Appeals, no matter how strange, were never frowned down by him
but encouraged. However ill-founded, they taught something. They were
often of an intimate character and couched in the wonderful language of
the Babu, for Egypt has its Babus as well as Bengal. One complaint which
had to do with an irrigation dispute began as follows: "Oh, hell!
Lordship's face grow red with rage when he hears too beastly conduct of
Public Works Department."
Macaulay's splendid eulogy of Hampden may, with very little alteration,
be applied to Lord Cromer. "The sobriety, the self-command, the perfect
soundness of judgment, the perfect rectitude of intention," were as
truly the qualities of the Ruler and regenerator of Egypt as they were
of the great statesman of the Rebellion--the man who fought so nobly
against the sullen tyranny of Charles and Laud.
For Joseph Chamberlain, I felt a very real and very warm affection as a
man. Unfortunately for me, however, I was, except in the matter of Home
Rule, out of sympathy with most of his later political principles, or,
at any rate, his political standpoint. Mr. Chamberlain, though in no
sense a man of extreme, wild, or immoderate views, was in no sense a
Whig.
Pages:
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541