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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b92ce4f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #55549 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55549) diff --git a/old/55549-0.txt b/old/55549-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 060ea3a..0000000 --- a/old/55549-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1459 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Memory of Gladstone, by Goldwin Smith - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: My Memory of Gladstone - -Author: Goldwin Smith - -Release Date: September 14, 2017 [EBook #55549] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY MEMORY OF GLADSTONE *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - -MY MEMORY OF GLADSTONE - - - - - AN INTERESTING VOLUME OF CHARACTER SKETCHES: - - POLITICAL AND OTHER. - - PORTRAITS OF THE SIXTIES. - - By JUSTIN MCCARTHY, Author of “A History of our own Time.” With - many Illustrations from Contemporary Photographs. Demy 8vo, - cloth, 15s. net. - - LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN. - - - - -[Illustration: - - _Photo_] [_Barraud._ - - W. E. GLADSTONE.] - - - - - MY MEMORY OF - GLADSTONE - - BY - GOLDWIN SMITH - - [Illustration] - - _SECOND IMPRESSION_ - - LONDON - T. FISHER UNWIN - PATERNOSTER SQUARE - 1904 - - _All Rights Reserved_ - - - - -MY MEMORY OF GLADSTONE - - -Since the appearance of the first volumes of Macaulay’s History there -has not been such an event in the publishing world as the appearance -of a Life of Gladstone by Mr. Morley. Nor has public expectation been -disappointed. - -Though I saw a good deal of Gladstone, both in the way of business and -socially, I never was nor could I have been, like Mr. Morley, his -colleague and a partner of his counsels. On the other hand, I lived in -the closest intimacy with men who were his associates in public life, and -saw him through their eyes. - -This man was a wonderful being, physically and mentally, the mental part -being well sustained by the physical. His form bespoke the nervous energy -with which it was surcharged. His eye was intensely bright, though in -the rest of the face there was nothing specially indicative of genius. -His physical and mental force was such that he could speak for more than -four hours at a stretch, and with vigour and freshness so sustained -that George Venables, an extremely fastidious and not over-friendly -critic, after hearing him for four hours, and on a financial subject, -wished that he could go on for four hours more. His powers of work were -enormous. He once called me to him to help in settling the details of a -University Bill. He told me that he had been up over the Bill late at -night. We worked at it together from ten in the morning till six in the -afternoon, saving an hour and a half which he spent at a Privy Council, -leaving me with the Bill. When we parted, he went down to the House, -where he spoke at one o’clock the next morning. Besides his mountain of -business, he was a voluminous writer on other than political subjects, -and did a vast amount of miscellaneous reading. As a proof of his powers -of acquisition, he gained so perfect a mastery of the Italian language -as to be able to make a long speech, in which Professor Villari could -detect only two mistakes, and those merely uses of a poetical instead of -the ordinary word. - -Like Pitt, Gladstone was a first-rate sleeper. At the time when he had -exposed himself to great obloquy and violent attacks by his secession -from the Palmerston Government, in the middle of the Crimean War, one of -his intimate friends spoke of him to me as being in so extreme a state of -excitement that he hardly liked to go near him. Next day, I had business -with him. He went out of the room to fetch a letter, leaving me with -Mrs. Gladstone, to whom I said that I feared he must be severely tried -by the attacks. She replied that he was, but that he would come home -from the most exciting debate and fall at once into sound sleep. A bad -night, she said, if ever he had one, upset him. But this was very rare. -He chronicles his good and bad nights, showing how thoroughly he felt -the necessity of sound sleep. In extreme old age he took long walks and -felled trees, conversed with unfailing vivacity, and seemed to be the -last of the party in the evening to wish to go to bed. At the same time -he was doing a good deal of work. - -The hero was fond of dwelling on his Scottish extraction. His domicile, -however, was Liverpool, and his father was a West Indian proprietor and -slave-owner; a circumstance perhaps not wholly without influence on one -or two passages of his life. To his Scottish shrewdness and aptitude -for business, Eton and Oxford added the highest English culture. Eton -in those days would teach him only classics. But there was a good deal -of interest in public affairs among the boys, many of whom were scions -of political houses. There was a lively debating club, called “Pop,” of -which Gladstone was the star. At Oxford he added mathematics to classics, -taking the highest honours in both. There, also, he was the star of the -debating club. It was a fine time for budding debaters, being the epoch -of the great struggle about the Reform Bill. Gladstone led vehemently and -gloriously on the Tory side. The result was that his fellow collegian, -Lord Lincoln, introduced him as a most promising recruit to his father -the old Duke of Newcastle, the highest of Tories, and Gladstone was -elected to Parliament for Newark, a borough under the Duke’s influence. I -have been allowed to read the correspondence, and there is nothing in it -derogatory to the young man’s independence. - -Oxford was the heart of clericism as well as Toryism, and the advance of -Liberalism threatened the Anglican State Church, as well as the oligarchy -of rotten boroughs. The Tractarian movement of sacerdotal reaction was -already on foot. Gladstone imbibed the ecclesiastical as well as the -political spirit of the place, and formed a friendship, which proved -lasting, with the authors of the mediævalising movement. He published -a defence of the Anglican State Church, which, as we know, was terribly -cut up by Macaulay. The Reviewer, however, ends with a defence of -religious establishments really weaker than anything in Gladstone. The -State, according to Macaulay, though religion is not its proper business, -has some time and energy to spare which it may usefully devote to the -regulation of religion. - -Gladstone cast off by degrees his extreme Establishmentarianism. He came -at last to disestablishing the Church in Ireland and pledging himself to -disestablishment in Wales. But he remained firmly attached to the Church -of England, encircled by High Church friends, who were really nearer to -his heart than anybody else, deeply, even passionately, interested in all -their questions, and an assiduous writer on their side. He was suspected -of being a Papist. A Papist he certainly was not. No one could be more -opposed to Papal usurpation. His special sympathy was with anti-Papal -and anti-Infallibilist Catholics, such as Döllinger and Lord Acton. His -religious faith was simple and profound; so simple that he continued in -this sceptical age to believe in the plenary inspiration of the Bible, -and in the Mosaic account of the Creation. He retained unshaken faith -in Providence and in the efficacy of prayer. This in his meditations -constantly and clearly appears. At the same time, he grew tolerant of -free inquiry as a conscientious quest of truth. Many Nonconformists, the -leaders especially, notwithstanding his Anglicanism and his suspected -leanings to Rome, were drawn to him on broad grounds of religious -sympathy, and lent him their political support. Lord Salisbury called him -“a great Christian.” He could not have been more truly described. He had -thought of taking Holy Orders. From this he had been happily deterred, -but he seems to have been fond of officiating in a semi-clerical way by -reading the lessons in Hawarden Church. - -Gladstone’s zeal in the service of his nation and humanity, his loyalty -to right and hatred of tyranny and injustice, and his conscientious -industry, were sustained by spiritual influences, and Christianity has a -right to appeal to his character in support, not of its dogmas, but of -its principles. - -The first step in emancipation from bondage to the State Church theory -was curious and characteristic. Peel, in whose Government Gladstone -then was, proposed an increase of the grant to Maynooth. Gladstone -paid a tribute to the principle of the “Church in its Relation to the -State” by resigning his office. Then, on the ground that the other -principle had prevailed, he voted for the grant and went back into -the Government. It is thus possible to see how the idea of a certain -tortuosity became connected with his career. Bitter enemies even accused -him of duplicity. He had a habit, of which his biographer seems aware, -of making his words open to a double construction, the consequence, -perhaps, of consciousness that his mind was moving and that his position -might be changed. He had also a dislike of owning change, and a habit of -setting his retroactive imagination at work to prove that there was no -inconsistency, which had a bad effect, especially in such a case as his -sudden coalition with Parnell. - -The value of the recruit was at once recognized and the door of office -was presently opened to him by Peel, who was always on the look-out for -youthful promise, and set himself, perhaps more than any other Prime -Minister ever did, to train up a succession of statesmen for the country. -Though himself the least eccentric of mankind, Peel showed in more than -one case that he could overlook a touch of eccentricity where there -was real merit and genuine work. Set, as Vice-President of the Board of -Trade, to deal with a subject entirely new to him, Gladstone at once -justified Peel’s confidence and discernment. Perhaps the office had been -chosen for him as one in which his eccentricity had no play. He served -Peel admirably well, and was perfectly true to his chief. But, from -things that I have heard him say, I rather doubt whether he greatly loved -Peel. Peel detested the Tractarians; the Tractarians hated Peel; and some -of the Tractarians were nearest of all men to Gladstone’s heart. - -Peel’s Government having been overthrown on the question of the Corn -Laws by a combination which the Duke of Wellington characterized with -military frankness, of Tory Protectionists, Whigs, Radicals, and Irish -Nationalists, the whole under Semitic influence, its chief, for the -short remainder of his life, held himself aloof from the party fray, -encouraging no new combination, and content with watching over the safety -of his great fiscal reform; though, as Greville says, had the Premiership -been put to the vote, Peel would have been elected by an overwhelming -majority. His personal following, Peelites as they were called, Graham, -Gladstone, Lincoln, Cardwell, Sidney Herbert, and the rest, remained -suspended between the two great parties. When Disraeli had thrown over -protection, as he meant from the beginning to do, the only barrier -of principle between the Peelites and the Conservatives was removed. -Overtures were made by the Conservative leader, Lord Derby, to Gladstone, -whose immense value as a financier was well established, and the common -opinion was that Gladstone would have accepted had Disraeli not been in -the way. But Disraeli, though he offered to waive his claims, was in -the way, and the result was that the Peelites, Gladstone at their head, -coalesced with the Whigs and helped to form the coalition Government of -Lord Aberdeen. - -Mr. Morley has said rightly that an impulse in the Liberal direction was -lent to Gladstone’s mind by the crusade into which his humanity impelled -him against the iniquities and cruelties of the Bourbon government -at Naples. Though it was not revolutionary sentiment but zeal for -righteousness and hatred of iniquity that moved him, his heart could not -be closed against the loud and passionate acclaim of the Mazzinians and -all who were struggling against the traditions of the Holy Alliance in -Europe, while all the powers of reaction, political or ecclesiastical, -denounced him, and even the good Lord Aberdeen shrank from anything which -appeared to encourage revolution or to imply that the treaties of Vienna -were effete. The famous letters sent a thrill through Europe and made all -the powers of tyranny and iniquity tremble on their thrones. Seldom, if -ever, has a private manifesto had such effect. Combined with humanity -and zeal for righteousness, in Gladstone’s heart was a strong feeling -in favour of nationality, which he showed in promoting, as he did, the -emancipation of the Ionian Islands and their union with Greece. - -Once launched in any career, Gladstone was sure to imbibe the full spirit -of the movement and lead the way. His Liberalism presently outstripped -that of the Whigs. As the most conspicuous seceder from the Tory camp, -he became the special object of antipathy to the Carlton Club, which was -fond of speaking of him as insane. A member of the Carlton was reported -to have said to a member of the Reform Club, “I am much better off for a -leader than you are, my leader is only an unscrupulous intriguer; yours -is a dangerous lunatic.” The story was current that Gladstone had bought -the whole contents of a toyshop and ordered them to be sent to his house. -This came to me once in so circumstantial a form, that I asked Lady -Russell whether she thought it could be true. Her answer was: “I begin to -think it is, for I have heard it every session for ten years.” - -It must be owned that Gladstone was impulsive, and that impulsiveness was -the source not only of gibes to his enemies, but sometimes of anxiety -to his friends. “What I fear in Gladstone,” said Archbishop Tait, “is -his levity.” That he could easily throw off responsibility, I think I -have myself seen. But a man on whom so heavy a load of responsibility -rests, if he felt its full weight would be killed by it, and want of -conscientiousness is not to be inferred from lightness of heart. - -It must have been, indeed it evidently was, much against the grain that -the great Minister of peace and economy went into the Crimean War. He -seems to have tried to persuade himself that the result, after all, -would be the bringing of Turkey under control. More substantial was his -resolution, as Chancellor of the Exchequer and holder of the purse, to -make the generation which waged the war, as far as possible, pay for -it by taxes, not cast the burden upon posterity by loans. Mr. Morley -is right in pointing to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, then unhappily -Ambassador at Constantinople, as largely responsible for the war. -Besides his hatred of Russia, the ambassador had a personal grudge -against the Czar. But conspiring with him were Palmerston, intensely -anti-Russian, the father of Jingoism, perhaps not unwilling to replace -the pacific Lord Aberdeen; and the Emperor of the French, who wanted -glory to gild his usurped throne and a better social footing in the -circle of Royalties, which he gained by publicly embracing the British -Queen. In the middle of the war, Gladstone seceded from the Ministry, -reconstructed under Palmerston after its fall under Lord Aberdeen; not, -I suspect, so much because Palmerston failed to oppose Roebuck’s motion -of inquiry, against which it was useless to contend, as because he was -himself thoroughly sick of the war. I happened just then to be with him -one morning on business, at the conclusion of which he began to talk to -me, or rather to himself, about the situation, saying, in his Homeric -way, that if the Trojans would have given back Helen and her treasures, -his Homeric phrase for the Vienna terms, the Greeks would have raised -the siege of Troy. I had not had the advantage of being at the Greek -headquarters; but I could not help seeing in what mood the British people -were, and how hopeless it was then to talk to them about reasonable terms -of peace. Had Gladstone, instead of bolting in the middle of the war, -mustered courage, of which he generally had a superabundance, to oppose -it at the outset, he might have incurred obloquy at the moment, but he -would have found before long that, to use Salisbury’s metaphor reversed, -he had laid his money on the right horse. The grass had hardly grown over -the graves on the heights of Sebastopol before everybody condemned the -war. - -After some turns of the political wheel, we find Gladstone Chancellor of -the Exchequer under Palmerston, making the fortune of that Government by -his masterly Budgets and splendid expositions of them in the House. If -Palmerston was the father of Jingoism, Gladstone was its arch-enemy. Of -the two things for which the Prime Minister said he lived, the extinction -of slavery, and the military defence of England, Gladstone looked not -with special zeal upon the first and very cautiously on the second. -Palmerston was a commercial Liberal, and he saw the immense value of such -a Chancellor of the Exchequer to his Government. But he was believed to -have said that, when he was gone, Gladstone would in two years turn their -majority of seventy into a minority, and in four be himself in a lunatic -asylum. It was known that he wanted as his successor in the leadership, -not Gladstone, but Cornewall Lewis. Very pleasant would have been the -situation of that highly respected scholar and statesman, leading the -House with Gladstone on his flank! - -One fruit, distinctly Gladstonian, the Palmerston Government bore. That -fruit was the commercial treaty with France, negotiated through Cobden, -who shared, with Bright, Palmerston’s particular dislike. Cobden even -suspected that Palmerston would not have been sorry if the treaty had -miscarried, and that he betrayed his feeling in his bearing and language -towards France while negotiations were going on. There was nothing in the -treaty which could militate against a rational policy of free trade. Some -Liberals were inclined to demur to it, not because it was inconsistent -with free trade, but because it made us to some extent accomplices in -a stretch of prerogative on the part of the Emperor of the French, who -used the treaty-making power to accomplish, without the authority of his -Legislature, a change in the fiscal system of France. - -The objections which some might perhaps take to Gladstone’s fiscal system -are, that it retains, though it reduces, the income tax, originally -imposed only for the purpose of shoring up the fiscal edifice while a -great change was taking place, with a promise that when the change should -be effected the tax should cease; and that it rests so much upon the -consumption of a few important articles. Suppose tobacco, for instance, -were to go out of fashion, as some sanitary authorities say it ought, -there would be a serious gap in the Budget. - -The great master of finance, while he was dealing with it on the largest -scale, was conscientiously mindful of the public interest in the most -minute details of expenditure. He regarded public money as sacred, and -any waste of it, however trifling, as criminal. His biographer has given -us amusing instances of his conscientious parsimony in small things. In -one case, however, his parsimony was misplaced. He grudged the judges -their large salaries. Public money cannot be better expended than in -taking the best men from the Bar to the Bench. The expedition of business -assured by their command of their courts would in itself be worth the -price, apart from the security for justice. - -Among other relics of Gladstone’s Conservatism was his clinging to -his seat in Parliament for the University of Oxford, in which he was -supported by a rather strange and precarious alliance of High Churchmen -voting for the High Churchman and Liberals voting for the progressive -Liberal; a combination the strain upon which became extreme when -Palmerston, in whose Government Gladstone was, made Shaftesbury, the lay -leader of the Evangelicals, his Minister for ecclesiastical affairs, and -allowed him to go on promoting Low Churchmen. But the Tories never made -a greater mistake than the ejection of Gladstone from his Oxford seat. -By sending him from Oxford to Liverpool, they, to use his own phrase, -unmuzzled him. It is true, I believe, that, on the day of his rejection, -the Bible fell out of the hand of the statue of James I. on the gate -tower of the Bodleian, an omen of the separation of the Church from -the State. The stone being very friable, the fall was not miraculous; -although it was curiously apt. - -It was a mistake, however, to say that the disestablishment of the Irish -Church had been an issue in the Oxford election. I compared notes on that -point with my friend, Sir John Mowbray, who had been the chairman of -the Tory committee, and agreed with me in saying that the Irish Church -was not an issue. Gladstone took up disestablishment for Ireland, which -had been long on the Liberal programme, when he had been thrown out of -power by Disraeli on the question of extension of the suffrage. He was -ambitious, happily for the country; and he wanted to recover the means of -doing great things. His admirers need not shrink from that avowal. But he -was also sincerely convinced, as well he might be, and as all Liberals -were, that the State Church of Ireland was about the most utterly -indefensible institution in the world. He framed his measure, expounded -it, and carried it through Parliament, in his usual masterly way; and the -Anglican Church in Ireland, it is believed, has felt herself the better -for the operation ever since. Gladstone’s High Church friends in England -forgave him with a sigh. The State Church of Ireland was separate from -that of England, and was Low Church and opposed to everything Catholic -from local antagonism to the Church of Rome. - -Before his junction with the Liberals, Gladstone had deprecated the -interference of Parliament with the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge on -the ground that they were private foundations with which Parliament had -no right to interfere; and when he brought on his Oxford Reform Bill he -had to perform one of his feats of retrospective explanation. But, as -usual, he did his work well, though he still left more to be done. By his -legislation, clerical as his sympathies were, the universities were set -free from clericism, reopened to science, and reunited to the nation. -Our Oxford Bill was badly cut up in the Commons, some misguided Liberals -playing into the hands of Disraeli, who of course meant mischief. When -the Bill in its mutilated state went up to the Lords, it appeared that -the Tory leader, Lord Derby, though he felt bound to speak against -the Ministerial measure, was not really prepared to throw it out, -and that consequently there had not been a whip upon his side. It was -then suggested to the Ministers in charge of the Bill that the Commons -amendments might be thrown out in the Lords, and the Bill might be sent -back in its original state to the Commons, where our friends might by -that time be better advised, and the Opposition benches, as it was the -end of the session, might be thinned. Russell, then the leader in the -Commons, condemned the suggestion as most rash and not unlikely to be the -death of the Bill. Gladstone was lying sick of an attack, strange to say, -of the chicken-pox. On appeal to him, the signal for battle was at once -held out, as I felt sure it would be; and the result was just what we -desired. - -In connection with this legislative dealing with the endowed colleges of -Oxford and Cambridge, the principle may be said to have been practically -adopted, though not formally laid down, that, after the lapse of fifty -years from the death of a Founder, the Legislature may deal freely with -all his regulations, saving the main object of his foundation. The -assumption that the wills of Founders were for ever inviolable, in spite -of the lapse of ages and the total change of circumstances, had led, as -it must always lead, to a perpetuity of perversion and to the defeat of -the main object of the Founders themselves. - -He who in his youth had won the favour of the most bigoted of Tory -patrons and entrance to public life by his rhetorical opposition to the -Reform Bill of 1832, was destined in his maturity to father a Reform -Bill at the thought of which the reformers of 1832 would have shuddered. -The Reform Bill of 1832 had enfranchised the middle-class, but by -abolishing the scot-and-lot borough, had deprived the working-class of -the little representation which it possessed. Moreover, the legislative -preponderance of the landed interest, which had the House of Lords to -itself and a large section of the Commons, was too great for the general -good. These were the best reasons for an extension of the suffrage, -while the Whig party and its leader Russell, perhaps, as is the way of -parties, finding their sails flapping against the mast, wished to raise a -little popular wind. It is by the bidding of parties against each other -for popularity, largely, that the suffrage has been extended. Russell -had for some time been busy with reform, and had more than once moved in -that direction, but had been deftly put aside by Palmerston, who, though -a Liberal by profession, and revolutionary or affecting that character in -foreign affairs, was in home politics a Tory at heart, and met general -assertions of the right of men to the suffrage as “partakers of our flesh -and blood” and presumptively entitled to a place “within the pale of -the constitution,” with the aphorism that “the one right of every man, -woman, and child was to be well governed.” It could not be said that the -reform agitation, at all events south of Birmingham, was very strong. The -large measure of extension brought in by Gladstone was opposed, in some -very memorable speeches, by Robert Lowe, a high aristocrat not of birth -but of intellect, who made the last stand against democracy and in favour -of government by mind. He and his section, dubbed by regular party men -“the Cave of Adullam,” helped Disraeli to kill the Bill. Disraeli then -brought in and carried a Bill, not less radical, of his own, to which the -Conservative gentry under the party whip, styled by Disraeli “education,” -lent a doleful support; while Robert Lowe appealed to their consistency -almost with tears, but in vain. Disraeli thus carried off the popularity -of the measure, and enabled himself to say that the Tories were the -true friends of the masses. But, besides this, Disraeli looked out of -window, which Gladstone’s critics, perhaps not wholly without ground for -their gibes, said that he did not, and had perceived and laid to heart -the great fact that there were many in the masses who cared little for -Liberalism or progress, and who would be apt under skilful management to -vote Tory. - -Such a subject as the French war lent transcendent interest to the great -speeches of Pitt and Fox. Otherwise, their best efforts are not superior -to Gladstone’s speech in favour of extension of the suffrage, though -Gladstone’s style is different from theirs. Gladstone’s speeches are not -literature. He spoke without notes, and no man can speak literature _ex -tempore_. Nor are there any passages of extraordinary brilliancy. For -such he had not imagination. But the speeches are masterly expositions of -the measure and of the case in its favour, always dignified, impressive, -and persuasive. The language is invariably good and clear; wonderfully -so, considering the absence of notes, though it is somewhat diffuse, and -had perhaps rather lost freshness by over-practice in debating-clubs when -the speaker was young. The voice, the manner, the bearing of the orator -were supreme, and filled even the most adverse listener with delight. - -Gladstone’s multifarious reading does not seem to have included a large -proportion of history or political philosophy. He has left among his -writings nothing of importance in the way of political science, nor does -he seem even to have formed any clear conception of the polity which he -was seeking to produce. His guiding idea, when once he had broken loose -from his early Toryism, was liberty which he appeared to think would -of itself be the parent of all that was good. He had, perhaps, derived -something from Russell, whose leading principle it was that the people -needed only responsibility to make them act wisely and rightly. He had, -apparently, no notion of any system of government other than party, which -he seemed to treat as though it had been immemorial and universal, -whereas it was born of the struggle for constitutional government against -the Stuarts. Even as to the working of the British Constitution, his -opinions are not very clear. He professed, and probably felt, the highest -respect for the Lords; yet, when they played their constitutional part -by throwing out Bills of his of which they did not approve, he denounced -them as violators of the Constitution. Did he intend to vest supreme -power absolutely in an assembly elected by manhood, or nearly manhood, -suffrage? - -For the Crown, Gladstone’s reverence went at least as far as to any but -believers in political fetichism would seem meet, or as we feel to be -perfectly consistent with the dignity of one so eminent and the real -head of the State. Yet, it was understood that he was not a favourite -at Court, and it is pretty evident that Her Majesty did not eagerly -embrace the opportunity of calling on him to form a Government. With all -her personal virtues and graces, she was a true granddaughter of George -III., cherishing, as we have been told, apparently on the best authority, -ideas of Divine Right, and liking to connect herself not so much with the -Hanoverians as with the Stuarts. To her, progressive Liberalism could -hardly be very congenial. Moreover, she was a woman, and in a competition -in flattery Gladstone would have had no chance with his rival. - -It is rather startling to learn from this Life how much there is of -interference on the part of irresponsibility with the responsible -Government of the Kingdom, and what drafts are made upon the time and -energy of one who has the burden of Atlas on his shoulders by the demands -of correspondence with the Court. Another thing of which the friends of -personal government, who have been labouring so hard by pageantry and -personal worship to stimulate the monarchical sentiment, may well take -note, is the confidential employment of Court Secretaries, like Sir -Herbert Taylor under George IV., in communications between the Sovereign -and the Minister. They might find, when they had revived the personal -power, that it was really wielded, not by Royalty itself, but by some -aspiring member or members of the household. - -Gladstone’s declaration, at a critical juncture of the American War, -that Jefferson Davis had made a nation, gave deep offence to the friends -of the North both in the United States and in England. But he atoned -for it by frank and honourable repentance. As a statement of fact, it -lacked truth only in so far that Davis, instead of making the South a -nation, had found it one already made. The schism between the Free and -Slave States was inevitable, and the war was from the outset one between -nations. That Gladstone subscribed to the Confederate loan was false, nor -is there the slightest reason for believing that he was less faithful -than any of his colleagues to the policy of strict neutrality, however -ready he may have been, in common with the rest, to tender good offices -in a contest in which, as it deprived millions of British artisans of the -materials of their industry, Great Britain had a manifest and pressing -interest. It might be rash to assert that the son of a slave-owner felt -the same intense abhorrence of slavery as Wilberforce, or that a High -Churchman fully equalled in his zeal for emancipation the Evangelicals -whose special heritage it was. But Gladstone’s actuating motives, -certainly, were his regard for the bread of the British artisan, and his -sympathy with all who were struggling to be free. With a view, probably, -to the satisfaction of mortified friends of the North in England, he -wrote to me suggesting that, if the North thought fit to let the South -go, it might in time be indemnified by the union of Canada with the -Northern States. As the letter, on consideration, seemed unlikely to -have the desired effect, and not unlikely at some future time to prove -embarrassing to the writer, no use was made of it, and it was destroyed. - -Had it been possible for the son of a Jamaica proprietor to be an ardent -emancipationist and a warm friend of the negro, Gladstone could hardly -have failed to show his feelings on the occasion of the Jamaica massacre, -that most atrocious outpouring of white hatred, rage, and panic on the -black peasantry of Jamaica. However, he had the general sentiment of the -upper classes and of the clergy upon his side. - -Peel, as Premier, had been master of the Government, as well as head, in -the last resort, of every Department. His habit had been to hear what all -the members of his Cabinet had to say, and then make up his mind. In his -time, there was no voting in the Cabinet nor any disclosure of Cabinet -proceedings. Disclosure of Cabinet proceedings is, in fact, at variance -with the Privy Councillor’s oath. Gladstone, it appears, put questions -to the vote. He also allowed a member of the Cabinet to set forth on -a political adventure of his own and proclaim a policy independent of -that of his chief and his colleagues, as the same politician is now -again doing. The Cabinet system itself under Gladstone’s Premiership -was apparently beginning to give way. There was a commencement of the -change which has now made the Cabinet an unwieldy body, meeting at long -intervals and almost publicly, while the real power and the direction of -policy centre in an inner conclave, something like that which, in the -reign of Charles II., was called the Cabal. - -Not only the Cabinet system but the party system, on which the Cabinet -system was based, had begun to show signs of disintegration. Sectionalism -had set in, as it was pretty sure to do when political speculation -had grown more free and there was no controlling issue, like that -of Parliamentary Reform in 1832, to hold a party together. Personal -ambition was also becoming restless and difficult to control. More than -once, Gladstone’s Government was defeated by the bolting of its own -supporters. The task of a Premier was not easy. Allowance must be made -for this, when we compare the measure of Gladstone’s success as head of -the Government with that of his predecessors, and with the measure of his -own success as Chancellor of the Exchequer, giving life and force to the -Government by his triumphs in finance. - -Of the truth of the charges of want of knowledge of men and of personal -tact, often brought against Gladstone as Premier, I cannot pretend to -judge. There was certainly no lack in him of social affability or charm. -He may not have practised the jovial familiarities of Palmerston or had a -counterpart of Lady Palmerston’s salon. But the lack of such things, or a -want of what is called personal magnetism, will hardly deprive a great -leader, such as Pitt or Peel, of the devotion of partisans, much less of -the trust and attachment of the people. - -Once, however, it must be owned, Gladstone as Premier was guilty of -a mistake in tactics at anyrate, which could not fail to shake the -confidence of his party. I happened to be revisiting England and was at -Manchester, when, like a bolt out of the blue, without notice or warning -of any kind, came upon us the dissolution of 1874. All Liberals saw at -once that it was ruin. It seems that the leader himself contemplated, -and almost counted on, defeat. What was it, then, that moved him to -this desperate act? His Chancellor and devoted friend, Lord Selborne -(Roundell Palmer), did not doubt that it was a legal dilemma in which -he had involved himself, by taking the Chancellorship of the Exchequer -in addition to the First Lordship of the Treasury without going to -his constituents for re-election, a violation, there was reason to -apprehend, of the law. The only escape from that dilemma, according to -the Chancellor, was dissolution. Mr. Morley, to whose authority I should -willingly defer, strenuously repels this explanation, and points to -another ground, assigned by Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Gladstone was, of course, -sure to assign another ground, and equally sure to persuade himself that -it was the real one. But what was that other ground? It was, in fact, -that the Government was sick, and that the election would put it out -of its misery, thereby declaring the situation. But did Mr. Gladstone -overlook the fact that he would be depriving a number of his followers of -their seats? Why was the stroke so sudden? On the other hand, the charge -of bribing the constituencies by promising to repeal the income tax, Mr. -Morley is perfectly right in dismissing as baseless. Such expectations -are held out by all competitors for power. What is the game of party but -that of outbidding the other side? - -After this defeat, Achilles retired in dudgeon to his tent. Gladstone -insisted on resigning the leadership. But everybody foresaw that his -return to it was inevitable; and it was difficult to fix on a man of -sufficient eminence to take his place, and yet not too eminent to give -it up when the great man might see fit to return. Lord Hartington was -chosen as one whose comparative youth would make the surrender easy in -his case, while his high rank would continue to sustain his position. - -Whenever there was fighting to be done for the party, either in -Parliamentary debate or on the stump, Gladstone was the man. His -Midlothian campaign displayed his almost miraculous powers as a speaker, -while it called forth the enthusiastic feeling of the people for the -man in whom they thought, and rightly, that they saw their heartiest -friend and the most powerful advocate of their interests. Three speeches -in one day and an address this prodigy of nature could deliver, and -the speeches were not flummery and clap-trap, but addressed to the -intelligence of the people. Yet one cannot help being rather sorry that -the stump should have been so much dignified by Gladstone’s practice. It -is a great evil. To say nothing of its effect upon the passions of the -audience, it wears out the statesman; it deprives him, in the intervals -of Parliament, of leisure for study and reflection; worst of all, it -tempts him imprudently to commit himself. - -In the case of armed intervention in Egypt, Gladstone seemed to swerve -from his usual fidelity to a policy of moderation and peace. It lost him -Bright, to whom as he advanced in Liberalism he had been drawing closer, -and who had been induced to take office in his Government. Bright would -have nothing to do with aggrandizement or war, and in private his words -were strong, though in public he showed chivalrous forbearance towards -his friends. Seeing that Egypt lay on the road to India and commanded the -Suez Canal, it does not appear that the illustrious Quaker would have -had much reason for finding fault with Gladstone and his Government, so -far as the main scope of their policy was concerned. The fatal mistake, -as it turned out, was the employment of Gordon, a heroic enthusiast, -whose action no one could well foresee, who perhaps could hardly foresee -his own, and who was not the best agent to be selected for carrying out -a policy of retreat. That Gladstone went to the opera after receiving -news of Gordon’s death, as his malignant enemies said, was denied. But, -even if he had, would any real want of feeling have been implied in his -continuing to take his ordinary relief from the load of toil and anxiety -which he bore? - -In the case of the Transvaal Republic, Gladstone had the moral courage, -in face of the agitation caused by Majuba Hill, to avow that he shrank -from “blood-guiltiness,” and to keep the nation in the path of honour -and justice. His biographer, in dealing with this case and its sequel, -has been evidently restrained by his desire not to multiply points of -controversy. He might otherwise have greatly strengthened his proof -that the claim of suzerainty was a fraud. Not such would have been the -treatment of a breach of the plighted faith of the nation had Gladstone -lived. - -The last act of this wonderful life and its closing scene connect -themselves with the history of Ireland, and are scarcely of a brighter -hue than the rest of that sad story. The history of the case with -which, at this juncture, statesmanship had to deal, if it was clearly -apprehended, was never, so far as I remember, very clearly set forth, -either by Mr. Gladstone or by anyone who took part in the discussion. -Cromwell had given Ireland, with union, the indispensable boon of -free trade with Great Britain. Succeeding Governments, less wise and -magnanimous, had allowed British protectionism to kill the great Irish -industries, the cattle trade and the wool trade. The people were thus -thrown for subsistence entirely on the cultivation of the soil, in an -island far the greater part of which is too wet for profitable tillage, -and lends itself only to grazing. Then came the Penal Code, and to -economical destitution was added utter social degradation. The people -were reduced to a state bordering on absolute barbarism, a state in which -they could look for nothing beyond bare food, while even bare food, -the treacherous potato being its staple, periodically failed. In such -a condition, all social and prudential restraints on the increase of -population were lost, and the people multiplied with animal recklessness -far beyond the capacity of the island to maintain them. Desperately -contending for the soil on which they solely depended for their -maintenance, they became, in the most miserable sense, tenants-at-will, -prædial serfs of the landlord, who ground them through his middleman, and -sometimes through a series of middlemen forming a hierarchy of extortion, -while what the middleman had left was taken by the tithe-proctor. All the -improvements of the tenant were confiscated by the owner of the soil. -The only remedy for over-population, apart from the fell agencies of -famine and disease, was emigration. The remedy for the agrarian evil and -grievance, so far as it could be reached by legislation, apparently was -some measure which would give the Irish tenant-at-will the same security -for his holding which had been given to the English copyholder by custom -and the favour of the courts. To buy out the Irish landlord was hardly -just to the British people, and was a measure in itself of dangerous -import. The abolition of the Irish gentry by any means, if it could be -avoided, was a social mistake. The peasantry would thereby be deprived of -the social chiefs, whose influence it specially needed, and there would -be danger of handing the island over to the demagogue or the priest. - -The political part of the problem, which concerned the relations between -the two islands, had, when Mr. Gladstone came to deal with the question, -assumed the aspect of a struggle for Home Rule. This was an ostensibly -reduced and mitigated version of the struggle for the repeal of the -Union, which had been set on foot by O’Connell, and, passing from him -into more violent hands, had in 1848, under Smith O’Brien, come after a -feeble outbreak to an unhappy end. The political movement, apart from -the agrarian insurrection, had never shown much force. It was not on -political change that the heart of the Irish people was set, but on the -secure possession of their holdings and their deliverance from the grasp -of famine. But the new leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, a real statesman -in his way, combined the two objects, and the movement, carrying the -people with it, became formidable in its political as well as in its -agrarian form. - -There had been, as we know, an immense Irish emigration to the United -States. This, while it had somewhat relieved the pressure of population, -had in another respect greatly added to the difficulty of the case. -It had given birth to American Fenianism, with its Clan-na-Gael, an -agitation wholly political, sanguinary in spirit, formidable from -the influence of the Irish vote on American politicians, having its -headquarters and its centre beyond the reach of British repression. - -Gladstone had been in Ireland only for three weeks, and then, Mr. Morley -says, he had not gone beyond a very decidedly English circle. There -is, at all events, no trace of his having studied on the spot the -character of the people with whom he had to deal, the influences which -were at work, the various forces, political, ecclesiastical, social, and -economical, to the play of which he was going to deliver the island. Had -he done this, he might have known why it was that Irish Liberals, like -Lord O’Hagan and Sir Alexander Macdonald, while they were Irish patriots -to the core, and because they were Irish patriots to the core, shrank -with horror from the dissolution of the legislative Union. He might have -seen the probable futility of any clause of a Home Rule Act forbidding -preference of a particular religion, and the ease with which it could -have been practically nullified by the Roman Catholic hierarchy and -priesthood, wielding the influence which they possessed over the people -and over popular elections. He might also have more vividly realized -the danger attending the relation of Protestant and Saxon Ulster to the -Celtic and Catholic part of Ireland, when they came to face each other in -a separate arena and their conflict was uncontrolled. - -With the agrarian grievance Mr. Gladstone undertook to deal by means of -land legislation, purchasing for the people, or giving them the means of -purchasing, the freehold of their lots. The operation, as has been said, -was perilous, as it involved exceptional dealing with contracts, as well -as an unusual employment of public money; and in its course it exposed -Mr. Gladstone to angry charges, not only of violent legislation, but of -deception, to which colour may have been given by some shifting of his -ground. A simple Act of the character above suggested, if it had been -practicable, might possibly have solved the problem with less of a shock -to the sanctity of contracts and less disturbance of any kind. - -The political part of the Parnell movement Mr. Gladstone had for some -time strenuously and vehemently opposed. He denounced Parnell’s policy as -leading through rapine to dismemberment. He applied coercion vigorously -to Irish outrage, imprisoned a number of Parnellites as suspects, and -himself proclaimed the arrest of Parnell to an applauding multitude at -Guild Hall. He allowed his colleague to rise night after night from -his side, and denounce the Home Rule movement in language even stronger -than his own. But, having been defeated in the election of 1885 by the -combined forces of Conservatives and Parnellites, he suddenly, to the -amazement of everybody, and the general consternation of his party, -turned round, declared in favour of Home Rule, and coalesced with -Parnell, by whose assistance he ousted the Conservative Government of -Lord Salisbury, and reinstalled himself in power. It is not necessary -to charge him with being actuated by love of power, or to say that his -conversion was not sincere. It is due to him to bear in mind that the -Conservative leaders, in what was called the Maamtrasma debate, had -unquestionably coquetted with Parnellism, one of them, Sir Michael Hicks -Beach, courting Parnellite favour by censuring Lord Spencer; and that -by this conduct on their part the aspect of the question had undergone -a certain change. On the other hand, it is impossible to forget that -Gladstone’s position was that of leader of the Opposition, wishing to -reinstate his party in power, and seeing that this could be done only by -the help of the Irish vote. Nor can we easily bring ourselves to accept -the account of his gradual conversion to Home Rule put forth in his -_History of an Idea_. If he felt that his mind was moving on the subject, -how could he have deemed it right not only to mask his own misgivings -by vehement denunciations of Home Rule, but to lead his party and the -nation on what he had begun to feel might prove to be the wrong line? His -honesty, I repeat, need not be questioned. But neither his consistency -nor the perfect singleness of his motive can very easily be maintained. -He was a party leader; a full believer in the party system; and his party -wanted to prevail over its rival. It is only by contention for power that -party government can be carried on. - -Gladstone proposed in effect to break the legislative Union by giving -Ireland a Parliament of her own. This Parliament he styled “statutory.” -Restrictions were to be laid upon it which would have made its relation -to the British Parliament one of vassalage, and against which it would -almost certainly have commenced, from the moment of its birth, a struggle -for equality and independence. If it was baffled in that struggle, it -might even have held out its hands for aid to the foreign enemies of -Great Britain. The framer of the measure apparently had not distinctly -made up his mind whether he would include the Irish in the Parliament of -Great Britain or exclude them from it. That he should have rushed into -legislation so momentous, legislation affecting the very existence of -the United Kingdom, without having thoroughly made up his mind on the -vital point, is surely a proof that, great as he was in finance, mighty -as he was in debate, powerful as he was in framing and carrying measures -of reform, when, as in dealing with Irish Disestablishment or the -Universities, a clear case was put into his hands, he was hardly one of -those sure-footed statesmen to whom can be safely intrusted the supreme -destinies of a nation. - -If after the equitable settlement of the agrarian question and the -reduction of the population to the number which the island can maintain, -the political enmity generated by the long struggle continues unassuaged, -and the Irish contingent remains, as it has now for many years been, -an alien and rebellious element in the British Parliament, disturbing -and distracting British councils, there may be a sufficient reason for -letting Ireland go. It would be folly to keep her as a mere thorn in the -side of Great Britain. It would be more than folly to attempt to hold -her in bondage. It is not unlikely that, after a trial of independence, -she might of her own accord come back to the Union. But all wise -statesmen have united in saying that there must be legislative Union or -independence. Two Parliaments, two nations.[1] - -The announcement of Gladstone’s plan was followed by terrible searching -of heart in his party, ending in a split. Lord Hartington undertook the -leadership of the Unionist-Liberals, and showed energy and striking -ability in his new part. The fatal blow was the declared opposition of -Bright, the great pillar of political righteousness, and the lifelong -advocate of justice to Ireland. - -The stoutest opposition and that which did most to save the integrity -of the United Kingdom was made, as I shall always hold, by _The Times_. -The error into which it fell with regard to the Parnell Letters was a -trifling matter compared with the memorable service which it rendered on -the whole to the Unionist cause. - -When the contest had begun, Gladstone’s pugnacity broke all bounds. He -appealed to separatist sentiment in Scotland and Wales, as well as in -Ireland. He appealed to the “masses” against the “classes.” He appealed -to ignorance against intelligence and the professions. One of the most -eminent of his lifelong friends and admirers, who had held high office -in his Government, said of him in a letter to me, “Gladstone is morally -insane.” He had lost the personal influences by which his impulses had -been controlled. Graham, Newcastle, Sidney Herbert, Cardwell, all were -gone. Cardwell especially, a man eminently sure-footed and cool-headed, -had, I suspect, while he lived, exercised an important and salutary -though unfelt restraint. - -Carried away by his excitement, Gladstone traduced the authors of the -Union and their work, a work which he had once coupled with the treaty -of commerce with France as supremely honourable to Pitt. “A horrible -and shameful history, for no epithets weaker than these can in the -slightest degree describe or indicate ever so faintly the means by which, -in defiance of the national sentiment of Ireland, consent to the Union -was attained.” Such is his language, and he compares the transaction -in atrocity to the worst crimes in history. Consent to the Union was -attained by the absolute necessity, plain to men of sense, of putting -an end to murderous anarchy and averting a renewal of ’98. It has been -clearly shown that there was no serious bribery of a pecuniary kind. The -indemnities for the owners of pocket boroughs were paid, in accordance -with the notions of the day and under an Act of Parliament, alike to -those who had voted for the Union and to those who had voted against it. -The oligarchy to whose local reign the measure put an end was appeased -with peerages and appointments, the scramble for which might well disgust -a high-minded man like Cornwallis. This was probably inevitable in those -days. Satisfactorily to obtain the national consent was impossible. -The Parliament was a Protestant oligarchy, the Catholics being still -excluded, and it was deeply stained with the atrocities of repression. -Ireland, in fact, was not a nation, or capable of giving a national -consent; it was a country divided between two races antagonistic in -religion and at deadly enmity with each other. The submission of the -question to the constituencies by the holding of a general election, -five-sixths of the population being excluded from Parliament, would have -been futile, and would very likely have revived the civil war. Pitt, it -is true, held out to the Catholics a hope of political emancipation. -That hope he did his best to fulfil, but he was prevented by the fatuous -obstinacy of the King; and Mr. Gladstone, who was a devout monarchist, -might have been challenged to say what, when met by the Royal veto, Pitt -could have done. The promise remained in abeyance for one generation, at -the end of which it was fulfilled. These bitter appeals to Irish hatred -of the Union and belief that it was a deadly and inexpiable wrong, did -not come well from the author of a measure intended, as he professed, to -pluck the thorn out of the Irish heart. - -The Bill was defeated in the House of Commons by a majority of thirty -votes; and, on an appeal to the country, the Liberal-Unionists combining -with the Conservatives on the special question, the Opposition won by -upwards of a hundred. Six years afterwards, by another turn of the -wheel, the Salisbury Government losing strength, Gladstone found himself -again at the head of the Government, but with a weak majority made up -largely of the Irish vote. Then came the catastrophe of Parnell, who, -at the critical moment, was convicted of _crim. con._ It is impossible -to read Mr. Morley’s account of the scene of distraction which ensued, -matrimonial morality struggling with political convenience, and of the -sorrowful decision that _crim. con._ would be an awkward thing to carry -in face of the Nonconformist conscience, without feeling the presence of -a comic element in the narrative. - -Home Rule, however, was again put to the vote, and in its strangest form, -Ireland being given a Parliament of her own, and, at the same time, a -representation in the British Parliament with full liberty of voting on -all British questions. That the Irish delegation would barter its vote -to British parties for Irish objects, and especially for the relaxation -of restrictions on its plenary power, was what nobody could fail to -foresee. A more extraordinary proposal, surely, never was made to any -legislature. The one recommendation that Home Rule had was, that it -would rid the British Parliament of an alien and hostile element. That -element Gladstone’s Bill would have retained in its worst form. The Bill, -however, was carried in the Commons by a majority of thirty-four, some of -the English members probably giving a party vote in the assurance that -the Bill would be thrown out by the House of Lords. - -The use of the clôture in forcing through the House of Commons such a -measure as Home Rule surely could not be defended. The clôture by which -our overbearing Government is able to gag the House of Commons, even on -the most vital question, remains a mark of Gladstone’s impetuousity and -inability to brook opposition when what seemed to him an object of prime -importance was in view. - -After trying to raise a storm against the Lords, Gladstone resigned, as -was reported, on a difference with the Admiralty about naval expenditure. -One of the most memorable careers in English history came to an end. The -party which Gladstone led was utterly shattered, and shattered it still -remains. Palmerston, could he have looked upon the scene, might have -said that his cynical prophecy had been really fulfilled. - -Gladstone, in addition to his immense amount of public work, was a -voluminous author; the more voluminous because his style, formed by -public and _ex tempore_ speaking, though perfectly clear and correct, -was certainly diffuse. His biographer shows good judgment by dwelling no -more than he can help on this part of the subject. Readers of _Homeric -Studies_ and _Juventus Mundi_ must wonder how such things can have been -written and given to the press by so great a man. Stranger things have -seldom come from any pen than the pages of the Traditive Element in -Homeric Theo-Mythology, connecting Latona with the Virgin, Apollo with -the Deliverer of mankind, and Ate with the Tempter. All these volumes -are full of fantastic and baseless speculation. The fancy that there was -an Egyptian epoch in the early history of Greece appears to be partly -suggested by an accidental similarity between the name of an Egyptian and -that of a Bœotian city. Not on such reasonings were the famous budgets -based. - -I was with Gladstone one day, when, our business having been done, he -began to talk of Homer, and imparted to me a theory which he had just -woven out of some fancied philological discovery. I felt sure that the -theory was baseless, and tried to convince him that it was. But he was -never very open to argument. Just as I had succumbed, the door opened -and his brother-in-law, Lord Lyttelton, came in. Lord Lyttelton was -a first-rate classical scholar, and I felt sure that he would see the -question aright and prevail. See the question aright he did; prevail he -did not; and the discovery has probably taken its place beside that of -the Traditive Element. - -Before the publication of _Juventus Mundi_, I think it was, there was a -Homeric dinner at which, with Cornewall Lewis, Milman, and some other -scholars I had the honour of being present. It was a very delightful -reunion. No one could be more charming socially than our host. But I -doubt whether the critical result was great. - -Gladstone had in part put off his Establishmentarianism, but his -orthodoxy and belief in the inspiration of the Bible remained unimpaired. -This deprives his theological writings of serious value, though -they still have interest as the work of a mind at once powerful and -intensely religious, dealing with topics of the highest concern. It is -not difficult to meet Hume’s philosophic objection to miracles, which -seems little more than an assumption of the absolute impossibility of a -sufficient amount of evidence. If the death of a man and his restoration -to life were witnessed and certified by a great body of men of science, -in circumstances such as to preclude the possibility of imposture, we -should not withhold our belief, however contrary the occurrence might be -to the ordinary course of nature. But we cannot believe anything contrary -to the ordinary course of nature on the testimony of an anonymous -gospel of uncertain authorship, of uncertain date, the product of an -uncritical age, containing matter apparently mythical, and written in the -interest of a particular religion. From considering the authenticity and -sufficiency of the evidence, Gladstone, by his faith in the Bible, is -debarred. So, in his critical work on Butler, he is debarred from free -and fruitful discussion by the assumption, which he all the time carries -with him, of the authenticity of Revelation. His faith in the inspiration -of the Bible seems to go so far as to include belief in the longevity of -the Patriarchs before the flood.[2] - -Venturing to break a lance with Huxley about the truth of the account -of creation in Genesis, he could not fail to be overthrown. His apology -seems to amount to this; that the Creator in imparting an account of -the creation to Moses, was so near the truth that the account could, by -dint of very ingenious interpretation, be made not wholly irreconcilable -with scientific fact. Gladstone continued greatly to venerate Newman, -and apparently allowed himself to be influenced in his reasoning by -the _Grammar of Assent_, a sort of _vade mecum_ of self-illusion, -the characteristic purport of the Cardinal’s very subtle but not very -masculine and very flexible mind. - -To me, Gladstone’s life is specially interesting as that of a man who -was a fearless and powerful upholder of humanity and righteousness in -an age in which faith in both was growing weak, and Jingoism, with its -lust of war and rapine, was taking possession of the world. The man who, -breaking through the restraints of diplomatic prudery, pleaded before -Europe with prevailing eloquence the cause of oppressed Italy; who dared, -after Majuba Hill, in face of public excitement, to keep the path of -justice and honour in dealing with the Transvaal; whose denunciation of -the Bulgarian atrocities made the Turkish Assassin tremble on his throne -of iniquity; who, if he had lived so long, would surely have striven -to save the honour of the country by denouncing the conspiracy against -the liberty of the South African republics; who, if he were now living, -would be protesting, not in vain, against the indifference of England -to her responsibility for Turkish horrors; has a more peculiar hold on -my veneration and gratitude than the statesman whose achievements and -merits, very great as they were, have never seemed to me quite so great -as, in Mr. Morley’s admirably executed picture, they appear. Not that -I would undervalue Gladstone’s statesmanship or its fruits. Wonderful -improvements in finance, great administrative reforms, the opening -of the Civil Service, the Postal Savings Bank, the liberation of the -newspaper press from the paper duty, the abolition of purchase in the -army, the reform of the Universities followed by that of the endowed -schools, the disestablishment of the Irish Church, and the commercial -treaty with France, make up a mighty harvest of good work; even if we -leave the re-settlement of the franchise open to question and carry Home -Rule to the wrong side of the account. Very striking is the contrast, in -this respect, between Gladstone’s career and that of his principal rival, -who gave his mind little to practical improvement, and almost entirely -to the game of party and the struggle for power. Moreover, Gladstone -filled the nation with a spirit of common enthusiasm and hopeful effort -for the general good, especially for the good of the masses, to which -there was nothing corresponding on the part of his rival for power, -whose grand game was that of setting two classes, the highest and the -lowest, against the third. Gladstone was, in the best sense, a man of -the people; and the heart of the people seldom failed to respond to his -appeal. As an embodiment of some great qualities, especially of loyalty -to righteousness, he has left no equal behind him, and deeply in this -hour of trial we feel his loss. - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] I used to think that an occasional session, or even a single session, -of the United Parliament at Dublin, for the special settlement of Irish -affairs, Irish character being what it is, might have a good effect on -the Irish heart. It might put an end to the feeling which at present -prevails, that the United Parliament is alien to Ireland and almost a -foreign power. The suggestion was considered, but the inconvenience was -deemed too great. Yet, inconvenience would have been cheaply incurred if -the measure could have answered its purpose. A more feasible course might -be to allow the Irish members to meet in College Green and legislate on -purely Irish questions, subject to the ultimate allowance or disallowance -of the Imperial Parliament, in which the Irish members would still sit. - -[2] “The immense longevity of the early generations of mankind was -eminently favourable to the preservation of pristine traditions. Each -individual, instead of being, as now, a witness of, or an agent in, one -or two transmissions from father to son, would observe or share in ten -times as many. According to the Hebrew Chronology, Lamech, the father -of Noah, was of mature age before Adam died; and Abraham was of mature -age before Noah died. Original or early witnesses, remaining so long as -standards of appeal, would evidently check the rapidity of the darkening -and destroying process.”--_Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age_, II. 4, -5. - -_Printed by MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, Edinburgh_ - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Memory of Gladstone, by Goldwin Smith - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY MEMORY OF GLADSTONE *** - -***** This file should be named 55549-0.txt or 55549-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/5/4/55549/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: My Memory of Gladstone - -Author: Goldwin Smith - -Release Date: September 14, 2017 [EBook #55549] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY MEMORY OF GLADSTONE *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<h1>MY MEMORY OF GLADSTONE</h1> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">AN INTERESTING VOLUME OF -CHARACTER SKETCHES:</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Political and Other.</span></p> - -<p class="center larger">PORTRAITS OF THE SIXTIES.</p> - -<p class="noindent">By <span class="smcap">Justin McCarthy</span>, Author of “A -History of our own Time.” With many -Illustrations from Contemporary Photographs. -Demy 8vo, cloth, 15s. net.</p> - -<p class="center">LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 460px;"> - -<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="460" height="700" alt="" /> - -<p class="left"><i>Photo</i>]</p> - -<p class="right">[<i>Barraud.</i></p> - -<p class="caption">W. E. GLADSTONE.</p> - -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p class="titlepage larger">MY MEMORY OF<br /> -GLADSTONE</p> - -<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br /> -GOLDWIN SMITH</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> -<img src="images/publisher.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="T. Fisher Unwin imprimatur" /> -</div> - -<p class="center smaller"><i>SECOND IMPRESSION</i></p> - -<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">LONDON</span><br /> -T. FISHER UNWIN<br /> -<span class="smaller">PATERNOSTER SQUARE<br /> -1904</span></p> - -<p class="titlepage smaller"><i>All Rights Reserved</i></p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<h2>MY MEMORY OF GLADSTONE</h2> - -<p>Since the appearance of the first -volumes of Macaulay’s History there -has not been such an event in the -publishing world as the appearance of -a Life of Gladstone by Mr. Morley. -Nor has public expectation been disappointed.</p> - -<p>Though I saw a good deal of Gladstone, -both in the way of business -and socially, I never was nor could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> -I have been, like Mr. Morley, his colleague -and a partner of his counsels. -On the other hand, I lived in the -closest intimacy with men who were his -associates in public life, and saw him -through their eyes.</p> - -<p>This man was a wonderful being, -physically and mentally, the mental -part being well sustained by the -physical. His form bespoke the nervous -energy with which it was -surcharged. His eye was intensely -bright, though in the rest of the -face there was nothing specially indicative -of genius. His physical and -mental force was such that he could speak -for more than four hours at a stretch, -and with vigour and freshness so sustained -that George Venables, an extremely -fastidious and not over-friendly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> -critic, after hearing him for -four hours, and on a financial subject, -wished that he could go on for four -hours more. His powers of work were -enormous. He once called me to him -to help in settling the details of a -University Bill. He told me that he -had been up over the Bill late at night. -We worked at it together from ten in -the morning till six in the afternoon, -saving an hour and a half which he -spent at a Privy Council, leaving me -with the Bill. When we parted, he -went down to the House, where he -spoke at one o’clock the next morning. -Besides his mountain of business, he -was a voluminous writer on other -than political subjects, and did a vast -amount of miscellaneous reading. As -a proof of his powers of acquisition,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> -he gained so perfect a mastery of the -Italian language as to be able to -make a long speech, in which Professor -Villari could detect only two mistakes, -and those merely uses of a -poetical instead of the ordinary word.</p> - -<p>Like Pitt, Gladstone was a first-rate -sleeper. At the time when he had -exposed himself to great obloquy and -violent attacks by his secession from -the Palmerston Government, in the -middle of the Crimean War, one of -his intimate friends spoke of him to -me as being in so extreme a state of -excitement that he hardly liked to go -near him. Next day, I had business -with him. He went out of the room -to fetch a letter, leaving me with Mrs. -Gladstone, to whom I said that I -feared he must be severely tried by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> -the attacks. She replied that he was, -but that he would come home from -the most exciting debate and fall at -once into sound sleep. A bad night, -she said, if ever he had one, upset -him. But this was very rare. He -chronicles his good and bad nights, -showing how thoroughly he felt the -necessity of sound sleep. In extreme -old age he took long walks and felled -trees, conversed with unfailing vivacity, -and seemed to be the last of -the party in the evening to wish to -go to bed. At the same time he was -doing a good deal of work.</p> - -<p>The hero was fond of dwelling on -his Scottish extraction. His domicile, -however, was Liverpool, and his father -was a West Indian proprietor and -slave-owner; a circumstance perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> -not wholly without influence on one -or two passages of his life. To his -Scottish shrewdness and aptitude for -business, Eton and Oxford added the -highest English culture. Eton in those -days would teach him only classics. -But there was a good deal of interest -in public affairs among the boys, many -of whom were scions of political houses. -There was a lively debating club, -called “Pop,” of which Gladstone -was the star. At Oxford he added -mathematics to classics, taking the -highest honours in both. There, also, -he was the star of the debating -club. It was a fine time for budding -debaters, being the epoch of the great -struggle about the Reform Bill. Gladstone -led vehemently and gloriously -on the Tory side. The result was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> -that his fellow collegian, Lord Lincoln, -introduced him as a most promising -recruit to his father the old Duke of -Newcastle, the highest of Tories, and -Gladstone was elected to Parliament -for Newark, a borough under the -Duke’s influence. I have been allowed -to read the correspondence, and there -is nothing in it derogatory to the -young man’s independence.</p> - -<p>Oxford was the heart of clericism -as well as Toryism, and the advance -of Liberalism threatened the Anglican -State Church, as well as the oligarchy -of rotten boroughs. The Tractarian -movement of sacerdotal reaction was -already on foot. Gladstone imbibed the -ecclesiastical as well as the political -spirit of the place, and formed a friendship, -which proved lasting, with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> -authors of the mediævalising movement. -He published a defence of the -Anglican State Church, which, as we -know, was terribly cut up by Macaulay. -The Reviewer, however, ends with -a defence of religious establishments -really weaker than anything in Gladstone. -The State, according to Macaulay, -though religion is not its -proper business, has some time and -energy to spare which it may usefully -devote to the regulation of religion.</p> - -<p>Gladstone cast off by degrees his -extreme Establishmentarianism. He -came at last to disestablishing the -Church in Ireland and pledging himself -to disestablishment in Wales. But -he remained firmly attached to the -Church of England, encircled by High -Church friends, who were really nearer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> -to his heart than anybody else, deeply, -even passionately, interested in all their -questions, and an assiduous writer on -their side. He was suspected of being -a Papist. A Papist he certainly was -not. No one could be more opposed -to Papal usurpation. His special sympathy -was with anti-Papal and -anti-Infallibilist Catholics, such as Döllinger -and Lord Acton. His religious -faith was simple and profound; so -simple that he continued in this sceptical -age to believe in the plenary inspiration -of the Bible, and in the Mosaic -account of the Creation. He retained -unshaken faith in Providence and in -the efficacy of prayer. This in his -meditations constantly and clearly appears. -At the same time, he grew -tolerant of free inquiry as a conscientious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -quest of truth. Many Nonconformists, -the leaders especially, notwithstanding -his Anglicanism and his suspected -leanings to Rome, were drawn to him -on broad grounds of religious sympathy, -and lent him their political support. -Lord Salisbury called him “a great -Christian.” He could not have been -more truly described. He had thought -of taking Holy Orders. From this he -had been happily deterred, but he seems -to have been fond of officiating in -a semi-clerical way by reading the -lessons in Hawarden Church.</p> - -<p>Gladstone’s zeal in the service of -his nation and humanity, his loyalty -to right and hatred of tyranny and -injustice, and his conscientious industry, -were sustained by spiritual influences, -and Christianity has a right to appeal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> -to his character in support, not of its -dogmas, but of its principles.</p> - -<p>The first step in emancipation from -bondage to the State Church theory -was curious and characteristic. Peel, -in whose Government Gladstone then -was, proposed an increase of the grant -to Maynooth. Gladstone paid a tribute -to the principle of the “Church in its -Relation to the State” by resigning -his office. Then, on the ground that -the other principle had prevailed, he -voted for the grant and went back into -the Government. It is thus possible -to see how the idea of a certain tortuosity -became connected with his career. -Bitter enemies even accused him of -duplicity. He had a habit, of which -his biographer seems aware, of making -his words open to a double construction,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> -the consequence, perhaps, of consciousness -that his mind was moving and -that his position might be changed. -He had also a dislike of owning change, -and a habit of setting his retroactive -imagination at work to prove that -there was no inconsistency, which had -a bad effect, especially in such a case -as his sudden coalition with Parnell.</p> - -<p>The value of the recruit was at once -recognized and the door of office was -presently opened to him by Peel, who -was always on the look-out for youthful -promise, and set himself, perhaps -more than any other Prime Minister -ever did, to train up a succession of -statesmen for the country. Though -himself the least eccentric of mankind, -Peel showed in more than one case -that he could overlook a touch of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> -eccentricity where there was real merit -and genuine work. Set, as Vice-President -of the Board of Trade, to -deal with a subject entirely new to -him, Gladstone at once justified Peel’s -confidence and discernment. Perhaps -the office had been chosen for him -as one in which his eccentricity had -no play. He served Peel admirably -well, and was perfectly true to his -chief. But, from things that I have -heard him say, I rather doubt whether -he greatly loved Peel. Peel detested -the Tractarians; the Tractarians hated -Peel; and some of the Tractarians -were nearest of all men to Gladstone’s -heart.</p> - -<p>Peel’s Government having been overthrown -on the question of the Corn -Laws by a combination which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> -Duke of Wellington characterized with -military frankness, of Tory Protectionists, -Whigs, Radicals, and Irish -Nationalists, the whole under Semitic -influence, its chief, for the short remainder -of his life, held himself aloof -from the party fray, encouraging no -new combination, and content with -watching over the safety of his great -fiscal reform; though, as Greville says, -had the Premiership been put to the -vote, Peel would have been elected -by an overwhelming majority. His -personal following, Peelites as they -were called, Graham, Gladstone, Lincoln, -Cardwell, Sidney Herbert, and -the rest, remained suspended between -the two great parties. When Disraeli -had thrown over protection, as he -meant from the beginning to do, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> -only barrier of principle between the -Peelites and the Conservatives was -removed. Overtures were made by the -Conservative leader, Lord Derby, to -Gladstone, whose immense value as a -financier was well established, and the -common opinion was that Gladstone -would have accepted had Disraeli -not been in the way. But Disraeli, -though he offered to waive his claims, -was in the way, and the result was -that the Peelites, Gladstone at their -head, coalesced with the Whigs and -helped to form the coalition Government -of Lord Aberdeen.</p> - -<p>Mr. Morley has said rightly that -an impulse in the Liberal direction -was lent to Gladstone’s mind by the -crusade into which his humanity impelled -him against the iniquities and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -cruelties of the Bourbon government -at Naples. Though it was not revolutionary -sentiment but zeal for righteousness -and hatred of iniquity that moved -him, his heart could not be closed -against the loud and passionate acclaim -of the Mazzinians and all who were -struggling against the traditions of the -Holy Alliance in Europe, while all the -powers of reaction, political or ecclesiastical, -denounced him, and even the -good Lord Aberdeen shrank from anything -which appeared to encourage -revolution or to imply that the treaties -of Vienna were effete. The famous -letters sent a thrill through Europe -and made all the powers of tyranny -and iniquity tremble on their thrones. -Seldom, if ever, has a private manifesto -had such effect. Combined with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> -humanity and zeal for righteousness, -in Gladstone’s heart was a strong -feeling in favour of nationality, which -he showed in promoting, as he did, -the emancipation of the Ionian Islands -and their union with Greece.</p> - -<p>Once launched in any career, Gladstone -was sure to imbibe the full spirit -of the movement and lead the way. -His Liberalism presently outstripped -that of the Whigs. As the most conspicuous -seceder from the Tory camp, -he became the special object of antipathy -to the Carlton Club, which was -fond of speaking of him as insane. -A member of the Carlton was reported -to have said to a member of the Reform -Club, “I am much better off -for a leader than you are, my leader -is only an unscrupulous intriguer;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -yours is a dangerous lunatic.” The -story was current that Gladstone had -bought the whole contents of a toyshop -and ordered them to be sent to -his house. This came to me once in -so circumstantial a form, that I asked -Lady Russell whether she thought it -could be true. Her answer was: “I -begin to think it is, for I have heard -it every session for ten years.”</p> - -<p>It must be owned that Gladstone -was impulsive, and that impulsiveness -was the source not only of gibes -to his enemies, but sometimes of -anxiety to his friends. “What I fear -in Gladstone,” said Archbishop Tait, -“is his levity.” That he could easily -throw off responsibility, I think I have -myself seen. But a man on whom -so heavy a load of responsibility rests,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -if he felt its full weight would be killed -by it, and want of conscientiousness is -not to be inferred from lightness of -heart.</p> - -<p>It must have been, indeed it evidently -was, much against the grain that the -great Minister of peace and economy -went into the Crimean War. He seems -to have tried to persuade himself -that the result, after all, would be the -bringing of Turkey under control. -More substantial was his resolution, -as Chancellor of the Exchequer and -holder of the purse, to make the generation -which waged the war, as far as -possible, pay for it by taxes, not cast -the burden upon posterity by loans. -Mr. Morley is right in pointing to -Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, then unhappily -Ambassador at Constantinople,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> -as largely responsible for the war. -Besides his hatred of Russia, the ambassador -had a personal grudge -against the Czar. But conspiring with -him were Palmerston, intensely anti-Russian, -the father of Jingoism, perhaps -not unwilling to replace the -pacific Lord Aberdeen; and the Emperor -of the French, who wanted -glory to gild his usurped throne and -a better social footing in the circle -of Royalties, which he gained by -publicly embracing the British Queen. -In the middle of the war, Gladstone -seceded from the Ministry, reconstructed -under Palmerston after its fall -under Lord Aberdeen; not, I suspect, -so much because Palmerston failed to -oppose Roebuck’s motion of inquiry, -against which it was useless to contend,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -as because he was himself -thoroughly sick of the war. I happened -just then to be with him one morning -on business, at the conclusion of which -he began to talk to me, or rather to -himself, about the situation, saying, in -his Homeric way, that if the Trojans -would have given back Helen and her -treasures, his Homeric phrase for the -Vienna terms, the Greeks would have -raised the siege of Troy. I had not -had the advantage of being at the -Greek headquarters; but I could not -help seeing in what mood the British -people were, and how hopeless it was -then to talk to them about reasonable -terms of peace. Had Gladstone, instead -of bolting in the middle of the war, -mustered courage, of which he generally -had a superabundance, to oppose it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -at the outset, he might have incurred -obloquy at the moment, but he would -have found before long that, to use -Salisbury’s metaphor reversed, he had -laid his money on the right horse. -The grass had hardly grown over the -graves on the heights of Sebastopol -before everybody condemned the war.</p> - -<p>After some turns of the political -wheel, we find Gladstone Chancellor -of the Exchequer under Palmerston, -making the fortune of that Government -by his masterly Budgets and -splendid expositions of them in the -House. If Palmerston was the father -of Jingoism, Gladstone was its arch-enemy. -Of the two things for which -the Prime Minister said he lived, the -extinction of slavery, and the military -defence of England, Gladstone looked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -not with special zeal upon the first and -very cautiously on the second. Palmerston -was a commercial Liberal, and -he saw the immense value of such a -Chancellor of the Exchequer to his -Government. But he was believed to -have said that, when he was gone, -Gladstone would in two years turn -their majority of seventy into a minority, -and in four be himself in a -lunatic asylum. It was known that -he wanted as his successor in the -leadership, not Gladstone, but Cornewall -Lewis. Very pleasant would have -been the situation of that highly respected -scholar and statesman, leading -the House with Gladstone on his flank!</p> - -<p>One fruit, distinctly Gladstonian, the -Palmerston Government bore. That -fruit was the commercial treaty with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> -France, negotiated through Cobden, -who shared, with Bright, Palmerston’s -particular dislike. Cobden even suspected -that Palmerston would not have -been sorry if the treaty had miscarried, -and that he betrayed his feeling in his -bearing and language towards France -while negotiations were going on. -There was nothing in the treaty which -could militate against a rational policy -of free trade. Some Liberals were -inclined to demur to it, not because -it was inconsistent with free trade, -but because it made us to some extent -accomplices in a stretch of prerogative -on the part of the Emperor of the -French, who used the treaty-making -power to accomplish, without the authority -of his Legislature, a change in -the fiscal system of France.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> - -<p>The objections which some might perhaps -take to Gladstone’s fiscal system -are, that it retains, though it reduces, -the income tax, originally imposed only -for the purpose of shoring up the fiscal -edifice while a great change was taking -place, with a promise that when the -change should be effected the tax should -cease; and that it rests so much upon -the consumption of a few important -articles. Suppose tobacco, for instance, -were to go out of fashion, as some -sanitary authorities say it ought, there -would be a serious gap in the Budget.</p> - -<p>The great master of finance, while -he was dealing with it on the largest -scale, was conscientiously mindful of -the public interest in the most minute -details of expenditure. He regarded -public money as sacred, and any waste<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> -of it, however trifling, as criminal. His -biographer has given us amusing instances -of his conscientious parsimony -in small things. In one case, however, -his parsimony was misplaced. He -grudged the judges their large salaries. -Public money cannot be better expended -than in taking the best men -from the Bar to the Bench. The -expedition of business assured by their -command of their courts would in itself -be worth the price, apart from the -security for justice.</p> - -<p>Among other relics of Gladstone’s -Conservatism was his clinging to his -seat in Parliament for the University -of Oxford, in which he was supported -by a rather strange and precarious -alliance of High Churchmen voting for -the High Churchman and Liberals voting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> -for the progressive Liberal; a -combination the strain upon which became -extreme when Palmerston, in -whose Government Gladstone was, made -Shaftesbury, the lay leader of the -Evangelicals, his Minister for ecclesiastical -affairs, and allowed him to go -on promoting Low Churchmen. But -the Tories never made a greater mistake -than the ejection of Gladstone -from his Oxford seat. By sending -him from Oxford to Liverpool, they, -to use his own phrase, unmuzzled -him. It is true, I believe, that, on -the day of his rejection, the Bible fell -out of the hand of the statue of James -<span class="smcapuc">I.</span> on the gate tower of the Bodleian, -an omen of the separation of the -Church from the State. The stone -being very friable, the fall was not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -miraculous; although it was curiously -apt.</p> - -<p>It was a mistake, however, to say -that the disestablishment of the Irish -Church had been an issue in the Oxford -election. I compared notes on that -point with my friend, Sir John Mowbray, -who had been the chairman of -the Tory committee, and agreed with -me in saying that the Irish Church -was not an issue. Gladstone took up -disestablishment for Ireland, which had -been long on the Liberal programme, -when he had been thrown out of power -by Disraeli on the question of extension -of the suffrage. He was ambitious, -happily for the country; and he wanted -to recover the means of doing great -things. His admirers need not shrink -from that avowal. But he was also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -sincerely convinced, as well he might -be, and as all Liberals were, that the -State Church of Ireland was about the -most utterly indefensible institution in -the world. He framed his measure, -expounded it, and carried it through -Parliament, in his usual masterly way; -and the Anglican Church in Ireland, -it is believed, has felt herself the -better for the operation ever since. -Gladstone’s High Church friends in -England forgave him with a sigh. The -State Church of Ireland was separate -from that of England, and was Low -Church and opposed to everything -Catholic from local antagonism to the -Church of Rome.</p> - -<p>Before his junction with the Liberals, -Gladstone had deprecated the interference -of Parliament with the colleges<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> -of Oxford and Cambridge on the ground -that they were private foundations with -which Parliament had no right to interfere; -and when he brought on his -Oxford Reform Bill he had to perform -one of his feats of retrospective explanation. -But, as usual, he did his -work well, though he still left more -to be done. By his legislation, clerical -as his sympathies were, the universities -were set free from clericism, reopened -to science, and reunited to the nation. -Our Oxford Bill was badly cut up in -the Commons, some misguided Liberals -playing into the hands of Disraeli, who -of course meant mischief. When the -Bill in its mutilated state went up to -the Lords, it appeared that the Tory -leader, Lord Derby, though he felt -bound to speak against the Ministerial<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -measure, was not really prepared to -throw it out, and that consequently -there had not been a whip upon his -side. It was then suggested to the -Ministers in charge of the Bill that -the Commons amendments might be -thrown out in the Lords, and the Bill -might be sent back in its original -state to the Commons, where our friends -might by that time be better advised, -and the Opposition benches, as it was -the end of the session, might be thinned. -Russell, then the leader in the Commons, -condemned the suggestion as -most rash and not unlikely to be the -death of the Bill. Gladstone was lying -sick of an attack, strange to say, of -the chicken-pox. On appeal to him, -the signal for battle was at once held -out, as I felt sure it would be;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> -and the result was just what we -desired.</p> - -<p>In connection with this legislative -dealing with the endowed colleges of -Oxford and Cambridge, the principle -may be said to have been practically -adopted, though not formally laid -down, that, after the lapse of fifty -years from the death of a Founder, -the Legislature may deal freely with -all his regulations, saving the main -object of his foundation. The assumption -that the wills of Founders were -for ever inviolable, in spite of the lapse -of ages and the total change of circumstances, -had led, as it must -always lead, to a perpetuity of perversion -and to the defeat of the main -object of the Founders themselves.</p> - -<p>He who in his youth had won the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> -favour of the most bigoted of Tory -patrons and entrance to public life by -his rhetorical opposition to the Reform -Bill of 1832, was destined in his -maturity to father a Reform Bill at -the thought of which the reformers -of 1832 would have shuddered. The -Reform Bill of 1832 had enfranchised -the middle-class, but by abolishing -the scot-and-lot borough, had deprived -the working-class of the little representation -which it possessed. Moreover, -the legislative preponderance of -the landed interest, which had the -House of Lords to itself and a large -section of the Commons, was too great -for the general good. These were the -best reasons for an extension of the -suffrage, while the Whig party and -its leader Russell, perhaps, as is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -way of parties, finding their sails flapping -against the mast, wished to raise -a little popular wind. It is by the -bidding of parties against each other -for popularity, largely, that the suffrage -has been extended. Russell had -for some time been busy with reform, -and had more than once moved in -that direction, but had been deftly -put aside by Palmerston, who, though -a Liberal by profession, and revolutionary -or affecting that character in -foreign affairs, was in home politics -a Tory at heart, and met general -assertions of the right of men to the -suffrage as “partakers of our flesh -and blood” and presumptively entitled -to a place “within the pale of the -constitution,” with the aphorism that -“the one right of every man, woman,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> -and child was to be well governed.” -It could not be said that the reform -agitation, at all events south of Birmingham, -was very strong. The large -measure of extension brought in by -Gladstone was opposed, in some very -memorable speeches, by Robert Lowe, -a high aristocrat not of birth but of -intellect, who made the last stand -against democracy and in favour of -government by mind. He and his -section, dubbed by regular party men -“the Cave of Adullam,” helped Disraeli -to kill the Bill. Disraeli then -brought in and carried a Bill, not less -radical, of his own, to which the Conservative -gentry under the party whip, -styled by Disraeli “education,” lent -a doleful support; while Robert Lowe -appealed to their consistency almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> -with tears, but in vain. Disraeli thus -carried off the popularity of the -measure, and enabled himself to say -that the Tories were the true friends -of the masses. But, besides this, -Disraeli looked out of window, which -Gladstone’s critics, perhaps not wholly -without ground for their gibes, said -that he did not, and had perceived -and laid to heart the great fact that -there were many in the masses who -cared little for Liberalism or progress, -and who would be apt under skilful -management to vote Tory.</p> - -<p>Such a subject as the French war -lent transcendent interest to the great -speeches of Pitt and Fox. Otherwise, -their best efforts are not superior to -Gladstone’s speech in favour of extension -of the suffrage, though Gladstone’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -style is different from theirs. Gladstone’s -speeches are not literature. He -spoke without notes, and no man can -speak literature <i lang="la">ex tempore</i>. Nor are -there any passages of extraordinary -brilliancy. For such he had not imagination. -But the speeches are -masterly expositions of the measure -and of the case in its favour, always -dignified, impressive, and persuasive. -The language is invariably good and -clear; wonderfully so, considering the -absence of notes, though it is somewhat -diffuse, and had perhaps rather lost -freshness by over-practice in debating-clubs -when the speaker was young. The -voice, the manner, the bearing of the -orator were supreme, and filled even -the most adverse listener with delight.</p> - -<p>Gladstone’s multifarious reading does<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> -not seem to have included a large -proportion of history or political -philosophy. He has left among his -writings nothing of importance in the -way of political science, nor does he -seem even to have formed any clear -conception of the polity which he was -seeking to produce. His guiding idea, -when once he had broken loose from -his early Toryism, was liberty which -he appeared to think would of itself -be the parent of all that was good. -He had, perhaps, derived something -from Russell, whose leading principle -it was that the people needed only -responsibility to make them act wisely -and rightly. He had, apparently, no -notion of any system of government -other than party, which he seemed -to treat as though it had been immemorial<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> -and universal, whereas it was -born of the struggle for constitutional -government against the Stuarts. Even -as to the working of the British Constitution, -his opinions are not very -clear. He professed, and probably felt, -the highest respect for the Lords; yet, -when they played their constitutional -part by throwing out Bills of his of -which they did not approve, he denounced -them as violators of the -Constitution. Did he intend to vest -supreme power absolutely in an -assembly elected by manhood, or nearly -manhood, suffrage?</p> - -<p>For the Crown, Gladstone’s reverence -went at least as far as to any -but believers in political fetichism -would seem meet, or as we feel to be -perfectly consistent with the dignity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> -of one so eminent and the real head -of the State. Yet, it was understood -that he was not a favourite at Court, -and it is pretty evident that Her -Majesty did not eagerly embrace the -opportunity of calling on him to form -a Government. With all her personal -virtues and graces, she was a true -granddaughter of George <span class="smcapuc">III.</span>, cherishing, -as we have been told, apparently -on the best authority, ideas of Divine -Right, and liking to connect herself not -so much with the Hanoverians as with -the Stuarts. To her, progressive Liberalism -could hardly be very congenial. -Moreover, she was a woman, and in a -competition in flattery Gladstone would -have had no chance with his rival.</p> - -<p>It is rather startling to learn from -this Life how much there is of interference<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> -on the part of irresponsibility -with the responsible Government of -the Kingdom, and what drafts are made -upon the time and energy of one who -has the burden of Atlas on his shoulders -by the demands of correspondence with -the Court. Another thing of which -the friends of personal government, who -have been labouring so hard by pageantry -and personal worship to stimulate -the monarchical sentiment, may well -take note, is the confidential employment -of Court Secretaries, like Sir Herbert -Taylor under George <span class="smcapuc">IV.</span>, in communications -between the Sovereign and -the Minister. They might find, when -they had revived the personal power, -that it was really wielded, not by -Royalty itself, but by some aspiring -member or members of the household.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> - -<p>Gladstone’s declaration, at a critical -juncture of the American War, that -Jefferson Davis had made a nation, -gave deep offence to the friends of -the North both in the United States -and in England. But he atoned for -it by frank and honourable repentance. -As a statement of fact, it lacked truth -only in so far that Davis, instead of -making the South a nation, had found -it one already made. The schism -between the Free and Slave States -was inevitable, and the war was from -the outset one between nations. That -Gladstone subscribed to the Confederate -loan was false, nor is there the slightest -reason for believing that he was less -faithful than any of his colleagues to -the policy of strict neutrality, however -ready he may have been, in common<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> -with the rest, to tender good offices -in a contest in which, as it deprived -millions of British artisans of the -materials of their industry, Great -Britain had a manifest and pressing -interest. It might be rash to assert -that the son of a slave-owner felt the -same intense abhorrence of slavery as -Wilberforce, or that a High Churchman -fully equalled in his zeal for emancipation -the Evangelicals whose special -heritage it was. But Gladstone’s actuating -motives, certainly, were his -regard for the bread of the British -artisan, and his sympathy with all -who were struggling to be free. With -a view, probably, to the satisfaction -of mortified friends of the North in -England, he wrote to me suggesting -that, if the North thought fit to let<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> -the South go, it might in time be indemnified -by the union of Canada with -the Northern States. As the letter, -on consideration, seemed unlikely to -have the desired effect, and not unlikely -at some future time to prove embarrassing -to the writer, no use was made of -it, and it was destroyed.</p> - -<p>Had it been possible for the son of -a Jamaica proprietor to be an ardent -emancipationist and a warm friend of -the negro, Gladstone could hardly -have failed to show his feelings on -the occasion of the Jamaica massacre, -that most atrocious outpouring of -white hatred, rage, and panic on the -black peasantry of Jamaica. However, -he had the general sentiment of the -upper classes and of the clergy upon -his side.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> - -<p>Peel, as Premier, had been master -of the Government, as well as head, -in the last resort, of every Department. -His habit had been to hear -what all the members of his Cabinet -had to say, and then make up his mind. -In his time, there was no voting in the -Cabinet nor any disclosure of Cabinet -proceedings. Disclosure of Cabinet proceedings -is, in fact, at variance with -the Privy Councillor’s oath. Gladstone, -it appears, put questions to the vote. -He also allowed a member of the Cabinet -to set forth on a political adventure of -his own and proclaim a policy independent -of that of his chief and his -colleagues, as the same politician is now -again doing. The Cabinet system itself -under Gladstone’s Premiership was apparently -beginning to give way. There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> -was a commencement of the change -which has now made the Cabinet an -unwieldy body, meeting at long intervals -and almost publicly, while the real -power and the direction of policy centre -in an inner conclave, something like -that which, in the reign of Charles <span class="smcapuc">II.</span>, -was called the Cabal.</p> - -<p>Not only the Cabinet system but the -party system, on which the Cabinet -system was based, had begun to show -signs of disintegration. Sectionalism -had set in, as it was pretty sure to do -when political speculation had grown -more free and there was no controlling -issue, like that of Parliamentary Reform -in 1832, to hold a party together. -Personal ambition was also becoming -restless and difficult to control. More -than once, Gladstone’s Government was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> -defeated by the bolting of its own -supporters. The task of a Premier was -not easy. Allowance must be made -for this, when we compare the measure -of Gladstone’s success as head of the -Government with that of his predecessors, -and with the measure of his -own success as Chancellor of the Exchequer, -giving life and force to the -Government by his triumphs in finance.</p> - -<p>Of the truth of the charges of want -of knowledge of men and of personal -tact, often brought against Gladstone -as Premier, I cannot pretend to judge. -There was certainly no lack in him of -social affability or charm. He may not -have practised the jovial familiarities -of Palmerston or had a counterpart -of Lady Palmerston’s salon. But the -lack of such things, or a want of what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> -is called personal magnetism, will hardly -deprive a great leader, such as Pitt -or Peel, of the devotion of partisans, -much less of the trust and attachment -of the people.</p> - -<p>Once, however, it must be owned, -Gladstone as Premier was guilty of -a mistake in tactics at anyrate, which -could not fail to shake the confidence -of his party. I happened to -be revisiting England and was at Manchester, -when, like a bolt out of the -blue, without notice or warning of any -kind, came upon us the dissolution of -1874. All Liberals saw at once that -it was ruin. It seems that the leader -himself contemplated, and almost -counted on, defeat. What was it, -then, that moved him to this desperate -act? His Chancellor and devoted friend,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> -Lord Selborne (Roundell Palmer), did -not doubt that it was a legal -dilemma in which he had involved -himself, by taking the Chancellorship -of the Exchequer in addition to the -First Lordship of the Treasury without -going to his constituents for re-election, -a violation, there was reason to apprehend, -of the law. The only escape -from that dilemma, according to the -Chancellor, was dissolution. Mr. Morley, -to whose authority I should willingly -defer, strenuously repels this explanation, -and points to another ground, -assigned by Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Gladstone -was, of course, sure to assign -another ground, and equally sure to -persuade himself that it was the real -one. But what was that other ground? -It was, in fact, that the Government<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> -was sick, and that the election would -put it out of its misery, thereby declaring -the situation. But did Mr. Gladstone -overlook the fact that he would -be depriving a number of his followers -of their seats? Why was the stroke -so sudden? On the other hand, the -charge of bribing the constituencies by -promising to repeal the income tax, -Mr. Morley is perfectly right in dismissing -as baseless. Such expectations -are held out by all competitors -for power. What is the game of party -but that of outbidding the other side?</p> - -<p>After this defeat, Achilles retired in -dudgeon to his tent. Gladstone insisted -on resigning the leadership. But -everybody foresaw that his return to -it was inevitable; and it was difficult -to fix on a man of sufficient eminence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> -to take his place, and yet not too -eminent to give it up when the great -man might see fit to return. Lord -Hartington was chosen as one whose -comparative youth would make the -surrender easy in his case, while his -high rank would continue to sustain -his position.</p> - -<p>Whenever there was fighting to be -done for the party, either in Parliamentary -debate or on the stump, -Gladstone was the man. His Midlothian -campaign displayed his almost -miraculous powers as a speaker, while -it called forth the enthusiastic feeling -of the people for the man in whom -they thought, and rightly, that they -saw their heartiest friend and the -most powerful advocate of their interests. -Three speeches in one day<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> -and an address this prodigy of nature -could deliver, and the speeches were -not flummery and clap-trap, but addressed -to the intelligence of the people. -Yet one cannot help being rather sorry -that the stump should have been so -much dignified by Gladstone’s practice. -It is a great evil. To say nothing of -its effect upon the passions of the -audience, it wears out the statesman; -it deprives him, in the intervals of -Parliament, of leisure for study and -reflection; worst of all, it tempts him -imprudently to commit himself.</p> - -<p>In the case of armed intervention -in Egypt, Gladstone seemed to swerve -from his usual fidelity to a policy of -moderation and peace. It lost him -Bright, to whom as he advanced in -Liberalism he had been drawing closer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> -and who had been induced to take -office in his Government. Bright would -have nothing to do with aggrandizement -or war, and in private his words -were strong, though in public he showed -chivalrous forbearance towards his -friends. Seeing that Egypt lay on the -road to India and commanded the Suez -Canal, it does not appear that the -illustrious Quaker would have had -much reason for finding fault with -Gladstone and his Government, so far -as the main scope of their policy was -concerned. The fatal mistake, as it -turned out, was the employment of -Gordon, a heroic enthusiast, whose -action no one could well foresee, who -perhaps could hardly foresee his own, -and who was not the best agent to be -selected for carrying out a policy of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> -retreat. That Gladstone went to the -opera after receiving news of Gordon’s -death, as his malignant enemies said, -was denied. But, even if he had, would -any real want of feeling have been -implied in his continuing to take his -ordinary relief from the load of toil and -anxiety which he bore?</p> - -<p>In the case of the Transvaal Republic, -Gladstone had the moral courage, -in face of the agitation caused by -Majuba Hill, to avow that he shrank -from “blood-guiltiness,” and to keep -the nation in the path of honour and -justice. His biographer, in dealing with -this case and its sequel, has been -evidently restrained by his desire not -to multiply points of controversy. He -might otherwise have greatly strengthened -his proof that the claim of suzerainty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -was a fraud. Not such would -have been the treatment of a breach -of the plighted faith of the nation had -Gladstone lived.</p> - -<p>The last act of this wonderful life -and its closing scene connect themselves -with the history of Ireland, and -are scarcely of a brighter hue than -the rest of that sad story. The history -of the case with which, at this juncture, -statesmanship had to deal, if it was -clearly apprehended, was never, so far -as I remember, very clearly set forth, -either by Mr. Gladstone or by anyone -who took part in the discussion. -Cromwell had given Ireland, with -union, the indispensable boon of free -trade with Great Britain. Succeeding -Governments, less wise and magnanimous, -had allowed British protectionism<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> -to kill the great Irish industries, -the cattle trade and the wool trade. -The people were thus thrown for subsistence -entirely on the cultivation of -the soil, in an island far the greater -part of which is too wet for profitable -tillage, and lends itself only to grazing. -Then came the Penal Code, and to -economical destitution was added utter -social degradation. The people were -reduced to a state bordering on absolute -barbarism, a state in which they -could look for nothing beyond bare -food, while even bare food, the treacherous -potato being its staple, periodically -failed. In such a condition, all -social and prudential restraints on the -increase of population were lost, and -the people multiplied with animal -recklessness far beyond the capacity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> -of the island to maintain them. -Desperately contending for the soil on -which they solely depended for their -maintenance, they became, in the -most miserable sense, tenants-at-will, -prædial serfs of the landlord, who -ground them through his middleman, -and sometimes through a series of -middlemen forming a hierarchy of extortion, -while what the middleman had -left was taken by the tithe-proctor. -All the improvements of the tenant -were confiscated by the owner of the -soil. The only remedy for over-population, -apart from the fell agencies -of famine and disease, was emigration. -The remedy for the agrarian evil and -grievance, so far as it could be reached -by legislation, apparently was some -measure which would give the Irish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> -tenant-at-will the same security for his -holding which had been given to the -English copyholder by custom and the -favour of the courts. To buy out the -Irish landlord was hardly just to the -British people, and was a measure in -itself of dangerous import. The abolition -of the Irish gentry by any -means, if it could be avoided, was a -social mistake. The peasantry would -thereby be deprived of the social chiefs, -whose influence it specially needed, -and there would be danger of handing -the island over to the demagogue or -the priest.</p> - -<p>The political part of the problem, -which concerned the relations between -the two islands, had, when Mr. -Gladstone came to deal with the -question, assumed the aspect of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> -struggle for Home Rule. This was -an ostensibly reduced and mitigated -version of the struggle for the repeal -of the Union, which had been set on -foot by O’Connell, and, passing from -him into more violent hands, had in -1848, under Smith O’Brien, come after -a feeble outbreak to an unhappy -end. The political movement, apart -from the agrarian insurrection, had -never shown much force. It was not -on political change that the heart of -the Irish people was set, but on the -secure possession of their holdings and -their deliverance from the grasp of -famine. But the new leader, Charles -Stewart Parnell, a real statesman in -his way, combined the two objects, -and the movement, carrying the people -with it, became formidable in its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> -political as well as in its agrarian -form.</p> - -<p>There had been, as we know, an -immense Irish emigration to the United -States. This, while it had somewhat -relieved the pressure of population, had -in another respect greatly added to -the difficulty of the case. It had given -birth to American Fenianism, with its -Clan-na-Gael, an agitation wholly political, -sanguinary in spirit, formidable -from the influence of the Irish vote -on American politicians, having its -headquarters and its centre beyond the -reach of British repression.</p> - -<p>Gladstone had been in Ireland only -for three weeks, and then, Mr. Morley -says, he had not gone beyond a very -decidedly English circle. There is, at -all events, no trace of his having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> -studied on the spot the character of -the people with whom he had to deal, -the influences which were at work, the -various forces, political, ecclesiastical, -social, and economical, to the play -of which he was going to deliver the -island. Had he done this, he might -have known why it was that Irish -Liberals, like Lord O’Hagan and Sir -Alexander Macdonald, while they were -Irish patriots to the core, and because -they were Irish patriots to the core, -shrank with horror from the dissolution -of the legislative Union. He might have -seen the probable futility of any clause -of a Home Rule Act forbidding preference -of a particular religion, and -the ease with which it could have -been practically nullified by the Roman -Catholic hierarchy and priesthood,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> -wielding the influence which they -possessed over the people and over -popular elections. He might also have -more vividly realized the danger attending -the relation of Protestant and -Saxon Ulster to the Celtic and Catholic -part of Ireland, when they came to -face each other in a separate arena and -their conflict was uncontrolled.</p> - -<p>With the agrarian grievance Mr. -Gladstone undertook to deal by means -of land legislation, purchasing for the -people, or giving them the means of -purchasing, the freehold of their lots. -The operation, as has been said, was -perilous, as it involved exceptional -dealing with contracts, as well as an -unusual employment of public money; -and in its course it exposed Mr. Gladstone -to angry charges, not only of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> -violent legislation, but of deception, -to which colour may have been given -by some shifting of his ground. A -simple Act of the character above -suggested, if it had been practicable, -might possibly have solved the problem -with less of a shock to the sanctity -of contracts and less disturbance of -any kind.</p> - -<p>The political part of the Parnell -movement Mr. Gladstone had for -some time strenuously and vehemently -opposed. He denounced Parnell’s -policy as leading through rapine to -dismemberment. He applied coercion -vigorously to Irish outrage, imprisoned -a number of Parnellites as suspects, -and himself proclaimed the arrest of -Parnell to an applauding multitude at -Guild Hall. He allowed his colleague<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> -to rise night after night from his side, -and denounce the Home Rule movement -in language even stronger than -his own. But, having been defeated -in the election of 1885 by the combined -forces of Conservatives and Parnellites, -he suddenly, to the amazement of -everybody, and the general consternation -of his party, turned round, -declared in favour of Home Rule, -and coalesced with Parnell, by whose -assistance he ousted the Conservative -Government of Lord Salisbury, and -reinstalled himself in power. It is not -necessary to charge him with being -actuated by love of power, or to say -that his conversion was not sincere. -It is due to him to bear in mind that -the Conservative leaders, in what was -called the Maamtrasma debate, had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> -unquestionably coquetted with Parnellism, -one of them, Sir Michael Hicks -Beach, courting Parnellite favour by -censuring Lord Spencer; and that by -this conduct on their part the aspect -of the question had undergone a certain -change. On the other hand, it is -impossible to forget that Gladstone’s -position was that of leader of the -Opposition, wishing to reinstate his -party in power, and seeing that this -could be done only by the help of the -Irish vote. Nor can we easily bring -ourselves to accept the account of his -gradual conversion to Home Rule put -forth in his <cite>History of an Idea</cite>. -If he felt that his mind was moving -on the subject, how could he have -deemed it right not only to mask his -own misgivings by vehement denunciations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> -of Home Rule, but to lead -his party and the nation on what he -had begun to feel might prove to be -the wrong line? His honesty, I repeat, -need not be questioned. But neither -his consistency nor the perfect singleness -of his motive can very easily be -maintained. He was a party leader; -a full believer in the party system; -and his party wanted to prevail over -its rival. It is only by contention for -power that party government can be -carried on.</p> - -<p>Gladstone proposed in effect to -break the legislative Union by giving -Ireland a Parliament of her own. This -Parliament he styled “statutory.” -Restrictions were to be laid upon it -which would have made its relation -to the British Parliament one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> -vassalage, and against which it would -almost certainly have commenced, from -the moment of its birth, a struggle -for equality and independence. -If it was baffled in that struggle, it -might even have held out its hands -for aid to the foreign enemies of Great -Britain. The framer of the measure -apparently had not distinctly made up -his mind whether he would include -the Irish in the Parliament of Great -Britain or exclude them from it. -That he should have rushed into -legislation so momentous, legislation -affecting the very existence of the -United Kingdom, without having -thoroughly made up his mind on the -vital point, is surely a proof that, -great as he was in finance, mighty as -he was in debate, powerful as he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> -in framing and carrying measures of -reform, when, as in dealing with Irish -Disestablishment or the Universities, -a clear case was put into his hands, -he was hardly one of those sure-footed -statesmen to whom can be safely intrusted -the supreme destinies of a -nation.</p> - -<p>If after the equitable settlement of -the agrarian question and the reduction -of the population to the number which -the island can maintain, the political -enmity generated by the long struggle -continues unassuaged, and the Irish -contingent remains, as it has now for -many years been, an alien and rebellious -element in the British Parliament, -disturbing and distracting British -councils, there may be a sufficient -reason for letting Ireland go. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> -would be folly to keep her as a mere -thorn in the side of Great Britain. -It would be more than folly to attempt -to hold her in bondage. It is not -unlikely that, after a trial of independence, -she might of her own accord -come back to the Union. But all -wise statesmen have united in saying -that there must be legislative Union -or independence. Two Parliaments, -two nations.<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> - -<p>The announcement of Gladstone’s -plan was followed by terrible searching -of heart in his party, ending in a split. -Lord Hartington undertook the leadership -of the Unionist-Liberals, and -showed energy and striking ability -in his new part. The fatal blow was -the declared opposition of Bright, the -great pillar of political righteousness, -and the lifelong advocate of justice -to Ireland.</p> - -<p>The stoutest opposition and that -which did most to save the integrity -of the United Kingdom was made, -as I shall always hold, by <cite>The Times</cite>. -The error into which it fell with regard -to the Parnell Letters was a trifling -matter compared with the memorable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -service which it rendered on the whole -to the Unionist cause.</p> - -<p>When the contest had begun, Gladstone’s -pugnacity broke all bounds. -He appealed to separatist sentiment -in Scotland and Wales, as well as in -Ireland. He appealed to the “masses” -against the “classes.” He appealed -to ignorance against intelligence and -the professions. One of the most -eminent of his lifelong friends and -admirers, who had held high office in -his Government, said of him in a letter -to me, “Gladstone is morally insane.” -He had lost the personal influences -by which his impulses had been controlled. -Graham, Newcastle, Sidney -Herbert, Cardwell, all were gone. -Cardwell especially, a man eminently -sure-footed and cool-headed, had, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> -suspect, while he lived, exercised an -important and salutary though unfelt -restraint.</p> - -<p>Carried away by his excitement, -Gladstone traduced the authors of the -Union and their work, a work which -he had once coupled with the treaty -of commerce with France as supremely -honourable to Pitt. “A horrible and -shameful history, for no epithets weaker -than these can in the slightest degree -describe or indicate ever so faintly -the means by which, in defiance of -the national sentiment of Ireland, -consent to the Union was attained.” -Such is his language, and he compares -the transaction in atrocity to the -worst crimes in history. Consent -to the Union was attained by the -absolute necessity, plain to men of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> -sense, of putting an end to murderous -anarchy and averting a renewal of -’98. It has been clearly shown that -there was no serious bribery of a -pecuniary kind. The indemnities for -the owners of pocket boroughs were -paid, in accordance with the notions -of the day and under an Act of Parliament, -alike to those who had voted -for the Union and to those who had -voted against it. The oligarchy to -whose local reign the measure put an -end was appeased with peerages and -appointments, the scramble for which -might well disgust a high-minded man -like Cornwallis. This was probably -inevitable in those days. Satisfactorily -to obtain the national consent was -impossible. The Parliament was a -Protestant oligarchy, the Catholics<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> -being still excluded, and it was deeply -stained with the atrocities of repression. -Ireland, in fact, was not a nation, or -capable of giving a national consent; -it was a country divided between two -races antagonistic in religion and at -deadly enmity with each other. The -submission of the question to the constituencies -by the holding of a general -election, five-sixths of the population -being excluded from Parliament, would -have been futile, and would very -likely have revived the civil war. Pitt, -it is true, held out to the Catholics -a hope of political emancipation. That -hope he did his best to fulfil, but he -was prevented by the fatuous obstinacy -of the King; and Mr. Gladstone, who -was a devout monarchist, might have -been challenged to say what, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> -met by the Royal veto, Pitt could -have done. The promise remained in -abeyance for one generation, at the -end of which it was fulfilled. These -bitter appeals to Irish hatred of the -Union and belief that it was a deadly -and inexpiable wrong, did not come -well from the author of a measure -intended, as he professed, to pluck -the thorn out of the Irish heart.</p> - -<p>The Bill was defeated in the House -of Commons by a majority of thirty -votes; and, on an appeal to the country, -the Liberal-Unionists combining with -the Conservatives on the special question, -the Opposition won by upwards of -a hundred. Six years afterwards, by -another turn of the wheel, the Salisbury -Government losing strength, Gladstone -found himself again at the head of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> -Government, but with a weak majority -made up largely of the Irish vote. -Then came the catastrophe of Parnell, -who, at the critical moment, was convicted -of <i lang="la">crim. con.</i> It is impossible -to read Mr. Morley’s account of the -scene of distraction which ensued, -matrimonial morality struggling with -political convenience, and of the sorrowful -decision that <i lang="la">crim. con.</i> would -be an awkward thing to carry in face -of the Nonconformist conscience, without -feeling the presence of a comic element -in the narrative.</p> - -<p>Home Rule, however, was again put -to the vote, and in its strangest form, -Ireland being given a Parliament of -her own, and, at the same time, a -representation in the British Parliament -with full liberty of voting on all British<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -questions. That the Irish delegation -would barter its vote to British parties -for Irish objects, and especially for the -relaxation of restrictions on its plenary -power, was what nobody could fail to -foresee. A more extraordinary proposal, -surely, never was made to any legislature. -The one recommendation that -Home Rule had was, that it would -rid the British Parliament of an alien -and hostile element. That element -Gladstone’s Bill would have retained -in its worst form. The Bill, however, -was carried in the Commons by a -majority of thirty-four, some of the -English members probably giving a -party vote in the assurance that the -Bill would be thrown out by the House -of Lords.</p> - -<p>The use of the clôture in forcing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> -through the House of Commons such a -measure as Home Rule surely could not -be defended. The clôture by which our -overbearing Government is able to gag -the House of Commons, even on the most -vital question, remains a mark of Gladstone’s -impetuousity and inability to -brook opposition when what seemed to -him an object of prime importance was -in view.</p> - -<p>After trying to raise a storm -against the Lords, Gladstone resigned, -as was reported, on a difference with -the Admiralty about naval expenditure. -One of the most memorable careers -in English history came to an end. -The party which Gladstone led was -utterly shattered, and shattered it still -remains. Palmerston, could he have -looked upon the scene, might have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> -said that his cynical prophecy had -been really fulfilled.</p> - -<p>Gladstone, in addition to his immense -amount of public work, was a voluminous -author; the more voluminous -because his style, formed by public -and <i lang="la">ex tempore</i> speaking, though perfectly -clear and correct, was certainly -diffuse. His biographer shows good -judgment by dwelling no more than -he can help on this part of the subject. -Readers of <cite>Homeric Studies</cite> and -<cite>Juventus Mundi</cite> must wonder how -such things can have been written and -given to the press by so great a man. -Stranger things have seldom come from -any pen than the pages of the Traditive -Element in Homeric Theo-Mythology, -connecting Latona with the Virgin, -Apollo with the Deliverer of mankind,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -and Ate with the Tempter. All these -volumes are full of fantastic and baseless -speculation. The fancy that there was -an Egyptian epoch in the early history -of Greece appears to be partly suggested -by an accidental similarity between the -name of an Egyptian and that of a -Bœotian city. Not on such reasonings -were the famous budgets based.</p> - -<p>I was with Gladstone one day, when, -our business having been done, he -began to talk of Homer, and imparted -to me a theory which he had just -woven out of some fancied philological -discovery. I felt sure that the theory -was baseless, and tried to convince him -that it was. But he was never very -open to argument. Just as I had -succumbed, the door opened and his -brother-in-law, Lord Lyttelton, came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> -in. Lord Lyttelton was a first-rate -classical scholar, and I felt sure that -he would see the question aright and -prevail. See the question aright he -did; prevail he did not; and the -discovery has probably taken its place -beside that of the Traditive Element.</p> - -<p>Before the publication of <cite>Juventus -Mundi</cite>, I think it was, there was a -Homeric dinner at which, with Cornewall -Lewis, Milman, and some other -scholars I had the honour of being -present. It was a very delightful reunion. -No one could be more charming socially -than our host. But I doubt whether -the critical result was great.</p> - -<p>Gladstone had in part put off his -Establishmentarianism, but his orthodoxy -and belief in the inspiration of the -Bible remained unimpaired. This deprives<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> -his theological writings of serious -value, though they still have interest -as the work of a mind at once powerful -and intensely religious, dealing with -topics of the highest concern. It is not -difficult to meet Hume’s philosophic -objection to miracles, which seems little -more than an assumption of the -absolute impossibility of a sufficient -amount of evidence. If the death of a -man and his restoration to life were -witnessed and certified by a great body -of men of science, in circumstances -such as to preclude the possibility of -imposture, we should not withhold our -belief, however contrary the occurrence -might be to the ordinary course of -nature. But we cannot believe anything -contrary to the ordinary course -of nature on the testimony of an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> -anonymous gospel of uncertain authorship, -of uncertain date, the product -of an uncritical age, containing matter -apparently mythical, and written in -the interest of a particular religion. -From considering the authenticity and -sufficiency of the evidence, Gladstone, -by his faith in the Bible, is debarred. -So, in his critical work on Butler, he is -debarred from free and fruitful discussion -by the assumption, which he -all the time carries with him, of the -authenticity of Revelation. His faith -in the inspiration of the Bible seems -to go so far as to include belief in the -longevity of the Patriarchs before the -flood.<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> - -<p>Venturing to break a lance with -Huxley about the truth of the account -of creation in Genesis, he could not fail -to be overthrown. His apology seems -to amount to this; that the Creator -in imparting an account of the creation -to Moses, was so near the truth that -the account could, by dint of very -ingenious interpretation, be made not -wholly irreconcilable with scientific fact. -Gladstone continued greatly to venerate -Newman, and apparently allowed himself -to be influenced in his reasoning -by the <cite>Grammar of Assent</cite>, a sort<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> -of <i lang="la">vade mecum</i> of self-illusion, the -characteristic purport of the Cardinal’s -very subtle but not very masculine -and very flexible mind.</p> - -<p>To me, Gladstone’s life is specially -interesting as that of a man who was -a fearless and powerful upholder of -humanity and righteousness in an age -in which faith in both was growing -weak, and Jingoism, with its lust of -war and rapine, was taking possession -of the world. The man who, breaking -through the restraints of diplomatic -prudery, pleaded before Europe with -prevailing eloquence the cause of oppressed -Italy; who dared, after Majuba -Hill, in face of public excitement, to -keep the path of justice and honour -in dealing with the Transvaal; whose -denunciation of the Bulgarian atrocities<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> -made the Turkish Assassin tremble on -his throne of iniquity; who, if he had -lived so long, would surely have striven -to save the honour of the country by -denouncing the conspiracy against the -liberty of the South African republics; -who, if he were now living, would be -protesting, not in vain, against the -indifference of England to her responsibility -for Turkish horrors; has a -more peculiar hold on my veneration -and gratitude than the statesman -whose achievements and merits, very -great as they were, have never seemed -to me quite so great as, in Mr. Morley’s -admirably executed picture, they -appear. Not that I would undervalue -Gladstone’s statesmanship or its fruits. -Wonderful improvements in finance, -great administrative reforms, the opening<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -of the Civil Service, the Postal -Savings Bank, the liberation of the newspaper -press from the paper duty, the -abolition of purchase in the army, the -reform of the Universities followed by -that of the endowed schools, the disestablishment -of the Irish Church, and -the commercial treaty with France, make -up a mighty harvest of good work; -even if we leave the re-settlement of the -franchise open to question and carry -Home Rule to the wrong side of the -account. Very striking is the contrast, -in this respect, between Gladstone’s -career and that of his principal rival, -who gave his mind little to practical -improvement, and almost entirely to -the game of party and the struggle -for power. Moreover, Gladstone filled -the nation with a spirit of common<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> -enthusiasm and hopeful effort for the -general good, especially for the good -of the masses, to which there was -nothing corresponding on the part of -his rival for power, whose grand game -was that of setting two classes, the -highest and the lowest, against the -third. Gladstone was, in the best sense, -a man of the people; and the heart -of the people seldom failed to respond -to his appeal. As an embodiment -of some great qualities, especially of -loyalty to righteousness, he has left -no equal behind him, and deeply in -this hour of trial we feel his loss.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> I used to think that an occasional session, or -even a single session, of the United Parliament -at Dublin, for the special settlement of Irish affairs, -Irish character being what it is, might have a good -effect on the Irish heart. It might put an end to -the feeling which at present prevails, that the United -Parliament is alien to Ireland and almost a foreign -power. The suggestion was considered, but the -inconvenience was deemed too great. Yet, inconvenience -would have been cheaply incurred -if the measure could have answered its purpose. -A more feasible course might be to allow the Irish -members to meet in College Green and legislate -on purely Irish questions, subject to the ultimate -allowance or disallowance of the Imperial Parliament, -in which the Irish members would still sit.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> “The immense longevity of the early generations -of mankind was eminently favourable to the preservation -of pristine traditions. Each individual, -instead of being, as now, a witness of, or an agent in, -one or two transmissions from father to son, would -observe or share in ten times as many. According -to the Hebrew Chronology, Lamech, the father -of Noah, was of mature age before Adam died; -and Abraham was of mature age before Noah died. -Original or early witnesses, remaining so long as -standards of appeal, would evidently check the -rapidity of the darkening and destroying process.”—<cite>Studies -on Homer and the Homeric Age</cite>, <span class="smcapuc">II.</span> 4, 5.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<p class="titlepage"><i>Printed by <span class="smcap">Morrison & Gibb Limited</span>, Edinburgh</i></p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Memory of Gladstone, by Goldwin Smith - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY MEMORY OF GLADSTONE *** - -***** This file should be named 55549-h.htm or 55549-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/5/4/55549/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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