"In the afternoon we journeyed down with Haldane to see Lord Morley, who for some unexplained reason desired to see us. We have never been on terms of friendship with John Morley. We have neither liked nor disliked him; and we have always assumed a similar attitude on his part. But it seems that in his political prime he was acutely aware of the socialist criticism of Gladstonian politics and deeply resented it. To-day he is a dignified, benevolent and infirm old man, pathetically anxious to make his peace with the new world of social democracy. In his old age he is more open-minded to the new thought than he was when he had the vigour to grasp its meaning. The catastrophe of the great war has compelled his pacifist soul to seek comradeship in the international socialist movement... As Sidney said goodbye he said wistfully “There is no malice between us?”—as if our visit had been one of reconciliation. We have been quite unconscious of any relationship—good or bad—between us and him."
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Academics from EnglandMembers of the Parliament of the United KingdomEditors from EnglandChief Secretaries for IrelandSecretaries of State for India (United Kingdom)
Original Language: English
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Sources
Beatrice Webb's diary entry for early 1919, quoted in M. I. Cole (ed.), Beatrice Webb's Diaries 1912–1924 (1952), p. 158
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Morley%2C_1st_Viscount_Morley_of_Blackburn
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John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn
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