Part 1 (2/2)

Some of his best as put into these articles, and the last of thereat physical stress, and appeared almost simultaneously with the announcement of his death It was the last task to which he put his hand, and the wish of his life was granted: he died in harness

It is not too much to say that neither his interest nor his influence in political affairs suffered the least abateed the distance between his relinquishment of the _Speaker_ and the hour when he finally laid down his pen The withheld portion of this Autobiography makes that abundantly clear, for, as in a mirror, it reflects the secret history of the Liberal party His relations with Lord Rosebery, both during and after that statesularly intimate and cordial--a circumstance which invests with peculiar interest the final chapters which he wrote They throw a dry light on the political intrigues which occurred after Mr Gladstone's retirement; they reveal the difficulties--both open and unsuspected--which beset his successor

Lord Rosebery has written me a letter, and I have his per notes of courage and friendshi+p As to the first, he had taken part in many controversies, which it is now unnecessary to revive, and borne hiallantly in them But before his life ended he was to display a rarer quality In September, 1903, he wrote to er of life--that he was condemned by all doctors He partially recovered froh from that day he was doomed to speedy death I saw hi before the end

He told me, as he always did, that he did not feel amiss, but that his doctors all unanimously condemned him to a short shrift; that his friend Sir Frederick Treves was putting him under a new treatment, from which he hoped to derive soo on writing as if nothing rong until the end ca of Thursday, February 23rd, he was taken ill, and before ten o'clock on Sundaythe seventeen months which elapsed from the time of the doom pronounced by his physicians until its fulfilment, Wemyss Reid so demeaned hiay and high in spirit, as strenuous in work, as thoughtful for others, as ever; so that those who knew the fatal truth could not bring themselves to believe it He was at work for the _Nineteenth Century_ the day before he was taken with his final attack But he hi, never lost the certainty that death hung over hie; and now for the other note that I would touch--his friendshi+p His ideal of friendshi+p was singularly lofty and generous He was the devoted and chivalrous champion of those he loved; he took up their cause as his own, and much more than his own; he was the friend of their friends and the eneher value on this high connection, which, after all, whether brought about by kinshi+p, or syratitude, or stress, is under Heaven the surest solace of our poor huuided the life of Wemyss Reid His chief works were all monuments to that faith; it inspired him in tasks which he kneould be irksome and which could scarcely be successful, or which, at least, could ill satisfy his own standard This is a severe test for a man of letters, but he h when I read it over But it was true and vivid when Weh exa the after any obituary notice is forgotten It will live as long as they live; he would scarcely have cared to be remembered by others” Lord Rosebery's kindness to --can never be forgotten by any of his relatives He was the first visitor to the house ofon Sunday, February 26th; he caht still be in time to see my brother alive

Here, perhaps, is the place to mention some other of his friends: I mean, of course, those ho years It otten some; if so, I need scarcely add that it is without intention But I do not like to end without at least recalling his close relations with Lord Burghclere, Mr Bryce, Sir Henry Fowler, Mr Edmund Robertson, Sir Henry Roscoe, Sir Norman Lockyer, Sir Frederick Treves, Sir John Brunner, Principal Fairbairn, Dr Guinness Rogers, the Rev R H Hadden, Mr W H Macnalas Walker, Mr J C

Parkinson, Mr G A Barkley, Mr Charles Mathews, Mr J A Duncan, Mr

Edwin Bale, Mr Barry O'Brien, Mr Herbert Paul, Mr J A Spender, and last, but certainly not least, Mr Malcolm Morris, ith him at the end James Payn, William Black, Sir John Robinson represent the losses of the last few years of his life; all of them were men hom--literature and politics apart--he had much in common

It is impossible to cite the Press comments on the morrow of my brother's death, but rooenerous tribute of his friend Mr J A Spender in the _Westminster Gazette_:--

”I well remember how bravely and serenely he bore his death-sentence and how y were needed for speaking of anything so personal And then he picked hio forward and his interests lose none of their edge, though his days were short He was the last ; and yet to many of us he seemed the perfect example of how aed by some modern standards, his virtues were indeed those of the antique world He loved his profession for its own sake, believed in its influence and dignity, hated sensationalism--whether in politics or in newspapers--would rather that any rival should gain any advantage over hie a secret or betray the confidence of a friend And so he came to be the confidant and adviser ofqualities of head and heart, for his knowledge, his integrity, his admirable common-sense Of all his qualities none was more attractive than the staunchness of his friendshi+p To those who, eminent or obscure, Wemyss Reid was always the saht, and whose help was readiest when times orst A literary man, he was quite without literary jealousy, and never so happy as when giving a hand-up to a neriter or a young journalist All of us who knew hio desinam debere_”

I will permit myself to make one other quotation, and only one In September, 1903, we lost our only sister We three brothers had been at her funeral in Scotland; it was the last tiether I lunched a day or two later with hih, like myself, he was naturally depressed, he spoke cheerfully, and there was nothing to hint that he was more than tired Three days later, Septean with the words, ”Heaven knows, I do not want to add to your anxieties at the present ht to tell you what has happened to me” He then went on to say that his friend Mr Malcolm Morris had met him at the Club on the same day that I was there, and, startled by his appearance, had asked him a number of questions Mr Morris had been abroad and had not seen him for some time, but he insisted on an ied for the following Saturday, the day on which he wrote the letter fro He was told at that interview that his condition wasto live So he wrote, ”I have clearly to put my house in order, and to wait as cal has cos for some time past You remember what I said to you on my way to Kilmarnock last week?

I want nobody to worry about me personally If my work is to come to an end soon, it will at least have been a full day's work I know I can count on your brotherly love and sympathy”

Lady Reid and his children were at thealone in his house, and he received me with a smile

He talked cal He had gathered from the specialist that he had only a feeeks at the most to live, and he told me that as he rode away in a hansom from the house where he had received what he called his sentence of death, he looked at the people in the street like aof detachment from the affairs of the world

But he rallied, and went about his work as usual, was as keenly interested as ever in the politics of the hour, and gave to those who kne much he suffered an example of submission and fortitude which is not co days, and in talk with me he nearly always turned to the old sacred memories which we had in co of his career as a journalist, I reet that blood was thicker than water His letters tothirty years, and many practical deeds as well, if I were to publish the one or to state the other, would prove how constantly he hiift as a raconteur, his superb power of work, hisof public questions; all this I know, and I know besides, better perhaps than anyone else who is likely to speak, his intense fah unparaded loyalty to conviction, and the ic of a kindliness which was never so apparent as when the as rough and the heart was sore

All the letters which arrived after his death--and they came in battalions--were quick with the sense of personal loss They came from all sorts of people--from school-fellows in the distant Newcastle days, and obscure folk who had their own story to tell of his kindness, to statesmen of Cabinet rank, and men whose names are famous in almost every walk of life Personally, I think I was ” whom, it seems, he had helped over a difficult stile in life, and who declared that he was ”one in a thousand”

assuredly, as far as courage and sympathy are concerned, those simple words were true

STUART J REID

_Blackwell Cliff, East Grinstead

October 12th, 1905_

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

One who tries to tell the story of his life and of his personal experiences, public and private, undertakes a task of rare difficulty

Now that I have coo, I recognise reatness of this difficulty, and I am only too conscious that, at the best, I have succeeded but partially in overcootism which is inseparable from a narrative written, as this necessarily is, in the first person, is perhaps the most obvious of all the defects which it must present to the reader Quite frankly I es, I a like confusion by the extent to which I have been forced to bring s, even into those chapters which deal with public affairs I can only plead in extenuation of my offence that I do not see how it could have been avoided in that which is neither raphy I may add that I have tried always to speak the truth, and have never consciously nified my own part in the transactions upon which I have touched

The closing chapters of the story have been written under what see death Indeed, at one time I had no hope that I could live to coe of another world, would willingly swerve by so much as a hair's-breadth from what he believes to be the truth But huinning to the end of life, and I aments upon affairs and my fellow-men is not less open to i in thethat I have written I have wronged any of my fellow-creatures it has been absolutely without intention on my part, and I can only hope that they will vindicate thees, as quickly and co story to tell, and no personal triumphs to chronicle My simple desire has been to write of the persons and events of ht in which they appeared to ive possibly so them which may be new to many of my readers I have been always much more of a spectator than of an actor in the arena; but it has been my lot to be very near, for h chess game whereof the pawns are men”; and we have authority for the belief that the onlooker sees more than the actual player of the drama he describes

I must add that nowhere, except in a few cases in which I make special mention of the fact, have I trusted to mere hearsay evidence I have confined myself to that which I know to be the truth, either from my personal observation or from documents of unimpeachable authority My opinions may be of very little value, but my facts are, I believe, incontrovertible

WEMYSS REID

_26, Braton, January 1st_, 1905