Page:Last Will and Testament of Cecil Rhodes.djvu/149

Rh everything, namely, the policy of disentegrating and breaking up our Empire.

As you are aware, the question of Egypt was the only condition I made, and it seems rather extraordinary to me that the first public speech your leader should make—which sketches generally his views upon the near approach of office—should declare a policy of abandonment.

I asked you at the time I wrote to see him and tell him of my action, and I suppose you must have mentioned the Egyptian question, which was really all I cared about.

We are now one-third of the way with a telegraph through the continent from the South, only to hear of your policy of scuttle from the North.

P.S.—I have to send this to be posted in England, as I have forgotten your direction.

The postscript explains how it was that this letter came into my possession. It was sent to me to be copied, and forwarded to Mr. Schnadhorst. In reporting the receipt of the letter to Mr. Rhodes I wrote as follows:—

“May 16th, 1892. “Dear Mr. Rhodes,—Received your letter for Schnadhorst, and duly forwarded it to him. I think the fault lies with Mr. Schnadhorst, not with Mr. Gladstone. I was writing to Mr. Gladstone about something else, and incidentally mentioned that you were very indignant with several speeches about Egypt, whereupon Mr. Gladstone wrote asking what were those speeches to which Mr. Rhodes took exception, as he had not the pleasure of knowing what Mr. Rhodes’s views were concerning Egypt. From this I infer that Mr. Schnadhorst has never informed Mr. Gladstone of anything that you said to him, in which case he deserves the bad quarter of an hour he will have after receiving your letter. I saw Mr. Balfour the other day, who said he did not think the difficulty was with Mr. Gladstone, but rather with Sir William Harcourt, who believed