fact he did not write a +book of any kind, small or great. He did not even, as he once thought +of doing, republish his Essays. His contemplated Life of Döllinger +dwindled into an article of forty pages on Döllinger's Historical Work +for the <I>English Historical Review</I>. +</P> + +<P> +But the article, which appeared in October 1890, shows Lord Acton at +his best. His affectionate reverence for his great master gives a +colour and animation to his style, which it often lacked. This is by +far the most readable of all his essays, and by no means +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxxvi"></A>lxxvi}</SPAN> +the +least instructive. Döllinger was in some respects like himself. +"Everybody felt that he knew too much to write," and the best part of +his erudition was given to his pupils at Munich. In tracing the course +of Döllinger's studies, and of his mental development, Lord Acton wrote +the best, because the most characteristic, biography of the Old +Catholic leader. Besides the interest of the subject itself, Lord +Acton contrived to bring into this wonderful summary a number of +judgments on other things and persons as vivid as they are acute. +Freeman rather horrified him by preferring printed books to manuscripts +as material for history. But then he "mixed his colours with brains." +Lord Acton was inclined to think Stahl, the philosophical and +Conservative statesman of Prussia, "the greatest man born of a Jewish +mother since Titus." Döllinger, however, considered that this was +unjust to Disraeli, and most Englishmen will probably agree with him in +opinion. +</P> + +<P> +Whether Lord Acton ought to have left the Church of Rome when Döllinger +was excommunicated, or when the Vatican decrees were pronounced, is a +question which it would not become a Protestant to ask, much less to +answer. He did not shrink from the risk of speaking out, and it was +not his fault that he escaped. No earthly reward or peril would have +induced him to say what he did not think, or to profess what he did not +believe. The truths which all Christians hold in common, and the moral +principles to which Sophocles ascribes an unknown antiquity, guided him +in history as in life. His emphatic statement that he had never felt +any doubt about any Roman doctrine was made some years before 1870, and +the secession of the Old Catholics, which failed for want of an +Episcopate. In 1878 Pio Nono died, and was succeeded by a more liberal +Pontiff. Manning lost his influence at Rome, Newman was made a +cardinal, and the Broad Churchmen +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Plxxvii"></A>lxxvii}</SPAN> +in the Roman communion were +tolerated, if not encouraged. Even Lord Acton's old enemy, Manning, +turned from theological controversy to movements of social +philanthropy, to Irish politics, in which he agreed with Acton, and to +good works among the poor. The strictest of Roman Catholics were not +sorry to think that the most learned Prelates of the Anglican Church +were less learned than a Catholic layman. The more a man knew, the +larger was his idea of Lord Acton's knowledge. But for the years +between 1895 and 1900 that knowledge would have been comparatively +wasted. It would have profited only a few readers here and there +beyond the circle of Lord Acton's friends. At Cambridge, the Professor +of History was in perpetual contact with fresh minds eager to know, and +to transmit what they acquired. He did not altogether understand the +Greek mind, for he told Mr. Gladstone that it was unscientific. But he +had this much in common with Socrates, the father of science, that he +required the clash of dialectic to bring out his full force. When +ignorant people laid down the law, Lord Acton smiled, and, it is to be +feared, enjoyed himself in an almost sinful degree. When scholars and +philosophers conversed with him, they found him often indeed more +inclined to listen than to talk, but always appreciative, suggestive, +and awakening. To genuine students he was a mine of information, and +would give what was asked tenfold. Nobody ever entrapped him into a +path which for good reasons he was disposed to avoid. Attempt to draw +him into controversy, and he became cautious, subtle, enigmatic. But +every one who came to him, as his Cambridge pupils came, for assistance +and instruction, went away not merely satisfied and enlightened, but +moved and touched by the profundity of his knowledge, the generosity of +his temper, and the humility of his soul. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00dfn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00dfn1text">1</A>] I owe the opportunity of reading and quoting from this lecture, +reported in the <I>Bridgnorth Journal</I> of the 14th, to the kindness of +Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00dfn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00dfn2text">2</A>] His wife had become insane on the failure of her mission to France. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00dfn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00dfn3text">3</A>] "Studies in Contemporary Biography," 398. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00dfn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00dfn4text">4</A>] <I>Edinburgh Review</I>, 404, page 534. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-001"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-001.jpg" ALT="Group at Tegernsee, 1879" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +Group at Tegernsee, 1879 +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Mary Gladstone +Herbert Gladstone Mr. Gladstone Mrs. Gladstone Dr. Dollinger Lord Acton +</PRE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P1"></A>1}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +LETTERS OF LORD ACTON +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Mentone Oct. 31, 1879</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +You were threatened with a long letter from me, about people at Paris, +but I could not finish it, ... and so I lost the only days on which +Paris information could be of any use. After a week of care, varied by +pleasant visits from Lacaita, F. Leveson, and H. Cowper, we started, +and rested at Milan and Genoa, and yet were nearly the first arrivals +here. We expect to have the Granvilles for neighbours at Cannes, as +well as Westminsters. +</P> + +<P> +Let me first of all transcribe a passage from my unsent letter: "If you +see Madame Waddington you will find her a very pleasant specimen of +American womanhood. Her husband wants the qualities that charm and win +at first, and I suppose he will not hold his own long. He has no dash, +no <I>entrain</I>, no personal ascendency, like the men who succeed in +France; but there is not a deeper scholar, or a more sincere and +straightforward Christian in the country." I see from your letter that +the unfavourable part of my remarks came true more than the praise. +Something may be due to awkwardness connected with the Ferry[<A NAME="chap01fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn1">1</A>] Bill. +The interview with Scherer consoles me. He is a man of the first order +as far as that can be without showy gifts. But he is guarded, cold, +unsympathising, and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P2"></A>2}</SPAN> +the intellectual crisis by which he came to +repudiate the Christian faith was so conspicuous that he is embarrassed +with people who are notable for religious conviction. +</P> + +<P> +I wanted to say so much about Mignet, who was celebrated before your +father went up to college; of St. Hilaire, the best Grecian and +earliest Republican in France; of Dufaure and Simon, the leaders of the +Left Centre, who hold the fate of the Ministry in their hands; of +Laboulaye, the political oracle of Waddington, who solves every problem +by American principles; of Vielcastel, the most sensible and +experienced of Conservatives, and the only surviving Doctrinaire; of +Broglie,[<A NAME="chap01fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn2">2</A>] who has all but ruined the Republic, in order to expiate +his former ecclesiastical Liberalism; of Pasquier, who possesses the +good qualities in which Broglie is deficient; of Taine, who has almost +the solidity of Scherer, and more than his brilliancy. But it is all +too late now. +</P> + +<P> +You describe the Professor[<A NAME="chap01fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn3">3</A>] most justly. Serenity has grown on him +with years, although they were years of conflict and of the great grief +that men who do not live for themselves can feel for the cause they +have lived for. Strength, too, though in less degree, by reason of a +vice which besets another great man. From a sense of dignity and of +charity he refuses to see all the evil there is in men; and in order +that his judgments may be always charitable, generous, and leaning to +the safer side, he is not always exact in definitions or rigorous in +applying principles. He looks for the root of differences in +speculative systems, in defect of knowledge, in everything but moral +causes, and if you had remained with us longer you would +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P3"></A>3}</SPAN> +have found +out that this is a matter on which I am divided from him by a gulf +almost too wide for sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +Boutney I never saw. But he is a sound and useful man, who makes it +his business to spread political knowledge among those classes that +govern France. A cousin of ours lectures, under his auspices, to +half-educated Parisians. +</P> + +<P> +"Le Gendre de M. Poirier" at the Français is one of the greatest treats +imaginable. Your stay at Paris must have been full of new impressions +and experiences, even in its levity. +</P> + +<P> +And now, after a short interval of Victor Hugo at Keble, I fancy you +will start for the Midlothian campaign. You were very wrong to +suppress that second sheet of your letter, and I hope you will make up +for it by letting me know how things go on, and bearing in mind that +one learns nothing at Mentone, except the bare outside of public events. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Mentone March 15, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +There is so much to ask and say that I have not the courage to begin. +I am afraid you will forgive the length neither of my letter nor of my +silence, and will be as much bored by the silver of the one as by the +golden of the other. But when all the world has its rendezvous in +Harley Street, admit me, perdu in the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +In this out-of-the-way region we have been kept up to the mark in home +politics by pleasant visits from Freddy Leveson—a robust +Gladstonian—Cowper Temple, who told me more than I knew about the +world of spirits; Goschen, who spent several days with us, and whose +footsteps are very visible on the road that leads away from the Liberal +party, through +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P4"></A>4}</SPAN> +Brookes's, to a moderado coalition; Reay, ... fresh +from Midlothian; Mallet,[<A NAME="chap01fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn4">4</A>] doctrinaire, disputatious and desponding, +but abounding in criticism of the policy which he represents. Lord +Blachford passed, but I did not see him. Nothing carried me back to +England more than the two Italians[<A NAME="chap01fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn5">5</A>] whom you overheard at Venice, who +were here when I was very ill, but who took me over the whole ground +traversed since 1842. Bonghi's essays[<A NAME="chap01fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn6">6</A>] are appearing successively, +and they are meant as a lesson for Italians, and break up the career in +a way which loses the thread of continuity and the law of its progress +and the wealth of the unity therein. But he is exceedingly intelligent +and sympathetic, and I hope that he will recast his materials when he +puts them together in a volume. When he asked me: Why is Mr. Gladstone +so much attached to the Church and so much against establishments? Why +is he so generous towards R. Catholics and so hard on the Pope? Why is +not Ireland reconciled? Why is not England won?—you will believe that +I found my voice again. I don't think the book will ever suit our +public, but I should like it to appear in French. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +A certain letter of mine acknowledging the gift of the Lancashire +Canvassing Speeches was written between the election and the summons to +Windsor, in November 1868.[<A NAME="chap01fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn7">7</A>] If it leads you to look at the Bristol +electioneering speeches mentioned in it, you will be disappointed; for +they will seem to you poor in comparison. In reality, they are an +epoch in constitutional history. Burke there laid down, for ever, the +law of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P5"></A>5}</SPAN> +relations between members and constituencies, which is +the innermost barrier against the reign of democratic force. Charles +Sumner once said to me: "Mr. Burke legislated from those hustings." +When you met John Morley at Glasgow he had just written a very good +life of Burke. It is impossible not to be struck by the many points of +resemblance between Burke and your father—the only two men of that +stature in our political history—but I have no idea whether they would +have been friends or bitter enemies. +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Staël is the author of that saying about liberty, whom I +commemorate in terms studiously excluding rivalry with George Eliot. +</P> + +<P> +Do you remember a question as to the number of words in Shakespeare and +in Milton? There is all about it in Brother Mark's[<A NAME="chap01fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn8">8</A>] "Life of +Milton," which is in the same series as Morley's "Burke." +</P> + +<P> +And another, as to the title of the "Imitation"? I find that it is not +the title given by the author—so that Milman's very plausible remark +falls through. +</P> + +<P> +Plenty of muffs have written in the <I>Edinbro'</I>, but I am not one of +them. +</P> + +<P> +You see so many interesting and eminent men that you can spare a miss +sometimes. But I am sorry for that silent evening near Lowell. The +easy brightness of his mind surpasses all I remember in America. I sat +next to him at a dinner at Boston twenty-seven years ago, and spoke of +the burying, by Constantine, of the Palladium in a vault at +Constantinople. Longfellow would not believe my story. I quoted a +passage. "Yes," said Lowell, "but the passage we want is the passage +into the vault." Somebody questioned whether the statue of Cromwell +would stand +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P6"></A>6}</SPAN> +among the sovereigns at Westminster. "At least," said +he, "among the half-crowns." +</P> + +<P> +I have never met him since. But if I had been fortunate enough to drop +in that evening at Ripon's, I rather think I should have liked to sit +next to him. You would have seen the difference between a live dog and +a dead lion. +</P> + +<P> +Scherer ought to be much obliged to me for the conversation and for the +readers I procured him. He is, I think, one of the three best living +writers in France—deeper and more subtle than Taine, and infinitely +better versed in political questions than Renan. If you see that arch +person you will find his conversation, easy and tripping as it is, very +inferior to his writings. There are volumes of essays which I am sure +you would read with pleasure. And he has a special bone to pick with +the author of "A History of Liberty."[<A NAME="chap01fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn9">9</A>] +</P> + +<P> +I sent for Seeley,[<A NAME="chap01fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn10">10</A>] and read him with improvement, with much +pleasure, and with more indignation. It is hard in a few crowded lines +to explain my meaning on a question so fundamental. The great object, +in trying to understand history, political, religious, literary or +scientific, is to get behind men and to grasp ideas. Ideas have a +radiation and development, an ancestry and posterity of their own, in +which men play the part of godfathers and godmothers more than that of +legitimate parents. We understand the work and place of Pascal, or +Newton, or Montesquieu, or Adam Smith, when we have measured the gap +between the state of astronomy, of political economy, &c., before +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P7"></A>7}</SPAN> +they came and after they were gone. And the progress of the science is +of more use to us than the idiosyncrasy of the man. Let me try to +explain myself by an example of to-day. Here is Ferry's article 7.[<A NAME="chap01fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn11">11</A>] +One way of looking at it is to reckon up the passions, the follies, the +vengeance of the republicans, to admire or deplore the victory of the +Conservatives, to wonder at the Democrats. But beyond the wishes of +the Democrats there are the doctrines of Democracy, doctrines which +push things towards certain consequences without help from local or +temporary or accidental motives. There is a state built on democratic +principles, and a society built, largely, on anti-democratic elements, +clergy and aristocracy. Those elements of society must needs react +upon the state; that is, try to get political power and use it to +qualify the Democracy of the Constitution. And the state power must +needs try to react on society, to protect itself against the hostile +elements. This is a law of Nature, and the vividness and force with +which we trace the motion of history depends on the degree to which we +look beyond persons and fix our gaze on things.—This is dreadfully +didactic prose. But this is my quarrel with Seeley. He discerns no +Whiggism, but only Whigs. And he wonders at the mistakes of the Whigs +when he ought to be following up the growth and modifications of their +doctrine, and its influence on the Church, on Toleration, on European +politics, on the English monarchy, the Colonies, finance, local +government, justice, Scotland, and Ireland. So you may read in Alison +of the profligacy of Mirabeau, the ferocity of Marat, the weakness of +Louis, the sombre fanaticism +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P8"></A>8}</SPAN> +of Robespierre. But what we want to +know is why the old world that had lasted so long went to ruin, how the +doctrine of equality sprang into omnipotence, how it changed the +principles of administration, justice, international law, taxation, +representation, property, and religion. Seeley is as sick as I am of +the picturesque scenery of the historians of sense, but he does not +like to go straight at the impersonal forces which rule the world, such +as predestination, equality, divine right, secularism, +Congregationalism, nationality, and whatever other ruling ideas have +grouped and propelled associations of men. And my great complaint is +that he so much dislikes the intriguers of 1688 that he does not +recognise the doctrine of 1688, which is one of the greatest forces, +one of the three or four greatest forces, that have contributed to +construct our civilisation, and make 1880 so unlike 1680. See H. of +L.,[<A NAME="chap01fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn12">12</A>] page 50,000. All which things make me more zealous, eager, +anxious about the coming election than you who are in the midst of it, +mindful of the blessing of repose and credulous of Seeley. Therefore I +read with delight the address to Midlothian—more even than the speech +in Marylebone—and am daily refreshed by Lowe, John Morley, even +Rogers,[<A NAME="chap01fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn13">13</A>] and fancy how happy the inquisitors were, who put a stop to +the people they disagreed with! But I can quite feel your sensation in +watching all this. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +If we win, then there will be no rest in this life for Mr. Gladstone. +The victory will be his, and his only. And so will the responsibility +be. Then will come the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P9"></A>9}</SPAN> +late harvest and the gathering in of its +heavy sheaves. And then there will be not much Hawarden for you. +</P> + +<P> +I heartily wish your brothers success—even the riotous +one[<A NAME="chap01fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn14">14</A>]—especially the riotous one. I will come and wish him joy. If +we are beaten, I shall be ashamed to let you see my grief. And as it +is, I am ashamed to tell you how much I should like to hear from you, +because you will suspect that I only want a supplement to the <I>Times</I>, +or a later edition of the <I>Echo</I>. But the next few weeks are going to +be a great turning-point in the history of our lifetime, and I believe +you know how to be generous. Be generous before you are just. Do not +temper mercy with justice. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes April 10, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +There is nothing to regret. Your brother has held a conspicuous +place[<A NAME="chap01fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn15">15</A>] in the most wonderful election contest of this century. He +has held it in a manner which will never be forgotten in his lifetime, +and which will do as much for him as victory; and the picture of the +young untried son bursting into sudden popularity and turning men's +thoughts from the absorbing exploits of his father adds an affecting +domestic feature to that great biography. That meeting at Hawarden, +after such a revolution and such a growth, is a thing I cannot think of +without emotion. +</P> + +<P> +So I cannot offer you anything sincere, except congratulation. We know +now, indeed, that the British Democracy is neither Liberal nor +Conservative in its permanent convictions, and therefore the party +triumph is not as altogether satisfactory and secure as it should be. +But the individual triumph, the homage rendered to a single name, could +not be greater; and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P10"></A>10}</SPAN> +there could not be a fuller atonement for the +desertion of 1874, than a success so personal as to convey dictatorial +authority, apart from party merits and combinations. +</P> + +<P> +Your idea has this advantage, that one must strike when the iron is +hot, and it is now at white heat, and our legislative measures, even +though they involve an early dissolution, ought to be begun soon. What +I should fear most would be that, content with the intense reality of +power, Mr. Gladstone should repeat the unhappy declarations of five +years since in a way that would commit him for all future time; +absolute abdication would be a misfortune all round, and the +Conservative reaction would soon set in. But if an eventual return to +power is not absolutely excluded, if no word is said of what might +happen under certain contingencies, then we should still feel that we +have an invincible reserve force, that, when our first line is broken, +we can proclaim the Jehad and unfurl the green flag of the Prophet. +For the patchwork settlement of 1875 depends on the life of a man who +is several years older than your father,[<A NAME="chap01fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn16">16</A>] who is a duke, and who has +a deplorable habit of falling asleep early in the afternoon. But I +only express this premature fear in view of circumstances which I am +sure every influence in the country, except, perhaps, the influence of +Windsor, will be strained to avert. +</P> + +<P> +Your description of Lowe's generous and feeling sympathy is really +touching. How little I thought, fourteen years ago,[<A NAME="chap01fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn17">17</A>] when he was +the hardest hitter your father had to meet, and when your father said +he +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P11"></A>11}</SPAN> +might well shrink from crossing swords with such a man, that he +would close his active life as your brother's sponsor before vast +constituencies, or that we should come to think of him listening with +tears in his eyes to your brother's speeches, and muttering the words +you tell. +</P> + +<P> +Please tell Herbert that I have followed his proceedings as carefully +as one could at a distance, that I don't think much of his defeat, +that, in short, I go halves with Lowe.[<A NAME="chap01fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn18">18</A>] +</P> + +<P> +I see that your sister made her way into the fray. I trust all the +worry and toil was not too much for Mrs. Gladstone. +</P> + +<P> +We are ending the season here, not as far out of the world as you would +suppose; for I just saw your neighbour Westminster, and here are +Argyll, Cardwell, and Goldsmid. +</P> + +<P> +If Disraeli waits to meet Parliament, and to fall in the daylight, I +may hope to have an opportunity of expressing to you myself all my +sense of the meaning of the victory, and my want of sympathy for you in +your defeat.[<A NAME="chap01fn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn19">19</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Paris May 23, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I have been in Paris only a few hours, and have seen nobody yet but +Broglie, Gavard, and Laugel. I must see Scherer and talk to him about +your visit here in the autumn. I have not been here for two years, and +many of my friends are growing so old that I don't like putting off my +visit to them. So I must keep those who have not that defect for a +happier time. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P12"></A>12}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Paris May 14, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I shall be delighted to inaugurate breakfasting in Downing Street on +Thursday; and I should very much like to drop in the night before, as +you are to be there. But it seems very indiscreet; and if I dine with +Lord Granville, I shall not be able to get away until very late, when +you will be gone to bed. Tegernsee late hours cannot be kept in +London. I will hope for the best, and keep all I have to say, partly +for next week, partly for some more propitious season. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Würzburg May 23, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Although ink was not invented to express our real feelings, I improve +my first stoppage between two trains to thank you for three such +delightful days in London. It was a shame to take up so much of your +busy time, and to persecute you with the serpentine wisdom. I did not +wish to turn into bitterness the sweetest thing on earth, but I fancied +that there are things good to be observed in your great position which +nobody will tell you if you do not hear them from the most wicked of +your friends. Hayward, indeed, who walked home with me the other +night, might claim that title and dispute my prerogative; and I thought +he would be useful to you in many ways until I found out that he is +only solicitous about getting invitations for ——. +</P> + +<P> +Since you detected ... lending herself to a humble intrigue, you can +never be surprised at the revelations of disappointment and +self-seeking, and must not believe that the smiling faces you see +express unmixed loyalty and satisfaction. So I want you to be vigilant +not to resent, but to pursue the work of disarming resentment, and not +easily to persuade yourself that it is done. +</P> + +<P> +To begin at the top. Here is Lowe, positively +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P13"></A>13}</SPAN> +wounded at the +letter offering him a peerage instead of power, and wounded by the very +thing which showed Mr. Gladstone's anxiety not to give him pain, by the +absence of any reason given for being unable to offer him office. For +one so often finds that acts specially showing delicacy and +considerateness, little supererogatory works of kindness, are taken +unkindly. Now that is just a state of mind you can improve away by an +initiative of civility, bearing in mind that what Lowe says to me, his +wife delivers from the house-tops. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +The animosity of the defeated party is natural, manifest, and +invincible. They have offered Greenwood Ł110,000 for his newspaper, +besides general offers of indefinite sums—enough to start it four or +five times over. But the danger is not there, but at home; danger of +disintegration and drifting. Both in church questions, and, +ultimately, in land questions, your father is at variance with the +great bulk of colleagues and followers—Chamberlain and Argyll in one +Cabinet is an anomaly sure to tell in time, especially with Argyll +discontented. So do not undervalue, or neglect, or waste, the social +influence which centres in your hands. +</P> + +<P> +Bismarck is so angry with Münster, that I hope he will transplant him; +meanwhile it ought to be remembered that he, M., not only scouted the +idea of Tory defeat, but wrote most disparagingly of Mr. Gladstone's +influence and position. +</P> + +<P> +Hayward will tell you what I learn from other sources, that Chenery +really wishes to bring the <I>Times</I> round. Mr. Gladstone dislikes +thinking of those things, and allowed Delane to slip from him. Don't +leave the whole thing to be done at No. 18.[<A NAME="chap01fn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn20">20</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P14"></A>14}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I hope, towards the end of the session, you will consult MacColl about +the Bavarian mystery. It would be nice if Leeds does not require its +member just then. Above all things keep a very regular diary. You +will be so glad afterwards, unless you have some distant correspondent, +and make your letters to him, or her, do for a regular diary, which is +also a good plan. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Tegernsee June 1, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I received your letter last night on my return from Italy, and read the +enclosure with interest. There are two things to be said in its +defence. It is true that Hartington has, of late, shown higher +qualities than the world attributed to him, and so far his adoring +kinsfolk may consider their higher estimate justified. His whole +attitude during the election was creditable, and his conduct towards +Mr. Gladstone was correct. +</P> + +<P> +Then, there is a grain of truth in the notion that the force that +creates, and sustains in a crisis, is not quite the same that is wanted +in time of prose to continue and to preserve; or in other words, that +creative power makes a great consumption of party resources, and, if +Burke gave up to party what was meant for mankind, it is better still +to give up to mankind what some people mean to use for party. This is +only a half truth, because party is not only, not so much, a group of +men as a set of ideas and ideal aims; so that I do not admit +Goldsmith's antithesis.[<A NAME="chap01fn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn21">21</A>] But taking party in the practical and +popular sense, of an instrument for homing office, people are uneasily +conscious that Mr. Gladstone will sacrifice it to loftier purpose +sooner than they would like. Nothing is more untrue than the famous +saying of an ancient historian, that power is retained by the same arts +by which it is +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P15"></A>15}</SPAN> +acquired; untrue at least for men, though truer in +the case of nations. +</P> + +<P> +But don't you see, pervading the letter and guiding the pen, the great +intellectual and moral defect of the present day? I mean, the habit of +dwelling on appearances, not on realities, of preferring the report to +the bullet, and the echo to the report. To spend and lose a majority +in some great cause, to be abused and ridiculed and calumniated, seems +to the writer a misfortune so great that it is worth while to haul down +one's flag rather than incur the risk of it. This is the power of +journalism, of salons and club life, which teaches people to depend on +popularity and success and not on the guide within, to act not from +knowledge, but from opinion, and to be led by opinion of others rather +than by knowledge which is their own. Not only ——, nearly everybody +yields up his conscience, his practical judgment, into the keeping of +others. I do not accuse Hartington, but it is clear from the words of +—— and ——, that there was a scheme to get Mr. Gladstone out of the +way. To expect him to take the first step was to expect him to resign. +It is so easy to do a dirty thing with self-satisfaction when it +consists in abstaining from action. The one letter is only the +plausible, affectionate, amplification of the other's impertinence, +with a saving clause, on the first page, inserted from dictation, when +the grievous indiscretion had been committed.... +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +It does not matter seriously; but it serves to corroborate that grave +speech of mine: trust nobody. I don't want you to think ill of people, +or even to suspect them until the evidence is strong. It is not their +virtue I question, but their attachment, and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P16"></A>16}</SPAN> +consequently their +discretion. And I question their attachment because I doubt their +thorough agreement with Mr. Gladstone. I don't say they are +perfidious; but they are bound by an alliance they do not mean to last +for ever. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +I do not cite Northcote and Carnarvon in confirmation. Soon after his +resignation Carnarvon certainly wished to come over. At a solemn +dinner inaugurating him as President of the Society of Antiquaries, he +asked the secretaries to get me to propose his health. In a preceding +speech he spoke of himself as a true Conservative at heart; and so I +took those words up, congratulating him upon them in an Antiquarian, +and eventually in a Liberal sense, indicating that they meant no more +than we mean by constitutional, that there were no Pyrenees between us, +that we entirely agreed with each other. We became close friends from +that hour, and he made it very clear that he was pleased to be so +interpreted. But he got little encouragement afterwards; and I fancied +he honestly took this line—there are intelligent High Church men who +dread, in the looming future, an alliance between democratic +nonconformity and the predestined chief of the stern and unbending +Tories, on the basis of anti-Erastianism. They say that the late +election, swamping the vulgar Whig, has made those two allies stronger +than ever, making each depend upon the other. They would stand a +Liberal Government made up of Spencers and Cowpers, but they say that +the demagogues have been strong enough to force their way in, and will +make their power felt. So that property and the Church are in danger. +I am ashamed to say that I thought this was Carnarvon's line. But +Liddon knows what he says. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P17"></A>17}</SPAN> +Be sure that I also know what I say +when I assure you that the victoria pilgrimage will be a help to your +father, and that Lady R.'s coachman will grease wheels more important +than her own. Do go on, this summer at least, and see whether it is +not true. Lady R. is, moreover, a friend of Lady Blennerhassett, and +will sympathise with your feelings. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +I should not have supported our side in its attack on Sir Bartle Frere. +It was not merely a question of empire, but of lives he would be unable +to protect, against a savage army[<A NAME="chap01fn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn22">22</A>] far stronger than the whole armed +population of Natal. I fancy that the analogy, or apparent analogy, +with the Cabul policy, which he had so much promoted, turned Liberal +opinion against him. But Frere is a strong, an able, and a plausible +man. It is true that his strength is akin to obstinacy and self-will, +that he is rather too plausible, and that he will gain his ends by +crooked paths when he has tried the straight in vain. He is a +dangerous agent, but, I should think, a useful adviser. Indians are +not generally a healthy element in the body politic, and he has the +constant vice of Indians, belief in force. But he has a breadth of +mind that is rare among them; and I have known people who hated him, +because he is so good. I do not suggest that that is the motive of the +three Anabaptists who ply you with advice from which I disagree. +</P> + +<P> +Thanks, a thousand thanks, for all the kindness of your letter. I +enjoyed the Sherbrooke-Airlie-Trevelyan dinner very much, and shall +envy Lady R. every Monday to come.... +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P18"></A>18}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Tegernsee June 9, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +My letter was posted with the one to you, though written, I think, the +night before, so that it must have been stopped and opened by some +postmaster whom the direction attracted, and who, like yourself, +exaggerated its importance. There are truths so prosaic, so dense, so +dull, that one can hardly state them without suggesting the idea of +something subtler or more interesting beyond. Of course, to one who +spends his time in watching and trying to understand the progress of +political life and thought, no public event could equal the late +progress from Dalmeny to Downing Street, and no prouder thing could +happen than to be able to serve Mr. Gladstone's policy. Indeed, if I +was not lured by his genius, his persistent friendship, and a curious +sympathy in many deep questions, I should be, now, by qualities never +so apparent as in the last few days, by the power of grasping principle +in one hand and policy in the other, without clashing, which was shown +in the opium speech, and just before, in the speech on the liability of +employers. I don't know whether I could ever have been of use abroad, +in other circumstances, if my nearest relation was not Foreign +Secretary,[<A NAME="chap01fn23text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn23">23</A>] for there is only one place for which I could pretend to +any special fitness. But as to trying to qualify as a candidate for +anything at home, you would soon be satisfied that it is impossible, if +I had a good opportunity of talking—if we climb a mountain, a very +high mountain, or cross a broad and stormy lake some day.[<A NAME="chap01fn24text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn24">24</A>] But I +think I must remind you of the old lady at Carlisle in Forty-Five, who +shut herself up in terror of the Highlanders, and, not being pursued, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P19"></A>19}</SPAN> +grew impatient, and cried out: "When are they going to begin?" +</P> + +<P> +I am a little disturbed at the highly ingenious and easy solution of +the great party[<A NAME="chap01fn25text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn25">25</A>] question. It is dangerous, at any time, to +multiply sources of weakness. Now there is a source of future weakness +in the idea of power assumed only for a term limited and defined. A +Parliament near its end becomes helpless and unable to act. When the +period fixed, or supposed to be fixed, is approaching, power will slip +away. Disappointed people, men impatient of having to wait, hungry, +jealous, reluctant supporters, will gravitate in other directions, will +promote rivalry, will speed the parting chief, will magnify the rising +sun. By having only Free and Easies, you establish a festive Centre +elsewhere, and the world, revolving in an improper orbit, may lose its +way. There has been, in this direction, a slight waste of capital.... +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>June 9, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Your card came just after my letter was posted. I shall be at Munich +on Friday, and have written to Hallam Tennyson, <I>poste restante</I>; but I +hope to waylay them at the station. It will be pleasant to pilot the +great man through Munich, or on the road to Achensthal, and I will do +my best.... +</P> + +<P> +I hope you will not quarrel with John Morley, for he seems to be making +the <I>Pall Mall</I> the best Liberal paper in England. But he has so many +points of antagonism to Mr. Gladstone that I am afraid. He is a +sceptic; his studies are all French, eighteenth century; in political +economy he is a bald Cobdenite, and will do scant justice to the +political aspects of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P20"></A>20}</SPAN> +French treaty; he is a friend of +Lytton's, and I suspect, of the peccant Strachey;[<A NAME="chap01fn26text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn26">26</A>] he has the +obstinacy of a very honest mind. But I perceive that I am getting to +be a bore.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Tegernsee June 21, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The Tennysons came and went, I am sorry to say, prematurely. They +spent two days with us, and would have gone by Achensee to Innsbruck, +but the rain sent them back to Munich, where they took the train for +Italy. You will be surprised to learn that the Poet made a favourable +impression on my ladies and children. He was not only a gracious Poet, +but he told us lots of good stories, read aloud without pressure, +walked repeatedly with M., and seemed interested in the books he +carried to his room. Lady Acton took him to Kreuth and round the lake, +and liked him well. Yet our ways were very strange to him, and he must +have felt that he stood on the far verge of civilisation, without the +enjoyments proper to savage life. Even I was tamed at last. There was +a shell to crack, but I got at the kernel, chiefly at night, when +everybody was in bed. His want of reality, his habit of walking on the +clouds, the airiness of his metaphysics, the indefiniteness of his +knowledge, his neglect of transitions, the looseness of his political +reasonings—all this made up an alarming <I>cheval de frise</I>. +</P> + +<P> +But then there was a gladness—not quickness—in taking a joke or +story, a comic impatience of the external criticism of Taine and others +found here, coupled with a simple dignity when reading ill-natured +attacks, a grave groping for religious certainty, and a generosity in +the treatment of rivals—of Browning and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P21"></A>21}</SPAN> +Swinburne, though not of +Taylor—that helped me through. He was not quite well, in consequence +of the damp and of the mountain fare. +</P> + +<P> +I write for news to your hotel at Venice, the weather having been +against the Dolomites. +</P> + +<P> +Hallam is a much better and clearer politician than his father, and the +only time we differed he was the truer Blue. If I add that I +discovered why he refused a baronetcy, I suspect it is no more than you +know very well already. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +I have made Liddon's acquaintance at last. Nothing but Tennyson +prevented me from seeing more of him, for I found in him all that I +love Oxford for, and only a very little of what I dislike in it. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="30%"> + +<P> +... Let me suppress truths only when they are pleasant, and confess +that I have a doubt about the scene with O'Donnell. Mr. Gladstone +brought against him an engine as obsolete as the Veto,[<A NAME="chap01fn27text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn27">27</A>] not for the +sake of France, for he could have his say in another way, but for a +disorderly act which was not the worst on record. It seemed a stretch +of severity when the claim to have been severely treated is the most +telling feather in an Irish cap, when the fact of having been silenced +in a new way inflates the lungs, if it does not strengthen the hands, +of a Home Ruler. But perhaps I am so fresh from the history of the +Plebs and their Tribunes that I am not quite sound as to the management +of Obstructives. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P22"></A>22}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Challemel Lacour is the scholar, the philosopher, the ascetic of that +republican school of which Gambetta is the Tribune and the platform +hero. He is their Minister in reserve; and Albert Gate is so +manifestly the stepping-stone to power, he is so conspicuous a leader +of untried policy, that the civility of his reception will be taken in +France as a tribute to his party in a way there has been no example of. +He is probably the most interesting specimen in existence of the school +from which Robespierre would have chosen his colleagues. I should +very, very much like to know how he impresses you; and there is so much +more I should very much like to know, that I must learn to be less +obtrusive. +</P> + +<P> +... If the Bavarian Fawcett[<A NAME="chap01fn28text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn28">28</A>] opened one of my letters, I suspect it +was because they have not got over their perplexity at the Queen +informing the King of Bavaria of the Rammingen misalliance. Only, when +I ask indiscreet questions do not suspect me of asking for indiscreet +answers. +</P> + +<P> +I think Reay deserves a seat in the H. of L. (in the vulgar sense of +those mystic letters),[<A NAME="chap01fn29text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn29">29</A>] because he would perhaps not recognise your +portrait of a barren, contradictory, envious, dissolving cynic. But +the cap fits only too well, and I must acknowledge the fidelity of the +likeness, and the art of Lenbach in the deeper shades. Do you +remember, now, my prophecy on the Piazzetta, when I rejoiced that you +would not stay long enough to learn to hate me? +</P> + +<P> +In worldly quarters you will probably meet with the objection to Reay +that he is more instructive than amusing; but I hardly know a more +genuine good fellow. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P23"></A>23}</SPAN> +Do you know Morier, who is in town? Another +man much objected to, but exceedingly able, resolute, and energetic.... +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +I hope you will see Blennerhassett, and think him worthy of his wife, +who is still at Munich. Thank you for the good news you give from high +places, and for the greasy wheels. Your sister's ears ought to have +tingled at the good things said of her here last week. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Tegernsee July 1, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +... I hope you have not many correspondents as unmerciful as I am, or +as much inclined to forget that you are living the most interesting of +lives, by the intensest blaze of light in all the world. Only let me +just thank you for your letter of yesterday and for your kindness in +asking me to future entertainments. My prospects are too uncertain for +me to accept. I must come only if I am wanted, and we shall hardly +have any close divisions of importance until the end of July. Your +invitations have doubled in value since Reay, whose particular group of +friends is so well known as to betray him to the worst of guessers, has +supplied you with a key—a false key—to my Venetian Mystery. +</P> + +<P> +Don't get tired too easily of London and its duties, for they are very +real. They will not get on without you. And it is of no use coming +over, if you are away on all kinds of larks. +</P> + +<P> +We must wait till Sunday before the result of this evening's debate +reaches Tegernsee. There is not any doubt the motion[<A NAME="chap01fn30text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn30">30</A>] is right; but +I can imagine a much +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P24"></A>24}</SPAN> +stronger statement of objections than the +righteous indignation of the Tories produced. +</P> + +<P> +Let us hope that John Morley was not discouraged by <I>encountering Sweet +Cćsar's ghost on Tuesday</I>. The <I>Pall Mall</I> is getting a little +personal, and too highly coloured in reports of fact. Do you know my +intimate friend Lathbury, political editor of the <I>Economist</I>? A +Weekly is easier to conduct than a Daily; but his articles seem to me +excellent in tone, judgment, and impartiality. He wrote much formerly +in the <I>Daily News</I> and the <I>Pall Mall</I>, and I was negotiating with +Delane to put him on the <I>Times</I> when Bagehot's death gave him the +other opening. His wife was Bonamy Price's daughter. You never saw a +man more frank, cheery, and well-conditioned. +</P> + +<P> +I suppose Hayward has brought ——. Let him bring Chenery, that he may +be useful as well as ornamental. It is not a matter of indifference +that, when other journalists come, he should be left to stay away. +Only don't let his sins be cast in his teeth. +</P> + +<P> +I am afraid you will not take to Morier; but he is the greatest force +in our diplomatic service, in spite of his discomfiture at Lisbon. He +would be the very man to meet Challemel Lacour, who will be an offence +to so many. +</P> + +<P> +Liddon repeated at Munich the story of Carnarvon. He also gave the +excuse which I suggested—that Chamberlain, Fawcett, Dilke alarmed him. +But it is not a pretty story as he tells it, considering the way +Carnarvon turned against the new Ministry. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Tegernsee July 10, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I am heartily glad to hear what you say of Mr. Gladstone's health and +strength and spirits, and of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P25"></A>25}</SPAN> +nook behind Hampstead,[<A NAME="chap01fn31text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn31">31</A>] so +much better than the dull air of the Thames Valley. There must be so +much to harass him besides what appears, and what he can wind up and +swamp in dazzling speech. Rosebery's anxiety is shared by many +thorough Liberals, and it is not, perhaps, unfortunate that the perils +of the position have made themselves felt at once, that the full +warning comes in time, and the remedy can be taken early. +</P> + +<P> +I wonder whether, for a reason you know as well as I do, a thing we all +perceive remains a mystery to the person most concerned to know it. +The Liberal party is held together, not by forces within, but by a +force above it. It consists, like the being that declined a chair, of +two wings and a head. Without Mr. Gladstone's ascendency and the +lustre of his fame, Harcourt, Argyll, and Bright would soon offend +every group into insubordination and incohesion. The jealousy between +the old Liberals, who are losing ground, and the usurping Radicals, and +all other familiar elements of discontent, cannot be restrained by +Parliamentary management alone. There remains a great sphere for +direct personal influence. The men Mr. Gladstone used to look up to, +Peel and Aberdeen, had not much of this, and I fancy he takes from them +the belief that it is unnecessary or undignified. He has been so long +without holding the threads of party: it is so natural, in one who +writes and speaks so much, to suspect those who misunderstand him doing +it voluntarily: it is so natural to him to underrate the effect of +personal contact, that he may think that the sole legitimate method of +mastering men is Parliamentary speaking, or writings addressed to +mankind. But it is worth anything that people should know and see more +of him, in society if possible. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P26"></A>26}</SPAN> +First, because people are +flattered. Next, because they are awed. Last, because they are +conciliated, and so disciplined. And this applies to three sorts +especially—members, diplomatists, and journalists. I am sure all that +public policy can do to strengthen the Government will be done. But I +note an unhappy impatience of those inferior arts my earthy spirit +relies on. +</P> + +<P> +I see how willing the <I>Times</I> is to be taken in hand, in spite of +Walter. Sir Henry Maine, like Stephen, used to write in the <I>Pall +Mall</I>. I don't know whether he has joined Morley. Maine's nature is +to exercise power, and to find good reasons for adopted policy. +Augustus or Napoleon would have made him Prime Minister. He has no +strong sympathies, and is not at heart a Liberal, for he believes that +Manchesterism will lose India. He considers also that the party, +especially Lowe, has treated him less well than Salisbury. He is +intensely nervous and sensitive. After that, I may say that I esteem +him, with Mr. Gladstone, Newman, and Paget, the finest intellect in +England. For some reason he is one of the men whom Lord Granville's +arts do not reach. I wish you would see him.... +</P> + +<P> +It would be very kind of you indeed to ask the Lathburys some Tuesday +or Tuesdays. I say that because he is so much my friend, but he is +also an eminently useful and trustworthy man. His wife wrote much in +the <I>Saturday</I>—I don't remember the article you speak of. When I am a +little in doubt about anything I consult Lathbury, who steadies and +encourages me. When I feel very sure of some conclusion I go to Maine, +who always knocks it to pieces. He is much the more instructive of the +two. The other is more pleasant. +</P> + +<P> +With Maine, above him indeed at the India Office, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P27"></A>27}</SPAN> +is Sir Louis +Mallet, a thoughtful economist, a sincere, almost passionate Liberal, +but under Cobden's influence, one of those sincere Liberals least +attracted by your father. He is very sound beyond the Indus, and I +wish you sometimes saw him; but I ought not, perhaps, to say it, for I +half suspect the Prime Minister has some ancient reason for objecting +to him. +</P> + +<P> +The breakfast with the archbishop,[<A NAME="chap01fn32text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn32">32</A>] the philosopher,[<A NAME="chap01fn33text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn33">33</A>] the +Frenchman,[<A NAME="chap01fn34text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn34">34</A>] and even with G—— does not suggest hilarity. What you +will do for sketches of character after the Reays leave England, I +cannot imagine. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Marienbad August 8, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I don't know how to thank you for thinking of me at such a moment.[<A NAME="chap01fn35text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn35">35</A>] +It was hard to bear being away just then, and you must have gone +through a dreadful time. Even with the scraps of information that +reach one here, I have been able to realise much of it. Almost the +first consoling thing was the report of your escapade with Wolverton. +</P> + +<P> +Every line of your letter is a monument of your goodness, even your +disinclination to go into details. But I am afraid you must have been +terribly knocked up—so soon, too, after your own illness, of which I +will not speak now, but which, indeed, I was very sorry to hear of. +And I do trust that Mrs. Gladstone was enabled to go through it all +without excessive alarm or fatigue. She will not need words to be +assured of all my sympathy. I am persuaded that your greatest +pleasure, just now, comes from the expressive conduct of adversaries, +not from the vain words of friends. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P28"></A>28}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Our defeat in the Lords[<A NAME="chap01fn36text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn36">36</A>] opens a wide vista of difficulty and +trouble—partly because it injures the Government, but not much, and +will probably increase the ascendency of the P.M.; particularly because +of the H. of Lords itself. Nobody will ever believe that such a +majority was due to honest and disinterested motives. People will say, +and will say truly, that an assembly which is moved by selfish and +sordid motives, when there is a question of preventing ruin and +starvation, is not only an injury to the poor, but a disgrace to the +community, and there is no way out of it. Small majorities may give +way or abstain; but after so determined a demonstration, repentance +will be suicidal. And the one instance in modern times where the Lords +have proved stronger than the Commons, because postponement here was +prohibition, is a question of helping the poor who suffer, at a slight +sacrifice and slighter danger to people immensely rich. +</P> + +<P> +We are only beginning with questions of this kind. Did you hear the +speech at the end of May in which Mr. Gladstone spoke of that class +which is so numerous that it is virtually the entire nation? Graver +words were never spoken in Parliament, for the entire land is virtually +in the hands of another class. The considerations which this contrast, +this contradiction suggests, have a mighty future before them, a future +damaging to my boy's prospect of ever sitting on a red leather bench. +</P> + +<P> +I am sorry we were not 52.[<A NAME="chap01fn37text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn37">37</A>] It would have been impressive, like the +Doctrinaires of whom it was said: "Ils sont quatre; mais quand ils +veulent imposer par +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P29"></A>29}</SPAN> +le nombre, ils prétendent ętre cinq." Indeed, +for all the reasons which Argyll repudiates, justifying my prophecy +about him in the spirit, if not to the letter, there has been no +measure for which I should be so anxious to vote. I wrote to Lord +G.[<A NAME="chap01fn38text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn38">38</A>] to send me timely warning, as there was no trouble I would not +take. +</P> + +<P> +Having been to a doctor, without any idea that I was seriously out of +order, I was sent here suddenly, and am forbidden, for reasons I must +acknowledge, to move for some weeks to come. It could not have +happened at a worse moment for me. +</P> + +<P> +I was sorry for Frere, and should probably have allowed his daughter to +come round me.... +</P> + +<P> +It is too kind of you to remember, after all that has passed over you +and the nation, details of former letters. Unless there has been a +change lately, there are two editors of the <I>Economist</I>, one for money +matters and the other for politics. Maine will be proud and happy, and +ought to be much obliged to me for supplying a topic for so pleasant a +conversation. I wonder whether he showed you the luminous side of his +mind, whether you saw why he always disagrees with me, and why some +people are more afraid than fond of him. Whatever passes at the end of +the Session, I do hope that a season of rest is included in our friend +Dr. A. Clark's prescriptions. It might give me some remote chance of +seeing you again. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +That Dutch Interior is charming, and I hope you enjoyed the circle of +widowers as much as I did your graphic account of them. It is +delightful to think of the repose after the storm has been weathered so +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P30"></A>30}</SPAN> +well. Argyll practising his next speech in the solitude of night, +——'s diplomatic deafness and yet more artful slumber, his brother +with a hook placidly fixed in Bright's aggressive nose, the refined +American[<A NAME="chap01fn39text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn39">39</A>] offended by the rigidity of the Democrat, the group of +listening Senators, the harmless youth, the envious beauty—and then +the great historic background and the one overshadowing figure—there +is not a page in Mme. de Rémusat approaching it. Do you write like +this to other people? Do you write at least six pages of diary every +night? Please do; and let me read it now and then. And remember that +one touch of ill-nature makes the whole world kin. If you are really +going to be left at Hawarden, you ought to shut your door, shut your +eyes, recall all that you have seen and heard during the last six +months, and write it carefully down. You have such an opportunity and +such a power. I am not like the Roman:[<A NAME="chap01fn40text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn40">40</A>] I envy almost as much as I +admire. +</P> + +<P> +You make me happy by allowing me to conclude that I gave no offence by +what I wrote of our exalted House. I don't mean that your uneasiness +was quite unreasonable. When a Bill[<A NAME="chap01fn41text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn41">41</A>] gets knocked about in +Committee, even when an artful Minister means it to be knocked about, +it can never go up to the Lords harmonious, consistent, and the genuine +expression of a policy. There are not two sides to every question, but +there is always an opening, in such cases, for sincere criticism. The +way out of that is to pass the second reading, and to correct in +Committee what was done wrong in Committee. What I mean in this case +is that the Bill involved a principle of infinite force and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P31"></A>31}</SPAN> +value, +which the Ministry probably veiled to their own eyes, and which the +Lords were right to resist as a private association, which they are +not; wrong to resist as a disinterested national institution, which is +their claim to exist. +</P> + +<P> +It is impossible to exaggerate the depth of aversion the Bill has +evoked. You must have heard enough of it. One man has spent two days +here for the purpose of telling me how wrong it was. Another writes to +me that he has paired for the session, feeling that Government will be +obliged to those who help them when they are hopelessly wrong, although +the help consists in pairing and going to Vichy. These are idle men, +representative of thousands. +</P> + +<P> +It reminds me of the great landowner, Bedford, who reminds me of +Arthur,[<A NAME="chap01fn42text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn42">42</A>] who reminds me of Maine. I suppose it was a refuge in +Piccadilly that revealed the secret to me. Arthur's one fault is a +delight in secrets. Although Maine is unfitted to be P.M. (under any +but a despotic monarch), nobody has so large a conception of all +questions relating to the tenure of land. I dare say he has been asked +to say what he knows about Ireland. What pure reason and boundless +knowledge can do, without sympathy or throb, Maine can do better than +any man in England. +</P> + +<P> +I am sorry to think of Lowell's sun sinking behind your horizon. At +first sight one always fancies that those who question the certainty of +history sap the certainty of religion, or are the victims of those who +do, and I fancy I should have had a word (with corners) to throw at +him. The Rémusat volumes are one of my landmarks in judging Napoleon. +It is, of all accounts by competent people, the most injurious to his +memory, as +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P32"></A>32}</SPAN> +Segur's are the most favourable. Until I read them, I +thought the fixed intention to put Enghien to death, the charge of +murder, not proven. If the authority of these recollections breaks +down, I must invent for myself a new Napoleon. After allowing for the +fact that they were written, or re-written, years later, like the Diary +of John Adams, the Memoirs of S. Simon, the History of Burnet, of +Clarendon, the Annals of Tacitus, the Nine Muses of Herodotus, the +Eight Books of Thucydides, which are the most conspicuous sources of +all history, and for the suspicion that there was a great secret she +not only could not tell, but wrote in order to obliterate, and after +giving whatever weight it deserves to the little joke that calls it: +"Souvenir d'une femme de chambre renvoyée," I am so persuaded that the +book is authentic and true, that I should have liked to hear the +argument. But this is true, history does not stand or fall with +historians. From the thirteenth century we rely much more on letters +than on histories written for the public. I need not add that the +history of our Lord which we find in the Epistles is one most valuable +testimony in favour of the Gospels. So that even if Lowell can damage +the reports in this book, we can restore the certainty of history by +the aid of letters, of documents and of those facts in which +independent witnesses agree. +</P> + +<P> +Is it not heroic of your sister renouncing a life like your own for the +toil of Newnham? I wish her success and happiness in her pilgrimage +most sincerely. By-the-bye your other sister is the real pilgrim, and +I wish I had known in time to warn my belongings of her movements. +</P> + +<P> +My time here is up, and I go home to-morrow. As a proper P.M.'s +daughter you ought to say you hope +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P33"></A>33}</SPAN> +I was really ill, to justify +fifty-one.... It is absurd to come all the way to England and not to +see you; so I shall come only if I am ideally wanted. I write at once +to discover whether and when. Your telegram is a great disappointment. +I wonder where they will go. Cannes is the place I recommend, but not +till October. If I am not summoned home from Tegernsee for Hares or +Burials,[<A NAME="chap01fn43text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn43">43</A>] I look forward to Ammergau, and wish you were coming. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Tegernsee Sept. 21, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I ought to write no more. I ought to hide my useless hand altogether. +There was a week during which I looked forward to a summons home, a +summons that never came; and after having persistently applied for it, +I thought that it was better not to make the offer of my vote more +urgent than the demand for it. I know how much I have missed and lost. +Circumstances over which I have no control would probably have arrested +my maritime enterprise at Gravesend.[<A NAME="chap01fn44text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn44">44</A>] But how pleasant Holmbury +would have been! And then there was, and is, so much to talk to you +about, so much that evaporates in writing and will not keep, so much +that will. As there can hardly be an autumn session after prorogation +in September, I must wait for the end of January. Meanwhile I hope you +will cultivate the notion of Tegernsee. Such a break with the great +world would do Mr. Gladstone good, and I fancy we could make you like +the place once more. Let me have that hope before me. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P34"></A>34}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +My children went to Ammergau and came back not deeply moved, but +strongly impressed. I let them go without me from a sort of dread many +people must have felt, not because of the chief actor, for a pious, +simple-minded peasant's conception of the two natures is probably not +more inadequate than my own, but what we do gradually realise in +meditating the Passion is the character and experience of the +disciples, the effect of that companionship, the utter human weakness +that survived in the midst of the intense feelings it must have +awakened in them. Those are contrasts that can be expressed, and are +apparently too subtle for the performers at Ammergau. I am told that, +on the whole, the audience remained cold. +</P> + +<P> +The answer to my telegram was signed in a way that led me to doubt +whether it came from you. I trust it was sent by your brother, and +that Mr. Gladstone was not molested by my inquiries on the top of so +many more. It is beginning at the wrong end to read David Copperfield +first, but he is worth anything to busy men, because his fun is so +hearty and so easy, and he rouses the emotions by such direct and +simple methods. I am ashamed to think how much more often I return to +Dickens than to George Eliot. +</P> + +<P> +Do some of the brothers or secretaries make a point of reading the +<I>Temps</I>? Of all that is written against the Ministry and its general +policy, the <I>Temps</I> articles seem to me the most serious and +suggestive, and at Marienbad I went through a course of Austrian +newspapers, which are very hostile, and better written than our Tory +organs, but not near so good as the <I>Temps</I>. I am afraid it is my +friend Scherer. Not being a Frenchman, his patriotism is peculiarly +lively. Don't call Chenery my friend. I have never seen him, and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P35"></A>35}</SPAN> +only know that he is making a mess of the <I>Times</I>. But my reasons were +those you know well, and they will hold good next year. +</P> + +<P> +You are quite right in all your corrections. —— —— is a very good +fellow. His only artifice is his discretion. His mind is accustomed +to travel along roads straight, and wide, and beaten, so that it +accumulates conventional truths and borrowed convictions, but he is as +well meaning and as sincere as a man can well be who is not on the +watch to root up prejudices. His son is threatened with Toryism as +with the gout. I don't know which is worse.... I talk nonsense at +times, because sense is monotonous. It won't do to shrink from hard +speeches and judgments when they are necessary. But it is horrible to +make them when one is not compelled. Do believe me when I say that is +what makes you delightful, and a certain generous, unselfish, +courageous credulity is part of it. Commynes says: "It is no shame to +be suspicious, but only to be deceived." That is a contemporary of +Machiavelli. Two centuries later you will find in Télémaque these +words: "Celui qui craint avec excčs d'ętre trompé merite de l'ętre, et +l'est presque toujours grossičrement." That is the progress of 200 +years. Don't you think you see the distance between Bismarck and your +father? +</P> + +<P> +You have had an excellent idea about those letters. If you go on and +arrange them, it will be very precious to him some idle day, if that +should ever come, and to you all. The inner reality of history is so +unlike the back of the cards, and it takes so long to get at it, which +does not prevent us from disbelieving what is current as history, but +makes us wish to sift it, and dig through mud to solid foundations. I +conclude that all +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P36"></A>36}</SPAN> +political correspondence has been set in order +regularly, otherwise that ought to be thought of too. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +The bit of scandal suspected in the unwritten part of the Rémusat +Memoirs, was supposed to have belonged to the time of the camp at +Boulogne, of which she gives very full accounts. But it is not +necessary to believe all those things. There would be no pure +reputations. I suspend my belief even about Fersen.... They cannot +publish Talleyrand's Memoirs because he tells so many tales of that +kind, and people still living would be surprised to find out who they +are. +</P> + +<P> +I was flattered to know that I had supplied topics of conversation and +even of dispute at Holmbury. I should like always to be accused by +Lord Granville, defended by your father, and sentenced by you. But +don't always associate me with bottles of physic, even in dreams. +</P> + +<P> +From something you wrote I gather that Mr. Gladstone did not altogether +disagree with Forster's sentiments; I am sure I did not; yet it seemed +to me very hazardous to make such a speech in Mr. Gladstone's absence, +suggesting wide differences in the Ministry, rousing expectations which +will go on growing through the autumn, making the Lords more angry than +repentant, using terms so vague that they can be almost honestly +misrepresented, and a great deal more. Home Rule will make great +capital out of the events that happened after your father fell ill. +</P> + +<P> +J. McCarthy's two last volumes[<A NAME="chap01fn45text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn45">45</A>] are not equal to the first, but you +will be interested in reading them. But here is post-time, and I +cannot say one-half. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P37"></A>37}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Tegernsee Sept. 27, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +It is not easy to add to the panegyric pronounced on St. Hilaire by a +too zealous friend in Friday's <I>Pall Mall</I>. That gratifying +description is not quite satisfactory. The writer affirms that St. +Hilaire is an Orientalist of the first rank, and a Greek scholar +unsurpassed in France. He knows Greek thoroughly for working purposes, +but not exquisitely as a scholar; and he has done little, on the whole, +for his idol Aristotle in the way of consulting the manuscripts and +improving the unsettled text. And although he has studied Eastern +religions deeply, I do not believe that he is a master of Eastern +languages. Nor does he live on a third floor in that good street the +Rue d'Astorg. He does not live there at all, but three miles away, in +a charming little bachelor's house at Passy. His rooms, formerly in +the Rue d'Astorg, were "au fond de la cour au premier," and his +maid-servant is not (and was not) elderly, but young, though +ill-favoured. And it is not fair to say, with obvious purpose, that he +never deserts the Thiers dinner-table except for the Germans. I made +his acquaintance at a dinner at Lord Lyons's. +</P> + +<P> +From all which I conclude that the letter is a vehement endeavour to +recommend the new Minister abroad. Last summer St. Hilaire gave me the +three big volumes of his Aristotelian Metaphysics, and, when I +remonstrated, said, "Vous me le rendrez un jour, d'une autre façon." +That is what I am doing at this moment, when I tell you how very highly +I rate the man. +</P> + +<P> +St. Hilaire is quite at the top of scholars and philosophers of the +second class. Not a discoverer, not an originator, not even clever in +the sense common with Frenchmen, not eloquent at all, not vivid or +pointed in phrase, sufficient in knowledge, but not abounding, sound, +but not supple, accustomed to heavy work in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P38"></A>38}</SPAN> +the darkness, unused +to effect, to influence, or to applause, unsympathetic and a little +isolated, but high-minded, devoted to principle, willing, even +enthusiastic, to sacrifice himself, his comfort, his life, his +reputation, to public duty or scientific truth. He is not vain, so +much as didactic; there is a method about him that is a little severe, +a solidity that wants relief. His character has been shaped by long +devotion to a cause that was hopeless, by which there was nothing to +gain except the joy of being a pioneer of ideas assured of distant +triumph. So that he is disinterested, consistent, patient, tolerant, +convinced, and brave. Indeed, courage, contempt of death, is the one +thing I have heard him speak of with something like display. The +Republican party, to which he belonged even under Charles X., and of +which he is the patriarch, had a good deal of dirty work to wash off; +and I have observed that he was not communicative when, in an interest +which it were superfluous to mention, I have tried to learn the secret +history of Republicanism under the monarchy. There are few of them who +never touched pitch. But he and Littre are distinct from most others +by their hard work and their voluntary poverty. +</P> + +<P> +This makes him peculiarly hateful to opponents. A legitimate Marquis +said to me: "C'est un honnęte homme, qui nous coupera la tęte de la +maničre la plus honnęte du monde." People who admit that he is +unstained by the gross vices of his party, speak of him as an +enthusiast, and a dupe, and no doubt expect him to acquiesce, like +Pilate, in all manner of wrong that he will not initiate. +</P> + +<P> +I do not feel that there is no truth at all in these imputations. I +have found that he thinks accurately, that he is even penetrating, but +not impressive. He +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P39"></A>39}</SPAN> +told me the speech he had prepared against the +Jesuits, which, I believe, he never delivered. The argument was: The +conscience of man is his most divine possession. Jesuits give up +conscience to authority, therefore they forfeit the rights of men, +which are the rights of conscience, and have no claim to toleration. I +won't undertake to refute this argument; but it is pre-eminently +unparliamentary, and smells of the oil he burns all day. St. Hilaire +does not believe in the Christian religion, but he has Descartes's +philosophic belief in God, and the elevated morality of the Stoics. +Not the least of his merits is that having spent his life on Aristotle, +he told me that he thought more highly of Plato; and in his +Introduction to the Ethics he shows the weakness of his hero's attack +on Platonism. In saying this he overcame a strong temptation. +Scientifically his great achievement is the transposition of the +several books of the Politics—which were in hopeless confusion before +him. All Germany accepts the arrangement he proposed, and as the work +is the ablest production of antiquity, this is no small matter. As a +moderate, unambitious, totally dispassionate Republican, he belongs to +the Thiers Centre. He thinks Jules Simon the most eminent public man +in France, so that he is scarcely to the Left of Freycinet. He +despises and detests Laboulaye, the oracle of the Centre Gauche. I +often heard, but am not sure, that St. Hilaire turned the scale, and +made Thiers adopt, and enforce, Republicanism. +</P> + +<P> +Forgive me for writing so soon and so confusedly. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Tegernsee October 3, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Don't think me as prolific as ——, but I must begin again, as I had to +send off my letter with nothing but an answer to your question in it. +Lord Granville's +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P40"></A>40}</SPAN> +visit must have been more busy than pleasant; and +their dinner topic is provoking because one always hears that the best +men were those one could not have known. Remembering Macaulay, +Circourt, and Rémusat, I do not care to believe that Cousin or Radowitz +was far superior to them in talk. But then I, again, look back to the +people I knew with regret, and think my contemporaries less amusing. +</P> + +<P> +If ever I see Hawarden again, I hope it will not be for a night and +half a day, but I do not know when that will be. Let us fix our +thoughts on Tegernsee, and pave the way to rest and distraction here +next summer. +</P> + +<P> +Without claiming the discernment of Tennyson, I hold fast to what I +said. There may be people you dislike for one or two reasons. You +have no tenderness for Dizzy; and I am not sure you cared much for +either of our gondola companions. There are one or two unpardonable +crimes in your code, and one or two chasms that even Dante's mercy +cannot bridge. But you never show it, and ill-nature must show itself +in speech. I have no doubt at all that the relish with which you held +up the mirror of my vices the other day had more of sorrow than of +anger, and only a scrap of malice. It must have been Cheney, +especially if it was a reminiscence of Holmbury. Freddy Leveson has a +touching fidelity to monotonous friendships. This one was laid down, I +think, on Holland House foundations. +</P> + +<P> +If I wrapped my poet in too thick a hide of mystery (observe the +joke—own cousin to the Bite of Ecuador), it was because I fancied you +knew that you have no business to be the P.M.'s daughter, and would +never have been, but that Lady Waldegrave, lured by the sweep of the +Thames at Nuneham, neglected, or failed, to hook that brilliant Young +Englander, Monckton +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P41"></A>41}</SPAN> +Milnes, poet and statesman. But I know +several men, some you never heard of, who, looking back along the road +where they took the wrong turning, say to themselves, or at least to +their friends: "Well, well; but for this or that I should be P.M. now!" +</P> + +<P> +I have been prevented from finishing by interruptions, one of which was +the brief appearance of the Freddy Cavendishes, spoiled by their +uncomfortable haste to get away. I suppose what makes her so nice is, +partly her affection for her relations. There certainly was no +<I>arričre pensée</I> in her way of speaking of your father. +</P> + +<P> +You cannot too much cultivate his taste for Dickens. Beware of "Little +Dorrit," "Oliver Twist," and "Dombey." In "Chuzzlewit" the English +scenes are often amusing, but there is a story about Pecksniff that may +repel him. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +Please do not destroy the ease and serenity and confidence of my +letters, which are chatted and whispered, more than written, by wanting +to show them—even to Morley, in whom I have great reliance. I should +write quite differently, as you rightly say, if I was not writing to +the most chosen of correspondents. To Mr. Gladstone I already wrote +what was due to my friendship with St. Hilaire, especially as I fancied +that Downing Street would be strongly prejudiced against him. Do not +turn yourself from an end into a means—one does not justify the +other.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Dec. 14, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I have been afraid to write. The delicious and most spiritual gift[<A NAME="chap01fn46text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn46">46</A>] +was sent to me here, whither we came early, only to find ourselves in +sore trouble, for +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P42"></A>42}</SPAN> +a child had died of diphtheria in our villa just +before we arrived. We had to settle in half-furnished apartments, +where Mrs. Flower[<A NAME="chap01fn47text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn47">47</A>] found us, bringing a flavour of Hawarden. What +has stood in my way is this: Some time ago, recalling a foolish speech +of mine, a year old, and spoken under the spell of a great charm, you +asked me to repeat it on paper. I hesitated long, and whilst I +hesitated, the little volume came, and made it churlish to decline any +wish of yours. I resolved that the best sign of the sincerity of my +gratitude would be to do what you had asked, and to be much more +foolish than ever by putting on impertinent record the evanescent +conversation of Tegernsee. But I have been so fearful of giving you +more annoyance than pleasure, whether by the seeming of flattery or of +censure, that I have allowed myself to slip into a much more grievous +fault. Will you understand me and try to forgive me? I can never +thank you enough for all the friendship of which that beautiful volume +is the treasured symbol. There is so much of your thought in the +beauty of it, and so much in the choice of it—more than you could +guess. A dear friend of mine, now dead,[<A NAME="chap01fn48text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn48">48</A>] devoted himself to the +study of the Sonnets, as the real key to Shakespeare, being the form of +his own ideas, not what he gave to his characters. We discussed them +much together in long evenings at Aldenham, and he wrote a book about +them, which he followed up with a volume called "The School of +Shakespeare"; and the two together are the best introduction to him +that I know.... Swinburne himself has recognised their merit; so that +a lost part +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P43"></A>43}</SPAN> +of my life came back to me with your gift. All which +is to say that, whereas all that comes from you is very precious to me, +if anything could add to its price it was the happy chance that guided +your hand. +</P> + +<P> +Beyond that I must thank you very heartily for the confidence you +showed me in sending me that early letter.[<A NAME="chap01fn49text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn49">49</A>] It fills a large blank +in my conception and understanding of his life, for it shows—for the +first time to me—how large a part of what we know and contemplate with +wonder is an original gift, and was born with him, and how little, on +the other hand, has been added by the training of life. There are +things which experience has restrained, and checked in their +exuberance; but there are almost all the germs of the power that rules +the movements of half a world. When I read that skit of the revered +philosopher,[<A NAME="chap01fn50text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn50">50</A>] it almost seemed to me as if I had sometimes doubted +his greatness, and I think you were very good-natured. He is one of +the few Englishmen of genius; one of the most perfect masters of our +language that ever wrote; and when one has said that, and said it as +forcibly as can be, one comes to a deplorable catalogue of evil +qualities with which I shall not darken my pages. It was very good of +you to send me that introduction. +</P> + +<P> +I went to the Ghetto, and was amazed at the knowledge and conversation +of a lady who turned out to be Mrs. Mark Pattison.... She seemed to be +much in the secrets of the Chamberlain-Morley-Dilke faction, and +despondent about the <I>Pall Mall</I>. But I like Mrs. Flower exceedingly, +though I had only a glimpse of her. I thought her intelligent, +sensible, and good—things not to be lightly spoken of anybody—and +especially +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P44"></A>44}</SPAN> +not to you. As to Lady Blennerhassett, she is +kind-hearted, knows how to think straight, and is the cleverest woman I +ever met out of St. John's Wood.[<A NAME="chap01fn51text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn51">51</A>] If I ever said less than this in +her favour, it would be injustice to do so now. Sir Rowland +Blennerhassett fell at one time into bad hands—hands of Midhat and of +Newman.... I fancied he was half a jingo, half an Ultramontane; and +his wife seemed to back him, and held much aloof from us. They have +richly made up for it since, and there is no Irishman whom I should +more wish to see in conference with your father just now. He told me +so much that was curious and important and concrete, that I begged him +to put our conversation on paper, that I might use it in the proper +quarter. He has not chosen to do it, I fear from a motive of delicacy. +For we suppose that a set is being made against Forster; and he would +not like, by private letters, to contribute to it, as his statements +certainly would have done. But all these are words of wisdom: it is +time for foolishness. I remember the occasion. You wished that you +could disengage your mind from its surroundings, and learn the judgment +of posterity; and I said that, if you chose, you might hear it at once. +How I retrieved my audacity I cannot tell; and it is an awkward matter +to recall, unless, like the ghosts that looked so foolish in the +vestibule of the "Inferno," I avoid both good and evil. +</P> + +<P> +The generation you consult will be more democratic and better +instructed than our own; for the progress of democracy, though not +constant, is certain, and the progress of knowledge is both constant +and certain. It will be more severe in literary judgments, and more +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P45"></A>45}</SPAN> +generous in political. With this prospect before me I ought to +have answered that hereafter, when our descendants shall stand before +the slab that is not yet laid among the monuments of famous Englishmen, +they will say that Chatham knew how to inspire a nation with his +energy, but was poorly furnished with knowledge and ideas; that the +capacity of Fox was never proved in office, though he was the first of +debaters; that Pitt, the strongest of ministers, was among the weakest +of legislators; that no Foreign Secretary has equalled Canning, but +that he showed no other administrative ability; that Peel, who excelled +as an administrator, a debater, and a tactician, fell everywhere short +of genius; and that the highest merits of the five without their +drawbacks were united in Mr. Gladstone. Possibly they may remember +that his only rival in depth, and wealth, and force of mind was neither +admitted to the Cabinet nor buried in the Abbey. They will not say of +him, as of Burke, that his writing equalled his speaking, or surpassed +it like Macaulay's. For though his books manifest the range of his +powers, if they do not establish a distinct and substantive reputation, +they will breed regret that he suffered anything to divert him from +that career in which his supremacy was undisputed among the men of his +time. People who suspect that he sometimes disparaged himself by not +recognising the secret of his own superiority will incline to believe +that he fell into another error of wise and good men, who are not +ashamed to fail in the rigid estimate of characters and talents. This +will serve them to explain his lofty unfitness to deal with sordid +motives, and to control that undignified but necessary work, his +inability to sway certain kinds of men, and that strange property +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P46"></A>46}</SPAN> +of his influence, which is greatest with multitudes, less in +society—and least at home. And it will help them to understand a +mystery that is becoming very prominent, that he formed no school, and +left no disciples who were to him what Windham, Grenville, Wellesley, +Canning, Castlereagh were to Pitt; that his colleagues followed him +because he had the nation at his back, by force more than by +persuasion, and chafed as he did by the side of Palmerston. +</P> + +<P> +Some keys, I imagine, will be lost, and some finer lines will yield to +the effacing fingers: the impress left by early friendship with men who +died young, like Hallam, or from whom he was parted, like Hope Scott; +the ceremonious deference to authorities that reigned in college days +under a system heavily weighted with tradition; the microscopic +subtlety and care in the choice of words, in guarding against +misinterpretation and in correcting it, which belonged to the Oxford +training, which is a growth of no other school, which even in such +eminent men as Newman and Liddon is nearly a vice, and is a perpetual +stumbling-block and a snare for lesser men—these are points +appreciable by those who know him that must be obscure to those who +come after us. They will wonder how it was that an intellect +remarkable for originality and independence, matchless in vigour, +fertility, and clearness, continued so long shrouded in convictions +imbibed so early as to be akin to prejudices, and was outstripped in +the process of emancipation by inferior minds. The pride of democratic +consistency will aim its shafts at those lingering footsteps, as a +scientific age will resent the familiarity and sympathy with Italian +thought to the detriment of more perfect instruments of knowledge and +of power, and that inadequate estimate of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P47"></A>47}</SPAN> +French and German +genius which has been unfortunately reciprocal. +</P> + +<P> +But all the things about which no New Zealander will feel as we do, do +not disturb your appeal to the serene and impartial judgment of +history. When our problems are solved and our struggles ended, when +distance has restored the proportions of things, and the sun has set +for all but the highest summits, his fame will increase even in things +where it seems impossible to add to it. Ask all the clever men you +know, who were the greatest British orators, and there are ten or +twelve names that will appear on every list. There is no such +acknowledged primacy among them as Mirabeau enjoys in France or Webster +in America. Macaulay told me that Brougham was the best speaker he had +heard; Lord Russell preferred Plunket; and Gaskell, Canning. I have +heard people who judged by efficacy assign the first place to Peel, +O'Connell, Palmerston, and to an evangelical lecturer, whom I dare say +nobody but Lord Harrowby remembers, of the name of Burnett. But that +illustrious chain of English eloquence that begins in the Walpolean +battles, ends with Mr. Gladstone. His rivals divide his gifts like the +generals of Alexander. One may equal him in beauty of composition, +another in the art of statement, and a third, perhaps, comes near him +in fluency and fire. But he alone possesses all the qualities of an +orator; and when men come to remember what his speeches accomplished, +how it was the same whether he prepared an oration or hurled a reply, +whether he addressed a British mob or the cream of Italian politicians, +and would still be the same if he spoke in Latin to Convocation, they +will admit no rival. "C'est la grandeur de Berryer avec la souplesse +de Thiers," was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P48"></A>48}</SPAN> +the judgment of the ablest of the Ultramontanes on +his speech on Charities. +</P> + +<P> +There are especially two qualities that will not be found in other men. +First, the vigorous and perpetual progress of his mind. Later ages +will know what in this critical autumn of a famous year is only +guessed, that even now, at 70, in his second ministry, after half a +century of public life, his thoughts are clearing, moving, changing, on +the two highest of all political questions.[<A NAME="chap01fn52text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn52">52</A>] +</P> + +<P> +His other pre-eminent characteristic is the union of theory and policy. +Bonaparte must have possessed the same mastery of infinite detail; and +the best democrats, Jefferson, Sieyčs, and Mill, were firm and faithful +in their grasp of speculative principle. But in democracy that +doctrinal fidelity is neither difficult nor very desirable of +attainment. Its disciples embrace a ready-made system that has been +thought out like the higher mathematics, beyond the need or the chance +of application. The sums have been worked, the answers are known. +There is no secret about their art. Their prescriptions are in the +books, tabulated and ready for use. We always know what is coming. We +know that the doctrine of equality leads by steps not only logical, but +almost mechanical, to sacrifice the principle of liberty to the +principle of quantity; that, being unable to abdicate responsibility +and power, it attacks genuine representation, and, as there is no limit +where there is no control, invades, sooner or later, both property and +religion. In a doctrine so simple, consistency is no merit. But in +Mr. Gladstone there is all the resource and policy of the heroes of +Carlyle's worship, and yet he moves scrupulously along the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P49"></A>49}</SPAN> +lines +of the science of statesmanship. Those who deem that Burke was the +first political genius until now, must at this point admit his +inferiority. He loved to evade the arbitration of principle. He was +prolific of arguments that were admirable but not decisive. He dreaded +two-edged weapons and maxims that faced both ways. Through his +inconsistencies we can perceive that his mind stood in a brighter light +than his language; but he refused to employ in America reasons which +might be fitted to Ireland, lest he should become odious to the great +families and impossible with the King.[<A NAME="chap01fn53text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn53">53</A>] Half of his genius was +spent in masking the secret that hampered it. Goldsmith's cruel line +is literally true.[<A NAME="chap01fn54text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn54">54</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Looking abroad, beyond the walls of Westminster, for objects worthy of +comparison, they will say that other men, such as Hamilton and Cavour, +accomplished work as great; that Turgot and Roon were unsurpassed in +administrative craft; that Clay and Thiers were as dexterous in +parliamentary management; that Berryer and Webster resembled him in +gifts of speech, Guizot and Radowitz in fulness of thought; but that in +the three elements of greatness combined, the man, the power, and the +result—character, genius, and success—none reached his level. +</P> + +<P> +The decisive test of his greatness will be the gap he will leave. +Among those who come after him there will be none who understand that +the men who pay wages ought not to be the political masters of those +who earn them, (because laws should be adapted to those who have the +heaviest stake in the country, for +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P50"></A>50}</SPAN> +whom misgovernment means not +mortified pride or stinted luxury, but want and pain, and degradation +and risk to their own lives and to their children's souls,) and who yet +can understand and feel sympathy for institutions that incorporate +tradition and prolong the reign of the dead. Fill the blanks, deepen +the contrasts, shut your eyes to my handwriting, and, if you make +believe very much, you shall hear the roll of the ages. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Dec. 14, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Don't let me be unjust to Lecky. Dr. Smith asked me to review his +"Eighteenth Century," but added that if I found myself inclining to +severity he would wish to recall the proposal, inasmuch as the +<I>Quarterly</I> had just attacked Tyndall. For it happens that Smith[<A NAME="chap01fn55text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn55">55</A>] +and I sometimes dine at a self-satisfied place that calls itself The +Club. Good men belong to it, but stay away: Lowe, that he may not meet +——, whom he dislikes sober, and detests drunk; the P.M., because he +too much appreciates the sweetness of home; others, for other futile +reasons. The group that continues faithful and carries on the +tradition of Johnson and Garrick is consequently small, and it is a +delicate matter to meet in such close lists men one is editorially +holding up to ridicule and obloquy. Indeed, the presence of both +<I>Edinburgh</I> and <I>Quarterly</I> on that narrow stage imparts a taste of +muttered thunder to most of our meetings. Tyndall and Lecky are +members, and Smith did not like to be on with a new quarrel before he +was off with the old. He had spoken unfavourably of an early and +unripe book of Lecky's, who was gratified when he heard of the message +I had received, and still more when Hayward reviewed him instead of me. +I +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P51"></A>51}</SPAN> +declined, because I was already in the clutches of a longer +task, and because I find that people quarrel with me for reviewing +them—not from dislike of the book. Hayward could find nothing in it +he did not know before. But I was more fortunate; I learned a great +deal, and should have said that it was solid, original, and just. +Perhaps not deep or strong or lively, or even suggestive, for that is a +refined quality, inconsistent with the habit of telling all one knows +and thinks, and dotting all the <I>i</I>'s. The book is lop-sided, having +grown out of a desire to demolish Froude's Irish volumes. And it was a +mistake to treat the central, political history as a thing generally +known, that could be taken for granted. No part of modern history has +been so searched and sifted as to be without urgent need of new and +deeper inquiry, and the touch of a fresh mind. Here is a new volume of +600 pages on Mary Stuart, by a man I never heard of, in which every +other page tells us something unknown before, and the times of Walpole, +Pelham, Pitt, being stirred by no surviving strife, have been much less +studied than the great dispute whether Protestant or Catholic should +reign in England. Neglecting the inexhaustible discoveries before him +in the Archives, Lecky has to give sentence when he gives too little +evidence, to describe characters more fully than careers, and to +obtrude his own very good sense where a true scholar and artist would +take care not to be seen. +</P> + +<P> +There is another defect, due to the secular tone of Lecky's mind, but +common to most historians. The age he writes of was the last in which +permanent political doctrines were formed by ecclesiastical principles. +Men very easily shape their notions of what government ought to be by +their conception of divine right, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P52"></A>52}</SPAN> +of that domain in which the +actual legislator is God. As to one class of minds Church interests +are the supreme law in politics, to others, Church forms are the +supreme example. Nobody is so fanatical as Nigel Penruddocke; but +through subtle channels the influence works, and it was not merely a +propelling, but a constructive force in politics from the end of the +Middle Ages until the middle of the eighteenth century, when it became +fixed in the theories of men like Atterbury, Toland, Hoadley, Wilson, +Warburton—whose innermost instincts might be better exposed. +</P> + +<P> +As to the novel of the season,[<A NAME="chap01fn56text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn56">56</A>] it is so dull and so absurd that I +cannot get beyond the first volume. Except querulousness, it has +nearly all the bad qualities of old age; and if St. Barbe is meant for +Thackeray, it is contemptible even in caricature. My neighbour +Salisbury must feel that his time is soon coming. +</P> + +<P> +There is a little disappointment for Hayward even in the "Life of Fox." +There is less pioneer's work in it than in Fitzmaurice. But the +fulness of knowledge, the force and finish of the style (you see by my +three F's that I have been studying the Irish question) have revealed a +new man. I see him compared to his uncle,[<A NAME="chap01fn57text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn57">57</A>] and I think it is not an +exaggeration, though Taine says there have been only two men in the +world who had Macaulay's perspicuity. G.O.[<A NAME="chap01fn58text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn58">58</A>] is as transparent as +graceful, and more easy. The only thing that has shocked me yet is his +presumptuous assurance about the authorship of Junius. It is a Whig +dogma that Francis was Junius; but that is mere Macaulayolatry. I have +seen half the arguments that convinced me +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P53"></A>53}</SPAN> +thirty years ago fall to +pieces; and I am provoked that Trevelyan gives me old conclusions +instead of new proofs. If his speaking has made as much progress as +his writing, the Government has acquired a future Secretary of State. +But I am still unhappy at their meeting Parliament with Courtney out in +the cold. +</P> + +<P> +As I quote Taine, I ought to say that I do not agree with him. The +problems Macaulay made so clear were not the most difficult. Fenwick's +attainder, and the theory of standing armies—purple patches in the way +of exposition—are trifles compared with questions which jurists, +divines, economists have to discuss. The phases of the Pelagian +controversy, or the principles of government about which the Lutheran, +Zwinglian, Calvinist, and Anglican Churches contended, would better +have tested his power of making darkness clear. +</P> + +<P> +I am glad that I wrote to Fagan before reading his book.[<A NAME="chap01fn59text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn59">59</A>] For I +wrote about the Italian correspondence, which is curious. But the +biography does not deserve the praise it gets from partial people in +Downing Street. Houghton, I hear, has written ill-naturedly about +Panizzi; but the book is as full as an egg of mistakes, and of things +worse than mistakes, so that even remonstrance would be thrown away. +You will read with interest two volumes of Mérimée's letters to +Panizzi, just coming out. He was a bad man, and generally wrong; but +few men ever wrote so well. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +I will get the <I>Church Quarterly</I> at Nice, where I go to see my friend +Arnim, who is dying there, and shall +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P54"></A>54}</SPAN> +be very curious to read the +article.[<A NAME="chap01fn60text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn60">60</A>] There is not a more interesting or unexhausted topic in +all history than Julian, but I would have waited for the promised +edition of his work against the Christians, which had not appeared when +I left Germany. +</P> + +<P> +Here is Parker,[<A NAME="chap01fn61text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn61">61</A>] fresh from Hawarden; and when I think of your long +and obstinate cold, I cannot help regretting that you did not make the +Cardwells bring you to Montfleury, where they are our nearest +neighbours. He is much better than half a year ago, but very weak. +For three weeks the sun has shone all day. Greatcoats and umbrellas +are obsolete; and we have the most beautiful walks. +</P> + +<P> +T. B. Potter, also at Montfleury, and a great favourite with my +children, keeps me supplied with Cobdenian literature, and I have read +Brodrick[<A NAME="chap01fn62text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn62">62</A>] with much pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +Of course we are always thinking of Ireland, wishing for heroic +treatment, such as would have saved Louis XVI. and the old French +Monarchy, despairing of the needful overwhelming majority in the +Commons, of any majority in the Lords, of union and strength in the +Ministry; cheered by several intelligent letters and articles in the +newspapers, sure only of the chief, and more sure of his strong mind +than of his strong hand. If he has time for anything else, I hope he +has read <I>La Belgique et le Vatican</I>, the volume published by +Frere-Orban, the Belgian Minister, a weighty study of Vaticanism. +</P> + +<P> +I am under the shock of the sudden Cabinet and of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P55"></A>55}</SPAN> +the Standard +article, and am waiting for an answer to a telegram to know whether I +must come at once. If not now, then on Monday or Tuesday before the +opening, for I want to get the cue of the situation from the P.M. (an +affair of five minutes), to see you, not quite so rapid a proceeding, +and to hear the first debates. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Dec. 27, 1880</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Your patient and forgiving letter is my best Xmas gift. It will be a +joy indeed to see you again next week. I hope not only in the midst of +gilded ceremonial. +</P> + +<P> +It is so like you to take my nonsense kindly and only to dispute the +praise. But I am not quite so far off as you imagine. In speaking of +home I must have indicated by a—break, that there was a change of key; +that I could not stay among the lofty entities that surround Tennyson +even when he butters toast, that I was coming down from the silver side +of the clouds and groping for things of earth. So that my climax is +not quite literally meant. Having thus paved the way to retreat from +an exposed position, let me take my stand for a moment, and say that I +think it not quite untenable.... You yourself, who have shared so much +of your father's thoughts and confidence, have hardly adapted yourself +to his chosen tastes and special pursuits? In more than one of the +later phases of his life, I fancy you hardly recognised the secret laws +of the growth of his mind, and join him sometimes by an effort, over a +gap. There is an ancient scholar at Cannes, who told me that he has +such confidence in the P.M. that he feels sure he will succeed in +defending his policy. I partly said and partly thought that anybody +can be on +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P56"></A>56}</SPAN> +Mr. Gladstone's side who waits to be under the thrall of +his speech. The difficulty is to hear the grass growing, to know the +road by which he travels, the description of engine, the quality of the +stuff he treats with, the stars he steers by. The scholar is old and +ugly, and, it may be, tiresome. It is impossible to be less like you. +But is there not one bit of likeness—in the stars? +</P> + +<P> +Really it is time for me to adopt the Carey tactics and run away from +my post of defiance. +</P> + +<P> +You know one of the two subjects. You will know the other on the last +night of the debate on the address. I am only listening to the grass. +</P> + +<P> +You will not resist what I said of our five Ministers if you will +consider one word. I think I spoke of their best qualities, not of all +their qualities. Pitt's art of making himself necessary to the King +and the constituencies is unapproached. But then it is a vice, not a +merit, to live for expedients, and not for ideas. Chatham was very +successful as a War Minister. Mr. Gladstone has not rivalled him in +that capacity. I fancy that both Pitt and Peel had a stronger hold +than he has on the City. Please remember that I am possessed of a Whig +devil, and neither Peel nor Pitt lives in my Walhalla. The great name +of Mr. Canning and the greater name of Mr. Burke[<A NAME="chap01fn63text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn63">63</A>] are the only names +that I hold in highest honour since party government was invented. +</P> + +<P> +You can hardly imagine what Burke is for all of us who think about +politics, and are not wrapped in the blaze and the whirlwind of +Rousseau. Systems of scientific thought have been built up by famous +scholars on the fragments that fell from +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P57"></A>57}</SPAN> +his table. Great +literary fortunes have been made by men who traded on the hundredth +part of him. Brougham and Lowe lived by the vitality of his ideas. +Mackintosh and Macaulay are only Burke trimmed and stripped of all that +touched the skies. Montalembert, borrowing a hint from Döllinger, says +that Burke and Shakespeare were the two greatest Englishmen. +</P> + +<P> +But when I speak of Shakespeare the news of last Wednesday[<A NAME="chap01fn64text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn64">64</A>] comes +back to me, and it seems as if the sun had gone out. You cannot think +how much I owed her. Of eighteen or twenty writers by whom I am +conscious that my mind has been formed, she was one. Of course I mean +ways, not conclusions. In problems of life and thought, which baffled +Shakespeare disgracefully, her touch was unfailing. No writer ever +lived who had anything like her power of manifold, but disinterested +and impartially observant sympathy. If Sophocles or Cervantes had +lived in the light of our culture, if Dante had prospered like Manzoni, +George Eliot might have had a rival. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +I do think that, of the three greatest Liberals, Burke is equally good +in speaking and writing; Macaulay better in writing, and Mr. Gladstone +better in speaking. I doubt whether he feels it; and if he does not +feel it, then I should say that there is a want of perfect knowledge +and judgment. That want I see clearly in his views as to other men. +He hardly ever, I think, judges them too severely. Sometimes I am +persuaded he judges with an exceeding generosity, and I fancy it is +because he will not charge his mind with uncharitableness, because he +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P58"></A>58}</SPAN> +does not allow for the wind, that he does not always make bull's +eyes. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Athenćum Jan. 14, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +It is impossible to leave England without emotion, when my last glimpse +of your father was lying in bed and in the great doctor's hands. It +will indeed be such a charity if you will send a line on a P.C. by +to-morrow, Saturday's post, to me at Goschen's, Seacox Heath, +Hawkhurst, Kent, that we may have Sunday's comfort in good news, and I +say advisedly a P.C. that you may not suspect me of an artifice to +obtain that other delight, of an early letter, such as those you write. +Don't let the lesson of suspicion turn against the teacher. Don't even +let it damage anybody much. I will not spoil my own ideal. That +American book is too wicked![<A NAME="chap01fn65text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn65">65</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Forgive me if there is one point, if only one, on which I do not agree +with Ruskin, who never writes to any one what might hot be written to +the world, on the fly-leaves of books. +</P> + +<P> +Your mother must think me an ill-mannered wretch, even if she did not +discover it before—for going away without thanking her for that +beautiful photograph. I did not feel sure, at first, how much she was +weighted with trouble, for I had never witnessed her serene courage. I +will leave it to you, if you please, mindful of an exquisite proverb +quoted this evening in the House as follows: Speech is silence, but +silver is golden. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P59"></A>59}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Jan. 20, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +What I said of Ruskin was only to excuse the platitude I wrote in his +book, not to rescue my letters from appropriate destruction. +</P> + +<P> +You evidently think that George Eliot is not the only novelist at whose +feet I have sat, and that I have learned from "Endymion" the delicate +art of flattery. So that the seed of suspicion has taken root after +all, and I hang by my own rope. +</P> + +<P> +We might perhaps agree about Trevelyan better than you suppose. I +probably started from a lower estimate of the man, and was astonished +at his fulness of knowledge and the vigour of his pen. The oblique +style of narrative is said to be an invention of Gibbon, and Trevelyan +is of course full of Gibbon's times and writings. And I quite agree +with you that the business of historians is to get out of the way, and, +like the man who plays Punch, to concentrate attention on their +personages. Nobody, however, did this less than his illustrious uncle. +</P> + +<P> +I shall look out with extreme interest for your kinsman's[<A NAME="chap01fn66text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn66">66</A>] review of +George Eliot. I heard so many hard things said of her by Arnold and +Palgrave, but Wolseley is one of her admirers. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Jan. 21, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +My letter was hardly posted when yours arrived. Besides what you +mention, Arthur Lyttelton would find an important paper in the <I>Pall +Mall</I> of the last week of the year, on the early Warwickshire life of +George Eliot, and a letter of hers on the original of Dinah. I fancy +it would be worth while to look up +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P60"></A>60}</SPAN> +some of her Westminster reviews +between 1850 and 1854; and the last word of her philosophy is more +outspoken in Lewes's scientific writings than in her own. +</P> + +<P> +It is hard to say why I rate "Middlemarch" so high. There was a touch +of failure in the two preceding books, in "Felix Holt," and even in +"Romola." And it was "Middlemarch" that revealed to me not only her +grand serenity, but her superiority to some of the greatest writers. +My life is spent in endless striving to make out the inner point of +view, the <I>raison d'ętre</I>, the secret of fascination for powerful +minds, of systems of religion and philosophy, and of politics, the +offspring of the others, and one finds that the deepest historians know +how to display their origin and their defects, but do not know how to +think or to feel as men do who live in the grasp of the various +systems. And if they sometimes do, it is from a sort of sympathy with +the one or the other, which creates partiality and exclusiveness and +antipathies. Poets are no better. Hugo, who tries so hard to do +justice to the Bishop and the Conventionnel, to the nuns and the +Jacobinical priest, fails from want of contact with the royalist +nobleman and the revolutionary triumvirate, as Shakespeare fails +ignobly with the Roman Plebs. George Eliot seemed to me capable not +only of reading the diverse hearts of men, but of creeping into their +skin, watching the world through their eyes, feeling their latent +background of conviction, discerning theory and habit, influences of +thought and knowledge, of life and of descent, and having obtained this +experience, recovering her independence, stripping off the borrowed +shell, and exposing scientifically and indifferently the soul of a +Vestal, a Crusader, an Anabaptist, an Inquisitor, a Dervish, a +Nihilist, or a Cavalier without +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P61"></A>61}</SPAN> +attraction, preference, or +caricature. And each of them should say that she displayed him in his +strength, that she gave rational form to motives he had imperfectly +analysed, that she laid bare features in his character he had never +realised. +</P> + +<P> +I heard the close of Friday's debate, and was much distressed at the +hopeless badness of C——'s speech. But the situation gained by the +result, and still more by what passed on Monday. +</P> + +<P> +The topic of the reason for delay is, as I hinted at my last moment, a +very delicate one, and not to be discussed lightly. Suppose there is +bloodshed in Ireland before the Protection Bill passes; then a reproach +would lie at their door for thinking more of eventualities that regard +themselves than of the immediate danger to life, and the heavy strain +on families of small means dependent on their own or other people's +rents. And there will be this argument to meet, that less severity in +October or November would go farther than greater severity in March. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +The journey across France was really freezing. So I remained at Paris +for a few hours' rest and no visits. Bisaccia came south in the same +train, and Goldsmid, who gives me a dinner to-night. I see by the +papers that it is still too cold for your pony-carriage. +</P> + +<P> +My whole social philosophy consists in the desire not merely to gratify +by civilities, but to bring men into contact with Mr. Gladstone—be it +by breakfast, dinner, or small and early, or even by a formal talking +to like ——'s—and your best art, together with the due discharge of +pasteboard, will be to bring him to bear, directly, on the seventy or +eighty men who want it, and are fit for it, and don't neglect Lady +Spencer's +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P62"></A>62}</SPAN> +parties, or Lady Granville's less multifarious evenings. +It is the confrontation, not the ceremony, that matters. False +believer,[<A NAME="chap01fn67text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn67">67</A>] because impostor, not to say hypocrite. I mean that, +beyond his charitableness and a written eloquence that always fills me +with an unspeakable admiration and delight, I do not believe in your +artful philosopher; that the differences revealed to us by his +writings, his conversation at Hawarden, the letter you treated so +generously, cut down to the bone, and leave me no space or patience for +anything better than a gracious courtesy. Therefore, in abetting your +studies in Ruskinese, I am no better than a humbug, which is not a word +to be written in books that will live and will irritate as long as the +language. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Jan. 28, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +My faults are to you an opportunity of displaying those qualities to +which you will not let me allude. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +Those are not truisms about George Eliot. The reality of her +characters is generally perfect. They are not quite always vivid, or +consistent. They degenerate sometimes into reminiscences. But they +live a life apart from hers, and do not serve her purposes. I wonder +whether Arthur Lyttelton knows any good German criticism of her; I +don't think I have seen any. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +The Tories were sure to cheer as wildly as the Irish hit. You have, I +fancy, felt the weakness of Forster's great speech,[<A NAME="chap01fn68text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn68">68</A>] which, to the +eye of a practised revolutionist, slightly disparages the Government. +</P> + +<P> +He makes out an irresistible case against those who +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P63"></A>63}</SPAN> +think all is +right in Ireland, so far at least as to need nothing exceptional from +Parliament. He thinks little of the man—the imaginary hearer—who +thinks that the Irish peasants have a case; that the suffering and the +wrong are real, and are partly the work of the law; that the horrors +which fill us with impatience are the direct—though not the +unmixed—consequence thereof; that the first way to remove effects is +to remove the cause; that, whereas all this is certain, it remains to +be proved that the evil is beyond that treatment; and that the movement +which has its root in the soil, cannot be so dissociated from the +movement that has its root in America, that the one may heal and the +other may starve. Probably he does not wish to speak of remedial +measures beforehand, and in the same comminatory breath, or to dwell +too much on the purely revolutionary peril, which is a delicate topic, +about which people are not agreed, and which it is awkward to prove. +But he is so little occupied with the one real objection, in this +speech charged with the wisdom of many Cabinet discussions, that one +wonders whether that other line of thought, so repugnant to the +Castle,[<A NAME="chap01fn69text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn69">69</A>] was ever forcibly put forward in the Cabinet. +</P> + +<P> +What you say of great men manifesting only themselves in their +works—the predominance, one should say, of the lyrical mood—is +profoundly true. Milton and Byron are supreme examples. It is the +reason why there are so few great epics, and so few great—there are +many good—histories. It is, in higher literary work, the same +solicitude that makes it almost impossible for men to think of the +right instead of the expedient. You can hardly imagine how people +wondered what Mr. Gladstone's motives were in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P64"></A>64}</SPAN> +Bulgarian +affair. Most politicians would be ashamed of having done any +considerable thing because it was right, from no motive more clever +than duty. +</P> + +<P> +Fancy the <I>Encyclopćdia Britannica</I> asking me to do their article on +Jesuits! I answered that I hoped they would have one on Mrs. Lewes. I +have written my testimony to Mr. Cross,[<A NAME="chap01fn70text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn70">70</A>] encouraging him about the +intended life.... Thank you a thousand times beforehand for every +chance line you promise me. You do not know how to say things that are +not interesting. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Feb. 2, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +There is no way of describing the light and the joy which your letters +bring to this place of exile, with all the reality of the old country, +and with the ideal which belongs only to you and yours. I was hoping +that you had heard the glorious speech.[<A NAME="chap01fn71text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn71">71</A>] It must have been a treat +for you; and we saw at once, from our <I>Pall Mall</I> itself, how profound +the impression had been. My imaginary listener, if he had listened, +might not have remained unconverted. Certainly, as you say, the +strongest confirmation of both speech and policy is the attitude of +these ill-conditioned Irishmen. As I have paired with Lord Limerick +(who has married a Miss Colquhoun of Cannes, and prefers bondage at his +father-in-law's villa to the protection of the land-league in his +ancestral domain, and who would support the Bill), I have virtually +paired against it, and am, I dare say, the only peer on that side, +unless Henry Stanley[<A NAME="chap01fn72text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn72">72</A>] escapes from Clare, where he is detained, +under pretence of Boycotting, by the transparent artifices of +friends.... +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P65"></A>65}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I was prepared to believe the <I>Standard</I> account by a visit from +Wolverton, who offered to show me his last letter from Downing Street, +and I told him I thought he could do it. He was delighted to find the +Hawarden photograph at Cannes. You will not see him for a fortnight, +unless he lost all his money to-day at Monte Carlo. He deserves to +lose it. He wants a strong Coercion Bill and an illusory Land Bill; +but his party and personal loyalty make up for much obdurate deafness +to the Morley predications. +</P> + +<P> +I am very much obliged indeed for your message about Trevelyan. I +talked about bringing in outsiders, and men not of one's own politics; +and I spoke of Trollope and Morley in the former capacity, and of +Goschen in the latter. Trollope is condemned as noisy. There are +obvious objections to a newspaper editor, and the particular Lyttelton +objection was urged, in a letter to me, by Reeve.[<A NAME="chap01fn73text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn73">73</A>] Derby and Arthur +Russell put forward G.O.,[<A NAME="chap01fn74text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn74">74</A>] and I leave Goschen in the lurch until he +answers my letter from Paris pointing out the error of his ways; but I +hope you will be gracious to him before he goes. Goschen is above +sordid motives. He dreads the Radicals, detests ——, despises ——, +and, if left to himself and the nearest influences, he will drift away. +His lips have never been touched with the sacred fire of Liberty. His +international soul has never glowed with the zeal of the good old +cause. He is moved by the fears to which City men are prone, and there +are people more calculating than he is, who work those fears, partly to +check the Government, partly to provide a new chief for the Opposition. +Nobody can keep him straight but Mr. Gladstone. There is nothing +present to offer him, as +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P66"></A>66}</SPAN> +I take it for granted that one Budget +will not satisfy his—the P.M.'s—vast financial designs. But he can +employ the plan of Napoleon, who said to reluctant tribunes: "Que ne +venez vous discuter avec moi, dans mon Cabinet? Nous aurions des +conversations de famille." It is not a profound constitutional view of +the uses of an opposition; but there is a hint in it for Mr. Gladstone, +who underrates his own power over men in private. The bill as sketched +by the <I>Standard</I> will strengthen his hold on Goschen. +</P> + +<P> +Chamberlain has been often as indiscreet as the theory he expounded to +F. Cavendish implies, but he can hardly have prompted the <I>Standard</I>. +</P> + +<P> +I am glad to think of Dizzy dining at No. 18. I wonder whether it is +because Lord Granville has heard he is Rowchester.[<A NAME="chap01fn75text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn75">75</A>] Your choice of +topics shows how you were on your guard with Sir Bartle. The true +thing about him is the strength, not the softness. I know that many +have been taken in by that assumed quality, and much resented it. The +right place for him would be in Asia Minor. +</P> + +<P> +If you were to see those letters you would say that Burne-Jones is not +the only hand at missing a likeness; but in politics you would +recognise exactly what must have been your impression, that I had +strung my expectations a little above practicable height, and came down +with anguish to the baseness of prose—like the heroine of my dreams (I +mean Dorothea, not the lady whose name is in your letter). +</P> + +<P> +I fear there is a perceptible change for the worse in Cardwell. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P67"></A>67}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Feb. 10, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +You have gone through an anxious time, and I need not say where my +thoughts were fixed during the week of Revolution.[<A NAME="chap01fn76text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn76">76</A>] I trust you are +well out of it, and found relief at Lubbock's. Wolverton is growing +excited and goes back. I shall miss his good spirits, his keen +pugnacity, his singularly practical and unphilosophical view of +politics, and Godley's[<A NAME="chap01fn77text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn77">77</A>] letters. And I don't know whether the +Government will gain an adviser prompt, if they make a mistake, to help +them to find it out. +</P> + +<P> +I have suggested to May[<A NAME="chap01fn78text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn78">78</A>] a precedent for the action of the Speaker +in stopping the discussion. It was three days before the Little +Gentleman in Black Velvet[<A NAME="chap01fn79text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn79">79</A>] at Hampton Court changed the dynasty. +The House was in Committee; the Tories were getting the worst of it and +wished to prevent a division. The Whigs would not hear of an +adjournment, and were jubilant, when one of their number had a stroke +of apoplexy. Harley, the Speaker, in concert with the Chairman, seized +the opportunity, took the chair, and closed the debate. Although the +majority was floored, nobody seems to have remonstrated. I presume it +is not on the Journals, and does not count. +</P> + +<P> +In the hundreds of reflections suggested by the day of the scene, and +of the superb speech, there is one slightly laced with regret (laced is +a metaphor taken from toddy and negus). Once in 1816, the extreme +Royalists, taking offence, walked out of the Chamber of Deputies. The +majority were about to vote when +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P68"></A>68}</SPAN> +De Serre[<A NAME="chap01fn80text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn80">80</A>] said: "Personne ne +croira que j'approuve, męme indirectement, l'espčce de scission dont +nos yeux sont frappés en ce moment. Mais je demande s'il ne serait pas +de la sagesse, je dirai męme de la générosité de la majorité ici +constatée et qui pourrait delibérer trčs légalement, de remettre la +séance ŕ demain. Il importe qu'on ne puisse pas dire que vous avez +refusé d'entendre ceux de vos membres qui pourraient avoir des +observations ŕ faire." And the debate was adjourned. +</P> + +<P> +I like to quote De Serre, for though a Tory in those days, he would +have developed if he had lived; and there is no statesman in French +parliamentary history who has so much analogy with Mr. Gladstone. +</P> + +<P> +Arrival of your letter from High Elms,[<A NAME="chap01fn81text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn81">81</A>] with enclosure—I was +surprised at those Irishmen going astray so hopelessly, when they had a +man amongst them who knows so much about parliamentary tactics as +Justin McCarthy. Their anger at the arrest of Davitt shows that it was +not properly deliberate. One argument with which you must have grown +familiar in the autumn comes to one's mind again since the Resolution. +Free government is government by consent; and consent is conveyed by +the choice constituencies make of their representatives. In a local +and circumscribed, not imperial question, legislation must, as a rule, +depend on the consent of those concerned, as represented in Parliament. +This argument is not conclusive against Coercion, because the Land +League has not even an Irish majority on its side. But it might apply +to the three quarter vote.[<A NAME="chap01fn82text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn82">82</A>] In a purely Irish question the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P69"></A>69}</SPAN> +whole Irish representation might be swamped and silenced by half the +House. I think the Irish might make some play here by insisting on the +distinction between wanton obstruction—stoppage of imperial measures +and paralysis of the House—and obstruction on their own exclusive +ground. Wanton obstruction cannot be tolerated in a Parliament that +legislates for one-fifth of mankind, although it was the method by +which Rome acquired liberty. But the Resolution makes even local +obstruction impossible to the unanimous people of Ireland. It +establishes a degree of subjection that did not exist before. As the +test of liberty is the position and security of minorities, it has to +encounter a very grave objection which is not felt in Mr. Gladstone's +time, but might be, under men like Harcourt, or the late Lord Derby, or +George Grenville. +</P> + +<P> +As the police[<A NAME="chap01fn83text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn83">83</A>] are responsible, I hope Mr. Gladstone will always be +ready to listen to their advice. But he knows very well that it is the +function of the police to take fright, and to wish to be very much +indeed on the safe side. +</P> + +<P> +I am glad you saw more of Lubbock, and liked him better. He has +astonishing attainments, and a power of various work that I always +envy. And he is gentle to the verge of weakness. He has something to +learn on the gravest side of human knowledge; apart from that he would +execute his own scheme[<A NAME="chap01fn84text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn84">84</A>] better than almost anybody. How I should +like to see my own List of Authorities drawn up by you! There was a +Pope who said that fifty books would include every good idea in the +world. Literature has doubled +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P70"></A>70}</SPAN> +since then, and one would have to +take a hundred. How interesting it would be to get that question +answered by one's most intelligent acquaintances: Winton,[<A NAME="chap01fn85text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn85">85</A>] +Dunelm,[<A NAME="chap01fn86text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn86">86</A>] Church, Stanley, Liddon, Max Müller, Jowett, Lowell, +Freeman, Lecky, Morley, Maine, Argyll, Tennyson, Newman, W. E. G., +Paget,[<A NAME="chap01fn87text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn87">87</A>] Sherbrooke, Arnold, Stephen, Goldwin Smith, Hutton, +Pattison, Jebb, Symonds, and very few others. There would be a +surprising agreement. One is generally tempted to give a preference to +writers whose influence one has felt. But that is often accidental. +It is by accident, by the accident that I read Coleridge first, that +Carlyle never did me any good. If I had spoken of him it would not +have been from the fulness of the heart. Excepting Froude, I think him +the most detestable of historians. The doctrine of heroes, the +doctrine that will is above law, comes next in atrocity to the doctrine +that the flag covers the goods, that the cause justifies its agents, +which is what Froude lives for. Carlyle's robust mental independence +is not the same thing as originality. The Germans love him because he +is an echo of the voices of their own classic age. He lived on the +thought of Germany when it was not at its best, between Herder and +Richter, before the age of discipline and science. Germany since 1840 +is very different from that which inspired him; and his conception of +its teaching was a grotesque anachronism. It gave him his most +valuable faculty, that of standing aside from the current of +contemporary English ideas, and looking at it from an Archimedean +point, but it gave him no rule for judging, no test of truth, no +definite conviction, no certain method and no sure +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P71"></A>71}</SPAN> +conclusion. +But he had historic grasp—which is a rare quality—some sympathy with +things that are not evident, and a vague, fluctuating notion of the +work of impersonal forces. There is a flash of genius in "Past and +Present," and in the "French Revolution," though it is a wretched +history. And he invented Oliver Cromwell. That is the positive result +of him, that, and his personal influence over many considerable +minds—a stimulating, not a guiding influence; as when Stanley asked +what he ought to do, and Carlyle answered: "Do your best!" You see +that I agree with the judgment of the <I>Times</I> (outer sheet); and the +<I>Daily News</I>, preferring him to Macaulay and G. Eliot, and +constructively to Mill or Newman or Morley, seems to me ridiculous. I +should speak differently if, reading him earlier, I had learned from +him instead of Coleridge the lesson of intellectual detachment. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +How could you read Laveleye's foolish letters? Pray don't believe him. +His speech about Herbert Spencer is an after-thought. He said he +thought him inferior to Mill; the rest is padding. As he has emptied +his sack of compliments on me I am sorry to think of the other things +you would have him say, for they must be in the other key. Have you +read the <I>Nineteenth Century</I> on Liberal Philosophy?[<A NAME="chap01fn88text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn88">88</A>] Mr. Gladstone +certainly would not allow the definition of Liberalism attributed to +him to stand alone. My book begins with 100 definitions,[<A NAME="chap01fn89text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn89">89</A>] but that +is not to be one of them, and I wish I knew of one fit to stand in your +father's name. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P72"></A>72}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The royal dinner-party was evidently a high success, and, apart from +royalty, I was glad to think of Derby frequenting Downing Street. I +hope his time will come soon, although when he and Goschen are in the +Cabinet I am afraid I shall lose my tenant at Prince's Gate.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Feb. 16, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Your kindness to B—— is like nothing but yourself—not only for +procuring him his innings so opportunely, but for interpreting so +generously his perplexity and irresolution. I dare say you are right +to lay the blame on me. It will be very amusing to get remonstrances +from bewildered friends, and I think I shall have to write to Arthur +Russell, as the most inquisitive and idle of them all, and therefore +the best to trust with a secret that is to be told. For pray believe +that there is no real truth in the report. +</P> + +<P> +I paired for the Government with Lord Limerick against.[<A NAME="chap01fn90text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn90">90</A>] No doubt, +if he was present and voted, he would support the bill. Therefore, in +balancing or neutralising his vote, I am virtually pairing with a +supporter, not an opponent, and am myself practically opposing. But +that is only my metaphysical commentary, founded on the fact that an +Irish Conservative is sure to like the bill much better than I do. +There is no understanding of the kind between us, and neither of us +mentioned this particular measure to the other. I am simply in Cork's +list, paired with a good Tory. And it all comes to nothing, for none +of us expect a division on the second reading. +</P> + +<P> +The only people with whom I need disclaim the impeachment would be +Morley & Co., as I should only be making Radical capital out of a +little joke. The +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P73"></A>73}</SPAN> +joke consisting in your representing me as a +worse enemy to Ministers than all the Tories and half the Irish. +</P> + +<P> +I made out in the autumn that Blennerhassett laid a good deal of blame +on Forster's want of flexibility of mind and of <I>coup d'oeil</I>. I dare +say he is quite right. There is evident truth in one remark you quote. +The excuse for agitation is by no means always its cause; and I would +not be too hopeful of the effects even of the most perfect or most +popular Land Bill. Ultramontane priests will never, permanently, be on +the side of the State. To nurse their own influence and the religious +faith of the people, they always magnify antagonism and persecution, +which implies denunciation of antagonists and persecutors. And there +are deeper reasons still, why it is useless to apply to Irish measures +the usual test of success. However, I am more often angry with our +clergy for absolutism than for revolution, so that I will say no +more.... +</P> + +<P> +I never knew Amalie v. Lasaulx; but her brother was one of the best +friends I ever had. For two years I followed his lectures on ancient +literature, philosophy, &c., and he left his library to me when he +died. His whole mind was occupied with religious ideas and studies; +but it was an intellectual religiousness, without a notion of a church +or any fervour of prayer. His sister had his independence of mind and +the same generous idealism, and a humble piety which he had not, and +which is remarkably rare among intellectual Germans. +</P> + +<P> +... The Speaker[<A NAME="chap01fn91text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn91">91</A>] seems to be a physician as well as a statesman. +The victory over the disturbing Irish must bring your father immense +relief. It is twenty-one years since I met him at Brighton, horribly +jaded, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P74"></A>74}</SPAN> +and getting rapid baths of sea-air. I hope he will benefit +this time. +</P> + +<P> +You will have seen Scherer on Carlyle. The passage in Monday's <I>Pall +Mall</I>, exalting Arnold at his expense, only shows that his[<A NAME="chap01fn92text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn92">92</A>] +burlesque language provoked the rigid and highly white-chokered critic. +Froude will be a worthy biographer for so unscrupulous a hero. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Feb. 19, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +What I said of St. Hilaire has become a little obsolete since his +resolute denial that the Greeks have a European decision—or award, as +it stood in the English draft—in their favour. I cannot remember +whether I indicated the mental peculiarity which has developed into +such impolicy; but whatever I did say is for you to apply and employ +entirely as you please. The Arthur Russells, moreover, know him enough +to introduce the necessary vinegar. +</P> + +<P> +The little joke about Forster is no deeper than Ćsop. One said: "He +has a woman's heart with a lion's spirit." Somebody answered: "Rather, +a lion's skin." +</P> + +<P> +It was reported that Ecuador[<A NAME="chap01fn93text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn93">93</A>] was preparing a Bark in defence of the +Pope. Your father suggested that it must be a vocal bark. Others said +it was probably Jesuit's bark (they prevail in Ecuador). And so it +went on—that it was worse than their bite, &c., &c., &c. +</P> + +<P> +I thought the <I>World's</I> apology to the Irish utterly impudent, but one +of the best strokes of wit I can remember in my time. +</P> + +<P> +I meant it as you say; only the slightest tinge. One need only look at +them to see that generosity would +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P75"></A>75}</SPAN> +be as completely wasted on them +as on Salisbury, though there are three or four very much better than +others. De Serre was, except Chateaubriand, the only man with a streak +of genius among the politicians of Louis XVIII.'s reign; and he had +virtue and governing power, which that brilliant impostor had not. It +seldom happens that parliamentary debates cut down to the bone, or tap +the bed of principle. There are about half-a-dozen series of debates +that do, because they constructed a system of government from the +foundations—the French National Assembly, in 1789-1791 and 1848; +Frankfort, in 1848; Belgium, in 1831; the French Parliament, after +1815, are among the rare instances. And in that latter instance the +most eminent orator, the finest character, was De Serre. He stood +nearly where Canning stood at that time—between the parties, disliked +by both, persuaded, without the least prejudice or passion, that a +strong monarchy was necessary in the levelled society of France, +willing to make some sacrifice of strict principle in that cause, yet +looking forward to better times, which he did not live to see, for his +health broke down in 1822, and he died in 1824. One story will explain +the man to you. In one of his speeches he laid down that the bulk of a +representative assembly is almost always well meaning (an axiom of +constitutional philosophy). Furious outcries from all the royalist +benches interrupted him; shouts of: "Vous oubliez la Convention!" He +answered: "Yes, even the Convention! (order! order!) ... and if the +Convention had not voted under the terror of assassins, France would +have been spared the most terrible of crimes!" +</P> + +<P> +Laveleye has great knowledge of Political Economy and of politics, and +his peculiarity is that he does not +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P76"></A>76}</SPAN> +think of party, or power, or +wealth, but is thoroughly anxious about the condition of society. That +separates him from orthodox Economists (Lowe, Mallet, Newmarch), who do +not attend to the problem of Distribution, and are not made sleepless +by the suffering and sorrow of the poor. He is slightly heterodox; +what Germans call Kathedersozialist, and what even Maine would call +downright Socialist. His chief work is an account of early forms of +property, an indirect and rather confused plea for common property in +land. Ingram,[<A NAME="chap01fn94text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn94">94</A>] Cliffe Leslie nearly represent him in England. He +is a special enemy of the Catholic priesthood, like M. Frčre-Orban, the +Belgian minister, and Laurent of Ghent; but differs from them in the +wish to give the people something better than negations. He has +married a Protestant lady, and attends Protestant service; but whether +from any dogmatic conviction, or as a bulwark against Ultramontanes, I +am not sure. He is a very estimable man, well informed, earnest, +slightly tiresome, and not at all original. +</P> + +<P> +Don't mind coming to grief over parallels. A disposition to detect +resemblances is one of the greatest sources of error. To me parallels +afford a blaze of light, but they are rare, and hard to find. +</P> + +<P> +... What you tell me of Mr. Gladstone's health is good news indeed; and +I hope you will not listen to his regrets about a measure contrary to +the law of freedom. As much authority as is wanted to protect the few +against the many, or the weak against the strong, is not contrary to +freedom, but the condition of freedom. The disease lies in society, +not in the state. The other view, that the only dangerous enemy +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P77"></A>77}</SPAN> +a +nation has is its government, is pure revolution, and was invented by +St. Just. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes March 7, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +When the accident[<A NAME="chap01fn95text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn95">95</A>] happened, the Cardwells had a favourable telegram +from a friend of yours, and we learned the news and Paget's verdict +together. You must have passed through terrible moments at first. But +the best thing about it was your setting off to amuse yourself at +Oxford. All England has been made to feel the truth of what you say, +and Mr. Gladstone is almost the only man who does not ask the question: +What is to be done if he is disabled? +</P> + +<P> +I must give up my friend Sir Bartle at last. I thought he had courage +and self-command; but he has been showing the mean spirit of recent +Toryism in a way I did not suspect. +</P> + +<P> +Your father's resolute adherence to principle, and his ascendency over +weaker colleagues will be put to a grievous trial by the folly of the +hapless Jingo[<A NAME="chap01fn96text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn96">96</A>] Wolseley bequeathed to the new government. +</P> + +<P> +I had a cousin who travelled beyond the Vaal, and at last died there. +He taught me to believe that the Boers were excellent fighting +materials. But Sir Garnet pretends that they are liars and cowards, +the only white race retrograding. So that Sir Bartle is not the only +South African authority I must relinquish. +</P> + +<P> +I hope you really like Sir James Paget. You know that he is one of my +Blue Roses, and makes up for my manifold disbeliefs in great +contemporaries. The author[<A NAME="chap01fn97text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn97">97</A>] of the novel just mentioned is here, +and is +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P78"></A>78}</SPAN> +our amiable and hospitable neighbour. There has been such +a Whip for Candahar that five people asked to pair with me. They are +not, on the whole, interesting travellers, except one, with a handsome +and over-married wife. And we have had Sir Louis Mallet, very +interesting, and very sound about Afghanistan. +</P> + +<P> +I am just off to Rome, to bring my mother-in-law away, who has spent +the winter there, and to see what ten years, and a new pope and new +king have made of it. I am only allowed a week's holiday, and must +crowd a good deal into it. The Sermons[<A NAME="chap01fn98text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn98">98</A>] will be my first resource +when I come back next week. Thank you, beforehand, so very much for +them. I did not guess the secret history, and, after your letter, the +Arms Bill was a disappointment. When in England I convinced myself +that there was, at that time, no threat of invasion or insurrection; +but when I saw the Bill going on, I fancied "Endymion" might be right +about that hidden danger. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +Your letter came in the middle of this one of mine, and I can hardly +send a word of gratitude for such kindness. Until George Eliot I +thought G.S.[<A NAME="chap01fn99text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn99">99</A>] the greatest writer of her sex in all literature. I +cannot read her now. But that is individual taste, not deliberate +judgment. She is as eloquent as one can be in French—the unreal, +unhealthy eloquence that Rousseau brought in, that the Girondins spoke, +that Chateaubriand, Lamennais, Lamartine made so popular, that nobody +but Hugo strives after now, and that was modified in her case by Polish +influences. Some of these Frenchmen live on nothing else; and if one +plucks +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P79"></A>79}</SPAN> +them, or puts their thoughts into one's own language, +little remains. But she had passion, and understood it, and deep +sympathy, and speculative thought, and the power—in less degree—of +creating character. She could rise very high, for a moment, and her +best prose is like a passage from good poets. It is a splendid +exhibition, diffuse, ill-regulated, fatiguing, monotonous. There is +not the mastery, the measure, the repose one learns from Goethe and the +Greeks. She scatters over twenty volumes the resources her English +rival concentrates into a chapter. There is beauty, but not wisdom; +emotion, but not instruction; and, except in her wonderful eye for +external nature, very little truth. I would call her a bad +Second—such as Swinburne is to Shelley, or Heine to +Schiller—comparisons which involve a great deal of disparagement. +</P> + +<P> +The conversation of those three great men[<A NAME="chap01fn100text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn100">100</A>] is very curious—I +should have liked to see and hear them.... If, by chance, there was a +message or a commission for Rome, I shall be at the H. d'Angleterre +until next Monday. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes March 25, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Rome is the cause of all my delinquency. I remained a week, very ill +with sunshine and south wind, but very happy, and supremely grateful +for your letters and Illingworth's Sermons. Travellers' Rome is what +it was; but in the real city the change is like the work of centuries. +The religious activity and appearance that were of old are gone, and +their place is usurped by things profane. The State has so thrown the +Church into the background, that the Leonine city sleeps like a faded +and deserted suburb, and one must look behind the scenes for what used +to be +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P80"></A>80}</SPAN> +the glory and the pride of Rome. The bewildered +Girondin[<A NAME="chap01fn101text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn101">101</A>] at the Vatican, who stands so well with the Castle,[<A NAME="chap01fn102text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn102">102</A>] +I did not see, but heard much of his moderation, patience, and despair. +I think he is the first Pope who has been wise enough to despair, and +has felt that he must begin a new part, and steer by strange stars over +an unknown sea. +</P> + +<P> +I found a British ambassador devoid of political influence and +understanding, but splendidly hospitable, and good-natured even to the +friends of his own government. Layard, after serving the Court as a +stick to beat Paget with, had left before I came. Almost all my time +was spent with the two friends[<A NAME="chap01fn103text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn103">103</A>] whom you remember at a memorable +examination at Venice, and seven days passed like hours. But why do I +write all this? Am I not going to see you soon? I hear of a friendly +yacht in the Mediterranean, and of his family accompanying the P.M. +That can only mean embarkation at Cannes. It will be a joy for us +indeed, and nothing shall be left undone to make your stay here as +pleasant and as long as possible. You will not take long to understand +that it is one of the sweetest spots in Europe. Let this be an assured +element in all your Easter plans, that you will find here a haven of +rest and friends not to be surpassed in affection by any elsewhere. +Tell me what rooms to take at a neighbouring snug hotel. Or do you +stay at Capodimonte? Nothing here spoken of must be to the detriment +of six weeks with the Professor[<A NAME="chap01fn104text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn104">104</A>] at peaceful Tegernsee, between +August and October. +</P> + +<P> +Lecky seems to me to have composed unconscious of another tune running +in his head. The likeness is +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P81"></A>81}</SPAN> +greater in the description than in +the reality. Chatham had public virtue, genius, energy, coupled with +the magic power of transmitting it, the strength that comes with +unselfish passion, and a grand way of spending popularity that others +meanly hoard. He had few ideas, less instruction than Fox or +Shelburne, too little political knowledge for a clear notion of his own +place, of the stair he stood upon in history, or for any definite view +of the English or European future. I admit no comparison,[<A NAME="chap01fn105text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn105">105</A>] except +with the Burke of 1770-80. That early Burke would have made the peace +with the Africanders, which is the noblest work of the Ministry. +</P> + +<P> +When you seem to doubt what I think of it, you mean that Coercion has +robbed me of my footing in your confidence. Four weeks ago a very +eminent foreigner wrote to me that the discovery of the Afghan papers +would chill your father's Russian sympathies. After explaining that +the discovery was not new for Ministers, I begged my friend to dismiss +sympathies for principles, and to understand that there are in the +world men who treat politics as the art of doing, on the largest scale, +what is right; and I informed him that he would presently see peace +made with the Boers on terms of great moderation, after disasters +unavenged, in defiance of military indignation, in spite of lost +prestige. You see that I knew what I was saying. Bearing in mind how +strong a weapon of offence is thus given to enemies at home, +considering the strength the offended feelings lately showed, and the +weakness that lies in the attitude of the Government down to the time +of our defeats, I declare that I rejoice in this inward victory with +heartier joy and a purer pride than +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P82"></A>82}</SPAN> +I have been able to feel at +any public event since I broke my heart over the surrender of Lee.[<A NAME="chap01fn106text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn106">106</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Carlyle's two volumes are crowded with grotesque eloquence, but they +make him smaller in my eyes (nothing could make him worse). The +account of Southey seems to me to do him less harm than the rest. +"Common Sense" I read and recognised as Hayward. It seemed to me +nearly true; but I thought the <I>Times</I> and <I>Temps</I> near the truth. +</P> + +<P> +Your question about my injustice to Germany before 1840 touches a vital +point, and you narrowly escape a very long answer. Scientific Germany +was hardly born in all those years when Goethe, Schleiermacher, +Schlegel, Richter reigned. The real, permanent, commanding work of the +nation has been done by a generation of men very many of whom I have +known. To me it seemed that Carlyle spoke of great men before +Agamemnon, and the bonfires that were good in the dark obscure the +daylight. +</P> + +<P> +And there would be much to say about the appreciation of the French and +German genius, and the unpleasant reciprocity of chilled sympathy. But +even if I could convince you of the fact, I do not know the reason. +Let me only say, to prove that I am not fearful of giving you pain, +that I think there is some want of method in his[<A NAME="chap01fn107text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn107">107</A>] pursuit of +foreign literature. Things come to him by a sort of accident, are +pressed on him by some occasion, and are taken up with absorbing +vigour, not always with a distinct recognition of the book's place in +its series, of the writer's place among other writers. That sort of +knowledge can only be obtained +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P83"></A>83}</SPAN> +by close and constant study of +Reviews, by men having more patience than urgent steam pressure, by +much indistinct groping and long suspense. This seems unreasonably +confused; yet I think you will see what I mean by the time we have +taken a walk over the hill of Californie,[<A NAME="chap01fn108text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn108">108</A>] from which you gaze on +fifty miles of the Riviera. +</P> + +<P> +To-morrow I must be away from home; so I write in ignorance of your +brother's speech on Candahar. I am sure, if he spoke on so good a +subject, he justified Challemel. It will be a real privilege to hear +Lowell discourse on Dante. I am sorry the <I>Paradiso</I>,[<A NAME="chap01fn109text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn109">109</A>] which is in +the press, has not appeared. It is a good thing for all parties that +Lowell should be linked by more than political chains. +</P> + +<P> +The Sermons[<A NAME="chap01fn110text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn110">110</A>] have been unjustly taken by Wickham before I could +read them; but I shall have them soon. I saw enough to justify all you +said, in former letters. There is an originality about them which +obliges one to think again before acquiescing in everything. The next +number of the <I>Church Quarterly</I> will be very interesting to me. But +there will be a dreadful cold shower-bath when the "Life"[<A NAME="chap01fn111text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn111">111</A>] appears. +</P> + +<P> +"Consuelo" is a very great novel. Afterwards she[<A NAME="chap01fn112text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn112">112</A>] threw herself +away on Monographs. I know that I don't like her; but I don't think I +could ever have compared Miss Brontë or Miss Austen to her. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +Do you know an M.P. of the name of Lea? He is a rich Kidderminster +carpet manufacturer, and is member, now, for Derry. I have seldom met +a more +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P84"></A>84}</SPAN> +thoughtful, intelligent, and satisfactory man. He has been +to Aldenham, and I have stayed with him at Kidderminster, and thought +him so sensible, so full of resource, that I should think him worth +talking to about Ireland.... He was an Independent, and has, I think, +conformed. Among your friends, apart from Whips, I should expect Bryce +to know all about him. If he comes to a Tuesday I entreat you to +remember that he has impressed me, and friends who are better judges +than I, in a way not common among the people one meets in small +provincial towns and societies. I have a good deal more to say, but I +fancy it will lose nothing by waiting for the Paris Express. Meanwhile +the great veil will be lifted from the Budget and the Sempronian +Law,[<A NAME="chap01fn113text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn113">113</A>] and I await a rare excitement. Keep Cannes and Tegernsee +steadily in view. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes April 2, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +It was a short dream, but a pleasant one, not to be quite forgotten +until Tegernsee fairly looms on us. Herbert's speech seems to me to +deserve all the praise it brought him. That evening I met Henriquez, +who spoke at Harrow during his canvass, and who says that as a speaker, +apart from political experience and knowledge, he has nothing to learn. +At the beginning the Skobeleff argument struck me as wanting a more +elaborate introduction, but my doubt was soon dispelled. Please tell +him, with my hearty congratulations, that the Roman empire perished for +want of a good Land Bill. That criticism[<A NAME="chap01fn114text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn114">114</A>] which Palgrave has +disinterred makes me think of the judge who was not tied to a stake, +and of Roger Collard's answer when asked whether he had called Guizot +an austere intriguer: +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P85"></A>85}</SPAN> +"I never said austere." <I>It</I> is rather a +gift of inventing picturesque, and often grotesque epithets and +nicknames, than general power of expression. The sentences are seldom +good, and not comparable to those of the faithful Ruskin. But the man +who called Stanley a body-snatcher deserves a monument in Westminster +Abbey. +</P> + +<P> +You must have snubbed —— at Lady Reay's. Or did he think you laughed +at him? That, you know, is a possible error. There is no doubt that +the opinion others have of us is one of the very many sources of subtle +error in our judgments which have grown into such a prodigious +catalogue since Bacon feebly began to enumerate them. People who study +them, and stand on their guard against this particular temptation, fall +easily by identifying themselves with their principles. It is almost +an axiom in controversy that to attack one's adversary personally is to +confess disbelief in one's cause, where doctrine and not conduct is in +question. And I do see men who are personally attacked, conclude that +their adversary is dishonest and knows that he is in the wrong. On the +other hand, there is an institution in London founded on the belief +that private acquaintance and good-fellowship softens the asperity of +public conflicts. You know about Grillion's, where men dine without +quarrelling, and where, by a pleasant fiction, no bore is supposed to +live. There the effect is what your father says. People make +opponents like them, and soften to their opponents, in consequence. +</P> + +<P> +I write under the shadow of Disraeli's illness. Our last accounts are +very threatening; and I, who think that the worst part of the man was +his cause, and who liked him better than the mass of his party, look +with dismay on the narrowness and the passion of those who +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P86"></A>86}</SPAN> +will +succeed him. He, at least, if he had no principles or scruples, had no +prejudices or superstitions or fanaticism. You have heard it said of +—— that he would have been a good fellow, if he had not been a +drunkard, a liar, and a thief. With a few allowances ... a good deal +may be said for the Tory leader who made England a Democracy. One must +make so much allowance for so many public men besides Midhat.[<A NAME="chap01fn115text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn115">115</A>] +</P> + +<P> +The Pope[<A NAME="chap01fn116text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn116">116</A>] probably had no clear view about policy. If he had, he +would hardly be Pope. But he sees that the old spells have lost their +power over men, and so he gives them up. It does not yet appear +whether he knows that the power is gone for ever; but visibly, for the +time, he is trying new arts, and endeavours to restore, by conciliation +and management, what Pius ruined by authority. The attempt to +disengage himself from the crash of the Legitimists is the most +remarkable instance of the change. He explains that the Church must +not be so committed to any political party as to stand or fall with it. +But that has been, since 1849, the entirely unvarying policy of Rome, +and has forced all the enemies of absolute power to turn their forces +against Catholicism. If once the two things are separated, there will +be a great change in the position of things in Europe. If the Pope +does not maintain Legitimacy he gives up the temporal power. He has no +legal or political claim to Rome that Chambord has not to France, for +arguments derived from Canon Law are without validity in politics. By +weakening his one resource, he shows that he thinks the game is up. +And then there is no insuperable obstacle to reconciliation with the +Powers. Solicitude for temporal sovereignty +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P87"></A>87}</SPAN> +has been the cause of +all the faults and disasters of our Church since the murder of +Rossi.[<A NAME="chap01fn117text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn117">117</A>] To surrender it implies such a conversion that I shall not +believe in it till I see clearer signs; for his chief confidant is the +Archbishop of Capua, an old friend of mine, who is what Newman would be +without his genius, his eloquence, and his instruction. +</P> + +<P> +I don't know where to stop. Capua is a bad stopping place. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Palm Sunday April 10, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Don't mind my weak handwriting and brief letter, but I have spent most +of this great parliamentary week in bed, and this is my first attempt +to write. +</P> + +<P> +I so much want to hear from you that your father is well and happy. +The achievement seems incomparable, and the policy wonderful.[<A NAME="chap01fn118text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn118">118</A>] But +I am too confused in mind yet to understand the whole thing and the +flight of the Thane.[<A NAME="chap01fn119text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn119">119</A>] Probably it has been long foreseen, and is +taken almost as a victory from coming alone. It portends tremendous +opposition in the Lords, unless Derby has succeeded him,[<A NAME="chap01fn120text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn120">120</A>] and even +then. I have seen nothing but the <I>Times</I>—stormy weather delaying all +English papers; and I read the peroration to my family as explaining +why the speaker is in my eyes so much the best of statesmen. I wonder +what an intelligent Socialist would make of the sentence which says +that the Irish landlords would have been guilty of injustice by +appropriating the results of tenant labour in improvement of the soil. +In a rough and ready way +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P88"></A>88}</SPAN> +they might apply the maxim to +manufactories too. Then comes an extract from the ninth paragraph of +the Bessbro' Report to the effect that Irish rents are lower than +English, which might, I fancy, serve when they try to stop the way by +getting up an agrarian movement in this country. I should add, having +been so recalcitrant, that the Court ought to be able to effect what is +substantially just in the Irish claims. I don't much believe in +peasant proprietorship; but I should like much done for emigration, and +have not been converted from what he said about that in 1845. The +threatening close of the eleventh[<A NAME="chap01fn121text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn121">121</A>] Budget speech must not, I hope, +be taken literally—not only because the Budget, laid down on partly +Tory lines, is not a very great one; partly because the speech is full +of promise and suggestion, and even menace; also because the only +successor whose succession would not seriously weaken the Ministry, +Goschen, declared his resolution not to join it when he returns.... +</P> + +<P> +You will not have had time to read French newspapers and academic +speeches. They elected Rousse,[<A NAME="chap01fn122text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn122">122</A>] a lawyer, not famous, but much +trusted by the expelled monks. Falloux was not ashamed to say to me: +"au moins, c'est un honnete homme—chose precieuse aujourd'hui." His +speech was an exquisite composition. But d'Aumale, in his reply, said +that Cicero was a much better man than Demosthenes—in politics. I +hope that sentiment would vex your father, the one man who has the +right to pronounce between them. A good historian says of Demosthenes: +"Er war Idealist und uberschätzte in gefahrvollen Zeiten die Wirkung +sittlicher Kräfte." +</P> + +<P> +I am anxiously watching the change of Ministry in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P89"></A>89}</SPAN> +Italy, where I +saw this mischief brewing so lately. A worse administration than the +present seemed to me almost inconceivable. They avowed the doctrine +that there is no resisting the priesthood except by definite +Spencerianism; and that whatever is given to God goes to the Pope.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine April 14, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +... Your welcome and consoling handwriting quickly followed by the +appearance of Wolverton fresh from home, brought me all I was wishing +for almost as soon as my letter was gone. Thank you so much for +knowing so well what one is thinking of. +</P> + +<P> +We rather expect Argyll to take refuge here too during these holidays. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Pall Mall</I> is worth anything for its concentrated essence of +opinion. Much of this is stupid. But the accusation begun by +Argyll—that the measure abandons the old lines on which the Liberal +party won its battles, introduces new principles not tested yet by the +experience of nations, and begins, in short, a new departure—is one +that will be urged with great force and some truth, and it will not do +to disguise the magnitude of the change. The suspicion that the P.M. +was changing on the two[<A NAME="chap01fn123text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn123">123</A>] greatest of all political questions comes +true after all; and I wonder which of the twenty-two texts was in the +ascendant when I thought myself convicted of false prophecy! +</P> + +<P> +I don't feel to know how much German Herbert reads, for I don't rely on +what he picked up at Tegernsee. But I want to draw his attention, if +it avails, to one literary matter. +</P> + +<P> +Within the last ten or twelve years there has been a wonderful change +in political economy in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P90"></A>90}</SPAN> +direction of which Laveleye, Ingram, +Cliffe Leslie are popular exponents, and which Sherbrooke and Bonamy +Price anathematise. The essential point is the history and analysis of +property in land. It is important that our people should be exactly +acquainted with these views and results before the debate comes on. +Two volumes contain all that it is necessary to read:—Roscher, +<I>National oekonomik des Ackerbaus</I>, and Wagner's <I>Grundlegung der +Volkswirthschaft</I>. +</P> + +<P> +He that has read these two books knows a good deal about the lines on +which Society is moving that he cannot well discover elsewhere. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +You will not agree with me in rejoicing that Cairns[<A NAME="chap01fn124text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn124">124</A>] has done +himself so much credit at the same moment when Salisbury has injured +himself seriously by his offer of Tunisian hush money. All this is a +misfortune for the Italians, as they cannot have a reasonable Ministry +with the present Parliament, and the circle is closing round them. +Perhaps it will teach them to dismiss ambition. +</P> + +<P> +Punch's Irish landlord spoils a very old Italian story. The poet +Mortola, out of envy, shot at another poet and missed him. He had to +get relieved of his excommunication by the Pope, and his confession +was: "E vero, Santo Padre, ho fallito."[<A NAME="chap01fn125text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn125">125</A>] ... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes April 24, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I am not sure that there is any quite available and compendious answer +to the two reproaches of setting the poor against the rich, and of +giving power to those least fit for it. There lurks in each an atom of +inevitable truth; and the sententious arguments which serve to dazzle +people at elections may generally be met by +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P91"></A>91}</SPAN> +epigrams just as +sparkling and as sound on the other side. Politics are so complex that +almost every act may be honestly seen in very different lights; and I +can imagine so strong a case against our African policy as to drive +from his moorings any man not well anchored in justice. +</P> + +<P> +Assuming that the first objection culminates in Midlothian: it was +necessary to bring home to the constituencies, to needy and ignorant +men, the fact that Society, the wealthy ruling class, that supported +our late Mazarin[<A NAME="chap01fn126text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn126">126</A>] in clubs and drawing-rooms, was ready to spend +the treasure and the blood of the people in defence of an infamous +tyranny,[<A NAME="chap01fn127text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn127">127</A>] to gratify pride, the love of authority, and the lust of +power. Nearly the same situation arose in Ireland, and in other +questions not so urgent. Secondly, as to Democracy, it is true that +masses of new electors are utterly ignorant, that they are easily +deceived by appeals to prejudice and passion, and are consequently +unstable, and that the difficulty of explaining economic questions to +them, and of linking their interests with those of the State, may +become a danger to the public credit, if not to the security of private +property. A true Liberal, as distinguished from a Democrat, keeps this +peril always before him. +</P> + +<P> +The answer is, that you cannot make an omelette without breaking +eggs—that politics are not made up of artifices only, but of truths, +and that truths have to be told. +</P> + +<P> +We are forced, in equity, to share the government with the working +class by considerations which were made supreme by the awakening of +political economy. Adam Smith set up two propositions—that contracts +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P92"></A>92}</SPAN> +ought to be free between capital and labour, and that labour is +the source, he sometimes says the only source, of wealth. If the last +sentence, in its exclusive form, was true, it was difficult to resist +the conclusion that the class on which national prosperity depends +ought to control the wealth it supplies, that is, ought to govern +instead of the useless unproductive class, and that the class which +earns the increment ought to enjoy it. That is the foreign effect of +Adam Smith—French Revolution and Socialism. We, who reject that +extreme proposition, cannot resist the logical pressure of the other. +If there is a free contract, in open market, between capital and +labour, it cannot be right that one of the two contracting parties +should have the making of the laws, the management of the conditions, +the keeping of the peace, the administration of justice, the +distribution of taxes, the control of expenditure, in its own hands +exclusively. It is unjust that all these securities, all these +advantages, should be on the same side. It is monstrous that they +should be all on the side that has least urgent need of them, that has +least to lose. Before this argument, the ancient dogma, that power +attends on property, broke down. Justice required that property +should—not abdicate, but—share its political supremacy. Without this +partition, free contract was as illusory as a fair duel in which one +man supplies seconds, arms, and ammunition. +</P> + +<P> +That is the flesh and blood argument. That is why Reform, full of +questions of expediency and policy in detail, is, in the gross, not a +question of expediency or of policy at all; and why some of us regard +our opponents as men who should imagine sophisms to avoid keeping +promises, paying debts, or speaking truths. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P93"></A>93}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +They will admit much of my theory, but then they will say, like +practical men, that the ignorant classes cannot understand affairs of +state, and are sure to go wrong. But the odd thing is that the most +prosperous nations in the world are both governed by the masses—France +and America. So there must be a flaw in the argument somewhere. The +fact is that education, intelligence, wealth are a security against +certain faults of conduct, not against errors of policy. There is no +error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest +men. Imagine a congress of eminent celebrities, such as More, Bacon, +Grotius, Pascal, Cromwell, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Jefferson, Napoleon, +Pitt, &c. The result would be an Encyclopćdia of Error. They would +assert Slavery, Socialism, Persecution, Divine Right, military +despotism, the reign of force, the supremacy of the executive over +legislation and justice, purchase in the magistracy, the abolition of +credit, the limitation of laws to nineteen years, &c. If you were to +read Walter Scott's pamphlets, Southey's Colloquies, Ellenborough's +Diary, Wellington's Despatches—distrust of the select few, of the +chosen leaders of the community, would displace the dread of the +masses. The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. +Every class is unfit to govern. The law of liberty tends to abolish +the reign of race over race, of faith over faith, of class over class. +It is not the realisation of a political ideal: it is the discharge of +a moral obligation. However that may be, the transfer of power to the +lower class was not the act of Mr. Gladstone, but of the Conservatives +in 1867. It still requires to be rectified and regulated; but I am +sure that in his hands, the change would have been less violent. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P94"></A>94}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Nor do I admit the other accusation, of rousing class animosities. The +upper class used to enjoy undivided sway, and used it for their own +advantage, protecting their interests against those below them, by laws +which were selfish and often inhuman. Almost all that has been done +for the good of the people has been done since the rich lost the +monopoly of power, since the rights of property were discovered to be +not quite unlimited. Think not only of the Corn Laws, but of the fact +that the State did nothing for primary education fifty years ago. The +beneficent legislation of the last half century has been due to the +infusion of new elements in the electoral body. Success depended on +preventing the upper class from recovering their lost ground, by +keeping alive in the masses the sense of their responsibility, of their +danger, of the condition from which they had been rescued, of the +objects still before them, and the ancient enemy behind. Liberal +policy has largely consisted in so promoting this feeling of +self-reliance and self-help, that political antagonism should not +degenerate into social envy, that the forces which rule society should +be separate from the forces which rule the state. No doubt the line +has not always been broadly marked between Liberalism where it borders +on Radicalism, and Radicalism where it borders on the Charter. Some +reproach may visit Bright and Mill, but not Mr. Gladstone. If there +were no Tories, I am afraid he would invent them. He has professed +himself a decided Inequalitarian.[<A NAME="chap01fn128text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn128">128</A>] I cannot discover that he has +ever caressed the notion of progressive taxation. Until last year I +don't think he ever admitted that we have to legislate not quite +impartially for the whole nation, but for a class so numerous as to be +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P95"></A>95}</SPAN> +virtually equal to the whole. He dispels the conflict of classes +by cherishing the landed aristocracy, and making the most of it in +office. He has granted the Irish landlords an absolution ampler than +they deserve. Therefore, though I admit that the condition of English +society tends in some measure to make the poor regard the rich as their +enemies, and that the one inveterate obstacle to the welfare of the +masses is the House of Lords, yet I must add that he whose mission it +is to overcome that interested resistance has been scrupulous not to +excite passionate resentment, and to preserve what he cannot correct. +And I do not say it altogether in his praise. +</P> + +<P> +It is the law of party government that we contend on equal terms, and +claim no privilege. We assume the honesty of our opponents, whatever +we think or know. Kenealy and Bradlaugh must be treated with +consideration, like Wilberforce or Macaulay. We do not use private +letters, reported conversations, newspaper gossip, or scandals revealed +in trials to damage troublesome politicians. We deal only with +responsibility for public acts. But with these we must deal freely. +We have to keep the national conscience straight and true, and if we +shrink from doing this because we dare not cast obloquy on class or +party or institution, then we become accomplices in wrong-doing, and +very possibly in crime. +</P> + +<P> +We ought not to employ vulgar imputations, that men cling to office, +that they vote against their convictions, that they are not always +consistent, &c. All that is unworthy of imperial debate. But where +there is a question of unjust war, or annexation, of intrigue, of +suppressed information, of mismanagement in matters of life and death, +of disregard for suffering, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P96"></A>96}</SPAN> +we are bound to gibbet the offender +before the people of England, and to make the rude workman understand +and share our indignation against the grandee. Whether he ought, after +that, to be left to Dean Stanley[<A NAME="chap01fn129text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn129">129</A>] is another question. +</P> + +<P> +But I am not surprised at the complaint you heard. To many people the +idea is repugnant that there is a moral question at the bottom of +politics. They think that it is only by great effort and the +employment of every resource that property and religion can be +maintained. If you embarrass their defence with unnecessary rules and +scruples, you risk defeat, and set up a rather arbitrary and +unsanctioned standard above the interest of their class or of their +church. Such men are not at their ease with the Prime Minister, +especially if he is against them, and even when they are on his side. +I am thinking of Argyll in Lytton's first debate; of Kimberley always; +of soldiers and diplomatists generally. +</P> + +<P> +Whilst you find Conservatives surprised at the moderation of the Bill, +I have had the pleasure of meeting two members of the Government who +think it goes much too far. And now the papers announce two more +impending secessions.[<A NAME="chap01fn130text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn130">130</A>] I really don't know what is to become of us +in the Lords. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Pall Mall</I> résumés of Lord Beaconsfield have been intensely +interesting. None seemed to me too severe, but some were shocking at +the moment. He was quite remarkable enough to fill a column of Éloge. +Some one wrote to me yesterday that no Jew for 1800 years has played so +great a part in the world. That would be no Jew since St. Paul; and it +is very startling. But, putting aside literature, and therefore +Spinoza +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P97"></A>97}</SPAN> +and Heine, almost simultaneously with Disraeli, a +converted Jew, Stahl, a man without birth or fortune, became the leader +of the Prussian Conservative and aristocratic party. He led them from +about 1850 to 1860, when he died; and he was intellectually far +superior to Disraeli—I should say, the greatest reasoner that has ever +served the Conservative cause. But he never obtained power, or +determined any important event. Lassalle died after two years of +agitation. Benjamin,[<A NAME="chap01fn131text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn131">131</A>] the soul of the Confederate ministry, now +rising to the first rank of English lawyers, had too short and too +disastrous a public career. In short, I have not yet found an answer. +</P> + +<P> +I think, failing sons and secretaries, it is really important that the +P.M. should set somebody in Downing Street to read Wagner's +<I>Grundlegung</I>. It would be a great advantage to an outsider if he were +to get it up, and to know exactly where the agrarian question now +stands in Europe, both as to theory and practice. It is an exceedingly +able, bold, and original book, and the author occupies, at Berlin, the +first chair of Pol. Economy in Germany. I would even venture to ask +you to mention it to him, as flotsam from the Riviera. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine April 30, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Like you I am sorry for the omission[<A NAME="chap01fn132text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn132">132</A>] on Monday, and for the sequel +to it next week. The homage of the House in which he was so long +distinguished was due to Disraeli, and it would have been a fit +occasion for a panegyric which might have appeared natural and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P98"></A>98}</SPAN> +informal. The Monument is a homage paid by the nation, demanding more +than parliamentary or other intellectual distinction, and implying +public service of some exceptional merit and amount. This is wanting +in Disraeli. And we deem not only that the good was absent, but that +the bad, the injurious, the immoral, the disgraceful was present on a +large scale. Let us praise his genius, his wit, his courage, his +patience and constancy in adversity, his strength of will, his +originality and independence of mind, the art with which he learned to +be eloquent, his occasional largeness of conception, his frequent good +nature and fidelity to friends, his readiness of resource, his +considerable literary culture, his skill in the management of a divided +and reluctant party, even his superiority to the greed of office; let +us even call him the greatest Jewish minister since Joseph—but if we +say that he deserved the gratitude of the nation, and might claim his +reward from every part of it, I am afraid we condemn ourselves. This +feeling will certainly be expressed out of doors, if not in the House, +and will not only mar the general effect, but will almost seem to have +been provoked, by the formality and the postponement. Its existence in +any considerable measure is a reason against doing what offends many +consciences, and is gracious only when all but unanimous. Personally +it will be a great opportunity for your father. I am afraid I deplore +it from every other point of view. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +Here is Lord Morley going home to-morrow, and much to be envied. If +you see him, he will tell you that Cannes is a very nice place indeed. +I see, by the way things are going, that the Land Bill is pretty safe +in the Commons; but I wonder how +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P99"></A>99}</SPAN> +much ascendency Northcote has +with his colleagues elsewhere.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine May 7, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The defect of the argument is that it will neither wear nor wash. It +cannot be employed in public. Nobody can say:—"I who overthrew Lord +Beaconsfield's ministry, reversed his policy, persuaded the nation to +distrust him, and brought his career to a dishonoured end—I who, +altogether disagreeing with a certain friend of mine, thought his +doctrines false, but the man more false than his doctrine; who believe +that he demoralised public opinion, bargained with diseased appetites, +stimulated passions, prejudices, and selfish desires, that they might +maintain his influence; that he weakened the Crown by approving its +unconstitutional leanings, and the Constitution by offering any price +for democratic popularity,—who, privately, deem him the worst and most +immoral minister since Castlereagh, and have branded him with a stigma +such as no other public man has deserved in my time,—nevertheless +proceed, in my public capacity, to lock my true sentiments in my +breast, and declare him worthy of a reward that was not paid to Fox or +to Canning; worthy not only of the tribute due to talents, efficiency, +and courage, but of enduring gratitude and honour; and I do it because +I am not the leader of the nation, but the appointed minister of its +will; because it is my office to be the mouthpiece of opinions I +disapprove, to obey an impulse I condemn, to execute the popular wishes +when they contradict my own." +</P> + +<P> +That is a position which cannot be held, a motive impossible to avow. +But then there is no answer to Labouchere when he recalls the scathing +denunciations of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P100"></A>100}</SPAN> +last year and asks "whether they were seriously +meant, or whether, having served their purpose, they have been +abandoned and committed to oblivion; whether the Prime Minister +declares their injustice and invites the country to join him in making +reparation, whether the responsibilities of power have effected the +usual transformation from the exigencies of electioneering agitation, +and whether we are to understand that the career of Lord Beaconsfield +appears in a different light to those who have inherited his +difficulties and have learned to appreciate his aims, from that which +blazed on so many platforms. If the Rt. Honble. gentleman maintains +his maledictions, if his soul is still vexed by the memory of +disgraceful peace and disgraceful war, of tyranny protected, of +bloodshed unavenged, then let him not forget the picture which he drew, +which still dwells in the hearts of millions; the praise that comes +from the lips that uttered those burning words must be hollow, for the +soul cannot be there; it would be better that he left the task to more +congenial hands, to some who could speak from the fulness of the heart, +to some less prominent critic of Tory policy, to some less austere +apostle of national duty." +</P> + +<P> +The nation, it is true, supported Lord Beaconsfield, but the same +nation also very decidedly condemned and rejected him. The author of +the rejection is the worst possible mouthpiece of the former approval. +And in a question which is really one of morals everybody must judge +and act for himself. If the degradation of public principle spread +from Lord Beaconsfield to his party, and from them to the Liberals, to +whom are we to look for a stricter spirit and a loftier standard? Is +it for him who, as a volunteer, stemmed the tide of corruption, to ride +on it now that all authority, moral, political, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P101"></A>101}</SPAN> +personal, is +concentrated in him? No doubt, the opposition will be overdone; but +there are materials which a light and skilful hand, P. J. Smyth, for +instance, might use with telling force. +</P> + +<P> +I will propose a double Cartoon: The P.M. proposing the monument, +correct, slightly white-chokered, wearing what Whiteside called his +oratorical face, making the splendour of words do duty for +realities—and the Philippic Demosthenes of Midlothian rousing the +sleepy Lion with tumultuous argument and all the unceremonious energy +of a deep conviction. +</P> + +<P> +As to Lord Granville's motion on the same subject, I am not sorry to be +out of the way of it. +</P> + +<P> +To "sweep away" the House of Lords would be a terrible revolution. The +more truly the House of Commons comes to represent the real nation, the +more it must fall under the influence of opinion out of doors. It has +less and less a substantive and independent will of its own, and serves +as a barometer to register the movement going on outside. Now the +opinion of a whole nation differs from that of any limited or united or +homogeneous class by its inconstancy. It is not pervaded by one common +interest, trained to the same level, or inspired by one set of ideas. +It is rent by contending motives, and its ideas cannot get a firm grip +because there is nothing solid to lay hold of. The whole is not more +sure to go wrong than a part, but it is sure not to go long the same +way. This sort of fluctuation which is unavoidable in the nation has +to be kept out of the state, for it would destroy its credit, its +influence abroad, and its authority at home. Therefore, the more +perfect the representative system, the more necessary is some other aid +to stability. Six or +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P102"></A>102}</SPAN> +seven such aids have been devised, and we +unite three of them in our House of Lords—Primogeniture, Established +Church, and an independent judiciary. Its note is Constancy—the wish +to carry into the future the things of the past, the capacity to keep +aloof from the strife and aims of the passing hour. As we have none of +the other resources proper to unmixed governments, a real veto, a +federation of states, or a constitution above the legislature, we must +treasure the one security we possess. A single assembly has an immense +preponderance of authority and experience against it. Chamberlain +would soon bring it under the control of instructions, that is, would +convert it into a democratic engine, and the empire, I apprehend, would +go to pieces. +</P> + +<P> +The worst anybody can imagine is a modification of the House of Lords, +such as would make it less independent, less affected by tradition, +less united in one interest, but more intelligent and, probably, more +powerful. That seems to me possible, though difficult, and uncertain +and hazardous in an infinite degree. 1 do not plead for this, but I +cannot set myself absolutely and irrevocably against it. The House of +Lords represents one great interest—land. A body that is held +together by a common character and has common interests is necessarily +disposed to defend them. Individuals are accessible to motives that do +not reach multitudes, and may be on their guard against themselves. +But a corporation, according to a profound saying, has neither body to +kick nor soul to save. The principle of self-interest is sure to tell +upon it. The House of Lords feels a stronger duty towards its eldest +sons than towards the masses of ignorant, vulgar, and greedy people. +Therefore, except +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P103"></A>103}</SPAN> +under very perceptible pressure, it always +resists measures aimed at doing good to the poor. It has been almost +always in the wrong—sometimes from prejudice and fear and +miscalculation, still oftener from instinct and self-preservation. +Generally it does only a temporary injury, and that is its plea for +existence. But the injury may be irreparable. And if we have manifest +suffering, degradation, and death on one side, and the risk of a +remodelled senate on the other, the certain evil outweighs the +contingent danger. For the evil that we apprehend cannot be greater +than the evil we know. I hope the Drawing-room was not very cloudy. +Why did not you sit next Lord Granville? He would have been less deaf. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +... The arrest of Dillon will produce its effect in the House and on +the action of his colleagues, and may be a source of new difficulties. +But I cannot find fault with it, not even with the prosecution of +Most,[<A NAME="chap01fn133text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn133">133</A>] although Harcourt is in disgrace.... —— takes the line +natural in a newspaper, and does not choose to distinguish murder from +insurrection—a besetting sin of democrats. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Tegernsee June 3, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +... I thought his[<A NAME="chap01fn134text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn134">134</A>] speech on the 2nd Reading[<A NAME="chap01fn135text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn135">135</A>] admirable, but +for the allusion[<A NAME="chap01fn136text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn136">136</A>] to the larger measure the Tories would have to +bring in, which might put Shaw & Co. into some difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +They say that Lenbach has gone on painting him, and has succeeded +admirably, but that the likeness is severe and depressing. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P104"></A>104}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Lord Granville told me of his Roman troubles, and I had to give an +opinion, which was not that of the importunate widow. But a +representative so foolish and so hostile would have been more dangerous +at St. Petersburg than at Rome, where he is only throwing away the +mighty influence of your father's name, but where there is not critical +interest at stake. Lord G. seems to me to have done well about Tunis; +but I am sorry I wasted my eulogy on B. St. Hilaire. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Contemporary</I> was very interesting. There was a saying of Carlyle +that Germany had produced nothing since Goethe, which confirmed what I +said to you about the limit of his information. I don't know who +Shirley[<A NAME="chap01fn137text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn137">137</A>] is; but the small divine[<A NAME="chap01fn138text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn138">138</A>] amused me very much, and his +article would have been just and good if it had not ended by implying +that the judgment of the late elections settles the question of +right—a sentiment fit for Gambetta and the punch-drinking politicians +of Cahors. +</P> + +<P> +You asked me the other day a perplexing question, suggested, less by +the loss in the house of your friend, than by the observation that men +are passionately fond of talking about themselves, and practising +autobiographical arts. My answer must be what you anticipated. Being +refused at Cambridge, and driven to foreign universities, I never had +any contemporaries, but spent years in looking for men wise enough to +solve the problems that puzzled me, not in religion or politics so much +as along the wavy line between the two. So I was always associated +with men a generation older than myself, most of whom died early—for +me—and all of whom impressed me with the same moral, that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P105"></A>105}</SPAN> +one +must do one's learning and thinking for oneself, without expecting +short cuts or relying on other men. And that led to the elaborate +detachment, the unamiable isolation, the dread of personal influences, +which you justly censure. +</P> + +<P> +Please write that censure is not anger, and tell me what you are all +doing, what the prospects are, how much social trouble you take, and +whether you liked Matthew Arnold and his airs.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Your letter has been indeed a joy in the midst of trouble.[<A NAME="chap01fn139text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn139">139</A>] You +have understood so much of what it is hard to write.... +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Munich Oct. 15, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +She has taken with her one of the strongest links that attached me to +this world, but I do not follow less keenly the movements of the man +who, of all now living, has the greatest power of doing good. The +Irish speech on Friday, and the economic speech on Saturday, made the +strongest impression on me. +</P> + +<P> +I fancy the man who attacked the calculation of national profit in the +latter, misunderstood his own case, and might have made something of it +if he had spoken of the distribution, not of the increase of wealth. +The treatment of Home Rule as an idea conceivably reasonable, which was +repeated at Guildhall, delighted me. I felt less sure of the +distinction between that as a colourable scheme, and the Land League, +as now working, as one altogether revolutionary and evil. At least, +the censure and arrest of Parnell made me regret more than ever the +monument and the eulogy of Disraeli. But then, you know that that is +my favourite heresy. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P106"></A>106}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +What has most struck me in these speeches of the Recess is that they do +almost more than the parliamentary oratory to make the whole country +familiar with Mr. Gladstone's ways of thought, and to stamp his mind on +the nation. I fear they must be fatiguing to him, because I have +always thought that he found an intellectual audience most easy to deal +with. In the Palmerstonian days I remember your brother[<A NAME="chap01fn140text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn140">140</A>] asking me +at Twickenham what I thought of our prospects; and I answered that the +Chancellor of the Exchequer did not water his wine enough. And I +believe he thought me a fool. But it was quite true: he tried to make +us understand his figures, in the House; but he did not much unfold his +thoughts for the public; and I used to be surprised to find that men +who knew him well, Lord Granville, Argyll,[<A NAME="chap01fn141text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn141">141</A>] S. Wilberforce, saw +neither the connection nor the consequence of his ideas. This is so +much altered now, that he does not dislike to sit for his mental +portrait, and his philosophy of government is the study of thousands. +So he is moulding the mind of the nation as no man ever did. +</P> + +<P> +I wonder whether you will have patience to talk to me about him at +Cannes? We are just starting for the Madeleine, through Switzerland.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine, Oct. 27, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +What might, possibly, be done in a moment of triumph,[<A NAME="chap01fn142text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn142">142</A>] would be +desertion and disaster to the party at any other moment. Nobody can +hope that next Easter, or for a couple of years, we can be altogether +crowned with laurel. In the presence of Mr. Gladstone +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P107"></A>107}</SPAN> +himself +the Tories are recovering spirits. They would take a leap forward if +Achilles was safe in his tent. +</P> + +<P> +That is so clear to any one looking below the surface that it suggests +another objection—there might be an appearance of retreat at the first +turning of the tide, of an inclination to escape, individually, from a +prospect of losing battles and declining prosperity, and to leave +others to face the renewal of disintegration and reaction, such as we +saw in 1873. I know that this is not a consideration where duty is +visibly concerned; but it is a valid consideration where policy is +concerned. And it must be remembered that he may resign office but +cannot abandon power. +</P> + +<P> +Herbert's constituents[<A NAME="chap01fn144text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn144">144</A>] were probably more deeply impressed than I +was by the repeated, but too suggestive, eulogy on Hartington and Lord +Granville. Has Mr. Gladstone fairly faced the question, What will the +party do without him? I may quote my own sentiment, because I grew up +among Russells, Ellices, Byngs; and though I am very suspicious of +early impressions and of doctrines unaccounted for, I know I am much +more favourable to the great Whig connection, to the tradition of Locke +and Somers, Adam Smith and Burke and Macaulay, than Mr. Gladstone would +like. Yet it would seem dust and ashes, but for him.... The idea that +politics is an affair of principle, that it is an affair of morality, +that it touches eternal interests as much as vices and virtues do in +private life, that idea will not live in the party. Indeed it is +already overshadowed by the Beaconsfield monument, described by that +prophet, Pope.[<A NAME="chap01fn145text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn145">145</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Besides, the party would become unable, from internal divisions, to +govern the country. I take the letter to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P108"></A>108}</SPAN> +be a recognition of the +fact that the P.M. ought to be in the House of Commons. In that case +it is on the cards that Lord Granville would retire at the same time. +Where should we be in the Lords, if neither Argyll, nor Derby, nor Lord +G. sat on the Treasury Bench; if Northbrook, Carlingford, and Kimberley +were left to face Salisbury and Cairns? And then, if Selborne resigns +the woolsack, and it becomes necessary to choose a Chancellor for his +debating power? The future is as gloomy in the Commons with Bright and +your father away, Goschen out of office, Hartington liable, any day, to +leave it. In both cases we come to the level of mediocrity; we depend +on the second rank.... +</P> + +<P> +The new constituency gives increased weight to the Democratic leaders, +and it will be impossible for the Whigs to control them or to do +without them. They will force their programme on the party by keeping +it out of office until they prevail. This must come sooner or later. +But Mr. Gladstone ought not to retire until he has provided for the +future of the party he has remodelled. With respect to persons, if he +does not bring Derby and Goschen in, nobody else can. As to +Goschen—whose position will be a considerable one, as the best +financier of the party, afterwards—it has been unfortunate that the +overtures were not made by the P.M. himself. They would have been far +more flattering; probably also more clear and definite. The +measure[<A NAME="chap01fn146text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn146">146</A>] he objects to is considerably postponed. The way is +crowded with bills on which he agrees with ministers. +</P> + +<P> +As to Derby, I hope to learn all about your visit,[<A NAME="chap01fn147text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn147">147</A>] how you get on +with her, and whether you all took +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P109"></A>109}</SPAN> +care to acknowledge her good +influence and services. There will never be any great intimacy between +him and your father. But, in his proper place, he could be made very +useful. +</P> + +<P> +There is something graver than the question of persons. There is his +own Church policy, the Eastern—especially Egyptian and Armenian +question, the decentralisation of H. of Commons business, +redistribution of seats, and ever so much more. I should like him to +see more of the Prince of Wales,[<A NAME="chap01fn148text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn148">148</A>] that something of his influence +should survive in the Royal Family. And his present power is such that +there will be a real failure in his career if he retires without +employing it to secure the future of the party. It would be wasting or +burying the fortune of Rothschild, the most enormous capital ever +collected in one hand. +</P> + +<P> +The resistance to G. Eliot, the preference for Scott, the desire to +confide in ——, are all one and the same thing: idealism. When +Disraeli sat down exclaiming, "The time will come when you will hear +me," his neighbour slapped him on the back and said, "So they will." +That encouraging neighbour was ——. He can never take to a man of +strong principle and purpose. He is little better than a vague Jingo: +and he is the most indiscreet, and not the most accurate of men. To +trust him with such a secret is like rejecting G. Eliot as cynical, +gloomy, and uncharitable in her views of life. A man can be trusted +only up to low-water mark. There is just one thing on which the P.M. +is wilfully a little superficial! +</P> + +<P> +Private Secretaries have no time for letters of their own; otherwise I +think with pleasure of your new occupation. Don't let it tire you. In +many ways it +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P110"></A>110}</SPAN> +will interest you; and J. S. Mill would highly have +approved of it, as portending an end to the subjection of women. +</P> + +<P> +Please let me beg that you will not read anonymous communications. If +you receive any, I think they ought to go to the police. Not, of +course, to Mr. Gladstone. What he does not mind himself might worry +him being sent to you. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Nov. 9, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I am sorry to have lost the Knowsley letters, as I know something of +your accounts of country houses. The envelope raised expectations +which added to my disappointment; for there was no danger that the +dulness of the company would affect the record. The newspaper list of +visitors surprised me.... +</P> + +<P> +The point, however, is the good impression which Derby made during +their walk, as there was no previous liking. +</P> + +<P> +Your suggestion of a visit to Hawarden is as tempting as it is kind. I +should like nothing so much if I thought it suited Mr. and Mrs. +Gladstone; but at this moment I am wanted, sadly wanted, here; and the +ingenious indiscretion of somebody has provoked a demonstration more +impressive than any arguments of mine. It has shown what the triumph +of the Tories, what the helplessness of the Liberals would be. Mr. +Gladstone must see now that his resolution must depend on facts, and +not on wishes. What he is to the cause and the party I fear he will +never understand. +</P> + +<P> +Touching the future, I can abate nothing of what I said. It is odd, +especially for me to say, who often disagree with him in maxims if not +in aims, but you undervalue him in comparison with other men. Is it +the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P111"></A>111}</SPAN> +strife in the Cabinet, the defection of friends, the zeal of +opponents, the slow growth of results, the versatility of popular +feeling, the coldness of Continental opinion, that depresses you? or is +it Morley's book?[<A NAME="chap01fn149text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn149">149</A>] T. B. Potter has just arrived, I hope with a +copy for me. I see from the extracts that it is a piece of very +superior work. At first I expected an oblique attack on your father, +as a dilatory and inconsistent convert, prompted by Cobden's long +distrust, by Bright's early denunciations, by the aversion of literal +economists, of Equalitarian Democrats, of stubborn unbelievers in those +qualities which raise him above the highest level of Liberalism. But I +can fancy that you might be impressed by so vigorous, sincere, and +complete a system of politics very distinct from his own. The +lieutenants of Alexander, Napoleon and his Marshals, are the only fit +comparisons to describe the interval between the P.M. and the best of +those who come next to him. +</P> + +<P> +We lose a weak, an ornamental, an unstable, but patriotic man in ——. +As he has been the guiltiest misleader in ecclesiastical questions, his +retirement is appropriate at the moment when we are trying to get the +ear of the Pope. There are, of course, better reasons for that just +now than the state of Ireland, and I think he (the Pope) deserves the +kind of help it must give him. His impulses seem almost always right, +whilst his execution, depending on others, and requiring force of +character as well as good intentions, is generally poor and shabby. If +the Powers had been quicker to understand how strongly he contrasts +with his predecessor they might have enabled him to prevail against his +court. +</P> + +<P> +John O'Hagan, the chief of the new Land Court, is +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P112"></A>112}</SPAN> +a man whom I +tried to bring forward, and made much of in the beginning of his +career. He has the stamp of 1848 upon him as deep as Duffy,[<A NAME="chap01fn150text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn150">150</A>] and I +found him rather literary than politic, more full of good and gracious +aspiration than practical and solid. The Court has done two things +which must, I imagine, raise doubts at Hawarden. They undertake to fix +a rent such as will fairly enable a man to live—that is a rule which +would reduce rent per acre in proportion to the smallness of the +holding, and would extinguish it altogether in the smallest. And they +judge not by the land and buildings, but by the capacity of the +tenant—that will lead them to do more for the worse farmer and less +for the better. On the other hand, it is terrible to read that farmers +cultivating 20 or 30 acres never eat butcher's meat. In France I find +that the families of day labourers have meat for dinner every day. I +am told that there is scarcely an exception. +</P> + +<P> +Hawarden after Knowsley must have been a relief, especially with +Lightfoot, Goldwin Smith, and may I say Harcourt? There is no +room—there never is—for what I have to say. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Nov. 25, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I have been away from Cannes for a few days, and am ashamed to be again +behindhand. +</P> + +<P> +If I had not known it before, I should discover now what a good fellow +Alfred Lyttelton is. F. C.'s view does not convince me. The impeding +facts will be there, but the strong will[<A NAME="chap01fn151text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn151">151</A>] and the untimely gift of +self-disparagement may be too much for the facts. +</P> + +<P> +I am struck by what you say of the omission in Morley's book, which I +am to receive in a few days. A person who has had a large and +legitimate share in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P113"></A>113}</SPAN> +its preparation spoke to me some time ago in +a manner which led me to expect that the Treaty narrative would be +hostile to Mr. Gladstone, and would reveal soreness against him on the +part of Cobden. I discussed the thing with him a good deal, but +without materials which would justify me in hoping that I had made an +impression. Since then, Mr. Gladstone has become P.M. and Morley is +editor of one of the principal organs of a part of the ministry. That +explains some degree of reticence, if my former impression was correct. +I do not think such reticence quite worthy of the occasion and the men; +and it would be well that the true story should be told, unless it +should be likely in any way to embarrass the new negotiation. That is +a question that can only be settled at Hawarden. +</P> + +<P> +Knowles proposed that I should review the book, having a Tory review +already undertaken. He offered to bring the volumes to Cannes before +the end of this month. That would not give me the needful time. It +would be necessary, in the dearth of books here, and of all sources of +information besides T. B. Potter, to have some things looked up in +England, by slow process of post. And it would be quite essential to +ascertain how much of what is omitted may be supplied. Not feeling +sure of that, and of the time, I was obliged to decline. If Knowles +comes here, as he portended, I shall have an opportunity of talking it +over with him. +</P> + +<P> +Many, many thanks for the glimpse into that precious Diary.[<A NAME="chap01fn152text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn152">152</A>] You +will have observed how he +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P114"></A>114}</SPAN> +demolishes his own argument. He +compares what I say now with what people said of Palmerston. Those +people were wrong because Palmerston left a better man than himself +behind him. But Mr. Gladstone goes on to say that there is nobody +behind him fit to lead, except ——. Just work out the sum in +Proportion: as G. to P., so is X. to G. +</P> + +<P> +And it is not only a question of men, but of elements. There are many +things in the glimpse that are +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P115"></A>115}</SPAN> +very notable. I fancy that +Goschen's late speech has done him good; but it still seems clear that +he will not shut the door on the Tories. I am in communication with +them[<A NAME="chap01fn153text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn153">153</A>] again, and should perhaps see them on my way back, if I could +come to Hawarden. +</P> + +<P> +I write this off in haste, before I have an opportunity of showing Mrs. +Gladstone's most kind letter to Lady Acton. I don't like to answer her +until I have done so. +</P> + +<P> +Of course I should like to come beyond anything. If Parliament does +not meet before the proper time, it might be possible to come early in +January. The middle of December would not be quite so easy, for +reasons here. But please tell me if it would be very much better for +reasons paramount. Two thousand miles would be nothing for a good +hour's talk with him, and several hours with his Secretary. I hope the +Temple of Peace would not lose that character by my invasion of its +pacific precincts. +</P> + +<P> +Seeley would be hard on Lecky if he applied those words to his +"Eighteenth Century," which is a weighty, thoughtful book. But the two +former works, by which he became famous, do not really rise much above +the vulgar level. There is nothing in his writings nearly equal to the +new Bampton Lectures.[<A NAME="chap01fn154text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn154">154</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Nov. 29, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Hartington's speech has not arrived yet; but the French papers describe +him as differing about Ireland from the P.M. and not repelling the idea +of Compensation. As this was not urged at the time, it would now be a +reproach to the Act, which might never have +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P116"></A>116}</SPAN> +passed with such +conditions. And one neither sees how compensation is to be regulated, +nor by whom; whether by a commission stultifying the present one, or by +the same contradicting itself. And it is very unlike the economic +policy of the P.M. But I can conceive a very powerful argument on the +other side, which the Tories are not likely to use. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Dec. 2, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I have not fired all my shot, and I don't rely on Hartington's +translation. His last speech does not strike me favourably. +</P> + +<P> +He puts away the compensation argument in a fashion more parliamentary +than statesmanlike. In debate, where effects are immediate and +momentary, one is glad of anything that tells against opponents, and +gets used to phrases instead of reasons. +</P> + +<P> +Macaulay was indiscreet enough to write to his constituents on Windsor +Castle paper. It was good material for a laugh, and no more; but Peel +and Graham never let him hear the end of it. "From the proud Keep of +Windsor you bade the lieges have no fear," and such like seemed +equivalent to argument. When one addresses the Nation, with a sort of +Manifesto on a difficult, new, and dangerous question, one must go +straight to the point. We expect of a real statesman that he will take +the case of his adversary not by its weak end, but at its strongest; +that he will see whether he cannot even strengthen it before he +replies. If he deals with the weak points, like a lawyer, somebody +will follow, and will beat him. That is part of the integrity of +public men. And I must say that H.'s idea that he meets the case for +compensation by asking whether rack-renting landlords are to be paid +for their iniquity, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P117"></A>117}</SPAN> +exposes him to a rejoinder so crushing as to +damage his position and to strengthen my plea. +</P> + +<P> +There is no constructive power among the Whigs. There is some among +the Democrats, because their principles have been thought out, and +provide legislation for generations. But the two men capable of +working out thoughts into system on other than purely democratic lines +are Derby and Goschen. And they are outside, and do not really +contribute to the force of the party. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +There was that omission in my former letter—not quite by accident. +Many things are better for silence than for speech: others are better +for speech than for stationery. I have a large store of these. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Dec. 14, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +—— is so much stronger that I really believe that I shall be able to +run over for a short visit, and the temptation is strong upon me to +take your kind words literally. May I come—by the morning train from +town—on Monday, the second day of 1882? It would be the pleasantest +beginning of a New Year that I could possibly imagine, after a +melancholy autumn. +</P> + +<P> +To-morrow I am off to Nice with M., after the Blue Rose, and Christmas +presents for the others. They tell me that Mr. Cross[<A NAME="chap01fn155text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn155">155</A>] is here. If +so, I hope to have a talk with him about the difficult life he is +writing. +</P> + +<P> +I have been looking forward to the books of the Year, which I have not +had courage to send for, especially the life of the most fascinating +writer[<A NAME="chap01fn156text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn156">156</A>] of the day, and the letters of Bishop Thirlwall. I am glad +to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P118"></A>118}</SPAN> +think that I need not stop in London to read them, and am +extremely interested by what you say of Thirlwall. I never found him +very attractive or accessible, personally. +</P> + +<P> +The success of Newnham is a thing to congratulate your sister on. As +to Herbert, the papers enable me to follow his wanderings and +conversations with old Irishwomen. He must be making himself very +useful to Mr. Gladstone; and I rejoice at symptoms in this day's papers +which tend to weaken my inclination to compensation. +</P> + +<P> +Of course you will tell me if the proposed date had better be exchanged +for another, if there is any incompatible visit just then or for any +other reason. I should not start until Thursday, the 29th. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Dec. 27, 1881</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The telegram summoning me for Saturday arrived late last night. If the +trains keep time, I shall catch the Boulogne tidal from Paris on +Friday, and so obey the summons. I presume there is a 9 or 10 A.M. +train which will land us at Chester early enough in the afternoon to +reach Hawarden about sunset. It looks like an early departure for +Downing Street, which will be an affliction. Or perhaps some visitor +with whom I ought to clash. But I am quite prepared to find the secret +agent of the Vatican at Hawarden, and to look as if I took him for an +African lion.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Athenćum Jan. 7, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +... I met three Ministers last night at dinner, and the impression is +that Mr. Gladstone is remarkably well. But the Conservatism of London +is something too excessive. +</P> + +<P> +I met at the Russells', Maine, Monck, F. Leveson, and Reay. At the +Athenćum, Hayward, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P119"></A>119}</SPAN> +H. Spencer, May; and there are much worse +croakers than these. +</P> + +<P> +It will be quite refreshing to spend Monday at Seacox, with a man[<A NAME="chap01fn157text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn157">157</A>] +who is understood to be travelling towards the Ministry, and no longer +away from them. It has been impossible to call in Downing Street; and +I dare say your mother was rushing about. But I am to meet them, +thanks to you as usual, at Lansdowne House this evening. +</P> + +<P> +At the Museum, Poole gave me the papers to read that Mr. Gladstone +spoke of. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Jan. 17, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +In London I saw everybody I had designed to look for, except John +Morley.... Sir Henry Maine got me to criticise the proof of a lecture +on the King and his Successor, which you will see in the February +<I>Nineteenth Century</I>. I hope he accepted some of my amendments; but he +was obdurate about the most important. He says that Primogeniture has +been of very great political service. I admitted this, but objected +that there is another side to the question, that Primogeniture embodies +the confusion between authority and property which constitutes modern +Legitimacy, that Legitimacy has, in this century, acted as an obstacle +to free institutions, and that a one-sided judgment thrown off as that +sentence is, gives a Tory tinge to the entire paper. He answered: "You +seem to use Tory as a term of reproach." +</P> + +<P> +I was much struck by this answer—much struck to find a philosopher, +entirely outside party politics, who +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P120"></A>120}</SPAN> +does not think Toryism a +reproach, and still more, to find a friend of mine ignorant of my +sentiments about it. And I am much tempted to have it out with him, +and discover what he really means. Besides which, I spent some hours +in Mark Pattison's company; found Reay desponding, but eager to speak; +May,[<A NAME="chap01fn158text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn158">158</A>] very much depressed; H——, pottering feebly, as I thought, +over Montlosier,[<A NAME="chap01fn159text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn159">159</A>] whom he does not understand, in the <I>Quarterly</I>, +and Junius, whom he does not discover, in the "Encyclopćdia"; +Monck[<A NAME="chap01fn160text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn160">160</A>] remarkable as the one happy Irishman. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +I should like to impress one thought on your mind: Much will depend on +your success in making the work of the Session sit lightly on the P.M. +in getting him to yield to distractions, even to amusements, and no +longer to consider change of work an equivalent to rest. A house near +town, the play, I had almost said the opera, might be a help. If he +would be unprincipled enough to refuse tiresome dinners, however far +off, and then to accept pleasant ones, at short notice, it would be +worth a great deal. In short, a little demoralisation is the best +security I can see for the supreme perfecting of his career. +</P> + +<P> +By-the-bye, you condemn me for my indefinite answers to some very +searching questions; and I find you are right. At least I have read a +paper on the Revised Version which satisfies me that I ought to have +joined more heartily in Mr. Gladstone's censure of it. But I have been +reading it to my children, and it had got associated with very sweet +moments. Once +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P121"></A>121}</SPAN> +more, I perceive that my letter is full of +everything except yourself.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Jan. 25, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I return the letter of my heroine[<A NAME="chap01fn161text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn161">161</A>] with many thanks. It reminds me +of what she wrote to me. If I could find it I would send it to you.... +I think there is a piece of truth in Mr. Ottley's remark. Her +strongest conviction, the keystone of her philosophy, was the idea that +all our actions breed their due reward in this world, and that life is +no reign of reason if we put off the compensation to another world. +That is a moral far more easily worked in cases of outward, transitive +sin than in those which disturb only the direct relations of man with +God. These indeed are cases which may partly depend on our belief in +God, not only in humanity and human character. Deny God, and whole +branches of deeper morality lose their sanction. Here I am preaching +against Bradlaugh, after all! +</P> + +<P> +Her genius would no doubt reveal to her consequences which others +cannot imagine. But still the inclination of a godless philosophy will +be towards palpable effects and those about which there is no mistake. +Especially in a doctrine with so little room for grace and forgiveness, +where no God ever speaks except by the voice of other men. Defined and +brought to book, that is a detestable system. But it is not on the +surface—and many men can no more be kept straight by spiritual motives +than we can live without policemen. +</P> + +<P> +Still there is a piece of truth in this paganism. Looking at history, +not at biography, taking societies, and not individuals, we cannot deal +with things seen by God alone; things take other proportions; the scale +of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P122"></A>122}</SPAN> +vice and virtue is not that of private life; we judge of it by +its outward action, and hesitate to penetrate the secrets of +conscience. The law of visible retribution is false even there. But +it is true that the test and measure of good and evil is not that of +the spiritual biographer. +</P> + +<P> +I shall punish Sir H. Maine with your very striking remark about +Toryism. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +That is a perilous point, about suspiciousness. By all means we should +think well until forced to think ill of people. But we must be +prepared for that compulsion; and the experience of history teaches +that the uncounted majority of those who get a place in its pages are +bad. We have to deal chiefly, in life, with people who have no place +in history, and escape the temptations that are on the road to it. But +most assuredly, now as heretofore, the Men of the Time are, in most +cases, unprincipled, and act from motives of interest, of passion, of +prejudice cherished and unchecked, of selfish hope or unworthy fear. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Feb. 20, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I spent at Rome a most interesting fortnight, explaining the history of +the Church and of the world to M., listening to a great debate on the +representation of minorities, and hearing a good deal of the M.P.[<A NAME="chap01fn162text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn162">162</A>] +who neither has nor has not a mission. We wound up with two days at +Florence, and I accompanied M. to Genoa, along the finest part of the +Riviera, and then went to Bologna, to a dying relation. All which has +stood in the way of coming home, of writing, and of knowing what is +going on. I am reading up the debates, and your letters light up the +task. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P123"></A>123}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +Bonghi, who has a volume of Roman History ready, spent an afternoon +with me in the Forum; but proved unsound about Ireland. Minghetti took +us over the palace of the Cćsars, as they call the Palatine. I took M. +the round of imperial statues and monuments of the Popes, hanging a +tale to each, and I am afraid her impressions of history are gloomy. +We made up for it a little at Santa Croce, with Dante and Fossombroni; +and in Savonarola's cell at S. Marco, I sat in his chair, and told her +of the friar who died for his belief that the way to make men better +was to make them free. +</P> + +<P> +I was not happy about Errington. Everybody spoke well of him. But +there was too manifest a desire to amplify the significance of his +position, and to entangle him in Roman schemes and views. +</P> + +<P> +Schlözer's first visit was to me, as we lived in the same house, and +are old friends. They, at least, have something to offer; but the +mission seems to me very ambiguous. +</P> + +<P> +I have long wished for that declaration about self-government; but I am +persuaded that there has been as much statesmanship in the choice of +the time as of the terms. There is so much danger of being deserted on +that line, and of one's friends combining to effect a reaction. It +will not do to make too much of the speech of 1871. The occasion, last +week, gave extraordinary weight to Mr. Gladstone's words; and he would +not now say that the movement is superfluous, or that Ireland always +got what she wanted. The risk is that he may seem to underrate the +gravity of a great constitutional change, in the introduction of a +federal element. +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P124"></A>124}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Liberty depends on the division of power. Democracy tends to unity of +power. To keep asunder the agents, one must divide the sources; that +is, one must maintain, or create, separate administrative bodies. In +the view of increasing democracy, a restricted federalism is the one +possible check upon concentration and centralism. +</P> + +<P> +But I am very anxious about one thing. If Mr. Gladstone thinks that he +cannot carry his colleagues, his party, Parliament, or the nation with +him, and declines to take the lead in this movement, the throwing out +of the idea may become a source of weakness. They will say that he +waits for the initiative of others, that he is expecting a wind, that +he is ready to be squeezed, if others will do it for him, that he looks +on opinion as a thing to be obeyed, not to be guided—and so will +proceed to put pressure on him and to make demonstrations not at all in +conformity with his spirit and purpose. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Feb. 25, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Goschen agreed to go with me to Paris, and changed his mind at the last +moment. The consequence was that I did not stop at Paris, and some +letters which were sent there from Seacox have only just reached me. +And so I have left unanswered your birthday letter, and seemed to +disregard the reproach as well as the kindness it expresses. +</P> + +<P> +I will not say that, in the former, there is not much that I have had +to consider. Still, in giving up one's home, and country, and friends +and occupations, there is at least a mixture of good motives with +selfish ones, and something sacrificed, if there is also a good deal of +calculated pleasure-seeking and ease. If I held an appointment abroad, +keeping me permanently away +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P125"></A>125}</SPAN> +from my—very modest—estate, you +would say that the Government was insane to offer it, but you would +hardly think it wrong of me to accept it. And the duty I have allowed +to precede all other duties is one that possesses a strong, and +unmistakable, claim on me. Between my children and my Shropshire +neighbours my choice is indeed decided. Do not, when I have the +happiness of seeing you again, allow these shortcomings and these +backslidings of mine to interfere with that better topic—which is +yourself, but which gets no chance. +</P> + +<P> +I am seeing a good deal of the Mallets. He is getting over a very bad +illness, and seems to like Cannes, in spite of Sir E. Colebrooke and +the <I>Pall Mall</I>. I have succeeded in making Sir Louis shake his head +over the secret Jacobinism of his friend Morley. Yesterday I had the +pleasure of dining with your favourite correspondent. +</P> + +<P> +Your view of the speech introducing the new Procedure is far more just +than R.'s. It displayed that serene mastery and lightness of touch +which are the latest growth or ripest form of his talent, rather than +the controlling and compelling power which we know so well. As to the +censure,[<A NAME="chap01fn163text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn163">163</A>] I hold the necessity of keeping the working of the Act +from interference; but I cannot admit that the case of the +Commissioners is good, at the weakest point. The defence of their +general action seems to me triumphant; but I don't think the attack has +been met in the particulars; and the common maxim of all constitutional +governments, to stand by one's subordinates in their need, is, I think, +a very dangerous one. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P126"></A>126}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +"John Inglesant" has been begun but not finished, for want of time in +London. Here is a letter which it can be no indiscretion to show you, +on that interesting subject. I did not, in reply, quite confirm the +critic's doubts, though I probably could not remove them. I would +rather regard it as a philosophical than as a historical work. +</P> + +<P> +And I missed the <I>Athenćum</I> Summary. When one comes to classify all +that appears, the gaps strike one as much as the bulk. Still, in the +narrow domain of my own book—"The Madonna of the Future"[<A NAME="chap01fn164text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn164">164</A>]—every +week brings several new publications that are sure to contribute some +light or some difficulty. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes March 4, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +We have no particulars yet, and I still hope it was not an +Irishman.[<A NAME="chap01fn165text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn165">165</A>] The villa at Mentone stands in the midst of dark olive +woods, scarcely a mile from the frontier, and less than a furlong from +the sea. It will require to be well guarded. +</P> + +<P> +I have followed the conflict with the keen attention you may imagine, +and rejoice quite as much as anybody in Downing Street at the personal +triumph, and at the accession of strength which is due so entirely to +his own efforts and belongs exclusively to himself. It is a gain for a +better cause than the Ministry. We are just in that intermediate state +in which the issue at Northampton[<A NAME="chap01fn166text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn166">166</A>] is unknown, but seems certain, +which will be a relief. +</P> + +<P> +The correspondence with Gardiner has gone on at +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P127"></A>127}</SPAN> +some length, and +the problem is very interesting. He persists in rejecting the story. +I now understand that John Inglesant is willing to be received, but is +told by the Jesuit that he is safe if, with that belief and +disposition, he remains an Anglican. +</P> + +<P> +I imagine that he might have argued in this way: Roman Catholic divines +hold that the 39 Articles may be understood in a favourable sense. +Anglicans hold that they are not literally binding on the clergy. +Still less on the laity. Therefore his position in the English Church +does not involve this layman in any error. It may involve him in +certain dangers and difficulties. But these are not greater than the +dangers and difficulties which would follow his conversion. For there +are many opinions, not only sanctioned but enforced by the authorities +of the Church of Rome, which none can adhere to without peril to the +soul. The moral risk on one side is greater than the dogmatic risk on +the other. He can escape heresy in Anglicanism more easily than he can +escape the ungodly ethics of the papacy, the Inquisition, the Casuists, +in the Roman Communion. The solicitation, the compulsion, will be more +irresistible in the latter. A man who thought it wrong to murder a +Protestant King would be left for hell by half the Confessors on the +Continent. Montagu, Bramhall will not sap this man's Catholic faith so +surely as the Spanish and Italian moralists will corrupt his soul. +</P> + +<P> +There were men, in the XVIIth century, who would have argued in this +way. I can even conceive a Jesuit doing it, for they were much +divided, and there were men amongst them far more deeply and broadly +divided from the prevailing teaching of their own Church, than from the +Catholic party in Anglicanism. But I cannot name any Jesuit living +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P128"></A>128}</SPAN> +in Charles I.'s time of whom it could be said with any +probability. So that I am sure not to shake Gardiner's conviction. He +is not well informed in religious history; but as a friend of Brewer he +must have read the life of Goodman, which, I think, Brewer edited. +</P> + +<P> +Gardiner is Irving's son-in-law. His position in that Church inclines +him to Conservative views, and it would be hard for him to admit that +illustrious Catholic divines who did so much for Christian revelation +and for spiritual doctrine were in reality so infamous in their moral +teaching as my hypothesis implies. But I am letting the cat of the +Piazzetta[<A NAME="chap01fn167text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn167">167</A>] out of the bag. +</P> + +<P> +I do hope that the social duties are not too irksome. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes March 9, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I was at Mentone yesterday, and as I do not much like the place where +the Queen is to live, I took pains to ascertain what is doing for her +safety. The Vice-Consul is a singularly intelligent and practical man, +and I saw with satisfaction that the peculiar drawbacks are fully +understood. Every precaution will be taken, without attracting +attention, or being perceived by the Queen herself. +</P> + +<P> +I shall not get credit for my loyalty, for it caused me to miss a +meeting which was held here, during my absence, to vote an address. +But I was rewarded by finding Green, the historian, at Mentone, in good +spirits—but in bad health—and I spent an interesting hour with him. +</P> + +<P> +Gardiner tells me that I understand nothing about the question, that +the Jesuit was only a conspirator and intriguer, and that "John +Inglesant" is abominably overrated. So let us wait for Fraser, with +open and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P129"></A>129}</SPAN> +unsettled minds. Brewer published in 1839 "The Court of +James I.," being the Memoirs of Goodman, Bp. of Gloucester, possibly +not the book in question, but one that would make the situation clear +to the intelligent reader. Green, who does not agree, much, with +Gardiner, tells me that he has made great sacrifices by adhering to +Irvingism, and that he has still to struggle with extreme poverty. +Being one of the two or three most solid historians in England, he has +to teach at an inferior girls' school. He has had the misfortune to +lose several children, as well as his first wife. Do you know his +Outline of English History? I make my children read it, to keep out +——. I wonder what the numerous Wickhams will learn history in. I am +so glad that I have a new friend of the same kind as those I like so +much. +</P> + +<P> +As Mr. Gladstone has had various correspondence with Mivart, it may +interest him to know that that very distinguished philosopher, the most +eminent man of science our Church has had in England, was constrained +to decline election at the Athenćum, being certain of blackballs, by +reason of his quarrel with the Darwinians. In the hope that the +Committee may elect him, he wishes to be put down in the books again; +and he asks me to propose him. As I have never spoken to him in my +life, it is against the rule; but I have agreed to do it, in +acknowledgment of his unquestioned eminence and because of Mr. +Gladstone's weakness for him, which I, otherwise, do not share. The +wicked Sclater, vendor of Jumbo, is the Seconder. +</P> + +<P> +Even without knowing the conversation with Gibson, who seems to me a +most able specimen of his kind, the attitude taken up towards the Lords +seems to me +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P130"></A>130}</SPAN> +in all ways excellent. As to Bradlaugh, as he is +there, I wish the amendment[<A NAME="chap01fn168text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn168">168</A>] had succeeded—for I have not read the +<I>Nineteenth Century</I>.[<A NAME="chap01fn169text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn169">169</A>] But have you seen in the <I>Century</I>—once +<I>Scribner</I>—Bryce on Disraeli? It is a good paper. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes March 21, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +In the middle of John Inglesant came the enclosed,[<A NAME="chap01fn170text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn170">170</A>] which I return, +with dismay. The impression given seems to be that by speaking of +dogmatic danger in England, and of moral danger in Rome, I ingeniously +laid a silent imputation of heterodoxy on Anglicans, whilst implying +that we are free at least from that suspicion; so that I thought of +1882 whilst I spoke of 1640, and meant controversy, though pretending +to write history. +</P> + +<P> +The reward of history is that it releases and relieves us from present +strife. My only endeavour was to recall what might have occurred two +centuries and a half ago, to a sincere and upright priest, that is, to +one who studied to detach his mind from its habitual surroundings, to +look behind his own scenes, to stand apart with Archimedes, to practise +the <I>doute méthodique</I> of Descartes, to discern prejudice from faith +and sympathy from truth. There was no such problem, and I know now +that my zeal was wasted on a personage whose notion of religion was not +worth inquiry. But I was not pleading a cause. I scarcely venture to +make points against the religion of other people, from a curious +experience that they have more to say than I know, and from a sense +that it is safer to reserve +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P131"></A>131}</SPAN> +censure for one's own, which one +understands more intimately, having a share of responsibility and +action. +</P> + +<P> +It would have been more accurate to sacrifice my antithesis by +referring to doctrinal trouble as well as moral risk on our side. If I +did not do so—I have no recollection of my words—the reason may be +that I am too deeply impressed with the moral risk to have the other +very present to my mind. Encountering an associate of Guy Fawkes and +Ravaillac, I do not stop to ask what he makes of the Apocrypha, or how +far he goes with the Athanasian Creed. I believe that our internal +conflicts spring from indifference to sin, and not from a religious +idea. A speculative Ultramontanism separate from theories of tyranny, +mendacity, and murder, keeping honestly clear of the Jesuit with his +lies, of the Dominican with his fagots, of the Popes with their +massacres, has not yet been brought to light. Döllinger, who thinks of +nothing else, has never been able to define it, and I do not know how +to distinguish a Vaticanist of that sort, a Vaticanist in a state of +grace, from a Catholic. +</P> + +<P> +Let me supply my omission by declaring that my hypothetical divine +would not have found all the moral evil in one quarter, and ambiguous +doctrine only in the other. I dare say he would think that in England +too little was done for the spiritual life, and, unless he had a taste +for Donne, that devotional literature was backward; and he might even +agree with Thorndike that the neglect of the discipline of penance +threatened the Church with ruin. In like manner, he would not view +with favour some of the dogmatic theology that flourished amongst his +friends. He might, for instance, deem that Molinism or Jansenism, +neither of them yet +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P132"></A>132}</SPAN> +approved or rejected, but severally dominant +in many lands, were false systems, and that, between the two, a +Catholic doctrine of grace was hard to find. He would be aware that +Rome still cherished the idea that roused Luther, that, by committing a +sin one may save a soul; and he would perhaps conclude, with a famous +Jesuit of his day, that Luther did well to attack it. +</P> + +<P> +Of the instances suggested, one, the Cultus of the Blessed Virgin, was +partly of later growth and would not seriously disturb a contemporary +of Charles the First. It does not offend in the older, classical +literature of the Church, in the Imitation, the Exposition, the +Pensées, or the Petit Caręme. Sixty years ago, a priest who is still +living was sent as Chaplain to Alton Towers. At Evening Prayers, when +he began the Litany of Loretto, Lord Shrewsbury rose from his knees and +told him that they never recited it. He was a man, as the "Life of +Panizzi" shows, without an idea of his own. +</P> + +<P> +Images would probably impress him as a danger to be warded, rather, I +think, than Transubstantiation. Here the difficulty that strikes a +dialectician hardly reaches the people. Many Catholics are practically +conscious of no difference from the higher Anglican or Lutheran view of +the Real Presence. Hegel's argument, that a mouse which had nibbled a +Host would become an object of adoration, would strike nine laymen out +of ten as a poor joke. I know not whether the confusion of thought was +greater then or less; but he would remember so many cases of +Protestants ready to conform on no harder condition than the concession +of the Cup that his scruples would be likely to melt. Montagu saying +that he knew no Roman tenet he +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P133"></A>133}</SPAN> +would not subscribe, unless it +were Transubstantiation, would have made him wonder why a +Catholic-minded prelate should be more stiffnecked than the unbending +Lutherans or fiercer Bohemians. +</P> + +<P> +But whatever the dogmatic perils he might apprehend, he would meet them +in the same spirit of charitable construction he had employed on the +other side. I will presume that he took the oath of allegiance, for, +in 1635, the Jesuits allowed their penitents to take it. He would even +admit the Royal Supremacy, like Father Caron, as not exceeding the +prerogative of Kings in France and Spain. He would drop the imputation +of schism, seeing that Bramhall wrote that there was no formed +difference with the Church of Rome about any point of faith. Finding +that an Archbishop denied any necessary articles of faith beyond the +Apostles' Creed, he would regard the 39 Articles as Hall, +Chillingworth, Bramhall, Stillingfleet, and, according to Bull, all +that are well advised, considered them—pious opinions which no man was +obliged to believe. With Bossuet, he would acknowledge the force of +the case in favour of Anglican orders, and with Richard Simon he would +admit that the Caroline divines had not their equals in his own Church, +and would revere them as the strongest enemies of the specific heresies +of Luther and Calvin, as the force that would sap the fabric against +which Rome still contended in vain. If he heard that there was a +bishop who begged prayers for his soul, another who tolerated the +Invocation of Saints, a third who allowed Seven Sacraments, and so on, +he might be willing to believe, with Davenport, that the chasm was +filled that had separated England from Trent. +</P> + +<P> +To reach that point of conciliation it would be +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P134"></A>134}</SPAN> +necessary to make +the best of everything, so far as could be without sophistry, violence, +or concealment. And the same rule of favourable interpretation would +be applied by the same man to his own Theology. He would be bound by +the limits of Richelieu's proposals, and would keep within the lines of +Bossuet, and those which Spinola afterwards drew, with the assent of +Pope and General. +</P> + +<P> +He would have been confirmed in this method by the response it drew +from such eminent Protestants as Grotius, Bramhall, La Bastide, +Prćtorius, Fabricius, and Leibniz. Their judgment would have +encouraged him to abide in his own communion, and would have taught him +that he was as safe as his friend on the other side. The same +impartiality would have led to the same result. There were even +Protestant divines who sanctioned conversions to Rome. +</P> + +<P> +The last time I saw Count Arnim he asked about Newman's Vatican +defence. I said that he had explained the decrees away by declaring +that he meant no defence of persecution and tyrannicide. That was a +canon of interpretation strong enough to blow any other ingredient into +gas. Arnim objected that Newman's manipulations were not accepted at +Rome. Just then he became a Cardinal, and so they were indirectly +sanctioned. +</P> + +<P> +I endow my seventeenth-century divine with the ingenuity and the +integrity of Newman. Having given England the benefit of No. 90, he +would gild Rome with the answer to the Expostulation. Shutting one eye +to the Articles, like Chillingworth, he would, like Spinola, shut the +other to the Council of Trent. Having expounded Anglo-Catholicism by +the light of Bramhall, he would, in the same spirit, choose +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P135"></A>135}</SPAN> +Cassander, Bossuet, Corker as genuine exponents of Roman Catholicism, +and he could do both without insincerity or surrender. +</P> + +<P> +Don't let me make too much of that passage in Newman. He defended the +Syllabus, and the Syllabus justified all those atrocities. Pius the +Fifth held that it was sound Catholic doctrine that any man may stab a +heretic condemned by Rome, and that every man is a heretic who attacks +the papal prerogatives. Borromeo wrote a letter for the purpose of +causing a few Protestants to be murdered. Newman is an avowed admirer +of Saint Pius and Saint Charles, and of the pontiffs who canonised +them. This, and the like of this, is the reason of my deep aversion +for him. +</P> + +<P> +There is not time for Shorthouse to-day. I will tell you about him as +soon as I can. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes March 20-22, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Wickham lent me John Inglesant yesterday, and I finished it before +bedtime. I have read nothing more thoughtful and suggestive since +Middlemarch, and I could fill with honest praise the pages I am going +to blacken with complaint. But if I had access to the author, with +privilege of free and indiscreet speech, it would seem a worthier +tribute to his temper and ability to lay my litany of doubts before +him. Not having it, I submit my questionings to yourself, as the +warmest admirer of his work. Probably the difficulties which occur to +me have been raised already in reviews which you have read. For +instance:— +</P> + +<P> +I. 29. Inglesant's name does not appear in the trials of the +Protestants. Did the Marian persecution rage in Wilts? +</P> + +<P> +73, 74. Here is a Puritan party in Parliament and a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P136"></A>136}</SPAN> +scheme to +pervert its leaders, in August 1637. No Parliament had sat for eight +years. +</P> + +<P> +83. Juan Valdes was not a papist but a Protestant. +</P> + +<P> +90. Would Foxe be the favourite and characteristic author of such +Arminians as the Ferrars? +</P> + +<P> +101. The Mass is the strongest of all the motives that lead men to +Rome.—I really doubt it, for I remember more instances of men +attracted by our orders, by authority, unity, confession. +</P> + +<P> +107. Hobbes thinks it is the consecrating power by which a priest, in +the hour of death, can save a soul.—He should have said, the power of +absolution. +</P> + +<P> +207. Something similar to the feeling in England during the Sepoy +rebellion. Read: Mutiny. This is an understatement. The Irish +massacre was more appalling to the imagination because it was nearer +and of vaster reported proportions. A respectable writer who lived in +Ireland believes that there were 300,000 victims. +</P> + +<P> +272. Charles contrasted most favourably with his judges, whose sole +motive was self. Ludlow's Memoirs, and other sources, show that +something was at work besides selfish fears. The men perhaps were no +better for that. They may even have been worse, inasmuch as the higher +and better part of them served as the motive of crime. Carnot may have +been as infamous as Barčre; but it is unjust to tar them with the same +brush. +</P> + +<P> +277. Eustace loses his suppers with the French King—Louis was eleven +years old. +</P> + +<P> +279, 312. I don't remember the term Quakers in current use as early as +January 1650, but very soon after. +</P> + +<P> +327. In opposition to this, the Jesuits about the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P137"></A>137}</SPAN> +time of the +Reformation came forward with what was called a new doctrine.—The book +in question came out in 1588. +</P> + +<P> +Vol. I. 339. II. 12. Legate and nuncio are treated as the same thing. +They are as different as Prćtor and Dictator. +</P> + +<P> +II. 3. The learning of the Fathers was not what it had been a century +ago.—These Fathers must be Italian monks generally, or else the +Jesuits. It is not true of either. The Jesuits had no very eminent +scholars in the first generation. Salmeron, the most noted, lived to +be told by Bellarmin that his books would take a good deal of +retouching before going to press. The middle of the seventeenth +century, especially the second quarter, was the golden age of Jesuit +learning, when their supremacy was uncontested. The Benedictines did +not begin to rival them quite so early as Cressy says, I. 334. +</P> + +<P> +4. Chigi is never di Chigi, and the pope's sister-in-law was called +Olimpia Maidalchini. +</P> + +<P> +106. An age or two ago the priestly government was better. Yet +Machiavelli brings much the same accusation against it in his time. +</P> + +<P> +138. Some confusion as to the name of the English College. +</P> + +<P> +272. The steps of the Trinitŕ were hardly built then. There might be +more of these little scruples, and, by themselves, they do not build up +a strong misgiving. The picture may be true in spite of slips in +accessary detail. But is the picture true, I will not say +controversially, but historically? There are glaring faults in it, not +open to dispute or controversy, and I will begin with these. +</P> + +<P> +Inglesant comes to Rome about 1654, where Molinos +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P138"></A>138}</SPAN> +has already +resided some years; and he then attends to the business of the Duke of +Umbria. Umbria is Urbino. The last Duke of Urbino died nearly forty +years before Molinos settled in Rome. Inglesant is present at the +condemnation of Molinos, and afterwards visits Worcester, in Charles +the Second's reign—II. 369. Charles the Second had been dead two +years when Molinos was condemned. +</P> + +<P> +In the pontificate of Alexander the Seventh, we hear all at once that +Molinos is arrested, and are told of a meeting, at the Chigi palace, of +persons belonging to the time of Innocent the Eleventh. II. 333. +Without a single word, we are carried over three pontificates and an +interval of thirty years. +</P> + +<P> +The Jesuit who is so hopeful of Anglican re-union that he will not +allow his favourite pupil to join the Church of Rome is called Sancta +Clara. There was a Father Sancta Clara in those days, who is +peculiarly well remembered among English Catholics as the greatest +writer we had between Stapleton and Newman, less acute than the one, +less eloquent than the other, more learned than either; remarkable for +opinions so conciliatory as to resemble those of his imaginary +namesake, and to make him the originator and suggester of No. XC.; +remarkable also for the extreme difficulty of getting his books. But +he was a Franciscan, not a Jesuit, a scholar, not an intriguer; and his +name was not Hall, but Davenport. +</P> + +<P> +This is surely a wilful and wanton confusion of persons, times, and +things. It destroys confidence in the writer's carefulness or +knowledge, gives a tone of unreality, and makes one feel that the whole +is out of keeping. +</P> + +<P> +The book depicts the religious strivings of the age +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P139"></A>139}</SPAN> +so far as the +hero would come in contact with them, keeping a sort of syncretism[<A NAME="chap01fn171text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn171">171</A>] +in view. Some of the most remarkable currents of thought are left out +of sight, and others, which were not within reach, are introduced by a +tyrannical use of time and space. The Rosicrucians can hardly have +been talked about in England within twenty years after the Fama +appeared. The Quietists had not appeared in Rome under Innocent the +Tenth. The wonderful teaching of Bohme, which did reach us under +Charles the First, is not alluded to; and Inglesant lives in the same +house with Van Helmont, and never discovers that he is more than a +physician. The most intense religious force of all that which +prevailed during Inglesant's English career, Independency, is nowhere +named, as well as I remember. The writer does not differentiate +Puritans. He lumps Arminian with Predestinarian, the man who looks on +Schism with the horror felt by Baxter and the man who made Schism a +principle of organisation. Monarchy, he tells us, was restored because +the Puritans hated the tyranny of Cromwell. It was restored, because +Presbyterians would not stand being oppressed by Congregationalists; +and for another reason which was discovered by Harrington,[<A NAME="chap01fn172text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn172">172</A>] and may +still be discovered in his Works. We are introduced to Hobbes and to +More—Hobbes much better drawn than More—but we never meet +Chillingworth, and though at one time very near to Hammond we do not +hear him. Ussher offering terms to Presbyterians, Baxter seeking for +peace with Prelacy, Bramhall holding out a hand to Gallicans, Leighton +consorting with Jansenists—all this good and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P140"></A>140}</SPAN> +apt material is +disdained. Instead of the original thinkers among the English +Catholics—Barnes, Holden, Davenport, White, Caron, Serjeant, +Walshe—we have only Cressy, by way of a foil to the Jesuits, and with +a vague reminiscence of a page in the writings of an Edgbaston +neighbour. Of the efforts making in France and Holland to mitigate +Calvinism, and in Germany to tone down the dogma of Augsburg, not a +word. Lutherans only appear in order to be saddled with a doctrine by +which they would be sorry to stand or fall. Jansenism, odious, +probably, to the author, is not displayed; and the definition of the +Oratorian spirit as contrasted with Benedictine and Jesuit, is quite +inadequate. +</P> + +<P> +Mysticism and High Church Anglicanism are so highly favoured that the +hero, when the Jesuit relaxes his grasp, acquiesces in both. At Rome +he is a hearty Molinosist. Driven from Rome he is a hearty Anglican. +Perhaps Malebranche or Fenelon might have facilitated the transition +from Petrucci to Norris and Nelson and Ken. But there is no +transition. The passage is made by the help of no subtler agency than +a Newhaven smack. The thing is unexplained, inartistic, inorganic, but +quite consistent with the drifting nature of Inglesant. Coming to more +debatable ground I proceed with greater diffidence: Who sat for the +profane and sceptical Cardinal? There is some likeness to Retz, +without his genius or any premonition of the change which, in +Inglesant's time, came over him. But it would be an unpardonable error +to paint an Italian prelate with colours owned by a Frenchman. I +suspect the author of having no authority for this description, both +because his account of the Conclave is so superficial, and for the +following reason. Rinuccini, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P141"></A>141}</SPAN> +alluding to persecution, goes back +a century for an example, to a foreign country and a hostile church. +One later instance occurs to his company, but he rejects it. +Evidently, he thinks that there is nothing of the sort nearer at hand. +If, he says, they once commenced to burn at Rome, they would not know +where to stop. +</P> + +<P> +An account of Catholicism which assumes that, in the middle of the +seventeenth century, Rome had not commenced to burn, is an account +which studiously avoids the real and tragic issues of the time. The +part of Hamlet is omitted, by desire. For when Rinuccini spoke, the +fires of the Roman Inquisition were, indeed, extinct, but had been +extinguished in his lifetime, under the preceding pontificate, having +burnt for nearly a century. Familiar instances must have been +remembered by his hearers; and they had read in the most famous +theological treatise of the last generation, by what gradation of +torments a Protestant ought to die. They knew that whoever obstructed +the execution of that law forfeited his life, that the murder of a +heretic was not only permitted but rewarded, that it was a virtuous +deed to slaughter Protestant men and women, until they were all +exterminated. +</P> + +<P> +To keep these abominations out of sight is the same offence as to +describe the Revolution without the guillotine. The reader knows no +more than old Caspar what it was all about. +</P> + +<P> +There was no mystery about these practices, no scruple, and no +concealment. Although never repudiated, and although retrospectively +sanctioned by the Syllabus, they fell into desuetude, under pressure +from France, and from Protestant Europe. But they were defended, more +or less boldly, down to the peace of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P142"></A>142}</SPAN> +Westphalia.[<A NAME="chap01fn173text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn173">173</A>] The most +famous Jesuits countenanced them, and were bound to countenance them, +for the papacy had, by a series of books approved and of acts done, +identified itself with the system, and the Jesuits were identified with +the cause of the papacy. A Gallican was not quite so deeply +compromised. He might say that these are the crimes and teaching of +the Court, not of the Church, of Rome; and he was on his guard to +restrict the influence and to disparage the example of the popes. +Nevertheless, to say: If you believe the books which Rome commends; if +you accept the doctrines which Rome imposes under pain of death and +damnation; if you do the deeds she requires, and imitate the lives she +proposes as your patterns, you will be probably hanged in this world, +and assuredly damned in the next—this would have sounded like derision +even in the mouth of Pascal or Bossuet. To a Jesuit it was impossible. +He existed in order to sustain the credit of the Popes. He wished the +world to think well of them. They were a tower of strength, an object +of pride to every member of the Society. He was obliged to swallow +them whole. Therefore, though he might wear the mask of Lancelot +Andrews or William Wilberforce, within it was a lining of Saint Just. +It is this combination of an eager sense of duty, zeal for sacrifice, +and love of virtue, with the deadly taint of a conscience perverted by +authority, that makes them so odious to touch and so curious to study. +</P> + +<P> +You will be prepared to hear that I no more recognise the Jesuit than +the Cardinal. Something indeed may be urged in behalf of the sonorous +wickedness of those instructions in which he betrays his spirit, in the +strongest passage of the book. It matters not what +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P143"></A>143}</SPAN> +cause we take +up, provided we defend it well—that is Probabilism. It matters not +what wrong we do in a good cause—that again is the maxim that the end +justifies the means, which, like Probabilism, was just then in the +ascendant. It matters not whether the cause for which we sin is +religion or policy—even that is paralleled by the way in which the +French Jesuits, all but one, supported Richelieu in his alliance with +the Protestants, in the Thirty Years' War. But it is the character of +an exceptional Jesuit, not a type. It is not indicated that he goes +wrong from the worthiest motive; that the disinterested spirit of +religion, which to other men is a safeguard, is as fatal to him as +vulgar passions to other men. The true Jesuit falls better than that. +His decay begins at the top. He does not find his way to +Malebolge[<A NAME="chap01fn174text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn174">174</A>] until a guide misleads him whom he takes for an angel of +light. The sordid, lying, selfish, ambitious specimen does not appear +unless grafted on a fanatical stock. The essence that vitiates so much +discipline and virtue is so subtle that we seldom feel the resemblance +when Jesuits are portrayed from outside. +</P> + +<P> +The author seems hardly to detect his own rogue. When Hall coolly +announces that a lie must be told which will cause a man's death, and +is therefore equivalent to murder, it is not clear whether this is +infamous or not. For Charles betrays Glamorgan as his son afterwards +betrayed Montrose, and we are still expected to revere him as something +better than the enemies who, to save their necks, resorted to Pride and +Bradshaw. So again, speaking of Laud and Strafford, he implies that if +they were unsuccessful tyrants, they were no tyrants at all. That is, +to be a tyrant, you must +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P144"></A>144}</SPAN> +succeed, just as, to be a rebel, you +must fail. The model of tyrants is Cćsar Borgia. When he was down, +Machiavelli, who had thought him worth attentive study, said to him +that he wondered so good a player should have lost the game. He +answered that he had foreseen every combination except that of himself +being prostrate with illness when the crash came. That miscalculation +would become his excuse. +</P> + +<P> +If this propensity to absolve royal and loyal culprits comes from +sympathy with them, it seems to me no better than the crooked canon of +Macaulay, Carlyle, and Froude. The standard, in another place, is a +low one: The priest who invites Inglesant not to die with a lie in his +mouth reminds him that they subordinated their religion to their +political intrigues. But what if they subordinated politics to their +religious interest? To waver about ship money until one knows whether +Charles or Hampden is on the side of one's Church is dishonesty. To +have no moral test of duty apart from religion is to be a fanatic. +What Inglesant imputes to the Catholics is very near the definition of +an honest man. For reasons less obvious I am not satisfied with the +character of Inglesant. We learn in the first volume, p. 34, that he +never formally joined the Church of Rome; and in the second, p. 318, +that he must have been formally received into it. There is a more +serious contradiction still. His life is singularly blameless and +heroic, but one does not perceive the safeguard. Three channels by +which God speaks to the soul are excluded. Inglesant will do anything +but read the Bible. He has never studied to distinguish the voice of +the Church, the constancy of her teaching, the line of least +resistance, the law that regulates her movements. Conscience is a word +that does not occur during the first 200 pages of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P145"></A>145}</SPAN> +religious +training. Then she asks him, what if they ask him to do something that +his conscience cannot approve? He very truly answers that it is too +late to think of that. Then the word returns two or three times, but +the idea is gone. We repeatedly find that he knows not right from +wrong, and is not scared by sin. When reminded of the horrors of the +Inquisition he calmly observes: Not one of these practices but has some +shadow of truth in it. A priest, defending imaginary relics, says: +These things are true to each of us according as we see them. +Inglesant is content, and does not ask who invents or promotes the +fable. Having, with some pains, forced his master to confess the +iniquity of his scheme, he adopts it with alacrity. There is not a +momentary struggle between self-devotion and the shock of indignation. +The spring is broken. The sense is dulled. The voice within is +hushed. What then kept this man's life so pure in court and camp? The +book is not written to suggest that honour and chivalry are a genuine +form or a substitute for grace. +</P> + +<P> +One might suspect that it is the idea which Plato transmitted from +Socrates, which Cameron, in 1624, had revived—that the knowledge of +good and evil is virtue. But Inglesant possesses the virtue without +the knowledge. He is as destitute of conviction as he is free from +vice. His one security is Direction. He passes from hand to hand, and +successive teachers impress him for a time, but impart no principle. +When they fail him, he stands where they found him, a safe and +contented Churchman, not because he has examined all things and chosen +the best, but because the master he preferred happened to be in prison. +</P> + +<P> +A fine opportunity had been wasted. A clever, refined, high-spirited +youth, who has won, in a religious +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P146"></A>146}</SPAN> +philosophy, a standing ground +apart from Churches, who yet learns to sympathise with them, and who +sheds his prejudices and illusions as he grows in spiritual experience; +that would be a noble study in the days of Grotius, Descartes, Lord +Herbert, Hammond, Baxter, Roger Williams, Elondel, Raynaud, and Pascal. +None of these appear on the platform with Hobbes and Cressy and +Molinos—as though, two centuries later, a man should seek rest for +conscience without going near Channing, Arnold, Newman, Vinet, Neander, +Rothe, Schelling, or Grundtvig. Last, the terms Romish, papist, +popery, in so good an artist, make me ask myself whether a papist who +respects himself would talk of heretics, schismatics, apostates, and +infidels? But I have become confused from my prolixity. +</P> + +<P> +I shall be very glad if there is anything in what I said that Arthur +Lyttelton can turn to account, after careful verification. If he will +take the trouble to examine for himself, there can be no reason to +allude to anybody else. +</P> + +<P> +He will abstain, I know, from raising those points respecting +persecution which would give just offence, appearing in this indirect +way. To mark the enormity of supposing that the Cardinal did not know +that people used to be burned in Rome; it would be enough to say that +he cannot have forgotten the reign of Paul V. Down to that reign, from +1542 to 1608, the thing was common and notorious. After Paul V. there +is little that anybody would remember who has not made a study of such +things. This also must be borne in mind, that in Rome, unlike Spain, +the victims were usually strangled, and were not committed to the +flames until they were dead. +</P> + +<P> +The book alluded to, I. 327, is Molina, on grace. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P147"></A>147}</SPAN> +The defence +about the appearance of the name of Quakers would be that it appeared +in that very year 1650. But they are here talked about as early as +January, as if quite well known. The answer to my objection about +Sancta Clara would be that the similarity of opinions suggested the use +of the name. But the man is too well known to be treated in that +unceremonious way. +</P> + +<P> +To say, I. 137, that among Puritans self-restraint and concealment were +sins, is so serious an imputation, especially the first word, that it +should be defined which sect was meant. Nobody says that Baxter was +rude, not even Howe, in private life. There is a slovenliness in this +use of a big brush. Cardinal Howard does not deserve the praise he +gets, II. 333. He was a very pale figure. +</P> + +<P> +Observe II. 273. There are no spires in Rome. I hear that the author +has never been in Italy. That accounts for many topographical +mistakes, and leaves a margin to his credit. +</P> + +<P> +The date of the steps of the Trinitŕ might perhaps be discovered in the +life of Cardinal Polignac, or in the article on him in Michaud or +Didot. It matters not; but the correctness of local and chronological +colour turns on such points as these. I think Cressy could hardly have +justified what he says of the Fathers. +</P> + +<P> +On looking over my lengthy prose I find something that I must +add:—Valdes never renounced Catholicism, but his writings, only lately +made accessible, are the writings of a Protestant. The numbers +mentioned in the Irish massacre are, of course, monstrously +exaggerated, as were the numbers given by Clarendon, Milton, and +Baxter. I quote them to show the greatness of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P148"></A>148}</SPAN> +alarm. The +French Jesuits stood by Richelieu and allowed one of their number to be +exiled for his opposition to the German war when, after the peace of +Prague, it had ceased to be a war in defence of the Protestants, and +was purely aggressive. This was because, in 1627, he had made them +understand that they must leave France if they resisted his will. It +was easier to associate resistance to Puritanism with the Catholic +cause than aggression on the Catholic Powers in Germany. I do not say +that the care taken to prevent conversion is absolutely impossible. +Some Franciscans at that time might have done it; and something like it +is told of a Jesuit a few years later. +</P> + +<P> +There is a very curious passage, II. 385, on persecution: It was these +selfsame ideas of the future and its relation to this life that +actuated their tormentors. This is an attempt to look beneath the +surface, and a soothing tribute to the feelings of those who admire +Galerius and Calvin and Gregory the Thirteenth. The Natural History of +Intolerance has not yet been written; but the analysis is not so simple +as these words imply. Half of the persecution in the Roman Empire, all +the persecution of Huguenots by the Valois, and of Roman Catholics +under Elizabeth, was due to other ideas than those of the future. And +where religious ideas induced men to side with the tormentors against +Toleration, there is much that is not more sincere or more excusable +than the ideas that have led to political massacres. The opinion +expressed covers some of the ground, but only a very small part of it. +</P> + +<P> +But I must stop somewhere. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes March 29, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +If there are judges and juries in Britain, Macmillan would expose +himself to fine and imprisonment by +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P149"></A>149}</SPAN> +printing what I write to you. +You will see in a moment, I am sure, why it could never be. +</P> + +<P> +It would be an offence to the author, because there is no allowance of +the large measure of praise and even of admiration due to him—nothing +but the Catalogue of objections suggested to me by the belief that I +was writing to a too fervent admirer of the book. Without my signature +it would be a stab in the dark; and with my name it would be +insufferably pretentious, uncalled-for, and unfair. And I, who make a +profession of knowing about Conclaves and the like, should be bound to +visit more amply, if not more severely, the strangely inadequate and +pointless narrative of the election of Chigi. Few things are more +curious and dramatic than the Conclaves, and this one is particularly +well known. +</P> + +<P> +Besides, Fraser is sure to be very hostile, both in detail and in +respect of the scope and spirit of the work. He is sure to quarrel +with Jesuit and Cardinal, and to say much of what I have said in strict +confidence. Please, dismiss the thought; and if you compliment +anything, let it be the paper and handwriting. +</P> + +<P> +That is a very kind question about Gardiner; and as I have at hand, +here, the means of learning more without risk of indiscretion, I had +better postpone my answer. If, as a rule, those pensions are granted +to people almost destitute of means, the case could not well be +admitted. He ought to be at the Record Office instead of the present +Hardy. It is in Jessel's gift, and he asked my advice, specially +excluding clergymen, and thereby losing the two best men, Brewer and +Stubbs. I suggested Freeman, Gardiner, and Bond. Freeman sent me word +that he would not take it. Jessel told me he would appoint Bond—who +is now the very good +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P150"></A>150}</SPAN> +and estimable, but gloomy successor of +Panizzi—but that he had been told that Bond was a Catholic. He said +that a Jew was not strong enough to appoint a Catholic Keeper of the +Archives. Bond is a Broad Churchman, and the report arose only from my +recommendation. Gardiner therefore remained; but it was resolved, +under I know not what pressure, to keep the thing in the Hardy family. +Meantime, I think Gardiner succeeded Brewer in his professorship at +King's College—not, I imagine, remunerative, but still an obstacle. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, I agree about Forbes, and rather think he is one of the men Simon +speaks of, and defies the Sorbonne to meet—unless I am mixing up the +two divines of that name. +</P> + +<P> +Spinola wrote no book. He was a Franciscan bishop, Imperial Confessor +at Vienna, and produced several schemes of union, on the part of Rome, +which differ from other such by being definite and sincere. Leibniz, +and the Calixtine school of Lutherans, were very near adopting his +plan; but as he was an agent of pope and emperor when Louis XIV. was +the enemy of both, Bossuet contrived to baffle him. What was known of +these transactions down to our day is in Pichler's work on Leibniz. +Much more has since come out in the "Correspondence of the Electress +Sophia," and there is more to come, whenever the Madonna of the +Future[<A NAME="chap01fn175text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn175">175</A>] is unveiled. +</P> + +<P> +Of John Inglesant, let me say that it would be a very fair text to work +on—how far the pagan, human virtues, coupled with qualities which are +not, in a spiritual sense, virtues, such as courage, delicacy, good +nature, veracity, pride, can accomplish the outward, visible +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P151"></A>151}</SPAN> +work +of grace. But that is clearly not the author's design. +</P> + +<P> +If Gardiner's paper is very hostile, and you then think it worth while +to send my remarks to Mr. Shorthouse,[<A NAME="chap01fn176text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn176">176</A>] through his publisher or +otherwise, that is a case governed by the saying of the younger +Pompey.[<A NAME="chap01fn177text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn177">177</A>] +</P> + +<P> +I liked what I saw of the Fox Memorials during a very short inspection; +and yesterday, lunching at the parsonage at Mentone, I found the Life +of Lowder. The accounts of Prince Leopold were distressing. Fancy my +finding myself with two excellent clergymen, both ardent Gladstonians, +and both wishing for the admission of Bradlaugh. Otherwise my journey +was not altogether successful, as I got half a sunstroke, which you +have already seen traces of in my letter. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes April 27, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The description you quote of Coleridge is not more inaccurate than +epigram requires. I have just drawn up a list of recommended authors +for my son, as being the company I should like him to keep, after me; +and after some hesitation I included S. T. C. in the number. But he +has to be balanced by sounder stuff. +</P> + +<P> +Lecky only arrived two days ago, and is scarcely begun. But the +beginning, and the account of Junius struck me as very far indeed ahead +of all his former writings. There is a good deal of slovenly writing, +and it is puerile to write modern history from printed books; but this +is a wonderfully solid performance. You will not think it as amusing +as Froude's "Carlyle," when you come to it, but much more nutritious. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P152"></A>152}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +You depressed my spirits the other day by showing that the majority of +39 did not amount to quite so much as I, from a distance, had imagined. +And the Budget, though open to very little remark, does not do much to +raise them. If I was not conscious of being the worst accountant yet +discovered, I should say that there is a slip in one of the +calculations of Savings Bank deposits. +</P> + +<P> +Gardiner for some reason did not publish his article.... If Arthur +Lyttelton, out of pure cussedness, wishes to put in the note you speak +of, I would like to see what it is he says, starting from the materials +buried in my letter. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes May 3, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Lecky's merits stand undiminished by further acquaintance, but the +deficiencies become more glaring. The character of Burke, though in my +opinion very defective, seems to me the best I have read in the +language. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +The May <I>Fraser</I> contains his article,[<A NAME="chap01fn178text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn178">178</A>] and I greatly fear that his +judgment will be as critical as my own. +</P> + +<P> +I wonder whether you have the <I>Temps</I> or <I>Débats</I> in Downing Street, +and have read the speeches of Pasteur and Renan. I do not remember so +interesting a reception, and what is serious is that the most powerful +intellectual force in France has declared, virtually, for materialism. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes May 5, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +We have nothing later than Tuesday's speech, so that the lines are not +traceable into the future, and I am still in a very anxious and +doubting stage. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P153"></A>153}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +It is not apparent why Spencer occupies a position between earth and +heaven. He looks like a warming pan. Not for a prince, for that is +out of the question. For Dufferin?[<A NAME="chap01fn179text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn179">179</A>] But Dufferin, who is easy, +dexterous, and popular, has not the sterling and transparent quality of +Spencer himself. It may well be the basis of a vast change in the +machinery for the government of Ireland; but that would require +legislation for which there is no time. Perplexity No. 1. +</P> + +<P> +Then one must conclude that the change comes from assurances given by +the moderate Irish members, that it would enable them to moderate the +raging ones. But to ensure that, they must have a finger in the pie, +and Russell or Shaw would have to have the offer of the Irish Office. +It seems clear, from the delay, that that is not to be; and one hears +of Lefevre and Chamberlain.... Perplexity 2. +</P> + +<P> +There is a look of uncertainty and want of clearness about the whole +thing. Cowper resigns; after an interval, half a successor is +appointed; then the suspects are released; then Forster resigns; and +then, after another interval showing want of preparation, there is a +new Secretary. This way of doing whatever is to be done suggests that +the Ministry had not the foresight to anticipate opinion, or strength +to lead it. Dropping one colleague after another in their Irish course +makes that course appear wanting in deliberation and design, and +strengthens the notion that, under heavy pressure, they may be driven +nobody knows where, like men who yield, not like men who lead. I +presume that there is some evidence of ensured improvement, consequent +upon concession. But one doubts that again, when +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P154"></A>154}</SPAN> +Forster +resigns; and it seems that the change is in the ideas more than in the +facts. As to any gain on Irish opinion from the grace of concession, I +should not expect it, as so many suspects remain in custody. If so, +then the advantage would be derived from the new position of the Irish +leaders—a very doubtful policy. Then again, I don't like the moment; +immediately after Cairns's stroke, and the untimely publication of his +draft report.[<A NAME="chap01fn180text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn180">180</A>] I don't like anything which looks like +overtrumping, because it is not fit for such a Prime Minister to follow +initiative, whether that of opponents, or of English or Irish opinion. +</P> + +<P> +These misgivings occur to me although you know, if nobody else does, +that I was not convinced by the argument in favour of coercion, and saw +no evidence of greater demoralisation than was the direct effect of +actual suffering. Since then there has been so much atrocity in +Ireland, so much foreign influence, and so manifest a change for the +worse in the conduct of the clergy, that I have grown reconciled to the +strong hand. Even if full of sympathy with the spirit of the present +policy, I cannot satisfy myself with the mode of its inception, and I +shall not feel comfortable for some days, until the design grows clear. +To you, they will be intensely interesting, and I shall be very glad +indeed to hear that confidence reigns in Downing Street. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +POST OFFICE AND SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHS. +</P> + +<P> +CANNES, 5.14, 8/5, 11.54, on the 8/5, 1882. +</P> + +<P> +Do not let him lose confidence in himself.[<A NAME="chap01fn181text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn181">181</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +ACTON. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P155"></A>155}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes May 9, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +We have only vague reports in French newspapers, but I cannot wait for +full accounts of the tragedy that touches us all so nearly, to give you +my warm tribute of sympathy and sorrow. It is shocking to think of +her, so worthy of happiness and so afflicted. You, I know, have, of +all people, the most soothing hand for the most cruel wounds. +</P> + +<P> +It must have been a dreadful blow in your own home, and at a distance +one grows anxious about many things. I apprehend a violent burst of +passion in the country, with despair of healing such disease with +lenient arts; and, if the tide turns, the change will be felt in +Parliament, and will be used by men quite capable of seeing that Mr. +Gladstone's statesmanship is confirmed by the very crime which will +condemn it in common minds. Assuming that some of the Cabinet assent +reluctantly to the heroic policy, and that the last few weeks have not +added to his personal ascendency, I fear that they will either forsake +him or urge him to forsake his own ideal lines. Thinking of this, of +his strong affections, of the shadow on the hearth, I could not +restrain my wish to send you my small vote of confidence. +</P> + +<P> +For we heard at first that Spencer had instantly resigned.[<A NAME="chap01fn182text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn182">182</A>] I was +ashamed to show myself, and whispered to my family how Nicholas, the +bad emperor, faced a rebellious army. There is very different news +to-day. I gather that Spencer remains, that Forster redeems many +faults by offering to go back, that Parnell has made his choice between +murder and conciliation, that the Opposition holds its hand, expecting +Mr. Gladstone to turn against himself. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P156"></A>156}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +It seems to me that much ground must inevitably be lost, and that the +true moral of this catastrophe can never be made visible to the average +Englishman. Still I see great opportunities of recovery, and I know in +what spirit I hope that he has had the strength to receive the blow +aimed through Freddy Cavendish at himself. +</P> + +<P> +I long so much to hear from you. If you can think, in sad days like +these, of anything but the sorrow that is near you, do give an +affectionate message from me to Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, and send me, +when you have a quiet moment, a line to Munich. I start almost +immediately. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>St. Martin Ried Haute Autriche July 20, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Alexandria, Bright, and a vote of censure have been a great distraction +from our Irish troubles. If Bright, the Minister, agreed to the +orders, and if Bright, the Quaker, woke up at the execution of the +orders, then his conduct is unstatesmanlike and weak. I conclude,—not +having Monday's debate yet,—that he resigns not because of the +bombardment, but because, having troops on the way, remembering the +example of Paris, warned by the terrified correspondents, we +nevertheless bombarded without taking precautions against consequences +that were not improbable. If he takes that ground, he will, I suppose, +be angry and mischievous, and his position will encourage the +disaffected Whigs; and it will be awkward even if part of the blame +rests on the Powers; because, when we took things into our own hands, +we were bound to do all that was necessary. +</P> + +<P> +I very much wish for a completer defence than +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P157"></A>157}</SPAN> +I have seen yet; +and at the same time I think that a good defence, with some measure of +political success in Egypt, will be a source of new strength, and if +there is some blame, I anxiously ask myself whether it lies at the +Foreign Office, at the War Office, or at the Admiralty. +</P> + +<P> +It is provoking not to know most of the names of the people going out +on this difficult errand. That is one side of the question. The +other, nearer home, for me, is that you are still going through +terrible worry, and that the wear and tear must be telling on Mr. +Gladstone. I ask myself one question, which most people would think an +unlikely one, whether he thoroughly controls his colleagues, and +whether the work of the House absorbs him too much.... I hope you sat +next to Bright.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>St. Martin July 29, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +We are living here in my brother-in-law's house; and I will tell him +that he must prepare for better guests, as soon as you tell me that it +is not the baseless fabric of a vision. He is not married; so that +there is no one to be on ceremony with; and his house is as big as many +Tegernsees. Alfred[<A NAME="chap01fn183text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn183">183</A>] will be as welcome here as he is wherever his +bright face is shown. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +It is impossible not to feel that the Ministry grows weaker by the +associates it has lost as well as by the associates that decline to +join. There are now the ingredients of an alternative Liberal Cabinet, +consisting of men fairly equal to those now in office—with the +necessary exception—and hostile to them. The ground is getting narrow +under our feet, and the full +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P158"></A>158}</SPAN> +force of the party does not support +Ministers. The want of a successor to Bright indicates too clearly +that Mr. Gladstone, though still master of his majority, is not what he +has been, master of his party. I hope for new arrangements at the end +of the session, and for a real gain of strength from ultimate success +in Egypt. But, like Ireland, it is a harvest that will ripen slowly. +I wonder whether things have seemed to you as gloomy as this, or +whether the light before you dispels the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +Mozley's book, and all others published in England since January, I +have not seen. He interests me more than almost any other of our +divines, and I look forward to a good time with his reminiscences, if, +as I understand, it is the divine, and not the manifold writer.[<A NAME="chap01fn184text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn184">184</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Tegernsee August 4, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +With all my heart I adopt your scheme, Reform, Dissolution, and then, +let Politics make way for a still higher and worthier cause. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Paris, August 12, 1882</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Salisbury's collapse[<A NAME="chap01fn185text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn185">185</A>] is less decisive than mine, and although +there is a pleasant corner in the House of Lords, my journey ends in +nothing better than disappointment and in having set you to write notes +all day. My accounts show that they are not comfortable at home, so +that I have no right to be basking in the ethereal sunshine of Downing +Street. +</P> + +<P> +It was a monstrous thing to do, suggestive of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P159"></A>159}</SPAN> +Mrs. Todgers, but I +left the Dante in his[<A NAME="chap01fn186text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn186">186</A>] room at the H. of Commons. It was too late +to ring at No. 10,[<A NAME="chap01fn187text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn187">187</A>] for I kept him talking till near eleven. But +there was some symbolic propriety about the title[<A NAME="chap01fn188text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn188">188</A>] of the unbound +volume—unbound because they did not remember the binding of the rest. +Of course the impression of my one well-filled day in town—even with +the part of Cordelia left out—is the very opposite of that under which +I lately wrote. The session ends with a great blaze of his mastery and +power. But the best of it all is, that I found him so wonderfully +vigorous and well and even content. It did indeed impress me most +deeply. +</P> + +<P> +It is remarkable how little he chooses to realise the tremendous loss +of authority and power which the party will incur by his retirement, +and he has no idea how little he would soon be in harmony with them. +However, Ireland is not all right yet; and there are obvious +complications impending in Egypt which he cannot leave unsolved. With +that, there will still be time for the Reform Bill. +</P> + +<P> +Late at night I found slipped under my door your rejected letter, which +will be cherished with the rest. If writing made up for sight! +</P> + +<P> +This letter is written by scraps, in various places and countries. I +crossed with Forster, on his way to Russia, and got him to tell me his +inner history. I shall be at St. Martin the day after to-morrow.... +</P> + +<P> +Shorthouse's[<A NAME="chap01fn189text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn189">189</A>] letter could not go with Dante, and I will enclose it +in my next. I have got Democracy. The Mays, considered an authority +on the subject, do +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P160"></A>160}</SPAN> +not think much of it. Forster does, and says +it is not by Mrs. Adams. He says that Bright has no idea that he left +either too early or too late. Will you—very earnestly—put my excuses +before Mrs. Gladstone for my way of dealing with her boundless +hospitality? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Cannes Feb. 2, 1883</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I wonder whether you would come to lunch to-morrow, Saturday? Perhaps +I could inscribe in your most private book the list of the hundred +works that have most influenced human history. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Feb. 13, 1883</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +... These books are enclosed to show Mr. Gladstone what good German +prose is, in expounding difficult, very difficult, questions. Also, a +little book, by a very famous Dane who has grown more and more to be a +power since his death.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine March 3, 1883</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +After seeking a moment's distraction at a chateau near Marseilles I +came home to find your letter, so kindly written in the intervals of +Parisian dissipations. +</P> + +<P> +The failure of Challemel was truly sad, but I hope that Fedora,[<A NAME="chap01fn190text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn190">190</A>] +following the little dinner on the Boulevard, made up for it. The +tranquillity and sameness of Cannes will soon be thrust far out of +sight by the centre of European life. We do our best, in your absence, +to be a little worldly. Bright, Houghton, and the Mallets lunch +to-day. I am to meet Colonel Hay at tea, and the little bishop[<A NAME="chap01fn191text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn191">191</A>] at +dinner this evening. +</P> + +<P> +... It is pleasant to think that Lyons made you enjoy Paris, and +divined the one thing you all have a passion for, and he seems to have +done the political part of his work very well by bringing you into +contact +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P161"></A>161}</SPAN> +both with the ruling men and with the Left Centre. That +was just what was wanting to redress the Wolvertonian balance. +</P> + +<P> +I am a little sorry that the visit at the Elysée was not more +interesting. Grévy's speeches in 1848 were very sensible indeed, but +he seems to be pushing the theory of the <I>roi fainéant</I> much beyond the +American, or even the Merovingian, limit, if he avoids politics with +such a visitor. Then I rejoice much at the visit to Jules Simon, +though you don't say whether it was spontaneous or a return, and a +curious question is, where was the limit drawn? Did he and Broglie, +Decazes, Harcourt, avoid each other? If these former ambassadors did +not call, it is matter for speculation. At Marseilles, I found myself +in a nest of Legitimists, and learnt that the chief of them, Coriolis, +lately asked the Count of Chambord for leave to raise the white flag. +If there was more of this kind, it is odd that the advocates of +expulsion made so little of it. If it had been possible to stay longer +at Paris, it would have been a very desirable thing, for they do not +really know or understand him,[<A NAME="chap01fn192text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn192">192</A>] and the conflict of forces there +would be worth observing otherwise than in Blowitz' or Lyons's +despatches. +</P> + +<P> +It is a pity to have missed Mrs. Craven, who would take to you +intensely if you saw more of each other—a woman of great talent and +elevation of mind, but who has just written on the Salvation Army a +paper that seems to portend the approach of mental decay. Lady +Blennerhassett is very far her superior. Tell her all about Cannes if +you see her.... Mrs. Green writes me a touching letter to say that she +has no hope left.... +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P162"></A>162}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine, March 7, 1883</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +This is only a hasty line of thanks and congratulation on your +prosperous journey. I have not yet seen either the Wolvertons or the +Anson family, and to-day there are a couple of inches of snow over +Cannes. Incorrigible Potter circulates the Financial Reform Almanack +in the name of the Cobden Club, for which Reay, A. Russell, and others +have denounced him. He asked me to read it through, which has been the +melancholy occupation of a whole day, ending in agreement with the +critics. +</P> + +<P> +I am losing Mallet, who is less well and goes to Mentone. Also, +Colonel Hay,[<A NAME="chap01fn193text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn193">193</A>] Lincoln's secretary and biographer, who proved a most +agreeable acquaintance. Yesterday, there was an expedition to Pégomas +(Houghton, Dempsters, &c.) and I find that the old lady[<A NAME="chap01fn194text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn194">194</A>] is the +original of St. Monica in Ary Scheffer's picture. Myers, translator of +Homer, is here, with a nice, newly-married wife, and Cross is in great +force, writing the biography[<A NAME="chap01fn195text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn195">195</A>] and wanting me to read the papers. +</P> + +<P> +Thanks for the MS., with the answer for which pray express my +acknowledgments. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +You have heard that the Ashburnham MSS. are offered to the Museum, and +that some of them were stolen from public libraries in France. We +propose, if we buy at all, to resell to France as many of these as can +be proved to be stolen, and Delisle, the French Panizzi, comes this +week to produce his evidence, amicably, before the Museum experts. +</P> + +<P> +I say nothing about the purchase, and have only insisted that —— was +a thief, and that we must, as we did before, make terms with Paris. +But I want you to know that Léopold Delisle is one of the most eminent +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P163"></A>163}</SPAN> +scholars in France, that he is a most estimable and high-minded +man, tho' not a conspicuous bookmaker or littérateur, that he stands as +high in Germany as any Frenchman living, and that I have long enjoyed +the privilege of his friendly acquaintance. So that, if it should be +otherwise feasible, any civility shown him by the P.M.[<A NAME="chap01fn196text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn196">196</A>] on this his +very peculiar international mission, would be taken in France as a +marked sign of courtesy and goodwill, just after the visit to France. +</P> + +<P> +This is quite independent of the decision the Treasury may come to +about the grant. I may add that Delisle is perfectly trustworthy, and +that we are safe in the hands of the Museum people, to come to right +judgments as to the MSS.... +</P> + +<P> +Cross has shown me, with some secrecy, a very curious letter of +Dickens, declaring that only a woman could have written the "Scenes +from Clerical Life." But he gives no good reason, and I am persuaded +that he had heard the secret from Herbert Spencer, who at once detected +it. I dare not express my doubt. John Morley writes pleasantly, but +says he still feels like a fish out of water on the benches. +</P> + +<P> +This is written at your table in considerable solitude and vacancy. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +I have just heard that Green is dead, and I must go to Mentone.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine March 21, 1883</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I hope to see them at the station, and then we can make plans for next +week. The hotel is very full, but Cross tells me that there is just +room for them. Ill-timed is really all I say against that passage of +the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P164"></A>164}</SPAN> +lecture;[<A NAME="chap01fn197text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn197">197</A>] and, if other people had gone straight, it +would not even have been ill-timed. My censure has never gone farther +than that. +</P> + +<P> +Nobody can well be more strongly persuaded than I am of the necessity, +the practical and moral necessity, of governing nations by consent, +national consent being proved both by the vapour of opinion, and by the +definite mechanism of representation. I am not even surprised that +many Irishmen should be suspicious of the goodwill of a country which +turns as readily to a Tory government as to a Liberal, which is seldom +awake to its sins and the consequences of its sins, unless roused by +terror, and which has made amends only under compulsion, or under the +intense, but not permanent, influence of one resolute mind. Even that +is not all that I concede to them. Therefore, in substance, Herbert +has all my sympathy; only, if anything awkward arises, it is his father +who has to find the remedy or bear the burden. The danger now is that +the great wave, of his own raising, that has sustained his policy of +generosity, and even of eventual confidence, will fall. People will +lose, not only sympathy, which is not to the point, but hopefulness. I +cannot even say that they will be wrong to lose hope. But if men cease +to look forward to success, they cannot be made to go straight by +looking back to their own evil deeds. Nobody, then, would stand by the +P.M. except pure Democrats, like Chamberlain and Morley. If I was a +Minister, I would say, not that we shall devise new schemes to disarm +this new evidence, not that we shall relax our efforts in just +indignation and despair, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P165"></A>165}</SPAN> +but that we shall go on with our appeal +from the ill-disposed to the well-disposed, pursuing a policy which is +not dictated by momentary hope or momentary fear, but proceeds from the +heart and spirit of the principles which are our <I>raison d'ętre</I> as a +party and as a government. But I don't say that I should succeed. +</P> + +<P> +If flurry and apprehension penetrate Downing Street, nothing can +sustain Mr. Gladstone better than your own serenity. Be true to him +and to his cause even if these odious crimes continue, even when you +feel that the harvest will not be reaped in his time. The mills of God +grind slowly. +</P> + +<P> +It is very easy to speak words of wisdom from a comfortable distance, +when one sees no reality, no details, none of the effect on men's +minds. What is glorious is the way in which Mr. Gladstone rides on the +whirlwind. You need not wonder much what I am thinking of it all. +</P> + +<P> +As long ago as 1870 I ceased to be sanguine that we could govern +Ireland successfully. The best influence over the Irish people is the +influence of the clergy, and an ultramontane clergy is not proof +against the sophistry by which men justify murder or excuse murderers. +The assassin is only a little more resolutely logical or a little +bolder than the priest. +</P> + +<P> +I hope you will read and like Montégut's articles on George Eliot, +especially the second, in the <I>Revue</I> of March 15. See pp. 307 and 329 +for some very excellent criticism. +</P> + +<P> +Miss B. met Cross here at lunch, was intensely excited, and explained +it by saying that he is Ladislaw. But I cannot believe it. They say +that Dorothea is here too. H—— has been in great force. He is +unwell now, but looks forward to M——'s arrival to-day, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P166"></A>166}</SPAN> +declaring, with accurate self-knowledge, that he likes nothing so much +as an impostor. +</P> + +<P> +He has given me Bradley's Recollections to read, from which I learned +very little, and Stephen's very curious history of our criminal law. +</P> + +<P> +Oscar Browning is here, divided between the French Revolution and the +Gracchi—the most interesting of all purely secular topics. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine March 31, 1883</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The Wickhams are most inaccessible people, only to be seen on the road +to Gourdon or St. Cézaire. I have had only a glimpse of them; but we +hope to overtake them between Château Scott and S. Paul's on Sunday. +They have some wild scheme of visiting Languedoc. +</P> + +<P> +Cross told me that he had asked for some criticisms of mine which you +told him of. I answered that I did not believe you would send them, +and he said that if you did, he would forward them unread. But I am +sure there is nothing of any possible use to him. He is very +communicative, and I am to see her letters and to advise as to +publication. What I have seen is of such a kind that merely strung +together with a few short notes, it would make a very interesting book: +"Memorials of George Eliot." +</P> + +<P> +The real answer to your remark[<A NAME="chap01fn198text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn198">198</A>] about that list[<A NAME="chap01fn199text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn199">199</A>] is that which +Johnson gave about fetlock.[<A NAME="chap01fn200text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn200">200</A>] I have nothing to say about physical +science that is not a reminiscence of conversations with Owen or +Hooker, Paget or Tyndall; and it would be important to put down all the +decisive works in those branches. I have +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P167"></A>167}</SPAN> +tried to know the books +on the history and method of discovery, the laws of scientific +progress, and the tests of truth and error; and I find that this is a +matter which very few scientific men take any interest in. +</P> + +<P> +If I must defend my list, this is the sort of sophism I would employ:— +</P> + +<P> +We all know some twenty or thirty predominant currents of thought or +attitudes of mind, or system-bearing principles, which jointly or +severally weave the web of human history and constitute the civilised +opinion of the age. All these, I imagine, a serious man ought to +understand, in whatever strength or weakness they possess, in their +causes and effects, and in their relations to each other. The majority +of them are either religious or substitutes for religion. For +instance, Lutheran, Puritan, Anglican, Ultramontane, Socinian, +Congregational, Mystic, Rationalist, Utilitarian, Pantheist, +Positivist, Pessimist, Materialist, and so on. All understanding of +history depends on one's understanding the forces that make it, of +which religious forces are the most active, and the most definite. We +cannot follow all the variations of a human mind, but when we know the +religious motive, that the man was an Anabaptist, an Arminian, a Deist +or a Jansenist, we have the master key, we stand on known ground, we +are working a sum that has been, at least partially, worked out for us, +we follow a computed course, and get rid of guesses and accidents. +Thirdly (I am thinking, let us say, of my own son), we are not +considering what will suit an untutored savage or an illiterate peasant +woman who would never come to an end of the Imitation or the Serious +Call. Her religion may be enough for heaven, without other study. Not +so with a man living in the world, in constant friction +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P168"></A>168}</SPAN> +with +adversaries, in constant contemplation of religious changes, sensible +of the power which is exerted by strange doctrines over minds more +perfect, characters that are stronger, lives that are purer than his +own. He is bound to know the reason why. First, because, if he does +not, his faith runs a risk of sudden ruin. Secondly, for a reason +which I cannot explain without saying what you may think bad psychology +or bad dogma—I think that faith implies sincerity, that it is a gift +that does not dwell in dishonest minds. To be sincere a man must +battle with the causes of error that beset every mind. He must pour +constant streams of electric light into the deep recesses where +prejudice dwells, and passion, hasty judgments and wilful blindness +deem themselves unseen. He must continually grub up the stumps planted +by all manner of unrevised influence. The subtlest of all such +influences is not family, or college, or country, or class, or party, +but religious antagonism. There is much more danger for a +high-principled man of doing injustice to the adherent of false +doctrine, of judging with undeserved sympathy the conspicuous adherent +of true doctrine, than of hating a Frenchman or loving a member of +Brooks's. Many a man who thinks the one disgraceful is ready to think +the other more than blameless. To develop and perfect and arm +conscience is the great achievement of history, the chief business of +every life, and the first agent therein is religion or what resembles +religion. That is my sophism, beyond Dr. Johnson. But I think I +represent Anglicanism by only one book, or two at most. Others, such +as books on Church and State, cover much secular ground. Luckily, the +paper limit stops me in the middle of a long prose. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P169"></A>169}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Hotel Klinger Marienbad Sept. 1, 1883</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +... Here, at last, I am resting from hard times at Marienbad, where the +waters get into one's head, as my letter will probably show. You +insist on my recording everything on which you will disagree, so I must +say that I should have voted more in royal than episcopal company.[<A NAME="chap01fn201text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn201">201</A>] +In our Church and in the countries I have lived in much, one is so +accustomed to those marriages that one does not think of a law to +prevent them. Then as to Egypt, I was not orthodox as to the policy of +the argument in favour of Lesseps, but vehemently comforted by the line +taken, to make no sordid profit out of our military position, and to +resist every entanglement that would indefinitely prolong the +occupation. When I consider that our presence there should be the +pivot for the settlement of the Eastern question, and the means of +civilising Africa, I can see so much to dazzle ambitious politicians +that I fear no Minister but one will ever be strong enough—in +ascendency as well as in moral power—to evacuate, and I complacently +take note of that additional steam to my propeller, whenever the +question of retirement stirs again; and my third heresy is about the +Pope. His declaration was concerted, I suppose, to hit some of the +clergy between wind and water, and so had a political, not a moral aim. +We may get embarrassed if we prompt and promote the political influence +of the Pope, whose principles are necessarily, whose interests are +generally, opposed to our own. It is as dangerous for us that his +political authority should be obeyed in Irish confessionals as that, in +this instance, it should be defied. Having morally supported the +movement which upset his sovereignty, being prepared to oppose +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P170"></A>170}</SPAN> +any movement to restore it, we come with a bad grace to ask him to prop +and protect our authority in our dominions. Long ago I remember +writing to headquarters that it would become impossible—impossible for +Liberals—to govern Ireland after the Council; and although I am +avowedly the worst of prophets, this prophecy has had a good deal of +confirmation. It was an interesting question whether the Pope would +definitely and unconditionally condemn murder, whether from religious +or political motives. It would have borne untold consequences, as a +direct revocation of the Vatican system, which stands or falls with the +doctrine that one may murder a Protestant. But I don't believe that so +audacious a change of front would have moved a single priest in Ireland. +</P> + +<P> +Of George,[<A NAME="chap01fn202text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn202">202</A>] in the sixpenny edition, I had a glimpse at Cannes. +The better part of him, with more moderation and philosophy, and a +wider induction, may be found in the writings of the academic +Socialists, who, in the last ten years, have occupied almost all the +Chairs of Germany, and who have been the warmest admirers of the Irish +policy. +</P> + +<P> +One can hardly congratulate you ... about St. Peter's.[<A NAME="chap01fn203text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn203">203</A>] At +Montreux I met a newly-married young clergyman whose ugliness almost +made me take him for ——, and who assured me that it was offered to +Holland. The dean of St. Paul's[<A NAME="chap01fn204text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn204">204</A>] was at Munich the other day, and +delighted Döllinger, who believes, in consequence, that a more +mischievous fellow than Chamberlain does not eat bread. He also sent +him, and enabled me to read, Mozley's washy "Recollections." Liddon, I +see, is busy with Rosmini, in the intervals of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P171"></A>171}</SPAN> +Pusey.[<A NAME="chap01fn205text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn205">205</A>] +Rosmini will interest you if the book ripens. He had much of Newman, +and nearly reformed the papacy. But I am troubled with a doubt. His +book was answered, by Passaglia, Thenier, Curci, and others, and it was +condemned by the Index. Rosmini wrote a long and curious defence of +it, which he printed, but did not publish, so as not to defy his +censors. Liddon ought to have this defence before him, to strengthen +his text withal. Perhaps Lockhart, and the other English Rosminians, +may scruple to give it to him, lest they break the measured silence of +their chief. It may be worth while to ask the eloquent and impulsive +Canon, whenever you see him, whether he knows of it. Do let me thank +you warmly for speaking of me to Mrs. Craven. She was almost my +earliest friend, and I am shocked to think that I seemed unfaithful to +memories forty years old. She was intimate with my mother before I was +born. What does it matter that she also bores me a good deal by her +restlessness, her curiosity and indiscretion, her want of serenity, +&c.? I always liked her in spite of it, and she was always a great, +but uncomfortable, admirer of Mr. Gladstone. Not so Waddington. You +must have seen at once that he is a very estimable, solid, deeply +religious man. There is hardly so great a scholar in France, and I +think he is the only Frenchman before whom Mommsen has retracted a +statement. That indeed is his proper line. Like George Lewis, he is +really happiest among his coins and inscriptions, and was never made +for the active life in which his high character, his knowledge, and now +his willingness to serve a party not his own, have carried him so far. +He has more caution than go, and has neither eloquence, nor influence +over men. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P172"></A>172}</SPAN> +Above all things, he is cautious to do nothing that +would enable adversaries to accuse his patriotism. His language about +Egypt, and the future of France in the East, would seem exaggerated, +but I dare say you have read "Memories of Old Friends," a book meant +for invalids at Bohemian wells, and curiously displaying English minds +as they were about 1840. In the second edition Mill's letters are +appended, in one of which he describes Tocqueville's opinion that one +must not lower national pride, "almost the only elevated sentiment that +remains in considerable strength." Waddington might adopt those words +with even greater justice now. He once befriended me, so that I am +bound to speak up for him. We had met but once, at the Embassy, when +he asked me to dinner, and arranged that I should meet, besides Lyons, +Wimpfen and Hohenlohe, whom he knew to be old friends of mine, Louis +Arco, and the three most learned men in Paris, and then he gave me his +box at the Français. But whilst I testify what a good fellow he is, it +is necessary, highly necessary, to add that he is not a friend of Mr. +Gladstone. That class of scholars to which he belongs, men busy with +inscriptions, ruins, medals, vases, contriving thereby to amend a text +or fix a date, inevitably resent the spirit in which Mr. Gladstone +studies antiquity, carrying with him emotions and ideals derived from +elsewhere, and considerably disturbing accepted habits and conclusions. +Then it is very hard for an extra patriotic Frenchman to see with +patience a powerful government that does not always use its strength, +that accepts rebuke and repulse, and is ready to draw in the outposts +of the empire. Whatever the true cause, I am pretty sure of the fact +that he will come to Hawarden, like Ruskin, curious to probe the great +Gladstonian +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P173"></A>173}</SPAN> +mystery, not favourably prepossessed. I hope you +will have him soon, and deal justly with him. +</P> + +<P> +When you sit down to Macaulay, remember that the Essays are really +flashy and superficial. He was not above par in literary criticism; +his Indian articles will not hold water; and his two most famous +reviews, on Bacon and Ranke, show his incompetence. The essays are +only pleasant reading, and a key to half the prejudices of our age. It +is the History (with one or two speeches) that is wonderful. He knew +nothing respectably before the seventeenth century, he knew nothing of +foreign history, of religion, philosophy, science, or art. His account +of debates has been thrown into the shade by Ranke, his account of +diplomatic affairs, by Klopp. He is, I am persuaded, grossly, basely +unfair. Read him therefore to find out how it comes that the most +unsympathetic of critics can think him very nearly the greatest of +English writers. +</P> + +<P> +My good friend Bright[<A NAME="chap01fn206text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn206">206</A>] got me into controversy by sending me +Beard's "Hibbert Lectures," on the Reformation. There was a great deal +to say, with the usual result; but you would think them interesting as +a stimulant. Have I ever told you that I have read the Diaries, +letters, &c., of G. Eliot? Cross wants me to review them in the +<I>Nineteenth Century</I>, or at least wanted; but I know not where he is, +or whether he still wishes it. +</P> + +<P> +I always see Miss Helen Gladstone in the papers, and suppose she is +with you. I don't know whether Miss Renouf is in her house.[<A NAME="chap01fn207text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn207">207</A>] She +is a sort of god-child of mine, and her father is, without exception, +the most learned Englishman I know. The daughter of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P174"></A>174}</SPAN> +such a man +should be something unusual; the mother, too, is of a clever family, a +Brentano. +</P> + +<P> +Lady Blennerhassett gave me some accounts of you at Holmbury. +Minghetti, whom I saw lately, tells me that our friend Bonghi has a +Roman History in the press, which the Italians hope to set up against +Mommsen. I forgot, to complete my confession, that I have never been +happy about our policy with Cetewayo. But the general result of the +session cannot be lamented, only it is not heroic success, such as Mr. +Gladstone's supremacy and the flatness of the Opposition would demand. +The great thing is his health. I did not come over, not being once +summoned, so that we shall only meet at Cannes. Do talk about plans. +Can there be anything before Cannes? It can never be too soon to meet. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Feb. 9, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +You make writing as difficult as living afar, by your unspeakable +goodness, but also by the infusion of the contrary quality. If I +promise not to attack the Government, and to believe in Lord Derby, +will you agree not to hit me so hard? I cannot well help doing what I +do, taking all things into consideration; and as to my tiresome +book,[<A NAME="chap01fn208text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn208">208</A>] please to remember that I can only say things which people +do not agree with, that I have neither disciple nor sympathiser, that +this is no encouragement to production and confidence, that grizzled +men, except ——, grow appalled at the gaps in their knowledge, and +that I have no other gift but that which you pleasantly describe, of +sticking eternal bits of paper into innumerable books, and putting +larger papers into black boxes. There is no help for it. But your +reproaches are much more +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P175"></A>175}</SPAN> +distressing to read than you suppose, +and make me think them better to read than to hear. Otherwise, I too +would have a dream, to describe, and wish that yours came true from +January 1 to December 31. +</P> + +<P> +George[<A NAME="chap01fn209text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn209">209</A>] did not catch me at Marienbad, and came from Munich in a +big box, only the other day. I had partly read him, but I was in a +difficulty about thanking you for it with full honesty as long as I +only knew it casually, by unhallowed copies. But I do thank you, if I +may do so even now, most gratefully for the kindness of it altogether, +and particularly for your belief that I should understand it, and care +for it apart from the sender. Although in this you have flattered me; +for there are points in which I dare say I do not like him as much as +you do. +</P> + +<P> +Do not think ill of the people they call academic Socialists. It is +only a nickname for the school that is prevailing now in the German +universities, with a branch in France and another in Italy, a school +whose most illustrious representative in England, whose most eminent +practical teacher in the world, is Mr. Gladstone. In their writings, +inspired by the disinterested study of all classic economists, one +finds most of the ideas and illustrations of Mr. George, though not, +indeed, his argument against Malthus. This makes him less new to one; +but nobody writes with that plain, vigorous directness, and I do +believe that he has, in a large measure, the ideas of the age that is +to come. +</P> + +<P> +I am glad, too, that you like Seeley's book. It is excellent food for +thought. But so is the first article in the January <I>Quarterly</I>.[<A NAME="chap01fn210text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn210">210</A>] +I wrote eight pages of criticism and should have liked to send them to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P176"></A>176}</SPAN> +you instead of Maine, but perhaps you have not read him. +</P> + +<P> +Liddon's objection to saying what may damage a very meritorious body of +surviving friends of Rosmini is practically reasonable; but it is +rather a reason for not writing at all on the subject. Rosmini made a +vigorous attempt to reform the Church of Rome. He was vehemently +attacked, repelled, censured; and he defended himself in a work more +important, argumentatively, than the first. If this dramatic incident +is left untold, if his stronger statements are omitted from his case, +we shall get an imperfect notion of a memorable transaction, and of an +interesting, if not a great, divine. +</P> + +<P> +I am so very glad that Mr. Gladstone is in his best health, and that +the troubled times have put out of sight the notion of retirement. For +that reason I could almost console myself in looking at the Soudan. +That affair has been in the hands of a colleague without much original +resource, attentive to the wind, and glad to follow the advice of local +agents. It chances that I have been reading ——'s confidential +letters written to a friend sure not to show them to Ministers; and I +have thought him deficient in imagination—in the discovering +faculty—and also in independence. There is no denying that there has +been a lack of initiative genius in the last few weeks, and that Mr. +Gladstone would have done more if Bonaparte had been his departmental +colleague. +</P> + +<P> +Of all critics of my list,[<A NAME="chap01fn211text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn211">211</A>] Lubbock is best informed in a vast +region where I am a stranger. I by no means disregard his criticisms. +I have not got the list myself, and should like nothing in the world so +much as to sit +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P177"></A>177}</SPAN> +with you and talk over the objections you have +collected. But will that, or will anything like it, ever be? If it +may, do send one line on Tuesday to wait arrival at 18 Carlton House +Terrace. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>18 Carlton House Terrace S.W. Feb. 13, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Here is a ceremonious invitation to dine to-morrow, which I most gladly +accept. +</P> + +<P> +I gather, from something I have just heard, that Froude will not wish +for the Professorship. As to Freeman, I am not quite sure. There can +be no real competitor but Gardiner. +</P> + +<P> +Dinner without any prospect beyond will be mere dust and ashes; but +what awful fun Oxford[<A NAME="chap01fn212text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn212">212</A>] would be! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Feb. 15, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +... It was such a delight to meet the greatest of all our +historians[<A NAME="chap01fn213text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn213">213</A>] at this particular moment. There never was so much +kindness in this world. I can think of nothing but our journey, and +the wretchedness of having only one day there. Of course I am going to +live at the Clarendon. If any doubt arises, do not let it exist for a +moment. Then I must visit the Bodley for an hour, and Stubbs, Liddon, +M. Müller, Jowett, Brodrick, Bright of University. +</P> + +<P> +But these are my private wanderings. Do remember that, and let them +not spoil the <I>cachet</I> of their own grouping. As all passes through +you, do take an opportunity to say how thankfully and joyously I accept +his invitation. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P178"></A>178}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine March 17, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +May I employ the fleeting and disrespectful pencil to express +sentiments of the most opposite kind? I am still so stupidly weak, +unaccountably pulled by an illness which is an anachronism here, that I +am afraid to wait till I am quite ripe for ink, to speak of the happy +time I owed to your companionship in the two capitals of greater +Britain. There has never been anything like it, and I wonder when +there will again. Cambridge is in reserve; but nothing can ever equal +the sensation of festive home among people I had never seen, that you +procured for me at Keble. The worst recollection is the parting at +Paddington. I chose my hour next day so badly that, coming at 6, I +found your mother invisible, yourself out, and your sister gone. I +have said nothing yet to M——; but I do look forward two months to +another meeting. I am very glad that my last conversation with Mr. +Gladstone left no worse impression, for in the obscurity of St. James I +preached heavily on my favourite text: "aprčs moi le déluge;" and on my +favourite preacher. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the troublesome question of retirement is in a new phase. +The half Reform bill is floated by a half pledge as to redistribution +which is personal to himself. He cannot leave it to be redeemed by +others, who, he expressly stated, are not parties to it. He is +virtually pledged to complete the work himself; that is, to meet the +next Parliament. For they will inevitably force him to dissolve in the +autumn, if they do not succeed in crowding out the Reform question. If +not carried by an immense majority, it will be carried by Irish votes. +The Lords will be able to say that England ought to be consulted +definitely, that it ought not to be overruled by Ireland, in an old +Parliament, and that such a change in the Constitution +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P179"></A>179}</SPAN> +is not to +be carried by enemies of the Constitution until the country has +pronounced. +</P> + +<P> +I don't imagine that it is a bad point to dissolve upon—at any rate, +there is no swopping in such a crossing. +</P> + +<P> +But I suppose he has abandoned the hope of himself retiring from Egypt, +and if he does not, nobody else will; and so one must begin to face +what is inevitable, and to acknowledge that the Soudan has altered our +position in Egypt. A further complication cannot be far off. The best +time to re-open the Turkish question will be whilst we are a little +damaged as to disinterestedness by Cyprus and Egypt, whilst our +increased security makes us less anxious and less nervous about +Constantinople, and whilst the censor of the Turk resides at No. 10. +The position in the East is so much altered since Berlin[<A NAME="chap01fn214text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn214">214</A>] that +Russia will not long be bound by that Treaty, having a price by which +Austria can be won. Every step of that sort will help to fix us in +Egypt. +</P> + +<P> +And as long as we are at Alexandria or even at Souakim, the future of +Central Africa will depend on us, or at least on our people. I do not +believe that Mr. Gladstone would revive John Company and send him to +the Equatorial lakes; and yet I fancy there is an opening there for +inventive statesmanship. +</P> + +<P> +My eagerness about Liddon's elevation does not mean that my head was +turned by the ambush of that deferential Sacristan at Oxford +Station,[<A NAME="chap01fn215text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn215">215</A>] or that the Warden[<A NAME="chap01fn216text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn216">216</A>] talked me over—though he talked +wisely. For I am not in harmony with Liddon, and scarcely in sympathy. +He has weak places that nobody sees and resents so sharply as I do; and +he has got +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P180"></A>180}</SPAN> +over, or swallowed, such obstacles on the road to Rome +that none remain which, as it seems to me, he ought logically or +legitimately to strain at. I will even confess to you alone—that that +affair of Rosmini leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. But one might +pick holes in any man, even in the new Bishop of Chester.[<A NAME="chap01fn217text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn217">217</A>] Nothing +steadies a ship like a mitre—and as to his soundness, his +determination to work in and through the Church, and not on eccentric +courses, I satisfied myself with the supreme authority of Dean Church, +on my last night in town. One cannot help seeing that Liddon is a +mighty force, not yet on its level. He knows how to kindle and how to +propel. Newman and Wilberforce may have had the same power, but one +was almost illiterate; the other knows what he might have learnt in the +time of Waterland or Butler; whereas Liddon is in contact with all that +is doing in the world of thought.... +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine March 30, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +... You ask a question on which I can express unexpected agreement. As +long as property is the basis of representation, I think it hard to +exclude female owners. There is an obvious principle in it, of course. +But though obvious it is not stringent; because female influence is not +excluded. We not only have no Salic Law, but we allow women to vote on +matters not political, and we have attached political influence to +property so closely, that rich old women, like the +Duchess-Countess,[<A NAME="chap01fn218text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn218">218</A>] or Lady Londonderry, are +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P181"></A>181}</SPAN> +dreadful powers +in the land. The argument from consistency does not, therefore, make +for exclusion. +</P> + +<P> +At the same time, I think it an evil in many ways. Girls and widows +are Tories, and channels of clerical influence, and it is not for them +so much as for married women that your argument tells. If we ever have +manhood suffrage—dissociating power from property altogether, it will +be difficult to keep out wives. The objections to voting wives are +overwhelming. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +You open a delightful vista of Colleges and Chapels at Cambridge. It +is not so easy to answer quite definitely. If the Reform Bill, read a +second time before Easter, is sent up by Whitsuntide, the division in +the Lords will be early in June. My difficulty would then be that, +having to come in June, I could hardly come to England in May. +Supposing my Reform vote to be wanted only after Midsummer, then my +probable plan would be to come to London by the middle of May; and I +should be at your orders for Cambridge any time between 20th and 30th +May.... +</P> + +<P> +Subject to these conditions, I shall be only too happy to escort you +down to the Sidgwicks', to whom, please present my best thanks. If +Maine is there, I dare say we can count on a luncheon there.... I am +talking of myself and own plans; but all the time I am thinking of your +cares and troubles, of which you say so little. If you can send me a +line of good news to Rome, I shall be so glad. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine June 19, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +You will be careful, another time, I hope, as to the enclosures you +forward, seeing how long a reply they involve, and how great a delay. +The difficulty which prolongs and has delayed my letter +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P182"></A>182}</SPAN> +will be +very apparent to you before you reach the end. +</P> + +<P> +First, as to the personal question:— +</P> + +<P> +It was not my purpose to depreciate Canon Liddon. I came over with the +highest opinion of him—an opinion higher perhaps than Dr. Döllinger's, +or even than Mr. Gladstone's, whose ostensible preference for divines +of less mark has sometimes set me thinking. Impressed by his +greatness, not as a scholar to be pitted against Germans, but as a +spiritual force, and also by a certain gracious nobleness of tone which +ought to be congenial, I tried, at Oxford and in London, to ascertain +whether there is some element of weakness that had escaped me. +</P> + +<P> +Evidently, Liddon is in no peril from the movement of modern Science. +He has faced those problems and accounted for them. If he is out of +the perpendicular, it is because he leans the other way. +</P> + +<P> +The question would rather be whether a man of his sentiments, rather +inclined to rely on others, would be proof against the influence of +Newman, or of foreign theologians like Newman. +</P> + +<P> +On the road Bishops and Parliament were taking a few years since, there +would be rocks ahead, and one might imagine a crisis in which it would +be doubtful who would be for maintaining the National Church and who +would not. I have chanced to be familiar with converts and with the +raw material of which they are made, and cannot help knowing the +distinct and dissimilar paths followed by men like Newman himself, +Hope, Palmer, R. J. Wilberforce, Ward, Renouf, many of whom resembled +Liddon in talent and fervour, and occupied a position outwardly not far +from his own. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P183"></A>183}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +He once called the late Bishop of Brechin[<A NAME="chap01fn219text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn219">219</A>] the first divine in the +Church. I knew the Bishop well, and am persuaded that the bond that +held him in the Anglican Communion might easily have snapped, under +contingencies to which he was not exposed. +</P> + +<P> +Putting these questions not quite so crudely as they are stated here, I +thought that I obtained an answer. At any rate, I was assured that +Liddon is made of sterner stuff than I fancied, that he knows exactly +where he stands, where others have stood before him, and where and why +he parts with them; that the course of Newman and the rest has no +secrets and no surprises for him; that he looks a long way before him, +and has no disposition to cling to the authority of others. In short, +it appeared very decidedly that he is—what Bishop Forbes was +not—fixed in his Anglican position. +</P> + +<P> +Under this impression, I could not help wondering why Wilkinson, +Stubbs, and Ridding are judged superior to Liddon. I could have felt +and have expressed no such wonder if I had not taken pains to discover +that he has tried and has rejected the cause of Rome, and that neither +home difficulties nor external influence are at all likely to shake him. +</P> + +<P> +Far, therefore, from meaning disparagement, I rate him higher than any +member of the English clergy I know; and touching the question of +stability, I have the sufficient testimony of his friends, of men +naturally vigilant on that point, of which I am not competent to judge +or to speak. +</P> + +<P> +So little competent, indeed, that I should be at a loss to define his +system, or to corroborate, of my own knowledge, the confidence which +others have +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P184"></A>184}</SPAN> +expressed. It seemed to me necessary to indicate +that, for myself, I could not speak without some qualification or +reserve, such as perhaps would only occur to a close student of Roman +pathology. To do more, will be giving undue and unfair prominence to a +parenthesis. It lays stress where there ought to be none, makes the +deduction, the exception, greater than the positive statement, and +gives me the air of a man whose praise is designed to convey a slur of +suspicion. +</P> + +<P> +That is why your letter with its formidable enclosure has afflicted me +with dumbness. The doubt which I indicated in writing to you has been +suggested chiefly by what passed in reference to Rosmini. +</P> + +<P> +You will remember that you sent Liddon word that Rosmini wrote a very +long defence of the little book which he was translating. He preferred +not to make use of the information and not to see the book; and he +avoided the subject when we met at Oxford. The reason is, that the +Rosminians wish the Defence to be ignored, as it qualifies the +submission of the author when the book defended was condemned. +</P> + +<P> +The suppression injures nobody; it only puts the readers of the +translation slightly off the scent, and gives an imperfect article +instead of none. There is some trace of complicity with those who are +interested in a <I>suppressio veri</I>. But it may have been due, as he was +under obligations to them, and this is only preliminary matter. +</P> + +<P> +My real difficulty is, that he speaks of his author with great respect, +and evidently thinks his doctrine sound and profitable. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P185"></A>185}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Now Rosmini, allowing for some superficial proposals of reform, was a +thorough believer in the Holy See. His book itself, by the nature of +the reforms proposed, implies that no other defects of equal magnitude +remain to be remedied. Apart from the Five points he accepts the +papacy as it stands; and he has no great objection to it, Five points +included. +</P> + +<P> +He was what we vulgarly call an ultramontane—a reluctant ultramontane, +like Lacordaire. An Anglican who views with satisfaction, with +admiration, the moral character and spiritual condition of an +Ultramontane priest, appears to me to have got over the principal +obstacle on the way to Rome—the moral obstacle. The moral obstacle, +to put it compendiously, is the Inquisition. +</P> + +<P> +The Inquisition is peculiarly the weapon and peculiarly the work of the +Popes. It stands out from all those things in which they co-operated, +followed, or assented as the distinctive feature of papal Rome. It was +set up, renewed, and perfected by a long series of acts emanating from +the supreme authority in the Church. No other institution, no +doctrine, no ceremony is so distinctly the individual creation of the +papacy, except the Dispensing power. It is the principal thing with +which the papacy is identified, and by which it must be judged. +</P> + +<P> +The principle of the Inquisition is the Pope's sovereign power over +life and death. Whosoever disobeys him should be tried and tortured +and burnt. If that cannot be done, formalities may be dispensed with, +and the culprit may be killed like an outlaw. +</P> + +<P> +That is to say, the principle of the Inquisition is murderous, and a +man's opinion of the papacy +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P186"></A>186}</SPAN> +is regulated and determined by his +opinion about religious assassination. +</P> + +<P> +If he honestly looks on it as an abomination, he can only accept the +Primacy with a drawback, with precaution, suspicion, and aversion for +its acts. +</P> + +<P> +If he accepts the Primacy with confidence, admiration, unconditional +obedience, he must have made terms with murder. +</P> + +<P> +Therefore, the most awful imputation in the catalogue of crimes rests, +according to the measure of their knowledge and their zeal, upon those +whom we call Ultramontanes. The controversy, primarily, is not about +problems of theology: it is about the spiritual state of a man's soul, +who is the defender, the promoter, the accomplice of murder. Every +limitation of papal credit and authority which effectually dissociates +it from that reproach, which breaks off its solidarity with assassins +and washes away the guilt of blood, will solve most other problems. At +least, it is enough for my present purpose to say, that blot is so +large and foul that it precedes and eclipses the rest, and claims the +first attention. +</P> + +<P> +I will show you what Ultramontanism makes of good men by an example +very near home. Saint Charles Borromeo, when he was the Pope's nephew +and minister, wrote a letter requiring Protestants to be murdered, and +complaining that no heretical heads were forwarded to Rome, in spite of +the reward that was offered for them. His editor, with perfect +consistency, publishes the letter with a note of approval. Cardinal +Manning not only holds up to the general veneration of mankind the +authority that canonised this murderer, but makes him in a special +manner his own patron, joins the Congregation of Oblates of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P187"></A>187}</SPAN> +St. +Charles, and devotes himself to the study of his acts and the +propagation of his renown. +</P> + +<P> +Yet I dare say I could find Anglican divines who would speak of the +Cardinal as a good man, unhappily divided from the Church of which he +was an ornament, and living in error, but yet not leading a life of +sin—I should gather from such language that the speaker was not +altogether averse from the distinctive characteristic of +Ultramontanism, and had swallowed far the largest obstacle on the road +to Rome. +</P> + +<P> +The case of Rosmini is not so glaring, but it is substantially the +same. Language implying that an able and initiated Italian priest +accepting the papacy, with its inventory of systematic crime, incurs no +guilt, that he is an innocent, virtuous, edifying Christian, seems to +me open to grave suspicion. If it was used by one of whom I knew +nothing else, I should think ill of him. If I knew him to be an able +and in many ways an admirable man, I should feel much perplexity, and +if I heard on the best authority that he deserved entire confidence, I +should persuade myself that it is true, and should try to quiet my +uneasiness. +</P> + +<P> +That is what I have done in the case of Liddon. When he speaks of an +eminent and conspicuous Ultramontane divine with the respect he might +show to Andrewes or Leighton, or to Grotius or Baxter, he ignores or is +ignorant of the moral objection, and he surrenders so much that he has +hardly a citadel to shelter him. I dare say he would give me a very +good answer, and I do not hesitate to utter his praises. But I have no +idea what the answer would be, and so must leave room for a doubt. +</P> + +<P> +I should hardly have resolved to say all this to anybody but yourself, +relying on you not to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P188"></A>188}</SPAN> +misunderstand the exact and restricted +meaning of my letter. I should like my reason for misgiving to be +understood. But I care much more to be understood as an admirer, not +an accuser of Canon Liddon. My explanation is worthless if it fails to +justify me there. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>St. Martin Haute Autriche June 20, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The idleness of Coombe Warren[<A NAME="chap01fn220text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn220">220</A>] has much to answer for. I was taken +by surprise when you sent me that letter,[<A NAME="chap01fn221text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn221">221</A>] and would have given a +great deal to escape the necessity of answering it. Ever since, it has +stood grievously in the way of writing to you; and I have conquered my +difficulty with extreme reluctance. Try to forgive my not +writing—try, much harder, to forgive my writing. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +When I come I shall have to congratulate you on your authorship. I do +not do so now, because it would be meaningless, the C.R.[<A NAME="chap01fn222text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn222">222</A>] being due +here to-morrow only. I do hope you liked doing it, and like having +done it, and like to think of doing it again. +</P> + +<P> +I still think that we ought to evacuate;[<A NAME="chap01fn223text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn223">223</A>] but I thought there would +be no time for Mr. Gladstone to do it, and no obligation on others. +The convention is a very dexterous way of laying compulsion on the +Ministers, whoever they may be, several years hence. It meets what I +thought an insurmountable difficulty, if it succeeds, as I hope it +will. But I cannot look with satisfaction on the principle as +compensation for the risk of failure. The cause does not seem to me so +sacred or so pure as to offer consolation for the fall of the Ministry. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P189"></A>189}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +It is an indefinite principle, depending for its application on +variable circumstances. It is not clean cut. We retain certain +ill-gotten possessions, obtained by treaty or by necessity. It is not +evident that we should surrender a possession which is not ill-gotten. +</P> + +<P> +Our motives for surrender are mixed. It is to relieve us from a very +troublesome and very dangerous engagement, to avoid a formidable +expenditure, to disarm the menacing jealousy of other Powers. The +mixture of motives is obvious, and we are not in a position to claim +the merit which belongs to the purest among them. +</P> + +<P> +The Ministry would not be united for common action on this question, if +the motives of expediency did not come to aid the motive of principle. +The bit of gold has to be beaten very thin to gild the whole of them. +One sees and recognises the surface gilding, but one knows that there +is inferior metal beneath. +</P> + +<P> +The position would be loftier and more correct if we retired from an +enterprise crowned with success, in the fulness of conscious +superiority as well as of conscious rectitude. But we have not +accomplished triumphantly the work from which we withdraw. We are not +incurring the sacrifice of stopping short in a career of victory and of +political triumphs, so that the world wonders at our moderation and +self-control. We are giving up an undertaking in which we have +disappointed the expectation of the world, in which we have shown +infirmity of purpose, want of forethought, a rather spasmodic and +inconclusive energy, occasional weakness and poverty of resource; and +our presence and promise have been mixed blessings for the Egyptian +people. So that the principle is not +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P190"></A>190}</SPAN> +large enough as a basis for +such a structure, nor clear enough to yield me comfort for the enforced +close of such a career. +</P> + +<P> +Do not be angry with me for saying all this—you have heard it before. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>St. Martin Aug. 15, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +In spite of breakfast, dinner, and tea, of garden parties and evening +parties, of road and rail, I have brought away with me a feeling of +having hardly seen you, and of having had very little talk, so that I +begin at once to look forward to next time and the good opportunities +it may yield. It will, I hope, be very early in November. We left you +for a very pleasant day at Seacox with Morier, and an easy journey, +diversified by meeting young Lacaita at Wurzburg, and travelling with +him all night. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +You never told me what plans there are for the short recess. I am glad +the Scottish campaign is to be soon, so as to give guidance to the +popular movement. There is a good deal of nonsense in the air; but I +hope there will be strength. +</P> + +<P> +Salisbury's avowal of numerical principles set me thinking. I cannot +make out whether it is a surrender or a snare. It confirms the +expectation that they will put the minority theory forward, which is, I +think, their best card. Not so much because I agree with them, as +because it divides the Liberal party, and rescues them from the +position of mere resistance. +</P> + +<P> +The objections to Northbrook's mission[<A NAME="chap01fn224text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn224">224</A>] are obvious; and yet I +should have liked to go out with him, and try to understand the problem +as it now stands; for it is taking a new shape, unwelcome, I fear, to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P191"></A>191}</SPAN> +Mr. Gladstone, and yet not unforeseen, at least since the +appearance of Bligničres. It does not seem impossible to combine rigid +principle with practical necessities. +</P> + +<P> +There is not a brighter spot in my retrospect than our visit to +Cambridge, the execution of it, as well as the delight of it, due to +you. Looking back I fancy that I can never have said to you nearly how +much I was impressed by Sidgwick's conversation—to say nothing of +their hospitality. But the fact is we never talked over anything, and +it is all to come. +</P> + +<P> +Alfred's[<A NAME="chap01fn225text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn225">225</A>] triumphant bowling makes me hold his coat and umbrella +comparatively cheap, yet I suppose we got beaten after all.[<A NAME="chap01fn226text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn226">226</A>]... +</P> + +<P> +I have been staying at Tegernsee with Döllinger. The impending vacancy +at Lincoln was announced while I was there, and I am sorry to say that +we did not quite agree in the speculations which it suggested. I hope +you will see my dear friend at Chester.[<A NAME="chap01fn227text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn227">227</A>] There is not a greater +Tory in England, or a greater ornament to that perverse party. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>St. Martin Aug. 29, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing definite to quote in my conversation with the +Professor[<A NAME="chap01fn228text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn228">228</A>] about Liddon. He hardly knows the better side of +Liddon, as a preacher, and as a religious force. He sees that he is +not a very deep scholar, and thinks his admiration for Pusey a sign of +weakness, I think he once used the term fanatical—meaning a large +allowance of one-sidedness in his way of looking at things. Indeed, +Döllinger is influenced by nearly the same misgivings that I felt some +months ago; and he has not had the same opportunities for getting rid +of them. For instance, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P192"></A>192}</SPAN> +the Dean of St. Paul's[<A NAME="chap01fn229text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn229">229</A>] assured me +that Liddon, far from reclining on others, is masterful and fond of his +own opinion. Moreover, Liddon's attitude in the question of Church and +State, is a matter which the Professor and I judge very differently, +and it is a difference which it is useless to discuss any more. +</P> + +<P> +I am waiting very eagerly for the speeches in Midlothian. They will be +almost the most important of his whole career. +</P> + +<P> +Forwood's proposal of equal electoral districts is another sign of +dissolution in Toryism. The principle of setting a limit to inequality +might be defended much more plausibly. I am glad to figure in your +company in Northumberland as well as at Cambridge. Your +experiment[<A NAME="chap01fn230text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn230">230</A>] is perhaps worth trying, and Stuart knows his people +too well to promote it if it is likely to fail. An outsider has not +any secure means of forecasting; but I shall retain some hesitation. +</P> + +<P> +Your letter was waiting here when I came from Tegernsee, where I have +spent another few days with my Professor.[<A NAME="chap01fn231text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn231">231</A>] Knesebeck, the Empress' +secretary, was there; and I was dismayed to learn that Morier has +spoken to him in the most hostile terms of our foreign policy. I was +sorry, in London, that you did not see more of that strong diplomatist +in Downing Street. +</P> + +<P> +In the doubt as to your movements I direct to Hawarden, where I hope +you will see the excellent, learned, homely, humble Bishop of Chester, +whose virtues ought to disarm even the recalcitrant Dean.[<A NAME="chap01fn232text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn232">232</A>] In +about two months I hope we shall meet. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P193"></A>193}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>St. Martin Sept. 10, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I was able to realise your late experience,[<A NAME="chap01fn233text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn233">233</A>] even to the tones of +voice in certain passages, and I envied you. It must make one change. +He[<A NAME="chap01fn234text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn234">234</A>] cannot any longer elaborately and perversely ignore the fact +that he himself is the life and the force of the Liberal party. His +reception by Midlothian in 1880, when he did not appear as a candidate +for office, constrained him to become Prime Minister; and the more +definite issue laid before Midlothian in 1884, still more emphatically +answered, determines that he must remain P.M. Just as he accepted the +consequences then, when they involved withdrawal of public +declarations, he must accept them now, when they compel, and are very +definitely designed to compel, the surrender of private aspirations. +</P> + +<P> +The public voice has spoken this time more loudly and more consciously. +It would not be right towards the country, but especially towards his +colleagues, to obey it then and to resist it now. It would be not only +a breach of the contract now made by something more than implication, +but a yielding up of the party to its enemies in an inextricable +crisis. I have not the least doubt that the position will be so +understood. +</P> + +<P> +I think less of the gain which the Ministry derives from the policy, +the limitation and the enormous effect of the speeches. It is +possible, I think, to detect a weak place in them. When one speaks in +answer to opponents who are present, and who state their own case, the +thing to do is to demolish it. But when one addresses the public, in +the absence of debate, it is often good policy to state the opposite +case in one's own way, prior to demolition; one's own way is the way +one would state it if it was one's own: and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P194"></A>194}</SPAN> +everybody knows that +he would make the Tory position more logical, more plausible, and +stronger than they make it themselves, if he was on their side. It is +a process one has to go through for oneself, to see what the +adversary's case looks like, stripped of all the passion, ignorance, +and fallacy with which he presents it. We are not sure we are right +until we have made the best case possible for those who are wrong; and +we are strictly bound not to transform the sophisms of the advocate +into flaws in his case. +</P> + +<P> +An intelligent Tory might say that this figure or precept of rhetoric +was not followed, and that their argument was presented, not unfairly, +but not at its best. +</P> + +<P> +Of course he would see the point of the speeches in the restraint of +agitation, and the offer to make terms. I hope—against hope—that +this moderation is founded on knowledge of what is going on among the +Tories. One sees signs of collapse in their policy of reform, but not +in their determination to resist, and my own impression is that even +Wemyss meant to fight it out, only in another way. But if there is no +collapse, I see no resource except the agitation which Mr. Gladstone +still deprecates. +</P> + +<P> +To my mind the most significant passage was that in which he spoke of +the probable fall of several Ministries. That means that the Home +Rulers are going to be the arbiters of party government. That means +ruin to the Liberal party. Many Liberals see the moment looming when +they will have more sympathy with a party led by moderate Conservatives +than with a party inspired by Radical Democrats. The looming will be +quickened by the necessity of presenting a front to the Irish. But +that is only a small part +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P195"></A>195}</SPAN> +of the argument accumulating against +retirement before the next Parliament, when the new constituencies will +be fixed for generations. +</P> + +<P> +Odo Russell[<A NAME="chap01fn235text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn235">235</A>] leaves a larger gap than he filled, and he is +difficult to replace at a moment of peculiar soreness and strain. In +the service, I should prefer Dufferin; out of it—Bedford! I +understand that he would not accept. I find Lord Granville quite feels +that our strongest diplomatist, Morier, is out of the question at +Berlin, but it will be ten times worse to send Carlingford, and an +indication of weakness. +</P> + +<P> +Many, very many, thanks for your letter, which did not seem to me to +suffer from the distractions and dissipations of Dalmeny. The best +part of it is the good report of your father's health and spirits. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Nov. 12, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Your delightful letter came from Munich this evening after I had posted +mine. +</P> + +<P> +It is an exquisite pleasure to look forward to meeting in such a short +time. I should so much wish to have a glimpse of you, and a chat, +before the plot thickens with us, so as to get the bearings. If all +goes well, I have some chance of arriving pretty early on Monday, and +my first business will be to ask if there is a line from you at the +Athenćum. There is an uncertainty about the through trains, as there +are no travellers yet, and so I may be disappointed. +</P> + +<P> +It is a very important crisis, as there is a possibility of such +complete and perfect success for Mr. Gladstone's policy of Reform; and +I do so hope he may have it in all fulness. There never was such +personal ascendency; and I trust nothing will happen in Africa to +disturb it. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P196"></A>196}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Yes, I would give a trifle to have heard the discussion of our +Revolution by our greatest statesman[<A NAME="chap01fn236text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn236">236</A>] and our greatest +historian.[<A NAME="chap01fn237text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn237">237</A>] The latter betrayed his uncompromising Conservatism by +half a parenthesis at Keble. It is very superficially disguised in his +book, and he ought to have been more grateful to me than he was for +abusing Macaulay. Brewer was just like him in judging those events, +and Gardiner contrives only by an effort not to revile the good old +Cause. We are well out of the monotonous old cry about Hampden and +Russell. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Nov. 12, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +We have had a long journey from St. Martin, and are hardly settled down +in the midst of a vast solitude, when the unreasonable success of the +Government compels me to pack my bag once more. +</P> + +<P> +What makes it a pleasure, I need not say. If all things go as I +expect, I shall be in town on Monday night or early on Tuesday. +</P> + +<P> +If you are so very kind as to send a line to the Athenćum suggesting +the right end and object and reward of travel, please put outside, <I>to +wait arrival</I>. +</P> + +<P> +I do not stay with the Granvilles this time, that I may vote against +Ministers at my ease. And I do not bring M——, which is a grief; +still, I look forward to a deal of riotous living, and to many sources +of public and private satisfaction. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Dec. 9, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +... M— received an account which pleased her, of my bath of goodness +and spirituality at Oxford; and the writing to her about scenes and +people she knows, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P197"></A>197}</SPAN> +and trying to explain thoughts and facts, has +been half the pleasure of my solitary journey. +</P> + +<P> +The meeting at your door[<A NAME="chap01fn238text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn238">238</A>] of the professors of heterodoxy[<A NAME="chap01fn239text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn239">239</A>] and +chatterboxy[<A NAME="chap01fn240text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn240">240</A>] in political economy is delightful, and I hope it will +fructify. But my friend the "nice little old gentleman"[<A NAME="chap01fn241text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn241">241</A>] will +always be too strenuous and urgent for the Fra Angelico of Economists; +and besides, we live in the Gladstonian era—and the glory of Europe is +extinguished for ever. That, however, might be a bond of union between +those Sophisters. +</P> + +<P> +In London I could not escape a luncheon with ——, who threatens me +with a friendly visit next month at Cannes. Next week I expect Bryce +with Robertson Smith. Did I tell you of my pleasant dinner with them +on Wednesday, and meeting Creighton?[<A NAME="chap01fn242text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn242">242</A>] He is an agreeable and +superior man, whom you would like; and he is full of general knowledge. +But I am afraid you will find his book[<A NAME="chap01fn243text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn243">243</A>] a severe study. +</P> + +<P> +Thursday—Rather an uninteresting dinner at ——; but one goes there to +eat. Lord G. not in very good spirits. I conciliated Enfield, who ... +was a little shocked to find that I agree with Courtney. +</P> + +<P> +There was not a gap of time for a farewell in Downing Street, and I had +to decline dinners with the Granvilles, Mays, and Pagets, and a visit +to Seacox—Hamlet left out. +</P> + +<P> +The journey succeeded beautifully, for it was the roughest passage I +remember, and I was none the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P198"></A>198}</SPAN> +worse for it. At Calais one gets +into a sleeping-car and gets out of it at Cannes, after dining and +sleeping comfortably. A young Englishman described the Grasse Hotel to +me, where he had lived with Cross, who was writing a book. He did not +discover that it[<A NAME="chap01fn244text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn244">244</A>] was the book in my hand. I have sent it back +with some considerable suggestions. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Green writes an amusing account of Dr. Stubbs's violent language +in politics when she approaches him with her history. I have advised +her to sacrifice everything and everybody to the object of securing his +help. Leviathan will not aid her. +</P> + +<P> +I have strongly urged May to write a new chapter of Constitutional +History, coming down to this our era of Good Feeling, as Americans call +the last administration of Monroe.[<A NAME="chap01fn245text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn245">245</A>] It is the greatest landmark in +English Politics; and it has the merit of all well-defined epochs, that +it is not going to last. +</P> + +<P> +At the British Museum, Gardiner was working, and I wished him joy on +the endowment of Research. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Dec. 18, 1884</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +If sleeplessness comes on again do represent the merits of Cannes in +their proper light. January is often the finest month, and this is the +finest season ever known. Also it is the emptiest. I hear that +Thorenc is not to let, in the hope that the Wolvertons may take it. +Such rest and change as he would get here, after so much hard work, +might be quite invaluable, especially if it is in his thoughts that the +Session of 1885 is to be his last in office. That would be +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P199"></A>199}</SPAN> +worth +refreshing for; and we shall do our best to occupy and distract him, +and all of you, during your stay. +</P> + +<P> +Croker[<A NAME="chap01fn246text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn246">246</A>] was so large and promising a morsel that I postponed +temptation and read no part of him carefully; besides it is a question +hot with hidden fire. Have you not discovered, have I never betrayed, +what a narrow doctrinaire I am, under a thin disguise of levity? The +Duke of Orleans nearly described my feelings when he spoke, +testamentarily, of his religious <I>flag</I> and his political <I>faith</I>. +Politics come nearer religion with me, a party is more like a church, +error more like heresy, prejudice more like sin, than I find it to be +with better men. And by these canons I am forced to think ill of Peel, +to think, if you won't misunderstand me, that he was not a man of +principle. The nature of Toryism is to be entangled in interests, +traditions, necessities, difficulties, expedients, to manage as best +one may, without creating artificial obstacles in the shape of dogma, +or superfluous barriers of general principle. "Périssent les colonies +plutôt que les principes" (which is a made-up sentence, no more +authentic than "Roma locuta est"), expresses the sort of thing +Liberalism means and Toryism rejects. Government must be carried on, +even if we must tolerate some measure of wrong, use some bad reasons, +trample on some unlucky men. Other people could recognise the face and +the sanctity of morality where it penetrated politics, taking the shape +of sweeping principle, as in Emancipation, Free Trade, and so many +other doctrinaire questions. Peel could not until he was compelled by +facts. Because he was reluctant to admit the sovereignty of +considerations which +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P200"></A>200}</SPAN> +were not maxims of state policy, which +condemned his own past and the party to which he belonged. +</P> + +<P> +But if party is sacred to me as a body of doctrine, it is not, as an +association of men bound together, not by common convictions but by +mutual obligations and engagements. In the life of every great man +there is a point where fidelity to ideas, which are the justifying +cause of party, diverges from fidelity to arrangements and +understandings, which are its machinery. And one expects a great man +to sacrifice his friends—at least his friendship—to the higher cause. +</P> + +<P> +Progress depends not only on the victory, the uncertain and +intermittent victory, of Liberals over Conservatives, but on the +permeation of Conservatism with Liberal ideas, the successive +conversion of Tory leaders, the gradual desertion of the Conservative +masses by their chiefs—Fox, Grenville, Wellesley, Canning, Huskisson, +Peel—Tory ministers passing Emancipation, Free Trade, Reform—are in +the order of historic developments. Still the complaints of Croker are +natural. He had been urged along a certain line, and being a coarse, +blatant fellow, he overdid it, and wrote things from which there was no +release. It was not in his brutal nature to appreciate the other side +of questions. He did not begin by seeing the strong points of his +enemy's case, and so far he was dishonest. +</P> + +<P> +My impression is that Peel was justified towards his party in 1846 by +what occurred in 1845. He explained his views; some of his friends +declared against them; and he resigned. After the exchange of Stanley +for Mr. Gladstone, it was a new Ministry, a new departure on distinct +lines. Nobody was betrayed. Peel did not carry his friends with him +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P201"></A>201}</SPAN> +because he had not the ascendency which his great lieutenant +possesses. The Radicals have been made to look as foolish as Croker. +The bread has been taken out of their mouths, as they are not to devour +the Lords. They have consolations in the future which the +Protectionists have not; but they are in as false a position as the +Protectionists were; and yet they stand fire on the whole well, and +without secession.—But I am conscious of more nearly hating Croker +than anybody, except Lord Clare, in English history. It was my one +link with a late, highly-lamented statesman and novelist.[<A NAME="chap01fn247text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn247">247</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Jan. 14, 1885</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Yes! at last, foreign affairs are in a very wretched way, and are +unjustly and unreasonably injuring Mr. Gladstone's own position. If +Morier is still in England, I wish he could see him before Petersburg. +He is our only strong diplomatist; but he is only strong. +</P> + +<P> +I have bored the P.M. to extinction with praise of Liddon, and as all I +could say is obvious to others, I am not tempted to repeat the offence. +But the death of that uninteresting, good Bishop Jackson[<A NAME="chap01fn248text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn248">248</A>] disturbs +my rest. It is clear, very clear to me, that it would not be right to +pass Liddon over now that there are two important vacancies to fill; +and one asks oneself why he should not be chosen for the more important +of the two, and who is manifestly worthier to occupy the greatest see +in Christendom? The real answer, I suppose, is that his appointment +will give great offence, and that he is +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P202"></A>202}</SPAN> +a decided partisan, and a +partisan of nearly the same opinions as the P.M. himself. +</P> + +<P> +No doubt there would be much irritation on the thorough Protestant +side, and in quarters very near Downing Street, and I feel, myself, +more strongly than many people, that partisanship in Liddon runs to +partiality, to one-sidedness, to something very like prejudice. And +with all that strong feeling, I cannot help being agitated with the +hope that the great and providential opportunity will not be lost. +</P> + +<P> +Assuredly Liddon is the greatest power in the conflict with sin, and in +turning the souls of men to God, that the nation now possesses. He is +also, among all the clergy, the man best known to numbers of Londoners. +There must be a very strong reason to justify a Minister in refusing +such a bishop to such a diocese. +</P> + +<P> +The argument of continuity does not convince me, because it was +disregarded when Philpotts died. Still more, because so eminent a +representative of Church principles had not occupied the see of London +within living memory, and there is a balance to redress. When I think +of his lofty and gracious spirit, his eloquence, his radiant +spirituality, all the objections which I might feel, vanish entirely. +</P> + +<P> +The time has really come when the P.M. has authority to do what he +likes, and to disregard cavil. He is lifted above all considerations +which might weaken action at other times and in other men. No ill +consequences of his use of patronage can reach him. He can be guided +by the supreme motive, and by the supreme motive only. It may well be +that these are the last conspicuous ecclesiastical appointments that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P203"></A>203}</SPAN> +will be his to make. He is able now to bequeath an illustrious +legacy to the people of London. +</P> + +<P> +And, speaking on a lower level, the shock of Liddon's elevation might +be blunted by the contemporaneous choice for Lincoln. +</P> + +<P> +One qualification ought to be remembered. He is more in contact than +other churchmen with questions of the day. Not only politics and +criticism, but science. Paget delights to relate how Owen was +discoursing on the brevity of life in the days of the patriarchs, and +how beautifully Liddon baffled him by asking whether there is any +structural reason for a cockatoo to live ten times as long as a pigeon. +If it was my duty, which it is not, or my habit—which it is still +less—to speak all my mind, I would say that there is, within my range +of observation, some inclination to make too much of distinguished men +in the Church. I name no names, but if I did, I might name Pusey, +Wilberforce, Mozley, Church, Westcott, as men whom there has been some +tendency to overestimate, at least in comparison with Liddon. Not that +he is their superior, but that he seems to me to have fallen short of +his due as much as they, in various ways, have been overpaid, in +praise, confidence, and fame. If there have been reasons explaining +this, I think they ought not to operate now. +</P> + +<P> +Who are conceivable candidates? Temple, Westcott, Wilkinson, Butler, +Lightfoot? Two of these are more learned and more indefinite +theologians; but I can see no other point of rivalry. And I do not +learn that Dunelm possesses unusual light in dealing with men. Fraser? +Who can say that he has the highest qualities in Liddon's measure? +Temple +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P204"></A>204}</SPAN> +is vigorous and open; but he is not highly spiritual, or +attractive, or impressive as a speaker; he has an arid mind, and a +provincial note in speech and manner. But he also understands science. +The Dean assures me that, Pusey being gone, Liddon will be under no +personal influence, that he has more confidence in himself and more +backbone than I was able to discover for myself. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Jan. 22, 1885</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Of course I know very well that we shall not make our Bishop of London; +and ever since I wrote to you I have been seeking points of +consolation, and magnifying to myself my own sources of misgiving. +Yesterday I chanced to see, at Mentone, the best of the Anglican clergy +that I have ever known, a Mr. Sidebotham. He told me of a luncheon at +Bishop Hamilton's, where he sat, a young clergyman, between Liddon and +Tait. Liddon, after a few words, shut up like an oyster; and Tait took +a good deal of pains to please his neighbour and to draw him out. From +which experience, my friend, himself a truly Catholic Anglican, thinks +that Liddon, whom he deems the greatest preacher living, would not make +a good Bishop of London. This testimony, from a personal admirer and +theological adherent, was rather welcome to me. When I asked him +whether there was any dark horse, any candidate not obvious to +outsiders, he said "No"; but seemed to think that <I>Bedford</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn249text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn249">249</A>] would +be the sort of strong-backed prelate you mean. He fully expected +Temple's appointment. Thank you so much for speaking of Morier. You +know that for all people not private friends of his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P205"></A>205}</SPAN> +own —— is +disappointing. He is a bad listener, easily bored, and distrustful of +energetic men who make work for themselves and for the Foreign Office. +Morier, in particular, has force without tact, and stands ill with a +chief who has tact without force. He feels that he is unsupported and +not much appreciated. A few friendly words from above would set him up +wonderfully. +</P> + +<P> +Although Chamberlain is not the only source of weakness in the +Government, he will be the cause of dissolution if your threat is +executed at Easter! I really must come over and make myself very +disagreeable if that goes on. It is time to play the last card in +one's hand, for one year more of office and power, for the sake of the +indefinite future. But perhaps the Vyner Cottage[<A NAME="chap01fn250text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn250">250</A>] may give me the +desired opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +For this is a very central part of Europe. I have had Dilke and Ripon; +I saw Salisbury yesterday; and Scherer dines here on Saturday. +</P> + +<P> +Cross is coming with his book[<A NAME="chap01fn251text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn251">251</A>] next week. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Athenćum Club Pall Mall Feb. 26, 1885</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I shall be delighted to dine in bad company on Thursday. Goschen will +speak against Government to-morrow, but will vote for them. I dined +there yesterday with Morier, Milner,[<A NAME="chap01fn252text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn252">252</A>] and Albert Grey;[<A NAME="chap01fn253text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn253">253</A>] and the +same party dines with Morier this evening as soon as the P.M. sits +down. Several Ministers (Hartington, Spencer, and others) have said +too much that they wish to be beaten. +</P> + +<P> +A very strong speech to-night would retrieve the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P206"></A>206}</SPAN> +position. If +the enemy came in now, England would soon become no better than the +Continental powers, and our true greatness and prosperity would depart +from us. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Athenćum March 3</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I am so glad to know that he is getting better. +</P> + +<P> +If you will burn my letters there will be less difficulty in voting for +Government. Certainly a peer cannot vote absolutely only as he +approves or disapproves—or I must have voted on the other side. I +shall be delighted to call at 12, and also to be your escort. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine April 9, 1885</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The book[<A NAME="chap01fn254text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn254">254</A>] reveals a mental flaw I had not suspected. Because +Newman, or some of Newman's set, Faber, Ward, Morris, were narrow and +fanatical, he concludes that their doctrine is that of narrow-minded +fanatics. This is stumbling at the Ass's bridge. Scientific thought +begins with the separation between the idea and its exponent, just as +much as religious thought; and our peculiar difficulty in keeping them +apart is notoriously the great elementary defect of the English—not +the Scottish—mind. +</P> + +<P> +Pattison himself suffers from the extreme narrowness of the Oxford +horizon in his time. He knows nothing about the other side of the +hill; and when he came to know, in later years, his religious spirit +was extinct. Newman had unfitted him for Rothe. A strong mind cannot +rest without thinking out its thoughts. But Pattison rests without +caring to explain which of the several systems which exist outside of +the churches +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P207"></A>207}</SPAN> +satisfied his conscience. He grew impatient of +theology. He does not recognise the great importance of Casaubon in +religious history, or of Milton's theological treatise on the progress +of his mind. Once, having reviewed Pascal, he said to me that he +thought, after all, the Jesuits were in the right. I disagreed, but I +remember that I was delighted at the openness of his mind. But now I +again find him hooded with prejudice. He rightly discerned that the +French Protestants created independent scientific learning, and +glorifies Scaliger as the type of them: and then he treats Petavius as +an impostor, got up by the Jesuits in defiance of Scaliger. Whereas +the Jesuit was one of the most deeply learned men that ever lived, by +no means inferior to Grotius or Ussher or Selden. +</P> + +<P> +Every year some zealous Frenchman exposes the iniquities of the Tudors, +hoping to discredit the Church of England; and Taine fancies that to +show the horrors of the Revolution is a good argument against +democracy. Pattison must have stood, as to his inner man, nearly on +the same level of logic. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes April 22, 1885</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Scherer writes that he is going to publish a new volume, in which his +recent essay on the Life of George Eliot will be included. You will +read it with interest and surprise at the moral judgment. +</P> + +<P> +He is also the great patron of Amiel, whom I read with delight as +having a savour of Vinet—with more serious culture and curiosity, and +inferior understanding for religion. There is a plot in Arnold's +circle to make him known and popular in England. Nobody thought +anything of him in his lifetime, at Geneva. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P208"></A>208}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +A careful study of my <I>Pall Mall</I> has left me quite in the dark as to +Zulfikar, &c.[<A NAME="chap01fn255text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn255">255</A>] I thought there was a deliberate intention to force +us into war, and I did not imagine that there was any way out of it. +To my cheap and pacific mind it seemed a disaster not only without +remedy, but without even a remote compensation or consolation, in which +victory could do us no good, and in which the mere conflict would +degrade us to the brutal level of continental powers. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing has so completely puzzled me for the last two years as the +hesitation of Russia to re-open the San Stefano question, while we are +not only at Cyprus, but in Egypt, and without any moral vantage ground +from which we can resist the overthrow of the European Turk. I would +willingly give up the whole country from Bulgaria to the Ćgean for a +few miles of Afghan desert. +</P> + +<P> +But it would be bad policy to give up both and have to fight for +existence in India whenever a capricious bell rings at Petersburgh. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes April 27, 1885</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I cannot imagine Russia drawing back in so supremely favourable a +position. What is hard to understand is her having gone so far, and +deliberately resolved on war. But I see that there is something in all +this that has entirely escaped me. It seems so clear that our policy +is to restore Russia to the position she had attained before the +Congress of Berlin, that, therefore, we are not only her best, but her +only friends—that I am quite bewildered, and half +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P209"></A>209}</SPAN> +suspect that +there has been some tremendous mistake in our management. I should +like to have the chance of distracting Mr. Gladstone with various talk, +in all this anxiety. Probably I shall be at Carlton H. Terrace on +Friday week. Will you tell me there when we can meet? ... Tennyson's +really profound animosity[<A NAME="chap01fn256text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn256">256</A>] against the P.M. has long been known to +people in his confidence, and has come out at last. It was one reason, +but not the only one, of my dislike to his peerage. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +Maine, whose series of articles form in reality an assault on the +Government, promises to adopt all my remonstrances in the reprinting of +them. These filled twenty-six of my pages, in all; so I count on a +considerable modification of the text. +</P> + +<P> +I hope there will be a possible play ... when we come to town. +</P> + +<P> +—— is very intelligent, agreeable, amiable, a little complex in +design; accurate calculation sometimes resides in the corner of her +eye, and she knows how to regulate to a hair's breadth, when she +smiles, the thin red line of her lips. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Prince's Gate June 20, 1885</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +No one ever saw Mr. Gladstone in better spirits than he was at dinner +yesterday. I hope it was the hitch.[<A NAME="chap01fn257text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn257">257</A>] It is a bore to be away when +the thing is to be decided. May agrees with me, and with that other +Radical[<A NAME="chap01fn258text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn258">258</A>] from Cambridge, that even the ingeniously remodelled +assurances ought not to be given; when we +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P210"></A>210}</SPAN> +have preserved peace +with so much difficulty, no concession not absolutely required should +be made to these dangerous successors.[<A NAME="chap01fn259text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn259">259</A>] But it will need great +fortitude, and I do not seriously hope for success against the strong +wish of so many colleagues. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>April, 1885</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I have said that I am divided from G. Eliot by the widest of all +political and religious differences, and that political differences +essentially depend on disagreement in moral principles. Therefore I +cannot be suspected of blindness to her faults. More particularly +because I have insisted on another grave delinquency which has struck +few persons, her tolerance for Mazzini. That is a criminal matter, +independent of the laws of states and churches, which no variety of +theological opinion can by any means affect. We must never judge the +quality of a teaching by the quality of the Teacher, or allow the spots +to shut out the sun. It would be unjust, and it would deprive us of +nearly all that is great and good in this world. Let me remind you of +Macaulay. He remains to me one of the greatest of all writers and +masters, although I think him utterly base, contemptible and odious for +certain reasons which you know. And I might say as much of many other +men. To be truly impartial, that is, to be truly conscientious and +sincere, we must be open equally to the good and evil of character.... +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P211"></A>211}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Nov. 11, 1885</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +I wish I had been with you in Norway or could have seen Hawarden during +this most interesting time. Other trouble and travel have made havoc +of my correspondence, and when you receive these superfluous lines, the +die will have been cast in Midlothian. For I fancy that the enemy's +only hope now is that Mr. Gladstone will not be able to address his +audience. +</P> + +<P> +Lord Granville has kept me up to the mark as to important matters, and +announced the manifesto[<A NAME="chap01fn260text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn260">260</A>] in very warm terms; but his abrupt style +of composition is not favourable to the more delicate shades of party +division. One makes out, from afar, that Chamberlain is going off from +the X.P.M.[<A NAME="chap01fn261text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn261">261</A>] while Goschen is elaborately advancing towards him; +also that he, in fact, agrees better with Chamberlain, whilst the +policy of the moment draws him to Goschen. +</P> + +<P> +Our Joe ought to know how to bide his time. I suppose he thinks that +something must be offered to the new voters that they care for. I +imagine that the Church question forms a very real cause of division. +Mr. Gladstone's authority will be able to keep it down for the time, +and no more. +</P> + +<P> +Let us hope for an utterly overwhelming victory, in spite of some +perceptible progress on the part of the Tories. Through a friend I +have explained to Bismarck that he must be prepared for this, if only +the voice holds. Tories here tell me that they have no real hope. +Selborne's name being on the Grey manifesto, I conclude that he will +not be Chancellor. It will be possible to strengthen the new +Government immensely with new men, but I am afraid a certain +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P212"></A>212}</SPAN> +friend of ours will claim the Woolsack. The Eastern question makes me +very impatient to see Mr. Gladstone in Downing Street again. +</P> + +<P> +If Morier only came to luncheon, you hardly can have seen the change in +him. He is a strong man, resolute, ready, well-informed and with some +amount of real resource. But ambition long deferred, activity long +restrained, a certain coarseness of grain which is coming to the +surface, have turned him into a bully, quarrelsome and dangerous. A +dexterous Muscovite will always be able to provide an opportunity of +putting him in the wrong and getting up an ugly fracas. It is +extraordinary what dull men make sufficient diplomatists. Arnold +Morley is new to me; I gather from what you say that Russell[<A NAME="chap01fn262text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn262">262</A>] is +sure of his seat. I was disturbed to find the Duke so hard on him, and +so little support on the more amiable side of the family. +</P> + +<P> +I quite agree with Chamberlain, that there is latent Socialism in the +Gladstonian philosophy. What makes me uncomfortable is his inattention +to the change which is going on in those things. I do not mean in +European opinion, but in the strict domain of science. A certain +conversation that you remember, when Stuart, fresh from the horny hands +of Democracy,[<A NAME="chap01fn263text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn263">263</A>] produced his heresies, was very memorable to me. +But it is not the popular movement, but the travelling of the minds of +men who sit in the seat of Adam Smith that is really serious and worthy +of all attention. Maine tells me that his book, a Manual of +unacknowledged Conservatism, is selling well. It is no doubt meant to +help the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P213"></A>213}</SPAN> +enemy's cause, and more hostile to us than the author +cares to appear. For he requested me not to review it. You know that +the new Hatzfeldt is the son of the lady who protected Lassalle, and +that it is desirable to speak of his wife as little as of his mother. +He is a Berlin bureaucrat, <I>pur sang</I>. I have something to write +against time, which keeps me at work during the night until the end of +November. Don't mind it, but please tell me what happens, and whether +I may come and see you re-installed. +</P> + +<P> +Fancy my disappointment: Paget[<A NAME="chap01fn264text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn264">264</A>] passed under our windows, and +Liddon—as he told the World—was at Tegernsee, and I missed them both. +The Pagets have set up a delightful daughter-in-law, and a near +relation of hers, a Balliol man, son, I believe, of the chief Tory +wire-puller in Shropshire, has just come out here.... +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>La Madeleine Nov. 28, 1885</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +It was a serious blow to find in your letter that you had no confidence +in the election,[<A NAME="chap01fn265text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn265">265</A>] but I am glad now to think that you were so much +better prepared to lose than I was, in spite of what I had also heard +about Bright's despondency. I only hope that it has not been a bad +time, otherwise, at Dalmeny, and that Mr. Gladstone has not suffered +from so much effort. +</P> + +<P> +At this moment I know only the result of the first three days, and have +no Scottish news since Goschen got in. I conclude that we are beaten +past recovery, and wonder whether the Dark Horse[<A NAME="chap01fn266text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn266">266</A>] will make the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P214"></A>214}</SPAN> +Government independent of their Irish supporters. If not, the +rift in the lute will betray itself any time after the first Session. +</P> + +<P> +As I am the only Englishman still so besotted as to feel Salisbury's +presence in Downing Street exactly as I should feel Bradlaugh's at +Lambeth, I will say nothing about my own sensations to a correspondent +necessarily unsympathetic. What strikes me most strongly is the +probability of Mr. Gladstone thinking that his release has come, and +that he is not bound to embark on a voyage which is very unlikely to +lead back to power until he is in his seventy-eighth year. For I +suppose that the secret of the situation is that Chamberlain has so far +played false, played, I mean, a private game, that he looked far ahead, +and did not care to come back to office in the old combination, +especially with the prospect of losing Dilke at first. So that, in +fact, the Gladstonian influence, which would be unshaken in the country +at large, was unable to control his own colleagues, and the old +inferiority in the management of men, compared with the management of +masses, which Goschen exemplified before, has appeared in the direction +of the Radical wing. +</P> + +<P> +As I know his characteristic of caring for measures much more than for +the organisation which is to carry them, I conjecture he will say that +he is not harnessed for ever to the coach, that he will be grievously +tempted to give up leading an active opposition. Of course I should +deeply deplore such a decision, but my old arguments, which +circumstances did so much to impress, will be weaker now. +</P> + +<P> +Three legitimate causes have told in favour of the Tories. They have +not done much to make them odious, and the position abroad is easier, +very decidedly, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P215"></A>215}</SPAN> +though not very considerably, easier. Then, the +case against us in the Soudan is a very strong one. I may say so now +that Mr. Gladstone does not really resist it; and you, at any rate, +know how strongly I thought so before. That is not a positive +recommendation of the Tories, but it does weaken us, and the reproach +is not met, in the judgment of impartial men, by saying that the Tories +did nothing to restrain or to correct us. Thirdly, the Church argument +is logically against us. Mr. Gladstone's attitude gave no security +that the Liberals, if they returned strengthened from the poll, would +not eventually employ their increased strength to pave the way for +disestablishment. +</P> + +<P> +What you say of a flaw in his reckoning is very true indeed. In his +literary occupations it appears still more strongly. The grasp is +often more remarkable than the horizon. I do not think that it has +been much of a drawback in politics, and the minds it would estrange +are very few. +</P> + +<P> +You would have written a capital review of Greville.[<A NAME="chap01fn267text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn267">267</A>] It is very +odd that a man should be so shrewd, and so full of experience, and yet +so destitute of positive ideas. I see that I thought too much of him, +having known him before I knew the difference between common sense and +capacity. My friend Maine certainly did not fear that I should spoil +his effects, for I should never have found a point of contact with the +views of the general reader. I don't think he likes to admit that one +can have gone over the same ground, and have come impartially to +opposite conclusions. His book is a symptom of the change which is so +remarkable in the <I>Times</I>. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P216"></A>216}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +<I>Cannes Jan. 1, 1886</I> +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +It would have been a very great pleasure to be at Hawarden during these +festive days; and only very strong local ties oblige me to say that it +is impossible. There has never been a time when I was more anxious to +learn what is really going on, and to see things from the centre, and +it is therefore a disappointment to be away. But there is nothing that +I could say or do that would contribute an element to the momentous +decisions to be formed. That Mr. Gladstone will, in this great and +perhaps final crisis, put himself into the position of Irishmen and +view things not only from the point of their present wishes, but with +their historic eyes, and that he will hold that the ends of liberty are +the true ends of politics, that is the one thing certain and known to +all men, and it is the whole of the political baggage with which I set +out on the Irish expedition. +</P> + +<P> +I know neither how to resist the claim of the Irish nation to govern +themselves nor even their claim to possess the land, and nobody really +familiar with the events of this century can say that the one is beyond +the resources of political, or the other, of economic science. They +are problems which have been solved repeatedly within the experience of +two generations. Many experiments have been made, and it is not +difficult to determine which solutions have failed, which have +succeeded, and to tell the reason why. +</P> + +<P> +I have thought so for twenty years, and now that the question has +become perforce a practical one, nobody can be more heartily than I am +on the side which I understand to be Mr. Gladstone's, or, to speak +definitely, on the Irish side. The claim of duty exactly coincides +with the claim of necessity, and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P217"></A>217}</SPAN> +that is all about it that one +can say from a distance, without having seen what is on paper, or felt +pulses all round. +</P> + +<P> +Duty and necessity settle the question, but not as to policy in detail, +which I have no right to talk about without hearing more what is said +by people on the spot. Only let me say that I would not be influenced +by hope of a very brilliant success, even if it is possible to do what +would satisfy the better part of the Irish party. The people are so +demoralised, both laity and clergy, that we must be prepared to see the +best scheme fail. No Irish failure is so bad as the breakdown of +parliamentary government, so that even from a sordid point of view that +is not insuperable. But I would arm myself against disappointment. +There is another point of view from which I see much to apprehend and +prepare for. The elections send back Mr. Gladstone to Westminster, and +even to Downing Street, with some loss of influence. I see it not only +in the reduced majority, but still more in the increase of Conservative +minorities at the poll, the infidelity of most important colleagues, +and the reluctance with which he will be followed by members under +pressure from their constituencies. +</P> + +<P> +We saw the centrifugal forces at work last Session in the Ministry +itself. Mr. Gladstone only retained office after the Egyptian vote by +the neutrality of Rosebery, and in the question of concession to +Parnell he had to yield to the Lords in the Cabinet. +</P> + +<P> +How can they stand by him now, to support measures much more +formidable, probably, than that which they rejected last spring? And +could not Salisbury dexterously put the question in such a way +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P218"></A>218}</SPAN> +that their vote then given should disable them altogether? +</P> + +<P> +One sees the danger that Mr. Gladstone would be almost isolated among +his friends, even if there is a majority in the House, and I can +imagine no way of getting any considerable scheme through the Lords. I +wish you would tell me that all this has been provided for, and that +very careful negotiations have been carried on. Taking the question +grossly, in outline, I can only say that I hope fervently that he will +have strength to accomplish the only scheme of policy I can think +worthy of his fame. +</P> + +<P> +It seems obvious that, in the mass of letters that afflict your +postman, there have been plenty of communications from good men of all +sorts in Ireland. I speak of that from a slight, a remote, fear that +the study of details, of conflicting and undigested suggestions, may +have become distasteful to him. Writing to Lord Granville the other +day in answer to a question, I proposed that his former private +secretary, Wetherell, should make a tour in Ireland, as he has a very +large acquaintance among people who do not clamour in the street. He +would bring valuable information to bear. But I hope that there is no +lack of information or of advisers. +</P> + +<P> +One has to think of people in the background just because they are the +minority. That may justify me in sending you the enclosed letter from +a man who had, I think, a good deal of Spencer's confidence and +good-will. I would not send it if I thought it could discourage, but +Mr. Gladstone has faced heavier artillery every day since Christmas. +Happy New Year never meant so much as to-day!... +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P219"></A>219}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +P.S.—A frightened and discontented voice says, by this day's post, "If +there is a vote of censure we must join in it and take the consequences +of a majority, for we have no other mandate from our constituents but +to bring back Gladstone, and if we abstained from voting we should lose +our seats." +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +FOOTNOTES +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn1text">1</A>] Jules Ferry, see <A HREF="#P7">p. 7</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn2text">2</A>] Duc de Broglie, statesman and historian (1821-1901). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn3text">3</A>] Dr. Döllinger. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn4text">4</A>] Sir Louis. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn5text">5</A>] Minghetti and Bonghi. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn6text">6</A>] On Mr. Gladstone. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn7text">7</A>] Mr. Gladstone was an unsuccessful candidate for South-West +Lancashire in 1868. He was at the same time elected for Greenwich. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn8text">8</A>] The Reverend Mark Pattison, then Rector of Lincoln. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn9text">9</A>] The book on which Lord Acton was then at work, and for which he +amassed vast hoards of material. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn10text">10</A>] "The Expansion of England." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn11text">11</A>] For the expulsion of the Jesuits and other unauthorised +congregations from French schools. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn12text">12</A>] "History of Liberty." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn13text">13</A>] Thorold Rogers, sometime M.P. for Southwark, and Professor of +Political Economy at Oxford. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn14text">14</A>] Herbert Gladstone. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn15text">15</A>] He stood for Middlesex. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn16text">16</A>] The late Duke of Devonshire, who lived till 1891. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn17text">17</A>] In 1866, Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Lowe took opposite sides on the +question of Parliamentary Reform. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn18text">18</A>] Mr. Lowe, on hearing one of Mr. Herbert Gladstone's speeches +during the Middlesex election, declared that in the pure gift of +eloquence, there was nothing to choose between him and his father. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn19text">19</A>] In Middlesex. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn20text">20</A>] <I>i.e.</I>, by Lord Granville. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn21text">21</A>] See p. <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, note <A NAME="chap01fn54text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn54">54</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn22text">22</A>] The Zulu. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn23"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn23text">23</A>] Lord Granville. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn24"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn24text">24</A>] An allusion to expeditions at Tegernsee. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn25"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn25text">25</A>] Evening parties in Downing Street. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn26"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn26text">26</A>] Sir John Strachey had seriously under-estimated the cost of the +Afghan War. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn27"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn27text">27</A>] Mr. O'Donnell, an Irish member, moved the adjournment of the House +for the purpose of attacking the new French Ambassador, M. Challemel +Lacour. Mr. Gladstone moved that he be not heard, and the debate on +this motion occupied the whole sitting. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn28"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn28text">28</A>] Then Postmaster-General. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn29"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn29text">29</A>] House of Lords, not "History of Liberty." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn30"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn30text">30</A>] That any member claiming the right to affirm instead of taking an +oath should be allowed to do so, subject to any liability imposed on +him by statute. Under this motion Mr. Bradlaugh took his seat +provisionally for Northampton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn31"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn31text">31</A>] Littleberries, rented by Lord Aberdeen. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn32"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn32text">32</A>] Trench. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn33"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn33text">33</A>] Herbert Spencer. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn34"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn34text">34</A>] M. Tachard. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn35"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn35text">35</A>] Mr. Gladstone had just then a short, but serious illness. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn36"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn36text">36</A>] On the Compensation for Disturbance Bill, intended to protect the +Irish tenants from eviction during the winter. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn37"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn37text">37</A>] The majority against the Bill was 230, of whom 51 were Liberals. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn38"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn38text">38</A>] Granville. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn39"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn39text">39</A>] Lowell. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn40"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn40text">40</A>] Non equidem invideo; miror magis. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn41"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn41text">41</A>] See p. <A HREF="#P28">28</A>, note <A NAME="chap01fn36text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn36">36</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn42"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn42text">42</A>] Lord Arthur Russell. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn43"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn43text">43</A>] The reference is to the Ground Game Bill, which enabled tenants to +shoot hares and rabbits on their farms; and to the Burials Bill, which +permitted the interment of Dissenters in parish churchyards with their +own religious rites. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn44"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn44text">44</A>] Mr. Gladstone's voyage in the <I>Grantully Castle</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn45"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn45text">45</A>] "History of Our Own Times." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn46"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn46text">46</A>] Shakespeare's Sonnets, pocket edition. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn47"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn47text">47</A>] Now Lady Battersea. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn48"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn48text">48</A>] Richard Simpson (1820-1876), author of an "Introduction to the +Philosophy of Shakespeare's Sonnets" (1868) and "The School of +Shakespeare" (1872). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn49"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn49text">49</A>] A letter from Mr. Gladstone on the choice of a profession. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn50"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn50text">50</A>] Mr. Ruskin. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn51"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn51text">51</A>] George Eliot lived in St. John's Wood. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn52"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn52text">52</A>] Agrarian Laws and Ecclesiastical Establishments. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn53"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn53text">53</A>] He stood by Ireland to the end, and his last letter to Sir +Hercules Langrishe reaffirms the principles of his youth. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn54"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn54text">54</A>] "And to party gave up what was meant for mankind." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn55"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn55text">55</A>] The editor of the <I>Quarterly Review</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn56"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn56text">56</A>] Lord Beaconsfield's "Endymion," in which Nigel Penruddocke is one +of the characters. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn57"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn57text">57</A>] Lord Macaulay. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn58"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn58text">58</A>] George Otto Trevelyan. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn59"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn59text">59</A>] "Life of Panizzi." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn60"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn60text">60</A>] "Julian the Apostate." By the Rev. the Hon. Arthur Lyttelton, +afterwards Bishop of Southampton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn61"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn61text">61</A>] Charles Stewart Parker, then M.P. for Perth. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn62"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn62text">62</A>] "English Land and English Landlords." By the Honble. George +Brodrick, late Warden of Merton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn63"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn63text">63</A>] An allusion to Mr. Gladstone's speech on the Reform Bill of 1866. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn64"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn64text">64</A>] George Eliot's death. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn65"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn65text">65</A>] "Democracy," a political novel, published anonymously, which made +much noise at the time. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn66"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn66text">66</A>] Arthur Lyttelton's. See his "Modern Poets of Faith, Doubt and +Paganism, and other Essays" (Murray). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn67"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn67text">67</A>] This refers to the inscription Lord Acton inserted in Ruskin's +"Arrows of the Chace"—"From a False Believer." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn68"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn68text">68</A>] Speech on introducing the Peace Preservation Bill. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn69"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn69text">69</A>] Dublin Castle. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn70"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn70text">70</A>] George Eliot's husband. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn71"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn71text">71</A>] On the introduction of the new rules of Procedure after the +expulsion of the Irish Members. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn72"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn72text">72</A>] The late Lord Stanley of Alderley. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn73"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn73text">73</A>] The Editor of the <I>Edinburgh Review</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn74"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn74text">74</A>] Trevelyan. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn75"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn75text">75</A>] In "Endymion." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn76"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn76text">76</A>] The obstruction of the Peace Preservation Bill, which ended in the +autocratic intervention of the Speaker, and the removal of the Irish +Members from the House. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn77"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn77text">77</A>] Sir Arthur Godley, at that time private secretary to Mr. Gladstone. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn78"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn78text">78</A>] Sir Erskine May. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn79"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn79text">79</A>] The Jacobite description of the mole whose burrowings caused the +death of William the Third by making his horse stumble. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn80"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn80text">80</A>] The Comte de Serre was a Minister under Louis XVIII., and a leader +of the Moderate Royalists after the Restoration. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn81"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn81text">81</A>] Sir John Lubbock's. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn82"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn82text">82</A>] For closing debate. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn83"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn83text">83</A>] At this period shadowing Mr. Gladstone's movements. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn84"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn84text">84</A>] Sir John Lubbock, in conversation with Miss Gladstone, complained +of the lack of a guide or supreme authority in the choice of books. +She suggested Lord Acton, and mentioned this talk in writing to him. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn85"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn85text">85</A>] Harold Browne. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn86"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn86text">86</A>] Lightfoot. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn87"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn87text">87</A>] Sir James Paget, the great surgeon. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn88"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn88text">88</A>] By Robert Wallace, afterwards M.P. for East Edinburgh. The +definition, "trust in the people, tempered by prudence," was laid down +by Mr. Gladstone himself in a speech at Oxford in 1877. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn89"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn89text">89</A>] Of Liberty. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn90"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn90text">90</A>] On the Peace Preservation Bill. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn91"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn91text">91</A>] Mr. Brand, afterwards Lord Hampden. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn92"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn92text">92</A>] Carlyle's. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn93"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn93text">93</A>] See page <A HREF="#P40">40</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn94"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn94text">94</A>] John K. Ingram, Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and author of +the article on Political Economy in the <I>Encyclopćdia Britannica</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn95"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn95text">95</A>] Mr. Gladstone fell on the ice as he entered the gardens of Downing +Street, and cut open the back of his head. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn96"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn96text">96</A>] Sir Bartle Frere, then Governor of Cape Colony. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn97"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn97text">97</A>] Miss Dempster. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn98"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn98text">98</A>] "Sermons in a College Chapel," by J. R. Illingworth. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn99"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn99text">99</A>] George Sand. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn100"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn100text">100</A>] Gladstone, Tennyson, and Paget. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn101"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn101text">101</A>] Leo XIII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn102"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn102text">102</A>] Dublin Castle. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn103"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn103text">103</A>] Minghetti and Bonghi. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn104"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn104text">104</A>] Dr. Döllinger. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn105"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn105text">105</A>] <I>i.e.</I>, of Mr. Gladstone. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn106"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn106text">106</A>] Lord Acton said elsewhere of Lee—"The greatest general the world +has ever seen, with the possible exception of Napoleon." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn107"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn107text">107</A>] Mr. Gladstone's. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn108"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn108text">108</A>] At Cannes. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn109"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn109text">109</A>] Scartazzini's. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn110"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn110text">110</A>] Illingworth's "In a College Chapel." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn111"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn111text">111</A>] Of George Eliot. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn112"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn112text">112</A>] George Sand. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn113"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn113text">113</A>] Meaning the Irish Land Bill. The reference is to the agrarian +laws of Tib. and C. Sempronius Gracchus. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn114"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn114text">114</A>] On Carlyle. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn115"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn115text">115</A>] Midhat Pacha was the head of the reforming party in Turkey at +that time. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn116"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn116text">116</A>] Leo XIII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn117"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn117text">117</A>] November 15, 1848. After the murder of Count Rossi, his Liberal +Minister of the Interior, Pius IX. left Rome, and fled to Gaeta, from +which he only returned under the protection of French bayonets. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn118"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn118text">118</A>] The introduction of the Irish Land Bill. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn119"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn119text">119</A>] The late Duke of Argyll's resignation. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn120"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn120text">120</A>] Lord Carlingford succeeded him. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn121"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn121text">121</A>] Mr. Gladstone's eleventh. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn122"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn122text">122</A>] To the Academy. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn123"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn123text">123</A>] See p. <A HREF="#P48">48</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn124"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn124text">124</A>] The first Lord Cairns. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn125"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn125text">125</A>] "It is true, Holy Father, I have failed. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn126"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn126text">126</A>] Lord Beaconsfield. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn127"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn127text">127</A>] The Sultan's. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn128"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn128text">128</A>] See Diary in Ruskin's "Letters to M. and H. G." (privately +printed). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn129"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn129text">129</A>] For burial in the Abbey. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn130"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn130text">130</A>] Lord Lansdowne's and Lord Listowel's. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn131"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn131text">131</A>] Judah Philip Benjamin, Q.C., author of "Benjamin on Sales." He +left America after the defeat of the South, and attained great +distinction at the English Bar. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn132"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn132text">132</A>] Mr. Gladstone did not arrive in time after the Easter recess to +give notice of his own motion for a public memorial to Lord +Beaconsfield, who died on the 19th of April 1881. The notice was given +on Mr. Gladstone's behalf by Lord Richard Grosvenor, now Lord +Stalbridge. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn133"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn133text">133</A>] Convicted at the Old Bailey for incitement to the murder of the +German Emperor. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn134"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn134text">134</A>] Mr. Gladstone's. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn135"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn135text">135</A>] Of the Irish Land Bill. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn136"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn136text">136</A>] Mr. Gladstone predicted that, if the Conservatives defeated the +Bill and came into office, they would themselves introduce not a +smaller, but a larger measure. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn137"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn137text">137</A>] Sir John Skelton, K.C.B., author of "Thalassa," Scottish disciple +of Disraeli, a brilliant and scholarly writer. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn138"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn138text">138</A>] Canon Maccoll. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn139"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn139text">139</A>] The death of a little daughter. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn140"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn140text">140</A>] W. H. Gladstone, M.P. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn141"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn141text">141</A>] The late Duke of Argyll. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn142"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn142text">142</A>] Mr. Gladstone's retirement. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn144"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn144text">144</A>] At Leeds. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn145"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn145text">145</A>] "Like some tall bully, lifts its head and lies." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn146"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn146text">146</A>] The County Franchise Bill. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn147"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn147text">147</A>] To Knowsley. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn148"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn148text">148</A>] The King. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn149"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn149text">149</A>] "The Life of Cobden." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn150"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn150text">150</A>] The late Sir Charles Gavan Duffy. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn151"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn151text">151</A>] Mr Gladstone's. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn152"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn152text">152</A>] (HAWARDEN, 15<I>th Nov.</I> 1881).—"<I>Tęte-ŕ-tęte</I> breakfast. A long +most interesting talk on the great vexed question of his retirement; +started by his saying that he and Lord Granville had discussed it, Lord +G. good-humouredly declaring it out of the question. I quoted to him +Lord Acton's words, how it would be a serious flaw in his political +career to damage and perhaps ruin the Liberal party, by retiring from +the leadership while in full possession of health and strength. He +said the same arguments had been used in Lord Palmerston's case—that +it was said the power and cohesion of the party depended on one man's +life; that history had proved in that case that this was not so; that +in his own case he had retired in '74 for good; that his reassumption +of office was accidental, conditional, and temporary; that it was +undertaken for certain purposes foreshadowed in his Midlothian +Speeches; that these purposes were all or nearly all accomplished; that +if he did not retire after Ireland was settled, and House of Commons +procedure readjusted, there was no moment in the future when it would +be possible—that Lord Hartington (now Duke of Devonshire) was a man of +unusual strength and ability, but that before becoming Prime Minister +he required more training as House of Commons leader. (I objected that +he might at any moment go to the House of Lords, which would immensely +weaken his influence; and besides, who could then lead the House of +Commons?) The future leader of H. of C. was a great puzzle and +difficulty. Sir Charles Dilke would probably be the man best fitted +for it, he had shown much capacity for learning and unlearning, but he +would require Cabinet training first; that as time brings nearer Lord +Hartington's move into House of Lords, force was added to the argument +in favour of his own retirement. That he did not foresee great +difficulties ahead for the Liberal party; that the Conservative ditto +had thrown away what should have been their strength—the return to the +principles and policy of Sir R. Peel; that they were demoralised and +degraded; that they had inherited the vices of Lord Beaconsfield +without his tact and judgment: (Lord B.'s climax was reached in his +attack on Sir Robert Peel. What a magnificent virulence he had shown; +what a power of cutting and piercing the man through a searching +knowledge of his character); that this jingoism was perpetuated in +them, and must eventually be their ruin. That of Forster, Harcourt, +and Childers it was hard indeed to say which was best qualified for +leading; that Forster would probably be the best, but that he had shown +occasional incapacity; that Goschen had sadly injured himself by +following up his errors as to franchise with an elaborate eulogium of +weak-kneed Liberalism—(I quoted Lord A. again 'that he might resign +place, but could not resign power'). He demurred to this: for two +years—1874 to 1876—he insisted he had had no influence on the Lib. +party, that he should attend the H. of C. very rarely, and possibly +begin by going abroad before the Session." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn153"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn153text">153</A>] The Goschens. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn154"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn154text">154</A>] The late Dr. Hatch's Lectures on the "Organisation of the Early +Christian Churches." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn155"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn155text">155</A>] The husband of George Eliot. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn156"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn156text">156</A>] A short Life of Newman, by Mr. Jennings. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn157"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn157text">157</A>] Mr. Goschen. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn158"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn158text">158</A>] Sir Erskine May. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn159"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn159text">159</A>] The Comte de Montlosier, a French emigrant, Royalist, historian, +antiquary, feudalist, and Liberal Catholic. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn160"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn160text">160</A>] Lord Monck, first Governor-General of Federated Canada. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn161"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn161text">161</A>] George Eliot. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn162"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn162text">162</A>] Sir George Errington. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn163"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn163text">163</A>] The vote of censure on the Lords for appointing a Committee to +inquire into the operation of the Irish Land Act. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn164"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn164text">164</A>] His correspondent's name for his "History of Liberty." It was of +course taken from the title of Mr. Henry James's delightful novel. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn165"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn165text">165</A>] On the 2nd of March a lunatic named Martin fired at the Queen and +Princess Beatrice at Windsor Station. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn166"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn166text">166</A>] Bradlaugh's re-election. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn167"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn167text">167</A>] This refers to a conversation at Venice in October 1879. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn168"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn168text">168</A>] That Mr. Bradlaugh, having been re-elected for Northampton, +should be allowed to take the oath and his seat. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn169"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn169text">169</A>] A protest by Cardinal Manning against the admission of Mr. +Bradlaugh. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn170"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn170text">170</A>] A letter from Mr. Gladstone to his daughter. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn171"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn171text">171</A>] Union, fusion. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn172"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn172text">172</A>] James Harrington, 1611-1677. Toland edited his work on the +"Theory of the State," which was seized by Cromwell. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn173"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn173text">173</A>] 1648. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn174"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn174text">174</A>] Situated in the depth of the Inferno.—Canto xviii. line 1. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn175"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn175text">175</A>] "The History of Liberty." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn176"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn176text">176</A>] The letter in question was sent to Mr. Shorthouse, and was +answered in detail by him. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn177"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn177text">177</A>] "Ah, this thou should'st have done and not have spoken on't. + In me 'tis villainy: in thee it had been good service."<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn178"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn178text">178</A>] Mr. S. R. Gardiner's review of "John Inglesant." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn179"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn179text">179</A>] The late Marquis of Dufferin. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn180"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn180text">180</A>] On the working of the Irish Laud Act, 1881. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn181"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn181text">181</A>] Sent immediately after the murders in the Phœnix Park. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn182"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn182text">182</A>] It need hardly be said that for this rumour there was no sort of +foundation. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn183"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn183text">183</A>] Lyttelton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn184"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn184text">184</A>] It was the "manifold writer." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn185"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn185text">185</A>] Lord Salisbury was unsuccessful in persuading his party to throw +out the Irish Arrears Bill in the House of Lords. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn186"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn186text">186</A>] Mr. Gladstone's. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn187"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn187text">187</A>] Downing Street. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn188"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn188text">188</A>] "Paradise." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn189"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn189text">189</A>] Letter written by Mr. Shorthouse in answer to Lord Acton's +criticism of "John Inglesant." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn190"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn190text">190</A>] Sara Bernhardt. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn191"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn191text">191</A>] Of Gibraltar. The late Dr. Sandford. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn192"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn192text">192</A>] Mr. Gladstone. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn193"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn193text">193</A>] Mr. Secretary Hay. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn194"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn194text">194</A>] Mrs. Hollond. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn195"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn195text">195</A>] Of George Eliot. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn196"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn196text">196</A>] Prime Minister. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn197"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn197text">197</A>] Mr. Herbert Gladstone's Lecture on Ireland, in which he used the +words "Irish Parliament." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn198"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn198text">198</A>] The predominance of books on religion and the few on science. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn199"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn199text">199</A>] The list of the hundred books given by Lord Acton to his +correspondent. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn200"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn200text">200</A>] "Ignorance, madam, sheer ignorance." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn201"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn201text">201</A>] On the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn202"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn202text">202</A>] Henry George, author of "Progress and Poverty." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn203"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn203text">203</A>] Eaton Square. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn204"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn204text">204</A>] R. W. Church. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn205"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn205text">205</A>] Liddon translated Rosmini's "Five Wounds of the Church." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn206"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn206text">206</A>] The Master of University. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn207"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn207text">207</A>] At Cambridge. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn208"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn208text">208</A>] "History of Liberty." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn209"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn209text">209</A>] "Progress and Poverty." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn210"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn210text">210</A>] "The American Constitution." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn211"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn211text">211</A>] The hundred books. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn212"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn212text">212</A>] Lord Acton's first visits to Oxford and Cambridge (to Dr. +Talbot's, Warden of Keble College, and to Professor Sidgwick's) were +arranged by his correspondent. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn213"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn213text">213</A>] Stubbs. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn214"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn214text">214</A>] Treaty of Berlin, 1878. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn215"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn215text">215</A>] Dr. Liddon met Lord A. and Miss G. at the station. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn216"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn216text">216</A>] Dr. Talbot. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn217"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn217text">217</A>] Dr. Stubbs. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn218"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn218text">218</A>] Duchess of Sutherland, Countess of Cromarty in her own right. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn219"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn219text">219</A>] Forbes. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn220"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn220text">220</A>] Lord Wolverton's residence near London. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn221"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn221text">221</A>] A letter from Mr. Gladstone to his daughter. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn222"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn222text">222</A>] <I>Contemporary Review</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn223"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn223text">223</A>] Egypt. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn224"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn224text">224</A>] To Egypt. Its object was financial. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn225"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn225text">225</A>] Lyttelton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn226"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn226text">226</A>] England <I>v.</I> Australia, Kennington Oval. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn227"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn227text">227</A>] Bishop Stubbs. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn228"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn228text">228</A>] Döllinger. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn229"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn229text">229</A>] Church. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn230"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn230text">230</A>] Scholarship (Ł10) for Northumberland miners, comprising a month's +residence at Cambridge. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn231"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn231text">231</A>] Döllinger. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn232"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn232text">232</A>] Dr. Howson. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn233"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn233text">233</A>] The third Midlothian campaign. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn234"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn234text">234</A>] Mr. Gladstone. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn235"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn235text">235</A>] The first Lord Ampthill. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn236"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn236text">236</A>] Mr. Gladstone. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn237"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn237text">237</A>] Bishop Stubbs. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn238"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn238text">238</A>] At Oxford. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn239"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn239text">239</A>] Ruskin. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn240"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn240text">240</A>] Bonamy Price. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn241"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn241text">241</A>] Mr. Raskin's playfully affectionate description of Mr. Bonamy +Price, Professor of the science which he most abhorred. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn242"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn242text">242</A>] Afterwards Bishop of London. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn243"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn243text">243</A>] "The History of the Papacy during the Reformation." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn244"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn244text">244</A>] "Life of George Eliot." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn245"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn245text">245</A>] President Monroe formulated, at the suggestion of Mr. Canning, +the doctrine that the American continents were not to be colonised in +the future by foreign Powers. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn246"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn246text">246</A>] The Croker Papers. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn247"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn247text">247</A>] Disraeli. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn248"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn248text">248</A>] Bishop of London. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn249"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn249text">249</A>] Walsham How, then Suffragan Bishop of Bedford. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn250"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn250text">250</A>] At Cannes. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn251"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn251text">251</A>] "The Life of George Eliot." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn252"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn252text">252</A>] Now Viscount Milner. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn253"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn253text">253</A>] The present Earl Grey. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn254"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn254text">254</A>] Mark Pattison's Memoirs. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn255"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn255text">255</A>] The Afghan frontier. See Mr. Morley's account of the Penjdeh +incident in his "Life of Gladstone," vol. iii. pp. 183-5. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn256"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn256text">256</A>] The reference is to Tennyson's lines on the Franchise Bill, +"Steersman, be not precipitate," &c. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn257"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn257text">257</A>] Disagreements in the Cabinet on Ireland had been cut short on +June 8 by the defeat of the Government, through a combination of Tories +and Irish, on the Budget. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn258"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn258text">258</A>] Mr. James Stuart. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn259"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn259text">259</A>] When Lord Salisbury came into office in June 1885, he required +assurances of support from the Leader of the Opposition, which Mr. +Gladstone refused to give. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn260"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn260text">260</A>] Mr. Gladstone's Election Address, partly written in Norway, +containing the Authorised Programme of the Liberal party. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn261"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn261text">261</A>] <I>i.e.</I>, ex-Prime Minister. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn262"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn262text">262</A>] Mr. George Russell. He stood for Fulham, but was not elected. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn263"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn263text">263</A>] At his election for Hoxton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn264"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn264text">264</A>] Now Bishop of Oxford. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn265"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn265text">265</A>] The General Election of November 1885, consequent on the County +Franchise and Redistribution Acts. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn266"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn266text">266</A>] The county voters. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap01fn267"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn267text">267</A>] The Greville Memoirs, Part III. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P221"></A>221}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +INDEX +</P> + +<PRE STYLE="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%"> + Aberdeen, Earl of, <A HREF="#P25">25</A> and <I>note</I> + Acton, Lord— + <I>Career</I>— + Birth, <A HREF="#Pxv">xv</A>; Oscott, <A HREF="#Pxvi">xvi</A>; Munich, <A HREF="#Pxvii">xvii</A>; visit to France, <A HREF="#Pxix">xix</A>; to + United States, <A HREF="#Pxx">xx</A>; Moscow, <A HREF="#Pxx">xx-xxi</A>; Aldenham, <A HREF="#Pxxii">xxii</A>; member + for Carlow, <A HREF="#Pxxii">xxii</A>; in Parliament, <A HREF="#Pxxv">xxv</A>; stands for Bridgnorth, + <A HREF="#Pxxvii">xxvii</A>; editorship of the <I>Rambler</I> (<I>Home and Foreign Review</I>), + <A HREF="#Pxxvii">xxvii</A>, <A HREF="#Pxxx">xxx-xxxiii</A>, <A HREF="#Pxxxv">xxxv</A>; at Congress of Munich, <A HREF="#Pxxxiii">xxxiii</A>; marriage, + <A HREF="#Pxxxv">xxxv</A>; lectures at Bridgnorth, <A HREF="#Pxxxv">xxxv-xxxix</A>, <A HREF="#Pxvi">xvi</A>; again stands for + Bridgnorth, <A HREF="#Pxxxix">xxxix</A>; at the Œcumenical Council, <A HREF="#Pxlii">xlii-xlvii</A>; + peerage, <A HREF="#Pxlix">xlix</A>; honorary Doctorate of Philosophy at Munich, <A HREF="#Pl">l</A>; + reply to Gladstone's "Vatican Decrees" pamphlet, <A HREF="#Plii">lii-liii</A>; death + of his daughter, <A HREF="#Plxxv">lxxv</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>, and <I>note</I>; residence in Germany and + the Riviera, <A HREF="#Plix">lix</A>; founds <I>English Historical Review</I>, <A HREF="#Plxiv">lxiv</A>; D.LL., + D.C.L., and All Souls Fellowship, <A HREF="#Plxv">lxv</A>; made lord in waiting, <A HREF="#Plxv">lxv</A>; + appointed Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, <A HREF="#Plxvi">lxvi</A>, <A HREF="#Plxix">lxix</A>; + death, <A HREF="#Plxxiv">lxxiv</A> + <I>Characteristics</I>— + Caution in expressing opinions, <A HREF="#Pxii">xii</A>, <A HREF="#Plx">lx</A>, <A HREF="#Plxxiv">lxxiv</A> + Conversational ability, <A HREF="#Pxii">xii-xiv</A>, <A HREF="#Plxix">lxix</A> + Cosmopolitanism, <A HREF="#Pxiv">xiv</A>, <A HREF="#Pxv">xv</A>, <A HREF="#Pxx">xx</A>, <A HREF="#Plix">lix</A> + Critical temperament, <A HREF="#Pxiii">xiii</A>, <A HREF="#Plxii">lxii</A> + Foreign languages, facility in, <A HREF="#Pxv">xv</A>, <A HREF="#Pxviii">xviii</A>, <A HREF="#Plxv">lxv</A> + Integrity of mind, <A HREF="#Plii">lii</A> + Irony of manner, <A HREF="#Pxiii">xiii</A> + Learning, <A HREF="#Pxi">xi</A>, <A HREF="#Plxxvii">lxxvii</A>; range of subjects, <A HREF="#Pxv">xv</A> + Liberalism, <A HREF="#Pxxvi">xxvi</A> + Morality, high estimate of, <A HREF="#Pxii">xii</A> + Personal appearance, <A HREF="#Pxiii">xiii</A> + Prudence, <A HREF="#Pxxxiv">xxxiv</A> + Reading, fondness for, <A HREF="#Pxi">xi</A>, <A HREF="#Pxiv">xiv</A>, <A HREF="#Pxxxv">xxxv</A>, <A HREF="#Plxxiii">lxxiii</A> + Religious views, <A HREF="#Pxv">xv</A> + Sociability, <A HREF="#Pxii">xii</A>, <A HREF="#Plix">lix</A> + Estimates of, <A HREF="#Pxi">xi</A>, <A HREF="#Plxxi">lxxi</A>, <A HREF="#Plxxv">lxxv</A> + Affirmation as substitute for oath, <A HREF="#P23">23</A> and <I>note</I> + Afghanistan, <A HREF="#P20">20</A> <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P208">208</A> and <I>note</I> + Africanders, <I>see</I> Boers + Airlie, Earl of, <A HREF="#P17">17</A> + Aldenham library, <A HREF="#Pxviii">xviii</A>, <A HREF="#Plv">lv</A>, <A HREF="#Plxxiii">lxxiii</A> + Alexander, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P111">111</A> + Alexandria, <A HREF="#P156">156</A> + Alison cited, <A HREF="#P7">7</A> + America, <I>see</I> United States + Amiel, <A HREF="#P207">207</A> + Ammergau, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>, <A HREF="#P34">34</A> + Ampthill, Lord (Odo Russell), <A HREF="#Pxlvii">xlvii</A>, <A HREF="#P195">195</A> and <I>note</I> + Anglo-Indians, <A HREF="#P17">17</A> + Antonelli, Cardinal, <A HREF="#Pxiv">xiv</A>, <A HREF="#Pxlvi">xlvi</A> + Appearances <I>v.</I> realities, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> + Arco, Louis, Count, <A HREF="#P172">172</A> + Argyll, Duke of, incompatibility of, with Chamberlain, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>; resignation + of, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn119text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn119">119</A>]; misunderstandings of Gladstone by, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>; + otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#Plx">lx</A>, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>, <A HREF="#P29">29</A>, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A> + Arnim, Count, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P134">134</A> + Arnold, Matthew, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A> + —— Dr., <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Ashburnham MSS., <A HREF="#P162">162-163</A> + Atterbury, <A HREF="#P52">52</A> + Aumale, Duc d', <A HREF="#P88">88</A> + Austen, Jane, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> + Authorities, list of, <A HREF="#P69">69</A> + + + Bacon, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Banneville, Marquis de, <A HREF="#Pxlv">xlv</A> + Barčre, <A HREF="#P136">136</A> + Barnes, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + Battersea, Lady (Mrs. Flower), <A HREF="#P42">42</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A> + Baxter, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Beaconsfleld, Earl of (B. Disraeli)— + Bryce on, <A HREF="#P130">130</A> + Croker, views on, <A HREF="#P201">201</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn247text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn247">247</A>] + "Endymion" criticised, <A HREF="#P52">52</A> + First speech of, <A HREF="#P109">109</A> + Gladstone's eulogy on, <A HREF="#Plx">lx</A>, <A HREF="#P99">99-101</A> + Granville, Earl, dinner with, <A HREF="#P66">66</A> + Illness of, <A HREF="#P85">85</A> + Memorial to, <A HREF="#P97">97</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn132text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn132">132</A>], <A HREF="#P98">98</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A> and <I>note</I>[145] + Peel attacked by, <A HREF="#P114">114</A> <I>note</I> + Press opinions on, <A HREF="#P96">96</A> + Supporters of, <A HREF="#P91">91</A> + Otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#Pxxiii">xxiii</A>, <A HREF="#Plxxvi">lxxvi</A>, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A> + Beard's Hibbert Lectures, <A HREF="#P173">173</A> + Bedford, Duke of, <A HREF="#P195">195</A> + "Belgique et le Vatican, La," <A HREF="#P54">54</A> + Benedictines, <A HREF="#P137">137</A> + Benjamin, J. P., <A HREF="#P97">97</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn131text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn131">131</A>] + Berlin, treaty of, <A HREF="#P179">179</A> + Berryer, xxiv, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> + Bessborough Report, <A HREF="#P88">88</A> + Bible, Revised Version of, <A HREF="#P120">120</A> + Bisaccia, <A HREF="#P61">61</A> + Bismarck, Prince, Minghetti on, <A HREF="#Plxiii">lxiii</A>; Gladstone contrasted with, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>; + mentioned, <A HREF="#P13">13</A> + Blachford, Lord, <A HREF="#P4">4</A> + Blennerhassett, Lady, estimate of, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, + <A HREF="#P161">161</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A> + —— Sir Rowland, estimate of, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>; on Forster, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>; mentioned, <A HREF="#P23">23</A> + Blignieres, <A HREF="#P191">191</A> + Blondel, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Bluntschli, <A HREF="#Pxix">xix</A> + Boers— + Characteristics of, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> + Peace made by Gladstone with, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91</A> + Bohme, <A HREF="#P139">139</A> + Bond, <A HREF="#P149">149-150</A> + Bonghi—essays of, on Gladstone, <A HREF="#P4">4</A> and <I>notes</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn5">5</A>, <A NAME="chap01fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn6">6</A>] + Roman History by, <A HREF="#P123">123</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>; mentioned, <A HREF="#P80">80</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn103text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn103">103</A>] + Books, list of hundred best, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>; Acton's list of, <A HREF="#P166">166-168</A>, <A HREF="#P176">176</A> + Borromeo, St. Charles, <A HREF="#Plxxi">lxxi</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>, <A HREF="#P186">186-187</A> + Bossuet, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150</A> + Boutmy, <A HREF="#P3">3</A> + Bradlaugh, Charles, re-election of, for Northampton, <A HREF="#P126">126</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn166text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn166">166</A>]; + Manning's protest against admission of, <A HREF="#P130">130</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn169text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn169">169</A>]; otherwise + mentioned, <A HREF="#P23">23</A> <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P121">121</A>, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>, <A HREF="#P214">214</A> + Bradley's Recollections, <A HREF="#P166">166</A> + Bramhall, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>, <A HREF="#P134">134</A> + Brand, Speaker (Viscount Hampden), <A HREF="#P73">73</A> and <I>note</I> + Brewer, <A HREF="#P128">128-129</A>, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A> + Bright, Rev. J. F., Master of University, lxiv, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>, <A HREF="#P173">173</A> + and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn206text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn206">206</A>], <A HREF="#P177">177</A> + —— Rt. Hon. John, lx, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>, <A HREF="#P213">213</A> + Brodrick, Hon. George, <A HREF="#P54">54</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn62text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn62">62</A>], <A HREF="#P177">177</A> + Broglie, Duc de, <A HREF="#P2">2</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn2">2</A>], <A HREF="#P11">11</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161</A> + Brontë, Charlotte, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> + Brougham, Lord, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A> + Browne, Bp., of Shrewsbury, <A HREF="#Pliv">liv</A> + —— Bp. Harold, <A HREF="#P70">70</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn85text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn85">85</A>] + Browning, Oscar, <A HREF="#P166">166</A> + Bryce, Rt. Hon. James, paper of, on Disraeli, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>; cited, <A HREF="#Pix">ix</A>, <A HREF="#Pxiv">xiv</A>; + quoted, <A HREF="#Pxviii">xviii-xix</A>, <A HREF="#Plx">lx</A>, <A HREF="#Plxviii">lxviii</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P197">197</A> + Burke, Edmund— + Electioneering speeches of, <A HREF="#P4">4-5</A> + Estimate of, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56-57</A> + Gladstone compared with, <A HREF="#P5">5</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P81">81</A> + Lecky on, <A HREF="#P152">152</A> + Party policy of, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn54text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn54">54</A>] + Otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#Pxxix">xxix</A>, <A HREF="#P45">45</A> + Burials Bill, <A HREF="#P33">33</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn43text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn43">43</A>] + Burnett, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> + Butler, Bp., <A HREF="#Pxxxiv">xxxiv</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A> + Byron, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> + + + Cćsar Borgia, <A HREF="#P144">144</A> + Cairns, first Earl, <A HREF="#P90">90</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn124text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn124">124</A>], <A HREF="#P108">108</A> + Cambridge, Acton's visit to (1884), <A HREF="#P177">177</A> <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A>, <A HREF="#P191">191</A> + "Cambridge History," <A HREF="#Plxx">lxx</A>, <A HREF="#Plxxiii">lxxiii</A>, <A HREF="#Plxxiv">lxxiv</A> + Cambridge University— + Acton refused admission to, as a student, <A HREF="#Pxvii">xvii</A>, <A HREF="#Plxvi">lxvi</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>; made + D.LL. at, <A HREF="#Plxv">lxv</A>; appointed Professor of Modern History at, <A HREF="#Plxvi">lxvi</A> + Aldenham library presented to, <A HREF="#Plxxiv">lxxiv</A> + Scholarship at, for Northumberland miners, scheme of, <A HREF="#P192">192</A> and + <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn230text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn230">230</A>] + Cannes, <A HREF="#Plix">lix</A>, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>, <A HREF="#P162">162</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A> + Canning, estimates of, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>, <A HREF="#P99">99</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A> + Capua, Archbishop of, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> + Cardwell, Lord, <A HREF="#Pxxii">xxii</A>, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> + Carlingford, Lord, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn120text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn120">120</A>], <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, <A HREF="#P195">195</A> + Carlyle, Thomas— + Estimate of, <A HREF="#P70">70-71</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A> + Froude's Life of, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> + Palgrave on, <A HREF="#P84">84</A> + Scherer on, <A HREF="#P74">74</A> + Carnarvon, Earl of, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A> + Carnegie, Andrew, <A HREF="#Plxxiii">lxxiii</A> + Carnot, President, <A HREF="#P136">136</A> + Caron, Father, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + Casaubon, <A HREF="#P207">207</A> + Cassander, <A HREF="#P134">134</A> + Castlereagh, Visct., <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P99">99</A> + Cavendish, Lady F., <A HREF="#P41">41</A>, <A HREF="#P155">155</A> + —— Lord F., <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154-156</A> + Cavour, <A HREF="#Pxxv">xxv</A>, <A HREF="#Pxxviii">xxviii-xxix</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> + Cetewayo, <A HREF="#P174">174</A> + Chamberlain, Rt. Hn. J., incompatibility of, with Argyll, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>; + indiscretions of, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>; policy regarding House of Lords, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>; + Döllinger's view of, <A HREF="#P170">170</A>; defection of, <A HREF="#P214">214</A>; on Gladstone's + socialism, <A HREF="#P212">212</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>, <A HREF="#P164">164</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>, <A HREF="#P211">211</A> + Chambord, Count of, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161</A> + Channing, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Charles I., <A HREF="#P136">136</A> + Chateaubriand, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> + Chatham, Lord, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>, <A HREF="#P81">81</A> + Chenery, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P34">34-35</A> + Cheney, <A HREF="#P40">40</A> + Childers, Rt. Hon. H. C. E., <A HREF="#P114">114</A> <I>note</I> + Chillingworth, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>, <A HREF="#P134">134</A> + <I>Chronicle</I> (1868), <A HREF="#Pxxxvii">xxxvii</A> + Church, Dean, at Munich, <A HREF="#P170">170</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn204text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn204">204</A>]; on Liddon, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>; + over-estimation of, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P70">70</A> + Churches— + Anglican— + Distinguished men in, overmuch made of, <A HREF="#P203">203</A> + Establishment of, <A HREF="#P182">182</A> + High Church party, attitude of, towards Gladstone's alliance + with democratic nonconformity, <A HREF="#P16">16</A> + Ireland, in, <A HREF="#Pxxxix">xxxix</A> + Ritualism in, Gladstone's pamphlet on, <A HREF="#Pli">li</A> + Thirty-Nine Articles, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> + Cavour's ideal, <A HREF="#Pxxix">xxix</A> + Establishments, <A HREF="#Pxxvi">xxvi</A>, <A HREF="#Pxl">xl</A>; Gladstone's progress of thought + regarding, <A HREF="#P48">48</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A> + Roman Catholic— + Benedictines, <A HREF="#P137">137</A> + Burnings of, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + "Conflicts with Rome," <A HREF="#Pxxxiii">xxxiii</A> + Conversions to— + Obstacles to, <A HREF="#P185">185</A>, <A HREF="#P187">187</A> + Protestant sanction of, <A HREF="#P134">134</A> + Identification of, with morality and religion, <A HREF="#Pxxxii">xxxii</A> + Infallibility dogma, <A HREF="#Pxli">xli</A>, <A HREF="#Pxliii">xliii-xlviii</A>; civil allegiance in + relation to, <A HREF="#Plxviii">xlviii</A>, <A HREF="#Pli">li</A> + Inquisition, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>, <A HREF="#P185">185</A> + Jansenism, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + Jesuits (<I>see that title</I>) + Legate and Nuncio, <A HREF="#P137">137</A> + Legitimacy supported by, <A HREF="#P86">86</A> + Marriage with Deceased Wife's Sister, attitude towards, <A HREF="#P169">169</A> and + <I>note</I> + Mass, the, <A HREF="#P136">136</A> + Modern thought, Encyclical letter against, <A HREF="#Pxxxiv">xxxiv</A> + Molinism, <A HREF="#P131">131</A> + Œcumenical Council (1869), <A HREF="#Pxli">xli-xlix</A> + Papacy (<I>see also below</I> Ultramontanism) + Creighton's work on, <A HREF="#Plxiv">lxiv</A>, <A HREF="#P197">197</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn243text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn243">243</A>] + Ethics of, <A HREF="#P127">127</A> + Inquisition the work of, <A HREF="#P185">185</A> + Temporal power of, xlii, <A HREF="#P86">86-87</A> + Perilous opinions enforced by, <A HREF="#P127">127</A> + Persecution in, <A HREF="#P148">148</A> + Roman Catholic— + Quietists, <A HREF="#P139">139</A> + Rosmini's attempted reform of, <A HREF="#P171">171</A>, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>, <A HREF="#P185">185</A> + Syllabus of Errors (1864), <A HREF="#Pxxxiv">xxxiv</A>, <A HREF="#Pxlii">xlii</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>, <A HREF="#P141">141</A> + Thirty-Nine Articles, views on, <A HREF="#P127">127</A> + Transubstantiation, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> + Ultramontanism— + Acton's attitude towards, <A HREF="#Pxvi">xvi</A> + Immorality of, <A HREF="#Plv">lv</A>, <A HREF="#P131">131</A> + Irish clergy, of, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>, <A HREF="#P170">170</A> + Nature of, <A HREF="#P185">185-187</A> + Policy of (1869), <A HREF="#Pxliv">xliv</A> + "Vatican Decrees" pamphlet, <A HREF="#Pl">l</A> et seq. + Vaticanism, Frčre-Orban on, <A HREF="#P54">54</A> + Cicero, <A HREF="#P88">88</A> + Circourt, <A HREF="#P40">40</A> + Clare, Lord, <A HREF="#P201">201</A> + Clark, Dr. A., <A HREF="#P29">29</A> + Clay, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> + Clifford, Bishop, <A HREF="#Pliv">liv</A> + Club, The, <A HREF="#Plix">lix</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A> + Cobden, Richard— + Economy urged by, <A HREF="#Pxxiv">xxiv</A> + Life of, <A HREF="#P111">111</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P112">112-113</A> + Otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A> + Coercion, <A HREF="#Pxxviii">xxviii</A> (<I>see also under</I> Ireland) + Colebrooke, Sir E., <A HREF="#P125">125</A> + Coleridge, S. T., <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> + Collard, Roger, cited, <A HREF="#P84">84</A> + Colquhoun, Miss (Lady Limerick), <A HREF="#P64">64</A> + Commynes, cited, <A HREF="#P35">35</A> + Conolly, <A HREF="#Pxlix">xlix</A> + Conscience— + Development of, <A HREF="#P168">168</A> + Independence of, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> + Jesuit attitude towards, <A HREF="#P39">39</A> + "John Inglesant," case of, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> + Consent, government by, <A HREF="#P68">68</A> + Conservatism, <I>see</I> Toryism + "Consuelo," <A HREF="#P83">83</A> + Contract, freedom of, <A HREF="#P92">92</A> + Coombe Warren, <A HREF="#P188">188</A> + Copenhagen, battle of, <A HREF="#Plxxi">lxxi</A> + Copernicus, <A HREF="#Plxvii">lxvii</A> + Coriolis, <A HREF="#P161">161</A> + Corker, <A HREF="#P134">134</A> + Coulanges, Fustel de, <A HREF="#Pxix">xix</A> + County Franchise Bill, <A HREF="#P108">108</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn146text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn146">146</A>] + Courtney, Rt. Hon. Leonard, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P197">197</A> + Cowper, Earl, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A> + —— Henry, <A HREF="#P1">1</A> + Craven, Mrs., <A HREF="#P161">161</A>, <A HREF="#P171">171</A> + Creighton, Bishop, editor of <I>English Historical Review</I>, <A HREF="#Plxiv">lxiv</A>; + estimate of, <A HREF="#P197">197</A> + Cressy, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + Croker Papers, <A HREF="#P199">199-201</A> + Cromwell, Oliver, <A HREF="#P5">5-6</A>, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Cross, Mr., <A HREF="#P64">64</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn70text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn70">70</A>], <A HREF="#P117">117</A>, <A HREF="#P162">162</A>, <A HREF="#P166">166</A>, <A HREF="#P173">173</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A> + + + Dante, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>; "Inferno," <A HREF="#P44">44</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> and <I>note</I>; "Paradiso," <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P159">159</A> + and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn185text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn185">185</A>] + Darboy, Archbishop, <A HREF="#Pxlii">xlii-xliv</A>, <A HREF="#Pxlix">xlix</A> + Davenport, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + "David Copperfield," <A HREF="#P34">34</A> + Davitt, Michael, <A HREF="#P68">68</A> + Decazes, <A HREF="#P161">161</A> + Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, <A HREF="#P169">169</A> and <I>note</I> + Delane, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A> + Delisle, Leopold, <A HREF="#P162">162-163</A> + Democracy— + Danger of, <A HREF="#P91">91</A> + Disraeli's transformation of England into a, <A HREF="#P86">86</A> + Doctrines of, distinct from wishes of Democrats, <A HREF="#P7">7</A> + Government by, success of, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Inconstancy of, <A HREF="#P9">9</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>, <A HREF="#P101">101</A> + Principles of, <A HREF="#P48">48</A> + Progress of, a certainty, <A HREF="#P44">44</A> + Unity of power the tendency of, <A HREF="#P124">124</A> + "Democracy" (American novel), <A HREF="#P58">58</A>, <A HREF="#P159">159-160</A> + "Democracy in America," <A HREF="#Pxix">xix</A> + "Democracy in Europe," <A HREF="#Plviii">lviii</A> + Democrats— + Constructive power of, <A HREF="#P117">117</A> + Murder identified with insurrection by, <A HREF="#P103">103</A> + Whig dependence on, <A HREF="#P108">108</A> + Demosthenes, <A HREF="#P88">88</A> + Dempster, Miss, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn97text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn97">97</A>] + Derby, 14th Earl, <A HREF="#Pxxiii">xxiii</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A> + ——, 15th Earl, estimate of, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, + <A HREF="#P110">110</A>, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A> + ——, Lady, <A HREF="#P108">108-109</A> + Descartes, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + De Serre, <A HREF="#P68">68</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn80text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn80">80</A>], <A HREF="#P75">75</A> + Detachment, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A> + Devonshire, Duke of (<I>d.</I> 1891), <A HREF="#P10">10</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn16">16</A>] + D'Harcourt, Marquis, <A HREF="#P1">1</A> + Diary of Miss M. Gladstone, extract from, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> and <I>note</I> + Diary-keeping, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P30">30</A> + Diaz, Porfirio, <A HREF="#Pxxxviii">xxxviii</A> + Dickens, Charles, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>, <A HREF="#P163">163</A> + Dilke, Sir Charles, Gladstone's estimate of, <A HREF="#P114">114</A> <I>note</I>; at Cannes, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>; + otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P214">214</A> + Dillon, John, <A HREF="#P103">103</A> + Disraeli, <I>see</I> Beaconsfield + Döllinger, Dr.— + Acton's studies under, <A HREF="#Pxvii">xvii</A>, <A HREF="#Pxix">xix</A>; article on, <A HREF="#Plxxv">lxxv</A>; estimate of, <A HREF="#P2">2</A> + Bryce's estimate of, <A HREF="#Plx">lx</A> + Chamberlain, views on, <A HREF="#P170">170</A> + Congress of Munich, plea at, <A HREF="#Pxxxiii">xxxiii</A> + Excommunication of, <A HREF="#Pxlix">xlix</A> + Gladstone's visit to, <A HREF="#Pli">li</A> + Liddon, views on, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>, <A HREF="#P191">191</A> + Otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#Pxliii">xliii</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A> + Donne, <A HREF="#P131">131</A> + Drew, Mrs., <A HREF="#Pviii">viii</A>, <A HREF="#Plxiii">lxiii</A> + Dufaure, <A HREF="#P2">2</A> + Duff, Sir M. Grant, <A HREF="#Pix">ix</A>, <A HREF="#Pxxxiv">xxxiv</A>, <A HREF="#Pxxxvii">xxxvii</A> <I>note</I>; <I>Spectator</I> article by, + <A HREF="#Plxxi">lxxi</A> + Dufferin, Marquis of, <A HREF="#P153">153</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P195">195</A> + Duffy, Sir C. G., <A HREF="#P112">112</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn150text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn150">150</A>] + Dupanloup, <A HREF="#Pxliv">xliv</A>, <A HREF="#Pxlix">xlix</A> + Durham, Bishop of (Westcott), <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A> + + + Ecclesiastical Titles Act, <A HREF="#Pli">li</A> + <I>Economist</I>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P29">29</A> + Ecuador, <A HREF="#P74">74</A> + <I>Edinburgh Review</I>, <A HREF="#P5">5</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn73text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn73">73</A>] + Egypt— + Alexandria, bombardment of, and complications, <A HREF="#P156">156-159</A> + Evacuation of, views on, <A HREF="#P169">169</A>, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P188">188-189</A> + Northbrook's mission to, <A HREF="#P190">190</A> and <I>note</I> + Eliot, George— + Death of, <A HREF="#P57">57</A> + Dickens on "Scenes from Clerical Life," <A HREF="#P163">163</A> + Estimate of, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P60">60-61</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> + Gladstone's attitude towards, <A HREF="#Plxi">lix</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A> + Letters of, <A HREF="#P121">121</A>, <A HREF="#P166">166</A> + Life of, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P162">162</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A> + Lyttelton's review of, <A HREF="#P59">59</A> + Montégut on, <A HREF="#P165">165</A> + Philosophy of, <A HREF="#P121">121</A> + Political divergence from, <A HREF="#P210">210</A> + Scherer on, <A HREF="#P207">207</A> + Otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P5">5</A>, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A> + Ellenborough, Lord, <A HREF="#Pxxiii">xxiii</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Eloquence, French, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> + "Endymion," <A HREF="#P52">52</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn1">1</A>] + Enfield, <A HREF="#P197">197</A> + Equality, doctrine of, <A HREF="#Plix">lix</A>, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A> + Erasmus, <A HREF="#Plxvii">lxvii</A> + Errington, Sir George, <A HREF="#P122">122</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P123">123</A> + "Expansion of England, The," <A HREF="#P6">6</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn10">10</A>]-8 + + + Faber, <A HREF="#P206">206</A> + Fabricius, <A HREF="#P134">134</A> + Fagan, <A HREF="#P53">53</A> + Faith— + Patriotism analagous to, <A HREF="#Pxxix">xxix</A> + Political, <A HREF="#P199">199</A> + Sincerity implied in, <A HREF="#P168">168</A> + Falloux, quoted, <A HREF="#P88">88</A> + Fanaticism, <A HREF="#P144">144</A> + Fawcett, Rt. Hon. Henry, <A HREF="#P24">24</A> + Female suffrage, <A HREF="#P180">180-181</A> + Ferry, Jules, bill of, on unauthorised congregations, <A HREF="#P1">1</A>, <A HREF="#P7">7</A> and <I>note</I> + Flower, Mrs. (Lady Battersea), <A HREF="#P42">42</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A> + Forbes, Bishop of Brechin, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>, <A HREF="#P183">183</A> + Forster, Rt. Hon. W. E., speeches of, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A>; Blennerhassett on, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>; + Gladstone's estimate of, <A HREF="#P114">114</A> <I>note</I>; resignation of, <A HREF="#P153">153-154</A>; on + "Democracy," <A HREF="#P160">160</A>; mentioned, <A HREF="#P74">74</A> + Forwood, <A HREF="#P192">192</A> + Fox, C. J., estimate of, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>; Trevelyan's Life of, <A HREF="#P52">52-53</A>; Chatham + compared with, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P99">99</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A> + France— + Best living writers of, <A HREF="#P6">6</A> + Commercial treaty with, <A HREF="#Pxxiii">xxiii</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> + Debates, famous, in, <A HREF="#P75">75</A> + Democracy in, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Eloquence of, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> + Gladstone's attitude towards literature of, <A HREF="#P46">46-47</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> + Peasants in, condition of, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> + Fraser, Bishop, <A HREF="#P203">203</A> + Free government, <A HREF="#P68">68</A> + Freedom, <I>see</I> Liberty + Freeman, lxxvi, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>, <A HREF="#P177">177</A> + Frere, Sir Bartle, estimate of, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>; Toryism and jingoism of, + <A HREF="#P77">77</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn96text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn96">96</A>]; mentioned, <A HREF="#P29">29</A> + Frčre-Orban, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> + Freycinet, <A HREF="#P39">39</A> + Froude, J. A., "Life of Carlyle" by, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#Pxi">xi</A>, + <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>, <A HREF="#P177">177</A> + + + Gambetta, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A> + Gardiner, S. R., correspondence with, on "John Inglesant," <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P128">128</A>; + poverty of, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>; recommended for the Record Office, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>; at + King's College, 150: contemplated paper on "John Inglesant," + <A HREF="#P151">151</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P177">177</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A> + Gaskell, Milnes, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> + Gavard, <A HREF="#P11">11</A> + "Gendre de M. Poirier, Le," <A HREF="#P3">3</A> + George, Henry, <A HREF="#P170">170</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn202text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn202">202</A>], <A HREF="#P175">175</A> + Germany— + Carlyle's view of, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A> + Gladstone's attitude towards literature of, <A HREF="#Pxxii">xxii</A>, <A HREF="#P46">46-47</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> + Socialism in, <A HREF="#P170">170</A>, <A HREF="#P175">175</A> + Gibbon, <A HREF="#P59">59</A> + Gibson, Rt. Hon. J. G. (Lord Ashbourne), <A HREF="#P129">129</A> + Gladstone, Helen, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>, <A HREF="#P173">173</A> + —— Herbert, Middlesex candidature of, <A HREF="#P9">9</A> and <I>notes</I>, <A HREF="#P11">11</A> and <I>note</I>; + eloquence of, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>; eulogy of Hartington and Granville by, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>; + lecture of, on Ireland, <A HREF="#P164">164</A> and <I>note</I>; mentioned, <A HREF="#P118">118</A> + —— W. E.— + Accident to (1881), <A HREF="#P77">77</A> + Acton, estimate of, <A HREF="#Pl">l</A> + Beaconsfield, eulogy on, <A HREF="#Plx">lx</A>, <A HREF="#P99">99-101</A> + Bismarck contrasted with, <A HREF="#P35">35</A> + Bonghi's essays on, <A HREF="#P4">4</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn3">3</A>] + Burke compared with, <A HREF="#P5">5</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P81">81</A> + Characteristics of— + Eloquence, <A HREF="#Pxxiii">xxiii-xxiv</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> + Financial ability, <A HREF="#Pxxiii">xxiii-xxiv</A> + Idealism, <A HREF="#P109">109</A> + Progress of mind, <A HREF="#P48">48</A> + Self-depreciation, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> + Charities, speech on, <A HREF="#Pxxiv">xxiv</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A> + Church establishments, progress of thought regarding, <A HREF="#P48">48</A> and + <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A> + Contact with, desirable for members of the party, <A HREF="#P25">25-26</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61-62</A> + Control of certain men not possible to, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P214">214</A> + Criticism, attitude towards, <A HREF="#Pvii">vii</A> + De Serre compared with, <A HREF="#P68">68</A> + Döllinger, visit to, <A HREF="#Pli">li</A> + Estimate of characters by, defects in, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A> + Estimate of, by posterity foreshadowed, <A HREF="#P44">44-50</A> + <I>Grantully Castle</I>, voyage in, <A HREF="#P33">33</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn44text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn44">44</A>] + Illness of (1880), <A HREF="#P27">27</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn35text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn35">35</A>] + Inequalitarianism of, <A HREF="#P94">94</A> + Influence of, on the nation, <A HREF="#P106">106</A> + Italian independence, attitude towards, <A HREF="#Pxxiv">xxiv-xxv</A>, <A HREF="#Plx">lx</A> + Lancashire speeches of (1868), <A HREF="#P4">4</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn7">7</A>] + Land tenure, progress of thought regarding, <A HREF="#P48">48</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A> + Letter of, on choice of a profession, <A HREF="#P43">43</A> + Liberal party— + Cohesion of, dependent on his ascendency, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>, <A HREF="#P193">193</A> + Divergence from, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P158">158</A> + Future of, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> <I>note</I> + Midlothian campaign (1880), personal victory in, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>, <A HREF="#P9">9-10</A>; campaign + of 1884, <A HREF="#P193">193</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn233text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn233">233</A>] + Nonconformist alliance of, <A HREF="#P16">16</A> + O'Donnell affair, the, <A HREF="#P21">21</A> and <I>note</I> + Personal ascendency of, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>, <A HREF="#P9">9-10</A>, <A HREF="#P195">195</A> + Police protection for, <A HREF="#P69">69</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn83text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn83">83</A>] + Position of (1859), <A HREF="#Pxxii">xxii-xxiii</A> + Principle and policy, grasp of, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A> + Retirement of, objections to, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106-107</A>, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>, <A HREF="#P169">169</A>, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>, <A HREF="#P193">193</A>, + <A HREF="#P195">195</A>, <A HREF="#P214">214</A>; diary extract on, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> <I>note</I> + Socialism, attitude towards, <A HREF="#Plxi">lxi</A>, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>, <A HREF="#P212">212</A> + Strachey's observation on, <A HREF="#P55">55</A> + Tennyson's attitude towards, <A HREF="#P209">209</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn256text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn256">256</A>] + Vatican decrees, pamphlet on, <A HREF="#Pl">l</A> + —— Mrs., <A HREF="#P11">11</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A> + —— W. H., <A HREF="#P106">106</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn140text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn140">140</A>] + Godley, Sir Arthur, <A HREF="#P67">67</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn77text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn77">77</A>] + Goethe, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> + Goldsmid, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61</A> + Goodman, Memoirs of, <A HREF="#P129">129</A> + Goschen, Rt. Hon. G. J., estimate of, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>; financial ability of, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>; + otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>, <A HREF="#P114">114</A> <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P124">124</A>, + <A HREF="#P205">205</A>, <A HREF="#P211">211</A>, <A HREF="#P213">213</A>, <A HREF="#P214">214</A> + Government— + Consent, by, necessity of, <A HREF="#P164">164</A> + Constitutional, maxim of, concerning subordinates, <A HREF="#P125">125</A> + Party, by, law of, <A HREF="#P95">95</A> + Unfitness for, in every class, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Grace, three channels of, <A HREF="#P144">144</A> + Granville, Earl, estimate of, <A HREF="#Pxxi">xxi</A>; reception of, in Moscow, <A HREF="#Pxx">xx-xxi</A>; + Disraeli dines with, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>; motion of, on Beaconsfield, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>; suggested + retirement of, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>; Gladstone discusses retirement with, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> <I>note</I>; + views on Morier, <A HREF="#P195">195</A>; on Gladstone's election address (1885), <A HREF="#P211">211</A> + and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn260text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn260">260</A>]; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P12">12</A>, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>, <A HREF="#P29">29</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>, + <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A> + —— Lady, <A HREF="#P61">61</A> + Green, J. E., <A HREF="#P128">128-129</A>, <A HREF="#P163">163</A> + —— Mrs. J. R., <A HREF="#P161">161</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A> + —— T. H., <A HREF="#Pxli">xli</A> + Greenwood, Frederick, <A HREF="#P13">13</A> + Grenville, George, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A> + Greville, <A HREF="#P215">215</A> + Grévy, <A HREF="#P161">161</A> + Grey, Earl, <A HREF="#P205">205</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn253text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn253">253</A>] + Grillion's, <A HREF="#Plix">lix</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A> + Grosvenor, Lord R. (Lord Stalbridge), <A HREF="#P97">97</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn132text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn132">132</A>] + Grotius, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A> + Ground Game Bill, <A HREF="#P33">33</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn43text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn43">43</A>] + Grundtvig, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Guizot, <A HREF="#P84">84</A> + + + Hall, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> + Hallam, <A HREF="#P46">46</A> + Hamilton, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> + Hammond, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Hampden, Viscount (Speaker Brand), <A HREF="#P73">73</A> and <I>note</I> + Harcourt, Sir William, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>, <A HREF="#P114">114</A> <I>note</I> + —— Marquis de, <A HREF="#P161">161</A> + Hardy, <A HREF="#P149">149</A> + Harley, Speaker, <A HREF="#P67">67</A> + Harrington, James, <A HREF="#P139">139</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn172text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn172">172</A>] + Harrowby, Lord, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> + Hartington, Lord, attitude of, in elections of 1880, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P115">115-116</A>; + Gladstone's estimate of, <A HREF="#P114">114</A> <I>note</I>; on compensation in Ireland, + <A HREF="#P115">115-116</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#Pxxiii">xxiii</A>, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A> + Hatch, Dr., <A HREF="#P115">115</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn154text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn154">154</A>] + Hatzfeldt, <A HREF="#P213">213</A> + Hawarden, Acton's visit to, <A HREF="#P117">117-118</A> + Hay, Colonel, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>, <A HREF="#P162">162</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn193text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn193">193</A>] + Hayward, Lecky reviewed by, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>; on Carlyle, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>; otherwise mentioned, + <A HREF="#P12">12</A>, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A> + Hefele, Bishop, <A HREF="#Pxliv">xliv</A>, <A HREF="#Pxlix">xlix</A> + Heine, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P97">97</A> + Henriquez, <A HREF="#P84">84</A> + Herbert, Lord, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + —— Sidney, <A HREF="#Pxxii">xxii</A> + Heroes, doctrine of, <A HREF="#P70">70</A> + History— + Conscience, development of, the aim of, <A HREF="#P168">168</A> + Ideas the essence of, <A HREF="#P6">6-8</A> + Inner reality of, <A HREF="#P35">35</A> + Letters as sources of, <A HREF="#P32">32</A> + Moral estimates based on, <A HREF="#P121">121-122</A> + Printed books as sources of, <A HREF="#Plxxvi">lxxvi</A>, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> + Religion demonstrated by, <A HREF="#Plxvii">lxvii</A> + Religious forces in the making of, <A HREF="#P167">167</A> + Scope of, <A HREF="#Plxxii">lxxii</A> + "History of Liberty, A," <A HREF="#Pxviii">xviii</A>, <A HREF="#Plv">lv-lvi</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn9">9</A>], <A HREF="#P8">8</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>; + called "The Madonna of the Future," <A HREF="#P126">126</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn164text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn164">164</A>], <A HREF="#P150">150</A> + "History of Our Own Times," <A HREF="#P36">36</A> + Hoadley, <A HREF="#P52">52</A> + Hohenlohe, <A HREF="#P172">172</A> + Holden, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + Hollond, Rev. H. S., <A HREF="#P170">170</A> + —— Mrs., <A HREF="#P162">162</A> + Holmbury, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A> + <I>Home and Foreign Review</I>, <A HREF="#Pxxvii">xxvii</A>, <A HREF="#Pxxx">xxx-xxiii</A>, <A HREF="#Pxxxv">xxxv</A> + Home Rule, <I>see under</I> Ireland + Hooker, <A HREF="#P166">166</A> + Hope-Scott, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P182">182</A> + Houghton, Lord, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A> + How, Bishop Walsham, <A HREF="#P204">204</A> + Howson, Dean, <A HREF="#P192">192</A> + Hugo, Victor, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P60">60</A>, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> + Hundred books, Lubbock's scheme regarding, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>; Acton's list of, + <A HREF="#P166">166-168</A>, <A HREF="#P176">176</A> + Huskisson, <A HREF="#P200">200</A> + Hutton, R. H., <A HREF="#P70">70</A> + + + Ideas— + Carlyle's notion of, <A HREF="#P71">71</A> + Expedients as opposed to, <A HREF="#P56">56</A> + Exponents as distinct from, <A HREF="#P206">206</A> + History in, <A HREF="#P6">6-8</A> + Party an embodiment of, <A HREF="#P200">200</A> + Illingworth, Rev. J. R., Sermons by, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn98text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn98">98</A>], <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> + "Imitation of Christ, The," <A HREF="#P5">5</A> + Imperialism, <A HREF="#Plvii">lvii</A> + Ingram, J. K., <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A> + Intolerance, <A HREF="#P148">148</A> + Ireland— + Acton's representation of, in House of Lords, <A HREF="#Plxv">lxv</A> + Arms Bill, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> + Arrears Bill (1882), <A HREF="#P158">158</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn185text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn185">185</A>] + Burke's policy regarding, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn54text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn54">54</A>] + Church disestablishment in, <A HREF="#Pxxxix">xxxix</A> + Clergy in, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>, <A HREF="#P170">170</A>, <A HREF="#P217">217</A> + Coercion for, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A> + Compensation for Disturbance Bill, <A HREF="#P28">28</A> and <I>notes</I>, <A HREF="#P30">30</A> + Emigration from, <A HREF="#P88">88</A> + Gladstone, Herbert, lecture of, on, <A HREF="#P164">164</A> and <I>note</I> + Heroic treatment for, <A HREF="#P54">54</A> + Home Rule for— + Advocates of, <A HREF="#P36">36</A> + Failure regarding, probable, <A HREF="#Plxii">lxii</A>, <A HREF="#Plxiv">lxiv</A> + Federalism in, <A HREF="#P123">123-124</A> + Gladstone's references to (Oct. 1881), <A HREF="#Plxii">lxii</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>; (Feb. 1882), <A HREF="#P123">123</A> + Historic case for, <A HREF="#P216">216</A> + Liberal party in regard to, <A HREF="#P194">194</A> + Necessity of, <A HREF="#Plxi">lxi</A>, <A HREF="#P164">164</A>, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>, <A HREF="#P216">216-217</A> + Land League in, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A> + Land tenure in— + Bill of 1881, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn118text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn118">118</A>]; criticism of, + <A HREF="#P89">89</A> <I>seq.</I>; opinions of others on, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>; parliamentary prospects of, + <A HREF="#P98">98-99</A>; Gladstone's speech on second reading, <A HREF="#P103">103</A> and + <I>notes</I>[134-136]; compensation question not urged in connection + with, <A HREF="#P115">115-116</A>; Lords' Committee of Inquiry on the Act, + <A HREF="#P125">125</A> <I>note</I>; Cairns' draft Report, <A HREF="#P154">154</A> + Compensation, idea of, <A HREF="#P115">115-116</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A> + Irish ownership, case for, <A HREF="#P216">216</A> + Land Court (1881), <A HREF="#P111">111-112</A> + Landlords, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> + Peasant proprietorship, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> + Rent, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> + Massacre in, <A HREF="#P136">136</A>, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> + Papal authority in, undesirable, <A HREF="#P169">169</A> + Peace Preservation Bill (1881), <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn68text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn68">68</A>], <A HREF="#P67">67</A> <I>note</I>[76], <A HREF="#P72">72</A> + Phœnix Park murders, <A HREF="#P154">154</A> and <I>note</I>[181]-156 + Priests in, <I>see above</I>, Clergy + Resignations of officials (1882), <A HREF="#P153">153</A> + Suspicion of England natural in, <A HREF="#P164">164</A> + Wetherell's tour in, suggested, <A HREF="#P218">218</A> + Wolverton's views on, <A HREF="#P65">65</A> + Wrongs of, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> + Irish members, <I>see under</I> Parliament + Italian independence, <A HREF="#Pxxiv">xxiv-xxv</A>, <A HREF="#Plx">lx</A> + + + + Jackson, Bishop, <A HREF="#P201">201</A> + —— Dr. Henry, letter from, <A HREF="#Plxviii">lxviii-lxxii</A>; cited, <A HREF="#Plxxiv">lxxiv</A> + James, Henry, <A HREF="#P126">126</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn164text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn164">164</A>] + Jansenism, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + Jebb, Professor, <A HREF="#P70">70</A> + Jefferson, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Jennings' "Life of Newman," <A HREF="#P117">117</A> + Jessel, Sir George, <A HREF="#P149">149-150</A> + Jesuits— + Clement XIV.'s attitude towards, <A HREF="#Plii">lii</A> + Divisions among, <A HREF="#P127">127</A> + <I>Encyclopćdia Britannica</I> article on, <A HREF="#P64">64</A> + Ferry's bill on expulsion of, <A HREF="#P1">1</A>, <A HREF="#P7">7</A> and <I>note</I> + Learning among, golden age of, <A HREF="#P137">137</A> + Luther approved by one of, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> + Papacy supported by, <A HREF="#P142">142</A> + Pattison on, <A HREF="#P207">207</A> + Richelieu supported by, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>, <A HREF="#P148">148</A> + St. Hilaire's argument regarding, <A HREF="#P39">39</A> + Spanish, <A HREF="#Plix">lix</A> + Jingoism, <A HREF="#Plxi">lxi</A>, <A HREF="#P114">114</A> <I>note</I> + "John Inglesant," criticism of, <A HREF="#P127">127-128</A>, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135-149</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150-151</A> + Journalism, power of, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> + Jowett, Benjamin, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P177">177</A> + Juarez, Benito, <A HREF="#Pxxxviii">xxxviii</A> + "Julian the Apostate," <A HREF="#P54">54</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn60text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn60">60</A>] + Junius, <A HREF="#P52">52</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A>, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> + + + Kenealy, <A HREF="#P95">95</A> + Kenrick, <A HREF="#Pxlix">xlix</A> + Kimberley, Earl of, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A> + Knesebeck, <A HREF="#P192">192</A> + Knowles, Sir James, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> + Knowsley, <A HREF="#P108">108</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn147text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn147">147</A>], <A HREF="#P110">110</A> + + + La Bastide, <A HREF="#P134">134</A> + Labouchere, H. L., <A HREF="#P99">99</A> + Laboulaye, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A> + Labour, Adam Smith on, <A HREF="#P92">92</A> + Lacaita, Sir James, <A HREF="#P1">1</A> + —— Charles, <A HREF="#P190">190</A> + Lacordaire, <A HREF="#P185">185</A> + Lacour, Challemel, O'Donnell's attempted attack on, <A HREF="#P21">21</A> <I>note</I>; + estimate of, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A> + Lamartine, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> + Lamennais, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> + Land tenure— + Anomalies of, <A HREF="#P28">28</A> + Brodrick on, <A HREF="#P54">54</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn62text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn62">62</A>] + Gladstone's progress of thought regarding, <A HREF="#P48">48</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A> + Importance of subject, <A HREF="#Pxxvi">xxvi</A>, <A HREF="#Pxl">xl</A> + Ireland, in, <I>see under</I> Ireland + Landed aristocracy, Gladstone's attitude towards, <A HREF="#P95">95</A> + Lords, House of, as representing, <A HREF="#P102">102</A> + Maine's knowledge of, <A HREF="#P31">31</A> + Political economy in regard to, <A HREF="#P90">90</A> + Lansdowne, Lord, <A HREF="#P96">96</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn130text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn130">130</A>] + Lasaulx, Amelie von, <A HREF="#P73">73</A> + —— Ernest von, <A HREF="#P73">73</A> + Lassalle, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>, <A HREF="#P213">213</A> + Lathbury, D. C., <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P26">26</A> + Laugel, <A HREF="#P11">11</A> + Laurent, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> + Laveleye, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P75">75-76</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A> + Layard, Sir H. A., <A HREF="#P80">80</A> + Lea, Mr., M.P., <A HREF="#P83">83-84</A> + Lecky, "Eighteenth Century" by, <A HREF="#P50">50-51</A>, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>; estimate of, <A HREF="#P151">151-152</A>; + otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A> + Lee, General, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn106text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn106">106</A>] + Lefevre, Rt. Hon. J. G. Shaw, <A HREF="#P153">153</A> + Legitimacy, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161</A> + Leibnitz, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150</A> + Lenbach, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>, <A HREF="#P103">103</A> + Leo XIII., Pope, <A HREF="#P80">80</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn101text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn101">101</A>], <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P111">111</A> + Leslie, Cliffe, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A> + Lesseps, <A HREF="#P169">169</A> + Letters— + History dependent on, <A HREF="#P32">32</A> + Privacy of, <A HREF="#P41">41</A> + Leveson-Gower, F., <A HREF="#P1">1</A>, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A> + Lewes, G. H., <A HREF="#P60">60</A> + —— Mrs. (George Eliot), <A HREF="#P64">64</A> + Lewis, George, <A HREF="#P171">171</A> + Liberal party— + Achievements of, <A HREF="#Pxl">xl</A> + Gladstone— + Dependence on, for cohesion, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>, <A HREF="#P193">193</A> + Divergence from, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P158">158</A> + Future without, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> <I>note</I> + Home Rule in relation to, <A HREF="#P194">194</A> + Liberalism— + Aims of, <A HREF="#P94">94</A> + Definition of, <A HREF="#P71">71</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn88text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn88">88</A>] + Gladstone, in relation to, <A HREF="#P111">111</A> + Nature of, <A HREF="#Plv">lv</A>, <A HREF="#P199">199</A> + Toryism permeated by, <A HREF="#P200">200</A> + Liberty— + American realisation of, <A HREF="#Plvii">lvii</A> + Ancient, three things lacking in, <A HREF="#Plvii">lvii</A> + Contract, of, <A HREF="#P92">92</A> + Definitions of, <A HREF="#Pxxvii">xxvii-xxviii</A>, <A HREF="#P71">71</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn89text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn89">89</A>] + Division of power essential to, <A HREF="#P124">124</A> + End in itself, <A HREF="#Plvii">lvii</A> + Ends of, <A HREF="#P216">216</A> + Equality at expense of, <A HREF="#Plix">lix</A> + "History of," <A HREF="#Pxviii">xviii</A>, <A HREF="#Plv">lv-lvi</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn9">9</A>], <A HREF="#P8">8</A>; called "The Madonna of + the Future," <A HREF="#P126">126</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn164text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn164">164</A>], <A HREF="#P150">150</A> + Law of, aims of, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Mill on, reviewed by Acton, <A HREF="#Pxxvii">xxvii-xxviii</A> + Minorities, security for, the test of, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> + Savonarola's martyrdom for, <A HREF="#P123">123</A> + Two worst enemies of, <A HREF="#Pxxx">xxx</A> + Liddon, Canon, first meeting with, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>; on Lord Carnarvon, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>; verbal + subtlety of, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>; on Rosmini, <A HREF="#P170">170-171</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184-185</A>, + <A HREF="#P187">187</A>; Gladstone's attitude towards, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>; suggestion of, for see + of London, <A HREF="#P201">201-204</A>; anecdote of, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>; at Tegernsee, <A HREF="#P213">213</A>; estimate + of, <A HREF="#P179">179-180</A>, <A HREF="#P182">182-183</A>, <A HREF="#P187">187</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202-203</A>; Döllinger's estimate of, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>, + <A HREF="#P191">191-192</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A> + Lightfoot, Bp., <A HREF="#P70">70</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn86text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn86">86</A>], <A HREF="#P112">112</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A> + Limerick, Lord, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P72">72</A> + Listowel, Lord, <A HREF="#P96">96</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn130text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn130">130</A>] + Littleberries, <A HREF="#P25">25</A> <I>note</I> + Littré, <A HREF="#P38">38</A> + London, conservatism of, <A HREF="#P118">118</A> + Londonderry, Lady, <A HREF="#P180">180</A> + Longfellow, <A HREF="#P5">5</A> + Lords, House of, <I>see under</I> Parliament + Lowder, Rev. Charles, Life of, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> + Lowe, Robert, <I>see</I> Sherbrooke + Lowell, J. R., reminiscences of, <A HREF="#P5">5-6</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P30">30-32</A>, + <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> + Lubbock, Sir John, estimate of, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P68">68</A> and + <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn81text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn81">81</A>], <A HREF="#P176">176</A> + Luther, <A HREF="#Plxvii">lxvii</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> + Lyons, Lord, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A> + Lyttelton, Alfred, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>, <A HREF="#P157">157</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P191">191</A> + —— Rev. the Hon. Arthur, <A HREF="#P54">54</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn60text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn60">60</A>], <A HREF="#P59">59</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A> + Lytton, <A HREF="#P20">20</A> + + + Macaulay— + Brougham, on, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> + Cited, <A HREF="#Pxvii">xvii</A>; quoted, <A HREF="#Plxvii">lxvii</A> + Conversational power of, <A HREF="#P40">40</A> + Estimate of, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>; estimate of <I>Essays and History</I>, <A HREF="#P173">173</A> + Letter of, on Windsor Castle paper, <A HREF="#P116">116</A> + Taine on, <A HREF="#P52">52-53</A> + Writing of, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A> + Otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A> + MacCarthy, J. H., <A HREF="#P68">68</A>; "History "by, <A HREF="#P36">36</A> + MacColl, Canon, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn138text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn138">138</A>] + Machiavelli, <A HREF="#Plxvii">lxvii</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A> + Mackintosh, <A HREF="#P57">57</A> + Maine, Sir Henry, disagreements with, <A HREF="#P29">29</A>; on land tenure, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>; on + primogeniture, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>; on the government, <A HREF="#P209">209</A>, <A HREF="#P212">212-213</A>; estimate of, + <A HREF="#P26">26</A>, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A> + Maitland, Prof. F. W., cited, <A HREF="#Pix">ix</A>, <A HREF="#Plxxiii">lxxiii-lxxiv</A> + Malebolge, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> + Malebranche, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + Mallett, Sir Louis, on Afghanistan, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>; illness of, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>; moves to + Mentone, <A HREF="#P162">162</A>; estimate of, <A HREF="#P4">4</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A> + Manning, Cardinal, ultramontanism of, <A HREF="#Pxli">xli</A>, <A HREF="#P186">186-187</A>; on Vatican + decrees, <A HREF="#Plii">lii</A>; correspondence of, with Acton, <A HREF="#Pliv">liv</A>; influence lost + by, <A HREF="#Plxxvi">lxxvi</A>; protests against admission of Bradlaugh to Parliament, + <A HREF="#P130">130</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn169text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn169">169</A>]; views of, on Borromeo, <A HREF="#P186">186-187</A>; Wiseman succeeded + by, <A HREF="#Pxli">xli</A> + Marat, <A HREF="#P7">7</A> + Marriage— + Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, <A HREF="#P169">169</A> and <I>note</I> + Female Suffrage in regard to, <A HREF="#P181">181</A> + Maximilian, Archduke, <A HREF="#Pxxxviii">xxxviii-xxxix</A> and <I>note</I> + May, Sir T. Erskine, "Democracy in Europe" by, reviewed by Acton, + lviii; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A> + Mazzini, <A HREF="#Pxxix">xxix</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A> + Men of the time, estimate of, <A HREF="#P122">122</A> + Mentone, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>; Queen's villa at, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P128">128</A> + Mérimée, Prosper, <A HREF="#P53">53</A> + Mexico, <A HREF="#Pxxx">xxx</A>, <A HREF="#Pxxxvii">xxxvii-xxxix</A> + "Middlemarch," <A HREF="#P60">60</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A> + Midhat Pacha, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A> and <I>note</I> + Midlothian campaign (1880), personal victory in, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>, <A HREF="#P9">9-10</A>; campaign of + 1884, <A HREF="#P193">193</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn233text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn233">233</A>] + Mignet, <A HREF="#P2">2</A> + Mill, J. S., on liberty, reviewed by Acton, <A HREF="#Pxxvii">xxvii-xxviii</A>; otherwise + mentioned, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A> + Milman, <A HREF="#P5">5</A> + Milner, Viscount, <A HREF="#P205">205</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn252text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn252">252</A>] + Milnes, Monckton, <A HREF="#P41">41</A> + Milton, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> + Minghetti on Gladstone and Bismarck, <A HREF="#Plxiii">lxiii</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P4">4</A> + and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn5">5</A>], <A HREF="#P80">80</A> and <I>note</I>[103], <A HREF="#P123">123</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A> + Minorities, protection of, a condition of liberty, <A HREF="#Plvi">lvi</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> + Mirabeau, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> + Mivart, <A HREF="#P129">129</A> + Molinism, <A HREF="#P131">131</A> + Molinos, <A HREF="#P137">137-138</A> + Mommsen, <A HREF="#P171">171</A> + Monck, Lord, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn160text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn160">160</A>] + Monroe, President, <A HREF="#P198">198</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn245text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn245">245</A>] + Montagu, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> + Montalembert, <A HREF="#Pxix">xix</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A> + Montégut, <A HREF="#P165">165</A> + Montesquieu, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Montlosier, Comte de, <A HREF="#P120">120</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn159text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn159">159</A>] + More, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Morier, at Seacot, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>; criticisms by, on British foreign policy, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>; + estimate of, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P195">195</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>, <A HREF="#P212">212</A> + Morley, Lord, <A HREF="#P98">98</A> + —— Arnold, <A HREF="#P212">212</A> + —— Rt. Hn. John, represented by Acton in House of Lords, <A HREF="#Plxv">lxv</A>; + Aldenham library presented to Cambridge University by, <A HREF="#Plxxiv">lxxiv</A>; + "Life of Burke" by, <A HREF="#P5">5</A>; estimate of, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>; <I>Pall Mall</I> under, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>; + "Life of Cobden" by, <A HREF="#P111">111</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P112">112-113</A>; Jacobinism of, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>; + in Parliament, <A HREF="#P163">163</A>; quoted, l; cited, lxii, <A HREF="#P208">208</A> <I>note</I>; otherwise + mentioned, <A HREF="#Pix">ix</A>, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P164">164</A> + Morris, <A HREF="#P206">206</A> + Mortola (the poet), anecdote of, <A HREF="#P90">90</A> + Most, <A HREF="#P103">103</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn133text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn133">133</A>] + Mozley, James, <A HREF="#P170">170</A> + ——, John, <A HREF="#P158">158</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn184text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn184">184</A>], <A HREF="#P203">203</A> + Müller, Max, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P177">177</A> + Münster, <A HREF="#P13">13</A> + Myers, Ernest, <A HREF="#P162">162</A> + + + Napoleon I., Mme. de Rémusat on <A HREF="#P31">31-32</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>; Lee compared with, + <A HREF="#P82">82</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn106text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn106">106</A>]; otherwise mentioned, lxx, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P111">111</A> + Napoleon III., <A HREF="#Pxxxvii">xxxvii-xxxviii</A> + National pride, <A HREF="#P172">172</A> + Nationality, <I>Home and Foreign Review</I> article on, <A HREF="#Pxxix">xxix-xxx</A> + Neander, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Nelson, <A HREF="#Plxxi">lxxi-lxxii</A> + Newman, Cardinal, retires from editorship of <I>Rambler</I>, <A HREF="#Pxxvii">xxvii</A>; on + Vatican Decrees, <A HREF="#Plii">lii</A>, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>; made a cardinal, <A HREF="#Plxxvi">lxxvi</A>; verbal subtlety + of, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>; Life of, by Jennings, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>; influence of, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>; narrowness + of set of, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>; estimate of, <A HREF="#Plx">lx</A>, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>; otherwise mentioned, + <A HREF="#P44">44</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>, <A HREF="#P171">171</A> + Newmarch, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> + Newton, <A HREF="#P6">6</A> + Nonconformists, Gladstone's alliance with, <A HREF="#P16">16</A> + <I>North British Review</I>, <A HREF="#Pxl">xl</A> + Northbrook, Lord, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, <A HREF="#P190">190</A> and <I>note</I> + Northcote, Sir S., <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P99">99</A> + + + O'Connell, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> + O'Donnell, <A HREF="#P21">21</A> and <I>note</I> + O'Hagan, John, <A HREF="#P111">111</A> + Opponents' case, statement of, <A HREF="#P193">193-194</A> + Ottley, Rev. E. B., cited, <A HREF="#P121">121</A> + Owen, Prof., <A HREF="#P166">166</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A> + Oxford, Acton's visit to, <A HREF="#P177">177</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A> + Oxford University— + Acton made D.C.L. at (1889), and Honorary Fellow of All Souls' + (1890), <A HREF="#Plxv">lxv</A> + Verbal refinements a product of, <A HREF="#P46">46</A> + + + Paget, Sir Augustus, <A HREF="#P80">80</A> + —— Dean, <A HREF="#P213">213</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn264text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn264">264</A>] + —— Sir J., estimate of, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P70">70</A> and + <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn87text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn87">87</A>], <A HREF="#P79">79</A> <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P166">166</A> + Palgrave, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A> + <I>Pall Mall Gazette</I>— + Estimate of, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> + Jacobinism of, <A HREF="#P125">125</A> + Maine a contributor to, <A HREF="#P26">26</A> + Morley's editorship of, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> + Palmer, William, <A HREF="#P182">182</A> + Palmerston, Visct., on Treaty of Paris, <A HREF="#Pxxi">xxi</A>; Acton's disagreement + with, <A HREF="#Pxxii">xxii</A>; on French invasion, <A HREF="#Pxxiv">xxiv</A>; party's relations with, + <A HREF="#P114">114</A> <I>note</I>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> + Panizzi, life of, <A HREF="#P53">53</A> and <I>note</I> + Papacy, <I>see under</I> Churches—Roman Catholic + Parker, C. S., <A HREF="#P54">54</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn61text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn61">61</A>] + Parliament— + Commons, House of— + Consent of representatives in, a condition of free government, <A HREF="#P68">68</A> + Irish party in— + Degrees among, <A HREF="#P74">74-75</A> + Liberal party dependent on, <A HREF="#P214">214</A> + Obstruction by, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>; two kinds of, <A HREF="#P69">69</A> + Tory alliance with, <A HREF="#P209">209</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn257text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn257">257</A>] + Obstruction in, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>; two kinds of, <A HREF="#P69">69</A> + Outside influence on, <A HREF="#P101">101</A> + Procedure Rules, Gladstone's speech on, <A HREF="#P64">64</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn71text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn71">71</A>], <A HREF="#P125">125</A> + Weakness of, when near its end, <A HREF="#P19">19</A> + Debates in, few famous, <A HREF="#P75">75</A> + Lords, House of— + Character of, as an institution, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>, <A HREF="#P102">102</A> + Compensation for Disturbance Bill thrown out by, <A HREF="#P28">28</A> and <I>notes</I>, <A HREF="#P31">31</A> + Home Rule Bill in, prospects for, <A HREF="#P218">218</A> + Injury done by, <A HREF="#P103">103</A> + Interests of, <A HREF="#P102">102</A> + Irish Land Act, Committee of inquiry on, appointed by, <A HREF="#P125">125</A> <I>note</I> + Modification of, <A HREF="#P102">102</A> + Popular view of, <A HREF="#P95">95</A> + Radical attitude towards, <A HREF="#P201">201</A> + Taxation not in jurisdiction of, <A HREF="#Pxxiii">xxiii</A> + Use of, <A HREF="#P101">101-102</A> + Parnell, C. S., <A HREF="#P105">105</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>, <A HREF="#P217">217</A> + Parties, evening, in Downing Street, <A HREF="#P19">19</A> and <I>note</I> + Party— + Burke's policy regarding, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn54text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn54">54</A>] + Government by, law of, <A HREF="#P95">95</A> + Ideas the justifying cause of, <A HREF="#P200">200</A> + Religious view of, <A HREF="#P199">199</A> + Pascal, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A> + Pasquier, <A HREF="#P2">2</A> + Pasteur, <A HREF="#P152">152</A> + Patriotism, <A HREF="#Pxxix">xxix</A> + Pattison, Rev. Mark, Life of Milton by, <A HREF="#P5">5</A> and <I>note</I>; estimate of, + <A HREF="#P206">206-207</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A> + —— Mrs. Mark, <A HREF="#P43">43</A> + Paul V., Pope, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Peel, Disraeli's attack on, <A HREF="#P114">114</A> <I>note</I>; personal influence neglected + by, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>; justification of, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>; estimates of, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A> + Peelites in 1859, <A HREF="#Pxxii">xxii</A> + Penjdeh, <A HREF="#P208">208</A> and <I>note</I> + Persons <I>versus</I> things, <A HREF="#P6">6-7</A>, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A> + Petavius, <A HREF="#P207">207</A> + Pitt, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Pius V., Pope, <A HREF="#Pliii">liii</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A> + Pius IX., Pope, Encyclical Letter against modern thought, <A HREF="#Pxxxiv">xxxiv</A>; + death of, <A HREF="#Plxxvi">lxxvi</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#Pxxxii">xxxii</A>, <A HREF="#Pxl">xl</A> + Plunket, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> + Political economy, changes in, <A HREF="#P89">89-90</A> + Politics— + Complexity of, <A HREF="#P91">91</A> + Differences in, dependent on disagreement in moral principles, <A HREF="#P210">210</A> + Ecclesiastical principles in, <A HREF="#P51">51-52</A> + Ends of, <A HREF="#P216">216</A> + Moral basis of, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A> + Parentage of, <A HREF="#P60">60</A> + Patriotism in, <A HREF="#Pxxix">xxix</A> + Religion and, borderland of, <A HREF="#P104">104</A> + Religious view of, <A HREF="#P199">199</A> + Potter, T. B., <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>, <A HREF="#P162">162</A> + Power, acquisition and maintenance of, <A HREF="#P14">14-15</A> + Prćtorius, <A HREF="#P134">134</A> + Price, Bonamy, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>, <A HREF="#P197">197</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn241text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn241">241</A>] + Primogeniture, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119</A> + Principles, self-identification with, <A HREF="#P85">85</A> + Probabilism, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> + Progress, conditions of, <A HREF="#P200">200</A> + "Progress and Poverty," <A HREF="#P170">170</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn202text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn202">202</A>], <A HREF="#P175">175</A> + Property— + Limitation to rights of, <A HREF="#P94">94</A> + Representation based on, <A HREF="#P180">180</A> + Puritans, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> + Pusey, Dr., <A HREF="#P171">171</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A> + + + Quakers, use of term, <A HREF="#P136">136</A>, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> + <I>Quarterly Review</I>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A> + Quietists, <A HREF="#P139">139</A> + + + Radicalism, <A HREF="#P94">94</A> + Radicals, attitude of, towards House of Lords, <A HREF="#P201">201</A> + Radowitz, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> + <I>Rambler</I>, <A HREF="#Pxxvii">xxvii-xxviii</A> + Rammingen marriage, <A HREF="#P22">22</A> + Ranke, <A HREF="#Pxix">xix</A> + Rauscher, <A HREF="#Pxlix">xlix</A> + Raynaud, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Reay, Lady, <A HREF="#P85">85</A> + —— Lord, <A HREF="#P4">4</A>, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A>, <A HREF="#P162">162</A> + Reeve, Henry, <A HREF="#P65">65</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn73text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn73">73</A>] + Reform, nature of, <A HREF="#P92">92</A> + —— Bill (1884), <A HREF="#P178">178</A>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A> + Religion— + Antagonism founded in, an obstacle to sincerity, <A HREF="#P168">168</A> + Church, identification of, with, <A HREF="#Pxxxii">xxxii</A> + Fanaticism in, <A HREF="#P144">144</A> + History the true demonstration of, <A HREF="#Plxvii">lxvii</A>, <A HREF="#P167">167</A> + Key to actions provided by, <A HREF="#P167">167</A>; unreliability of key, <A HREF="#Plii">lii-liii</A> + Liberalism the beginning of real, <A HREF="#Plv">lv</A> + Politics and, borderland of, <A HREF="#P104">104</A> + Scientific discoveries, attitude towards, <A HREF="#Pxxxii">xxxii</A> + Substitutes for, <A HREF="#P167">167</A>, <A HREF="#P168">168</A> + Rémusat, Mme. de, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>, <A HREF="#P31">31-32</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A> + Renan, Ernest, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A> + Renouf, <A HREF="#P182">182</A> + Renouf, Miss, <A HREF="#P173">173</A> + Representation, property the basis of, <A HREF="#P180">180</A> + Representative systems, <A HREF="#P101">101-102</A> + Retz, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + Reviews, value of, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> + Richelieu, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>, <A HREF="#P148">148</A> + Richter, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> + Ridding, Dr., <A HREF="#P183">183</A> + Ripon, Marquis of, <A HREF="#P205">205</A> + Robespierre, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>, <A HREF="#P22">22</A> + Rogers, Thorold, <A HREF="#P8">8</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn13">13</A>] + Rome— + "John Inglesant" in reference to, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> + Visit to (1881), <A HREF="#P79">79-80</A>; (1882), <A HREF="#P122">122-123</A> + Roon, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> + Roscher, cited, <A HREF="#P90">90</A> + Rosebery, Earl of, appoints Acton to Cambridge, <A HREF="#Plxvi">lxvi</A>; otherwise + mentioned, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>, <A HREF="#P217">217</A> + Rosicrucians, <A HREF="#P139">139</A> + Rosmini, <A HREF="#P170">170-171</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184-185</A>, <A HREF="#P187">187</A> + Rossi, Count, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn117text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn117">117</A>] + Rothe, <A HREF="#Pxix">xix</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>, <A HREF="#P206">206</A> + Rousse, <A HREF="#P88">88</A> + Rousseau, <A HREF="#Pxii">xii</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> + Ruskin, John, writings of, on fly-leaves, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>; at Hawarden, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>; on + Bonamy Price, <A HREF="#P197">197</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn241text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn241">241</A>]; estimate of, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A>; otherwise + mentioned, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A> + Russell, Lord Arthur, <A HREF="#P31">31</A> and <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P162">162</A> + —— C. (Lord Russell of Killowen), <A HREF="#P153">153</A> + —— George, <A HREF="#P212">212</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn262text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn262">262</A>] + —— Lord John, <A HREF="#Pxxiv">xxiv</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> + —— Lord Odo (Lord Ampthill), <A HREF="#Pxlvii">xlvii</A>, <A HREF="#P195">195</A> and <I>note</I> + Russia— + Granville's reception in, <A HREF="#Pxx">xx-xxi</A> + Policy of, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P208">208</A> + + + St. Hilaire, B., estimate of, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>, <A HREF="#P37">37-39</A>; argument of, regarding + Jesuits, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>; Aristotelian work of, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>; view of, on Greeks, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>; + otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A> + St. Just, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A> + St. Simon, memoirs of, <A HREF="#P32">32</A> + Salisbury, Marquis of, Irish party compared with, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>; assurances + required by, from Gladstone, <A HREF="#P210">210</A>, <I>note</I>; in Tunis affair, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>; on + Irish Arrears Bill, <A HREF="#P158">158</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn185text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn185">185</A>]; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, + <A HREF="#P190">190</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>, <A HREF="#P214">214</A>, <A HREF="#P217">217</A> + Salmeron, <A HREF="#P137">137</A> + Sancta Clara, Father, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> + Sand, George, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn99text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn99">99</A>]; <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> + Sandford, Bp., <A HREF="#P160">160</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn191text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn191">191</A>] + Savonarola, <A HREF="#P123">123</A> + Scaliger, <A HREF="#P207">207</A> + "Scenes from Clerical Life," <A HREF="#P163">163</A> + Schelling, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Scherer, estimate of, <A HREF="#P1">1-2</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>; patriotism of, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; on Carlyle, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>; on + George Eliot, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A> + Schiller, <A HREF="#P79">79</A> + Schlegel, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> + Schleiermacher, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> + Schlözer, <A HREF="#P123">123</A> + "School of Shakespeare," <A HREF="#P42">42</A> + Schwartzenberg, <A HREF="#Pxlix">xlix</A> + Sclater, <A HREF="#P129">129</A> + Scott, Sir Walter, <A HREF="#Plxi">lxi</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Scottish mental characteristic, <A HREF="#P206">206</A> + Seeley, Sir John, death of, <A HREF="#Plxvi">lxvi</A>; Acton contrasted with, <A HREF="#Plxvii">lxvii</A>; + "Expansion of England," by, <A HREF="#P6">6</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn10">10</A>]-8; otherwise mentioned, + <A HREF="#P115">115</A>, <A HREF="#P175">175</A> + Selborne, Lord, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, <A HREF="#P211">211</A> + Selden, <A HREF="#P207">207</A> + Serjeant, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + "Sermons in a College Chapel," <A HREF="#P78">78</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn98text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn98">98</A>], <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> + Shakespeare— + Defects of, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P60">60</A> + Montalembert on, <A HREF="#P57">57</A> + Sonnets of, <A HREF="#P41">41-42</A> + Shaw, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A> + —— Dr., cited, <A HREF="#Pix">ix</A>, <A HREF="#Plviii">lviii</A> + Shelburne, Lord, <A HREF="#P81">81</A> + Shelley, <A HREF="#P79">79</A> + Sherbrookr, Viscount (Robert Lowe), attitude of, towards H. Gladstone, + <A HREF="#P10">10-11</A> and <I>note</I>; hurt regarding offer of peerage, <A HREF="#P12">12-13</A>; + Maine's views on, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>; indebtedness of, to Burke, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>; on political + economy, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> + Shorthouse, Mr., correspondence with, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn176text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn176">176</A>], <A HREF="#P159">159</A> and + <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn189text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn189">189</A>] + Shrewsbury, Lord, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> + Sidebotham, Rev. H., <A HREF="#P204">204</A> + Sidgwick, Prof., <A HREF="#P177">177</A> <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P191">191</A> + Sieyčs, <A HREF="#P48">48</A> + Simon, Jules, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161</A> + Simon, Richard, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> + Sincerity, <A HREF="#P168">168</A> + Skelton, Sir John, <A HREF="#P104">104</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn137text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn137">137</A>] + Slavery, <A HREF="#Pxx">xx</A>, <A HREF="#Pxxxvi">xxxvi</A> + Smith, Adam, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91-92</A> + —— Goldwin, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> + —— P. J., <A HREF="#P101">101</A> + —— Robertson, <A HREF="#P197">197</A> + —— Sir William, <A HREF="#Plviii">lviii</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A> + Socialism, <A HREF="#Plxi">lxi</A>, <A HREF="#P170">170</A>, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>, <A HREF="#P212">212</A> + Society, State as distinct from, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>, <A HREF="#P101">101</A> + Soudan, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P215">215</A> + Southey, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> + Spain— + Inquisition in, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Jesuits in, <A HREF="#Plix">lix</A> + Mexican expedition of, <A HREF="#Pxxxvii">xxxvii</A> + Spinola, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150</A> + Spinoza, <A HREF="#Pxlix">xlix</A>, <A HREF="#P96">96</A> + Spencer, Earl, estimate of, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>; rumoured resignation of, <A HREF="#P155">155</A> and + <I>note</I>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P205">205</A>, <A HREF="#P218">218</A> + —— Lady, <A HREF="#P61">61</A> + —— Herbert, Laveleye on, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>; opinion of, on "Scenes from Clerical Life," + <A HREF="#P163">163</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P27">27</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn33text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn33">33</A>], <A HREF="#P119">119</A> + Staeël, Mme. de, <A HREF="#P5">5</A> + Stahl, <A HREF="#Plxxvi">lxxvi</A>, <A HREF="#P97">97</A> + <I>Standard</I>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A> + Stanley, Dean, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A> + —— of Alderley, Lord, <A HREF="#P64">64</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn72text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn72">72</A>] + State, society as distinct from, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>, <A HREF="#P101">101</A> + Stephen, Fitzjames, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>; on Criminal Law, <A HREF="#P166">166</A> + Stillingfleet, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> + Strachey, Sir Edward, <A HREF="#P55">55-56</A> + —— Sir John, <A HREF="#P20">20</A> and <I>note</I> + Strossmayer, Bishop, <A HREF="#Pxliv">xliv</A>, <A HREF="#Pxlix">xlix</A> + Stuart, James, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>, <A HREF="#P209">209</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn258text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn258">258</A>], <A HREF="#P212">212</A> and <I>note</I>[263] + Stubbs, Bishop, estimate of, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>, <A HREF="#P177">177</A>, <A HREF="#P191">191</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A>; approached by + Mrs. J. R. Green, <A HREF="#P198">198</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P183">183</A> + Sumner, Charles, <A HREF="#P5">5</A> + Suspicion— + Commynes on, <A HREF="#P35">35</A> + Desirability of, <A HREF="#P12">12</A>, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A> + Moderation to be observed in, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>, <A HREF="#P59">59</A> + Sutherland, Duchess of, <A HREF="#P180">180</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn218text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn218">218</A>] + Swinburne, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P79">79</A> + Swiss nationality, <A HREF="#Pxxx">xxx</A> + Sybel, von, <A HREF="#Pxix">xix</A> + Symonds, J. A., <A HREF="#P70">70</A> + + + Tachard, M., <A HREF="#P27">27</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn34text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn34">34</A>] + Taine, estimate of, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>; Soberer compared with, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>; Tennyson's attitude + towards, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>; on Macaulay, <A HREF="#P52">52-53</A>; on the Revolution, <A HREF="#P207">207</A> + Tait, Bishop, <A HREF="#P204">204</A> + Talbot, Dr., <A HREF="#P177">177</A> <I>note</I>, <A HREF="#P179">179</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn215text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn215">215</A>] + "Talleyrand's Memoirs," <A HREF="#P36">36</A> + Tegernsee, <A HREF="#Plix">lix</A>, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A> + Temple, Bishop, <A HREF="#P203">203-204</A> + —— Cowper (Lord Mount Temple), <A HREF="#P3">3</A> + Temporal power of Rome. <I>See</I> under Churches—Roman Catholic—Papacy + <I>Temps</I>, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> + Tennyson, Alfred, estimate of, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>; attitude towards Gladstone, <A HREF="#P209">209</A> + and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn256text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn256">256</A>]; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P79">79</A> <I>note</I> + —— Hallam, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P21">21</A> + Thiers, <A HREF="#Pxxiv">xxiv</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> + Things <I>versus</I> Persons, <A HREF="#P6">6-7</A>, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>, <A HREF="#P206">206</A>, <A HREF="#P210">210</A> + Thirlwall, Bishop, <A HREF="#P117">117-118</A> + Thorndike, <A HREF="#P131">131</A> + Thucydides, <A HREF="#P32">32</A> + <I>Times</I>— + Carlyle, views on, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> + Change in, <A HREF="#P215">215</A> + Chenery's dealings with, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>, <A HREF="#P35">35</A> + Tocqueville, Alexis de, <A HREF="#Pxix">xix</A>, <A HREF="#P172">172</A> + Toland, <A HREF="#P52">52</A>, <A HREF="#P139">139</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn172text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn172">172</A>] + Toryism— + Attitude of, <A HREF="#P199">199</A> + Female adherents of, <A HREF="#P181">181</A> + Frere's exemplification of, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> + Gout, compared with, <A HREF="#P35">35</A> + Liberal ideas permeating, <A HREF="#P200">200</A> + Maine on, <A HREF="#P119">119</A> + Transvaal, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> + Trench, Archbishop, <A HREF="#P27">27</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn32text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn32">32</A>] + Trevelyan, G. O., "Life of Fox" by, <A HREF="#P52">52-53</A>; estimate of, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>; + otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A> + Trollope, <A HREF="#P65">65</A> + Turgot, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> + Turkey, tyranny of, <A HREF="#P91">91</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn127text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn127">127</A>] + Tyndall, Prof., <A HREF="#P50">50</A>, <A HREF="#P166">166</A> + Tyranny— + Success as essence of, <A HREF="#P143">143-144</A> + Turkish, <A HREF="#P91">91</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn127text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn127">127</A>] + + + Ultramontanism. <I>See</I> under Churches—Roman Catholic + United States— + Abolitionists in, <A HREF="#Pxx">xx</A> + Civil war in, Acton's lecture on, <A HREF="#Pxxxv">xxxv-xxxvii</A> + Constitution of, French critic on, <A HREF="#Plviii">lviii</A> + Democracy in, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>; Tocqueville's book on, <A HREF="#Pxix">xix</A> + Dependencies in relation to, <A HREF="#Pxxxix">xxxix</A> + Liberty, doctrine of, realised by, <A HREF="#Plvii">lvii</A> + Monroe doctrine, <A HREF="#P198">198</A> and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn245text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn245">245</A>] + Ussher, <A HREF="#P207">207</A> + + + Valdes, Juan, <A HREF="#P136">136</A>, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> + Van Helmont, <A HREF="#P139">139</A> + Vaticanism. <I>See</I> under Churches—Roman Catholic + Victoria, Queen, Acton agreeable to, <A HREF="#Plxv">lxv</A>; shot at, by a lunatic, <A HREF="#P126">126</A> + and <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn2">2</A>]; Mentone residence of, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P128">128</A> + Vielcastel, <A HREF="#P2">2</A> + Vinet, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A> + + + Waddington, M., <A HREF="#Pv">v</A>, <A HREF="#P171">171-172</A> + —— Mme., <A HREF="#Pv">v</A> + Wagner (pol. economist), cited, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>, <A HREF="#P97">97</A> + Waldegrave, Lady, <A HREF="#P40">40</A> + Wales, Prince of, <A HREF="#P109">109</A> + Wallace, Robert, <A HREF="#P71">71</A> <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn88text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn88">88</A>] + Walshe, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + Warburton, <A HREF="#P52">52</A> + Ward, Wilfrid, Wiseman's "Life" by, <A HREF="#Pxvi">xvi</A>; otherwise mentioned, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>, <A HREF="#P206">206</A> + Waterland, <A HREF="#P180">180</A> + Wealth, labour the source of, <A HREF="#P92">92</A> + Webster, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> + Wellington, Duke of, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A> + Westcott, Dr., Bishop of Durham, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A> + Wetherell, <A HREF="#P218">218</A> + —— (editor of <I>Chronicle</I>), <A HREF="#Pxl">xl</A> + Whigs— + Acton's sympathy with, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A> + Constructive power lacking in, <A HREF="#P111">111</A> + Democrats, dependence on, <A HREF="#P108">108</A> + Seeley on, <A HREF="#P7">7</A> + White, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + Wickham, Dr., <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>, <A HREF="#P166">166</A> + Wilberforce, R. J., <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P182">182</A> + —— Bishop, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A> + Wilkinson, Bishop, <A HREF="#P183">183</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A> + William III, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <I>note</I>[<A NAME="chap01fn79text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn79">79</A>] + Williams, Roger, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Wilson, <A HREF="#P52">52</A> + Wimpfen, <A HREF="#P172">172</A> + Winchester, Bishop of (Winton), <A HREF="#P70">70</A> + Windham, <A HREF="#P46">46</A> + Wiseman, Dr., <A HREF="#Pxvi">xvi</A>, <A HREF="#Pxxx">xxx-xxxii</A> + Wolseley, Lord, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> + Wolverton, Lord, Irish views of, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>; estimate of, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>; otherwise + mentioned, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161</A>, <A HREF="#P188">188</A> + Women's Suffrage, <A HREF="#P180">180-181</A> + <I>World</I>, <A HREF="#P74">74</A> + + + Zulfikar, <A HREF="#P208">208</A> + Zulus, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>; Cetewayo, <A HREF="#P174">174</A> +</PRE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. +<BR> +Edinburgh & London +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters of Lord Acton, by Lord Acton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS OF LORD ACTON *** + +***** This file should be named 38214-h.htm or 38214-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/2/1/38214/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Letters of Lord Acton + To Mary, Daughter of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone + +Author: Lord Acton + +Editor: Herbert Paul + +Release Date: December 4, 2011 [EBook #38214] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS OF LORD ACTON *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Portrait of Lord Acton] + + + + + +LETTERS OF + +LORD ACTON + + +TO MARY, DAUGHTER OF + +THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE + + + + +EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR, BY + +HERBERT PAUL + + + + +LONDON + +GEORGE ALLEN, 156, CHARING CROSS ROAD + +1904 + +[All rights reserved] + + + + +COPYRIGHT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 1904 + + + + +Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. + +At the Ballantyne Press + + + + +{iii} + + "_Through such souls alone + God stooping shows sufficient of His Light + For us i' the dark to rise by._" + + + + +THIS VOLUME + +IS DEDICATED TO + +LADY ACTON + +BY M. D. + + + + +{v} + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +DEDICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii + +PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii + +EDITOR'S PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix + +INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi + +LETTERS OF LORD ACTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + +INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +PORTRAIT OF LORD ACTON (Photogravure) . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +GROUP AT TEGERNSEE, 1879 (Photogravure) . . . . . _to face page_ 1 + + + + +{vii} + +PREFACE + +It does not seem likely that any one, after reading these letters, +would question the desirability of their publication. In general they +speak for themselves; a few notes have been added to explain allusions +which by lapse of time have become obscure; some names and passages, +and some letters, have been omitted. After 1885 Lord Acton touched +upon questions which are still matters of controversy, and therefore +the selection closes with that year. The letters were written to the +daughter who lived with Mr. Gladstone from the time of her own birth, +in the middle of the last century, to the day of his death, at its +close. The idea of publishing a selection of them arose in 1898; and +Lord Acton, with certain reservations, assented to it. But it was felt +by competent judges that it would be trespassing in Mr. Morley's +domain; and Mr. Morley himself was strongly of opinion that the +mutilation which at that period would have been necessary, would +seriously impair the interest and the significance of the book. So, +for the time, the project was abandoned. On the other hand, in the +judgment of the eminent authorities to whom the letters were submitted, +their value was of such a nature that it was evident they ought to be +published as soon as Mr. Morley should have completed his task. + +With the exception of passages critical of himself or his policy, the +letters were not read by Mr. Gladstone; for, while he made it a rule to +shun all that was laudatory of himself, he always welcomed and +carefully studied anything deliberately thought out or written in an +opposite sense. His own correspondence with Lord Acton extended over a +period of some {viii} thirty years; but it does not cover nearly so +wide a range of subjects, or appeal so much to general interests, as +the series now printed. + +To the recipient of these letters from Lord Acton they will always be +precious, not merely for the judgments they contain and the memories +they recall, but also as the outward symbol of an inward and priceless +possession--the treasure of his friendship. + +MARY DREW. + +10th _January_ 1904. + + + + +{ix} + +EDITOR'S PREFACE + +In compiling the Introductory Memoir which follows I have been chiefly +indebted to Dr. Shaw's excellent "Bibliography of Lord Acton," edited +for the Royal Historical Society, and to a most interesting article in +the _Edinburgh Review_ for April 1903. I have also consulted Mr. +Bryce's "Studies in Contemporary Biography," Sir Mountstuart Grant +Duff's "Out of the Past," and an obituary notice in the _Cambridge +Review_ for October 1902, signed "F.W.M." Mr. Morley was good enough +to lend me the copies of Lord Acton's letters to Mr. Gladstone which +had been made for the purposes of his Biography. Neither the materials +at my command nor the circumstances of the case justified me in +attempting to write a Life of Lord Acton. I have merely sought to +furnish such information as the readers of these letters would +naturally desire to possess. + +HERBERT PAUL. + + + + +{xi} + +INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR + +Lord Acton was dimly known to the general public as a prodigy of +learning. He left no great work behind him, and is often quoted as an +example of natural gifts buried under an accumulation of excessive, or +ill-digested knowledge. The image of a Dryasdust, of a bookworm, of a +walking Dictionary was excited by his name among those to whom he was a +name, and nothing more. To those who had the privilege of his +acquaintance he appeared almost the precise opposite of a picture too +unlike the truth to be even a caricature. For Lord Acton was a +thorough man of the world. An insatiable, systematic, and effective +reader, he was anything but a recluse. No man had a keener zest for +the society of his intellectual equals. No one took a stronger +interest in the events of the day, and the gossip of the hour. His +learning, though vast and genuine, was never obtruded. Always ready to +impart information, he shrank from the semblance of volunteering it. +Indeed, if no direct appeal were made to him, he would let people +without a tithe of his knowledge lay down the law as if they knew +everything, and would betray no other sign of amusement than an +enigmatical smile. He had something of Addison's tendency, exhibited +in a much more remarkable and much less agreeable form by Mr. Froude, +to draw out rather than to repress the sallies of conceited ignorance. +But for any one who wished to learn his resources were in their fullest +extent available. To be in his company was like being in the best of +historical libraries with the best of historical catalogues. A +question produced {xii} not only a direct and complete answer, but also +useful advice, about the books which the inquirer ought to consult. On +matters of opinion he was much more reticent. Sometimes, without a +moment's warning, he would utter a paradox which from any one else +might have seemed the mere recklessness of sciolism, but which, coming +from him, was treasured in the memory. I remember, for instance, his +telling me that Rousseau had produced more effect with his pen than +Aristotle, or Cicero, or Saint Augustine, or Saint Thomas Aquinas, or +any other man who ever lived. But such sweeping assertions were few. +His general attitude was one of rigid adhesion to certain facts, and +careful avoidance of hasty judgments. It was not that Lord Acton had +no strong opinions. Few people had stronger opinions than he, and +their foundation was so solid that it was almost impossible to displace +them. But he liked to hear all sides of every question, and to make +allowance for all errors which did not involve a violation of the moral +law. Any apology, or even excuse, for departure from the highway of +the Decalogue he regarded as in itself a crime. + +The force and originality of Lord Acton's conversation are reflected, +and may be inferred, from his epistolary style. In absolutely +uncongenial company he would maintain the silence of the tomb. But +when there was any community of taste or subject, he shone equally as a +talker and as a listener. It was not that he tried to shine. He did +not aim at epigram, and his humour was as spontaneous as it was +delightful. He loved to stimulate conversation in others, and no man +had more sympathy with a good thing which he had not said himself. His +manner was such that his compliments sometimes suggested a faint +suspicion of insincerity. The suspicion, however, was unjust, and was +merely the result of a subtle, half ironic manner. He was entirely +free from jealousy, vanity, and egoism. {xiii} A merciless +intellectual critic he could hardly help being. He had so trained and +furnished his mind that it rejected instinctively a sophism or a false +pretence. + + Antonio Stradivari has an eye + That winces at false work and loves the true. + + +His intimate friends agreed that he was the raciest and most +stimulating of companions, with an instinctive perception for the true +significance of a hint, so that they never had to tell him a thing +twice, or to explain it once. That letters take their tone from the +recipient as well as from the writer is a commonplace, almost a +platitude. While therefore only Lord Acton's half of this +correspondence is printed, the nature of the other half may be surmised +from what he says himself. Such letters as the criticism of "John +Inglesant," or the view of Mr. Gladstone as he will appear to +posterity, or the estimate of Ultramontane ethics, stand out as solid +documents with a permanent and independent value of their own. The +more numerous specimens of his more familiar writing will readily +suggest why he found this correspondence so congenial, and what was the +reason in each case for his choice of topics. The pliability and +adaptability of his mind, his easy transitions from grave to gay, his +sympathy with all a friend's interests and feelings, are visible in +every page. + +Lord Acton's personality was a negative of all shams. His spacious +forehead, his deep sonorous voice, his piercing eyes, and his air of +vigilant repose, were the outward signs of genuine power, in which the +latent force behind is greater than anything the surface displays. He +might well have sat to Titian for one of those ecclesiastical statesmen +whose mingled strength and subtlety have attracted the admiring gaze of +three hundred and fifty years. He was a good talker because he was a +good listener, always interested in the subject, not seeking to exhaust +it, rather putting in from time {xiv} to time the exactly appropriate +word. To draw Lord Acton out, to make him declare himself upon some +doubtful or delicate point, was a hopeless task. His face at once +assumed the expression of the Sphinx. To students, on the other hand, +his generosity was unbounded, and the accumulations of a lifetime were +at the disposal of any one who was willing to profit by them. It will +be seen from these letters that Lord Acton was not merely a learned +man. His perceptions were quick and shrewd. His judgment was clear +and sound. He watched every move in the political game with a vigilant +keenness quickened by the depth of his interest in the great leader +whom he followed to the end. Circumstances had made him from his +boyhood familiar with the best political society not merely of England +but of Europe. He was as much at home in Italy and in Germany as in +his native land, so that he could compare Mr. Gladstone with foreign +statesmen of his own time as well as with British statesmen of the +past. Although it has been roughly estimated by his friend Mr. Bryce +that Lord Acton read on an average an octavo volume a day, as often as +not in German, he was never a bookworm. When he was in London he +constantly dined out, and he corresponded freely with continental +friends. Few people were more agreeable in a country house. No one +assumed more naturally the aspect of disengaged leisure, and it was +possible to live in the same house with him for weeks without ever +seeing him read. Even the frivolities of the world were not beneath +his notice. He liked to know about marriages before they occurred. He +was an excellent judge of cookery and of wine. Yet the passion of his +life was reading. It was, as has been well said, like a physical +appetite, and it seemed, if it changed at all, to grow stronger as he +grew older. His reading was chiefly historical. He was no great +classical scholar. The voluminous notes to his inaugural lecture at +Cambridge {xv} do not contain a single quotation from any classical +author of Greece or Rome. He cared little for poetry, for art, or for +pure literature, the literature of style. Of physical science he knew +only what most educated men know. But he was well versed in +metaphysics, he was a deep theologian, and his knowledge of modern +history was only bounded by the limits of the theme. + +John Emerick Edward Dalberg Acton was born at Naples on the 10th of +January 1834, the only son of Sir Richard Acton, seventh baronet, and +the heiress of the German house whose name, Dalberg, he bore. An +Italian birthplace, a German mother, and an English father stamped him +from the beginning as a citizen of the world. His grandfather, Sir +John Francis Acton, had been Prime Minister of Naples under Ferdinand +the Fourth, and had reorganised the Neapolitan navy. His maternal +grandfather entered the service of France, and represented Louis the +Eighteenth at the Congress of Vienna. No wonder that Lord Acton spoke +German and Italian as well as French, or that the chief foreign +languages were as familiar to him as his own. In fact, as well as in +blood, he was only half an Englishman. His entire freedom from insular +prejudice, which was peculiarly noticeable in his opinions on Irish +affairs, must be attributed not less to his religion than to his +origin. He adhered throughout his life, notwithstanding many +difficulties which would have shaken a less profound faith, to the +Church of Rome. Nor was he one of those Catholics who remain Catholics +because they do not care enough about the matter to change. Liberal as +he was, tolerant as he was, broad as he was, the central truths of the +Christian religion and of the Catholic Church were not merely articles +of his creed, but guiding principles of his conduct. If these letters +show anything, they show that in Lord Acton's mind, and in his estimate +of human affairs, religion overmastered all mundane considerations. It +was with {xvi} him first, and last, and everywhere. Upon that noble +text, "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," his life and +writings are a sermon. Hating Ultramontanism and Vaticanism as only a +passionate believer in the Church which they disfigured could hate +them, cherishing the right of private judgment within the widest limits +which Rome had ever allowed, he died, as he was baptized, in the faith +of his ancestors. Perhaps his allegiance was none the less staunch +because it was ethical and rational; because he clung always and before +all things, in the clash of creeds, to "those things which are certain +still, the grand, simple landmarks of morality." "If," said the +greatest preacher in the Church of England sixty years ago, "if there +be no God and no future state, yet even then it is better to be +generous than selfish, better to be chaste than licentious, better to +be true than false, better to be brave than to be a coward." Lord +Acton would have been unable to conceive the protasis. The apodosis he +would not have denied. + +Sir Richard Acton died while his son was a child, and at the age of +nine Sir John was sent by his mother to the Roman Catholic College at +Oscott, of which Dr. Wiseman was the head. Wiseman, until Mr. Wilfrid +Ward published his excellent biography, was chiefly known to English +Protestants as the instrument of papal aggression, and the subject of +Robert Browning's satirical poem, "Bishop Blougram's Apology." He was +in truth an able and accomplished man, a really great organiser, +thoroughly well qualified to preside over an educational establishment +like Oscott. He was not in any sense of the word a Liberal, and in +later years the pupil did not always agree with the master. But of +Oscott Lord Acton always spoke with affection, and the five years which +he spent there in the pursuit of knowledge were among the happiest in a +happy existence. It was the young man's own desire to enter {xvii} the +University of Cambridge. For he did not, like some Catholics, hold it +sinful to receive education from a Protestant source. The law would +not even then have prevented him from matriculating at Cambridge, as it +would at Oxford, and yet the colleges, more bigoted than the law, +refused, on what they doubtless considered religious grounds, to +receive a student as hungry for learning as ever sought admission +within their venerable precincts. Sir John Acton, so peculiarly fitted +by nature and education to adorn and illustrate a University, may well +have asked with Macaulay, what was the faith of Edward the Third, and +Henry the Sixth, of Margaret of Anjou, and Margaret of Richmond, from +whose foundations the head of a Catholic family was turned away. If +Acton had gone to Cambridge, he would have known more about Herodotus +and Thucydides, Caesar and Tacitus. Of history in its more modern +sense, and its more specially ecclesiastical aspects, he would probably +have learnt less. Instead of keeping his terms under the walls of the +Fitzwilliam, he went to Munich, and studied with the illustrious +Doellinger. Doellinger was distinguished for learning even among German +professors, and though, unlike his pupil, eminent in classical +scholarship, as well as in theology, was before all things an +historian. He it was who taught Acton to look at everything from the +historical point of view, and to remember that, in the immortal words +of Coleridge, "The man who puts even Christianity before truth will go +on to put the Church before Christianity, and will end by putting +himself before the Church." The time came both to Doellinger and to +Acton, when the voice of the Church said one thing, and the voice of +truth another. They did not hesitate. But the results to the priest +were different from the results to the layman. + +At Munich, meanwhile, Sir John Acton laboured prodigiously. Latin and +Greek he never mastered as {xviii} he would have mastered them under +Munro and Kennedy. But he learned them well enough for the purposes of +an historian, with more help than Gibbon had, though not with the same +innate genius. Of French, German, Italian, and Spanish, he became a +master. At any subsequent period he would just as soon have written or +spoken in French or German as in English. About this time he began to +collect the splendid library which he formed in his country house at +Aldenham in Shropshire. It consisted, when complete, of sixty thousand +volumes, many of them covered with his marginal notes. Unlike most +libraries, this one had a definite object, and reason for existence. +Lord Acton was from the schoolroom to the grave an ardent, convinced, +and enthusiastic Liberal. It was his aim to write a History of +Liberty. The book was never written. Not indolence but a +procrastination, which resulted from cherishing an impossibly high +ideal, prevented it from coming to the light. One of his reasons for +not beginning the History of Liberty was that the whole truth about the +French Revolution had not yet been discovered. But the library was +collected to illustrate the History, and thus the books, now at +Cambridge, have a peculiar interest, or rather a peculiar character of +their own. When they were at Aldenham, Lord Acton knew the precise +position which each volume occupied in its case and shelf. It is +related that on one of his visits to his beloved room, while the house +was let, the servants found him reading when they came in the morning +to open the shutters. He had forgotten to go to bed. Mr. Bryce +("Studies in Contemporary Biography," pp. 396-97) has described in a +peculiarly vivid and impressive manner how Acton was dominated and +haunted by the idea that he never fulfilled. Late one night, in his +library at Cannes, while Mr. Bryce was staying with him, it found vent +in speech. "He spoke for six or {xix} seven minutes only; but he spoke +like a man inspired; seeming as if, from some mountain summit high in +air, he saw beneath him the far-winding path of human progress from dim +Cimmerian shores of prehistoric shadow into the fuller yet broken and +fitful light of the modern time. The eloquence was splendid, yet +greater than the eloquence was the penetrating vision which discerned +through all events and in all ages the play of those moral forces, now +creating, now destroying, always transmuting, which had moulded and +remodelled institutions, and had given to the human spirit its +ceaselessly changing forms of energy. It was as if the whole landscape +of history had been suddenly lit up by a burst of sunlight. I have +never heard from any other lips any discourse like this, nor from his +did I ever hear the like again." + +With Professor Doellinger Sir John Acton visited France, and made many +distinguished friends, including the foremost among French Liberal +Catholics, Montalembert; Alexis de Tocqueville, the famous author of +"Democracy in America," whose memoirs record the blunders of the Second +Republic in France with a concentrated irony not unworthy of Tacitus; +and Fustel de Coulanges, whose _Cite Antique_ was as well known thirty +years ago in Oxford as in Paris. His German friends were innumerable. +Bluntschli, the great jurist, and von Sybel, the historian of the +French Revolution, were among them. Of the illustrious Ranke he +proclaimed himself a disciple, and it is intensely characteristic of +him that his favourite among the moral philosophers of his own day was +a Protestant, Rothe. Rothe's _Ethik_, he said, was the book which he +would give to any one whom he wished to turn out a good Catholic. But +as Lord Acton would not have crossed the room to make ten proselytes, +the value of this selection may easily be exaggerated. To Protestant +theology he paid as much attention as to Catholic. Those who feared +{xx} God and followed Christ in every nation belonged to his household +of faith. + +Lord Acton deserved as well as Cobden, though for quite other reasons, +to be called an international man. Not a great traveller, as +travelling is understood in these days of universal locomotion, he was +familiar with the chief capitals of Europe, and, so soon as his formal +education was completed, he paid a visit to the United States. He was +then, and always remained, an ardent admirer of the American +Constitution, and of the illustrious men who made it. Its temporary +breakdown in 1861 was scarcely then in sight. Slave States and Free +States were flourishing side by side, and the vital question whether a +State had the right to secede from the Union, which could only be +determined by civil war, still slumbered in abeyance. Acton held +strongly Calhoun's doctrine of Sovereign States, and that is why he +"broke his heart over the surrender of Lee." If the point had been +decided by the letter of the Constitution, so that the Supreme Court +could have given an authoritative decision upon it as upon the right of +recapturing fugitive slaves, many thousands of lives might have been +spared. When Sir John Acton went to Washington, the Abolitionists, +though busy, were a small minority; they carried their lives in their +hands, and the Republicans were no better prepared than the Democrats +to adopt abolition as a principle. The Constitution did not expressly +forbid slavery. Neither, as was often urged, did the New Testament. +But the one said that all men were born equal, without specifying white +men; and St. Paul declared that, within the pale of Christendom, there +was neither Jew nor Greek, neither barbarian nor Scythian, neither bond +nor free. + +At the age of twenty-two Sir John Acton found himself in a country +whose institutions differed as widely as possible from those of the +United States. His mother had married Lord Granville, and he +accompanied {xxi} his step-father to Moscow when Alexander the Second +was crowned there in 1856. Lord Granville's reception was not a +pleasant one, and even so accomplished a master of tact was driven to +remonstrate against the coldness of his treatment, which was made more +remarkable, though not more agreeable, by the flattering attentions +paid to the French representative, M. de Morny. The Crimean War was +hardly over, the ink on the Treaty of Paris was scarcely dry, and +already Russia was on better terms with France than with England, while +England was on worse terms with France than with Russia. The Emperor +Napoleon had taken no pains to secure the fulfilment of the Treaty, +whereas Lord Palmerston could not have displayed more zeal on behalf of +Turkey if he had been the Sultan's Minister instead of the Queen's. +The singularity of the situation could not fail to strike such a mind +as Sir John Acton's. For the result of a war in which England had +sacrificed twenty thousand men and seventy-six millions sterling to +maintain what were called in a licentious phrase the liberties of +Europe, was that she had not a friend on the European Continent, except +Turkey. The distinguished company with whom Sir John Acton associated +at Moscow were astonished "by the vastness of his knowledge and his +mode of exposition" (_Edinburgh Review_, No. 404, page 502). Between +Sir John and his step-father there could not be much real sympathy of +taste or disposition. Lord Granville, as Matthew Arnold says, had +studied in the book of the world rather than in the world of books. +Nature seemed to have destined him to lead the Liberal party in the +House of Lords. A thorough and genuine Liberal he always was. He +belonged to the Manchester school, the school of Cobden and Bright. At +the same time his finished manners, his imperturbable temper, and his +ready wit, were just the right equipment for the chief of an +aristocratic minority. He knew little, and cared {xxii} less, about +the serious study of historical ethics, and historical politics, which +was the essential business of Acton's life. + +When he was twenty-five, Sir John Acton came to live at Aldenham, his +country house in Shropshire, where there was ample room for many +thousands of books. At the General Election held in the summer of 1859 +he was returned to Parliament. Although Catholic Emancipation was +thirty years old, its effects were almost exclusively confined to +Ireland. It was hardly possible for a Roman Catholic to find a seat in +England, and Sir John Acton sat for the small Irish burgh of Carlow, +disfranchised in 1885. He was counted as a Whig, and a supporter of +Lord Palmerston. But there was no sympathy, no point of contact, +between the jaunty Premier and the erudite, philosophical, reflective +Member for Carlow. "No one agrees with me and I agree with no one," +said Sir John, with unusual tautology. It was not quite true. During +those almost silent years of Parliamentary life he watched with +critical and yet admiring interest the career of the illustrious man +who was destined to be Palmerston's successor. Although Mr. Gladstone +had not time to acquire the learning of his disciple, and upon the +negative results of German scholarship was inclined to look askance, he +was the best theologian, as well as the best financier, in Parliament, +and few men were so well qualified to appreciate the range or the depth +of Acton's researches. Acton, on his part, was fascinated by the +combination of intellectual subtlety with practical capacity which made +the Chancellor of the Exchequer the first man in the House of Commons. +It was Palmerston's House, not Gladstone's, and the Derbyites were +almost as numerous as the Palmerstonians. There was then no +Gladstonian party at all. The Peelites were disbanded. Some had +fallen back into the Conservative ranks. Some, {xxiii} like Sidney +Herbert, who died in 1861, Cardwell, and Gladstone himself, sat in the +Cabinet of Lord Palmerston. Others had fallen out of public life +altogether. Mr. Gladstone was still to the general public somewhat of +an enigma. So lately as May 1858 he had been earnestly entreated both +by Lord Derby and by Mr. Disraeli to accept the Board of Control on the +resignation of Lord Ellenborough. He had voted for the Conservative +Reform Bill of 1859, and against Lord Hartington's motion which turned +Lord Derby out. When he accepted office in a Liberal Administration, +his Tory constituents at Oxford were so much surprised and annoyed that +they did their best to deprive him of his seat, and almost succeeded. +The Whigs regarded him as a Tory and a Puseyite. The Tories bore a +grudge against him because he had imposed a succession duty on landed +estates. The Radicals considered him a lukewarm reformer, and in short +hardly any one except his personal friends knew what to make of him. +Then came the opportunity, and with it was displayed the full grandeur +of the man. The Parliament of 1859 passed no successful or memorable +legislation which was not connected with finance. Mr. Gladstone's +Budgets were the great events of the Sessions from 1860 to 1865, and +nothing at all like them has been known since. Almost every year taxes +were repealed, expenditure was diminished, revenue was increased. +After an obstinate conflict with the House of Lords the paper duty +disappeared, and with it the power of the Lords to interfere with the +taxation of the people. The duties on tea and sugar were so reduced as +to bring those commodities within the reach of the working classes. +The income-tax fell from ninepence to fourpence. The Commercial Treaty +with France preserved the peace of Europe, and by the trade which it +created between the two sides of the English Channel more than made up +for the {xxiv} losses inflicted upon British commerce by the American +War. The speeches in which Mr. Gladstone's Budgets were expounded, +especially those of 1860 and 1861, are superb specimens of the +eloquence which increases, while it dignifies, the force of reason. +His speech on the taxation of charities in 1863, though it failed to +convince the House that charitable endowments should be taxed, was +pronounced by a French critic to combine the grandeur of Berryer with +the subtlety of Thiers. Acton was no financier. Neither his tastes +nor his training qualified him to be a critic of Budgets, and when he +became, as will presently appear, a political editor, he left that +business to Mr. Lowe, claiming, with some apparent justification, that +he thus made him Chancellor of the Exchequer. But he loved historical +processes quite as much as historical results, and the hours which he +spent in the House of Commons while the future leader of the Liberal +party proved himself to be the economic successor of Walpole, Pitt, and +Peel, fixed his political allegiance for the remainder of his life. + +All the time that Mr. Gladstone was dazzling the country by the +brilliance of his finance, and convincing practical men by the hard +test of figures at the year's end, he had to fight his colleagues in +the Cabinet as well as his opponents at St. Stephen's. Lord John +Russell nearly ruined the Budget of 1860 by the persistency with which +he pressed his unlucky Reform Bill. Lord Palmerston was continually +demanding money for safeguards against a French invasion in which the +Chancellor of the Exchequer would not believe. Cobden, from the +outside, was urging the one genuine economist in the Cabinet to promote +the cause of economy by resigning. Acton, though dissatisfied with +"bald Cobdenites," as he termed them, was always on Gladstone's, and +never on Palmerston's side. On the other hand there was a question of +{xxv} European importance which united Mr. Gladstone hand and glove +with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary. Italian unity, and +Italian independence, were as dear to Palmerston and Russell as to +Gladstone. Lord John's famous despatch of October 1861, vindicating +the right of the Italians to choose their own rulers, was greeted with +enthusiastic delight throughout the Italian peninsula. The cause for +which Cavour lived, only to die in the moment of its triumph, was +nowhere pleaded with more persuasive power than by Mr. Gladstone in the +Parliament of 1859. Although Lord Palmerston's Government could never +reckon upon a majority of fifteen, the opposition to their Italian +policy came chiefly from a few Irish Catholics. Sir John Acton, though +a Roman Catholic, and an Irish Member, took no part in it. He was +deeply imbued with the spirit of liberty, and he held with all the +strength of his mind that the cause of religion was the cause of +freedom. To maintain Austria in Italy, or even the temporal power of +the Pope, did not belong to Catholicism as he understood it. To +identify soundness of faith with arbitrary rule was, in the eyes of a +Liberal Catholic like Acton, one of those blunders which are worse than +crimes. He was drawn to Mr. Gladstone both by admiration of his +splendid capacity and by agreement with his continental Liberalism. In +the House of Commons he hardly ever spoke. For six years he only put +two questions, and made one speech (May 4, 1860). The questions were +unimportant. The speech was characteristic. It was in effect an +appeal for information about the government of the Papal States. No +Catholic, said Sir John Acton, would defend bad government because it +was exercised in the name of the Pope. In this case the evidence was +contradictory, and all he wanted was the truth. Lord John Russell was +unable to give a satisfactory reply, because {xxvi} the Queen had no +accredited representative at Rome. Macaulay's description of the Papal +States a few years before this time is well known. If, he said, you +met a man who was neither a priest nor a soldier, and who did not beg, +you might be pretty sure that he was a foreigner. Sir John Acton, +though he deprecated hasty judgments, was incapable of defending +oppression or injustice. The fact that it was the work of Catholics, +so far from prejudicing him in its favour, would simply have increased +the severity of his condemnation. It would, in his eyes, have been +falling from a higher standard. + +The two political questions to which Sir John Acton attached most +importance were ecclesiastical establishments and agrarian reform. The +land laws were safe from disturbance under a Premier who flippantly +remarked that tenant right was landlord wrong. The Irish Church, to +which, as a Catholic and an Irish Member, Acton could not be +indifferent, suddenly flashed into fatal prominence, when, on the 28th +of March 1865, Mr. Gladstone declared that it did not fulfil its proper +functions, because it ministered only to one-eighth, or one-ninth, of +the community. This speech, coupled with his declaration of the +previous year that every man not mentally or morally disqualified was +on the face of it entitled to come within the pale of the Constitution, +gave Mr. Gladstone for the first time the confidence of the working +classes and of the Radical party. Sir John Acton went with him, then +and afterwards, in all confidence and hope. As a Catholic he would +naturally have been opposed to the maintenance of Protestant ascendency +by law. As a Liberal he was in favour of extending the suffrage, and +of religious equality. But indeed the foundation of his agreement with +Mr. Gladstone lay deeper than any political principle or measure. +Belonging to two different branches of the Christian Church, they both +{xxvii} desired the reunion of Christendom, and both held that religion +was the guiding star in public as in private life. Between a High +Churchman like Mr. Gladstone and a Liberal Catholic like Sir John Acton +there was plenty of common ground. Both men became, in every sense of +the word, more Liberal as they grew older, and Acton's belief in his +leader ripened into a reverential devotion which nothing could shake. + +At the General Election of 1865, Sir John Acton stood in the Whig or +Liberal interest for Bridgnorth, the nearest town to Aldenham, and then +a Parliamentary borough. "On that occasion he assured the electors +that he represented not the body but the spirit of the Church of Rome" +(_Edinburgh Review_, No. 404, pp. 375-76). What the electors made of +this assurance we do not know, and it would be vain to conjecture. +They placed him, however, at the head of the poll. But his majority +was a single vote, which disappeared on a scrutiny, and he never again +took his seat on the green benches of the House of Commons. He had +none of the gifts required for winning large popular constituencies, +even if his creed had not been a fatal objection in the mind of the +average voter five-and-thirty years ago. + +While Sir John Acton sat in the House and silently voted with his +party, he had not been inactive. The views of the most cultivated and +enlightened among English Catholics were expressed in the fifties by a +monthly periodical called the _Rambler_. The editor of the _Rambler_ +was the greatest of converts, John Henry Newman. In 1859 an article of +Newman's on consulting the laity in matters of doctrine was condemned +by authority at Rome, and Newman withdrew from the editorial chair. He +was succeeded by Sir John Acton, and no better choice could have been +made. He edited the _Rambler_ till 1862, when it became merged in the +_Home and Foreign Review_. His first contribution, {xxviii} in +November 1859, was a criticism of Mill on Liberty, which he took up +again in the following March. The subject was peculiarly his own, +though he could not, as a Catholic, approach it from Mill's point of +view. He wrote, contrary to his custom, in the first person singular, +and signed the article "A"; which, in his own review, amounted to +acknowledgment. "By liberty," wrote this Liberal Catholic, "I mean +absence of accountability to any _temporal_ authority," and he added, +"I make no reservations." He afterwards learned that liberty was +positive, and that spiritual as well as temporal authority might be +pushed to a point inconsistent with freedom. These youthful +contributions to his favourite theme show rather the wonderful +knowledge which he had acquired at five-and-twenty than the delicate +and subtle discrimination which distinguishes his later work. One +exquisite quotation deserves to be quoted again. _Cui Christus vim +intulit?_ wrote Count Boniface to St. Augustine. _Quem coegit!_ To +whom did Christ apply violence? Whom did he coerce? The final failure +of persecution was in Sir John Acton's opinion the act of Louis the +Fourteenth when he revoked the Edict of Nantes. "Coercion," he added, +"is an educational instrument which Western Europe has outgrown," +though indeed it had not much success in the age of the Caesars. On the +Inquisition he was discreetly silent. But he concluded with a plea for +the sacredness of moral responsibility, which hardly came within the +scope of Mill's eloquent and powerful treatise. For a Catholic organ, +however, the treatment of Mill is, if not sympathetic, at least +appreciative and respectful. Of this article Mr. Gladstone wrote to +the author, "I have read your valuable and remarkable paper. Its +principles and politics I embrace; its research and wealth of knowledge +I admire; and its whole atmosphere, if I may so speak, is that which I +desire to breathe. It is a truly English paper." + +{xxix} + +Among Sir John Acton's other contributions to the _Rambler_ one of the +most interesting is his account of Cavour, which appeared in July 1861, +just after the Italian statesman's death. Acton had an abhorrence of +Carlylean hero-worship, and he did less than justice to Cavour's +regeneration of Italy. His criticism of a man who for many years of +his too brief life was engrossed in a desperate struggle for national +independence is cold and dry. He cannot conceal either the scanty +resources which Cavour had at his disposal, or the magnitude of the +results which those resources were made to achieve. But, true to his +favourite subject, he analysed the Minister's conception of liberty, +and found it wanting. It was liberty for the State, not liberty for +the individual, nor for the Church. Yet Cavour's cherished ideal was +"a free Church in a free State," and he would probably have replied +that from the purely individual point of view Piedmont might well +challenge comparison with the Austrian provinces of Italy or the States +of the Church. If Cavour's life had been spared, we may be sure that +he would, as his dying words about Naples imply, have governed in +accordance with the principles of constitutional freedom. A year +later, in July 1862, Acton inaugurated the _Home and Foreign Review_ +with a characteristic article on "Nationality." He traced the rise of +national sentiment in Europe to the infamous partition of Poland, of +which Burke said that no wise or honest man could approve. It was +fostered by the French Revolution, and became afterwards the instrument +by which Napoleon fell. The Holy Alliance suppressed it for a time, +but it soon revived in Italy. By Nationalism, which Englishmen forty +years ago favoured everywhere except in Ireland, Acton meant, as he +explains, "the complete and consistent theory that the State and the +nation must be coextensive." "Exile is the nursery of nationality," he +proceeds, "as oppression is the school of liberalism; {xxx} and Mazzini +conceived the idea of Young Italy when he was a refugee at Marseilles." +To the idea of Nationalism, as he defines it, Acton opposed the +principle that "the combination of different nations in one State is as +necessary a condition of civilised life as the combination of men in +society." To overcome national differences was the mission of the +Church, and patriotism was in political life what faith was in +religion. There could be no nationality with any claim upon men's +allegiance except what was formed by the State. "The Swiss are +ethnologically either French, Italian, or German; but no nationality +has the slightest claim upon them, except the purely political +nationality of Switzerland." The instance was well chosen. +Unfortunately Acton goes on to say that "the citizens of Florence and +of Naples have no political community with each other," which had +ceased to be true before the article appeared. Nor was it altogether a +fortunate prediction that no organised State could be formed in Mexico, +which after the departure of the French became a stable Republic. +Paradoxical as the essay in some respects was, it is valuable as an +analysis of political ideas, and its concluding sentence is full of +suggestion even to minds which do not accept the opinions implied. +"Although," so it runs, "the theory of nationality is more absurd and +more criminal than the theory of Socialism, it has an important mission +in the world, and marks the final conflict, and therefore the end, of +two forces which are the worst enemies of civil freedom--the absolute +monarchy and the revolution." + +There is nothing in Sir John Acton's essay on "Nationality" which would +be likely to excite suspicion at the Court of Rome. But the _Home and +Foreign Review_ was known to be a Liberal as well as a Catholic organ. +It was marked by independence of tone, as well as by originality of +thought, and it soon fell under suspicion. Even its motto, _Seu vetus +est verum diligo sive {xxxi} novum_, "I love the truth, whether it be +old or new," was ambiguous. For how can Catholic truth be new? In the +month of August 1862, Cardinal Wiseman, the acknowledged head of the +Roman Catholic Church in England, received an address from his clergy. +His reply contained a severe censure of the _Home and Foreign Review_ +for the "absence of all reserve or reverence in its treatment of +persons or of things deemed sacred, its grazing even the very edges of +the most perilous abysses of error, and its habitual preference of +uncatholic to Catholic instincts, tendencies, and motives." The +particular charge of personal misrepresentation against which the +Cardinal protested has long since lost whatever interest it may once +have had. The general tone of Acton's remonstrance, made in his +editorial character and in the periodical condemned, illustrates his +attitude towards the Church to which he belonged. Of Wiseman he writes +not merely with the reverence due to his ecclesiastical rank, but with +the affection of an old pupil at Oscott. "In the Cardinal's support +and approbation of our work," he says, "we should recognise an aid more +valuable to the cause we are engaged in than the utmost support which +could be afforded to us by any other person." He then proceeds to +describe the foundation of the _Review_. "That foundation is a humble +faith in the infallible teaching of the Catholic Church, a devotion to +her cause which controls every other interest, and an attachment to her +authority which no other influence can supplant. If in anything +published by us a passage can be found which is contrary to that +doctrine, incompatible with that devotion, or disrespectful to that +authority, we sincerely retract and lament it. No such passage was +ever consciously admitted into the pages either of the late _Rambler_ +or of the _Review_." The aim of literature and the function of the +journalist are declared to be on a lower level than the work and duty +of the Church, {xxxii} though directed to the same ends as hers. "The +political and intellectual orders remain permanently distinct from the +spiritual. They follow their own ends, they obey their own laws, and +in doing so they support the cause of religion by the discovery of +truth and the upholding of right." These manly and sensible words are +followed by a still more eloquent and significant passage, which +expresses the deepest convictions of Acton's mind. "A political law or +a scientific truth may be perilous to the morals or the faith of +individuals; but it cannot on this ground be resisted by the Church.... +A discovery may be made in science which will shake the faith of +thousands; yet religion cannot regret it or object to it. The +difference in this respect between a true and a false religion is, that +one judges all things by the standard of their truth, the other by the +touchstone of its own interests. A false religion fears the progress +of all truth; a true religion seeks and recognises truth wherever it +can be found." + +When Acton wrote thus, the Darwinian controversy was at its height, and +many Protestants, who thought that they believed in the right of +private judgment, showed much less tolerance than he. Against the +timid faith which feared the light, against the false morality which +would do evil that good might come, Acton waged incessant war. Truth, +morality, and justice could not in his eyes be inconsistent with the +doctrines of the Church. If they appeared to be so, it must be because +the doctrines were erroneously expressed or imperfectly understood. To +identify the Church with a cause, with a party, with anything lower +than morality and religion, was a betrayal of duty and a surrender of +the fortress. The policy of the _Home and Foreign Review_, as +expounded by the editor, was to leave the domains of faith and +ecclesiastical government alone, but on all other matters to seek the +highest attainable certainty. The progress of political right {xxxiii} +and scientific knowledge, the development of freedom in the state and +of truth in literature, were its objects. Here for the time the +quarrel rested. It is not to be supposed that Pius the Ninth and his +advisers were satisfied with this lucid and pungent exposition of +Liberal principles. But Wiseman had learned from experience that the +interests of Catholicism in England were not promoted by a policy of +aggression, and he was aware that Sir John Acton spoke for most of +those Catholics who did not belong to the extreme or Ultramontane +school. For nearly two years Sir John remained editor of the _Home and +Foreign Review_. Then the final thunderbolt was launched by a higher +power than Wiseman. At the Congress of Munich in 1863 Acton's friend +and teacher, Professor Doellinger, delivered an eloquent plea for the +union of Christendom, lamenting the want of dogmatic standards among +Protestants, and at the same time urging Catholics "to replace the +mediaeval analytical method by the principle of historical development, +and to encounter scientific error with scientific weapons" (_Edinburgh +Review_, No. 404, page 513). Sir John Acton attended this congress, +and reported its proceedings to his _Review_. In March 1864 the Pope +addressed a brief to the Archbishop of Munich, in which he declared +that the opinions of Catholic writers were subject to the authority of +the Roman congregations. After this Acton felt that it was useless to +continue the struggle, or to carry on the _Home and Foreign Review_. +In a farewell article, entitled "Conflicts with Rome," he explained +that he was equally unable to admit the doctrines of the brief or to +dispute the authority which proclaimed them. In these circumstances he +had only one course to take. He could not abandon principles he +sincerely held. He could not reject the judgment of the Holy See +without committing the sin of apostasy. "The principles had not ceased +to be true, nor the authority to be legitimate, because the two were in +contradiction." {xxxiv} He could only sacrifice the _Home and Foreign +Review_. He regretted its discontinuance, because, while there were +plenty of magazines to represent science apart from religion, and +religion apart from science, it had been his special object to exhibit +the two in union. But he had no alternative, if he were to preserve +his intellectual honesty and also his loyalty to the Church. + +It would have been difficult to emerge with more credit from a +peculiarly painful and delicate position. The article, and with it the +last number of the _Review_, appeared in April 1864, when Sir John +Acton was thirty years of age. The surpassing prudence which +accompanied him from boyhood through life had no connection with +weakness nor timidity. It resulted from a very rare faculty of +apprehending all aspects of a question at once, and of keeping them +separate in his mind. In this same year 1864 Acton told one of his +parliamentary friends, now Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, that he had +never felt the slightest doubt about any dogma of the Catholic, meaning +the Roman Catholic, Church. A time was to come when his faith would be +more severely tried. But, independent as he had always been, Acton was +not formed by nature to be a leader of revolts. Moral or intellectual +anarchy was the last thing he desired. If he had been brought up a +Protestant, he would probably have remained one. In that case, +however, he would have seen the danger of private interpretation even +more clearly than the perils of dogmatic despotism. He would have +asked, if, as Bishop Butler says, we must judge of revelation itself by +reason, whose reason it was to be. + +At the close of the year 1864, the tenth anniversary of the date on +which he had himself proclaimed the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin +as a dogma, the Pope issued his Encyclical Letter against modern +thought. In the Syllabus of Errors which this epistle condemned, Pius +the Ninth, who had once been reckoned a {xxxv} Liberal, included the +heresy that the Holy See ought to seek reconciliation with progress, +with Liberalism, and with modern thought. He further pronounced that +the Catholic religion should be the exclusive religion of the State; +and that liberty of worship, and freedom of the Press, promoted moral +corruption and religious indifference. There was, he added, no hope +for the eternal salvation of those who did not belong to the true +Church. Although Sir John Acton had had some share in provoking the +publication of the Syllabus, he made no reply. He had withdrawn from +the controversy without surrendering either his faith as a Catholic or +his principles as a man. + +In 1865 Acton's connection with the House of Commons ceased, and in the +same year he married a Bavarian lady, the eldest daughter of Count +Arco-Valley. From this time too he abandoned the practice of regular +editing and reviewing, nor did he write again for avowedly Catholic +organs, though he was throughout the remainder of his life an +occasional contributor to secular organs on historical and theological +subjects. The popular idea that he wrote little, and passed his whole +time in reading or talking, is erroneous. That he did not put out much +in his own name is true. But the list of his anonymous articles fills +more than twenty pages of an octavo volume, and their variety is quite +as remarkable as their number. He read every new German book of the +smallest importance. In the _Home and Foreign Review_ alone there are +more than seventy critical notices from his pen. The pen, however, was +not the only instrument by which he imparted to others some fragments +from his vast stores of knowledge. To his neighbours, one can hardly +call them his constituents, in the little town of Bridgnorth, he +delivered several lectures, now out of print and scarce, which for +range and quality must have been very different from {xxxvi} anything +his audience had heard before. The first, delivered on the 18th of +January 1866, when he was still supposed to be Member for the borough, +is now only to be found in the _Bridgnorth Journal_ for the 20th. Its +subject is "The Civil War in America: Its Place in History." Nothing +can be more characteristic than the tone and temper of this discourse. +Though dated only a few months after the fall of Richmond, when, as +Acton says in one of these letters, he "broke his heart over the +surrender of Lee," it is as calm and judicial, not to say as dry, as if +he were investigating an antiquarian problem. Its dryness never +becomes dulness. Unless, however, the Literary and Scientific +Institution of Bridgnorth was far above the ordinary level of such +bodies, they must have been puzzled and perplexed by the paradoxical +subtlety which traced the causes of the war back to the birth of the +American Constitution. "Slavery," he said, "was not the cause of +secession, but the reason of its failure." Then what was the cause of +secession? According to Sir John Acton, it was the failure of +Jefferson, Hamilton, and their colleagues to provide against the +omnipotence of the majority, which he regarded as inconsistent with +true freedom. They might have answered, if they could have been heard, +that they had made the method of choosing a President indirect, and had +given the Supreme Court control even over Congress itself. The first +expedient had, no doubt, entirely failed, and the electoral college was +a mere machine for registering the popular vote. But the Supreme Court +was a substantial reality, and it had before the war decided that a +fugitive slave could be reclaimed by his master even in a free State. +Nobody will now dispute Sir John Acton's proposition that by the middle +of the nineteenth century slavery was an anachronism. Yet, if the +Southern States had been more instead of less numerous than the +Northern, {xxxvii} they would have probably won, and they would then +undoubtedly have set up a great Slave Power in the heart of western +civilisation. The immediate, or proximate, cause of hostilities was +not slavery, but the claim of South Carolina to secede from the Union. +Not till the third year of the war did Lincoln proclaim the abolition +of slavery. Yet without slavery there would have been no war. If not +the _causa causans_, it was the _causa sine qua non_. The value of Sir +John Acton's lecture lies chiefly in the ability with which he dissects +the American Constitution, and indicates, sometimes in the words of its +authors, its weak points. Whatever may be thought of his constructive +faculty, his critical acumen was not surpassed by any of his less +learned contemporaries. + +In 1867, and the early part of 1868, Sir John Acton wrote regularly for +the _Chronicle_, a weekly paper of high repute during its brief +existence, contributing a narrative of current events in Italy during +the period of Mentana and the second French occupation of Rome. On the +10th of March 1868 he lectured again at Bridgnorth on the Rise and Fall +of the Mexican Empire.[1] This is in my opinion the best popular +lecture that Acton ever gave, and I do not know where I could lay my +hands on a better. It is clear, spirited, eloquent, and so perfectly +well arranged that the whole story of Louis Napoleon's Mexican +Expedition, with its plausible pretext, and its miserable failure, was +told, not meagrely but completely, in the compass of an hour. The +joint intervention of England, France, and Spain in the affairs of +Mexico did not last long. Its object, like the object of the +Anglo-German intervention in Venezuela, was to obtain redress for +injuries to European residents, and payment of debts {xxxviii} due to +subjects of the three Powers. England and Spain soon discovered that +the French Emperor had quite other designs, being minded to substitute +a Mexican Empire for the Mexican Republic. Sir John Acton explained +why in his opinion, which has not been justified by experience, Mexico +was unable to stand alone. "A society so constituted could not make a +nation. There was no middle class, no impulse to industry, no common +civilisation, no public spirit, no sense of patriotism. The Indians +were not suffered to acquire wealth or knowledge, and every class was +kept in ignorance and in rigorous exclusion; when therefore the +Mexicans made themselves independent, the difficulty was to throw off +not the bondage but the nonage in which they had been held, and to +overcome the mental incapacity, the want of enterprise, the want of +combination among themselves, and of the enlightenment which comes from +intercourse with other nations. They formed a Republic after the model +of their more fortunate neighbours, and accepted those principles which +are so inflexible in their consequences, and so unrelenting in their +consistency." Between the Mexican Republic and the Republic of the +United States there is no doubt all the difference between Alexander +the Coppersmith and Alexander the Great. But Benito Juarez was both a +better and an abler man than Acton gave him credit for being, and his +successor, Porfirio Diaz, proved himself to be a most efficient ruler. +A Civil War in Mexico, simultaneous with Civil War in the United +States, gave Napoleon the opportunity he wanted. The one furnished a +pretext, the other removed a barrier, and it was not till long after +the Austrian Archduke Maximilian had been put upon his pinchbeck throne +that President Johnson was in a position to order the French troops out +of the American Continent. The poor Archduke himself, basely deserted +by the unscrupulous potentate who had sent him to his {xxxix} doom, +showed a chivalrous honour and an unselfish courage that fully justify +Acton's description of him as "almost the noblest of his race." The +lecture describes the pathetic isolation of Maximilian in a passage of +singular power. "There was nothing for him to look forward to in +Europe. No public career was open to the man who had failed so +signally in an enterprise of his own seeking. His position in Austria, +which had been difficult before, would be intolerable now. He had +quarrelled with his family, with his Church, and with the protector to +whose temptations he had hearkened. And for him there was to be no +more the happiness of the domestic hearth.[2] In Mexico there were no +hopes to live for, but there was still a cause in which it would be +glorious to die. There were friends whom he could not leave to perish +in expiation of measures which had been his work. He knew what the +vengeance of the victors would be. He knew that those who had been +most faithful to him would be most surely slaughtered; and he deemed +that he, who had never been seen on a field of battle, had no right to +fly without fighting. Probably he felt that when a monarch cannot +preserve his throne, nothing becomes him better than to make his grave +beneath its ruins." Sir John Acton closed his lecture with the +expression of a hope that the United States would not undertake the +government of Mexico. "A confederacy," he observed, "loses its true +character when it rules over dependencies; and a democracy lives a +threatened life that admits millions of a strange and inferior race +which it can neither assimilate nor absorb." The warning was unneeded, +for the days of American Imperialism were not yet. But the words have +a perennial wisdom which the new owners of the Philippines might find +it worth their while to consider. + +Sir John Acton stood again for Bridgnorth, this {xl} time +unsuccessfully, at the General Election of November, 1868. His +personal friend and political leader, Mr. Gladstone, became Prime +Minister in December of the same year, and his first legislative work +was the disestablishment of the Irish Church. With this policy Sir +John Acton, not as a Catholic, but as a Liberal, was in full and +complete sympathy. He regarded it as "no isolated fact, but an +indication of a change which is beginning to affect all the nations of +Christendom, and bears witness to the consciousness that political +obligation is determined, not by arbitrary maxims of expediency, but by +definite and consistent principles." "The political connection," he +added, that is, the Liberal party, "which, in spite of many errors and +shortcomings, has been identified with the development of our +constitutional liberties, and with the advance of science in our +legislation, has entered on a new phase of its existence. And it +follows a wise and resolute leader, at whose call the nation has +arisen, for the first time in history, to the full height of its +imperial vocation" (_Edinburgh Review_, No. 404, p. 516). + +Although, as has been said, Acton held that the two great political +questions of the time were first the relations of the Church with the +State, and secondly, the reform of the Land Laws, events were impending +which affected him for a time far more deeply than either. Believing, +as he did, that "the full exposition of truth is the great object for +which the existence of mankind is prolonged on earth," he could not +allow the Papal Syllabus to deter him from following truth with all the +knowledge and ability he could command. The _Chronicle_, for which he +had written so often, came to an end in 1868. But the same editor, Mr. +Wetherell, took over next year the _North British Review_, to which +Acton contributed a learned essay on the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, +marshalling the facts in favour of {xli} the theory that the murder of +the Huguenots had been premeditated at Rome. Researches such as these, +and the consequences which they involved, were not congenial to the +Vatican, nor to the personally amiable, dogmatically unbending Pontiff +who was still under the protection of foreign bayonets. But to no one +was Acton's freedom of speculation and inquiry more repugnant than to +the able and ambitious prelate who had succeeded Wiseman as Catholic +Archbishop of Westminster. Dr. Manning was at that time a rigid +supporter of extreme Ultramontane doctrine, and of authority as opposed +to freedom in opinion. With the ardent zeal of a convert, and a +convert, as his recent appointment (1865) showed, much in favour at +Rome, he strove to suppress the religious independence of the English +Catholics. But an historical controversy with Acton was a serious +affair. It resembled nothing so much as going in for a public +examination with a reasonable certainty of being plucked, and that +prospect did not smile upon dignified ecclesiastics impressed with a +due sense of their own importance. Moreover, Manning was already +absorbed in a policy which would put down moral and intellectual +rebellion in the Church of Rome once for all. + +So early as the 8th of December 1867 the Pope had signed a Bull, +convening the whole episcopate of his Church to an [OE]cumenical +Council at Rome in the same month of 1869. Although it was not +officially stated, it was perfectly well known, that the object of the +Council was to proclaim the infallibility of the still Sovereign +Pontiff. A famous book, emanating from Munich, "The Pope and the +Council," by "Janus," which from the Catholic point of view combated +the doctrine of Infallibility, received appreciative notice from Lord +Acton in the _North British Review_. This magazine, though +short-lived, and never very widely circulated, appealed more +successfully than any of its {xlii} contemporaries to the lettered and +learned class. Some of its articles, such as the essays of Thomas Hill +Green, the Hegelian philosopher of Balliol, occupy a permanent place in +the literature of metaphysics. The article on "The Pope and the +Council" was therefore sure to be read by those who, by voice or pen, +exercise an influence over the minds of others. The reviewer did not +mince his words. He pointed out to the bishops that they had already +committed themselves to a very grave extent. In 1854 they had allowed +the Pope to proclaim a new dogma, the Immaculate Conception. In 1862 +nearly all of them had pronounced in favour of the temporal power. In +1864 they accepted the Syllabus. In 1867 they expressed their +willingness to believe whatever the Pope might teach them. "Janus" had +passed lightly over the Council of Trent, the subject of a work by Fra +Paolo Sarpi which Macaulay considered second only in historical value +to the books of Thucydides. Lord Acton, who had much in common with +Fra Paolo, expressed his own view with unmistakable energy and force. +"The Council of Trent," he said, "impressed on the Church the stamp of +an intolerant age, and perpetuated by its decrees the spirit of an +austere immorality." It should be the object of the forthcoming +Council to reform, to remodel, and to adapt the work which had been +done at Trent. + +What actually happened was very different from that which Acton +desired, though not very different from what he expected. Sir John +went to Rome some time before the opening of the Council, full of +interest in the result, and full of sympathy with the distinguished +minority who were prepared to resist the forging of fresh chains upon +their freedom. Among this minority the most conspicuous was +Monseigneur Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, whose tragic death at the +hands of the Commune encircled his name with the halo of a martyr and a +saint. "The Archbishop of {xliii} Paris," wrote Acton, "had taken no +hostile step in reference to the Council, but he was feared the most of +all the men expected at Rome. The Pope had refused to make him a +Cardinal, and had written to him a letter of reproof, such as has +seldom been received by a bishop. It was felt that he was hostile, not +episodically to a single measure, but to the peculiar spirit of this +pontificate. He had none of the conventional prejudices and assumed +antipathy which are congenial to the hierarchical mind. He was without +pathos or affectation, and he had good sense, a perfect temper, and an +intolerable wit" (_Edinburgh Review_, No. 404, page 521). By the end +of December 1869 Darboy had exacted a promise that the dogma of +Infallibility would not be proclaimed by acclamation, so as to take the +majority by surprise. Lord Acton wrote frequent reports of the Council +and its proceedings, chiefly to Mr. Gladstone and Professor Doellinger, +some of which were afterwards collected and published as the "Letters +of Quirinus" in the _Allgemeine Zeitung_. Lord Acton considered that +the cause of the minority was lost when, on the 24th of April 1870, the +Council adopted the Supplement to the First Decree. This was to the +effect that the judgments of the Holy See must be observed, even when +they proscribe opinions not actually heretical. Lord Acton's comment +upon this vote of the episcopal majority does not lack incisiveness. +"They might," he wrote, "conceivably contrive to bind and limit +dogmatic infallibility with conditions so stringent as to evade many of +the objections taken from the examples of history; but in requiring +submission to Papal decrees on matters not articles of faith, they were +approving that of which they knew the character; they were confirming, +without let or question, a power they saw in daily exercise; they were +investing with new authority the existing bulls, and giving unqualified +sanction to the inquisitor and the index, to the murder {xliv} of +heretics and the deposing of kings. They approved what they were +called on to reform, and blessed with their lips what their hearts knew +to be accursed." + +A private letter to Mr. Gladstone, written a month before the first +meeting of the Council, shows how gloomy were Lord Acton's +apprehensions. "Everything," he says, "is prepared here for the +production of Papal infallibility, and the plan of operations is +already laid down in a way which shows an attentive study of Sarpi's +'History of the Council of Trent.' They are sure of a large majority." +A majority, however, would scarcely do. [OE]cumenical Councils, if not +absolutely unanimous, are supposed to attain that moral unanimity which +the insignificance of a minority implies. The attitude of the French, +and still more of the German and Austro-Hungarian bishops, inspired the +Vatican with some alarm. Darboy and Dupanloup were names known and +esteemed throughout the Catholic world. Bishops Strossmayer and +Hefele, the latter a man of prodigious learning, were still more +strongly opposed to the Papal policy than their French colleagues. +Against the expediency of promulgating the doctrine there was a +resolute and well-organised mass of opinion in the Council. There were +few prepared to call the doctrine itself false, and therefore ready to +resist it in the last extremity. To drive a wedge between the majority +of the minority and the minority of the minority was the obvious +tactics of the Pope and his Ultramontane advisers. "If the Court of +Rome is defeated," Lord Acton wrote, "it can only be by men of +principle and of science." He believed that a letter from Mr. +Gladstone, dealing with the secular side of the question, and with the +effect which the decree would have upon the future of English and Irish +Catholics, might do much to counteract the influence of Manning. It +was impossible for the English Premier to interfere directly with the +{xlv} affairs of another Church. But he allowed Lord Acton to state +what he thought about the effects of Ultramontanism on the prospects of +educational measures in England. Lord Acton estimated that the bishops +opposed to the expediency of the dogma were about two hundred in +number, while only as many score would vote against its truth. + +No sooner did the Council meet than regulations were issued which gave +the Pope the sole right of making decrees and defining dogmas. To this +the Council submitted. "The sole legislative authority," Lord Acton +wrote on the 1st of January 1870, "has been abandoned to the Pope. It +includes the right of issuing dogmatic decrees, and involves the +possession of all the Infallibility which the Church claims." "We have +to meet," he added, "an organised conspiracy to establish a power which +would be the most formidable enemy of liberty as well as science +throughout the world. It can only be met and defeated through the +Episcopate, and the Episcopate is exceedingly helpless." So it proved. +But Lord Acton, besides helping the minority with the resources of his +knowledge and the power of his logic, endeavoured to invoke the secular +arm. He was sanguine enough to hope that, as the Pope had +anathematised modern civilisation and progress, the governments of +Catholic and even of Protestant countries would take some steps in +self-defence. The opposition in the Council, he held, was "almost sure +to prevail if it were supported, and almost sure to be crushed if it +were not." The change of Ministry in France at the beginning of 1870, +and the substitution of M. Ollivier for M. Rouher, alarmed the Vatican, +although the French ambassador, the Marquis de Banneville, declared +that there would be no change of policy. De Banneville was wrong. The +new French Government announced that if the dogma were carried the +French troops would be recalled, although Cardinal Antonelli assured +Count Daru, {xlvi} the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, that the +Council was purely theological, and had nothing to do with secular +affairs. The threat, however, had no effect. The Pope had gone too +far to recede, and the forces of the opposition became daily weaker. +There was no hope, and no future, for those bishops who set themselves +against the majority of their colleagues and the head of their Church. +Except in France, they could not look for the protection of the +Government, and the French Emperor was a bruised reed. "Two days ago," +wrote Lord Acton on the 16th of February, "a definite message was sent +by the Emperor to Cardinal Antonelli, in which the Emperor declared +that he could not afford to have a schism in France, where all the +_employe_ class, all the literary class, and even the Faubourg St. +Germain are against the Infallibility of the Pope. He added that it +would dissolve all the engagements existing between France and Rome." +But Antonelli, a remarkably shrewd specimen of the Italian diplomatist, +calculated that if the bishops yielded, the rest of the practising +Catholics would follow them. In another passage of the same most +interesting letter Lord Acton says that the _Schema de Ecclesia_, +already adopted by the Council, "makes civil legislation on all points +of contract, marriage, education, clerical universities, mortmain, even +on many questions of taxation and common law, subject to the +legislation of the Church, which would simply be the arbitrary will of +the Pope. Most assuredly no man accepting such a code could be a loyal +subject, or fit for the enjoyment of political privileges. In this +sense the French bishops have written to the French Government, and +that is what they ask me to write to you." How deep an impression this +letter made upon Mr. Gladstone's mind became apparent when, a few years +afterwards, he entered into controversy with the Church of Rome. +Strange as it may seem, these Gallican prelates appealed through Lord +Acton to the Government {xlvii} of the Queen, seeing "no human remedy +for this peril other than the intervention of the Powers." But the +British Government could not have acted, even in concert with France, +unless they had been prepared to face a storm of indignation, +Protestant as well as Catholic, which no British interest required them +to encounter. + +After the decree of Infallibility had been produced, the German +prelates made an important protest against bishops without sees, +chiefly Roman Monsignori, being allowed to vote, and also complained, +in words furnished by Lord Acton himself, that the claim to enact +dogmas by a majority endangered the freedom, as well as the +universality, of the Council. But "the minority were in great +confusion and uncertainty, and disposed to rely on external help." +That help they never received. Lord Acton put the danger as strongly +as he could. Catholics, he declared, would "at once become +irredeemable enemies of civil and religious liberty. They would have +to profess a false system of morality, and to repudiate literary and +scientific sincerity. They would be as dangerous to civil society in +the school as in the State." But between Catholics who held that with +such matters it would be profane for any Protestant to meddle, and +Protestants who rejoiced that now at last the Catholics were coming out +in their true colours, the Cabinet, if they had taken Lord Acton's +advice, would have had an uneasy, and barely defensible, position. So +what Acton calls "this insane enterprise" of conferring upon the Pope +an unconditional and unlimited infallibility was suffered to proceed +without any political remonstrance from England. Mr. Odo Russell, +afterwards Lord Ampthill, Lord John's nephew, was instructed to keep +the Foreign Office informed of what happened the Council, but his +information was much less copious than Lord Acton's. He was not +instructed to do anything more, and officially he was a member of the +Legation at Florence. While other governments {xlviii} did nothing, +the Italian Government, in Lord Acton's opinion, made matters worse. +Their measures of what he called confiscation against the property of +the Church would, he thought, prevent some Italian bishops from voting +in the minority who would otherwise have been disposed to do so. Yet, +if Lord Acton were right in his description of the Papal policy, he +could hardly have been surprised that Liberal governments in Catholic +countries should regard the Church as an enemy. + +On the 15th of March 1870, a curious protest was presented to the +Council by some bishops of the United Kingdom. The substance of it is +thus described by Lord Acton: "They state that the English and Irish +Catholics obtained their emancipation, and the full privileges of +citizenship, by solemn and repeated declarations that their religion +did not teach the dogma now proposed; that these declarations made by +the bishops, and permitted by Rome, are, in fact, the conditions under +which Catholics are allowed to sit in Parliament, and to hold offices +of trust and responsibility under the Crown; and that they cannot be +forgotten or overlooked by us without dishonour." Lord Acton +complained bitterly of France because she maintained the temporal power +of the Pope, and excluded Italians from their national capital, by her +troops, while yet she would not attempt to restrain him from abusing +the jurisdiction she enabled him to exercise. "The religious houses +are suppressed, the schools of divinity reduced, the priesthood almost +starved, because France is determined to keep the Pope on his despotic +throne. It is a policy which degrades the Italian Government in the +eyes of the nation, nurses the revolutionary passion, and hinders the +independence of the country, and which can no longer be defended on the +score of religious liberty. The French Protectorate has become as +odious to Catholicism as to the {xlix} Italian State, and it is about +to prove as pernicious to other countries as it is to Italy." When a +division was taken on the dogma of Infallibility, 451 bishops voted +with the Pope, 88 against him, and 62 for further inquiry. Then the +minority gave up the struggle, and when, on the 18th of July, three +days after the declaration of war between France and Germany, the +principle was formally defined, only two bishops resisted the +acclamation of 533. A few weeks later the French troops left Rome, and +the temporal power was at an end. + +Such was the miserably futile result of the Opposition led by Darboy, +Dupanloup, Rauscher, Schwartzenberg, Kenrick, Conolly, Hefele, and +Strossmayer. They were borne down by the dead weight of numbers, and +the traditional authority of the Holy See. Catholics were offered the +choice of submission or excommunication. The official head of the +English Catholics, Manning, was among the most zealous supporters of +the Papacy. Newman deeply deplored, but humbly submitted. So even did +Strossmayer, the brave and eloquent Croat, who had been shouted down at +the Council in violent and abusive language when he denied that +Protestantism was the source of Atheism, and pleaded for the old +Catholic rule of unanimity. Doellinger, challenged by the Archbishop of +Munich to accept the decree, refused, and was cut off, like Spinoza, to +his eternal honour, from the congregation of the faithful. Lord Acton, +on the other hand, the stay and support of the minority throughout the +Council and before it, was not molested, perhaps because he was a +layman, perhaps because he was a peer. + +While he was at Rome, in November 1869, Acton had received from Mr. +Gladstone, and accepted, the offer of a barony. For a young man of +thirty-five this was a great and most unusual distinction. It was {l} +made all the greater by the fact that his name occurred in the first +list of such recommendations submitted by the Prime Minister to the +Queen. At that time the general public hardly knew Sir John Acton's +name. But he had all the usual qualifications for a peerage, except +wealth, being connected with the aristocracy by birth and marriage, the +head of an old English family, and the inheritor of an old English +baronetcy, who had gained six years' political experience in the House +of Commons. "His character," Mr. Gladstone wrote to the Queen, "is of +the first order, and he is one of the most learned and accomplished, +though one of the most modest and unassuming, men of the day" (Morley's +"Life of Gladstone," ii. 430). No praise could be better deserved, or +expressed with more studious moderation. Lord Acton pursued in the +House of Lords the same silent course that he had adopted in the House +of Commons. He remained, unlike many peers of Mr. Gladstone's +creation, faithful to the Liberal party, at that time, and for so many +years afterwards, led by his step-father, Lord Granville. + +Lord Acton was made an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy by the University +of Munich in 1872, the last year of the _North British Review_, after +which he ceased to write regularly for the Press. In 1873 a very +different honour was in contemplation. He had been consulted by Lord +Granville upon the European situation, then regarded as critical, and +showed such remarkable knowledge of it that the idea of sending him as +Ambassador to Berlin was seriously entertained (_Edinburgh Review_, No. +404, page 528). The appointment would in many ways have been +desirable, and in some unexceptionable. For Lord Acton was a born +diplomatist, and, though the German Emperor was a Protestant, half the +empire was Catholic. But the prize was apparently thought too high for +a man outside the diplomatic service who had filled no {li} other post +under the Crown. Lord Acton remained at home, and in 1874 found +himself suddenly once again in the thick of a theological battle. The +echoes of the Vatican Council, and of Papal pretensions, seemed to have +died away, when, in November 1874, Mr. Gladstone, freed from the +trammels of office, and regarding his leadership of the Liberal party +as near its close, startled the world by a pamphlet on "The Vatican +Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance." He had previously, in +an article on "Ritualism," contributed to the _Contemporary Review_, +expressed his opinion that Romanising in the Church of England was +least to be feared at a moment "when Rome had substituted for the proud +boast of _semper eadem_ a policy of violence and change in faith; when +she had refurbished and paraded anew every rusty tool she was fondly +thought to have disused; when no one could become her convert without +renouncing his moral and mental freedom, and placing his civil loyalty +and duty at the mercy of another; and when she had equally repudiated +modern thought and ancient history." While in this frame of mind, Mr. +Gladstone paid a visit to Munich, and had many long talks with the +venerable Professor Doellinger. The spectacle of a man so wise, pious, +learned, and holy under the ban of the Church seems to have kindled in +him a burning indignation against the authors of the Vatican decrees. +He wrote a pamphlet, and informed Lord Acton from Hawarden in October +that he meant to publish it. Lord Acton deprecated this step. He was +far nearer to Mr. Gladstone in opinion than he was to the Court of +Rome. But he had no desire to see the subject reopened, knowing that +the withdrawal of the decrees was impossible, and fearing that public +opinion might be dangerously excited against his fellow-Catholics by so +powerful an onslaught. He did not sufficiently allow for the great +progress in the direction of tolerance made since the passing of the +Ecclesiastical {lii} Titles Act, which Mr. Gladstone himself had +repealed three years before. The pamphlet appeared in November 1874, +and more than a hundred thousand copies of it were sold. The English +Catholics were disturbed. Some were indignant, and some were alarmed. +But in the end they were none the worse. On the contrary, Mr. +Gladstone did them a service by giving them an opportunity to declare +that they were, and always would be, as loyal and patriotic as their +Protestant countrymen. It is impossible not to trace in Mr. +Gladstone's pamphlet, as in the passage already cited from the +_Contemporary Review_, the effect of Lord Acton's letters from Rome in +1870. The substance of the argument is that the Catholics obtained +emancipation by denying that Papal infallibility was a dogma of their +Church, and that the Power which had changed their faith might change +their allegiance. The Vatican decrees reversed the policy of Clement +the Fourteenth, who, by overthrowing the supremacy of the Jesuits, had +"levelled in the dust the deadliest foes that mental and moral liberty +had ever known." Equality of civil rights should be maintained without +regard for religious differences. But Mr. Gladstone thought himself +entitled to ask the Catholics of England and Ireland whether they would +assist in the re-erection of the temporal power by force. Many were +the answers to this famous pamphlet. The most eloquent was Newman's. +The most hostile was Manning's. The most interesting was Acton's. It +is characteristic of Lord Acton's courage and candour that he should +have answered at all. He was regarded at Rome with something more than +suspicion, and nobody quite understood why he had escaped the fate of +Doellinger. There was nothing that Mr. Gladstone could say of the +decrees too strongly condemnatory to command his assent. But his +invincible integrity of mind would not allow him, for the sake of his +own peace, to acquiesce in the practical conclusions {liii} which Mr. +Gladstone drew from irrefragable premises. In several letters written +for the _Times_, one of them addressed personally to Mr. Gladstone, +Lord Acton gave the only reply which could in the circumstances be +given. Mr. Gladstone's reasoning was unassailable in argument. But +man is not a logical animal. People are sometimes better than their +principles, sometimes worse, very seldom consistent. As Mr. Gladstone +himself had said a few years before, "The limit of possible variation +between character and opinion--aye, between character and belief--is +widening and will widen." Lord Acton, with all his subtlety and all +his learning, could only take refuge in the old and familiar truth that +what a man will do cannot be inferred from what he believes. The +_Corpus Juris_, he said (_Times_, November 9, 1874), makes the murder +of Protestants lawful. Pius the Fifth justified the assassination of +Elizabeth. Gregory the Thirteenth condoned, or rather applauded, the +massacre of Saint Bartholomew (_Times_, November 24). Was it therefore +fair to assume that all Catholics who accepted the Vatican decrees, or +even all Ultramontanes, were potential murderers? "Communion with +Rome," he said at the same time, "is dearer to me than life." He +concluded his letters in dignified and moving sentences, which made a +deep and just impression upon Catholics and Protestants alike. "It +would be well if men had never fallen into the temptation of +suppressing truth and encouraging error for the better security of +religion. Our Church stands, and our faith should stand, not on the +virtues of men, but on the surer ground of an institution and a +guidance that are divine. I should dishonour and betray the Church if +I entertained a suspicion that the evidence of religion could be +weakened or the authority of councils sapped by a knowledge of the +facts with which I have been dealing, or of others which are not less +grievous or less certain because they remain untold." It was not to be +supposed that {liv} this language would give satisfaction to the +dominant party in the Church of Rome, which had already been much tried +by Lord Acton's energy behind the scenes during the Vatican Council. +An apology which was more injurious than the attack added fuel to the +flames. "If I am excommunicated," he wrote to Mr. Gladstone from +Aldenham on the 19th of December 1874, "I should rather say when I am." +Yet he was not. He satisfied his bishop, Browne of Shrewsbury, that he +was dogmatically sound, and that it would have been inconsistent with +his argument to attack the Vatican decrees. He had indeed accepted +them as the foundation of his case. What he wanted to show was that +neither the Jesuits nor the Inquisition, neither false doctrines nor +bad Popes, had made Catholics indifferent to the moral law. Manning, +now a Cardinal, was not so easily contented as Bishop Browne, or as +Bishop Clifford, who also absolved Lord Acton. His haughty and +commanding temper had been stimulated by promotion, and by the favour +of the Pope. It was one of his most cherished aims to humble the pride +of the old Catholic families, and make them feel the discipline of the +Church. He wrote three letters to Lord Acton, and received, it need +scarcely be said, the most courteous replies, which left him as wise as +he was before. But he went no further, and the correspondence was +never published. Manning was not without prudence, and he shrank from +proceeding to extremities with a man whose intellect was as keen as +his, and whose knowledge was vastly superior. It would not have cost +Lord Acton much research to produce a summary account of the +Inquisition, or a biographical sketch of selected Popes, which would +have done more to prove the soundness of his position than to edify the +Christian world. The new cardinal, if he had indulged in an historical +controversy with "Quirinus," might have emerged from it with less +credit to himself than amusement to the learned society of Europe. For +{lv} these, or for other reasons, he concluded to leave Lord Acton +alone. + +Henceforth, Lord Acton abandoned theological polemics, and devoted +himself to his true life, the life of a student. He loved truth too +much to love controversy for its own sake, and he was conscious that, +though he had escaped penalties, orthodox Catholics would not receive +his arguments without prejudice. Mr. Gladstone wrote another pamphlet, +in which, while maintaining his own position, he accepted the loyal +assurances of the Catholics as sincere, and with that the controversy +ceased. But in June 1876 Lord Acton wrote him a private letter, which +contains the clearest statement of his own opinion upon Ultramontanism +and Ultramontanes. "I have tried in vain," he wrote, "to reconcile +myself to your opinion that Ultramontanism really exists as a definite +and genuine system of religious faith, providing its own solutions of +ethical and metaphysical problems, and satisfying the conscience and +the intellect of conscientious and intelligent men. It has never been +my fortune to meet with an esoteric Ultramontane--I mean, putting aside +the ignorant mass, and those who are incapable of reasoning, that I do +not know of a religious and educated Catholic who really believes that +the See of Rome is a safe guide to salvation.... In short, I do not +believe there are Catholics who, sincerely and intelligently, believe +that Rome is right and that Doellinger is wrong. And therefore I think +you are too hard on Ultramontanes, or too gentle with Ultramontanism. +You say, for instance, that it promotes untruthfulness. I don't think +that is fair. It not only promotes, it inculcates, distinct mendacity +and deceitfulness. In certain cases it is made a duty to lie. But +those who teach this doctrine do not become habitual liars in other +things." + +With this plain and straightforward language we may leave Lord Acton as +a theologian, and pass to {lvi} other aspects of his busy life. His +great work should have been, and was intended to be, a History of +Liberty. For that purpose his library at Aldenham was collected, and +to frame different definitions of liberty was one of his favourite +pastimes. He loved liberty with all the ardour of Milton, and +investigated it with all the science of Locke. Even Liberalism, which +may be thought an inferior thing, was with him "the beginning of real +religion, a condition of interior Catholicism" (Acton to Gladstone, +March 22, 1891). This History was never written, nor even begun. All +that there is of it, all that there ever was of it, except books and +notes, materials for others to use, consists of two lectures delivered +at Bridgnorth in the year 1877. One was called "The History of Freedom +in Antiquity," and the other "The History of Freedom in Christianity." +These lectures are exceedingly rare, and the only copies I have seen +are in the British Museum. If the audience listened to them with +pleasure, and absorbed them with ease, they had intellects of unusual +calibre, and employed them to the best advantage. Read carefully and +at leisure, they are full of suggestion and of insight. Their fault is +that, in homely phrase, they pour a quart of liquor into a pint pot. +They are so much crowded with names and references, that to follow the +chief thread of the argument is made needlessly hard. "It would be +easy," the Bridgnorth Institute was told, "to point out a paragraph in +St. Augustine, or a sentence of Grotius, that outweighs in influence +the Acts of fifty Parliaments; and our case owes more to Cicero and +Seneca, to Vinet and Tocqueville, than to the laws of Lycurgus, or the +five codes of France." The sentence and the paragraph should have been +pointed out. Something should have been said, if not about Vinet and +Tocqueville, at least about Cicero and Seneca. A geographer may have +too many names in his map, and a learned man may condense his knowledge +until it has {lvii} no meaning for those who know less than himself. +But, on the other hand, these lectures contain passages at once lucid +and worth their weight in gold, which could only have come from a mind +at once acute, meditative, and well stored. Such, for instance, is the +declaration, "By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be +protected in doing what he believes his duty against the influence of +authority and majorities, custom and opinion." "Liberty," proceeds the +lecturer, "is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the +highest political end.... A generous spirit prefers that his country +should be poor, and weak, and of no account, but free, rather than +powerful, prosperous, and enslaved. It is better to be the citizen of +a humble commonwealth in the Alps than a subject of the superb +autocracy that overshadows half of Asia and of Europe." This will seem +a hard saying to many, and it is indeed far removed from the sensual +idolatry of mere size that vulgarises modern Imperialism. But it was +with Lord Acton a fundamental principle, and it is not the size of +Periclean Athens, or of Elizabethan England, which made them +imperishably great. "It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it +is worse to be oppressed by a majority." Worse, because more +desperate, with less hope of rebellion, or escape. We must look, Lord +Acton warns us, to substance and essence, not to form and outward show. +The martyrdom of Socrates was the act of a free Republic, and it was +Caaesar who liberated Rome from the tyranny of Republican institutions. +The fault of the classical State was that it tried to be Church and +State in one, and thus infringed upon individualism by regulating +religion. The three things wanting in ancient liberty were +representative government, emancipation of slaves, and freedom of +conscience. In Christian times Thomas Aquinas anticipated the theory +of the Whig Revolution. The worst enemy of freedom in modern times was +that mock hero of sham greatness, {lviii} Louis Quatorze. The only +known forms of liberty are Republics and Constitutional Monarchies. +"It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their +own business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven for the acts +of the State, ideas long locked in the breast of solitary thinkers and +hidden away in Latin folios, burst forth like a conqueror upon the +world they were destined to transform under the title of the Rights of +Man." Ever since his visit to America in the days of President Pierce, +if not before, Acton had made a special study of the American +Constitution in its strength and its weakness, in the amplitude of its +safeguards, and in its fatal want of elasticity. A Monarchy cannot be +too constitutional. But a too constitutional Republic is a difficult +machine to work. England, said a French critic, is a Republic with an +hereditary President: the United States are a Monarchy with an elected +King. + +From this time forward Lord Acton wrote less, and read, if possible, +more. Dr. Shaw's careful Bibliography, my obligations to which I have +already acknowledged, contains nothing between 1877 and 1885 except a +review of Sir Erskine May's "Democracy in Europe" for the _Quarterly_ +of January 1878. Sir Erskine May, the well-known Clerk of the House, +was a pleasant and popular writer, who dealt largely in +generalisations, and sometimes condescended to platitudes. He was an +earnest Liberal, though his office imposed some restraint upon his +opinions, and it is creditable to the impartiality of the late Sir +William Smith that he should have allowed a Liberal critic to deal with +a Liberal author in the traditional organ of Conservatism. He +certainly had his reward. For it would be difficult to find in the +_Quarterly Review_ from the days of Gifford and Southey to our own an +article of more fascinating interest and more solid value than this +masterly essay, which its author never took the trouble to republish. +{lix} Notwithstanding Lord Acton's minute and conscientious accuracy in +points of detail, he is always best and most characteristic in broad, +luminous inferences from large masses of history and long periods of +time. He contented himself on this occasion with a few civil remarks +about the public servant who made so industrious a use of his leisure, +and devoted the rest of his space, which was far too small, to a +comparison or contrast of democracy with freedom. He showed that for +eleven hundred years, from the first Constantine to the last, the +Christian Empire was as despotic as the pagan; that it was Gregory the +Seventh who made the Papacy independent of the empire; that Luther +bequeathed as his political testament the doctrines of Divine right and +passive obedience; and that Spanish Jesuits, in arguing against the +title of Henry the Fourth to the throne of France, had anticipated the +doctrines of Milton, Locke, and Rousseau. Passing on, with the ease of +a man at home in all periods of history, to the dynastic change of +1688, he described the Whig settlement not as a Venetian oligarchy, but +as an aristocracy of freeholders, while from the American rebellion of +the following century he drew the moral that a revolution with very +little provocation may be just, and a democracy of very large +dimensions may be safe. The defect in the principles of 1789 was that +they exalted equality at the expense of liberty, and subjected the free +will of the individual to the unbridled power of the State. + +After 1879 Lord Acton ceased to live at his country house in +Shropshire, dividing the months when he was not in London between +Germany and the Riviera. Besides his great Library at Aldenham, there +was a smaller but complete library in each of his three houses. He +usually spent the winter at Cannes, and the autumn in Bavaria, at +Tegernsee, which belonged to the family of his wife. This {lx} +cosmopolitan existence was by no means uncongenial to him, and, +correspondence apart, he was not cut off from his English friends. +Cannes in the season is as much English as French, and when Lord Acton +was in London he made the best use of his time. The hours he spent in +reading were so disposed that he could enjoy at the close of the day +the sort of society he liked best. He was a member of Grillions, and +of The Club. He knew almost everybody worth knowing, and no one so +fond of study was ever more sociable. But, as these letters show, the +man whom above all others he esteemed and revered was Mr. Gladstone. +Mr. Gladstone, with characteristic humility, always deferred to Lord +Acton's judgment in matters historical. On the other hand, Lord Acton, +the most hypercritical of men, and the precise opposite of a +hero-worshipper, an iconoclast if ever there was one, regarded Mr. +Gladstone as the first of English statesmen, living or dead. The +reason for this opinion will be found in the following pages. The +opinion itself is not the less important because Lord Acton was in many +respects cautious to a fault, and had little of the enthusiasm which +sustained his idol. Except Doellinger, "the glory of Catholic +learning," as Mr. Bryce well calls him, there was no other contemporary +for whom Lord Acton felt unqualified reverence. Mere oratory had not +much effect upon him, even if it were John Bright's or the Duke of +Argyll's. Admiring, as he could not but admire, the charm and power of +Newman's style, he considered Newman himself to be a "sophist, the +manipulator, and not the servant, of truth." Knowing Mr. Gladstone +from the inside, as few outside his own family knew him, he felt his +simplicity as well as his greatness, and realised that he had no object +except to learn what was true, and to do what was right. In politics +there was no difference between the two men, unless it were that Lord +Acton could never {lxi} quite forgive Mr. Gladstone's eulogistic +tribute to the memory of Lord Beaconsfield. Even in religion that +which divided them was small indeed when compared with that which +united them. Lord Acton was as staunch a believer in religious liberty +as any Protestant, and no Catholic could desire more fervently the +reunion of Christendom. In politics, as I have said, the sympathy was +complete. Unlike most Catholics, Acton had been in favour of Italian +independence, so dear to Mr. Gladstone's heart. He had always belonged +to the school of Liberals who put the rights of the individual above +the claims of the State, and he had as little liking for Socialism as +Mr. Gladstone himself. He held in utter detestation the foreign policy +of Lord Beaconsfield, and that temper of mind which goes by the cant +term of "Jingoism." No one rejoiced more heartily over the Liberal +victory of 1880, or attributed it more exclusively to Mr. Gladstone. +No one worked harder to keep him at the head of the Liberal party, and +no one can have foreseen more clearly the disastrous consequences of +his final retirement. Perhaps the nearest approach to a schism between +Lord Acton and his political chief was that each had a favourite +novelist, and that neither would acknowledge the transcendent merits of +the rival. Lord Acton was unjust to Scott. Mr. Gladstone underrated +George Eliot. Lord Acton's estimate of George Eliot may be found in +some of the ensuing letters, and in the _Nineteenth Century_ for March +1885. This article, one of the most elaborate Lord Acton ever wrote, +was translated into German, and, so far as the general public were +concerned, might as well have appeared in that language at first. It +is an extreme and provoking instance of the writer's passion for +condensation, reference, and innuendo. It is well worth the trouble of +reading, although fiction is not the province in which Lord Acton's +opinion was most {lxii} valuable. But the trouble is due to congested +sentences, and might easily have been spared. + +When in 1886 Mr. Gladstone made his great attempt to settle the Irish +question by Home Rule, Lord Acton gave him a zealous and cordial +support. Although, as we have seen, he was far from holding the +doctrine of nationality in an unqualified form, he had grasped for many +years with increasing strength the conviction that Ireland could be +orderly and peaceably governed by Irishmen alone. So far back as +October 1881, when the Liberal Government and the Land League were in +open hostility, and Mr. Parnell was arrested under the Coercion Act, he +wrote, "The treatment of Home Rule as an idea conceivably reasonable +(in the speech at Leeds) which was repeated at the Guildhall, delighted +me." There were not many readers besides Lord Acton who discerned at +that time the trend of Mr. Gladstone's ideas. But a very few months +later, in February 1882, Mr. Gladstone, speaking on the Address, used +language of a much more significant kind, to Lord Acton's great +delight. "I have long wished," he wrote on the 20th of February, "for +that declaration about self-government.... The occasion last week gave +extraordinary weight to the words.... The risk is that he may seem to +underrate the gravity of a great constitutional change in the +introduction of a federal element." Lord Acton, it will be observed, +much as he desired the change, did not ignore its risks, or even its +perils. When the decisive moment came, which Mr. Morley has described +with so much eloquence and power ("Life of Gladstone," vol. iii. pp. +311-12), Lord Acton sounded a note of warning in the midst of his +felicitations. "From the point of view of the ages," he wrote on the +18th of March 1886, "it is the sublime crown of his work, and there is +a moral grandeur about it which will, I hope, strengthen and console +him under any amount of difficulty, and even disaster." It was {lxiii} +this faculty of seeing the case against his own most deeply cherished +principles and predilections which made Lord Acton so valuable a friend +and counsellor to Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Gladstone's splendid enthusiasm, +and indomitable optimism, sometimes led him to ignore obstacles against +which he might have provided. Acton, whose temperament was critical, +as his mind was judicial, pointed out, with the sincerity of true +friendship, though with unfailing tact, the clouds above, and the rocks +ahead. No man admired Mr. Gladstone more. No man flattered him less. + +The following letter to Mrs. Drew expresses his opinion at the time, +and also the judgment of a distinguished Italian statesman who was +always friendly to England:-- + + +"Your letter comes in the midst of the living echoes of the speech, and +of the uncertainty that follows, and does not quite relieve my feeling +of apprehension. Rome is not a good place for accurate news, and I +hope for more letters at Cannes in a couple of days. My old friend, +Minghetti, is sinking under an incurable illness. The other night, +when several people were attacking me about the Irish Bill, he said, +very solemnly and in his best Italian: 'The one will be happy even if +he fails, and the other will repent even of his success.' The other +was Bismarck. Next morning came Herbert's letter saying that he feels +that for himself the best thing would be defeat. + +"I hope that there is not any real inconsistency in my language or in +my thoughts at this crisis. I am more decidedly in favour of the +principle of the measure than anybody; and there can hardly be one +among your father's friends who urged it more decidedly, though some +followed more or less contentedly. The Bill is better than I sometimes +expected it to be, on one or {lxiv} two important points. It is not +only right in my eyes, but glorious as the summit of his career, and if +I was on the spot I should be the warmest and the most convinced of its +supporters. + +"But what makes it more admirable to me is that the stimulus is not +hope but duty; that it is very much more clearly dictated by principle +than by expediency, that the supreme motive is not strongly sustained +by sordid calculation. I do not see a real likelihood of its +succeeding in this Session, and I am not sanguine about success in +Ireland. + +"Arguments founded on the presumed good qualities of the Irish do not +go very far with me, and I am ready to find the vices of the national +character incurable. Especially in a country where religion does not +work, ultimately, in favour of morality; therefore I am not hopeful, +and it is with a mind prepared for failure and even disaster that I +persist in urging the measure." + + +His adhesion to the cause, though it had no weight with the mass of +electors, who did not know his name, had a deep meaning of another +kind. When many men of the lettered, scientific, and learned classes +left the Liberal party rather than vote for Home Rule, one of the few +English names that enjoyed a European reputation did something to +counterbalance others which were paraded so often that they seemed +indefinitely numerous. + +Lord Acton, however, did not come forward as a popular champion of Home +Rule, for which he could have furnished a host of historic precedents. +In the sphere of action he was too apt to distrust himself. The House +of Lords was not favourable for the purpose, and he never appeared on +public platforms. He was more congenially occupied in founding the +_English Historical Review_, of which the late Bishop Creighton, then +Professor of Ecclesiastical History at {lxv} Cambridge, was the first +editor. In 1887 he criticised, not without severity, the third and +fourth volumes of the editor's great work on the Papacy. Some editors +might have demurred to the insertion of the article. But Creighton was +far above all petty and personal feelings of that or any kind. Among +the other books noticed by Acton in the _Historical Review_ were +Seeley's "Life of Napoleon," Bright's "History of England" (by the +Master of University), and Bryce's "American Commonwealth." Academic +honours were now coming in rapid succession. In 1888 Lord Acton was +made an Honorary Doctor of Laws at Cambridge, in 1889 a Doctor of Civil +Law at Oxford, and in 1890 an Honorary Fellow of All Souls, thereby +becoming Mr. Gladstone's colleague. For a man who had published +scarcely anything in his own name these compliments were as rare as +they were just. + +When Mr. Gladstone formed his final Administration in 1892, Lord Acton +was appointed a Lord-in-Waiting to the Queen. This may seem a singular +method of rewarding literary merit. But the circumstances were +peculiar. Lord Acton was desirous of showing his devotion to the Prime +Minister, and his belief in the cause of Home Rule. His Parliamentary +career had not been distinguished enough for more purely political +office, and I am told by those who understand such matters that the +lowness of his rank in the Peerage precluded him from a higher place in +the Household. The incongruity, however, though Lord Acton felt it +himself, was not quite so great as it looked. Besides their month's +attendance at the Court, the Lords-in-Waiting are sometimes employed to +represent public departments in the House of Peers, and Lord Acton +represented the Irish Office for the Chief Secretary, Mr. Morley. In +that character he showed, when occasion came, that his {lxvi} long +silence in Parliament had not been due to incapacity for public +speaking. At Windsor he was agreeable to the Queen from his German +tastes and sympathies, not to mention the fact that he could speak +German as fluently as English. Every moment of leisure during his +"wait" there was spent in the Castle library. Yet the position was an +unnatural one, and Lord Acton soon became anxious to escape from it. +His thoughts turned to his favourite Bavaria, and he humbly suggested +the Legation at Stuttgart as a possible sphere. + +But something infinitely better than any political or diplomatic post +remained for this born student and truly learned man. In 1895, just a +year after Mr. Gladstone's resignation, Sir John Seeley, Professor of +Modern History at Cambridge, departed this life. The Chair was in the +gift of the Crown, that is, of the Prime Minister, and Lord Rosebery +appointed Lord Acton. The appointment was singularly felicitous, and +the opportunity came in the nick of time. For the Liberal Government +was tottering to its fall, and Lord Salisbury was not wont to overlook +the claims of political supporters. Lord Rosebery's choice was bold +and unexpected. But it was more than successful; it was triumphant. +Lord Acton was of the same age as his predecessor, and it is a +dangerous thing for a man to begin the business of teaching at sixty. +An academic Board would not have had the courage to appoint Lord Acton. +They would have dreaded his want of experience. The advantage of +retaining a connection of this kind with the State is that a Minister, +rising above the purely academic point of view, will sometimes overlook +or ignore technical disqualifications in favour of learning or genius. +Even Cambridge herself was at first a little startled by the nomination +of this famous, but rather mysterious stranger. Lord Acton had to make +his own way, and he was not long in making it. The opening {lxvii} +sentences of his Inaugural Lecture on the Study of History put him at +once on good terms with his audience, and through his audience with the +University. "I look back to-day," he said (June 11, 1895), "to a time +before the middle of the century, when I was reading at Edinburgh, and +fervently wishing to come to this University. At three Colleges I +applied for admission, and, as things then were, I was refused by all. +Here, from the first, I vainly fixed my hopes, and here, in a happier +hour, after five-and-forty years, they are at last fulfilled." It is +probable that the happiest hours of Lord Acton's life were spent at +Cambridge. As the writer in the _Edinburgh Review_, so often quoted, +says, "He loved Cambridge from his soul; loved the grounds and the +trees, the buildings and the romance of the old colleges, the treasures +of the libraries, the intercourse with scholars." In his first lecture +he tried to find some point of agreement with Seeley. But their views +of History were fundamentally different. To Seeley, History was purely +political. In Lord Acton's view it included social and intellectual +movements neither propelled nor impeded by the State. Lord Acton +reckoned Modern History as beginning with the close of the fifteenth +century, "when Columbus subverted the notions of the world, and +reversed the conditions of production, wealth, and power; Machiavelli +released Government from the restraint of law; Erasmus diverted the +current of ancient learning from profane into Christian channels; +Luther broke the chain of authority and tradition at the strongest +link; and Copernicus erected an invincible power that set for ever the +mark of progress upon the time that was to come." That "history is the +true demonstration of religion" was one of the maxims which Lord Acton +impressed upon his pupils at the first opportunity. But perhaps the +most characteristic feature of the discourse is his insistence upon the +necessity of keeping {lxviii} up the moral standard. Better, he +exclaimed, err, if at all, on the side of rigour. For "if we lower our +standard in history, we cannot uphold it in Church or State." When +this brilliant and fascinating lecture came to be published, it was +unfortunately encumbered by more than a hundred notes, all quotations, +many of which merely expressed Lord Acton's meaning in language less +forcible than his own. "As if," says Macaulay of some pointless +reference to a Greek play by a Shakespearean commentator, "as if only +Shakespeare and Euripides knew that mothers loved their children." +Lord Acton was rather too apt to think that an expression of opinion, +like a statement of fact, required an authority to support it. + +Even under the stimulus of Cambridge Lord Acton did not work quickly. +During the five years of his active professorship he only delivered two +courses of lectures. The first was on the French Revolution. The +second was on Modern History as a whole. He would naturally and by +preference have begun with the more general subject. But the +exigencies of the Tripos, or of the Curriculum, prevailed, and the +thoroughbred animal was put, not for the first time in this world, into +the harness of a hack. Lord Acton's lectures were, as they were bound +to be, crowded. But they were only a small part of what he did for +Cambridge. An Honorary Fellow of Trinity, he received graduate or +undergraduate visitors with equal courtesy and kindness at his rooms in +Nevill's Court. To them, and to any one who could appreciate it, he +would always readily impart the knowledge he had spent his life in +acquiring. He was not merely a willing answerer of questions, and a +generous lender of books. He had boxes full of the notes he had made +since boyhood, each box appropriated to its peculiar subject, and these +notes were at the disposal of all historical {lxix} students who could +make a proper use of them. His pupils were, as Mr. Bryce puts it, +"awed by the majesty of his learning." "When Lord Acton answers a +question put to him," said one of them, "I feel as if I were looking at +a pyramid. I see the point of it clear and sharp, but I see also the +vast subjacent mass of solid knowledge."[3] + +The following letter from Dr. Henry Jackson, Fellow of Trinity, for +which my warmest thanks are due to the distinguished writer, will be +interesting to all who desire to know more of Lord Acton's Cambridge +life:-- + + +"You ask me for information about Acton's life and work at Cambridge. +I am not competent to write anything systematic about either the one or +the other; but it is a pleasure to me to put down some of my +recollections and impressions, and I shall be glad if my jottings are +of any use to you. + +"When Seeley died in 1895, my first thought was--'If they are good to +us, they will send us Acton;' but I hardly hoped that he would be +thought of, and I did not expect that, if he had the offer, he would +accept it. So the news of his appointment was to me a very joyful +surprise. When he came, he appeared heartily to like his new +surroundings--his rooms at Trinity, the collegiate life, the informal +conversation, his lectures, his pupils, and the University library. +Quietly but keenly observant of men and things, he was very soon +completely at home in the University, with which, as he related in his +inaugural lecture, he had wished to connect himself forty years before. + +"In hall, in combination-room, and where men smoked and talked, he took +an unobtrusive but effective part in conversation. His utterances, +always terse and epigrammatic, were sometimes a little oracular: {lxx} +'I suppose, Lord Acton,' said some one interrogatively, 'that +So-and-so's book is a very good one?' 'Yes,' was the reply; 'perhaps +five per cent. less good than the public thinks it.' But a casual +question not seldom drew from him an acute comment, an interesting +reminiscence, or a significant fact. 'When was London in the greatest +danger?' asked some one rather vaguely. 'In 1803,' was the immediate +answer, 'when Fulton proposed to put the French army across the Channel +in steamboats, and Napoleon rejected the scheme.' + +"Others will tell you of his influence upon the historical studies of +the University, of his help given freely to teachers and to learners, +and of his judgment and skill in planning and distributing the sections +and the subsections of the 'Modern History,' which he did not live to +edit. He was an active member of the committee which recommends books +for purchase by the University Library. But, in general, he shunned +the routine of business. Even at the Library Syndicate, though he +followed the proceedings attentively, he seldom or never took part in +discussion or voted. Indeed, I thought that I noticed in him a paradox +which extended beyond the limits of academic affairs. On the one hand, +he was observant of everything, and he made up his mind about +everything. On the other hand, except where supreme principles--Truth, +Right, Toleration, Freedom--were in question, he was cautious and +reserved in the expression of opinion, and he always preferred to leave +action to others. + +"Like other specialists, I found that my own study had not escaped his +attention. He had a good general knowledge of the work done by modern +students of ancient philosophy, and his criticisms of them showed a +sound, clear, and independent judgment. One or two trifling incidents +seemed to me significant. The first time that he came to my rooms, +looking quickly along {lxxi} a bookshelf, he soliloquised: 'I never +knew that Bonitz had translated the _Metaphysics_.' It surprised me, +not that Acton did not know of the posthumous publication of this work, +but that he expected to remember all that a specialist in Greek +philosophy had written. On another occasion he was talking of German +professors--first of professors of history, afterwards of others. He +could tell us about all: he had heard many. At last it occurred to me +to ask him about a forgotten scholar who had written a treatise about +Socrates. The book was in no way important, but it had given me a very +agreeable impression of the writer's personality. I found that Acton +had known the man, had attended his lectures, and could testify to the +personal attraction which I had surmised. + +"When Acton died, writers of obituary notices appeared to regard him as +one who, while he devoured books and accumulated facts, passed no +judgments, framed no generalisations, and cherished no enthusiasms; and +I fancied that Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, in his very interesting +letter to the _Spectator_, unconsciously encouraged this +misapprehension. Nothing could well be further from the truth. To me +it seemed that Acton never read of an action without appraising its +significance and morality, never learnt a fact without fitting it into +its environment, and never studied a life or a period without +considering its effect upon the progress of humanity. + +"His judgments were severe but just. Neither glamour of reputation nor +splendour of achievement blinded him to moral iniquity. He had a +wealth of righteous indignation which upon occasion blazed out +fiercely. 'Are you aware,' he once asked, 'that Borromeo was a party +to a scheme of assassinations?' 'But,' said some one, 'must we not +make allowance for the morality of the time?' 'I make no allowance for +that sort of thing,' was the emphatic answer; and {lxxii} the contrast +with the measured and sedate tones of Acton's ordinary utterance made +the explosion all the more impressive. + +"This righteous indignation carried with it a corresponding +appreciation of anything good. I remember well how he told me the +supplement to the old story of the Copenhagen signal--that Parker made +it with the expressed intention of relieving Nelson from +responsibility, but in the confident expectation that, if skill and +daring could do anything, Nelson would disobey. Acton could admire +Parker's magnanimity as well as Nelson's genius. + +"It would be presumption in me to say anything about Acton's historical +attainments; but I may note one or two peculiarities which I noticed in +his attitude to the study. History, as he conceived it, included in +its scope all forms of human activity; so that scholars whom others +would describe as theologians or jurists were in his eyes great +departmental historians. This, I thought, was the explanation of his +miscellaneous reading; for he was always methodical, never desultory. + +"But despite this width of view, he did not grudge the expenditure of +time and trouble upon details. On the contrary, he would not only +ransack archives, but also interrogate those who had witnessed, or been +concerned in, great events. Of course he minutely scrutinised and +scrupulously weighed the testimony thus obtained; but when once he was +satisfied of the accuracy of his information, he was prepared to use it +for the interpretation and explanation of documentary evidence. + +"Acton could never have written anything which was not literature of a +high order--dignified, incisive, vigorous; and yet history was to him, +not literature, but political philosophy; not an interesting narrative, +but a scientific study of cause and effect. He had, {lxxiii} however, +no faith in political forecasts about anything more than the immediate +future. + +"It is impossible not to regret that Acton has not made his mark in +literature as the writer of a great book, or in politics as a great +statesman; but he preferred to _know_, and the men who know as Acton +knew are few. The world is the richer whilst they are with us, and the +poorer when they go. Acton will not be forgotten at Cambridge." + + +A brilliant and penetrating judgment of Lord Acton's services to +Cambridge was paid in the _Cambridge Review_ a few months after his +death (October 16, 1902) by Professor Maitland, who had been associated +with him in preparing the "Cambridge History" as a Syndic of the Press. +Himself one of the most learned men in the University, Mr. Maitland was +amazed by the extent of Lord Acton's range. "If," he writes, with a +laudable wish to avoid extravagance, "we recall the giants of a past +time, their wondrous memories, their encyclopaedic knowledge, we must +remember also how much that Lord Acton knew was for them practically +unknowable." His reading was not for amusement. His daily consumption +of a German octavo meant mastery of the book, with copious notes in a +neat handwriting on slips of paper, which were always, like his books, +at the disposal of his pupils. He "toiled," as Professor Maitland +says, "in the archives, hunting the little fact that makes the +difference." He was "deeply convinced that the history of religion +lies near the heart of all history," while it was his fate to be +suspected by Catholics as a Liberal, and by Liberals as a Catholic. +"This man," I again quote the Professor, "who has been called a miser +was in truth a very spendthrift of his hard-earned treasure, and ready +to give away in half-an-hour the substance of an unwritten book." Some +writers, especially bad writers, do not shine in conversation, because +{lxxiv} they are keeping their best things for the public. Lord Acton +would pour out to a sympathetic listener the most recondite history, +or, on a different occasion, the spiciest gossip, if that were the +commodity in demand. So far as knowledge and power went, and if time +had served, Professor Maitland is convinced that Lord Acton could +himself have written all the twelve volumes of the "Cambridge History." +The "History" is his best memorial. Another memorial is the famous +Aldenham Library, bought by Mr. Carnegie, and presented by Mr. Morley +to the University of Cambridge. + +The article which I have ventured to associate with the name of +Professor Maitland is signed "F.W.M.," a signature which the writer +would not have adopted if he had desired to preserve his anonymity. +The authorship of a letter signed "H.J.," and written from Cambridge, +which appeared almost simultaneously in the _Daily News_, is not more +difficult to identify. "H.J.'s" words are a memorable and eloquent +protest against the ignorant fancy that Lord Acton spent his life in +the mere accumulation of learning. The exact opposite, as he says, was +the truth. Lord Acton "was no mere Dryasdust: he was a watchful +observer of men and affairs. If he studied the detail of history, it +was in order that he might the better elicit its significance and its +teaching. He was slow to express an opinion; but in his judgments +there was never any indecision. In the advocacy of intellectual +freedom he was eager: in the denunciation of tyranny and persecution he +was at a white heat. He was a man who loved to prove all things, and +to hold fast that which is good." Every one who knew Lord Acton, or at +least every one who could appreciate him, must recognise the justice +and fidelity of this eloquent tribute. But it was at Cambridge that he +put forth to the utmost the whole power of his mind. It was at +Cambridge that he showed most clearly how his whole {lxxv} life had +been devoted to the cause of freedom and of truth. It was there that +he planned the "Cambridge History" in twelve volumes, of which two, the +first and the seventh, have already appeared. Unhappily they were +posthumous. Lord Acton did not live to see them, nor to write the +Introduction. At the age of sixty-seven he was suddenly struck down by +paralysis, and, after lingering for more than a year, died at Tegernsee +on the 19th of June 1902. He was "buried by the side of the daughter +whose deathbed he had comforted with the words, 'Be glad, my child, you +will soon be with Jesus Christ.'"[4] Such through life and in death +was his simple faith. + +The lustre which Lord Acton's name reflected upon Cambridge was not +felt more deeply, or more sincerely, than the higher standard of +learning which he introduced into a learned professoriate. He was the +one man in England, if not in Europe, who could have brought with him +from the outside an equal knowledge of books and of the world. +Cambridge saw his weak side quickly enough. The keen-witted men who +enjoyed and appreciated his talk, or watched him listening with an +attention that nothing escaped, could understand why Doellinger +predicted that if he did not write a great book before he was forty he +would never write one at all. As a matter of fact he did not write a +book of any kind, small or great. He did not even, as he once thought +of doing, republish his Essays. His contemplated Life of Doellinger +dwindled into an article of forty pages on Doellinger's Historical Work +for the _English Historical Review_. + +But the article, which appeared in October 1890, shows Lord Acton at +his best. His affectionate reverence for his great master gives a +colour and animation to his style, which it often lacked. This is by +far the most readable of all his essays, and by no means {lxxvi} the +least instructive. Doellinger was in some respects like himself. +"Everybody felt that he knew too much to write," and the best part of +his erudition was given to his pupils at Munich. In tracing the course +of Doellinger's studies, and of his mental development, Lord Acton wrote +the best, because the most characteristic, biography of the Old +Catholic leader. Besides the interest of the subject itself, Lord +Acton contrived to bring into this wonderful summary a number of +judgments on other things and persons as vivid as they are acute. +Freeman rather horrified him by preferring printed books to manuscripts +as material for history. But then he "mixed his colours with brains." +Lord Acton was inclined to think Stahl, the philosophical and +Conservative statesman of Prussia, "the greatest man born of a Jewish +mother since Titus." Doellinger, however, considered that this was +unjust to Disraeli, and most Englishmen will probably agree with him in +opinion. + +Whether Lord Acton ought to have left the Church of Rome when Doellinger +was excommunicated, or when the Vatican decrees were pronounced, is a +question which it would not become a Protestant to ask, much less to +answer. He did not shrink from the risk of speaking out, and it was +not his fault that he escaped. No earthly reward or peril would have +induced him to say what he did not think, or to profess what he did not +believe. The truths which all Christians hold in common, and the moral +principles to which Sophocles ascribes an unknown antiquity, guided him +in history as in life. His emphatic statement that he had never felt +any doubt about any Roman doctrine was made some years before 1870, and +the secession of the Old Catholics, which failed for want of an +Episcopate. In 1878 Pio Nono died, and was succeeded by a more liberal +Pontiff. Manning lost his influence at Rome, Newman was made a +cardinal, and the Broad Churchmen {lxxvii} in the Roman communion were +tolerated, if not encouraged. Even Lord Acton's old enemy, Manning, +turned from theological controversy to movements of social +philanthropy, to Irish politics, in which he agreed with Acton, and to +good works among the poor. The strictest of Roman Catholics were not +sorry to think that the most learned Prelates of the Anglican Church +were less learned than a Catholic layman. The more a man knew, the +larger was his idea of Lord Acton's knowledge. But for the years +between 1895 and 1900 that knowledge would have been comparatively +wasted. It would have profited only a few readers here and there +beyond the circle of Lord Acton's friends. At Cambridge, the Professor +of History was in perpetual contact with fresh minds eager to know, and +to transmit what they acquired. He did not altogether understand the +Greek mind, for he told Mr. Gladstone that it was unscientific. But he +had this much in common with Socrates, the father of science, that he +required the clash of dialectic to bring out his full force. When +ignorant people laid down the law, Lord Acton smiled, and, it is to be +feared, enjoyed himself in an almost sinful degree. When scholars and +philosophers conversed with him, they found him often indeed more +inclined to listen than to talk, but always appreciative, suggestive, +and awakening. To genuine students he was a mine of information, and +would give what was asked tenfold. Nobody ever entrapped him into a +path which for good reasons he was disposed to avoid. Attempt to draw +him into controversy, and he became cautious, subtle, enigmatic. But +every one who came to him, as his Cambridge pupils came, for assistance +and instruction, went away not merely satisfied and enlightened, but +moved and touched by the profundity of his knowledge, the generosity of +his temper, and the humility of his soul. + + + +[1] I owe the opportunity of reading and quoting from this lecture, +reported in the _Bridgnorth Journal_ of the 14th, to the kindness of +Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff. + +[2] His wife had become insane on the failure of her mission to France. + +[3] "Studies in Contemporary Biography," 398. + +[4] _Edinburgh Review_, 404, page 534. + + + +[Illustration: + + Mary Gladstone + Herbert Gladstone Mr. Gladstone Mrs. Gladstone Dr. Dollinger Lord Acton + + Group at Tegernsee, 1879.] + + + + +{1} + +LETTERS OF LORD ACTON + + +[Sidenote: _Mentone Oct. 31, 1879_] + +You were threatened with a long letter from me, about people at Paris, +but I could not finish it, ... and so I lost the only days on which +Paris information could be of any use. After a week of care, varied by +pleasant visits from Lacaita, F. Leveson, and H. Cowper, we started, +and rested at Milan and Genoa, and yet were nearly the first arrivals +here. We expect to have the Granvilles for neighbours at Cannes, as +well as Westminsters. + +Let me first of all transcribe a passage from my unsent letter: "If you +see Madame Waddington you will find her a very pleasant specimen of +American womanhood. Her husband wants the qualities that charm and win +at first, and I suppose he will not hold his own long. He has no dash, +no _entrain_, no personal ascendency, like the men who succeed in +France; but there is not a deeper scholar, or a more sincere and +straightforward Christian in the country." I see from your letter that +the unfavourable part of my remarks came true more than the praise. +Something may be due to awkwardness connected with the Ferry[1] Bill. +The interview with Scherer consoles me. He is a man of the first order +as far as that can be without showy gifts. But he is guarded, cold, +unsympathising, and {2} the intellectual crisis by which he came to +repudiate the Christian faith was so conspicuous that he is embarrassed +with people who are notable for religious conviction. + +I wanted to say so much about Mignet, who was celebrated before your +father went up to college; of St. Hilaire, the best Grecian and +earliest Republican in France; of Dufaure and Simon, the leaders of the +Left Centre, who hold the fate of the Ministry in their hands; of +Laboulaye, the political oracle of Waddington, who solves every problem +by American principles; of Vielcastel, the most sensible and +experienced of Conservatives, and the only surviving Doctrinaire; of +Broglie,[2] who has all but ruined the Republic, in order to expiate +his former ecclesiastical Liberalism; of Pasquier, who possesses the +good qualities in which Broglie is deficient; of Taine, who has almost +the solidity of Scherer, and more than his brilliancy. But it is all +too late now. + +You describe the Professor[3] most justly. Serenity has grown on him +with years, although they were years of conflict and of the great grief +that men who do not live for themselves can feel for the cause they +have lived for. Strength, too, though in less degree, by reason of a +vice which besets another great man. From a sense of dignity and of +charity he refuses to see all the evil there is in men; and in order +that his judgments may be always charitable, generous, and leaning to +the safer side, he is not always exact in definitions or rigorous in +applying principles. He looks for the root of differences in +speculative systems, in defect of knowledge, in everything but moral +causes, and if you had remained with us longer you would {3} have found +out that this is a matter on which I am divided from him by a gulf +almost too wide for sympathy. + +Boutney I never saw. But he is a sound and useful man, who makes it +his business to spread political knowledge among those classes that +govern France. A cousin of ours lectures, under his auspices, to +half-educated Parisians. + +"Le Gendre de M. Poirier" at the Francais is one of the greatest treats +imaginable. Your stay at Paris must have been full of new impressions +and experiences, even in its levity. + +And now, after a short interval of Victor Hugo at Keble, I fancy you +will start for the Midlothian campaign. You were very wrong to +suppress that second sheet of your letter, and I hope you will make up +for it by letting me know how things go on, and bearing in mind that +one learns nothing at Mentone, except the bare outside of public events. + + +[Sidenote: _Mentone March 15, 1880_] + +There is so much to ask and say that I have not the courage to begin. +I am afraid you will forgive the length neither of my letter nor of my +silence, and will be as much bored by the silver of the one as by the +golden of the other. But when all the world has its rendezvous in +Harley Street, admit me, perdu in the crowd. + +In this out-of-the-way region we have been kept up to the mark in home +politics by pleasant visits from Freddy Leveson--a robust +Gladstonian--Cowper Temple, who told me more than I knew about the +world of spirits; Goschen, who spent several days with us, and whose +footsteps are very visible on the road that leads away from the Liberal +party, through {4} Brookes's, to a moderado coalition; Reay, ... fresh +from Midlothian; Mallet,[4] doctrinaire, disputatious and desponding, +but abounding in criticism of the policy which he represents. Lord +Blachford passed, but I did not see him. Nothing carried me back to +England more than the two Italians[5] whom you overheard at Venice, who +were here when I was very ill, but who took me over the whole ground +traversed since 1842. Bonghi's essays[6] are appearing successively, +and they are meant as a lesson for Italians, and break up the career in +a way which loses the thread of continuity and the law of its progress +and the wealth of the unity therein. But he is exceedingly intelligent +and sympathetic, and I hope that he will recast his materials when he +puts them together in a volume. When he asked me: Why is Mr. Gladstone +so much attached to the Church and so much against establishments? Why +is he so generous towards R. Catholics and so hard on the Pope? Why is +not Ireland reconciled? Why is not England won?--you will believe that +I found my voice again. I don't think the book will ever suit our +public, but I should like it to appear in French. + + * * * * * + +A certain letter of mine acknowledging the gift of the Lancashire +Canvassing Speeches was written between the election and the summons to +Windsor, in November 1868.[7] If it leads you to look at the Bristol +electioneering speeches mentioned in it, you will be disappointed; for +they will seem to you poor in comparison. In reality, they are an +epoch in constitutional history. Burke there laid down, for ever, the +law of the {5} relations between members and constituencies, which is +the innermost barrier against the reign of democratic force. Charles +Sumner once said to me: "Mr. Burke legislated from those hustings." +When you met John Morley at Glasgow he had just written a very good +life of Burke. It is impossible not to be struck by the many points of +resemblance between Burke and your father--the only two men of that +stature in our political history--but I have no idea whether they would +have been friends or bitter enemies. + +Madame de Stael is the author of that saying about liberty, whom I +commemorate in terms studiously excluding rivalry with George Eliot. + +Do you remember a question as to the number of words in Shakespeare and +in Milton? There is all about it in Brother Mark's[8] "Life of +Milton," which is in the same series as Morley's "Burke." + +And another, as to the title of the "Imitation"? I find that it is not +the title given by the author--so that Milman's very plausible remark +falls through. + +Plenty of muffs have written in the _Edinbro'_, but I am not one of +them. + +You see so many interesting and eminent men that you can spare a miss +sometimes. But I am sorry for that silent evening near Lowell. The +easy brightness of his mind surpasses all I remember in America. I sat +next to him at a dinner at Boston twenty-seven years ago, and spoke of +the burying, by Constantine, of the Palladium in a vault at +Constantinople. Longfellow would not believe my story. I quoted a +passage. "Yes," said Lowell, "but the passage we want is the passage +into the vault." Somebody questioned whether the statue of Cromwell +would stand {6} among the sovereigns at Westminster. "At least," said +he, "among the half-crowns." + +I have never met him since. But if I had been fortunate enough to drop +in that evening at Ripon's, I rather think I should have liked to sit +next to him. You would have seen the difference between a live dog and +a dead lion. + +Scherer ought to be much obliged to me for the conversation and for the +readers I procured him. He is, I think, one of the three best living +writers in France--deeper and more subtle than Taine, and infinitely +better versed in political questions than Renan. If you see that arch +person you will find his conversation, easy and tripping as it is, very +inferior to his writings. There are volumes of essays which I am sure +you would read with pleasure. And he has a special bone to pick with +the author of "A History of Liberty."[9] + +I sent for Seeley,[10] and read him with improvement, with much +pleasure, and with more indignation. It is hard in a few crowded lines +to explain my meaning on a question so fundamental. The great object, +in trying to understand history, political, religious, literary or +scientific, is to get behind men and to grasp ideas. Ideas have a +radiation and development, an ancestry and posterity of their own, in +which men play the part of godfathers and godmothers more than that of +legitimate parents. We understand the work and place of Pascal, or +Newton, or Montesquieu, or Adam Smith, when we have measured the gap +between the state of astronomy, of political economy, &c., before {7} +they came and after they were gone. And the progress of the science is +of more use to us than the idiosyncrasy of the man. Let me try to +explain myself by an example of to-day. Here is Ferry's article 7.[11] +One way of looking at it is to reckon up the passions, the follies, the +vengeance of the republicans, to admire or deplore the victory of the +Conservatives, to wonder at the Democrats. But beyond the wishes of +the Democrats there are the doctrines of Democracy, doctrines which +push things towards certain consequences without help from local or +temporary or accidental motives. There is a state built on democratic +principles, and a society built, largely, on anti-democratic elements, +clergy and aristocracy. Those elements of society must needs react +upon the state; that is, try to get political power and use it to +qualify the Democracy of the Constitution. And the state power must +needs try to react on society, to protect itself against the hostile +elements. This is a law of Nature, and the vividness and force with +which we trace the motion of history depends on the degree to which we +look beyond persons and fix our gaze on things.--This is dreadfully +didactic prose. But this is my quarrel with Seeley. He discerns no +Whiggism, but only Whigs. And he wonders at the mistakes of the Whigs +when he ought to be following up the growth and modifications of their +doctrine, and its influence on the Church, on Toleration, on European +politics, on the English monarchy, the Colonies, finance, local +government, justice, Scotland, and Ireland. So you may read in Alison +of the profligacy of Mirabeau, the ferocity of Marat, the weakness of +Louis, the sombre fanaticism {8} of Robespierre. But what we want to +know is why the old world that had lasted so long went to ruin, how the +doctrine of equality sprang into omnipotence, how it changed the +principles of administration, justice, international law, taxation, +representation, property, and religion. Seeley is as sick as I am of +the picturesque scenery of the historians of sense, but he does not +like to go straight at the impersonal forces which rule the world, such +as predestination, equality, divine right, secularism, +Congregationalism, nationality, and whatever other ruling ideas have +grouped and propelled associations of men. And my great complaint is +that he so much dislikes the intriguers of 1688 that he does not +recognise the doctrine of 1688, which is one of the greatest forces, +one of the three or four greatest forces, that have contributed to +construct our civilisation, and make 1880 so unlike 1680. See H. of +L.,[12] page 50,000. All which things make me more zealous, eager, +anxious about the coming election than you who are in the midst of it, +mindful of the blessing of repose and credulous of Seeley. Therefore I +read with delight the address to Midlothian--more even than the speech +in Marylebone--and am daily refreshed by Lowe, John Morley, even +Rogers,[13] and fancy how happy the inquisitors were, who put a stop to +the people they disagreed with! But I can quite feel your sensation in +watching all this. + + * * * * * + +If we win, then there will be no rest in this life for Mr. Gladstone. +The victory will be his, and his only. And so will the responsibility +be. Then will come the {9} late harvest and the gathering in of its +heavy sheaves. And then there will be not much Hawarden for you. + +I heartily wish your brothers success--even the riotous +one[14]--especially the riotous one. I will come and wish him joy. If +we are beaten, I shall be ashamed to let you see my grief. And as it +is, I am ashamed to tell you how much I should like to hear from you, +because you will suspect that I only want a supplement to the _Times_, +or a later edition of the _Echo_. But the next few weeks are going to +be a great turning-point in the history of our lifetime, and I believe +you know how to be generous. Be generous before you are just. Do not +temper mercy with justice. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes April 10, 1880_] + +There is nothing to regret. Your brother has held a conspicuous +place[15] in the most wonderful election contest of this century. He +has held it in a manner which will never be forgotten in his lifetime, +and which will do as much for him as victory; and the picture of the +young untried son bursting into sudden popularity and turning men's +thoughts from the absorbing exploits of his father adds an affecting +domestic feature to that great biography. That meeting at Hawarden, +after such a revolution and such a growth, is a thing I cannot think of +without emotion. + +So I cannot offer you anything sincere, except congratulation. We know +now, indeed, that the British Democracy is neither Liberal nor +Conservative in its permanent convictions, and therefore the party +triumph is not as altogether satisfactory and secure as it should be. +But the individual triumph, the homage rendered to a single name, could +not be greater; and {10} there could not be a fuller atonement for the +desertion of 1874, than a success so personal as to convey dictatorial +authority, apart from party merits and combinations. + +Your idea has this advantage, that one must strike when the iron is +hot, and it is now at white heat, and our legislative measures, even +though they involve an early dissolution, ought to be begun soon. What +I should fear most would be that, content with the intense reality of +power, Mr. Gladstone should repeat the unhappy declarations of five +years since in a way that would commit him for all future time; +absolute abdication would be a misfortune all round, and the +Conservative reaction would soon set in. But if an eventual return to +power is not absolutely excluded, if no word is said of what might +happen under certain contingencies, then we should still feel that we +have an invincible reserve force, that, when our first line is broken, +we can proclaim the Jehad and unfurl the green flag of the Prophet. +For the patchwork settlement of 1875 depends on the life of a man who +is several years older than your father,[16] who is a duke, and who has +a deplorable habit of falling asleep early in the afternoon. But I +only express this premature fear in view of circumstances which I am +sure every influence in the country, except, perhaps, the influence of +Windsor, will be strained to avert. + +Your description of Lowe's generous and feeling sympathy is really +touching. How little I thought, fourteen years ago,[17] when he was +the hardest hitter your father had to meet, and when your father said +he {11} might well shrink from crossing swords with such a man, that he +would close his active life as your brother's sponsor before vast +constituencies, or that we should come to think of him listening with +tears in his eyes to your brother's speeches, and muttering the words +you tell. + +Please tell Herbert that I have followed his proceedings as carefully +as one could at a distance, that I don't think much of his defeat, +that, in short, I go halves with Lowe.[18] + +I see that your sister made her way into the fray. I trust all the +worry and toil was not too much for Mrs. Gladstone. + +We are ending the season here, not as far out of the world as you would +suppose; for I just saw your neighbour Westminster, and here are +Argyll, Cardwell, and Goldsmid. + +If Disraeli waits to meet Parliament, and to fall in the daylight, I +may hope to have an opportunity of expressing to you myself all my +sense of the meaning of the victory, and my want of sympathy for you in +your defeat.[19] + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Paris May 23, 1880_] + +I have been in Paris only a few hours, and have seen nobody yet but +Broglie, Gavard, and Laugel. I must see Scherer and talk to him about +your visit here in the autumn. I have not been here for two years, and +many of my friends are growing so old that I don't like putting off my +visit to them. So I must keep those who have not that defect for a +happier time. + +{12} + +[Sidenote: _Paris May 14, 1880_] + +I shall be delighted to inaugurate breakfasting in Downing Street on +Thursday; and I should very much like to drop in the night before, as +you are to be there. But it seems very indiscreet; and if I dine with +Lord Granville, I shall not be able to get away until very late, when +you will be gone to bed. Tegernsee late hours cannot be kept in +London. I will hope for the best, and keep all I have to say, partly +for next week, partly for some more propitious season. + + +[Sidenote: _Wuerzburg May 23, 1880_] + +Although ink was not invented to express our real feelings, I improve +my first stoppage between two trains to thank you for three such +delightful days in London. It was a shame to take up so much of your +busy time, and to persecute you with the serpentine wisdom. I did not +wish to turn into bitterness the sweetest thing on earth, but I fancied +that there are things good to be observed in your great position which +nobody will tell you if you do not hear them from the most wicked of +your friends. Hayward, indeed, who walked home with me the other +night, might claim that title and dispute my prerogative; and I thought +he would be useful to you in many ways until I found out that he is +only solicitous about getting invitations for ----. + +Since you detected ... lending herself to a humble intrigue, you can +never be surprised at the revelations of disappointment and +self-seeking, and must not believe that the smiling faces you see +express unmixed loyalty and satisfaction. So I want you to be vigilant +not to resent, but to pursue the work of disarming resentment, and not +easily to persuade yourself that it is done. + +To begin at the top. Here is Lowe, positively {13} wounded at the +letter offering him a peerage instead of power, and wounded by the very +thing which showed Mr. Gladstone's anxiety not to give him pain, by the +absence of any reason given for being unable to offer him office. For +one so often finds that acts specially showing delicacy and +considerateness, little supererogatory works of kindness, are taken +unkindly. Now that is just a state of mind you can improve away by an +initiative of civility, bearing in mind that what Lowe says to me, his +wife delivers from the house-tops. + + * * * * * + +The animosity of the defeated party is natural, manifest, and +invincible. They have offered Greenwood L110,000 for his newspaper, +besides general offers of indefinite sums--enough to start it four or +five times over. But the danger is not there, but at home; danger of +disintegration and drifting. Both in church questions, and, +ultimately, in land questions, your father is at variance with the +great bulk of colleagues and followers--Chamberlain and Argyll in one +Cabinet is an anomaly sure to tell in time, especially with Argyll +discontented. So do not undervalue, or neglect, or waste, the social +influence which centres in your hands. + +Bismarck is so angry with Muenster, that I hope he will transplant him; +meanwhile it ought to be remembered that he, M., not only scouted the +idea of Tory defeat, but wrote most disparagingly of Mr. Gladstone's +influence and position. + +Hayward will tell you what I learn from other sources, that Chenery +really wishes to bring the _Times_ round. Mr. Gladstone dislikes +thinking of those things, and allowed Delane to slip from him. Don't +leave the whole thing to be done at No. 18.[20] + +{14} + +I hope, towards the end of the session, you will consult MacColl about +the Bavarian mystery. It would be nice if Leeds does not require its +member just then. Above all things keep a very regular diary. You +will be so glad afterwards, unless you have some distant correspondent, +and make your letters to him, or her, do for a regular diary, which is +also a good plan. + + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee June 1, 1880_] + +I received your letter last night on my return from Italy, and read the +enclosure with interest. There are two things to be said in its +defence. It is true that Hartington has, of late, shown higher +qualities than the world attributed to him, and so far his adoring +kinsfolk may consider their higher estimate justified. His whole +attitude during the election was creditable, and his conduct towards +Mr. Gladstone was correct. + +Then, there is a grain of truth in the notion that the force that +creates, and sustains in a crisis, is not quite the same that is wanted +in time of prose to continue and to preserve; or in other words, that +creative power makes a great consumption of party resources, and, if +Burke gave up to party what was meant for mankind, it is better still +to give up to mankind what some people mean to use for party. This is +only a half truth, because party is not only, not so much, a group of +men as a set of ideas and ideal aims; so that I do not admit +Goldsmith's antithesis.[21] But taking party in the practical and +popular sense, of an instrument for homing office, people are uneasily +conscious that Mr. Gladstone will sacrifice it to loftier purpose +sooner than they would like. Nothing is more untrue than the famous +saying of an ancient historian, that power is retained by the same arts +by which it is {15} acquired; untrue at least for men, though truer in +the case of nations. + +But don't you see, pervading the letter and guiding the pen, the great +intellectual and moral defect of the present day? I mean, the habit of +dwelling on appearances, not on realities, of preferring the report to +the bullet, and the echo to the report. To spend and lose a majority +in some great cause, to be abused and ridiculed and calumniated, seems +to the writer a misfortune so great that it is worth while to haul down +one's flag rather than incur the risk of it. This is the power of +journalism, of salons and club life, which teaches people to depend on +popularity and success and not on the guide within, to act not from +knowledge, but from opinion, and to be led by opinion of others rather +than by knowledge which is their own. Not only ----, nearly everybody +yields up his conscience, his practical judgment, into the keeping of +others. I do not accuse Hartington, but it is clear from the words of +---- and ----, that there was a scheme to get Mr. Gladstone out of the +way. To expect him to take the first step was to expect him to resign. +It is so easy to do a dirty thing with self-satisfaction when it +consists in abstaining from action. The one letter is only the +plausible, affectionate, amplification of the other's impertinence, +with a saving clause, on the first page, inserted from dictation, when +the grievous indiscretion had been committed.... + + * * * * * + +It does not matter seriously; but it serves to corroborate that grave +speech of mine: trust nobody. I don't want you to think ill of people, +or even to suspect them until the evidence is strong. It is not their +virtue I question, but their attachment, and {16} consequently their +discretion. And I question their attachment because I doubt their +thorough agreement with Mr. Gladstone. I don't say they are +perfidious; but they are bound by an alliance they do not mean to last +for ever. + + * * * * * + +I do not cite Northcote and Carnarvon in confirmation. Soon after his +resignation Carnarvon certainly wished to come over. At a solemn +dinner inaugurating him as President of the Society of Antiquaries, he +asked the secretaries to get me to propose his health. In a preceding +speech he spoke of himself as a true Conservative at heart; and so I +took those words up, congratulating him upon them in an Antiquarian, +and eventually in a Liberal sense, indicating that they meant no more +than we mean by constitutional, that there were no Pyrenees between us, +that we entirely agreed with each other. We became close friends from +that hour, and he made it very clear that he was pleased to be so +interpreted. But he got little encouragement afterwards; and I fancied +he honestly took this line--there are intelligent High Church men who +dread, in the looming future, an alliance between democratic +nonconformity and the predestined chief of the stern and unbending +Tories, on the basis of anti-Erastianism. They say that the late +election, swamping the vulgar Whig, has made those two allies stronger +than ever, making each depend upon the other. They would stand a +Liberal Government made up of Spencers and Cowpers, but they say that +the demagogues have been strong enough to force their way in, and will +make their power felt. So that property and the Church are in danger. +I am ashamed to say that I thought this was Carnarvon's line. But +Liddon knows what he says. {17} Be sure that I also know what I say +when I assure you that the victoria pilgrimage will be a help to your +father, and that Lady R.'s coachman will grease wheels more important +than her own. Do go on, this summer at least, and see whether it is +not true. Lady R. is, moreover, a friend of Lady Blennerhassett, and +will sympathise with your feelings. + + * * * * * + +I should not have supported our side in its attack on Sir Bartle Frere. +It was not merely a question of empire, but of lives he would be unable +to protect, against a savage army[22] far stronger than the whole armed +population of Natal. I fancy that the analogy, or apparent analogy, +with the Cabul policy, which he had so much promoted, turned Liberal +opinion against him. But Frere is a strong, an able, and a plausible +man. It is true that his strength is akin to obstinacy and self-will, +that he is rather too plausible, and that he will gain his ends by +crooked paths when he has tried the straight in vain. He is a +dangerous agent, but, I should think, a useful adviser. Indians are +not generally a healthy element in the body politic, and he has the +constant vice of Indians, belief in force. But he has a breadth of +mind that is rare among them; and I have known people who hated him, +because he is so good. I do not suggest that that is the motive of the +three Anabaptists who ply you with advice from which I disagree. + +Thanks, a thousand thanks, for all the kindness of your letter. I +enjoyed the Sherbrooke-Airlie-Trevelyan dinner very much, and shall +envy Lady R. every Monday to come.... + +{18} + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee June 9, 1880_] + +My letter was posted with the one to you, though written, I think, the +night before, so that it must have been stopped and opened by some +postmaster whom the direction attracted, and who, like yourself, +exaggerated its importance. There are truths so prosaic, so dense, so +dull, that one can hardly state them without suggesting the idea of +something subtler or more interesting beyond. Of course, to one who +spends his time in watching and trying to understand the progress of +political life and thought, no public event could equal the late +progress from Dalmeny to Downing Street, and no prouder thing could +happen than to be able to serve Mr. Gladstone's policy. Indeed, if I +was not lured by his genius, his persistent friendship, and a curious +sympathy in many deep questions, I should be, now, by qualities never +so apparent as in the last few days, by the power of grasping principle +in one hand and policy in the other, without clashing, which was shown +in the opium speech, and just before, in the speech on the liability of +employers. I don't know whether I could ever have been of use abroad, +in other circumstances, if my nearest relation was not Foreign +Secretary,[23] for there is only one place for which I could pretend to +any special fitness. But as to trying to qualify as a candidate for +anything at home, you would soon be satisfied that it is impossible, if +I had a good opportunity of talking--if we climb a mountain, a very +high mountain, or cross a broad and stormy lake some day.[24] But I +think I must remind you of the old lady at Carlisle in Forty-Five, who +shut herself up in terror of the Highlanders, and, not being pursued, +{19} grew impatient, and cried out: "When are they going to begin?" + +I am a little disturbed at the highly ingenious and easy solution of +the great party[25] question. It is dangerous, at any time, to +multiply sources of weakness. Now there is a source of future weakness +in the idea of power assumed only for a term limited and defined. A +Parliament near its end becomes helpless and unable to act. When the +period fixed, or supposed to be fixed, is approaching, power will slip +away. Disappointed people, men impatient of having to wait, hungry, +jealous, reluctant supporters, will gravitate in other directions, will +promote rivalry, will speed the parting chief, will magnify the rising +sun. By having only Free and Easies, you establish a festive Centre +elsewhere, and the world, revolving in an improper orbit, may lose its +way. There has been, in this direction, a slight waste of capital.... + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _June 9, 1880_] + +Your card came just after my letter was posted. I shall be at Munich +on Friday, and have written to Hallam Tennyson, _poste restante_; but I +hope to waylay them at the station. It will be pleasant to pilot the +great man through Munich, or on the road to Achensthal, and I will do +my best.... + +I hope you will not quarrel with John Morley, for he seems to be making +the _Pall Mall_ the best Liberal paper in England. But he has so many +points of antagonism to Mr. Gladstone that I am afraid. He is a +sceptic; his studies are all French, eighteenth century; in political +economy he is a bald Cobdenite, and will do scant justice to the +political aspects of the {20} French treaty; he is a friend of +Lytton's, and I suspect, of the peccant Strachey;[26] he has the +obstinacy of a very honest mind. But I perceive that I am getting to +be a bore.... + + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee June 21, 1880_] + +The Tennysons came and went, I am sorry to say, prematurely. They +spent two days with us, and would have gone by Achensee to Innsbruck, +but the rain sent them back to Munich, where they took the train for +Italy. You will be surprised to learn that the Poet made a favourable +impression on my ladies and children. He was not only a gracious Poet, +but he told us lots of good stories, read aloud without pressure, +walked repeatedly with M., and seemed interested in the books he +carried to his room. Lady Acton took him to Kreuth and round the lake, +and liked him well. Yet our ways were very strange to him, and he must +have felt that he stood on the far verge of civilisation, without the +enjoyments proper to savage life. Even I was tamed at last. There was +a shell to crack, but I got at the kernel, chiefly at night, when +everybody was in bed. His want of reality, his habit of walking on the +clouds, the airiness of his metaphysics, the indefiniteness of his +knowledge, his neglect of transitions, the looseness of his political +reasonings--all this made up an alarming _cheval de frise_. + +But then there was a gladness--not quickness--in taking a joke or +story, a comic impatience of the external criticism of Taine and others +found here, coupled with a simple dignity when reading ill-natured +attacks, a grave groping for religious certainty, and a generosity in +the treatment of rivals--of Browning and {21} Swinburne, though not of +Taylor--that helped me through. He was not quite well, in consequence +of the damp and of the mountain fare. + +I write for news to your hotel at Venice, the weather having been +against the Dolomites. + +Hallam is a much better and clearer politician than his father, and the +only time we differed he was the truer Blue. If I add that I +discovered why he refused a baronetcy, I suspect it is no more than you +know very well already. + + * * * * * + +I have made Liddon's acquaintance at last. Nothing but Tennyson +prevented me from seeing more of him, for I found in him all that I +love Oxford for, and only a very little of what I dislike in it. + +------------ + +... Let me suppress truths only when they are pleasant, and confess +that I have a doubt about the scene with O'Donnell. Mr. Gladstone +brought against him an engine as obsolete as the Veto,[27] not for the +sake of France, for he could have his say in another way, but for a +disorderly act which was not the worst on record. It seemed a stretch +of severity when the claim to have been severely treated is the most +telling feather in an Irish cap, when the fact of having been silenced +in a new way inflates the lungs, if it does not strengthen the hands, +of a Home Ruler. But perhaps I am so fresh from the history of the +Plebs and their Tribunes that I am not quite sound as to the management +of Obstructives. + +{22} + +Challemel Lacour is the scholar, the philosopher, the ascetic of that +republican school of which Gambetta is the Tribune and the platform +hero. He is their Minister in reserve; and Albert Gate is so +manifestly the stepping-stone to power, he is so conspicuous a leader +of untried policy, that the civility of his reception will be taken in +France as a tribute to his party in a way there has been no example of. +He is probably the most interesting specimen in existence of the school +from which Robespierre would have chosen his colleagues. I should +very, very much like to know how he impresses you; and there is so much +more I should very much like to know, that I must learn to be less +obtrusive. + +... If the Bavarian Fawcett[28] opened one of my letters, I suspect it +was because they have not got over their perplexity at the Queen +informing the King of Bavaria of the Rammingen misalliance. Only, when +I ask indiscreet questions do not suspect me of asking for indiscreet +answers. + +I think Reay deserves a seat in the H. of L. (in the vulgar sense of +those mystic letters),[29] because he would perhaps not recognise your +portrait of a barren, contradictory, envious, dissolving cynic. But +the cap fits only too well, and I must acknowledge the fidelity of the +likeness, and the art of Lenbach in the deeper shades. Do you +remember, now, my prophecy on the Piazzetta, when I rejoiced that you +would not stay long enough to learn to hate me? + +In worldly quarters you will probably meet with the objection to Reay +that he is more instructive than amusing; but I hardly know a more +genuine good fellow. {23} Do you know Morier, who is in town? Another +man much objected to, but exceedingly able, resolute, and energetic.... + + * * * * * + +I hope you will see Blennerhassett, and think him worthy of his wife, +who is still at Munich. Thank you for the good news you give from high +places, and for the greasy wheels. Your sister's ears ought to have +tingled at the good things said of her here last week. + + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee July 1, 1880_] + +... I hope you have not many correspondents as unmerciful as I am, or +as much inclined to forget that you are living the most interesting of +lives, by the intensest blaze of light in all the world. Only let me +just thank you for your letter of yesterday and for your kindness in +asking me to future entertainments. My prospects are too uncertain for +me to accept. I must come only if I am wanted, and we shall hardly +have any close divisions of importance until the end of July. Your +invitations have doubled in value since Reay, whose particular group of +friends is so well known as to betray him to the worst of guessers, has +supplied you with a key--a false key--to my Venetian Mystery. + +Don't get tired too easily of London and its duties, for they are very +real. They will not get on without you. And it is of no use coming +over, if you are away on all kinds of larks. + +We must wait till Sunday before the result of this evening's debate +reaches Tegernsee. There is not any doubt the motion[30] is right; but +I can imagine a much {24} stronger statement of objections than the +righteous indignation of the Tories produced. + +Let us hope that John Morley was not discouraged by _encountering Sweet +Caesar's ghost on Tuesday_. The _Pall Mall_ is getting a little +personal, and too highly coloured in reports of fact. Do you know my +intimate friend Lathbury, political editor of the _Economist_? A +Weekly is easier to conduct than a Daily; but his articles seem to me +excellent in tone, judgment, and impartiality. He wrote much formerly +in the _Daily News_ and the _Pall Mall_, and I was negotiating with +Delane to put him on the _Times_ when Bagehot's death gave him the +other opening. His wife was Bonamy Price's daughter. You never saw a +man more frank, cheery, and well-conditioned. + +I suppose Hayward has brought ----. Let him bring Chenery, that he may +be useful as well as ornamental. It is not a matter of indifference +that, when other journalists come, he should be left to stay away. +Only don't let his sins be cast in his teeth. + +I am afraid you will not take to Morier; but he is the greatest force +in our diplomatic service, in spite of his discomfiture at Lisbon. He +would be the very man to meet Challemel Lacour, who will be an offence +to so many. + +Liddon repeated at Munich the story of Carnarvon. He also gave the +excuse which I suggested--that Chamberlain, Fawcett, Dilke alarmed him. +But it is not a pretty story as he tells it, considering the way +Carnarvon turned against the new Ministry. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee July 10, 1880_] + +I am heartily glad to hear what you say of Mr. Gladstone's health and +strength and spirits, and of the {25} nook behind Hampstead,[31] so +much better than the dull air of the Thames Valley. There must be so +much to harass him besides what appears, and what he can wind up and +swamp in dazzling speech. Rosebery's anxiety is shared by many +thorough Liberals, and it is not, perhaps, unfortunate that the perils +of the position have made themselves felt at once, that the full +warning comes in time, and the remedy can be taken early. + +I wonder whether, for a reason you know as well as I do, a thing we all +perceive remains a mystery to the person most concerned to know it. +The Liberal party is held together, not by forces within, but by a +force above it. It consists, like the being that declined a chair, of +two wings and a head. Without Mr. Gladstone's ascendency and the +lustre of his fame, Harcourt, Argyll, and Bright would soon offend +every group into insubordination and incohesion. The jealousy between +the old Liberals, who are losing ground, and the usurping Radicals, and +all other familiar elements of discontent, cannot be restrained by +Parliamentary management alone. There remains a great sphere for +direct personal influence. The men Mr. Gladstone used to look up to, +Peel and Aberdeen, had not much of this, and I fancy he takes from them +the belief that it is unnecessary or undignified. He has been so long +without holding the threads of party: it is so natural, in one who +writes and speaks so much, to suspect those who misunderstand him doing +it voluntarily: it is so natural to him to underrate the effect of +personal contact, that he may think that the sole legitimate method of +mastering men is Parliamentary speaking, or writings addressed to +mankind. But it is worth anything that people should know and see more +of him, in society if possible. {26} First, because people are +flattered. Next, because they are awed. Last, because they are +conciliated, and so disciplined. And this applies to three sorts +especially--members, diplomatists, and journalists. I am sure all that +public policy can do to strengthen the Government will be done. But I +note an unhappy impatience of those inferior arts my earthy spirit +relies on. + +I see how willing the _Times_ is to be taken in hand, in spite of +Walter. Sir Henry Maine, like Stephen, used to write in the _Pall +Mall_. I don't know whether he has joined Morley. Maine's nature is +to exercise power, and to find good reasons for adopted policy. +Augustus or Napoleon would have made him Prime Minister. He has no +strong sympathies, and is not at heart a Liberal, for he believes that +Manchesterism will lose India. He considers also that the party, +especially Lowe, has treated him less well than Salisbury. He is +intensely nervous and sensitive. After that, I may say that I esteem +him, with Mr. Gladstone, Newman, and Paget, the finest intellect in +England. For some reason he is one of the men whom Lord Granville's +arts do not reach. I wish you would see him.... + +It would be very kind of you indeed to ask the Lathburys some Tuesday +or Tuesdays. I say that because he is so much my friend, but he is +also an eminently useful and trustworthy man. His wife wrote much in +the _Saturday_--I don't remember the article you speak of. When I am a +little in doubt about anything I consult Lathbury, who steadies and +encourages me. When I feel very sure of some conclusion I go to Maine, +who always knocks it to pieces. He is much the more instructive of the +two. The other is more pleasant. + +With Maine, above him indeed at the India Office, {27} is Sir Louis +Mallet, a thoughtful economist, a sincere, almost passionate Liberal, +but under Cobden's influence, one of those sincere Liberals least +attracted by your father. He is very sound beyond the Indus, and I +wish you sometimes saw him; but I ought not, perhaps, to say it, for I +half suspect the Prime Minister has some ancient reason for objecting +to him. + +The breakfast with the archbishop,[32] the philosopher,[33] the +Frenchman,[34] and even with G---- does not suggest hilarity. What you +will do for sketches of character after the Reays leave England, I +cannot imagine. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Marienbad August 8, 1880_] + +I don't know how to thank you for thinking of me at such a moment.[35] +It was hard to bear being away just then, and you must have gone +through a dreadful time. Even with the scraps of information that +reach one here, I have been able to realise much of it. Almost the +first consoling thing was the report of your escapade with Wolverton. + +Every line of your letter is a monument of your goodness, even your +disinclination to go into details. But I am afraid you must have been +terribly knocked up--so soon, too, after your own illness, of which I +will not speak now, but which, indeed, I was very sorry to hear of. +And I do trust that Mrs. Gladstone was enabled to go through it all +without excessive alarm or fatigue. She will not need words to be +assured of all my sympathy. I am persuaded that your greatest +pleasure, just now, comes from the expressive conduct of adversaries, +not from the vain words of friends. + +{28} + +Our defeat in the Lords[36] opens a wide vista of difficulty and +trouble--partly because it injures the Government, but not much, and +will probably increase the ascendency of the P.M.; particularly because +of the H. of Lords itself. Nobody will ever believe that such a +majority was due to honest and disinterested motives. People will say, +and will say truly, that an assembly which is moved by selfish and +sordid motives, when there is a question of preventing ruin and +starvation, is not only an injury to the poor, but a disgrace to the +community, and there is no way out of it. Small majorities may give +way or abstain; but after so determined a demonstration, repentance +will be suicidal. And the one instance in modern times where the Lords +have proved stronger than the Commons, because postponement here was +prohibition, is a question of helping the poor who suffer, at a slight +sacrifice and slighter danger to people immensely rich. + +We are only beginning with questions of this kind. Did you hear the +speech at the end of May in which Mr. Gladstone spoke of that class +which is so numerous that it is virtually the entire nation? Graver +words were never spoken in Parliament, for the entire land is virtually +in the hands of another class. The considerations which this contrast, +this contradiction suggests, have a mighty future before them, a future +damaging to my boy's prospect of ever sitting on a red leather bench. + +I am sorry we were not 52.[37] It would have been impressive, like the +Doctrinaires of whom it was said: "Ils sont quatre; mais quand ils +veulent imposer par {29} le nombre, ils pretendent etre cinq." Indeed, +for all the reasons which Argyll repudiates, justifying my prophecy +about him in the spirit, if not to the letter, there has been no +measure for which I should be so anxious to vote. I wrote to Lord +G.[38] to send me timely warning, as there was no trouble I would not +take. + +Having been to a doctor, without any idea that I was seriously out of +order, I was sent here suddenly, and am forbidden, for reasons I must +acknowledge, to move for some weeks to come. It could not have +happened at a worse moment for me. + +I was sorry for Frere, and should probably have allowed his daughter to +come round me.... + +It is too kind of you to remember, after all that has passed over you +and the nation, details of former letters. Unless there has been a +change lately, there are two editors of the _Economist_, one for money +matters and the other for politics. Maine will be proud and happy, and +ought to be much obliged to me for supplying a topic for so pleasant a +conversation. I wonder whether he showed you the luminous side of his +mind, whether you saw why he always disagrees with me, and why some +people are more afraid than fond of him. Whatever passes at the end of +the Session, I do hope that a season of rest is included in our friend +Dr. A. Clark's prescriptions. It might give me some remote chance of +seeing you again. + + +That Dutch Interior is charming, and I hope you enjoyed the circle of +widowers as much as I did your graphic account of them. It is +delightful to think of the repose after the storm has been weathered so +{30} well. Argyll practising his next speech in the solitude of night, +----'s diplomatic deafness and yet more artful slumber, his brother +with a hook placidly fixed in Bright's aggressive nose, the refined +American[39] offended by the rigidity of the Democrat, the group of +listening Senators, the harmless youth, the envious beauty--and then +the great historic background and the one overshadowing figure--there +is not a page in Mme. de Remusat approaching it. Do you write like +this to other people? Do you write at least six pages of diary every +night? Please do; and let me read it now and then. And remember that +one touch of ill-nature makes the whole world kin. If you are really +going to be left at Hawarden, you ought to shut your door, shut your +eyes, recall all that you have seen and heard during the last six +months, and write it carefully down. You have such an opportunity and +such a power. I am not like the Roman:[40] I envy almost as much as I +admire. + +You make me happy by allowing me to conclude that I gave no offence by +what I wrote of our exalted House. I don't mean that your uneasiness +was quite unreasonable. When a Bill[41] gets knocked about in +Committee, even when an artful Minister means it to be knocked about, +it can never go up to the Lords harmonious, consistent, and the genuine +expression of a policy. There are not two sides to every question, but +there is always an opening, in such cases, for sincere criticism. The +way out of that is to pass the second reading, and to correct in +Committee what was done wrong in Committee. What I mean in this case +is that the Bill involved a principle of infinite force and {31} value, +which the Ministry probably veiled to their own eyes, and which the +Lords were right to resist as a private association, which they are +not; wrong to resist as a disinterested national institution, which is +their claim to exist. + +It is impossible to exaggerate the depth of aversion the Bill has +evoked. You must have heard enough of it. One man has spent two days +here for the purpose of telling me how wrong it was. Another writes to +me that he has paired for the session, feeling that Government will be +obliged to those who help them when they are hopelessly wrong, although +the help consists in pairing and going to Vichy. These are idle men, +representative of thousands. + +It reminds me of the great landowner, Bedford, who reminds me of +Arthur,[42] who reminds me of Maine. I suppose it was a refuge in +Piccadilly that revealed the secret to me. Arthur's one fault is a +delight in secrets. Although Maine is unfitted to be P.M. (under any +but a despotic monarch), nobody has so large a conception of all +questions relating to the tenure of land. I dare say he has been asked +to say what he knows about Ireland. What pure reason and boundless +knowledge can do, without sympathy or throb, Maine can do better than +any man in England. + +I am sorry to think of Lowell's sun sinking behind your horizon. At +first sight one always fancies that those who question the certainty of +history sap the certainty of religion, or are the victims of those who +do, and I fancy I should have had a word (with corners) to throw at +him. The Remusat volumes are one of my landmarks in judging Napoleon. +It is, of all accounts by competent people, the most injurious to his +memory, as {32} Segur's are the most favourable. Until I read them, I +thought the fixed intention to put Enghien to death, the charge of +murder, not proven. If the authority of these recollections breaks +down, I must invent for myself a new Napoleon. After allowing for the +fact that they were written, or re-written, years later, like the Diary +of John Adams, the Memoirs of S. Simon, the History of Burnet, of +Clarendon, the Annals of Tacitus, the Nine Muses of Herodotus, the +Eight Books of Thucydides, which are the most conspicuous sources of +all history, and for the suspicion that there was a great secret she +not only could not tell, but wrote in order to obliterate, and after +giving whatever weight it deserves to the little joke that calls it: +"Souvenir d'une femme de chambre renvoyee," I am so persuaded that the +book is authentic and true, that I should have liked to hear the +argument. But this is true, history does not stand or fall with +historians. From the thirteenth century we rely much more on letters +than on histories written for the public. I need not add that the +history of our Lord which we find in the Epistles is one most valuable +testimony in favour of the Gospels. So that even if Lowell can damage +the reports in this book, we can restore the certainty of history by +the aid of letters, of documents and of those facts in which +independent witnesses agree. + +Is it not heroic of your sister renouncing a life like your own for the +toil of Newnham? I wish her success and happiness in her pilgrimage +most sincerely. By-the-bye your other sister is the real pilgrim, and +I wish I had known in time to warn my belongings of her movements. + +My time here is up, and I go home to-morrow. As a proper P.M.'s +daughter you ought to say you hope {33} I was really ill, to justify +fifty-one.... It is absurd to come all the way to England and not to +see you; so I shall come only if I am ideally wanted. I write at once +to discover whether and when. Your telegram is a great disappointment. +I wonder where they will go. Cannes is the place I recommend, but not +till October. If I am not summoned home from Tegernsee for Hares or +Burials,[43] I look forward to Ammergau, and wish you were coming. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee Sept. 21, 1880_] + +I ought to write no more. I ought to hide my useless hand altogether. +There was a week during which I looked forward to a summons home, a +summons that never came; and after having persistently applied for it, +I thought that it was better not to make the offer of my vote more +urgent than the demand for it. I know how much I have missed and lost. +Circumstances over which I have no control would probably have arrested +my maritime enterprise at Gravesend.[44] But how pleasant Holmbury +would have been! And then there was, and is, so much to talk to you +about, so much that evaporates in writing and will not keep, so much +that will. As there can hardly be an autumn session after prorogation +in September, I must wait for the end of January. Meanwhile I hope you +will cultivate the notion of Tegernsee. Such a break with the great +world would do Mr. Gladstone good, and I fancy we could make you like +the place once more. Let me have that hope before me. + + * * * * * + +{34} + +My children went to Ammergau and came back not deeply moved, but +strongly impressed. I let them go without me from a sort of dread many +people must have felt, not because of the chief actor, for a pious, +simple-minded peasant's conception of the two natures is probably not +more inadequate than my own, but what we do gradually realise in +meditating the Passion is the character and experience of the +disciples, the effect of that companionship, the utter human weakness +that survived in the midst of the intense feelings it must have +awakened in them. Those are contrasts that can be expressed, and are +apparently too subtle for the performers at Ammergau. I am told that, +on the whole, the audience remained cold. + +The answer to my telegram was signed in a way that led me to doubt +whether it came from you. I trust it was sent by your brother, and +that Mr. Gladstone was not molested by my inquiries on the top of so +many more. It is beginning at the wrong end to read David Copperfield +first, but he is worth anything to busy men, because his fun is so +hearty and so easy, and he rouses the emotions by such direct and +simple methods. I am ashamed to think how much more often I return to +Dickens than to George Eliot. + +Do some of the brothers or secretaries make a point of reading the +_Temps_? Of all that is written against the Ministry and its general +policy, the _Temps_ articles seem to me the most serious and +suggestive, and at Marienbad I went through a course of Austrian +newspapers, which are very hostile, and better written than our Tory +organs, but not near so good as the _Temps_. I am afraid it is my +friend Scherer. Not being a Frenchman, his patriotism is peculiarly +lively. Don't call Chenery my friend. I have never seen him, and {35} +only know that he is making a mess of the _Times_. But my reasons were +those you know well, and they will hold good next year. + +You are quite right in all your corrections. ---- ---- is a very good +fellow. His only artifice is his discretion. His mind is accustomed +to travel along roads straight, and wide, and beaten, so that it +accumulates conventional truths and borrowed convictions, but he is as +well meaning and as sincere as a man can well be who is not on the +watch to root up prejudices. His son is threatened with Toryism as +with the gout. I don't know which is worse.... I talk nonsense at +times, because sense is monotonous. It won't do to shrink from hard +speeches and judgments when they are necessary. But it is horrible to +make them when one is not compelled. Do believe me when I say that is +what makes you delightful, and a certain generous, unselfish, +courageous credulity is part of it. Commynes says: "It is no shame to +be suspicious, but only to be deceived." That is a contemporary of +Machiavelli. Two centuries later you will find in Telemaque these +words: "Celui qui craint avec exces d'etre trompe merite de l'etre, et +l'est presque toujours grossierement." That is the progress of 200 +years. Don't you think you see the distance between Bismarck and your +father? + +You have had an excellent idea about those letters. If you go on and +arrange them, it will be very precious to him some idle day, if that +should ever come, and to you all. The inner reality of history is so +unlike the back of the cards, and it takes so long to get at it, which +does not prevent us from disbelieving what is current as history, but +makes us wish to sift it, and dig through mud to solid foundations. I +conclude that all {36} political correspondence has been set in order +regularly, otherwise that ought to be thought of too. + + * * * * * + +The bit of scandal suspected in the unwritten part of the Remusat +Memoirs, was supposed to have belonged to the time of the camp at +Boulogne, of which she gives very full accounts. But it is not +necessary to believe all those things. There would be no pure +reputations. I suspend my belief even about Fersen.... They cannot +publish Talleyrand's Memoirs because he tells so many tales of that +kind, and people still living would be surprised to find out who they +are. + +I was flattered to know that I had supplied topics of conversation and +even of dispute at Holmbury. I should like always to be accused by +Lord Granville, defended by your father, and sentenced by you. But +don't always associate me with bottles of physic, even in dreams. + +From something you wrote I gather that Mr. Gladstone did not altogether +disagree with Forster's sentiments; I am sure I did not; yet it seemed +to me very hazardous to make such a speech in Mr. Gladstone's absence, +suggesting wide differences in the Ministry, rousing expectations which +will go on growing through the autumn, making the Lords more angry than +repentant, using terms so vague that they can be almost honestly +misrepresented, and a great deal more. Home Rule will make great +capital out of the events that happened after your father fell ill. + +J. McCarthy's two last volumes[45] are not equal to the first, but you +will be interested in reading them. But here is post-time, and I +cannot say one-half. + +{37} + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee Sept. 27, 1880_] + +It is not easy to add to the panegyric pronounced on St. Hilaire by a +too zealous friend in Friday's _Pall Mall_. That gratifying +description is not quite satisfactory. The writer affirms that St. +Hilaire is an Orientalist of the first rank, and a Greek scholar +unsurpassed in France. He knows Greek thoroughly for working purposes, +but not exquisitely as a scholar; and he has done little, on the whole, +for his idol Aristotle in the way of consulting the manuscripts and +improving the unsettled text. And although he has studied Eastern +religions deeply, I do not believe that he is a master of Eastern +languages. Nor does he live on a third floor in that good street the +Rue d'Astorg. He does not live there at all, but three miles away, in +a charming little bachelor's house at Passy. His rooms, formerly in +the Rue d'Astorg, were "au fond de la cour au premier," and his +maid-servant is not (and was not) elderly, but young, though +ill-favoured. And it is not fair to say, with obvious purpose, that he +never deserts the Thiers dinner-table except for the Germans. I made +his acquaintance at a dinner at Lord Lyons's. + +From all which I conclude that the letter is a vehement endeavour to +recommend the new Minister abroad. Last summer St. Hilaire gave me the +three big volumes of his Aristotelian Metaphysics, and, when I +remonstrated, said, "Vous me le rendrez un jour, d'une autre facon." +That is what I am doing at this moment, when I tell you how very highly +I rate the man. + +St. Hilaire is quite at the top of scholars and philosophers of the +second class. Not a discoverer, not an originator, not even clever in +the sense common with Frenchmen, not eloquent at all, not vivid or +pointed in phrase, sufficient in knowledge, but not abounding, sound, +but not supple, accustomed to heavy work in {38} the darkness, unused +to effect, to influence, or to applause, unsympathetic and a little +isolated, but high-minded, devoted to principle, willing, even +enthusiastic, to sacrifice himself, his comfort, his life, his +reputation, to public duty or scientific truth. He is not vain, so +much as didactic; there is a method about him that is a little severe, +a solidity that wants relief. His character has been shaped by long +devotion to a cause that was hopeless, by which there was nothing to +gain except the joy of being a pioneer of ideas assured of distant +triumph. So that he is disinterested, consistent, patient, tolerant, +convinced, and brave. Indeed, courage, contempt of death, is the one +thing I have heard him speak of with something like display. The +Republican party, to which he belonged even under Charles X., and of +which he is the patriarch, had a good deal of dirty work to wash off; +and I have observed that he was not communicative when, in an interest +which it were superfluous to mention, I have tried to learn the secret +history of Republicanism under the monarchy. There are few of them who +never touched pitch. But he and Littre are distinct from most others +by their hard work and their voluntary poverty. + +This makes him peculiarly hateful to opponents. A legitimate Marquis +said to me: "C'est un honnete homme, qui nous coupera la tete de la +maniere la plus honnete du monde." People who admit that he is +unstained by the gross vices of his party, speak of him as an +enthusiast, and a dupe, and no doubt expect him to acquiesce, like +Pilate, in all manner of wrong that he will not initiate. + +I do not feel that there is no truth at all in these imputations. I +have found that he thinks accurately, that he is even penetrating, but +not impressive. He {39} told me the speech he had prepared against the +Jesuits, which, I believe, he never delivered. The argument was: The +conscience of man is his most divine possession. Jesuits give up +conscience to authority, therefore they forfeit the rights of men, +which are the rights of conscience, and have no claim to toleration. I +won't undertake to refute this argument; but it is pre-eminently +unparliamentary, and smells of the oil he burns all day. St. Hilaire +does not believe in the Christian religion, but he has Descartes's +philosophic belief in God, and the elevated morality of the Stoics. +Not the least of his merits is that having spent his life on Aristotle, +he told me that he thought more highly of Plato; and in his +Introduction to the Ethics he shows the weakness of his hero's attack +on Platonism. In saying this he overcame a strong temptation. +Scientifically his great achievement is the transposition of the +several books of the Politics--which were in hopeless confusion before +him. All Germany accepts the arrangement he proposed, and as the work +is the ablest production of antiquity, this is no small matter. As a +moderate, unambitious, totally dispassionate Republican, he belongs to +the Thiers Centre. He thinks Jules Simon the most eminent public man +in France, so that he is scarcely to the Left of Freycinet. He +despises and detests Laboulaye, the oracle of the Centre Gauche. I +often heard, but am not sure, that St. Hilaire turned the scale, and +made Thiers adopt, and enforce, Republicanism. + +Forgive me for writing so soon and so confusedly. + + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee October 3, 1880_] + +Don't think me as prolific as ----, but I must begin again, as I had to +send off my letter with nothing but an answer to your question in it. +Lord Granville's {40} visit must have been more busy than pleasant; and +their dinner topic is provoking because one always hears that the best +men were those one could not have known. Remembering Macaulay, +Circourt, and Remusat, I do not care to believe that Cousin or Radowitz +was far superior to them in talk. But then I, again, look back to the +people I knew with regret, and think my contemporaries less amusing. + +If ever I see Hawarden again, I hope it will not be for a night and +half a day, but I do not know when that will be. Let us fix our +thoughts on Tegernsee, and pave the way to rest and distraction here +next summer. + +Without claiming the discernment of Tennyson, I hold fast to what I +said. There may be people you dislike for one or two reasons. You +have no tenderness for Dizzy; and I am not sure you cared much for +either of our gondola companions. There are one or two unpardonable +crimes in your code, and one or two chasms that even Dante's mercy +cannot bridge. But you never show it, and ill-nature must show itself +in speech. I have no doubt at all that the relish with which you held +up the mirror of my vices the other day had more of sorrow than of +anger, and only a scrap of malice. It must have been Cheney, +especially if it was a reminiscence of Holmbury. Freddy Leveson has a +touching fidelity to monotonous friendships. This one was laid down, I +think, on Holland House foundations. + +If I wrapped my poet in too thick a hide of mystery (observe the +joke--own cousin to the Bite of Ecuador), it was because I fancied you +knew that you have no business to be the P.M.'s daughter, and would +never have been, but that Lady Waldegrave, lured by the sweep of the +Thames at Nuneham, neglected, or failed, to hook that brilliant Young +Englander, Monckton {41} Milnes, poet and statesman. But I know +several men, some you never heard of, who, looking back along the road +where they took the wrong turning, say to themselves, or at least to +their friends: "Well, well; but for this or that I should be P.M. now!" + +I have been prevented from finishing by interruptions, one of which was +the brief appearance of the Freddy Cavendishes, spoiled by their +uncomfortable haste to get away. I suppose what makes her so nice is, +partly her affection for her relations. There certainly was no +_arriere pensee_ in her way of speaking of your father. + +You cannot too much cultivate his taste for Dickens. Beware of "Little +Dorrit," "Oliver Twist," and "Dombey." In "Chuzzlewit" the English +scenes are often amusing, but there is a story about Pecksniff that may +repel him. + + * * * * * + +Please do not destroy the ease and serenity and confidence of my +letters, which are chatted and whispered, more than written, by wanting +to show them--even to Morley, in whom I have great reliance. I should +write quite differently, as you rightly say, if I was not writing to +the most chosen of correspondents. To Mr. Gladstone I already wrote +what was due to my friendship with St. Hilaire, especially as I fancied +that Downing Street would be strongly prejudiced against him. Do not +turn yourself from an end into a means--one does not justify the +other.... + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Dec. 14, 1880_] + +I have been afraid to write. The delicious and most spiritual gift[46] +was sent to me here, whither we came early, only to find ourselves in +sore trouble, for {42} a child had died of diphtheria in our villa just +before we arrived. We had to settle in half-furnished apartments, +where Mrs. Flower[47] found us, bringing a flavour of Hawarden. What +has stood in my way is this: Some time ago, recalling a foolish speech +of mine, a year old, and spoken under the spell of a great charm, you +asked me to repeat it on paper. I hesitated long, and whilst I +hesitated, the little volume came, and made it churlish to decline any +wish of yours. I resolved that the best sign of the sincerity of my +gratitude would be to do what you had asked, and to be much more +foolish than ever by putting on impertinent record the evanescent +conversation of Tegernsee. But I have been so fearful of giving you +more annoyance than pleasure, whether by the seeming of flattery or of +censure, that I have allowed myself to slip into a much more grievous +fault. Will you understand me and try to forgive me? I can never +thank you enough for all the friendship of which that beautiful volume +is the treasured symbol. There is so much of your thought in the +beauty of it, and so much in the choice of it--more than you could +guess. A dear friend of mine, now dead,[48] devoted himself to the +study of the Sonnets, as the real key to Shakespeare, being the form of +his own ideas, not what he gave to his characters. We discussed them +much together in long evenings at Aldenham, and he wrote a book about +them, which he followed up with a volume called "The School of +Shakespeare"; and the two together are the best introduction to him +that I know.... Swinburne himself has recognised their merit; so that +a lost part {43} of my life came back to me with your gift. All which +is to say that, whereas all that comes from you is very precious to me, +if anything could add to its price it was the happy chance that guided +your hand. + +Beyond that I must thank you very heartily for the confidence you +showed me in sending me that early letter.[49] It fills a large blank +in my conception and understanding of his life, for it shows--for the +first time to me--how large a part of what we know and contemplate with +wonder is an original gift, and was born with him, and how little, on +the other hand, has been added by the training of life. There are +things which experience has restrained, and checked in their +exuberance; but there are almost all the germs of the power that rules +the movements of half a world. When I read that skit of the revered +philosopher,[50] it almost seemed to me as if I had sometimes doubted +his greatness, and I think you were very good-natured. He is one of +the few Englishmen of genius; one of the most perfect masters of our +language that ever wrote; and when one has said that, and said it as +forcibly as can be, one comes to a deplorable catalogue of evil +qualities with which I shall not darken my pages. It was very good of +you to send me that introduction. + +I went to the Ghetto, and was amazed at the knowledge and conversation +of a lady who turned out to be Mrs. Mark Pattison.... She seemed to be +much in the secrets of the Chamberlain-Morley-Dilke faction, and +despondent about the _Pall Mall_. But I like Mrs. Flower exceedingly, +though I had only a glimpse of her. I thought her intelligent, +sensible, and good--things not to be lightly spoken of anybody--and +especially {44} not to you. As to Lady Blennerhassett, she is +kind-hearted, knows how to think straight, and is the cleverest woman I +ever met out of St. John's Wood.[51] If I ever said less than this in +her favour, it would be injustice to do so now. Sir Rowland +Blennerhassett fell at one time into bad hands--hands of Midhat and of +Newman.... I fancied he was half a jingo, half an Ultramontane; and +his wife seemed to back him, and held much aloof from us. They have +richly made up for it since, and there is no Irishman whom I should +more wish to see in conference with your father just now. He told me +so much that was curious and important and concrete, that I begged him +to put our conversation on paper, that I might use it in the proper +quarter. He has not chosen to do it, I fear from a motive of delicacy. +For we suppose that a set is being made against Forster; and he would +not like, by private letters, to contribute to it, as his statements +certainly would have done. But all these are words of wisdom: it is +time for foolishness. I remember the occasion. You wished that you +could disengage your mind from its surroundings, and learn the judgment +of posterity; and I said that, if you chose, you might hear it at once. +How I retrieved my audacity I cannot tell; and it is an awkward matter +to recall, unless, like the ghosts that looked so foolish in the +vestibule of the "Inferno," I avoid both good and evil. + +The generation you consult will be more democratic and better +instructed than our own; for the progress of democracy, though not +constant, is certain, and the progress of knowledge is both constant +and certain. It will be more severe in literary judgments, and more +{45} generous in political. With this prospect before me I ought to +have answered that hereafter, when our descendants shall stand before +the slab that is not yet laid among the monuments of famous Englishmen, +they will say that Chatham knew how to inspire a nation with his +energy, but was poorly furnished with knowledge and ideas; that the +capacity of Fox was never proved in office, though he was the first of +debaters; that Pitt, the strongest of ministers, was among the weakest +of legislators; that no Foreign Secretary has equalled Canning, but +that he showed no other administrative ability; that Peel, who excelled +as an administrator, a debater, and a tactician, fell everywhere short +of genius; and that the highest merits of the five without their +drawbacks were united in Mr. Gladstone. Possibly they may remember +that his only rival in depth, and wealth, and force of mind was neither +admitted to the Cabinet nor buried in the Abbey. They will not say of +him, as of Burke, that his writing equalled his speaking, or surpassed +it like Macaulay's. For though his books manifest the range of his +powers, if they do not establish a distinct and substantive reputation, +they will breed regret that he suffered anything to divert him from +that career in which his supremacy was undisputed among the men of his +time. People who suspect that he sometimes disparaged himself by not +recognising the secret of his own superiority will incline to believe +that he fell into another error of wise and good men, who are not +ashamed to fail in the rigid estimate of characters and talents. This +will serve them to explain his lofty unfitness to deal with sordid +motives, and to control that undignified but necessary work, his +inability to sway certain kinds of men, and that strange property {46} +of his influence, which is greatest with multitudes, less in +society--and least at home. And it will help them to understand a +mystery that is becoming very prominent, that he formed no school, and +left no disciples who were to him what Windham, Grenville, Wellesley, +Canning, Castlereagh were to Pitt; that his colleagues followed him +because he had the nation at his back, by force more than by +persuasion, and chafed as he did by the side of Palmerston. + +Some keys, I imagine, will be lost, and some finer lines will yield to +the effacing fingers: the impress left by early friendship with men who +died young, like Hallam, or from whom he was parted, like Hope Scott; +the ceremonious deference to authorities that reigned in college days +under a system heavily weighted with tradition; the microscopic +subtlety and care in the choice of words, in guarding against +misinterpretation and in correcting it, which belonged to the Oxford +training, which is a growth of no other school, which even in such +eminent men as Newman and Liddon is nearly a vice, and is a perpetual +stumbling-block and a snare for lesser men--these are points +appreciable by those who know him that must be obscure to those who +come after us. They will wonder how it was that an intellect +remarkable for originality and independence, matchless in vigour, +fertility, and clearness, continued so long shrouded in convictions +imbibed so early as to be akin to prejudices, and was outstripped in +the process of emancipation by inferior minds. The pride of democratic +consistency will aim its shafts at those lingering footsteps, as a +scientific age will resent the familiarity and sympathy with Italian +thought to the detriment of more perfect instruments of knowledge and +of power, and that inadequate estimate of the {47} French and German +genius which has been unfortunately reciprocal. + +But all the things about which no New Zealander will feel as we do, do +not disturb your appeal to the serene and impartial judgment of +history. When our problems are solved and our struggles ended, when +distance has restored the proportions of things, and the sun has set +for all but the highest summits, his fame will increase even in things +where it seems impossible to add to it. Ask all the clever men you +know, who were the greatest British orators, and there are ten or +twelve names that will appear on every list. There is no such +acknowledged primacy among them as Mirabeau enjoys in France or Webster +in America. Macaulay told me that Brougham was the best speaker he had +heard; Lord Russell preferred Plunket; and Gaskell, Canning. I have +heard people who judged by efficacy assign the first place to Peel, +O'Connell, Palmerston, and to an evangelical lecturer, whom I dare say +nobody but Lord Harrowby remembers, of the name of Burnett. But that +illustrious chain of English eloquence that begins in the Walpolean +battles, ends with Mr. Gladstone. His rivals divide his gifts like the +generals of Alexander. One may equal him in beauty of composition, +another in the art of statement, and a third, perhaps, comes near him +in fluency and fire. But he alone possesses all the qualities of an +orator; and when men come to remember what his speeches accomplished, +how it was the same whether he prepared an oration or hurled a reply, +whether he addressed a British mob or the cream of Italian politicians, +and would still be the same if he spoke in Latin to Convocation, they +will admit no rival. "C'est la grandeur de Berryer avec la souplesse +de Thiers," was {48} the judgment of the ablest of the Ultramontanes on +his speech on Charities. + +There are especially two qualities that will not be found in other men. +First, the vigorous and perpetual progress of his mind. Later ages +will know what in this critical autumn of a famous year is only +guessed, that even now, at 70, in his second ministry, after half a +century of public life, his thoughts are clearing, moving, changing, on +the two highest of all political questions.[52] + +His other pre-eminent characteristic is the union of theory and policy. +Bonaparte must have possessed the same mastery of infinite detail; and +the best democrats, Jefferson, Sieyes, and Mill, were firm and faithful +in their grasp of speculative principle. But in democracy that +doctrinal fidelity is neither difficult nor very desirable of +attainment. Its disciples embrace a ready-made system that has been +thought out like the higher mathematics, beyond the need or the chance +of application. The sums have been worked, the answers are known. +There is no secret about their art. Their prescriptions are in the +books, tabulated and ready for use. We always know what is coming. We +know that the doctrine of equality leads by steps not only logical, but +almost mechanical, to sacrifice the principle of liberty to the +principle of quantity; that, being unable to abdicate responsibility +and power, it attacks genuine representation, and, as there is no limit +where there is no control, invades, sooner or later, both property and +religion. In a doctrine so simple, consistency is no merit. But in +Mr. Gladstone there is all the resource and policy of the heroes of +Carlyle's worship, and yet he moves scrupulously along the {49} lines +of the science of statesmanship. Those who deem that Burke was the +first political genius until now, must at this point admit his +inferiority. He loved to evade the arbitration of principle. He was +prolific of arguments that were admirable but not decisive. He dreaded +two-edged weapons and maxims that faced both ways. Through his +inconsistencies we can perceive that his mind stood in a brighter light +than his language; but he refused to employ in America reasons which +might be fitted to Ireland, lest he should become odious to the great +families and impossible with the King.[53] Half of his genius was +spent in masking the secret that hampered it. Goldsmith's cruel line +is literally true.[54] + +Looking abroad, beyond the walls of Westminster, for objects worthy of +comparison, they will say that other men, such as Hamilton and Cavour, +accomplished work as great; that Turgot and Roon were unsurpassed in +administrative craft; that Clay and Thiers were as dexterous in +parliamentary management; that Berryer and Webster resembled him in +gifts of speech, Guizot and Radowitz in fulness of thought; but that in +the three elements of greatness combined, the man, the power, and the +result--character, genius, and success--none reached his level. + +The decisive test of his greatness will be the gap he will leave. +Among those who come after him there will be none who understand that +the men who pay wages ought not to be the political masters of those +who earn them, (because laws should be adapted to those who have the +heaviest stake in the country, for {50} whom misgovernment means not +mortified pride or stinted luxury, but want and pain, and degradation +and risk to their own lives and to their children's souls,) and who yet +can understand and feel sympathy for institutions that incorporate +tradition and prolong the reign of the dead. Fill the blanks, deepen +the contrasts, shut your eyes to my handwriting, and, if you make +believe very much, you shall hear the roll of the ages. + + +[Sidenote: _Dec. 14, 1880_] + +Don't let me be unjust to Lecky. Dr. Smith asked me to review his +"Eighteenth Century," but added that if I found myself inclining to +severity he would wish to recall the proposal, inasmuch as the +_Quarterly_ had just attacked Tyndall. For it happens that Smith[55] +and I sometimes dine at a self-satisfied place that calls itself The +Club. Good men belong to it, but stay away: Lowe, that he may not meet +----, whom he dislikes sober, and detests drunk; the P.M., because he +too much appreciates the sweetness of home; others, for other futile +reasons. The group that continues faithful and carries on the +tradition of Johnson and Garrick is consequently small, and it is a +delicate matter to meet in such close lists men one is editorially +holding up to ridicule and obloquy. Indeed, the presence of both +_Edinburgh_ and _Quarterly_ on that narrow stage imparts a taste of +muttered thunder to most of our meetings. Tyndall and Lecky are +members, and Smith did not like to be on with a new quarrel before he +was off with the old. He had spoken unfavourably of an early and +unripe book of Lecky's, who was gratified when he heard of the message +I had received, and still more when Hayward reviewed him instead of me. +I {51} declined, because I was already in the clutches of a longer +task, and because I find that people quarrel with me for reviewing +them--not from dislike of the book. Hayward could find nothing in it +he did not know before. But I was more fortunate; I learned a great +deal, and should have said that it was solid, original, and just. +Perhaps not deep or strong or lively, or even suggestive, for that is a +refined quality, inconsistent with the habit of telling all one knows +and thinks, and dotting all the _i_'s. The book is lop-sided, having +grown out of a desire to demolish Froude's Irish volumes. And it was a +mistake to treat the central, political history as a thing generally +known, that could be taken for granted. No part of modern history has +been so searched and sifted as to be without urgent need of new and +deeper inquiry, and the touch of a fresh mind. Here is a new volume of +600 pages on Mary Stuart, by a man I never heard of, in which every +other page tells us something unknown before, and the times of Walpole, +Pelham, Pitt, being stirred by no surviving strife, have been much less +studied than the great dispute whether Protestant or Catholic should +reign in England. Neglecting the inexhaustible discoveries before him +in the Archives, Lecky has to give sentence when he gives too little +evidence, to describe characters more fully than careers, and to +obtrude his own very good sense where a true scholar and artist would +take care not to be seen. + +There is another defect, due to the secular tone of Lecky's mind, but +common to most historians. The age he writes of was the last in which +permanent political doctrines were formed by ecclesiastical principles. +Men very easily shape their notions of what government ought to be by +their conception of divine right, {52} of that domain in which the +actual legislator is God. As to one class of minds Church interests +are the supreme law in politics, to others, Church forms are the +supreme example. Nobody is so fanatical as Nigel Penruddocke; but +through subtle channels the influence works, and it was not merely a +propelling, but a constructive force in politics from the end of the +Middle Ages until the middle of the eighteenth century, when it became +fixed in the theories of men like Atterbury, Toland, Hoadley, Wilson, +Warburton--whose innermost instincts might be better exposed. + +As to the novel of the season,[56] it is so dull and so absurd that I +cannot get beyond the first volume. Except querulousness, it has +nearly all the bad qualities of old age; and if St. Barbe is meant for +Thackeray, it is contemptible even in caricature. My neighbour +Salisbury must feel that his time is soon coming. + +There is a little disappointment for Hayward even in the "Life of Fox." +There is less pioneer's work in it than in Fitzmaurice. But the +fulness of knowledge, the force and finish of the style (you see by my +three F's that I have been studying the Irish question) have revealed a +new man. I see him compared to his uncle,[57] and I think it is not an +exaggeration, though Taine says there have been only two men in the +world who had Macaulay's perspicuity. G.O.[58] is as transparent as +graceful, and more easy. The only thing that has shocked me yet is his +presumptuous assurance about the authorship of Junius. It is a Whig +dogma that Francis was Junius; but that is mere Macaulayolatry. I have +seen half the arguments that convinced me {53} thirty years ago fall to +pieces; and I am provoked that Trevelyan gives me old conclusions +instead of new proofs. If his speaking has made as much progress as +his writing, the Government has acquired a future Secretary of State. +But I am still unhappy at their meeting Parliament with Courtney out in +the cold. + +As I quote Taine, I ought to say that I do not agree with him. The +problems Macaulay made so clear were not the most difficult. Fenwick's +attainder, and the theory of standing armies--purple patches in the way +of exposition--are trifles compared with questions which jurists, +divines, economists have to discuss. The phases of the Pelagian +controversy, or the principles of government about which the Lutheran, +Zwinglian, Calvinist, and Anglican Churches contended, would better +have tested his power of making darkness clear. + +I am glad that I wrote to Fagan before reading his book.[59] For I +wrote about the Italian correspondence, which is curious. But the +biography does not deserve the praise it gets from partial people in +Downing Street. Houghton, I hear, has written ill-naturedly about +Panizzi; but the book is as full as an egg of mistakes, and of things +worse than mistakes, so that even remonstrance would be thrown away. +You will read with interest two volumes of Merimee's letters to +Panizzi, just coming out. He was a bad man, and generally wrong; but +few men ever wrote so well. + + * * * * * + +I will get the _Church Quarterly_ at Nice, where I go to see my friend +Arnim, who is dying there, and shall {54} be very curious to read the +article.[60] There is not a more interesting or unexhausted topic in +all history than Julian, but I would have waited for the promised +edition of his work against the Christians, which had not appeared when +I left Germany. + +Here is Parker,[61] fresh from Hawarden; and when I think of your long +and obstinate cold, I cannot help regretting that you did not make the +Cardwells bring you to Montfleury, where they are our nearest +neighbours. He is much better than half a year ago, but very weak. +For three weeks the sun has shone all day. Greatcoats and umbrellas +are obsolete; and we have the most beautiful walks. + +T. B. Potter, also at Montfleury, and a great favourite with my +children, keeps me supplied with Cobdenian literature, and I have read +Brodrick[62] with much pleasure. + +Of course we are always thinking of Ireland, wishing for heroic +treatment, such as would have saved Louis XVI. and the old French +Monarchy, despairing of the needful overwhelming majority in the +Commons, of any majority in the Lords, of union and strength in the +Ministry; cheered by several intelligent letters and articles in the +newspapers, sure only of the chief, and more sure of his strong mind +than of his strong hand. If he has time for anything else, I hope he +has read _La Belgique et le Vatican_, the volume published by +Frere-Orban, the Belgian Minister, a weighty study of Vaticanism. + +I am under the shock of the sudden Cabinet and of {55} the Standard +article, and am waiting for an answer to a telegram to know whether I +must come at once. If not now, then on Monday or Tuesday before the +opening, for I want to get the cue of the situation from the P.M. (an +affair of five minutes), to see you, not quite so rapid a proceeding, +and to hear the first debates. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Dec. 27, 1880_] + +Your patient and forgiving letter is my best Xmas gift. It will be a +joy indeed to see you again next week. I hope not only in the midst of +gilded ceremonial. + +It is so like you to take my nonsense kindly and only to dispute the +praise. But I am not quite so far off as you imagine. In speaking of +home I must have indicated by a--break, that there was a change of key; +that I could not stay among the lofty entities that surround Tennyson +even when he butters toast, that I was coming down from the silver side +of the clouds and groping for things of earth. So that my climax is +not quite literally meant. Having thus paved the way to retreat from +an exposed position, let me take my stand for a moment, and say that I +think it not quite untenable.... You yourself, who have shared so much +of your father's thoughts and confidence, have hardly adapted yourself +to his chosen tastes and special pursuits? In more than one of the +later phases of his life, I fancy you hardly recognised the secret laws +of the growth of his mind, and join him sometimes by an effort, over a +gap. There is an ancient scholar at Cannes, who told me that he has +such confidence in the P.M. that he feels sure he will succeed in +defending his policy. I partly said and partly thought that anybody +can be on {56} Mr. Gladstone's side who waits to be under the thrall of +his speech. The difficulty is to hear the grass growing, to know the +road by which he travels, the description of engine, the quality of the +stuff he treats with, the stars he steers by. The scholar is old and +ugly, and, it may be, tiresome. It is impossible to be less like you. +But is there not one bit of likeness--in the stars? + +Really it is time for me to adopt the Carey tactics and run away from +my post of defiance. + +You know one of the two subjects. You will know the other on the last +night of the debate on the address. I am only listening to the grass. + +You will not resist what I said of our five Ministers if you will +consider one word. I think I spoke of their best qualities, not of all +their qualities. Pitt's art of making himself necessary to the King +and the constituencies is unapproached. But then it is a vice, not a +merit, to live for expedients, and not for ideas. Chatham was very +successful as a War Minister. Mr. Gladstone has not rivalled him in +that capacity. I fancy that both Pitt and Peel had a stronger hold +than he has on the City. Please remember that I am possessed of a Whig +devil, and neither Peel nor Pitt lives in my Walhalla. The great name +of Mr. Canning and the greater name of Mr. Burke[63] are the only names +that I hold in highest honour since party government was invented. + +You can hardly imagine what Burke is for all of us who think about +politics, and are not wrapped in the blaze and the whirlwind of +Rousseau. Systems of scientific thought have been built up by famous +scholars on the fragments that fell from {57} his table. Great +literary fortunes have been made by men who traded on the hundredth +part of him. Brougham and Lowe lived by the vitality of his ideas. +Mackintosh and Macaulay are only Burke trimmed and stripped of all that +touched the skies. Montalembert, borrowing a hint from Doellinger, says +that Burke and Shakespeare were the two greatest Englishmen. + +But when I speak of Shakespeare the news of last Wednesday[64] comes +back to me, and it seems as if the sun had gone out. You cannot think +how much I owed her. Of eighteen or twenty writers by whom I am +conscious that my mind has been formed, she was one. Of course I mean +ways, not conclusions. In problems of life and thought, which baffled +Shakespeare disgracefully, her touch was unfailing. No writer ever +lived who had anything like her power of manifold, but disinterested +and impartially observant sympathy. If Sophocles or Cervantes had +lived in the light of our culture, if Dante had prospered like Manzoni, +George Eliot might have had a rival. + + * * * * * + +I do think that, of the three greatest Liberals, Burke is equally good +in speaking and writing; Macaulay better in writing, and Mr. Gladstone +better in speaking. I doubt whether he feels it; and if he does not +feel it, then I should say that there is a want of perfect knowledge +and judgment. That want I see clearly in his views as to other men. +He hardly ever, I think, judges them too severely. Sometimes I am +persuaded he judges with an exceeding generosity, and I fancy it is +because he will not charge his mind with uncharitableness, because he +{58} does not allow for the wind, that he does not always make bull's +eyes. + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Athenaeum Jan. 14, 1881_] + +It is impossible to leave England without emotion, when my last glimpse +of your father was lying in bed and in the great doctor's hands. It +will indeed be such a charity if you will send a line on a P.C. by +to-morrow, Saturday's post, to me at Goschen's, Seacox Heath, +Hawkhurst, Kent, that we may have Sunday's comfort in good news, and I +say advisedly a P.C. that you may not suspect me of an artifice to +obtain that other delight, of an early letter, such as those you write. +Don't let the lesson of suspicion turn against the teacher. Don't even +let it damage anybody much. I will not spoil my own ideal. That +American book is too wicked![65] + +Forgive me if there is one point, if only one, on which I do not agree +with Ruskin, who never writes to any one what might hot be written to +the world, on the fly-leaves of books. + +Your mother must think me an ill-mannered wretch, even if she did not +discover it before--for going away without thanking her for that +beautiful photograph. I did not feel sure, at first, how much she was +weighted with trouble, for I had never witnessed her serene courage. I +will leave it to you, if you please, mindful of an exquisite proverb +quoted this evening in the House as follows: Speech is silence, but +silver is golden. + + * * * * * + +{59} + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Jan. 20, 1881_] + +What I said of Ruskin was only to excuse the platitude I wrote in his +book, not to rescue my letters from appropriate destruction. + +You evidently think that George Eliot is not the only novelist at whose +feet I have sat, and that I have learned from "Endymion" the delicate +art of flattery. So that the seed of suspicion has taken root after +all, and I hang by my own rope. + +We might perhaps agree about Trevelyan better than you suppose. I +probably started from a lower estimate of the man, and was astonished +at his fulness of knowledge and the vigour of his pen. The oblique +style of narrative is said to be an invention of Gibbon, and Trevelyan +is of course full of Gibbon's times and writings. And I quite agree +with you that the business of historians is to get out of the way, and, +like the man who plays Punch, to concentrate attention on their +personages. Nobody, however, did this less than his illustrious uncle. + +I shall look out with extreme interest for your kinsman's[66] review of +George Eliot. I heard so many hard things said of her by Arnold and +Palgrave, but Wolseley is one of her admirers. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Jan. 21, 1881_] + +My letter was hardly posted when yours arrived. Besides what you +mention, Arthur Lyttelton would find an important paper in the _Pall +Mall_ of the last week of the year, on the early Warwickshire life of +George Eliot, and a letter of hers on the original of Dinah. I fancy +it would be worth while to look up {60} some of her Westminster reviews +between 1850 and 1854; and the last word of her philosophy is more +outspoken in Lewes's scientific writings than in her own. + +It is hard to say why I rate "Middlemarch" so high. There was a touch +of failure in the two preceding books, in "Felix Holt," and even in +"Romola." And it was "Middlemarch" that revealed to me not only her +grand serenity, but her superiority to some of the greatest writers. +My life is spent in endless striving to make out the inner point of +view, the _raison d'etre_, the secret of fascination for powerful +minds, of systems of religion and philosophy, and of politics, the +offspring of the others, and one finds that the deepest historians know +how to display their origin and their defects, but do not know how to +think or to feel as men do who live in the grasp of the various +systems. And if they sometimes do, it is from a sort of sympathy with +the one or the other, which creates partiality and exclusiveness and +antipathies. Poets are no better. Hugo, who tries so hard to do +justice to the Bishop and the Conventionnel, to the nuns and the +Jacobinical priest, fails from want of contact with the royalist +nobleman and the revolutionary triumvirate, as Shakespeare fails +ignobly with the Roman Plebs. George Eliot seemed to me capable not +only of reading the diverse hearts of men, but of creeping into their +skin, watching the world through their eyes, feeling their latent +background of conviction, discerning theory and habit, influences of +thought and knowledge, of life and of descent, and having obtained this +experience, recovering her independence, stripping off the borrowed +shell, and exposing scientifically and indifferently the soul of a +Vestal, a Crusader, an Anabaptist, an Inquisitor, a Dervish, a +Nihilist, or a Cavalier without {61} attraction, preference, or +caricature. And each of them should say that she displayed him in his +strength, that she gave rational form to motives he had imperfectly +analysed, that she laid bare features in his character he had never +realised. + +I heard the close of Friday's debate, and was much distressed at the +hopeless badness of C----'s speech. But the situation gained by the +result, and still more by what passed on Monday. + +The topic of the reason for delay is, as I hinted at my last moment, a +very delicate one, and not to be discussed lightly. Suppose there is +bloodshed in Ireland before the Protection Bill passes; then a reproach +would lie at their door for thinking more of eventualities that regard +themselves than of the immediate danger to life, and the heavy strain +on families of small means dependent on their own or other people's +rents. And there will be this argument to meet, that less severity in +October or November would go farther than greater severity in March. + + * * * * * + +The journey across France was really freezing. So I remained at Paris +for a few hours' rest and no visits. Bisaccia came south in the same +train, and Goldsmid, who gives me a dinner to-night. I see by the +papers that it is still too cold for your pony-carriage. + +My whole social philosophy consists in the desire not merely to gratify +by civilities, but to bring men into contact with Mr. Gladstone--be it +by breakfast, dinner, or small and early, or even by a formal talking +to like ----'s--and your best art, together with the due discharge of +pasteboard, will be to bring him to bear, directly, on the seventy or +eighty men who want it, and are fit for it, and don't neglect Lady +Spencer's {62} parties, or Lady Granville's less multifarious evenings. +It is the confrontation, not the ceremony, that matters. False +believer,[67] because impostor, not to say hypocrite. I mean that, +beyond his charitableness and a written eloquence that always fills me +with an unspeakable admiration and delight, I do not believe in your +artful philosopher; that the differences revealed to us by his +writings, his conversation at Hawarden, the letter you treated so +generously, cut down to the bone, and leave me no space or patience for +anything better than a gracious courtesy. Therefore, in abetting your +studies in Ruskinese, I am no better than a humbug, which is not a word +to be written in books that will live and will irritate as long as the +language. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Jan. 28, 1881_] + +My faults are to you an opportunity of displaying those qualities to +which you will not let me allude. + + * * * * * + +Those are not truisms about George Eliot. The reality of her +characters is generally perfect. They are not quite always vivid, or +consistent. They degenerate sometimes into reminiscences. But they +live a life apart from hers, and do not serve her purposes. I wonder +whether Arthur Lyttelton knows any good German criticism of her; I +don't think I have seen any. + + * * * * * + +The Tories were sure to cheer as wildly as the Irish hit. You have, I +fancy, felt the weakness of Forster's great speech,[68] which, to the +eye of a practised revolutionist, slightly disparages the Government. + +He makes out an irresistible case against those who {63} think all is +right in Ireland, so far at least as to need nothing exceptional from +Parliament. He thinks little of the man--the imaginary hearer--who +thinks that the Irish peasants have a case; that the suffering and the +wrong are real, and are partly the work of the law; that the horrors +which fill us with impatience are the direct--though not the +unmixed--consequence thereof; that the first way to remove effects is +to remove the cause; that, whereas all this is certain, it remains to +be proved that the evil is beyond that treatment; and that the movement +which has its root in the soil, cannot be so dissociated from the +movement that has its root in America, that the one may heal and the +other may starve. Probably he does not wish to speak of remedial +measures beforehand, and in the same comminatory breath, or to dwell +too much on the purely revolutionary peril, which is a delicate topic, +about which people are not agreed, and which it is awkward to prove. +But he is so little occupied with the one real objection, in this +speech charged with the wisdom of many Cabinet discussions, that one +wonders whether that other line of thought, so repugnant to the +Castle,[69] was ever forcibly put forward in the Cabinet. + +What you say of great men manifesting only themselves in their +works--the predominance, one should say, of the lyrical mood--is +profoundly true. Milton and Byron are supreme examples. It is the +reason why there are so few great epics, and so few great--there are +many good--histories. It is, in higher literary work, the same +solicitude that makes it almost impossible for men to think of the +right instead of the expedient. You can hardly imagine how people +wondered what Mr. Gladstone's motives were in the {64} Bulgarian +affair. Most politicians would be ashamed of having done any +considerable thing because it was right, from no motive more clever +than duty. + +Fancy the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ asking me to do their article on +Jesuits! I answered that I hoped they would have one on Mrs. Lewes. I +have written my testimony to Mr. Cross,[70] encouraging him about the +intended life.... Thank you a thousand times beforehand for every +chance line you promise me. You do not know how to say things that are +not interesting. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Feb. 2, 1881_] + +There is no way of describing the light and the joy which your letters +bring to this place of exile, with all the reality of the old country, +and with the ideal which belongs only to you and yours. I was hoping +that you had heard the glorious speech.[71] It must have been a treat +for you; and we saw at once, from our _Pall Mall_ itself, how profound +the impression had been. My imaginary listener, if he had listened, +might not have remained unconverted. Certainly, as you say, the +strongest confirmation of both speech and policy is the attitude of +these ill-conditioned Irishmen. As I have paired with Lord Limerick +(who has married a Miss Colquhoun of Cannes, and prefers bondage at his +father-in-law's villa to the protection of the land-league in his +ancestral domain, and who would support the Bill), I have virtually +paired against it, and am, I dare say, the only peer on that side, +unless Henry Stanley[72] escapes from Clare, where he is detained, +under pretence of Boycotting, by the transparent artifices of +friends.... + +{65} + +I was prepared to believe the _Standard_ account by a visit from +Wolverton, who offered to show me his last letter from Downing Street, +and I told him I thought he could do it. He was delighted to find the +Hawarden photograph at Cannes. You will not see him for a fortnight, +unless he lost all his money to-day at Monte Carlo. He deserves to +lose it. He wants a strong Coercion Bill and an illusory Land Bill; +but his party and personal loyalty make up for much obdurate deafness +to the Morley predications. + +I am very much obliged indeed for your message about Trevelyan. I +talked about bringing in outsiders, and men not of one's own politics; +and I spoke of Trollope and Morley in the former capacity, and of +Goschen in the latter. Trollope is condemned as noisy. There are +obvious objections to a newspaper editor, and the particular Lyttelton +objection was urged, in a letter to me, by Reeve.[73] Derby and Arthur +Russell put forward G.O.,[74] and I leave Goschen in the lurch until he +answers my letter from Paris pointing out the error of his ways; but I +hope you will be gracious to him before he goes. Goschen is above +sordid motives. He dreads the Radicals, detests ----, despises ----, +and, if left to himself and the nearest influences, he will drift away. +His lips have never been touched with the sacred fire of Liberty. His +international soul has never glowed with the zeal of the good old +cause. He is moved by the fears to which City men are prone, and there +are people more calculating than he is, who work those fears, partly to +check the Government, partly to provide a new chief for the Opposition. +Nobody can keep him straight but Mr. Gladstone. There is nothing +present to offer him, as {66} I take it for granted that one Budget +will not satisfy his--the P.M.'s--vast financial designs. But he can +employ the plan of Napoleon, who said to reluctant tribunes: "Que ne +venez vous discuter avec moi, dans mon Cabinet? Nous aurions des +conversations de famille." It is not a profound constitutional view of +the uses of an opposition; but there is a hint in it for Mr. Gladstone, +who underrates his own power over men in private. The bill as sketched +by the _Standard_ will strengthen his hold on Goschen. + +Chamberlain has been often as indiscreet as the theory he expounded to +F. Cavendish implies, but he can hardly have prompted the _Standard_. + +I am glad to think of Dizzy dining at No. 18. I wonder whether it is +because Lord Granville has heard he is Rowchester.[75] Your choice of +topics shows how you were on your guard with Sir Bartle. The true +thing about him is the strength, not the softness. I know that many +have been taken in by that assumed quality, and much resented it. The +right place for him would be in Asia Minor. + +If you were to see those letters you would say that Burne-Jones is not +the only hand at missing a likeness; but in politics you would +recognise exactly what must have been your impression, that I had +strung my expectations a little above practicable height, and came down +with anguish to the baseness of prose--like the heroine of my dreams (I +mean Dorothea, not the lady whose name is in your letter). + +I fear there is a perceptible change for the worse in Cardwell. + +{67} + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Feb. 10, 1881_] + +You have gone through an anxious time, and I need not say where my +thoughts were fixed during the week of Revolution.[76] I trust you are +well out of it, and found relief at Lubbock's. Wolverton is growing +excited and goes back. I shall miss his good spirits, his keen +pugnacity, his singularly practical and unphilosophical view of +politics, and Godley's[77] letters. And I don't know whether the +Government will gain an adviser prompt, if they make a mistake, to help +them to find it out. + +I have suggested to May[78] a precedent for the action of the Speaker +in stopping the discussion. It was three days before the Little +Gentleman in Black Velvet[79] at Hampton Court changed the dynasty. +The House was in Committee; the Tories were getting the worst of it and +wished to prevent a division. The Whigs would not hear of an +adjournment, and were jubilant, when one of their number had a stroke +of apoplexy. Harley, the Speaker, in concert with the Chairman, seized +the opportunity, took the chair, and closed the debate. Although the +majority was floored, nobody seems to have remonstrated. I presume it +is not on the Journals, and does not count. + +In the hundreds of reflections suggested by the day of the scene, and +of the superb speech, there is one slightly laced with regret (laced is +a metaphor taken from toddy and negus). Once in 1816, the extreme +Royalists, taking offence, walked out of the Chamber of Deputies. The +majority were about to vote when {68} De Serre[80] said: "Personne ne +croira que j'approuve, meme indirectement, l'espece de scission dont +nos yeux sont frappes en ce moment. Mais je demande s'il ne serait pas +de la sagesse, je dirai meme de la generosite de la majorite ici +constatee et qui pourrait deliberer tres legalement, de remettre la +seance a demain. Il importe qu'on ne puisse pas dire que vous avez +refuse d'entendre ceux de vos membres qui pourraient avoir des +observations a faire." And the debate was adjourned. + +I like to quote De Serre, for though a Tory in those days, he would +have developed if he had lived; and there is no statesman in French +parliamentary history who has so much analogy with Mr. Gladstone. + +Arrival of your letter from High Elms,[81] with enclosure--I was +surprised at those Irishmen going astray so hopelessly, when they had a +man amongst them who knows so much about parliamentary tactics as +Justin McCarthy. Their anger at the arrest of Davitt shows that it was +not properly deliberate. One argument with which you must have grown +familiar in the autumn comes to one's mind again since the Resolution. +Free government is government by consent; and consent is conveyed by +the choice constituencies make of their representatives. In a local +and circumscribed, not imperial question, legislation must, as a rule, +depend on the consent of those concerned, as represented in Parliament. +This argument is not conclusive against Coercion, because the Land +League has not even an Irish majority on its side. But it might apply +to the three quarter vote.[82] In a purely Irish question the {69} +whole Irish representation might be swamped and silenced by half the +House. I think the Irish might make some play here by insisting on the +distinction between wanton obstruction--stoppage of imperial measures +and paralysis of the House--and obstruction on their own exclusive +ground. Wanton obstruction cannot be tolerated in a Parliament that +legislates for one-fifth of mankind, although it was the method by +which Rome acquired liberty. But the Resolution makes even local +obstruction impossible to the unanimous people of Ireland. It +establishes a degree of subjection that did not exist before. As the +test of liberty is the position and security of minorities, it has to +encounter a very grave objection which is not felt in Mr. Gladstone's +time, but might be, under men like Harcourt, or the late Lord Derby, or +George Grenville. + +As the police[83] are responsible, I hope Mr. Gladstone will always be +ready to listen to their advice. But he knows very well that it is the +function of the police to take fright, and to wish to be very much +indeed on the safe side. + +I am glad you saw more of Lubbock, and liked him better. He has +astonishing attainments, and a power of various work that I always +envy. And he is gentle to the verge of weakness. He has something to +learn on the gravest side of human knowledge; apart from that he would +execute his own scheme[84] better than almost anybody. How I should +like to see my own List of Authorities drawn up by you! There was a +Pope who said that fifty books would include every good idea in the +world. Literature has doubled {70} since then, and one would have to +take a hundred. How interesting it would be to get that question +answered by one's most intelligent acquaintances: Winton,[85] +Dunelm,[86] Church, Stanley, Liddon, Max Mueller, Jowett, Lowell, +Freeman, Lecky, Morley, Maine, Argyll, Tennyson, Newman, W. E. G., +Paget,[87] Sherbrooke, Arnold, Stephen, Goldwin Smith, Hutton, +Pattison, Jebb, Symonds, and very few others. There would be a +surprising agreement. One is generally tempted to give a preference to +writers whose influence one has felt. But that is often accidental. +It is by accident, by the accident that I read Coleridge first, that +Carlyle never did me any good. If I had spoken of him it would not +have been from the fulness of the heart. Excepting Froude, I think him +the most detestable of historians. The doctrine of heroes, the +doctrine that will is above law, comes next in atrocity to the doctrine +that the flag covers the goods, that the cause justifies its agents, +which is what Froude lives for. Carlyle's robust mental independence +is not the same thing as originality. The Germans love him because he +is an echo of the voices of their own classic age. He lived on the +thought of Germany when it was not at its best, between Herder and +Richter, before the age of discipline and science. Germany since 1840 +is very different from that which inspired him; and his conception of +its teaching was a grotesque anachronism. It gave him his most +valuable faculty, that of standing aside from the current of +contemporary English ideas, and looking at it from an Archimedean +point, but it gave him no rule for judging, no test of truth, no +definite conviction, no certain method and no sure {71} conclusion. +But he had historic grasp--which is a rare quality--some sympathy with +things that are not evident, and a vague, fluctuating notion of the +work of impersonal forces. There is a flash of genius in "Past and +Present," and in the "French Revolution," though it is a wretched +history. And he invented Oliver Cromwell. That is the positive result +of him, that, and his personal influence over many considerable +minds--a stimulating, not a guiding influence; as when Stanley asked +what he ought to do, and Carlyle answered: "Do your best!" You see +that I agree with the judgment of the _Times_ (outer sheet); and the +_Daily News_, preferring him to Macaulay and G. Eliot, and +constructively to Mill or Newman or Morley, seems to me ridiculous. I +should speak differently if, reading him earlier, I had learned from +him instead of Coleridge the lesson of intellectual detachment. + + * * * * * + +How could you read Laveleye's foolish letters? Pray don't believe him. +His speech about Herbert Spencer is an after-thought. He said he +thought him inferior to Mill; the rest is padding. As he has emptied +his sack of compliments on me I am sorry to think of the other things +you would have him say, for they must be in the other key. Have you +read the _Nineteenth Century_ on Liberal Philosophy?[88] Mr. Gladstone +certainly would not allow the definition of Liberalism attributed to +him to stand alone. My book begins with 100 definitions,[89] but that +is not to be one of them, and I wish I knew of one fit to stand in your +father's name. + +{72} + +The royal dinner-party was evidently a high success, and, apart from +royalty, I was glad to think of Derby frequenting Downing Street. I +hope his time will come soon, although when he and Goschen are in the +Cabinet I am afraid I shall lose my tenant at Prince's Gate.... + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Feb. 16, 1881_] + +Your kindness to B---- is like nothing but yourself--not only for +procuring him his innings so opportunely, but for interpreting so +generously his perplexity and irresolution. I dare say you are right +to lay the blame on me. It will be very amusing to get remonstrances +from bewildered friends, and I think I shall have to write to Arthur +Russell, as the most inquisitive and idle of them all, and therefore +the best to trust with a secret that is to be told. For pray believe +that there is no real truth in the report. + +I paired for the Government with Lord Limerick against.[90] No doubt, +if he was present and voted, he would support the bill. Therefore, in +balancing or neutralising his vote, I am virtually pairing with a +supporter, not an opponent, and am myself practically opposing. But +that is only my metaphysical commentary, founded on the fact that an +Irish Conservative is sure to like the bill much better than I do. +There is no understanding of the kind between us, and neither of us +mentioned this particular measure to the other. I am simply in Cork's +list, paired with a good Tory. And it all comes to nothing, for none +of us expect a division on the second reading. + +The only people with whom I need disclaim the impeachment would be +Morley & Co., as I should only be making Radical capital out of a +little joke. The {73} joke consisting in your representing me as a +worse enemy to Ministers than all the Tories and half the Irish. + +I made out in the autumn that Blennerhassett laid a good deal of blame +on Forster's want of flexibility of mind and of _coup d'oeil_. I dare +say he is quite right. There is evident truth in one remark you quote. +The excuse for agitation is by no means always its cause; and I would +not be too hopeful of the effects even of the most perfect or most +popular Land Bill. Ultramontane priests will never, permanently, be on +the side of the State. To nurse their own influence and the religious +faith of the people, they always magnify antagonism and persecution, +which implies denunciation of antagonists and persecutors. And there +are deeper reasons still, why it is useless to apply to Irish measures +the usual test of success. However, I am more often angry with our +clergy for absolutism than for revolution, so that I will say no +more.... + +I never knew Amalie v. Lasaulx; but her brother was one of the best +friends I ever had. For two years I followed his lectures on ancient +literature, philosophy, &c., and he left his library to me when he +died. His whole mind was occupied with religious ideas and studies; +but it was an intellectual religiousness, without a notion of a church +or any fervour of prayer. His sister had his independence of mind and +the same generous idealism, and a humble piety which he had not, and +which is remarkably rare among intellectual Germans. + +... The Speaker[91] seems to be a physician as well as a statesman. +The victory over the disturbing Irish must bring your father immense +relief. It is twenty-one years since I met him at Brighton, horribly +jaded, {74} and getting rapid baths of sea-air. I hope he will benefit +this time. + +You will have seen Scherer on Carlyle. The passage in Monday's _Pall +Mall_, exalting Arnold at his expense, only shows that his[92] +burlesque language provoked the rigid and highly white-chokered critic. +Froude will be a worthy biographer for so unscrupulous a hero. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Feb. 19, 1881_] + +What I said of St. Hilaire has become a little obsolete since his +resolute denial that the Greeks have a European decision--or award, as +it stood in the English draft--in their favour. I cannot remember +whether I indicated the mental peculiarity which has developed into +such impolicy; but whatever I did say is for you to apply and employ +entirely as you please. The Arthur Russells, moreover, know him enough +to introduce the necessary vinegar. + +The little joke about Forster is no deeper than AEsop. One said: "He +has a woman's heart with a lion's spirit." Somebody answered: "Rather, +a lion's skin." + +It was reported that Ecuador[93] was preparing a Bark in defence of the +Pope. Your father suggested that it must be a vocal bark. Others said +it was probably Jesuit's bark (they prevail in Ecuador). And so it +went on--that it was worse than their bite, &c., &c., &c. + +I thought the _World's_ apology to the Irish utterly impudent, but one +of the best strokes of wit I can remember in my time. + +I meant it as you say; only the slightest tinge. One need only look at +them to see that generosity would {75} be as completely wasted on them +as on Salisbury, though there are three or four very much better than +others. De Serre was, except Chateaubriand, the only man with a streak +of genius among the politicians of Louis XVIII.'s reign; and he had +virtue and governing power, which that brilliant impostor had not. It +seldom happens that parliamentary debates cut down to the bone, or tap +the bed of principle. There are about half-a-dozen series of debates +that do, because they constructed a system of government from the +foundations--the French National Assembly, in 1789-1791 and 1848; +Frankfort, in 1848; Belgium, in 1831; the French Parliament, after +1815, are among the rare instances. And in that latter instance the +most eminent orator, the finest character, was De Serre. He stood +nearly where Canning stood at that time--between the parties, disliked +by both, persuaded, without the least prejudice or passion, that a +strong monarchy was necessary in the levelled society of France, +willing to make some sacrifice of strict principle in that cause, yet +looking forward to better times, which he did not live to see, for his +health broke down in 1822, and he died in 1824. One story will explain +the man to you. In one of his speeches he laid down that the bulk of a +representative assembly is almost always well meaning (an axiom of +constitutional philosophy). Furious outcries from all the royalist +benches interrupted him; shouts of: "Vous oubliez la Convention!" He +answered: "Yes, even the Convention! (order! order!) ... and if the +Convention had not voted under the terror of assassins, France would +have been spared the most terrible of crimes!" + +Laveleye has great knowledge of Political Economy and of politics, and +his peculiarity is that he does not {76} think of party, or power, or +wealth, but is thoroughly anxious about the condition of society. That +separates him from orthodox Economists (Lowe, Mallet, Newmarch), who do +not attend to the problem of Distribution, and are not made sleepless +by the suffering and sorrow of the poor. He is slightly heterodox; +what Germans call Kathedersozialist, and what even Maine would call +downright Socialist. His chief work is an account of early forms of +property, an indirect and rather confused plea for common property in +land. Ingram,[94] Cliffe Leslie nearly represent him in England. He +is a special enemy of the Catholic priesthood, like M. Frere-Orban, the +Belgian minister, and Laurent of Ghent; but differs from them in the +wish to give the people something better than negations. He has +married a Protestant lady, and attends Protestant service; but whether +from any dogmatic conviction, or as a bulwark against Ultramontanes, I +am not sure. He is a very estimable man, well informed, earnest, +slightly tiresome, and not at all original. + +Don't mind coming to grief over parallels. A disposition to detect +resemblances is one of the greatest sources of error. To me parallels +afford a blaze of light, but they are rare, and hard to find. + +... What you tell me of Mr. Gladstone's health is good news indeed; and +I hope you will not listen to his regrets about a measure contrary to +the law of freedom. As much authority as is wanted to protect the few +against the many, or the weak against the strong, is not contrary to +freedom, but the condition of freedom. The disease lies in society, +not in the state. The other view, that the only dangerous enemy {77} a +nation has is its government, is pure revolution, and was invented by +St. Just. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 7, 1881_] + +When the accident[95] happened, the Cardwells had a favourable telegram +from a friend of yours, and we learned the news and Paget's verdict +together. You must have passed through terrible moments at first. But +the best thing about it was your setting off to amuse yourself at +Oxford. All England has been made to feel the truth of what you say, +and Mr. Gladstone is almost the only man who does not ask the question: +What is to be done if he is disabled? + +I must give up my friend Sir Bartle at last. I thought he had courage +and self-command; but he has been showing the mean spirit of recent +Toryism in a way I did not suspect. + +Your father's resolute adherence to principle, and his ascendency over +weaker colleagues will be put to a grievous trial by the folly of the +hapless Jingo[96] Wolseley bequeathed to the new government. + +I had a cousin who travelled beyond the Vaal, and at last died there. +He taught me to believe that the Boers were excellent fighting +materials. But Sir Garnet pretends that they are liars and cowards, +the only white race retrograding. So that Sir Bartle is not the only +South African authority I must relinquish. + +I hope you really like Sir James Paget. You know that he is one of my +Blue Roses, and makes up for my manifold disbeliefs in great +contemporaries. The author[97] of the novel just mentioned is here, +and is {78} our amiable and hospitable neighbour. There has been such +a Whip for Candahar that five people asked to pair with me. They are +not, on the whole, interesting travellers, except one, with a handsome +and over-married wife. And we have had Sir Louis Mallet, very +interesting, and very sound about Afghanistan. + +I am just off to Rome, to bring my mother-in-law away, who has spent +the winter there, and to see what ten years, and a new pope and new +king have made of it. I am only allowed a week's holiday, and must +crowd a good deal into it. The Sermons[98] will be my first resource +when I come back next week. Thank you, beforehand, so very much for +them. I did not guess the secret history, and, after your letter, the +Arms Bill was a disappointment. When in England I convinced myself +that there was, at that time, no threat of invasion or insurrection; +but when I saw the Bill going on, I fancied "Endymion" might be right +about that hidden danger. + + * * * * * + +Your letter came in the middle of this one of mine, and I can hardly +send a word of gratitude for such kindness. Until George Eliot I +thought G.S.[99] the greatest writer of her sex in all literature. I +cannot read her now. But that is individual taste, not deliberate +judgment. She is as eloquent as one can be in French--the unreal, +unhealthy eloquence that Rousseau brought in, that the Girondins spoke, +that Chateaubriand, Lamennais, Lamartine made so popular, that nobody +but Hugo strives after now, and that was modified in her case by Polish +influences. Some of these Frenchmen live on nothing else; and if one +plucks {79} them, or puts their thoughts into one's own language, +little remains. But she had passion, and understood it, and deep +sympathy, and speculative thought, and the power--in less degree--of +creating character. She could rise very high, for a moment, and her +best prose is like a passage from good poets. It is a splendid +exhibition, diffuse, ill-regulated, fatiguing, monotonous. There is +not the mastery, the measure, the repose one learns from Goethe and the +Greeks. She scatters over twenty volumes the resources her English +rival concentrates into a chapter. There is beauty, but not wisdom; +emotion, but not instruction; and, except in her wonderful eye for +external nature, very little truth. I would call her a bad +Second--such as Swinburne is to Shelley, or Heine to +Schiller--comparisons which involve a great deal of disparagement. + +The conversation of those three great men[100] is very curious--I +should have liked to see and hear them.... If, by chance, there was a +message or a commission for Rome, I shall be at the H. d'Angleterre +until next Monday. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 25, 1881_] + +Rome is the cause of all my delinquency. I remained a week, very ill +with sunshine and south wind, but very happy, and supremely grateful +for your letters and Illingworth's Sermons. Travellers' Rome is what +it was; but in the real city the change is like the work of centuries. +The religious activity and appearance that were of old are gone, and +their place is usurped by things profane. The State has so thrown the +Church into the background, that the Leonine city sleeps like a faded +and deserted suburb, and one must look behind the scenes for what used +to be {80} the glory and the pride of Rome. The bewildered +Girondin[101] at the Vatican, who stands so well with the Castle,[102] +I did not see, but heard much of his moderation, patience, and despair. +I think he is the first Pope who has been wise enough to despair, and +has felt that he must begin a new part, and steer by strange stars over +an unknown sea. + +I found a British ambassador devoid of political influence and +understanding, but splendidly hospitable, and good-natured even to the +friends of his own government. Layard, after serving the Court as a +stick to beat Paget with, had left before I came. Almost all my time +was spent with the two friends[103] whom you remember at a memorable +examination at Venice, and seven days passed like hours. But why do I +write all this? Am I not going to see you soon? I hear of a friendly +yacht in the Mediterranean, and of his family accompanying the P.M. +That can only mean embarkation at Cannes. It will be a joy for us +indeed, and nothing shall be left undone to make your stay here as +pleasant and as long as possible. You will not take long to understand +that it is one of the sweetest spots in Europe. Let this be an assured +element in all your Easter plans, that you will find here a haven of +rest and friends not to be surpassed in affection by any elsewhere. +Tell me what rooms to take at a neighbouring snug hotel. Or do you +stay at Capodimonte? Nothing here spoken of must be to the detriment +of six weeks with the Professor[104] at peaceful Tegernsee, between +August and October. + +Lecky seems to me to have composed unconscious of another tune running +in his head. The likeness is {81} greater in the description than in +the reality. Chatham had public virtue, genius, energy, coupled with +the magic power of transmitting it, the strength that comes with +unselfish passion, and a grand way of spending popularity that others +meanly hoard. He had few ideas, less instruction than Fox or +Shelburne, too little political knowledge for a clear notion of his own +place, of the stair he stood upon in history, or for any definite view +of the English or European future. I admit no comparison,[105] except +with the Burke of 1770-80. That early Burke would have made the peace +with the Africanders, which is the noblest work of the Ministry. + +When you seem to doubt what I think of it, you mean that Coercion has +robbed me of my footing in your confidence. Four weeks ago a very +eminent foreigner wrote to me that the discovery of the Afghan papers +would chill your father's Russian sympathies. After explaining that +the discovery was not new for Ministers, I begged my friend to dismiss +sympathies for principles, and to understand that there are in the +world men who treat politics as the art of doing, on the largest scale, +what is right; and I informed him that he would presently see peace +made with the Boers on terms of great moderation, after disasters +unavenged, in defiance of military indignation, in spite of lost +prestige. You see that I knew what I was saying. Bearing in mind how +strong a weapon of offence is thus given to enemies at home, +considering the strength the offended feelings lately showed, and the +weakness that lies in the attitude of the Government down to the time +of our defeats, I declare that I rejoice in this inward victory with +heartier joy and a purer pride than {82} I have been able to feel at +any public event since I broke my heart over the surrender of Lee.[106] + +Carlyle's two volumes are crowded with grotesque eloquence, but they +make him smaller in my eyes (nothing could make him worse). The +account of Southey seems to me to do him less harm than the rest. +"Common Sense" I read and recognised as Hayward. It seemed to me +nearly true; but I thought the _Times_ and _Temps_ near the truth. + +Your question about my injustice to Germany before 1840 touches a vital +point, and you narrowly escape a very long answer. Scientific Germany +was hardly born in all those years when Goethe, Schleiermacher, +Schlegel, Richter reigned. The real, permanent, commanding work of the +nation has been done by a generation of men very many of whom I have +known. To me it seemed that Carlyle spoke of great men before +Agamemnon, and the bonfires that were good in the dark obscure the +daylight. + +And there would be much to say about the appreciation of the French and +German genius, and the unpleasant reciprocity of chilled sympathy. But +even if I could convince you of the fact, I do not know the reason. +Let me only say, to prove that I am not fearful of giving you pain, +that I think there is some want of method in his[107] pursuit of +foreign literature. Things come to him by a sort of accident, are +pressed on him by some occasion, and are taken up with absorbing +vigour, not always with a distinct recognition of the book's place in +its series, of the writer's place among other writers. That sort of +knowledge can only be obtained {83} by close and constant study of +Reviews, by men having more patience than urgent steam pressure, by +much indistinct groping and long suspense. This seems unreasonably +confused; yet I think you will see what I mean by the time we have +taken a walk over the hill of Californie,[108] from which you gaze on +fifty miles of the Riviera. + +To-morrow I must be away from home; so I write in ignorance of your +brother's speech on Candahar. I am sure, if he spoke on so good a +subject, he justified Challemel. It will be a real privilege to hear +Lowell discourse on Dante. I am sorry the _Paradiso_,[109] which is in +the press, has not appeared. It is a good thing for all parties that +Lowell should be linked by more than political chains. + +The Sermons[110] have been unjustly taken by Wickham before I could +read them; but I shall have them soon. I saw enough to justify all you +said, in former letters. There is an originality about them which +obliges one to think again before acquiescing in everything. The next +number of the _Church Quarterly_ will be very interesting to me. But +there will be a dreadful cold shower-bath when the "Life"[111] appears. + +"Consuelo" is a very great novel. Afterwards she[112] threw herself +away on Monographs. I know that I don't like her; but I don't think I +could ever have compared Miss Bronte or Miss Austen to her. + + * * * * * + +Do you know an M.P. of the name of Lea? He is a rich Kidderminster +carpet manufacturer, and is member, now, for Derry. I have seldom met +a more {84} thoughtful, intelligent, and satisfactory man. He has been +to Aldenham, and I have stayed with him at Kidderminster, and thought +him so sensible, so full of resource, that I should think him worth +talking to about Ireland.... He was an Independent, and has, I think, +conformed. Among your friends, apart from Whips, I should expect Bryce +to know all about him. If he comes to a Tuesday I entreat you to +remember that he has impressed me, and friends who are better judges +than I, in a way not common among the people one meets in small +provincial towns and societies. I have a good deal more to say, but I +fancy it will lose nothing by waiting for the Paris Express. Meanwhile +the great veil will be lifted from the Budget and the Sempronian +Law,[113] and I await a rare excitement. Keep Cannes and Tegernsee +steadily in view. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes April 2, 1881_] + +It was a short dream, but a pleasant one, not to be quite forgotten +until Tegernsee fairly looms on us. Herbert's speech seems to me to +deserve all the praise it brought him. That evening I met Henriquez, +who spoke at Harrow during his canvass, and who says that as a speaker, +apart from political experience and knowledge, he has nothing to learn. +At the beginning the Skobeleff argument struck me as wanting a more +elaborate introduction, but my doubt was soon dispelled. Please tell +him, with my hearty congratulations, that the Roman empire perished for +want of a good Land Bill. That criticism[114] which Palgrave has +disinterred makes me think of the judge who was not tied to a stake, +and of Roger Collard's answer when asked whether he had called Guizot +an austere intriguer: {85} "I never said austere." _It_ is rather a +gift of inventing picturesque, and often grotesque epithets and +nicknames, than general power of expression. The sentences are seldom +good, and not comparable to those of the faithful Ruskin. But the man +who called Stanley a body-snatcher deserves a monument in Westminster +Abbey. + +You must have snubbed ---- at Lady Reay's. Or did he think you laughed +at him? That, you know, is a possible error. There is no doubt that +the opinion others have of us is one of the very many sources of subtle +error in our judgments which have grown into such a prodigious +catalogue since Bacon feebly began to enumerate them. People who study +them, and stand on their guard against this particular temptation, fall +easily by identifying themselves with their principles. It is almost +an axiom in controversy that to attack one's adversary personally is to +confess disbelief in one's cause, where doctrine and not conduct is in +question. And I do see men who are personally attacked, conclude that +their adversary is dishonest and knows that he is in the wrong. On the +other hand, there is an institution in London founded on the belief +that private acquaintance and good-fellowship softens the asperity of +public conflicts. You know about Grillion's, where men dine without +quarrelling, and where, by a pleasant fiction, no bore is supposed to +live. There the effect is what your father says. People make +opponents like them, and soften to their opponents, in consequence. + +I write under the shadow of Disraeli's illness. Our last accounts are +very threatening; and I, who think that the worst part of the man was +his cause, and who liked him better than the mass of his party, look +with dismay on the narrowness and the passion of those who {86} will +succeed him. He, at least, if he had no principles or scruples, had no +prejudices or superstitions or fanaticism. You have heard it said of +---- that he would have been a good fellow, if he had not been a +drunkard, a liar, and a thief. With a few allowances ... a good deal +may be said for the Tory leader who made England a Democracy. One must +make so much allowance for so many public men besides Midhat.[115] + +The Pope[116] probably had no clear view about policy. If he had, he +would hardly be Pope. But he sees that the old spells have lost their +power over men, and so he gives them up. It does not yet appear +whether he knows that the power is gone for ever; but visibly, for the +time, he is trying new arts, and endeavours to restore, by conciliation +and management, what Pius ruined by authority. The attempt to +disengage himself from the crash of the Legitimists is the most +remarkable instance of the change. He explains that the Church must +not be so committed to any political party as to stand or fall with it. +But that has been, since 1849, the entirely unvarying policy of Rome, +and has forced all the enemies of absolute power to turn their forces +against Catholicism. If once the two things are separated, there will +be a great change in the position of things in Europe. If the Pope +does not maintain Legitimacy he gives up the temporal power. He has no +legal or political claim to Rome that Chambord has not to France, for +arguments derived from Canon Law are without validity in politics. By +weakening his one resource, he shows that he thinks the game is up. +And then there is no insuperable obstacle to reconciliation with the +Powers. Solicitude for temporal sovereignty {87} has been the cause of +all the faults and disasters of our Church since the murder of +Rossi.[117] To surrender it implies such a conversion that I shall not +believe in it till I see clearer signs; for his chief confidant is the +Archbishop of Capua, an old friend of mine, who is what Newman would be +without his genius, his eloquence, and his instruction. + +I don't know where to stop. Capua is a bad stopping place. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Palm Sunday April 10, 1881_] + +Don't mind my weak handwriting and brief letter, but I have spent most +of this great parliamentary week in bed, and this is my first attempt +to write. + +I so much want to hear from you that your father is well and happy. +The achievement seems incomparable, and the policy wonderful.[118] But +I am too confused in mind yet to understand the whole thing and the +flight of the Thane.[119] Probably it has been long foreseen, and is +taken almost as a victory from coming alone. It portends tremendous +opposition in the Lords, unless Derby has succeeded him,[120] and even +then. I have seen nothing but the _Times_--stormy weather delaying all +English papers; and I read the peroration to my family as explaining +why the speaker is in my eyes so much the best of statesmen. I wonder +what an intelligent Socialist would make of the sentence which says +that the Irish landlords would have been guilty of injustice by +appropriating the results of tenant labour in improvement of the soil. +In a rough and ready way {88} they might apply the maxim to +manufactories too. Then comes an extract from the ninth paragraph of +the Bessbro' Report to the effect that Irish rents are lower than +English, which might, I fancy, serve when they try to stop the way by +getting up an agrarian movement in this country. I should add, having +been so recalcitrant, that the Court ought to be able to effect what is +substantially just in the Irish claims. I don't much believe in +peasant proprietorship; but I should like much done for emigration, and +have not been converted from what he said about that in 1845. The +threatening close of the eleventh[121] Budget speech must not, I hope, +be taken literally--not only because the Budget, laid down on partly +Tory lines, is not a very great one; partly because the speech is full +of promise and suggestion, and even menace; also because the only +successor whose succession would not seriously weaken the Ministry, +Goschen, declared his resolution not to join it when he returns.... + +You will not have had time to read French newspapers and academic +speeches. They elected Rousse,[122] a lawyer, not famous, but much +trusted by the expelled monks. Falloux was not ashamed to say to me: +"au moins, c'est un honnete homme--chose precieuse aujourd'hui." His +speech was an exquisite composition. But d'Aumale, in his reply, said +that Cicero was a much better man than Demosthenes--in politics. I +hope that sentiment would vex your father, the one man who has the +right to pronounce between them. A good historian says of Demosthenes: +"Er war Idealist und uberschaetzte in gefahrvollen Zeiten die Wirkung +sittlicher Kraefte." + +I am anxiously watching the change of Ministry in {89} Italy, where I +saw this mischief brewing so lately. A worse administration than the +present seemed to me almost inconceivable. They avowed the doctrine +that there is no resisting the priesthood except by definite +Spencerianism; and that whatever is given to God goes to the Pope.... + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine April 14, 1881_] + +... Your welcome and consoling handwriting quickly followed by the +appearance of Wolverton fresh from home, brought me all I was wishing +for almost as soon as my letter was gone. Thank you so much for +knowing so well what one is thinking of. + +We rather expect Argyll to take refuge here too during these holidays. + +The _Pall Mall_ is worth anything for its concentrated essence of +opinion. Much of this is stupid. But the accusation begun by +Argyll--that the measure abandons the old lines on which the Liberal +party won its battles, introduces new principles not tested yet by the +experience of nations, and begins, in short, a new departure--is one +that will be urged with great force and some truth, and it will not do +to disguise the magnitude of the change. The suspicion that the P.M. +was changing on the two[123] greatest of all political questions comes +true after all; and I wonder which of the twenty-two texts was in the +ascendant when I thought myself convicted of false prophecy! + +I don't feel to know how much German Herbert reads, for I don't rely on +what he picked up at Tegernsee. But I want to draw his attention, if +it avails, to one literary matter. + +Within the last ten or twelve years there has been a wonderful change +in political economy in the {90} direction of which Laveleye, Ingram, +Cliffe Leslie are popular exponents, and which Sherbrooke and Bonamy +Price anathematise. The essential point is the history and analysis of +property in land. It is important that our people should be exactly +acquainted with these views and results before the debate comes on. +Two volumes contain all that it is necessary to read:--Roscher, +_National oekonomik des Ackerbaus_, and Wagner's _Grundlegung der +Volkswirthschaft_. + +He that has read these two books knows a good deal about the lines on +which Society is moving that he cannot well discover elsewhere. + + * * * * * + +You will not agree with me in rejoicing that Cairns[124] has done +himself so much credit at the same moment when Salisbury has injured +himself seriously by his offer of Tunisian hush money. All this is a +misfortune for the Italians, as they cannot have a reasonable Ministry +with the present Parliament, and the circle is closing round them. +Perhaps it will teach them to dismiss ambition. + +Punch's Irish landlord spoils a very old Italian story. The poet +Mortola, out of envy, shot at another poet and missed him. He had to +get relieved of his excommunication by the Pope, and his confession +was: "E vero, Santo Padre, ho fallito."[125] ... + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes April 24, 1881_] + +I am not sure that there is any quite available and compendious answer +to the two reproaches of setting the poor against the rich, and of +giving power to those least fit for it. There lurks in each an atom of +inevitable truth; and the sententious arguments which serve to dazzle +people at elections may generally be met by {91} epigrams just as +sparkling and as sound on the other side. Politics are so complex that +almost every act may be honestly seen in very different lights; and I +can imagine so strong a case against our African policy as to drive +from his moorings any man not well anchored in justice. + +Assuming that the first objection culminates in Midlothian: it was +necessary to bring home to the constituencies, to needy and ignorant +men, the fact that Society, the wealthy ruling class, that supported +our late Mazarin[126] in clubs and drawing-rooms, was ready to spend +the treasure and the blood of the people in defence of an infamous +tyranny,[127] to gratify pride, the love of authority, and the lust of +power. Nearly the same situation arose in Ireland, and in other +questions not so urgent. Secondly, as to Democracy, it is true that +masses of new electors are utterly ignorant, that they are easily +deceived by appeals to prejudice and passion, and are consequently +unstable, and that the difficulty of explaining economic questions to +them, and of linking their interests with those of the State, may +become a danger to the public credit, if not to the security of private +property. A true Liberal, as distinguished from a Democrat, keeps this +peril always before him. + +The answer is, that you cannot make an omelette without breaking +eggs--that politics are not made up of artifices only, but of truths, +and that truths have to be told. + +We are forced, in equity, to share the government with the working +class by considerations which were made supreme by the awakening of +political economy. Adam Smith set up two propositions--that contracts +{92} ought to be free between capital and labour, and that labour is +the source, he sometimes says the only source, of wealth. If the last +sentence, in its exclusive form, was true, it was difficult to resist +the conclusion that the class on which national prosperity depends +ought to control the wealth it supplies, that is, ought to govern +instead of the useless unproductive class, and that the class which +earns the increment ought to enjoy it. That is the foreign effect of +Adam Smith--French Revolution and Socialism. We, who reject that +extreme proposition, cannot resist the logical pressure of the other. +If there is a free contract, in open market, between capital and +labour, it cannot be right that one of the two contracting parties +should have the making of the laws, the management of the conditions, +the keeping of the peace, the administration of justice, the +distribution of taxes, the control of expenditure, in its own hands +exclusively. It is unjust that all these securities, all these +advantages, should be on the same side. It is monstrous that they +should be all on the side that has least urgent need of them, that has +least to lose. Before this argument, the ancient dogma, that power +attends on property, broke down. Justice required that property +should--not abdicate, but--share its political supremacy. Without this +partition, free contract was as illusory as a fair duel in which one +man supplies seconds, arms, and ammunition. + +That is the flesh and blood argument. That is why Reform, full of +questions of expediency and policy in detail, is, in the gross, not a +question of expediency or of policy at all; and why some of us regard +our opponents as men who should imagine sophisms to avoid keeping +promises, paying debts, or speaking truths. + +{93} + +They will admit much of my theory, but then they will say, like +practical men, that the ignorant classes cannot understand affairs of +state, and are sure to go wrong. But the odd thing is that the most +prosperous nations in the world are both governed by the masses--France +and America. So there must be a flaw in the argument somewhere. The +fact is that education, intelligence, wealth are a security against +certain faults of conduct, not against errors of policy. There is no +error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest +men. Imagine a congress of eminent celebrities, such as More, Bacon, +Grotius, Pascal, Cromwell, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Jefferson, Napoleon, +Pitt, &c. The result would be an Encyclopaedia of Error. They would +assert Slavery, Socialism, Persecution, Divine Right, military +despotism, the reign of force, the supremacy of the executive over +legislation and justice, purchase in the magistracy, the abolition of +credit, the limitation of laws to nineteen years, &c. If you were to +read Walter Scott's pamphlets, Southey's Colloquies, Ellenborough's +Diary, Wellington's Despatches--distrust of the select few, of the +chosen leaders of the community, would displace the dread of the +masses. The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. +Every class is unfit to govern. The law of liberty tends to abolish +the reign of race over race, of faith over faith, of class over class. +It is not the realisation of a political ideal: it is the discharge of +a moral obligation. However that may be, the transfer of power to the +lower class was not the act of Mr. Gladstone, but of the Conservatives +in 1867. It still requires to be rectified and regulated; but I am +sure that in his hands, the change would have been less violent. + +{94} + +Nor do I admit the other accusation, of rousing class animosities. The +upper class used to enjoy undivided sway, and used it for their own +advantage, protecting their interests against those below them, by laws +which were selfish and often inhuman. Almost all that has been done +for the good of the people has been done since the rich lost the +monopoly of power, since the rights of property were discovered to be +not quite unlimited. Think not only of the Corn Laws, but of the fact +that the State did nothing for primary education fifty years ago. The +beneficent legislation of the last half century has been due to the +infusion of new elements in the electoral body. Success depended on +preventing the upper class from recovering their lost ground, by +keeping alive in the masses the sense of their responsibility, of their +danger, of the condition from which they had been rescued, of the +objects still before them, and the ancient enemy behind. Liberal +policy has largely consisted in so promoting this feeling of +self-reliance and self-help, that political antagonism should not +degenerate into social envy, that the forces which rule society should +be separate from the forces which rule the state. No doubt the line +has not always been broadly marked between Liberalism where it borders +on Radicalism, and Radicalism where it borders on the Charter. Some +reproach may visit Bright and Mill, but not Mr. Gladstone. If there +were no Tories, I am afraid he would invent them. He has professed +himself a decided Inequalitarian.[128] I cannot discover that he has +ever caressed the notion of progressive taxation. Until last year I +don't think he ever admitted that we have to legislate not quite +impartially for the whole nation, but for a class so numerous as to be +{95} virtually equal to the whole. He dispels the conflict of classes +by cherishing the landed aristocracy, and making the most of it in +office. He has granted the Irish landlords an absolution ampler than +they deserve. Therefore, though I admit that the condition of English +society tends in some measure to make the poor regard the rich as their +enemies, and that the one inveterate obstacle to the welfare of the +masses is the House of Lords, yet I must add that he whose mission it +is to overcome that interested resistance has been scrupulous not to +excite passionate resentment, and to preserve what he cannot correct. +And I do not say it altogether in his praise. + +It is the law of party government that we contend on equal terms, and +claim no privilege. We assume the honesty of our opponents, whatever +we think or know. Kenealy and Bradlaugh must be treated with +consideration, like Wilberforce or Macaulay. We do not use private +letters, reported conversations, newspaper gossip, or scandals revealed +in trials to damage troublesome politicians. We deal only with +responsibility for public acts. But with these we must deal freely. +We have to keep the national conscience straight and true, and if we +shrink from doing this because we dare not cast obloquy on class or +party or institution, then we become accomplices in wrong-doing, and +very possibly in crime. + +We ought not to employ vulgar imputations, that men cling to office, +that they vote against their convictions, that they are not always +consistent, &c. All that is unworthy of imperial debate. But where +there is a question of unjust war, or annexation, of intrigue, of +suppressed information, of mismanagement in matters of life and death, +of disregard for suffering, {96} we are bound to gibbet the offender +before the people of England, and to make the rude workman understand +and share our indignation against the grandee. Whether he ought, after +that, to be left to Dean Stanley[129] is another question. + +But I am not surprised at the complaint you heard. To many people the +idea is repugnant that there is a moral question at the bottom of +politics. They think that it is only by great effort and the +employment of every resource that property and religion can be +maintained. If you embarrass their defence with unnecessary rules and +scruples, you risk defeat, and set up a rather arbitrary and +unsanctioned standard above the interest of their class or of their +church. Such men are not at their ease with the Prime Minister, +especially if he is against them, and even when they are on his side. +I am thinking of Argyll in Lytton's first debate; of Kimberley always; +of soldiers and diplomatists generally. + +Whilst you find Conservatives surprised at the moderation of the Bill, +I have had the pleasure of meeting two members of the Government who +think it goes much too far. And now the papers announce two more +impending secessions.[130] I really don't know what is to become of us +in the Lords. + +The _Pall Mall_ resumes of Lord Beaconsfield have been intensely +interesting. None seemed to me too severe, but some were shocking at +the moment. He was quite remarkable enough to fill a column of Eloge. +Some one wrote to me yesterday that no Jew for 1800 years has played so +great a part in the world. That would be no Jew since St. Paul; and it +is very startling. But, putting aside literature, and therefore +Spinoza {97} and Heine, almost simultaneously with Disraeli, a +converted Jew, Stahl, a man without birth or fortune, became the leader +of the Prussian Conservative and aristocratic party. He led them from +about 1850 to 1860, when he died; and he was intellectually far +superior to Disraeli--I should say, the greatest reasoner that has ever +served the Conservative cause. But he never obtained power, or +determined any important event. Lassalle died after two years of +agitation. Benjamin,[131] the soul of the Confederate ministry, now +rising to the first rank of English lawyers, had too short and too +disastrous a public career. In short, I have not yet found an answer. + +I think, failing sons and secretaries, it is really important that the +P.M. should set somebody in Downing Street to read Wagner's +_Grundlegung_. It would be a great advantage to an outsider if he were +to get it up, and to know exactly where the agrarian question now +stands in Europe, both as to theory and practice. It is an exceedingly +able, bold, and original book, and the author occupies, at Berlin, the +first chair of Pol. Economy in Germany. I would even venture to ask +you to mention it to him, as flotsam from the Riviera. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine April 30, 1881_] + +Like you I am sorry for the omission[132] on Monday, and for the sequel +to it next week. The homage of the House in which he was so long +distinguished was due to Disraeli, and it would have been a fit +occasion for a panegyric which might have appeared natural and {98} +informal. The Monument is a homage paid by the nation, demanding more +than parliamentary or other intellectual distinction, and implying +public service of some exceptional merit and amount. This is wanting +in Disraeli. And we deem not only that the good was absent, but that +the bad, the injurious, the immoral, the disgraceful was present on a +large scale. Let us praise his genius, his wit, his courage, his +patience and constancy in adversity, his strength of will, his +originality and independence of mind, the art with which he learned to +be eloquent, his occasional largeness of conception, his frequent good +nature and fidelity to friends, his readiness of resource, his +considerable literary culture, his skill in the management of a divided +and reluctant party, even his superiority to the greed of office; let +us even call him the greatest Jewish minister since Joseph--but if we +say that he deserved the gratitude of the nation, and might claim his +reward from every part of it, I am afraid we condemn ourselves. This +feeling will certainly be expressed out of doors, if not in the House, +and will not only mar the general effect, but will almost seem to have +been provoked, by the formality and the postponement. Its existence in +any considerable measure is a reason against doing what offends many +consciences, and is gracious only when all but unanimous. Personally +it will be a great opportunity for your father. I am afraid I deplore +it from every other point of view. + + * * * * * + +Here is Lord Morley going home to-morrow, and much to be envied. If +you see him, he will tell you that Cannes is a very nice place indeed. +I see, by the way things are going, that the Land Bill is pretty safe +in the Commons; but I wonder how {99} much ascendency Northcote has +with his colleagues elsewhere.... + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine May 7, 1881_] + +The defect of the argument is that it will neither wear nor wash. It +cannot be employed in public. Nobody can say:--"I who overthrew Lord +Beaconsfield's ministry, reversed his policy, persuaded the nation to +distrust him, and brought his career to a dishonoured end--I who, +altogether disagreeing with a certain friend of mine, thought his +doctrines false, but the man more false than his doctrine; who believe +that he demoralised public opinion, bargained with diseased appetites, +stimulated passions, prejudices, and selfish desires, that they might +maintain his influence; that he weakened the Crown by approving its +unconstitutional leanings, and the Constitution by offering any price +for democratic popularity,--who, privately, deem him the worst and most +immoral minister since Castlereagh, and have branded him with a stigma +such as no other public man has deserved in my time,--nevertheless +proceed, in my public capacity, to lock my true sentiments in my +breast, and declare him worthy of a reward that was not paid to Fox or +to Canning; worthy not only of the tribute due to talents, efficiency, +and courage, but of enduring gratitude and honour; and I do it because +I am not the leader of the nation, but the appointed minister of its +will; because it is my office to be the mouthpiece of opinions I +disapprove, to obey an impulse I condemn, to execute the popular wishes +when they contradict my own." + +That is a position which cannot be held, a motive impossible to avow. +But then there is no answer to Labouchere when he recalls the scathing +denunciations of {100} last year and asks "whether they were seriously +meant, or whether, having served their purpose, they have been +abandoned and committed to oblivion; whether the Prime Minister +declares their injustice and invites the country to join him in making +reparation, whether the responsibilities of power have effected the +usual transformation from the exigencies of electioneering agitation, +and whether we are to understand that the career of Lord Beaconsfield +appears in a different light to those who have inherited his +difficulties and have learned to appreciate his aims, from that which +blazed on so many platforms. If the Rt. Honble. gentleman maintains +his maledictions, if his soul is still vexed by the memory of +disgraceful peace and disgraceful war, of tyranny protected, of +bloodshed unavenged, then let him not forget the picture which he drew, +which still dwells in the hearts of millions; the praise that comes +from the lips that uttered those burning words must be hollow, for the +soul cannot be there; it would be better that he left the task to more +congenial hands, to some who could speak from the fulness of the heart, +to some less prominent critic of Tory policy, to some less austere +apostle of national duty." + +The nation, it is true, supported Lord Beaconsfield, but the same +nation also very decidedly condemned and rejected him. The author of +the rejection is the worst possible mouthpiece of the former approval. +And in a question which is really one of morals everybody must judge +and act for himself. If the degradation of public principle spread +from Lord Beaconsfield to his party, and from them to the Liberals, to +whom are we to look for a stricter spirit and a loftier standard? Is +it for him who, as a volunteer, stemmed the tide of corruption, to ride +on it now that all authority, moral, political, {101} personal, is +concentrated in him? No doubt, the opposition will be overdone; but +there are materials which a light and skilful hand, P. J. Smyth, for +instance, might use with telling force. + +I will propose a double Cartoon: The P.M. proposing the monument, +correct, slightly white-chokered, wearing what Whiteside called his +oratorical face, making the splendour of words do duty for +realities--and the Philippic Demosthenes of Midlothian rousing the +sleepy Lion with tumultuous argument and all the unceremonious energy +of a deep conviction. + +As to Lord Granville's motion on the same subject, I am not sorry to be +out of the way of it. + +To "sweep away" the House of Lords would be a terrible revolution. The +more truly the House of Commons comes to represent the real nation, the +more it must fall under the influence of opinion out of doors. It has +less and less a substantive and independent will of its own, and serves +as a barometer to register the movement going on outside. Now the +opinion of a whole nation differs from that of any limited or united or +homogeneous class by its inconstancy. It is not pervaded by one common +interest, trained to the same level, or inspired by one set of ideas. +It is rent by contending motives, and its ideas cannot get a firm grip +because there is nothing solid to lay hold of. The whole is not more +sure to go wrong than a part, but it is sure not to go long the same +way. This sort of fluctuation which is unavoidable in the nation has +to be kept out of the state, for it would destroy its credit, its +influence abroad, and its authority at home. Therefore, the more +perfect the representative system, the more necessary is some other aid +to stability. Six or {102} seven such aids have been devised, and we +unite three of them in our House of Lords--Primogeniture, Established +Church, and an independent judiciary. Its note is Constancy--the wish +to carry into the future the things of the past, the capacity to keep +aloof from the strife and aims of the passing hour. As we have none of +the other resources proper to unmixed governments, a real veto, a +federation of states, or a constitution above the legislature, we must +treasure the one security we possess. A single assembly has an immense +preponderance of authority and experience against it. Chamberlain +would soon bring it under the control of instructions, that is, would +convert it into a democratic engine, and the empire, I apprehend, would +go to pieces. + +The worst anybody can imagine is a modification of the House of Lords, +such as would make it less independent, less affected by tradition, +less united in one interest, but more intelligent and, probably, more +powerful. That seems to me possible, though difficult, and uncertain +and hazardous in an infinite degree. 1 do not plead for this, but I +cannot set myself absolutely and irrevocably against it. The House of +Lords represents one great interest--land. A body that is held +together by a common character and has common interests is necessarily +disposed to defend them. Individuals are accessible to motives that do +not reach multitudes, and may be on their guard against themselves. +But a corporation, according to a profound saying, has neither body to +kick nor soul to save. The principle of self-interest is sure to tell +upon it. The House of Lords feels a stronger duty towards its eldest +sons than towards the masses of ignorant, vulgar, and greedy people. +Therefore, except {103} under very perceptible pressure, it always +resists measures aimed at doing good to the poor. It has been almost +always in the wrong--sometimes from prejudice and fear and +miscalculation, still oftener from instinct and self-preservation. +Generally it does only a temporary injury, and that is its plea for +existence. But the injury may be irreparable. And if we have manifest +suffering, degradation, and death on one side, and the risk of a +remodelled senate on the other, the certain evil outweighs the +contingent danger. For the evil that we apprehend cannot be greater +than the evil we know. I hope the Drawing-room was not very cloudy. +Why did not you sit next Lord Granville? He would have been less deaf. + + * * * * * + +... The arrest of Dillon will produce its effect in the House and on +the action of his colleagues, and may be a source of new difficulties. +But I cannot find fault with it, not even with the prosecution of +Most,[133] although Harcourt is in disgrace.... ---- takes the line +natural in a newspaper, and does not choose to distinguish murder from +insurrection--a besetting sin of democrats. + + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee June 3, 1881_] + +... I thought his[134] speech on the 2nd Reading[135] admirable, but +for the allusion[136] to the larger measure the Tories would have to +bring in, which might put Shaw & Co. into some difficulty. + +They say that Lenbach has gone on painting him, and has succeeded +admirably, but that the likeness is severe and depressing. + +{104} + +Lord Granville told me of his Roman troubles, and I had to give an +opinion, which was not that of the importunate widow. But a +representative so foolish and so hostile would have been more dangerous +at St. Petersburg than at Rome, where he is only throwing away the +mighty influence of your father's name, but where there is not critical +interest at stake. Lord G. seems to me to have done well about Tunis; +but I am sorry I wasted my eulogy on B. St. Hilaire. + +The _Contemporary_ was very interesting. There was a saying of Carlyle +that Germany had produced nothing since Goethe, which confirmed what I +said to you about the limit of his information. I don't know who +Shirley[137] is; but the small divine[138] amused me very much, and his +article would have been just and good if it had not ended by implying +that the judgment of the late elections settles the question of +right--a sentiment fit for Gambetta and the punch-drinking politicians +of Cahors. + +You asked me the other day a perplexing question, suggested, less by +the loss in the house of your friend, than by the observation that men +are passionately fond of talking about themselves, and practising +autobiographical arts. My answer must be what you anticipated. Being +refused at Cambridge, and driven to foreign universities, I never had +any contemporaries, but spent years in looking for men wise enough to +solve the problems that puzzled me, not in religion or politics so much +as along the wavy line between the two. So I was always associated +with men a generation older than myself, most of whom died early--for +me--and all of whom impressed me with the same moral, that {105} one +must do one's learning and thinking for oneself, without expecting +short cuts or relying on other men. And that led to the elaborate +detachment, the unamiable isolation, the dread of personal influences, +which you justly censure. + +Please write that censure is not anger, and tell me what you are all +doing, what the prospects are, how much social trouble you take, and +whether you liked Matthew Arnold and his airs.... + + +Your letter has been indeed a joy in the midst of trouble.[139] You +have understood so much of what it is hard to write.... + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Munich Oct. 15, 1881_] + +She has taken with her one of the strongest links that attached me to +this world, but I do not follow less keenly the movements of the man +who, of all now living, has the greatest power of doing good. The +Irish speech on Friday, and the economic speech on Saturday, made the +strongest impression on me. + +I fancy the man who attacked the calculation of national profit in the +latter, misunderstood his own case, and might have made something of it +if he had spoken of the distribution, not of the increase of wealth. +The treatment of Home Rule as an idea conceivably reasonable, which was +repeated at Guildhall, delighted me. I felt less sure of the +distinction between that as a colourable scheme, and the Land League, +as now working, as one altogether revolutionary and evil. At least, +the censure and arrest of Parnell made me regret more than ever the +monument and the eulogy of Disraeli. But then, you know that that is +my favourite heresy. + +{106} + +What has most struck me in these speeches of the Recess is that they do +almost more than the parliamentary oratory to make the whole country +familiar with Mr. Gladstone's ways of thought, and to stamp his mind on +the nation. I fear they must be fatiguing to him, because I have +always thought that he found an intellectual audience most easy to deal +with. In the Palmerstonian days I remember your brother[140] asking me +at Twickenham what I thought of our prospects; and I answered that the +Chancellor of the Exchequer did not water his wine enough. And I +believe he thought me a fool. But it was quite true: he tried to make +us understand his figures, in the House; but he did not much unfold his +thoughts for the public; and I used to be surprised to find that men +who knew him well, Lord Granville, Argyll,[141] S. Wilberforce, saw +neither the connection nor the consequence of his ideas. This is so +much altered now, that he does not dislike to sit for his mental +portrait, and his philosophy of government is the study of thousands. +So he is moulding the mind of the nation as no man ever did. + +I wonder whether you will have patience to talk to me about him at +Cannes? We are just starting for the Madeleine, through Switzerland.... + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine, Oct. 27, 1881_] + +What might, possibly, be done in a moment of triumph,[142] would be +desertion and disaster to the party at any other moment. Nobody can +hope that next Easter, or for a couple of years, we can be altogether +crowned with laurel. In the presence of Mr. Gladstone {107} himself +the Tories are recovering spirits. They would take a leap forward if +Achilles was safe in his tent. + +That is so clear to any one looking below the surface that it suggests +another objection--there might be an appearance of retreat at the first +turning of the tide, of an inclination to escape, individually, from a +prospect of losing battles and declining prosperity, and to leave +others to face the renewal of disintegration and reaction, such as we +saw in 1873. I know that this is not a consideration where duty is +visibly concerned; but it is a valid consideration where policy is +concerned. And it must be remembered that he may resign office but +cannot abandon power. + +Herbert's constituents[144] were probably more deeply impressed than I +was by the repeated, but too suggestive, eulogy on Hartington and Lord +Granville. Has Mr. Gladstone fairly faced the question, What will the +party do without him? I may quote my own sentiment, because I grew up +among Russells, Ellices, Byngs; and though I am very suspicious of +early impressions and of doctrines unaccounted for, I know I am much +more favourable to the great Whig connection, to the tradition of Locke +and Somers, Adam Smith and Burke and Macaulay, than Mr. Gladstone would +like. Yet it would seem dust and ashes, but for him.... The idea that +politics is an affair of principle, that it is an affair of morality, +that it touches eternal interests as much as vices and virtues do in +private life, that idea will not live in the party. Indeed it is +already overshadowed by the Beaconsfield monument, described by that +prophet, Pope.[145] + +Besides, the party would become unable, from internal divisions, to +govern the country. I take the letter to {108} be a recognition of the +fact that the P.M. ought to be in the House of Commons. In that case +it is on the cards that Lord Granville would retire at the same time. +Where should we be in the Lords, if neither Argyll, nor Derby, nor Lord +G. sat on the Treasury Bench; if Northbrook, Carlingford, and Kimberley +were left to face Salisbury and Cairns? And then, if Selborne resigns +the woolsack, and it becomes necessary to choose a Chancellor for his +debating power? The future is as gloomy in the Commons with Bright and +your father away, Goschen out of office, Hartington liable, any day, to +leave it. In both cases we come to the level of mediocrity; we depend +on the second rank.... + +The new constituency gives increased weight to the Democratic leaders, +and it will be impossible for the Whigs to control them or to do +without them. They will force their programme on the party by keeping +it out of office until they prevail. This must come sooner or later. +But Mr. Gladstone ought not to retire until he has provided for the +future of the party he has remodelled. With respect to persons, if he +does not bring Derby and Goschen in, nobody else can. As to +Goschen--whose position will be a considerable one, as the best +financier of the party, afterwards--it has been unfortunate that the +overtures were not made by the P.M. himself. They would have been far +more flattering; probably also more clear and definite. The +measure[146] he objects to is considerably postponed. The way is +crowded with bills on which he agrees with ministers. + +As to Derby, I hope to learn all about your visit,[147] how you get on +with her, and whether you all took {109} care to acknowledge her good +influence and services. There will never be any great intimacy between +him and your father. But, in his proper place, he could be made very +useful. + +There is something graver than the question of persons. There is his +own Church policy, the Eastern--especially Egyptian and Armenian +question, the decentralisation of H. of Commons business, +redistribution of seats, and ever so much more. I should like him to +see more of the Prince of Wales,[148] that something of his influence +should survive in the Royal Family. And his present power is such that +there will be a real failure in his career if he retires without +employing it to secure the future of the party. It would be wasting or +burying the fortune of Rothschild, the most enormous capital ever +collected in one hand. + +The resistance to G. Eliot, the preference for Scott, the desire to +confide in ----, are all one and the same thing: idealism. When +Disraeli sat down exclaiming, "The time will come when you will hear +me," his neighbour slapped him on the back and said, "So they will." +That encouraging neighbour was ----. He can never take to a man of +strong principle and purpose. He is little better than a vague Jingo: +and he is the most indiscreet, and not the most accurate of men. To +trust him with such a secret is like rejecting G. Eliot as cynical, +gloomy, and uncharitable in her views of life. A man can be trusted +only up to low-water mark. There is just one thing on which the P.M. +is wilfully a little superficial! + +Private Secretaries have no time for letters of their own; otherwise I +think with pleasure of your new occupation. Don't let it tire you. In +many ways it {110} will interest you; and J. S. Mill would highly have +approved of it, as portending an end to the subjection of women. + +Please let me beg that you will not read anonymous communications. If +you receive any, I think they ought to go to the police. Not, of +course, to Mr. Gladstone. What he does not mind himself might worry +him being sent to you. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Nov. 9, 1881_] + +I am sorry to have lost the Knowsley letters, as I know something of +your accounts of country houses. The envelope raised expectations +which added to my disappointment; for there was no danger that the +dulness of the company would affect the record. The newspaper list of +visitors surprised me.... + +The point, however, is the good impression which Derby made during +their walk, as there was no previous liking. + +Your suggestion of a visit to Hawarden is as tempting as it is kind. I +should like nothing so much if I thought it suited Mr. and Mrs. +Gladstone; but at this moment I am wanted, sadly wanted, here; and the +ingenious indiscretion of somebody has provoked a demonstration more +impressive than any arguments of mine. It has shown what the triumph +of the Tories, what the helplessness of the Liberals would be. Mr. +Gladstone must see now that his resolution must depend on facts, and +not on wishes. What he is to the cause and the party I fear he will +never understand. + +Touching the future, I can abate nothing of what I said. It is odd, +especially for me to say, who often disagree with him in maxims if not +in aims, but you undervalue him in comparison with other men. Is it +the {111} strife in the Cabinet, the defection of friends, the zeal of +opponents, the slow growth of results, the versatility of popular +feeling, the coldness of Continental opinion, that depresses you? or is +it Morley's book?[149] T. B. Potter has just arrived, I hope with a +copy for me. I see from the extracts that it is a piece of very +superior work. At first I expected an oblique attack on your father, +as a dilatory and inconsistent convert, prompted by Cobden's long +distrust, by Bright's early denunciations, by the aversion of literal +economists, of Equalitarian Democrats, of stubborn unbelievers in those +qualities which raise him above the highest level of Liberalism. But I +can fancy that you might be impressed by so vigorous, sincere, and +complete a system of politics very distinct from his own. The +lieutenants of Alexander, Napoleon and his Marshals, are the only fit +comparisons to describe the interval between the P.M. and the best of +those who come next to him. + +We lose a weak, an ornamental, an unstable, but patriotic man in ----. +As he has been the guiltiest misleader in ecclesiastical questions, his +retirement is appropriate at the moment when we are trying to get the +ear of the Pope. There are, of course, better reasons for that just +now than the state of Ireland, and I think he (the Pope) deserves the +kind of help it must give him. His impulses seem almost always right, +whilst his execution, depending on others, and requiring force of +character as well as good intentions, is generally poor and shabby. If +the Powers had been quicker to understand how strongly he contrasts +with his predecessor they might have enabled him to prevail against his +court. + +John O'Hagan, the chief of the new Land Court, is {112} a man whom I +tried to bring forward, and made much of in the beginning of his +career. He has the stamp of 1848 upon him as deep as Duffy,[150] and I +found him rather literary than politic, more full of good and gracious +aspiration than practical and solid. The Court has done two things +which must, I imagine, raise doubts at Hawarden. They undertake to fix +a rent such as will fairly enable a man to live--that is a rule which +would reduce rent per acre in proportion to the smallness of the +holding, and would extinguish it altogether in the smallest. And they +judge not by the land and buildings, but by the capacity of the +tenant--that will lead them to do more for the worse farmer and less +for the better. On the other hand, it is terrible to read that farmers +cultivating 20 or 30 acres never eat butcher's meat. In France I find +that the families of day labourers have meat for dinner every day. I +am told that there is scarcely an exception. + +Hawarden after Knowsley must have been a relief, especially with +Lightfoot, Goldwin Smith, and may I say Harcourt? There is no +room--there never is--for what I have to say. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Nov. 25, 1881_] + +I have been away from Cannes for a few days, and am ashamed to be again +behindhand. + +If I had not known it before, I should discover now what a good fellow +Alfred Lyttelton is. F. C.'s view does not convince me. The impeding +facts will be there, but the strong will[151] and the untimely gift of +self-disparagement may be too much for the facts. + +I am struck by what you say of the omission in Morley's book, which I +am to receive in a few days. A person who has had a large and +legitimate share in {113} its preparation spoke to me some time ago in +a manner which led me to expect that the Treaty narrative would be +hostile to Mr. Gladstone, and would reveal soreness against him on the +part of Cobden. I discussed the thing with him a good deal, but +without materials which would justify me in hoping that I had made an +impression. Since then, Mr. Gladstone has become P.M. and Morley is +editor of one of the principal organs of a part of the ministry. That +explains some degree of reticence, if my former impression was correct. +I do not think such reticence quite worthy of the occasion and the men; +and it would be well that the true story should be told, unless it +should be likely in any way to embarrass the new negotiation. That is +a question that can only be settled at Hawarden. + +Knowles proposed that I should review the book, having a Tory review +already undertaken. He offered to bring the volumes to Cannes before +the end of this month. That would not give me the needful time. It +would be necessary, in the dearth of books here, and of all sources of +information besides T. B. Potter, to have some things looked up in +England, by slow process of post. And it would be quite essential to +ascertain how much of what is omitted may be supplied. Not feeling +sure of that, and of the time, I was obliged to decline. If Knowles +comes here, as he portended, I shall have an opportunity of talking it +over with him. + +Many, many thanks for the glimpse into that precious Diary.[152] You +will have observed how he {114} demolishes his own argument. He +compares what I say now with what people said of Palmerston. Those +people were wrong because Palmerston left a better man than himself +behind him. But Mr. Gladstone goes on to say that there is nobody +behind him fit to lead, except ----. Just work out the sum in +Proportion: as G. to P., so is X. to G. + +And it is not only a question of men, but of elements. There are many +things in the glimpse that are {115} very notable. I fancy that +Goschen's late speech has done him good; but it still seems clear that +he will not shut the door on the Tories. I am in communication with +them[153] again, and should perhaps see them on my way back, if I could +come to Hawarden. + +I write this off in haste, before I have an opportunity of showing Mrs. +Gladstone's most kind letter to Lady Acton. I don't like to answer her +until I have done so. + +Of course I should like to come beyond anything. If Parliament does +not meet before the proper time, it might be possible to come early in +January. The middle of December would not be quite so easy, for +reasons here. But please tell me if it would be very much better for +reasons paramount. Two thousand miles would be nothing for a good +hour's talk with him, and several hours with his Secretary. I hope the +Temple of Peace would not lose that character by my invasion of its +pacific precincts. + +Seeley would be hard on Lecky if he applied those words to his +"Eighteenth Century," which is a weighty, thoughtful book. But the two +former works, by which he became famous, do not really rise much above +the vulgar level. There is nothing in his writings nearly equal to the +new Bampton Lectures.[154] + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Nov. 29, 1881_] + +Hartington's speech has not arrived yet; but the French papers describe +him as differing about Ireland from the P.M. and not repelling the idea +of Compensation. As this was not urged at the time, it would now be a +reproach to the Act, which might never have {116} passed with such +conditions. And one neither sees how compensation is to be regulated, +nor by whom; whether by a commission stultifying the present one, or by +the same contradicting itself. And it is very unlike the economic +policy of the P.M. But I can conceive a very powerful argument on the +other side, which the Tories are not likely to use. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Dec. 2, 1881_] + +I have not fired all my shot, and I don't rely on Hartington's +translation. His last speech does not strike me favourably. + +He puts away the compensation argument in a fashion more parliamentary +than statesmanlike. In debate, where effects are immediate and +momentary, one is glad of anything that tells against opponents, and +gets used to phrases instead of reasons. + +Macaulay was indiscreet enough to write to his constituents on Windsor +Castle paper. It was good material for a laugh, and no more; but Peel +and Graham never let him hear the end of it. "From the proud Keep of +Windsor you bade the lieges have no fear," and such like seemed +equivalent to argument. When one addresses the Nation, with a sort of +Manifesto on a difficult, new, and dangerous question, one must go +straight to the point. We expect of a real statesman that he will take +the case of his adversary not by its weak end, but at its strongest; +that he will see whether he cannot even strengthen it before he +replies. If he deals with the weak points, like a lawyer, somebody +will follow, and will beat him. That is part of the integrity of +public men. And I must say that H.'s idea that he meets the case for +compensation by asking whether rack-renting landlords are to be paid +for their iniquity, {117} exposes him to a rejoinder so crushing as to +damage his position and to strengthen my plea. + +There is no constructive power among the Whigs. There is some among +the Democrats, because their principles have been thought out, and +provide legislation for generations. But the two men capable of +working out thoughts into system on other than purely democratic lines +are Derby and Goschen. And they are outside, and do not really +contribute to the force of the party. + + * * * * * + +There was that omission in my former letter--not quite by accident. +Many things are better for silence than for speech: others are better +for speech than for stationery. I have a large store of these. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Dec. 14, 1881_] + +---- is so much stronger that I really believe that I shall be able to +run over for a short visit, and the temptation is strong upon me to +take your kind words literally. May I come--by the morning train from +town--on Monday, the second day of 1882? It would be the pleasantest +beginning of a New Year that I could possibly imagine, after a +melancholy autumn. + +To-morrow I am off to Nice with M., after the Blue Rose, and Christmas +presents for the others. They tell me that Mr. Cross[155] is here. If +so, I hope to have a talk with him about the difficult life he is +writing. + +I have been looking forward to the books of the Year, which I have not +had courage to send for, especially the life of the most fascinating +writer[156] of the day, and the letters of Bishop Thirlwall. I am glad +to {118} think that I need not stop in London to read them, and am +extremely interested by what you say of Thirlwall. I never found him +very attractive or accessible, personally. + +The success of Newnham is a thing to congratulate your sister on. As +to Herbert, the papers enable me to follow his wanderings and +conversations with old Irishwomen. He must be making himself very +useful to Mr. Gladstone; and I rejoice at symptoms in this day's papers +which tend to weaken my inclination to compensation. + +Of course you will tell me if the proposed date had better be exchanged +for another, if there is any incompatible visit just then or for any +other reason. I should not start until Thursday, the 29th. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Dec. 27, 1881_] + +The telegram summoning me for Saturday arrived late last night. If the +trains keep time, I shall catch the Boulogne tidal from Paris on +Friday, and so obey the summons. I presume there is a 9 or 10 A.M. +train which will land us at Chester early enough in the afternoon to +reach Hawarden about sunset. It looks like an early departure for +Downing Street, which will be an affliction. Or perhaps some visitor +with whom I ought to clash. But I am quite prepared to find the secret +agent of the Vatican at Hawarden, and to look as if I took him for an +African lion.... + + +[Sidenote: _Athenaeum Jan. 7, 1882_] + +... I met three Ministers last night at dinner, and the impression is +that Mr. Gladstone is remarkably well. But the Conservatism of London +is something too excessive. + +I met at the Russells', Maine, Monck, F. Leveson, and Reay. At the +Athenaeum, Hayward, {119} H. Spencer, May; and there are much worse +croakers than these. + +It will be quite refreshing to spend Monday at Seacox, with a man[157] +who is understood to be travelling towards the Ministry, and no longer +away from them. It has been impossible to call in Downing Street; and +I dare say your mother was rushing about. But I am to meet them, +thanks to you as usual, at Lansdowne House this evening. + +At the Museum, Poole gave me the papers to read that Mr. Gladstone +spoke of. + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Jan. 17, 1882_] + +In London I saw everybody I had designed to look for, except John +Morley.... Sir Henry Maine got me to criticise the proof of a lecture +on the King and his Successor, which you will see in the February +_Nineteenth Century_. I hope he accepted some of my amendments; but he +was obdurate about the most important. He says that Primogeniture has +been of very great political service. I admitted this, but objected +that there is another side to the question, that Primogeniture embodies +the confusion between authority and property which constitutes modern +Legitimacy, that Legitimacy has, in this century, acted as an obstacle +to free institutions, and that a one-sided judgment thrown off as that +sentence is, gives a Tory tinge to the entire paper. He answered: "You +seem to use Tory as a term of reproach." + +I was much struck by this answer--much struck to find a philosopher, +entirely outside party politics, who {120} does not think Toryism a +reproach, and still more, to find a friend of mine ignorant of my +sentiments about it. And I am much tempted to have it out with him, +and discover what he really means. Besides which, I spent some hours +in Mark Pattison's company; found Reay desponding, but eager to speak; +May,[158] very much depressed; H----, pottering feebly, as I thought, +over Montlosier,[159] whom he does not understand, in the _Quarterly_, +and Junius, whom he does not discover, in the "Encyclopaedia"; +Monck[160] remarkable as the one happy Irishman. + + * * * * * + +I should like to impress one thought on your mind: Much will depend on +your success in making the work of the Session sit lightly on the P.M. +in getting him to yield to distractions, even to amusements, and no +longer to consider change of work an equivalent to rest. A house near +town, the play, I had almost said the opera, might be a help. If he +would be unprincipled enough to refuse tiresome dinners, however far +off, and then to accept pleasant ones, at short notice, it would be +worth a great deal. In short, a little demoralisation is the best +security I can see for the supreme perfecting of his career. + +By-the-bye, you condemn me for my indefinite answers to some very +searching questions; and I find you are right. At least I have read a +paper on the Revised Version which satisfies me that I ought to have +joined more heartily in Mr. Gladstone's censure of it. But I have been +reading it to my children, and it had got associated with very sweet +moments. Once {121} more, I perceive that my letter is full of +everything except yourself.... + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Jan. 25, 1882_] + +I return the letter of my heroine[161] with many thanks. It reminds me +of what she wrote to me. If I could find it I would send it to you.... +I think there is a piece of truth in Mr. Ottley's remark. Her +strongest conviction, the keystone of her philosophy, was the idea that +all our actions breed their due reward in this world, and that life is +no reign of reason if we put off the compensation to another world. +That is a moral far more easily worked in cases of outward, transitive +sin than in those which disturb only the direct relations of man with +God. These indeed are cases which may partly depend on our belief in +God, not only in humanity and human character. Deny God, and whole +branches of deeper morality lose their sanction. Here I am preaching +against Bradlaugh, after all! + +Her genius would no doubt reveal to her consequences which others +cannot imagine. But still the inclination of a godless philosophy will +be towards palpable effects and those about which there is no mistake. +Especially in a doctrine with so little room for grace and forgiveness, +where no God ever speaks except by the voice of other men. Defined and +brought to book, that is a detestable system. But it is not on the +surface--and many men can no more be kept straight by spiritual motives +than we can live without policemen. + +Still there is a piece of truth in this paganism. Looking at history, +not at biography, taking societies, and not individuals, we cannot deal +with things seen by God alone; things take other proportions; the scale +of {122} vice and virtue is not that of private life; we judge of it by +its outward action, and hesitate to penetrate the secrets of +conscience. The law of visible retribution is false even there. But +it is true that the test and measure of good and evil is not that of +the spiritual biographer. + +I shall punish Sir H. Maine with your very striking remark about +Toryism. + + * * * * * + +That is a perilous point, about suspiciousness. By all means we should +think well until forced to think ill of people. But we must be +prepared for that compulsion; and the experience of history teaches +that the uncounted majority of those who get a place in its pages are +bad. We have to deal chiefly, in life, with people who have no place +in history, and escape the temptations that are on the road to it. But +most assuredly, now as heretofore, the Men of the Time are, in most +cases, unprincipled, and act from motives of interest, of passion, of +prejudice cherished and unchecked, of selfish hope or unworthy fear. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Feb. 20, 1882_] + +I spent at Rome a most interesting fortnight, explaining the history of +the Church and of the world to M., listening to a great debate on the +representation of minorities, and hearing a good deal of the M.P.[162] +who neither has nor has not a mission. We wound up with two days at +Florence, and I accompanied M. to Genoa, along the finest part of the +Riviera, and then went to Bologna, to a dying relation. All which has +stood in the way of coming home, of writing, and of knowing what is +going on. I am reading up the debates, and your letters light up the +task. + +{123} + + * * * * * + +Bonghi, who has a volume of Roman History ready, spent an afternoon +with me in the Forum; but proved unsound about Ireland. Minghetti took +us over the palace of the Caesars, as they call the Palatine. I took M. +the round of imperial statues and monuments of the Popes, hanging a +tale to each, and I am afraid her impressions of history are gloomy. +We made up for it a little at Santa Croce, with Dante and Fossombroni; +and in Savonarola's cell at S. Marco, I sat in his chair, and told her +of the friar who died for his belief that the way to make men better +was to make them free. + +I was not happy about Errington. Everybody spoke well of him. But +there was too manifest a desire to amplify the significance of his +position, and to entangle him in Roman schemes and views. + +Schloezer's first visit was to me, as we lived in the same house, and +are old friends. They, at least, have something to offer; but the +mission seems to me very ambiguous. + +I have long wished for that declaration about self-government; but I am +persuaded that there has been as much statesmanship in the choice of +the time as of the terms. There is so much danger of being deserted on +that line, and of one's friends combining to effect a reaction. It +will not do to make too much of the speech of 1871. The occasion, last +week, gave extraordinary weight to Mr. Gladstone's words; and he would +not now say that the movement is superfluous, or that Ireland always +got what she wanted. The risk is that he may seem to underrate the +gravity of a great constitutional change, in the introduction of a +federal element. + + +{124} + +Liberty depends on the division of power. Democracy tends to unity of +power. To keep asunder the agents, one must divide the sources; that +is, one must maintain, or create, separate administrative bodies. In +the view of increasing democracy, a restricted federalism is the one +possible check upon concentration and centralism. + +But I am very anxious about one thing. If Mr. Gladstone thinks that he +cannot carry his colleagues, his party, Parliament, or the nation with +him, and declines to take the lead in this movement, the throwing out +of the idea may become a source of weakness. They will say that he +waits for the initiative of others, that he is expecting a wind, that +he is ready to be squeezed, if others will do it for him, that he looks +on opinion as a thing to be obeyed, not to be guided--and so will +proceed to put pressure on him and to make demonstrations not at all in +conformity with his spirit and purpose. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Feb. 25, 1882_] + +Goschen agreed to go with me to Paris, and changed his mind at the last +moment. The consequence was that I did not stop at Paris, and some +letters which were sent there from Seacox have only just reached me. +And so I have left unanswered your birthday letter, and seemed to +disregard the reproach as well as the kindness it expresses. + +I will not say that, in the former, there is not much that I have had +to consider. Still, in giving up one's home, and country, and friends +and occupations, there is at least a mixture of good motives with +selfish ones, and something sacrificed, if there is also a good deal of +calculated pleasure-seeking and ease. If I held an appointment abroad, +keeping me permanently away {125} from my--very modest--estate, you +would say that the Government was insane to offer it, but you would +hardly think it wrong of me to accept it. And the duty I have allowed +to precede all other duties is one that possesses a strong, and +unmistakable, claim on me. Between my children and my Shropshire +neighbours my choice is indeed decided. Do not, when I have the +happiness of seeing you again, allow these shortcomings and these +backslidings of mine to interfere with that better topic--which is +yourself, but which gets no chance. + +I am seeing a good deal of the Mallets. He is getting over a very bad +illness, and seems to like Cannes, in spite of Sir E. Colebrooke and +the _Pall Mall_. I have succeeded in making Sir Louis shake his head +over the secret Jacobinism of his friend Morley. Yesterday I had the +pleasure of dining with your favourite correspondent. + +Your view of the speech introducing the new Procedure is far more just +than R.'s. It displayed that serene mastery and lightness of touch +which are the latest growth or ripest form of his talent, rather than +the controlling and compelling power which we know so well. As to the +censure,[163] I hold the necessity of keeping the working of the Act +from interference; but I cannot admit that the case of the +Commissioners is good, at the weakest point. The defence of their +general action seems to me triumphant; but I don't think the attack has +been met in the particulars; and the common maxim of all constitutional +governments, to stand by one's subordinates in their need, is, I think, +a very dangerous one. + +{126} + +"John Inglesant" has been begun but not finished, for want of time in +London. Here is a letter which it can be no indiscretion to show you, +on that interesting subject. I did not, in reply, quite confirm the +critic's doubts, though I probably could not remove them. I would +rather regard it as a philosophical than as a historical work. + +And I missed the _Athenaeum_ Summary. When one comes to classify all +that appears, the gaps strike one as much as the bulk. Still, in the +narrow domain of my own book--"The Madonna of the Future"[164]--every +week brings several new publications that are sure to contribute some +light or some difficulty. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 4, 1882_] + +We have no particulars yet, and I still hope it was not an +Irishman.[165] The villa at Mentone stands in the midst of dark olive +woods, scarcely a mile from the frontier, and less than a furlong from +the sea. It will require to be well guarded. + +I have followed the conflict with the keen attention you may imagine, +and rejoice quite as much as anybody in Downing Street at the personal +triumph, and at the accession of strength which is due so entirely to +his own efforts and belongs exclusively to himself. It is a gain for a +better cause than the Ministry. We are just in that intermediate state +in which the issue at Northampton[166] is unknown, but seems certain, +which will be a relief. + +The correspondence with Gardiner has gone on at {127} some length, and +the problem is very interesting. He persists in rejecting the story. +I now understand that John Inglesant is willing to be received, but is +told by the Jesuit that he is safe if, with that belief and +disposition, he remains an Anglican. + +I imagine that he might have argued in this way: Roman Catholic divines +hold that the 39 Articles may be understood in a favourable sense. +Anglicans hold that they are not literally binding on the clergy. +Still less on the laity. Therefore his position in the English Church +does not involve this layman in any error. It may involve him in +certain dangers and difficulties. But these are not greater than the +dangers and difficulties which would follow his conversion. For there +are many opinions, not only sanctioned but enforced by the authorities +of the Church of Rome, which none can adhere to without peril to the +soul. The moral risk on one side is greater than the dogmatic risk on +the other. He can escape heresy in Anglicanism more easily than he can +escape the ungodly ethics of the papacy, the Inquisition, the Casuists, +in the Roman Communion. The solicitation, the compulsion, will be more +irresistible in the latter. A man who thought it wrong to murder a +Protestant King would be left for hell by half the Confessors on the +Continent. Montagu, Bramhall will not sap this man's Catholic faith so +surely as the Spanish and Italian moralists will corrupt his soul. + +There were men, in the XVIIth century, who would have argued in this +way. I can even conceive a Jesuit doing it, for they were much +divided, and there were men amongst them far more deeply and broadly +divided from the prevailing teaching of their own Church, than from the +Catholic party in Anglicanism. But I cannot name any Jesuit living +{128} in Charles I.'s time of whom it could be said with any +probability. So that I am sure not to shake Gardiner's conviction. He +is not well informed in religious history; but as a friend of Brewer he +must have read the life of Goodman, which, I think, Brewer edited. + +Gardiner is Irving's son-in-law. His position in that Church inclines +him to Conservative views, and it would be hard for him to admit that +illustrious Catholic divines who did so much for Christian revelation +and for spiritual doctrine were in reality so infamous in their moral +teaching as my hypothesis implies. But I am letting the cat of the +Piazzetta[167] out of the bag. + +I do hope that the social duties are not too irksome. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 9, 1882_] + +I was at Mentone yesterday, and as I do not much like the place where +the Queen is to live, I took pains to ascertain what is doing for her +safety. The Vice-Consul is a singularly intelligent and practical man, +and I saw with satisfaction that the peculiar drawbacks are fully +understood. Every precaution will be taken, without attracting +attention, or being perceived by the Queen herself. + +I shall not get credit for my loyalty, for it caused me to miss a +meeting which was held here, during my absence, to vote an address. +But I was rewarded by finding Green, the historian, at Mentone, in good +spirits--but in bad health--and I spent an interesting hour with him. + +Gardiner tells me that I understand nothing about the question, that +the Jesuit was only a conspirator and intriguer, and that "John +Inglesant" is abominably overrated. So let us wait for Fraser, with +open and {129} unsettled minds. Brewer published in 1839 "The Court of +James I.," being the Memoirs of Goodman, Bp. of Gloucester, possibly +not the book in question, but one that would make the situation clear +to the intelligent reader. Green, who does not agree, much, with +Gardiner, tells me that he has made great sacrifices by adhering to +Irvingism, and that he has still to struggle with extreme poverty. +Being one of the two or three most solid historians in England, he has +to teach at an inferior girls' school. He has had the misfortune to +lose several children, as well as his first wife. Do you know his +Outline of English History? I make my children read it, to keep out +----. I wonder what the numerous Wickhams will learn history in. I am +so glad that I have a new friend of the same kind as those I like so +much. + +As Mr. Gladstone has had various correspondence with Mivart, it may +interest him to know that that very distinguished philosopher, the most +eminent man of science our Church has had in England, was constrained +to decline election at the Athenaeum, being certain of blackballs, by +reason of his quarrel with the Darwinians. In the hope that the +Committee may elect him, he wishes to be put down in the books again; +and he asks me to propose him. As I have never spoken to him in my +life, it is against the rule; but I have agreed to do it, in +acknowledgment of his unquestioned eminence and because of Mr. +Gladstone's weakness for him, which I, otherwise, do not share. The +wicked Sclater, vendor of Jumbo, is the Seconder. + +Even without knowing the conversation with Gibson, who seems to me a +most able specimen of his kind, the attitude taken up towards the Lords +seems to me {130} in all ways excellent. As to Bradlaugh, as he is +there, I wish the amendment[168] had succeeded--for I have not read the +_Nineteenth Century_.[169] But have you seen in the _Century_--once +_Scribner_--Bryce on Disraeli? It is a good paper. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 21, 1882_] + +In the middle of John Inglesant came the enclosed,[170] which I return, +with dismay. The impression given seems to be that by speaking of +dogmatic danger in England, and of moral danger in Rome, I ingeniously +laid a silent imputation of heterodoxy on Anglicans, whilst implying +that we are free at least from that suspicion; so that I thought of +1882 whilst I spoke of 1640, and meant controversy, though pretending +to write history. + +The reward of history is that it releases and relieves us from present +strife. My only endeavour was to recall what might have occurred two +centuries and a half ago, to a sincere and upright priest, that is, to +one who studied to detach his mind from its habitual surroundings, to +look behind his own scenes, to stand apart with Archimedes, to practise +the _doute methodique_ of Descartes, to discern prejudice from faith +and sympathy from truth. There was no such problem, and I know now +that my zeal was wasted on a personage whose notion of religion was not +worth inquiry. But I was not pleading a cause. I scarcely venture to +make points against the religion of other people, from a curious +experience that they have more to say than I know, and from a sense +that it is safer to reserve {131} censure for one's own, which one +understands more intimately, having a share of responsibility and +action. + +It would have been more accurate to sacrifice my antithesis by +referring to doctrinal trouble as well as moral risk on our side. If I +did not do so--I have no recollection of my words--the reason may be +that I am too deeply impressed with the moral risk to have the other +very present to my mind. Encountering an associate of Guy Fawkes and +Ravaillac, I do not stop to ask what he makes of the Apocrypha, or how +far he goes with the Athanasian Creed. I believe that our internal +conflicts spring from indifference to sin, and not from a religious +idea. A speculative Ultramontanism separate from theories of tyranny, +mendacity, and murder, keeping honestly clear of the Jesuit with his +lies, of the Dominican with his fagots, of the Popes with their +massacres, has not yet been brought to light. Doellinger, who thinks of +nothing else, has never been able to define it, and I do not know how +to distinguish a Vaticanist of that sort, a Vaticanist in a state of +grace, from a Catholic. + +Let me supply my omission by declaring that my hypothetical divine +would not have found all the moral evil in one quarter, and ambiguous +doctrine only in the other. I dare say he would think that in England +too little was done for the spiritual life, and, unless he had a taste +for Donne, that devotional literature was backward; and he might even +agree with Thorndike that the neglect of the discipline of penance +threatened the Church with ruin. In like manner, he would not view +with favour some of the dogmatic theology that flourished amongst his +friends. He might, for instance, deem that Molinism or Jansenism, +neither of them yet {132} approved or rejected, but severally dominant +in many lands, were false systems, and that, between the two, a +Catholic doctrine of grace was hard to find. He would be aware that +Rome still cherished the idea that roused Luther, that, by committing a +sin one may save a soul; and he would perhaps conclude, with a famous +Jesuit of his day, that Luther did well to attack it. + +Of the instances suggested, one, the Cultus of the Blessed Virgin, was +partly of later growth and would not seriously disturb a contemporary +of Charles the First. It does not offend in the older, classical +literature of the Church, in the Imitation, the Exposition, the +Pensees, or the Petit Careme. Sixty years ago, a priest who is still +living was sent as Chaplain to Alton Towers. At Evening Prayers, when +he began the Litany of Loretto, Lord Shrewsbury rose from his knees and +told him that they never recited it. He was a man, as the "Life of +Panizzi" shows, without an idea of his own. + +Images would probably impress him as a danger to be warded, rather, I +think, than Transubstantiation. Here the difficulty that strikes a +dialectician hardly reaches the people. Many Catholics are practically +conscious of no difference from the higher Anglican or Lutheran view of +the Real Presence. Hegel's argument, that a mouse which had nibbled a +Host would become an object of adoration, would strike nine laymen out +of ten as a poor joke. I know not whether the confusion of thought was +greater then or less; but he would remember so many cases of +Protestants ready to conform on no harder condition than the concession +of the Cup that his scruples would be likely to melt. Montagu saying +that he knew no Roman tenet he {133} would not subscribe, unless it +were Transubstantiation, would have made him wonder why a +Catholic-minded prelate should be more stiffnecked than the unbending +Lutherans or fiercer Bohemians. + +But whatever the dogmatic perils he might apprehend, he would meet them +in the same spirit of charitable construction he had employed on the +other side. I will presume that he took the oath of allegiance, for, +in 1635, the Jesuits allowed their penitents to take it. He would even +admit the Royal Supremacy, like Father Caron, as not exceeding the +prerogative of Kings in France and Spain. He would drop the imputation +of schism, seeing that Bramhall wrote that there was no formed +difference with the Church of Rome about any point of faith. Finding +that an Archbishop denied any necessary articles of faith beyond the +Apostles' Creed, he would regard the 39 Articles as Hall, +Chillingworth, Bramhall, Stillingfleet, and, according to Bull, all +that are well advised, considered them--pious opinions which no man was +obliged to believe. With Bossuet, he would acknowledge the force of +the case in favour of Anglican orders, and with Richard Simon he would +admit that the Caroline divines had not their equals in his own Church, +and would revere them as the strongest enemies of the specific heresies +of Luther and Calvin, as the force that would sap the fabric against +which Rome still contended in vain. If he heard that there was a +bishop who begged prayers for his soul, another who tolerated the +Invocation of Saints, a third who allowed Seven Sacraments, and so on, +he might be willing to believe, with Davenport, that the chasm was +filled that had separated England from Trent. + +To reach that point of conciliation it would be {134} necessary to make +the best of everything, so far as could be without sophistry, violence, +or concealment. And the same rule of favourable interpretation would +be applied by the same man to his own Theology. He would be bound by +the limits of Richelieu's proposals, and would keep within the lines of +Bossuet, and those which Spinola afterwards drew, with the assent of +Pope and General. + +He would have been confirmed in this method by the response it drew +from such eminent Protestants as Grotius, Bramhall, La Bastide, +Praetorius, Fabricius, and Leibniz. Their judgment would have +encouraged him to abide in his own communion, and would have taught him +that he was as safe as his friend on the other side. The same +impartiality would have led to the same result. There were even +Protestant divines who sanctioned conversions to Rome. + +The last time I saw Count Arnim he asked about Newman's Vatican +defence. I said that he had explained the decrees away by declaring +that he meant no defence of persecution and tyrannicide. That was a +canon of interpretation strong enough to blow any other ingredient into +gas. Arnim objected that Newman's manipulations were not accepted at +Rome. Just then he became a Cardinal, and so they were indirectly +sanctioned. + +I endow my seventeenth-century divine with the ingenuity and the +integrity of Newman. Having given England the benefit of No. 90, he +would gild Rome with the answer to the Expostulation. Shutting one eye +to the Articles, like Chillingworth, he would, like Spinola, shut the +other to the Council of Trent. Having expounded Anglo-Catholicism by +the light of Bramhall, he would, in the same spirit, choose {135} +Cassander, Bossuet, Corker as genuine exponents of Roman Catholicism, +and he could do both without insincerity or surrender. + +Don't let me make too much of that passage in Newman. He defended the +Syllabus, and the Syllabus justified all those atrocities. Pius the +Fifth held that it was sound Catholic doctrine that any man may stab a +heretic condemned by Rome, and that every man is a heretic who attacks +the papal prerogatives. Borromeo wrote a letter for the purpose of +causing a few Protestants to be murdered. Newman is an avowed admirer +of Saint Pius and Saint Charles, and of the pontiffs who canonised +them. This, and the like of this, is the reason of my deep aversion +for him. + +There is not time for Shorthouse to-day. I will tell you about him as +soon as I can. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 20-22, 1882_] + +Wickham lent me John Inglesant yesterday, and I finished it before +bedtime. I have read nothing more thoughtful and suggestive since +Middlemarch, and I could fill with honest praise the pages I am going +to blacken with complaint. But if I had access to the author, with +privilege of free and indiscreet speech, it would seem a worthier +tribute to his temper and ability to lay my litany of doubts before +him. Not having it, I submit my questionings to yourself, as the +warmest admirer of his work. Probably the difficulties which occur to +me have been raised already in reviews which you have read. For +instance:-- + +I. 29. Inglesant's name does not appear in the trials of the +Protestants. Did the Marian persecution rage in Wilts? + +73, 74. Here is a Puritan party in Parliament and a {136} scheme to +pervert its leaders, in August 1637. No Parliament had sat for eight +years. + +83. Juan Valdes was not a papist but a Protestant. + +90. Would Foxe be the favourite and characteristic author of such +Arminians as the Ferrars? + +101. The Mass is the strongest of all the motives that lead men to +Rome.--I really doubt it, for I remember more instances of men +attracted by our orders, by authority, unity, confession. + +107. Hobbes thinks it is the consecrating power by which a priest, in +the hour of death, can save a soul.--He should have said, the power of +absolution. + +207. Something similar to the feeling in England during the Sepoy +rebellion. Read: Mutiny. This is an understatement. The Irish +massacre was more appalling to the imagination because it was nearer +and of vaster reported proportions. A respectable writer who lived in +Ireland believes that there were 300,000 victims. + +272. Charles contrasted most favourably with his judges, whose sole +motive was self. Ludlow's Memoirs, and other sources, show that +something was at work besides selfish fears. The men perhaps were no +better for that. They may even have been worse, inasmuch as the higher +and better part of them served as the motive of crime. Carnot may have +been as infamous as Barere; but it is unjust to tar them with the same +brush. + +277. Eustace loses his suppers with the French King--Louis was eleven +years old. + +279, 312. I don't remember the term Quakers in current use as early as +January 1650, but very soon after. + +327. In opposition to this, the Jesuits about the {137} time of the +Reformation came forward with what was called a new doctrine.--The book +in question came out in 1588. + +Vol. I. 339. II. 12. Legate and nuncio are treated as the same thing. +They are as different as Praetor and Dictator. + +II. 3. The learning of the Fathers was not what it had been a century +ago.--These Fathers must be Italian monks generally, or else the +Jesuits. It is not true of either. The Jesuits had no very eminent +scholars in the first generation. Salmeron, the most noted, lived to +be told by Bellarmin that his books would take a good deal of +retouching before going to press. The middle of the seventeenth +century, especially the second quarter, was the golden age of Jesuit +learning, when their supremacy was uncontested. The Benedictines did +not begin to rival them quite so early as Cressy says, I. 334. + +4. Chigi is never di Chigi, and the pope's sister-in-law was called +Olimpia Maidalchini. + +106. An age or two ago the priestly government was better. Yet +Machiavelli brings much the same accusation against it in his time. + +138. Some confusion as to the name of the English College. + +272. The steps of the Trinita were hardly built then. There might be +more of these little scruples, and, by themselves, they do not build up +a strong misgiving. The picture may be true in spite of slips in +accessary detail. But is the picture true, I will not say +controversially, but historically? There are glaring faults in it, not +open to dispute or controversy, and I will begin with these. + +Inglesant comes to Rome about 1654, where Molinos {138} has already +resided some years; and he then attends to the business of the Duke of +Umbria. Umbria is Urbino. The last Duke of Urbino died nearly forty +years before Molinos settled in Rome. Inglesant is present at the +condemnation of Molinos, and afterwards visits Worcester, in Charles +the Second's reign--II. 369. Charles the Second had been dead two +years when Molinos was condemned. + +In the pontificate of Alexander the Seventh, we hear all at once that +Molinos is arrested, and are told of a meeting, at the Chigi palace, of +persons belonging to the time of Innocent the Eleventh. II. 333. +Without a single word, we are carried over three pontificates and an +interval of thirty years. + +The Jesuit who is so hopeful of Anglican re-union that he will not +allow his favourite pupil to join the Church of Rome is called Sancta +Clara. There was a Father Sancta Clara in those days, who is +peculiarly well remembered among English Catholics as the greatest +writer we had between Stapleton and Newman, less acute than the one, +less eloquent than the other, more learned than either; remarkable for +opinions so conciliatory as to resemble those of his imaginary +namesake, and to make him the originator and suggester of No. XC.; +remarkable also for the extreme difficulty of getting his books. But +he was a Franciscan, not a Jesuit, a scholar, not an intriguer; and his +name was not Hall, but Davenport. + +This is surely a wilful and wanton confusion of persons, times, and +things. It destroys confidence in the writer's carefulness or +knowledge, gives a tone of unreality, and makes one feel that the whole +is out of keeping. + +The book depicts the religious strivings of the age {139} so far as the +hero would come in contact with them, keeping a sort of syncretism[171] +in view. Some of the most remarkable currents of thought are left out +of sight, and others, which were not within reach, are introduced by a +tyrannical use of time and space. The Rosicrucians can hardly have +been talked about in England within twenty years after the Fama +appeared. The Quietists had not appeared in Rome under Innocent the +Tenth. The wonderful teaching of Bohme, which did reach us under +Charles the First, is not alluded to; and Inglesant lives in the same +house with Van Helmont, and never discovers that he is more than a +physician. The most intense religious force of all that which +prevailed during Inglesant's English career, Independency, is nowhere +named, as well as I remember. The writer does not differentiate +Puritans. He lumps Arminian with Predestinarian, the man who looks on +Schism with the horror felt by Baxter and the man who made Schism a +principle of organisation. Monarchy, he tells us, was restored because +the Puritans hated the tyranny of Cromwell. It was restored, because +Presbyterians would not stand being oppressed by Congregationalists; +and for another reason which was discovered by Harrington,[172] and may +still be discovered in his Works. We are introduced to Hobbes and to +More--Hobbes much better drawn than More--but we never meet +Chillingworth, and though at one time very near to Hammond we do not +hear him. Ussher offering terms to Presbyterians, Baxter seeking for +peace with Prelacy, Bramhall holding out a hand to Gallicans, Leighton +consorting with Jansenists--all this good and {140} apt material is +disdained. Instead of the original thinkers among the English +Catholics--Barnes, Holden, Davenport, White, Caron, Serjeant, +Walshe--we have only Cressy, by way of a foil to the Jesuits, and with +a vague reminiscence of a page in the writings of an Edgbaston +neighbour. Of the efforts making in France and Holland to mitigate +Calvinism, and in Germany to tone down the dogma of Augsburg, not a +word. Lutherans only appear in order to be saddled with a doctrine by +which they would be sorry to stand or fall. Jansenism, odious, +probably, to the author, is not displayed; and the definition of the +Oratorian spirit as contrasted with Benedictine and Jesuit, is quite +inadequate. + +Mysticism and High Church Anglicanism are so highly favoured that the +hero, when the Jesuit relaxes his grasp, acquiesces in both. At Rome +he is a hearty Molinosist. Driven from Rome he is a hearty Anglican. +Perhaps Malebranche or Fenelon might have facilitated the transition +from Petrucci to Norris and Nelson and Ken. But there is no +transition. The passage is made by the help of no subtler agency than +a Newhaven smack. The thing is unexplained, inartistic, inorganic, but +quite consistent with the drifting nature of Inglesant. Coming to more +debatable ground I proceed with greater diffidence: Who sat for the +profane and sceptical Cardinal? There is some likeness to Retz, +without his genius or any premonition of the change which, in +Inglesant's time, came over him. But it would be an unpardonable error +to paint an Italian prelate with colours owned by a Frenchman. I +suspect the author of having no authority for this description, both +because his account of the Conclave is so superficial, and for the +following reason. Rinuccini, {141} alluding to persecution, goes back +a century for an example, to a foreign country and a hostile church. +One later instance occurs to his company, but he rejects it. +Evidently, he thinks that there is nothing of the sort nearer at hand. +If, he says, they once commenced to burn at Rome, they would not know +where to stop. + +An account of Catholicism which assumes that, in the middle of the +seventeenth century, Rome had not commenced to burn, is an account +which studiously avoids the real and tragic issues of the time. The +part of Hamlet is omitted, by desire. For when Rinuccini spoke, the +fires of the Roman Inquisition were, indeed, extinct, but had been +extinguished in his lifetime, under the preceding pontificate, having +burnt for nearly a century. Familiar instances must have been +remembered by his hearers; and they had read in the most famous +theological treatise of the last generation, by what gradation of +torments a Protestant ought to die. They knew that whoever obstructed +the execution of that law forfeited his life, that the murder of a +heretic was not only permitted but rewarded, that it was a virtuous +deed to slaughter Protestant men and women, until they were all +exterminated. + +To keep these abominations out of sight is the same offence as to +describe the Revolution without the guillotine. The reader knows no +more than old Caspar what it was all about. + +There was no mystery about these practices, no scruple, and no +concealment. Although never repudiated, and although retrospectively +sanctioned by the Syllabus, they fell into desuetude, under pressure +from France, and from Protestant Europe. But they were defended, more +or less boldly, down to the peace of {142} Westphalia.[173] The most +famous Jesuits countenanced them, and were bound to countenance them, +for the papacy had, by a series of books approved and of acts done, +identified itself with the system, and the Jesuits were identified with +the cause of the papacy. A Gallican was not quite so deeply +compromised. He might say that these are the crimes and teaching of +the Court, not of the Church, of Rome; and he was on his guard to +restrict the influence and to disparage the example of the popes. +Nevertheless, to say: If you believe the books which Rome commends; if +you accept the doctrines which Rome imposes under pain of death and +damnation; if you do the deeds she requires, and imitate the lives she +proposes as your patterns, you will be probably hanged in this world, +and assuredly damned in the next--this would have sounded like derision +even in the mouth of Pascal or Bossuet. To a Jesuit it was impossible. +He existed in order to sustain the credit of the Popes. He wished the +world to think well of them. They were a tower of strength, an object +of pride to every member of the Society. He was obliged to swallow +them whole. Therefore, though he might wear the mask of Lancelot +Andrews or William Wilberforce, within it was a lining of Saint Just. +It is this combination of an eager sense of duty, zeal for sacrifice, +and love of virtue, with the deadly taint of a conscience perverted by +authority, that makes them so odious to touch and so curious to study. + +You will be prepared to hear that I no more recognise the Jesuit than +the Cardinal. Something indeed may be urged in behalf of the sonorous +wickedness of those instructions in which he betrays his spirit, in the +strongest passage of the book. It matters not what {143} cause we take +up, provided we defend it well--that is Probabilism. It matters not +what wrong we do in a good cause--that again is the maxim that the end +justifies the means, which, like Probabilism, was just then in the +ascendant. It matters not whether the cause for which we sin is +religion or policy--even that is paralleled by the way in which the +French Jesuits, all but one, supported Richelieu in his alliance with +the Protestants, in the Thirty Years' War. But it is the character of +an exceptional Jesuit, not a type. It is not indicated that he goes +wrong from the worthiest motive; that the disinterested spirit of +religion, which to other men is a safeguard, is as fatal to him as +vulgar passions to other men. The true Jesuit falls better than that. +His decay begins at the top. He does not find his way to +Malebolge[174] until a guide misleads him whom he takes for an angel of +light. The sordid, lying, selfish, ambitious specimen does not appear +unless grafted on a fanatical stock. The essence that vitiates so much +discipline and virtue is so subtle that we seldom feel the resemblance +when Jesuits are portrayed from outside. + +The author seems hardly to detect his own rogue. When Hall coolly +announces that a lie must be told which will cause a man's death, and +is therefore equivalent to murder, it is not clear whether this is +infamous or not. For Charles betrays Glamorgan as his son afterwards +betrayed Montrose, and we are still expected to revere him as something +better than the enemies who, to save their necks, resorted to Pride and +Bradshaw. So again, speaking of Laud and Strafford, he implies that if +they were unsuccessful tyrants, they were no tyrants at all. That is, +to be a tyrant, you must {144} succeed, just as, to be a rebel, you +must fail. The model of tyrants is Caesar Borgia. When he was down, +Machiavelli, who had thought him worth attentive study, said to him +that he wondered so good a player should have lost the game. He +answered that he had foreseen every combination except that of himself +being prostrate with illness when the crash came. That miscalculation +would become his excuse. + +If this propensity to absolve royal and loyal culprits comes from +sympathy with them, it seems to me no better than the crooked canon of +Macaulay, Carlyle, and Froude. The standard, in another place, is a +low one: The priest who invites Inglesant not to die with a lie in his +mouth reminds him that they subordinated their religion to their +political intrigues. But what if they subordinated politics to their +religious interest? To waver about ship money until one knows whether +Charles or Hampden is on the side of one's Church is dishonesty. To +have no moral test of duty apart from religion is to be a fanatic. +What Inglesant imputes to the Catholics is very near the definition of +an honest man. For reasons less obvious I am not satisfied with the +character of Inglesant. We learn in the first volume, p. 34, that he +never formally joined the Church of Rome; and in the second, p. 318, +that he must have been formally received into it. There is a more +serious contradiction still. His life is singularly blameless and +heroic, but one does not perceive the safeguard. Three channels by +which God speaks to the soul are excluded. Inglesant will do anything +but read the Bible. He has never studied to distinguish the voice of +the Church, the constancy of her teaching, the line of least +resistance, the law that regulates her movements. Conscience is a word +that does not occur during the first 200 pages of {145} religious +training. Then she asks him, what if they ask him to do something that +his conscience cannot approve? He very truly answers that it is too +late to think of that. Then the word returns two or three times, but +the idea is gone. We repeatedly find that he knows not right from +wrong, and is not scared by sin. When reminded of the horrors of the +Inquisition he calmly observes: Not one of these practices but has some +shadow of truth in it. A priest, defending imaginary relics, says: +These things are true to each of us according as we see them. +Inglesant is content, and does not ask who invents or promotes the +fable. Having, with some pains, forced his master to confess the +iniquity of his scheme, he adopts it with alacrity. There is not a +momentary struggle between self-devotion and the shock of indignation. +The spring is broken. The sense is dulled. The voice within is +hushed. What then kept this man's life so pure in court and camp? The +book is not written to suggest that honour and chivalry are a genuine +form or a substitute for grace. + +One might suspect that it is the idea which Plato transmitted from +Socrates, which Cameron, in 1624, had revived--that the knowledge of +good and evil is virtue. But Inglesant possesses the virtue without +the knowledge. He is as destitute of conviction as he is free from +vice. His one security is Direction. He passes from hand to hand, and +successive teachers impress him for a time, but impart no principle. +When they fail him, he stands where they found him, a safe and +contented Churchman, not because he has examined all things and chosen +the best, but because the master he preferred happened to be in prison. + +A fine opportunity had been wasted. A clever, refined, high-spirited +youth, who has won, in a religious {146} philosophy, a standing ground +apart from Churches, who yet learns to sympathise with them, and who +sheds his prejudices and illusions as he grows in spiritual experience; +that would be a noble study in the days of Grotius, Descartes, Lord +Herbert, Hammond, Baxter, Roger Williams, Elondel, Raynaud, and Pascal. +None of these appear on the platform with Hobbes and Cressy and +Molinos--as though, two centuries later, a man should seek rest for +conscience without going near Channing, Arnold, Newman, Vinet, Neander, +Rothe, Schelling, or Grundtvig. Last, the terms Romish, papist, +popery, in so good an artist, make me ask myself whether a papist who +respects himself would talk of heretics, schismatics, apostates, and +infidels? But I have become confused from my prolixity. + +I shall be very glad if there is anything in what I said that Arthur +Lyttelton can turn to account, after careful verification. If he will +take the trouble to examine for himself, there can be no reason to +allude to anybody else. + +He will abstain, I know, from raising those points respecting +persecution which would give just offence, appearing in this indirect +way. To mark the enormity of supposing that the Cardinal did not know +that people used to be burned in Rome; it would be enough to say that +he cannot have forgotten the reign of Paul V. Down to that reign, from +1542 to 1608, the thing was common and notorious. After Paul V. there +is little that anybody would remember who has not made a study of such +things. This also must be borne in mind, that in Rome, unlike Spain, +the victims were usually strangled, and were not committed to the +flames until they were dead. + +The book alluded to, I. 327, is Molina, on grace. {147} The defence +about the appearance of the name of Quakers would be that it appeared +in that very year 1650. But they are here talked about as early as +January, as if quite well known. The answer to my objection about +Sancta Clara would be that the similarity of opinions suggested the use +of the name. But the man is too well known to be treated in that +unceremonious way. + +To say, I. 137, that among Puritans self-restraint and concealment were +sins, is so serious an imputation, especially the first word, that it +should be defined which sect was meant. Nobody says that Baxter was +rude, not even Howe, in private life. There is a slovenliness in this +use of a big brush. Cardinal Howard does not deserve the praise he +gets, II. 333. He was a very pale figure. + +Observe II. 273. There are no spires in Rome. I hear that the author +has never been in Italy. That accounts for many topographical +mistakes, and leaves a margin to his credit. + +The date of the steps of the Trinita might perhaps be discovered in the +life of Cardinal Polignac, or in the article on him in Michaud or +Didot. It matters not; but the correctness of local and chronological +colour turns on such points as these. I think Cressy could hardly have +justified what he says of the Fathers. + +On looking over my lengthy prose I find something that I must +add:--Valdes never renounced Catholicism, but his writings, only lately +made accessible, are the writings of a Protestant. The numbers +mentioned in the Irish massacre are, of course, monstrously +exaggerated, as were the numbers given by Clarendon, Milton, and +Baxter. I quote them to show the greatness of the {148} alarm. The +French Jesuits stood by Richelieu and allowed one of their number to be +exiled for his opposition to the German war when, after the peace of +Prague, it had ceased to be a war in defence of the Protestants, and +was purely aggressive. This was because, in 1627, he had made them +understand that they must leave France if they resisted his will. It +was easier to associate resistance to Puritanism with the Catholic +cause than aggression on the Catholic Powers in Germany. I do not say +that the care taken to prevent conversion is absolutely impossible. +Some Franciscans at that time might have done it; and something like it +is told of a Jesuit a few years later. + +There is a very curious passage, II. 385, on persecution: It was these +selfsame ideas of the future and its relation to this life that +actuated their tormentors. This is an attempt to look beneath the +surface, and a soothing tribute to the feelings of those who admire +Galerius and Calvin and Gregory the Thirteenth. The Natural History of +Intolerance has not yet been written; but the analysis is not so simple +as these words imply. Half of the persecution in the Roman Empire, all +the persecution of Huguenots by the Valois, and of Roman Catholics +under Elizabeth, was due to other ideas than those of the future. And +where religious ideas induced men to side with the tormentors against +Toleration, there is much that is not more sincere or more excusable +than the ideas that have led to political massacres. The opinion +expressed covers some of the ground, but only a very small part of it. + +But I must stop somewhere. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes March 29, 1882_] + +If there are judges and juries in Britain, Macmillan would expose +himself to fine and imprisonment by {149} printing what I write to you. +You will see in a moment, I am sure, why it could never be. + +It would be an offence to the author, because there is no allowance of +the large measure of praise and even of admiration due to him--nothing +but the Catalogue of objections suggested to me by the belief that I +was writing to a too fervent admirer of the book. Without my signature +it would be a stab in the dark; and with my name it would be +insufferably pretentious, uncalled-for, and unfair. And I, who make a +profession of knowing about Conclaves and the like, should be bound to +visit more amply, if not more severely, the strangely inadequate and +pointless narrative of the election of Chigi. Few things are more +curious and dramatic than the Conclaves, and this one is particularly +well known. + +Besides, Fraser is sure to be very hostile, both in detail and in +respect of the scope and spirit of the work. He is sure to quarrel +with Jesuit and Cardinal, and to say much of what I have said in strict +confidence. Please, dismiss the thought; and if you compliment +anything, let it be the paper and handwriting. + +That is a very kind question about Gardiner; and as I have at hand, +here, the means of learning more without risk of indiscretion, I had +better postpone my answer. If, as a rule, those pensions are granted +to people almost destitute of means, the case could not well be +admitted. He ought to be at the Record Office instead of the present +Hardy. It is in Jessel's gift, and he asked my advice, specially +excluding clergymen, and thereby losing the two best men, Brewer and +Stubbs. I suggested Freeman, Gardiner, and Bond. Freeman sent me word +that he would not take it. Jessel told me he would appoint Bond--who +is now the very good {150} and estimable, but gloomy successor of +Panizzi--but that he had been told that Bond was a Catholic. He said +that a Jew was not strong enough to appoint a Catholic Keeper of the +Archives. Bond is a Broad Churchman, and the report arose only from my +recommendation. Gardiner therefore remained; but it was resolved, +under I know not what pressure, to keep the thing in the Hardy family. +Meantime, I think Gardiner succeeded Brewer in his professorship at +King's College--not, I imagine, remunerative, but still an obstacle. + +Yes, I agree about Forbes, and rather think he is one of the men Simon +speaks of, and defies the Sorbonne to meet--unless I am mixing up the +two divines of that name. + +Spinola wrote no book. He was a Franciscan bishop, Imperial Confessor +at Vienna, and produced several schemes of union, on the part of Rome, +which differ from other such by being definite and sincere. Leibniz, +and the Calixtine school of Lutherans, were very near adopting his +plan; but as he was an agent of pope and emperor when Louis XIV. was +the enemy of both, Bossuet contrived to baffle him. What was known of +these transactions down to our day is in Pichler's work on Leibniz. +Much more has since come out in the "Correspondence of the Electress +Sophia," and there is more to come, whenever the Madonna of the +Future[175] is unveiled. + +Of John Inglesant, let me say that it would be a very fair text to work +on--how far the pagan, human virtues, coupled with qualities which are +not, in a spiritual sense, virtues, such as courage, delicacy, good +nature, veracity, pride, can accomplish the outward, visible {151} work +of grace. But that is clearly not the author's design. + +If Gardiner's paper is very hostile, and you then think it worth while +to send my remarks to Mr. Shorthouse,[176] through his publisher or +otherwise, that is a case governed by the saying of the younger +Pompey.[177] + +I liked what I saw of the Fox Memorials during a very short inspection; +and yesterday, lunching at the parsonage at Mentone, I found the Life +of Lowder. The accounts of Prince Leopold were distressing. Fancy my +finding myself with two excellent clergymen, both ardent Gladstonians, +and both wishing for the admission of Bradlaugh. Otherwise my journey +was not altogether successful, as I got half a sunstroke, which you +have already seen traces of in my letter. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Cannes April 27, 1882_] + +The description you quote of Coleridge is not more inaccurate than +epigram requires. I have just drawn up a list of recommended authors +for my son, as being the company I should like him to keep, after me; +and after some hesitation I included S. T. C. in the number. But he +has to be balanced by sounder stuff. + +Lecky only arrived two days ago, and is scarcely begun. But the +beginning, and the account of Junius struck me as very far indeed ahead +of all his former writings. There is a good deal of slovenly writing, +and it is puerile to write modern history from printed books; but this +is a wonderfully solid performance. You will not think it as amusing +as Froude's "Carlyle," when you come to it, but much more nutritious. + +{152} + +You depressed my spirits the other day by showing that the majority of +39 did not amount to quite so much as I, from a distance, had imagined. +And the Budget, though open to very little remark, does not do much to +raise them. If I was not conscious of being the worst accountant yet +discovered, I should say that there is a slip in one of the +calculations of Savings Bank deposits. + +Gardiner for some reason did not publish his article.... If Arthur +Lyttelton, out of pure cussedness, wishes to put in the note you speak +of, I would like to see what it is he says, starting from the materials +buried in my letter. + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Cannes May 3, 1882_] + +Lecky's merits stand undiminished by further acquaintance, but the +deficiencies become more glaring. The character of Burke, though in my +opinion very defective, seems to me the best I have read in the +language. + + * * * * * + +The May _Fraser_ contains his article,[178] and I greatly fear that his +judgment will be as critical as my own. + +I wonder whether you have the _Temps_ or _Debats_ in Downing Street, +and have read the speeches of Pasteur and Renan. I do not remember so +interesting a reception, and what is serious is that the most powerful +intellectual force in France has declared, virtually, for materialism. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes May 5, 1882_] + +We have nothing later than Tuesday's speech, so that the lines are not +traceable into the future, and I am still in a very anxious and +doubting stage. + +{153} + +It is not apparent why Spencer occupies a position between earth and +heaven. He looks like a warming pan. Not for a prince, for that is +out of the question. For Dufferin?[179] But Dufferin, who is easy, +dexterous, and popular, has not the sterling and transparent quality of +Spencer himself. It may well be the basis of a vast change in the +machinery for the government of Ireland; but that would require +legislation for which there is no time. Perplexity No. 1. + +Then one must conclude that the change comes from assurances given by +the moderate Irish members, that it would enable them to moderate the +raging ones. But to ensure that, they must have a finger in the pie, +and Russell or Shaw would have to have the offer of the Irish Office. +It seems clear, from the delay, that that is not to be; and one hears +of Lefevre and Chamberlain.... Perplexity 2. + +There is a look of uncertainty and want of clearness about the whole +thing. Cowper resigns; after an interval, half a successor is +appointed; then the suspects are released; then Forster resigns; and +then, after another interval showing want of preparation, there is a +new Secretary. This way of doing whatever is to be done suggests that +the Ministry had not the foresight to anticipate opinion, or strength +to lead it. Dropping one colleague after another in their Irish course +makes that course appear wanting in deliberation and design, and +strengthens the notion that, under heavy pressure, they may be driven +nobody knows where, like men who yield, not like men who lead. I +presume that there is some evidence of ensured improvement, consequent +upon concession. But one doubts that again, when {154} Forster +resigns; and it seems that the change is in the ideas more than in the +facts. As to any gain on Irish opinion from the grace of concession, I +should not expect it, as so many suspects remain in custody. If so, +then the advantage would be derived from the new position of the Irish +leaders--a very doubtful policy. Then again, I don't like the moment; +immediately after Cairns's stroke, and the untimely publication of his +draft report.[180] I don't like anything which looks like +overtrumping, because it is not fit for such a Prime Minister to follow +initiative, whether that of opponents, or of English or Irish opinion. + +These misgivings occur to me although you know, if nobody else does, +that I was not convinced by the argument in favour of coercion, and saw +no evidence of greater demoralisation than was the direct effect of +actual suffering. Since then there has been so much atrocity in +Ireland, so much foreign influence, and so manifest a change for the +worse in the conduct of the clergy, that I have grown reconciled to the +strong hand. Even if full of sympathy with the spirit of the present +policy, I cannot satisfy myself with the mode of its inception, and I +shall not feel comfortable for some days, until the design grows clear. +To you, they will be intensely interesting, and I shall be very glad +indeed to hear that confidence reigns in Downing Street. + + +POST OFFICE AND SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHS. + +CANNES, 5.14, 8/5, 11.54, on the 8/5, 1882. + +Do not let him lose confidence in himself.[181] + +ACTON. + +{155} + +[Sidenote: _Cannes May 9, 1882_] + +We have only vague reports in French newspapers, but I cannot wait for +full accounts of the tragedy that touches us all so nearly, to give you +my warm tribute of sympathy and sorrow. It is shocking to think of +her, so worthy of happiness and so afflicted. You, I know, have, of +all people, the most soothing hand for the most cruel wounds. + +It must have been a dreadful blow in your own home, and at a distance +one grows anxious about many things. I apprehend a violent burst of +passion in the country, with despair of healing such disease with +lenient arts; and, if the tide turns, the change will be felt in +Parliament, and will be used by men quite capable of seeing that Mr. +Gladstone's statesmanship is confirmed by the very crime which will +condemn it in common minds. Assuming that some of the Cabinet assent +reluctantly to the heroic policy, and that the last few weeks have not +added to his personal ascendency, I fear that they will either forsake +him or urge him to forsake his own ideal lines. Thinking of this, of +his strong affections, of the shadow on the hearth, I could not +restrain my wish to send you my small vote of confidence. + +For we heard at first that Spencer had instantly resigned.[182] I was +ashamed to show myself, and whispered to my family how Nicholas, the +bad emperor, faced a rebellious army. There is very different news +to-day. I gather that Spencer remains, that Forster redeems many +faults by offering to go back, that Parnell has made his choice between +murder and conciliation, that the Opposition holds its hand, expecting +Mr. Gladstone to turn against himself. + +{156} + +It seems to me that much ground must inevitably be lost, and that the +true moral of this catastrophe can never be made visible to the average +Englishman. Still I see great opportunities of recovery, and I know in +what spirit I hope that he has had the strength to receive the blow +aimed through Freddy Cavendish at himself. + +I long so much to hear from you. If you can think, in sad days like +these, of anything but the sorrow that is near you, do give an +affectionate message from me to Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, and send me, +when you have a quiet moment, a line to Munich. I start almost +immediately. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _St. Martin Ried Haute Autriche July 20, 1882_] + +Alexandria, Bright, and a vote of censure have been a great distraction +from our Irish troubles. If Bright, the Minister, agreed to the +orders, and if Bright, the Quaker, woke up at the execution of the +orders, then his conduct is unstatesmanlike and weak. I conclude,--not +having Monday's debate yet,--that he resigns not because of the +bombardment, but because, having troops on the way, remembering the +example of Paris, warned by the terrified correspondents, we +nevertheless bombarded without taking precautions against consequences +that were not improbable. If he takes that ground, he will, I suppose, +be angry and mischievous, and his position will encourage the +disaffected Whigs; and it will be awkward even if part of the blame +rests on the Powers; because, when we took things into our own hands, +we were bound to do all that was necessary. + +I very much wish for a completer defence than {157} I have seen yet; +and at the same time I think that a good defence, with some measure of +political success in Egypt, will be a source of new strength, and if +there is some blame, I anxiously ask myself whether it lies at the +Foreign Office, at the War Office, or at the Admiralty. + +It is provoking not to know most of the names of the people going out +on this difficult errand. That is one side of the question. The +other, nearer home, for me, is that you are still going through +terrible worry, and that the wear and tear must be telling on Mr. +Gladstone. I ask myself one question, which most people would think an +unlikely one, whether he thoroughly controls his colleagues, and +whether the work of the House absorbs him too much.... I hope you sat +next to Bright.... + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _St. Martin July 29, 1882_] + +We are living here in my brother-in-law's house; and I will tell him +that he must prepare for better guests, as soon as you tell me that it +is not the baseless fabric of a vision. He is not married; so that +there is no one to be on ceremony with; and his house is as big as many +Tegernsees. Alfred[183] will be as welcome here as he is wherever his +bright face is shown. + + * * * * * + +It is impossible not to feel that the Ministry grows weaker by the +associates it has lost as well as by the associates that decline to +join. There are now the ingredients of an alternative Liberal Cabinet, +consisting of men fairly equal to those now in office--with the +necessary exception--and hostile to them. The ground is getting narrow +under our feet, and the full {158} force of the party does not support +Ministers. The want of a successor to Bright indicates too clearly +that Mr. Gladstone, though still master of his majority, is not what he +has been, master of his party. I hope for new arrangements at the end +of the session, and for a real gain of strength from ultimate success +in Egypt. But, like Ireland, it is a harvest that will ripen slowly. +I wonder whether things have seemed to you as gloomy as this, or +whether the light before you dispels the darkness. + +Mozley's book, and all others published in England since January, I +have not seen. He interests me more than almost any other of our +divines, and I look forward to a good time with his reminiscences, if, +as I understand, it is the divine, and not the manifold writer.[184] + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Tegernsee August 4, 1882_] + +With all my heart I adopt your scheme, Reform, Dissolution, and then, +let Politics make way for a still higher and worthier cause. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Paris, August 12, 1882_] + +Salisbury's collapse[185] is less decisive than mine, and although +there is a pleasant corner in the House of Lords, my journey ends in +nothing better than disappointment and in having set you to write notes +all day. My accounts show that they are not comfortable at home, so +that I have no right to be basking in the ethereal sunshine of Downing +Street. + +It was a monstrous thing to do, suggestive of {159} Mrs. Todgers, but I +left the Dante in his[186] room at the H. of Commons. It was too late +to ring at No. 10,[187] for I kept him talking till near eleven. But +there was some symbolic propriety about the title[188] of the unbound +volume--unbound because they did not remember the binding of the rest. +Of course the impression of my one well-filled day in town--even with +the part of Cordelia left out--is the very opposite of that under which +I lately wrote. The session ends with a great blaze of his mastery and +power. But the best of it all is, that I found him so wonderfully +vigorous and well and even content. It did indeed impress me most +deeply. + +It is remarkable how little he chooses to realise the tremendous loss +of authority and power which the party will incur by his retirement, +and he has no idea how little he would soon be in harmony with them. +However, Ireland is not all right yet; and there are obvious +complications impending in Egypt which he cannot leave unsolved. With +that, there will still be time for the Reform Bill. + +Late at night I found slipped under my door your rejected letter, which +will be cherished with the rest. If writing made up for sight! + +This letter is written by scraps, in various places and countries. I +crossed with Forster, on his way to Russia, and got him to tell me his +inner history. I shall be at St. Martin the day after to-morrow.... + +Shorthouse's[189] letter could not go with Dante, and I will enclose it +in my next. I have got Democracy. The Mays, considered an authority +on the subject, do {160} not think much of it. Forster does, and says +it is not by Mrs. Adams. He says that Bright has no idea that he left +either too early or too late. Will you--very earnestly--put my excuses +before Mrs. Gladstone for my way of dealing with her boundless +hospitality? + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Cannes Feb. 2, 1883_] + +I wonder whether you would come to lunch to-morrow, Saturday? Perhaps +I could inscribe in your most private book the list of the hundred +works that have most influenced human history. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Feb. 13, 1883_] + +... These books are enclosed to show Mr. Gladstone what good German +prose is, in expounding difficult, very difficult, questions. Also, a +little book, by a very famous Dane who has grown more and more to be a +power since his death.... + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine March 3, 1883_] + +After seeking a moment's distraction at a chateau near Marseilles I +came home to find your letter, so kindly written in the intervals of +Parisian dissipations. + +The failure of Challemel was truly sad, but I hope that Fedora,[190] +following the little dinner on the Boulevard, made up for it. The +tranquillity and sameness of Cannes will soon be thrust far out of +sight by the centre of European life. We do our best, in your absence, +to be a little worldly. Bright, Houghton, and the Mallets lunch +to-day. I am to meet Colonel Hay at tea, and the little bishop[191] at +dinner this evening. + +... It is pleasant to think that Lyons made you enjoy Paris, and +divined the one thing you all have a passion for, and he seems to have +done the political part of his work very well by bringing you into +contact {161} both with the ruling men and with the Left Centre. That +was just what was wanting to redress the Wolvertonian balance. + +I am a little sorry that the visit at the Elysee was not more +interesting. Grevy's speeches in 1848 were very sensible indeed, but +he seems to be pushing the theory of the _roi faineant_ much beyond the +American, or even the Merovingian, limit, if he avoids politics with +such a visitor. Then I rejoice much at the visit to Jules Simon, +though you don't say whether it was spontaneous or a return, and a +curious question is, where was the limit drawn? Did he and Broglie, +Decazes, Harcourt, avoid each other? If these former ambassadors did +not call, it is matter for speculation. At Marseilles, I found myself +in a nest of Legitimists, and learnt that the chief of them, Coriolis, +lately asked the Count of Chambord for leave to raise the white flag. +If there was more of this kind, it is odd that the advocates of +expulsion made so little of it. If it had been possible to stay longer +at Paris, it would have been a very desirable thing, for they do not +really know or understand him,[192] and the conflict of forces there +would be worth observing otherwise than in Blowitz' or Lyons's +despatches. + +It is a pity to have missed Mrs. Craven, who would take to you +intensely if you saw more of each other--a woman of great talent and +elevation of mind, but who has just written on the Salvation Army a +paper that seems to portend the approach of mental decay. Lady +Blennerhassett is very far her superior. Tell her all about Cannes if +you see her.... Mrs. Green writes me a touching letter to say that she +has no hope left.... + + * * * * * + +{162} + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine, March 7, 1883_] + +This is only a hasty line of thanks and congratulation on your +prosperous journey. I have not yet seen either the Wolvertons or the +Anson family, and to-day there are a couple of inches of snow over +Cannes. Incorrigible Potter circulates the Financial Reform Almanack +in the name of the Cobden Club, for which Reay, A. Russell, and others +have denounced him. He asked me to read it through, which has been the +melancholy occupation of a whole day, ending in agreement with the +critics. + +I am losing Mallet, who is less well and goes to Mentone. Also, +Colonel Hay,[193] Lincoln's secretary and biographer, who proved a most +agreeable acquaintance. Yesterday, there was an expedition to Pegomas +(Houghton, Dempsters, &c.) and I find that the old lady[194] is the +original of St. Monica in Ary Scheffer's picture. Myers, translator of +Homer, is here, with a nice, newly-married wife, and Cross is in great +force, writing the biography[195] and wanting me to read the papers. + +Thanks for the MS., with the answer for which pray express my +acknowledgments. + + * * * * * + +You have heard that the Ashburnham MSS. are offered to the Museum, and +that some of them were stolen from public libraries in France. We +propose, if we buy at all, to resell to France as many of these as can +be proved to be stolen, and Delisle, the French Panizzi, comes this +week to produce his evidence, amicably, before the Museum experts. + +I say nothing about the purchase, and have only insisted that ---- was +a thief, and that we must, as we did before, make terms with Paris. +But I want you to know that Leopold Delisle is one of the most eminent +{163} scholars in France, that he is a most estimable and high-minded +man, tho' not a conspicuous bookmaker or litterateur, that he stands as +high in Germany as any Frenchman living, and that I have long enjoyed +the privilege of his friendly acquaintance. So that, if it should be +otherwise feasible, any civility shown him by the P.M.[196] on this his +very peculiar international mission, would be taken in France as a +marked sign of courtesy and goodwill, just after the visit to France. + +This is quite independent of the decision the Treasury may come to +about the grant. I may add that Delisle is perfectly trustworthy, and +that we are safe in the hands of the Museum people, to come to right +judgments as to the MSS.... + +Cross has shown me, with some secrecy, a very curious letter of +Dickens, declaring that only a woman could have written the "Scenes +from Clerical Life." But he gives no good reason, and I am persuaded +that he had heard the secret from Herbert Spencer, who at once detected +it. I dare not express my doubt. John Morley writes pleasantly, but +says he still feels like a fish out of water on the benches. + +This is written at your table in considerable solitude and vacancy. + + * * * * * + +I have just heard that Green is dead, and I must go to Mentone.... + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine March 21, 1883_] + +I hope to see them at the station, and then we can make plans for next +week. The hotel is very full, but Cross tells me that there is just +room for them. Ill-timed is really all I say against that passage of +the {164} lecture;[197] and, if other people had gone straight, it +would not even have been ill-timed. My censure has never gone farther +than that. + +Nobody can well be more strongly persuaded than I am of the necessity, +the practical and moral necessity, of governing nations by consent, +national consent being proved both by the vapour of opinion, and by the +definite mechanism of representation. I am not even surprised that +many Irishmen should be suspicious of the goodwill of a country which +turns as readily to a Tory government as to a Liberal, which is seldom +awake to its sins and the consequences of its sins, unless roused by +terror, and which has made amends only under compulsion, or under the +intense, but not permanent, influence of one resolute mind. Even that +is not all that I concede to them. Therefore, in substance, Herbert +has all my sympathy; only, if anything awkward arises, it is his father +who has to find the remedy or bear the burden. The danger now is that +the great wave, of his own raising, that has sustained his policy of +generosity, and even of eventual confidence, will fall. People will +lose, not only sympathy, which is not to the point, but hopefulness. I +cannot even say that they will be wrong to lose hope. But if men cease +to look forward to success, they cannot be made to go straight by +looking back to their own evil deeds. Nobody, then, would stand by the +P.M. except pure Democrats, like Chamberlain and Morley. If I was a +Minister, I would say, not that we shall devise new schemes to disarm +this new evidence, not that we shall relax our efforts in just +indignation and despair, {165} but that we shall go on with our appeal +from the ill-disposed to the well-disposed, pursuing a policy which is +not dictated by momentary hope or momentary fear, but proceeds from the +heart and spirit of the principles which are our _raison d'etre_ as a +party and as a government. But I don't say that I should succeed. + +If flurry and apprehension penetrate Downing Street, nothing can +sustain Mr. Gladstone better than your own serenity. Be true to him +and to his cause even if these odious crimes continue, even when you +feel that the harvest will not be reaped in his time. The mills of God +grind slowly. + +It is very easy to speak words of wisdom from a comfortable distance, +when one sees no reality, no details, none of the effect on men's +minds. What is glorious is the way in which Mr. Gladstone rides on the +whirlwind. You need not wonder much what I am thinking of it all. + +As long ago as 1870 I ceased to be sanguine that we could govern +Ireland successfully. The best influence over the Irish people is the +influence of the clergy, and an ultramontane clergy is not proof +against the sophistry by which men justify murder or excuse murderers. +The assassin is only a little more resolutely logical or a little +bolder than the priest. + +I hope you will read and like Montegut's articles on George Eliot, +especially the second, in the _Revue_ of March 15. See pp. 307 and 329 +for some very excellent criticism. + +Miss B. met Cross here at lunch, was intensely excited, and explained +it by saying that he is Ladislaw. But I cannot believe it. They say +that Dorothea is here too. H---- has been in great force. He is +unwell now, but looks forward to M----'s arrival to-day, {166} +declaring, with accurate self-knowledge, that he likes nothing so much +as an impostor. + +He has given me Bradley's Recollections to read, from which I learned +very little, and Stephen's very curious history of our criminal law. + +Oscar Browning is here, divided between the French Revolution and the +Gracchi--the most interesting of all purely secular topics. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine March 31, 1883_] + +The Wickhams are most inaccessible people, only to be seen on the road +to Gourdon or St. Cezaire. I have had only a glimpse of them; but we +hope to overtake them between Chateau Scott and S. Paul's on Sunday. +They have some wild scheme of visiting Languedoc. + +Cross told me that he had asked for some criticisms of mine which you +told him of. I answered that I did not believe you would send them, +and he said that if you did, he would forward them unread. But I am +sure there is nothing of any possible use to him. He is very +communicative, and I am to see her letters and to advise as to +publication. What I have seen is of such a kind that merely strung +together with a few short notes, it would make a very interesting book: +"Memorials of George Eliot." + +The real answer to your remark[198] about that list[199] is that which +Johnson gave about fetlock.[200] I have nothing to say about physical +science that is not a reminiscence of conversations with Owen or +Hooker, Paget or Tyndall; and it would be important to put down all the +decisive works in those branches. I have {167} tried to know the books +on the history and method of discovery, the laws of scientific +progress, and the tests of truth and error; and I find that this is a +matter which very few scientific men take any interest in. + +If I must defend my list, this is the sort of sophism I would employ:-- + +We all know some twenty or thirty predominant currents of thought or +attitudes of mind, or system-bearing principles, which jointly or +severally weave the web of human history and constitute the civilised +opinion of the age. All these, I imagine, a serious man ought to +understand, in whatever strength or weakness they possess, in their +causes and effects, and in their relations to each other. The majority +of them are either religious or substitutes for religion. For +instance, Lutheran, Puritan, Anglican, Ultramontane, Socinian, +Congregational, Mystic, Rationalist, Utilitarian, Pantheist, +Positivist, Pessimist, Materialist, and so on. All understanding of +history depends on one's understanding the forces that make it, of +which religious forces are the most active, and the most definite. We +cannot follow all the variations of a human mind, but when we know the +religious motive, that the man was an Anabaptist, an Arminian, a Deist +or a Jansenist, we have the master key, we stand on known ground, we +are working a sum that has been, at least partially, worked out for us, +we follow a computed course, and get rid of guesses and accidents. +Thirdly (I am thinking, let us say, of my own son), we are not +considering what will suit an untutored savage or an illiterate peasant +woman who would never come to an end of the Imitation or the Serious +Call. Her religion may be enough for heaven, without other study. Not +so with a man living in the world, in constant friction {168} with +adversaries, in constant contemplation of religious changes, sensible +of the power which is exerted by strange doctrines over minds more +perfect, characters that are stronger, lives that are purer than his +own. He is bound to know the reason why. First, because, if he does +not, his faith runs a risk of sudden ruin. Secondly, for a reason +which I cannot explain without saying what you may think bad psychology +or bad dogma--I think that faith implies sincerity, that it is a gift +that does not dwell in dishonest minds. To be sincere a man must +battle with the causes of error that beset every mind. He must pour +constant streams of electric light into the deep recesses where +prejudice dwells, and passion, hasty judgments and wilful blindness +deem themselves unseen. He must continually grub up the stumps planted +by all manner of unrevised influence. The subtlest of all such +influences is not family, or college, or country, or class, or party, +but religious antagonism. There is much more danger for a +high-principled man of doing injustice to the adherent of false +doctrine, of judging with undeserved sympathy the conspicuous adherent +of true doctrine, than of hating a Frenchman or loving a member of +Brooks's. Many a man who thinks the one disgraceful is ready to think +the other more than blameless. To develop and perfect and arm +conscience is the great achievement of history, the chief business of +every life, and the first agent therein is religion or what resembles +religion. That is my sophism, beyond Dr. Johnson. But I think I +represent Anglicanism by only one book, or two at most. Others, such +as books on Church and State, cover much secular ground. Luckily, the +paper limit stops me in the middle of a long prose. + +{169} + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Hotel Klinger Marienbad Sept. 1, 1883_] + + +... Here, at last, I am resting from hard times at Marienbad, where the +waters get into one's head, as my letter will probably show. You +insist on my recording everything on which you will disagree, so I must +say that I should have voted more in royal than episcopal company.[201] +In our Church and in the countries I have lived in much, one is so +accustomed to those marriages that one does not think of a law to +prevent them. Then as to Egypt, I was not orthodox as to the policy of +the argument in favour of Lesseps, but vehemently comforted by the line +taken, to make no sordid profit out of our military position, and to +resist every entanglement that would indefinitely prolong the +occupation. When I consider that our presence there should be the +pivot for the settlement of the Eastern question, and the means of +civilising Africa, I can see so much to dazzle ambitious politicians +that I fear no Minister but one will ever be strong enough--in +ascendency as well as in moral power--to evacuate, and I complacently +take note of that additional steam to my propeller, whenever the +question of retirement stirs again; and my third heresy is about the +Pope. His declaration was concerted, I suppose, to hit some of the +clergy between wind and water, and so had a political, not a moral aim. +We may get embarrassed if we prompt and promote the political influence +of the Pope, whose principles are necessarily, whose interests are +generally, opposed to our own. It is as dangerous for us that his +political authority should be obeyed in Irish confessionals as that, in +this instance, it should be defied. Having morally supported the +movement which upset his sovereignty, being prepared to oppose {170} +any movement to restore it, we come with a bad grace to ask him to prop +and protect our authority in our dominions. Long ago I remember +writing to headquarters that it would become impossible--impossible for +Liberals--to govern Ireland after the Council; and although I am +avowedly the worst of prophets, this prophecy has had a good deal of +confirmation. It was an interesting question whether the Pope would +definitely and unconditionally condemn murder, whether from religious +or political motives. It would have borne untold consequences, as a +direct revocation of the Vatican system, which stands or falls with the +doctrine that one may murder a Protestant. But I don't believe that so +audacious a change of front would have moved a single priest in Ireland. + +Of George,[202] in the sixpenny edition, I had a glimpse at Cannes. +The better part of him, with more moderation and philosophy, and a +wider induction, may be found in the writings of the academic +Socialists, who, in the last ten years, have occupied almost all the +Chairs of Germany, and who have been the warmest admirers of the Irish +policy. + +One can hardly congratulate you ... about St. Peter's.[203] At +Montreux I met a newly-married young clergyman whose ugliness almost +made me take him for ----, and who assured me that it was offered to +Holland. The dean of St. Paul's[204] was at Munich the other day, and +delighted Doellinger, who believes, in consequence, that a more +mischievous fellow than Chamberlain does not eat bread. He also sent +him, and enabled me to read, Mozley's washy "Recollections." Liddon, I +see, is busy with Rosmini, in the intervals of {171} Pusey.[205] +Rosmini will interest you if the book ripens. He had much of Newman, +and nearly reformed the papacy. But I am troubled with a doubt. His +book was answered, by Passaglia, Thenier, Curci, and others, and it was +condemned by the Index. Rosmini wrote a long and curious defence of +it, which he printed, but did not publish, so as not to defy his +censors. Liddon ought to have this defence before him, to strengthen +his text withal. Perhaps Lockhart, and the other English Rosminians, +may scruple to give it to him, lest they break the measured silence of +their chief. It may be worth while to ask the eloquent and impulsive +Canon, whenever you see him, whether he knows of it. Do let me thank +you warmly for speaking of me to Mrs. Craven. She was almost my +earliest friend, and I am shocked to think that I seemed unfaithful to +memories forty years old. She was intimate with my mother before I was +born. What does it matter that she also bores me a good deal by her +restlessness, her curiosity and indiscretion, her want of serenity, +&c.? I always liked her in spite of it, and she was always a great, +but uncomfortable, admirer of Mr. Gladstone. Not so Waddington. You +must have seen at once that he is a very estimable, solid, deeply +religious man. There is hardly so great a scholar in France, and I +think he is the only Frenchman before whom Mommsen has retracted a +statement. That indeed is his proper line. Like George Lewis, he is +really happiest among his coins and inscriptions, and was never made +for the active life in which his high character, his knowledge, and now +his willingness to serve a party not his own, have carried him so far. +He has more caution than go, and has neither eloquence, nor influence +over men. {172} Above all things, he is cautious to do nothing that +would enable adversaries to accuse his patriotism. His language about +Egypt, and the future of France in the East, would seem exaggerated, +but I dare say you have read "Memories of Old Friends," a book meant +for invalids at Bohemian wells, and curiously displaying English minds +as they were about 1840. In the second edition Mill's letters are +appended, in one of which he describes Tocqueville's opinion that one +must not lower national pride, "almost the only elevated sentiment that +remains in considerable strength." Waddington might adopt those words +with even greater justice now. He once befriended me, so that I am +bound to speak up for him. We had met but once, at the Embassy, when +he asked me to dinner, and arranged that I should meet, besides Lyons, +Wimpfen and Hohenlohe, whom he knew to be old friends of mine, Louis +Arco, and the three most learned men in Paris, and then he gave me his +box at the Francais. But whilst I testify what a good fellow he is, it +is necessary, highly necessary, to add that he is not a friend of Mr. +Gladstone. That class of scholars to which he belongs, men busy with +inscriptions, ruins, medals, vases, contriving thereby to amend a text +or fix a date, inevitably resent the spirit in which Mr. Gladstone +studies antiquity, carrying with him emotions and ideals derived from +elsewhere, and considerably disturbing accepted habits and conclusions. +Then it is very hard for an extra patriotic Frenchman to see with +patience a powerful government that does not always use its strength, +that accepts rebuke and repulse, and is ready to draw in the outposts +of the empire. Whatever the true cause, I am pretty sure of the fact +that he will come to Hawarden, like Ruskin, curious to probe the great +Gladstonian {173} mystery, not favourably prepossessed. I hope you +will have him soon, and deal justly with him. + +When you sit down to Macaulay, remember that the Essays are really +flashy and superficial. He was not above par in literary criticism; +his Indian articles will not hold water; and his two most famous +reviews, on Bacon and Ranke, show his incompetence. The essays are +only pleasant reading, and a key to half the prejudices of our age. It +is the History (with one or two speeches) that is wonderful. He knew +nothing respectably before the seventeenth century, he knew nothing of +foreign history, of religion, philosophy, science, or art. His account +of debates has been thrown into the shade by Ranke, his account of +diplomatic affairs, by Klopp. He is, I am persuaded, grossly, basely +unfair. Read him therefore to find out how it comes that the most +unsympathetic of critics can think him very nearly the greatest of +English writers. + +My good friend Bright[206] got me into controversy by sending me +Beard's "Hibbert Lectures," on the Reformation. There was a great deal +to say, with the usual result; but you would think them interesting as +a stimulant. Have I ever told you that I have read the Diaries, +letters, &c., of G. Eliot? Cross wants me to review them in the +_Nineteenth Century_, or at least wanted; but I know not where he is, +or whether he still wishes it. + +I always see Miss Helen Gladstone in the papers, and suppose she is +with you. I don't know whether Miss Renouf is in her house.[207] She +is a sort of god-child of mine, and her father is, without exception, +the most learned Englishman I know. The daughter of {174} such a man +should be something unusual; the mother, too, is of a clever family, a +Brentano. + +Lady Blennerhassett gave me some accounts of you at Holmbury. +Minghetti, whom I saw lately, tells me that our friend Bonghi has a +Roman History in the press, which the Italians hope to set up against +Mommsen. I forgot, to complete my confession, that I have never been +happy about our policy with Cetewayo. But the general result of the +session cannot be lamented, only it is not heroic success, such as Mr. +Gladstone's supremacy and the flatness of the Opposition would demand. +The great thing is his health. I did not come over, not being once +summoned, so that we shall only meet at Cannes. Do talk about plans. +Can there be anything before Cannes? It can never be too soon to meet. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Feb. 9, 1884_] + +You make writing as difficult as living afar, by your unspeakable +goodness, but also by the infusion of the contrary quality. If I +promise not to attack the Government, and to believe in Lord Derby, +will you agree not to hit me so hard? I cannot well help doing what I +do, taking all things into consideration; and as to my tiresome +book,[208] please to remember that I can only say things which people +do not agree with, that I have neither disciple nor sympathiser, that +this is no encouragement to production and confidence, that grizzled +men, except ----, grow appalled at the gaps in their knowledge, and +that I have no other gift but that which you pleasantly describe, of +sticking eternal bits of paper into innumerable books, and putting +larger papers into black boxes. There is no help for it. But your +reproaches are much more {175} distressing to read than you suppose, +and make me think them better to read than to hear. Otherwise, I too +would have a dream, to describe, and wish that yours came true from +January 1 to December 31. + +George[209] did not catch me at Marienbad, and came from Munich in a +big box, only the other day. I had partly read him, but I was in a +difficulty about thanking you for it with full honesty as long as I +only knew it casually, by unhallowed copies. But I do thank you, if I +may do so even now, most gratefully for the kindness of it altogether, +and particularly for your belief that I should understand it, and care +for it apart from the sender. Although in this you have flattered me; +for there are points in which I dare say I do not like him as much as +you do. + +Do not think ill of the people they call academic Socialists. It is +only a nickname for the school that is prevailing now in the German +universities, with a branch in France and another in Italy, a school +whose most illustrious representative in England, whose most eminent +practical teacher in the world, is Mr. Gladstone. In their writings, +inspired by the disinterested study of all classic economists, one +finds most of the ideas and illustrations of Mr. George, though not, +indeed, his argument against Malthus. This makes him less new to one; +but nobody writes with that plain, vigorous directness, and I do +believe that he has, in a large measure, the ideas of the age that is +to come. + +I am glad, too, that you like Seeley's book. It is excellent food for +thought. But so is the first article in the January _Quarterly_.[210] +I wrote eight pages of criticism and should have liked to send them to +{176} you instead of Maine, but perhaps you have not read him. + +Liddon's objection to saying what may damage a very meritorious body of +surviving friends of Rosmini is practically reasonable; but it is +rather a reason for not writing at all on the subject. Rosmini made a +vigorous attempt to reform the Church of Rome. He was vehemently +attacked, repelled, censured; and he defended himself in a work more +important, argumentatively, than the first. If this dramatic incident +is left untold, if his stronger statements are omitted from his case, +we shall get an imperfect notion of a memorable transaction, and of an +interesting, if not a great, divine. + +I am so very glad that Mr. Gladstone is in his best health, and that +the troubled times have put out of sight the notion of retirement. For +that reason I could almost console myself in looking at the Soudan. +That affair has been in the hands of a colleague without much original +resource, attentive to the wind, and glad to follow the advice of local +agents. It chances that I have been reading ----'s confidential +letters written to a friend sure not to show them to Ministers; and I +have thought him deficient in imagination--in the discovering +faculty--and also in independence. There is no denying that there has +been a lack of initiative genius in the last few weeks, and that Mr. +Gladstone would have done more if Bonaparte had been his departmental +colleague. + +Of all critics of my list,[211] Lubbock is best informed in a vast +region where I am a stranger. I by no means disregard his criticisms. +I have not got the list myself, and should like nothing in the world so +much as to sit {177} with you and talk over the objections you have +collected. But will that, or will anything like it, ever be? If it +may, do send one line on Tuesday to wait arrival at 18 Carlton House +Terrace. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _18 Carlton House Terrace S.W. Feb. 13, 1884_] + +Here is a ceremonious invitation to dine to-morrow, which I most gladly +accept. + +I gather, from something I have just heard, that Froude will not wish +for the Professorship. As to Freeman, I am not quite sure. There can +be no real competitor but Gardiner. + +Dinner without any prospect beyond will be mere dust and ashes; but +what awful fun Oxford[212] would be! + + +[Sidenote: _Feb. 15, 1884_] + +... It was such a delight to meet the greatest of all our +historians[213] at this particular moment. There never was so much +kindness in this world. I can think of nothing but our journey, and +the wretchedness of having only one day there. Of course I am going to +live at the Clarendon. If any doubt arises, do not let it exist for a +moment. Then I must visit the Bodley for an hour, and Stubbs, Liddon, +M. Mueller, Jowett, Brodrick, Bright of University. + +But these are my private wanderings. Do remember that, and let them +not spoil the _cachet_ of their own grouping. As all passes through +you, do take an opportunity to say how thankfully and joyously I accept +his invitation. + +{178} + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine March 17, 1884_] + +May I employ the fleeting and disrespectful pencil to express +sentiments of the most opposite kind? I am still so stupidly weak, +unaccountably pulled by an illness which is an anachronism here, that I +am afraid to wait till I am quite ripe for ink, to speak of the happy +time I owed to your companionship in the two capitals of greater +Britain. There has never been anything like it, and I wonder when +there will again. Cambridge is in reserve; but nothing can ever equal +the sensation of festive home among people I had never seen, that you +procured for me at Keble. The worst recollection is the parting at +Paddington. I chose my hour next day so badly that, coming at 6, I +found your mother invisible, yourself out, and your sister gone. I +have said nothing yet to M----; but I do look forward two months to +another meeting. I am very glad that my last conversation with Mr. +Gladstone left no worse impression, for in the obscurity of St. James I +preached heavily on my favourite text: "apres moi le deluge;" and on my +favourite preacher. + +Meanwhile the troublesome question of retirement is in a new phase. +The half Reform bill is floated by a half pledge as to redistribution +which is personal to himself. He cannot leave it to be redeemed by +others, who, he expressly stated, are not parties to it. He is +virtually pledged to complete the work himself; that is, to meet the +next Parliament. For they will inevitably force him to dissolve in the +autumn, if they do not succeed in crowding out the Reform question. If +not carried by an immense majority, it will be carried by Irish votes. +The Lords will be able to say that England ought to be consulted +definitely, that it ought not to be overruled by Ireland, in an old +Parliament, and that such a change in the Constitution {179} is not to +be carried by enemies of the Constitution until the country has +pronounced. + +I don't imagine that it is a bad point to dissolve upon--at any rate, +there is no swopping in such a crossing. + +But I suppose he has abandoned the hope of himself retiring from Egypt, +and if he does not, nobody else will; and so one must begin to face +what is inevitable, and to acknowledge that the Soudan has altered our +position in Egypt. A further complication cannot be far off. The best +time to re-open the Turkish question will be whilst we are a little +damaged as to disinterestedness by Cyprus and Egypt, whilst our +increased security makes us less anxious and less nervous about +Constantinople, and whilst the censor of the Turk resides at No. 10. +The position in the East is so much altered since Berlin[214] that +Russia will not long be bound by that Treaty, having a price by which +Austria can be won. Every step of that sort will help to fix us in +Egypt. + +And as long as we are at Alexandria or even at Souakim, the future of +Central Africa will depend on us, or at least on our people. I do not +believe that Mr. Gladstone would revive John Company and send him to +the Equatorial lakes; and yet I fancy there is an opening there for +inventive statesmanship. + +My eagerness about Liddon's elevation does not mean that my head was +turned by the ambush of that deferential Sacristan at Oxford +Station,[215] or that the Warden[216] talked me over--though he talked +wisely. For I am not in harmony with Liddon, and scarcely in sympathy. +He has weak places that nobody sees and resents so sharply as I do; and +he has got {180} over, or swallowed, such obstacles on the road to Rome +that none remain which, as it seems to me, he ought logically or +legitimately to strain at. I will even confess to you alone--that that +affair of Rosmini leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. But one might +pick holes in any man, even in the new Bishop of Chester.[217] Nothing +steadies a ship like a mitre--and as to his soundness, his +determination to work in and through the Church, and not on eccentric +courses, I satisfied myself with the supreme authority of Dean Church, +on my last night in town. One cannot help seeing that Liddon is a +mighty force, not yet on its level. He knows how to kindle and how to +propel. Newman and Wilberforce may have had the same power, but one +was almost illiterate; the other knows what he might have learnt in the +time of Waterland or Butler; whereas Liddon is in contact with all that +is doing in the world of thought.... + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine March 30, 1884_] + +... You ask a question on which I can express unexpected agreement. As +long as property is the basis of representation, I think it hard to +exclude female owners. There is an obvious principle in it, of course. +But though obvious it is not stringent; because female influence is not +excluded. We not only have no Salic Law, but we allow women to vote on +matters not political, and we have attached political influence to +property so closely, that rich old women, like the +Duchess-Countess,[218] or Lady Londonderry, are {181} dreadful powers +in the land. The argument from consistency does not, therefore, make +for exclusion. + +At the same time, I think it an evil in many ways. Girls and widows +are Tories, and channels of clerical influence, and it is not for them +so much as for married women that your argument tells. If we ever have +manhood suffrage--dissociating power from property altogether, it will +be difficult to keep out wives. The objections to voting wives are +overwhelming. + + * * * * * + +You open a delightful vista of Colleges and Chapels at Cambridge. It +is not so easy to answer quite definitely. If the Reform Bill, read a +second time before Easter, is sent up by Whitsuntide, the division in +the Lords will be early in June. My difficulty would then be that, +having to come in June, I could hardly come to England in May. +Supposing my Reform vote to be wanted only after Midsummer, then my +probable plan would be to come to London by the middle of May; and I +should be at your orders for Cambridge any time between 20th and 30th +May.... + +Subject to these conditions, I shall be only too happy to escort you +down to the Sidgwicks', to whom, please present my best thanks. If +Maine is there, I dare say we can count on a luncheon there.... I am +talking of myself and own plans; but all the time I am thinking of your +cares and troubles, of which you say so little. If you can send me a +line of good news to Rome, I shall be so glad. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine June 19, 1884_] + +You will be careful, another time, I hope, as to the enclosures you +forward, seeing how long a reply they involve, and how great a delay. +The difficulty which prolongs and has delayed my letter {182} will be +very apparent to you before you reach the end. + +First, as to the personal question:-- + +It was not my purpose to depreciate Canon Liddon. I came over with the +highest opinion of him--an opinion higher perhaps than Dr. Doellinger's, +or even than Mr. Gladstone's, whose ostensible preference for divines +of less mark has sometimes set me thinking. Impressed by his +greatness, not as a scholar to be pitted against Germans, but as a +spiritual force, and also by a certain gracious nobleness of tone which +ought to be congenial, I tried, at Oxford and in London, to ascertain +whether there is some element of weakness that had escaped me. + +Evidently, Liddon is in no peril from the movement of modern Science. +He has faced those problems and accounted for them. If he is out of +the perpendicular, it is because he leans the other way. + +The question would rather be whether a man of his sentiments, rather +inclined to rely on others, would be proof against the influence of +Newman, or of foreign theologians like Newman. + +On the road Bishops and Parliament were taking a few years since, there +would be rocks ahead, and one might imagine a crisis in which it would +be doubtful who would be for maintaining the National Church and who +would not. I have chanced to be familiar with converts and with the +raw material of which they are made, and cannot help knowing the +distinct and dissimilar paths followed by men like Newman himself, +Hope, Palmer, R. J. Wilberforce, Ward, Renouf, many of whom resembled +Liddon in talent and fervour, and occupied a position outwardly not far +from his own. + +{183} + +He once called the late Bishop of Brechin[219] the first divine in the +Church. I knew the Bishop well, and am persuaded that the bond that +held him in the Anglican Communion might easily have snapped, under +contingencies to which he was not exposed. + +Putting these questions not quite so crudely as they are stated here, I +thought that I obtained an answer. At any rate, I was assured that +Liddon is made of sterner stuff than I fancied, that he knows exactly +where he stands, where others have stood before him, and where and why +he parts with them; that the course of Newman and the rest has no +secrets and no surprises for him; that he looks a long way before him, +and has no disposition to cling to the authority of others. In short, +it appeared very decidedly that he is--what Bishop Forbes was +not--fixed in his Anglican position. + +Under this impression, I could not help wondering why Wilkinson, +Stubbs, and Ridding are judged superior to Liddon. I could have felt +and have expressed no such wonder if I had not taken pains to discover +that he has tried and has rejected the cause of Rome, and that neither +home difficulties nor external influence are at all likely to shake him. + +Far, therefore, from meaning disparagement, I rate him higher than any +member of the English clergy I know; and touching the question of +stability, I have the sufficient testimony of his friends, of men +naturally vigilant on that point, of which I am not competent to judge +or to speak. + +So little competent, indeed, that I should be at a loss to define his +system, or to corroborate, of my own knowledge, the confidence which +others have {184} expressed. It seemed to me necessary to indicate +that, for myself, I could not speak without some qualification or +reserve, such as perhaps would only occur to a close student of Roman +pathology. To do more, will be giving undue and unfair prominence to a +parenthesis. It lays stress where there ought to be none, makes the +deduction, the exception, greater than the positive statement, and +gives me the air of a man whose praise is designed to convey a slur of +suspicion. + +That is why your letter with its formidable enclosure has afflicted me +with dumbness. The doubt which I indicated in writing to you has been +suggested chiefly by what passed in reference to Rosmini. + +You will remember that you sent Liddon word that Rosmini wrote a very +long defence of the little book which he was translating. He preferred +not to make use of the information and not to see the book; and he +avoided the subject when we met at Oxford. The reason is, that the +Rosminians wish the Defence to be ignored, as it qualifies the +submission of the author when the book defended was condemned. + +The suppression injures nobody; it only puts the readers of the +translation slightly off the scent, and gives an imperfect article +instead of none. There is some trace of complicity with those who are +interested in a _suppressio veri_. But it may have been due, as he was +under obligations to them, and this is only preliminary matter. + +My real difficulty is, that he speaks of his author with great respect, +and evidently thinks his doctrine sound and profitable. + +{185} + +Now Rosmini, allowing for some superficial proposals of reform, was a +thorough believer in the Holy See. His book itself, by the nature of +the reforms proposed, implies that no other defects of equal magnitude +remain to be remedied. Apart from the Five points he accepts the +papacy as it stands; and he has no great objection to it, Five points +included. + +He was what we vulgarly call an ultramontane--a reluctant ultramontane, +like Lacordaire. An Anglican who views with satisfaction, with +admiration, the moral character and spiritual condition of an +Ultramontane priest, appears to me to have got over the principal +obstacle on the way to Rome--the moral obstacle. The moral obstacle, +to put it compendiously, is the Inquisition. + +The Inquisition is peculiarly the weapon and peculiarly the work of the +Popes. It stands out from all those things in which they co-operated, +followed, or assented as the distinctive feature of papal Rome. It was +set up, renewed, and perfected by a long series of acts emanating from +the supreme authority in the Church. No other institution, no +doctrine, no ceremony is so distinctly the individual creation of the +papacy, except the Dispensing power. It is the principal thing with +which the papacy is identified, and by which it must be judged. + +The principle of the Inquisition is the Pope's sovereign power over +life and death. Whosoever disobeys him should be tried and tortured +and burnt. If that cannot be done, formalities may be dispensed with, +and the culprit may be killed like an outlaw. + +That is to say, the principle of the Inquisition is murderous, and a +man's opinion of the papacy {186} is regulated and determined by his +opinion about religious assassination. + +If he honestly looks on it as an abomination, he can only accept the +Primacy with a drawback, with precaution, suspicion, and aversion for +its acts. + +If he accepts the Primacy with confidence, admiration, unconditional +obedience, he must have made terms with murder. + +Therefore, the most awful imputation in the catalogue of crimes rests, +according to the measure of their knowledge and their zeal, upon those +whom we call Ultramontanes. The controversy, primarily, is not about +problems of theology: it is about the spiritual state of a man's soul, +who is the defender, the promoter, the accomplice of murder. Every +limitation of papal credit and authority which effectually dissociates +it from that reproach, which breaks off its solidarity with assassins +and washes away the guilt of blood, will solve most other problems. At +least, it is enough for my present purpose to say, that blot is so +large and foul that it precedes and eclipses the rest, and claims the +first attention. + +I will show you what Ultramontanism makes of good men by an example +very near home. Saint Charles Borromeo, when he was the Pope's nephew +and minister, wrote a letter requiring Protestants to be murdered, and +complaining that no heretical heads were forwarded to Rome, in spite of +the reward that was offered for them. His editor, with perfect +consistency, publishes the letter with a note of approval. Cardinal +Manning not only holds up to the general veneration of mankind the +authority that canonised this murderer, but makes him in a special +manner his own patron, joins the Congregation of Oblates of {187} St. +Charles, and devotes himself to the study of his acts and the +propagation of his renown. + +Yet I dare say I could find Anglican divines who would speak of the +Cardinal as a good man, unhappily divided from the Church of which he +was an ornament, and living in error, but yet not leading a life of +sin--I should gather from such language that the speaker was not +altogether averse from the distinctive characteristic of +Ultramontanism, and had swallowed far the largest obstacle on the road +to Rome. + +The case of Rosmini is not so glaring, but it is substantially the +same. Language implying that an able and initiated Italian priest +accepting the papacy, with its inventory of systematic crime, incurs no +guilt, that he is an innocent, virtuous, edifying Christian, seems to +me open to grave suspicion. If it was used by one of whom I knew +nothing else, I should think ill of him. If I knew him to be an able +and in many ways an admirable man, I should feel much perplexity, and +if I heard on the best authority that he deserved entire confidence, I +should persuade myself that it is true, and should try to quiet my +uneasiness. + +That is what I have done in the case of Liddon. When he speaks of an +eminent and conspicuous Ultramontane divine with the respect he might +show to Andrewes or Leighton, or to Grotius or Baxter, he ignores or is +ignorant of the moral objection, and he surrenders so much that he has +hardly a citadel to shelter him. I dare say he would give me a very +good answer, and I do not hesitate to utter his praises. But I have no +idea what the answer would be, and so must leave room for a doubt. + +I should hardly have resolved to say all this to anybody but yourself, +relying on you not to {188} misunderstand the exact and restricted +meaning of my letter. I should like my reason for misgiving to be +understood. But I care much more to be understood as an admirer, not +an accuser of Canon Liddon. My explanation is worthless if it fails to +justify me there. + + +[Sidenote: _St. Martin Haute Autriche June 20, 1884_] + +The idleness of Coombe Warren[220] has much to answer for. I was taken +by surprise when you sent me that letter,[221] and would have given a +great deal to escape the necessity of answering it. Ever since, it has +stood grievously in the way of writing to you; and I have conquered my +difficulty with extreme reluctance. Try to forgive my not +writing--try, much harder, to forgive my writing. + + * * * * * + +When I come I shall have to congratulate you on your authorship. I do +not do so now, because it would be meaningless, the C.R.[222] being due +here to-morrow only. I do hope you liked doing it, and like having +done it, and like to think of doing it again. + +I still think that we ought to evacuate;[223] but I thought there would +be no time for Mr. Gladstone to do it, and no obligation on others. +The convention is a very dexterous way of laying compulsion on the +Ministers, whoever they may be, several years hence. It meets what I +thought an insurmountable difficulty, if it succeeds, as I hope it +will. But I cannot look with satisfaction on the principle as +compensation for the risk of failure. The cause does not seem to me so +sacred or so pure as to offer consolation for the fall of the Ministry. + +{189} + +It is an indefinite principle, depending for its application on +variable circumstances. It is not clean cut. We retain certain +ill-gotten possessions, obtained by treaty or by necessity. It is not +evident that we should surrender a possession which is not ill-gotten. + +Our motives for surrender are mixed. It is to relieve us from a very +troublesome and very dangerous engagement, to avoid a formidable +expenditure, to disarm the menacing jealousy of other Powers. The +mixture of motives is obvious, and we are not in a position to claim +the merit which belongs to the purest among them. + +The Ministry would not be united for common action on this question, if +the motives of expediency did not come to aid the motive of principle. +The bit of gold has to be beaten very thin to gild the whole of them. +One sees and recognises the surface gilding, but one knows that there +is inferior metal beneath. + +The position would be loftier and more correct if we retired from an +enterprise crowned with success, in the fulness of conscious +superiority as well as of conscious rectitude. But we have not +accomplished triumphantly the work from which we withdraw. We are not +incurring the sacrifice of stopping short in a career of victory and of +political triumphs, so that the world wonders at our moderation and +self-control. We are giving up an undertaking in which we have +disappointed the expectation of the world, in which we have shown +infirmity of purpose, want of forethought, a rather spasmodic and +inconclusive energy, occasional weakness and poverty of resource; and +our presence and promise have been mixed blessings for the Egyptian +people. So that the principle is not {190} large enough as a basis for +such a structure, nor clear enough to yield me comfort for the enforced +close of such a career. + +Do not be angry with me for saying all this--you have heard it before. + + +[Sidenote: _St. Martin Aug. 15, 1884_] + +In spite of breakfast, dinner, and tea, of garden parties and evening +parties, of road and rail, I have brought away with me a feeling of +having hardly seen you, and of having had very little talk, so that I +begin at once to look forward to next time and the good opportunities +it may yield. It will, I hope, be very early in November. We left you +for a very pleasant day at Seacox with Morier, and an easy journey, +diversified by meeting young Lacaita at Wurzburg, and travelling with +him all night. + + * * * * * + +You never told me what plans there are for the short recess. I am glad +the Scottish campaign is to be soon, so as to give guidance to the +popular movement. There is a good deal of nonsense in the air; but I +hope there will be strength. + +Salisbury's avowal of numerical principles set me thinking. I cannot +make out whether it is a surrender or a snare. It confirms the +expectation that they will put the minority theory forward, which is, I +think, their best card. Not so much because I agree with them, as +because it divides the Liberal party, and rescues them from the +position of mere resistance. + +The objections to Northbrook's mission[224] are obvious; and yet I +should have liked to go out with him, and try to understand the problem +as it now stands; for it is taking a new shape, unwelcome, I fear, to +{191} Mr. Gladstone, and yet not unforeseen, at least since the +appearance of Blignieres. It does not seem impossible to combine rigid +principle with practical necessities. + +There is not a brighter spot in my retrospect than our visit to +Cambridge, the execution of it, as well as the delight of it, due to +you. Looking back I fancy that I can never have said to you nearly how +much I was impressed by Sidgwick's conversation--to say nothing of +their hospitality. But the fact is we never talked over anything, and +it is all to come. + +Alfred's[225] triumphant bowling makes me hold his coat and umbrella +comparatively cheap, yet I suppose we got beaten after all.[226]... + +I have been staying at Tegernsee with Doellinger. The impending vacancy +at Lincoln was announced while I was there, and I am sorry to say that +we did not quite agree in the speculations which it suggested. I hope +you will see my dear friend at Chester.[227] There is not a greater +Tory in England, or a greater ornament to that perverse party. + + +[Sidenote: _St. Martin Aug. 29, 1884_] + +There was nothing definite to quote in my conversation with the +Professor[228] about Liddon. He hardly knows the better side of +Liddon, as a preacher, and as a religious force. He sees that he is +not a very deep scholar, and thinks his admiration for Pusey a sign of +weakness, I think he once used the term fanatical--meaning a large +allowance of one-sidedness in his way of looking at things. Indeed, +Doellinger is influenced by nearly the same misgivings that I felt some +months ago; and he has not had the same opportunities for getting rid +of them. For instance, {192} the Dean of St. Paul's[229] assured me +that Liddon, far from reclining on others, is masterful and fond of his +own opinion. Moreover, Liddon's attitude in the question of Church and +State, is a matter which the Professor and I judge very differently, +and it is a difference which it is useless to discuss any more. + +I am waiting very eagerly for the speeches in Midlothian. They will be +almost the most important of his whole career. + +Forwood's proposal of equal electoral districts is another sign of +dissolution in Toryism. The principle of setting a limit to inequality +might be defended much more plausibly. I am glad to figure in your +company in Northumberland as well as at Cambridge. Your +experiment[230] is perhaps worth trying, and Stuart knows his people +too well to promote it if it is likely to fail. An outsider has not +any secure means of forecasting; but I shall retain some hesitation. + +Your letter was waiting here when I came from Tegernsee, where I have +spent another few days with my Professor.[231] Knesebeck, the Empress' +secretary, was there; and I was dismayed to learn that Morier has +spoken to him in the most hostile terms of our foreign policy. I was +sorry, in London, that you did not see more of that strong diplomatist +in Downing Street. + +In the doubt as to your movements I direct to Hawarden, where I hope +you will see the excellent, learned, homely, humble Bishop of Chester, +whose virtues ought to disarm even the recalcitrant Dean.[232] In +about two months I hope we shall meet. + + * * * * * + +{193} + +[Sidenote: _St. Martin Sept. 10, 1884_] + +I was able to realise your late experience,[233] even to the tones of +voice in certain passages, and I envied you. It must make one change. +He[234] cannot any longer elaborately and perversely ignore the fact +that he himself is the life and the force of the Liberal party. His +reception by Midlothian in 1880, when he did not appear as a candidate +for office, constrained him to become Prime Minister; and the more +definite issue laid before Midlothian in 1884, still more emphatically +answered, determines that he must remain P.M. Just as he accepted the +consequences then, when they involved withdrawal of public +declarations, he must accept them now, when they compel, and are very +definitely designed to compel, the surrender of private aspirations. + +The public voice has spoken this time more loudly and more consciously. +It would not be right towards the country, but especially towards his +colleagues, to obey it then and to resist it now. It would be not only +a breach of the contract now made by something more than implication, +but a yielding up of the party to its enemies in an inextricable +crisis. I have not the least doubt that the position will be so +understood. + +I think less of the gain which the Ministry derives from the policy, +the limitation and the enormous effect of the speeches. It is +possible, I think, to detect a weak place in them. When one speaks in +answer to opponents who are present, and who state their own case, the +thing to do is to demolish it. But when one addresses the public, in +the absence of debate, it is often good policy to state the opposite +case in one's own way, prior to demolition; one's own way is the way +one would state it if it was one's own: and {194} everybody knows that +he would make the Tory position more logical, more plausible, and +stronger than they make it themselves, if he was on their side. It is +a process one has to go through for oneself, to see what the +adversary's case looks like, stripped of all the passion, ignorance, +and fallacy with which he presents it. We are not sure we are right +until we have made the best case possible for those who are wrong; and +we are strictly bound not to transform the sophisms of the advocate +into flaws in his case. + +An intelligent Tory might say that this figure or precept of rhetoric +was not followed, and that their argument was presented, not unfairly, +but not at its best. + +Of course he would see the point of the speeches in the restraint of +agitation, and the offer to make terms. I hope--against hope--that +this moderation is founded on knowledge of what is going on among the +Tories. One sees signs of collapse in their policy of reform, but not +in their determination to resist, and my own impression is that even +Wemyss meant to fight it out, only in another way. But if there is no +collapse, I see no resource except the agitation which Mr. Gladstone +still deprecates. + +To my mind the most significant passage was that in which he spoke of +the probable fall of several Ministries. That means that the Home +Rulers are going to be the arbiters of party government. That means +ruin to the Liberal party. Many Liberals see the moment looming when +they will have more sympathy with a party led by moderate Conservatives +than with a party inspired by Radical Democrats. The looming will be +quickened by the necessity of presenting a front to the Irish. But +that is only a small part {195} of the argument accumulating against +retirement before the next Parliament, when the new constituencies will +be fixed for generations. + +Odo Russell[235] leaves a larger gap than he filled, and he is +difficult to replace at a moment of peculiar soreness and strain. In +the service, I should prefer Dufferin; out of it--Bedford! I +understand that he would not accept. I find Lord Granville quite feels +that our strongest diplomatist, Morier, is out of the question at +Berlin, but it will be ten times worse to send Carlingford, and an +indication of weakness. + +Many, very many, thanks for your letter, which did not seem to me to +suffer from the distractions and dissipations of Dalmeny. The best +part of it is the good report of your father's health and spirits. + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Nov. 12, 1884_] + +Your delightful letter came from Munich this evening after I had posted +mine. + +It is an exquisite pleasure to look forward to meeting in such a short +time. I should so much wish to have a glimpse of you, and a chat, +before the plot thickens with us, so as to get the bearings. If all +goes well, I have some chance of arriving pretty early on Monday, and +my first business will be to ask if there is a line from you at the +Athenaeum. There is an uncertainty about the through trains, as there +are no travellers yet, and so I may be disappointed. + +It is a very important crisis, as there is a possibility of such +complete and perfect success for Mr. Gladstone's policy of Reform; and +I do so hope he may have it in all fulness. There never was such +personal ascendency; and I trust nothing will happen in Africa to +disturb it. + +{196} + +Yes, I would give a trifle to have heard the discussion of our +Revolution by our greatest statesman[236] and our greatest +historian.[237] The latter betrayed his uncompromising Conservatism by +half a parenthesis at Keble. It is very superficially disguised in his +book, and he ought to have been more grateful to me than he was for +abusing Macaulay. Brewer was just like him in judging those events, +and Gardiner contrives only by an effort not to revile the good old +Cause. We are well out of the monotonous old cry about Hampden and +Russell. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Nov. 12, 1884_] + +We have had a long journey from St. Martin, and are hardly settled down +in the midst of a vast solitude, when the unreasonable success of the +Government compels me to pack my bag once more. + +What makes it a pleasure, I need not say. If all things go as I +expect, I shall be in town on Monday night or early on Tuesday. + +If you are so very kind as to send a line to the Athenaeum suggesting +the right end and object and reward of travel, please put outside, _to +wait arrival_. + +I do not stay with the Granvilles this time, that I may vote against +Ministers at my ease. And I do not bring M----, which is a grief; +still, I look forward to a deal of riotous living, and to many sources +of public and private satisfaction. + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Dec. 9, 1884_] + +... M-- received an account which pleased her, of my bath of goodness +and spirituality at Oxford; and the writing to her about scenes and +people she knows, {197} and trying to explain thoughts and facts, has +been half the pleasure of my solitary journey. + +The meeting at your door[238] of the professors of heterodoxy[239] and +chatterboxy[240] in political economy is delightful, and I hope it will +fructify. But my friend the "nice little old gentleman"[241] will +always be too strenuous and urgent for the Fra Angelico of Economists; +and besides, we live in the Gladstonian era--and the glory of Europe is +extinguished for ever. That, however, might be a bond of union between +those Sophisters. + +In London I could not escape a luncheon with ----, who threatens me +with a friendly visit next month at Cannes. Next week I expect Bryce +with Robertson Smith. Did I tell you of my pleasant dinner with them +on Wednesday, and meeting Creighton?[242] He is an agreeable and +superior man, whom you would like; and he is full of general knowledge. +But I am afraid you will find his book[243] a severe study. + +Thursday--Rather an uninteresting dinner at ----; but one goes there to +eat. Lord G. not in very good spirits. I conciliated Enfield, who ... +was a little shocked to find that I agree with Courtney. + +There was not a gap of time for a farewell in Downing Street, and I had +to decline dinners with the Granvilles, Mays, and Pagets, and a visit +to Seacox--Hamlet left out. + +The journey succeeded beautifully, for it was the roughest passage I +remember, and I was none the {198} worse for it. At Calais one gets +into a sleeping-car and gets out of it at Cannes, after dining and +sleeping comfortably. A young Englishman described the Grasse Hotel to +me, where he had lived with Cross, who was writing a book. He did not +discover that it[244] was the book in my hand. I have sent it back +with some considerable suggestions. + +Mrs. Green writes an amusing account of Dr. Stubbs's violent language +in politics when she approaches him with her history. I have advised +her to sacrifice everything and everybody to the object of securing his +help. Leviathan will not aid her. + +I have strongly urged May to write a new chapter of Constitutional +History, coming down to this our era of Good Feeling, as Americans call +the last administration of Monroe.[245] It is the greatest landmark in +English Politics; and it has the merit of all well-defined epochs, that +it is not going to last. + +At the British Museum, Gardiner was working, and I wished him joy on +the endowment of Research. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Dec. 18, 1884_] + +If sleeplessness comes on again do represent the merits of Cannes in +their proper light. January is often the finest month, and this is the +finest season ever known. Also it is the emptiest. I hear that +Thorenc is not to let, in the hope that the Wolvertons may take it. +Such rest and change as he would get here, after so much hard work, +might be quite invaluable, especially if it is in his thoughts that the +Session of 1885 is to be his last in office. That would be {199} worth +refreshing for; and we shall do our best to occupy and distract him, +and all of you, during your stay. + +Croker[246] was so large and promising a morsel that I postponed +temptation and read no part of him carefully; besides it is a question +hot with hidden fire. Have you not discovered, have I never betrayed, +what a narrow doctrinaire I am, under a thin disguise of levity? The +Duke of Orleans nearly described my feelings when he spoke, +testamentarily, of his religious _flag_ and his political _faith_. +Politics come nearer religion with me, a party is more like a church, +error more like heresy, prejudice more like sin, than I find it to be +with better men. And by these canons I am forced to think ill of Peel, +to think, if you won't misunderstand me, that he was not a man of +principle. The nature of Toryism is to be entangled in interests, +traditions, necessities, difficulties, expedients, to manage as best +one may, without creating artificial obstacles in the shape of dogma, +or superfluous barriers of general principle. "Perissent les colonies +plutot que les principes" (which is a made-up sentence, no more +authentic than "Roma locuta est"), expresses the sort of thing +Liberalism means and Toryism rejects. Government must be carried on, +even if we must tolerate some measure of wrong, use some bad reasons, +trample on some unlucky men. Other people could recognise the face and +the sanctity of morality where it penetrated politics, taking the shape +of sweeping principle, as in Emancipation, Free Trade, and so many +other doctrinaire questions. Peel could not until he was compelled by +facts. Because he was reluctant to admit the sovereignty of +considerations which {200} were not maxims of state policy, which +condemned his own past and the party to which he belonged. + +But if party is sacred to me as a body of doctrine, it is not, as an +association of men bound together, not by common convictions but by +mutual obligations and engagements. In the life of every great man +there is a point where fidelity to ideas, which are the justifying +cause of party, diverges from fidelity to arrangements and +understandings, which are its machinery. And one expects a great man +to sacrifice his friends--at least his friendship--to the higher cause. + +Progress depends not only on the victory, the uncertain and +intermittent victory, of Liberals over Conservatives, but on the +permeation of Conservatism with Liberal ideas, the successive +conversion of Tory leaders, the gradual desertion of the Conservative +masses by their chiefs--Fox, Grenville, Wellesley, Canning, Huskisson, +Peel--Tory ministers passing Emancipation, Free Trade, Reform--are in +the order of historic developments. Still the complaints of Croker are +natural. He had been urged along a certain line, and being a coarse, +blatant fellow, he overdid it, and wrote things from which there was no +release. It was not in his brutal nature to appreciate the other side +of questions. He did not begin by seeing the strong points of his +enemy's case, and so far he was dishonest. + +My impression is that Peel was justified towards his party in 1846 by +what occurred in 1845. He explained his views; some of his friends +declared against them; and he resigned. After the exchange of Stanley +for Mr. Gladstone, it was a new Ministry, a new departure on distinct +lines. Nobody was betrayed. Peel did not carry his friends with him +{201} because he had not the ascendency which his great lieutenant +possesses. The Radicals have been made to look as foolish as Croker. +The bread has been taken out of their mouths, as they are not to devour +the Lords. They have consolations in the future which the +Protectionists have not; but they are in as false a position as the +Protectionists were; and yet they stand fire on the whole well, and +without secession.--But I am conscious of more nearly hating Croker +than anybody, except Lord Clare, in English history. It was my one +link with a late, highly-lamented statesman and novelist.[247] + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Jan. 14, 1885_] + +Yes! at last, foreign affairs are in a very wretched way, and are +unjustly and unreasonably injuring Mr. Gladstone's own position. If +Morier is still in England, I wish he could see him before Petersburg. +He is our only strong diplomatist; but he is only strong. + +I have bored the P.M. to extinction with praise of Liddon, and as all I +could say is obvious to others, I am not tempted to repeat the offence. +But the death of that uninteresting, good Bishop Jackson[248] disturbs +my rest. It is clear, very clear to me, that it would not be right to +pass Liddon over now that there are two important vacancies to fill; +and one asks oneself why he should not be chosen for the more important +of the two, and who is manifestly worthier to occupy the greatest see +in Christendom? The real answer, I suppose, is that his appointment +will give great offence, and that he is {202} a decided partisan, and a +partisan of nearly the same opinions as the P.M. himself. + +No doubt there would be much irritation on the thorough Protestant +side, and in quarters very near Downing Street, and I feel, myself, +more strongly than many people, that partisanship in Liddon runs to +partiality, to one-sidedness, to something very like prejudice. And +with all that strong feeling, I cannot help being agitated with the +hope that the great and providential opportunity will not be lost. + +Assuredly Liddon is the greatest power in the conflict with sin, and in +turning the souls of men to God, that the nation now possesses. He is +also, among all the clergy, the man best known to numbers of Londoners. +There must be a very strong reason to justify a Minister in refusing +such a bishop to such a diocese. + +The argument of continuity does not convince me, because it was +disregarded when Philpotts died. Still more, because so eminent a +representative of Church principles had not occupied the see of London +within living memory, and there is a balance to redress. When I think +of his lofty and gracious spirit, his eloquence, his radiant +spirituality, all the objections which I might feel, vanish entirely. + +The time has really come when the P.M. has authority to do what he +likes, and to disregard cavil. He is lifted above all considerations +which might weaken action at other times and in other men. No ill +consequences of his use of patronage can reach him. He can be guided +by the supreme motive, and by the supreme motive only. It may well be +that these are the last conspicuous ecclesiastical appointments that +{203} will be his to make. He is able now to bequeath an illustrious +legacy to the people of London. + +And, speaking on a lower level, the shock of Liddon's elevation might +be blunted by the contemporaneous choice for Lincoln. + +One qualification ought to be remembered. He is more in contact than +other churchmen with questions of the day. Not only politics and +criticism, but science. Paget delights to relate how Owen was +discoursing on the brevity of life in the days of the patriarchs, and +how beautifully Liddon baffled him by asking whether there is any +structural reason for a cockatoo to live ten times as long as a pigeon. +If it was my duty, which it is not, or my habit--which it is still +less--to speak all my mind, I would say that there is, within my range +of observation, some inclination to make too much of distinguished men +in the Church. I name no names, but if I did, I might name Pusey, +Wilberforce, Mozley, Church, Westcott, as men whom there has been some +tendency to overestimate, at least in comparison with Liddon. Not that +he is their superior, but that he seems to me to have fallen short of +his due as much as they, in various ways, have been overpaid, in +praise, confidence, and fame. If there have been reasons explaining +this, I think they ought not to operate now. + +Who are conceivable candidates? Temple, Westcott, Wilkinson, Butler, +Lightfoot? Two of these are more learned and more indefinite +theologians; but I can see no other point of rivalry. And I do not +learn that Dunelm possesses unusual light in dealing with men. Fraser? +Who can say that he has the highest qualities in Liddon's measure? +Temple {204} is vigorous and open; but he is not highly spiritual, or +attractive, or impressive as a speaker; he has an arid mind, and a +provincial note in speech and manner. But he also understands science. +The Dean assures me that, Pusey being gone, Liddon will be under no +personal influence, that he has more confidence in himself and more +backbone than I was able to discover for myself. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Jan. 22, 1885_] + +Of course I know very well that we shall not make our Bishop of London; +and ever since I wrote to you I have been seeking points of +consolation, and magnifying to myself my own sources of misgiving. +Yesterday I chanced to see, at Mentone, the best of the Anglican clergy +that I have ever known, a Mr. Sidebotham. He told me of a luncheon at +Bishop Hamilton's, where he sat, a young clergyman, between Liddon and +Tait. Liddon, after a few words, shut up like an oyster; and Tait took +a good deal of pains to please his neighbour and to draw him out. From +which experience, my friend, himself a truly Catholic Anglican, thinks +that Liddon, whom he deems the greatest preacher living, would not make +a good Bishop of London. This testimony, from a personal admirer and +theological adherent, was rather welcome to me. When I asked him +whether there was any dark horse, any candidate not obvious to +outsiders, he said "No"; but seemed to think that _Bedford_[249] would +be the sort of strong-backed prelate you mean. He fully expected +Temple's appointment. Thank you so much for speaking of Morier. You +know that for all people not private friends of his {205} own ---- is +disappointing. He is a bad listener, easily bored, and distrustful of +energetic men who make work for themselves and for the Foreign Office. +Morier, in particular, has force without tact, and stands ill with a +chief who has tact without force. He feels that he is unsupported and +not much appreciated. A few friendly words from above would set him up +wonderfully. + +Although Chamberlain is not the only source of weakness in the +Government, he will be the cause of dissolution if your threat is +executed at Easter! I really must come over and make myself very +disagreeable if that goes on. It is time to play the last card in +one's hand, for one year more of office and power, for the sake of the +indefinite future. But perhaps the Vyner Cottage[250] may give me the +desired opportunity. + +For this is a very central part of Europe. I have had Dilke and Ripon; +I saw Salisbury yesterday; and Scherer dines here on Saturday. + +Cross is coming with his book[251] next week. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _Athenaeum Club Pall Mall Feb. 26, 1885_] + +I shall be delighted to dine in bad company on Thursday. Goschen will +speak against Government to-morrow, but will vote for them. I dined +there yesterday with Morier, Milner,[252] and Albert Grey;[253] and the +same party dines with Morier this evening as soon as the P.M. sits +down. Several Ministers (Hartington, Spencer, and others) have said +too much that they wish to be beaten. + +A very strong speech to-night would retrieve the {206} position. If +the enemy came in now, England would soon become no better than the +Continental powers, and our true greatness and prosperity would depart +from us. + + +[Sidenote: _Athenaeum March 3_] + +I am so glad to know that he is getting better. + +If you will burn my letters there will be less difficulty in voting for +Government. Certainly a peer cannot vote absolutely only as he +approves or disapproves--or I must have voted on the other side. I +shall be delighted to call at 12, and also to be your escort. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine April 9, 1885_] + +The book[254] reveals a mental flaw I had not suspected. Because +Newman, or some of Newman's set, Faber, Ward, Morris, were narrow and +fanatical, he concludes that their doctrine is that of narrow-minded +fanatics. This is stumbling at the Ass's bridge. Scientific thought +begins with the separation between the idea and its exponent, just as +much as religious thought; and our peculiar difficulty in keeping them +apart is notoriously the great elementary defect of the English--not +the Scottish--mind. + +Pattison himself suffers from the extreme narrowness of the Oxford +horizon in his time. He knows nothing about the other side of the +hill; and when he came to know, in later years, his religious spirit +was extinct. Newman had unfitted him for Rothe. A strong mind cannot +rest without thinking out its thoughts. But Pattison rests without +caring to explain which of the several systems which exist outside of +the churches {207} satisfied his conscience. He grew impatient of +theology. He does not recognise the great importance of Casaubon in +religious history, or of Milton's theological treatise on the progress +of his mind. Once, having reviewed Pascal, he said to me that he +thought, after all, the Jesuits were in the right. I disagreed, but I +remember that I was delighted at the openness of his mind. But now I +again find him hooded with prejudice. He rightly discerned that the +French Protestants created independent scientific learning, and +glorifies Scaliger as the type of them: and then he treats Petavius as +an impostor, got up by the Jesuits in defiance of Scaliger. Whereas +the Jesuit was one of the most deeply learned men that ever lived, by +no means inferior to Grotius or Ussher or Selden. + +Every year some zealous Frenchman exposes the iniquities of the Tudors, +hoping to discredit the Church of England; and Taine fancies that to +show the horrors of the Revolution is a good argument against +democracy. Pattison must have stood, as to his inner man, nearly on +the same level of logic. + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Cannes April 22, 1885_] + +Scherer writes that he is going to publish a new volume, in which his +recent essay on the Life of George Eliot will be included. You will +read it with interest and surprise at the moral judgment. + +He is also the great patron of Amiel, whom I read with delight as +having a savour of Vinet--with more serious culture and curiosity, and +inferior understanding for religion. There is a plot in Arnold's +circle to make him known and popular in England. Nobody thought +anything of him in his lifetime, at Geneva. + +{208} + +A careful study of my _Pall Mall_ has left me quite in the dark as to +Zulfikar, &c.[255] I thought there was a deliberate intention to force +us into war, and I did not imagine that there was any way out of it. +To my cheap and pacific mind it seemed a disaster not only without +remedy, but without even a remote compensation or consolation, in which +victory could do us no good, and in which the mere conflict would +degrade us to the brutal level of continental powers. + +Nothing has so completely puzzled me for the last two years as the +hesitation of Russia to re-open the San Stefano question, while we are +not only at Cyprus, but in Egypt, and without any moral vantage ground +from which we can resist the overthrow of the European Turk. I would +willingly give up the whole country from Bulgaria to the AEgean for a +few miles of Afghan desert. + +But it would be bad policy to give up both and have to fight for +existence in India whenever a capricious bell rings at Petersburgh. + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Cannes April 27, 1885_] + +I cannot imagine Russia drawing back in so supremely favourable a +position. What is hard to understand is her having gone so far, and +deliberately resolved on war. But I see that there is something in all +this that has entirely escaped me. It seems so clear that our policy +is to restore Russia to the position she had attained before the +Congress of Berlin, that, therefore, we are not only her best, but her +only friends--that I am quite bewildered, and half {209} suspect that +there has been some tremendous mistake in our management. I should +like to have the chance of distracting Mr. Gladstone with various talk, +in all this anxiety. Probably I shall be at Carlton H. Terrace on +Friday week. Will you tell me there when we can meet? ... Tennyson's +really profound animosity[256] against the P.M. has long been known to +people in his confidence, and has come out at last. It was one reason, +but not the only one, of my dislike to his peerage. + + * * * * * + +Maine, whose series of articles form in reality an assault on the +Government, promises to adopt all my remonstrances in the reprinting of +them. These filled twenty-six of my pages, in all; so I count on a +considerable modification of the text. + +I hope there will be a possible play ... when we come to town. + +---- is very intelligent, agreeable, amiable, a little complex in +design; accurate calculation sometimes resides in the corner of her +eye, and she knows how to regulate to a hair's breadth, when she +smiles, the thin red line of her lips. + + +[Sidenote: _Prince's Gate June 20, 1885_] + +No one ever saw Mr. Gladstone in better spirits than he was at dinner +yesterday. I hope it was the hitch.[257] It is a bore to be away when +the thing is to be decided. May agrees with me, and with that other +Radical[258] from Cambridge, that even the ingeniously remodelled +assurances ought not to be given; when we {210} have preserved peace +with so much difficulty, no concession not absolutely required should +be made to these dangerous successors.[259] But it will need great +fortitude, and I do not seriously hope for success against the strong +wish of so many colleagues. + + * * * * * + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _April, 1885_] + +I have said that I am divided from G. Eliot by the widest of all +political and religious differences, and that political differences +essentially depend on disagreement in moral principles. Therefore I +cannot be suspected of blindness to her faults. More particularly +because I have insisted on another grave delinquency which has struck +few persons, her tolerance for Mazzini. That is a criminal matter, +independent of the laws of states and churches, which no variety of +theological opinion can by any means affect. We must never judge the +quality of a teaching by the quality of the Teacher, or allow the spots +to shut out the sun. It would be unjust, and it would deprive us of +nearly all that is great and good in this world. Let me remind you of +Macaulay. He remains to me one of the greatest of all writers and +masters, although I think him utterly base, contemptible and odious for +certain reasons which you know. And I might say as much of many other +men. To be truly impartial, that is, to be truly conscientious and +sincere, we must be open equally to the good and evil of character.... + +{211} + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Nov. 11, 1885_] + +I wish I had been with you in Norway or could have seen Hawarden during +this most interesting time. Other trouble and travel have made havoc +of my correspondence, and when you receive these superfluous lines, the +die will have been cast in Midlothian. For I fancy that the enemy's +only hope now is that Mr. Gladstone will not be able to address his +audience. + +Lord Granville has kept me up to the mark as to important matters, and +announced the manifesto[260] in very warm terms; but his abrupt style +of composition is not favourable to the more delicate shades of party +division. One makes out, from afar, that Chamberlain is going off from +the X.P.M.[261] while Goschen is elaborately advancing towards him; +also that he, in fact, agrees better with Chamberlain, whilst the +policy of the moment draws him to Goschen. + +Our Joe ought to know how to bide his time. I suppose he thinks that +something must be offered to the new voters that they care for. I +imagine that the Church question forms a very real cause of division. +Mr. Gladstone's authority will be able to keep it down for the time, +and no more. + +Let us hope for an utterly overwhelming victory, in spite of some +perceptible progress on the part of the Tories. Through a friend I +have explained to Bismarck that he must be prepared for this, if only +the voice holds. Tories here tell me that they have no real hope. +Selborne's name being on the Grey manifesto, I conclude that he will +not be Chancellor. It will be possible to strengthen the new +Government immensely with new men, but I am afraid a certain {212} +friend of ours will claim the Woolsack. The Eastern question makes me +very impatient to see Mr. Gladstone in Downing Street again. + +If Morier only came to luncheon, you hardly can have seen the change in +him. He is a strong man, resolute, ready, well-informed and with some +amount of real resource. But ambition long deferred, activity long +restrained, a certain coarseness of grain which is coming to the +surface, have turned him into a bully, quarrelsome and dangerous. A +dexterous Muscovite will always be able to provide an opportunity of +putting him in the wrong and getting up an ugly fracas. It is +extraordinary what dull men make sufficient diplomatists. Arnold +Morley is new to me; I gather from what you say that Russell[262] is +sure of his seat. I was disturbed to find the Duke so hard on him, and +so little support on the more amiable side of the family. + +I quite agree with Chamberlain, that there is latent Socialism in the +Gladstonian philosophy. What makes me uncomfortable is his inattention +to the change which is going on in those things. I do not mean in +European opinion, but in the strict domain of science. A certain +conversation that you remember, when Stuart, fresh from the horny hands +of Democracy,[263] produced his heresies, was very memorable to me. +But it is not the popular movement, but the travelling of the minds of +men who sit in the seat of Adam Smith that is really serious and worthy +of all attention. Maine tells me that his book, a Manual of +unacknowledged Conservatism, is selling well. It is no doubt meant to +help the {213} enemy's cause, and more hostile to us than the author +cares to appear. For he requested me not to review it. You know that +the new Hatzfeldt is the son of the lady who protected Lassalle, and +that it is desirable to speak of his wife as little as of his mother. +He is a Berlin bureaucrat, _pur sang_. I have something to write +against time, which keeps me at work during the night until the end of +November. Don't mind it, but please tell me what happens, and whether +I may come and see you re-installed. + +Fancy my disappointment: Paget[264] passed under our windows, and +Liddon--as he told the World--was at Tegernsee, and I missed them both. +The Pagets have set up a delightful daughter-in-law, and a near +relation of hers, a Balliol man, son, I believe, of the chief Tory +wire-puller in Shropshire, has just come out here.... + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: _La Madeleine Nov. 28, 1885_] + +It was a serious blow to find in your letter that you had no confidence +in the election,[265] but I am glad now to think that you were so much +better prepared to lose than I was, in spite of what I had also heard +about Bright's despondency. I only hope that it has not been a bad +time, otherwise, at Dalmeny, and that Mr. Gladstone has not suffered +from so much effort. + +At this moment I know only the result of the first three days, and have +no Scottish news since Goschen got in. I conclude that we are beaten +past recovery, and wonder whether the Dark Horse[266] will make the +{214} Government independent of their Irish supporters. If not, the +rift in the lute will betray itself any time after the first Session. + +As I am the only Englishman still so besotted as to feel Salisbury's +presence in Downing Street exactly as I should feel Bradlaugh's at +Lambeth, I will say nothing about my own sensations to a correspondent +necessarily unsympathetic. What strikes me most strongly is the +probability of Mr. Gladstone thinking that his release has come, and +that he is not bound to embark on a voyage which is very unlikely to +lead back to power until he is in his seventy-eighth year. For I +suppose that the secret of the situation is that Chamberlain has so far +played false, played, I mean, a private game, that he looked far ahead, +and did not care to come back to office in the old combination, +especially with the prospect of losing Dilke at first. So that, in +fact, the Gladstonian influence, which would be unshaken in the country +at large, was unable to control his own colleagues, and the old +inferiority in the management of men, compared with the management of +masses, which Goschen exemplified before, has appeared in the direction +of the Radical wing. + +As I know his characteristic of caring for measures much more than for +the organisation which is to carry them, I conjecture he will say that +he is not harnessed for ever to the coach, that he will be grievously +tempted to give up leading an active opposition. Of course I should +deeply deplore such a decision, but my old arguments, which +circumstances did so much to impress, will be weaker now. + +Three legitimate causes have told in favour of the Tories. They have +not done much to make them odious, and the position abroad is easier, +very decidedly, {215} though not very considerably, easier. Then, the +case against us in the Soudan is a very strong one. I may say so now +that Mr. Gladstone does not really resist it; and you, at any rate, +know how strongly I thought so before. That is not a positive +recommendation of the Tories, but it does weaken us, and the reproach +is not met, in the judgment of impartial men, by saying that the Tories +did nothing to restrain or to correct us. Thirdly, the Church argument +is logically against us. Mr. Gladstone's attitude gave no security +that the Liberals, if they returned strengthened from the poll, would +not eventually employ their increased strength to pave the way for +disestablishment. + +What you say of a flaw in his reckoning is very true indeed. In his +literary occupations it appears still more strongly. The grasp is +often more remarkable than the horizon. I do not think that it has +been much of a drawback in politics, and the minds it would estrange +are very few. + +You would have written a capital review of Greville.[267] It is very +odd that a man should be so shrewd, and so full of experience, and yet +so destitute of positive ideas. I see that I thought too much of him, +having known him before I knew the difference between common sense and +capacity. My friend Maine certainly did not fear that I should spoil +his effects, for I should never have found a point of contact with the +views of the general reader. I don't think he likes to admit that one +can have gone over the same ground, and have come impartially to +opposite conclusions. His book is a symptom of the change which is so +remarkable in the _Times_. + +{216} + +[Sidenote: _Cannes Jan. 1, 1886_] + +It would have been a very great pleasure to be at Hawarden during these +festive days; and only very strong local ties oblige me to say that it +is impossible. There has never been a time when I was more anxious to +learn what is really going on, and to see things from the centre, and +it is therefore a disappointment to be away. But there is nothing that +I could say or do that would contribute an element to the momentous +decisions to be formed. That Mr. Gladstone will, in this great and +perhaps final crisis, put himself into the position of Irishmen and +view things not only from the point of their present wishes, but with +their historic eyes, and that he will hold that the ends of liberty are +the true ends of politics, that is the one thing certain and known to +all men, and it is the whole of the political baggage with which I set +out on the Irish expedition. + +I know neither how to resist the claim of the Irish nation to govern +themselves nor even their claim to possess the land, and nobody really +familiar with the events of this century can say that the one is beyond +the resources of political, or the other, of economic science. They +are problems which have been solved repeatedly within the experience of +two generations. Many experiments have been made, and it is not +difficult to determine which solutions have failed, which have +succeeded, and to tell the reason why. + +I have thought so for twenty years, and now that the question has +become perforce a practical one, nobody can be more heartily than I am +on the side which I understand to be Mr. Gladstone's, or, to speak +definitely, on the Irish side. The claim of duty exactly coincides +with the claim of necessity, and {217} that is all about it that one +can say from a distance, without having seen what is on paper, or felt +pulses all round. + +Duty and necessity settle the question, but not as to policy in detail, +which I have no right to talk about without hearing more what is said +by people on the spot. Only let me say that I would not be influenced +by hope of a very brilliant success, even if it is possible to do what +would satisfy the better part of the Irish party. The people are so +demoralised, both laity and clergy, that we must be prepared to see the +best scheme fail. No Irish failure is so bad as the breakdown of +parliamentary government, so that even from a sordid point of view that +is not insuperable. But I would arm myself against disappointment. +There is another point of view from which I see much to apprehend and +prepare for. The elections send back Mr. Gladstone to Westminster, and +even to Downing Street, with some loss of influence. I see it not only +in the reduced majority, but still more in the increase of Conservative +minorities at the poll, the infidelity of most important colleagues, +and the reluctance with which he will be followed by members under +pressure from their constituencies. + +We saw the centrifugal forces at work last Session in the Ministry +itself. Mr. Gladstone only retained office after the Egyptian vote by +the neutrality of Rosebery, and in the question of concession to +Parnell he had to yield to the Lords in the Cabinet. + +How can they stand by him now, to support measures much more +formidable, probably, than that which they rejected last spring? And +could not Salisbury dexterously put the question in such a way {218} +that their vote then given should disable them altogether? + +One sees the danger that Mr. Gladstone would be almost isolated among +his friends, even if there is a majority in the House, and I can +imagine no way of getting any considerable scheme through the Lords. I +wish you would tell me that all this has been provided for, and that +very careful negotiations have been carried on. Taking the question +grossly, in outline, I can only say that I hope fervently that he will +have strength to accomplish the only scheme of policy I can think +worthy of his fame. + +It seems obvious that, in the mass of letters that afflict your +postman, there have been plenty of communications from good men of all +sorts in Ireland. I speak of that from a slight, a remote, fear that +the study of details, of conflicting and undigested suggestions, may +have become distasteful to him. Writing to Lord Granville the other +day in answer to a question, I proposed that his former private +secretary, Wetherell, should make a tour in Ireland, as he has a very +large acquaintance among people who do not clamour in the street. He +would bring valuable information to bear. But I hope that there is no +lack of information or of advisers. + +One has to think of people in the background just because they are the +minority. That may justify me in sending you the enclosed letter from +a man who had, I think, a good deal of Spencer's confidence and +good-will. I would not send it if I thought it could discourage, but +Mr. Gladstone has faced heavier artillery every day since Christmas. +Happy New Year never meant so much as to-day!... + +{219} + +P.S.--A frightened and discontented voice says, by this day's post, "If +there is a vote of censure we must join in it and take the consequences +of a majority, for we have no other mandate from our constituents but +to bring back Gladstone, and if we abstained from voting we should lose +our seats." + + + +FOOTNOTES + +[1] Jules Ferry, see p. 7. + +[2] Duc de Broglie, statesman and historian (1821-1901). + +[3] Dr. Doellinger. + +[4] Sir Louis. + +[5] Minghetti and Bonghi. + +[6] On Mr. Gladstone. + +[7] Mr. Gladstone was an unsuccessful candidate for South-West +Lancashire in 1868. He was at the same time elected for Greenwich. + +[8] The Reverend Mark Pattison, then Rector of Lincoln. + +[9] The book on which Lord Acton was then at work, and for which he +amassed vast hoards of material. + +[10] "The Expansion of England." + +[11] For the expulsion of the Jesuits and other unauthorised +congregations from French schools. + +[12] "History of Liberty." + +[13] Thorold Rogers, sometime M.P. for Southwark, and Professor of +Political Economy at Oxford. + +[14] Herbert Gladstone. + +[15] He stood for Middlesex. + +[16] The late Duke of Devonshire, who lived till 1891. + +[17] In 1866, Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Lowe took opposite sides on the +question of Parliamentary Reform. + +[18] Mr. Lowe, on hearing one of Mr. Herbert Gladstone's speeches +during the Middlesex election, declared that in the pure gift of +eloquence, there was nothing to choose between him and his father. + +[19] In Middlesex. + +[20] _i.e._, by Lord Granville. + +[21] See p. 49, note 54. + +[22] The Zulu. + + +[23] Lord Granville. + +[24] An allusion to expeditions at Tegernsee. + +[25] Evening parties in Downing Street. + +[26] Sir John Strachey had seriously under-estimated the cost of the +Afghan War. + +[27] Mr. O'Donnell, an Irish member, moved the adjournment of the House +for the purpose of attacking the new French Ambassador, M. Challemel +Lacour. Mr. Gladstone moved that he be not heard, and the debate on +this motion occupied the whole sitting. + +[28] Then Postmaster-General. + +[29] House of Lords, not "History of Liberty." + +[30] That any member claiming the right to affirm instead of taking an +oath should be allowed to do so, subject to any liability imposed on +him by statute. Under this motion Mr. Bradlaugh took his seat +provisionally for Northampton. + +[31] Littleberries, rented by Lord Aberdeen. + +[32] Trench. + +[33] Herbert Spencer. + +[34] M. Tachard. + +[35] Mr. Gladstone had just then a short, but serious illness. + +[36] On the Compensation for Disturbance Bill, intended to protect the +Irish tenants from eviction during the winter. + +[37] The majority against the Bill was 230, of whom 51 were Liberals. + +[38] Granville. + +[39] Lowell. + +[40] Non equidem invideo; miror magis. + +[41] See p. 28, note 36. + +[42] Lord Arthur Russell. + +[43] The reference is to the Ground Game Bill, which enabled tenants to +shoot hares and rabbits on their farms; and to the Burials Bill, which +permitted the interment of Dissenters in parish churchyards with their +own religious rites. + +[44] Mr. Gladstone's voyage in the _Grantully Castle_. + +[45] "History of Our Own Times." + +[46] Shakespeare's Sonnets, pocket edition. + +[47] Now Lady Battersea. + +[48] Richard Simpson (1820-1876), author of an "Introduction to the +Philosophy of Shakespeare's Sonnets" (1868) and "The School of +Shakespeare" (1872). + +[49] A letter from Mr. Gladstone on the choice of a profession. + +[50] Mr. Ruskin. + +[51] George Eliot lived in St. John's Wood. + +[52] Agrarian Laws and Ecclesiastical Establishments. + +[53] He stood by Ireland to the end, and his last letter to Sir +Hercules Langrishe reaffirms the principles of his youth. + +[54] "And to party gave up what was meant for mankind." + +[55] The editor of the _Quarterly Review_. + +[56] Lord Beaconsfield's "Endymion," in which Nigel Penruddocke is one +of the characters. + +[57] Lord Macaulay. + +[58] George Otto Trevelyan. + +[59] "Life of Panizzi." + +[60] "Julian the Apostate." By the Rev. the Hon. Arthur Lyttelton, +afterwards Bishop of Southampton. + +[61] Charles Stewart Parker, then M.P. for Perth. + +[62] "English Land and English Landlords." By the Honble. George +Brodrick, late Warden of Merton. + +[63] An allusion to Mr. Gladstone's speech on the Reform Bill of 1866. + +[64] George Eliot's death. + +[65] "Democracy," a political novel, published anonymously, which made +much noise at the time. + +[66] Arthur Lyttelton's. See his "Modern Poets of Faith, Doubt and +Paganism, and other Essays" (Murray). + +[67] This refers to the inscription Lord Acton inserted in Ruskin's +"Arrows of the Chace"--"From a False Believer." + +[68] Speech on introducing the Peace Preservation Bill. + +[69] Dublin Castle. + +[70] George Eliot's husband. + +[71] On the introduction of the new rules of Procedure after the +expulsion of the Irish Members. + +[72] The late Lord Stanley of Alderley. + +[73] The Editor of the _Edinburgh Review_. + +[74] Trevelyan. + +[75] In "Endymion." + +[76] The obstruction of the Peace Preservation Bill, which ended in the +autocratic intervention of the Speaker, and the removal of the Irish +Members from the House. + +[77] Sir Arthur Godley, at that time private secretary to Mr. Gladstone. + +[78] Sir Erskine May. + +[79] The Jacobite description of the mole whose burrowings caused the +death of William the Third by making his horse stumble. + +[80] The Comte de Serre was a Minister under Louis XVIII., and a leader +of the Moderate Royalists after the Restoration. + +[81] Sir John Lubbock's. + +[82] For closing debate. + +[83] At this period shadowing Mr. Gladstone's movements. + +[84] Sir John Lubbock, in conversation with Miss Gladstone, complained +of the lack of a guide or supreme authority in the choice of books. +She suggested Lord Acton, and mentioned this talk in writing to him. + +[85] Harold Browne. + +[86] Lightfoot. + +[87] Sir James Paget, the great surgeon. + +[88] By Robert Wallace, afterwards M.P. for East Edinburgh. The +definition, "trust in the people, tempered by prudence," was laid down +by Mr. Gladstone himself in a speech at Oxford in 1877. + +[89] Of Liberty. + +[90] On the Peace Preservation Bill. + +[91] Mr. Brand, afterwards Lord Hampden. + +[92] Carlyle's. + +[93] See page 40. + +[94] John K. Ingram, Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and author of +the article on Political Economy in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_. + +[95] Mr. Gladstone fell on the ice as he entered the gardens of Downing +Street, and cut open the back of his head. + +[96] Sir Bartle Frere, then Governor of Cape Colony. + +[97] Miss Dempster. + +[98] "Sermons in a College Chapel," by J. R. Illingworth. + +[99] George Sand. + +[100] Gladstone, Tennyson, and Paget. + +[101] Leo XIII. + +[102] Dublin Castle. + +[103] Minghetti and Bonghi. + +[104] Dr. Doellinger. + +[105] _i.e._, of Mr. Gladstone. + +[106] Lord Acton said elsewhere of Lee--"The greatest general the world +has ever seen, with the possible exception of Napoleon." + +[107] Mr. Gladstone's. + +[108] At Cannes. + +[109] Scartazzini's. + +[110] Illingworth's "In a College Chapel." + +[111] Of George Eliot. + +[112] George Sand. + +[113] Meaning the Irish Land Bill. The reference is to the agrarian +laws of Tib. and C. Sempronius Gracchus. + +[114] On Carlyle. + +[115] Midhat Pacha was the head of the reforming party in Turkey at +that time. + +[116] Leo XIII. + +[117] November 15, 1848. After the murder of Count Rossi, his Liberal +Minister of the Interior, Pius IX. left Rome, and fled to Gaeta, from +which he only returned under the protection of French bayonets. + +[118] The introduction of the Irish Land Bill. + +[119] The late Duke of Argyll's resignation. + +[120] Lord Carlingford succeeded him. + +[121] Mr. Gladstone's eleventh. + +[122] To the Academy. + +[123] See p. 48. + +[124] The first Lord Cairns. + +[125] "It is true, Holy Father, I have failed. + +[126] Lord Beaconsfield. + +[127] The Sultan's. + +[128] See Diary in Ruskin's "Letters to M. and H. G." (privately +printed). + +[129] For burial in the Abbey. + +[130] Lord Lansdowne's and Lord Listowel's. + +[131] Judah Philip Benjamin, Q.C., author of "Benjamin on Sales." He +left America after the defeat of the South, and attained great +distinction at the English Bar. + +[132] Mr. Gladstone did not arrive in time after the Easter recess to +give notice of his own motion for a public memorial to Lord +Beaconsfield, who died on the 19th of April 1881. The notice was given +on Mr. Gladstone's behalf by Lord Richard Grosvenor, now Lord +Stalbridge. + +[133] Convicted at the Old Bailey for incitement to the murder of the +German Emperor. + +[134] Mr. Gladstone's. + +[135] Of the Irish Land Bill. + +[136] Mr. Gladstone predicted that, if the Conservatives defeated the +Bill and came into office, they would themselves introduce not a +smaller, but a larger measure. + +[137] Sir John Skelton, K.C.B., author of "Thalassa," Scottish disciple +of Disraeli, a brilliant and scholarly writer. + +[138] Canon Maccoll. + +[139] The death of a little daughter. + +[140] W. H. Gladstone, M.P. + +[141] The late Duke of Argyll. + +[142] Mr. Gladstone's retirement. + +[144] At Leeds. + +[145] "Like some tall bully, lifts its head and lies." + +[146] The County Franchise Bill. + +[147] To Knowsley. + +[148] The King. + +[149] "The Life of Cobden." + +[150] The late Sir Charles Gavan Duffy. + +[151] Mr Gladstone's. + +[152] (HAWARDEN, 15_th Nov._ 1881).--"_Tete-a-tete_ breakfast. A long +most interesting talk on the great vexed question of his retirement; +started by his saying that he and Lord Granville had discussed it, Lord +G. good-humouredly declaring it out of the question. I quoted to him +Lord Acton's words, how it would be a serious flaw in his political +career to damage and perhaps ruin the Liberal party, by retiring from +the leadership while in full possession of health and strength. He +said the same arguments had been used in Lord Palmerston's case--that +it was said the power and cohesion of the party depended on one man's +life; that history had proved in that case that this was not so; that +in his own case he had retired in '74 for good; that his reassumption +of office was accidental, conditional, and temporary; that it was +undertaken for certain purposes foreshadowed in his Midlothian +Speeches; that these purposes were all or nearly all accomplished; that +if he did not retire after Ireland was settled, and House of Commons +procedure readjusted, there was no moment in the future when it would +be possible--that Lord Hartington (now Duke of Devonshire) was a man of +unusual strength and ability, but that before becoming Prime Minister +he required more training as House of Commons leader. (I objected that +he might at any moment go to the House of Lords, which would immensely +weaken his influence; and besides, who could then lead the House of +Commons?) The future leader of H. of C. was a great puzzle and +difficulty. Sir Charles Dilke would probably be the man best fitted +for it, he had shown much capacity for learning and unlearning, but he +would require Cabinet training first; that as time brings nearer Lord +Hartington's move into House of Lords, force was added to the argument +in favour of his own retirement. That he did not foresee great +difficulties ahead for the Liberal party; that the Conservative ditto +had thrown away what should have been their strength--the return to the +principles and policy of Sir R. Peel; that they were demoralised and +degraded; that they had inherited the vices of Lord Beaconsfield +without his tact and judgment: (Lord B.'s climax was reached in his +attack on Sir Robert Peel. What a magnificent virulence he had shown; +what a power of cutting and piercing the man through a searching +knowledge of his character); that this jingoism was perpetuated in +them, and must eventually be their ruin. That of Forster, Harcourt, +and Childers it was hard indeed to say which was best qualified for +leading; that Forster would probably be the best, but that he had shown +occasional incapacity; that Goschen had sadly injured himself by +following up his errors as to franchise with an elaborate eulogium of +weak-kneed Liberalism--(I quoted Lord A. again 'that he might resign +place, but could not resign power'). He demurred to this: for two +years--1874 to 1876--he insisted he had had no influence on the Lib. +party, that he should attend the H. of C. very rarely, and possibly +begin by going abroad before the Session." + +[153] The Goschens. + +[154] The late Dr. Hatch's Lectures on the "Organisation of the Early +Christian Churches." + +[155] The husband of George Eliot. + +[156] A short Life of Newman, by Mr. Jennings. + +[157] Mr. Goschen. + +[158] Sir Erskine May. + +[159] The Comte de Montlosier, a French emigrant, Royalist, historian, +antiquary, feudalist, and Liberal Catholic. + +[160] Lord Monck, first Governor-General of Federated Canada. + +[161] George Eliot. + +[162] Sir George Errington. + +[163] The vote of censure on the Lords for appointing a Committee to +inquire into the operation of the Irish Land Act. + +[164] His correspondent's name for his "History of Liberty." It was of +course taken from the title of Mr. Henry James's delightful novel. + +[165] On the 2nd of March a lunatic named Martin fired at the Queen and +Princess Beatrice at Windsor Station. + +[166] Bradlaugh's re-election. + +[167] This refers to a conversation at Venice in October 1879. + +[168] That Mr. Bradlaugh, having been re-elected for Northampton, +should be allowed to take the oath and his seat. + +[169] A protest by Cardinal Manning against the admission of Mr. +Bradlaugh. + +[170] A letter from Mr. Gladstone to his daughter. + +[171] Union, fusion. + +[172] James Harrington, 1611-1677. Toland edited his work on the +"Theory of the State," which was seized by Cromwell. + +[173] 1648. + +[174] Situated in the depth of the Inferno.--Canto xviii. line 1. + +[175] "The History of Liberty." + +[176] The letter in question was sent to Mr. Shorthouse, and was +answered in detail by him. + +[177] "Ah, this thou should'st have done and not have spoken on't. + In me 'tis villainy: in thee it had been good service." + +[178] Mr. S. R. Gardiner's review of "John Inglesant." + +[179] The late Marquis of Dufferin. + +[180] On the working of the Irish Laud Act, 1881. + +[181] Sent immediately after the murders in the Ph[oe]nix Park. + +[182] It need hardly be said that for this rumour there was no sort of +foundation. + +[183] Lyttelton. + +[184] It was the "manifold writer." + +[185] Lord Salisbury was unsuccessful in persuading his party to throw +out the Irish Arrears Bill in the House of Lords. + +[186] Mr. Gladstone's. + +[187] Downing Street. + +[188] "Paradise." + +[189] Letter written by Mr. Shorthouse in answer to Lord Acton's +criticism of "John Inglesant." + +[190] Sara Bernhardt. + +[191] Of Gibraltar. The late Dr. Sandford. + +[192] Mr. Gladstone. + +[193] Mr. Secretary Hay. + +[194] Mrs. Hollond. + +[195] Of George Eliot. + +[196] Prime Minister. + +[197] Mr. Herbert Gladstone's Lecture on Ireland, in which he used the +words "Irish Parliament." + +[198] The predominance of books on religion and the few on science. + +[199] The list of the hundred books given by Lord Acton to his +correspondent. + +[200] "Ignorance, madam, sheer ignorance." + +[201] On the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill. + +[202] Henry George, author of "Progress and Poverty." + +[203] Eaton Square. + +[204] R. W. Church. + +[205] Liddon translated Rosmini's "Five Wounds of the Church." + +[206] The Master of University. + +[207] At Cambridge. + +[208] "History of Liberty." + +[209] "Progress and Poverty." + +[210] "The American Constitution." + +[211] The hundred books. + +[212] Lord Acton's first visits to Oxford and Cambridge (to Dr. +Talbot's, Warden of Keble College, and to Professor Sidgwick's) were +arranged by his correspondent. + +[213] Stubbs. + +[214] Treaty of Berlin, 1878. + +[215] Dr. Liddon met Lord A. and Miss G. at the station. + +[216] Dr. Talbot. + +[217] Dr. Stubbs. + +[218] Duchess of Sutherland, Countess of Cromarty in her own right. + +[219] Forbes. + +[220] Lord Wolverton's residence near London. + +[221] A letter from Mr. Gladstone to his daughter. + +[222] _Contemporary Review_. + +[223] Egypt. + +[224] To Egypt. Its object was financial. + +[225] Lyttelton. + +[226] England _v._ Australia, Kennington Oval. + +[227] Bishop Stubbs. + +[228] Doellinger. + +[229] Church. + +[230] Scholarship (L10) for Northumberland miners, comprising a month's +residence at Cambridge. + +[231] Doellinger. + +[232] Dr. Howson. + +[233] The third Midlothian campaign. + +[234] Mr. Gladstone. + +[235] The first Lord Ampthill. + +[236] Mr. Gladstone. + +[237] Bishop Stubbs. + +[238] At Oxford. + +[239] Ruskin. + +[240] Bonamy Price. + +[241] Mr. Raskin's playfully affectionate description of Mr. Bonamy +Price, Professor of the science which he most abhorred. + +[242] Afterwards Bishop of London. + +[243] "The History of the Papacy during the Reformation." + +[244] "Life of George Eliot." + +[245] President Monroe formulated, at the suggestion of Mr. Canning, +the doctrine that the American continents were not to be colonised in +the future by foreign Powers. + +[246] The Croker Papers. + +[247] Disraeli. + +[248] Bishop of London. + +[249] Walsham How, then Suffragan Bishop of Bedford. + +[250] At Cannes. + +[251] "The Life of George Eliot." + +[252] Now Viscount Milner. + +[253] The present Earl Grey. + +[254] Mark Pattison's Memoirs. + +[255] The Afghan frontier. See Mr. Morley's account of the Penjdeh +incident in his "Life of Gladstone," vol. iii. pp. 183-5. + +[256] The reference is to Tennyson's lines on the Franchise Bill, +"Steersman, be not precipitate," &c. + +[257] Disagreements in the Cabinet on Ireland had been cut short on +June 8 by the defeat of the Government, through a combination of Tories +and Irish, on the Budget. + +[258] Mr. James Stuart. + +[259] When Lord Salisbury came into office in June 1885, he required +assurances of support from the Leader of the Opposition, which Mr. +Gladstone refused to give. + +[260] Mr. Gladstone's Election Address, partly written in Norway, +containing the Authorised Programme of the Liberal party. + +[261] _i.e._, ex-Prime Minister. + +[262] Mr. George Russell. He stood for Fulham, but was not elected. + +[263] At his election for Hoxton. + +[264] Now Bishop of Oxford. + +[265] The General Election of November 1885, consequent on the County +Franchise and Redistribution Acts. + +[266] The county voters. + +[267] The Greville Memoirs, Part III. + + + + +{221} + +INDEX + + + Aberdeen, Earl of, 25 and _note_ + Acton, Lord-- + _Career_-- + Birth, xv; Oscott, xvi; Munich, xvii; visit to France, xix; to + United States, xx; Moscow, xx-xxi; Aldenham, xxii; member + for Carlow, xxii; in Parliament, xxv; stands for Bridgnorth, + xxvii; editorship of the _Rambler_ (_Home and Foreign Review_), + xxvii, xxx-xxxiii, xxxv; at Congress of Munich, xxxiii; marriage, + xxxv; lectures at Bridgnorth, xxxv-xxxix, lvi; again stands for + Bridgnorth, xxxix; at the [OE]cumenical Council, xlii-xlvii; + peerage, xlix; honorary Doctorate of Philosophy at Munich, l; + reply to Gladstone's "Vatican Decrees" pamphlet, lii-liii; death + of his daughter, lxxv, 105, and _note_; residence in Germany and + the Riviera, lix; founds _English Historical Review_, lxiv; D.LL., + D.C.L., and All Souls Fellowship, lxv; made lord in waiting, lxv; + appointed Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, lxvi, lxix; + death, lxxiv + _Characteristics_-- + Caution in expressing opinions, xii, lx, lxxiv + Conversational ability, xii-xiv, lxix + Cosmopolitanism, xiv, xv, xx, lix + Critical temperament, xiii, lxii + Foreign languages, facility in, xv, xviii, lxv + Integrity of mind, lii + Irony of manner, xiii + Learning, xi, lxxvii; range of subjects, xv + Liberalism, xxvi + Morality, high estimate of, xii + Personal appearance, xiii + Prudence, xxxiv + Reading, fondness for, xi, xiv, xxxv, lxxiii + Religious views, xv + Sociability, xii, lix + Estimates of, xi, lxxi, lxxv + Affirmation as substitute for oath, 23 and _note_ + Afghanistan, 20 _note_, 78, 81, 208 and _note_ + Africanders, _see_ Boers + Airlie, Earl of, 17 + Aldenham library, xviii, lv, lxxiii + Alexander, 47, 111 + Alexandria, 156 + Alison cited, 7 + America, _see_ United States + Amiel, 207 + Ammergau, 33, 34 + Ampthill, Lord (Odo Russell), xlvii, 195 and _note_ + Anglo-Indians, 17 + Antonelli, Cardinal, xiv, xlvi + Appearances _v._ realities, 15 + Arco, Louis, Count, 172 + Argyll, Duke of, incompatibility of, with Chamberlain, 13; resignation + of, 87 and _note_[119]; misunderstandings of Gladstone by, 106; + otherwise mentioned, lx, 11, 25, 29, 30, 70, 89, 96, 108 + Arnim, Count, 53, 134 + Arnold, Matthew, 59, 70, 105 + ---- Dr., 146 + Ashburnham MSS., 162-163 + Atterbury, 52 + Aumale, Duc d', 88 + Austen, Jane, 83 + Authorities, list of, 69 + + + Bacon, 93 + Banneville, Marquis de, xlv + Barere, 136 + Barnes, 140 + Battersea, Lady (Mrs. Flower), 42 and _note_, 43 + Baxter, 146 + Beaconsfleld, Earl of (B. Disraeli)-- + Bryce on, 130 + Croker, views on, 201 and _note_[247] + "Endymion" criticised, 52 + First speech of, 109 + Gladstone's eulogy on, lx, 99-101 + Granville, Earl, dinner with, 66 + Illness of, 85 + Memorial to, 97 and _note_[132], 98, 107 and _note_[145] + Peel attacked by, 114 _note_ + Press opinions on, 96 + Supporters of, 91 + Otherwise mentioned, xxiii, lxxvi, 11, 40 + Beard's Hibbert Lectures, 173 + Bedford, Duke of, 195 + "Belgique et le Vatican, La," 54 + Benedictines, 137 + Benjamin, J. P., 97 and _note_[131] + Berlin, treaty of, 179 + Berryer, xxiv, 47, 49 + Bessborough Report, 88 + Bible, Revised Version of, 120 + Bisaccia, 61 + Bismarck, Prince, Minghetti on, lxiii; Gladstone contrasted with, 35; + mentioned, 13 + Blachford, Lord, 4 + Blennerhassett, Lady, estimate of, 44; otherwise mentioned, 17, 23, + 161, 174 + ---- Sir Rowland, estimate of, 44; on Forster, 73; mentioned, 23 + Blignieres, 191 + Blondel, 146 + Bluntschli, xix + Boers-- + Characteristics of, 77 + Peace made by Gladstone with, 81, 91 + Bohme, 139 + Bond, 149-150 + Bonghi--essays of, on Gladstone, 4 and _notes_[5, 6] + Roman History by, 123, 174; mentioned, 80 and _note_[103] + Books, list of hundred best, 69; Acton's list of, 166-168, 176 + Borromeo, St. Charles, lxxi, 135, 186-187 + Bossuet, 93, 133, 150 + Boutmy, 3 + Bradlaugh, Charles, re-election of, for Northampton, 126 and _note_[166]; + Manning's protest against admission of, 130 _note_[169]; otherwise + mentioned, 23 _note_, 95, 121, 151, 214 + Bradley's Recollections, 166 + Bramhall, 127, 133, 134 + Brand, Speaker (Viscount Hampden), 73 and _note_ + Brewer, 128-129, 149, 196 + Bright, Rev. J. F., Master of University, lxiv, 160, 173 + and _note_[206], 177 + ---- Rt. Hon. John, lx, 25, 30, 94, 156, 213 + Brodrick, Hon. George, 54 and _note_[62], 177 + Broglie, Duc de, 2 and _note_[2], 11, 161 + Bronte, Charlotte, 83 + Brougham, Lord, 47, 57 + Browne, Bp., of Shrewsbury, liv + ---- Bp. Harold, 70 and _note_[85] + Browning, Oscar, 166 + Bryce, Rt. Hon. James, paper of, on Disraeli, 130; cited, ix, xiv; + quoted, xviii-xix, lx, lxviii; otherwise mentioned, 84, 197 + Burke, Edmund-- + Electioneering speeches of, 4-5 + Estimate of, 49, 56-57 + Gladstone compared with, 5, 49, 57, 81 + Lecky on, 152 + Party policy of, 14, 49 and _note_[54] + Otherwise mentioned, xxix, 45 + Burials Bill, 33 and _note_[43] + Burnett, 47 + Butler, Bp., xxxiv, 203 + Byron, 63 + + + Caesar Borgia, 144 + Cairns, first Earl, 90 and _note_[124], 108 + Cambridge, Acton's visit to (1884), 177 _note_, 181, 191 + "Cambridge History," lxx, lxxiii, lxxiv + Cambridge University-- + Acton refused admission to, as a student, xvii, lxvi, 104; made + D.LL. at, lxv; appointed Professor of Modern History at, lxvi + Aldenham library presented to, lxxiv + Scholarship at, for Northumberland miners, scheme of, 192 and + _note_[230] + Cannes, lix, 33, 54, 80, 83, 160, 162, 198, 205 + Canning, estimates of, 45, 47; otherwise mentioned, 46, 56, 99, 200 + Capua, Archbishop of, 87 + Cardwell, Lord, xxii, 11, 54, 66, 77 + Carlingford, Lord, 87 _note_[120], 108, 195 + Carlyle, Thomas-- + Estimate of, 70-71, 82, 85, 104, 144 + Froude's Life of, 151 + Palgrave on, 84 + Scherer on, 74 + Carnarvon, Earl of, 16, 24 + Carnegie, Andrew, lxxiii + Carnot, President, 136 + Caron, Father, 133, 140 + Casaubon, 207 + Cassander, 134 + Castlereagh, Visct., 46, 99 + Cavendish, Lady F., 41, 155 + ---- Lord F., 66, 154-156 + Cavour, xxv, xxviii-xxix, 49 + Cetewayo, 174 + Chamberlain, Rt. Hn. J., incompatibility of, with Argyll, 13; + indiscretions of, 66; policy regarding House of Lords, 102; + Doellinger's view of, 170; defection of, 214; on Gladstone's + socialism, 212; otherwise mentioned, 24, 43, 153, 164, 205, 211 + Chambord, Count of, 86, 161 + Channing, 146 + Charles I., 136 + Chateaubriand, 78 + Chatham, Lord, 45, 56, 81 + Chenery, 13, 24, 34-35 + Cheney, 40 + Childers, Rt. Hon. H. C. E., 114 _note_ + Chillingworth, 133, 134 + _Chronicle_ (1868), xxxvii + Church, Dean, at Munich, 170 and _note_[204]; on Liddon, 180, 192, 204; + over-estimation of, 203; otherwise mentioned, 70 + Churches-- + Anglican-- + Distinguished men in, overmuch made of, 203 + Establishment of, 182 + High Church party, attitude of, towards Gladstone's alliance + with democratic nonconformity, 16 + Ireland, in, xxxix + Ritualism in, Gladstone's pamphlet on, li + Thirty-Nine Articles, 127, 133 + Cavour's ideal, xxix + Establishments, xxvi, xl; Gladstone's progress of thought + regarding, 48 and _note_, 89 + Roman Catholic-- + Benedictines, 137 + Burnings of, 141, 146 + "Conflicts with Rome," xxxiii + Conversions to-- + Obstacles to, 185, 187 + Protestant sanction of, 134 + Identification of, with morality and religion, xxxii + Infallibility dogma, xli, xliii-xlviii; civil allegiance in + relation to, xlviii, li + Inquisition, 141, 146, 185 + Jansenism, 131, 140 + Jesuits (_see that title_) + Legate and Nuncio, 137 + Legitimacy supported by, 86 + Marriage with Deceased Wife's Sister, attitude towards, 169 and + _note_ + Mass, the, 136 + Modern thought, Encyclical letter against, xxxiv + Molinism, 131 + [OE]cumenical Council (1869), xli-xlix + Papacy (_see also below_ Ultramontanism) + Creighton's work on, lxiv, 197 and _note_[243] + Ethics of, 127 + Inquisition the work of, 185 + Temporal power of, xlii, 86-87 + Perilous opinions enforced by, 127 + Persecution in, 148 + Roman Catholic-- + Quietists, 139 + Rosmini's attempted reform of, 171, 176, 185 + Syllabus of Errors (1864), xxxiv, xlii, 135, 141 + Thirty-Nine Articles, views on, 127 + Transubstantiation, 132 + Ultramontanism-- + Acton's attitude towards, xvi + Immorality of, lv, 131 + Irish clergy, of, 73, 165, 170 + Nature of, 185-187 + Policy of (1869), xliv + "Vatican Decrees" pamphlet, l et seq. + Vaticanism, Frere-Orban on, 54 + Cicero, 88 + Circourt, 40 + Clare, Lord, 201 + Clark, Dr. A., 29 + Clay, 49 + Clifford, Bishop, liv + Club, The, lix, 50 + Cobden, Richard-- + Economy urged by, xxiv + Life of, 111 and _note_, 112-113 + Otherwise mentioned, 19, 27 + Coercion, xxviii (_see also under_ Ireland) + Colebrooke, Sir E., 125 + Coleridge, S. T., 71, 151 + Collard, Roger, cited, 84 + Colquhoun, Miss (Lady Limerick), 64 + Commynes, cited, 35 + Conolly, xlix + Conscience-- + Development of, 168 + Independence of, 15 + Jesuit attitude towards, 39 + "John Inglesant," case of, 145 + Consent, government by, 68 + Conservatism, _see_ Toryism + "Consuelo," 83 + Contract, freedom of, 92 + Coombe Warren, 188 + Copenhagen, battle of, lxxi + Copernicus, lxvii + Coriolis, 161 + Corker, 134 + Coulanges, Fustel de, xix + County Franchise Bill, 108 _note_[146] + Courtney, Rt. Hon. Leonard, 53, 197 + Cowper, Earl, 16, 153 + ---- Henry, 1 + Craven, Mrs., 161, 171 + Creighton, Bishop, editor of _English Historical Review_, lxiv; + estimate of, 197 + Cressy, 140 + Croker Papers, 199-201 + Cromwell, Oliver, 5-6, 71, 93 + Cross, Mr., 64 and _note_[70], 117, 162, 166, 173, 198, 205 + + + Dante, 40, 57; "Inferno," 44, 143 and _note_; "Paradiso," 83, 159 + and _note_[185] + Darboy, Archbishop, xlii-xliv, xlix + Davenport, 140 + "David Copperfield," 34 + Davitt, Michael, 68 + Decazes, 161 + Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, 169 and _note_ + Delane, 13, 24 + Delisle, Leopold, 162-163 + Democracy-- + Danger of, 91 + Disraeli's transformation of England into a, 86 + Doctrines of, distinct from wishes of Democrats, 7 + Government by, success of, 93 + Inconstancy of, 9, 91, 101 + Principles of, 48 + Progress of, a certainty, 44 + Unity of power the tendency of, 124 + "Democracy" (American novel), 58, 159-160 + "Democracy in America," xix + "Democracy in Europe," lviii + Democrats-- + Constructive power of, 117 + Murder identified with insurrection by, 103 + Whig dependence on, 108 + Demosthenes, 88 + Dempster, Miss, 77 _note_[97] + Derby, 14th Earl, xxiii, 65, 69 + ----, 15th Earl, estimate of, 109; otherwise mentioned, 72, 87, 108, + 110, 117, 174 + ----, Lady, 108-109 + Descartes, 130, 146 + De Serre, 68 and _note_[80], 75 + Detachment, 71, 105 + Devonshire, Duke of (_d._ 1891), 10 and _note_[16] + D'Harcourt, Marquis, 1 + Diary of Miss M. Gladstone, extract from, 113 and _note_ + Diary-keeping, 14, 30 + Diaz, Porfirio, xxxviii + Dickens, Charles, 34, 41, 163 + Dilke, Sir Charles, Gladstone's estimate of, 114 _note_; at Cannes, 205; + otherwise mentioned, 24, 43, 214 + Dillon, John, 103 + Disraeli, _see_ Beaconsfield + Doellinger, Dr.-- + Acton's studies under, xvii, xix; article on, lxxv; estimate of, 2 + Bryce's estimate of, lx + Chamberlain, views on, 170 + Congress of Munich, plea at, xxxiii + Excommunication of, xlix + Gladstone's visit to, li + Liddon, views on, 182, 191 + Otherwise mentioned, xliii, 57, 80, 192 + Donne, 131 + Drew, Mrs., viii, lxiii + Dufaure, 2 + Duff, Sir M. Grant, ix, xxxiv, xxxvii _note_; _Spectator_ article by, + lxxi + Dufferin, Marquis of, 153 and _note_, 195 + Duffy, Sir C. G., 112 and _note_[150] + Dupanloup, xliv, xlix + Durham, Bishop of (Westcott), 70, 203 + + + Ecclesiastical Titles Act, li + _Economist_, 24, 29 + Ecuador, 74 + _Edinburgh Review_, 5, 50, 65 _note_[73] + Egypt-- + Alexandria, bombardment of, and complications, 156-159 + Evacuation of, views on, 169, 179, 188-189 + Northbrook's mission to, 190 and _note_ + Eliot, George-- + Death of, 57 + Dickens on "Scenes from Clerical Life," 163 + Estimate of, 57, 60-61, 62 + Gladstone's attitude towards, lxi, 109 + Letters of, 121, 166 + Life of, 64, 83, 162, 198 + Lyttelton's review of, 59 + Montegut on, 165 + Philosophy of, 121 + Political divergence from, 210 + Scherer on, 207 + Otherwise mentioned, 5, 34, 109 + Ellenborough, Lord, xxiii, 93 + Eloquence, French, 78 + "Endymion," 52 and _note_[1] + Enfield, 197 + Equality, doctrine of, lix, 8, 48 + Erasmus, lxvii + Errington, Sir George, 122 and _note_, 123 + "Expansion of England, The," 6 and _note_[10]-8 + + + Faber, 206 + Fabricius, 134 + Fagan, 53 + Faith-- + Patriotism analagous to, xxix + Political, 199 + Sincerity implied in, 168 + Falloux, quoted, 88 + Fanaticism, 144 + Fawcett, Rt. Hon. Henry, 24 + Female suffrage, 180-181 + Ferry, Jules, bill of, on unauthorised congregations, 1, 7 and _note_ + Flower, Mrs. (Lady Battersea), 42 and _note_, 43 + Forbes, Bishop of Brechin, 150, 183 + Forster, Rt. Hon. W. E., speeches of, 36, 62; Blennerhassett on, 73; + Gladstone's estimate of, 114 _note_; resignation of, 153-154; on + "Democracy," 160; mentioned, 74 + Forwood, 192 + Fox, C. J., estimate of, 45; Trevelyan's Life of, 52-53; Chatham + compared with, 81; otherwise mentioned, 99, 200 + France-- + Best living writers of, 6 + Commercial treaty with, xxiii, 113 + Debates, famous, in, 75 + Democracy in, 93 + Eloquence of, 78 + Gladstone's attitude towards literature of, 46-47, 82 + Peasants in, condition of, 112 + Fraser, Bishop, 203 + Free government, 68 + Freedom, _see_ Liberty + Freeman, lxxvi, 70, 149, 177 + Frere, Sir Bartle, estimate of, 17, 66; Toryism and jingoism of, + 77 and _note_[96]; mentioned, 29 + Frere-Orban, 54, 76 + Freycinet, 39 + Froude, J. A., "Life of Carlyle" by, 151; otherwise mentioned, xi, + 70, 74, 144, 177 + + + Gambetta, 22, 104 + Gardiner, S. R., correspondence with, on "John Inglesant," 126, 128; + poverty of, 129; recommended for the Record Office, 149; at + King's College, 150: contemplated paper on "John Inglesant," + 151; otherwise mentioned, 177, 196, 198 + Gaskell, Milnes, 47 + Gavard, 11 + "Gendre de M. Poirier, Le," 3 + George, Henry, 170 and _note_[202], 175 + Germany-- + Carlyle's view of, 70, 82, 104 + Gladstone's attitude towards literature of, xxii, 46-47, 82 + Socialism in, 170, 175 + Gibbon, 59 + Gibson, Rt. Hon. J. G. (Lord Ashbourne), 129 + Gladstone, Helen, 32, 173 + ---- Herbert, Middlesex candidature of, 9 and _notes_, 11 and _note_; + eloquence of, 84; eulogy of Hartington and Granville by, 107; + lecture of, on Ireland, 164 and _note_; mentioned, 118 + ---- W. E.-- + Accident to (1881), 77 + Acton, estimate of, l + Beaconsfield, eulogy on, lx, 99-101 + Bismarck contrasted with, 35 + Bonghi's essays on, 4 and _note_[3] + Burke compared with, 5, 49, 57, 81 + Characteristics of-- + Eloquence, xxiii-xxiv, 47 + Financial ability, xxiii-xxiv + Idealism, 109 + Progress of mind, 48 + Self-depreciation, 66, 112 + Charities, speech on, xxiv, 48 + Church establishments, progress of thought regarding, 48 and + _note_, 89 + Contact with, desirable for members of the party, 25-26, 61-62 + Control of certain men not possible to, 45, 214 + Criticism, attitude towards, vii + De Serre compared with, 68 + Doellinger, visit to, li + Estimate of characters by, defects in, 45, 57, 109 + Estimate of, by posterity foreshadowed, 44-50 + _Grantully Castle_, voyage in, 33 _note_[44] + Illness of (1880), 27 and _note_[35] + Inequalitarianism of, 94 + Influence of, on the nation, 106 + Italian independence, attitude towards, xxiv-xxv, lx + Lancashire speeches of (1868), 4 and _note_[7] + Land tenure, progress of thought regarding, 48 and _note_, 89 + Letter of, on choice of a profession, 43 + Liberal party-- + Cohesion of, dependent on his ascendency, 25, 110, 193 + Divergence from, 13, 16, 46, 158 + Future of, 107, 109, 113 _note_ + Midlothian campaign (1880), personal victory in, 8, 9-10; campaign + of 1884, 193 and _note_[233] + Nonconformist alliance of, 16 + O'Donnell affair, the, 21 and _note_ + Personal ascendency of, 8, 9-10, 195 + Police protection for, 69 and _note_[83] + Position of (1859), xxii-xxiii + Principle and policy, grasp of, 18, 48 + Retirement of, objections to, 10, 106-107, 159, 169, 178, 193, + 195, 214; diary extract on, 113 _note_ + Socialism, attitude towards, lxi, 175, 212 + Strachey's observation on, 55 + Tennyson's attitude towards, 209 and _note_[256] + Vatican decrees, pamphlet on, l + ---- Mrs., 11, 27, 58, 115, 119, 160 + ---- W. H., 106 and _note_[140] + Godley, Sir Arthur, 67 and _note_[77] + Goethe, 79, 82 + Goldsmid, 11, 61 + Goodman, Memoirs of, 129 + Goschen, Rt. Hon. G. J., estimate of, 65; financial ability of, 108; + otherwise mentioned, 3, 72, 88, 114 _note_, 115, 117, 119, 124, + 205, 211, 213, 214 + Government-- + Consent, by, necessity of, 164 + Constitutional, maxim of, concerning subordinates, 125 + Party, by, law of, 95 + Unfitness for, in every class, 93 + Grace, three channels of, 144 + Granville, Earl, estimate of, xxi; reception of, in Moscow, xx-xxi; + Disraeli dines with, 66; motion of, on Beaconsfield, 101; suggested + retirement of, 108; Gladstone discusses retirement with, 113 _note_; + views on Morier, 195; on Gladstone's election address (1885), 211 + and _note_[260]; otherwise mentioned, 12, 18, 26, 29, 36, 39, 103, 104, + 106, 196 + ---- Lady, 61 + Green, J. E., 128-129, 163 + ---- Mrs. J. R., 161, 198 + ---- T. H., xli + Greenwood, Frederick, 13 + Grenville, George, 46, 69, 200 + Greville, 215 + Grevy, 161 + Grey, Earl, 205 and _note_[253] + Grillion's, lix, 85 + Grosvenor, Lord R. (Lord Stalbridge), 97 _note_[132] + Grotius, 93, 134, 146, 207 + Ground Game Bill, 33 and _note_[43] + Grundtvig, 146 + Guizot, 84 + + + Hall, 133 + Hallam, 46 + Hamilton, 49 + Hammond, 146 + Hampden, Viscount (Speaker Brand), 73 and _note_ + Harcourt, Sir William, 25, 69, 103, 112, 114 _note_ + ---- Marquis de, 161 + Hardy, 149 + Harley, Speaker, 67 + Harrington, James, 139 and _note_[172] + Harrowby, Lord, 47 + Hartington, Lord, attitude of, in elections of 1880, 14, 115-116; + Gladstone's estimate of, 114 _note_; on compensation in Ireland, + 115-116; otherwise mentioned, xxiii, 15, 108, 205 + Hatch, Dr., 115 _note_[154] + Hatzfeldt, 213 + Hawarden, Acton's visit to, 117-118 + Hay, Colonel, 160, 162 and _note_[193] + Hayward, Lecky reviewed by, 50; on Carlyle, 82; otherwise mentioned, + 12, 13, 24, 118 + Hefele, Bishop, xliv, xlix + Heine, 79, 97 + Henriquez, 84 + Herbert, Lord, 146 + ---- Sidney, xxii + Heroes, doctrine of, 70 + History-- + Conscience, development of, the aim of, 168 + Ideas the essence of, 6-8 + Inner reality of, 35 + Letters as sources of, 32 + Moral estimates based on, 121-122 + Printed books as sources of, lxxvi, 151 + Religion demonstrated by, lxvii + Religious forces in the making of, 167 + Scope of, lxxii + "History of Liberty, A," xviii, lv-lvi, 6 and _note_[9], 8, 174; + called "The Madonna of the Future," 126 and _note_[164], 150 + "History of Our Own Times," 36 + Hoadley, 52 + Hohenlohe, 172 + Holden, 140 + Hollond, Rev. H. S., 170 + ---- Mrs., 162 + Holmbury, 33, 36, 40 + _Home and Foreign Review_, xxvii, xxx-xxxiii, xxxv + Home Rule, _see under_ Ireland + Hooker, 166 + Hope-Scott, 46, 182 + Houghton, Lord, 53, 160 + How, Bishop Walsham, 204 + Howson, Dean, 192 + Hugo, Victor, 3, 60, 78 + Hundred books, Lubbock's scheme regarding, 69; Acton's list of, + 166-168, 176 + Huskisson, 200 + Hutton, R. H., 70 + + + Ideas-- + Carlyle's notion of, 71 + Expedients as opposed to, 56 + Exponents as distinct from, 206 + History in, 6-8 + Party an embodiment of, 200 + Illingworth, Rev. J. R., Sermons by, 78 and _note_[98], 79, 83 + "Imitation of Christ, The," 5 + Imperialism, lvii + Ingram, J. K., 76, 90 + Intolerance, 148 + Ireland-- + Acton's representation of, in House of Lords, lxv + Arms Bill, 78 + Arrears Bill (1882), 158 _note_[185] + Burke's policy regarding, 49 and _note_[54] + Church disestablishment in, xxxix + Clergy in, 73, 165, 170, 217 + Coercion for, 65, 68, 81, 154 + Compensation for Disturbance Bill, 28 and _notes_, 30 + Emigration from, 88 + Gladstone, Herbert, lecture of, on, 164 and _note_ + Heroic treatment for, 54 + Home Rule for-- + Advocates of, 36 + Failure regarding, probable, lxii, lxiv + Federalism in, 123-124 + Gladstone's references to (Oct. 1881), lxii, 105; (Feb. 1882), 123 + Historic case for, 216 + Liberal party in regard to, 194 + Necessity of, lxi, 164, 165, 216-217 + Land League in, 68, 105 + Land tenure in-- + Bill of 1881, 73, 84 and _note_, 87 and _note_[118]; criticism of, + 89 _seq._; opinions of others on, 96; parliamentary prospects of, + 98-99; Gladstone's speech on second reading, 103 and + _notes_[134-136]; compensation question not urged in connection + with, 115-116; Lords' Committee of Inquiry on the Act, + 125 _note_; Cairns' draft Report, 154 + Compensation, idea of, 115-116, 118 + Irish ownership, case for, 216 + Land Court (1881), 111-112 + Landlords, 87 + Peasant proprietorship, 78 + Rent, 88, 112 + Massacre in, 136, 147 + Papal authority in, undesirable, 169 + Peace Preservation Bill (1881), 61, 62 _note_[68], 67 _note_[76], 72 + Ph[oe]nix Park murders, 154 and _note_[181]-156 + Priests in, _see above_, Clergy + Resignations of officials (1882), 153 + Suspicion of England natural in, 164 + Wetherell's tour in, suggested, 218 + Wolverton's views on, 65 + Wrongs of, 63 + Irish members, _see under_ Parliament + Italian independence, xxiv-xxv, lx + + + + Jackson, Bishop, 201 + ---- Dr. Henry, letter from, lxviii-lxxii; cited, lxxiv + James, Henry, 126 _note_[164] + Jansenism, 131, 140 + Jebb, Professor, 70 + Jefferson, 48, 93 + Jennings' "Life of Newman," 117 + Jessel, Sir George, 149-150 + Jesuits-- + Clement XIV.'s attitude towards, lii + Divisions among, 127 + _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ article on, 64 + Ferry's bill on expulsion of, 1, 7 and _note_ + Learning among, golden age of, 137 + Luther approved by one of, 132 + Papacy supported by, 142 + Pattison on, 207 + Richelieu supported by, 143, 148 + St. Hilaire's argument regarding, 39 + Spanish, lix + Jingoism, lxi, 114 _note_ + "John Inglesant," criticism of, 127-128, 130, 135-149, 150-151 + Journalism, power of, 15 + Jowett, Benjamin, 70, 177 + Juarez, Benito, xxxviii + "Julian the Apostate," 54 and _note_[60] + Junius, 52, 120, 151 + + + Kenealy, 95 + Kenrick, xlix + Kimberley, Earl of, 96, 108 + Knesebeck, 192 + Knowles, Sir James, 113 + Knowsley, 108 _note_[147], 110 + + + La Bastide, 134 + Labouchere, H. L., 99 + Laboulaye, 2, 39 + Labour, Adam Smith on, 92 + Lacaita, Sir James, 1 + ---- Charles, 190 + Lacordaire, 185 + Lacour, Challemel, O'Donnell's attempted attack on, 21 _note_; + estimate of, 22; otherwise mentioned, 24, 160 + Lamartine, 78 + Lamennais, 78 + Land tenure-- + Anomalies of, 28 + Brodrick on, 54 and _note_[62] + Gladstone's progress of thought regarding, 48 and _note_, 89 + Importance of subject, xxvi, xl + Ireland, in, _see under_ Ireland + Landed aristocracy, Gladstone's attitude towards, 95 + Lords, House of, as representing, 102 + Maine's knowledge of, 31 + Political economy in regard to, 90 + Lansdowne, Lord, 96 _note_[130] + Lasaulx, Amelie von, 73 + ---- Ernest von, 73 + Lassalle, 97, 213 + Lathbury, D. C., 24, 26 + Laugel, 11 + Laurent, 76 + Laveleye, 71, 75-76, 90 + Layard, Sir H. A., 80 + Lea, Mr., M.P., 83-84 + Lecky, "Eighteenth Century" by, 50-51, 115; estimate of, 151-152; + otherwise mentioned, 70, 80 + Lee, General, 82 and _note_[106] + Lefevre, Rt. Hon. J. G. Shaw, 153 + Legitimacy, 86, 119, 161 + Leibnitz, 134, 150 + Lenbach, 22, 103 + Leo XIII., Pope, 80 and _note_[101], 86, 111 + Leslie, Cliffe, 76, 90 + Lesseps, 169 + Letters-- + History dependent on, 32 + Privacy of, 41 + Leveson-Gower, F., 1, 3, 40, 118 + Lewes, G. H., 60 + ---- Mrs. (George Eliot), 64 + Lewis, George, 171 + Liberal party-- + Achievements of, xl + Gladstone-- + Dependence on, for cohesion, 25, 107, 110, 193 + Divergence from, 13, 16, 46, 158 + Future without, 107, 109, 113 _note_ + Home Rule in relation to, 194 + Liberalism-- + Aims of, 94 + Definition of, 71 and _note_[88] + Gladstone, in relation to, 111 + Nature of, lv, 199 + Toryism permeated by, 200 + Liberty-- + American realisation of, lvii + Ancient, three things lacking in, lvii + Contract, of, 92 + Definitions of, xxvii-xxviii, 71 and _note_[89] + Division of power essential to, 124 + End in itself, lvii + Ends of, 216 + Equality at expense of, lix + "History of," xviii, lv-lvi, 6 and _note_[9], 8; called "The Madonna of + the Future," 126 and _note_[164], 150 + Law of, aims of, 93 + Mill on, reviewed by Acton, xxvii-xxviii + Minorities, security for, the test of, 69, 76 + Savonarola's martyrdom for, 123 + Two worst enemies of, xxx + Liddon, Canon, first meeting with, 21; on Lord Carnarvon, 24; verbal + subtlety of, 46; on Rosmini, 170-171 and _note_, 176, 180, 184-185, + 187; Gladstone's attitude towards, 182; suggestion of, for see + of London, 201-204; anecdote of, 204; at Tegernsee, 213; estimate + of, 179-180, 182-183, 187, 202-203; Doellinger's estimate of, 182, + 191-192; otherwise mentioned, 16, 70 + Lightfoot, Bp., 70 and _note_[86], 112, 203 + Limerick, Lord, 64, 72 + Listowel, Lord, 96 _note_[130] + Littleberries, 25 _note_ + Littre, 38 + London, conservatism of, 118 + Londonderry, Lady, 180 + Longfellow, 5 + Lords, House of, _see under_ Parliament + Lowder, Rev. Charles, Life of, 151 + Lowe, Robert, _see_ Sherbrooke + Lowell, J. R., reminiscences of, 5-6; otherwise mentioned, 30-32, + 70, 83 + Lubbock, Sir John, estimate of, 69; otherwise mentioned, 67, 68 and + _note_[81], 176 + Luther, lxvii, 132 + Lyons, Lord, 37, 160 + Lyttelton, Alfred, 112, 157 and _note_, 191 + ---- Rev. the Hon. Arthur, 54 and _note_[60], 59 and _note_, 146, 152 + Lytton, 20 + + + Macaulay-- + Brougham, on, 47 + Cited, xvii; quoted, lxvii + Conversational power of, 40 + Estimate of, 59, 210; estimate of _Essays and History_, 173 + Letter of, on Windsor Castle paper, 116 + Taine on, 52-53 + Writing of, 45, 57 + Otherwise mentioned, 57, 95, 144, 196 + MacCarthy, J. H., 68; "History "by, 36 + MacColl, Canon, 13, 104 and _note_[138] + Machiavelli, lxvii, 144 + Mackintosh, 57 + Maine, Sir Henry, disagreements with, 29; on land tenure, 31; on + primogeniture, 119; on the government, 209, 212-213; estimate of, + 26, 31; otherwise mentioned, 70, 118, 181 + Maitland, Prof. F. W., cited, ix, lxxiii-lxxiv + Malebolge, 143 + Malebranche, 140 + Mallett, Sir Louis, on Afghanistan, 78; illness of, 125; moves to + Mentone, 162; estimate of, 4, 27; otherwise mentioned, 76, 160 + Manning, Cardinal, ultramontanism of, xli, 186-187; on Vatican + decrees, lii; correspondence of, with Acton, liv; influence lost + by, lxxvi; protests against admission of Bradlaugh to Parliament, + 130 _note_[169]; views of, on Borromeo, 186-187; Wiseman succeeded + by, xli + Marat, 7 + Marriage-- + Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, 169 and _note_ + Female Suffrage in regard to, 181 + Maximilian, Archduke, xxxviii-xxxix and _note_ + May, Sir T. Erskine, "Democracy in Europe" by, reviewed by Acton, + lviii; otherwise mentioned, 67, 119, 120 + Mazzini, xxix, 210 + Men of the time, estimate of, 122 + Mentone, 151; Queen's villa at, 126, 128 + Merimee, Prosper, 53 + Mexico, xxx, xxxvii-xxxix + "Middlemarch," 60, 135 + Midhat Pacha, 44, 86 and _note_ + Midlothian campaign (1880), personal victory in, 8, 9-10; campaign of + 1884, 193 and _note_[233] + Mignet, 2 + Mill, J. S., on liberty, reviewed by Acton, xxvii-xxviii; otherwise + mentioned, 48, 71, 94, 110 + Milman, 5 + Milner, Viscount, 205 and _note_[252] + Milnes, Monckton, 41 + Milton, 63 + Minghetti on Gladstone and Bismarck, lxiii; otherwise mentioned, 4 + and _note_[5], 80 and _note_[103], 123, 174 + Minorities, protection of, a condition of liberty, lvi, 69, 76 + Mirabeau, 7, 47 + Mivart, 129 + Molinism, 131 + Molinos, 137-138 + Mommsen, 171 + Monck, Lord, 118, 120 and _note_[160] + Monroe, President, 198 and _note_[245] + Montagu, 127, 132 + Montalembert, xix, 57 + Montegut, 165 + Montesquieu, 6, 93 + Montlosier, Comte de, 120 and _note_[159] + More, 93 + Morier, at Seacot, 190; criticisms by, on British foreign policy, 192; + estimate of, 23, 24, 195, 201, 205, 212 + Morley, Lord, 98 + ---- Arnold, 212 + ---- Rt. Hn. John, represented by Acton in House of Lords, lxv; + Aldenham library presented to Cambridge University by, lxxiv; + "Life of Burke" by, 5; estimate of, 19; _Pall Mall_ under, 19, 113; + "Life of Cobden" by, 111 and _note_, 112-113; Jacobinism of, 125; + in Parliament, 163; quoted, l; cited, lxii, 208 _note_; otherwise + mentioned, ix, 8, 24, 41, 43, 65, 70, 72, 119, 164 + Morris, 206 + Mortola (the poet), anecdote of, 90 + Most, 103 and _note_[133] + Mozley, James, 170 + ----, John, 158 and _note_[184], 203 + Mueller, Max, 70, 177 + Muenster, 13 + Myers, Ernest, 162 + + + Napoleon I., Mme. de Remusat on 31-32, 36; Lee compared with, + 82 _note_[106]; otherwise mentioned, lxx, 48, 66, 93, 111 + Napoleon III., xxxvii-xxxviii + National pride, 172 + Nationality, _Home and Foreign Review_ article on, xxix-xxx + Neander, 146 + Nelson, lxxi-lxxii + Newman, Cardinal, retires from editorship of _Rambler_, xxvii; on + Vatican Decrees, lii, 134; made a cardinal, lxxvi; verbal subtlety + of, 46; Life of, by Jennings, 117; influence of, 182; narrowness + of set of, 206; estimate of, lx, 26, 180; otherwise mentioned, + 44, 70, 87, 146, 171 + Newmarch, 76 + Newton, 6 + Nonconformists, Gladstone's alliance with, 16 + _North British Review_, xl + Northbrook, Lord, 108, 190 and _note_ + Northcote, Sir S., 16, 99 + + + O'Connell, 47 + O'Donnell, 21 and _note_ + O'Hagan, John, 111 + Opponents' case, statement of, 193-194 + Ottley, Rev. E. B., cited, 121 + Owen, Prof., 166, 203 + Oxford, Acton's visit to, 177 and _note_, 178, 196 + Oxford University-- + Acton made D.C.L. at (1889), and Honorary Fellow of All Souls' + (1890), lxv + Verbal refinements a product of, 46 + + + Paget, Sir Augustus, 80 + ---- Dean, 213 and _note_[264] + ---- Sir J., estimate of, 26, 77; otherwise mentioned, 70 and + _note_[87], 79 _note_, 166 + Palgrave, 59, 84 + _Pall Mall Gazette_-- + Estimate of, 19, 24, 89, 113 + Jacobinism of, 125 + Maine a contributor to, 26 + Morley's editorship of, 19, 24, 113 + Palmer, William, 182 + Palmerston, Visct., on Treaty of Paris, xxi; Acton's disagreement + with, xxii; on French invasion, xxiv; party's relations with, + 114 _note_; otherwise mentioned, 46, 47 + Panizzi, life of, 53 and _note_ + Papacy, _see under_ Churches--Roman Catholic + Parker, C. S., 54 and _note_[61] + Parliament-- + Commons, House of-- + Consent of representatives in, a condition of free government, 68 + Irish party in-- + Degrees among, 74-75 + Liberal party dependent on, 214 + Obstruction by, 21, 67; two kinds of, 69 + Tory alliance with, 209 _note_[257] + Obstruction in, 21; two kinds of, 69 + Outside influence on, 101 + Procedure Rules, Gladstone's speech on, 64 and _note_[71], 125 + Weakness of, when near its end, 19 + Debates in, few famous, 75 + Lords, House of-- + Character of, as an institution, 31, 102 + Compensation for Disturbance Bill thrown out by, 28 and _notes_, 31 + Home Rule Bill in, prospects for, 218 + Injury done by, 103 + Interests of, 102 + Irish Land Act, Committee of inquiry on, appointed by, 125 _note_ + Modification of, 102 + Popular view of, 95 + Radical attitude towards, 201 + Taxation not in jurisdiction of, xxiii + Use of, 101-102 + Parnell, C. S., 105, 154, 217 + Parties, evening, in Downing Street, 19 and _note_ + Party-- + Burke's policy regarding, 14, 49 and _note_[54] + Government by, law of, 95 + Ideas the justifying cause of, 200 + Religious view of, 199 + Pascal, 6, 93, 146, 207 + Pasquier, 2 + Pasteur, 152 + Patriotism, xxix + Pattison, Rev. Mark, Life of Milton by, 5 and _note_; estimate of, + 206-207; otherwise mentioned, 70, 120 + ---- Mrs. Mark, 43 + Paul V., Pope, 146 + Peel, Disraeli's attack on, 114 _note_; personal influence neglected + by, 25; justification of, 200; estimates of, 45, 47, 56 + Peelites in 1859, xxii + Penjdeh, 208 and _note_ + Persons _versus_ things, 6-7, 14, 85, 109, 200, 206, 210 + Petavius, 207 + Pitt, 45, 46, 56, 93 + Pius V., Pope, liii, 135 + Pius IX., Pope, Encyclical Letter against modern thought, xxxiv; + death of, lxxvi; otherwise mentioned, xxxii, xl + Plunket, 47 + Political economy, changes in, 89-90 + Politics-- + Complexity of, 91 + Differences in, dependent on disagreement in moral principles, 210 + Ecclesiastical principles in, 51-52 + Ends of, 216 + Moral basis of, 96, 107, 210 + Parentage of, 60 + Patriotism in, xxix + Religion and, borderland of, 104 + Religious view of, 199 + Potter, T. B., 54, 111, 113, 162 + Power, acquisition and maintenance of, 14-15 + Praetorius, 134 + Price, Bonamy, 24, 90, 197 and _note_[241] + Primogeniture, 102, 119 + Principles, self-identification with, 85 + Probabilism, 143 + Progress, conditions of, 200 + "Progress and Poverty," 170 _note_[202], 175 + Property-- + Limitation to rights of, 94 + Representation based on, 180 + Puritans, 147 + Pusey, Dr., 171, 203 + + + Quakers, use of term, 136, 147 + _Quarterly Review_, 50 + Quietists, 139 + + + Radicalism, 94 + Radicals, attitude of, towards House of Lords, 201 + Radowitz, 49 + _Rambler_, xxvii-xxviii + Rammingen marriage, 22 + Ranke, xix + Rauscher, xlix + Raynaud, 146 + Reay, Lady, 85 + ---- Lord, 4, 22, 23, 27, 118, 120, 162 + Reeve, Henry, 65 and _note_[73] + Reform, nature of, 92 + ---- Bill (1884), 178, 181 + Religion-- + Antagonism founded in, an obstacle to sincerity, 168 + Church, identification of, with, xxxii + Fanaticism in, 144 + History the true demonstration of, lxvii, 167 + Key to actions provided by, 167; unreliability of key, lii-liii + Liberalism the beginning of real, lv + Politics and, borderland of, 104 + Scientific discoveries, attitude towards, xxxii + Substitutes for, 167, 168 + Remusat, Mme. de, 30, 31-32, 36 + Renan, Ernest, 6, 152 + Renouf, 182 + Renouf, Miss, 173 + Representation, property the basis of, 180 + Representative systems, 101-102 + Retz, 140 + Reviews, value of, 83 + Richelieu, 134, 143, 148 + Richter, 70, 82 + Ridding, Dr., 183 + Ripon, Marquis of, 205 + Robespierre, 8, 22 + Rogers, Thorold, 8 and _note_[13] + Rome-- + "John Inglesant" in reference to, 147 + Visit to (1881), 79-80; (1882), 122-123 + Roon, 49 + Roscher, cited, 90 + Rosebery, Earl of, appoints Acton to Cambridge, lxvi; otherwise + mentioned, 25, 217 + Rosicrucians, 139 + Rosmini, 170-171 and _note_, 176, 180, 184-185, 187 + Rossi, Count, 87 and _note_[117] + Rothe, xix, 146, 206 + Rousse, 88 + Rousseau, xii, 56, 78 + Ruskin, John, writings of, on fly-leaves, 58; at Hawarden, 172; on + Bonamy Price, 197 and _note_[241]; estimate of, 42, 62; otherwise + mentioned, 59, 85 + Russell, Lord Arthur, 31 and _note_, 65, 72, 74, 162 + ---- C. (Lord Russell of Killowen), 153 + ---- George, 212 and _note_[262] + ---- Lord John, xxiv, 47 + ---- Lord Odo (Lord Ampthill), xlvii, 195 and _note_ + Russia-- + Granville's reception in, xx-xxi + Policy of, 179, 208 + + + St. Hilaire, B., estimate of, 2, 37-39; argument of, regarding + Jesuits, 39; Aristotelian work of, 39; view of, on Greeks, 74; + otherwise mentioned, 41, 104 + St. Just, 77, 142 + St. Simon, memoirs of, 32 + Salisbury, Marquis of, Irish party compared with, 75; assurances + required by, from Gladstone, 210, _note_; in Tunis affair, 90; on + Irish Arrears Bill, 158 and _note_[185]; otherwise mentioned, 108, + 190, 205, 214, 217 + Salmeron, 137 + Sancta Clara, Father, 138, 147 + Sand, George, 78 and _note_[99]; 79, 83 + Sandford, Bp., 160 and _note_[191] + Savonarola, 123 + Scaliger, 207 + "Scenes from Clerical Life," 163 + Schelling, 146 + Scherer, estimate of, 1-2, 6; patriotism of, 34; on Carlyle, 74; on + George Eliot, 207; otherwise mentioned, 11, 205 + Schiller, 79 + Schlegel, 82 + Schleiermacher, 82 + Schloezer, 123 + "School of Shakespeare," 42 + Schwartzenberg, xlix + Sclater, 129 + Scott, Sir Walter, lxi, 93 + Scottish mental characteristic, 206 + Seeley, Sir John, death of, lxvi; Acton contrasted with, lxvii; + "Expansion of England," by, 6 and _note_[10]-8; otherwise mentioned, + 115, 175 + Selborne, Lord, 108, 211 + Selden, 207 + Serjeant, 140 + "Sermons in a College Chapel," 78 and _note_[98], 79, 83 + Shakespeare-- + Defects of, 57, 60 + Montalembert on, 57 + Sonnets of, 41-42 + Shaw, 103, 153 + ---- Dr., cited, ix, lviii + Shelburne, Lord, 81 + Shelley, 79 + Sherbrookr, Viscount (Robert Lowe), attitude of, towards H. Gladstone, + 10-11 and _note_; hurt regarding offer of peerage, 12-13; + Maine's views on, 26; indebtedness of, to Burke, 57; on political + economy, 90; otherwise mentioned, 8, 17, 50, 70, 76 + Shorthouse, Mr., correspondence with, 151 and _note_[176], 159 and + _note_[189] + Shrewsbury, Lord, 132 + Sidebotham, Rev. H., 204 + Sidgwick, Prof., 177 _note_, 191 + Sieyes, 48 + Simon, Jules, 2, 39, 161 + Simon, Richard, 133 + Sincerity, 168 + Skelton, Sir John, 104 _note_[137] + Slavery, xx, xxxvi + Smith, Adam, 6, 91-92 + ---- Goldwin, 70, 112 + ---- P. J., 101 + ---- Robertson, 197 + ---- Sir William, lviii, 50 + Socialism, lxi, 170, 175, 212 + Society, State as distinct from, 7, 76, 94, 101 + Soudan, 176, 179, 215 + Southey, 82, 93 + Spain-- + Inquisition in, 146 + Jesuits in, lix + Mexican expedition of, xxxvii + Spinola, 134, 150 + Spinoza, xlix, 96 + Spencer, Earl, estimate of, 153; rumoured resignation of, 155 and + _note_; otherwise mentioned, 16, 205, 218 + ---- Lady, 61 + ---- Herbert, Laveleye on, 71; opinion of, on "Scenes from Clerical Life," + 163; otherwise mentioned, 27 and _note_[33], 119 + Staeel, Mme. de, 5 + Stahl, lxxvi, 97 + _Standard_, 55, 65, 66 + Stanley, Dean, 70, 85 + ---- of Alderley, Lord, 64 and _note_[72] + State, society as distinct from, 7, 76, 94, 101 + Stephen, Fitzjames, 26, 70; on Criminal Law, 166 + Stillingfleet, 133 + Strachey, Sir Edward, 55-56 + ---- Sir John, 20 and _note_ + Strossmayer, Bishop, xliv, xlix + Stuart, James, 192, 209 and _note_[258], 212 and _note_[263] + Stubbs, Bishop, estimate of, 149, 177, 191, 192, 196; approached by + Mrs. J. R. Green, 198; otherwise mentioned, 180, 183 + Sumner, Charles, 5 + Suspicion-- + Commynes on, 35 + Desirability of, 12, 15, 122 + Moderation to be observed in, 58, 59 + Sutherland, Duchess of, 180 and _note_[218] + Swinburne, 21, 42, 79 + Swiss nationality, xxx + Sybel, von, xix + Symonds, J. A., 70 + + + Tachard, M., 27 _note_[34] + Taine, estimate of, 2; Soberer compared with, 6; Tennyson's attitude + towards, 20; on Macaulay, 52-53; on the Revolution, 207 + Tait, Bishop, 204 + Talbot, Dr., 177 _note_, 179 and _note_[215] + "Talleyrand's Memoirs," 36 + Tegernsee, lix, 33, 80, 84 + Temple, Bishop, 203-204 + ---- Cowper (Lord Mount Temple), 3 + Temporal power of Rome. _See_ under Churches--Roman Catholic--Papacy + _Temps_, 34, 82 + Tennyson, Alfred, estimate of, 20; attitude towards Gladstone, 209 + and _note_[256]; otherwise mentioned, 40, 55, 70, 79 _note_ + ---- Hallam, 19, 21 + Thiers, xxiv, 39, 47, 49 + Things _versus_ Persons, 6-7, 14, 85, 109, 200, 206, 210 + Thirlwall, Bishop, 117-118 + Thorndike, 131 + Thucydides, 32 + _Times_-- + Carlyle, views on, 71, 82 + Change in, 215 + Chenery's dealings with, 13, 26, 35 + Tocqueville, Alexis de, xix, 172 + Toland, 52, 139 _note_[172] + Toryism-- + Attitude of, 199 + Female adherents of, 181 + Frere's exemplification of, 77 + Gout, compared with, 35 + Liberal ideas permeating, 200 + Maine on, 119 + Transvaal, 77 + Trench, Archbishop, 27 and _note_[32] + Trevelyan, G. O., "Life of Fox" by, 52-53; estimate of, 59; + otherwise mentioned, 17, 65 + Trollope, 65 + Turgot, 49 + Turkey, tyranny of, 91 and _note_[127] + Tyndall, Prof., 50, 166 + Tyranny-- + Success as essence of, 143-144 + Turkish, 91 and _note_[127] + + + Ultramontanism. _See_ under Churches--Roman Catholic + United States-- + Abolitionists in, xx + Civil war in, Acton's lecture on, xxxv-xxxvii + Constitution of, French critic on, lviii + Democracy in, 93; Tocqueville's book on, xix + Dependencies in relation to, xxxix + Liberty, doctrine of, realised by, lvii + Monroe doctrine, 198 and _note_[245] + Ussher, 207 + + + Valdes, Juan, 136, 147 + Van Helmont, 139 + Vaticanism. _See_ under Churches--Roman Catholic + Victoria, Queen, Acton agreeable to, lxv; shot at, by a lunatic, 126 + and _note_[2]; Mentone residence of, 126, 128 + Vielcastel, 2 + Vinet, 146, 207 + + + Waddington, M., v, 171-172 + ---- Mme., v + Wagner (pol. economist), cited, 90, 97 + Waldegrave, Lady, 40 + Wales, Prince of, 109 + Wallace, Robert, 71 _note_[88] + Walshe, 140 + Warburton, 52 + Ward, Wilfrid, Wiseman's "Life" by, xvi; otherwise mentioned, 182, 206 + Waterland, 180 + Wealth, labour the source of, 92 + Webster, 47, 49 + Wellington, Duke of, 46, 93, 200 + Westcott, Dr., Bishop of Durham, 70, 203 + Wetherell, 218 + ---- (editor of _Chronicle_), xl + Whigs-- + Acton's sympathy with, 56, 107 + Constructive power lacking in, 111 + Democrats, dependence on, 108 + Seeley on, 7 + White, 140 + Wickham, Dr., 129, 135, 166 + Wilberforce, R. J., 180, 182 + ---- Bishop, 95, 106, 203 + Wilkinson, Bishop, 183, 203 + William III, 67, _note_[79] + Williams, Roger, 146 + Wilson, 52 + Wimpfen, 172 + Winchester, Bishop of (Winton), 70 + Windham, 46 + Wiseman, Dr., xvi, xxx-xxxii + Wolseley, Lord, 59, 77 + Wolverton, Lord, Irish views of, 65; estimate of, 67; otherwise + mentioned, 27, 89, 161, 188 + Women's Suffrage, 180-181 + _World_, 74 + + + Zulfikar, 208 + Zulus, 17; Cetewayo, 174 + + + + +THE END + + + + +Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. + +Edinburgh & London + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters of Lord Acton, by Lord Acton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS OF LORD ACTON *** + +***** This file should be named 38214.txt or 38214.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/2/1/38214/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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