of
the Atlantic swell and the beat of the rollers on the shore, like a
Titanic pulse.

After dinner Mr. G. raised the question of payment of members. He had been
asked by somebody whether he meant at Newcastle to indicate that everybody
should be paid, or only those who chose to take it or to ask (M170) for
it. He produced the same extraordinary plan as he had described to me on
the morning of his Newcastle speech--_i.e._ that the Inland Revenue should
ascertain from their own books the income of every M.P., and if they found
any below the limit of exemption, should notify the same to the Speaker,
and the Speaker should thereupon send to the said M.P. below the limit an
annual cheque for, say, L300, the name to appear in an annual return to
Parliament of all the M.P.'s in receipt of public money on any grounds
whatever. I demurred to this altogether, as drawing an invidious
distinction between paid and unpaid members; said it was idle to ignore
the theory on which the demand for paid members is based, namely, that it
is desirable in the public interest that poor men should have access to
the H. of C.; and that the poor man should stand there on the same footing
as anybody else.

_Friday, Jan. 1, 1892._--After breakfast Mrs. Gladstone came to my room and
said how glad she was that I had not scrupled to put unpleasant points;
that Mr. G. must not be shielded and sheltered as some great people are,
who hear all the pleasant things and none of the unpleasant; that the
perturbation from what is disagreeable only lasts an hour. I said I hoped
that I was faithful with him, but of course I could not be always putting
myself in an attitude of perpetual controversy. She said, "He is never
made angry by what you say." And so she went away, and ---- and I had a good
and most useful set-to about Irish finance.

At luncheon Mr. G. asked what we had made out of our morning's work. When
we told him he showed a good deal of impatience and vehemence, and, to my
dismay, he came upon union finance and the general subject of the
treatment of Ireland by England....

In the afternoon we took a walk, he and I, afterwards joined by the rest.
He was as delighted as ever with the swell of the waves, as they bounded
over one another, with every variety of grace and tumultuous power. He
wondered if we had not more and better words for the sea than the
French--"breaker," "billow," "roller," as against "flot," "vague," "onde,"
"lame," etc.

At