He
was not mistaken. For sound judgment and wide knowledge of our public
affairs Elihu Root has no superior.
Morley left us to pay a visit to President Roosevelt at the White
House, and spent several fruitful days in company with that
extraordinary man. Later, Morley's remark was:
"Well, I've seen two wonders in America, Roosevelt and Niagara."
That was clever and true to life--a great pair of roaring, tumbling,
dashing and splashing wonders, knowing no rest, but both doing their
appointed work, such as it is.
Morley was the best person to have the Acton library and my gift of it
to him came about in this way. When Mr. Gladstone told me the position
Lord Acton was in, I agreed, at his suggestion, to buy Acton's library
and allow it to remain for his use during life. Unfortunately, he did
not live long to enjoy it--only a few years--and then I had the
library upon my hands. I decided that Morley could make the best use
of it for himself and would certainly leave it eventually to the
proper institution. I began to tell him that I owned it when he
interrupted me, saying:
"Well, I must tell you I have known this from the day you bought it.
Mr. Gladstone couldn't keep the secret, being so overjoyed that Lord
Acton had it secure for life."
Here were he and I in close intimacy, and yet never had one mentioned
the situation to the other; but it was a surprise to me that Morley
was not surprised.
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