LIBRARY 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 MRS. DONALD KELLOGG 
 
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 THE LIFE OF 
 
 THE MARQUIS OF DUFFERIN 
 
 AND AVA
 
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 THE LIFE OF 
 THE MARQUIS OF DUFFERIN 
 
 AND AVA 
 
 BY SIR ALFRED LYALL, P.C 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 VOL. II. 
 
 LONDON 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 
 
 1905
 
 PRINTED BV 
 
 WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 
 LONDON AND BECCLES.
 
 CONTENTS TO VOL. II. 
 
 PACE 
 
 List of Illustrations ... ... ... ix 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 The Sultan — Midhat Pasha — The Osmanli empire — The 
 scheme of reforms — Egyptian affairs — Military insubordi- 
 nation — Arabi Bey — The Sultan's policy — The state of 
 Egypt — Proposed remedy — The Osmanli government — 
 The situation at Cairo — The Identic Note— Conference of 
 the Powers — Diversity of views — Proposals to the Sultan 
 — Alexandria bombarded — Discussions with the Sultan — 
 Tel-el-Kebir — Lord Dufferin's diplomacy — Lord Dufferin 
 and the Sultan — Course of the negociations — A long inter- 
 view— Straightforward diplomacy — Successful conclusion 1-30 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 The Mission to Egypt — Arrival in Cairo — Arabi Pasha's trial 
 — The sentence — The Egyptian situation — The English 
 policy — Pressing affairs — The Report — An experiment — 
 Lord Dufferin's views — Administrative proposals — Institu- 
 tions — Essential conditions — Sir Alfred Milner's criticism 
 — Observations — Lord Cromer's remarks — Mr. Childers — 
 The Report approved — Letter to Sherif Pasha — Lord 
 Dufferin's assurances — The Soudan — Major Hicks — The 
 Soudan disaster — Colonel Gordon — Colonel Gordon's letter 
 — Return to Constantinople — The Sultan — Arrival in London 
 — To Constantinople again — At the Embassy — Broussa — 
 Appointment to India — London — Mr. Hepburn — The Belfast 
 banquet — Lord Dufferin's speech — A Greek goddess — 
 Departure for India ... ... ... ... 31-71
 
 vi CONTENTS TO VOL. II. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Arrival in Bombay — First impressions — The burden of work — • 
 The Bengal Tenancy Bill — Indian land tenures — Land 
 legislation — Complicated questions — The Act passed — The 
 Oudh Rent Act — The Act passed — Punjab land tenures — 
 The three Land Acts — Russia in Central Asia — The Boundary 
 Commission — Panjdeh — A collision — The Amir in India — 
 Rawal I'indi — Meeting and interview — The Amir's views — 
 His policy — Result of the conferences — The discussions 
 — The Rawal Pindi Durbar — Lord Dufferin's impressions — 
 Military preparations — General conclusions — Arrangements 
 with the Amir — Change of ministry — Amritsar — Simla — 
 The Buffer policy — Lord Randolph Churchill — The conven- 
 tion with Russia — The winter tour — Delhi — Tennyson's 
 poem — A military review — Indian troops ... ... 72-115 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 INDIA (BURMAH AND TIBET). 
 
 Burmah — Burmah and France — Ultimatum to Mandalay — War 
 with Burmah — Important questions — Annexation — Lord 
 Dufferin at Mandalay — Mandalay — The condition of 
 Burmah — Internal confusion — Chronic disorders — Their 
 gradual suppression — Gang robbery — Lord Roberts in 
 Burmah — Pacification — China and Tibet — The Tibet 
 mission — Attitude of the Tibetans — The mission stopped — 
 The mission retires — Lord Dufferin at Madras — Home 
 politics — The Irish Home Rule Bill — The Land Purchase 
 Bill — Lord Dufferin's views — Lord Randolph Churchill 1 16-142 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 INDIA (INTERNAL POLITICS). 
 
 Education in India — Poona and Hyderabad — Hyderabad — 
 Mysore — Pondicherry — Constitutional questions — Political 
 aspirations — Lord Dufferin's minute — The legislative 
 councils — Lord Dufferin's proposals — Enlargement of 
 councils — Debate on the budget — Interpellation — General 
 result — The Jubilee speech — Strategical problems — Letter 
 to Lord Granville — Letter to Lord Arthur Russell — Tiger- 
 hunting — Letters home — Lady Dufferin's investiture —
 
 CONTENTS TO VOL. II. vii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Letters home — Robert Browning's poem — Robert Browning's 
 letter — Helen Lady Dufferin's letter — Correspondence — 
 Review of work done — Journey to Beluchistan — Peshawar 
 and the frontier — Letter to Sir W. Gregory ... ... 143-174 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Appointment to Rome — Indian retrospect — Prospect of return — 
 Retirement announced — The reasons — India tranquil — 
 Farewell addresses — The Viceroy's reply — Lucknow — 
 Letters — Simla — Afghan affairs — Army reforms — ■ The 
 Presidential armies — Amalgamation — 'Mobilisation — The 
 marquisate — Progress in India — Mr. Gladstone's letter — • 
 Final plans — Lahore — Calcutta — The farewell speech — 
 Foreign affairs — Internal affairs — Constitutional changes 
 Declaration of policy — The National Congress — The 
 Viceroy's proposals — End of Governor Generalship — Depar- 
 ture for England ... ... ... ... ... 175-207 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ROME. 
 
 Arrival in Rome — The Ambassadorship — First experiences — 
 Roman society — London — Italian politics — Signor Crispi 
 — The Triple Alliance — Diplomatic questions — Paris — Lord 
 Dufferin at the Mansion House — Speech — The Indian 
 empire — Over-exertion — Recovery — Family affairs — A 
 wedding — Return to Rome — The St. Andrew's Rectorship 
 — Italian politics — Kassala — Irish land purchase — The Land 
 Bill — Fox-hunting at Rome — Tour in Italy — Florence — 
 Sorrento — Yachting — Sicily — Syracuse — Pleasures of the 
 sea — Napoleon at Waterloo — Family letters — Tunis — 
 Address at St. Andrew's — Visit to England — Clandeboye 
 — Transfer to Paris — Departure from Rome ... ... 208-257 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PARIS. 
 
 Official reception— Egyptian affairs — Wardenship of the Cinque 
 Ports — Trinity College — Tennyson's funeral — Mysterious 
 calumnies — Lord Dufferin's speech — Public contradiction — 
 Success of the speech — Conscription — The Russians in
 
 viii CONTENTS TO VOL. II. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Paris — The Siamese question — Retrospection — The Due 
 d'Aumale — ■ The political situation — President Carnot's 
 assassination — M. Casimir Perier — The President's abdica- 
 tion — International rivalries — Nice — Lady Jocelyn — Lady 
 Mount Temple — Resignation of the Wardenship — Excur- 
 sions in P>ance — Professor Blackie — A valedictory speech 
 — The diplomatic service — Preparations for departure — A 
 short excursion — Retirement from the public service ... 258-294 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE LAST YEARS AT HOME. 
 
 Speech at Belfast — Clandeboye — The Civil Service — England — 
 Lord Ava's death — Queen Victoria's funeral — Financial 
 troubles — Failure of health — Illness at Edinburgh — Return 
 to Clandeboye — The last days — Characteristic qualities — 
 Personal recollections — Lord Dufferin's last letter ... 295-320 
 
 Appendix.— The Countess of Dufferin's Fund ... ... 321-323 
 
 Index ... ... ... ... ... ... 325-339
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 The Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, 1901 Frontispiece 
 
 From the Picture by Henrietta Rae 
 
 TO FACE TAGE 
 
 The Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava ... ... 160 
 
 From the Picture by J. J. Shannon, A.R.A., 1889 
 
 Yacht "Lady Hermione" ... ... ... ... 224 
 
 The Marquis of Dufferin and Ava ... ... 240 
 
 From the Portrait by Benjamin Constant 
 
 Helen, Lady Dufferin (Countess of Gifford) ... 272
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE OF THE MARQUIS OF 
 . DUFFERIN AND AVA 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 June 28, 1881.* — "Here we are; and at last I have 
 breathing time to write you a letter. 
 
 "We came to this place via the Mont Cenis tunnel 
 and Venice, and then on by the Government ship 
 down the Adriatic, calling in at Argostoli in Cepha- 
 lonia, where I found Sir Beauchamp Seymour. On 
 reaching the Dardanelles we paid a visit to the fort, 
 and were introduced to the two enormous guns which 
 throw stone balls like those you see at the doorsteps 
 of country houses. Indeed I have four of them at 
 Clandeboye. 
 
 "We did not stop at Constantinople, but came 
 straight on to Therapia. The Embassy at Therapia 
 is a real Palace, built close to the water's edge, and 
 facing the mouth of the Black Sea, through which the 
 north wind perpetually blows in summer as through 
 a funnel. 
 
 "On Tuesday last I had my first audience with 
 the Sultan. We went down to Pera in a steam yacht 
 which is kept at the ambassador's disposal, with a 
 
 * Letter to Lady Dartrey. 
 VOL. II. 1 B
 
 2 THE SULTAN. [ch. i 
 
 suite of nearly thirty persons. The Sultan's carriages, 
 well horsed, harnessed, and driven with an escort, 
 outriders and runners on foot, were waiting to take 
 us up to the Kiosk or summer palace where he now 
 resides. It is beautifully situated on a hill surrounded 
 by a large park, in which he can both shoot and ride. 
 I found His Majesty standing by himself at the far 
 end of the room, a small man with a dark beard, soft 
 eyes, and a gentle manner. I read him a speech in 
 French to which his Minister for Foreign Affairs 
 read a reply in Turkish. The Sultan then suggested 
 that we should both retire and rest after so great 
 an exertion, before having the private interview to 
 which he desired to invite me. . . . 
 
 "The next day I was invited to dinner. We were 
 asked for 7 o'clock, i.e. sunset. We were the first to 
 arrive, and were soon joined by a number of Pashas, 
 though a good half hour passed before dinner was 
 announced. . . . We then went in to dinner, the 
 Sultan sitting at the head of the table with a con- 
 siderable interval on either side of him. Then I came 
 on his right, and Said Pasha his Prime Minister on 
 his left. There were about five and thirty guests. 
 During the whole of the dinner Munir Bey, the first 
 chamberlain, who acts as interpreter and speaks ex- 
 cellent French, stood beside the Sultan in his stars 
 and ribbon, and conducted the conversation between 
 us, touching his breast, his lips, and his forehead at 
 every sentence the Sultan spoke. Except the Sultan 
 nobody spoke during the meal, and he only in a low 
 voice. . . . 
 
 "After dinner the Sultan, I, Munir Bey the inter- 
 preter, and my own dragoman retired to another 
 room, and I had a talk with His Majesty for a couple 
 of hours. After this was over, he said he would like 
 to introduce his Pashas to me, and accordingly they 
 were all brought in, huddling together in a corner of 
 the room — these great men in their splendid uniforms 
 and diamond orders. The Sultan then pointed out
 
 1 88 1] MIDHAT PASHA. 3 
 
 each to me in turn. . . . When he gave them the 
 signal to retire they all backed out with the usual 
 Oriental obeisance. Shortly afterwards I took my 
 leave." 
 
 The trial of Midhat Pasha for complicity in the 
 supposed murder of the late Sultan Abdul Aziz was 
 now going on. The procedure was admitted by a 
 high Turkish official to be a parody of justice, and 
 the evidence "insufficient to hang a cat;" but an 
 acquittal on a charge of regicide did not fall in with 
 the political principles of the reigning Sultan, and 
 Midhat Pasha, while in power as Vazir, had been an 
 active Liberal reformer. When a capital sentence 
 had been pronounced, Lord Dufferin pressed the 
 Sultan to use clemency, with the result that through 
 British mediation it was commuted to rigorous 
 imprisonment for three years at Taif in Arabia, 
 where after a decent interval the unfortunate Pasha 
 was quietly strangled. 
 
 In a letter sent home by Lord Dufferin in December 
 1881, we have an animated description of the annual 
 commemoration at Constantinople of a tragic incident 
 famous in the annals of Islam. 
 
 " Last week the Persians here gave a great religious 
 ceremony in honour of Hussein, a great grandson of 
 Mahomet, who, having raised claims to the Caliphate, 
 was overpowered and slain by far superior forces of 
 the reigning Caliph in the year 679. Ever since he 
 has been regarded as a martyr by the Persians. On 
 reaching the great square which constitutes the inner 
 court of the Persian Khan soon after sunset, we found 
 the whole place illuminated with lamps and torches and 
 ball fires, while a procession intended to represent the 
 return of Hussein's family to Medina after his murder, 
 was marching round it. First came a number of men
 
 4 THE OSMANLI EMPIRE. [ch. I 
 
 beating their breasts with a rhythmic motion, so as 
 to produce a succession of 'thuds' which might have 
 been heard a mile off. After these followed the horses 
 of the martyr bearing his blood-stained armour. Then 
 came a throng of Dervishes lacerating their bare 
 backs with steel whips, followed by two rows of 
 infuriated fanatics, dressed in white shirts and armed 
 with naked swords. They walked sideways in two 
 linked lines facing each other, and at every step 
 they gashed their skulls and foreheads with their 
 swords until the blood streamed down in torrents 
 over their faces, necks, and white garments. Many 
 of them became a red mass of gore, some of them 
 fainted, and from some their swords had to be taken, 
 so desperate w r ere the slashes they gave themselves. 
 The smell of blood filled the air, and the shouts and 
 gestures of the Mollahs and priests who walked up 
 and down between the two rows, still further excited 
 their madness. I could not have believed in such a 
 sight had I not seen it." 
 
 After an interval of twenty years, dating from his 
 Syrian Commission, Lord Dufferin found himself 
 again in the midst of the turbid and chaotic politics 
 of the Osmanli empire. The establishment of an 
 Asiatic sovereignty in Europe and on the shores of 
 the Mediterranean, ruling over large Christian popu- 
 lations, was, and still is, one of the most important 
 and far-reaching events of the world's history; it 
 obliterated and put back for centuries the civiliza- 
 tion of south-eastern Europe and of Asia Minor; 
 and it has engendered interminable discord and 
 jealousies among the European governments. From 
 the time of the Crusades every successive attempt 
 to dislodge the Mahomedan Power in the Levant 
 and on the Bosphorus has been frustrated by the 
 conflicts of designs and interests that divided the 
 Christians ; and though in the war of 1^76-y/
 
 i88i] THE SCHEME OF REFORMS. 5 
 
 Russia drove backward the outworks of Turkish 
 dominion, the Sultan's throne at Constantinople 
 remains unshaken. 
 
 In 1881 the Cabinets of Europe were still disputing 
 over details in the execution of the political awards 
 pronounced by the Berlin Congress ; and Lord 
 Dufferin's removal from St. Petersburg to Con- 
 stantinople merely transferred him from one to the 
 other cardinal point on the arena of diplomatic con- 
 troversy. His immediate business was to supervise 
 the demarcation, in accordance with the Berlin treaty, 
 of the new frontier assigned to Greece, and to extort 
 from the Sultan some beginning of the reforms which 
 he was pledged by his convention with England to 
 introduce into his administration of Asia Minor. It 
 need hardly be said that in this latter undertaking 
 his efforts were completely unsuccessful : he was 
 foiled by the apathy of the Sublime Porte, and by 
 the "absolute indifference to the subject" exhibited 
 by all his diplomatic colleagues, who confined them- 
 selves to assuring him that he had their friendly 
 sympathy, and full liberty to do what he could. 
 From the Russian ambassador alone he obtained 
 some attention to the scheme of reforms which he 
 prepared and placed before the Turkish government. 
 But when Lord Dufferin demanded that a Com- 
 missioner, empowered to superintend the reforming 
 measures, should be sent into Armenia, the Turks, 
 having ascertained that no other Power but England 
 was taking the matter seriously, easily contrived 
 to defeat the whole project. And the Armenian 
 massacres of 1898 have since proved sufficiently the 
 utter futility of such conventions. 
 
 Moreover, Lord Dufferin had barely time to look 
 round him after taking office at Constantinople, before
 
 6 EGYPTIAN AFFAIRS. [ch. I 
 
 the clouded aspect of Egyptian affairs overshadowed 
 all other difficulties, presaging fresh complications in 
 a new quarter which directly and materially affected 
 English interests. In Egypt, where the Sultan's 
 authority had for centuries been nominal, it had 
 latterly been the policy of England to uphold the 
 rule of an independent Viceroy, who kept open the 
 straight road to India ; and so long as the country 
 was governed by a vigorous dynasty our views and 
 purposes were satisfied. When the construction of 
 the Suez Canal threw open a water-way through the 
 isthmus, England, as the chief maritime and com- 
 mercial nation, became more than ever concerned 
 in maintaining this policy ; while on the other hand 
 the immense loans contracted by Egypt gave Euro- 
 pean financiers a stake in the country, increased the 
 traditional interest of France in Egypt, and drew 
 Germany into connexion with its affairs. No Oriental 
 ruler ever swallowed the golden hook of European 
 money-lenders without fatal consequences to his 
 independence; and in 1879 Ismail Pasha, who had 
 borrowed and spent with equal prodigality, was 
 floundering in the financial net, which was being 
 gradually tightened by astute and imperious creditors. 
 In this desperate situation he resorted to the device 
 of proclaiming himself a constitutional ruler, with the 
 hope of reassuring or appeasing Europe by this parody 
 of liberal reforms ; and he next proceeded to decree 
 a financial settlement in violation of his engagements, 
 and to dismiss the Controllers set by France and 
 England over his treasury to secure the due pay- 
 ment of the public debt. As he was unable, in fact, 
 to disgorge the hook, he made a bold effort to snap 
 the line ; whereupon he was instantly hauled ashore. 
 His Highness was deposed by the French and English
 
 1 88 1] MILITARY INSUBORDINATION. 7 
 
 governments, and Prince Tewfik was brought in to 
 reign in his stead. 
 
 But repeated experiments of this kind have estab- 
 lished one unvarying result. An Oriental ruler 
 placed on his throne by European interference has 
 a very precarious seat; he is sure to be unpopular, 
 for he must lean on the foreigners who set him up ; 
 and he is likely to be incapable, for his ability to 
 govern has never been tried, while under European 
 superintendence it never gets a fair trial. The army 
 is his chief mainstay, but also his perpetual danger ; 
 because all Oriental armies mutiny sooner or later, 
 and a weak and unpopular administration gives 
 ambitious soldiers their opportunity. It is a sound 
 political maxim that anything can be done with 
 bayonets, except sitting down upon them; if they 
 are a ruler's only stay his seat is uncomfortable 
 and precarious. In Egypt military insubordination 
 soon appeared, and it spread until a revolt broke 
 out which Ismail, who with all his faults understood 
 Eastern statecraft, would have suppressed with a 
 rough hand, but with which Prince Tewfik was quite 
 incapable of coping. He was regarded as the tool 
 of foreigners, and in this emergency foreign officials 
 could not help him ; their efforts only increased his 
 unpopularity. After one abortive attempt to assert 
 his authority, all real power passed into the grasp 
 of the mutinous officers, whose leader was Arabi Bey. 
 
 The military movement had begun with demands, 
 in themselves reasonable enough, made by some of 
 the leading colonels for army reform. They were 
 summoned to the War Office in Cairo and there 
 arrested ; but they were immediately rescued by their 
 soldiers ; and after this trial of strength between the 
 Khedive and his army no reconciliation was in fact
 
 8 ARABI BEY. [ch. l 
 
 possible ; for the officers believed, with good reason, 
 that their lives were at stake, and the weakness 
 of the government had been disclosed. Other 
 ominous incidents followed, until the Khedive became 
 thoroughly alarmed and took stronger measures for 
 asserting his authority ; while the colonels on their 
 side organized a formidable military demonstration. 
 Arabi Bey, after surrounding the palace with troops, 
 demanded the dismissal of the ministry and a re- 
 presentative constitution for Egypt. The Khedive, 
 brought face to face with armed mutineers, lost heart, 
 yielded, and thenceforward the mastery and command 
 of his army passed into the hands of Arabi Bey. This 
 was in September 1881. When the news reached 
 Constantinople it created much excitement; and all 
 parties began to calculate how their respective in- 
 terests might be affected by an Egyptian revolution. 
 The Sultan, discerning an opportunity for recover- 
 ing his authority over an independent province, 
 was inclined to despatch a Turkish force to restore 
 order and to proclaim a constitution, which might 
 serve as a convenient temporary screen for ulterior 
 measures of another sort. He had been called in, 
 as the Sovereign, to dismiss one Khedive at the 
 bidding of Europe, and to nominate a successor, 
 whom he now desired to remove in his own interests ; 
 nor was it altogether easy to explain to him why 
 the precedent was this time inapplicable. 
 
 Lord Dufferin dissuaded him from sending troops ; 
 and as for the constitution he hinted that the Sultan's 
 ardour for administrative reforms might find scope at 
 home. The French government, to whom any revival 
 of Osmanli influence in North Africa would have 
 been exceedingly distasteful, on account of their 
 possessions in Algiers and their protectorate in
 
 1 88 1] THE SULTAN'S POLICY. 
 
 Tunis, were even more strenuously opposed than the 
 English to the despatch of Turkish troops or even 
 of a Turkish envoy to Cairo. Austria, Germany, 
 and Russia stood aside, though German views were 
 suspected to be not unfavourable to the Sultan's de- 
 signs, as Prince Bismarck might have no objection to 
 anything likely to create embarrassments for France. 
 Lord Odo Russell wrote to Lord Dufferin from 
 Berlin — 
 
 October 3, 1881. — "We are told here that — ever 
 since the Sultan wrote to the German Emperor, as the 
 most disinterested of his tormentors, for advice and 
 protection, and the Emperor consented to send him 
 half a dozen or more German officials to reform his 
 administration — His Ottoman Majesty has never 
 ceased to seek advice at the German embassy; but 
 that Prince Bismarck seldom answers, and if he does, 
 it is to say that he agrees with, and gives his moral 
 support to, the united wishes or advice of England 
 and France." 
 
 Eventually the Sultan had his way so far that two 
 envoys were deputed from Constantinople to Cairo, 
 in spite of remonstrance from the French and English 
 ambassadors ; but on the other hand two warships 
 were sent by France and England to Alexandria, 
 notwithstanding a protest from the Sultan. 
 
 For some months, up to the end of 1881, there was 
 a lull on the surface of current affairs in Egypt ; and 
 Lord Dufferin wrote from Constantinople that they 
 appeared to have settled down quietly for the moment, 
 adding, however — 
 
 " But people assure me that the calm is only 
 momentary, and that further troubles are brewing. 
 The system we are maintaining there is naturally a 
 very artificial one, and its success depends upon the 
 maintenance of a very unstable equilibrium."
 
 10 THE STATE OF EGYPT. [ch. I 
 
 A letter from Cairo, written to Lord Dufferin by 
 an Englishman long resident in the East, gives a 
 concise and trustworthy description of the state of 
 Egyptian affairs in November 1881, and explains its 
 perilous instability — 
 
 " I take this opportunity of offering to your Lord- 
 ship a few observations on the present state of affairs 
 in Egypt. 
 
 " During the many years that I spent in Syria, I 
 never once felt the slightest alarm for the safety of 
 myself and family ; but I must confess that pending 
 the present unsettled state of affairs in Egypt, I do 
 not feel the same confidence. 
 
 " The events of the past eight months have doubt- 
 less been duly reported to your Lordship, how a 
 revolted army, led by three or four Egyptian Colonels, 
 have made a series of armed demonstrations in sup- 
 port of their demands for certain concessions, all of 
 which have been accorded to them. 
 
 "Some time ago my wife visited some Turkish 
 ladies, one of whom, the wife of a Turkish officer, 
 explained that so long as the power remained in the 
 hands of these Egyptian troops, no Turkish officer's 
 life was safe, and that when her husband was absent 
 from home, at the barracks or elsewhere on duty, she 
 was in fear and trembling until she saw him return. 
 At that time the regiments quartered at distances of 
 three or four miles apart, had posted a number of 
 their men disguised as peasants or otherwise, in order 
 to keep up a constant communication along the roads 
 leading from one barracks to another and to give the 
 alarm in case of any untoward event happening to 
 either of their chosen officers. 
 
 " From that time until now all power has been 
 virtually in their hands: the Khedive and his ministers, 
 commanding no other force to oppose them, have 
 granted everything that has been demanded. 
 
 "On the 9th of September the army, still led by
 
 1881] THE STATE OF EGYPT. 11 
 
 the three Colonels marched to the Palace of Abdin, 
 and peremptorily demanded the dismissal of the Riaz 
 ministry, the constitution of a chamber of delegates, 
 the restoration of the former Prefect of Police, and 
 the increase of the Egyptian army. With the exception 
 of the latter, all these points were conceded to them. 
 
 "When Cherif Pasha accepted the office of Prime 
 Minister, he stipulated that the three regiments 
 should be separated, and they consented to go, one 
 to Damietta, and one to Wady near Zagazig. 
 
 "When Ahmed Bey Arabi, Colonel of the regi- 
 ment ordered to encamp at Wady, arrived at the 
 town of Zagazig, he was received by the people of 
 that town like a conqueror or a dictator; bouquets 
 and addresses were presented to him, and he was 
 called the ' Regenerator of liberty in Egypt.' 
 
 "Quite latterly the army has clamoured for the 
 release of a certain Enani Bey who was in prison as 
 a fraudulent bankrupt, by sentence of the legal 
 tribunals. The Ministry summoned a special council 
 to consider the demand, and acceded to it. They 
 have applied for the change of the Sheikh of the 
 native University, the mosque of El Azhar. M. Laffon, 
 Editor of L'Egypte, was a few days ago obliged to leave 
 this country on account of a decision of the Ulemas 
 that he deserved death for the publication of an un- 
 guarded sentence in one of the paragraphs of his 
 newspaper. 
 
 "The pan-Islamic movement in Egypt, of which 
 the Ulemas and the military officers are the leaders, 
 has doubtless been created by the general feeling of 
 resentment to the French aggression in Tunis, and a 
 fear lest a similar European crusade should extend 
 to Egypt. 
 
 "... Should the present state of uneasiness 
 continue and develop into any serious outrages, a 
 foreign occupation will probably be necessary, and 
 this would be the signal for a massacre and pillage 
 such as we have witnessed elsewhere and which I
 
 12 PROPOSED REMEDY. [ch. i 
 
 hope never to see in Egypt. I think that any kind 
 of joint occupation by France and England would be 
 provocative of very serious disturbances and of fresh 
 complications, and should therefore be avoided. 
 
 "The great Mehemet Aly had his army composed 
 of Turks, Albanians, and Egyptians, and never allowed 
 an Egyptian to rise to a higher rank than that of 
 captain in the army. Thus if one body were dis- 
 affected, he could bring it to reason by means of 
 another. But now all the Egyptian army is native, 
 even to the officers of the highest grades, and they 
 can only be put down by means of another force, 
 which does not exist in the country. 
 
 "The most reasonable solution of the difficulty 
 seems to be one which may send Egypt many years 
 back in her progress to independence, but even this 
 would be better than the continuance of a military 
 mob in power. I mean the occupation of the country 
 by 10,000 Turkish troops, who should be distinctly 
 placed under the orders of the Egyptian govern- 
 ment, and should first disband the present Egyptian 
 army and then occupy their posts until some other 
 permanent solution of the difficulty be decided 
 upon." 
 
 But the government at Constantinople was then 
 hardly in a condition to warrant reliance on its 
 undertaking to restore order at Cairo. Upon this 
 subject Lord Dufferin wrote in October 188 1 to a 
 correspondent — 
 
 " I must thank you for your kind words of 
 sympathy and encouragement. I assure you they 
 are very much needed, for in all my life I have never 
 found myself in the presence of so many difficulties. 
 The administration of this country is completely at 
 a standstill. There is no money at Constantinople, 
 and no security for life or property anywhere. The 
 Sultan insists upon doing everything himself, and
 
 tSSi] THE OSMANLI GOVERNMENT. 13 
 
 the Porte has become a nominis umbra. There is 
 consequently no one with whom to negociate, or to 
 whom one can address a demand. As to our notes 
 they might just as well be put into the waste-paper 
 basket as sent to the Foreign Minister. 
 
 "The labour of controlling such an Empire as 
 this, even if it were in apple-pie order, would keep 
 a dozen ministers busy, but for one human being to 
 undertake the superintendence of such a chaos is 
 madness, and must end in disaster. Ever since my 
 arrival I can see a change for the worse. At this 
 moment there are 2400 affairs on the Register of the 
 Council of Ministers awaiting a solution. The sense 
 of the hopelessness of their task seems to have 
 rendered the Government callous to all remonstrance 
 on the part of the Embassies against the delays in the 
 settlement of the various matters of business we are 
 pressing upon the attention of the Porte." 
 
 In November he wrote again — 
 
 " I really do not know what is to be the end of 
 this personal autocracy of the Sultan's. It is bringing 
 the Empire into a state of greater disorganization 
 than ever. Brigandage is becoming equally rampant 
 both in Europe and in Asia, and the whole adminis- 
 tration is at a deadlock. I perceive that some of 
 the ministers would be very glad if Europe could do 
 something to put an end to so intolerable a regime. 
 It has sometimes occurred to me, if the Powers could 
 be brought seriously to move in the matter, that a 
 united representation on the subject might bring 
 the Sultan into a more reasonable line of conduct ; 
 for the relations of the Ambassadors with the Porte 
 have become simply farcical. We all know that any 
 serious communication we may make to the Ministers 
 is as void as though it had been confided to the winds, 
 and that any undertaking they give us is merely 
 provisional, and liable to be nullified by their Master's 
 caprice or inattention.''
 
 14 THE SITUATION AT CAIRO. [ch. I 
 
 With regard to the position of Egyptian affairs at 
 the end of January 1882, Lord Dufferin wrote to Sir 
 William Gregory — 
 
 " I have been watching as closely as one can do 
 at this distance the course of events at Cairo. Affairs 
 still seem to be in a state of 'unstable equilibrium,' 
 and it is not pleasant to reflect that if a crash should 
 come our position would be one of the greatest em- 
 barrassment. If we got mixed up in a squabble with 
 France as a partner it would be sure to end in a 
 quarrel between us. All my instincts are with the 
 national party in Egypt. First of all, I love the country. 
 1 never spent a happier five months than when I 
 went up the Nile with my mother. I devoted myself 
 to ancient Egyptian literature, and to this day I have 
 always a book of hieroglyphics on hand. The people 
 were intended by Providence to remain happy and 
 contented in their isolated valley. They ought to be 
 the most easily governed community in the world, 
 as well as the best off and most contented; and it 
 once we could get anything like self-government 
 started upon anything like a secure basis in Egypt, 
 it might prove a beginning for the establishment of 
 a better system of administration in other parts of 
 the Mussulman world." 
 
 The situation indeed could hardly have been ex- 
 pected to last long without some fresh stirring of the 
 military party, which had overawed the Khedive and 
 was virtually master in the country. The French 
 and English governments, at any rate, seem to have 
 concluded that there were grounds for serious un- 
 easiness, for after consultations between Lord Gran- 
 ville and the French premier, Monsieur Gambetta, 
 they issued* an Identic Note announcing their deter- 
 mination to guard by their united efforts against all 
 cause of complications, internal or external, which 
 
 * January 1882.
 
 )8S2] THE IDENTIC NOTE. 15 
 
 might menace the order of things established in 
 Egypt. This step has been generally condemned as 
 ill-timed and injudicious, because the threat of in- 
 tervention irritated the Sultan, and startled the 
 Egyptians as portending the occupation of their 
 country by foreign troops. Yet one may doubt 
 whether it was more than slightly premature; for 
 a violent revolution was clearly imminent, and 
 nothing but force could stop it. The Khedive had 
 now little more than nominal authority in the midst 
 of ambitious and turbulent men. Arabi Bey had 
 become Under Secretary for War; and the policy of 
 the National party, as it was called, was to stimulate 
 the animosity, religious and political, of the Egyptians 
 against Europeans, and to interrupt the financial 
 control that had been established by formal conven- 
 tions. But unquestionably the publication of the 
 Note accelerated the course of events, increased the 
 popularity of Arabi Bey, who was now the most 
 influential personage at the capital, and confirmed 
 the revolutionary leaders in their determination to 
 resist a foreign intervention which would be in- 
 evitably fatal to their plans. Three weeks after the 
 issue of the Identic Note came the fall of Gambetta's 
 ministry ; and under his successor the policy of joint 
 intervention, by France and England, in Egyptian 
 affairs was virtually abandoned. So soon as this 
 became known at Cairo, the military party took 
 fresh courage. In May 1882, when Arabi Bey's 
 attitude had become manifestly alarming, the English 
 and French agents required the Khedive to dismiss 
 him ; but he was immediately restored in office by 
 a menacing demonstration of the notables and the 
 army, who were now fiercely antagonistic to all 
 foreign interference. The Khedive was powerless,
 
 1 6 CONFERENCE OF THE POWERS. [ch. i 
 
 and a dangerous commotion was imminent. In this 
 emergency a Conference of the European Powers, 
 represented by their ambassadors, was convened 
 at Constantinople to deliberate upon measures for 
 terminating the crisis. The announcement of this 
 resolution was by no means agreeable to the Sultan, 
 who now hoped that in the general confusion he 
 might recover possession of Egypt; and for the 
 purpose of asserting his sovereign prerogative he 
 despatched a Commissioner to Cairo. 
 
 This brief summary of the course of events in 
 Egypt has been thought necessary, in order that Lord 
 Dufferin's position at Constantinople, and the trans- 
 actions which led to his subsequent mission to Egypt, 
 might be clearly understood. 
 
 The meeting of the Conference was delayed by 
 opposition from the Sultan, who persisted in declaring 
 that his Commissioner would settle Egyptian troubles 
 effectively. Lord Dufferin's instructions were to 
 obtain from his colleagues a general assent to the 
 proposal that Turkish troops should be sent to Egypt 
 for the purpose of suppressing the revolt against the 
 Khedive's authority, but under strict limitations in 
 regard to their employment. The Sultan objected 
 to this latter stipulation, which he thought would 
 place his army under the control of the European 
 Powers ; but he had begun to perceive that the 
 triumph of the National party, led by Arabi Bey, 
 might annihilate the last semblance of his sovereignty 
 over Egypt, and that the secession of Egypt would 
 be fatal to his authority in Arabia. On the other 
 hand, the French representatives at the Conference 
 hesitated seriously over the British proposal. The 
 presence of Turkish troops in Egypt might give the 
 Osmanli power a fresh foothold in North Africa, with
 
 1 882] DIVERSITY OF VIEWS. 17 
 
 the effect of reviving and encouraging disquietude 
 among Mahomedans in Tunis, which France had just 
 occupied, and in Algeria. Lord Dufferin's position, 
 therefore, was in some respects similar to that in 
 which he had found himself twenty years earlier 
 in Syria : his business was to manage the Turks and 
 conciliate the French. 
 
 Toward the end of June he wrote — 
 
 " Even when the Conference does meet, I am 
 afraid we shall find great difficulty in reaching a 
 suitable agreement in regard to any of the points 
 indicated in my instructions. 
 
 " During the last fortnight the question of the 
 despatch of Turkish troops to Egypt has passed into 
 a new phase. Of course the Sultan is anxious to ex- 
 hibit his military supremacy at Cairo ; but Mahomedan 
 opinion is becoming almost too strong for him. Arabi 
 Pasha is now regarded, even at Constantinople, as 
 a hero and champion of Islam ; and Dervish Pasha's 
 account of the way in which the Turks are hated in 
 Egypt and of the united front with which Turkish 
 intervention would be opposed by the National party, 
 has daunted the Sultan, whose natural bent it is to 
 gain his ends rather by conciliation than by force. 
 We can therefore no longer count upon the readi- 
 ness of the Turks to move in the desired direction." 
 
 Moreover Austria and Germany looked coldly, 
 if not with open disfavour, upon the project of allow- 
 ing the Turks to intervene with troops ; so that 
 Lord Dufferin received little support on any side. 
 
 In these circumstances the proceedings of the 
 Conference were at first slow and indecisive. "What 
 is wanted in Egypt" (Lord Dufferin wrote) "is 
 immediate action;" and he expedited conclusions by 
 warning the Sultan that, if nothing were done, he might 
 find "an Arabian caliph reigning over an independent 
 
 VOL. II. c
 
 18 PROPOSALS TO THE SULTAN. [ch. 1 
 
 Egypt;" while in July, when the British fleet was 
 before Alexandria, the Sultan was informed by him 
 that the Admiral had orders to knock down the forts 
 and batteries, if the military preparations for resist- 
 ance were not discontinued. Finally, however, after 
 prolonged discussion, the Conference agreed upon 
 presenting to the Sultan an Identic Note, inviting 
 him to assist the Khedive by despatching to Egypt 
 a force sufficient to re-establish order and subdue the 
 faction that had usurped domination in the country. 
 But the military convention under which Turkish 
 troops were to land in Egypt, placed them under 
 strict surveillance as to the objects, methods, and 
 period of occupation ; and from these conditions, 
 which the Sultan held to be incompatible with his 
 dignity, he persistently withheld his consent. 
 
 Two cardinal points had now been fixed by the 
 Conference as the basis of their proceedings, upon 
 which their future course should be regulated. In the 
 first place, the Sultan had been requested to interpose 
 authoritatively and effectively, but to do so only as 
 an executor of the mandate of the European Powers. 
 Secondly, all measures were to be settled by the 
 Powers in concert, with the important reservation, 
 proposed originally by the Italian ambassador, of 
 cases of force majeure, of unexpected incidents — that 
 is to say — when military exigencies would neces- 
 sarily supersede all other considerations. The Suez 
 Canal might be seized by the insurgents, and recent 
 riots at Alexandria had shown that the lives and 
 property of Europeans in Egypt were most insecure ; 
 the Sultan's Commissioner had effected nothing 
 at Cairo, and had written that without troops the 
 Khedive was helpless. Meantime the rapid current 
 of events had already brought force majeure into
 
 1 882] ALEXANDRIA BOMBARDED. 10 
 
 requisition; for on July u, three days before the 
 Identic Note was presented to the Sultan by the 
 Conference, the British fleet had bombarded the forts 
 at Alexandria; the French fleet had been recalled; 
 Alexandria was occupied by British troops, and the 
 Khedive had placed himself under the protection 
 of the British admiral. Lord Dufferin at once urged 
 upon the Sultan the necessity of issuing a Proclama- 
 tion in support of the Khedive and denouncing Arabi 
 Pasha as a rebel. But the Sultan objected that Tewfik 
 Pasha was an illegitimate and incompetent usurper, 
 whose accession he had not sanctioned, and whose 
 rulership it would be preferable to terminate rather 
 than to confirm. 
 
 On the other hand, Arabi Pasha had telegraphed 
 to the Sultan directly, protesting his fidelity to the 
 suzerainty. He added, however, that 
 
 " having been provoked into a war he was in posses- 
 sion of all that was necessary to get the better of 
 his enemies ; and that he did not believe that, as the 
 enemies of the country and religion asserted, he 
 should encounter Ottoman troops on his path, which 
 would place him in the cruel necessity of treating as 
 enemies his brethren in the faith." 
 
 Lord Dufferin concluded a long interview with the 
 Sultan by intimating that if His Majesty's inaction were 
 prolonged, the settlement of the Egyptian difficulties 
 might pass altogether out of his hands. Then followed, 
 in rapid succession, the determination of the British 
 government to send an expedition to Egypt, with 
 or without the co-operation of other Powers ; their 
 invitation to France and Italy to join in the protection 
 of the Canal ; the refusal of the French Chamber to 
 grant the money necessary for the despatch of French
 
 20 DISCUSSIONS WITH THE SULTAN. [ch. I 
 
 troops ; and the landing in Egypt of the British force 
 under Sir Garnet Wolseley. By this time the 
 Foreign Minister of the Osmanli government, who 
 had joined the Conference, had accepted in prin- 
 ciple the military convention ; but in spite of Lord 
 Dufferin's repeated warnings, the Sultan persevered 
 in requiring modifications of the conditions under 
 which his troops were to occupy Egypt, and even 
 demanded that on their arrival the European con- 
 tingents should be withdrawn. There was here in 
 fact an irreconcilable conflict of views and intentions ; 
 for the Sultan desired liberty to settle the Egyptian 
 question in his own fashion and in the interests of 
 his own sovereignty, while the European Powers 
 were materially concerned in preventing any re- 
 appearance of the Turkish dominion in North Africa. 
 The British government had now assumed the pre- 
 dominance over the conduct of affairs that neces- 
 sarily fell to the only Power which had determined 
 upon action : the Conference had suspended their 
 meetings, and thenceforward the negociations were 
 between the Sultan and the British ambassador 
 directly. The former was dilatory and evasive, en- 
 deavouring to gain ground by impracticable sugges- 
 tions and inadmissible amendments to the military 
 convention ; the latter vainly urged His Majesty by 
 advice, arguments, exhortations, and warnings to 
 comply with the unalterable terms upon which the 
 European Powers had agreed to invite and to sanction 
 his authoritative intervention in Egypt. 
 
 On September 12 Lord Dufferin writes that each 
 successive cause of delay in signing the Convention 
 had emanated from the Turks; and that "what the 
 Sultan cannot bear is that I should require his 
 promises to be put on paper and signed by his
 
 1882] TEL-EL-KEBIR. 21 
 
 Ministers, though it would be madness not to have 
 them recorded." 
 
 On September 15 the Sultan sent for Lord DurTerin 
 to meet the Turkish Foreign Minister at his Palace, 
 and spent eleven hours in attempting to introduce 
 alterations into the clauses of the Convention, to 
 which his Ministers had agreed. The Proclamation 
 against Arabi Pasha had at last appeared, though 
 with some unauthorized changes of the settled text, 
 which His Majesty defended with great argumentative 
 persistency. 
 
 But on that same day all the diplomatic knots 
 which Lord Dufferin had for months been endeavour- 
 ing to disentangle were effectually cut by the sword. 
 On September 15 Sir Garnet Wolseley had routed 
 Arabi's army at Tel-el-Kebir, and the English were 
 masters in Egypt. Lord Granville telegraphed to 
 the ambassador that since the insurrection had been 
 crushed, he presumed that the Sultan would not 
 consider it necessary to send his troops; and Lord 
 Dufferin was instructed to drop all further negocia- 
 tions. 
 
 An Englishman in high authority at Cairo wrote 
 to Lord Dufferin — 
 
 October 5, 1882. — " Critics may say what they please 
 as to the task which we have accomplished having 
 been an easy one. It only became easy through the 
 masterly manner in which it was done. The night 
 advance on Tel-el-Kebir was a wonderful military 
 feat — 10,000 men had to march nine miles and to be 
 at a given point in their proper places at a fixed 
 moment, with nothing to guide them but the stars 
 and no word to be spoken above a whisper. At the 
 appointed time they were all within three hundred 
 yards of the work, and the fire once opened they
 
 22 TEL-EL-KEBIR. [ch. I 
 
 poured in on three sides. Sir Garnet Wolseley said 
 to Sir John Adye on the previous night, 'We shall 
 lose five hundred men.' The actual number of killed 
 and wounded was 480." 
 
 The following anecdote is taken from one of Lord 
 Dufferin's letters to Lord Ripon, then Viceroy of 
 India — 
 
 December 12, 1882. — "After the English troops had 
 stormed the Egyptian lines and advanced far beyond 
 them, some of the men returned to their original 
 position. On their way back they came across an 
 elderly Arab lying on his stomach with a heap of 
 empty cartridges beside him, and firing away at a 
 high elevation. Some one hit him a crack on the 
 back and asked him what he meant by what he was 
 doing, upon which he replied with some irritation, 
 ' I don't in the least know who you are, I am blind,' 
 and wanted to return to his original occupation of 
 shooting imaginary foes." 
 
 Lord Ripon replied — 
 
 " Is not your story of the sightless Egyptian 
 somewhat symbolical of the situation you have to 
 deal with, of which a blind fanaticism intent only 
 on getting rid of the ' infidel ' is one of the main 
 elements?" 
 
 In the midst of this political turmoil Lord DufFerin 
 found time for organizing a regatta on the Bosphorus. 
 
 " We had the lifeboats down from the Black Sea, and 
 the men-of-war belonging to the several embassies 
 furnished a fine array both of sailing and rowing 
 boats. But the prettiest sight of all was the race 
 between the embassy ten-oared caiques. They are 
 splendid boats with high gilded poops and long 
 prows, and the rowers being dressed in white, red, 
 and gold, look very brilliant. Our caique won, closely
 
 1 882] LORD DUFFERIN'S DIPLOMACY. 23 
 
 pursued by the Persian. The regatta concluded with 
 a greasy pole hung out like a bowsprit over the 
 water underneath our windows with a pig at the 
 end of it. 
 
 " I have had a little steel yacht sent out to me 
 from England which is the delight of my life, as I 
 am able to get away in her by myself from all the 
 pestering troubles that beset me on shore. Escaping 
 from my Pashas, I explore the blue nooks and 
 crannies of the Bosphorus in perfect peace and 
 solitude. . . . 
 
 " My yachting is of a very humble kind. It should 
 rather be called boat sailing, but then the joy of it 
 is in handling the ship one's self, for I never take 
 a man with me, though sometimes a lady. Indeed 
 I gave Lady Dufferin a week's cruise — she and I 
 alone — in the sea of Marmora." 
 
 " I congratulate you " (wrote Lord Kimberley) " on 
 your brilliant campaign, in which you have covered 
 yourself with glory." And unquestionably Lord 
 Dufferin well deserved the applause and general con- 
 gratulations which he received for his management 
 of the complicated transactions that preceded the 
 victory at Tel-el-Kebir. At Constantinople he had 
 to deal with an irresolute and distrustful ruler, to 
 persuade him into moving, and yet to restrain his 
 movements ; he had to bring his diplomatic col- 
 leagues, representing diverse views and interests, 
 into agreement upon some definite plan of action for 
 meeting an important emergency, while in England 
 his own government were working upon no firmly 
 pre-determined lines : they were led by the pressure 
 of circumstances along the path and to the consum- 
 mation that their chief had strenuously endeavoured 
 to avoid. In these circumstances Lord Dufferin's 
 steadfastness and circumspection, the address with
 
 24 LORD DUFFERIN'S DIPLOMACY. [ch. I 
 
 which he wound his way round obstacles, over- 
 coming susceptibilities, equivocations, and evasions, 
 were of signal service to his country. His inde- 
 fatigable vigilance and industry are attested by the 
 long series of letters and telegrams which he sent 
 almost daily to the British Foreign Office during 
 the period when the central point and focus of the 
 Egyptian difficulty lay at Constantinople. Yet 
 though the value of his services was amply appre- 
 ciated at the time, the methods and manner of his 
 diplomacy have been considerably misunderstood. 
 He is supposed to have encouraged adroitly the 
 delays and ambiguous hesitation of the Sultan, when 
 he was really doing his best to overcome them ; and 
 although up to nearly the last moment he was pressing 
 the Sultan to a decision, he has been praised for 
 out-manceuvring the Turkish government by keeping 
 matters in suspense until the success of the British 
 arms had terminated all these diplomatic controversies 
 at a blow. 
 
 Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace, who was present 
 in Constantinople at the time, has placed this matter 
 in the proper light * — 
 
 " There is a false idea abroad that Lord Dufferin's 
 great services to his government consisted simply 
 in prolonging the negociations. Such a service would 
 not have entitled him to much credit, for any second- 
 rate diplomatist can prolong negociations indefinitely 
 when his opponent is not in a position to crush him 
 by an ultimatum. What Lord Dufferin really did, 
 and what justly advanced him to the very first rank 
 of living diplomatists, was this — By a happy com- 
 bination of sound judgment, resolute action, and 
 consummate tact, he contrived to secure for his 
 
 * " Egypt and the Egyptian Question," pp. 99, 100.
 
 1 882] LORD DUFFERIN'S DIPLOMACY. 25 
 
 government, so far as the Conference was concerned, 
 complete liberty of action without wounding the 
 susceptibilities of any Foreign Power ; and by watch- 
 fulness, acuteness, and dexterity, he successfully 
 prevented the Turks from wriggling out of the con- 
 ditions and restrictions which his government thought 
 necessary to impose upon them. Though often 
 obliged to differ from his European colleagues, he 
 never created amongst them any personal hostility, 
 and though working in an Oriental atmosphere and 
 checkmating Oriental antagonists, he never exposed 
 himself to the charge of trickery or unfairness." 
 
 He adhered firmly, in short, to the sound principle 
 that the European diplomatist should never contend 
 against Orientals with their weapons, but with his own. 
 
 On September 19, four days after Tel-el-Kebir, 
 Lord Dufferin wrote to the Foreign Secretary — 
 
 " I often wonder whether my letters cause you 
 the same sinking of the heart as those of my Consuls 
 occasion me. However, by this mail I send you not 
 a letter, but a far more formidable burden, namely, 
 a despatch recording the latter course of the Con- 
 vention negociations. I do not expect you or an}' 
 mortal soul to read it, but I have thought it better to 
 frame a connected record of these tiresome trans- 
 actions, especially with the view of making it quite 
 clear that from first to last we have acted in perfect 
 sincerity and good faith. I was very much irritated 
 when I saw that suspicions to the contrary were 
 being put about in some of the papers. Straight- 
 forward dealings should be the very essence of any 
 diplomacy in the East ; and here, at all events amongst 
 those who know, there has been no idea to the 
 contrary beyond the momentary doubt in Calice's* 
 mind which I have now removed. What I prided 
 myself on was in having arrived at what I presume 
 
 * The Austro- Hungarian ambassador.
 
 26 LORD DUFFERIN AND THE SULTAN. [CH. I 
 
 everybody must consider a desirable result, without 
 resorting to a single dubious act or expression. 
 Indeed I may say that it has been in spite of my 
 earnest warnings and counsels that the Turks have 
 spitted themselves in the manner they have done. 
 However, the matter is now at an end, and most 
 thankful I am for it. I have not yet ascertained the 
 way in which the Turks will take the dropping of 
 the Convention, but I shall know to-night." 
 
 A letter to Lady Dartrey explains further the 
 straight course held by Lord Dufferin throughout 
 these tortuous negociations — 
 
 September 23, 1882. — "I have just sent home a 
 despatch of eighty pages recounting the course of 
 the recent negociations about the Military Convention. 
 No mortal being will ever read it, but I have left it as 
 rather a curious page in the history of the Eastern 
 question. I see that some of the newspapers, though 
 they acknowledge that it is a very good thing that 
 the Convention has fallen into the water, are accusing 
 the Government, or rather me, of having tricked the 
 Turks in an un-English fashion, etc., implying that 
 we cheated them into letting us have the Proclamation 
 without giving them the Convention in return. The 
 papers must be very hard put to it for something to 
 find fault with when they fall back upon this absurd 
 assertion. From first to last we have run as straight 
 as a die ; but the truth is, as I have myself told them, 
 the fatuity of the Porte has been so beyond belief, 
 and so contrary to their own obvious interests that 
 people are forced to attribute the results which have 
 accrued to the diabolic astuteness of the British 
 ambassador. Our Government really wanted the 
 Convention (in spite of the inconvenience which 
 might be occasioned by the presence of Turkish 
 troops in Egypt) from considerations of general 
 European policy ; but it was necessary, in order to 
 minimize the ill consequences of the Turks being in
 
 1 882] COURSE OF THE NEGOCIATIONS. _>7 
 
 Egypt> t0 l et them go there under pretty stringent 
 conditions. I negociated all these with the Porte 
 without difficulty, but each time that the Ministers 
 and I came to an agreement, the Sultan repudiated 
 what they had accepted, and suggested some impos- 
 sible combination instead. This entailed fresh refer- 
 ences home, which of course took time; but twice 
 I had the pen in my hands if not to sign at all events 
 to initial the texts which the Turks themselves had 
 drawn up, and twice the Ottoman plenipotentiaries 
 were forced by their master to cry off. Just at the 
 end, when Sir Garnet Wolseley was on the point of 
 winning his battles, I became strongly of opinion 
 that the Convention had better not be signed ; but 
 even so it was not necessary for me to interpose any 
 artificial delays on my own initiation, which after all 
 would have been a perfectly legitimate method of 
 procedure had it been necessary ; but it was not. 
 The last act of the drama was too absurd. 
 
 " In order to gain a particular end, the Minister for 
 Foreign Affairs and the private secretary had been sent 
 to me, to propose certain arrangements as a proof of 
 good will and good faith, which hitherto had only 
 been exemplified by the pains which had been taken 
 to increase the privations of our army by stopping 
 their supplies and impeding their transport. The 
 English government having replied to his advances in 
 a very conciliatory manner, I naturally threw into the 
 form of a Memorandum the various undertakings the 
 ministers had entered into on the Sultan's behalf, and 
 requested that it might be signed as an indication that 
 my resume of what the Sultan had engaged to do, and in 
 consideration of which we had given way on certain 
 points, was correct. The minister made no difficulty 
 about agreeing to this, and I imagined the whole 
 thing was settled, when the Sultan sent for me to the 
 Palace and kept me there for eleven hours, trying to 
 induce me to allow this Memorandum to be altered, 
 or rather to be obliterated, and a totally different kind
 
 28 A LONG INTERVIEW. [ch. I 
 
 of paper substituted. I cannot give you an idea of 
 the absurdity of the whole proceeding. The Sultan 
 was in one room, and I was in another with about a 
 dozen Pashas whom he employed from three in the 
 afternoon till two the next morning in conveying to 
 me various messages and proposals, each one more 
 impracticable than the other. At last, becoming 
 weary and angry, I got up, saying that one would 
 think I was the representative of a Power whose 
 armies had just been annihilated on the field of battle, 
 rather than of one whose generals had concluded a 
 successful campaign by a brilliant victory, and I pre- 
 pared to leave. Upon this all the Pashas clustered 
 round me, pulled me down by the coat tails, stroked 
 my hand and almost patted my cheek, beseeching me 
 not to ruin Turkey. In the middle of it all came the 
 news of our occupation of Cairo and the capture of 
 Arabi,* but still the Sultan went on ; and as I 
 have already said, it was only after eleven hours had 
 been lost in this manner that I could get away. Even 
 then the Sultan sent to me early the next day, desiring 
 to withdraw a proposition which he had besought 
 me the previous evening to submit to my government, 
 and to substitute for it a totally new one. As to our 
 having cheated them into giving us the Proclamation, 
 I was perfectly frantic when I found that it had been 
 published. We had long before agreed on a particular 
 Proclamation, which had been sent home and approved 
 of, with the exception of a couple of words which the 
 Porte promised to rectify. Day after day I had been 
 pressing the Foreign Minister to communicate the 
 amended copy to me, but he always kept putting me 
 off with one excuse after another. Suddenly, with- 
 out a word of warning, he sends to the papers a 
 totally different version with the objectionable words 
 preserved in it, and others even added. When I 
 reproached him with his bad faith, he seemed very 
 
 * The telegram reached the embassy while Lord Dufferin was at 
 the Palace, but was not sent on to him there.
 
 1 882] STRAIGHTFORWARD DIPLOMACY. 29 
 
 much ashamed of himself, and admitted that the pro- 
 ceeding was indefensible, but he said he had been 
 forced into it against his will. The real reason why 
 the document was thus suddenly issued was that the 
 Sultan had just received an angry defiance from Arabi 
 threatening to depose him, and indignantly flung at 
 him the first weapon which came to his hand. 
 
 " I am treating you very badly in sending you 
 these tiresome details of what after all was merely 
 a storm in a teacup, but what I have particularly 
 prided myself upon in the whole of this business has 
 been in getting the matter settled in accordance with 
 our obvious interests and the wishes of the Govern- 
 ment, while at the same time that I have been abso- 
 lutely open and straightforward. This has been 
 loudly acknowledged by the Turks with whom I have 
 dealt as well as by my colleagues, whom I have kept 
 acquainted with every step of my proceedings, as 
 it was the best chance of keeping their sympathies 
 with us, which I have succeeded in doing so far 
 as our diplomatic action is concerned. Of course 
 they are all very jealous at our military successes, 
 and try to explain them away in dozens of absurd 
 fashions. Some of them pretend that the whole 
 rebellion was a bogus affair got up between us and 
 Arabi. Others say that before we attacked Tel-el- 
 Kebir we had bought Arabi and all his generals and 
 artillerymen. Others say that it was the Proclama- 
 tion that dispersed the Egyptian hosts, though Arabi 
 took very good care that not a word of it should 
 reach any of his people. In fact they give the 
 credit of what has happened to everything but the 
 courage and good management of our troops and 
 generals." 
 
 The truth is that the stars in their courses — the 
 inevitable determination of events — forced the un- 
 willing hand of the British Ministers ; and their 
 triumphant issue out of the labyrinth of doubts and
 
 30 SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION. [ch. I 
 
 difficulties was largely due to the singularly fortunate 
 coincidence of having Lord Dufferin to conduct their 
 diplomacy and Sir Garnet Wolseley to lead their 
 army in the field. Obstacles that looked formidable 
 in the misty distance yielded so easily to decisive 
 action at close quarters that the whole business 
 seemed to have been deliberately pre-arranged. Nor 
 is it strange that the cautious, tentative, reluctant 
 procedure of a divided Cabinet was at the time 
 interpreted in France, and among foreign nations 
 generally, as the consistent and wily policy by 
 which England accomplished a deep-laid design of 
 establishing her sole protectorate over Egypt.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 The Turkish government still endeavoured to claim, 
 on the ground of the Sultan's sovereignt}', some right 
 to participate in the settlement of Egyptian affairs, 
 and urgently offered to despatch troops for that 
 purpose. But Lord Dufferin was instructed to reply 
 that any discussions of these questions would be 
 premature. The British ambassador, in fact, was now 
 master of the situation at Constantinople, and could 
 remind the Sultan, in taking note of his anxiety to 
 put down disorder at Cairo, that his engagements 
 to reform his own administration in Armenia and 
 Anatolia were as yet quite unfulfilled. But the 
 Palace was at this moment occupied in consulting 
 a synod of astrologers ; for by the Mahomedan 
 Calendar a new year was just opening, in which the 
 advent of a Mahdi or Messiah, to regenerate Islam, 
 had been predicted ; and events in Egypt might well 
 give meaning to portents of trouble impending over 
 the Osmanli empire. In Egypt, at any rate, the pre- 
 destined regenerator of Islam was to appear in the 
 person of Lord Dufferin. On October 31, 1882, he 
 writes to Lord Granville — 
 
 " I was a little startled by your telegram proposing 
 Egypt, though it had already sometimes occurred to 
 me that my destiny might eventually carry me there. 
 
 31
 
 32 THE MISSION TO EGYPT. [ch. n 
 
 I have trundled all my things together and am off on 
 Thursday. . . . Yesterday I sent a civil message to 
 the Sultan to tell him of the orders I had received, 
 the purport of which I desired to communicate to him 
 before any one else. He seems to have been con- 
 siderably startled." 
 
 The formal instructions to Lord Dufferin state 
 that— 
 
 "at the moment when important negociations are 
 being carried on for the settlement of Egypt, Her 
 Majesty's Government think your presence for a time 
 in that country would be advantageous. . . . Her 
 Majesty's Government, while desiring that the British 
 occupation should last for as short a time as possible, 
 feel bound not to withdraw from the task thus imposed 
 on them until the administration of affairs has been 
 reconstructed on a basis which will afford satisfactory 
 guarantees for the maintenance of peace, order, and 
 prosperity in Egypt, for the stability of the Khedive's 
 authority, for the judicious development of self- 
 government, and for the fulfilment of obligations 
 towards foreign Powers. These objects are in the 
 real interest of Egypt, of this country, and of Europe. 
 " It will be essential therefore that all measures 
 bearing on the reorganization of the government 
 should be submitted to your Excellency before they 
 are adopted or made public, and that you should as 
 far as possible be consulted at every stage of their 
 preparation." 
 
 Her Majesty the Queen wrote to Lord Dufferin 
 (November 1882) — 
 
 "to express to him personally her deep sense of the 
 service he had rendered to her and the country in a 
 time of great anxiety and under the most trying cir- 
 cumstances. She had wished to confer on him some 
 public mark of her approbation, but was told he did 
 not himself wish it.
 
 1882] ARRIVAL IN CAIRO. 33 
 
 "A far more difficult task is now before him, and 
 she wishes to say one thing to him by which he will 
 render the greatest benefit to his sovereign and country 
 as well as Egypt, and that is by stating strongly and 
 firmly what is the real state of things in Egypt." 
 
 In a week from the date of Lord Granville's tele- 
 gram Lord Dufferin had arrived in Cairo, where he 
 proceeded to business with such promptitude that 
 within a fortnight he was able to send to the Foreign 
 Office one long memorandum on the reorganization 
 of the army, and another upon the question of estab- 
 lishing liberal institutions in Egypt. These, as he 
 said, represented "tentative opinions" formed after 
 consultation with Sir Edward Malet and others, to 
 whom the conditions of the problem were already 
 familiar; and his mature conclusions — which were 
 not, however, materially different — were stated in the 
 final report that he afterwards submitted on the whole 
 subject of reconstituting the Egyptian administration. 
 Meanwhile successive despatches issued upon him 
 rapidly from the Foreign Office, demanding his atten- 
 tion to such questions as the immediate abolition of 
 slavery, the revision of taxation, the establishment 
 of an effective police, the reassembling of the Chamber 
 of Notables, the maintenance of the system of Dual 
 Financial Control, and the terms of a fresh international 
 agreement for the protection and service of the Suez 
 Canal. 
 
 These and other matters were somewhat hurriedly 
 pressed upon Lord Dufferin, who telegraphed for 
 breathing time, and hinted some alarm at the multi- 
 plicity and magnitude of his duties. Moreover, before 
 reconstruction could be put in hand it was necessary 
 to clear the ground. The jails were crowded with 
 more than a thousand prisoners arrested for complicity 
 
 VOL. II. d
 
 34 ARABI PASHA'S TRIAL. [ch. II 
 
 in the late rebellion ; and the trial of their leaders, 
 among whom the most prominent was Arabi Pasha, 
 had been already committed to an Egyptian Commis- 
 sion, which had been sitting for some weeks. Not only 
 was the prosecution watched with keen interest in 
 Egypt and in Europe, but a large number of persons, 
 whose complicity with recent insurrectionary move- 
 ments might be disclosed, were in suspense and tre- 
 pidation while the inquiry was going on ; and the 
 English government was anxious that proceedings 
 should be expedited. Meanwhile the trial was making 
 such slow progress that the hearing of the witnesses 
 for the prosecution had occupied fifty-two days. It 
 had been settled that the procedure should be under 
 the Osmanli military code ; but the Egyptian govern- 
 ment's advocate was a Frenchman, whose ideas on the 
 subject were governed by the procedure of criminal 
 courts in France, and the counsel for the accused were 
 Englishmen, who took their stand upon English rules 
 and methods. The presiding officers knew nothing 
 of either system ; they could not decide objections 
 or check the wrangling of advocates ; and they only 
 increased the confusion by their endeavours to control 
 it. Toward the end of November, fifty-four days 
 after the trial's commencement, the Egyptian minister 
 placed before Lord Dufferin five manuscript volumes, 
 containing the record of the evidence against Arabi 
 Pasha, and the pleadings on both sides, with the 
 request that after having examined them he would 
 favour the government with his confidential opinion 
 upon the case. Lord Dufferin's hardihood in facing 
 responsibilities has never been questioned ; but to 
 undertake such a task as this would have been too 
 heroic, and the papers were transferred to competent 
 legal advisers. Very fortunately for Arabi Pasha, it
 
 1 882] THE SENTENCE. 35 
 
 was found that the evidence did not implicate him in 
 any respect with the massacres that had been com- 
 mitted in Alexandria; for if this had been substantiated, 
 any sentence that might have been passed on him 
 would have been left, so far as Lord Dufferin was 
 concerned, to its operation. And since it appeared, 
 after careful scrutiny of the record, that the only 
 offence clearly provable was rebellion, Lord Dufferin 
 advised the Egyptian ministers to indict Arabi Pasha 
 on this single charge, having first taken steps to 
 ascertain that to this indictment the accused would 
 plead guilty. After some hesitation and remonstrance 
 — for the ministers had been so thoroughly alarmed 
 by the insurrection that they had resolved to make 
 an example of the ringleaders — this advice prevailed. 
 Accordingly, when Arabi Pasha was convicted on 
 this plea, the Court Martial pronounced upon him 
 sentence of death, subject to the pleasure of the 
 Khedive — and they withdrew to receive His Highness's 
 formal orders. Sentence had been given, and the 
 judges were gone. For the moment Arabi Pasha 
 thought he had been entrapped. But the Court 
 reappeared immediately, to read out a Khedivial 
 decree commuting the capital sentence to perpetual 
 exile with degradation from rank. 
 
 Lord Dufferin's report on the general effect pro- 
 duced upon public opinion in Egypt by this decree, 
 throws light upon the origin and character of the 
 revolutionary movement which Arabi had represented 
 and led. Among the European colony in Egypt, he 
 said, dissatisfaction with leniency was universal, and 
 this feeling was shared by the entire ruling class of 
 Turkish or Circassian descent, who saw in the late re- 
 bellion not merely a military revolt, but the uprising 
 of an oppressed nationality against the ascendancy
 
 36 THE EGYPTIAN SITUATION. [ch. II 
 
 of their caste. For that same reason, on the other 
 hand, the general body of the Egyptian people, in- 
 cluding many of the rich bourgeoisie as well as the 
 fellaheen, were gratified by Arabi's escape from death. 
 Lord Dufferin was now for the second time called 
 in to rescue an Eastern province from a condition of 
 intolerable misgovernment, to repair dilapidations, to 
 prescribe remedies, and to provide against relapse. 
 In Egypt, as formerly in Syria, he represented Euro- 
 pean intervention for the cure of acute disorder ; 
 but otherwise the circumstances were very different, 
 since this time he exercised undivided authority, the 
 European Powers having left the case to England 
 alone. And whereas in Syria one of his difficulties 
 had been to persuade a French army to evacuate the 
 country, in Egypt he had to convince France that an 
 English army must provisionally remain. Above all, 
 from Egypt the interference of Constantinople had 
 been eliminated. The Sultan did, indeed, make some 
 show of asserting his formal prerogative, by the issue 
 to the Khedive of an Imperial Irade prohibiting him 
 from adopting any measures for the rehabilitation of 
 his viceregal government without previously sub- 
 mitting them to his sovereign. The Khedive replied, 
 officially, with profuse acknowledgments of the Sultan's 
 religious and political supremacy. But since, he ex- 
 plained, the pressure of the English upon him had be- 
 come extreme, His Highness found himself compelled, 
 under pain of deposition, to submit to their demands. 
 
 " Le veritable Khedive de l'Egypte, c'est Lord 
 Dufferin. C'est de lui qu' emanent tous les ordres, et 
 le Khedive n'en est que l'instrument de transmission." 
 
 If the Imperial government, His Highness went 
 on to say, should insist on the Khedive refusing to
 
 1 882] THE ENGLISH POLICY. 37 
 
 act upon his advice, the only result would be that he 
 would be forced to abdicate in favour of his son, who 
 was still a child ; and during the minority the English 
 would find means of usurping the whole government. 
 
 The English, in fact, were now in the predicament 
 that invariably follows European intervention in the 
 politics of an Oriental state. They had first stepped 
 in to set up, in the financial interests of Europe, a 
 weak ruler over a country where no other form of 
 government than a strong military despotism had 
 ever before prevailed ; and, secondly, when the ruler 
 had lost control of his army, they had been compelled 
 to interfere and put down a revolutionary uprising 
 that must have necessarily upset his authority, since 
 it could not exist apart from command of the armed 
 forces of the country. Upon the English, therefore, 
 fell all the responsibilities that in Egypt, as they have 
 always been elsewhere, were the natural consequences 
 of such action ; and in this situation the British govern- 
 ment lost no time in proclaiming their views and 
 intentions. In a despatch that was circulated to all 
 European governments concerned, they enumerated 
 the changes and reforms which required the concur- 
 rence of the European Powers ; and they proceeded 
 to direct that measures should also be taken for the 
 improved administration of justice in Egypt and for 
 the development of liberal institutions that should 
 possess the elements of stability and progress. They 
 were desirous of withdrawing the British army of 
 occupation so soon as the state of the country, and 
 the organization of proper means for the maintenance 
 of the Khedive's authority, would admit of it. 
 
 This, accordingly, was the task imposed upon Lord 
 Dufferin. He was required to plan out a new edifice 
 upon very insecure foundations, to provide for its
 
 38 PRESSING AFFAIRS. [ch. II 
 
 stability after the only buttress that could be relied 
 upon to support it should have been withdrawn, and 
 for the development of representative government 
 among a people to whom autocratic rulership was the 
 only system hitherto known. 
 
 " I am already nearly dead " (he wrote privately to 
 the Foreign Office) " with all the work I have on hand, 
 upon the top of which I have had three weeks of great 
 domestic anxiety. I am moreover deep in my final 
 Report, which I am anxious you should get before 
 Parliament meets, and which I hope to send off on the 
 6th. The labour entailed by its preparation will be 
 very great, and beside that there is the daily burden 
 of the innumerable current affairs connected with the 
 army, the police, and other practical matters, of the 
 multiplicity of which no one at a distance can have 
 any conception. Above all things I hope you will 
 never imagine that I attach any importance as far as 
 my own credit or personal interests are concerned to 
 the publication of what I write. Such an idea as that 
 is never present to my mind. My only thought is to 
 carry out the instructions of the Government to the 
 best of my ability, without being in the slightest 
 degree preoccupied as to the way in which my own 
 reputation may be affected." 
 
 To Sir William Gregory he wrote — 
 
 February 10, 1883. — "With regard to Arabi, I 
 am by no means prejudiced against him. I imagine 
 he was quite honest and sincere ; but the grievances 
 of which he complained were not of a nature to 
 justify him in plunging his country into a war which 
 has certainly been very disastrous to the population 
 at large. Nor do I think can his friends complain of 
 the way in which he and the other rebels have been 
 treated. Indeed never has a rebellion been so tenderly 
 dealt with, as I think you will see when you come to 
 learn all the facts of the case. Of course the losing
 
 1883] THE REPORT. 39 
 
 side had to suffer, and undoubtedly have suffered ; 
 but the hardships they labour under have, I think, 
 been a good deal exaggerated. The only really bad 
 case that has come to my knowledge is that of the 
 wife of Ghaffar, who has been banished for eight 
 years. She is dying of consumption, and hearing 
 that she was badly off I sent her ten pounds out of 
 my own pocket." 
 
 When in February 1883, within two months after 
 the circular despatch had been issued, he submitted 
 his Report, he reminded Lord Granville — 
 
 " that three months have not yet elapsed since my 
 arrival in Cairo ; that a great proportion of my time 
 has of necessity been occupied with the superin- 
 tendence and arrangement of complicated current 
 affairs, requiring constant and minute attention, 
 as well as laborious correspondence ; and that, con- 
 sequently, I have had far less leisure than I should 
 have wished to study the various questions upon 
 which your Lordship has desired my opinion." 
 
 Lord Dufferin opens his Report with the pre- 
 liminary observations that it ought not to be difficult 
 to provide Egypt with good government — although 
 hitherto the country has never known it — for we are 
 not to assume that the people are under any incurable 
 disability to appreciate its principles. 
 
 " It is true that from the commencement of the 
 historical era the Valley of the Nile has been ruled by 
 foreigners, and its inhabitants domineered over by 
 alien races. Nor do its annals indicate an epoch when 
 the 'justice' of the country was not corrupt, its ad- 
 ministration oppressive, and the indigenous popula- 
 tion emotional, obsequious, and submissive. But 
 there is no need to imagine that what has been must 
 always continue even in the unchanging East, or that
 
 40 AN EXPERIMENT. [ch. n 
 
 a race, some branches of which have evinced con- 
 siderable energy as conquerors and colonists, as well 
 as an intelligent appreciation of art and literature, 
 should prove eternally impervious to the teachings 
 of civic morality and the instincts of patriotism, or 
 incapable of apprehending those common axioms of 
 government which the consensus of civilized man- 
 kind has recognized as essential to the welfare of a 
 community." 
 
 At any rate (he went on to say) the European 
 Powers are agreed upon trying the experiment at 
 the present time, when Egypt has been placed under 
 their protection, when the country has been released 
 from subjection to Constantinople, and is under the 
 unfettered rule of a benevolent and intelligent prince 
 who is willing to govern, to a reasonable degree, con- 
 stitutionally. Moreover (he added), the Turkish ele- 
 ment, that has so long represented foreign domination 
 and administrative monopoly, is becoming rapidly 
 fused into the general population by the influence of 
 a common domicile and a common religion ; and such 
 pretensions to superiority as are still retained by 
 this class may be in some measure fortified by the 
 higher education, the ability, and the energy, of a 
 vigorous race. The introduction of equality before 
 the law, with an impartial selection for the public 
 services according to talents and aptitudes, will 
 gradually obliterate race distinctions, and overpower 
 the claims to exclusive political privilege. 
 
 Then follows a passage composed in a style so 
 different from that of ordinary official reports, and so 
 characteristic of the writer, that it must not be 
 summarized — 
 
 " Lastly, though obliged to admit that those in- 
 firmities of character which have been the chief notes
 
 1 883] LORD DUFFERIN'S VIEWS. 41 
 
 of their past, still cling to the Egyptian masses, we 
 need not be too much disheartened. The metamorphic 
 spirit of the age, as evoked by the inventions of science, 
 intercourse with European countries and other in- 
 vigorating influences, has already done something to 
 inspire the fellah with the rudiments of self-respect, 
 and a dim conception of hitherto unimagined possi- 
 bilities. Nor, like his own Memnon, has he remained 
 irresponsive to the beams of the new dawn. His lips 
 have trembled, if they have not articulated, and in 
 many indirect and half-unconscious ways he has 
 shown himself not only equal to the discharge of 
 some of those functions of which none but members 
 of the most civilized communities were thought 
 capable, but unexpectedly appreciative of his legiti- 
 mate political interests and moral rights." 
 
 After this prelude Lord Dufferin takes up the 
 business in hand, which is to devise institutions under 
 which these elementary ideas and capacities may be 
 utilized and developed. He dismisses the theory 
 that an irresponsible centralized bureaucracy is the 
 only system under which Egypt can be kept in 
 order. 
 
 " I would press upon Her Majesty's Government a 
 more generous policy — such a policy as is implied by 
 the creation, within certain prudent limits, of repre- 
 sentative institutions, of municipal and communal self- 
 government, and of a political existence untrammelled 
 by external importunity, though aided, indeed, as it 
 must be for a time, by sympathetic advice and 
 assistance. Indeed, no middle course is possible. 
 The Valley of the Nile could not be administered 
 with any prospect of success from London. An 
 attempt upon our part to engage in such an under- 
 taking would at once render us objects of hatred and 
 suspicion to its inhabitants. Cairo would become a 
 focus of foreign intrigue and conspiracy against us,
 
 42 ADMINISTRATIVE PROPOSALS. [ch. n 
 
 and we should find ourselves forced either to abandon 
 our pretensions under discreditable conditions, or to 
 embark upon the experiment of a complete acquisition 
 of the country. If, however, we content ourselves 
 with a more moderate role, and make the Egyptians 
 comprehend that instead of desiring to impose upon 
 them an indirect but arbitrary rule, we are sincerely 
 desirous of enabling them to govern themselves, under 
 the uncompromising aegis of our friendship, they will 
 not fail to understand that while, on the one hand, we 
 are the European nation most vitally interested in 
 their peace and well-being, on the other, we are the 
 least inclined of any to allow the influence which the 
 progress of events has required us to exercise to 
 degenerate into an irritating and exasperating display 
 of authority, which would be fatal to those instincts 
 of patriotism and freedom which it has been our 
 boast to foster in every country where we have set 
 our foot." 
 
 The Report then proceeds to lay out the scheme 
 for administrative reorganization under the three main 
 heads of the Army, the Courts of Justice, and Institu- 
 tions. Under the first two heads the details no 
 longer concern us ; but when he reaches the question 
 of Institutions, Lord Dufferin is face to face with the 
 inveterate difficulties that confront all European de- 
 signers of political constitutions that are intended to 
 stand on their own bottom and to work automatically 
 in an Eastern climate. 
 
 "A long enslaved nation instinctively craves for 
 the strong hand of a master rather than for a lax 
 constitutional regime. A mild ruler is more likely to 
 provoke contempt and insubordination than to inspire 
 gratitude. Nowhere is this truth more strikingly 
 exhibited than in this country, and those whose only 
 prescription for government in Egypt is the lash, 
 diagnose correctly enough the symptoms of the
 
 1 883] INSTITUTIONS. 43 
 
 disease, however wrong they may be in the choice 
 of the remedy." 
 
 Nevertheless, the Mahomedan religion, he says, is 
 essentially democratic ; and the germs of the elective 
 principle exist in all primitive communities. We must 
 found ourselves on what already exists, and endeavour 
 to expand it ; though " hitherto resort has been had to 
 the very opposite process ; instead of seeking for the 
 roots too much regard has been paid to the murmuring 
 leaves : since the wants and instincts of the masses 
 were as little represented by the Chamber of Notables 
 as was the Irish nation by the Protestant Parliament." 
 
 There may be here a superfluity of metaphor, but 
 there is also no lack of sympathetic insight into needs 
 and grievances. If representative institutions, as pre- 
 scribed by the British government, were to be de- 
 veloped, the rudimentary communal electorate supplied 
 at any rate an existing basis and an intelligible start- 
 ing-point. It may be sufficient here to explain 
 that according to Lord Dufferin's plan the village 
 constituencies would choose by vote members oi 
 Provincial Councils, that these Councils again would 
 elect a majority of the members of a Legislative 
 Council, and that a General Assembly would be also 
 constituted, to which rather more than one half of the 
 members were to be delegated by the spokesmen of the 
 villages. But the attributes of the Legislative Council 
 and the Assembly were not to extend beyond the right 
 to be consulted on all questions of importance, except in 
 case of new taxes, to which the assent of the Assembly 
 was made necessary. These recommendations, after 
 approval by the British government, were enacted and 
 promulgated by an Organic Decree, which still re- 
 mains the charter of the Egyptian constitution. The
 
 44 ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS. [ch. n 
 
 other reforms inaugurated by Lord Dufferin are 
 too numerous to be catalogued here. Among the 
 most important of them were the revision of the 
 Land revenue assessment and of taxation, the re- 
 modelling of the army and the police, and a 
 graduated scheme of public instruction. But Lord 
 Dufferin insisted upon one essential condition of 
 efficiency — the absolute necessity of retaining for 
 some time to come the assistance of Europeans in all 
 departments of Egyptian administration; nor indeed 
 could the machinery have been worked at all on any 
 other terms. 
 
 Moreover, the fundamental weakness underlying 
 the whole fabric of an Egyptian government designed 
 and constructed after European models, was foreseen 
 and plainly indicated by Lord Dufferin in the final 
 paragraph of his report. The British Cabinet had 
 declared their intention of evacuating the country 
 whenever the reformed administration should have 
 been set in working order; they had pronounced 
 against the alternative of placing in Egypt a Resident 
 to superintend the experiment, and to preside with 
 influence and authority over the process of reform. 
 At the opening of Parliament in February 1883, the 
 Queen's Speech from the Throne announced that 
 " British troops will be withdrawn from Egypt as 
 promptly as may be permitted by a prudent examina- 
 tion of the country." But how was this to be inter- 
 preted, and what were the Egyptians to understand 
 by it ? For it was, as Lord Dufferin wrote — 
 
 "absolutely necessary to prevent the fabric we 
 have raised from tumbling to the ground the moment 
 our sustaining hand is withdrawn. . . . The adminis- 
 trative system must have time to consolidate, in order 
 to resist the disintegrating influence from within and
 
 1883] SIR ALFRED MILKER'S CRITICISM. 45 
 
 without, and to acquire the use and knowledge of its 
 own capacities. . . . Above all, the persons who have 
 staked their future in its existence, must have some 
 guarantee that it will endure. . . . Amidst the applause 
 of the liberal world a Parliament was called into ex- 
 istence in Constantinople ; a few months later it 
 disappeared, and its champion and fugleman * is now 
 languishing in the dungeons of Taif. Unless they are 
 convinced that we intend to shield and foster the 
 system we have established, it will be vain to expect 
 the timid politicians of the East to identify themselves 
 with its existence." 
 
 Nine years afterwards Sir Alfred Milnerf wrote, 
 in commenting upon Lord Dufferin's despatches, and 
 especially upon this report — 
 
 " It is impossible for any one acquainted with 
 Egypt to read them without admiration. Their 
 writer's mastery of the subject is extraordinary. 
 Behind all his formal civility to the misleading catch- 
 words, the impractical ideals, which he felt bound to 
 treat with respect, there is a manly grasp of facts and 
 a clear appreciation of the essential needs of Egypt, 
 and of the true remedies for her distress." $ 
 
 Nevertheless, Sir Alfred Milner's criticism upon 
 the report is to the effect that while Lord Dufferin 
 was himself thoroughly aware of the difficulties that 
 encompassed " the slow disagreeable work of reform- 
 ing in detail," his manner of presenting the case was 
 hardly calculated to make others realize them — 
 
 " He was right in the direction which he strove 
 to give to reforming effort. But, on the other hand, 
 he certainly glossed over the deep-rooted obstacles 
 which his scheme was bound to encounter, and above 
 all the length of time which would be required to 
 
 * Midhat Pasha. t Now Lord Milner. 
 
 % " England in Egypt," p. 94 (1892).
 
 46 OBSERVATIONS. [ch. II 
 
 accomplish it. To any one who looks closely and 
 critically at his words the whole truth is there — the 
 hard actual facts as well as the possibilities of a better 
 future." 
 
 It may be questioned whether, in a State paper 
 intended for publication to the European world, Lord 
 Dufferin was bound to enlarge in detail upon the 
 obstacles and conditions of success that must have 
 been present to the minds of the Ministry upon 
 whom lay the responsibility of sanctioning his pro- 
 posals. The Report concealed nothing from those 
 whose duty it was to decide upon it; "the whole 
 truth" was there, and one may doubt whether it was 
 necessary, or would have been judicious, to suggest 
 drawbacks and discouragement officially, or to pro- 
 voke opposition by laying stress on the inevitable 
 difficulties that could not be overlooked [as Sir A.' 
 Milner has said] by close and critical scrutiny. And 
 since Lord Dufferin had declared very plainly in 
 his Report that the system must have time to 
 consolidate, the objection that he had glossed over 
 this essential condition of success is hardly tenable. 
 It was not his business to damage the chances of 
 his scheme being favourably received in England 
 and in Egypt, or to hamper the action of his own 
 government, which was already sufficiently com- 
 mitted to a policy of early withdrawal, by insisting 
 publicly on other chances of failure, when he believed 
 honestly that his scheme would succeed in spite of 
 them. We have also to remember that Lord Dufferin's 
 mandate was not to treat the project of a constitution 
 for Egypt as an open question, but to devise ways 
 and means for bringing into operation a settled policy. 
 Undoubtedly some of the rhetorical passages contrast 
 with the dry and guarded tone of ordinary official
 
 1883] OBSERVATIONS. 47 
 
 papers. But the style, as has been said, is the man : 
 it was this form that suited his character ; and if the 
 language of the report is here and there overcoloured, 
 it avoids no substantial point, and is nowhere incon- 
 sistent with truth or reality. This natural exuberance 
 in speech and writing has more than once suggested 
 some reflection, always unfounded, on Lord Dufferin's 
 sincerity ; and in the present instance he took care to 
 protest officially against any such misunderstanding — 
 
 " I have seen it constantly repeated in the news- 
 papers and elsewhere, that I myself did not seem to 
 believe in my own proposals, especially in regard to 
 the projected political institutions. This is altogether 
 an incorrect assumption. In writing to your Lord- 
 ship, the one thought always present to my mind is 
 to give you perfectly accurate information. I should 
 have been wanting in my duty if I had attempted to 
 conceal the inherent difficulty of endowing an Oriental 
 people that has been ground down for centuries by 
 the most oppressive despotism with anything ap- 
 proaching to representative government ; but I have 
 no hesitation in declaring that if only it is given fair 
 play, the reorganization of Egypt upon the lines now 
 approved by Her Majesty's Government has every 
 chance of success." * 
 
 This anticipation has been so far confirmed that 
 Mr. Fraser Rae, in his book upon " Egypt To-day," f 
 wrote — 
 
 " Results have been obtained beyond Lord 
 Dufferin's expectations; and experience has proved 
 him to be as shrewd and practical when framing a 
 constitution as he was bold and dexterous in nego- 
 ciation." 
 
 * Lord Dufferin to Lord Granville, Cairo, April 28, 1883. 
 
 t 1893.
 
 48 LORD CROMER'S REMARKS. [ch. II 
 
 Lord Cromer, also, in reviewing the Egyptian 
 administration, has stated that both the Council and 
 the Assembly take an effective part in the government 
 of the country. In his latest Report, for the year 
 1903, he writes — 
 
 " Although the Legislative Council and Assembly 
 have existed for some twenty years, sufficient ex- 
 perience has not yet been gained of the working of 
 these institutions to justify any confident forecast 
 being made as to the services which, in the future, 
 they may possibly render to Egypt. 'The meta- 
 morphic spirit of the age,' to use an expression 
 employed by their distinguished author (the late 
 Lord Dufferin), operates slowly. . . . 
 
 "Sufficient experience has been gained to justify 
 the statement that Lord Dufferin's main design was 
 wisely conceived. He wished to create institutions 
 which should be • consultative rather than law-making.' 
 Although one of the institutions which he designed 
 was called the Legislative Council, it was, as a matter 
 of fact, not intended to legislate, but rather to advise 
 about legislation. What, Lord Dufferin said, was 
 needed was to create a body 'which would be always 
 at hand to assist the ministers in the elaboration of 
 their measures, and to enlighten them as to the general 
 needs and wishes of the country.'" 
 
 Nor has any material alteration been made in these 
 institutions during the twenty years that have passed 
 since they were founded by Lord Dufferin in 1883. 
 
 Mr. Cashel Hoey writes to him in March 1883 — 
 
 "Mr. Childers lent me his Cabinet copy [of the 
 Report] last week, and apropos of it I had some 
 interesting conversation with him about you. I said 
 that between the lines of two letters I had had from 
 you I read that you were doing your work somewhat 
 under the same conditions as the night-march on
 
 1883] MR. CHILDERS. 49 
 
 Tel-el-Kebir, aided only by the stars, was conducted. 
 He said, with great emphasis, that the one thought of 
 the Government was to give you carte blanche, leave 
 your hands free, avoid fettering you with any sort of 
 instructions. I said if that were said or conveyed to 
 you nothing could be better, but if Lord Granville 
 had left it to be inferred, it was putting a great addi- 
 tional responsibility upon you. He then said it was 
 he who had originally advised Mr. Gladstone and 
 Lord Granville to send you to Egypt— that a few 
 days after Tel-el-Kebir he wrote a memorandum to 
 the effect that he felt warranted to suggest what in 
 his judgment should follow the end of the war — that 
 he considered it was necessary to send a minister 
 of the first rank in point of character and ability to 
 Cairo — and that you were in every conceivable way 
 indicated for the duty, by your talents and antece- 
 dents, but especially by the masterly way you had 
 recently dealt with the Egyptian question itself at 
 the Porte. A day or two afterwards he received a 
 brief reply to the effect simply — we quite agree with 
 you. . . . We then spoke of your Despatch. He said 
 it was admirable, most able, quite what he, and, I 
 think he meant to convey, the Cabinet too expected 
 from you, and with some wonderful brilliant bits of 
 writing characteristic of you." 
 
 On April 15, 1883, Lord Dufferin wrote to Lord 
 Edmond Fitzmaurice — 
 
 " I reproach myself for not having written to you 
 before to thank you for the very kind and flattering 
 way in which you introduced my Report to the notice 
 of the House of Commons. It was very good of you 
 to secure its being indulgently received. I am in 
 hopes things will now go on pretty smoothly if only 
 we get a good man at the centre of the machinery we 
 have set up. . . . 
 
 "The great difficulty of our present situation is 
 the want of money. The Liquidation law left the 
 vol. 11. e
 
 50 THE REPORT APPEOVED. [ch. II 
 
 government just enough to work the machine, and 
 now we are called upon to meet the interest on the 
 indemnity and occupation charges out of our narrow 
 income. But no reforms can be carried out without 
 an increase of expenditure. There are no prisons 
 in Egypt, and without prisons prison discipline and 
 prison sanitation are impossible. The new tribunals 
 will also prove a considerable expense. On the other 
 hand, being forced to abolish departments and to 
 dismiss a large number of civil servants does not 
 add to our popularity. 
 
 "I hope to bring our 'Institutions' into the world 
 in the course of a few days. The mechanical parts 
 of the plan will have to be carefully elaborated. By 
 the end of the month my task will be pretty well 
 completed ; that is to say, I shall have laid down the 
 lines along which the reorganization of Egypt ought 
 to move, and have come to an agreement with the 
 Egyptian government in respect of every part of the 
 entire plan. First-rate men will have been placed at 
 their disposal to assist them in the consolidation of 
 the fabric ; and the rest must be the work of patience, 
 time, and industry." 
 
 The British ministry had good reason for the 
 cordial satisfaction with which they received the 
 Report, and acknowledged the success of Lord Duf- 
 ferin's mission to Egypt. The official despatch, review- 
 ing and recognizing his services, is subjoined — 
 
 May 15, 1883. — "Your Excellency's Mission in 
 Egypt having come to a conclusion, it becomes my 
 duty to express to you, on behalf of the Queen's 
 Government, their cordial thanks for your having 
 undertaken the task entrusted to you, and their entire 
 approval of the manner in which you have fulfilled it. 
 
 "The untiring energy which you applied to the 
 consideration of the many difficult problems con- 
 nected with the reorganization of a country just
 
 1883] LETTER TO SHERIF PASHA. 51 
 
 relieved from a military rebellion and suffering in 
 all the branches of its administration from the dis- 
 order thereby entailed, are fully appreciated by Her 
 Majesty's Government, and they are highly gratified 
 at the happy results thus far achieved through your 
 arduous labours. They sincerely trust that the 
 reforms which the Khedive and his government have 
 introduced into the administration by your advice, 
 and the institutions which, with your assistance, they 
 have devised with the view of securing the liberties 
 of the Egyptian people and the good government of 
 the country, may be the commencement of a new 
 era of prosperity and contentment for Egypt and its 
 inhabitants. The gradual development of constitu- 
 tional government in Egypt will be watched with the 
 greatest interest in this country, and in attaining that 
 object the Egyptian people and its Ruler may con- 
 fidently rely on the assistance and support of the 
 Government of the Queen." 
 
 Lord Dufferin enclosed a copy of his Report to 
 the Egyptian Minister, Sherif Pasha, with a long letter 
 of advice and encouragement. But he was fully aware 
 that nothing would put heart or confidence into the 
 Khedive's government, if the proclamation of a con- 
 stitution was to be followed by the withdrawal of the 
 British garrison ; and he probably foresaw that an 
 early evacuation would be found impossible. At any 
 rate, in the final paragraph of his letter, he did not 
 hesitate to fortify Sherif Pasha with assurances of 
 material support, in terms much more unequivocal 
 than the official despatches at that time warranted — 
 
 "There is one further word which it may be 
 desirable to add, but here again I must remind you 
 that I am speaking as your private friend, and not 
 in my official capacity. There is no point upon which 
 you and I have been so thoroughly agreed as on the 
 necessity of its being understood by all concerned
 
 52 LORD DUFFERIN'S ASSURANCES. [ch. ii 
 
 that the governmental system about to be inaugurated 
 should possess the character of permanence and sta- 
 bility. As long as men's minds are shaken by the 
 expectation of change, every public, private, com- 
 mercial, and political interest in the country is com- 
 promised and endangered. I therefore do not hesitate 
 to assure you that the new order of things you are 
 creating with the hearty approval and concurrence of 
 the Queen's government, is one which is destined and 
 intended both to succeed and to endure. On frequent 
 occasions Lord Granville has expressed his confidence 
 in the Khedive, and his strong desire that His High- 
 ness' government should be established on sure and 
 unassailable foundations. Words of this kind uttered 
 in Parliament are not lightly spoken. It follows as 
 a consequence that all those patriotic Egyptians who 
 are now engaged in reorganizing the government of 
 their country may count upon the unfailing goodwill 
 and support of the English people to the very last." 
 
 His anxiety to obtain confirmation of these as- 
 surances is shown in an official letter to Lord Gran- 
 ville (April 1883) — 
 
 " There is one point insisted on by the American 
 missionaries to which, however, I would more espe- 
 cially draw your Lordship's attention, as it so entirely 
 coincides with my own convictions on the subject. 
 These gentlemen say that the only chance of re- 
 storing peace and harmony to Egypt is that all classes 
 of its inhabitants should be made to understand 
 that the new regime about to be introduced will 
 be invested with an impregnable permanence and 
 stability. If once this idea permeates the population 
 they will accept the situation created for them with 
 satisfaction. As long, however, as they are kept in 
 a state of uncertainty, and their minds are agitated 
 by the idea that other influences and other forces, 
 whether emanating from Turkey or elsewhere, are 
 at all likely to change the present state of things,
 
 1 883] THE SOUDAN. 53 
 
 a perpetual condition of disquiet and disturbance is 
 certain to prevail. It is most important that they 
 should come to regard the system we have called 
 into being as henceforth part and parcel of the im- 
 mutable order of nature." 
 
 With the rash and calamitous expedition into the 
 Soudan, for the purpose of recovering the provinces 
 that had revolted from Egypt, Lord DufFerin had 
 no official concern. Her Majesty's Government had 
 formally disclaimed all responsibility for those military 
 operations, abandoning the whole business to the dis- 
 cretion of the Khedive and his Ministers ; and this 
 short-sighted policy of dealing with the affairs of a 
 country in which British authority was supreme "on 
 the theory of limited liability " (as Sir A. Milner has 
 called it), brought its natural reward. A letter, dated 
 July 1883, from Major Hicks, the ill-fated commander 
 of the Egyptian forces at Khartoum, to Lord Dufferin 
 at Constantinople, foreshadows the calamity that over- 
 took him in November. From Cairo he can get no 
 effective help — " my support has gone with Lord 
 Dufferin." His orders are disregarded by the local 
 Egyptian authorities ; the delays are interminable ; 
 transport and provisions, urgently needed, are not 
 collected ; and his confidential letters of complaint to 
 the Egyptian government against the officials are 
 intercepted and made public. The cavalry could not 
 ride ; a detachment of infantry ordered to join had 
 deserted with their arms. The opinions of his col- 
 league in joint command, Suleiman Pasha, on the 
 conduct of the coming campaign were almost diametri- 
 cally opposed to his own, and Major Hicks wrote that 
 he " disagreed with every one of them." 
 
 " Camels are not ready ; boats and provisions are 
 not collected. I don't see how it is possible for me to
 
 54 MAJOR HICKS. [CH. n 
 
 march before September, when the crops will be cut, 
 the year's supply of food gathered in, and there will be 
 no forage for the cavalry and transport animals. The 
 apathy and obstruction of all officials is as bad as ever, 
 and at times I look upon the undertaking as perfectly 
 hopeless. . . . Hassen Pacha, commanding on the Blue 
 Nile (Senaar), telegraphs that he is without any food 
 for his army, and calls urgently for a supply. . . . 
 
 " I hear on reliable authority that several of the 
 chiefs to whom I gave the Khedive's pardon, and 
 whose tribes I permitted to recross the river from 
 Kordofan to Senaar and settle down again — have gone 
 to the Mahdi, to Obeid — and told him that although 
 they had returned to their villages, he must not think 
 that they had deserted his cause. They took with 
 them a list of the numbers of men they could still 
 bring into the field. This makes it still more evident 
 to me how necessary it is, that, by whatever route we 
 march into Kordofan, we must establish posts on the 
 line and keep open our communication with our base. 
 With an enemy in front and an enemy in rear, with 
 line of retreat cut off, the Egyptian troops would be 
 worth nothing at all. They are worth but very little 
 under the best of circumstances. With two brigades 
 of Indian troops Kordofan, or the Soudan, would be 
 reconquered with the greatest ease." 
 
 " Foredoomed to dogs and vultures," the Egyptian 
 army marched to its destruction across the White 
 Nile into Kordofan. In the " Life of the Right Hon. 
 Hugh Childers " * is a letter from him to Lord Halifax, 
 written some months after the final catastrophe, in 
 which he says — 
 
 " We [the Government] disliked the war, but hardly 
 felt justified in interfering. ... I think we made one 
 grave mistake : that is, after refusing leave to officers 
 to go to the Soudan, not forbidding Hicks, who was 
 
 * II. pp. 179-80.
 
 1883] THE SOUDAN DISASTER. 55 
 
 a retired Indian, to go, and take others in the same 
 position with him. 
 
 " I was a party, in November, to the prohibition, 
 and was alarmed to find in May a number of officers 
 in the Soudan, and Dufferin corresponding with Hicks." 
 
 Truly no one but Lord Dufferin seems to have 
 ventured upon any active sympathy with the un- 
 fortunate commander, surrounded by enemies and 
 deserted by the government under which he was 
 serving ; while the English War Secretary was alarmed 
 at anything that looked like an attempt to assist him 
 in a campaign for which the ministry had disclaimed 
 all responsibility. In the last letter that reached Lord 
 Dufferin from Khartoum, Major Hicks writes — 
 
 " I was very gratified at receiving your Lordship's 
 kind letter from Alexandria. It is the only letter I have 
 received from any one expressing approval of what I 
 have been fortunate enough to do in Senaar. I believe 
 that part of the Soudan is for the time quite settled, 
 and will remain so if affairs are carried on in a 
 judicious way in Kordofan — but I am sorry to say 
 that your Lordship's departure from Cairo has been 
 a calamity to me. The idea here was, and is, that 
 with your departure my support at Cairo went also, 
 and the result is that my orders are quite disregarded 
 and my arrangements left unearned out — promises 
 are made and nothing done." 
 
 On November 1 his army was crushed out of being. 
 The Mahdi's victory threw the Turkish government 
 into a panic. They nearly cut off the head of the 
 unfortunate official who allowed a telegraphic state- 
 ment to slip into the local papers as to the Mahdi 
 commanding an army of 300,000 men. A counter- 
 statement was immediately published to the effect 
 that he could not have more than a thousand men, 
 and that they were all brigands.
 
 56 THE SOUDAN DISASTER. [ch. n 
 
 Among Lord Dufferin's papers is a letter from 
 Mrs. Hicks acknowledging a kind and sympathizing 
 letter written to her from Constantinople, where the 
 news of the Soudan army's annihilation and of her 
 husband's death had reached him. " Over and over 
 again in his letters to me " (she says) " my husband 
 regretted your leaving Egypt, as in you he had lost 
 the only support he had." 
 
 To Lord Lansdowne Lord Dufferin wrote — 
 
 " I have been dreadfully cut up by this terrible 
 news from the Soudan. It was a great pity that 
 General Hicks embarked upon so dangerous and 
 profitless an expedition. Fortunately as far as my 
 own credit is concerned I put on record before I left 
 Egypt a strong opinion that the Egyptian government 
 should not attempt to extend their dominion beyond 
 the western banks of the White Nile, but content them- 
 selves with the reconquest of Senaar, i.e. the province 
 lying between the bifurcation of the Blue and the 
 White Niles, which Hicks had cleared of the Mahdi's 
 people. Had they done this all would have been 
 well." 
 
 To Lord Granville — 
 
 December i, 1883. — "I have, of course, been very 
 much distressed by the news from Egypt. I cannot 
 conceive that poor Hicks should have been so mad 
 as to have risked his one small army in so fearfully 
 dangerous an adventure, where the slightest check 
 would involve complete destruction. As you will 
 remember, any advance to the west of the White 
 Nile was quite contrary to my programme. . . . The 
 question of what is now to be done is a very difficult 
 one, upon which I will not hazard an opinion, as the 
 government will have decided the point before this 
 reaches you. I will only suggest that we should think 
 well before advising the Egyptian Government to
 
 1 883-4] COLONEL GORDON. 57 
 
 surrender Khartoum and Senaar and the command of 
 the White Nile." 
 
 To Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice — 
 
 December 1, 1883. — "The Soudan catastrophe will 
 tell against us in many ways in getting Egypt to 
 rights. Poor Hicks ought never to have risked 
 Egypt's one small army on so desperate an adventure ; 
 but I do not think that Khartoum, Senaar, the com- 
 mand of the Nile, and of the communications between 
 Berber and Suakim, should be permanently abandoned, 
 whatever temporary retreat prudence may counsel." 
 
 " I cannot help grievously lamenting the loss of 
 Khartoum, and I should have been inclined to make 
 some sacrifices to maintain a position which would 
 have checked the Mahdi's advance north. It is an 
 outpost of civilization as well as of Egypt, but I can 
 understand the government in the presence of our 
 multitudinous responsibilities hesitating to undertake 
 so onerous a charge." 
 
 These responsibilities were renounced, indeed, 
 with very little hesitation ; and Colonel Gordon's 
 subsequent mission to withdraw the garrisons only 
 produced a second disaster. The subjoined letter 
 from Gordon to Lord Dufferin, written in March 1884, 
 may be given here to close Lord Dufferin's corre- 
 spondence on the melancholy topic of errors and 
 failures in the Soudan. 
 
 "Khartoum, March 11, 1884. — Thank you for your 
 kind letter 8 February received to-day. I am truly 
 obliged for what your Lordship has done for my 
 friend, who will be delighted. 
 
 "We are in a pickle here and I almost doubt if this 
 letter will get through, for the tribes around here, 
 owing to our weakness, have gone over to the Mahdi, 
 and are about to hem us in. We have lots of
 
 58 COLONEL GORDON'S LETTER. [ch. ii 
 
 provisions, but there does not seem to be any likeli- 
 hood of our affairs improving. As for the Mahdi he 
 is in reality nothing, and cannot move from Obeid ; it 
 is his emissaries which raise the tribes, who see by our 
 sending down the sick that we do not mean to keep 
 the country. Of course one cannot expect them to be 
 faithful to me, when they know I only want to get the 
 Cairo employes and white troops down. As for 
 Khartoum, if it falls the emissaries of the Mahdi will 
 enter Egypt and we will have eventually to put him 
 down under great difficulties ; for if he gets Khartoum 
 he will have no end of stores and prestige, and of 
 course its fall involves that of Senaar and Kassala and 
 eventually Berber and Dongola. I could only do my 
 best, but things are too far gone to remedy. I have 
 asked Baring to tell me distinctly what he would have 
 me do, for if we are to wait here till we surrender 
 without any chance of relief, the best thing is to fight 
 our way out at once. I have proposed to send 
 Stewart, a capital fellow, to Berber and to take all the 
 black troops and go up in the steamers to Equator and 
 keep that province and Bahr Gazalla under myself for 
 King of Belgians, joining him on Congo. This would 
 stop the slave hunting, and I should be very strong up 
 there, but of course Stewart at Berber would run the 
 great risk of being cut off there.* However, Baring 
 has now full information and I wait his answer. I 
 expect every hour to hear the telegraph is cut and 
 that before he can give me his opinion. We are 
 always just too late. The revolt was nothing had 
 it been taken in hand at once, but day by day it 
 grows, and they laugh at my proclamations. I do not 
 blame them for they know we are retreating. 
 " Believe me, my dear Lord Dufferin, 
 
 " Yours sincerely with very many thanks 
 for your kindness, 
 
 " C. G. Gordon." 
 
 * He was captured and murdered not far from Berber in Septem- 
 ber 1884.
 
 1 884] KETURN TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 59 
 
 Lord Dufferin left Egypt on May 3 for Constanti- 
 nople, made a week's halt at the embassy, and travelled 
 homeward across Europe by Varna, Bucharest, and 
 Vienna. Some extracts from his letters to Lady 
 Dufferin may be given here to mark the course and 
 incidents of his journey. 
 
 Rhodes, May 4. — " Heaven knows when you get 
 this letter, probably not until you have received 
 another from me from Constantinople, but I like 
 you to know that wherever I am, even though it be 
 a Calypso-like island, I am thinking of you." 
 
 Constantinople, May 8. — " We got here this morning 
 after a prosperous journey. I wrote to you from 
 Rhodes though probably you won't have got my 
 letter. Then we looked in at Smyrna where I wanted 
 to see the Consul and some of my old friends. 
 Amongst them were two ladies who were in the first 
 bloom of their beauty when I was last at Smyrna. 
 One of them has now, alas ! turned into a podgy 
 middle-aged woman, and the other, who was a beau- 
 tiful girl of sixteen with a lovely figure, into a thin 
 pallid creature with nothing of her former looks left 
 but her eyes. . . . 
 
 " Little Freddy came down in a carriage at 8 this 
 morning to meet me, driving by himself in great 
 state, and thinking himself very much grown up. I 
 send you a charming letter he wrote me." 
 
 May 11. — "Yesterday I saw the Sultan. Nothing 
 could have been kinder or more courteous than he 
 was. He said he was perfectly satisfied with all I 
 had been doing in Egypt. I then touched upon 
 Armenia, which he did not like. At last the Sultan 
 gave me my chance. He said something about Eng- 
 land wishing to acquire a protectorate over Turkey. 
 Upon this I turned upon him in great wrath and 
 told him I could not accept such a statement, and
 
 60 THE SULTAN. [ch. n 
 
 required to know the grounds upon which it was 
 founded. He said that it was what other people sug- 
 gested, upon which with great warmth I told him 
 that he was surrounded in his palace by people 
 who knew nothing of Europe and European politics 
 or of the political forces of the world, and that they 
 were driving him and his empire to the Devil. I 
 could not help thinking that the Sultan was rather 
 pleased than otherwise at hearing his friends 
 abused. We then both calmed down, and I led 
 the conversation into a pleasanter channel. He con- 
 cluded by telling me that he was horribly afraid 
 that I was going to leave him, that India, etc., had 
 been talked about, and that he could never recon- 
 cile himself to my loss. I replied that I was 
 determined to live and die at his court, unless he 
 drove me away, upon which he stretched out his 
 hand and gave me a cordial shake, and so ended 
 our interview." 
 
 May 13. — "I duly received your letter of the 5th. 
 It is the first in which you write at all like yourself. 
 My imagination has been already haunted by the 
 thought of two wild women being turned loose in 
 Paris with an unlimited credit at the family's bankers. 
 Now it looks as if my prognostications were likely 
 to be fully realized, but so long as you get well 
 enough to wear them, you are welcome to any amount 
 of tea-gowns, morning toilettes and evening costumes, 
 especially as I hope to arrive in time to see you wear 
 them. 
 
 "To-day I went to see one of my friends of two 
 and twenty years ago. I left her the most refined and 
 fairy-looking creature in the world, but now alas ! she 
 has grown red and fat, and what is worse is suffering 
 I fear from an incurable disease. The house, however, 
 was full of the loveliest children I ever saw, but this 
 did not console me for the destruction of my illusions. 
 I have had to go through a great deal lately in this 
 way. .
 
 1883] ARRIVAL IN LONDON. 61 
 
 " I cannot tell you with what impatience I am 
 waiting for the day to start — you have indeed got 
 hold of the tow rope." 
 
 By the end of May Lord Dufferin was in London, 
 receiving honours and felicitations upon his achieve- 
 ments in Egypt, and assisting the Ministry to defend 
 their somewhat involuntary share in what had been 
 done. To Mr. Hepburn, a very old and intimate friend, 
 whom he had rarely met since their Oxford days, he 
 wrote — 
 
 June 21, 1883 (from London). — " Thank you a 
 thousand times for your dear kind letter which has 
 just come to hand. Although I have received many 
 congratulations on the upshot of my labours in Egypt, 
 none have gone so straight to my heart as those con- 
 tained in your friendly and affectionate words. How 
 strange are the chances of life and how quickly it 
 vanishes away. It seems to me only the other day 
 that we were friends and companions at Oxford. In 
 my tastes and the freshness of my delight in existence, 
 as well as in the warmth of my friendship, I feel 
 exactly as I did then, and cannot believe that I am on 
 the verge of sixty, which in those days we regarded 
 as almost the end of all things — at all events it marks 
 the term of a period of forty years of our unfailing 
 affection, and that alone is a great possession. 
 
 " Is there any chance of your coming to town ? You 
 talk of going to Scotland. We are going there too 
 in the autumn. If you pass through London on your 
 way, let me know. 
 
 " Ever, my dearest and kindest of friends, 
 
 Yours most affectionately." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone's offer (with the Queen's sanction) of 
 the Grand Cross of the Bath, "as an acknowledgment 
 of the great and growing roll of your public services," 
 was accepted with due acknowledgments; and the
 
 62 TO CONSTANTINOPLE AGAIN. [ch. II 
 
 honorary office of "Vice- Admiral of Ulster and the 
 maritime ports thereof" was subsequently con- 
 ferred upon him. Another letter from the Prime 
 Minister requests him "to set down in few words 
 our degree of advancement as respects the most im- 
 portant particulars of preparation for leaving Egypt," 
 as the question was to be raised in Parliament ; 
 while telegrams from correspondents in Egypt to the 
 English newspapers were reporting administrative 
 confusion and generally prophesying woe. Lord 
 DufTerin replied by telegram from Ireland that the 
 cholera (then raging in Egypt) had " knocked the 
 government out of time," that otherwise the situa- 
 tion was not abnormal, and that the whole machine 
 only required time to set in working order. In 
 regard to the telegrams, he opined that they were 
 devised for the purpose of scaring the British govern- 
 ment, by those who were financially interested in 
 promoting the country's annexation. But the Foreign 
 Office represented to him that British interests at 
 Constantinople were suffering from the absence of 
 an ambassador whose influence over the Sultan was 
 great ; so Lord Dufferin cut short his leave, making, 
 as Lord Granville acknowledged, " a great sacrifice " 
 to public duty. By the end of September he was 
 again at Constantinople, vainly exhorting the Sultan 
 to do something towards redeeming his pledges in 
 the matter of Armenian reforms. But all the other 
 European Powers were indifferent and obstructive. 
 Prince Bismarck thought the old Turkish regime best 
 suited to Asia Minor; while France was in no humour 
 for backing England's further intervention in the 
 East. The Sultan, whose strength lay in European 
 disunion, became immovable ; and Lord Dufferin 
 abandoned the whole question in baffled despair.
 
 1 884] AT THE EMBASSY. 63 
 
 The Turkish government disliked and protested 
 against our prolonged occupation of Egypt, which dis- 
 concerted hopes, still latent, that Turkish troops might 
 be allowed to replace the English army, and that 
 direct imperial authority might eventually be re- 
 stored in that province. Nor were these expectations 
 without encouragement from other European em- 
 bassies at Constantinople, to whom our independent 
 position and exercise of power in Egypt gave some 
 umbrage. 
 
 In April Lady Dufferin went with her daughter 
 to Athens. Her husband writes to her from Con- 
 stantinople — 
 
 April 10, 1884. — "Here I am ! a bachelor again, 
 and each time I try the experiment I like it less than 
 ever. 
 
 " I took Corti back in the carriage and did not 
 begin to 'think long' until I began to walk up the 
 big staircase, when I suddenly felt what a dreadful 
 thing it was for my wife to have run away from me, 
 and left me in this horrible house all by myself. I 
 consoled myself by going on with Victoria's picture 
 until dusk, and then I turned to the papers. We had 
 a dull little dinner at Corti's, but it was better perhaps 
 than dining at home. Our only distraction was a 
 fire, which broke out right in front of the embassy 
 windows, and lasted well into the night. Knowing 
 how matters would turn out I had ordered the 
 carriage at a quarter-past 9 : by half-past I got home, 
 and by 10 I was comfortably tucked up in bed with a 
 novel of Walter Scott and a lamp." 
 
 Other affairs took up much of Lord Dufferin's 
 time, yet he found leisure for an excursion to Broussa, 
 an ancient city across the sea of Marmora on the 
 Asiatic side, and to sketch the scenery in a letter to 
 Lady Dartrey —
 
 64 BROUSSA. [CH. n 
 
 " Broussa was the seat of the Turkish power 
 during the period which preceded its advance into 
 Europe, and it is one of the most beautiful places on 
 the face of the earth. You land at a little port called 
 Mudani on the south side of the sea of Marmora, 
 and you first mount a rather uninteresting and barren 
 ridge which borders the sea. Arrived at the top 
 there stretches beneath you an extensive and lovely 
 plain, watered by several streams, and brilliant with 
 cornfields, vines, olives, and stretches of woodland. 
 Beyond this plain, and directly fronting you, rises 
 a magnificent violet stretch of mountain, the highest 
 point of which is covered with snow — the famous 
 Mount Olympus of Homer, where the Gods sat and 
 discussed the fortunes of the Greeks and Trojans, 
 and whence Zeus thundered his displeasure. The 
 western end of the plain stretches away towards 
 Mount Ida, while the other is bounded by an amphi- 
 theatre of hills, which, when we saw them, shone 
 like jewels in the sun ; for as good luck would have 
 it, a tremendous thunderstorm had gathered in the 
 distance, and dyed Olympus and his adjoining peaks 
 with the deepest, blackest violet, athwart which the 
 setting sun shot level shafts of orange and gold. . . . 
 The town itself nestles between the spurs of the 
 mountains, and upon the craggy plateaus which rise 
 one above the other at its base. But the chief features 
 of beauty are the bubbling springs which burst out 
 in every direction beneath your feet, spreading a 
 wealth of verdure throughout the entire neighbour- 
 hood. Most of them are of the purest ice cold water 
 —others are boiling hot and saturated with sulphur 
 or iron." 
 
 In a letter to Mr. Hepburn he said— 
 
 " The condition of Egypt is a great disappointment 
 to me, especially as all the evils which have come 
 upon us might have been so readily avoided. It was 
 Hicks's unfortunate expedition into Kordofan that let
 
 1884] APPOINTMENT TO INDIA. 65 
 
 in the deluge, superinduced bankruptcy, and the loss 
 of thousands of lives. . . . 
 
 " My wife and my daughter go to England late in 
 the autumn, whither I shall follow them next spring 
 for a good long holiday, which I shall have earned 
 by a two years' banishment." 
 
 Early in August 1884, however, he received a tele- 
 gram informing him that he would be appointed to 
 succeed Lord Ripon in the Governor Generalship of 
 India. 
 
 "It took me" (he wrote to Lord Granville) "very 
 much by surprise, for although at one time my 
 thoughts had been very strongly turned toward India, 
 I had settled down so completely to my happy 
 existence here that my mind never recurred to the 
 idea. I am very sensible of the confidence shown me 
 by the government ; but no one accepts such a heavy 
 charge with a light heart, and it entails many severe 
 domestic sacrifices." 
 
 Before quitting Constantinople in September he 
 heard of Lord Ampthill's * death, and in a letter of 
 great sympathy to Lord Arthur Russell, he said — 
 
 " We lost sight of each other for many a long 
 day, until I passed through Berlin on my way to St. 
 Petersburg, after which we became faster friends 
 than ever, when I conceived the greatest admiration 
 for his professional ability, and felt anew the charm 
 of his sweet, amiable nature and bright intellect 
 There is no one in the whole service even second to 
 him as a diplomatist. It must be very gratifying to 
 you all to see the universal recognition both in Ger- 
 many and in England, and I may say in Europe, of his 
 great talents, but his abiding fame is destined to be 
 greater still when the history of these times is 
 written, and his despatches and correspondence are 
 
 * Previously Lord Odo Russell. 
 VOL. II. F
 
 66 LONDON. [ch. n 
 
 published. He will then stand out as one of the 
 leading historical figures of the last thirty years, and 
 what he has written will probably prove the most 
 trustworthy source from which the historian will draw 
 the Continental history of our times." 
 
 On his way to England Lord Dufferin passed 
 through Vienna, where he had some conversation 
 with Count Kalnoky, the Austro-Hungarian prime 
 minister, upon Turkish and Egyptian affairs, and 
 arrived in London in the latter part of September. 
 Throughout his career the steps on his upward pro- 
 motion had been divided by short intermediate spaces ; 
 and on this occasion little or no leisure was allowed 
 him. He found himself under pressure to take over 
 charge of the Governor Generalship in India early 
 in December, because an important measure, the 
 Bengal Rent Bill, was before the Legislative Council, 
 which holds its sittings during the brief season of 
 cool weather in Calcutta ; and it was a matter of 
 urgency that the Bill should pass during the coming 
 session. A torrent of correspondence poured in 
 upon him immediately after his arrival in London ; 
 innumerable congratulations on his appointment from 
 friends at home and abroad, from foreigners as well 
 as from compatriots ; applications from a legion oi 
 candidates for places on his staff; and letters of 
 welcome from high officials in India who desired to 
 expound without delay their views upon pending 
 questions. Discussions at the India Office over the 
 state and prospect of Indian affairs, interviews with 
 ministers, ex-Viceroys, and others of Indian expe- 
 rience, a visit to his Irish estates, a journey to 
 Balmoral — public business and private engagements — 
 had all to find room between narrow limits of time. 
 For Lord Dufferin had consented, at some really
 
 1884J MR. HEPBURN. 67 
 
 considerable sacrifice of personal convenience, to set 
 out on his voyage to India, with five years' absence 
 before him, within not more than eight weeks of his 
 return to England from Constantinople. From a 
 heap of papers one letter may be selected to show 
 that amidst heavy and multifarious occupations old 
 acquaintance was never forgotten. 
 To Mr. Hepburn he wrote — 
 
 " I was so glad to get your letter, and I only 
 wish every one was as considerate as you, though 
 no amount of obligatory correspondence would have 
 stood in the way of my returning you an immediate 
 answer. I know I have not a better or truer friend 
 in the world than you, and your constant love and 
 affection has been one of the greatest encourage- 
 ments of my life. You well know too how warmly 
 I return it. 
 
 "I am just back from Ireland and Balmoral. I 
 am always glad to see the Queen, she has been so 
 constantly kind and good to me from my early days. 
 I had a very pleasant meeting in Ireland with all my 
 old friends, and certainly no English Pro-Consul ever 
 started for his government under more prosperous 
 auspices; but the universal approbation with which 
 my nomination has been received rather appals me, 
 for I well know how impossible it will be to fulfil 
 such high expectations, particularly in the discharge 
 of a task which has become terribly difficult. How- 
 ever, if only my health stands, 1 dare say I shall pull 
 through all right ; and I trust on returning that I may 
 be met by your cheery greeting, and may have an 
 opportunity of enhancing my own respectability by 
 being seen walking arm in arm with you in the 
 London streets. 
 
 " Ever, my dear old friend, 
 
 " Yours affectionately.
 
 68 THE BELFAST BANQUET. [ch. n 
 
 On October 15, at a banquet given to him in 
 Belfast, Lord Dufferin spoke of the Indian Governor 
 Generalship as " a task more arduous, more respon- 
 sible, and more honourable than any which had 
 hitherto been imposed upon him." After naming the 
 famous soldiers and administrators — the Wellesleys, 
 the Lawrences, Lord Mayo, and Lord Roberts — whom 
 Ireland and especially Ulster had sent out to the field 
 of Indian war and government, he referred with his 
 innate generosity to "the hundreds of high-minded 
 officials unknown and unrewarded who are faithfully 
 expending their existence in the solitude of their 
 districts, for their Queen, their country, and those 
 committed to their charge." 
 
 " The days " (he said) " when great reputations are 
 to be made in India are, happily perhaps, as com- 
 pletely past as those in which great fortunes were 
 accumulated. Famous Indian Pro-Consuls are no 
 longer required by their superiors or compelled by 
 circumstances to startle their countrymen by the 
 annexation of provinces, the overthrow of dynasties, 
 the revolutionizing of established systems, and all 
 those dramatic performances which invariably charac- 
 terise the founding and consolidation of new-born 
 empires. Their successors must be content with the 
 less ambitious and more homely, but equally impor- 
 tant and beneficent, work of justifying the splendid 
 achievements of those who have gone before them. . . . 
 
 " One thing I can promise you, that neither 
 amongst those who have lived and laboured and who 
 have disappeared from the scene, nor amongst those 
 who are still working for the good of England and 
 of India, will any have set forth more determined 
 to walk fearlessly and faithfully in the unpretending 
 paths of duty. I imagine the greatest success and 
 triumph I can obtain is that, from the time that I 
 depart from these shores and wave a grateful response
 
 1 884] LORD DUFFEMN'S SPEECH. 69 
 
 to the farewell you are saying to me to-night, even 
 the echo of my name may never be wafted to your 
 ears until at the end of my official term I stand again 
 amongst you, having won from the historian of the 
 day no higher encomium or recognition than that my 
 administration was uneventful, but that I had kept 
 the empire entrusted to my guardianship tranquil and 
 secure." 
 
 That such hopes and intentions, predestined to 
 frustration by experience, should have often been 
 professed by a Governor General designate, is no 
 reflection on their sincerity — 
 
 " I shall regard it " (said Lord Dalhousie in his 
 speech* before leaving England in 1847) " as a fortunate 
 and enviable lot indeed, if free from foreign aggression 
 and internal turmoil, my chief duties, during the time 
 that I may serve you, shall consist in suggesting and 
 carrying out those great measures of internal im- 
 provement which you are so desirous of promoting." 
 
 Undoubtedly both Governors General accom- 
 plished much for the betterment of interior adminis- 
 tration and the welfare of the Indian people ; but in 
 each period their ideal of a calm uneventful regency 
 was signally disappointed.! Lord Dalhousie's name 
 recalls a period of war, conquest, and annexation. Lord 
 Dufferin was drawn far into the meshes of Afghan 
 politics, narrowly avoided hostilities with Russia, 
 and completed Lord Dalhousie's work in Burmah by 
 
 * 
 
 At a farewell dinner given to him by the Court of Directors. 
 
 f " Audiit, et voti Phcebus succedere partem 
 
 Mente dedit ; partem volucres dispersit in auras " 
 
 (AZneid, xi. 794), 
 or, in the Baron of Bradwardine's version — 
 
 " Ae half the prayer wi' Phoebus grace did find, 
 The t'other half he whistled down the wind."
 
 70 A GREEK GODDESS. [ch. ti 
 
 adding the rest of that kingdom to the British 
 sovereignty. But a peaceful and permanent frontier 
 of the Indian empire is still like that margin ol 
 an untravelled world, which Tennyson's Ulysses saw 
 ever fading before him as he followed it. Lord 
 Dufferin, indeed, brings the old Greek hero into 
 another part of his Belfast speech, where he touches 
 a different note in acknowledging a libation to Lady 
 Dufferin — 
 
 " In ancient times there was a certain well-known — 
 I dare not call him distinguished — Grecian chief who 
 wandered over many seas and visited many cities and 
 conversed with many men, but wherever he went 
 he was followed by the mysterious influence of the 
 goddess, who suggested to him at all times and 
 seasons what he was to do and say, who smoothed 
 his path before him and rendered his progress miracu- 
 lously successful. My lords and gentlemen, it is no 
 exaggeration to say that during the course of my 
 public career no ancient goddess of Grecian mythology 
 could have rendered me more effective aid, could have 
 extended over me more completely the aegis of her 
 sweet wisdom and comforting counsel, than that of 
 the lady to whose health you have just paid this 
 tribute of respect." 
 
 From Clandeboye Lord Dufferin wrote to his 
 wife (October 16) — 
 
 "The banquet went off last night beautifully. 
 It was a lovely scene, very full, the wolf and the 
 lamb lying down together, the most bitter enemies 
 sitting cheek by jowl, and the Catholic bishop 
 hobnobbing with the Presbyterian moderator. My 
 speech was very well received, though, except the 
 allusions in the first part, I did not myself think 
 much of it. When I sat down there was a great 
 deal of cheering, but this was not inspired by the
 
 1 884] DEPARTURE FOR INDIA. 71 
 
 sentiments of the speech, but simply by kindly feel- 
 ings towards myself, for the audience naturally are 
 not very much interested in India. 
 
 " I have received to-day seventy letters, but none 
 of those I have as yet opened seem to be of 
 importance. You must forgive me for these scurvy 
 little scrawls, but I have innumerable stupid people to 
 answer. 
 
 "P.S.— They drank your health with great en- 
 thusiasm, and you will see that in my reply I com- 
 pared you to a tutelary Greek goddess. Could a 
 husband do more for his wife ? " 
 
 On November 13, 1884, he took ship from London 
 with Lady Dufferin and his daughter for Bombay.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 No Governor General ever came to India so well 
 equipped by antecedent experience for the work as 
 Lord Dufferin. Lord Elgin, indeed, had preceded 
 him in Canada, and in two missions to China he had 
 proved his high capacity for dealing with Oriental 
 politics. But the appointments previously held by 
 Lord Dufferin had been of such a kind that if they 
 had been purposely undertaken as a course of pre- 
 paratory training for the Indian Viceroyalty, a more 
 appropriate selection could hardly have been made. In 
 Syria, and long afterwards in Turkey, he had learnt the 
 difficult art of dealing with Asiatic rulers and officials; 
 he had studied their weakness and their strength. 
 At St. Petersburg and Constantinople he had repre- 
 sented the interests of England on the Eastern Ques- 
 tion, and all the issues connected with the wider field 
 of Central Asia were familiar to him. Lastly, in Egypt 
 he had been entrusted with a task that has been con- 
 tinually imposed upon the English government in 
 India— the task of reforming and reconstructing under 
 European superintendence the dilapidated fabric of 
 an Oriental State. 
 
 In the beginning of December 1884, Lord and Lady 
 
 72
 
 1885] ARRIVAL IN BOMBAY. 73 
 
 Dufferin reached Bombay. Their arrival, and the 
 Viceroy's first impressions of India, are described in 
 a letter to Lady Dartrey — 
 
 January 13, 1885. — "We are now settled down at 
 Calcutta, though I have hardly yet recovered my 
 breath after the tremendous plunge I have taken. 
 The amount of business is overwhelming, but in 
 other respects we are very prosperous. The place 
 is beautiful; the climate is delicious; the society very 
 pleasant ; and in addition to the Calcutta residence 
 we have a country house with a fine English park on 
 the banks of the Ganges, about fourteen miles off. . . . 
 " Our landing in Bombay was really a beautiful 
 sight. We were asked to remain on board the ship 
 until half-past four in order that the troops and the 
 spectators might not be inconvenienced by the sun. 
 The fleet had been collected to add dignity to our 
 ' Avatar,' and filled the bay with smoke and thunder. 
 The town is situated on an island, or rather on a 
 peninsula, with some picturesque heights and hills 
 standing up round it. The temperature was exquisite, 
 the atmosphere full of light, while balmy breezes 
 prevented it being too hot. You can easily imagine 
 the scene upon the quay, bright with guards of honour, 
 cavalry escorts, and military and civil dignitaries in 
 uniform ; but what it would be impossible for you to 
 conceive was the extraordinary strangeness and beauty 
 of the streets. We had to drive six miles from the 
 landing-stage to Government House, and the road 
 on either side was lined by crowds of men in every 
 sort of costume interspersed with others with scarcely 
 any clothes at all. Indeed, there were a good many 
 ladies who were by no means profusely clad. But 
 what was unimaginable was the colouring of the 
 whole. A bed of flowers gives you no conception 
 of its brilliancy. Nor indeed was brilliancy its chief 
 characteristic, but rather the most delicious harmony 
 — subdued reds and blues and yellows intermingled
 
 74 FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [ch. in 
 
 with a confused mass of dusky limbs and faces, and 
 eyes that sparkled like jewels. They cheered vocifer- 
 ously, with almost as full an intonation as an English 
 crowd. At the same time they clapped their hands 
 or bowed low, touching their foreheads or putting 
 their palms together. As we passed from the richer 
 quarters of the town into the streets where the 
 mechanics dwelt, the spectacle was still more startling, 
 as not only the streets but the windows of the houses 
 were lined with a mass of human beings with scarcely 
 a stitch on their bodies. In fact, there is nothing 
 strikes the new-comer so much as the summery 
 appearance of everybody. . . . 
 
 " Nothing surprised me more than to find the 
 European portion of Bombay having so much the 
 appearance of a university town. It is crammed with 
 handsome buildings in blue and white stone in the 
 collegiate Gothic style. Many of these have been 
 erected at the cost of rich Parsees. One school was 
 filled with Parsee ladies and girls, dressed in every 
 kind of lovely silk and satin. 
 
 " I opened an Institution for sick cattle. Having 
 pulled the doors of a cowshed asunder amidst the 
 cheers of the people, a gentleman advanced, bearing 
 in his hand a tray filled with fruits and vegetables, 
 cocoa-nuts and eggs, and bottles of variously coloured 
 unguents. The eggs he dashed upon the ground, to 
 the great detriment of the ladies' dresses. He broke 
 the cocoa-nuts and sprinkled the milk around. He 
 then smeared the lintels of the door-post with his red 
 and yellow coloured ointments, and finally strewed 
 the rest of the contents of his basket on the ground. 
 It was like seeing a chapter of Leviticus in action. 
 
 "This house is an enormous building, like a body 
 with four legs sprawling out from it. The body con- 
 sists of a single hall floored with marble, and with a 
 double row of marble columns running from one end 
 of it to the other. The legs constitute four wings, 
 in one of which my wife and I have pitched our
 
 1 885] THB BURDEN OF WORK. 75 
 
 tent, two of the remaining wings being devoted to 
 guests. 
 
 "I liked Bombay much better than Calcutta, the 
 air being far pleasanter. In Calcutta it is damp and 
 muggy and more or less depressing, though not so 
 much so, at all events at present, as the Bosphorus." 
 
 Very few Indian Viceroys have taken over charge 
 of the greatest office under the British Crown without 
 being startled by the volume, importance, and com- 
 plexity of the work that instantly encompasses them. 
 After a fortnight in Calcutta Lord Dufferin wrote to 
 Lord Granville that in his new situation he felt "very 
 like a man who has been suddenly pitched head fore- 
 most into a cauldron of hot water, who has risen to 
 the top, choking and spluttering, and who finds it very 
 difficult to keep his head above the rising inundation 
 of business that pours in upon him from every side." 
 Nevertheless he very soon made good his footing; 
 and his first step was to declare that a change in the 
 Governor Generalship signified no breach between 
 the future and the past — 
 
 " I felt the necessity of being very wary in my first 
 utterances " (he wrote to Lord Halifax in January 
 1885); "but I lost no time in making every one aware 
 that there was to be no dissolution of continuity 
 between Lord Ripon's policy and my own. Nothing 
 would have been more fatal than if a suspicion had 
 gone abroad amongst the natives that I was disposed 
 to abandon in any particular the friendly attitude he 
 had so courageously maintained towards them. I 
 sincerely trust that when he reaches England he will 
 obtain the credit he deserves. No Viceroy has 
 laboured so conscientiously or so uninterruptedly for 
 the good of the millions entrusted to his care ; and 
 I have been immensely struck by the ability, the 
 moderation, and the good sense of his semi-official
 
 76 THE BENGAL TENANCY BILL. [ch. hi 
 
 correspondence with Lord Kimberley. I have already 
 announced my intention of fostering to the utmost of 
 my power the beneficent projects he instituted for the 
 good of the people ; and I shall be quite content if I 
 can leave the country under the same honourable 
 conditions which attended his departure." 
 
 It may be here added that after eighteen months' 
 residence in India he wrote to Lord Ripon — 
 
 " In all my private letters, whether addressed to 
 your political opponents or to your friends, I have 
 invariably borne the most earnest and warm testimony 
 to the ability, the industry, the conscientiousness and 
 the noble and lofty spirit which characterized your 
 control of affairs, as was evinced by every paper of 
 yours that came under my eye. The only criticism 
 that has ever occurred to me in reference to your 
 proceedings has been that in rendering yourself so 
 popular with the natives, you have made the position 
 a little difficult for your successor." 
 
 One project of law, actually in hand and immedi- 
 ately urgent, was the Bengal Tenancy Bill, which had 
 been initiated by Lord Dufferin's predecessor. Of all 
 legislative business that comes before the Indian 
 Councils the adjustment of land tenures is perhaps 
 the most important and difficult ; and since the 
 questions that arise are essentially similar, though 
 differentiated by local circumstance, the most con- 
 venient method of dealing with them here may be to 
 give a concise and consecutive account of the three 
 land laws passed under Lord Dufferin's administration; 
 although the chronological order of the general narra- 
 tive must for this purpose be interrupted. 
 
 It is well known that some of the most serious and 
 complicated problems of Indian government have 
 grown out of the extraordinary diversity and intricacy
 
 1885] INDIAN LAND TENURES. 77 
 
 of the land tenures in a country where they are almost 
 as multiform and flexible as the religious beliefs. 
 They have been made and marred by centuries of 
 political and social vicissitudes, by the needs and 
 expedients of chronic insecurity, and the slow altera- 
 tion of economic conditions. From the beginning of 
 our dominion there has hardly been a time when the 
 government has not been occupied in some part of 
 India with the investigation of systems of rent or 
 rights, and with framing laws to finish disputes or to 
 remedy agrarian grievances. Since all Asiatic States 
 have drawn the greater part of their revenues from 
 the land, the partition of the surplus profits of agri- 
 culture has invariably been to them a matter of high 
 importance. But under the native rulerships there 
 had been no continuity of the fiscal administrative 
 system, for the alternate predominance of one side 
 or of the other, of those who could exact the utter- 
 most rent, and those who managed to withhold it, 
 had produced a constant struggle and a swaying to 
 and fro of the fiscal demand. In this manner, by 
 this perpetual strife between conflicting interests, by 
 local circumstances and the course of historic events, 
 there had grown up the curious medley of systems, 
 and the miscellaneous variety of proprietary and 
 cultivating tenures, which the English found in the 
 different provinces of India that came under their 
 dominion. The fluctuating and precarious nature of 
 all tenures antecedent to British rule, bearing traces 
 of constant shifts and violent changes, opened a door 
 to every kind of theory as to the basis upon which 
 the relations between landlord and tenant should be 
 permanently recognized. Lord Ripon, as soon as his 
 successful settlement of Afghanistan had left him at 
 leisure for internal affairs, had turned his attention
 
 78 LAND LEGISLATION. [ch. in 
 
 towards the hardly less arduous enterprise of re- 
 adjusting the relations between landlord and tenant 
 in two very important provinces of India. His 
 proposals for the better protection of tenants in 
 Bengal inevitably raised strenuous opposition from 
 the most powerful body of landlords in India ; but 
 for two years Lord Ripon had been carrying on 
 the contest, yielding ground here and there, yet 
 steadily holding his main points, until he made over 
 the reins of office to his successor. It then became 
 Lord Dufferin's duty to assume command of the 
 legislative forces of the government in the field, 
 and to complete an unfinished campaign. 
 
 The new Viceroy, however, was unusually familiar 
 with almost all the issues raised by the Bengal Tenancy 
 Bill. He had been Under-Secretary of State at the 
 time when Lord Lawrence, as Governor General, by 
 insisting on an investigation of the status of ryots in 
 Oudh, set on foot a famous discussion, in which all the 
 highest authorities in India and at the India Office took 
 different sides. The active part which Lord Dufferin 
 had constantly taken in discussions of the agrarian 
 questions in Ireland, and the resemblance between 
 those questions and similar problems in India, enabled 
 him to preside over the debates of the Indian Council 
 Chamber with weight and undeniable authority. No 
 better training, in short, than that of the India Office 
 and of Irish politics could have been given to a states- 
 man who had to pass a Bengal Tenancy Bill within 
 a few months after his arrival at Calcutta. What 
 meaning and what measure of legal recognition should 
 be allotted to usage and prescription, how far the law 
 ought to interfere for the control and modification 
 of agricultural contracts, to what extent double owner- 
 ship in land can be adjusted by definition, what limits
 
 1885] COMPLICATED QUESTIONS. 79 
 
 should be placed on enhancement, ejectment, and dis- 
 traint, how the tenants' right to make improvements and 
 to be compensated for them on disturbance should be 
 secured — all such questions are common, more or less 
 with differences and variations, to Ireland and to India, 
 to our greatest as to our earliest territorial acquisition 
 by arms beyond the English seas. In India, as in 
 Ireland, we were still actively engaged in mediating 
 between the two interests of ownership and occupancy 
 in agriculture — interests which still, as of old, lie at 
 the basis of civil society, and are yet so sensitive to 
 economic change that the most skilful attempts to 
 distribute them formally or to provide by legislation, 
 however elastic, for all the incidents of the connexion, 
 have hitherto failed to prevent severe periodical strains. 
 But whereas in Ireland the superior ownership and 
 the rent went altogether to private landlords, in India 
 both property and profit have usually been shared be- 
 tween the landholders and the State. This has given 
 to all Indian administrations a very direct and sub- 
 stantial motive for looking vigilantly to the position 
 and rights of the cultivators ; while, as Mr. Froude has 
 observed, the fact that in India there is practically no 
 English landlordism has kept these questions free from 
 entanglement with the rivalry of races. To a Viceroy 
 of Lord Dufferin's antecedents the whole subject pre- 
 sented features of curious analogy and familiar cha- 
 racteristics ; and he took an early occasion of publicly 
 expressing his satisfaction at finding himself associated 
 with the passing of the Act. In Canada he had found 
 Irishmen who had no agricultural grievances ; in India 
 he found the grievances without the political animosi- 
 ties of Ireland. In Egypt, again, the condition of the 
 fellah, overburdened by mortgages, and at the mercy 
 of usurers, resembled in some particulars the state of
 
 80 THE ACT PASSED. [ch. in 
 
 the Indian cultivator. Lord Dufferin's position enabled 
 him to arbitrate with conclusive authority between 
 landlord and tenant upon the several matters which, 
 after long debate and still longer report-writing, still 
 remained undetermined. The final decision of the 
 Legislative Council was on some of these points in 
 favour of the landlord ; but the tenant's status, his 
 hold on the land he occupied, and his safeguards 
 against arbitrary dispossession, were all very materially 
 strengthened by the Act as it was finally settled. The 
 principle of the Act may be said to have been based 
 upon a system of fixity of tenure at judicial rents ; 
 and its three main objects were — first, to give the 
 settled raiyat the same security in his holding as he 
 enjoyed under the old customary law ; secondly, to 
 secure to the landlord a fair share of the increased 
 value of the produce of the soil ; and thirdly, to lay 
 down rules by which all disputed questions between 
 landlord and tenant could be reduced to simple issues 
 and decided upon equitable considerations. The main- 
 tenance of the principles of the Act was further 
 safeguarded by a section which restricted the power 
 of entering into contracts to defeat its fundamental 
 provisions. Lord Dufferin, in moving that the Bill 
 should pass, disallowed in very plain terms the 
 main contention of the landlord party, that an inter- 
 ference between Bengal zemindars and their tenants 
 amounted to an infringement of the permanent settle- 
 ment made by Lord Cornwallis in 1798 As a matter 
 of fact, the measure supplemented and fulfilled reforms 
 that Lord Cornwallis had been contemplating, but was 
 obliged to leave incomplete. 
 
 A second measure of the same kind was passed 
 later in Lord DurTerin's Viceroyalty. In 1882 Lord 
 Ripon's government, acting upon disclosures elicited
 
 1 886] THE OUDH RENT ACT. 81 
 
 by a particular case, had directed an inquiry to be 
 made into the condition of the tenants in Oudh ; and 
 upon the report thereafter submitted a scheme for 
 protecting tenants from capricious eviction had been 
 proposed to the Secretary of State. But as these 
 proposals were not accepted, and were even generally 
 discouraged, it remained for Lord Dufferin to decide 
 whether they should be again pressed, after revision, 
 upon the India Office, or whether the whole scheme 
 should be dropped. Lord Dufferin, after taking 
 counsel with the local authorities, resolved that Lord 
 Ripon's policy was right, and that for the purpose of 
 protecting the tenant and improving his security, the 
 law must be amended. Here again Lord Dufferin's 
 experience, as a landlord and as a legislator, of similar 
 difficulties and their remedies invested him with great 
 influence in bringing the whole matter to an amicable 
 conclusion. As the Bengal zemindars had appealed 
 to the permanent settlement of 1798, so the Oudh 
 talukdars were disposed to find their magna charta 
 in a declaration made in 1866, that the Oudh tenant 
 had been found to possess no right of prescriptive 
 occupancy. Whether this meant that he must be 
 left exposed in perpetuity to arbitrary ejectment 
 or unlimited rack-renting, was the point at issue ; 
 but to attempt a recapitulation of the controversy 
 would be now out of place. Every one agreed that 
 rents must vary with the circumstances of a country, 
 and no one maintained that in Oudh the ordinary 
 tenant had any proprietary right in his holding. 
 But the landlords claimed illimitable power to eject 
 or enhance, while by law the cultivating tenure held 
 good for twelve months only ; a state of things that 
 led to depression of the cultivating classes and was 
 undeniably adverse to good farming. Many years 
 VOL. 11. g
 
 82 THE ACT PASSED. [ch. Ill 
 
 before this time Lord Dufferin, in his speeches on the 
 Irish land question, had pointed out that when large 
 estates are plotted out to small farms the farmers 
 must make the improvements ; and he had insisted 
 on the necessity of giving them security and a period 
 of lease adequate for profiting by the investment of 
 their money. The situation was very much the same 
 in Oudh ; the evils to be cured were great insecurity 
 of holdings and incessant competition among cottiers 
 for the land ; and the remedy applied was to prescribe 
 a statutory period of tenure and to place a check upon 
 indiscriminate enhancement of rents. The steady 
 support given by Lord Dufferin to these moderate 
 amendments of the law so far overcame the natural 
 opposition of the talukdars, that the Oudh Rent Act 
 was finally passed with their acquiescence. 
 
 The Act maintained the provisions of the former 
 Act of 1868, in so far as they related to the 8000 
 tenants having a right of occupancy in Oudh, but 
 materially altered che provisions of that Act in so 
 far as they affected the 1,800,000 tenants-at-will. It 
 enabled tenants-at-will to make improvements on 
 their holdings, and entitled them on ejectment to 
 receive compensation for any subsisting improve- 
 ments which they had made within thirty years pre- 
 ceding their ejectment. It declared every such tenant 
 to be entitled to retain his holding for a period of 
 seven years, from the date of his rent being settled 
 in accordance with the provisions of the Act. 
 
 The third and latest Land Tenancy Bill passed 
 by Lord Dufferin's government relates to the Punjab. 
 The different systems of land tenure established by 
 English law in the three great provinces of Bengal, 
 the North-West, and the Punjab represent mainly, 
 of course, the state of things we found existing in
 
 1886] PUNJAB LAND TENURES. 83 
 
 the country. But they also reflect the changes which 
 took place in our own policy as our knowledge of 
 such questions extended with the expansion of our 
 territory, and became more accurate. In Bengal our 
 permanent revenue settlement at the end of the 
 eighteenth century left the tenants with rights 
 vaguely recognized but not guarded; in the North- 
 West Provinces the Indian government took much 
 trouble, about thirty years later, to protect at least 
 one large class of occupants ; while in the Punjab, 
 which came last under British rule, the recognition 
 and record of the rights of actual cultivators, pro- 
 prietary or occupant, formed a chief feature of our 
 land legislation. In the Punjab, as elsewhere in 
 India, the uncertain value of land and the usual 
 dread of the English system of fixed and inexorable 
 demand for revenue, made the landlords not un- 
 willing, when they first became our subjects, that 
 the tenants should share their responsibility for 
 revenue payment by obtaining a sort of co-pro- 
 prietorship in the land. At first every one preferred 
 the loose, haphazard method of native tax-gatherers, 
 who sometimes took everything and often got nothing. 
 But as property became secure, and prices rose, the 
 question of the proportionate division of the large 
 and steady profits of agriculture became much more 
 important, and naturally engendered a plentiful crop 
 of litigation. Some twenty years ago an Act had 
 been passed to effect a compromise on the matter ; 
 but by 1886 the increasing disputes showed that the 
 law needed amendment, and under Lord Dufferin's 
 government the task was undertaken by the Punjab 
 authorities. The Punjab is for the most part a 
 country of small landowners and peasant proprietors, 
 and it is with these that the tenants, a very numerous
 
 84 THE THREE LAND ACTS. [ch. Ill 
 
 class, have to deal ; so that we have these two 
 considerable bodies, of owners and tenants, both 
 directly interested, and often more or less actually 
 engaged, in the cultivation. The problem, therefore, 
 was to distribute and define, as between these two 
 very similar classes, the right of occupation and the 
 profits of agriculture according to well-known usage 
 and sentiment, especially in regard to prescriptive 
 possession by length of tenure and to the reclamation 
 of waste lands. The object of the Bill of 1866 had been 
 to carry further this principle by supplementing and 
 enlarging preceding laws ; it provided for the adjust- 
 ment of rents in proportion to changes of the land- 
 revenue demands ; it extended the period which must 
 elapse between successive enhancements ; and it 
 assessed on a more liberal scale the compensation 
 payable to tenants for improvement, and, in certain 
 cases, for disturbance. The Act which was passed, 
 after much discussion, in 1887, was accepted without 
 discontent or friction by the country. 
 
 In all these cases the way to final legislation was 
 undoubtedly smoothed and straightened by the 
 address, experience, and ability of the local officers. 
 Nevertheless, when the general account of Lord 
 Dufferin's government is made up, he may fairly be 
 credited with the accomplishment of very material 
 improvements of the land laws, to the benefit of the 
 proprietary and cultivating classes in Bengal, in Oudh, 
 and in the Punjab. 
 
 Not only in the department of interior legislation, 
 but also in the very different sphere of external politics, 
 Lord Dufferin, on assuming office, at once found him- 
 self encompassed by affairs of great urgency and 
 importance.
 
 1 884] RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA. 85 
 
 In 1884 the Russians had occupied the Merv oasis; 
 they had subdued the Turkoman tribes of all that 
 region in Central Asia, and the rapid extension of their 
 dominions toward the south-east along the Oxus river 
 had brought them into close proximity or contact 
 with the north-west frontier of Afghanistan. This 
 country had been placed, as has already been said, 
 under the exclusive protectorate of England : we had 
 formally undertaken to defend the independence of 
 the Amir, and we had pledged ourselves to aid him 
 in resisting foreign aggression, so long as he should 
 defer to our advice in regard to his foreign relations. 
 
 But it was becoming quite clear that the onward 
 march of Russia toward the Afghan frontier could 
 not be checked by force, and at best would only be 
 retarded by diplomatic remonstrance. The invasion 
 of India by land has been the nightmare of Anglo- 
 Indian statesmen from the time when Napoleon pro- 
 posed to Russia, in 1808, his scheme for a joint 
 expedition against India through Persia from Con- 
 stantinople. Russian statesmen had always refused 
 to bind themselves by any formal convention to stop 
 short in the midst of the Central Asian plains, declaring 
 with much reason that the conditions and circum- 
 stances of such a position would always be liable to 
 unforeseen vicissitudes. Yet they had more than once 
 made informal overtures to Great Britain for some 
 such friendly understanding as would enable the two 
 Powers to act in concert, and to accommodate differ- 
 ences. On our side it had become obvious that, 
 upon the frontier question at any rate, we should do 
 well to agree with our adversary quickly, instead of 
 quarrelling with him. To safeguard the limits of our 
 protectorate by sending troops into Afghanistan 
 would be a costly and embarrassing operation, which
 
 86 THE BOUNDARY COMMISSION. [ch. Ill 
 
 might easily play into the hands of Russia. To 
 make an offensive and defensive alliance with the 
 ruler of Kabul would be to sign a bond with an 
 unstable and untrustworthy partner, leaving Russia 
 quite free to involve us in awkward complications 
 whenever it might suit her to do so. Our true policy 
 was to deal with a civilized and responsible govern- 
 ment for whom public engagements meant a sub- 
 stantial obligation, not to be violated in the face of 
 Europe without grave consequences ; and the only 
 arrangement to which Russia could be expected to 
 assent would be one that should agree to her advance 
 up to the Afghan frontier, on the distinct condition 
 that she would bind herself to go no further. 
 
 But territorial guarantees, when they are exchanged 
 between European States, necessarily require exact 
 definition. In this situation Lord Ripon's government 
 had decided, very wisely, that Russia's approach could 
 be effectively arrested and limited only by obtaining 
 her assent to a convention for the joint demarcation 
 of the Afghan frontier, so that a line might be drawn 
 beyond which our guarantee would not extend, and 
 which Russia could not overstep without a patent 
 breach of formal engagements. The occupation of 
 Merv by Russia in February 1884 was a forward 
 movement that gave emphasis to this view, and 
 expedited a decision upon it. Lord Ripon's plan was 
 approved by the British government ; it was accepted, 
 after some diplomatic fencing, by Russia; and in 1884 
 a joint English and Russian Commission had met to 
 begin the operation of laying down a boundary. We 
 had now at last found ourselves in the situation which 
 the British government had been endeavouring, 
 throughout the nineteenth century, to prevent or 
 delay — the meeting upon a common border-line of
 
 1 884] PANJDEH. 87 
 
 the two great European dominions in Asia; for it 
 must always be remembered that our true frontier 
 is that which we are pledged to defend. The immediate 
 result of contact was to bring on the very crisis which 
 the Commission had been designed to avert. In Asia 
 the field of demarcation throws up, at the first stirring 
 of its soil, a crop of multifarious and thorny disputes. 
 On these debatable lands possession and jurisdiction 
 have been incessantly shifting, and while every man 
 is intent on removing his neighbour's landmark, no 
 Asiatic potentate willingly consents to a fixed and 
 permanent limitation of his territorial claims. It was 
 known that the Russians attached importance to the 
 possession of Panjdeh, a strip of fertile valley-land 
 lying within the territory claimed by the Afghans, 
 and the Russian government had formally declared, 
 in a despatch to the British Foreign Office, that 
 the Afghan claim to this tract would be disputed. 
 When the Boundary commissioners arrived on the 
 frontier toward the end of November, it was found 
 that a small party of Russian troops had already 
 pushed close up to Panjdeh, with the apparent 
 intention of occupying it beforehand. They were 
 pressing into contact with the Afghan outposts ; 
 the commanders on both sides were discharging 
 remonstrances and sharp recriminations ; each party, 
 as is usual in such cases, endeavouring to pre-occupy 
 or to maintain the ground which was to be the 
 point of controversy whenever the actual delimitation 
 should begin. 
 
 Such was the critical and ominous state of affairs 
 at the end of 1884, when Lord Dufferin took charge 
 of the Governor Generalship. It should be under- 
 stood that the Boundary commissioners were sub- 
 ordinate to the British and Russian Foreign Offices
 
 88 A COLLISION. [ch. HI 
 
 respectively, that the Indian government had no direct 
 control over their proceedings, and that all corre- 
 spondence, reports, and orders passed between the 
 chiefs of the commission on the one hand and St. 
 Petersburg or London on the other. The result 
 was that while ministers and ambassadors were inter- 
 changing despatches and minuting arguments in 
 Europe, their officers on the spot were manoeuvring 
 against each other with a cross-fire of acrimonious 
 messages and protests. In situations of this kind 
 arguments are heating, particularly with folk who, like 
 Afghans and Cossacks, split heads more neatly than 
 hairs; and the horsemen on both sides were soon 
 handling their carbines. The Russians were rapidly 
 disclosing an intention to enforce their demands by 
 using their military superiority, and were bringing 
 up reinforcements from their Transcaspian garrisons. 
 Not far within the disputed frontier line lay the 
 important Afghan fortress of Herat, very insufficiently 
 fortified, so that early in March (1885) the Indian 
 government was instructed from home to assemble a 
 corps d'armee, which should be prepared to march across 
 Afghanistan for the relief of that place, in the event 
 of an open rupture with Russia. The whole country 
 round was astir with rumours of war ; the Afghan 
 troops on the frontier line became excited as the 
 Russians began to push through their picquets; the 
 Russians declared that the Afghans were edging 
 round to their rear. Stringent orders had been issued 
 by each government, from London and from St. 
 Petersburg, that their military commanders should 
 remain strictly on the defensive ; but when armed men 
 are actually facing each other, any movement becomes 
 menacing and may be treated as aggressive. At last, 
 on March 30, when the Afghan troops had taken up a
 
 1 88s] THE AMIR IN INDIA. 89 
 
 position on the left bank of the Kushk river, General 
 Komaroff demanded their withdrawal, and on the 
 refusal of the Afghan commander, the Russians 
 attacked them, drove them back with heavy loss, and, 
 having declared Panjdeh to be Russian ground, drew 
 back their troops to their former position. 
 
 At the moment when this startling event occurred 
 on the Russian border of Afghanistan, a very different 
 scene was represented on the Indian side. While the 
 troops of the Afghan Amir were confronting General 
 Komaroff on the Kushk river, the Amir himself was 
 a guest in the Viceroy's camp, surrounded by a 
 British army, at Rawal Pindi, a military station not 
 far from the Indus in a northern district of the 
 Punjab. Before the evacuation of Afghanistan by 
 the British troops in the summer of 1880, Abdur- 
 rahman had been formally recognized as ruler, and 
 had assumed the government at Kabul. He had been 
 furnished with money and munitions of war ; he had 
 defeated his rival Ayub Khan, who had attempted to 
 seize Kandahar ; and he was rapidly trampling down 
 all opposition to his authority. One of Lord Dufferin's 
 first acts, after arriving in Calcutta, had been to invite 
 the Amir to meet him in India, for the interchange of 
 views and in order to promote a friendlvjunderstanding 
 upon various eventualities and questions between the 
 two governments, whose interests were now so closely 
 assimilated. Of all these matters for discussion the 
 dangerous entanglement of affairs on the north-western 
 frontier of Afghanistan, where swords had been already 
 half drawn to cut the knot, was imperatively the fore- 
 most. The Viceroy's invitation was readily accepted 
 by Abdurrahman, who crossed the border into India 
 on the same day when his troops were attacked by 
 the Russians at Panjdeh, and on March 31 he reached
 
 90 RAWAL PINDI. [CH. ill 
 
 Rawal Pindi, where the Viceroy had arrived two days 
 previously from Calcutta. 
 
 " Unfortunately " (Lord Dufferin wrote), " we have 
 been deluged with rain ever since we came here, and 
 it was raining hard when the Amir passed from the 
 railway station to his quarters. Ten thousand of the 
 troops, however, turned out, and presented a very 
 businesslike appearance. Fortunately, we have put 
 our guests into an excellent house instead of under 
 canvas, so that everything was dry and comfortable 
 for him, and, like all Orientals, he looks upon rain as 
 a good omen. Moreover, as there were three feet of 
 snow when he left Kabul, he does not find it so cold as 
 the rest of us who have come up from lower Bengal. 
 I hear on all sides that he has been well pleased with 
 his reception, both at the frontier and here. His great 
 fear seems to have been lest, as our nominee, he should 
 not be treated with sufficient honour, so that he fully 
 appreciates all that has been done for him. The grand 
 Durbar had been arranged for the same afternoon, but 
 the rain compelled us to postpone it, and it will not 
 now be held until the end of the Amir's visit. As it 
 was necessary to get to business as soon as possible, 
 I arranged for him to come to me privately the same 
 day. I had the Duke of Connaught in my tent, and 
 the Amir was greatly gratified at finding the Queen's 
 son waiting to greet him. The next day the Duke 
 and I returned his visit, and the day after I had my 
 first serious conversation with him. He is a broad- 
 shouldered burly man, big rather than tall, with small 
 eyes, a broad and rather pleasant face, with no trace 
 whatever of the hook-nosed, keen-eyed, Jewish Afghan 
 type. He walks lame, and has suffered for years from 
 neuralgia in the leg." 
 
 The meeting, to those who witnessed it, was a 
 remarkable sight. The Viceroy was an embodiment 
 of diplomatic courtesy and refined culture, familiar 
 with all the courts and capitals of the West. The
 
 1 885] MEETING AND INTERVIEW. 91 
 
 Amir—" a strange strong creature," as Lord Dufferin 
 described him— had fought bravely but unsuccessfully 
 in the long and bloody civil war, very like our wars 
 of the Roses in the fifteenth century, for succession to 
 the throne after the death of his grandfather, Dost 
 Mahomed. He knew his own country well; but of 
 the outer world he had seen only the Russian military 
 stations beyond the Oxus, where he had remained 
 eleven years in exile. He wore a black half-uniform 
 coat decorated with two diamond stars, long boots, 
 and a tall Astrakhan cap : a prince of frank and even 
 bluff, yet courteous, manners ; quite at his ease amid 
 a crowd of foreigners ; speaking pleasantly of the 
 first railway journey he had ever undertaken ; a 
 man of some humour in jokes, with a face occasion- 
 ally crossed by a look of implacable severity — 
 the look of Louis XI. or Henry VIII. — that is now 
 never seen in civilized life. The interviews that fol- 
 lowed must have been of striking interest and novelty 
 even to a diplomatist of Lord Dufferin's wide and 
 varied experience. The Amir showed a clear and 
 shrewd understanding not only of his own position, 
 but also of its bearing upon the relations between 
 Russia and England ; and the discussion was pro- 
 ceeding satisfactorily when matters were suddenly 
 brought to a sharp point by the news of the collision 
 between Afghan and Russian troops at Panjdeh. It 
 was undoubtedly fortunate that the Amir was in the 
 English camp at this critical moment. There was 
 something very characteristic, and certainly un- 
 expected, in the equanimity, almost amounting to 
 indifference, with which Abdurrahman first heard 
 of an incident that startled all the courts and cabinets 
 of Europe, and very nearly kindled a great war. 
 While the English government treated the act of the
 
 92 THE AMIR'S VIEWS. [ch. Ill 
 
 Russians as, at first sight, an offence of the utmost 
 political gravity, the Amir evidently regarded it as 
 one of those not intolerable irregularities which 
 occasionally happen on a rough unsettled frontier, 
 and which are not supposed to have any necessary 
 connexion with formal hostilities. This manner of 
 looking at a border skirmish has disappeared from 
 western Europe, where the strict construction of 
 international laws and responsibilities, and the jealousy 
 of nations, have given to modern states a highly sensi- 
 tive organization. Yet it was familiar enough to our- 
 selves up to the sixteenth century, and in central Asia 
 a ruler would have no peace at all if he troubled 
 himself overmuch about such accidents. 
 
 In the course of the conversation that followed 
 Lord Dufferin warned the Amir that the fortifica- 
 tions of Herat were in a condition quite insufficient 
 for resisting a sudden assault; and he proposed 
 sending up British officers to organize its defence. 
 Abdurrahman replied in a very explicit and deter- 
 mined manner that though he himself was grateful 
 for the offer he could not answer for his people, 
 " they were ignorant, brutal, and suspicious : he 
 had fought with them himself for four years, and 
 we must not suppose that he could control them, 
 or move them about like pieces on a chess-board." 
 Above all things he deprecated any British troops 
 appearing in his country ; the Afghans would at once 
 imagine they had come to subjugate it. When it 
 became evident that on this latter point he was 
 immovable, Lord Dufferin said to him — 
 
 " Had you cordially placed yourself in our hands 
 and allowed us to secure Herat and take the other 
 precautions necessary, we should have been prepared 
 to recommend you to fight manfully for the original
 
 1 885] HIS POLICY. 93 
 
 frontier you have claimed, for Panjdeh, Badghis, and 
 all that territory ; but as you are unwilling to do 
 any of these things, and as you yourself seem to attach 
 but little importance to Panjdeh, and admit that you 
 have no real hold on the tribes of that district, it seems 
 to me that the wisest thing you can do is to abate 
 something of your territorial pretensions, and to 
 come to such a settlement with Russia as will give 
 you a little breathing time to strengthen your position 
 at Herat, and to inoculate your people with your 
 own views as to the value of our friendship and 
 assistance. To this he replied with some eagerness 
 that he was just about to make the very remark I 
 had uttered ; namely, that if only he had four or five 
 years' time to look about him, he would be able to 
 increase his forces by various devices, and to do 
 everything required at Herat." 
 
 In short, the fixed and unalterable principle of 
 the Amir's policy, to which he adhered resolutely 
 during the whole twenty years of his subsequent 
 reign, was discovered to be the exclusion at all 
 hazards of British troops and officers from Afghanis- 
 tan. His attitude toward Russia was substantially the 
 same — he was determined, he said, that his country 
 should not be the battlefield of several nations. If 
 the Russians invaded it, he would expostulate and 
 protest; and would fight to the death if expostulations 
 failed. 
 
 " His people would see that a slow advance toward 
 India through Afghanistan meant to them roads, 
 occupation of fortified posts, demand for unprocur- 
 able supplies — in fact nothing less than famine, ruin, 
 and absolute loss of independence ; they would never 
 allow it." 
 
 These latter words should be considered by those 
 who hold the commonplace belief that the Afghans
 
 94 HIS POLICY. [CH. in 
 
 would readily join the Russians in an invasion of 
 India, if the bait of plundering the rich plains were 
 held out to them. Nor can it be doubted that the 
 energetic utterances of the Amir interpreted the fears 
 and feelings of all his people, to whom an English 
 army of occupation is hardly less distasteful than a 
 Russian invasion. 
 
 The Amir's policy was quite clear and well 
 defined. Afghanistan (he said) "was between two 
 millstones, and it had already been ground to powder. 
 It was a boat between two waves, where oars were 
 of no avail, and it would founder." War between 
 Russia and England spelt utter destruction to his 
 country, and his supreme interest was to avoid such 
 a calamity. From the British government he asked 
 nothing more than arms and money ; for the rest 
 he would depend on his own fortune and resources ; 
 and he even let drop some unguarded words to the 
 effect that at the worst terms might be made by him 
 with Russia that would be more to his advantage than 
 to ours. To Lord Dufferin — who was well aware 
 that the march of a British army to the further side 
 of Afghanistan would be a hazardous and difficult 
 enterprise — the Amir's decided refusal of any assist- 
 ance in that shape came as an unexpected relief from 
 the liabilities arising out of the territorial guarantee ; 
 and therefore, while all military preparations were 
 continued in India, his private advices to the British 
 government were that hostilities might be avoided. 
 Rifles and rupees were liberally promised to the 
 Amir, who returned to Kabul entirely satisfied with 
 his reception. 
 
 In his autobiography, published many years after- 
 wards, Abdurrahman has recorded the impression left 
 upon him by his hosts in the camp at Rawal Pindi.
 
 1885] RESULT OF THE CONFERENCES. 95 
 
 " It was a great delight " (he says) " to me to meet 
 Lady Dufferin, who was the cleverest woman I had 
 ever seen, and the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, 
 to whom I found that the hearts of all their Indian 
 subjects were devoted. . . . Lord Dufferin left India 
 in 1888 to the great sorrow and regret of all the sub- 
 jects and friends of the Indian empire. The people 
 had never seen such a wise statesman as their Vice- 
 roy, and Lady Dufferin's residence in India was of 
 hardly less importance than that of her husband." 
 
 In a letter to Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, then 
 Governor of Madras, the Viceroy gave an account 
 of his conferences with the Amir, and communicated 
 his general impressions thereupon — 
 
 " You will be glad to know what really took place 
 between the Amir and myself. 
 
 " In the first place there can be no doubt that he 
 was very well satisfied as far as his amour propre and 
 personal sentiments are concerned. His great fear 
 was lest having been a nominee of our own, he should 
 be treated more like a feudatory than an independent 
 ruler. When therefore he found that he was sur- 
 rounded by all the attributes of loyalty, welcomed by 
 one of the Queen's sons, and received as an ally, his 
 gratification was undisguised. The bayonets at the 
 end of the sentries' muskets at his gate disturbed him 
 a little until he learnt that my sentries' muskets were 
 furnished forth in the same formidable manner; and 
 there were other little circumstances which excited 
 his suspicions at the commencement of his stay. But 
 as day succeeded day, and he found his treatment 
 if possible bettered and bettered, he altogether thawed, 
 and became at last quite effusive, as you will have 
 seen by the newspapers. In his private conversations 
 with me he was very satisfactory, as far as words 
 went, and after all, at an interview of this kind, words 
 are the only coin current. The principal object I was
 
 96 THE DISCUSSIONS. [ch. Ill 
 
 anxious to attain was the freeing of the hand of Her 
 Majesty's government in relation to the delimitation 
 of the Afghan frontier. When this subject was 
 originally mooted, instead of asking him to point out 
 what he claimed to be his frontier, we made the 
 mistake of indicating it ourselves. ... It would 
 take too long to tell you how the final result was 
 reached, but after a second interview I had the satis- 
 faction of telegraphing to Lord Kimberley that as far as 
 the Amir was concerned, he might run the line almost 
 as far south as the Russians themselves required. In 
 this way the English government recovered its com- 
 plete liberty of action, but you will understand that 
 my proceedings in the matter do not imply any 
 acquiescence on the part of the Indian Executive in 
 a modification of the frontier. That can only be 
 decided in accordance with the strategical require- 
 ments of the locality. . . . My own military advisers 
 do not consider that it very much matters within 
 certain limits where the line goes, or that the Russian 
 boundary being drawn a day or two's march nearer 
 or further from Herat materially affects the question 
 of the safety of that place. . . . 
 
 " Having successfully settled with the Amir the 
 chief point I wanted to discuss with him, I then 
 showed him our troops on two successive days. The 
 spectacle was magnificent, consisting on the first day 
 of a march past in a very picturesque though some- 
 what confined locality, which, however, afforded great 
 opportunities for evincing the dexterity of the com- 
 manding officer in manipulating the large masses 
 with which he had to deal. The next day the army 
 was drawn up in line on an extensive plain. The 
 rain which for the first few days had bothered us, 
 now proved to be very beneficial, as the dust was 
 completely laid, and we could see to the horizon. 
 There can be no doubt that the Amir is far too 
 sagacious not to have understood the significance 
 of the scenes presented to him. Indeed it was to
 
 i88s] THE RAWx\L PINDI DURBAR. 97 
 
 these, and to other cognate circumstances, that we 
 are indebted for the way in which he declared himself 
 at the Durbar. 
 
 "The Durbar was a magnificent sight, and we were 
 again favoured by the weather; but when the Amir 
 asked leave to say something ' that could be heard 
 at a distance,' I was a little nervous lest he should 
 give vent to some untoward utterance. Still it was 
 better to risk such a contingency than to show any 
 hesitation in the matter, so I at once told him that 
 every one would be happy to hear any remarks he 
 might be pleased to make. On this, he delivered the 
 speech which you will have read in the newspapers. 
 It greatly surprised the natives, who were all un- 
 favourable to him, as they were not prepared for his 
 giving such absolute pledges for his good faith in the 
 presence of the Mussulman world of the East, in 
 whose sight he would be disgraced did he ever here- 
 after break them ; but so far from the Amir himself 
 showing any regret at what perhaps he did in a 
 moment of enthusiasm, he has frequently reiterated 
 the assurances he then made in as strong if not 
 stronger terms, and in as public a manner. 
 
 " With my subsequent conversations with him 
 I need scarcely trouble you, as in common with every 
 one else you must have foreseen their inevitable 
 tenor. It has been long since determined by Her 
 Majesty's government at home, and by my military 
 advisers here, that it would be undesirable for us to 
 send an army to Herat, unless hereafter compelled 
 to do so by the force of circumstances. I consequently 
 made it a point to show no anxiety whatever to send 
 troops into the Amir's country. In fact I told him that, 
 even should he require them, it must depend upon 
 circumstances whether we should determine to help 
 him in that particular manner. On the other hand 
 he himself intimated very frankly that the memory of 
 our last war with Afghanistan was still fresh in the 
 minds of his people, and that an advance on our part 
 
 VOL. II. H
 
 98 LORD DUFFERIN'S IMPRESSIONS. [ch. m 
 
 in force would still be looked upon by them as an 
 endeavour to conquer their country, until he should 
 have had an opportunity of acquainting them with 
 the result of his interview with me, and had imbued 
 them with a more friendly feeling towards us. I told 
 him, however, that we would freely give him guns 
 for Herat on his consenting to allow our engineers to 
 determine their calibre, number, and positions. . . . 
 He was very reasonable in his demands for money, 
 and said that he did not want any increase to his 
 subsidy, but that if the Afghans were called upon 
 to leave their homes in Afghanistan and fight Russia 
 round Herat, Afghanistan was too poor to furnish the 
 necessary commissariat. . . . 
 
 " The last day we made him a Knight of the Star 
 of India. This was the crowning drop that made his 
 cup flow over, and even his impassive countenance 
 could not conceal his satisfaction. He stuck his star 
 through his coat, and departed with the collar over 
 his shoulder, as pleased as a young bride with a 
 diamond necklace. 
 
 " So far then as words go, and as the impressions 
 of the moment are concerned, things have gone off 
 sufficiently satisfactorily. To what degree the Amir 
 may be able or willing to make good his engagements 
 is a totally different matter. I do not think he will 
 ever prove actually false, for all his interests manifestly 
 compel him to throw in his lot with us ; but un- 
 fortunately with an Oriental two and two make five 
 as often as four. His health moreover is bad, and 
 his temper imperious and fretful. His people too 
 may prove intractable, and he may have to sacrifice 
 his external policy to the exigencies of his personal 
 situation at home. Still on the whole, the betting is in 
 our favour so far as the Amir and even his people are 
 concerned. What is against us is the geographical 
 position. We have undertaken to defend the in- 
 violability of a frontier nearly a thousand miles from 
 our own borders. . . .
 
 1885] MILITARY PREPARATIONS. 99 
 
 " We can only preserve Afghanistan from invasion 
 by threatening to go to war with Russia all over the 
 world. This Her Majesty's government had deter- 
 mined to do, and has given sufficient proof of its 
 being in earnest ; but the battle between the two 
 countries will be as difficult to settle as would be 
 a fight between a whale and an elephant. In any 
 event we are well forward with our preparations 
 here. As soon as I saw that the difficulty with Russia 
 was becoming serious, I determined to prepare for 
 the despatch of 25,000 men to Quettah in order to 
 be able to throw a garrison into Herat, if we were 
 ordered to do so from home, before the Russians 
 could get there ; and arrangements have been made 
 for the mobilization of another corps d'armee at short 
 notice, so that we have only to pull the trigger and 
 we could get 50,000 good troops across the border at 
 once. In four months a temporary railway will be 
 constructed from Sibi right up to Quettah, which will 
 greatly diminish the cost of transport. Further re- 
 inforcements will arrive from England if war is 
 declared, which would enable us to send to the front 
 a considerable proportion of the British troops which 
 we have marked off as a sufficient garrison for the 
 peninsula. It is difficult at present to forecast the 
 plan of the compaign should war be declared. What- 
 ever was done here would have to be done in concert 
 with the government at home, and the movements of 
 our troops combined with the operations against Russia 
 elsewhere. The Indian army is only a wing of the 
 British force, and our real Commander-in-Chief will 
 be in London. I had no notion till now what 
 the terms transport and supplies really mean, and 
 how helpless the finest troops are if these cannot be 
 obtained. The country round Quettah is so barren 
 that any troops sent there would have to move on at 
 once, and this in spite of our having ransacked all 
 India for beasts of burden and stores. . . . 
 
 " I warned the Amir that if he did not succeed
 
 100 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. [ch. m 
 
 in keeping Herat out of the hands of Russia, we in 
 self-defence in all probability would be compelled to 
 move to Kandahar, to which he assented." 
 
 To Lord Northbrook the Viceroy wrote a few 
 weeks later — 
 
 " On the whole the row with Russia has been by 
 no means an unmixed evil. On the one hand it has 
 proved conclusively that all India, both princes and 
 people, are fully aware that with all its imperfec- 
 tions the English domination is preferable to that of 
 any other nation. In the next place it has brought 
 into satisfactory prominence the enormous difficulty 
 which Russia would have in advancing against our 
 own proper frontier, which with a little time I believe 
 can be rendered absolutely impregnable. I hope you 
 will approve of the policy I have adopted towards 
 the Amir. It seemed to me that now there was only 
 one mode of dealing with him. Under Lord Ripon's 
 agreement we were bound to protect the integrity of 
 his dominions. The time had certainly come when he 
 was entitled to call for our assistance. Neither we 
 nor he was anxious that this assistance should be 
 given in troops. The only other alternative there- 
 fore was arms and money. I am accordingly in the 
 course of furnishing him with breech-loaders, some 
 heavy guns for Herat, and ten lacs of rupees. This 
 of course is liberal, but by no means extravagant 
 treatment. It is as much or rather more than he has 
 demanded, and ought to convince him if that were 
 needed, that we are sincerely anxious to befriend him. 
 Had we haggled and boggled, shown suspicion, and 
 sent him away disappointed, we would, I think, have 
 made a mistake. Of course it is a somewhat gam- 
 bling transaction, but the odds I consider to be in our 
 favour, and after all it is only money that we stand 
 to lose, and that by no means a large sum, even if he 
 were eventually to get a good deal more from us. . . . 
 Our present policy is not to enter Afghan territory
 
 1 885] ARRANGEMENTS WITH THE AMIR. 101 
 
 against the will of the people. At the same time I 
 fear we are leaning upon rather a feeble reed. The 
 Amir's hold over the dwellers on the western slopes 
 of the Hindu Kush is evidently weak, and I have 
 been sometimes urged to coquette with these tribes 
 on my own account, but I have rejected such counsels. 
 Abdurrahman is the strongest man in the country, 
 and if we are to keep the Afghans with us, it must 
 be through their government, and not by intriguing 
 with the disaffected sections of the people. . . ." 
 
 From Lord Northbrook's reply the following 
 extract is taken : — 
 
 " You would have been pleased if you had heard 
 the warm terms in which a missionary from Allaha- 
 bad, who breakfasted with me yesterday, spoke of 
 you. He said your manner of treating both Europeans 
 and natives is perfect, and that your influence is very 
 great and in the best direction. He especially men- 
 tioned the effect produced by your reception of the 
 Natives at Delhi. As this is not flattery, and I know 
 the work is so heavy that a little encouragement 
 don't come ill, I write it." 
 
 It had been provisionally arranged between the 
 Russian and English governments that Panjdeh 
 should be neutralized until the dividing line on that 
 section of the frontier could be agreed upon by the 
 Commission. On this point diplomatic discussions 
 were still going on in Europe, while the question 
 of peace or war hung in the balance, when in June 
 1885 Mr. Gladstone's Ministry resigned, and Lord 
 Kimberley wrote to Lord Dufferin his official adieu 
 on quitting the Indian Secretaryship of State. He 
 was succeeded, in the Conservative ministry, by Lord 
 Randolph Churchill, who said, in his first letter to 
 the Viceroy —
 
 102 CHANGE OF MINISTRY. [CH. ill 
 
 " Our one desire is, in all Indian and Asiatic affairs, 
 to be mainly and even entirely guided by your advice, 
 and to support to the utmost of our power the policy 
 which you may recommend to us." 
 
 Lord Salisbury, now Prime Minister, determined 
 to renew with the Russian government the negocia- 
 tions regarding further delimitation of the Afghan 
 frontier, at the point where they had been left by the 
 previous ministry ; and Colonel West Ridgeway* was 
 appointed to take charge of the Commission. The 
 Russian claim to Panjdeh, which the Amir had agreed 
 not to oppose, was conceded ; and the work went on 
 with much unavoidable wrangling over local questions, 
 until the principal difficulty, upon which the Commis- 
 sion could not agree, was finally settled by the 
 deputation of Colonel Ridgeway to St. Petersburg. 
 It was chiefly through his management of the 
 business, in personal intercourse with the Czar and 
 the Russian Foreign Office, that in July 1887 a pro- 
 tocol was at last signed, which provided for the 
 delimitation of the whole frontier between the Hari 
 Rud and the Oxus. 
 
 Lord Dufferin was now established at Simla, the 
 summer headquarters of the Indian government in 
 the Himalayas. 
 
 On May 15 he wrote to Lady Dartrey — 
 
 " After Rawal Pindi we visited Lahore and 
 Amritsar. At Lahore I saw some beautiful mosques 
 and the palace and tomb of Ranjit Singh. All the 
 buildings are of marble, inlaid with delicate patterns 
 in cement of various colours, and the windows of all 
 the apartments are filled with lovely lace-work in 
 white marble. But the most wonderful sight is what 
 
 * Now the Right Honble Sir West Ridgeway, G.C.M.G.
 
 1 885] AMKITSAE. 103 
 
 is called the golden temple of Amritsar— the sacred 
 shrine of the Sikhs. This is a small building, some- 
 thing like St. Mark's at Venice, but covered both 
 domes and walls with golden plates, so that it and 
 its marble foundations shine in the sun like a blazing 
 altar. . . . 
 
 "The principal Sikh priests and dignitaries had 
 prepared a baptism for our entertainment, and made 
 two Sikhs in our presence. The Sikhs are made and 
 not born. The ceremony is a very simple one, con- 
 sisting in sprinkling the neophytes with water, touch- 
 ing them with steel, and then requiring them to feed 
 each other with bread and honey out of an iron basin 
 held between them. . . . 
 
 " We have now come up to Simla, an absurd place 
 situated on the narrow saddle of one of a hundred 
 mountainous ridges that rise around us in labyrinthine 
 complexity like the waves of a confused and troubled 
 sea, composing the lower ranges of the Himalayas, 
 whose silver peaks stand up against the horizon some 
 fifty miles away. We ourselves are at a height of 
 seven thousand feet above the sea. The air is 
 delicious, most healthy and bracing, but anything 
 more funny than the appearance of the town you 
 cannot imagine. It consists of innumerable little 
 miniature Swiss cottages which are perched like toy 
 houses in every nook and corner and cranny where 
 they can get a foothold on the ridge of a Himalayan 
 spur. It looks like a place of which a child might 
 dream after seeing a pantomime. If you look up from 
 your garden-seat you see the gables of a cottage 
 tumbling down on the top of you. If you lean over 
 your terrace wall you look down your neighbour's 
 chimney-pots. That the capital of the Indian empire 
 should be thus hanging on by its eyelids to the side 
 of a hill is too absurd. But there are the most charm- 
 ing walks — shady paths cut into the side of the 
 mountain up and down hill in every direction, and 
 wherever you go splendid rhododendrons thirty feet
 
 104 SIMLA. [ch. in 
 
 high covered with blossoms, while whole tribes of 
 monkeys spring from branch to branch of the thick 
 growing trees." 
 
 From this cool and pleasant eminence Lord 
 Dufferin still kept his eye on the distant Afghan 
 frontier, where the horizon was cloudy and the out- 
 look full of hazards. In 1880 the Governor General 
 of India (Lord Ripon) had formally assured the 
 Amir Abdurrahman that the British government, 
 admitting no right of interference by foreign powers 
 in his country, undertook to aid him in repelling 
 unprovoked aggression, provided that he followed our 
 advice in regard to external relations. This straight- 
 forward declaration of a protectorate satisfied the 
 Amir, who required no less while he certainly 
 desired no more ; and it has preserved for twenty- 
 four years the integrity and independence of 
 Afghanistan. On the inevitable risks and responsi- 
 bilities thus created, Lord Dufferin in his letters to 
 Lord Randolph Churchill makes some commentaries 
 that are still applicable to the present situation ; 
 the more so because the Afghan ruler upon whose 
 strength and sagacity Lord Dufferin justly relied for 
 the success of the experiment, has passed away. 
 
 July 30, 1885. — " I have never personally felt very 
 cordially inclined to the ' Buffer ' policy, and have 
 often had misgivings as to the wisdom of the engage- 
 ments into which we entered with the Amir under 
 the auspices of my predecessor. In spite of the 
 cautious wording of the agreement its obligations 
 are very absolute and specific, especially as entered 
 into by a Power like England with a weak and un- 
 civilized government. Under this stipulation, we are 
 bound to assist the Amir to the best of our ability, 
 though in whatever manner we may think expedient,
 
 1885] THE BUFFER POLICY. 105 
 
 in the event of the integrity of his dominions bgine 
 threatened by a foreign power. Now, what are his 
 dominions ? A range of thinly populated and open 
 frontier many hundreds of miles in length, destitute 
 of strategical positions, and of defenders skilful 
 enough to use them to advantage if they did exist, 
 exposed at all points to the incursions of every 
 neighbour, and so distant from our own military 
 base as to make it out of the question for us to 
 send any troops to protect what we have undertaken 
 to defend. This condition of affairs compels us to 
 combine such efforts as it may be possible for us to 
 make with those of an ignorant, jealous, and boastful, 
 though resolute and intelligent chief, whose own 
 position and freedom of action are endangered and 
 hampered by circumstances and considerations which 
 render it difficult for him to comply with our wishes 
 or follow out any programme we may trace for him, 
 even when it is in accordance with his own ideas and 
 obvious interests. Unfortunately in many instances 
 some of our recommendations are naturally opposed 
 to what he or any one else in his position might 
 fairly consider to be advantageous to the maintenance 
 of his own authority and independence. Even sup- 
 posing that the ruler himself were to prove as docile 
 as we could desire, his subjects consist of a con- 
 glomeration of insubordinate tribes, or else of alien 
 races hating his rule, and ready to welcome the 
 first comer who will advance to their liberation, 
 while most of the lieutenants through whom he 
 administers his Provinces are either incompetent, 
 disobedient, corrupt, or disloyal, and sometimes all 
 these things at once. It is evident that an offensive 
 and defensive alliance with a person so situated 
 possesses every sort of uninviting characteristic ; 
 but when we have further to take into account 
 the duplicity natural to every Afghan, the facilities 
 for intrigue elsewhere, and the consequent chance 
 of all our friend's professions being insincere, the
 
 106 THE BUFFER POLICY. [ch. Ill 
 
 advantages to be derived from the ' Buffer ' policy 
 become very attenuated. And yet, for all that, I 
 think it was very natural that Ripon should have 
 desired to try it ; and I am strongly of opinion that, 
 once embarked on the experiment, it should be un- 
 interruptedly pursued until its failure has become 
 manifest. Nor am I at all convinced that its failure 
 is certain. On the contrary, if only given a fair, 
 and above all a patient trial, the betting is rather 
 in favour of its success than otherwise. Even were 
 this expectation to be disappointed, except so far as 
 the loss of a few lacs of rupees is concerned, we 
 shall not find ourselves in a worse position than if 
 the experiment had not been made. The reasons 
 for these conclusions are as follows : In the first 
 place, with all its defects, the personal character of 
 the Amir and his present frame of mind are not 
 unsuited to the role we wish him to perform, and 
 the ends we have in view. He is a good adminis- 
 trator ; he is absolute master of his own house ; he 
 is energetic, brave, and, according to his lights, 
 sagacious. Above all things, I believe that he wishes 
 to run as straight as his own domestic interests will 
 permit him. Everything that I have learned confirms 
 the impression that he has determined to throw in 
 his lot with us, always provided that we show no 
 signs of a desire to interfere with his independence 
 or to insist upon anything calculated to diminish his 
 prestige or his authority over his subjects." 
 
 August 14, 1885. — "The weak point in the ' Buffer' 
 policy is that the frontier we have undertaken to 
 assist in defending is too long, unprotected, and 
 distant to be capable of protection, and above all 
 that the Afghans are too little interested in these 
 outlying provinces to be likely to fight for them 
 with any heart. Herat is in some respects to 
 Afghanistan what Khartoum is to Egypt. . . It 
 brings no revenue to the Afghan treasury, and its 
 inhabitants hate the Afghan domination. It is true
 
 1 88s] LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL. 107 
 
 I was always in favour even of Egypt holding Khar- 
 toum as long as she could do so with any prospect 
 of success, — a condition which existed until poor 
 Hicks was driven into making his unfortunate expe- 
 dition into Kordofan — and of course I am still more 
 anxious that Afghanistan should maintain its hold 
 upon Herat. ... At all events, if properly managed, 
 I think the Afghans could be turned into far more 
 effective and trustworthy chevaux defrise when lining 
 the crests of the Hindu Kush than when fighting in 
 the valley of the Hari Rud or along the fringes of the 
 Turkestan desert. Far more reliance could be placed 
 on their valour and efficiency when battling for their 
 homes and native country than for their outlying de- 
 pendencies. They would occupy the inner lines of the 
 position, as well as a range of frontier of manageable 
 and defensible dimensions ; and as they would have 
 had a good deal of their egregious vanity aiid self- 
 confidence knocked out of them by their preliminary 
 reverses, we should find them more manageable and 
 docile than they are at present." 
 
 Lord Randolph Churchill replied — 
 
 August 28, 1885. — "I was so greatly impressed by 
 the extremely lucid and impartial exposition of the 
 advantages and disadvantages of the Buffer State 
 policy contained in your letter to me of July 30 that 
 I extracted it from the letter and circulated it among 
 my colleagues, who will, by means of it, be better 
 educated on the subject than they have been hitherto, 
 and more capable of advising and deciding upon the 
 course of Indian foreign policy. I concur entirely in 
 all your conclusions, and I may perhaps be allowed to 
 express my own opinion that, judging by present 
 results and from information from various sources, 
 your diplomacy with the wayward Afghan has been 
 so successful and happy that, without undue over- 
 confidence, we may fairly congratulate ourselves that 
 he and his people are settling down into a groove
 
 108 THE CONVENTION WITH RUSSIA. [ch. Ill 
 
 favourable to British interests, and that the advice of 
 the worker of this marvel should be most carefully 
 followed by the government at home. . . . This much 
 is certain, that you can do more with the British 
 public than any Viceroy has been able to do since the 
 days of Lord Lawrence." 
 
 By the delimitation of the Russo-Afghan frontier, 
 the question between England and Russia as to 
 their respective spheres of influence was set at rest 
 for the remainder of Lord Dufferin's Viceroyalty, and 
 indeed up to the present time. 
 
 Lord Dufferin's opinion had always been much in 
 favour of fixing the Afghan frontier by a convention 
 with Russia. In his view, although the line settled 
 might be weak strategically, it could hardly fail to 
 prove a considerable moral barrier. In the first place, 
 it coincides more or less with a natural, clearly defined, 
 and long-established social and political boundary. 
 When the Russians had established their authority 
 in Khiva, Bokhara, and Samarkand, they found them- 
 selves in contact with a region intervening between 
 their possessions and the Afghan border, inhabited 
 by the nomad and predatory tribes of Turkestan ; 
 and it was clear to Lord Dufferin, as it had long been 
 to all impartial and experienced observers, that a 
 further advance would be inevitable. Between law- 
 less barbarians and a regular government no frontier 
 is tenable or durable, and Lord Dufferin has re- 
 corded his conviction that the establishment of Russia's 
 authority up to its present limits was not only im- 
 posed upon her by the necessities of the situation, 
 but would be conducive to the general interests of 
 humanity and civilization. But when the Russians 
 reached Zulficar, Panjdeh, and Kham-i-Ab, on the 
 north-western edge of Afghanistan, where the nomad
 
 1 8S5] THE CONVENTION WITH RUSSIA. 109 
 
 tract ended, they had come upon more or less cultivated 
 territory, inhabited by a comparatively settled popula- 
 tion that has for generations owed allegiance to a 
 compact and responsible government. The position 
 was now completely altered ; the circumstances which 
 had provided Russia with a valid excuse for pushing 
 forward her landmarks existed no longer; and the 
 next step onward must bring her into collision with a 
 substantial kingdom which England had declared her 
 intention to protect. Any such encroachment upon 
 Afghan soil could only be made by an open breach of 
 international law, and of friendly relations with Great 
 Britain, that could not fail to attract attention through- 
 out Europe. It was Lord DufTerin's belief that con- 
 siderations of expediency and good faith, combined 
 with the chances of European politics, which might 
 pre-occupy the Russians elsewhere, would operate to 
 deter them from moving forward under such condi- 
 tions, or would at least materially delay it. In writing 
 at length on the situation toward the end of his Vice- 
 royalty, he said — 
 
 "I am one of those who do not believe that Russia 
 will actually invade India during the present century, 
 unless indeed she should produce a hero with the 
 genius and ambition of Napoleon or Alexander, and 
 even then I think she would come to grief." 
 
 After the meeting at Rawal Pindi with the Amir, 
 Lord Dufferin passed the summer of 1885 at Simla, 
 whence in October he set off with Lady Dufferin for 
 a journey through Rajputana — the country of the 
 Rajput chiefs. Lady Dufferin notes in her diary 
 (October 20), " We breakfasted at eight o'clock — at a 
 quarter-past the Viceroy signed the declaration of war 
 with Burmah ; " and at half-past eight they were driving
 
 110 THE WINTER TOUR. [ch. ill 
 
 down the hill. On their way through the lower hills 
 toward the plains they visited the small principality of 
 Nahun. 
 
 " We left Simla in the middle of October, and began 
 our march. 'Marching' in India is a technical term 
 signifying riding on horseback and camping every 
 night, instead of travelling by railway, or along the 
 high-road in post carriages. Our route lay through 
 the hill state of Nahun. The Chief himself insisted on 
 being my host, and as a consequence at the end of 
 every day's journey we found ready for us a beautiful 
 little white city of canvas laid out in streets, which 
 lamp-posts illuminated and policemen guarded. For 
 my especial advantage beautiful fireplaces were built 
 in the dining and bedrooms, and no government resi- 
 dence could have been more comfortable. In former 
 days the triumphal march of heroes was recorded by 
 the altars they erected to their patron gods. My 
 progress will be marked out by the successive chimney- 
 pieces which were provided for me. Nahun's little 
 kingdom stretches from very nearly Simla to the 
 plains, and is composed of the lowermost ridges and 
 spurs of the Himalayas. Every day I beguiled the 
 weariness of the journey, which we performed almost 
 at a foot's pace, by making the policeman who accom- 
 panied me tell me tales in Persian out of the ' Arabian 
 Nights,' to which the local colouring gave an appro- 
 priate background. The scenery was lovely, being 
 softer and better wooded than the neighbourhood of 
 the Viceregal Lodge. On the third day we reached 
 our host's capital, a very pretty town of about fifteen 
 thousand inhabitants, with a castle, a maidan, a palace, 
 and all the appurtenances of a feudal state. He himself 
 is a man of some mark, speaks English a little, is an 
 excellent administrator and very loyal. . . . 
 
 • ••••• 
 
 " Delhi entirely surpassed my expectations in its 
 interest. The breaches made in the walls by our
 
 1 885] DELHI. Ill 
 
 cannon are left in exactly the same state as they were 
 on the day of the assault, and you can plainly trace 
 the paths up which our poor fellows climbed to almost 
 certain destruction. It was undoubtedly one of the 
 greatest feats of arms ever performed by Englishmen, 
 but one has to come to the spot to realize the nature 
 of the achievement." 
 
 A picturesque and amusing narrative of the whole 
 tour through the Rajput States is to be found in Lady 
 DufTerin's book.* From Agra, where the tour ended, 
 Lord Dufferin wrote — 
 
 November 29, 1885. — "Were I to go over all that I 
 have done during the last two or three weeks it would 
 be but a repetition of what I have told you, for all our 
 receptions at the Rajput Courts have been of the same 
 character, though differing from one another in details. 
 The most Eastern-looking and splendid of all was at 
 Jeypore. There is a beautiful palace and courtyard, 
 upon whose marble floors lighted by torches several 
 hundred young Nautch girls danced before us. 
 
 " Here of course we have been busy with the usual 
 sights. In the Taj I was not in the least disappointed, 
 though from an architectural point of view it is the 
 outcome of a period of art on the verge of degradation. 
 It is in the state of a ripe pear which you must get up 
 in the middle of the night to eat before it has turned 
 rotten at the core by morning. As it is, it has just 
 escaped, and is certainly lovely both in its general 
 effect and in its details." 
 
 Lionel, Lord Tennyson's second son, had made a 
 visit to India at Lord Dufferin's invitation in 1885. 
 On a shooting excursion in Assam he had caught a 
 fever ; and when on his return to Calcutta he be- 
 came dangerously ill, he was tended for three months 
 
 * " Our Viceregal Life in India."
 
 112 TENNYSON'S POEM. [ch. ill 
 
 at Government House with the utmost care and 
 sympathy ; but he died near Aden on his voyage 
 home in April 1886. 
 
 The volume " Demeter and other Poems," published 
 subsequently by Lord Tennyson, is dedicated to the 
 Marquis of Dufferin " as a tribute of affection and 
 gratitude," and contains the verses, addressed to him, 
 in which the poet laments his son's death on a distant 
 sea " beneath alien stars," and records his feeling of 
 lifelong thankfulness to those who had treated him 
 with such unmeasured kindness during his fatal 
 illness. 
 
 & 
 
 " But while my life's late eve endures 
 Nor settles into hueless gray, 
 My memories of his briefer day 
 Will mix with love for you and yours." 
 
 The poem was sent in manuscript to Lord Dufferin 
 after his return from India. He replied, to Lady 
 Tennyson — 
 
 June 17, 1889, London. — "Your letter and its en- 
 closure found me still in bed though better, and I am 
 to be moved to-day to the seaside. But if anything 
 could make a sick man well on the instant, it would 
 be that lovely and touching poem. I feel so grateful 
 to your husband for it ; not only for the great honour 
 done me, but a thousand times more for the way in 
 which he has associated my wife and me with his own 
 and your great grief, for who could give any one a 
 greater proof of his love and friendship than by 
 uniting them with himself in that sacred tie? If I 
 were stronger I would say a great deal more, but I 
 am sure you will understand all that we feel. 
 
 " Ever yours most gratefully and affectionately." 
 
 During this winter (1885) the British army in 
 northern India was engaged upon military manoeuvres
 
 1886] A MILITARY REVIEW. 113 
 
 planned out by Lord Roberts on a much larger scale 
 than had hitherto been attempted. Twelve officers 
 representing foreign European armies had arrived to 
 witness them ; and Lord Dufferin made the journey 
 from Calcutta to Delhi for the sole purpose of being 
 present at the final review, which took place in January 
 1886. 
 
 He writes to Lord Lansdowne — 
 
 January 17, 1886.—" I am on my way to Delhi to 
 see an army of fort}' thousand men which has been 
 collected there for what the foreigners call some 
 ' grand manoeuvres.' Randolph Churchill has sent us 
 a whole lot of foreign officers with the view of con- 
 vincing them of our strength. They will undoubtedly 
 be surprised at the fine appearance of our troops and 
 the high level of their efficiency, but for all that I fear 
 they won't return home terror-stricken, in spite of 
 our having another army employed in conquering a 
 kingdom elsewhere." 
 
 It was indeed a striking display — no less so because 
 the discharge of cannon which saluted the Viceroy's 
 arrival in the field was reverberated from the sky by 
 a peal of thunder ; and the troops marched past under 
 a storm of rain. 
 
 Lord Dufferin wrote to the Secretary of State — 
 
 "Though the glitter of the spectacle was dimmed, 
 the sight was splendid. One forgot the storm and 
 everything else in one's interest in looking at the 
 men. Indeed from a business point of view I am 
 not sure but what it was better as it was, as it enabled 
 our soldiers to show what pluck and discipline could 
 effect, in spite of adverse circumstances. Though 
 they were almost up to their knees in mud, each 
 battalion marched past like a straight and solid wall. 
 The ground was especially trying to our poor little 
 
 VOL. II. I
 
 114 INDIAN TROOPS. [ch. in 
 
 short-legged Goorkhas, but they ground their teeth 
 and set their faces, and passed the saluting flag in as 
 level a line as any other regiment. . . . Roberts was 
 delighted, and it did my heart good to see forty thou- 
 sand men advance in line with him at their head. He 
 considers that the lessons we have learned are well 
 worth the money which has been spent, and I really 
 believe it is the case. Indeed I imagine it would be 
 well if the same sort of thing, though on a lesser 
 scale, could be gone through every year. Both men 
 and officers must learn a great deal, and it shows up 
 at once our capable and incapable commanders. 
 
 "The foreign officers were somewhat surprised at 
 the fine physique and efficiency of our native soldiers, 
 but they all remarked on the paucity of British officers 
 with the Indian regiments, which I could not but 
 acknowledge was, as it still is, a weak point in our 
 military organization." 
 
 The number, equipment, and martial appearance 
 of the Indian regiments did indeed produce upon the 
 foreign officers, particularly upon the Russians, some- 
 thing more than surprise at their efficiency. They 
 were evidently not prepared to witness such a mani- 
 festation of the confidence placed by the British 
 government in the loyalty and trustworthiness of 
 our native fellow-subjects ; for no other European 
 Power has ventured to arm and discipline a for- 
 midable body of Asiatic soldiers drawn from the 
 population under its dominion. It has often been ob- 
 served that in the Russian army an Asiatic officer rises 
 to higher military grades than in our Indian service. 
 But, on the other hand, it is seldom considered that 
 this army contains very few Asiatic regiments; for 
 the Russians recruit with great caution from the 
 indigenous races of Central Asia. Among troops 
 where the European or semi-European element
 
 1886] INDIAN TROOPS. 115 
 
 preponderates enormously, the admission to the upper 
 ranks of a few Asiatic officers is unimportant politi- 
 cally. It is true that the standing army of Russia is 
 so large as to render the enlistment of local regi- 
 ments unnecessary. Yet that the British government 
 should not have hesitated to rely so extensively, for 
 the guardianship of their empire, upon the most war- 
 like races of the country itself, led and commanded 
 by so few British officers, was to our foreign visitors 
 a striking novelty; and it made upon them no light 
 impression.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 INDIA. 
 (BURMAH AND TlBET.) 
 
 Before the Afghan frontier beyond north-west India 
 could be cleared of complications, others were grow- 
 ing up in the south-east. On both sides of the Indian 
 empire the causes out of which troubles arose were 
 fundamentally similar, although the circumstances 
 were very different. It has always been the policy 
 of the British-Indian government to prevent any other 
 European Power from obtaining a foothold within 
 the Asiatic States situated on the borders of our 
 actual possessions. Just as a fortress or a line of 
 entrenchments requires an open space around or in 
 front of it, so it is manifestly advantageous for the 
 security of a kingdom to be surrounded by a ring of 
 territories with which powerful neighbours must not 
 meddle. Upon this principle we place the adjoining 
 States under our protectorate, whether they desire it 
 or do not; and thus our political influence radiates 
 out beyond the line of our actual possession, spread- 
 ing its skirts widely and loosely over the lands 
 adjacent. From the time when the British dominion 
 was first established in India, the prosecution of 
 this policy has been one leading motive of wars, 
 annexations, and alliances.* 
 
 * The same policy had been practised by the Romans, and with 
 similar results. 
 
 "The frontier (of Asia Minor) was in the first period of the empire 
 formed throughout by the dependent principalities." 
 
 " The supreme principle of the Roman power was to acknowledge 
 
 lit;
 
 1 885] BURMAH. 117 
 
 The kingdom of Burmah, which marched with 
 Lower Bengal on its eastern frontier, had always been 
 reckoned as forming part of the glacis that encircles 
 our Indian lines of defence. During our long war 
 against the French republic and the first empire, the 
 Indian Governor Generals were continually alarmed 
 by secret intelligence of French designs upon Burmah ; 
 and even before that period a French traveller had 
 written, prophetically — " II est certain que les Anglais 
 chercheront a s'emparer de Pegu." * In the course of 
 the nineteenth century the Burmese had already lost 
 territory in two successive wars with the British 
 power. In 1826 Lord Amherst had enforced the 
 cession of a long strip of sea-coast bordering upon 
 the Bay of Bengal; and in 1854 Lord Dalhousie's 
 annexation of Pegu, the maritime province at the 
 mouth of the Irrawadi river, had finally excluded the 
 Burmese kingdom from access to the sea. The wide 
 inland country which still remained under its native 
 ruler now (1885) constituted one of those States 
 flanking India which has been always regarded as 
 part of the defensive zone that we maintain against 
 the encroachment of any foreign power whose hos- 
 tility might be serious. But the temper of the Burmese 
 government had remained intractably resentful, inso- 
 much that in 1879 it had been found advisable to 
 withdraw from Mandalay the British Resident, whose 
 personal safety was in jeopardy; nor had he since 
 been replaced. From that time onwards British 
 interests had been treated with open contumely; the 
 commercial rights acquired by convention had been 
 disregarded ; no adequate redress could be obtained 
 
 no frontier-power with equal rights." — Mommsen, "The Roman 
 Provinces," vol. i. 324 ; ii. 51. 
 
 * Sonnerat, "Voyage aux Indes Orientales " (about 17S1).
 
 118 BURMAH AND FRANCE. [ch. iv 
 
 by expostulation for injuries to British subjects ; and 
 the whole attitude of the Burmese Court was one of 
 pertinacious unfriendliness. Such was the condition 
 of affairs when, in February 1885, a report was passed 
 up to headquarters from British Burmah that King 
 Theebaw had executed a treaty with the French 
 government, under which special consular and com- 
 mercial privileges were accorded to France. The 
 news came at an awkward moment, for England and 
 Russia were just then on the verge of a serious 
 dispute over the Afghan boundary ; and it raised 
 a question of extreme gravity. Lord Dufferin's first 
 impressions upon it presaged his ultimate decision. 
 Writing to the Chief Commissioner, a few days after 
 receiving the intelligence, he said — 
 
 " You will feel, as acutely as I do, that this would 
 not be a propitious moment, even if other circum- 
 stances rendered such a course desirable, for India 
 to embark in a military adventure up the Irrawadi. 
 It is not advisable for her to make war at the same 
 moment both in the east and in the west. If, however, 
 the French proceedings should eventuate in any 
 serious attempt to forestall us in upper Burmah, I 
 should not hesitate to annex the country ; and, as at 
 present advised, I think that this mode of procedure 
 would be preferable to setting up a doubtful prince." 
 
 The government of India lost no time in trans- 
 mitting to the Secretary of State their views that if 
 the information that had been received were authentic, 
 it would be necessary to interpose authoritatively ; 
 yet for some months nothing further was done, not- 
 withstanding manifest signs of activity on the part 
 of French diplomacy in Burmah. But it was soon 
 found that attraction toward France coincided with 
 repulsion toward England ; for the Burmese king
 
 i88s3 ULTIMATUM TO MANDALAY. 119 
 
 proceeded to impose an unjust and ruinous fine upon 
 a British company trading in his dominions, and 
 rejected a proposal of the Indian government that 
 the case should be referred to a special British com- 
 missioner for arbitration ; while precisely at the same 
 time the prospectus of a French bank to be located 
 at Mandalay was circulated in Paris. There could 
 no longer be any reasonable doubt that King Thee- 
 baw's object in making the treaty with France was to 
 strengthen his power of resistance to British remon- 
 strances and demands. On the other hand, by the 
 establishment, under treaty, of important commercial 
 and financial relations with Burmah, France would 
 undoubtedly acquire an advantageous position in the 
 upper valley of the Irrawadi, which might supplant 
 British influence, and could be turned to other 
 accounts on any future occasion. 
 
 In these circumstances the government of India, 
 with the concurrence of the British government, 
 despatched an ultimatum to the Burmese king. He 
 was required to receive at Mandalay a British envoy, 
 in concert with whom the outstanding disputes and 
 grievances should be adjusted, to admit a permanent 
 Resident at his Court, to agree generally that in 
 future he would defer to the advice of the British 
 government in regard to his foreign relations, and, 
 finally, to send an immediate answer to these demands. 
 The ultimatum was backed up by the assemblage at 
 Rangoon of nearly 10,000 troops. 
 
 Lord Dufferin wrote — 
 
 October 19, 1885. — "This attack upon the Burmah 
 Trade Corporation seems to have originated in a 
 desire of Theebaw's Minister, who is a savage brute, 
 originally belonging to Theebaw's father's body- 
 guard, to obtain money for his master, the ladies of
 
 120 WAR WITH BURMAH. [ch. iv 
 
 the harem, and himself, and it looks as though in 
 their folly and ignorance the Burmese were de- 
 termined to rush upon our bayonets. I have in- 
 structed our military authorities to get under way an 
 expedition of 10,000 men ; for I am quite certain that 
 nothing short of the presence of our troops in 
 Mandalay itself will convince either the king or his 
 advisers of the true nature of their position, and of 
 the necessity of conforming themselves to its re- 
 quirements. As to the relative advantages of placing 
 a protected prince upon the throne, or of annexation 
 pure and simple, I have no hesitation in saying that 
 the latter is the better course. It is quite enough to 
 be worried by a buffer policy on the west without 
 reduplicating it on the east. Moreover, elasticity and 
 a certain power of intermediate resistance are the 
 essential qualities which constitute a ' buffer,' and to 
 a certain though limited extent they may be said to 
 exist in Afghanistan, but Burmah is so soft and pulpy 
 a substance that she could never be put to such a 
 use." 
 
 The Burmese government not only refused to 
 receive a British mission, but also issued a procla- 
 mation in a tone of undisguised hostility ; whereupon, 
 in November 1885, the force assembled under General 
 Prendergast at Rangoon was ordered to march upon 
 Mandalay. The expedition had been organized by 
 Lord Dufferin's government upon a scale that made 
 opposition useless, the military operations and political 
 procedure had been carefully laid down beforehand ; 
 with the result that Mandalay was occupied within 
 ten days ; the king surrendered himself a prisoner, 
 and the immediate objects of the campaign were at- 
 tained with little loss on either side. 
 
 Lord Dufferin was now confronted by the problem 
 which inevitably follows upon the armed occupation 
 of an Oriental kingdom and the dethronement of its
 
 1 886] IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. 121 
 
 ruler. Three courses were open to the British 
 government. The first was to replace King Theebaw 
 by another ruler, leaving him complete internal 
 independence, but placing his foreign relations strictly 
 under British control. Under this system the pro- 
 tected territory is merely constituted a barricade 
 against all external influence or aggression — the right 
 of exclusion implying, as in Afghanistan, the duty of 
 defence. Or, secondly, to reduce Upper Burmah to 
 the qualified independence of an Indian State, at- 
 taching to the ruler a British Resident, who should 
 exercise at need authoritative control over the ad- 
 ministration. The third alternative was annexation 
 of the whole conquered territories to the British 
 dominion. 
 
 Lord Dufferin decided that these grave issues 
 could only be determined by personal inquiry into 
 the condition of the country, and by consultation with 
 the civil and military officers who were now in pro- 
 visional occupation of the Burmese territory; and he 
 proceeded to Mandalay at the beginning of February 
 1886, accompanied by the Commander-in-Chief, Lord 
 Roberts. He there assured himself that no member 
 of the late ruling family could be placed on the vacant 
 throne, who would be capable of restoring and main- 
 taining a firm and orderly administration without 
 continuous support and incessant interference on our 
 part, and that such artificial expedients would be pre- 
 destined, as in Egypt, to confusion and failure. The 
 objections against the second course would, he found, 
 be similar and no less serious. It would be necessary 
 to place all effective administration in the hands of 
 the Resident, supported by British troops ; and the 
 nominal ruler would have retained neither power 
 nor popularity. To set up a double government of
 
 122 ANNEXATION. [ch. iv 
 
 this sort in the midst of agitation and disorder, over 
 a country beyond our frontier, which was plagued 
 by endemic brigandage and intractable border tribes, 
 would be to incur all the risks, liabilities, and em- 
 barrassments of unfettered rulership without any of 
 its compensating advantages. On the whole, after a 
 comprehensive survey of the situation, Lord Dufferin 
 became convinced " that annexation pure and simple, 
 and the direct administration of the province by 
 British officers, offer the best prospect of securing the 
 peace and prosperity of Upper Burmah and our own 
 imperial and commercial interests." When this 
 decision, which was transmitted by telegram to the 
 India Office, received the assent of Her Majesty's 
 government, Lord Dufferin proceeded to draw up a 
 scheme, complete in all executive, financial, and 
 political details, with special arrangements in the 
 outlying border tracts, for the reorganization of the 
 entire government of the new dominion. Finally, 
 the British Chief Commissioner was instructed to 
 announce to the Burmese population, that the Queen- 
 Empress was now their sovereign, and that their 
 welfare had become a matter of solicitude to a strong 
 and powerful government, who would respect their 
 customs, rights, privileges, and religious institutions, 
 and would effectually provide for the protection of 
 life and property. 
 
 Of the impression made upon Lord Dufferin by 
 the country and people of Burmah we have some 
 account in the subjoined letter from him to Lady 
 Dartrey — 
 
 March 14, 1886. — "I have just returned from 
 Burmah. The expedition was a most interesting and 
 successful one. Burmah is a delightful country and 
 the Burmese people are extremely engaging, full of
 
 1 886] LORD DUFFERIN AT MANDALAY. 123 
 
 fun, jollity, and light-heartedness, and unlike our 
 sombre Hindus. The women hold sway from one 
 end of the land to the other, make their own marriages 
 and their own divorces, retain their property, preside 
 in the shops, and generally assert themselves in so 
 cheerful and good-humoured a manner that no Burman 
 need feel humiliated. Their hair is beautifully brushed, 
 shines like ebony, and is dressed with flowers and a 
 top-knot. Their dress consists of a single narrow 
 sheet of brilliant flowered silk wrapped round their 
 bodies as closely as it will stick. It only just meets 
 in front, and is retained in its place by a rich sash. 
 This single garment makes up in length for the scanti- 
 ness of its breadth, and covers their feet with a fringe, 
 giving them the look of multi-coloured crackers at a 
 ball supper. The men also bedizen themselves in 
 bright-coloured silks, with a yellow, pink, or green 
 handkerchief around their heads. They have the 
 further curious custom of tattooing their bodies from 
 the waist to the knees, which gives them the appear- 
 ance of being clad in breeches. 
 
 "The Burmese pagodas and monasteries are 
 wonderful nightmare kind of structures, all gold and 
 carving, bristling with beautiful golden demons, fairies, 
 and dragons in high relief, and topped in every 
 direction with graceful pinnacles formed of Chinese- 
 like pavilions super-imposed on one another, and 
 contracting as they rise until they end in a single 
 golden spire. The dress of the poongyis, or priests, 
 deserves a word of commendation. Their heads are 
 shaven, and they are clad in soft yellow robes which 
 fall round them in classic folds, and the dusky orange 
 of their garments is in perfect harmony with their 
 dark skins. They are full of natural grace, and 
 whether they move or sit, are an object of delight to 
 the beholder, at least if he is an artist. The great 
 monasteries peopled with enormous statues of silent 
 Buddhas, all sitting cross-legged with their eyes on the 
 ground in calm contemplation, are very solemn and
 
 124 MANDALAY. [ch. iv 
 
 religious, while you could not distinguish the shrines, 
 with their golden images, flowers, candles, and 
 Madonnas and Child from those of a Catholic church. 
 " We had a pleasant sail up to Mandalay in a two- 
 storied steamer of the American type. Mandalay far 
 exceeded my expectations. Though composed of 
 nothing but houses made of matting and grass, it is 
 rendered respectable and even imposing by its four 
 square walls, and the pagoda-like turrets and towers 
 by which the level line of their battlements is relieved. 
 Outside there is a broad moat some fifty or sixty 
 yards wide, more like a river than a moat. Indeed 
 it is filled by running water. Altogether, the place 
 a little reminded me of Moscow. Theebaw's palace 
 was also very interesting, with its golden pillars and 
 dusky courts, and fretted golden roofs and cornices. 
 The interior chambers are much like what the palaces 
 of the old Argive kings or of Ulysses must have been, 
 the roofs supported by a multiplicity of columns, and 
 everything glistening with gold. Unlike those of the 
 Greeks, however, Theebaw's walls are of golden lattice- 
 work, so that you can see through into the courts 
 beyond. 
 
 " Supaya Lat, Theebaw's wife, must have been an 
 extraordinary woman. To use the expressive phrase 
 of a native lady, ' when she lifted up her little finger 
 the whole city trembled.' Her cruelty exceeded all 
 belief. Some Catholic sisters, whom she petted for 
 her own purposes, and whom she induced to order 
 for her costly jewels from Paris, which have never 
 been paid for, told my wife that when they were 
 visiting the Queen they often heard in the adjoining 
 chamber the screams of the unfortunate women who 
 were being beaten, and which invariably elicited from 
 Supaya Lat and her attendants equally resonant 
 shrieks of laughter. ... At Rangoon I received a 
 visit from one of the dowager Queens and her daughter, 
 a sister of Theebaw's. For seven years these two 
 unfortunate women have been kept manacled in a
 
 1 886] THE CONDITION OF BURMAH. 125 
 
 single room, without attendants or any alleviation, 
 until our soldiers released them. When I saw 
 them, however, though lame in consequence of the 
 injury to their ankles, both these princesses had re- 
 covered their health and spirits, and seemed cheerful 
 enough." 
 
 The complete pacification of Upper Burmah proved, 
 however, a troublesome business. It may be re- 
 marked that in the course of our Indian empire's 
 expansion, the difficulty of settling down annexed 
 territories has usually been found to vary inversely 
 with the difficulty of subduing them by arms, because 
 an easy conquest leaves more to do afterwards than is 
 left by hard fighting. When a native army has been 
 fairly beaten in the field, the warlike spirit of the 
 population is quelled, and in a manner satisfied. 
 When the soldiers are disbanded, but not decisively 
 defeated, they scatter over the country and rally the 
 elements of resistance. In 1849 we annexed the 
 Punjab after two campaigns and several fierce battles. 
 In 1856 Oudh was annexed without a shot fired. 
 Thereafter, when the Sepoy mutiny broke out in 
 1857, the Sikhs rallied to our standard, while Oudh 
 rose against us in almost unanimous revolt. 
 
 In a despatch written some months after annexa- 
 tion had been proclaimed, Lord Dufferin described 
 briefly the condition of his new province, and the 
 character of its people — 
 
 "The province of Upper Burmah has an area larger 
 than that of France, and contains a population which 
 has been roughly computed at 4,000,000. A consider- 
 able portion of this vast expanse is impenetrable jungle, 
 and even in the most thickly populated districts there 
 are no proper roads or bridges. During the rainy 
 season the difficulties of communication are very
 
 126 INTERNAL CONFUSION. [CH. iv 
 
 much increased by the sudden rise of the rivers and 
 numerous streams which intersect the country in all 
 directions, and often for weeks at a time large tracts 
 remain under water. The population, though it cannot 
 be described as warlike in the ordinary sense of the 
 term, has a traditional and deep-rooted love of 
 desultory fighting, raiding, gang-robbery, and similar 
 kinds of excitement. Villages have long-standing 
 feuds with villages, and many young peasants, other- 
 wise respectable, spend a season or two as dacoits 
 without losing their reputation in the eyes of their 
 fellow-villagers. If there were any under the old 
 regime who had scruples about engaging in dacoity 
 pure and simple, they always had plenty of oppor- 
 tunity for leading a very similar mode of life as 
 partisans of one of the numerous pretenders to the 
 throne, one or more of whom were generally in open 
 revolt against the de facto sovereign. As the monarchy 
 was hereditary only in the sense of being confined to 
 the members of a particular family — the descendants 
 of the famous Alompra — each scion of the Royal line 
 considered himself justified in raising the banner of 
 insurrection if he imagined that he had a fair chance 
 of success, and he could generally plead in justification 
 of his conduct that his successful rival on the throne 
 had endeavoured to put him and all his near male 
 relations to death. These various elements of anarchy 
 no king of Burmah was ever able to suppress." 
 
 The country, in fact, had always been infested with 
 robber-bands, which had multiplied during the late 
 king's reign of misrule. The dispersion of his army, 
 and the abrupt overturn of his government, reinforced 
 these bands and supplied them with an opportunity 
 for depredations under the pretext of partisan 
 warfare against the foreign invader. Their attacks 
 were directed not so much against the military out- 
 posts or police stations as against the villages, which
 
 1 886] CHRONIC DISORDERS. 127 
 
 they plundered audaciously. It was impossible, at 
 first, to organize an effective police or to enlist local 
 regiments from among the population ; for the 
 Burmese, unlike the people of India, have an in- 
 grained repugnance to disciplined service of any 
 kind. The whole work of suppressing disturbances, 
 therefore, had to be done by soldiers and police re- 
 cruited in India, withthe English troops tosupport them. 
 In this state of things marauding and rebellious out- 
 breaks could not be at once put down, and the Viceroy 
 found himself exposed to disparaging criticism, in 
 England and elsewhere, on the supposition that his 
 measures had been wanting in promptitude and 
 energy ; while it was even alleged that in order to 
 keep down expenditure he had miscalculated the 
 supply of men and money that would be indispensable 
 for the enforcement of order. This latter charge 
 Lord Dufferin entirely disproved by facts and figures. 
 In regard to the prolongation of sporadic turbulence 
 he replied by showing that the quieting of the 
 country could be no short or easy operation. 
 
 "Suddenly descending as we did into an arena 
 which for years, nay for centuries, had been the 
 theatre of domestic anarchy and the playground of 
 hereditary bandits, rebels, pretenders, and gang- 
 robbers, can we expect its inhabitants in a few 
 months, under the auspices of a strange and alien 
 government, to subside into a condition of Arcadian 
 tranquillity? Lord Dalhousie was an energetic and 
 vigorous ruler, and has never been accused of laxity 
 or indecision ; and in conquering and pacifying Pegu 
 he was served by men of acknowledged ability, 
 notably by Sir Arthur Phayre. Had the mere appli- 
 cation of brute force in the shape of troops, money, 
 and the multiplication of officials been all that was 
 necessary to secure tranquillity, he would certainly
 
 128 THEIK GRADUAL SUPPRESSION. [ch. iv 
 
 have had the country quiet in a month or two. But 
 as a matter of fact, it took him more than three years 
 to complete the task. Though Rangoon was taken 
 in April 1852, and Pegu annexed in December, even 
 the town continued to be disturbed and threatened 
 for the next year and a half. During the interval 
 between April 1852 and the end of 1855, rebel chiefs 
 continued to defy our authority, to attack our posts, to 
 burn and ravage defenceless villages, and to surprise, 
 and occasionally murder, our civil and military officers ; 
 nor did the province really begin to quiet down until 
 1856; yet, in spite of Upper Burmah, exclusive of the 
 Shan States, being three times as big as Pegu, we 
 have already got eleven districts pretty well in hand, 
 have collected for the first year of our occupation 
 more than half the revenue, and are every day extend- 
 ing wider and wider the area of our jurisdiction." 
 
 The long and elaborate Minute from which this 
 extract has been taken attests the solicitous industry 
 with which Lord Dufferin applied himself personally 
 to the organization of every administrative depart- 
 ment, superintending and directing the civil and 
 military staff, and adjusting his measures to circum- 
 stances of singular difficulty. 
 
 In July he wrote to Lord Roberts — 
 
 " I am very anxious that it should remain on record 
 that from first to last we have not only not refused 
 any demand which our officers in Burmah have 
 addressed to us, but that we have actually forced 
 upon them more extensive means for the subjugation 
 of the country, in the shape of troops, etc., than they 
 themselves demanded." 
 
 To Sir W. Gregory — 
 
 July 26, 1886. — " You ask me if I have less cause 
 for anxiety than when we met. It seems to me that
 
 1 886] GANG ROBBERY. 129 
 
 India is a kettle out of which the bottom is perpetually 
 tumbling. You no sooner patch it up in one direction 
 than the mess breaks out in another. . Burmah is 
 giving us a deal of trouble, and people in England 
 are naturally getting impatient at the delay in quiet- 
 ing the country, little knowing what a job it is." 
 
 He wrote to Lord Goschen (August 1886) — 
 
 "It is not, however, so much a question of men 
 or money — it is time and the resources of civiliza- 
 tion upon which we must place our chief reliance. 
 Take the case of Ireland. In spite of an enormous 
 army and a most efficient and numerous constabulary, 
 it has been found impossible to suppress either the 
 raids of moonlighters or the dynamite explosions ; 
 and if such a state of things is found so arduous 
 to cope with in Ireland, where there are roads, rail- 
 ways, telegraphs, and a highly organized executive 
 machinery, how much more difficult must it be to 
 deal with a population of inveterate gang-robbers 
 who have been reinforced by a disbanded army and 
 the adherents of numerous pretenders, who inhabit 
 a country covered with jungles and swamps, destitute 
 not only of roads, but even of paths and of the 
 simplest means of communication, and whom we are 
 forced to control through the agency of a foreign 
 police who neither speak their language nor are 
 acquainted with their habits and devices." 
 
 In these circumstances, on the sudden death of 
 Sir Herbert Macpherson, who was commanding the 
 forces in Burmah, the Viceroy telegraphed to Lord 
 Roberts, asking him to undertake the supreme direc- 
 tion of all military affairs in that country " until a 
 decisive impression has been made upon the existing 
 elements of disturbance ; " and Lord Roberts imme- 
 diately set off to assume charge. 
 
 " It is a matter of great importance " (Lord Dufferin 
 
 VOL. II. K
 
 130 LORD ROBERTS IN BURMAH. [ch. IV 
 
 wrote to the Secretary of State) " that there should 
 be no delay in setting in motion the arrangements for 
 the winter operations which for some time past have 
 been under such careful preparation, and Roberts has 
 them all at his fingers' ends. Moreover, it is an ad- 
 vantage that at this particular juncture there should 
 be at the head of our military affairs in Burmah a man 
 who is personally on good terms with the head of 
 the civil administration and the Brigadiers. A new- 
 comer might act like a bull in a china shop, whereas 
 Roberts will at once put all the wheels in motion 
 without friction, and in the most intelligent and 
 effective manner. Probably in two months he might 
 be withdrawn ; and in the mean time we should be 
 able with due deliberation to prepare for the relega- 
 tion of his command to a fitting successor." 
 
 A redistribution of the outposts, with some con- 
 centration of the troops, was effected ; reinforcements 
 were despatched ; and the rapid organization of a 
 strong and numerous military police, for the relief of 
 the regular army locked up in Burmah, was at once 
 taken in hand. By the end of 1886, mainly through 
 the indefatigable exertions of the Chief Commis- 
 sioner, Sir Charles Bernard, the government of India 
 were able to report to the Secretary of State that 
 
 " the area within which we intended in the first 
 instance to confine our action has been greatly 
 extended, and we may say we have now more or 
 less completely under our control the whole of that 
 large portion of the country which is inhabited by 
 a homogeneous Burmese population, and which we 
 intend to keep under our direct administration, assimi- 
 lating it to our Lower Provinces as rapidly as is 
 consistent with local peculiarities and requirements." 
 
 As time went on, the civil offices were formed 
 and distributed to executive districts and subdivisions,
 
 18873 PACIFICATION. 131 
 
 the police were enrolled and stationed ; the revenue 
 assessments of the country were revised and regu- 
 lated systematically, and a code of laws promulgated. 
 An amnesty, on submission, was proclaimed for past 
 offences, and the gradual disarmament of the country 
 was carried out, while the development of communi- 
 cations all over the country was vigorously pushed 
 forward. 
 
 " Within two years a territory larger than France, 
 which had been for generations a prey to lawlessness 
 and intestine strife, has been reduced to peace and 
 order, and furnished with a strong and efficient 
 government, complete in all departments, which 
 minister to the security, the prosperity, and the 
 comfort of the people. In no previous epoch of our 
 government in India has it been found possible to 
 achieve such results in such a brief period of time." 
 
 The Shan States comprise an elevated plateau 
 stretching eastward from upper Burmah proper to 
 the valley of the Cambodia River, and intersected 
 by numerous ranges of hills. The inhabitants differ 
 in origin, language, customs, and institutions from 
 the Burmans, and live under the patriarchal rule of 
 hereditary chiefs, who at the time of the annexation 
 had been long tributary to the Alompra dynasty of 
 Ava. All these petty chiefships were placed under 
 a Superintendent, whose authority was backed by 
 the despatch of armed forces to move through the 
 country ; and the tribal chiefs were charged with the 
 duty of maintaining order after their own fashion, 
 on the condition of acknowledging British supremacy, 
 and of obedience to rules prescribed for their general 
 control and guidance. No serious trouble followed 
 the introduction of these arrangements into the Shan 
 States, and on their northern and western frontiers
 
 132 CHINA AND TIBET. [ch. IV 
 
 the wilder tribes have submitted by degrees to the 
 effective operation of a similar system. 
 
 But the occupation of upper Burmah had neces- 
 sarily brought the Indian government into closer 
 contiguity with the great sovereignty that has domi- 
 nated from time immemorial in Eastern Asia. The 
 kingdom of Mandalay was one of the blocks or barri- 
 cades interposed, as are Nepal and Tibet, between 
 the two empires of India and China ; and from these 
 three States the Chinese emperor had been accus- 
 tomed to claim certain formal acknowledgments of 
 traditional allegiance, represented, in the case of 
 the Burmese State, by the deputation of decennial 
 missions to Pekin. The Nepalese relations with 
 China have dwindled down to a ceremonious fiction ; 
 while in Tibet the suzerainty takes the form of a 
 protectorate, that can be set up whenever it is useful 
 as a diplomatic barrier. It was to be expected that 
 our operations in Burmah should have been observed 
 with active concern by the Chinese foreign office, 
 from whom the British government had just then 
 extracted a reluctant consent to the deputation of a 
 commercial mission to Lhassa. This project had been 
 imposed upon Lord Dufferin by instructions from 
 England, where it was believed that a profitable trade 
 might be opened with Tibet. But the preparations 
 for this mission had unluckily been made on a scale 
 that alarmed the Tibetan authorities, who were quite 
 ready to fall back upon China for aid in locking the 
 door against foreigners, but who have invariably 
 treated the imperial passports or permission to open 
 it with complete disregard. When, therefore, it ap- 
 peared that the Tibetans intended to oppose forcibly 
 the crossing of their frontier by the Indian mission, 
 the Chinese government had to choose between an
 
 1 887] THE TIBET MISSION. 133 
 
 attempt, which was sure to fail, to persuade or coerce 
 Tibet into admitting a mission that had obtained their 
 formal sanction, or the undignified alternative of 
 acknowledging that a refractory province was too 
 strong for them. But so soon as it appeared certain 
 that the Tibetans intended to offer violent resistance 
 to the British mission, Lord Dufferin, for his own part, 
 became very doubtful about the wisdom of proceeding 
 with it. To push forward, on such terms, into the 
 county, seemed to him no very promising method 
 of securing commercial interests, and he foresaw the 
 complications inseparable from forcible entry. Hos- 
 tilities might follow; but the Duke of Wellington had 
 said long ago that for military expeditions in Asia 
 success is often no less embarrassing than a reverse. 
 A check or failure makes retreat impossible, and 
 when you have succeeded it becomes equally difficult 
 to draw the line where the advance can stop, or to 
 retire without the risk of forfeiting all that has been 
 gained by the enterprise. Moreover, Afghan affairs 
 were as yet by no means settled, while a large arnvy 
 of occupation was still locked up in Burmah. It 
 became expedient to aid the Chinese government in 
 discovering some issue out of their dilemma; and 
 this was provided by a diplomatic intimation that the 
 Lhassa mission would not be pressed if amicable 
 concessions with regard to Chinese reclamations in 
 Burmah could be settled at Pekin. The solution was 
 readily entertained; and on this basis a convention 
 was signed in 1886 with China, which removed all 
 obstacles to the complete incorporation of the new 
 province under the government of India. 
 
 But what satisfied China did not pacify Tibet ; 
 and the whole story may be told here, although its 
 end belongs to the last years of Lord Dufferin's
 
 134 ATTITUDE OF THE TIBETANS. [ch. iv 
 
 Viceroyalty. Recent events have revived the trouble- 
 some question of our relations with Tibet. Between 
 the situations in 1886 and in 1903-4 there is, however, 
 the very material difference that, at the former period, 
 this question concerned only England and China, for 
 of interference in Tibet by any other European power 
 there could at that time be no apprehension. An 
 armed expedition, which was hardly worth the trouble 
 in 1886, when the sole object would have been to 
 establish trading routes, became at the later date 
 politically unavoidable. The route out of India into 
 Tibetan territory runs through Sikkim, a little in- 
 dependent state under British protection; and on 
 this part of the road, at a point called Lingtu, a 
 fort had been constructed by the Tibetans in July 
 1886, to prevent the mission from reaching the 
 Tibetan frontier. After the mission had been with- 
 drawn, the garrison of the fort remained and began 
 to strengthen it, although the position was outside 
 their own border. When representations made to 
 the frontier officials and to the Chinese government 
 had proved equally ineffectual, the government of 
 India had to decide between acquiescing in a per- 
 manent violation of Sikkim territory or resorting to 
 strong measures for protecting it. Much protracted 
 and fruitless remonstrance with China followed, and 
 the subjoined extract from a letter written by Count 
 Bela Szechenyi to Lord Dufferin in November 1887 
 is instructive. According to this experienced in- 
 formant, the Tibetans, secretly aided and abetted by 
 the Chinese government, were in no mood for yielding 
 to any argument but force. 
 
 " For my part I take great interest in the opening 
 of Tibet, as I travelled in some parts of it in the years 
 1878-80, trying to push forward on three different
 
 1 887] THE MISSION STOPPED. 135 
 
 ways to Lhassa, but was always stopped by armed 
 Lamas and the Tibetan militia in doing so. Since 
 that time I have kept up my correspondence in those 
 remote parts, and news is mostly given to me by 
 missionaries, so that I am ' toujours ait courant des 
 faits' concerning Tibet and China. . . . 
 
 "Macaulay* during his stay at Pekin received from 
 the Tsungli Yamen his passport for Tibet with the 
 very best recommendation (just as I had), and was 
 in the idea that the convention he carried through 
 between his and the Chinese government concerning 
 the opening of English and Indian trade to Tibet 
 would find its inauguration by his voyage to Lhassa 
 via Darjeeling. The Chinese government only asked 
 for a delay of three months in order to win public 
 opinion in Tibet in favour of his expedition. 
 
 "During these three months troops were levied 
 in Tibet, and guns as well as over a hundred large 
 boxes filled with European gunpowder were sent 
 from China, and when in the month of May Macaulay 
 arrived with his two hundred Sepoys on its frontiers, 
 he found all the passes guarded by Lamas and Tibetan 
 soldiers. No possibility of passing except by declaring 
 war, which could not be the object of your govern- 
 ment, having just at that time among other difficulties 
 the Burmese question on its shoulders. And as you 
 wanted for that reason peace with China, so I sup- 
 pose (I may be wrong car je ne vois pas le dessous des 
 cartes) Tibet was given up for the moment, and China 
 got the declaration that you will not enter by force 
 into Tibet if, on the other hand, China gives up its 
 claims on Burmah. 
 
 " China has, however, not been faithful in her 
 engagements, for it is known that the Viceroy of 
 Yunnan, ' Tsen kong pao,' sent soldiers of the regular 
 troops, disguised under the black flag, to fight the 
 
 * Mr. Macaulay, who was to be in charge of the mission to Lhassa, 
 had been sent to Pekin for the purpose of arranging matters with the 
 Chinese government.
 
 136 THE MISSION RETIRES. [ch. IV 
 
 English in Burmah. As they had better arms it was 
 they who killed your officers out of ambuscades. 
 
 " After Macaulay had retired with his Sepoys from 
 the Tibetan frontier, the Lamas, soldiers, and the 
 population massed on the passes, shouted ' Victory,' 
 living in the idea that they had frightened the govern- 
 ment of the Empress of India. Their boldness and 
 audacity had no limits. They took your protege the 
 King of Sikkim, prisoner. In vain he cried for your 
 help ; he was told that this question would be settled 
 by diplomacy. The north of Sikkim lying under your 
 protection was overrun by the Tibetans, who destroyed 
 your built high-road, and even constructed a fortress 
 in its neighbourhood. 
 
 "Are these questions also to be treated by diplo- 
 macy ? I think that your ' prestige ' will suffer con- 
 siderably by it, not only in Tibet, but also in India, for 
 such affronts done to the mightiest Power demand an 
 exemplary satisfaction." 
 
 In acknowledging this letter Lord Dufferin 
 observed — 
 
 " In one respect, however, you have misconceived 
 the situation. The Tibetans did not take the King 
 of Sikkim prisoner, nor has he appealed to us for 
 help. The fact is that, though his ministers are 
 friendly to us, he himself is a Tibetan at heart, having 
 married a pure Tibetan wife to whom he is very 
 much attached ; and, against both our remonstrances 
 and the remonstrances of his people and ministers, 
 he has been residing for the last two years within 
 Tibetan territory on the plea that it suits his health 
 better. Some time ago we expostulated with him on 
 his removing outside of his own dominions, and when 
 he paid no attention to us we stopped his subsidy. 
 If he continues obdurate we shall probably make 
 other arrangements." 
 
 At last in the spring of 1888 the government of 
 India notified to the Tibetan officer in Lingtu that
 
 1 888] LORD DUFFERIN AT MADRAS. 137 
 
 unless the place was evacuated he would be expelled 
 by force of arms. The letter was returned unopened 
 with a verbal message that the Tibetan government 
 allowed no communication with foreigners. As two 
 more warnings failed to obtain the slightest acknow- 
 ledgment the British troops captured the fort ; a large 
 force that attacked them later was easily dispersed ; 
 and the Tibetans were at last, in September 1888, 
 driven out of Sikkim into their own country. Three 
 months after the long altercation had in this manner 
 been determined, a Chinese official, deputed from Pekin 
 to represent imperial mediation, announced his appear- 
 ance upon the frontier. 
 
 In one of the numerous letters that Lord Dufferin 
 wrote from Burmah to his daughter (now Lady Helen 
 Munro Ferguson) he said — 
 
 " We have seen the most beautiful temple that is 
 to be found in all India, really something quite superb, 
 and as full of mystery as of beauty, with enormous 
 gloomy halls and long corridors with golden and brazen 
 animals, fiends, and gods standing sentinel between 
 the pillars — leading to darkened shrines and deep 
 recesses where the god and goddess sat enthroned 
 amidst a blaze of tapers. Then there were huge 
 towers crowded with grotesque figures in high relief, 
 priests moving about in picturesque garments, and, to 
 give vitality to the whole scene, troops of dancing- 
 girls, each laden with diamonds and jewels, and all 
 dedicated to the service of the temple. I had to walk 
 about all the time not merely with garlands round my 
 neck, but with an enormous heavy and brocaded shawl 
 flung over my shoulders." 
 
 After the expedition to Mandalay in February 1886, 
 Lord and Lady Dufferin crossed the Bay of Bengal 
 from Rangoon to visit Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, 
 the Governor of Madras. And on his departure for 
 Calcutta he wrote to Sir James Stephen —
 
 138 HOME POLITICS. [ch. iv 
 
 March 6, 1886. — "I have left two friends of yours 
 well and flourishing at Madras. I was determined to 
 see the Grant Duffs before they descended from their 
 throne, and we spent three very pleasant days with 
 them. Madras is a less dead-alive place than I had 
 expected, and the climate was perfect; but I have 
 observed in India that people take it as a personal 
 insult if you praise their climate, I suppose because 
 you thereby minimize their hot-weather sufferings." 
 
 Meanwhile the rise and fall of ministries in fierce 
 parliamentary conflict were absorbing all attention in 
 England. In May 1886 Lady Gregory writes to Lord 
 Dufferin — 
 
 "At this moment no one will think or speak of any 
 other subject but Ireland. . . . You can hardly imagine 
 the bitterness of feeling and of speech that prevail. 
 If there is any'act of absolutism or illegality that your 
 government wishes to commit, now is your time, for 
 India is forgotten for the moment." 
 
 In January the Conservative ministry had resigned ; 
 Mr. Gladstone had resumed office, and in April he had 
 introduced two Bills, the first to establish Home Rule 
 in Ireland ; the second for enabling the State to pur- 
 chase from Irish landlords their property, which was 
 to be conveyed under certain conditions of payment 
 to the tenants. Two months later, when the Home 
 Rule Bill had been negatived on its second reading^ 
 Mr. Gladstone was again replaced; in the Premiership 
 by Lord Salisbury, whose government remained in 
 power for the six following years. It will easily be 
 understood that Lord Dufferin's proconsular anxieties 
 for the security of the frontiers and for peace in a 
 remote province of the empire, had not diverted his 
 mind from these political commotions at its centre. 
 In a letter of April 1886 he said —
 
 i886] THE IEISH HOME RULE BILL. 139 
 
 "The news of the present crisis in England comes 
 to us here like the sound of raging billows in a far-off 
 sea. As for myself, I am so tremendously busy from 
 morning till night that I have not time even to think 
 of what is in store for us in Ireland, though when I 
 do consider the matter, it looks very much as though 
 the few thousands I have invested in Canada is all 
 that I am likely to call mine in a very few years." 
 
 Yet for Lord Dufferin it was not possible to survey 
 from the shore, with placid satisfaction, the toil of 
 others against the wind and the waves. From his 
 retreat on the distant Himalayas he watched the 
 surging strife of parties over questions in which his 
 interests, personal and patriotic, had always been 
 deeply concerned. When the Home Rule Bill had 
 been defeated, he wrote to Sir James Stephen — 
 
 July 28, 1886. — " The great cause in which you were 
 so interested when you wrote has now been decided 
 in a more satisfactory manner than even you dared to 
 hope, and the English people at last have shown some 
 sparks of common sense and manhood. It is needless 
 to say how I personally rejoice in the result, for, 
 had it gone the other way, I and every Irishman in 
 my position would have been completely ruined, 
 though that would have been an insignificant result in 
 comparison with the ruin of the country itself, and 
 for that matter of England too. The more one thinks 
 the thing over, the more astounded one is at the 
 madness of the idea, but it is one which I know has 
 long been fermenting in Mr. Gladstone's mind. I 
 remember in 1870 I went to see him, and met Bess- 
 borough leaving his house. Bessborough and I were 
 great friends, and as I at that time had charge of the 
 Irish business in the House of Lords, we used to 
 confabulate a good deal together. Shaking hands with 
 him, he told me that Mr. Gladstone had been walking 
 up and down the room, half talking to him and half to
 
 140 THE LAND PURCHASE BILL. [ch. iv 
 
 himself of the Irish question, 'and,' said Bessborough, 
 1 1 do believe he is capable of repealing the Union.' 
 The whole business has distressed me very much, for 
 all my life long I have received great kindness at Mr. 
 Gladstone's hands, though I have hardly ever con- 
 versed with him that I have not felt my face burn 
 with irritation when I left his presence, but then 
 Ireland and land were generally the subjects of our 
 colloquy. He has conferred numerous honours and 
 appointments upon me, and has always been very 
 indulgent to my shortcomings, and I would have 
 given a great deal that he had not run this dreadful 
 muck. Had I been in England, my allegiance to him 
 as an official subordinate would have ceased, I am 
 afraid, when he brought in his Land Bill of 1880. 
 This drove the Duke of Argyll out of his government, 
 and would have driven me too, for a more unjust 
 measure was never passed. I was in Russia at the 
 time, and one day I received a letter from Argyll, 
 written in the greatest spirits, announcing that after 
 listening to all that his radical colleagues had been 
 urging for weeks in favour of the three F's, Mr. 
 Gladstone had suddenly come down to Downing 
 Street, and had denounced them in the most forcible 
 and conclusive manner. Yet a month or two later the 
 Bill was introduced into Parliament." 
 
 Nevertheless in regard to the Bill for Sale and 
 Purchase of Irish Land, Lord Dufferin's attitude was 
 generally favourable. A letter in the Times of March 
 19, 1886, quoted certain evidence given by him before 
 the Bessborough Commission in 1880, as showing 
 "where Mr Gladstone's present Irish Land scheme 
 had its birth ; " and he himself was " rather pleased 
 that it should have become known that I was the 
 originator." "In 1870," he said, "I earnestly advo- 
 cated a plan for the permanent settlement of the Irish 
 Land question on the lines now embodied in Mr.
 
 1 886] LORD DUFFERIN'S VIEWS. 141 
 
 Gladstone's Bill ; " and a letter to Sir William 
 Gregory, dated July 1886, refers to the same subject — 
 
 " I entirely agree with you in believing that if 
 once we could get the people of Ireland satisfied in 
 regard to the land question, their desire for an 
 independent government would entirely disappear, 
 except, as you say, from a small section of the urban 
 population. Repeal has always really been a dead 
 horse until it was married to the land. But the 
 question is, how is the land difficulty to be settled 
 without adding >to the enormous losses which the 
 wretched landlords have already sustained? Public 
 opinion in England evidently revolts at the notion 
 of enabling tenants to buy with borrowed public 
 money. A year before the Bill of 1880 was passed I 
 breakfasted one day with Dilke and Chamberlain, and 
 did my best to persuade them to get the matter settled 
 in that sense rather than by the violent and unjust 
 legislation which they were then contemplating, and 
 which was embodied in the Act of 1880; but though 
 they admitted that I had made a considerable impres- 
 sion upon their minds, their anti-landlord predilections 
 were too much for me. I then submitted my scheme 
 to the Commission which sat in Dublin. It was upon 
 a smaller scale than that which Mr. Gladstone sub- 
 sequently proposed. It merely created the majority 
 of the tenants proprietors, and left the landlords still 
 resident, and in the enjoyment of a proportion of 
 their existing properties." 
 
 Sir William Gregory's reply contains two passages 
 of some interest — 
 
 September n, 1886. — "I had a most remarkable 
 conversation with Gladstone at a party at Lady Marian 
 Alford's in November 1883. He began by expressing 
 the opinion he had of Parnell ; he said he was the 
 most formidable man to encounter in the House of 
 Commons ; he referred to his intimate knowledge of 
 procedure, of his cold steel-like oratory, and said — ' I
 
 142 LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL. [ch. iv 
 
 think him the most powerful leader the Irish have 
 ever had.' ' What ! greater than O'Connell?' I replied. — 
 1 Well, perhaps not greater than O'Connell, but those 
 who live to the beginning of the next century will say 
 a more successful one.' And he laid much stress on 
 the word 'successful.' I was so struck with this 
 remark that when I returned home I wrote down the 
 conversation word for word and have preserved it. 
 
 " I had a long talk with C. Villiers on Saturday 
 evening at the Athenaeum. He spoke in the highest 
 terms of Randolph Churchill. He thinks him one of 
 the most remarkable men he has known, not merely 
 on account of his debating power, but from the mastery 
 he has obtained over every subject which comes under 
 discussion, and from his strength of will, which has 
 from sheer force of character swept away every 
 obstacle, triumphed over innumerable jealousies and 
 dislikes of his colleagues and of the Court, and has 
 made him for the present the most powerful man 
 in the House of Commons, and with widespread 
 influence out-of-doors. He thinks, however, that his 
 health will give way." 
 
 The presentiment of these last words was unfortu- 
 nately verified. In a letter written after Lord Randolph 
 Churchill's death, Lord Dufferin alludes to their meet- 
 ing in Calcutta during his Viceroyalty, and says — 
 
 "He had not gone very deep into the examination 
 of Indian affairs, so that I had no opportunity of 
 ascertaining what impression they had made upon 
 his mind. On his return home he became Secretary 
 of State, and I found him the most considerate and the 
 most charming of men to work with — very sympathetic 
 and appreciative. What struck me most about him, 
 both as Secretary of State and when he was in India, 
 was, to use a horrid word, ' the receptivity ' of his 
 mind. The initial attitude of most people to new 
 ideas and suggestions is instinctively hostile, but with 
 him it was certainly the reverse."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 (Internal Politics.) 
 
 The Viceroy left Simla at the end of October (1886), 
 and at Lahore he met Sir West Ridgeway, who, after 
 settling with the Russians almost all the boundary 
 line of north-western Afghanistan,* had returned to 
 India by Kabul, where the Amir had given the 
 Mission a very friendly reception. Lord Dufferin 
 warmly acknowledged, in a public speech, the remark- 
 able ability with which Sir West Ridgeway and his 
 staff had managed a difficult and delicate negotiation, 
 and the signal services they had accomplished in 
 bringing the demarcation, so far, to a successful 
 conclusion. 
 
 " Last, not least, however, I would desire to con- 
 gratulate them on the auspicious circumstances under 
 which they visited Kabul, as well as on the rapidity 
 of their march from the capital of Afghanistan to the 
 British frontier. That an English mission so con- 
 stituted should be received as honoured guests by 
 the Amir, and with the most hearty and friendly 
 welcome at the hands of his subjects along their entire 
 route, is in itself a remarkable and significant cir- 
 cumstance which cannot fail to have a most beneficial 
 effect upon the future relations between the govern- 
 ments of India and Afghanistan." 
 
 At a Convocation of the Punjab University, when 
 
 * One important point was reserved for arrangement through the 
 Foreign Office at home. See p. 102. 
 
 143
 
 H4 EDUCATION IN INDIA. [ch. V 
 
 Lord Dufferin received the honorary degree of D.C.L., 
 he touched in his speech upon the question of higher 
 education in India. In this department, as in so 
 many others, the British dominion has brought about 
 a conflict of ideas and traditions, between modern and 
 mediaeval systems. Poetry and philosophy are com- 
 mon ground ; but the Hindus have no histories, sacred 
 or profane ; their physical science is rudimentary, and 
 the superior intellects have been largely absorbed in 
 abstruse speculation. The new spirit of European 
 teaching is methodical, experimental, utilitarian; it 
 may be said that the two systems are at variance as 
 to the objects of knowledge. The proper work of 
 national education in India is to bring East and 
 West into some kind of harmony, preserving and 
 promoting the indigenous languages and literature, 
 and encouraging the application of scientific and 
 critical methods to all branches of study. 
 
 "In what manner" (Lord Dufferin said) "your 
 labours in the one hemisphere may most effectually 
 supplement and commingle with the achievements of 
 your fellow-workers in the other ; how you may best 
 apply the products of your own past, so rich in every- 
 thing that can warm the fancy, excite the imagination 
 or exercise the speculative and metaphysical faculty, 
 to the practical requirements of your future and the 
 exigencies of our present hard and exacting age, is 
 one of the principal problems with which you have 
 to deal, and for which I have no doubt you will find 
 a satisfactory solution." 
 
 From the Punjab, which had not been forty years 
 a British province, he passed to a very different 
 atmosphere at Bombay and Poona, to cities with 
 flourishing schools and colleges, where nearly a cen- 
 tury of liberal administration and of organized public
 
 1886] POONA AND HYDERABAD. 145 
 
 instruction had trained up a community whose natural 
 intellectual capacity is unsurpassed in India. In his 
 reply to an address from a prominent society of 
 educated men at Poona, Lord Dufferin explained the 
 views and objects with which he had appointed a 
 commission to ascertain how wider employment and 
 promotion might be given to Indians of proved merit 
 and ability in the upper ranks of the civil service ; and 
 he affirmed, most truly, that "no lessons had been 
 more forcibly taught us by history than that institu- 
 tions ought to keep pace with the progress of events 
 and of a country's intellectual development." 
 
 From Poona the Viceregal party passed on into 
 the northern districts of the Hyderabad State; a 
 region once famous in the wars of the Moghul empire, 
 and where long after those times Sir Arthur Wellesley 
 won the hard-fought battle of Assaye. They saw 
 the wonderful rock-cut temples of Ellora, stood at 
 the plain slab which marks the grave of the mighty 
 emperor Aurungzeb, visited the prehistoric strong- 
 hold of Daulatabad, and thence travelled southward 
 to the Nizam's capital. 
 
 From Hyderabad Lord Dufferin wrote to Lord 
 Reay — 
 
 November 24, 1886. — "We have just arrived at 
 Hyderabad after a most delightful journey. Nothing 
 could have been more successful than our ex- 
 pedition to Poona, and subsequently to Aurunga- 
 bad, and especially Daulatabad. The latter place is 
 one of the most interesting fortresses I have ever 
 seen, and you should certainly take an opportunity 
 of examining it. It is an isolated conical hill, the 
 sides of which have been scarped right round, so 
 that a besieger would have to pound away at the 
 living rock instead of at a wall in order to effect a 
 
 VOL. II. L
 
 146 HYDERABAD. [CH. V 
 
 breach.* The only approach is through a long 
 winding passage, also cut out of the rock, the inner 
 entrance to which is closed by a large iron trap- 
 door. When beset by their enemies, the garrison 
 piled huge faggots and other combustibles upon the 
 top of this door until it was heated red-hot, so that 
 any human being attempting to enter the passage lead- 
 ing up to it would have been immediately scorched." 
 
 The Nizam of Hyderabad represents a line of 
 princes whose alliance with the British government 
 dates from the eighteenth century. The practical 
 direction of affairs has usually been delegated to a 
 chief minister, and on this system the State has more 
 than once been managed with distinguished ability. 
 But the relations between an autocratic ruler and a 
 powerful subordinate are uneasy in all parts of 
 the world ; nor are instances wanting in the annals 
 of India, where mutual jealousy, intrigue, and en- 
 croachments on either side have sometimes led to 
 open conflict and even to dynastic changes. In 
 Hyderabad the British influence has more than once 
 been interposed to reconcile and pacify disputes of 
 the kind; and on the present occasion Lord Dufferin 
 appeared as arbitrator. Under his advice and injunc- 
 tions the breach was for a time repaired ; but the 
 minister soon found his position, which had never 
 been firm, so untenable that after a few months he 
 escaped from it by resignation. 
 
 The State of Mysore, to which the Viceroy next 
 proceeded, had been very recently restored to the 
 native dynasty after a long interval of administration 
 by British officers ; and the administration, organized 
 
 * The hill is between 400 and 500 feet high ; the upper and 
 lower parts are in their natural state ; but the centre is a scarped 
 and quite perpendicular wall for 150 yards, and at the wall's foot is a 
 deep ditch, cut about 30 feet down into the solid rock.
 
 1 886] MYSORE. 147 
 
 and superintended for many years by British agency, 
 was now carried on with exemplary success by a 
 staff of trained native officials. Lord Dufferin was 
 able to declare, with entire truth, at a banquet given 
 to him, that — 
 
 "there is no state within the confines of the Indian 
 Empire which has more fully justified the wise 
 policy of the British government in supplementing 
 its own direct administration of its vast territories 
 by the associated rule of our great feudatory princes. 
 When I think that I myself was admitted to the 
 familiarity of the heroic soldier, of whose early 
 achievements Seringapatam and the surrounding 
 country were the theatre and the witnesses, it is 
 difficult to believe that the changes to which I have 
 referred should have been the fruits of what I may 
 call contemporary history. It has now been my good 
 fortune to have passed through most of the native 
 states of India, and to have come into personal, and I 
 may say intimate, contact with their chiefs, and I 
 have no hesitation in saying that though there may 
 be differences between them, though some states may 
 be more advanced than others, some rulers less 
 sensitive than others to the weighty responsibilities 
 imposed on them by Providence, on the whole my 
 experiences have been eminently satisfactory and 
 reassuring, and the Queen-Empress, and the govern- 
 ment of Great Britain have the greatest reason to 
 congratulate themselves on the general enlightenment, 
 the desire to do their duty, and the conscientious 
 application to affairs which is so generally prevalent 
 amongst them." 
 
 Beyond Mysore the journey was extended still 
 further southward to Tanjore and Madura. From 
 this point they turned northward again to Pondi- 
 cherry, where Lord Dufferin exchanged friendly 
 international greetings with the French governor,
 
 148 PONDICHErvRY. [ch. V 
 
 and underwent an official banquet and ball with his 
 usual geniality. An allusion, in his speech at the 
 banquet, to the early days when Madras surrendered 
 to French troops from Pondicherry, was humorously 
 meant; yet to his hosts it may have suggested no 
 very cheerful comparisons between the past and pre- 
 sent positions of France and England in India. The 
 next stage was Madras, whence the party returned by 
 sea to Calcutta. 
 
 Upon the completion of this circuitous journey 
 Lord Dufferin wrote to Lord Cross — 
 
 January 18, 1887. — " My programme was carried 
 out from day to day during the whole two months 
 with absolute exactitude. We never dreamt of altering 
 it, and my progress from town to town was one 
 continued ovation. Not only was there no unpleasant 
 incident from first to last, but the loyalty of the people 
 was everywhere enthusiastically manifested. At one 
 or two places, that is to say at Ahmedabad and I think 
 at Tanjore, a minority in the Municipal Council wanted 
 to introduce into their addresses one or two sentences 
 in reference to the reform of the Councils and to the 
 political aspirations of Young India, to which their 
 colleagues objected, and when they found themselves 
 in a minority they sent me unofficially a copy of what 
 they had wished to say in a separate paper, but even 
 these people were effusively civil. . . . 
 
 "I am glad that you approve of my speech at 
 Poona. It was made on the spur of the moment, but 
 it has undoubtedly had a good effect. Some of the 
 older Indians, though agreeing in every word I said, 
 seem to consider it unadvisable for the Viceroy to 
 make any reference to public opinion as signified 
 through the newspapers, and maintain that it ought 
 to be loftily ignored. In this view I do not concur. 
 I do not think we can afford to disregard it ; for there 
 are some papers, particularly on the Bombay side,
 
 1 887] CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS. 149 
 
 that are conducted with moderation, and with a 
 certain amount of political insight; and although it 
 would be absurd to regard the press as in any way- 
 representing the various and multitudinous popula- 
 tions of India, it does undoubtedly express the ideas 
 of the educated class. Though this class is at present 
 small and uninfluential, it is both wise and right to 
 count with it, and we must remember that it is above 
 all things a growing power." 
 
 By this time the important military and political 
 affairs that had engaged Lord Dufferin's anxious 
 attention during the first two years of his Vice- 
 royalty were so far in course of settlement that he 
 could turn his mind to these questions of internal 
 administration. It has already been mentioned that 
 a Commission had been appointed, and was now 
 actually at work, for the consideration of ways and 
 means of opening the higher grades of the civil service 
 to natives. But to the leading advocates of Indian 
 reforms, whose education had included a study of 
 English constitutional history, this implied no ade- 
 quate concessions; they were pressing for an intro- 
 duction of the representative system, and for other 
 changes which would give them a substantial influ- 
 ence over the executive and legislative conduct of the 
 government. One step forward had already been 
 taken in 1886 by the creation of a Legislative Council 
 in the North-West Provinces, on lines similar to those 
 existing in Madras, Bengal, and Bombay. The views 
 and aspirations of the advanced party of reform were 
 embodied in an association, which had conferred upon 
 itself the title of a National Congress, and held a 
 session in Calcutta during the winter of 18S6-87. The 
 tone of their proceedings was loyal and friendly to 
 British rule, though the discussions were tinged with
 
 150 POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS. [ch. v 
 
 some inevitable crudity and inexperience; and the effect 
 of some rather extravagant resolutions passed at the 
 meeting was to arouse the instinctive conservatism, 
 the traditional reluctance to disturb a settled order 
 of things, that may be said to predominate among all 
 classes in the general population of India. To the old- 
 fashioned Indian, who still represents an immense 
 majority of the people, with his inveterate disbelief in 
 the stability of all governments and his dread of change, 
 the shifting and redistribution of governing power 
 is a matter of very serious possible consequences. 
 Political agitators are to him not merely fair players 
 in the game of contending parties and principles, they 
 are new men who want to be masters ; their strength, 
 ability, and disinterestedness are not yet clear to 
 him ; they are likely to be affected by prejudices of 
 race and religion ; and on the whole, whatever 
 may be his discontent with the existing regime, he 
 does not care to join in experiments upon the con- 
 stitution of a government that rules with strength 
 and impartiality. 
 
 Nevertheless Lord Dufferin felt that the time was 
 passing when the British government could afford 
 to disparage the claims and aspirations of a party 
 that the British system of education had deliberately 
 created. Trained intelligence and high culture in 
 every country are more or less restricted to a minority, 
 but the select few become gradually leaders of the 
 many. No Viceroy ever came to India who had seen 
 so much as Lord Dufferin had seen of political institu- 
 tions in different forms and stages, from the free 
 self-government of Canada to absolutism in its zenith 
 at St. Petersburg, and Oriental autocracy at Con- 
 stantinople. No statesman, therefore, knew better 
 than he did that if the English persist in continuing
 
 1886] LORD DUFFERIN'S MINUTE. 151 
 
 to pile up, after the high Roman fashion, the edifice 
 of a great empire over a miscellaneous population, 
 they cannot go on adding to the superstructure without 
 distributing the pressure of administrative responsi- 
 bilities. Early in 1886 the Viceroy recorded his views 
 on the subject — 
 
 " Now I think it is desirable that the government 
 should make up its mind as soon as possible in regard 
 to the policy it is determined to pursue, for evidently 
 India is not a country in which the machinery of 
 European democratic agitation can be applied with 
 impunity. My own inclination would be to examine 
 carefully and seriously the demands which are the 
 outcome of these various movements ; to give quickly 
 and with a good grace whatever it may be possible 
 or desirable to accord ; to announce that these con- 
 cessions must be accepted as a final settlement of the 
 Indian system for the next ten or fifteen years; and to 
 forbid mass meetings and incendiary speechifying. 
 Putting aside the demands of the extremists . . . the 
 objects even of the more advanced party are neither 
 very dangerous nor very extravagant. . . . But it must 
 always be remembered that though common sense and 
 a certain knowledge of affairs and of the world may 
 limit the programme of the leaders to what they think 
 they have a chance of getting, the ideal in the minds 
 of the major part of their followers is an India in 
 which the British Army shall ward off invasion from 
 without and preserve them from tyranny and usurpa- 
 tion of the native princes within, while they themselves 
 shall have free scope to administer their domestic 
 affairs untrammelled by the interference of white men, 
 except perhaps in the person of a Viceroy and a limited 
 number of high officials. 
 
 " Undoubtedly the most vital and important of the 
 notions started by the reformers is the change they 
 propose in the Legislative Councils. I confess that 
 soon after my arrival in the country it occurred to
 
 152 THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCILS. [ch. v 
 
 me that improvement might be possible in this direc- 
 tion, and personally I should feel it both a relief and 
 an assistance if in the settlement of many Indian 
 administrative questions affecting the interests of 
 millions of Her Majesty's subjects, I could rely to a 
 larger extent than at present upon the experience and 
 counsels of Indian coadjutors. Amongst the natives 
 I have met there are a considerable number who are 
 both able and sensible, and upon whose loyal co- 
 operation one could undoubtedly rely. The fact of 
 their supporting the government would popularize 
 many of its acts which now have the appearance of 
 being driven through the legislature by force ; and 
 if they in their turn had. a native party behind them, 
 the government of India would cease to stand up, 
 as it does now, an isolated rock in the middle of a 
 tempestuous sea, around whose base the breakers 
 dash themselves simultaneously from all the four 
 quarters of the heavens." 
 
 Lord Dufferin then proceeds to enumerate the 
 obvious risks and drawbacks inseparable from the 
 introduction of the representative element into the 
 organic constitution of such a government as that of 
 India, where the mere number of the population * 
 constitutes an enormous preliminary difficulty ; and 
 his conclusion is summed up thus — 
 
 " In spite of the serious array of arguments which 
 I have adduced against the change, my instincts 
 rather propel me in the opposite direction, at all 
 events so far as to try the experiment of liberalizing, 
 if not the supreme, at least the subordinate Legislative 
 Councils. Now that we have educated these people, 
 their desire to take a larger part in the management 
 of their own domestic affairs seems to be a legitimate 
 and reasonable aspiration, and I think there should 
 be enough statesmanship amongst us to contrive the 
 
 * About three hundred millions.
 
 1 888] LORD DUFFERIN'S PROPOSALS. 153 
 
 means of permitting them to do so without unduly 
 compromising our Imperial supremacy." 
 
 It may be convenient to relate here the eventual 
 outcome of these proceedings and deliberations. Two 
 years later, in 1888, the Commission of Inquiry into 
 the question of admitting natives of India more freely 
 to the higher grades of the Civil Service had presented 
 their report, and Lord Dufferin's government laid 
 before the Secretary of State for India some very 
 liberal proposals in that sense. So liberal indeed 
 were they that the scheme was to some extent modi- 
 fied by the Home government. But the main object 
 of Indian reformers was, as has been said, to obtain 
 constitutional concessions ; and Lord Dufferin's mind 
 was constantly turning and returning to this subject 
 during his Viceroyalty. After many counsels had been 
 taken the recommendations of his government were 
 transmitted to the Secretary of State in a despatch 
 of November 1888, accompanied by a minute in which 
 Lord Dufferin balanced and discussed at great length 
 all the considerations upon which they had been 
 formulated, and recorded his own opinion, matured 
 after four years' experience of Indian affairs. Some 
 extracts from this comprehensive review may be given 
 to show the directioniof his policy, and the substantial 
 reforms that he desired to introduce. 
 
 " Having regard to the relation in numbers, in 
 condition, in status, and in qualifications for govern- 
 ment of what may be called the Europeanized or 
 educated section of the Indian people, as compared 
 with the masses that constitute the bulk of the nation, 
 I am convinced that we should be falling into a great 
 error if, miscalculating the force and value of the 
 Congress movement and the influence of its supporters 
 and advocates, whether in the press or elsewhere, we
 
 154 ENLARGEMENT OF COUNCILS. [ch. v 
 
 were to relax in the slightest degree our grasp of the 
 supreme administration of the country. On the other 
 hand, as long as we hold firmly to this principle, and 
 remain fully alive to our own Imperial responsibilities, 
 I believe that both with safety and advantage we can 
 give full play to the legitimate and praiseworthy 
 ambition of the loyal, patriotic, and educated classes 
 in India, who are desirous of taking a larger share 
 than hitherto in the transaction of the public business 
 of their respective provinces. . . . 
 
 " Fortunately, whilst the government of India has 
 been occupying itself in framing proposals for recon- 
 stituting its provincial legislative councils, it has also, 
 at the suggestion and with the approval of the Secre- 
 tary of State, been perfecting very important arrange- 
 ments for the still further decentralization of our 
 financial system, and for handing over to the provincial 
 governments a more complete and independent con- 
 trol of the provincial revenues. At the same time 
 certain powers of supplementing and increasing the 
 local funds by provincial taxation is to be attributed 
 to them. Thus the provincial councils will be admitted 
 to a very large and important field of provincial 
 administration, and ample scope and opportunities 
 will be given to its members, both native and English 
 (amongst whom an adequate number of representa- 
 tives of the British mercantile interests should be 
 certainly included), to display their statesmanship and 
 their ability to provide for the wants and interests 
 of the extensive communities over which their influ- 
 ence and jurisdiction will extend. . . . 
 
 " In two respects I should desire procedure in the 
 Governor General's council to be amended. Under 
 the existing law it is only when a new tax is to be 
 imposed that the finance member is required to 
 submit his financial proposals to the legislative 
 council, or that any opportunity is given to the 
 members of that body to make observations in regard 
 to them. When there is no new taxation the finance
 
 1888] DEBATE ON THE BUDGET. 155 
 
 member merely publishes his budget in the form of a 
 pamphlet. For my own part, I think that a yearly 
 financial discussion in the Viceroy's legislative council 
 would prove a very useful and desirable arrange- 
 ment, and a very convenient preliminary to the sub- 
 sequent debate which takes place on Indian finances 
 in the House of Commons later in the year. I do 
 not by this mean that votes should be taken in regard 
 to the various items of the budget, or that the heads 
 of expenditure should be submitted in detail to the 
 examination of the council, but simply that an oppor- 
 tunity should be given for a full, free, and thorough 
 criticism and examination of the financial policy of 
 the government. . . . 
 
 "The second change in the procedure of the 
 supreme legislative council which I am inclined to 
 recommend is, that, under proper restrictions to be 
 laid down by the Viceroy, its members should be 
 permitted to ask questions in reference to current 
 matters of domestic, as distinguished from those of 
 Imperial interest, that may have attracted public 
 attention. . . . Under existing circumstances the 
 government of India has no adequate medium through 
 which it can explain its policy, correct a wrong im- 
 pression, or controvert a false statement, and, though 
 up to the present time the consequences of the evils 
 I have indicated may not have become very serious 
 or widespread, they contain the germs of incalculable 
 danger. Consequently it would prove as great an 
 advantage to the Administration as it would fre- 
 quently be a satisfaction to the members of the 
 council and the public at large, if reasonable oppor- 
 tunities were afforded of communicating to those 
 interested the exact facts in regard to any questionable 
 matter." 
 
 That the policy marked out in this minute by 
 Lord Dufferin was sound and practicable, has since 
 been proved by experience. Not centralization, but
 
 156 INTERPELLATION. [ch. v 
 
 decentralization, should, he declared, be the leading 
 principle of all constitutional amendments in India; 
 he wished to strengthen the provincial legislatures 
 and establish more of them, so that the jurisdiction in 
 diverse provinces should proceed upon an intimate 
 acquaintance with particular needs and a right know- 
 ledge of public opinion. The principle of maintaining 
 supreme control, which is the central idea embodied 
 in the word empire, he maintained firmly. There 
 must always be some power capable of holding a just 
 and even balance among conflicting races and creeds ; 
 and the problem in India is to superintend, upon this 
 principle, the devolution and distribution of adminis- 
 trative responsibilities. With regard to the question 
 of multiplying opportunities for public debate upon 
 legislative projects, Sir Henry Maine had affirmed 
 twenty years previously that to do so would be an 
 advantage in all the councils of India — 
 
 " So far " (he said) " from its being desirable that 
 we should legislate without giving reasons for our 
 legislation and without meeting objections to it, 
 it seems to me that want of power to defend our 
 measures is our great weakness." 
 
 The Press in India, while it is as free as in Eng- 
 land, and is often conducted with considerable ability, 
 is inaccurate because it is seldom well informed ; the 
 educated classes supply impatient censure and criti- 
 cism, the uneducated are exceedingly credulous. In 
 such an atmosphere of misunderstanding and half- 
 knowledge, amid the clamour of many journals and 
 the circulation of rumours, it had long become im- 
 possible for an English government to preserve the 
 disdainful taciturnity of an Asiatic sovereign, who 
 answers no questions, vouchsafes no explanations,
 
 1887] GENERAL RESULT. 157 
 
 and makes known his pleasure, like some divinity, 
 only by his action and commandments. Before 
 this time every draft law had been regularly pub- 
 lished with a statement of its objects and the reasons, 
 for proposing it; but within the legislative councils 
 the proportion of non-official members had been small, 
 and the right of interpellation, upon matters not 
 actually before them, did not exist. The natural 
 consequence was that intelligent political discussion 
 found its main vent in journalism, and that the func- 
 tions of an opposition were undertaken by the news- 
 papers. Lord Dufferin desired, as has been seen, to 
 enlarge not only the numbers of these councils, but 
 also their privileges in debate ; and his general 
 policy was actively supported by his successor in the 
 Governor Generalship, the Marquis of Lansdowne. 
 Two years later an Act of the British Parliament 
 brought these important and salutary changes into 
 operation. 
 
 The jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated 
 throughout India on February 16, 1887. At a great 
 meeting on the Maidan,* numerous loyal addresses 
 were presented by deputations, to whom the Viceroy 
 replied by a speech, reviewing in broad outline the 
 administrative policy of the British government in 
 India during the past fifty years of the Queen's reign. 
 For the welfare and prosperity of the country, he 
 said, many things had been undertaken, much had 
 been accomplished, but much more remained to be 
 done ; and for the work that lay before them he relied 
 upon the co-operation of the leaders of native society 
 everywhere, the representatives of education and 
 enlightenment, in promoting the highest interests of 
 the Indian people. 
 
 * The open plain along the river-side at Calcutta.
 
 158 THE JUBILEE SPEECH. [ch. V 
 
 " We are surrounded on all sides by Native gentle- 
 men of great attainments and intelligence, from 
 whose hearty, loyal, and honest co-operation we may 
 hope to derive the greatest benefit. In fact, to an 
 administration so peculiarly situated as ours, their 
 advice, assistance, and solidarity are essential to the 
 successful exercise of its functions. Nor do I regard 
 with any other feelings than those of approval and 
 good-will their natural ambition to be more exten- 
 sively associated with their English rulers in the 
 administration of their own domestic affairs, and glad 
 and happy should I be if, during my sojourn amongst 
 them, circumstances permitted me to extend and to 
 place upon a wider and more logical footing the 
 political status which was so wisely given a genera- 
 tion ago by that great statesman, Lord Halifax, to 
 such Indian gentlemen as by their influence, their 
 acquirements, and the confidence they inspired in 
 their fellow-countrymen were marked out as useful 
 adjuncts to our Legislative Councils. 
 
 " Believe me " (he said in conclusion), " I speak from 
 personal knowledge when I say that, amongst the 
 many preoccupations and anxieties of the Queen- 
 Empress, there is no section of her subjects whose 
 interests she watches with more loving or affectionate 
 solicitude than your own. Moreover, in doing this, 
 she most truly represents, as it is fit and right their 
 sovereign should, the feelings and instincts of the 
 English people. Through the mysterious decrees of 
 Providence, the British nation and its rulers have 
 been called upon to undertake the supreme govern- 
 ment of this mighty empire ; to vindicate its honour, 
 to defend its territories, and to maintain its authority 
 inviolate ; to rule justly and impartially a congeries 
 of communities, many of them widely differing from 
 each other in race, language, religion, social customs, 
 and material interests ; to preserve intact and unim- 
 paired the dignity, rights, and privileges of a large 
 number of feudatory princes ; to provide for the
 
 1 887] THE JUBILEE SPEECH. 159 
 
 welfare of a population nearly as numerous as that of 
 Europe, and presenting every type of civilization 
 known to history from the very highest to the very 
 lowest ; to safeguard and to develope the enormous 
 moral and material British interests which have become 
 inextricably implicated with those of the natives of the 
 soil ; to conduct its administration in a way to win 
 the love, confidence, and sympathy of races as keenly 
 sensitive to injustice and wrong as they are ready to 
 recognize kindness and righteous dealing." . 
 
 To Lord Northbrook the Viceroy wrote a short 
 time afterwards — 
 
 March u, 1887. — "Our jubilee proceedings went 
 off very well. Two days were set apart as holidays, 
 and in Calcutta the programme was as follows : A 
 salute of a hundred and one guns at daybreak, followed 
 an hour or two later by a parade and march past of 
 all the troops in garrison. Then I drove to the 
 Cathedral, where a special service was held, and in 
 the afternoon there was a great assembly on the 
 Maidan, at which I received the innumerable con- 
 gratulatory addresses which had poured in from one 
 end of the country to the other, and made a speech 
 in reply. Immediately after this there was a grand 
 display of fireworks, and on this occasion the natives 
 were shown a pyrotechnic display far superior to any 
 that they had ever seen before. The principal feature 
 was the outline of Her Majesty's head, traced in lines 
 of fire about 18 feet high, which unexpectedly burst 
 upon the vision of the astonished crowd. In the 
 same manner portraits of the Prince and Princess 
 of Wales, on an equally gigantic scale, appeared from 
 out a fiery rose-bush. My wife and I were also 
 honoured in the same way, and I thought I never 
 looked so well. We also entertained 30,000 school 
 children, native and European, and the day ended 
 with a general reception at Government House."
 
 160 STRATEGICAL PROBLEMS. [ch. v 
 
 It has been thought convenient, in this narrative 
 of Lord Dufferin's viceroyalty, to disregard chrono- 
 logical order for the purpose of continuity, so as to 
 group and connect under one subject all the events 
 and proceedings relating to it. But since the suc- 
 cessive steps or stages usually belong to different 
 years, under this system the annual chronicle has 
 been forestalled, and of important matters there is 
 little left to say. Afghan and Burmese questions still 
 engaged the Viceroy's attention in 1887; he pressed 
 forward the frontier railways, the fortification of points 
 on the north-western border of India, and the coast 
 defences. The grand strategical problem — whether 
 an army should advance to meet a hostile invasion 
 of Afghanistan, or should await an enemy by taking 
 up positions on or close to the British frontier — was 
 discussed with the usual eager conflict of military 
 opinions. Three alternative plans were drawn up by 
 a Committee, in which Lord Dufferin discovered at 
 least one common characteristic, " that there is a great 
 deal to be said against adopting any one of them." 
 Nevertheless he examined and commented upon them 
 all in letters to the Secretary of State, though he 
 preferred a short outlook on the future to speculations 
 on ulterior possibilities ; " for it is an inveterate habit 
 of my mind" (he wrote about this time) "never to 
 allow any opinion upon any subject to crystallize 
 until it becomes necessary to arrive at a practical 
 decision." 
 
 By April 1887 he was again at Simla, after some 
 tiger-shooting in the sub-Himalayan forests ; and the 
 general course of his thoughts and occupations may 
 be illustrated by a few extracts from his letters to 
 friends at home. 
 
 To Lord Granville he wrote —
 
 
 . J he . I (arch tonc.ki o-h J tiftcnn C>: Hx/xi 
 
 fi-oiu the. pic hue /'y J '. I. r j Ann n on ,<. '/.;A>'(.
 
 1 887] LETTER TO LORD GRANVILLE. 161 
 
 " I have now been two years and a half in this 
 country, that is to say, one half of my term, and I 
 feel now, and have always felt, like a man engaged in 
 riding a very dangerous steeplechase over a course 
 interspersed with horribly stiff fences and exceedingly 
 wide brooks. So far I have scraped through and over 
 a certain number of them, but I never feel sure that 
 I may not have a cropper at one or other of those that 
 lie before me, and, in any event, one feels that there 
 can be neither rest nor peace nor breathing time until 
 one has got safe past the winning-post at the end of 
 one's five years. As one of Canning's successors, my 
 thoughts naturally turn often to him and the anxious 
 career he had here. Lady Canning's tomb is in the 
 grounds of Barrackpore, a kind of country house 
 about fifteen miles from Calcutta, and scarcely a 
 Sunday passes that I do not read the inscription 
 Canning himself wrote on her monument. Knowing 
 how dearly you loved him, I am sure you will be 
 glad to hear that his memory and his fame are still 
 alive and green in India, and that he is never men- 
 tioned, either by Europeans or natives, without respect 
 and reverence. 
 
 " After our Calcutta season was over, I had a week's 
 holiday, the first for two years and a half, which I 
 employed in tiger-shooting in the Terai. It was too 
 delightful, and we killed six tigers within the week." 
 
 Lord Granville replied — 
 
 " As to your steeplechase, you appear to me to be 
 winning hands down. I see no reason why the rest 
 of the course should be more difficult. I wish you all 
 possible success. I suppose there is a chance of my 
 being alive when you come back loaded with laurels." 
 
 To Lord Arthur Russell — 
 
 "Considering the history of property in Ireland 
 and the degree to which, both under the Encumbered 
 
 VOL. II. M
 
 162 LETTER TO LORD ARTHUR RUSSELL. [ch. v 
 
 Estates Court and the Land Court, its position has 
 been revalidated by Parliament, it would be simply 
 monstrous to leave it to the mercy of a revolutionary 
 convention of Celts. Within my own immediate 
 neighbourhood thousands of acres have during the last 
 thirty years been acquired by Belfast capitalists, that 
 is to say by men whose industry, prudence, and skill 
 have not only enabled them to acquire a considerable 
 amount of private wealth, but to distribute enormous 
 amounts of capital throughout the population of Ulster. 
 All these purchasers have insisted very properly on 
 being furnished with a Parliamentary title to the 
 estates they bought. It was on the faith of this 
 security that they invested their money. With what 
 decency or show of justice can any British Parlia- 
 ment (though it has, I am sorry to say, already made 
 extensive inroads upon the rights thus conveyed) 
 annul or withdraw its guarantees, and allow those 
 to whom it has pledged its word to be robbed both 
 of their land and of their money. 
 
 " But I do not know why I should bother you 
 with home politics instead of telling you about India, 
 though were I to open this chapter, it is difficult to 
 say where I should end. It is a most wonderful and 
 delightful place, and the climate, as distributed to 
 us, quite enchanting and extremely healthy. In fact, 
 both my wife and I have been better since we came 
 here than at any time of our lives, as indeed have 
 my children ; but the work and responsibilities are 
 appalling. Happily when once I have left my desk 
 I do not think of them, otherwise any one in my 
 situation would go distracted. Nor do they trouble 
 me at night, which is the critical period to many men. 
 So far, matters have gone pretty well with us, though 
 the task of administration is becoming every year 
 more difficult and complicated, first on account of the 
 pressure of a foreign government from outside, and 
 secondly from the pressure amongst us of a very 
 able, intelligent, and respectable educated class of
 
 1887] TIGER HUNTING. 163 
 
 natives, who naturally enough consider that they are 
 entitled to a larger share in the administration of 
 their own affairs. 
 
 " Moreover, in one part or another of so vast an 
 area unpleasant incidents are always taking place, so 
 that you have no sooner patched up a hole in one 
 part of the kettle than another shows itself on the 
 opposite side. 
 
 " Burmah, I am happy to say, is really quieting 
 down, so that that business will be fairly well settled 
 within the two years I originally named, though I am 
 afraid that during the course of the hot weather the 
 criminal classes of the country will take advantage of 
 our enforced inactivity to recommence dacoity and the 
 plundering of each other's villages, but by the end of 
 the next cold weather, when we shall be able again 
 to come down on the disturbers of the public peace 
 with renewed force and vigour, our task of pacifica- 
 tion ought to be pretty well complete. . . . 
 
 " I have just had a week's holiday, the first in two 
 years and a half, and have been tiger-shooting in the 
 Nepal Terai. We saw ten and got six, which was 
 very good, and I had the pleasure of knocking over 
 the biggest beast of the lot with a bullet from an 
 Express rifle, though I will not swear I was the first 
 to draw blood, for he was prancing about in the grass 
 for two or three minutes before he came out into the 
 
 open. . . . 
 
 " It may perhaps interest you to know that I 
 console my scanty leisure by learning Persian, which 
 I can now talk fairly well, though I heartily regret 
 having ever begun it. I imagined that all the magnates 
 of India principally spoke Persian, whereas it is only 
 the Mahomedans who use it, and they not very 
 extensively, so that my only reward is the reading 
 of some rather pretty poetry, and listening to the 
 'Arabian Nights,' a story from which is told to me 
 every day by a learned policeman who accompanies 
 me in the course of my daily constitutional."
 
 164 LETTERS HOME. [ch. v 
 
 To Lady Russell — 
 
 " And now what am I to tell you ? Politics are 
 out of the question, for though they are fearfully 
 interesting to me individually, Indian politics are 
 hardly a fit subject for a letter to a lady. But, outside 
 of politics, any one in my position has no existence, 
 as they absorb his thoughts and attention morning, 
 noon, and night. Even if this were not the case, I do 
 not think the social gossip of Simla or Calcutta would 
 amuse you, except, indeed, you may like to know 
 about a dress which my wife wore at a fancy ball 
 lately given by Sir Frederick Roberts, which was 
 a great success. Indeed, I never saw her look younger 
 or more lovely. She was robed in powder, diamonds, 
 silver and grey, and in her hand she carried a silver 
 staff" with the magic number 25 in Roman figures on 
 the top of it. Can you guess what she represented? 
 A silver wedding — an event which we celebrate this 
 year. Don't you think it was a good idea ? . . . 
 
 " How little any of us thought, dear Lady Russell, 
 when I took that happy journey with you to Vienna, 
 that I also would some day be an ambassador, 
 and above all things a colleague of Gortchakoff's. 
 Amongst the many thoughts which the prosecution 
 of my public career has suggested, there has been 
 none more constantly present to my mind than the 
 reflection that I have not done discredit to the man 
 who first gave me a start in official life, and to whom 
 I am indebted for all the opportunities of distinction 
 that have since fallen in my way." 
 
 The separation of parents from their children, 
 which casts a shadow over so much of Anglo-Indian 
 life, was a recurrent trouble to Lord and Lady 
 Dufferin. To his eldest daughter (now Lady Helen 
 Munro-Ferguson) her father wrote, while she was in 
 England, many letters overflowing with affection, 
 kindly humour, and earnest solicitude for her welfare.
 
 1 887] LADY DUFFERIN'S INVESTITURE. 165 
 
 " It is always such a delight to me when the day 
 comes round for writing you a letter, though it only 
 too often happens that I cannot begin until just before 
 dinner, but what are the most luxuriant feasts in 
 comparison to a chat with one's dear child? . . . 
 
 "I am perfectly frantic at the treatment I have 
 received at the hands of Madame Tussaud. To enter 
 those halls, especially as a central figure, is the surest 
 sign an Englishman can have that he has become 
 famous ; but to think of all the lovely ladies who will 
 have passed in front of my effigy and have gone away 
 with the conviction that my hair is snow-white, is 
 truly humiliating. I think that the least you could 
 have done would have been to summon the authorities 
 and insist on their purchasing another wig. . . . 
 
 "And now I must try and describe in befitting 
 language the august ceremony over which I presided 
 the other day. As you know, the Shah has given your 
 mother the Grand Cordon of the Sun of Persia, and to 
 do her further honour he ordered his Consul-General 
 to proceed from Bombay to Simla with it and a letter 
 from his royal self. I accordingly held a durbar, 
 with the peacock's feathers and all the other parapher- 
 nalia, and to add to the solemnity of the scene I 
 ordered the Foreign Secretary to appear in uniform, 
 as indeed we all did. Then with great majesty and 
 decorum William Beresford and Cooper formed a pro- 
 cession with the Persian between them, and marched 
 up the centre of the room to the edge of the carpet, 
 where with some difficulty the Mirza contrived to get 
 the riband over your mother's head without pulling 
 her hair down, and handed her the Star and the 
 Jewel. . . . 
 
 " I have got your letter of August 25, and I can 
 well understand that having to make up your mind as 
 to whether you would come or stay must have been 
 very disagreeable to you ; but still, as our one object 
 was that you should do exactly as you liked and what 
 pleased you best, we had no other alternative than
 
 166 LETTERS HOME. i[CH. v 
 
 to leave you the choice. But do not think that 
 we regarded with anything but dismay and regret 
 the thought of being without you for another year. 
 I cannot tell you what different places both Simla 
 and Calcutta have felt since you left, and with what 
 an ill-grace I have made up my mind to go for another 
 twelve months without a daughter who is every day 
 becoming a greater and a greater joy to me. . . . 
 
 "This is a line to welcome you to India. You 
 cannot imagine how my heart flies out to meet you, 
 and I am beside myself with delight at the thought of 
 being with you at Allahabad." 
 
 Next year, when two of his children went home, 
 he writes to his eldest son — 
 
 "Alas, they left us this morning. We went 
 down to the boat to see them off, and after bidding 
 them good-bye on board, we adjourned to the wharf, 
 and from thence watched the steamer slowly extri- 
 cating herself from the impediments of the channel. 
 Your mother was very much upset, and we shall all 
 of us miss them dreadfully, especially at breakfast, 
 where it was such a delight to me to find them 
 every morning." 
 
 Robert Browning had been one of the poets whose 
 verses, made in honour of the lady to whom Helen's 
 Tower was dedicated, were inscribed on the walls of 
 its upper chamber.* In September 1887 Lord Dufferin 
 wrote to him — 
 
 " One of the two great happinesses of my life has 
 been my mother's love and the being able to love her 
 in return with such a complete conviction of her being 
 worthy of all the adoration I could pay her, and a 
 great deal more. To preserve her memory and the 
 
 * See vol. i. p. 144.
 
 1 887] ROBERT BROWNING'S POEM. 167 
 
 recollection of what she was has been one of my most 
 constant efforts, and from very early days I envied 
 Cowper the power he possessed of hanging up against 
 the walls of time so beautiful a portrait of his own 
 parent ; but thanks to you, to your kindness, and to 
 your genius, I have the satisfaction of knowing that 
 so long as the English language lasts, as delightful 
 and as true an image as has ever been created of any 
 woman will continue to preserve the memory of my 
 mother to the most distant ages, — and what could any 
 one desire more than this ? The thought of your kind- 
 ness and of what you have done for me has been 
 constantly present to my mind during the many years 
 that have passed since you wrote your beautiful 
 sonnet* on Helen's Tower. It now happens that I 
 am printing some copies of a journal which my mother 
 kept during the few months preceding her death, and 
 written with the view of comforting me after she was 
 gone. . . . There is nothing very special in what she 
 writes, but it throws a light upon the simplicity and 
 the unselfishness of her nature, and I have thought 
 that my children might like to have this memorial of 
 her. At the same time it occurred to me that I could 
 not give you a better proof of my deep sense of grati- 
 tude than by sending you these sacred pages, if for 
 
 * " Who hears of Helen's Tower, may dream perchance 
 How the Greek beauty from the Scasan Gate 
 Gazed on old friends unanimous in hate, 
 Death-doom'd because of her fair countenance. 
 
 " Hearts would leap otherwise at thy advance, 
 Lady to whom this Tower is consecrate ! 
 Like hers, thy face once made all eyes elate, 
 Yet, unlike hers, was blessed by every glance. 
 
 " The Tower of Hate is outworn, far and strange ; 
 A transitory shame of long ago, 
 It dies into the sand from which it sprang ; 
 But thine, Love's rock-built Tower, shall fear no change ; 
 God's Self laid stable earth's foundations so, 
 When all the morning stars together sang." 
 
 Robert Browning.
 
 168 ROBERT BROWNING'S LETTER. [ch. v 
 
 no other reason than as evidence of my desire to take 
 you into my inmost confidence." 
 
 Robert Browning answered — 
 
 " I have a difficulty indeed in finding words to fully 
 express what I feel on receiving your letter and the 
 Diary ; probably the simplest and best way will 
 be to assure you that I have rarely been so gratified 
 and so affected as on this occasion. I was only privi- 
 leged to see and know a little of your admirable 
 mother, but that little was sufficient to give me the 
 impression you allowed me to put, however im- 
 perfectly, on record for the sake of others less fortu- 
 nate than myself. That you, most fortunate of all in 
 a happiest of lifelong experiences, should have so 
 kindly taken the will for the deed is almost as sur- 
 prising as delightful ; but that you go on to entrust 
 me with that truly ' Sacred ' Diary seems a piece of 
 goodness which I can no more characterize than 
 adequately thank you for. Had the Diary come from 
 a person altogether unknown to me, I should have 
 recognized it as one of the most beautiful and touch- 
 ing revelations of a devoted soul that I was ever 
 permitted to participate in; but it supplements and 
 confirms all that was conjectural in my belief, and 
 really almost seems to lift me into a proximity other- 
 wise impossible to one removed, in the main, from 
 the opportunities of a personal intimacy which would 
 have been precious indeed." 
 
 Everything that reminded Lord Dufferin of his 
 mother revived the affection with which he cherished 
 her memory. To Mrs. Ward he writes — 
 
 " How good and kind of you it was to send me such 
 a large packet of my mother's letters, and how like 
 you to have kept them : but you must not imagine 
 that I am going to take them from you. As soon as 
 they have been printed I will return the originals to
 
 1 887] HELEN LADY DUFFERIN'S LETTER. 169 
 
 you, and not only so, but you shall have a printed 
 copy of them in order that you may glance at them 
 from time to time at your leisure in a form that will 
 not weary your eyes or try your nerves. I have 
 already had a good deal of my mother's corre- 
 spondence printed, including the first letter she ever 
 wrote to her own mother after her marriage. It was 
 written during her honeymoon trip and is dated from 
 Paris. Then there are others from Florence de- 
 scribing me as a baby ; and so they go on, unfolding 
 her whole life in the most marvellous and touching 
 manner. Apart from her wit, sprightliness, discern- 
 ment, and good sense, what stands out in highest 
 relief is the extreme tenderness of her affection. I do 
 not suppose there was ever a human being who had 
 such a power of loving. Indeed this passionate ecstasy 
 of affection extended with undiminished force to all 
 her dumb pets, whether horses, birds, or dogs, and the 
 fact of its embracing so many objects in no degree seems 
 to have diminished either its depth or intensity." 
 
 The letter subjoined refers to the collection of 
 books in Helen's Tower. 
 To Miss Emily Lawless — 
 
 July 13, 1887. — "How very good and kind of you 
 to send me your beautiful book ! Probably you little 
 know how great a favour you have conferred, for it 
 so happens that I have made it a chief object all 
 my life long to collect books given to me by their 
 authors, for a special library which I am forming. 
 As a consequence, I have now about four hundred 
 volumes, all of them arrayed in splendid robes, and 
 each notable for containing something or another by 
 the hand of the writer, either a friendly inscription, 
 as in the case of your book, or a verse or two or 
 a characteristic sketch. The library is called the 
 1 Helen's Tower Library,' and if, as is the fate of 
 all such collections, at some time or another it is 
 eventually dispersed, every number of it, and
 
 170 CORRESPONDENCE, [ch. v 
 
 ' Hurrish ' not the least, will be known and prized 
 by the bibliomaniacs of future generations." 
 
 A letter to a friend in Canada proves the abiding 
 interest taken by Lord Dufferin in the politics of that 
 country. 
 
 July 1 8, 1887. — "It gave me great pleasure to see 
 in how noble a manner the Canadians rallied round 
 Lord Lansdowne when that wretched Irishman came 
 to trouble the peace of Toronto. Lord Lansdowne is 
 one of the best, most generous, and wisest landlords 
 in the whole of Ireland, and nothing could be more 
 unfair than to represent him in unfavourable colours. 
 However, his adversaries have done him infinitely 
 more good than harm, and have given an opportunity 
 to the Canadians to show how much they respect 
 and esteem him. ... As I am a faithful and constant 
 student of Grip* I still keep a pretty good hold of 
 the progress of events in Canada and of the principal 
 events that are attracting public attention, and I am 
 glad to see from their frequent reappearance in 
 Grips pages that all my old friends and ministers are 
 still at the head of their respective parties, and as 
 active as ever in promoting the interests of the 
 country." 
 
 On leaving Simla in October Lord Dufferin wrote 
 to the Secretary of State — 
 
 "On the whole I think the government of India 
 may be very well contented with the work it has 
 accomplished during its sojourn in the hills. Though 
 it is not our legislative season, we have passed two 
 important Land Bills for the Punjab ; we have created 
 a University at Allahabad, and brought Oude under 
 the jurisdiction of the High Court of the North-West 
 Provinces ; we have completed all our arrangements 
 for the civil administration of Burmah, including the 
 
 * The Canadian weekly comic paper.
 
 1887-8] REVIEW OF WORK DONE. 171 
 
 Ruby Mine ' Regulation ' ; we have worked up our 
 final plans for the frontier fortifications and for the 
 harbour defences, and have got most of the works 
 themselves well under way ; we have thrashed out 
 pretty completely the various aspects of the Afghan 
 question, political, financial, and strategical ; we have 
 constructed a mobilization scheme of a very minute 
 and effectual character; and we have issued a good 
 many important resolutions, especially one on Sanita- 
 tion. There is also another circumstance for which 
 I think we may take some credit. Within the last 
 few months the tone of the native press has become 
 far less offensive, or at all events far less hostile to 
 the supreme government than was the case some time 
 ago, thanks to the opportunities I was given when I 
 was last on tour of putting myself into communica- 
 tion with all the principal persons of influence in 
 different parts of India representing the educated 
 section of the community ; and what is equally im- 
 portant, I have been able to establish friendly per- 
 sonal relations with all the leading chiefs, to whom I 
 now write pretty constantly as to personal friends." 
 
 The Viceroy was now bound for Sinde and 
 Beluchistan, on the western frontiers of India. At 
 Karachi, the seaport near the mouths of the Indus 
 river, he examined the harbour and the forts that 
 were building for its protection. Thence he crossed 
 the Sinde desert and was carried by the railway up 
 out of the valley of the Indus to the bare, cold, wind- 
 swept plateau of Pishin, which extends from the head 
 of the passes to the Amran range of hills on the Afghan 
 border. Quetta, the British fortress that guards this 
 frontier, commanding the main roads leading from 
 South Afghanistan toward India, lies not far within 
 the line of these hills, from which the distance to 
 Kandahar is about seventy miles.
 
 172 JOURNEY TO BELUCHISTAN. [ch. v 
 
 To Sir G. Bowen, January 8, 1888, Lord Dufferin 
 wrote — 
 
 "We travelled for a whole day through a most 
 weird and extraordinary country — high mountains, 
 glens, and gorges without a blade of grass. In one 
 place the back of the mountain is broken right across 
 as a stick would be broken on a man's knee, and 
 through this gorge the railway is carried out of one 
 valley into the parallel one. The railway now goes 
 to the foot of the Amran range, which is our extreme 
 western frontier. We slept in the train on the night 
 of our arrival, and the next morning I cantered up 
 to the top of the ridge, getting there for a late 
 breakfast. The sight looking towards Kandahar was 
 glorious. At our feet there stretched a great scarlet 
 sea of sand, with black islands of basalt rising up 
 here and there in the midst of it. Beyond were the 
 blue hills that encircle Kandahar. It made me feel 
 a little like Moses on Pisgah, though I do not know 
 that Sir Frederick Roberts, who was with me, will 
 be the Joshua to descend into the promised land." 
 
 To Sir Harry Verney — 
 
 January 6, 1888. — "We have now determined to 
 drive a tunnel through the (Amran) mountain, so 
 that we may be in a position to reach Kandahar in 
 a fortnight should it be thought advisable to do so. 
 In the mean time Quetta is to be converted into a 
 regular arsenal, fully provided with stores and all 
 the material of war. It is a tremendously strong 
 position, its front being protected for miles by an 
 impassable barrier of rock, except for a short interval 
 which will be secured by a line of redoubts. We 
 went up to Pishin by what is known as the Hurnai 
 route, and descended by the Bolan pass. The Bolan 
 line was constructed under my auspices at the time 
 when England was putting her ships into the water 
 and calling out her reserves."
 
 i888] PESHAWAR AND THE FRONTIER. 173 
 
 Descending again to the Indian plains, the party 
 went northward to Peshawar, whence Lord Dufferin 
 rode up the Khaibar pass to its highest point at Lundi 
 Kotal, and looked down on the valley of the Kabul 
 river, that gradually widens out westward to Jela- 
 habad. All the wild folk of the frontier tribes came 
 down to see the Viceroy, who also received their 
 headmen in a great Durbar at Peshawar. From this 
 far north-west corner of the British dominion — where 
 a mere line separates a British district, with its police, 
 schools, laws, and magistrates, from the barbarous 
 anarchy of fierce clans in a state of perpetual warfare 
 — Lord Dufferin returned into the very different 
 atmosphere of Calcutta, to a softer climate and people, 
 halting at the chief Indian cities on his route. 
 
 " I have now " (he wrote) " been to the eastern and 
 to the western extremities of my empire, from the one 
 side looking down upon China, and from the other 
 upon what may be almost called Russia." 
 
 And after the termination of his far-western travel, 
 he found himself again on the official treadmill, per- 
 forming the daily rounds of perpetual minuting and 
 correspondence. 
 
 To Sir William Gregory — 
 
 " A thousand thanks for your charming letter of 
 December i. You cannot think how I value your 
 correspondence. You always tell me exactly what 
 I want to know, and in so pleasant and cheerful a 
 manner that it is like a ray of light poured into my 
 dull room, where hour after hour I sit with my nose 
 to the grindstone. It is an odd thing to say, but 
 dulness is certainly the characteristic of an Indian 
 Viceroy's existence. All the people who surround 
 him are younger than himself; he has no companions
 
 174 LETTER TO SIR W. GREGORY. [ch. v 
 
 or playfellows; even the pretty women who might 
 condescend to cheer him it is better for him to keep 
 at a distance ; and, except occasionally, the business 
 he has to deal with is of a very uninteresting and 
 terre-a-terre description, for, though he would make a 
 great mistake if he drowned himself too much in 
 details, it is well he should know everything that goes 
 on; and the examination of even very insignificant 
 questions is forced upon him by disagreements 
 between the Departments, in reference to which he 
 is the only arbiter."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 From a letter written to Sir William Gregory in 
 October 1887 it appears that Lord Dufferin was 
 then contemplating resignation of the Governor 
 Generalship before his full term should have expired, 
 and a return to diplomacy. 
 
 " At the conclusion of your letter you ask me 
 whether I would like to go to Rome. It is rather an 
 odd coincidence, but it so happens that the other day 
 I wrote to Lord Salisbury, and told him that if in a 
 year's time there happened to be an embassy at his 
 disposal I would be willing to take a four years' turn 
 in India instead of five, as I found it was such a 
 tremendous disadvantage being separated from my 
 children just at the time it was most necessary I should 
 be near them in order to start them on their respective 
 careers, and I happened to mention that I should be 
 very well content to go to Rome. Italy is the land 
 of my birth, and having done a considerable stroke 
 of work in my day, I should not at all mind such 
 an honourable retirement as that which Rome would 
 offer, though of course I should prefer Paris, as being 
 both nearer home, and perhaps more interesting. As 
 you say, however, Rome has lately become a very 
 important centre of affairs. But I was careful to add 
 that I had no earthly right to expect any further 
 favours from the government, having had more than 
 my share of important offices, and there being many 
 
 175
 
 176 APPOINTMENT TO ROME. [ch. vi 
 
 others whom I dare say the Foreign Office would be 
 anxious to accommodate." 
 
 Early in February 1888 Lord Salisbury telegraphed 
 to him that his appointment to the Roman Embassy 
 would be made, that Lord Lansdowne would be his 
 successor in India, and that he should take up his 
 diplomatic office before the year's end. In the letter 
 with which Lord Dufferin replied he glances back 
 over the course of affairs during the first three years 
 of his Viceroyalty. 
 
 February 5, 1888. — " I received your telegram about 
 Rome yesterday, and I am just in time before the 
 post goes out to thank you for the great consideration 
 you have shown me in the matter. I am delighted 
 with the arrangement in every respect. I think 
 Lansdowne will make an excellent Viceroy. Indeed 
 when I bade him good-bye before he went to Canada 
 I prophesied that Calcutta would be his ultimate 
 destination. I shall be quite ready to leave in Novem- 
 ber, and by that time I shall have completed four 
 years' service in India, which is as long a term as 
 most of my immediate predecessors have remained. 
 I have had a good many difficulties to contend with, 
 especially on account of the great disturbance im- 
 ported into our finances by the fall in silver, which 
 has made me a poorer Viceroy by three millions a 
 year than I was when I arrived in the country, but 
 otherwise I hope that my administration has been 
 fairly successful. 
 
 " We have now thoroughly subdued Burmah, and 
 though for many a long day robberies and dacoities 
 on a small scale will continue, there is no longer a 
 shadow of resistance in any part of the province. 
 All our frontier railways have been completed. Our 
 five principal sea-ports are being fortified. The army 
 has not only been increased, and a Reserve initiated, 
 but the condition of the native soldier has been.
 
 1 888] INDIAN RETROSPECT. 177 
 
 greatly improved. The most vulnerable part of our 
 north-west frontier has been rendered inexpugnable, 
 and a mobilization scheme has been worked out and 
 partially executed, which will enable us to make any 
 forward movement that may be necessary with 
 rapidity and precision. Thanks to your own skilful 
 management, the Russo-Afghan demarcation has been 
 completed, and Russia herself seems to have assumed 
 for the present a less aggressive attitude in Turkestan. 
 Our relations with the Amir are excellent, and by our 
 recent settlement with Ayub Khan* we have gathered 
 up all the possible pretenders to the Afghan throne 
 in the hollow of our hand. The chiefs of the inde- 
 pendent tribes that rule the country between us and 
 Afghanistan have recently visited me at Calcutta, 
 as well as the two sons of the ruler of Chitral ; 
 and we are making arrangements for placing our 
 relations with all these wild men upon a more 
 intimate and effective footing. We have organized 
 an Intelligence Department for the whole of India. 
 Two Commissions, one a Retrenchment Commis- 
 sion, and the other a Civil Service Commission, 
 have thoroughly eviscerated those two important 
 subjects. We have passed a gigantic Land Bill for 
 Bengal, and got through some very satisfactory 
 land legislation in Oudh and the Punjab, as well 
 as in the south of India. We have given the North- 
 West Provinces a University and a Legislative 
 Council. We have done a good deal for the Ma- 
 homedans in different ways, and have put their 
 pilgrim traffic on an excellent basis. Our relations 
 with all the native states are very friendly, and the 
 animosity which at one time existed between the 
 Anglo-Indians and the advanced natives has con- 
 siderably calmed down, while the native Press 
 during the last year, though now and then some 
 
 * The Afghan prince who had been the Amir's rival for the Kabul 
 throne. He had been defeated and driven into exile ; and was now 
 under surveillance in India. 
 
 VOL. II. N
 
 178 PROSPECT OF RETURN. [ch. vi 
 
 insignificant paper indulges in a vicious or disloyal 
 attack, has become more reasonable, and less abusive 
 of the government. This is all the more creditable to 
 them, considering that on two occasions I have been 
 forced to add to the taxes of the country, one of them 
 being an income-tax. 
 
 " The foregoing is certainly not a very brilliant 
 record as compared with what has been achieved by 
 some of my predecessors, but I never had any am- 
 bition to distinguish my reign by a sensational policy, 
 believing as I did (and subsequent experience has 
 only confirmed the conviction) that in the present 
 condition of affairs it is best for the country that the 
 administration should be driven at a low and steady 
 pressure. Under these circumstances I think I can 
 come home with a clear conscience, especially as the 
 general situation of affairs is prosperous and quiet. 
 The prospect of going to Rome is extremely agree- 
 able to me on many accounts, and I am delighted to 
 think that I shall be again serving under your im- 
 mediate orders, and that I shall have the pleasure 
 of renewing my correspondence with you. 
 
 " In my telegram I have ventured to ask you, when 
 the announcement of Lord Lansdowne's succession 
 to the Indian Viceroyalty is made, that you would 
 kindly allow it to be understood that I am not re- 
 turning home through any difference with the govern- 
 ment, or in consequence of having lost your confidence. 
 The fact is every day I am feeling more acutely that 
 I have no right to sacrifice the interests of my children 
 either to my ambition or to any other consideration, 
 and undoubtedly my being here is a great disadvantage 
 both to those of them who are with us, and to those 
 who are in England — to the one that they should be 
 in India, and to the other that they should be separated 
 from their parents." 
 
 A week later, when the news had been published 
 in India and England, and confirmed by the Viceroy's
 
 18883 RETIREMENT ANNOUNCED. 179 
 
 speech in the Legislative Council, the coming change 
 of Viceroys was the universal topic at Calcutta and 
 elsewhere. From his friends at home letters of regret 
 on public grounds, and of satisfaction at the prospect 
 of seeing him again at home, began to pour in ; while 
 in the world at large there was much curiosity as to 
 Lord Dufferin's reasons for curtailing by one year the 
 ordinary term of a Governor Generalship ; although 
 it may be remarked that none of his three immediate 
 predecessors had served the full period. But Lord 
 Dufferin's intention to depart had been announced 
 within very little more than three years from the date 
 of his arrival ; and Lady Dufiferin notes in her Journal 
 that " everybody talks as if we were going to-morrow, 
 whereas we really have nine months more to stay." 
 
 In regard to the motives that decided him to leave, 
 they are given in the subjoined extracts from letters 
 to Mr. J. A. Godley— 
 
 From Lord Dufiferin — 
 
 February 13, 1888. — "I do not imagine that my 
 desire to go home a year sooner than the expiration 
 of my natural term will have surprised you. Four 
 years is about the average time that my immediate 
 predecessors have remained. The country is quiet, 
 prosperous, and contented, so I think I can lay down 
 this heavy burden with a clear conscience. The fact 
 is, my being away from Europe at this time is very 
 disadvantageous to my children, both to those who 
 are here and to those who are at home. My second 
 and third sons are just at the age when they most 
 require their parents' supervision ; another reason is 
 the obvious degree to which her present life is begin- 
 ning to tell upon my wife's health. It is not that the 
 climate does not suit her ; thank God we both of 
 us have had excellent health since we came to India. 
 I did my best to induce her to go home this cold
 
 180 THE REASONS. [ch. vi 
 
 weather with her two girls, but she absolutely refused 
 to leave me, so that all these considerations combined 
 have led to my taking the step I mention. No one 
 can lay down so great an office without a pang of 
 regret, but I had no right to sacrifice to my own 
 ambition the interests of so many who are dependent 
 on me ; and I have not even the excuse of being able 
 to pretend that my continued presence here was a 
 public necessity. There are no critical matters on 
 hand, and a clever and experienced man like Lans- 
 downe will be able to take up all the current business 
 without difficulty or inconvenience." 
 
 From Sir D. Wallace — 
 
 February 14, 1888. — " The great theme of interest for 
 the moment is the announcement that the Viceroy 
 retires at the end of this year. I need not explain to 
 you the private reasons which have induced him to 
 take this step, but I may tell you that one of the 
 current explanations is entirely devoid of foundation 
 — I mean the idea that his health has given way. In 
 reality he has never felt better in his life, or more 
 capable of work. You remember that Stevenson used 
 to say when he was building the Menai Tubular 
 Bridge, ' I go to bed at night with those gigantic tubes 
 and I get up with them in the morning.' Now if a 
 Viceroy did that sort of thing he would never get up 
 at all, for the cares and responsibilities of his office 
 would smother him, but happily for Lord Dufferin he 
 has an entirely different temperament and seems to 
 throw off his cares when the time for rest comes as 
 easily as he does his great coat. Nor is he ever 
 worried and made fidgety by heavy responsibilities. 
 Indeed he often reminds me of what I have heard said 
 of the late General MacGregor by those who had been 
 on service with him — ' To see Mac perfectly cool and 
 at his best you must see him under a heavy fire.' 
 
 To Lord Cross, then Secretary of State for India, 
 Lord Dufferin wrote —
 
 1 888] INDIA TRANQUIL. 181 
 
 February 13, 1888. — "Of course if there were any 
 critical question pending, or if my continuance at my 
 post were in any way necessary to the public service, 
 I would sacrifice every other consideration to my duty ; 
 but the country is really prosperous, quiet, and con- 
 tented ; there is no big matter on hand that requires 
 to be carried through by the same mind that initiated 
 it, nor any current business which an able and intelli- 
 gent man like Lansdowne will not be able to take up 
 with perfect ease and convenience." 
 
 To Lord Northbrook — 
 
 March 13, 1888 — " Many thanks for your kind letter 
 of the 10th. You can well understand that there is no 
 person whose good opinion I value more highly than 
 yours, and it has been a great comfort to me to learn 
 that my administration of this country which you know 
 so well, and in which you continue to take so great 
 an interest, has on the whole met with your approval. 
 One is so busy here morning, noon, and night, and 
 has to turn so instantly from one subject to another, 
 that one has not time even to ask one's self how far one 
 is doing well or not, or what opinions may be held 
 at home of one's proceedings, consequently the indul- 
 gent communications, both public and private, which 
 I have received from the India Office and from persons 
 like yourself, have come upon me as a surprise, though 
 a very pleasant one. I knew of course that I was 
 doing my best, and hoped that at the end the balance 
 would be found on the right side of the account, but 
 I was quite uncertain whether other people would see 
 the matter in the same light." 
 
 To the Earl of Lytton — 
 
 April 20, 1888. — " Political life in England has long 
 ceased to be attractive to me, and Rome is the place 
 I myself suggested, for it will suit me better than any 
 other post that could be named. I have arrived at that
 
 182 FAREWELL ADDRESSES. [ch. vi 
 
 time of life when one is not ambitious either of distinc- 
 tion or of very hard work, though on the other hand I 
 should hate to be idle, so that I hope to find in Rome 
 the status which exactly suits my views and tempera- 
 ment. Certainly not the least of my pleasures will be 
 to compare notes occasionally with you in respect of 
 our several charges." 
 
 To the Queen he wrote — 
 
 " It is with infinite reluctance that Lord Dufferin 
 lays down his great office, but he is the oldest Viceroy 
 that has ever administered the government of India, 
 and he was beginning to be afraid that another year 
 might find him less capable of hard work and less 
 energetic than it is desirable your Majesty's Repre- 
 sentative in this country should be. Even Lord 
 Lawrence was only fifty-eight when he returned to 
 England, whereas Lord Dufferin will be sixty-three 
 before he is again admitted to kiss the hand of the 
 Queen-Empress." 
 
 On March 23, before a very large assemblage in 
 the town hall of Calcutta, farewell addresses were 
 presented to Lord and Lady Dufferin, whose departure 
 from India had been announced for the following 
 November, and who were then leaving Calcutta for 
 the upper provinces and Simla. Lady Dufferin was 
 very heartily congratulated upon the success of her 
 exertions to provide medical aid for the women * of 
 India; and the thanks of the Indian community were 
 tendered to her. 
 
 The Viceroy, in acknowledging the address read 
 to him, reviewed the events that had marked the 
 period of his Governor Generalship, and in speaking 
 of the administrative and legislative work that had 
 been accomplished, he acknowledged cordially the 
 
 * See Appendix, p. 321
 
 1 888] THE VICEROY'S EEPLY. 183 
 
 assistance that he had received from his colleagues in 
 Council and from public servants of all ranks in India. 
 Turning to foreign affairs he explained the policy and 
 action of the government in regard to Afghanistan 
 and to Burmah ; and he pronounced a warm and well- 
 merited eulogy upon the loyalty and patriotism of the 
 Indian princes, who had spontaneously placed their 
 resources, their troops, and their treasure at the 
 service of the government of India for employment, 
 at need, in the defence of the empire. 
 
 Toward the conclusion of his speech he said — 
 
 " What can I say to you, Europeans and Natives 
 alike, but this : — Whatever you do, live in unity and 
 concord and good fellowship with each other. Fate 
 has united both races in a community of interests, 
 and neither can do without the other. The rule 01 
 England maintains peace and justice within the borders 
 of India, and secures its safety from outside dangers, 
 but that rule cannot be exercised either effectually or 
 acceptably without the loyalty and assistance of the 
 native races. Therefore again I say, co-operate with 
 each other in a generous and genial spirit. 1 confess 
 I would rather see the Europeans, the Hindus, and 
 Mahomedans united in criticizing the government, 
 than that the Hindus and the Mahomedans, the Euro- 
 peans and the Natives, should become estranged from 
 each other by unworthy prejudices or animosities 
 of race and religion. God forbid that the British 
 government should ever seek to maintain its rule in 
 India by fomenting race-hatreds among its subjects. 
 ... To those amongst my native friends who, imbued 
 with the political literature of the West, are seeking 
 to apply to India the lessons they have learnt from 
 the history of constitutional countries, I would say, 
 pursue your objects, which no one can pronounce to 
 be unworthy, with temper, with moderation, and with 
 a due perception of the peculiar circumstances of your
 
 184 LUCKNOW. [ch. VI 
 
 native land. Found your claims, whatever they may 
 be, upon what is real and true, and not upon what is 
 baseless and fantastic. . . . 
 
 " I shall never forget my friends in this country. 
 It will always be my earnest endeavour, if I ever 
 again take part in public life in England, to further 
 the interests of my Indian fellow-subjects, and to 
 consider in a sympathetic and liberal spirit whatever 
 demands they may prefer. The English empire in 
 India is, indeed, the marvel of the world ; and, en- 
 couraged by your approbation, I can carry home with 
 me the conviction that, in the opinion of my Anglo- 
 Indian countrymen, and of my Indian fellow-subjects, 
 I have done nothing during the four years of my 
 anxious rule to shake its stability, to dim the glory of 
 its majesty, or to tarnish that reputation for humanity, 
 justice, and truth which is its crowning and most 
 precious attribute." 
 
 A week later, after some days at Barrackpore, the 
 Viceregal party travelled northward to Lucknow, 
 where an evening assembly was held in their house 
 by the Talukdars of Oudh, who represent the most 
 important association of large landholders in India. 
 Lord Dufferin, in replying to their address, touched 
 upon what had been done in his time for the united 
 provinces, the establishment of the Allahabad uni- 
 versity and of a Legislative Council, the passing of 
 the Oudh Rent Act, and the development of municipal 
 institutions. From Lucknow Lord Dufferin made an 
 excursion in pursuit of tigers, and by the middle of 
 April they were all again at Simla. 
 
 To Mr. Godley he writes— 
 
 June 21, 1888.— "Lansdowne is certainly fortunate 
 in getting a six months' holiday in England between 
 his two Governorships. I have never had such good 
 luck. I was packed off to Russia within six weeks
 
 1 888] LETTERS. 185 
 
 after having returned from Canada. Then I only got 
 a couple of months between St. Petersburg and 
 Constantinople, and less than two months between 
 Constantinople and India; that is to say, scarcely six 
 months in sixteen years, and now I have to go straight 
 to Rome before getting a holiday in England. Still 
 I have not the slightest right to complain, for few 
 men have had so smooth and prosperous and happy 
 a public career, and I wish it was all to come over 
 again." 
 
 To Mr. Hepburn — 
 
 June 22, 1888. — "Your letter arrived on the morning 
 of the 21st. I do not know which touched me most, 
 that you should have written it, or that you should 
 always take so much pains, no matter where I am, 
 that the dear missive should reach me on the exact 
 day. Alas ! alas ! these anniversaries are getting less 
 and less welcome and remind me more and more of 
 the necessity of setting my house in order. Indeed 
 it is the sense of this latter obligation that has con- 
 tributed to bring me home before the conclusion of 
 my term, for there are a great number of things 
 connected with my property, and also with my 
 mother's correspondence, that I wish to get arranged 
 before the curtain drops. . . . 
 
 " I shall carry back with me many happy remini- 
 scences, a great deal of added experience, and some 
 interesting records and souvenirs ; amongst the latter 
 a very fine collection of miniatures of the native Princes 
 which they have sent me in exchange for portraits of 
 Lady Dufferin and myself, which I transmitted to 
 them, on porcelain. As I think I have already told 
 you I go straight to Rome, where my family, the 
 faithless creatures, drop me in order to hasten to 
 London, in time for the season, though they have 
 another very good excuse for their base conduct in 
 the fact that the Embassy is absolutely uninhabitable 
 at this moment for want of furniture. Having
 
 186 SIMLA. [CH. vi 
 
 acquired the Persian tongue I am now studying 
 Italian. 
 
 " By-the-by you ask me if I am not an Oxford 
 Doctor. This honour was granted to me when I came 
 home from Canada, and I have now just been made a 
 Doctor of Cambridge. Indeed few people — consider- 
 ing, as you unkindly remark, that I never took my 
 Bachelor's degree, though I beg to remind you I 
 passed the examination — are more Donnish than my- 
 self, for not only am I a Doctor of Harvard University 
 in America, and of the Laval and Toronto Universities 
 in Canada, and of Oriental Learning in the Lahore 
 University, but also I have been made Chancellor of 
 the Royal University of Ireland. I beg therefore 
 that the simple Master of Arts will henceforth treat 
 me with proper respect, even though from long habit 
 and ancient love I should subscribe myself his affec- 
 tionate old friend, 
 
 Dufferin." 
 
 Life at Simla has its festive, not to say frivolous, 
 side ; yet hard work goes on there uninterruptedly ; 
 laws are promulgated, as of old time, from the high 
 mountains to the people in the plains below; and 
 several declarations of war have issued from those 
 serene altitudes. " Our mutual letters," Lord Dufferin 
 wrote to Lord Cross, "are becoming shorter and 
 shorter, for happy is the country without annals;" 
 but when nothing stirs in India the frontiers can 
 usually be relied upon to provide interesting intelli- 
 gence. For a long time past the tribes of the Black 
 mountain, upon the Punjab border, had been giving 
 trouble by raiding our villages and killing or carrying 
 off our subjects. At last, in June 1888 they attacked 
 a small British detachment which had incautiously 
 approached the boundary, and two English officers, 
 Major Battye and Captain Urmston, were killed in
 
 1 888] AFGHAN AFFAIRS. 187 
 
 the conflict. The government of India reluctantly 
 sanctioned an expedition ; which was postponed, how- 
 ever, until October, when a force of 8000 men crossed 
 the border and chastised the unruly clansmen. Then 
 in August a serious revolt against the Amir broke 
 out in Afghanistan. Ishak Khan, the Amir's cousin, 
 who was governing the province of northern Afghani- 
 stan, and whose attitude had latterly been unsatisfac- 
 tory, received a summons to Kabul, ostensibly for a 
 discussion of pending administrative questions. To 
 accept or decline such ambiguous invitations is equally 
 perilous in such circumstances. Ishak Khan knew how 
 a visit of this kind usually ends, and the Amir's message 
 was peremptory. Like other statesmen of repute, he 
 had three courses open to him ; he might go, or make 
 dilatory excuses, or revolt openly ; and he chose the 
 third as on the whole safest. He declared himself 
 the rightful Amir, mustered his adherents, and very 
 nearly defeated Abdurrahman's forces in the battle 
 that ensued in September; but he was finally routed, 
 and fled across the border into Russian territory. 
 The Amir, nevertheless, had been so much alarmed 
 that he had urgently pressed the Viceroy to push 
 forward British troops to the outposts on his frontier, 
 in order that they might march to his aid if the 
 rebellion became formidable. When this business 
 was near its end Lord Dufferin wrote to Lord Cross — 
 
 October^, 1888. — "Matters are going on prosper- 
 ously in Afghanistan, for now the Amir has reported 
 the complete victory of his troops over Ishak Khan 
 near Tashkurgan. As this affair seems to have been 
 pretty decisive, I am in hopes we shall soon hear 
 news of Ishak's complete disappearance, for I suppose 
 he will fly to Russia. At one time I was made rather 
 uneasy by learning that the Amir was filling the moat
 
 188 AEMY REFORMS. [ch. vi 
 
 round the fort of Kabul with water, and gathering 
 in supplies. It now appears that a refugee from the 
 recent engagement had brought him a false report 
 of the death of his general and the overthrow of his 
 army, and it was not till three days afterwards that 
 he received the truer and pleasanter account. A 
 Persian story-teller relates that after the king's forces 
 had been defeated he was informed that he had gained 
 a great victory. When he subsequently learned the 
 real truth, he ordered the bearer of the false intelli- 
 gence to be crucified. The man, however, pro- 
 tested that he deserved to be rewarded rather than 
 punished, since he had given the Padishah three days' 
 happiness." 
 
 Among the most important measures that were 
 taken up in the latter years of Lord Dufferin's 
 administration, were certain changes in the adminis- 
 tration of the army ; the raising of the strength of 
 the army, and its better organization; the plan for 
 mobilisation ; an improvement in the position of 
 British and Native soldiers; the reorganization of 
 certain army departments ; and the development of the 
 defences of the Indian empire. 
 
 The project of reorganizing the superior military 
 command in the Indian army was set forward under 
 Lord Dufferin's Governor Generalship so effectively 
 that it must be briefly explained. From the beginning 
 of the British dominion in India the armies of Bom- 
 bay and Madras had belonged, so to speak, to the 
 governments of those provinces, which were originally 
 almost independent Presidencies; and they were under 
 separate Commanders-in-Chief, who held seats in the 
 Provincial Councils. Over these armies the authority 
 of the Commander-in-Chief in India was limited and 
 indirect ; so that the only force immediately under 
 his control was the Bengal army. The system had
 
 1 888] THE PRESIDENTIAL ARMIES. 189 
 
 been found, by frequent experience in war-time, to be 
 unsuited to modern needs and conditions of military 
 concentration. In earlier days our fighting had been 
 within India, whereas latterly the field of our cam- 
 paigns has lain outside ; since our main concern is now 
 for the defence of our external frontiers and pro- 
 tectorates. The divisions of practical responsibility, 
 the want of uniformity, the demand for unity of military 
 control, rendered a change necessary. The subject 
 had been for some years previously under consider- 
 ation ; and the proposal generally accepted was to 
 bring all the military forces in India, divided into four 
 army corps, under the authority of the Commander- 
 in-Chief in India and of the supreme government. 
 Nothing, however, had been settled when in 1885 Lord 
 Dufferin took up again the scheme, and recommended 
 to the Secretary of State that the abolition of what 
 was known as the Presidential system should be 
 carried out without further delay. A despatch sent 
 home by the Governor General in Council represented 
 urgently " the grave inconvenience which must result 
 if this government is called upon to undertake ex- 
 clusive military operations under the present system 
 of divided military administration; " and the misgivings 
 with which the contingency of war under such dis- 
 abilities was regarded. But it was not until 1888, 
 when the home authorities had been again pressed 
 for a decision upon this question, that under their 
 instructions a complete and detailed scheme was sub- 
 mitted for approval by Her Majesty's government. 
 Lord Dufferin added to these papers a long Minute 
 showing that he had carefully examined all the various 
 parts and particulars of this organic reform. In sum- 
 marizing the main points of the scheme he showed 
 that each of the four armies was to be commanded by
 
 190 AMALGAMATION. [ch. vi 
 
 a Lieutenant-General, aided by a strong military and 
 departmental staff; while the Commander-in-Chief 
 would be drawn into closer financial relation with the 
 government, and would command in reality as well as 
 in name the whole of the military forces in India, 
 being freed from the detailed executive business of 
 the Bengal army. Toward the end of the Minute 
 he said — 
 
 " In conclusion, I desire to point out to my col- 
 leagues that these opinions are founded upon no mere 
 theoretical considerations, but are based upon ex- 
 perience, for it has been my lot to overlook during my 
 tenure of office considerable military operations, and 
 to enter upon military questions of great magnitude 
 and importance. 
 
 " No sooner had I arrived in India than we had to 
 despatch a force to Suakin, and to assist the Imperial 
 government with large reinforcements of transport ; 
 then came the war preparations of 1885, and following 
 immediately on the heels of the latter the campaign in 
 Burmah of 1885-86-87 ; while the period of my Vice- 
 royalty is closed by the expedition to Sikkim and the 
 coming campaign in Hazara. I have therefore had a 
 large experience of the working of the military adminis- 
 tration during the preparation for and conduct of cam- 
 paigns ; and I do not hesitate to say that although, 
 as in all human systems, there are defects which may 
 be remedied, the Indian army and its military adminis- 
 tration will bear comparison with any other army in 
 the world. Many important changes have taken place 
 within the army since 1885 ; the fighting material has 
 been largely increased, regiments have been linked 
 together, the reserve system has been introduced, the 
 commands and staff of the army have been reorganized, 
 various beneficial reforms have been carried into effect, 
 and the defences of the Empire are now, I trust, rapidly 
 approaching a satisfactory completion. And lastly, 
 I must mention the great measure of mobilisation, to
 
 1888] MOBILISATION. 191 
 
 which I gave my unqualified support from the first, 
 under which it will be possible to put large forces 
 rapidly into the field with less labour than was required 
 a few years back to place on active service mere 
 detachments of troops." 
 
 The plan of mobilisation had been worked out 
 upon a very complete memorandum prepared by the 
 Military Secretary to the Indian government— Major- 
 General (now Sir Edwin) Collen — in which he went 
 over the whole ground, and made certain definite 
 proposals. 
 
 " These were accepted at once. I was at a ball at 
 Government House, when Lord Dufferin came up 
 to me and said, ' I have read your memorandum and 
 nearly all the appendices, and I will support you 
 through thick and thin. 
 
 • » * 
 
 But it was not unHl sometime after Lord Dufferin's 
 departure from India that his scheme for the abolition 
 of the Presidency commands was finally approved, 
 and the Indian forces were distributed into four army- 
 corps, directly under the Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 In September the Viceroy was informed that the 
 Queen had been pleased to confer upon him a mar- 
 quisate, and it became necessary that the new title 
 should be in some way connected with his public 
 career and services. On this question Lord Dufferin 
 wrote to a friend in England — 
 
 " I was very anxious to take the title of Quebec, 
 for the town owes its preservation to me, as I saved 
 its walls from destruction and rebuilt its gates, and 
 without them it would have been a far less striking 
 city than it is. Moreover, so many of my happiest 
 
 * " Lord Dufferin's Viceroyalty," by Sir Edwin Collen. National 
 Review.
 
 192 THE MARQUISATE. [ch. vi 
 
 associations are connected with it ; and I also think it 
 sounds well. The Queen, however, though she did 
 not actually refuse, demurred to the title of Quebec, 
 and she intimated, and Lord Salisbury did the same, 
 that I ought to take my title from some town in India, 
 but this is quite impossible, for there is no town in 
 India with which I am at all specially connected. In 
 fact, people would very much resent if I called myself 
 the Marquis of Agra, or Delhi, or Benares, or Lahore. 
 Lord Salisbury suggested some place in Burmah, but 
 all the names in Burmah are horribly uncouth, and 
 would sound like names out of one of Offenbach's 
 operas or the Mikado. The only possible one is Ava, 
 and we have been very much debating whether we 
 should become the Marquis and Marchioness of 
 Dufferin and Ava, with Earl of Ava for the second 
 title." 
 
 To Lord Salisbury he telegraphed — 
 
 " Vexed to worry you about a personal trifle, but 
 one is responsible to future generations for choice of 
 a title. Though preferring Quebec, whose walls I 
 saved from destruction, and whose gates I rebuilt, I 
 do not like running counter to the least of the Queen's 
 wishes, and therefore, in accordance with Her Majesty's 
 and your kind suggestion, would ask permission to 
 take the title of Dufferin and Ava, with that of Earl 
 of Ava for my eldest son. If this latter arrangement 
 is adopted, would be glad that, when the title is 
 announced, it might be intimated that it is in obedi- 
 ence to the Queen's command that I have taken the 
 title of Ava, otherwise the adoption of such a title 
 might seem presumptuous." 
 
 To Lord Cross he wrote — 
 
 September 17, 1888. — " Before touching upon current 
 events here, I desire to repeat at greater length the 
 expression of deep gratitude which I have already 
 conveyed to you by telegram for the honour which
 
 i888] PROGRESS IN INDIA. 193 
 
 Her Majesty and Her Majesty's government have 
 been pleased to confer upon me. The actual acces- 
 sion of rank is of course of minor importance ; but 
 what I do value beyond all things is the signal manner 
 in which our Sovereign and those whom I have had 
 the happiness of serving have been pleased to testify 
 their approval of my conduct and administration. To 
 return home with this mark of their approbation will 
 be very pleasant, and all the more so because I have 
 fair grounds for hoping that public opinion will on the 
 whole be inclined to endorse their verdict. Though I 
 well know I might in many respects have done better, 
 I am not conscious of having made any actual blunders 
 in regard to the various difficult problems with which 
 I have had to deal. Each successive year will, I have 
 no doubt, prove that the annexation of Burmah was 
 both a necessary, a desirable, and a beneficent act, 
 while every one will agree that the fortification of our 
 north-west frontier and of our seaports, as well as 
 our general policy in Afghanistan, have been steps in 
 the right direction. With regard to internal affairs, 
 the lamentable depletion of our income through the 
 fall in silver has of course greatly curtailed one's 
 power of doing good. Our land legislation is now 
 generally regarded as having been salutary and 
 successful, while we have laid the foundations for 
 considerable improvement both in sanitation and in 
 technical education. The Mahomedans also have 
 certainly been brought much more into sympathy 
 with the government than they were before. . . . My 
 personal relations with all the Indian princes, with 
 the exception perhaps of Holkar, whom I have scarcely 
 seen since his accession, have been very friendly and 
 intimate, and there is scarcely one of them who has 
 not expressed his regret at my departure." 
 
 To Mr. Gladstone, for his golden-wedding day, 
 Lord Dufferin had sent his congratulations, with a 
 silver bowl ; and had added an invitation to Rome. 
 
 VOL. II. o
 
 194 MR. GLADSTONE'S LETTER. [ch. vi 
 
 " Politics at home " (he wrote) " have become so 
 fierce that I infinitely prefer serving my country 
 abroad to re-engaging in the distasteful turmoil, where 
 my best and dearest friends have separated themselves 
 into hostile camps." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone replied — 
 
 October 10, 1888. — "As acts of mercy are twice 
 blest, I rejoice to think how rich your reward will be, 
 from the number of them which you perform. I thank 
 you for your kind remembrance of our grand jubilee, 
 though my wife and I hold that the jubilee only arrives 
 when fifty years are complete. . . . And now again 
 we thank you for the most seductive of proposals that 
 we should visit you and Lady Dufferin at Rome. I 
 am sorry to say that with decaying senses, the doors 
 of knowledge closing, I feel that my visiting days are 
 very nearly at an end ; but if anything could give me 
 a fresh stock of life and spirits, it is this prospect 
 which you open, and I would even face the Pope, an 
 act of which I have a certain dread. We have not 
 absolutely extinguished the idea of a touch of Italy 
 this winter, but that I fear would be too early for you, 
 as you will no doubt take a breath of home after your 
 long spell oversea. 
 
 " Well, it must be owned that the politics are 
 certainly very bad. But even in these fierce straits 
 we have two things to recollect — the first, that when 
 the cause is very big and the men in earnest, there 
 must be energy in the fight, and this soon passes into 
 wrath. The second is, that even now some people 
 show that they know how to behave themselves ; but 
 dissentient opponents fall, in this respect, into many 
 classes. Justice compels me to put Derby at the 
 head, and in a class perhaps by himself. I never 
 have understood, and now have little time left me 
 to understand, why Hartington and the rest of 
 them have deemed it their duty to take the whole 
 work of arguing Home Rule, and much of it for
 
 1 888] FINAL PLANS. 195 
 
 the government of Ireland, off the hands of the 
 Ministers and the Tories. Lord Fitzwilliam, Lord 
 Spencer, and others joined Mr. Pitt against their own 
 party on the French war, but I never heard that they 
 relieved him of the business of defending it. The 
 younger men, at any rate, will like to dispose of the 
 whole affair at the next election, and, as I trust, before 
 worse comes of it. 
 
 "The harvest in this country, thank God, has 
 (thus far) turned out better than was expected, and 
 there is, I believe, an unequivocal improvement in 
 trade. I wish I could regard the state of Europe with 
 better hopes. But it is a real comfort that Salisbury, 
 so far as we know, gives us no just cause of com- 
 plaint. I think the Italians have gone further into 
 the mess than they need have done. How I should 
 like a talk with you about them ! God be with you." 
 
 Lord Dufferin's Viceregal days were now num- 
 bered ; and both his letters and speeches became 
 retrospective. On November 5 he wrote to Lord 
 Arthur Russell from Simla — 
 
 " Here we are riding at single anchor, our boxes 
 all packed, and indeed many of them on their way to 
 Rome and England. We first go to Lahore, where I 
 hope to make final arrangements with the Punjab 
 chiefs for supplementing the British army with a 
 moderate-sized but well-disciplined contingent of 
 native troops. Then we attend the wedding of a 
 Sikh prince, and so wander leisurely via the Ganges 
 to Calcutta, which home of his future fame and labours 
 Lansdowne will reach on December 8. I can scarcely 
 believe that four years have elapsed since Ripon 
 greeted me as I shall greet my successor. It is 
 another chapter of the book of one's life closed, and 
 to which there can be but few and short ones to be 
 added. Still I think I can say nunc dimittis with 
 a clear conscience. The rebel Ishak and his army
 
 
 196 LAHORE. [CH. vi 
 
 have been dispersed to the four winds. The Amir 
 of Afghanistan has been compelled to show his hand, 
 and is now more bound to us than ever, at the same 
 time that he remains in undisputed possession of his 
 whole kingdom, while every other possible competitor 
 is in our hands — a circumstance which will enable us 
 to control Afghan politics pretty completely should 
 sickness or assassination overtake Abdurrahman. 
 The Black Mountain expedition has proved a most 
 successful and thorough business, and though we 
 shall not absolutely annex the country, we shall have 
 so opened it up with roads, and so cowed its tribes, 
 that it will be as much a portion of British territory 
 as if it had been annexed. The Chinese Ampa, accom- 
 panied by some Tibetan officials, is on his way to the 
 frontier with the view of making peace. Burmah, too, 
 is now almost as quiet as any part of India, so that 
 I shall hand over the empire to my successor without 
 a cloud on the horizon, while there are no really serious 
 questions pending connected with our domestic 
 politics. . . . Before I leave (only this is strictly 
 between ourselves) I shall hope to have framed a 
 plan which will settle satisfactorily all the questions 
 and difficulties raised by the native Home Rulers, if 
 only it is applied with a little judgment, tact, and 
 firmness. I may add to all this that our frontiers and 
 our seaports have been or are being put into a state 
 of defence, and there has, moreover, been a large 
 amount of domestic legislation in the way of Rent 
 Acts and other measures of the kind, so that altogether 
 I feel as if I had earned a right to a little rest and 
 quiet." 
 
 One week later the whole party departed from 
 their Himalayan home for Lahore, where Lady 
 Dufferin opened one of the many hospitals for Indian 
 women that had been established under her auspices 
 in India; and the next stage was to the capital of a 
 native State, Patiala. Here they attended the chief's
 
 1 888] CALCUTTA. 197 
 
 wedding, but at night one of the perils of Indian camp- 
 life fell upon them. 
 
 " We are all in tents, and about one o'clock in the 
 morning my daughter awoke me to tell me that her 
 tent was on fire. It was already blazing over her 
 head before she started up from sleep, and she and 
 her maid had only time to slip out before the whole 
 thing was one mass of roaring fire. Five minutes 
 afterwards all that remained of the tent was a carpet 
 of blackened ashes. She has lost everything that she 
 possessed except a little casket of trinkets which she 
 had the presence of mind to carry off with her, every 
 stitch of her clothing having been destroyed, so that 
 now she is indebted to the parish for what she wears." 
 
 From Patiala they travelled southward, halting at 
 some towns, receiving farewell addresses, and making 
 an excursion by water to Dacca in eastern Bengal, 
 until Calcutta was reached at the end of November. 
 
 The Scotsmen of Calcutta dine together annually 
 on St. Andrew's Day; and this year Lord Dufferin 
 was their principal guest. Within a week he was to 
 make over charge of his Governor Generalship, so 
 that the occasion was well timed for his farewell 
 speech, reviewing the course of his administration 
 and declaring his policy upon one pending question of 
 special interest. After claiming his right, by ancestral 
 descent, to the name of Scotsman, " although " (he 
 took care to say) " I have been very much improved 
 by having been an Irishman for three hundred years," 
 Lord Dufferin proceeded once more to disprove, at 
 some length, the imputation that the work of pacifying 
 Burmah had been protracted by reluctance on the 
 part of his government to spend money boldly, by 
 that kind of thrift which costs more than prodigality. 
 To misrepresentations on this subject, as they affected
 
 198 THE FAREWELL SPEECH. [ch. vi 
 
 the principal achievement of his Indian career, he was 
 particularly sensitive, and he took this opportunity of 
 publicly refuting them. 
 
 Turning next to the general field of Indian politics, 
 he launched out upon one of those comprehensive and 
 picturesque surveys of the country and its people, 
 resembling the freehand landscape-painting of an 
 imaginative artist, that in Canada as well as India 
 imparted distinction to his oratory, and left a vivid 
 scenic impression on his audience. 
 
 "Well, then, gentlemen, what is India? It is an 
 empire equal in size, if Russia be excluded, to the 
 entire continent of Europe, with a population of 250 
 million souls. This population is composed of a large 
 number of distinct nationalities, professing various 
 religions, practising diverse rites, speaking different 
 languages — the Census Report says that there are 106 
 different Indian tongues — not dialects, mind you — of 
 which 18 are spoken by more than a million persons — 
 while many of them are still further separated from 
 each other by discordant prejudices, by conflicting 
 social usages, and even antagonistic material interests. 
 Perhaps the most patent peculiarity of our Indian 
 1 Cosmos ' is its division into two mighty political 
 communities — the Hindus, numbering 190 millions, 
 and the Mahomedans, a nation of 50 millions — whose 
 distinctive characteristics, whether religious, social, or 
 ethnological, it is of course unnecessary for me to 
 refer to before such an audience as the present. But 
 to these two great divisions must be added a host of 
 minor nationalities — though minor is a misleading 
 term, since most of them may be numbered by 
 millions — who, though some are included in the two 
 broader categories I have mentioned, are as completely 
 differentiated from each other as are the Hindus from 
 the Mahomedans ; such as the Sikhs, with their 
 warlike habits and traditions and their theocratic 
 enthusiasm ; the Rohillas, the Pathans, the Assamese;
 
 i888] THE FAREWELL SPEECH. 199 
 
 the Beluchees, and the other wild and martial tribes 
 on our frontiers ; the hillmen dwelling in the folds of 
 the Himalayas; our subjects in Burmah, Mongol in 
 race and Buddhist in religion; the Khonds, Mairs, 
 and Bheels, and other non-Aryan peoples in the centre 
 and south of India; and the enterprising Parsees with 
 their rapidly developing manufactures and commercial 
 interests. Again, amongst these numerous communi- 
 ties may be found at one and the same moment all 
 the various stages of civilization through which man- 
 kind has passed from the pre-historic ages to the 
 present day. At one end of the scale we have the 
 naked savage hillman, with his stone weapons, his 
 head-hunting, his polyandrous habits, and his childish 
 superstitions ; and at the other the Europeanized 
 native gentleman, with his refinement and polish, his 
 literary culture, his Western, philosophy, and his 
 advanced political ideas, while between the two lie 
 layer upon layer, or in close juxtaposition, wandering 
 communities with their flocks of goats and moving 
 tents ; collections of undisciplined warriors, with their 
 blood feuds, their clan organization and loose tribal 
 government; feudal chiefs and barons with their 
 picturesque retainers, their seignorial jurisdiction, and 
 their mediaeval modes of life; and modernized country 
 gentlemen and enterprising merchants and manu- 
 facturers, with their well-managed estates and pros- 
 perous enterprises. Besides all these, who are under 
 our own direct administration, the government of 
 India is required to exercise a certain amount of 
 supervision over the 117 native States, with their 
 princely rulers, their autocratic executives, their in- 
 dependent jurisdictions, and their 50 millions of in- 
 habitants. The mere enumeration of these diversified 
 elements must suggest to the most unimaginative mind 
 a picture of as complicated a social and political 
 organization as has ever tasked human ingenuity to 
 govern and administer. . . ." 
 
 Glancing next beyond India proper — that vast
 
 200 FOREIGN AFFAIRS. [ch. vi 
 
 tract enclosed between the mountains and the sea — 
 the speaker carried his audience along the empire's 
 frontier, and touched upon the complicated system of 
 external relations that has gradually been built up for 
 its protection. The seaports are its water-gates, the 
 hill-ranges its natural ramparts ; the outlying States 
 form advanced outworks. If he had reminded the 
 Scotsmen whom he was addressing, that whereas one 
 frontier of the British empire, India's outer line of 
 military defence, now marches with Russia on the 
 Oxus, three hundred years earlier the extreme frontier 
 of both England and Scotland lay on the Tweed — he 
 might have brought home to them, at one stroke, 
 some measure of the territorial expansion that has 
 followed the union of the two nations at the beginning 
 of the eighteenth century. 
 
 " If, again, we turn our eyes outwards, it will be 
 found that our external obligations are hardly less 
 onerous and imperative than those confronting us from 
 within. India has a land frontier of nearly 6000 miles, 
 and a seaboard of about 9000 miles. On the east she 
 is conterminous with Siam and China, on the north 
 with Tibet, Bhutan, and Nepal, and on the west she 
 marches, at all events diplomatically, with Russia. 
 On her coasts are many rich and prosperous seaports 
 — Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Kurrachee, Rangoon — 
 and every year we are made more painfully aware to 
 how serious an extent our contiguity with foreign 
 nations, whether civilized or uncivilized, and the com- 
 plications arising both out of Eastern and Western 
 politics, may expose us to attack, and of the necessity 
 of walking both warily and wisely in respect of our 
 international relations, and of taking those precau- 
 tions, however onerous or expensive, which are in- 
 cumbent on every nation that finds itself in contact 
 with enterprising military monarchies or rival maritime 
 powers. It is then for the outward protection and
 
 1 888] INTERNAL AFFAIRS. 201 
 
 for the internal control,— it is for the welfare, good 
 government, and progress of thiscongeries of nations, 
 religions, tribes, and communities, with the tremendous 
 latent forces and disruptive potentialities which they 
 contain, that the government of India is answerable ; 
 and it is in reference to the ever-shifting and multiply- 
 ing requirements of this complicated political organiza- 
 tion, that it has been called upon from time to time to 
 shape and modify its system of administration. . . ." 
 
 One can perceive that in all these wide flights 
 of oratory the Viceroy was circling round about the 
 point upon which he settled down as his speech 
 drew toward its end. He had been enlarging 
 upon the magnitude and intricate variety of the re- 
 sponsibilities devolving upon the government of 
 India, for the purpose of impressing upon all who 
 should hear and read him his conclusion — that the 
 driving of such an engine could not safely be passed 
 over to inexperienced hands. After enumerating the 
 steps that had been already taken from time to 
 time, not only to extend to her Majesty's subjects 
 in India the same civil rights and principles which 
 are enjoyed by those subjects at home, but to admit 
 them, as far as was possible, to a share in the 
 management of their own affairs— by the Law Codes, 
 by the institution of Legislative Councils, by muni- 
 cipal Acts, and by widening the access of natives to 
 civil offices — he proceeded to lay stress upon the 
 impossibility of conferring electoral representation 
 upon a population of nearly three hundred millions. 
 
 "Some intelligent, loyal, patriotic, and well-meaning 
 men are desirous of taking, I will not say a further 
 step in advance, but a very big jump into the un- 
 known — by the application to India of democratic 
 methods of government, and the adoption of a
 
 202 CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES. [ch. vi 
 
 Parliamentary system, which England herself has 
 only reached by slow degrees and through the dis- 
 cipline of many centuries of preparation." 
 
 To go so far was impracticable ; nevertheless, 
 certain steps in that direction might be taken. He 
 reminded his audience that in a former speech* he 
 had made no secret of his earnest sympathy with 
 the desire of the educated classes in India to be 
 more largely associated with the administration of 
 their country. 
 
 " To every word which I then spoke I continue 
 to adhere ; but surely the sensible man of the 
 country cannot imagine that even the most mode- 
 rate constitutional changes can be effected in such 
 a system as ours by a stroke of the pen, or without 
 the most anxious deliberations, as well as careful 
 discussions in Parliament. If ever a political organi- 
 zation has existed where caution is necessary in 
 dealing with those problems which affect the adjust- 
 ment of the administrative machine, and where haste 
 and precipitancy are liable to produce deplorable 
 results, it is that which holds together our complex 
 Indian empire, and the man who stretches forth his 
 hand towards the ark, even with the best intentions, 
 may well dread lest it should shrivel up to the 
 shoulder. But growth and development are the rule 
 of the world's history, and from the proofs I have 
 already given of the way in which English states- 
 manship has perpetually striven gradually to adapt 
 our methods of government in India to the expand- 
 ing intelligence and capacities of the educated classes 
 among our Indian subjects, it may be confidently 
 expected that the legitimate and reasonable aspira- 
 tions of the responsible heads of Native society, 
 whether Hindu or Mahomedan, will in due time 
 
 * See mite, p. 158.
 
 1 888] DECLARATION OF POLICY. 203 
 
 receive legitimate satisfaction. The more we enlarge 
 the surface of our contact with the educated and 
 intelligent public opinion of India the better; and 
 although I hold it absolutely necessary, not merely 
 for the maintenance of our own power, but for the 
 good government of the country, and for the general 
 content of all classes, and especially of the people 
 at large, that England should never abdicate her 
 supreme control of public affairs, or delegate to a 
 minority, or to a class, the duty of providing for 
 the welfare of the diversified communities over which 
 she rules, I am not the less convinced that we could, 
 with advantage, draw more largely than we have 
 hitherto done on Native intelligence and Native assist- 
 ance in the discharge of our duties. I have had 
 ample opportunities of gauging and appreciating to 
 its full extent the measure of good sense, of practical 
 wisdom, and of experience which is possessed by 
 the leading men of India, both among the great 
 nobles on the one hand, and amongst the leisured 
 and professional classes on the other, and I have 
 now submitted officially to the home authorities some 
 personal suggestions in harmony with the foregoing 
 views." 
 
 The speech is too long for more quotations than 
 suffice to show its general tone and purport, but Lord 
 Duiferin's parting words may be given — 
 
 " And now, gentlemen, it only remains for me 
 to thank you, not only for your hospitality and for 
 the friendly reception you have given to the mention of 
 Lady Dufferin's name and my own, but for the patience 
 with which you have listened to this somewhat 
 lengthy speech. It is a great regret to me to think 
 that I am looking round for the last time upon so 
 many friendly and familiar faces. In another week 
 I shall have discharged my trust and transferred my 
 great office to the hands of one of England's most
 
 204 THE NATIONAL CONGRESS. [ch. vi 
 
 capable statesmen, a nobleman in the prime of life, 
 and already distinguished for his sound judgment, 
 his moderation, his wisdom, and the industry with 
 which he applies himself to public affairs. That he 
 will by the intelligence, the impartiality, and the 
 sympathetic character of his rule, gain and main- 
 tain the goodwill and the confidence both of Her 
 Majesty's Native and English subjects in India, I 
 have not the slightest doubt, and this conviction to 
 a great deal consoles me for my regret in quitting 
 your service." 
 
 To the active leaders of the association in Bengal, 
 which, under the ambitious title of a National Con- 
 gress, was demanding for all India a government 
 on the principles of the British constitution, some 
 passages in this speech were inevitably disappointing. 
 The extreme reformers took small comfort from the 
 prospect of concessions that were to be carefully 
 limited. Here they were met by a plain non pos- 
 sumus : the British Viceroy shut the Parliamentary 
 door in their faces and lectured them out of an 
 upper window, to the applause of Scotsmen who 
 were probably hardened Radicals in their own 
 country. Although Lord Dufferin was well aware of 
 the effect that was likely to be produced, the declara- 
 tion was in his judgment necessary; and he even 
 withheld such consolation as might have been 
 afforded by the disclosure of the reforms that he had 
 himself confidentially recommended. 
 
 In the last letter (December 3, 1888) which he wrote 
 to the Secretary of State (Lord Cross), he said — 
 
 "I considered that before I left it would be my 
 duty to give some sign of the light in which I regarded 
 such of the Congress demands and proceedings as 
 are extravagant and reprehensible. Accordingly I
 
 1 888] THE VICEROY'S PROPOSALS. 205 
 
 took the opportunity of a Scotch dinner at Calcutta 
 to make the speech which I am sending to you and 
 to the members of your Council. It will of course 
 make the Home Rule party in India very angry, and 
 expose me to a good deal of obloquy and abuse just 
 as I am leaving the country, the echoes of which may 
 reverberate at home, but I thought it would clear the 
 atmosphere and render Lansdowne's position easier 
 and pleasanter. I might of course have neutralized 
 what was unpopular in my speech by some hint as to 
 the proposals we have submitted to you for liberalizing 
 the Provincial Councils, which is all that the reason- 
 able leaders even of the most advanced section of 
 young India dream of; but I felt that, though I was 
 merely expressing my own personal opinions in an 
 after-dinner speech, I had no right to breathe a syllable 
 which could in any way, even in a remote degree, 
 commit the government at home or my successor to 
 any policy of the kind, or raise expectations which 
 might, after all, prove impossible of fulfilment." 
 
 The Viceroy's caution was justified by the event, 
 for his very liberal proposals were not sanctioned in 
 their entirety. Moreover the speech had been long, 
 and from the extracts telegraphed home to the Times 
 it was misunderstood as being too decisive a pro- 
 nunciation against the reforming politicians of India. 
 Lord Dufferin, to whom this unmerited interpretation 
 of his views, due partly to his self-denying reticence, 
 gave real concern, took much trouble after his arrival 
 in Europe to set public opinion right on this point by 
 explanation and correspondence. 
 
 His letter to Lord Cross ended thus — 
 
 " Indeed, without self-flattery, I think I can say 
 that I shall have handed over the country to Lans- 
 downe in a satisfactory condition. There is not a 
 cloud on the horizon, and we have succeeded in all
 
 206 END OF GOVERNOR GENERALSHIP. [ch. vi 
 
 our undertakings. Even our financial position Sir 
 David Barbour considers as free from anxiety ; the 
 Princes of India are certainly friendly to us ; and as 
 for our domestic politicians, they will be easily dealt 
 with, as their machinations are, after all, but a storm 
 in a tea-cup, and will be dissipated by a little wise 
 and sympathetic management. When I consider the 
 many dangers we have run, and the innumerable mis- 
 chances which might have overtaken us, even without 
 any fault of our own, I am truly grateful to be able to 
 escape out of India under these tolerable conditions, 
 and without any very deep scratches on my credit and 
 reputation. As long as I live, if you will permit me 
 to do so, I shall x always regard you as one of my best 
 and kindest friends." 
 
 In India, where the political barometer falls sud- 
 denly, it is never safe to rely upon a clear sky. Yet 
 Lord Dufferin had good reason for believing his suc- 
 cessor might expect fair weather, since the two main 
 centres of disturbance, that were menacing when he 
 took up the Governor Generalship, had almost dis- 
 appeared when he laid it down. In Afghanistan he had 
 continued and consolidated the work of the two preced- 
 ing Governors General. The north-west boundary had 
 been fixed and secured by a convention with Russia. 
 The Amir Abdurrahman, whose right and might were 
 now undisputed, was rapidly extending and enforcing 
 his dominion over the whole country ; he was becoming 
 the independent sovereign of a larger territory than 
 had ever before been governed by his dynasty. After 
 fifty years of efforts and errors, the policy of estab- 
 lishing friendly relations with the Afghan ruler, 
 and of converting his State into a formidable barrier 
 against aggression or encroachment from Central 
 Asia, was at last prospering. Upper Burmah had 
 been brought well under hand on the south-east,
 
 1 888] DEPARTURE FOR ENGLAND. 207 
 
 where the transformation of a disorderly kingdom 
 into a quiet province of the empire was making steady 
 progress. Northward and southward the outlook 
 was calm ; nor in fact did this tranquillity suffer any 
 serious interruption during the Viceroyalty of Lord 
 Lansdowne, to whom Lord Dufferin made over all his 
 dignities and responsibilities on December 10, 1888. 
 
 Two days of railway travelling brought the home- 
 ward bound party to Bombay, where (as Lord Dufferin 
 wrote to his son) he and Lady Dufferin "had a splendid 
 reception. It was like the old Canadian days ; I dined 
 at the Byculla Club, and was never so much cheered 
 in my life, which is saying a good deal." In his speech 
 on this last evening he acknowledged cordially " the 
 universal kindness and goodwill which he had received 
 in all parts of India and from every section of its 
 inhabitants." Next day he embarked for Europe, 
 leaving the country (as he said) with many regrets; 
 having possibly in his mind the feeling that for an 
 Englishman the grand climacteric of honour and 
 power is attained when he enters upon the Governor 
 Generalship of India, and has been passed from the 
 hour when he resigns it.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ROME. 
 
 At the end of December 1888, after a calm and rapid 
 voyage to Brindisi, Lord and Lady Dufferin reached 
 Naples, and met there Mr. Gladstone, who declined 
 a pressing invitation to Rome on considerations that 
 are explained in the following extract from his letter 
 to Lord Dufferin : — 
 
 January 11, 1889. — "Since we had the pleasure of 
 seeing you here the question of going to Rome has 
 lain rather oppressively on my mind : and I find the 
 upshot pretty nearly this, that the great social attrac- 
 tion of your protection and companionship so kindly 
 promised ought to give way to my sense of the 
 difficulties and disadvantages growing out of the con- 
 trast between my political opinions in regard to Italy 
 and the policy now actually pursued by its govern- 
 ment. ... I do not like the idea of going into a 
 capital where I might become a focus of communica- 
 tion with the Parliamentary opposition. Undoubtedly 
 I should go there with the intention of silence while 
 there. But even silence might very probably be con- 
 strued as dissent, and might not avail to stop comment 
 and speculation. 
 
 " I am indeed so deeply impressed by the false 
 position which Italy has assumed by meddling with 
 ultramontane affairs that I may find myself driven 
 (elsewhere than in Rome) to speak my mind about it. 
 
 208
 
 1889] ARRIVAL IN ROME. 209 
 
 And at this point I am crossed by a scruple about 
 you. Were I known to have had much intercourse 
 with you at Rome— and my visit would be worth 
 little without it — an uncharitable world might try to 
 make you in some way responsible for my erratic 
 opinions." 
 
 By January 2 they were at the Italian capital, 
 where Lord Dufferin, with regretful recollections of 
 the climate and spacious palaces of India, found the 
 weather horribly cold and wet, and the British embassy 
 in a dilapidated condition. Nevertheless the situation 
 close to the Porta Pia, with a pleasant garden under the 
 old walls, was a great advantage ; and a few restora- 
 tions soon made an excellent house of it. A few 
 hours after his arrival the new ambassador made 
 his call upon the first minister, Signor Crispi, with a 
 promptitude that was commended by all the Italian 
 journals ; and some days later he was received by the 
 King and Queen of Italy. He attended the opening of 
 the Italian parliament by their Majesties ; the Turkish 
 ambassador called to deliver a very friendly message 
 to him from the Sultan; Signor Crispi was most 
 friendly and straightforward, using the words " un 
 sanfuomo" whenever he spoke of Mr. Gladstone; and 
 the Pope, he heard, ''pronounced a public allocution 
 in my favour — I suppose because on various occasions 
 in Canada, at Constantinople, and even in India, I have 
 shown a friendly feeling toward some of his bishops." 
 The Riforma, a Roman newspaper, published an article 
 in praise of Lord Dufferin as questo liberalissimo uomo 
 di stato, with special thanks to the British government 
 for having sent to Italy an ambassador who was 
 Chancellor of the Dublin University, and otherwise 
 loftily distinguished. He was also claimed as a com- 
 patriot, having been born in Florence " while his 
 vol. 11. p
 
 210 THE AMBASSADORSHIP. [ch. vn 
 
 father, a naval captain, and his mother, una elegan- 
 tissima poetessa, were sojourning, during the first 
 year of their union, in that fair city." In short, the 
 appointment of an ambassador who came straight to 
 Rome from the most important of all official positions 
 outside Great Britain, bringing with him a great 
 reputation, naturally secured to Lord Dufferin a 
 cordial and gratifying reception. Administrative and 
 diplomatic duties differ so materially in kind that the 
 transition may not be always agreeable. The change 
 from a Governor Generalship to an embassy may 
 be felt as a loss of direct power ; the ambassador 
 carries out instructions instead of giving orders; his 
 functions are mainly intermediate and representative ; 
 and to a man who has acquired the habit of command, 
 the business of watching affairs and reporting to his 
 superior may seem comparatively inconsiderable. At 
 Constantinople and Cairo, moreover, he had been one 
 of the foremost figures in a crisis of European politics 
 that was absorbing universal attention, in one of those 
 rare situations where the course of history depends 
 on bold and adroit management of great national 
 interests at the centre of action. On the other hand, 
 Lord Dufferin was now liberated, for the first time 
 after ten years, from the burden of incessant responsi- 
 bility and anxieties ; he found plenty of work in his 
 chancery; he could study Italian politics and the 
 Italian language ; he was returning to the refinements 
 and pleasures of European society ; and at Rome there 
 was everything that could gratify his literary and 
 artistic tastes, or amuse his leisure. " I am quite 
 certain " (he wrote to Lord Lytton) " that I shall be as 
 happy as the day is long in this interesting centre of 
 the old and the new Cosmos." After a few days at 
 the embassy, Lady Dufferin and her two daughters
 
 1889] FIRST EXPERIENCES. 211 
 
 departed for England. Lord Dufferin could not 
 take leave while the Italian parliament was sitting; 
 but one of his sons came from England to be with 
 him. 
 
 His first experience of Rome can hardly have 
 been exhilarating. " The weather here is awful ; 
 I have neither had time to look into the shop 
 windows, nor to see a picture or a sight of any 
 description, my whole day being spent inside a 
 brougham leaving cards, a most vain and useless em- 
 ployment " — and none the more agreeable by reason 
 of a violent cold which had sent him to bed for such 
 time as he could spare from much correspondence, 
 many interviews, and lessons in Italian. Neverthe- 
 less his letters to Lady Dufferin show that his social 
 activity was unabated. 
 
 January 26, 1889. — "You may well imagine how 
 pleased I have been at getting your telegram an- 
 nouncing that the Queen had given you the Victoria 
 and Albert. You have indeed come to great honour 
 with your orders. 
 
 " We had a very pleasant dinner at the Kennedys. 
 It was quite small, for we had arranged afterwards to 
 go off in a body to see Sarah Bernhardt. The most 
 interesting person was Madame Minghetti, widow of 
 the late Minister. No longer young, though at one 
 time she must have been divinely lovely, she is really 
 clever and gay and pleasant — quite the most agreeable 
 person I have met. We did not get off till about ten, 
 so that the performance had begun. I think I should 
 have liked it, if only I could have heard, but I am 
 beginning to be mortally afraid I am getting deaf, for 
 everybody else heard, but I could not hear a word ; 
 indeed I heard them praising the actors for speaking 
 so distinctly. If I find a good aurist at Rome I shall 
 have my ears looked at.
 
 212 ROMAN SOCIETY. [ch. vn 
 
 " I dined at home last night, and went again to the 
 Play, but though I had a very good stall I did not 
 hear any better. During the entracte I went about 
 from box to box like a gay young fop paying my 
 respects to the ladies with whom I have become 
 acquainted." 
 
 January 27. — " I have been kept so late by Crispi 
 to-night that I have only time for a line. This is all 
 the more provoking as I have two scenes to describe 
 to you which I think would be interesting. One is 
 a Bal poudre, and the other a luncheon at the Laval 
 Seminary where I hobnobbed with a couple of 
 Cardinals and several archbishops. First of all we 
 went to hear the King open Parliament — a most 
 interesting proceeding performed in a modern 
 rotunda — the diplomatic box being so placed that one 
 can neither hear nor see anything. We then arranged 
 to breakfast with the Turkish ambassador, after which 
 there was a concert for which the smart ladies of 
 Rome had made me take any number of tickets. But 
 I must hark back to my luncheon at the Laval College. 
 It was really very pleasant. It was given in a big 
 hall, and I sat between two Cardinals — one the brother 
 of that Vanutelli that we knew at Constantinople, 
 and the other the chief of the Propaganda. They 
 were both very pleasant, particularly the latter, who 
 talked a good deal about Ireland, and the Pope's 
 action in regard to boycotting and the Plan of 
 Campaign. He was very sound upon both, and of 
 course I took care to confirm him in his correct 
 appreciation of the situation; but you had better not 
 mention this, as it would not do for me to be sup- 
 posed to be earwigging the Pope. 
 
 " The lunch was sumptuous with every kind of 
 wine, and they did full justice to it. There were 
 several archbishops and bishops present, some of 
 them dressed like monks, though their grey garments 
 were composed of very fine silk instead of coarse
 
 1889] LONDON. 213 
 
 cloth. When I asked why one of the Cardinals 
 was not in red like his brothers I was told that if 
 they belonged to a conventual Order they kept their 
 dresses. 
 
 " As for the ball it was a very dull affair. A large 
 square room in the Barberini Palace badly lit and 
 extremely stuffy, with a brown holland sheet spread 
 over the carpet to dance upon. All the women were 
 in powder, and the men in red coats and breeches." 
 
 February 10. — " I have had a very nice letter from 
 Mr. Gladstone. He has read my (Calcutta) speech, 
 and he says he thinks it is a very able and compre- 
 hensive statement, and adds : ' While your opponents 
 as to their position require very little knocking down, 
 I do not think any one who reads you equitably can 
 question the sympathetic spirit in which you treat 
 India and her people. I rejoice that the expression 
 of opinion, even of native opinion, should be free, 
 and it is no small testimony in England's favour 
 that this freedom, now enjoyed so long, has not been 
 injurious.' " 
 
 A short visit to England to consult an aurist and 
 for urgent private business was indispensable, and 
 so on February 16 he left Rome for Florence and 
 Milan, stopping a day at each place. On the evening 
 of the 19th he was welcomed home by Lady Dufferin 
 and a number of friends, who met him on the platform 
 of a London railway station. During the nine days 
 that he passed in England he took his seat as Marquis 
 of Dufferin and Ava in the House of Lords, his 
 supporters being Lord Salisbury and Lord Ripon ; 
 he passed a Sunday, with his wife and daughter, 
 at Windsor Castle, where the Queen was "very 
 gracious " ; discussed Italian and Indian questions 
 with the Secretaries of State, dined at Grillion's Club, 
 attended a Drawing-Room, saw numerous friends
 
 214 ITALIAN POLITICS. [ch. vn 
 
 and kinsfolk, consulted physicians, and ended this 
 brief, hurried, and busy visit — a mere glance at 
 England after four years' absence — by again crossing 
 the Channel, through a rough sea and a snowstorm, 
 on his return journey. At Paris he had a very in- 
 teresting conversation with Lord Randolph Churchill, 
 who was most cordial, and a long walk and talk with 
 Lord Lytton, the British ambassador; "was dread- 
 fully tempted to stay " for an attractive play, but left 
 on the evening of the second day, though in no fit 
 condition for rapid travel; arriving at Rome ill and 
 exhausted. 
 
 The kingdom of Italy was at this time a makeweight 
 in the balance, which was still unsteady, of the larger 
 European powers. Prince Bismarck was haunted by 
 apprehensions of a combination between France and 
 Russia ; and Italy had been drawn by Bismarck into 
 the triple alliance that he had formed to safeguard 
 Germany against this eventuality. The chief minister, 
 Signor Crispi, by spending vast sums on the Italian 
 army, had increased his stake in the game of the 
 great Chancellor, not without expectations of winning 
 something for his own country if it succeeded. The 
 Italians had been forestalled in the occupation of 
 Tunis by the French, who, having lost their footing 
 in Egypt, were determined to suffer no further inter- 
 ference with their predominance on the littoral of 
 North Africa. The effect of disappointment over Tunis 
 was to divert Italian enterprise to the coast of the 
 Red Sea, where Assab Bay had been purchased from 
 a Genoese company in 1881. A more important point, 
 Massowah Bay, was taken in 1885 ; but the abandon- 
 ment of Khartoum by the English, after Gordon's 
 death, left Italy alone and unsupported in those 
 regions, exposed to the hostility of the Abyssinians ;
 
 1889] ITALIAN POLITICS. 215 
 
 while France, Russia, and Turkey were all more or 
 less concerned in thwarting the Italian design of 
 acquiring a strong position in East Africa. 
 
 Nevertheless Signor Crispi, though he had origi- 
 nally spoken against the occupation of Massowah, had 
 now committed himself to the policy of expansion in 
 East Africa, relying mainly on the support of Germany 
 to counteract European opposition, and hoping, in the 
 event of war, not only to keep his footing on the Red 
 Sea shore, but also to pick up valuable windfalls 
 nearer home. If hostilities were to come at all, the 
 burden of military expenditure made it very desirable 
 for Italy that they should come soon ; but Prince 
 Bismarck was satisfied, for the moment, with having 
 detached Italy from France; and he found Signor 
 Crispi too eager, for his purposes, in forcing the game 
 by devices that irritated the French. 
 
 In the beginning of 1889 the war of tariffs that 
 followed the renunciation by Italy of her commercial 
 treaty with France, coupled with the severe taxation 
 imposed to meet extravagant military expenditure, 
 had seriously embarrassed the Italian government. 
 The financial difficulties of the government were thus 
 a direct consequence of the treaty of defensive alliance 
 into which Italy had entered with Germany and 
 Austria as her security against French aggression. 
 Between the tariff war, from which Italian commerce 
 suffered immense loss, and the cost of strengthening 
 the Italian army and of fortifying the frontiers, the 
 fiscal strain was producing widespread popular dis- 
 content ; while the new policy of expansion in Africa 
 was encountering considerable opposition, and Crispi 
 was accused of deliberately fomenting a quarrel with 
 France. Suspicion and jealousy between the two 
 nations had gone so far, in 1888, as to render credible
 
 216 SIGNOR CR1SPI. [ch. vn 
 
 the rumour of a coup de main to be attempted on 
 Spezzia by the French fleet, which created a temporary 
 panic among the Italians. 
 
 Signor Crispi, the prime minister, was at this time 
 by far the most powerful man in the political arena. 
 Brusque, imperious, and peremptory, he had many 
 enemies and few friends ; though by the force and self- 
 reliance of his character he was master of the Italian 
 Chamber, where the opposition had no leader who 
 could stand up against him. He was not the only 
 prominent statesman of that time who had begun 
 public life as a conspirator ; for he belonged to the 
 generation who raised the standard of revolt against 
 Austrian despotism in Hungary and Italy in the 
 tumultuous years of 1848-49, when the attempts to 
 shake off a foreign yoke failed utterly, and the 
 Liberators who escaped death or prison became 
 outlaws and proscribed refugees. Two other leading 
 rebels, both of whom had been sentenced to death 
 for high treason, Herr von Haymerle and Count 
 Andrassy,* became successively Austro-Hungarian 
 prime ministers in after years when the tide had 
 turned; and Crispi's vicissitudes of fortune had 
 been similar. In 1849 he was a proclaimed outlaw, 
 but after long exile he returned with Garibaldi in 
 i860; and when Sicily and Naples were annexed to 
 the Piedmontese crown he became a member of the 
 Parliament at Turin. The revolutionary leader of 
 former days was now an autocratic minister of the 
 Italian kingdom, closely associated in politics with 
 Bismarck and the military monarchies at Vienna and 
 
 * Von Haymerle was on his way to execution when he was rescued 
 by a friend. [See Sir Mountstuart Grant Duffs " Notes from a Diary, 
 1881-86," Vol. I.] Count Andrassy was sentenced to death en 
 contumaa, having escaped to England.
 
 1889] THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE. 217 
 
 Berlin, and confederated with them for the preserva- 
 tion of order in Europe. To Lord Dufferin, with his 
 keen appreciation of strong and singular characters, 
 the study of such a personage must have been most 
 interesting ; but at the time when he took charge 
 of the Roman embassy Crispi's popularity was on 
 the wane. Lord Dufferin found that the minister's 
 arbitrary methods and masterful behaviour were ex- 
 hausting the patience of all parties, while he lacked 
 the temper and intellectual versatility which enable 
 a great Parliamentary leader to prevail or persuade 
 in debate. 
 
 " Public sentiment in Italy " (Lord Dufferin wrote) 
 "is still favourable to the Triple Alliance, for the 
 nation is proud of its connexion, apparently on equal 
 terms, with the two great monarchies of Central 
 Europe, and pleased at taking part with the rest 
 of the world in colonial adventures. Yet people are 
 beginning to think that the Minister has been too 
 subservient in accepting the standard of military 
 and naval strength imposed upon him by Bismarck, 
 and has rendered himself unnecessarily odious to 
 France. Upon this latter point Crispi seems willing 
 to yield a little, and is endeavouring to lessen the 
 acerbity of the war of tariffs between the two govern- 
 ments. ... In the mean time the south of Italy 
 has no market for its wines, and Lombardy has to 
 seek a very inferior market for its raw silk in 
 Germany, while many other branches of productive 
 industry are suffering in an analogous degree." 
 
 The foregoing sketch of the state and tendency of 
 Italian politics when Lord Dufferin took charge of 
 his office at Rome has been thought necessary for 
 explaining the allusions to public affairs in his corre- 
 spondence. His position as British ambassador kept 
 him outside the grand political combinations and plans;
 
 218 DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS. [ch.vii 
 
 though England was understood to be at least friendly 
 toward the triple alliance. At one moment indeed the 
 volcanic forces of that menacing league seemed likely 
 to become active ; for Russia had concentrated a great 
 army on the Austrian frontier, and in April (1889) 
 Crispi declared that in spite of every effort to prevent 
 it he believed war to be inevitably approaching. 
 His enemies, as has been said, suspected him vehe- 
 mently of provoking it. But the immediate business 
 that occupied Lord Dufferin diplomatically was the 
 determination between Italy and England of their 
 respective possessions and spheres of influence in 
 East Africa, on which question he negociated, in 
 the course of time, an amicable settlement with the 
 Italian government. The current business of the 
 embassy employed most of his forenoons. 
 He wrote to his daughter — 
 
 " I am still much overworked though I cannot 
 pretend that my cares are of a very serious nature. 
 I begin at 7 or 8 a.m., as the case may be, and 
 spend sometimes more than an hour over my Italian 
 vocabulary." 
 
 Military reviews, public funerals, official visits, the 
 sittings to Mr. Boehm for his statue, took up much of 
 the day, and in the evenings he went freely into Roman 
 society. 
 
 To Lord Arthur Russell he wrote — 
 
 April 10, 1889. — "The story of the present Pope 
 having been presented to the Queen as you relate it is 
 perfectly true. I asked Stonor, the new Archbishop of 
 Trebizond, about it the other day, and he says that the 
 Pope has often mentioned the circumstance to him. 
 1 suppose he is the only Pope who has ever been 
 to a British drawing-room. Things here politically 
 are very quiet. The exposition of their financial
 
 1889] PAKIS. 219 
 
 embarrassments as well as the general distress pro- 
 duced by over-taxation throughout the country, have 
 suddenly sobered the Italians and brought Crispi 
 himself to his senses ; but now, in the middle of it 
 all, the government is beset by a new temptation. 
 Abyssinia is masterless,* and therefore a favourable 
 opportunity has occurred for the extension of Italian 
 jurisdiction in the neighbourhood of Massowah. 
 Before coming to a decision, however, they are waiting 
 for reports from their general, Baldissera; but I do 
 not think they will risk any very large adventure. 
 They will probably content themselves with laying 
 hold of the uplands immediately to the west of 
 Massowah, and coming to a good understanding with 
 whoever gains the upper hand in Abyssinia itself." 
 
 In May Lord Dufferin went to England on leave 
 for six months, the longest holiday that he had taken 
 for many years past. At Paris, where he arrived in 
 the early morning, he " slept for a couple of hours, 
 then went to the pictures in the Paris Salon," and to 
 a play in the evening ; art and the drama being every- 
 where and always irresistibly attractive to him. From 
 Paris he wrote to his daughter — 
 
 " It was very nice of you writing to me to Paris — 
 I like getting your letters so. Indeed I am altogether 
 a poor creature without my ladies, and I do not even 
 care to be a Parisian bachelor on the spree. I enjoyed 
 the big exhibition f to-day very much, or rather the 
 pictures. They are too magnificent. Miles and miles 
 of them, and all of them good — many of them famous 
 ones of which one has heard, or of which one has seen 
 the engravings." 
 
 On the 25th he reached London, evidently fatigued 
 
 * In March the Emperor Johannes had been defeated and slain 
 by the Dervishes at the battle of Metemmeh. 
 t Paris International Exhibition.
 
 220 LORD DUFFERIN AT THE MANSION HOUSE, [ch. vn 
 
 and out of health, for during the next three days he 
 stayed indoors, preparing body and mind for the Lord 
 Mayor's banquet on the 29th. He was presented in 
 the morning with the Freedom of the City ; and in the 
 evening he made his speech at the dinner, "though I 
 did not feel at all up to it, being very unwell." 
 
 For the biography of an eminent man his 
 speeches are among the most valuable illustrations 
 of his public life and personal character. Through- 
 out these volumes, accordingly, large extracts have 
 been made from the elaborate orations in which Lord 
 Dufferin on different occasions reviewed his own 
 career, gathered up the fruit of his experiences, and 
 described, with spirit and sincerity, the impressions 
 he had brought home from work and travel in the 
 outlying parts of the British empire. The keynote 
 of his speech at the Mansion House is to be found 
 in his generous desire to acknowledge and affirm the 
 services that had been rendered to him, in Canada 
 and especially in India, by his colleagues and 
 subordinates. 
 
 " Whatever misgivings " (he said) " I may entertain 
 as to my personal right to have my name inscribed on 
 your city's roll of fame, I draw a special encourage- 
 ment from the fact that, having been called upon to 
 act in three distinct capacities — as a colonial governor, 
 as a diplomatic representative, and as an Indian ruler — 
 in granting me these honours you are honouring the 
 Services with whom I have been connected, to whom 
 I owe so much, and whose assistance has enabled me 
 to gain your approbation. During the period of 1113' 
 tenure of office in Canada — a country I shall never 
 cease to regard with gratitude and affection — the 
 affairs of the Dominion were conducted, as you are 
 aware, through the instrumentality of responsible 
 ministers ; and, if my administration was successful,
 
 1889] SPEECH. 221 
 
 it is due to the patriotism, the wisdom, and the states- 
 manship of those eminent men — one of whom, Sir 
 Charles Tupper, I am happy to see here to-night— 
 to whom the Parliament of Canada had confided the 
 interests of the country. Again, in diplomacy, it is 
 only those who are the ostensible heads of missions 
 who can be fully conscious of the degree to which 
 they are indebted for their success to the zeal, acumen, 
 and tact of the members of the corps who are associated 
 with them in the discharge of their delicate duties. 
 But if this is the case in diplomacy and in colonial 
 government, it is even more strikingly exhibited in 
 the administration of Indian affairs. In common par- 
 lance, and in accordance with the language of ancient 
 tradition, every act of the Indian government, and 
 every characteristic of its policy, is regarded as the 
 outcome and the product of the Viceroy's personal 
 initiative and will. And this undoubtedly is as it 
 should be ; for he, and he alone, is responsible for 
 whatever is done in India. The minutest details of 
 business come within his purview ; every executive 
 act requires his assent ; it is he who finally pro- 
 nounces on the frequently divergent views of the 
 departments and between the competing suggestions 
 of his colleagues, while he holds in reserve the abso- 
 lute right of overruling his Council. Consequently, 
 whatever may have been the genesis of this or that 
 line of action, it is the Viceroy, and the Viceroy alone, 
 who is properly held answerable by his country- 
 men, whether things go well or whether they go ill ; 
 nor, in the event of their going ill, have I ever heard 
 of the principle being disputed. But, for all that, 
 it will be readily understood that no Viceroy, how- 
 ever arbitrary or self-reliant, however determined to 
 impress his personal volition on the conduct of affairs, 
 would be able to direct the movements of so vast 
 and complicated a machine as that which regulates 
 the destinies of 300,000,000 of our fellow-subjects 
 in India, unless enlightened, aided, and advised by
 
 222 SPEECH. [ch. VII 
 
 the most remarkable body of men that have ever 
 laboured for the good of their country in any part 
 of the world — I mean the Civil Service of the Crown 
 in India. Indeed, I may say once for all, without 
 disparagement to the accepted standard of public 
 industry in England, that I did not know what hard 
 work really meant until I witnessed the unremitting 
 and almost inconceivable severity of the grind to 
 which our Indian civil servants, and I will add our 
 military employes, so zealously devote themselves. 
 If therefore, gentlemen, during the past four years 
 things have on the whole gone well in India, the chief 
 credit is due to a number of able and disinterested 
 personages, who have been content to labour in what, 
 from the force of circumstances, are spheres and 
 positions which, for the most part, escape the atten- 
 tion of the British public, indifferent to their own 
 fame, despising the snares of notoriety, provided only 
 that the honour and the moral and material interests 
 of the British empire shall extend and flourish." 
 
 Then followed a list of those to whom Lord 
 Dufferin held himself particularly indebted for their 
 co-operation; and after rapidly touching upon the 
 main incidents of his Viceregal government, he 
 delivered his general view of the situation as he 
 had left it in India. 
 
 " In fact, I have returned from India with a far 
 deeper impression of the strength of our position, 
 and of the solid character of our dominion, whether 
 in relation to internal or external influences, than 
 ever I had before. Instead of diminishing, I believe 
 that the moral ascendency exercised by Englishmen 
 in the East is becoming more and more powerful, 
 whilst the inventions of modern science, as exhibited 
 in the extension of our railways, the acceleration of 
 all means of communication, the shortening of the 
 distances between London and Bombay and Australia
 
 1 889] THE INDIAN EMPIRE. 223 
 
 and Calcutta, the improvement in artillery and arms 
 of precision, the expansion of our trade and commerce 
 with our Indian empire, and the general infusion of 
 English civilization, are extending and deepening the 
 impression. Nor have we less reason, I think, to 
 congratulate ourselves on the general condition of 
 affairs which prevails along the extensive frontiers 
 of our Eastern empire. On quitting Bombay I was 
 able with perfect accuracy to say that I left India 
 without a cloud on the horizon, though I did not 
 say that there might not be many a one below it. In 
 establishing and extending our Indian possessions, 
 as from generation after generation we have been 
 compelled to do, we have given many hostages to 
 fortune, but even now, after six months have passed 
 since I uttered the auspication, nothing has occurred 
 in any degree to blot or obscure the prospect." 
 
 The prevailing note of his speech recurred with 
 emphasis in the peroration. 
 
 " In again thanking you for the honour you 
 have done me, perhaps I may be permitted in 
 Lady Dufferin's name to convey to you her heartfelt 
 thanks for the kind and sympathetic manner in 
 which you have alluded to her work in India, and 
 which I, as an impartial witness, say cannot be 
 overrated. In saying that I am deeply grateful for 
 these proofs of your favour, I am only expressing 
 what I believe to be the dominant sentiment which 
 inspires all those who, like myself, are called upon 
 to serve our Queen and country outside of Great 
 Britain. Removed as we are from the turmoil of 
 party politics and the acerbities of party controversy, 
 our thoughts and faculties are naturally more directed 
 to the contemplation of the empire as a whole, and 
 to devoting ourselves to its consolidated interests. 
 To our fond imagination, in whatever distant lands 
 we may be serving, amid all our troubles and 
 anxieties, England rises to our view, as she did
 
 224 OVER-EXERTION. [ch. vn 
 
 to the men of Cressy, like a living presence, a 
 sceptred isle amid inviolate seas, a dear and honoured 
 mistress, the mother of a race which it may truly 
 be said has done as much as any other for the general 
 moral and material happiness of mankind, and which 
 has done more than any other to spread abroad 
 the benefits of ordered liberty and constitutional 
 government, which has learnt the secret of gradually 
 interweaving the new material of progress into the 
 outworn tissues of ancient civilizations, and of recon- 
 ciling every diversity of barbarous tribe to the 
 discipline of a properly regulated existence ; whose 
 beneficent and peaceful commercial flag illumines 
 every sea, and pavilions every shore, whose language 
 is already destined ere the close of this century, to 
 be spoken by a greater number of millions than 
 any other tongue, and the chief necessity for whose 
 prosperity and welfare is the continuance of universal 
 peace, and the spread of amity and good-will among 
 the nations." 
 
 The exertion of speaking so long prostrated him. 
 In the morning he could not leave his bed ; and 
 though on the next evening he "forced himself out 
 to attend a dinner given by the East India United 
 Service Club," he was laid up with severe gastric 
 fever for more than a fortnight afterwards. 
 
 Sir Courtenay Boyle wrote to him during his 
 convalescence — 
 
 " Some years ago in the north of Ireland a poor 
 private secretary with a broken finger got an am- 
 bassador to write out his telegrams for him. The 
 finger is mended, but the kindness of the ambassador 
 is not forgotten. 
 
 " If there is any possible way in which the mended 
 finger can show its gratitude by doing any work for 
 the ambassador during his stay in England, its owner 
 hopes you will let him know."
 
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 1 889] RECOVERY. 225 
 
 He gradually recovered strength in the air by the 
 sea at Eastbourne, until by the end of June he could 
 travel to Cowes, where he could indulge his nautical 
 passion, cruising all day alone in his new little yacht 
 the Lady Hermionc about the Solent and Portsmouth 
 harbour. Returning to London he presided at the 
 Pythic Club dinner, and conversed with the Shah of 
 Persia in his own language at a State ball. 
 
 " The great social excitement " (he writes) " has been 
 the Shah's visit. He was entertained at the Empire 
 Theatre in a manner suited to his tastes — a great 
 number of scantily draped ladies, some tumblers, a 
 juggler, and the whistling woman. All the Duchesses 
 and Countesses came in their diamonds, and I never 
 saw such an area of flashing tiaras, one bigger than 
 the other. We occupied a stage box, and consequently 
 had a splendid view of the house. Then I went down 
 to Ashridge, where His Persian Majesty spent the 
 night. He harangued me for twenty minutes on the 
 Hashtadan question; but I told him that, having 
 severed my connexion with India, I had nothing 
 further to say on the matter." 
 
 After floating round in the whirlpool of society for 
 ten days he found rest again for a week in his yacht 
 on the quieter waters of the sea. On his return to 
 London he wrote to the Queen — 
 
 " Lord Dufferin only came up from the seaside 
 yesterday, where he had been kept by the doctors ; 
 and he arrived home to learn that when his back 
 was turned his eldest daughter, Helen, had engaged 
 herself to be married. Lady Dufferin will have 
 already acquainted your Majesty with this fact. Lord 
 Dufferin has heard a very good account of the young 
 man, but, under Lord Rosebery's influence, he is 
 afraid he has become a Home Ruler, though probably 
 not a very serious one." 
 
 VOL. II. Q
 
 226 FAMILY AFFAIRS. [CH. VII 
 
 His pleasure at the engagement of Lady Helen 
 Blackwood to Mr. Ronald Munro Ferguson, and the 
 business connected with it, were his chief pre-occu- 
 pations during the ensuing six weeks. To his daughter 
 he wrote early in August — 
 
 "A thousand thanks for your letter of the 28th of 
 July. Under the circumstances, it is very good of 
 you to have written to me at all or to have re- 
 membered that there was such a thing as a father in 
 the world. My dear child, I cannot tell you how full 
 my thoughts are of you. Indeed you are never 
 absent from my mind either day or night. For many 
 a year past I have been preoccupied with anxieties 
 as to your future destiny, and now that it is settled, 
 I do not know whether to be more pleased or 
 sorry. Of course I cannot help being sorry at losing 
 one who has been so much to me, such a companion, 
 and such a joy in the house ; but on the other hand 
 I have the satisfaction of knowing that she has 
 chosen wisely and well, and that, apart from those 
 accidents to which all human affairs are subject, she 
 has every prospect of a happy and contented life." 
 
 The family went over to Ireland for the marriage. 
 Lord Dufferin wrote to his eldest son, then in India — 
 
 " Here I am at Clandeboye. I came round by 
 Dublin which is the least fatiguing way as it enables 
 one to have a night in a comfortable bed, instead of 
 on board a noisy steamer. I left Dublin at half- 
 past seven, and got to Belfast at half-past ten, where 
 I had appointed Ferguson to meet me. Him I bore 
 triumphantly in my right hand to the Helen's Bay 
 station, as the Clandeboye station has now been re- 
 christened. We found Nelly waiting to receive us, 
 and besides her there was a great crowd of tenants 
 and other people. The former accompanied me on 
 horseback up to Clandeboye, and then presented me
 
 1 889] A WEDDING. 227 
 
 with an address which was very nice and cordial. I 
 made the best return I could in the shape of whisky, 
 but I have not yet heard how many of them got home 
 safe. 
 
 "Yesterday was dull and rainy, but to-day is 
 beautiful, and I am going to take a sail on the Lake. 
 The place looks really lovely and a good many of the 
 younger trees have grown immensely. I do not see 
 much difference in the older ones. 
 
 " It is so nice having all the children here. It is the 
 first time we have been at Clandeboye together since 
 they have grown up. You are the only missing one, 
 but I often think of you, and I am sure so do we all." 
 
 The wedding, which took place on August 31, was 
 duly reported by Lord Dufferin to the Queen — 
 
 " The Marquis of Dufferin and Ava thinks perhaps 
 your Majesty may be glad to learn that the marriage 
 of his daughter Helen was celebrated on Saturday 
 under very pleasant auspices. The day was ex- 
 ceptionally beautiful, which was most fortunate, con- 
 sidering how bad it had hitherto been. Almost all 
 Ulster was present. Indeed Lord Dufferin has been 
 very much gratified by the kind reception he has met 
 with at the hands of all his friends and neighbours in 
 the north; and what is even more satisfactory, the 
 tenantry on his estate gave him an exceptionally warm 
 welcome, and have also made very handsome presents 
 to the bride." 
 
 On September 19th, after a great banquet given 
 in his honour in the Ulster Hall by the inhabitants 
 of Belfast and the northern counties, he wrote to 
 his daughter — 
 
 "The dinner went off admirably and was a most 
 brilliant affair. The hall was crammed with my 
 hosts, and the gallery was laden, or rather over- 
 laden, with beautiful ladies ; but the prettiest thing
 
 228 RETURN TO ROME. [ch. VII 
 
 of all was a broad red band which draped the gallery 
 all round, and on which, in large white characters, 
 were displayed all the official stages of my career, 
 beginning with Vienna in 1855 — a very pretty com- 
 pliment. I have not been well, and I woke with a 
 terrible headache on the day of the dinner — which 
 stuck to me the whole day. However, I got through 
 my speech all right though there was very little in 
 it. . . . Your mother was greeted in an enthusiastic 
 and very genuine manner." 
 
 He also wrote (to Sir Alfred Lyall) — 
 
 "My speech was very thin, for I ifelt bound to 
 abstain from touching on any Indian question of 
 real interest, and I was also debarred from dealing 
 with those of any very general political importance." 
 
 On October 1st Lord and Lady Dufferin set off 
 for a few days' visit to their newly married daughter 
 in Scotland. Three weeks later he was again in 
 London, paid a flying visit to Portsmouth to ex- 
 amine improvements in his little yacht ["You cannot 
 imagine how perfect she now is with the new inven- 
 tions "], returned to Dublin, and on the 26th he 
 presided at the Convocation of the Royal University 
 of Ireland. " I read my speech, as I did not like to 
 trust myself to an impromptu performance on so 
 august an occasion." 
 
 They travelled back to London, where Lord 
 Dufferin was entertained at a great dinner by the 
 Chamber of Commerce, to welcome him on his return 
 from India. " It was a very fine banquet, with good 
 food, good music, and good company. My speech 
 turned out rather above the average and has been 
 kindly referred to by all the newspapers." 
 
 Lord and Lady Dufferin then started for Italy ;
 
 1 889] THE ST. ANDREW'S RECTORSHIP. 229 
 
 and from Rome, where he heard of his election to 
 the Rectorship of St. Andrew's University, Lord 
 Dufferin wrote to the Principal — 
 
 December 7, 1889. — " I hasten to acknowledge the 
 receipt of your letter of December 3rd, and to assure 
 you that I have been extremely gratified at having 
 been elected Rector of the University of St. Andrew's. 
 I am gratified on many accounts, in the first place 
 because the election to such a post is in itself a 
 signal honour of which any one might be proud ; in 
 the next because it revives the ancient connexion of 
 my family with Fife; and, in the third, because it 
 makes me feel less separated from my daughter 
 in her new home than otherwise would have been 
 the case. I am also pleased to have been thus 
 illuminated. by the reflected popularity of my son-in- 
 law. ... Of course I will really do my best to assist 
 the University in any way in my power, and I will 
 certainly contrive when I take my next holiday to 
 appear before my constituents in the customary 
 manner. I should also, if you approve, desire to 
 present to the students a gold medal as an annual 
 prize during the continuance of my office, to be 
 competed for under whatever conditions the autho- 
 rities of the University might desire. I would also 
 give both silver and bronze medals for other less 
 learned competitions if it were thought advisable. 
 I used to do this a good deal both in Canada and 
 in India, and I found that the medals were very 
 much appreciated." 
 
 Lord Dufferin found the political situation at 
 Rome very little altered, with a tendency to improve ; 
 for although a Russian army still threatened the 
 Austrian frontier, Lord Dufferin's conversations with 
 the representatives in Italy of the Triple Alliance 
 gave him reasons for concluding that the peace of 
 Europe was not likely, for the time, to be disturbed.
 
 230 ITALIAN POLITICS. [ch. vii 
 
 The Germans were quite willing, as a foreign envoy 
 remarked, that Italy should make love to England, 
 by way of diverting her from a liaison with France. 
 Nevertheless the state of affairs in the Balkan penin- 
 sula, where the views and designs of Russia by no 
 means coincided with the policy of other powers, 
 including England, that had been laid down by the 
 Berlin Treaty, was not altogether reassuring ; and 
 Crispi was generally supposed to be quite capable 
 of provoking a rupture with France on a signal from 
 the formidable arbiter of peace and war at Berlin. 
 This condition of suspense and uncertainty imposed 
 a heavy strain upon the Italian treasury ; which 
 was aggravated by the expenditure of large sums on 
 adventurous projects in East Africa, where the govern- 
 ment had now embarked upon the policy of territorial 
 acquisitions that led three years later to disastrous 
 results. Upon the King's speech at the opening of 
 the Italian Parliament, Lord Dufferin wrote — 
 
 November 28, 18S9. — "The allusion to Abyssinia, 
 however, was less warmly received than other parts 
 of the discourse, and there is no doubt that many 
 difficulties are still in store for the Italians in that 
 quarter. The Dervishes seem to be pressing on 
 Menelik's frontiers with great severity, and Ras al 
 Ula is not yet disposed of. I should not be surprised 
 if some fine day Crispi would find himself obliged to 
 send a big force — five and twenty thousand men — to 
 the plateau he has now occupied, and to keep them 
 there. On the other hand, if Menelik gets the better 
 of all his enemies, he may turn out to be less docile 
 than is expected. Nor, should I imagine, will there 
 ever be a great trade along the coasts to which the 
 Italians have so eagerly aspired." 
 
 In the mean time, "Crispi is more completely
 
 1890] ITALIAN POLITICS. 231 
 
 master of Italy than ever, and not a murmur of 
 opposition is heard against him, though there is 
 great discontent at the heavy taxation, and much 
 lamentation over the deficit. No one, however, 
 appears to suggest either that Africa should be 
 abandoned or that Italy should drop out of the 
 Triple Alliance and its obligations." 
 
 To Lord Salisbury — 
 
 January 9, 1890. — " The Empress Frederick has 
 come and gone. I think she was a good deal upset 
 on seeing the King and Queen and Rome again, and 
 told me she could not sleep for thinking. But she 
 had already begun to be more cheerful and to enjoy 
 the change and the many interests afforded by the 
 place, when the news of the Empress Augusta's illness 
 and subsequent death, cut short her holiday and its 
 pleasant distractions." 
 
 To Lord Knutsford — 
 
 February 26, 1890.— "We are very prosperous and 
 very quiet here, and if Crispi were not a little too 
 enterprising on the shores of the Red Sea, if his 
 Exchequer were a good deal fuller, and if his Albanian 
 blood did not tempt him to tackle the Turk, we should 
 have every reason to be satisfied with hin, for nothing 
 could be kinder or more friendly than he is toward 
 us, showing his anxiety to please us on every possible 
 occasion." 
 
 Just at this time Prince Bismarck resigned the 
 Chancellorship of the German empire, and disappeared 
 from the political arena. This was undoubtedly, as 
 Lord Dufferin noted, a heavy blow to Crispi, which 
 stimulated the opposition in the Italian Parliament 
 to redouble their attacks upon his policy. 
 
 11 In Italy, as elsewhere, the prestige of Bismarck
 
 232 KASSALA. [ch. vii 
 
 was prodigious, and the favour which he took great 
 pains to lavish on Crispi was very pleasant to the 
 Italians. Now, however, that the great man has 
 disappeared, the discontent which has all along been 
 brewing in reference to the financial situation, as well 
 as the miserable straits to which not only the city 
 of Rome but many other communities have been 
 reduced through the indebtedness of their munici- 
 palities, the failure of a number of banks, and similar 
 disasters, are encouraging Crispi's enemies to try if 
 they cannot upset him." 
 
 The port of Massowah on the coast of the Red Sea 
 had been occupied some years previously by Italy 
 with the approbation of England; but in a first 
 attempt to annex country further inland the Italian 
 troops had been worsted by the Abyssinians. To 
 repair their military reputation they were now com- 
 pelled to move forward, and the military advisers of 
 the Italian government were anxious to take up 
 ground as far inland as Kassala on the Blue Nile, 
 the headquarters of the hostile Dervishes. But as it 
 by no means suited England that another European 
 power should take up a position that might command 
 the trade on the upper waters of the Nile and 
 otherwise affect British interests in Egypt, Lord 
 Dufferin was instructed to interpose with some 
 amicable vigour, and Signor Crispi, after some 
 diplomatic skirmishing, formally disclaimed any 
 designs upon Kassala. On the other hand, the 
 Dervishes at that place were occasionally harassing 
 the Italian outposts; and since we had no power to 
 restrain them, we could hardly object to operations 
 undertaken in self-defence. The British ambassador, 
 who had much longer experience than the Italian 
 minister of similar situations, warned him that he
 
 1890] K ASS ALA. 233 
 
 would find much difficulty in drawing a line which his 
 frontier officers would not prove themselves obliged 
 to overstep. Lord Dufferin wrote to the Foreign 
 Office— 
 
 March 9, 1890. — "There is no doubt that the 
 Italians are fully aware that in order to make 
 Massowah pay it will be necessary for them to open 
 up communications with Kassala, and to tap the 
 upper Nile and Soudan ; and whatever Crispi may 
 now say or mean — and at present I think he means 
 what he says — it is evident that Italian and Anglo- 
 Egyptian interests may come hereafter into collision." 
 
 And in fact Lord Dufferin's anticipation * that Italy 
 would gradually be drawn into extensive military 
 operations by these East African adventures, and that 
 Menelik would turn on the intruders whenever he 
 had set his own house in order, was destined to be 
 precisely fulfilled. In 1893 Menelik, having crushed 
 all his enemies, threw off the Italian protectorate, 
 and in the war that broke out three years later he 
 routed with great slaughter the Italian army at Adowa. 
 Kassala, which the Italians had seized in 1893, was 
 finally ceded in 1898 to the English, whose signal 
 success where the Italians had failed may be ascribed 
 to their possession of a secure basis of operations in 
 Egypt. 
 
 In March 1890 Mr. Balfour introduced a Bill for 
 enabling Irish tenants to purchase their holdings by 
 loans from the State, which were to be gradually dis- 
 charged by annuities. Lord Dufferin followed with 
 close attention the passage of this Bill through its 
 several parliamentary stages. He had consistently 
 advocated some measure of the kind ; believing that 
 
 * See p. 230, ante.
 
 234 IRISH LAND PURCHASE. [ch. vn 
 
 it would provide the landlords with their sole chance 
 of saving a part of their goods out of the total ship- 
 wreck from which he saw no other prospect of escap- 
 ing eventually ; and he wrote that he " thoroughly 
 supported Lord Salisbury's policy in reference to 
 Land Purchase." The subjoined extracts from his 
 letters are given in illustration of his views. 
 To the editor of the Northern Whig — 
 
 May 3, 1890. — "I wonder whether you happen to 
 have read the evidence I gave before the Bessborough 
 Commission? I have not got a copy of the Report 
 of the Commission with me, and consequently I do 
 not remember the exact terms in which I submitted 
 a plan for the converting of a considerable proportion 
 of the tenantry of Ireland into peasant proprietors ; 
 but if I mistake not they foreshadowed both the 
 principle contained in Mr. Balfour's Bill and in Mr. 
 Parnell's subsequent alternative plan. If you find 
 this is the case, it might perhaps be of some assist- 
 ance to the government if it came to be known that 
 I had drawn up suggestions on the same lines. As 
 an ambassador I cannot take any part in the present 
 controversy, but if you were to have these ideas noted 
 in your paper and in some of the papers in England 
 with which you are in communication, it might prove 
 useful." 
 
 June 6, 1890. — " Many thanks for your great kind- 
 ness in sending me the copies of the Northern Whig 
 with the extracts from my evidence before the Bess- 
 borough Commission. I was very much interested 
 in reading it again, for so many things have happened 
 since then that I had forgotten its exact import. It 
 is certainly curious the way in which the germ both 
 of the present Purchase Bill, Parnell's suggestion, and 
 Chamberlain's proposals are to be found in it. In 
 the autumn of 1879, before the Land Bill of 1880 
 was incubated, I spent four hours with Chamberlain
 
 l8go] THE LAND BILL. 235 
 
 and Dilke trying to persuade them to take up the 
 purchase scheme, and I cannot help thinking that 
 it was on the representations I then made that 
 Chamberlain has founded his present ideas." 
 
 To Sir William Gregory — 
 
 August 9, 1890. — "To return to your letter and 
 your most interesting and wise remarks upon the 
 state of Ireland. I entirely agree with everything 
 you say about the proposed Land Bill. It will ruin 
 hundreds and hundreds of people, and it will con- 
 fiscate nearly half our income, but, on the whole, 
 I think we shall be wise to accept it ; in the first 
 place because if we do not we stand a good chance 
 of losing everything ; and in the next — and this is 
 a better reason — it certainly will do a great deal 
 towards paralyzing the Home Rule agitation. In 
 fact if the operation could be extensively carried into 
 effect in the north of Ireland, Home Rule would at 
 once become a physical impossibility. As long as 
 the Protestant farmers are mere tenants, there will 
 always be a great danger that the bribe of the land 
 will prove too much both for their patriotism and 
 their honesty; but once they become proprietors 
 they will fight to the death against separation from 
 England — a contest in which of course the whole 
 wealth and education of Belfast and the neighbouring 
 manufacturing towns would join. 
 
 " Hartington was staying with me this winter, 
 and the foregoing is pretty much the language I held 
 to him. Of course to us in the north the sacrifice 
 of so large an amount of rent will appear a more 
 terrible calamity than to the landlords in the south ; 
 for, never having had any serious difficulty with our 
 tenants, and never having been brought into collision 
 with anything approaching to a Land League, the 
 truth of half a loaf being better than no bread is not 
 brought home so vividly to our imaginations as to 
 those who occupy a more precarious position.
 
 236 THE LAND BILL. [ch. VII 
 
 " My own belief is that Gladstone never had the 
 slightest conception of what would prove the scope 
 and effect of his legislation, and that he imagined it 
 would only touch a few exceptional cases of extra- 
 ordinary hardship and extreme rack-renting ; other- 
 wise I do not think he would have lent himself to a 
 measure which is bound to end in the ruin and spolia- 
 tion of the landed gentry of Ireland. It almost makes 
 one smile to think that the outcome of England's 
 conscientious endeavours to redress the wrongs of 
 Ireland should be a new, a more extensive, and more 
 complete act of confiscation than anything recorded 
 in her history." 
 
 To Lord Salisbury — 
 
 January 21, 1891. — "Of course I have been watch- 
 ing with great interest all this Irish business, and I 
 rejoice in the thought that your Land Bill has been 
 launched under such auspicious conditions. We 
 Ulster landlords will undoubtedly lose a great deal 
 of income by selling ; but for my part I shall consider 
 it a duty to take advantage of the Act, if only I can 
 get anything like a decent price, for I am convinced 
 that if once the Presbyterian farmers of the north 
 became the owners of their farms, Home Rule would 
 become a physical impossibility. On the other hand, 
 as long as they remain rentpayers, Parnell & Co. 
 will retain in their hands a tremendous bribe. Indeed 
 it is a marvel to me that up till now the farmers in 
 Ulster should have so steadily refused it." 
 
 With the course of European politics running 
 smoothly for the representative of a favoured nation ; 
 welcomed by a pleasant and easy society, in a city 
 where his strong artistic and antiquarian tastes could 
 be amply satisfied, Lord Dufferin was now enjoying 
 life at Rome. 
 
 " The days fly past only too quickly, and it seems
 
 1890] FOX-HUNTING AT ROME. 237 
 
 to me as if I was always going to church, for it is 
 only the Sundays that mark the flight of time ; but I 
 am very happy and have a feeling of rest in thinking 
 that I cannot be called on to make a speech or to 
 take a journey, or otherwise to be stirred up with a 
 long pole." 
 
 " We are having beautiful weather and I am 
 delighted beyond measure with my post, especially 
 now that I have my wife and children with me. 
 I have taken to hunting again. I have not ridden to 
 hounds for thirty years until the other day, but it 
 is a great resource at this time of the year, and 
 I have at last got a very good horse and a capital 
 fencer." 
 
 To Lady Helen Munro Ferguson — 
 
 March 10, 1890. — "At last we have had something 
 like a run, the first I have seen. It was almost like 
 England, that is to say the fox and hounds went 
 away straight, and one had to jump the staccionatas 
 or be left behind. As a consequence there were only 
 five of us up at the first check, and one of the post- 
 and-rails was a very high one, with a drop on the 
 other side ; but I was determined to do my duty 
 to my Queen and country, and my horse cleared it 
 beautifully, though it stopped most of the field. 
 This achievement has been the talk of the town, 
 for they make a great deal of very little here. But 
 the person who was most pleased was the huntsman. 
 The master, however, greatly startled me by the way 
 he turned a compliment. He said — ' You were an 
 example to all of them ; there were dozens and 
 dozens of young men behind you.' As I always 
 feel five and twenty when I am on horseback, to hear 
 the ' young men ' placed in one category and myself 
 in another, was an unexpected blow, and I have not 
 yet quite got over it." 
 
 In May Lord and Lady Dufferin made a tour to
 
 238 TOUR IN ITALY. [ch. vn 
 
 Florence, Siena, Assisi ; and after his return Lord 
 Dufferin wrote to his daughter — 
 
 June 2, 1890. — " We are back again at Rome after 
 the most delightful honeymoon trip I have had for 
 many a long year. During the whole of the time 
 I was away I did not put pen to paper, see a 
 despatch, or give a thought to business, your mother 
 even paying the hotel bills, drawing the cheques, and 
 settling the railway journeys. Alas ! why cannot life 
 continue in this Boccaccian fashion ! As a conse- 
 quence, we have both returned fat, lovely, and with 
 forty representing our united ages. 
 
 " Florence was our first point, and here our journey 
 became rather a pilgrimage than a tour, for my chief 
 preoccupation was visiting the places where my 
 mother spent the first eighteen months after her 
 marriage. As I think I told you, my grandfather 
 disproved of my father's engagement, and conse- 
 quently, to diminish the unpleasantness, he fled 
 abroad with his bride, and came straight to Florence. 
 A part of the time my mother kept a journal, and I 
 have also some letters written to her mother and 
 sisters at the same period. Then I have also heard 
 her talk of these times. 
 
 " My first endeavour on reaching Florence was to 
 find the actual house in which I was born. I had 
 visited it once with my mother some five and thirty 
 years ago, but I had forgotten the number. Luckily 
 in the records of a circulating library there was an 
 entry in my father's handwriting of a subscription for 
 three months with the address. Since then they have 
 altered the number, and there must have been other 
 changes also, for the house they told me to go to 
 was certainly not the place I had seen ; but I have 
 commissioned a nice Monsignore to make further 
 inquiries, so I hope to identify it another time. In 
 regard, however, to another of her haunts I was far 
 more fortunate. This was a little old mediaeval castle
 
 1890] FLORENCE. 239 
 
 in the Apennines, where she spent the summer with 
 her baby after she had recovered from her confine- 
 ment. There is a full description of it in her journal 
 and she had often described it to me. At first the 
 people in Florence would not admit that there was 
 such a place ; but luckily I found in the hotel a waiter 
 who had come from thence. I accordingly started 
 by myself on a beautiful summer's afternoon, and 
 having gone about an hour and a half by railway, I 
 got an open carriage and drove about seven miles 
 to a little old-fashioned town in a lovely cultivated 
 valley and surrounded by hills. Beyond the town, 
 on a little monticule, there stood a castle — such a dear 
 old place, half castle and half house — with ruined 
 towers, a portcullis, a courtyard, a little chapel, and 
 everything befitting. Unfortunately the guardian 
 had received strict orders not to allow anybody to 
 enter the living-rooms, so I shall have to make a 
 second journey there some day ; but notwithstanding 
 this disappointment my soul was filled with delight ; 
 for I conceived my mother, still a girl, looking out 
 of the windows, pacing round the garden or walking 
 up the steep ascent, so proud and happy with her 
 baby in her arms, she herself being almost still a 
 child. Never has anything brought her back so 
 distinctly as this visit did, for evidently nothing 
 has been changed either in the place itself or its 
 surroundings since she lived there. . . . 
 
 " I also found in Florence another old lady of 83, 
 who had been Signora Gigli, of Siena. It was 
 in her house that my father and mother lived for 
 several months before they came into Florence for 
 my mother's confinement. At the time the Signora 
 was about fourteen or fifteen, and as her own mother 
 was an invalid she used to pass a great deal of time 
 with my mother, and often went to the opera with 
 her. They, the Giglis, lived on the first floor, and 
 my mother and father on the second. She said I 
 should easily recognize the house as a marble had
 
 240 SORRENTO. [CH. vn 
 
 been let into the wall in honour of one of her 
 ancestors, who was something of a distinguished 
 man. Accordingly when we went to Siena, which 
 we did after four days in Florence, I was able 
 to walk straight to the Casa Gigli. And here again 
 I seemed to see my father and my mother when 
 they first arrived in the dull little mediaeval town, 
 and walking up the little stone staircase to take 
 possession of the first house they ever inhabited 
 together." 
 
 On June 16 they left Rome for Sorrento, within 
 easy distance of Signor Crispi's summer quarters 
 at Castellamare ; and Lord Dufferin found his small 
 yacht in Naples harbour "not a ha'porth the worse 
 for her voyage from England." His letters home 
 tell of regattas, of various nautical exploits and 
 adventures; and his excuse for writing seldom is 
 that he is always at sea. 
 
 "When one is sailing about these lovely islands 
 in an enchanted vessel like the Lady Hermione one 
 becomes lost to all sense of human obligation and 
 family ties. Now, however, that I am back again on 
 shore my conscience fills me with remorse. Our last 
 expedition was to Ischia. The Phceton turned up 
 early on Saturday morning, and having embarked a 
 precious cargo of four ladies, she proceeded, there 
 being no wind, to tow me across the bay. After 
 going about ten miles a breeze sprang up, and I tele- 
 graphed to the ship to cast me off. This they did, 
 but instead of going on, to my infinite disgust the 
 horrid man-of-war pulled up and criticized me while 
 I was preparing to make sail. Moreover, a rope 
 having got jammed, your mother was naughty enough 
 to send a boat with my man in it to help me. This 
 made me so indignant that I drove him forth across 
 the ocean with a fiercer storm of opprobrious language 
 than the biggest gun on the ship could have emitted,
 
 JBe/tjasriifi @&rw-- 
 
 erf. 
 
 J/ic Q Jla/yiui.i o4- J u Mr, 
 fcirca iSl)4) 
 
 nn 
 
 msro 1
 
 1890] YACHTING. 241 
 
 and, having thus got rid of my too officious consort, 
 I proceeded to have a most enjoyable cruise, rejoining 
 the Phceton late in the evening. 
 
 " And now for our adventures. Of late I have 
 been rather vagrant. There has been a regatta week 
 at Castellamare, and I went down there for three or 
 four days staying a couple of nights off and on at the 
 hotel. The Italian fleet, or a part of it, also arrived ; 
 but the racing was not very interesting — at least as 
 far as I or indeed anybody else was concerned — for 
 there were not many boats, and though there was a 
 category for five tonners in which I was included, all 
 my competitors were regular racers with enormous 
 masts and sails so that I had no chance with them. 
 Still as long as we were reaching and beating — that 
 is to say for two thirds of the way — we kept ahead of 
 three out of the lot, but when it came to running, one 
 of these with its light draft of water was too much 
 for us. It would have been a different story, how- 
 ever, if only there had been a little wind. 
 
 " When at Castellamare I took the opportunity of 
 visiting the house in which I joined my mother after 
 my father's death in 1841. It still belongs to the same 
 family that let it to us — the Actons — its present owner 
 being Admiral Acton, the Minister of Marine, and a 
 friend of mine. I recognized the terrace at once, with 
 the exception of a great big tree which puzzled me ; 
 but it turned out that the tree was not planted till 
 1845, though it has now become a father of the forest. 
 If you remember, I have a very pretty drawing of the 
 place, — the terrace with pots of flowers and a great 
 awning over it, with Vesuvius in the distance. 
 
 "... I think I also told you how, on going to 
 Constantinople on my way to Syria, I met Alexandre 
 Dumas with a young lady in tow dressed as a boy. 
 1 happened to mention this circumstance to a Sicilian 
 gentleman who is staying at the hotel, and he told me 
 that he was at Palermo at the time, where Dumas and 
 his little friend landed, and that he saw a great deal 
 
 VOL. II. R
 
 242 SICILY. [ch. vn 
 
 of them both. At dinner the young lady was in the 
 habit, while Dumas was perorating according to his 
 wont, of decapitating the flies, of which there were 
 millions. This she did with great dexterity and put 
 their bodies into Dumas' glass. After she had well 
 filled it with these ingredients she turned round to 
 him in a winning manner and reminded him that he 
 had not refreshed himself, upon which Dumas, still 
 eagerly talking, used to drain off the decoction ! " 
 
 To Lord Arthur Russell he wrote — 
 
 September 14, 1890. — "A few days ago we went up 
 Vesuvius and spent the night there. As a rule I hate 
 being kept out of my bed after eleven o'clock, but I 
 enjoyed this expedition immensely. There is a con- 
 siderable eruption going on, which is in itself an 
 interesting thing to see ; but what pleased me most 
 was the change from night to day. On the one hand 
 we had the full golden moon in a deep dark sky, 
 plunging into the darker ocean between Capri and 
 Ischia; and on the other the rosy fingered dawn 
 making her lovely preparations among the mountains 
 in the East for the advance of day. It was really too 
 beautiful." 
 
 They crossed over to Palermo and coasted round 
 the southern side of Sicily to Syracuse. 
 To his daughter, Lady Helen — 
 
 September 27, 1890. — "The present Syracuse is 
 on a small island in the middle of a circular bay, 
 the two horns of which nearly encompass it ; but 
 the ancient city extended all over a limestone ridge 
 that runs down towards the island and is only 
 separated from it by a narrow strait which was 
 easily bridged. On this ridge stood the principal 
 sections of the city over which Hiero and Diony- 
 sius and so many others reigned in unexampled 
 splendour; but of its past glory scarcely a stone
 
 1890] SYRACUSE. 243 
 
 remains except indeed at the furthest extremity, 
 where an old Greek fort still stands partially erect, 
 the only thing of the kind which remains extant 
 in the world, I believe. You should get Grote's 
 History and read the chapters describing the inci- 
 dents of the siege of Syracuse. There is nothing in 
 Walter Scott more absorbing : — so full of surprises, 
 startling incidents and varieties of fortune. Nor does 
 there anywhere exist on the face of the earth any 
 theatre of a great historical event the limits and 
 characteristics of which can be so easily identified. 
 As you look across the harbour it seems filled with 
 shining triremes, the splash of oars and the cries of 
 the Doric and Ionian combatants. On the border 
 of the marsh which proved so fatal to their army 
 you see the tents of the Greek encampment, and, 
 beyond, the gigantic quarries into which the seven 
 thousand prisoners, the very flower of Athens, 
 were cast to perish of hunger, thirst, and disease. 
 Strangely enough, pretty much the same thing was 
 repeated some years later, when the Carthaginians 
 made a similar attack upon Syracuse, and in their 
 turn filled the harbour with their gilded galleys. But 
 again pestilence came to the rescue of the city and 
 forced them to flee." 
 
 The history of ancient warfare along the Mediter- 
 ranean should be peculiarly interesting to English- 
 men, who have since done some memorable fighting 
 in those waters. In Italy even more than in Canada 
 and India Lord Dufferin found himself rewarded for 
 his lifelong fidelity to ancient literature. In other 
 letters he wrote — 
 
 "I am at this moment deep in Homer. I intend 
 going through all my Classics, both Greek and Latin, 
 as fast as I can. How delightful it is to have such 
 resources and to be able to take pleasure in them ! 
 . . . My own life is so monotonous that I have
 
 241 PLEASURES OF THE SEA. [ch. vn 
 
 nothing to tell you about it. I am steadily wading 
 through the Odyssey and a Persian book, and now 
 I have taken up hieroglyphics again. This study I 
 always intended to reserve as a resource for when 
 I should become imbecile, so you see I am taking 
 my precautions. But it is a wonderfully fascinating 
 language, and lets one into such mysterious chambers 
 of the past. 
 
 "I am now reading Froude's Life of Caesar. It 
 is interesting, and forcibly written, but one feels he is 
 not a safe guide. As they say of the mansions of 
 Ireland, ' they are always within a hundred yards of 
 the best situation,' so one feels that Froude is never 
 quite in the bull's-eye in the view he gives." 
 
 The adventurous temper and keen delight in sea- 
 manship, the excitement of matching human skill 
 against wind and waves, the charm of solitude among 
 the waters, with the land out of sight, had carried 
 Lord Dufferin in his youth into the Arctic Ocean ; 
 and the lapse of years had not diminished his enjoy- 
 ment of these sensations in the softer climate of the 
 Mediterranean. After leaving Sorrento he wrote to 
 a friend — 
 
 November 1890. — "We have now come back to 
 Rome after having spent as delightful a summer and 
 autumn as ever I spent in my life. During the latter 
 part of our sojourn at Sorrento the wind began to 
 blow, which greatly added to my enjoyment. Indeed 
 on two or three days it blew almost a gale with a 
 heavy sea, and I had some fine battling with the 
 waves, my little boat being the only one that dare 
 show her nose out of port. Under these circum- 
 stances it is impossible to describe one's sensations, 
 especially when you yourself have designed and con- 
 structed what seems to be the living little creature 
 to whose honour and guardianship you have entrusted 
 your life. There you are, utterly detached from your
 
 1890] NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 245 
 
 ordinary existence, with hills and cliffs and shores 
 already distant, enveloped in clouds and storm, and 
 seeming to belong to a separate world from the 
 tumbling raging tumult in the midst of which you 
 are contending, while from time to time the struggle 
 becomes so fierce that you know it is only your own 
 skill, experience, and presence of mind, in conjunction 
 with the mechanical skill and deftness of the ship 
 itself, that stand between you and eternity. The 
 exultation one experiences on such occasions is almost 
 maddening, for it is the victory of inventive ingenuity, 
 vivified by moral force, that overcomes, and not only 
 overcomes but makes subservient to one's purpose, 
 the brute phrenzy of the adverse elements. Add to 
 this the inexpressible beauty of the moving labyrinth 
 of billows with their steep blue walls and fringes of 
 roaring foam, which encompass you for miles in 
 every direction ; and, finally, the subsequent pleasure 
 of returning safe and sound to port, letting go the 
 anchor in a quiet harbour, and then finding one's 
 self a few minutes afterwards tranquilly reading a 
 book over the fire, with all the recent turmoil of 
 the sea floating vaguely before you like a distant 
 dream." 
 
 In a letter to Colonel Maurice,* who was at this 
 time contributing articles on Waterloo to the United 
 Service Magazine, Lord Dufferin has preserved the 
 actual words that ended a famous chapter in European 
 history — 
 
 " I was well acquainted with Count Flahault, who 
 was Napoleon's Aide-de-Camp at Waterloo. I asked 
 him what happened when the last charge of the 
 Imperial Guard was repulsed. He said he was 
 close to Napoleon at the time, that he was carry- 
 ing Napoleon's field-glasses, that Napoleon took them 
 from him, and with their assistance watched the 
 
 * Now Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice, K.C.B,
 
 246 FAMILY LETTEKS. [ch. vn 
 
 advance of the troops up the hill. After a time he 
 handed them back to Flahault, saying, 'Je crois qu'ils 
 sont meles,' and turning his horse's head rode at a 
 foot's pace off the field. I asked Count Flahault 
 whether he showed any outward signs of the despair 
 which at that moment must have overwhelmed him. 
 He said he appeared to be absolutely destitute of 
 emotion, and he added, ' In fact he was so dead tired 
 and so physically exhausted that he was incapable of 
 emotion.'" 
 
 To one of his sons who was just going to Oxford, 
 he writes — 
 
 " I won't attempt to give you any advice on 
 beginning your college career, for your own tact 
 and good sense will be sure to guide you aright. 
 The most important matter is of course the selection 
 of your friends, for the friendships you make at 
 Oxford are the friendships of your life. Do not 
 therefore be in a hurry to become too intimate with 
 any one in particular, but watch and wait, so that 
 your associates may be really gentlemen, — men of 
 honour, of a pure life, of high thoughts and noble 
 purposes. Avoid as you would poison the rowdy, 
 sporting, drinking set. The great object of your efforts 
 must be now to obtain honours, but this will be hope- 
 less unless your associates are also engaged in the 
 same pursuit, for it is only with their habits and hours 
 that yours can be made to harmonize. 
 
 "Another thing I would strongly recommend you 
 to do is to make a point of going regularly to chapel 
 every morning, and never missing church on Sundays. 
 I myself used to go both to morning and evening 
 prayers at Christ Church, though the latter were not 
 obligatory, and I found the practice a great comfort 
 and happiness." 
 
 From another letter to his son it might be inferred 
 that Lord Dufferin was touched by some prophetic
 
 1 89i] FAMILY LETTERS. 247 
 
 instinct of compassion for the perplexities of his own 
 biographer. Many important letters in his earlier 
 correspondence have no other date than the week- 
 day. 
 
 January 31, 1891. — "It is rather a Sheridan habit 
 to leave one's letters undated, and now that I am 
 collecting all your grandmother's correspondence I 
 find it so difficult to put her letters in the right 
 sequence, and sometimes I would give anything to 
 know the exact day, month, and year in which some 
 interesting letter was written. As I hope you will 
 become sufficiently famous to make it a matter of 
 importance to posterity that every scrap of your 
 writing should be duly annotated, interlined, glossed 
 and commentated upon, I would have you, out of pity 
 to your future editors and biographers, follow the 
 laudable practice I have indicated." 
 
 Toward the end of March 1891 Lord Dufferin 
 signed with the Marquis di Rudini, who had now suc- 
 ceeded Crispi as Prime Minister, the Protocol defining 
 the English and Italian spheres of influence in East 
 Africa. This delimitation settled the only question 
 of direct importance that had given some trouble 
 and had occupied Lord Dufferin's attention during 
 the time of his embassy at Rome. Throughout that 
 period, nevertheless, the relations between England 
 and Italy were in a stage that required judicious 
 diplomatic handling. Signor Crispi was constantly 
 impressing upon the English ambassador the in- 
 estimable value to England of Italy's friendship, 
 and hinting that material concessions would be a 
 proper way of cementing it. The English calcu- 
 lation, on the other hand, was that although a 
 good understanding with the Italian government 
 was exceedingly desirable, it would be purchased
 
 248 TUNIS. [ch. vii 
 
 too dearly by concurrence in proceedings that might 
 involve a serious misunderstanding with France. 
 The French occupation of Tunis, to which England 
 had been a consenting party for her own purposes, 
 still rankled as a grievance in the recollection of 
 the Italians, and Signor Crispi spared no pains to 
 warn England that the establishment by France of 
 a fortified naval base at Bizerta was a danger to 
 English interests in the Mediterranean. But against 
 this view the statesman who then held the British 
 Foreign Office set the broad historical observation 
 that neither in ancient nor in modern times had any 
 European power attempted to establish a strong 
 naval or military fortress on the North African coast. 
 Without complete control of the sea such a fortress 
 would be isolated, and would not long be tenable 
 in time of war, when munitions and reinforcements 
 from Europe might be cut off; the responsibility for 
 defending its dockyard and arsenal would encumber 
 all military operations ; and some urgent necessity for 
 relieving its garrison might dislocate the plans of a 
 campaign. Lord Salisbury's very recent prophecy, that 
 the Russians would find Port Arthur an unprofitable 
 acquisition, was probably founded on similar reason- 
 ing ; and to an English strategist, who has long been 
 accustomed to treat all transmarine possessions as 
 dependent for security on sea power, the argument is 
 obvious enough. To the Italians it was not so clear 
 that Bizerta might prove rather a burden than an 
 advantage ; it is the promontory nearest to Sicily, 
 where the breadth of sea between Europe and Africa 
 narrows down ; and Lord Dufferin must have had 
 some trouble in consoling them for the loss of a 
 corresponding point of vantage on the southern 
 Mediterranean littoral.
 
 1 89i] ADDRESS AT ST. ANDREW'S. 249 
 
 Lord Dufferin's election to the Rectorship of St. 
 Andrew's has already been mentioned.* As the time 
 for his instalment was now approaching he wrote to 
 his son-in-law — 
 
 January 25, 1891. — "With regard to my visit to 
 St. Andrew's, I am quite prepared to fix the date for 
 it at whatever time may be most convenient to the 
 St. Andrew's authorities and to you and Nelly. I 
 only wish, however, that I felt more fit to say some- 
 thing to the young men that would be worth their 
 listening to. I never have any difficulty in speaking 
 of matters that come naturally within my own jurisdic- 
 tion, but a discursus into regions beyond, where I am 
 not sure of my ground, is a very different matter. I 
 am no authority upon education, for I am myself 
 very imperfectly educated, and though I am very 
 fond of the Classics, I should be unwilling to give 
 an opinion upon the present Greek and no-Greek 
 controversy. What therefore I was thinking of was 
 a rambling kind of paper which should resume my 
 own personal experience as to what equipments I 
 have myself found most useful in the battle of life. 
 This at least would be practical, and might be made 
 both lively and interesting." 
 
 Upon this plan, accordingly, the address was com- 
 posed; and he went on ten days' leave from Rome 
 to St. Andrew's, where he made his speech as Lord 
 Rector in April. Advice to young men is of no especial 
 interest to mankind at large ; yet some passages that 
 reflect the matured opinions, tastes, and observations 
 of the speaker himself — samples from his accumulated 
 stock of worldly knowledge — may have sufficient 
 biographical value to justify a few quotations. 
 
 " Assuming " (he said) " as a premiss that these two 
 
 * See p. 229, ante.
 
 250 ADDRESS AT ST. ANDREW'S. [ch. vii 
 
 principles, the love of God and the love of your native 
 land, are to you as the very breath of your nostrils, 
 and the permanent as well as the ultimate objects of 
 your existence — I propose to pretermit those loftier 
 themes upon which my predecessors have expatiated, 
 and will confine myself to the consideration of such 
 subordinate topics as an ordinary man of the world 
 might presume to submit to such an audience." 
 
 In the first place he advises the students to get 
 clearly into their heads " the fact that life is a succinct, 
 definite, circumscribed period of time, sufficiently long 
 to get a great deal done in it, and yet not long enough 
 to oppress us with the idea of exhausting and unend- 
 ing effort." 
 
 Secondly, they are counselled to take careful 
 measurement of their powers and aptitudes before 
 choosing a profession ; and from this point he turned 
 to the general subject of education. 
 
 " My belief is that our whole method of teaching 
 the dead languages should be changed, that we begin 
 altogether at the wrong end, and that this initial 
 mistake is never retrieved. I myself was introduced 
 to the Latin grammar when I was six years old, and to 
 the Greek grammar a couple of years later; and when 
 I left Oxford after fourteen years of uninterrupted 
 application at these two tongues, the most that I could 
 do was to translate with some sort of decency a few 
 Greek plays, some books of Herodotus, a little of 
 Cicero, and some Virgil and Horace that had already 
 been carefully conned. . . . Later in life I reflected with 
 shame on the paucity of my classical acquirements, and 
 I set myself down to learn Greek in the same way as 
 I would set about learning a modern language. ... I 
 confess I am inclined to range myself on the side of 
 those who would retain not only Latin, but also 
 Greek, as an essential part of the education of every
 
 1S91] ADDRESS AT ST. ANDREW'S. 251 
 
 gentleman. Indeed I cannot conceive the meaning 
 of the term education if either Greek or Latin is to be 
 excluded. ... Is not Greek genius the divine source 
 from which has sprung the existing aftergrowth of 
 European literature, philosophy, art, and politics, 
 while it is through the portals of Grecian history, 
 Grecian mythology, and Grecian tradition that we 
 find entrance - into those dim mysterious regions 
 peopled by the primeval nations that sprung, flourished, 
 and decayed during a series of unnoted centuries on 
 the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates ? . . . 
 Besides, where else will you obtain, otherwise than in 
 the stories of the Greek States such a marvellous or 
 instructive Kriegspiel, or rehearsal of the course and 
 possible contingencies of modern European politics ? 
 . . . Like Great Britain Athens was a small mother 
 country, with a splendid maritime jurisdiction and 
 important colonies, some of which turned against her 
 in the day of trouble, while her absolute existence — 
 the food of her people, her revenues, and her com- 
 mercial wealth — depended on her command of the sea. 
 She loses a single naval battle and her imperium is 
 for ever shattered, the violet crown falls from her 
 brows, her foremost citizens are either executed or 
 sold into slavery, and her name as a political entity 
 fades from the page of history." 
 
 Then follow some remarks upon the paramount 
 utility of learning modern languages. " But far more 
 important than the acquisition of any foreign tongue 
 is the art of skilfully handling your own." — In writing 
 English the two cardinal qualities to be acquired are 
 conciseness and lucidity ; the one great danger (he says) 
 that besets youth is a love of ornament, metaphor, 
 allusion. 
 
 " Some years ago I had to write a report on the 
 best way of reorganizing the government of Egypt, 
 and my one thought in drawing up the paper was to
 
 252 ADDRESS AT ST. ANDREW'S. [ch. vii 
 
 make it a clear, practical, and business-like statement 
 of the actual condition of the country, and of the 
 measures it would be desirable to introduce for its 
 improvement. Unfortunately, however, in one of 
 the earlier paragraphs I was tempted in the fervour 
 of composition — as there rose to my mind's eye a 
 regenerated Egypt and the beneficial consequences 
 of the reforms I was suggesting, and which have been 
 so happily applied, expanded, and improved upon by 
 Sir Evelyn Baring — to make some allusion to Memnon 
 and the rising sun. It was a perfectly spontaneous 
 image which sprang unbidden from the innocence of 
 my heart ; but those who, for one reason or another, 
 were opposed to the policy of the government I was 
 representing, at once seized upon this unfortunate 
 simile, and denounced what I had written, which 
 in all its other parts was as bald as well could 
 be, as a literary exercitation ; and no doubt they 
 were perfectly justified in considering that neither 
 Memnon nor the rising sun had any business in a 
 blue-book." 
 
 In the latter part of his address Lord Dufferin 
 discoursed at some length upon the art of public 
 speaking — so important for success in the higher 
 professions and in politics, and yet so little cultivated 
 educationally. He told some good stories {more suo) 
 to enliven his solid advice, and gave various hints as 
 to methods of preparation and delivery, drawing upon 
 his recollections and on what he had himself noticed 
 in debates. 
 
 "You must not suppose that even the most 
 practised of our public men are free from those lapses 
 and infirmities which naturally fill our own minds 
 with terror at the thought of speaking in public. I 
 have seen the late Lord Derby, one of the most 
 eloquent, courageous, and successful speakers that
 
 1 89 1] ADDRESS AT ST. ANDREW'S. 253 
 
 ever charmed the two Houses of Parliament, tremble 
 throughout his frame at the commencement of one of 
 his great speeches. I have seen a Lord Chancellor 
 of England completely lose the thread of his dis- 
 course, and sitting down, confess that he had done 
 so ; and I have heard another very famous orator 
 rolling forth platitude after platitude in the most 
 helpless manner, simply because he could not, for the 
 life of him, hit off a satisfactory peroration. ..." 
 
 With regard to gesture he said, " I have been 
 struck, when attending the debates in the Italian 
 Parliament, by the unstudied and easy manner in 
 which its members enforce their meaning by graceful 
 and spontaneous gestures. They neither put their 
 hands beneath their coat-tails, nor do they scratch 
 the tops of their heads, nor do they toss about their 
 pocket-handkerchiefs, or wave one arm up and down 
 like a pump handle, nor bend their bodies in two at 
 every word. So far from this being the case, it is 
 quite a pleasure to watch them, even when you are 
 not able either to hear or perhaps to comprehend 
 what they are saying." 
 
 In his parting words the Lord Rector laid stress 
 on the supreme importance of conduct. 
 
 " Now the essence of conduct is a right judgment 
 in all things, . . . and half the mistakes in life arise 
 from people merely revolving things in their minds 
 in a casual half-hearted manner. . . . My practice has 
 always been, and I heartily recommend it to my 
 young hearers, no matter how long or how carefully 
 I may have been chewing the cud of reflection, never 
 to adopt a final determination without shutting myself 
 up in a room for an hour or a couple of hours, as 
 the case may be, and then, with all the might and 
 intellectual force which I was capable of exerting, 
 digging down into the very depths and remotest 
 crannies of the problem, until the process had evolved
 
 254 VISIT TO ENGLAND. [ch. vil 
 
 clear and distinct in my mind's eye a conclusion as 
 sharp and cleanly cut as the facets of a diamond. Nor, 
 when once this conclusion was arrived at, have I ever 
 allowed myself to reconsider the matter, unless some 
 new element affecting the question, hitherto unnoticed 
 or unknown, should be disclosed." 
 
 Returning to Italy, he was again, in May, on 
 board his yacht in the Bay of Naples, and in June 
 he took a longer leave of absence to England. At 
 Cambridge he took an honorary degree ; he was in 
 the House of Lords at the first reading of the Land 
 Purchase Bill ; and he met the Emperor and Empress 
 of Germany in London. 
 
 To Lady Helen he wrote — 
 
 July 16, 1891. — "The Emperor's visit has gone 
 off very well. Your mother and I were invited 
 to a luncheon at the Londonderrys, which was 
 admirably managed. I was reintroduced to the 
 Emperor, who is always very civil to me, and 
 presented to the Empress. He told me he re- 
 membered being shown to me by his mother 
 when he was a little boy at Berlin and Potsdam. 
 I also went to the Guildhall, and was modestly 
 entering the big chamber when I was met by six 
 gentlemen accompanied by a herald, who pro- 
 claimed my name in a voice of thunder. This 
 itself was sufficiently embarrassing, but it became 
 much worse as I walked up the aisle and found 
 myself greeted by thundering cheers. In fact, as the 
 papers say, I received quite an ovation. When I got 
 to the dais I found Salisbury, and I eventually took 
 refuge amongst the foreign ambassadors." 
 
 In July he spoke on a proposal to erect a memorial 
 to Sir John Macdonald, the Canadian prime minister. 
 
 "No doubt" (he said) "in Sir John Macdonald's
 
 1 89 1] CLANDEBOYE. 255 
 
 long career he was confronted by many a sudden 
 and unexpected emergency, and on these occasions 
 he invariably displayed both courage and resource. 
 But I am inclined to think that what bears most 
 conclusive testimony to his extraordinary talents has 
 been the even tenor with which Canada has pursued 
 her successful way during recent years, the absence 
 of all serious complications from her history, and the 
 freedom from all anxiety on her account which we 
 have enjoyed during the last half century, notwith- 
 standing the peculiar delicacy of her geographical 
 position and the ethnological diversity of her popu- 
 lation, with the conflicting interests it naturally 
 engenders. What might have happened had the 
 affairs of our great dependency been directed by a 
 less cautious and less skilful or a less patriotic 
 pilot, those only who are well acquainted with the 
 intricacies of Canadian political problems can ade- 
 quately appreciate." 
 
 After a visit to Clandeboye he set off once more 
 for Rome, stopping at Poictiers to look up early 
 records of the Blackwood family. Then came the 
 offer, which he accepted, of the Wardenship of the 
 Cinque Ports ; and in the last month of 1891 Lord 
 Lytton's death, greatly lamented in Paris, vacated 
 for him the Embassy at the capital of France. 
 
 December 10, 1891. — "Your proposal" (he wrote in 
 reply to Lord Salisbury) "took me completely by 
 surprise, for, after having been given Rome in the 
 circumstances in which my appointment occurred, I 
 felt I had no pretensions to any further advancement, 
 and when, in consequence of numerous newspaper 
 reports, my name was bandied about with many 
 others, I told the Prime Minister of Italy, as well 
 as my colleagues and my friends, that there was no 
 foundation for the rumours, and that I had not the 
 slightest expectation of being moved. Both I and
 
 256 TRANSFER TO PARIS. [ch. vii 
 
 Lady Dufferin have been very happy at Rome, and 
 I think that both the King and the two Prime 
 Ministers with whom I have come into contact have 
 been fairly satisfied with the way in which I con- 
 ducted whatever business we have had to transact 
 together. But of course Paris is the great prize of 
 the diplomatic profession, and to be given it is a 
 very considerable honour." 
 
 To Mr. Ferguson — 
 
 December 18, 1891. — " I am so glad you are pleased 
 with the news, as I am sure Nelly will be also. 
 So is her Excellency. But for myself I shall leave 
 Rome with a very heavy heart. It is no light 
 matter for any one at my age to plunge into a new 
 and unknown world, and to re-enter upon the heavy 
 work of a first-class embassy. I was perfectly happy 
 here, and had no expectations of being changed, and 
 no pretensions to go to Paris. Lord Salisbury had 
 already been more than kind to me in giving me this 
 embassy after India. . . ." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, writing to a friend on the staff of 
 the embassy, said — 
 
 December 12, 1891. — "Will you be kind enough to 
 congratulate Dufferin very warmly on my own and 
 my wife's behalf on his appointment to Paris. The 
 country is also to be congratulated. I at least do not 
 know how any different and equally good appointment 
 could have been made." 
 
 The journals of the last three months at Rome 
 contain no incident worth notice. Early in March 
 Lord and Lady Dufferin had their farewell banquet 
 at the Quirinal palace ; and after presenting his letters 
 of recall Lord Dufferin, acting upon a special message 
 from the Pope, had a final audience of His Holiness 
 
 * Some years afterwards Leo XIII. sent a copy of his poems to 
 Lord Dufferin. 
 
 •
 
 1892] DEPASTURE FROM ROME. 257 
 
 at the Vatican. The King and Queen of Italy visited 
 them at the Embassy to bid them good-bye on the 
 day before they left. On March 7 all Lord Dufferin's 
 colleagues, with the Roman society largely repre- 
 sented, took leave of them at the railway station on 
 their departure. 
 
 vol. 11. s
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PARIS. 
 
 The period of Lord Dufferin's embassy at Paris lies 
 only a few years behind us, and moreover this, his 
 last, appointment was to a country much nearer home 
 than any of those in which he had previously served. 
 Proximity of time is by no means an advantage for 
 the writing of biographies ; it places a stricter limit 
 upon the use of materials that would be otherwise 
 available ; and imposes much greater reserve in treat- 
 ing of events, public and private, and of persons. 
 When the subject of a memoir is a diplomatist, and 
 the scene of his work is so close as France is to 
 England, these conditions become embarrassing; while 
 we also miss the perspective which throws a clearer 
 light on circumstances and characters, explaining 
 mistakes and correcting the point of view. It is not 
 possible to draw upon Lord Dufferin's correspondence 
 for the purposes of this chapter so freely as has been 
 done heretofore. Nor were the affairs transacted 
 between France and England during the years 1892-6 
 of the very first importance, so that the course of 
 Lord Dufferin's official life, at this final stage of it, 
 is henceforward less marked by events of the kind 
 that give an historical interest to diplomacy. 
 
 At the beginning of March (1892) Lord Dufferin 
 reached Paris from Rome. He was received by the 
 
 258
 
 rSga] OFFICIAL RECEPTION. 259 
 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Quai d'Orsay, looked 
 over the British Embassy and the business awaiting 
 him there, and passed on to London, where his first 
 visit was to Lord Salisbury. Among the numerous 
 calls that he made he notes one to General St. John 
 Foley, " who was the last person who saw my father 
 alive, having travelled with him to Liverpool ; " and 
 after a week's stay in England he returned to Paris. 
 His diary records the usual round of ceremonious 
 visits paid and repaid ; a daily turn on the bicycle, 
 with occasional evenings at the theatre. At the opera 
 " Count Louis of Turenne took me into the Foyer de la 
 danse, and introduced me to Madame Melba. I had 
 never been behind the scenes of a theatre in my life 
 before either in England or in France;" though he 
 had been always an assiduous spectator in front of 
 them. 
 
 He wrote to his daughter — 
 
 March 28, 1892. — "I have now got through all my 
 official visits, and my official reception — a tiresome 
 affair in uniform. I liked Carnot ; but my famous 
 speech did not go off so well as I could have wished, 
 for I suddenly forgot a particular word in it, and 
 though I could easily have replaced it by an equivalent, 
 I did not like to do so for fear of being accused 
 of tampering with the text, which had been already 
 communicated; so I was forced ignominiously to look 
 down at my paper. Carnot read his speech without 
 any pretence of reciting it. He was very gentleman- 
 like and courteous, and he ended his oration with a 
 personal compliment to myself, for which I was quite 
 unprepared. 
 
 "The only other interesting thing we have wit- 
 nessed has been the reception of Loti at the Academy. 
 I had never been there before, and it gave me an 
 opportunity of seeing for the first time some of the
 
 260 EGYPTIAN AFFAIRS. [ch. VIII 
 
 most distinguished literary men of France. Amongst 
 them was Renan, whom I had parted with forty-two 
 years ago on the coast of Syria." 
 
 Upon Egyptian affairs he writes to Sir Evelyn 
 Baring — 
 
 April 12, 1892. — "I have just finished reading your 
 Egyptian Report of February 9, and I have seldom 
 gone through a more satisfactory document. It must 
 also have been very gratifying to you to see how 
 universally throughout Europe the success of your 
 achievement is recognized ; for our enemies in spite 
 of themselves cannot get over the fact that under your 
 administration a bankrupt country is now able to 
 show a surplus of £1, 200,000, and that too after large 
 remissions of taxation. Moreover, I was especially 
 gratified by the sympathetic and indulgent reference 
 to the two Councils I had established. They were a 
 good deal ridiculed at the time, but as it was then 
 uncertain how long we were going to remain, or rather 
 how soon the Turks might not be reinvested with 
 their ancient supremacy, I desired to erect some sort 
 of barrier, however feeble, against their intolerable 
 tyranny. On the other hand I felt that, as you have 
 most justly said, if English superintendence were to 
 endure, they might be fostered and educated into 
 fairly useful institutions, proving a convenient channel 
 though which the European element in the govern- 
 ment might obtain an insight into the inner mind and 
 the less obvious wants of the native population. You 
 can understand then how pleased I have been at your 
 having taken a view of them altogether in accordance 
 with what I hoped might be their future destiny." 
 
 On June 18 Lord Dufferin left Paris for his in- 
 stallation at Walmer as Warden of the Cinque Ports ; 
 and some days later the ceremony took place. He 
 went in procession, escorted by a good company of 
 notables, to the Baederstone — the place, marked by
 
 i S92] WARDENSHIP OF THE CINQUE PORTS. 201 
 
 the ruin of a Roman pharos, where the ancient 
 court of Shepway has been held for the last two 
 hundred years. Here the Seneschal made pro- 
 clamation of the meeting; the Barons of the Cinque 
 Ports answered to the roll-call of their names, and 
 Lord Dufferin was then desired to assume his office, 
 being the 150th successor to the Wardenship from 
 the death of Earl Godwin in 1053. "When I came 
 to the Castle, I thought," he wrote, " a good deal about 
 poor Lord Granville on entering this house which was 
 so long his home." In the evening the Mayor of 
 Walmer gave a banquet ; other festivities followed ; 
 Lord Dufferin went back for a week to Paris, and 
 returned to Dover. " Immediately on arriving got on 
 board my little boat and sailed for Walmer. Scarcely 
 a breath of wind, though I had the flood tide in my 
 favour all the way." From Walmer he set off again 
 to attend the Tercentenary Commemoration of 
 Trinity College at Dublin early in July. 
 
 At the banquet given by the Trinity College 
 authorities he made a short speech in proposing the 
 toast of Literature, Science, and Art ; and next day he 
 presented an address to the College from the Royal 
 University of Ireland. A brief visit was made to 
 Clandeboye before Lord and Lady Dufferin departed 
 for England. 
 
 He wrote to his daughter — 
 
 July 10, 1892. — " Here we are at Clandeboye after 
 a tremendous Dublin week. We arrived last night in 
 pelting rain, but to-day is one of the loveliest summer 
 days I have ever seen in any country. Your mother 
 and I have been everywhere — in the morning round 
 the lake, while Victoria visited all the old women ; and 
 after luncheon we all three went up to the Tower, 
 from whence we saw a sight I have never witnessed
 
 262 TRINITY COLLEGE. [ch. vm 
 
 before — the whole of Scotland, including Cantyre, and 
 the whole of the Isle of Man, as plain and as near as 
 the shores of Antrim ; while the Irish coast up to Fair 
 Head was equally visible. It was quite marvellous. 
 As for the view at our feet, it looked as if the whole 
 of Clandeboye demesne were made of jewels and 
 enamels, the trees and lawns shone and glistened with 
 such a lovely green. 
 
 " The Trinity College celebration was really mag- 
 nificent. I have seen many shows, but none so full 
 of dignity and real meaning. All the universities of 
 the world were represented, and the procession which 
 we formed in our gowns of every colour was most 
 striking. We had a service in St. Patrick's Cathedral, 
 two balls, a banquet, at which I made a poor speech, 
 which had the merit, however, of not lasting over two 
 minutes, and two garden parties, one at the Viceregal, 
 and the other at Lord Wolseley's. We stayed with 
 the latter and had a small and pleasant party — Lyall 
 and the Leckys — the people in the house being eked 
 out with guests every night at dinner." 
 
 Most of the time, before their return to Paris in 
 August, was passed in the castle by the sea at 
 Walmer. Meanwhile there had been a dissolution 
 of Parliament ; and after the general election Mr. 
 Asquith's motion of want of confidence had been 
 carried against the ministry of Lord Salisbury, who 
 made way for Mr. Gladstone on August 16. Lord 
 Dufferin writes to Lady Helen Munro Ferguson from 
 Paris — 
 
 August 15, 1892. — "You will probably have seen 
 in the papers that the Queen, on the recommenda- 
 tion of Lord Salisbury, first sent for Mr. Gladstone. 
 This is one of those misstatements which become 
 inextricably incorporated in history, like flies in 
 amber, but it is not the fact. The person she really
 
 1892] TENNYSON'S FUNERAL. 263 
 
 sent for was me, but as I had left Cowes I could 
 not obey her commands, and therefore shall not 
 become Prime Minister just at present. She asked 
 me to come over and dine on Friday by myself, 
 and I have no doubt it was to talk over the crisis, 
 which she had already discussed with me the week 
 before." 
 
 In October he writes — 
 
 " I am going over to London to Lord Tennyson's 
 funeral in Westminster Abbey, for I am asked to be 
 one of the pall bearers. I forget whether his poetry 
 suits you, for the poet of one age is not always in 
 harmony with the next generation. I never cared for 
 Byron, but the moment I opened a volume of Tenny- 
 son as a young man at Oxford, I felt that he was my 
 poet. In any event he was one of the noblest kings 
 of literature that England has ever possessed." 
 
 To Lady Tennyson — 
 
 December 20, 1892. — " I have always considered 
 Lord Tennyson's friendship as the chief honour of 
 my life, and his affectionate notice of me in his 
 dedicatory poem, and his beautiful lines on Helen's 
 Tower will render my mother's name and my own 
 immortal long after the memory of anything that we 
 have been or done has been swallowed in oblivion. 
 I need not say that the affection I felt for your 
 husband will continue to be as warm for you as long 
 as I live ; nor must I forget to thank you for the 
 inexpressibly kind thought which prompted you to 
 invite me to take part in the funeral, and to stand 
 beside his grave in Westminster Abbey. A more 
 splendid spectacle I have never witnessed, for it 
 combined every element of grandeur : — the magnifi- 
 cent framework of the Abbey itself, with its marble 
 population and historical memories ; the presence of 
 all the intellect of England, in all its force and in all 
 its variety ; the dead man speaking to us in his own
 
 264 MYSTERIOUS CALUMNIES. [ch. viii 
 
 words borne on the wings of such beautiful music ; 
 and what is most rare at any funeral ceremony the 
 sincerity and the unanimity of regret felt for him 
 whom we were committing to the grave. No one who 
 was present will ever forget the scene, which was 
 unparalleled in its dignity and splendid significance." 
 
 At the end of 1892 the collapse of the Panama Canal 
 Company produced " one of the most tremendous rows 
 ever known in the French Chamber, and that is saying 
 a great deal." The shareholders lost their money, the 
 discovery of scandalous malpractices ruined several 
 official and parliamentary reputations ; and public 
 indignation exploded violently. 
 
 "The whole of France" (Lord Dufferin wrote) "is 
 one wild sea of denunciation, suspicion, and mutual 
 recrimination, and even the phrases of 1793 are coming 
 back into use. The ten representatives arrested are 
 described as the first ' fournee/ and they have been 
 carried off in ' la premiere charette ; ' and a deputy, in 
 a speech denouncing another member of the Chamber, 
 exclaimed, ' Voila la tete que je veux,' quite in the 
 Dantonesque style." 
 
 In this general fermentation of spirits it is not 
 surprising that latent animosities came to the surface, 
 and that wild rumours found easy credit. 
 
 Soon after his arrival in Paris Lord Dufferin had 
 been surprised and mystified by the appearance in 
 some of the minor French journals of articles attribut- 
 ing to him inveterate hostility to French interests, 
 and making the most preposterous imputations upon 
 the motives and methods of his diplomacy. It was 
 asserted that during his previous career Lord Dufferin 
 had been the chief agent in several transactions that 
 had formerly terminated disadvantageously for France; 
 that in Egyptian complications his sinister influence
 
 1892] MYSTERIOUS CALUMNIES. 205 
 
 had been prominent ; that the annexation of Burmah 
 — a matter in which France had not been unconcerned 
 — had been principally his handiwork; and that in 
 Italy his attitude toward French policy had been 
 unfriendly. The Parisians were now warned that his 
 mission in their capital was to undermine and to 
 frustrate surreptitiously the cordial understanding 
 recently established between France and Russia. In 
 the management of such intrigues he was declared 
 to be no less unscrupulous than adroit ; and it was 
 publicly affirmed that he had been provided by the 
 British government with secret funds, amounting to 
 three millions of francs, for the purpose of execut- 
 ing his nefarious projects. The peril to France was 
 the greater, one journalist observed, because the 
 French ambassador in London, Monsieur Waddington, 
 had joined the conspiracy, and was notoriously 
 playing into the hands of the British ambassador in 
 Paris — 
 
 " II est triste que dans cette lutte avec les 
 habiletes Anglaises, nous ayons a la fois contre nous 
 un ambassadeur d'Angleterre detestant la France et 
 un ambassadeur de France devoue a l'Angleterre." 
 
 It would have been superfluous to revive these 
 absurd calumnies if they had not been widely cir- 
 culated and commented upon at the time, and if for 
 the moment their effect had not been to make serious 
 impression upon popular credulity, and even to dis- 
 parage Lord Dufferin in Parisian society at large. 
 There had been great rejoicing over the friendly 
 demonstrations of Russia, so that upon any rumours 
 affecting this point the French were naturally suscep- 
 tible ; while recent disclosures of corrupt practices 
 in connexion with the Panama Canal Company may
 
 266 LORD DUFFRRIN'S SPEECH. [ch. vm 
 
 have stimulated universal suspicion. However this 
 may be, Lord Dufferin found it necessary to make 
 some public protest against assiduous and appa- 
 rently concerted imputations upon his character as 
 the representative of England. To pass them over 
 in silence had become impossible, and at the annual 
 dinner of the British Chamber of Commerce in Paris 
 he took the opportunity of refuting them. 
 
 Early in February (1893) he wrote to his daughter — 
 
 " On Monday night, when Gladstone is expatiat- 
 ing on his Home Rule, I also shall be on my legs, 
 and I am going to do a very risky thing. In my 
 speech at the banquet of the English Chamber of 
 Commerce I am going to allude to the calumnies 
 which have been propagated about my trying to 
 corrupt the French Press and French public men by 
 the distribution of enormous sums of money. But 
 nobody would believe to what an extent this abomin- 
 able lie has been credited, even in good society." 
 
 From what he said on this occasion the following 
 passages are extracted : — 
 
 " I do not wish to refer to what is past in an ill- 
 tempered or acrimonious spirit, for I am willing to 
 believe that these attacks have emanated rather from 
 the ignorance and naivete than the malice of their 
 authors ; but it is certainly new to my experience that 
 an ambassador, the personal representative of his 
 Sovereign, should be caught by the engrenage of the 
 domestic polemics of the country to whose govern- 
 ment he is accredited. Hitherto it has been considered 
 that his great office and the majesty of the Sovereign 
 and country he represents, as well as the courtesy and 
 hospitality of the nation amongst which he resides, 
 were sufficient to secure him in the employment of 
 that semi-conventual obscurity which is his proper 
 element. But, unfortunately, these safeguards have
 
 1893] PUBLIC CONTRADICTION. 267 
 
 not proved sufficient, and I have seen myself 
 repeatedly accused in widely circulated papers, 
 whose statements have undoubtedly carried con- 
 viction with them to vast numbers of people, of the 
 most disgraceful and abominable conduct, of acts 
 which, if proved, would justify my being summoned 
 to the bar of a criminal court. It may, of course, be 
 said that these assaults are beneath my notice. Well, 
 they are so far beneath my notice that I have not 
 thought it worth while to make them the subject of 
 any official complaint ; but to-night we are for the 
 moment in England. . . . Moreover, as the monstrous 
 fabrications to which Sir Edward Blount has referred 
 would militate against my usefulness as an am- 
 bassador if even partially credited, I do not hesitate 
 to take this opportunity to say that the whole series 
 of assertions which has been so industriously pro- 
 pagated, including the absurd statement that I 
 arrived in France furnished with an enormous sum of 
 money — three millions of francs, I think was the sum 
 named — to be applied to the corruption of the French 
 Press and of French politicians with the view of 
 breaking up the Franco-Russian alliance, is not only 
 untrue in the widest acceptation of that term, but 
 that there is not and there never has been a shade or 
 a shadow of substance in any of the various allega- 
 tions which from time to time have been issued with 
 the view of building up this inconceivable mystifica- 
 tion. . . . The fact is that since I arrived in Paris I 
 have not spent a sixpence that has not gone into 
 the pocket of my butcher or baker, or of that harmful 
 but necessary lady, the avenger of the sin of Adam, 
 whose bills every householder who values his domestic 
 peace pays with alacrity and without examination — I 
 mean the family couturiere." 
 
 The speech was well received in France as a good- 
 humoured and spirited appeal to the common sense 
 and generosity of the nation from the malevolent
 
 2G8 SUCCESS OF THE SPEECH. [CH. VIII 
 
 attacks that had been made upon an ambassador. 
 The Figaro passed some good-natured criticisms upon 
 it in an article that concluded with these words — 
 
 "Ceux de mes compatriotes qui veulent savoir 
 ce que signifie l'epithete gentlemanlike que les Anglais 
 emploient si volontiers, le savent maintenant ! Et 
 s'ils ne sont pas contents — ils auront vraiment tort de 
 le montrer — car ce ne serait pas gentlemanlike ! En 
 tout cas, ils on lu un discours vraiment amusant et 
 qui prouve que Lord Dufferin est non seulement le 
 diplomate tres fort et tres dangereux que Ton con- 
 naissait, mais aussi un orateur adroit et spirituel que 
 Ton ne soupconnait pas — a Paris, du moins. Cet 
 ambassadeur est un delicieux humouriste ! " 
 
 The English Foreign Office, of whose approbation 
 Lord Dufferin had not felt quite sure, agreed that the 
 disclaimer was salutary and necessary. The English 
 Press supported him cordially, and undoubtedly the 
 effect of this plain-speaking was to convince his 
 traducers that their mark had been overshot. 
 
 He wrote to his daughter — 
 
 "The speech was wonderfully well received by the 
 audience, all the women, and indeed I may say all 
 the men, coming up afterwards to thank me and to 
 shake me by the hand, and all were extraordinarily 
 enthusiastic. . . . 
 
 "The first person to compliment me was the 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs himself, who said, ' Savez 
 vous que votre discours a eu un tres grand succes ? ' 
 He has recurred to the subject in the same terms 
 every time I have seen him since, and almost every 
 Frenchman or woman I have lately met has spoken 
 in the same sense. I have been repeatedly told that 
 the myth so extensively believed has been now com- 
 pletely exploded. Even the newspapers that might 
 have been expected to criticize have either given the
 
 1893] CONSCRIPTION. 269 
 
 speech without comment or have been fairly compli- 
 mentary, though protesting that it was unjust to 
 speak as if France were the only country in which 
 ambassadors are occasionally criticized." 
 
 Some months later these incredible slanders were 
 finally extinguished by the trial and punishment of a 
 man who had forged some documents purporting 
 to prove conclusively that British gold had been 
 employed in bribing influential journalists, and even 
 deputies, in Paris. It was pretended that these 
 papers had been abstracted from the British embassy ; 
 but when they were read out in the French Chamber 
 the whole case broke down at once under a storm of 
 ridicule. 
 
 In April 1893 the President, M. Carnot, opened 
 the annual exhibition of pictures at the Salon, when 
 Lord Dufferin notes that his own portrait, by Ben- 
 jamin Constant, was much admired by the public and 
 praised by the French journals. 
 
 The subjoined extract from a letter illustrates the 
 extent to which Conscription literally brings home to 
 a people the consequence of a warlike policy, especially 
 at a period when the European nations do so much of 
 their fighting outside Europe. 
 
 " I believe there is growing up amongst the mass 
 of the French population a far stronger disinclination 
 to war than has hitherto existed. Colonial wars have 
 always been an abomination to them. The French 
 peasant does not understand his son being sent to die 
 of fever in a Chinese jungle or to be run through the 
 body by an African lance. But the universality of 
 military service has impressed every French family 
 in the country with a sense of the misery which war 
 might entail; and though the recollection of their last 
 military disasters may fade from their memory, the
 
 270 THE RUSSIANS IN PARIS. [ch. vm 
 
 general conviction of the risk and calamities entailed 
 by war is more likely to deepen than to disappear as 
 time goes on." 
 
 In October the visit to Paris of the Russian naval 
 officers, whose appearance was hailed as the outward 
 visible sign of Russia's friendship and sympathy with 
 France, excited very lively demonstrations in Paris. 
 They drove about the city in carriages preceded and 
 followed by guards of honour; and Lord Dufferin 
 notes that for eight days past the main thoroughfares 
 had been rendered impassable by the crowds throng- 
 ing for any sight of them. Men and women ran 
 alongside to touch or kiss the hands of the officers ; 
 they were besieged at their residences, and were 
 compelled to come out frequently on the balconies to 
 receive public ovations, when they sometimes cut 
 their gloves into pieces for distribution to the concourse 
 below. Admiral Avellan (an old acquaintance of Lord 
 Dufferin's) received 19,000 letters asking for his photo- 
 graph, his signature, or some other personal token ; 
 the Russian and French flags waved together in every 
 direction ; and the Rue de la Paix " was roofed with 
 bunting." There was a magnificent banquet at the 
 Elysee Palace, but the foreign ambassadors were 
 invited only to a State ball on the same evening. 
 
 The scene at the interment of one of the last Field 
 Marshals of France is thus described by Lord Dufferin, 
 who attended as the representative of the Queen — 
 
 " The funeral of Marshal MacMahon took place on 
 a lovely day — bright sunshine and a warm air. The 
 procession started from the Madeleine. The steps 
 leading up to the building are very high and broad, 
 and they presented a magnificent spectacle, being 
 crowded with officers, civil and military, in their 
 brilliant uniforms. The whole area was ablaze with
 
 1 893] THE RUSSIANS IN PARIS. 271 
 
 gold and steel and stars and plumes — shining helmets 
 and laced cocked hats rising tier above tier in a varie- 
 gated bank of colour, for which the Grecian columns, 
 the doors and the vestibule of the building, all shrouded 
 in black and silver, provided a striking background. 
 After we had waited for about an hour, the funeral 
 car began to move. . . . The streets were lined with 
 troops, and behind the troops stood thousands and 
 thousands of people, while other thousands looked on 
 from the windows of the six-storied houses which 
 form the Rue Royale, through which the cortege 
 passed. After traversing the Place de la Concorde, 
 the procession turned up towards the Arc deTriomphe, 
 and then crossed the river to the Champ de Mars 
 and the Invalides. When the Mass, presided over 
 by the Archbishop of Paris, was concluded, the whole 
 assembly streamed out into the 'Cour d'honneur,' 
 where the Prime Minister and the Minister of War 
 delivered addresses. After this, the funeral car was 
 removed to the entrance of the Invalides and in front 
 of the great esplanade, where the entire garrison 
 of Paris was drawn up under arms, and was sub- 
 sequently moved, regiment by regiment, past the bier, 
 each regiment and its officers and colours saluting 
 the dead soldier that lay within it. This part of the 
 ceremony took more than an hour, and it was four 
 o'clock before everything was over, the procession 
 having left the Madeleine at eleven." 
 
 Some reference must now be made to the con- 
 troversies, from 1893 to 1896, between France and 
 England over the Siamese question, which was the 
 most important affair that exercised Lord Dufferin's 
 diplomacy during his residence at Paris. The points 
 in dispute placed at one moment a considerable strain 
 on the friendly relations between the two govern- 
 ments. Siam is a country lying between Burmah and 
 the Indo-Chinese possessions of the French, so that its
 
 272 THE SIAMESE QUESTION. [CH. VIII 
 
 independence is a matter of substantial concern to the 
 British Indian empire. With the quarrel between 
 France and Siam England did not desire to interfere 
 directly; but our Foreign Office insisted that the 
 territorial concessions demanded from the Siamese 
 by the French, should neither operate to the dis- 
 memberment of the kingdom, nor diminish or 
 weaken Siam to an extent that might prejudice the 
 security of the Burmese frontier on the western 
 side. We were also bound to safeguard our own 
 subjects and their commercial interests within Siam. 
 Out of this situation other and more complicated 
 arguments arose over the delimitation of a small 
 outlying tract lying on both sides of the upper 
 Mekong river, that was to be neutralized as a buffer 
 or intermediate zone between Burmah and the French 
 protectorate of Tonquin. The elucidation of these 
 differences produced long, intricate, and occasionally 
 irritating discussions between Paris and London, 
 which have now mainly lost their interest. It may be 
 sufficient to say here that the firm attitude of two 
 English Foreign Secretaries (Lord Rosebery and 
 Lord Salisbury), and their correct appreciation of the 
 points at issue, enabled Lord Dufferin to bring the 
 negociations to a reasonable conclusion ; although his 
 patience and temper were sometimes considerably 
 tried. But the project of maintaining an independent 
 tract on the upper Mekong eventually proved not 
 worth the trouble that had been expended over it. 
 Both parties had at first agreed to it ; yet neither 
 appears clearly to have understood that the system of 
 neutralizing petty independent States lying between 
 powerful rivals, jealous of each other's ascendancy, 
 though it answers well (as for Belgium) in European 
 politics, is not applicable to Asia. In such a position
 
 
 
 ■ '< ' it n . J ml u ( y nJl, ;,,, . 
 < otmtbto of -'/if /,■,,/ )
 
 1 893] THE SIAMESE QUESTION. 273 
 
 a weak and ill-ordered principality is sure to become 
 embroiled in frontier disputes with one or another of 
 its neighbours, until on some necessity or pretext 
 the neutrality is broken, and usually disappears 
 altogether amid the protests and recriminations that 
 follow. 
 
 It is therefore no matter for regret that in the 
 present instance the whole project of creating such 
 an intermediary tract proved abortive. When in 
 1895 the French and English Commissioners met on 
 the spot to mark out its boundaries, the representa- 
 tives of France unexpectedly raised such inadmissible 
 claims that all proceedings were suspended. There- 
 upon supervened a fresh and acute stage of protracted 
 disputation between the French and English Foreign 
 Offices, the brunt of which fell upon Lord Dufferin in 
 Paris. It was only terminated in the final Declaration 
 (1896) of the two governments, by a partition, whereby 
 the Mekong river became a dividing line between the 
 French and English territory on this section of their 
 common border. 
 
 Lord Dufferin was at this time occupying his 
 leisure in preparing the memoir of his mother which 
 appeared as a preface to her poems. 
 
 To Mr. Hepburn he writes — 
 
 " I have been reading through the journals which 
 I kept when we were at Oxford, where your name so 
 constantly recurs, and the mention of all the pleasant 
 things we did together. Do you remember that famous 
 private business sitting that we had at the ' Pythic,' 
 when Blackett was arraigned pretty much in the same 
 spirit as Charles I. in Westminster Hall, for having 
 failed to write out in our sacred book certain essays 
 which it was his duty as secretary to copy in ? How 
 seriously we took it all, and how stormy was the 
 discussion ! . . . 
 
 VOL. II. T
 
 274 RETROSPECTION. [ch. vni 
 
 " Amongst the many things connected with Oxford 
 which have surprised me, the most surprising 
 has been being made a Doctor. An event which 
 would have appeared still more extraordinary, had I 
 foreseen it when we were at Christ Church together, 
 was Lady DufFerin's being met in procession by the 
 University heads and the Mayor and Corporation 
 of Oxford, conducted in state to the schools, and 
 there called upon to make a speech ! Even now it 
 seems inconceivable." 
 
 To his daughter — 
 
 " I have been going through all my old journals, 
 and I am lost in admiration of my industry, for they 
 extend over a great number of years; and though 
 sometimes my spirit has faltered in the midst of a 
 year, it has resumed the narrative with renewed 
 courage at the beginning of the next. It is like living 
 one's young life over again. . . . 
 
 "We are to have a dance here on Friday. It was 
 in this very ball-room that I embarked with a young 
 lady on a valse for the first time in my life, about fifty 
 years ago. How little I then thought I should be 
 here as ambassador ! Indeed, my whole life has been 
 a series of surprises, from the day Lord John Russell 
 proposed that I should be a Lord-in-waiting. ... I 
 have just received your New Year's gift, the two 
 volumes of Scott's letters. You could not have given 
 me a book which I should more value, for I love Sir 
 Walter Scott with all my heart; and, my mother 
 excepted, I think he has done more to form my cha- 
 racter than any other influence ; for he is the soul of 
 purity, chivalry, respect for women, and healthy 
 religious feeling." 
 
 In a letter of January 1894 to Mr. Hepburn, Lord 
 Dufferin refers to the death of Monsieur Waddington, 
 whom he had visited not long before at his country 
 house in France.
 
 1 894] THE DUG D'AUMALE. 275 
 
 "M. Waddington was an old friend of mine, for 
 he came out to me in Syria, when I naturally took 
 him for an Englishman until he said, ' I must now 
 go and see my Commissioner,' on which I exclaimed, 
 ' But I am your Commissioner.' ' No,' he said, ' Mon- 
 sieur Beclard is, for I am a Frenchman.' Renan was 
 there at the same time, as well as Chanzy and 
 Ducrot. Chanzy and I became great friends, and 
 he was afterwards French ambassador at the same 
 time with me at St. Petersburg, when the poor 
 Emperor was murdered." 
 
 Journal, March i, 1894. — " Dined at home and 
 afterwards went to the Count de Franqueville's at 
 La Muette to meet the Due d'Aumale. Mademoiselle 
 Bartet of the Comedie Francaise recited. The Due 
 d'Aumale told us that after the battle of Valmy, his 
 father, Louis Philippe, came up to Paris in order to 
 push his claim to some military appointment before 
 the Committee of Public Safety. Danton who was 
 present told him to come to him the next day. When 
 he arrived Danton said to him, ' You talk too much. 
 I will get the affair settled according to your wishes. 
 Go back to the army and stick to your career of a 
 soldier, and your time will come.' 
 
 "This reproof was occasioned by Louis Philippe 
 having loudly criticized the September massacres. 
 With regard to these Danton said, 'C'est moi qui 
 les ai faits. It was necessary to put a river of blood 
 between the Republic and the Emigres. But this 
 matter does not concern you. History will judge of 
 it. Hold your tongue and return to the army.'" 
 
 At the annual dinner given in March 1894 by the 
 British Chamber of Commerce in Paris, Lord Dufferin 
 again made a speech that was intended for a much 
 larger audience. Upon this occasion he reviewed 
 the state of Europe in the spirit of one who, survey- 
 ing the continent from the vantage point of long
 
 276 THE POLITICAL SITUATION. [ch. vni 
 
 experience and wide knowledge of current affairs, 
 could predict the continuance of peace among the 
 nations. In the political outlook, he said, no portents 
 of serious trouble were discernible. With regard, 
 especially, to the two great Powers with whom 
 England was in immediate contact, Russia in Asia 
 and France in Europe, he relied upon the Russian 
 Emperor's well-known magnanimity and sense of 
 honour for concurrence in the preservation of tran- 
 quillity on their Asiatic frontiers — 
 
 " France of late has shown, as have done the other 
 nations of Europe, considerable colonial activity, and 
 as we ourselves have long been engaged in similar 
 colonial activity, we occasionally run up against each 
 other in the cane brakes of Africa, or in the fever 
 jungles of Indo-China. But what are these desultory 
 troubles and local considerations in comparison with 
 the great stream of tendency, to two such glorious 
 nations who from the dawn of history have together 
 held aloft the standard of civilization and progress in 
 every line and walk of human enterprise ? They are 
 but as the ripple and angry splashing which mark the 
 occasional sands and shoals of a mighty river which 
 rushes with unrivalled majesty along its appointed 
 way." 
 
 If, Lord Dufferin went on to say, quarrels and bad 
 blood should arise between France and England "over 
 a few acres of African swamp or a clump of thatched 
 villages in the tropics," it would be for diplomatists 
 to apply remedies and to effect reconciliations. 
 
 That the British ambassador, speaking in public 
 at the French capital, should pass lightly over certain 
 contentious questions that were under sharp debate 
 at the moment between the two governments, was 
 obviously right and judicious. Yet some of those
 
 1894] THE POLITICAL SITUATION. 277 
 
 who heard or read his speech may have remembered 
 that in past times small colonial disputes had led to 
 great wars. The few acres of African swamp may 
 have seemed a petty matter for strife between two 
 mighty nations ; yet it might have been remarked that 
 Voltaire accounted Canada (after it had been lost) as 
 " a few acres of snow," not worth fighting about ! * 
 
 The speech, however, was well timed and success- 
 ful in its main object of promoting feelings of amity 
 and good will between the French and English 
 peoples ; for on both sides of the Channel it was 
 commented upon with approval and complacency. 
 The English Press was confident that those French 
 journalists who had recently been maligning their 
 ambassador, would take to heart his generous friend- 
 liness ; and the French newspapers found in his 
 pacific assurances a lesson to the Chauvinist news- 
 papers of Great Britain. 
 
 Lord Dufferin wrote to his daughter — 
 
 "You will see I have been making a speech. It 
 seems to have pleased people here, and it has not 
 been found fault with in London, which is a comfort. 
 All my life long whenever I have made a speech I 
 have had to consider at least two and sometimes three 
 audiences, like the circus riders who have to stand 
 on the backs of several galloping horses at once." 
 
 In a letter to him from London Sir Donald Wallace 
 said — 
 
 " It may perhaps interest you to know that the 
 French ambassador here spoke to me last night in 
 most sympathetic — I might almost say enthusiastic — 
 
 * u Vous savez que ces deux nations sont en guerre pour quelques 
 arpens de neige, et qu'elles de"pensent pour cette belle guerre beau- 
 coup plus que tout le Canada ne vaut." — " Candide," chap, xxiii.
 
 278 PRESIDENT CARNOT'S ASSASSINATION. [CH. VIII 
 
 terms about your admirable speech to the English 
 Chamber of Commerce. Of course you have seen 
 how well it has been received by the Press all over 
 Europe." 
 
 And at a luncheon in Paris the Prince of Wales 
 congratulated him on his speech, and said that all the 
 Royalties at Cannes, the Russians, Germans, and 
 every one, were very much pleased with it. 
 
 Dinners and garden-parties at the Embassy, di- 
 plomatic entertainments, theatres, the usual flow of 
 social life at high tide in Paris, and a constant 
 succession of guests who found room and a welcome 
 at the Embassy, visits from men of letters, French 
 and English, conversations with ministers and poli- 
 ticians of various nationalities on their passage 
 through France, an excursion to Chantilly, where 
 they met the Orleans princes, — all these things fill 
 Lord Dufferin's journal for the summer of 1894. 
 
 But in June the assassination at Lyons of 
 President Carnot spread universal grief and con- 
 sternation throughout France, and indeed in all the 
 capitals of Europe. At various times in the course 
 of French history, it was remarked, attempts had 
 been made to kill the Chief of the State, some of them 
 plotted elaborately by conspirators who had studied 
 the place and opportunity, armed with deadly scien- 
 tific machinery. Yet of all these attempts two only, 
 made simply and openly with very primitive weapons, 
 had succeeded ; for Henry IV. and President Carnot 
 were each murdered by a man who placed his foot on 
 the step of a carriage and stabbed them with a knife. 
 
 Some time afterward, when Madame Carnot was 
 about to quit the Elysee Palace, Lord and Lady 
 Dufferin visited her there. Lord Dufferin, who was 
 much affected by the interview, wrote to the Queen
 
 1894] M. CASIMIR PERIER. 279 
 
 that he " had never seen any lady bear herself in so 
 dignified and noble a manner. She was very calm 
 when talking of herself and her sorrows and the 
 change in her life; but when she turned to Lord 
 Dufferin and began expressing her deep sense of 
 Queen Victoria's goodness in writing the letter that 
 she had received from your Majesty, she displayed 
 such a force and energy of feeling as no words can 
 convey." 
 
 The two Chambers proceeded immediately to the 
 election of a new President, when their choice fell 
 upon M. Casimir Perier. He bore a name of here- 
 ditary distinction in French politics ; and his reputa- 
 tion for courage and capacity was so high that his 
 election was counted upon as a sure step toward 
 restoring the stability of ministerial cabinets — whose 
 tenure of power had hitherto been brief, with abrupt 
 terminations — and toward reinforcing the element of 
 authority, which had become gravely compromised by 
 repeated changes. As M. Casimir Perier held office 
 for less than six months, it may be convenient here 
 to touch briefly upon the circumstances, closely ob- 
 served and commented upon by Lord Dufferin, which 
 led to his speedy and sudden abdication. 
 
 His inaugural address plainly intimated an intention 
 of dealing firmly with the party of disorder ; but this 
 at once raised up a coalition against him in the Chamber 
 of Deputies. Lord Dufferin, on returning to Paris, in 
 October, from a short absence in England, found 
 M. Casimir Perier's unpopularity rapidly increasing. 
 His personal character and political antecedents were 
 virulently assailed by a section of the French Press ; 
 while those who should have been his friends and 
 supporters were lukewarm. Certain incidents fol- 
 lowed in the Chamber which seemed to put a slight
 
 280 THE PRESIDENT'S ABDICATION. [CH. VIH 
 
 on his office, and to disparage his legitimate influence 
 on affairs ; for it is to be understood that the reputa- 
 tion and responsibility of the President of the Republic 
 are more or less associated, by public opinion, with 
 the course of the country's administration. Exposed 
 to insult and accusations without the possibility of 
 defending himself, unable to strike back at those who 
 attacked him, M. Casimir Perier, losing patience, 
 decided that his position was untenable. When, 
 therefore, in January 1895, a concentration of parties 
 in the Chamber of Deputies dismissed M. Dupuy's 
 ministry by a vote that indirectly condemned a judicial 
 decision of the Council of State, M. Casimir Perier, 
 instead of summoning a fresh ministry, unexpectedly 
 published his own resignation. 
 
 Such a coup de theatre, as the French termed it, was 
 startling, and Lord Dufferin wrote that "the excite- 
 ment and surprise caused by it were very considerable. 
 " But " (he added) " it is certainly remarkable that 
 although France thus suddenly found herself without 
 either an executive government or a chief of the State, 
 not only was there no disturbance of public order, but 
 there does not seem to have been the slightest appre- 
 hension of anything of the kind." In a remarkable 
 despatch he enlarged upon the difficult and distasteful 
 position of the elected representative of a great nation, 
 whose influence over the counsels of his own ministers 
 might be reduced below that of a constitutional king. 
 At the election two candidates were proposed by the 
 Moderate party, against a third for whom the Radical 
 party voted. When the Radical candidate failed at 
 the first ballot to obtain an absolute majority, the 
 two Moderate sections combined at the second ballot 
 in favour of a single candidate, M. Faure, who came 
 in at the head of the poll.
 
 1894] INTERNATIONAL RIVALRIES. 281 
 
 From July to October Lord Dufferin was on leave 
 at home, with a few days' interval at Paris on urgent 
 business. The autumn he passed at Clandeboye, 
 occupied with the management of his estate, the 
 improvement of his house and grounds, and with 
 local affairs generally. He presided at the opening of 
 the Library Association in Queen's College, Belfast, 
 and went there again to make a speech on the organi- 
 zation of University Extension Lectures. From Ireland 
 he crossed the Channel in October to visit Lord Rose- 
 bery at Dalmeny; travelled thence to London for a 
 meeting with Lord Kimberley at the Foreign Office, 
 and was in Paris by the month's end. In his diary for 
 the winter various entries record good sport in the 
 French covers—" a splendid day's shooting at Fer- 
 rieres, nearly a thousand pheasants killed, I killed a 
 hundred and fifty" — and another grand battue at 
 Rambouillet, where he again upheld his country's 
 sporting reputation, by slaying precisely the same 
 number that fell to the gun of the President of the 
 Republic. But the diary makes no allusion to other 
 trials of skill, in the diplomatic field, over international 
 rivalries in Asia and Africa, that were actively carried 
 on during this time between France and England 
 — entailing upon Lord Dufferin long interviews 
 with the French ministers — and were not determined 
 without some animated interchanges of views and 
 arguments at the Quai d'Orsay. That in Asia Siam, 
 and in Africa Nigeria on the west, the Congo State 
 in the centre, Harar on the east, and Madagascar, 
 should have been the principal subjects of conten- 
 tion, illustrates the broad expansion, in these days, 
 of European dominion over scattered and outlying 
 parts of the world. A glance at these distant and 
 diverse points on the map shows the extent to which
 
 282 NICE. [ch. vin 
 
 the modern system of protectorates, spheres of in- 
 fluence, and the stress of commercial competition, 
 have multiplied the points of contact, friction, and 
 collision among the enterprising nations of Europe. 
 
 In March 1895, when Queen Victoria was residing 
 at Nice, Lord Dufferin was summoned there to attend 
 upon Her Majesty. Yacht-racing engrossed much of 
 his spare time, yet he found leisure to inquire for and 
 renew his acquaintance with some very old friends 
 whom he had known well when abroad forty years 
 before — now aged ladies living in solitude upon strait 
 means. On taking leave of the Queen after a week's 
 stay, she spoke of ministerial changes impending in 
 England, saying that he was almost the only one left 
 of her old friends whom she might consult, as long 
 ago she consulted the third Marquis of Lansdowne 
 and the Duke of Wellington : and she desired his 
 advice. 
 
 At Monte Carlo he " met Princess Beatrice and 
 Princess Christian of Schleswig Holstein, who stood 
 behind me when I was looking at the view. I told 
 the Princess Beatrice to tell the Queen how innocently 
 she had found me employed." 
 
 On his way back to Paris he stopped at Cannes to 
 visit the cemetery, and noted in his Journal — 
 
 " I found the tombs of poor Lady Jocelyn, Lord 
 Roden, and my godson Eric Jocelyn, and left a wreath 
 on Lady Jocelyn's. 
 
 " Lady Jocelyn was the earliest and dearest friend 
 I ever had ; a most beautiful, attractive, and good 
 woman. When 1 knew her, she had everything that 
 this world can give; a happy home, a husband she 
 loved, four beautiful children — two girls and two boys ; 
 beauty, charm, popularity. She was the step-daughter 
 of the Prime Minister, one of the Oueen's ladies and
 
 1 895] LADY JOCELYN. 283 
 
 one of her dearest friends. She lived in a charming 
 little cottage the Queen had given her at Kew, which 
 was the very home of peace and domestic happiness. 
 Her husband, who had been in the army, had become 
 Colonel of a Militia regiment. His regiment was 
 quartered at the Tower when the cholera broke out, 
 and he thought it his duty to go and sleep there for 
 a few nights to encourage his men. He was suddenly 
 seized with cholera and was taken to Lord Palmer- 
 ston's house where he died. Her eldest daughter was 
 severely burnt in the neck, and a few years afterwards 
 died unmarried. Her next daughter, Edith, who mar- 
 ried Lord Sudeley, also died young. Both these girls 
 were very pretty. The next to die was my poor little 
 godchild Frederick (Eric). About the same time she 
 lost her mother, Lady Palmerston, and her sister the 
 Countess of Shaftesbury, to whom she was also 
 devoted. Last of all her eldest son Lord Roden was 
 struck down by a fatal illness, and she herself died in 
 less than three months afterwards. It was a great 
 tragedy." 
 
 His letter upon this occasion to Lady Mount 
 Temple is subjoined — 
 
 April 3, 1895. — "It may perhaps interest you to 
 know that on my way from seeing the Queen at Nice 
 I stopped at Cannes on purpose to pay a visit to my 
 dear friend's tomb. It was a beautiful morning, every- 
 thing bathed in sunshine, and the landscape lovely 
 on every side. I laid a white wreath at her dear feet, 
 and all her goodness and sweetness came back to me 
 in a flood of tender reminiscences. She has always 
 been a living presence to me, and I shall never forget 
 her till the day of my own death. I brought away a 
 little leaf of ivy and a sprig of trefoil from poor 
 Roden's and my godchild's grave. How sad is the 
 inscription on the one, and how touching the words 
 on the other ! On Lord Roden's — 
 
 ' The last of my children.'
 
 •284 LADY MOUNT TEMPLE. [ch. vm 
 
 And on Eric's — 
 
 ' Is it well with the child ? ' 
 ' It is well.' 
 ' But the light of mine eyes has gone from me.' " 
 
 Lady Jocelyn was Lady Palmerston's daughter by 
 a previous marriage; and Lady Mount Temple had 
 married her brother. A letter written by Lady 
 Mount Temple to Lord Dufferin after reading his 
 mother's poems, shows how deep and lasting was the 
 memory on both sides of these early friendships. 
 
 " Dear Lord Dufferin, 
 
 " Familiar name of my youth, now you are 
 Marquess, Excellency, and Ambassador, and I know 
 not what besides, still you are my Lord Dufferin, 
 remembered so well in your beautiful dawning man- 
 hood ; and I am past recognition, old and ill, I may 
 almost say dying, and I feel just as if I could rest 
 more happily if I may add my feeble thank you to the 
 chorus of admiration that I know greets your beauti- 
 ful book with the gleanings of her poetry, and your 
 delightful sketch of your ideal mother. It has been 
 lent to me by a friend, and I have been devouring it 
 in my weakness to-day till I feel just filled with the 
 past and the dear days of long ago when she was 
 a fairy queen to me, and I remember what may please 
 you as it does me. My dear sister, whom I know 
 you admired and esteemed, Fanny Jocelyn, said to me 
 in her last days, ' I have only known two men in my 
 life thoroughly immersed in the world, and quite 
 unspoilt by it, — my brother William and Lord 
 DufTerin.'" * 
 
 The end of a long and varied public life was now 
 within sight. In March (1895) he had written to his 
 daughter — 
 
 " Is it not wonderful to think that in a little over a 
 year from now I shall have finished my official career,
 
 1 895] RESIGNATION OF THE WARDENSHIP. 285 
 
 which has lasted almost continually for fifty years? 
 but though I am very happy here, I am beginning to 
 have a great craving for rest and peace, and especially 
 for the country." 
 
 Yet he says in another letter — 
 
 " I have now entered my seventieth year, and I am 
 seized by a feeling akin to consternation to perceive 
 that in my feelings and habits of thought and ways of 
 looking out upon the world, I am pretty much what I 
 was at five and twenty." 
 
 The summer of 1895 was passed in England, 
 though Lord Dufferin was in Paris for a short time in 
 July. In his Diary for June he notes — 
 
 " Dined with the Prince of Wales at Marlborough 
 House to meet the Shahzada. Sat between the 
 Shahzada and Lord Rosebery. A very agreeable 
 dinner. All the members of the outgoing and in- 
 coming Cabinets were there, three ex-Viceroys, a 
 great number of ex-Indian governors, and the 
 Russian ambassador." 
 
 He had now resolved to settle at Clandeboye 
 after his retirement, and accordingly he resigned the 
 Wardenship of the Cinque Ports to Lord Salisbury, 
 who succeeded him at Walmer Castle. When he 
 returned to France in September he accepted, with 
 Lady Dufferin, an invitation from the Count and 
 Countess de Rochefoucauld to their chateau at 
 Verteuil in Touraine. 
 
 " Verteuil " (he wrote to his daughter) " is about 
 twenty miles from La Rochefoucauld, which was the 
 original nest of the race. . . . Every chateau on the 
 Loire and in its neighbourhood is a flower of archi- 
 tectural beauty, and there is not one that has not 
 been the scene of some fearfully dramatic incident.
 
 286 EXCURSIONS IN FRANCE. [ch. VIII 
 
 Moreover, it was most interesting to observe the way 
 in which the frowning donjon of the mediaeval period 
 began, after the return from Tuscany of the French 
 army, to blossom with Italian ornament, and to clothe 
 itself with deviceful windows, and spread itself abroad 
 in cheerful wings and terraces as rich as the hanging 
 gardens of Babylon. . . . 
 
 "Amongst my other visits I went to see an 
 enormous territory which was once possessed by the 
 only Sheridan who ever made any money since the 
 time of Queen Elizabeth. He was the uncle of 
 Brinsley Sheridan, and he accumulated his fortune in 
 Barbadoes. He then settled in France, became a 
 very grand man, was made a Marquis by Louis 
 Quinze, and married his daughter, who was an 
 heiress, to the eldest son of one of the great French 
 noblemen, who was killed, however, in a duel when he 
 was only two and twenty, by the eventual possessor 
 of the lady, the Marquis de Maille de la Tour Landry. 
 By him she became the mother of the Countess 
 de Hautefort, who was the great friend of the Duchesse 
 de Berry, and attended her in her very inopportune 
 confinement. They have got pictures of these 
 Sheridans, and the uncle is extraordinarily like my 
 great-grandfather. The present Marquis de Maille 
 was very pleased on hearing that I was a kinsman of 
 his, and treated me with the most cordial hospitality." 
 
 Journal, September 23 and 24, 1895. — "We left 
 Verteuil in the morning for Poitiers, the Count and 
 Countess de la Rochefoucauld coming with us as far 
 as La Rochefoucauld, from which the family takes its 
 name. Here there is an old castle uninhabited, be- 
 longing to the Due de la Rochefoucauld. We went 
 on to Poitiers, where we slept. 
 
 " Drove round the churches, etc., of Poitiers. 
 Afterwards I went off to visit the battlefield, but 
 found there was nothing to be seen. Then by train 
 to Tours, and from Tours to Monnaie to stay for a
 
 1895] PROFESSOR BLACKIE. 287 
 
 few days with Madame de Wendel at her Chateau of 
 L'Orfrasiere." 
 
 They made excursions to the famous chateaux 
 along the Loire, went on to another country house, 
 and so to Paris by the first days of October. 
 
 In reference to Professor Blackie's death Lord 
 Dufferin writes to Mr. Blackwood — 
 
 October 18, 1895. — " I was very fond of Professor 
 Blackie and greatly sympathized with him in his 
 enthusiasm for Greek literature. Once at the Duke 
 of Argyll's at a very smart and fashionable party 
 when all the young ladies and gentlemen were flirting 
 together, and everybody else was deeply engaged in 
 conversation, there suddenly arose at the far end of 
 the room a quavering voice that chanted a kind of 
 dirge in a minor key. This was dear old Blackie, 
 who was trying to illustrate in what fashion the ' Iliad ' 
 and the 'Odyssey' originally reached Grecian ears. 
 You may imagine the surprise of the audience." 
 
 Nothing short of enthusiasm, indeed, could have 
 sustained Lord Dufferin himself in his indefatigable 
 and laborious application to the study of Persian as 
 well as of Greek literature. At the end of 1895 he 
 notes in his Journal — 
 
 December 30, 1895. — "During this year I have 
 learned by heart 786 columns of a Persian dictionary, 
 comprising about 16,000* words. Of these I have 
 learned 8000 perfectly, 12,000 pretty well, and 4000 
 imperfectly. In three months' time I hope to have 
 completely mastered the whole." 
 
 Then follows a long list of the Greek classics that 
 he had read wholly or partly during the year — the 
 Greek tragedians, eleven plays of Aristophanes, 
 
 * 24,000 ?
 
 288 A VALEDICTORY SPEECH. [ch. vm 
 
 portions of Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Plutarch, 
 Lucian, and others ; no inconsiderable performance for 
 a man who never neglected official business, made 
 speeches and wrote letters innumerable, yet always 
 found time for numberless social engagements, and 
 delighted in sport by land or water. 
 
 In April (1896) Lord Dufferin wrote to a friend, 
 "My term comes to an end on the 21st of June, 
 when the clock will have struck 70." * And on 
 June 2, at the annual banquet of the British Chamber 
 of Commerce in Paris, Lord Dufferin delivered the 
 last of the many speeches that he had made from 
 high places in the public service. It struck, as was 
 natural, the valedictory note. He spoke of his regret 
 at leaving " this delightful capital, where Lady Dufferin 
 and myself have lived so happily for the last four 
 years, where we have had the opportunity of renew- 
 ing affectionate relations with our French friends of 
 former days, and where we have formed so many new 
 ties." He acknowledged the courtesy and considera- 
 tion which he had received from the French ministers 
 and politicians with whom he had from time to time 
 been engaged in handling "the thorny problems" of 
 adjusting international claims and interests that were 
 often inevitably contrary. In regard to the Press of 
 Paris, he touched very lightly on bygone misrepre- 
 sentations of his motives and character, and on the 
 fulfilment of his confident prevision that they would 
 be effaced by the lapse of time and a better understand- 
 ing of him personally. 
 
 " It is true " (he said) " when I was first subjected 
 to its acute and patriotic observation, the Press was 
 disposed to exhibit towards me an attitude — well, I 
 
 * It was prolonged by special arrangement until October.
 
 1896] A VALEDICTORY SPEECH. 289 
 
 will say an attitude of coyness. But there were arti- 
 ficial circumstances existing at the time which suffi- 
 ciently accounted for what happened; and knowing in 
 my own heart how anxious I was to discharge the 
 duties of my office in a spirit of loyalty and concilia- 
 tion, convinced that no outsider could have come to 
 France with a higher appreciation of the qualities of 
 its inhabitants, or who could have already worked 
 more harmoniously with its representatives abroad, 
 I had little doubt that your discriminating journalists 
 would eventually recognize in me the well-wisher of 
 their country." 
 
 His description of the diplomatic service, from 
 which he was just about to retire, will probably be 
 accepted by most of those who have climbed up the 
 ladder of promotion from its first steps. 
 
 " I cannot complain of the rule which fixes the age 
 at which I have arrived — and which no power on earth 
 will induce me to communicate to the ladies present 
 — as the epoch for the compulsory retirement of 
 ambassadors. My only doubt is whether it should 
 not be enforced at an earlier period. The diplomatic 
 service is undoubtedly one of the most advantageous 
 of the liberal professions, but it has certain drawbacks 
 in these days of intense competition. It can only be 
 entered after a severe examination, which implies an 
 expensive education prolonged through many pre- 
 paratory years. The earlier stages of the career are 
 unremunerative, and the work desultory, mechanical, 
 and often uninteresting. Its later phases, however, are 
 most attractive, full of responsibility and importance, 
 and its highest prizes are as worthy of a man's ambi- 
 tion as any at the disposal of the Crown. But the one 
 thing that casts a shadow over the prospects of those 
 who follow it, as indeed is the case in most profes- 
 sions, is the slowness, the uncertainty and sometimes 
 the stagnation of promotion. In this last event the 
 vol. 11. u
 
 290 THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE. [ch. till 
 
 younger members are suffocated by the solid crust of 
 the ranks above them, while these in their turn grow 
 stale and disheartened amid the monotony and routine 
 of their trivial though necessary duties. Now change 
 and advancement are the very life of every career. 
 It is the oxygen which revivifies our blood, brightens 
 our intelligence, stimulates our initiative, and I assure 
 you it is the greatest possible consolation to those 
 who are stepping down from their high station to 
 think that they are making room for younger men. 
 Even so, such a break with the past cannot fail to be 
 painful, for it is not only the conclusion of a chapter, 
 but it is the closing of a book. Though a man's life 
 may be extended a few years beyond the span of its 
 official existence, its record can never be more than 
 a dry appendix printed in a smaller type, and on the 
 face of it neither inviting nor worthy of perusal. Nor 
 at such a turning-point can one help recognizing with 
 a sense of regret one's many shortcomings in the 
 service of one's country, and the insignificance of 
 one's efforts for the advancement of its interests. 
 Though brought into contact with great events and 
 concerned with momentous issues, one's role is rather 
 that of the object floating on the stream and indicating 
 its course than that of the controlling force which 
 hurries it along and determines its destination ; for 
 political results are now less the fruit of individual 
 effort than of those mighty popular energies which 
 have been vitalized by our modern civilization." 
 
 Turning next to the conditions of modern diplo- 
 macy, he said — 
 
 "What do we see around us? The whole of 
 Europe is little better than a standing camp num- 
 bering millions of armed men, while a double row of 
 frowning and opposing fortresses bristles along every 
 frontier. Our harbours are stuffed and the seas 
 swarm with ironclad navies, to whose numbers I am 
 forced to admit England has been obliged in self-
 
 1896] THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE. 291 
 
 defence to add her modest quota. Even in the 
 remotest East the passion for military expansion has 
 displayed an unexpected development. In fact, thanks 
 to the telegraph, the globe itself has become a mere 
 bundle of nerves, and the slightest disturbance at any 
 one point of the system sends a portentous tremor 
 through its morbidly sensitive surface. We are told 
 by the poets of old that when Zeus nodded the golden 
 halls of his Olympus shook to their foundation. To-day 
 it would suffice for any one of half a dozen august 
 personages to speak above his breath or unwittingly 
 to raise his little finger, and, like heaven overcharged 
 with electricity, the existing condition of unstable 
 equilibrium which sustains the European political 
 system would be overset. . . . Well, ladies and gentle- 
 men, it is to prevent catastrophes of this kind that we 
 meek, civil-spoken, and, mild-mannered persons have 
 been invented. Looking at us you will perhaps say 
 that we are but a poor and feeble folk and our calling 
 a sorry preservative against such dangers, but such 
 as it is it is the best device that human ingenuity has 
 been able to discover. After all a very thin wire 
 proves a perfectly effective lightning conductor, and 
 for over fifty years, thanks to this unpretending 
 agency, an unbroken peace has been maintained 
 between your native land and the country with whose 
 prosperity and welfare your own interests are so 
 closely connected." 
 
 This passage appears to have caught the public 
 attention, for it was extracted and noticed in almost 
 all the chief newspapers at home and abroad. Un- 
 doubtedly the rapid transmission of news, the publicity, 
 ventilation, and discussion of every incident or dis- 
 pute affecting international relations, have produced 
 among political bodies a delicacy of the epidermis that 
 was unknown to the rougher constitution of earlier 
 governments. All the great Powers have now out- 
 lying frontiers that are very sensitive because they
 
 292 PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. [ch. viii 
 
 are shifting and unsettled ; commercial and colonial 
 rivalry has become so keen that a very slight collision 
 may engender heat and a tendency to inflammation; and 
 in any such controversy the Press on either side takes 
 part eagerly. Foreign secretaries and ambassadors are 
 often like players for heavy stakes in a difficult game, 
 at a table where a crowd of bystanders watch every 
 move and speak their mind loudly. 
 
 Lord Dufferin's "last dying speech and confession," 
 as he termed it, was translated in whole or partly into 
 almost all the French journals, with comments that 
 were generally favourable. It went the round of the 
 European Press ; the English newspapers agreed that 
 the final words of their ambassador were honourable 
 to himself and his country, and paid a due tribute of 
 admiration to the distinguished career which was now 
 terminating. 
 
 Next day there was a garden-party at the Embassy 
 for which "about three thousand invitations" had 
 been issued. A heavy thunderstorm drove every one 
 indoors, where, however, " they enjoyed themselves 
 very much — the French people being always so gay 
 and good-humoured."* 
 
 Then came farewell visits, the presentation to 
 Lady Dufferin, by the ladies of the English colony in 
 Paris, of an address with some keepsakes of artistic 
 value ; and on June 21 Lord Dufferin received many 
 letters of congratulation upon his seventieth birth- 
 day. The funeral of the Due de Nemours appears to 
 have been the last ceremony that he attended officially, 
 on behalf of the Queen. 
 
 Early in July he crossed from Havre to South- 
 ampton, and so to London, after a few days' yachting, 
 with a little sailor boy for his entire crew. His Diary 
 
 * Diary, June 3, 1896.
 
 1896] A SHORT EXCURSION. 293 
 
 records, among numerous other matters, a visit to 
 Lady Tennyson at Aldworth, another to Dr. Warre 
 at Eton, where he " stayed behind the rest of the party 
 to walk through the playing fields " ; some long and 
 lively discussions of the Irish Land Bill with poli- 
 ticians ; and attendance at the installation of his 
 successor in the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports, 
 when his portrait was unveiled by Lord Salisbury. 
 In September he was yachting on the French coast 
 for a fortnight, with headquarters at Calais and 
 Boulogne. He made an excursion to the field of 
 Agincourt. 
 
 " Had great difficulty in getting a conveyance to 
 Fruges. Eventually a peasant drove me in his cart 
 to the Calvary which has been erected over the trench 
 in which the bodies of the French nobles and soldiers 
 killed in the battle were buried." 
 
 He took Crecy on his route to Paris. 
 
 "Walked to the windmill mound where Edward 
 the Third stood while the battle was going on. Then 
 went down to a cross in the plain, stated to mark the 
 spot where the King of Bohemia was slain. After- 
 wards spent several hours over the kitchen fire of 
 the little pot-house in which I put up." 
 
 In October the Russian Czar came to Paris from 
 Balmoral ; but the corps diplomatique had little access 
 to him ; nor did Lord Dufiferin find an opportunity 
 for private conversation with His Majesty. "The 
 behaviour of the French people " (he wrote), " though 
 perfectly friendly and cordial, was dignified and cor- 
 rect;" the Emperor's attitude was tinged with some 
 reserve ; " the Empress's appearance and manner 
 were perfect ; every one is full of her praises."
 
 294 RETIREMENT FROM THE PUBLIC SERVICE, [ch. vm 
 
 October 9. — " Up at 5 a.m. and started with Mr. 
 Howard at half-past 6 in the military attaches' train 
 for Chalons to see the great review in honour of the 
 Russian Emperor. On reaching the station the Rus- 
 sian ambassador gave me a seat in his carriage as far 
 as the temporary headquarters, and from thence I 
 drove with Montebello (the French ambassador to 
 Russia) to the Emperor's tribune, where I found a 
 great number of my old Russian friends. The review 
 was a splendid sight, terminating with a charge of 
 12,000 cavalry down hill." 
 
 On October 13 Lord Dufferin presented his 
 letters of recall at the Elysee to the President of the 
 French Republic, who received him very cordially. 
 He left Paris with Lady Dufferin next day, when the 
 long series of Lord Dufferin's voyages, adventures, 
 his manifold experiences of men and cities, and his 
 official transmigrations, closed finally with his arrival 
 in London. 
 
 With the Queen's letter to him the narrative of his 
 active public life may here fitly terminate — 
 
 October 28, 1896. — "It is a great sorrow to the 
 Queen, and a great loss to the country that Lord 
 Dufferin retires from Her service. He has for many 
 years served Her so well, in so many important posts 
 beginning as Her Lord in Waiting, that it seems 
 almost impossible that he should be retiring into 
 private life. She hopes he will often come to 
 England, including Cowes. She also hopes that he 
 will sometimes write to Her and tell Her about 
 Ireland, the state of which seems greatly improved. 
 
 "The Queen read Lord Dufferin's speech at 
 Belfast and greatly admired it."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE LAST YEARS AT HOME. 
 
 It is probable that no Englishman has ever finally 
 relinquished high office, with all its anxieties and 
 responsibilities, without a passing sense of depres- 
 sion. Accustomed to the exciting strain of important 
 and urgent business, to the exercise of substantial 
 influence over the world's affairs, to the demand 
 upon him for rapid action or advice in emer- 
 gencies, he steps across the official threshold into 
 private life, and finds the prospect before him some- 
 what blank and uninteresting. In no sense can it 
 well be said that, in his case, "resignation gently 
 slopes the way," for his descent from public eminence 
 is as abrupt as the ascent had been usually gradual 
 and arduous. He can no longer lend a hand to 
 Fortune in turning the great wheel of his country's 
 destinies. 
 
 Some such feeling, one may conjecture, must 
 have affected Lord Dufferin when, on quitting the 
 Embassy at Paris, he looked back on a career so 
 brilliant that it may have deepened the shadow of 
 regret at its close. Yet he was a man of great 
 courage and cheerfulness, with a fine elasticity of 
 temper; and there is nothing on record to signify 
 that he was not well pleased to escape from official 
 harness, and to settle down at Clandeboye among 
 
 295
 
 296 SPEECH AT BELFAST. [ch. ix 
 
 his own people, who received him with great cor- 
 diality. The men of Ulster lost no time in doing 
 full honour to their distinguished countryman, by 
 giving him an enthusiastic welcome home. At the 
 end of October the Lord Mayor of Belfast (Mr. 
 Pirrie) presided at a banquet in the Ulster Hall to 
 Lord and Lady Dufferin, when he enlarged with 
 patriotic pride before a great and representative 
 assembly on " their deep obligation to one who 
 had added another name to the roll of distinguished 
 Irishmen." Lord Dufferin began his reply by re- 
 minding the audience that the seal of the Foreign 
 Office was still on his lips, and that he could not 
 risk disturbing the peace of Europe by interesting 
 revelations of his diplomatic adventures. He then 
 launched out, with characteristic adroitness, into a 
 wide-ranging flight over the surface of foreign affairs, 
 telling his hearers much that was good for them to 
 know, but nothing that it might be inconvenient 
 to divulge. They would probably be surprised, he 
 said, to learn from him that at the present moment 
 the English are not the most popular nation in 
 Europe — 
 
 " Our natural instinct is to regard other countries 
 with a lazy kind of good will, to be rather glad than 
 otherwise at their well-being, certainly to sympathize 
 keenly with their misfortunes. . . . We appreciate 
 and admire the fine qualities of other people; we 
 have no desire to quarrel with their governments. 
 . . . Yet it is an astonishing fact that the Press of 
 most Continental countries is more or less in the 
 habit of alluding to us in language of uncompromising 
 hostility, an hostility which is a bewildering enigma 
 to the ordinary placable and good-humoured English- 
 
 man." 
 
 How was this puzzling fact to be explained ?
 
 1896] SPEECH AT BELFAST. 297 
 
 In the first place, Lord Dufferin said, we English- 
 men hardly take foreign politics seriously. 
 
 " Safe within the circle of our tutelary seas, we 
 can form no conception of the haunting anxieties 
 which embitter the existence of the nations of Central 
 Europe, upon whose every frontier hangs, black and 
 motionless, a threatening cloud of war. . . . With such 
 a sword of Damocles hanging over each country's 
 head, you can understand how angry all become at 
 the thought of what they regard as the inconsiderate 
 action of an outsider like ourselves precipitating 
 the risk of universal disaster ; and the very circum- 
 stance of our being out of the path of the storm is 
 an additional subject of offence and irritation. . . . 
 Europe is now divided into two independent con- 
 federacies, represented by the Dual and the Triple 
 Alliances ; and each of these is alive to the effect 
 which our co-operation on either side might have 
 upon the result of a conflict ; and all are united in 
 abusing what they call our selfish isolation, and our 
 indifference to the vital interests which pre-occupy 
 themselves." 
 
 The second cause of our unpopularity he found 
 in the recent impulse toward colonial expansion, 
 which has had so rapid and so curious a develop- 
 ment within the last few years. — " The German or 
 French emigrant, who sets out in pursuit of some 
 fancied territorial tit-bit in Africa or elsewhere, 
 suddenly finds himself confronted by an Englishman 
 already standing sentry over the path." 
 
 The speaker turned next to the question of 
 national defences. 
 
 "One conviction" (he said) "has been borne in 
 upon me during my long contact with the outside 
 world — that in spite of Christianity, civilization, of 
 humanitarian philosophies, of the lessons of history
 
 298 CLANDEBOYE. [ch. IX 
 
 and the bitter experience of the more recent past, 
 force and not right is the dominant factor in human 
 affairs. ... It would be madness on our part to be 
 so misled and deluded by that kind of amiable 
 optimism which always prevails among people who 
 have had no personal experience of the real, hard, 
 cruel conditions of national existence, as not to main- 
 tain in full vigour, by sea and land, the preparations 
 necessary for our own preservation." 
 
 In the long speech, from which these extracts 
 have been taken, Lord Dufferin embodied some of 
 the deliberate conclusions that he had formed upon 
 actual knowledge and observation of Continental 
 opinions, or it may be prejudices, regarding England ; 
 and we have to remember that the lesson which he 
 drew from them is a serious warning. At the end he 
 acknowledged warmly his cordial reception in Belfast. 
 
 "All I can say is that if ever a servant of the 
 Crown returned under happy auspices to his ancient 
 home and his early surroundings, that consummation 
 has fallen to the lot of him who now thanks you with 
 all the force that gratitude and sincerity can command 
 for the unprecedented warmth of the welcome you 
 have accorded him, and for this never-to-be-forgotten 
 home-bringing." 
 
 Lord Dufferin was now established with his family 
 at Clandeboye, taking part in country business and 
 local gatherings, much occupied with his estate, plant- 
 ing, building, improving the house, and arranging 
 his archaeologic and artistic collection made at sundry 
 times and in divers places during his sojourn in many 
 lands. His Journal notes frequent shooting-parties at 
 home and with neighbours, the opening of institu- 
 tions, the reception of addresses from corporations, 
 especially one from the citizens of Bangor, close to 
 Clandeboye. When the townfolk of Newtownards
 
 1 897-8] THE CIVIL SERVICE. 299 
 
 congratulated him on the distinctions he had won, 
 he answered that "the generous recognition of all 
 public service is a characteristic of the English 
 people." 
 
 He had resumed, in short, after a very long 
 interval, the life of an active country gentleman; a 
 notable figure at functions and festivities. For the 
 lighter sort of literature he had always a ready pen ; 
 and about this time he wrote for Scribner's Magazine 
 an article on Cabot's discovery of America ; though he 
 declined a proposal from Lord Acton that he should 
 undertake for the Cambridge Universal History a 
 chapter on "Our Oceanic Empire." So passed the 
 winter and spring of 1897-8, varied by a few visits 
 to neighbours and an excursion to Quilca — the little 
 solitary house in the wilds of County Cavan where 
 Swift used to stay for months with Dr. Sheridan. 
 
 In June he crossed over with Lady Dufferin to 
 London, where he presided and spoke at the annual 
 Civil Service dinner. After testifying, from his own 
 experience, to the high standard of duty and devotion 
 to their country's interest maintained by both English 
 and Indian Civil servants, he said to them — 
 
 " I have not touched upon your greatest merit. 
 I dare say that in your modesty you will wonder 
 which it is of your many excellences I have failed to 
 commemorate. Well, it is this — that in these days of 
 endless platform speaking, and wearisome loquacity 
 . . . you are a silent folk. You never break the 
 hearts of reporters with your bad grammar, or 
 exhaust the patience of public audiences with your 
 platitudes. A great city which I recently visited was 
 peopled with the statues of dead politicians, and 
 every one of these marble effigies stood in an attitude 
 of violent oratorical gesticulation. As I passed them
 
 300 ENGLAND. [ch. IX 
 
 one after another I said to myself, ' How little did all 
 this sound and fury mean at the time, and how much 
 greater a share those who are the mute servants of 
 the State have contributed to the splendour and 
 might of the empire than those whose resounding 
 volubility has filled the air with an evanescent 
 clamour ! "' 
 
 The quotation shows the lively and humorous 
 illustrations with which Lord Dufferin could garnish 
 a speech that was well suited to the occasion ; though 
 if it were taken seriously the politicians might have 
 used their volubility to some purpose in a rejoinder. 
 
 He soon found himself again at sea in his yacht, 
 sailing round the fleet assembled at Spithead for the 
 Jubilee review. After the royal Jubilee procession 
 to St. Paul's ["weather perfect, and the sight the 
 most brilliant and magnificent that I think I have ever 
 seen "] he was presented at Bristol with the freedom 
 of that city, and laid the foundation stone of a 
 memorial tower to John Cabot. July was given up 
 to yachting along the south coast of England as far 
 west as Falmouth ; and by August he was again at 
 Clandeboye. 
 
 The latter years of Lord Dufferin's life provide 
 little material for his biographer ; they were spent for 
 the most part at Clandeboye, with frequent journeys 
 to London, where anxieties of a new and ill-omened 
 sort began to gather round him; for in 1897 he had 
 accepted the chairmanship of the London and Globe 
 Finance Corporation, in succession to the late Lord 
 Loch and the late Sir William Robertson. Never- 
 theless, he took great pleasure in expeditions to places 
 associated with the memory of his family, and with 
 his own early reminiscences. 
 
 To Lady Dufferin —
 
 1898] ENGLAND. 301 
 
 August 1898. — "At Hampton Court I spent a 
 couple of hours visiting my old haunts — the chapel, 
 the State apartments, Mrs. Sheridan's quarters, the 
 Cardinal's Hall, the vinery, the canals, the lime 
 avenues — everything; then I adjourned to the long 
 grass stretch alongside of the river, where I found the 
 solitude I sought. By this time it was five, so I re- 
 paired to where the boats are kept, and arranged to be 
 taken up to Hampton by water. I never saw such a 
 sight as the river was, crammed with wherries, canoes, 
 punts, sailing-boats, house-boats, steam launches, and 
 ladies everywhere ; you can't conceive a brighter 
 scene — the banks as crowded as the river with pretty 
 dresses and pretty faces, some drinking tea on the 
 trim lawns, or reading, or gathered into Boccaccio 
 groups; it gave an idea of such a happy, healthy, 
 innocent, well-to-do world. Then at Hampton I 
 visited the church I remember so well, visited poor 
 old Walton's grave, and his house, which I am glad 
 to say they have called ' Walton House,' and one or 
 two other familiar spots, and so back by train to 
 London in time for dinner and for a letter to you 
 before going to bed." 
 
 September 6, 1898, Bath. — " The day was perfectly 
 beautiful, and most enjoyable. I have been shown 
 over the whole town, have visited all Sheridan's and 
 Miss Linley's haunts, the houses they inhabited, the 
 grotto in which they flirted, and the Crescent from 
 which she ran away with him, also the spot where 
 he had his duel with Mathews." 
 
 His deafness was now increasing seriously; and 
 his general health appears to have been declining ; yet 
 he was still ready to charge himself with duties that 
 he conceived to be of public obligation. In October he 
 presided, as Chancellor of the Royal Irish University, 
 at the conferring of degrees, and delivered a long 
 address. Next month he was at Edinburgh, where
 
 302 LORD AVA'S DEATH. [ch. IX 
 
 the freedom of the city was conferred on him and 
 on Lord Kitchener. 
 To Lady Dufferin — 
 
 " They gave me a very good reception. Then we 
 went to St. Giles' Cathedral, still arrayed in our 
 red gowns and velvet caps ; after which I was driven 
 to the University ; and was told they hoped to have 
 my picture in their Hall some day as Lord Rector. 
 And now, Madam, allow me to recall to your mind 
 my various titles to your respect, for I am now a 
 Doctor of Oxford, Cambridge, Trinity, Dublin, Edin- 
 burgh, Harvard, St. Andrew's, Laval, Lahore, Toronto 
 University, and Chancellor of the Royal University 
 of Ireland." 
 
 The first days of 1900 were darkened for the 
 family by a most grievous calamity. Lord Ava, the 
 eldest son, had been attached as A.D.C. to Colonel 
 Ian Hamilton, who was in command of a brigade at 
 the battle of Elandslaagte (October 1899). In this 
 action he carried orders to the Gordon Highlanders, 
 and charged with them on foot in the fighting line. 
 When, in January 1900, the Boers attacked the posi- 
 tion held by the British troops on Waggon Hill, Lord 
 Ava received a fatal wound, and died of it a few days 
 afterwards, to the profound sorrow of his family, and 
 of all who knew him in South Africa, where his " con- 
 spicuous gallantry" had been recognized. In April 
 Lord Dufferin lost by a fatal illness his secretary, 
 Mr. Macferrar, who had been with him for twenty 
 years, a faithful and devoted friend, in whom Lord 
 Dufferin placed absolute trust, and to whom he was 
 intimately attached. Just at this time, moreover, the 
 mismanagement of the financial enterprises with which 
 he had become connected in London had brought down 
 upon him a heavy load of vexation and overpowering 
 responsibilities.
 
 igoo-i] QUEEN VICTORIA'S FUNERAL. 303 
 
 In April Lord Dufferin had accompanied the Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland from Dublin to Kingston to 
 attend the Queen's landing from England. 
 
 " I had done the same thing fifty years before in 
 August 1849, when I was a Lord-in-waiting; and 
 then the Queen, on seeing me, sent word that I was 
 to be in attendance on her so long as she was in 
 Ireland. . . . The Queen was again very kind, and 
 sent for me to speak to her." 
 
 In January (1901) he writes to Lady Dufferin — 
 
 " I am afraid the poor Queen must be really ill, 
 but nothing is known in London beyond the official 
 intimation that she must not do any business. In 
 any event she will have both lived and reigned longer 
 than any British monarch ; and after Queen Elizabeth 
 she is the most heroic woman in our history, and a 
 far better and more lovable woman than Elizabeth 
 was." 
 
 Not many days afterwards he was lamenting the 
 death of a sovereign with whom his personal and 
 public relations had been close and confidential since 
 his early manhood, and with whose reign his whole 
 official career had been identified. The invitation to 
 the funeral ceremony in St. George's Chapel came 
 by some accident so late that he was obliged to leave 
 Clandeboye at a few hours' notice, reached London 
 much fatigued, and found his way through a great 
 crowd next day to the railway station for Windsor. 
 
 " On entering the Chapel I waited, miserably cold 
 and in a great draught, for nearly three hours. I was 
 already threatened with an attack upon my chest, and 
 this I thought would finish me, but though I was 
 perished at the time I am now none the worse. . 
 At last, however, the doors were flung open ; the 
 Duke of Norfolk with his heralds fluttering round
 
 304 FINANCIAL TROUBLES. [ch. ix 
 
 him entered, and soon after came the coffin. As it 
 passed before me I could think of nothing but the 
 poor dear Lady who was lying within it, who had 
 been so kind a friend to me for fifty years, and had 
 never changed, writing me such kind letters almost 
 to the end of her days. Indeed, so absorbed was I 
 in these thoughts, that the throng of princes who 
 followed passed quite unobserved, and I did not come 
 to myself until all that was left me to look at was the 
 tail of the procession. . . . 
 
 "My one poor eye is dotted over with spots, so 
 that 1 can hardly read, and the oculist I consulted 
 is not very consolatory, but I am in hopes it is only 
 worry and fatigue." 
 
 From this time onward Lord Dufferin was con- 
 tending against irresistible adversity, though he 
 confronted the slings and arrows of misfortune 
 with unabated intrepidity. It is clear that not only 
 his general health, but also his sight and hearing, 
 had become seriously affected. In December 1900, 
 on learning by telegraph that his son Frederic, who 
 was serving with the 9th Lancers in South Africa, 
 had been seriously wounded, Lord Dufferin at once 
 took a passage for himself and Lady Dufferin to 
 the Cape, and sent in his resignation of the chairman- 
 ship of his companies. But within a few days came 
 the failure of the London and Globe Corporation 
 ["an indescribable calamity which will cast a cloud 
 over the remainder of my life "] ; and Lord Dufferin, 
 although he was advised by his colleagues on the 
 Board that a postponement of his departure was 
 unnecessary, cancelled immediately his resignation 
 of the chairmanship, abandoned his voyage to the 
 Cape, and insisted on presiding at the meeting of 
 the shareholders in January 1901, when about two 
 thousand of them were present.
 
 igoi] FINANCIAL TROUBLES. 305 
 
 In a long letter of reply and explanation to a 
 shareholder, who had written to him in a friendly 
 and generous spirit, and to whom he had offered 
 some indemnity for loss by the investment, he men- 
 tions that "from time to time I have been addressed 
 in similar terms by others, though happily not many, 
 to whose assistance I have come to the best of my 
 straitened ability." 
 
 After the meeting Lord Dufferin wrote to Sir 
 Richard Garnett — 
 
 "Anything more generous than the conduct of 
 our shareholders you cannot imagine. Instead of 
 tearing me to pieces as I expected, the two thousand 
 gentlemen assembled in Cannon Street received me 
 as if I had been Lord Roberts. One is proud of such 
 an incident for the sake of human nature." 
 
 And to Lady Dufferin — 
 
 " Your letters are my greatest comfort. You have 
 been everything to me in my prosperous days, and 
 they have been many ; and now you are even more 
 to me in my adversity. But what I feel so dreadfully 
 is that your life should be thus suddenly over- 
 shadowed, just as we thought to enjoy the evening 
 sunshine of our days in our happy home." 
 
 Sir Edward Grey wrote, some time afterwards, 
 to Lady Helen Munro-Ferguson — 
 
 "The knowledge of the spirit in which Lord D. 
 faced all the troubles in the last few years has stirred 
 me very much. ... I understood how wonderfully 
 all the qualities of his fine spirit, kindliness, sympathy, 
 and unfailing courage stood out. Adversity set them 
 in relief, and made one see how strong they were, and 
 how fine-tempered was the metal." 
 
 In the midst of these troubles, and notwith- 
 standing the recurrence of increasing illness, Lord 
 
 VOL. II. x
 
 306 FAILURE OF HEALTH. [ch. ix 
 
 Dufferin was still resolutely bent on discharging 
 public duties and fulfilling engagements. He was 
 one of the delegates from the Royal University of 
 Ireland to the Glasgow convocation in June, where 
 a degree was conferred upon him. In October he 
 conferred degrees and delivered, as Chancellor, an 
 address at the same University in Dublin ; and on 
 the evening of that day he travelled straight to 
 Oxford, drove to Cumnor Church for the unveiling 
 of a window to the memory of the late Sir W. 
 Hunter, and presided at the ceremony of placing 
 his bust in the Indian Institute at Oxford.* On his 
 return to London a sudden illness confined him to 
 his room in a hotel for the next fortnight. As soon 
 as he could leave his bed he set off with Lady 
 Dufferin for Edinburgh, where he was expected to 
 deliver his address as Lord Rector of the University. 
 Sir W. Broadbent, who attended him in London, 
 warned him that he was too weak and ill to keep such 
 an engagement without real danger ; but Lord Dufferin 
 replied that he should not be the first Englishman 
 who had taken risks of that sort in doing his duty. 
 The result justified the warning, for the exertions of 
 the journey, of reading the address before a bois- 
 terous audience who were quite unaware of his con- 
 dition, and of taking part in other public functions, 
 must have fatally overtaxed his strength, which had 
 been already much lowered by the illness against 
 which he had been persistently fighting. The rest 
 of the story is told in a memorandum that was 
 appended by Lady Dufferin to the last page of her 
 husband's Journal. 
 
 * It was there that I saw Lord Dufferin for the last time. He was 
 standing on Magdalen Bridge, looking down the stream toward the 
 sunset, absorbed, as it seemed to me, in the remembrance of bygone 
 days. — A. C. L.
 
 igoi] ILLNESS AT EDINBURGH. 307 
 
 November u. — " We left for Edinburgh, and 
 Dufferin did the journey very comfortably, and did not 
 seem very tired. I was in no anxiety at all about 
 him, and he was reading after dinner, when he sud- 
 denly seemed to be ill, and I rang and sent for a 
 doctor. We got Dr. Murdoch Brown, and he was 
 very kind and attentive all the time we were in 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 " The fact of his having to give an address to 
 the Edinburgh students had been a great anxiety and 
 strain upon him, and he had been obliged to finish 
 it and to think about it while he was ill in London, 
 and now that the time had come to deliver it, he was 
 really quite unfit for the effort. He was ill all the 
 12th and 13th, but managed to see a few people, and 
 to stand at the window to see the torchlight procession 
 of students pass. 
 
 November 14. — " He gave the address. He looked 
 desperately ill, and there was something tragic in 
 seeing him stand up before the immense audience 
 of gay and somewhat noisy students, the professors, 
 and people of Edinburgh, when he was so weak and 
 unfit for the effort. He was obliged to sit down to 
 read most of it, but he rose again to finish it. Even 
 after this he would not give in, but would do all he 
 had promised to do. We drove over to the Students' 
 Union, where we had a cup of tea and a short rest, and 
 then he went up to the concert-room and sat through 
 a few songs. Then I got him home and to bed. He 
 had again to go out to the theatre for an hour. In 
 the night I had to send for the doctor as he was in 
 great pain, j 
 
 November 15. — " He remained in bed till the evening, 
 when he got up and went to reply to a toast at the 
 Conservative Students' Banquet. He quite revived 
 for this, and made a most successful and amusing 
 speech, and was himself enthusiastically received. 
 This was his last speech and last appearance in 
 public.
 
 308 RETURN TO CLANDEBOYE. [ch. ix 
 
 November 16. — " He was able to remain quiet all day, 
 and we left Edinburgh in the evening. The students 
 came to see him off, and showed the greatest good 
 feeling in saving him as much as possible and in not 
 pressing upon him or being too noisy. 
 
 November 17, Sunday. — " We arrived at Belfast 
 early in the morning, and drove out to Clande- 
 boye. It was a bright rather frosty morning, and 
 Dufferin quite enjoyed the air, and felt that it did 
 him good. 
 
 " From this time forward, though I did not realize 
 it for some time, he gradually failed. 
 
 December 30. — " He went his last little walk with 
 me. We got as far as the Lake, and when returning 
 by the garden he got exhausted, and had to lean up 
 against a tree. 
 
 December 31. — " He had set his heart on shooting 
 at the first stand, and although quite unfit for it, he 
 got up and drove to the place. We had a chair for 
 him there, and he shot wonderfully well, but he 
 looked frightfully ill, and was terribly exhausted. 
 He did not go to bed on his return, but sat quietly 
 in the library, the last day he was ever downstairs. 
 He failed rapidly from this time." 
 
 Sir William Broadbent came to Clandeboye early 
 in January, having spontaneously undertaken the 
 journey from London, as a friend, to see Lord Dufferin, 
 by whom his unfailing care and kindness were most 
 warmly appreciated. 
 
 January 18. — "He seemed better, and I went to 
 Knock for a few hours to open a hall there. When 
 I returned at five he was reading his letters, and was 
 much startled by finding that he could not see to read 
 the last one. This troubled him a good deal. Next 
 morning he could see again, but as a matter of fact 
 he read very little after this. 
 
 " From this time the doctors gave up hope. He
 
 igo2] THE LAST DAYS. 309 
 
 was told this, but when I went in after he had heard 
 it, I found him perfectly calm and cheerful. He 
 thought I did not know the truth about him, and 
 appeared as usual to me. His sufferings and discom- 
 forts increased rapidly, but he was never impatient, 
 was always thoughtful for others, and continually 
 thinking of me. He had business cares and anxieties 
 to the last, but never did he say an unkind word about 
 any one. 
 
 February 4. — " The Dean of Down came and gave 
 the Sacrament to him and me. I knelt by him and 
 said the prayers so that he could hear me. He said 
 the service had been a great comfort to him. 
 
 " During the last few days of his life he said many 
 things and left many messages which are a lasting 
 comfort and memorial to me and to all his children. 
 
 "It was only the day of the nth that he was 
 unconscious — that night he remained in heavy sleep, 
 and at 6.30 on the morning of the 12th he passed 
 peacefully away." 
 
 If the two final years be struck out of his account, 
 Lord Dufferin's life may be reckoned to have been 
 singularly happy and fortunate. He began it with 
 all the advantages of rank and ample means, with 
 the gift of lively wit and great personal attractive- 
 ness that had been inherited from a charming mother ; 
 and with the privilege of welcome entry into the 
 choicest English society, which is not only pleasant 
 for a young man to live in, but can also be influential 
 for the advancement of his interests. In all these 
 respects he made good use of his opportunities; 
 and he enjoyed his youth thoroughly, although the 
 serious and reflective element in his character 
 always kept dissipation or frivolity within reason- 
 able bounds. From his early manhood his strenuous
 
 310 CHARACTERISTIC QUALITIES. [CH. IX 
 
 activity of mind and body found manifold employ- 
 ment; in political questions at home, in the condi- 
 tion of Ireland especially and the management ot 
 his estate ; and in adventurous voyages abroad. He 
 made himself a good sportsman and a consummate 
 sailor; he applied himself ardently to literary and 
 artistic studies; he had a curiosity for archaeologic 
 research. In all his pursuits, indeed, he was me- 
 thodical, industrious, and remarkably persevering. 
 The amazing labour which he underwent in teaching 
 himself Persian has been proved by some entries 
 quoted from his diary. Yet, though he had a superior 
 command of his own language in speech and writing, 
 he could never attain any facility in a foreign tongue. 
 
 With drawing he began at the first elements ; in 
 sailing, for which he had a passion, he mastered 
 every detail, from the knots in the ropes to scientific 
 navigation ; and there are books filled with the cal- 
 culations that he worked out in learning the noble 
 art of seamanship ; though he used to declare that 
 he could never repeat correctly the multiplication 
 table. 
 
 His keen sympathetic interest, his sensibility to 
 the feelings of others, made and kept for him many 
 intimate friends ; and never was friendship better 
 merited, nor family affection more thoroughly earned 
 or reciprocated. That he had, in fact, the faculty of 
 insight into character, and could judge men with 
 great discrimination, is attested by all who were asso- 
 ciated with him in administration and diplomacy. 
 With the genuine amiability that made him always 
 desire to please and amuse in society, he combined a 
 subtlety of perception, and the power of keeping a 
 vigilant guard on his words in the freedom of con- 
 versation. As an ambassador he left upon foreign
 
 1902] CHARACTERISTIC QUALITIES. 311 
 
 officials the impression of a master in the diplomatic 
 art, " tresfm, un pen retors mime," whose point it was 
 not easy for an adversary to discover and parry. In 
 the discharge of high offices he never spared him- 
 self; he acted under the most earnest conviction of 
 responsibility not only to the government that he 
 was serving, but also to the nation ; his sense of 
 public duty was a part of his ardent patriotism. " It 
 is a bad habit," he would say, "to think ill of your 
 country." His valuation of official trustworthiness 
 and capacities was very seldom wrong, though toward 
 the close of his life he made one ruinous mistake in 
 dealing with a class of business of which he had no 
 experience. But he once wrote that in public and 
 private affairs it had always been his rule, where 
 he had given his confidence, to give it absolutely; 
 and on this occasion it was lamentably misplaced. 
 
 It will have been the fault of Lord Dufferin's 
 biographer if the foregoing narrative of his whole 
 life has not already furnished sufficient evidence of 
 his possession of these qualities, or has failed to 
 bring out in relief the nobility of his character, his 
 inbred kindliness and generosity, and the deep im- 
 pression that he made, and has left, upon all who 
 knew him well, and especially upon those who 
 worked with him. 
 
 From a speech * delivered by the late Mr. W. H. 
 Leek)'', a man of the highest intellectual acumen, 
 and by no means inclined to overpraise, the following 
 extract referring to Lord Dufferin is taken : — 
 
 " In the long period which has passed since our 
 
 dinner was first conceived some of our members have 
 
 passed away. We have lost perhaps the greatest 
 
 name of all — that of Lord Dufferin, who was Viceroy 
 
 * At a banquet to Lord Roberts (July 1902).
 
 312 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. [ch. IX 
 
 of India when our guest became Commander-in- 
 Chief, and who was one of the first to welcome 
 our project. He was a great diplomatist and a great 
 statesman ; a man who possessed to a degree that 
 was hardly equalled by any of his contemporaries, 
 the qualities of brilliancy and the qualities of charm ; 
 a man of unequalled tact and versatility, and who 
 combined with these gifts a rare sagacity of judgment, 
 and a singularly firm and tenacious will. I remember 
 that one who served with him in India once said that 
 what struck him most was that Lord Dufferin seemed 
 always to carry his point, yet he never seemed to be 
 in antagonism with any one; and this rare gift of 
 carrying out great works with the minimum of friction 
 was perhaps the most distinctive feature of his great 
 career." 
 
 Some personal recollections of service with Lord 
 Dufferin in Indian administration and in diplomacy, 
 have been kindly placed at the disposal of the 
 writer of this memoir by Sir Henry Mortimer 
 Durand and Sir Charles Hardinge. 
 
 From Sir Henry Mortimer Durand. 
 
 " I first met Lord Dufferin in the early seventies, 
 before I went out to India. I was dining one night 
 at Argyll Lodge, and after the ladies left us I found 
 myself next to him. He was then in the prime of life, 
 and a singularly attractive man. His lisp and eye- 
 glass, and his extremely courteous, perhaps slightly 
 punctilious manner — the manner of a man who had 
 mixed much with foreign diplomatists — gave me at 
 first an impression of affectation, but this soon wore 
 off. He talked well and pleasantly, and I was much 
 interested. I think I never saw him again until he 
 landed in India in 1884. I was in attendance as 
 Foreign Secretary at Government House when Lord 
 Dufferin arrived, and I saw him sworn in. He made a
 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 313 
 
 very favourable impression upon every one. Though 
 no longer a young man, he looked little older than 
 when I first met him. He had still the clean-cut figure 
 and upright carriage of twelve years before, and his 
 easy dignified manner and well-fitting uniform were 
 prepossessing. I was anxious to know whether he 
 would be as good at business as he was in ceremonial 
 duties. My first business interview practically set 
 my doubts at rest. He received me with the courteous 
 manner which never deserted him, and at the same 
 time with a warmth and cheeriness which set me 
 completely at ease. 
 
 " At his request I explained to him in detail the 
 work of the Indian Foreign Office, and his questions 
 and remarks about it were entirely to the point. 
 He was prompt and judicious with regard to our 
 external policy. The Afghan Boundary Commission 
 was on the disputed frontier when he took charge ; 
 and he determined at once to get the Amir down to 
 India and if possible to come to a better understanding 
 with him. The Amir came down ; and it can hardly 
 be doubted that his being with us in Rawal Pindii 
 when the ' Panjdeh incident ' took place, was the main 
 reason why that very untoward affair did not bring 
 on war with Russia. 
 
 " However this may be, Lord Dufferin certainly 
 gained a great personal influence over the Amir. It 
 was interesting to see them together, the suave 
 polished diplomat on one side, and on the other the 
 ' strange strong creature,' as Lord Dufferin called 
 him, who was such a typical exponent of the policy 
 of blood and iron. To the end of his life the Amir 
 never ceased to speak in high terms of Lord Dufferin. 
 He did so to me more than once when I was in 
 Kabul in 1893, and in spite of his many troublesome 
 proceedings, I feel sure the interview of 1885 had a 
 lasting effect upon the Amir's policy. 
 
 " Readiness was one of Lord Dufferin's most 
 prominent characteristics. He was a quick-witted
 
 314 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. [ch. IX 
 
 Irishman, and I was often struck by the rapidity 
 with which he saw the points of a case, and formed 
 conclusions, and right conclusions, on complicated 
 matters. He was specially quick in his judgment 
 of character. With all his kindness of heart he had 
 by nature an almost uncanny 'flair' for anything like 
 insincerity or weakness, and he had carefully trained 
 himself by practice. His manner had perhaps a 
 tendency to draw men out and put them off their 
 guard. I used to watch him with amusement as he 
 quietly 'sized up' the various people I had to intro- 
 duce to him in the course of our work. When an 
 interview was over he would say, ' Well, Durand, 
 I will tell you what I think of him,' and he would 
 proceed to give me a character sketch, which in the 
 case of several men whom I knew intimately, sur- 
 prised me by its minute correctness. I believe that 
 his misjudgment in one unlucky instance toward the 
 end of his life must have been due in part to the 
 failure of his physical powers. When I last saw him 
 his brain seemed as clear and keen as ever, but he 
 had become very deaf and his sight was going. You 
 know how often an expression just crossing a man's 
 face, or a momentary inflection in his voice, gives one 
 a sudden insight into his character. But however 
 this may be, I am sure that during the four years 
 Lord DufTerin spent in India, when I was constantly 
 with him, his judgment of character was singularly 
 quick and accurate. It was one of the most remark- 
 able things about him, and contributed perhaps more 
 than anything to his great success. 
 
 "Speaking of his quickness of perception reminds 
 me that in certain ways he seemed to be slow. He 
 was a North of Ireland man, and caution was as 
 marked a feature in his character as intellectual 
 readiness. Even in small things he had at times great 
 difficulty in reaching a conclusion. I have known 
 him spend days of thought and labour over the word- 
 ing of a short telegram, which some men would have
 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 315 
 
 written off without a moment's hesitation. But this 
 apparent slowness was not the slowness of an infirm 
 mind. He formed strong opinions and held to them. 
 It was the result of a habit of looking far ahead, 
 and providing with minute care for all possible 
 eventualities. Until he had thought out a subject, 
 and felt that he knew his ground, he would not move. 
 His caution and sagacity were of great use to him. 
 
 " Moreover, in such matters as the wording of a 
 despatch or telegram he was extremely particular 
 to get the exact shade of meaning he wanted. He 
 had a keen sense of artistic finish, and also he knew 
 how easily a wrong impression may be given, and 
 difficulties arise in consequence. 
 
 " With all this care and labour over the work he 
 chose to do he combined a certain carelessness, more 
 apparent than real, about the ordinary business of 
 the Indian government. I sometimes tried in vain 
 to get him to look into cases which seemed to me 
 rather important. ' My dear fellow,' he used to say, 
 ' I really cannot go into that. Life is too short' It 
 tried his eyes to read much, and he was careful to 
 reserve himself for the really important things. The 
 rest he left to his subordinates. Perhaps he went 
 a little too far sometimes in his dislike of detail, 
 but it was a sound principle. He knew he could not 
 do everything, and he expected others to do all they 
 could, and to take responsibility. He was always 
 ready to back them. One of the points in a man's 
 character upon which Lord Dufferin laid most stress 
 was reticence. He could not stand a man who was 
 talkative and indiscreet. He did not even like his 
 most trusted subordinates to talk to each other about 
 any matter he had discussed with them separately. 
 It seems to me that there was nothing he valued 
 more than a capacity for silence. 
 
 " Personally, I really enjoyed my work with him. 
 He had such kindly, pleasant ways, and such a delight- 
 fully keen sense of humour, that a business interview
 
 316 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. [ch. IX 
 
 with him was never wearisome. Moreover, he had 
 seen much, and could talk in a very interesting 
 way about men and things. Off business he was a 
 delightful companion, one of the few men I have 
 known who had real wit. His wit too was never 
 malicious. Nothing was more transparent about him 
 than his kindness of heart, and though he was by 
 nature rather impatient of dulness, he had brought 
 himself to be very gentle and tolerant to men who 
 meant well, even if they were stupid and made mis- 
 takes. He would pull himself up and correct himself 
 if he seemed to have said anything unkind. He did 
 not, however, easily forgive men whom he thought 
 aggressive or untrustworthy, and he could in his 
 polite way say things which hit very hard. 
 
 " He had a quick temper, but it was almost always 
 under control, and his irritation was short-lived. He 
 was generous and placable, and would meet an 
 apology more than half way with a quickness and 
 warmth which were very charming. He had a touch 
 of genial blarney about him, but men were wrong who 
 thought him insincere. He liked to give pleasure. 
 No doubt he also knew how useful it was ; but he 
 was in reality upright and loyal, with a high sense of 
 honour. I always admired that in him, particularly 
 the pride he had in being a gentleman, and doing 
 nothing that would be or seem inconsistent with the 
 honour of a gentleman. He valued his reputation 
 very highly, not only as a man of honour, but in all 
 ways. He had the 'last infirmity of noble mind,' 
 and liked men to think well of him. He was acutely 
 sensitive to criticism, especially the criticisms of the 
 newspapers, which at times worried him greatly. 
 When in Paris, after leaving India, he spoke to me 
 with much indignation about the attacks of the 
 French papers. In India I once said to him that I 
 did not understand why he cared about the publica- 
 tions by the Indian press of certain false statements, 
 which could do no harm. He answered that no man
 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 317 
 
 could afford to let falsehoods pass without contra- 
 diction, and he advised me not to do so myself, nor 
 to despise criticism, however ignorant and unjust. 
 
 " I have mentioned the dignity of his manners. 
 This was useful to him in dealing with native chiefs, 
 and indeed with all Orientals, who admired him 
 greatly for it. There was something of the Oriental 
 in his stately graveness and respect for ceremonial. 
 He was at his very best on occasions of Durbars, 
 investitures, and the like. He saw the humour of 
 them as much as any one, but he held that such 
 things if done should be well done, and he enjoyed 
 doing them. It irritated him to see men giggling 
 or jeering instead of acting their parts properly, 
 and he disliked anything that savoured of want of 
 self-respect. He never affected a contempt for decora- 
 tions. It gave him real pleasure, I think, to wear the 
 close-fitting red uniform which showed off his figure 
 so well, the breast festooned with collars and stars 
 carefully arranged to hang in the most graceful and 
 effective manner. 
 
 " With all his cosmopolitan way and freedom from 
 insular prejudices, Lord Dufferin was full of patriotism 
 and of pride in his country. He believed that Eng- 
 lishmen were at least the equals of any people in the 
 world ; and there was much more in it than this. 
 The interests and the honour of England, or rather of 
 Great Britain — for he always corrected me when I 
 spoke of England and the English — were very dear 
 to him. Many a time he rejoiced me by the way he 
 spoke on the subject. 
 
 " His perseverance was great. When he came out 
 to India he took up Persian, expecting to find it the 
 lingua franca of the country, and the way he toiled 
 at it was really astonishing, the more so that he had 
 no ear for languages. I believe he went on working 
 at Persian to the end of his life. 
 
 "All beauty appealed to him. He had genuine 
 artistic feeling, and in several directions a trained
 
 318 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. [ch. IX 
 
 taste. He cared little for the pleasures of the table 
 or any ordinary indulgences. He ate sparingly, and 
 hardly touched wine. He would light a cigarette 
 after dinner, pour encourager les autres, but he did not 
 smoke it. 
 
 " Lord Dufferin once your friend was always your 
 friend, and a very warm-hearted one. After he left 
 India I did not see him for some years, until I went 
 over to spend a day or two with him in Paris. I 
 found him as kind and cordial as ever, and so it 
 remained to the end. Shortly after I was appointed 
 ambassador in Spain he passed through London on 
 his way, I think, from Scotland to the Continent. 
 I was staying at a hotel, and was surprised about 
 ten o'clock at night by the door of my sitting-room 
 being opened and Lord Dufferin walking in. He 
 said an old butler of his had told him of my being 
 in London, and that he could not pass through 
 without coming to congratulate me. It was just 
 like him. 
 
 "Altogether Lord Dufferin seemed to me to be 
 much more than a very successful man. I have heard 
 it said that his intellect was brilliant and versatile 
 rather than deep. Perhaps this is true in a sense. 
 He was a man of affairs and of the world rather than a 
 profound thinker. Nevertheless he had great abilities ; 
 he thought much, and above all he had character in 
 an unusual degree. I maybe biassed in my judgment, 
 for I had a strong personal affection for him, but I 
 believe him to have been a man of very rare qualities, 
 whose great reputation in the public service was by 
 no means in excess of his desert. Certainly that is 
 the view held by foreign diplomatists, from French- 
 men to Persians. I have often heard them speak 
 of him, and always in the same terms, as the model 
 of an English gentleman, who upheld his country's 
 interests with courage and skill, and was at the same 
 time the kindest and most loyal of colleagues."
 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 319 
 
 From Sir Charles Hardinge* 
 
 " You ask me to note anything that struck me 
 in Lord Dufferin as a Chief, and I only wish that 
 I could adequately express all that I think of him. 
 It is banal to talk of his kindness and thoughtfulness 
 of all his subordinates as they are so well known, but 
 what always struck me was his great sense of fairness 
 and justice. He never did anybody an unkind turn. 
 
 " As regards the work of his staff he gave them 
 complete liberty as to when it was done and by 
 whom, provided that it was well done, and there 
 were no petty or harassing rules restricting hours 
 of leisure such as I have seen enforced elsewhere 
 with unsatisfactory results. The result was that the 
 work was never in arrear, and, as far as I know, was 
 always well done. 
 
 " While exacting as regards the quality of the 
 work done, he was at the same time a real friend 
 to his secretaries, and I know that we were all 
 ready to, and actually did, confide in him and consult 
 him on all our little petty aims and ambitions, in 
 which he invariably interested himself with friendly 
 sympathy and did his best to render assistance. 
 
 " I feel almost ashamed to have expressed in so 
 inadequate a manner the very great veneration and 
 affection which I feel for a Chief whom I am so 
 proud to have served, and whose memory I shall 
 always cherish as a priceless treasure. As I sit 
 writing here, in a place formerly occupied by him, his 
 picture is before me, and within a few feet of me, 
 on the wall, and my one hope and prayer is that I 
 may in all ways be able to emulate his noble example." 
 
 Lord Dufferin's last letter, dictated two days before 
 his death, to Lord Salisbury, may bring this bio- 
 graphy to its close — 
 
 * To Lady Dufferin.
 
 320 LORD DUFFERIN'S LAST LETTER. [ch. ix 
 
 " Clandeboye, February 9, 1902. 
 
 "Dear Lord Salisbury, 
 
 " Being, as the doctors seem to say, on my 
 death-bed, I desire, while I still have my wits about 
 me, to place in your hands my resignation of the 
 Chancellorship of the Royal University of Ireland, 
 as well as the Lieutenancy of this country. I suppose 
 that under these circumstances ill-health will be re- 
 garded as a valid excuse. I desire also to thank you 
 for the great kindness and consideration you have 
 never failed to show me since the time you started 
 me in my diplomatic career, for having kept the 
 Italian Embassy so long open for me, and for in- 
 numerable acts of kindness. I do not think you ever 
 knew how much I liked you from the time you were 
 a thin, frail, little lower boy at Cookesley's, even then 
 writing, as my tutor used to say, such clever essays. 
 
 "This is all I have strength to say. Good-bye, 
 and God bless you.* 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 "DUFFERIN AND AvA." 
 
 It is intensely characteristic of Lord Dufferin that 
 at such a time his thoughts should have gone back 
 to an old friend, and to the work in which they had 
 been associated ; and that his farewell to his former 
 colleague and chief, and to the world's affairs, touched 
 with a strain of pathetic humour, should have been 
 full of kindly and grateful recollections. 
 
 * Lord Salisbury replied by telegraph to Lady Dufferin — " Pray 
 tell him, if I am in time, how much I grieve for what he tells me of 
 his condition, how much I thank him for his kind words and many 
 kindnesses to me, and for invaluable co-operation during many years 
 in various parts of the public service."
 
 APPENDIX {p. 182). 
 
 The Countess of Dufferhis Ftmd. 
 
 Before Lady Dufferin's departure from England the Queen 
 had spoken earnestly to her on the question of endeavouring to 
 relieve the sufferings, in sickness and childbearing, of Indian 
 women. On her arrival in India Lady Dufferin began at once 
 to inquire what had hitherto been done, and to consider ways and 
 means for doing much more. She found that although efforts had 
 been made in a few places to provide hospitals and medical 
 attendance for women, yet that, taking India as a whole, there 
 was a lamentable deficiency, that the native practice was bad, and 
 that there was a great need of effective organization. The plan 
 that she adopted was to propose an association, whose single 
 object should be to train up and otherwise provide female doctors, 
 nurses, and midwives. A prospectus was accordingly published 
 and circulated throughout India, with appeals for support and 
 general co-operation, and in August 1885 an association was 
 inaugurated at Simla under the name of " The National Association 
 for Supplying Female Medical Aid to the Women of India." 
 
 Lady Dufferin was made President, the Viceroy Patron, and 
 Her Majesty telegraphed her willingness to be the Royal Patron. 
 It was determined that all contributions of money to the Associa- 
 tion should be credited to " The Countess of Dufferin's Fund." 
 
 The first general meeting, held at Calcutta in January 1886, 
 was largely attended by the European and native community of 
 Calcutta. Lord Dufferin, who presided on the occasion, said that 
 he regarded the meeting as one of the most important ever held 
 in India, as upon its successful issue a vast amount of human 
 happiness was dependent. The object of the Association in its 
 ultimate development, he said, was " to supply the women of the 
 land from one end of it to the other, with proper medical advice 
 and attendance, under conditions consonant to their own most 
 VOL. II. 321 Y
 
 322 THE COUNTESS OF DUFFERIN'S FUND. [app. 
 
 cherished ideas, feelings, and wishes. . . . Our ambition is eventu- 
 ally to furnish every district, no matter how remote, if not with 
 a supply of highly trained doctors, at all events with nurses, 
 midwives, and female medical assistants, who shall have such an 
 acquaintance with their business as to be a great improvement 
 upon those who are now employed." 
 
 Lady Dufferin notes in her Journal — 
 
 "This was a great day for me and rather a nervous one. I 
 never felt so much anxiety at a public meeting before, but now 
 this scheme is really started, and I trust it may go on as well as 
 it has begun." 
 
 The Association did, in fact, spread and take root throughout 
 all the Indian provinces, with branches in the chief cities ; while 
 in the Native States it was welcomed and liberally supported by 
 the ruling chiefs. It has now become a self-supporting and 
 genuinely national institution, which has substituted a high standard 
 of medical treatment for ignorance and unskilfulness in a very 
 important department of therapeutics, and will permanently com- 
 memorate Lady Dufferin's name as a friend and benefactress among 
 the women of India. 
 
 On December 4, 1888, the purda-nashin ladies of Bengal, 
 Orissa, and Behar presented Lady Dufferin with an address at 
 Government House. When Her Excellency consented to receive 
 the deputation she had expected it would be quite small, and out 
 of consideration for the ladies she had sent away all her aides-de- 
 camp and menservants, having arranged that her daughters should 
 meet the deputation at the door and take them to the throne-room, 
 where the reception was to be held. The ladies began to arrive 
 an hour before time and before any one was ready to receive them, 
 and came in such crowds that there were no chairs for them, and 
 as there were no men to bring chairs the scene was one of con- 
 fusion. Standing room was, however, found for all the seven 
 hundred who came. Then Lady Bayley read the address on behalf 
 of the deputation. In her reply Lady Dufferin said — 
 
 " I am quite sure that no one in the fulfilment of a plain duty 
 has ever received so great a reward as I have, in the sympathy and 
 appreciation of those for whom I have tried to do something, and 
 in the rapid progress and success of the work I undertook. That 
 work is founded upon love and common sense, and built upon 
 such sure foundations it cannot fail. If it has been my happy 
 privilege to draw attention to the remediable sufferings and to the 
 wants of the women of India, it is the quick response to that
 
 1 888] THE COUNTESS OF DUFFEIUN'S FUND. 323 
 
 appeal emanating from the hearts and minds of their countrymen 
 which has made the amelioration of their lot a reality and not a 
 dream. ... I shall have no greater pleasure in returning to 
 England than that of conveying to Her Majesty the Queen 
 Empress your expressions of loyalty and gratitude, and in assuring 
 Her Majesty of the stability and the vitality of the work in which 
 she has taken so great and active an interest. Again I thank you 
 with all my heart for your kindness to myself, and I pray that 
 every year that passes may add to the happiness, may diminish 
 the suffering, and may improve the condition of the women of 
 India."
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A 
 
 Abdul Aziz, Sultan of Turkey, ii. 3 
 
 Abdul Hamid II., Sultan of Turkey, ii. 
 1, 2, 8, 9, 12-21, 24, 27-32, 59, 60, 
 62 
 
 Abdul Medjid, Sultan of Turkey, i. 
 101, 102, 107 
 
 Abdurrahman, Amir of Afghanistan, 
 his interview with Lord Dufferin at 
 Rawal Pindi, ii. 89-101, 313 ; his 
 policy, ii. 93, 94 ; England's agree- 
 ment with, ii. 104-106 ; his reception 
 of the Mission, ii. 143; our relations 
 with, ii. 177 ; Ishak Khan's revolt, 
 ii. 187 
 
 Aberdeen, Lord, i. 51, 63, 74, 84, 87 
 
 Abyssinia, ii. 214, 219, 230 ; Italian 
 defeat in, ii. 232 
 
 Acre, siege of, i. 100 
 
 Acton, Admiral, ii. 241 
 
 Acton, Lord, ii. 299 
 
 Admiralty Committee (1871), Lord 
 Dufferin's, i. 148 
 
 Adye, Sir John, ii. 22 
 
 Afghanistan, i. 289, 303, 309, 316, 318 ; 
 ii. 77 ; Boundary Commission for 
 delimitation of frontier, ii. 85-87, 102, 
 177, 313 ; and Russia, ii. 88-101 ; 
 military preparations, ii. 99 ; the 
 Buffer policy, ii. 104-107 ; Conven- 
 tion with Russia, ii. 108, 109, 177 ; 
 strategical problems, ii. 160 ; Ishak 
 Khan's revolt in, ii. 187 
 
 Agin court, field of, ii. 293 
 
 Agrarian condition, in Ireland, i. 129 ; 
 outrages, i. 191 
 
 Agricultural Depression, Commission 
 on, i. 316 
 
 Ahmedabad, ii. 148 
 
 Airlie, Lady, i. 29 
 
 Alabama Claims, i. 259 
 
 Albert, Prince, i. 60, 87, 88 ; his death, 
 i. 131 
 
 Alexander II., Czar of Russia, i. 295, 
 304 ; attempts on life of, i. 297, 310 ; ! 
 and Merv, i. 316 ; assassinated, i. 319, 
 320 
 
 Alexander III., Czar of Russia, i. 321 
 
 32 
 
 Alexandra, Queen (then Princess of 
 
 Wales), i. 321, 323, 324 
 Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of 
 
 Russia, ii. 293 
 Alexandria, i. 93, 94; bombarded by 
 
 British fleet, ii. 19 
 Alford, Lady Marian, ii. 141 
 Allahabad University, ii. 170, 184 
 Allan, Sir Hugh, i. 218-220 
 Alliance, Triple, ii. 215-217 
 Alompra dynasty of Ava, ii. 126, 
 
 131 
 
 America, Lord Dufferin's travels in, 1. 
 
 251-256 
 
 Amherst, Lord, ii. 117 
 
 Ampthill, Lord (Lord Odo Russell), 
 Ambassador at Berlin, i. 290; his 
 letters to Lord Dufferin, i. 54, 307 ; 
 ii. 9 ; death, ii. 65 
 
 Amran hills, ii. 171 
 
 Amritsar, ii. 102 
 
 Andrassy, Count, i. 305 ; ii. 216 
 
 Anne, Queen, i. 13 
 
 Anti-Lebanon range, i. 99, 100 
 
 Arabi Pasha, ii. 7, 8, 11 ; Under- 
 Secretary for War, ii. 15-17 ; de- 
 nounced as rebel, ii. 19, 21 ; captured 
 by English, ii. 28, 29; his trial and 
 sentence, ii. 34, 35 
 
 Argostoli, ii. 1 
 
 Argyll, Duchess of, i. 73 ; Lord Duf- 
 ferin's letters to, i. 74, 83, 94, 115, 
 133, 142, 238, 251 ; and the Foam 
 figure-head, i. 88 
 
 Argyll, Duke of, i. 94; "does well to 
 read my despatches," i. 115 ; on the 
 Indian Viceroyship, i. 134 ; proposed 
 Lord Dufferin for Lord-Lieutenancy 
 of Ireland, i. 139 ; Secretary of State 
 for India, i. 153 ; on Lord Dufferin's 
 Toronto speech, i. 251; " Mervous- 
 ness," i. 316 ; and Gladstone's Home 
 Rule Bill, ii. 140 ; Professor Blackie's 
 host, ii. 287 ; his correspondence 
 with Lord Dufferin, i. 73, 135-139, 
 171-175, 186, 193, 215, 216, 296 
 
 Aristophanes, ii. 287 
 
 Armenia, i. 323 ; the Sultan's pledges, 
 ii. 62
 
 32G 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Army Commission (1870), Lord Duf- 
 
 erin's, i. 146-148 
 Army reforms in India, ii. 188, i3q ; 
 
 amalgamation and mobilisation, ii. 
 
 190, 191 
 Ashburton, Lady, i. 62 
 Ashburton Treaty of 1842, i. 258 
 Asia Minor, ii. 5 
 Asquith, H. H., ii. 262 
 Assab Bay, ii. 214 
 Assaye, battle of, ii. 145 
 Astor, W. W., i. 252 
 Athens, i. 98 ; ii. 251 
 Athos, Mount, i. 95 
 Augusta, Empress, i. 302, 323 ; ii. 9, 
 
 231 
 Aurungzeb, Emperor, ii. 145 
 Austin, Mr., i. 84 
 Austria, and the proposed compromise 
 
 at Vienna Conference, i. 87 ; treaty 
 
 between Germany and, i. 306 ; Triple 
 
 Alliance, ii. 215-217 
 Ava, Earl of, ii. 166, 302 
 Avellan, Admiral, ii. 270 
 Ayub Khan, ii. 89, 177 
 
 B 
 
 Bacon, Lord, i. 34 
 
 Badajoz, storming of, i. 9 
 
 Bahr Gazalla, ii. 58 
 
 Balfour, Arthur J., Irish Land Purchase 
 Bill, ii. 233-236 
 
 Balkan Peninsula, i. 296, 297 ; ii. 230 
 
 Ballyleidy (afterwards Clandeboye) 
 House, i. 4 
 
 Balmoral, Lord Dufferin at, i. 316 
 
 Baltimore, i. 254 
 
 Barbarini Palace, Rome, ii. 213 
 
 Barbour, Sir David, ii. 206 
 
 Bartet, Mdlle. (Com^die Francaise), 
 ii. 275 
 
 Bashir, Emir, ruler of Lebanon district, 
 i. 100 
 
 Bath, ii. 301 
 
 Battenberg, Princess Henry of, ii. 282 
 
 Battye, Major, ii. 186 
 
 Bayley, Lady, ii. 322 
 
 Beach, Sir Michael Hicks, i. 282 
 
 Beaconsfield, Lord, Correspondence 
 with his Sister, i. 15, 19 ; his Budget 
 of 1852, i. 72, 73 ; his first appearance 
 in London society, i. 142 ; on Irish 
 Land Act, 1870, i. 189 ; appoints 
 Lord Dufferin to St. Petersburg, i. 
 288, 289, 293 ; Lord Dufferin's visit 
 to, i. 301 ; resigns Premiership, i. 
 312 ; his funeral, i. 323 
 
 Beaton, Cardinal, i. 2 
 
 Beaufort, General, i. 116, 117 
 
 B6clard, M., ii. 275 
 
 Belfast, Lord Dufferin's lectures at, i. 
 124, 127 ; banquets to Lord Dufferin 
 at, i. 202 ; ii. 68, 227, 296 
 
 Belmont, Mr., i. 252 
 
 Beluchistan, ii. 171 
 
 Bengal, Rent Bill, ii. 66 ; Tenancy 
 
 Bill, ii. 76-80 ; Land Bill, ii. 177 
 Bennett, Mr., i. 252 
 Bentinck, George, i. 15 
 Bentinck, Lord William, i. 134 
 Berber, ii. 58 
 
 Beresford, Lord William, ii. 165 
 Berlin Congress, i. 304 ; Treaty, i. 294, 
 
 295 I »• S. 2 3° 
 Bernard, Sir Charles, ii. 130 
 Bernhardt, Sara, ii. 211 
 Berri, Duchesse de, ii. 286 
 Bessborough, Lord, ii. 139 
 Bessborough Commission of Inquiry 
 
 into Irish Land Laws, i. 196 ; ii. 140, 
 
 234 
 
 Beyrout, i. 95 
 
 Bhutan, i. 141 
 
 Biographie Universelle, i. 2 
 
 Biserta, ii. 248 
 
 Bishop of London's Bill, i. 55 
 
 Bismarck, Prince, and Russia, i. 294 ; 
 Lord Dufferin's intercourse with, i. 
 295, 299, 302, 323 ; a summary of 
 his remarks, i. 303-306 ; his letter 
 to Lord Dufferin, i. 308 ; and the 
 Sultan, ii. 9 ; prefers the old Turkish 
 rigime for Asia Minor, ii. 62 ; Italian 
 politics, ii. 214, 215 ; resigns, ii. 
 231 
 
 Black mountain tribes, punitive expedi- 
 tion i/. , ii. 186, 187, 196 
 
 Blackett, Montagu, i. 41 ; ii. 273 
 
 Blackie, Professor, ii. 287 
 
 Blackwode, John de, i. 1 
 
 Blackwood, Adam, i. 1, 2 
 
 Blackwood, Hon. Frederic, ii. 304 
 
 Blackwood, Hans (Lord Dufferin), i. 
 6, 16, 17, 19, 20 
 
 Blackwood, Captain (afterwards Sir) 
 Henry, i. 6-9 
 
 Blackwood, Henry, Queen's Messenger, 
 
 i- 9 
 Blackwood, Sir James (Lord Dufferin), 
 
 '• 5 
 Blackwood of Bangor, John, 1. 2, 11 
 
 Blackwood, Rev. John, i. 6 
 
 Blackwood, Sir John, i. 3, 4, 150 
 
 Blackwood, Price (Lord Dufferin), 
 
 Lord Dufferin's father, i. 16-20, 25 ; 
 
 ii. 238 
 Blackwood, Robert, i. 5 
 Blackwood, Sir Robert, i. 3 
 Blackwood, Robert (son of Hans, Lord 
 
 Dufferin), killed at Waterloo, i. 9 
 Blackwood, Scholastique Gaillard de, 
 
 i. 2 
 Blackwood, Rev. William, i. 9 
 Blackwoods, the, i. 1, 12 
 Blomfield, Dr., Bishop of London, i. 
 
 74 
 Blount, Sir Edward, 11. 267 
 Boehm, Sir Edgar, ii. 218 
 Boers, the, ii. 302 
 Bolan Pass, ii. 172 
 Bomarsund, siege of, i. 79-82
 
 INDEX. 
 
 327 
 
 Bombay, ii. 73, 207 
 
 Bosphorus, regatta on the, ii. 22 
 
 Boston, i. 256 
 
 Bowen, Sir G. , ii. 172 
 
 Boyle, George. See Glasgow, Earl of 
 
 Boyle, Sir Courtenay, ii. 224 
 
 Brant, British Consul at Damascus, i. 
 106 
 
 Breadalbane, Lord, i. 57 
 
 Breakfast Club, i. 291 
 
 Bright, John, i. 163, 167, 180 
 
 British Chamber of Commerce, Lord 
 Dufferin's dinners and speeches, ii. 
 228, 266, 275-278, 288 
 
 British Columbia, i. 209 ; joins Canadian 
 Confederation, i. 218 ; Pacific Rail- 
 way grievances, i. 257, 267-275 ; Lord 
 Dufferin's visit and speech, i. 271, 272 
 
 British North American Act of 1867, i. 
 209 
 
 Broadbent, Sir William, ii. 306, 308 
 
 Brougham, Lord, i. 19, 62 
 
 Broussa, Lord Dufferin's description of, 
 ii. 64 
 
 Brown, Dr. Murdoch, ii. 307 
 
 Browne, Hon. George, i. 261 
 
 Browning, Robert, correspondence with 
 Lord Dufferin, ii. 166, 168 ; his sonnet 
 on Helen's Tower, ii. 167 
 
 Buckland, Frank, i. 41 
 
 Budceus, i. 84 
 
 Bulteel, Miss, i. 88 
 
 Bulwer, Sir Henry, Ambassador at Con- 
 stantinople, i. 106, in, 139 
 
 Burmah, war with.'.ii. 109, 116-131, 176, 
 196 ; French influence in, ii. 116-131 
 
 Burmah Trade Corporation, ii. 119 
 
 Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, i. 84 
 
 Busch, Dr. Moritz, Bismarck — Some 
 Secret Pages of his History, i. 295, 306 
 
 Butt, Isaac, i. 163 
 
 Byron, Lord, his Ode to Sir Peter 
 Parker, i. 4 ; and Venice, i. 65 ; 
 Lord Dufferin " never cared for," ii. 
 263 
 
 Cabot, John, ii. 299, 300 
 
 Cairns, Lord, i. 168, 284 
 
 Cairo, i. 93 ; the situation at, ii. 14 ; 
 occupied by British, ii. 28 ; Lord 
 Dufferin's work at, ii. 33 
 
 Calcutta, Lord Dufferin's farewell 
 speech at the St. Andrew's Day ban- 
 quet, ii. 197-204 
 
 Calice, Austro-Hungarian Ambassador 
 to Egypt, ii. 25 
 
 Callander, Sir James, i. 15 
 
 Callander, Miss (Mrs. Thomas Sheri- 
 dan), i. 15 
 
 Cambodia river, ii. 131 
 
 Cambridge, honorary degree conferred 
 on Lord Dufferin at, ii. 254 
 
 Cambridge (U.S.), Harvard University 
 degree conferred on Lord Dufferin, 
 i. 283 
 
 Canada, i. 138 ; Lord Dufferin Viceroy 
 of, i. 154, 202-287 ! Lord Dufferin 
 recommends immigration to, i. 198 ; 
 Constitutions granted to, i. 206 ; effect 
 of Irish famine of 1846 on, i. 208 ; 
 Confederation of, i. 208, 209 ; the 
 Dominion and Commonwealth, i. 
 210 ; the Press in, i. 211, 215 ; the 
 Pacific Railway subsidy, i. 218 ; 2nd 
 Parliament of the United Dominion 
 opened by Lord Dufferin, i. 217 ; and 
 prorogued, i. 223 ; new Ministry, i. 
 227 ; loyalty of, i. 229 ; public feeling 
 in, i. 230 ; future of, i. 231 ; Lord 
 Dufferin's travels in, i. 237-267 ; and 
 the United States — the reciprocity 
 question, i. 257-259 ; failure of nego- 
 ciations at Washington, i. 260-263 '< 
 Supreme Court of Judicature estab- 
 lished, i. 275 
 
 Canada Club, London, i. 265 
 
 Canadian Pacific Railway scandal, Com- 
 mittee of Inquiry, i. 218-226 ; and 
 British Columbia's grievances, i. 257, 
 267-275 
 
 Canning, Lady, ii. 161 
 
 Canning, Lord, Viceroy of India, ii. 161 
 
 Canning, Stratford, i. 98 
 
 Cape Breton island, i. 221 
 
 Captain, loss of H.M.S., i. 149 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, i. 62 
 
 Carnarvon, Lord, Colonial Secretary, 
 congratulates Lord Dufferin on his 
 appointment to Canada, i. 154 ; British 
 North American Act, i. 209 ; private 
 and official correspondence with Lord 
 Dufferin, i. 228, 229, 233-236, 257, 
 260 ; on Lord Dufferin's Toronto 
 speech, i. 251 ; Lord Dufferin on 
 Canada, the U.S., and British 
 Columbia, i. 260, 268, 269, 271 ; 
 sounds Lord Dufferin about Australia, 
 i. 282 ; on Lord Dufferin's departure 
 from Canada, i. 284; resigns office, 
 i. 290 
 
 Carnot, Madame, ii. 278 
 
 Carnot, President, ii. 259, 269 ; assassi- 
 nated, ii. 278 
 
 Castellamare, ii. 240 
 
 Catherine, Grand Duchess, i. 320 
 
 Catholic priesthood in Ireland, i. 129 
 
 Central Asia, Russia in, 308, 316 ; ii. 
 85 ; Boundary Commission, ii. 86 
 
 Chakir Pasha, i. 299 
 
 Chamberlain, Right Hon. Joseph, ii. 
 141, 234 
 
 Chanzy, General, French Ambassador 
 at St. Petersburg, i. 296, 299 ; ii. 275 
 
 Charles I., i. 31 ; ii. 273 
 
 Chesney, General, i. 243 
 
 Chicago, i. 243 
 
 Childers, Right Hon. Hugh, i. 265; ii. 
 48 ; Life, ii. 54 
 
 China, and Tibet, ii. 132-135 
 
 Chirol, French Diplomacy in Syria, i.
 
 328 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Christian, Princess, ii. 282 
 
 Churchill, Lord Randolph, Secretary of 
 State for India, ii. 101, 113 ; corre- 
 spondence with Lord Dufferin, ii. 
 102, 104, 107 ; Lord Dufferin's pre- 
 sentiment and appreciation, ii. 142; 
 Lord Dufferin's interview with, ii. 214 
 
 Cinque Ports, Wardenship of, ii. 255, 
 260, 285 
 
 Civil Service Commission, India, ii. 177 
 
 Civil Service dinner, Lord Dufferin's 
 speech at the annual, ii. 299 
 
 Clanbrassil, Earl of, i. 150 
 
 Clandeboye, 1st Lord, i. 157 
 
 Clandeboye estate, i. 47, 157, 186, 187, 
 194 
 
 Clandeboye (formerly Ballyleidy) House, 
 i. 4, 18A 
 
 Clanricarde, Lord, i. 87 
 
 Collen, Sir Edwin, ii. 191 
 
 Collingwood, Vice-Admiral, i. 8 
 
 Compensation to Irish tenants, i. 159, 
 
 175 
 Compiegne, i. 135-138 
 Compton, Lord William, i. 299 
 Connaught, Duchess of, ii. 95 
 Connaught, Duke of, ii. 90, 95 
 Conscription, in France, ii. 269 
 Constant, Benjamin, his portrait of 
 
 Lord Dufferin, ii. 269 
 Constantinople, i. 95 -, Syrian Commis- 
 sion at, i. 119 ; British Fleet ordered 
 to, i. 290 ; Lord Dufferin Ambassador 
 at, i. 323 ; ii. 1 ; Conference of Euro- 
 pean Powers on Egypt at, ii. 16- 
 18 ; Lord Dufferin's return to, ii. 59, 
 
 63 
 Cookesley, Mr., Lord Dufferin's tutor at 
 
 Eton, i. 22-24 ? "• 3 2 ° 
 Cooper, Mr., ii. 165 
 Cornhill Magazine, i. 79 
 Cornwallis, Lord, ii. 80 
 Corti, ii. 63 
 " Countess of Dufferin's Fund " (India), 
 
 ii. 321 
 Cowley, Lord, British Ambassador at 
 
 Paris, i. 104, 136 
 Cowper, Lord, Irish Secretary, i. 313, 
 
 316 
 Cowper, William, ii. 167 
 Cox, "Sunset," i. 252 
 Crawford, Sharman, i. 56 
 Crecy, battle of, ii. 293 
 Crimean War, i. 78, 84 ; original cause 
 
 of, i. 102 
 Crispi, Signor, ii. 209, 214-219, 230-233, 
 
 240, 247, 248 
 Cromer, Lord (Sir Evelyn Baring), ii. 
 
 48, 252, 260 
 Cross, Lord, Secretary of State for India, 
 
 Lord Dufferin's letters to, ii. 148, 
 
 180, 186, 187, 192, 204 
 Culvert, of Grey Abbey, i. 4 
 Curzon, Robert, Monasteries of tlie 
 
 T^evant, i. 88 
 Cyprus, i. 294 
 
 D 
 
 Daily Telegraph, i. 313 
 Dalhousie, Lord, ii. 69, 117, 127 
 Damascus, i. 95, 100 ; murderous riot 
 
 in, i. 104 ; a scene of desolation, i. 
 
 106 
 Dana, i. 256 
 Danton, ii. 275 
 Dashwood, Miss, i. 54 
 Dallas, Sir George, i. 4 
 Dallas, Robert, i. 4 
 Dardanelles, the, ii. 1 
 Darnley, Lord, i. 24 
 Dartrey, Lady, Lord Dufferin's letters 
 
 to, i. 204, 212-214, 3 12 . 353; ii- 1. 
 
 26, 63, 73, 102, 122 
 
 Daulatabad, ii. 145 
 
 d'Aumale, Due, i. 301 ; ii. 275 
 
 Delhi, ii. no ; military review at, ii. 113 
 
 Delop of Bangor, Mr., i. 4 
 
 Derby, Lord, i. 69, 73, 136 ; ii. 194, 252 
 
 Dervish Pasha, ii. 17 
 
 Dervishes, the battle of Metemmeh, ii. 
 219; Kassala their headquarters, ii. 
 232 
 
 Detroit, i. 244 
 
 Devon Commission (1845), i. 173, 199 
 
 Dilke, Sir Charles, ii. 141, 235 
 
 Diplomatic Service and modern diplo- 
 macy, Lord Dufferin's description 
 of, ii. 2S9-291 
 
 Djenblat, Said, a Druse chief, i. 114 
 
 Dongola, ii. 58 
 
 Donoughmore, Earl of, i. 140 
 
 d'Orleans, Due, i. 301 
 
 d'Orsay, Count, i. 62 
 
 Dost Mahomed, ii. 91 
 
 Down, Dean of, ii. 309 
 
 Druses, the, i. 98, 100, 101, 103, 104, 
 113-117, 123 
 
 Dublin, Tercentenary Commemoration 
 of Trinity College, ii. 261, 262 
 
 Ducrot, ii. 275 
 
 Duff, Sir Mountstuart Grant, Notes 
 from a Diary, i. 291, 323 ; ii. 216 ; 
 Governor of Madras, ii. 95, 137 
 
 Dufferin, Hans, Lord, i. 6, 16, 17, 19, 
 20 
 
 Dufferin and Ava, Harriot, Marchioness 
 of, i. 134 ; ii. 95, 109 ; letters from 
 her husband, i. 298-306 ; ii. 59, 60, 
 63, 70, 211, 301, 305 ; Our .Viceregal 
 Life in India, ii. in ; Grand Cordon 
 of Sun of Persia, ii. 165 ; Journal, ii. 
 179 ; medical aid for women of India, 
 ii. 182, 196, 321 ; meets Gladstone at 
 Naples, ii. 208 ; at jWindsor, ii. 213 ; 
 account of her husband's last illness, 
 ii. 307 
 Dufferin, Helen Lady (Lord Dufferin's 
 mother), i. 10, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 
 27 ; Songs and Verses, i. 7, 45, 141 ; 
 her son's Memoir of, i. 16 ; ii. 273 ; 
 correspondence with her son, i. 28- 
 30, 3 2 -34. 44. 4 6 -48. 56, 57, 60-62,
 
 INDEX. 
 
 329 
 
 &7. 69, 71, 75, 83, 85-87, 92, 106 ; a 
 prediction, i. 62 ; Lady Wantage on, 
 i. 66; her son's speech on the May- 
 nooth question, i. 74 ; letters to Lord 
 Gifford and her sister, i. 119, 120 ; 
 her son's speech on the Address, i. 
 133 ; her death, i. 141 ; Motley's re- 
 ference to, i. 142 ; her life at Florence, 
 ii. 238 
 Dufferin, James, Lord, i. 5, 18A 
 Dufferin, Price, Lord (Lord Dufferin's 
 
 father), i. 10, 16-20, 25 ; ii. 238 
 Dufferin and Ava, Marquis of, ancestry 
 and kinsfolk, i. 1-10; hereditary quali- 
 ties and family characteristics, i. 11, 
 12 ; the Sheridans, i. 13-15 ; his 
 parents, i. 16, 17; birth, i. 18; his 
 alterations at Clandeboye house, i. i8b; 
 at eight years of age, i. 20 ; the Hamp- 
 ton School, i. 21 ; his Eton tutor, i. 
 22 ; his father's death, i. 25 ; home 
 studies, i. 27; at Christ Church, Ox- 
 ford, i. 29-35 1 tne Pythic Club, i. 31 ; 
 his mother's letters, i. 32-34, 44, 46, 
 47, 56, 60-62, 71, 83, 85, 86 ; Oxford 
 reminiscences, i. 37 ; Herbert Fisher's 
 recollections, i. 38 ; expedition to 
 Ireland, i. 42 ; attains his majority, i. 
 45 ; in the midst of London society, 
 i. 46 ; Clandeboye estate, i. 47 ; his 
 speech to the tenantry, i. 48 ; Lord- 
 in-waiting to Queen, i. 51 ; the English 
 peerage — Sir James Graham's advice, 
 i. 52 ; old friends — Odo Russell, 
 Kitchin, and Hepburn, i. 54, 55 ; the 
 Queen's visit to Ireland, i. 57, 58 ; a 
 tour in the west of Ireland, i. 59 ; 
 at Windsor, i. 60 ; tour on the Con- 
 tinent, i. 64 ; Lady Wantage's recol- 
 lections, i. 65 ; Palmerston's dismissal, 
 i. 67 ; Derby's government, i. 69 ; Sir 
 James Graham, i. 70 ; Maynooth, i. 
 74 ; his Tenant Right Bill, i. 75 ; to 
 the Baltic in his yacht Foam, i. 78 ; 
 under fire at siege of Bomarsund, i. 
 79 ; Berlin and Vienna, i. 86 ; his 
 Letters from High Latitudes, i. 88 ; 
 Spitzbergen, i. 89 ; Egypt, i. 93 ; the 
 Nile, i. 94 ; Damascus, i. 96, 106 ; 
 Jerusalem, i. 98 ; Fuad Pasha, i. 107 ; 
 the Damascus Christians, i. 111 ; 
 the Syrian Mission, i. 112-120; the 
 Druses and Maronites, i. 113 ; his 
 difficulties as Commissioner, i. 115 ; 
 his lecture on Ancient Syria, i. 124 ; 
 and on Ireland, i. 127 ; the Prince 
 Consort's death, i. 131 ; his speech 
 on the Address, i. 132 ; refuses Bom- 
 bay Governorship, i. 133 ; his mar- 
 riage, i. 134 ; visit to Compiegne, i. 
 135 ; several chats with Napoleon, i. 
 135-138 ; Under-Secretary of State 
 for India, i. 139 ; his mother's death, 
 i. 141; Motley's letter, i. 142 ; Helen's 
 Tower, i. 143 ; Tennyson's tribute, i. 
 144 ; Chancellor of the Duchy of 
 
 Lancaster, i. 145, 169 ; the Army 
 Commission, i. 146 ; Admiralty Com- 
 mittee, i. 148 ; the Earldom, i. 150 ; on 
 classical studies, i. 151 ; his evidence 
 before the Commission on Irish Land 
 Legislation, i. 156 ; his proposals, i. 
 158 ; his views, i. 161 ; his pamphlet, 
 i. 162 ; a discussion with Mill, i. 166 ; 
 Tenants Compensation Bill, i. 168, 
 176, 177 ; Irish Church disestablish- 
 ment, i. 169, 170 ; letter on agrarian 
 outrages, i. 171 ; the Peace Preserva- 
 tion Bill, i. 175 ; his Memorandum, 
 and correspondence with Gladstone, 
 on Irish land tenures, i. 180-186 ; the 
 "Three F's," i. 190; his Memoran- 
 dum submitted to the Cabinet, i. 191 ; 
 unfounded charges against, i. 192 ; 
 the Clandeboye estate, i. 193-195 ; 
 Bessborough Commission, i. 196 ; 
 recommends emigration, i. 198 ; Vice- 
 roy of Canada, i. 202 ; his speeches at 
 Belfast, i. 203 ; ii. 68, 227, 296 ; ar- 
 rival in Canada, i. 204 ; the Canadian 
 Press, i. 211 ; Montreal and Quebec, 
 i. 212 ; his popularity, i. 214 ; Ottawa, 
 i. 215, 228 ; impressions of Canada, 
 i. 216 ; opens Dominion parliament, 
 i. 217 ; Canadian Pacific Railway, i. 
 218, 225 ; Nova Scotia, i. 221 ; loy- 
 alty, public feeling, and future of 
 Canada, i. 229-231 ; Riel and Lepine, 
 i. 232-237 ; travels in Canada, i. 237- 
 241 ; Lake Michigan, i. 242 ; Chicago, 
 i. 243 ; Detroit, i. 244 ; Ontario, i. 245 ; 
 the Six Nation Indians, i. 247 ; his 
 Toronto speech, i. 248; New York, i. 
 252 ; Boston, i. 255 ; the Reciprocity 
 Question, i. 257; Canada's concessions, 
 i. 258 ; new Reciprocity Treaty, i. 
 259 ; negociations at .Washington, i. 
 260 ; Quebec town walls, i. 263 ; 
 Prince Edward's Island, i. 264 ; Bri- 
 tish Columbia, i. 267-274 ; Supreme 
 Court of Judicature for the Dominion, 
 i. 275 ; the Guibord case, i. 276 ; 
 Manitoba i. 278 ; departure from 
 Canada, i. 283-287 ; Ambassador at 
 St. Petersburg, i. 288 ; the Reform 
 Club dinner, i. 291 ; the Czar, i. 295 ; 
 Russian society, i. 296 ; the political 
 situation, i. 297; D.C.L., Oxford, i. 
 298 ; military manoeuvres, at St. 
 Petersburg, i. 300 ; visit to Bismarck, 
 i. 302-306 ; Lord Odo Russell, i. 307 ; 
 Central Asian question, i. 308, 316; 
 ii. 85-108; the Nihilists, i. 309; 
 explosion at Czar's palace, i. 310 ; 
 Moscow, i. 314 ; Geok Tepe, i. 317 ; 
 assassination of the Czar, i. 319 ; 
 Prince and Princess of Wales at St. 
 Petersburg, i. 321 ; embassy at Con- 
 stantinople, ii. 1; the Sultan, ii. 2, 
 59 ; Midhat Pasha, ii. 3 ; Turkey and 
 the Scheme of Reforms, ii. 4 ; Egyp- 
 tian affairs and the Sultan's policy, ii.
 
 330 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 6-30 ; the Identic Note, ii. 15 ; Con- 
 ference of the Powers, ii. 16 ; Alex- 
 andria bombarded, ii. 19 ; Tel-el- 
 Kebir, ii. 21 ; his diplomacy, ii. 23- 
 25, 29 ; Mission to Egypt, ii. 32 ; 
 Arabi Pasha's trial and sentence, ii. 
 34 ; English policy in Egypt, ii. 37 ; 
 his Report, ii. 39-42 ; Milner's criti- 
 cism, ii. 45 ; Lord Cromer's remarks, 
 ii. 48 ; Mr. Childers, ii. 49 ; Sherif 
 Pasha, ii. 51 ; the Soudan disaster — 
 Major Hicks, ii. 53-56 ; Colonel 
 Gordon, ii. 57; G.C.B., ii. 61; 
 Broussa, ii. 64 ; Viceroy of India, ii. 
 65, 72-207 ; the Belfast banquet, ii. 
 68 ; arrival in Bombay, ii. 73 ; the 
 burden of work, ii. 75 ; the Bengal 
 Tenancy Bill, ii. 76 ; Indian land 
 tenures, ii. ^ ; Oudh Rent Act, ii. 81 ; 
 Punjab land tenures, ii. 83 ; Russia 
 in Central Asia, ii. 85 ; Afghan fron- 
 tier, ii. 86 ; Panjdeh, ii. 87 ; inter- 
 view with Abdurrahman, ii. 90 ; the 
 Amir's views and policy, ii. 92-94 ; 
 the Rawal Pindi Durbar, ii. 97 ; agree- 
 ment with the Amir, ii. 101 ; Simla, 
 ii. 103, 186 ; the Buffer policy, ii. 104 ; 
 Lord Randolph Churchill, ii. 107, 
 142; Convention with Russia, ii. 108 ; 
 Delhi, ii. no; Lionel Tennyson's 
 death, ii. 112; Indian troops, ii. 114; 
 
 Burmah and Tibet, 
 
 1 16-136; 
 
 ultimatum to Mandalay, ii. 119; an- 
 nexation of Burmah, ii. 122 ; Lord 
 Roberts in Burmah, ii. 130 ; China 
 and Tibet, ii. 132 ; the Tibet Mission, 
 ii. 133-136 ; Irish Home Rule Bill, 
 ii. 139 ; higher education in India, ii. 
 144 ; Hyderabad, ii. 145 ; constitu- 
 tional questions, ii. 149 ; his Minute, 
 ii. 151 ; the Budget debate, ii. 155 ; 
 the Jubilee speech, ii. 158; strategical 
 problems, ii. 160 ; tiger-hunting in 
 the Nepal Terai, ii. 163 ; Lady 
 Dufferin's investiture — Grand Cordon 
 of the Sun of Persia, ii. 165 ; Brown- 
 ing's sonnet on Helen's Tower, ii. 
 167 ; review of work done in India, 
 ii. 170 ; Beluchistan, ii. 172 ; Pesha- 
 war, ii. 173 ; his Indian retrospect, 
 ii. 176 ; farewell addresses, ii. 182 ; 
 Lucknow, ii. 184; Army reforms, ii. 
 188 ; the marquisate, ii. 192 ; Lahore, 
 ii. 196 ; St. Andrew's Day banquet at 
 Calcutta, ii. 197 ; his farewell speech, 
 ii. 198 ; Rome, ii. 208-257 ; Crispi, 
 ii. 209, 216 ; Roman society, ii. 212 ; 
 Italian politics, ii. 214, 230 ; Triple 
 Alliance, ii. 217 ; his Mansion House 
 speech, ii. 220 ; his daughter's wed- 
 ding, ii. 227 ; Rector of St. Andrew's, 
 ii. 229 ; Kassala, ii. 232 ; Irish Land 
 Purchase Bill, ii. 234 ; fox-hunting at 
 Rome, ii. 237 ; Florence, ii. 238 ; Sor- 
 rento and Castellamare, ii. 240; yacht- 
 ing, ii. 241 ; Sicily, ii. 242 ; Syracuse, 
 
 ii. 243 ; Napoleon at Waterloo, ii. 
 245 ; signs Protocol defining English 
 and Italian spheres in East Africa, ii. 
 247 ; his Address at St. Andrew's, ii. 
 249 ; ambassador at Paris, ii. 258- 
 294 ; President Carnot, ii. 259 ; 
 Warden of the Cinque Ports, ii. 260; 
 Tennyson's funeral, ii. 263 ; Panama 
 Canal Co. collapse, ii. 264 ; calum- 
 nies of the French Press, ii. 265-269, 
 316 ; Russian naval officers at Paris, 
 ii. 270 ; the Siamese question, ii. 271 ; 
 Carnot assassinated, ii. 278 ; Lady 
 Jocelyn's tomb at Cannes, ii. 282 ; at 
 Verteuil, ii. 285 ; Professor Blackie, 
 ii. 287 ; his study of Greek, ibid. ; his 
 description of diplomatic service and 
 modern diplomacy, ii. 289 ; at Crecy, 
 ii. 293 ; Queen Victoria's tribute to, 
 ii. 294 ; last years at home, ii. 295 ; 
 Civil Service dinner, ii. 299 ; a visit 
 to Hampton Court, and Bath, ii. 301 ; 
 Chancellor of Royal University of 
 Ireland, ii. 301, 306, 320 ; freedom of 
 City conferred at Edinburgh on, ii. 
 302 ; Lord Ava's death, ibid. ; Queen 
 Victoria's funeral, ii. 303 ; financial 
 troubles, ii. 304 ; illness, ii. 306 ; 
 death, ii. 309 ; his characteristic 
 qualities, ii. 309-312 ; Lecky's tribute, 
 ii. 311 ; personal recollections of Sir 
 Henry M. Durand, ii. 312 ; of Sir 
 Charles Hardinge, ii. 319 ; his last 
 letter to Lord Salisbury, ii. 320 
 
 Dufferin Bridge, Benares, i. 21, 22 
 
 Duke of Wellington, H.M.S., i. 78 
 
 Dumas, Alexandre, i. 62, 106 ; ii. 241 
 
 Dungannon, Lord, i. 45 
 
 Dungarvan, Lord, i. 55 
 
 Durand, Sir Henry Mortimer, ii. 312 
 
 Durham, Lord, i. 206, 207 
 
 E 
 
 East Africa, and Italy, ii. 218, 230, 232, 
 
 233. 2 47 
 
 East India Company, i. 140 
 
 Edinburgh, freedom of city conferred 
 on Lord Dufferin at, ii. 302 ; Lord 
 Dufferin's illness at, ii. 306, 307 
 
 Edinburgh, Duchess of, i. 310, 319 
 
 Education, Royal Commission to inquire 
 into Military, i. 145-148 
 
 Edward III., ii. 293 
 
 Edward VII., King (then Prince of 
 Wales), and the Canadian colonists, 
 i. 286; at Constantinople, i. 321, 323, 
 324 ; congratulates Lord Dufferin on 
 his Chamber of Commerce speech 
 at Paris, ii. 278 ; Lord Dufferin dines 
 at Marlborough House with, ii. 
 
 285 
 Egypt, and the Syrian Mission, i. 92- 
 124 ; state of, ii. 6, 10, n, 14 ; military 
 insubordination, ii. 7 ; the Identic
 
 INDEX. 
 
 331 
 
 Note, ii. 14, 18 ; Conference of Euro- 
 pean Powers, ii. 16-18 ; Military Con- 
 vention — tortuous negotiations, ii. 26 ; 
 Lord Dufferin's mission to, ii. 32, 33 ; 
 Europe intervenes, ii. 36 ; the English 
 policy, ii. 37 ; Lord Dufferin's Report, 
 ii. 39-46 ; an Organic Decree, ii. 43 
 
 Elandslaagte, battle of, ii. 302 
 
 Elephantine island, i. 94 
 
 Elgin, Lord, Governor General of 
 Canada, 1847-1854, i. 72, 134, 139, 
 207 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, i. 60, 128 ; ii. 303 
 
 Ellice, Edward, i. 62 
 
 Ellis, Miss, i. 54 
 
 Ellora, rock-cut temples of, ii. 145 
 
 Ely, Lady, i. 54 
 
 Emerson, i. 256 
 
 Enani Bey, ii. n 
 
 Essex, Lord, i. 18A 
 
 Esterhazy, Princess, i. 60 
 
 Eugenie, Empress, i. 138 
 
 Enryalus, H.M.S., i. 8 
 
 Faure, M., ii. 280 
 
 Fenianism, i. 159, 160, 170 
 
 Ferguson, Lady Helen Munro" (ride 
 Blackwood), her father's letters to, ii. 
 137, 164-166, 225, 226, 237, 238, 242, 
 254, 259, 261, 262, 266, 268, 274, 277, 
 284 ; her marriage, ii. 227 
 
 Ferguson, Ronald Munro, ii. 226 ; Lord 
 Dufferin's letter to, ii. 256 
 
 Ferrieres, good sport at, ii. 281 
 
 Figaro, ii. 268 
 
 Fish, Mr., Secretary of State, Washing- 
 ton, i. 254, 262 
 
 Fisher, Herbert, recollections of Lord 
 Dufferin, i. 38 
 
 Fitzmaurice, Lord Edmond, ii. 49, 57 
 
 Fitzwilliam, Lord, ii. 195 
 
 Flahault, Count, Napoleon's A. D.C. at 
 Waterloo, ii. 245, 246 
 
 Florence, ii. 238 
 
 Foam, Lord Dufferin's yacht, i. 78, 79, 
 88-91 
 
 Foley, General St. John, ii. 259 
 
 Fortescue, Lord, i. 57, 182 
 
 Fortnightly Revieiu, i. 100 
 
 Foster, John, last Speaker of Irish 
 House of Commons, i. 6 
 
 France, and Syria, i. 104, 105, 113-119, 
 122, 123 ; Bismarck on, i. 306 ; and 
 Italy, ii. 214-217 ; v. Lord Dufferin — 
 his protest, ii. 264-266, 316 ; Con- 
 scription in, i. 269 ; and Siam, ii. 
 271-273 
 
 Francis I., i. 100 
 
 Franqueville, Count de, ii. 275 
 
 Fraser, Sir William, i. 32, 41 
 
 Frederick, Empress of Germany, ii. 231 
 
 Frederick the Great, i. 31 
 
 Free Trade question — Canada and 
 United States, i. 261 
 
 Fronde, Life of Cccsar, ii. 244 
 Fuad Pasha, Turkish High Commis- 
 sioner, i. 106-109, 113, 114, 116 
 
 G 
 
 Gambetta, M., ii. 14 
 
 Garibaldi, i. 136 ; ii. 216 
 
 Garnett, Sir Richard, i. 83 ; ii. 305 
 
 Garrick, David, i. 14, 75 
 
 Geok Tepe, i. 317 
 
 Georgian Bay, i. 240 
 
 Gerizim, Mount, i. 98, 125 
 
 Germany, treaty between Austria and, 
 i. 306 ; Triple Alliance, ii. 215-217 
 
 Ghaffar Pasha, ii. 39 
 
 Giers, M. de, i. 310 
 
 Gifford, Lord, i. 119 
 
 Gigli, Signora, ii. 239 
 
 Girardin, M. Saint Marc, La Syric en 
 1861, i. in, 123 
 
 Gladstone, W. E., "the insensible 
 education, irrespective of mere book- 
 learning," i. 26 ; Lord Dufferin 
 meets, i. 56 ; his Irish Land Act, 
 1870, i. 78, 156, 175, 178, 179, 188, 
 197 ; Lord Dufferin his guest at 
 Hawarden, i. 131; Premier, i. 145; 
 Lord Dufferin's claim to an Earldom, 
 i, 149, 150, 152, 153 ; and Duke of 
 Argyll, i. 154 ; and Irish land ques- 
 tions, i. 160 ; Disestablishment of 
 Irish Church, i. 167, 169, 170 ; corre- 
 spondence with Lord Dufferin, i. 168, 
 169, 180-183, 189, 191, 193, 194, 208, 
 213 ; Lord Dufferin on Irish agrarian 
 outrages, i. 172 ; Lord Dufferin's Con- 
 fidential Memorandum, i. 191, 192 ; 
 congratulates Lord Dufferin on rule 
 in Canada, i. 217 ; Mr. Mackenzie, i. 
 224 ; his thunderous denunciations 
 of Beaconsfield, i. 289 ; the Reform 
 Club dinner, i. 289, 291 ; his unex- 
 pected change of mind, i. 313 ; Lord 
 Dufferin's sense of obligation to, i. 
 315; Childers' advice, ii. 49; G. C.B. 
 for Lord Dufferin, ii. 61 ; his Home 
 Rule Bill and Land Purchase Bill, 
 ii. 138-141, 236; resigns office, ii. 
 101, 262 ; his golden wedding, ii. 
 193; Crispi on, ii. 209; Lord Duf- 
 . ferin's Calcutta speech, ii. 213 ; ap- 
 points Lord Dufferin to Paris, ii. 
 256 
 
 Glasgow, George Boyle, Earl of, i. 31, 
 
 33- 35. 37-42 
 Godley, J. A., ii. 179, 184 
 Godwin, Earl, ii. 261 
 Goethe, i. 79 
 Goorkhas, the, ii. 114 
 Gordon, General C. G., ii. 57, 214 
 Gortchakoff, Prince, i. 293, 294, 296, 
 
 307 ; ii. 164 
 Goschen, Lord, ii. 129 
 Gower, Lady Constance (afterwards 
 
 Lady Grosvenor), i. 54, 67
 
 332 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Gower, Lord Ronald, Reminiscences, i. 
 67, 298, 315 
 
 Graham, Cyril, i. 93-95, 98 
 
 Graham, Sir James (Lord Dufferin's 
 uncle), i. 17, 28, 33, 68, 70, 71 ; corre- 
 spondence with Lord Dufferin, i. 52, 
 64, 70 ; and Peel's death, i. 62, 63 ; 
 Lord Dufferin's Tenant Right Bill, 
 i. 75 ; letter to Lady Dufferin, i. 105 ; 
 his death, i. 132 
 
 Grant, Miss (Mrs. Brinsley Sheridan), i. 
 
 15 
 Grant, Sir Colquhoun, i. 15 
 
 Granville, Lord, on Lord Dufferin, i. 
 23 ; the Queen's message to Lord 
 Dufferin, i. 133 ; Lord Dufferin's 
 earldom, i. 152 ; correspondence with 
 Lord Dufferin, i. 178, 285, 315, 317- 
 320 ; ii. 31, 47, 52, 56, 65, 75, 161 ; 
 Lord Dufferin and St. Petersburg, i. 
 289 ; the Reform Club dinner, i. 291, 
 292 ; Foreign Secretary, i. 312, 313 ; 
 Lord Dufferin's host at Walmer, 
 i. 324 ; the Identic Note, ii. 14 ; 
 Arabi's insurrection, ii. 21, 39 ; 
 Childers' advice, ii. 49 ; Lord Duf- 
 ferin's "great sacrifice" to public 
 duty, ii. 62; Lord Dufferin's pre- 
 decessor at Walmer, ii. 261 
 
 Great Eastern, ss., i. 96 
 
 Greece, new frontier assigned by Berlin 
 Treaty to, ii. 5 
 
 Greek in education, ii. 250 
 
 Gregory, i. 84 
 
 Gregory, Lady, ii. 138 
 
 Gregory, Sir William, ii. 14, 38 ; corre- 
 spondence with Lord Dufferin, ii. 128, 
 141. 173 
 
 Greville, Charles, C. F., Memoirs, i. 
 256 
 
 Grey, Sir Edward, ii. 305 
 
 Grey, Lady Georgiana, i. 54 
 
 Grey, Lord, i. 54, 159, 169 
 
 Grip, Canadian comic paper, ii. 170 
 
 Grosvenor, Lady (Constance Gower), 
 i. 54, 67 
 
 Grosvenor, Lord, i. 67 
 
 Grote, George, History of Greece, ii. 
 
 243 
 Guibord, Joseph, i. 276 
 Guillaume Tell, French line-of-battle 
 
 ship, i. 7 
 
 H 
 
 Halifax, Lord, ii. 54, 75, 158 
 Halifax, Nova Scotia, i, 221 
 Hamilton, Archibald Rowan, i. 134 
 Hamilton, C.B., Admiral Gavan 
 
 Rowan, i. 134 
 Hamilton of Dunlop, Hans, i. 135 
 Hamilton, Harriot. See Dufferin and 
 
 Aval Marchioness of 
 Hamilton, General Sir Ian, ii. 302 
 Hamilton, James, i. 3, 18 A 
 
 Hamilton-Rowan, Archibald (the well- 
 known " United Irishman "), i. 135 
 
 Hamiltons of Clanbrassil, the, i. 150 
 
 Hampton, Lord (Sir John Pakington), 
 i. 31, 32, 41, 46, 69, 70 
 
 Hampton Court, ii. 301 
 
 Hardinge, Sir Charles, his personal 
 recollections of Lord Dufferin, ii. 319 
 
 Hari Rud, valley of the, ii. 102, 107 
 
 Harte, Bret, i. 252 
 
 Hartington, Lord, i. 313 ; ii. 194 
 
 Harvard University, confers degree on 
 Lord Dufferin, i. 283 
 
 Hasbeya, i. 98 
 
 Hassen Pasha, ii. 54 
 
 Hastings, Warren, i. 4 
 
 Hautefort, Countess de, ii. 286 
 
 Hawtrey, Dr., Eton, i. 21, 36 
 
 Hay, Mr., i. 252 
 
 Haymerle, Herr von, ii. 216 
 
 Hazara, ii. 190 
 
 Hecla, H.M.S., i. 80 
 
 Henry IV., i. 100 ; ii. 278 
 
 Henry VIII., i. 30; ii. 91 
 
 Hepburn, Colonel, i. 39 
 
 Hepburn, Rev. Francis Robert, i. 38, 
 39. 41. 55 ; »• 61, 64, 67, 185, 273, 
 2 75 
 
 Herat, 11. 88, 92, 96, 98, 99, 106 
 
 Herbert, Lord, i. 132 
 
 Herodotus, ii. 288 
 
 Herries, i. 72 
 
 Heytesbury, Lord, i. 63 
 
 Hicks, Major, and the Soudan disaster, 
 
 T ". 35-56, 107 
 
 Hicks, Mrs., ii. 56 
 
 Hoey, Cashel, i. 312 ; ii. 48 
 
 Holland, Dr., i. 73 
 
 Holland, Lord, i. 71 
 
 Holmes, O. Wendell, i. 256 
 
 Home Rule Bill, ii. 138, 235 
 
 Homer, ii. 243 
 
 Hook, Theodore, i. 19 
 
 Howard, Mr., ii. 294 
 
 Howe, i. 48 
 
 Hudson's Bay Company, i. 209 
 
 Humbert, king of Italy, ii. 209, 231. 
 
 257 
 Hunt, Right Hon. G. Ward, i. 41 
 Hunter, Sir William, i. 41 ; ii. 306 
 Huntingdon, Mr. (Canada), i. 218-220 
 Hurlbert, Mr., i. 252 
 Hussein, great-grandson of Mahomet, 
 
 »• 3 
 Hyderabad State, ii. 145 ; Nizam of, ii. 
 146 
 
 Ibrahim Pasha, conquers Syria, i. 100 
 
 Iceland, i. 89 
 
 Icelanders, colony on Lake Winnipeg, 
 
 i. 278, 280 
 Imogene, H.M.S. frigate, i. 20 
 India, Lord Dufferin Viceroy of, ii. 
 
 65, 72-207 ; internal affairs — Lord
 
 INDEX. 
 
 333 
 
 Dufferin's minutes and proposals, ii. 
 
 149, 151-155 ; Press in, ii. 156, 157, 
 
 316 ; Queen's Jubilee celebrated in, 
 
 ii. 157; Intelligence Department — 
 
 retrenchment, etc. — Civil Service 
 
 Commission, ii. 177; Army reform 
 
 in, ii. 188-191 
 Indian land tenures, ii. 77-84 
 Indian troops, ii. 114 
 Intelligence Department, India, ii. 
 
 177 
 Ireland, its condition after the famine, 
 
 i. 47 ; Lord Dufferin and, i. 59, 127- 
 
 I 3°' JSS -201 I Peace Preservation 
 
 Bill, i. 175; agrarian outrages in, i. 
 
 191 
 Irish Church question, i. 167; Bill for 
 
 disestablishment, i. 169 
 Irish famine, i. 39, 42, 43 ; its effect on 
 
 Canada, i. 208 
 Irish Land Acts, i. 156, 179, 180, 1S7- 
 
 189, 191, 199 
 Irish Land Purchase Bills, ii. 140, 233- 
 
 236 
 Irish land question, Lord Dufferin's 
 
 Memorandum on, i. 191 
 Iroquois Indians, i. 241 
 Irving, Washington, i. 255 
 Ishak Khan, ii. 187, 195 
 Ismail Pasha, Khedive, ii. 6 
 Italy, unity of, i. 136 ; politics in, ii. 
 
 214-217 ; and East Africa, ii. 218, 
 
 230, 232, 233 
 
 I 
 
 James I., i. 2, 18A 
 
 James III. of Scotland, i. 5 
 
 jehoshaphat, valley of, i. 125 
 
 Jersey, Lady, i. 15, 17 
 
 Jerusalem, i. 98 
 
 Jews, in Damascus, i. 96 
 
 Jeypore, ii. 111 
 
 Jocelyn, Eric, ii. 282-284 
 
 Jocelyn, Lady, i. 57, 63 ; ii. 282-284 
 
 Johannes, Emperor of Abyssinia, ii. 
 
 219 
 John, King of Bohemia, killed at Crecy, 
 
 ii. 293 
 John of .St. Maron, founder of the 
 
 Maronites, i. 100 
 Johnson, Dr. S., i. 14 
 Johnson, William, Master at Eton, i. 
 
 24 
 
 K 
 
 Kalnoky, Count, ii. 66 
 Kaministiquia river, i. 241 
 Kandahar, ii. 100 
 Karachi, ii. 171 
 Karnak, i. 93 
 Kassala, ii. 58, 232, 233 
 Keate, Dr., i. 21 * 
 
 Kennedy, Mr., i. 84 ; ii. 211 
 
 Kent, Duchess of, i. 60 
 
 Kent, Duke of, i. 264 
 
 Khaibar Pass, ii. 173 
 
 Khartoum, ii. 57, 58, 106; abandoned 
 by English, ii. 214 
 
 Killyleagh, borough of, i. 3 
 
 Kimberley, Lord, at Eton, i. 23, 24 ; 
 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, i. 139 ; 
 Lord Dufferin and Canada, i. 153, 
 154 ; Lord Dufferin's letters to, i. 
 217, 224, 229; Manitoba insurrection, 
 i. 234 ; resigns Colonial Secretary- 
 ship, i. 257; his congratulations to 
 Lord Dufferin, ii. 23 ; Afghan frontier 
 question, ii. 96 ; Secretary of State 
 for India — -resigns, ii. 101, 281 
 
 Kinglake, Eothen, i. 88 
 
 Kipling, Rudyard, stanzas in honour of 
 Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, i. 
 
 145 
 Kitchener, Lord, ii. 302 
 Kitchin, Dr., Dean of Durham, i. 36, 
 
 4i. 55 
 Knutsford, Lord, ii. 231 
 Komaroff, General, ii. 89 
 Kordofan, ii. 54, 107 
 Kremlin, Moscow, i. 314 
 
 Lady Hermione, Lord Dufferin's yacht, 
 
 ii. 225, 228, 240 
 Laffon, M., Editor of L'Egyptc, ii. 
 
 11 
 Lahore, ii. 102, 196 
 Lake Superior, i. 240, 241 
 Land Commission at Dublin, i. 316 
 Land League, i. 190, 199 
 Land Purchase Bill (Ireland), ii. 140, 
 
 233-236 
 Land tenures, India, ii. 77-84 
 Landlords and tenants, Ireland, i. 
 
 156-201 
 Landry, Marquis de MaiHe" de la Tour, 
 
 ii. 286 
 Langenaus, i. 299 
 Lansdowne, Henry, 3rd Marquis of, ii. 
 
 282 
 Lansdowne, Henry, 4th Marquis of, i. 
 
 5i. 53. 72 
 Lansdowne. Henry, 5th Marquis of, ii. 
 
 56, 113, 157, 170, 176, 184, 205 
 Laval Seminary, Rome, ii. 212 
 Lawless, Miss Emily, Hurrish, ii. 169 
 Lawrence, Lord, i. 134, 153 ; ii. 78, 
 
 182 
 Lebanon, outbreak in, i. 98-104; future 
 
 administration of, i. 116-119, 124 
 Lecky, W. H., ii. 262, 311 
 Leggo, Lord Dufferin's Administration 
 
 in Canada, i. 204, 250, 286 
 
 L'Egypte, ii. 11 
 
 Leo XIII., Pope ii. 212, 218, 256 
 
 Leopold, King of the Belgians, ii. 58
 
 334 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Lepine and the Manitoba insurrection, 
 
 i. 232-236 
 Letter B., the ship, i. 240 
 Lhassa Mission, ii. 132-137 
 Lindsay of Balcarres, General James, 
 
 i. 66 
 Lindsay, Sir Coutts, i. 66 
 Lindsay, Miss, i. 66 
 Lingtu, ii. 134, 136 
 Linley, Eliza (Mrs. R. B. Sheridan), i. 
 
 14 
 
 Lisgar, Lord, i. 211 
 
 Livingstone, David, i. 92 
 
 Loch, Lord, ii. 300 
 
 London and Globe Finance Corpora- 
 tion, ii. 300, 304, 305 
 
 Londonderry, Lord, i. 33 
 
 Longfellow, H. W. , i. 256 
 
 Lome, Marquis of, i. 284 
 
 Loti, ii. 259 
 
 Louis XL, ii. 91 
 
 Louis XIV., i. 100 
 
 Louis XV., i. 100; ii. 286 
 
 Louis Philippe, i. 36, 47; ii. 275 
 
 Louise, Princess, i. 284 
 
 Louisburgh, i. 221 
 
 Lowe, Robert (afterwards Lord Sher- 
 brooke), i. 286 
 
 Lowell, i. 256 
 
 Lucknow, ii. 184 
 
 Lundi Kotal, ii. 173 
 
 Lyall, Sir Alfred, ii. 228, 262 
 
 Lytton, Earl of, ii. 181, 210, 214 
 
 M 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, i. 31 
 
 Macaulay, Mr., in charge of the Lhassa 
 Mission, ii. 135 
 
 Macdonald, Lady, i. 285 
 
 Macdonald, Sir John, Canadian Pre- 
 mier, i. 216, 218-220, 223, 224, 226, 
 227, 275, 281, 282, 284 ; ii. 254 
 
 Macedonian conquest of Syria, i. 
 126 
 
 Macferrar, Mr. , Lord Dufferin's Secre- 
 tary, ii. 302 
 
 McGill University, Montreal, i. 282 
 
 MacGregor, General, ii. 180 
 
 Mackenzie, Mr., Canadian Premier, i. 
 224, 227, 232, 267-269, 283, 284 
 
 McKnight of Bangor, i. 4 
 
 Maclise, Daniel, his picture "Justice," 
 i. 83 
 
 MacMahon, Marshal, ii. 270, 271 
 
 Macpherson, Sir Herbert, ii. 129 
 
 Madras, ii. 137 
 
 Madura, ii. 147 
 
 Mahdi, the, and Major Hicks, ii. 53- 
 
 55- 57. 58 
 Mahomet, ii. 3 
 Maille\ Marquis de, ii. 286 
 Maine, Sir Henry S., Treatise on 
 
 Ancient Law, i. jy ; ii. 156 
 Malet, Sir Edward, ii. 33 
 Malmesbury, Lord, i. 136 
 
 Mandalay, ii. 117, 119, 121-124 ; occu- 
 pied by British, ii. 120 
 
 Manitoba, i. 209, 210 ; insurrection, i. 
 232-237 
 
 Manning, Cardinal, i. 65 
 
 Mansion House, Lord Dufferin's speech 
 at the, ii. 220 
 
 Margaret of Italy, Queen, ii. 209, 231, 
 
 257 
 Marmora, Sea of, ii. 64 
 Marochetti, Baron, i. 88 
 Maronites, the, i. ioo, 101, 103, 104, 
 
 113-115, 117, 123 
 Mary Stuart, Queen, i. 2 
 Massowah Bay, ii. 214, 232, 233 
 Mathews, Charles, ii. 301 
 Maurice, Major-General Sir Frederick, 
 
 ii. 245 
 Maynooth, 74 
 
 Mayo, Lord, assassinated, i. 153 
 Mazzini, i. 33 
 Mehemet Aly, ii. 12 
 Melba, Madame, ii. 259 
 Melbourne, Lord, i. 6 
 Melikoff, Count, i. 312 
 Melton, i. 131 
 
 Menai tubular bridge, ii. 180 
 Menelik, Emperor, ii. 230, 233 
 Menonite Russians, in Canada, i. 279, 
 
 280 
 Merv, i. 316, 318 ; ii. 85, 86 
 Metemmeh, battle of, ii. 219 
 Michigan, Lake, i. 243 
 Michipicoten, i. 240 
 Midhat Pasha, ii. 3, 45 
 Milan, i. 64 
 Military education, Royal Commissions 
 
 to inquire into, i. 145-148 
 Militia Bill, 1852, i. 68, 71, 72 
 Mill, J. S., Plan of the Pacification of 
 
 Ireland, i. 164-168 
 Milner, Lord, England in Egypt, ii. 
 
 45. 4°. 53 
 Milton, Lord and Lady, i. 241 
 Milutine, General, i. 318 
 Minghetti, Madame, ii. 211 
 Mommsen, The Roman Provinces, ii. 
 
 116, 117 
 Monck, Lord, i. 139 
 Moniteur i. 137 
 Montebello, M., French ambassador to 
 
 Russia, ii. 294 
 Montreal, i. 212, 214 ; military review 
 
 at, i. 283 
 Morley, John, Life of Gladstone, i. 
 
 313 
 
 Moscow, i. 314 
 
 Motley, J. L., Correspondence, i. 142 
 Mount Temple, Lady, ii. 283, 284 
 Munir Bey, first chamberlain (Turkey), 
 
 ii. 2 
 Mure, Colonel, i. 66 
 Murray, Robert, i. 41 
 Muscat, Imam of, i. 10 
 Muskoka district, Canada, i. 239 
 Mysore State, ii. 146
 
 INDEX. 
 
 335 
 
 N 
 
 Nahun, hill State of, ii. no 
 
 Napier, Admiral Sir Charles, i. 78- 
 
 80 
 Napier of Ettrick, Lord, i. 153 
 Napier of Magdala, Lord, i. 154 
 Naples, annexed to Piedmontese crown, 
 
 ii. 216 
 Napoleon I., i. 9, 100 ; and Russia- 
 proposed joint expedition v. India, ii. 
 85 ; at Waterloo, ii. 245, 246 
 Napoleon III., i. 67, 122, 135 
 Nasar-ul-Deen, Shah of Persia, ii. 165, 
 
 225 
 "National Association for supplying 
 Female Medical Aid to the Women 
 of India," ii. 321 
 National Review, ii. 191 
 Navarino, battle of, i. 134 
 Navy Records Society, i. 8 
 Needham, General, i. 5 
 Negra, i. 299 
 Nelson, Lord, i. 7-9 
 Nemours, Due de, ii. 292 
 Nepal, ii. 132 
 
 Nevill, Lady Dorothy, i. 266, 281 
 New York, i. 251 
 Newcastle, Duke of, i. 285 
 Newfoundland, i. 210 
 Newman, Cardinal, i. 36 
 Nice, agreement for its cession to 
 
 France, i. 136 
 Nicholas I. of Russia, i. 86 
 Nicholas II. of Russia, ii. 293 
 Nihilism, i. 294, 297, 309-311, 320, 
 
 322 
 Nile, the, i. 93 
 
 Nipigon river and lake, i. 240 
 Norfolk, Duke of, ii. 303 
 North-West Provinces, ii. 149, 170. 
 
 Northbrook, Lord, i. 28, 154, 284 ; 11. 
 
 100, 101, 181 
 Northern Whig, ii. 234 
 Norton, Mrs., i. 16, 19, 83, 142, 143 
 Nova Scotia, i. 209, 221 
 
 Obretchoff, General, i. 304 
 
 O'Brien, Barry, i. 77 ; Life of Charles 
 
 Stewart Parnell, i. 199 
 O Brien, Smith, i. 50 
 O'Connell, Daniel, ii. 142 
 Ogilvy, Lord, i. 29 
 O'Neile, Brian Fertagh, i. 18A 
 O'Neile, Neale MacBrian Fertagh, i. 
 
 18A 
 Ontario, i. 245 
 Orkney, Bishop of, i. 2 
 Ottawa, i. 215, 228, 237, 283 
 Oudh, annexed in 1856, ii. 125 
 Oudh Rent Act, ii. 81, 82, 184 
 
 Oudh Talukdars, i. 141 ; ii. Si, 82, 184 
 Oxford, i. 28-41 ; confers D.C.L. on 
 
 Dufterin, i. 298 ; Lord Dufferin's last 
 
 visit to, ii. 306 
 Oxus river, ii. 85, 102 
 
 Pagan Indians, i. 241 
 
 Pakington, Sir John, sec Hampton, 
 
 Lord 
 Pakington, John, i. 70 
 Pall Mall Gazette, i. 192 
 Palmer House hotel, Chicago, i. 243 
 Palmerston, Lady, i. 64 ; ii. 283 
 Palmerston, Lord, i. 67-69, 72, 77, 84, 
 
 85. i°S. x 39 : »• 28 3 
 Panama Canal Co., collapse of, ii. 
 
 264 
 Panjdeh, ii. 87, 89, 101, 102, 313 
 Paper Duty Repeal Bill, i. 99 
 Paris, Archbishop of, ii. 271 
 Paris, Treaty of, i. 102 ; International 
 
 Exhibition, 1889 ; ii. 219 ; Lord Duf- 
 
 ferin ambassador at, ii. 255, 258- 
 
 294 ; calumnies of Press in, ii. 264, 
 
 265, 288 
 Parker, Sir Peter, i. 4 
 Parnell, C. S., i. 191 ; ii. 141, 234 
 Parry Sound, i. 240 
 Patiala, ii. 196 
 
 Paul, Emperor of Russia, i. 301 
 Peace Preservation (Ireland) Bill, i. 175 
 Peel, Lady, i. 62 
 Peel, Sir Robert, i. 62, 197 
 Pegu, Dalhousie's annexation of, ii. 
 
 117, 127 
 Penelope, H.M.S., i. 7, 79, 80 
 Peninsular War, i. 9 
 Perier, M. Casimir, ii. 279, 280 
 Peroffsky, i. 322 
 Perry, Sir Erskine, i. 154 
 Persian, Lord Dufferin's study of, ii. 
 
 287, 310, 317 
 Persigny, M. de, i. 122 
 Peshawar, ii. 173 
 Peter the Great, i. 300 
 Phceton, yacht, ii. 240 
 Phayre, Sir Arthur, ii. 127 
 
 Pictou, i. 221 
 
 Piedmont, king of, i. 136 
 
 Pinkie Cleuch, battle of, 1, 2 
 
 Pioneer, the, i. 22 
 
 Piraeus, Athens, i. 99 
 
 Pirrie, Lord Mayor of Belfast, ii. 296 
 
 Pishin, plateau of, ii. 171, 172 
 
 Pitt, William, ii. 195 
 
 Pius IX., Pope, i. 65 
 
 Plato, ii. 288 
 
 Plutarch, Lives, i. 228 ; ii. 288 
 
 Poland, proposed Congress on, i. 135 
 
 Pondicherry, ii. 147 
 
 Poona, ii. 145 
 
 Port Arthur, and Russians, ii. 248 
 
 Porter of Grey Abbey, Rev. — , i. 4
 
 336 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Prendergast, General, ii. 120 
 Prince Arthur's Landing, Lake Supe- 
 rior, i. 241 
 Prince Edward's Island, i. 210, 219, 220, 
 
 226, 264, 265 
 Protestantism in Ireland, i. 128 
 Prussia, and Syria, i. 105, 116 
 Public Schools of England Commission, 
 
 Report, i. 27 
 Punjab, land tenures, ii. 83, 170 
 Punjab University, D.C.L. degree 
 conferred on Lord Dufferin by, ii. 
 
 143. r 44 
 Pythic Club, Oxford, 1. 31, 3 2 I "• 22 5- 
 
 273 
 
 Quebec, i. 204, 212, 213 ; the old town 
 
 walls of, i. 263 
 Queen's College, Belfast, ii. 281 
 Qucttah, ii. 99, 171 
 
 R 
 
 Radziwill, Princess, i. 307 
 
 Rae, Fraser, Egypt To-day, ii. 47 
 
 Rajputana, ii. 109 
 
 Rambouillet, sport at, ii. 281 
 
 Rangoon, ii. 120, 128 
 
 Ranjit Singh, palace and tomb of, i. 
 
 102 
 Ras al Ula, ii. 230 
 Rawal Pindi, ii. 89; Durbar at, ii. 
 
 95-97 
 Reay, Lord, ii. 145 
 Reciprocity question — United States 
 
 and Canada, i. 257-263 
 Red Indians in Canada, i. 210 
 Reform Bill, i. 71, 72 
 Reform Club, i. 291 
 Religion v. Race, in Ireland, i. 128 
 Renan, Souvenir de Jeunesse, i. 26 ; ii. '■ 
 
 260, 275 
 Retrenchment Commission, India, ii. 
 
 177 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, Life of, i. 14 ; 
 
 his picture "Comedy and Tragedy," 
 
 i- 75 
 
 Rhodes, i. 95 ; ii. 59 
 
 Ribblesdale, Lady, i. 66 
 
 Rice lake, Ontario, i. 245 
 
 Richardson, Samuel, i. 14 
 
 Ridgeway, Sir West, ii. 102, 143 
 
 Kiel, Louis, and the Manitoba insurrec- 
 tion, i. 209, 210, 234-237 
 
 Riforma, ii. 209 
 
 Ripon, Lord, Viceroy of India, i. 313 ; 
 ii. 22, 75-78, 80, 81, 86, 100 ; his 
 assurance to the Amir, ii. 104 ; the 
 Buffer policy, ii. 106 ; Lord Dufferin's 
 supporter in House of Lords, ii. 
 213 
 
 Roberts, Lord, Commander-in-Chief, 
 India, ii. 114, 121, 128-130, 172, 
 3" 
 
 Robertson, Sir William, ii. 300 
 
 Robinson, Admiral, Scadrift, i. 6-8 
 
 Rochefoucauld, Due de la, ii. 286 
 
 Rochefoucault, Count and Countess de, 
 ii. 285 
 
 Roden, Lord, ii. 282, 283 
 
 Roebuck, i. 84 
 
 Rome, cosmopolitan society of, i. 66 ; 
 Lord Dufferin at, ii. 208-257 ; fox- 
 hunting at, ii. 237 
 
 Ros, Lord de, i. 24 
 
 Rosebery, Lord, ii. 225, 272, 281, 285 
 
 Royal Collingwood, H.M.S., i. 8 
 
 Royal University of Ireland, Convoca- 
 tion at Dublin, ii. 228 ; Lord Duf- 
 ferin Chancellor of, ii. 301, 306, 320 
 
 Ruby Mine " Regulation," ii. 171 
 
 Rudini, Signor, ii. 247 
 
 Ruskin, John, i. 36 
 
 Russell, Lord Arthur, i. 78 ; Lord 
 Dufferin's letters to, i. 37, 166 ; ii. 
 161, 195, 218, 242 
 
 Russell, Lady John, a kindly note to 
 Lord Dufferin, i. 63 ; Lord Dufferin's 
 letters to, i. 58, 64 ; ii. 164 
 
 Russell, Lord John, Lord Dufferin 
 Lord-in-Waiting to Queen, i. 51 ; ii. 
 274 ; Lord Dufferin's peerage, i. 52, 
 53 ; resigns and resumes office, i. 63, 
 64; and Palmerston, i. 67-69; Lord 
 Dufferin's hope, i. 70 ; his mistakes 
 and inconsistency, i. 71, 72 ; Vienna 
 Conference, i. 84-86 ; the Syrian 
 Mission, i. 120; Poland, i. 135, 136; 
 Lord Dufferin's Toronto speech, i. 
 
 2 5i 
 
 Russell, Lord Odo. See Ampthill, Lord 
 Russia, and Syria, i. 105, 116 ; and the 
 Balkan Peninsula, i. 296, 297 ; Bis- 
 marck on, i. 303-306 ; and Central 
 Asia, i. 316 ; ii. 85 ; the Boundary 
 Commission, ii. 86 ; and Napoleon — 
 scheme for invasion of India, ii. 85 : 
 Merv, ii. 86 ; Afghanistan, ii. 88 ; 
 Panjdeh, ii. 89 ; and Port Arthur, ii. 
 248 ; naval officers' visit to Paris, ii. 
 270 
 
 Said Djenblat, a Druse chief, i. 114 
 
 Said Pasha, Khedive, i. 93 
 
 Said Pasha, Turkish Premier, ii. 2 
 
 St. Andrew's University, Lord Dufferin 
 Rector of, ii. 229 ; his Address, ii. 
 249-254 
 
 St. Charles river, 1. 213 
 
 St. Chrysostom, i. 84 
 
 St. Clair river, i. 244 
 
 St. Feriole, Falls of, i. 238 
 
 St. Lawrence river, i. 213, 231, 247 
 
 St. Louis, i. 100 
 
 St. Petersburg, Lord Dufferin ambas- 
 sador at, i. 288-328; military ma- 
 noeuvres at, i. 300
 
 INDEX. 
 
 337 
 
 Salisbury, Lord, i. 37, 301, 302 ; ii. 102, 
 138, 213, 234, 259, 262 ; Lord Duf- 
 ferin's letters to, i. 310 ; ii. 231, 236, 
 2 55. 3 2 ° I General Election, March 
 1880, i. 312 ; Lord Dufferin's appoint- 
 ment to Rome, ii. 175, 176 ; Lord 
 Dufferin's marquisate, ii. 192 ; his 
 Port Arthur prophecy, ii. 248 ; at the 
 Guildhall, ii. 254; Tonquin, ii. 272; 
 Warden of the Cinque Ports, ii. 285, 
 293 ; Lord Dufferin's tribute to, ii. 320 
 
 Samaritans, the, i. 125 
 
 San Francisco, i. 271 
 
 San Stefano treaty, i. 294 
 
 Sandhurst, i. 146-148 
 
 Santa Anna, Spanish three-decker, i. 8 
 
 Saskatchewan Indians, i. 237 
 
 Sauchie Burn, battle of, i. 5 
 
 Saulte Ste. Marie, Straits of, i. 240 
 
 Savoy, agreement for its cession to 
 France, i. 136 
 
 Schouvalorf, i. 302 
 
 Scott, Thomas, murdered by Manitoba 
 rebels, i. 209, 210, 232, 234 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, i. i8a ; ii. 243, 
 
 2 74 
 
 Scribner's Magazine, ii. 299 
 
 Senaar, ii. 54, 56-58 
 
 Sepoy mutiny, i. 92 ; ii. 125 
 
 Seymour, Lady (afterwards Duchess of 
 Somerset), i. 16, 19 
 
 Seymour, Sir Beauchamp, i. 72 ; ii. 1 
 
 Shaftesbury, Lady, ii. 283 
 
 Shahzada, the, ii. 285 
 
 Shakespeare, i. 115 
 
 Shan States, ii. 128, 131 
 
 Shebandowan lake, i. 241 
 
 Sheridan, Charles, i. 15 
 
 Sheridan, Brinsley, i. 15 
 
 Sheridan, Mrs. Brinsley, i. 15 
 
 Sheridan, General, i. 243 
 
 Sheridan, Miss Helen. Sec Dufferin, 
 Helen Lady 
 
 Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, i. 14, 17 
 33, 45 ; ii. 286, 301 
 
 Sheridan, Mrs. R. B., i. 14 ; ii. 301 
 
 Sheridan, 1st Thomas, i. 13 
 
 Sheridan, Rev. Thomas (2nd), i. 13 
 
 Sheridan, 3rd Thomas, actor, i. 13, 14 
 
 Sheridan, 4th Thomas, i. 14, 15 
 
 Sheridan, Mrs. Thomas, (Miss Cal- 
 lander), i. 15, 20 
 
 Sherif Pasha, ii. n, 51 
 
 Siam, and France, ii. 271-273 
 
 Sibi, ii. 99 
 
 Sicily, annexed to Piedmontese crown, 
 ii. 216 
 
 Sikhs, ii. 103, 125 
 
 Sikkim, ii. 134, 137 ; king of, ii. 136 
 
 Silver Islet, i. 241 
 
 Simla, ii. 103, 186 
 
 Sinde desert, ii. 171 
 
 Six Nation Indians, i. 247 
 
 Skibbereen, i. 39, 42 
 
 Skobeleff, General, i. 316, 317 
 
 Smith, Rev. Sydney, i. 19, 62 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Smyrna, ii. 59 
 
 Soltikoff, Princess, i. 299 
 
 Somers, Lord, i. 87 
 
 Somerset, Duchess of (Lady Seymour), 
 
 i. 16, 19 
 Somerset, Duke of, i. 288, 324 
 Sonnerat, Voyage aux hides Oriculales, 
 
 ii. 117 
 Sorrento, ii. 240, 244 
 Soudan Expedition, Hicks' disaster, ii. 
 
 53-57 
 Souvaroff, i. 305 
 Spectator, i. 167, 250, 313 
 Spencer, K., i. 54 
 Spencer, Lord, i. 154, 290 ; ii. 195 
 Spitzbergen, i. 89 
 Stanley, Dean, i. 290 
 Stanley, Lord, i. 64, 73, 86, 161 
 Stephen, Sir James, i. 23, 24 ; ii. 137, 
 
 139 
 Stevenson, engineer of Menai tubular 
 
 bridge, ii. 180 
 Stewart, Mr., History of Lord Dufferin's 
 
 Administration, i. 204, 287 
 Stewart, captured and murdered at 
 
 Berber, ii. 58 
 Stonor, Archbishop of Trebizond, ii. 
 
 218 
 Suakin campaign, ii. 190 
 Sudeley, Lord, ii. 283 
 Suez Canal, ii. 6, 18, 19 
 Suleiman Pasha, ii. 53 
 Supaya Lat, Theebaw's wife, ii. 124 
 Swift, Dean, i. 13 ; ii. 299 
 Syracuse, ii. 242 
 Syria, i. 99, 100 ; Turkey and, i. 101- 
 
 124 ; France and, i 104-105, 113-119, 
 
 122, 123 ; Lord Dufferin's lecture on 
 
 Ancient, i. 124 ; Macedonian conquest 
 
 of, i. 126 
 Syrian Mission, and Egypt, i. 92, 124 
 Szechenyi, Count Bela, ii. 134 
 
 Tache\ Roman Catholic archbishop, i. 
 
 2 34. 2 35 
 
 Talleyrand, i. 84 
 
 Talukdars of Oudh, i. 141; ii. 81, 82, 
 184 
 
 Tammany Hall, i. 253 
 
 Tanjore, ii. 147, 148 
 
 Tashkurgan, battle of, ii. 187 
 
 Taylor, Sir Henry, Autobhgraphv, i. 
 285 
 
 Taylor, Jeremy, i. 47 
 
 Tekke Turkomans, i. 30S, 317; ii. 85 
 
 Tel-el-Keblr, battle of, ii. 21 
 
 Temple, Sir W., i. 71 
 
 Tenant Right, Ulster, i. 48, 76, 157, 182, 
 188, 199 
 
 Tennyson, Lady, ii. 112, 263, 293 
 
 Tennyson, Lord, his lines on Helen's 
 Tower, i. 144 ; Lord Dufferin's To- 
 ronto speech, i. 251 ; Ulysses, ii. 70 ;
 
 338 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Demeter and other Poems, ii. 112; 
 his funeral, ii. 263 
 
 Tennyson, Lionel, i. 145 ; ii. in 
 
 Terai, tiger-hunting in Nepal, ii. 161, 
 163 
 
 Tewfik, Khedive of Egypt, ii. 7, 8, 15, 
 19, 35-37 
 
 Thackeray, W. M., i. 56 
 
 Theebaw, King of Burniah, ii. 118-121 
 
 Therapia, ii. 1 
 
 Thornton, Sir Edward, i. 253 
 
 Thouvenel, M., French Foreign Minis- 
 ter, i. 104, 105 
 
 "Three F's," the, i. 190, 196, 199 
 
 Three Rivers (Canada), i. 239 
 
 Thucydides, ii. 288 
 
 Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, i. 241 
 
 Tiberias, Lake of, i. 98 
 
 Tibet, ii. 132-137, 196 ; Mission to, ii. 
 
 13 2 . x 33 
 Tiger-hunting, in the Nepal Terai, ii. 
 
 161, 163 
 Tilden, Governor of State of New York, 
 
 i. 252 
 Times, i. 162, 167, 225, 249, 293 ; ii. 
 
 140 
 Toronto, i. 214, 247, 278 ; Lord Duf- 
 
 ferin's speech at, i. 248-251 
 Tractarian movement, Oxford, i. 36 
 Trafalgar, battle of, i. 7, 8 
 Triple Alliance, ii. 215-217, 229 
 Tunis, French occupation of, ii. 214, 248 
 Tupper, Sir Charles, i. 284 ; ii. 221 
 Turenne, Count Louis of, ii. 259 
 Turkey, and Syria, i. 101-124 ; and the 
 
 Balkan Peninsula, i. 296, 297 ; and 
 
 Egypt, ii. 12-32, 59-62 
 Turton, Thomas, Bishop of Ely, i. 35 
 
 U 
 
 Ulemas, the (Egypt), ii. n 
 
 Ulster, Tenant Right in, i. 48, 76, 157, 
 182, 188, 199 
 
 United Service Magazine, ii. 245 
 
 United States, i. 208, 211 ; Canada and 
 the Reciprocity question — negocia- 
 tions at Washington, i. 257-263 
 
 Urmston, Captain, ii. 186 
 
 Valmy, battle of, ii. 275 
 
 Vancouver city, i. 275 
 
 Vancouver island, i. 209 
 
 Vanutelli, Cardinal, ii. 212 
 
 Venice, Lord Dufferin's description of, 
 
 i. 64 
 Verney, Sir Harry, ii. 172 
 Vernon, G., i. 55 
 Versailles Treaty, 1783, i. 258 
 Verteuil in Touraine, ii. 285 
 Vesuvius, ii. 242 
 
 Victor Emmanuel, i. 136 
 
 Victoria, Queen, Lord Dufferin be- 
 comes Lord-in-Waiting, i. 51'; Lord 
 Dufferin at the Levee, i. 56 ; her 
 visit to Ireland, i. 57, 58 ; on Lord 
 Dufferin's maiden speech, i. 63 ; and 
 Lord Stanley, i. 64 ; Palmerston's 
 dismissal, i. 67 ; Clanricarde, i. 87 ; 
 approves of Lord Dufferin's policy in 
 Syria, i. 120 ; Prince Consort's death, 
 i. 131, 133 ; Lord Dufferin's letters 
 to, i. 237 ; ii. 182, 213, 225, 227, 
 2 79 I a gateway for Quebec, i. 264 ; 
 Lord Dufferin's visits to, i. 301, 302, 
 316, 324 ; ii. 282 ; the Czar's assur- 
 ances about Merv, i. 316; Prince 
 and Princess of Wales at Constanti- 
 nople, i. 321 ; her letters to Lord 
 Dufferin, ii. 32, 294 ; her Jubilee 
 celebrated in India, ii. 157 ; a mar- 
 quisate for Lord Dufferin, ii. 191, 
 192; and Leo XIII., ii. 218; and 
 Madame Carnot, ii. 279 ; at Nice, ii. 
 282 ; death and funeral, ii. 303 ; 
 patron of Lady Dufferin's Fund, ii. 
 321 
 
 Victory, H.M.S., i. 8 
 
 Vienna Conference, i. 84-87 
 
 Villafranca, peace of, i. 136 
 
 Villeneuve, Admiral, i. 9 
 
 Villiers, C, ii. 142 
 
 Vladimir, Grand Duke, i. 319 
 
 Voltaire, Candide, ii. 277 
 
 W 
 
 Waddington, M., i. 301; ii. 265, 274, 
 
 275 
 
 Waggon Hill, South Africa, ii. 302 
 Wallace, Sir Donald Mackenzie, Egypt 
 
 and the Egyptian Question, ii. 24, 
 
 180, 277 
 Walpole, Sir Spencer, History of Eng- 
 land, i. 71 
 Walton, Mr., Hampton School, i. 21, 22, 
 
 30 ; ii. 301 
 Wantage, Lady, her recollections of 
 
 Lord Dufferin, i. 65 
 Ward, Mrs. (half-sister of Price, Lord 
 
 Dufferin), i. 10, 16, 20 ; ii. 168 
 Ward, H. G., i. 36 
 Warre, Dr., Eton, ii. 293 
 Warwick, Rev. — , i. 4 
 Washington, i. 253 ; negociations at, i. 
 
 260-263 ; Treaty of 1871, i. 258, 259 
 Waterloo, battle of, i. 9 ; ii. 246 
 Wellington, Duke of, i. 60, 73 ; ii. 133, 
 
 145, 282 
 Wendel, Madame de, ii. 287 
 Wilberforce, Samuel, Bishop of Oxford, 
 
 i. 43, 56, 84 
 William, I., Emperor of Germany, i. 
 
 302, 323 ; ii. '9
 
 INDEX. 
 
 339 
 
 William II., Emperor of Germany, ii. 
 
 254 
 William III., i. 31 
 Wilson of Conlig, i. 4 
 Wilson, Herbert, i. 66 
 Wilson, steward of the Foam, i. 91 
 Windsor Castle, Lord Dufferin's visits 
 
 to, i. 60, 63, 87, 302, 324 ; ii. 213 
 Winnipeg, i. 278 ; Lord Dufferin's 
 
 speech at, i. 280 
 Wolfe, General, i. 213 
 
 Wolseley, Lord, suppresses rebellion in 
 Canada, i. 209, 210 ; in Egypt, ii. 
 20-22, 27, 30 ; in Ireland, ii. 262 
 
 Wood, British Consul at Hasbeya, i. 98 
 
 Wood, Sir Charles, i. 133 
 
 X 
 
 Xenophon, Memorabilia, i. 146 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LJMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.

 
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