.JOURNAL OFTIIE CHURCHILL CKNTER AND ... - Winston Churchill

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JVlLy dear JNellie, 11 JVILiPo C^JhiircJiill Jkad ever done me iJke Jaonour oi amg me to marry nun, 1 sJhoiiid 01 comrse nave accepted Jaim on tne—C.P. Snow's "Mrs. Smith"This could only have been the former Pamela Plowden (1874-1971), who married Victor Lytton,later the Earl of Lytton, in 1904; she and Churchill remained friends for life. -Ed.absolute strength. Not many in conservative Britainhad such insight. He had. That was why he couldkeep us going when it came to war and we werealone. Where it mattered most, there he was right.And that is why we shall never deny our gratitude.There is also a great deal else to be grateful for.He not only helped to save us from dying; he showedus a pattern of life. Churchill was never sour or malicious.He had, on the contrary, all the broad and expansivevirtues. He was a singularly magnanimousman. With a few exceptions, he forgave his enemies.He was the loyalest of friends, took risks for those heloved, and never denied his affections. He wore hisvirtues as cheerfully as his absurd hats.He never lost the rip-roaring Corinthian gustofor living. Eyebrows were lifted at his brandy andChampagne, his cigars, his liking for the company ofthe international rich, and much he cared. In everythingthat doesn't matter, he did precisely what hewanted and never gave a damn. In everything that didmatter, he lived much more strictly than most men,according to a strong and gallant moral code. Therewas never, for example, a breath of sexual scandalabout him. He married rather late, at thirty-three, waslucky in his wife and lived in monogamous happiness.IDID once hear an anecdote for which I have noevidence. I heard it during the war: like those cumulatingstories in his last ten years, it left apleasant taste.It was told me by a charming elderly woman,now dead, who had herself been a dashing beauty inEdwardian society. She had just come back from arailway journey. The time was the middle of the war,when Churchill was at the peak of his power. Shefound herself in a carriage with another elderlywoman, an acquaintance whom she had not met fora long time. According to my informant this was thewoman whom Churchill in his twenties had wishedto marry (long before he met his future wife). Shehad been smart, pretty, an heiress: the only difficultywas that she had not returned his love. He had pursuedher with the singlemindedness that he had laterspent on war. He had used all his eloquence, all hisforce, every resource he had. None of it was anygood. She finally married someone who happened tohave a very common English name—I will call himMr. Smith—and who was otherwise unknown to history.So my informant sat opposite Mrs. Smith,whom she had not met since they were both youngwomen, in the railway carriage. There was a gooddeal of chat about old times. Then my informantsaid:"You must be very proud of your old flame.""What do you mean?""Mr. Churchill, of course."At that Mrs. Smith is said to have given a gentlenon-committal smile. My informant could not resistasking:"Come now, have you never wished that youhad married him?"Then Mrs. Smith looked her straight in theeye, and said: "My dear Nellie, if Mr. Churchill hadever done me the honour of asking me to marry him,I should of course have accepted him on the spot."Too gallant to believe? Anyway, such was thestory. I cannot vouch for any part of it. But from thepoint of view of the Churchillian apotheosis, it doesn'tmatter whether it is true or not. It does carry thetone of high-hearted behaviour, higher-hearted behaviourthan we could manage in our own time. Andit was Churchill's own high-hearted behaviour thatbecame the substance of his myth. People wantedsomething to admire that seemed to be slipping outof the grit of everyday. Whatever could be saidagainst him, he had virtues, graces, style. Courage,magnanimity, loyalty, wit, gallantry—these were notoften held up for admiration in our literature, or indeeddepicted at all. He really had them. I believethat it was deep intuition which made people feel, inthose last ten years, that his existence had after allsweetened English life. $FINEST HOUR 103/14
ACTIONOne hundred years ago:Summer 1899 • Age 24The First DefeatChurchill spent the summer of 1899in his first election campaign,attempting, unsuccessfully, to persuadePamela Plowden to join him. He wroteto her describing the campaign:"I shall never forget the successionof great halls packed with excited peopleuntil there was not room for one singleperson more - speech after speech, meetingafter meeting - three even four inone night - intermittent flashes of Heat& Light & enthusiasm - with cold airand the rattle of a carriage in between: agreat experience. And I improve everytime - I have hardly repeated myself atall. And at each meeting I am consciousof growing powers and facilities ofspeech, and it is in this that I shall findmy consolation should the result be, asis probable, unfortunate."Churchill's prediction was accurate.He and his running mate, the tradeunion leader Mawdsley, lost the twoTory seats to the Liberals in the July 6thelection. The results were close, however,and The Manchester Courier reportedthat Churchill "might have been defeatedbut he was conscious that in thisfight he had not been disgraced." Balfouragreed, writing Churchill, "thissmall reversal will have no permanent illeffect upon your political fortunes."100-75-50-25 YEARS AGOMichael McMenaminChurchill soon turned his attentionto South Africa. In a speech on 17August he said: "The trouble in theTransvaal is a very serious question, andthe situation in South Africa has nowreached an acute stage. It is not likelythat the present condition of things cango on indefinitely without war breakingout, and I am not so sure that is such avery terrible prospect or one that wetremble at....England is a very greatPower and the Boers are a miserablysmall people, and I ask how long is thepeace of the country and the Empiregoing to be disturbed by a party of filibusteringBoers."Negotiations between the Britishand the Boers over the Boer refusal togrant voting rights to the largely Britishimmigrants ("Uitlanders") who hadcome to South Africa during the goldrush of the late 19th century brokedown in early September. In SeptemberChurchill received an offer from TheDaily Mail to serve as its war correspondentin South Africa, and used that offeras leverage to secure a more rewardingposition from The Morning Post, whichagreed to pay all of his expenses and£250 a month. Churchill prompdy setabout fortifying himself for the journey.His son wrote that "Churchill neverbelieved that war should be needlesslyuncomfortable" and listed some of theprovisions, including six bottles each of1889 vin d'Ay Sec, light Port andFrench Vermouth; and eighteen bottleseach of St. Emilion and a ten-year-oldScotch whiskey.Seventy-five years ago:Summer 1924 • Age 49A "Seat for Life" at LastChurchill continued his search for aconstituency where he could standat the next General Election as an Independentwith Conservative Party support,while maintaining a busy scheduleof speaking and writing. On 27 June hespoke to the London School of Economicson "The Study of English":"To be able to give exact and lucidexpressions to one's thoughts, to be ableto write a good clear letter upon a complicatedor delicate subject, to be able toexplain shordy, precisely, and correcdywhat you mean, what you have seen,what you have read, what you have beentold, or what you want to understand;to appreciate and express the shades ofmeaning which attach to words - theseare surely among the most importantacquirements which young English menand young English women can possiblyseek to aid them in their life's career."Churchill addressed the "InternationalFinancial Situation" in a speech tothe Associated Advertising Clubs inLondon on 17 July 1924, attributingFINEST HOUR 103 /15
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.JOURNAL OFTIIE CHURCHILL CKNTER AND ... - Winston Churchill

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