these social gatherings was Miss Margot Tennant,
afterwards Mrs. Asquith. Her youth, her wit, her originality and
audacity made every function a success which was graced by
her presence.

The bitterness towards Mr. Gladstone of the opposition party
surpassed anything I have met in American politics, except during
the Civil War. At dinners and receptions given me by my friends
of the Tory party I was supposed as an American to be friendly to
Mr. Gladstone and Home Rule. I do not know whether this was
the reason or whether it was usual, but on such occasions the
denunciation of Mr. Gladstone as a traitor and the hope of living
to see him executed was very frequent.

I remember one important public man who was largely interested
and a good deal of a power in Canadian and American railroads.
He asked a friend of mine to arrange for me to meet him. I found
him a most agreeable man and very accurately informed on the
railway situation in Canada and the United States. He was
preparing for a visit, and so wanted me to fill any gaps there
might be in his knowledge of the situation.

Apropos of the political situation at the time, he suddenly asked
me what was the attitude of the people of the United States towards
Mr. Gladstone and his Home Rule bill. I told him they were
practically unanimous in favor of the bill, and that Mr. Gladstone
was the most popular Englishman in the United States. He at once
flew into a violent rage, the rarest thing in the world for an
Englishman, and lost control of his temper to such a degree that
I thought the easiest way to dam the flood of his denunciation
was to plead another engagement and retire from the field. I met
him frequently afterwards, especially when he came to the
United States, but carefully avoided his pet animosity.

One year, in the height of the crisis of Mr. Gladstone's effort
to pass the Home Rule bill, a member of his Cabinet said to me:
"We of the Cabinet are by no means unanimous in believing in
Mr. Gladstone's effort, but he is the greatest power in our country.
The people implicitly believe in him and we are helping all we can."

It is well known that one after another broke away from him in
time. The same Cabinet minister continued: "Mr. Gladstone has
gone to the extreme limit in concessions made in his Home Rule
bill, and he can carry the English, Scotch, and Welsh members.
But every time the Irish seem to be satisfied, they make a new
demand and a gr