Justin McCarthy: The Story of Gladstone's Life

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STONE'S
THE STORY
OF
GLADSTONE'S LIFE
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE IN

From
a Photograph privately taken in the Library 0/ by the late Rev. H.
J.
894.
Rectory,
Hawarden
Palmer.
THE STORY
OF
GLADSTONE'S
BY
LIFE
JUSTIN M C CARTHY
AUTHOR OF
A HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES,' 'LIFE OF
SIR
ROBERT
PEEL,' ETC.
SECOND EDITION
REVISED AND ENLARGED
LONDON
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK

1898
Published January
18,
1898
iJ
Second Edition, revised and enlarged, published June
1)
SANTA BARBARA
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

TlIE story of Gladstone's
to
its life is
now
all
told.
It
came
end on the morning of Ascension Day, the 19th

1898.
of
May
The long
and, on the whole, singularly

called a
happy story had what must be

chapter.
Swift, Sir
happy closing
life
In describing the final passages of the
of
Walter Scott has said

"
in
powerful and touch-
ing words that

fell."
the stage darkened before the curtain
It
was not so with the great man whose death

is
the whole civilised world
now
lamenting.
fell
;
The
stage
did not darken before the curtain
the light of peace
and
love, of Christian resignation and of Christian hope,
shone over that earthly scene on which the curtain has

just fallen at
in this
Hawarden
Castle.
have thought
it
well
volume which
tells
the completed story to dwell
at
some length on the
closing
months of that marvellife.
lously active, splendid,
and successful
all
have told
of those months as
all
we
read of them here, as

interest
us,
we
followed
with
intense
from day to day
the
accounts which
kept
in
mind and heart
at
least, within touch of what was happening at Cannes,
vi
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Bournemouth,
his
life
and
lived
and
Hawarden.
full
;
Gladstone
had
to
the
fully
very than
no man could have

did the
;
enjoyed
more
he
life
which
life
Providence had ordained for him to lead
all
compact of active beneficence, of great work accomplished, and of exalted spiritual insight and endeavour.
It
is
no rash prediction to say that English history

it
never will contain, as
never has contained, a nobler

is
chapter than that which
recorded by the
life
and the
death of Gladstone.
JUSTIN
2\th
M C CARTHY.
May
1898.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION

This book
because
it
is is
called
The Story of Gladstone's Life

first,
intended to describe
and beyond
everything
story
is
else,
the course of one great career.

it
The
make
not told for politicians only, nor does
any pretence at a special knowledge of political facts.

have had recourse to no correspondence or documents which are not accessible to every student of contemI
porary English history.

Gladstone's
life
have told the story of Mr.

has presented
itself to
just as
it
me,
and as
might present to any a great life moving through and guiding politics, not merely a history of the politics through which the great
I
life
audience the story of
has moved.
have been fortunate enough to be
able to watch that career through
many
years,
under
I
conditions of
peculiar advantage for an observer.
offer to the public, not a political treatise, not
even a
life
study of our political epoch, but an account of the

of a man.
C JUSTIN M CARTHY.
November
897.
CONTENTS
CHAP.
[.
PAGE
"
The Gledstanes "
Eton and Oxford

3-
Gladstone's Introduction to Public Life
4-
Gladstone's First Parliament
5-
Gladstone
in Office
6.
Gladstone's First Book Gladstone's Marriage

.
78.
The Free-Trade Struggle
9-
The Free-Trade Struggle Member for Oxford
io.
1
Don
Pacifico
Death of Sir Robert Peei

Bill
.
1.
The Neapolitan Letters The Ecclesiastical Titles

Gladstone and Disraeli
.
2.
IS-
as Rivals
M- Gladstoxk and Bright
A
1
Coalition Government
6.
The Crimean War The
....
War
17-
Ionian Islands
18.
The Repeal of the Taxes on Education
19-
The American
Civil
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
CHAP.
PAGE
20. 21.
Gladstone Supports Popular Suffrage
226
The
Irish
State
Church and Land
Tenure
243
Questions
22.
23.
National Education
Other Reforms
.
256
The
Irish University Question
24. 25. 26. 27.

28. 29.
30.
The Alabama Question
......
. .
.261
269
274 283
The Tide Turns

Gladstone
in
Retirement
Achilles Recalled
294
.
.
The Two Sphinxes
Ireland and Egypt

is
304
323
Home Rule
"
The Long
Day's Task
Done
.
"
. .
.
344
31.
32.
Gladstone's Busy Leisure
.358
375
Two
The
Public Appearances
Visit to
33.
34. 35.
36.
Cannes
Back to England
Home
"
at Last
Ascension Day 1898
....... ....... ......

"
383 398
416
438 446
37.
The Grand Old Man
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Printed separately from the Text
William Ewart Gladstone
graph
William Ewart Gladstone's Birthplace
..........
in
FACING PAGE
1894.
From
a Photo-
Frontispiece
2 8
Lady Gladstone (Mr. Gladstone's Mother) William Ewart Gladstone in 1833. By George Hayter William Ewart Gladstone in 1837. By W. Bradley
.
...
.
. .
30
68
72
The Misses Glynne.
By
George Richmond
in in in in

1840.
1843. 1854.

By By George Richmond From a Photograph

By George
. .
Joseph Severn
84
88
170
1857.
Frederick
Watts
Mrs. Gladstone
in
184
1857.
By E.
in
R. Saye
.188
.
1859.
Park.
From
a Photograph
196
Family Group William Ewart Gladstone
in
Hawarden
in in
1873.

William Ewart Gladstone.
Mrs. Gladstone.
1879.
From a Photograph 222 From a Photograph 272 By Sir John E. Millais 276
. .
By
in
in
E. Hader
....
.
. . .
280
From
a Photograph
1880.
1881.
.284
308
312

By 11'. B. Richmond From a Photograph
William Ewart Gladstone and his Grandson.

ph taken in
1
From
.
a Photo.
88 1
-316
Xll
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
FACING PAGE
Mr. and
Mrs. Gladstone with their Children and Grand-
children.
Photographed in 1884
in
.318
33
.

Mrs. Gladstone in 1888.
1885.
in 1887.
By Sir John E. By Frank Holl
Millais 328
.
By
in
Professor Hubert Herkomer
Hawarden
William
Castle.
From
a Photograph
1896.
....
Premiers
in
346
358
Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone
From
a Photograph
366
Ewart Gladstone with the Colonial
1897
37o
Printed in the Text

PAGE
Thomas Gladstone (Mr.

Anne Gladstone (Mr.
Gladstone's Grandfather)
his Sister (in
.
William Ewart Gladstone and
Childhood)
4
5
Gladstone's Sister)
Robertson Gladstone (Mr. Gladstone's Brother) Sir John Gladstone (Mr. Gladstone's Father)
Title-page of
thirteen
6
8
W.
.....
By
Slater
in
E. Gladstone's Virgil, signed at the age of

1 1
Lady Glynne.
Sir
73 74
75
Stephen Richard Glynne.
Mrs. Gladstone.
By Slater From Ivory Miniature

Childhood
Catherine Jessy Gladstone (deceased)
76 77 78
Mary Gladstone (Mrs. Drew),

Henry Neville Gladstone.
Herbert John Gladstone.
By Joseph Severn By Joseph Severn Miss Mary Gladstone (Mrs. Drew). By Sir E. Burnejones Miss Helen Gladstone. Countess Lovelace By William Ewart Gladstone in 184 1. By IV. H. Cubley William Ewart Gladstone in 1847. From Daguerreotype William Ewart Gladstone in 1884. From a Photograph
.
79 80
81
83
106
THE
STORY OF GLADSTONE'S
LIFE
CHAPTER
"
THE GLEDSTANES
it
"
I
is
THINK
may
take
for
granted that Mr. Gladstone
the greatest
English statesman
who has appeared

This,
during 'the
reign of
Queen
Victoria.
indeed,
seems to
criticism.
me
a statement of fact and not a subject for
We may all
have our different opinions as to
the policy involved at this time or that in the statesman-
ship of Mr. Gladstone.
Some
of us
may admire him

even
more
in his earlier
days,
some of us
in his later, or
his latest.
He may
for
be charged with inconsistency
charge which has naturally to be

great
made
of
against any
statesman,
in
the
essence
of
statesmanship
tendencies
consists
the
facts.
recognition
imminent
and actual
statesman
Nobody can
in
life
possibly be called a
who
starts
with a pack of political

to
nostrums
to
which
of
he
proposes
apply
inveterately
in
the
cure
every
constitutional
malady
is
the
State.
mind
like that of
Mr. Gladstone
inexorably
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
compelled to go on studying the changing conditions
of things, and
is
absolutely prohibited from applying
remorselessly the remedies of the day before yesterday

to
the
troubles
said
to
of to-day.
Many
years
ago John
"
Bright
me
that
Gladstone
was
always
struggling towards the light."
Such might indeed be the statement of Gladstone's whole career. He has

been
"
ever a fighter," like Robert Browning's hero

I
ever struggling towards the light.

best
I
propose to
tell,
as
can, the story of his rich

I
and noble
life.
Of
course
can
I I
tell
it
only from the outsider's point of

in
view
but
may
I
perhaps say
excuse of
my
enter-
prise that
interest,
affairs,
have followed and studied with the deepest
since
came
to
know anything
the career of Mr. Gladstone

of
of public
sat in
that
the
House
I
Commons
with him for
was fortunate enough to and I may ideas with him
many have much
years,
and that
interchange of
say
I
perhaps
was
admitted
to his friendship.
is
an Englishman only
by
1
birth.
in
He was
Rodney
born on the 29th of December

Liverpool, one of the chief
809,
Street,
residential streets of the city

still is,
a street which was, and
much occupied by
But
leading merchants, barristers,
and physicians.
from Scotland.
the
Mr.
Gladstone's
family
came
Many
generations ago the family bore
name
of Gledstane.
My
friend Mr.
George W. E.
Russell, in his
monograph on Gladstone, which belongs
WILLIAM KWART GLADSTONE'S BIRTHPLACE.

From
a Photograph by Messrs. Brown, Barnes,
& Bell of Liverpool.
"THE GLEDSTANES"
to
the series called

a
"
The Prime
little
Ministers of
Queen
their
Victoria,"
very delightful
book, explains the
meaning of the name.
The
family had
had
THOMAS GLADSTONE
(MR.
GLADSTONE'S GRANDFATHER).
abode from very early times
in
Lanarkshire.
"
is
"
The
derivation of the name," says Mr. Russell,
obvious
enough
found
Gled is a any one who has seen the spot. hawk, and that fierce and beautiful bird would have
to
its
natural
home among
the stanes, or rocks, of
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
the craggy moorlands which surround the fortalice of
Gledstanes."
"
"As
far
back as 1296," Mr. Russell

in
tells
us,
Herbert de Gledestane figures

of the lairds
the
Ragman
Roll as one
I."
who swore fealty to Edward

nothing
at
all.
By
and
degrees the
at
last
family estates became less and

practically
less,
became
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE AND HIS

From
a Piclw-c at
SISTER.
Hawardcn Castle.
removed
into a
The
latest surviving son of the family
neighbouring town and set up
in business as a maltster.
By
a
the time this man's grandson had been born the
family
name had been changed

and
it
into Gladstones.
all
Yet
as
little later
became that which we
know
one of the most
illustrious
names
like
in
Gladstone.
English history
accident,
By something
an
John
"
THE GLEDSTANES"
Gladstone, then the eldest son of the house, having
been
sent
to
Liverpool
on
business,
attracted
the
attention of a leading corn merchant of the town,
and
one
by
his advice settled there for good.
He became
a pure
of the great merchant princes of Liverpool, a

of Parliament,
member
Low-
and a baronet.
He was
ANNE GLADSTONE
(MR.
GLADSTONE'S SISTER).
at
From a Miniature
Hwwarden.
land Scotchman, and he married a Highland
Scotch-
woman.
The
pair
had six children, and the fourth son
was William Ewart Gladstone.
man
and
of great ability and energy

difficulties
John Gladstone was a

a
man
In
the
to
make
his
way through any

respect
political sense
and to win the honour

public and
relation-
of any
community.
in
he stood
somewhat the same
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
ship
the
towards his son William Ewart Gladstone that

first
Robert Peel occupied with regard to his One of William son, the great Sir Robert Peel.
Sir
Gladstone's elder brothers
remember
well in
Liver-
ROBERTSON GLADSTONE.
Photographed from the original by Mr. Watmough Webster, Chester.
pool,
where as
very young
man
spent several
years.
This brother, Mr. Robertson Gladstone, was a

of
singular
man
energy
and force
of character, of
genuine ability both
in politics
and
finance, a powerful
for
and impressive speaker, a
sort of
rough-hewn model
THE G LED STA NES "

his
He was a younger and much greater brother. man of somewhat uncouth appearance and eccentric
He was
about six
their
feet seven
ways.
inches in stature,
in
and people turned

streets
heads to look after him
the
of London, although, of course, in his native
Liverpool
he was too well known

I
to
be stared
at.
He
had, as
that
have
said, eccentric
ways, but he had no
ways
were ignoble
a
or
unmanly.
as
straightforward
politician
ever
He was as He had lived.

a
If
begun
life
as
Tory, but he
gradually became
Liberal, and, indeed, an

living
in
advanced Radical.
he were
our time, he would be a powerful and un-
compromising
opponent
in
of
Jingoism.
It
was
is
the
common common
belief
Liverpool,
still,
and
probably
the
belief there
that
in
Robertson Gladstone
the preparation of his
assisted his brother
William
budgets when William was again and again Chancellor

of the
Exchequer.
He was
eloquent
in
a strong,
unshapely sort of way, with a half- poetic gleam of

feeling
glancing
every
eldest
now and then

brother, Sir
through
his
speeches.
The
Thomas
Gladstone,
passed through
world
time.
politics,
I
life without advancing from his oldand made no particular mark upon his
have often thought that nature resolved to
make
a decided advance in the family history by the

of Robertson
creation
Gladstone,
and
that,
not yet
quite satisfied with her work, she tried again
and gave
William Ewart Gladstone to the world.
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Sir
John Gladstone, the

like
father,
was one of those
men who,
his
illustrious
son,
seemed
destined
never to grow old.
There
is
an interesting description
given of his ways with his children which
may
perhaps
SIR
JOHN GLADSTONE.
help to account for William Ewart Gladstone's extra-
ordinary
aptitude
for
debate.
One
of
his
friends
has told us that nothing was ever taken for granted
between Sir John Gladstone and
his sons.
He
family
started
and
on
kept alive
small
topics
constant
succession
of arguments
circle
and
on
large.
His
LADY GLADSTONE.
(WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE'S MOTHER.)
"THE GLEDSTANES"
appears
to
have been what the King of Navarre

his
in
Shakespeare's play says
court shall be
"
little
Academe."
his
Every lad was put on
his mettle to
defend
It
own
all
case or to
in the
damage
the case of another.
was
the
done
most perfect good-humour and with
full
part in
and unflagging enjoyment of those who took It must have been capital preparation for it.
the Oxford
Union and
Sir
for the debates in the
House of
John Gladstone was a great friend and admirer of George Canning. Young William Glad-
Commons.
stone was sent to begin his education at the vicarage

of Seaforth, a place in the neighbourhood of Liverpool.
Gladstone did not remain long at Seaforth.

i
At
the
age of eleven he was sent to Eton.
CHAPTER
II
ETON AND OXFORD

any foreigner glamour and the fascination which Eton exercises over the mind of
not,
It would
perhaps,
be easy to convey to
idea
untravelled
an
of
the
a school-boy
who
has any feeling for the picturesque,
the venerable, and the poetic. within the very
Eton
College stands
shadow of Windsor
Castle.
England
has nothing to show more beautiful than the landscape
which spreads around on every

in
side.
There
is
witchery
the river, in the woods, in the old historic Castle.

that the whole current of English
river.
I
One might almost say

certain, so
like
far
history streams on with that noble

as
am
not
my
travel
goes, whether
anything
Windsor landscapes, including with quite them the historical memories and associations, can be
those
found anywhere outside England.
So
far as
one can
judge, the whole effect impressed itself deeply on the
mind of
the
life
school -boy
William
fired
Gladstone.
All
through his
at the
he could become
with enthusiasm
studies
mere mention of Eton and
its
and
its
ETON AND OXFORD

memories.
student,
ii
He
seems
to
have worked
a
certain
in
hard
as
a
of
and,
indeed,
earned
amount
unpopularity by his persistence
regarding serious
study as part of his business and his duty.

untiring
at
He was
time
matics.
in
Greek and Latin, and occupied studying mathenever,

I
his holiday
He
a
in
believe,
classical
fan*
became
scholar
great
the
publii j Jjg
narrow and
Probably
scholarship
VIRGILIT
MARONIS
BUCOLICA.GEORGICA,
KT
pedantic
sense.
no
one
whose
JEN E
IS,
took that limited and practical
AD riDEM EDKTIOfUS
CHIUCOTTL
vol.
r.
JIEVNIi,
form ever really apprethe
ACCURATE LXPnESSA.
ciated
beauty
of
the
great
studied.
authors
whom
if
he
tl
I. 1
OXONII
You cannot
in
IUPENSIS N, DLI63; AYliJH & 1. A. usssir,
ap-
LONDINI.
ItU.
preciate Shakespeare
you
try-
are always occupied ing to parse
him.
Young
came
to
riTLE-PAGE
Gladstone
soon
GLADSTONE'S VIRGIL, SIGNED AT THE AGE OF THIRTEEN.

OF
W.
K.
have the most magnificent

appreciation of the soul and spirit and form and phrase
of the great Greek and Latin authors
whom
he loved.
He
or
persisted while at
religious
Eton
in
being an unostentatiously
pious and
student.
He
would not join

levity
in
countenance
any mockery or
about things
Yet which he had been taught to regard as sacred. " " about him, there was nothing whatever of the prig
12
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
his force of character
and
even then was such that he
compelled the most light-minded to respect him and his

ways.
Nor would he stand any

animals.
"
frolicsome cruelty to
dumb
"
He
stood forth," says Mr. Russell,
as the
the custom to torture at
champion of some wretched pigs which it was Eton Fair on Ash Wednesday,
bantered
and,
when
by
his
school-fellows
in
for
his
humanity, offered to write his reply
good round hand
upon
their faces."
This
is
the sort of a
boy whom
even school-boys must admire.
The
cipline
merits of the system of education and of dis-
adopted
at
Eton have been the subject of much
and complaint. The education given there is said by some commentators to consist of nothing but Latin and Greek, and of these superficially taught, and
criticism
without any attempt to instruct the learners in mathematics, physics, or metaphysics.

I
shall not
it
attempt to
as highly
go
into the subject further than to accept
probable
that
Eton
is,
or
was
in
Mr.
Gladstone's
school-days, a place where a
boy who loved learning

as he wanted, but
could acquire as
much knowledge
where a boy disinclined
for severe studies
was
left free
enough to indulge his indolent inclinations. A man of eminent authority was once asked whether a boy
would be looked down upon
trious
"
at
Eton
for
being indussignificant
:
in
if
his
studies.
The answer was
Not
he could do something else
well."
Such a
tastes
school would probably suit the peculiar
mind and
E TON A ND OXFORD
and aptitudes of a boy like young William Gladstone. He would soon find out for himself what studies suited
him
with
best,
all
and he was
might.
free
to apply himself to these
his
On
the other hand, a school with
different
modes of
training might merely force a pupil
along some broad and
common way without

Gladstone's
for
giving any
opportunity to his natural peculiarities to assert themselves.
Certainly
life
Mr.
predilection
all
through his
literary
was rather
than
for
studies
what may be termed mathematics or physics or
metaphysics.
is
One
its
thing to be said in favour of Eton
that
all
best and
most distinguished students

it
have
during
world.
looked
back
upon
course
"
with
love
and
affection
the whole
"
of their lives in the
outer
Floreat Etona
It
I
may
be called the motto of
the school.
is
the pious wish of every student of
Eton
whom
its
have ever met.

"
Such a
fact
in
itself
speaks for the school
with most miraculous organ,"
whatever
discipline.
past or present defects of training or of

It
was probably just the place from which young Gladstone would draw all the best it could give. Sir Roderick Murchison, the famous naturalist, has
left it
on record that Gladstone was
"
the prettiest
little
boy that ever went to Eton."
Most of us can
testify
is
from our own knowledge that Mr. Gladstone lately

the handsomest old
man who
ever went to Eton or

course,
anywhere
the
else.
Visitors to
Eton are shown, of
name
of Gladstone carved into a wall or a wood-
14
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
there.
work here and

to
But, naturally, no one ever goes
any place where a famous man once lived without being shown his name carved, as it is confidently
affirmed,
by
his
own hand.
At Eton
to
Gladstone's
closest friend
was that Arthur Hallam

late
whose
gifts
Lord Tennyson has inscribed one of his greatest poems, the " In Memoriam." Among his other mates were some whose names will long be
and virtues the
remembered
Frederick Tennyson,
;
for
example, brother
of the poet and himself a poet
Alexander Kinglake, the author of Eothen, and the historian of the Crimean
War
James Bruce, afterwards the famous Earl of

;
Elgin
Charles Canning, afterwards Earl Canning and
Viceroy of India, the

Indian Mutiny
of the Clemency Canning a nickname then given to him in scorn

votaries of a policy of slaughter,
to his
"
"
by the panic-stricken but now remembered
honour and to
bore
a
his
glory.
in
Young William Gladstone

and won
good part
the
athletic exercises of the school.
He
played football well
positive distinction at cricket.
He was
own
use,
very
fond of sculling, and kept a boat for his
and
he was then, as ever since, a tremendous walker.
He
walked very
delight
fast,
was
to
and he walked great distances. His wander about through all the lovely
places surrounding Windsor, in
boys of his
this
own age and

circle
of his
company with a few own tastes. Outside

Gladstone was not
inner
of his intimates
well
known
at Eton.
He
seems to have been neither
ETON AND OXFORD

popular nor unpopular
in
life
15
for
somewhat curious beginning one whose strength and energy of chara

it
acter
made
him.
in
his
after
years
impossible
for
any
one to avoid forming a very distinct opinion

against
for or
He
Eton
distinguished
"
himself decidedly in
"
the debates of the

ship
that
Eton Society
and
in
the editortells
of the
the
Miscellany.
in
Mr.
Russell
us
"
Eton
Society
Gladstone's
"
day was
Its
remarkable group of
intensely Tory.
jects,
brilliant
boys."
tone was
Current politics were forbidden subopinion

disclosed
itself
but
political
through
the thin disguise of historical or academical questions.
The execution
'
of Strafford and Charles the First, the

'
characters of Oliver Cromwell and Milton, the

Social
Contrat
of
Rousseau, and
the
events
of the
French
Revolution laid bare the speakers' political tendencies

as
effectually
as
if
the
conduct of Queen
Caroline,
the foreign policy of Lord
Castlereagh, or the
Repeal
of the Test and Corporation Act, had been the subject
of
debate."
We
all
know
the
tremendous earnestinto
ness
which
school -boys
throw
the
discussions
of their debating
societies.
Probably Mr. Gladstone

in
was never more
thoroughly
earnest
at
the
very
zenith of his statesmanship,
and when a speech from
him might decide the fate of a ministry or a policy, than he was when he addressed the Eton Society on
the subject of popular education.
He was
the
means
of introducing Mr. Kinglakc to this Eton Society.
He
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
a
took
prominent
part
in
the starting of the Eton
He became its editor and its most prolific contributor. He was actually the author of a humorous ode to the shade of Wat Tyler
Miscellany.
!
Shade of him whose
valiant tongue
!
high the song of freedom sung Shade of him whose mighty soul
On
Would pay no
taxes on his poll
and
much more,
versical
in the
same elaborate
it
strain of the
mock-heroic.
Only the other day,

freak of a
may
be
said, this
humorous
school-boy was rescued

critic,
from oblivion by a serious Tory

it
who brought
up
as conclusive evidence that
Mr. Gladstone had
been from his earliest years the consistent advocate of
anarchy and rapine.
Such a
critic
us of that contemporary of Swift

to point out that there could be
may well remind who took the trouble

no such places and
people in the world as those which Lemuel Gulliver

professed to have visited in his travels.
Gladstone remained at Eton until the end of 1827.
He
then studied for a few months with private tutors,
and he became fond of gymnastics, of turning, and of
wood
carving.
fields
He
still
delighted
in
his
rambles
through
in
and woods,
in his
long, rapid walks,
and
his
chosen companionships.
In October
1828 he
went up
to Christ Church, Oxford. at Christ
There were many
young men then
Church who afterwards made
distinguished careers for themselves in the Church and
ETON AND OXFORD

in
17
law and
other
in political
life.
Among
the undergraduates
at
colleges
late
in
Oxford
were
Henry Edward
;
Manning, the
Cardinal-Archbishop of Westminster
Sidney Herbert, afterwards one of Gladstone's closest

friends
and colleagues in Parliamentary life Robert and Sir George Lowe, afterwards Lord Sherbrooke Cornewall Lewis, a man of wonderful gifts and acquire; ;
ments, curiously forgotten by the Englishmen of to-day
man who,
but for his unhappy defects of voice
and
articulation,
might have been one of the greatest
speakers in the
House of Commons.
There was some
doubt
in
Gladstone's family as to whether he ought to
be sent to Oxford or to Cambridge.
Now,
it
would
seem
for
to
most of us that there was an absolute
necessity,
the sake of historical fitness, that he should have

sent,
been
as
he was
sent,
to
Oxford.
in
its
The whole
atmosphere of the place, steeped

tions
peculiar tradi-
and
its
medievalism, seemed exactly suited to the
peculiar
temperament
and
genius
of
the
youthful
Gladstone.
Members
of the two universities are conrivals
stantly arguing as to
which of the
can show the

Into this
more splendid bead-roll of great students.

controversy
I
have no inclination to enter.

;
Each can
produce a magnificent record
but
should think an
unbiassed observer might be inclined one

other, according as his taste or
way
led
or the
temperament
call
him
to
the scientific, or to what

historical, field of study.
may
the literary and
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Certainly Mr. Gladstone seems to
his
place
as a student
in
Oxford.
me absolutely in He was a hard

not object
to a
student during his career as an undergraduate, and he

led
very temperate
life.
He
was
did
supper or a wine party, but he

in the
distinctly abstemious
use of wine, and his example in this

effect,
duced a good
not only on those
way prowho worked

after
with him, but also on some of those

him.
who came
in
Naturally
he took a leading part
the pro-
ceedings of the Union Debating Society, of which he

first
became Secretary and afterwards
President.
In
the days of Arthur Pendennis self-conceited

of the
members
Union Debating Society lived in the firm belief that the Prime Minister of the time watched with keen
attention the doings of the youths in the Union, with
the object of picking out

Ministers.
fit
persons to become Cabinet
The Premier
his
at the time
in
when Gladstone
Oxford Union
delivered
maiden
speech
the
might, with great judgment, have turned his attention

in that
direction.
Predictions after the event are, as

little
we
all
know, of
account
but Bishop
was,
Charles
the
Wordsworth, as
speech,
said
also,
he
"
afterwards
it
who heard
I
that
feel
made me, and

less
doubt
not
others
no
sure
than
of
my own
existence that Gladstone, our then Christ Church undergraduate, would one day rise to be Prime Minister of
England."
The
University of Oxford
is
a world in
itself,
and
ETON AND OXFORD

might
all
19
in
Gladstone's early days be described as a world

Its
to
itself.
general principles were those of devo-
tion to the
State Church and to Toryism
a Toryism
which, as Mr. George Russell says, was of a romantic
and old-fashioned type, as

the
utilitarian
far as possible
removed from
"
Conservatism of a
later
day.
"
The
claims of rank and birth," says Mr. Russell,
were adfunction
mitted with a childlike cheerfulness.

of government
The high
was the birthright of the few. The people had nothing to do with the laws except to obey
them."
after,
in
Mr. Gladstone himself, a great
many
years
Oxford
when speaking at the opening of a Liberal club " in the December of 1878, said I trace in
:
the education of Oxford

difference.
Perhaps
I
it
my own time one great was my own fault, but I must

of
admit that
I
did not learn
when
at
Oxford that which
have learned
since, to set a
due value on the imperish-
able and the inestimable principles of
human
liberty.
The temper which

liberty
prevailed was that was regarded with jealousy, and fear could not
I
think too
much
be
wholly dispensed
with.''
Still,
as
will
be easily
understood, there
were as
many
different
phases of
Toryism
at
Oxford even then as there were minds and

In
temperaments.
a great centre of education there
cannot possibly be that stolid monotony of opinion and

of conviction which
may
be found sometimes
among
village.
in
the church-goers and the Tories of
some country
in
Then, again, each of the colleges
Oxford, as
2o
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
its
Cambridge, had
its
own
its
peculiarities, its
own
traditions,
own
class,
in
and
own
aspirations.
Christ Church
Oxford was, perhaps, the most aristocratic College in its members and in its tastes. It seems to have
become,
for for
some unknown
Its
reason, a training-school
Prime Ministers.
history
would
well
have
justified the ideas of
Arthur Pendennis and
his friends.
Christ Church College gave during the century seven
Prime Ministers, not including Mr. Gladstone himself,

to
English
government.
Among
Sir
these
were
Peel,
Lord
Lord
Liverpool,
George
Canning,
Robert
Derby, Lord Salisbury, and Lord Rosebery, Gladstone's
own
successor in the office of Prime Minister.

his
In
second term Mr. Gladstone was elected a
member
of the
Oxford Union Debating Society,

the words
in
,
which he made the speech so glowingly commended
by Bishop Wordsworth
quoted.
in
we have already
He
defended
Catholic emancipation in the
debates of the Union, but he opposed the removal of
Jewish
disabilities,
and he argued against the immediate
abolition of slavery, although he urged that every pre-
paration ought to be
made
for
its
gradual extinction
by the teaching and training of the slaves so as to fit them for self-mastery and for citizenship. These views,
as
we
shall see,
he afterwards expressed
to
in
Parliament
when he came
be
member
of the
House of
Union he again and Commons. again opposed the very moderate movements towards
In the debates of the
E TON A ND OXFORD
political
reform which at that time were held by
many
in
people to be well-nigh revolutionary.
Yet even
young Gladstone's strongest speeches against the reform movement he seems to have taken good care not to
commit himself
as to
a principle.
any unqualified objection to reform His mind, indeed, would appear to
have been a sort of mirror of the general mind of
Oxford
a
a veneration for the past, a love of tradition,
romantic
sentiment
of
reverence
for
the
ancient
institutions of the country,
and yet a mind open to see

of the
future.
the
inevitable
tendencies
for the
Gladstone
worked very hard
Oxford Union, of which he
became
first
the Secretary and afterwards the President.
He was
divinity.
for
studying hard for classical honours and for
He
studied
Hebrew
as
well.
He worked
four hours in the early
exercise, chiefly
day and then went out for walking and boating, and also a certain
call athleticism
amount of what we now

than he had done
classes
in his
more,
his
at least,
and
lectures
Eton days. and resumed his
Then he attended
solitary readings for
many
the
later hours.
Not content with
studies
and
work of the Union Debating Society, he founded
and organised a debating society all of his own device and construction, which he named the Oxford Essay
Club, but which
the
"
became
after a while colloquially
named
Wcg," a
title
taken, as will readily be seen, from
Gladstone's
own
initials.
Frederick Denison Maurice,
afterwards famous
in
English Church history, mentioned
22
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
1870
that
"
in
the circumstance of belonging to a small

into a similar
society at
Cambridge brought me
one at
Oxford, founded by Mr. Gladstone, to which otherwise

I
never should have been admitted."
"
The members
each other's
of the Weg," says Mr. Alfred F. Robins in his Early
Public Life of Mr. Gladstone,
"
assembled
its
in
rooms
it
in turn to
hear an essay from
occupant, and
is
owing
to this
circumstance that so excellent an
idea has been

like
preserved of what Mr. Gladstone was

University."
when
in
less
at the
Gladstone also studied
hard
left
mathematics, but these studies seem to have

impression on his style of thought than any
other of his readings and his trainings.
Of
the original
members
and
his
of the
friend,
Weg, I believe Mr. Gladstone himself Sir Thomas Acland, are the only surthe meetings of this society Glad-
vivors.
At one of
stone read an essay which endeavoured to explain and

define the belief of Socrates in immortality.
He
always
read for two or three hours before bedtime.
Nothing
whatever was allowed to interfere with the course of his

reading and his studies.
I
have
heard
quite
lately
that
Mr.
Gladstone
himself was rather disposed to underrate the amount

of interest which he took, while at Oxford, in out-of-
door
pursuits.
One
or
two
of
his
few
surviving
contemporaries
may have
been heard to declare that
Gladstone held as good a place

athletes of his time as he did
among
the Oxford
among
the hard-working
ETON AND OXFORD

students.
It is
23
enough that in later days the mind of the great statesman and the great student
possible
may have
his
lost
its
memory
a
the
of the
his
physical
exercises
which were
nature
less
passion of
than
working
brain.
in
of
the
temperament and intellect and
the
that
development
it
of the
to
One can only say

Mr.
is
hard
believe
Gladstone turn-
ing his attention to anything physical or intellectual
without
attempt.
It is
becoming
more
or
less
successful
in
the
a curious fact that
when
to an
his office of President
of the Oxford Union
came
end he was succeeded

It
is
by
his
friend, afterwards
fact, too,
Cardinal Manning.
curious
not unworthy of record, that
among
public
the friendships which he
made
at
Oxford was that of
Mr.
Martin
Farquhar
Tupper.
The
general
now has
lost all
however, a
memory man well known

at
of Mr. Tupper.
in
his
day.
Tupper was, He was the
author of a book called Proverbial Philosophy, a book
which probably had
one time a larger circulation
than any of the novels of Dickens and Thackeray, or

the writings
of Carlyle, or even the essays of Lord

It
Macaulay.
genial
was a book
each
composed
altogether
it
of
a
platitudes,
platitude
carrying with
genial
well-meaning moral
ceased to interest
of
the
purpose.
The
platitudes
after a time,
and Tupper faded out

dullest
minds
of
even
the
among
us.
remember
a friend telling me,
many
years ago, that he
24
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
just
had
come from a
literary party
where he had been

:
between the two extremes of poetry between Alfred Tennyson on the one hand and Martin Tupper
sitting
on
the
other.
Tupper
first
adored
Gladstone
and
wrote
poems to him, then for a while he turned against him, and afterward went back to his first love.
Gladstone was always kind to Tupper, invited him to
his house,
always read and answered his

terribly
letters
(which
must have been

he
boring work), and proved that

his
had
never
forgotten
old
associates
at
the
University.
In
December
1831
Gladstone
took
his
double
first class.
CHAPTER
III
GLADSTONE'S INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC LIFE
GLADSTONE was
and of
patristic
an
immense student of the

in
Bible
as
left
literature
those
boyish days,
he continued to be down to his latest years.
He
to
Oxford before the by the

itself
full
influence of the
movement
led
late
Cardinal
Newman had begun
assert
His strong inclination then was to enter the Church, and he pressed his father hard to
in
the place.
allow
him
to
become a clergyman.
But
Sir
John
Gladstone, shrewd and keen-eyed
man
of the world as
he
was,
saw,
no
doubt,
in
the
genius
of his
son
something different from that which could

course in the career of an ecclesiastic.
stone's
find its best
In Mr. Glad-
time
strict
obedience to the wish of a father
was an
up
essential part of a son's duty.
Gladstone gave
his desire to enter the Church, but, as every

all his
life
one
knows, he has taken during

in
a deep interest
Church
history
and
in
in
subjects
left
of
theological
controversy.
Early
first
1832 he
Oxford and went
to Italy for the
time
to that
Italy which in after
26
LIFE OF GLADSTONE much and

things,
years he loved so
in
served so well.
that
It
seems
the
fitness
of
too,
should
have
passed
directly
young Gladstone from Oxford to Italy.
After a few months of Italian wandering he was called
back
had been, by a sudden appeal to him to enter on a political and a ParliaHis time had come, and it found mentary career.
from
Italy,
as
Milton
him
out.
Those who
the
have
later
watched
with
everlife
increasing interest
years of his public
course, through what changes of opinion he struggled on to be a great political reformer. But there may be many to whom it would be a surprise to
must know, of
hear
that
the
invitation
which
it
Mr.
Gladstone
first
received
was given because

rising
was understood that he

that
to
was one of the

reform
;
influences
made
against
if
that he
was determined
keep back
he
could the onward

that he was, as
movement
of the popular cause, and
Macaulay afterwards described him, the hope of the stern and unbending Tories of that The very manner of his invitation to enter day.
Parliament would be an anachronism and an impossibility in
our time.
invitation
The
came
from
the
then
Duke
of
Newcastle.
The Duke
set
represented the old-fashioned

right
principle which
up the landlord's absolute
over the votes of a constituency in which he possessed

the most of the land.
The passing
of the Reform Bill

principle.
had shaken the strength of the old feudal
GLADSTONES INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC LIFE

According to that
principle, the great
27
landlord of any where there a was region Parliamentary constituency
claimed the right to return to
Parliament
anybody
whom
he thought This
fit
to select for
the representative
position.
Duke
of
Newcastle,
his
about
in
whom
am now
speaking, had asserted
claim
the most
in
frank and simple fashion.
He
"
will
be remembered
English history chiefly by the

"
manner of
"
this assertion.
Have
not,"
?
he asked,
"
with
my own
within
a right to do
what
like
"
my own
being
in
this
case the
constituency of
fell
Newark, one of the boroughs which

territorial
his
sway.
The Duke was

thick-headed
sort
in
good-natured, honest, somewhat
of
a
man, and he could see nothing absurd whatever

ducal landlord setting
up such a
claim.
The Duke
the epoch. the

first
was naturally greatly alarmed by the movements of The Reform Bill of 1832 introduced for
time the great middle classes and the great
middle-class cities and towns of England to the right
of representation in Parliament and

suffrage.
It
the right of the the

old
"
abolished
many
of
rotten
boroughs,"
as
they
were
called,
and
the
"
pocket
at
boroughs,"
privileges
Bill,
and
of the
therefore
territorial
struck
sharply
the
magnates.
The Reform
described
set
it
although the
Duke
of Wellington
law,"
left
as
"
by due course of but a very limited suffrage, and

a revolution
the
up
in
fact
the vast mass of

the
pale of
working
population entirely outside
28
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
representation.
like a
constitutional
But
it
seemed
at
that
time to
all
Tory minds
measure of portentous
revolution.
On
if
the other hand, ardent Liberals wrote

the
and spoke as
Reform Act were destined
to bring
about a millennium.
The Duke
for
of Newcastle looked around everywhere
some
rising
in
man
capable
of
representing
Tory
interests
the borough of Newark.
His son, Lord
Lincoln, had been a school and college friend of
young
his
William
Gladstone,
and
had
heard
I
him
deliver
speech against reform, to which
have already referred.

Gladstone to
his
Lord
Duke.
Lincoln
recommended
eagerly
Mr.
the
The Duke
accepted
suggestion.
Italy,
Mr. Gladstone was
summoned home from

as
and
thus the greatest English reformer of our time

into
practical
set
politics
came
the
advocate of the party

every manner
of
which
reform.
itself
against
any and
Even under
these conditions Mr. Gladstone
could not bring himself quite
down
to the level of the
Duke
of no
of Newcastle.
In his address to the electors ol

that he was
Newark he declared
bound by the opinions

that he
felt
it
man and no
to
party, but said

resist
his
for
duty
watch which
and
that
to
growing
desire
change
threatened
produce,
"along
with
partial good, a melancholy preponderance of mischief."
The Duke
of Newcastle probably would not have ad-
mitted that there was any good, even partial, to qualify

the
melancholy mischief.
Mr. Gladstone declared
in

Englishmen were salvation they must make it their
his address that
if
29
to look for national

first
principle that
the
duties
of
governors
that
are
strictly
and
peculiarly
religious,
and
legislatures,
like
individuals,
are
bound
to carry
throughout
their acts
the spirit of the
high truths they have acknowledged.

said a
Mr. Gladstone
good deal about the condition of the poor and
the remuneration of labour.

close of his career he
From
the opening to the

sincere
was always inspired by a

for the condition
It
and active compassion worked and very poor.

us
the
that
of the hardly
seems somewhat strange to

touched upon
now
to learn that part of the address
question
slavery
in
of slavery.
still
It
has
to
be
remembered
principle
existed,
tolerated
and
Its
practice,
certain
of
the
English
colonies.
abolition
was one of the
results
of that
Reform Act
which the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Gladstone so
much condemned.
in
The Gladstones had
large properties
the
West
Indies, including, of course, a considerable
slave population,
slaves
and when England emancipated her
by paying off the planters, the Gladstone family naturally, and quite rightly, came in for a considerable
Liverpool was a town which had a good deal to do
with the slave system
in
share of the national purchase-money.
the colonies, and in

old
my
early
days
remember hearing from

indignant theatre
in
playgoers of a
in
declaration flung
face of an
by Cooke, the great tragedian,
the
Liverpool which bad
30
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
in his
ventured to hiss him for some oddity

that
"
behaviour,
there
was not a stone

not
in
the walls of the
town
which was
slaves."
cemented
Gladstone,
by the blood of African

however,
did
Mr.
not
present
himself in his address as an advocate of slavery.
He
contended
that
the
system
was sanctioned
that
for
by the
were to
Scriptures, but
he insisted
the
slaves
be educated and prepared
gradual emancipation.
That was
as
far
of an abolitionist
time.
any Englishman, not a member organisation, would have gone at the

as
The Newark
contest was fought out with
much name
stubbornness and a good deal of passion, and the two
Tory candidates were
elected,
poll.
Mr. Gladstone's
This,
it
being at the head of the
should
remembered, took place

first
at
general
election
be
the
general election since the passing of the Reform

the
Act,
first
general
election
which was
to
create
the
Reformed Parliament.
The Reformed Parliament
met on 20th January 1833, and Mr. Gladstone took his seat in the chamber over which he was destined
to maintain for so long an almost absolute ascendency.
He was
then
twenty-two
years
of
age
he had
splendid physical constitution, a striking and
handsome
face, with a mass of dark hair, and splendid radiant
eyes.
His
face
was
pallid,
almost
bloodless,
and a
passing observer might have fancied that the young
man was wanting
in
health.
The
for
fancy,
however,
would have had no foundation,
then, as through
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE IN 1S33.

From Painting
by George Hayter.

all his
31
career,
Mr. Gladstone's intellectual faculties were

constitution.
I
sustained
by an indomitable physical
that
am
myself strongly of opinion
Mr.
Gladstone
life
distinctly
improved
in
appearance as his
I
went on
deepening into years.
cannot, of course,
I
remember
for the
him
first
as he
was
in
1833.
think
later.
saw him
time some twenty years
was a decidedly handsome man at think his appearance was nearly so striking or so commanding as it became in the closing years of his
career.
I
But although he that time, I do not
do not believe
ever saw a
more magnificent
human
grown
face than
old.
that of Mr. Gladstone after he had
Of
course the eyes were always superb.

at
Many
time,
for the
stranger, looking
eyes,
Gladstone
for
the
first
saw the
and only the eyes, and could think
moment
of nothing else.
Age
never
dimmed
the
fire
of those eyes.
We
his
have now Mr. Gladstone at the very outset of
Parliamentary career
rarest
gifts,
young man endowed with

sure
the
having
the
prospect of ample
fortune, with friends
among
the highest families of the
day, and with a
brilliant reputation
earned at school
he was
into the
history.
and
college.
He seemed
at
destined, as indeed
lie
destined, for nothing but success.

I
came
its
louse of
Commons
a peculiar crisis in
The
old order was changing, giving place to the
new
the whole situation could not but have
made
a pro-
found impression on Gladstone's thoughtful and half-
32
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
It
poetic mind.
must soon have been borne
in
upon
him that the days of days of political and

in.
privilege were gone, and that the

social
equality were fast
coming
the
Few men could then have expected, friends who admired him the most,
new
era.
even
among
was
that he
destined to play a supreme part in the expansion of

the
CHAPTER
IV
GLADSTONE'S FIRST PARLIAMENT
This Reformed Parliament,
in
which Mr. Gladstone
made
his
first
its
appearance, had some very remarkable
men
in
both
chambers.
The House
of Lords was,
of course, entirely unaffected
by the changes which had
so profoundly altered the character of the Representative
Chamber.
Reform does not touch the House of

right
Lords.
The
of a
man
is
to
be a peer consists
either in the fact that he
the eldest son of his father,

is
who was
a peer, or that he
called
up
to the peerage
by the gracious summons of the Sovereign. conspicuous figure in the House of Lords
Waterloo.
The most
at the time
was that of the Duke of Wellington, the victor of
The Duke of Wellington was
consummate
soldier, although he had none of the dazzling genius
of the great Napoleon.
Napoleon was a man born
for
conquest and for aggression.
The Duke
cautious
of Wellington
was the very symbol

resistance.
of
and
hard-headed
Napoleon was
"
really defeated
by
himself,
and by himself
only.
The
3
meteor of conquest," as
34
"
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
says,
Byron
the
allured
him too
far,"
and he
fell
into
cureless ruin.
in
The Duke
of Wellington held a place

in
House of Lords and
the
public
mind of
England which might be considered absolutely unique. He was not a great statesman he was not, indeed, a
;
statesman at
all
in the true
sense of the word.

as a
Apart
from
not a
his
gifts
and
instincts
commander, he was
But he was a thoroughly It was well known honest and disinterested man.
of any intellect.
that his
his
man
was absolutely devoted to the service of His bitterest enemy Sovereign and of his country.
life
never imputed to him a sordid or even a
selfish motive.
He had good
rely
for
sense enough to see

his
who were
the
men
upon whom, from

guidance.
own
Sir
point of view, he could best
Robert Peel was then and
for ever after
one of those men.
The
influence of the
Duke
of Wellington in the
House
;
of Lords
was always,
of course, a
Tory
influence
but
it
belonged to a form
of Toryism which was willing in the end to recognise

facts
and
it
to
make
the best of any situation.
When
once
was made
clear to the
Duke
that he could not
maintain
some
particular
in
Parliamentary position, he
had no more hesitation would have had

from some
in his
withdrawing from
it
than he
days of battle about retreating
line of defence
which
it
must soon become

figure
impossible to hold.
in
The next most prominent

that of
the
House of Lords was

advocate,
the
Lord Brougham,
the
great
great
popular agitator, the

undoubtedly
great
orator
35
perfect passion for hard work,
man devoured by a a man of inexhaustible
energy and vast resources, whose weakness consisted

in
an unconquerable desire to master every subject and
to
is
become
curiously
first
in
every
field.
Lord
general
Brougham
public
forgotten
his
by
the
of
to-day.
Yet
might truly be called a great career.
He
put himself at the head of every

or
social
movement
orator
for
political
reform.
He was
an
of
somewhat rough, unhewn, and even uncouth

his
fact
order, but
power over the feelings of his audience was a living

admitting
of
the
no
possible
question.
Another
greater as
eminent
man
in
House
of Lords,
much
a mere lawyer than
Lord Brougham, but with nothing like Brougham's political influence, was Lord Lyndhurst. Lyndhurst was on the Tory side of affairs, but he had
mental enlightenment enough to inspire him sometimes
to
go a
little in
the
way
the
of genuine reform.
sides in
Brougham
had be-
and Lyndhurst, on
different
politics,
come members of
sort
well
House of Lords by the same of regulation process. Each had served his party both as lawyer and as politician, and each, when
his party
came
into power,
office of
had been rewarded
for his
services
by the
Lord Chancellor, which takes
with
it,
although not always at the very moment, a
seat in the
House
of Lords.
In the
House of Commons which Mr. Gladstone

first
entered for the
time the two most remarkable
men
36
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
all
were, beyond
question, Sir
Robert Peel and the

Mr. Gladstone
great Irish tribune, Daniel O'Connell.
was very soon drawn by

into a sort
and by sympathy of devotion to Sir Robert Peel. There

instinct
affinity
was a certain
gifts
between the characters and the

Sir
of the elder and the younger man.

life
Robert
Peel had begun
as a stern
and unbending Tory,

of
and
naturally
rigid
advocate
the
system
of
protection.
He had
of
his
already been won over, by the
growing
to
force
own
conscientious
convictions,
become the Parliamentary instrument of Catholic Later on, as we shall see, he was emancipation.
destined to break
away from
called
his
establish the system of free trade.
Tory party and to Peel was undoubtedly,

"
what Mr.
Disraeli
him,
great
great
member
of
Parliament."
and debater.
Gladstone
He was No man
has
a
in
Parliamentary orator
times, except
modern
Mr.
of
alone,
ever
swayed
the
House
Commons
he
by argument
for
and
years.
Robert Peel did
many
by eloquence as Sir Like Mr. Gladstone,

a
voice
strong,
clear,
had
magnificent
voice,
flexible,
or effort
at
and sweet, making itself heard without strain in the farthest row of the farthest gallery, and
the
same time capable of expressing the most

tones
delicate
and
semi
tones
of
feeling
and
of
persuasion.
Mr. O'Connell had but lately made his

Parliament, partly by his
way
into
own tremendous
because Peel's
energy and popularity
in Ireland, partly

conscience had converted him, as
principle
I
37
have
said, to the
of
Catholic
emancipation,
of
and
;
Peel
had
brought over the

because the
Duke
Wellington
and partly
Duke
of Wellington
himself had
made
eman-
up
his
mind
that further resistance to Catholic

civil
cipation
would mean
war, and he declared that

his
he had seen war enough

nothing to do with
civil
in
time,
and would have

O'Connell was
as he
war, anyhow.
a great figure in the House of
Commons,
had
been a great figure

platform.
at
the
bar and on the popular
He,
too,
possessed a voice of marvellous

Disraeli, in rendering justice to Sir
like
it
strength and music.
Robert Peel's voice, says that nothing

heard by the House of
had been
"
Commons
in his time,
except,
indeed, the thrilling tones of O'Connell."
Mr. Gladstone
was early drawn towards O'Connell by a kind of sympathy, greatly as the two men differed on many political
questions.
Gladstone was
in
favour of the principle of
Catholic emancipation even in his most anti-reforming
days of ardent youth, and he found

attractive in O'Connell's genial bearing.
much
I
that
was
talked with
Mr. Gladstone some years ago about his early memories

of
O'Connell,
and
he spoke with a certain
modest
gratefulness of O'Connell's
kindness to him when a

life.
young man
told
just
entering on Parliamentary
stories
He
me
several
in
about O'Connell's earnestness
and energy
trying to redress this or that individual
grievance, and of the trouble which he had
taken for
38
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
such purposes, and of the generous warmth with which
he accepted and put to proof Mr. Gladstone's offers of

co
-
operation.
asked
Mr.
Gladstone
about
Mr.
O'Connell's eloquence in the
House of Commons, and

but
he told
me
it
was so great and so commanding that

offer a criticism
he was unwilling even to

that his impression
tunities
upon
it,
was that of the three
special oppor-
which O'Connell enjoyed, the
bar, the platform,
and the House of Commons, the House of

did
Commons
asked
Mr.
not
make
his
greatest
success.
Gladstone what he believed

characteristic.
ficent
to be O'Connell's principal
He made me
said
"
:
an answer
in
a magniof
phrase which does honour to the
memory
O'Connell.
characteristic
He
think O'Connell's principal
was a passion of philanthropy." Lord John Russell was undoubtedly one of the
leading
men
of the
new
Parliament.
He had
been the
principal worker in the preparation
the
Reform
Bill.
He
rose
at
and the carrying of was a man of great ability and
of remarkable power as a keen, incisive debater.

never,
He
in
perhaps,
to
the
full
height
of
genuine
oratory,
but
least
have not heard a
man
my
the
recollection
who
could get the better of him
in
keen sword-play of debate.

he had held
office
Lord Palmerston, although more than once, and just at this
moment was
not yet
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, had

real
made any
mark on
public
life.
Lord
Palmerston's influence was of the slowest growth, and

when
in
it
39
came
at
last
it
came suddenly and almost
as
a flash.
still
Mr. Stanley, afterwards Lord Stanley, and
later
figures in
Lord Derby, was one of the commanding He was a man of the House of Commons.
eloquence,
not,
great
energy and
possessing a
rhetorical
in
fluency which had
perhaps, been equalled

until
modern English Parliament

to the front.
Mr. Gladstone came

if
I
He
had a power of "phrasing,"
may
effect
use such an expression, which told with
immense
on the debates of the House of Commons, where a
happy expression, an epigram that

epithet that clings to the public
"
catches on," an
is
memory,
often
much
Mr.
in
more
effective
than
the
soundest
argument.
Stanley had on
more than one occasion stood up
direct Parliamentary
antagonism to Daniel O'Connell,
and, according to the opinion of the majority, had not
been worsted.
He
had taken a great part

Bill,
in
the pass-
ing of the Reform

of the
aristocrats.
although he was an aristocrat

with
the
Later on he quarrelled
Liberals over their policy as regarded the Irish State
Church,
and
of
he an
afterwards
settled
down
into
the
avowed Tory. Mr. Disraeli had not position But yet found a place in the House of Commons. Macaulay, and Grotc, the historian of Greece, and
Edward Bulwer, the novelist, were there. The Prime Minister at this time was
who had
form
Bill.
Earl Grey,
been, one might

lie,
say, the parent of the Rein
of course, sat
the
House of Lords,
40
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
little
and therefore had

events in the
influence over the
course
of
House of Commons.
The
real leader of
in the
an English Government must always be

sentative
Repre-
Chamber.
He
Many
is
like a
commander-in-chief.
at a
His directions and his commands must be ready
moment's
of
notice.
crisis
occurs in the
House
Commons on which
may
the fate of a measure or of a

is
Ministry
depend, and when there
no time
to
send messengers across town to hunt up the nominal
Prime Minister whose House of Lords has probably Down to the dispersed hours and hours before.
day English Governments continue to have nominal Prime Ministers in the House of Lords, but
present
such a Prime Minister, whatever his

force of character, can
in
abilities
and
his
the very nature of things be
only a figurehead.
The
is
condition
is
like
that of a
commander-in-chief who
field
twenty miles away from the

will
of
fight.
Probably before long the system

it
be changed altogether, and
will
become a matter of
course that the Prime Minister shall be a

the
member
of
House
real
of
Commons and
not of the House of Lords.
The
Prime Ministers within

Russell,
my memory
have been
Lord John
Lord Palmerston, Mr.

these,
Disraeli,
and
Re-
Mr. Gladstone.
presentative
All
of course, sat in
leader of the
the
Chamber.
The
House of
Commons and
Mr. Gladstone
lor of the
of the Liberal
first
party at the time
when
entered Parliament was the ChancelIt is
Exchequer, Viscount Althorp.
perhaps
41
hardly necessary to explain to most readers that the

title in
Lord Althorp's
call a
"
case, as in so
many
others,
was
what we
title
it
of courtesy," and merely indicates

is
that the bearer of

a peer himself,
is
a son of a peer, and, not being

to
free
be elected to the House of

intelligent
Commons.
But even very
and well-informed
titles
strangers are often
much
puzzled by our various
and the
difficulty of
understanding
be a
and
this
man cannot
I
why member of
this
man
can
the
House of
remember explaining at some length to a stranger many years ago that Lord John Russell could sit in the Representative Chamber because he
Commons.
was only the son of a duke and was not a duke himwas entitled self, and that the Marquis of Hartington
to
sit
as
an
elected
representative
for
precisely the
same
reason.
But,
then,
?
about Lord Palmerston

father living,
my He
friend
asked me, what
surely cannot
to
sit
have a
?
and how does he come
here
The
title
explanation was easy enough.
Lord Palmerston's
belonged to the Irish peerage, and an Irish nobleman,

if
he
is
not chosen by his peers to represent them in

is
the
House of Lords,
of the
quite
free
to
be elected
member
House of Commons.
at
this
Lord Althorp, then,
time led the Governin
ment and the

Chamber.
ability,
Liberal
party
the
Representative
statesmanlike
He was
not a
man
of
much
but he was a good party manager, and when,
later on, the
death of his father compelled him to enter
42
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
House of Lords, the party suffered by his absence from the real battlefield. Lord Althorp had at this
the
time a considerable majority of the House of
Commons
behind him.
But, on the other hand, the

all
under Sir Robert Peel was
Tory minority compact and of one
mind, and was willing to follow a leader whose sagacity,

strength,
or cavil.
and debating power were beyond any question
writer
who
describes the events

"
of this
opening Parliament says that
to
one danger, indeed,
Ministers were exposed, a danger, however, which they
themselves had created

fall
their performances
must
either
greatly short of what they had promised, and pro-
duce disappointment, or they must throw themselves,

to support their popularity, into a career of.
dangerous and unconstitutional change on which they did not The public agitation which voluntarily care to enter.
they had created and fostered
in the great
mass of the
Bill
people for the purpose of carrying the Reform
had
produced extravagant expectations that the meeting of

a Reformed Parliament would necessarily be followed by the redress of everything
deemed a grievance and the

evil."
cure of everything called an
This
is,
indeed, a
very correct description of the foremost peril to which

the Ministers found
themselves exposed
at
the
first
meeting of that Reformed Parliament from which so
much was expected and Mr. Gladstone came

debates of the session.
so
much was
dreaded.
quietly and modestly into the
He
first
spoke on what might

be called a local rather than a public question.
43
Later
on the Government had been strongly pressed by some

of
its
own
supporters
to
deal with the condition of
slavery in the Colonies.
The new
Colonial Secretary,
Mr. Stanley,
who had
just resigned the office of
what
may
call
Irish
Secretary, brought forward a series of
resolutions
intended to lead up to the
extinction of
It
slavery
in
England's colonial
of
the
possessions.
was
in
the
course
debate
first
that
followed
that
Mr.
Gladstone delivered his
really important
speech.
Yet
it
was
not a speech on the broad
and general
subject, but rather a reply to a sort of attack
made by Lord Howick, afterwards Earl Grey, on the management of Sir John Gladstone's plantation in Demerara. Mr.
Gladstone warmly vindicated his father from any charge
of countenancing hard dealing with the slaves on his
plantation.
Every one
felt
the most genial
sympathy
in his
first
with the
young man
called
on to defend
important speech the conduct of his father as an owner

of property in slave labour.
this
Two
in
or three weeks after
Mr. Gladstone spoke again
the
same debate, but
dealt with the general subject.
He
of
expressed just the
same views
address
to
as he
had already
set out in his election
the
constituency
Newark.
He was
after
entirely in
favour of the extinction of slavery, but he
held that emancipation
must come gradually and

have read or could hear
proper steps had been taken for the education of the

slave.
From
all
that
am
44
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
made anything
not inclined to believe that the speeches
more than
and a personal impression on the House of Commons. Certainly I have no reason to

a passing
suppose that they gave to the House any idea of the

great
powers which the young orator was destined

I
before very long to display.
remember talking years ago to some very old members of the House of Commons, who told me that for some time Gladstone's
speeches were listened to with only the respect which
the
House always pays
to youth,
modesty, and knowIn Gladstone's
ledge of the subject under discussion.

early days, as in subsequent days, the
"
"
House detested
bumptiousness
"
self-sufficiency,
cheek," ostentation,
and the unwarranted

superiority.
assumption
of
any manner of
Many
experienced members of Parliament
consider
it
rather an inauspicious
omen
if
young man
speech.
should
begin with a very successful

is
maiden
The
idea
that probably the

all
young man
inside.
has, to use a
colloquial
phrase, put
his
is
best goods in the shop

left
window, and that nothing
There are
notable instances that way, and notable instances also
The younger Pitt's maiden speech was The maiden speeches of Sheridan and a great success. There is not much of a Disraeli were ghastly failures.
the other way.
theory to be established either way.
But
am
inclined
to think that Gladstone's earlier speeches did not put
much
of the goods in the shop window, and did not,
indeed, give
any idea of the wealth of deposit that was

in
45
the
shop
itself.
It
is
curious
rival,
fact
that
Mr.
Disraeli,
Gladstone's lifelong
in
happening
at that
time to meet Gladstone
London
society somewhere,
his sister
and hearing people talk about him, wrote to
and
gave
her
his
opinion
him."
that
It
is
"
that
well
has no future before
to
young man remember
that Cicero thought Julius Caesar

soldier.
would never make a
The
truth
probably
is
that
from
the
very
first
Gladstone
had an
instinctive,
intuitive
knowledge of
of
the conduct which best suits the
House
Commons.
That
until
conduct
undoubtedly
is
the
policy of waiting
It is
your
real
opportunity comes.
almost always
a mistake to try to create an
opportunity
to thrust
yourself into any controversy in the hope that you can
make an eloquent
speech.
The one
fact
which young
Gladstone soon impressed upon the House of
Commons
a debate
the very
was the fact that he would not intervene

unless he
in
had something
to say.
Thus from
outset he
made himself
sure of the ear of the House.

talk for
all
Everybody knew that he would not get up to the sake of talking, and that when he had said
he wanted to say he would wind up with a few
sentences and then
sit
that
effective
down.
We
have to take Mr.

Parlia-
Gladstone's speeches in this early part of his
mentary career very much on

Hansard, the
semi-official
trust.
The
the
reports in
records
of
House of
in
Commons
debates, give only leading
men
the
first
46
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
person, and Gladstone had not at that time advanced

to
the dignity of the
first
person.
for
that the honourable
member
So we read only Newark said that he
would not
at that late hour of the sitting detain the to
and
style
House too long with the observations he had

so on.
make
from
We
can gather, however, even
these oblique and colourless reports, that Gladstone's
was even then somewhat

it
diffuse
and
rhetorical,
was usually very happy in its phrasing, that it was very fluent, and that the manner of the speaker
that
was animated without being too dramatic.

stone, in fact, did not take the
Mr. Glad-
House of Commons by did and not to do storm, try anything of the kind. His great Parliamentary rival, Mr. Disraeli, did a few
years later try to take the
House by storm, and made

was thrown back
his
a dismal failure of the attempt, and
consequently for
career.
many
sessions in
gift
Parliamentary
One
especial
showed the House
Mr. Gladstone very soon

skill in
his
wonderful
the arrange-
ment of
family,
finance.
in
figures.
He came
of a great
commercial
in
and he might be
said to
have been cradled

line,
To
paraphrase Pope's famous

for
he lisped
numbers,
the
numbers came.
He had some
of showing his capacity for such and thus he soon recommended himself to the work,
early opportunities
attention
and the favour of Sir Robert

in
Peel.
Peel
might be said
a certain
sense to be a Gladstone
without imagination.
In later years Gladstone used to

be called a pony Peel, so
47
much was he thought

to liken
to
have
borne a resemblance to the great free-trade Minister.
Now
it
is
to the praise of Peel
him with
even
in
his
pupil Gladstone.
practical
life
So does perspective
alter
the
of Parliament.
CHAPTER V
GLADSTONE IN OFFICE
The
principal events in Gladstone's
first
Parliamentary
session were the division over the choice of a Speaker,
a rare event in the
House of Commons
the measure
in
which put a limit to the system of slavery
the
Colonies and which provided compensation to buy out

the owners
of property in
to
slaves,
and the measures
brought
in
deal
with
the
conditions of the Irish
State Church and to repress agrarian disturbances in

Ireland
Ministers having at that time no idea of any
way
of dealing with agrarian disturbances in
Ireland
bills.
I
other than the introduction of
new
coercion
do not propose to go into all these subjects. The task I have set myself is to tell, in the best way I can, the
story of Mr. Gladstone's
life.
I
am
not engaged at
present in writing a history of the doings in Parliament

or out of
it
during Mr. Gladstone's
lifetime.
shall,
therefore, give an account of public events only as they
serve to illuminate the story of that one great career.

It
is,
however, of
much
significance to notice that during
GLADSTONE IN OFFICE
his very first session of
49
Parliament the House had the

it
ominous, portentous Irish question before

"
again and
again.
called,
The
Irish
spectre,"
as
it
was
sometimes
earliest
came
thus
across
Mr.
Gladstone's
Parliamentary path.
it
long time had to pass before

that there
became
clear to his
mind
must be found
disaffec-
some other way of dealing with
Irish political
tion and Irish agrarian trouble than the simple, stolid,
and useless mechanism of successive coercion measures.

But Mr. Gladstone was probably making the beginning
of his education
in
that
Parliamentary
session.
way even The kind
in
that very
first
of
all
friendship
he
formed with O'Connell

at the hour,
may
to
have had,
unconsciously
something
at
do with the expansive nature

towards the story of
of his
feelings
later date
Irish grievances.
truth,
Gladstone's mind was eager for the

first it
but from the
required to have the grip of

it
very certain facts in order to lead
on towards the
change.
Gladstone learned truths most effectively by
figures in arithmetic.
Early
in
1833
Mr.
Gladstone
It
took a fancy
his
for
becoming a student of law. go to the bar and practise
was then
wish to
there.
One
made
can easily
if
imagine what a success he would have
he had
only followed the bent of that inclination.
One can
imagine
evasive
how he would have cross-examined some and reluctant witness, how he would have
4
argued a point of law with the judge, and how he
50
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
force of his impassioned eloquence.

ever,
would have carried the jury along with him by the He did not, howpursue his design, and although he was a student
at Lincoln's
Inn
for
more than
six years, he never took
any step towards getting

requested that his
called to the bar,
and
at length
name should be removed from
the
books of the
longer any
society,
on the ground that he had no
In the becoming an advocate. meantime, of course, everything had changed with him, and he had found his real career lying straight and
intention of
shining before him.

his
His great love
for arithmetic
and
consummate
skill
with figures attracted before long,
as
we have
seen, the attention
and the admiration of Sir

in
Robert
Peel.
A change
took place
the Government.
The Whigs went out

were, in
of office for the time.
They
IV.
fact,
bluntly dismissed by the King, William
the last time that a sovereign of
made
use of the traditional
England ever royal prerogative which

upon to form an that he must have the
Sir
gives a right to the peremptory dismissal of a Ministry.
The Duke
of Wellington was called
administration, and he insisted
co-operation of Sir Robert Peel.
Robert Peel was
then in Rome, but he was sent for and brought back,

travelling as fast as he could in those days of diligence
and post-chaise.
Sir Robert Peel accepted office, and
made Mr. Gladstone
a Junior Lord of the Treasury

all its
a sort of position which, for

practically nothing to
grandiose name, has
do with the more serious work
GLADSTONE IN OFFICE
of administration.
It was,
however, the
first
round of
it.
the ladder, and Mr. Gladstone had set his foot upon
Before
long he was raised from the
place
of
Junior Lord of the Treasury to be the Under-Secretary

for the Colonies.
Mr. Disraeli has said
in
one of his
novels
that
an
Under Secretary
-
in
the
House of
is
Commons, whose
His
official
chief
is
in
the
it
House of Lords,
master of the situation.

chief
So
was with Gladstone.
was the Earl of Aberdeen, who, of
course, sat in the
House of Lords, and thus the whole

the
representation
of
Colonial
into
House of Commons came
Department in the the hands of the young

to
member
tion
for
Newark.
the
He had
its
answer every ques-
put
to
Colonial
of
Office.
every
exposition
its
policy.
He had to make He had to defend
every one of
assailed.
measures which might happen to be That time happened to be a season of some

in
anxiety
and some trouble
the Colonies, and
Mr.
Gladstone had
skill,
many
an opportunity of showing his

his
his eloquence,
and
mastery of each subject.

for
His career as
Under-Secretary
the
Colonies
lasted but a short time.
Lord John Russell carried a

of
resolution
in
the
House
Commons
in
favour of an
Irish
inquiry into the property
State
Church
we
and the finances of the

hear of that
State
shall
Church
again and again

Sir
in
the course of this narrative

his office.
is
and
Glad-
Robert Peel immediately resigned

It
stone, of course, went with him.
well to observe
52
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
of office under Lord
that Mr. Gladstone's occupation
Aberdeen
led to a friendship
between the two which

lives
had much influence on the
of both
men.
In
more than one great crisis at a later day Lord Aberdeen and Mr. Gladstone worked side by side.
Mr. Gladstone then had an interval of rest from the
worry
and
trouble
of
office.
He
own
spent
his
time
a
pleasantly,
and according
life
to his
ideas of
how
young man's
in the
ought to be spent.
He
took chambers
Albany, Piccadilly, a great resort of bachelors of
good
"
position,
and
there, as
Mr. George Russell
tells us,
he pursued the same even course of steady work,

"
reasonable recreation, and systematic devotion which he
had marked out
for himself at
Oxford."
says,
He
went
freely into society," Mr. Russell
"dined out con-
stantly,
his
and took
with
his part in musical parties, delighting
hearers
the
cultivated
beauty of
his
tenor
voice."
Then Mr.
Russell goes on to mention the fact

the late Lord Houghton,
at
that Mr.
Monckton Milnes,
a
host,
poet and
in
"
had established himself
that
time
the
metropolis,
and used to gather around

interested
in
him
a society of
young men who were

"
theology and
politics."
He
used to entertain them at

"
parties on Sunday evenings," and
this
arrangement,"
Monckton Milnes
"
says, writing on 13th March 1838,
unfortunately
excludes the
more
I
serious
members,
Acland, Gladstone, and others.

people keep Friday as a
fast,
really think,
when
feast
they might
make a
GLADSTONE IN OFFICE
of Sunday."
later years
53
Acquaintances of Lord Houghton
in his in
were apt to say, half
in
jest
and half
earnest, that there
was a
that
distinct
dash of the pagan he was an admir-
about him.
able host
;
However
he made
really
it
may
be,
his business to
;
know everybody
who was
held out an knowing encouraging hand to every young and promising author or artist, and he was probably the very last leading
worth
he
man
in
London
"
society
who kept up
to
in
the old practice

I
of inviting friends to a breakfast party.

that the
letter still
may
say
Acland
"
"
referred
Lord Houghton's
lives, a prosperous gentleman."
He
is
Sir
Thomas Acland, whose

lately
son,
Mr. Arthur Acland, was

in
Minister
of
Education
Mr.
Gladstone's
Government.
Mr. Gladstone and Sir

all their lives
Thomas Acland
good
friends as
in
continued during
they were
in
to be as
the
old
days of the receptions

also
the
Albany.
fact
Mr.
Russell
mentions the interesting
that Mr.
Gladstone on one occasion entertained

"
Wordsworth
adorers."
at breakfast
in a
charmed
circle of
young
Nearly sixty years after those happy leisure days

Mr.
Gladstone's
life,
in
and
during
those other happy
leisure
days which came when
he had spontaneously
closed his political career, a memorial drinking fountain

to the
memory
of
Wordsworth was unveiled
in
the
public park of Cockermouth, in
Cumberland, where the
poet was born.
On
that occasion Mr. Gladstone wrote
54
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
"
:
a letter in which he said
rejoice in
any and every

I
manifestation of honour to Wordsworth.
visited his
house when a boy, and when a young
man had
in
in
the
honour of entertaining him more than once

Albany.
I
the
his
revered
in the
his
genius, and delighted
kindness and
dignity
grave and stately but not austere
of
his
manner.
Apart
from
all
personal
impression and from all the prerogative of genius, as such, we owe him a debt of gratitude for having done
so
much
for
our literature
in
the
capital
points of
letter
purity and
that
elevation."
It will
be seen from this
Mr. Gladstone kept up to the end his exalted
views as to the purpose and province of literature.

recognised to the
full
it
He
the
as
but he recognised
power of even misused genius, one must recognise the" strength

admiration of
"
and the beauty of a volcanic eruption or a destroying

avalanche.
His whole soul went out

is
in
the genius which
used for what he
calls
the capital
points of purity and elevation."

ciple
Disciples of the prin"
which
calls itself
"
art for art's sake
many
a time
disparaged Mr. Gladstone's literary and
artistic criticisms
on the ground that he studied the purpose rather than

the form.
to
in
Yet
it
would be impossible
for
any of them
make out
that Mr. Gladstone's favourites in literature,
painting, in sculpture,
and
in
architecture were not
illustrations of genius in its highest form.
There could
Mr. Gladstone
have been nothing very sympathetic

in
for
the writings of Swift
yet
have heard him main-
GLADSTONE IN OFFICE
tain
55
more than once with earnestness and warmth that
Swift was the greatest writer of English prose.

All the time, however, Mr. Gladstone was a hard
worker.
He
busied himself constantly with that part of
the duties of a private
member which
is
least
known
or
thought of by the public out of doors.
Nothing could be a greater mistake than to suppose that the work of

a
member
of the
House of Commons
is
is
confined to the
hours during which the House

of
sitting.
its
The House
Commons
far too
undertakes through
committees much,
and
city,
much, of the purely
local business of every
town, and hamlet in the United Kingdom.

bills,
Local
gas
water
bills,
railway
bills,
and
all
manner of
miscellaneous subjects of the kind are referred to what

are called the Private Bill
Committees
in the
House
of
is
it.
Commons.
Attendance on one of those committees
compulsory when a member has been appointed to
The committees meet
at eleven o'clock, usually,
and go
on until four o'clock, when the business of the House

itself
begins.
for the
Until very
recent years
it
was quite
common
in
House
to
sit until
three or four or five
the morning, and the Private Bill Committees

all
met
at to
its
eleven o'clock
the same.
A
sits.
member appointed
at
one of those committees must be present

sittings,
each of
in
and
all
the time
it
If
he
failed
his
attendance even for part of a day, the fact had to be

reported to the Speaker of the
the poor delinquent was
House of Commons, and

to
summoned
appear
in
the
56
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
for his
House and explain and apologise

receive the rebuke of Parliament.
absence, or
Into this seemingly

voluntarily
dreary drudgery
himself.
Mr.
Gladstone
of that
part
plunged
of the
The study
of the
life
House of Commons was

every other study was.
interesting to him, as indeed
In the meantime he did not neglect his books and

his
regular
attendance at church.
"
"
Then, as now,"
says
Mr.
Russell,
his
constant
companions
were
Homer and
he read the
octavo
Dante, and
it is
recorded that at this time
whole
of
I
St.
Augustine
heard
it
in
twenty-two
that
volumes."
have
said
Mr.
Gladstone was not

literature,
much
attracted
towards German
and
towards Goethe as he did towards
do not suppose he ever felt drawn Homer and Lucretius

I
and Dante.
But at the same time

I
must say that

heard
Mr.
some of the happiest quotations

Gladstone use were taken from
ever
German
I
literature
it
from Goethe and from

too, that, with all his
Schiller.
have heard
said,
passion for Greek literature, he
never cared
so,
much about
Aristophanes.
in
That may be
hearing he once
but
have to add that
my own
delighted and
amused the House of Commons by an

less
it
admirably appropriate citation from one of the comedies

of Aristophanes.
Quotation
is
common
in
Parliament of late
as
becoming years, and
and
is
less
indeed
regarded now
I
a somewhat pedantic
performance.
have heard
it
said that Mr.
Gladstone was the only
GLADSTONE IN OFFICE
man who
could compel the
$7
House
to listen to a quota-
tion from Lucretius.
Whether the House has gained

not
or has lost
by
its
growing impatience of even the most

I
appropriate literary quotation

decide, although
I
shall
venture to
may have my own
opinion.
The
speeches in the House are not any the less long because
they are no longer brightened by some words here and

there taken from
the wit and
wisdom of the world's
great classic authors.
But now an event occurred of much importance to
The old King, England and the whole of the Empire. William IV., died, and Queen Victoria succeeded to
the throne.
William IV. was not
in
any sense a great
sovereign, but on the whole he turned out better than
might have been expected from the acts and the ways He had been brought up as a of his earlier career.
manageable naval officer never He had shown himself was in the English service. over and over again so incapable and impatient of
naval
officer,
and a
less
discipline that at last
it
him from
active service
became necessary to withdraw His manners were altogether.
rough and overbearing.

as
He
sat in the
House
of Lords
Duke
of Clarence, and he
made himself
highly un-
popular by his opposition to the abolition of the slave

trade, and, indeed, to
most of the measures which were
demanded by
the growing enlightenment of the country.
There were many scandals in his life, and no doubt But worse things were said of him than he deserved.
58
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
he positively obtruded himself on the condemnation of

the public, for he openly wrangled with
some of
his
brothers in the
House of Lords, and words were
inter-
changed among
tolerated
the royal princes which would not be

in
by any Speaker of the House of Commons
our time.
Undoubtedly, however, when he came to
the throne he turned out
much
better than his ante-
cedents led the country to expect.

old
He was
already an
IV.,
man when he succeeded
his
brother George
reign.
and he had not many years
to
Responsibility
certainly improved him, and his people became more and more reconciled to him as his life grew nearer to
its
close.
But he never could

of
constitutional
understand the true

although
principle
government,
it
he
went nearer to the acceptance of and

his
than his brother
father
had done.
life
We
he
have just seen how

still
almost at the close of his

tional
held to his tradi-
right to dismiss his
Ministers at his
own good
is
pleasure.
With
his
death the existence of personal
government came
the
first
to
an end.
Queen Victoria
really
constitutional sovereign
who
all
ever sat upon the
throne of England.
Through
to
her long reign

act
she
has never done or tried

possibly
do any
which could
been
be called
unconstitutional.
She has
guided throughout by the advice of her Ministers, and

she has accepted her Ministers on the recommendation of the representative
House of Parliament.
The
Queen
difference in this respect between the reign of
GLADSTONE IN OFFICE
59
Victoria and the reign of any of the Georges or even

of William IV.
is
so great that one has to think the

feel
matter over
short time
in
order to
assured that within
that
we have
traversed so great a distance.
The
tomb
gotten
public paid a decent

IV.,
homage
of regret over the

for-
of William
all
and then before long had
about him.
The
accession
of the
young
it
Queen
that
called
had, to begin with, the great advantage that
severed the crown of Great Britain and Ireland from

of
Through the history of what is the Hanoverian line down to the reign of Queen
Hanover.
the
Victoria,
King
of
England
had
been
King of
Hanover
as well,
and the connection had been almost

to
absolutely
hateful
the
people
in
of
England.
The
only,
crown of Hanover descended
the
male
line
and therefore the coming of a woman as sovereign of
England has many times since the accession of Queen Victoria had good reason to be glad that Hanover was no longer a part
England broke
off the connection.
of her responsibility.
A new
Parliament had to be
convoked, according to the

has since
sovereign.
as a rising
custom of that day, which
been altered, with the
coming of a new
Gladstone was now distinctly recognised
was put up as a candidate for He was not Manchester without his own consent.
man.
He
But he had been put up also, and with his consent, as a candidate for his former constituency,
elected.
Newark,
and
was again
returned.
His
friends
in
60
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
in
Parliament were
opposition.
what
is
called
the
cold shade of
Lord Melbourne was Prime Minister when

to the throne.
the
Queen came
But most people saw
enough Whig Ministry could not last Melbourne was an indolent man, not by any long. means wanting in intellect, and capable even of statesclearly
that the
manship,
if
he could only have
summoned up
faith
enough
act
to believe in
his belief.
anything and energy enough to

of the day
it
on
The foremost statesman
was, beyond question, Sir Robert Peel, and

likely that such a
was not
man
could long remain what

as
"
Edmond
About once expressively described

Caesar."
It
an unemployed
said,
was only a question of time, people
and what people

true.
said in that instance turned out to be
But
in the
meantime Mr. Gladstone had taken
to a
new
sort of work.
He came
out as an author
as the
author of a book on the connection between the Church
and the
State.
CHAPTER
VI
GLADSTONE'S FIRST BOOK
The
tions
full
title
of the book was The State in
its
Rela-
with the
Church.
It
was
the
first
book
Mr.
Gladstone ever published.
It created a great sensation
at the time, all the greater because

it
Macaulay attacked
in
one of
his
most famous essays.
Except
as an
illustration of
Mr. Gladstone's intellectual development
and
his
way
of thinking on religious questions, a

altered, the
way
which has never since materially

little
book has
effected
interest
for
the
world
just
now.
;
It
it
nothing in the progress of
human thought
;
neither
advanced nor retarded anything

clearest
style
but
of
it
gives us in the
an
understanding
Mr.
Gladstone's
peculiar views.
first
Mr. Gladstone's mind has been from

faith,
to last suffused with religious
and also with
faith in the practical working of religion.
At
the time
when he wrote the book the
position
of the English
Church was strongly assailed both from the side of Roman Catholicism and from the side of rationalism.
No
better
illustration
of
this
double-bladcd kind of
62
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
in
assault can be found than
the history
"
?
of the two
Newmans.
Pendennis
"
Where
is
the truth
exclaims Arthur
discussing
"
in
Thackeray's
novel,
some
!
question with George Warrington.

see
it
Show
it
me
on both
sides.
see
it
in this
man who
worships
by Act of Parliament and and five thousand a year

fatally
is
rewarded with a
in
silk
apron
driven
that
man
who,
by
the remorseless logic of his creed, gives up

ties,
everything, friends, fame, dearest the respect of an
closest vanities,
army
of churchmen, the recognised

over, truth-impelled, to
position of a leader,
and passes
is
the
enemy
in
whose ranks he
ready to serve hence;
forth as a nameless private soldier
see the truth in
that
man
as
do
in his
brother whose logic drives him
to quite a different conclusion,
and who,
after
having
passed a
cilable
life in
vain endeavours to reconcile an irreconit
book, flings
at
last
down
in
despair,
and
declares with tearful eyes and hands up to heaven his

revolt
and recantation."
At
the time
when Pendennis
was written, many readers might have fancied that
Thackeray was dealing with imaginary figures, types of the two different forms of revolt against the English
Church.
Now, of
course,
we
all
know
that
he was
dealing with the then real and living figures of John
Henry Newman and

These two
figures
his brother Francis

illustrate
W. Newman.
admirably the
in
served to
kind of revolt which from two different quarters set
against the State Church of England about that time.
63
Mr. Gladstone was thoroughly loyal to the Church of
England, and was a believer

her taking a governing part
still
in
the possibility of
in
English
to
human
for
affairs.
Perhaps
it
is
not
too
much
say
him
that,
according to his nature
and temperament, he would

at
all,
have preferred any church to no church

religious
any
His book, sway to a sway without religion. therefore, was a bold effort to prove that every State must have a conscience, and with the conscience must
profess
State
religion.
He
contended
that
the
Church of England was
still in
a condition to
expound
the religion of the State and to
make
itself
the guiding
power of the nation.

Macaulay,
practical
sort
in
his
exuberant
rhetorical
and
yet
of way,
made mincemeat
of the whole
essayist
theory.
He
took the view of the political
and of the House of Commons.

Gladstone's general ideas.
He
patronised Mr.
He
complimented the young

his career,
man on
his rising abilities,
spoke hopefully of
his style.
and paid him some compliments on
But,
all
the same, he proclaimed the practical politician's view

of the whole theory, and he defied
any one
to
explain
how
the State was to undertake to have a conscience,
a conscience of a purely transcendental kind, wholly apart from the changing condition of things and the
new arrangements demanded by new

has in
its
difficulties.
Time
rough and ready way settled the whole con-
troversy long since.
Eew men
in
any
civilised
country
64
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
are
now
of opinion that the State can
endow
itself
it is
with
a conscience which decides in advance

at
how
to act
any wholly unexpected

of us
crisis.
Still,
there are not
many
who have not
a certain sentimental affection

in
for the exalted theory
which Mr. Gladstone formed
those early days concerning the duties and capacities
of a State.
Of
course the whole principle of the theory con-
sisted in the idea of a paternal
government.
Macaulay
detested a paternal government, and was never tired of saying harsh and contemptuous things about
is
it.
It
really the old,
who
those
believe that
immemorial controversy between those knowledge comes by intuition and knowledge comes by experience. that the Church Establishment
who
believe that
Mr. Gladstone insisted
must be maintained
in
England
"
because the Govern-
ment stands with us

and
is
in a paternal relation to the people,
bound
in all things to consider,
not merely their
existing tastes, but the capabilities and

;
ways of
their
improvement because it has both an intrinsic competency and external means to amend and assist their
choice
;
because to be
it
in
accordance with God's mind

religion,
and
will
must have a
its
and because
to
be
in
accordance with
conscience that religion must be

it
the truth as held by
under the most solemn and

;
accumulated responsibilities
because
this
is
the only
sanctifying and preserving principle of society, as well

as
to
the
individual
that
particular
benefit
without

which
all
65
others are worse than
valueless
we must
disregard the din of political contention and the pressure

of worldly and
momentary
motives, and, in behalf of
our regard to
maintain
man
as well as of our allegiance to
God,
among
ourselves,
where happily
it
still
exists,
the union between the
Church and the
State."
Mr.
Gladstone pushed
his opinions at that time so far that

difficulties
he was not even intimidated by the
which
surrounded the existence of a Protestant State Church

in Ireland.
But he
is
perfectly candid in his admission

I
of
all
the difficulties, and
cannot forbear from quoting

the
a passage which showed
how
The
mind of the dreamer
was never allowed wholly to confuse the mind of the

practical statesman.
"
Protestant
Legislature
"
of
the British Empire," says

in the
Mr. Gladstone,
maintains
possession of the Church property of Ireland the
ministers of a creed professed, according to the Parlia-
mentary enumeration of 1835, by one- ninth of

population,
its
regarded
with
partial
favour
by scarcely
another ninth, and disowned by the remaining seven.
And
but
not only does this anomaly meet us

also to consider
full
in view,
we have
and digest the
fact
that
the maintenance of this Church for near three centuries

in
Ireland has been contemporaneous with a system of
partial
and abusive government, varying
in
degree of
culpability, but rarely, until of later years,
when we have
feel
it,
been forced to look at the subject and to
to be
exempted
in
common
fairness
5
from
the
reproach
of
66
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
gross inattention (to say the very least) to the interests
of a noble but neglected people.
But, however for-
midable at
first
sight these admissions,

qualify,
which
have
no desire
to
narrow or to
may
appear, they in
no way shake the foregoing arguments. They do not change the nature of truth, and her capability and They do not relieve destiny to benefit mankind.
government of its responsibility, if they show that that They responsibility was once unfelt and unsatisfied.
place the legislature of this country in the condition,
as
it
were, of one called to do penance for past offences
but duty remains unaltered and imperative, and abates
nothing of her demand on our services.
It
is
un-
doubtedly competent,
in
a constitutional view, to the
government of this country to continue the present It appears disposition of Church property in Ireland. assume that our not too much to Imperial legislature
has been qualified to take, and has taken
fact,
in
point of
a sounder view of religious truth than the majority
of the people of Ireland in their destitute and uninstructed state.
We
believe accordingly that that which

is,
we
place before them

to be
whether they know

to
it
or not,
if
calculated
beneficial
will
them, and that

it
they
know
to
at the
it
not
now they
Shall
know
when
it
is
presented
them
fairly.
we then purchase
their applause
spiritual
expense of their substantial, nay, their

"
?
interests
There
is
something positively touching
in
the in-
GLA DS TONE'S FIRS T BOOK

genuousness, the sincere simplicity, of this
the question.
67
way
of putting
The
State knows better than the people
what the people ought to believe in religious matters, and therefore the State is warranted in spending the
money
of the people in teaching the people what the
State thinks they ought to believe.

constitutional
The
State in a
the ad-
country means the

all,
sovereign,
ministration, and, above

in the
the majority for the time
Representative Assembly.
Now,
at
in the case
of
the
British
Empire the sovereign

or,
the time
about
it,
which we are writing,
at
all
events, just before
was William the Fourth.
The Prime
let
Minister might
us say, or Lord
have been the Duke of Wellington,

Melbourne.
The majority
of the
House of Commons
were elected to support one

This,
then,
political party or the other.
was the State which, according
to
Mr.
Gladstone's ideas at that time, was qualified to teach

the people what they ought to believe in matters of
religion.
It
seems now only necessary

it.
to set forth the
theory in order to dispose of

theory
is
But the
it
interest of the
to us in the fact that
was then maintained,
sincerely
I
and eloquently maintained, by Mr. Gladstone.
have said that Mr. Gladstone's way of thinking on

has never altered materially since
religious questions
the publication of the
book on the State

do not know that
in its relations
with the Church.
this
I
statement
of mine needs any explanation, but perhaps
had better
say
that,
according to
my
thinking, Mr, Gladstone has
68
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
modified
the
never
conviction which
told
solid
him that
basis of
after-
religion in
some form must be the one
every State.
We
to
all
know how Mr. Gladstone

his views
wards came
modify
as regards the State

to deal with that
Church
subject,
in Ireland.
it
When we come
In
the
will
be easy to vindicate
Mr. Gladstone's
it
general
consistency.
meantime
will
be
enough to say that Mr. Gladstone condemned the Irish

State Church, not because
of
its
failed
was carrying out his views purpose and its duty, but because it had utterly to fulfil the only purpose which could possibly
it
warrant
sustained
its
existence
the
as
Church
the
establishment
by
money
of
State.
at
No
one
supposes that Mr. Gladstone would

desired to set
any time have
up a State Church
in
Bengal because he
considered that the English State was more likely to
know
all
about the truths of religion than the natives
of that Indian province.
Another passage from Mr. Gladstone's book con" It cerning the Irish Church may also be quoted.
does indeed,"
Mr.
Gladstone goes on to affirm,

also powerful
"
so
happen that there are
motives on the
other side concurring with that which has here been
represented as paramount.
are not called
In the
first
instance,
we
upon
to establish a creed, but only to
maintain an existing legal settlement where our constitutional right

is
undoubted.
In the second, political
consideration tends strongly to
recommend
that main-

From Painting
by
837.
W. Bradley
at Hawarden.
Photographed by Mr. Watmough Webster
of Chester.
GLADSTONES FIRST BOOK

tenance.
69
A common
form of
faith
binds
the
Irish
Protestants to ourselves, while they, on the other hand,

are fast linked to Ireland, and thus they supply the
most natural bond of connection between the

But
if
countries.
England, by overthrowing
their
their
Church, should
weaken
able,
moral position, they would be no longer
perhaps
no
longer
willing,
to
counteract
the
ot
desires of the
majority tending under the direction
their leaders (however,
that
fatal
course)
to
by a wise policy, revocable from what is termed national infear
dependence.
therefore
Pride
and
on the
one
hand
are
bearing up against more immediate appre-
hension and difficulty on the other.
And
will
with some
men
it
these
may
be the fundamental considerations, but
may
be doubted whether such
men
not flinch
at
in
some stage of the contest should moment become unfavourable."

Exactly.
phrase,
its
aspect
any
There
trouble
is
just where, to use a colloquial

in.
the
comes
The
lofty
head
of
speculation, to quote
to
some famous words, has to

Statesmen
batter
their
bow
grovelling
not,
experience.
as
If a
of
the
wisest
class will
rule,
heads against
the
stone walls.
subject people will not stand
imposition of a State Church which does not belong to

their
faith or their
traditions or their history,
it
soon
to be
comes
to be a question
it
whether the doctrine
is
thorough, whether
is
to be enforced at all risks, or
whether
it
is
to
be quietly modified.
All experience
7o
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
us that, sooner or
civil
tells
later,
the doctrine has to be
modified or that
Macaulay
once
war and separation must result. again showed himself the practical
statesman, the thorough

laid
man
the
of the world,
when he
is
down
and
the
law that
essence
still
of
politics
compromise.
feeling,
Mr. Gladstone was

still
too
young
in
too
completely overborne
by
been
that
religious
enthusiasm
part
which
nature,
has
to
always
the
an
of
exalted
of his
accept
idea
compromise where what he believed great and fundamental truths were concerned.
Gradually he came to
recognise the fact that a statesman must work with his
materials, to perceive the truth of that profound saying
of Burke's which
is
apt to be misunderstood at a
to be read again
first
reading, and has only
and again
in
order to impress
the
its
thorough wisdom on the mind, that

the
heroic
human system which is founded on virtues is doomed to failure and even to
corruption.
No
race of
men
can always or long be in the
mood
of
heroic virtue, and
human systems
that are to last
must
admit some
compromise with man's weaknesses and occasional wrongheadedness and passion, and also with
men's diversity of
concerned.
All
faith
where religious questions are

Mr.
Gladstone's
the
same,
exalted
views in his book on the relations of the Church with

the State seem to
me
little
to
shine
out with
set of
peculiar
attractiveness at a time
and among a
men
with
whom
there was so
profundity, or even seriousness,

as
71
regards
religious
agree with his
views
like
questions.
I
Of
course
do not
suppose nobody now accepts

like
them.
To
man
Lord Melbourne or a man
Lord Palmerston they would, no doubt, have appeared But it counts to me for a good exquisitely ridiculous.
deal in their favour that they could not possibly have
appealed to the feelings of
men
Sir
like
Lord Melbourne
Peel, a
and Lord Palmerston.
Even
Robert
man
who had an
belief far
earnestness of character and a strength of
beyond anything possessed by Melbourne or

is
Palmerston,
said,
on
good
authority,
like
to
have
expressed his wonder that a
man
Gladstone, with
such a career before him, should have taken the trouble

to
write
books.
to
This, however,
rising
came of a general
throwing
objection
statesman
away
his
energy on the writing of books, and not from
any
philosophical or theological objection to the opinions of
Mr. Gladstone.
The book and

only as an
its
whole history are interesting

of
if
illustration
Mr. Gladstone's insatiable
ardour for intellectual work of various kinds.
He was
fields
always
labour.
looking out
for
new and
different
of
Goethe was not content to be a poet and a

he must also be a naturalist and a pioneer
novelist, but
of the theory of evolution.
Gladstone was not content

;
with being an orator and a statesman

a theologian, a reverent critic of
he must also be
Dante, and
Homer and
a translator of Horace.
CHAPTER
VII
GLADSTONE'S MARRIAGE
In 1839 an event occurred of
abiding
personal
far
greater and
more
interest to Mr. Gladstone than the
success or failure of any literary
work could possibly

he
has
have been.
been
this
Gladstone was then, as
always
at
in
since, a
hard and constant reader.
He had
time seriously injured his sight by persisting
studying too
much by
the
candle-light.
rest
His physicians recommended him a complete
somewhere
in
south of Europe, and he decided

in
upon spending the winter
Rome.
his old
In
Rome
he
came
into
companionship with
friend
Henry
visited
Edward Manning,
Westminster, and
afterwards Cardinal Archbishop oi

in
Manning's
afterwards
company he
Cardinal
Wiseman, Monsignor Wiseman, whose appointment to the Archbishopric of Westminster caused such a commotion in England. Among
the visitors in
Rome
that winter were
Lady Glynne,
widow of
Sir
Stephen Richard Glynne, of Hawarden
(MRS.
From Original
at
THE MISSES GLYNNE. GLADSTONE AND HER SISTER LADY LYTTELTON.) Ilawarden. Photographed by Mr. Watmough Webster
of Chester,
GLADSTONES MARRIAGE
Castle, Flintshire, Wales,
73
and Lady Glynne's daughters.
Mr. Gladstone had already some knowledge of these
Lady Glynne's eldest son at Oxford, and had visited him at Hawarden a few The result of the years before the winter in Rome.
ladies,
for
he had
known
LADY GLYNNE.
From
a Painting at
Hawarden
by Slater.
visit to
Rome was
to
that Gladstone
became attached
to
and engaged
Lady Glynne's
elder daughter,
Miss
Catherine Glynne.
On
the
the 25th of July
1839 he was
Miss
married at Hawarden to Miss Glynne, and at the same

time
and
place
younger
to
daughter,
Mary
Glynne, was
married
George
William, the fourth
74
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Lord Lyttelton. Miss Catherine Glynne, now Mrs. was sister of Sir Stephen Glynne, and in Gladstone,
the event of Sir Stephen's death without offspring the
Hawarden
Castle and
its
property were to pass to her

Sir
on behalf of her
issue.
Stephen Glynne was the
SIR
STEPHEN RICHARD GLYNNE.

Painting at
From a
last baronet of his
Hawarden
by Slater.
name, and on
into the
his death,
much
later
on,
Hawarden passed
hands of Mr. and Mrs.

life is
Gladstone.
in
Much
memory
of Gladstone's later
associated
public
with
of
Hawarden
all, in
Castle.
We
think
;
of him, of course,
first
the
House
of
Commons
then, perhaps, in the official residence,
Downing
Street,
GLA DS TONE'S
MA RRIA GE
;
75
London, or Carlton House Terrace
and more
lately in
Hawarden
Castle.
in
Without
the
least
degree invading the sacred

life, it
domain of a great man's
private
may
be said that
no marriage could possibly have been more happy than
MRS. GLADSTONE.
From an
ivory miniature at Hawarden. Photographed by Mr. Wattnough U'ebsto of Chester.
that of Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone.

together,
together.
The
pair were
young
old
became
I
mature
not merely
together,
and
to
grew
do
mean
say
that they
I
passed their lives in the
same dwelling, but what

they were always
do
mean
to
say
is
that
thoroughly
76
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
spirit, in
together in purpose and in
heart and in soul.
There never could have been a wife more absolutely devoted to her husband and to his cause than Mrs.
Gladstone.
even to
There was something unspeakably touching, mere and casual observers like myself, in the
tender care which she always lavished upon him, a care
CATHERINE JESSY GLADSTONE (DECEASED).

Photographedfrom the original at Hawardcn by Mr. IVatmough Webster of Chester.
which advancing years seemed rather to increase than

to
diminish.
One was reminded sometimes
of
the
saying of Burke, that he never had an outside trouble

in his life
which did not vanish
at the sight of his wife
when he crossed the threshold

had several children.
of his home.
Gladstone
Two
of his
sons were at one
time members of the House of Commons.
William
life.
Henry, the eldest son, has long since passed out of
Herbert Gladstone
to carry on the
77
hope and fully renown of the name.

is,
I
believe, destined
young man,
whatever his
ability, naturally overshadowed by the fame of such a father as William Ewart Gladstone.
is
Herbert Gladstone has kept as
far as
he could
capacity,
in
the
cool
background, but
he has undoubted
MARY GLADSTONE
(MRS. DREW).
Photographedfrom the original at Hawarden by Mr. Watmottgh Webster of Chester.
judgment, a clear head, and a ready power
in debate,
while he has a voice that for penetrating capacity and
melodious tone brings

recollection of his father.
back sometimes
delightful
Mr. Gladstone himself made quite lately a touching

allusion to his connection with
Hawarden
March
Castle.
It
came about
in
this
way.
In
1896 he was
78
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
new
line of railway
first
present at the opening of a
between
Liverpool and North Wales, the
sod of which he
In the course of
had cut
a
in
the October of
1893.
short
speech which
he delivered
he
recalled
the
HENRY NEVILLE GLADSTONE.

From Painting by Joseph
Severn, photographed by Mr.
Watmough Webster of Chester.
memories of
his
his
boyhood
"
in
Liverpool, and spoke of

"
I
more recent connection with North Wales.

said,
remember," he
stroll
when
as a
little
boy
used to
upon the sands of the Mersey, now occupied for I remember how the most part by Liverpool docks.
we used
to look across the
Mersey upon the Hundred
of Wirral, and upon the
79
Welsh
hills
beyond, just as an
of Dover
that
Englishman standing upon the

across into France.
illustration,
cliffs
now
is
looks
In point of
is
fact,
a feeble
because France
now
far
more
familiar to
IIKRREKT JOHN GLADSTONE.
From Painting by Joseph
Severn, photographed by Mr.
Watmough Webster of Chester.
an Englishman standing on the

cither Cheshire or
cliffs
of Dover than
North Wales was
to the inhabitant
I
of Lancashire at the period of which
speak.
That
has
all
been changed by a long, a hard, and a manful
and a hard, stand-up fight, between the great companies on the one side and the promoters of this,
struggle,
LIFE OF GLADS TO NE
to all
appearance, comparatively limited enterprise on
the other.
The good
sense and the right and the true
interests of the people
have been with you.
You have
MISS
MARY GLADSTONE
ll'atr/iough
(MRS. DREW).
Photographed by Mr,
Webster of Chester, from the Drawing by
Sir
Edward Burne-Jones.
in
struggled and
you have won.
rejoice
it.
You
were good enough to connect

of
my name
and the name
my
wife with this enterprise, but
we have no other
merit than that of simply having borne such testimony

as
we could
to the true
and the
right.
It is
quite true
GLADSTONES MARRIAGE
that In
this
81
enterprise has for
me
particular interest.
its
Liverpool,
I
which
may
be considered one of
life
termini,
first
drew the breath of
and saw the
light
82
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
In
1
84
the Liberal Administration was getting into

falling
trouble.
The revenue was

a
and
the
budget
showed
millions
very
serious
Sir
deficit,
something
Peel,
like his
two
usual
sterling.
Robert
with
for
astuteness,
saw that the time had come

office.
turning the
Lord John Russell, as representing the Government in the House of Commons,

Liberals out of
brought forward various proposals
for
an alteration
in
the adjustment of taxes so as to restore the equilibrium
of finance.
successfully,
Sir
Robert Peel opposed these measures

at
last
and
brought
forward
in
direct
motion declaring want of confidence
the Govern-
ment, and rested this declaration on the whole financial

policy of
the
Liberals.
The
vote was carried by a
majority, but only a majority of one.
The one was
enough.
dissolve
Nothing was left to the Government but to Parliament and to appeal to the country
at a general election.
The
result of the election
was
disastrous
to
the
Liberals.
The
Tories
came back
with a large majority.

those days, the Liberals
According to the custom of

still
retained office after the
declaration of the polls, and presented themselves to
the
House of Commons
as
an
later
administration.
The
usage then and until
much
was that a Governat
ment, although outvoted and
defeated
general
election, should retain office until formally expelled
by
vote
of
the
House of
Commons.
The
formal
expulsion soon came.
The debate on
the Address,
GLA DS TONE'S MARRIA GE

prolonged over three nights
o'clock on the
left
83
and finishing
at
three
morning of the 28th of August
1841,
the Liberal
Government
in a
minority of ninety-one.
for
Sir
Robert Peel was immediately sent
by the Queen,
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE IN 1841. From the Painting by II ' II. Cubley.
and undertook
to
form a Ministry.
for
Mr. Gladstone had
been once more returned

course, invited
Newark, and was, of
by
Sir
Robert Peel to join the new
administration.
It
has often been stated,
do not know with what
truth, that
Mr. Gladstone was very anxious to become
84
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

other and less technical terms, Irish Secretary.
great English statesmen, Sir Robert Peel himself
the
rest,
in
Many
among
more
began
their public career, or at least the

it,
responsible part of
in the office
of Irish Secretary.
Sir Robert Peel, however, appears to have thoroughly
understood that the
first
tendency of Gladstone's genius

He, therefore, appointed him
was towards
finance.
Vice-President of the Board of Trade and Master of

the Mint.
Mr. George Russell
cites
an interesting description
given by the late Baron Bunsen of a dinner about this

time, at which Mr. Gladstone
was present, on the occa"
sion of the then
King of
Prussia's birthday.
Never,"
;
says Baron Bunsen, "was heard a more exquisite speech it flowed like a gentle and translucent stream. We
.
drove back to town
in the clearest
starlight,
Gladstone
continuing with unabated animation to pour forth his
harmonious thoughts
time
in
melodious tones."
greatly
interested
At
in
that
Mr.
Gladstone
was
the
scheme
for the setting
Jerusalem.
up of an Anglican Bishopric at Baron Bunsen was one of the most rehis
markable men of
obscure birth, he
time.
Of poor parentage and

Revieiv said of
made
himself famous as a linguist
and a
scientific scholar.
"
The Edinburgh
him that he
was endowed by nature with the warmest

His knowledge was vast and
of intellectual research was he a
and broadest sympathies.

varied.
To no
field
Wm?m%?M&Mh
WILLIAM
i:\V.\RT
GLADSTONE
IX
1840.
From fainting
by Joseph Severn.
stranger."
85
some twenty years Secretary to Rome, and at the time when Embassy we meet him in the company of Mr. Gladstone he had
for
He was
the Prussian
at
just been appointed
Prussian
Ambassador
to England. as of
He had
great
love
of ecclesiastical
as well
classical history,
and between him and Mr. Gladstone
there would, of course, have been a natural sympathy.

"
He
acquired," says the

in
and an influence
Edinburgh Review, a position English society which had never

There
"
before been possessed

is
by a German diplomatist."
in these
"
something charming
few lines of description
of that return to
London
in
the clearest starlight with
Mr. Gladstone pouring forth his harmonious thoughts

in
melodious tones."
for
position
was exactly the which Mr. Gladstone was suited. There

office
tariff
His new
was a revised
in
1842 which abolished or
else
greatly lessened duties in the case of twelve hundred

articles
liable
to
be taxed.
Mr. Gladstone took the
leading part in the preparation of this

of course, not only in
tion
its
new
in
tariff, its
and,
preparation but
exposi-
and
its
defence.
Then, perhaps,
for the first
time
he displayed his extraordinary powers as a financier
and as a Parliamentary debater.
He had
to
go through
every minutest detail of his scheme in the House of
Commons.
He
had
to
answer every objection, to clear
up every misunderstanding, to reply again and again on the same question until he had fully impressed his
meaning on the
intelligence of the
House of Commons.
86
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
the most minute acquaintance with every
He showed
part of the country's commerce.
He
proved himself
practically acquainted with even the smallest details of

its
commercial business, and the whole House at once
recognised in him a master of financial statesmanship.

All contemporary writers unite in bearing testimony to the extraordinary impression he produced on the of
House
Commons.
For
all
it
has to be observed that a
man
all
might have had

the mastery of
the commercial knowledge, and
facts,
and
all
the
skill
of argument, and
yet not have been a fascinating Parliamentary orator.
But
this
was what Mr. Gladstone then and

be.
for ever after
proved himself to
Tariffs
and taxation and com-
mercial comparisons are generally considered
somewhat
to
dry and tiresome subjects.
Even those who want

sometimes to
know
ful
all
about them
will listen
their care-
exposition only because they want to get the knowit
ledge and have to listen while
being expounded. But Mr. Gladstone could make the dry bones of finance
is
live.
He
could brighten the dullest financial subject
with what might almost be called the musical touch of That was the quality which he then for the genius.
first
time displayed
in
full
to the
House of Commons.
it
In this
way he was
to
like Peel.
Then
"
was that people

Peel."
began
speak of him as a
pony
In
after
years the public began to recognise that the pupil had
surpassed the master.
From
the time of the debates
on the revised
tariff
it
was quite evident that Gladstone
was
the
great
too,
87
evident,
coming financial minister. that he was the great coming
It
was
Parlia-
mentary
orator.
His admission to the Cabinet was

All the time, however,
only a question of opportunity.
he
still
kept up his studies

in
in ecclesiastical history, his
readings
all
the great classic poets, and his interest in
questions that concerned education and social im-
provement.
From some
of his letters written at the
very time when he was thus impressing the House of
Commons
as the rising financial statesman of
England
one might almost be led to believe that he was thinking nothing about finance, that tariffs and duties were
matters of no concern to him, and that he was wholly
absorbed
in
patristic
literature,
or
in
the
mediaeval
schools of philosophy, or in the art of the Renaissance,

or in the marvels of the ancient
and modern
potteries.
Nothing that
was interesting came amiss
to him.
He
was
as fond of receiving as of giving out information.
He
delighted in meeting any stranger
who
could give
him some new idea or some new suggestion. Life must have been radiantly happy for him at that time,
when, with
all
the world to interest him, he must have

political
had the consciousness that with him a great

career was just about to begin.
We
shall
see before
long
how ready he
was, on a point of conscience, to
risk the
chances of that career.

Mr. Gladstone obtained for the
the
first
In 1843
a
time
place
in
Cabinet.
His reputation had
been
88
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
it
growing so steadily that every one took
for
granted
that his elevation to Cabinet rank was only a question
of opportunity,
and that the
first
time the vacancy

So,
occurred the position would be offered to him.

indeed, the
place as
Lord Ripon resigned his President of the Board of Trade, and became
event proved.
President of the Board of Control
a Board established
by
Pitt to control the affairs of India

in
and
Mr. Glad-
stone succeeded him
the Board of Trade, and
became
member
of the Cabinet.
His course now seemed to

attained the position
be clearly marked out.
He had
which every one had long believed him destined to

occupy, and there was nothing for him but to go on
rising
and
rising step
by
step.
He had
never pushed
had never spoken in the House when there was not a genuine occasion for him to speak. He had
himself, he
kept himself
for a
in
the background, so far as
it
was possible
;
man
of such gifts to be kept in the background
his success
had not been a sudden

light.
blaze, but rather a
steady growth of
to
Now, however,
that he
seemed
have found
it.
his place,
he was suddenly compelled to
abandon
plied
No
outer force of compulsion was ap-
to him, but the
working of
his
own
conscience
In the
dictated and enforced the step he

earlier
was to
Sir
take.
days of the session of 1845
Robert Peel
proposed to advance a certain way towards the propitiation of Irish public opinion.
Sir Robert Peel
had
had
this
course strongly pressed upon him for
some
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE

From a Chalk Drawing
by Geo. Richmond,
IN
1843.
A.R.A.
&
Photographed by Messrs. Fradelle
Young of London.
89
time by the Irish National Representatives and by the
Roman
Catholic priesthood of Ireland.

establish certain
He
resolved,
therefore, to
non-sectarian colleges in
Ireland,
and also to increase the grant to the College

college
of
Maynooth, a
intended
for
the
exclusive
education of
education of
Roman Catholics and Roman Catholic priests.

for a
especially for the
The College had

Irish
had a small grant

given
chiefly
considerable time, which was
with
the
hope
of
encouraging
students for the Catholic priesthood to remain at
home
as so
and get
their teaching there instead of seeking
it,
many of them had had

Spain.
grant, or even to
its
to seek
it,
in
France and Italy and

to the
Mr. Gladstone was no
enemy
Maynooth
increase, as he afterwards proved.
Rut he thought that the proposals of the Government

put him into a position of
much
conscientious difficulty.
Was
retain
he to pledge himself to support a measure which

fully considered, or
in
he had not yet

his
was he simply
to
place
the Cabinet, as so
let
many
another
man would have

his
done, and
the Prime Minister have
way, or was he to
?
retire
from the Government
altogether
England
denly
to
Now, there is a strong objection felt in any member of a Government who sudfrom
it
retires
because of what the ruder public
opinion regards as over-conscientious scruples.
A man
left
who
in
takes such a course
is
very apt to find himself

"
almost complete isolation.

statesmen say.
You You
can't
count on
him," practical
"
don't
know
at
go
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
critical
what
is
moment
he
may
find that his conscience

is
troubling him, and that he
bound
to
abandon
his
post and go apart into a corner and think the whole
thing over in the depths of his moral consciousness."
To
be considered eccentric or quixotic

the
is
almost
fatal
to a rising administrator in
House of Commons,
where the principle of what is called common sense is encouraged in a domination which highly wrought temperaments and intellects sometimes find it impossible to endure.
Many
him
of Mr. Gladstone's closest

to
friends strongly urged

to
conquer his scruples and
remain
this
in
the Cabinet.
him
advice
who gave was Archdeacon Manning, who had
One
of those
not then passed over to the
Roman
Catholic Church.
Archdeacon
Manning pointed out
to
him
that
his
influence in the Cabinet

to
would be of immense service

his
the
Church of England, and that

could not
sort
fail
withdrawal
from
office
The same
friends,
do damage to its interests. of advice was given to him by other

to
"
each from his own different point of view.

just
If
you leave the Government

this particular question,
now,"
said
one,
to
"on
you
are
committed
oppose
them on
this
discussed as
are
your time and your

"
particular question when it comes to be a Government measure and there you

;
gifts
as a financial adminis-
trator all
agitation."
thrown away on a mere matter of sectarian

Think," said
in
others
the
"
again,
how much
we
all
expected of you
way
of genuine social
and
educational
reform,
91
and now, because of some
curious scruple, you are going to kick over the traces
and get out of the administration altogether." Gladstone, however, remained quite firm.
opinions that other
The
men regarded
as
mere
fastidious
scruples were sacred principles to him.

fixed
in
He
remained
feelings
said,
his
intention,
and he explained
his
very fully
resign
in
and candidly.
He
intended, he
to
his
place in the administration
the Cabinet
but he
his first place
firmly declared that his resigna-
tion of office
was not necessarily to be followed by an

" "
opposition to the scheme of the Government of which
he was no longer to be a member.

pose was," he explained
in
My
whole pur-
in
letter,
to
place myself
a position in which
should be free to consider
my
on
if I
course without being liable to

the ground of personal interest.
any
just suspicion
It is
not profane
I
now
The
at
'
say,
With a great
price obtained
in
this freedom.'
political association
which
stood was to me,
the time, the alpha

Sir
Government of
immovable
and omega of public life. The Robert Peel was believed to be of
strength.
My
at
place,
as
President
of
of the
Board of Trade, was

interesting
the very kernel

it
its
most
operations, for
was
in
progress from year
to year, with
continually waxing courage, towards the
emancipation
of
industry,
and
therein
towards
the
accomplishment of another great and blessed work of

public justice.
Giving up what
highly prized,
92
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
felt
myself open to the charge of being opinionated

in
and wanting
deference to really great authorities,
and
could not but
know
and
that
should inevitably be
regarded as fastidious
fanciful, fitter for a
dreamer,
or possibly a schoolman, than for the active purposes
of public
busy and a moving age." words reveal the whole nature of the man.
life
in
These
Mr.
Gladstone
then
resigned
his
position
as
Cabinet
member
of his great friend's

his
administration.
But although he resigned
place,
he nevertheless
supported the increased grant to the College of
May-
nooth by voice and vote.

original
Had
he been a
man
of less
power and genius, such a course of action might have rendered him hopeless for his whole life
as
a leading
member
of any possible administration.
Being a statesman of supreme genius and command,

he had, of course, to be put
befitting his political
I
later
on into a position
and
financial capacity.
is
But what
especially wish to direct attention to
the fact that
Gladstone was not at that time by any means regarded

as a statesman of such
supreme
political
and
financial
genius.
He was
accepted as a very rising man,

to
who
was almost sure
of the Exchequer.
become before long a Chancellor But he was not regarded as what

called
"
Lord Palmerston once
the
inevitable
man
"
;
and there was no reason why, if he had made a political mistake and shown an over-fastidious mind, he should
not have passed, as others had done, out of the running
for
93
high administrative
"
office.
Men had
But the
not then in
England imported from the

States the epithet
political life of the
United
a crank."
reality of the
in Parlia-
description was quite understood.
They had
ment
crank
then, as
is
we have now, many

It
cranks, and to be a
at
to be a failure.
might have been thought
that time, which
had not the experience of our time, that

turn
William Ewart Gladstone was going to
out
mere crank, when
for his scruples
about the Maynooth

in the
grant he resigned his place in the Cabinet and

administration of Sir Robert Peel.
I
am
very anxious to direct the especial attention

this,
of
my
readers to
in
as
it
now
seems, quite unimIt
portant episode
is
the
career
of Mr. Gladstone.
is
necessary to begin at the beginning, and this
the
beginning of one chapter of illustration of Mr. Gladstone's character as a statesman.

If
we do not undernature and

his
stand him by this
revelation
of his
temperament, we shall never understand him at all. The whole question then at issue has been long since
settled,
and
is
now
all
but forgotten.
As
have
said,
Mr. Gladstone actually supported the Government
in the
measure brought
of Maynooth.
in to increase
the grant to the College

in
some length spoke of the increased grant. Then why did he

at
He
support
his
resign
seat in the Cabinet because a
measure was to be
intro?
duced which on
its
introduction he cordially supported
Here we get
at
a study of the character of the man.
94
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
not
He had
the Bill
made up
it
his
mind
as to the purpose of to the Cabinet.

it
when
was submitted
He
speak
could not pledge himself to support

for
it.
and
it
to
He
thought
it
quite likely that
mend
itself to his
all his
maturer judgment,
would comall
and, at
events,
he told
friends that he
had not the

it,
least
idea
of pledging himself to vote against
but
he could
not just then see his way, and he preferred not to take
any responsibility
time of
to
its
for
the measure, of which up to the
expected introduction he had not been able

his
make up
mind altogether to approve. Just think what an absurdity this must have seemed
the hack
ministerialist of the time
!
to
Fancy what
the Tapers and Tadpoles, the Wishies and Washies, of
fancy
Mr. Disraeli's novels, would have thought of

this
it
Only
young
fellow, Gladstone,
who
has just got
into the Cabinet, already feeling scruples of conscience
about obeying the dictation of his

giving up his place in the
his
chief,
and actually
just because
its
Government
own absurd conscience

!
doesn't quite see
way
in
is
that particular direction
one comfort
Gladstone
!
we
!
Well, at
all
events, there
have heard the

will
last
of this
young
Nobody
ever offer
him a
seat in a
Cabinet again
that kind.
Sensible
men
can't
do with fellows of
He seemed
a coming
man
and now
he's
gone
CHAPTER
VIII
THE FREE-TRADE STRUGGLE
On
the
23rd of July 1845
Mr. Gladstone wrote to

letter,
a very dear and intimate friend of his a
some
passages of which have a distinct historical interest.

"
Ireland," says
Mr. Gladstone,
"
is
likely to
find
this
country and Parliament so

to
much employment
for years
come
that
feel rather
oppressively an obligation to
instead of using those of
try and see with
my own eyes
other people, according to the limited measure of
my
means.
Now, your company would be

I
so very valuable,
as well as agreeable, to me, that
am
desirous to
know
whether you are

devoting the
in
at all
inclined to entertain
after
the idea of
month of September,
in
the meeting
Edinburgh, to a working tour

all
Ireland with
little
me
eschewing
grandeur and taking
account even
of scenery, compared with the purpose of looking from

close quarters at the
institutions
for
the religion and
education of the country and at the character of the

people.
It
seems ridiculous
to
talk
of supplying the
;
defects of second-hand
information by so short a trip
96
LIFE OF GLADSTONE much

better,
it
but though a longer time would be
yet
even a very contracted one does

to an habitual
I
much when
is
added
though indirect knowledge."

that
am
off.
sorry to say
I
the suggested
trip
never
came
wish
it
had
come
off.
wish
Mr.
Gladstone could then have gone to Ireland and seen

with his
own
eyes the condition of the peasantry and

of the landlords.
It
was on the very eve of the famine which forced Peel's hand and comthe condition
pelled
him
to allow foreign
corn to
come
freely into
Ireland.
Mr.
Gladstone,
if
he
his
had
then
gone
to
in
it
Ireland, would have seen with
the
course of a
month's tour
never
would
a
own
eyes, even
have
seen
though
way
tenant,
he
had
asked
question
by the
utterly
cottier
that the
Irish cottier tenant
was being
crushed by the rack-rent system.
The
Iris"h
John
Stuart
Mill
said,
was about the only

neither benefit
man
in the
world he knew of
who could
by his industry nor suffer by his improvidence. If he was industrious and raised the value of his tenancy,
his landlord
came down upon him

to go into the
for
an increased rent
and
to
if
he was improvident, the worst that could happen
him was
workhouse or
else to
in
starve,
case.
either of
which might well happen to him

Irish
any
Mr.
Gladstone's
land
all
legislation
nearly
thirty
years later on would in
probability have been

less in
much
need
more
effective,
and would have stood much

if
of expansion and emendation,
he had visited Ireland

in
97
1845, and seen her condition with his
own
off,
keen,
observant eyes.
But the
a
great
visit
did not
come
after
and
it
was not
until
many
years
that
Mr.
Gladstone paid a short

did not go with
visit to Ireland.
Even then he
any
intention
of studying the agri-
cultural conditions of the country.
He
had introduced
and carried the

for
first
it
of his schemes of land legislation
was characterised by a certain narrowness and even timidity, which in all probability would not have been found in such a measure if it had
Ireland,
and
been inspired by the personal observation of 1845.

In the winter of 1845 Mr. Gladstone
slight accident
met with a
which
left
its
mark
for ever.
all
He was
out-of-
fond of shooting, as he was fond of nearly
door exercises and sports.
One day
of his
his
exploded
so
at the
moment when he was

first
gun suddenly loading it, and
injured the
finger
off.
left
hand that the
finger
had to be cut
Since then he has always
worn a black ribbon round the hand and covering the
stump of the amputated finger. House of Commons for the

Gladstone
still
Strangers visiting the

first
time,
when
Mr.
occupied his leading position there, were

left
sure to ask what was the matter with his
hand, and
what was the meaning of the black ribbon.

This was the only serious accident, so
far as
I
know,
which Mr. Gladstone ever encountered.
He
was, indeed,
much
later on, attacked
by
all
cow
in
Hawarden grounds,
to
but he kept his nerves
right,
7
and he managed
98
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
any
serious
escape without
the hewing
harm.
at a
His
later
passion for
date,
down
of trees
came
and
it
probably did more than any other exercise could have
done to strengthen
his
frame and enable him to withlife
stand the wearying effects of a
so
much
of which
was
strictly
sedentary.
For
it
has to be impressed
upon the mind of the reader that during all his life He Mr. Gladstone was a man of prodigious study. was always studying some author or some series of
authors.
He
wrote criticisms on Homer, criticisms by
the
enraptured admirer rather than by the dryasdust
scholiast.
authors.
He grappled with whole libraries of patristic He seemed to want to read everything and
all
understand everything, and
the
time
his
Parlia-
Now, the mentary work was going on in full swing. regular work of the House of Commons is occupation If they are inclined to stick to enough for most men.
it,
they find that they have plenty to do, and the more
to
they do the more they have yet
do.
But
life
Mr.
the
Gladstone stuck to
all
the details
at the
of his
in
House of Commons, while

indefatigable student
same time he was an

of
of literature, of history, and
theology.
No
subject that
could
be of interest to
for him.
humanity
failed to
have an absorbing interest
All the time, too,
he was getting the very most he

of outdoor exercise.
could in the
way
No
doubt
this
was the
health
secret of his splendid
that he never allowed himself to
and prolonged physical become the
99
mere member of Parliament, or the mere student, but

that
he always remembered that he had

in
fibres
and
limbs to keep
healthy,
vigorous
action,
and that
whenever there was a chance of outdoor exercise he

was a man to get
His
political
it
and to enjoy
it.
opponents made
in later
years a good
deal of capital out of his love for the felling of trees.

"
That
is
Gladstone
all
over," they said
"
to
cut
;
down
there
something which he can never cause to grow again

is
his
one chief idea of statesmanship."
But
this,
of
course,
was
later on.
Even
still,
Mr. Gladstone was
generally regarded as a rising

In
this
young Tory statesman.

letter to
year,
1845, he wrote a
in
the late
that
his
Bishop Wilberforce,
which he
explained
views with regard to the Irish Established Church were
becoming
less fixed
and
clear than they

I
had been
before.
Mr. George Russell attaches, and

deal of importance
to that
letter.
think justly, a great

I
will
quote some
sentences of
"
I
it.
am
sorry," says
Mr. Gladstone,
"
to
express
in
my
ten
apprehension
sense years
efficient
that the Irish

;
Church
is
not
a large
last
the
working
me.
results
It
of the
have disappointed
faith in the
may
;
be answered,
I
Have
ordinance of
God
The
but then
must
see the seal and signature, and these
how can
title,
separate
short,
is
from ecclesiastical descent
in
questioned, and vehemently, not only by the radicalism
of the day, but by the
Roman
bishops,
who
claim
to
ioo
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
St.
hold the succession of
Patrick
and
this
claim has
been alive
all
along from the Reformation, so that lapse

it."
of years does nothing against

this
letter
am
its
not quoting
theological
settled
in
either
for
its
political
or
interest.
The
Irish
Church question has been
long ago, and settled by Mr. Gladstone.

his senses
No man
for
would now think of looking
the State
endowment
of whose
of a Church in a country the vast majority

inhabitants
conscientiously
refuse
to
enter
that Church's doors.
But
it
is
common
charge
made
against Mr. Gladstone

his
by
his
political
opponents that
in
changes of opinion were sudden, and were

sense opportune.
I I
the
political
have the strongest contaking pains to
viction the other way,

it
and
am
make
clear that Mr. Gladstone's changes of opinion were
of
slow and steady growth, long thought out, and at

Therefore
I
first resisted.
quote these sentences

in
in the
letter to
Bishop Wilberforce
1845.
They prove
Irish State
that
so far back as that distant time Mr. Gladstone's doubts

as to the value
and the claims of the

serious.
Church
were already becoming
CHAPTER
I
IX
MEMBER FOR OXFORD
NEED
not go over again here the old familiar story
of the struggle against the Corn

free
Laws and
in
favour of
trade.
The Anti-Corn Law League had become

For a long time
support
in the
it
a popular power in England.

able
to
was
the
command
led
but a very poor
in
House of Commons.
The movement
House of
Commons was
1
by Mr. Charles
Villiers,
who
died
6th January 1898, a few days after celebrating his Mr. Villiers was an aristocrat
ninety-sixth birthday.
by famous
birth, a
member
of the great Clarendon family, so

periods
of
at
many
English
history.
in
For
years he led the Parliamentary
movement
favour of
the abolition of duties on the importation of foreign

corn.
Later on he had the splendid
assistance,
first
of
Mr.
Cobden, and then of Mr. Bright, who both

in
obtained seats
the
House of Commons.
in
Still
the
movement, more powerful

little
the country,
its
made but
prospects
advance
in
Parliament, and, indeed,

at
seemed darkest
the very
moment when
events were
102
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
to ensure
in
in
its
coming
perhaps
rapid success.
as
well,
In England, and
other
States
an object-lesson
is
needed
reform.
order to
secure the
in
passing of any great

this
The
object-lesson
"
case was given

said
us."
by
the
the
Irish
Famine.
Famine
itself,"
Bright,
"against which we
had warred, joined

total failure of the
In
autumn of 1845 the

crop set in
population
subsistence.
;
Irish
potato
and the vast majority of the
Irish
working
depended absolutely upon the potato for Under the conditions, it was all but
the
impossible to maintain
of
foreign
corn.
duty on the importation
There can be no doubt whatever

Sir Robert
Peel,
that the
his great
mind of
rival,
and the mind of
Lord John Russell, had been tending more and more for some time in the direction of free
Peel's Cabinet all but
in
trade.
broke up on the question,
and he had to bring

places of those
capable
men
this
to supply
the
who
could not work with him in his
new
policy.
Mr. Gladstone had by
time become
a thorough convert to the principles of free trade, and
he was invited by Peel to accept the

Secretary
in
office of
Colonial
the
room
of
Lord
Stanley,
afterwards
the Earl of Derby,

further with
who found
way
led
that he could not go
Peel on the
to a repeal of the
is
Corn
Laws.
stone's
curious fact in the story

office
that Mr. Glad-
accepting
to
his
exclusion
from
Parliament for the whole of the memorable
session
in
during which Peel's free-trade scheme was debated
MEMBER FOR OXFORD

the
103
House of Commons.
Gladstone's
It
came about
of
office
in
this
way
Mr.
acceptance
compelled
him
if
to offer himself for re-election
to his constituency
he desired to retain his seat
in
Parliament.
But then
Newark, a
Mr. Gladstone was the representative
of
borough which was practically controlled by the Duke of Newcastle, whose influence and patronage, as I
have
his
already
explained, had
secured
Mr.
Gladstone
seat.
The Duke
and
in
of Newcastle was a sturdy pro-
tectionist,
could
not
be
expected
to
give
his
influence
favour of a
a
natural
free -trade
candidate.
Mr.
Gladstone
felt
and an honourable scruple
about opposing his old friend and supporter, the

of Newcastle, and he therefore
Duke
to
made up
his
mind
retire from the representation of the borough and to
remain out of Parliament
until
such time as an oppor-
tunity could arise for contesting
some other
seat.
He
issued his retiring address to the
Newark
electors on
the 5th of January 1846.
"By
accepting the office of

"
I
Secretary of State for the Colonies," he said,
have
ceased to be your representative in

several accounts
at
I
Parliament.
On
should have been peculiarly desirous
the present time of giving you an opportunity to
pronounce your constitutional judgment on my public conduct by soliciting at your hands a renewal of the
trust
which
have already received from you on
five
successive
thirteen
occasions,
and
I
held
during
period
of
years.
But, as
have good reason to believe
104
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
recommended
to
that a candidate
local connections
your favour through

it
may
ask your suffrages,

to
becomes
that
my
has
very painful duty to announce
you, on
ground alone,
afforded
my
me
retirement
so
from a position which

satisfaction."
office
much honour and

was
for those
Mr. Gladstone declared that he had accepted
only because he held that

that
it
who
believed
to
the
Government was acting according
the
demands of
public duty to testify to that belief, how-
ever limited their sphere might be, by their co-operation.

in
The
course he had taken, he declared, was taken

to
obedience
the
clear
and
imperious
it
call
of
public obligation.
Mr. Gladstone,
had been the chief inspiration

this
was well known, of Sir Robert Peel on
question of free trade.

office,
Even when he was not

Government had
actually in
the policy of Peel's
been mainly moulded by his energy, his knowledge,
and
his
guidance.
It
seemed, therefore, a
curious
stroke of fate that the whole session of debate on the

free-trade
scheme should have been carried on without

It
Mr. Gladstone's presence and co-operation.

to
seems
me something
like a
positive
loss
to the history of
the English Parliament that Mr. Gladstone's wonderful
eloquence and marvellous power of arraying facts and

figures
should
not
have been allowed

Sir
chance
of
influencing that great debate.

carried his
all
Robert Peel, of course,
scheme
in despite of the resistance of nearly
his
former Tory followers.
But he
fell
from power
MEMBER FOR OXFORD

in
105
moment.
for
in
He had On
undertaken to introduce a
of
a
measure
the
establishment
the very
its
new
coercion
scheme
Ireland.
day when the Freethird

Bill
Trade
Bill
passed
through
reading in
for
the
House
thrown
of Lords, Peel's Coercion
Ireland was
out
by a
large
majority
in
the
House of
all
Commons.
Radicals
to
if
Some
of the Liberals and nearly
the
England had always made it a principle oppose mere bills for establishing coercion in Ireland, unaccompanied by serious and solid schemes of
in
legislative concession
and reform.
All these, therefore,
voted against Peel on principle.
The
Irish
members,
who
followed
O'Connell's leadership, were, of course,
determined to vote against
All depended on the it. now and the Tories were Tories, thinking of nothing
but revenge upon Sir Robert Peel for his abandonment

of the cause of protection.
Mr. Disraeli himself frankly

all
owned
that
"
vengeance had triumphed over

in
other
sentiments"
field
the minds of
the
Tory
the
party.
The
was
for
lost,
but at any rate there should be retribu-
tion
those
who had betrayed
cause.
So
the
Peel party was turned out of office at the very

of
its
moment
greatest triumph.
Mr. Gladstone did
not
reappear
in
the
1
House of
There
Commons
until
the
autumn
election,
session of
847.
had been a general
and Mr. Gladstone was
invited to stand for the University of Oxford.
There
could
surely have
been
no scat that he was better
io6
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
to
qualified
represent,
or
which he could have had
greater
pride in representing.
Its
Oxford had been the

scenery,
its
home
of his younger days.
surround-

From an
IN 1847.
old Daguerreotype.
ings, its
buildings,
its
history,
its
traditions,
were dear
his
to
his
heart
to
the
;
sweetest
memories
of
youth
belonged
it
his definite ambitions

it.
were formed and

for
list.
cultured and guided in

the
University.
Gladstone was elected

not
He
did
come
first
on
the
MEMBER FOR OXFORD

Sir
107
Robert Harry
Inglis, a
bigoted Tory of the old;
fashioned order, led the
way
Mr. Gladstone came next,
and a man whose very name is now forgotten by most people was the defeated candidate. Still, Mr. Gladstone
came
in
as a representative of Oxford,
and the
Later
fate
University did
on, as
herself
see,
it
we
shall
honour by the choice. was Oxford's perverse

But
to
deprive herself of the honour.

events, Mr.
for the time, at all
Gladstone was the representative of the

Oxford, and was
in
University of
It
his
rightful
place.
was
later
on but a new mark of
his political progress
when he had
to seek another constituency.

is
Mr. Gladstone's address to the electors of Oxford even

still
document of great public and

It
still
greater
personal
interest.
explains
for
the
first
time the
change which had been coming over
his
convictions
with regard to the relationship between the Church and

the State.
He acknowledged
life
that in the earlier part

for the ex-
of his public
he had been an advocate

religion
clusive support of the national
by the
State.
But he came
to learn that
it
would be
I
futile to try to
"
maintain such a position.
"
found," he wrote,
that
scarcely a year passed without the adoption of

fresh
some
measure involving the national recognition and
the national support of various forms of religion, and in

particular that a recent
and
fresh
provision
had been
made
for the
propagation from a public chair of Arian
or Socinian doctrines.
The
question remaining for
me
108
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
was whether, aware of the opposition of the English

people,
I
should set
down
as
equal to nothing, in a
matter primarily connected, not with our own, but with

their priesthood, the wishes of the people of Ireland,
and
in
whether
should avail myself of the popular feeling
regard to the
Roman
Catholics for the purpose of en-
forcing against
them a system which we had ceased by
common
above
consent to enforce against Arians,

of which
I
a system,
all,
must say that
it
never can be con-
formable to policy, to
it
justice, or even to decency,
when
its
has become avowedly partial and one-sided in
application."
This address, then, shows us Mr. Glad-
stone in his
new
stage of mental and spiritual develop-
ment.
the
The
old theory about the relationship between
State
and Church has had to give way to the
teaching of experience, and to the inborn conviction

that
it
is
in vain to strive
against actual
facts.
The
true fanatic, of course, learns nothing from experience.
He
clings to his political
dogma although he
it
finds
it
wholly impossible to maintain
in
action.
To
this
mood
of
mind
man
of Mr. Gladstone's genius and
capacity
for receiving
new
ideas never could descend.

in
Mr. George Russell, commenting on this event

Gladstone's career, observes that that career
divides itself into three main parts.
"
Mr.
naturally
The
first
of them
ends with his retirement from the representation of
Newark.
The
central part ranges from

is
1847
to 1868.
Happily, the third
still
incomplete."
Mr. Russell's
MEMBER FOR OXFORD

book was published
in
109
1891.
We
have since then
seen the completion of Mr. Gladstone's political career.
The whole
story has been told.

after the dissolution of
1
For some three years

Mr. Gladstone's
life
847,
was not marked by any
distinct
political events, so far as his particular career
was con-
cerned.
calls
"
They were
and
three years of
"
what Robert Burns
sturt
strife
all
over the European continent,

Ireland, but
and
in
England and
action
as
in
Mr. Gladstone's
political
was not of great public importance.

as ever
in
He was
careful
his
attendance to his
all
Parliamentary duties, and he spoke on
manner of
important public questions.
He
opposed the measure
making
"
lawful a marriage with a deceased wife's sister,

religious,
on grounds at once social and
contending that
such marriages are contrary to the law of God, defor
clared
three
thousand years and upwards."

to
In
in
absolute
contradiction
his
the
opinions
expressed
some of
former speeches, he advocated the admisto Parliament

;
sion of the
Jews
and, indeed,
may
say
that one of the most interesting and important events
of the general election which brought Mr. Gladstone

for for
in
Oxford was the

the
election of
City of London.
Baron Rothschild, a Jew, Mr. Gladstone supported
Lord John Russell in a resolution passed by the House of Commons, which declared the Jews eligible for
election to all
places and functions for which
Roman
Catholics might lawfully be chosen.
He
defended the
no
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
establishment of diplomatic relations with the Papal

court.
He
called for reform in the navigation laws, a
reform which would
make
the ocean,
"
that great highits
way bosom
see
of nations, as free to the ships that traverse

as to the winds that
sweep
it."
Any
one could
by following the records of
his quiet career during
those years that they were a time of development with

him.
On many
his
subjects his path
was perfectly
clear,
way was to lead onwards. But there still clung around him some of the traditions of that Toryism under which he had been brought up, and
and
which
even
yet
had
for
him an
almost
romantic
fascination.
In
the
1850 the
life
first
pang of sorrow was brought
into
happy
of himself and Mrs. Gladstone.
In the
five
April of that year Catherine Jessy, a child not* yet

years old, lost her
life.
She had
suffered long from a
painful illness, during which she

over, not only
was tenderly watched

father as well.
by her mother, but by her

first
This was the
intrusion of death into the household,
and we may be sure that it was always remembered. There are wounds which never quite heal for natures
like those of
Mr. Gladstone and his
wife.
CHAPTER X
DON PACIFICO
DEATH OF
"
SIR
ROBERT PEEL
The
great
"
Don
Pacifico question
in
was the occasion of a

of
debate
the
House
Commons.
Lord
Palmerston and
of the
Mr. Gladstone divided
the honours
debate between
them.
It
was the greatest

to that time.
speech Lord Palmerston had ever

It
made up
was probably the greatest speech Mr. Gladstone had made up to that time. What was it all about ? Who was Don
Pacifico
?
Such questions might
fairly
be
asked even by a well-read young

day.
man
of the present
Don
Pacifico figured in the politics of that
day
very much
as
Monsieur Jecker did

in
at the time of the
French intervention
Mexico.
Don
Pacifico
was the
comet of a season.
His claims went very near to
bringing on European war, and they certainly caused

for a
time a feeling of estrangement and even anger
between England and France.
Don
Pacifico
was a Jew
of Portuguese extraction, but he was born in Gibraltar,
and was therefore a subject of the Queen. He was living in Athens, and in 1847 n,s house was attacked
U2
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
and plundered by an Athenian mob. The wrath of the mob was inflamed because Don Pacifico was a Jew, and the Greek Government had made an order that the
familiar celebration of
effigy of
Easter by the burning of an
Judas Iscariot should not be allowed to take
place any more.

their
The mob got
angry, and wreaked

house.
wrath on
Don
Pacifico's
Don
Pacifico
for
made
a claim against the

his
Greek Government
losses
at
comthirty
pensation, estimating
more than
not
thousand
pounds
sterling.
He
appeal to the Greek law-courts,
make any but when his demand

did
to the Foreign
was refused addressed himself directly

Office in
London.
Office
less
The Foreign
plaints,
had
at that time various
comGreek
more or
important,
against
the
Government.
No
doubt the Greek authorities had

free,
been somewhat careless and

that they
but
it
is
right to say
showed themselves perfectly
willing to
come
Still,
to any reasonable understanding with England.
they seem to have been quite staggered by the demand of more than thirty thousand pounds for the destruction of household property in Don Pacifico's modest little
dwelling.
An
in
English historian says that

bill
Don
fifty
Pacifico
charged
sterling
his
one
hundred
and
pounds
for a bedstead, thirty
pounds
for the sheets of
the bed, twenty-five pounds for two coverlets, and ten
pounds
"
for
pillow-case,
and the writer adds that

been
contented
Cleopatra
might
have
with
bed
DON PA CIFICODEA TH OF
furniture
SIR
ROBER T PEEL
1 1
so
luxurious
in
as
himself to have
his
Don Pacifico represented common use." The Greek

in the
Government had no
faith
costly bedstead
and
the expensive sheets and coverlets.
They
Lord
declined to
his
pay, and the Don, as
have
of
his
said, did not seek
remedy
in
any
in
court
law.
Palmerston
happened to be had got it into
one of
bumptious moods, and he

in
his
head that the French Minister
Athens was privately urging the Greek Government to So Lord Palmerston resist all the English claims.
lumped up the whole claims into one national demand, and insisted that Greece must pay up the money The Greek Government within a short, definite time.
still
hung back, and the

where
it
British fleet
all
was ordered to the
Piraeus,
seized
the Greek vessels belonging

to
to
the
Government and
in the
private merchants which
were found
harbour.
gave great offence, not alone to Greece have been a matter of

little
which would Powers importance

great
in the treaty
This high-handed course
do not generally care much about the feelings of small France and but to France and to Russia. States
Russia were Powers joined with England
drawn up
Greece.
for
the
protection of the independence of
and,
The Russian Government wrote an angry The French indeed, a furious remonstrance.
for
Government withdrew
from London.
indeed
it
time their Ambassador

into alarm,
All
Europe was thrown
and
was only the trumpery nature of the whole
1 1
LIFE OF GLA DS TONE

which
rendered
it
dispute,
impossible
it,
that
rational
nations
could take up arms about
that averted a
calamitous war.
quietly settled.
After a while the whole dispute was
Don
Pacifico
get about one-thirtieth of his
was lucky enough to demand, and no doubt
was well able to restock

furniture.
his
house with very decent bed
In the meantime, however, the attention of Parlia-
ment and the public

serious
England was directed to the nature of the course which Lord Palmerston
in
had
taken.
Lord Stanley
in
the
House of Lords
moved what was

For
practically a vote of censure on the

it
Government, and he carried

seven.
this,
of course,
by a majority of thirtyLord Palmerston did not
care three straws.
The Peers might amuse themselves

lives, if
every night of their
they liked, by voting a
censure on the existing
Government of the country,
and the Government would go on just as if nothing had happened. But it was quite a different thing with the House of Commons, and Lord Palmerston very
well
knew
that his conduct with regard to Greece
was
strongly
in
condemned by some of
and
the most powerful
men
the Representative Chamber.

skill
He
did
his
acted with his
usual
dexterity.
He
not
put
up a
to
pledged
"
follower
of himself or
Government
vindicate the
policy pursued in Greece.

Liberal," as the
He
got an
Independent
phrase goes, the late

the
Mr. Roebuck, to
propose
motion vindicating
DON PACIFICO DEATH OF SIR ROBERT PEEL

action of the Government.
115
Mr. Roebuck was a

eccentric
of great ability, somewhat
man
a
with, in
fact,
good deal of the

attached
party,
"
crank
"
about him.
He
had never
himself to any Government or Ministerial and he had often attacked and denounced the
policy of
Lord Palmerston
but
call
"
there was a strong
dash of what we should now
the Jingo
"
in
him,
and he had rather a liking

tion of
for
a high-handed asser-
England's power.
in
On
the
the 24th of June
Mr. Roebuck proposed

resolution
1850 House of Commons a
declaring that the general foreign policy of

to maintain the
the
Government was calculated
honour
and dignity of the country, and in times of unexampled difficulty to preserve peace between England and the
various
nations
of
the
It
world.
The
resolution
was
ingeniously worded.
gives the mere Greek question
the go-by, and talks only of the general policy of Lord
Palmerston's
Government.
The
principal interest of
the debate for us
now
turns upon the speeches of Lord

Sir Robert Peel
Palmerston and Mr. Gladstone.

his
last
made
But
speech
in
that great
debate, but the speech

it
was memorable mainly because

Palmerston
lifted
was
his
last.
himself
in
his
speech to a higher
before.
It
position than he
had ever occupied
was not
a speech of great eloquence in the oratorical sense, but
was a masterpiece of dexterity and plausibility. It appealed to every prejudice which could possibly affect
it
the
mind of the ordinary
Briton.
Palmerston insisted
n6
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Government had been
inspired
that the foreign policy of the
ruled
by the
principle which
the
policy of
ancient
Rome, and by
"
virtue of which a subject of that
great empire could hold himself free from indignity by
simply saying,
"
Civis
Romanus sum."
if
The
quotation
a
fetched
"
the House,
It
we may use such
modern
colloquialism.
probably secured to Palmerston his
victory of forty-six, with which the debate concluded.
The whole speech occupied

Lord Palmerston had not a
five
hours in delivery, and
single note to assist him.
Yet Mr. Gladstone's magnificent reply told upon the House, highly strung as it was to impassioned selfadmiration by Palmerston's rousing appeals.
great position for
It
was a
such
Mr. Gladstone to hold when
in
a debate he had to maintain the principle of public and

private justice against so skilled, so plausible, and,
I
must add, so unscrupulous an antagonist

Palmerston.
as
Lord
Gladstone's was, both in argument and in

It
eloquence, by far the finer speech of the two.

a
was
for
speech which
glorified
for
States
as well
as
individuals the principle of Christian dealing, of selfrestraint, of
moderation with the weak, of calm cona
sideration
force.
before
harsh decision
had been put

first full
in
The
speech, indeed,
made
the
as
revelation
It
of
Mr.
Gladstone's
that,
character
all
statesman.
showed
above
things, he was the apostle of

life.
principle in political as well as in private
It
was
it
nothing to him that a policy might be dazzling, that
DON PACIFICODEA TH OF
SIR
ROBERT PEEL
17
might be calculated to spread abroad the influence of

England, that
it
might make foreign nations envious

elate with self-glorification.
and English people
What
be
of
Mr. Gladstone asked was that the

just,
policy should
that
it
should
be a policy of morality and

Stuart
Mill
Christianity.
John
was
said
to
have
reconciled political
economy with humanity.

politics
in
Gladstone
endeavoured always to reconcile

"
with religion.
Let us recognise," he said
the close of his speech,
"
and recognise with frankness, the equality of the weak with the strong, the principles of brotherhood amongst
nations,
and of
their sacred
independence.
When we
are
asking for the
maintenance of the rights which

in Greece, let us
belong to our fellow-subjects resident
do
as
we would be done
State,
by,
and
to
let
us pay
all
that
respect to a feeble
institutions,
and
should
the infancy of free

desire
which
we
and
should
their
exact from others towards

strength.
their
maturity and
all
Let
us
refrain
from
gratuitous
and
arbitrary meddling in the internal
concerns of other
States, even as we should resent the same interference

if it
were attempted to be practised towards ourselves.
If
let
the noble lord has indeed acted on these principles,
the
Government
its
to
;
which he belongs
if
have
your
verdict in
as
I
favour
but
I
he has departed from them,
contend, and
it
you that
of
humbly think and urge upon has been too amply proved, then the House
as
Commons must
not shrink from the performance of
n8
its
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
duty, under whatever expectations of
momentary
our
obloquy or reproach, because

is
we
the
shall
have done what

of
right
we
shall
enjoy
peace
own
consciences,
little later,
and
receive,
whether a
little
sooner or a
the approval of the public voice for having
entered our solemn protest against a system of policy
which we
be
its first
believe, nay,
which we know, whatever
may
aspect, must of necessity, in
its final results,
be unfavourable even to the security of British subjects

resident abroad, which
it
professes so
much
to study
unfavourable to the dignity of the country which the
motion of the honourable and learned member asserts

it
preserves,
and equally unfavourable to that other

it
great and sacred subject, which also
suggests to our
recollection, the maintenance of peace with the nations
of the world."
I
have thought
it
well to give this long quotation

its
from the speech, partly because of

strength,
eloquence,
it
its
and
its
beauty, but
still
more because
marks
a memorable step in the progress of the orator, and
shows alike the reason

reason, too, for
for his great
triumphs and the
some of
his
passing defeats.
Nothing
could be in broader contrast than the whole purpose of
Lord Palmerston's speech and the whole purpose of the Lord Palmerston appealed speech of Mr. Gladstone.
to certain national passions, which have always in their
inspiration a certain element of selfishness
and egotism,
and even of vulgarity.
Gladstone addressed himself
to the conscience
SIR
ROBERT PEEL
19
and to the hearts of men.
He had
House of
not at that time attained to anything like the supreme
command
over
the
Liberal
his
party
in
the
Commons, and over

it
countrymen out-of-doors, which

to
has since been his triumph
exercise again and

see in the course
again with success.
As we
to
shall
of this narrative, Mr. Gladstone succeeded

in prevailing
many
times
justice
upon England simply because it was just.
do some great act of
More than a quarter

House of
just,
of a century has gone by since John Bright declared

in
tones of melancholy conviction that the
Commons had done many

never
things which were

it
but
anything
merely
because
was
just.
Mr.
Gladstone, later on, proved that a better order of things
might be attained.
to
He
induced the House of
Commons
do many things for no other reason than because The debate which I have been dethey were just.
scribing
speeches
was illumined by many powerful and

the speech of Mr. Cobden,
brilliant
of Lord John
Russell, of Mr. Disraeli,

Sir
and of Mr. Cockburn, afterwards
But the one speech of which

will
It
Alexander Cockburn, Lord Chief-Justice of England. it seems to mc history

take most account
is
the speech of Mr. Gladstone.
was not merely a great effort of reason and It marked an era it revealed a man eloquence.
;
of
;
it
foreshadowed a
life's
That very day

o'clock in the
debate morning was marked by

for
policy.
the
lasted
until
four
a great national
120
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Sir
calamity.
Robert Peel, riding up Constitution Hill

of the Green
Park, met with a fatal
by the railings
accident.
His horse threw Sir Robert, and

Sir Robert
said
then
fell
upon him.
was conveyed to
have
rallied
his
home, but
could hardly be
to
for
moment.
He
By
died on the 2nd

his
of July, in his sixty-third year.

lost the leader
death Gladstone
and patron and
friend
on
whom
he had endeavoured to mould his own
political character.
Probably outside Sir Robert Peel's

felt
own
family
no one
It
is
Gladstone
did.
more keenly than the custom in both Houses of

the
loss
Parliament to make public allusion to the loss of some

great
member
of either chamber.
Mr. Gladstone dein the
livered a beautiful
and touching speech
House of
Commons on
the evening of the 3rd of July, in which

ha'd filled
he told of the profound disappointment which

" "
the country because of the premature close of such a

life.
I
call it,"
for,
he
said,
the premature death of Sir

full
Robert Peel,
full
although he has died

it is
of years and
of honours, yet
a death that in
human
that, in
eyes
is
premature, because
we had fondly hoped
what-
ever position Providence might assign to him,
by the
talents,
weight of his
ability,
by the splendour of
his virtues,
his
and by the purity of

been
spared
to
he might
essential
still
have
render
us
most
services."
lines
Then he quoted some

Sir
especially appropriate
"
from
Walter
Scott's
poem,
Marmion
"
Now
is
SIR
ROBERT PEEL
;
121
the stately
column broke
The beacon light is quenched in smoke The trumpet's silver voice is still The warder silent on the hill.
;
Not every one

first
of Gladstone's audience understood

lines.
at
the exquisite appropriateness of these

"
They
occur, indeed, in
Marmion," but they are lines on the

Pitt,
death of William
the poem.
and are
in
the introduction to
The death
effect
of Sir
Robert Peel had one important

so
among
ever
many
The
to
others.
It
left
Mr.
Gladstone free to follow whatever political course his

principles
dissolved,
might
never,
dictate.
Peelite party, so called,
as
such,
coalesce
again.
It
is
impossible
to suppose
that
the influence of
such a
man
as Robert Peel
would not have had some
effect
on
Mr. Gladstone's individual action, and
we do
not
know
whether Peel, with
all
his willingness to
in his
advance into
such a
new
ideas,
might have proved
later years
fearless
advocate of reform as Mr. Gladstone showed him-
self to be.
From
this
time forward we shall see that Mr.

political
Gladstone shapes
career.
for himself the course of his
He
;
champion
was always a splendid second, a superb but now for the first time men look to him and the day
is
for leadership,
is
not far distant when he

or out of office, as the
to be recognised, whether in
foremost
man
in the
House of Commons.
to
Poor
kindly
little
Don
Pacifico
ought
be
remembered
by
122
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
English history for the mere fact that his preposterous

claims gave Mr. Gladstone an opportunity of delivering
Lord Palmerston, and claiming for England her sacred right to a policy of justice and of mercy.
his reply to
Thomas Moore,
"
I
the Irish poet, spoke of

truth,
Fox
as one
on whose burning tongue

have said
in
peace, and freedom
hung."
the
the
House of Commons
even
that
to
words
would
apply
more completely
Gladstone.
CHAPTER
XI
THE NEAPOLITAN LETTERS

IN the winter of 1850 Mr. Gladstone went with
family to Naples.
his
One
of his children was
ill,
and the
doctors had advised that a southern climate should be

tried,
and so
it
was determined that a few months

Mr. Gladstone, no doubt,
should be spent in Naples.
went with
no
other
idea
than
to
watch
over
the
recovery of his child and to give himself a rest

political labour.
from
Doubtless he was thinking much, too,

in the studies
about quiet and happy hours to be spent
and with the books which he was growing to love more and more. But if he thought he was settling down for
any kind, he was doomed to be grievously disYet I do not believe that in his heart he appointed.
rest of
allowed himself to be disappointed, because his earnest

nature sprang at every opportunity for doing any good
to his fellow-man,
and he never could
resist the
"
tempta"
tion of trying to right
some wrong.
Rest elsewhere
was assumed as
motto by one of the great Netherland statesmen who joined in resisting the domination
his
124
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
II.
of Philip
too,
and the Duke of Alva.

"
Mr. Gladstone,
"
might well have taken the words Rest elsewhere He soon found that he as the motto of his busy life.
had other work cut out

pensive loiterings
for
him
in
Naples besides
among
the ruins of Pompeii, or con-
templating the outlines of Capri across the blue bay,

or climbing the sides of Vesuvius.
The kingdom
of Naples was then one of the worstin
governed countries
Spanish
bellion
Europe.
terribly
The dominion
oppressive,
of the
reI
Bourbons was
after
and
rebellion
was constantly going

all
on.
do
not intend to enter into

the
relative
the questions involved in
merits
of
Italian
Governments.
In
all
European countries then, including Great Britain, the common idea was to stamp out rebellion as you Let us admit frankly might stamp out the rinderpest.
that the idea had not that time
an
come up
in
Continental States at
idea which Mr.
Gladstone afterwards
powerfully impressed upon
England
all
that the exist-
ence of rebellion was

into the
first
of
a reason for inquiring

grievance.
existence of genuine
No
doubt
Mr. Gladstone knew that political prisoners were treated that harshly in Austria, in Prussia, and in Russia, and
they had
Ireland.
been treated harshly

But, so far as
I
England and in can judge, the Government

in
of
King Ferdinand
its
of Naples was
more
harsh, on the
whole, in
dealings with such enemies than any other

at the time.
European State
In any case, Mr. Glad-
THE NEAPOLITAN LE TTERS

stone's
25
was peculiarly a temperament
to be impressed
by the propinquity of events. And here he found that in the Naples where he settled for rest there was going
on a system of mediaeval cruelty
prisoners
in
the treatment of
of state.
large
number of Neapolitan
thousands were lying
disaffection,
public
men who formed
the opposition had been either
banished or imprisoned.
in the jails
Many
on charges of
political
and
in
those
insult.
jails
they were subjected to gross severity and
There was an end of Mr. Gladstone's holiday.

determined to study the question
life.
He was
for
himself,
and from the

the prisons.
He
obtained the means of visiting

the
He saw
men
in
their
chains.
learned
who they were and what they had done. found that some of them were men of the highest
and honour
citizens
He He
per-
sonal character
to
patriots,statesmen, valuable
itself
any State which showed
their co-operation.
his
1
As
the result of his
worthy of inquiries and
observation, Mr. Gladstone, on the

1,
85
addressed, nominally to his
2nd of April friend Lord Aber-
deen, afterwards Prime Minister of England, but really

to the
whole
civilised
and Christian world, a
letter in
which he described and denounced the abominations

which he had seen, and, indeed, the whole system of
King Ferdinand's Government.

with other
letters,
He
followed this up
and the
effect
which they produced
was an almost unparalleled sensation throughout England He explained in the first of and throughout Europe.
126
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
letters
his
that he had not
gone to Naples with any
idea of criticising the system of government there, or
of looking out for grievances in
its
administration, or
of propagating any political creeds or theories whatever.
He
said that the
work which he had undertaken

his
had been forced upon him by even after he had returned to
conscience, and that
his
own country he
felt
only stronger and more imperative the duty of proclaiming his views.
into
He
very judiciously declined to go
any
question as to the validity of the title
which
the existing
Government of the Two

title
Sicilies possessed.
Whether the
was one of law or of
force
was not
three
a matter for his consideration.

"
He
laid
down
propositions
First, that
the present practices of the

reference
to
real
Government of Naples
in
or
sup-
upon religion, and upon civilisation, upon humanity, upon decency. that these are Secondly, practices certainly and even
rapidly doing the work of republicanism in that country
posed political offenders are an outrage
a political creed which has
little
natural root in the
character of the people.
Thirdly, that, as a
member
of the Conservative party in one of the great family of
European
nations,
am
compelled to remember that

real,
that party stands in virtual and
though perhaps
unconscious, alliance with
all
the established Govern-
ments of Europe as such, and that according to the

measure of
its
influence they suffer

its
more or
less
of
moral detriment from
reverses,
and derive strength

and encouragement from
its
127
successes."
He
explained
that he had deliberately abstained
from making any

political,
British agencies or influences, diplomatic or
responsible
for
his
utterances.
The charge he made
Government of Naples was not one of corruption among some of its officials, of occasional harshagainst the
ness or even cruelty to
its
prisoners, or the imprison-
ment of men on charges

proved.
not, in his opinion, sufficiently

in
Charges such as these might
disturbed and
trying times be made, with occasional justice, against
any
State
in
Europe.
Mr.
Gladstone's
indictment
against the
it
Government of the
its
Two
Sicilies
was that
deliberately violated
its
own
constitution
and trampled
laws. This point ought to be strongly imon the mind of the reader. Mr. Gladstone did pressed
on
own
not
merely
accuse
full
the
Neapolitan
Government
in
of
making the
selves
cruel use of laws
which were
the
them-
cruel.
His
charge
it
against
its
Neapolitan
of laws
Government was
for the
that
broke
own code
purpose of
inflicting
on
its
enemies a severity of
it
punishment which the laws did not allow, and that
obtained convictions by methods which the laws themselves
condemned.
One
striking
passage from
Mr.
Gladstone's letter has, indeed, been quoted often and

often before, but
I
again
"
cannot refrain from quoting
it
once
It
is
such violation of
human and
written law as
this, carried
on
for the
purpose of violating every other
128
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
and
eternal,
law, unwritten
human and
divine
it
is
the wholesale persecution of virtue,

intelligence,
when united with
operating upon
such a scale that entire

its
classes
may
with truth be said to be

is in
object, so that
the
Government
bitter
and
in
cruel, as well as utterly-
illegal, hostility to
whatever
the nation really lives
and moves, and forms the mainspring of practical progress and
improvement
its
it is
the awful profanation of
public religion, by
notorious alliance in the govern-
ing powers with the violation of every moral rule under

the stimulants of fear and vengeance
;
it is
the perfect
prostitution of the judicial office which
has
made
it,
under
veils
only too threadbare and transparent, the

vilest
degraded recipient of the

got
and clumsiest
forgeries,
up
wilfully
and
deliberately
for the
by
the
immediate
advisers of the
Crown
purpose of destroying
if
the peace, the freedom, aye, and even,

sentences, the
life
not by capital
of
men amongst
it
the most virtuous,

of
upright, intelligent,
distinguished, and refined

is
the
whole
system
community
of moral,
the
as,
savage and
in
cowardly
as
well
lower degree, of
physical, torture,
through which the sentences obtained

into
all
from the debased courts of justice are carried

effect.
The
effect of all this
is
a total inversion of
the
moral and social ideas.

is
Law, instead of being

affection,
is
respected,
odious.
Force, and not
the
foundation of government.
There
is
no association,
but a violent antagonism, between the idea of freedom

and that of
order.
it
129
of itself that
clothed, in
is
The governing power, which teaches the image of God upon earth, is
all
the view of the overwhelming majority of the vices for

its
the thinking public, with

I
attributes.
This
'
have heard the strong and too true expression used

is
the negation of
"
God
erected into a system
of government'
This
ture.
last
phrase passed into history and into

it
literain
Mr. Gladstone gave

it,
in
the original Italian
which he had heard
and
its
fame soon went abroad.
Now,
was
for the first time,
Mr. Gladstone had proved him-
self to
be a leader of truly Liberal ideas.

revealed
"
Now
"
there
clearly
in
his
nature
that
passion of
to
philanthropy
which
he
himself
had
ascribed
O'Connell, and which inspired him to the end.

still
far
from being a professed Liberal
in
He was He politics.
ideas
would
in
still
have put away from him the

Administration.
offer of a place
Liberal
But
his
were
expanding beyond the narrow and hide-bound limits of

the old-fashioned Toryism.
Let
it
be remembered that
inclination
there never was in Mr. Gladstone
any natural
towards
republican
sentiments.
His whole feelings
and reasonings went with the monarchical form of government, and he wrote, no doubt, with perfect
sincerity
when he
said, in his letter to
Lord Aberdeen,
Neapolitan
that he complained of the practices of the
Government because, among other things, they were " a rapidly doing the work of republicanism in Naples
130
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
which has
little
political creed
natural or habitual root
in the character of the people."
He
stood forth simply

;
as a leader in
only, was the
the cause of humanity

flag he unfurled.
that,
and that
The
the
letter, as
might be expected, created a profound
sensation throughout Europe, and indeed throughout
whole
civilised
in
world.
question was put to
Lord Palmerston
subject,
the
House of Commons on the

expressed
his
belief,
and
Lord
Palmerston
derived from various other sources of information, that

the
statements
contained
in
Mr.
Gladstone's
letters
gave only too accurate a description of the condition of

things existing
in
Naples.
British
Lord Palmerston added,
however, that the

sidered
it
Government had not conduty to
part
of
its
make any
formal
representations to
the
Neapolitan
Government on a
subject that belonged entirely to the internal affairs of
the kingdom.
it
But he announced that he had thought
right to send copies of Mr. Gladstone's letters,

in
now
embodied
a pamphlet, to
all
the English Ministers
at the various courts of Europe, directing to
them
to give
in
each Government a copy of the pamphlet,

that,
the
hope
it,
by affording them an opportunity of reading

in
they might be led to use their influence
pro-
There were, of course, moting Mr. Gladstone's object. numbers of replies, official and non-official, to Mr.
Gladstone's
charges.
Some
of the
French
papers
made
it
a mere question of religion, and tried to convey

the
idea
that
it
131
was only the case of a Protestant

It is
statesman denouncing a Catholic State.

to
as well
point
out
that,
in
one
of
his
letters
to
Lord
Aberdeen, Mr. Gladstone distinctly exempts the clergy

of the
Roman
Catholic Church in Naples, as a body,

in the
from any implication
conduct of the Neapolitan

of the replies to Mr.
Government.
The whole mass

little
Gladstone's letters had
or nothing to do with the
reality of the question at issue.
No doubt
Mr. Gladstone was shown to have
made
many mistakes as to The most expert firm

have drawn up
dates and details and persons.

of lawyers could not possibly
so long
and comprehensive an
indict-
ment without making a mistake here

there.
or a mistake
All that Mr. Gladstone had seen with his

fact,
own
eyes was beyond dispute, and, in

puted.
efforts
never was dis-
But although he had made the most searching

to get at the literal
it
truth of every statement
submitted to him,
was not possible that he could

unconscious
the
always
mistake,
narrator.
be
or
proof
lapse
against
exaggeration,
part
of
memory on
of the
his
Yet the substance and the essence of

remained
absolutely
to
charges
immovable.
have been
Cruelties
inflicted
beyond number were shown the Neapolitan Government
by
in absolute disregard
and
defiance of the constitution and the laws of the country.
Mr. Gladstone frankly admitted the mistakes which he
had made, but he showed with clearness that the great
132
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
bulk of his accusations was established, and that he had

in
some
cases understated rather than overstated the
gravity of the charge.
He
published a letter
"
in
which
he once more vindicated his accusations.

has shot deep into the mark," he said,
dislodged.
"
The arrow
and cannot be
But
have sought,
in
once more entering
the
in
field,
not only to
sum up
the state of the facts
the
manner nearest
I
to exactitude, but likewise to

it,
close the case as
began
presenting
it
from
first
to last in the light of a matter
which
is
not primarily
or
mainly
political,
which
is
better kept apart from
Parliamentary
discussion,
which
has
no connection
whatever with any peculiar idea or separate object or

interest
of
England,
but
which
appertains
to
the
sphere of humanity at large, and well deserves the consideration
of every
man who
its
feels
a concern for the
well-being of his race in
bearings on that well-being;

individual
on
the
elementary
;
demands of
domestic
happiness
order
that
;
on the
on the permanent maintenance of public on the solution of stability of thrones

;
great
problem
which,
day and
night,
in
its
innumerable forms, must haunt the reflections of every statesman both here and elsewhere how to harmonise
the
old
with the
new
conditions
of society, and to
mitigate the increasing stress of time and change upon
what remains of
this
ancient and venerable fabric of
the traditional civilisation of Europe."
Mr. Gladstone
expressed a just pride
in
the knowledge that on the

challenge of
of
133
one
private individual
the
Government
before the
jurisdiction.
Naples had been compelled
to plead
tribunal of public opinion,
and
to
to
admit
its
He
even went so
far as
pay a compliment to the

"
Neapolitan Government for having resolved on
the
manly course of an
official reply,"
and declared himself
not without a hope that the result of the whole discussion might be a complete reform of the departments
of
said
the
:
kingdom of Naples.
Finally,
Mr. Gladstone
"
express the hope that
it
may
not become a hard

it
necessity to keep this controversy alive until

its
reaches
one possible
issue,
;
which no power of man can

I
permanently intercept
there
is
express the hope that, while

is
time, while there
quiet, while
in
dignity
the
may
yet be saved in showing
mercy, and
blessed
of of
work of restoring Justice to her seat, the Government Naples may set its hand in earnest to the work
real
tatious,
and searching, however quiet and unostenreform that it may not become unavoidable to
;
reiterate these appeals
from the hand of power to the
one
common
heart
of
mankind
to
produce
those
painful documents, those harrowing descriptions, which
might be supplied
in
rank abundance, of which
have
scarcely given the faintest idea or sketch, and which,

if
they were laid from time to time before the world,

like a
would bear down

or
palliation,
deluge every
all
effort at
apology
and would cause
that has recently
134
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
in
been known to be forgotten and eclipsed

horrors yet
;
deeper
lest this
rise
strength of offended and indignant
humanity should
up as a giant refreshed with wine,
and, while sweeping
away
these abominations from the
eye of heaven, should sweep
away along with them

and
things pure and honest, ancient, venerable, salutary to
mankind, crowned with the glories of the

capable of bearing future
fruit."
past,
still
letters
There can be no doubt that the publication of the and the vast-spreading controversy which sprang
it
from
the
did
much good, even

itself.
to the political systems of
kingdom of Naples
No
its
civilised
Government
can be thus compelled to plead
cause before the bar
of universal public opinion without finding itself constrained to review

its
its
own
actions and to revise
some
of
own
practices.
The
prison system and the
political
trials
little
of the
kingdom
of Naples began to improve a
But the kingdom of Naples was not allowed much time for improvement. Within less
from that day.
than ten years a revolution had swept does there appear
at the
it
away
nor
present
moment
the remotest
prospect of a return of the Spanish Bourbons to rule in
any part of
it is
Italy.
Mr. Gladstone taught a lesson which

I
necessary to teach to most Governments.
know,
Government which may not come under strong temptation every now and then to deal harshly with
indeed, of no
its political
enemies, and even to strain the laws against
them.
have heard Mr. Gladstone's own words quoted

again and again
in
135
the
House
of
Commons
as a lesson
which ought
in
to be
an example to English Governments

political
their dealings with
prisoners.
can only
say, so
letters
much
the better.
The moral
of Mr. Gladstone's
was never meant

It
to apply to the
Government of
Naples alone.
applies to every State where, in times

first
of disturbance, the
thought
is
how
to
punish the
enemy, and
if
all
thought of finding out the grievance,

be,
is
grievance there
waved away
into the
vague
future.
I
may remark
in
that
many even
of Mr. Gladstone's
admirers, then and since, were of opinion that there
was something
Lord
the course he took which was incom-
patible with the attitude

to
assumed by him
in
replying
question.
Palmerston on the
is
Don
Pacifico
The
"
course of reasoning
somewhat
curious.
Mr.
Gladstone had denounced
in the
House of Commons
the vain conception that we, forsooth, have a mission
to be the censors of vice

fection,
and
folly,
of abuse and imperIt is
among
the other countries of the world."
that a public pointed out as something strange
man
who
uttered such opinions should have almost straightthe censor of vice and folly, of abuse
in
way made himself

and imperfection,
the foreign
Five minutes of reflection

to
kingdom of Naples. ought to be enough to show
any one that there is no inconsistency whatever between the one position and the other. Mr. Gladstone
objected to the English Government, the English State,
136
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
intervening in the affairs of Greece to set right certain

defects of the
Greek system, and with a strong hand seizing and confiscating Greek vessels to satisfy a preall
posterous claim for
but imaginary damages.
What
on earth has
this contention to
do with the
right of a
private individual to expose a terrible grievance seen
with his
own
?
eyes
in
the prison system of a foreign
country
We
might as well say that Howard, the

prisons and
philanthropist, because he visited foreign
exposed the horrors of them, would have been inconsistent if he had objected to the English Government
sending an invading army into each of these foreign
countries in order to compel
them
to set their prison-
houses
in order.
One might
as well say, to
come down
to a smaller illustration, that the
member
of Parliament
who
objected to our intervention in the domestic affairs

is
of France or Italy
guilty of inconsistency
if after-
wards he writes a
letrer to the
London newspapers
acted
to
complain of the loss of his luggage on the French or

Italian
frontier.
Mr.
Gladstone
;
with
perfect
consistency in these instances

possible
and, indeed, the best
way
of rendering intervention in the domestic
affairs of foreign States
unnecessary
is
such an appeal
to the public conscience of the civilised world as that
which
made when he brought the Neapolitan Government, by his own voice and his own
Mr.
Gladstone
action, before the tribunal of
European opinion.
a
Mr.
Gladstone was then
and
since
strong
friend
and

champion of
Italian
137
unity.
Many
accusations were
by those who upheld the Austrian possession of Lombardy, and the rule of the King of Naples, and the maintenance of the ducal systems of Tuscany and Modena and other places.
made
against
him on
that ground
The whole controversy

and
I,
is
long since dead and buried,

it.
for one,
have not the slightest wish to revive
But one of the charges made against Mr. Gladstone
was that he personally associated himself with Italian conspiracy, and that he was the intimate friend of
Mazzini.
latter
The only comment

is
have to make on
this
in
charge
that
myself heard Mr. Gladstone,
the
House of Commons, many years ago, say, with " Mr. Speaker, I never saw Signor Mazzini." emphasis,
I
do not
in
infer
from these words that Mr. Gladstone

to disparage
meant
any way
Mazzini or to associate
himself with the charges that were
made from time
to
time against the Italian leader.

that Mr. Gladstone "never
merely note the
fact
saw Signor Mazzini."
CHAPTER
XII
THE ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES BILL

Mr. Gladstone came out of one controversy into another. The excitement caused by the publication
of his letters to Lord Aberdeen was thrown into the
shade
the time by the passionate controversy in on what was called the Papal Aggression. England The then Pope, Pius IX., had made up his mind to
for
local
titles
give
to
the
Catholic
Archbishops
and
Bishops in England.
Ever since the days of the great
Oxford Movement
sions
led
by John Henry Newman,
seces-
had been going on among a certain
class
of
devout and intellectual

to the
Church of
men from the Anglican Church Rome. The Pope and his advisers
indicated a tendency on the part
might not unnaturally have been led into the belief

that this
movement
of the whole people of
England
to
become reunited
with the ancient Church.
As
and
a matter of fact, the
movement,
as
have
said,
concerned
intellectual
only
certain
classes of pious, educated,
men.
The
whole vast bulk of the middle and lower classes of

England had absolutely nothing
cared nothing about
it.
139
to
do with
it,
and
very large, far too large,
proportion of the English lower- middle and working

class
have
little
or no interest in
his advisers
religion
of any kind.
But the Pope and

of the
it
mistook the significance

it
"
Oxford Movement," as
is
called,
and thought
meant something
like a national upheaval.
Anyhow,
seem
Pius
to
the course taken by the Pope does not
us
anything very formidable

issued
or
stringent.
the
Ninth
in
Papal
Bull
directing
the
establishment
deriving
their
England of a hierarchy of Bishops

from
their
titles
actual
sees.
The
Bishops and Archbishops were there already, and were recognised and protected by the State only they
;
were called Bishops of Mesopotamia, or of Melipotamus,

or of
Emmaus,
or
what
"
not,
in partibus infidelium?
call
The
selves
Pope's Bull simply ordered them to
them-
Archbishops or Bishops of whatever division of
England they happened to reside in. The first Archbishop appointed was Cardinal Wiseman, who now
The Cardinal became Archbishop of Westminster. had been for ten years living quietly in England under
the
title
of Bishop of Melipotamus.
It
is
hard at this
distance of time to get one's self back to any clear
understanding of the
Protestant
care
made any straw whether Cardinal Wiseman
mood
of mind which
was
Archbishop of Westminster or Bishop of To make the whole agitation still more Melipotamus.
called
140
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
understand, the Catholic Archbishops and
Ireland always called themselves by their
difficult to
Bishops
local
in
titles,
Archbishop
so
on,
of
Dublin,
Archbishop
of
Tuam, and
objection.
and
nobody made the
slightest
But the truth probably

issued
at
is
that the Pope's Bull
was
the
an
unlucky
time so far as regarded

it
tempers of Englishmen, coming as
did just in the
wake of the Oxford Movement, which much dismayed

and offended the ordinary Englishman.
as an evidence that the
right
It
was taken
Pope thought that he had a

to the Papal
now
to
annex the whole of England

a
Church.
Anyhow,
fury
of anti- Catholic
passion
usually
affair.
flamed over the greater part of England.
Men
the
calm and sensible
lost
their
heads
over
There were
riots here, there,
Catholic churches in
and everywhere. Roman many towns were attacked and
broken
into
Protestant
mobs were encountered by

a
perfect
Roman
Catholic
mobs, and
saturnalia
of
disorder in speech and in action prevailed throughout
the kingdom.
The Government
the face.
felt
that
something
must be done.
very quietly
in
Lord Palmerston looked the matter
He
did not attempt to confor the
ceal in private letters his
contempt
a cool
to
whole
anti-
Papal agitation, but,
like
man
of business, he
saw that something would have

the public clamour.
be done to satisfy
a letter to
The Queen
herself, in
her aunt,
the
Duchess of Gloucester, expressed her

deep regret
exhibited by
at
141
the
"
unchristian and intolerant spirit

"
I
many
people at the public meetings."

"
cannot bear," she wrote,
to hear the violent abuse of

is
the Catholic religion, which
so painful and so cruel
towards the
many good and
innocent
Roman
is
Catholics."
I
However, something had to be done, and

hardly say that useful legislation
need
seldom
the result
of the vague conviction that something has to be done.
Lord John Russell was then Prime

brought
a
title
Minister, and
he
in
bill
prohibiting under penalty the use of

in
taken by a Catholic Bishop from any see

or,
England,
Britain,
indeed, from
and rendering void
any place whatever in Great all acts done by or bequests

titles.
made
to
persons under such
Probably never
carried
in
before in
modern times has a measure been
the face of so powerful and intellectual an opposition.
Our
chief interest in
it
now
attaches to the part taken
by Mr. Gladstone
It
in the
long debates on the measure.

first
may
fairly
be said that then, for the
time, Mr.
Gladstone assumed the position of a great Parliamentary

leader.
He
led
the opposition to the
bill
simply as a
if
question of public liberty.

tolerate the
He
contended that
all,
Roman
it
Catholic faith at
you
are
you com-
pelled to allow
the use of whatever forms and

fit
names
and
titles
it
thinks
to adopt.
Men
of
like
Mr. Cobden,
Mr. Bright, Sir James Graham, Mr. Roebuck, followed

with
enthusiasm
public
the
leadership
so
Mr.
Gladstone.
the
Protestant
men
intensely devoted to
142
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Church
as Mr. Roundell
interest of their
Palmer,
after-
wards Lord Selborne, and Mr. Beresford Hope, stood

resolutely
by
Mr.
bill,
Gladstone's
side.
Mr.
Disraeli
scoffed at the
although he declared that he would

its
not take the trouble to oppose

his
introduction
but
language of contempt was as strong as that of Mr.
Bright or Mr. Roebuck.
On
the other hand,
some of
the extreme Protestants like Sir Robert Inglis found

fault
with the
bill
on the ground that

its
it
did not go
half far enough in
stringency.
It
would not be too
much
the
to say that, except for
the whole intellect

bill.
Lord John Russell alone, of Parliament was strongly against
Yet the measure was carried by an immense Something had to be done to satisfy popular majority. Lord Palmerston made the whole matter outcry.
clear in
one of
"
his letters since published.

in
"
We
must,"
he be
said,
bring
a measure.
The country would not
satisfied
without some legislative enactment.

it
We
shall
It
make
as gentle as possible."
in its application to
proved
be very gentle indeed.

it
In
fact,
no attempt whatever was made to put

Cardinal
into
practice.
Wiseman
still
called himself
Arch-
bishop of Westminster, and no one took any steps to

prevent
him
from
so
doing.
it
The
strange
popular
sleep.
outcry was
satisfied,
and
soon cried
itself to
Every thinking
man
saw, meanwhile, that out of those

Bill
debates on the Ecclesiastical Titles
Mr. Gladstone
had emerged a great Parliamentary
leader.
The most

brilliant
143
and impressive speeches he had ever made up

were delivered
It
to that time
in
opposition to Lord John
Russell's measure.
has been said that Mr. Gladstone
had
decided
leanings
towards
the
Roman
Church
"
Catholic
Church.
No
doubt a Church so venerable, with so

ritual,
"
it,
picturesque and artistic a
in
whose
bosom," as Thackeray put

saints
so
many
generations of
to
all
and sages have rested," could not but appeal that was poetic and all that was devotional in But
I
Mr. Gladstone's nature.
do not believe that he
had any sympathy with the especial doctrines of the
Roman
Catholic Church.
It
was
at
one time assumed

be swept
I
by many that Mr. Gladstone was
likely to
away by
have,
the
Newman movement
into
Catholicism.
however, spoken with
men who were contemand who told
poraries of Mr.
selves since
Gladstone at Oxford, who had themCatholics,
become Roman
me
they never saw reason to believe that Mr. Gladstone
was
likely to join
the Church of
Rome.
The whole
Bill
controversy about
the
Ecclesiastical
Titles
was
with him only a question between genuine liberty and

petty persecution.
Nothing seems
career of a
honourable
part that
in
the
me to public man
to
all
be more
than
the
Mr. Gladstone took
in
those long and
fierce debates.
Twenty years
faction
Bill,
after,
Mr. Gladstone had the

the
Ecclesiastical
satis-
of quietly
repealing
Titles
which he had so earnestly and generously opposed.
144
LIFE OF GIADSTONE
We
far-off
have no great concern now with the details of
the struggles between governments and parties in the
days of the Ecclesiastical Titles

however, which we
fact
still
Bill.
The one
in
direct interest,
have
to
those
struggles
is
the
that
they pushed
to
the front
two
men who were

I
destined
it
be almost lifelong
said,
antagonists.
speak,
need hardly be
of Mr.
Gladstone
and
Mr.
Disraeli.
Lord
John
Russell's
Government was crumbling away, and, after a number of defeats, none of which was in itself of capital importance,
Lord John Russell thought

his
it
necessary that he
and
colleagues should resign.

to
invited
certain
Lord Stanley was form a new Administration, and so little

even then whether Mr. Gladstone had or
his old
was
it
had not severed himself from

that
Lord Stanley, according

to
to a
Tory associations rumour which every

in
one believed, offered

Conservative
Secretary.
to
Mr. Gladstone a place

office
the
Government with the
of Foreign
Lord Stanley, however, vainly attempted Lord Aberdeen was then form an Administration.
and
he, too, could
invited to try his hand,
not see his
way
to
success.
for
done but
return to
There was actually nothing to be Lord John Russell and his colleagues to
office.
Government thus
set
up again by
sheer necessity, and because there was no other group of
men who would

anything but a
did his best to
take the responsibility, never could be

failure
in
England.
failure
Lord Palmerston
make
the
complete.
He was

most independent and,
"
"
145
to
use a modern slang word,
pushful
Foreign
Secretary.
He
did exactly what
he liked, without consulting anybody.

repeatedly
in
He
had acted
defiance of Lord John Russell's warnings
and
self.
in defiance
even of protests from the Queen herlittle
But he carried the joke a
too far
when he
expressed to Count Walewski, the French Ambassador

in
London,
d'etat
his
entire
approval
of Louis Napoleon's
coup
of
the
2nd of December
dismissed
185
1.
Lord
Palmerston
last time, so
was
far
actually
as
in
from
office
the
He
my memory
serves me, that such
an event occurred
English history.
Nothing, how-
ever, could daunt or dishearten Lord Palmerston.
was up
smiling,
to the front again after this
tremendous blow,
happened.
and as
if
nothing particular had
Within a very short time he managed, with the Tories

to help him, to defeat
Lord John Russell on a measure

importance other than
in that
that has
fact.
now no
historical
Lord John Russell went out of office, and was succeeded by Lord Stanley, who had now, on his
father's death,
become Earl of Derby, with Mr.

of
Disraeli
as
Chancellor
the
House of Commons.
Exchequer and leader of the This was Mr. Disraeli's first

Crown.
People
"
appearance as a Minister of the

general were greatly
in
amused
"
at the notion of
Vivian
Grey" becoming a Cabinet Minister, "Sidonia" accepted

as a British statesman,
"
Coningsby
10
undertaking the
Disraeli's
responsibility of Chancellor of the Exchequer.
146
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Budget, however, was not a badly managed piece
all
first
of business,
things
considered.
The only
object
session.
was
to carry the
Government decently over the

dissolution,
Then
again
there
came a
for
and Mr. Gladstone was

a
greatly
elected
Oxford with
increased
majority.
The
results
of the general election did not
materially affect the balance of parties, and the Govern-
ment of Lord Derby returned
to office.
Mr. Disraeli
now had
to
make an attempt
at a real
in
working Budget,
the
effort.
and he certainly did not succeed

Gladstone stopped the way.
Mr.
CHAPTER
XIII
GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI AS RIVALS

In 1852 began the long Parliamentary duel between
Gladstone
and
Disraeli,
which ended
only when, at
the close of the session of 1876, Mr.
Disraeli left the
House of Commons and took

meant
to
his place, as
he had always
do sooner or
later, in
the
House of Lords.
and
it
The debate was on Mr.

in
Disraeli's Budget,
ended
the defeat of the
Tory Government.
Mr. Disraeli
never, before or after, spoke with greater
power and
in
sarcasm and bitterness and passion than

speech
in
his
final
that debate.
It
was about two o'clock
in
the morning
to
him.
"
when Mr. Gladstone sprang up to reply Gladstone has got his work cut out for
him," was the
comment
of one of the listeners

feet.
when
Mr. Gladstone rose to his
He had
his
work cut
out for him, but he was equal to the work, and he soon
made
it
quite clear that he was going to do
it.
Many
members
galleries
of the
House and
it
listeners
in
the strangers'
thought
hardly possible that, at that hour
of the morning, and after such a speech as Disraeli's,
148
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
further impression
could be made even by Mr. But before he had got far into his speech every one felt that Gladstone was making a greater It has impression than even Disraeli had produced.
any
Gladstone.
to be borne in
mind
also that Gladstone's speech
was
necessarily unprepared, for he replied
point
by
point,
and
almost
sentence
It
by sentence,
to the
speech of
Mr. Disraeli.
seems to
me
in
that from that
moment
Mr. Gladstone's position
the
House of Commons
was completely established. Then, as I have said, began the long these two great Parliamentary athletes.
important debate the one
Disraeli
Disraeli.
rivalry of
In
the
every
other.
man answered
or
followed
It
Gladstone,
Gladstone
rivalry
followed
was not unlike the

it
between Fox
and
Pitt,
for
was a
rivalry
of temperament
and
character as well as of public position and of political

principle.
Gladstone and Disraeli seemed formed by

In character, in temper, in
nature to be antagonists.
tastes,
and
in style
of speaking the
men were
utterly
unlike each other.
One
was
of Gladstone's defects was his
tendency to take everything too seriously.

Disraeli's
seriously.
One
of
defects
his
tendency to take
in
nothing
Disraeli
was strongest
reply
when the
a mar-
reply had to consist only of sarcasm.

vellous
gift
He had
could
of phrase -making.
epithet.
whole policy with an
He He
impale a
could dazzle the
House
of
Commons
with a paradox.
He
could throw

ridicule
149
on a
political
party by two or three happy and
reckless
adjectives.
He
in
"
described
one of Cobden's
as
free -trade
meetings
some country place

a
an
assembly made up of
crew."
It is
grotesque and Hudibrastic
not likely that one of Cobden's meetings
was more grotesque or Hudibrastic than any other But that did not concern public meeting anywhere.
the
House of Commons
effective
;
the description was humorous

laugh, and the adjectives
in
and
it
made people
stuck.
Disraeli
was never happy
statement.
When
he had to explain a policy, financial or other, he might Gladstone really be regarded as a very dull speaker.
was especially
brilliant in statement.
He
could give to
an exposition of figures the fascination of a romance or Gladstone never could, under any possible a poem.
conditions, be
dull
speaker.
He was
But
in
no equal of
Disraeli in the gift of sarcasm

self called
"
and what Disraeli hima reply he swept
flouts
and
jeers."
his antagonist before
him with
his marvellous eloquence,
compounded
I
of reason and passion.

all
heard nearly
in that
the great speeches
made by both
for so
the
men
Parliamentary duel which lasted
many
years.
My own
observation and judgment gave

all
the superiority to
Mr. Gladstone
through,
to his
but
quite admit that Disraeli stood
up well
great
opponent, and that

prize of victory.
unlike.
it
was not always
easy to
award the
The two men's
voices were curiously

voice,
Disraeli
had a deep, low, powerful
heard
150
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
the
everywhere throughout
variety or music in
it.
House, but having
little
Gladstone's voice was tuned to

full
a higher note, was penetrating, resonant, liquid, and
of an exquisite modulation and music which gave
new
shades of meaning to every emphasised word.
The
ways of the men were in almost every respect curiously unlike. Gladstone was always eager for conversation.
He
loved to talk to anybody about anything.
Disraeli,
even
among
fits
his
most intimate
friends,
was given
to
frequent
of absolute and apparently
gloomy
Disraeli
silence.
Gladstone, after his earlier Parliamentary days, became
almost entirely indifferent to dress.

turned out
years went
in the in the
always
latest
newest fashion, and down to his

get-up of a
young man about

his
town.
Not
of
less different
were the characters and temperaments

Gladstone
the
two
men.
changed
long
political
opinions
career.
many
force
times
during his
Parliamentary
But he changed
of
a
his opinions only in deference
to
the
growing conviction, and
to
the
recognition of facts and conditions which he could no
longer conscientiously dispute.
Nobody probably
ever
knew what Mr.
Disraeli's real opinions
were upon any

real opinions
political question, or
whether he had any
at
all.
Gladstone began as a Tory, and gradually

into a
became changed
Radical.
Disraeli
began
as
an extreme 'Radical under the
patronage of Daniel
O'Connell, and changed into a Tory.
knew
that Gladstone was at
first
But everybody a sincere Tory, and at

last
151
sincere
Radical.
Disraeli
Nobody knew,
ever
or,
indeed,
sincere
cared,
whether
was
It
is
either
not,
Radical or a sincere Tory.
perhaps,
an
unreasonable thing to assume that Disraeli soon began

to
feel
that
there
was no opening
for
him on the
Liberal benches of the
House of Commons.
He was
the
determined
to
get
on.
He knew
that
he had
capacity for success.
He was
not in the least abashed
by
session after session of absolute failure in Parliament,
but he probably began to see that he must choose his
ground.
On
the Liberal side were

Russell,
men
like Palmerston,
Lord John
Gladstone,
there
Cobden, and
respectable
Bright.
Qn
the
Tory
side
were
country
gentlemen.
Since the removal of Lord Stanley to the
Upper House there was not a single man on the Tory benches who could for a moment be compared, as
regards eloquence and intellect, with Disraeli.
perfectly open
Given a
mind,
it
is
not difficult to see

his
how an
choice
ambitious
man would make
choice.
The
was made accordingly, and Mr. Disraeli soon became

the only possible leader of the
Tory party
in the
House
of
Commons.
Now
that
it
has
all
passed into history, and has
become merely a question of what might be called artistic interest, I think we may be thankful that
Disraeli
made up
his
mind
to cast in his lot with the

all
Tory
from
party.
it
We
have, at
events, the
into
advantage
rivalry
that he
was thus thrown
permanent
152
LIFE OF GLADSTONE we have

the long succession
with Gladstone, and that
of Parliamentary duels to read of and to remember.
On more
to
than
one occasion,
too,
Disraeli
was
able,
according to his
own
phrase, to "educate his party"
up
some
to
really liberal
measure.
In that
way he was
likely his
in
office.
able
serve
the
country, although
his
I
most
still
immediate idea was to keep
party
But
confess that, for myself,

of this fact
am
not thinking so thankfulness that
much
when
express
my
Disraeli joined the Tories.
The
liberal
measures would
have come
in
due course of time whether Disraeli But

I
helped them or tried to hinder them.

estimate
cannot
how much
have
the Parliamentary history of recent

lost
in
times would
Disraeli
interest
if
Gladstone and
politics.
had been on the same side

interest
in
What
and
would become of the chief

the Iliad
if
and fascination of
allies
Achilles and
in
Hector had been
companions
arms
Gladstone was needed to bring

keenest and brightest
of Disraeli.
in
out
all
that
was
the Parliamentary eloquence
Gladstone, on the other hand, would have
been
literally
thrown away on any Tory antagonist
beneath the
the
level of Disraeli.
Never since
Disraeli left
House of Commons has Gladstone found a Tory

his
antagonist worth
crossing swords with.
Among
differences
other differences between the two

in
men were
education.
Disraeli
never had anything like the
classical training of Gladstone.
The mind
of Gladstone

was steeped
in
153
the glorious literature of Greece and of
Rome, about which Disraeli knew little or nothing. Disraeli knew but little Latin or Greek he could not
;
speak French fluently or

of his delivered in the
correctly.
In a famous speech
at the height
House
of
Commons
of his fame and

stone's, Disraeli
in
opposition to a measure of Gladit
made
"
plain that he thought the
mean-
ing of
"
taught
life.
university
was a place where everything was

instruction.
a place of universal
In another
famous speech he described John

Apologia pro Vila
Sua
as an
"
Henry Newman's " apology for Newman's
When
the Congress of Berlin sat in 1878, and was
presided over by Prince Bismarck, the great Prussian
statesman opened and conducted the business
in
English.
Disraeli, accompanied by Lord Salisbury, represented England at the Congress, and it was at first supposed that Bismarck spoke English simply as a mark of com-
pliment
to
England.
it
But
Bismarck
kindly
to
spoke
English because
that Disraeli
It
had been
at
made known
in
him
was not
home
French.
all
must be admitted, however, that

extent
in
this
tells to
certain
Disraeli's
favour.
Among
the
contrasts between the lives and

rivals
ways of the two great must be noticed the contrast between the conunder which
they
entered
into
ditions
public
life.
Everything that
been done
in
care, culture,
and money could do had
for
Gladstone.
His father had started him

Disraeli
public
life
with an ample fortune.
was the
154
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
literary
son of a very clever and distinguished
man,
who was
launch
successful
enough
as a sort of genre artist with
the pen, but

in
who could not

Disraeli
give his
son
much
work
of a
life.
got
but a very scrambling

set
education, and was for

lawyer's office.
some time
to
in
His early extravagances got him into

at
much
trouble
the outset
of his
career.
He had
at
luxurious
Oriental tastes and fancies, and, besides, he

to get into the
was determined
House
of
Commons
any cost, and the expenses of election in those days would seem almost incredible to our more modest times.
It
;
1
was no very uncommon thing
for a
man
to
spend
at
first
00,000
in
contesting
a county. a
Disraeli
contested only boroughs, but even
borough contest
meant huge expenditure. He had therefore nothing like the secure and unharassed entrance into' politics
which was the good fortune of
difference between
attitudes
his great rival.
Another
in
the
two men was
found
their
towards general culture.

for
Gladstone had a
positive passion
studying everything, for knowing
something about everything.
any subject elude his grasp. varied and all but universal.
statues
He was unwilling to let He had tastes the most He loved pictures and
and architecture and old china and medals and
bric-a-brac of every kind,
and he had made himself

of
all
acquainted
with
the
history
these
subjects.
There was almost nothing about which he could not talk with fluency and with the keenest interest. He

had a
thirst for information,
155
and
all
it
was a pleasure
to
tell
him
to get out of every

his
man
that the
subject.
talker,
man
could
him about
great,
own
particular
and indeed a tremendous,
Although a Gladstone was
not one of the

to themselves.
men who
His
insist
thirst for
upon having all the talk information would in any
him from being a talker only. He knew that every man and woman he met had something to tell him, and he gave every one an ample opportunity.
case have prevented
Disraeli
had no such ubiquitous

knowledge.
tastes
and no such
varied
He had
His
travelled
more
than
little
Gladstone ever travelled, but he brought back
from his wanderings.

groove.
in its
life,
indeed, ran in a narrow

idol,
Political
ambition was his
and he
lived
worship.
A
in
writer of brilliant novels, he could
hardly be called
the highest sense a literary man.

original,
His novels were undoubtedly

in
and brought him

probably the
every
way a
great success.
He was
only English author
who
ever
compelled his English
public to read political novels.

affection for literature or for
But he had no particular

literary
men.
Not very
the
in
long
after
Thackeray's
death
Disraeli
satirised
author of Vanity Fair most bitterly and recklessly

the
person
of
one
of the
characters
life
in
Endymion.
Disraeli thoroughly enjoyed the
of the
House of
Commons
joyed
it
for its
own
sake.
Gladstone probably enit
most
for his
the opportunities which

principles
gave him
his
of asserting
and
pushing forward
156
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Of both men
it is
reforms.
only
fair to
say that during
their long political struggle not
one breath of scandal

life.
touched their public or private

occasions
On
one or two
when an accusation was made

shown a
spirit
against either
man
of having
of favouritism in some
public
appointment, the charge was easily disproved,

in
and indeed would not have been seriously believed
by
in
many
office,
people
in
any
case.
Disraeli
was once, while
charged with having given a certain small appointto a political supporter.

first,
ment
He was
able to prove
at once,
that the recipient of the place was the

its
man
of
best qualified for
work, and, next, that the recipient
of the place had been a steady political opponent

Disraeli
and the Tory party.
It is satisfactory to
know
the
that
in
the higher walks of English political
life
atmosphere has for
many
years been pure and untainted.
The days
Walpole and the Godolphins had long passed away, and even the hardof
Bolingbroke
and
drinking,
reckless,
Pitt
gambling temper of the times of

totally
Fox and
was
unknown
to the
principal
associates of Disraeli
and Gladstone.
rivals
In every
way,
therefore, these two great

rivalry.
I
were worthy of the

late
have often thought that of

in
years Mr.
Gladstone
the
House of Commons must have sadlv
missed his old antagonist.
Gladstone had a profound sympathy with Italy

strong passion for Italy
very
much
like
the passion
which Byron had
for Greece.
He
loved the language,

the literature, the country, and the people.
Italian
157
He
spoke
with
marvellous
fluency and
that
accuracy.
An
when
movesaid,
eminent Italian told

speaking
Italian, fell
me once
Italian.
Gladstone,
quite naturally into the very

If Gladstone,
in
ment and gestures of an
he
were to address the representative chamber
Rome,
every one present would take him for an Italian only it was possible that the Tuscan might think
he was a
Roman, and
as a
that
the
Roman would
the of
his
set
rest
him down
he
almost
Tuscan.
Whenever he needed
it
always
at
sought
a
later
under
skies
of
Italy.
When,
the
period
career,
he
visited
Ionian
Islands as
Lord High Comhe
missioner on behalf of the Sovereign of England,
addressed
all
the public assemblies in the islands and

in
on the mainland,
Athens and elsewhere,

of Greek
in
Italian.
The pronunciation
which
is
taught at the
it
English universities would have rendered

possible for an English scholar,
almost im-
however well acquainted
with the literary language of Greece, to

intelligible to
make
himself
modern Greek audience.
Gladstone
spoke French with perfect fluency, but with a very
marked
accent.
Indeed, his speeches in the
House of
Commons
told
were always delivered with an accent which

"
unmistakably of the
North Countree."
;
From
have
his forebears
he got the tones of Scotland

all
and then
I
Lancashire has a distinct accent

a strong impression that
to herself.
some
at least of the
influence
158
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
House
if
of Gladstone's finest speeches in the
of
Commons
been
would have been

delivered
in
little
marred
they had
the
commonplace accent of West- End
London
society.
CHAPTER XIV
GLADSTONE AND BRIGHT
The
Houses of Parliament have had

:
in
my memory
three really great orators
Lord Derby whom I have already mentioned, Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. Bright. " A high North Countree." All three came from the
the
and mighty London weekly paper once said

a pity
the
it
"
:
What
is
that Mr.
Bright cannot catch the tone of

"
!
House of Commons
a pity
it
The
retort
was obvious
What
is
that the
House of Commons cannot

!
catch the tone of Mr. Bright
Gladstone and Bright soon became strong
friends.
The two men were

in
curiously unlike in general

not, in
ways and
bringing -up.
Bright was
the higher sense,
man
of education
culture.
He
certainly was not a man of had been quietly brought up, with what
he
He might be called a plain commercial education. knew little of Latin, and next to nothing of Greek.
He could read French, and He was not widely read,
appreciation of
all
could speak
it
fairly
well.
but he
had
marvellous
the
the shades
of meaning which
160
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
English language was capable of putting into expression.
He was
not a reader of
for
many
books, but the books that
he really cared
than love."
he
"
loved with a love that was more
He
adored the Bible and Milton, and he
learned to delight in Dante, although only through the
medium
of a translation.
One
of the happiest quotain a
tions he ever
dition
made was made
speech on the con-
of Ireland,
and was taken from Dante.
His
style as an English orator

thrilling.
He
I
was pure, simple, strong, and had a voice which was perhaps, on the
whole, superior even to that of Gladstone himself.
As
his
an orator,
should say that he
now and
then
in
greatest speeches soared to a height which
Gladstone
to
never reached.
But as a debater he was not
be
compared with Gladstone.

but Gladstone's foot
passion was
As he put
is
it
himself: "I
can stand up to a fight well enough every

then,
now and
always
in
One
ment
common
to
both the
men
the stirrup." the passion
for following in the
path where justice and the improve-
of the condition of one's fellows seemed directly
For a long time Gladstone was a great source of strength to Bright, and Bright was a great
to guide.
source of strength to Gladstone.

his greatest
Bright did, probably,
work outside the House of Commons, and Gladstone certainly his greatest work inside it. Bright
had
a
gift
of
rich
Anglo
It
Saxon
humour which
Gladstone could not

Disraeli, great
rival.
used to be noticed that
master of sarcastic phrases as
he was,
GLADSTONE AND BRIGHT

never would go
in for a
161
passage of arms with

a
terribly
Bright,
The hand
strength
in
of Bright
its
had
knock-down blow.
de Lion
for
in
good-humoured It was like the

Walter Scott's
of his
life
buffet of Richard Cceur
Sir
Ivanhoe.
Bright
was
many
years
absolutely devoted to Gladstone's leadership in

affairs.
home
He had He
little
or no
sympathy with Gladstone's
enthusiasm
people.
about the
cause of this or that foreign
never indulged in expressions of rapture

Italy.
about the national cause of
This came
in great
measure from
welfare of
to be the
his not unreasonable conviction
that the
England
first
herself
and of her colonies ought

most of England's
consideration of English statesmanship.
He was
utterly
opposed
to
inter-
ventions in foreign
affairs.
He
justly
condemned the
from the very beginning, and he was denounced and abused for his utterances,
policy of the Crimean
War
which now represent the opinion of

men.
all
rational English-
But he showed that

Civil
his
in
was not a merely insular
mind when the

out,
War
the United States broke
and when the sympathy of the vast majority of
those
who considered themselves

was ostentatiously given
to
"
"
society
in
Great
side.
Britain
the
Southern
He
to
stood up for the welfare of the people of India as

to
opposed
push
the interests of those
who went
out there
distinction.
trade, to
for
make money,
or to earn
He was
many
years a friend of Ireland
when
friends
of Ireland were rare figures in

ii
the Parliament
House
62
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
For years and years he stood up a
and splendid champion
for justice to
at Westminster.
brave, persistent,
the Irish people.
Nor even when,
in his closing years,
he
fell
away from Mr. Gladstone on
this
very question
of Ireland's national claims, did the Irish people feel
anything but a deep and poignant regret that the strong
arm which had supported them so long should be for some strange reason suddenly withdrawn from them.
For the present, however, he stood by Gladstone's side, and was by far the most powerful supporter
Gladstone had
in the
House of Commons
or out of
it.
CHAPTER XV
A COALITION GOVERNMENT
I
MUST
return to the duel between Mr. Gladstone and
Mr.
Disraeli
and
its
life.
immediate
consequences
English
political
Mr. Gladstone's
upon speech comfinancial

it
pletely crushed the whole of Mr. Disraeli's
scheme.
The Budget was
there one hour, and
was
gone the next.

in
When
the division
came
to
be taken
the early morning
of
17th
December 1852, the
Government was found

Lord Derby
his resignation.
to be in a minority of nineteen.
at
once wrote to the Queen announcing
It
would be needless to say that the

Mr. Greville,
let
time was one of intense political passion.

in
his
diary, gives us
one curious
and,
us hope,
unique illustration of heated feeling

Tories.
"
among some
"
of the
tells
On
the 20th of December, Mr. Greville

ruffians
us,
twenty
of
the
Carlton Club
describes them, and no doubt justly
gave
thus he
a dinner to
Tory
political
colleague
who had been charged with

off without
bribery at an election and had got

serious
any
condemnation.
"
After
dinner,"
Mr. Greville
64
"
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
when they got drunk, they went
to
upstairs, and,
says,
rinding Gladstone alone in the drawing-room,
some of
This
them proposed
with
waiter
throw him out of the window.
they did not quite dare do, but contented themselves

giving
some
insulting
message or order to the

I
and then went
away."
cannot attempt to
I
vouch
well
for the truth of this story, but
remember
time,
it.
quite
that
the
story was
told
at the
and was
generally believed to have
some
truth in
As
"
heard the tale at the time, the proposal was to
fling.
Gladstone out of the window
in
the direction of the
Reform Club," which

building.
is,
in fact, the
very nearest public
This version of the

like a coarse
story would
make
it
seem more
joke than like any proposal
with a serious
purpose.
But nothing
can be more
certain than the fact that about that time Gladstone

bitterly detested by
all
was
the
ignorant and infatuated
followers of the
Tory
party.
When Lord Derby

colleagues resigned, the
to
and
Mr.
Disraeli
into
and
their
men who came
power had
form a coalition government.

a government of their
make
The Whigs could not The Peelites were own.

Cabinet was
therefore,
not strong enough to think of forming an administration

far
;
and the time
for a Radical
still
very
off.
The new Government,

of
was a comone
then
is
bination
"
Whigs
and
Peelites,
with
or
two
philosophical
sincere
Radicals,"
as
they were
called,
and earnest Radical speakers, that
to say,
but not fighting
165
men
like
Cobden and
Bright.
Lord
Aberdeen became Prime Minister, and Mr. Gladstone,

as Chancellor of the Exchequer,
had
for the first
time
the
stiff
full
opportunity of displaying
of
finance.
his
genius
fight
in
management
battle at
He had
to
Oxford.
And
although he was elected, he
His first was elected by a majority seriously reduced. The Budget was introduced on 1 8th April 1853.
speech
which he made
will
in
introducing
his
financial
scheme
be remembered for ever
in the
House of
Commons.
heard
level
Certainly since the days of Pitt no financial
exposition equal in point of eloquence had ever been

in
Parliament.
Sir Robert Peel at his highest
was
distinctly surpassed
by
his
pupil.
It
seems
hard to understand
so
how
man
could contrive to throw
much
eloquence, fancy, illustration, and

it
humour
into
a statement of facts and figures, but that Gladstone then, and in

all
is
quite certain
his succeeding
Budget
speeches, kept the
House absolutely
fascinated by the
charm of
his style, entirely apart
from the substantial
merits of the proposals he had to make.
The
clearness
with which he explained
all
the details of his subject
was the
listener
gift
of genius in
itself.
The
faculties of the
were never kept upon the strain
and
it
may
be said that there can be no really great speech which

keeps the faculties of the listener on a perpetual
strain.
The
gift of lucid If
explanation
it
is
like
the gift of a fine

is
voice.
we
find
difficult to
hear what an orator
66
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
we
soon, whether
his
saying,
we
like
it
or not, begin to be
if
weary of
distressed
speech.
In the
same way,
of
we
are
by
the
difficulty
of
understanding
facts
is
the
arrangements and comparisons
and
figures
which a Chancellor of the Exchequer

us,
laying before
we must only
wait in patience for next morning's

the
papers in order to find out what

financier really were.
plans
of
the
There was no
difficulty in
Mr.
Gladstone's case.
One might
not agree with him, but
no one could possibly pretend that he did not understand.
The Budget speech

I
of
1853
lasted
for
I
five
hours.
did not hear the speech myself, but
have
spoken with numbers of men who told

glance at the clock in the House of
me that only a Commons could

for
have convinced them that the orator had spoken

anything
like
such
length
lines,
of time.
Mr. George
Russell gives, in a few
a very clear exposition of

first
the principles of Mr. Gladstone's

"
financial scheme.
It
tended," he says,
"
to
make
life
easier
and cheaper
for large
and numerous
classes.
It
It
promised wholesale
the
remissions of taxation.
lessened
charges on
common
processes of business, on locomotion, on postal
communication,
consumption.
and
on
several
articles
of
general
The
deficiency thus created was to be
met by the application

the
of
the
legacy duty to
real
property, by an increase of the duty on spirits, and by
extension of the income tax at fivepence

to
all
in
the
pound
incomes between one hundred and one
hundred and
"
167
fifty
pounds."
The
speech," says Mr.
Russell, "held the
House spellbound.
all
Here was an
orator
who
could apply
the resources of a burnished
rhetoric to the illustration of figures,
who
could
;
make
pippins and cheese interesting, and tea serious
who
could sweep the widest horizon of the financial future,
and yet stop to bestow the minutest attention on the microcosm of penny stamps and post-horses." That was, indeed, the peculiar charm of Mr.
Gladstone's financial expositions.
One
never could
tell
what
might what he odd bring by fancy might light up some subject in itself unattractive by what happy phrase he might fasten attention on some matter of
in
curious
illustration
or quotation he
not
next
merely commonplace
interest.
One
the
could not miss a

for
word
one
could
papers.
not
endure to wait
voice,
the
next
the
morning's
gestures,
The
perfect
intonation,
were
in
keeping
with
the
words.
Every word was set off and made emphatic by the manner and the tone. The position of Mr. Gladstone
was proclaimed certain by that first Budget speech. It put him at the head of all the financiers of his day, and
it
set
him up
as a financial orator superior to Peel
and
at least equal to the
younger
Pitt.
believe that
most
been
of Gladstone's
great
the
financial
expositions have
made without
barest
-
help of
in figures.
anything
more than the
memoranda
The
orator was always
read) to reply to
any
interruption, to give answer to
any
68
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
away
for a
question, to travel
moment from
the main
track of his speech in order to remove difficulties and

to solve doubts
which
it
might be convenient to deal
with at once, and then turn back to the main line of

his
argument and go on as
he
with
if
no break
in its
tenor had
ever been caused.
In truth, Mr. Gladstone could do
whatever
liked
language,
as
certain
great
musicians have been able to do whatever they liked with

notes.
I
am
not
now asking my
readers to consider
the actual effects of the financial scheme introduced by

this brilliant
and memorable speech.
Monsieur Fould,
the once famous minister of Napoleon the Third, said " to his master on a certain important occasion Give
:
me good
finance."
foreign
policy,
and
will
give
you good
Mr. Gladstone might have said the same

in
thing to his colleagues
the spring of 1853.

it
He had
by a bad
given them good finance, and they marred

foreign policy.
CHAPTER
XVI
THE CRIMEAN WAR
The
first
time
ever
heard
speech
from
It
Mr.
Gladstone was on the 12th of October 1853.
was
on the occasion of the unveiling of a statue to Sir
Robert Peel, erected

Manchester.
in front
of the Royal Infirmary in
On
to
that occasion the freedom of the city
was presented
speech
in
Mr. Gladstone, and he delivered a

Hall.
the
Town
That was a time when the

but did not seem yet
I
Crimean
quite
War was impending

certain
fatality,
and
well
remember how
intense was the interest with which everybody waited

for
any hint as
to the possibility of peace that
might
be given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The
speeches
made by Mr. Gladstone on
that
memorable
day were worthy of the man whom it commemorated, and of the man who was his most illustrious follower.
I
shall never forget the impression
made on me by Mr.
more,
I
Gladstone's eloquence, and
made
still
think,
by
the sincerity and the earnestness of the orator himself.
Commemoration speeches
arc
apt to
be triumphs of
i-jo
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
and of nothing more. instance the whole soul of the orator seemed
rhetoric,
phrase-making and of
But
in this
to inspire the language of his speech.
Mr. Gladstone
his
appeared to
thought to
a
be
simply pouring
out
heart
and
sympathetic
audience.
He
spoke of
;
Peel as he alone was qualified to speak of
him
but
think every one

felt
who
listened to Mr.
Gladstone that
in his mind that a greater statesman day and a greater orator than Peel had risen up to take the
convinced
foremost place
in
the political
it
life
of England.
As
regards the Crimean War,
was plain enough that Mr.
Gladstone was only hoping against hope.

sisted in a lingering longing to look for
He
still
per-
the maintenance
of
peace,
but
nobody who heard him could have

that Mr. Gladstone's belief in the
doubted
for a
moment
possibility of
the maintenance of
like
peace was a faith
which
country
seemed very
"
despair.
Soon
after,
the
drifted," to use a
famous expression, into the
war with Russia, and on 27th March 1854 the public
announcement of the war was made.
now going back to the old story Crimean War. The country had been lashed
I
am
not
of the
into a
passion
for
war, and there
is
no argument,
for
any
European population at all events, when that passion The war had been opposed in the for war lights up.
most earnest and vigorous manner by men and Bright.
like
Cobden
Some
of
Bright's speeches against the

feeling,
war policy are models of reason, of
and of

From
a Photograph by Messrs.
854.
Maidl and Fox
of London.
THE CRIMEAN WAR

eloquence.
171
But they only served to make Mr. Bright

for the
unpopular
moment
with the majority of his

in
countrymen, and
he was burnt
effigy
in
several
places as the friend of Russia.
Everybody knew
that
Mr. Gladstone was, above
all
things, a votary of peace, of
economy, and of every

national prosperity.
war.
just policy
which could add to the
For him there was no glory about

he declared
At
much
had
later period of his career
that he did not understand

prestige.
He
to
what was meant by national prepare a war Budget, but even in

it
the speech which introduced the profound dislike he

actually inevitable.
felt
he took care to express
to
any war that was not
Much, no doubt, of the misery which the war entailed was due to the fact that many
of those who, like Mr. Gladstone, were dragged into
accepting
it
had no heart
in
the war policy and no
sympathy with it. The Prime Minister of England himself, Lord Aberdeen, was anxious to the very last
to
is
keep out of the war.

that
patriotic
The
trouble in
naturally
all
such cases
Englishmen
on
shrink
from
abandoning
time when
the
the
public service of their country at a
country
is
the
eve of a
great
re-
campaign.
Lord Aberdeen
and
Mr. Gladstone
mained, therefore, at their posts after the war broke

out.
There
public
is
not now,
believe,
a single responsible
man
the policy
England who docs not utterly condemn To England of that most unfortunate war.
in
72
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
There was no brought nothing but loss and misery. had glory to be gained out of it, even if England
it
Never before in all her wanted glory of that kind. warlike history had England been so poorly served by
her
commanders
in
the
field.
No Henry
the Fifth was
there,
no Duke of Marlborough, no Duke of Wellington. The suffering inflicted on Englishmen was not the
work of the enemy

military
it
was the work of
their
own
administration.
The
the
mismanagement, the
of those perverse blundering, the utter incapacity
who
and
looked after the army on

without
precedent.
field,
were absolutely
The whole
commissariat
down. hospital organisation utterly broke

Mr. George Russell very truly says,
four
"
England, as
lost
some twentydied
thousand
men, of
whom
the
five-sixths
from
food,
preventable
clothing,
disease
and
want of
proper
and
shelter."
With the help of the French
and the Sardinians, the English army defeated the Russians time after time. Yet, when the whole war
was over and done, only one great name came out of
it,
and that was the name of the Russian general, If I were to Todleben, who defended Sebastopol.
mention
in
succession
the
names of
the
English
commanders, very few of my readers now would know The war propped up for about whom I was talking.
a short time the fabric of the French
It
Second Empire.
made
the fortune of the
House of Piedmont.
Count
Cavour, not caring three straws about either Turkey
THE CRIMEAN WAR

or Russia,
173
had seen
his
opportunity with the eye of
genius and volunteered the alliance of Sardinia, and so
obtained a right of representation at the Congress of

Paris,
where terms of peace were made, and thus

Italy under the
laid
the foundation of a United
House of
Savoy.
But
except to
of gallant
England the war did nothing whatever bring vast loss of treasure and vast sacrifice
for
lives.
No
question
in
which we were con-
cerned was settled by that war.
What
is
called the
Eastern
indeed,
I
Question
remains
it
unsettled
is
still,
or
rather,
should say that

it
in a far
worse condition
now than
was before the Crimean
War
broke
out.
The Ottoman Government, for whose sake we spent so much money and so much blood, has lately proved
itself
the
in
most
savage
and
and
tyrannical
government
known
civilisation,
commits
its
Armenian
least,
massacres under our very eyes, metaphorically at
and without the
slightest regard to our expostulations.
England
fostered the Turkish
Government
to
be an
outrage upon civilisation and a defiance to

herself.
"
England
"
We
were fighting," said Mr. Bright,
for a
hopeless cause and a worthless ally."
Meantime the condition of the English troops in the Crimea began to be a public scandal and horror.
Mr. Roebuck announced
intention
to
in
the
House of Commons
his
move
"
for
the
appointment of a Select
Committee
to inquire into the state of our
army
before
Scbastopol, and
into the conduct of those departments
174
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
it
of the Government whose duty

to the
has been to minister
wants of that army."
There was no serious
possibility of resisting such a motion.
Such was the
conviction of Lord John Russell,

his his
who
instantly resigned
place
in
the Cabinet.
Mr. Gladstone did not see
way
to resign in the face of the debate
and division
which were about to take place.

to the best of
his
He
even defended
power the policy and conduct of the Administration. The result of the division was
a
majority of
157 against
Ministry of Lord Aberdeen

it
was
called
broke
the
Government.
The
the Coalition Ministry, as
down
as a natural result of this
declaration of the majority of the
House of Commons.
to
The Queen
form
an
sent for
Lord Derby, who endeavoured
administration, but could not succeed.
He
offered a place to Mr.
Gladstone, but Mr. Gladstone
declined
it.
Two
other
eminent
"
Peelites,"
as they
were
called, Sir
bert, also
James Graham and Mr. Sidney Herrefused to accept office under Lord Derby.
gave as a reason that they had opposed the motion for a sort of amateur inquiry into the
All
three
military organisation in the Crimea, and that they could
not countenance
Government.
by becoming members of a Derby There was nothing for it but to make

it
Lord Palmerston Prime Minister.

willing to join him, but
The
Peelites
were
on the understood condition

Mr.
that the amateur inquiry was not to take place.
Gladstone was offered the position of Chancellor of the
THE CRIMEAN WAR

Exchequer, and accepted the
office.
175
Lord Palmerston
as,
had once described himself very correctly

conditions,
under the
the
"inevitable"
Prime
Minister.
Mr
Gladstone was certainly the inevitable Chancellor of

the
Exchequer.
"
He
"
if
is
indispensable," said a keen
observer at the time,

cellor of the
only because any other Chaninto pieces
Exchequer would be torn
by
first
him."
It
has to be observed that this was the

office
time that Gladstone consented to take
under a
Whig
leader.
This was, therefore, a distinct advance

Liberalism
first,
on the way to
afterwards.
and
to
Radicalism
Lord Palmerston, of course, was not much

Still,
of a Liberal, and was nothing of a Radical.
he
stood up as an opponent to Toryism, and professed to
be a
man
of progress
and
therefore,
when Gladstone
joined his Cabinet, there was clear evidence that Gladstone had done for ever with the
Tories," of
whom, according
to
and Unbending Macaulay, he was once

stern
"
the rising hope.
He
did not, however, serve for long
under the new Government.
As
have
said,
Lord
Palmerston's Administration was formed on the under-
standing
that
Mr.
Roebuck's demand
for
sort of
amateur inquiry into the carrying on of the Crimean War was not to be granted. Lord Palmerston, however, soon saw that the country would not be satisfied
without some form of inquiry.
The mind and
heart of
of
England were
sick
and sore because of the and
stories
military maladministration
easily avoidable disaster
176
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
inquiry,
Palmerston consented to the

Mr. Gladstone, Sir
and thereupon
James Graham, and Mr. Sidney Herbert resigned office. They had been members of Sir Lord Palmerston's Cabinet about three weeks.
Cornewall
George
Lewis became
Chancellor
of
the
Exchequer in place of Mr. Gladstone. Gladstone took his seat on one of the back benches, behind the bench
on which the members of the Government have their
places.
I
have
many
times seen him rise from that
seat
and heard him
criticise the financial

it is
schemes of
his
life
successor.
His criticisms had,
needless to say,
He was master of every subject and vigour in them. which could be included in a Budget. He knew all the
details
of every question.
He
could at any
moment
pour out a flood of criticism which dissolved the proposals of an opponent as a stream of corrosive acid
might have done.

I
must say
for
myself that
always had a very high
idea of the ability of Sir George Cornewall Lewis.
He
;
man who is almost wholly forgotten I am convinced that he was one thoroughly intellectual men of his day.
is
in
our time
but
of the
I
most
that
know
it
may
fairly
be asked of me,
if
"
How
is is
could a
man come
to be forgotten
"
he had said or done anything worth

All
I
remembering
can say
that
quite admit
the fact that Sir George Lewis
personally forgotten,
to
but
insist
upon
it
that he
seemed
me
to have
I
one
that
of the greatest intellects of his time, and
know
THE CRIMEAN WAR

some of
his
177
sayings, witty, sarcastic, humorous,
and
and
profound, have passed into our
common
literature
our
common
Dean
talk,
and are quoted every day by people

faint
who have some

from
notion
that
they are citations
Swift
or
Sydney
Smith.
Lewis had a
miserably poor voice, and had no ideas about elocution,
and the House of Commons hardly ever takes
to
man whom
it
is
difficult
to
understand or follow.
In
no case whatever could he have been an equal of Mr. Gladstone in financial argument, and he must have had
a hard time of
it
very often while under the criticism
of Mr. Gladstone.
There was,
am
sure, a great deal

I
of the genuine philosopher about him, and
have
"
little
I
doubt that he said
to himself
I
now and
know
it.
again,
I
am
no match
for
Gladstone, and
have not
the voice or the fluency or the eloquence.

is
But there
one thing
can do
can thoroughly admire Glad-
stone,
and admit
his superiority."
Gladstone,
however,
did
not
confine
himself
to
criticisms merely of financial policy.

self
in
He showed He made
the
him-
an independent
critic
on
all
subjects which aroused
him any question of

in
principle.
a great
in
speech
the
important
debate on
manner
which the English authorities had behaved towards the

Chinese
in
the
once
famous question of the lorcha
Arrow.
question,
The
and
Government
was
defeated
on
that
Parliament was dissolved.

safe.
12
But Lord
Palmerston was quite
He had
appealed to what
178
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
be called the Jingo feeling of the country.
may
"
He
had denounced the Chinese Governor of Canton as

an insolent barbarian," and he came back into power
Mr. Gladstone was returned
with a strong majority.
without opposition for the University of Oxford.
He
seemed
to
many
by
the
observers
disgusted
condition
somewhat depressed and of affairs, and by the

over what
principle
triumph of Lord Palmerston

Mr.
appeared to
Gladstone
to
be
moral
and
noted
national
in
honour.
Greville's
On
3rd June 1857

that
"
we
find
it
Mr.
journal
Gladstone
hardly ever goes

his
near the
lips."
House of Commons, and never opens

destined, however, before long to
He was
open
intro-
his lips to
some purpose.
The Divorce
Bill
was
duced by the Government, and there was no subject

in
human
affairs
on which Gladstone
felt
stronger con-
victions than
the introduction of a measure to
make
divorce cheap and easy.

It is
quite certain that Gladstone never liked being

It is
under the leadership of Lord Palmerston.

certain that he
quite
was glad
just at this time to
be released
from such a leadership.
The
natures of the two

earnest
men
were totally unlike.

thing
;
One was
about every-
the other was earnest about nothing.
But we
assume that Gladstone, having so suddenly withdrawn from Lord Palmerston's Administration, was
may
fairly
not anxious, was indeed very unwilling, to start up

opposition to his late leader.
in
The Divorce
Bill
was,
THE CRIMEAN WAR

however, too
17 9
much
for
him, and he
felt
that he
it.
was
bound
It
to stand
up and bear testimony against

likely, in
was not
any
case, that
such a
man
as
Gladstone could remain long away from the House of
Commons, At ever.
there
or,
being
there,
could hold his peace for

in
several
periods
Mr. Gladstone's career
came
a short season during which he
seemed
to
;
have practically withdrawn from Parliamentary life during which he seldom came near the House of
Commons, and never opened
his
lips
in
there.
Such a
season never could have occurred
the career of a
man
in
like
Lord Palmerston or Mr.
Disraeli.
Palmer-
ston and Disraeli lived for the

the
House of Commons and

attend
its
House of Commons.
To
debates was
a necessity to either man's existence.
It
was not so
with
Mr.
Gladstone.
He went
to
the
House
of
Commons
cating
because
it
gave him an opportunity of advo-
some great measure of national importance, or of opposing some scheme which he believed to be
wrong.
Each
short
secession
came
to
an end
the
moment when Mr. Gladstone saw

which he ought to
do.
that there
was work
In 1857 Mr. Gladstone found
himself drawn back to the House by his determination

to
oppose the Divorce
Bill
which was brought
in
by
bill
Lord Palmerston's Government.

through
its
He
fought
this
every stage with characteristic and indomi-
table energy.
He
spoke incessantly
it
in
the debates on
the measure, and he fought
with a spirit and with a
180
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
mastery of detail which aroused the wonder even of

those
first
who knew him

of
all
best.
He
opposed the measure
He upon the high ground of principle. contended that marriage was not only or mainly an
arrangement
in
the nature of a civil contract, like the

setting
hiring of a house or the

partnership.
up of a mercantile
He
refused to admit for a
moment
the
idea that marriage could be anything but a mystery of
the Christian religion.
He
appealed to the law of

tie.
God
That
as to the inviolable sanctity of the marriage
bond, he
said, could not be severed in such a manner
as to allow either of the parties to
was
his
first
line
marry again. This of defence, and he sustained his

and perseverance.
is
position with splendid eloquence
Now, the House of Commons

which
is
not an assembly
easily to be influenced or impressed

It
is
siderations of so exalted a nature.

for
by conusually and
half-
the most part

sort
a prosaic,
man -of- the -world,

is
cynical
of assembly
which
as
inclined
to
take
human
found
beings
in
pretty
much
they are
commonly
clubs and drawing-rooms and on racecourses,
and
is
rather impatient of
called the higher law.
any appeal to what may be Yet it cannot be doubted that

Gladstone's
the
magnificence
of
Mr.
eloquence
it
en-
thralled the
in the
House
for the time,
although
could not
end carry the

of the
division.
The most light-minded

law
for
members
to
House
listened in breathless admiration
those noble appeals to the higher
which
THE CRIMEAN WAR
.181
nobody so well as he could have obtained a hearing. Every one must admit that, whether he was practically
right or wrong, he took
in
his
argument the
loftiest
position that statesmanship or morality could occupy.
He
fought his battle not only in the House of

in
Com-
mons, but also
the public press.

crisis
Mr. Gladstone has
championed his cause in the journals and the reviews as well as on the He public platform and in the House of Commons.
always at every great
of his career
put his principles very clearly and emphatically in an

article
which
appeared
"
:
in
the
Quarterly Review,
told
in
which he says
that,
Our Lord has emphatically
us
at
and from the beginning, marriage was perand was on both sides
single."
petual,
From
these
opinions Mr. Gladstone has never since receded in the

least.
He
has changed his views on
many
its
subjects,
but on this question his opinions have undergone no

change.
ciple,
When
he had fought the
bill
it
on
main
prin-
and then endeavoured to have
postponed
for fuller
public examination and discussion, and had been beaten
on both those
the
bill
issues,
he next applied himself to
amend
in
its
passage through committee.

bill is
As every
determined
one knows, the actual principle of a

on
its
second reading
principle
is
in
the
House of Commons.
to
That
then
taken
be established, and
thereupon the
bill
goes into committee to be amended

in
its
or modified or
made worse
himself to an
details.
Mr. Gladfor
stone applied
unceasing effort
the
82
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
from the
bill
elimination
of what seemed to him
its
worst and most offensive purposes.

for
He
pointed out,
instance, that there was a fundamental injustice in

bill
that part of the
which would
entitle
the husband
to obtain a divorce from an unfaithful wife because of
a single act of infidelity, but which did not give the
same
right
to the wife against the husband,
and did
not entitle her to obtain a divorce unless the husband
had been physically
cruel as well as morally unfaithful.
The debates
part of the
in
committee were conducted on the
Government by the Attorney-General, Sir Richard Bethell, afterwards Lord Westbury, one of the
keenest and ablest lawyers ever

of
known
in the
House
Commons.
Sir Richard Bethell
was master of every
statute
on the
acrid
and every clause which could have any bearing subject, and he had an unfailing resource of
vitriolic
and even
sarcasm.
It
might well have
been thought by
with
all his
many
people that even Mr. Gladstone,
eloquence, would be no match for such an
antagonist on that antagonist's
own ground.
life
But Mr.
a
Gladstone
never
in
his
whole
showed
more
in this
;
marvellous fighting power than he put forward
long controversy.
to every citation
at
To
every reply he had his rejoinder
of authority he had another citation
the
tip
of his
tongue.
His
marvellous
gift
of
memory came
into surprising play.
He
could repeat
whole passages from a statute without a scrap of a

note to assist him.
One might have
thought, to hear
THE CRIMEAN WAR

him, that he had given up his entire
life
183
to the study
of the marriage laws of various ages and nations, and
had never allowed

the subject by
his attention
to be distracted
from
finance or
politics
in
or the
reading of
Homer.
He
did
in
succeed
obtaining
some
slight
improvements
provisions
the measure, but the

in
bill in its
main
was passed
spite
of
all
his
resistance.
Old members of the House of Commons

unto
this
will tell
you
day of the effect produced

was
bill
by those splendid
was
great, but
passages of arms.
Bethell, they all say,

it
Gladstone was greater, and
Bethell's
own ground
into law,
it.
and not Gladstone's.
The
was passed
and Mr. Gladstone has never ceased to condemn

Something, of course, has to be said for the
consent to come
bill if
we
down from
that lofty religious principle
which Mr. Gladstone maintained, and which some of

the great churches of the world have always maintained.
It
has to be said that divorce existed in England long
before the passing of the
Act Mr. Gladstone opposed,

after
but
it
was
divorce
obtained
very different
first
fashion.
divorce could be obtained,

in
of
all,
by
proving the offence

passing a
bill
court of law, and then by
through both Houses of Parliament to
give effect to the
judgment of the court of law by the dissolution of the marriage. This was an immensely
costly process,
rich.
and
it
made
divorce the luxury of the very
Mr. Gladstone did not find his conscience or his

facility or
mind attracted by the prospect of
cheapness.
CHAPTER
XVII
THE IONIAN ISLANDS

1
VENTURE
to think that
Mr. Gladstone never under-
took a more congenial task than that which was offered
him by the Tory Government, which had turned out Lord Palmerston, when the Homeric scholar
to
was invited
to
go out
to the
Ionian Islands for the

the spot as to the
islanders.
purpose of conducting an inquiry on

the
complaints
and
grievances
of
The
proposal was
made under
the inspiration of Sir
Edward Bulwer Lytton, the who had become Secretary

Tory Government. ment had up to
an
utter
failure.
novelist
for
and dramatist,
Colonies in
in
the
the
Bulwer Lytton's career

this
Parlia-
time
been
little
better
than
He had
183
1
been
in
the
his
House of
attempts at
Commons
breakdown.
from
to
84 1
and
in
Parliamentary debate had
ended
almost absolute
But he was a man of indomitable perseverance, and he seems to have said to himself that he
would not die mentary
until
he had made a name as a Parliadebater he never could have been,
orator.

From
a Painting by
IN
857.
Photographed by
Mr. George Frederick Watts, R.A, Mr. Frederick Ilollyer of London.
THE IONIAN ISLANDS
185
because he was so deaf that he had to read a speech in

the newspapers before he could attempt to reply to
it.
His articulation was, from actual physical causes, so

defective that almost
any other man would have considered himself utterly debarred from any attempt at
eloquence.
But
Sir
in
Edward Bulwer Lytton had

himself
if
boundless confidence
it
should have called
a boundless self-conceit, pretensions

so
far
he had not made good
his
as
popularity
was concerned.
One may
played
in
smile at the extravagance of the style disseveral of his novels, but

it is
impossible to
deny
He had an immense popularity. wrote a play, and was told by the critics that he had
that the novels
gift.
no dramatic
He
accepted the fact that the play
was a
failure,
but he said that he could do better, and

all
its
he wrote The Lady of Lyons, which, with

posterous
faults,
pre-
had
for
still
more than a generation a

holds the stage.
Inspired
his
vast success,
and even
by these successes, he seems to have

that he would conquer the
made up
mind
also.
House of Commons
House of Commons,
the
He
did in the end conquer the
after
a fashion, very
much
as he
had conquered the
literary
and the dramatic public.
Even
in
full
popularity
the
of Dickens and Thackeray he held his

literary
own with
public
even
in
the days of Gladstone and
Bright
success
and
in
Disraeli
he
accomplished
marvellous
a master
the
House of Commons.
-
He was
of the
art
of gorgeous phrase
making, elaborate no
86
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Whenever
it
doubt, but very splendid.

that he
was known
was about
I
to speak in a debate, the
House was
crowded.
his
fact
am
it
really unable to explain the secret of
success, but
the success itself was at the time a
which
would
be impossible to doubt.
His
speeches are well-nigh forgotten
now
in
the
House of
was
even
Commons, and nobody any longer

a great orator.
believes that he
it
Some
of us did not believe
then
and even while we were under the influence of
the spell
we
felt
pretty clear that
it
was but a glamour
and a magic destined to lose its effect. Still, we could not deny that Bulwer Lytton had conquered the House of Commons and held it for the time enthralled. Then
he turned on to prove himself a practical statesman.
He
founded,
for
example,
the
Colony of
British
to the
Columbia.
But the mission of Mr. Gladstone
Ionian Islands was something more in keeping with
Bulwer Lytton's general
tastes
and tendencies.
The
seven Ionian Islands were united as a kind of
common-
wealth by the settlement of
5,
and they were placed
under the protection of England, which had the right
England was represented by a Lord High Commissioner, who was usually a soldier, and who was Commander-in-Chief as well as
of maintaining garrisons in them.
civil
Governor.
The Republic
of the Seven
Islands
had a Senate and a Legislative Assembly.
For many
years there had been growing complaints in the islands

against
English administration.
The complaints
ad-
THE IONIAN ISLANDS

mitted,
islanders
in
fact,
187
of
no
real
all
compromise.
things
What
the
wanted above
was
to be
Greeks
It
and was
to
be united with the

to
Kingdom
them
that
of Greece.
their
futile
point out
to
material
affairs
were much better administered under the English
Government than they were likely to be under the Government of King Otho, the dull, incapable ruler of
the
Greek Kingdom.
It
was of no use to
tell
the
islanders that they
had much better roads and harbours

in-
and
lines of
steamers than were possessed by the
habitants of the Greek

of
life
Kingdom.
Their whole ideas
were not limited to roads and piers and bridges
and harbours.
They had an impassioned,

unreasonable
romantic,
indomitable desire to be united with their brothers of

the
Kingdom.
Futile,
critics
in
this
country
all,
tried to convince
them
that the islanders, after
were not of kin with the Greeks of the mainland.
It
was argued that the inhabitants of the mainland had

intermixed with other races that they could
considered
got so
hardly be
genuine
Greeks at
all.
The
islanders could
not be reasoned out of their national
sentiments by any inquiries into the pedigree or the

family tree of the Grecian
Kingdom.
Ionian
So there was
Islands,
always some trouble
in
the
and the
dis-
Lord
High Commissioner every now and then

less
missed some more or
mutinous Parliament and
convened another by a general election, and the new Parliament was in spirit just the same as the old,
88
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
and things went on exactly as they had been going

before.
Bulwer Lytton was,
it
would seem, the

it
first
states-
man
in
office
to
whom
occurred
to
ask himself
whether, after
all,
there might not be something worth
considering in the claims
Seven Islands.
"
Sir
made by the people Edward Bulwer Lytton,"
of the
says a
modern
"
writer,
had not been long enough

in
in office to
become soaked
the ideas of routine.
He
did not
regard the unanimous opinions of the insular legislature,

municipalities,
and press
as
evidence
merely of the
unutterable stupidity or the incurable ingratitude and
wickedness of the Ionian populations."

occurred to him that
it
Therefore
it
might be as well to send out
some
impartial statesman
;
who
could examine the con-
troversy on the spot
and he could think of no one so

Gladstone.
in
well fitted for such a task as Mr.
Every
one knew that Mr. Gladstone was
strong sympathy
with the general movement of Greece to accomplish a

high destiny
in
Europe, and the mere fact that such a
man was
sent out would be enough in itself to prove
no predetermined spirit of hostility was dictating the mission. The news of the offer was at first received in English society with incredulity, and
to the islanders that
then with a good deal of ridicule.
Is
it
possible, wise
and solemn people asked, that Mr. Gladstone could be

induced to accept so crazy a mission
?
Mr. Gladstone,
however, did not think the mission altogether crazy,
MRS. GLADSTONE IN From Painting

by E. R. Saye.
857.
Photographed by Mr. Watt/tough Webster of Chester.
THE IONIA N
and he
at
ISLA NDS
Sir
89
once
accepted
in his
it.
Edward Bulwer
Lytton had made

to
despatch an eloquent allusion

officials
Mr. Gladstone's Homeric studies, and dry
insisted that this was nothing short of an unwarrant-
able
outrage on
"
all
the
are
precedents
of
to
"
?
conventional
diplomacy.
"
What
we coming
they asked.
in
We
have a Prime Minister, Lord Derby, who goes

;
for
Greek studies
in
we have
a novelist as leader of the

;
Government
novelist
the
House of Commons
Secretary
;
we have
as Colonial
and these three pro-
pose to send out a
man on
"
!
a mission to the disturbed

is
Ionian Islands for no other reason than because he
fond of reading
Homer
Mr. Gladstone, however, was
in
hope that he could
do some
out
to
good by accepting the mission, and he went

the
Ionian
Islands,
arriving
at
I
Corfu
believe
to
in
November
1858.
in
Up
to
that
It
time
he
had never been

like the actual
Greece.
must have been
him
realisation
soil
of youth's best dream
when
he stood on the
island
of Greece,
when he went from

which
to island of that enchanting Greece for
nature and poetry and history and tradition have done

so much,
fabled
when he saw the home of Ulysses and the rock of Sappho, and, above all, when he climbed
the Acropolis of Athens and gazed upon the Parthenon,

and, turning his eyes one way, looked on
tus,
Mount Hymet-
and, turning another way, saw Salamis, and then, on
a clear day, the outlines of the steep of Aero-Corinth.
190
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Even the most commonplace among us who have
in
our early days been at

history,
all in
love with Greek poetry
and Greek
of
were
"
it
through the blurring medium
translations
and
cribs,"
have
if
felt
as
we reached
that enchanted soil rather as

to
some
familiar scenes of
for the
first
we were coming home our boyhood than as if we
were entering
If that
is
time into a foreign country.

us,
so with
the
commonplace among
how
must
it
have been with a

all
man
like
Mr. Gladstone,
steeped to the lips in
the poetry, the history, and
the traditions of Greece, and with
now an opportunity
given to him of visiting Greece, not merely as a tourist,
however loving and devoted, but as a man entrusted

with a mission to listen to the complaints of the Greek
islanders
and
to
endeavour to find some remedy

of
for
any genuine grievances

Mr. Gladstone,
it is
which
they
complained.
needless to say, behaved with the

to
most genuine and exact loyalty

undertaken
for
the task he had
the
British
Government.
On
3rd
December 1858 he called together the Senate of the Septinsular Commonwealth at Corfu, and he explained
to
them
the task which he had set out to accomplish
if
he could.
in
At
Corfu, and during
all his
public addresses
the Greek islands and the mainland, he spoke in
Italian,
which
is
the
commanding
foreign
language
Levant.
once you leave Trieste on the way to the

Mr. Gladstone did not attempt to speak
Greek.
in
modern
perfect
He
could read
modern Greek with
THE IONIAN ISLANDS

fluency,
191
and has been heard
to
complain that he found
some
in a
difficulty
only when Greeks would write to him

in
"
very bad hand and
cursive Greek."
But the
of hopeless incompatibility between the pronunciation
Greek
taught at
in
Oxford and the Greek spoken

it
in
Corfu or
for
Athens would have rendered
impossible
if
him
to
make
to
himself effectively understood

in
he
attempted
audience.
address
Greek
modern
in
Greek
Every one who has been
Greece, and
who knows anything

found
that, while
it
at all of classic Greek,

is
must have
out the
easy enough
to
make
meaning of a leading
it
article in
an Athenian newspaper,
is
hardly possible to
make
one's self understood
by
one
or to
understand the courteous Greek to

I
whom
Italian
puts a question in the streets.
have been told that
the effect of Mr. Gladstone's discourses in
was
something superb and
electrifying.
He
told the Senate
of the Ionian Islands at Corfu that the liberties guaran-
teed to the islanders by the Paris negotiations
in
and by the Ionian law were absolutely sacred in the eyes of the Queen of England. But, he said, on the other
hand,
here
to
"
the purpose for which the
Queen has sent me
is
not to inquire into the British Protectorate, but

into
examine
what way Great Britain may most
honourably and amply discharge the obligations which, for purposes European and Ionian rather than British,
she has contracted."
all
Then he made an
deputations
official visit to
the
islands,
receiving
and delivering
192
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
replies.
He
undertook that a
full
inquiry should be a
made
into every complaint
or grievance, and that
thorough system of constitutional government should

be established
in
the islands.
As
have
said,
how-
had one uncompromising grievance the grievance that they were kept from a thorough
ever, the Ionians
union with the
Kingdom
of Greece.
The
Legislative
Assembly of the Seven

address
to
Islands voted unanimously an
the
Queen, praying that they might

to
be
allowed
to
annex themselves
Mr. Gladstone's
the
Greeks of the
fact,
mainland.
visit
was, in
a totally
unsuccessful scheme for those
who
fondly desired that
the Protectorate of England should be everlasting, and

that the islanders should be brought to submit themselves to
it
and reconcile themselves with
it.
It
may
be taken for granted that Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton
was not one of those who believed

prevailing
in the possibility of
on the Greek islands to hold themselves
aloof from the Greek

selected a
Kingdom.
No
doubt,
when he
man
like
Mr. Gladstone for the mission to
the
Ionian Islands, he foresaw well enough that the
occasion would be availed of by the islanders to
make
such a demonstration as would convince the dullest

Philistine in
Westminster Palace that the hearts of the

were unconquerably
of Greece.
all
Greek
islanders
set
on a union
of the
with the
Kingdom
The people
islands received Gladstone with
the enthusiasm
and
at
devotion which they believed due to one
who was
THE IONIAN ISLANDS

heart
in
193
favour
of their
national aspirations.
"
They
Zeto
"
cheered him, and crowded round him, and cried

for him, not
as
the
Lord High Commissioner ExtraHis tour through the
ordinary of an English Tory Government, but simply

as Gladstone the Philhellene.
islands
and on the mainland was simply a triumphal

His path was strewed with
he
flowers.
progress.
Up
to
the
last
maintained his assurances that the only
object he was commissioned to attempt to accomplish
was
to
make
the
Protectorate of England acceptable
to the Ionian Islands,
and not to release the islanders

been
from the Protectorate which had
imposed on
England
as
well
as
on the
islands
by the united
counsels of the Great Powers of Europe.

listened
The
islanders
insisted
fore-
and applauded, but

Mr.
all
the
same they
as
on
regarding
Gladstone's
mission
the
shadowing
of their national aspirations, of their

in
union
with their countrymen
the
Kingdom
of Greece.
So
indeed
it
proved to be before very long.
The one
material and practical result of Mr. Gladstone's mission

to the Ionian Islands
was
to
make
it
clear to even the
dullest
among
us here at
home
that there
was no way
of satisfying the Ionian islanders but by allowing them

to unite themselves with Greece.
We
could easily, of
course, crush
them by superior
life
strength, but until
we
had extinguished the
of the last Greek islander
we
could not extinguish the just and natural passion for
union with parent Greece.

13
Mr. Gladstone, of course,
194
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
a great
deal
got
of abuse
from the Tory press
in
England, and was accused of having stimulated and fomented the desire of the islanders for a release from
the
British
Protectorate.
The
most
hasty
perusal of Mr. Gladstone's speeches must have

that he
kind.
shown
was most cautious not

In no
to
do anything of the
strict
way whatever did he exceed the

in
terms of his mission to the islands, but
any case
some of the London newspapers wrote as if the Ionian Islands had been bound from all time to a grateful
devotion to England.
They wrote
and as
as
if
if
England had
to get
called the islands into being,

free
any wish
from English control was as ingrate and graceless

act
an
as
the
conduct
of
Regan and
Goneril, the
daughters of King Lear.
There was an attempt made
for a while to
maintain
the Protectorate, but events soon settled the question.
The opportunity came a few

of the
dull
years
after.
The Greeks
rule
Kingdom
got sick of the stupid
of their
and heavy sovereign, King Otho. They simply bundled him out of Athens, bag and baggage. Then
came the question what
to
do
next.
The Greeks
themselves had probably had quite enough to do with

kings for their time, although they had had only one
sovereign.
But
the
Great
Powers
of
Europe, and
perhaps more especially England, pressed upon them

that they had really better have a king, for the
mere
look of the thing.
There was
at that
time no republic
THE IONIAN ISLANDS

in
195
Europe but the Republic of Switzerland, and Greece

feel
did not
enough to hold out against the The Greeks invited Prince Alfred of Engpressure. land, afterwards Duke of Edinburgh, and now the
strong
Duke
of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and in fact they elected
and proclaimed him king.
But there was a
clear under-
standing in European statesmanship that no prince of
any of the great reigning

a sovereign over Greece.
families should be appointed as

It
was not
in the least
degree
probable that an English prince would have accepted

or would have been allowed to accept
sible
and precarious
position.
any such responThe Government of
the
to
Emperor Napoleon
put
in
the Third promptly

objection
if
managed
practical
to
the
proposal by
delicately pointing out that
any of the Great Powers

its
were
to
be allowed to appoint one of

of Greece,
princes to the
throne
France had a prince of her own
Imperial
house quite disengaged, who might have a
claim at least as good as another.

of
course, to
The
allusion was,
the
"
unemployed
Caesar,"
as
Monsieur
Edmond About
described him, the late Prince Napoleon,
the Emperor's cousin, a

culture,
man
of extraordinary intellect,
brilliant orator,
and capacity, a statesman and a

the most gifted of the
by
far
Napoleon family since
the days of the family's great founder, but

all his gifts
who
with
came
to nothing in the end.
The English
Sovereign and Government would not in any case have allowed Prince Alfred to accept the crown of Greece,
196
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
if
even
the
Prince
himself had
had
the
slightest
ambition
that way.
But
in
any case the
significant
settled
remark of the French Government would have

the question. out of the offer
PuiicJl
made
a capital
comic
cartoon
Alfred.
made
to the sailor lad Prince
Then some one
started the suggestion that a prince of
the House of Denmark should be made King of the The House Greeks, and the suggestion was accepted.
of
Denmark,
it
is
hardly necessary to say,
is
brought
by marriage bonds into close relationship with the royal

family of England.
a Princess of the of the
The
Prince of Wales
is
married to
House of Denmark.
offered the
The second son

crown of Greece,
of Greece; the
King
of
Denmark was
it
and accepted
and became King
not
Greeks, like the French of later monarchical times, were
very particular about the
title
but King of the Hellenes.
Meanwhile the English Government had undergone a change, and Lord John Russell had come into office
as Foreign Secretary under
Lord Palmerston
as
Prime
Minister and with Mr. Gladstone as Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
The
occasion
seemed propitious
Lord
to the
new Government
out
their
to allow the Ionian islanders to carry
long-cherished
wish.
John
Russell
obtained the consent of the great continental powers

to the
handing over of the islands

its
to the
Kingdom
of
Greece and
new
sovereign.
great deal of anger
was expressed, of course, in some of the Tory newspapers, and Lord John Russell's action was denounced
WEARING
HIS ROBES OF OFFICE AS
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE IN 1 8 59 CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER.

From
a Photograph by
Mr. Samuel Walker.
THE IONIAN ISLANDS

as though he
197
had hauled down the
flag of
England
from one of the Empire's most ancient and cherished

possessions
in
cowardly deference to the demand of
some great
out,
foreign power.
As
have already pointed
England had never conquered the Ionian Islands, had never annexed them, had never set up any claim
whatever to their ownership, and had merely accepted,
out of motives of public policy, the uncomfortable and
troublesome charge which had been imposed upon her
by the other great States of Europe. Some years passed between Mr. Gladstone's visit and the cession of
the Ionian Islands to the Greek
Kingdom, but the one

of the
other.
event was a
for
direct
consequence
visit
But
Mr.
Gladstone's
the
Liberal
Government
and the English people generally would never have
known how
union with
resolute,
how
of
passionate,
how unconquerin
able was the desire of the Ionian islanders to be

the people
the
as
I
Kingdom
remarked
of
Greece.
is
The
object -lesson
in
which,
political
before,
always needed
affairs
was supplied by the

Gladstone's progress
in
reports and descriptions
of
Mr.
through the Seven Islands.

fifty
Not one Englishman

that
visit
thousand
the
cared
before
or
three
straws Ionian
about
condition
the
feelings
of
the
Islands.
The ordinary Englishman hardly knew who
the islanders were, or where they lived, or what was the matter with them.
daily paper
Me saw now and
then
in
his
some
brief
announcement that the Lord
198
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
High Commissioner had dissolved another Parliament at The announcement did not affect him with any Corfu. manner of interest. Very likely he did not know where
Corfu was, and in case he did, would not have cared.
But the condition of things became very
different
when
one of the foremost English statesmen, perhaps the most

picturesque statesman of his time, was sent out to inquire
into the alleged grievances of the Ionian islanders,
and
when
the papers every day began to contain long de-
scriptions of his
movements and
full
all
reports of
all
the
addresses delivered to him and
the replies which
he returned.
at
Then
the minds of
many men woke up

a race of
once to the reality of the state of things, and to the

that
there
fact
was
in
the far-off Levant
men
over
rulership
whom England had no whatever, whom she was
right of conquest or
simply taking charge
of to oblige the other great European Powers, and
who
were
filled
with a passion to be united politically with

in
their kindred
Greece.
By
the
the time that the Greek
revolution had been accomplished, the English public
was quite prepared

Russell.
for
proposal
of Lord
John
With a
large
number
that
of that public the mere
sentimental
Princess
consideration
the
brother
of
the
of Wales was to
settled
be the new King of the

altogether.
Hellenes
majority,
the
matter
of
the
The
vast
therefore,
English
people
entirely
approved the withdrawal of the British Protectorate, and

the annexation of the islands to the Greek
Kingdom.
CHAPTER
XVIII
THE REPEAL OF THE TAXES ON EDUCATION

Mr. Gladstone soon came
Chancellor of the Exchequer.
into
power again as This was in i860, a
time indeed of storm and stress for the whole civilised

world.
in
Louis Napoleon had completed his campaign
Lombardy, and every one saw that the Lombardy campaign was only the beginning of new disturbances
in Italy.
The peace
of Villafranca had been patched
up by the Emperor because he thought that he had got Italian officers broke all he wanted for his prestige.
their sword-blades across the
marble tables of cafes
in
Milan when they heard
that Victor
to
Emmanuel and
Count Cavour had consented
the terms of peace.
From England had a new war in China put upon her. the told that the United States came the first words
world of a great
civil
war about
to
break out.
raid
John
Brown had made

Ferry for the
his
momentous
into
Harper's
purpose of running off negro slaves, and

tried,
he had been
soul, as the
convicted, and
executed, and
his
popular ballad truly said,
was
"
marching
200
LIFE OF GLADSTONE Abraham Lincoln had been chosen by

the
on."
National Republican Convention at Chicago as candidate for the Presidency of the United States, and
we
on
this side of the Atlantic
were beginning to under-
stand what that meant.
then
by
the
outbreak
England was harassed just of a number of strikes,
illustrating in
action the immemorial conflict between
capital
and labour.
There was something approaching

the English people with regard to
to a panic
among
We had gone very him and with into the Crimean War, cordially cheerily
the attitude of Louis Napoleon.
but
that
now
Mr.
it
suddenly came to the thoughts of people

better
we had
make up our minds

sarcastically
"
to prepare for
"
what
Disraeli
called
midnight
foray from our imperial ally."

in
True," said
Tennyson
states-
a poem,
"
that
we have
a faithful ally, but only the
devil
knows what he means."
Let an English
man
was
look where he would, north, south, east, or west,

It
he saw only storm-clouds and portents of alarm.

at just that
moment
that Mr. Gladstone as Chanto
cellor of the
Exchequer seemed
in
have made up his
mind
to
go
for the broad, bold course of financial
reform, of the lightening of taxation as far as possible
everywhere, and especially of the
diminution or the
taxes
first
complete
education.
removal
of the
odious
on
popular
One
of Mr. Gladstone's
achievements
was the establishment of a Commercial Treaty between England and France, by virtue of which the lighter

French wines were
into
to
201
be admitted with a small duty

English
England
for
popular consumption, and
manufactured goods were to be admitted into France

at a corresponding diminution of impost.
The
first
idea of
such a commercial treaty belonged in the

to
instance
Mr. Bright, but was put into shape by Mr. Cobden.

it
Mr. Gladstone gave
his
warm and
practical support,
did and Lord Palmerston had no particular objection not care very much either way. Mr. Cobden went over
to
Paris backed
could give to
the
up by all the influence Mr. Gladstone him, and entered into negotiations with
Emperor Napoleon the Third.

to
it
The Emperor was

friendly
naturally very willing
be on
terms with
for
England, although
if
had been necessary
the
support of his dynasty to
make war
against England
he would have done so without scruple.

entered into terms with Mr. Cobden.
So he
readily
Cobden had the

Chevalier, a
powerful
support
of
Monsieur
Michel
famous
political
economist of that time, and also of the
Emperor's cousin, Prince Napoleon,

afterwards described to
whom
Mr. Cobden
me
as on the whole the best-
informed
man he had
passed
;
ever
met.
light
The Commercial
clarets
Treaty was
instead
we got
to
;
drink
of fiery
ports
all
and ardent
sherries
and the
French people got
sorts of comfortable
garments of
English manufacture.
Mr. Gladstone was denounced a great deal for the

part he had taken
in
adopting Cobden's policy as to
202
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
the Treaty of Commerce.

of in the
House of
He was Commons as if He
took
all
sometimes talked
he had given the
French invading armies a safe landing-place on the

shores of England.
sort of
these attacks with a
amused good-humour.
denunciation.
in
One
thing was certain
he always gave back he got

in
in ridicule a great deal
more than
the
The declaimer who had
courage to attack him
Parliament was soon, to use a
very colloquial expression, sorry he spoke.
That was
a splendid session of Parliament for Mr. Gladstone and

his
policy.
He
and Bright fought the battle
all
to
themselves.
the time
Mr. Cobden was for the greater part of

Paris
;
still in
nor, although a
most persuasive
and convincing speaker, could he possibly be compared

as a parliamentary orator with
Mr. Gladstone or Mr.

he. neither
Bright.
Disraeli
led
the
Opposition, but
knew nor cared much about
the whole subject, and in
any case his position was naturally very trying
when
he had to reply to Bright and be replied to by Gladstone.

It is
not pleasant to be set between two such
millstones.
Still
The grinding
process
is
apt to be severe.
more important
for
Mr. Gladstone's career and

in
for the
development of education
Great Britain and
Ireland was his measure for the abolition of the duty
on paper.
One
has to go back
little
in
order to
explain what this duty on paper really was.
The duty
on paper has been described as the
last
remnant of an
ancient system of finance which tended to the severe

repression of popular journalism.
First
203
of
all
there
was a stamp duty, which was imposed with the avowed
object of preventing the growth of seditious newspapers

that
is
to say, of
newspapers advocating any manner

In the early part of the century
to fourpence
of popular reform.
the stamp duty
amounted
on every single
Later on it was reduced, copy of a newspaper issued. and in 1836 it was brought down to a tax of a penny,
represented by the red stamp of the Government on
every copy.
Then
there was
in the
tax of sixpence on
every advertisement
a great
newspaper.
The
told
editor of
London morning journal has can well remember the time when
official
me
that he
Government
came down
to the office of the
paper somewhere
after
midnight every clay before the paper had gone to
press, insisted
on seeing an early copy, and then pro-
ceeded to mark with pencil what he considered to be

advertisements.
Of
course, about the regular trading
announcements there could be no manner of doubt.
When
new
Jones
Messrs.
Brown proclaimed
the
that they had a lot of

of,
silk
dresses from
Paris to dispose
gratified
finest
or
Messrs.
informed
public
that
they
had
imported a stock of the
wines from Bordeaux or
Burgundy
at the cheapest prices, there could
be no sort
of question as to the genuineness of the advertisement.
One might say
that there ought to be no tax

all,
upon
advertisements at
but, admitting the existence of

it,
such a tax, and the right of Parliament to impose
204
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
as to
there could be no question
the application in
friend
these
particular
instances.
My
the
the
editor
officials
assured
me, however,
that
Government
were most arbitrary

stituted
in their definition as to
what con-
an advertisement and was therefore liable to
the tax.
harmless line appeared

that Mr.
in
the corner of
the paper announcing
Robinson, M.P., was

in
about to address his constituents
the ensuing week.

official
That
is
an
advertisement,
it
the
Government
declared.
No,
"
is
only a piece of news, the editor

news," the
official replied,
pleaded.
News me no
it
and
he marked
of
all
down with
a sixpenny tax.
The
latest
these imposts was the heavy duty on the paper

itself.
material
This was really an enormous imposition
and
let it
be clearly understood that the distinct purall
pose of that and

difficult for
other imposts was
to
make
means
it
anybody but a
had
capitalist of great
to
produce a newspaper at
into existence until
it
all.
No
journal could
come
it
satisfied the authorities that
was able to provide the amount of capital necessary to meet all this enormous taxation. As I have said
already, the distinct and
avowed object of the taxation

cheap newspapers.
for the
was
to prevent the issue of

first
At
this
time the
of cheap
organised
movement
publication
newspapers was beginning
to be
made
in
England.
The
city
of Liverpool,
the
place of Mr.
first
Gladstone's birth, led the effort by starting the
penny daily paper ever published
in
Great
Britain.

Lancashire,
Air.
205
Gladstone's
in
county,
front
was
then
and
great
always since has been,
the
of every
movement
of
social
reform.
the scheme of cheap daily newspapers.
London soon took up The Daily
Telegraph and the

daily
papers.
Morning Star were started as penny The Daily Neivs soon followed the
effect of the
example.
But the
still
duty on the paper

to
material was
an
It
almost crushing obstruction
cheap journalism.
this
soon became evident that with

it
was almost impossible that a penny daily paper could pay its way. There had for some time been an important agitation going on for the
heavy imposition
abolition of
all
repressive taxation on popular education.

in
Charles Dickens took a leading part
the movement,
and had even gone so
far as to
come
into conflict with
the legal authorities of the country because he persisted

in
publishing a weekly journal which contained actual

as well as literature.
news
Mr. Gladstone saw that the

life
time had come for giving

ideas.
and strength
to the
new
He became
no way more
impressed with the fact that there

efficacious
was
of
spreading
popular
education than by the multiplying of cheap newspapers
which brought the daily story of the world home to the huts and the garrets of the poor. Up to that time it
was quite common for a number of persons to club together and subscribe for a daily paper, which they
read by turns.
subscriber
The
usual understanding
was that the
who
got the paper last should be entitled to
206
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
it
keep
in his
possession.
it
At
that time, as an English
was the creed of many that observed, cheap newspapers meant the establishment of a daily
writer
has
propaganda of socialism, communism, red republicanism, blasphemy, bad spelling, and general immorality.
Mr. Gladstone took
question.
quite
the
other view of the
He had
full
faith in the intelligence of his

in
countrymen and of the English-speaking peoples

the limits of
faith
general to keep the cheapest newspaper press within
common
in
sense and decency.
He had
no
whatever
the
good working of a
restrictive
money-fine to keep down
enterprise in the issue of
cheap newspapers.
his belief,
The newspaper
was, according to
one of the most powerful influences towards
the spread of national education, and he soon

his
made up
its
mind
to abolish
the last tax which stood in
way.
In his financial scheme of i860 he announced that
the
Government had resolved

It is
to
abolish the duty on
paper.
position
sides
hardly necessary to say that such a pro-
met with the strongest opposition from both of the House. It became a mere question of what
vested interests.
we
call
There were many

in
influential
manufacturers of paper
the
House of Commons,
and these
all
joined
in
an organised opposition to any
scheme which threw open the business of newspaper publishing to free and common competition. Naturally,
most of the well-established and high-priced journals

objected to the idea of a penny
to
"
"
207
rag
being enabled
Therefore
compete with a sixpenny daily journal.

battle
the
was
fiercely fought out

in
in
the
House
of
Commons and
tion.
the daily press, and Mr. Gladstone

fierce
became, of course, the object of much
denuncia-
According
to
many
of his
critics,
the result of
his policy could
only be the overthrow of the altar and
the throne, the aristocratic system and the whole moral

creed
of
the
nation.
The
vested
interests
in
the
still,
House of Commons were

very strong, and
then, as they are even

interest
one
vested
was generally
found ready to stand by another.

the session
financial
In the early part of
Mr.
Gladstone was very unwell, and his
statement had to be put off for some days.
When
his
he did come to
make
his statement, the
force of
marvellous eloquence and reasoning power com-
pelled the
House of Commons
to pass the provision
for the abolition of the
paper duty.
But
at
each stage
of the measure the majorities in favour of the abolition

fell
and
fell.
The second reading was

;
carried
by a
majority of fifty-three
the third reading was carried
by a majority of only
nine.
This naturally gave new

in
courage to the House of Lords, and
the Hereditary
Chamber
motion was made and carried by a large

bill
majority to reject altogether Mr. Gladstone's

the repeal of the duty on
part of the
paper.
for
This action on the

a constitutional
in
House of Lords brought on
crisis as serious as
any that has happened
our time.
2o8
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
of Lords,
it
The House
should be understood, has no
power to impose taxation on the people of England. But if the House of Lords has no power to initiate
taxation on the people,
it
was
fairly
and justly con-
tended by Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright that neither

can the House of Lords have any right to reimpose
on the English people any tax which the House of Commons has seen fit to take off. This is, indeed,
the
evident
common
sense
of
the
matter.
If
the
House
of Lords could have the constitutional right to
reimpose a tax which
of
Representative
Chamber
had
been
is,
taken
off
by the
that
the taxing
Chamber
House
there could be no reason whatever
why
the
of Lords should not have the right to initiate taxation

its
own
free will.
Nobody even among

Chamber had any
plausibly
the
Tory
leaders
of the
House of Lords ventured
to
contend
that the Hereditary

taxation,
certain
right to initiate
but
it
was
argued that when
scheme of taxation came before the
peers, the
peers had a perfect right to modify the scheme in any
way that they thought fit. The question then came down
issue.
to
very narrow
The
;
repeal of the paper duty was put off for
one session
faith
in
but the public out-of-doors, having

leadership
full
the
of
Mr.
Gladstone,
well
were
not
much
"
excited
by what Mr. Gladstone

"
called the
gigantic innovation
on the part of the Hereditary

held,
Chamber.
There were meetings
to be sure, all
209
over the country, and the action of the House of Lords
was strongly and justly denounced. But the general feeling was one of perfect conviction that Mr. Gladstone would put the whole thing right, and therefore
there
was
no
popular disturbance whatever.

I
re-
member
the time well.

life,
was even then
in
the thick
of political
and
can say with certainty that only
the strong faith in Mr. Gladstone's capacity as a leader
prevented something not unlike a national convulsion. The Liberals had little faith in Lord Palmerston.
Lord Palmerston's sympathies went a good deal with Mr. Gladstone the Tories, and against the Radicals.
absolutely
condemned the conduct of the House of

series
Lords.
Lord Palmerston only proposed a
of
mild resolutions reaffirming the rights of the House of
Commons
the
first
with regard to national taxation.

it
Then
for
time
became
clear to
final
all
the world that Mr.
Gladstone was bidding his

the
to
farewell not merely to
Tory party but

say,
to the party of the
Whigs
that
is
the
lagging
final
it
and
backward
section
of the
Liberals.
His
declaration on the subject was yet
to
come, but
may
already be anticipated by some
consideration of the conditions under which the
Hous
its
of Lords was
still
stimulated into setting up
will
against that of the
House of Commons.
have said
that the majorities in favour of Mr. Gladstone's measure
dwindled at each stage, and at

poor superiority of nine.
last
is
came down
to a
The
fact
that at that time
210
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
House of Commons was only
franchise
constitutionally
the
and
technically representative of the majority of the people.
The
was so high and so limited that
it
ex-
cluded the whole mass of the working classes.
There
was not
at that time a single
man
in
the
House of
to
Commons who
for,
represented, or was entitled
speak
the
labouring population of the three kingdoms.
The
great
Reform
Bill
introduced by Lord Grey and
Lord John Russell
thirty years before,
and carried
after
a two years' struggle, had admitted what
men
called
the middle classes of England to the right of voting

for the election of a
member
to the
House
of
Commons.
But the working

left
and the poor had been wholly out of the measure. It remained for men like
classes
Lord John Russell and Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright to initiate later on the movement which admitted the
working men and the poor to a share
sentation of the
in
the repre-
country.
Therefore the
House of
his
Commons,
scheme
to
which
Mr.
Gladstone
submitted
for the
abolition
of the duty on
paper, took
but a languid interest in the matter when the instant-
aneous
spell of his
eloquence was over.

all
Most of the
members, or nearly
to
of them, could very well afford
pay sixpence
for
their daily paper,
and they were
not responsible for their votes to any of the class
who
most especially wanted cheap newspapers.

therefore,
The
felt
peers,
little
naturally
took
courage.
They
doubt that the majority of the House of
Commons

would be rather obliged to them than otherwise
course they had
reform.
211
for the
taken
in
resisting
Mr.
I
Gladstone's
But the country kept

it
quiet, as
have
said,
because
tion,
had
full faith in
it
Mr. Gladstone's determina-
and because
resist
was quite certain that the peers

for
would not
him
very long.
As
did
a matter of fact, Mr. Gladstone's

in
scheme was
passed into law
the very next session.
The
If
peers
not attempt any further resistance.
anything
the
could
have
proved
more
clearly
than
another
awkwardness of the position of the House of Lords, it would have been proved by its action with regard to
the paper duties.
session that to
For the House of Lords said
in
one
make paper cheap would be
to flood the
country with abominable newspapers, spreading every-
where the doctrines of anarchy and

in
profligacy,
"
and
if
the very next
session
it
said
in
effect,
Well,
Mr. Gladstone and the House of
Commons want
must have
it.
this
If
iniquitous measure, of course they
they really
let
want
to ruin
the
country,
we must only
further
them
it."
ruin
the country, and

story went
at
make no
the
work
Lord
about
time
that
Palmerston sent up a message to the House of Lords

to give
them advice
as to their conduct with regard to

I
the repeal of the duties on paper.
do not venture to
if it
vouch
I
for the truth of the story, but,

least,
it
it
was not
true.
true,
think, at
ought
to have been
Lord
Palmerston,
was
said, sent
up a message
to the
House
212
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
of Lords to say that the rejection of Mr. Gladstone's
scheme was a very good joke must not try it another time.
to have acted
for once,
but they
really,
The
this
peers would seem

suggestion.
promptly upon
They
did not try the joke another time.
The duty on paper was repealed, and the three kingdoms got their cheap
newspapers
in
abundance.
It is
almost needless to say

into
that not one
of the penny papers that started
existence
all
over this country advocated any doctrine
of anarchy or profligacy or disorder.
Better-conducted
in the
papers do not
exist in
any country
world than
his policy
the cheap journals which Mr. Gladstone
by
helped into existence.

are only
Britain
With one
single exception, there
penny and halfpenny daily papers in Great There is not one of those and Ireland now.
is
cheap papers that
not
far superior in its

its
array of news
and equal
in
the style of
writing to
any of the high-
priced journals which were enabled to exist thirty years
ago by the
legislation
which Mr. Gladstone abolished.
No
did.
other
man
could have done the work so well as he

it,
Cobden could not have done

it.
Bright could not

in office,
have done
For neither of these men was had

the
and
neither
command
possessed
of
the
House of
Gladstone.
Commons which was

Likewise,
it
by Mr.
has to be said that neither of them could

influence
have
had the same
over Lord Palmerston
which Mr. Gladstone was enabled to exert.
Palmerston
did not really care three straws about the repeal of the

taxes
213
upon
education,
or,
indeed,
about
any other
popular reform.
But then his heart was not set so
much
knew
the other
way
as to induce
him
to enter into a
struggle for power with Mr. Gladstone.

perfectly well
if
Palmerston
that
Gladstone was the coming

in
man, and that
he were to set himself
opposition to
Mr. Gladstone, or
make any
serious attempt at restraint
of Mr. Gladstone, the national will of the country would
put the younger
man
in
the
more commanding
place.
There
is
a story of a philosopher
who
said of himself
that he would just as soon be dead as alive.
Being
asked why, then, he did not
kill
himself, he made the
very reasonable and consistent answer that he would

just
as
soon
be alive
as
dead.
Lord
Palmerston's
the
views as to popular
nature.
reform were of
just
if
much
no
same
He would
But
as
soon
have
popular
reform as any.
pressed upon the subject, he
soon found out that he would just as soon have any

popular reform as none whatever.
Such a man had no

energy and
style
chance at
earnestness
all
against
the
ever-growing
of
Mr.
Gladstone.
His
very
of
speaking
full
in
the House, easy and colloquial, humorous,

hits,
and occasionally enlivened by a somewhat cheap cynicism, was in curious contrast with the impassioned and majestic flow of Mr. Gladstone's
of shrewd
convinced
and convincing eloquence.
The two men

all.
never really
represented
came
two
into
antagonism
at
distinct
influences,
and
But they had Lord
214
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Palmerston been a younger

the influences might have
man
come
it is
quite likely that
into collision at one
time or another.
in foreign affairs,
Lord Palmerston's
and
chief interest
was
there, curiously enough, his policy

its
was rather revolutionary in stone was almost always

foreign
tendency.
Mr. Glad-
in
sympathy with every
cause that represented freedom and advance-
ment, but his dearest interests were with the happiness
and with the improvement of the people of his own two islands. So far as home affairs were concerned,
Lord Palmerston's great idea was

trouble, to let things slide, to
to put off
any
sort of
keep away as long as
possible
after
all
any
effort at
reforming things which perhaps
could do
speaking,
just as well
without reform, and,

bother.
generally
not
to
make any
eye
of
Mr.
social
Gladstone's whole
reform.
soul was with political
and
He saw
with
the
genius
and
of
philanthropy that these countries were oppressed by
what
soul
must be
called
class
legislation,
and
his
whole
was aflame
to give help to those
who
could not
lived to
help themselves.
Lord Palmerston, though he

Mr.
of
a good old age, did not live long enough to
come
to
any
serious
extent
Indeed,
in
the
way
the
of
Gladstone's
Gladstone's
it
progress.
about
time
scheme
a
for the abolition of the
paper duties
became Cobden
common
saying
among
the followers of Mr.
and Mr. Bright that Radicals must wait quietly until Palmerston's disappearance, and that then Gladstone

would come
to the front
215
and would do the work which

to this time
the country wanted.
Up
Mr. Gladstone
had not spoken out
distinctly
on the great question of
the Parliamentary franchise.

that that
would be
his
But people already saw next work of reform, and that

in
he was destined to be the leader of the people
England.
From
the days
when Macaulay had described

and unbending Tories,
!
him
as
the hope of the stern
what a distance he had already traversed
He was
call
now
the great hope of the Radical advocates of reform
and progress. Cobden and Bright already began to him the leader of the English democracy.
In his early college days Mr. Gladstone developed a
strong passion for riding.
do not know whether he

;
ever cared to ride to hounds or not
but he certainly
loved
riding
for
its
own
;
sake, quite apart
from the
rider
fascination
of
skill
hunting
and
he
became a
I
of
marvellous
in
and courage.
Often have
seen him,
my
younger days, galloping over the
fields
Chester
stands
around
close
to
the
Welsh
frontier,
within
which
Hawarden
Castle.
The
in
famous
American
horse-tamer, Rarey,
when he was
England, spoke of
Mr, Gladstone as one of the finest and boldest riders he
had ever seen

subjects,
and
quite
Rarey was a man who, on such knew what he was talking about.
the
Years
after,
when Mr. Gladstone was Chancellor of

in
Exchequer, he was taking his usual ride
the
Hyde
Park on
park-
a very spirited and even wild
young
2i6
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
The horse plunged and ran away ordinary track of riders and came along
horse.
got
off the
a spread of
turf divided
for
by
rails
and gateways.
one of the
little
and
horse.
gateways
The
horse
made
of light and slender iron
went straight over
it.
Mr. Gladstone was
apparently quite determined to have the better of that
The moment
the horse had leaped the gate the
rider turned
Again he topped
him round and put him at the gate again. his master turned him it, and again
it
and made him go at it once more, and surmount So it went on until the horse was another time.
yet
fairly
but very harmlessly conquered, and the rider was the
supreme
victor of the day.

this
little
It
is
hardly necessary for
me
to
say that
incident
it
was watched by
its
many
curious eyes, and that

I
found
way
into the
papers.
happened
to be in
I
London
at the time,
in
it,
and
I
was deeply
not
think
interested.
saw auguries
and
do
my
prophetic
inspirations were
It
altogether
disappointed
by the
result.
would
take
a very
reckless horse or a very reckless political opponent to
get the better of Mr. Gladstone.
He
has
made
his
party face
that
little
many
a stiff fence since the far-off days of
event in
Hyde
Park.
CHAPTER
THE AMERICAN
I
XIX
WAR
that
out.
CIVIL
HAVE
already
in
mentioned the
fact
the
great
Civil
War
is
America had
"
broken
The war
created a curious difference of opinion in this country.
What
commonly
called
"
society
was almost
alto-
gether in favour of the South.
The English democracy
and working
the North.
opinion.
classes generally were entirely in favour of
Some
Carlyle,
of our educated
men were
divided in
who perhaps
an educated
or, rather,
could hardly be called,
on
that
question,
man, was rabidly
in
favour of the South,

the
North.
He
On
was rabidly opposed to knew nothing whatever about the
matter, and used to boast that he never read
American
newspapers.
the
other hand, John Stuart Mill,
probably the most

his
purely intellectual Englishman of

the
time,
was
heart and soul with the cause of
North.
public
Cobdcn and Bright were, of

opinion
course, leaders of
on
the
side
of the
North.
Harriet
ever
Martineau, probably
the
cleverest
woman who
wrote
for
an English newspaper, advocated the cause of
218
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
North day
after
the
day.
Lord Palmerston,
in
his
heedless, unthinking way,

after the
had talked some
jocularities
battle of Bull
all
Run which were
offensive to
the minds of of
the North.
Americans who supported the cause Lord Palmerston, however, although
Prime Minister, was always regarded as an irresponsible sort of person, who could not be expected to refrain
whom the joke might offend. But a profound sensation was created in the Northern States when Mr. Gladstone unluckily committed himfrom his joke, no matter
self to
a sort of declaration in favour of the South.

at a public
Speaking
meeting at Newcastle-on-Tyne on
it
the 7th of October 1862, he gave

that Jefferson
as his conviction
Davis
"
had made an army, had made a
This navy, and, more than that, had made a nation." declaration was received in America with feelings of
the most profound disappointment.
It
produced some-
thing like consternation
among
the English Radicals
who were proud

it
to follow Mr. Gladstone.
The
pity of
was that he should have spoken on the subject at all before he had made himself thoroughly acquainted with
it.
The
pity of
it
was that he should have taken no
account of the opinions of

the
men
like
Cobden, who knew
American States
However,
well, like
Bright,
and
like
Stuart
as
Mill.
we must
"
take
Mr.
Gladstone
Nature made him, impetuous, earnest,
full
of emotion,
in
and quick of speech.
If
"
I
I
were
always cool
council," says Schiller's hero,
should not be William
THE AMERICAN
Tell."
If
CIVIL
always
WAR
cool
in
219
Gladstone
were
council
he would not be the great orator, philanthropist, and

reformer that
we know him
to be.
Five years later on
Mr. Gladstone
his
made
"
I
a frank and ample admission of

confess," he said,
"
mistake.
;
must
that
in
was
wrong
ing
that
took too
much upon myself
express-
such an opinion.
My
sympathies were then
been, where they are

people.
I,
where they had now whole

with the
if
Yet the motive was not bad.

long before
American
did
probably, like
many Europeans,
not
understand the nature and the working of the American

Union.
I
had imbibed conscientiously,
erroneously,
an opinion that twenty or twenty-four millions of the
North would be happier, and would be stronger of course, assuming that they would hold together
without
the
South than with
it,
and also that the
negroes would be
much
nearer to emancipation under a
Southern government than under the old system of the

Union, which had not at that date been abandoned,
and which always appeared to me to place the whole power of the North at the command of the slaveholding interests of the South.
special or separate interest of
differing
it
As
far as regards the
from
for
many
It
is
others,
England in the matter, I, had always contended that
was best
our interest that the Union should be
kept entire."
of the
only
fair
to
remember
that
many
for
if
strongest
abolitionists
of the
North had
that
years
been growing into the conviction
the
220
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
South did not secede from the North, the North would
have to secede from the South.
as
It
was perfectly
true,
Mr. Gladstone
said, that the whole
power of the
North had been

slave-holding
for a long
time at the
people of
the South.
command of the The election of

first
Abraham Lincoln
that that time
to the Presidency
was the
signal
had gone
by.
Mr. Gladstone, however,
had
his attention closely occupied by domestic affairs and by his work as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had not travelled in America as Cobden and Harriet
Martineau had done, nor had he,

leisure
like
Stuart Mill, the

the
to
make
politics
for.
himself
master
of
study
of
American
and
It
life.
Anyhow,
the mistake was
amply atoned
than
was a mistake which hurt the
best admirers of Mr. Gladstone in

it
England even more
hurt his best admirers in the Northern States of

it
America, and
was
fully
made up
for
by more than one
admission of error and expression of regret.

could have doubted for a
Nobody
moment
that Mr. Gladstone's
wishes thoroughly went for the prosperity and the progress of the great American Republic.
In 1865 the Parliament which had
begun six years
before
came
to
its
natural end.
Mr. Gladstone pre-
sented himself again as a candidate to the electors of
Oxford
University.
since his latest election.
Times had changed, however, He was becoming more and

expressed himeffect that
more an advanced reformer.

self in the
House of
He had Commons to the
the
THE AMERICAN
CIVIL
WAR
221
present position of the State Church in

unsatisfactory.
Ireland was
The
Irish
Church, as he frankly ad-
mitted, ministered only to one-eighth or one-ninth of
the
whole
Irish
population.
This speech created

his
profound
sensation
among
Oxford constituents.
it
To many
blasphemy.
of the University dons
seemed
like
flat
When
the voting closed, Mr. Gladstone

poll.
"
was
at the
in
bottom of the
which he said
eighteen
He
after
issued a parting
address
nection
farewell.
faults
that,
I
an arduous con-
of
years,
bid
you
respectfully
My
earnest purpose to serve you,
my many
and shortcomings, the incidents of the political relation between the University and myself, established
in
1847, so
often
questioned
I
in
vain,
and now
at
length finally dissolved,

future.
It
is
judgment of the one imperative duty, and one alone,

leave to the
to trouble
which induces
words
lasting
you with these few parting the duty of expressing my profound and gratitude for indulgence as generous, and for
me
support as
warm and
enthusiastic
in
itself,
and as
honourable from the character and distinctions of those
who have
given
it,
as has, in
my
belief,
ever
been
accorded by any constituency to any representative."
To
the
Bishop of Oxford, who wrote him a most

letter,
sympathetic
Gladstone sent a reply

"
:
in
which
occurs the following passage

in
Do
not join with others
praising
me
because
am
not angry, only sorry, and

I
that deeply.
For
my
revenge, which
do not desire
222
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
if
I
but would baffle

1
'
could,
all
I
lies in
that
little
word
future
in
my
it
address, which
wrote with a conscious-
ness that
is
deeply charged with meaning, and that
that which shall
come
will
come.
There have been
two great deaths or transmigrations of spirit in one very slow, the breaking of political existence
my
ties
with
my
original
party
and the other very short and
sharp, the breaking of the tie with Oxford.
There
will
probably be a
third,
and no more."
This expression
in the
of Mr. Gladstone's aroused

the Bishop of Oxford. of
its
some alarm
mind of
He
asked for some explanation
"
meaning.
"
You
are not a Radical," the Bishop

political
wrote,
and yet you may, by
exigencies,
if
you submit
party until
to be second, be led into

its fully
heading a Radical
all
developed aims assault

it,
that
you
most value
turns
in
our country, and
the Radical party,
upon
full
you
as
and
it
rends
you."
Mr.
Gladstone's
rejoinder,
is
of gratitude and sympathy, was
not likely to have quite cleared up the doubts of the
Bishop of Oxford.
left
Mr. Gladstone was not, however,

the cold
actually out in
electors.
by the
.
decision of the
in
Oxford
Some
as
of
his
friends
South
Lancashire had provided against such. a possibility by
nominating
constituency.
him
candidate
for
that
northern
At
a general election a
constituencies,
man may
if
be
nominated
elected for
for
several
and,
he
be
more than one, he has only

sit
for.
to choose
which
place he will
Mr. Gladstone was elected for
s
<3
-5
vO 00
00
THE AMERICAN
CIVIL
last
WAR
on the
list
South Lancashire, but he came

three
representatives.
of the
local Tories
obscure men, comparatively.

said, or
The two
others
were strong
Lord Palmerston had
was believed
to
have
said, to a friend, that Gladstone
was a dangerous man,
" and had best be kept in Oxford. In Oxford," went " on Lord Palmerston's phrase, he is muzzled, but send him elsewhere he will run wild." In one of the spirited
speeches which Gladstone
made
to the electors of
South
Lancashire he referred good-humouredly to Palmerston's

remark.
"
"
At
;
last,
come, to use an expression which has you and I become very famous and is not likely to be forgotten,
I
my am
friends,"
he
said,
am come among
am come
the
unmuzzled."
The
general election gave
to
Government a
resumed
his
slight
majority, and
as
Mr. Gladof
the the
stone
old
office
Chancellor
Exchequer.
Everybody thoroughly understood

his
difference between
position
for
as
member
for
South
Lancashire and as
shall
member
that
Oxford University.
We
presently
find
South
Lancashire Toryism
became too strong for him, and that he had to seek for a more liberal and progressive constituency. The
Bishop of Oxford saw probably by
fears
this
time that his

drifting
about the possibility of Gladstone
on
into genuine Radicalism were
be
justified.
by no means unlikely to More than once after his election for

for
South Lancashire he had to go on
new
constituencies
224
LIFE 0F GLADSTONE
for constituents
who were marching
with the move-
ment of
his
mind.
In truth, Mr. Gladstone's mere acceptance of office
under Lord Palmerston marked a new stage

political career.
in
his
the
Tory
party.
He had definitely broken away from While he still remained an inde-
the last, some pendent member, he had given, up to votes now and then in support of the Tory Govern-
ment where he believed

rightful principle.
that they were acting on a
But even then he had only voted

it
with them
when
seemed
to
him
that their action,
however
was tending towards a policy of Now it was becoming every day Liberal reform. more and more plain that Mr. Gladstone was growing
inspired,
out of the dusk of Toryism into the

ism.
dawn
office
of Liberal-
When
he consented to take
it
under Lord
Palmerston,
was proclaimed
last
to
every one that he

traditions.
had given up the

was
of
his
old
Lord
;
Palmerston, to be sure, was not

not, indeed,
much
of a Liberal
he
much
of anything except of a Prime
Minister and
very clever leader of the House of
Commons.
But Mr. Gladstone simply accepted Lord

else did.
Palmerston as everybody
as
He
regarded him
the
man
inevitable for the

required,
could,
when occasion
moment, the man who put on a decent show of
a leading the Liberals, and at the same time could to

certain extent propitiate
and even manage the Tories.
Mr. Gladstone's sympathies were very cordially given
THE AMERICAN
to
CIVIL
WAR
Lord John Russell, now Foreign Secretary, who was a sincere and a thorough Liberal reformer. Lord
John Russell and Mr. Gladstone worked together most
cordially.
They were both

the franchise.
strongly in favour of
some
measure of reform which should admit the mass of the

people
to
They both
strongly disliked
Lord Palmerston's bumptious and aggressive tone in They both disliked Lord Palmerston's foreign politics.
plans for a vast expenditure on fortifications and on
what Mr. Disraeli called

protection
"
bloated
armaments
"
as a
against possible
it
or problematical
invasion.
Lord Palmerston,
is
well
known, was never drawn
towards Mr. Gladstone, and was sometimes heedlessly
outspoken
in his
disparagement of
his great colleague.
'5
CHAPTER XX
GLADSTONE SUPPORTS POPULAR SUFFRAGE
Mr. GLADSTONE
and
definite at last declared himself a convinced
supporter of the popular suffrage.
The
declaration
sort of
is
came about
in
a sudden and unexpected

in
way.
Wednesday
the
House of Commons
one of the days which are considered to be the pro-
perty of the private

session
be,
members
until
that period of the

it
comes when the Government, whatever

at
its
may
the
having muddled away the time

itself
disposal,
finds
compelled
all
I
by
of
the
necessities
of
case
to
absorb
the
ith
sittings
of
the
House.
a
bill
On
was
Wednesday, the
brought
in
April
1864,
for the
by a private member
in
extension of
it is
the franchise
usual for
boroughs.
the
On
part
such occasions
to
members of
no
Government
either
keep quiet
and
take
conspicuous
rises
way.
Some
and
to
Minister usually
and utters a few careful
commonplace words, committing the Government

nothing
in
particular.
On
this
occasion, Mr. Glad-
stone struck into the debate, and even with vehemence.

He
contended
that
227
the
burden of proof
for
rested,
not
upon those who claimed

rig-lit
the working classes the
to the franchise, but

"
on those who denied that

"
right.
We
are told," Mr. Gladstone said,
that the
working classes do not agitate

it
for the suffrage,
but
is
well that
we should
wait until they do agitate?
In
my
opinion, agitation
by the working
classes
upon any
political
subject whatever ought not to be made a con-
dition
previous to any Parliamentary movement, but,

is
on the contrary,
prevented
agitation
to be deprecated, and,
if
possible,
"
by wise and provident measures."
An
"
is
by the working
classes,"
he pointed out,
not like an agitation by the classes above them having

leisure.
The
agitation of the classes having leisure
is
easily conducted.
money
value
Every hour of their time has not a their wives and children are not de-
pendent on the application of those hours of labour. But when a working man finds himself in such a condition
that
is
he
must abandon
dependent
in
that
daily labour on
which he
strictly
for his
daily bread,
it
is
only because
signal
is
then,
railway language, the danger-
turned
on,
and because he
feels
strong
necessity for action, and a distrust in the rulers
who
had driven him

of things,
trust, but,
I
to
that necessity.
The
present state
rejoice to say, docs

if
not indicate that disallege the
we admit
that,
we must not
absence of agitation on the part of the working classes

as a reason
why
the Parliament of England
and the
228
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
mind of England should be indisposed
to enter-
public
tain the discussion of this question."

his
In the course of
speech Mr. Gladstone asked whether the working

"
classes
are
not our
own
flesh
and blood
"
?
This
of
speech naturally created a great sensation.
Some
Mr. Gladstone's own colleagues seemed to be nearly

frightened out of their
lives.
The Conservative news-
papers wrote of
of Rousseau's
it
as
if it
were a modern reproduction

of the social
contract.
doctrine
The
not
measure
which
Mr.
Gladstone
advocated
was
carried at that time,

tation that
it
and nobody had the
least
expec-
was
likely to be carried then.
But everythe
body knew
perfectly
well
that
the
lowering of
suffrage to admit the working classes
had become a
matter of certainty
spoken.
when once
that speech had been
Then
at
last
it
was plain to every one that Mr.

all
Gladstone had absolutely broken away from

traditions of his early Parliamentary career.
the
He
had
put himself at the head of the free-trade movement.
He had
put himself at the head of the
movement
for the
repeal of taxes
himself at
upon knowledge. Now he was putting the head of the movement for the extension
of voting
so
as to
of the right
classes
admit the working
and the poor generally
to the exercise of a vote

fitted to
as to the persons
whom
From
they considered best

that
represent them.
moment
it
was merely
principle of
a question of time, of sessions,
when the
229
popular representation should be carried into law and

into practice.
Two
brought
years
later
the
Government of which Mr.

in
Gladstone was the leader

in
the
House of Commons
far as to
a
I
bill
to
extend the franchise so

call
make what
working
may
free
the better-conditioned of
the
classes
to exercise a vote at an election.
One
great difficulty had been
removed out of the way

of the suffrage.
of any
movement
for
the
extension
Lord Palmerston was dead.
Every one knew that so
long as Palmerston lived he would be sure to throw

cold water on any proposal to give a vote to the work-
ing classes.
His influence
it
in
the negative sense was
immense, and
said,
was thoroughly understood, as I have by men like John Bright, that no good measure
of suffrage reform had a real chance in the
House of
the
Commons
while
Palmerston was
still
leader of
Government.
strange
career
But now Palmerston was gone.
That
which
had
fostered
every
revolution
abroad and discouraged every genuine reform at home
had come to an end.
It
would not be easy to get
readers at this clay to understand what an influence
was exercised over the House of Commons, and over

the English public generally,
less,
by the easy-going, contemptuous ways of Lord Palmerston.

sort
care-
He
was able to infuse a
of natural cynicism into the

life
well-to-do classes of English

think
it
which made them
ridiculous
to
take serious trouble about any
230
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
questions of political reform.

the
He
in
represented exactly
mind of the
sort of
man who,
domestic
affairs at
least,
cared nothing about anybody.
When
domestic
politics
went against Lord Palmerston, he made some

affairs,
great outburst in foreign
and then the man
in
the streets threw up his hat for

that
him and shrieked aloud
Palmerston was the one who could

in
make
the
foreign tyrants shake
their shoes.
arise
in
It is
not likely
that there will ever again
English politics a
man
of the type of Lord Palmerston.

at
He was
not a
Tory; he laughed
prejudices
;
Toryism and its old-fashioned but he did not care one straw for any
really Liberal measure.
The enthusiasm
of Gladstone
was
unintelligible to him.
He
could not understand

in
why
the
man
like
Gladstone should concern himself

the
least
about
question
whether
the
working
in
classes
ought or ought not to have any share
the
suffrage.
He was
a genial, kindly-hearted man,
who
would have liked people to be as happy as possible, but it was not in his nature to think that people were
He went through any the happier for having votes. the world gay and careless so far as domestic affairs
were concerned, and only
stirred
to enthusiasm
when
some
more
foreign question arose on which he

likely to
was much
have
said,
be wrong than
right.
As
there was a sort of truce to the question of suffrage
reform
out
of
while
the
Palmerston
field,
lived.
Now
and
that
he
was
Earl
Russell
Mr.
Gladstone

resolved to bring in a
bill
231
for the
It
extension and the

really a very
expansion of the suffrage.
was not
Looking back now at its introduction, one can only wonder how so tentative and limited a measure could have been expected to
sweeping measure of reform.
satisfy the
demands of
in
the English democracy.
One
the
has
to
ask
of
amazement what would have been

a
thought
such
measure
Still,
it
in
Canada
or
in
Australian
for
colonies.
was a
distinct
advance
the
full
time,
and
it
had the
qualified
approval
and
the
practical
support
of John Bright,
who now,
the great
since the death of Richard Cobden,
was
left
leader
of the popular reform
movement
as
in
England.
The measure, although made

did not pass through the
as
moderate
and
as
limited as even timorous reformers could have desired,
House of Commons.
Gladstone
found
Then,
himself
much more
own
lately,
Mr.
confronted by a formidable secession from the ranks

of his
party.
A
Bill
it.
number of
Liberals
declared
in
against his
their
Reform
to
and supported the Tories
opposition
The
secession was a phenoin
menon which
occurs
again and again
the history
of an English Liberal Ministry.
Some
of the followers
that
of the
Ministry
are
always sure to think
the
leaders are going too far in the

institutions,
way toward democratic

This happened
Russell
and they
lose heart or turn back, or even

all
join the opponents of

in
Liberalism.
1832,
when Lord Grey and Lord John
232
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
in
brought
their
Reform
in
Bill.
Lord Russell brought

It
his
happened when Reform Bill in i860.

It
happened
in
in
866, when
Lord Russell
as
Prime
Minister
as leader of
the House of Lords, and Mr. Gladstone the House of Commons, brought in their
;
Reform
see,
Bill
and
it
is
to
happen again, as we
shall
in
when, twenty years
later,
Mr. Gladstone brings

Ireland.
his
measure of
Bill
Home
Rule
for
In
to
866 the
Reform
was not
liberal
enough
arouse any
it
great passion of enthusiasm in the country, and yet
was too
liberal
for
It
the faint-hearted
members
of the
Radical party.
would be needless now to go into

controversy have
any
and,
details
of the measure or any criticism of them,

details
indeed,
of
that
great
rather a personal than a political interest.

stone, Mr. Bright, and Mr. Disraeli were
Mr. Glad-
seen, at their
very best
in
that
memorable
fight,
but,
of
course,
every one knew that these men would do their best

in
such a
strife.
The honours
of
the debate were
really carried off

after in
by Mr. Robert Lowe, who died years Robert Lowe obscurity as Lord Sherbrooke.
in
had won distinction
New
South Wales, where he
had become a prominent

settle
gifts,
politician.
He came
over to
literary
in
London, and, being a man of great
he obtained a position as leader-writer for the
Times.
He
found a seat
in
the
House of Commons,
and was commonly regarded as a man likely to make a name in Parliamentary debate. For a long time,

however, he
that way.
233
gave no distinct proof of any capacity

His opportunity came with Mr. Gladstone's
of 1866.
Reform
Bill
Lowe had somehow

minded
literary
acquired
hatred of
the
all
more
narrow-
man's
popular reform.
With him
everything.
at
culture ranked as the
first
and foremost of
The
idea of a
man
being allowed to vote
an election
who
could not read Greek and Latin
was revolting to his soul. Greek and Latin scholar.

nearly as well
Mill did
;
He was not really a great He did not know Greek

Stuart
as
Gladstone did or as John
but he prided himself more on his classical
knowledge than was the way of Gladstone or Stuart

Mill.
He had
to
a contempt, which he did not even pretend
conceal,
generally.
working classes and the poor Therefore he threw his whole soul into
for
the
an impassioned opposition to Gladstone's
mild
and
moderate measure of reform.
He
read
had a marvellous
literary gift of phrase-making, of paradox, of sarcasm,
and
of
illustration.
;
He had
much
in
many
literatures
he had apparently a wonderful memory,

to
and whenever an idea occurred

floated
literally
with
the the
all
I
it,
double swan
of
a
him some quotation and shadow. He was

;
comet
whole
season
he
dazzled
I
and
heard
startled
House of Commons.
I
almost
well.
those great debates, and

that
remember them
best,
know
Gladstone was at his
that
234
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Bright was at his best, that Disraeli was at his best,
but
cannot help acknowledging that the chief interest

absorbed
was
by
Mr.
Lowe.
Many
things
were
against him.
articulation
;
He
had a very bad voice and a wretched
his sight
was miserably
short,
and
if
he
had any notes he found it almost impossible to read them he had to compete with three men whose voices
;
and
own.
articulation were magnificent

I
and yet he held
his
and
in the part
was greatly interested in the whole struggle, I came to which Mr. Lowe took in it.
well later on,
know him very

able
people said they did not find
and found him, as many him, a genial and agreesuccess

in
companion.
But
his
those
reform
debates of 1866 and 1867 was a wonder and a puzzle

to
me.
could
not
dispute
the
success,
but
it
astonished
me
quite as
in
much
as did the success of Sir
Bulwer
Lytton
I
the
former
days
which
have
described.
could not question the wonderful fresh-
ness of Lowe's phrase-making, and the aptness of his

illustrations.
Still,
I
could
not
understand,
and
cannot understand now, how he came to carry off the
honours of debate from Gladstone, from Disraeli, and
from Bright.
that he did that
it.
The one
It
thing certain to
my mind
is
will
not settle the question to say

apathetic
the
House of Commons was
about
reform, and
was only too glad to hear somebody put

All that was done as well as
the arguments against reform in sparkling and brilliant

sentences.
it
needed to
235
be done by Mr. Disraeli until the following year, when he became a reforming statesman himself.
Yet not
even Mr. Disraeli aroused the enthusiasm of the Tories

themselves nearly so
much
as Mr.
Lowe
did during the
season of which he blazed the comet.

Bill
broke down under two influences
The Reform
the influence of
those
of
who were opposed to those who complained
all
reform, and the influence
that
not getting reform enough.
by that bill they were The measure had to be
given up, and Earl Russell and Mr. Gladstone resigned

office.
bill,
Mr. Gladstone,
in
his
closing
speech on the
rose to a height of eloquence which he
had never
Mr.
exceeded before, and has not surpassed

Disraeli
since.
had been unwise enough
to
remind Mr. Glad-
stone, in the course of the debate, that he, Gladstone,
had spoken against the Reform
Bill
of 1832
in
the
it
I
Oxford
Union
Debating
Society.
Mr.
Disraeli,
should be brought to the

have,
I
memory
to his
of the reader, as
think, brought
life
it
memory already, had

"
begun
right
"
as
an extreme Radical reformer.

gentleman,"
said
The
honourable
Mr.
Gladstone,
secure in the recollection of his
own
consistency, has
taunted
me
with the errors of
my
his
boyhood.
for
When
he addressed the honourable

(Mr.
member
Westminster
Stuart
Mill), he
showed
magnanimity by
declaring that he would not take the philosopher to
But what he wrote twenty-five years ago. when he caught one who, thirty -six years ago, just
task
for
236
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
still
emerged from boyhood and Oxford, had expressed an
an undergraduate at
adverse
to
opinion
the
Reform
Bill
of
1832, of which he had so long and
bitterly repented, then the right
honourable gentleman
could not resist the temptation.

leader
He, a Parliamentary
is
of
twenty years' standing,

of
so ignorant
of
the
House
Commons
that
he
positively thought
that he got a Parliamentary advantage
by exhibiting
Bill
I
me
It
as
is
an
true,
opponent of
I
the
regret
Reform
it,
of
1832.
bred
deeply
but
was
under the shadow of the great name of Canning and

under the shadow of the yet more venerable name
of Burke.
My
youthful mind and imagination were
impressed just the same as the mature mind of the

right honourable
gentleman
is
now
impressed.
first
had
Bill
conceived that fear and alarm of the

in
Reform
my
undergraduate days
at
Oxford which the
right
sir,
honourable gentleman
now
feels.
is in all
My
position,
in
regard to the Liberal party

of Earl Russell.
sesses.
I I
I
points the opposite
have none of the claims he pos-
came among you an outcast from those with

associated, driven
whom
from them,
admit, by no
arbitrary act,
conviction.
but by the slow and resistless forces of

I
came among you,

forma
to
make
use of the
received
I
legal phraseology, in
pauperis.
You
me
with kindness, with indulgence, generosity, and,
may
rela-
even say, with some measure of confidence.

tion
The
between us has assumed such a form that you can

never be
debtor."
237
my
debtors, but that
must
for ever
be your
In the closing sentences of his speech Mr.

"
:
Gladstone said
You cannot
The
fight
against the future.

social
Time
is
on our
side.
great
forces
which
move onwards
the
in their
might and majesty, and which

not
for
tumult of our debates does
impede or disturb
you.
moment
those great social forces are against
They are marshalled on our side, and the banner which we now carry in this fight, though perhaps at this moment it may droop over our sinking heads, yet
soon again
will float in the
eye of heaven, and
it
will
be
borne by the firm hands of the united people of the

three kingdoms, perhaps not to an easy, but to a certain,
and a not
far distant, victory."
This was one of
the greatest speeches Gladstone has ever made, and the
frank explanation of
his
conversion to Liberal prin-
ciples put his antagonist, Mr. Disraeli, hopelessly in the
wrong.
The Reform
the alliance
was defeated by means of between Mr. Lowe and the Tories and
Bill
;
Lord Russell and Mr. Gladstone resigned office. Derby and Mr. Disraeli came back to power.
what had happened
in
Lord
Now,
the
meantime
Mr. Disraeli
Bill
and Mr. Lowe had opposed the Reform
of Russell
and Gladstone on the
distinct
ground that a lowering
of the suffrage was the surrender of the government of
England into the hands of the ignorant, the improviThat was the case distinctlydent, and the reckless.
set
up over and over again by Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Lowe,
238
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Bill
and on those grounds the Reform
was
lost.
The
to
to
moment Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli came back power, it was made known that they intended
introduce a Reform Bill of their own.
The Houses
of
Parliament met on the 5th of February 1867, and the
Queen's Speech announced that the attention of Parlia-
ment would again be

representation of
called
to
the
question of the
Disraeli
the
people.
Mr.
in a
himself
explained afterwards very fully

thus
speech
why he had
he had
come round.
in
He
told the
public that
spent the recess
educating his party up to the level
of a liberal suffrage.
that a
Apparently his conviction was
new Reform
Bill
had
to
come somehow
or other,
it
and he did not see why he should not introduce

well as
as
It must give the stranger some anybody else. subject for odd reflections on English politics when he
reads
office
of a
an
English
statesman who turned out of

because he had
greater
English statesman
introduced a measure for lowering the Parliamentary

suffrage, and,
having got into
office
by that means,
still
at
once set about to reduce the suffrage

his predecessor
lower than
is
had attempted
to do.
This
exactly
what happened.
Mr. Disraeli brought
in a
it
scheme of Reform which,
though
in
its
beginnings
seemed moderate enough,

most important
led to the resignation of three of his
colleagues,
who
Bill
naturally thought the introduction of
any Reform
was an abandonment of the proclaimed

Tory sentiments of the year
Shaftesbury said
strous that a
Bill as in
239
before.
" It
The
late
Lord
a letter,
seems to
me mon-
body of men who

the
resisted Mr. Gladstone's
an extreme measure with such great pertinacity

accept
should
power he
and
retired
from,
and
six
months
his
after introduce a bill
many
degrees nearer than
to
universal
suffrage
establish
contradiction the principle they so fiercely
beyond all combated of

Robert
a con-
giving a predominant interest to any class."
Lowe
as
in
well described the situation.

year," he said,
"
is
"
What was
flict last
a race now."
Mr. Disraeli,
he accepted the support of the secessionist Liberals
opposing Mr. Gladstone's Reform
Bill,
accepted
now
the alliance of the extreme Radicals
in
the extension
and the expansion of
his
own measure.
practically
in
The
result
was that
the
bill
became
measure of
household suffrage, and went

far
the popular direction
beyond endeavoured
care
in
the
limits
which
Mr.
Gladstone
had
to reach.
Mr. Disraeli, of course, did not

In
the least for any principle of consistency.
his heart
he was probably
still
a Radical Reformer, but,
as
have suggested before, he took up with the Tories
because there was not
much
competitive talent
in their
ranks and he had a good chance of securing a leading

place.
No doubt
in his soul
and sense he despised the
stupidity of the
men who
could really believe that a
household suffrage meant the ruin of England.
So he
allowed himself to be led by the Radical party of the
240
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
House of Commons, and he surpassed Mr. Gladstone

and Mr. Bright
suffrage.
in his
measure
for the
extension of the
Robert Lowe found himself
in
a peculiar position
Bill.
during the progress of Disraeli's Reform
In the
former session he had to fight against Gladstone and
and was supported by Disraeli in the session of 1867 he had to fight against Gladstone, Bright, and
Bright,
;
Disraeli.
He
stuck to his professed principles
to
do
him
justice.
He had
proclaimed himself an opponent
of a popular suffrage, and he kept up his opposition to

the end.
He had
He
a perfect contempt for the poor and

"
the working class and
the people
who
live
in
these
small houses."
fought with wonderful pertinacity
and
skill all
through the long debates of 1867.

lost.
His
cause, of course, was
It
could not be otherwise

alike deter-
when the
mined
Liberals
and the Tories were

measure of reform.
to carry a
But he fought
with the desperate tenacity of a brilliant gladiator
To
this
day
never could quite understand the secret
of his personal success.
The
question of his position
as a Parliamentary debater has been settled long since.
Nobody now would

as
think of describing Robert
Lowe
an orator belonging to the class of Gladstone or

Disraeli.
Bright or
articulation
sity
His very defects of voice and
would of themselves have almost of necesPart of his
excluded him from such a place.

I
success,
think,
was found
in
the fact that he was a

brilliant
241
literary
man and
in
It
leader-writer, addressing a
political
assembly
a style to which that assembly
was not accustomed.
was as
if
we could imagine
Junius making a speech in the peculiar style of Junius

the writer.
Anyhow, the
success was certain, and the
most conspicuous
figure of those
two sessions of debate
was not Bright, not Gladstone, not Disraeli, but Robert The remainder of Lowe's career was nothing. Lowe.
He
peer,
published a volume of verses.
and he died
had,
I
in
comparative
He was made a He was obscurity.

his
man who
believe,
made many enemies by

his
I
bitterness of tongue
and
sarcastic
ways.
can
only
repeat for
myself that
have the most pleasing

acquaintanceship with
political
and genial recollections of

him, and that although
my
we had hardly any
opinions in
common, and he never even professed
to
have any sympathy with
my
national cause,
always
found him kindly, friendly, and personally sympathetic.
At
the close of 1867, Earl
Russell, the
Lord John
Russell of former years, announced his determination

to retire finally from active political
life
and from the
leadership of the Liberal party in the
House of Lords.
Lord Russell
distinctly
pointed to Mr. Gladstone as
the future Liberal Prime Minister.

after, it
was announced
to
Not many weeks the public that Lord Derby,
owing to his failing health, had given up the Premiership, and that Mr. Disraeli had become Prime Minister.
So the two great
political rivals
16
were started
in
new
242
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Mr. Disraeli was Prime Minister of
sort of rivalry.
was perfectly certain that should his party be turned out of office Mr. Gladstone would be
England, and
it
his successor.
The
event
came about sooner than any
one
in
England could have expected.
CHAPTER
THE
IRISH STATE
XXI
CHURCH AND LAND TENURE

QUESTIONS
"
GLADSTONE
is
down
in
the dust," said a cheery and
elated Tory, one who would have been cheery under

conditions, but
after
was elated now
all
that
is
to
Bill.
say, just
"
the passing of Disraeli's
Reform
Dizzy
has jockeyed him out of the leadership of the democrats,
and we shan't hear of him as Prime Minister

Alas
!
in
our time."
how
easily things
go wrong
its
The
prediction was
falsified
very soon after
utterance.
The
crisis
arose on a motion
made
in
the
House of
the existthe
Irish
Commons by
ence
of
the
an Irish
Irish
I
member condemning
Church.
State
About
It
State Church
need not say much.
was a Church
its
established and endowed by the State, and
teachings
were utterly rejected by five-sixths of the
Irish people.
its
That
and
is
almost enough to proclaim
absurdity
its injustice.
The
Irish
member who brought forward
the motion,
Mr. John
Francis Maguire, long since dead, a great
244
LIFE OF GIADSTONE
personal friend of
my
own, a
man whose
high character
"
and genuine
abilities
were recognised on both sides of

a scandalous
in
the House, described the State Church as
and a monstrous anomaly."
It
had been described
even harsher terms before by great English Protestants

like
Sydney Smith.
"
ing fashion, a blending of

that
Sydney Smith said, in his amushumour and common-sense,

like
it
there
all
is
no abuse
in
all
Europe,
in
all
all
Asia, in
the discovered parts of Africa, and in
we have heard of Timbuctoo."

the
Mr. Bright spoke in

his
course
of
the
debate, and
speech
at
once
stamped
portance.
the question as one of the
most serious im-
He condemned
the Irish State Church as
strongly as Mr. Maguire had done.
He
in
admitted that
the
grave
difficulties of detail
were yet
in
way
of a
satisfactory arrangement, but
solemn and
"
thrilling
tones
he reminded the House that

light
in
to the
It
upright
there ariseth
fourth
the darkness."
was on the
night of the debate, however, that the reality
and the gravity of the subject were impressed upon For on that fourth night of debate Mr. every mind.
Gladstone spoke up and declared
tion, the
that, in
his
convic-
time had come when the Irish Church as an
institution
maintained by the State must cease to
exist.
There was only one opinion then in the mind of every reasonable man in the House, and that was that the
days of the Irish State Church were over, that Gladstone had pronounced
its
doom.
THE IRISH STATE CHURCH

One immediate and very
Gladstone's
245
impressive effect of Mr.
speech
was that
Mr.
Maguire
at
left
once
the
withdrew
his
motion.
in the care
Only too gladly he

of the one
whole subject
man
living
who
had most power

Irish
to
carry the
movement
against the
Church
to a full success.
few days after the
debate on Mr. Maguire's motion Mr. Gladstone gave

notice of a series of resolutions
of the Irish State Church.
condemning the existence On the 30th of March 1 868

It
Mr. Gladstone proposed his resolution.
must be ob-
served that Mr. Gladstone was a supporter of the English

State Church.
But then every argument
in
favour of the
English State Church was an argument against the Irish

State Church.
I
am
not going to enter here into any
of the arguments for or against the maintenance of any State Church anywhere.
Gladstone, and
all
But the claim made by Mr. those who thought with him, was
Church represented the great majority of the English people, and that it had a spiritual work to do which was sympathised with and
that the English State
accepted by that great majority.

defence
of the
This, the one strong
English
"
State
Church,
is
the
very
strongest condemnation of the

it
Irish State
Church.
As
was said at the time,

inclined to
man was
more strongly an Englishsupport his own Church, the more

the
anxious he ought to have been to repudiate the claim

of the Irish Church to a similar position.
The
State
its
Church
in
Ireland was like a mildewed ear blasting
246
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
brother.
If
wholesome
stand or
fall
the
two
institutions
had
to
together, there could be but one end to

:
the difficulty
his
both must
fall."
Mr. Gladstone carried
resolutions by a large majority, and Mr. Disraeli announced that the Government would dissolve and
appeal to the country.
We
have seen already
that,
on
more than
one momentous occasion, Mr. Gladstone
took the opportunity of some motion
made by
a private
his
member
It
it
to
announce a great determination of
own.
;
was so was so
in
regard to the lowering of the franchise
in
regard to a former question touching the
arrangements of the Irish State Church.
Nothing can
give a better idea of the position which Mr. Gladstone
had established
from
the
in public
estimation than the fact that

his
moment he proclaimed
election
conviction the
result.
country saw that there could be only one
The
general
came
on,
and the Liberals
came back
to power.
Mr. Gladstone himself was de-
feated in his
Lancashire constituency.
This was, as
have already shown, almost a matter of certainty, but

he had been
put up for Greenwich, a very Radical
constituency, and there he was elected.
Now,
in
the
case of the Irish State Church, as in the other instances

to
which
have made
his
allusion,
Mr. Gladstone's ansudden, but

it
nouncement of
policy was
could
hardly have been unexpected by most people.

in this short
Even
biography
have given evidence enough
to
show
that Mr. Gladstone had been losing for a long
THE IRISH STATE CHURCH

time
all
247
faith
in
the
spiritual
ministry of the
Irish
State Church.
the
principle
A
of a
man may
State
be a perfect devotee of
Church,
and yet may be

because
conscientiously unable to accept the idea that a certain

institution
is
State
Church
merely
itself
it
is
authoritatively allowed to call
State Church,
and
to pocket the
money
of the State.
Most people,
Mr.
therefore,
must have
fully understood that when
Gladstone had made up his mind on a certain principle,

that principle
was very
likely to be expressed in strong
political action.
Mr. Gladstone himself had given out
his
ideas as to the
to be governed.
He
method with which Ireland ought adopted the principle announced

and
long ago by Charles James Fox, that Ireland ought to
be governed according
quote the words of Fox,
Irish
to
"
Irish
ideas,
that,
is
to
the
more Ireland
will
under
government,
the
more she
be bound to
for
English interests."
Mr. Gladstone prepared
his
that,
new
task on this principle.

to
his
He made
it
known
according
were
Ireland
"the
opinion, the three great troubles of
three great branches of the Upas-tree"
the State Church, the land-tenure system, and
the system of national education.
He
formed
his
new
Cabinet with a view to this career of reform
to the
hewing down
the
said
first
of these three branches.

political
office.
Mr. Bright, for

It
time, accepted
should be
that
Mr.
Disraeli
acted
dignity
when
the result ot
good sense and the elections became known.

with
248
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
resigned office at once, without waiting, according
He
of
to the usual practice, for a
formal vote of the House
Commons
to
tell
him that he had no longer the

I
confidence of the country.
need not go into the
events of the session at any length.

that
Irish
Enough
to say
the
Government
carried
its
proposals
that
the
Church should cease
to exist as a State-supported
establishment, and should pass into the condition of a

free
episcopal
church.
The
first
great
reform was
accomplished
in Ireland.
Nor did Mr. Gladstone wait long

second reform.
to set about the

at
He
turned
his
attention
once to
the Irish land system.
We
it
have heard a good deal
since that time of the Irish land system,
and
it
it
is
not
too
much
to
say that as
then existed
nation
in
has been
world.
condemned by every
Ireland
is
civilised
the
almost altogether an
for
agricultural
country.
for
The demand
the
it
land was in most cases a

life,
demand
first
necessary of
all
and the
Irish
landlords had
almost
Ulster,
own way, except in the province of and could make any terms they liked. It was
their
"
merely a question of
pay whatever the landlord
asks,
let
or go out of the farm and starve."

to
The
landlord
a tenant his farm
in
what was described by Mr.
Bright as prairie condition.

in
its
The tenant
hired the land
raw, native state.

his
By
his
own
incessant labour
in
and the labour of
whole family he succeeded
converting some patch of worthless bog into a farm
IRISH
LAND TENURE
for
249
capable of growing food
his
family.
Then
the
landlord claimed the right to raise the rent because of

the improvements which the tenant himself
had made.
The
tenant complained, and the landlord simply turned

let at
him out and

bidder.
a higher price the land to another
In the province of Ulster things were some-
Over the greater part of Ulster the system of what was called tenant-right prevailed. This system was, indeed, the growth of a custom merely,
what
different.
but
it
had gradually come

In
fact,
to
acquire something like
the force of a law.
the Ulster population are
a sturdy, half-Scottish race,
and
in
Ulster there are a
great
many manufactures
to
fall
back upon, and
it
would not have been possible to compel the people of

Ulster to put up with the land-tenure system
is
to say, the utter
supremacy of the landlord

of tenant-right
which
that
the southern and western populations had to endure.
The
principle
was that a tenant
should be allowed to remain in possession of his holding so long as he paid the rent agreed upon, and that he
should be entitled,
tion
for
if
he gave up the land, to compensa-
the value of any yet unexhausted improveIf in
ments which he had himself made.
the mean-
time he was anxious to give up the farm, he was free

to
do what a man who has a long lease of a tenancy in England may do he might sell to any bidder, whom
the landlord
right to
was willing to accept as a tenant, the

his successor in the specified occupation
become
250
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Put
in
of the holding.
few words, the reform which
Mr. Gladstone proposed to

tenant-right
Ireland.
make was
the
to declare
the
in
custom
in
Ulster
universal
law
Mr. George Russell observes that when on

reformers
a former occasion agrarian
had urged the
extension of the tenant-right system as a legal institution

to
Ireland, with
the view of allaying
Irish
dis-
content, Lord Palmerston merely declared that tenantright
was landlord's wrong, and " this imbecile jest," as Mr. Russell rightly calls it, had been meekly accepted
controversy.
as closing the
to as
Mr. Gladstone proposed
do exactly that which Lord Palmerston had ridiculed From the very conimpossible, unlawful, and unjust.
it is
dition of things
plain that the purchase or hiring of
land
is
entitled to
come under
the authority and arrange-
ment of the
business.
State, just as well as every other

is,
form of
should
There
indeed,
more reason that
it
come under
that authority than almost any other sort of
enterprise or work.
Land cannot be
increased in
its
extent by any power of man.
The whole
agricultural
area of Ireland might be submerged in
Lake Michigan
you leave the
and hardly noticed
there.
If,
therefore,
landlord in such a country absolutely master over his

tenantry, to
do with them what he
will, it
is
plain that
you leave him master of their means of living and of The more industrious in such a case the their lives.
tenant was, the more hard-working, the more
the
skilful,
more
successful, the worse
it
was with him
for
IRISH
all
LAND TENURE
251
that he had done only gave the landlord a better
chance of letting the land to a new tenant at a higher

price.
There was great talk then about freedom of contract
and about the right of the landlord to enter into
a bargain with his tenant uncontrolled

ference
by any
of
inter-
of the
State.
During the process

listened
for
in
such
I
arguments, to
often
which
many
years,
was
reminded of the chapters
Monte
Cristo
by
the
Alexandre
capture
brigand.
Dumas
The
the
elder,
which
described
of a Paris millionaire
banker by an
Italian
for
millionaire grows
hungry and asks

tells
something
to eat.
The brigand
likes
the
millionaire
he can have anything he

mutton, wine,
fruit,
within
reason
fowls,
pastry, and so
forth, but they must
be paid
fowl with
for.
The
millionaire
says he should like a

told
some
wine.
He
is
that he can have
them, but the brigand puts on them some enormous
and unapproachable
brigand
is
price.
The
millionaire storms
the
calm.
"
You
"
;
can take them or leave them,

there
is
;
no compulsion here there is perfect freedom of contract." This was exactly the freedom of contract which the Irish tenant-farmer
my
dear
sir,"
he says
enjoyed under the landlord system.

pelled to
He was
not com-
pay an increased rent because of the improve-
ments
his
own
skill
and labour had made, but
if
he
did not pay he had to pack off out of the land, and
was perfectly
free to
go into the workhouse.
The
real
252
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
question was whether there was anything so sacred in

the property right of the Irish landlord as to
exempt
inter-
him from that
legislative control
which
is
always
fering with the property right of the mine-owner, the

mill -owner,
the railway company, the factory -owner,
the shopkeeper, the right of the master over his
ap-
prentice, the mistress over the hire and treatment of
her servants, the theatrical
manager over the conditions

is
under
which
his
theatre
if
worked.
Some
people
talked at the time as tained
Mr. Gladstone's proposal con-
some
startling innovation,
something new and
audacious
in the
proposed to
the
Irish
making do was simply
of laws.
What
Mr. Gladstone
that
to affirm the principle
landlord must submit himself to the
same
right of State intervention
and control
in his dealings
with others which was established and acknowledged
by every other
community.
class
and every other member of the
Mr. Gladstone applied himself to his task with an
energy and a pertinacity which can only not be called

surprising because one naturally looks for wonders of
that
kind
from Mr. Gladstone. been
Nothing,
less
we should
with
have thought, could have
congenial
Mr. Gladstone's training and tastes and habitudes than

the study of such a question, so dry, so intricate, so
localised,
so
foreign
Irish
to
all
his
previous
interests,
as
that of the
until lately,
land
system.
We
have seen
that,
he had hardly turned his attention to Irish
IRISH
questions
at
all.
LAND TENURE
position
253
The
of
the
Irish
State
Church would naturally have aroused his interest, because it was part of the subject which had always
occupied his attention
;
and when once he had made
up
his
mind
as to the failure of the Irish State
Church
system, he could have no difficulty whatever in explaining to any audience the reason which convinced him
that this ought not to be
and that that ought
to be.
The
whole subject of churches in their various forms

his earliest
had been dear and familiar to him from

days.
But to the question of
Irish land tenure he
had
at
up
all.
to his
mature years never given any attention
He must
have gone to the study of that Irish
land-tenure question as one goes to the study of a

foreign
language, yet he
in
master
what
for
made himself completely its any other man would have been an
His explanation of
his
incredibly short space of time.

bill
to the
House of Commons was a

and of
in
perfect masterdetail.
piece of clearness, of amplitude,
There
was something positively artistic which Mr. Gladstone arranged

details.
the
symmetry with
and
his
his
outlines
it
To
the
ordinary
observer
might
have
all
seemed that such a measure must be necessarily
made up
of details, and that
it
would be impossible
to
convey any clear idea of an outline and a form through But Mr. Gladstone their mass and their complexity.
drew
his
outline with the firm
hand of a master, so
it
that every one fully
comprehended what
meant
to
254
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
and then he touched
in all
describe,
the details, laying
hand on each, and giving to each its place, I have often spoken with significance, and proportion.
light, firm
some of the
Irish
law-officers
who helped Mr. Gladintimately acquainted
stone with that
measure,
men
with every fact of the Irish land-tenure system, and
they were agreed
in
expressing their wonder at the
accuracy and completeness with which he had

himself
its
made
master.
The
bill
was carried through both
Houses of Parliament,
but,
not, of course, without a struggle,

less
It
on the whole, with
force of resistance than
might have been expected.

its
did not quite succeed in
object.
first
It
and no
succeed
and an experimental measure, and experimental measure ever does quite

first
was a
in
its
object.
It
has had to be amended and

It
expanded over and over again. and expanded by Tory as well

ments.
has been amended
as
by Liberal" Governland tenure

is
The whole
question of Irish
even
still
a subject under the consideration of Parliain
ment, and the very session
which
am
writing has
had a new
ministration.
Irish land
bill
brought
in
by a Tory Adbill
But Mr. Gladstone's land
ot
1870
was
introduced a
ever
new
to
principle,
which no one since has
attempted
abolish.
That new
principle
that the Irish tenant was entitled to
some share and

he himself had
property
in
the improvements which

It
made
in his farm.
was, therefore, in the best sense

It
of the word, a
revolutionary measure.
created
IRISH
new
principle in Irish
IAND TENURE
Land Tenure, and
It
255
that principle
has since been settled.

in
did not go nearly far

it
enough
in
the right direction, but
showed the
it
direction
which legislation ought to go, and

the opening of a
was on that account
new
era for Ireland.
CHAPTER
NATIONAL EDUCATION
XXII
OTHER REFORMS
THESE
early years of Mr. Gladstone's administration

in reform.
It
were years of tremendous energy

takes one's breath
almost
away
to recall
the
many
splendid
reforming enterprises on which Mr. Gladstone ventured

with a courage that seemed never to be daunted.
set
He
himself to work
to
establish
great
system of
national education for England.
Strange to say, up to
that time there had been no public system of elementary
education
in
England.
The
State had
doled out a
miserable grant to the help of private charity, for the
teaching of the children
of the poor.
England was
world
in
behind most of the countries of the

this respect.
civilised
She was
States, she
far
behind Prussia and most of

far
the
all,
German
was the
the
was
behind nearly
all, if
not
of the States of the

first
American Union.
This, in
fact,
time when the principle was set up

for
that
State
ought to provide
I
and enforce a
popular elementary education.

into the details of this
do not propose to go measure, and, for one reason,
NATIONAL EDUCATION OTHER REFORMS

because
it
257
was not put into form by Mr. Gladstone's own personal inspiration. There were, indeed, some
parts
of
it
which
did
not
commend
themselves
altogether to his
feelings
or his judgment.
But he
adopted
it
as,
on the whole, the best scheme that then

success.
It,
had a chance of
too, like
the Irish land
measure, has been the subject of
much
made
controversy and
But,
many schemes of alteration and improvement.

like the Irish
Land
a
Bill
also,
it
new departure
measure
and
established
new
principle.
was
carried in
in
1871
to substitute the ballot for

for
open voting
Mr.
ballot,
the
elections
the
House of Commons.
Gladstone had at one time been opposed to the

as,
indeed, most other public men

It is
in
England had
been.
a curious fact that Mr. Gladstone began as
an
opponent
of
the
ballot,
and
afterwards
became
convinced by practical experience and observation that

the secret vote was on the whole far better than the
open system
while Mr. John Stuart Mill,
who began
opponent.
as an advocate of the ballot,
had ended as
its
The
bill
went through both Houses, and was carried
into law.
Not the
faintest idea
now
exists in the
mind
of
measure.
any English public The immemorial British fashion of recording

and thereby leaving the tenant
at
man
of proposing to repeal the
one's vote in public,
the
mercy of
his landlord, the small

local
shopkeeper at the
mercy of the
magnate, the factory-worker at the

is
mercy of the factory-owner,

17
almost forgotten
now
in
258
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Educated young people of the present
it
this country.
generation would probably find
hard to believe that
such a system, with
all
its
glaring
and
monstrous
abuses, could ever have existed in a civilised country.
Another great abuse which Mr. Gladstone abolished was the system of purchase of commissions in the
army
the
system
under which a young

officer's
man
with
money bought
So
the
far as
I
himself an
commission, and
bought, step by step, his subsequent stages of promotion.
remember, no such system was known
in
army
of any other great and civilised State.

it,
Mr.
as
Gladstone was determined on abolishing
and
he
found that the House of Lords was determined to

stand in the way, he abolished
it
himself by what
It
may
this
call
a constitutional coup
d'etat.
came about
in
manner.
Purchase
in the
army was allowed and

Sovereign
alone.
established
by the warrant of the

was
The whole practice was therefore dependent upon royal

regulation.
It
in
the power of the Sovereign at
any moment
should
to say that the purchase of commissions
cease.
Now, the House of Commons,
the
Representative Assembly, had, under Mr. Gladstone's

inspiration,
pronounced against the purchase system.

of Lords
therefore,
still
The House
Gladstone,
authority
held out in
its
favour.
Mr.
acting
Minister,
on
his
constitutional
as
Prime
advised
the
Queen
to
cancel the royal warrant which authorised the buying
and
selling of
commissions
in the
army.
The Queen,
NA TIONAL ED UCA TION OTHER REFORMS

who
is
259
the
ever sat
and only constitutional Sovereign who on the throne of England, acted on the advice
first
of her Prime Minister.
A
that
new
all
royal warrant
was
at
once
issued,
declaring
in the
purchase or sale of
to an end.
commissions
step,
army must come

Gladstone,
This
of
taken
by
Mr.
raised
storm
his
controversy in the country.

followers,
Even some of
own
in
some of the most advanced

it.
Radicals
Parliament, were strongly against
There could be
royal
no doubt that the

abolishing
stitutional.
exercise
of the
power
in
the
purchase
system
raised
in
was
was
perfectly
conthe
The
question
justified
whether
Prime Minister was
thus cutting short a
great Parliamentary controversy
position of the royal prerogative.
by the sudden interThere can be no
doubt that Mr. Gladstone's course was a bold one, bold

even to the extent of audacity.
Probably
if
he had
been
content
to
wait,
the
reform would
It is
have been
carried in the following session.

abolition of purchase in the
certain that the
promotion there
by merit has
public
army and the principle of come to be accepted now

There
by the universal
again
is
opinion of England.
a reform introduced by Mr. Gladstone which

his senses
nobody in But this is
just
would think of trying to repeal. what people were saying who condemned
about
the
intervention
"
?
the advice which brought
of
the royal prerogative.

'
"
Why
is
not wait
they
said.
The
abolition of purchase
certain to
come now
that
260
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
House of
the
Commons and
public
opinion
have
declared against the practice.

for the
Why
give any excuse
argument
that the Prime Minister has cut short
public
controversy on
is
great
public
question by a
"
?
course of action which
absolutely without precedent
There
is
a great deal to be urged in favour of this

I
argument.
said so at the time

lately
;
put
my
opinions
on record more
and
am
ready to say the
same thing now.
But, at present, the purchase system

for ever, one's chief interest
It
It
is in
having been abolished
the action of Mr. Gladstone himself.

instance
reform.
principle.
was a splendid
a
great
of political
It
intrepidity.
in violation
carried
was not
of any constitutional
further emphasised
On
and
the contrary,
it still
the duty of the Sovereign to act on the advice of the
Minister
it
won
a great battle.
CHAPTER
THE
I
XXIII
IRISH UNIVERSITY QUESTION

fact
HAVE
already mentioned the
that Mr. Gladin
stone
had likened the three principal defects
the
system of governing Ireland to the three branches of

the upas-tree, and had shown
to the State
how
these defects belonged
system of university education.
Church system, the land system, and the The time had now
come, according to Mr. Gladstone's view, for dealing

with the question of university education in Ireland.
Ireland had two universities, that of Dublin
College, as
it
is
commonly
called
which
Trinity
its
bestowed
honours on the members of the Protestant

only
;
Church
created
and the Queen's University, a

which was
founded
lately
institution,
on a purely secular
principle and
was therefore condemned by the heads of

Church.
Here, then, there was,
in
the
Catholic
country the vast majority of whose people were

Catholics,
Roman
one university which would not accept the
Catholics on equal terms with their fellow-subjects, and
which, indeed, imposed in an indirect and negative
way
262
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
on
penalties
them
for
being
another university which the
Roman Catholics, and Roman Catholic as such

There was no other
Catholics
could not recognise or accept.

university
in
the
country.
The
had long
been loud and earnest in their demands for a chartered

Catholic university.
The argument employed by most

university
of the English statesmen was that to grant any State

aid
to
Catholic
institution
would be
to
endow a
sectarian
out of the national funds.
The
Catholics
made answer
that the University of Dublin
was
in
fact a State-endowed institution, and that the
Queen's University was set up by a grant from the

State.
Mr. Gladstone made a brave

question.
effort
to settle
the
His proposal was to make the University of

in
Dublin the one national university
Ireland,
and to
make
and
it
a teaching
as well
as
an examining body.
Colleges of Cork
Trinity College Dublin, the Queen's

Belfast,
the
existing
Catholic
University
an
institution
which had no charter, but was supported
altogether
by
private
funds
these
bodies
were
to
become
affiliated
members of
the
the
new
university. to
The
in
money
College,
to
sustain
university was
come
proportionate allotments from the revenues of Trinity
very
wealthy
institution,
from
the
con-
solidated fund, the fees of students, and the surplus of

Irish ecclesiastical property.
Trinity College and each
of the other affiliated
colleges
would be allowed
to
THE IRISH UNIVERSITY QUESTION

frame
263
schemes
Mr.
for
their
own government.
proposed
in
Thus,
in
therefore,
Gladstone
central
to
establish
Ireland
colleges,
one
university
which might
existing
affiliate
and colleges to exist

in
hereafter,
themselves and
the governing of which they would
have a share, while each college could make what laws

it
pleased
for
its
own
constitution,
and
it
might
thought
be
fit.
denominational or undenominational as
The Legislature would give an open career and

play to
all alike,
fair
and
in
order to
it
make
the university
equally applicable to every sect
would not teach the

its
disputed branches of knowledge or allow

tions
for
examinadisputed
prizes
to
include
any
of these
questions.
The
colleges could act for themselves with
regard to the teaching of theology, moral philosophy,
and modern
history.
The
central
university would
maintain a neutral ground so far as these subjects were

concerned, and would have nothing to do with them.
That
enough
is
description
of
the
scheme quite
full
for the readers of to-day.
With regard
to the
provision which excluded theology, moral philosophy, and modern history, it may be borne in mind that
Stuart Mill had long been endeavouring to convince

the world that the teaching of history
is
not one of the
functions of a national university, and had better be

left
to private education.
only mention this fact
in
passing because some of the severest attacks
made on
Mr. Gladstone's
bill
by what are
called cultured people
264
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
were made on the ground that he excluded those great subjects from the teaching of the proposed Irish
university.
It is, therefore,
only
fair to
observe that a
man
and
of the culture and intellect of Stuart Mill had

it
preached the doctrine before Mr. Gladstone adopted

tried to
put
it
into practice.
There
is
a great deal
;
to be said for the views of Mr. Gladstone
and Mr. Mill
but
it
is
not necessary for

the
me
to
go
into the subject
here.
In
debate
on
the
whole
"
question,
Mr.
Disraeli, especially, scoffed at the notion of a university
which was not to be

Disraeli,
far
"
universal
in its teaching.
Mr.
who, as
far
below the
it
level
was concerned, was of Gladstone and Mill, had evidently

as education
got
into his
it
head that a university was so called

possibly be
a great deal
because
taught everything that could
learned in the universe.

to
The scheme had
recommend
it
if
philosophic compromise could be
made
it
the principle of communities and of parties

fatal
had one
defect
but
it
pleased nobody.
Nearly
all
it.
the different parties in the State found fault with
The English Nonconformists

measure which
proposed
to
cried
out
a
against
the
endow
distinctly
Catholic university out of national funds.
The
Irish
Protestants were furious at the proposed breaking up

of
the long-established university system in
Dublin.
The
Catholics declared that
it
did not in any sense
meet the justice of their claims ar regards the Catholic

university.
It
soon
became
certain
that
large
265
number of the Protestant Nonconformist members of

Parliament were determined to oppose
raeli's
it.
Mr. Disfull
speech during
the
closing
debate was
of
brilliancy
and triumphant sarcasm.

to
be,
He knew what
in
the
end was
and he exulted
the already
certain defeat of his great opponent.
Mr. Gladstone's
speech
It
in reply
was
dignified, serene,
and even pathetic.

"
was the speech of one who could bear anticipated

rather
defeat without bitterness, without despondency,

in the
independence of a quiet than the disdain of a

if I
despairing heart,"
may
quote some almost forgotten

I
words of Bulwer Lytton.
listened to that speech of
Mr. Gladstone's with an absorbed interest.
So, indeed,
privilege to
must every one have done who had the

hear
in
it.
Especially touching were the few sentences

his
which Mr. Gladstone expressed
regret for his

Irish
inevitable severance on that occasion from the
National members with whom
he
had
worked
so
happily and so successfully on the

of the
Ireland.
It
bill for
the abolition
for
Irish
Church and the Land Tenure scheme

division
bell rang,
The
and the defeat came.
was
not, indeed, a
great defeat.
The measure was

But,
as
thrown out by only a
majority of three.
"
'tis
Mercutio says of his wound,
not so deep as a well,

'tis
nor so wide as a church door, but

serve."
enough
'twill
Mr. Gladstone, of course, resigned
office at once,
and
Mr. Disraeli was sent
for
by the Queen.
Mr. Disraeli,
266
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
to
however, prudently declined
accept
office
under
such
the
conditions.
fact
He
most
;
pointed, not unreasonably, to
that
on
questions there would

in
be a
majority against him
and he drew,
a subsequent
speech, an amusing picture of the troubles imposed on
Prime Minister who has on various great

a
public
questions
majority
of
it
the
House of
Commons
judgment
against him.
Of
course,
might be said that he could

for the
have dissolved Parliament and called

of the country at a general election.
But, as he once
more not unreasonably put
it,
How
could he appeal to
the constituencies against a decision of the
House
of
Commons which had

in fact,
his
thorough approval
Disraeli,
knew
quite well that the time was not opportune
for him,
and he also knew that the opportune time was
coming soon.
undertake
office,
He
held to his resolve
he declined to
for
it
and there was nothing
but that
Mr. Gladstone should return, not indeed to power, but

to office.
office
There
is
a vast difference between being in
and being
the
in
power, as Mr. Disraeli had pointed

to
out in
alluded.
to office.
amusing speech
which
have lately
Mr. Gladstone came back, not to power, but

It
must have been a painful thing for him to continue still to be Prime Minister under such conditions.
He came
back to
office
very unwillingly, as
everybody knew. He had good reason to
He was
feel
tired of the
whole business.
His health
strain of the
disappointed.
had been severely injured by the excessive

work
to which he
267
had devoted himself with an unsparing

self-sacrifice.
and almost reckless
He knew
well,
every
one must have known,
that,
coming back
to office
under
such conditions, he must come back with a diminished
and a discredited
could have seen
influence.
that.
It
Any
outside
observer
all
must have been borne
keenly into Mr. Gladstone's knowledge.

a less
A man
with
magnanimous nature than Mr. Gladstone might

But that was not
have refused point-blank to undertake so thankless, so

disheartening, and so futile a task.
Gladstone's way.
Sensitive and highly strung as he

to subject his
was by nature, he was always able
own
back
personal feelings to the public good.

to office seeing, as
He came
everybody must have seen, that the
end was near.

In truth, the force of reforming energy
itself for a time.
had spent
is
In English political
life
there
a law
of action and reaction so palpable
in its
working that
almost
any
intelligent
observer
might undertake to
its
issue a weather
prophecy about
movements.
Mr.
Gladstone had come into power on the crest of the

third wave, as
boatmen
say,
and with that impulse he

series
had accomplished a magnificent

legislation.
of reforms in
Now,
however, the force was spent.
The
Great
outer public had grown tired of mere reform.

political
questions in England are not always decided

interest
little
by the men who take a real and active There is an outer public who care them.
in
either
268
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
all
way, but who vote

inclination
in
is
to be let
same and whose general alone unless when something is

the
special attraction for them.
is
the air which has
some
The
such
fate of a great administration
often decided by-
men
as these.
They murmur
to their
own
;
souls
that they are rather tired of reforming measures
that
;
they are rather tired of Gladstone and his energy
and
when
a general election comes they either stay at
home
and do not vote
at all or they vote against the energetic

It
and wearisome administration.

plain to
must have been quite Mr. Gladstone that that turn in the tide had
he had no inclination to embarrass public
to
come.
life
Still,
and Parliament by refusing
return
to
office,
although well
stop-gap there.
"
knowing that he was only to be a With what Burke would have called a
his
proud humility," he bowed
head and entered the

his short career
Prime Minister's room again.
During
of renewed office he enabled the late Mr. Fawcett to
carry a measure for the abolition of religious tests in
the University of Dublin.
That was
all
that he could
do just then for that cause of university education in

Ireland which he had so generously undertaken.
did the best he could
;
He
as he could not bring in a great
reform, he brought in a reform of a minor degree, but

still
on the way to a complete scheme.

nothing,
Better a small
reform than
he thought.
His nature was
always a curious
compound
of the thinker, perhaps even
of the dreamer, and of the worker.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE ALABAMA QUESTION
I
NEED
not go into the internal troubles which, accordthe
ing
to public conjecture, helped towards
speedy
overthrow of the Liberal party.
There was some talk
of dissensions, talk likely enough to be true,

the
among
members of
and
the Liberal Cabinet.

there, as vacancies
Election after
election here
to
full
were made, began

plain
be
lost
to
the
Liberals.
It
was
that
the
tide of reaction
was
in force.
The Alabama
some trouble
for
question
had undoubtedly created

Government.
It
Mr.
Gladstone's
has always seemed to

bravest things Mr.
ance,
me
that one of the best and
Gladstone ever did was his accepthis
and
might even say
enforcement, of the
principle of arbitration with
regard to that question.

in
The Treaty
prevented,
in
of Washington, arranged
all
May
1871,
human
probability, the breaking off
of diplomatic relationship, and possibly even the out-
break of a war
States.
England and the United The American Government had done what
between
270
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
his
any Englishman with any brains in have known they would do, and were
of the
head would
entitled to
do
they insisted on a settlement of the claims arising out
damage done by
the
Alabama and
the other
built
cruisers of the
in
Southern States which had been
the English dockyards and had sailed from English
ports
and were sometimes

sailors.
to a great extent
to
manned
English
;
by English
Up
a certain
point
statesmen had rather paltered with the question
they
had expressed themselves willing

as to
to
go into arbitration
any individual claims
for personal
damage done
which a few Englishmen might have to present on the one side of the quarrel and a few Americans on the
other side.
was not by any means what the American statesmen required, and what, as everybody
this
But
now
believes,
they
were
entitled
to
expect.
Their
claim was
made
as a nation injured
to be
Such a claim was not

a willingness to
this
by another nation. met by merely admitting
pay for any personal damages that or that American citizen might have sustained.
most
Mr. Gladstone's Government, under his direct inspiration,
finally
agreed
to
accept the
ample and
complete terms for the discussion of the whole controversy.
They
declared
themselves willing to treat
the subject in dispute as a national and not merely an

individual lawsuit.
commission was sent out to Washington which was to hold conference with an American commission,

and to enter upon
still
271
all
the different subjects of dispute
unsettled between
England and the United

principal
States.
Of
these
subjects
the
were
the
Alabama
question, the
San Juan boundary, and the Canadian The Dominion of Canada was Fishery question. Of the English comrepresented on this commission.
missioners, one
is
still
alive,
the
Marquis of Ripon.
Lord Iddesleigh, who was then Sir Stafford Northcote, and Mr. Mountague Bernard, Professor of International
Law
I
at the University of Oxford, are dead.
Sir
also
John
dead.
A. Macdonald,
who
represented Canada,
States
is
was
in
the
United
during the whole time
while that tribunal held
its sittings,
and
I
I
need hardly
say
to
how deep was

follow
its
the interest with which
endeavoured
all
proceedings.
The
result
we
know.
Out
It
Washington treaty was welcomed with satisfaction

sides of the Atlantic.
of the
came the Geneva award.

by all reasonable But with a certain
men on both
class of persons in
England
it
did not tend to
make
it
the Liberal Administration popular.
Especially
did
not tend
people.
to
make Mr. Gladstone popular with

in
these
Mr. Disraeli,
the debate on the address on

in
the
opening of the session
1872, denounced, not

but the formal paraexplaining
for
it.
exactly the
Alabama
the
treaty
itself,
graph
in
Queen's
Speech
He
insisted that
some of the claims admitted

to the sort
arbitra-
tion
amounted
of tribute
that
might be
exacted from a conquered people.
272
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Mr. Gladstone
made
in reply a
speech of admirable
He good temper and sound sense and eloquence. pointed out that most of Mr. Disraeli's arguments applied only to what were called the indirect or constructive
claims,
which claims had never been
really
supported or sanctioned
by American statesmanship.
in substance,
Mr. Gladstone's speech was,
an appeal to
the patriotism and the good feeling of the English-speak-
ing people on both sides of the Atlantic.

it
All the
same
is
quite certain that his popularity in
England was
"
diminished by the mere fact that he had accepted an

arbitration
which told heavily against England.

in
We
"
have caved
to the
United States,"
or,
indeed,
in
to
the Yankees," was the
common
phrase used
certain
English clubs, dining-rooms, and smoking-rooms.

of Mr. Gladstone's
One
own
than
colleagues, Mr.
Lowe, entered
on an elaborate defence of the treaty which was more

likely
to
increase
to
diminish
its
unpopularity
Mr.
among
went on
deal of
certain
classes
of
Englishmen.
Lowe
a great
at the
to argue that
we had anyhow saved
money by
point
the arrangement.
He was
much
less
pains
to
out that, whether

it
we were
right
or
whether we were wrong,
cost us
to
pay
up the claims than

even to win
States.
If
in
line
it
would have cost us to

struggle with
lose or
a warlike
the
United
any
of argument might have turned

treaty,
sensible
it
and reasonable Englishmen against the

line
would have been such a
of argument as this.
WILLIAM
By permission
J.
WART GLADSTONE
Marion and
IN 1S73.
Co. of
of Messrs.
London.

It
273
exactly sustained the doctrines the Tories always
preached about what was then called the Manchester

school, the school of
Cobden and
of Bright, that the
men
of that school
cared nothing for the honour of
their country, but only
balanced the expense of mainit.
taining
it
against the cheapness of sacrificing
No
that
really thoughtful
Tory could ever have believed

or encouraged such sentiments.
Mr. Gladstone
a matter of
felt
As
Cobden nor Mr. Bright ever But Cobden expressed or encouraged or felt them. and Bright had undoubtedly said things now and
fact, neither Mr.
again which an unscrupulous
enemy might
the
twist into
an expression of disregard
for
national
honour.
Nothing
into
ever said
by Mr. Gladstone could be perverted

Yet,
all
any such meaning.

the
the same, the result
of
Alabama
treaty
was
"
to
put
him
into
the
position,
among
homely
the minds of the vulgar, of one

phrase,
who
the
had,
in
knuckled
down
to
Yankees."
18
CHAPTER XXV
THE TIDE TURNS
Parliament had been summoned
1874
with
the
It
for
5th February
the
important words, "for

is
dispatch
tell
of business."
perhaps hardly necessary to
most of
is
my
readers that during the recess Parliament

to time, not with
it
summoned nominally from time

practical
in
any
but
purpose of
it
bringing
back to work,
order that
may
if
be constitutionally liable to
be recalled to work
arise.
But when
any sudden emergency should the words are added " for the
dispatch of business," that always means that Parlia-
ment
day.
is
summoned
for actual
work on that particular

for 5 th
Parliament, then, was
summoned
February
1874
23rd
for the dispatch of business.
On
the night of
to
January
1874
an
amazing report began

that night well
in
spread abroad
among
I
certain limited circles of political

;
men
in
London.
remember
it
perhaps
"
:
may
be allowed to describe
words of
my own which
Men
were published a few years after the occasion
were mysteriously beckoned away from dinner-tables and
THE TIDE TURNS

drawing-rooms and club-rooms.
hurried
to
275
Agitated messengers
ministerial
doors seeking for information.

in
There was commotion
the newspaper
offices.
The
telegraph was set in constant action.

all
Next morning
Mr. Gladto
the world read the news in the papers.
stone
had suddenly made up
his
mind
dissolve
Parliament, and seek for a restoration of the authority

of
the
Liberal
Government
by an
appeal
to
the
people."
Mr. Gladstone explained the reason for his decision

in
an address to his constituents.
He
declared that he
could no longer put up with the difficulty of seeming

to
have the authority he had received

"
in
1868 now
due defence
sunk
below the point necessary

of
the
public
for the
and prosecution
therefore,
interests,"
and
that,
he proposed to appeal to the constituencies

the
by a
dissolution of Parliament, in
hope of thus
policy.
obtaining
popular approval of his general
Should he be successful in that endeavour, he undertook that,

series
if
restored to power, he would introduce a
of
financial
reforms which would
include
the
Now I think complete abolition of the income tax. there can be no mistake as to the general impression
produced by the publication of Mr. Gladstone's address,
and by the dissolution of Parliament.
was especially widespread among

and
his
his
The grumbling own followers
own
party.
out,
The time
of the Parliament had
nearly run
and there were many Liberals who
276
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
little
had
hope of being returned again to the House of Commons. Such men were most unwilling to lose
even a year of Parliamentary existence.
They
could
not understand Mr. Gladstone's motive, and they looked
upon themselves as
"
positively ill-treated.
"Why
didn't
he think about us?" they muttered
among
for
themselves.
We
have voted with him very

little
faithfully,
and he might
us."
have had a
more consideration
Such
men
as these could not understand the motive of Mr.
Gladstone.
To him
it
seemed ignoble that a Prime

in
office
Minister should remain
one hour
after
he had
found reason to believe that he no longer possessed

the confidence of the majority of the people.
To him
a seat in Parliament was a matter of utter insignificance

unless
it
enabled a
man
to
do some good
for his con-
stituents
and
for
the country.
He
might almost have
spoken the eloquent words of Burke in the immortal

speech at Bristol; and, indeed, there are
"
many
is
striking
points of resemblance between the character of Burke
and the character of Gladstone.

said Burke,
service.
"
It
certainly,"
not pleasing to be put out of the public

I
But
wish to be a
member
of Parliament to
evil.
have
my
share of doing good and resisting
It
would, therefore, be absurd to renounce

order to retain
grossly
if
I
my
objects in
my
in
seat.
deceive myself, indeed, most
had not much rather pass the remainder of

the recesses of the deepest obscurity,
visions
my
life
hidden
feeding
my
mind even with the
and imagina-
IXEfllMltdit iCii iiiij J j

From Painting
by Sir John Everett Millais,
879.
P.R.A.
THE TIDE TURNS

tions of such things, than to be placed
277
on the most
splendid throne of the universe tantalised with a denial

of the practice of
situation
all
which can make the greatest

curse."
any other than the greatest
Mr. Gladstone flung himself into the contest with

all his
characteristic earnestness
and energy.
He had
But
not usually been what
we
call
an open-air orator.
on
this occasion
he went down to Greenwich and ad-
dressed enormous popular meetings held on Blackheath.

It
was there that
for the
first
time heard Mr. Glad-
stone as an open-air orator addressing a monster meeting.
There are
in
this
country, at
all
events, three
distinct
kinds of political
eloquence.
There
is
is
the the
eloquence of the House of Commons.
There
eloquence of the platform indoors, at one of the great

gatherings in St. James's Hall for instance, and then
there
is
the eloquence addressed to the monster meetair.
ing in the open
These, as
have
is
said, are quite
distinct forms of oratory,
and the
man
indeed seldom
all three.
to be
met with who can make a success with

a speaker
Many
in
who can
hold the House of
Commons
is
breathless interest during a long oration

in
St.
found
ineffective
James's Hall, and would be hopeless
at
an open-air meeting.
On
the other hand,
many
powerful platform speaker

with him
is
who can
carry his audience
found wholly unsuited to the peculiar style

I
and atmosphere of the House of Commons.

that
I
confess
all
had some doubt whether Mr. Gladstone, with
278
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
powers of voice, would be able to
suit
his
himself
exactly to the task of addressing a great open-air

meeting.
His warmest admirers must admit that he

gift
has a somewhat dangerous

over-refining
of over-refining, and
a monster meeting.
direct,
would never do
strike
for
The speaker must

echoing blows.
strong,
resounding,
But Mr. Gladstone had not got three

I
sentences of his speech out before
felt
certain that
he would prove himself just as

the
much
St.
at
home
with
Blackheath meeting as with
James's Hall or
with the House of
Commons.
His voice swelled and
rang out to the uttermost verge of the vast crowd, and
no
listener
had any occasion
to trouble himself for
one
moment by
a fear lest he should
miss
something of
what the great orator was saying. I never admired Mr. Gladstone more than
did
during those days when he fought so splendidly against
impending
all
fate.
The
the same.
When
and
that
was impending, however, the elections were over, it was

fate
found that the Conservative party had a majority of
about
fifty,
even
the
calculation
of that
majority was
made on an assumption
it
far too favour-
able to the Liberals, for
assumed that every
Irish
Home
The
Ruler might be counted as a Liberal.
In fact,
the dust.
the great reforming ministry was
down
in
Liberal statesmen had tried too much, had done
too much, had spent their force in too

efforts
many
splendid
and
enterprises,
and the time came
at last
when
THE TIDE TURNS
279
the spirit of Conservative reaction prevailed over them.
Mr. Gladstone followed the example set by Mr. Disraeli

in
1868, and at once resigned

It
office.
This was by
far
the best course to take.
had been the custom on
former occasions that a Ministry defeated at a general

election
should return to
office
and wait
until the re-
opening of Parliament and
until
the majority of the
House of Commons had,

its
after a long debate, declared
want of confidence
in
them.
All this would have
been, under such conditions, but a mere waste of time.
Mr. Disraeli was right
in
setting the example.

it.
Mr.
in-
Gladstone was right

vited Mr. Disraeli to
in
following
The Queen
form an administration, and he
was not long
in settling
down
into office.
Then came another

Liberals in
all
surprise
and
shock
for
the
parts
of the country.
in
Mr. Gladstone
suddenly announced,
letter
to
Lord
Granville,
dated 12th March 1874, that "for a variety of reasons

personal to myself,
I
could not contemplate any un-
limited extension of active political service,
and
am
anxious that
friends with
affairs
it
should be clearly understood by those

I
whom
have acted
I
in
the direction of
that at
my
age
must reserve
my
entire free-
dom
to divest myself of
all
the responsibilities of leader-
ship at no distant time.
The need
of rest will prevent

in
me
the
from giving more than an occasional attendance
House of Commons during the present session. I should be desirous shortly before the commencement
28o
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
of the session of 1875 to consider whether there would
be advantage
in
my
placing
my
services for a time at the

I
disposal of the Liberal party, or whether
should then
dis-
claim exemption from the duties

charged.
If,
have hitherto
be
however,
there
should
reasonable
grounds
I
for believing that, instead of the course

it
which
have sketched,
would be
preferable, in view of the

at
party generally, for
me
to
I
assume
once the place of
an independent member,
latter
should willingly adopt the

letter
alternative."
This
brought back to the

speech of Burke's
"
from which
Burke,
express
"
I
minds of some of us a passage I have already quoted.

have had
in that
Gentlemen," said
my
day.
can never sufficiently
my
gratitude to you for having set

I
me
in
place wherein
could lend the slightest help to great
and laudable designs. If I have had my share in any measure giving quiet to private property and private
conscience,
if
by
my
vote
have aided
if
I
in
securing to
in
families the best possession, peace,
have joined
reconciling kings to their subjects and subjects to their

prince,
if I
have assisted to loosen the foreign holdings
of the citizen and taught him to look for his protection

to the laws of his country,
and
if
for his
I
comfort to the
goodwill of his countrymen,

part with the best of
I
have thus taken
my
men
I
in the best
of their actions,
can shut the book.

this is
two more, but
might wish to read a page or I have enough for my measure
not lived in vain."
Could
it
then be true that
Mr.
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE.

From Painting
by E. Hader.
THE TIDE TURNS
281
Gladstone, in the words of Burke, had had his day?
He was much
But
it
older even at that time than
Burke was
when he thus expressed
his readiness to close the book.
had never occurred to any of us
to regard Mr.
Gladstone as an old man, or even as a
man
within
measurable distance of old age.
To
us he seemed the
very embodiment of strength and spirit and indomitable The news sent a thrill of surprise all over the energy.
country, and a shock of utter
amazement and
disturb-
ance through the Liberal party.

that
for
There can be no doubt
some time many of Mr. Gladstone's most

followers
devoted
were
complaining
bitterly
of
the
course he had taken.
Mr. Gladstone pleaded his ad-
vancing years, but,

of Mr.
Disraeli
it
still
was asked, were not the years more advanced, and had Mr.
?
Disraeli said one
word about seeking retirement
was
he not, on the contrary, entering with alacrity on a

great
new chapter
of
his
political
career
Men
gloomed darkly and whispered sadly about the manner Let in which the party was to be left to cureless ruin.
it
be understood that
many
of the bitterest of these
utterances
came out of
the very devotion to Mr. Glad-
stone and confidence
in his leadership
which were
felt
by
?
the vast majority of his followers.

us
?
Why
does he leave
How
can the Liberal party exist without him

in
That was the manner

themselves.
It
which the questions shaped
did, indeed,
seem
at
one time as
if
the
whole Liberal organisation had
received a blow from
282
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
in
which
our time
it
never could recover.
The very com-
motion which Gladstone's threatened retirement created
among
the best of his
own
followers
was but another
tribute to his political genius, another form of proclaim-
ing to the world that in the belief of the Liberal party
he was the one
man
indispensable to the Liberal cause,
CHAPTER XXVI
GLADSTONE IN RETIREMENT
Mr. GLADSTONE seemed
free, for the
resolved
to
shake
himself
time at
least,
from the responsibilities of

the
political
leadership.
On
13th of January
1875
which
he addressed another
letter to
Lord
Granville, in
he explained that the time, he thought, had arrived
when he ought
of the
1
to revert to the subject of his
letter
2th of March in the former year.

"
"Before
I
determining," said Mr. Gladstone,

offer
whether
should
assume the charge, which might extend over a length of time, I have reviewed with all the care in my power a number of considerations, both public and
to
private, of
which a portion, and these not by any means

were not
result has
in
insignificant,
letter.
existence at the date of that

I
The
in
been that
see
no public ad-
vantage
my
continuing to act as the leader of the
Liberal party, and that, at the age of sixty-five, and

after forty-two years of a laborious
public
life,
think
myself entitled to
retire
on the present opportunity.
This retirement
is
dictated to
me by my
personal views
284
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
method of spending the closing years of
as to the best
my
life.
need hardly say that
my
conduct
in Parlia-
ment
which
will
I
continue to be governed by the principles on

;
have heretofore acted
and whatever arrangetreatment

of general
ments
may
and
be
made
for
the
business,
for the
advantage or convenience of the
Liberal party, they will have

should, perhaps, add that
for a short
I
my
cordial support.
am
at present,
and mean
time to be, engaged on a special matter that

closely."
"
occupies
me
"
The
special
"
matter
turned out to be chiefly an

in
attack on
The Vatican Decrees
their bearing
on
Civil Allegiance," in the form of a pamphlet which had an immense circulation and caused a very angry con-
troversy.
The pamphlet was
the outcome of various
articles written
by Mr. Gladstone on the question of
Ritualism and the popular dread, which he did not

share, that the ritualistic clergy could, if they would,
carry the
Church of England over
to
Rome.
Its
publication caused disappointment and
consternation
among
the
the
Roman
at
Catholics in England, Ireland, and
Empire
large.
The long
the
late
friendship between
Mr.
Gladstone and
Cardinal
Manning was
Mr. Gladstone
chilled for a time in the blasts of this debate.
Perhaps
it
would have been better
if
had
left
the whole matter alone.
But Mr. Gladstone

star.
could not help himself; he had to follow his
His
mind
refused
to
give
itself
absolutely
up
to
any
MRS. GLADSTONE.
From
a Photograph by
Mr. Wutmough Webster of
Chester.
one study of
of
life.
285
Great as he was
in
the
House
field
Commons, of activity now and

the cares of
his vast energies
needed some other
then.
It
was not
like the case of
Mr. Disraeli, who, when he had an interval of rest from

office,
sat
down and threw
off a three-
volume
novel.
Mr. Disraeli was not burning to write
the novel.
He
had written novels
before.
He
could
wait very placidly until

for
a suitable opportunity
came
adding to their number.
But Mr. Gladstone had

fiction are
eminently what the heroines of modern

of calling a complex character.
fond
When
he had spent
a certain time over politics and political reform, and
when he had
either carried or failed to carry

it
some great
measure, then
appeared to him, or
it
appeared to be
borne
ing at
to
in
upon him, that there was something else waithis hand that he could do and which he ought
all his
endeavour to do with
might.
Thus
it
seemed
to have been borne in
upon him
at the
time when he
had made up
his
mind
to resign the leadership of the
Liberal party that the state of the Church of England
required his immediate attention.
Probably the Public

into the to
Worship Regulation Bill, brought Lords, and coming thence down
House of House of
the
Commons,
land.
inspired
Mr. Gladstone with the idea that
he ought to interpose on behalf of the Church of EngMr. Gladstone emerged for a
moment from
his
retirement to
oppose the
bill.
need not go into the

this
question raised
by the introduction of
measure,
286
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
interest
for us
which has no
now
otherwise than as a
State
subject affecting
the
internal
discipline of the
Church.
led
But undoubtedly these theological debates him on to the publication of his pamphlet against
I
the Vatican Decrees.

troversy.
interest
will
It
need not revive
this
old conIts
belongs
I
now
fancy
in
to
for
ancient
history.
for
me, and
most of
it
my
readers,
mainly be found
the fact that
illustrated the
irrepressible,
indomitable eagerness of Mr. Gladstone's

it
mind
to take a kind of rest, after
had stretched
itself
out in one direction, by stretching
itself
out in another.
resolve
However, Mr. Gladstone held
to
his
not to
retain the leadership of the Liberal party in the
House
of
Commons.
He
stood
by
his
plea
for
immunity
People
founded on the right of
his
sixty-five years.
if
were not slow to observe that

retired
five,
Lord Palmerston had

at the age of sixty-
from public
life
or
had died
England would never have known the fulness of
his
Some of us, power as a Parliamentary debater. no doubt, remembered also that if Count von Moltke
had gone into private life or had died at the age of sixty-five, the world would never have known that he
had the capacity
to be the greatest soldier since the
days of Napoleon and Wellington.

persevered
in his resolve,
But Mr. Gladstone

it
and
at last
became actually
choose his
necessary that
successor.
the
Liberal
party should
The
choice was
not
easy, although
it
was very
narrow.
287
By
far
the greatest orator and the greatest
influence in the party after Mr. Gladstone, an orator
who sometimes even
surpassed Mr. Gladstone himself,
But every one knew that John was John Bright. With all Bright would not accept the office of leader.
his capacity for
hard work at a
spell,
there
was a great
deal of the indolent

self that
man about
in
life
him.
He
told
me him-
his
pet wish
was an unconquerable
desire,
desire to be doing nothing.
This
unconquerable
in
though he called
it,
he managed to trample
the dust
whenever
public service
good purpose.
for the
But
it
was required of him for any was certain that he had no taste
management
of a party, and that he would not

leader.
become the Liberal
Mr. Robert Lowe, afteras
ward Lord Sherbrooke, was,

a
we have
seen already,
man
of great ability, a brilliant debater,
endowed with
high intellect and furnished with high culture, a
man
of
eloquence and epigram and paradox, with an almost

fatal
gift
of sarcasm, and hopeless as a possible leader
of the
cally
Liberal party.
to
The
choice was limited practiE.
the
late
Mr.
the
W.
Forster of
and to
Lord
Mr.
Hartington,
Forster was
now
a
Duke
Devonshire.
all
Yorkshire
ability, a
man, with
Yorkshire's
ruggedness of
tory, a
at
fell
strong man, but not concilia-
man who
put his head
down and went
straight
anything that
came
in his
way.
And
so the choice
Now between Mr. Gladupon Lord Hartington. stone and Lord Hartington there was a whole vast field
288
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
difference.
of
The
Liberal
party, although
it
saw
nothing better to do, never realised so thoroughly the

extent of
its
loss as
when
it
found that Lord Hartington
was
to be its leader.
Let
a
me
not do injustice to Lord
Hartington.
He was
man
of ability and of absolute
political integrity.
There was nothing whatever to win

political
him away from position, he was

enthusiasm.
integrity.
He had
and
to a
a great
heir to vast wealth

in
dukedom.
But he had not

It
his
nature
one single spark of

for
would have been impossible

in others.
solid,
him
to
inspire enthusiasm
No
ray of imagination
brightened his slow,
common
sense.
some people even said stolid, The hearts of some of the more
advanced Liberals sank within them when they found that they had come from Mr. Gladstone to Lord
Hartington.
But there was nothing
else to
be done,
and Lord Hartington was elected leader of the Liberal party. Without any disparagement to Lord Hartington,
it
may
be said that the light seemed suddenly to have
gone
out.
The
and
Liberal
party became
for
the time
colourless
lifeless
to the ordinary observer.

his
Mr.
Gladstone
himself, in
one of
Homeric
studies, points
out the supreme light of interest which always follows

the
movements of
is
Achilles.
When
Achilles
is
off the
stage, the scene
comparatively dark.
So
it
was with
Mr. Gladstone himself and the House of Commons.
Everything seemed lacking

ington did
his very best.
in
interest.
Lord Hart-
He
strove hard to
make
himself a good debater, and
succeeded.
to
289
certain
extent he
He had
man
to struggle against the heaviest

it
and worst manner that

in
is
almost possible to conceive

gift
the case of a
with any
of speech at
all.
His voice was harsh and heavy.

stolid,
His manner was

even
and he had no
real oratorical capacity or
inclination.
defects,
He was
to
perfectly well aware of his
own
and was
a great extent embarrassed by a
continual over-consciousness of the vast difference in
debating power between him and his superb predecessor.
But he
set
himself to work with a thoroughly British

of
doggedness
determination,
if
I
and
in
the
end
he
hammered
himself,
may
use such an expression,
into a really
I
may
say that
I
For myself, good Parliamentary debater. I watched Lord Hartington's career at

conceived a decided admiration for his
the time, and
dogged resolve to do the best he could. But of course the whole condition of things was changed so far as public interest was concerned.
There were,
debates.
cross
for
the
time
at
least,
no
more great
fit
Disraeli
had no longer an opponent

Bright took
little
to
in
it
swords with him.
share
public affairs.
all
The
Tories for the most part had
own way. Lord Hartington could and did his own style of Parliamentary speaking, but improve the truth soon became only too apparent that he could
their
not lead a Liberal party.

into the
Men who had come

"
lately
House were
crying,
19
Forward
!" while
Lord
290
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
"
Hartington was crying,
Back
"
!
It
was known
to
every one that Lord Hartington had no real sympathy

with
the
objects
party.
and the aspirations of the
newer
Liberal
birth
He
was, of
course, an
aristocrat
by
and training and
association,
and he had not one
spark of the imagination or the enthusiasm which has

sent
many
a born and bred aristocrat into the ranks
of
some great popular movement.
He was
perfectly
willing that justice should be done to every reasonable
and temperate claim on behalf of the people, but he could not look forward, and he apparently could not
believe
in
anything
portion
but
of
grudging
concession
claim.
of
portion
after
some popular
He
differed only from the high old-fashioned Tories in the

fact that
he was not willing to put his foot down and

in
say nothing shall ever be done
the
way
of change.
There was always

time
in
in
Mr. Disraeli, and there was for a
the late
for
Lord Randolph Churchill, a strong

cause
of the
inclination
the
for
English
working
in
democracy, and
that
an endeavour to take the lead
way and
convert the working
man
into a
for
Tory
democrat.
all
But Lord Hartington cared
nothing of
and did not want to convert anybody into He was perfectly content to let things rest anything.
this,
as they were, with the half-reserved admission
that
if
any change should have by little and little and
to be
made
it
ought to come
at distant intervals of time.
Many
people thought him haughty, believed him to set
GLADS TONE IN RE TIREMENT

high account upon his rank and to look
29 1
down with
I
contempt upon
all
his
social
inferiors.
For myself,
do not believe that Lord Hartington ever troubled

himself about his rank or thought about his rank.
He
it
had always been the son of a duke

he was accustomed to being a man.
reserved,
and heir to a
as
dukedom, and he was just as well accustomed to

and awkward
in
But he was shy, manner, and this was what

In any
made people
case
it
think him distant and haughty.
can
be easily understood what an
immense
this
difference there
was between such a man as

the Liberal party had just
and
Mr.
the leader
whom
lost.
Gladstone appeared
now and
again
in
the
House of
Commons and
and
took part
spoke only served to
Every time he impress the Liberal party more

in a debate.
more with the
greatness
of
the
loss
it
had
sustained.
Mr. Disraeli meantime was playing a showy

part.
and an ambitious
in
He was
time
all
athirst for
influence
in
foreign affairs
and even
it
for intervention
foreign
affairs.
He
had
for a
his
own way.
Mr.
Lowe
stood up to him once or twice, and held his
own
But Mr. Lowe was only very pluckily and manfully. an isolated gladiator, and Mr. Disraeli was the master
of
many
legions.
Therefore
Mr.
Disraeli
ran
the
country
into
all
manner of
enterprises
abroad.
He
which
brought up again a so-called imperial
principle,
was
days
to restore the policy

;
and the system of Elizabethan

policy of Great
Britain
and
in
fact the foreign
292
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
if
I
went,
may
use so vulgar an expression,

all
"
on the
rampage."
Where,
the time, was Mr. Gladstone?
the Liberals kept asking.

ical
He
was engaged
in
polem-
controversy with Cardinal
Newman and
Cardinal
Manning.
One
general
conclusion
:
was adopted on
was urged,
both sides of the House
that
Mr. Gladstone never

It
meant
to lead
a political party again.
and with great show of reason, that a man with his knowledge of affairs would never have got into
antagonism with
the
all
the
Roman
Catholic subjects of
Queen and all Roman Catholic sovereigns and princes and people everywhere if he had the remotest
intention of assuming again such a part in public
as
life
might
lead
once
more
to
his
becoming
Prime
Minister.
People did not
reflect that all
through his
career he had a positive passion for theological study
and
for theological controversy.
In his youth, as
we have
if
seen, he
was anxious
to
become a clergyman, and

have become,
greatest
to
his
in
all
he had done so he would

probability,
human
one of the
Churchmen England has ever known.

latest
Down
he
study or
days,
relief
whenever he had
from
chance,
always sought
politics in classical
in theological dispute.
At
this particular period of his
career Mr. Gladstone no doubt sincerely believed that

his
political
work was
over.
There seemed nothing

all
particular for
him
to do,
and according to
appearance
the reign of the Tories was likely to be long.
He had
always a contempt, hardly even disguised,
293
for Disraeli's
flashy foreign policy, but he probably thought that at

this
time there was no great harm to be done, and,

not
anyhow,
opposition.
much to be accomplished by formal But those who believed that Mr. Gladstone
whole existence
in
had buried
his
a controversy con-
ducted, so to speak, in the
Roman
catacombs, soon
the
found
how completely they had misunderstood

failed to take
man, and
due account of the
possibilities
of the time.
CHAPTER
*
XXVII
ACHILLES RECALLED
The moment
was
was soon
to
come when Mr. Gladstone

Like
to be seen in the front of the fight again.
Achilles he was soon to

tent
come with a rush

It
forth of his
fate
it
?
and lead on the
battle.
was the irony of

?
indeed.
Who
brought him out of his tent
Was
an appeal from Lord Hartington or from Mr. Bright
Nothing of the kind.

Mr.
Neither Lord
Hartington nor
Bright brought back
Mr. Gladstone to political

it
leadership.
all
Mr. Disraeli did
himself.
Mr. Disraeli,
unconscious of what he was doing, brought back to

great
the battle the
swordsman with whom he was

Mr. Disraeli's speeches
never quite able to compete.
and
his
action on the
Bulgarian question
summoned
Mr. Gladstone in a
studies,
moment away from his theological and before England well knew what was
happening he was there again to the front, the practical, although not yet the nominal leader of the Liberal
party.
In the meantime the Government of Mr. Disraeli
ACHILLES RECALLED
was not doing particularly well so The Tory affairs were concerned.
nothing
striking
to
tried
offer
far
295
as
domestic
statesman
If
had
Mr.
to
the
country.
it
Gladstone
if
had
to
do too much
to
seemed as
little.
Mr. Disraeli were

to
inclined
in
do too
affairs
He
to
appeared
prefer
domestic
to cling
the policy, supposed to be safe, of letting things alone.
But
this is
seldom safe
in
England.
People soon get

or nothing in
tired of a
Government which does

affairs.
little
domestic
They want
rulers.
to
have a sense of being

strange, but
kept alive by their

to
It
may seem
me
it
is
perfectly certain, that the outsider class,
who
quarrelled with Mr. Gladstone because he was always
giving them a surprise, soon began to grumble at Mr.
was giving them no surprise at all. Besides it must be owned that he had suddenly got It was a time of into stormy waters in foreign affairs.
Disraeli because he
trouble with Russia and with Turkey, and Mr. Disraeli
was disposed
to
go much farther with what we
may
call
the Jingo policy than

willing to do.
some
of his
own
colleagues were
Probably, too, he was growing tired of
long
Parliamentary career.
He had had
On
the
almost
every success to which he could have aspired.
The
1
long day's task was
all
but done.
th
of
August 1876 he spoke for the last time in the House of Commons, and then he passed into the House of Lords as Lord Beaconsfield. He crowned his career
by accepting
for
himself the
title
which was
at
one
296
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
far
time offered to a
greater man,
Edmund
Burke, and
which Burke had declined on the ground that splendid titles were then of little value to him. I heard Mr.
Disraeli's
last
speech
in the
House of Commons
as
heard, later on, his last speech in the
House of Lords.
Each was a memorable
occasion.
.
The
first
was the
was the
closing of a great political career.
The
Mr.
last
closing of a great personal ambition.
Let
me
go
in
back,
however,
to
Gladstone's
field.
reappearance
the front of the political
The
impulse that brought about this sudden event was the
conduct of the Turkish Government

Bulgaria.
in the
province of
Bulgaria
in
its
governed places
the world.
was probably one of the worst The Turkish Governits
ment ruled by
pashas, and
pashas
made
life
intolerable for the people in Bulgaria.
An
insurrection
broke out there, and the Sultan sent large numbers of

Bashi Basouks and other irregular troops to put
the
rising.
down
a
They
did
put
if
it
down,
and
with
vengeance.
Their idea,
idea,
it
they can be supposed to
have had any

desert and call
seems to have been to make a
peace.
There was simply a battue

Reports began to
filter
or massacre of Bulgarians.
into Constantinople of the wholesale slaughter of
men,
the
into
women,
these
and
children.
in
The correspondent
of
London Daily News
Constantinople inquired
true.
reports and found them only too
The
Irish-
Daily
News
afterwards
sent
out
its
brilliant
ACHILLES RECALLED
American correspondent, the
the
able
late
297
Mr. MacGahan, to
scene of the
to
slaughter,
his
and Mr. MacGahan was

eyes
the
terrible
verify
with
It
own
truth
of
the
reports.
had
been
contended
in
by
the
that
friends of the
Ottoman Government
England
there had
been an armed insurrection, and that the

in
fair
insurgents were conquered
and open
conflict.
Mr.
MacGahan saw
streets,
with his
own eyes whole

children.
in
villages,
whose
otherwise deserted, were covered with
the bodies of slaughtered
women and
Mr. Disraeli was singularly unhappy

dealing
at
first
with the terrible stories
way of which came

his at
in
from the correspondent of the Daily

stantinople.
News
Conthem.
No
doubt he did not believe
But he took no trouble to make any

worst
inquiries.
His
enemy
to
could
not suppose that he was a

suffering,
man
made
once
indifferent
human
or that
if
he thought
there was anything in the stories he would have

fun of them.
But he appears
to
have assumed
in
at
that there could
be nothing serious
any statement
Liberal
made by
of
the foreign correspondent of a
London
in the
newspaper.
Therefore,
when questioned
subject,
House
Commons
in
on
the
he treated the whole

persiflage
"
matter
sarcasm.
babble."
his
most audacious vein of

the reports
as
and
He described He made fun
coffee-house
of
the
massacres
and
was
especially sportive about the tortures.
Oriental races,
he boldly declared, were not
in
the habit of applying
29S
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
to
themselves
"
torture
they
generally,
he
in
insisted,
terminated their connection with culprits
a more
expeditious manner."
Now, Mr.
Disraeli in his earlier

in
days had been
in
European Turkey and

himself,
Asia Minor.
Being
an
Oriental
sympathy,
he
must
have
read
by extraction and by some books about

too, that the
Oriental history.
torture
He must
was
races.
have known,
of
enemies
very
commonly
he
stood
fatuity
practised
in
among
Oriental
Yet
House of Commons and had the

called nothing less
up
it
the
can be
to
insist
that torture was hardly
known
jokes
in
the
East,
and
the
bad
taste
to
make
was
about the stories

mutilated
that
were told of outraged
and
women.
tremendous
effect
produced upon the whole country by the narratives

of Mr. the
to
MacGahan and by the reports English Consul, who was sent

to
of Mr. Baring,
out
specially
official
Bulgaria
make
inquiries,
and
whose
reports bore out only too well the investigations
and
the conclusions of the
special
correspondent of the
described
the
Daily
Nevus.
Mr.
Bright
effectively
agitation which arose in
England
as an uprising of the
?
English people.
So
it
was, but where was the leader
Where, to quote the words of Walter Scott,

where was Roderick then
!
One blast upon his bugle-horn Were worth a thousand men

Roderick, that
is
Gladstone, came to the front and sounded
ACHILLES RECALLED
a tremendous note upon his bugle-horn.
in front
299
He
put himself
of the agitation, forgot for the time his polemics
and
his critical essays.
He
threw his whole soul into the

in
movement
against the
Ottoman Government
Bulgaria.
He made
speeches and brought forward motions in the
House of Commons.
the country.
He
addressed meetings
all
over
He was
in St.
the principal orator at a great
meeting held
James's Hall, in London, one of the

it
most enthusiastic meetings

to attend,
has ever been
my
fortune
and where he made one of the most powerful and impassioned, and, at the same time, convincing
speeches
I
have ever heard even from
his lips.
Even
Mr. Carlyle came forth from his seclusion and from his
usual indifference to political
in
in
movements of any kind
order to send a letter to the promoters of the meeting

St.
James's Hall, to declare his conviction that the
expulsion of the Turks from Europe, though a some-
what drastic measure, was yet the only hopeful remedy for the oppression and the miseries inflicted by the Ottoman Government on its subject populations in the
south-cast of Europe.
that meeting
As
listened to the speeches at
my memory
deliver
carried
me back
I
to distant
days when, as a very
young man,
his
had heard John
Henry Newman
Eastern Question.
of the
told
is
famous lectures on the

just before the outbreak
That was
Crimean War, and what
Newman
told
us,
and
us vainly would be the only outcome of the war,
accepted
now
as gospel truth
by every party and
3oo
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
in
by every public man

thrilling sentence
in
England.
remember one
which
Newman
declared that the

in
Turk had
just as
much
right to his
dominion
sails
Europe
as the pirate has to the sea
which he
over and
ravages.
Mr. Gladstone issued his famous pamphlet called

"
Bulgarian
In
the
Horrors and the Question of the
East."
pamphlet he declared that the only way to

to turn the
secure any lasting good for the Christian population of
bag and The words were seized upon by some of baggage." Mr. Gladstone's political opponents. These persons
officials
Turkey was
Turkish
out
"
professed or pretended to believe that Mr. Gladstone
was
calling out for the actual physical expulsion
of
all
the Turks, men,
women, and
children, out of
in
Europe
and the admission of Russians
their
stead.
What
clear.
Mr. Gladstone meant was, of course, obvious and
He meant
that the Turkish

to
Government
in
as
a govern-
ment should cease

to that in the end.
reign
Europe.
It will
come
It will
have to come to that before
very long.
the
battle
If Mr. Gladstone
in
had been
to the front of
in
1895 and
1896, as he was
1876,
civilisation
probably would not have been horrified and
disgraced by the prolonged massacres of Christians in
Armenia.
In
1876, however, Mr. Gladstone's movesuccessful.

It
ment was completely

up of Bulgaria
as
hurrying over familiar historical details
ended
am
in the setting
a practically independent province
ACHILLES RECALLED
under the nominal
suzerainty of the Sultan.
It
is
now
a well-ordered
and a prosperous
bring
state.
Many
inde-
events
conspired
I
to
about
its
practical
pendence, but
know
of no influence which
the
position
had a
greater power that
way than
as the
taken up
in
by Mr. Gladstone
England.
Mr.
Disraeli
leader of the
agitation
soon
after
passed
through
to
the
House of Lords.
Mr. Gladstone was compelled by
the force of events to resume his position as leader of
the Liberal party.
He was
compelled indeed to do
more than
fast
that.
The Conservative Government was

Mr. Gladstone again and again
breaking down.
challenged the Tories,
who had had
six years of office,
to appeal to the country
by a dissolution and a general

certain whether the constitu-
election
and thus make
it
encies were or were not in favour of their policy.
The
Tories
knew
that
general election must
come on
within another twelve
months
took heart of grace and

Parliament.
in any case. So they announced a dissolution of
The
result
of the
general election
was
that the Conservatives were for the time utterly over-
thrown.
It
They were
routed, horse, foot,
and
artillery.
was a complete catastrophe.

it
When
the votes at
the elections were counted up
was found that the
Tory party was nowhere. The Liberals came back No Liberal stateswith a majority of more than 120.
men up
to that
time had seen themselves backed up
302
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
following.
by so splendid a
of
official
There was a
moment
to
delay, of unavoidable
hesitation, of formal
anxiety and suspense.
For
whom was
the
Queen
send
On whom was
she to impose the task and the
responsibility of forming a
new administration
official sense,
Mr.
Gladstone was merely,

Liberal
in
the
an ordinary
member
of the
House of Commons.
Lord
Hartington was the leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons and Lord Granville was the leader
in the
House of Lords.
The Queen
sent in the
first
instance for Lord Granville and afterwards for Lord
Hartington.
But, of course, Lord Granville and

perfectly well
Lord
Hartington knew
that neither of
them
if
had led the Liberal party to
victory.
One name,
we may
so put
it,
came out of the
Liberal polling-
booth, and that was the
name
of Mr. Gladstone.
Lord
Granville and Lord Hartington alike declared that on
Mr. Gladstone's shoulders alone could rest the responsibility of
forming a new administration.
"
They both
"
assured the Queen," says
Mr. George Russell,
that
the victory was Mr. Gladstone's, that the Liberal party
would be
satisfied
with no other leader, and that he
was the inevitable Prime Minister.
They
returned to
London
in
in the afternoon
and called on Mr. Gladstone

expecting them and the
Harley
Street.
He was
message which they brought, and he went down to
Windsor without a moment's

kissed
delay. to
That evening he
hands
and
returned
London
as
Prime
ACHILLES RECALLED
Minister for the second time.
303
Truly his enemies had

Mr.
Disraeli's
been
made
his
footstool."
Disraeli's
Eastern
policy and Mr.
speeches on the Bulgarian
question had forced
Mr. Gladstone to the front and
made him Prime
Minister once again.
CHAPTER
THE TWO SPHINXES
XXVIII
IRELAND AND EGYPT
Mr. GLADSTONE, however, had troubles enough before him to embarrass the work of any ordinary man. He
had
no
longer Mr.
Disraeli
to oppose him, but his
to take
natural impulses compelled
him
up a course of
action which was attended

for the for
time at
least.
He
by difficulties insuperable had now become member

Mr. Gladstone,
in his
Midlothian
in
Scotland.
new
Administration, took upon himself the double functions

of Prime Minister and Chancellor of the. Exchequer.
I
need
tion,
go through the list of the Administrabut shall merely mention that Mr. Bright, Mr.
not
Sir
Chamberlain, and
Charles Dilke
to
accepted
office.
The Ministry seemed

strong,
every observer
and the majority at Yet it must be owned that the years overwhelming. of this Government ended for the most part in disappointment and
in disaster.
immensely Mr. Gladstone's back was
Why
He
was
this
It
was
simply because Mr. Gladstone was Mr. Gladstone and

could not be anybody
else.
could not be Lord
THE TWO SPHINXES IRELAND AND EGYPT

Melbourne,
"
305
for
example,
whose
"
single
appeal
was,
He could not be Why can't you let things alone ? Lord Palmerston, who was perfectly content so long as
the
he could humour and propitiate and cajole the majority

in
House of Commons.
He
could not even be
Lord John
earnestness
Russell, who, although a
man
of a zeal and
much more
"
like to his
own, could never"
theless express
sometimes
his willingness to
rest
and
Mr.
be thankful
for
what had already been gained.

in his
Gladstone was, but only

like
own
high, unselfish way,
Johnson's Charles of Sweden,
gained while aught remained to

the head of a
into a place
trying, at
who thought nothing be done. To become

him only
to
Government was
for
be put
where he must at once occupy himself in any trouble and any pain, to improve the
condition of his fellow-subjects.
So the moment he
his
was
settled into office he
began to turn
thoughts to
new and
great measures of reform.
Many
events had directed his attention to the con-
dition of Ireland.
The
state of the Irish tenant-farmer
appeared to him to
call for
immediate remedy.
Bill for Ireland
bill
have
already spoken of the
Land
which he
carried through in 1870.
That
it
had established a
great principle
well
by making
certain that the tenant as
as
the
landlord
which the tenant's
owned something in the land own labour had converted from a

farm.
swamp
into
productive
The Land
Bill
of
1870 was, however, only an experiment, and

20
Mr.
306
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
it
Gladstone determined to advance upon

it.
and improve
Against him he had, of course,
in
such an attempt,
the whole strength of the landlord party in Ireland,

the whole strength of the
Tory landlords
that
in
England,
interests
who most mistakenly imagined

the whole strength of the
their
were bound up with those of Irish landlordism, and
House of Lords.
Mr. Glad-
stone consented, as a temporary measure, to the intro-
duction of a
bill
which, pending expected legislation,

to
should
in
the
meantime secure
any evicted
Irish
tenant compensation for any improvements effected in

his
farm by his own industry and his own

bill.
skill.
The
upon
House of Lords threw out the

Ireland was disastrous.
The
effect
The
Irish
peasant could not

all
be supposed to study and to understand

stitutional
difficulties
the con-
that
stood
in
the
way
of
Mr.
Gladstone's scheme of reform-.

that the
House of Lords
to
What
House
they saw was

of landlords
the
was able
control Mr. Gladstone, and that there

I
was
no hope from English statesmanship.

to
do not want
go minutely into the history of that most melanbut something has to be said about it choly time
;
in
order to
life.
tell
aright
the
story
of Mr.
Gladstone's
political
The
Irish
peasant
classes
were
in
despair.
Agrarian outrage became frequent

it
in Ireland,
and Mr. Gladstone's Government believed

to adopt
necessary
thing
legis-
new
coercive legislation.
circle
The whole
again.
had got into the old vicious
The

lative
307
refusal
of the
tenants'
rights
caused agrarian
disturbance, agrarian disturbance gave an occasion for

coercion, further coercion led only to
new
disturbance,
in
and so on da
remember speaking House of Commons some time during the

capo.
I
the
earlier
period of Mr. Gladstone's administration, and declaring
my
conviction that the action of the
House of Lords
in rejecting
the Compensation for Disturbance Bill was

all
the fountain and origin of
the agrarian trouble then
going on
Gladstone,
in
Ireland.
shall
never forget
bench,
how Mr.
leaning
seated
on
the
Treasury
"
!
across the table, with flashing eyes

called
"
and earnest gestures,

to
Hear
Hear
Hear
my
declaration.
at
Mr. Gladstone was between two terrible

the time, the difficulty with the
difficulties
House
of Lords and
the difficulty with the Irish people.

tion
for
The Compensaa
Disturbance
It
Bill
was
purely
temporary
measure.
merely required that the evicting landlord
should stay his hand until a complete measure of land
reform had been introduced, or should compensate the

evicted tenant for the improvements which that tenant
himself had
made
in
the landlord's property.
It
may
in
be asked
why
did
not the
Irish
peasantry wait
patience until the
full
measure of land reform had been
prepared and introduced.

very intelligent peasantry.
The
Irish
peasantry are a
that the
They saw
House
of Lords had strength enough to reject Mr. Gladstone's small and
temporary measure, and they asked what
3o8
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
for
chance was there
the
passing of his scheme of
permanent land reform.

tenant-farmer said to
stone
;
me
Over and over again has a We don't blame Mr. Glad-
but
will
Lords
we know only too well that the House of never let him do anything for the good of
in the
Ireland.
So there grew up
minds and hearts of
the Irish people a feeling of utter disbelief that any-
thing good could ever
come
for
them out of even the

Agrarian out-
best-intentioned English statesmanship.
rages are, under such conditions, the natural, the inevitable result of popular despair.
In the
meantime a new
state of things
had
arisen in
Irish politics.
The Home Rule movement had taken

and even an aggressive form.
It
a fresh, an energetic,
by a man of genius, the greatest Irish leader who had ever been known since the time of
was now
led
Daniel O'Connell.
Mr. Parnell was then a very young
man, but he had made himself thoroughly master of

the situation both in England and in Ireland.
He had
power of
an
absolute
and
unlimited
belief
in
the
constitutional agitation in a constitutional country.
At
no time from
countenance
to
first
to last did he
give
the
slightest
made up
his
any acts of violence. But he had mind to use the House of Commons as
of
Irish
the platform
agitation,
and to unite
Home
in the
full
Rule and Land Reform as inseparable elements
new campaign.
His
policy
was to
insist
on a
hearing for these great Irish questions in the House of
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE IN lS8o.

Painted for Christ Church, Oxford, by
IV. B.
Richmond, R.A.
Photographed by Mr. Watmough Webster of Chester.

Commons,
and, furthermore
309
and
to
secret of his success
herein lay the great

that
if
to
insist
the
House of
of
all.
Commons would
grievances,
it
not
listen
the
story
at
Irish
should
do no
business
This
was the whole purpose of obstruction as Mr. Parnell He was confident that meant it and planned it.
if
we but got
fair
hearing
we should make good

"
the justice of our national claims, and his policy was to
say to the House of Commons,

to us, then
If
you
to
will
not listen
else."
neither shall
you
listen
any one
The
vigorous assertion of such a policy put, of course,
a great difficulty in Mr. Gladstone's way, and at this time
Mr. Gladstone was only beginning to study the whole

question of
Home
Rule
for Ireland.
felt
But
know
that
even then Mr. Gladstone

Mr. Parnell's
for his
a certain
sympathy with
motives
and a considerable admiration
courage and his capacity.
The two
for the
forces,
however, were certain to come

later.
into collision
be,
sooner or
time,
The
Irish
people
began to
They had regarded him as the one statesman who was destined to do
disappointed with Mr. Gladstone.
justice to their cause.
bills
and the
They found only new coercion Mr. supremacy of the House of Lords.
I
Gladstone, on the other hand, was,
suppose, someIrish
what disappointed with the representatives of the

people. trusted
Perhaps he thought
that
they might have

less
him more and waited with
impatience for
favourable opportunities.
They, on
their part,
found
310
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
country drifting
into
total
their
disorganisation, and
saw no way of putting heart

preventing
letting
into the people
and of
the
spread
of
further
outrage
than
by
Ireland see that she had a band of
men who
could
stand
Commons
up for her claims in the House of and who could, on her behalf, resist in
fashion the authority and the
constitutional
power of
any English Government.
Thus
and
Mr.
after a while
things got from bad to worse,
Gladstone was
persuaded by some of his

the
introduction and
official
colleagues into allowing
passing of a measure
Dublin Castle to arrest
empowering the authorities in and imprison for an indefinite
time any one they pleased and
whom
trial
they believed to
purposes.
be
"
"
reasonably
suspected
of
dangerous
No
charge was necessary, no

;
or conviction was
"
necessary
intention
the
to
man was
"
reasonably suspected
of an
do something or other making for disturbance and he was forthwith locked up in prison.
Mr. Parnell himself, Mr. Dillon, Mr. Sexton, and nearly
all
the leaders of the Irish National

cells.
movement were
all
put into prison
In every town and village
over Ireland the principal promoters of the National
movement were locked up
in
jail.
Mr. Gladstone's
heart had never been in this business.
He had
only
accepted such a policy because his advisers
in the Irish
Government
exceptional
told
him
that
unless
armed with such
powers they could not undertake to be

responsible
for
311
the
maintenance of order
in
Ireland.
let
Mr.
this
Gladstone therefore consented reluctantly to
new development
of coercion go on for the present.

else
;
Probably he could have done nothing

on the spot and
conditions
act
man
not
not personally acquainted with the
of
Ireland
could
Irish
hardly have
refused
to
on the advice of the
Government.
But
am
say
in
not speaking lightly or without knowledge

that Mr. Gladstone himself never had
when
much
faith
the efficacy of such a coercion measure as that which
was now administered
in
Ireland.
We
all
remember
to
Burke's famous saying that he did not
know how
draw up an indictment against a whole nation. More it a must be to whole nation difficult, assuredly, put
into
jail.
The
authorities in Dublin Castle did not put
into jail just the very set of
men whom
it
would have
incarcerate.
been
for
the
welfare
of
the
like
country to
They
put into prison

all
men
Mr. Parnell, Mr. Dillon,

private
Mr. Sexton, and

characters and
manner of other men whose

alike
whose public conduct
showed them
to be incapable of
of any kind,
any sympathy with crime or outrage and they left out of prison the murderous
Dublin Castle.
In
gang who were even then planning the assassination of

certain
obnoxious
officials
in
the
meantime Mr. Gladstone thought it right Parnell and most of his friends from
resolve led to the
to release Mr.
prison.
This
resignation of the late Mr. Forster,
who was
then Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant
312
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
who was
the principal author of the
of Ireland and
new
coercion scheme.
Mr. Forster had gone over to Ireland

the
the
animated with
kindness toward
purest
Irish
and
sincerest
feelings
of
people.
He
had, indeed,
proved that kindness
many
years before by his personal
exertions in Ireland to relieve distress at the time of

the great Irish famine.
will
and
at
But he was a man of a strong the same time of a sensitive nature. He

his
appears to
reason to
have got into
mind
that, as Ireland
had
know him
for
her friend, she ought to have

his
been content to receive any measures from

because of his good intentions.
hand
Populations, however,
do not do things
in
that way, and the Irish
people
declined to keep quiet under the imprisonment of their

leaders and of nearly
in
all
the representative Nationalists
the country.
the Irish people,
So Mr. Forster became angry with and the Irish people became angry
in
with Mr. Forster, and when Mr. Gladstone insisted on

releasing
Mr.
Parnell,
consequence of what
"
"
Mr.
Forster declared to be a private
treaty
with Parnell,
it
Mr.
Forster
threw
up
his
office.
Then
soon
became apparent
men
at
all
had imprisoned the wrong events that he had certainly not imthat he
prisoned the right men.

I
The
assassin
gang of
whom
in
have spoken, and who several times tried without

Mr. Forster
himself, succeeded
success to murder
murdering
the
Chief
Secretary,
Lord
Frederick
Cavendish, and
Mr.
Thomas
Burke, a Dublin Castle

From
a Photograph by
88
1.
Mr. Lyddell Sawyer of London.

official, in
313
the Phoenix Park.
No
crime more shocking
has startled the public conscience of our day.

outcry was raised
in
wild
England by many people against
Mr. Parnell and his followers,
who were openly accused way

in
of having had something to do with the instigation of the

least
murders.
Mr. Gladstone never gave
the
before this outcry or changed the course of his

policy.
pacific
Mr. Parnell wrote to him a frank and

if
friendly letter, offering,

retire
Mr. Gladstone wished

life
it,
to
from
that
Parliament and public

Mr.
in
altogether in
order
Gladstone's
policy
should
not
be
endangered
England by association with so un-
popular a name.
to
Of
course Mr. Gladstone declined
accept
such a
sacrifice,
Parnell to stick to his
and strongly advised Mr. The post, which Parnell did.
men who
one of
plotted the Phoenix Park murders had for
their motives the desire to bring discredit
upon
the
every constitutional
movement.
opposite
of
One
that
effect
of
crime
was
I
just
the
which
they
intended.
date the beginning of a really friendly
understanding
between Mr. Gladstone
and the
Irish
National party, between the Irish National party and

the English democracy, from the time
when
it
became
apparent that the leaders of popular opinion in Ireland

regarded the criminal and the murderer as the worst
enemies of the National cause.

that the
It is
but justice to say
English people generally displayed thorough

crisis.
good sense and manliness throughout the whole
314
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
in
Not one
every ten believed for a
moment
that Mr.
Parnell and the Irish National party had

of
any manner
those,
sympathy with
crime.
Even among
the
minority,
who
did proclaim such belief, there
came a
sort of reaction.
Something, however, had to be done

like
to prevent the possibility of further crimes
those
of
the
Phcenix
indeed
Park.
new
coercion
measure,
Irish
rigorous
and
bitterly
resented
by the
representatives, but
still
directed against a
for
movement
of
of
crime
and
not
meant
the
incarceration
everybody without
trial,
or even without charge,
was
pushed through both Houses of Parliament.
meantime got into trouble about their occupation of Egypt. There was" an uprising in Egypt against the Khedive under the
Liberal
in
The
Government
the
leadership
of Arabi
Pasha.
The
English
Govern-
ment took the

fleet
side of the
Khedive, and the English

Mr. Bright resigned
office
in
bombarded Alexandria.
rather than have anything to do with a
war policy
Egypt.
Mr. George Russell says with truth that the

"
great majority of Liberals accepted with reluctance, but
without resistance, a
line of action
which wore
an un-
pleasant and close resemblance to the antics of Lord

Beaconsfield."
Indeed,
the
main
weakness
of
Mr.
Gladstone's position was in the fact that he had ac-
cepted a responsibility in Egypt which he would never
have created
for
himself.
He had
to accept
it
he
could not help himself.
great statesman, to
whom

the country looks for the carrying of
315
many
reforms,
is
not
free
to
refuse
to
take office
and endeavour to
he has at
the
realise
those reforms merely because

to
same time
inherit
some
responsibility for a policy

initiate.
which he did not himself
But the trouble
came
upon Mr. Gladstone inasmuch as he could have had no heart for the task which was
all
the heavier
imposed upon him by the Egyptian policy of

decessors.
stone's
his pre-
The
trial,
too,
came hard upon Mr. GladNothing, says

in
most
but
devoted
absolute
followers.
Mr.
Russell,
political
confidence
tried
Mr. Gladstone's
rectitude
and
love of peace could have
secured even this qualified and negative sanction from

his
party.
The
heroic career and striking personality
of General
tion
Gordon had fascinated the public imaginathe
and
circumstances
of
his
untimely
death
awoke an outburst of indignation against those who In truth, the were or seemed to be responsible for it.
Government
in
England
is
held responsible for every-
thing that happens during

laid
it
its
time of
office.
Disraeli
down
as a
law that no Administration could
possibly
survive
three
bad harvests.
The Coercion
in Ireit
Acts told against Mr. Gladstone's Government

land, the crimes in the Phoenix
Park told against
in
England, the Egyptian policy and the bombardment

of
Alexandria
weakened
Gladstone's
influence
with
English
Liberals,
and the death of General Gordon

the
roused against him
anger of the person
who
is
316
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
described, and not ineffectively described, as
in
commonly
"
the
man
the street."
The man
in
the street, of
for
course,
held
Mr.
Gladstone responsible
Gordon's
re-
death, Mr.
Gladstone being just about as much

for
it
sponsible
as
the
man
in
?
the
street
himself.
Why
in
did he not rescue Gordon
demanded
the
man
the street.
Why
in
did not the rescuing expedition
reach
Khartoum
time
The
question of distance
and
in
difficulty never troubled the
the
street.
His
judgment of the man idea probably was that it was
about as easy to send an expedition to Khartoum as

to send troops to
Chatham.
The man
in
the street,
however, had, as he always has, a

the direction of public opinion.
in
good deal to do with

Decidedly the events
Egypt
told
heavily against
the
popularity of Mr.
I
Gladstone's Administration.
So keen and,
may
say,
it
so cruel were Mr. Gladstone's political enemies that
was made a charge against him that he was seen
in a
London
theatre
applauding
with
evident
delight
popular comedy on the very evening when he must
have known of Gordon's death.
The
fact
was that
when Mr. Gladstone
visited
the
theatre
no account
whatever of Gordon's wholly unexpected death had

reached London.
cause
it
The
story
is
only worth telling be-
illustrates
the kind of ignoble and credulous

still stir
rancour which political animosity can
up
in the
minds of otherwise
men.
intelligent
and honourable English-
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE AND HIS GRANDSON IN l88l.

From
a Photograph by
Mr. Fall of London.

The Egyptian
difficulty
317
was not the only foreign trouble which Mr. Gladstone inherited from his predecessors.
The war with
the Boers broke out.
The
English Government seems to have been deceived into

the belief
that
the
Transvaal
Republic had become
anxious
to be taken
"
under the direct protection of
England.
of
Sir Theophilus Shepstone," says the author
England under
Gladstone,
to investigate the situation.
1880-1885, "was sent out He seems to have entirely

of a
misunderstood the condition of things, and to have

taken
the
frightened
desires
few Boers as the

In an evil
honest sentiment of the whole Boer nation.
hour he hoisted the English

declared the
little
flag in the
Transvaal and
republic a portion of the territory of
the British Crown.
As
a matter of
fact,
the majority
of the Boers were a
fierce,
independent people, very
jealous of their liberty, and without the least desire to
come under
the rule, to escape which they had wandered
so far from the earliest settlements of their race."
Mr.
Gladstone again and again denounced the Conservative

policy which had brought about the temporary annexation of the Transvaal.
The people
of the Transvaal
soon proved that they were not anxious to be under

the government of England.
it
They
revolt,
rose in revolt,
if
ought to be properly called
and they defeated

Mr. Gladstone had
the English troops

in
more than
once.
the
meantime succeeded
to power.
Many
English-
men, and even some of those who generally supported
318
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Mr. Gladstone, were strongly of opinion that we ought

not to
flicted
come
to
terms with the Boers until we had

defeat.
in-
on them some crushing
Mr. Gladstone
was not of that opinion.

in
He
thought we were wrong
annexing the Transvaal Republic, and he could not believe, as a statesman and a Christian, that we ought
not to
their
make peace with
the Boers and give them back
Republic without
first
massacring enough of them
to satisfy our heroic sense of honour.
Nobody doubts
that
England could have conquered the Boers, could

of
the
see
have sent out troops enough to extirpate the whole
male
population
did
Transvaal
honour, or
Republic.
credit,
Mr.
glory,
Gladstone
not
or
or Christianity in
any such performance.
He
sent out
one of the bravest soldiers and one of the most successful

generals in the English service, Sir Evelyn
the express purpose of
Wood, with
fair
coming
to honourable terms of
peace with the Boers.
Peace was established on
and honourable conditions. was
The Transvaal Republic

High and national
restored, with a British Protectorate against foreign
nations and foreign invasion, and with a British
Commission, but
with the entire
local
self-government for which the Boers, to do them justice,
had fought so well. Mr. Gladstone, of course, was denounced by all the Jingoes of England. They raged against him because he had allowed the curtain of this
drama
to
fall
upon what they
called
the triumph of
the Boers.
Mr. Gladstone went on his course unheed-
CO CO
W P
9 $
g &
x X
x
^<
-J

ing.
319
He had
it.
asked of his own mind and heart and
conscience what was the right thing to do and he had
done
in
It
was a brave
act.
But
it
was an act only
keeping with the whole of Mr. Gladstone's career.
The one
this
great domestic work of the Administration

Bill,
time was the passing of the Franchise

just
which
was a
and necessary sequel
to the successive ex-
tensions of the voting
power among the people.

in
This
measure was worked to a certain extent

with
the
conjunction
re-
Tory
party.
It
became a measure of
suffrage.
distribution as well as of
extended
In other
words,
recast.
the
whole
scheme of the constituencies was
Many
small boroughs, miserably small boroughs,
ceased to have separate representation in
Parliament
and became merged
into the population of the counties.
Large counties were distributed into several divisions. The measure was carried in the manner to which I
have
already
alluded
by the co-operation
of
both
parties, a
mode
of procedure which might well be com-
mended
in
almost every case where the two parties are

Mr.
agreed as to the general necessity of a measure.

Gladstone,
went
into a kind
Lord Hartington, and Sir Charles Dilke of joint committee with Lord Salislate
bury and the

details of the
Sir
Stafford
Northcote,
and
the
scheme were
easily arranged.
The work
of the
House of Commons was never more trying than

Parliament.
during this particular

clever sketch
Mr. Lucy,
in
I
his
of Mr.
Gladstone, from
which
have
32o
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
"
already quoted more than once, says that

paratively
for
com-
young men on the Treasury bench the

Mr. Gladstone, with his
his
physical ordeal was trying.
threescore
years
and ten upon
back, bore
more
in his
than his
full
burden of the day's work.

late, his
He was
'
place early and
so-called
'
dinner-hour
It
some-
times
not exceeding thirty minutes.

thing to find
was no un-
common
him
at his post
between two and
three in the
morning
after a turbulent night."
Then
Mr. Lucy
of
tells
us that toward the close of the session
1884, Mr. Gladstone broke down.
"The
illness,
which took the form of fever with congestion of the
was serious enough to alarm the nation profoundly. Downing Street was crowded with anxious
lung,
callers."
Mr. Gladstone, however, triumphed over
all
physical troubles.
His
friend, Sir
Donald
Currie, took
him
for a trip
round the coasts
in the
steamer Grantully
and open air were always Mr. Gladstone's best medicine, and he soon came back prepared to carry on the work of the session
Castle.
Sea and meadow and
forest
with renewed energy.
But
it
began to be gradually
more and more evident that the Administration had

spent
its
force.
Defeat came suddenly and

in
almost
unexpectedly on a clause
the Government's annual
The House immediately adjourned, financial scheme. and next day Mr. Gladstone announced, not in so
many
in
words, but in the peculiar phraseology adopted

life,
English Parliamentary
that the
Government had

resigned
"
office.
321
The words he
actually
used were,
consequence of a decision arrived at by the House, the Government had thought fit to submit a
That,
in
dutiful
communication to Her Majesty."
Of
course
everybody perfectly well understood the meaning of that. The Liberals were out of office once more. They had
fallen
victims partly to the inherited
policy of their
predecessors and partly to their conscientious desire to
do justice to the people of Ireland, and yet their inwhich could ability to see their way to any course
really satisfy
far
in
the
people of Ireland.
all
They went
so
one direction as to infuriate
the Tories and
to discourage
and alienate many feeble Liberals.

in that
But
satisfy
they did not go far enough

Ireland.
direction
to
Lord Salisbury was invited to form an Administration, and after some hesitation, caused by the difficulties
of the time, he had to consent to do
so.
Lord Ran-
dolph Churchill joined the new Ministry as Secretary The Administration did not last of State for India.
loncf.
On
the
8th of
November Parliament was
dis-
solved,
and the question then which everybody asked

else
everybody
was,
?
general elections
What is to be the result of the The vote at these elections was to

new Reform
Bill
be taken under the conditions of the
which Mr. Gladstone had so

result of the
lately introduced.
The
elections
was
to
give the Tories only a
nominal majority, and even that majority depended

21
322
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Lord
altogether on the support of the Irish members.
Salisbury had to go out of office after a very short and
uncomfortable interval, and Mr. Gladstone returned to

In the meantime the question of power once more. Home Rule came up again. An anonymous paragraph appeared in the newspapers announcing, on no particular
authority,
that Mr. Gladstone had
come back
to
office
determined to deal liberally with the question of

Rule.
Home
among
stone's
The paragraph
created
consternation
of Mr. Glad-
the Tories and even
among many
denial
office.
met with a prompt followers. It was own colleagues in of Mr. Gladstone's some by
Mr. Gladstone himself preserved for a while an
silence.
own
ominous
CHAPTER XXIX
HOME RULE
Mr. Gladstone's
talk about the
political
opponents have made much

his
suddenness of
is
conversion to
Home
to
Rule.
The imputation
that he
became a convert
the principle of
Home
Rule at the moment when he
found that Irish Nationalist members were returned to

Parliament
balance
parties,
in
numbers
strong
power between the Liberals and the Tories.

of
enough to hold the the two great English

I
think
shall
be able to show that the conversion was by no means

rapid
;
that
it
it
was, on
the contrary, of slow growth,
and that
the Irish
was not occasioned by the mere fact that Nationalist members were strong enough to
of
make themselves
cither
first
account
as
to
the
government of
I
party.
So long ago
1879, shortly after
became a
member
of the
House of Commons,
of
Mr. Gladstone showed himself inclined, not indeed to

favour, but to consider, the
question
Home
Rule.
Through a
the
editor
friend of his
and of mine, Mr. James Knowlcs,

Century,
of the
Nineteenth
Mr. Gladstone
324
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
I
suggested that
should write one or two articles for
the Nineteenth Century on the subject of
Home
Rule.
As
understood the matter at the time, Mr. Gladstone

in
did not give the slightest indication that he was

favour of the
principle
of
Home
Rule,
but was
of
opinion that the hour had
come when
fair
statement
of the whole subject ought to be brought under the

notice of the English public.
I
have no doubt that

as the writer of the to that
I
Mr. Gladstone suggested

articles
for
my name
I
the reason that
was well known
English public as a writer of books, and that while
was, and always had been, a strong Nationalist in Irish

politics,
I
should not be regarded by any one as a
man
madly anxious to injure the British Empire.

were two points, as
I
There
then understood, on which Mr.
Gladstone desired that information should be given to

himself and to the public of England.
question whether a scheme
of
One was
the
Home
Rule could be
shaped which could give Ireland the management of

her domestic affairs without disturbing the balance of
Imperial control.
The
other question was whether the
great majority of the Irish people were really anxious

for the restoration of a
It
National Parliament.
has to be remembered that at this time the Irish
Nationalist
members, properly so
called,
were but a
small minority of the Irish representation in the

of
House
Commons.
Those were
still
the days of the high
franchise in Ireland as well as in
England
only
that
HOME RULE
the franchise
325
was
in
relatively
much
higher
in
Ireland
than
the
it
was
England.
Therefore the majority of
Irish
representatives were of the landlord class or

class.
I
of the
gested,
moneyed
and
I
wrote the articles as sug-
do
on
not
the
suppose
British
they
public.
wrought any
particular
effect
The only
possible
or for
interest
they can have

in
now
for
my
to
readers,
myself, lies
the
at
fact
that they show Mr.
Gladstone's
fairly
willingness
that
time
consider
the
question of
Home
the
Rule and to have that

notice
question
people.
brought
under
of
the
English
Years went on, and meantime Mr. Gladstone

Irish
and the
apart.
Nationalist
members had
drifted
much
Government was trying once again to keep Ireland quiet by means of Coercion An English Liberal Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Acts.
The English
Liberal
had declared
publicly
in
the
all
House of Lords
events
that
dis-
something was gained at

content beneath the surface
as that of one
by driving
a statement about as wild
who should say

that time
I
that
something was
drains.
gained
by stopping the smell of
pestilential
Somewhere about
Gladstone,
division
votes.
happened
to
meet Mr.
we were passing through one of the lobbies of the House of Commons to give our
as
He
touched
conversation with
me on the arm and drew me into He said to me, in somewhat him.
emphatic tone, that he could not understand why a mere handful of Irish members, such as my immediate
326
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
colleagues were, should call themselves par excellence
the
Irish
Nationalist
Irish
party,
while
much
just
Irish
larger as
number of
representatives,
elected
we
were, kept always assuring
him that the
people
had no manner of sympathy with us or with our Home " Rule scheme. How am I to know ? " he asked me.
"
These men
"
far
outnumber you and your

fairly
friends,
I
and
they are just as

him,
elected as
you
are."
said to
in
Mr. Gladstone, give us a popular franchise
Ireland and
we
shall
soon
let
represent the Irish people or whether

"
you know whether we we do not." He

I
replied,
You know
very well that

"
have always been
anxious to give a popular suffrage to Ireland as well

as to England."
I I
said to him,
Yes,
know
all
that
thoroughly appreciate your purpose
but when you
can give us that popular suffrage you
will
soon
know
Time
what are the opinions of the went on, and Mr. Gladstone
measure, which
suffrage
I
Irish
people."
in
carried,
1884, his
have just described, reforming the

seats in
and redistributing the
Great Britain
and
in Ireland.
The
effect of this
change was to make
the franchise in both countries something approaching
very nearly indeed to
manhood
the
suffrage.
total
In Ireland
the immediate result was
disappearance of
Rule, except for
every representative opposed to

a few Tories in
Home
who
Ulster and elsewhere, and the repreare elected
sentatives of Dublin University
by a
of
purely collegiate vote.
The whole
representation
HOME RULE
Home
3V
Ireland was one hundred and three members, and out

of that the
Rule party returned eighty-three.

From a Photograph
by
IN
1884.
Mr. John Moffat.
had some opportunity of talking to Mr. Gladstone,
after the general election
which made
this
change, and
he told
me
frankly that his question was answered so
328
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
as the national
far
desire
tell
of Ireland was concerned.
Of
course he did not
me whether
in
I
or
how
of
far his
mind was working round

Rule.
I I
the
direction
Home
did not ask him.
had no need
under
to ask him.
knew
that the subject had been

I felt
his considera-
tion for several years.
assured that he had been

result of the
fact, at all
I
thinking
it
carefully over,
and that the
general elections had convinced him of one
events, about which he had been doubtful before.
knew
that deep in his
mind
is
for
many
years had lain
a conviction that there
such a thing as nationality,

of a cluster of nationalities
and that a
state
made up
its
can only exist
in
strength by consulting the wishes of
each of these as to
did
in
domestic
affairs.
It
therefore
not
come on me
it
as the slightest surprise when,
1885,
began to be publicly said that Mr. Glad-
stone was a convert to the cause of

political
Home
Rule.
His
opponents, and, indeed, some of his political
supporters at that time, went about expressing in open-
mouthed wonder
his conversion.
it.
their opinions as to the
suddenness of
To me
there was nothing sudden about
and casual experience I had known that the conviction was slowly growing up
in
Even
my own
limited
in
the
mind of the great statesman.
am
I
not
now
discussing the merits of

will settle
itself
Home
later.
Rule.
That question
sooner or
What
readers
am
anxious
there
is
to
do
is
to
impress upon
my
that
absolutely no truth in the story that Mr. Gladstone,
WILLIAM LWART GLADSTONE

J'rom Painting by Sir John Everett Millais, P.R.A.
IN*
88 5.
Now
at Christ Church, Oxford.
HOME RULE
having always been a convinced opponent of
Rule,
3=9
Home
came round
to the
principle
all
in
a flash the
moment
enough
parties.
the Irish Nationalist

to
I
members became strong

between
I
hold
the
balance
rival
English
think even the facts that

settle
have mentioned
for
ought to be enough to
impartial mind.
that
question
any
In his action toward

in
Home
Rule Mr.
Gladstone was perfectly consistent

the word. did not
the true sense of
He had
learned something to-day which he

felt
know
yesterday, and he
bound
to act
upon
was
the knowledge.
Unless
it
is
inconsistent for a states-
man
to
admit
the value
of
new
information,
it
not inconsistent on Mr. Gladstone's part to admit that,
when opportunity was

proved themselves
in
given,
the
Irish
people
Rule, and
it.
had
to
favour of
Home
take account of the information and act upon

far
So
in
back as 1874 Mr. Gladstone had publicly said
the
House of Commons
that
if
it
could be proved that
there was on the part of Great Britain and of Ireland
any
a
desire to form a
scheme which should give Ireland
Parliament of her
own and
relieve
the
Imperial
Irish
Parliament from the necessity of looking after
domestic
affairs,
he did not think
much
of the statessuit
manship which could not shape a plan to

purpose.
1
such a
le said that
he did not himself see his way,
on the spur of the moment, to form such a plan, but he could not believe that the intellect of Parliament
could
fail
to
devise
it.
As
he
explained
then,
his
33o
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
was not so much about the forming of the what I may call the previous question
difficulty
plan as about
the question whether Ireland really desired a national
Parliament and whether Great Britain would be willing

to yield to such
a desire.
Later
still,
Mr. Gladstone
made another admission which showed, even more

clearly, that
if
Ireland were strong and united in her of her
claim for the
management
I
own domestic
affairs,
such a wish ought to be taken into account by the

Imperial
Parliament.
remember
seized
well that
at
the
time
this
admission
as
to
was
upon
by several
Gladstone
Rule.
in
London papers
point of
an
evidence that Mr.

cause
of
was coming over

fact,
the
Home
more
In
he had done
nothing
either
case than to admit that under certain conditions, which conditions
he did not believe to

for
exist,
it
might be
necessary
in
I
statesmanship to open
new chapter
the
relations
between Great Britain and Ireland.
am
fully
convinced that at that time Mr. Gladstone
did not believe that
Home
Rule was really called
for
by the people of Ireland and was of opinion that the agitation for it was purely factitious and would be
transitory.
When
it
became known
that
his
mind
was made up in favour of Home Rule the amazement of some of his own followers knew no bounds. Then,
and
for
long
after,
the great complaint
made
against
in
him by some of his colleagues, in office and position, was that he had not consulted them.
op-
That

From Painting
by
887.
Frank Iloll, R.A.
HOME RULE
331
was a grievance urged especially by Mr. Chamberlain, and which appears to have rankled in his mind.
I
believe the
first
colleague consulted was Mr. John
Morley,
who immediately
office
is
afterward was put by Mr.

of Chief Secretary
to
Gladstone into the
the
Lord Lieutenant, that

Ireland,
to say, of Chief Secretary for
and
to
whom
therefore Mr.
Gladstone would
naturally turn with a communication of such nature.

I
have already said
that
the
news,
when
it
came
distinctly out,
I
brought to
me no manner
for
of surprise.
had had reason to believe
many
years that Mr.
Gladstone's convictions were growing more toward a

belief in the
rightfulness
and even the necessity of a

I
scheme of domestic self-government for Ireland. had seen how, year by year, Mr. Gladstone's faith
coercive measures had been falling away.
I
in
had seen
how
the heat of temper into which at one time he was
often betrayed
when vexed by
the obstructive policy of
the Irish representatives had changed into an apparent
understanding of their purpose and even into a certain
sympathy with it, or, at all events, toleration for it. It soon came out that Mr. Gladstone's mind was
made
the
up.
Even the
population,
fact
that at the general elections
Irish
under
the
direction
of
their
leaders,
views.
had voted against him, did not change his Time had given the answer to that question in
one of the division lobbies so
many
years before
call
Why
do you, a mere handful of men,
yourselves the
332
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
?
representatives of Ireland
His own Franchise
Bill,
among
other things, had enabled us to prove that
we
were the representatives of Ireland.
Mr.
Gladstone
at the
knew very
well that
it
when we voted against him

set
general elections
was because we had been
on by
the Tories to believe that Lord Salisbury would give

us
Home
Rule, and
we were prepared
first
to take
Home
to
us.
Rule from any hands, the
that
gave
it
Into the long controversy concerning promises

to us
made
by the Tories
first
it
would be
Rule
in
futile
now
to enter.
Mr. Gladstone's
Home
Bill
had the immediate

life.
effect of creating a
new party
English political
Up
The
in
to this time there

political
two great
had been, roughly speaking, only parties, the Liberals and the Tories.
Liberals had a certain division
among themselves
as
the fact that
Liberals,
some were very progressive, even and some were so cautious and inclined
that
to
hold
back
they differed
little
from
the
more
enlightened of the Tories.

question
arose
Still,
whenever any party

although
not
the
as
Liberals
usually,
invariably,
voted
or
one
man and
the Conservatives
as
invariably,
almost invariably, voted
one man.
But now arose a new party, made up of Liberals who were opposed to Mr. Gladstone's whole policy of
Home
is
Rule and who called themselves Unionists, that

say,
to
supporters
of the
Act of Union which
abolished the Irish National Parliament at the begin-
ning of the century.
These men broke away from
HOME RULE
333
Mr. Gladstone and the Liberals and set up a party of

their
own.
to
This
party at the outset professed and

absolutely
promised
a
while,
be
independent,
but
after
naturally
and
almost
inevitably,
;
became
absorbed into the ranks of the Tories
and, as
we
shall presently see, many of its leading members soon The accepted places in the Tory Administration. most influential of the Unionists was Lord Hartington,
now
the
Duke
of Devonshire.
The most
I
active
and
conspicuous
was Mr. Chamberlain.

list
need not go
through the
Bright
as
of other names.
do not regard Mr.
member
of the Unionist party, because,

us,
although to the great surprise of some of

Mr. Gladstone's
he opposed
Rule policy, he never identified himself with any new political organisation, and it is
utterly impossible to think of his
Home
becoming a member
of a
The
Tory Government. secession of Lord Hartington
surprised nobody.
Lord Hartington had, as I have said already, never shown the slightest sympathy with genuine Liberalism
or
with
any
really
progressive
life
movement.
Lord
Hartington's great ambition in

desire to be let
alone.
was apparently a
Mr. Chamberlain's action, on
the other hand, surprised almost everybody.
He
had
come
into political
life
as an
extreme Radical.
He
was regarded by the old-fashioned Tories as a red republican, a revolutionist, an anarchist, and I know
not what
else.
They
feared
him and hated him.
He
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
had denounced the landlord and again
the
in
class in
bitter
and
in
scathing words.
England again He was
He
uncompromising enemy of the House of Lords. was in cordial sympathy and alliance with the
of the Irish National party.
to
members
He
rose in the
House of Commons once
pay a
tribute of praise to
Mr. Parnell and to express his regret that he had

not paid
such a tribute of praise long before.

if
I
He
was one of the Commissioners,

pression,
may
use the ex-
who arranged
I
the
so-called
Kilmainham
Treaty between Mr. Gladstone's Government and Mr.

Parnell.
had many opportunities of interchanging

I
ideas with Mr. Chamberlain at that time, and
never
Rule.
understood that he was not
in
favour of
in
When
Mr. Gladstone brought
his
for
first
Home Home
first
Rule
measure there was some excuse
Mr. Chamberlain's
withdrawing from the Government.
The
to
Home
the
Rule
measure
proposed
to
leave
in
Irishmen
management ment and to have no

Imperial
of their
own
affairs
a Dublin Parliain
Irish
representatives
the
Irish
Parliament
at
Westminster.
The
National party were, on the whole, quite willing

accept this proposal.
to be
to get
to
They
did not particularly want
in the Imperial Parliament, and they were glad
Home
Rule on almost any terms.
But there
were two strong objections to the scheme.

these, sustained
One
of
by some English members of

are as strong
ParliaI
ment,
who were and
Home
Rulers as
HOME RULE
am,
335
was
that
the
whole
principle which
associates
by-
taxation
setting
with
representation
would
be
violated
up
House
of
Commons which
The
could
tax
Ireland
tion,
without Ireland's consent.
other objecliving in
which was started mainly by Irishmen

if
England, was that

sentatives in the
there were to be no
Irish
repre-
Imperial Parliament there would be
nobody in that Parliament to look after the interests of the two or three millions of Irishmen living in Great
Britain.
Therefore there did
seem some reasonable

Chamberlain
show of
principle in the opposition of Mr.

to
and others
Rule.
Mr. Gladstone's
first
scheme of
Home
of
in
That measure was
rejected
by
the
House
gave
Commons.
But when Mr. Gladstone,
later on,
to the pressure of the Liberal objections to his
scheme
and
in his
second
Home
Rule
Bill, after
his
return to
office in
1892 and the general
elections of that year,
provided that Ireland should
still
be represented
in the
Imperial Parliament for Imperial purposes, just as a

State in the American Union
is
represented in
Washstill
ington
for
Federal
purposes,
Mr.
Chamberlain
all
continued to oppose the measure with
his
might
and main.
Sir
George Trevelyan was one of those
who had
Rule
resigned his office in Mr. Gladstone's Admini-
stration because
Bill.
he could not approve of the
first
Home
Mr.
Chamberlain and he then made the

to the measure.
same objection
But when the main
cause of objection was withdrawn Sir George Trevelyan
JJ^
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
once returned to
office
at
his allegiance to
Mr. Gladstone and
took
Bill.
as a supporter of the second
Home
Rule
Mr. Chamberlain could not be induced to follow

in leading
his
in
example, and persisted

the
a separate party
House of Commons.
His attitude was perplex-
ing to those
who had
course
it
acted with him in former days.

it
People
of
interpreted
in
different
ways.
Some
was the story of Disraeli over again. Disraeli began as a Radical and almost a Socialist.
said that
The commonly accepted theory of

found there were too
his
life
is
that he
many
clever
and
rising
men on
the Liberal side and he thought he had better betake
himself to the Tories,
among whom
there was certainly
According to this suggestion, Mr. Chamberlain's idea was that there was more chance for him on the Tory side than there
could
no redundancy of youthful genius.
be under the overmastering
influence
dissatisfied,
of
Mr.
Gladstone.
Mr. Chamberlain was
people
in re-
insisted, because Mr. Gladstone would
persist
maining at the head of
affairs.
might have
little in
said, like
"
I
Hamlet,
He was ambitious, and whom he resembled so

In one of
most ways,
lack advancement."
his
speeches
about that time he made an unlucky

it
reference to the satisfaction

society seized
all
gave him to be
Ill-natured
it
in
the
of
English
gentlemen.
critics
it
upon the phrase and twisted

applications.
and turned
critic
to
manner of
One
perverse
quoted
the saying of Becky Sharp in
Vanity Fair to George
HOME RULE
Osborne,
patronised,
337
by whose family she had

but
formerly got
been
a
whom
she
now, having
"
:
into
higher
circle,
wished to annoy
But oh
Mr. Osborne,
!
what a
difference eighteen
Eighteen months spent

with gentlemen."
tend to
pardon
months' experience makes
me
for
saying so
did
Naturally such
criticism
not
make Mr. Chamberlain any

his
the better affected
toward his former friends and colleagues.

steadily along
He
went
new way.
He became
a defender of
the
House of Lords.
cause of the
measure.
reward.
He became a champion of the He opposed every Liberal landlords.

put
it,
Finally, as his enemies
he had his
He became
member
of a
Tory Government.
Hartington,
He
of
became, as such, a colleague of Lord

the
Lord Hartington whom, when leader of the Liberal party in the House of Commons, Mr. Chamberhad denounced
in
lain
the face of the whole
House
as
too laggard and reactionary for his position and had
contemptuously described as the

Liberal party.
"
late
"
leader of the
Probably the Unionist party has no future before
become wholly absorbed in Toryism. There was no particular reason why Lord Hartington, the present Duke of Devonshire, should ever have had
it.
It is likely to
anything to do with Radicalism and Radical measures.
He
probably would have described himself as a

if
Whig
But
of the old school

consider what the
he had really taken the trouble to

of the old school were.
22
Whigs
338
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
political
he took his
position just as
for a long
if
it
came
to him,
and he was content
time to work under Mr.
Gladstone with patience
without enthusiasm.
He
did the work set for him to do steadily and loyally
enough, although he showed himself more than once a

little
puzzled by Mr. Gladstone's interest

Irish
in
the cause
of the
tenant.
The Home Rule scheme was

and rather than be a
quite too
much
for him,
Home
Ruler he consented to become a Tory. When such a man once enters the Tory ranks there is no conceivable
reason
why he
to
should
ever emerge
it
from them.
if
In
Mr. Chamberlain's case
is
not likely that, even

Liberal
party, the
he
wished
return
to
the
Liberal
party could
welcome him back.

is
When
will
the
Home
will
Rule question
settled,
and
it
be settled some
time, let pessimists say
what they may, there
be
no further reason
Unionist party.
for the
existence of any so-called
Mr. Gladstone meanwhile bore himself with characteristic
courage and good
feeling.
He
had
lifted
Mr. Chamberlain into power and Mr. Chamberlain had turned against him.
to find fault with.
That
in
itself
would be nothing
life is
No man
go.
to
If
in
public
supposed
to pledge himself to follow
the
leader
may
any leader whithersoever Mr. Chamberlain was conRule

for Ireland
scientiously opposed
Home
he was
absolutely right
in
withdrawing from Mr. Gladstone's

in
Government when Mr. Gladstone went
for
Home
HOME RULE
Rule.
339
But
in this
instance Mr. Chamberlain had set
himself against Mr. Gladstone with a bitterness and a
vehemence which scandalised many even of Mr. Chamberlain's own friends and allies.
Mr. Gladstone was always magnanimous and
giving
in
for-
his
personal dealings with those

to
who had
I
deserted
him and had come

present
in the
oppose him.
re-
member being
a curious
House of Commons when

scene took place.
and a touching
little
Mr.
Austin Chamberlain, son of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain,
had made a speech
in
opposition to
some
policy or
other of Mr. Gladstone,
who was
still
Prime Minister.
Mr. Gladstone came to reply on the whole debate, and
he paused
to
make
a special
comment upon Austin

like
Chamberlain's speech.
forward
irritated
in
The
Could
elder Chamberlain leaned
his
seat
with a look of something

it
expectancy.
be that he thought Mr.
Gladstone was about to

severe of the
say something scornful or man's Could it be that young speech ?
he really fancied such was the sort of use a political
opponent would naturally make of such an opporMr. Gladstone broke into a few sentences tunity ?
of
what
was evidently
the
most
sincere
praise
in
of
young Chamberlain's speech, and he spoke
some
touching words of the delight which such a speech must give to the father of the speaker. Mr. Chamberlain
seemed
quite
to mc,
his
must
say, to be deeply affected.

for
He
lost
composure
moment;
it
was
340
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
was deeply moved.
opportunity
in
plain that he
Mr. Gladstone had
not
used
the
the
way
that he
had
far
apparently expected, but for a very different and
more congenial purpose.
Now
there was, of course,

that a great
nothing particularly wonderful
in the fact
statesman and orator should praise a speech delivered
by the son
opponent.
speech,
full
of
prominent
and
bitter
political
brilliant
still
Austin Chamberlain's was really a

of the
happiest promise.
But
the
genuine warmth and the sincere gladness of Mr. Gladstone's
panegyric,
following
on
I
Mr.
Chamberlain's
irritated
attitude
and expression of what
have called
Mr.
expectancy
and
succeeded
by
Chamberlain's
collapse into sincere apologetic emotion,
made up
I
for
me
a picture which
could not help regarding as an
illustration
of the ways of the two men.

I
may
say
that on no occasion have

to
ever
known Mr. Gladstone
behave with anything but magnanimity and gener-
osity even to the bitterest of his political opponents.

It is
so in public
life, it is
so in private
life.
During
the fiercest struggles with the Irish party in the days

of obstruction, Mr.
Gladstone once peremptorily
inter-
fered with Mr. Forster,
who was then

Irish
Irish
Secretary,
cast
on behalf of one of the

into prison as
members who was

"
what was
called a
suspect."
This Irish
member was a medical man by profession and he held a position on one or two medical boards under the
control of Dublin Castle.
Mr. Gladstone
knew
little
HOME RULE
or nothing about this Irish
341
member and
certainly
knew
nothing about the fact that the medical man, when he
was put
into
prison,
had also been deprived of
his
public appointments.
started
debate on the subject was
course
of the
by the Nationalist members, and during the debate Mr. Gladstone came in and
first
learned for the
time that this double penalty had
been
inflicted
on the Dublin physician.
His quick and Let

it
eager sense of justice revolted against the idea.
be clearly borne
into prison
in
mind
that the
men who were

I
cast
it,
under the Suspect Act, as
may
call
were not convicted of any offence, were not charged

with any offence, nor was there any intention of making
any charge against them. They were simply suspected of being persons whose sympathy with the National movement might render it dangerous for them to be
left
at large
while there was
still
trouble in the
air.
Mr. Gladstone had clearly understood that such
men
were put into prison
for
the safety of the

well
;
community
they were
and
"
for
their
if I
own
safety as
that
interned,"
may
use the expression, at the discre-
tion of the authorities, but that
when they were allowed

and
out of prison they were to suffer no further privation

or stigma.
It
was plain to Mr. Gladstone's

that
this
just
generous
mind
Irish
Nationalist
member
ought not to be deprived of any public appointment which he had held before his imprisonment. He was
a medical
man
of high standing in his profession and
342
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
in
had always borne an honourable character
public
and
in private.
His only offence was that he was an

it
ardent Nationalist and
was not even asserted that

not
also
an
ardent
Nationalist
might
All
be a
skilful
medical
practitioner.
this
came home
to
Mr.
Gladstone's
the
mind while he
sat listening to the debate,
whole subject of which was new to him.
He
in
remonstrated earnestly with Mr. Forster,

certain
who was
man.
moods
particularly
obstinate
Mr.
Gladstone's sense of justice, however,
prevailed over
Mr. Forster's obstinacy and the released prisoner was

restored to his public appointments.
I
could
go on mentioning cases such as
this
to
illustrate the
breadth of Mr. Gladstone's mind and the

ill-will
total
absence of any feeling of personal

I
in his
dealings with his opponents.
have no doubt that he
continues to this day to be on terms of personal friendship with Mr. Chamberlain.

tried
Mr. Disraeli at one time

that
him
great
deal,
but
was because Mr.
Disraeli never
seemed
to Mr. Gladstone to have any-
thing serious in him, never
seemed
to
have any
faith in
one cause or another, and appeared to be led and

governed altogether by
treasure
is
political ambition.
Where
the
there the heart will be, and the treasure in
that case, Mr. Gladstone doubtless believed,

political success.
was mere
Therefore he sometimes appeared to
me
to be rather hard
on Disraeli
probably
all
the
more hard upon him because he saw Mr.
Disraeli's
HOME RULE
tremendous capacity
leading people astray.
for
343
commanding admiration and

Mr. Chamberlain of course had
no
gifts
which could compare

still
with those of Disraeli, but
show and splendour he was a keen, capable,

in
and
unsparing
crisis
man,
and
at
moment
of
great
in
political
he contrived to stab Mr. Gladstone

I
the back.
Yet
never heard Mr. Gladstone, in public
or private, say an unfair word of Mr. Chamberlain.
CHAPTER XXX
"
THE LONG
DAY'S TASK
IS
DONE "
HAVE
put, for convenience,
my
general account of the
two
Home
Rule measures of Mr. Gladstone into a
single chapter.
The Home Rule measure

secession
of
1886 was
defeated
Liberals
because of the
of a
number of
who
found, or professed to find, their strong

it
objection to the Bill in the fact that
excluded Ireland
from representation
in the
Parliament at Westminster.
to
The second Home Rule measure was introduced

meet and amend that special objection.
to
Ireland was
in
have a
representation
of eighty
that
members
the
Imperial House of Commons,
number being her

to
exact representation in proportion to the population.
But these
Irish
members were not
vote
on any
measure exclusively affecting Great

alteration of his former
to be able to get over
Britain.
By
The
this
measure Mr. Gladstone hoped

sets of objections.
first
two
was the objection of those who complained of
Ireland's
being taxed by the Imperial Parliament without representation.
The second was
the objection of those
who
"
THE LONG DAY'S TASK

that,
in
IS
DONE"
345
complained
not interfere
whereas the English members could

the affairs of Ireland, Irish
members
might come over to the Imperial Parliament and interIn the interval between fere in the affairs of England.
the rejection of the
first
Home
Rule measure by the
House of Commons and the introduction of the second

scheme many things had happened.
example, been a great
split
There had,
for
in
the Irish party which
had led to the deposition of Mr. Parnell from the

leadership.
Many
at
of
the
afraid
best
friends
in
England
had,
of
for
Home
Rule were
least,
that the
principle
our time
received
death-blow.
Mr.
he
Gladstone was
not of
any such opinion.

for the fourth
When
became Prime Minister

resumed
his
time he at once
the
policy of
Home
Rule.
On Monday
14th of February 1893, Mr. Gladstone introduced his
government of Ireland." The Bill was met with every possible method of obstruction.
bill
"
for the better
Mr.
Gladstone's
energy,
all
enthusiasm,
and
eloquence
the
triumphed over
opposition.
The debates on
various stages of the Bill spread over practically the
whole of the session.
The
Bill
at
last in
was carried
through the House of Commons, and

sent
September was
of Lords
it
up
to the
it
House
of Lords.
The House
disposed of
after four nights' debate,
and rejected
by a majority of more than ten to one.

might, on the whole, have
peers reject every great reform
Mr. Gladstone
been well content.
The
measure which comes
346
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
them
for the
first
before
long.
time.
They never
resist for
is
They
yield
when they
see that public opinion
determined.
Many
of Mr. Gladstone's followers insisted then that
he ought to have appealed to the country at once on

the single question of
Home
Rule.
Mr. Gladstone, no
to
doubt,
had
good
reasons
for
not appealing
the
country once again just at that

strength of the
moment.
But the
Government was undoubtedly diminished by the defeat of the Home Rule Bill and by the inaction that followed that defeat. The Government got
into conflict with the
House of Lords on two

social
or three
interest.
measures
of
purely
and
municipal
left in
There did not seem force enough
the
House of
Commons
Chamber.
to thrust these
measures on the Hereditary

Mr.
In
bill
one
instance
it
Gladstone
himself
withdrew a
because
on against the hostile
seemed hopeless to press it action of the House of Lords.

despond-
There was a
sort of languor, almost a kind of
ency, spreading itself like dry-rot the Liberal party.
among
the ranks of
keen observer might well have

sort
seen that a
a
crisis
crisis
of
some
was
close at hand.
Such
was indeed close
at hand,
much
closer at hand,
indeed, than most of us then imagined.
The House
of
Commons
for a
adjourned on the 21st of
Mr. GladSeptember 1893 very short recess. who had been in his attendance at all stone, unflagging the sittings, determined that the House must meet
MRS. GLADSTONE IN
.
888.
Photographed by
From Painting by Prof Hubert Herkomer, R.A.

Mr.
1
'atmough Webster of Chester
"
THE LONG DA Y'S TASK
IS
DONE"
347
again on the 2nd of November. meet,

and,
The House
interval
did so
with only a
short
of Christmas
holidays,
sat
up
to
the
5th
of
March
1894.
Mr.
Gladstone had been enjoying a short

a favourite holiday place of
the
his,
rest at
Biarritz,
and he came back to During

his
House
at the
end of February.
absence
persistent
the effect
office
rumours had been going about in London to that he had made up his mind to resign his
as
Prime Minister.
These assertions were conguarded sort of way, by
tradicted
now and
again, in a
persons
who
professed to have Mr. Gladstone's authority
for the contradictions.
were allowed to
Meanwhile a good many of us know that Mr. Gladstone's mind was,

and earnestly turning toward a Yet the outer public
of
the rumours and
at all events, gradually
decision for his early resignation.
somehow thought
found
it
little
perhaps
almost impossible to believe that there could
be
in
our time a
House
of
Commons
without
Mr.
Gladstone.
the 1st of
last
Mr. Lucy has described the occasion, on March 1894, when Mr. Gladstone made his speech at the table of the House of Commons in
"
the capacity of Prime Minister.
While the House,"

capacity,
it
says Mr. Lucy,

did not surely
full
"
was crowded
to
its fullest
know what was happening.
The
air
was
of rumours, but the immediate effect of the speech

to discredit the supposition
was
that resignation
was
imminent.
That
it
had been decided upon and must
take place at an early date was accepted as inevitable.
348
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
There was, indeed, one passage forming the closing

words of
this
memorable speech
that, read
by the
light
of subsequent events, plainly indicated Mr. Gladstone's

position
that of a
knight
who had
laid
down
his
well-worn sword, hung up his dinted armour, content

thereafter
to
look
on the
lists
where others
strove.
The House
long
of Lords, in accentuation of an attitude

said,
assumed, had, he
within
the
last
twelve
months
shown
itself
ready
not
to
modify
but
'
to
annihilate the
work of the House of Commons.

Mr. Gladstone
said,
In
our
judgment,'
'
slowly and em-
phatically,
this state of things
cannot continue.'
After
a pause, necessitated by the vociferous cheering of the

Liberals, he added,
'
For me,
my
duty terminates with

to the fact that
it
calling the attention of the

really
is
House
impossible to set aside, that
we
are considering
a part, an essential and inseparable part, of a question
enormously
large, a question that has
become profoundly
a settlement and
acute, a question
that will
command
must
at
an early date receive that settlement from the
highest authority.'
jurisdiction
That question was, of course, the of the House of Lords. The matter imme-
"
diately before the
House of Commons was not one of

but
still
it
supreme
importance,
involved
conflict
between the Representative Chamber and the Hereditary Chamber.
Mr. Gladstone's
for the
Home
Rule scheme
had been destroyed House of Lords, and
time by the action of the

to
his
mind must have gone back
"
IS
BONE"
349
when some great scheme of reform had been retarded in its movement by the same irresponsible authority. Observe that the House of Lords is
many
crisis
not
really
capable of preventing any great measure

in the end. It
from being carried

obstruct
;
can only retard and

pressure
that the
and
it
always
it
gives
to
enough has been put on

public
are
if
way when make it clear

of
the
its
becoming
impatient
that
intervention.
Even
one could
believe
whole country
belonged to the peers and the landlords, there would

still
be no justification for the existence and operation
House of Lords, inasmuch as the peers always give way when public indignation becomes too strong
of the
to
be
resisted.
Mr. Gladstone had fought against the

a
House of Lords on many

public
life.
momentous occasion of
that
his
It
was but
life
fitting
he should
take
leave of public
with an announcement that the time
had come when the country must pronounce a decisive Yet it opinion on the position of the House of Lords.
was not understood
in the
House of Commons,
at least
by the majority of those who listened to him, that that was to be Mr. Gladstone's last utterance in the assembly
where he had been conspicuous
Mr.
for so
many
years.
As
Lucy puts
"
it,
Looking
on the upright figure
standing by the brass-bound box, watching the mobile

untenance, the free gestures, noting the ardour with
which the
field,
it
flag
was waved, leading
to
new
battle-
was impossible to associate the thought of
350
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
with the Premier's mood."
in
resignation
So indeed
it
happened that
those
the
House of Commons
few were
who knew
life.
that that was Mr. Gladstone's farewell

If that
to public
had been known the excitement
and emotion
in the
House would have been something

in
without precedent or parallel
our times.
But there was nothing of a farewell tone about the

speech, nothing tragic, nothing even purposely pathetic,
and, as Mr.
leading to
Lucy a new
says, the
flag
seemed
of
to be
us,
waved
battlefield.
Some
of course,
were
in the secret, or at least
were vaguely forewarned

Shortly after Mr. Gladin
of what
we had down
"
"
I
to expect.
stone sat
lobbies.
met Mr. John Morley

then,"
last,"
I
one of the
very
"
I
Is
"
that,
asked,
his
"
the
last
speech
The very
"
was
"
reply.
don't
believe one quarter of the

it
men
in the
House understand
it
so," I said.
No," he replied,
but
is
so
all
the
Another man, not Mr. Gladstone, would probably on such an occasion have made it plain that he
same."
was giving his final farewell to the assembly which he had charmed and over which he had dominated by his
eloquence for so
many
years.
Lord Chatham
certainly
would not have allowed himself to pass out of public life without conveying to all men the idea that he
spoke
in
Parliament for the

all
last time.
But Mr. Gladgift
stone, with
all his
his magnificent rhetorical

instinct,
and with
dramatic
had no thought of getting up

to precede the
a scene,
had no thought of any tableau
"

He was no
IS
DONE"
351
fall
of the curtain.
doubt thinking only of
the duty which

sentative
must soon devolve upon the Repre-
Chamber, the duty of putting some limitation

Engrossed
thought and eager to
to a full sense of
its
on the intervention of the House of Lords.

with
that
stir
the
House
and
of
its
Commons
duties
responsibilities
he
not unnaturally conveyed the idea to the
majority of his audience that he was to lead a
new
campaign.
The mind
to
of at least one of his listeners
went back
before, he
the day when,
more than
thirty years
had denounced the conduct of the House of

preventing the repeal of the tax on paper,
Lords,
as a
"
in
gigantic innovation," which the Representative

to resist.
Chamber was bound
himself the leadership of that

the
that,
As he had taken upon movement on the part of

it
House of Commons March
in
i860,
was not unnatural
by the kindling energy of

in that
his
manner when he
spoke
of 1894, he should have led most
people to believe that he was

again.
ready
in
for
the
battle
Certainly there was nothing

his
his
apparent
in
physical energy, in
voice,
in
his
gesture,
his
for
manner,
to indicate that he
found himself unfitted
any
further Parliamentary struggle.
More than twenty
years before he had formally resigned the leadership of

the Liberal party on the ground that he was outworn
and could no longer continue the

first
fight.
Yet on the
moment when
of
the
great
public crisis aroused the
attention
civilised
world
he had come back,
352
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
almost as a matter of course, to take his place at the
head of the struggle.

dered
at
if
It
could not, therefore, be wonin
many men
the
House of Commons,
seeing the extraordinary vitality of the Prime Minister,
should have thought that there was no greater reason
why he
should give up political
life
at
the
age of
for a
eighty-four than there had proved to be

short time he forsook
truth
is
it
when
at the age of sixty-four.
The
that
we had
all
grown
into the
way
of regard-
ing Mr. Gladstone as a sort of being endowed with
immortal youthfulness and

even
the
vitality.
The
outer public,
majority
did
of
members of
that
the
sight
House
of
of
Commons,
not
know
the
those
luminous eyes had been fading and dimming and that

the statesman's hearing
much
as to
power had been giving way so make official work a serious trial to him.
We
heard his voice, we noted his energy of movement

his thrilling eloquence,
and gesture, we were delighted by and we could not understand

should wish to retire from the
So, in the theatric sense,
I
all in
moment why he
field
of his fame.
should describe his last
speech as a dramatic
out of the House
failure.
Numbers
of
men lounged
when the speech was

Yet
over, not having
the least idea that they were never again to hear that
voice in
Parliamentary debate.
for
one do not
regret that Mr. Gladstone thus took his leave of political

life.
am
not sorry that

;
there were
no fireworks
that there was no tableau
that there was no melo-
"

fall
IS
DONE"
making
353
dramatic
of the curtain.
The
orator
his
closing speech was inspired by
his subject
and was not
thinking of himself.
One
single sentence interjected in
the course of the speech would have told every one of
coming and would have led to a demonstration such as was probably never before
his
hearers what was
known
in
the
House of Commons.
It
did
not
suit
with Mr. Gladstone's tastes or inclinations to lead up
any such demonstration, and therefore while he warned the House of Commons as to its duties and its
to
responsibilities
he said not a word about himself and

in the future.
about his action

lost
tion,
Parliamentary history
his exhortawill
something no doubt by the manner of

but
I
think
all
the
character
of the
man
be
regarded as
the greater because at so supreme a

that
moment he
career
close.
forgot
the
greatest
Parliamentary
at
last
of the
Victorian era had
come
to
its
On Monday may be allowed

Mr. Gladstone.
before, asking
the 5th of
to call
March 1894
had what
my
last official interview
with
He
wrote
me
a letter on the Saturday

o'clock
official
on
me to call and see him at twelve He was still occupying his Monday.
in
chambers
his
Downing
Street.
He
received me, as was
wont, with the

talked over
greatest
kindness and friendship.
We
many
in
things, the past, the present,
and
the future.
He was
full
of brilliant talk, as he always
could be when
the mood, and he wandered off

23
away
354
UFE OF GLADSTONE
many times to bring in and of men whom he had
I
from the track of our subjects

reminiscences of the past
known and
had had a
of political storm and stress in which he
serious part to play.
could not but admire

thus,
the wonderful elasticity of the

for a
mind which could
moment
at least,
shake
itself quite free
from the
troubles of the present and the immediate future and

find a relief
and a refuge
in
even the casual memories
and anecdotes of much

natural, a
earlier days.
We talked, as was
He
expressed
before, to see
good deal about Home Rule. a wish, such as he had often expressed
some of
talk
us
Home
political
Rulers at
Hawarden
Castle and to
over
prospects in
referred
a friendly and con-
fidential
way.
He
again
and again
to
Mr.
and spoke of him, as he ever had done, with Mr. Parnell's, he kindness and with consideration.
Parnell,
said,
in
had been a
really great career
one of the greatest
modern
times, considering the limited materials with

;
which he had to work

often heard
and he expressed, as
it
had
him express
that he
before, his
deep regret that

close.
I
such a career should have come to so tragic a
remember
of
action
well
found
Irish
fault
with one course

still
taken
by the
members,
under
of
is
Mr. Parnell's leadership, while

Mr. Gladstone's own coercion
interesting in so far as
it
we were opposing one The story measures.
illustrates the singular fairness
and candour of the great statesman.

fault
He
found no
utter-
whatever with us
for
opposing to the very
"
IS
DONE"
355
most
his coercion policy.
That he quite understood
to
be a part of our national duty.

of was that
when an English an amendment making a certain
What he did complain Liberal member proposed

division of
the
bill
stronger and harsher than the Government intended to
make
it,
and when
the
Government determined
to
oppose the amendment, we did not come and vote with them in opposition to it. The truth was that Mr.
Parnell and a
number of other
Irish
members, including
phrase
technical myself, had been suspended, as the
went, from voting
in the
House
for a
certain limited
time because of our renewed acts of obstruction, and, as
we could not
vote, our colleagues naturally declined to
take ain- part in the division.
Mr. Gladstone talked
with the most perfect good-humour about the whole
and only dwelt upon it as the one sole incident in the long struggle about which he thought he had a
affair
fair
risrht
to
grumble
at
the
conduct of the
Irish
members.
his for
He
expressed to
me
over and over again
absolute conviction that the cause of
Home
Rule
Ireland was destined to succeed and before very
long.
No
measure, he said, of really national import-
ance which has passed by a safe majority through the
House of Commons can ever be long retarded by the In words which, iistance of the House of Lords.
though
as
really conversational,
were as impressive to
me
tell
human eloquence
could
make them, he bade me
my
colleagues that his heart was ever with the success
356
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
of our cause and that he prayed for that success and
gave
it
his blessing.
have not often been so much
moved
as
if
stone as
I took leave of Mr. Gladby those words. I had been leaving some being who belonged
to a higher order of the world than the
commonplace
St.
existence of every day.
passed out into
James's
Park feeling as though even the sunshine and the grass
and the
after
it
and the lake were commonplace things I had one regret, and I cherish such a farewell.
trees
;
still
wish
had asked Mr. Gladstone to give

his
something from
pencil
desk or his table
me
pen or a
or a
book
or anything whatever, just as
mark
I have many letters and memory of the occasion. from him, and he has sent me several times some
pamphlet which he had written or in which he felt a But I should like to have got somespecial interest.
thing from him in
memory
of that last
Carlyle's
official interview.
That
meeting was, to use
expression, not
easily to be forgotten in this world.

I
never saw Mr. Gladstone again.

is
The House
that
feel
it
oi
Commons
when he
have
lost
nothing
like
the
place
was
they
is
sat there.
in
The
friend
Irish people
that
him a
and a guide whose place

in
never likely to be
that as
I
filled
again
our time.
felt all
was taking leave of him on that memorable
day.
Since the time of Charles James Fox, Ireland
never had had a distinct and an avowed friend amongst

the
men who make up
Administrations or lead Oppo-
"

the
IS
DONE"
until
357
sitions
in
English House of
Commons
we
came
to
the days of Mr. Gladstone.
Nor had Fox
himself obtained even the chance of making such a
move on our behalf

Mr. Gladstone.
with
I
as
was made and sustained by

all
do not ask
my
readers to agree
I
my
views about
I
Home
to
Rule, but
do ask them
to take
what
with
say as the sincere expression of Irish

the
opinion
regard
risked everything
English
statesman
all
who
that
place,
power,
popularity,
could
make
life
dear to any ambitious
man
for the
it
sake of serving a country so poor and so lowly that
could offer for such services no reward whatever but

the reward
of gratitude.
I
was thinking of
residence in
all
this
when
came out of the
official
Downing
felt
Street and passed

I
into St. James's
Park, and
as
if
had been looking on
at the fall of a dynasty.
CHAPTER XXXI
GLADSTONE'S BUSY LEISURE
Then came
a season of what would have seemed to be
extraordinary energy and overwork for any other man,
but which was only a season of rest for Mr. Gladstone.
He
turned his attention once again to theology.

letters,
He
wrote
essays,
subjects, nor in the meantime did

politics
and even books on theological much escape him in

literature.
or
even
in
light
He
allowed the
outer world to know, although in becomingly guarded

fashion, his opinion
on
this or that
measure which was
under discussion
ject
in
Parliament, or on this or that sub-
of political controversy outside Parliament.
He
did
not
volunteer these
opinions.
He
if
certainly did
not obtrude them on the public, but

for a
in
he were asked
few words of counsel or of guidance he gave them
a helpful, friendly,
modest
sort
of way.
He
read
books of passing
interest,
even novels, and he did not
disdain to say what he thought of

tained
them
if
they conall.
anything worth
thinking
about
at
He

seems
to
in
359
me
his
all
like
cell
another Charles
in
the
Fifth
sitting
down
drawn
the
convent
of
Yuste,
withits
to
seeming from the outer world and
doings and yet keeping himself closely informed

everything that was going on
interest
in
of
and taking the keenest

that
political
life
the
movements of
from
in
which
he
had
removed himself
all his
for
ever.
We
London followed
goings and his comings, his writ-
ings and his sayings, with an attentiveness which never

relaxed.
He went
to Biarritz, he
went to the Riviera,
he talked with French public men and Spanish public
men, he received friends

position
local
his
at
Hawarden
he kept up his
there
as
an
active
promoter of every good

all
movement.
We
were
delighted to hear that

his hearing
in
sight
had grown better and that
had
grown and would work on a
better.
He
sometimes buried himself

stretch
books
ten hours in the day.
He made
new
short voyages and appeared to enjoy
them
with a perfectly youthful activity for the reception of

impressions.
Perhaps
cannot better
illustrate
the variety of his occupations than by mentioning the
book, apparently of the most solid importance, which
he wrote on Bishop Butler and Bishop Butler's theology,
and the
the
article
on Sheridan which he contributed to

Century
in
Nineteenth
to
June
1896.
am
not
qualified
say anything about the work on Bishop

I
Butler, but
know
at
least
that
it
it
created a great
sensation
in
England, and that
was discussed and
360
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
debated and replied to by reviewers and writers without

end.
The
article
in
the Nineteenth
Century on
I
Sheridan takes up a subject concerning which

better qualified to form
am
was
an opinion.
The
article
suggested by the work of

"
my
friend,
Mr. Fraser Rae,

"
already well known," Mr. Gladstone says,
to poli-
tical
readers as the author of a useful volume in which
he associated the name of Sheridan with those of
Fox
and of Wilkes," and who brought out a recent biography

of Sheridan for the purpose of proving that
full
justice
had never been done

the author of the
Scandal.
"
in
this
"
country to the
memory
of
Begum
speech and The School for
Mr. Gladstone thoroughly agrees with the

"
views of Mr. Fraser Rae.
The path
of a biographer,"
it
he says,
"
may be
a flowery path, but
is
beset with
snares, especially as to the distribution of his materials
and the maintenance of a due proportion

the several aspects of his subject.
in
presenting
the case
These,
in
of Sheridan, were especially numerous and diversified.
He was He won
a dramatist, a wit, and something of a poet.

his wife
by duelling and by a
trip
which might
be called an elopement.
In society he quickly grew to

idol.
be a favourite, almost, indeed, an

Parliament by means which,
point
if
He came
to
into
in
open
exception
of purity,
were
due
to
no man's favour, but
thoroughly independent.
the
people
he
sustained
While a representative of in a marked manner the
character of a courtier, though the scene of his practice
GLA DS TONE 'S B US V LETS URE

lay at Carlton
36 1
House and not
at
Windsor."
Carlton
House,
should say, was the residence of the Prince

Fourth.
fill
Regent, afterwards George the
"
Here have
life
been enumerated parts enough to

ordinary, nay, of something
the
of an
more than
an ordinary
man.
But interwoven with these and towering high

his claims as
is
above them were

a statesman.
the two
that, as
last,
an orator, a patriot, and
It
in these
respects,
and especially
in
which are the most important of them,
Mr. Rac considers, justice has not been fully
done
to Sheridan.
His main purpose, therefore,
is
one
of historical rectification.
No aim
is
of more durable
in
consequence, and
cannot but think that
a great
measure
I
it
has been attained."

to quote too
It
do not want
article.
if
it
much
of this most inter-
esting
would
be
interesting
and worth
had been written by a perfectly obscure studying There would not seem to be much on the author.
surface of Sheridan's character which could attract a
man
so
profoundly earnest as
Mr. Gladstone.
But
Mr. Gladstone goes far beneath the surface and boldly
commonplace and conventional notions of Sheridan as a mere writer of plays and unpaid jester to the Prince Regent and shows him in his
brushes
aside
the
true
rank as an orator of the highest Parliamentary

statesman, and as a patriot.
I
class, as a
cannot
for-
bear from quoting a few closing lines

stone devotes to the
which Mr. GladSheridan, the
memory
of Mrs.
362
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
singer
wonderful
Miss
Linley,
who
"
has
often
been
called the Saint Cecilia of her day.
It is impossible,"
says
Mr.
Gladstone,
"
to
close
this
rapid and slight
sketch without one word at least on Mrs. Sheridan.
One
his
of the strong titles of Sheridan

is
to the favour of
posterity
to be
found
in
the
warm attachment
of
family and his descendants to his memory.
The
strongest of
attract
them
all
lies
in
the fact that he could

life
and could
affections
retain through her too short
the
devoted
of this
admirable woman, whose
beauty and accomplishments, remarkable as they were,
were the
least of her titles
to
;
praise.
Mrs. Sheridan
not only did she lose was certainly not strait-laced at cards fifteen and twenty-one guineas on two successive nights, but she played cards, after the fashion
of her day, on
Sunday
evenings.
am
very. far from
placing such exploits
among
it
her claims on our love.

impossible to read the
But
frankly
own
to finding
accounts of her without profoundly coveting, across the

gulf of
all
these years, to have seen
and known
her.
Let her be judged by the incomparable verses (presented to us in these volumes) in which she opens the
flood-gate of her bleeding heart
at
moment when
Those
ad-
she feared she had been robbed, for the moment, of

Sheridan's affections by the charms of another.
verses
of
loving
pardon
proceed
highest
from
soul
vanced to some of the
Gospel attainments.
She passed
into her rest
when
still
under
forty, peace-

fully
363
absorbed
for
days before her departure
in
the
contemplation of the coming world."

It
seems
to
me
that
there
is
something
in
the
tender and melancholy compassion and
toleration
of
these kindly words not unworthy of the pen of Thackeray.

article
Mr. Gladstone wrote, among other things, an
on minor poets, of
whom
he must have known

already seen,
days, and he
many in his time, but, as we have he had known Wordsworth in his early
a good
knew Tennyson and Browning

man's
life.
to
the
end of either
I
Nobody
could have admired more than
did Mr. Gladstone's versatility and activity as an orator
and a statesman, but
confess that
am
almost equally
impressed by the healthy vitality of the

the age of eighty-six, having
retired
man who
at
altogether from
Parliamentary
practical
life,
can yet enter with so profound and
an interest into almost every question which
concerns
men and women and
can absolutely refuse to
exile himself from

cal, literary,
any manner of controversy, theologior political, on which there was a word to

In truth,
be said
in
season.
we never
lost
Mr. Glad-
stone, even
when he had no longer a place
in the
House
of
Commons or on the political platform. On Monday, 1st June 1896, the public
of
were penetrated by an unexpected sensation.

in the
England It came
form of a statement made by Mr. Gladstone and

to the world
by the Archbishop of York, on the subject of the unity of Christendom and the
communicated
364
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
orders.
It
validity of Anglican
ought to be said
in
explanation of Mr. Gladstone's

of unity or union
letter that the question
among
the
Christian Churches had
been lately pressed upon public attention by Pope Leo

the Thirteenth. the
The Pope had addressed

for
a letter to
like
English people appealing
something
reunion with the Church of Rome.
The
letter
was
full
of interest, was grave and dignified and sympathetic.
movement, having for result, had been going on

Anglican Church.
its
purpose the same general
for
some time among

to
clergy-
men and laymen who belonged
one section of the

chair-
Lord Halifax, who was the

Anglican
organisation,
man
of a
great
the
English
in
Church Union, had taken
prominent part
the
movement.
He
went to Rome, had interviews with
the Pope and with the Pope's councillors, and he en-
deavoured to ascertain how
far
Rome
on the one hand
and the English Church on the other were willing to advance toward a basis of union. One of the questions
which came up
for discussion
;
was that of the
validity
of Anglican orders
that
is,
whether
Rome
would or
could recognise the right of an Anglican clergyman to

seek, as
such, admission
to
the clerical order in
the
Roman
him
Church,
if
any change of opinion should lead

itself
that way.
Mr. Gladstone's letter concerns
almost altogether about that one part of the whole

subject, but his
utterances are
full
of interest even as
regards the grave possibilities of the greater subject.

"
365
The
"
question of the validity of Anglican orders," he
says,
might seem to be of limited interest
if
it
were
only to
be treated by the amount of any immediate,
practical,
and external consequences
likely
to
follow
upon any discussion or decision that might now be taken in respect to it. For the clergy of the Anglican communions, numbering between thirty thousand and
forty thousand,
is
and
for their
flocks, the
whole subject
one of settled
solidity.
In the Oriental Churches
there prevails a sentiment of increased and increasing

friendliness
toward the Anglican Church, but no question

is
of actual inter-communion
while, happily,
blister
likely at present to
arise,
no system of proselytism exists to

relations.
set a
on our mutual
its
In the Latin Church,
which from
organisation,
magnitude and the close tissue of its overshadows all Western Christendom,
these orders, so far as they have been noticed, have been
commonly
null.
disputed, or denied, or treated as
if
they were
in
its
positive condemnation of them, if viewed dryly letter, would do no more than harden the exist-
ing usage of re-ordination in the case, which at most

periods has been a rare one, of Anglican clergy
who
might seek admission to the clerical order

Church."
It
in the
Roman
ought
to be explained that the particular
object of Mr. Gladstone's interest was the report, widely
spread over the world, that the question of the validity

of
Anglican
formal
orders
was
then
actually
the
subject
at
of a
investigation
by
the
authorities
the
366
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Vatican.
that
"
On
this point
Mr. Gladstone goes on to say
very different indeed would be the moral aspect

formal authorised investigation of the
to whichever side the result
and
effect of a
question at
incline.
It
Rome,
is
might
that a
in
to
the
last
degree improbable
at
this
ruler
of
known wisdom would
time put
motion the machinery of the Curia
for the
purpose of
Catholic
in
widening the breach which severs the
Roman
Church from a
comparison, yet
increasing
communion which, though small

is
extended through the large and

English-speaking races,
fast
range of the
in
and
which represents
the religious sphere one of the most
powerful nations of European Christendom.

ing to
Accordis
my
reading of history, that breach

;
indeed
already a wide one
but the existing schism has not
been
put
into
stereotype by
any anathema or any

either side.
expressed
renunciation of
communion on
As an acknowledgment
create inter-communion,
of Anglican orders would not

so
condemnation of them
;
would not absolutely excommunicate
but
it
would be
a step, and even morally a stride, toward excommunication,
and
it
would stand as a practical affirmation of

that
it
the
principle
is
wise
to
make
the
religious
differences
between the Churches of Christendom more
conspicuous to the world and also to bring them into

a
state
of the
highest
fixity,
so
as
to
enhance the
in
difficulty of
approaching them at any future time
the spirit of reconciliation.
From
such a point of view
MR. AND MRS. GLADSTONE IN

From a Photograph
by Messrs. Robinson
1 896. and Thompson of Liverpool.
GLA DS TONE 'S BUSY LEIS URE

an inquiry resulting
in
367
a proscription of Anglican orders
would be no
less
important than deplorable."
Mr. Gladstone goes on to say that the information
which he had received from Lord Halifax dispelled

from his mind every apprehension of that kind and
convinced him that
if
the investigations of the Curia
did not lead to a favourable result,
wisdom and
charity
would
in
any case
arrest
them
at
such a point as to
prevent their becoming an occasion and a means of

embittering religious- controversy.
Mr. Gladstone then sets out very frankly his

point of view.
"
own
And now
in
speak
able
in the
only capacity
to
must take upon me to which it can be warranta

discussion
for
me
intervene
in
properly
belonging to persons of competent authority.
That
is
the capacity of an absolutely private person, born and
baptized
there, as
in
is
the
Anglican
all
Church, accepting his
lot
the duty of
who do not
find that she
has
forfeited
I
her original and inherent privilege and

that
place.
may add
my
to
case
is
that of one
who has
been led by the circumstances both of his private and

of
his
public
career
lifelong
and rather close
observation of her character, her fortunes, and the part
she has to play in the grand history of Redemption.
Thus
it
is
that her public interests are also his personal
interests,
and that they require or

his
justify
what
is
no
is
more than
individual
thought upon them.
lie
not one of those
who
look for an early restitution of
3 68
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
such a Christian unity as that which marked the earlier

history
of the
Church.
Yet he even cherishes the

in
belief that
if
work may be done

or
;
that direction, which,
not
majestic
imposing,
may
by the
the
nevertheless
be
legitimate and
solid
and
is
this
least as well as
by
the
greatest.
It
the
Pope who,
as
the
first
Bishop
action
;
of
Christendom,
has
noblest
sphere
of
but the humblest of the Christian flock has his

fills it,
place of daily duty, and according as he

to
helps
make
or
mar every good

thankful
or holy work."
"
Mr. Gladstone declares that he
has viewed with
profound
and
satisfaction,
during
the
last
half- century
and more, the progressive advance of a

restoration
in
great
work of
Christian
doctrine.
It
has not been wholly confined within his

to
own country
best that he
the
Anglican communion, but
it
is
should speak of that which has been most under his

eye.
Within these
limits
it
has not been confined to

life
doctrine but has extended to Christian
and
all
it
its
workings.
The aggregate
result
has been that
has
brought the Church of England from a state externally of halcyon calm, but inwardly of deep stagnation, to
one
in which, while buffeted
more or
less
by external
storms, subjected to
some
of
trial,
and
even
now
peculiar and searching forms by no means exempt from

sees
internal
(for this
dissensions, she
is
her clergy
transformed
used),
the
word which may advisedly be

still
her vital energies enlarged and
growing
in
every

direction,
369
she
may
and a store of bright hopes accumulated that be able to contribute her share, and even
possibly no
mean
share,
in
toward a consummation of the

the world.
work of the Gospel

plation
Now
the contem-
of these changes
by no means unfortunately
involve large admissions
ministers to our pride.
They
is
of collective
fault.
This
not the place, and

in
am
I
not the proper organ, for exposition
detail.
But
may mention
the widespread depression of evangelical

of the person and
doctrine, the insufficient exhibition
the work of the Redeemer, the coldness and deadness

as well as the infrequency of public
worship, the releideas
gation
of the
Holy Eucharist
occasional
to impoverished
and to the place of one (though doubtless a solemn

one)
among
life.
its
incidents
the
gradual
effacement of Church
daily
observance from personal and
In
all
these respects there has been a prois
found alteration, which
still
progressive,
and which,
apart from occasional extravagance or indiscretion, has

indicated a real advance in the discipline of souls and
in
the work of
God on
"
behalt
of man.
Certain
publications of learned French priests," Mr. Gladstone
goes on to say,
unsuspected
the
validity
in their
orthodoxy, which
ordinations,
went
to
affirm
of Anglican
in
naturally excited
elsewhere.
much
interest
this
in
country and
to ruffle
in
But there was nothing
them
the
Roman
atmosphere, or invest the subject
the
circles of the
Vatican with the character of administra24
37Q
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
tive urgency.
When
therefore
it
came
to
be underhis
stood
that
Pope Leo the Thirteenth had given

that the validity of Anglican
commands
ordinations
should form the subject of an historical and theological

investigation,
it
was impossible not
to
be impressed
with the profound interest of the considerations brought

into view
by such a
step, if interpreted
effort
in
accordance
with just reason, as an

controversial
toward the abatement of

in
differences.
There was, indeed,
my
view, a subject of thought anterior to
the
question
upon
upon
its
intrinsic
any scrutiny of merits which deeply
impressed
itself
my
mind.
Religious controversies
do
not, like
bodily wounds, heal by the genial course

If
of nature.
they do not proceed to gangrene and to

to
mortification, at least they tend

facts, to
harden into fixed
incorporate themselves with law, character, and
tradition, nay,
even with language

the data
so that at last they
take
rank
among
and pre-suppositions of
common
it
life,
and are thought as inexpugnable as the

. .
rocks of an iron-bound coast.

require in a Pope,
What
courage must
all
what an elevation above
the
levels of
for
stormy partisanship, what genuineness of love

Christian
flock,
the whole
whether separated or
annexed, to enable
hostile
for the
him
to
approach the huge mass of

in
and
still
burning recollections
!
the
spirit,
and
purpose of peace
And
yet, that is
in
what Pope
Leo the Thirteenth has done,
first
entertaining the
question of this inquiry, and secondly, in determining
GLA DS TONE 'S BUSY LEIS URE
37 1
and providing, by the infusion both of capacity and

impartiality
into
the
investigating
tribunal,
that
no
instrument should be overlooked, no guarantee omitted,

for
the
possible
attainment of the truth.
He who
bears in mind the cup of cold water administered to

'
one of these
in
little
ones
'
will surely record this effort,
stamped
blessed.
its
very inception
as
alike arduous
and
But what of the advantage to be derived from any proceeding which shall end or shall reduce within narrower bounds the debate upon Anglican
orders
?
will
deference to
upon paper, with the utmost authority and better judgment, my own
put
it
I
personal and individual, and, as

insignificant reply to the question.
"
freely admit, very
The one controversy which, according

in the last
is
to
my
deep
conviction, overshadows, and

all
resort absorbs
others,
. . .
the controversy between
Faith and Un-
belief.
The
historical transmission of the truth
by
a
a visible
Church with an ordained
constitution,
is
matter of profound importance according to the belief
and practice of
fully three-fourths of
I
Christendom.
In
these three-fourths
include the Anglican Churches,

in
which are probably required

It is
order to
make them
up.
surely better for the
Roman and
them
in
also the Oriental
Church
to find the churches of the
Anglican succession
the assertion of
standing
side
by
side with
what they deem an important Christian principle than to be obliged to regard them as mere pretenders in
372
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
and pro tanto reduce the
testify
'
this belief
cloud of witnesses
'
willing
and desirous to
on behalf of the principle.

life
...
may add that

into
my
political
has brought
me
much
contact
with those
independent
religious
communities, which supply an important religious factor

in
the religious
life
of Great Britain and which, speak-
ing generally, while they decline to

either of the
own
the authority,
still
Roman
or the National
Church, yet
allow to what they
know
hold
as the Established religion,
no inconsiderable
conclusion,
it
upon
their
sympathies.
In
is
not for
me
it
to say
in
what
will
be the
upshot of the proceedings
now
progress at
is,
Rome.
view,
But be no room
taken
their issue
for
what
may, there
in
my
doubt as to the attitude which has been

actual
by
in
the
head
of
It
Church
in
regard to them.
Roman Catholic seems to me -an attitude

the
it
the largest sense paternal, and while
will
probably
it
stand
among
the latest recollections of
my
lifetime,
will ever
be cherished with cordial sentiments of rever-
ence, of gratitude,
letter
I it
and of high appreciation."
The
was dated Hawarden, 1896.

have quoted much of Mr. Gladstone's letter because a document full of living and also of enduring
is
interest.
The
earnestness of feeling which he threw

is
into the question
sufficiently
proved by the mere

it
evidence of the amount of physical labour
must have
taken a
man
of his advanced years to write with his
own hand
a letter which occupied two columns of the

London
daily papers.
373
Of
course the letter did not
escape controversy and censure.

daily papers which
to Mr.
is
One
of the
London
counted amongst the most devoted
Gladstone drily said that "the process of Chris-
tian reunion
which begins
one end as
at
it
Rome
will
inevitably lose
as
much
is
at
gains at the other."
The
allusion
to
the attitude taken up by
some leading
letter.
Nonconformists
Guinness
influential
toward
Mr.
Gladstone's
Dr.
Rogers, one of the most distinguished and
Nonconformist leaders and teachers

that
in
Great
Britain,
indignantly denied
Nonconformists had
religion.
any sympathy with a State -established

Rogers declared that upon
lished
his
Dr.
sympathy the Estabfaintest
Church had not the very

real Christian
hold.
He
honoured
for a
men
in
the State Church, but
religious establishment he
had no sympathy and
no
respect.
He
declared himself puzzled to
know how
a great and subtle intellect like Mr. Gladstone's could
occupy
itself
for a single
moment
as to
whether the
Pope did or did not recognise the

orders.
validity of
this
silly
Anglican
What
meant, he asked,
craving for
recognition
from
Rome ?
What
right
have
these
Anglican clergy who belonged not to a private church

to betray the liberty purchased
by
this
country by this
weak and
Pope
?
childish
sighing
after
recognition
by the
Many
all
other
distinguished
Nonconformist
at
ministers talked in the

ing,
same
strain,
and
one meet-
at
events, of Nonconformists
the
mention of
374
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
name was
received with
Mr. Gladstone's
some
hisses
which were promptly rebuked
by the voice of the
chairman and by the cheers of the great majority of

the audience.
I
am
not going into the controversy,
but
it
is
only right to record the fact that a serious

arise.
controversy did
CHAPTER
TWO
XXXII
PUBLIC APPEARANCES
letters calling
Mr. GLADSTONE was beset by give some explanation of the

orders.
on him to
position which he
had
taken up with regard to the Pope and the Anglican

I
which
will
quote a few sentences from one letter speak for many, a letter from a well-known
may
Baptist minister, the Reverend Walter
Wynn.
After
paying some well-deserved compliments to the profound interest and the ability of Mr. Gladstone's letter, the
writer goes on to say,
"
As
Nonconformist minister,
latest
is
however,
am
perplexed by this
If
demonstration
of your genius.
basis
built
your reasoning Nonconformist
right, the
whole
is
upon
up
is
which
Church
policy
unscriptural and insecure.
Any
one of
less
importance and ability than yourself could not have produced upon my mind the shock such a thought
gives me.
if
I
venture
in all sincerity to
fulfilled,
ask would you,
your heart's desire were
see the whole of
Christendom under the sway and rulership of the Pope?

If not,
why
discuss his opinion
as to the validity of
376
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
in
Anglican orders, or his sanction form of ministry

?
particular of
any
May
ask
'
also
whether your
"
?
reference to our Churches as
separate religious com-
munities
'
implies a dogmatic dislike of

in
them
Mr.
Gladstone
letter
his
"
reply said,
The tone
But
of your kind
I
commands my sympathy.
been
alarming
to
comprehend the mental

has
do not yet process by which my paper

one.
simply
this
any
My
proposition
is
the
more we, the separate bodies of

acknowledge as sound the truth more is our common
I
Christians, are able to
or usages held
by any of us, the
Christianity strengthened.
trate.
"
will
endeavour to
illus-
The Church
of
Rome
By
this
recognises as valid (when
regularly performed) baptism conferred in your
comthink
munion and
that
ours.
is
acknowledgment
in
Christianity
strengthened
face
of
non-
Christians.
For baptism read orders
(for the
purpose
applies,
of the
argument) and the same proposition

in
though unhappily
this
is
case only to us, not to you.
No harm
which
I
that
can see
done to any one

But
else.
The
settlement of this matter
is
a thing of the likelihood of

I
cannot even form an opinion.

it
honour
the Pope in the matter, as
is
my
duty to honour
every
man who
acts as
best he can with the spirit of
courage, truth, and love.

is in
I
My
answer to your question
the negative."
think there can be no doubt in the
mind of any
TWO PUBLIC APPEARANCES
377
fair-minded person that in writing this letter on the
Anglican orders Mr. Gladstone acted, as he had done

in
so
many
other
cases,
the
best
love.
he could
in
the
spirit
of courage,
truth,
and
Considering his
peculiar position his letter might be set

as a rash utterance, but then
it
down by some
has to be remembered
that
many
of the noblest words he ever uttered might
be regarded as rash utterances.

occur to
Probably
he,
it
did not
in
him
to
think
that
desire
believer
the
Anglican
Church, could
to
see
the
whole of
Christendom under the sway and rulership of the Pope.
What
Gladstone
always
did
all
desire
was,
as
that
to
the
Christian
Churches should
draw
near
one
another as possible, and should
make
common
stand
against irreligion, against infidelity, against atheism, and against indifference.
Mr. Gladstone did not see any
any Christian church or sect or He saw the enemies of good in boorish denomination. ignorance and in cultured indifference and agnosticism.
enemy
to his faith in
With him
that,
Christianity
was a
living force,
life
and more than

In
a force essential to the true
of everything.
this spirit,
and
in
none other, he gave forth his utter-
ances on the Anglican orders and the possibility of a

nearer approach between the Church of
Rome and
the
The Pope shortly after issued an Church of England. Encyclical which was undoubtedly in great part meant
as a reply to Mr. Gladstone's letter.
Nothing decisive
and
final
was
said
as to the subject of the Anglican
378
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Pope made it clear that on the part of Rome there could be no compromise of Indeed the letter was little more religion or principle.
orders, but, of course, the
than a continuation of a former Encyclical addressed

directly
by the Pope
to the English
people.
full
In that
Encyclical the Pope
made an appeal
of friendliness
and even
affection to the English people, inviting
them
to return to the religion of the
Roman
Catholic Church.
But he did not
offer
any matter of importance.
any concession or compromise on The more recent Encyclical

This was exactly
merely emphasised the same views.
what any thoughtful person might have expected. vital principle of the Roman Catholic Church
course, the
The
is,
of
is
maintenance of
its
own
doctrines.
It
certain that Mr. Gladstone's letter

in
and the Encyclical

But
reply to
it
could only tend to produce a kindlier
feeling
I
between Anglicans and

mistaken
if
Roman
Catholics.
am much
the letter and the Encyclical
did not bring about a feeling of soreness and of deep

regret
among many
But
I
of the Nonconformists of Great

position, too,
it
Britain.
Their historical
is
easy to
understand.
least,
am
sure that
some
of them, at
did not quite
comprehend or do
full justice to
the
generous impulse of Mr. Gladstone.
Following out, as
have been trying to do, the

I
story of Mr. Gladstone's career,

less
may own
it
that
am
concerned about the public
possibilities of his letter
than with the extraordinary evidence
gives of that

indomitable interest
in
379
the great affairs of humanity

instinct
which was ever and always the predominant

of
his
nature.
in
Age
could
a
emotion
him.
He saw
chance
not
wither
that
great
a possibility
of
a
uniting two of the great forces
of Christianity in
common war
came
felt
against irreligion and indifference, and he
to the front
of the
follow
It
field
and called on
all
who
with
him
to
him.
That
is
simply the
meaning of
if
his letter.
was but another testimony,

his absolute sincerity.
any such were needed, to
On
Friday, 26th June 1896, there was a peculiarly
interesting
ceremonial
at
Aberystwith
in
Wales
in
honour of the
installation
of the Prince of Wales as

University.
Chancellor of the
of
new Welsh
The
Prince
Wales
in his
new capacity
received an address from
the University Court and was presented with a key of the university, the seal, and a copy of the Charter and
the statutes.
Among
the recipients of honorary degrees
were the Princess of Wales and

description of the scene
Mr. Gladstone.
A
pre-
when
the Prince of
"
Wales
sented his wife with the degree, said that
Her Royal
Highness,
rising to confront the
Prince, face to face,
the Chancellor clasping his wife's hand, was an interesting episode, and
it
seemed
to
amuse immensely the

Latin, as
'
Princess of Wales,
who had
such
tc
a difficulty in keeping her

in
is
countenance while the Prince, speaking

the
ceremonial
of
occasions,
said,
Altissima
in
Principissa, admitto
ad gradum doctoris
musica
380
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
ad omnia privilegia hujus
came," said
dignitatis.'
et
When
"
Mr.
the
Gladstone's turn
the
same
report,
cheering was so fast and furious that the Chancellor had to wave his velvet gold-laced mortar-board with
authority before he could gain a
fair
hearing."
There
was a luncheon given afterward at which the Prince of Wales made a most sympathetic and graceful reference
to the
all
honour conferred on Mr. Gladstone.

me,"
the
"
You
sure,
will
in
join with
Prince
"
said,
am
his
thanking the veteran statesman and eminent scholar,

Mr.
Gladstone,
who,
notwithstanding
advanced
age, has undertaken a journey, necessarily fatiguing, in
order to pay a compliment to the University of Wales
and to myself as
its
Chancellor.
may
truly say that
one of the proudest moments of

found myself
confer
in
my
life
was when
the flattering position of being able to
an academic distinction
a
rare
upon Mr. Gladstone,

of
a
who
furnishes
instance
man who
has
achieved one of the highest positions as a statesman
and at the same time has attained such distinction

the
in
domain of
lation
His transand scholarship. of the Odes of Horace would alone constitute a

literature
lasting
him even had he not accomplished so much besides which has rendered him illustrious.
to
monument
Nor do we extend
stone's ever faithful
a less
warm welcome
Mr.
to
Mr. Glad-
companion and helper during the

busy
in
life."
many
course,
years
of
his
his
Gladstone,
therefore
of
his
has
home
Wales, and
381
from the University of position as recipient of honours
Wales through the voice of the Prince of Wales was a must have been a very peculiarly appropriate, and
grateful, ceremonial.
Mr. Gladstone had already been

all
loaded with honours of
kinds, but
am
sure that no
this tribute
honour was ever more welcome to him than
from the Welsh University given through the medium

of the heir to the
Principality.
Crown who bears
the
title
of the
The
as
reception offered to Mr. Gladstone
by the crowd
he returned to his special train was
something which might have given a new throb of To Mr. Gladfeeling to even the proudest of men.
stone,
who had always borne
his
honours meekly,
it
must have been a peculiarly touching and thrilling The long political struggle was over and welcome.
done.
The
heat of opposition this
way and
field.
that had
left
gone out
for ever
and Mr. Gladstone had none
but
the
friends on
both sides of the political
At
time
it
seemed
of the
likely that that ceremonial, that instal-
lation
Prince of Wales
last
as
Chancellor of the
Welsh University, was the Gladstone would consent

a public platform.
a great career, an
It
occasion on which Mr.
to
make an appearance on
to such
seemed a graceful close
honour paid to a scholar by the

lived
life.
;
people
in
whose midst he
a tribute to a states-
man's genius and to a noble
Later on Mr. Gladstone came back into
London
and
into
London
society for a short time, not to a
382
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
It
platform but to a great ceremonial occasion.
was
on 22nd July 1896 when he and Mrs. Gladstone came to be present at the marriage of one of the
daughters of the
Prince
and
Princess
of Wales
it
to
Prince Charles of Denmark.

too
Mr. Gladstone,
is
not
much
to
say,
shared public
attention with the
the young bridegroom and bride. was delighted to see how well he was Everybody looking and how vivid and active was his personal
Sovereign
and
interest in every incident that
belonged to the occasion.
Many
noted with deep regret that the sight of one of
was sadly dimmed so piercing and so thrilling

his eyes
those eyes that long were

their gaze
in
their glance
and even
in
but, so far as the ordinary conditions of
health were concerned, the great old statesman seemed

to
have moulted no feather.
wedding he went back to and declared himself to be not

his
The day after the royal Hawarden a long journey
in the least
wearied by
travel
to
London
or
by
his
attendance at the
protracted and formal ceremonial.
CHAPTER
THE
VISIT
XXXIII
TO CANNES
Ox
the 24th September
1896 Mr. Gladstone addressed

Armenia.
a great meeting held at Hengler's Circus in Liverpool
on the subject of the troubles

presided over the meeting
part
in
;
in
Lord Derby
and the speakers who took

both the great
the
proceedings
represented
political parties.
Mr. Gladstone spoke for an hour and
a quarter with a sustained physical energy which

truly marvellous for a
was
man
of his years and his con-
dition of health, and with an eloquence which recalled

to
many
listeners
the memories of bright days
when
life
he was
still
the leading figure in the political
of
England.
He
of
strongly
of diplomatic relations
recommended the breaking off with the Ottoman Porte, if the

prove a failure and
attention
to a
Concert
Sultan
Europe
refuse
should
to
the
should
pay
special
demand from
January
1
the
British
Ministry.
On
the
6th of
897 Mr. Gladstone delivered an address on The mind and the Armenian question at Hawarden.
heart of the great statesman
and orator were
still
as
384
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
all his
deeply engrossed as they had been during

ing lifetime with the
in
work-
movements of every great struggle
which the
lives
of oppressed
human
beings were at
of
stake.
The weight
suffering,
of years, the pain
unwonted
least
physical
could
not
damp
in
the
the
ardour of that sympathy which had again and again

inspired
him
to
energetic
in
action
on
behalf of the
oppressed Christians
the Sultan's dominions.
On
the 2nd of June 1897 he spoke at the Adelphi Hotel

in
Liverpool at the opening of the Victoria
Bridge over the
Dee
Jubilee
the
new
railway bridge of the
North Wales and Liverpool

it
line at Oueensferry.
1897,
is
hardly necessary to remind readers, was the year
of the Queen's Jubilee

the
the celebration which
is
called
Diamond
to
Jubilee.
Mr. Gladstone was not able to

in the
go
London
to take
his
any part
ceremonials there
but he
made
sympathy with the rejoicing of the
nation manifest at every opportunity afforded to him

within an attainable distance from his
own home.
On
10th July he received a

Colonial Premiers
visit
at
Hawarden from the

to
who had come
part in the Jubilee celebrations.
On
England to take 2nd August 1 897

little
he made a most interesting and bright

the
speech at
Hawarden Flower Show, which has been happily described as "one of his petite culture speeches," enforcin
ing with easy and graceful emphasis certain principles

the preparation of vegetables and fruit which had
always formed a favourite topic with him on occasions
THE
so
VISIT TO
CANNES
in
35
appropriate.
Every word spoken by him

over the world.
his
retirement was studied with the deepest interest, not
only in England but
all
Indeed,
when
the news went abroad that he had
made
a speech on
any
subject, the delight of the
public in
each successive
evidence of his surviving strength gave an opportunity

for
the most sanguine expectations
and
it
was quite
common
event to hear people

all his
tell
each other that
Gladstone was getting back
strength again, and
that before long he would be once more in the thick of The autumn was one of much excitement public life.
in foreign affairs,
and the horizon
in different
It
quarters
seemed gloomy with heavy
clouds.
was not un-
natural that at such a time the
minds and hearts of
men
should return to the recluse of

for all that
Hawarden with
the
hope that
seen in
had come and gone he might be

in
;
London and
active
life
once more.
half, as
The
lines
prayer was half granted

in Virgil
but only
some
in
put
it.
Mr. Gladstone was seen
London
that year.
On
Tuesday, the 23rd of
November 1897,
Mr. Gladstone returned to

It
London from Hawarden.
had been decided by him and his friends that Mr. Gladstone's health would be all the better for some
rest
under milder skies than those which an English

offer.
winter can hope to
For many years Mr. Glad-
stone had found Cannes on the Riviera a favourite spot

in
which
to seek repose
during the winter months.
He
loved to go there, even
when
25
his
health did not seem
386
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
need the warmer southern
air
to
to
keep
it
in activity
and vigour. Cannes was always a delightful rest to him after the long toil of a Parliamentary session, and
the work
to which
he devoted himself, even

Parliamentary and
in
the
hours that were free from

labour.
official
Naturally, as his years began to decline, and
his family
and
his friends
grew more and more anxious

of those
about his physical
condition, the eyes
who
his
were constantly
watching
over
him
turned
to
favourite holiday place as the congenial spot for a rest
throughout the worst months of winter.
Every care was taken to avoid anything like a popular demonstration on the occasion of Mr. Gladstone's arrival in town.
Not many of the outer public

his
had any accurate knowledge as to the time of

arrival.
In the old
days
Mr.
Gladstone
could
not
in
arrive in a railway carriage at a terminus
anywhere
Great Britain without finding himself surrounded by an eager crowd of enthusiastic admirers, who pressed to
the carriage doors and offered
him
their cordial
and
repeated cheers of greeting and
of welcome.
There
was a
time,
and not so long before, when Mr. Gladstone

it
would have found
hard to escape from the necessity

in
of delivering a speech, however short,
acknowledg-
out upon him by those who wished him well. Indeed, Mr. Gladstone had always been generously unsparing of himself,
ment of the
enthusiastic
applause poured
and was
willing,
almost to his very
latest
days, to
THE
gratify his admirers
VISIT TO
CANNES
387
by some earnest words of gratitude

this particular
it
But on and of sympathy. his arrival from Hawarden,
occasion of
was thought positively
necessary that he should be spared the physical trouble

of anything
approaching to the nature of a speech.

train
Therefore,
when the
from Hawarden appeared at
the Euston Station, only a very few spectators were
present
besides
Mr.
Gladstone's
his
immediate
medical
it
friends,
and
Dr.
Habershon,
all
London
attendant.
Yet with
to
the precautions taken,
keep a large crowd
from
was not possible collecting around the

the
arrival
station
train.
almost immediately after
of
the
The word seemed

by a
sort of
to
have been passed around,

signalling, that the great
;
as
if
magic of
statesman had arrived at the station
and a rush was
made
do
to get
even a glimpse at Mr. Gladstone's face

stationmaster and other
officials
and form.
to
The
had
their very
best in order to prevent the crowd
from crushing on to the Chester platform to get a look

at
Mr. Gladstone and give him a friendly cheer.

difficulty,
;
A
for
way was kept open, not without some

the
Mr. Gladstone's brougham to pass through
and then
windows of the saloon carriage were opened, and Mr. Gladstone's face was seen, he and
the
Mrs. Gladstone were received with ringing cheers again
moment
and again renewed.
Then Mr. Gladstone was
assisted
by his friend Mr. Armitstead to alight from the railway " Mr. Gladstone," says the account given in carriage.
388
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
"
the Daily Nezvs,

assistance,
alighted from the saloon without
much
and was evidently greatly gratified by the warmth of his reception. He wore a fur-lined coat,
buttoned close up to his throat, and a hard brown
hat.
felt
The
right hon.
gentleman vigorously returned the
handshakes
of his acquaintances,
erect to Dr. Habershon's
and walked firmly and brougham, bowing and smiling

which
first
as he went,
and raising
his hat as the cheers
greeted him were energetically renewed.
Some
of his
more ardent and demonstrative admirers

'
called
!
out
'
Good
luck, Mr. Gladstone,
and God
bless you, sir
"
Mr. Gladstone appeared to have borne the long and

toilsome journey very well, and at that time, certainly,
did not seem in any particularly feeble condition for a
man
of his years,
who had
outlived most of his former
colleagues,
and who
had borne the
shock
and the
struggle
of so
many
Parliamentary campaigns.
As
Mr. Gladstone moved

apparently
to all
full
across the platform, erect and
of energy, pale indeed, but with vitality
appearance unimpaired, a thought must have come into many a mind, of the long lifetime of toil he had
passed
political
through, and
of
the
political
associates
and
opponents who had already fallen out of the Gladstone had begun a public career ranks of life.
years before Cobden did, and Cobden had been dead
for
more than
thirty years.
Gladstone had won his
Parliamentary reputation before John Bright ever spoke

in the
House of Commons
and Gladstone had taken
THE
VISIT TO
CANNES
389
a leading part in the Parliamentary eulogy on Bright's
career which was spoken
when Bright died
in
March
1889.
The long and

Disraeli
brilliant
rivalry of eloquence
between Gladstone and Disraeli had come to an end

indeed when
Lords
public
in
life
1876;
had passed into the House of and Disraeli still lingered on in a
of comparative ease until his death in 1881,
more than a dozen years before Gladstone had made Lord up his mind to retire finally from public life.
John
Russell, the
last
Prime
Minister
under
whom
;
Gladstone served, was dead nearly twenty years

his
and
widow,
the
venerable
Countess
Russell, one of
Gladstone's warmest and most sympathetic
admirers,
had faded from

Gladstone was
life,
even in the very same winter when

All were
gone
seeking repose at Cannes.
the old familiar faces.

in
Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone remained quietly

for
London
a day or
left
two;
and on the 25th of November
they
Charing Cross Station by the eleven o'clock

on their way to Folkestone.
train in the forenoon,
At
Folkestone they spent a night, and then crossed the
Channel and broke

former days
it
their
journey again at
Paris.
In
was the habit of Mr. and Mrs. Glad-
stone to travel directly from
London
to
Cannes
but
Mr. Gladstone's family, friends, and medical
advisers
would not hear of

therefore the
his rushing
through at
this time,
and
journey was broken at

mentioned.
the two
points
which
have been
On Sunday
morning,
39o
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
28th November, Mr. Gladstoneand hiscompanionsarrived

at Cannes,
where Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone took up
their
abode
at the chateau of their old friend

in
Lord Rendel,
as Mr.
once well known

Stuart Rendel.
the
House
of
Commons
Every one who has been anywhere

;
knows Cannes
is
familiar
with
the
beauty of the
scenery, with the shores that edge the blue Mediter-
ranean, with the picturesque

hills,
outlines
of
the
Esteril
and with the famous
islet
once the prison

said to have
all
home
of the mysterious captive

iron
who
is
worn the
the year
mask.
Here, where flowers bloom
round, Mr. Gladstone sought his needed
rest.
On
the 5th January the Daily Telegraph astonished
and delighted the world by the publication of a long " Personal Recollections of Arthur H. article entitled
Hallam," by the Rt.
article
is
Hon. W. E. Gladstone.
columns long, and
is,
The
need
nearly
said,
four
it
hardly be
an account of Mr. Gladstone's reminis-
cences as an Eton boy of the Arthur Hallam whose

singularly gifted intellect and noble nature were
inspiration
the
the
of Tennyson's
observes,
"
In Memoriam."
"
As
Daily
Telegraph
Signal
and
unexampled
for
indeed must have been those virtues to win,
one
who
died so young as Arthur Hallam, the distinction

first
paid to them,
by the
greatest poet of the Victorian

its
Age, and now by the most famous of
statesmen."
note to the article
tells
us that these pages
had been
written before the recent issue from
the press of the
THE
VISIT TO
CANNES
391
Memoirs of Lord Tennyson.

"
Mr. Gladstone says that
in
the early portion of the work, as might have been
expected,
Arthur Hallam
frequently
appears.
The
so to simplicity, the directness, the depth, the integrity, speak,
of the
it
hold
is
which he took upon Tennyson,
patent as
receives
tion
upon every page of 'In Memoriam,' an altogether fresh and independent attestathese
from
biographical
records."
"
Then Mr.
Tennyson's
is
Gladstone
goes
on
to
observe that
in
estimate of Arthur Hallam's great faculties there
but
one reserve.
He
thinks
that his friend
would have
it
attained the highest summits of excellence, but that
would not have been done

poet.
It is
in
the character of a great

if
I
almost an act of arrogance
presume
I
to
agree to this judgment.

that
I
But
in
at
any
rate
may
less
say
accept
it,
yet not
the sense of affirming that
Arthur Hallam, had he
lived,
would have been
than
a great poet, but that the bent and bias of his powers
lay
in
different
though an
is
allied
in
direction."
Mr.
Gladstone's article
that,
it
study
itself.
More than
It
is
a study of a highly exalting character.
gives us a living picture of a youth whose nature

so noble
entirely
that,
was
and so exquisite, and whose
gifts
were so
above the ordinary range of men's intellect, to adopt the immortal words of Richard Steele,
to love
him was
a liberal education.
The
first
sentence
of Mr. Gladstone's article sounds the keynote of the
whole panegyric.
"
Far back
in
the distance of
my
392
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
life,
early
and upon a surface not yet
ruffled
by con-
tention, there lies the
memory
of a friendship surpass-
ing every other
that
has ever been enjoyed by one
greatly blessed both in the

of his friends."
lightful
number and
from
is
the excellence
to
last
is
The
;
article
first
deto
reading
the
reader
lost
in
wonder
as
what kind of young man that must have been who exercised so strange and subtle and overmastering a charm on two such intellects and two such temperaments
as those of
Lord Tennyson and Mr. Gladstone.

for a
We
son
cannot possibly imagine
moment
carried
that
Tennyhero-
and
Gladstone
far,
could
have
their
worship too
that
they could
both, without
any
concert, have described in
terms equally glowing the
character and the nature of the

if
young man who was,

life
we may say
so,
only shown to
Mr. Gladstone
snatched
away.
and then suddenly sometimes passingly
spoke
friend,
in this article of his
own
inferiority to his
young
to a
and of course we know that he was given
generous habit of self-depreciation.
When
delivering
to his
"
:
an oration on
the
unveiling
of a
monument
dead friend Sidney Herbert, Mr. Gladstone said

is
It
not given to us
common men
to appreciate
Sidney
Herbert's whole nature and career."
could venture to class Mr. Gladstone
No human being " with us common

that he was a
men
"
;
we know
that he was one of the most extra-
ordinary
men
of his age, and
we know
much
greater
man
than even his gifted friend Sidney
THE
VISIT TO
CANNES
393
Herbert could possibly have been.

allowance
for
We
must make
the sincere generosity of an admiration
which compelled Mr. Gladstone at such a moment to

exalt Sidney
Herbert to a pedestal higher than that

his
which any Englishman of

if
time could deserve.
Yet
any one, thinking of that noble praise and that generself- depreciation,
ous
were to be inclined thence to

led
argue that Gladstone might have been
away
to
it
overpraise the friend of his youth, Arthur Hallam,
has to be remembered that something like the length of
an ordinary lifetime had passed between Gladstone's

personal
knowledge
of
Hallam and
his
deliberate
tribute published
only the other day.
Even
the most
sceptical appraiser of evidence will
have to allow that
the youth
who
could so impress Tennyson and Gladlifetime,
stone
during his
for so
and
leave
the
impression
undimmed
many
years
after,
must have been one
high above the level of his time, above the level even
of most of the really gifted
among
his contemporaries.
Mr. Gladstone's article
is
one of the most affecting
tributes ever paid in history to a
man
snatched away
from
life
too soon to allow the outer world any chance

itself.
of judging him for
Tennyson's poem
Milton's
is
monu"
ment
as enduring as
that which
"
Lycidas
Gladin
raised to
stone's
prose.
him who was the object of

is
its tribute.
article
in
its
way
perfect
monument
read
The
article,
all
of
course,
was
with
the
deepest interest
over the English-speaking countries,
394
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
indeed,
and,
over
every
country
where
men
take
of
account of the
literature
and the statesmanship
England.
The
have
publication in the Daily
Telegraph
led
to
strong and
in
general
hope that
Mr.
Gladstone might
his
hand some piece of work dealing with

and varied
own
personal reminiscences of the great
men whom he had
known during
in
his long
career.
Some words
the Daily Telegraph itself seemed to suggest such a
possibility
at all
events,
seemed
to
convey the idea
that the article on Arthur
Hallam had already been

in
prepared and was only published

application and request.
answer
if
to a special
Such a book,
Mr. Glad-
stone had completed

progress
it,
or even
made
any considerable
with
it,
would of course be of inestimable

But whether or not we are
advantage
to the world.
yet to see any further revelation of Mr. Gladstone's

reminiscences,
it
is
certain
that the article on Arthur

to
Hallam gave a
Perhaps
it
fresh
and new delight
the world.
is not too much to say that the younger the article, not so much because welcomed generation it was in praise of Arthur Hallam, as because they
hoped
it
was an evidence that Mr. Gladstone was

engaged
in
still
actively
the
work of enlightening the
The younger generation, indeed, but faintly world. remembered the name of Arthur Hallam young men and women were, and are, rapturous about " In
;
Memoriam," but
it
was the poem
itself
they admired
THE
rather than the
VISIT TO
CANNES
such young
395
monument.
To
men and
women
then there came the glad and hopeful thought
that Mr. Gladstone's
the world might
still
work was not wholly done,- that hear from him again and again,
and people, old and young, welcomed alike this fresh Even, it was said, if proof of Mr. Gladstone's vitality.
this tribute to
Arthur Hallam should have been written

Gladstone's
some time
ago, yet the very fact of Mr.

it
having consented to give

is
to the
world
in his lifetime
an evidence of the keen interest he
still
takes in his
good reason to hope that he is in his old way of work again, and that we shall have fresh chapters to tell us of his recollections and his experikind, and sends us
ences
and
his
friendships.
At
came
all
events
it
is
quite
certain that the publication
like a ray of sunlight
breaking the darkness of that winter which was made
melancholy to so
many by
the dread that the great
career was drawing to
its close.
When
reading over this article for the

at
first
time,
had not observed a note
the bottom of the
first
column which possibly gives an explanation as to the source from which the article reached the London press.
The note
contains the words
"
Copyright
in
the United
Canada by the Youth's Companion'.' There was apparently some co-operation between the Daily
States and
Telegraph and the Youth's Companion
in
the
publica-
tion of Mr. Gladstone's "Recollections of Arthur
Hallam."
The
note brought back to
my mind some
interesting
and
396
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
pathetic memories.
now
The
Youth's Companion
is
a
in
weekly
magazine of great and Boston, although intended
circulation
chiefly
published
for the
young,
yet having a goodly world of readers
among
those
who
have
left
youth behind.
have often had the honour

I
of being a contributor to the Youths Companion, and
had the
for
it
still
greater honour of being the
first
to secure
It
a contribution
in this
from
Mr. Gladstone.
came
about
way.
During
my
latest visit to
America,
now some
obtain
ten
years ago, the editor

if
I
of the
Youths
Companion asked me
to
thought
contribution,
its
would be possible however short, from Mr.

it
Gladstone to
pages.
had the courage

I
to offer to
make
the
effort,
and when
I
returned to
London some
few months
after,
at
once approached Mr. Gladstone on

I
the subject in the
House of Commons.
pointed out to
Mr. Gladstone that an article from him on a particular

subject mentioned would be of inestimable value to
readers,
I
all
young and
old, of the
Youth's Companion, and
dwelt upon the good work that little periodical was doing, by bringing home to the minds of the young in
especial
different
some kindly counsels from leading men

parts
in
of the world.
Mr. Gladstone after a
while consented to look favourably on
my
suggestion,
and the
result
was that he sent some contributions from

Youth's
time to time to the delighted editor of the
Companion.
egotistic
hope
part
it
will
I
not be considered ignobly
on
my
if
mention
this
fact,
and give
THE
expression to the
VISIT TO
CANNES
pride which
I
397
now melancholy
feel in
having been the means of inducing Mr. Gladstone to

address himself directly to a large circle of American
readers,
young and
old.
Of
course
know nothing
of
the facts connected with the publication of the article
by which the Daily Telegraph delighted the public on

the 5th January
1898
but the reference to the Youth's
Companion brought back to my mind a recollection which I hope the reading public in general will not
think unworthy to be mentioned, even in connection
with a subject of such thrilling and universal interest as
Mr. Gladstone's noble tribute to the

friend of his youth.
memory
of the
CHAPTER XXXIV
BACK TO ENGLAND
SOON
Mr. Gladstone's friends

all
alarmed by
England began to be manner of distressing rumours about the

in
state of his health.
The presence
of a
man
from
like
Mr.
Gladstone was, of course, a fact of the

in
first
magnitude
all
place
like
Cannes, where
visitors
the
civilised countries in
the world were assembled during
the season, where the interest of every one was concentrated
on the illustrious patient, and

lip to lip
where
rumour
spread from
the
with the rapidity and the ease of
transmission
of
sound
in
whispering gallery.
at Cannes, the idea
is
There are rapid changes of weather

of
many
of
untravelled Englishmen that the Riviera

celestial
shore
brightness and
tranquillity,
"
where,
according to the words of Edgar Poe,

to stir except
no wind dares
on
tiptoe," sends abroad far too glorified
a picture of
Cannes during the winter. There are keen cold winds that suddenly blow there, and as sudlife
at
denly cease, there
is
the mistral
now and
then,
and
there are hours of rain, and sometimes even of dismal
BACK TO ENGLAND
darkness.
399
The
idea that Cannes corresponds in steady
warmth of
delightful climate with
Nile in winter or
some place upon the with southern California, is a dream

for
which
invalid.
is
sometimes roughly disturbed
many
an
Mr. Gladstone's physicians and friends had to
take the utmost care of his
movements on any day
in
Cannes when the temperature suddenly went down, or in from the Mediterranean. the. wind blew keenly
Sometimes a drive
in
the forenoon or the afternoon
would have to be given up, an excursion here or there

to be put
off, air.
and the
shelter of the
home
preferred to
as
;
the open
Such precautions would have passed

of Mr. Gladstone they
a matter of course in the case of an
ordinary invalid
but
in
the
case
became the
apprehension.
inevitable
occasions
of
alarm
and
of
Every day and almost every hour telegrams were sent
Europe and of America, announcing that Mr. Gladstone had not gone out in the forenoon, or had had to put off his drive in the afteroff to the leading journals of
noon, and each message became the source of gloomy

forebodings.
Probably no invalid who ever had

his
his
temporary home on the Riviera before found
movewhich
daily-
ments followed with so keen an
interest
as that
awaited every message telling of Mr. Gladstone's

condition of health.
No
royal personage of our times

in
would have had the whole world watching him
the
same way.
personage
is
Deep
interest
in
the
health
of a
royal
usually confined to the royal personage's
400
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
subjects, or to those
own
who had engaged
in
diplomatic
or public
work which brings them
into relationship with
the sovereigns of every nation.

a
But there was hardly

States, in
man
or
woman
among
in
the United
Canada,
in
Australia,
states, to
the educated populations of European
whom
Mr. Gladstone was not a living and a
most interesting figure. Every line sent by submarine or ocean cable which related to Mr. Gladstone's health
was read with the keenest of

attaches to
interest,
which usually only

friend.
some message concerning a personal

as these,
it
Under conditions such

natural was
is
easy to see
how
the incitement to surmise

it
and to alarm.
We may take
tion prevailed
for
granted that no purposed exaggera-
but the tendency of a large proportion

is
of
mankind always
that
to put
the worst construction on
any piece of doubtful news.
Then, again,
it
became
severely
known
from
Mr.
in
Gladstone
the
face,
was and
suffering
all
pains
who
had
life
any
were
acquaintance with Mr. Gladstone's previous

well
aware of the
an
fact
that he had,
up
to that time,
free
is,
enjoyed
existence
It
almost
altogether
it
from
physical pain.
seems wonderful, but
believe,
an absolute
fact,
that except for one or two accidents
which brought
temporary
suffering
with
life
them,
Mr.
Gladstone had lived his splendidly robust
untroubled
by any of the physical pangs which are the common and frequent accompaniments of an ordinary existence.
Not
unnaturally, therefore, in the mere fact that Mr.
BACK TO ENGLAND
Gladstone
felt
\o\
intense pain
all
now and
then at Cannes,
many
for
of his admirers
that
over the world found a reason
believing
a final note of warning had
been
sounded.
stone
to,
Sometimes the pain prevented Mr. Glad-
from enjoying his usual delight of being read

real
and he was thrown back on the only
pleasure
left to
him
for the time, the pleasure of listening to soft
sweet music.
We
had
all
become accustomed
to
Mr.
rest.
Gladstone's peculiar ideas about retirement and
He had
this
often gone to
Cannes
for absolute repose before
last
season, and we
all
soon
learned
how
the
interval of repose
had been
diversified
by a constant
itself
mental activity which was always concerning

the
about
movements of the world

itself in letters
outside,
and was always
expressing
addressed to his friends at

to the newspapers.
home, or
in utterances
made known
When, more than twenty years

from
office
before, he
had
retired
on the ground that his advancing age no
longer allowed him to undertake the work of directing
a great party,
consisted
we
in
all
saw that
his
interval
field
of leisure
only
to
turning
from
all
one
of
eager
occupation
another.
We
saw, too, with what
sudden energy he returned to the very front of public when the cry of the Christians suffering under life,
Turkish tyranny appealed to his generous emotions. Later on, when he withdrew absolutely from the life of
the
House of Commons, we saw that he still engaged himself in work that concerned politics and literature,
26
402
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
ecclesiastical
and
study and religion.
In
in
fact,
we had
grown
of Mr.
to be unable to
form a picture
our
own minds
and doing
all
Gladstone enjoying entire
leisure
absolutely nothing in the

that he
way
of work.
;
We
but
knew
was
in
his eighty-ninth year
we had got
with
into the habit of regarding
him
as a
man
whom
were
still
years counted for nothing, and there were
many who,
they
up
to the time of his actual departure for Cannes,

full
constantly declaring, in
sincerity,
that
expected to see Mr. Gladstone come back once more to

the
House of Commons.
Therefore, the news
came
as
a sudden shock to the minds of most people
when
the
tell
telegraphic reports in the daily papers began to
them that Mr. Gladstone was no longer writing anything, that he was not reading, and that there were
times
when he was not strong enough

if
to listen to the
words of a book
that the
read out to him.
Thus
it
happened
and
to
most alarming rumours began to go abroad make a profound and disheartening impression
on the minds of Mr. Gladstone's own personal friends

in
England.
Those who had expected

the sunny air of the
impossibilities
at the
time of his removal to Cannes,

if
who had
talked
and written as
medicine
in
it
Riviera
had
to
make an
old
man renew
his youth,
now became
proportionately disheartened, and could
only read with gloomiest foreboding every telegraphic
message published
papers.
in
the morning and evening news-
The
idea
got abroad
that
Mr.
Gladstone
BACK TO ENGLAND
was absolutely dying, and even that he wished
death.
403
for
Soon we began
be better
return to
to hear in
England that Mr. Gladit
stone's physicians agreed with his family that

for
would
him
to
leave
winter at
some place of rest Cannes had not been
Cannes before long and under English skies. The

as soft
it
and mild as had
been
confidently expected, and
was thought that
some warm, quiet place in the South of England, some nook sheltered from chill winds, would breathe a new
strength into the invalid and would relieve him from
some of the keen pains which had lately been afflicting him. Bournemouth with its sheltering pine woods and
its
warm
genial air
was fixed upon as the place most
suitable for such a purpose.
The papers began
to
tell
us from day to
to
England.
day of Mr. Gladstone's expected return At first the news was received with a
surprise
certain
amount of
and
even
alarm, but
it
proved to
have been decided on as the most advisable
course to take.
On
They
Friday, the
8th
February, Mr.
their
and Mrs. Gladstone reached London on

from Cannes.
return
arrived at Charing Cross Station
at half-past five o'clock in
the afternoon, and drove at
once to the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Gladstone in Whitehall Court. Only a {e\v intimate friends knew
when
except
the
for
arrival
was
to
take
place,
and
therefore, to
those
who expected him and came

the
receive him, there were comparatively few on
rail-
404
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
platform
way
when the
train
drew
up.
writer in
the Daily
News
thus describes the appearance of the

"
great statesman as he stood upon the platform.
He
was
to
at
once surrounded by the friends who had come
meet him, and was soon shaking hands all round, His whole bearing, although unsmiling cheerfully.
doubtedly that of one
full
of years, irresistibly reminded
one of those
in
later
Parliamentary years when his vigour
relation
to
his
for
age was so marked.

his
all,
He
looked
little
distinctly better
affected, or not
trip.
He seemed
but
at
by the raw damp
air,
but did
not of course remain on the platform long.
His winter
overcoat was buttoned up around him, but he was not

muffled up in the
while
his
ordinary acceptation of the term,

felt
brown
hat gave an
almost sprightly
adds,
appearance to his
"
figure."
The
writer
most
interesting statement
made by Mr. Henry

"
it
Gladstone.
My
father," said
Mr. Henry Gladstone,
did not feel

is
the cold in the change from Cannes, and

to say, as
arrival.
ridiculous
some have
I
said, that he looked pale even on
have known
my
father forty years,
and
never saw him look otherwise than pale.

is
Mr. Gladstone
it
the better for his stay at Cannes, but
is
known
Yet
that
Cannes
is
not the best place for neuralgia.
my
father has got
up strength, and to-day walked from

in
Calais
Hotel to the steamboat, and disembarked

foot without fatigue."
England on
following there was cold air and sleet,
For the two days and Mr. Gladstone
BACK TO ENGLAND
45
did not venture to leave his son's house in Whitehall

Court.
"
Had he
consulted his
own
wishes," says the
writer in the Daily
News,
"
Mr. Gladstone would no
doubt have paid a round of
calls
on Saturday morning,
visited booksellers' shops in the afternoon,

off
and rounded
the splendid
the day by witnessing Julius Ccesar"
performance of Shakespeare's play which was then to

be seen at Mr. Beerbohm Tree's theatre. be
easily
Yet
it
will
understood
that
Mr. Gladstone's
enforced
captivity at Whitehall
solitude.
It
is
Court was not exactly one of

think
of
the
pleasant to
his
manner
friends
in
which
he
passed
time,
all
receiving
long.
and
acquaintances and callers Wales paid him a visit

returned the
first
day
visit
The
Prince of
which Mr. Gladstone
day he was able to leave the house. Mr. John Morley, who had served with him during his great later struggles as Prime Minister, dined with him
on Saturday night, and on
Sunday
the friends
who
came
him were Lord Acton and Lady Frederick Cavendish, the latter the widow of his old
to dinner with
friend
Lord Frederick Cavendish who was done

in
to death
by assassins
the Phcenix Park, Dublin.

called on
many
said
friends
who
him, and
Among the with whom he
held pleasant talk, and whose
names
it
need hardly be
they were to be
Dr. Nansen.
would make a long catalogue
if
printed, were Sir
Edward Burne-Jones and
the famous Arctic explorer.
On
the evening of the
22nd, Sir William Ilarcourt addressed a crowded meet-
406
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Bury in Lancashire, and gave to his listeners a cheering and delightful message from Mr. Gladstone " I may himself. interrupt what I was going to say,"
ing at
said Sir William Harcourt in the opening of his speech,
"
by
telling
I
yesterday
you what you will be glad to hear, that had the honour and privilege of a long
conversation with Mr. Gladstone, and though he had

suffered
much and
is
still
suffering
much,
his heart
is
as full of attachment to the great principles of
which
I is
he has been the great apostle as
it
ever was.
am
still
glad to be able to say that, though suffering, he

in
'
I am going to Lancano danger. I said to him, shire, what shall I say there?' and he answered, Say I
'
wish you
they
will
well, I
wish the Liberal Party well, and
hope
stand by the principles which

"
we have always
Mr. Gladstone
professed.'
It
may
to
be
added
that
found time also
convey a message to the Irish people, assuring them of his unfading and his unalterable
Altogether, the sympathy with their cause. arrival in England was one full of encouragement and
of
hope
to the public of these countries
and
to the
civilised world.
Owing
to the alarming reports
which
had appeared
in
some of the newspapers many of Mr.

England would be but
fact,
Gladstone's friends and admirers had been led to fear

that his returning to the soil of
a melancholy event, the forerunner, in

career's close.
of a great
Some
of us had been thinking of what
we had
read about the return of Sir Walter Scott to his
BACK TO ENGLAND
native
soil,
407
back from that
visit to
visit
Italy from
which so
much had been hoped, that

only to
die.
from which he came
home
Mr. Gladstone's return, on the contrary,
seemed
gleam of brightness with it. was gladdened and even him Every one who saw surprised to see how well and strong he looked, comto bring a distinct
paratively speaking,
and with what vigour he had borne
the journey so trying for a
man
of his years.
The next
day, Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, accompanied
by Mr. Henry Gladstone and Miss Helen Gladstone, went on to the Waterloo Station to take the train for
Bournemouth.
at
It
was on
his
way
there that he called

visit
Marlborough House and returned the

of
of the
at
Prince
Wales.
The
which
travelling
five
party
arrived
Bournemouth shortly before

noon.
o'clock in the after-
The
place
is
had
been
taken
for
him,
Forest House,
fine
situated on the East Cliff

pier.
and has a
is
view of the bay and the

to every
Bournemouth
known
softer at
one
in
and a warmer
the
air
England who has to seek a than that which can be found

sea
-
most of
breezy
It
side
places
for
along
the
southern
coast.
was chosen
its
Mr. Gladstone's
for
residence because of
especial
fitness
an invalid
who
suffered from neuralgic pains.
desire
among
the residents at
There was a strong Bournemouth and the
visitors there that
some public demonstration of welcome

Gladstone's coming
;
should be
made on Mr.
lest
but his
son Herbert feared
anything
like a public reception
4o8
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
might tempt a man as unsparing of himself as Mr.

Gladstone has always been, to overtask himself with expressions of gratefulness
;
and so with a thoughtful and

Mr. Gladstone and his
considerate firmness, the son was able to secure for his

father a perfectly quiet arrival.
travelling
House
companions made their way at once to Forest and the public had the satisfaction of knowing
that the venerable statesman was in no wise the worse

for his journey.
The news
of his arrival could not but
spread fast and widely through a small community like

that of
Bournemouth
and Mr. Gladstone, as he drove
along to Forest House, was greeted by crowds of people
on the way, who bade him welcome with genial and

enthusiastic cheers.
to raise
his hat
in
The aged statesman never

acknowledgment of
this
failed
extempo-
raneous welcome, and he beamed looks of thankfulness
and kindness on
rush
of
his
admirers.
As was
in
but natural, a
hope
had
succeeded
every mind to the
despondency caused by the alarming reports of a few days before, and many a voice expressed a confident
hope that Mr. Gladstone might yet and happy years.
live for
some
bright
Then followed
Gladstone, and,
a series of days of quietude for Mr.
if it
may
be put
so,
of quietude for the

told
as
;
anxious
that
public.
The newspapers
us every day
well as
his
Mr.
Gladstone
was going on
and that the physicians and his family could expect neuralgia had considerably abated its pain, although it
BACK TO ENGLAND
had not yet altogether withdrawn
noticed,
its
409
It
presence.
was
however,
that
;
Mr. Gladstone
spent
several
this
successive days indoors
and the explanation of

in
was to be found, no doubt,
the fact that the weather
had been changeable, that the temperature fell suddenly, and that there were moods of chill moisture in the
skies.
member
of
the
family
observed
to
the
correspondent of one of the London newspapers that

there had been a tendency in popular
from
one extreme to the other

is
rumour
to run
tendency indeed
popular rumour
which
by no means uncommon
in
and that the exaggerated reports of Mr. Gladstone's physical depression at Cannes had been followed by
equally exaggerated reports about his complete restoration
to
vigorous
health
at
Bournemouth.
In
the
meantime the public were glad to know that the great statesman was suffering less from neuralgic pains, and
that he
was able
to enjoy his domestic

later
life
better than
his
he had done during the

Cannes.
period of
stay at
He
delighted once again to be read to for a

friends
in
time, and he was glad of the visits of brought him news of what was going on
who
the great
world.
That great world, indeed, was a good deal perturbed The conduring Mr. Gladstone's exile from London.
dition
of foreign affairs
full
as
ominous and
was regarded by many persons of alarm. There were the troubles

;
on the north-western frontier of India
and
for a while
410
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
every morning's newspapers brought us accounts of the

loss
of gallant
lives, literally
flung
away
as
it
seemed
to
most of
us, in
the assertion of a policy about which
ninety-nine of every hundred Englishmen

whatever, and about which a majority of
knew nothing those who did
know something
disapproval
could not speak or think of without

regret.
It
and
would be impossible
for
Mr. Gladstone's friends and admirers not to keep saying

to themselves that such a policy could never
have pre-
vailed
if
he were at the head of
affairs
it
was im-
possible for
some of
us to keep from hoping that the

ears every
his.
news which reached our

siderately withheld from
culties with the
Then
day might be conthere were diffiand here again
French
in
West
Africa,
there were portents and alarms of war.

in
the
nearer
Greece and
could
tell
East Turkey was
The
question
the
question which .concerned

still
unsettled,
fresh
and no one
outbreak of
at
what moment some
Turkish fanaticism might not horrify the world and

put the diplomatists of the great Powers at their wits'
ends once again.
In the farther East, the condition of
things was ominous, and ominous, too, in a

peculiar
new and
way.
There seemed to be a simultaneous

on the part of some of the great
portion of Chinese territory as
desire or intention
Powers
to deal with a
certain other great
with Poland
European Powers had once dealt

and
to adopt the principle of partition,
give a goodly slice to each of the foreign claimants.
BACK TO ENGLAND
411
Russia and
Germany seemed
to be
deep
in
the scheme
of course,
of seemings, for
we of the outer public could only judge we were not permitted to know much
of what was really passing
and
it
was certain that

to
England could not allow the
partition
go on under
to secure
her very eyes without adopting her
some policy
at
own
interests
and the
interests
too of the world's
open
trade.
Lord Salisbury was
once Prime Minister
and Foreign Secretary, and even
his
opponents of the
Liberal Party appeared to accept the belief that while
he would do nothing to precipitate a war, he would do

his
very best to secure that no arrangements imposed
or enforced on China
by Russia,
or
Germany, or both
combined, should be allowed to interfere with the open

trade of the world.
Many
of Lord Salisbury's
own
followers were, on the other hand, rather impatient with
him, and talked as
if
he were giving way and displaylet
ing feebleness because he did not instantly

the lion
loose
upon Russia and the unicorn upon Germany.

to the perplexities, a
in
To add
to
new
political factor
seemed
affairs.
be coming up
the
problem of foreign
There were indications that some of the statesmen of

the
.American
Republic were
becoming
disposed
to
abandon the
and
to
traditional
policy of George Washington,

in
concern themselves
the
movements of
it
the
European Powers.
The United
States,
was assumed,
could not allow the Chinese question to be disposed of
without having something to say
in a
matter which so
412
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
interests.
deeply concerned their trading and commercial
There was even some
talk
on both sides of the Atlantic
of an arrangement between
a
England and America

if
for
common
understanding, and,
necessary, a
common
Now,
action in the settlement of the Chinese question.

as
America had always up

all
to this time kept absolutely
out of
the complications brought about by the policy
of European States, the mere fact that such a treaty
could have been thought necessary, or could even have
been thought of as a possible necessity, had enough

it
in
to
alarm enterprising minds.
The alarm was
further
increased by the fact that the beginning of the quarrel
which led to war was going on between Spain and the

United States with regard to the Island of Cuba
much embittered suddenly by

in
constant source of recrimination and misunderstanding

the blowing up, acci-
dental or otherwise, of a great American ship of war
Cuban
;
waters.
The
foreign horizon
at
seemed
full
of
clouds
and there were many here

in
home who were

flash
only awaiting
lightning.
anxiety for the

a time almost
first
of the
At such
all
Liberals were
sincerely glad that a
be at
Lord Salisbury should the head of foreign affairs. Lord Salisbury had
like
far as the public
man
no sympathy whatever, so
could judge,
is
with the arrogant and truculent
spirit of what
now
known
States.
as jingoism both in
England and the United
The
President of the American Republic, Mr.
McKinley, said of himself, apparently creating an ex-
BACK TO ENGLAND
pressive verb for the purpose, that he
413
was not a man to
be "jingoed" into a policy of war.
Even
his
political
opponents
for the
most part believed that Lord
Salis-
bury, too, was not a man to be jingoed into a policy of war. But the same confidence was not by any means felt in all of Lord Salisbury's colleagues, and
just at a critical
moment Lord
Salisbury's health gave

it
way
the
Prime Minister fought
out
to
the best
of his power, but one day, after he had attended a long
and important meeting of the Cabinet Council, he completely
broke down, and the next morning's papers

his
announced that
absolute
physicians
all
had
insisted
on
his
abandonment of
official
work
for the time.
Now
it
will
be impossible that an event such as this
could occur at so
a general alarm
;
momentous a
and
in
crisis
without diffusing
point of fact for the
moment
of
the attention of the public was diverted from the condition
of
Mr. Gladstone
People here at
to
the
condition
Lord
to
Salisbury.
home kept expressing

in
each other a hope that the threatenings
the near
East and
as
in
the far East and in
West Africa were kept

of
much
as possible
from Mr. Gladstone's knowledge,

the
and
especially
that
news
Lord
Salisbury's
ears.
dangerous condition was not allowed to reach his

Still
those of us
who knew how

and indeed of
it
keen,
how
vital,
how
irrepressible
was Mr. Gladstone's

people,
interest in the affairs

all
of his
own
the world, could
hardly believe that
would be possible to keep from
4H
that
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
eager and
inquiring
in
mind some knowledge of

active
political
what
from
was
which
passing
that
world
he
had
been
compelled
to
withdraw.
No
over
fact
better illustration can be given
of the
manner
in
which Mr. Gladstone's invalid seclusion was watched
by the outer public than was found some piece of striking that, whenever
or
reassuring,
in
the
news,
alarming
appeared
question
that
in
the
telegrams
"
?
from
abroad,
"
the
first
each of us put to
affect
himself was,
at
How
will
news
Gladstone
Bournemouth.
I
have spoken already of a message sent by Mr.

Later on
Gladstone bidding Ireland be of good cheer.
a message more emphatic and of a public nature, carry-
ing
with
it
counsel
of
wisdom, was sent by Mr.
Gladstone to the Irishmen at

St.
home and
in
in
England.
is
Patrick's
Day, the
17th March,
in
every year
solemnised by Irishmen
banquet.
London
last
at a great national
On
the 17th
March
the usual banquet
was
and the chairman, Mr. Dillon, M.P., opened the proceedings by reading a letter received from Mr.
held,
Gladstone.
The
letter
it
was dated Bournemouth, 9th

contained
a
these
March
Mr.
1898, and
Dillon
words: "Dear
for
in
send
word
Day.
is
Banquet on
St. Patrick's
sympathy Your cause is
of
the
your
own
hands.
If Ireland
;
disunited, her cause so long
remains hopeless
if,
on the contrary, she knows her

in spirit, that
own mind and
is
one
cause
is
irresistible.
BACK TO ENGLAND
415
With kind
It
regards and good wishes,
am, dear Mr.
Dillon, yours faithfully,
W.
E. Gladstone."
was
be
at
once arranged that the following message
should
sent
"
by
telegraph
to
Mr.
Gladstone
at
Bournemouth.
assembled at
Irishmen and Irishwomen of London
St. Patrick's
Day Banquet have
received
your
letter
with the deepest pleasure.
They beg you
to accept their affectionate greetings,
and the expression
of their profound sense of your mighty championship of the cause of an oppressed nation, and of your noble
and
undying
faith
in
the
ultimate
triumph of that
cause."
CHAPTER XXXV
HOME AT LAST
It had been noticed for some days
that,
although the
at
weather latterly was mild,
soft,
and sunny
Bourne-
mouth, Mr. Gladstone seldom ventured out of doors.
During a whole week he had only once

House, and
to those
left
Forest
who knew how

in
his
whole nature
air,
found delight and refreshment
the open
there
was something ominous and even alarming about the fact. On the 19th March the Daily News declared
itself
authorised to
make
the following statement

in
"
:
In
the absence of
any improvement
in
Mr. Gladstone's
condition
it
has been settled

return
to
consultation that Mr.
Gladstone should
Hawarden next week."
On
in
the 2
st
of
March
the Daily Neivs added to that
information the statement that Mr.

reply to inquiries
1
Henry Gladstone,
made on
"
the previous Saturday,
the
9th, stated that
in the
absence of any improveit
ment of Mr. Gladstone's

in
condition,
has been settled
consultation
that
the right hon. gentleman should the present week."

"
return to
Hawarden during
Many
HOME AT LAST
serious reports have been spread," says the' Daily
"
417
News,
and
but
these
should
be
disregarded
for
the
present.
Frequent
consultations
between
Dr.
Habershon
other doctors have been held on the case.
There can
pulled
be no doubt Mr. Gladstone
is
very
much
down
by
his
sufferings,
which have lasted now nearly three
months."
The
family party at Forest
House
included,
besides Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, Mr.
Henry
Gladstone,
Helen Gladstone, the Rev. Stephen Gladstone, Most of us were anxious and Mr. Herbert Gladstone.
Miss
to
derive
some comfort from the news
that
Mrs.
Gladstone continued to attend divine service, and went

out
now and
then, going
for
instance
to
meet Mr.
Herbert Gladstone at the railway station.
There was
enough in this, at all events, to warrant the belief that no sudden change was expected in the condition of
the illustrious patient.
The continuance
of the pains
from which Mr. Gladstone suffered had forced him to

leave Cannes and seek for relief
Bournemouth.
by a change of air to The change having failed to do any
good, and the pains continuing with undiminished force, would naturally enough induce Mr. Gladstone's medical
advisers to
come
to the conclusion that

air,
if
he were no
better for the

at
Bournemouth
he might as well return
once to the familiar quietude of the
home surrounded
by the woods of Hawarden.

hopes of
left
On
this slender cheer the
Mr. Gladstone's
for
friends
and admirers were

there
to
feed
the time.
-7
Some
were, indeed,
4i 8
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
not even yet without the belief that a return
who were
to the familiar
after
all
home and
the
familiar
air
might be
the best medicine for the strange
new
pains
from which Mr. Gladstone suffered, and that these pains

themselves, trying as they were to one so
little
used to
physical agony, might not prove to be any
more than a
passing ailment, and might fade

the patient of the strength that
to sustain
life
away without depriving could still enable him

It
for yet a
longer term.
would have
been hardly possible
for
Mr. Gladstone to
know
with
for
what an intensity of
or studying,
line of
interest the world
was waiting
and
now
with hope,
now with
depression, every
told
news which spoke of
his condition
of
his
intended journey home.
The journey was made on Tuesday, 22nd March. The day was beautiful, and every arrangement of course
was made which could render
able.
travel easy
and comfortat
royal
saloon
carriage
was
placed
the
disposal of Mr. Gladstone and his travelling companions.
At
eleven o'clock the travellers appeared on the plat-
form, Mr.
and
Mrs.
in
Gladstone
close
having
driven
from
Forest
House
carriage.
all
The
roads
were
crowded
with anxious spectators

station.
along the
the
way
from the house to the

arrived, the Rev.
out,
When
carriage
father
Stephen Gladstone helped
his
and
Mr. Gladstone walked into the hall of the

hat
several
railway station, raising his
times
to
the
crowds who had assembled.
He walked
firmly enough,
HOME AT LAST
He
and
419
but most of the bystanders observed that he looked pale
and
ill.
showed, however, his characteristic cheerhis face
fulness,
expressed kindly and sympathetic
feeling in reply to the purposely
subdued demonstrations
of the
many
see his
and admirers who had gathered to When departure and to wish him God-speed.
friends
he reached the door of the saloon carriage, Mr. Gladstone
stopped
for
a moment, and turning round, said in a
low
voice
but
clear
enough
to
all,
be heard
one present,
the land
"God
bless
you
love."
words
"
God
you Every voice answered with the you, sir," and then in a moment or
bless
and
this
by every place, and
two, amid the cheering of the crowd, the train passed out of the station, and the great statesman was on his
way home. The train reached Oxford
shortly after half-past two,
and although crowds assembled near the Great Western Railway station, none but those about to travel by that
train,
and the representatives of the newspapers, were

to
permitted
go on to the platform.
to pass
Mr. Gladstone
in
was allowed
silence
through the station
a respectful
on the part of the bystanders.

at the
He
did
it
not
show himself
window
of his carriage, but
was
his
explained by Mr. Herbert Gladstone that, thus

father
far,
had borne the journey remarkably
well.
One
could not but imagine that strange thoughts must have
been passing through the mind of the veteran statesman

as
he now
left
behind
the towers and
the spires of
42o
LIFE OF GLADSTONE From Oxford he had gone

forth
Oxford.
upon
his
career of statesmanship,
upon a career of success hardly
equalled in the history of English statesmanship.

great world was
all
The
it
opening upon him then, and now
was coming
to the close.
Between the student days
at
Oxford and the day when he passed through the

on his
journey home
lives in
station
to
Hawarden
a
life
there lay a
life
that
was many
itself:
;
of unceasing struggle
and of splendid success a name then to be made, and now among the most famous of the earth. Throughout the whole political history of England the fame of Mr.
Gladstone
will
become part of the fame of Oxford.
There came a time, of course, when Oxford and Mr.

Gladstone had to part company
;
when the mind
of
the statesman had outgrown the recluse-like limits of

political
thought
in
the University which had been his
teacher so long, and with which so

associations
many
of his dearest
and tenderest
affections
were inseparably
But the heart of the statesman always intertwined. went back with proud and loving memory to his early
associations with Oxford, and
Oxford
will
always be
proud to remember that, though the time came when their ways had to divide, the name of the student and
the
name
of the teaching institution will remain for
ever in strict association.
After Oxford the next great station reached was
Birmingham, and there, too, the moralising observer must have had some reflections of his own.
that
of
HOME AT LAST
421
During some of Mr. Gladstone's greatest struggles Birmingham had been to him a support and a strength
;
the only eloquence of
fit
to
compare with his in the House
Commons
political
for
many
first
years was that of his old friend
and
colleague,
John Bright.
From Birminglater
ham,
too,
came the
great disaffection which checked
the political progress of Mr. Gladstone's
years
and with that

career as
disaffection,
it
may
be said
that
his
reformer came to a close.
Shrewsbury
next was reached, and then

city
Chester, that wonderful

it
made up
of the old and the new, of which

it
has
been well said that
could be seen after Venice with-
out the sense of an anti-climax.

stone's early associations
Most of Mr. Gladin
must have been blended
with the ancient streets and the double arcades and the
historic walls
and the delightful
river
banks of Chester.
The journey came seven, when the
to an end shortly before half-past

train
reached
Hawarden
all
Station.
its
Although the day had been beautiful

course, yet an observer noted
through
that
it
became
chilly as
the
evening
set
in
near
Hawarden.
One
in
can
well
imagine that to a sympathetic bystander the evening
would
in
it
any case have seemed
to
fall
with a
chill
when
brought Mr. Gladstone back to his
home
an
invalid,
skies,
who had
tried in vain to find relief
under other
and had been admonished, by those who under-
stood his condition best, that a change of scene and sky

could do no more for him, and
a
return
to
his
own
422
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
all
home was
that
remained.
Some
in
of the
newsMr.
papers were
reminded of a passage
one of
Gladstone's latest
to in this volume,
a speech speeches
that
already referred
I
and two sentences of which
quote
here
again
must
which
he delivered at the
opening of the North Wales and Liverpool Railway

but a short time before.
This
is
the passage,
"
:
it
comes
quite
in
here with a peculiar appropriateness

this
in
It is
true
;
enterprise
has
for
me
particular
interest
for
Liverpool, which
I
may
be considered
life
one of
its
termini,
first
drew the breath of
and
saw the
God,
light of heaven.
last
With Hawarden,
if it
please
my
acquaintance with the light and with the

be connected/'
air is likely to
The memory
of these
words must, of course, have come ominously to the minds of those who remembered them. But there were
still
many who
felt
of good hope that even yet Mr.
Gladstone might be allowed some term of quiet happiness in that place which had so long been his familiar
home.
The
;
spring has begun, people fondly reminded

the early
each other
summer
will
be with us soon
and
who
shall
say what power of renovation Mr. Gladstone's
magnificent physical nature
may
not even yet receive
from a spring and summer passed
among
the quiet
woods of Hawarden
Such were the
conflicting feel-
ings of despondency and of
still unconquerable hope amid which Mr. Gladstone, on the 22nd of March,
returned at evening to his home.
HOME AT LAST
Then
there passed several days during which
423
the
outer world heard nothing more than the news contained in the daily bulletins telling that Mr. Gladstone
was suffering rather
less
pain than before, but that his
general condition remained unchanged.
Some
of the
newspaper correspondents were pertinacious, and endeavoured to draw from the medical attendants specific
answers to questions regarding
this
or that particular
symptom
of
Mr.
Gladstone's
illness.
The medical
firm,
It
attendants,
however,
were
perfectly
and
very
properly refused to be communicative.
was natural
and inevitable that the public anxiety about Mr. Gladstone's health should grow daily greater and greater
and
it
was quite right that

for
to
a certain extent the

far,
desire
least,
information
let
should
be gratified, so
at
as to
the public
know
the general state of
Mr. Gladstone's health, and whether each day brought

with
fore
it
an improvement or a falling-off.
It
was there-
arranged that a bulletin should be issued each day

of
telling
Mr. Gladstone's condition, and

or not he
letting
the
public
know whether
had been able
to take
outdoor exercise.
The
weather, during the
first
days
of his stay at Hawarden, continued bitterly cold, and
heavy winds blew almost continually.
Yet despite of
such disadvantages the authentic reports described Mr.
Gladstone as sleeping
fairly
well,
suffering
less
pain
in
than before, and being able usually to take part

family dinner.
the
424
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
Some generous
public tributes from the outer world
were paid to the great statesman during those days,

three of which at least
grateful
must have been
felt
by him
in
as
and touching.
On
of
the
24th March,
the
Representative
Chamber
Rome, two of the members

even
made
public reference to the great services which Mr.

Italy,
in
Gladstone had rendered to the cause of

the far-off days
still
when
the thought of a United Italy was
but a dream, and called upon the President of the

to inform the
Chamber
condition
House regarding Mr. Gladstone's
of
all
health.
The
President
accepted
and
endorsed
that
had been said about Mr. Gladstone's and announced that he would make
of the Chamber, and on behalf of
services to Italy,
inquiries in the
name
the
all
Chamber would
Italians
for
give expression to the anxiety of
the
great
statesman's
restoration
to
health.
Many
this
years
indeed
have
passed
since the
writer of
volume heard
Garibaldi
describe
Mr.
in-
Gladstone as the precursor of Italian liberty and
dependence
and we have already seen
in
this
book
how Mr.
Gladstone's letters from
Naples
first
roused
the public opinion of
Europe
into anger against the
outrageous treatment of political prisoners during the

reign of the
to
Bourbon sovereign.
less
Another
tribute paid
Mr. Gladstone, not
appropriate and not less
touching,
came from
the Archimandrite of the Greek
Church
at Bayswater,
who, on Sunday the 27th, while
celebrating Divine service,
made an
earnest and eloquent
HOME AT LAST
address to
his
425
congregation
"
on
the
subject
of
Mr.
Gladstone's health.
mandrite,
"
I
This morning," said the Archi-
desire that
you
will join
me
in
praying to
Our Heavenly Father

eminent
in
for the relief
from
suffering,
and
the restoration to health, of an illustrious Englishman,
many walks
of
life,
distinguished in the
Senate and at the University, and who, throughout a

of long career, has always been a true-hearted servant God and a loyal soldier of the Cross." Then the Archi-
mandrite went on to give to his appeal a particular

"
significance.
William Ewart Gladstone," he
"
said,
is
bound
to our nation
regard and service.

Greece.
pure,
forth
by a thousand ties of affectionate But he is more than the friend of

all
He
is
the champion of
that
is
noble,
and
and humanising.
in
His magnanimity has shone
a dark world like a bright ray of sunshine.

therefore invite you, not merely as an orthodox
Let
me
priest but as a
man speaking
may
be spared to his
men, to pray that he family, to his country, and to

to
mankind."
The
congregation, as
we read
in
the report
of the proceedings, showed universal signs of the deepest
sympathy and emotion. We can indeed well The readers of this volume will remember
Gladstone's mission
release of
to
believe
it.
that
Mr.
the Ionian
Islands led to the
those islands to join their fortunes to the

;
fortunes of parent Greece

close of his
and that down to the very

lost
public
life,
Mr. Gladstone never

the
an
in-
opportunity of championing
cause
of
Greek
426
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
The
third
dependence.
of
the tributes paid at this
particular time to Mr. Gladstone could have been no

less
welcome
to the illustrious
statesman than those

for Italy
which came from one who spoke

spoke
for Greece.
It
and one who

Catholic
came from
the
Roman
Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Walsh.
In the course of a
Lenten
Pastoral to his people the
Archbishop reminded
to the
Irish Catholics of the
duty they owed

to
aged and
mainly
suffering
statesman
whom
Ireland
was
indebted for more than one great measure of justice.
Then
the letter went on to say,
"
Withdrawn
for ever
in his
from the contentions of public
life,
Mr. Gladstone
present state of patient suffering attracts the sympathy,
not only of those

service venerated
who
him
in his
years of energetic public
as a political leader, but also,
and
perhaps even more especially, of others

affairs
who
in public
were
his strenuous opponents.
Irish Catholic
differ
one who gentleman

Mr.
From
felt
a respected
constrained to
his
last
widely from
of
Gladstone
for
in
projects
legislation
Ireland
great
the
thoughtful
suggestion has come to

that
if
me
within the last few days

itself
I
any opportunity presented
should ask
portion of
the faithful of the diocese to discharge
some
the debt of gratitude which
we owe
to Mr. Gladstone
by
now remembering him

of Mercy.
less,
I
in
our prayers before the Throne

the suggestion.
feel grateful for
Doubt-
through
this letter,
it
will
be the means of obtaining
for
our venerable benefactor of former years
many
HOME AT LAST
fervent prayers,
427
and
in particular a
prayer that God,

in
in
whom
he always trusted,
may
now,
his
hour of
relief,
suffering,
be pleased to send him comfort and
to
lighten his heavy burden,
and
to give
him strength and

of God's
greater
patience to bear
it,
in so far as in the designs
Providence
good."
it
We
may have may be sure
to be borne for
his
that a
full
response to this
appeal came from the very heart of Ireland.
Some words which were

our present subject,
illustrating
written
years ago, and which naturally had nothing
more than twentyto do with

quoted
here
as
may
be
fairly
mind common among us all while we watched day after day for news of Mr. " It was almost like watching Gladstone's condition.
the condition of
outside a door and counting the slow painful hours of
some
lingering
life
within, while yet one
may
not enter
and look upon
the
pale
face
is
friends or the mourners, but
and mingle with the shut out and left to ask
and
wait."
On
the evening of the 30th of
March the
Hawarden
bulletin
announced that
"
Mr. Gladstone has
He had again a good night and a pretty good day. has been out this afternoon." Some of the newspapers
added the
ing,
fact that
Mr. Gladstone had been out walk-
not driving.
The same day
message
from
South Africa, told us that President Kruger had despatched a cablegram in English to Mr. GladPretoria,
stone, expressing the deepest
statesman
in his
sympathy with the veteran " trusting that the great affliction, and
428
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
will
Lord
was
support and strengthen him."

all
This message
more touching by the fact that President Kruger himself was understood to be in very bad health, and, indeed, to be engaged in a life and
the
made
death struggle of his own.
The news
of the message
from
Pretoria
brought back impressive memories to
many minds. We have already told in this volume how Mr. Gladstone, with a magnanimity and a courage
which most of
refused
his
enemies utterly
into
failed
to understand,
to
when he came back
power
allow the
war
to be carried
on any further against the Transvaal

less high-
Republic.
Every motive that could urge a
minded statesman than Mr. Gladstone
to persevere in
in
carrying on the war might have been found

ditions of the
in
crisis.
the con-
English arms had been defeated
the struggle with the Boers of the Transvaal.
The
late laid
Louis
it
Napoleon, when Emperor of the French, down as an axiom that a great state ought to
after a victory, but
treat for peace
not after a defeat.
Louis Napoleon's notions as to the duties of a great

state were, however, very different
from those of Mr.

long
in
Gladstone
and the time was
not
coming
Mr.
when
to
the policy of Louis Napoleon compelled France

after
make terms even
a very great defeat.
Gladstone's idea of statesmanship was that the duty of
a great state was to act
in
accordance with the
right.
He
believed that
policy
we had been drawn
into a totally
to
mistaken
when we endeavoured
annex the
HOME AT LAST
Transvaal Republic, and that we were not justified
429
in
avenging on the Boers the humiliation brought upon us
by our own wrong-doing.

into
Therefore,
when he came
power,
he insisted on
making peace with the

;
Transvaal, even though our arms had suffered a check
and he cared nothing about the outcries of his political He knew, as every one else knew, that Engenemies.
land had strength enough to crush the Republic into
the
dust
but he believed
consisted
in
that
the
at
true
honour of
from
a
;
England
withdrawing
once
position which
she
ought
in
never to have taken

the glory of
and he did not believe
up wanton human
sacrifice to the idol of a false national pride.
President
to
Kruger might well send

the great
his
message of sympathy
statesman who had spared
the Republic the
destruction which a less noble-minded minister would
have
in
inflicted
on
it
and we may well believe that even

a
his
sinking condition, such

Christian
message brought a
truly
consolation
to
Mr. Gladstone's mind.
The Daily
Neivs correspondent at
Rome
told the world
that the Pope,
who
is
three
months younger than Mr.

in
Gladstone," takes great interest
the illustrious patient,

his condition.
I
and seeks information daily as to
am
informed that the Pope was greatly affected when he

received the
illness."
first
news of Mr. Gladstone's dangerous
In the
Roman
Senate, on the 31st of March,
Signor Arton declared that the Senate would not be

maintaining
its
noble tradition
if it
did not give expres-
43
sion to
stone.
its
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
solicitude regarding the health
of Mr. Glad-
He
therefore proposed that the President and
Vice-Presidents should send to Mr. Gladstone a telegram
expressing the
nation,
sentiments of the Senate and of the

for
and conveying to him the sincerest wishes
his recover)-.
The motion was unanimously agreed

it
to
and the President declared that
would be an honour to
to
;
him and
to the Vice-Presidents
make known
for Mr.
the
vote of the Senate to Mr. Gladstone
Gladstone
was a man who did not belong to one nation alone, " but to the whole of the civilised world. Mr. Gladstone,"
he added,
her most
"
had an especial claim on
Italy,
in
since, at
critical
moments, he raised
her
favour a voice which had found an echo in the consciences of

all."
On
the
same day the President of
the Italian
Chamber
London
received through the Italian

a reply
Am-
bassador
in
by telegram
to the
message
which, as has been already mentioned, the Representative
Chamber had ordered
to
be sent to the great

in
English statesman.
"
The
reply was
these words
Mr. Gladstone's family are profoundly grateful for the
kindnesses of the Italian

is
Chamber
of Deputies.
There
no great change
in
Mr. Gladstone's condition, though
he has latterly experienced
much
relief.
He
wishes
me
in
to tell
all
you that he preserves unchanged his interest that touches the happiness and prosperity of
Italy."
Such interchanges of
first
feeling are well
worth
recording because,
of
all,
they bear eloquent tribute
HOME AT LAST
to the
431
by
all
which Mr. Gladstone was regarded the creeds and the nationalities of the civilised
in
manner
world as a
but
to
all.
man who
historical
truly belonged
not to one people
In another sense, too, the record has a

interest.
melancholy
has a great
Not
often
in
history
man
lain so
long under the shadow of what
appeared to be an imminent death.
Most of the great

it
Englishmen of modern days

said,
suddenly
until
it
died,
might almost be
such a manner
ill-
died, at
all
events, in
that the world
abroad hardly knew of any serious

learned
that
ness
the
illness
had ended
in
death.
Sir
Robert Peel died by a sudden accident

left
Lord Palmerston
session,
in
the
House
to
at the
close of one
health,
what seemed
in
be
his
;
usual
and
never was seen
London again
the public did not
know
that the last illness of Earl
Russell was to be
all
his last until
the news went abroad that

after a
was over
;
Cobden died
short period of prostration

;
so
too, did his friend Bright
and
Disraeli
lingered but a
few days comparatively from

stricken
into the
least,
the time
when he was
on
down
but
through a whole winter and
spring the world was watching, in spirit at

;
over Gladstone the invalid

after
and week
after
week,
and month and the
month, hopes kept rising and sinking,

world was held
in
civilised
suspense.
The
month
of April opened with
some
cheerful
news from
had been
Hawarden.
We
read
that
Mr. Gladstone
suffering less pain in the face since the previous
Sunday
432
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
this
news came on Friday
and
that he was able to
walk from the dining-room to the library without even

the assistance of a walking-stick, and that he also took
exercise on the Castle terrace during intervals of sun-
Medical Journal explained that having regard to Mr. Gladstone's advanced years, it was
shine.
The
British
not possible to advise an operation for the local condition,
which was unfortunately of such a nature that
the resources of medical art could do no

afford
relief.
"
more than
do a great
Happily
it
is
possible to
deal to mitigate the neuralgia by which the nerves of
the face have been affected for
some time past

"
and
we
are glad to learn that during the last few days he
has been comparatively free from pain."

is
His strength
is
still
maintained, appetite
is
good, and he
happy
to
be once more amid the familiar surroundings of his
home."
All
these
scraps
of news
were as eagerly
in
expected, and were read with as keen an interest,
every capital
of the
civilised
world as they were
in
London.
If
one could imagine Mr. Gladstone at such
a time feeling a pride in aught that related to earthly

concerns,
just
it
might be supposed possible that he

in
felt
and legitimate source of pride

all
the fact that
throughout
in
the civilised world, then perturbed too
an extraordinary degree by the alarms of menacing

all
war, there was at

feeling
events one kindly and generous
common
to all the civilised peoples of the earth,
and that was the feeling of loving sympathy with the
HOME AT LAST
condition of one great
433
man
the feeling of hope that

it
even yet he might recover, were

the illness which weighed
nition
but for a year, from

;
him down
common
recog;
of the services he had rendered to
humanity
and of the noble example he had held up to human

statesmanship.
On Monday
in the
the 28th
March a statement appeared
Westminster Gazette which attracted

its
much
atten-
tion because of
too,
it
authoritative manner, and because,
was made by a journal which did not usually

itself to
commit
any vague or inauthentic statements.

Gazette declared that Mr. Gladstone's
The Westminster
illness
must necessarily be fatal and in a comparatively short time. It was added, however, that he might yet
live for
many
weeks, and the hope was expressed that
the pain which had latterly
become so acute might be Then the kept under during the time that remained. " Westminster Gazette went on to say, Mr. Gladstone is
informed of his own
tell
fully
condition
he asked the
doctors to
him the
truth,
and he was thankful when

It
informed
will
that there
was no chance of recovery.

all
be a comfort to
of
his
friends to
know
;
that his
his life
state
mind
is
one of complete happiness
goes on quietly and evenly.

solace
;
Music
is
still
his
great
or
and one of
his family plays to
him an hour
two before and

writer of this
after
dinner every day."
Indeed, the
volume has good reason to believe that long before the announcement made in the Westminster
28
434
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
had been clearly and
fully in-
Gazette, Mr. Gladstone
formed by
his
doctors that there was no hope of his
ultimate recovery, and that the close was only a question of a few
weeks
at the most.
No
one who knew
anything of Mr. Gladstone could be surprised to learn

that he took the
news with
fortitude, with serenity,
and
even with cheerfulness.
There were even moments

peculiarly intense, and a quiet wish
when the
physical pain became
when Mr. Gladstone himself expressed

Gladstone's whole
life
that his sufferings might not be far prolonged.
Mr.
according
to
his
had been ordered and disposed conscientious faith, and the near
approach of death could
mean nothing more
to
him
were
than the closing of a chapter of existence.

all
We
gratified to hear that the physical pain

all
had abated,
or had at
events ceased to be continual, and that
music, which had charmed so
many
of his hours of
still
ill-
ness at Cannes and at Bournemouth, was beguile some of

his
able to
all
time of suffering.
We
in
read,
too, with pleasure the
statement
made
"
the Daily
Chronicle on the 30th of
March
"
that
old,
Mr. Gladstone's
voice
is
as strong
and clear as of
and the wonderful

the
in
richness of tone remains."

"
He
converses," says
Chronicle,
easily
and
cheerfully,
and now and again
a vein of pleasant story and even of jest."

"
But the
same journal added, the public should understand the extreme and irretrievable seriousness of the case, and
the fact that no improvement can
now be looked
for,
HOME AT LAST
435
though an alleviation of the more painful symptoms

always possible."
is
The Westminster
story as touching in
Gazette
its
told
pathetic
story,
way, although quite a different
way, as that of the dog belonging to the Greek hero
and statesman
loved so well.
"
in
the great
story
poem which Mr. Gladstone

well find a place here.
The
may
loss which has cost every
member
of the Gladstone
family an additional pang of pain during the past sad
days
is
that of
little
Petz, the black
Pomeranian, who
for nine years
past has been the constant and faithful
companion of Mr. Gladstone in all his walks and drives about Hawarden. Up to last autumn, when Mr. Gladstone
left
for
Cannes, Petz was as happy as the days

in
were long and
aggressively good health.

after Mr.
The
Castle
becoming very quiet
and Mrs. Gladstone's de-
parture, Petz migrated with Mr.

his special protegee,
and Mrs. Drew and
age,
close
to
Hawarden.
Dorothy Drew, to Buckley VicarBut with his master's de-
parture Petz's joyous
happy
spirit
seems to have
to
left
him.
Again and again he ran back
Hawarden and
would not be comforted.
Last week, a few days before
Mr. Gladstone's return home, Petz began to refuse food,
and became
and depressed. On the day of Mr. Gladstone's return he was taken home to the
listless
Castle
but
it
was too
late,
and Petz died a day or

faithful
two ago."
in
Such a story of a
countries and
in
dog has been
told
many
many
literatures,
but none
436
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
such was more pathetic and more affecting than that of
poor
little
Petz,
who
did not wait even to the end, but
died before his master rather than have to survive him.
On
little
the 30th of
March the news

if
in the
papers was a
more encouraging,
final
such a word could properly
be used where the
result
was already anticipated
by every
one.
Still
even the general recognition of the
fact that the certain
end must be near at hand did not
prevent us from gladdening when
we heard
that Mr.
The Gladstone had passed a brighter day than usual. previous day had been one of delightful and springday that came with a breath of anticipated summer in it, and Mr. Gladstone was able
like weather, the
first
to
go out into the garden
for a short
time
this
in the after-
noon.
Since his return to

;
Hawarden
was
his first
breath of the open air

terrace
he came out on the Castle

for a while, to
and remained there
the great
pride and
delight of the villagers,
who gathered with
pleasure to see him.

the fact that
That same day bore evidence to no illness and no pain could deaden or
in
even diminish Mr. Gladstone's keen interest
every
great public cause to which he had given his sympathy,

his sanction,
and
his
support.
The annual dinner
of
the friends of Greece to celebrate the anniversary of
Greek National Independence took place in London, and the chairman of the dinner, Lord Wantage, an-
nounced that he had received a telegram from Mr.

Gladstone's daughter, which he read to the company.
HOME AT LAST
Its
437
words were few, but were

"
:
all-sufficient
for
their
for
purpose
Greece."
Mr.
Gladstone sends
his
best
wishes
It
would be needless
to say that at a gather-
ing of the friends of Greece the message was received
with rapture.
Many
of the
speakers recalled during
the course of the evening the
memory
to
of the services
;
Mr.
Gladstone had
rendered
the
Greece
and
more
if
than one voice expressed
conviction that
Mr.
Gladstone had been
in
the
House of Commons during

his sympathies, the course
the past two years, and with physical vigour enough to
work
for his principles
and
of events might have been very different so far as the

fortunes of the Hellenic race were concerned.
is
I
"
Time
come round," says Shakespeare's

did begin, there shall
I
Cassius,
life
is
"
and where
end
my
run his com-
pass."
Mr. Gladstone,
in his earliest
years of political
eloquence and power, was the advocate of Greek independence.

run
its
Time had come round

;
his
life
had
all
but
compass
there
and
it
was
clear that
where he did
begin
he proposed to end, the well-wisher of

in
every just cause which

his confidence
his
brightest days had
won
of his
and enjoyed the inestimable advantage That message from Mr. Gladchampionship.
all
stone would soon pass
over Greece, and into even-
country and community where the sea-divided Greeks
had made a home, and would
tell
them
that
"
Gladstone
the Philhellene," as he had been acclaimed to the echo

in
Athens, was a Philhellene to the end.
CHAPTER XXXVI
ASCENSION DAY
I
898
THE
at
and the weather spring days grew on and on,
Hawarden began to grow warm and bright. New hopes came into the minds of the more sanguine
among
us with the advance of the spring
and there
were some even
who began
fondly to think that the
Mr. Gladstone's brighter softer weather might prolong out during hold that the illustrious patient might life
the summer.
Human
all
nature
the
is
so constructed that,
prevails
with
nearly
life
of
us,
longing
that
treasured
possible
may be kept on and on to the moment and we find but cold comfort
;
latest
in the
reminder
little
that,
when
the end
it
is
certain,
it
can matter
whether or not
can be
put off for a few
days
more.
bulletins issued daily by M. Dr. W. Dobie, and Dr. Hubert E. J. Biss were no hope of always most cautiously worded, and gave
The
Dr. S. H. Habershon,
any kind further than the hope that Mr. Gladstone's less and less, and suffering might still continue to grow
ASCENSION DA V
that
1898
439
no
immediate
collapse
all
was
necessarily
to
be
expected.
But we
knew
was
to
at the
Gladstone's strength
daily
diminishing
Sometimes
heard
;
same time
that Mr. that he
could
no longer
listen
reading,
and that he was
sometimes
for long intervals

all
unable to take nourishment,

his
and, indeed,
but unconscious.
mind
appeared
to
wander, and he was
to
murmur
sentences and half-sentences in French
and many a
reader was reminded of Thackeray's Colonel
Newcome,
of
his
who sometimes,
in
the
half-unconsciousness
closing hours, went back to his early memories
and
murmured some words

Often and often those
stone's
"
in
the
once familiar French.
who watched around Mr. GladDr.

"
bed caught some whispered words of prayer.

is
There
now
very
little
pain,"
Dobie
I
told
correspondent of the Daily News.

this
When
was
saw him
as
afternoon
with
little
Dr.
child
Biss
;
he
sleeping
tranquilly as a
his
countenance wore a
beautifully placid expression.
Mr. Gladstone's strength

less
daily decreases, but there
is
wandering, and when

is
awake and
conscious
his
mind
in
delightfully
peaceful state."
vitality
In truth, Mr. Gladstone's extraordinary
enabled him again and again to rally out of a

"
condition which seemed for the time to be one of utter
weakness merely preceding the end.

said the correspondent of the Daily
Mr. Gladstone,"
" lies
News,
in
an
apartment with three windows overlooking the south terrace, and he is thus immediately over the point of
440
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
in
vantage from which

addressed
the
days gone by he frequently

delighted
listeners,
large crowds of
also
whilst
room
commands
a view of those banks and
glades richly timbered
and
overgrown with bracken
with his axe.
amongst which he was wont to do such good execution There are probably few more picturesque
in
parks
the
kingdom than
that of
Hawarden, amidst
is
the scenery of
which the veteran statesman
now
to
slowly passing away."
Mr.
Gladstone
still
continued
to
receive
and
recognise
lay
some of
his
his closest friends,
and even when he

a time able to
with
eyes closed
he was
for
recognise them by their voices.

visited
Among
W.
those
who
Mr.
him were
his
old
colleagues
Lord Rosebery,
E. Russell.
Mr. John Morley, and Mr. George
Gladstone spoke but a few words to each, 'but each
had the melancholy pleasure of knowing that he was Mr. recognised and that his visit was welcomed.
Russell, writing to a friend, described
Mr. Gladstone's
peace
condition of
mind and body

that, beautiful
as
"
absolute
ajar."
glimpse of Paradise through the gates

visitor declared
Another
as Mr. Gladstone's face
had been during the best days of his public career, it had never looked so beautiful as when it lay upon the
pillow of his dying bed.
" "
Life," says
Thomas Moore,
ne'er looked so truly bright as in that smile of death."
in
Meanwhile messages of sympathy continued to pour from all parts of England, Ireland, and Scotland
ASCENSION DA Y
from
all
1898
441
parts,
indeed, of the civilised
world.
There
was one
in especial
which must have been truly welcome
to the sinking patient
it
came from
the
Hebdomadal
Council of the University of Oxford, and was dated the
26th of April
need
hardly
1898.
add, the
"
It
conveyed the message
unanimous
message
we
of
the
Council to
tell
of our profound sorrow and affection
at the sore trouble
and
distress
which you are called
upon to endure.
to say,
"
While we
join," the
message went on
in
the universal regret with which the nation
watches
the
dark cloud
which has
life,
fallen
upon the
evening of a great and impressive
we
believe that
Oxford may lay claim

share
in
to a deeper
and more intimate

career
in
it,
this
sorrow.
Your
brilliant
our
University, your long political connection with
and
your
fine scholarship,
kindled
in
this
place of ancient
learning, have linked you to Oxford by no ordinary
bond, and
we cannot but hope
that
you
will
receive
with satisfaction this expression of deep-seated kindliness
and sympathy from us. We pray that the Almighty may support you, and those near and dear to you, in
this trial,
and may lighten the load of suffering which
you bear with such heroic resignation."

signed
The
letter
was
by
"
J.
R.
Magrath,
wrote
in
Vice-Chancellor."
"
Miss
Helen
Chanccllor
Gladstone
I
reply,
this
Dear Mr. Viceto read to
have been able
morning
Mr. Gladstone your letter conveying the message of the
Hebdomadal
Council.
He
listened
most attentively
to
442
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
letter,
the whole
and bade
me
'
say,
I
There
is
no expres-
sion of Christian
sympathy
that
value more than that
of the ancient University of Oxford
the God-fearing
I
and God-sustaining University of Oxford.

her,
served
ability.
perhaps mistakenly, but to the best of
my
My
most earnest prayers are hers
to the uttermost
and
to the last."
Among
the
many
speeches
is
made on
public
plat-
forms during this time there
one which was delivered
by the Rev. Dr. Guinness Rogers at a meeting of the Congregational Union which deserves a special mention,
because
it
contained an extract from the
last
letter Dr.
Rogers had ever received from Mr. Gladstone, which
was written
offered
last
October.
It
referred
to
prayer
by
Dr. Rogers
when he and Mr. Gladstone were

Gladstone's letter had an
interest
for
together present at the dying bed of an aged friend.
The passage quoted from Mr.

absorbing and
audience.
"
"
I
an
entirely peculiar
the
listened sympathetically," Mr. Gladstone

little
said,
but for me, at that time, the prayer had

application.
I
of
direct
well
know
its
meaning now.
a
Although
phrase,
is
my
general
health, to
I
use
well-known
is
wonderfully good,
faith
want of
seem indeed
but
I
this
to
fear
being kept here too long.

near,
rejoice
Meantime, as the day of parting draws

to
think
how
small
the
differences
are
becoming
as
compared with the agreements, and how much smaller

they will yet come to be
if
God
in
His mercy
shall take
ASCENSION DA V
away from me
1898
443
the filthy garment and grant
me
the
happy change of raiment." This letter, as will be seen, bore relation to a time when the shadow of death had
not yet
fallen
on Mr. Gladstone.
Guinness
It
was a happy
read
it
thought
listeners
of
in
Dr.
Rogers
to
to
his
his
the hour
when Mr. Gladstone
lay in
Hawarden home
the great change.
quietly awaiting the final signal for

It
showed how consistently Christian was the temper of the great man in health and in sickness, in the midst of life and on the very brink of
death.
The month
of
May
came, and
it
soon grew clear to
the world that Mr. Gladstone would never see the close
of that May-time, that he was only sinking and sinking.
Sometimes a reassuring bulletin came and when May was nearly midway through, the condition of the patient
;
seemed such that
his physicians
thought his
be prolonged for yet another fortnight.

three days passed, however,
might two or Only
life
when
it
was made known
that Mr. Gladstone's strength was rapidly growing less
and
less.
One member
of his
family,
who had
full
left
Hawarden
Castle for a short time in the

crisis
belief that
no immediate
summoned back
Then we
all
to
was to be expected, was hastily Hawarden, and reached it in time.

that
knew
of
the end was close at hand.

strangers
The
village
Hawarden was crowded with
with visitors so devoted to Mr. Gladstone that they

walls
hung around the Castle
merely
for the
sake of
444
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
morning and
evening
;
watching the
bulletins
which
were exhibited at the gates every day

with correspondents of newspapers,
and crowded too

sent
all
who
over
the world their hourly account of the great statesman's

condition.
total
The
last
two days were days of almost

Almost,
but
not
quite
;
unconsciousness.
sign, a
for
sometimes a
movement
of the lips or the eye-
brows, or a half-murmured word, gave indication that
on the sleeper the sleep of death had not yet wholly

settled
down.
Mr.
Gladstone lay for the most part

his
in
with
his
hands folded across

attitude
it
breast
it
was a
at
this
common
of his
when
sleep, but
solemn time
seemed to the lookers-on the natural
attitude of prayer.
The members
Gladstone's
of the family
all
gathered round
bedstead, at
Mr.
simple,
narrow iron
one side of which was placed a couch
occupied habitually by his wife during those long sad
days and
nights.
The whole
of the
;
family
were
and the sleeper gathered together had around him always some of those most dear to him
in
now
the Castle
often the whole family gathered round his bed.
All
the servants of the household
came and looked
their last
upon him and took a
silent farewell of him.
The end
day which
came
on the morning of Ascension

in
Day
Mr. Gladstone had always held

natural to a
ings.
the deep reverence

feel-
man
of his Christian faith and Christian
That morning, Thursday, the 19th May, dawned Towards five o'clock the brightly over Hawarden.
ASCENSION DA Y
1898
445
word was whispered through the household that the end was drawing near. Prayers were recited by the
Rector
the
of the
parish,
the
Rev.
five
Stephen Gladstone,
o'clock
dying
man's
son.
As
drew
near
a gleam of softened light seemed to bring something

like
an instant's animation into Gladstone's
face.
It
has often been fondly believed that just as the hour

of death
is
sufferer, the
the past the past
is is
come upon even a seemingly unconscious mind brightens up for a moment, and all revealed to him who lies low and quiet all
made
clear with
its
measure of motive and

time
in
life
of action,
as
life
now
set plainly forth for the first
comes
to
an end.
If that half-poetic
fancy were
a truth, then one could well believe that Gladstone, seeing

his
whole past illumined, with
its
struggles for right,
and mercy, and
justice, the welfare of
humanity, and the

his spirits
honour of the Creator, might indeed have found
made
after
all
of comfort by the retrospect.

o'clock, the
few moments
five
wife of his youth and of his old

in hers, his children
age
his
life
holding his
hand fondly
round
bed, Gladstone passed without a tremor from this
and entered into the brighter day.
CHAPTER XXXVII
"
THE GRAND OLD MAN

20th
"
May, the day following Mr. Gladstone's death, the Sovereign and the Parliament decreed to him the honour of a State funeral and a
Friday, the
On
tomb and
it
monument
in
Westminster Abbey.
the
And
to
it
was arranged that
in
same tomb was
be
is
reserved a place for his devoted wife.
This was,
not
too
much
to
say,
the
only
State
honour ever
Gladstone
accepted on
Mr. Gladstone's behalf.
Mr.
might have had State honours during his lifetime if it had seemed right to him, or if it had been consonant
with his inclination to accept them.
It
is
well
understood that Mr. Gladstone on his

life
retirement from public
received from the Sovereign
the offer of an earldom with, of course, a seat in the
House
of
Lords.
Mr.
title
Gladstone
gratefully
and
one
gracefully declined the
and the
his
position.
could have been surprised at

already
decision.
No He
had
or
made
name which no earldom

could have
or
dukedom
"
any other
rank
enhanced.
Posterity,"
"
THE GRAND OLD MAN"

"
447
says
Lord
Macaulay,
has
obstinately
St.
refused
to
degrade Francis Bacon into Viscount

the
Albans."
In
same
sense, the contemporaries and the posterity of
William
Ewart
Gladstone
title
would
have
declined
to
accept for him the
of Earl of
is
Hawarden
or Earl
of any other place.
He
fixed in the affection
and
the admiration of his countrymen as William Ewart
Gladstone.
universal
One
accord
title
he has indeed received by the

the
I
of
public of
public of
all
the world.
England and the do not know, and I suppose
nobody knows, who invented this title for him, but it was conferred upon him and it will always endure with
He was called the Grand memory. Old Man, and the Grand Old Man he always will remain. Never was there a character which more
him and with
his
aptly deserved that
title,
sacred to age and to grandeur

I
of genius, of purpose, and of career.
do not know
whether English Parliamentary history records greater

doings of any man.
In different paths of political
work other men may have been as great as he. So far as one can judge by the writings of contemporaries
there
may have been
orators
and debaters
in
Parliament
his
who were
in
equal to him.
debate.
Probably Fox was
equal
Parliamentary
There
is
magnificent
phrase of
a
Henry
Grattan's, himself hardly surpassed as

orator,
in
Parliamentary
which
he
describes
the
eloquence of
of
the
Fox
as
"
I
rolling in resistless as the
waves
that
Atlantic."
have
often
thought
of
448
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
when
listening to
I
description
some of Mr. Gladstone's
greatest speeches.
have said to myself, This makes
me
understand the force and the meaning of Grattan's

phrase.
superb
This
is
indeed eloquence rolling
in
resistless as the
waves of the Atlantic.
The
elder Pitt
was probably as great an orator as Mr. Gladstone. The younger Pitt was probably his equal in the
statelier
forms
of declamation.
Pitt
But not
anything
Fox
like
nor
Chatham nor William

Gladstone's
the
had
Mr.
capacity
for
constructive
legislation,
and
or
resources
or
of information
Pitt
possessed
by
Fox
Chatham
were poor indeed when compared
with that storehouse of knowledge which supplied Mr.

Gladstone's
intellectual
life
capacity.
Mr. Gladstone was
possessed through his
with an eager passion to do the
right thing at all times.
Sometimes, no doubt, he took

;
wrong view of things but never was he inspired by any save the most rightful motives. No human interest
a
and the smallest wrong as well as the greatest aroused his most impassioned sympathy and made him resolve that the wrong should be
indifferent to him,
was
righted.
have mixed with most of Mr. Gladstone's
contemporaries, his political opponents as well as his

political
followers,
and
in his
have never heard a hint of

nature and his character or of
his public or private
any serious defect
any unworthy motive influencing

career.
Defects of temperament, of manner, and of

doubt, been ascribed to him over and
tact
have, no
"
THE GRAND OLD MAN'

He was
not,
449
over
again.
people
tell
me,
to
always
successful in conciliating or playing
up
the weakI
nesses of inferior men.

at
He was
all
not good,
In
this
am
told,
remembering
faces
and names.
peculiarity
he was unlike what we
used to believe of the great
Napoleon, who never,
it
once was the
common
deal
belief,
forgot a face or a name.
Later historians, however,
have
corrected
public
opinion a good
"
on
this
subject,
and we now know that the great Napoleon

both as regards faces
theatrical effects
was very carefully " coached and names and made many
the strength of
fine
on
some
quietly administered hint.
Such
defects, however, in Mr. Gladstone's nature or
temperasurvey of
ment count indeed

his career.
for little or
nothing
in the
He
was loved by
his friends,
he cannot but
be honoured, even by his
political
enemies
for personal
enemies he never
ferred
could
have had.
The name
will
con-
on him by nobody knows whom,

to all time,
be borne
by him
he
and so long as the history of Queen

in
Victoria's reign
will still
remains
the
the
memory
of civilisation
be
"
Grand Old Man."
29
INDEX
Aberdeen,
Earl of, 5 1 1 25, 1 44, 1 7 Acland, Sir Thomas, 22, 53
,
Canning, Charles, Earl, 14 George, 9, 20 ,,

Carlyle, 217,
Africa, West,
410
299
Alabama Question, 269-273 Althorp, Viscount, 40 American Civil War, 217-225 Anglican Orders, 363-379 Appearance, Gladstone's, 30 Archimandrite, The, 424 Armenia, 383 Army purchase system, 258-260 Arton, Signor, 429
Ballot, 257
Baring, Mr., 298 Beaconsfield, Lord,
see Disraeli
Chamberlain, Mr., 304, 333-34Q Mr. Austin, 339 ,, Chevalier, Mons. Michel, 201
China, 177, 199, 4*o Church, The, 61-71, 99, 143. 22I 243-248, 284-286, 363-379 Churchill, Lord Randolph, 290, 321 Cobden, Mr., 101, 119, 141. ! 49, 170, 201
>
Bernard, Mr. Mountague, 271 Bethell, Sir R., 182
Cockburn, Sir Alexander, 119 Commercial Treaty, 200 Corn Laws, 101 Crimean War, 169-176 Cuba, 412 Currie, Sir Donald, 320
Bismarck, 153 Boer War, 317, 3 l8 Books, Gladstone's, 358, 359 The State in its Relations with the
Davis, Jefferson, 218 Derby, Lord, see Stanley

Devonshire, Duke of, see Hartington Dickens, Charles, 205 Dilke, Sir Charles, 304, 319 Dillon, Mr., 310, 414 Disraeli, Mr., 39, 119, 142, 144, 146-156, 179, 202, 225, 232, 235, 241, 246, 264, 265, 271, 279, 290, 291, 294, 342, 3S9 Divorce Bill, 178-183
Church, 61
Bright, John, 101, 141, 159-162, 170, 201, 208, 231, 232, 244,
247, 287, 298, 304, 314, 333,
388 Brougham, Lord, 34 Browning, 363

Bruce, James, Earl of Elgin, 14
Bulgaria, 296-303 Bulwer Lytton, 39, 184, 188, 265
Don
Pacifico,
11
1
Dumas, Alexandre, 25
Bunsen, Baron, 84 Hume-Jones, Sir E, 405.

Butler, Bishop,
Eastern Question,
Edinburgh, Duke
of,
173, 296-303
359
Ecclesiastical Titles Bill,
138-146
Canadian
Fishery Question, 271
195
452
LIFE OF GLADSTONE
223 240
for
;
Education, elementary, 256

,,
popular suffrage,
Irish
;
226-
taxation
of,
199-214
Church and Land
Egypt, 3I4-3I6 Elgin, Earl of, 14

Encyclical, 377
Questions, 243-255
member
Greenwich, 246; elementary
education
and other reforms,
Eton, 10-16
Fawcett, Mr., 268

Ferdinand, King of Naples, 1 24 Finance, 84-87 Forster, Mr. W. E., 287, 311, 340 Franchise, 226-240, 319 Free Trade, 101-105
Irish University Question, 261-268 ; Alabama Question, 269-273; resignation of office, 279 in retirement,
256-260;
283-293; return to public life, 294 Bulgarian Question,

;
294-303
Minister,
second time Prime

;
Geneva Award,
271
of,
Gladstone, derivation Herbert, 77, 417

Mrs., 73> 75
Robertson, 6
Sir John, 4, 7
Sir
Thomas,
7
;
William Ewart, birth, 2 family, 2-9; at Eton, 10-16; at Ox16-24 earliest public life, 25-32 first Parliament, 32-47 Student of in office, 48-60 Law, 49; Junior Lord of Treaford,
; ;
;
sury,
50
Under Secretary
for
Colonies, 51; first book, 61-71; marriage, 72-81 ; Vice-President of Board of Trade, 84 ; President of Board of Trade, 88 resignation of Cabinet office,
member for 302 Midlothian, 304 Irish reform, and the 305-314; Egypt Transvaal, 314-319; illness, 320; Home Rule, 322-346; final 347 - 357 resignation, busy leisure, 358-374 Anglican Orders, 363-379 opening of Welsh University, 379-382 ; visit to Cannes, 385 - 403 Recollections of Hallam, 390return to England, 403 395 at Bournemouth, 407-418; home at last, 416-437; death, 443-445 funeral 446 Gledstanes, The, 1-9 Glynne, Lady and Miss, 73
;
;
92
member
Pacifico
Colonial Secretary, 102 for Oxford, 105 ; Don

;
Sir Stephen, 74 ,, Gordon, General, 315 Graham, Sir James, 141, 174, 176 "Grand Old Man," 446-449 Granville, Lord, 279, 283, 302
Question,
letters,
11 1-
Neapolitan
119; 123-137
Ecclesiastical Titles Bill,
146 156; 162

; ;
rival
of Disraeli,
to
friend
Bright,
138144159-
Greece, 112, 184-198, 410, 425,436 Greville, 163, 178 Grey, Earl, 39 Grote, 39
Chancellor of the Ex;
chequer,
;
Crimean War, 165 169-176; Divorce Bill, 178183 Ionian Islands, 184-198
Civil
taxation of paper,
199-213;
;
;
American
for
War, 217-225
defeat at Oxford, 221
member
South Lancashire, 222 ; Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Halifax, Lord, 364, 367 Hallam, Arthur, 14, 390-395 Harcourt, Sir William, 405 Hartington, Lord, Duke of Devonshire, 287-291, 302,319, 333, 337 Hawarden Castle, 74 Herbert, Sidney, 17, 174, 176, 392 Home Rule, 308-314, 342-346, 354-357
INDEX
Hope, Mr. Beresford, 142 Houghton, Lord, see Monckton
Milnes
45:
Iddesleigh, Lord, 271, 319 India, 409

Inglis, Sir Robert, 107, 142 Ionian Islands, 184-198, 425 Ireland, 48, 51, 65, 68, 88, 95> 99, 102, 105, 162, 221, 243" 255, 261-268, 305-3!4, 3 22 346, 354-357, 414. 426 Italy, 25, 72, 123, 156, 424, 430
McKinley, President, 412 Melbourne, Lord, 60, 71 Mill, J. S., 217, 257, 264 Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton, 52 Monte Cristo, 251
Morley, John, 331, 350, 405, 440 Murchison, Sir Roderick, 13
Nansen, 405
Naples, 123-137
Napoleon, Louis, 199

,,
Prince, 195, 201
Jubilee,
Jews, The, 109 Diamond, 384
Neapolitan Letters, 123-137 Newark, 28-30 Newcastle, Duke of, 26, 103
KlLMAINHAM TREATY, 334

Kinglake, Alexander, 14, 15
Newman,
F.
W., 62
Knowles, Mr. James, 323

Kruger, President, 427
J.H.,62, 138, 153,292,299 Newspapers, 205-213 Northcote, Sir Stafford, see Iddesleigh
Land Tenure
in
Ireland,
248-
2 55> 304-308 Law, Gladstone a student of, 49 Leo XIII., 363, 370, 429
O'Connell, Daniel, 36, 105 Otho, King of Greece, 187, 194 Oxford, 16-24, 420
17,
,,
,,
Lewis, Sir George Cornewall,
Bishop
of,
221
176
Lincoln, Abraham, 200, 220
,,
Movement, The, 138
Lord, 28
Pai.merstox, Lord, 38, 71, in,

115, 130, 140, 144, 174, 179, 196, 209, 211, 213, 218, 225,
Literary work, Gladstone's, 61, 98,
358. 359 Liverpool, Lord, 20 Lords, House of, 207,
306,
345-
229, 250 Papal Aggression, 138
351
Lowe, Robert,
see
Sherbrooke
Paper duty, 202-213 Parnell, Mr., 308-314, 334, 354

Peel,
Sir Robert, 20, 34,
Lucy, Mr., 319, 347, 349, 350 Lyndhurst, Lord, 35 Lyttelton, Lord, 74
50,
60,
71,
82,
36, 46, 88, 115,
120
Pendennis, 62 Phoenix Park outrages, 312 Pius IX., 138 Popular suffrage, 226-240, 319
Macaui.ay, 39, 61, 63, 175

Macdonald,
Sir
John, 271
MacGahan, Mr., 297

Maguire, J. F., 243 Manning, Cardinal, 284, 292
I ,
Prime Ministers, 40
17, 23, 72, 90,
Public
Worship 285
Regulation
in
Pill,
Martineau, [arriet, 2 17 Maurice, F. D. 21
Purchase system
the army, 25S-
260
Maynooth College,
Mazzini, 137
89, 92
Queen Victoria,
57,
140,
258
454
LIFE VF GLADSTONE
Fraser,
Rae, Mr.
Reform
360
Rarey, 215
Bill
Suffrage, popular, 226-240, Swift, 54
319
(1832), 27, 210, 232, 2 35
Tenant Right,
(i860), 232 (1S66), 231, 232 (1S67), 238
249, 306 Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 14, 363 390-393 PVederick, 14 ,,
24,
Riding, 215 Ripon, Lord, 88, 271 Robins, Alfred F., 22
Transvaal, 317, 318, 428 Trevelyan, Sir George, 335 Tupper, Martin, 23
Roebuck, Mr., 114, 141, 173 Rogers, Dr. Guinness, 373, 442 Rome, 72
Rosebery, Lord, 20, 440 Russell, Mr. G. W. E., 440
, ,
, ,
Turkey, 296-303, 410
United States,
411, 412
Universities, Irish,
261-268
monograph
2, 4,
University, Welsh, 379
on Gladstone by,
19,
12, 15,
52,
56,
84,
108,
166,
Vatican Decrees,
Villiers, Charles,
the,
284
101
250, 302, 314, 315 Russell, Lord John, Earl,

82, 102, 109, 119,
38, 51,
141,
144,
Wales,
Prince
and
Princess
of,
174, 196, 225, 230, 241
379-382, 405
1
Salisbury, Lord, 20,319,321,41 San Juan boundary, 271

Selborne, Lord, 142 Sexton, Mr., 310
Shaftesbury, Lord, 239
Shepstone, Sir Theophilus, 317 Sherbrooke, Lord, 17, 232, 239241, 272, 287, 291 Sheridan, 359
Slavery, 29, 43
,, University of, 379 Walsh, Dr., Archbishop of Dublin, 426 Washington, Treaty of, 269 "Weg," The, 21 Wellington, Duke of,. 33, 37, 50 West bury, Lord, 182
Wilberforce, Bishop, 99 William IV., 50-57
Wiseman, Cardinal,
72, 139
Wood,
Sir Evelyn,
318
Smith, Sydney, 244 Spain, 412 Stanley, Dean, 9
Wordsworth, Charles, Bishop, 18 William, 53, 363 Wynn, Rev. Walter, 375
Lord Derby,
20, 39, 43, 102, 114, 144, 159, 163, 174, 237, 241, 383
York, Archbishop
of,
373
Youttis Companion, 395-397
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and a miniature, each in its own way admirable. Hitherto the standard life of the Reformer has been that of the Rev. Dr. Thomas M'Crie, which, published in 1812, reached the seventh edition in 1855. It was high time, then, for a new life of Knox to be written and to no hands could the task have fallen more It is five years now since we reviewed his worthily than to those of Mr. Hume Brown. Buchanan in this are found the self-same qualities grace of literary work George style, patient mastery of details, and that comprehensive grasp of the larger aspect of affairs which is to the historian what atmospheric effect is to the landscape painter."
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;
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and London, and
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and
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'
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WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE IN

ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK

Second Edition, revised and enlarged, published June

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

end on the morning of Ascension Day, the 19th

and, on the whole, singularly

happy story had what must be

In describing the final passages of the

Walter Scott has said

powerful and touch-

ing words that

the stage darkened before the curtain

was not so with the great man whose death

the whole civilised world

did not darken before the curtain

the light of peace

love, of Christian resignation and of Christian hope,

shone over that earthly scene on which the curtain has

the completed story to dwell

some length on the

months of that marvellife.

lously active, splendid,

read of them here, as

from day to day

mind and heart

least, within touch of what was happening at Cannes,

no man could have

Providence had ordained for him to lead

no rash prediction to say that English history

never will contain, as

never has contained, a nobler

chapter than that which

PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION

The Story of Gladstone's Life

the course of one great career.

not told for politicians only, nor does

any pretence at a special knowledge of political facts.

porary English history.

have told the story of Mr.

audience the story of

have been fortunate enough to be

able to watch that career through

peculiar advantage for an observer.

offer to the public, not a political treatise, not

study of our political epoch, but an account of the

The Gledstanes "

Eton and Oxford

Gladstone's Introduction to Public Life

Gladstone's First Parliament

Gladstone's First Book Gladstone's Marriage

The Free-Trade Struggle

The Free-Trade Struggle Member for Oxford

Death of Sir Robert Peei

The Neapolitan Letters The Ecclesiastical Titles

M- Gladstoxk and Bright

The Crimean War The

The Repeal of the Taxes on Education

Gladstone Supports Popular Suffrage

Church and Land

Irish University Question

24. 25. 26. 27.

The Alabama Question

The Tide Turns

Justin McCarthy: The Story of Gladstone's Life

Justin McCarthy: The Story of Gladstone's Life