Part 15 (2/2)

With the Court his relations were excellent His intimacy with eniality and unconventional, natural manner won favour with the Roreat deal of simplicity More than once Morier seized an opportunity for an act of special courtesy to the Tsar; and Alexander appreciated this from a man whose character was too well known for him to be suspected of obsequiousness

But the life in St Petersburg was not all pleasure, even when diplomatic waters were quiet The as hard, the cli with its extremes of temperature, and epidemics were rife In November 1889 he reports the appearance of 'Siberian Catarrh, eneral nairls' schools and guardsmen's barracks, and had laid low simultaneously Emperor, Empress, and half the ily liable to attacks of ill-health, and found difficulty in discharging his duties regularly It required a keen sense of duty for him to stay at his post; and when in December 1891 he was appointed to the Eo But public interest stood in the way He hadNo one could be found to replace him adequately, and the Tsar expressed a desire that his departure should be postponed He consented to stay on, and the next two years of work in that cliether with the death in 1891 of his only son, broke his spirit and his strength Too late he went in search of health, first to the Crimea and then to Switzerland Death ca, when he was at Montreux on the Lake of Geneva, close to the home of his ancestors

The iues is clear and consistent, and the ignorance of the general public about men of his profession justifies a few quotations Sir Louis Mallet brackets him with Sir James Hudson[45] and Lord Cromer as 'the most admirable trio of public servants he had known' Sir Williaiants of the diplomatic service' Lord Acton, who knew Europe as well as any Foreign Minister, and weighed his words, refers to hiain 'as a strong man, resolute, ready, well-informed and with son Secretary has borne testimony to the value of Morier's dispatches; and Sir Charles Dilke, ithout holding the portfolio hin policy and was an expert in European questions, is still h he thinks that Morier's imperious temper made him 'impossible in a small place' Sir Horace Rumbold,[46] in his _Recollections_, has many references to him, especially as he was in earlier years He speaks of Morier's 'prodigious fund of spirits that , but not always the safest, of companions'; 'of his imperious, not over-tolerant disposition'; 'of the curious cohtless, thriftless Bohe man of the world'; of his 'exceptionally powerful brain and unflagging industry' Elsewhere he recalls Morier's journeys a the Southern Slavs, in which he opened up a new field of knowledge, and adds, 'since then he has h master of German politics, and is, I believe, one of the few ly detests'

[Note 45: Sir Ja the years of Cavour's great ministry; died 1885]

[Note 46: Sir Horace Rumbold, GCB, Ambassador at Vienna 1896-1900; died 1913]

Jowett's testimony may perhaps be discounted as that of an intimate friend; yet he was no flatterer, and as he often criticized Morier severely, it is of interest to read his deliberate verdict, given in 1873, that 'if he devoted his whole mind to it, he could prevent a war in Europe' Four years earlier Jowett had been told by a diplomatist whom he respected, 'Morier is the first man in our profession'

By those who still remember him, Morier is described as a diplomatist of 'the old school' His noble presence, his courtly nity which he observed on all ceremonial occasions, would have qualified him to adorn the court of Maria Theresa or Louis Quatorze

This dignity he could put off when the need for it was past A his friends his manner was vivacious, his talk racy, his criticis self-confident and independent, and in believing that he would do his best work if there were no telegraph to bring frequent instructions from Whitehall But he had not the natural urbanity of Odo Russell, nor the invariable discretion of Lord Lyons He had hard work to discipline his i his own feelings Perhaps too high a value has been set on impenetrable reserve by those who have modelled themselves on Talleyrand By their very candour and openness soe over rivals who confound timidity with reserve, and have won a peculiar position of trust at foreign courts In dealing with de Giers, Morier at any rate found no need to mumble or s his words He was sure of himself and of his honourable intentions On one occasion, after reading to thatto London, he stated his policy to hiorically 'I alent', he said, 'upon the principle, whenever it could be done, of clearing the ground of all possible s at the earliest date' Probably we shall never see the end of 'secret diploovernments; but this is not the tone of one who loves secrecy for its own sake

In many ways Morier coh personally a favourite with kings and queens, he was fully alive to the changes in the Europe of the nineteenth century, where, along with courts and cabinets, other more unruly forces were at work His visit to Paris in 1848 showed his early interest in popular movements, and he maintained a catholic width of view in later life He knew men of all sorts and kept himself acquainted with unofficial currents of opinion He could talk freely to journalists or to et the information which he wanted His comprehensiveness was reround did not blur the distant landscape In Russia, behind Balkan intrigues and Black Sea troubles he could see the cloud of danger overhanging the Pa the possibilities of the white races in Africa So his dispatches, varied and vivacious as they were, proved of the greatest value to Foreign Secretaries at ho to-day

In these dispatches a few Gallicis to an old friend like Sir Willialish with other ingredients for seasoning But in general the literary style is ade, a most inventive use ofa character or an incident Towards those working under hih standard of industry, but he was generous in his praise and very ready to take up the cudgels for the one of them, he selects for special praise 'his old-fashi+oned conscientiousness about public work and his subordination of private comfort' He inherited this tradition from his own family and his faithfulness to it cost hi these letters and memoranda that here is aof coramme to thousands of half-inforiving counsel to his peers, Odo Russell or Sir William White, Lord Granville or Lord Salisbury, on events and tendencies which affect the grave issues of peace and war and the lives of thousands of his fellow-countryeneration has learnt how unsafe it is to treat these in a parliamentary atmosphere where men force themselves to believe what they wish and close their eyes to what is uncomfortable While human nature remains the same, democracy cannot afford to deprive itself of such counsel or to belittle such a profession

JOSEPH LISTER

1827-1912

1827 Born at West Hae, London

1851 Acting House Surgeon under Erichsen

1852 First research work published

1853 Goes to Edinburgh House Surgeon under Syh Infirnes Syery at Glasgow

1865 Makes acquaintance with Pasteur's work

1866-7 Antiseptic treatment of compound fractures and abscesses

1867 Papers on antiseptic method in the _Lancet_

1869 Appointed Professor of Surgery at Edinburgh

1872-5 Conversion of leading scientists in Germany to Antisepticism

1875 Lister's triumphal reception in Gere, London

1879 Medical congress at Aet and others in London

1882 von Bergmann develops Asepticism in Berlin

1883 Lister created a Baronet

1891 British Institute of Preventive Medicine incorporated