on to make to him which might, as I hoped, still make
a difference. I then read out to him Mr. Gladstone's letter. As he
listened, I knew the look on his face quite well enough to see
that he was obdurate. The conversation did not last long. He said
the feeling against him was a storm in a teacup, and would soon
pass. I replied that he might know Ireland, but he did not half
know England; that it was much more than a storm in a teacup; that
if he set British feeling at defiance and brazened it out, it
would be ruin to home rule at the election; that if he did not
withdraw for a time, the storm would not pass; that if he withdrew
from the actual leadership now as a concession due to public
feeling in this country, this need not prevent him from again
taking the helm when new circumstances might demand his presence;
that he could very well treat his re-election as a public vote of
confidence by his party; that, having secured this, he would
suffer no loss of dignity or authority by a longer or shorter
period of retirement. I reminded him that for two years he had
been practically absent from active leadership. He answered, in
his slow dry way, that he must look to the future; that he had
made up his mind to stick to the House of Commons and to his
present position in his party, until he was convinced, and he
would not soon be convinced, that it was impossible to obtain home
rule from a British parliament; that if he gave up the leadership
for a time, he should never return to it; that if he once let go,
it was all over. There was the usual iteration on both sides in a
conversation of the kind, but this is the substance of what
passed. His manner throughout was perfectly cool and quiet, and
his unresonant voice was unshaken. He was paler than usual, and
now and then a wintry smile passed over his face. I saw that
nothing would be gained by further parley, so I rose and he
somewhat slowly did the same. "Of course," he said, as I held the
door open for him to leave, "Mr. Gladstone will have to attack me.
I shall expect that. He will have a right to do that." So we
parted.

I waited for Mr. Gladstone, who arrived in a few minutes. It was
now four o'clock. "Well?" he asked eagerly the moment the door was
closed, and without taking off cape or hat. "Have you seen him?"
"He is obdur