UNITED STATES AND CANADA 269 



December 9, 1896. 



Dear Maycock, — The American press con- 

 tinues to be very imaginative. I have the orchid 

 for which the Frisco paper says I paid $50,000 ; 

 but it really cost me 55. ! ! ! Yours very truly, 



J. Chamberlain. 



As Huntley Wright used to say, the Frisco editor 

 was " very careless with his ' oughts.' " 



One word in conclusion. It would ill become 

 me to embark on any eulogy of my former Chief. 

 I may safely leave that to other pens than mine, and 

 to the historian of the future, to whom the contents 

 of this volume may possibly prove of some little 

 service. But I was struck with the remarkable 

 appropriateness of a tribute paid to him by Lord 

 Robert Cecil in a speech he made at Frome on 

 January 13 last, on the occasion of Mr. Chamberlain's 

 retirement from his political career, and I can think 

 of no fitter conclusion to the chapter in his life 

 which I have, however inadequately, endeavoured 

 to record, than by quoting Lord Robert's own 

 felicitous words : 



" That very old and trusted leader of our party 

 has thought it necessary to announce his final 

 withdrawal from public life. It is the closing of a 

 great chapter in our history. It is not for me, it 

 would be a mere impertinence on my part, to 



