Chapter XXIII: The One More Change (1)

The very wide range of Reeve's studies has appeared from many indications scattered through these pages, and it has been seen how, at different times, he was occupying himself with various subjects far outside the ordinary course of reading. These were, however, connected by some general idea which pervaded the whole. Of natural science he knew little. As a boy, the study of mathematics was irksome to him and repulsive, nor was he at any later time more favourably inclined towards it. His acquaintance with astronomy, chemistry, physics, and the cognate sciences was very limited--not more, perhaps, than he picked up in his careful and intelligent study of the articles published in the 'Edinburgh Review' during the forty years of his editorship. His real knowledge was confined by a band of history, but of history in its very widest sense, including not only war and politics and law, but political economy, literature, religion, and superstition. Of military science he had read sufficient to take a technical interest in the details of battles and campaigns, and he was perhaps one of the first landsmen of this age to understand the 'influence of sea-power.' His attention had been called to this at a very early period in his career by the utter collapse of Mehemet Ali in Syria; and reasoning on that, he had learned that 'sea-power,' or, as he preferred to call it, 'maritime-power,' controlled and directed affairs with which, at first sight, it seemed to have absolutely nothing to do.

Long before Captain Mahan began to teach, or to write those admirable works which came as a revelation to the English and the European public, he had opened the pages of the 'Edinburgh Review' to writers who, in different ways and in different degrees, were inculcating the same doctrine, which during the long peace, and by reason of the overwhelming superiority of the allies in the Russian war, had been almost forgotten, even by professional men. It would not be difficult to show how, during the thirty years which preceded the publication of Captain Mahan's 'Influence of Sea-Power,' its most important theories were illustrated and discussed in the pages of the 'Review.' The following, by one of the most accomplished officers in our navy, refers to such an article in the January number:--

_From Captain Bridge, R.N._

_January 19th_.--As an Englishman and a sailor, I feel it to be a duty again to congratulate you on the article 'Naval Supremacy,' &c., in the new number of the 'Edinburgh Review.' That article and the one concerning which I previously addressed you can hardly fail to do good. The Maurician school and its 'two Army-corps and a cavalry division,' which were to be launched at the Caucasus, must have received a severe check from the earlier article. The disaster-breeding facts of the fort-builders can hardly survive many more such assaults as that so sharply driven home in 'Naval Supremacy.' The opinions of the writer of the latter, I venture to think, foreshadow those of the Navy on the subject of huge ships and huge guns. I hold it to be highly beneficial to the country that the editor of the 'Edinburgh Review' should have so keen an appreciation and, for a civilian, so rare a knowledge of naval affairs.

_From Lord Derby_

_April 3rd_--What a new Europe is beginning! Bismarck dismissed; Emperors holding Socialist conferences; more attempts to murder the Tsar; strikes all over the world; Germans going to Prussianise Central Africa! No want of novelty in our time and amusing enough, if one is far enough off.

_From the Duc d'Aumale_

_Chantilly_, 14 _juin_.--Ou diable avais-je la tete, mon cher ami? (ne montrez pas ce preambule a nos amis puritains.) Je croyais bien vous avoir ecrit que je comptais passer la mer vers le 22, diner avec le Club le 24, embrasser mes neveux et nieces de toutes generations, voir quelques amis, et rentrer ici vers la fin de la semaine. Je persiste dans ce projet, _weather permitting_; c'est-a-dire sauf le cas de tempete que l'on est bien force de prevoir avec une pareille saison. A bientot donc, s'il plait a Dieu. Je finis mieux que je ne commence, et je vous serre la main.

H. D'O.

_From the Duc d'Aumale_

_Chantilly_, 26 _juillet_.--J'essaye de chasser par le travail les preoccupations qui m'obsedent. Je n'y reussis pas toujours. Est-ce l'effet de l'age? mais je suis de plus en plus anxieux sur l'avenir de mon pays et meme de l'Europe. Nous sommes dans le faux depuis 1848, et il est sorti de la guerre de '70 un etat de choses bien perilleux.

Au revoir et mille amities.

The diary and the correspondence for the rest of the year are singularly barren of interest. A troublesome attack of sciatica in the end of July led to Reeve's being advised to try Harrogate, whither he accordingly went in the beginning of August. He found the place--possibly also the water--disagreeable, and after a week's stay he went on to Bolton Abbey, to Minto, and to Chesters. By the end of the month he was back at Foxholes, where he remained throughout September. Early in October he went for a ten days' visit to Knowsley, where he met Froude and the Duc d'Aumale, with whom he returned to London. Then to Foxholes for a month, coming up to town in the middle of November, and--with the exception of a week at Easter--staying there till May 1891.

_From Lord Derby_

_Knowsley, January 20th_.--What do you think of Home Rule in its present phase? Chamberlain says it is dead; I say it is badly crippled, but capable of a good deal of mischief still. I see no new question coming forward, except that of strikes, eight-hours legislation, and Socialism generally.

Do you ever see the 'New Review'? I picked it up yesterday, and read a very pretty Socialist programme by Morris and a Mr. Bernard Shaw, whom I never heard of before, but who is apparently rather clever and rather cracked. I suspect ideas of that class are making progress.

This letter, though not calling for any hurry, Reeve answered immediately, as was his general custom. It was indeed only by this prompt attention that, with the enormous correspondence which he carried on, he could prevent an accumulation which would have been overwhelming.

_To Lord Derby_

62 _Rutland Gate, January 21st_.--I think Home Rule, as an English party cry, has received a death blow, and cannot be used to bring a party into power. But Ireland remains open, an eternal field of agitation, and the Irishmen are still in the House of Commons. Perhaps the want of funds may embarrass them. I have not seen the 'New Review,' but there is a vast deal of lawlessness and wild speculation in the air, injurious to the first conditions of social life, and I confess I have no unbounded confidence in the boasted good sense of the English people; they are very ignorant and very selfish. No one tells them so many sensible home truths as yourself. As for the strikes, the strikers are the greatest sufferers.

I have published a remarkable article on the fiscal system of the United States--by an American--which I hope you will read. My contributor thinks there are great difficulties ahead in America, and Mr. Blaine's bluster is an attempt to direct public attention into another channel.

I have been laid up for some days with a cold and gout, but have been out to-day and am better. I never remember so terrible a winter; but we hope it is passing away, though it is still freezing here.

_Foxholes, May 12th_.--I was sorry to leave London without seeing you and Lady Derby again; but the Fates were against me: you were laid up with cold, and I have been troubled for some weeks with sciatica, which impedes my movements. I hope you have shaken off your attack and will get out of town. The atmosphere of London seems to be in a very noxious state, and I don't know that the atmosphere of the House of Commons is much better. A committee of the whole House strikes an outsider as the clumsiest machine for legislation that was ever invented.

An unlimited power of moving amendments brings us to the same results as the Polish Veto.

I hope to come up to the dinners of The Club on June 2nd and 16th. On the latter day the Duc d'Aumale will dine with us, so I trust you will keep it free.

_From Lord Derby_

_May 13th_.--You are quite right about the House of Commons. They will pass the Land Bill, I suppose, but scarcely anything else. Most of the obstruction is unintended; loquacity, vanity, and fear of constituents do more mischief than faction. I am not sure that it is an unmixed evil that the legislative coach should be compelled to drive slowly.

For Reeve the principal social event of the year, or rather the one most out of ordinary course, was the conferring an honorary degree on the Duc d'Aumale by the University of Oxford. Of the preliminary step no record remains, but it would seem that at a very early stage Reeve was requested to sound the Duke, who wrote on November 30th, 1890, that he should feel greatly honoured if the University of Oxford should confer on him the degree of D.C.L.--'si pauvre legiste que je sois.' On this Reeve wrote to Dr. Liddell, then Dean of Christ Church, [Footnote: After having held this office for thirty-six years, Dr. Liddell retired in 1891, and died at the age of 87, on January 18th, 1898.] who replied on December 2nd:--

Dear Mr. Reeve,--I shall be proud to propose H.R.H.'s (the Duc d'Aumale's) name for an Honorary Degree at the next Encaenia. This will not be till June 17th, 1891. I hope his R.H. will be my guest on the occasion. Meantime, it is our rule that no mention should be made of the name to be proposed. Yours very truly,

H. G. LIDDELL.

Other correspondence about this there was, and on February 25th, 1891, Dr. Liddell again wrote:--

The arrangements you suggest for the Duc d'Aumale will suit very well. Of course it is running it rather fine to arrive at 11.13; but we will see about this as the time approaches. Meantime I must ask you and the Duke's friends not to say anything about the matter at present. I shall have to give notice to our Council in May. A fortnight after, his name will be submitted to ballot; and though there can be no reasonable doubt that H.R.H.'s name will be received with acclamation, they make a great point of secrecy till the ballot takes place.

Perhaps about the beginning of May you will be so good as to send me a complete statement of H.R.H.'s claims to an Honorary Degree. I know much about them, but should be glad to be fully equipped.

_From the Duc d'Aumale_

_Chantilly_, 9 _juin_.--Bon! tres cher ami, nous irons, s'il plait a Dieu, ensemble a Oxford, le 17, par 9.55 en cravate blanche. Je compte arriver le 14 au soir a Claridge's, ou je serai present le lundi, 15, de 10 a midi, et de 6 a 7; le mardi, 16, de 10 a midi. Si vous pouvez venir m'y voir, je serai tres heureux, car j'ai encore besoin de quelques renseignements complimentaires.

Vous m'avez offert l'hospitalite du Dean, et je lui ai ecrit que je l'acceptais. Mais en quoi consiste cette hospitalite? Simple luncheon suivi d'un depart, ou diner et coucher au doyenne? Je ne voudrais pas manquer de courtoisie; but above all I would not intrude--et je suis _tres dispose_ a me retirer de tres bonne heure. Seulement j'aimerais a etre fixe pour prendre tous mes arrangements.

The Journal simply notes that on June 16th the Duc d'Aumale dined at The Club; and on the 17th 'with Duc d'Aumale to Oxford, where he was made D.C.L. Lunch at All Souls; very pleasant day.' Reeve left early and returned at once to Foxholes.

_From the Duc d'Aumale_

_Chantilly_, 1er _juillet_.--Apres votre depart de Christ Church [Oxford] le 17 nous avons eu le ou la 'Gaudy.' Ainsi que vous l'aviez prevu, j'ai du dire quelques mots a peine prepares. Comme il n'y avait pas de _reporter_, et que je n'avais aucune note, et comme l'auditoire, y compris nos Seigneurs les eveques, avait accueilli mon _speech_ avec bienveillance, je l'ai note sur le papier--comme disent les musiciens--avant de me coucher. Vous avez ete presque mon parrain a Oxford, je vous en dois bien la copie. C'est, en tous cas, un temoignage de ma fidele amitie.

The speech which follows, although delivered under circumstances which necessitated a complimentary tone, is a more than usually graceful tribute to our old Universities, and the introduction of the little analogue is singularly happy. The Duke, whose letters to Reeve are all in French, wrote this _verbatim_ as here given, in correct English, perfectly well spelt.

Mr. Dean, my Lords and Gentlemen,--Let me first express how highly I prize the honour which has been conferred upon me to-day, and how glad I am to be so connected with your illustrious University. I have always admired the University of Oxford. I have more than once visited this town, when I received a princely hospitality in the noble baronial halls of this neighbourhood--Nuneham, Blenheim--or when I was quietly living on the banks of the Avon. Often I brought here my French friends, and I tried to explain the peculiarities, the complicated machinery of this illustrious corporation; to show how, remaining faithful to the traditions, preserving your old customs, you did not remain deaf to what might be said without, nor blind to the movement of the world; how, slowly perhaps, but prudently, step by step, you managed to bring the necessary changes, the wanted modifications, so as to keep pace with the times without breaking with the past.

'Mais c'est le couteau de Jeannot que cette Universite,' said one of my interlocutors. Well, I will give you the tale of Jeannot's knife.

There was once a young peasant called Jeannot, and he had a knife of which he took great care. He found that the blade was rusting and he changed the blade. Then he found that the handle was decaying from dry-rot, and he changed the handle; and so on. His friends laughed at him, and would not take the same care of their knives, which they lost--one breaking the blade, another the handle. But Jeannot, having always kept his knife in good order, could always make use of it, cleverly and powerfully.

Well, I think there is some analogy between the tale of this humble man and the history of your great University. It seems to me I see the huge frame of a large fabric which has stood for centuries glorious and proud. The stones are changed, the bricks, the mortar, or the roof are renewed; and the fabric still stands through the ages, through the storms, glorious and proud. And I hope it will so remain and stand everlasting, with its old frame and the new materials; and I wish glory and prosperity to the University of Oxford.

To all who have thought of my name and conferred upon me the honour I have just received, and to those who have given me such a kindly reception, I send my best thanks, and I wish prosperity and success.

At this time, and indeed ever since his retirement from the Council Office, Reeve's chief work was in connexion with the 'Review;' but he also did a very great deal as literary adviser of the Longmans. He had indeed, to some extent, acted in this capacity ever since he undertook the conduct of the 'Review;' the two offices fitted into and were supplementary to each other; and it will be remembered that in 1875 [Footnote: See _ante_, p. 243.] he had contemplated retiring from the public service, with the view of undertaking the main responsibility of this work for the firm. Circumstances had delayed his retirement; but by an arrangement with the firm in 1878, which continued in force during the rest of his life, the number of works he examined and reported on was considerably increased, and must have been very large. Books in French, German, or Italian offered for translation, MSS. in English offered for publication--whatever there was of grave, serious, or important, as well as a good deal that was not, was sent to him for a first or a revised opinion. And this opinion was given very frankly, and most commonly in the fewest possible words: 'My advice is that you have nothing to do with it' was a not unfrequent formula. Another, less frequent, was, 'He--the aspirant to literary fame and emolument--can neither write nor spell English;' 'I wish they wouldn't send their trash to me' was an occasional prayer; 'Seems to me sheer nonsense;'--'What a waste of time and labour!'--'It is very provoking that people should attempt to write books who cannot write English,' were occasional reports. Of course many of his judgements were very different: 'A work of great interest which must have a large sale;' 'Secure this if you possibly can;' 'A most able work, but will scarcely command a remunerative sale;' 'Not worth translating, but send me a copy for the "Review,"' are some of his more favourable verdicts. But in all cases the judgements were sharp and decisive; there was about them nothing of the celebrated 'This work might be very good if it was not extremely bad,' or its converse. These reports were, of course, in the highest degree confidential; and, especially of the unfavourable ones, Reeve made a point of forgetting all about the origin of them. On one occasion, when a reference was made to a work he had reported on a few weeks before, he wrote in reply, 'The numerous MSS. &c. sent for an opinion leave no trace on my memory.'

As it was with printed books and larger MSS., so it was with articles submitted for the 'Review;' but he did not encourage casual contributions, and seldom--perhaps never--accepted any without some previous understanding. The political articles and the reviews of important books were almost invariably written in response to a direct invitation; but whether the articles sent in were invited or offered, he equally reserved the right to express his approval or disapproval or disagreement, and to insist, if necessary, on the article being remodelled or withdrawn. Such an insistence is more than once noticed in his correspondence, quite irrespective of the high reputation of the author. Probably every one whose contributions have been at all numerous has had an opportunity of noticing how perfectly candid and yet how courteous his remarks always were. If an article pleased him, he said so in terms that from anyone else might have seemed extravagant. Many letters of this type might be given; one must suffice, written to a valued contributor, dead, unfortunately, many years ago--Colonel Charles Cornwallis Chesney:--

_C. O., February 26th, 1873_.--I received the proofs of your article on Lee last night, and therefore I conclude that you have received them also. I don't exaggerate the least when I say that the article strikes me as a _chef d'oeuvre_ of military biography. You have drawn a most heroic character with peculiar grace and fervour, and the account of the military operations is singularly clear and interesting. It only strikes me that you have repeated the comparison with Hannibal rather too often.

Pray be so good as to return the proofs to _me_ as soon as you can, that I may have the article made up and printed off. I feel infinitely obliged to you for it.

The value of such praise was heightened, its apparent extravagance done away with, by the knowledge that dissatisfaction would be expressed in language equally unmistakable, and that either by the contributor or the editor the modifications which seemed to him desirable would be made. It was partly because he reserved to himself this power and accepted all the responsibility, that he insisted so strenuously on the anonymous character of the articles. But more even than that was his abhorrence of anything like 'log-rolling,' which, in his opinion, was inseparable from signed reviews. To the very last he discouraged, and indeed openly expressed his disapproval and dislike of the presumably inspired announcements of authors' names in the 'Athenaeum' or other journals. Here is an extract from a letter dated October 6th, 1891, which illustrates this objection:-- 'The only objection I have to the republication of articles with the name of the writer is that it destroys their anonymous character, which ought especially to be retained when they contain criticism of contemporaries.' So careful was he lest anything might warp the perfect fairness of criticism, which should 'nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.' I, who write these lines, can say positively, after having written for the 'Review' under Reeve for upwards of twenty years, that in all that time I never received a hint or suggestion that any book should be dealt with otherwise than on its merits; and whilst engaged on this present work I have learned, for the first time, that men whose books I have reviewed, not always favourably, were personal friends of the editor. The following letter, addressed to Mr. T. N. Longman, is merely a concrete illustration of this:--

_December 26th_, 1891.--I thought it best to tell Froude frankly that the review of his book [Footnote: The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon,' in the _Review_ of January 1892.] in the 'Edinburgh' would be an unfavourable one. At the same time I disclaimed in the strongest language any disposition to make a personal attack on himself. Unfortunately he seems to ascribe adverse criticism of his works to personal animosity, which, in his case, is entirely wanting.

It is a painful necessity. Froude and his book are too important to be passed over in silence. But the judicial character and consistency, and I may say honour, of the 'Review' absolutely require that the truth should be told about the book. I should consider it a derogation to my duty to the 'Review' if, from personal motives or affection, I suppressed an adverse criticism of a work which imperatively demands an answer. The independence of the 'Review' requires an independent judgement; but I expressly stipulated with the writer of the article that he should abstain from _bitterness_, which was carried too far in Goldwin Smith's article on the same subject in 1858. The 'Review' is pledged to the views already expressed on that occasion.

I have therefore modified as far as possible any expressions which appeared to be of too censorious a character; but it is impossible to avoid condemning a mistaken book because the author is a personal friend. _Judex damnatur si nocens absolvitur_ is our motto.

Froude does not like Mr. Gardiner's book. He says, 'It's a menagerie of tame beasts.' I think very highly of the book; and as we differ, I have yielded to his wish to be released from the engagement.

Nobody can regret more than I do any differences between old friends; but my duty is to look solely to the consistency and integrity of the 'Review,' without which criticism is worthless; and this consideration leaves me no other course.

Another point, of a similar nature, I can illustrate by my own experience. I had undertaken, at Reeve's request, to review a rather important historical work published by Longmans, but on reading it was so unfavourably impressed by it that I wrote to say that the best thing I could do would be to return the volumes; that the book was bad, and if I reviewed it I must say so; but that doing this in the publisher's own Review would have a certain resemblance to seething a kid in its mother's milk, and might probably be objected to. 'Not a bit of it,' was the sense of the reply I received by return of post: 'a bad book may be the text for an interesting article, and we have nothing to do with who published it.' So I expressed my opinion of the book in very plain terms; the review was printed exactly as I wrote it, and the editor thanked me warmly for what he was pleased to speak of as an 'excellent article.' It may, perhaps, be assumed that this was not an isolated case; but written evidence of any others is not before me.

After returning from Oxford, Reeve spent the rest of the year at Foxholes, He had intended going to London and possibly to Scotland in October, but an accidental stumble in his library over a heavy despatch box made a nasty wound on the left shin, which took many weeks in healing and prevented his travelling till the middle of December. On the 19th he went to town, where, with the exception of some short visits to Bath or to Foxholes, he remained till June, dining several times at The Club, entertaining at home in his customary manner, and keeping up a constant--almost daily--correspondence, such as has been indicated, with the Longmans, for the most part with the head of the firm, whom he had known from childhood and habitually addressed by his Christian name.

As he returned to Foxholes the country was in the throes of a general election. Tired, it would seem, of steady and consistent government, it longed for a change--anything for a change; and so opened the door for an administration whose almost avowed object was to play skittles with the Constitution--to bowl down the Union, the Established Church, the House of Lords, the rights of property, and any other little trifles that were sacred to law and religion. It was with deep regret that Reeve watched the overthrow of what he considered the true Liberal party, and he wrote to Mr. T. Norton Longman:--

_Foxholes_, _July 14th_--The results of the elections are far worse than could be expected. Some of them are very odd. I have to deplore the defeat of many of my friends. I suppose the Queen will have to make up her mind to a ministry composed of men she abhors; but the majority will have in it inherent weakness and the seeds of dissolution.

I have found it difficult to say anything about the elections and have been as short as possible.

From a somewhat different point of view, he wrote a few days later to Lord Derby:--

_Foxholes, July 22nd._--I have, of course, been watching with great interest the progress of the elections, and I am happy to say that Hampshire, like all the southern counties, comes out with a clean Unionist bill. If the ultimate majority was to be small, is it not better to be in opposition than in power? Mr. Gladstone's position, as the man responsible for the conduct of affairs, is much less desirable than that of Lord Salisbury, for he has the better half of the country dead against him. How curious it is to trace on the map in the 'Times' the old traditions of Saxon, Celtic, Mercian, and Danish origin in the counties of England, Ireland, and Wales! Are the Celts to govern the Saxons?

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 unconstitutional 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 flourishing, 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 Godolphin, 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 ambassador 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 noble 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 title 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 passed 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 treasurership, 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 treasurership.'

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 treasurership 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. Nobody 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 deg. F. when in London it was reaching as high as 93 deg. 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_

_Foxholes, October 3rd._--I have read a great part of the 'Life of Pusey'--an appalling book from the length of the letters in it. In my opinion it lays bare, as nothing else has done, the total weakness and inconsistency of the Tractarians, and their absolute disloyalty to the Church of England. It is very difficult and very important to find a suitable person to review such a work, for it must be done in the spirit of the articles of Arnold, Tait, and Arthur Stanley, which express the principles of the 'Edinburgh Review.' I incline to think it had better be done by a layman. The parsons are all hostile to their own Church.

_To Rear-Admiral Bridge_

62 _Rutland Gate, November 12th._--We are come to town, and I hope it will not be long before I have the pleasure of seeing you. Meanwhile, I have been reading again the article on Mediterranean Politics which you gave us last autumn. The combination of the French and Russian fleets seems to me to be a matter of grave importance. Both those countries are unhappily animated by very hostile intentions to us. They have discovered that it is only by a superiority of sea power in the Mediterranean that they can accomplish their twofold object, which I take to be for Russia to force the Dardanelles and for France to compel us to evacuate Egypt. This seems to me to be the _but_ of the alliance, in as far as it is an alliance. It is all very well to talk of our maritime supremacy, but have we got it? You know, and I do not. But to my mind, the worst is that we have got a Government--or rather a minister--profoundly incapable of foreseeing a great emergency or providing against it. It is quite possible that the Gladstone administration may be blown up by a tremendous catastrophe. These thoughts perplex me; but I hope you will tell me that I am quite wrong and that Britannia rules the waves.

An exceptional chance gives us a picture of Foxholes, at this time, when twenty years' occupation had enabled its owner to perfect all the details which go to make up comfort.

During his absence in London in the beginning of 1894, he let it, for the only time, to his friend, Lord Hobhouse, for many years a member of the Judicial Committee, and just then convalescent after a serious illness. A couple of notes which Lord Hobhouse wrote during his four weeks' tenancy may be classed as 'Interiors' or 'Exteriors' from the practical point of view.

Foxholes, February 16th.

My dear Reeve,--I imagine that this morning Mrs. Reeve will have got a note from my wife telling her of our settlement here. I was contemplating 'a few words' to you, when Lady H. told me of her writing; and now comes your letter, partly of welcome, partly of information.

I don't think it possible that we could be more happily housed. Size, arrangement, warmth, beauty, inside and out, evidences everywhere of cultivated taste and refined pursuits--all is calculated for enjoyment and repose, probably for anybody, certainly for an invalid. I have established myself in a corner of the library--which, partly from its intrinsic advantages and partly from the presence of a thick cushion in the seat of the armchair, I conjecture to be yours--between the writing desk and the N.W. bookcase, with the N.E. window at my back and my legs protruding beyond the jamb of the mantelpiece into the sacred [Greek: temeuos], which is guarded by a low marble fence, and over which the fire which I worship has sway. Both by day and by night the situation is perfect for distribution of light and warmth. And I can read almost all my waking hours; for all through my illness my head has been clear. My principal embarrassment is to choose among the many temptations with which your goodly bookcases beset me. However, after reading Traill's 'William III.' (a rather thin composition, I think) I have settled into Gardiner's 'Civil War,' which is much more solid and satisfying.

This morning I have been reading your little notice of Lord Derby; and I think you do not speak at all too highly of his capacity for examining political and social movements. In 1880 I delivered a lecture, which was printed and circulated, on the eternal division of political tendencies--movement and rest; and I took Lord Derby (then temporarily in the Liberal Camp) as the best type of conservatism; cool, patient, keen, sceptical, critical, just, impartial, with a mind always open to conviction, but refusing to move until convinced. Such men are an invaluable element in the deliberative stages of every question; but their very critical powers paralyse action, and when movement becomes necessary their hesitations are a drawback. I fancy that Cornewall Lewis was just such another, but I did not know so much about him....

For me, I improve, slowly but enough, I think, to show at least that our move was not premature. In the pick of the day (would that it were always afternoon) I am able to walk for an hour or more, and I get good sleep in the most luxurious of beds. Pray give my kind remembrances to Mrs. Reeve, and believe me,

Sincerely yours,

HOBHOUSE.

_Foxholes, March 6th._--Alas, alas! time flies away, and pleasant things come to an end, and I shall not have many days' more enjoyment of your charming house and library and outlook. But my time has not been wasted. I have recovered strength, a good deal more than I expected, and am probably now--at all events hope, by our return next Monday or Tuesday, to be--able to re-enter the ordinary routine of life. Of course, we have had, like other people, a great deal of blustering wind--for the most part from north-west--very cold and very noisy in your chimneys. But there has also been a great deal of sunshine with the gales, and the exposure of your house to south-east has, on most days, given us a sheltered walk. Moreover, your soil is so porous and absorbent, that one gets dry walking immediately after rain. I have only been kept indoors two days since our arrival.

A few letters from Reeve himself show the continued activity of his mind, and at the same time his consciousness of, his readiness for, the end which was drawing nigh.

_To Mr. T. Norton Longman_

_Foxholes, May 29th._--Lord Derby's Speeches contain more political wisdom than any other book of our time. I think people will find out its permanent value.

_June 13th._--I have nothing to correct or alter in the Greville Memoirs, and am glad to find that some sale of them goes on.

I am much touched by the [approaching] death of Coleridge, whom I have known so well and so long. I expect he will not survive to-day. He dined with us at The Club on April 24th, and was then very well. _Sic transit._

_Foxholes, October 23rd_.--The notices of our old friend Froude [Footnote: He died on October 20th, in his 77th year.] have been very gratifying--especially the leader in the 'Times.' He leaves the world quite glorified, and they now find out what a great man he was. I wonder whether you are going to attend the funeral. I never send wreaths on such occasions, but if I ever did send one it would be now, for I am truly affected by the loss of such a friend. The newspapers seem to have discovered that there were some big men in the last generation, and that there are very few of them in the present.

_Rutland Gate, February 16th, 1895._--I am pretty well--not worse than usual; but I don't go out.

My dear old friend, Lady Stanley of Alderley, died this morning. She was only ill four days, and expired without pain or suffering at eighty-seven. To me an irreparable loss, and to a vast circle of descendants and friends. [Footnote: Among Reeve's papers there are a great many letters from Lady Stanley of Alderley, telling plainly of the long and close friendship between the two. Unfortunately, there are no available letters from Reeve to her.]

_To Rear-Admiral Bridge_ [Footnote: At this time Commander-in-Chief in Australian waters.]

62 Rutland Gate, May 2nd.

My dear admiral,--I wish you were in reach of us, to discuss the extraordinary events which are taking place in the North Pacific, to which your articles on that subject have for some time pointed; but no one foresaw the sudden uprising of Japan.

It seems to me that, in spite of her victories, Japan is in a very critical position, politically speaking. She lies between two huge empires, and she has undertaken to occupy more than she can hold. Her position is absolutely fatal to the grand design of Russia, of crossing the north of Asia to the Pacific, and I expect Russia will not submit to it. But Russia would find it extremely difficult to carry on military and naval operations at such an enormous distance from her base. I doubt whether she could destroy the Japanese fleet, and it certainly is not for our interest that it should be destroyed. The disposition here is to observe strict neutrality and watch the course of events.

It is curious that nobody points out that the United States are the country with the largest future interest in the Pacific, and that they must have a voice in this controversy. It also largely affects our own Australian colonies. A Russian establishment in Corea would effect a momentous change in the Pacific, and Japan will doubtless resist it to the uttermost.

We are very dull here. Lord Rosebery has sunk into complete insignificance, and his state of health is doubtful. The Government is rotten, but continues to hold together. I think something must occur before long to stir the waters.

We are going to Foxholes on May 20th to stay there. I have spent a dreary winter, being unable to go out, but I am not seriously ill--suffering chiefly from old age. Mrs. Reeve sends you her kind regards, and I am always

Yours very faithfully,

H. REEVE.

* * * * *

_To Miss A. M. Clerke_

_Foxholes, September 8th_.--Many thanks, dear Miss Clerke, for your elegant and instructive Life of the Herschels; they could not have had a more accomplished biographer, if they had waited for it another century. Your article on Argon fills me with amazement and admiration. How can the human mind fathom such things! I beg you to send me the corrected proofs to-morrow by return of post, as I want to make it up immediately. If anything new is said on the subject at the British Association, you can add a note to be printed at the end of the number.

To-morrow is my 82nd birthday--probably the last. But I am not ill, only feeble and tired of living so long.

Yours most faithfully,

H. REEVE.

_To Captain S. P. Oliver, R.A._