Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-05-13
SIR CHARLES W. dixie.
A rlan of Brilliant Parts, Whose
Life Has Been a Sad Failure.
BELIEVES m PEACE, UNDERSTANDS WAR;
A Traveller. a scholar and n Keen oo-
server OF Men. sir Charles Vent
worth bike Is To-day Among the
First Inteiiects of England y
what He Relieves. -s-.si

Sir Charles Wentworth Dixie Is the second
baronet OF that ilk. He is one of tho mag
niiicent failures OF public life. He was at
one time in the direct succession to Mi.
Gladstone. He was in every respect the
strongest man among the liberals. HIS one
rival In the house Of commons was that
other superb failure Lord Randolph chur-
chill. There Is no occasion TO recall the dirty
little tragedy on which Sir Charles bikes
public life was wrecked. He had the mis-
fortune-or was guilty OF the crine-of boz
ing found out. When tho scandal was half
forgotten he slipped back into parliament IL
Is well known that the bitterest opponent OF
Sir Charles rehabilitation was Mr.. Gladstone,
whose code Of private morals is strict and
narrow. Now that the grand old man is out
Of the way 1t is almost certain that he VIII
attain the position TO which his abilities en-
title him. As 1t is, his opinions carry more
weight than those Of any man in his party.
He towers among the little mediocrities OF
the liberal party--tho Aclands, Asquiths,
and HarcOurts-like an intellectual giant. A
giant to be SURE, sadly smirched with Chel-
sea mud; but a man to be reckoned with
man 10 be feared aud followed.
My appointment with him was in the house
OF commons. / recall tho circumstances Of
the interview because they throw a certain
light on the mans character. He came into
the lobby to meet me. As approached two
Hunkies throw open the folding doors aud
disclosed Sir Charles Dixie. 1t was theatre
cal It was meodramAtic The house was
not sitting and we werp alone. Sir Charles
stood there, his hands behind his back ho
bowed with oyerpowering dignity. He is
about five feet ten in haight; a long beard,
turning to grayish brown, fell on his breast (;
his brow is high, his eyes large and feminine,
hut there is strength in the long nose aud
square lower face. With the same consum-
mate dignity--yery effective, but tribe
oyerdone-he led tho way to the smoking
room, where We sat and talked. A note Of
yanity2 Undoubtedly. Sir Charles is a hand
some man and the women have never let him
forget it, 1t IL, however, cntirelya personal
vanity; there is no intellectual priggishness
about him. He thinks quickly, speaks read.
lily, aud when the subject interests him every
shred sof alIectation sloughs on You see
then the secret Of his power. 1t lies in his
intense earneatness as much as in his intel
lectual vlrlllty. He Is distinctly viiile
man. There Is In him a note of dominance
that accounts for the high position he holds
In the liberal party. It is, Hs have said, an
unofficial position heis the scandal smirched
power behind the throne. The subjects Of
| Eugand's duty In preparing for war, Of tho
growth of Greater Britain" of all the mat
tors that make for tho domination OF tho
| Anglo-Saxon race he has made his own. Upon
them he speaks with an authority second to
none. He does not speak often. When he
does he has, to use journalistic phrase, the
"ear OF the house" and as we'll the "ear OF
the country
Sir Charles Dixie has an obstinate belief in
peace, but no man has more carefully studied
| the possibilities OF war. War against Great
Britain would follow the ordinary course Of
war in other countries.
"Thoy would have to defeat our fleets, - he
said, "and thcn probably invade u.s."
rs the British navy able to defend tho
United Kingdom II It concentrated in home
watorsg'
II do not question Il for a moment Moth
ing, however, is more certain to be ultimately
disastrous than to relinqulsh the power Of
the initiative and Of attack. II our fleets are
To be concentrated for home defense they
must abandon the remainder Of tho empire,
OF which only some portions are able to de-
iend themselves. The abandonment Of
Greater Britain would be as great blow to
the empire as the invasion OF Englaud and
capture OF London itself. II We were to con-
centrato in tho More and in tho channel a
fleet superior in strength to those OF two
European powers, they would not be MAD
enough to attack our huge armada, but would
sweep our cruisers from the ocean, capture