138 Arthur Balfour [1906 



and he could not make it out. ' What earthquake ? ' he asked ; ' what 

 earthquake?' having heard nothing of what all the newspaper world 

 has been talking about for the last five days, and he was put out at 

 not having been told. ' I told you, at any rate,' one of them said, 

 'of the eruption of Vesuvius,' an event three weeks old, but he did 

 not seem to know much about that either. 



" 24th April. — Maurice Hewlett was here to-day, a literary man 

 of some standing, and his wife, who talked to me about the Arabs 

 on the strength of a visit to Algiers. Butcher has left us, a man 

 of no importance, and absurdly deferential to Balfour as his party 

 chief, yet member for Cambridge University. 



" 28th April. — Arthur Balfour went away to-day. The last two 

 evenings I have dined with the rest of the company downstairs, and 

 have had a good deal of conversation with him, very little on politics, 

 but much on unimportant things. In conversation he is a pleasant 

 trifler, avoiding serious discussions, and showing, as I have remarked 

 already, a curious ignorance of things of general information. He had 

 no idea, for instance, last night, on what the Duke of Orleans and 

 Don Carlos founded their respective claims to the French and Spanish 

 thrones, and he jumbled up the Soudan with Somaliland. He told us 

 a story which specially amused us. During the North Sea crisis, when 

 there seemed a probability of war with Russia every hour, he happened 

 to be at Panshanger for Sunday, and they wanted a fourth to play 

 bridge. Lady Cowper, knowing the Russian charge-d' 'affaires was the 

 best bridge player in London, a telegram was sent asking him to come. 

 The Russian, of course, thought that the Prime Minister had some 

 grave news to tell him, and hurried down to Panshanger, and there 

 had been great difficulty in persuading him that he had nothing really 

 to tell. To me Balfour shows a great deference (if I may use the 

 term) and when he wished us all good-bye after luncheon, he came 

 round especially to me where I lay on my couch and addressed me in 

 a little speech which was almost affectionate. I am touched at this 

 and return it, and it is a feeling he very generally inspires. Ego is 

 here, a very charming fellow, a tall intelligent Oxford undergraduate. 

 They talk of putting him into the army, though he does not really 

 fancy it. 



" 2gth April (Sunday). — Matters with the Sultan have come to a 

 violent crisis. The Sultan has refused point-blank to evacuate Tabah 

 (just opposite Akabah), and it is universally believed that Kaiser 

 Wilhelm stands behind him. All the papers in London have become 

 truculent, including the ' Tribune,' and I have written a long letter 

 to Redmond suggesting that he and the Labour members and the ex- 

 treme Radical section should adjourn the House, and debate the situa- 

 tion as one of urgency. This is how I explain the case to him : 



