WGladstone II

.
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js*^4^%J^
MR. GLADSTONE
MR. GLADSTONE
A MONOGRAPH
BY
SIR
EDWARD
W. HAMILTON
K. C. B.
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

1898
3JAi"
ij
11
THE LIBRARY OF CONGI CONGRESS
WASHINGTON
^)541
Copyright, 1898,
By Charles Scribner's Sons
7WD COPIES
RECEIVED*
THE DEVINNE
PRE99-
^5
V4b <4^ -^*^^ -Mc'-?^'=fc
THESE PAGES ARE
DEDICATED
TO
MRS. GLADSTONE
Preface
Much
has
lately
been said of Mr.
Gladstone, the statesman
who
sat in Par-
liament for a nearly unbroken term of

sixty-two years,
the
who
held office under
Crown
for twenty-seven years,
and
who
served four times as the Queen's
Prime Minister during
an
aggregate
period of twelve years and a half
Much
the
more remains
to be said.
In
fact,
task of recording fully and faithfully his
public career will tax the power of a
biographer of consummate
well as
to
skill, if
industry as
indeed
a
it
will not
need
be intrusted to
vii
group of biog-
PREFACE
raphers.
rials
It is
not only that the mate-
which
will
have to be digested are
so
extensive,
and that much of them
cannot with propriety be turned to im-
mediate account, but, in the same way

as the artist
who
has to depict a
mounto
tainous height must withdraw to an appreciable distance from

it
in order
represent the proportions truly, so
must
the biographer
fidelity the
who
desires to write with
life
of a great public
man
allow an interval of time to elapse before a just retrospect can be
formed of
the subject of his pen.

It
is
otherwise with
the personality
his
of the
public
man
as
distinguished from
career.
The more
the
closely one
has stood by him, and the fresher are

one's
impressions,
more
faithfully
and promptly ought the likeness to admit of being drawn.

viii
It
may,
therefore,
PREFACE
be permissible,
at the risk
of presumptuprivileged to
ousness, for one
who was
for
know Mr. Gladstone

years,
nearly forty
to have
and
still
more privileged
been brought
in the closest contact
with
him
for a considerable time, to
attempt
to give a just notion of the man^

scribing,
his
by de-
however imperfectly, some of

powers,
characteristics,
his
intellectual
and accomplishments, some of
ways,
aims, and objects, his likes and dislikes,
and the general disposition of

Character-drawing
is
his
mind.
always
difficult;
but the
difficulties are specially great in
the present case.
For, not only
is
the
subject one who, whatever
may
be the
opinions
his
now and
hereafter
formed of
statesmanship, will be admitted to
be one of the most extraordinary

that
men
I
England has ever produced, but

however much
ix
feel that,
may
strive to
PREFACE
observe
strict impartiality, I
may, from
having long been under the glamour

of Mr. Gladstone, unconsciously lapse
into
undue eulogy.
Accordingly,
ap-
proach
my
task with
much
diffidence
and many misgivings.
Contents
Preface
I.
....
Oratorical and
.
PAGE
vii
Mr. Gladstone's
bating Powers
De
II.
His Courage and Moral
Physical,
Political
III.
Mr.
Gladstone as Party Leader Parliamentary Leader, and Politi cal Colleague
25
IV.
How He
was Abused, and how Bore Abuse

Laid Himself Misunderstood.
He
39
be
V.
VI.
Why He
-
Open
to
50
His Natural Conservatism as Illustrated by his Reverence for the Throne and Devotion to the Sovereign
VII.
Other Conservative Tendencies His Sanguine Temperament

xi
58
71
CONTENTS
PAGE
VIII.
His Alleged Love of Power and Many-sidedness

.
his
,82
97
IX.
His Energy and Powers of ConcenHis Industry Method tration System of Work
...
X.
His
Administrative Capacity and A Day's Command of Temper
Work
XI.
115
How
Gladstone Exercised Crown Patronage and Judged Character .

. .
Mr.
.128
XII.
MR. GLADSTONE
MR. GLADSTONE
A MONOGRAPH
I
DEBATING POWERS
THE
first
talent for
which Mr. Gladstone

is
will always
be most renowned
that of the orator

place, nature
and debater.
In the
in a
had endowed him
preeminent degree with every requisite

for the display
of that
talent.
His
atti-
tude while he was speaking was

ingly dignified and
strik-
commanding.
There
was not a gesture that was awkward;

there
was not a movement of the body
MR. GLADSTONE
that did not give emphasis to the idea
which he was expressing.
The play
There
of his countenance greatly varied; and

each variation had
its
significance.
were looks which were reproachful, sympathetic,

its
and impassioned.
tale.
Each
told
own
There were smiles which
were
at times playful,
and
at other
times
almost sardonic.
replete with
fire.
His hawk-like eye was

There was great
in his
all
ani-
mation and energy
manner.
his voice.
But
It
most impressive of
was
was pitched
in
a middle key.
There
which
it
was a melodiousness
hardly could
about
if
it
be excelled,
;
indeed
was ever equalled
and
it
was used with
great dramatic effect.
He
it
had an exit.
traordinary
power of modulating
clear
It
was always
it
when
was subdued;
it
was never harsh or grating when

raised to its full power.
was
He
could
AS
AN ORATOR AND DEBATER

it
regulate
with as
much
ease as the
organist, skilled in the manipulation of
keyboards and stops, can regulate the

instrument at which he
elocution
is
sitting.
His
clear
was
extraordinardy
while a somewhat peculiar pronunciation of certain words, far
from marring
it.
his speaking, lent attractiveness to
In
the
second place, his choice of

It
language was unbounded.

said of
has been
Lord Holland and
his illustrious
son, Charles
James Fox,
that
from the
very wealth of their vocabulary there

arose
tendency to hesitation.
But
the wealth of vocabulary which was at
Mr. Gladstone's command never produced

that
effect.
His flow of words
was not that of the mountain stream,
which comes
skelter;
1
tumbling
down
helter-
it
was that of the
river with
iii.
See Macaulay's "Essays," ninth edition, vol.
p.
213.
MR. GLADSTONE
an immense
volume of
is
water,
whose
it
downward course
stately.
as regular as
is
He
never gabbled.
at
He
never
drawled.
The pace
which he spoke
was a very even one.
He
could have
spoken to a metronome, though he had

one pace
for the
House of Commons
for
and
another
pace
the
for
platform.
There was never a pause

expression,
want of an
and there were never any
inarticulate interpolations.
Out of
his
al-
wonderful verbal armory he could
ways draw, not only the
right word, but
a string of words equally apposite.
He
;
was a living thesaurus or

containing
it
" Gradus,"
synonym
after
synonym
and
was
this extraordinary
wealth of words
which
laid
him open
to the charge, not
without reason, of being verbose.
Dif-
fuseness at times led to discursiveness
and
in this connection I
am reminded
AS
of a remark made once by Mr. Bright
on Mr. Gladstone's
"I
to
sail,"
sail,
style of speaking.
said
Mr. Bright, " or endeavor

headland
to
from
headland.
point,
Gladstone,
sails
making
for the
same
round the
coast,
and whenever he
river,
comes
resist
to a navigable
he cannot
it
the temptation of tracing
to
its
source."
Mr. Gladstone's sentences were

long,
often
very
and one
sometimes
extricate
wondered how he would ever
himself from the maze of words.
But
there was nothing faulty in the construction of a sentence.

theses,
There were paren-
and occasionally even parentheses
within parentheses ; but no sentence was

ever ungrammatical or unfinished.
One might have expected that, though

he succeeded in emerging from his long
sentences without offence to grammar,
he would
at times
have
5
lost the thread
MR. GLADSTONE
of his discourse.
But continuity of arguto fail him.

this
ment never seemed

single
record,
One
is
exception in
respect
on
the
ago.
when he was speaking
in
House of Commons some
years
He
was fulminating against the Oppoand he came to a dead

halt.
sition,
He
turned round to one of his colleagues,^

seated beside him, and asked, "
Where
leading
am
the
I ? "
Mr.
Disraeli,
who was
Opposition, overheard the remark,
and, leaning across the table,

rescue.
came
to the
"
The
last
word of the
'
right hon-
orable gentleman was
satellites.' "
Of
is
Mr. Gladstone's losing
his
presence of
there
mind while he was speaking

no
instance.
Not only was he never

by
interruptions,
thrown
off his balance
however frequent and

might
1
unseemly they
be,
but he was generally ready

am
right in saying that the colleague
I believe I
was Mr.
Goschen.
AS

some
telling ac-
to turn ejaculations to
count.
Like Mr.
bined, in
Pitt,^
Mr. Gladstone com-
a very
marked manner,
the
power of being perspicuous and the

power of being obscure.
No
one could
explain with greater lucidity the provisions
of a complicated
in
measure.
No
one could marshal
clearer array the
most minute
details.
No
one could
fig-
handle in a more luminous fashion

ures and statistics, in
revelled.
which he so greatly
And
yet,
when he wished not
to be explicit,
and desired to avoid com-
mitting himself definitely, no one could
be more dexterous
or in wrapping
in
guarding himself,
up
his
meaning
in ob-
scure language.
Many
were the occa-
sions when opponents thought that they
could convict Mr. Gladstone of contra1
See Macaulay's "Biographies," twenty-fifth edition,
p.
179.
MR. GLADSTONE
dieting himself.
He
would
at
once take
up
and
the
challenge,
demanding chapter
was almost
verse.
for,
The volume of Hansard

and
it
was sent
to be
certain
found that
his previous statement
had been so worded
as to bear a con-
struction not inconsistent with his later

utterances.
It
all
used, indeed, to be said

ifs
that
it
was
"
"
and " ans
"
with Mr.
Gladstone.
So
far
from resenting the
charge of being given to "hedge," he

regarded
it
more
as a
compliment than
it
anything
else.
For he considered
to
in
be essential for a politician
who was
a position of great responsibility to have the faculty of qualifying his statements.
Such a man was

as
at times,
he thought,
much bound
The way
in
as a diplomatist to avoid
being too precise.
which Mr. Gladstone
set
to
work
to prepare his speeches
was very
AS

to that
different
which
is
in
modem
to
vogue.
He
was known occasionally
commit
to paper
a peroration; but he
life,
never wrote out a speech in his

still less
and
did he ever rehearse a speech to
a shorthand-writer.
The matter to which,
when preparing
attention
a speech, he gave most

ar-
was the construction or

it
;
rangement of
spect
and
it
was
in this re-
more
than
any
other
that he
oratori-
showed consummate
cal
artist.
skill as
an
When
he had
settled
the
outline of his speech, his thoughts were
concentrated on the order of materials
and the sequence of argument.

process of incubation
This
was undergone,
tak-
more often than
not,
when he was
ing his accustomed solitary walks.

then proceeded to jot
He
notein-
down on
paper the heads of that which he
tended to say, or a certain number of

9
MR. GLADSTONE
catch-words
which
were
rather
enig-
matical to any one but himself.
The
actual clothing of his thoughts in words
he
left to
the inspiration of the

full
moment,
him.
knowing
store
well that his inexhaustible

fail
of language would never he had arranged

in
When
his
mind
what he intended
to say, he could fime
himself with such a nicety that he not

only
knew how long

the exact time
it
would take him
to deliver the speech as a whole, but he
knew
of
it
which each section
would occupy.
fine
However
were some of
it
his care-
fully prepared
speeches,
is
probable
that the unpremeditated ones were those
which produced the greatest
effect.
He
shone conspicuously as a debater, being
quick to seize on every weak argument

of his adversary,
with
fire
sometimes
retorting
and passion, sometimes with

10
AS

and
contempt,
sarcasm
and
at
other
times with playfulness and banter, which

well contrasted with the earnestness of
his
character.
In spite of his
pacific
nature,
he was
eminently contentious,
even militant, in debate.
He
was Hke
dis-
Mr. Fox, who, when asked why he

puted so vehemently about some
other, replied,
live
trifle
or
"I must do
so; I can't
without discussion."^
But what
was most astounding about Mr. Gladstone's
speaking powers was
that,
by
of
drawing partly on
knowledge,
his endless stock

his
and partly on
vivid
imagination, he could
make
a most in-
genious speech on any subject, no matter
how suddenly the subject was sprung upon him, or how slightly it had been
studied
I
by him.
it
have sometimes heard

1
questioned
p.
See Bagehot's "Biographical Studies,"
loi.
II
MR. GLADSTONE
whether he was uniformly
his
fair in stating
opponent's
is
arguments.
difficult
Nothing
probably
in one's
more
than to restate
own language
the exact gist of
the argument of another; and anxious
may have been to production, he may not

as
he
give a faithful
re-
always have sucthis

difficulty.
ceeded in surmounting
But, however that
may
be, there can be
no doubt
that his participation in a par-
liamentary debate seemed to raise the
whole tone of
ran
it;
and the feeling that
through the House when he was
speaking was that he was the sole surviving

representative
of a school of
oratory which had died out and was not

likely to revive
that, in short,
he was
the last link that connected the oratorical
present with the oratorical past.

It
must be remembered that
his great
predecessors in the art of oratory, like

12
AS

Pitt,
Lord Chatham,
had mainly
Fox, and Canning,
to adapt their style of speak-
ing to a parliamentary audience.

living in an age
to speak
But,
when
a public
man
has
on the platform
as often as in
the Senate, Mr. Gladstone had to suit
himself to two very different audiences
and he was
as
as
much
at his ease
with one
with the other.
What
gave so much
force to his speaking
was the conviction
which he brought
to his listeners that
he believed every word that he uttered.
There was no speaking " with

in his cheek."
his
tongue
He
spoke straight from

that, if his audi-
the heart.
He
felt,
was sure
ence
knew what he knew,

he
they would
feel as
and believe
still
as
he believed.^
Equally
if
not
more
telling
was the
ardor which he threw into his subject,
and the earnestness with which he pleaded

*
See Bagehot's " Biographical Studies,"
p.
98.
13

MR. GLADSTONE
his cause.
The
was
effect
was to kindle ex-
traordinary enthusiasm
among
those to
to
whom
thrill
he
addressing
himself,
them with emotion, and

and even
to hold
them spellbound.
greater
baters
;
There may have been

greater
de-
orators,
but
it
is
probably not too
much
in a
to say that
no man ever combined
greater degree than did
Mr. Gladstone
the art of the orator

debater.
with that of the
Moreover, the high standard

rare
which, with
exception, he
main-
tained in his speeches, was one of the
most remarkable of
1
his oratorical feats;
Mr. Gladstone's own definition of oratory is curious and "The work of the orator, from its very incepcharacteristic. It is tion," he says, " is inextricably mixed up with practice.
cast in the
It
is
mould
offered to
him by
the
mind of
his hearers.
an influence principally received from his audience (so
to
speak) in vapor, which he pours back upon
them
in a flood.
his
The sympathy and concurrence of his time is (V), with own mind, joint parent of his work. He cannot follow
frame
ideals
it
:
nor
his choice
is
to be
what
his age will
have him,
what
requires in order to be
moved by him,
or else not to be
at all."
Homery
vol.
iii.
p.
107.
14
AS
for
it

can be stated without fear of conthat
tradiction
no one ever spoke so
often or so
much.
He
and
to
lived in an age
when
speech-re-
porting was carried to a high perfection,

a degree of accuracy of which
in the last
no one
century would have
dreamed.
orators of a
He
did not, therefore, like

lie
hundred years ago,
under
the disadvantage of having his speeches
mutilated, the sense of
them misrepreBut,
sented, or his sentences distorted.
no matter how well

reported, he
his
speeches were
was
essentially
one of those
speakers
who
seen,
required to be heard, and

in
indeed
order
to
be properly
appreciated.
II
HIS COURAGE
PHYSICAL,
MORAL
like
is
POLITICAL,
AND
a country INgovernment
England, where
carried
on so much
by speaking,
is
the
power of ready speech

essential
undoubtedly the most
of
all
qualities for a politician.
But
to
howbe
ever great a degree that power
may
admitted to belong to Mr. Gladstone,

it
would not by
itself
have given him
the
commanding
influence
which he ex-
ercised over his fellow-countrymen.
He
had many other high and lovable qualities

;
and probably no one of them more

i6
HIS
COURAGE
conduced
to
make him what he was
than his indomitable courage
a quality
any other
words
:
which perhaps appeals
to the imagina-
tion with greater force than
high quality.
As Cominius,
"
in the
of Shakespeare, says of Coriolanus

It is
held
That valor
is
the chiefest virtue, and

;
Most dignifies the haver if it be. The man that I speak of cannot in Be singly counterpois'd." i
the world
Notwithstanding that he was nervous by

nature,
Mr. Gladstone never showed any
sign of personal fear.
When
the dyna-
mite scare was at
its
height, the question
of danger to himself never seemed to
occupy
his
mind.
In those days
that
it
was
be
deemed necessary
was experienced
he
should
"followed"; but the greatest

in
difficulty
inducing him to con-
form to the measures which the precau1
See Coriolanus^ Act
ii.,
Scene
2.
17
MR. GLADSTONE
tion of the police dictated.
Indeed,
it
needed special
those
alertness
on the part of
to attend
who were commissioned
him
to prevent his escaping

;
from being
" shadowed "
and he would constantly
appeal to be relieved of (what he called)

the " dragon system."
sion
The only
occa-
on which
itself
his
natural nervousness
that only during the
his life
showed
last
and
two decades of
was when
her
he was crossing a crowded thoroughfare.
He
then behaved like the proverbially
timid nursery-maid,
transit
street,
who commences
short,
with a run half-way across the
suddenly stops
hasty
and beats
an
equally
retreat.
Owing
to
such nervous vacillation, partly attributable to the vast

traffic in his
development of
street
old age, he
would have met

during
not been
with
his
more frequent accidents

it
walks in London, had

i8
HIS
that
COURAGE
cabmen and omnibus-drivers, quick

would
pull
to recognize him,
up
to let
him
on
pass by; and to this consideration
their part he constantly alluded with
gratitude.
His
political
pluck never
it
failed him.
He
tail;
did not
know what
as
was
to turn
and though the boldest often beage advances, yet with

intre-
come timid
him, the older he grew, the greater

pidity did he display.
difficulties in
The
greater the
which he found himself

greater
involved,
the
was the courahe would

rise.
geous height to which
The
were
tighter the
corner into which
he
might be driven, the more redoubtable

the
fighting
powers
which
certain
he
it
would
display.
The more
was that he was playing a losing game,

the
I
more coolly would he keep

to be with
19
his head.
happened once
him when
MR. GLADSTONE
he
knew that a ministerial defeat in the House of Commons was more than
probable.
He
was
discussing
what
course should be pursued in that event
whether
mend
the
he should resign or recomto dissolve Parliament.
Queen
Resignation seemed to
commend
grounds.
itself
most on purely
tactical
But
" It
he preferred boldness to prudence.

will
not do," he
It
said,
" to
show the
white feather."
was
this constant ex-
hibition of pluck that tended so

to
much
to
make
his
name
word with which
conjure.
It inspired his
brother officers
with confidence, and infused enthusiasm
among
the rank and

his
file.
Great though
higher quality
victions.
political
courage
still
was, he possessed a courage of a
the courage of his conright
With him
was might.
If he had once convinced himself of the
HIS
rectitude
COURAGE
of
a particular
and
justice
course, his intrepidity
knew no bounds.
make
great sacri-
He
became
recklessly regardless of con-
sequences, and would
fices in order to secure the object
which,
for the
moment, he had
striking
at heart.
No
more
instance
of this coura-
geous strength of mind can be found

than in his attitude toward
for Ireland.
It
Home
Rule
has often been alleged that
he took up that cause in order to secure

for himself a majority in Parliament,
and
that he sacrificed principle to the love of
power.
The
allegation has, I
am
con-
vinced, no foundation.
He
became a
convert to
Home
Rule because he had
persuaded himself
whether
rightly or
wrongly
is
not to the point here
that
Ireland could not be permanently gov-
erned
on
constitutional
lines
except
through her authorized representatives,

21
MR. GLADSTONE
and unless a sense of
responsibility
was
well
brought home to them.
He knew
enough
that in proposing such a measure
so suddenly he ran the greatest risk of

forfeiting the confidence
friends, as well as
of his personal
of effecting a disrup-
tion
among
his colleagues
and followers.
Nevertheless, he was prepared to incur

that risk,
and the
risk
for
of banishing his
years
to
party from power
come,
sooner than be deterred from doing that
which
his conscience
and belief dictated
to him.
"I have," he once said to me,

in
I
"
made mistakes enough
my
political
career,
assert
God
knows.
But
can honestly
that I
have never said or done

in
anything in politics
sincerely believe."
which
it
did not
So
was with
Home
Rule.
It
was not a question of sacrificit
ing principle to power:
was a ques-
tion of sacrificing personal convenience,

22
HIS
COURAGE
personal popularity, and personal friendship to principle
to
what he had per" There

is,"
suaded himself to be
to use his
right.
own
words, "
no greater honor
to a
man
than to suffer for the sake of

to be righteous."
what he thinks
further,
Nay,
having once brought
his resolu-
tion into
harmony with
his conscience,
he never paused to consider

action
stood,
likely
how
far his
would be
whether
to
suffer,
liable to
be misunder-
his
good repute was

it
whether
would
in-
volve the boycott of society or the ban
of the Church.
his
When
he had once put
hand
to the plough, he never looked
back.
This resolute determination proceeded

in great part
from implicit confidence

those
in
himself
Even
who
possess in a
high degree the invaluable faculty of

decision are not unfrequently liable to
23
MR. GLADSTONE
subsequent
qualms
of doubt.
With
after-
Mr. Gladstone there was never any

thought.
his
When
after
he had once made up
mind
due deliberation, he was

it
convinced that he had made

right way.
up
in the
This strength of conviction,

to a sense of infalliit
amounting almost
bility, carried
with
conviction in others,
and constituted one of the principal

reasons
why he had
so great a hold over
his fellow-creatures.
24
Ill
MR.
GLADSTONE AS PARTY LEADER, PARLIAMENTARY LEADER, AND

POLITICAL
COLLEAGUE
CURIOUSLY
carried to
into that
enough,
it
was the
splendid quality of courage

excess daring was
that
is,
when
more
when turned
the cause,
than any other, of bringing about the

downfall of his party.
Adept though he
of
ice,
was
at skating over the thinnest
he nevertheless at times immersed himself
and
his
followers in
deep water,
because he declined to remain on the

ice
which bore
well,
25
or
to
heed the
MR. GLADSTONE
finger-post of danger.
that,
It
has been said
had he been content to pursue a
course fashioned on the lines of Lord
Palmerston's policy, he might have held
undisputed possession of the proudest

of
Prime Minister
all
positions
that of the Queen's
for
an unbroken period
of twenty years.
to be
But he was not a man
content with a line of conduct

for
which made things easy
himself
in
There was another respect
which
as a
party leader he at times rather failed.
He
was apt to disregard or to
set too little
value upon small amenities toward his

followers.
He
was not inhospitably

contrary,
in-
clined
on
the
he
enjoyed
in-
dispensing hospitality; and

vited
when he
members of
to his
the
House of ComBut
the
mons
house, he received them
with cordiality and courtesy.
trouble and irksomeness inseparable from

26
"
AS POLITICAL
entertaining told
older,
LEADER
as he
upon him
grew
and he fought more and more shy
of showing civility to his supporters,

preferring
to
come home
to
small
family dinner on
parliamentary nights,
while on other nights he would rather

dine at the houses of friends in order to
secure a
more complete change of scene

Similarly, he
and thought.
of his
would
rarely
own
accord notice in the lobbies
of the House of
his party.
It
Commons members
of
was not only that he was

" hail-fellow-well-met
not
by
nature
with everybody, but a want of quick

physical perception, due to visual defect,
was a
failing of
which he was himself
fully. conscious,
and of which he often

used to say that he
complained.
He
fear
hesitated about going
up
to
speak to
mistakes
people,
for
of making
about their identity.

27
This hesitation
MR. GLADSTONE
produced on others an impression of
hauteur on his
part.
Many
a vote has
been maintained or won by a casual
word of
civility
or a
nod of
friendly
recognition; and these were "tricks of

the trade" in which, as in the art of
finessing,
he was no proficient.
it
But, notwithstanding these defects,

is
probable that no public

in
man
of Eng-
land
to
the
present
century has held
so high a
degree undisputed sway
over his followers as did Mr. Gladstone.
Those members of
most given to " run
to heel"
his party
riot "
who were would " come

to call
when he chose
them
so magnetic and irresistible was the
effect
of his
call.
He
was always
reluc-
tant to hold a meeting of his party, re-
garding
as
it
as a perilous experiment,
and
one to which resort should not be had
except on rare occasions.

28
But
it
was
AS POLITICAL LEADER
only necessary to attend such a meeting,
presided over
by
himself, in order to be
convinced of the wonderful power which
he had of rallying
tents.
falterers
and malcon-
As soon
expound
and
as
he had raised his
voice to
his intentions, explain
his tactics,
call for support, the lag-
gards and
line.
stragglers
at
once
it
fell
into
Indeed, whenever
pleased
in
him
some
to give a
specially
word of command
emphatic manner, the ranks
were immediately closed.

at
For a while,
any
rate,
murmurs and grumbles were

It is true that his
no longer heard.
fell
party
to pieces
more than once
in his hands;
but every leader, however adroit he

be, has to his control
may
reckon with causes beyond
the
automatic wasting of
majorities, the natural
swing of the penof public
dulum, the sudden
transitions
opinion, which, if not peculiar to the

29
MR. GLADSTONE
present
popular franchise, are perhaps

in
more frequent and more marked
our
own
it
times than formerly.
Accordingly,
would not be
all
fair to attribute to defects
of leadership
the
the several defeats which
Liberal party sustained
while Mr.
it.
Gladstone was at the head of
At
the
same time, the shattering of

in
that party
consequence of his
of
espousing
the
cause
it
Home
may
blot
Rule, and
springing
or
upon
his followers with
little
no
set
warning,
not improbably be
down by the
no small
leader.
historians of the future as
on
his character as a party
But, however that
may
be,
his
su-
premacy
as a
parliamentary leader can
hardly be questioned by his most out-
spoken
quote
greatest
critics.
Indeed,
he was
to
Mr.
Balfour's
words
"the
de-
member of
30
the
greatest
AS POLITICAL LEADER
liberatiye
assembly which, so
^
far,
the
world has seen."

of
It
was
in the
House
Commons where
he showed himself
It
to the highest advantage.
was there
that his powers of readiness, adroitness,
and patience were most conspicuously

displayed.
case with
ter
it
;
The worse
skilfully
the parliamentary
to deal, the bet-
which he had
and more
would he defend
while the stronger the position of his
opponents, the greater was the mastery
which he displayed
tack.
in parliamentary at-
And
yet,
standing though he did

all
head and shoulders above

bers of the
other
memthere
House of Commons,
was no display of conscious superiority
on
his
part.
He
first
possessed in an un-
usual
degree what he
himself consid-
ered to be the
quality of a leader in
a deliberative assembly
1
" quick
121.
per-
See Hansard, 4th
series, vol. Iviii. p.
31
MR. GLADSTONE
ception "
:
the ability to " feel the pulse

"
of the House
promptly and accurately,

temper.
and to read
last
its
Even
in
the
years of his parliamentary

his
career,
when
physical powers were some-
what impaired, the "old parliamentary
hand " never
lost its
cunning.
No man
ever strove more manfully to sustain the
honor and dignity of the House of Com-
mons, of which he was so jealous.
His
love for that House, in which he seemed

to
breathe
his
native
air,
was only
equalled by his belief in parliamentary
government.
He
generally declined to
real
admit that there was any

in the
decadence
composition of the representative

In his view, what
it it
assembly.
in
had
lost
some
respects
had gained
in others.
Concerned though he was
at the devel-
opment of obstruction during

years of his
life,
the later
it
he
knew
that
was no
32
AS POLITICAL
LEADER
new growth.
reared
that
it
It
was a weed that had
its
head before, and he believed

die
would
down
again.
His parliamentary
displayed more
the skill which he
talent
was never
conspicuously than in
showed
in
piloting
through committee a complicated measure.
He
was the greatest of
parlia-
mentary engineers.
What
stood
him
in
such good stead was not only a

ning-like quickness in perceiving
light-
what
amendments might with propriety be

accepted, and what
amendments must
every
be rejected, but his complete mastery of the subject under discussion

detail.
in
He knew
else
bills
his lesson better than

it.
any one
knew
This intimate
knowledge of
self
which he was him-
conducting was due to his having

so
carefully
studied
the
framing
of
them.
parliamentary counsel of great

33
MR. GLADSTONE
experience once told
me
that
Mr. Glad-
stone was the one minister, to his

ledge,
rate
knowat
who
not only could, or
any
of
did,
furnish
the general lines
the measure, but
who would put

parliamentary
actual
provisions
ology.
into
phrase-
Both
in
and out of Parliament Mr.
Gladstone showed great kindness toward

his political colleagues.
If one of
them
happened
bill,
to get into difficulties about a
a helping
hand would be immedito
ately extended
him.
If,
owing
to
some
administrative
blunder,
another
had become the subject of attack or

ridicule,
he would be able to count con-
fidently
on being wisely advised and,
in-
deed, ably defended.
third
might be
confronted with specially anxious times
and he would be sure to receive from

his political chief words
of sympathy and
34
AS POLITICAL
LEADER
encouragement, spoken or written in the
most
tactful
manner.
It has,
however, often been assumed
that,
kindly though his disposition was,
Mr. Gladstone was masterful and domineering
that
he dictated to his
col-
leagues in the Cabinet, and declined to

listen to
what they had to

is
say.
This
assumption
ill-founded.
at
They may
have had reason

that he
times to complain
showed them a want of consider-
ation
by "springing a mine" upon them,

into his confidence
far
or
by not taking them
early
enough; but so
over
from riding
rough-shod
them, he
was
emi-
nently deferential, in the sense
of being
always ready to
scruples
listen to the
doubts and
with
of those
who
disagreed
him, and to appreciate their

It
is
difficulties.
true
that,
presumably impressed
with his immeasurable superiority, his

35
MR. GLADSTONE
colleagues were apt to be timid in his
presence,
tive
and to
lose their
argumentato
at
powers with him.
They seemed
have feelings akin to those of boys

school
who
find themselves confronted

I
with the head-master.
have known
more than one colleague
enter his
room
with a fixed determination of resigning.
The
interview would take place, and
it
would probably be lengthy.

the colleague,
In the end,
not,
more often than
would
leave the
room a
wiser and a sadder
wiser because in the interview man so much fresh light had been shed and so many fresh arguments had been ad-
duced, sadder because he had been deterred from executing his threat,
and had
thus been placed in a position which no
one
the
likes,
involving as
it
did not only
abandonment of
a fixed resolve, but
likewise a confession of being worsted

36

AS POLITICAL LEADER
in
discussion.
The
fact
was,
Mr.
Gladstone's power of persuasive reasoning, taken in conjunction with his
sym-
pathizing demeanor, his lengthened experience,
and
his
weight of authority,
for the waverer.
proved too much

Gladstone
Mr.
had
probably
made some
recognizing
is
small concession which had removed in

part
the
difficulties;
for,
that " the art of a politician
" (as
Mr.
Lecky puts
of skilful
it)
" in a great measure that
compromise,"
he was
ever
ready with the offer of a golden bridge,

or via. media^ in order to reconcile effectually differences of opinion
in other
(and
his
own) words, " to carry on
the
business of the government as a going
concern."
While, however, so willing

too willing
to defer
indeed, perhaps
to others, yet there were limits
beyond
which he would not

37
yield,
preferring
MR. GLADSTONE
bankruptcy
to
discreditable
solvency.
On
these
occasions he would disregard
everybody and everything;
and when
he had once got the bit in his teeth, his
head was not to be turned.
He would
formidable
dash straight onward, regardless of the

obstacles
ahead,
however
in
they were.
When
such a mood,
sooner than swerve to the right or to the

left,
he would ride for a
fall.
38
IV
HOW HE WAS
ABUSED,
AND
HOW
HE
BORE ABUSE
SOnoble
stone's
fresh in our recollection are
the
and magnanimous speeches
delivered on the
morrow of Mr. Gladthe

leaders
death
by
of both
Houses of Parliament, opposed though

they had been to him throughout their
political lives,
and so impressive was the
ceremony within Westminster Abbey,

which was attended by
as
foes as political friends,^

1
many political that we are apt

notified their inten-
Of
the
members of Parliament who
tion to
Liberals,
attend the funeral, there were 241
Unionists,
166
and 50 Irish Nationalists.
39
MR. GLADSTONE
to forget that
few public men,
if
any,
were ever the object of such virulent

abuse,
such bitter invective, and such
rooted distrust as was Mr. Gladstone in
numerous
circles
up
to the very
field
day of
his retirement
from the
of politics,
It
four years before his death.
was not
as-
merely that his policy was violently

sailed,
and
his actions severely criticised,
but every kind of wrong intent and

ulterior
motive was attributed to him.
Even
and
his private character
was aspersed
It
his
private
acts
misconstrued.
would serve no
useful purpose to recall
any of the opprobrious epithets which

were prefixed and affixed to
or
his
name,
of the insinuations which were so
constantly levelled at his head.

is
But
it
difficult to overrate the
intensity of
hatred which the mere mention of the
word
" Gladstone "

40
excited
in
many
HOW HE
quarters,
BORE ABUSE
in
not
only
England,
but
es-
even
in distant parts
of the empire,
pecially during the last ten years of his
public
life;
or to exaggerate the feeling
of repugnance entertained, not only by

those
who encountered him

strife,
in
parlia-
mentary
but also by those whose

social.
connection with him was purely
By way
friend of
of
illustration,
two instances
be
cited.
which occur
to
me may
A
Mr.
mine was travelling
in India a
few years ago.
He
desired to send
Gladstone a telegraphic greeting on the

anniversary of his birthday.
cer in
The
offi-
command
declined
bless you,"
of the military wire by

trans-
which the telegram had to be

mitted
"
to
send the message,
God
on the ground that he

In-
could not be party to such words.

deed, the only message
for
which he
would make himself responsible was one

41
MR. GLADSTONE
substituting an imprecation for a blessing.
On
another occasion, a lady

for
had known Mr. Gladstone

ing next to
in the
who many
years found herself, one Sunday, kneel-
him
at the
communion-rail
she
Chapel Royal.
The moment
discovered his close proximity, she rose
and
left
the steps of the altar without
taking the sacrament.

Incidents
like
these
to
typical
ones
were
fully
unknown
him,
but
he was
aware that his conduct was conbeing impugned, and that the
of things
flinch
stantly
hardest
were
said
of him.
Nor
did he
from knowing the
worst.
Indeed, he would himself give
orders for the
purchase of a specially
offensive caricature, or a peculiarly ven-
omous magazine
seen or heard
It
is,
article, to
which he had
some
allusion.
moreover, a mistake to suppose

42
HOW HE
BORE ABUSE
that he did not read the public press,
and that everything written by way of disparagement was concealed from him.
With
his
many
absorbing occupations,
he did not spend or waste much time

he look at them for the purpose of seeing
less
over newspapers.
Much
did
what was said of himself

he done
so,
Indeed, had
little
he would have had

else.
time for anything
But
until
his
eyesight failed him, he looked at the
organs of the press with great regularity

;
and
it is
interesting to inquire
how
he
received
the
many
attacks
made
upon him.
In the
first
place, he
was not
sensitive.
In these days,
when not only
the searchis
light of the press
and platform
turned
on
to public
men
with such force, but
when
by
their interior lives are laid so bare
the
Rontgen
rays of free criticism,
it
43
MR. GLADSTONE
is
most necessary that they should
steel
themselves against exposure to attack.
Mr. Gladstone held

fered
that nothing inter-
more
seriously with the usefulness
of a
Partly
politician
than oversensitiveness.
by
force of character
and partly
reverse
by inurement, he was himself the

of being
thin-skinned.
He
might
seldom
castigabe.
It
winced under written or spoken

tion,
however scathing
it
was not that he was insensible to what

was said about him; but he recognized
that,
living
as
he did under the
full
glare of public opinion, he could not
escape being
made
the object of opprothat,
brium; and he knew
while blame
in
was
freely
meted out
to
him
many
quarters, yet in others he had, in equally
unstinted measure, a large share of praise
and encouragement
accorded
to
him.
He
used to say
that,
on the whole, he
44
HOW HE
BORE ABUSE
thought that he had no cause to complain

of the manner in which he had been
handled.
He
had, no doubt, on the one
hand, been abused in unmeasured terms
on
the other hand, he feh that he

far
I
had
been appreciated and lauded

his
deserts.
beyond
consider
"
On
balance,
that
the
plaudits
have exceeded, and

the hisses within
indeed drowned,
hearing."
that public
my
Indeed,
he
firmly
believed
men, with
rare exceptions,
got their due in England.

ple,
The peotrusted
he would
say,
might be
to
do
justice to their leaders
and recog-
nize their motives.
In the second place, the natural bent
own mind was inclined to generosity toward those who attacked him not only those who had been his lifelong
of his
opponents, but also those who, having
once stood by him, had subsequently

45
MR. GLADSTONE
parted
company with him.
This gen-
erous disposition was mainly due to his

readiness " to give everybody credit for
presumptive integrity and purity of motive "
credit
which,
at
any
rate,
re-
during his fighting days, was rarely

ciprocated.
He
judged others
but
seldom,
as
he
would
be
judged,
until
quite recently, was judged

a word, he
by them.
In
always behaved as a great
gentleman.
He
would not allow harsh
things to be said in his presence about

his pohtical
opponents of long or short
standing.
forget,
He may
have been slow to
but he generally forgave.
He
late
rarely
complained of the attacks made

the public press.
"
upon him by
years,
Of
the
"
Times
newspaper
persisattrib-
tently not only assailed
him but
uted to him sinister motives.

said to me,
He
once
when
that great organ
had
46
HOW HE
delivered
lent
BORE ABUSE
vio-
some more than usually

against him,
'
diatribe
"
bear no
malice against the
Times.'
it
It
is
has be-
come
for
it
a party organ, so
to act as such."
legitimate
But though he
for-
seldom spoke depreciatingly about
mer colleagues and

often
refer,
supporters, he
would
sar-
with a slight touch of
casm, to the " greater activity and enthusiasm
assumed
in
their
new
role
by
politicians
who had changed

party."
their views
and had
with
left their
In connection
this rather favorite
theme of
his,
he
was wont to
say,
"
Nowhere does one

as in
meet with such strange bed-fellows

politics."
When
people had exhausted
their
powers of abusing Mr. Gladstone, they

occasionally were unscrupulous
to attribute
enough
mania to him, and
in confir-
mation of their assertions they were wont

47
MR. GLADSTONE
to ascribe to to insanity.
him
freaks
which were akin
Such
;
assertions are almost
beneath contempt
ness of one
but the groundlesscited,
may
be
by way of ex-
ample.
It
was commonly alleged that
he would walk into a hatter's shop and

order several dozen hats for himself
It
may
seller
be
difficult to trace the
proverbial
connection
between madness
;
and the
of hats
but, in this case, the conarti-
duct of the purchaser of that useful

cle
is
capable of easy explanation.
The
;
story
came round
to his
own
ears
and
it,
he was not only highly amused by
but thought
it
a most pardonable mis-
take to have been

tors,
made by
his detracfact.
because
years
it
was founded on
Some
ago
he was walking
at
Brighton with Mrs. Gladstone, and noticed in a
shop-window some straw hats

low
price.
marked
at a singularly
He
48
"
HOW HE
self
BORE ABUSE
suggested that his wife should avail her-
of the opportunity offered, and pur-
chase some of the hats for the inmates
of her
orphanage.
Thereupon,
they
entered the shop together, and ordered

for
despatch to
Hawarden two dozen

articles
and a half of these
of apparel,
which were to be obtained

able an outlay.
at so reason-
Being himself generous and kind, he

greatly appreciated generosity and kindness in others.
To
kindly acts he was
most
susceptible.
When
any marked
attention or thoughtfulness
was shown
facilities
toward him, when any special
were accorded to him,
as,
for instance,
by railway companies,
usually
in
his
or
when any un-
warm
favor,
demonstration was
his
made
to
I
constant
was,
remark
have
those about
him
"What
done to deserve
all
this
kindness ^
49
WHY HE
LAID
OPEN MISUNDERSTOOD
HIMSELF
TO
BE
THE
among
in
provocation which Mr. Gladnot
stone
unfrequently
excited
his political
opponents
may
be
part ascribed to his

rate,
inability or, at
any
reluctance to admit that he had

his
been in the wrong, or had changed

opinions.
Admissions of fallibility might
often have stood

so
him
in
good stead; and
might admissions that what he once

right,
thought
wrong.
he at another time thought

it
But
seems to be a traditional
point of honor with public

50
men
to for-
WHY HE WAS MISUNDERSTOOD

swear
such
admissions,
though
the
they
would
sense
readily appeal to
common
of Englishmen; and Mr. Glad-
stone was no exception to the rule.
He
was always taking pains

it
to prove that
was a growth, not a change of opin;
ion
that he
had foreshadowed
this policy
or indicated that measure.
He
attached
too
much
importance
to
establishing
consistency.
He would
"that
not admit, like

talks of
Mr.
Pitt, that
man who
his consistency
merely because he holds
the same opinion for ten or fifteen years,
when
the circumstances under which
it
was originally formed

is
are totally changed,

^
a slave to the most idle vanity."
The
frequent attempts on the part of

to explain
Mr. Gladstone
away appaand
to
rently inconsistent
statements,
reconcile
1
new
beliefs
with old ones, ren^

iii.
See Lord Stanhope's " Life of Pitt," vol.
p.
328.
51
MR. GLADSTONE
dered him liable to be misunderstood.
But he had other
characteristics
which
had the same tendency.
Among them
facts
may be numbered
impulse.
certain contrarieties of
Recognition of
was un-
doubtedly one of the greatest motive
powers with him.

stincts
"
The immediate
in-
and sense of the people

his
" were, in
his
view and in
erally right."
own words, "genNo man was, as a rule,

affairs
given to approach the consideration of

political
problems or
of
state
from
a more practical point of view than was
Mr. Gladstone.
Indeed, he was apt to
take such an accurate measure of " the
range of practical politics
" that
he laid
himself open to the charge of being an

opportunist, in the sense of going with
the times or floating with the tide.
He
up a
would,
cause
it
was
it
said,
never
ripe."
take
till
was "
And
yet at
52

times he showed himself to be conspicuously the reverse of an opportunist.
For
or in
he was almost as often behind
advance of the times

of them.
as he
was abreast
disre-
He
would constantly
gard expediency when he was minded

to
make an
effort
on behalf of ends
which he deemed to be righteous, and

of truths which he thought to be
vital.
The unusual
standing.
ions
receptiveness of his
mind
constituted another source of misunder-
Because he changed
tactics,
his opin-
and
he was wont to be
with having no
settled
charged by his
fixed
principles
critics
and no
policy
article,
in view.
Indeed, an ably written

in
which recently appeared
one of the
monthly magazines,^
to prove that
is
mainly devoted
Mr. Gladstone was wanting
in " long-sighted persistency of purpose,"

1
See " Blackwood's Magazine," No. dcccxciii.
53
MR. GLADSTONE
on which he himself had avowedly
high
I
set
store.^
By
" persistency of purpose "
understand to be meant a fixed resolve
to exhaust every expedient in order to

attain a particular
end
and surely even
those
to
who may
consider his
judgment
have been most mistaken can hardly
decline to credit
him with indomitable
resolution when, regardless of the conse-
quences to himself and his party, he

could be found to devote more than
sixty years
to
what
in his
conception
would promote the

of
better
government
thirty
his fellow-creatures,
and nearly
years to the single purpose of

Ireland, as he fondly hoped,
derly,
making
or-
more
more prosperous, more contented

lot ?
with her
The
writer of the article
presumably confuses means with ends.

1
See Hansard, 3d
series, vol.
cclxi.
p.
43, speech on Lord
Beaconsfield,
May
9, 1881.
54

For
rate
it is
as inappropriate to say, at
any
as
regards the Irish question, that

in
Mr. Gladstone was lacking
"persis-
tency of purpose " as to attribute that

deficiency to the physician who, bent on
doing his utmost to restore his patient to

health, tries
first
one prescription and

belief as well
as
then another in the
hope that he
right remedy.
will eventually find
the
Again, though few people could more

plainly "call
liked, yet
a spade a spade," if he
Mr. Gladstone seemed somere-
times to delight in mystification by

fining
and drawing subtle
distinctions.
He
could distinguish between two prop-
ositions
which the
plain
man would
regard as identical.
"split hairs"
This proneness to
and balance words was due

both sides
in part to his seeing distinctly
of a question, to his quickness to seize

55
MR. GLADSTONE
upon
of
his
the smallest point telling in favor
own argument, and

in
to the pride
which he took
it
guarding himself But

to give people cause
was calculated
for ascribing to
him dishonesty of
inten-
tion
and want of straightforwardness,

really altogether alien to the
which were
intrinsic simplicity
and guilelessness of
his nature.
To whatever extent Mr. may have laid himself open

respect.
Gladstone
to be mis-
understood, he was not peculiar in this
Most men occupying
positions
similar to that
which he occupied have

fate.
shared a similar
He
himself went
so far as to say that unintelligibility was a characteristic

political
common
sat
to all
mark.
Indeed, of all
men of the many
colleagues
who had
with him in the
Cabinet, he was wont to declare that he
himself never really understood but one,

56

and that was Lord Aberdeen.
In this
connection he was fond of repeating a

saying
attributed
It
to
Pope Pius
once
that
the
Ninth.
happened
Mr.
Gladstone and three of his colleagues
Lord Clarendon, Mr. Cardwell, and
foregathered
bly
all
at
Rome, and presumahis
had audiences of
his
Holiness.
Being asked
said, "
opinion of these four
distinguished British statesmen, the pope
Lord Clarendon
both liked and

I liked, I
understood; Mr. Gladstone

did not understand
;
but
un-
Mr. Cardwell
;
derstood, but did not like

ther understood nor liked."
I nei-
57
VI
HIS NATURAL CONSERVATISM AS ILLUS-
TRATED BY HIS REVERENCE FOR
THE THRONE AND DEVOTION

TO
THE
SOVEREIGN
was Mr. Gladstone, IN no respectmisunderstood than inperhaps, more the

innate bent of his mind.
In the eyes of
some people he was a conspirator against

the Constitution,
determined to under" the unscrupulous and
mine
its
pillars
destructive
demagogue," the advocate of
disruption, especially in connection with

his
Irish
policy.
This belief had
in
reality
no foundation.
58
What was
said
HIS
NATURAL CONSERVATISM
many
days
years ago was not
it
of him
more
his
true then than

political
:
was
at the
is
end of
" Gladstone
not radical
instituspirit,
in the sense
tions.
It is
is
of desiring to subvert
a singularly conserving
but he
far-seeing
enough
to see that
democracy was
of
fruitlessly
inevitable;
and instead
endeavoring to stem that

it
tide,
he saw he must go with

its
in order
is,
to moderate
force."
The
fact
Mr.
Gladstone's
mind was
essentially con-
structive, not destructive
conservative,
not radical.
He
had
in
time what Mr.
John Morley
attributes to
Burke
"a
reasoned and philosophic veneration for

all
old and settled order." ^
He
was an
absolute slave to precedent and tradition,

to recognized forms
and established pro-
cedure.
He
had no disposition toward,

for,
much
1
less
love
change
for the sake

p.
See Mr. John Morley's
" Burke,"
191.
S9
MR. GLADSTONE
of change, and he would only recom-
mend change when he had convinced

himself that
it
was calculated to
assist in
maintaining the institutions of the country.
Those
institutions
he regarded not
only with respect, but with affection and

pride.
He
looked upon them
much
as
the
owner of a
fine ancestral hall
looks
upon
his possession.
In the interests of
conserving the
fabric,
Mr. Gladstone
recognized the necessity for so repairing

it
as to
meet the inroads of
age,
and
for
introducing such modern conveniences

as
would adapt
it
to
changed circumit
stances; but to
touch
where in
his
judgment
it,
it
was not necessary to touch
was
sacrilege.
He
tolerated
and
in-
deed often advocated change, because he

regarded
it
as a lesser evil than persis-
tence in a course which was
known
to be
wrong; but there was no "radicalism,"

60
HIS
in the ordinary acceptation of the term,

in his nature.
He
was a great moderforce.
ating
and controlling
listen to
Extreme
was the
if
people would
him when they
would hear no one

tendency to add
order
else.
He
ballast in the political ship.
Indeed,
his
stability to the
new
con-
democratic
of
things
had been
if his
more
fully appreciated,
and
servatism and
"constitutionalism" had
it
been more widely comprehended,

quite possible that he
is
would have been
regarded with
less
suspicion
all
by
those
who
with
desired
to
avert
change, and
less trustfulness
by those who had
very advanced views.

Closely connected with the conservative instincts with
which he was imbued

for
It
was
his
marked reverence
to
and
at-
tachment
the
Throne.
may
be
doubted whether any of the Queen's

6i
MR. GLADSTONE
prime ministers more greatly admired,
or did
more
in
to
support, constitutional
monarchy
to
England
used
in
the
refer
monarchy
as
which
he
to
"the
most
illustrious
the
world."
The
power
substitution of influence for direct
had, he was convinced, not only not impaired, but in fact increased, the dignity
and authority of the Sovereign.

first
In the
place,
the social influence

it
of the
Sovereign, even if
stood alone, was (to
quote Mr. Gladstone's
enormous
attribute."
own words) " an " The English

Their natural
people," he has remarked, "are not believers
in
equality.
tendency, from the very base of British

society,
and through
is
all its
strongly built
.
gradations,
to
is
is,
look
upwards.
The Sovereign
the
the highest height of

in
system
that
system,
gods,
like
first
Jupiter
among
the
62
Roman
HIS
;
.
without a second
not, like
Mont
Blanc, with rivals in his neighborhood,

but, like Ararat or Etna, towering alone
and unapproachable.
The
(or
step
downto the
ward from the King
Queen)
is
second person in the realm

that
not like
it is
from the second to the third;
more even than a

a gulf
It is
stride, for it traverses
the
wisdom of
the British
Constitution to lodge the personality of

its
chief so high that none shall, under

vie,
^
any circumstances, be tempted to

no, nor
dream of
vieing, with
it.
"
But
stone's
the Sovereign was, in Mr. Glad-
view, not only a social

the actual
power.
Though
public
amount of
influence
in
which the Sovereign might exercise

affairs
would always depend on
the " character, capacity, and experience
of the occupant of the Throne," yet the

1
See
" Gleanings of Past Years,"
vol.
i.
pp. 234, 235.
63
MR. GLADSTONE
part sustained
respect
still
by the Monarch
in
this
was, and would, as he hoped,
continue to be,
"a
great matter."
The
com-
Sovereign
again) "
is
(to
quote
Mr.
all
Gladstone
entitled,
on
subjects
ing before the ministry, to knowledge
and
opportunities
of discussion,
un-
limited save
business.
by
the iron necessities of

decisions
Though
must
al-
ternately conform to the sense of those
who
the
are to be responsible for them, yet

is
their business
to inform
and persuade
him.
Sovereign,
it
not to
overrule
Were
limits
possible for
him, within the
of
human
time and strength, to

all
enter
tions,
so.
actively
into
public transac-
he would be fully entitled to do

is
What
actually submitted
fruitful
is
sup^
posed to be the fnost
and imIn
portant part, the cream of

the discussion of them, the
64
affairs.
Monarch has
HIS
his ad-
more than one advantage over

visers.
He
;
is
permanent,
they
are
fugitive
he speaks from the vantageof

a
station
ground
higher
;
unapproachably-
he takes a calm and leisurely
survey, while they are worried with the
preparatory
stages,
and
their
force
is
often impaired
less
by
the pressure of countbe, therefore,
detail.
He may
in
all
weighty factor
state.
deliberations of
blot, that
Every discovery of a
the studies of the Sovereign in the do-
main of business enable him
to
make,
strengthens his hands and enhances his

authority.
It is plain, then, that there is
abundant scope
at
for
mental activity to be
work under the gorgeous robes of

It
Royalty."^
was,
Mr.
Gladstone
thought, difficult to overrate the extent

to
1
which
the
Sovereign
of England
i,
See "Gleanings of Past Years," vol.
pp. 232, 233.
65
MR. GLADSTONE
contributed to "permanence and solidity
of action."
Accordingly, the
far
Crown
with him was
from being a mere

It
figurehead or symbol.
was a great
power, wisely concealed in part from

view,
to all
by reason of its enjoying

its
in regard
functions an absolute
immunity
inabil-
from consequences
ity'
an absolute
to be called to account.
He
had,
moreover, a great idea of
keeping up the dignity and splendor

of the Court.
sidered,
for,
The Court
was, he con-
bound
to be properly provided
in order that the Sovereign

his
might
maintain
position
" high
and
inestimable
in
the
eyes
of his subjects."
The
existing Civil List of her Majesty
and the allowances to members of her

family were, he believed, conceived in
a judiciously moderate
spirit,
"
when we
consider the nature of this country and

66
HIS
and enjoyment
last
the standard of wealth
which
prevails."^
Mr. Gladstone's
public utterances on this subject were
made
in the debate
preceding the confor establishing
sideration of the
motion
an annual grant of ;^36,ooo, during the

reign of the Queen, for the benefit of
the Prince of Wales' children.
In that
1889,
speech,
delivered
on
July 25,
which produced such an impression on

his hearers,
he reminded the
Commons
Crown
that they were " servants of the

as well as servants
of the people," and
wound up with
"
I
the
memorable words,
am
age
not ashamed to say that in

I
my
old
rejoice
in
any opportunity
which enables me
ever
to testify that, what-
may
be thought of
my
opinions,
whatever
1
may
be thought of
for providing
my
proto
Speech on the motion
an additional grant
See
the
Duke
of Albany on his
marriage.
Hansard, 3d
series, vol. cclxvii. p.
1673.
67
MR. GLADSTONE
posals in general politics,
I
do not forget
for so
the service which
have borne
many
years to the illustrious representa-
tive of the British monarchy."^-
The
great outburst of loyalty and en-
thusiasm in 1887, in connection with the

celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne, had
conclusively proved to
him
that
mon-
archy was perfectly compatible with de-
mocracy, great though were the strides
which democracy had made during the

last
half of the nineteenth century.
But
further than this, he specially rejoiced in
the demonstrations of 1887
for
he not
as the
unfrequently
felt
that
inasmuch
Queen's work was so
much withdrawn
from the view of the people, while they

were always being reminded of public
men, there was a tendency to "some

1
See Hansard, 3d
series, vol. cccxxxviii. pp.
1323, 1324.
68
HIS
and just
;
dislocation of the natural
bal-
ance of popular interest "
and
this ten-
dency the Jubilee was

counteract.
V
calculated
to
Not only
did he venerate monarchical
institutions
and believe them to be the
most perfect form of government, but he

also felt
profound devotion to the person
of the Sovereign.
He was
not a courtier.
Anything
like obsequiousness or flattery

his nature.
was foreign to
But, though
he would never deviate one yard from

the path which public duty had seem-
ingly
marked out
for
him
in order to
curry favor with the Crown, yet he was
scrupulously assiduous in his duties to-
ward
his
Sovereign.
No
amount of
deter
fatigue or pressure of
work would
him, when Prime Minister, from inditing with the greatest regularity a report of
the proceedings of every Cabinet meet69
MR. GLADSTONE
ing,
and of each
for
sitting
of the House of
Commons,
to
the
promptest dispatch
In
Windsor, Osborne, or Balmoral.

these
reports,
making
he was, in his
judgment, bound "not to counterwork

the Cabinet; not
to
divide
it;
not to
his
undermine the position of any of

colleagues in the royal favor."
^
Indeed,
any departure from
strict
adherence to
these rules was committing " an act of
treachery and baseness."

that
it
He considered
was
as unjustifiable to impair the
solidarity of the Cabinet in the eyes of
the Sovereign as in the eyes of the public.
He
held, too, in high regard,
and sought
to treat with the greatest deference, all
members of the Royal Family, who

in his opinion,
had,
to use his
own words
" a right to
command
the best from any
present or past public servant."

See "Gleanings of Past Years," vol.
i.
p.
243.
70
VII
OTHER
CONSERVATIVE TENDENCIES
SANGUINE TEMPERAMENT
HIS
THERE
which
were
his
many
other ways in
instincts
conservative
showed themselves.
In writing to
me
not long ago, he alluded to having the

choice of an old-fashioned and a new-
fashioned method of medical treatment;
and
" As.
in
is
announcing
his decision, he said
usual with me, conservatism wins
the day."
He
would constantly
refer,
with
regretful
comparisons, to bygone
times, especially to
"good
old Peel days."

eti-
He
resented departures from official

71
MR. GLADSTONE
quette,
in the
and the tendency which he saw

politician to
modern
pander to the
press, leading
to
indiscreet disclosures.
He
fancied that he detected a decided
deterioration
of
manners
in
society,
which specially manifested

changed
itself in
demeanor
in
of
men
toward
women,
a
increased familiarity, and in
lack
of show of respect, which he

illustrate
would
by the disuse of the

formerly observed
"
sir "
reverential
tone
in
addressing one's superiors by
term which, in
dren
habitually
his
younger days,
chil-
adopted toward
their
fathers.
He disliked changes of fashion

his pet aversions
and one of
was the
in-
troduction of smoking after dinner.
He
in
would
recall a social
dictum of the Lord

a
Castlereagh,^
1
who was
magnate
who was
The
fourth Marquis of Londonderry,
born in
1805, succeeded to the Marquisate in 1854, and died in 187Z

half-uncle to the present Lord Londonderry.
72
OTHER CONSERVATIVE TENDENCIES

fashionable
society
life,
in
the
heyday of
Mr. Gladstone's
that
no man ought
to enter the society of ladies until four
hours had elapsed after he had smoked

a cigar.
Mr. Gladstone equally disliked
departures from established custom.
He
objected, for instance, to the assembling
of the principal members of the Opposition at dinner
on the night before the
opening of Parliament.
clare that
He
used to de-
such dinners were " not a cus;
tom
one
at all "
that he
life,
had never attended

at
in
his
except
Devonshire
leader-
House, during Lord Hartington's

ship;
and that no more inconvenient

deliberating
mode of
on the Queen's
speech could possibly be devised.
New-
fangled doctrines appeared to Mr, Gladstone to be

still
more objectionable than
changes of customs.
with persons
He had no
73
patience
whom
he regarded as fad-
MR. GLADSTONE
dists
and crotchet-mongers.
In the cate-
gory of fads and crotchets he would place,

with some emphasis, such proposals as
those relating to bimetallism and proportional representation, which
he conIt
sidered to be " puerile " or " crazy."
was enough
for
him
to
know
that, in
England, on a gold monometallic basis

there
had been
reared,
and there
rested,
a solid and
commanding
fabric of
com-
mercial and financial prosperity, surpass-
ing
all
the dreams and aspirations of his

It
youth.
that,
was enough
all
its
for
him
to
know
with
defects
and anomalies,
the existing system of

tation
political represen-
produced, in a rough-and-ready
manner, a tolerably faithful reflection of

public opinion.
well alone."
as
It
He
was
all for
" leaving
was with apprehension

that he
well
as dislike
viewed the
increasing predominance of plutocracy

74

over hereditary aristocracy.
I
have heard
him exclaim,
hereditary
" I
am
a worshipper of the
principle
hereditary
Would
as
it
title,
and hereditary possessions.

it
that
in
were not so often abused
is
certain
hands
"
He
the
would
inveigh
strongly
against
last
luxury prevalent
life,
during the
years of his
and
against the extravagance of the style of
modern
living.
These leanings toward conservatism

and the past not unfrequently put him
out of sympathy with the times.
This
was specially noticeable

" imperialism "
in the attitude
which he assumed toward the fashionable

so-called
of the
day.
He
deplored what he considered to be
undue expenditure of public money on

armaments.
He
declined to believe that
great military establishments

off
fits
would stave
it
of panic.
In his belief
75
was a
MR. GLADSTONE
question of "the
more you have the

Analogously he had
more you want."
a deep-rooted aversion to annexations of

territory.
It
was not because he wished

belittled,
to to
see
his
country
or
failed
have national greatness

felt
at heart,
but
he
that
there
was a
a
limit to the
responsibilities
which
government
could prudently undertake
that there
was a point
at
which the strength of
administration would be overtaxed.
Anadvo-
other minor instance of his disregard of
public opinion
is
afforded
by
his
cacy of the
Channel Tunnel scheme,
the opposition to which, real and gen-
uine as
it
was and
is
likely to be, he
treated as childish
and chimerical.
Notwithstanding, however, his lingering love for the past, he had unbounded
faith in the
future,
and
in the
destiny
of his
own
country.
76
Only two
consider-

ations
sion.
seemed
I
to cause
him apprehen-
remember
his addressing to
me
some solemn words one day, about eleven

years ago, after he had been talking in
his usually hopeful strain.
"There
is,"
he
said,
"one danger ahead which

and which
I
foresee,
fear
for
the sake
it is
of the country.
It is
not Ireland;
not the character of the measures which
may
the
be advocated and
introduced
good
sense of the people will take
care of that.
What
I
fear is the
I see in
want
of principle which of the
fancy
some
men who
are
likely to
in
occupy
future."
conspicuous
positions
the
The
the
other tendency which caused
him
concern was the change of attitude which
two principal
parties
of the
state
appeared to be assuming,
likely to assume,
and to be
toward one another.

one party would be
77
He
was
afraid that
MR. GLADSTONE
given to bid too
much
against the other,
with the result that the pace would be

unnecessarily forced.
Apart from these
considerations, he utterly disbelieved the

scares of the timid.
He
uniformly de-
clined to heed the cry of "
Wolf I"
He
scouted the
sion,
idea of national retrogres-
and
placed
continued
progress
among the primary articles of his political

creed.
He was
an optimist of optimists.
Addington
said of
Mr.
Pitt, "
I
He
was
the most sanguine
man
ever knew."
Had Addington
lived twice the
number
life,
of years allotted to the span of
he
would probably have had

saying
to qualify this
by excepting
Mr.
Gladstone.
To
this
sanguine temperament
may
be,
in great part, attributed a habit of shut-
ting his eyes to disagreeable facts, especially

his
when such
facts
conflicted with
own
thoughts, which were at times

78

the offspring of his wishes.
He
would
diffi-
often take insufficient account of

culties,
because
they would, as he
at
least flattered himself, solve themselves.
But he might well have exclaimed,

did Sir Robert Walpole, "
that
it is
as
never heard
^
a crime to hope for the best";
and
if
Mr. Gladstone's habitual frame of

at
mind
times misled him,
it
was more
It
often a great stay
and help to him.

else,
would, more than anything

tain his spirits in times
main-
of great trouble
"
and anxiety.
"
He
was
to use
an
expressive phrase attributed to
Smith
Sydney
" like a barometer
the
more
2
you pressed him, the higher he
rose."
He could
always see a
rift
in the clouds;
he could always detect in the most depressing outlook

1 2 p.
some cause
" Walpole,"
p.
for comfort;
229.
J. Reid,
See Mr. John Morley's See
" Life and Times of Sydney Smith," by Stuart

edition).
330 (4th
79
MR. GLADSTONE
he could always spy in the densest fog
land ahead.
With him bad news was
always exaggerated.
He
declined
to
believe that anything which he consid-
ered a great calamity would happen

it
till
actually
stare
occurred.
Though
defeat
might
him
up
in the face,
he would
that
rest assured
to the last
it
moment
a
It
means of averting
was owing to
untoward
this
would be found.
no
or
temperament that
tragic
failure,
no
circumstance,
event,
no temporary rebuff
him.
disconcerted
He
hardly
knew
what despondency was.
He
had the
hopefulness and cheerfulness which are

usually associated only with the fervor
of youth.
Equally fervent was the extraordinary

enthusiasm with which he took up questions
and advocated
causes.
When
he
had once convinced himself of the

80
jus-

tice
of a cause, he
would throw
his
whole heart and soul into the further-
much enthusiasm may at

ance of
it;
so
so,
indeed, that his
times have almost
amounted
to fanaticism.
it is
But enthusi-
asm, being as
a great
power
in
human
marked
manner
of
affairs,
was one of the principal
causes of his potent influence.
No more
instance of this characteristic of
Mr. Gladstone can be found than the

in
which he pleaded the cause
Home
Rule
last
for
Ireland.
In
fact,
during the
decade of
his public life,
when he was conscious

him was
the
short,
that time with

less
he was apt to be
scrupulous than he usually was about
means
to
which he had
in
resort, if the
particular
end
view seemed to him
to
be thereby better promoted.
8i
VIII
HIS
ALLEGED LOVE OF POWER AND HIS MANY-SIDEDNESS

love
INSATIABLE
of power
and
"greed of office" have constantly

been ascribed to Mr. Gladstone
actions, lying
;
and
his
under
this suspicion,
have
is,
often been misconstrued.

there were
The
fact
two Mr. Gladstones.

the
There
the
was
Mr. Gladstone
student,
man
also
of letters, the lover of a quiet
life in
his peaceful
house
in
Wales.
There was
Mr. Gladstone the
political gladi-
ator, the statesman, the lover
ing Street and the
DownHouse of Commons.
of
82
HIS
ALLEGED LOVE OF POWER

often, if
The two Mr. Gladstones were

not
constantly,
in
conflict
with
one
another, resulting in part from the restlessness
which
is
inherent in impulsive
natures.
Sometimes one got the upper
hand
at other times, the other.
When
for
it
the love of
power
or passion
the
work of government
seized him,
was
not vulgar ambition to acquire notoriety,

display, or social standing; for he
essentially
was
unworldly.
It
was a con-
sciousness of abilities superior to those
around him.
the
It
was the self-esteem of

according to Aristotle,
man who,
" thinks himself
worthy of great
It
things,
being in truth worthy."
was ambi-
tion in the highest sense of the
word
ambition to turn to public account those

talents with
which nature had endowed

felt
him
and he
he could not turn them
to such account unless he were placed in

^3
MR. GLADSTONE
a position of responsibility and authority,
and had the opportunity of being
in
command.
to
Indeed, he was only ready

his peaceful
emerge from
abode
at
Hawarden and
it
return to the fray
when
appeared to him that he had a distinct
mission to perform, and

that he
when he thought
do something
saw
his
way
to
which ought to be done, and which he

believed that others could not do.
When
he conceived that he had completed the

task which he
had
set
himself to ac-
complish, or
felt that
he could no longer
serve with advantage his Sovereign

his country,
and
he was equally anxious

than the public
life.
and
far oftener so
knew
Con-
to retire again into private
fidential contact
with him would have
soon
satisfied
any one how genuinely

office
and frequently tenure of

gene to him.
It
was a
failed
was not that he

84
HIS
to take interest in his ministerial work.
Far from
it.
He
was more than scrupu-
lous and assiduous in his attentions to the

affairs
of
state.
It
was not only that the
sense of public duty was strongly in-
grained in him.
He
was
also
proud of
the honor, and most conscious of the high

trust
and responsibility which the

first
posi-
tion of being
minister of the
Crown
imposed upon him.
But
all
politics
were
far
from being the
in all
with Mr. Gladstone.
He
had
many
his his
other and greater loves
his theo-
logical studies, his antiquarian researches,
general reading, the application of
pen to
literary purposes.
There were,
indeed, no limits to the versatility of his
mind.
First
and foremost came
his passion
for reading.
He
read slowly and most
conscientiously.
He
85
never skipped a
MR. GLADSTONE
page or a line.
But the number of books
through which he plodded every year
was
astounding.
The
passages
with
in the
B.,
which he was struck he marked
margin with a pencil-line or with N.

or with both; and
to demur, he
when he saw
reason
made
use of the Italian

dint of unremit-
conjunction
ma.
By
ting application, aided

retentive
by a
strikingly
memory and
well-ordered mind,
he acquired a stock of knowledge on a

vast
variety
of subjects, which would

for a
have been extraordinary even
man
whose whole
student.
It
life
had been
that of a
was
Homer whom Mr.

in reading
Gladstone
most delighted
and studying.
To him
greatest
the Iliad and the
Odyssey were,
with the exception of the Bible, "the
works ever composed."
Homer,
he used to say, was "poetry-making,

86
HIS

nation-making
all
religion-making, and
all
combined
"
and of
the " extraordi-
nary characteristics " of the ancient poet,

the one which most impressed Mr. Glad-
stone
was " the use and choice which

of epithets."
Homer made
Horace was
another of his classical loves; and the

translation of the
Odes afforded a great
resource to Mr. Gladstone

sight failed him.
when
him
his eye-
Theological study was

;
still
greater attraction to
and the
set
works of this nature on which he

store
most
were those of Bishop Butler,
whom
he regarded as " the greatest
and most
profound writer among the divines and

prelates of the
Church of England."
Poetry of varied kinds appealed to

him.
He
believed that the supremacy
among poets could not be questioned. Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare were The difficulty superior to any others.
87
MR. GLADSTONE
with him was to
whom
the fourth place
should be assigned.
For that place he
considered that there were four competitors
^schylus,
Virgil,
Milton,
and
in-
Goethe; and, on the whole, he was
clined to give the preference himself to
Goethe.
There was probably no modern British

author
whom
as
Mr. Gladstone admired so

Scott.
much
Walter
The
re-reading
of the Waverley Novels was a constant

source of delight to
him through
life;
and, notwithstanding that they have gone

rather out of fashion during the last half
of the nineteenth century, he

that
felt
sure
they were works that would be
" immortal."
chefs
In his judgment the two

of the
series
d'ceuvre
were " The

" Kenil-
Bride
of
Lammermoor " and
worth."
He
beUeved
that
^schylus
was the only other man who could have

2>Z
HIS

first;
written the
and that the second
could have been produced by no one

else
but Shakespeare.
It is
worth noting
in
connection with
his
admiration for
Walter Scott
life
that he ranked Lockhart's

first
of the great novelist " the
of
all
biographies."
Cognate
to his literary studies
was the
pleasure with which
he
perused cata-
logues of old books.

receipt
He
welcomed
the
of
lists
of second-hand books
all
from booksellers
over the
kingdom
to him,
and
it
was a
special
interest
when he went through the catalogues, to see if any of his own works were included
among
the
lots,
and
at
what price and
they were
marked.
By
constant
continuous purchases during
many years,
he succeeded
in putting together a library

;
of about 28,000 volumes

recently
and when he
came
to rearrange his books, for
89
MR. GLADSTONE
transfer to a building in the village
of
to
Hawarden, he was
find that duplicates
rather distressed
amounted
to nearly
three per cent.
but as he had no cata-
logue, and had to trust entirely to his
memory,
the
wonder was
that the per-
centage of duplicates was not higher.
Borrowing the phraseology of

economy, and substituting mind
ter,
political
for
mat-
he would liken reading to "imports,"

In his
and writing to " exports."
own
case, vast and manifold though the " im-
ports" were, they were nearly balanced
by the " exports," both

diversity.
in
amount and
of
this
good
illustration
readiness of pen,
tility
combined with
to be
versa-
of mind,
is
found
list is
in a recent
magazine
article.^
there given
of the contributions which Mr. Gladstone
made
1
to that
magazine from time
to
See "Nineteenth Century," June, 1898.
90
"
HIS
time.

It
appears that in the space of
nineteen and a half years the
number
less
of his contributions amounted to no
than sixty-seven, and they included such
heterogeneous
Sheridan,
the
subjects
as
Homer and
Olympian System and
Free
Trade, the " Slicing of Hector
and "Robert Elsmere," Bishop Butler
and Professor Huxley, the
Dawn
of
Creation and the Queen's Jubilee,
Queen
the
Elizabeth
and
Daniel
O'Connell,
"Color Sense" and "Electoral Facts,"

the
Solar
Theory and Oppressed Nawhich he wrote
tionalities.
The
rapidity with
somewhat militated against neatness and

polish of style.
But
his prose
compo-
sitions have, I think,
been generally unoratorical style
derrated.
Though
the
ran through them, yet in his volumes of " Gleanings," for instance, there are often
91
MR. GLADSTONE
to be
found passages containing great
beauty of diction, and rising to a considerable
height of literary excellence.

that
However
critical
may
be,
he was decidedly
about the style of others, and

cor-
most exacting about grammatical

rectness.
grammatical
error, to
which he had
its
a rooted objection in spite of
being
of ac-
countenanced by
many
I
authors
knowledged standing, was the use of the

"false genitive."^
remember once
which
re-
ceiving quite a homily from him on his
having detected, in a
written
letter
had
by
his instructions, the introduc-
tion of this misuse of the genitive.

1
He
object to
To
give an illustration of the false genitive

being abused."
"I
my friend
say:
In order to be correct one should

being abused," which
is
"I
J
object to
my friend^s
awkwere
ward
or,
"
I object to the abusing
of
my
:
friend."
If
it
a case of using the pronoun the grammatical offence

at
would be
Aim being
once apparent.
j
No
one would say
"
I object to
abused "
but
**
I object to Ais
being abused."
92
HIS

for
it
was always on the lookout

he was reading, and had, he
the " vulgarism "
when
said, traced
back to the time of

believed
that
it
Charles
II.
He
was
nowhere
to be
found
in Shakespeare, or
in such pure writers of English as
Addi-
son, Swift,
and Johnson, and he defied

its
any one to discover
occurrence in the
Bible or in Macaulay's works.
The two
men of
recent days
whom
he regarded
as the greatest masters
of English writing
were Cardinal
Newman
and Mr. Ruskin.
Perhaps
Mr. Gladstone's own pen

no respect more
showed
letters
to greatest advantage in inditing

notes,
and
and
in
than in the wealth of expression.
He
might have
letters in
to write a
dozen or more
rapid succession, offering ap-
pointments or announcing the Queen's

pleasure
about
dignities
and
honors.
Each
note
would not only be quite

93
MR. GLADSTONE
differently
worded, but in the structure
of no two of them would there be anything in

pier
common.
Nobody had
right
a hap-
knack of saying the

w^as a question
thing
when it
of tendering con-
gratulations,
paying somebody a com-
pliment, expressing sympathy, or offering
encouragement to those situated

ficult
in dif-
circumstances.
but,
His own handwriting was neat;
owing
of the
to the curious formation of

letters
some
of the alphabet,
it
was not
easy to read, at least in later days, unless
one had acquired great familiarity with

it.
He
highly appreciated clear hand-
writing
of others.
Nothing
letters
tried
his
in
patience
more than
written
niggling or scrawling hands.

a bold
He
liked
and
large character, of the kind
of which old Etonians are apt fondly

to claim a
monopoly; but he himself

94
HIS
awarded the palm to the handwriting of

one of the most distinguished of Harrovians,
Lord
Palmerston,
hand-
writing which Mr. Gladstone regarded

as "truly noble."
His reading and

versatile
writing,
however,
though
it
was,
by no means
exhausted his many-sidedness.

a decidedly good linguist.
He
was
The French
freely,
it.
language came very easily to him, and
he not only read and talked
it
but he could make a public speech in
He
was equally
at
home with
Italian,
and he used to deplore the neglect of the

study of that language, to which our
language " owes so much."
Though he
it
did not speak German, he read

facility.
with nor
yet
While he
neither
was,
art,
claimed to be, a connoisseur of he took great delight

in
it.
He
was a
regular visitor of picture-galleries, and

95
MR. GLADSTONE
often frequented shops containing oh jets
d'art
In
the
course
of his
life,
he
made
time
it
several
collections.
At
time
one
time
(so-
was and
china,
at
at
another
ivories,
another
called)
Italian jewels.
There was no
pretension about his collections.

attraction to
The
in-
him was not
intrinsic value,
but love for the beautiful, and the

terest
which the exercise of

taste furnished.
his
own
judgment and
throughout
life,
To him
necessary;
variety of interest, taken

zest,
up with genuine
to variety of
was a
concomitant of activity of mind
while
employment he
attributed
the secret of his being able to throw off so easily the cares of state, and thus of
retaining abnormal powers of vitality to
such an advanced age.
96
IX
HIS ENERGY AND POWERS OF CONCENTRA-
TION
HIS
INDUSTRY
METHOD
SYSTEM OF
WORK
NOT
was
call to
less
remarkable than Mr. Gladmultiplicity
stone's
of
interests
his energy, of
its
which
his
mind could
which
aid an apparently unlimited
amount.
By
dint of that energy
welled up from the depths of his being,
he was able to take heroic resolves, and

to
overcome obstacles which
to others
seemed insurmountable.
Still
more extraordinary than
his en-
ergy was the way in which he would, in

97
MR. GLADSTONE
the most
dogged manner, concentrate
his
whole mind on the particular subject with
which
at the
it
moment
he was occupied.
at a time.
With him
he did
it
was one thing
Whatever he might happen

with
all
to be doing,
his
might and main,

it
with a determination which
was neces-
sary to witness in order to appreciate to
the
full.
It
occurred to one
who was
Mr.
a close witness shrewdly to liken

Gladstone's
mind
to a ship constructed
princi-
on the
latest
and most approved

it
ples, in that
consisted
of water-tight
compartments.
Though no man had a wider range of thought, yet when at the

shut down,
bidding of his will the partition doors
were
nothing
in
that
might
happen elsewhere
the vessel
would
have any disturbing

lar
effect
on the particufor the
compartment
in
which
moment
his
mind was
concentrated.
98
Nor was
AS A
WORKER
there any limit to the pains which he
would bestow on any work on which

heart
It
his
was
really bent.
his
was the same with
amusements
as
with his more serious occupations.
When engaged in tree-felling, he thought

of nothing but his axe, and
wield
it.
how
best to
When
at the theatre,
he threw he
his heart
and soul
into the piece;
was keen to follow every incident of the

plot,
and every sentence of the
actors.
To
and
music he would
attentively,
listen appreciatively
and
in
his
last
days
else
music seemed more than anything

to
distract
his
thoughts and allay his
sufferings.
One of the few games which

after
he was wont to play
dinner was
backgammon, and no
was
child could have

zest.
played the game with greater

as
He
pleased by winning as he was
disappointed
by
losing.
He
rarely, if
99
MR. GLADSTONE
ever,
touched cards; he considered that
they conduced too
much
to gambling,
of which he had a horror.

to
He
once said
me
that
he regarded gambling as
of damnable.
" nothing
short
What
can be the fun of winning other people's
money " He considered that one was as much accountable to God for the expenditure of one's money as for the use
*?
of one's
talents.
And
its
"
How
could
"
this
be so," he would say, "

disappeared of
when one's money

accord ?
own
Anything
like
impurity of thought or
language was as abhorrent to him as

gambling.
respects, the
In
this,
as in
many
other
boy was
father of the
is
man.
characteristic story
told of
him by
more than one of

Eton.
his contemporaries at
at the " Chrisat-
There was given
topher " an annual dinner, which was
tended by the leading boys of the school.

100
AS A
It
WORKER
was customary on the occasion to

an improper
toast.
give
" Gladstone
was present once, and on the proposal

of the toast he turned
ward."
to the
his glass
downback
One must
the
cast one's self
days of boyhood to appreciate

strength
adequately
of character
which
such
independence
of
action
necessitated.
Unceasing industry, to which he owed

so
much
in
life,
was a habit which he

boyhood.
to his
also acquired in
At Eton he
admission,
dili-
had,
according
own
attained a fair
amount of dogged
gence with his school-work.

this
He
ascribed
diligence to the
influence
of Dr.
Hawtrey.
But Mr. Gladstone did not
consider that he
was
till
career.
knew what real work he commenced his university At Oxford, for which, till the
he cherished such
lOI
filial
end of
his days,
MR. GLADSTONE
affection,
he aimed at devoting twelve
hours a day to study, and he
owned
to
keeping up that average

able while.
for a consider-
But the time upon which,
while an undergraduate, he looked back
with the greatest satisfaction, was spent

in
one of the long vacations

in
at
Cuddes-
don
company with Mr. Anstice ^ and

both of
my
father,^
whom
were Mr.
year.
Gladstone's seniors
by one
To
those weeks of assiduous reading he believed that he mostly
owed
his success
in the final schools, resulting in the at-
tainment of a "double
regarded as a
first,"
which he
much
better test of a man's
worth
in
1831
than now,
because
in
those days the attainment of a "double

first"
involved working up at one and
the
1
same
time
subjects
for
"mathe-
Joseph Anstice, a distinguished scholar (1808-36).
Walter Kerr Hamilton, Bishop of Salisbury (1808-69).
102
AS A
WORKER
matics" as well as "greats," and being
examined simultaneously in both

This faculty
for industry,
schools.
which was
matured
at
Oxford,
stood
by him
throughout his long career, and, extraordinary as were his powers of work
within a few months of his death,
till
it
is
probable
associated
that
persons
who were
the
only
last
with
him during
his life
twenty years of
can form but
an adequate idea of the prodigiousness of these powers when he was in the
prime of life.
His industry was greatly furthered by
economy of
a
time, which he exercised in
the most rigid manner.

single
He never wasted
in
moment; every chink

filled
the
day was
up
and he consequently
always seemed able to get through anything and everything, thus constituting
a good illustration of the paradox that
103
MR. GLADSTONE
the
more busy
man
is
the
more
leisure
does he apparently possess.
This habit
of economizing time was aided by a

kindred habit of punctuality; he never
failed to
keep an appointment to the
moment.
as
His
daily
life
was
as regular
clockwork.
Order and method, to
which he attached the greatest importance
" as a means of increasing power
and
efficiency for good," he carried to
great perfection.
tidiness.
He
was a pattern of
its
No
table;
book was out of
place
litter
in his
room.
There was never any
on
his
and every drawer

nattily.
in
it
was arranged most
He
would
of a
resort to ingenious reconstructions
sentence in order to avoid an erasure;
and no blot was ever allowed

a page of his
to soil
own
letters.
His papers
were
stowed
away with unsurpassed

104
neatness,
and the muniment room, con-
AS A
sisting
WORKER
of the fire-proof annex which he
built a
at
few years ago to

will be
his
"sanctum"
wonder and
Hawarden,
the
admiration of those
who may some day

all
have access to
it.
In that octagon chamthe

letters
ber there will be found
which he thought worth preserving out

of his vast and varied correspondence,
and
also
papers
many memoranda and other of interest. The aggregate conchamber must be enormous
tents of the
indeed, he
letters
made
a computation that the

to
alone
amounted more nearly
100,000 than 50,000.
His
orderliness greatly helped
him
to
keep pace with

other
to
his correspondence
still
and
work
but a
greater assistance
him was
his capacity for using other

for
men's brains, and
reducing to a minlabor
imum
his
own manual
105
in
word, the power which he had trained
MR. GLADSTONE
himself to acquire of " devolving " work
on
others.
"
No
man," he once wrote

until
to me,
"could dream,
by
experi-
ence he knew, to what extent devolution
can be carried
feeble knees,
how
it
strengthens the
faint-
and thus sustains the
ing heart."
By
lengthened experience
he had reduced devolution to a highly

perfected system.
his
Between himself and

secretaries
principal
private
It
there
were no
tial
secrets.
was, he held, essen-
that they should see everything
and
know
fulness
everything;
otherwise
their use-
might be materially impaired.
Accordingly, in the absence of specific

directions to the contrary, they were at
liberty to
open
all
his
letters,
no heed
being taken of pleas for privacy, however
emphatic they might be,
unless,
indeed, resort had been had to

velopes.
two
en-
The
letters
1
when opened had
06
AS A
WORKER
to be so folded as to present as far as
possible a
uniform
size,
and the
size
re-
which, with certain exceptions, was quired to
be
observed, was
the
size
given by notepaper which, when both

sides
of
it
are laid out, folds into three
a size
to
which the folding of

itself
larger
paper conveniently adapts

letters
The
when
folded had to be docketed.

the letter
The docket was made either on

itself, if
space permitted, or on a wrapper
consisting of a half-sheet
of square or
foolscap paper, in which the letter was
enveloped.
The
date
docket
day,
was
headed
with the
year.
the
month, and
the
Under
the date
came
name
If
of the correspondent, and then followed

the important part of the docket.
it
was a
or
letter
which was extremely
brief,
which seemed to require
to be read
by
Mr. Gladstone
in full, a cross
107
(+)
in the
MR. GLADSTONE
left-hand corner of the docket served to
indicate this to him,
and the notation

suf-
of the bare subject or subjects then

ficed.
If
it
were a
letter
which appa-
rently did not need to be personally pe-
rused by him, or were one written in a

diffuse or illegible style, there
had to be
contents
made
a concise
precis
of
its
clearly written.
Below the
precis there
might, at the discretion of the private

secretary, be drafted the terms or heads
of a reply, for Mr. Gladstone's approval.
When his correspondence reached him

in this
advanced condition, he proceeded to
dispose of each letter in one of three ways,

in the choice
of which he was mainly
influ-
enced by the importance of the writer and
of the subject-matter.
Either he would
write the answer himself, or, after settling
the
gist
of the reply, he would himthe
self prefix
address
1
and
affix
his
08
AS A
WORKER
it)
signature, writing (as he called
the
"
head " and the "
tail,"
or
he would
leave the correspondent to be answered
by
the private secretary.

his
Every
letter
which he wrote with
own
hand, ex-
cept on really trivial matters, had to be

copied.
Whether
the
copy was entered
in a large letter-book, or
made on
his
a sep-
arate
sheet,
depended on
having
" ticks "
made
one " tick " ( y/) or
two
(v/y/) at the
bottom of the
first
page.
His usual direction was

should be had to the
that
recourse
first
alternative;
the second one, as a rule, being adopted
when
the letter was one of supreme im-
portance, or one to which he was likely

to have
left to
to
refer
immediately.
It
was
the private secretary to
keep and
to arrange all letters

all
when answered, and

some
papers
when
dealt with, except
chosen few, which Mr. Gladstone had

109
MR. GLADSTONE
some reason
or other for having in his
own
custody;
and the indication
for
re-
such separate treatment was that he

folded them himself
It
more narrowly.
was only
his important correspon-
dence of which he disposed regularly
day by day.
With
the rest of
it,
which
was unceremoniously labelled "rubbish,"

he dealt once a week
carefully sorted
this after it
had been
and
classified;
and by
means he secured a cursory survey

at
of the whole of his correspondence
an
extraordinarily small expenditure of labor
and time.
To him
it
the nature of the
"rubbish" was not without significance;

for
he regarded
as
an indication of
the drift of public opinion, and of the
questions
on which the
attention
of
the country was principally fixed, at the
moment.
To
all
the writers, individual
and corporate (except to those who were
no
AS A
well-established
WORKER
he
required
lunatics),
acknowledgments or answers
though some of the
replies
to be sent,
might be
couched
others
in
stereotyped phraseology, and

a lithographed form.
embodied on
A clearly defined system of devolution

was more important and necessary
Gladstone than to most modern
to
Mr.
states-
men;
for
he would never take advan;
tage of the facilities of shorthand
and
consequently all other " short cuts "

in
his case to
had
be turned to the
to
fullest
account, in
order
economize time,
which he had such a horror of wasting.

Equally abhorrent to him was every
other
waste
whether
The
was
of
stationery,
food, or
money.
administration of
essentially careful.
his
his private affairs
dignified frugality characterized
household arrangements.
there
But,
while
was no
ostentation, there
III
was no-
MR. GLADSTONE
thing
mean
or stingy about him.
He
chari-
was always ready to subscribe to

table objects,
relief
and to
afford relief
where
was
really wanted.
He, indeed,
acts.
not unfrequently did most liberal
He
was careful
stood "
;
to
know
exactly
in
how
his
affairs "
and even
time of the
greatest pressure he did not fail to

his
keep
paid
own
personal accounts.
visits
He
frequent
to
his
London
bankers,
" Sir S. Scott and Co.," which firm had,

to
his
regret,
latterly
lost
its
individuality
by
having
stock
amalgamated with a joint
company.
He
interest,
watched
with
regularity the
movement of
stocks in
which he had an
care
perusing with
the
lists
of securities perodically
his brokers at
sent to
him by
Glasgow,
Watson and Smith. But the item which afforded him most satisMessrs.
faction
was any receipt which he might

112
AS A
derive
WORKER
literary
from
he
his
labors.
Such
in
;
earnings
little
entered
for
separately
the
book kept
purpose
and
the entries were
made with
that pride
which
is
characteristic of amateur authors.
There was another small book which

with equal regularity he entered up
al-
most
daily,
and that was the diary which

life.
he kept throughout
like-looking
It
was a ledgerIn
it
volume
in miniature.
there were, I believe,
no commentaries
made
tries
or opinions expressed.
The
en-
were
strictly limited
to
recording
in the
most succinct manner the things

to
which he had done, and the persons
whom
write
he had written.
During a few
he did
be
months preceding
his last illness,
down some
notes which
may
of use to his biographer.
But he was
never to be persuaded to undertake an

autobiographical work
113
not even by an
MR. GLADSTONE
astounding
to
offer
which was once made

though the
him by a
respectable firm of publishers

States,
offer
in the
United
had, he admitted, temptations for

for the sake
him
of those
who would
made of
succeed
him.
that
He
by the
used
at
times to complain
his correhis
free use
spondence
in
the Lives of
some of
contemporaries, his
own
biography was
being written piecemeal with consequent

disadvantages
;
and
latterly
he exercised
much
greater caution about permitting
the publication of his
own
letters.
114
X
HIS ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY
AND COM-
MAND OF TEMPER
A DAY's
WORK
ONLY
adequately
those
who had
the
official inter-
course with Mr. Gladstone could
gauge
administrative
capacity which he showed while holding
high
office
under the Crown.
Indeed,
his capacity for transacting public business, to
which
for
so
many
years
he
applied himself with such assiduity and

zest,
could not be surpassed.
It is de-
cision
combined with sound judgment

else
which perhaps more than anything

constitutes the root of
tes
good administra-
MR. GLADSTONE
tion.
man who
sees too clearly
both
sides of a question,
and thus wavers be-
tween
erly
different opinions, will never prop-
cope with the work that devolves

a minister.
his
It is better for
upon
him
to
at
make up
all.
mind wrongly than not
He
all
should, of course, weigh mathe considerations that bear

is
turely
on
in
the subject which
before
him; and
doing so he will do well to think of the
morrow
as well as of the
day
but there
must be no timidity about the consequences of his

acts.
He
must be
pre-
pared to take upon himself an unlimited
amount of
willing
responsibility.
He
be;
must be
to master details, however, dry
and
technical
they
may
for
the
knowledge which he has of the business

in
hand must be thorough.
He
should
If one
be resourceful and suggestive.

solution of a knotty point
ii6
is
not success-
HIS
ful,
ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY
he must be ready with a second.

confidence between himself and the
The
tual.
heads of his department should be mu-
He
is
right to be critical, but he
should not be hypercritical.
Let him
or
amend
freely a draft
memorandum
dispatch in passages which incorrectly

represent his views or which are glaringly
faulty.
But
let
him accept
carries
the draft
if,
on the whole,
it
out his ideas,

in the
it
though perhaps not exactly

in
form
himis
which he would have written
self
The
substance
the
is
that
which
material, not
form.
minister,
dis-
moreover, must have the faculty of
charging public business with promptitude.
He
should always be up to time
with his work.

isterial
The wheels of
the min-
coach should never be clogged
with
arrears.
He
must be scrupulous
about keeping his appointments with

117
MR. GLADSTONE
punctuality, so that he
his
may waste
neither
own
time, nor that of those around
him.
others.
He
must be
easily accessible to
Though he cannot be
too busi-
nesslike, yet he
must not be "too busy"
to attend to this or that matter.
He
is
right to be
strict disciplinarian;
but
he should not be wanting in consideration

for
others, or
unmindful of
domestic
their
convenience.
As
in
circles, so
in ministerial circles
the
master to a
great
extent
makes the
servant.
All
these qualifications for success as an ad-
ministrator were possessed in a
marked
degree by Mr. Gladstone, who, moreover,
combined with them a high sense
of honor and duty; and thus not only

did he gain the confidence of
all
those
for
who
alty,
served under
him
or
worked
him, but inspired them with
zeal, loy-
and enthusiasm.
ii8
One of the
secrets
HIS
was
that,
of
this inspiration
while he was
more than
his
ordinarily exacting, or (to use
own words)
" a ferocious master," he

to
was ever ready
mete
out, perhaps too
lavishly, praise to those
who had done

But
what he considered to be meritorious

work.
it
He was free with his criticism.

all criticism,
was not
and no approval.
praise
He never hesitated
praise
to
award
where
hesi-
was due, any more than he

resort to censure
tated to
when
in his
judgment
there
had been negligence or
want of intelligence.
Another
attraction of the
man
to those
who were
privileged to be brought in
close contact with
him was
that he
was
rarely, if ever, cross.
He
it
had by
nature
a certain
amount of temper, but he had

under wonder-
the faculty of keeping

ful control.
His highly strung nervous
temperament, particularly when any ex119
MR. GLADSTONE
citing incident
was impending, such

important
as
the
delivery
of an
speech,
fretful-
might
at times
produce a certain
ness and fussiness,
which the presence

in
of any one not quite
touch with him

irritability.
would convert
and
into
slight
all
But notwithstanding
ries
trials
the
many
wor-
which necessarily beset a
minister,
and which probably beset Mr.
Gladstone to an unusual degree, he was
seldom heard to say a hasty word, and

never
heard
to
it
use
is
coarse
language.
Occasionally,
true,
he showed con-
siderable impatience.
He
was somewhat
unreasonable about waiting for a reply

to a note, or for a decision from, an indi-
vidual to
whom
or
he had perhaps made
an
offer,
put a question requiring
much
consideration
and
deliberation.
Such impatience, however, did not proceed from loss of temper.

It
was the
"
HIS
result
of an impetuous nature, and an
inability to
brook what appeared to him
to be undue delay.
What
to place
harassed
him most and seemed
the severest strain
upon him
was anything
questions,
in the nature of personal

as
such
dissension
in
the
Cabinet, a threat of resignation from a

colleague, an application from a friend
which he thought unreasonable, a decision
which
involved
the
balancing
of the claims of one individual against

those of another for political preferment.
He
was
also apt to be specially worried

his consideration ap-
when he had under
pointments to high places in the Church,

feeling as he did that they entailed un-
usual responsibility
upon him.
Apart
from these occasions, he was singularly

calm, collected,
and
self-possessed,
no
matter
how
seriously
121
" out
of joint
MR. GLADSTONE
times with
seeing
him might
the
Bill
be.
remember
after
him on
Rule
morning
his
Home
the
had been
in
rejected
by
no
House of Commons
1886.
The
prevalent
impression out of doors,
doubt, was that any one venturing to

intrude
upon him
that
morning would
if
have found him vexed,
not angered,
and
mortified, if not morose.
He
a
was,
self-
however, on the contrary, perfectly
composed,
quietly
reading
novel,
which seemed
to interest
him more than
the result of the division of the previous

night.
He
put his book
down with
quite an
smallest
effort,
and did not exhibit the

rancor or resent-
symptom of
ment.
He
admitted the gravity of the
catastrophe, but declared that his only
concern was the unhappy portion of the
Kingdom whose hoped to make happier.

United
122
lot
he had
HIS
in
During the years

secretary, I
tact
which, as private
in closest con-
was brought
with him (1880-85), he was well

in age,
advanced
and had to nurse
his
strength to the utmost.

day's
Accordingly, a
work
to
him
at that
time assumed
a proportion very different to that which

it
assumed when he was younger and

But during
his
more vigorous.
second
administration, his powers of

still
work were
considerable.
No
matter
how
late
he had been detained over-night at the
House of Commons, he seldom

later
rose
than nine o'clock.
After breakfast,
he would peruse the morning's newspapers,
and
then,
till
about
eleven
o'clock generally, devote the remainder
of the time to the book that he hap-
pened
to
have
in
hand.
If
public
business was specially heavy or urgent,
he would
resist
the temptation of his

123
MR. GLADSTONE
book, and busy himself with drawing up
a
memorandum
or writing
some
letter.
But he
disliked being disturbed before
the recognized hour at which his official
day began.
later,
At eleven
o'clock, or a little
he appeared
in his official
room;
and between that hour and luncheontime

he
would interview the govern-
ment
by
" whip," and dispose of his corre-
spondence and other papers, which had

that time been reduced to a
manage-
able form, and were brought to

his
him by
also
private secretary.
He
would
see
any colleague or, other person with

he had made an appointment;
whom
pected
but he resented the intrusion of unexvisitors,
however urgent might
be their business, and however good

their claims
were to be admitted to his

if
presence.
Indeed,
one
who was
not a
persona grata presented himself without

124
HIS
due warning, Mr. Gladstone's face would
assume a very black look.

eon, he
After lunch-
would take
either a short drive
or a short walk,
at the
and then present himself

careful
House of Commons, being
to arrange his arrival there at the nick
of time.^
in the
Unless his continued presence

necessary, he
House was
for his
would
at
leave
it
accustomed cup of tea
five o'clock.
He
preferred retracing his

Street for this purpose;
steps to
Downing
but, if that were not possible, tea
was
served to him in his room behind the

Speaker's chair.
Reentering the House,
he would rarely leave his seat on the
Treasury bench
till
eight o'clock,
when
he again returned to
1
his official residence
One
of the means which Mr. Gladstone devised for saving
his time in the
House of Commons was an arrangement, which

questions addressed to the Leader should be
list
he made in the Parliament of 1880-85 with the authorities of

the House, that
all
placed at the end of the
on the notice-paper
an
arrange-
ment from which
his successors
have derived material advantage.
125
MR. GLADSTONE
for dinner.
The
sense of public duty
was so strong upon him that he could

seldom be persuaded to remain
in the evening,
at
home
however fagged he might

after
be ; and immediately
he had dined,
he drove back to the House.
There he
would
stay
till
the end of the sitting,
when he almost
invariably walked home.

late
it
No
matter
how
was, he
would
never take any further nourishment be-
yond an occasional cup of tea, and without

a
moment's
dawdling
he
would
retire to bed.
However
exciting might
be the scene which he had quitted, his
power of
falling asleep, almost at once,
rarely deserted
him
a power which he
counted among the principal blessings

of his
life.
"
He
put off his cares when
he put off his clothes," as Sir Robert
Walpole
1
said of himself
See
**
Walpole," by Mr. John Morley,
p.
109.
126
HIS ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY

If Parliament were not sitting, the pro-
gramme of Mr.
was
slightly
Gladstone's afternoons
varied.
Guided
by the
weather, he took a longer walk or longer

drive,
which generally ended
in his
pay-
ing a call on some friend at about five

o'clock.
On
his return
home, he was
ready again to attend to business matters
but so
far as the interval till
dinner was
not required to be devoted to this purpose, he

ation
would give himself up

resting.
to relax-
by reading and
He would,
more
often than not, dine at the houses of
friends, or,
when
opportunities occurred,
he would present himself at "

or at " Grillions "
;
The Club "

walking the
and
after
whole or part of the way home, he
would straightway
retire to his
bedroom.
127
XI
HOW
MR. GLADSTONE
EXERCISED CROWN
PATRONAGE AND JUDGED CHARACTER
ONE
ment of
permanent
of the
most
difficult
duties
which a Prime Minister of England has to

discharge
is
the appoint-
the right
offices,
men
to political
and
and the bestowal of

titles
decorations
and hereditary
with
proper
vastly
discrimination.
to
What
is
adds
the
difficulty
that
he
is
rarely a free agent,

cise
and can
rarely exer-
his
own
unfettered judgment, so
many
are the political considerations
and
party exigencies
that
128
come
into play.
HIS EXERCISE OF
PATRONAGE
Mistakes are consequently often not the
Prime Minister's own making; though

he
the
is
none the
less
himself responsible to
Queen and
the public for every rec-
ommendation which
he
may
submit.
Mr. Gladstone regarded the exercise of
Crown patronage
to
attention.
as
an important
trust,
which he was bound

Attaching to
inevitable
to give his best

its
distribution
there
are
;
cares
and annoyit
ances
but he looked upon
as part of
the ministerial day's
work which could
not be shirked
and he would not have
denied that he found a pleasurable excitement in proffering a lord-lieutenancy

or a peerage/ an order or a baronetcy.^
1
Mr. Gladstone was

which 22
responsible for the creation of 67

are
new
peerages (of
now
extinct)
peers
and on his recom-
mendation 14 Scottish and
Irish
were called to the

promotions in
House of Lords.
the peerage
counts.
2
He
was
also responsible for 7

I
dukedom, 2 marquisates,
earl,
and 3
vis-
The number
of baronetcies created on Mr. Gladstone's
recommendation was 97.
129
MR. GLADSTONE
He
would
fain
have ruled out of con-
sideration the claims of those
who
their
im-
portunately pressed
deserts,
upon him
to
own
the
and have applied
them
nurse's injunction to children, that " those
who
ask don't get."
But such a counsel

any-
of perfection was not open to him
more than
it is
to other
prime ministers.
The Crown patronage the disposal of which interested him most was ecclesiastical
preferment; and of
all
the ap-
pointments due to his recommendation,

that
which probably afforded him the
most genuine excitement was the appointment of an Archbishop of Canterbury, which

fell
to his lot in 1883.
It
may
be said that the trouble which Mr.
Gladstone took in making selections for

ecclesiastical
appointments was, on the
whole,
well repaid.
His own know-
ledge of the clerical world was always

130
HIS EXERCISE OF
great,
PATRONAGE
and he would constantly suppleit
ment
by making
inquiries of ecclesias-
tical authorities,
and by satisfying him-
self personally
of the preaching powers
of a clergyman
list
who
stood high on the

Assisted
for
preferment.
by such
knowledge, and by the advice of such dignitaries
of the Church as Dean Welles-
ley of
Windsor, and Dean Church of
St. Paul's,
Mr. Gladstone probably made
fewer mistakes than most other prime

ministers in discharging this duty, and
in the discharge
of
it
he was very scrufar as
pulous about meting out, so

feasible,
was
equal justice to the claims of
High, Low, and Broad Churchmen.
With
took
respect
to other patronage he to
equal
pains
weigh and
sift
claims with conscientiousness and impartiality.
One of
the rules to which he
liked to adhere was not to appoint

131
men
MR. GLADSTONE
Straight
into the Cabinet.
Every
aspi-
rant to a high place in the counsels of
the nation should, he thought,
go through
the " treadmill,"
however short a period

be.
of probation
it
might
Indeed, with-
out the training and discipline acquired
by the holding of subordinate

Gladstone considered that a
office,
Mr.
man
rarely
first
became an administrator
class.
of the
He
it;
was occasionally hampered
by
this rule
when he determined
making an
to ob-
serve
but what was more frequently

ill-judged
responsible for his
appointment was
a limited stock
his
being endowed with

is
of what
commonly
Like
called " knowledge of the world."

his great forerunner.
Sir
Robert Peel,
Mr. Gladstone was not

itive
gifted with intu-
perception of individual character.

al-
For the same reason he was not
ways happy
in the
manner
132
in
which he
HIS EXERCISE OF
handled his colleagues.
PATRONAGE
Sometimes he
would
insufficiently flatter their vanity.
At
other times he
would not adequately
recognize the position which they occu-
pied or the power which they wielded
He
was apt to be somewhat

in.
easily im-
posed upon and taken
He
unduly
appraised the worth of some men, and
unduly depreciated the value of

This deficiency was
in great part
others.
due to
an almost childlike simplicity.

to
He failed
" see through "
some
people, while
others
had no
difficulty in
appearing to
him
in a
more favorable
light than their
qualities justified.
Nor
did he always
take into sufficient account the deteriorating

effect
of age on those who, in

efficient ser-
younger days, had rendered

vice to the state, or the
claims
of a
rising generation.
He forgot that all men

^33
were not endowed with the same peren-
MR. GLADSTONE
nial
powers
as himself,
and he disliked
facing the pain and wrench of severing
himself from old and valued colleagues,
who had
long borne with him the heat

fight.
and brunt of the
The
fact
is,
he
could not bring himself to harden his

heart.
Again, he was somewhat lacking
in
a sense
of proportion, which want
palpably increased in his later days.
His
energy would hardly be

trifling
less
if
some
if
matter were in question than
the fate of the
Empire were
see everything
at stake.
He
was apt to
through
one pair of spectacles
the
his
pair
which
he happened to be wearing
ment.
at the
mo-
Consequently
correct,
perspective
his
was not always
and
judgment
Never-
was not unfrequently

theless,
at fault.
when
to his colleagues
his
and those
around him
in error,
it
judgment seemed most
would happen
134
and
indeed
HIS EXERCISE OF
not rarely
PATRONAGE
out to be
it
that
it
he turned
I
right in the end.
have often heard

for
declared that
was absurd
him
to
attempt the passage of this and that

that such
bill,
and such a step was bound to
be
fatal in the
House of Commons,
that
he was living in a fool's paradise.

in the
But,
long run, he proved to be a truer

critics.
prophet than his

at
In
fact,
had he
de-
times
taken his
own
line
more
cidedly, he
would have avoided many

which resulted from
his
a political fiasco,
disliking to break with his colleagues,
and thus acquiescing
in
compromises.
Closely connected with his want of

discrimination
was
his
credulity,
and
his inability to suspect
mischief
it,
His
credulity
was unbounded;
indeed,
extended to a belief
certain things
in the existence
of
which
are
ordinarily re-
garded as mythical.
135
He
regarded sus-
MR. GLADSTONE
picion (to use his
o^
v-
most obstinate
of politicians,
nature."
^
own words) as " the among the besetting sins even in men of upright
tendency
in his
This
to
suspect
everybody was,
opmion, so comhave heard
mon
to all statesmen that I
him say
that the only exception that he
knew was Lord Aberdeen.

in
Mr. Glad-
stone might well have included himself

the
exceptions.
There was not a
particle of suspicion in his nature.
With
of
him
This
in
in
there
was " wisdom
in a policy
trust,
and
spirit
folly in a policy
of mistrust."
of trustfulness actuated him
many
his
ways, and in no
way more than

"the
masses."
attitude attitude
toward
That
admits of being briefly
summarized: "Trust them, and they

will trust you."
It
was the same

conduct
i.
spirit
that
1
permeated
See
**
his
toward
p. 39.
Gleanings of Past Years," vol
136
HIS EXERCISE OF
Irishmen.
PATRONAGE
as
So
long
" righteous
policy" was pursued toward them, he

believed that "
all
the follies that Ireland
might
commit,
however
much
for the
they
hampered good government
time
being, could not in the end frustrate the

action or endanger the security of the
Empire."
fear not."
It
was with him, " Be
just,
and
137
XII
HIS ACHIEVEMENTS AND POWERS OF
MEMORY
CHARACTERIZED by great modesty
and humility, even

rarely be
to a fault,
Mr. Gladstone could

allude to his
induced to
own
parliamentary achievehis
ments.
But occasional glimpses of
mind would be forthcoming.

dozen Budgets^
1
Of
the
re-
for
which he was
(2) on
The
twelve Budgets with which Mr, Gladstone's
connected were opened (i) on April i8, 1853;

6,
name is March
(5) on April 15, 1861

16,
1854; (3) on July 18, 1859; (4) on February 10, i860; (6) on April 3, 1862; (7) on April j
1863; (8) on April
(10) on
May
3,
April 4, 1882.
7, 1864; (9) on April 27, 1865; 1866; (11) on April 4, 1881 ; and (12) on He also brought in a supplementary Budget in
connection with the Repeal of the Malt Duty on June 10,
1880.
138
HIS
POWERS OF MEMORY
which he considered
"greatest effort" (in
sponsible, the one

to be
by
far
his
every sense of the word) was his Budget
of 1853, ^^^ principal feature of which

-was the Succession
Duty
Bill.
In con-
nection with the construction of that measure,
he put forward his
fullest
powers,
and he never displayed greater
mas-
tery of technical detail than in this connection.
The only member of
the gov-
ernment from
assistance
whom
he derived material
Sir
was the Solicitor-General,
R. Bethell (afterward Lord Westbury)
and
to the piloting of the bill
through
committee he used
to allude with evi-
dent delight, recalling with laughter the

duet-like character of the discussion,
by
reason of
" Malins "
1
its
^
being mainly carried on by

^
and " Mullings."

for
He
con-
Mr. Marins, M. P.
Wallingford j afterward Vice-
Chancellor Sir R. Malins.

2
Mr. MuUings, M. P.
for Cirencester.
"
MR. GLADSTONE
sidered that the Irish
Land Act of 1881

measure which
was the most "
difficult "
he ever conducted through the House of
Commons;
while the measure upon
which he once admitted to
me
that he
looked back " with most satisfaction
was the
bill
of 1869, for the Disestablishthe

Irish
ment and Disendowment of

Church
an
institution
which he had
gradually
come
to
consider as "abso-
lutely indefensible."
He
was
still
less
given to referring to his oratorical successes.
Indeed,
never heard him spe-
cify
any particular speech or speeches to
which he himself awarded the palm.
But
recollect
being at dinner with

8,
him on February
1882, just after he

at length in the
had delivered himself
debate on the Address, and
his
turn-
ing to his children, and saying, "
You
140
HIS
will
POWERS OF MEMORY
never hear anything better from

^
me."
But though
allude to, and
his
he
would hardly ever

of,
never boast
any of
constructive measures or oratorical
achievements, yet he frequently prided
himself on
trivial
performances.
He
to
used, for instance, smilingly to say that,

at
any
rate,
he had one
claim
be
gratefully
remembered by
posterity,
and
for
that was, as the inventor of a
method
abbreviating the representation of millions.
The
use of the small "
m " had
long been recognized as the symbol for

thousands.
the
1
He
had applied the use of
same
letter to millions
by the simple
pp.
Hansard, third
a
series,
vol.
cclxvi.
160-183.
naturally
The
de-
speech was
discursive one, as the
occasion
manded, touching upon such
various subjects as the
Duke
of
Albany's betrothal, Egypt, French Commercial Treaty, Free
Trade, and Ireland's Land Act.
141
MR. GLADSTONE
process of turning
its
"
tail "
backward.
Thus, while 5m. represented 5000, he
made
phers.
his
^r\\)
do duty
for 5,000,000, thus

ci-
dispensing with the necessity of six
He
had
for
his
symbol
for this
and
symbol
that
each
labor.
calculated
to
economize time and
To To
give
another instance, he had signs for

ent
differ-
responses
to
invitations.
the
names of those invited he would

a stroke (thus
prefix
),
as evidence
of their
having been asked.
If the answer was
an acceptance, he would cross the line

(thus
).
If
it
was a
refusal,
he would
add another
If
parallel
first
stroke (thus
).
somebody had
accepted, and then
subsequently was prevented from coming,
he would surround the cross with a

).
circle (thus
One of
the things that could not
fail
to astonish those
who came
142
in frequent
HIS
contact
POWERS OF MEMORY
Mr. Gladstone
It
with
was
his
power of memory.
was not only that
an inexhaustible store of knowledge was
stowed away in the recesses of his brain,

but that he was able to draw upon the
store at pleasure.
He
could always
cite
some precedent, quote a name, and
fur-
nish a date with extraordinary accuracy.
Indeed, any one venturing to " measure
swords" with him about an

incident
historical
would almost
certainly
emerge
from the contest
in a worsted condition.
In his later years he used to lament that

his
memory was
I
not what
it
had been
formerly; but
can
call to
mind two
that,
instances calculated to
show
even
when he was an
in this respect
octogenarian, his powers
were marvellous.
When
he was young, he
had translated into
English an ode by Manzoni on the death
of Napoleon the Great

143
an ode which
MR. GLADSTONE
Mr. Gladstone
considered
"the
only
good thing ever written about the end of

that great career."
In 1892, apparently
with a view mainly of testing the strength
of
his
memory, he determined
to see
whether he could recollect the original
of the ode.
his
He
had
entirely forgotten
own
translation.^
But by slow
de-
grees
by
dint of hard "digging," or

it)
" fishing up " (as he called

tered fragments
the scatin writ-
he succeeded
down 104 out of the 108 lines of the poem in the Italian tongue. About two
ing
years later he set himself another task.
Having served
as a Cabinet minister in
fifty
nine administrations, extending over

years, his colleagues in the Cabinet
had
been very numerous.

1
He
wished to
of Translations,"
first
See
second edition of the
"Volume
by Lord Lyttelton and Mr. Gladstone.
In the
edition,
is
somewhat
given.
curiously, only
one stanza of the Manzoni Ode
144
HIS
POWERS OF MEMORY
far
know how
complete
process, he
he could write
down
list
of them.
By
similar
succeeded in enumerating,
correctly, sixty-eight
names out of
the
sev-
enty, notwithstanding
many
shifts
and changes which took place

composition of the Cabinets.
of not
less
in
the
A
it
record
is
than
seventy colleagues
;
almost unprecedented
esting to note,
as
and
is
inter-
by
the way, that the oldest,

himself,
compared with
was the Duke
of Wellington, born in 1769; while the
youngest
1852.
1
was
Mr. Asquith, born
in
Both Lord Palmerston and Lord Lansdowne
eclipsed
Mr.
Gladstone in the number of Cabinet colleagues.
Lord Pal-
merston
is
to be credited
with 76, and Lord Lansdowne with 74.
145
XIII
HIS PERSONAL CHARM AND
HOME
LIFE
THE was
brought
personal fascination of the

so great that
it
man
could only be
properly understood by those

in
social
who were
with
contact
close
him.
One had
to stand
by him
to
" go behind
scenes "
in order to appre-
ciate in full the dexterity

cian's
of the magi-
wand.
The moment one came

brought face to face
into his near presence one felt the peculiar spell.
When
with him political antagonists and detractors
succumbed
to
it
equally with
personal friends and admirers.

146
In short,
HIS
HOME
LIFE
people were drawn to him in spite of

themselves.
His magnetism could not

It is
be
resisted.
^
recorded that George

in a country-
North
once met Mr. Pitt
house, and wrote that he was sorry to

find that " so
bad a
politician
was so
very pleasant a man." ^
Many
opponents
of Mr. Gladstone,
who
casually
met him
similar
in social circles, not only
made
confessions, but also often
had the grace
to admit that their preconceived notions
of him had been mistaken.
The
his
spell
was partly attributable to

courtesy,
natural
charm of manner, and polish

still
of bygone days, and perhaps

so to the
more
power
that he
at
had of making
their
ease,
those
around
him
of
placing himself en rapport with them, of

1
ister.
Son of Lord North

See Lord Holland's
(third Earl of Guilford),
Prime MinParty," vol.
2
i.
" Memoirs of
the
Whig
p. 34.
147
MR. GLADSTONE
unbending himself to them without the
least affectation.
It is
it
probable that he
never
knew what
was to be bored.
himself to
He
certainly never allowed
exhibit any sign of boredom.

the same to every one
He
was
the same
to the
lowest as to the highest in the land, the
same
to a foe as to a friend, the
same
to
a nonentity as to a notoriety, the

to the school-room girl as to the
same
most
never
fashionable lady of society.
He
exhibited intellectual
superiority.
He
always placed himself on a level with a

person with
whom
he was conversing.
interests,
With
it
the untold
number of his
that
would seldom happen
some sub-
ject in
common
could not be found, and

range of information
so wide was
that there
his
was hardly any matter about

his
which he did not know more than

neighbor.
But
if
by chance the conver148
HIS
sation turned
HOME
LIFE
on a topic with which he
had
little
or
no acquaintance, he showed
listener, being
himself a keen
ever anxious
to enlarge his store of knowledge.
He
was not only the acme of "agreeableness" in society; he was a brilliant conversationalist.
Whether
the subject un-
der discussion was

politics or
a question of high
some
insignificant matter
about
it
dress or fashion, he threw himself into
with equal earnestness and vigor.

thing
specially noticeable
One
Mr.
about
Gladstone's table-talk
was the absence
of all offences against the canons of syntax.
In
ordinary
conversation
little
most
or
people unconsciously pay
no
heed to the grammatical construction of

their sentences.
their talk, that
So
if it
slipshod, indeed,
is
were taken down

writer,
word
for
word by a shorthand
they would be surprised at the badness

149
MR. GLADSTONE
of their
own
English.
But
in the case
of Mr. Gladstone, so easy and natural
was the flow of words which always

into the right place at the right
fell
moment,
the strict
his talk
and so ingrained
in
him was
that
observance of grammar,
would
at
any time have stood the ordeal
of a verbatim report.
And
yet
there
was nothing pedantic about

sational language.
his conver-
He
was not a wit

it
himself, but he ap-
preciated
in
others.
He
held that
Aristophanes and Shakespeare had claims

to be considered the
literature.
two
greatest wits in
He was by no means deficient

Although he was not quick
he
in
humor, and had a strong sense of the
ridiculous.
to see a refined jest or a hon mot, yet
greatly enjoyed
common
jokes; and in
telling or listening to stories,

heartily.
.
he laughed
150
HIS
It
HOME
LIFE
is
has been said that great genius
incompatible with
If that be a rule,
domestic happiness.
Mr. Gladstone proved

it.
a notable exception to
life
His home
was singularly happy.

as
is
He
was a
devoted husband; and,

that devotion
well known,
recipro-
was continuously
cated by the wife
who had
shared his
joys and sorrows, his triumphs and defeats,
for nearly sixty years,
and whose
one absorbing thought in

to minister to his wants,
life
was how
how to lighten the strain upon him, how to conceal worries from him, how to save him trouble, how to devise relaxation for him, how " to keep him in sickness and
in health."
He
was
also the fondest
of
parents.
His sons and daughters,
all in
their respective ways,
were "the apple
of his eye," and their constant care and

devotion to him were ever a source of
151
MR. GLADSTONE
comfort,
pleasure,
last
and
gratification
I
to
him.
In the
interview which
had
with him, a few weeks before his death,
he told
he so
me that one much wished
of the reasons
to die
why
feel-
was the
ing that he was overtaxing the kindness
and attention of those nearest and dearest

to him.
In short, to see Mr. Gladstone at his

best,
it
was necessary to see him

at
in his
home
Hawarden.
of his
Several
faithful
representations
home
life
have
at-
lately appeared; and, therefore,
any
tempt to reproduce
repetition of that
better told.
it
here would be a
which has already been

struck one most was
What
the dignified simplicity of the establish-
ment, the courteous manner in which he
played the part of host, the ease with
which he unbent to
serve with
his guests, the unre-
which he discoursed,
152
princi-
HIS
pally at table.
HOME
LIFE
him
at
Anybody who visited Hawarden in the expectation of

him hold
forth
hearing
on the
politics
of the day, whether he happened to be in
power or
in opposition,
would have been
grievously
disappointed.
to
He
on
was
al-
ways ready
draw
freely
his store
of reminiscences, to discuss current topics,

to express his views
sons.
on books and
politics
per-
But contemporary
were
nearly a tabooed subject.
153
XIV
HIS RELIGIOUS VIEWS
ITto
is
always a delicate matter to refer
any man's
religious
principles.
But, as religion was one of the principal
keys to Mr. Gladstone's character,

difficult
it
is
to
omit
all
reference to that
It
sacred subject in his case.
was
re-
ligion that inspired the deepest motives
which actuated
animated
as private.
his
It
his conduct.
life,
Indeed,
it
whole
public as well
was with him a great conand the leading principle

In his mind belief in " a
trolling force
of his actions.
Divine governing power, to which we

154
HIS RELIGIOUS VIEWS

are to account for every thought
ceive, for every
we
^
con-
word we
utter,"
it
was
implanted when he was a boy;
there
its
took fixed
root,
and
it
ever deepened
soil.
hold in that congenial
The
truth
of Christianity was to him the most

assured reality.
said to have at
Doubts can hardly be

any time seriously troudifficulties
bled him;
nor could
ever
avail to shake his convictions or lessen

his enthusiasm.
He
believed that "re-
ligion could be
harmonized with science,"
and
that " religion of authority was
comHis
elo-
patible with freedom of thought."

faith
was
to use
Lord Rosebery's
quent words
" the faith, the pure faith
of a child, confirmed by the experience
and conviction of manhood." ^

1 See
Various
Mr. Gladstone's speech

on April 26, 1883.
in the
House of Commons on
the second reading of the Parliamentary Oaths Act
Amend-
ment
2
Bill
See Hansard, 4th
series, vol. Iviii. p.
87.
MR. GLADSTONE
positions in the Anglican
Church have
those
been assigned to him.
By
who
knew him
best,
he was probably always
regarded as the most loyal and devoted

of her members.
But
in the
more
preju-
diced eyes of others, he was at times a

Papist in disguise, and at other times
a powerful opponent of the Church of
Rome.
not a
plicity
Bred up
in
the
traditions of
Presbyterianism, he retained to the last

little
of the
spirit
of severe sim-
and solemn reverence associated
with the rehgion of his childhood; but

in early
manhood he undoubtedly
be-
came
ions
identified with the religious opin-
and aspirations of the " Oxford
School," and transferred his sympathies

to the Tractarian
movement.
life
He
had a
robust belief in the
and mission of
the English Church, regarding her as the
most
faithful representative
of the Church
156
HIS RELIGIOUS VIEWS
of Christ.
He was devoid of bigotry and

Wherever
the
sectarianism.
tal doctrines
fundamen-
of Christianity were consci-
entiously held, he was ready to express

his
sympathy with members of
all
de-
nominations, however different might be

their ecclesiastical
standpoint from his
own.
In his
own
practice he
was scrupu-
lously careful about the observances of

religion.
Few laymen
to
ever studied their
Bible with more assiduous and reverent

care.
Sunday
him was
rest
the Lord's
Day
the
day of
and
worship.
Nothing
short of urgent necessity hin-
dered him from attending church every
Sunday more than once; and he was a

regular and frequent communicant.
On
Sundays he avoided,
doing ordinary work.
for
as far as possible,
On
week-days,
some
forty years of his

157
life,
he rarely
MR. GLADSTONE
failed,
when
residing at
Hawarden,
to be
present at an early morning service, held

in the village
sion,
church
and on one occain years,
though advanced
he made
a point of attending a service of the
Holy Communion, arranged

venience of the
colliers, at
for the cona. m.
on a
week-day.
In his home, family prayers
were said every morning, and on Sunday

evenings there was a short family service,
at
which
his
household was present in
full force.
The moral
teachings of Christianity
were not only professed by Mr. Gladstone,

but they were practised by him.
It
was
due to
this profession,
followed by prac-
tice, that
he displayed such intolerance
of wrong and cruelty, such sympathy with

the suffering and oppressed, such love for
peace and freedom.
158
XV
SOME OF HIS OPINIONS ON OTHERS
BEING
man
of strong character,
Mr. Gladstone naturally formed

strong likes and dislikes.
With
a dis-
position kindly and generous, his likes
preponderated over his dislikes ; but
at-
tached though he was to his friends, he never sought the friendship of those
who
evidently cared no longer to be friends
with him.
refer to his
It is
obviously impossible to
sur-
judgment of persons who

it
vived him; but

esting to record
may
not be uninter-
some of his opinionsabout
men
of mark
who had preceded him.

159
MR. GLADSTONE
The two
self
statesmen on
whom Mr.
Gladstone probably most founded him-
were Mr. Canning and Sir Robert

In matters of foreign policy, Mr.
Peel.
Canning was the man

stone aspired to
whom follow. He
Irish
Mr. Gladcould not
but regard with misgivings and regrets

Sir
Robert Peel's
policy,
which
constituted " a black page " in the his-
tory of that great minister; nor did Mr.
Gladstone consider that Sir Robert's real
knowledge of finance and of trade questions
was commensurate with the sucand masterly manner

in
cessful
which he
But,
in
handled economic measures.
general matters of domestic policy, Mr.
Gladstone looked upon Sir Robert Peel

as the safest
est
of all guides, and the greatadministrators.

far as to say in
of
all
Indeed,
he
once went so
"
my hearing,
Taken
all
round. Peel was the greatest

i6o
HIS OPINIONS
ON OTHERS
With
his
man
ever knew."
profound
admiration for Mr. Canning as well as

for Sir
Robert Peel, Mr. Gladstone was
never tired of referring to the debts which
he owed to them by
examples.
their precepts
and
Of his immediate
of his
contemporaries
first
who
half
were also colleagues during the

political career, there
for
was probably
no one
whom
Mr. Gladstone had

Sidney
more
affectionate regard than for
Herbert (Lord Herbert of Lea), whose

high character, shrewdness, and intrepidity,
together with his " gentleness, tender-
ness,
and simplicity," combined
to
make
him, in Mr. Gladstone's estimation, the

ideal of a
man
in public
life.
The
else,
colleague on
whom
he unques-
tionably leaned
more than on any one
during the quarter of the century

last
preceding his
assumption of
i6i
office,
MR. GLADSTONE
was Lord Granville.
the highest
store
Mr. Gladstone
set
on Lord Granville's
judgment, dexterity, and tact; and he

rarely took
any course or came to any

first
important decision without

ing Lord Granville.
consult-
Between the two
men, greatly
spects,
as they varied in
many
re-
there
was the
closest
political
brotherhood.
In short, what one wanted
the other suppliedo
Another colleague
whom Mr.
Glad-
stone regarded with special affection was
John
Bright, to
whom
Mr. Gladstone
refer
used in familiar terms occasionally to

as
"honest John."
The "grand moral

high principle, the
tone" which characterized Bright's sayings
and doings,
his
consistency of his public career and solidarity of his character, appealed with
special
force
to
felt
Mr. Gladstone;
162
and
acutely as he
breaches of political
HIS OPINIONS
friendship, there
ON OTHERS
was no one with
whom
he parted company with a heavier heart

than John Bright
when he
left
the govfelt
ernment
in 1882,
and again when he
unable to support the policy which was

enunciated for Ireland in 1886.
There was,
diality in
as
is
well known, no cor-
the
relations
between Lord
Indeed,
ever sat
Palmerston and Mr. Gladstone.

it is
probable that no two
men
together in the same Cabinet for six consecutive years
who had
less in
common
vital
with
one another, or
little.
who
understood
each other so
What
was of
importance in the judgment of the one
seemed
to the other to be comparatively
immaterial.
Mr. Gladstone used

jest, that in
to say,
not wholly in
attending Cab-
inet meetings in 1859-65,
he not unfre-
quently took the precaution of carrying

his resignation " in his pocket."
It
was
163
MR. GLADSTONE
not that he failed to respect Lord Palmerston's high qualities as a leader of
men and
to
a leader in Parliament.
But
Mr. Gladstone Lord Palmerston apsacrifice inter-
peared to be too ready to

ests
at
home
to
interests
abroad
and
while excellent at "sounding the big
drum," to be commonly credited with a

larger
amount of
political
courage than
entitled.
that to
which he was properly

rival,
Of
field,
his greatest
Lord Beacons-
from
whom
Mr. Gladstone ad-
mitted that he was " separated by longer
and
larger differences than perhaps ever
separated two persons brought into constant contact in the transaction of public
business," he
seldom spoke
in really dis-
paraging terms.
He
had conceived that

in character
Mr.
and
Disraeli
in reality
was wanting
of conviction ; was "laugh-
ing in his sleeve," and was playing the

164
HIS OPINIONS
ON OTHERS
it
game of
politics as if
this
were a game of
sincerity en-
chance; and
want of
gendered a feeling of
distrust
and appreit
hension in Mr. Gladstone, as
had pre-
viously done in Sir Robert Peel.
But
Mr. Gladstone had the

for
greatest respect
gifts
Lord Beaconsfield's remarkable

his strength
of
will,
his long-sighted
persistency of purpose, his
power of
all,
self-
government, and, most of

political
his great
courage.^
traits in
There were, moreMr.

Disraeli's charac-
over,
ter
two
which he specially admired.
These
were Mr.
Disraeli's devotion to his wife
and
his love for his
own
race.
He
also
held in genuine esteem Mr. Disraeli's
parliamentary
conduct
under
adverse
circumstances, and he once told
me
that
he considered Disraeli to be "the most

1 See Hansard, 3d series, vol. cclxi. pp. 38-45.
proposal for erecting a public
Speech on
monument
to
Lord Beaconsfield
on
May
9,
1881.
165
MR. GLADSTONE
extraordinary personality that there had
ever been in Parliament."
Of
other
contemporaries
to
whom
Mr. Gladstone not unfrequently

Mr. Lowe may be cited
ered that Mr.
as
referred,
an instance.
In sheer intellect Mr. Gladstone consid-
Lowe had few
equals ; and,
according to Mr. Gladstone's estimate,
nothing in the records of parliamentary

debate
a
was
entitled to rank higher as
masterpiece of reasoning
than
Mr.
Lowe's speeches on Parliamentary Reform.
But Mr. Gladstone knew no one
of more mixed and contradictory qualities

than Mr.
Lowe
" splendid
;
in attack,
but most weak in defence

hibiting pluck
at times exat
beyond measure, but
other times pusillanimity almost amount-
ing to cowardice; one day headstrong
and independent, and the next day helpless as
a child to walk alone; capable

i66
HIS OPINIONS
ON OTHERS
of tearing anything to pieces, but of

constructing nothing."
In Mr. Gladstone's later days the two
men
in the political fray
who probably
That which
his "
interested
him most were Lord Randolph

Mr. Gladstone about
nim-
Churchill and Mr. Parnell.

chiefly impressed
Lord Randolph Churchill was

ble-mindedness
"
his quickness in see-
ing where the strong points of attack and

the
weak
points of defence lay, and in
gauging the feeling of the House of
Commons.
more
had
his life
Had Lord Randolph

and more
had
principle
" ballast," and
been spared, Mr. Gladstone
believed that to the
man who had attacked
him
so often, with no scruples and with

for
no respect
weight of years, there

his "bril-
would have been assured by

liant cleverness " a
remarkable name in
political history.
Parnell was an enigma

167
MR. GLADSTONE
to
Mr. Gladstone
;
as
he was to most
other people
the
but the genius of the man,
extraordinary hold
which he had
life
over his followers, the
of mystery
which he
led, and his " self-contained-
ness," exercised
no small
in
fascination for
Mr. Gladstone,
whose opinion Parnell
was the "greatest leader" Ireland had

ever had.
Of
those
to
whom
he had come across
entitled
be considered as practical
authorities
on the subject of political econin his estima-
omy, no one stood higher

tion than Joseph
Hume,
in the sense
thrift
;
of
being a
real apostle
of public
and
the three
men whom
he regarded as most
subjects, as distin-
sound on economic
guished from practical finance, were Sir
George Cornewall Lewis, the
first
Lord
Wolverton, and Mr. Bertram Currie.

Living to the advanced age of eightyi68
HIS OPINIONS
eight,
ON OTHERS
such varied circles
his
and moving
since
in
ever
he
finished
university
in
all
career,
Mr. Gladstone probably came

a
greater
contact with
sorts
life
number of
and conditions of men
in public
than any other individual of this
century; but great as that
number
was,
there were several persons with
whom
made
of
he
much
regretted
not to have
personal
these
acquaintance.
Foremost
to
is
was Lord Melbourne,

it
whom,
curious
living as he did until 1848,

that
Mr. Gladstone should not have been
introduced.
No
two public men were

all
probably more essentially different in

respects than
Lord Melbourne and Mr.
Gladstone, except that they had in com-
mon
love
for
theology.
But
Mr.
Gladstone had no small admiration for
Lord Melbourne,
that a
sufficiently
to
whom
he thought
high place had not

169
MR. GLADSTONE
been accorded in political history.
of the conspicuous
None
men
of the present
reign appeared to Mr. Gladstone to possess in a

acteristics
more marked degree the

Mr. Gladstone would
char-
of a gentleman than Lord Melillustrate
bourne.
his
meaning by Lord Melbourne's con-
duct in connection with the appointment

of Dr.
Hampden
to the
Regius ProfessorBefore Lord
ship of Divinity in 1836.
Melbourne had made the appointment

he had consulted Archbishop Howley,
and
his
Grace had acquiesced in the
Prime Minister's proposal.
As soon
as
the storm broke out about the appoint-
ment, the Archbishop threw over Lord
Melbourne and denounced
his
action.
in
But Lord Melbourne, though he had
his possession the Archbishop's original

letter,
abstained, to his
own
detriment,
from revealing the truth and denouncing

170
HIS OPINIONS
his Grace.
ON OTHERS
" That," said Mr. Gladstone,

like
"was behaving something

gentleman."
a real
The two men besides Lord
whom Mr. Gladstone might have known, and whom he most regretted
Melbourne
'not
knowing, were
Sir
Walter Scott and
Dr. Arnold.
Among
whom
the other persons of real

first
mark
belonging to the
half of this century

in
Mr. Gladstone held
high
re-
gard, the
Duke
of Wellington
may
be
mentioned.
it
In Mr. Gladstone's view,
was
difficult to overrate the influence
for
good which
the
Duke, by
his
com-
manding
personality and personal weight,
exercised over his fellow-peers in counselling them, for the

after
first
twenty years
to
the
Reform Act of 1832,

demands.
be
moderate, and in persuading them not

to resist popular
Of the men who had gone

171
before him,
MR. GLADSTONE
there
was no one whose memory he cher-
ished
more
dearly,
and even worshipped,

that,
than that of Burke, notwithstanding

in
Mr. Gladstone's opinion, "the mis'
chief resulting from the
Reflections out'
weighed what he did

religion,
for
freedom, justice,
and purity of government."

one
of
Burke's
last
For
distinguished
contemporaries of the
century Mr.
Gladstone had a
still
higher veneration,
and that was
for
George Washington.
" If there were a
row of
pedestals,"
Mr.
Gladstone once
said,
"on which
to. place
human
the
gods, and one were higher than
rest, I
should place Washington on
that pedestal as the
most
I
fitting
occupant
of
his
it,
so strongly
am
impressed with
moral elevation and greatness
of
character."
His
feeling toward the United States
as a nation
was almost
172
as cordial as that
HIS OPINIONS
ON OTHERS
of
which he had
the
in
for the first President
republic.
He
had impHcit beUef
the future of the EngHsh-speaking
races on both sides of the Atlantic.
The
ultimate
if
not the immediate prospect
of those
races, united in
blood and lan-
guage, was to him, as he once expressed

himself, "majestic, inspiring, andi^onsoyatory."
Nay,
further,
and
a
it
is
ipt-
cially interesting to note at a
time when
there
dial
apparently
feeling
exists
more
cor-
between
England
and
the United States

period,
than at any former

that
it
he considered
Failure
later,
would be
"nothing short of a crime, were there

not an understanding
ples."
among
these peothis
to
achieve
end,
sooner or
"
would be the renunci-
ation of the
most peaceful primacy that
ever was presented to the

standing."
173
human
under-
XVI
CONCLUSION
A
will
SKETCH
of Mr. Gladstone lends

expansion.
itself to indefinite
The
limits,
however, of a short monograph

it
have been reached ; and the object of

have been served
if it
should help
to focus from a near standpoint, and thus
lead others to appreciate more thoroughly,

the leading traits of the character of the
man whose death England mourns, and

whose
familiar presence here
on earth
is
missed, and (as one
may
well believe)
will continue to be missed, not only
by
his
own
country,
which he loved so
174
CONCLUSION
dearly,
but by other countries whose
welfare he had specially at heart.
That Mr. Gladstone had

the last person to have claimed
failings, it
would be absurd to deny; and he was immunity

from them himself
At times he was
other times he
too impulsive; his zeal got the better
of his wisdom.
At
al-
lowed himself to give too much play to

sentiment.
His judgment
was
often
mistaken.
He may
not have been free
from the extravagances, inconsistencies,
and
mystifications
to
which were
if
freely
imputed
him; though,
they were
so conspicuous in
him
as his
it
opponents
that,
have alleged, how came

these
characteristics
while
to
are
repugnant
plain Englishmen, he exercised supreme

influence
over a large
section
that
of the
be,
community*?
he
However
175
may
was
unquestionably
imbued with
MR. GLADSTONE
high principles; and to high principles
he appealed.
toleration,
The
furtherance of liberty,
and progress, the amendment

of his fellow-creatures, the
of the
relief
lot
of suffering, the wise husbanding
of the nation's resources
in short, the
promotion of better government

his aims.
in
were
What
he desired most to find

in measures, equity.
men was character^
He
believed, persistently and implicitly,
in the existence
of truth, and this belief

instil
he endeavored to
in
others.
It
was, no doubt, a high standard
per-
haps too high to be attained.
But, high
though that standard may have been, he
may
all
Furely be credited with having used
the great intellectual and moral powers
with which he had been endowed in perseveringly trying to approach the attain-
ment of it.
Those powers were, indeed, singularly
176
CONCLUSION
great
;
but that which was most remark-
able about
him was not

in
so
much
that he
was unique
one particular respect or
unrivalled in another, as that he
com-
bined
so
many
splendid
qualities
quickness of comprehension combined with patience of investigation; fervent
enthusiasm and energy combined with

vast experience
trative
and industry; adminis-
and
initiative capacity
;
combined
with constructive genius
deep religious
conviction combined with strength of

character
;
oratorical
;
powers with powers
of exposition
nobility with simplicity;
high-mindedness with humility; concentration with versatility

;
courage with
with
re-
sourcefulness ;
courtesy
dignity;
heartfelt
and dogged determination with

sympathy.
It
was
this
extraordinary
combination of faculties possessed in a
preeminent
degree
by one individual
177
"
MR. GLADSTONE
that gave
Mr. Gladstone the commandaf-
ing position which he held in state

fairs,
the
sway which he exercised over

and the high place
his fellow-citizens,
which he won
in their affections.
The
his
ultimate verdict on Mr. Gladstone the

statesman
policy,
that
is,
on the count of
foreign as well as domestic
in
must be given by the impartial

but
it is
historian;
probably not unsafe to say that

will
no man
the
occupy a higher pedestal
row
erected for the "
human gods
in
of the nineteenth century,
England,
than William Ewart Gladstone.
178
153 79
^^ ^^
APR
N.
-,9
MANCHESTER

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NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

THE LIBRARY OF CONGI CONGRESS

By Charles Scribner's Sons

V4b <4^ -^*^^ -Mc'-?^'=fc

THESE PAGES ARE

been said of Mr.

Gladstone, the statesman

liament for a nearly unbroken term of

held office under

for twenty-seven years,

served four times as the Queen's

Prime Minister during

period of twelve years and a half

task of recording fully and faithfully his

public career will tax the power of a

not only that the mate-

have to be digested are

and that much of them

cannot with propriety be turned to im-

mediate account, but, in the same way

tainous height must withdraw to an appreciable distance from

represent the proportions truly, so

desires to write with

allow an interval of time to elapse before a just retrospect can be

the subject of his pen.

has stood by him, and the fresher are

and promptly ought the likeness to admit of being drawn.

ousness, for one

know Mr. Gladstone

in the closest contact

for a considerable time, to

to give a just notion of the man^

however imperfectly, some of

and accomplishments, some of

aims, and objects, his likes and dislikes,

and the general disposition of

difficulties are specially great in

the present case.

For, not only

subject one who, whatever

statesmanship, will be admitted to

be one of the most extraordinary

England has ever produced, but

having long been under the glamour

and many misgivings.

His Courage and Moral

Gladstone as Party Leader Parliamentary Leader, and Politi cal Colleague

was Abused, and how Bore Abuse

Other Conservative Tendencies His Sanguine Temperament

His Alleged Love of Power and Many-sidedness

Administrative Capacity and A Day's Command of Temper

Gladstone Exercised Crown Patronage and Judged Character .

which Mr. Gladstone

that of the orator

had endowed him

preeminent degree with every requisite

tude while he was speaking was

was not a gesture that was awkward;

was not a movement of the body

which he was expressing.

of his countenance greatly varied; and

were looks which were reproachful, sympathetic,

There were smiles which