I remember the time when he
first made a Parliamentary figure. It was in the days when Lord Randolph
Churchill started out on his great and meteoric career, at the beginning
of the Parliament of '80. Sir John Gorst was, in many respects, the
cleverest of the brilliant little group--at least, at the work which
they were then doing. He is cold-blooded, quick, and dexterous, and,
above all things, he has supreme pessimism and cynicism. To him, all
political warfare is a somewhat squalid struggle, in which everybody is
dishonest, and everybody playing for his own hand. It is an advantage in
some respects to take that view; it saves a man from anything like
unduly passionate convictions--enables him to keep cool even in trying
circumstances. I have seen Sir John as cold as ice in the very height
and ecstasy of the most passionate moments in the fierce Parliament of
1880 to 1885, and a man who remains so cool is sure to be able to strike
his blows deliberately and home. My poor friend, Mr. Mundella, sometimes
forgets this. When Sir John Gorst accused him of slighting somebody--I
don't know who; and, really, it doesn't matter, for Sir John Gorst knew
very well that the charge was entirely unfounded--when, I say, Sir John
did this, up jumped honest Mr.
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