1908] The old "Times" Dead 191 



kind of case could he have made for doing so? All the official informa- 

 tion was to the effect that Arabi was at the head of a military insurrec- 

 tion and not of a national movement. 



" ' Chamberlain and Dilke were mainly responsible for what was 

 done. I recollect well them boasting in the Lobby of the House of 

 Commons that they had cornered the " old man." I have also always 

 understood that Lord Granville complained that Dilke played him false 

 in the House of Commons by answering questions in a manner to 

 suit his own policy and not that of his chief. 



" ' John Morley was at that time completely under the influence 

 of Chamberlain. The passages you quote from the ' P. M. G.' are 

 very discreditable. They must have been supplied by Dilke and Cham- 

 berlain. Judging by what you say of Arabi and especially his want 

 of physical courage I doubt whether he could have formed a stable 

 government in Egypt. Sooner or later the question of financial control 

 would have arisen and would have forced an issue not very different 

 from that which was arrived at. What occurred was in fact the 

 logical conclusion of the policy of financial control that was the fons 

 ct origo mali.' 



" 6th Jan. — The ' Daily News ' announces what seems to be the 

 death of the ' Times,' at any rate of the ' Times ' as we have known it. 

 If true this will be a new scalp for me. 



" yth Jan. — It is officially announced that the ' Times ' is to be turned 

 into a Limited Liability Company under the chairmanship of Walter 

 and that the director manager is to be Pearson. This means that the 

 old ' Times ' is indeed dead, and Moberly Bell discarded, a swift tri- 

 umph for my pamphlet. I cannot help, however, regretting the old 

 Thunderer now he is gone. 



" ' Zeus, thy right hand is unloaded 

 Where the thunder did prevail. 

 In the idiocy of Godhead 



Thou art staring the stars pale ; 

 And thine eagle blind and old 

 Roughs his feathers in the cold. 

 Now Pan is dead ! ' 



[The pamphlet here referred to was one I had just published against 

 the ' Times ' in connection with certain letters published by their man- 

 ager, Moberly Bell, containing attacks on me which the ' Times ' had 

 refused me my right of reply to. The matter is not of sufficient con- 

 sequence to include in the present volume.] 



" 10th Jan. — I have been reading Miss Petre's book, 'Catholicism 

 and Independence.' It interests me immensely, and surprises me also, 

 for I did not at all guess her intellectual gifts. These essays show 



