THE LATE MR. E. D. J. WILSON.
[To THE EDITOR OT THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—On Monday last the Times gave an account of the life and work of Mr. E. D. J. Wilson which left little unsaid that the oldest and most intimate of his friends could wish to place on record. But in dealing with one field of his varied labours his colleagues were bound by regard for the honour- able tradition of anonymity in journalism to speak with a certain reserve. Happily the resolution in which the Execu. tire Committee of the Unionist Club have expressed their " grateful appreciation of his successful efforts in opposing and defeating the Home Rule Bills of 1886 and 1893 " supplies all that was wanting in the tribute rendered to Wilson by the affection of his colleagues. It is, I think, as certain as anything in human affairs can be that if, in the years 1882-1893, the writer who was mainly concerned with the treatment of Irish questions in the Times had not been in close personal touch with Irish conditions, the pressure applied by Mr. Parnell and the League would have prevailed. In 1885 the Liberal Party, caught by the sentimental glamour with which Mr. Gladstone commended the policy of surrender, was in a yielding mood. It was Wilson's knowledge in detail' of the grim realities that gave effective point to the resistance. The constant presentation of indisputable fact and the per- sistent appeal to reason in the columns of the Times stayed the tendency and gave heart and substance to the opposition of which Lord Hartington became the leader. With Wilson genius was an infinite faculty of taking pains and accuracy was a passion. His statements were strong, but never once were they refuted. It says much for the survival of Irish good-humour that he retained the friendship of many, the iniquity of whose methods be mercilessly exposed. Even in "rebel Cork" Nationalists were proud that their deadly enemy was a Cork man. In the discussion of Constitutional principles he was as much at home
as in popular polemics. A paper- of his in one- of the early numbers of the Nineteenth Century may still- be read with advantagens a demonstration-that if 'the Hepterchy is to be restored an essential: preliminary is to substitute for the Assembly at Westminster a Parliament concerned only. with Imperial affairs. .
Fighting, as be did, the battle of Irish loyalists, sympathiz- ing with all the warmth of a singularly tender nature with those who were the objects of .League attack, be could not fail to form friendships with a great number of distinguished Irishmen. He was at home in the. brilliant circle which still maintained in Dublin the tradition of wit and learning.
But his work was in London, and without ceasing to be an Irishman he was one of the most patriotic of Englishmen. Had he been able to devote his years of retirement to the record of his meetings and dealings with interesting or dia- tinguished people, it would have been a volume of singular value. For he was a humanist, keenly alive to the humours of life and the complexities of character. But, above all, he was the most loyal and tender-hearted of friends. He was capable of any sacrifice to serve those, high or low, who in his generous estimate had claims on his goodwill.
He loved Nature with an uncommon love, but Switzerland —especially its high places—asserted an almost undue claim on his devotion. One of his recreations was to read in the guide books about places he had never seen, and by the help of imagination he became an expert in the scenery and associations of most European travel grounds. He was very jealous for the preservation of the beauty in which he delighted, and the Society known as Scapa owed its being to his aid.—I
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