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The Bath Club, 34, Dover Street, W.1.
Regent 7200. "c/o Pellucidly London".
28.3.35
Dear Colonel Buchan,
This is emphatically not a letter to be answered or I should not be writing it.
It is just a mild outburst of delight from an old admirer excited by the news of this Canadian appointment. Prime Minsters & Governments seldom do things that are thrillingly right, and when such a thing happens it is amazingly cheering and refreshing. I shall never believe the P.M. is worn out, as the papers say, as long as he is capable of such
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a stroke of genius.
No one - not even I think Grey - has had such great qualifications as yours since the days of Dufferin. It is a wonderful crown on a career that I have watched with increasing admiration since 1897 when I first heard you speak at Oxford. To me you seemed unusually old for an undergraduate, and you have never seemed to get any older. The Canadian opportunity is a wonderful one. Difficult, of course, or you would not think it worth embracing. I was at Ottawa in Minto's time and being a very callow young man I never realized how good he was. Your
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book & Lady Minto's on the work in India have completely changed my view of him.
When you get across I hope you will not be long in having a talk with Willie Fyfe who is now Principal at Kingston. He was (at Merton) a contemporary of yours, and he is now not only one of the cleverest men I have ever known but one of the wisest, and the best talker. A pity Billy Grant will not be there to welcome you.
Possibly in the next four years I shall be leaving a card at Rideau Hall in the hope
