Page:Last Will and Testament of Cecil Rhodes.djvu/146

132 closer union with the Colonies if a portion of the Empire so close as Ireland had been turned into a tributary State.

It is ridiculous to suppose, as I have seen it stated, that I thought I should purchase the Liberal policy for the sum of £5,000 or any other sum, and any Liberal making such a suggestion only insults his own party; but I naturally did not want to help a party into power whose first act would be what I most objected to—namely, the abandonment of Egypt.

I understood from Mr. Schnadhorst that he would consult Mr. Gladstone, which quite satisfied me, as I looked upon Mr. Gladstone as the Liberal party. Mr. Schnadhorst accepted £5,000 from myself for party purposes, coupled with the conditions defined in letter marked “A.”

Some time after I read a speech of Mr. Gladstone’s at Newcastle—I think it was at the end of 1891—in which he expressed the hope that Lord Salisbury would take some step “to relieve us from the burdensome and embarrassing occupation of Egypt.” This naturally surprised me after what had passed between Mr. Schnadhorst and myself, and I therefore wrote to him letter “B,” and received in reply letter “C.” (You will notice that in this letter, referring to my subscription, I say:—‘‘As you are aware, the question of Egypt was the only condition I made.” I was only writing at sea from memory, but I knew the fear of losing Egypt, to which I referred in the postscript to my letter addressed to Mr. Schnadhorst marked ‘‘A,” had been the paramount thought in my mind.) I took no more trouble in the matter, as soon after I arrived in Africa Lord Rosebery joined the Ministry