1899] With Frederic Harrison at Sutton Place 329 



waiting, and so give our Government the pretext it wants. Under the 

 circumstances I have resolved to publish my letter of the 2nd to Har- 

 rison. 



" Dreyfus has been pardoned ; and so the case ends according 

 to programme. Our papers are in a righteous fury and Dreyfus 

 swears he will continue the struggle. But it will not end here. It has 

 cost France dear — her position on the Nile, her position as a great 

 European Power, and her good name in the world. Gallifet deserves 

 well of his country for the courage he has shown and the wisdom in 

 ending it. 



" 26th Sept. — Frederic Harrison writes that he wishes to see me 

 about the Transvaal. He warns me that I should have to modify my 

 letter to him if I sent it to the ' Times.' It was ' violently actionable,' 

 he said, and as I should have no defence, it would cost me £10,000 

 to have it printed as it stood. But he hoped I will publish something. 

 He also tells me as a secret that, at his suggestion, the Queen of Hol- 

 land has, he believes, written to our gracious Majesty, begging her to 

 intervene to stop the war, which otherwise is inevitable. This would 

 seem the best chance, though nothing is more certain than that Queen 

 Victoria has been a prime mover in the Government policy. These 

 military blood sheddings are not displeasing to Her Majesty, and she 

 has just allowed Kitchener to make her a present of a white ass from 

 Omdurman. 



" On receipt of this letter I went to London and at Mount Street 

 found Hampden. He tells me Lord Salisbury has arranged with 

 Portugal to take immediate possession of Delagoa Bay. 1 This he has 

 learned confidentially from the Colonial Office. I then went down to 

 Sutton Place, in which delightful old house I now am staying with 

 Frederic Harrison and his brother. 



" 2jth Sept. — Sutton Place. I have had a long talk with Harrison 

 about the Transvaal, which we both think must fight unless indeed 

 there is royal interference in Holland. We have decided not to publish 

 my letter as being too libellous, also the time is a little gone by for it to 

 do much good. I read him my ' Satan Absolved.' He thinks it should 

 be the sensation of the year. He will write a review of it in the ' Nine- 

 teenth Century,' refuting its attack on humanity and giving me an op- 

 portunity of defending my ideas in prose. This will make it almost 

 certainly a success. 



" The Harrisons, or rather, Sidney Harrison and his mother, have 

 been tenants of Sutton for twenty-five years. The house is much 

 dilapidated as to doors and windows, and is a fearfully cold house to 

 inhabit even in September, having, unlike most old houses, ridiculously 

 small fireplaces, which seem to have been always there. I slept in the 

 west wing, the only spare bedroom, big as the house is. I have known 



1 Compare Dr. Dillon's book, " The Eclipse of Russia." 



