Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. Part 54

Early in August Reeve was visited at Foxholes by Count Adam Krasinski [Footnote: Son of Ladislas and grandson of Reeve's early friend Sigismond Krasinski. He was born in 1870, and married at Vienna in 1897.]--a connecting link with the past, the merry days when he was young; and on Krasinski's departure, he went north to visit some friends in Wales and thence on to Chesters.

Parliament met on August 4th, and on a simple motion of want of confidence, as an amendment to the Address, the Ministry was defeated. Lord Salisbury resigned, and Mr. Gladstone came into office with a Cabinet in which every shade of unconst.i.tutional opinion and every socially destructive fad were fully represented. Reeve consoled himself with the belief that such a ministry could not last. To Mr. T. Norton Longman he wrote:--

_Chesters, August 22nd_.--I have been paying some visits in Wales and have come on here, where Mrs. Reeve preceded me. We find the Ogilvies very flouris.h.i.+ng, and the place beautiful. Here, at least, it is not hot, which seems to be the grievance elsewhere.

We are going to Rutland Gate on Friday and to Foxholes on Monday, and shall remain there, except for a visit to a neighbour.

I think Mr. Gladstone's Ministry a wretched affair. The old ones are worn out, and the young ones are not broken in, and bring no weight at all.

The sole gratification of every one of them is absolute submission and obedience to the Chief. But he will have some troublesome outsiders.

_Foxholes, September 7th_.--We shall stay here till October 6th, when I mean to come to London for two or three days, on our way to Knowsley. The world seems fast asleep after the excitement of the summer, and people have nothing to talk or write about but the cholera--which is not amusing.

It was whilst at Chesters that Reeve received a curious note from the Marquis of Lorne, written to 'The Editor of the "Edinburgh Review,"' as to a total stranger:--

Osborne, August 21st.

SIR,--I have found a number of original unpublished letters written by the Duke of Argyll in 1705 and the Earl of Leven in 1706, from Edinburgh, to Queen Anne and G.o.dolphin, on the measures taken in the Scots Parliament for the Union between England and Scotland, and am writing a notice of and giving extracts from these papers, and wish to ask if you would care to have this notice as an article in your 'Review.'

I remain, yours faithfully,

LORNE.

Reeve's answer corrected the mistake, and in forwarding the MS. referred to, to Foxholes, Lord Lorne wrote:--

Kensington Palace, September 5th.

My dear and ancient friend and editor,--I did not know, to my disgrace, that you are still in command. I never thought when the grey mare subsided under you at Inveraray, in--year, [Footnote: Blank in the original; meaning presumably--'so long ago that I've forgotten.' Reeve's one recorded visit to Inveraray was in August 1858 (_ante_, vol. i. p. 395), when the Marquis of Lorne was a boy of thirteen.] that in 1892 I should be writing to you about proofs! It makes me feel young again to think of you in your old capacity. If old times' gossip suits the 'Review,' please send the proofs to me here--to Kensington Palace--whence, if I be away, they will be forwarded to me.

Yours very faithfully,

LORNE.

A few days later came the following letter from Count Adam Krasinski, to whom, when at Foxholes, Reeve had given the letters of his grandfather, Sigismond Krasinski.

Royalin, September 10th.

SIR,--On arriving in Warsaw a few days ago, I took the liberty of sending you some bottles of wine from our cellar, among which is some Hungarian Tokay, one of the oldest wines we have, bought by my great-great-grandfather, the father of General Vincent, in the year of the latter's birth. I hope you will be so good as to accept this little present and make it welcome; for, being young myself, I have chosen an old amba.s.sador to thank you for your kindness to me. I can never sufficiently thank you for the charming way in which you have made me the handsome present of my grandfather's correspondence, which is of inestimable value to me. The more I read it the more I realise its value. It contains the whole developement of a n.o.ble character, and a fine nature, set forth in long, full, and frequent letters to a trusted friend. And what a pleasure it is to have the answers of this friend, so clearly showing your relations to each other, and the reciprocal influence of two minds! Thanks, and again thanks.

I am very well, and am at present with my stepfather in the Grand Duchy of Posnanie. Our plans for the winter are not yet fixed. Paris attracts me greatly; but, on the other hand, I am advised to go to Heidelberg, where there is better air and a milder climate. In any case, I will endeavour to revisit England next year, and so recall myself to your memory.

Agreez, Monsieur, l'expression de ma tres grande consideration, a laquelle je joins des sentiments respectueux pour Madame votre femme.

ADAM KRASINSKI.

To Mr. Norton Longman at this time Reeve wrote--primarily on the business of the 'Review,' but incidentally on a literary conundrum which was just then causing a little excitement:--

_Foxholes, September 16th_.--I do not think the translation of a French book on Political Economy is _prima facie_ advisable. But the book seems (from the accounts in the 'Nation') to be so excellent that I should be glad to see it, and may have it reviewed in the 'Edinburgh.' The t.i.tle is, 'Le Capital, la Speculation et la Finance au XIXe Siecle;' par Claudio Jannet. Published by Plon.

No one who knew Sir Richard Wallace could believe that he wrote 'The Englishman in Paris.' I said from the first that it was a mere collection of old gossip to be pa.s.sed off on the English public as something racy. If Grenville Murray were alive, this is exactly the sort of thing he would have done. But Grenville Murray left a son, who must now be grown up, and who may have inherited some of his father's sinister talents. They have lived for many years in Paris. Sir Richard Wallace was the very type of a gentleman of the highest breeding--rather stern, melancholy, not at all humorous, and incapable of vulgarity or pretence.

October slipped away in visits to Stratton (Lord Northbrook's) and to Knowsley, and the remainder of the year for the most part at Foxholes. In December Reeve was proposing to have a review of Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff's 'Life of Sir Henry Maine,' and consulted the author as to who would be the best fitted to write it. This is what Sir Mountstuart wrote in reply:--

_Twickenham, December 11th_.--I am very proud to find that so excellent a judge thinks well of my little memoir of Maine. As to the article about which you write, I think Sir Frederick Pollock would be very much the best man to undertake it--the only man who could tell us, without any bias, what I exceedingly want to know: how much of Maine's juridical speculations, especially in 'Ancient Law,' is finally accepted. He may say that he has said his say about Maine; but he has not; he has said a little, but I am sure he has a great deal more to say. I wish to know the real value of each of Maine's books.... I am writing a quite small book about Renan--the only great Frenchman of our day whom you did not know very well.

The next was a Christmas greeting from Lord Derby, with an interesting comment on the situation in France:--

_Knowsley, December 5th_.--Thanks for your letter of inquiry and good wishes; the latter are cordially returned. Lady Derby joins me in the hope that the coming year may be one of health and happiness to you and yours. I cannot give a very rosy account of myself, being still ill and weak; even if all goes well, I expect to have to lead in future a life of quiet and privacy. My days of speeches are almost certainly ended; and after forty-four years of public life, I do not much regret it.

The developement of events in 1893 will be interesting to watch. All reports agree that Gladstone is taking the work of his office very easily, and that he leaves nearly everything to his colleagues. That will not be so easy in the Session. The Cabinet will be prevented by fear of ridicule from breaking up on the Irish Bill, but all their friends and backers seem prepared for its failure.

You are a hopeless pessimist as to French affairs. They certainly are not going on smoothly, but where is the new Boulanger? Bourbons and Bonapartes are played out; and France might advertise for a dictator without finding one. If that be so, what threatens the republic? A socialist outbreak would only strengthen it. Surely a nation may go on muddling its affairs a long while without mortal harm.

Waddington, I am told, was informed by his friends that he had no right to remain a Senator without taking his seat, and that he must give up one position or the other. This is the excuse made for his recall. The truth, I suppose, is that his place was wanted. He will be a real loss.

With the new year the party from Foxholes came to town, and there Reeve was laid up with a serious illness which lasted nearly a month. The Journal notes on February 7th--'I attended a dinner of The Club, and resigned the treasurers.h.i.+p, which I had held for twenty-five years.' A corresponding entry a month later, on March 7th, is 'At the third dinner of The Club.

Lord Salisbury came "to my obsequies" and Gladstone wrote to me. Grant Duff elected to the treasurers.h.i.+p.'

Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff has been so good as to amplify this by a note from his own diary. 'At the dinner on February 7th, 1893'--he writes--'I was in the chair.... Reeve made a statement for which he had prepared me by letter, to the effect that his great age, breaking health, and frequent absences from London, would oblige him to resign ere long the treasurers.h.i.+p of The Club--the only office which exists in connection with it. He has held it for some five-and-twenty years, and it is not surprising that his voice faltered as he addressed us....

_March 21st_--Dined with The Club, taking my seat for the first time as treasurer. After the last meeting mentioned, Reeve wrote to me to say that there was a feeling in favour of my becoming his successor, and asked whether I should object. I replied in the negative, and on the 7th I was unanimously elected, upon the proposal of Sir Henry Elliot, who was in the chair, and was seconded by Lord Salisbury.'

Of the correspondence of this period there is little. Lord Derby, who was almost, or quite, the last of his political correspondents, was too ill to write, and died on April 21st. On the 27th Reeve attended the funeral service at St. Margaret's. Letters relating to the 'Review,' of course, continued. Here are three referring to a political problem which, so lately as five years ago, few could have the patience to be bothered with. That Reeve, at his advanced age, could take it up with such interest is a strong proof of the vitality and even freshness of his intellect.

_To Rear-Admiral Bridge_

62 Rutland Gate: April 27th.

My dear admiral,--I wish you would read an article in 'Blackwood's Magazine' for May (just out) on the Russian occupation of Manchuria. I never read a more impudent piece of _blague._ ------ must have written it.

n.o.body else would boast of swindling the Chinese with a false map.

This induces me to ask whether you could not give me a short article for the 'Review' on The Russians on the Pacific' and the naval effects of their position at Vladivostock. They have made it a fortress, but it will take a long time to make it a settlement. But it may become important.

Yours very faithfully,

H. REEVE.

_April 30th._--I am very glad you will revert to the North Pacific. You should refer to your excellent article of 1880, which I have read over again. It seems to exhaust the subject as far as relates to the settlements on the Amoor, and even as to Vladivostock; but I suppose that thirteen years have materially augmented the strength of Russia on the Pacific, and any additional information would be valuable.

_Foxholes, May 23rd_.--I am much obliged to you for your interesting article. I think the best heading would be 'Russia on the Pacific.' As I am much pressed for room, I have ventured to excise some of your introductory remarks, which are not essential to the main objects of the paper; but when you come to positive business at Vladivostock, all that you say is most excellent and important. I believe the Siberian railroad--like the line to Samarkand--is only a single line. Such a line 5,000 miles long is a very ineffective instrument for military and commercial purposes. How much can it carry, allowing for return trains, chiefly empty? Where is Russia, with a debt equal in charge to our own, to find forty millions sterling for such a work, which would be wholly unproductive? It is true that, by employing troops and Turkomans, the work may be done cheaply; but all this will take a long time.

I am very glad you touch on the question between France and Siam: it is a serious one.

In the early days of July the Reeves settled down for the summer at Foxholes, avoiding the great heat, with the thermometer at 80 F. when in London it was reaching as high as 93 F. In the beginning of September Reeve, together with his wife, returned to London, crossed over to Boulogne, and so to Chantilly, where, as the guests of the Due d'Aumale, they spent his 80th birthday. They stayed there till the 12th, and returned, again by Boulogne and London, to Foxholes. It was his last visit to the France he had loved so well. The year was in many respects a sad one. His own health was becoming very uncertain, and gout, feverish colds, and violent bleeding of the nose laid him up for weeks at a time. The deaths of his friends, too, recurring in rapid succession, were frequent reminders of what he had written nearly sixty-two years before: 'Between seventy and eighty there rarely remains more than one change to be made.'

[Footnote: See _ante_, vol. i. p. 17.] He had now exceeded the higher limit, and it happened that the obituary of 1893 contained an unusual number of men of high literary and scientific distinction. Through all, however, Reeve's head remained clear, and his work was seldom disturbed.

There is no sickness or feebleness in the following:--

_To Mr. T. Norton Longman_