Genius did not
depend upon material resources. Long after Britain could not figure
prominently as an industrial nation, not by her decline, but through
the greater growth of others, she might in my opinion become the
modern Greece and achieve among nations moral ascendancy.
He caught at the words, repeating them musingly:
"Moral ascendancy, moral ascendancy, I like that, I like that."
I had never before so thoroughly enjoyed a conference with a man. I
visited him again at Hawarden, but my last visit to him was at Lord
Randall's at Cannes the winter of 1897 when he was suffering keenly.
He had still the old charm and was especially attentive to my
sister-in-law, Lucy, who saw him then for the first time and was
deeply impressed. As we drove off, she murmured, "A sick eagle! A sick
eagle!" Nothing could better describe this wan and worn leader of men
as he appeared to me that day. He was not only a great, but a truly
good man, stirred by the purest impulses, a high, imperious soul
always looking upward. He had, indeed, earned the title: "Foremost
Citizen of the World."
In Britain, in 1881, I had entered into business relations with Samuel
Storey, M.P., a very able man, a stern radical, and a genuine
republican. We purchased several British newspapers and began a
campaign of political progress upon radical lines.
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