1864-65.] SECOND VISIT HOME. 353 



. . . Sir diaries Eastlake, President ; Archbishops of Canterbury and 

 York on each side of the chair ; all the Ministers present, except Lord 

 Palmerston, who is ill of gout in the hand. Lord Russell, Lord Gran- 

 ville, and Duke of Somerset, sat on other side of table from Sir Henry 

 Holland, Sir Eoderick, and myself. Lord Clarendon was close enough 

 to lean back and clap me on the shoulder, and ask me when I was 

 going out. Duke of Argyll, Bishops of Oxford and London, were 

 within earshot ; Sir J. Romilly, the Master of the Rolls, was directly 

 in front, on the other side of our table. He said that he watched all 

 my movements with great interest. . . . Lord Derby made a good 

 speech. The speeches were much above the average. I was not told 

 that I was expected to speak till I got in, and this prevented my 

 eating. When Lord John Manners complimented me after my speech, 

 I mentioned the effect the anticipation had on me. To comfort me he 

 said that the late Sir Robert Peel never enjoyed a dinner in these cir- 

 cumstances, but sat crumbling up his bread till it became quite a heap 

 on the table. . . . My speech was not reported. 



" 2d May. — Met Mr. Elwin, formerly editor of the Quarterly. He 

 said that Forster, one of our first-class writers, had told him that the 

 most characteristic speech was not reported, and mentioned the heads 

 — as, the slave-trade being of the same nature as thuggee, garrotting ; 

 the tribute I paid to our statesmen ; and the way that Africans have 

 been drawn, pointing to a picture of a woman spinning. This non- 

 reporting was much commented on, which might, if I needed it, prove a 

 solace to my wounded vanity. But I did not feel offended. Everything 

 good for me will be given, and I take all as a little child from its father. 



" Heard a capital sermon from Dr. Hamilton [Regent Square 

 Church], on President Lincoln's assassination. 'It is impossible but 

 that offences will come,' etc. He read part of the President's address 

 at second inauguration. In the light of subsequent events it is grand. 

 If every drop of blood shed by the lash must be atoned for by an 

 equal number of white men's vital fluid, — righteous, Lord, are Thy 

 judgments ! The assassination has awakened universal sympathy and 

 indignation, and will lead to more cordiality between the countries. 

 The Queen has written an autograph letter to Mrs. Lincoln, and Lords 

 and Commons have presented addresses to Her Majesty, praying her 

 to convey their sentiments of horror at the fearful crime. 



"ISth May 1865. — Was examined by the Committee [of the 

 House of Commons] on the West Coast ; was rather nervous and 

 confused, but let them know pretty plainly that I did not agree with 

 the aspersions cast on missions." 



In a letter to Mr. Webb, he writes a proyios of this 

 examination : — 



" The monstrous mistake of the Burton school is this : they ignore 

 the point-blank fact that the men that do the most for the mean whites 



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