He said he thought
it would be better that he should write a letter to me, and
that if I would write to him stating what I had said orally,
he would answer it with such a statement as I desired. I
told him I was going to Paris in a few days, and that I would
write to him from Paris when I got there. The matter was
left in that way. The next day, or the next day but one,
a luncheon was given me at White's, the club famous for its
memories of Pitt and Canning and the old statesmen of that
time, and still the resort of many of the Conservative leaders
of to-day. There were present some fifteen or twenty gentlemen,
including several members of the Government. A gentleman
who had known of my interview with Mr. Balfour, and sat at
the table some distance from me, made some allusion to it
which was heard by most of the guests. I said that I did
not like to repeat what Mr. Balfour had said; that gentlemen
in his position preferred, if their opinions were to be made
public, to do it for themselves, rather than to have anybody
else do it for them. To this, one member of the Government--
I think it was Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, but I will not undertake
to be sure--said: "It is no secret that Mr.
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