s at
such a place, for, like many of the so-called Academic Liberals of
those days, he made the mistake of standing for a small semi-rural
constituency, overshadowed by a neighbouring magnate, instead of for a
large town, where both his opinions and his oratory would have been
better appreciated. However, he enjoyed the contest thoroughly,
amusing himself as well as the electors by his lively and sometimes
impassioned speeches, and he looked back to it as a pleasant episode
in his usually smooth and placid life. He was all his life a strong
Liberal _vieille roche_, a lover of freedom and equality as well as of
economy in public finance, a Free Trader, an individualist, an enemy
of all wars and all aggressions, and in later years growingly
indignant at the rapid increase of military and naval expenditure. He
was also, like the Liberals of 1850-60 in general, a sympathiser with
oppressed nationalities, though this feeling did not carry him the
length of accepting the policy of Home Rule for Ireland, as to which
he had grave doubts, yet doubts not quite so serious as to involve
his separation from the Liberal party. Twice after 1880 he was on the
point of becoming a candidate for a seat in the House of Commons, but
whether his love for Harrow would have suffered him to remain in
Parliament had he entered it may be doubted. One could not even tell
whether he was really disappointed that his political aspirations
remained unfulfilled. Had he given himself to parliamentary life, his
readiness, ingenuity, and wit would have soon made him valued by his
own side, while his sincerity and engaging manners would have
commended him to both sides alike. His delivery was always too rapid,
and his voice not powerful, yet these defects would have been
forgotten in the interest which so peculiar a figure must have
aroused.

His peace principles contrasted oddly with his passion for military
history, a passion which prompted many vacation journeys to
battlefields all over Europe, from Salamanca to Austerlitz. He had
followed the campaigns of Napoleon through Piedmont and Lombardy,
through Germany and Austria, as well as those of Wellington in Spain
and Southern France.[57] This taste is not uncommon in men of peace.
Freeman had it; J. R. Green and S. R. Gardiner had it; and the
historical works of Sir George Trevelyan and Dr. Thomas Hodgkin prove
that it lives in those genial breasts also. It was a pleasure to be
led over a battlefield