HUBERT HERVEY.
Hubert Hervey, Student and Imperialist : a Memoir. By Earl Grey, late Administrator of Rhodesia. (Edward Arnold. 7s. 6d.) —This memoir shows how loftiness of character and remarkable disinterestedness may be associated with keen enthusiasm for Imperialism, even though prosecuted under auspices which have seemed, and still seem, to many Englishmen, ourselves included, by no means above reproach. A son of the late Lord Alfred Hervey, Hubert John Antony Hervey was evidently, by the universal consent of those who had the best opportunities of judging, a man whose life was dominated in an unusual degree by a sense of honour and by the dictates of duty. If Marshal Ney was brave among the brave, Hubert Hervey was honourable among the honourable. Though, as Mr. Lecky, who saw much of him, bears witness, "the most modest, unostentatious, unobtru- sive of men, with no tinge of egotism in his nature," he never shrank from bearing his testimony on any point on which he deemed that honour was concerned; and the result was that though thought needlessly fastidious by some, he was respected by all who knew him. His one great passion was Imperialism. As Mr. Eyre Crowe writes of him, "to make Great Britain the
leader of the wiorld, morally, intellectually, and politically—that was in his eyes the true purpose of any English policy, as its accomplishment would be the fulfilment of England's political destiny. To rise to such a position of leadership, a State must be regarded with a feeling of trust by the world at large, and com- mand its respect. Whilst respect would be earned by a firm attitude in ever protecting national interests, general confidence could only be won as the result of the conviction that English aims and ideals can and may be identified with the highest com- mon interests of all peoples." It was animated by views of this kind that Hubert Hervey, while consideration for his mother kept him from leaving England, obtained work in the Transfer Depart- ment of the British South Africa Company, in the City, as represent- ing what he regarded as an essentially Imperial enterprise ; and after her death secured an appointment, at first unpaid, on its staff in Mashonaland. His career there was all too short. As Secretary to the Law Department under the Pubic Prosecutor at Salis- bury, "his work," says Lord Grey, "was that of enforcing rules of British law with an equal hand upon whites and blacks alike,"—a post "for which the moral fearlessness of his nature, the judicial character of his mind, and his high sense of duty admirably qualified him." From that work he was drawn into the first Matabele War as a volunteer trooper. He came through it unscathed, and Sir Edward Grey's brother, Mr. George Grey, bears witness to the excellent effect of his example upon his comrades, who saw that, though delicate and sensitive, he shirked no part of the commonest duty. It is to the credit of Mr. Rhodes and the Company that Hervey was selected for the charge of a special mission in Barotseland, where he would have done admirable work. But before he could get there there came the unhappy and criminal Raid—on which Hervey's opinion is not given—and then the Matabele Rebellion ; and again Hervey offered his services in the field. He fell, gallantly leading his troop, at a critical moment in an important action in the Matoppo Hills ; but lived long enough to know that victory had been secured, and to say, happily : "Well, it is a grand thing to die for the expansion of the Empire !" He has left behind him the record of a very Bayard of Imperialism, whose regard and esteem reflect favourably on all, including Mr. Rhodes and Dr. Jameson, who possessed them.
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