“After this I drove him back to Downing Street in my phaeton, round the Park and down Knights bridge.  I told him I found it difficult to judge of people’s brains if they were very slow.

“Mr. Gladstone:  “I wish, then, that you had had the privilege of knowing Mr. Cobden; he was at once the slowest and quite one of the cleverest men I ever met.  Personally I find it far easier to judge of brains than character; perhaps it is because in my line of life motives are very hard to fathom, and constant association with intelligence and cultivation leads to a fair toleration and criticism of all sorts and conditions of men.’

“He talked of Bright and Chamberlain and Lord Dalhousie,[Footnote:  The late Earl of Dalhousie.] who, he said, was one of the best and most conscientious men he had ever known.  He told me that, during the time he had been Prime Minister, he had been personally asked for every great office in the State, including the Archbishopric of Canterbury, and this not by maniacs but by highly respectable men, sometimes even his friends.  He said that Goschen’s critical power was sound and subtle, but that he spoilt his speeches by a touch of bitterness.  Mr. Parnell, he said, was a man of genius, born to great things.  He had power, decision and reserve; he saw things as they were and had confidence in himself.  (Ten days after this drive, Mr. Gladstone made his last great speech on Irish Home Rule.)

“I made him smile by telling him how Lord Kimberley told me that, one day in Dublin, when he was Viceroy, he had received a letter which began: 

“’My Lord, To-morrow we intend to kill you at the corner of Kildare Street; but we would like you to know there is nothing personal in it!’

“He talked all the way down Piccadilly about the Irish character, its wit, charm, grace and intelligence.  I nearly landed my phaeton into an omnibus in my anxiety to point out the ingratitude and want of purpose of the Irish; but he said that in the noblest of races the spirit of self-defence had bred mean vices and that generation after generation were born in Ireland with their blood discoloured by hatred of the English Governments.

“‘Tories have no hope, no faith,’ he continued, ’and the best of them have class-interest and the spirit of antiquity, but the last has been forgotten, and only class-interest remains.  Disraeli was a great Tory.  It grieves me to see people believing in Randolph Churchill as his successor, for he has none of the genius, patience or insight which Dizzy had in no small degree.’

“Mr. Gladstone told me that he was giving a dinner to the Liberal party that night, and he added: 

“’If Hartington is in a good humour, I intend to say to him, “Don’t move a vote of want of confidence in me after dinner, or you will very likely carry it."’

“’He laughed at this, and told me some days after that Lord Hartington had been delighted with the idea.