New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-15
Anglo-American Memories
IXVII.
AoHo HANoolPH cHuRcHILl-RENe MOSTLY
'coDyriEht. 1910. BY George ". srn.n.y.,
II.

george W. STuaHsy-1
pulsorily but from true good will TO
men. Lord Randolph invested the $4,000
in Rand gold-mining shares on the adj
vice of that American engineer of genius.
Mr.. Perkins. who inferred from the dip
of the collaborating reefs the direction
and depth at which they could be over
taken by shafts sunk far south of the
actual gold area. The world knows the
result and is the richer by hundreds of
millions for the vision which pierced the
outer crust of the earth and saw the
treasures hidden below Mr. Perkins
was. in fact. the engineer whom Lord
Rothschild had sent to South Africa with
Lord Randolph. They had gone through
Mashonaland together vainly, and the
ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer now in
vested his 5000 in Rand shares. But
values of that nature require time and,
being in want of money, he sold two
f1fths of his investment. The remainder
he held till his death, when it was dis
posed of for something over e 10000. A
comforJa bic fortune to leave? Yes, COM
estate. That was one form which his
contempt for money took. He lived on
the principal. 1t is no matter of censure,
He was born and built that way. The
strain Of frugality in the first Duke of
Marlborough had worn itself out.
My last meeting with Lord Randolph
was at Tring, Lord Rothschiid's place in
. IA m q
the grip of the illness which was to de-
stroy him: nervous, irritable, restless In
manner. haggard to look at, and his
speech uncertain. I don't like to think
of it, and I mention it only for the sake
of the contrast. For now and again the
old brilliancy reappeared, and the old
charm. He had both in a measure given
TO few men Wilfu1 as he was, with a
freedom of speech which overpassed the
usual social limits, he had also, when he
chose, the graces and gifts which made
him beloved of men and of women. No
man made more enemies; but in this
worldly which / mean this world of
England and other worlds where the
English people have built new civfliza-
tions-it is not enmities which count
but friendships.
Whether you saw him in the House Of
Commons, leading it as no man had ever
led it, or at a dinner. or on the platform,
or. If you like. on the Turf or in other
places which the Puritan thinks of the
Devil, he had the same ascendancy. He
said once TO Lord Rosebery that to both
of them their titles had been helpful in
public life. Nc doubt but something
besides q title Gescends, or may descend,
&c him who bears it. Not every son Of
q duke has upon him the stamp of the
patrician. That is what Lord Randolph
had. An imperious temper, an intel
lectuaI disdain Of natures from which in
tellects had been omitted, moods of
black despair late in life, but all through
life the set resolve to win his battles
without much thought of the cost-aH
these he had, and no one of them nor
all of them broke or impaired the spell
he laid upon those about him.
Narrow means never stinted his gem
erositv. Uncertain health never stilled
his passion for work. I never went into
his library that I did not find him busy.
I have seen him at dinner turn away
from the distinguished woman who
passed for the most amusing Of takers
to devote himself to q neglected stranger
When he quarrelled with the Prince Of
Wales (King Edward and went into
a kind of social exile for seven years,
while he was quite aware Of the price
he was paying, he never dreamed of sur
render. When Lord Salisbury. not
choosing to remember, or perhaps not
able to remember, his services and his
capacities, passed him over in 1891 for
the last time, and gave the leadership
of the House of Commons TO his nephew,
Mr. Balfour. he writes to his wife: "AIl
confirms me in my decision to have done
with politics and try to make a little
money for the boys and for ourselves"
On his release from party obligations he
sought others, and his sister Lady Tweed
mouth. between whom and himself there
was on both sides a devoted attachment,
persuaded him to see something of men
from whom he had held aloof. Mr..
Gladstone was among these and I end
with Mr. Gladstone's remark about Lord
Randolph: He was the courtliest man
I ever met G. ". S.