He would have found himself
in accord with Huxley, who used to thank God, his friend Mr. Fiske
tells us, that he had never bowed the knee either to Louis Napoleon
or Benjamin Disraeli. He poured scorn on the Treaty of Berlin.
Russia, he said, defeating the Turks in war, has defeated
Beaconsfield in diplomacy. If Englishmen understood such things
they would see that the Congress was a comedy; anyone who will
satisfy himself as to what Russia was really anxious to obtain, and
then look at the Salisbury-Schouvaloff treaty, will see that,
thanks to Beaconsfield's imbecility, Schouvaloff obtained one of
the most signal diplomatic triumphs that was ever won. {27} A
sound entente between Russia and England he thought both possible
and desirable; but conceived it to be rendered difficult by the
want of steadiness and capacity which, for international purposes,
were the real faults of Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury. He
repeated with much amusement the current anecdote of Lord
Beaconsfield's conquest of Mrs. Gladstone. Meeting her in society,
he was said to have inquired with tenderness after Mr.
Pages:
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143