19°2J. Edward the Peacemaker 33 



than I can relate here, through certain common friends entirely in 

 his confidence, and my feeling towards him has always been for this 

 reason, that of a well-wisher as well as a loyal subject. 



The very first object which he set himself to bring about as King 

 was to put an end to the Boer War, not so much perhaps on any 

 humane principle as ending what he was well aware had become the 

 cause of vast discredit to England throughout Europe, and in this he 

 succeeded notwithstanding the Tory obstinacy of those in power. A 

 second scandal which he would have willingly seen ended was that of 

 Ireland. He was aware, as very few Englishmen had discovered, how 

 grave a scandal the long disloyalty of the Irish race was in the eyes 

 of the outside world, and how seriously it affected the dignity of the 

 British Empire and of himself personally as Ireland's king. Thus the 

 title bestowed on him, not quite seriously at first, of " Edward the 

 Peacemaker " was in my opinion well deserved, though, through the 

 diplomatic blunders of our Foreign Office and the incurable cupidities 

 of our advanced imperialists, the seeds of peace sown during his reign 

 were so perversely misapplied as to bring about the cataclysm of the 

 general European War which ten years later overwhelmed his successor. 

 Lord Salisbury's retirement from office immediately after King Ed- 

 ward's coronation and Mr. Balfour's succession as Prime Minister 

 marks the true end of the Victorian era, and the beginning of another, 

 better let us admit in its intentions, but disastrous beyond all possible 

 foresight on King Edward's part, in its results of ruin for the Europ- 

 ean world. 



I spent the first winter of the new reign, 1902-1903, once more 

 in Egypt. On leaving London, I wrote " 28th Nov., I had met Frank 

 Lascelles at my Club and had had a long talk with him about old 

 times and new. He had been staying at Sandringham with the King 

 and the Emperor William and told me much about them both. It is 

 pleasant to find him still affectionate as in old days and unspoilt by 

 the dignities of his position. The truth is these diplomatic dignities 

 seen close are small things and do not turn their possessors' heads 

 unless they come very suddenly and unexpectedly. An ambassador 

 in the regular service blossoms gradually and has plenty of time to 

 remember that he was once an attache and is still a mortal. On my 

 way through France I had travelled with Sir John Gorst (the elder) 

 on his way to attend the opening of the great Assouan dam and to 

 visit his son Eldon at Cairo. Talking about past events in Egypt he 

 told me that in 1886 it had been intended by Lord Salisbury to super- 

 sede Cromer and appoint Drummond Wolff in his place and as he, 

 Gorst, was in Cairo at the time, Stafford Northcote had commissioned 

 him to find out how the change would be regarded in native quarters, 

 and he had gone to Nubar, then in office, and consulted him. Nubar 



