Part 10 (2/2)
That was not, however Woreatest peril Years afterwards, he and Sir Charles Slingsby and a nu the Ouse in a ferryboat, when some of the horses were seized with panic, and the boat was upset Sir Charles Slingsby and a number of others--twelve, I believe, in all--were drowned, Woarded as a ht Brigade Soedy which Woht, hardly liked The ferry-boat was upset in the river adjoining Sir Charles Slingsby's estate One of his tenants who had heard of the disaster, and had been told that only one of the baronets had escaped, was hurrying to the scene of the catastrophe, when heho up his hands, and in accents of dis baronet!”
On theafter this dinner, Mr Husband visited me and inspectedthe day, but hoped he would allow e Eyeing eon said: ”You are athe position you hold You must surely know that you have met with an injury that will keep you in bed for weeks, at least” And he hinted, not obscurely, that still worse things than prolonged confinereatest care ofSo there ended all my hopes of a pleasant holiday The next day I was taken back to Leeds in a state of absolute helplessness, and, being got to bed in my own house, had to remain there for nine mortal weeks
Some of the experiences of that time were curious Phlebitis had set in, and for a tier from the formation of a clot of blood in one of the arteries As is pretty generally knohilst this state of things exists death h the clot getting free and passing into the central organ It was curious to lie in this condition for several days, never knowing at night whether I should see the sun rise again But I was very much struck by the fact that I becahtest apprehension with regard to the course of the disease I was alularly as if I had been in attendance at the _Mercury_ office
Every evening I dictatedarticle to a shorthand writer A telephone--at that tireat novelty--was put up by the side of my bed and connected with my room at the _Mercury_ office, and by this means I was kept in constant communication with the members of h When I was not dictating I was reading, and during my confinement I re-read the whole of the Waverley novels It hen I was oncethe romantic adventures of ”Ivanhoe” that I was seized, one afternoon, with the premonitory symptoms which my doctors had told ent request they had enlightened me upon this point, and I had learned that death froe of the heart would be without pain, and would si of this kind which suddenly stole over , and laid aside ain read printed page Asking for soiven some brandy and water, but it see faintness So I closed ain in this world I felt no pain, no agitation, no fear Half an hour later I awoke froreat surprise, found that I was decidedly better than I had been for some time This seemed, indeed, to have been the crisis of my illness, and from that point I slowly recovered My doctors conjectured that a hthe faintness fro death
I have dwelt at unconscionable length upon this incident of my accidental injury and subsequent illness, but I have done so for the very reason that, sooner or later, experiences of this kind come to most of us, and it may be of some use to state exactly, not only the wonderful rapidity hich a man by the simplest misadventure reets the apparent approach of death All who have suffered from severe illness must kno readily the invalid accustoms himself to seclusion fro life seenificance The outside world beco shohich has but a secondary interest for the man who can take no part in it As for the approach of death, I believe, fro to which a sick man more easily reconciles himself Certainly, since those days in 1880 I have lost any fear I may have had before of that inevitable end which awaits us all It is the recovery from a severe illness of accidental injury that is the really trying thing For many weeks after I leftabout, and suffering fro-place on the Yorkshi+re coast, to recruit, and, hiring a s up and down the fine bay trawling for fish In this way I got plenty of fresh air without bodily fatigue, whilst I had the enjoyment of one of my favourite pursuits
Shortly after ton, and whilst I was still crippled, another great ust, of my mother, a woman of distinct culture and intellectual power, to whos in addition to the motherly love which she lavished upon them all so freely It was, I think, the shock of her death, and the exertion of the railway journey to my brother Stuart's house at Wilht see her before she died, that brought about a relapse in my condition In the hope that I should benefit by it, e It was the first I had ever undertaken I sailed from Liverpool on the _Sidon_, one of the Cunard Coh the Mediterranean to Constantinople and back The _Sidon_ was a slow old boat, and we took ten days to reach Malta, the first place of stoppage I never enjoyed ten days so much before or since The novelty of life at sea charhtful Every day I seeour, and by the tier pretend to be an invalid It was fortunate for one this wonderful improvement, for we had no sooner cast anchor in the busy harbour of Valetta than a telegrahter Nellie had been struck down by typhoid on the very day on which I sailed froetting back froland direct, and I had consequently to continue rams, of course, at each place as to the condition of the invalid At Constantinople I had an urgent suhter's medical attendants, and started at an hour's notice for ho Constantinople on a Tuesday at two o'clock by the Austrian Lloyd steamer for Varna, I reached ht on the following Sunday I believe I established on that occasion a record in travelling from the Bosphorus to Leeds I have described this overland journey in ”Gladys Fane” It was an experience worth re, especially in these days of _trains de luxe_, when the traveller passes froe Froe in the Austrian boat, and at Varna the weather was so bad that it ith difficulty that I persuaded the captain to allow h train The whole of the following day ere passing through the gloo the Danube at Rustchuk in the evening, we reached Bucharest by nine o'clock at night Here was the only opportunity I had during erly availedBrofft's extortions on the occasion of my previous visit to Bucharest, I went to a new hotel which had just been opened, one of the advertised attractions of which was itsfor my early start by train, the proprietor of the hotel came to have a chat with me, and I explained to him the reason why I had chosen his house in preference to Brofft's
”Quite right, sir!” he exclai Take my word for it, sir, Brofft is a thief” At that moment my bill was handed toI had known at Brofft's ”That is as itto the landlord, ”but I think you will agree with me that if Brofft is a thief, he is not the only one in Bucharest” Things, I hope, have changed since then If they have not done so I aly includes Bucharest in the round of the holiday vacation From Bucharest to London, and thence to Leeds, I ca ht, I had the joy of knowing that the crisis of hter's illness was passed, and that she was spared tothe year 1880 It is but a trivial tale, and one that, I fear, will have small interest for the reader, but I have ventured to tell it as an illustration of the adage that troubles never coly In the quarter of a century that has elapsed since then I have not had to encounter such a series of misfortunes as came upon me in the first nine months of that ill-omened year
CHAPTER XIII
THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1880
Mr Gladstone's Position in 1879--His Decision to Contest Midlothian--How he came to be Adopted by the Leeds Liberals--The Conversation Club--A Visit from John Morley--The Dissolution of 1880--Lecture on Mr
Gladstone--His Triumphant Return for Leeds--His Election for Midlothian--Mr Herbert Gladstone Adopted as his Successor at Leeds--Mr
Gladstone's Visit to Leeds in 1881--A Fiasco Narrowly Avoided--A Wonderful Mass Meeting--Mr Gladstone's Collapse and Recovery--My Introduction to Him--An Excursion to Tunis--”The Land of the Bey”--Mr A
M Broadley's Prophecies--Howard Payne's Grave--A Series of Coincidences
The misfortunes described in the last chapter befell o back to the year 1879 That year was largely spent in preparations for the General Election Party spirit ran very high Lord Beaconsfield retained his great popularity in London and a the classes, and the Press and the clubs in consequence believed that the General Election, when it came, would provide him with another victory
Mr Gladstone was hated more than ever by the London journalists, and by all who had been attracted by the showy foreign policy of Lord Beaconsfield I am afraid that he was not at this time over popular in the inner circle of his own party He had resigned the leadershi+p in 1875, and had ostensibly gone into retireed from that retirement in 1876, in order to be the voice of the nation in its outburst of indignation against the Sultan
From that time forward he had occupied a curious position He was neither leader nor follower, but a great force, acting independently of other persons, and disconcerting them visibly by the unexpectedness of his movements
I had access, years afterwards, to the records of thethe period between 1874 and 1880 It was easy to gather from these secret and confidential memoirs that Mr Gladstone was found to be an uneasy bedfellow by his old colleagues When he was et that Lord Hartington was the nominal leader of the Opposition, and to take so to consult his ostensible chief He did, I believe, consult Lord Granville with frequency, if not with regularity Lord Granville was, in his opinion, the leader of the whole party, whilst the only post held by Lord Hartington was that of leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons The result of his frequent interventions in public affairs was undoubtedly to throw the Opposition into soans of the London Press, constantly poured ridicule upon his speeches, and did their best to accentuate the differences between hiues It followed--not unnaturally, perhaps--that there were those a the leaders of the Liberal party who desired to prevent Mr
Gladstone's return to power But whilst the great chief was thus assailed and intrigued against in London, his position in the country was every day becoer
It was known that he meant to retire from the representation of Greenhen the Parliament elected in 1874 came to an end A score of different towns contended for the honour of securing hireat constituencies, sent a deputation to Harley Street, where Mr Gladstone was living To all these offers he turned a deaf ear, and to the amazement of everybody it was announced that he had decided to contest Midlothian, at that time represented by Lord Dalkeith, whose father, the Duke of Buccleuch, was the recognised leader of Conservatism in Scotland Many years afterwards I learned fro the candidature for Midlothian he consulted Lord Granville and Lord Hartington, pointing out to thele like that involved in the fight for the great Tory stronghold of Midlothian, instead of accepting one of the safe seats offered to him elsewhere, his position in the party would of necessity be altered In short, he could only fight Midlothian as a leader Lord Granville and Lord Hartington, undeterred by this consideration, still pressed him to stand for Midlothian From the arded hin upon which the country was about to ereat efforts were made by the Liberals in preparation for the conflict My own position in the party was now very different from what it had been in 1874 I had been taken into the innermost circle of the caucus, and now exercised a considerable a formed an intimate friendshi+p with the honorary secretary of the Liberal association, Mr Mathers, I was consulted upon every step that was taken It was at estion that Mr--now Sir James--Kitson was invited to beco that it was by uments that he was induced to accept the office Froanisation of the party in Leeds--where in 1874 we had an to advance by leaps and bounds Kitson was a th of character Mathers was sianiser and wire-puller I ever met in the course of my life He was a master of detail, one of those rare e of every fact in the most complicated of problems He was also, like myself, an enthusiastic Gladstonian Unkind people in Leeds said in those days that the Liberal party consisted of three persons, Kitson, Mathers, and Reid This may not have been absolutely correct, but it was certainly not very far fro this year 1879, the revival of Liberal feeling, and the rapid growth of a strong hostility to Lord Beaconsfield's adventures in the doeance, and the flowing tide was indeed with us We three organisers of Leeds Liberalis General Election ould win a victory that should fully redee place in the political world
We were, however, so with Mr Barran, the sitting hly suitable man ould have been a credit to the constituency, but there were other candidates in the field, and it seeh one of these would be chosen by the Liberal Four Hundred For the adoption of a candidate was a matter which rested solely with the Four Hundred, and they clung to this prerogative of theirs with great tenacity
On the eve of theat which they were to ue for Mr Barran, I learned that my fears ell founded, and that the choice was likely to fall upon a gentleard as suitable In order to prevent this, I proposed in the _Leeds Mercury_ of the nextthat, in spite of Mr
Gladstone's acceptance of the candidature for Midlothian, we should make him our candidate at Leeds also It was true that he had already refused the invitation of the Leeds Liberals, but I pointed out that the fight for Midlothian would notoriously be a severe one, and that it was quite possible that Mr Gladstone ht be defeated In such a case, if the Liberal association adoptedrepresented by Mr Gladstone, whilst, in any event, our adoption of him as a candidate would enable hi any anxiety as to a possible interruption in his Parliaht, the Liberal association not only adopted estion, but did so with enthusias it, but I had the satisfaction of finding that everybody approved of it--everybody, that is to say, except the gentleman who had won over to his own candidature a considerable proportion of the Four Hundred