Foxholes, May 29th.—Lord Derby's Speeches contain more political wisdom than any other book of our time. I think people will find out its permanent value.
June 13th.—I have nothing to correct or alter in the Greville Memoirs, and am glad to find that some sale of them goes on.
I am much touched by the [approaching] death of Coleridge, whom I have known so well and so long. I expect he will not survive to-day. He dined with us at The Club on April 24th, and was then very well. Sic transit.
Foxholes, October 23rd.—The notices of our old friend Froude [Footnote: He died on October 20th, in his 77th year.] have been very gratifying—especially the leader in the 'Times.' He leaves the world quite glorified, and they now find out what a great man he was. I wonder whether you are going to attend the funeral. I never send wreaths on such occasions, but if I ever did send one it would be now, for I am truly affected by the loss of such a friend. The newspapers seem to have discovered that there were some big men in the last generation, and that there are very few of them in the present.
Rutland Gate, February 16th, 1895.—I am pretty well—not worse than usual; but I don't go out.
My dear old friend, Lady Stanley of Alderley, died this morning. She was only ill four days, and expired without pain or suffering at eighty-seven. To me an irreparable loss, and to a vast circle of descendants and friends. [Footnote: Among Reeve's papers there are a great many letters from Lady Stanley of Alderley, telling plainly of the long and close friendship between the two. Unfortunately, there are no available letters from Reeve to her.]
To Rear-Admiral Bridge [Footnote: At this time Commander-in-Chief in Australian waters.]
62 Rutland Gate, May 2nd.
My dear admiral,—I wish you were in reach of us, to discuss the extraordinary events which are taking place in the North Pacific, to which your articles on that subject have for some time pointed; but no one foresaw the sudden uprising of Japan.
It seems to me that, in spite of her victories, Japan is in a very critical position, politically speaking. She lies between two huge empires, and she has undertaken to occupy more than she can hold. Her position is absolutely fatal to the grand design of Russia, of crossing the north of Asia to the Pacific, and I expect Russia will not submit to it. But Russia would find it extremely difficult to carry on military and naval operations at such an enormous distance from her base. I doubt whether she could destroy the Japanese fleet, and it certainly is not for our interest that it should be destroyed. The disposition here is to observe strict neutrality and watch the course of events.