Part 26 (2/2)
The Aave him the best possible reception At that ti of Prince Henry's reception on March 1, 1902, _The Spectator_ pointed out what delightful hosts the A, but went on to express very grave doubt whether in the circumstances and with the men then at the helain any e by the visit or by the atte sure to be connected with it The article continued as follows:
A ”snapshots” of the Prince at every turn in his progress; but the snapshots we should like to see would be those of the President and Mr Hay just before and just after the Prince had made some political request They would hardly look, if our view of the American temperament is correct, like the faces of the same persons
The infinitely courteous hosts will in anot of the pleasantest sentences to say, but of the perht linger a little in the eyes
The article took soet to America, but as soon as it was possible for a return of co characteristic and laconic note:
_Spectator_, March 1, p 317, 2nd Column, half-way down
My Dear Strachey, You are a erly to the passage, for I could not at the iven above By a guess, or (shall I say?) by a piece of thought transference, I had had the good luck to envisage exactly what had happened at Washi+ngton Prince Henry was not ible ”souvenir” of his visit He had made proposals to the State Department of the usual Prussian type By ”usual Prussian type,” I ements in which all the real, and most of the apparent, benefit was on the Prussian side I do not now reh later I learned froeneral scope and character My only trustworthy recollection is that Hay referred to theust hich he always received overtures of this kind He was a man of a very fastidious sense of honour, and not amused by the low side of life, or by trickery even when foiled And here I may perhaps be allowed to interpolate another personal recollection I re the Spanish War--how the German Ambassador in London had approached him officially with the request that a portion of the Philippine Islands should be ceded--Heavens knohy--to the Kaiser I can well recall his contemptuous imitation of the manner of the request
”You haf so ive us sorim smile he answered: ”I told him: 'Not an island--not one!'”
I shall perhaps be accused of indiscretion in what I have written, especially when I a with a man so discreet, so punctilious in all official intercourse, as John Hay I feel, however, that I am justified by the time which has elapsed, and by the events of the last few years
I could fill, not one, but several chapters with the delightful talks about Lincoln which I had with Mr Hay He was always at his best when talking about Lincoln It must not be supposed, however, that he was a man with one idea or that he was, as it were, eaten up by his great chief Hay was a true statesman and a man with clear and consistent views of his own I had the pleasure of bringing Hay into touch with Lord Croreatly i out to him that Hay was really the best illustration that he could have had for one of his favourite theories,--that is, that the people who in their youth had been private secretaries were, other things being equal, the best people to who appointments
Cromer used to say that the reason for this was a very plain one The difficulty with most officials, and especially with men in the Army, was that they so often did not attain to positions of real responsibility, and where they had to take the initiative, till their minds had been atrophied by official routine and by the fact that they had simply carried out other people's orders, and not to think or act for the man who at the most impressionable tireat reat affairs absolutely at first hand and not dressed up in official ain, the Private Secretary saw the whole of thereat Areat Secretary of State He had not only had the nificent education which was received by the whole of Lincoln's personal staff, the inspiration, intellectual, moral, and political, which a man like Lincoln spreads around hireat affairs of horeat questions arise and how hard it is to settle theence, how necessary it is to prevent the rise of prejudice, selfishness, and folly in their handling In a word, there could not have been a better proof of Lord Croeneral subject to Hay, who in effect agreed, and later I also said the saht it was a great pity that the Presidents of the United States and other holders of great offices did not encourage youngfroreat influence, local or social, to beco, private secretaries There would be a double blessing produced thereby It would help to bind et thereat offices of State--Cabinet Ministers, A man had been a member, say, of the President's official faone into business or even into leisure, he would, granted that he was a ht into affairs which reat use to the nation later on I even went so far as to dream that the President of the United States and the Prie of secretaries and so get a certain number of people on both sides of the Atlantic who knew soovern race are apt to ton or London as the case e this i dark, mysterious, or even terrible How useful it would be if, when this sort of talk was in the air, someone could say, ”Honestly, they really are not a bit like that (in Washi+ngton, or in London) You picture them as hard-shell Machiavellis with sinister reasons for not answering our despatches or proposals pro behind our backs in this or that matter
Believe o out to lunch as we do; they forget big things and trifle with s exposed, they talk big as if they had soreat and ruthless reasons of state for their official in to ask, 'What are they up to? What is their game?' the answer ninety-nine tiame at all'”
Before I take leave of Hay, I want to add a fact which deeply touched me It will be remembered that the Secretary of State, after a breakdown in his health at Washi+ngton, came over to Europe to try the Mannheiood; but he was in truth a brokenthrough London, the only people he saere Lord Lansdowne, then Foreign Minister, and King Edward VII I was the only exception He askedme that I must not let it be known or he would be killed with kindness If I was deeply touched by his thought of me, I was still more moved to see how extreme was his weakness of body
His mind, however, was as clear as ever and he talked almost in his old way He was the kind of man as much too sensitive to say in words, what I knew he felt--that it was good-bye I cah as it was before, greatly heightened
Though I did not know the Duke of Devonshi+re, earlier known as Lord Hartington, nearly so intimately as the other four, I had for him a political ad man as was only natural--I enty-six when I first caht was his impenetrability This, however, I soon discovered was due to no want of intelligence, but partly to natural shyness, partly to his education, partly to temperament, and partly also to a kind of dumbness of the mind, which is by no means inconsistent with a real profundity of intellect
It is thisto remember about the Duke of Devonshi+re To speak of him as if he were ether The Duke impressed all who saw him at close quarters It was only the people who did not know hih office solely to his birth and wealth I re todull and stupid He is a very clever man” What made this admission all the more memorable was that Mr Cha like exasperation with his colleague's dilatory ways, and his constitutional unwillingness to tackle a question till it was almost too ripe; you sis about the Duke was that he never realised the full greatness of his position in politics, how much people depended on his lead, and how anxious they were to find out what he thought and then fellow hiet a lead out of him, the more he seemed determined to avoid if he possibly could the responsibility they had asked hiy of his mind, and partly because he never could be made to believe that anybody could really want to lean upon and follow somebody else, he often appeared to be utterly stubborn I re hily as I kne to ive a public lead to the Unionist Free Trade electors as to how they should vote He wasthe thing alone He actually went so far as to say, and reestion of pose, ”I don't see why I should tell people what I should do if I had a vote
They will do what they think right and I shall do what I think right
They don't want ood to try and talk him round, as one would have been inclined to talk round any ordinary politician, by pointing out how very flattering it was to him for people to wait upon his words and to desire to follow hie what he, as a leader ofof that sort was unthinkable with the Duke, and, if it had been tried, would first of all have puzzled him utterly and when it had at last dawned on him, would have put him off more than ever
I could only repeat then that it was his duty to give people a lead and when I said this once more I was ht, and they--the voters--would do what they thought right But onderful in the Duke about a matter of this kind was that he did not in the least show any annoyance at being badgered by a er than he was, but also of so much less experience in politics or affairs
He was essentially a good-tempered man and had not a trace of _amour propre_ in his nature I doubt if he had ever intentionally snubbed a h, no doubt, he had often done so unintentionally, for he was plain-spoken He hated to hurt people's feelings, but he sos were like his own, quite iron- clad I remember an example of his ierness of pressing a plan of action for the Unionist Free Traders, to which he was disinclined, I expressed the wish to propose it to the Council of our group and see what they thought of it
He ht it could do no harm to have the matter aired, which, of course, was all I desired A day or two afterwards, however, the Duke casually and in the ood-humoured way happened to say to me that I, of course, no doubt realised that if people assented to n as President of our association I was, horror-struck, for to have lost him would have meant utter destruction for our movement,--theaith the Unionist Party I said at once that I would ladly withdraw my proposal, and expressed my cohtfully naive about the whole ain, without any pose He declared that he did not see why I should not go on with ood one, and that he did not regard it as in the least hostile to hi in it that was in the least personally objectionable to him
At a ave another exaood nature and want of fussiness When the split caanisation was created under his leadershi+p and that of Mr Chamberlain, I was chosen as I have related elsewhere to act as Editor of the party organ, _The Liberal Unionist_ Each number was to contain an article by soton, as he then was, to supply the signed article for the first nu, and the Duke had never, oddly enough, written anything before for publication, though, of course, he had made plenty of speeches The Duke was old-fashi+oned in his ways and did not have a typewriter or a secretary, but wrote with his own hand It was a very good handwriting, but not quite printer-proof Like all first numbers mine was late The proofs of the Duke's article were not sent out early enough, with the result that we had to go to press without getting back a corrected proof from the Duke The result was one or two bad ht it ht make him look ridiculous I was told, however, by excited members of the Coo and apologise for so bad a beginning Naturally, I was eager to express ret, and went down at once to the House of Commons and sent in for him Now, as ill-luck would have it, he was in the middle of an i to speak when he received e However, in the kindest way he ca forfor ten or twelve ot over that I was able to htful way If he had been a poht so easily have lecturedpolitical life, etc, etc Of course, he had no thought of ood tes never entered his head All the same, his courtesy, consideration, and evident detere of my slip, made a deep impression on me A final example of the Duke's inability to realise that it mattered to anybody else what he did was shohen he let Mr Balfour, then Prime Minister, persuade him to remain in the Unionist Ministry in 1905 when the rest of his Free Trade colleagues resigned I felt none of the anation felt by some of the Liberal Unionists, because I knew my man, I felt, indeed, quite sure that what had happened was that the Duke iined that nobody would misunderstand him and that perhaps, as he said, it was a pity when so n also He wouldn't be missed and so why should he not just remain where he was? I felt equally sure, however, that in a very little ti up his position