Evince my gratitude for your unsolicited
remembrance by saying that, should the difficulty I allude to be found
really to exist, I shall not feel myself slighted or aggrieved should
your kindness proceed no further, pending such an unfortunate state of
feeling.
"I ought to add, that my late most kind and indulgent friend, the Duke
of Newcastle, suggested some little time before his death an even
higher reward for the services, which he alone knew the real extent of;
but at my request it was postponed until - all the manifold difficulties
being one by one cleared away - the great question of policy which he
had so much at heart should be finally realized in legislation.
"Having thus been led almost, to rely upon some adequate recognition of
several years' gratuitous and arduous exertion on both sides of the
Atlantic, I feel the sacrifice I propose to make. But a desire to avoid
aggravating this unfortunate misunderstanding induces me to trouble you
now.
"I have the honour to be, dear Sir,
"Yours very faithfully and obliged,
"E. W. WATKIN.
"THE RT. HON. THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER."
"DOWNING STREET, S.W.
"August 8, 1867.
"DEAR SIR,
"I have had the honor of receiving your letter of the 3rd instant, in
which you refer to the rumoured intention of Her Majesty's Government
to recommend your name to the Queen for the honor of knighthood, in
consideration of services connected with the International Colonial
Railway, and the influence of that undertaking on the union of the
British North American Provinces; and in which you state your
apprehension, that such an intention, in consequence of the recent
intelligence from Canada with respect to the distribution of honors,
might prove embarrassing to the Government.
"Under that impression you have, in a manner highly creditable to
yourself, and most considerate to the Government, stated that you
should not feel yourself slighted or aggrieved, if the views of Her
Majesty's Government towards yourself were not proceeded with pending
such an unfortunate feeling in Canada.
"It is quite true that it was the intention of Her Majesty's Government
to recommend to Her Majesty to confer the honor of knighthood on you,
in consideration of your services in question, thereby, as they
believe, fulfilling the purpose of the late Duke of Newcastle, when his
Grace was Secretary of State for the Colonies; but Her Majesty's
Government, appreciating your motives in the suggestion which you have
made, are of opinion that it may be expedient to suspend, for a time,
conferring a distinction on you which, under the peculiar circumstances
of the case, might occasion a painful, though an unfounded, feeling of
jealousy.
"I have the honor to remain,
"Dear Sir, yours faithfully,
"B. DISRAELI.
"E. W. WATKIN, Esq., M.P."
Time went on, and, one morning in the summer of 1868, I received this
letter: -
"10, DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL,
"August 11, 1868.
"MY DEAR MR. ROSE,
"The Queen has been graciously pleased to order, that letters patent
should be prepared, to confer the honor of knighthood on Mr. Watkin,
the Member for Stockport.
"As I know you take a great interest in the welfare of that gentleman,
I have sent you this line, that you may be the first to know the
distinction that awaits him.
"Sincerely yours,
"B. DISRAELI.
"PHILIP ROSE, Esqre."
I may also add a curious bit of history of a personal character.
Mr. Disraeli was returned to Parliament, in 1837, for Maidstone,
mainly, by the exertions and influence of his agent, Mr. Richard Hart,
the eminent solicitor. Mr. Hart was my friend and agent on my return
for the borough of Hythe, in 1874, and in 1880.
Mr. Hart had many interesting reminiscences of Mr. Disraeli to recount,
and some day, in a more appropriate place, I hope to be able to recount
them.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Visits to Quebec and Portland, and Letters Home,
1861.
Leaving Montreal by the night boat, I arrived at the wharf at Quebec;
and, after a visit to the hotel and a walk round the city, called on
Mr. Cartier, the Chief Minister of Canada, at the small house he then
inhabited.
My first relation with Quebec was in acting as Honorary Secretary to a
Committee in Manchester, which raised 7,500l. by subscription,
and sent it out in money and goods to relieve the people, houseless and
ruined by the great Quebec fires of May and July, 1845, when 3,015
houses were burnt down, and thousands of people were made homeless, and
were starving. I also visited the city in 1851. Later on, in the year
1866, I was Chairman of the City of London Committee, which raised
23,800l. to alleviate the suffering caused by the great Quebec
fire of that year.
In my walk round the city (in 1861) I was struck with the absence of
precautions against fire, and the persistence in building wooden
houses, when the cost of brick or stone could not be greatly more than
of wood.
I may say, however, in my right as an old helper in these fire
disasters, that on inspecting the city last September (1886), I was
much impressed by the new building regulations in rigid force, and
especially by the admirable system adopted for the effective repression
of fires. There are central and subordinary fire stations, all
connected together by telegraph and telephone. A constant watch is
kept, engines are always ready to start off, and a sufficient number of
men available for duty night and day.
But to come back to Mr. Cartier. After I had waited in his salon for a
few minutes, he entered:
