'It was a task for which he was eminently suited. The qualities which most impressed all who came into close communication with him were the strength, swiftness, and soundness of his judgement, and his unfailing tact and discretion in dealing with delicate questions. He was eminently a man of the world, and had quite as much knowledge of men as of books. Probably few men of his time have been so frequently and so variously consulted. He always spoke with confidence and authority, and his clear, keen-cut, decisive sentences, a certain stateliness of manner which did not so much claim as assume ascendency, and a somewhat elaborate formality of courtesy which was very efficacious in repelling intruders, sometimes concealed from strangers the softer side of his character. But those who knew him well soon learnt to recognise the genuine kindliness of his nature, his remarkable skill in avoiding friction, and the rare steadiness of his friendships.
'One great source of his influence was the just belief in his complete independence and disinterestedness. For a very able man his ambition was singularly moderate. As he once said, he had made it his object throughout life only to aim at things which were well within his power. He had very little respect for the judgement of the multitude, and he cared nothing for notoriety and not much for dignities. A moderate competence, congenial work, a sphere of wide and genuine influence, a close and intimate friendship with a large proportion of the guiding spirits of his time, were the things he really valued, and all these he fully attained. He had great conversational powers, which never degenerated into monologue, a singularly equable, happy, and sanguine temperament, and a keen delight in cultivated society. He might be seen to special advantage in two small and very select dining clubs which have included most of the more distinguished English statesmen and men of letters of the century. He became a member of the Literary Society in 1857 and of Dr. Johnson's Club in 1861, and it is a remarkable evidence of the appreciation of his social tact that both bodies speedily selected him as their treasurer. He held that position in "The Club" from 1868 till 1893, when failing health and absence from London obliged him to relinquish it. The French Institute elected him "Correspondant" in 1865 and Associated Member in 1888, in which latter dignity he succeeded Sir Henry Maine. In 1870 the University of Oxford conferred on him the honorary degree of D.C.L.
'It was in 1855, on the resignation of Sir George Cornewall Lewis, that he assumed the editorship of this "Review," which he retained till the day of his death. Both on the political and the literary side he was in full harmony with its traditions. His rare and minute knowledge of recent English and foreign political history; his vast fund of political anecdote; his personal acquaintance with so many of the chief actors on the political scene, both in England and France, gave a great weight and authority to his judgements, and his mind was essentially of the Whig cast. He was a genuine Liberal of the school of Russell, Palmerston, Clarendon, and Cornewall Lewis. It was a sober and tolerant Liberalism, rooted in the traditions of the past, and deeply attached to the historical elements in the Constitution. The dislike and distrust with which he had always viewed the progress of democracy deepened with age, and it was his firm conviction that it could never become the permanent basis of good government. Like most men of his type of thought and character, he was strongly repelled by the later career of Mr. Gladstone, and the Home Rule policy at last severed him definitely from the bulk of the Liberal party. From this time the present Duke of Devonshire was the leader of his party.
'His literary judgements had much analogy to his political ones. His leanings were all towards the old standards of thought and style. He had been formed in the school of Macaulay and Milman, and of the great French writers under Louis Philippe. Sober thought, clear reasoning, solid scholarship, a transparent, vivid, and restrained style were the literary qualities he most appreciated. He was a great purist, inexorably hostile to a new word. In philosophy he was a devoted disciple of Kant, and his decided orthodoxy in religious belief affected many of his judgements. He could not appreciate Carlyle; he looked with much distrust on Darwinism and the philosophy of Herbert Spencer, and he had very little patience with some of the moral and intellectual extravagances of modern literature. But, according to his own standards and in the wide range of his own subjects, his literary judgement was eminently sound, and he was quick and generous in recognising rising eminence. In at least one case the first considerable recognition of a prominent historian was an article in this "Review" from his pen.
'He had a strong sense of the responsibility of an editor, and especially of the editor of a Review of unsigned articles. No article appeared which he did not carefully consider. His powerful individuality was deeply stamped upon the "Review," and he carefully maintained its unity and consistency of sentiments. It was one of the chief occupations and pleasures of his closing days, and the very last letter he dictated referred to it.
'Time, as might be expected, had greatly thinned the circle of his friends. Of the France which he knew so well scarcely anything remained, but his old friend and senior, Barthélemy St.-Hilaire, visited him at Christ-Church, and he kept up to the end a warm friendship with the Duc d'Aumale. He spent his 80th birthday at Chantilly, and until the very last year of his life he was never absent when the Duke dined at "The Club." In Lord Derby he lost the statesman with whom in his later years he was most closely connected by private friendship and political sympathy, while the death of Lady Stanley of Alderley deprived him of an attached and lifelong friend.
'Growing infirmities prevented him in his latter days from mixing much in general society in London, but his life was brightened by all that loving companionship could give; his mental powers were unfaded, and he could still enjoy the society of younger friends. He looked forward to the end with a perfect and a most characteristic calm, without fear and without regret. It was the placid close of a long, dignified, and useful life.'
The second, the French appreciation, was spoken at the meeting of the 'Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques,' on November 16th, 1895, by the Duc d'Aumale, who, after regretting his absence on the previous occasion when the President had announced the death of their foreign member, Mr. Henry Reeve, continued:
'Je n'aurais sans doute rien pu ajouter à ce qui a été si bien dit par M. le Président, mais je tenais à rendre personnellement hommage à la mémoire d'un confrère éminent, pour lequel je professais une haute estime et une sincère amitié, et je demande à l'Académie la permission de lui adresser quelques mots.
'Qu'on l'envisage au point de vue littéraire ou au point de vue social, la figure d'Henry Reeve était essentiellement originale, et il devait ce caractère non seulement à la nature de son esprit, mais à l'éducation qu'il avait reçue. Sur la base anglaise de la forte instruction classique son père [Footnote: A momentary lapse of memory. It is scarcely possible that the Duc d'Aumale did not know that Reeve's father died whilst Reeve was still an infant, and that his education was directed by his mother.] voulut ajouter le couronnement des hautes études continentales, et, pour que cette culture intellectuelle n'eût rien d'exclusif ou d'absolu il fit choix de Genève et de Munich. C'cst dans ces deux villes, dans ces deux grands centres intellectuels, que Reeve passa une partie de sa jeunesse. Ce séjour dans des milieux si différents laissa dans son esprit une double impression qui se refléta sur toute sa vie.