dear associations. On October 1, he found himself after a
long and busy day, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he had never stayed since
his too memorable visit in 1862.(286) Since the defeat of the Irish policy
in 1886, he had attended the annual meeting of the chief liberal
organisation at Nottingham (1887), Birmingham (1888), and Manchester
(1889). This year it was the turn of Newcastle. On October 2, he gave his
blessing to various measures that afterwards came to be known as the
Newcastle programme. After the shock caused by the Irish quarrel, every
politician knew that it would be necessary to balance home rule by reforms
expected in England and Scotland. No liberal, whatever his particular
shade, thought that it would be either honourable or practical to throw
the Irish policy overboard, and if there (M162) were any who thought such
a course honourable, they knew it would not be safe. The principle and
expediency of home rule had taken a much deeper root in the party than it
suited some of the trimming tribe later to admit. On the other hand, after
five years of pretty exclusive devotion to the Irish case, to pass by the
British case and its various demands for an indefinite time longer, would
have been absurd.

III

In the eighties Mr. Gladstone grew into close friendship with one who had
for many years been his faithful supporter in the House of Commons as
member for Dundee. Nobody ever showed him devotion more considerate,
loyal, and unselfish than did Mr. Armitstead, from about the close of the
parliament of 1880 down to the end of this story.(287) In the middle of
December 1891 Mr. Armitstead planned a foreign trip for his hero, and
persuaded me to join. Biarritz was to be our destination, and the
expedition proved a wonderful success. Some notes of mine, though intended
only for domestic consumption, may help to bring Mr. Gladstone in his
easiest moods before the reader's eye. No new ideas struck fire, no
particular contribution was made to grand themes. But a great statesman on
a holiday may be forgiven for not trying to discover brand-new keys to
philosophy, history, and "all the mythologies." As a sketch from life of
the veteran's buoyancy, vigour, genial freshness of heart and brain, after
four-score strenuous years, these few pages may be found of interest.

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We left Paris at nine in the morning (Dec. 16), and were listening to the
swell of the