Review of Reviewl, 1/11106. 



to say the English had always been very good to 

 him; he liked them, and was at home among them^ 

 \11 these three reasons taken together made Altred 

 Beit one of the most enthusiastic and loyal of His 

 Majesty's subjects, and I always felt that the vulgar 

 sneer at " Herr Beit " was intrinsically as ignoble as 

 the sentiment which inspired the Aliens Act. Would 

 that we had many native-born as pubhc-spirited and 

 as patriotic as this Alien of Park Lane. 



Character Sketch. 



357 



intense, for Mr. Beit docilely followed Mr. Cham- 

 btrlain into the Protectionist camp. Whatever may 

 have been the case in regard to Mr. Rhodes no one 

 can pretend that political sympathy blinded ine to 

 the faults of Mr. Beit. He was from first to last a 

 political opponent, the ally and partner of men like 

 Mr Chamberlain and Lord Milner, whom I regard- 

 ed as the worst enemies of the Empire. But I must 

 bear testimony that I ever found Mr. Beit one of 



Photograph by'] 



MR. BEIT IN 



HIS LIBRARY AT PARK LANE. 



[E. H. UilU. 



THE CH.\EACTER OF THE lUN 



In matters of this kind personal testimony counts 

 I have known Mr. Beit for ten years. At first 1 

 knew him but slightly. Since Mr. Rhodes s death 

 I kinrhed at 26 Park Lane every month that Mr. 

 Beit was in London. Our acquaintance did not be- 

 gin until after the Jameson Raid had alienated me 

 from Rhodesian policy. It was not a close acquaint- 

 ance until the war had converted me into the most 

 uncompromising of pro-Boers. Our intimacy was 

 gieatest when our political antagonism was the most 



the best men of my acquaintance. I know nothing 

 d.out finance, and our relations did not he along 

 the lines of the Kaffir market, although he was much 

 more of a philosopher than a mere man of business. 

 He was not a high flying idealist. But he was em- 

 phatically straight. He honestly tried to do what 

 he believed to be the best thing that could be done, 

 and so far as I could see was always ready to saai- 

 fice financial and personal interests to what he be- 

 lieved to be great political and imperial ends. 



