MR. GLADSTONE ON DUPLICITY.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—The recent correspondence in the Spectator relating to the alleged act of duplicity on the part of Disraeli, as narrated by Browning and said to be anathematised by Mr. Gladstone as "devilish," reminds me of a little story told of Mr. Glad- stone by himself, and given as an instance of duplicity on his part followed by retributive justice. In the year 187—, at my house in London, a few Members of the House of Commons, including Mr. Gladstone and others, did me the honour of meeting at dinner. Tke subject of retributive justice following duplicity was spoken of. Mr. Gladstone said he would like to tell us of an instance of it, in which he was at once the culprit and the victim. He said :-
" I was a guest at one of the great annual dinners in the Mansion House, and found myself seated beside a recently accredited foreign Ambassador. Our conversation related to Corporations and Lord Mayors. He asked as to the class of citizens from whom the Lord Mayor was chosen, and the qualities which recommended him for the position. I conveyed to him that, so far as my information went, candidates from the wealthy bourgeoisie of the' City, men with money to spend, generous and known to be hospitable, were almost invariably chosen ; and that candidates for the position who were known to be fussy and vulgar, to be ambitious for honours and titles, and to be lovers of personal conspicuity, were not thereby disqualified. The word had scarcely dropped from my lips, when a gentleman who described himself as the Lord Mayor's Secretary came and whispered that the Lord Mayor begged I would do him the honour of proposing his health. I was compelled to do so forthwith with the conventional flattery common to such functions. What the Ambassador's opinion of my duplicity on the occasion was he was diplomatic enough to keep to himself, but I felt greatly em- barrassed."
I do not suppose the Ambassador called it " devilish."—I am, Sir, &c., Oaklawn, Milltown, Co. Dublin. MAURICE BROOKS.
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