THE ANGLO-TURKISH CONVENTION. 409 who in popular appreciation was regarded as the champion of, what may be called, militant Conservatism. I allude to Lord Randolph Churchill, who was Secretary of State for India in the new Administration. The some time leader of the Fourth party was then looked upon as the coming man. The promise of his youth was left unfulfilled, and therefore his true place in the political history of our times can never be fully determined. I, for one, having known him intimately, have never wavered in my conviction that, if health and opportunity had been given him, he would have developed into a great statesman. I only reassert this conviction because I should be sincerely sorry if what I have to say in connection with the Mukh tar- Wolff Mission should seem in any way to detract from the views I have often expressed elsewhere as to his claims to eminence, not only as a party leader, but as a statesman. Foreign politics had not, I think, at any time of his life, a great attraction for him. His mind, especially at this period, the eve of the espousal of Home Rule by the Liberal party under Mr. Gladstone, was absorbed in home questions, and it is no disparagement to him to say, that he trusted to his marvellous faculty for assimilating the knowledge of others to make up his mind about foreign affairs, with which he had little or no personal acquaintance. Regarding himself, as he did undoubtedly at this time, as the political heir of the late Lord Beaconsfield, he held strongly to the opinion that co-operation with Turkey ought to be the basis