The pleasantest incident in the session of 1893 was when my father went to Marlborough House in July as one of a deputation of five members to present the Address of congratulation from the House of Commons to the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of York on the marriage of the Duke of York.

My father had a great admiration for Lord Rosebery, and his pleasure in the Ch. Ch. Gaudy was always enhanced by Lord Rosebery's presence. He was there in June 1894 as Prime Minister, and just after he had won the Derby.

"June 22, 1894. I had a very pleasant visit to Oxford, and a good deal of chat with the Bishop and Mrs Creighton: he is evidently a very able man, and not a mere divine and historian. Commemoration was dull and the day wet. Merry of course first-rate, although he did not say enough about Coleridge. Rosebery arrived at the Deanery soon after 6. His first question in the drawing-room was, "Where are the children?' so they were sent for, and he began to romp with them, and they made such a row running about the gallery. We dined a little over 100, and it was a real delight to sit next to my young friend Rosebery,' as I called him. The Dean made very good speeches,-Queen,' 'Prince of Wales,' 'The Christ Church Prime Ministers of Queen Victoria,'-'Peel,' 'Derby,' 'Gladstone,' 'Salisbury,' Rosebery.' The last responded so delightfully, and enlarged on all the Ch. Ch. Premiers of century_xix.

- Lord Grenville, Duke of Portland, Lord Liverpool, Mr Canning. He said he was the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle. The Dean proposed the new D.C.L.'s, to which Sir E. Fry, and

Then

Captain Mahan (U.S. Navy), responded,—a charming fellow. I responded, and proposed the Dean, the Dean proposed the Burgesses. and he responded, and proposed Ch. Ch. It was rather a job to speak after two such men as Rosebery and Paget. However, they all seemed well pleased with what I said. I praised Rosebery for having kept up his classical training, and said that any man might own a good horse, but it was not every one who could give him a good name (Ladas) and send one back to Juvenal.1 When we came back to the Deanery our young friend kept us going till midnight."

À propos of this speech, I

remember my father telling us afterwards that when Lord Rosebery made the quotation, his neighbour (a divine, I think) nudged him in the ribs and said, "Why doesn't he finish the quotation? why doesn't he finish the quotation?-Because I persecuted the Church of God." The question of the Welsh Church was just then the question of the day.

In 1894 my father visited the Crimea with Sir John Pender, on his steam - yacht Electra. There were on board Lord Wolseley, Sir Evelyn Wood, Mr Bayard, the American Ambassador, Lord Kelvin, and others. I give some extracts from his diary

-Sat. 13. 96.

Ajax, and Patroclus. Then we passed through the Dardanelles, the Asian Castle Chanak very picturesque—an old medieval fort and new earth fortifications up to date-the old big marble shells piled up in heaps along the shore; then by Sestos and Abydos, and so past Gallipoli. I amused them by repeating the lines about-

'Here I am and here I stay, Anchored in Besika Bay,' which even Wolseley did not know.

"Aug. 22.-Arrived at Sebastopol, Black Sea mild as Marmora, and amiable as the Egean after the boisterous Bosphorus. The place has surprised me. There are here and there a few houses shattered by the siege. But the whole town is practically rebuilt, looks as bright as Naples and much cleaner, and does credit to Russian energy. Left cards on the Governor, Admiral, and General. Drove to Flagstaff Bastion, afterwards to Cathcart's Hill, then, leaving Redan to left, to Malakoff. The Governor and Admiral of the Port in full uniform dined with us and the British Consul.

"23rd.-Started at 8 in four carriages, each with three horses. Drove to Alma, twenty miles very rough road. Walked to Telegraph Hill and various spots on the battlefield. Lunched in a cool spot outside an orchard shaded with poplars and willows on bank of the river.

"24th.-Started at 10 in a launch for Inkerman Bridge, a beautiful twenty minutes' run to mouth of Tchernaya. Then Pender, our consul, and I went along the Tchernaya under the heights of Inkerman, saw the spot where the astounding folly of the charge of the Light Brigade blotted our Balaclava victory. Wolseley, Wood, Portsmouth, and Ardagh rode. Had tea with the Governor and his wife and her sister and brother; sat at table in a large balcony, tea, wine, and fruit. Ladies talked English. The Russian Black Sea fleet espied in harboursix ironclads. Torpedo-boats, &c., all ready to start for the Golden Horn when required! I am more struck than ever by the folly and futility of the war into which we drifted in 1854, and I should like to send the effigies of Aberdeen and Gladstone to

light a bonfire on some commanding height.

Aug. 31.-Had a most interesting audience with his Imperial Majesty the Sultan. We drove in three carriages up to the Mosque where the Selamlik is held. We occupied the same kiosk as I did in 1890. The Sultan arrived soon after 12.30. His coachman drove. Osman Pacha (the hero of Plevna) sat opposite to him. The Sultan drove himself backdriving alone with no servants, although attended by people on foot and horseback. During service we had Russian tea with lemon, and were invited to go to another kiosk (that of the Ambassadors). There we found the Italian Ambassador (Signor Catalani) and his son, a youth of eighteen (grandson of old Musurus), who has just left Harrow after gaining the first prize for Shakespeare and Latin. His father introduced me to him, and I had a good deal of chat. Ambassadors were necessarily intended to have an audience. Mr Bayard was introduced by his Minister. Our turn came last. We were taken upstairs, through two rooms into the presence - chamber, where were the Sultan and his Chamberlain, Munir Pacha. The room was very dark. Abdul Hamid looks much older than his age (fifty-two), is very Jewish, with an aquiline nose, and dignified. He shook hands with us all separately. Then the chief dragoman to our Embassy presented each one-speaking in Turkish. The Sultan spoke in Turkish. The dragoman translated the Sultan's speeches into English, and our replies, which were in English, into Turkish. To Lord Wolseley, who was first, the Sultan said very little. He addressed Sir J. Pender next, then Lord Portsmouth, and Lord Kelvin. He then said to me he hoped I liked his country. I told him I had visited it before, and was delighted to have an opportunity of seeing it again. He said it did not look well now in consequence of the earthquake. I replied England had sympathised with the sufferers at Constantinople, and we had done what we could to express our sympathy. Sir Evelyn Wood's turn came next, and the Sultan asked if he had been in the

He

Crimean war. He said he had. was then in the navy, and served in the trenches. His Majesty looked more animated and pleased during his talk with Wood than at any other time. Then he asked some casual question of Sir J. Ardagh, and added he was sorry he could not see more of us as it was a very busy day (being his Accession day seventeen years ago), and he had to give so many audiences. Then he shook hands again with each of us separately, and we bowed ourselves out and retired.

Returning, went through the Canal recently opened."

In April 1895 my father was greatly gratified by being asked to propose Sir M. White Ridley for the Speakership, by the special desire of both Mr Balfour and Sir Matthew. He wrote on April 8:

"Whitbread and I have conferred,

and we shall not abuse each other or each other's candidate. The Speaker has just given us a most charming valedictory address, quite like himself; so when Gladstone and two generations of Peels have passed away, it almost seems time for me to go also."

And on April 10 :—

success.

"You will like to know how 'the speech' went off. I think I may without vanity say it was a distinct I have been overwhelmed with compliments, not only from our own side, but from Tim Healy, who told me there was so much fun and wit in it, and Blake, who said, 'Sir John Mowbray, why don't you speak

oftener in the House?' John Burns

said I had almost converted him; Willie Redmond, that I had converted him, Dr Tanner, &c. Walter Foster told me they were all delighted on the Treasury bench, and George Lefevre said it was the best speech I had made in my life. The House was with me all through, and I made two or three distinct hits. Whitbread

looked as if he did not like his task. You would have been amused, too,

at the 'perfect ovation' I got at the Carlton-members of our House,

those who were in the Gallery, all coming up to congratulate. People on both sides said I had the honours of the day."

to

He and his candidate no doubt had the honours of the day; but from the moment Mr Gully was elected my father, as he has said in a previous article, conceived the highest opinion of his powers and of his firmness and knowledge of the ways of the House. When the time came for the new House to meet, with a 150 for Lord majority of Salisbury's Government, and feelings were divided as whether the majority should disregard what had happened earlier in the year and elect a Speaker from among themselves, my father exerted his influence strongly in favour of the constitutional practice of retaining a Speaker, with the result that he had the unique experience of proposing as Speaker, in August, the candidate he had opposed in April. There was nothing forced or insincere in what he said in August, as Mr Speaker Gully had won golden opinions from him by his management of the House during May and June.

He has already mentioned having presented the address from Oxford University on her Majesty's Jubilee in 1897. He enjoyed doing so extremely, and was delighted with the show made by Oxford, the deputation (consisting of about thirty) being headed by Lord Salisbury in full robes, his train borne by two grandsons. Cambridge sent twenty, headed by the Duke of Devonshire,

with Mr Victor train - bearer.

Cavendish as London University mustered about a dozen. It was a beautiful scene, the Throne Room was lined with the Indian Imperial Service Corps in their magnificent uniforms, and he specially noted how well the Queen looked and how admirably Lord Salisbury read the Address. The question as to the Fathership of the House after Mr Villiers' death afforded him some amusement. I may add that he never had any doubt himself as to his right to the title. On the first day of the session of 1898 he wrote:

"Things have been very pleasant and amusing. First the policeman's greeting, Hope you are quite well, Sir John; you have quite recovered your colour. Then the chorus in the House and lobbies is, 'How well you look!' Cohen said, 'You want to be the Father of the House, but I shall vote against you on one ground only -you look too young, you look younger than you did last year.' The Speaker's greeting was very pleasant and I hope significant as he shook me by the hand he said, 'I suppose I must greet you as Father of the House in spite of what I read to the contrary.' Men of all shades of opinion seem to take the same view, and if I may draw any conclusion, the feeling of the House is very much in my favour. Dr Tanner said, 'Now you are the Father, we must look after your health.' The three Clerks all greeted me in a row. Palgrave said something on saluting the Father, Milman followed, and said Undoubtedly, and then Jenkinson joined in chorus."

My father's interest in young men was very marked, and I think that it grew stronger as years went on. Any young man of promise on either side of the House attracted his attention. Amongst those whose

careers he specially watched I may mention Mr Asquith, and in later years Sir E. Gray; and, above all, Lord Curzon of Kedleston, whom he had watched from his Eton days, rejoicing in the brilliant speeches which he made whilst Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and often saying, "They must take him into the Cabinet."

During the many years of his parliamentary life there were very few members for whom he had not a good word, and in return, I believe, few who had not a kindly feeling for him. Mr Justin M'Carthy has spoken in his Reminiscences of his pleasant intercourse with my father, and the feeling of respect and regard was mutual. With the Labour Members also he was always friendly. His dislike of Mr Bradlaugh's opinions did not prevent him from holding a very high view of Mr Bradlaugh's capacity. With Mr John Burns he was on most

friendly terms; and he had quite

a bond of union with Mr Broadhurst in the love and admiration they both felt for Oxford, and, above all, for Christ Church. Mr Broadhurst often referred to the time when he had worked on the repairs to the Cathedral, now many years ago.

My father went to the opening of Parliament on February 7, 1899, and wrote his last letter about the House on that day :—

He voted against Mr S. Smith's amendment to the Address, with regard to discipline in the Church of England, and then left the Houseonly to return for the Budget speech on Thursday, April 13. He went there again on the following Monday, when he left it to return no more. His love for it remained to the last, and no ending to his life could have been more fitting than that he should have spent the last hours he passed out of his own house in that other House which he had known and loved for seventy years.

I have said nothing here as to my father's views on Church questions, nor is this the place to do so at length. From a constitutional point of view, I know that he regretted that the Public Worship Regulation Act of 1874 had not been submitted to Convocation before being introduced into Parliament, and to the end of his life he was what I suppose would be described as an old-fashioned High Churchman. The following letter to Mr Nye, written on April 15, a week before he died, may be of interest showing the freshness of his interests and the tenacity of his judgment up to the last:

as

"A heavy domestic affliction has involved my absence from London for more than two months. Upon my return I find your kind letter with your valuable book, 'The Story of the Oxford Movement.' I accept your kind gift with much gratitude, and I may add that I had previously read it with great satisfaction.

"You place the Oxford Movement and most of its leaders in their true VOL. CLXVII.-NO. MXI.

position. They had no sympathy with the Ritualism of this fin - de - siècle age.

Pusey and Keble and many others had no sympathy with what attracts so many of our younger clergy and offends the English laity. And it is well that the truth should be set forth by one who knows what he is writing about. Mr Walsh's so-called 'History' of the movement is nothing of the kind."

This was probably the last letter he ever wrote, and it may fitly conclude these fragmentary reminiscences-showing him to have been in the truest sense "qualis ab incepto "-consistent to the close.

In previous articles [Sir John wrote] I have said something of the great figures at Westminster during my earlier political career. A word or two now about one or two of the most distinguished of my later contemporaries. Mr Bright, of course, was one of the great figures of this period, as he was of the earlier which ended with the death of Palmerston. It is not necessary to add to what I have said already about his eloquence. He was always very greatly in earnest. I recollect his once saying something or other in the Quaker vein, and Palmerston, in replying, referred to him as the "Reverend Gentleman"! There was no love lost between the two. But Mr Bright was in earnest about everything. His keenness in voting for the Union, and in upholding it in all matters and not merely in the Irish Question, was extraordinary. He was a very simI remember once

ple man.

D