New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
London. March %


IFS master receiving, one pleasant
summer afternoon. a great company of
GUESTS Among the famous country
houses of England this is perhaps the
finest next after the one which knows
10 rival Windsor Castle: and the view
from the terrace is glorious. But what
Won looked at as you approached was
moi the view nor the house, but your
host Lord Salisbury. He was then
Prime Minister of England and For
ign Minister; one OF the greatest Min
isters England ever had. But | leave
notifies and official life on one side.
These are memories. personal mem
ori,s. and I am only concerned with the
man as ] knew him. Even So l do not
60 much beyond that summer of 1896
and the conclusion-the diplomatic con-
clusion-of the Venezuela dispute which
President Cleveland had wantonly pro-
voked
The man who stood on the steps of
Hatfield House would have been a
commanding figure anywhere He was
Of commanding height. broad in the
shoulder. deep-chested, broad and fun
,,here the waist ought to have been:
everywhere heavily built,-you might
have said clumsily but for the power
evident in all this bulk. and distinction
not less than power. You saw at once
he was not concerned about his APP
pearance. or his dress, nor about what
YOU might think of it or of him. The
head rose out of the shoulders abb
ruptly: on the same scale of greatness;
the mere size of il impressive; modelled
strongly. the whole of it; all intellect
and will; till you looked into the eyes
and saw there must be a heart some
where: the source of the kindly ex-
preston which was nevertheless pene-
tratng, questioning, judging. and in
the last resort Rhadamanthine.
At the moment. there being no occa-
sion for judicial severity, the fire burnt
low; and in the eyes as in the manner
was a friendly greeting from host to
guest. Needless to say there was no
cffusiveness, no delighted to see you:
neither sloppiness nor ceremony of
phrase That is not the general Eng
hsh way: nor the way of the Cecils. If
there be pride Of race ii is visible only
in simplicity of bearing; in the ac-
cepted spi. I which. as between men
who meet on even. terms socially,
makes them all equal Not so perhaps
IN FHzabeths time: certainly so in
Queen Nictoria's. With that, he had
the air OF remoteness which stamps
itself on the few men who, not by birth
or position mainly. but by long alb
sorption in great affairs of one kind or
another live their lives unto them
selves. but ever in the interest of the
state. or il may be the Church, or. as
with Lord Salisbury, both. You could
not but remember that between him
and Mr.. Gladstone far apart in almost
everything else, there was a community
Of religious and ecclesiastical interest.
With both the Church came first; the
life of the state was bound up with
the priest. Nor can YOU ever forget the
fine sentence in which the ConserVa-
tive. speaking in the House of Lords
after Mr.. Gladstones death, defined the
Liberal as "a great Christian States
man.: and then as "a great Christian
man
After a conventional sentence or two
Lord Salisbury said:
"You and / have been so much In
communication across the Atlantic;
don't YOU think we might talk it all
over? If YOU will come TO the Foreign
Office, Darlington will write you to fix
convenien. day
THAT is what / was going to ask you
TO arrange if you would
Sir Eric harrington was Lord Sails
burys private secretary; one OF the
men who stood nearest 10 him and had
served him long and faithfully. HIS
note appointed 3 o'clock the next after
noon but one. AS / went up the stars
| saw i'm front Of me broad back
rather bent, which / knew well; 1t be-
longed to Lord Pauncefote, then at the
height Of his fame as Ambassador in
Washington AS we met on the land
ing he said:
We are both on the same Grand.
Yes, but you. of course. go first ana
as you will have long talk / VIII ask
Darlington to give me another day"
"Oh, no. ! am only going to report
myself | shan't be five minutes"
He was as good as his word. l was
shown into the great reception room
nassively furnished in the manner
dear to the Victorian; looking
pleasantly out on the pleasant spaces
Of ST. James's Park, then unspoiled by
improvements. Lord Salisbury came In
from his private room, with that roll
ing gait which reminded you OF DE-
Johnson as Boswell describes him. ana
sat himself down on the sofa TO the
right Of the fireplace, facing the norni
windows. Through the west WINDOWS
STRAINED the red August sun.
Now Of course ! am in diiiicuity'
cannot say much about the talk which
then began without referring TO MI
Olney and to what had happened IN
Washington. But, as | explained last
week, when | asked Mr.. Olneys leave
TO give AN account of his share In those