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Prime Ministers and Some Others A Book of Reminiscences By: George William Erskine Russell (1853-1919) |
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AND SOME OTHERS
A BOOK OF REMINISCENCES BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE W. E. RUSSELL
TO
THE EARL CURZON OF KEDLESTON,
K.G., I INSCRIBE THIS BOOK,
NOT SHARING HIS OPINIONS BUT
PRIZING HIS FRIENDSHIP
NOTE My cordial thanks for leave to reproduce papers already published
are due to my friend Mr. John Murray, and to the Editors of the
Cornhill Magazine , the Spectator , the Daily News , the Manchester
Guardian , the Church Family Newspaper , and the Red Triangle . G. W. E. R. July , 1918.
CONTENTS I. PRIME MINISTERS I. LORD PALMERSTON
II. LORD RUSSELL
III. LORD DERBY
IV. BENJAMIN DISRAELI
V. WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE
VI. LORD SALISBURY
VIII. ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR
IX. HENRY CAMPBELL BANNERMAN II. IN HONOUR OF FRIENDSHIP I. GLADSTONE AFTER TWENTY YEARS
II. HENRY SCOTT HOLLAND
III. LORD HALLIFAX
IV. LORD AND LADY RIPON
V. "FREDDY LEVESON"
VI. SAMUEL WHITBREAD
VII. HENRY MONTAGU BUTLER
VIII. BASIL WILBERFORCE
IX. EDITH SICHEL
X. "WILL" GLADSTONE
XI. LORD CHARLES RUSSELL III. RELIGION AND THE CHURCH I. A STRANGE EPIPHANY
II. THE ROMANCE OF RENUNCIATION
III. PAN ANGLICANISM
IV. LIFE AND LIBERTY
V. LOVE AND PUNISHMENT
VI. HATRED AND LOVE
VII. THE TRIUMPHS OF ENDURANCE
VIII. A SOLEMN FARCE IV. POLITICS I. MIRAGE
II. MIST
III. "DISSOLVING THROES"
IV. INSTITUTIONS AND CHARACTER
V. REVOLUTION AND RATIONS
VI. "THE INCOMPATIBLES"
VII. FREEDOM'S NEW FRIENDS V. EDUCATION I. EDUCATION AND THE JUDGE
II. THE GOLDEN LADDER
III. OASES
IV. LIFE, LIBERTY, AND JUSTICE
V. THE STATE AND THE BOY
VI. A PLEA FOR INNOCENTS VI. MISCELLANEA I. THE "HUMOROUS STAGE"
II. THE JEWISH REGIMENT
III. INDURATION
IV. FLACCIDITY
V. THE PROMISE OF MAY
VI. PAGEANTRY AND PATRIOTISM VII. FACT AND FICTION I. A FORGOTTEN PANIC
II. A CRIMEAN EPISODE
I PRIME MINISTERS
PRIME MINISTERS AND SOME OTHERS
I LORD PALMERSTON I remember ten Prime Ministers, and I know an eleventh. Some have
passed beyond earshot of our criticism; but some remain, pale and
ineffectual ghosts of former greatness, yet still touched by that
human infirmity which prefers praise to blame. It will behove me
to walk warily when I reach the present day; but, in dealing with
figures which are already historical, one's judgments may be
comparatively untrammelled. I trace my paternal ancestry direct to a Russell who entered the
House of Commons at the General Election of 1441, and since 1538
some of us have always sat in one or other of the two Houses of
Parliament; so I may be fairly said to have the Parliamentary tradition
in my blood. But I cannot profess to have taken any intelligent
interest in political persons or doings before I was six years
old; my retrospect, therefore, shall begin with Lord Palmerston,
whom I can recall in his last Administration, 1859 1865. I must confess that I chiefly remember his outward characteristics his
large, dyed, carefully brushed whiskers; his broad shouldered figure,
which always seemed struggling to be upright; his huge and rather
distorted feet "each foot, to describe it mathematically, was a
four sided irregular figure" his strong and comfortable seat on
the old white hack which carried him daily to the House of Commons.
Lord Granville described him to a nicety: "I saw him the other
night looking very well, but old, and wearing a green shade, which
he afterwards concealed. He looked like a retired old croupier
from Baden." Having frequented the Gallery of the House of Commons, or the more
privileged seats "under the Gallery," from my days of knickerbockers,
I often heard Palmerston speak. I remember his abrupt, jerky, rather
"bow wow" like style, full of "hums" and "hahs"; and the sort of
good tempered but unyielding banter with which he fobbed off an
inconvenient enquiry, or repressed the simple minded ardour of
a Radical supporter. Of course, a boy's attention was attracted rather by appearance and
manner than by the substance of a speech; so, for a frank estimate
of Palmerston's policy at the period which I am discussing, I turn
to Bishop Wilberforce (whom he had just refused to make Archbishop
of York)... Continue reading book >>
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