1880

MR. FORSTER'S ESCAPE

"It was in March, 1882, when Mr. and Mrs. Forster were to return to London for the Parliamentary session. Mr. Forster, as usual, had gone to the Castle in the morning, and was to join Mrs. Forster and his daughters at Westland Row Station in the evening, and travel by the night mail. When we arrived at the Castle, Jephson, who lived at Bray, asked Mr. Forster to go down with him by an earlier train and dine with him at the Yacht Club; but Mr. Forster said he did not think he should have time.

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"The day wore on, and as usual we were very busy, when about half-past five Mr. Forster's bell rang and Jephson went into him, and, coming back to our room, said: The Chief is coming down with me to dine at the Yacht Club before going on board the boat,' and left me one or two things to do that he might catch the train. with Mr. Forster, who asked me to meet Mrs. Forster at Westland Row, and tell her he would meet her on board.

"I dined at the Club in Dublin and met Mrs. Forster at the station, where I took the tickets, and at the time I noticed there was a very large crowd: indeed, it was with difficulty I managed to get to the booking-office, and on going on the platform it was with still more. difficulty I helped Mrs. Forster to the carriage reserved for the Chief Secretary; and when we were in, there was a continuous crowd with many inquiries as to 'Where was the Chief Secretary?'

"At the time I put this down to mere curiosity, but afterwards, at the trial of the 'Invincibles,' it came out that they were there with the intention of murdering him; and they got a large crowd to attend to facilitate their escape after the foul deed should have been done. "During the time I was in Dublin I came across many interesting people, among them Father Healy, so well known for his witty sayings and amusing stories. One

of them I remember about a very tall young lady named Miss Lynch:

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"Nature,' said he, gave her an inch and she took an ell.'

"On one occasion, when walking with a friend from Dublin to Bray, his friend called his attention to some small girls bathing in the sea, with the remark:

"What wretched spindle-shanks they have for legs!' "Father Healy answered, 'Sure and you wouldn't expect such heifers to have calves!'

"One story, though against myself, may be worth telling: When first I went to Mr. Forster I used generally to be given the less important correspondence to attend to, and I remember noticing one morning, on arriving at the Irish Office, the uninteresting looking letters which were on my table. I opened one, written in a bad handwriting, covering two sheets of foolscap, giving the writer's views on the Irish question, and suggesting many remedies. The letter began: Dear Sir,' and ended up, 'Yours faithfully, J. Ebor,' and somewhere in the corner was the word 'York.'

"After reading the letter, I did not think it was worth troubling Mr. Forster with, so acknowledged it in the usual way, and stated that the matter would receive attention. I addressed the reply to 'J. Ebor, Esq., York,' thinking at the time that the address was scanty, and that probably it would come back to me through the Dead-letter Office. I should not have thought anything more of the matter, but two days later I received an indignant letter from J. Ebor,' informing me that he was the Archbishop of York, and he thought it gross ignorance for any one in the position of a private secretary not to know the usual signature of the Archbishop of York. I wrote a long letter full of apologies, which I only hope pacified his Grace's indignation."

CHAPTER XVI

1880-1881

Correspondence with Lord and Lady Ripon - Letter from Lord Sherbrooke - Mr. Gladstone on the Beer Duty Bill and the Board of Inland Revenue-All-night Sitting in the HouseCompanionship of the Bath: Mr. Gladstone's Letter-Trip to the Riviera with Sir John Rose-A Parisian Dinner-Nice and Monte-Carlo-Sir John Rose's Britannic Mood-Ill-health and Resignation of Herries-Appointed Chairman of Inland Revenue Board-Letter from Sir Ralph Lingen - Retirement of Alfred Montgomery-His Career and Personal Charm and Wit Not One of the Public "-Rebuke to a Private SecretaryTrip to Corsica in the Pandora-Visit to the Pietri FamilyAjaccio-Expeditions in Sardinia-Return to Walmer.

IN May I went to Charing Cross to see Lord Ripon off as Governor-General of India, and met him and Lord Northbrook on the platform; the latter said, alluding to me: "He was my best correspondent when I was in India." So Lord Ripon begged me to write to him as I did to Lord Northbrook. I did so till later in the year, when Lady Ripon joined him in India; I then transferred my correspondence to her, and we kept it up regularly nearly every week during her absence.

When I had first joined the Board of Inland Revenue, I studied Sir Stafford Northcote's Twenty Years of Financial Progress, and set myself, by way of an educational process, to write twenty years more. I sent what I had said of Mr. Lowe's chancellorship to him, and received from him the following letter:

"34 LOWNDES SQUARE, S. W., July 11, 1880.

"MY DEAR WEST,-I have, as you may well believe, read your paper with the greatest pleasure. I have no criticisms to offer, but am very much obliged to you for all the trouble which you have taken to put my proceedings fairly before the public. The only other person who has ever, as far as I know, said a good word for me was Mr. Noble. I was, if I must confess the truth, so much disgusted at having the crowning result of all my labors taken from me, as if my work had been a complete failure, that I have purposely avoided finance as a subject on which I might speak unadvisedly with my lips, and am consequently quite unable to offer any advice or suggestion. Your account coincides exactly with my own impressions.

"With many thanks for the pleasure you have given, and, I may add, the justice you have done me, believe me, "Very truly yours,

"SHERBROOKE."

Encouraging as this was, I never had the audacity to publish what I had written.

The Beer Duty Bill was passed without much further discussion, and in August Mr. Gladstone wrote to Herries and myself:

August 6, 1880.

"DEAR MR. HERRIES, -I avail myself of one of the earliest moments of returning capacity for business to write to you.

'Let me first thank you for the great ability and no less conspicuous patience with which you have assisted me in the rather arduous matter of our Inland Revenue Regulations.

"Will you also perform for me the very pleasing duty of conveying my thanks to those who have assisted you and me from the day when we first opened the subject until now.

"I can only say that I have been always accustomed to look back on the business transacted with the Inland Revenue Department in former years as coming nearest among all my experience to what I should consider a model on their side of good public service, and that that experience of former years has been completely revived in the transactions of the last three months.

"W. E. GLADSTONE."

1881 EFFECT OF THE BEER TAX

"10 DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, August 6, 1880.

"MY DEAR WEST, -I have written a note to Mr. Herries in the terms of which you are officially included; but when I am a little better and more free, I must either orally or by letter give you a separate word on the subject of good service done in connection with the malt and beer duty.

"Believe me, ever sincerely yours,

"W. E. GLADSTONE."

"I must tell you the pleasure it has been to me that you should have had so large a share in the initiation and execution of this great change, certainly the largest that has ever been undertaken by your department, except the putting on the income tax, and I am not sure that it is not greater than that.

"The value of your initiation and first working of it was very great.

"W. E. G."

Of the success of that measure it is impossible to speak too highly. There has never arisen a proposal for a change in the Act, which speaks volumes for the ability of the draftsman, Mr. Melvill.

There is great simplicity in its working, and the tax, being on the finished article instead of the raw material, has been a vast improvement.

The financial effect (for those interested in figures) has been as follows:

Duties equivalent to the present beer duty, viz.:

£8,730,000

-Malt and sugar used in brewing and brewers' tax: Average for five years to September, 1879. In the last financial year the beer duty (which was increased by 6d. a barrel in 1895) produced . . £11,826,129

In this month there was an all-night sitting in the House of Commons, from four o'clock one day till one. o'clock the next day. On one or two occasions I went down to see the House still sitting, as a curiosity. I was present in the House when the Irish members were