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قراءة كتاب Prime Ministers and Some Others A Book of Reminiscences
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Prime Ministers and Some Others A Book of Reminiscences
PRIME MINISTERS
AND SOME OTHERS
A BOOK OF REMINISCENCES BY THE
RIGHT HONOURABLE
TO
THE EARL CURZON OF KEDLESTON,
K.G.,
I INSCRIBE THIS BOOK,
NOT SHARING HIS OPINIONS BUT
PRIZING HIS FRIENDSHIP
My cordial thanks for leave to reproduce papers already published are due to my friend Mr. John Murray, and to the Editors of the Cornhill Magazine, the Spectator, the Daily News, the Manchester Guardian, the Church Family Newspaper, and the Red Triangle.
G. W. E. R.
July, 1918.
CONTENTS
I.—PRIME MINISTERS
| I. | LORD PALMERSTON |
| II. | LORD RUSSELL |
| III. | LORD DERBY |
| IV. | BENJAMIN DISRAELI |
| V. | WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE |
| VI. | LORD SALISBURY |
| VIII. | ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR |
| IX. | HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN |
II.—IN HONOUR OF FRIENDSHIP
| I. | GLADSTONE—AFTER TWENTY YEARS |
| II. | HENRY SCOTT HOLLAND |
| III. | LORD HALLIFAX |
| IV. | LORD AND LADY RIPON |
| V. | "FREDDY LEVESON" |
| VI. | SAMUEL WHITBREAD |
| VII. | HENRY MONTAGU BUTLER |
| VIII. | BASIL WILBERFORCE |
| IX. | EDITH SICHEL |
| X. | "WILL" GLADSTONE |
| XI. | LORD CHARLES RUSSELL |
| I. | A STRANGE EPIPHANY |
| II. | THE ROMANCE OF RENUNCIATION |
| III. | PAN-ANGLICANISM |
| IV. | LIFE AND LIBERTY |
| V. | LOVE AND PUNISHMENT |
| VI. | HATRED AND LOVE |
| VII. | THE TRIUMPHS OF ENDURANCE |
| VIII. | A SOLEMN FARCE |
IV.—POLITICS
| I. | MIRAGE |
| II. | MIST |
| III. | "DISSOLVING THROES" |
| IV. | INSTITUTIONS AND CHARACTER |
| V. | REVOLUTION—AND RATIONS |
| VI. | "THE INCOMPATIBLES" |
| VII. | FREEDOM'S NEW FRIENDS |
V.—EDUCATION
| I. | EDUCATION AND THE JUDGE |
| II. | THE GOLDEN LADDER |
| III. | OASES |
| IV. | LIFE, LIBERTY, AND JUSTICE |
| V. | THE STATE AND THE BOY |
| VI. | A PLEA FOR INNOCENTS |
| I. | THE "HUMOROUS STAGE" |
| II. | THE JEWISH REGIMENT |
| III. | INDURATION |
| IV. | FLACCIDITY |
| V. | THE PROMISE OF MAY |
| VI. | PAGEANTRY AND PATRIOTISM |
VII.—FACT AND FICTION
| I. | A FORGOTTEN PANIC |
| II. | A CRIMEAN EPISODE |
I
PRIME MINISTERS
PRIME MINISTERS AND SOME OTHERS
I
LORD PALMERSTON
I remember ten Prime Ministers, and I know an eleventh. Some have passed beyond earshot of our criticism; but some remain, pale and ineffectual ghosts of former greatness, yet still touched by that human infirmity which prefers praise to blame. It will behove me to walk warily when I reach the present day; but, in dealing with figures which are already historical, one's judgments may be comparatively untrammelled.
I trace my paternal ancestry direct to a Russell who entered the House of Commons at the General Election of 1441, and since 1538 some of us have always sat in one or other of the two Houses of Parliament; so I may be fairly said to have the Parliamentary tradition in my blood. But I cannot profess to have taken any intelligent interest in political persons or doings before I was six years old; my retrospect, therefore, shall begin with Lord Palmerston, whom I can recall in his last Administration, 1859-1865.
I must confess that I chiefly remember his outward characteristics—his large, dyed, carefully brushed whiskers; his broad-shouldered figure, which always seemed struggling to be upright; his huge and rather distorted feet—"each foot, to describe it mathematically, was a four-sided irregular figure"—his strong and comfortable seat on the old white hack which carried him daily to the House of Commons. Lord Granville described him to a nicety: "I saw him the other night looking very well, but old, and wearing a green shade, which he afterwards concealed. He looked like a retired old croupier from