only one, and,
as far as I saw, an entirely subordinate one. He was a broad-minded man,
who hated petty misconception or a narrow view of anything, and he would
have been horrified at the prurient indecency with which the most
private affairs of the Carlyles have been exposed and distorted to
please a public which really has a higher moral tone than is possessed
by those who have gibbeted the defenceless dead.

Mr. Froude was not addicted to talking much about his own works, but I
remember his telling me that _Oceana_ had paid him best of them all, and
I think his view therein that the colonies will recede from England when
they are strong enough, following the example of the United States, is
accurate. Just tax Canada as Ireland has been taxed, and see how long
the Canadians will be contented. The ministers of George III. tried that
policy on the United States with the result that, before many years,
George had to receive the Plenipotentiary Minister of dominions over
which he himself had once reigned. It is absurd to compare Ireland with
Yorkshire, as has been done, for Ireland once had a separate Parliament,
and the Union was a matter of agreement, the outcome of which was that
Mr. Childers's Commission found she was taxed three millions more than
she should have been. The colonies are on the alert, with all the rather
irritable uppishness of youth on the verge of manhood, and their younger
generations are sure to take full advantage of any tactless conduct of
the British Government. Such was Froude's view, and nothing has happened
since his death to shake its inherent probability. The waves of Imperial
patriotism in war time go for very little, for Ireland is admittedly
disloyal, and yet Irish soldiers and Irish regiments were absolutely the
most successful in South Africa.

When the Government was introducing some quack measure into Ireland,
Froude wrote to me:--

'I see they are putting some fresh sticks under the Irish pot, so it
will soon boil over.'

Which it did, with a vengeance.

To the end of his days Froude was a great reader, but his interest in
Church affairs and in ecclesiastical differences had completely died
away. He told me that the most accurate man of business of any period
was Philip of Spain, and that his notes and memoranda were a marvel of
practical aptitude. He derived the chief information for his _History of
England_ from Spanish despatches, and would to-day have benefited
considerab