New-York tribune., 1910-07-31
Anglo-American Memories
IXN VIII.
GOODWIN sMfrH APOSTLE, HISTORIAN,
psRAELI-THE CANADIAN ouARsEL-coM-
MORLEY.
eonpynght, 1910, by George " sneiley.)

leader could strike blows that hurt when
he cared =, but he often conteuted him
self with an expression of contempt; al
most always cheap retort because not
often sincere. and still less often ener-
getic- That seems to have been all he
meant to suggest when he remarked: II
am told I am pursued in the public press
by an Oxford Professor named Smith,
II the oxford Professor had political
ambitions, as he had, q wrangle OF this
sort with Disraeli was not the way to
promote them. But there were other
reasons which stood in the way. Two
things darkeued his life and changed its
course. The first was his failure to win
the Oriei fellowship on which his heart
was set, and the success of his rival
Dean Burgon. whom he called buf-
foon, as perhaps he was It. may seem
no great matter, especially as he did Sc
cure q University College fellowship and
as his Oxford career was starred with
scholarships and prizes. and later he be-
came Regius Professor Of Modern His
tory at Oxford. But he was profoundly
chagrined and he did not conceal his
chagrin. He carried il with him across
the Atlantic: it was one of the causes
which drove him into exile. The second
OF the two tragedies was the insanity OF
his father, doctor in Reading, Berks;
and the dread lest e similar fate might
be his. happily q groundless dread. But
il is easy to understand that man pur-
sued by such phantom as that m1gnt
shrink from the collisions OF public Hte-
During visits to Canada I used to hear
Goldwin Smith discussed in varying
tones The fact that he took Cornen on
his way did not predispose the Cana
dians TO like him. Were there not uni
versties in Canada, and was not an
Englishman's first duty to his OWN coun-
try and her outlying provinces? Then
came his theory OF Canadian absorption
by the United States. which Canada
hated, and from hating the theory TO
hating the author of II was no long
sep. BY and by the theory was re-
linouished and the theorist became pop
ular on quite other grounds, and re-
nained so. There grew UP an affection
toward him His choice of Canada for
his home lent distinction to the Dor1fn-
devotion to the land in which he had
chosen to dwell. But now, since his
death. comes the gift of his fortune TO
Cornell. and this, I.aturally enough, IS
resented. Why should an Englishman
endow an American college? But the
Engli5hmaa had spent great part OF
his life in trying 10 abolish some OF the
barriers between English and AmeT1-
cans: between what he always regarded
as two halves of the one British race.
He had other enthusiasms, some OF
which he kept in cold storage and took
out as they were wanted. But they
we're enthusiasms still.
The Englishman 10 whom Goldwin
Smith seems nearest akin, intellectually
and personally. is Lord Morley. Yet in
stantiy contrasts present themselves,
ana the contrasts seem sharper than
the rkenesses. Lord Morley long had
IN him, and still has. not less Of the
: ascetic than Goodwin Smith, yet this did
not prevent him from entering public
life and making himself Z. great place
there which he still keeps. The ascet-
cism was somehow consistent with real
sweetness Of nature and a real sympa-
thetic concern in the interests of others
He left Journalism, as Lord Miner did,
Tor politics-high politics and to-day
I he governs 30 o0oo Of Oriental sub
iects Of the Crown. He has laid aside
SO much of his early Radicalism as
would have made his Secretaryship Of
India. q disaster. He does not apply 10
the government OF the great military
dependency Of India the principles of
Nr Keir Hardie or of our great Mr.
Bryan who based his eight columns Of
criticism upon English rule in India on
the ignorant belief that India is a
colony. Lord Morley, in short, is so
constituted that he is capable Of COM
promise, and has that practical side to
his character which has made him q
very able. very useful, very sensible
ca binet minister. If I were 10 enter
upon a parallel between him and Gold
win Smith I should have TO leave out
all that The parallel between them lies
!n their intellectual qualities, their ca
pacity for scholarship, their unswerving
LOYALTY TO ideals, and in each touch OF
something like fanaticism; in Lord
Morley his 'sombre acquiescence" In the
ferocities Of the French Revolution; and
in GoIdwin Smith his long cherished but
academic faith in the readiness Of the
Canadians TO cease to be Canadians.
G. ". s