spoke of reducing to an absolute minimum
his idea of necessary conditions, and this conversation so far
left untouched the question of men, he apparently assuming
(wrongly) that I was ready for another three or four years'
engagement.

_Hawarden, Oct. 8, 1885._--In another "private," but less private
letter, I have touched on measures, and I have now to say what
passed in relation to men.

He said the outline he had given depended on the supposition of my
being at the head of the government. He did not say he could
adhere to it on no other terms, but appeared to stipulate for a
new point of departure.

I told him the question of my time of life had become such, that
in any case prudence bound him, and all who have a future, to
think of what is to follow me. That if a big Irish question should
arise, and arise in such a form as to promise a possibility of
settlement, that would be a crisis with a beginning and an end,
and perhaps one in which from age and circumstances I might be
able to supply aid and service such as could not be exactly had
without me.(141) Apart from an imperious demand of this kind the
question would be that of dealing with land laws, with local
government, and other matters, on which I could render _no_
special service, and which would require me to enter into a new
contest for several years, a demand that ought not to be made, and
one to which I could not accede. I did not think the adjustment of
personal relations, or the ordinary exigencies of party,
constituted a call upon me to continue my long life in a course of
constant pressure and constant contention with half my
fellow-countrymen, until nothing remained but to step into the
grave.

He agreed that the House of Lords was not an available resort. He
thought I might continue at the head of the government, and leave
the work of legislation to others.(142) I told him that all my
life long I had had an essential and considerable share in the
legislative work of government, and to abandon it would be an
essential change, which the situation would not bear.

He spoke of the constant conflicts of opinion with Hartington in
the late cabinet, but I reverted to the time when Hartington used
to summon and lead meetings of the leading commoners, in which he
was really the least antagonistic of