John Edwin Cussans Recollections

Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

 

The Marquis of Salisbury and Lord Robert Cecil

Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

Character Sketch of the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 1830 – 1903).

To listen to the audio clip, click play on the bar below the image on the right.

  My personal opinion of the Marquess of Salisbury is worth very little. In this book I can put down anything I like. There is no one to say me nay. But, whether my personal opinion is worth anything or not, I can only say that I, who know him well, both privately and publicly, assert, that he is the best & biggest hearted Englishman of this century. With a large amount of “amour propre”, he is utterly devoid of pride. In him the poorest labourer has a friend, to whom he can confide his troubles, with a certain and sure knowledge, that if those troubles are well founded, the Marquess will give relief. If the Marquess were speaking to one of his own cow-boys, or the Russian Ambassador, he is equally incapable of telling a lie. Himself, an honest straightforward man with no other idea that 20s make £1 – he aims straight at the mark – His political opponents sometimes make 18/ – or 22/ – out of a £ – He can’t – SALISBURY IS HONEST