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 Cornell University Library 
 DA 563.4.E53 
 
 adstone, prime minister 
 
 3 1924 028 3 
 
 3 967 
 

 '(o3 
 
 ES2 
 
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE, 
 
LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY J. OGDEN AND CO., 
 
 172, ST. JOHN STREET, E.C. 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028313967 
 
"VincantBrooks Day&Son 
 
William Ewart Gladstone 
 
 firime MinxBtzv of (England 
 
 A POLITICAL AND LITERARY BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 BY 
 
 G. R. EMERSON, 
 
 Author op Lives of Lord Beaconsfield, Sir Walter Raleigh, Shakspeare, &c. 
 
 (in "The Worthies of the World"), and Editor of "Beeton's 
 
 Encyclopaedia of Universal Information." 
 
 " There can be no doubt that Mr. Gladstone, by his great eloquence, by his power of 
 developing the most abstruse propositions, and embracing at once in his large capacity the most 
 logical demonstrations with the most captivating and dazzling rhetoric, has made for himself a 
 fame which, in the lapse of centuries, will suffer no eclipse." 
 
 Earl Russell, <{ Recollections and Suggestions." 
 
 LONDON : 
 WARD, LOCK & CO., WARWICK HOUSE, 
 
 Salisbury Square, E.C. (J ^ | y j - j. t : ^ y 
 
 LIBKAK.V- 
 
I 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ■—- 
 
 The quotation on the title-page of this volume is a graceful and 
 admiring recognition of Mr. Gladstone's great intellectual powers 
 and oratorical gifts, by one of the most eminent of his contem- 
 poraries. No politician of the time had greater opportunities of 
 observing his career than Lord John Russell, who for nearly 
 forty years sat with him in the House of Commons, and who, 
 when he retired from the labours of public life, found pleasure in 
 recalling the memory of the great events in which both he and 
 Mr. Gladstone had taken part. Earl Russell, in the peaceful 
 retirement which his advanced years demanded, and which he 
 had so well earned, was one of the few survivors of the dis- 
 tinguished band of statesmen and Parliamentary celebrities who, 
 in the period between the passing of the Reform Act, which may 
 be said to have reconstructed our representative system, and the 
 great European war of 1870, either in office or in opposition, 
 exercised so great an influence on the fortunes of our country. 
 Grey, Brougham, Melbourne, Althorp, Durham, O'Connell, 
 Shiel, Peel, Wellington, Aberdeen, Graham, Palmerston, Derby, 
 Cobden, and many others who made their mark in the Parlia- 
 
vi PREFACE, 
 
 mentary history of our time, had passed away, and few indeed 
 were left who had taken part in the momentous political struggles 
 which made the middle part of the century so memorable in our 
 history. 
 
 Among all the celebrities with whom Earl Russell had been 
 associated in political life, or whom he remembered as ornaments 
 of the Parliamentary arena, none appeared to him to have a 
 greater claim on the admiration of his contemporaries, or to be 
 more assured of the remembrance of posterity, of " a fame which 
 in the lapse of centuries will suffer no eclipse," than William 
 Ewart Gladstone, who nearly fifty years ago entered public life 
 and at once gave promise of remarkable ability, who realized that 
 promise more abundantly than even the most ardent admirers of 
 the brilliant young Oxonian — and he had ardent admirers even 
 then — could have hoped for, and who, step by step, has won his 
 way, by an almost universality of talent, by indomitable energy, 
 by practical ability, no less than by an almost unrivalled command 
 of all the resources of eloquence, to the highest position which 
 an English subject can attain. 
 
 There is no instance in political life of such an unfailing main- 
 tenance, such a continuous vigour, of mental power as that 
 exhibited by Mr. Gladstone. Earl Russell recollected the gifted 
 young man, modestly but self-reliantly bearing the highest honours 
 Oxford could confer, who entered public life in the Reformed 
 Parliament, and almost immediately stepped into the fore- 
 most rank of debaters, when in that foremost rank were men of 
 brilliant gifts attained by long experience ; and Earl Russell lived 
 to see the promise of eminence fulfilled, and the " rising hope of 
 the Tory party," the Oxford student in whom Southey perceived 
 
the dawn of greatness, occupying, with ripened and still ripening 
 power, the great office of Prime Minister of England. Russell 
 himself has passed into the land of shadows ; but Gladstone 
 remains, with undiminished vigour, with energy which seems to 
 seek no repose, an orator who has now no competitor, a states- 
 man who is not yet willing to add "Finis" to his long list of 
 great achievements ; a scholar who is yet reverently learning ; a 
 man who, in the combination of physical and mental vigour, is 
 unquestionably one of the most marked individualities in our 
 history. 
 
 Earl Russell, in the passage quoted, indicated only one aspect 
 of Mr. Gladstone's character. Wonderful as is the combination 
 of lucidity and eloquence, the earnestness and sincerity with 
 which he has laboured to make political science practical is even 
 more admirable. The moral nature and the intellect are har- 
 monious in working. No Finance Minister ever explained the 
 complicated details of a Budget with similar clearness, elegance, 
 and force ; no Finance Minister was ever more anxious that the 
 Budget should be for the benefit of his countrymen. His own 
 intellect has grown by sympathy with the accumulated intellectual 
 results of the national energy; his political theories have advanced 
 with the advancement of ideas, and his splendid abilities have 
 made him the leader in achieving results which sensitive but 
 weaker natures may have predicated as possibilities, but despaired 
 of as realities. 
 
 Accomplished in all scholarly arts, he has valued his scholar- 
 ship as a medium through which he has been enabled to see 
 more distinctly the struggles of humanity to attain clearer vision 
 of the Divine Government of the world. To him the Homeric 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 s reveal a theology and philosophy as well as a history ; to 
 he passage of the ages has been the education of the 
 Political science is, in his estimation, the science of 
 lity — not a series of impulses, of rash theories and ungovern- 
 impulses, but a science in which law and order are the 
 ial elements, and the object of which is the elevation and 
 less of the individual man and the peaceful and sympa- 
 intercourse of nationalities. 
 
 * writer of this sketch of the political and literary life of 
 •ladstone has endeavoured to make it a frame enclosing a 
 e of the man. As far as possible within the limits of the 
 he has chosen Mr. Gladstone's own words to explain his 
 - and actions, his progress of conviction, his modifications 
 Tories. The records of the Parliamentary work of half a 
 ry have been carefully examined ; extra- Parliamentary 
 nces noted and quoted ; and the contributions to literature 
 terary controversy summed up. Indiscriminate eulogy has 
 avoided. Such a career as that of Mr. Gladstone must 
 :s own story for good or ill, and must be judged in its 
 ty. His warmest admirers may, indeed must, see some 
 ices of occasional rashness, even, it may be, of weakness ; 
 statesman, however great, is a man, not a political machine, 
 le time is not yet come for absolute perfection, 
 at we really possess in Mr. Gladstone is a statesman of 
 cquirements and rare practical ability ; an earnest, religious, 
 ive nature; a political philanthropist, who, not content with 
 ring in eloquent phrases the existence of evil, tries, with 
 ; strength, to remove the causes of it ; a champion crowned 
 laurels gained in many contests ; an orator of the highest 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 rank, whose words have moved the hearts of millions, but an 
 orator who, we are convinced, would prefer to realize that fame 
 
 which the venerable Russell promised him rather by what he has 
 done than by what he has said. 
 
 When, in the course of nature, the eloquent lips are silent, the 
 powerful intellect and the sympathetic heart no longer working 
 for the service of the State, no other memorial of this great 
 Englishman will be needed than the remembrance of what he 
 did, indelibly recorded in our national and social life. To assist 
 his countrymen to understand this record, by collecting in an 
 available form the incidents which have marked his career, by 
 exhibiting, if he can, the principles which have been the motive 
 power, has been the object of the writer of this biography — 
 happily, and may it be so for many years to come, incomplete. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 -*o*- 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. The Gladstone Family i 
 
 II. Home, School, and University 16 
 
 III. Entrance into Political Life 25 
 
 IV. Accession to Office in Peel's First Administration 35 
 V. First Appearance as an Author 42 
 
 VI. Renewed Paliamentary Work — Again in Office . 55 
 VII. Secretary of State, but out of Parliament — 
 
 Member for Oxford University . .• -75 
 
 VIII. In the Dungeons of Naples 90 
 
 IX. The Anti-Papal Agitation — Opposition to the 
 
 Ecclesiastical Titles Bill 97 
 
 X. The Palmerston Difficulty and the Derby Adminis- 
 
 • TRATION I02 
 
 XI. The Coalition Ministry — Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer 123 
 
 XII. Retirement from Office — The Ionian Mission . 139 
 
 XIII. Homeric Investigations 170 
 
 XIV. The Conservative Reform Bill 180 
 
 XV. The Commercial Treaty, and Budget of i860. . 196 
 
 XVI. Post Office Savings' Banks, and Repeal of the 
 
 Paper Duty 216 
 
 XVII. The Ionian Islands and Italy — The " Trent" Affair 226 
 XVIII. The American War of Secession— Position of the 
 
 Southern Confederation 232 
 
 XIX. Financial Successes 241 
 
Xll 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XX. 
 XXL 
 
 XXII. 
 XXIII. 
 XXIV. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 XXVIL 
 
 Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Rejected by Oxford University, and "Unmuzzled" 258 
 Death of Lord Palmerston — Mr. Gladstone Leader 
 of the House— Ministerial Defeat and Resigna- 
 tion . 271 
 
 Two Years of Opposition — The Reform Bill of 1867 294 
 
 Prime Minister— Legislation for Ireland . . 333 
 Resignation of the Liberal Leadership — Incessant 
 
 Literary Activity 368 
 
 The Great Midlothian Campaign .... 383 
 
 The General Election of 1880— again Prime Minister 395 
 More Legislation for Ireland— Two Extraordinary 
 
 Sessions ......... 398 
 

 
 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE GLADSTONE FAMILY. 
 
 Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King- at- Arms, and the most trust- 
 worthy of genealogists, claims for the Prime Minister of England 
 direct descent, by the maternal side, from Robert Bruce, King of 
 Scotland, and Henry the Third, King ot England, through Lady 
 Jane, or Joan, Beaufort, who married James the First of Scotland. 
 The elaborate pedigree so carefully traced by Sir Bernard Burke 
 may be briefly epitomised. When the young James — " the ablest 
 of the Stuarts," as he has been styled — was a prisoner in England, 
 he saw by chance the golden-haired beauty, Joan Beaufort, 
 daughter of John Beaufort, Marquis of Dorset, fourth son of John 
 of Gaunt. Her mother was also descended in a direct line from 
 Henry the Third, so that, by both lines, Joan was a daughter of 
 the royal house of England. James first caught sight of her 
 when he was a captive at Windsor, and he records, in one of his 
 poems, that he doubted whether she was 
 
 " A worldly creature, 
 Or heavenly thing in likeness of nature." 
 
 The loving young couple were married, before the departure of 
 James for Scotland, in the old church of St. Mary Overie, at the 
 
 B 
 
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 
 
 Southwark foot of London Bridge, and James took his bride to 
 share his Scottish throne, having given hostages for the payment 
 to the English crown of a ransom equal in amount to forty 
 thousand pounds of English money. 
 
 The courtship of the young couple, with its attendant poetry 
 (for James was a poet of no mean power), is one of the prettiest 
 episodes in the history of the Plantagenet times. For thirteen 
 years James reigned, and never was Scotland better governed. 
 Highly educated for the time in which he lived, James possessed 
 great natural talents and literary taste. He is generally credited 
 with the authorship of a poem, " Christ's Kirk on the Green," 
 looked upon as one of the early literary treasures of his country ; 
 and, more certainly, with that of " The King's Quhair," a well- 
 known and highly appreciated poem. But at Christmas, 1437, 
 Sir Robert Graham, who had been sentenced to banishment for 
 treason, collected three hundred armed men, forced an entry 
 into the King's chamber at Perth — breaking the arm of brave 
 Catherine Douglas, who had endeavoured to secure the door by 
 thrusting her arm into a staple, and so making it serve the purpose 
 of a bar — and brutally murdered the King. The Queen received 
 two wounds in her endeavour to protect him. 
 
 Queen Joan, a disconsolate widow for a time, afterwards married 
 Sir James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lome, a descendant of 
 the Bruce s \ and their son was John, Earl of Athol, who married 
 Lady Eleonora Sinclair, daughter of William, Earl of Orkney and 
 Caithness. Their daughter, the Lady Isabel Stewart, became 
 (early in the sixteenth century) the wife of John Robertson of 
 Muirton, county of Elgin. From this pair was descended in a 
 direct line Anne Robertson, who, in April, 1800, married John 
 Gladstone, and became the mother of the great statesman the 
 subject of this biography. One of the descendants of Isabel 
 Stewart and John Robertson was William Robertson the his- 
 
THE GLADSTONE FAMILY. 
 
 torian, Principal of the University of Edinburgh, Royal His- 
 toriographer for Scotland, and author of the famous " History 
 of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V.," " History of 
 America," and " History of Scotland." Another of the line 
 was the mother of Henry, Lord Brougham. There must 
 have beeu a strong element of intellectual vitality in a stock 
 which produced the large-minded historian, and two such 
 instances of versatile power and oratorical greatness as 
 Brougham and Gladstone. 
 
 One Scotch genealogist asserts that the mother of our great 
 statesman was also a descendant of the Mackenzies of Kintail, 
 of the ancient Kings of Man, and other illustrious personages. 
 We do not feel it incumbent on us to enquire very curiously into 
 the validity of the claims set up for, not by, an eminent public 
 man who owes the consideration he enjoys, and the high position 
 he has attained, to his own great qualities, recognised no less by 
 political opponents than by those who have enjoyed his friend- 
 ship, followed his leadership, and shared his fortunes. No 
 ancestry, however famous, could add to his reputation; no 
 genealogist, however industrious and far-seeking, could discover 
 on his behalf a greater claim on the respect and admiration of 
 the British nation than that which his splendid abilities have 
 secured throughout half a century of political and literary life. 
 He is, we believe, himself well content to know that his imme- 
 diate progenitors were men of high ability and character, eminent 
 in the commercial world for intelligence and public spirit, who 
 achieved success by their own efforts, and transmitted to their 
 sons the heritage of an unblemished name. 
 
 Long before the union of the Scottish and English crowns, 
 the Gledestanes, Gledstanes, or Gladstanes, were settled in the 
 parish of Libberton, in Clydesdale, now included in Lanarkshire. 
 The name may possibly have been derived from the Lowland 
 
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 
 
 gled, a hawk, and stones, rock, and so indicate the character of 
 the district in which the Gledstanes dwelt. 
 
 The name of Herbert de Gledestane appears as that of one of 
 the Scots who subscribed at Berwick the oath of fealty to 
 Edward the First of England— "hammer of the Scots"— con- 
 tained in what is known as the "Ragman Roll," of 1296, or 
 Ragimande's Roll, as no doubt it should be properly styled from 
 the name of the papal legate in Scotland. After the defeat of 
 David the Second at Neville's Cross in 1346, Patrick and William 
 of Gledstanes were two of the commissioners appointed to nego- 
 tiate with the victorious English. Robert the Third granted, 
 about 1390, to "William of Gledstanes, Knight," lands known 
 as Woodgrenynton, in the valley of Eddiestone, or Tweeddale. 
 The fortunate knight added considerably to his possessions by 
 marrying Margaret Trumble, of Hundleshope, near Peebles, who 
 brought to him not only that estate, but also lands in Selkirk- 
 shire, Teviotdale, and other places. The Teviotdale estates 
 were held by feudal tenure from the Douglas family, and thence- 
 forth the Border lands seem to have been the scene of the 
 principal exploits of the Gledstanes. That some of them at least 
 were " moss-troopers " is very probable ; and certainly the family 
 residence at Ormiston was besieged by no less a person than the 
 renowned Hotspur. 
 
 An alliance by marriage appears to have been contracted with 
 the powerful house of Buccleuch; for Scott of Satchells, who 
 chronicled in prose and verse the doings of Sir Walter Scott of 
 Branxholm, "the bold Buccleuch," in the latter part of the 
 sixteenth century, gives the names of four-and- twenty gentlemen, 
 cadets of the Buccleuch family, who were pensioners of the house 
 and possessed lands in return for rendering military service on 
 the Border. Twenty-three of these bore the name of Scott • the 
 other was " Walter Gladstanes of Whitelaw, a near cousin of my 
 
THE GLADSTONE FAMILY. 5 
 
 lord's." A ballad, quoted in the " Border Minstrelsy," tells us 
 
 that— 
 
 " The Scotts they rode, the Scotts they ran, 
 
 Sae starkly and sae steadilie ! 
 And aye the ower-word o' the thrang 
 Was — ' Rise for Branksome readilie.'" 
 
 Probably this Walter Gladstanes, or Gledstanes, was a worthy 
 
 associate of the 
 
 " Knights of mettle true, 
 
 Kinsmen to the bold Buccleuch. " 
 
 He was, we infer, son of the John Gledstanes of Ormiston, 
 who, in 1564, subscribed, as an adherent of Buccleuch, a con- 
 tract of reconciliation between the Scotts and the Kerrs. 
 
 The family property appears to have diminished — probably the 
 fluctuations of Border warfare were not conducive to prosperity ; 
 and, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, a small estate — 
 Arthurshiel — near the original Gledstanes, was all that was left to 
 the family in Clydesdale, and that was sold seventy or eighty 
 years afterwards by John Gledstanes. 
 
 At a later period, we find a branch of the family residing in the 
 town of Biggar, in Lanarkshire. The Border wars were ended 
 long ago, and the descendants of the steel-capped troopers had 
 taken to more peaceful pursuits. In 1728 there died at Biggar 
 William Gladstones (the family name had now assumed that 
 form), who had been an industrious and thriving maltster of the 
 town. He was the last of the family buried in the churchyard of 
 Libberton, where so many of his ancestors had been laid. Three 
 sons and one daughter were left to mourn the good old maltster. 
 John, one of the sons (presumably the eldest), inherited the 
 malt-kilns, and carried on the business with success. He was an 
 active man in local affairs, an elder of the Kirk, and apparently, 
 from the brief records of his useful life which have been pre- 
 served, a good specimen of the industrious, thrifty, God-fearing 
 
61 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 
 
 trader of the Lowlands of Scotland; living in troublous times, but 
 too prudent to entangle himself in political difficulties, and well 
 content to plod on honestly and cautiously, and realise a modest 
 competence, which enabled him to purchase a small property, 
 and so become a laird. He ended his days in 1756, leaving be- 
 hind him four sons and six daughters. The small estate, Mid- 
 Toftcombs, came into possession of the third son, another John 
 (what became of the elder brothers we cannot certainly say, but 
 one appears to have been for some time a schoolmaster at Leith), 
 who married Christian (some authorities give the name Janet) 
 Taverner, with whom he received a comfortable dowry. The 
 fourth son, John, born in 1732, left the paternal home early in 
 life, intent on seeking fortune for himself. He settled at Leith 
 as a corn-merchant, in a house on the Coalhill, that old street 
 which skirts the harbour, but of which very little is now left 
 except the name, the ancient houses having nearly all disappeared 
 in the course of improvements. For more than fifty years he 
 carried on the business, and realised a handsome fortune, which 
 he must have needed, for sixteen children blessed his union with 
 Helen, daughter of Mr. Walter Neilson, of Springfield; and 
 twelve of the number grew up to maturity, and were helped into 
 business or matrimony, or otherwise provided for out of the 
 results of the father's thrift and industry. 
 
 The eldest son of this large family, John, born at Leith in 
 1763, was brought up to his father's business, and showed such 
 aptitude that, when he had but just attained his majority, his 
 father entrusted him with an important mission to Liverpool, to 
 dispose of a cargo of grain which had arrived there. While there 
 he attracted the attention of one of the leading corn-merchants 
 of the town, who offered him a situation in his office. The 
 paternal assent was readily given — there were other sons well 
 qualified to carry on the Leith business — and John Gladstones 
 
THE GLADSTONE FAMILY. 
 
 became a clerk in the house of Currie and Co. Before long he 
 was raised to the position of partner, and the firm, now Currie, 
 Gladstone and Bradshaw, occupied a high position among the 
 leading mercantile establishments of the great port. It will be 
 noticed that the final "s" had disappeared from the name. 
 What induced John Gladstones to make this alteration is not 
 known; but later in life (February, 1835) he procured a Royal 
 licence for the change. 
 
 The partnership continued for sixteen years, and then John 
 Gladstone became sole head of the house. Shortly afterwards 
 he took his brother Robert into partnership, and the busi- 
 ness of the firm was greatly extended. A large trade with 
 Russia was established, and, as sugar importers, with the 
 West Indies. 
 
 In course of time all John Gladstone's six brothers were 
 settled in Liverpool. The opening of the East India and 
 China trades to private enterprise in 18 14, offered new 
 scope for mercantile adventure; and the first private vessel, 
 the Kingsmtll, despatched by English merchants to Calcutta, 
 was jointly chartered by Mr. Gladstone and another Liverpool 
 merchant. 
 
 In 1792 Mr. John Gladstone married Miss Hall, of Liverpool, 
 but she died six years afterwards, leaving no children. In April, 
 1 800, he contracted a second marriage, the bride being Miss 
 Anne Robertson, daughter of Mr. Andrew Robertson, of Storn- 
 oway, Provost of Dingwall. This is the lady whose descent from 
 the Royal families of England and Scotland can be traced. She 
 is described as " a lady of great accomplishments, a fascinating 
 woman, of commanding presence and high intellect; one to 
 grace any home and endear any heart." The union lasted for 
 thirty-five years, blessed by domestic happiness and outward 
 prosperity ; and four sons and two daughters grew up around 
 
8 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 
 
 the family table, in the spacious mansion in Rodney Street, 
 Liverpool. The eldest son, Sir Thomas Gladstone, sur- 
 vives ; the second, John Neilson, who entered the Royal Navy, 
 became a captain, and represented the Irish borough of Port- 
 arlington in Parliament, died in 1863; the third son, to whom 
 was given the mother's family name, Robertson, succeeded to the 
 headship of the mercantile house at Liverpool, and died in 1875; 
 and the fourth son, William Ewart, was destined to become the 
 most eminent of the family. The sisters, Helen Jane, and Ann 
 M'Kenzie, died unmarried, the former as recently as December, 
 1879. 
 
 We must devote a brief space to the career, as merchant and 
 politician, of John Gladstone ; for there is something of the father 
 in the son, added to the more sensitive and excitable tempera- 
 ment which may have been derived from his mother's lineage. 
 We have shown how the elder Gladstone rose to opulence by 
 energy and ability. The acute and vigorous intellect which 
 had made him one of the leading merchants in Liverpool, made 
 him, too, one of the most prominent and public-spirited among 
 the townsmen. 
 
 In 1807 the United States resisted the claim of the British 
 Government to right of search, and adopted measures of retalia- 
 tion, thus greatly interfering with, indeed, virtually suspending, 
 the commerce between the two countries. Liverpool suffered 
 greatly, in one year the trade declining one-fourth. The mer- 
 chants engaged in the American trade called a meeting and 
 petitioned Parliament against the obnoxious Order in Council 
 and one of the leading names among the requisitionists was that 
 of Mr. Gladstone. Early in life he adopted Whig principles 
 but modified his opinions as time advanced, and in 181 2 we 
 see him an energetic supporter of George Canning, as chairman 
 of a public meeting called for the purpose of inviting that bril- 
 
ELECTION OF CANNING FOR LIVERPOOL. 9 
 
 liant politician to become a candidate for the representation of 
 the borough. Although a friend and ally of Pitt, and professedly 
 a Tory, Canning held advanced views on some subjects, and 
 was certainly very far from being a Tory of the Eldon type. He 
 advocated, with all the eloquence at his command, the cause of 
 Catholic emancipation, was in favour of the abolition of slavery, 
 and, in commercial matters, exhibited a constant tendency to- 
 wards the relaxation of prohibitive duties. Mr. Gladstone, who 
 warmly admired Canning, and enjoyed his friendship, appears to 
 have felt no inconsistency in supporting Brougham as a col- 
 league in the representation of the town. Two other candidates 
 were in the field : Mr. Creevy, an advanced Radical, and General 
 Gascoyne, a Tory of the old school. Brougham thought it would 
 be to his advantage to make common cause with Creevy, and, 
 perhaps, felt a gratification, dear to his combative and jealous 
 nature, in appearing as an opponent rather than as a colleague 
 of the eloquent, satirical, many-talented Canning. His conduct 
 decided the course of action taken by Mr. Gladstone, who dis- 
 carded Brougham and gave the support of his influence to 
 Gascoyne. The election proceedings were turbulent, notable 
 even in those stormy days of party strife, two or three men being 
 killed in the affrays which took place. Canning and Gascoyne 
 were successful, the former at the top of the poll, and were 
 chaired through the town, and Canning addressed the crowd 
 from the window of Mr. Gladstone's house. The noise of the 
 enthusiastic cheering perhaps reached the nursery, and who can 
 say what influence may not have been exerted on the mind of the 
 precocious, restless, eager, vigorous little boy of three years old, 
 William Ewart, as he listened to the shouts, or perhaps peeped 
 from the barred windows of the nursery upon the crowd which 
 surged so tumultously into Rodney Street. When acknowledging 
 a congratulatory address on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, 
 
10 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 
 
 presented by a deputation from Liverpool, he said, " I remember the 
 first election of Mr. Canning in Liverpool." At the banquet given 
 to celebrate the return of Mr. Canning, Mr. Gladstone presided. 
 
 It was natural that a man so able as Mr. Gladstone should be 
 invited to accept municipal office in the town where he was so 
 prominent a figure. But he was strongly opposed to the manner 
 in which the corporation was elected, and was too conscientious 
 to permit any consideration of personal ambition to influence his 
 sense of public duty. The invitations were courteously but firmly 
 declined; but he actively exerted himself in all public move- 
 ments which he conceived to be for the local or general benefit. 
 In particular, it was owing to his exertions that a clause was 
 introduced into the Steamboat Act, requiring a sufficient number 
 of boats for passengers ; a provision sadly needed to prevent 
 the lamentable accidents which not unfrequently occurred owing 
 to the reckless overloading of the passenger steamers between 
 Liverpool and Dublin. In 1818 he spoke at a public meeting in 
 favour of a resolution recommending the revision and amend- 
 ment of the criminal law, the frequent executions for the offence 
 of passing forged one-pound notes having greatly impressed 
 the public mind. 
 
 In 181 8 Mr. Canning was again returned for Liverpool, Mr. 
 Gladstone once more appearing as his most prominent supporter. 
 One of the election squibs of the time took the form of a parody 
 of Burns' "Jolly Beggars,"' and one of the introduced songs 
 
 ran * 
 
 " John Gladstone was as fine a man 
 
 As ever graced commercial story ; 
 
 Till all at once he changed his plan, 
 
 And from a Whig became a Tory. 
 
 And now he meets his friends with pride, 
 
 Yet tells them but a wretched story, 
 He says not why he changed his side, 
 
 He was a Whig, he's now a Tory." 
 
MR. JOHN GLADSTONE. 11 
 
 Four years afterwards, in 1822, Mr. Canning accepted the office 
 of Governor- General of India, and had nearly completed his pre- 
 parations for departure, when the suicide of Lord Castlereagh led 
 to a reconstruction of the Cabinet, and Canning, called on in the 
 emergency, resigned the splendid appointment, and accepted for 
 the second time the office of Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs. Before that event, however, a farewell banquet had been 
 given to Canning, by the members of the Canning Club, at Liver- 
 pool, at which Mr. Gladstone presided; and, at his residence, 
 Seaforth House (to which he had removed in 18 18), an address 
 was presented to that statesman. One of the objects dear to 
 Mr. Canning's heart was the independence of Greece ; and his 
 Liverpool friends shared his views on the subject. In 1824 
 a meeting was called to express sympathy for the cause, at which 
 Mr. Gladstone was one of the principal speakers. Three years 
 later, he attended a meeting of the townsmen and moved that an 
 address be presented to the King, congratulating him on the for- 
 mation of a Canning administration; the brilliant statesman 
 having achieved the object of his ambition — the Premiership of 
 Great Britain, an honour he did not long enjoy, for before the 
 summer of the year was over he died at Chiswick. 
 
 In October, 1824, the leading merchants and townsmen of 
 Liverpool presented Mr. Gladstone with a magnificent service of 
 plate, as a mark of their high sense of his successful exertions for 
 the promotion of trade and commerce, and an acknowledgment 
 of his most important services rendered to the town of Liverpool. 
 In 1825 he was one of the witnesses examined before the com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons respecting the proposed con- 
 struction of George Stephenson's line of railway between Man- 
 chester and Liverpool; and in his evidence he sketched his 
 commercial career. He said he had been a merchant of Liver- 
 pool for thirty-eight years, and for the greater part of that time a 
 
! WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 
 
 iipowner. For the first sixteen years of that time he had been 
 most wholly engaged in the corn trade ; and since then he had 
 sen concerned with various branches of commerce connected 
 ith the town of Liverpool, the West Indies, the Brazils, the 
 ast Indies, and other parts of the world. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable that Mr. Gladstone, who felt a 
 rong interest in political matters— who was, although Scotch by 
 irth, a typical Liverpool man, with his commercial interests 
 mtred in the borough in which he had for so many years occu- 
 ied a leading position, and who certainly was not without parlia- 
 entary ambition — should not have been brought forward as a 
 mdidate to represent Liverpool in the House of Commons. He 
 id sit in Parliament, but it was for Woodstock, a pocket borough 
 f the Duke of Marlborough ; and he was afterwards returned 
 >r Lancaster and other constituencies. An energetic, practical 
 tan, not deficient in public spirit, but sincerely attached to 
 le old framework of the constitution, which he was not un- 
 illing to expand in accordance with the advancing spirit of the 
 mes, he feared revolutionary tendencies, and although he gave 
 modified support to the cause of Reform, he in nowise desired 
 lat it should march with too rapid steps, or be unduly compre- 
 ensive. Pocket boroughs, he seems to have thought — as did 
 lany others at the time — had occasionally done good service by 
 ffording opportunities to men of talent to enter Parliament, 
 r hich would be otherwise closed to them; and he had no scruple 
 1 sitting for Woodstock by favour of the Marlborough family. 
 lS a conscientious Christian man, he would have revolted at the 
 lea of treating slaves with cruelty ; but slavery, as an institution, 
 e believed to be recognised, if not directly authorised, by Scrip- 
 ire; and besides, he had large commercial interests connected 
 rith the trade in sugar, and a plantation in Demerara, which 
 ould not be cultivated without negro labour. He held aloof, then, 
 
MR. JOHN GLADSTONE. 13 
 
 from the agitation for emancipation, and was content to know 
 that his sugar estate at Vreeden Hoop was well managed and 
 profitable. 
 
 Generally his support was given to the Tory party; and in 
 1826 he supported Mr. Huskisson, a candidate for the represen- 
 tation of Liverpool. While sitting for Woodstock, he voted 
 against the Marquis of Tavistock's motion condemning the 
 ministers for taking proceedings against Queen Caroline ; against 
 Mr. Plunket's motion for the appointment of a committee to 
 consider the laws affecting Roman Catholics (in this respect re- 
 fusing to adopt the views of his old friend .Canning) ; and 
 against a Bill for the repeal of the additional malt tax. Never 
 prominent in the House as a speaker, he occasionally gave lite- 
 rary utterance to his views, and was the author of several 
 political pamphlets of marked ability. In 1830 he published a 
 pamphlet on slavery in the British sugar and coffee colonies, and 
 the United States ; and another, " Facts Relating to Slavery : A 
 Letter to Sir Robert Peel." In 1839 and 1846 he produced 
 pamphlets on the subject of the repeal of the Corn Laws, and 
 the probable effect on the public revenue. He was first Vice- 
 President of the Liverpool Institution; was Chairman of the West 
 India Association; and, in 1829, spoke at a public meeting, at 
 which resolutions were passed condemning the monopoly enjoyed 
 by the East India Company. The more thoughtful members of 
 the Tory party, Canning, Huskisson, and others, had earnestly 
 studied the doctrines of political economy, and made advances 
 in the direction of free trade principles ; and it was natural that so 
 large-minded and clear-headed a man as John Gladstone, who 
 was besides so greatly interested in commercial development, 
 should adopt their views. 
 
 Mr. Picton, in his interesting " Memorials of Liverpool/' says : 
 " Mr. Gladstone was one of the most eminent in the long sue- 
 
14 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 
 
 cession of the enterprising merchants of Liverpool. Far-seeing, 
 sagacious, and clear-headed, his views were at once comprehen- 
 sive and practical. As a mercantile man, he was looked up to 
 as the leader, facile princeps, on the Liverpool Exchange." His 
 large wealth was munificently employed. Warmly attached to the 
 Church, in 1815 he contributed funds for the erection of St. 
 Andrew's Church, in Renshaw Street, near his residence. The 
 church, completed at a cost of ;£ 12,000, has little architectural 
 beauty to recommend it ; but at that time the revival of a taste for 
 ecclesiastical architecture had not commenced, and Mr. Gladstone 
 was satisfied with providing a large and commodious church, even 
 if the plain brick exterior were unattractive. The first incumbent 
 was the Rev. John Jones, afterwards Archdeacon of Liverpool, 
 and to whose care the preliminary education of little William 
 Ewart Gladstone was entrusted. 
 
 Leith, the cradle of the thriving band of brothers then settled 
 at Liverpool, was not forgotten. After the elder brother had 
 become Sir John Gladstone, he built at the end of Sheriff Brae, 
 near his humble birthplace on Coalhill, and close to the upper 
 drawbridge over Leith Water, St. Thomas's Church ; and adjoin- 
 ing it he established a valuable benevolent institution, the Asylum 
 for Female Incurables. 
 
 In September, 1835, the amiable and beloved wife of John 
 Gladstone died. Ten years afterwards, Sir Robert Peel conferred 
 a baronetcy on him as Sir John Gladstone, of Fasque, Kincardine- 
 shire, and in 185 1, the year of the Great Exhibition, he died, 
 aged eighty-eight. He had amassed a noble fortune, secured 
 "respect and memory and troops of friends," and lived to 
 see his most gifted son represent in Parliament the University 
 of Oxford, and rise from office to office, till he had become 
 a member of the Cabinet as Secretary of State for the Colonies 
 and one of the foremost of that group of able statesmen and 
 
MR. JOHN GLADSTONE. 15 
 
 brilliant orators who followed the political fortunes of Sir Robert 
 Peel. 
 
 When in January, 1843, William Ewart Gladstone — then a 
 young statesman rising into fame, distinguished by his ardent 
 support of Peel's free trade policy — spoke at the opening of the 
 Liverpool Collegiate Institution, his brother, Robertson Gladstone, 
 presiding as Mayor of the town, he said, " I have never forgotten 
 — I never shall forget — that I am a native of this town, distin- 
 guished as is this town by everything that can ennoble a com- 
 mercial community ; aye, and by everything that can ennoble a 
 Christian community ; and I do trust that I may be allowed to 
 feel a sentiment, apart from any feelings of personal vanity — a 
 sentiment of satisfaction, in reflecting that / have a favourable 
 introduction to your notice in the name of my father " 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOME, SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY. 
 
 About a quarter of a mile from Lime Street Station, Liverpool, and 
 reached by way of Lime Street ■ and Mount Pleasant, or by Bold 
 and Leece Streets, is Rodney Street, a broad thoroughfare, at the 
 southern end of which is St. James's Cemetery. In this street 
 are many large brick houses, once residences of well-to-do mer- 
 chants ; but the wealthy frequenters of the Exchange Flags, the 
 shipowners and cotton dealers, who are the modern merchant 
 princes of Liverpool, now select choicer localities for their resi- 
 dences. Rodney Street was laid out and many houses erected 
 in the early days of the present century, and thither migrated 
 many of the rich townsmen who had previously dwelt in Hanover 
 Street and near Salthouse Dock. The name of the gallant Admiral 
 George Brydges Rodney, who captured the Dutch West India 
 Islands, and defeated the French fleet under the Count de Grasse, 
 had not lost its popularity, or been quite overshadowed by the^ 
 greater renown of Nelson, and the new line of road was named 
 Rodney Street. Near the centre of the west side of the street, 
 and a few doors from Leece Street, is a large house now numbered 
 64. When first built, it was almost detached from any other build- 
 ing, being connected only by small wings, used for domestic 
 offices, with other buildings. One of these wings has been altered 
 and converted into a separate dwelling. It is a large two-storied 
 
1809.] BIRTH IN RODNEY STREET. 17 
 
 house, old-fashioned and unpicturesque, built flush upon the line 
 of street, but decidedly commodious and comfortable ; such a 
 house, indeed, as may be seen in any provincial town, or in the 
 suburbs of great cities, and which is generally tenanted by the 
 leading doctor or lawyer of the locality. We presume that it was 
 from the arched window on the first floor over the doorway that 
 George Canning addressed the Liverpool electors after the chair- 
 ing at the memorable election of 1812. 
 
 In this house, on the 29th of December, 1809, the future 
 Premier of England was born. To the family name, William 
 (that of the last Gladstone who was buried in Libberton kirkyard), 
 was added the surname of his godfather, Mr. Ewart, a Liverpool 
 merchant, who was one of the most intimate friends of the elder 
 Gladstone. The son of this gentleman was the well-known Mr. 
 William Ewart, who was for many years a member of the House 
 of Commons, and distinguished himself in Parliament by his 
 persistent efforts to obtain the abolition of capital punishment, 
 and the establishment of public libraries, museums, and schools of 
 design; and to whose exertions is due in a great degree the repeal 
 of what was generally described as the " taxes on knowledge." 
 
 In the first nine years of William Ewart Gladstone's life, Rod- 
 ney Street was his home ) but, in 18 18, his father removed to a 
 residence, Seaforth House, more in accordance with his position 
 as a very wealthy merchant. The Rodney Street house was rented 
 by Mr. John Cardwell, of Blackburn, whose son, Edward, at that 
 time five years old, became in due time member of Parliament, 
 a cabinet minister, and ultimately Viscount Cardwell in the 
 British Peerage. It is certainly notable that two men who have 
 attained such political eminence and who have been so closely 
 allied in public life, should, without any bond of relationship, 
 have each passed several years of childhood in the old house in 
 
 Rodney Street. 
 
 c 
 
18 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1818-21. 
 
 William's first schoolmaster was the Rev. Mr. Jones, who kept 
 a small academy near the town. Probably the four sons of 
 Sir John Gladstone received their first education there, and the 
 manner in which he discharged his duties may have led to his 
 selection as first incumbent of the church built by Mr. Gladstone 
 in Renshaw Street. Stories respecting the childhood of great 
 men are always abundantly forthcoming ; and probably not very 
 much dependence is to be placed on the legend that the Rev. 
 Mr. Jones complained that he found it very difficult indeed to 
 instil even the rudiments of arithmetic into the juvenile mind of 
 William. There is a certain amount of antithesis between the 
 dulness of the boy in matters arithmetical and the splendid 
 financial ability developed in mature life that makes the story 
 attractive. Probably, the precocity of an active mind ever alert 
 for variety made plodding through the dreary pages of " Bonny- 
 castle," or the " Tutor's Assistant," with the pedantic rules and 
 over-elaborated methods of imparting knowledge, distasteful to 
 the eager, restless boy. 
 
 There is another legend relating to this time, which may have 
 better foundation. It is to the effect that William's father took 
 great pleasure in talking with his clever little boy about the public 
 questions of the day, especially the doings of Mr. Canning, and 
 that William was a good and intelligent listener. We have seen 
 that, in later life, he said he could remember the election of 
 1812, when he was only in his third year; and it is quite likely 
 that that event was fixed in his mind by his father's frequent 
 allusions to it. John Gladstone was too sensible a man, too large 
 minded and practical, to endeavour to " manufacture " a political 
 philosopher from a small boy, as James Stuart Mill did ; but 
 there can be little doubt that the children of his family heard 
 more of political and commercial matters, discussed in their pre- 
 sence by their father and his many friends, than most children 
 
1821-7.] SCHOOL LIFE AT ETON. 19 
 
 do; and that the quick intellect of William was early trained 
 to a recognition, at least, of many important principles, and 
 to familiarity with commercial topics which did him good service 
 in after life. 
 
 Mr. John Gladstone, we may be tolerably certain, was not slow 
 to discover the early promise of ability given by his fourth son, 
 who, in September, 182 1, as yet wanting three months of com- 
 pleting his twelfth year, was sent to Eton. He was a robust and 
 active, as well as a clever boy, and made light of many of the 
 hardships which have made public school life very unpleasant to 
 weak or timid lads. Gladstone soon showed that he was well 
 able to take his own part ; and when it was found that he was 
 not only one of the most active and successful in all school sports, 
 but also one of the very cleverest of the boys, his popularity at 
 Eton was assured. 
 
 He remained about six years at Eton, and there formed some 
 lasting friendships. One of his schoolfellows, of the same age as 
 himself, was George Augustus Selwyn, afterwards the famous 
 missionary bishop of New Zealand, and who died Bishop of 
 Lichfield. Francis Hastings Doyle, who in after life became 
 Professor of Poetry at Oxford, was also at school at the time ; 
 and another of the Eton boys of Gladstone's time, but two 
 years younger than he, was the modern Lycidas, Arthur Henry 
 Hallam, whose friendship with Tennyson and early death pro- 
 duced one of the noblest poems of our time, " In Memoriam." 
 Gladstone soon distinguished himself in the school by his success 
 in Latin versification ; and it was not likely that he would remain 
 unaffected by the literary traditions of the school. George 
 Canning — in the estimation of all the Gladstone family a very 
 Admirable Crichton — had, when he was an Eton boy, contributed 
 to a school magazine, so had John Hookham Frere — the author 
 of the " Whistlecraft Papers" (which suggested to Byron the 
 
20 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1821-7. 
 
 style of " Beppo " and " Don Juan "), and father of Sir Bartle 
 Frere— and Winthrop Mackworth Praed. The Etonian, to which 
 the latter contributed, was published at Windsor by Charles 
 Knight, at that time a bookseller and printer in the royal town \ 
 and so much talent was brought to light in its pages, that it was 
 made the basis of another magazine, to which Macaulay and 
 others who did not belong to Eton contributed. In the last year 
 of Gladstone's residence at the school, he was one of the pro- 
 jectors of the Eton Miscellany, and certainly the most prolific 
 contributor, young Selwyn ranking next. Thirteen papers from 
 the pen of William Ewart Gladstone appeared in the first volume ; 
 among them a poem in well-balanced heroic couplets, celebrating 
 the achievements of Richard Cceur de Lion, and " Guatimozin's 
 Death Song," for the suggestion of which he was probably in- 
 lebted to his mother's relative, Principal Robertson's account of 
 :he conquest of Mexico by Cortez. To the second volume of 
 :he Miscellany he made seventeen contributions. Classical 
 iterature was, of course, among the subjects of the papers. At 
 l very early period the Homeric poems appear to have powerfully 
 ittracted his attention ; but there were also articles, professedly 
 lumorous, in which, we imagine, he was less successful. The 
 :itle of one paper was " Eloquence," and if the youth's oratorical 
 cowers in any adequate degree indicated those of the man, he 
 vas assuredly competent to write effectively on such a topic. 
 Probably he felt a confidence that he possessed the power " the 
 ipplause of listening senates to command," and, indeed, there is 
 ;n the essay an indication of an ambition which is not unlike 
 Benjamin Disraeli's day-dreams of his Vivian Grey period. Both 
 youths were prophets, inspired by the consciousness of great 
 abilities and faith in themselves. "A successful debut," wrote 
 Gladstone (in his eighteenth year, at school at Eton), " an offer 
 : rom the minister, a Secretaryship of State, and even the Premier- 
 
1827.] AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY. 21 
 
 ship itself, are the objects which form the vista along which a 
 young visionary loves to look." 
 
 In 1827 he bade farewell to Eton, its school-room and playing- 
 fields. Few of the pupils at that famous school were so well 
 grounded in the classical learning chiefly valued there. He 
 continued his studies for about two years, as private pupil of Dr. 
 Turner, who was afterwards appointed Bishop of Calcutta; and 
 then entered, as a student, Christ Church College, Oxford. Here 
 his industry was enormous, and even in the vacation he scarcely 
 relaxed his ardour. One writer, describing his career at this 
 period, says : " No matter where he was, whether in college 
 rooms or country mansion, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. no one ever 
 saw William Ewart Gladstone. During this interval he was in- 
 variably locked up with his books. From the age of eighteen 
 until that of twenty-one, he never neglected studying during these 
 particular hours, unless he happened to be travelling. And his 
 evening ordeal was scarcely less severe. Eight o'clock saw him 
 once more engaged in a stiff bout with Aristotle, or plunged deep 
 in the text of Thucydides." 
 
 In one respect the industrious student was more prudent than 
 many of his fellows and competitors. Throughout his long life he 
 has recognised the natural alliance of the physical and intellectual 
 portions of our compound being. Naturally hardy and muscular, 
 he cultivated his bodily powers by regular active exercise, and 
 his high moral nature preserved him from the temptation to in- 
 dulge in enervating luxuriousness. Temperate and active, trained 
 to muscular exertion, he could probably have outwalked any of 
 the undergraduates of his college as easily as he could have sur- 
 passed most of them in mental acquirements. A brisk walk of 
 thirty or forty miles was a small matter to the handsome, well- 
 knit, resolute young student, who returned from it with a refreshed 
 brain and renewed vitality to his studies. The Oxford Un#n, that 
 
22 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1830. 
 
 renowned debating society where so many of our greatest statesmen, 
 lawyers, and divines trained their oratorical powers and learned 
 their first lessons in practical politics and philosophy, offered great 
 attractions to Gladstone. The position of President of the Union 
 was justly looked upon as conferring a high honour, due to acknow- 
 ledged intellectual power and oratorical ability ; and it is worth 
 noting that seven presidents were at one time united in one of the 
 administrations of which Mr. Gladstone was the chief. He had 
 only been a member of the university for a few months when he 
 made his first speech at the Union, on the i ith of February, 1830. 
 He was afterwards a frequent speaker, taking the Tory view of 
 public questions. That his style was rather rhetorically ornate, and 
 that he made frequent reference to classical examples and freely 
 resorted to classical quotations, we can readily suppose ; and that 
 he was fluent, enthusiastic, and occasionally excitable, is equally 
 probable. He opposed the removal of Jewish disabilities, Catholic 
 Emancipation, and Parliamentary Reform. A few years since, he 
 referred to the opinions he had held in these Oxford days : " I 
 trace," he said, " in the education of Oxford of my own time one 
 great defect. Perhaps it was my own fault ; but I must admit 
 that I did not learn when at Oxford that which I have learned 
 since, namely, to set a due value on the imperishable and in- 
 estimable principles of human liberty. The temper which I think 
 too much prevailed in academic circles was to regard liberty with 
 jealousy." 
 
 Even before the delivery of his first speech, the new member 
 of the Union had been warmly welcomed and recognised as an 
 acquisition. The University of Cambridge had, as well as the 
 sister University, its Union ; and we are reminded by its proceed- 
 ings of the times, glorious in the annals of the Schools, when 
 ambitious students travelled from town to town, challenging 
 learned professors or students to argue questions of doctrine, 
 
1831.] UNIVERSITY HONOURS. 23 
 
 literature, or philosophy. The Cambridge Union sent a delegation, 
 headed by Mr. Monckton-Milnes (now Lord Houghton), to 
 Oxford, to maintain the proposition that Shelley was a greater 
 poet than Byron. The author of " Queen Mab " had been then 
 dead about seven years, and Byron about five years; and the 
 poetical youth were divided into two parties on the subject 
 of their respective merits. Shelley had been an Oxford man, and 
 Byron had studied at Cambridge ; nevertheless, the eager dispu- 
 tants of the Cambridge Union adopted the former for their 
 champion, and deputed to the poetical young Monckton-Milnes 
 and his associates the task of convincing the Oxonians, who were 
 believed to favour Byron. The challenge was cordially accepted 
 by the Dark Blues (as, perhaps, we should style them now), and 
 the Cantabs were " formally received," when they reached Ox- 
 ford after their tedious coach ride, "by Gladstone of Christ 
 Church and Manning of Oriel/' Manning of Oriel is now the 
 Roman Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. The 
 debate took place, and no doubt great interest was excited. 
 Gladstone took no part in it, but Manning did, supporting the 
 superiority of Byron. The visitors, however, " won the match," 
 the greater number of votes being given for Shelley. 
 
 At the Michaelmas Examination of 1831, the greatest of aca- 
 demical successes was attained by Mr. Gladstone, who took a 
 first-class in Literis Humanioribus^ and also in Disciplinus Mathe- 
 maticis et Physicis. It is rarely that a " double first " is achieved ; 
 but on this occasion another Christ Church student, Mr. Henry 
 Denison, was also successful. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, who, for a short time afterwards, held a fellow- 
 ship at All Souls, left the University too early to share in the 
 great awakening of intellectual and religious activity which 
 shortly took place. Strongly attached to the principles and 
 formularies of the Church of England, and animated by pro- 
 
24 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1832- 
 
 foundly religious sentiments, he would no doubt have been a 
 prominent figure in the great movement which Keble, Pusey and 
 Newman headed. In his college days the religious aspect of 
 the University was decorous, but dull. There were active intel- 
 lects, great learning, devout bearing ; but as yet the wind had not 
 arisen which was to ruffle the ocean of controversy. The Church 
 was too generally regarded as a profession ; there were men in 
 the University who before long would, with amazing ability and 
 earnestness, claim for its clergy the position, in its fullest sense, 
 of a priesthood. 
 
 In his " Chapter of Autobiography," written in 1868, when 
 he was devoting all his energies to the work of disestablishing 
 the Irish Church, Mr. Gladstone refers to the subject: — 
 
 " At the time when I resided at Oxford, from 1828 to 1831, no sign of it 
 [the great revival of religious activity in the Church of England] had yet 
 appeared. A steady, clear, but dry, Anglican orthodoxy bore sway, and 
 frowned this way or that, at the first indication of any tendency to diverge from 
 the beaten path. Dr. Pusey was at that time revered for his piety and charity, 
 no less than admired for his learning and talent, but suspected (I believe) of 
 sympathy with the German theology, in which he was known to be profoundly 
 versed. Dr. Newman was thought to have about him the flavour of what he 
 has now told the world were the opinions he derived in youth from the work^ 
 of Thomas Scott. Mr. Keble, the 'sweet singer of Israel,' and a true saint, if 
 this generation has seen one, did not reside in Oxford ; the chief chair of 
 Theology had been occupied by Bishop Lloyd, the old tutor and the attached 
 and intimate friend of Peel : a man of powerful talents, and of a character 
 both winning and decided, who, had his life been spared, might have acted 
 powerfully for good on the fortunes of the Church of England, by guiding 
 the energetic influences which his teaching had done much to form. But he 
 had been hurried away, in 1829, by an early death ; and Dr. Whately, who 
 was also, in his own way, a known power in the University, was, in 1830, 
 induced to accept the Archbishopric of Dublin. There was nothing at that 
 time in the theology, or in the religious life, of the University to indicate what 
 was to come." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ENTRANCE INTO POLITICAL LIFE. 
 
 The brilliant success at Oxford fairly entitled Mr. Gladstone to a 
 little relaxation, and he made a short tour on the Continent, and 
 was absent from England during the stormy times of the great 
 Reform agitation. The Reform Act (more precisely the " Act to 
 Amend the Representation of the People in England and Wales, 
 2 and 3 Wm. IV., c. 45 ") received the royal assent on the 
 7th of June, 1832, and the Scotch and Irish Reform Bills on the 
 17th of July and the 7th of August respectively. Preparations 
 for the general election were carried on with the greatest ardour, 
 but fortunately with little disturbance to the public peace. There 
 was, indeed, something like a popular reaction. Political fury 
 had exhausted itself in the riots at Bristol, Nottingham and else- 
 where j and personal animosity was for the time quiescent. Forty- 
 two new boroughs had been created, to return sixty -four members ; 
 fifty-six had been disfranchised, among them the snug pocket 
 boroughs in which a handful of voters had returned unquestioning 
 the nominees of a few great houses. Ambitious politicians were 
 too busily engaged in wooing the new constituencies to have 
 much time for " fighting their battles o'er again," and new con- 
 stituencies were looking out for representatives to their taste. 
 The great landed proprietors and heads of noble houses feared 
 a democratic incursion into Parliament, which would attack, per- 
 
26 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1832. 
 
 haps sweep away, certainly interfere greatly with, their privileges ; 
 and bestirred themselves to exert the interest they still possessed 
 in some of the boroughs which had survived the Reform Act, and 
 which might be relied on to return " safe " men. The Established 
 Church, the Corn Laws, the Game Laws, were threatened, and 
 who could foresee what changes would be demanded by the host 
 of indomitable Radicals who might find themselves in the House 
 of Commons as representatives of constituencies which never 
 before had had a voice in the government of the country? 
 
 It was very desirable, therefore, that the " old cause " should 
 be supported by new champions who would contribute youthful 
 energy and marked ability to the Tory rank and file. At such 
 a time William Ewart Gladstone could scarcely be overlooked. 
 His University success had been most brilliant; he had given 
 promise at the Union of the possession of gifts of oratory which 
 might be most useful to the party ; and the interest he had ex- 
 hibited in the great questions which then occupied the political 
 mind, had marked him out for a Parliamentary career. One of 
 his Oxford friends was the Earl of Lincoln, son of the Duke of 
 Newcastle, and the Duke decided that the talented son of the 
 able and wealthy Liverpool merchant would be an excellent re- 
 presentative for Newark, a borough which, hitherto, the Duke had 
 found to be particularly willing to return any candidate he might 
 select. Mr. Gladstone was sent for, and hastily quitted Italy — 
 not perhaps without a sigh of regret at leaving classic ground, 
 but honourably ambitious of entering on the career opened to him. 
 
 He was not, however, destined to receive an unopposed return. 
 Mr. Handley, a Tory, and Serjeant Wilde, a Whig (afterwards, as 
 Lord Truro, Lord Chancellor in the Russell Administrations, 
 185 1-2), contested the seat. Mr. Gladstone issued his addres 
 on the 9th of October, and did little more than repeat the familiar 
 creed of the Tory party ; but his good taste and cultivated mind 
 
1832.] CANDIDATE FOR NEWARK. 27 
 
 made him avoid the vituperations and asperities which then charac- 
 terised political discussion. Tory though he declared himself to 
 be — immature and inexperienced as he certainly was — his nature 
 forbade assimilation with the narrow views of the old school, or 
 the boisterous energy and unscrupulous vituperation of the writers 
 in Blackwood. The address touched the subjects of Reform, Church 
 and State, the Condition of the Working Classes, and the agitation 
 for the Abolition of Slavery. Referring to the desire for great 
 changes which the advocates of Reform manifested, he said : — 
 
 a 
 
 We must watch and resist that unenquiring and undiscriminating desire 
 for change amongst us which threatens to produce, along with partial good, a 
 melancholy preponderance of mischief ; which, I am persuaded, would aggra- 
 vate beyond computation the deep-seated evils of our social state, and the 
 heavy burthens of our industrial classes." 
 
 He professed his adherence to 
 
 " That principle on which alone the incorporation of religion with the State, 
 in our constitution, can be defended — that the duties of governors are strictly 
 and peculiarly religious, and that legislators, like individuals, are bound to 
 carry throughout their acts the spirit of the high truths they have acknow- 
 ledged. Principles are now arrayed against our institutions ; and not by 
 truckling nor by temporising, not by oppression nor corruption, but by prin- 
 ciples, they must be met." 
 
 There is no uncertain note in these words. They are those of 
 a man desperately in earnest, who feels that he has taken his side, 
 and must stand or fall by his colours. We have here the rudi- 
 ments of his book, published six years afterwards, on the 
 relations of Church and State. He appears to have had but little 
 sympathy with the rigid theories of the political economists on 
 the subjects of the poor and labour, and promised 
 
 "A sedulous and special attention to the interests of the poor, founded upon 
 the rule that those who are the least able to take care of themselves should be 
 most regarded by others. Particularly, it is a duty to endeavour by every 
 means that labour may receive adequate remuneration." 
 
 On the subject of Slavery, then so prominently before the public, 
 he spoke rather hesitatingly. He was, in truth, in a peculiar 
 position in reference to this matter. Bred among Liverpool 
 
28 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [ 
 
 merchants, " the bricks of whose stately mansions were ceme 
 with the blood of negroes "—so the ardent Emancipationists 
 — he had been taught to believe that the grossest exaggeratic 
 to the real condition of the slaves in the British colonies 
 been indulged in by benevolent, but ill-informed, persons ; 
 that the evils of the system were rather theoretical than pracl 
 Indeed, he was not sure that slavery was, in itself, unsancti< 
 by the highest law, although he might think that as civilis; 
 extended it might be beneficially ameliorated, or even disap 
 altogether. His father owned slaves in Demerara, and he knew 
 his father was a thoughtful, religious, and just man ; and he I 
 other merchants and slave-owners who conscientiously desirec 
 well-being of the negroes on their plantations. He said : — 
 
 " As regards the absolute lawfulness of slavery, I acknowledge it sim] 
 importing the right of one man to the labour of another, and I rest it 
 the fact that Scripture, the paramount authority on such a point, 
 directions to persons standing in the relation of master to slave, for theii 
 duct in that relation; whereas, were the matter absolutely and neces 
 sinful, it would not regulate the manner. " 
 
 He hoped that "an universal and efficient system of Cliri 
 instruction," set on foot by impartial and sovereign authc 
 would, by teaching both parties, lead to gradual cmancipa 
 No doubt, as he gained a wider experience of human natur 
 somewhat modified this Utopian view. " The Duke's nomii 
 "the slave-driver," were epithets freely bestowed upon hin 
 the supporters of the Whig candidate ; but the Duke's influ 
 carried the day (many of his tenants, it is said, voting a; 
 wished, but grumbling considerably as they did so), and whei 
 poll was declared, the numbers stood : Gladstone, 882 ; Han< 
 793; Wilde, 719. 
 
 Trip first Reformed Parliament asspmhlprl r\n t-bp. o-»r, 
 
1833.] THE REFORMED PARLIAMENT. 29 
 
 referred to, was the state of the Established Church, particularly 
 as regarded temporalities, the maintenance of the clergy, the 
 rearrangement in a more equitable manner of the revenues, and, 
 generally, the correction of acknowledged abuses. As to the 
 Church of Ireland, the speech recommended " the adoption of a 
 measure by which, upon the principle of a just commutation, the 
 possessors of land may be able to free themselves from the 
 burthen of an annual payment." The Speech continued, " In 
 the further reforms that may be necessary, you will probably find 
 that, although the Established Church of Ireland is, by law, per- 
 manently united with that of England, the peculiarity of their 
 respective circumstances will require a separate consideration." 
 
 The subjects for discussion thus indicated, no doubt com- 
 mended themselves to the serious attention of the young member 
 for Newark ; but he modestly and prudently abstained from 
 obtruding himself on the attention of the House. He was yet an 
 untried warrior, and was not rash enough to enter the fray until 
 he had proved his weapons and trained his forces. The debate 
 on the Address was signalised by one of those brilliant " duels of 
 debate" between O'Connell and the Hon. E. G. Stanley (afterwards 
 Lord Stanley and Earl of Derby), Chief Secretary for Ireland in 
 the Grey Ministry, which made so many debates memorable. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone spoke only once or twice in the course of the 
 Session, and then briefly. Indeed, he was so unimportant a 
 personage, that " Hansard " did not take the trouble to give his 
 proper name in the official reports of the debates. Sometimes 
 he appears as Mr. William Gladstone, sometimes his Christian 
 name is given as Ewart, and once as Edward. We see it stated 
 in some biographies that his maiden speech was delivered on the 
 1 8th of May, on the subject of Slavery. This is incorrect. His 
 first utterance in the House was on the 21st of February. Mr. 
 Benett, the member for Wiltshire, had presented a petition from 
 
30 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1833. 
 
 more than three thousand inhabitants of Liverpool, complaining 
 of bribery and corruption at the recent election, and expressing 
 their persuasion that the provisions of the Reform Act were not 
 sufficient to remedy the abuses complained of. The members 
 returned for the borough were Mr. Ewart and Lord Sandon. In 
 the debate which ensued, Mr. Rigby Wason, the member for 
 Ipswich, said he was sure that no two gentlemen in the House 
 would be found who would not admit that the case of the last 
 election for Liverpool was one of the most flagrant instances of 
 corruption which had ever taken place. 
 
 These remarks called up Mr. Gladstone, who said, " The 
 Reform Bill had not produced at Liverpool the effect which had 
 been anticipated from it. He would venture to say, however, 
 that no corrupt influence had been used either by the noble 
 Lord (Sandon) or by any of his supporters during the last 
 election." Mr. Warburton, member for Bridport, somewhat 
 contemptuously enquired how it could be possible in the case ot 
 Liverpool, where there was so much opposition among the parties 
 which divided the electors, for any individual to make a positive 
 asseveration that no undue influence had been exerted? 
 
 In the course of the debate on the Ministerial Bill for " the 
 Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Colonies, and for the 
 promotion of industry among the manumitted slaves, and for 
 compensation to the persons hitherto entitled to the services of 
 such slaves," Lord Howick (now Earl Grey), who had been 
 Under-Secretary for the Colonies in the previous Administration, 
 referred to the sugar plantations of Vreeden Hoop and Demerara, 
 the property of Mr. John Gladstone, of Liverpool, where he said, 
 " a large amount of sugar had been produced, to the great ad- 
 vantage of the owner, but unhappily at the price of a dreadful 
 loss of life amongst the slaves." Three days afterwards, on the 
 17th of May, Mr. Gladstone made a reply to this statement, and 
 
1833.] DEFENCE OF THE LIVERPOOL FREEMEN. 31 
 
 vindicated the character of his father's manager, who had been 
 referred to in strong terms of condemnation by Lord Howick. 
 " He was ready to admit," Mr. Gladstone said, " that the cultiva- 
 tion of sugar was of a more severe character than others, and he 
 would ask were there not certain employments in this and other 
 countries more destructive to life than others ? " 
 
 On the 3rd of June he again referred to the subject, in his 
 first really important speech, in opposition to the Government 
 proposition. He once more defended the manager at Vreeden 
 Hoop, and finished a speech of moderate length and delivered 
 with much vivacity and energy, by saying, " Let not any man 
 think of carrying this measure by force. England rests not her 
 power upon physical force, but upon her principles, her intellect 
 and virtue; and if this great measure is not placed on a fair 
 basis, and is conducted by violence, I shall lament it as a signal 
 for the ruin of the colonies and the downfall of the empire." 
 
 About a month afterwards, Mr. Mark Philips, the member for 
 Manchester, having moved for a select committee to take into 
 consideration the petition of the inhabitants of Liverpool, Mr. 
 Gladstone defended the freemen, and described the attempt to 
 deprive them of their privileges as a persecution. His resistance, 
 however, was unavailing. O'Connell gave his powerful support 
 to the motion, and it was carried by a majority of 84. 
 
 On the 8th of July he made a speech in defence of the Irish 
 Church, in opposition to the Ministerial Church Temporalities 
 (Ireland) Bill :— 
 
 11 He opposed the Bill because he thought it would tend to desecrate the 
 Established Church, and the desecration of a Church must be productive of 
 the most serious injury to the country. He was prepared to defend the Irish 
 Church, and if it had abuses, which he did not now deny, those abuses were 
 to be ascribed to the ancestors and predecessors of those who now surrounded 
 him. . . . He thought it was of the utmost advantage to society to have a 
 body capable of spreading and extending the Protestant doctrine ; and with- 
 out meaning any offence to his Catholic fellow-subjects, he could not but think 
 that it would be productive of great benefit, in a national point of view, to 
 
32 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1834. 
 
 have the means of expounding, defending, and maintaining their doctrines in 
 an active manner. All he asked was that such an opportunity should be 
 given, and then, ' God defend the right.' " 
 
 Throughout the remainder of this, his first session, he remained 
 silent, except making a very brief speech on the Slavery question, 
 in opposition to the Bill, and defending the planters. 
 
 On the reassembly of Parliament in 1834 the Slavery question 
 was again discussed, in connection with the proposal for the con- 
 tinuance of the Sugar Duties, and Mr. Gladstone contributed a 
 short speech to the debate. He spoke somewhat more at length 
 on March 19th, when the Liverpool Freemen Bill was before 
 the House. With characteristic courage, he attempted to defend 
 his fellow-townsmen ; but we imagine the Gladstone of later times 
 must have smiled if the poor excuse made by him in his early days 
 for the corrupt voters at the Municipal and Parliamentary elec- 
 tions of Liverpool was brought to his recollection. He said : — 
 
 "Men in the humbler walks of life could not be supposed to have very 
 correct abstract opinions upon the nature of bribery. The utmost, perhaps, 
 that could be reasonably expected from them would be that they should con- 
 sistently adhere to one political creed. He did not mean to defend the corrup- 
 tion that had taken place ; but ought not the argument he had just adduced be 
 taken as some palliation in the case of the poorer freemen ? " 
 
 These poor freemen could get drunk, fight, and deliberately sell 
 themselves to the highest bidder, and the fact that they did not 
 have " very correct abstract opinions " as to honesty and decency, 
 was a strange argument in favour of not putting a stop to their 
 amusements, and punishing those who indulged in drunken- 
 ness and window-breaking, with variations of assault and 
 even manslaughter. The Liverpool electors appear to have 
 been in bad case. In the course of the debate, Sir Charles 
 Wood said he had never seen — indeed, he had never conceived 
 
 J £J_ 
 
1834.] ADMISSION TO THE UNIVERSITIES. 33 
 
 occasion for the exercise of privileges conferred upon them for 
 important political purposes, but as a saturnalia, in which they 
 were to indulge in the most extravagant licentiousness* 
 
 On the 6th of May Mr. Gladstone supported the introduction 
 of a Bill, by Mr. Hesketh Fleetwood, member for Preston, for 
 the better observance of the Lord's Day; and on the 28th of 
 July he delivered the longest and most important speech he had 
 as yet made in the House. It was on the occasion of the motion 
 by Mr. Hume for the third reading of the Universities' Admis- 
 sion Bill, His defence of slave-owners in the West Indies and 
 Demerara, and apologies for Liverpool freemen who received 
 bribes and broke heads, were doubtless less the result of delibe- 
 rate judgment than of personal influences. Respecting the Irish 
 Church he no doubt felt strongly, because he considered it his 
 duty to defend a political theory which he believed to be of the 
 highest importance to the State. But a proposition to meddle 
 with what he believed to be the very essential principle of the 
 great Universities touched him to the quick. He had unlimited 
 faith in the importance of the Established Church as an element 
 in the British Constitution on which its stability depended ; and 
 in the importance of the Universities as nurseries of the Church. 
 That they should be deprived of that exclusive character was, in 
 his estimation, a most dangerous and destructive proposition, to 
 be regarded with something like horror by every true Churchman. 
 As one who had benefited so greatly by University training, who 
 had found in the Oxford colleges so much that he admired and 
 loved, he felt called upon to champion them with all the vigour 
 at his command ; and, no doubt, the earnestness and impetuous 
 eloquence of the young orator, flushed with excitement, which 
 added a charm to his handsome countenance, produced a con- 
 siderable effect on the House. It was perhaps that speech which 
 made South ey say, " Young Gladstone, the member for Newark, 
 
 D 
 
Zi WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1834 
 
 is said to be the ablest person that Oxford has sent forth for 
 many years, since Peel or Canning." We quote the concluding 
 passages of the speech which summarise his argument : — 
 
 " The Universities had been spoken of as national institutions. He admitted 
 the term, but not in the sense with which it is generally put forth. They were 
 undoubtedly national institutions, but only so far as they were connected with 
 the National Church. The vital principle of these collegiate foundations was 
 to provide a course of education which should attend to the moral character 
 as well as the scientific attainments of the pupils. To attain this, a certain 
 fixed course of study and of discipline must be observed ; but how could this 
 be done when, by the Bill before the House, it was proposed to throw open the 
 doors not only to Dissenting Christians of every sect and denomination, but 
 also to all sorts of persons, be they Christian or not ? . . . It was said of 
 the ancient Romans that they 'made a solitude and called it peace.' He very 
 much feared that the House, in 'establishing their present principle of religious 
 liberty, would drive from their functions men who had so long done honour 
 and service to their country, and thus inaugurate the reign of religious peace by 
 an act of the grossest tyranny." 
 
 That Mr. Gladstone was, at that time, a better orator than 
 prophet, is evident from the preceding passage. The professors 
 and tutors, the heads of houses and proctors, have not been 
 " driven from their functions," and, certainly, the students are not 
 as a body less moral, nor in scholarship less exact, because 
 Dissenters have been admitted to the colleges. This speech, how- 
 ever, added greatly to the estimation in which the young member 
 for Newark was held by his party, and marked him out as a re- 
 cipient of official position when the opportunity should occur. 
 
 On the 13th of January, 1833, he had been admitted to the 
 Society of Lincoln's Inn ; and he kept eleven terms between 1833 
 and 1837. When he had been a member for six years and three 
 months, he petitioned to have his name removed from the books, 
 on the ground of " having given up his intention of being called 
 to the Bar." He was not a mere " diner " at an Inn of Court 
 but " performed exercises " as other students preparing for the 
 Bar did. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ACCESSION TO OFFICE IN PEEl/S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 The most influential member of the Melbourne Cabinet — in- 
 fluential alike by the integrity of his private character and his 
 business abilities — was John Charles Spencer, Lord Althorp, 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Com- 
 mons. On the ioth of November, 1834, he succeeded, by the 
 death of his father, to the earldom of Spencer, and necessarily 
 vacated his office in the Administration. When Lord Melbourne, 
 the Premier, waited on the King at Brighton to communicate the 
 intelligence, he was surprised — at least, as much surprised as a 
 man of his calm temperament could be — to receive an intimation 
 that the King had decided to form a new Administration. This, 
 at least, is the generally accepted version of the story. It was 
 suspected that Queen Adelaide, who disliked Melbourne, had 
 influenced the King, and the opening sentence of a leader in a 
 powerful daily newspaper, " The Queen has done it !" expressed a 
 widespread but most unfounded impression. Mr. Thomas 
 Raikes, who was well informed on all matters of political as well 
 as social gossip, tells us in his " Diary," that the King's decision 
 took place on the avowal of Lord Melbourne that he despaired 
 of carrying on the Government, and that a dissolution of the 
 Cabinet was inevitable before the meeting of Parliament. 
 On the 14th, Melbourne and his colleagues formally resigned. 
 
36 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1835. 
 
 William the Fourth had never liked the Whig statesmen. The 
 Reform agitation had compelled him to accept their services ; and 
 he willingly availed himself of the excuse which the changes in 
 the Cabinet necessitated by the removal of Althorp to the Upper 
 House would afford, to get rid of Brougham, whom he hated, 
 and others whom he less openly disliked. He seems to have 
 thought that the Whigs had lost public confidence— and, indeed, 
 the general feeling of dislike at the Poor Law Amendment Act 
 and other measures, in some degree justified his opinion — and 
 that he could safely recall the Duke of Wellington to his councils. 
 The Duke was sent for, but declined the task of forming an Ad- 
 ministration, referring the King to Sir Robert Peel, who was in 
 Rome. The Duke was gazetted as Foreign Secretary, and Lord 
 Lyndhurst as Lord Chancellor; and, until the arrival of Sir 
 Robert, the Government was virtually carried on by the Duke, 
 except in regard to legal matters in which the Lord Chancellor's 
 aid was necessary. 
 
 On the arrival of Sir Robert Peel, on the 9th of December, he 
 accepted office as First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer, and with some difficulty succeeded in forming an 
 Administration. He showed that he had not been unmindful of the 
 promise displayed by Mr. Gladstone, by appointing him to the 
 office of Under-Secretary for the Colonies. It is worth noting 
 that this was the first office Peel himself had occupied, twenty-three 
 years before. 
 
 Sir Robert decided on a dissolution of Parliament, announced 
 in the last Gazette of the year. The new Parliament opened on 
 the 24th of February, after an exciting contest for the Speakership, 
 in which the late Speaker, Sir Charles Manners Sutton, the nominee 
 
1835.] ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICE. 37 
 
 coarse caricaturists of the day represented a fight between "Sooty," 
 a sweep, and " Crummy," a baker. In the House, the contest 
 had little to do with the comparative qualifications of the candi- 
 dates for the high office, but was made a test of party strength, 
 the result showing that the new House could not be relied on to 
 support the new Ministers. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone entered with zeal on the duties of his office. 
 The Earl of Aberdeen was his official chief; and the duty of 
 representing the department in the Commons fell upon the young 
 Under-Secretary, who had been re-elected for Newark. On the 
 19th of March he introduced a Bill for the regulation of emigrant 
 ships, and the protection of poor emigrants to the colonies, who 
 suffered great hardships, and were exposed to great dangers from 
 overcrowding and the deficient supply of boats. 
 
 One of the earliest acts of the Opposition was to re-introduce 
 the question of the Temporalities of the Irish Church, Lord John 
 Russell moving for a Committee of the whole House to consider 
 the subject. On the 31st of March Mr. Gladstone spoke in 
 opposition to the motion, and concluded by saying: — 
 
 " If those individuals who are called upon to fill the high functions of pub- 
 lic affairs should be compelled to exclude from their consideration the 
 elements of true religion, and to view various strange and conflicting doctrines 
 in the same light, instead of administering those noble functions, they would be 
 helots and slaves. ... If, in the administration of this great country, 
 the element of religion should not enter — if those who were called upon to 
 guide it in its career should be forced to look to the caprices and the whims of 
 every body of visionaries, they would lose that station all great men were 
 hitherto proud of. He hoped he should never live to see the day when any 
 principle leading to such a result would be adopted in that country." 
 
 His tenure of office was of brief duration. The ministerial 
 supporters experienced repeated defeats, and early in April were 
 beaten by a majority of 27, on the question of the commutation 
 of tithes in Ireland. On the 8th, Sir Robert announced that 
 he and his colleagues, " finding it impossible to carry measures, 
 had tendered their resignations." The King sent for Lord 
 
38 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1836. 
 
 Melbourne, who was reinstated at the Treasury. Lord Palmerston 
 resumed the office of Foreign Secretary ; and Lord John Russell, 
 who had been Paymaster of the Forces in the previous Whig 
 Ministry, took office as Home Secretary. The arrangement 
 probably most gratifying to the King was that the impracticable 
 and erratic Brougham did not return to the woolsack, the 
 Chancellorship being put in commission. 
 
 Throughout the remainder of the Session Mr. Gladstone was 
 almost a silent member. One vigorous speech he made, defend- 
 ing with characteristic courage the House of Peers against the 
 vigorous attacks of the veteran Radical, Joseph Hume, and the 
 Parliamentary giant, O'Connell. He charged them with advanc- 
 ing atrocious and dangerous doctrines. O'Connell's reply was 
 the expression of "much contempt for the honourable member's 
 argument." 
 
 Early in the Session of 1836 Mr. Fowell Buxton moved for the 
 appointment of a committee to enquire into the working of the 
 apprenticeship system in the colonies. Mr. Gladstone maintained 
 that the system had worked well, that the masters had, on the 
 whole, behaved with kindness, and that the Anti-Slavery Society 
 had " sent forth to the public garbled statements," unfairly repre- 
 senting the state of things in the West Indies. The planters, he 
 maintained, had not been enormously remunerated, for, if 
 ;£ 2 0,000,000 had been granted, the value of slave property had 
 been estimated at ^45,000,000. 
 
 In the latter part of the Session, and in the early part of the 
 Session of 1837, the affairs of Canada were prominently before 
 the House. The dissensions between the House of Assembly in 
 Lower Canada and the Executive Government, which had broken 
 out fifteen or sixteen years before, had increased in intensity, and 
 were deepened by the national prejudices of the two parties of 
 colonists — those of French and those of English descent. Com- 
 
1837.] CHURCH RATES. 
 
 39 
 
 missioners had been appointed by the Home Government to en- 
 quire into the causes of the dissension. Arrests were made, but 
 the prisoners were rescued, and serious disturbances ensued, not 
 subdued without the employment of the military force. The 
 Canadian Legislature refused to vote the money necessary for the 
 salaries of the ministers and executive officers. On the 6th of 
 March Lord John Russell, the Home Secretary and leader of 
 the Commons, moved a series of ten resolutions on the subject, 
 and Mr. Gladstone, and the members of his party, gave a general 
 support to the Ministers. 
 
 A leading item in the programme of the Melbourne Ministry 
 was the Abolition of Church Rates, and, on the 3rd of March, 
 Mr. Spring Rice, Chancellor of the Exchequer, moved a resolu- 
 tion, in Committee of the whole House, for the abolition of the 
 rate. On the 15th, Mr. Gladstone made a vigorous speech against 
 the resolution. He referred with a touch ot haughty contempt to 
 the scruples of conscience which had been pleaded by some persons 
 who had persistently refused to pay the rate. " When the Legis- 
 lature," he said, " made a demand on its subjects for a part of 
 their property, whatever might be the purpose for which it was 
 applied, the Legislature absolved the conscience of its subjects. 
 They might use every means of getting rid of it, but as long as 
 the payment was law, no scruple of conscience could fairly resist 
 it." He said an allusion had been made, in a speech delivered 
 on another occasion, to the grandeur of ancient Rome, and it was 
 attributed to her municipal institutions. He continued: — 
 
 " But it was not by the active strength and resistless powers of her legions, 
 the bold independence of her citizens, or the well-maintained equilibrium of 
 her constitution, or by the judicious adoption of various measures to the 
 various circumstances of her subject states, that the Roman power was upheld. 
 Its foundation lay in the prevailing feeling of religion. That was the superior 
 power which curbed the licence of undivided rule, and engendered in the 
 people a lofty disinterestedness and disregard of personal matters, and devotion 
 to the Republic. The devotion of the Romans was not enlightened by a 
 
40 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1838. 
 
 knowledge of the precepts of Christianity. Here religion was still more 
 deeply rooted and firmly fixed. Would they now consent to compromise the 
 security of its firmest bulwark ? No ministry would dare to propose its un- 
 conditional surrender ; but with the same earnestness and depth of feeling with 
 which they should deprecate the open avowal of such a determination, they 
 ought to resist the covert and insidious introduction of the principle." 
 
 The death of William the Fourth, on the 20th of June, of 
 course caused a dissolution of Parliament. Mr. Gladstone was 
 nominated for Manchester, without his consent, he preferring 
 to remain member for Newark, for which he was returned. At 
 the Manchester poll he was in a minority. The first Victorian 
 Parliament met on the 15th of November. The condition of 
 Canada was again a subject of paramount interest. The Fils de 
 la Liberie, headed by Papineau, had raised an insurrection at 
 Montreal, and there was the prospect of a long and arduous 
 contest. On the 22nd of December Mr. Gladstone took part in 
 the debate. The colony, he asserted, had very few real griev- 
 ances to complain of, and the dissatisfaction was caused by 
 agitators. 
 
 In January, 1838, Mr. Roebuck was heard at the bar as agent 
 for the colony. Mr. Gladstone spoke at length, intimating his 
 opinion that some part of the blame for the disturbed condition 
 of the colony rested on the Home Government. He spoke again 
 on the 7 th of March, and charged the Canadian Executive and 
 the Home Government with want of energy in putting down the 
 insurrection. In reply, Mr. Spring Rice taxed Mr. Gladstone 
 with a desire to govern by coercion. 
 
 As yet, indeed, respecting colonial as well as home matters, 
 he was a Tory of the straitest sect. He believed most abso- 
 lutely in the " paternal-providential " theory of government, in the 
 colonies as at home; and in the Church as an integral part of 
 the State. Trained at home, and at Oxford, to believe that the 
 Church of England was a Divinely-appointed and supported 
 
1838.] CHURCH AND STATE. 41 
 
 institution, he had given all his energy to support it. To attack 
 its right to benefit by church rates levied by the Government was, 
 as he said, to attack a sacred institution ; and even where, as in 
 Ireland, it was the Church of a minority, he believed it to be a 
 paramount duty to make all the people contribute to its support. 
 In his place in Parliament he had expressed his views earnestly 
 and fearlessly, and in private he was devoting his leisure to the 
 production of a book, which he hoped would be a complete 
 exposition of his views, and a solid contribution to the support of 
 a cause he had so much at heart. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 FIRST APPEARANCE AS AN AUTHOR. 
 
 " The State in its Relation with the Church; by W. E. Gladsto 
 Student of Christ Church, and M.P. for Newark," appeared in 
 autumn of 1838, and a second edition was soon called for. T 
 work (dedicated to the University of Oxford, as the " fountain 
 blessings, spiritual, social, and intellectual " ) was a statement 
 the author's creed respecting the union of Church and State- 
 methodical arrangement and completion of the arguments he 1 
 hitherto employed when speaking in the House of Commons 
 subjects connected with the Church. He took high and indep 
 dent ground, rejecting the argument of expediency, and rest 
 on what he believed to be the eternal principles on which 
 State should be bound in its relation with the Church. Neit 
 Bishop Hooker nor Bishop Warburton, the popular champions 
 the cause, satisfied his intellectual and religious earnestne 
 and Paley and Chalmers, both able, but very different in mei 
 calibre, appeared to him to fall short of the height of the ar 
 ment. His fundamental propositions were that the propagat 
 of religious truth is one of the principal duties of Governme 
 and that a proper Government could no more perform its du 
 without a consideration of religious principles than an individ 
 man could lead a righteous life without the support of religi 
 belief and a sense of religious responsibility. " Wherever th 
 
1838.] CHURCH AND STATE. 43 
 
 is power in the universe," he argued, " that power is the property 
 
 of God, the key of that universe — His property of right, however 
 
 for a time withholden or abused. . . . The powers, therefore, that 
 
 dwell in individuals acting as a Government, as well as those that 
 
 dwell in individuals acting for themselves, can only be secured 
 
 for right uses by applying to them a religion." A governing body 
 
 in a State should profess a religion, because it is composed of 
 
 individual men who, " being appointed to act in a definite moral 
 
 capacity, must sanctify their acts done in that capacity by the 
 
 offices of religion." Again, "in fulfilment of his obligations as 
 
 an individual, the statesman must be a worshipping man." Very 
 
 explicitly he lays down the doctrine that, as the acts of statesmen 
 
 are essentially public — 
 
 " They must be sanctified, not only by the private personal prayers and piety 
 of those who fill public situations, but also by public acts of the men compos- 
 ing the public body. They must offer prayer and praise in their public and 
 collective character — in that character wherein they constitute the organ of the 
 nation, and wield its collective force. Wherever there is a reasoning agency, 
 there is a moral duty and responsibility involved in it. The governors are 
 reasoning agents for the nation, in their conjoint acts as such. And, therefore, 
 there must be attached to this agency, as that without which none of our 
 responsibilities can be met, a religion. And this religion must be of the con- 
 science of the governor A nation, having a personality, lies 
 
 under the obligation, like the individuals composing its governing body, of 
 sanctifying the acts of that personality by the offices of religion, and thus we 
 have a new and imperative ground for the existence of a state religion." 
 
 Obviously, holding such views, Mr. Gladstone could not re- 
 gard the Protestant Established Church in Ireland as a grievance. 
 It was the duty of the State to support it, because its teachings 
 were right and those of the Roman Catholic Church were wrong. 
 If five-sixths of the population of Ireland refused to accept 
 Protestant doctrines and to attend Protestant worship, then so 
 much the worse for them. The State had performed a duty im- 
 posed on it of taking the horse to the water (rather, perhaps, of 
 taking the water to the horse), and if it could not make the 
 horse drink, it had, at least, discharged its conscience. That the 
 
U WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1839. 
 
 horse should pay for the water, as for other matters provided by 
 the governing power, was natural and right. 
 
 The courage with which the author enforced his principles, the 
 lofty disdain with which he treated all considerations of mere 
 political expediency, his rejection of Warburton's " contract " 
 theory, and his uncompromising assertion that the care of the 
 Church was a trust Divinely committed to Governments, no less 
 than the remarkable talent exhibited in the book, excited the 
 admiration of the Tory party, and arrested the attention of Whigs 
 and Radicals. It was recognised on both sides that the young 
 member for Newark was destined to occupy a very prominent and 
 influential position in the political world. The two great Reviews, 
 the literary champions of the opposite parties, the Edinburgh and 
 Quarterly, devoted elaborate articles to the book. The review in 
 the Quarterly, appearing in December, 1839, extended to fifty- 
 five pages. The writer said : — 
 
 " If Mr. Gladstone were an ordinary character, we should be inclined to 
 speak most strongly of the singular vigour, depth of thought, and eloquence, 
 which he has displayed in this essay. But he is evidently not an ordinary 
 character ; though it is to be hoped that many others are now forming them- 
 selves in the same school with him, to act hereafter on the same principle. 
 And the highest compliment which we can pay him is to show that we be- 
 lieve him to be what a statesman or philosopher should be — indifferent to his 
 own reputation for talents, and only anxious for truth and right. ... He 
 has most wisely abandoned the argument for expediency, which offers little 
 more than an easy weapon to fence with, while no real danger is apprehended; 
 and has insisted chiefly on the claims of duty and truth— the only considerations 
 which can animate and support men in a real struggle against false principles. 
 Even if he stood alone, yet with his talent and position in the country, this 
 movement to escape from the low ethics of the eighteenth and nineteenth cen- 
 turies would be of great importance." 
 
 The 'review in the Edinburgh appeared in the number for 
 April, 1839, earlier than that in the Quarterly. It was written by 
 Macaulay, was of great length, and in the collected " Critical 
 and Historical Essays " of the great Whig reviewer and historian 
 there are few more brilliant, incisive, and "readable" papers than 
 
1839.] THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY. 45 
 
 this. It begins and ends with graceful, and no doubt sincere 
 compliments. In the very first sentence is the since often-quoted 
 description of Mr. Gladstone as a " young man of unblemished 
 character, and of distinguished Parliamentary talents, the rising 
 hope of stern and unbending Tories;" and in the last sentence 
 of the long review Macaulay writes: "We admire his talents ; we 
 respect his integrity and benevolence ; and we hope that he will 
 not suffer political avocations so entirely to engross him as to 
 leave him no leisure for literature and philosophy." 
 
 Comparatively few persons, probably, have read, or if they have 
 read, remember much about Gladstone's book ; but Macaulay's 
 review is known to thousands upon thousands of modern readers. 
 It is very clever, very adroit, even witty, and very characteristic 
 of the writer, who apparently pounced eagerly upon the book, and 
 began the work of dissection with a will. As an ardent Whig, he 
 was ready enough to take up arms against the young Tory cham- 
 pion ; as a practised literary combatant, he delighted in encoun- 
 tering an opponent, younger, indeed, and less skilled in the 
 controversial arena than himself. It seems scarcely possible to 
 doubt that Macaulay was actuated, unconsciously probably, but 
 still considerably, by some personal motives in attacking with 
 so much vigour and elaboration the maiden book of a young 
 author. Although nine years older than Gladstone, he was still 
 a young man, but had already achieved a very great reputation. 
 He was the boast of Cambridge, as Gladstone was of Oxford. 
 When only twenty five years old, he had astonished the readers 
 of the Edinburgh by his marvellous essay on Milton ; and his 
 reputation had increased with the appearance of many scarcely 
 less brilliant and more comprehensive articles. He was the 
 young literary phenomenon of the day, and would have been less 
 than human if he had not recognised his position and valued 
 the homage paid to his abilities. Cambridge was proud of him, as 
 
46 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1 
 
 Oxford was proud of Gladstone. The latter had no pretensi 
 to rival the literary achievements of Macaulay, although in ck 
 cal scholarship he was his equal ; but his political promise, 
 the reviewer so frankly admitted, was great, and his intelleci 
 power undoubted. As competitors in the exclusive field 
 letters they were not likely to meet ; but Macaulay was a politic 
 as well as an essayist, and Gladstone having ventured to fl 
 his glove into the arena, the redoubtable champion of 
 Edinburgh picked it up, and couched his lance for the fray. 
 
 Gladstone's arguments had many weak points, which he 1 
 
 long since seen and acknowledged, especially in respect to 
 
 support of the Irish Church. Very skilfully Macaulay expos 
 
 these, and very skilfully, too, he maintained his own the< 
 
 of the relation of the State to the Church. But he condescend 
 
 to misrepresentations and even burlesques of the author's ar£ 
 
 ments, for which no excuse can be offered. The gravity a 
 
 simple earnestness of Mr. Gladstone would seem to have tempt 
 
 his critic, who had an almost irrepressible element of fun in ] 
 
 composition, to indulge a little in banter; although the since 
 
 respect he felt for the character and abilities of the author, d 
 
 not allow him to indulge the vein as he did in the case 
 
 Robert Montgomery. If, he said, according to Mr. Gladstone, t 
 
 Government of a nation was to be composed of religious men- 
 
 " worshipping men"— so should be the directors of the Londc 
 
 and Birmingham Railway Company, managers of docks and bank 
 
 masters of foxhounds, committees of clubs and other associate 
 
 bodies, which should " profess some one faith, and have its articl 
 
 and its public worship and its tests." Macaulay must have set 
 
 clearly enough that there is very little analogy between a nation 
 
 government, which is a legislative as well as an executive body- 
 
 which has necessarily to deal with questions affecting the mora 
 
 of the community— which is called on to devise and carry out la? 
 
1839.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH MACAU LAY. 47 
 
 in accordance with religious principles — and an association, a 
 managing committee, which has to deal solely with material in- 
 terests. It is the duty of a railway company to carry passengers 
 and luggage in the best and most convenient manner from one 
 place to another, and, having done so much, its duty to the 
 public ends ; but it is the duty of a government, in the interests 
 of the community whose guardian it certainly is, to provide safe- 
 guards for morality, and afford facilities for cultivating and dis- 
 ciplining the moral nature of the people. In short, the governing 
 power of a nation has to deal with the social relations of many 
 individuals among whom there is a strong tendency to immorality 
 and disorder ; and railway or bank directors, with people who 
 want to travel or to invest money. Macaulay would have been 
 delighted to expose such fallacious reasoning from fictitious pre- 
 mises as he stooped to in his famous review, had it emanated 
 from a Tory politician or writer. How Croker would have been 
 annihilated, if he had criticised Sir James Mackintosh in that 
 style ! 
 
 When the article appeared in the Edinburgh, it of course bore 
 no signature ; but everybody knew that Macaulay, and none 
 other, was the author. Mr. Gladstone immediately wrote to him, 
 and received a good-humoured and courteous reply. The letters 
 are well worth quoting, as proofs how literary and political dis- 
 cussion could, even in those times of personalities and sledge- 
 hammer controversy, be carried on by two cultivated men of high 
 ability, who respected themselves and each other. 
 
 " 6, Carlton Gardens, April io, 1839. 
 
 "Dear Sir, — I have been favoured with a copy of the forthcoming 
 number of the Edinburgh Review, and I, perhaps, too much presume upon 
 the bare acquaintance with you of which alone I can boast, in thus uncere- 
 moniously assuming you to be the author of the article entitled ' Church and 
 State, ' and in offering you my very warm and cordial thanks for the manner 
 in which you have treated both the work and the author, on whom you 
 
48 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [183 
 
 deigned to bestow your attention. In whatever you write you can hard 
 hope for the privilege of most anonymous productions, a real concealmenl 
 but if it had been possible not to recognise you, I should have questioned yoi 
 authorship in this particular case, because the candour and single-mindedne; 
 which it exhibits are, in one who has long been connected in the most di: 
 tinguished manner with political party, so rare as to be almost incredible. 
 
 " I hope to derive material benefit, at some more tranquil season, from 
 consideration of your argument throughout. I am painfully sensible, wher 
 ever I have occasion to reopen the book, of its shortcomings, not only of th 
 subject, but even of my own conceptions ; and I am led to suspect that 
 under the influence of most kindly feelings, you have omitted to criticise man 
 things besides the argument which might fairly have come within you 
 animadversion. 
 
 " In the meantime, I hope you will allow me to apprise you that on on 
 material point especially I am not so far removed from you as you suppose 
 I am not conscious that I have said either that the Test Act should be repealed 
 or that it should not have been passed ; and though on such subjects languag 
 has many bearings which escape the view of the writer at the moment when hi 
 pen is in his hand, yet, I think that I can hardly have put forth either of thesi 
 propositions, because I have never entertained the corresponding sentiments 
 Undoubtedly I should speak of the pure abstract idea of Church and State, a: 
 implying that they are co-extensive ; and I should regard the present compo 
 sition of the State of the United Kingdom as a deviation from that pure idea, 
 but only in the same sense as all differences of religious opinion in the Church 
 are a deviation from its pure idea, while I not only allow that they are per- 
 mitted, but believe that (within limits) they were intended to be permitted. 
 There are some of these deflections from abstract theory which appear to me 
 allowable ; and that of the admission of persons not holding the national creed 
 into office is one which, in my view, must be determined by times and circum- 
 stances. At the same time I do not recede from any protest which I have 
 made against the principle that religious differences are irrelevant to the ques- 
 tion of competency for civil office; but I would take my stand between 
 the opposite extremes — the one that no such differences are to be taken 
 into view, the other that all such differences are to constitute disqualifica- 
 tions. 
 
 " I need hardly say the question I raise is not whether you have misrepre- 
 sented me, for, were I disposed to anything so weak, the whole internal evi- 
 dence and clear intention of your article would confute me ; indeed I feel I 
 ought to apologise for even supposing that you may have been mistaken in the 
 apprehension of my meaning, and I freely admit, on the other hand, the pos- 
 sibility that, totally without my own knowledge, my language may 'have led 
 to such an interpretation. 
 
 "In these lacerating times, one clings to everything of personal kindness 
 in the past to husband it for the future, and if you will allow me I shall 
 earnestly desire to carry with me such a recollection of your mode of dealing 
 with the subject, upon which we shall agree the attainment of truth so 
 materially depends upon the temper in which the search for it is instituted and 
 conducted. 
 
1838.] VISIT TO ITALY. 49 
 
 " I did not mean to have troubled you at so much length, and I have only 
 to add that I am, with much respect, 
 
 " Dear sir, very truly yours, 
 
 " W. E. Gladstone. 
 "T. B. Macaulay, Esq." 
 
 To this letter Macaulay replied : — 
 
 "3, Clarges Street, April u, 1839. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I have very seldom been more gratified than by the very 
 kind note which I have just received from you. Your book itself, and every- 
 thing that 1 heard about you, though almost all my information came — to 
 the honour, I must say, of our troubled times — from people very strongly 
 opposed to you in politics, led me to regard you with respect and good-will, 
 and I am truly glad that I have succeeded in marking those feelings. I was 
 half afraid, when I read myself over again in print, that the button, as is too 
 common in controversial fencing even between friends, had once or twice come 
 
 off the foil. 
 
 " I am very glad to find that we do not differ so widely as I had appre- 
 hended about the Test Act. I can easily explain the way in which I was 
 misled. Your general principle is that religious nonconformity ought to be 
 a disqualification for civil office. In page 288 you say that the true and 
 authentic mode of ascertaining conformity is the act of communion. I 
 thought, therefore, that your theory pointed directly to a renewal of the Test 
 Act. And I do not recollect that you have ever used any expression import- 
 ing that your theory ought in practice to be modified by any considerations of 
 civil prudence. All the exceptions that you mention are, as far as I can re- 
 member, founded on positive contract — not one on expediency, even in cases 
 where the expediency is so strong and so obvious that most statesmen would 
 call it necessity. If I had understood that you meant your rules to be fol- 
 lowed out in practice only so far as might be consistent with the peace and 
 good government of society, I should certainly have expressed myself very dif- 
 ferently in several parts of my article. 
 
 "Accept my warm thanks for your kindness, and believe me, with every 
 
 good wish, 
 
 " My dear sir, very truly yours, 
 
 "T. B. Macaulay. 
 
 "W. E. Gladstone, Esq., M.P." 
 
 Macaulay could not help, it seems, indulging in a slight touch 
 of humorous irony at the close of his letter. 
 
 As a recreation after the Parliamentary and literary labours of the 
 early part of the year, Mr. Gladstone visited Italy and Sicily in the 
 autumn of 1838. To him who had studied so closely and lovingly 
 the great writers of antiquity, this was " classic ground," as Italy 
 
 E 
 
50 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [11 
 
 was to Addison, who invented the phrase. On the 30th and 3 
 of October he ascended Etna, a feat described with considera 
 minuteness in his Diary, some portions of which have been mi 
 public. At this time the volcano was in a disturbed conditi 
 With the description by Virgil fresh in his retentive memc 
 he was greatly interested in watching the stupendous phei 
 mena, and records : "We enjoyed keenly our full clear sight 
 the volcanic action, and even at the moment I could not h< 
 being struck with the remarkable accuracy of Virgil's accour 
 He remembered and quoted passages describing with rema 
 able accuracy the thunder-clap or crack, the vibration of 1 
 ground, the smoke, the fire-shower and the column of a 
 " This," he notes, " is within the compass of twelve lin 
 Modern poetry has its own merits, but their conveyance of : 
 formation is not, generally speaking, one of them. What woi 
 Virgil have thought of authors publishing poems with explanatc 
 notes (to illustrate is a different matter) as if they were so ma 
 books of conundrums ? " 
 
 In reference to the luxuriance of vegetation on the slope 
 Etna, he notes, " It seems as if the finest of all soils were p: 
 duced from the most agonising throes of nature, as the hardi 
 characters are often reared amidst the severest circumstances." 
 
 With his head full of Virgil, and enforcing his comments 
 quotations from the Georgics, he comments on the primitive me the 
 of culture practised in the island : " One finds the precepts 
 Virgil in some respects observed in Sicilian agriculture, contn 
 to modern, at least to our northern practice. Further, in soi 
 respects, Virgil's advice, if followed, would improve the aspect 
 Sicilian culture." 
 
 A passage in the Diary, respecting the ruined temples in Sici 
 is imbued with the feeling of reverence for the antique and si 
 gestive appreciation of the spirit of classic art which are remaj 
 
1839.] THE SICILIAN TEMPLES. 51 
 
 able characteristics of his mind, more strikingly developed in his 
 
 later studies of the Homeric age. He says ; — 
 
 "After Etna, the temples are cevtainly the great charm and attraction of 
 Sicily. I do not know that there is any one among them which, taken alone, 
 exceeds in interest and beauty that of Neptune at Psestum ; but they have the 
 advantage of number and variety, as well as of highly interesting positions. 
 At Segesta the temple is enthroned in a perfect mountain solitude ; and it is 
 like a beautiful tomb of its religion, so stately, so entire ; while around, but 
 for one solitary house of the keeper, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to 
 disturb the apparent reign of Silence and of Death. At Selinus, the huge 
 fragments on the plain seem to make an eminence of themselves, and they 
 listen to the ever young and unwearied waves which almost wash their base and 
 mock their desolation by the image of perpetual life and motion they present, 
 while the tone of their heavy fall upon the beach well accords with the so- 
 lemnity of the scene. At Girgenti, the ridge visible to the mariner from afar 
 is still crowned by a long line of fabrics, presenting to the eye a considerable 
 mass and regularity of structure, and the town is near and visible ; yet that 
 town is so entirely the mere phantom of its former glory, within its now 
 shrunken limits, that, instead of disturbing the effect, it rather seems to add a 
 new image and enhance it. The temples enshrine A most pure and salutary prin- 
 ciple of art, that which connects grandeur of effect with simplicity of detail ; 
 and, retaining their beauty and their dignity in their decay, they represent the 
 great man when fallen, as types of that almost highest of human qualities — silent, 
 yet not sullen, endurance." 
 
 The year 1839 is memorable in the personal, rather than in the 
 public, history of Mr. Gladstone. By the publication of his book, 
 and the elaborate manner in which it had been reviewed, he had 
 attained a considerable literary reputation, and his position as a 
 politician was distinctly advanced. Macaulay, in the famous Essay, 
 describes the Tories as following " reluctantly and mutinously, a 
 leader [Peel] whose experience and eloquence are indispensable 
 to them, but whose cautious temper and moderate opinions they 
 abhor." Gladstone, so high-minded and able, so variously 
 accomplished and courageous, so uncompromising in his support 
 of the old dogmas of Toryism — and who added to an almost 
 Puritan gravity and rectitude of character a spirit of reverence and 
 loyalty to ecclesiastical institutions with which the best and purest 
 of the old Cavalier supporters of Church and State might have sym- 
 pathised — was, in their estimation, the " coming man," destined 
 
52 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [183! 
 
 to lead the party in the troublous times which the success of th 
 Reform party heralded. 
 
 But in another respect, 1839 was a memorable and a happ 
 year for Mr. Gladstone. On the 25th of July, he married Mis 
 Catherine Glynne, eldest daughter of Sir Stephen Richard Glynn 
 of Hawarden Castle, Flintshire, whose ancestry can be traced f( 
 more than a thousand years. Early in the ninth century, Cilmii 
 Troed-Ddu, of Glyn Llhwon, in Carnarvon, was chief of the Fourt 
 Tribe of North Wales. His sixteenth descendant in a direct lin 
 was William Glyn, of Glyn Llyvon (in the course of time the nam 
 of the place had assumed that form), who married Catherim 
 daughter of Thomas Mostyn, Esq., of Mostyn, Flintshire, an 
 became the father of two sons. From the eldest, Thomas, ai 
 descended the Glynnes of Hawarden ; from the younger, Richarc 
 the Glyns, of Ewell, Surrey. From the younger branch, Richar 
 Glyn, founder of the great London banking-house was descendec 
 The grandson of Thomas Glyn, the elder of the brothers, wa 
 Sir John Glynne (the first of the line who adopted that mode c 
 spelling the family name), who, as Serjeant Glynne, was an eminer 
 lawyer in the time of Charles the First, changed his politics 
 opinions and obtained professional employment and prefermer 
 under the Protectorate of Cromwell \ and after the Restoratio: 
 again " changed his spots," and rose to be Chief Justice of th 
 King's Bench in the succeeding reign. He was able, adroi 
 and unscrupulous, made money, and contrived to possess him 
 self of a goodly estate. He and Serjeant Maynard prosecute 
 Strafford, and succeeded in sending him to the block. Butk 
 asks in " Hudibras," — 
 
 "Did not the learned Glynne and Maynard 
 To make good subjects traitors, strain hard ?" 
 
 He was active, also, in the impeachment of the twelve bishop* 
 who, in 1 64 1, were sent to the Tower for protesting against th 
 
1839.] THE GLYNNE FAMILY. 53 
 
 legality of proceedings in the House of Lords during their en- 
 forced absence. Afterwards he was as ready to prosecute his 
 old colleague of the Parliamentary party, Sir Harry Vane, as he 
 had been to procure the conviction of Strafford. 
 
 When Charles the Second was crowned at Westminster, both 
 Glynne and Maynard rode in the procession as gaily as if they 
 had been the most ardent Rovalists all the while Charles was 
 skulking on the Continent. Glynne's horse fell with him, and 
 Pepys records : "Serjeant Glynne's horse fell upon him, and is 
 like to kill him, which people do please themselves to see how 
 just God is to punish the rogue at such a time as this." 
 But he was fated to die in his bed, and lies buried in St. 
 Margaret's Church, Westminster. After the execution of James 
 Stanley, Earl of Derby, taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester, 
 in 165 1, Sir John Glynne managed to get possession of one of 
 the Earl's Welsh estates, Hawarden Castle ; and although, after 
 the Restoration, forfeited estates of Royalists were ordered to be 
 restored, Glynne contrived to retain the property. 
 
 The present Hawarden Castle was built in 1752, near the ruins 
 of the older castle, which dates from very remote times. Sir 
 Stephen Glynne, brother of Mrs. Gladstone, died unmarried in 
 1874, and the estate was bequeathed to Mr. Gladstone for life, 
 and afterwards to his eldest son. 
 
 Mrs. Gladstone's name has been so frequently before the 
 public as the sympathising wife and life-companion of the great 
 statesman, and on account of her own philanthropic exertions, in 
 the establishment of a Convalescent Home and the constant and 
 liberal support given to other institutions, that we shall, we trust, 
 be acquitted of any impertinent intrusion on domestic privacy if we 
 take this opportunity of expressing our respect for that admirable 
 lady. Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone have had four sons and four 
 daughters. One daughter died in infancy j the others survive. 
 
54 
 
 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 
 
 [1839: 
 
 The eldest and fourth sons, William Henry and Herbert John, 
 are members of the House of Commons for East Worcestershire 
 and Leeds respectively ; the second son, the Rev. Stephen Edward 
 Gladstone, is Rector of Hawarden, the family living ; and the 
 third is engaged in mercantile pursuits. The eldest daughter, 
 Anne, married the Rev. E. Wickham, Head Master of Wellington 
 College j and the third and fourth daughters, who have so fre- 
 quently accompanied their father in his political progresses, are 
 as yet unmarried. In August, 1881, Mr. Herbert Gladstone was 
 appointed Junior Lord of the Treasury, without a salary. It 
 was at first doubtful whether he vacated his seat by the accept- 
 ance of office ; but the opinion of the legal advisers of the 
 Ministry having been taken, a new writ was issued, and Mr. 
 Herbert Gladstone was re-elected without a contest. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 RENEWED PARLIAMENTARY WORK. — AGAIN IN OFFICE. 
 
 The opening of the Session of 1840 was marked by a great 
 debate on the war with China — the " Opium War." Forty years 
 ago the name ot the Chinese Commissioner Lin was familiar 
 enough, but is now almost forgotten. He was an energetic ad- 
 ministrator, who — the trade in opium having been prohibited by 
 the Emperor of China — put the edict in force by attempting to 
 seize the opium stored in Canton by British merchants, surround- 
 ing the factories, and making the occupants virtually prisoners, 
 a condition from which they were released by Captain Elliot, the 
 English naval commander on the station and special commissioner. 
 The opium was left behind, and destroyed by order of Lin. 
 Many outrages were committed by the Chinese, and there was 
 some sharp fighting between two British frigates and armed 
 Chinese junks. In the first week of 1840, the Emperor of China 
 issued an edict interdicting all trade and intercourse with England 
 " for ever." A war was the inevitable result ; and equally inevit- 
 able was a vigorous Parliamentary debate and attack by the Oppo- 
 sition on the Ministers ; Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, 
 being the especial object of attack. 
 
 Sir James Graham moved a resolution blaming the Ministry 
 for the hostilities which had taken place, which, the mover said, 
 were mainly to be attributed to their " want of foresight and pre- 
 
I WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1840. 
 
 lution." The debate on this resolution was a memorable one. 
 Lacaulay, Secretary at War, made a brilliant speech, as carefully 
 repared as one of his Review articles ; Sir William Follett re- 
 lied \ Mr. Thesiger, destined, as Lord Chelmsford, to be Lord 
 hancellor, delivered his maiden speech in the Commons, apolo- 
 ising for his diffidence (as to which, Lord Palmeston jokingly 
 imarked, the House could judge for itself) ; and Sir George 
 taunton contributed special knowledge and Chinese experience, 
 idney Herbert, Charles Buller, Gladstone, Peel, and Palmerston 
 lade vigorous speeches. Sir James Graham's resolution was de- 
 sated by the narrow majority of 9 — the numbers being : Ayes, 
 62 ; Noes, 271. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone vigorously condemned the conduct of Lord 
 'almerston, whom he accused of not having read the official 
 espatches on the opium trade, and being, in fact, culpably 
 morant of the state of affairs preceding the outbreak of war. 
 Be the trade in opium what it may," he said, " be it right, or 
 e it wrong, we are now called on to give an assent to a war 
 aused by the indolence and apathy of the noble Lord." In the 
 ourse of his lengthy speech, Macaulay had indulged in a little of 
 tie patriotic claptrap which he could on occasion so gracefully 
 ntroduce into his speeches and writings. Captain Elliot had 
 iisplayed the British flag on the balcony of the factory at Canton. 
 
 "This," he said, " was an act which revived the drooping hopes of those 
 fho looked to him for protection. It was natural that they should look with 
 onfidence on the victorious flag which was hoisted over them, which re- 
 linded them that they belonged to a country unaccustomed to defeat, to 
 ubmission, or to shame ; it reminded them that they belonged to a country 
 idiich had made the farthest ends of the earth ring with the fame of her ex- 
 iloits in redressing the wrongs of her children ; that made the Dey of Algiers 
 tumble himself to her insulted consul ; that revenged the horrors of the BJack 
 lole on the field of Plassey ; that had not degenerated since her great Pro- 
 ector vowed that he would make the name of Englishman as respected as 
 ver had been the name of Roman citizen." 
 
 This very Macaulayan outburst was not likely to escape the 
 
1840.] THE OPIUM WAR IN CHINA. 57 
 
 notice of Gladstone, who now for the first time crossed swords in 
 debate with the brilliant essayist and orator. He said : — 
 
 "The right honourable gentleman opposite spoke in eloquent terms of the 
 British flag waving in glory at Canton, and of the animating effects which 
 have been produced on the minds of British subjects on many critical occa- 
 sions when the flag has been unfurled on the battle-field. But how comes it 
 to pass that the sight of that flag always raises the spirit of Englishmen ? It 
 is because it has always been associated with the cause of justice, with oppo- 
 sition to oppression, and respect for national rights, with honourable com- 
 mercial enterprise ; but now, under the auspices of the noble lord, that flag 
 is hoisted to protect an infamous contraband traffic ; and if it were never to be 
 hoisted except as it is now hoisted on the coast of China, we should recoil 
 from its sight with horror, and should never again feel our hearts thrill, as they 
 now thrill with emotion, when it floats proudly and magnificently on the 
 breeze." 
 
 It is very probable that Macaulay was nearer the truth than 
 Gladstone in explaining why the English at Canton were de- 
 lighted to see the British flag ; and that the opium traders and 
 their families thought very little about the flag being associated 
 with " the cause .of justice and opposition to oppression," but a 
 great deal about it indicating the presence of a British force able 
 to protect them against the Chinese, whether they were right or 
 wrong. 
 
 A hasty expression in the course of his speech elicited some 
 comment. He said : — 
 
 "The Chinese had no armament ready wherewith to expel us from Lintin. 
 They therefore said, ' We will resort to another mode of bringing you to 
 reason. We will expel you from our shores by refusing you provisions.' And 
 then, of course, they poisoned the wells." 
 
 This unlucky phrase was hailed with derisive cheers from the 
 Ministerial benches, and the speaker endeavoured to explain : " I 
 have not asserted — I do not mean to assert — that the Chinese 
 actually poisoned their wells. All I mean to say is that it was 
 alleged that they had poisoned their wells." Mr. Ward, who fol- 
 lowed him, said he had justified the poisoning of the wells. Mr. 
 Gladstone interrupted by denying that he had done so. 
 
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1840. 
 
 Sir Stephen Lushington administered a severe rebuke to Mr. 
 rladstone- — a rebuke which probably the latter felt keenly. 
 
 " I will discard the law of nations," said Sir Stephen — " I will look alone 
 ) the law of God and to the law of man — to those eternal principles which 
 lust exist as long as man and man have the power of conversation and inter- 
 Durse with one another. The honourable member for Newark, I am dis- 
 ■essed to say, has gone the whole length. I trust that those who follow me 
 i this debate will not tread in the steps of the honourable member. I respect 
 lat honourable member — I admire his talents — I know the honourable gentle- 
 lan to be a powerful champion in every cause he thinks to be right ; but I 
 wn I shall never cease to reprobate the argument which the honourable 
 entleman used, or to avow my abhorrence of the doctrines the honourable 
 entleman endeavoured to maintain. " 
 
 Lord Palmerston said he had heard Mr. Gladstone's speech 
 
 rith deep regret and sincere pain. What he objected to on the 
 art of the honourable member was that, without having ascer- 
 
 lined whether the charge of poisoning the wells was true or not, 
 
 e had assumed it in his own mind as a fact and treated it as a 
 
 latter of course, and said they were justified in doing it. 
 
 On the 26th of May, Mr. Villiers introduced his annual motion 
 >n the subject of the Corn Laws, moving for a Committee of the 
 rhole House to take into consideration the Act regulating the 
 uportation of grain. Mr. Gladstone took no part in the debate, 
 nd did not vote, but " paired " against the resolution with 
 erjeant Talfourd. Free Traders were as yet in the minority in 
 'arliament, and Mr. Villiers was defeated by a majority of 123. 
 
 When Lord John Russell, Colonial Secretary, introduced the 
 rovernment of Canada Bill (in accordance with the recom- 
 mendation of the Earl of Durham, who had been Governor- 
 reneral of Canada, for the union of the two provinces), Mr. 
 rladstone supported the measure as " less open to objection 
 tian any other course ;" and he took occasion to explain his 
 iews of the proper relation of the Colonies to the mother 
 ountry : — 
 
 11 It seemed to him that the maintenance of our connection with the Colo- 
 
1840.] COLONIAL POLICY. 59 
 
 nies was to be regarded rather as a matter of duty than one of advantage. 
 . . . He thought that, so long as we retained the Colonies as receptacles 
 for our surplus population, we remained under strict obligation to provide for 
 those who left our shores at least what semblance we could of British insti- 
 tutions. Upon this ground he should always be glad to see Parliament in- 
 clined to make large sacrifices for the purpose of maintaining the Colonies as 
 long as the union with the mother country was approved of by the people of 
 these Colonies. But he conceived that nothing could be more ridiculous, 
 nothing could be more mistaken, than to suppose that Great Britain had any- 
 thing to gain by maintaining that union in opposition to the deliberate and 
 permanent conviction of the people of these Colonies themselves. Therefore, 
 he thought, that it should be a cardinal principle of our policy to regard the 
 union between Great Britain and Canada, and her other American Colonies, as 
 dependent on the free will of both parties." 
 
 While the union lasted, however, he asserted the supremacy 
 of the British Legislature — "to talk of a permanent union 
 between two countries each possessing an independent Legis- 
 lature, was one of the most visionary ideas that ever entered 
 the mind of man." 
 
 On other matters, too, the Government received support from 
 Mr. Gladstone and the more moderate members of the Tory party, 
 in the course of the Session. One of these measures was the 
 Government Bill for the Sale of the Clergy Reserves in Canada ; 
 one-half of the proceeds to be given to the Churches of England 
 and Scotland, and the remainder to be divided among the clergy of 
 all denominations of Christians recognised by certain Acts of the 
 Province. The ecclesiastical opinions of the author of " The 
 State in its Relation to the Church " were evidently under- 
 going some modification. 
 
 The Colonial Passengers Bill which provided for the proper 
 treatment of the Hill Coolies imported into the Mauritius, and the 
 vote for National Education in Ireland, also received Mr. Glad- 
 stone's support. In June he voted against the proposition of 
 Mr. Ewart (son of his father's old friend, Mr. Gladstone's god- 
 father) to reduce the duties payable on foreign sugar from 63^. 
 to 34s. per cwt. He contended that facilities for the introduction 
 
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1840. 
 
 f foreign (slave-grown) sugar, would act injuriously to the interests 
 "the British Colonies, where slavery had been abolished, and 
 encourage slave labour, and the slave trade." He alluded to 
 ie "sensibility on slavery," which had been expressed, but 
 hich was very slightly exhibited when mercantile considerations 
 terfered. Mr. Ewart, in reply, said " he would remind the 
 ^nourable member that there were those whose sensibilities 
 ere only of recent growth, and conveniently matured in accord- 
 ice with their own interests, and with the maintenance of 
 onoply." In the division, by which Mr. Ewart's motion was 
 jected, Mr. Gladstone's name appears with those of the Whig 
 aders, and Mr. Goulburn, Sir James Graham, Sir Robert Inglis, 
 id other prominent members of the opposition went with him 
 to the lobby. 
 
 Such intervals of leisure as the pressure of Parliamentary 
 ities permitted, had been given to the production of a volume, 
 Church Principles Considered in Their Result " — an elaborate 
 [position of the principles of the Church of England, and sug- 
 jstions for uniting it more closely with the religious spirit and 
 e great awakening of thought which characterised the time, 
 he book is a goodly volume, which a less energetic man than 
 ie author might have been disposed to rest on as a magnum opus, 
 at which forms a mere episode in the unceasingly active career 
 " Mr. Gladstone. It was, as a notice on the fly-leaf informs us, 
 completed beneath the shades of Hagley, and dedicated, in 
 >ken Of sincere affection, to the Lord Lyttelton." Hagley is in 
 Worcestershire, and Lord Lyttelton was one of Mr. Gladstone's 
 ost intimate friends, the husband of Mrs. Gladstone's sister, and 
 
 prominent High Churchman, after whom was named the settle- 
 ient in New Zealand. 
 
 Early in the Session of 1841 Mr. Divett, member for Exeter, 
 ttroduced a Bill, the object of which was to do away with the de- 
 
1841.] THE SUGAR DUTIES. 61 
 
 claration required by the " Municipal Corporations Act " from all 
 persons taking corporate offices, and so admit Jews to the civic 
 magistracy. The second reading of the Bill was carried in a thin 
 House by a majority of 113 ; only 24 voting in the minority ; but 
 on the motion for the third reading, Mr. Gladstone adopted a 
 course— very unusual when a Bill has reached that stage — and 
 moved that it be read a third time that day six months. He 
 appeared to consider the admission of Jews to municipal offices 
 the necessary prelude to admitting them to Parliament ; and the 
 question, he said, "really before the House was, whether they would 
 consent to destroy the distinctive Christianity of the constitution." 
 
 Macaulay, who never missed a chance of firing a shot at 
 Gladstone and his High Church friends, sprang to his feet. He 
 alluded to the " learned casuists " — meaning the Churchmen then 
 leading the Tractarian movement at Oxford — and said, if they 
 would teach the Jews some of their own ingenuity, then, "as those 
 ingenious persons swallowed confession and absolution, so these 
 tests might also be swallowed by the Jews without the slightest 
 hesitation. " 
 
 Gladstone's vigorous opposition to the measure was unavailing, 
 the third reading being carried by a majority of 77, the opponents 
 of the Bill only numbering 3 1 . 
 
 The vexed question of the Sugar Duties again occupied the 
 attention of the House when Mr. Baring, the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, introduced the Budget. He proposed, almost exactly 
 adopting the suggestion of Mr. Ewart, to reduce the duty on 
 foreign sugar from 63s. to 36s. per hundredweight. The debate 
 on this portion of the Budget scheme extended over nine nights. 
 Gladstone made a long speech in opposition to the proposed 
 reduction. He argued, as he had argued before, that to increase 
 the facilities for the consumption of foreign sugar would be in- 
 jurious to the planters in the British Colonies. We had paid 
 
! WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1841. 
 
 savily, after a most exciting agitation, for the suppression of 
 avery in our own possessions, and had of course raised the price 
 : labour. It was clearly understood at the time, he said, that 
 igar produced by free labour must be increased in price, and 
 )w we were asked to allow our colonists to be exposed to a 
 inous competition with foreign growers. He stated his case 
 rsely: "Increased consumption must require increased growth ; 
 at increased growth requires that there should be more hands to 
 oduce it ; and then, if we are to repair to foreign sources for 
 ir supplies, it means that more and more of the natives of Africa 
 ust be borne by the slave trade from their homes." He 
 unted some of the Ministers with a desire to continue the slavery 
 lich the nation had worked so earnestly and paid so dearly to 
 lolish. Lord Clarendon, the Lord Privy Seal, had, he said, been 
 iscribed as " the man peculiarly qualified to effect the abolition 
 the slave trade, yet he is a member of the Cabinet which has 
 oposed the present plan." He had now a chance to give a 
 turn for some of the sharp hits he had received from the Secre- 
 ry at War, and he availed himself of it : — 
 
 " There is another name still more strangely associated with it. I can 
 ly speak from tradition of the struggle for the abolition of slavery ; but, if I 
 ve not been misinformed, there was engaged in it a man who was the un- 
 m ally of Mr. Wilberforce, and the pillar of his strength ; a man of 
 rfound benevolence, of acute understanding, of indefatigable activity, and 
 that self-denying temper which is content to work in secret, to forego the 
 :ompense of present fame, and to seek for its reward beyond the grave. 
 ie name of that man was Zachary Macaulay, and his son is a member of the 
 ;sent Cabinet, " 
 
 Macaulay was absent from the House when these words were 
 tered ; but on the following night he took the earliest oppor- 
 trity of replying to them : — 
 
 !t I will not say that the right honourable member for Newark, whom I 
 LI still call my honourable friend, could have intended to be personally 
 ensive to one from whom he never received any personal provocation. I 
 i satisfied of the contrary j and the more so as some parts of the expressions 
 
1841.] THE ANTI-CORN-LAW AGITATION. 63 
 
 » 
 
 imputed to the honourable gentleman were of a nature so gratifying to my 
 feelings that they more than compensated for the pain which was given by a 
 censure which is not deserved." 
 
 Lord Sandon, member for Liverpool, moved as an amendment 
 on the Sugar Duties resolution — 
 
 "That, considering the efforts and sacrifices which Parliament and the 
 country have made for the abolition of the slave trade and slavery, with the 
 earnest hope that the example might lead to a mitigation and final extinction 
 of those evils in other countries, this House is not prepared (especially with 
 the present prospect of supply from the British possessions) to adopt the mea- 
 sure proposed by Her Majesty's Government for the reduction of the duty on 
 foreign sugar." 
 
 After a very energetic debate, extending over several nights, 
 the amendment was carried by a majority of 36, the numbers 
 being 317 against 281. Mr. Gladstone voted in the majority, as 
 did also Mr. Disraeli. 
 
 At this time the subject which most strongly agitated the public 
 mind was that of the continuance or repeal of the Corn Laws. 
 Ebenezer Elliott, and other early workers in the cause of aboli- 
 tion, had been succeeded by men of greater political influence 
 and higher position. In September, 1838, the Anti-Corn-Law 
 League had been established at Manchester, supported by a 
 large array of able, energetic and wealthy men. Richard Cobden, 
 who entered Parliament as representative of Stockport at the 
 beginning of this Session (1841) ; Charles Villiers, brother of the 
 Earl of Clarendon ; John Bright, as yet not a member of Parlia- 
 ment, but who had already given promise of achieving the rank 
 of the first orator of the age ; Colonel Thompson, and many 
 others were " constant in season and out of season " advocating 
 Free Trade doctrines ; and the poorer classes, always peculiarly 
 susceptible to the argument of the " big loaf/' were greatly ex- 
 cited. The Melbourne Ministry were willing to make some 
 advances in the direction of relaxing import duties, and offered 
 a moderate fixed duty on corn, instead of the sliding scale, 
 
64 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [! 
 
 which had been in force since 1828; and their great oppor 
 Sir Robert Peel, was hesitating between the prejudices of his 
 Toryism, his partial acceptance, in theory, of the doctrine 
 Huskisson, and the conviction growing in strength that ere ] 
 a very large measure of Free Trade must be conceded. 
 
 Before going into Committee of Ways and Means, Lord J 
 Russell had announced his intention to move, at a later < 
 that the House should resolve itself into a committee to cons 
 the Acts of Parliament relating to the trade in corn. L 
 Sandon pressed him hard as to the intentions of the Minis 
 and he replied that he should propose a moderate fixed d 
 and he subsequently announced that it would be Ss. a quartei 
 wheat. 
 
 Lord John Russell's motion was fixed for the 4th of Ju 
 but on the 27th of May Sir Robert Peel brought matters to 
 issue by moving a resolution of want of confidence. The Mi 
 terial majority had dwindled, and the most important prop 
 tions of the Budget had been rejected ; the Irish party, led 
 O'Connell, were in open opposition, and the attempt to pass 
 Irish Registration of Voters Bill had been defeated. The del 
 lasted five nights, and on the division Sir Robert's resolut 
 wa£ carried, in a full House, by one vote ! the numbers bt 
 312 against 311. Lord Melbourne and his colleagues decli: 
 to consider the result of the division as necessitating their resi^ 
 tion, the majority being so small; and Lord John Russell, 
 leader in the Commons, announced that Ministers had deci 
 on appealing to the country. On the 22nd of June Parlian 
 was prorogued by the Queen in person, and on the following 
 appeared the official notification of dissolution. 
 
 The elections took place amid considerable excitement, 
 the counties the Ministerial candidates suffered repeated defe; 
 and when the returns were made up, it was ascertained that 
 
1842.] AGAIN IN OFFICE. 65 
 
 Conservatives would probably. have a total majority of 76. The 
 Whigs professed their preference of a small fixed duty on corn ; 
 their opponents adhered to the principle of the " sliding scale," 
 which had been in operation since 1828, but with very consider- 
 able rearrangement and concessions. 
 
 The new Parliament was opened by commission on the 24th 
 of August, and the royal speech contained some important pas- 
 sages which showed that the Whigs, if they had been able to 
 continue in office, were ready to adopt, at least to some extent, 
 the commercial and financial policy which Peel, aided by Glad- 
 stone, afterwards so vigorously carried out. It was perhaps to this 
 that Disraeli afterwards referred in one of those famous phrases he 
 was so adroit in hurling at Sir Robert : " You caught the Whigs 
 bathing, and you stole their clothes." The royal speech said : — ■ 
 
 "It will be for you to consider whether some of these duties are not so 
 trifling in amount as to be unproductive to the revenue, while they are vexa- 
 tious to commerce. You may further examine whether the principle of 
 protection upon which others of those duties are founded is not carried to an 
 extent injurious alike to the income of the state and the interests of the people. 
 Her Majesty is desirous that you should consider the laws which regulate the 
 trade in corn." 
 
 The debates on the Address were conducted with great anima- 
 tion, and in each House the result was a majority against Ministers : 
 in the Lords of 72, and in the Commons of 91. On the 3rd of 
 August, Lord Melbourne and Lord John Russell announced that 
 Ministers had resigned. Sir Robert Peel was sent for, and under- 
 took the task of forming an administration. When the arrange- 
 ments were completed, it was seen that Mr. Gladstone was 
 appointed Vice-President of the Board of Trade and Master of 
 the Mint, but as yet without Cabinet rank. 
 
 When Parliament reassembled in 1842, the country was in a 
 perturbed condition. The agitation for the total repeal of the 
 Corn Laws was gaining strength, and the distress which 
 
 F 
 
66 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. | 
 
 prevailed in the country added weight to the arguments empl 
 
 by the vigorous orators of the League. On the 9th of Febr 
 
 Sir Robert Peel brought forward his proposals for the reac 
 
 ment of the import duties on wheat and other grain. His scl 
 
 was known as " the sliding scale," and its leading features ma 
 
 briefly explained. Since January, 1828, the import duty on vt 
 
 had been 25.$-. M. a quarter whenever the average price c 
 
 England was under 6 os. ; at 62s. to 63s., 24s. 8d., and the 
 
 was gradually reduced as the average price advanced, un 
 
 was only is, when the average price was 73J. and upwards. 
 
 this sliding scale gave great opportunities to the development 
 
 gambling spirit was evident ; yet Sir Robert Peel retainec 
 
 principle while modifying the details. The highest duty he 
 
 posed was £1 a quarter, when the average price was under 1 
 
 and the scale decreased by shillings, as the price rose by shill: 
 
 The reduction was considerable; for instance, under the 
 
 scale, when British wheat was at 62s. a quarter, the duty or 
 
 ported wheat was 24s. 8d., reduced by Sir Robert's scale to 
 
 Of course the farmers, and the " farmers' friends " violentlj 
 
 nounced the plan, the League would accept nothing short of ei 
 
 Free Trade, and the Whig party, attached to the principle 
 
 moderate fixed duty, opposed the measure with all their stre 
 
 in the House. Lord John Russell moved a condemnatory am 
 
 ment, and was replied to by Mr. Gladstone. The public ex 
 
 ment was great. Anti-Corn Law delegates from all parts of 
 
 kingdom thronged the lobby of the House, and it was neces 
 
 to have them removed by the police. Ministers were succes 
 
 and the new sliding scale was sanctioned by a majority of 20 
 
 Early in the Session, Mr. Gladstone, in his official positioi 
 
 Vice-President of the Board of Trade, introduced a Bill for 
 
 better regulation of railway traffic, and to enlarge the regula 
 
 powers of the Board of Trade in the interests of the public. r 
 
1842.] THE REVISION OF THE TARIFF. 67 
 
 was the first step in a comprehensive scheme of railway improve- 
 ments, including the establishment of Parliamentary fares, and 
 important regulations for the protection and comfort of third- 
 class passengers, which Mr. Gladstone carried out during his tenure 
 of office. 
 
 Meanwhile he was devoting his great energies and knowledge of 
 commercial matters — in respect of the details of which few trained 
 merchants could surpass, or evenrival him — to the preparation of the 
 famous revision of the Tariff, which was the crowning triumph of the 
 Ministry of Sir Robert Peel. That sagacious statesman recognised 
 the great financial abilities of his subordinate, and, having intro- 
 duced the subject with consummate ability, left to Mr. Gladstone the 
 general conduct of the measure through the House. Indirect 
 taxes to the amount of nearly ;£ 12,000,000 were removed by 
 this bold revision of the Tariff and subsequent developments of 
 the plan. To meet the deficiency expected to be experienced at 
 first, Sir Robert proposed an income-tax of sevenpence in the 
 pound, and carried it, though of course not without encountering 
 considerable opposition. 
 
 Soon after the opening of the Session of 1843, Lord Howick 
 moved for a committee of the whole House to take into consi- 
 deration the distress in the manufacturing districts. His speech 
 was an earnest appeal to Sir Robert Peel to progress in the Free 
 Trade course he had partially adopted. " The object of my 
 motion," he said, "is to induce you not to cling with obstinate 
 perseverance to the absurd and vicious system of restriction, based 
 on an exploded theory, and of which the practical fruits are before 
 you in a destitute and suffering people, an empty exchequer, in- 
 creasing taxation, and a falling revenue." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone led the opposition to Lord Howick's motion, 
 and took occasion to refer to the income-tax, the imposition of 
 which had led to great public dissatisfaction. Nobody ever did, 
 
68 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [ 
 
 or will, like an income-tax, however it may be justified by fina: 
 or political considerations. The mass of the public are not p 
 sophers, and indirect taxation will always find admirers. Wh 
 man pays a pound for income-tax he misses the sovereign fron 
 purse ; but he knows very little about the five sovereigns he 
 really have paid if the sum was spread over the retail price of 
 different articles of daily necessity. Mr. Gladstone said : — 
 
 " There are many objections fairly applicable to the imposition of an inc 
 tax ; but surely it must be allowed on all hands that at least such a tax ha; 
 great and signal merit, that it does reach what no other tax can be guarai 
 to reach — that enormous accumulation of wealth which is constantly moui 
 upwards in this country. It is one of the most melancholy features in 
 social state of this country, that we see, beyond the possibility of denial, 
 while there is at this moment a decrease in the consuming powers of 
 people, an increase of the pressure of privation and distress — there is a 
 same time a constant accumulation of wealth in the upper classes, an inci 
 of the luxuriousness of their habits, and of other means of enjoyment, w! 
 however satisfactory it may be as affording evidence of the existence 
 abundance of one among the elements of national prosperity, yet addsbittei 
 to the reflections which are forced upon us by the distresses of the rest of 
 fellow-countrymen ; and, in this point of view, I cannot help thinking tha 
 arguments which the noble Lord has advanced upon the question of the inc< 
 tax are satisfactorily met by the fact that it is upon those accumulating r; 
 that the weight of the impost chiefly rests. " 
 
 He was still a long way from being a thorough Free Tra 
 He defended the Corn Laws as resting upon a peculiar basis, 
 by being different from other restrictions. Towards the clos 
 his long speech he said : — 
 
 "We surely must proceed with a due regard to our industry and inte 
 both at home and abroad ; and it would be absurd indeed if we were i 
 regulate our trade as to leave ourselves altogether at the mercy of the p> 
 
 or of the impolicy of the countries with which we trade If it be 
 
 intention of the noble Lord to proceed to a repeal of the Corn Laws, or t( 
 substitution for the present law of such a plan as he has himself re< 
 mended (a small fixed duty), I must contend that the noble Lord has r 
 out no ground for the change, that the House must be governed in that < 
 other commercial questions by a fair estimate of conflicting claims 
 considerations, and that the change is one of which the benefits wouL 
 altogether remote and indefinite, while it would be attended with the : 
 important and serious disasters, not less to the trading than to our agr 
 tural interests, and the general industry of the country." 
 
1843.] A CABINET MINISTER. 69 
 
 Mr. Cobden spoke on the fifth night of the debate, and referred 
 in his downright manner to Mr. Gladstone's speech : — 
 
 " The right honourable gentleman, the Vice-President of the Board of 
 Trade, admits the justice of the principles of Free Trade. He says he does not 
 want monopoly, but then he applies these just principles only in the abstract. 
 Now I do not want abstractions. Every moment that we pass here which 
 is not devoted to providing for the welfare of the community is lost time. I 
 tell the honourable member that I am a practical man, I am not an abstract 
 member, and I ask what have we here to do with abstractions ? The right 
 honourable gentleman is. a Free Trader in the abstract." 
 
 Lord Howick's motion was lost by 306 votes against 191, 
 showing a majority of 115. 
 
 In May, 1843, tne Earl of Ripon, President of the Board of 
 Trade, died, and Mr. Gladstone succeeded to the office, and for 
 the first time entered the Cabinet. On the 9th of the month Mr. 
 Villiers brought forward his annual resolution for the repeal of the 
 Corn Laws, and Mr. Gladstone replied to his speech at great 
 length. He defended the action of Sir Robert Peel in continuing 
 the sliding scale of duties, and argued — 
 
 " If we agree to the motion of the honourable gentleman, we shall be guilty 
 of a great injustice to a large portion of the community in the first place, and 
 hereafter to the whole community, as a necessary consequence of our injustice 
 to a part ; and, beyond that injustice, we shall convict ourselves of the gross- 
 est imbecility, and, in the face of the world declare ourselves unworthy and 
 incompetent to conduct the affairs of a great and mighty nation." 
 
 Mr. Villiers' motion was lost by a majority of 256, the numbers 
 being 125 for and 381 against. A few weeks afterwards an 
 attempt by Lord Howick to repeal the duty on coal, and a motion 
 by Mr. Hawes, the member for Lambeth, for reducing the duty on 
 foreign sugar, were both lost, and in each case Mr. Gladstone, on 
 the part of Government, strenuously opposed them. 
 
 On the 13th of June, Lord John Russell, who secured a more 
 favourable opportunity than Mr. Villiers' motion had afforded 
 for developing his views in favour of a fixed duty, renewed the 
 proposition for a committee of the whole House to consider the 
 
70 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1844. 
 
 operation of the Corn Laws. Mr. Gladstone replied to him, 
 defending the Ministerial policy, and expressed his opinion that 
 the agricultural interest generally were satisfied with the law as it 
 at present stood, believing that it afforded a reasonable adjustment 
 of the question. The Ministerial majority was 99. 
 
 The Free Trade leaders, encouraged by the popular feeling 
 outside, fought the battle bravely, if for the time unavailingly, 
 within the House. The opening of the Session of 1844 found 
 them ready for the fray. On the 12th of March, Mr. Cobden 
 moved for a select committee to enquire into the effects of the 
 protective duties on imports on the interests of the tenant 
 farmers and farm labourers of the country. Mr. Gladstone again 
 appeared as the Ministerial champion, and took occasion to have 
 a fling at the Anti-Corn Law League, and the public meetings at 
 which the energetic terseness of Cobden's and Villiers' addresses, 
 and the sonorous eloquence of Bright and W. J. Fox, so greatly 
 excited the crowds which attended. Mr. Gladstone said : — 
 
 "The honourable gentleman had said, ' Do you think the appointment of 
 the committee will add to the agitation on the subject of the Corn Laws?' 
 He thought it would ; or, at least, it would add to what was of much more 
 importance — to apprehension on the subject. With regard to agitation, this 
 country had the happy peculiarity of being able to bear a larger amount of 
 agitation, without serious consequences, than perhaps any other nation in the 
 world ; and he believed there was a strong impression upon the public mind 
 that the exertions of the Anti-Corn Law League, with which the honourable 
 member for Manchester was connected — however active and able and inde- 
 fatigable its members might be — need not, at all events, under existing cir- 
 cumstances, so long as it should please Providence to bless the country with 
 the abundance which it now enjoyed, and so long as the Parliament and the 
 Government were firm in redeeming the pledges — expressed or implied— 
 which they had given, be regarded with any very serious apprehensions, and 
 that the most important feature of the meetings was probably the parade and 
 ceremonial with which they were attended." 
 
 Mr. Cobden's motion was rejected by 91, the numbers being 
 133 and 224. 
 Throughout the remainder of the Session Mr. Gladstone's 
 
1845.] RESIGNATION OF OFFICE. 71 
 
 parliamentary utterances were mostly limited to the business of 
 his department, to which he devoted himself with characteristic 
 zeal and industry. 
 
 The Royal Speech, at the opening of the Session of 1845, con- 
 tained a paragraph, not very alarming in its wording, but which 
 led to the withdrawal of Mr. Gladstone from office : — 
 
 " I recommend to your favourable consideration the policy of improving 
 and extending the opportunities for academical education in Ireland." 
 
 On the surface it would seem strange that Mr. Gladstone, who 
 had himself reaped so great advantage from a liberal academical 
 education, should be averse to the extension of the system ; but 
 it was the knowledge that Sir Robert Peel contemplated affording 
 State support to the Roman Catholic academies of Ireland that 
 induced Mr. Gladstone to decline to share the responsibility of 
 the measure. His intention to secede from the Ministry was 
 an open secret, and in the debate on the Address, Lord John 
 Russell paid a high compliment to his great ability, and hoped 
 for an explanation of the reasons which had induced him to 
 withdraw from the Ministry. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone at once rose, and, in the course of his speech, 
 while declining to enter into all the circumstances, said : — 
 
 "I can state at least what has not been the cause of my resignation, and 
 thus put an end to the rumours that appear to have gone abroad. I have not, 
 as has been supposed, resigned on account of any matter connected with that 
 department of the public service of which I had the honour of being 
 entrusted with the charge. I have not resigned on account of the 
 intentions of the Government, so far as I have a knowledge of its intentions, 
 with regard to any matter affecting the Church of England or the Church of 
 Ireland ; the cause, then, that I am about to bring before the House is the sole 
 cause which has led to the step I have adopted. I am driven to the necessity 
 of adverting to myself, and to what I have said and done in former days. I took 
 upon myself, some years ago — whether wisely or unwisely is not now the 
 question — to state to the world, and that in a form the most decided and de- 
 liberate, not under the influence of momentary consideration, nor impelled by 
 the heat and pressure of debate, but in a published treatise, the views which I 
 entertained on the subject of the relations of a Christian State to Religion, and 
 
72 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1845. 
 
 to the Christian Church. Of all subjects, therefore, which could be raised for 
 public consideration, this, in its ultimate results at least the most important, I 
 have treated in a manner the most detailed and deliberate. I have never, indeed, 
 been guilty of the folly which has been charged upon me by some, of holding that 
 there are any theories of political affairs, even in the highest department, which 
 are to be regarded alike under all circumstances as inflexible and immutable. 
 But, on the other hand, I have a strong conviction, speaking under ordinary 
 circumstances, not as a general rule, that those who have thus borne the most 
 solemn testimony to a particular view of a great constitutional question, ought 
 not to be parties responsible for proposals which involve a violent departure 
 from them. Now, sir, it cannot fail to be in the recollection of the House that 
 my right honourable friend at the head of the Government did, towards the close 
 of last Session, allude to enquiries he was about to make into the possibility of 
 extending academical education in Ireland, and he indicated the spirit in which 
 
 that important matter might be examined Those intentions pointed to 
 
 measures at variance with the system which I had maintained and recommended 
 as the best and most salutary scheme for the regulation of the relations be- 
 tween a Christian State and the Christian Religion, and which I still believe to 
 be the most salutary and the best in every condition of the public sentiment 
 
 that will bear its application It is absolutely due to my public 
 
 character, due to those terms on which alone general confidence can be 
 reposed in public men, that I should under such circumstances, and in so im- 
 portant a matter, place myself, so far as in me lay, in a position to form not 
 only an honest, but an independent and an unsuspected judgment." 
 
 He professed that he entertained no animosity against the 
 Roman Catholics : — 
 
 " I fervently and earnestly trust that if we are to change the policy of the 
 State, and to substitute for the former practice of the Constitution one that 
 gives a more indiscriminating support, that the Irish Roman Catholics will 
 not be selected for proscription, but that they will be regarded as having a 
 title to the favour of the Legislature upon a footing similar to that of other 
 Christian professions differing from the Church." 
 
 Sir Robert Peel confirmed the statements of Mr. Gladstone, for 
 whose abilities, he said, he entertained the highest respect and 
 admiration — admiration equalled only by his respect for his pri- 
 vate character. He was responsible that Mr. Gladstone did not 
 press his resignation (which he had intimated as possible) at an 
 earlier period, for he was unwilling to lose, until the latest moment, 
 the advantages derived from " one whom I consider capable of 
 rendering the highest and most eminent services to the country, 
 and who is a distinguished ornament of the Government." 
 
1845.] ENDOWMENT OF MAYNOOTH. 73 
 
 After retiring from office, Mr. Gladstone gave an independent 
 support to the Peel Administration. It was not unreasonable, 
 however, to suppose that he would be unable to accept the propo- 
 sition for the permanent endowment of the Roman Catholic 
 College at Maynooth, an act which appeared to be opposed to 
 his views on the duty of the State to support only what he consid- 
 ered the orthodox creed. There was some surprise, therefore, 
 when he spoke and voted in favour of the Bill introduced by 
 Sir Robert Peel on the 3rd of April. There was a division on the 
 motion for leave to introduce the Bill, the Opposition being led 
 by Sir Robert Inglis, member for the University of Oxford, but 
 the Ministers had a majority of 102. On that occasion, Mr. 
 Gladstone did not vote ; but on the motion for the second reading 
 on the nth, he spoke at some length and with his accustomed 
 eloquence. He supported the measure, he said, on the ground 
 that those who paid the taxes of a country had a right to share in 
 the benefits of its institutions. 
 
 " After a mature consideration of the subject, in the position in which it 
 stands, and in the position in which we stand, I am prepared, in opposition to 
 what I believe to be the prevailing opinion of the people of England ; in 
 opposition to the judgment of my own constituents, from whom I greatly 
 regret to differ ; and in opposition to my own deeply-cherished predilections, to 
 give a deliberate and even an anxious support to the measure which my right 
 honourable friend has submitted." 
 
 These remarkable words indicate alike the sensitive conscien- 
 tiousness and the moral courage which throughout his political life 
 have been Mr. Gladstone's characteristics ; and they, in some degree, 
 prepare us for yet more marked changes in his views respecting 
 very important questions. 
 
 In his " Chapter of Autobiography" he refers to this period: — 
 
 " Lord Derby was one of those colleagues who sought to dissuade me from 
 resigning my office. He urged upon me that such an act must be followed by 
 resistance to the Government, and that I should run the risk of being mixed 
 
74 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1845. 
 
 with a fierce religious agitation. I replied that I must adhere to my purpose 
 of retirement, but that I did not perceive the necessity of its being followed by 
 resistance to the proposal. Overtures were not unnaturally made to me by 
 some of those who resisted it, but they were at once declined. My whole pur- 
 pose was to place myself in a position in which I should be free to consider 
 my course without being liable to a just suspicion on the ground of personal 
 interest." 
 
 The grant to Maynooth College, carried by the Government 
 notwithstanding the vigorous opposition offered, was to the 
 amount of ^30,000 for the enlargement of the buildings, and 
 ^26,000 as an annual payment. For many years the grant was 
 the subject of a bitter controversy, motions being continually 
 made in the House of Commons for its abolition, and the 
 question was only set at rest by the Irish Church Act of 1869, 
 by which the annual grant was made to cease at the end of 187 1, 
 a compensation being made. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE, BUT OUT OF PARLIAMENT.— MEMBER 
 
 FOR OXFORD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 In the autumn of 1845, the course of events produced an almost 
 unanswerable argument in support of Free Trade. The terrible 
 potato disease broke out, and famine stared us in the face. In 
 Ireland the people were dying from hunger, and no method of 
 relief appeared possible but a removal, or, at least, extensive 
 modification, of the restrictions which kept food out of the country. 
 Sir Robert Peel announced that, in face of the alarming prospect 
 of the destruction of a large portion of the staple food of the 
 labouring population, his resolution to maintain the existing Corn 
 Laws had given way, and he was prepared at once to resign. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, too, saw reason to modify his views, and was 
 ready to enrol himself under the Free Trade banner. At the 
 close of the year, he published a pamphlet, " Remarks on Recent 
 Commercial Legislation," in which he gave an able and elaborate 
 detail of the beneficent working of the tariff modifications of 1842, 
 which, the writer intimated, opened the way for a greater modifi- 
 cation of the existing system of commercial restriction. 
 
 Lord John Russell was sent for by the Queen ; but, after con- 
 siderable delay and much fruitless negotiation with the leading 
 members of his party, he announced that he was unable to form 
 a Ministry ; and Sir Robert Peel, supported by all the members 
 
76 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1846. 
 
 of the Cabinet, except Lord Stanley, Colonial Secretary, remained 
 in office. A writer of the period said: "Office was resumed 
 notoriously and avowedly for a single purpose, the accomplish- 
 ment of a single measure ; this done, the disruption of the party 
 would render his removal from office inevitable, and that, too, 
 with a very distant, if any, prospect of return. . . . That course 
 involved the sacrifice of each object and every feeling most dear 
 to a political leader. It was equally fatal to the reputation of the 
 past and the prospects of the future, and it exposed him to a 
 storm of obloquy and reproach, under which nothing could have 
 supported him but consciousness of having acted with a single 
 aim for the public welfare." 
 
 Sir Robert knew and accepted his position. His separation 
 from the Conservative party was completed, and a new and inde- 
 pendent party was formed, leaning towards the Liberals, but with 
 distinctive tendencies retaining some of the old Conservatism — 
 uniting an adoption of the economical theories of the former with 
 the determination to support the institutions of the State around 
 which the Conservatives rallied. The name Peelites was popu- 
 larly given to the numerically small, but intellectually powerful, 
 party which followed Sir Robert's lead. It included Mr. Goul- 
 burn, the late Chancellor of the Exchequer ; Mr. Sidney Herbert, 
 Sir James Graham, the Earl of Lincoln, Mr. Cardwell, Sir George 
 Clerk, the Earl of Elgin, Lord Canning, and, very far from the 
 least, in such a gathering of men of high ability and Parliamentary 
 experience, Mr. Gladstone, who succeeded Lord Stanley as Secre- 
 tary of State for the Colonies. 
 
 Parliament was opened on the 19th of January, and the Royal 
 Speech recommended the early consideration of the expediency 
 of the further repeal of prohibitory, and the relaxation of protec- 
 tive, duties. In the debate on the Address, Sir Robert Peel 
 admitted that his opinions on the subject of Protection had 
 
1846.] ABOLITION OF THE CORN LAWS. 77 
 
 undergone a great change; and on the 27th he introduced his 
 financial and commercial scheme, remitting the duties on many 
 articles of consumption. He was not prepared to sweep away 
 the Corn Laws at once, as probably the Anti-Corn Law League 
 would have wished him to do ; but he proposed that the continu- 
 ance should be only temporary — three years being taken to effect 
 the change. After the 1st of February, 1849, grain of all kinds 
 should be admitted without payment of duty, except, the almost 
 nominal charge of one shilling a quarter, for the purpose of register- 
 ing the quantity imported. He proposed that, previously to that 
 date, whenever the average price of wheat should be under 48s. 
 a quirter in this country, the duty should be 10s. ; and with 
 every shilling increase in price, there should be a reduction of 
 is. duty, until the price reached 54.?., or more, when an un- 
 varying duty of 4^. would be imposed. The duty at that time 
 payable on corn, regulated by the average price, was 16*., and 
 the proposed change would reduce it to 4.?. 
 
 The debate on Sir Robert's proposals lasted twelve nights, and 
 nearly every man of mark in the House took part in it. The Free 
 Trade leaders supported the ministerial policy, and Mr. Bright 
 declared that he envied Sir Robert Peel, who had delivered almost 
 the finest speech ever heard in the House. Mr. Disraeli took 
 occasion to sneer at the suddenness of the political conversion of 
 some of the Peelites, and at the "Protectionist Cabinet and the 
 Free Trade Prime Minister." Ultimately the resolution was 
 carried by a majority of 97, the numbers being 337 for and 240 
 against. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone could take no part in this memorable division, 
 his acceptance of office having deprived him of his seat. His re- 
 election for Newark was out of the question. The Duke of New- 
 castle, whose influence was paramount in the borough, was a Tory 
 of the old school ; and his anger against the Peelites was probably 
 
78 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1846. 
 
 intensified by the fact that his son and heir, the Earl of Lincoln, 
 was one of their number. A writer in a local newspaper of the 
 9th of January, says : " Mr. Gladstone having been appointed 
 Secretary to the Colonies, it is reported in Newark that the Duke 
 of Newcastle and Lord Winchelsea were averse to his being again 
 returned for that town, on account of his vote on the Maynooth 
 question ; and on Saturday week the tenants of the latter were 
 waited upon with a command that they were not to vote for Mr. 
 Gladstone. Notwithstanding all tHis, the feelings of the majority 
 of the electors were in favour of Mr. Gladstone's re-election ; but 
 as the Lord of Clumber [the Duke] did not appear to sanction it, 
 Mr. Gladstone's address appeared, declining the representation 
 of Newark." 
 
 The electors were at once made to understand that Mr. Stuart, 
 a barrister and Queen's counsel, was the Duke's nominee, and 
 that they were expected to return him, whether Mr. Gladstone 
 did or did not offer himself for re-election. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone did not choose to enter on a contest in which 
 defeat was certain, and his address to the electors was a farewell 
 to the constituency he had represented for thirteen years. He 
 said : — 
 
 " As I have good reason to believe that a candidate recommended to your 
 favour through local connection may ask your suffrages, it becomes my very 
 painful duty to announce to you, on that ground alone, my retirement from a 
 position which has afforded me so much of honour and of satisfaction. " 
 
 His support of the Government by the acceptance of office, 
 rested, he said : — 
 
 " Upon no merely apologetic plea, but upon the assertion that I have acted 
 in obedience to the clear and imperious calls of public obligation, and with the 
 purpose which I have ever sought to follow, of promoting the personal interests 
 of the community, and of all classes of which it is composed. " 
 
 On the 27th of June, the Peel Ministry resigned, having been 
 defeated by a majority of 73 on the motion for the second reading 
 
1847.] ELECTED FOR OXFORD UNIVERSITY. 79 
 
 of the Protection of Life (Ireland) Bill, the purpose of which was 
 to give to Ministers powers which they deemed necessary for the 
 repression of outrage and the protection of life in Ireland. On 
 the same night that Sir Robert announced in the House of Com- 
 mons that he and his colleagues had placed their resignations in 
 the hands of the Queen, the Corn Law Bill passed the third 
 reading in the House of Lords. Success and defeat were simul- 
 taneous. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone made no other attempt to obtain a seat until the 
 general election of 1847, when he appeared as a candidate for 
 the representation of Oxford University. Sir Robert Inglis had 
 long been the senior member, and his seat was secure ; but the 
 second seat was contested by Mr. Round. Mr. Cardwell had 
 been brought forward as a candidate, but withdrew, the general 
 result of the preliminary canvass not offering a prospect of suc- 
 cess. When Mr. Gladstone appeared in the field, Mr. Round's 
 committee charged him with having voted for the Dissenters' 
 Chapel Bill, and so favouring Socinianism, and with having 
 supported the Maynooth Bill, and so opposing the Church of 
 England. In reply, Mr. Gladstone maintained that he was 
 " heartily devoted to the doctrine and constitution of our Re- 
 formed Church," but he added : — 
 
 " I will never consent to adopt as a test of such devotion a disposition to 
 identify the great and noble cause of the Church of England with the re- 
 pression of the civil rights of those who differ from her. I shall rather believe 
 that it may more wisely, justly, and usefully be shown, first, by endeavours 
 to aid in the development and application of her energies to her splendid 
 work, and next by the temperate but firm vindication of those rights with 
 which, for the public good, she is endowed as a national establishment." 
 
 The election was marked by great activity and excitement ; 
 there had been no contest for the University seats for twenty 
 years, the last having been in 1828, when Peel was rejected. 
 There were no speeches by the candidates, it being a rule of the 
 
80 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1847. 
 
 University that after the issue of the writ, and during the election, 
 candidates were prohibited coming within twenty miles of the place. 
 Dr. Richards, rector of Exeter College, proposed Mr. Gladstone 
 in a long Latin oration. Having alluded to his distinguished 
 academic career, and lauded him for his piety, integrity, ability, 
 and honour, he spoke of him as an ardent advocate of the Epis- 
 copal Anglican Church throughout every part of the globe. 
 
 The result of the election was that Sir Robert Inglis was re- 
 turned at the top of the poll, with 1,700 votes; Mr. Gladstone 
 occupied the second place with 997, and Mr. Round polled 824. 
 The number of votes was the largest ever known to have been 
 given at an election for the University. 
 
 One of Mr. Gladstone's earliest speeches in the new Parliament, 
 which opened in November, was in support of Lord John Russell's 
 motion that the House should resolve itself into a committee to 
 consider the removal of the civil and political disabilities of the 
 Jews. Sir Robert Inglis, the senior member for Oxford Uni- 
 versity, strongly opposed the motion ; it was known that the 
 University generally regarded it as an attack on the Christian 
 Church of the Constitution ; and it therefore required consider- 
 able courage on the part of Mr. Gladstone to give it an open and 
 energetic support. A weaker man, holding the same opinions on 
 the subject, might have sought to effect a compromise between 
 conscience and convenience by keeping silence and absenting 
 himself from the division ; but Mr. Gladstone was at once too 
 courageous and too honest for such a course. His speech was 
 long, closely reasoned, and remarkable as indicating a broad- 
 ening of ecclesiastical views, and a foreshadowing of the course 
 taken very recently respecting the admission to Parliament of 
 persons who objected to make an avowal of specific religious 
 belief. He expressed his great respect for the constituency which 
 had returned him, and which he knew was opposed to the Bill 
 
1847.] JEWISH DISABILITIES. 81 
 
 the Premier proposed to introduce ; but, he maintained, un- 
 doubtedly the true principle of legislation was that a member 
 should follow the conscientious dictates of his own judgment, 
 whether they happened to coincide in the particular case with 
 the judgment of the constituency or not. " I should," he said 
 " be betraying my plain duty to my constituents, if I were to 
 succumb to their judgment in a case where I am conscientiously, 
 convinced there is a better course to pursue." 
 In the course of his speech he said : — 
 
 "When it is said that we unchristianise the Parliament, while it may be true in 
 name — and I would not deny it — I must ask, is it true in substance ? . . .If 
 we are a Christian nation, we shall, even after removing the disabilities of the 
 Jews, be a Christian Parliament ; if it be true that we must then cease to be a 
 Christian Parliament, it is also true that we are not now a Christian nation. 
 I think that Parliament will continue to derive its character mainly from the 
 personal character of those who elect, and of those who compose it. And I 
 must say, with regard to the speech of the noble Lord (Lord John Russell), 
 that when he spoke of oaths and declarations as affording insufficient securities, 
 I certainly did not understand him to signify — and I trust he did not intend — 
 that they were to be looked upon as altogether worthless, and to be discarded 
 from our use ; but that we were not to place upon them an exclusive reliance, 
 and that we were to depend more, after all, upon the qualities of men than 
 upon the letter of any regulations we could establish." 
 
 He concluded by saying : — 
 
 "If the act we have done be indeed an act of civil and social justice, then, 
 whatever be its first aspect, it can involve no disparagement to the religion we 
 profess, can never lower Christianity in public estimation, but must, on the con- 
 trary, tend to elevate the conception of Christianity in all considerate minds ; 
 for it will show — either now, or at farthest when some years have passed, and 
 when we can look back upon the differences of the present day with the aid of 
 those lights which after events and experience will have thrown upon them — 
 that the Christian religion which we professed was a religion that enabled us, 
 when convinced, to do an act of justice in spite of prepossessions appealing 
 to our liveliest and tenderest feelings — prepossessions which still attracted our 
 sympathy and respect, almost our veneration — in the full belief that truth and 
 right would vindicate themselves, and those who desired to follow them. " 
 
 Mr. Newdegate, who spoke afterwards, of course in opposition to 
 the motion, referring to Mr. Gladstone, said : " Had it been known 
 that the right honourable gentleman entertained such sentiments 
 
82 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1848. 
 
 as he had expressed on the subject of the Jews, when he offered 
 himself as a candidate for the representation of Oxford University, 
 he was certain that he never would have been returned for that 
 eminent seat of learning." The two members for Cambridge 
 University — Mr. Goulburn (Chancellor of the Exchequer in the late 
 Ministry, and a conspicuous member of the Peelite party), and 
 Mr. Law, the Recorder of London — strongly opposed the resolu- 
 tion, to which, however, Sir Robert Peel himself, and his friends 
 the Earl of Lincoln and Mr. Cardwell, gave their support. 
 Another eminent Peelite, Mr. Sidney Herbert, did not vote. The 
 motion was carried by a majority of 67 ; the numbers being, 
 Ayes, 253; Noes, 186. 
 
 In the Session of 1848, Mr. Gladstone afforded another instance 
 of the modification of the extreme views he once held, by support- 
 ing the Roman Catholic Relief Bill, introduced by Mr. Chisholm 
 Anstey, the object of which was the removal of certain disabilities 
 imposed by the existing Acts of Parliament. On the 23rd of May, 
 Lord George Bentinck, the leader of the Protectionist party in the 
 Commons, made a vigorous attack on the Free Trade policy, in 
 moving for returns of quantities and prices of various articles. 
 Mr. Gladstone replied, with equal energy, and with a far greater 
 mastery of facts and figures. 
 
 The vexed question of the sugar duties again cropped up in 
 June. On that subject Mr. Gladstone declined to accept abstract 
 Free Trade doctrines. The imposition of differential duties, by 
 which slave-grown sugar was to a considerable extent kept out of 
 the market, he considered as a necessary sequel of the work of 
 emancipation in the British colonies ; and he protested, 
 as many times before he had done, against subjecting British 
 planters, who were compelled to employ paid labourers, to 
 competition in the open market with the employers of slaves. It 
 was obvious that sugar and other articles imported — grain, for 111- 
 
1850.] THE DON PACIFICO AFFAIR. 83 
 
 stance — did not stand on the same footing, for the producers 
 worked under different conditions. He argued : — 
 
 " Do not let it be said that the plan of emancipation, mighty and gigantic 
 as it was, was based upon the ruin of private fortunes, and that, while it over- 
 spread the whole world with its fame, we took the glory upon ourselves, that 
 we laid the burden on the West Indies, and left the debt to posterity. Let us 
 not shrink from the burden that our own shoulders ought to bear — let us not 
 shrink from making the return which is due to the colonies, and necessary to 
 complete the work of regeneration for the negro race by whom they are in- 
 habited." 
 
 The Session of 1849 was not marked by any important speech 
 by Mr. Gladstone ; but he took an active part in the business of 
 the House, especially in the debate on the regularly- recurring 
 proposition to repeal the law prohibiting marriage with a deceased 
 wife's sister — which he strongly opposed, appealing to the 
 Levitical and ecclesiastical law on the subject, and paying little 
 regard to merely secular arguments. 
 
 The great Parliamentary event of 1850 was the memorable 
 debate on the conduct of Lord Palmerston, in connection with 
 what we know as the Don Pacifico affair. The worthy Don, a 
 naturalised British subject, had been for several years preferring 
 claims for compensation against the Greek Government for 
 injuries sustained, and other British subjects had similar claims, 
 which the Greeks delayed, or declined, to satisfy. Lord Palmer- 
 ston, being appealed to, adopted a very energetic mode of obtain- 
 ing reparation, by ordering Admiral Parker, in command of the 
 Mediterranean fleet, to blockade the harbour of the Piraeus ; the 
 consequence being the immediate submission of the Greek 
 Government. This prompt, but certainly high-handed, proceed- 
 ing caused great excitement at home. In the House of Lords, 
 Lord Stanley, afterwards the Earl of Derby, proposed and carried 
 a direct vote of censure on the Ministry. Palmerston was not 
 disposed to wait for attack in the Commons, but invited it by the 
 friendly action of John Arthur Roebuck, the member for Sheffield. 
 
84 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1850. 
 
 Mr. Roebuck's Liberalism was essentially of the combative kind. 
 He described himself in later days as " the dog Tear'em " ; and 
 his political predilections certainly never approached (except in a 
 hostile attitude) the doctrines of the Peace advocates. His posi- 
 tion in the House was peculiar. Highly gifted, possessed of great 
 Parliamentary experience, adroit in all the arts of debate, and of 
 indomitable courage, delighting in sharp personal contests, he 
 chose to fight, like Hal o' the Wynd, for his own hand. A 
 philosophical Radical in theory, he was in many respects vigor 
 ously Conservative, with a considerable tendency to what, in after 
 days, was vulgarly known as Jingoism. In political life he would 
 rather knock down than argue with anyone who ventured to 
 oppose him. He willingly came forward, as an "unattached 
 friend," in support of the Palmerstonian policy, by moving a reso- 
 lution of approval. Palmerston defended himself in the longest 
 and ablest speech he ever delivered, speaking for five hours — 
 " that speech," said Sir Robert Peel, who nevertheless condemned 
 his policy, " which made us all proud of him." 
 
 On the third night of the debate Mr. Gladstone spoke. He 
 had evidently nerved himself for a great effort, and he achieved a 
 striking success. Never before had he made so direct a personal 
 attack ; never before had he displayed such powers of invective, 
 and sarcastic, almost grim, humour. Once more he maintained 
 principles against expediency; once more he maintained that 
 which would be mean or dishonourable in an individual would 
 be so in a nation. In his speech, Lord Palmerston had made a 
 great point of the famous phrase Civis Romanus sum, and 
 the comparison he drew from it. Mr. Gladstone seized on it with 
 avidity : — 
 
 "I will grapple with the noble Lord on the ground which he selected for 
 himself, in the most triumphant portion of his speech, by his reference to those 
 emphatic words, Civis Romanus sum. He vaunted, amidst the cheers of his 
 
1850.] "CIVIS ROM ANUS SUM." 85 
 
 supporters, that under his administration an Englishman should be, throughout 
 the world, what the citizen of Rome had been. What then, sir, was a Roman 
 citizen? He was the member of a privileged caste: he belonged to a 
 conquering race, to a nation that held all others bound down by the strong 
 arm of power. For him there was to be an exceptional system of law ; for 
 him principles were to be asserted, and by him rights were to be enjoyed, that 
 were denied to the rest of the world. Is such, then, the view of the noble Lord 
 as to the relation that is to subsist between England and other countries ? 
 Does he make the claim for us that we are to be uplifted upon a platform high 
 above the standing-ground of all other nations ? It is, indeed, too clear, not 
 only from the expressions, but from the whole spirit of the speech of the noble 
 Viscount, that too much of this notion is lurking in his mind ; that he adopts 
 in part that vain conception that we, forsooth, have a mission to be the censors 
 of vice and folly, of abuse and imperfection, among the other countries of the 
 world ; that we are to be the universal schoolmasters ; and that all who hesi- 
 tate to recognise our office, can be governed only by prejudice or personal 
 animosity, and should have the blind war of diplomacy forthwith declared 
 against them. And, certainly, if the business of a Foreign Secretary properly 
 were to carry on such diplomatic wars, all must admit that the noble Lord is a 
 master in the discharge of his functions. What, sir, ought a Foreign Secre- 
 tary to be ? Is he to be like some gallant knight at a tournament of old, pricking 
 forth into the lists, armed at all points, confiding in his sinews and his skill, chal- 
 lenging all comers for the sake of honour, and having no other duty than to lay as 
 many as possible of his adversaries sprawling in the dust? If such is the idea 
 of a good Foreign Secretary, I for one would vote to the noble Lord his 
 present appointment for his life. But, sir, I do not understand the duty of a 
 Secretary for Foreign Affairs to be of such a character. I understand it to be 
 his duty to conciliate peace with dignity. I think it to be the very first of all 
 his duties studiously to observe, and to exalt in honour among mankind, 
 that great code of principles which is termed the law of nations, which the 
 honourable and learned member for Sheffield [Mr. Roebuck] has found, 
 indeed, to be very vague in their nature, and greatly dependent on the 
 discretion of each particular country ; but in which I find, on the contrary, a 
 great and noble monument of human wisdom, founded on the combined 
 dictates of reason and experience — a precious inheritance bequeathed to us by 
 the generations which have gone before us, and a firm foundation on which 
 we must take care to build whatever it may be our part to add to their acquisi- 
 tion ; if, indeed, we wish to maintain and to consolidate the brotherhood of 
 nations, and to promote the peace and welfare of the world. Sir, the English 
 people, whom' we are here to represent, are indeed a great and noble people ; 
 but it adds nothing to their greatness or nobleness that when we assemble in 
 this place, we should trumpet forth our virtues in elaborate panegyrics, and 
 designate those who may not be wholly of our mind as a knot of foreign con- 
 spirators. . . . It is this insular temper, and this self-glorifying tendency, 
 which the policy of the noble Lord, and the doctrines of his supporters, tend 
 so much to foment, and which has given to that policy the quarrelsome charac- 
 ter that marks some of their speeches ; for, indeed, it seems as if there lay upon 
 the noble Lord an absolute necessity for quarrelling. No doubt, it makes a 
 
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1850. 
 
 : erence, what may be the institutions of one country or another. If he can, 
 will quarrel with an absolute monarchy. If he cannot find an absolute 
 narchy for the purpose, he will quarrel with one that is limited. If he 
 mot find even that, yet, sooner than not quarrel at all, he will quarrel with 
 epublic. ... I, for my part, am of opinion that England will stand 
 >rn of a chief part of her glory and her pride if she shall be found to have 
 >arated herself, through the policy she pursues abroad, from the moral 
 jports which the general and fixed convictions of mankind afford — if the 
 y shall come in which she may continue to excite the wonder and the fear of 
 ler nations, but in which she shall have no part in their affection and their 
 jard." 
 
 From this fierce battle Lord Palmerston emerged a conqueror, 
 le Civis Romanussum had brought down the House. Peel and 
 ladstone sought to do their best, but " England, right or wrong, 
 ainst the world," was too potent for them, and a majority of 
 i in favour of the resolution endorsed the action of the Foreign 
 cretary. 
 
 Sir Robert Peel's speech on this occasion was the last he deli- 
 red. On the following day (June 28) he was thrown from his 
 >rse on Constitution Hill, and fatally injured. On the evening 
 ' Tuesday, the 2nd of July, the great statesman breathed his last, 
 hen the House of Commons met on the 3rd, for the Wednes- 
 ty sitting, Mr. Hume moved the adjournment of the House as 
 mark of respect. No member of the Cabinet was present to 
 :cond the motion, the Premier being absent from town, and the 
 :her Ministers engaged at their offices ; and Mr. Gladstone 
 idertook the duty, for which he was so well fitted by his long 
 )litical and private friendship with Sir Robert. His speech was 
 Lort, but graceful and effective. In the course of it, he said : — 
 
 " I am quite sure that every heart is much too full to allow us, at a period so 
 rly, to enter upon the consideration of the amount of that calamity with 
 tvich the country has been visited in his, I must even now say, premature 
 ;ath ; for, though he has died full of years and full of honours, yet it is a 
 ;ath which our human eyes will regard as premature ; because we had fondly 
 jped that in whatever position he was placed, by the weight of his character, 
 j the splendour of his talents, by the purity of his virtues, he would still have 
 ;en spared to render to his country the most essential services. I will only, 
 r, quote those most touching and feeling lines which were applied by one 
 
1850.] THE GORHAM CASE. 87 
 
 of the greatest poets of this country to the memory of a man great indeed, 
 but yet not greater than Sir Robert Peel : — 
 
 " ' Now is the stately column broke, 
 
 The beacon light is quenched in smoke ; 
 The trumpet's silver voice is still ; 
 The warder silent on the hill.' " 
 
 This quotation from Scott's noble eulogy of William Pitt, de- 
 livered with admirable elocution and beauty of voice, produced a 
 great effect. 
 
 In the course of the Session of 1850, Mr. Gladstone supported 
 a motion for the revision of the Poor Laws, brought forward by 
 Mr. Disraeli ; and opposed the Australian Government Bilf. The 
 close of the year was marked by exertions in other fields, and 
 one fruit of the relaxation of Parliamentary work was the pub- 
 lication of " Remarks on the Royal Supremacy, as it is denned 
 by Reason, History, and the Constitution." It was a pamphlet in 
 the form of a letter to the Bishop of London (Dr. Blomfield), 
 and was the result of the author's examination of the historical 
 evidence for the royal supremacy in the Church, in relation to 
 matters of doctrine. The ecclesiastical world had been greatly 
 excited by the result of the Gorham trial, and of the subsequent 
 appeals. It may be well to remind our readers — for events march 
 quickly, and in the course of thirty years much is forgotten — that 
 Dr. Philpott, Bishop of Exeter, had refused to institute the Rev. 
 Mr. Gorham into the living of Brampton-Speke, Devonshire, 
 on the ground of his want of orthodoxy, in denying that spiritual 
 regeneration was conferred by baptism. Mr. Gorham brought 
 an action against the Bishop in the Ecclesiastical Court, which 
 held that the Bishop was justified in his action. Against this 
 judgment Mr. Gorham appealed to the Judicial Committee of the 
 Privy Council, which, in March, 1850, reversed the decision of 
 the Ecclesiastical Court, and decided that Mr. Gorham ought 
 not to have been refused institution. The Bishop was not to be 
 
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1850. 
 
 aten easily — " Harry of Exeter " was too resolute and com- 
 tive for that — and application was made to each of the other 
 perior Courts of Common Law, successively, for a rule to show 
 jse why a prohibition should not issue, directed to the Judge 
 the Arches Court and to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 ainst giving effect to the judgment of Her Majesty in Council, 
 le rule was refused in each Court, and in August Mr. Gorham 
 .s instituted into the vicarage. 
 
 The question of the respective rights of the secular and ecclesi- 
 :ical power, of the nature and limits of the supremacy of the 
 own, which all ministers of the Church acknowledged when 
 ty subscribed the Articles, was raised anew by the High Church- 
 *n, who saw in this action of the Privy Council a renewed 
 :ack on the Establishment. Mr. Gladstone was not likely to 
 main silent when such a topic was exciting men's minds ; and 
 : set to work with characteristic industry and ardour, examining 
 d statutes and the bases of ecclesiastical law, the acts of Convo- 
 tion, and the Acts of Parliament bearing on the question. The 
 suit he arrived at appears to be embodied in the following ex- 
 act from the letter : — 
 
 " It is an utter mistake to suppose that the recognition of the royal su- 
 emacy in matters ecclesiastical established in the Church a despotic power. 
 he monarchy of England has been from early times a free monarchy. The 
 ea of law was altogether paramount in this happy constitution to that of any 
 jrsonalwill. . . . Here lay the grand cause of the success of our English re- 
 >lutions, that the people never rent the web of history, but repaired its rents ; 
 bver interposed a chasm between, never separated the national life of the pre- 
 :nt and that of the past, but even when they seemed most violently to alter the 
 omentary, always aimed at recovering the general direction of their career; 
 lus everybody knew that there were laws superior to the Sovereign, and liber- 
 es which he could not infringe ; that he was King in order to be the guardian 
 I these laws and liberties, and to direct both the legislature and all other 
 Dverning powers in the spirit which they breathed, and within the lines which 
 tey marked out for him. ... I say that the intention of the Reforma- 
 on, taken generally, was to place our religious liberties on a footing anala- 
 3us to that on which our civil liberties had long stood. A supremacy of 
 ower in making and amending Church law as well as State law was to vest 
 
1850.] THE SUPREMACY OF THE SOVEREIGN. 89 
 
 in the Sovereign ; but in making Church law he was to ratify the acts of the 
 Church herself, represented in Convocation, and if there were need of the 
 highest civil sanction, then to have the aid of Parliament also ; and in ad- 
 ministering Church law he was to discharge this function through the 
 medium of bishops and divines, canonists and civilians, as her own most fully 
 authorised, best instructed son, following in each case the analogy of his 
 ordinary procedure as head of the State." 
 
 This letter -was reprinted in 1865, anc * a third edition, with a 
 preface, in which the author said he saw no reason to modify the 
 views he had expressed, appeared in 1877. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IN THE DUNGEONS OF NAPLES. 
 
 The winter of 1850-51 found Mr. Gladstone in Naples; and 
 that event furnished one of the most remarkable and interesting 
 incidents of his life. 
 
 Ferdinand the Secpnd, of Naples and Sicily, was then on the 
 throne — a throne terribly shaken and threatened by the political 
 convulsions of 1848, but as yet preserved by unscrupulous false- 
 hood and oppression, by remorselessly shooting down rebellious 
 subjects, and by almost unparalleled cruelty to political opponents 
 and patriots who dared to advocate the rights of humanity. 
 " Bomba " was the popular nickname of the King ; a nickname 
 which preserved in the popular memory the slaughter by the royal 
 troops in the streets of Naples, when the people had thrown up 
 barricades and attempted a revolution, put down by the cannon 
 which swept the streets and the persistent fire of the King's 
 soldiers. When the resistance slackened, and the dead citizens 
 were being borne away, and the weeping women and children 
 were mixed with the men who had so stoutly, but unavailingly 
 fought, the King gave the order to continue the firing : " The busi- 
 ness has begun ; it must end," he said brutally. " In short," says 
 Mr. Cayley, one of the best historians of that troubled time in the 
 history of modern Europe, " he slew the rabble, intimidated the 
 people, dissolved by military force the Chamber of Deputies 
 
1848.] THE BOMBARDMENT OF MESSINA. 91 
 
 before it had regularly met, and became again absolute and 
 irresponsible.'' 
 
 The people of Sicily, united against their will with continental 
 Naples, had endeavoured to throw off the odious yoke. They 
 proclaimed the independence of the island, and the deposition of 
 Ferdinand and his dynasty, and appointed Rugero Settimo 
 regent until a new king should be elected. The Neapolitan fleet 
 bombarded Messina, directing the fire not on the defences, but 
 on the houses, churches, and those parts of the city most 
 thickly populated. The bombardment having lasted five days, 
 the greater part of the city was destroyed, and many of the 
 inhabitants buried in its ruins. It was continued two days after 
 resistance had ceased, and the soldiery carried fire and sword 
 through the city, murdering the flying inhabitants. Well had the 
 King earned the name of Bomba, " the bombardier ! " 
 
 At Naples he summoned Parliament when the popular pressure 
 was too strong for him to resist, and dismissed them when, by 
 fair means or foul, he had regained the mastery. It is said, and 
 very probably with truth, that the Court party paid the scum of 
 the Neapolitan population to insult the deputies as they left the 
 Chamber, and the respectable citizens who were known to be their 
 friends, and to raise shouts for an absolute king. " After the 
 earlier throes of the great convulsion had subsided in Naples," 
 says Mr. Cayley, " the King who, during the heat of the revolu- 
 tion had sworn to anything, and courted the mob while they 
 were uppermost, not having either courage or power to resist, was 
 now worrying the discomfited supporters of the constitution to 
 which he had sworn; and, having taken in pay a set of lazy 
 rogues, employed them in bullying and insulting the deputies 
 who had assembled at his summons, and whom, at the moment, 
 Ferdinand was not strong enough at once to dismiss. They 
 complained to the King of his administration, but the administra- 
 
. WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1850. 
 
 >n set the Parliament at nought, prevented them from laying 
 eir complaints before the King, and finally dissolved them, 
 len began a series of political persecutions." 
 Persecutions, indeed, unparalleled in the history of the century, 
 lere are instances in the records of other nations of unjust 
 osecutions, fictitious evidence, mock trials, long and solitary 
 tprisonments, executions even of political opponents of ruling 
 >wers ; but the state prosecutions of Naples exceeded in atrocity 
 L similar contemporary events. The victims were to be counted 
 r thousands ; the punishments inflicted were a revival of the 
 rtures of the Inquisition, and the filthy abominations of the 
 lleys. The judges were corrupted or intimidated by the King 
 Ld his advisers ; forgery and perjury were most extensively 
 sorted to ; laws sworn to be observed were recklessly violated ; 
 id men of culture, patriotism, and pure and honourable lives 
 ixq condemned to imprisonment in loathsome dungeons, loaded 
 ith heavy fetters, chained to the vilest scoundrels that even the 
 iminal population of Naples could furnish, and subjected to 
 deous torture. So foul were the dungeons that the jailors 
 emselves hesitated to visit them, and the official doctors " dared 
 )t risk their lives by entering them." 
 
 Among the victims was Carlo Poerio, the son of a patriot who 
 id suffered greatly for his advocacy of popular rights, and him- 
 :lf one of the ablest, most energetic, and high-minded of the 
 ading spirits of the time. He had suffered imprisonment when 
 Le King was the stronger, and had been invited to accept minis- 
 xial office when the King was compelled to grant, and promised 
 > observe, a liberal constitution. Poerio was successively Director 
 : Police and Minister of Public Instruction, but soon resigned, 
 id also refused the rank of Privy Councillor offered by the 
 ^ing, preferring to sit as an independent deputy in the Parlia- 
 tent. His ruin was resolved on as soon as the King felt that he 
 
18">0.] VISIT TO THE DUNGEONS OF NAPLES. 93 
 
 had the power again to defy public opinion. He was arrested, 
 his house ransacked, and compromising papers were produced, 
 alleged to have been discovered, but which were forgeries pre- 
 pared by his enemies. The fraud was successfully exposed, and 
 then perjury was called in to do the desired work. One Jervolino, 
 a secret agent of the Government, was employed to swear that 
 Poerio was the head of a conspiracy to murder the King and 
 Ministers and proclaim the Republic. Poerio demanded to be 
 confronted with his accuser, but that was refused, and for a short 
 time the charge was abandoned, and another plan was resorted 
 to. One or two other political prisoners were induced by the 
 promise that their lives would be spared to make statements in- 
 volving Poerio ; but they were so extravagant and unsupported, 
 that even the unscrupulous prosecutors were ashamed to bring 
 them forward, and the evidence of Jervolino was again produced. 
 In vain Poerio proved that the man was a paid spy of the police ; 
 the Court accepted the evidence, declared that Poerio was guilty, 
 and sentenced him to imprisonment in chains for twenty-four 
 years, and to pay a heavy fine. He was dressed as a felon, loaded 
 with fifteen pounds of iron, and taken from hulks to hulks at 
 Nisida, Procida, Ischia, Montesfasco, and Montesarchio, his com- 
 panions being cut-throats and miscreants, the vilest of the vile 
 brigands and twin scoundrels Italy could furnish. 
 
 Another eminent politician and advocate, of high public position 
 and honourable life, Settembrini, was condemned to be imprisoned 
 for life and loaded with double chains, and was tortured by having 
 sharp instruments thrust under his finger-nails ; and others, con- 
 spicuous by their talents and position, were fellow-sufferers, sen- 
 tenced to wear out their lives in indescribable misery. 
 
 The trial of Poerio was proceeding when Mr. Gladstone visited 
 Naples, and he was present during a part of the proceedings. 
 The infamous condemnation and sentence greatly shocked him, 
 
94 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1851. 
 
 and he was led to give great attention to the prosecutions for 
 political offences. He visited the prisons, exploring underground 
 dungeons, conversing with the prisoners, and witnessing their 
 sufferings. He found that of one hundred and forty deputies 
 returned to the Neapolitan Parliament, seventy-six were in 
 prison or exile, and that more than twenty thousand other sub- 
 jects of Ferdinand had been thrown into prison on the charge 
 of political disaffection. Burning with indignation, he published, 
 in the form of a " Letter to the Earl of Aberdeen," a detailed 
 narrative of the trials, sentences, and sufferings endured by the 
 wretched prisoners, and in scathing terms denounced the Nea- 
 politan authorities. The condemnation of Poerio, " a cultivated 
 and accomplished gentleman," distinguished for " obedience to 
 law and love of his country," had been, he said, obtained by 
 perjury and intimidation, in order "to obtain the scaffold's aim 
 by means more cruel than the scaffold, and without the outcry 
 which the scaffold would create." 
 
 The publication of this letter produced an intense sensation. 
 It circulated through Europe, and of course was immediately 
 answered by " official statements," which flatly contradicted him; 
 and there were not wanting journalists and pamphleteers to declare 
 that the statements were enormously exaggerated by Mr. Glad- 
 stone's fervid imagination. In a second letter, he corrected a few 
 errors of detail, and examined the replies made, the result being 
 that the main points of his story remained intact. 
 
 Towards the close of the Parliamentary Session of 185 1, Sir 
 De Lacy Evans, the Liberal member for Westminster, asked 
 Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, if the British Minister 
 at Naples had been instructed to employ his good offices in 
 the cause of humanity for the diminution of these lamentable 
 severities. Lord Palmerston replied : — 
 
 " It has not been deemed a part of the duty of the British Government to 
 
1851.] RESULT OF MR, GLADSTONE'S APPEAL. 95 
 
 make any formal representations to the Government of Naples on a matter 
 that relates entirely to the internal affairs of that country. At the same time, 
 I thought it right, seeing that Mr. Gladstone has done himself, as I think, 
 very great honour by the course he pursued at Naples, and by the course he 
 has followed since ; for I think that when you see an English gentleman, 
 who goes to pass a winter at Naples — instead of confining himself to those 
 amusements that abound in that city— instead of diving into volcanoes and 
 exploring excavated cities — when we see him going to courts of justice, visit- 
 ing prisons, descending into dungeons, and examining great numbers of 
 unfortunate victims of illegality and injustice, with a view afterwards to 
 enlist public opinion in the endeavour to remedy those abuses — I think 
 that is a course that does honour to the person that pursues it ; and, con- 
 curring in opinion with him that the influence of public opinion in Europe 
 might have some useful effect in setting such matters right, I thought it my 
 duty to send copies of his pamphlet to our Ministers at the various Courts of 
 Europe, directing them to give to each Government copies of the pamphlet 
 in the hope that, by affording them an opportunity of reading it, they mighi 
 be led to use their influence for promoting what is the object of my honour- 
 able and gallant friend — a remedy for the evils to which he has referred." 
 
 Corrupt as was the Neapolitan Government, and seared as the 
 conscience of Ferdinand must have been, all feeling of shame was 
 not quite extinct, and the disclosure was followed by consider- 
 able remissions of punishment, and release of some of the prisoners. 
 Poerio was permitted to leave Italy, and reached London, where 
 he was warmly received. Afterwards, when the Kingdom of Naples 
 ceased to exist, and there was an Italian Kingdom and an 
 Italian Parliament, he returned to serve his country as a statesman. 
 
 It might seem a little inconsistent that a politician who had so 
 vehemently protested against the principle of interference in the 
 internal government of other States, as Mr. Gladstone had done 
 when he denounced Lord Palmerston, should have made himself 
 so prominently the champion of a people oppressed by its Govern- 
 ment, and should have called for official interference. In this 
 respect, as in others, Mr. Gladstone's generous and courageous 
 nature was in advance of his abstract political theories. He had 
 seen with his own eyes injustice and cruelty at Naples, and as a 
 man, the instincts of humanity were stronger than the cold maxims 
 of the politician. 
 
96 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1851. 
 
 The British public generally were actuated by the same senti- 
 ment. Political partisanship was forgotten, and on all sides was 
 expressed the praise of Mr. Gladstone's course of action. 
 
 The Edinburgh Review of October, 185 1 — an opponent of the 
 political party to which Mr. Gladstone at that time belonged, and 
 therefore certainly not animated by the zeal of political partiality 
 — said : — 
 
 "Providence inspired a gentleman of unblemished character, brilliant talents, 
 high position, uniting to the qualifications which eminently fitted him for 
 discovering the truth, a heart that urged him on to search for it, and a will 
 which was not to be baffled in its pursuit. Mr. Gladstone went to Naples 
 soon after having voted against the Government on a vital question of foreign 
 policy. Secretary of State for the Colonies in that Administration which had 
 Lord Aberdeen for Foreign Secretary, Mr. Gladstone would have been too 
 happy to be able to say that the Conservative Government of Naples deserved 
 the respect and support of the great and influential party in this country of 
 which he is an ornament and leading member. But Mr. Gladstone is not one 
 of those who attach much importance to a name ; and, having soon had reason 
 to suspect that under the cloak of Conservatives and Conservatism may be 
 concealed persons whose wickedness it is a duty to expose, and principles 
 which every honest man may repudiate, he determined to enquire into the 
 facts and get at the truth. . . . Mr. Gladstone determined on endeavour- 
 ing to mitigate the horrors which he had witnessed, and to expose the infamies 
 which he had discovered, no matter at what sacrifice. We confess we envy 
 his party a man whose talents we have often admired, but whose generosity 
 of feeling had not been sufficiently appreciated." 
 

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 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE ANTI-PAPAL AGITATION. — OPPOSITION TO THE 
 ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES BILL. 
 
 While Mr. Gladstone was attending State trials and exploring 
 underground dungeons in Naples, England was in a ferment. In 
 a consistory held at Rome in September, a Papal edict was pre- 
 pared which divided England and Wales into one archiepiscopal 
 and twelve episcopal sees, and appointed the newly-created cardinal 
 Dr. Wiseman, Archbishop of Westminster, with twelve bishops, 
 who were to supersede the old vicars-apostolic. On the 27th of 
 October, Dr. Ullathorne was enthroned as Roman Catholic 
 Bishop of Birmingham; and on the same day a Pastoral from 
 Cardinal Wiseman, announcing the new arrangement of the sees, 
 was read in all the Catholic chapels. The tone of this Pastoral 
 was certainly arrogant and offensive. It spoke of England being 
 restored to the true Church, and announced that " we shall govern 
 and continue to govern the country/' &c. 
 
 The excitement produced by the action of the Roman Church 
 was intense. Protestants, of course, resented with indignation 
 the assumption of episcopal titles and the formation of dioceses by 
 Roman Catholics ; and a very large portion of the public, who 
 had little religious enthusiasm, denounced the pretensions of any 
 foreign potentate, pope or prince, to parcel out the English soil 
 at his good pleasure. The feeling of irritation was at once 
 
 H 
 
98 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1850. 
 
 religious and rational. Shakspeare's famous phrase, " No Italian 
 priest shall tithe or toll in my dominions," was in everybody's 
 mouth ; and when excitement was at the height, there appeared 
 the historical letter known as the "Durham Letter," from Lord John 
 Russell, the Prime Minister, to the Bishop of Durham, in which 
 he announced his intention to resist to the utmost the Papal 
 aggression. It is to be feared that the inflated tone of this 
 ministerial manifesto (for such it really was) justified to some 
 extent the epithets of " clap-trap " and " bunkum " applied to it. 
 Punch caricatured Lord John as a naughty boy who chalked 
 " No Popery " on the walls. The last paragraph of the letter 
 was to this effect : — 
 
 "I have little hope that the preparers and framers of this invention will 
 desist from their insidious course ; but I rely on the people of England, and 
 I will not bate a jot of heart or life so long as the glorious principles and the 
 immortal martyrs of the Reformation shall be held in reverence by the great 
 mass of a nation which looks with contempt on the mummeries of supersti- 
 tion, and with scorn at the laborious endeavours which are now making to 
 confine the intellect and enslave the soul." 
 
 It was rather a dangerous experiment upon the forbearance and 
 self-control of the public to issue such an inflammatory letter the 
 day before the Fifth of November; but the Englishmen of 1850 
 were more law-abiding and order-loving, more reasonable and 
 less violent, than the Englishmen who took part in the Sache- 
 verell or the Gordon riots. The effigies of Guy Fawkes carried 
 about were outnumbered by figures presumed to represent popes 
 and cardinals, and there was perhaps a little extra enthusiasm in 
 the matter of fireworks ; but there the open demonstrations ended. 
 None the less was the popular indignation intense. More 
 than six thousand public meetings were held in November and 
 December, from which addresses were sent to the Queen calling 
 upon her and the Ministry to resent the " usurpation." 
 
 At the opening of Parliament in February, 185 1, allusion was 
 
1851.] ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES ASSUMPTION ACT. 99 
 
 made to the subject in the Royal Speech ; and very shortly after- 
 wards Lord John Russell introduced the Ecclesiastical Titles 
 Assumption Bill, the object of which was to prohibit the assump- 
 tion of the titles of archbishop, bishop, or dean in respect of any 
 places within the United Kingdom by persons other than those 
 already legally entitled. The debate on the second reading was 
 long. That the majority of the House of Commons would 
 support the Government was anticipated ; but the opponents of 
 the measure would not submit silently to defeat. They rested 
 their arguments on the basis of toleration, and repudiated the 
 idea that the loyalty of English Catholics would be affected by 
 the assumption of episcopal functions by some of their priests. 
 Practically, they argued, English Catholics would continue to re- 
 gard the Pope temporally as a foreign prince, having no claim to 
 any other than spiritual allegiance ; and Mr. Gladstone (speaking 
 on the second night of the debate) indeed urged that the ap- 
 pointment of bishops by the Papacy was a concession to the 
 long-expressed wishes of the English members of the Roman 
 Church, and would render them less dependent on the cardinals 
 and priests of Rome. The Premier, Mr. Gladstone reminded 
 him, had been foremost in supporting the endowment of May- 
 nooth, and had then no fear that the Romish priesthood would 
 ever be dangerous to the British Constitution. He continued : — 
 
 "The noble Lord said, in reference to the powerful opposition then offered 
 to the Bill for the endowment of Maynooth, ' it seems that the strife upon 
 the question of religion is never to fail, and that our arms are never to rust.' 
 Would any man who heard the noble Lord deliver these impressive senti- 
 ments have believed that the strife with regard to religious liberty was to be 
 revived not only with a greater degree of acerbity in the year 185 1, but 
 that the noble Lord himself was to be a main agent in its revival — that his 
 was to be the head that was to wear the helmet, and his the hand that was 
 to grasp the spear ? My conviction is that the question of religious freedom 
 is not to be dealt with as one of the ordinary matters that you may do to-day 
 and undo to-morrow. The great principle which we have the honour to 
 represent, moves slowly in matters of politics and legislation ; but, although 
 
100 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1851. 
 
 it moves slowly, it moves steadily. The principle of religious freedom, its 
 adaptation to our modern state, and its compatibility with ancient institu- 
 tions, was a principle which you did not adopt in haste. It was a principle 
 well tried in struggle and conflict. It was a principle which gained the 
 assent of one public man after another. It was a principle which ultimately 
 triumphed after you had spent upon it half a century of agonising struggle. 
 And now, what are you going to do? You have arrived at the division of 
 the century. Are you going to repeat Penelope's process, but without 
 Penelope's purpose? Are you going to spend the latter half of the nineteenth 
 century in undoing the great work which, with so much pain and difficulty, 
 your greatest men have been achieving during the former? Surely not. 
 Recollect the functions you have to perform in the face of the world. Recol- 
 lect that Europe and the whole of the civilised world look to England at this 
 moment, more than they ever looked before, as the mistress and guide of 
 nations, in regard to the great work of civil legislation. And what is it 
 they chiefly admire in England? It is not the rapidity with which you 
 form constitutions and broach abstract theories. On the contrary, they know 
 that nothing is so distasteful to you as abstract theories, and that you are 
 proverbial for resisting what is new until you are assured of its safety and 
 beneficial tendency. But they know that when you make a step forward, you 
 keep it. They know that there is reality and honesty about your proceed- 
 ings. They know that you are not a monarchy to-day, a republic to-morrow, 
 and a military despotism the third day. They know that you are free from 
 the vicissitudes that have marked the career of neighbouring nations. Your 
 fathers and yourselves have earned this brilliant character for England. Do 
 not forget it. Do not allow it to be tarnished. Show, if you will, the Pope 
 of Rome, and his Cardinals, and his Church, that England, as well as Rome, 
 has her semper eadem, and that when she has once adopted the great principle 
 of legislation which is destined to influence her national character and mark 
 her policy for ages to come and affect the whole nature of her influence among 
 the nations of the world ; show that when she has done this slowly, and with 
 hesitation and difficulty, but still deliberately, but once for all — she can no 
 more retrace her steps than the river that bathes this giant city can flow 
 backwards to its source. The character of England is in our hands." 
 
 The second reading of the Bill was carried in the Commons on 
 the 25th of March by a majority of 343, the numbers being: Ayes, 
 438; Noes, 95. The ordinary lines of party were obliterated on 
 this occasion, and Tories of the most old-fashioned type, and 
 Whigs whose watchword was " Toleration," walked together into 
 the lobby. Disraeli and Thesiger, Newdegate and Sibthorpe, 
 voted with Russell and Palmerston ; and the Peelites and High 
 Churchmen, Gladstone, Cardwell, Sir James Graham, and Sidney 
 Herbert, shared the defeat of the minority, with such advanced 
 
1851.] POSITION OF THE COLONIAL CHURCH. 101 
 
 Liberals and opponents of all ecclesiastical establishments as 
 John Bright, the Quaker, and W. J. Fox, the more than Uni- 
 tarian. 
 
 The Bill became law, and the agitation ceased. Practically it 
 was almost a dead letter; and in 1871 it was repealed. 
 
 In the debate on Supply, in July, Mr. Gladstone took occasion 
 to refer to the position of the Colonial bishops, who, he said, 
 laboured under great difficulties with respect to the government 
 of their dioceses. A system of perfect religious equality pre- 
 vailed, he said, in New South Wales, and all the Australian 
 colonies, and he contended that the House should proceed to 
 define the position of those bishops, clergy, and laity in com- 
 munion with the Church of England, not by giving them the 
 status of an establishment, but by so emancipating them from the 
 trammels of the law in this country as to give them the freedom 
 that is enjoyed by other communities of Christians. The 
 colonial bishops were in this position — they could not assemble 
 the clergy or laity from the different dioceses, and could form no 
 valid system of regulations to govern the Church, because they 
 did, not know whether they would not be liable to a penalty 
 under an Act of the Imperial Parliament for assembling synods 
 or convocations without the consent of the Crown. He hoped 
 the Government would take up the subject during the next 
 Session; but if no ministerial measure was proposed, or if no 
 more competent person in either of the Houses undertook to 
 propose a remedy, he would do so himself. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE PALMERSTON DIFFICULTY AND THE DERBY 
 ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 In December, 185 1, the political world was excited by the 
 announcement that Lord Palmerston was no longer a member of 
 the Ministry. At a very critical time, when the coup d'etat in 
 France had made the relations between the two countries very 
 delicate, the Foreign Secretary, without consultation with his 
 colleagues, and without observing the usual practice of submitting 
 all important despatches to the Queen, had written to Lord 
 Normanby, the English ambassador in Paris, in terms of approval 
 of the -act of the Prince-President. The Queen highly dis- 
 approved of this conduct, and sent a memorandum on the subject 
 
 » 
 
 to the Premier, accompanied by an expression of her wish that he 
 should show it to Lord Palmerston. This was, of course, the 
 preliminary to a dismissal of the Foreign Secretary, and Lord 
 John Russell acted with promptitude. Lord Palmerston quitted 
 the Cabinet, Earl Granville being transferred from the Board of 
 Trade to the Foreign Office. 
 
 When Parliament met in February, 1852, the subject was promi 
 nently referred to in both Houses, in the debates on the Address. 
 In the House of Commons, Lord John Russell said : " The noble 
 Lord's course of proceeding in the matter he considered to be 
 putting himself in the place of the Crown, and passing by the 
 Crown, while he gave the moral approval of England to the acts 
 
1852.] LORD PALMERSTON DISMISSED. 103 
 
 of the President of the Republic of France, in direct opposition 
 to the policy which the Government had hitherto pursued. Un- 
 der the circumstances, he (Lord John Russell) had no alternative 
 but to declare that while he was Prime Minister Lord Palmerston 
 could not hold the seals of office; and he had assumed the 
 entire responsibility of advising the Crown to require the resig- 
 nation of his noble friend, who had forgotten or neglected what 
 was due to the Crown and his colleagues." 
 
 Palmerston was ready to defend himself; and his speech was 
 an excellent specimen of the good-humoured, dashing " sauciness," 
 which when, as in his case, combined with great talents and associ- 
 ated with eminent public services, always pleases even opponents. 
 He had, he said, only expressed his individual opinion to the 
 French Ambassador and the Marquis of Normanby, as the 
 Premier and other Cabinet Ministers had also in conversation 
 and other ways expressed their opinions. " It follows/' he said — 
 and there was cheering and laughter from both sides of the 
 House when he finished the sentence — " that every member of 
 the Cabinet, whatever his political avocations may have been, 
 however much his attention may have been devoted to other 
 matters, is at liberty to express an opinion of passing events 
 abroad ; but the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whose 
 peculiar duty it is to watch those events, who is unfit for his 
 office if he has not an opinion on them, is the only man not per- 
 mitted to express an opinion; and, when a Foreign Minister 
 comes and tells him that he has news, he is to remain silent, like 
 a speechless doll or the mute of some Eastern pacha." If anybody 
 had told Palmerston that, as Foreign Secretary, his utterances 
 on Foreign Affairs carried no more weight than those of the 
 Ministers in charge of other departments of State, he would have 
 been prompt enough to vindicate his position, and claim that his 
 words should carry official weight, while the words of others were 
 
104 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1852. 
 
 merely the expressions of individual opinion. But he would 
 scarcely have claimed that any opinions he might hold, on the 
 subject of finance, for instance, would be of as much public im- 
 portance as the opinion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. That 
 he was Foreign Secretary at the time when he chatted so unre- 
 servedly to the French Ambassador, and wrote so freely to Lord 
 Normanby, was a sufficient reason why he should have been quite 
 certain that his views were in accordance with those of the Min- 
 istry responsible to the country for the conduct of foreign as 
 well as domestic affairs. 
 
 Palmerston quitted the Treasury bench, and the Russell ad- 
 ministration was drawing to an end. On the 9th of February the 
 Premier obtained leave to bring in a new Reform Bill • and pro- 
 bably desired to complete — at least so far as he thought it required 
 completion — his great work of 1832. But the best laid schemes 
 of statesmen, like those " o' mice an' men, gang aft a-gley." Be- 
 fore the time appointed for the first reading, he was called upon 
 to explain the Militia scheme of the Government, and moved for 
 a Committee of the whole House to take into consideration the 
 Local Militia Acts. He proposed to revive the Local Militia, 
 instituted in 1808 and suspended in 18 16. This force, which 
 during that period numbered about 213,000 men, consisted of a 
 force for each county six times as numerous as the proper Militia 
 quota ; comprising, of course, many who, from age or other cir- 
 cumstances, were ineligible for the regular Militia. These troops 
 could only be marched beyond the limits of their respective 
 counties in the event of an invasion. The regular Militia can be 
 embodied at any time of emergency, on the responsibility of the 
 Government, and employed as a defensive or garrison force, setting 
 free the regular army for aggressive operations. The force is highly 
 valued as a training school for the regular army, into which many 
 of the best men, physically and morally, enlist. 
 
1852.] THE FIRST DERBY MINISTRY. 105 
 
 The opposition to the Government scheme was led by Lord 
 Palmerston, who now had his opportunity for retaliation. He 
 moved the omission of the word " local," and advocated an 
 increase of the regular Militia, which he thought was justified by 
 the critical position of public affairs. " What the country wanted," 
 he said, " was a regular Militia, a force which had existed nearly 
 two hundred years, whereas a local Militia was an occasional 
 force for a particular emergency." On a division Ministers were 
 defeated by a majority of n ; and Lord John Russell stated that 
 he considered the result tantamount to a vote of want of confi- 
 dence. A few days afterwards he announced to the Commons, 
 and the Marquis of Lansdowne to the Lords, that Ministers had 
 placed their resignations in the hands of the Sovereign. 
 
 A writer in the Annual Register says : " The event created little 
 surprise, the progressive feebleness of the Cabinet and its mea- 
 sures having for some time prepared the public mind for a change. 
 It was generally felt that the catastrophe was a mere question of 
 time, and that the defeat which immediately preceded the crisis was 
 but one of the many causes which contributed to produce it." 
 
 The Earl of Derby received the royal command to form a 
 Ministry, and by the 27 th of February his arrangements were 
 completed. It is generally understood that he offered Mr. Glad- 
 stone a place in the Cabinet, but that the offer was declined. 
 The Peelites, or Liberal Conservatives — of whom, since the death 
 of Sir Robert, Mr. Gladstone had been the most conspicuous 
 member in the lower House — were too identified with an advanced 
 commercial and financial policy to cast in their lot with the party 
 led by Lord Derby ; but they had not as yet joined the Whigs, 
 and might be looked upon generally as independent supporters 
 of the Government. Respecting Free Trade, the Government held 
 itself in reserve. The Parliament, which had assembled in Novem- 
 ber, 1847, was dying out ; the Conservatives were in a minority, 
 
106 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1852. 
 
 and must trust to the issue of the imminent general election for the 
 possibility of being able to carry on public affairs. In his first 
 speech as Premier, the Earl of Derby said that his individual 
 opinion was in favour of the principle advocated by Sir Robert 
 Peel in 1842, and which was similar to the American system — " the 
 freest admission of raw materials, but the imposition of duties 
 principally and avowedly on those articles which enter into com- 
 petition with the produce of our own soil and industry." He 
 could, he declared, see no grounds why the article of corn should 
 be a solitary exception from the general system of imposing 
 duties on foreign imports ; but he was prepared firmly to abide by 
 whatever verdict the country might pronounce at the forthcoming 
 general election on the merits of Free Trade. If that verdict were 
 favourable, he avowed his intention, notwithstanding his own 
 opinion on the subject remained unchanged, to accept and adhere 
 to the decision of the country. If the issue should be different, 
 he was equally prepared to give effect to the public wishes. In 
 the House of Commons, Mr. Disraeli, for the first time a Cabinet 
 Minister, holding the important office of Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer, made a similar statement. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone urged the Government to make the appeal to 
 the country with as little delay as possible ; but there was a con- 
 siderable amount of necessary business to be disposed of before 
 the dissolution could take place. 
 
 On the 29th of March, Mr. Spencer Walpole, the Secretary of 
 State for the Home Department, introduced the new Militia Bill, 
 in which the principle of a local Militia was abandoned, and pro- 
 vision was made for greatly strengthening the general force. It 
 was in the debate on the Bill that the amiable Home Secretary, 
 one of those good people who take everything in earnest, adopted 
 as serious an after-dinner joke of the Earl of Derby's, and gravely 
 announced that it was the intention of the Government to confer 
 
1852.] HIGH CHURCH PRACTICES. 107 
 
 a Parliamentary vote on every militiaman of a certain standing in 
 the force — an announcement he withdrew on the following night 
 amid the laughter of the House. The perilous position of the 
 Continental Powers, just escaped from the great revolutionary 
 wave, and the uncertainty with regard to the action of the Prince- 
 President of France, whose ambition to revive the Empire was 
 known to all the world, made it imperative on the Government to 
 strengthen the military power of the country ; and by increasing 
 and organising the Militia that end would be best obtained. The 
 Bill passed both Houses with little difficulty ; and in the Lords, 
 the Duke of Wellington, in almost his last Parliamentary utter- 
 ance — he died in less than six months afterwards — gave the great 
 weight of his unrivalled authority and experience to the ministerial 
 plan. He said : " We have never up to this moment maintained 
 a proper peace establishment — that is the real truth. . . . For the 
 last ten years you have never had in your army more men than 
 enough to relieve the sentries on duty at your stations in the dif- 
 ferent parts of the world." 
 
 In the spring of the year, another ecclesiastical matter had 
 greatly excited the public mind, and in due course became the 
 subject of Parliamentary discussion. The Rev. Mr. Bennett, 
 whose High Church practices at St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, had 
 alarmed the Evangelicals but had greatly pleased the Ritualists, 
 was instituted to the vicarage of Frome, Somerset, by the Bishop 
 of Bath and Wells, in face of very energetic protests. It was 
 contended that the Bishop had acted in excess of his authority, 
 and confounded the true principles of the Church of England. 
 Mr. Horsman — a man of considerable ability, and possessed ot 
 great rhetorical power, whose supercilious and patronising man- 
 ner earned in after years Disraeli's description of him as " the 
 superior person of the House of Commons " — moved an address 
 to the Queen, asking for " an inquiry whether respect was paid 
 
108 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1852. 
 
 to the decrees' of the Constitution and Canons Ecclesiastical of 
 the Church of England in the recent institution of the Rev. Mr. 
 Bennett to the vicarage of Frome." 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer opposed the motion on the 
 part of the Government, and was supported by Mr. Gladstone. 
 The motion was negatived, but on the 8th of June, Mr. Horsman 
 renewed the subject by moving for a Select Committee of the 
 House to inquire into the circumstances connected with the in- 
 stitution of Mr. Bennett. Mr. Gladstone opposed this motion 
 also, and defended the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who had, he 
 maintained, done his duty. He had no objection to an inquiry 
 into the whole subject of ecclesiastical appointments, and the 
 state of the law on the matter generally. Such an inquiry would 
 confer one of the greatest possible services on the country, and 
 materially contribute to the stability of the Church of England. 
 In his reply, Mr. Horsman said : " The right honourable gen- 
 tleman, member for the University of Oxford, was a practical 
 debater, a zealous theologian, a subtle reasoner; and he had 
 shown himself that night to be by no means a contemptible casuist 
 The right honourable gentleman had addressed the House as if 
 he held a brief upon the question, and most ably did he play the 
 advocate for the accused." The motion was again opposed from 
 the Treasury bench, but carried by a majority of 45, and the 
 Committee was appointed. 
 
 On the 22nd of April, Mr. Milner Gibson, representing the Free 
 Traders, appeared as the champion of the movement for repeal- 
 ing the " Taxes on Knowledge," and introduced a resolution in 
 favour of the repeal of the paper duty. The Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer opposed it on financial grounds, without reference to 
 the merits of the question ; and, after several vigorous speeches, 
 the debate was adjourned till the 12th of May, and then Mr. 
 Gladstone spoke in opposition to the motion, supporting Mr. 
 
1852.] MR, DISRAELI'S FIRST BUDGET. 1 
 
 Disraeli. " He would be heartily glad," he said, " when the tir 
 
 came for the paper duty to be repealed ; but they should have tl 
 
 whole case, and the whole state of the revenue before them, befo 
 
 entering on a discussion of that kind. It was most imprude 
 
 for members of Parliament, when they were under a strong ii 
 
 pression of the disadvantage of a particular tax, to pledge the: 
 
 selves to its unconditional repeal." He took occasion, in t 
 
 course of his speech, to attack the booksellers for keeping up t 
 
 price of books, by trade restrictions of " a most imprudent ai 
 
 unwarrantable character " ; and said : " I venture to say that t 
 
 whole system of the bookselling trade of this country, except 
 
 far as it is partially neutralised by what are called cheap publi< 
 
 tions, is a disgrace to our present state of civilisation." We re 
 
 these remarks with some surprise in these days of good and che 
 
 literature, when the best books can be bought for prices whi 
 
 scarcely appear sufficient to cover the expense of paper and pri 
 
 Mr. Milner Gibson's resolution was negatived by a majority 
 
 88 (Mr. Gladstone did not vote) ; and resolutions for the aboliti 
 
 of the newspaper stamp and the duty on advertisements w< 
 
 also lost by majorities respectively of 99 and 65. 
 
 In a similar spirit, Mr. Gladstone supported Mr. Disrae 
 Budget, which was necessarily of a temporary character, for 1 
 real financial policy of the Derby Government could not be 
 vealed until the decision of the constituencies had been giv 
 The leading feature of the Budget was the continuance for anotl 
 year of the income and property tax, imposed by the last A 
 ministration. Mr. Gladstone took occasion to compliment 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer on the manner in which he r 
 introduced the financial statement. He might have been s 
 pected of a little touch of badinage, if not, indeed, of satire, wl 
 praising the first appearance in the character of finance mini; 
 of the brilliant novelist and poet, the man of imagination \ 
 
110 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1852. 
 
 epigram, whose political career had been almost as dramatic 
 as any of the creations of his own brain. But Mr. Gladstone 
 was always in earnest, and the faculty of humour is not a remark- 
 ably conspicuous element of his capacious intellect. He accepted 
 the Chancellor's statement of the financial position of the country 
 as a proof that the commercial policy initiated by Sir Robert 
 Peel had borne good fruit. "He should have been perfectly 
 satisfied to have allowed the case of the commercial policy of 
 the last few years to remain on the very able statement of the 
 right honourable gentleman, who had, in a manner highly honour- 
 able to him, and in a manner peculiarly his own, laid before the 
 House the result of that policy." 
 
 On another subject Mr. Gladstone opposed the Ministry and 
 caused its defeat. St. Albans and Sudbury had been disfran- 
 chised as a punishment for flagrant electoral corruption ; and the 
 Government proposed to allot the four seats so rendered vacant to 
 other constituencies. On the ioth of May, Mr. Disraeli moved 
 for leave to introduce a Bill for the purpose ; and in the course 
 of a long speech, in which he weighed the claims of the metro- 
 politan boroughs and other places, proposed to give two more 
 members to the West Riding of Yorkshire and two to the Southern 
 Division of Lancashire. Mr. Gladstone argued that there was no 
 pressing necessity to enter on the question ; no sufficient reason 
 why the number of members should be fixed at what Mr. Disraeli 
 had described as " the constitutional number of members of the 
 House." " It appears," he said, " upon the clearest evidence, 
 that the idea of any legal title or constitutional virtue attaching to 
 the number 658 is as pure a fiction as ever entered the mind of 
 man. It appears a matter of fact, patent and notorious to all the 
 world, that, for the last eight years, during three ministries and 
 with a general election intervening, we have fallen short of the 
 constitutional number." He moved : " That the House do pass 
 
1852.] THE GRANT TO MAYNOOTH. HI 
 
 to the order of the day." The division showed a majority against 
 the Government of 86, the numbers being : Ayes, 148 ; Noes, 234. 
 It might have been supposed that the proposition to give four 
 additional members to the great manufacturing districts would 
 have received the support of representatives of commercial con- 
 stituencies ; but Mr. Cobden, one of the representatives of the 
 West Riding, and Mr. Bright, member for Manchester, went into 
 the lobby among the majority with Mr. Gladstone and the Peel- 
 ites, who, on their part, rubbed shoulders with Mr. Duncombe 
 and Mr. Wakley, the Radical representatives of Finsbury. 
 
 The Ministry, however, received Mr. Gladstone's support of the 
 Bill for giving a responsible constitution to New Zealand, intro- 
 duced by Sir John Pakington, Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
 
 A considerable amount of time was lost in the debate on a 
 motion by Mr. Spooner, member for North Warwickshire, who 
 proposed the appointment of a select committee to enquire into 
 the system of education followed at Maynooth. He condemned 
 the instruction given on the ground that it tended to weaken the 
 allegiance of the students to a Protestant Sovereign, and incul- 
 cated and defended immorality. Mr. Spooner and other ultra- 
 Protestants declared that spiritual allegiance to the Pope must be 
 incompatible with temporal allegiance to the English Sovereign, 
 and that the practice of the confessional sapped the foundations 
 of morality. Mr. Spencer Walpole, on the part of the Govern- 
 ment, supported the motion for enquiry. Mr. Gladstone, too, 
 supported it ; but insisted that the proposed enquiry should be 
 conducted under the immediate superintendence, and on the 
 responsibility of the executive Government, and not by any indi- 
 vidual, however great his eminence and gifts. " Respecting the 
 Parliamentary grant to Maynooth/' he said, " if this endowment 
 be withdrawn, the Parliament which withdraws it must be pre- 
 pared to enter upon the whole subject of a reconstruction of the 
 
112 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1852. 
 
 ecclesiastical arrangements of Ireland." These words greatly 
 alarmed Sir Robert Inglis, who understood them to indicate that 
 his colleague in the representation of the Oxford University was 
 not indisposed to reconsider the status of the Irish Church. Sir 
 Robert was a good man, but did not possess the gift of prophecy, 
 and was probably spared considerable mental anxiety by not 
 being able to foresee what his colleague would achieve in 187 1. 
 On the 9th of June, after protracted debates, Mr. Spooner's 
 motion dropped — killed by a Wednesday sitting. 
 
 The development of Church of England principles in the British 
 colonies had for a long time been an object dear to Mr. Glad- 
 stone's heart; but he also entertained a clear perception that 
 the Church, as an institution, must be modified in its action in 
 the new communities, where it could not be allied with the Govern- 
 ment, as he desired it to be in the mother country. The political 
 equality of sects, which he was not disposed to concede here, 
 must be recognised there, where all parties claimed equal privi- 
 leges. As matters stood, the members of the Anglican Church 
 were at a disadvantage in the colonies, for they had not the power 
 of self-government which the Nonconformist churches possessed, 
 nor the parochial organisation, synodic action, and right of appeal 
 to regularly constituted ecclesiastical courts which Churchmen at 
 home possessed. Clergymen in the colonies had no defence 
 against the bishop of the diocese if he were disposed to make a 
 hasty or arbitrary use of his power ; they were not parochial in- 
 cumbents, but practically the curates of the bishops, and it was 
 doubtful if they were entitled to appeal to the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury. The Bishop of Tasmania claimed to be empowered 
 by the terms of his letters patent to establish ecclesiastical courts 
 in his diocese ; but the Nonconformists of the colony discovered, 
 to his discomfiture, that the letters patent on which he relied 
 were illegal, as the Queen's prerogative did not enable her to 
 
1852.] THE CHURCH IN THE COLONIES. 113 
 
 confer that power. All the episcopal communities in the Australian 
 and American colonies asked for a remedy for their grievances ; 
 and, in the hope of affording it, Mr. Gladstone brought in the 
 Colonial Bishops Bill. 
 
 In moving the second reading, on the 22nd of April, he said 
 
 . the principle which he had endeavoured to carry out was that of 
 
 leaving the colonies (subject to any restraints needful on imperial 
 
 grounds) to the uncontrolled management of their own local 
 
 affairs, whether for ecclesiastical or civil purposes. He said : — 
 
 "I must not attempt to disguise from the House that the principle upon which 
 T wish to proceed with reference to this Bill is that of religious equality. If I am 
 asked how I can justify such a course with my duties to a constituency formed 
 in great part of the clergy of the Established Church, I say at once that it is 
 my paramount duty to promote, by any means in my power, the interests of 
 that religious system to which they belong ; and I feel convinced, after not a 
 brief study of colonial affairs, that I shouldbe taking a course detrimental and 
 ruinous to those interests if I were to refrain from recognising, or hesitate to 
 recognise, any measure for the Church of England in the colonies which had 
 for its basis the principle of perfect religious equality as the principle of 
 colonial legislation. ... I will frankly state, in the face of the House 
 of Commons, that if any man offered me for the Church of England in the 
 colonies the boon of civil preference, I would reject the boon as a fatal 
 gift ; convinced that any such preference would be nothing but a source of 
 weakness to the Church itself, and of difficulty and discord to the colonial 
 communities, in the soil of which he wanted to see her take a free, strong, 
 and healthy root." 
 
 At first the Ministry seemed disposed to give the Bill a favour- 
 able consideration ; but Sir John Pakington, the Secretary for the 
 Colonies, wished for time to consider its provisions, and the 
 debate was adjourned for three weeks. When the subject again 
 came before the House, he strenuously opposed the Bill ; and, 
 yielding to circumstances, Mr. Gladstone declined to press the 
 Bill to a division. 
 
 In the division by which Mr. Locke King's County Franchise 
 Bill was lost, Mr. Gladstone's name appears in the majority. 
 
 The urgent business having been disposed of, Parliament was 
 dissolved on the 1st of Tulv: and Ministers and members pre- 
 
114 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [ 
 
 pared for the great appeal to the decision of the com 
 As the elections proceeded, it became increasingly evident 
 there would not be such a decisive majority in favour of 
 restoration of Protection as would justify the Governmen 
 attempting to reverse the policy of Free Trade. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone's seat for the University of Oxford was th; 
 ened. His resolute assertion of independence as a represc- 
 tive, and his utterances respecting Church matters, had offer 
 and alarmed many among his clerical constituents ; and a 
 siderable number of members of the constituency determine 
 oppose his re-election. They signed a declaration that they 1 
 " compelled, by their sense of duty at the present crisis, to dec 
 that, notwithstanding their high respect for the personal i 
 racter, literary attainments, and acknowledged talents of the R 
 Honourable W. E. Gladstone, they considered him, since he 
 opposed, by his speeches and votes, the judgment pronoui 
 by Convocation on questions of great importance, to be no lo: 
 a suitable representative of the University in Parliament." 
 Marsham, the Warden of Merton, was requested to come forv 
 as a candidate. 
 
 Then, as now, many practices which at other times everyt 
 would stigmatise as dishonest, and many statements which ev 
 body knows to be false, were resorted to as legitimate tac 
 " All is fair in elections/' is a principle deeply grafted in 
 mind of the average Englishman, who appears to think that si 
 mysterious power gives dispensation from the observance of 
 rules of ordinary morality between the time of issuing the 
 and announcing the result of the poll. In this instance, 
 Oxford University election of 1852, a wide publicity 
 given to assertions that Mr. Gladstone had changed his vi 
 on the relation of Church and State, and that the legitin 
 development of the principles he now held would lead to 
 
1852.] RE-ELECTED FOR OXFORD UNIVERSITY. 115 
 
 abandonment of the connection between the two. Mr. Gladstone 
 felt it incumbent on him to reply to these statements; and 
 he did so in a letter to Mr. Greswell, of Worcester College, 
 Chairman of his Oxford committee. He asserted that his prin- 
 ciples were unchanged, that he was aware of no incompatibility 
 between the principle of full religious freedom and the main- 
 tenance of the National Church in connection with the State, to 
 both of which he was, as ever, cordially attached. He added — 
 and the remark was characteristic of the man — that if he had 
 changed his opinions, he should not have left it to others to 
 announce it to the world. 
 
 The election lasted four days, and the result was that Sir 
 Robert Inglis, the old and honoured member, headed the poll 
 with 1,369 votes; Mr. Gladstone polled 1,108 ; and Dr. Marsham, 
 758. By a clear majority, therefore, of 350, Mr. Gladstone was 
 again returned to the House of Commons as representative of the 
 University. It will be noticed that the votes given for Mr. 
 Gladstone exceeded by 1 1 1 those recorded at the previous elec- 
 tion in 1847. 
 
 The new Parliament met on the 4th of November, and, the 
 preliminary business of electing a Speaker and swearing-in the 
 members having been disposed of, was formally opened by the 
 Queen on the 1 ith. The most interesting paragraph of the Speech 
 was that which referred to the Free Trade policy — at that time the 
 paramount question : — 
 
 "It gives me pleasure to be enabled, by the blessing of Providence, to con- 
 gratulate you on the generally improved condition of the country, and espe- 
 cially of the industrial classes. If you should be of opinion that recent 
 legislation, in contributing, with other causes, to the happy result, has at the 
 same time inflicted unavoidable injury on certain important interests, I recom- 
 mend you dispassionately to consider how far it may be practicable equitably 
 to mitigate that injury, and to enable the industry of the country to meet suc- 
 cessfully that unrestricted competition to which Parliament, in its wisdom, 
 has decided that it should be subject." 
 
116 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [ 
 
 In the debate in the Lords on the Address, the Earl of E 
 said : — " With regard to the policy of free trade, he did not 
 tate to say that, after the opinion pronounced by the countrj 
 was prepared to bow to its decision ; and, while desirous as f 
 possible to mitigate the injury inflicted by that policy, to a 
 it, and carry it out frankly and loyally." 
 
 Mr. Disraeli spoke to the same purpose in the Commons, 
 their speeches were the farewell to the policy of Protec 
 Henceforth Free Trade was practically an item of British poli 
 faith. The Conservative leaders accepted their defeat ■ 
 grace, and manfully avowed their faithful allegiance to the 
 order of things. It did not, however, suit the temper of the ] 
 Traders, pure and simple, to accept the new adherents and t 
 policy without an attempt to exult over the victory. They d< 
 mined, if possible, to make their former opponents drain to 
 dregs the cup of humiliation. 
 
 It was, of course, known to all that one of the first tasks of 
 Ministry must be the preparation of a Budget framed in ace 
 ance with the policy they had adopted as their own. The I 
 Traders, however, determined to anticipate the discussion 1 
 must arise on the financial propositions by binding the Housi 
 an emphatic assertion of Free Trade principles, worded in sue 
 manner that it would carry an effective condemnation of the j 
 conduct of those who had previously supported Protect 
 Mr. Charles Villiers, member for Wolverhampton, one of 
 ablest of the Anti-Corn Law champions, moved a resolui 
 expressing the approval of the House of the Free Trade pol 
 and asserting that the Act of 1846, which established the i 
 admission of foreign corn, was a " wise, just, and benefi 
 measure." 
 
 A large number of members on both sides of the House 
 that these words were unnecessary, that the victory was gain 
 
1852.] EULOGY OF PEEL. 117 
 
 and that it was ungenerous to hurl adjectives at the heads of 
 the defeated opponents of the measure ; and Lord Palmerston, 
 — who, as he once said, was always ready to hit as hard as he 
 could when engaged in a fight, but quite ready to forget all about 
 it afterwards — moved an amendment to the effect : " That the 
 improved condition of the country, and especially of the indus- 
 trial classes, is mainly the result of recent legislation, which has 
 established the principle of unrestricted competition, has abolished 
 taxes imposed for the purposes of Protection, and has thereby 
 diminished the cost and increased the abundance of the prin- 
 cipal articles of the food of the people." Mr. Disraeli, the Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer, withdrew an amendment he had proposed 
 and accepted that of Lord Palmerston. He strongly objected to 
 the words " wise, just, and beneficial," employed by Mr. Villiers, 
 describing them as " three odious epithets." The divisions took 
 place in a very full House. The resolution proposed by Mr. 
 Villiers was rejected by a majority of 80 • and Lord Palmerston's 
 accepted by a majority of 415, only 53 voting against it. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone made a long and, even for him, remarkably elo- 
 quent and earnest speech, in support ot Palmerston's amendment 
 which, he said, would have ensured the approval of Sir Robert 
 Peel ; and he proceeded to refer to the political career of that 
 great statesman : — 
 
 "It is our honour and our pride to be his followers ; and I say, if we 
 are his followers, let us imitate him in that magnanimity which was one of 
 the most distinguished characteristics of the man. When Sir Robert Peel 
 severed a political connection of thirty-five years' standing, he knew and felt 
 the price he was paying for the performance of his duty. It was no small 
 matter, in an advanced stage of life like his, to break up, and to break up 
 for ever, too, its habits and its associations. He looked, indeed, for his 
 revenge — but for what revenge did he look ? He did not seek for vindication 
 through the medium of any stinging speeches or motions made or carried in 
 favour of his policy, if they bore a sense of pain or degradation to the minds 
 of honourable men. His vindication was this : he knew the wisdom of his 
 measures would secure their acceptance ; he knew those who opposed them 
 for erroneous opinions would acknowledge them after competent experience ; 
 
118 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1852. 
 
 he looked to see them established in the esteem and in the judgment of the 
 country ; he looked to see them govern by some degree the policy of every 
 nation in the civilised world ; he knew he would have his reward — first of all, 
 in the enormous good that he was the instrument, in the hand of Providence, 
 of effecting ; and, secondly, in the reputation which he knew would be his 
 own appropriate desert. And as to that aristocracy whose purposes he might 
 feel he was then somewhat violently thwarting, I am convinced that, with a 
 prophetic eye, he anticipated the day when every man who reviled him, if 
 they were men, as he believed them to be, of honest judgment and intention — 
 though perhaps using towards him opprobrious language, never so ill-deserved 
 — that they were men who would in the course of time see that he never 
 rendered them so great and solid a service as when, with the whole power of 
 the Government, he proposed to Parliament the repeal of the Corn Laws. 
 His belief was that their cause was a great and sacred cause ; that the aris- 
 tocracy of England were elements in its political and social system with which 
 the welfare of the country was inseparably bound up ; and to him it was a 
 noble object of ambition to redeem such a cause from associations with a 
 policy originally adopted in a state of imperfect knowledge and with erro- 
 neous views, but which, when the clear light of the day was poured upon it, 
 should be found, in the daily experience, and in the light and view of the 
 thinking portion of the community, to bear the character of much that was 
 sordid and much that was false. . . . This is the vindication to which he 
 looked, and seeing that we are now celebrating the obsequies of this obnoxious 
 policy, and are now seeking to adopt a declaration admitted on all hands to 
 be perfectly clear in its assertion of the principle of Free Trade, if we still 
 cherish the desire to trample on those who have fought manfully, and been 
 defeated fairly, let us endeavour to put it away from ourselves, to rejoice in 
 the great public good that has been achieved, and let us take courage, from 
 the attainment of that good, for the performance of public duty in future." 
 
 Great applause from both sides of the House greeted this 
 earnest vindication of the character and policy of Peel, and the 
 implied reproof of the indiscreet exultation of the Anti-Corn Law- 
 party. 
 
 On the 3rd of December, Mr. Disraeli brought forward the 
 anxiously expected financial statement. In his introductory 
 speech he said that, as the principle of unrestricted competition 
 had been finally adopted as the principle of our commercial 
 system, he desired to blend the financial system and the commer- 
 cial code more harmoniously together, and to remove many well- 
 founded causes of discontent among the people. The chief 
 alterations he proposed to make were the reduction of the light 
 
1852.] OPPOSITION TO THE HOUSE TAX. 
 
 dues on shipping, of the malt tax by one half, of the tea di 
 immediately from 2s. 2*4d. per lb. to is. iod., and ultimately 
 is., the reduction to be spread over six years, and of the h 
 duty by one half. These remissions would involve a loss to t 
 revenue of more than ^3,000,000, to supply which he propos 
 to impose the income tax on industrial incomes above ;£ioo, a: 
 on incomes derived from property above .£50, and on fund 
 property and salaries in Ireland ; and to extend the house tax 
 houses rated at not less than £10 a year, private houses is. 6 
 and shops is. in the pound. 
 
 The debate on the Budget propositions, when, after the inter 1 
 of a few days, the formal resolutions were brought forward, last 
 four nights. The public feeling in opposition to the house t< 
 especially in the metropolis and large towns, was very strong 
 expressed, and in the House the Opposition made it one of t 
 strong points in their resistance to the financial scheme. I 
 Charles Wood, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the last Wl 
 ministry, said : " The direct taxes proposed would subject lar 
 numbers of the poorer classes to taxation for the first time, ai 
 although exemptions were said to be a vice in direct taxation, t 
 income tax was applied to Ireland with exemptions that woi 
 make it partial and odious, as well as a breach of national far 
 Nothing could be so bad as the Budget which prodigally sac 
 need revenue and tampered with the credit of the country." ]V 
 Gladstone argued that the extension of the income tax to fur 
 holders in Ireland was a breach of public faith with the natior 
 creditor. 
 
 On the last night of the debate, Mr. Disraeli replied to t 
 objections raised. He said the Ministers were opposed by a co; 
 tion, but he appealed from that to the public opinion of the count: 
 He especially referred to Sir James Graham (who, of all t 
 Peelites, seems to have been most disliked by the Conservativ* 
 
120 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1852. 
 
 as " one whom he would not say he greatly respected, but whom 
 he greatly regarded." 
 
 No sooner had the Chancellor of the Exchequer resumed his 
 seat than Mr. Gladstone rose. It was evident that he was pre- 
 pared to make a great effort, and the expectation raised was not 
 disappointed. He spoke with, even for him, extraordinary 
 energy, beginning with a direct personal attack on Mr. Disraeli 
 for " the licence of language he had used, and the phrases he had 
 applied to public men." The surplus on which the Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer prided himself consisted only of the Exchequer 
 Loan Fund, which was a surplus of borrowed money, and it was 
 clear there was an actual deficiency. He continued : — 
 
 " I vote against the Budget not only because I disapprove upon general 
 grounds of the principles of that Budget, but emphatically and peculiarly 
 because, in my conscience — though it may be an erroneous belief — it is my firm 
 conviction that the Budget is one, I will not say the most radical, but I will 
 say the most subversive in its tendencies and ultimate effects which I have ever 
 known submitted to the House. It is the most regardless of those general 
 rules of prudence which it is absolutely necessary we should preserve, and 
 which it is perfectly impossible that this House, as a popular assembly, should 
 observe, unless the Government sets us the example, and uses its influence to 
 keep us in the right course. Sir, the House of Commons is a noble assembly, 
 worthy of its historical and traditional associations ; but it is too much to 
 expect that we should teach the Executive its duty in elementary matters of 
 administration and finance. If I vote against the Government, I vote in 
 support of those Conservative principles which, I thank God, are common in 
 a great degree to all parties in the British House of Commons, but of which 
 I thought it was the peculiar pride and glory of the Conservative party to be 
 
 the champions and the leaders You are now asked to vote for a 
 
 Budget which consecrates, as it were, the principle of a deficiency, which 
 endangers the public credit of the country, and which may peril our safety. . . 
 I feel it my duty to use that freedom of speech which, I am sure, as English- 
 men, you will tolerate, when I tell you that, if you give your assent and 
 your high authority to this most unsound and destructive principle on which 
 the financial scheme of the Government is based — you may refuse my appeal 
 now, you may accompany the right honourable gentleman the Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer into the lobby, but my belief is that the day will come when 
 you will look back upon this vote, as its consequences, sooner or later, 
 unfold themselves, with bitter, but with late and ineffectual regret. " 
 
 He concluded by moving "the previous question" as an 
 
1852.] RESIGNATION OF THE EARL OF DERBY. 121 
 
 amendment to the resolution affecting the inhabited house duty, 
 and the Government was defeated by a majority of 19, the 
 numbers being 305 against 286 — Whigs, Peelites, and advanced 
 Radicals uniting to defeat the Ministerial proposition. On the 
 motion of Mr. Disraeli the House immediately adjourned. 
 
 On Monday, the 20th of December, the Earl of Derby 
 announced in the House of Lords the resignation of the Ministry, 
 and that the Earl of Aberdeen had undertaken the formation of a 
 new administration. He reiterated the assertion of Mr. Disraeli 
 that there had been a deliberate combination against the Govern- 
 ment. '* We have had," he said, " some curious revelations 
 made to us by a right honourable baronet [Sir James Graham], a 
 member of the other House, who has lifted the curtain, admitted 
 us behind the scenes, shown us the actors preparing for their 
 parts, and discussing the most convenient phrases to be adopted 
 in order to obtain that universal concurrence which is necessary 
 to accomplish their object, and studiously concealing their 
 measures so as to place the Government in a minority. ,, 
 
 The Duke of Newcastle (who, when Earl of Lincoln, in the 
 House of Commons, had been one of the staunchest of the 
 supporters of Sir Robert Peel, and the close ally of Mr. 
 Gladstone) followed the Earl of Derby, and contradicted the 
 statement respecting a combination adverse to the Ministry. 
 What Sir James Graham had done was that, with others, he had 
 endeavoured to prepare a resolution which should unite all the 
 friends of Free Trade, and, at the same time, be separate from 
 all measures of hostility, or even appearance of opposition to the 
 Government. 
 
 On the same day, Mr. Disraeli, in the House of Commons, 
 announced the resignation of the Ministry, and took occasion to 
 express regret if, in the heat of debate, he had hurt the feelings of 
 any gentleman in the House. There was a general interchange 
 
122 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1853. 
 
 of amiabilities, Sir James Graham, Sir Charles Wood, and others 
 retracting any strong language they might have employed, and 
 uniting in complimenting Mr. Disraeli on the ability he had 
 shown in discharging the duties of leader of the House. 
 
 A week afterwards the Earl of Aberdeen was able to announce 
 that he had succeeded in forming an administration, and the 
 Houses adjourned till the ioth of February, 1853. 
 
 The Earl of Aberdeen, who at the age of sixty-eight attained 
 the highest of political honours, had been accepted as the leader 
 of the Peelite section — party it could scarcely be called — which, 
 since the death of Sir Robert, had played so remarkable a part 
 in Parliamentary politics. It was neither Tory nor Whig, but 
 occupied a middle position between the two parties — attached to 
 Church and State, very averse to Radical theories, but perceptive 
 of economical truths, and sincerely patriotic and desirous to 
 ameliorate the condition of the country. Direct, in preference to 
 indirect taxation, was a maxim of the Peelites; and by the re- 
 mission of imposts on articles of first necessity, Sir Robert Peel 
 and his disciple in finance, Mr. Gladstone, had conferred incal- 
 culable benefit on the industrial classes. The Earl of Aberdeen 
 had been Foreign Secretary under the Duke of Wellington, 
 Colonial Secretary in Sir Robert Peel's first administration, and 
 afterwards Foreign Secretary again. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE COALITION MINISTRY. — GLADSTONE CHANCELLOR 
 
 OF THE EXCHEQUER. 
 
 The " travelled Thane, Athenian Aberdeen," of Byron's " English 
 Bards and Scotch Reviewers," found himself at the head of a 
 Ministry of a composite character, in which, however, the Peelites 
 were well represented. Mr. Gladstone, who had so successfully 
 thrown the late Chancellor of the Exchequer in the great financial 
 struggle, was obviously entitled, by the great ability he had dis- 
 played, to assume the vacant office. The Duke of Newcastle 
 was appointed Secretary for the Colonies, Sir James Graham 
 went to the Admiralty, Mr. Cardwell to the Board of Trade, and 
 Mr. Sidney Herbert became Secretary of War. The Whigs con- 
 tributed Lord John Russell, who took the seals of the Foreign 
 Office ; Lord Palmerston was Home Secretary (quite a new 
 position for him, but one which he filled admirably) ; Earl 
 Granville presided at the Council ; the Duke of Argyll was Lord 
 Privy Seal ; Sir Charles Wood, President of the India Board ; 
 and Lord Cranworth, Lord Chancellor; while the veteran 
 Marquis of Lansdowne, holding no office, added strength to the 
 Cabinet. The philosophical Radical, Sir William Molesworth, 
 accepted office as Chief Commissioner of Public Works. 
 
 There was certainly a considerable breaking down of party ties 
 
124 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1853. 
 
 in the formation of the famous Coalition Ministry ; and Colonel 
 Sibthorpe, who was more noted for comical utterances than for 
 political astuteness, expressed dismal forebodings as to the future, 
 and prophesied a speedy disruption of the discordant elements. 
 
 The re-elections necessitated by the acceptance of office 
 followed with as little delay as possible. On the 6th of January, 
 1853, the nomination of candidates for Oxford University took 
 place. The growing Liberalism of Mr. Gladstone had encouraged 
 the idea that he was not so " sound " on Church questions as the 
 extreme Protestant and Church and State party desired, and an 
 opposition candidate was brought forward in the person of Mr. 
 Dudley Perceval, of Christ Church, son of Mr. Spencer Perceval, 
 who was shot by Bellingham in the lobby of the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 The new candidate was proposed by Archdeacon Denison, 
 who said Mr. Perceval was " noted for the warmth of his oppo- 
 sition to the errors and superstitions of the Romish Church and 
 the Papal tyranny. *He regretted that a sense of public duty 
 made it incumbent on him to call on them to reject one who had 
 already represented them, but the nature of the present crisis 
 made it of paramount importance that the University should be 
 represented by a man whose most strenuous efforts would be 
 given to the maintenance of public order, the safety of the Church, 
 and the advancement of its interests." 
 
 Dr. R. Phillimore supported Mr. Gladstone's candidature. 
 "He knew/' he said, " how greatly his right honourable friend had 
 suffered from the etiquette which prevented him from appearing 
 and giving in person a truthful reply to the calumnies of which 
 he had been the object ; but he could, better than any other 
 man living, afford to be deprived of the advantage he would have 
 gained by the prevalence of a different custom, for he had the 
 shield of an unblemished character, the same noble reputation 
 
1853.] CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER. 125 
 
 which he bore when one of the most distinguished undergraduates 
 of that University, the same spotless moral character, and the 
 same intellectual eminence, refined and improved by time and 
 experience. He (Dr. Phillimore) well remembered the time 
 when his right honourable friend, avoiding the vices incident to 
 youth, yet retaining unimpaired all the gentleness, sweetness, 
 and forbearance of his disposition, was the ornament and pride of 
 the undergraduates of the University. He thought he might ask, 
 with all confidence, was there a man living who had reflected 
 more credit on the system under which he was educated and the 
 place in which he was brought up ? " 
 
 At the close of the poll Mr. Gladstone was returned by 1,022 
 votes, giving a majority of 124 over his opponent. 
 
 The new Chancellor of the Exchequer was soon in harness, 
 and ready for the financial fray in which that important political 
 functionary is destined to pass the greater portion of his official 
 existence. On the 8th of April he introduced resolutions on 
 the subject of the National Debt, proposing to liquidate certain 
 minor stocks, viz., the South Sea, Old and New South Sea 
 Annuities, Bank Annuities (1726), and the Three per Cent. 
 Annuities (1751), the total amount to be dealt with being about 
 ;£ 9, 5 00,000. These stocks, differing only in denomination, 
 perpetuated a certain complexity in the Debt, and Mr. Gladstone 
 proposed that they should be converted, or paid off, at the 
 option of the holders ; and by this plan estimated that an annual 
 present saving of ^25,000 would be effected. He also pro- 
 posed to issue Exchequer Bonds, bearing interest at the rate 01 
 £2 i$s. percent, to September 1, 1864, and £2 10s. to Sep- 
 tember 1, 1874. The total amount of stock converted was not 
 to exceed ^30,000,000. 
 
 The object of the conversion of stock and the issue of Ex- 
 chequer Bonds was " to lay the foundation of a permanent form 
 
126 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [ 
 
 of irredeemable public debt — irredeemable, I mean, at the Of 
 of the holders — bearing an interest of 2^4, per cent." 
 
 Mr. Disraeli, being in opposition, no doubt felt bourn 
 defend "the elegant simplicity of the Three per Cents.," 
 object to the proposed change, and probably was not persoi 
 indisposed to ridicule the first financial proposals of his'r 
 He compared the explanations of Mr. Gladstone to that cha 
 in the works of Thomas Aquinas which speculated as to 
 many angels could dance on the point of a needle. " E 
 age," he said, " has its great object ; this is the financial age, 
 its great object is, at all costs and by whatever means, to cr 
 a Two and a Half per Cent. Stock." The resolutions \ 
 carried, and Bills to embody them ordered to be brought in. 
 
 Some of the leaders of the Free Trade agitation now dire 
 their energies to the work of removing what were known, in 
 political language of the day, as the taxes on knowledge- 
 advertisement duty, the compulsory stamp on newspapers, 
 the paper duty. On the 14th of April, Mr. Milner Gibson mc 
 three resolutions in favour of the repeal of these imposts. It 
 within four days of the time when the Chancellor was to b 
 forward his financial statement, and he would have been r 
 painfully embarrassed if fettered by resolutions of this k 
 passed after he had prepared his Budget. He moved the prev 
 question, and warmly condemned the passing of abstract res 
 tions in favour of repealing taxation without knowing the stat 
 the finances. He said : — 
 
 "Large portions of the House had shown a very strong inclination to 
 away the funds by which the public charges were to be met, at the tole: 
 rapid rate of ^1,000,000 a week. That is a serious state of things fo: 
 House to consider. If the House was disposed to think that the best 1 
 of managing the finances of the country were by these successive votes a 
 instance of individual members, regulated by all the chances and accii 
 that determined which motion should come first — if they thought it a 
 course to encourage these motions and divisions with respect to them, th< 
 
1853.] A GREAT BUDGET. 127 
 
 had no more to say, except to suggest a public economy which might be very 
 acceptable to many — a particular reduction, not a general economy — the total 
 abolition of the office he had the honour to hold. He knew no conceivable 
 reason why a gentleman should be appointed with a considerable salary, and 
 decorated with a certain title, as steward of the public revenue, and guardian 
 of the public credit, and responsible for presenting to the House, in some 
 tolerable shape, a balance between the expenditure and the income of the 
 year, if the House, which was supreme in all these matters, was deliberately 
 of opinion that the best mode of dealing with them was by condemning on 
 successive motion days one sum after another." 
 
 This vigorous remonstrance, aided by the support of the 
 Opposition, who objected on principle to the remission of the 
 taxes, had the desired effect, the resolutions being defeated by 
 considerable majorities. 
 
 The night of the 18th is memorable in the history of the 
 House, and very remarkable in the history of Mr. Gladstone's 
 political career. He occupied five hours in unfolding his financial 
 scheme, and was, it was said, the first statesman who had made a 
 Budget interesting, not only on account of its own financial 
 features, but also from the method of explaining them. His speech 
 was a brilliant success, and enhanced even his great reputation 
 for oratorical ability and power of grasping and arranging the 
 details of an intricate subject. 
 
 He began with an announcement of remission and reduction. 
 The soap duty was to be taken off — a boon alike to the manu- 
 facturer (who was annoyed by the supervision of an officer of 
 Excise prying into his vats and examining his packages) and to 
 the public, who found cleanliness then an expensive luxury. The 
 duty on life assurances, a tax on prudence, was to be reduced 
 from half a crown per cent, to sixpence. A more startling novelty 
 still was the substitution of penny receipt stamps for the ex- 
 pensive stamps which had varied in proportion to the amount 
 paid, but the limit at which a stamped receipt was necessary was 
 extended from ^5 to £2. The duty on attorneys' certificates, 
 on articles of apprenticeship to attorneys, and on the ordinary 
 
128 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. | 
 
 indentures of apprenticeship, were reduced. A concession 
 very thankfully received) was made to Mr. Milner Gibson 
 his friends by the abolition of the stamp duty on newsp 
 supplements, and the reduction of the stamp duty from eighi 
 pence to sixpence ; and postage to the colonies was made uni 
 at sixpence. Then came the tea duty, in respect of which 
 Gladstone's proposition differed little from that of his predece 
 It was to be reduced for the coming year to is. iod., and t 
 lowered by 3^/. a year until the limit of is. was reached. Va 
 fruits, cheese, butter, and eggs were to be admitted at a 1 
 duty. Altogether there were reductions of duties on 133 n 
 articles of food, and an abolition of duties on 123; be: 
 which, the duties on hackney carriages, horses, post-horses. ( 
 and on other matters, were lowered. 
 
 These abolitions and alterations would cause a total loss t< 
 revenue of ^5,315,000, and then came the financier's i 
 difficulty. Taking off taxation is an agreeable duty, and su 
 please those who directly benefit by the proceeding ; but il 
 more delicate task to make up the deficiency and yet give j 
 faction. The elastic income-tax was depended on to supply 
 greater part of the sum required, and Mr. Gladstone was eloc 
 in his defence of the imposition : — 
 
 " Sir Robert Peel, in 1842, called forth from repose this giant, whic 
 once shielded us in war, to come and assist our industrious toils in peace 
 if the first income-tax produced striking and memorable results, so, I an 
 to say, at less expenditure by far in money, but without the painful accon 
 ments of havoc, war, and bloodshed, has the second income-tax. The s 
 income-tax has been the instrument by which you have introduced, a 
 which, I hope, ere long you may perfect the reform— the effective refor 
 your commercial and fiscal system ; and I, for one, am bold enough to ho] 
 to expect that in reforming your own fiscal and commercial system, yov 
 laid the foundation of similar reforms — slow, perhaps, but certain in 
 progress — through every country of the civilised world. I say, thei 
 that if we rightly use the income-tax, when we part with it we may loot 
 upon it with some satisfaction, and may console ourselves for the ann< 
 
1853.] TROUBLES IN THE EAST. 129 
 
 it may have entailed by the recollection that it has been the means of achieving 
 a great good, immediately to England and ultimately to mankind." 
 
 He proposed to renew the income-tax for seven years (to June, 
 t86o), the rate at first to be jd. in the pound on all incomes 
 over ^150, and to be reduced after two years; but the impost 
 was extended to incomes of ;£ioo, and between that amount 
 and ^150, the previous limit, it was to be $d. in the pound 
 throughout the whole period. The tax was to be extended to 
 Ireland, but not limited to salaries . or imposed on fundholders, 
 as proposed by Mr. Disraeli. A very important alteration was 
 proposed — the extension of the stamp duties payable on legacies 
 to succession and estate after death. The duty on Scotch spirits 
 was to be raised from $s. Sd. to 4s. Sd., and on Irish spirits from 
 2s. Sd. to $s. ^d. There was to be a slight increase on licences 
 for brewers and dealers in tea and coffee. 
 
 The result of these financial readjustments would be an esti- 
 mated surplus for the coming financial year of ,£700,000. 
 
 The proposition gave rise to a long and comprehensive debate, 
 but the voting on the resolution showed that the Ministry could 
 command good majorities. The Income- Tax Bill was carried 
 in the Commons by 126 to 55. 
 
 But the " best laid schemes " of Chancellors of the Exchequer, 
 as well as those " o' mice an' men, gang aft a-gley." Not long 
 after the delivery of the great budget speech, it became evident 
 that the Eastern troubles were ripening to a head, and that it 
 would be impossible for England, with a due regard to treaty 
 obligations, to remain neutral in the contest which appeared to 
 be inevitable. A Russian army had crossed the Pruth, and 
 financial estimates for the coming year were of little value in the 
 immediate prospect of the outbreak of a contest the results of 
 which no one could predict. The Ministry were determined to 
 support Turkey against Russia, and it was evident that " moral 
 
 K 
 
130 WIJLLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 
 
 support" only would avail little. On the 12th of Octobc 
 Gladstone took part at Manchester in the inauguration ( 
 statue of Sir Robert Peel, and in his speech in reply to an ai 
 presented to him said : " There is a necessity for regulatir 
 distribution of power in Europe ; and an absorption of pov 
 a great potentate in the east of Europe, which would folic 
 conquest of the Ottoman Empire, would be so dangerous t 
 world that it is the duty of Europe, at whatever cost, to set \ 
 against the possibility of it." 
 
 That phrase, " at whatever cost," implied a conviction 
 mind of the Chancellor of the Exchequer that he would, ere 
 be called upon to remodel his financial arrangements. Ref 
 on this occasion to the late Sir Robert Peel, the memor 
 whom was the object of his visit to Manchester, and -v 
 political pupil he was proud to consider himself, Mr. Glad 
 said : " Great as were the intellectual powers of Sir Robert 
 there was something yet more admirable than the immense 
 lectual endowments with which it had pleased the Almigt 
 gift him, and that was his sense of public virtue, his pur 
 conscience, his determination to follow the public good." 
 
 A few days before the delivery of this speech Turkey 
 declared war against Russia ; ten days afterwards the Englisl 
 French fleets had entered the Bosphorus ; and on the 5 
 December a protocol had been signed between Great Br 
 France, Austria, and Prussia, with the object of endeavourii 
 re-establish peace between Russia and Turkey. 
 
 When Parliament reassembled in February, T854, the a 
 of Eastern affairs was indeed formidable. The Russians 
 advancing, the Turks were straining every nerve to prepar 
 the defence of the European and Asiatic frontiers. The G 
 Government favoured an insurrection in Epirus and Albania, 
 proclaimed an Hellenic Empire, encouraged no doubt by Ri 
 
1854.] PREPARING FOR WAR. 1S1 
 
 which assumed to be the champion of the Greek Church, the 
 defender of the members of that communion in the Holy Places 
 of Syria, and to have no special designs upon Constantinople and 
 the Bosphorus, although the Czar, in confidential communication 
 with Sir Hamilton Seymour, British representative at St. Peters- 
 burg, was hinting ominously at the dying condition of the " sick 
 man," and the most convenient mode of dividing his property. 
 
 Although the formal declaration of war against Russia was not 
 made by this country until the 28th of March, it was known to 
 be inevitable. On the nth of the month the Queen reviewed 
 the Baltic fleet, to the command of which the " tough old Com- 
 modore," by that time Admiral Charles Napier, was appointed ; 
 and on the following day a treaty of alliance between Great 
 Britain, France, and Turkey was signed. Mr. Gladstone had to 
 provide the sinews of war, and as the Army and Navy Estimates 
 showed a great increase, the task before him was of a peculiarly 
 arduous character. 
 
 On the 6th of March he made his financial statement. The 
 time was unusually early for the production of a budget, but the 
 necessity was urgent. The Chancellor estimated that he would 
 have in hand, when the balance was struck, on the 5th of April, 
 a surplus of ^2,864,000, notwithstanding the sums already ex- 
 pended in military preparations. He estimated that the revenue 
 for the coming financial year (including this surplus) would 
 be ^53,349,000, and the expenditure ^56,189,000, leaving a 
 deficiency of ^2,840,000, for which provision must be made. 
 Hitherto his efforts had been in the direction of Peel's policy, the 
 reduction of indirect taxation ; and he resolved, as far as possible, 
 to adhere to that plan. He did not, he said, propose at present 
 to add a farthing to the indirect taxation of the country, but he 
 spoke only of the present moment — 
 
132 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 
 
 our power to secure for all those articles which have recently been r 
 from duty a permanent continuance of that relief. I fear all I can sa 
 respect to the objects of indirect taxation, as compared with those of 
 taxation, at the present time, is but a repetition of the promise given 
 Cyclops to Ulysses, that he should have the privilege of being devoured 
 
 He announced his determination to meet, if possible 
 expenses of the forthcoming contest as they accrued by app< 
 to the resources of the country, and not by resorting to tl 
 pedient of a loan from British and foreign capitalists. 
 
 " It is impossible to give an absolute pledge, or to record an imm 
 resolution, that the expenses of a war shall be borne by additions to tax 
 but it is possible for us to do this — to put a stout heart upon the matte 
 to determine that, so long as these burdens are bearable, and so long 
 supplies necessary for the service of the year can be raised within the ye 
 long we will not resort to the system of loans. " 
 
 He proposed to increase the income-tax by one-half, a] 
 that means he would have a revenue of ,£56,656,000, leav 
 small surplus of less than half a million. He also aske 
 power to issue Exchequer Bills to the amount of ;£i,75o,oo< 
 did not expect the whole of that sum would be required, 
 he did not regard his budget as having an exclusively w; 
 character, was shown by a proposition to reduce the cc 
 stamps on bills, and permit the use of adhesive stamps, a 
 convenience to business men. 
 
 Mr. Disraeli denounced the plan of increasing direct tax 
 and advocated resort to loans, taking occasion to refer to 
 terrible prospect of war brought about by the combinati 
 geniuses opposite me, and brought about absolutely b 
 amount of their talents and the discordancy of their opinion 
 
 The general feeling of the country supported the fin; 
 policy of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, described by I 
 Albert, in a letter to Baron Stockmar, as " manly, statesma; 
 and honest," and the resolutions were carried. 
 
 Two months afterwards, however, on the 8th of May 
 
1854.] A WAR BUDGET. 133 
 
 Gladstone was compelled to make another demand for money. 
 So great had been the amount expended on military and naval 
 preparations that the appeal was for ^6,850,000, in addition to 
 the sum already granted. The time, he feared, had come, and 
 the objects of indirect taxation could no longer escape. The 
 Cyclops was implacable, and Ulysses must prepare, if not exactly 
 to be devoured, yet to suffer considerably. There was, however, 
 still the wonderfully elastic and accommodating income-tax — that 
 was to be doubled ; then the duty on Scotch spirits, last year 
 reduced, was to be augmented by is. per gallon, and Irish spirits 
 to the extent of an additional &d. After the 5th of July the sugar 
 duties would be increased by imposition of ij". and 1 s. 6d. per cwt. ; 
 and the malt tax would be raised from 2s. gd. to 4*. The actual 
 augmentation of the public burdens on the fiscal year would be 
 ,£8,683,000, "two-thirds of which would be raised by a direct tax 
 on the wealthier classes, and the remaining one-third by indirect 
 taxation, affecting the whole consuming population of all classes." 
 
 No effectual opposition could be offered to the proposals ; the 
 Opposition contented itself with harmless grumbling, and the 
 resolutions and bills founded on them were accepted by con- 
 siderable majorities. Mr. Gladstone had trusted to the elasticity 
 of trade, and the growing prospects of the country to enable it to 
 bear the burdens imposed on it, and it seemed at the time as if he 
 was fully justified in his expectation. Parliament was prorogued 
 on the 12 th of August, and it was fondly hoped that, ere it met 
 again, peace might be re-established, and that the bountiful 
 harvest, of which there was assurance, would compensate in 
 some degree for the privations so cheerfully borne. 
 
 On the 14th of September the allied armies of France and 
 England landed at Old Fort, near Eupatoria, in the Crimea ; on 
 the 20th they carried the heights of Alma; and a few days later 
 
134 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1? 
 
 England on the very day of public thanksgiving for the bount 
 harvest. A few hours brought the awakening from the pleas; 
 dream, and the intelligence that English and French were thrc 
 ing up entrenchments and establishing batteries on the disr 
 heights, destined to be so tragical, on the south side of Sebastop 
 
 There had been changes in the Ministry in the course of 1 
 year. Lord John Russell, who had first held office as Fore ; 
 Secretary, but had given place to the Earl of Clarendon, a 
 remained in the Cabinet without office, had, in June, becoi 
 President of the Council, in succession to Earl Granville, w 
 was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The Du 
 of Newcastle, who had united the offices of Colonial Secrete 
 and Secretary of War, had become Secretary of State for War 
 new office, rendered necessary by the increased magnitude 
 military affairs), and Sir George Grey succeeded him at 1 
 Colonial Office. 
 
 So alarming was the state of affairs in the Crimea that Pari 
 merit met again on the 12th of December. Sebastopol v 
 untaken.; but Balaklava and Inkerman had been fought. 1 
 one had nearly annihilated the Light Cavalry brigade, was " m; 
 nificent, but not war;" the other was the result of a surprise, a 
 the British army might have been destroyed had not our Fren 
 allies gallantly come to the rescue of their comrades in arr 
 The cold was intense, provisions were scarce, the commissar 
 arrangements were miserably defective, and the ranks were be 
 daily thinned by disease, starvation, and cold. Shakespeai 
 description of the English soldiers before the battle of Aginco 
 might, with very little modification, have been applied to L< 
 Raglan's army on the Crimean plateau : — 
 
 " The poor condemned English, 
 Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires 
 Sit patiently, and inly ruminate 
 
1855.] THE ENGLISH ARMY IN THE CRIMEA. 135 
 
 The morning's danger ; and their gesture sad, 
 Investing lank-lean cheeks, and war-worn coats, 
 Presenteth them unto the gazing moon 
 So many horrid ghosts." 
 
 The public at home were greatly excited by the accounts which 
 
 reached them through the press, and there was an intense feeling 
 
 * 
 
 of indignant anger with the officials, which extended to the 
 Ministry. The cry was that our soldiers, who had exhibited an 
 unsurpassed courage, were being sacrificed by incompetent blun- 
 dering. Parliament reassembled on the 12th of December, but 
 shortly afterwards adjourned for the Christmas holidays, and met 
 again on the 23rd of January, 1855, when Mr. Roebuck, not in 
 this instance the convenient friend of Ministers, but the outspoken 
 and indomitable champion of public opinion, gave notice of his 
 famous motion for a select committee to inquire into the con- 
 dition of our army before Sebastopol, and the conduct of those 
 departments of the Government whose duty it had been to 
 minister to the wants of that army. 
 
 On the same night the Earl of Ellenborough gave notice in 
 the House of Lords of a motion somewhat similar in effect; and 
 a few nights afterwards the veteran Lord Lyndhurst gave notice 
 that he would, on the 3rd of February, move, "That in the 
 opinion of this House the expedition to the Crimea was under- 
 taken by Her Majesty's Government with very inadequate means, 
 and without due caution or sufficient inquiry into the nature 
 and extent of the resistance to be expected from the enemy; 
 and that the neglect and mismanagement of the Government in 
 the conduct of the enterprise have led to the most disastrous 
 results." 
 
 On the 25th of the month, when Mr. Roebuck's motion was to 
 be brought forward, the House was taken by surprise by the 
 announcement of the resignation of Lord John Russell, the Presi- 
 
136 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1855. 
 
 of the orders of the day in order to afford his late colleague an 
 opportunity for explanation. Lord John Russell said he was 
 compelled to admit that the army was in a most terrible con- 
 dition, and therefore he could not resist Mr. Roebuck's motion ; 
 and that as early as the previous November he had urged the 
 Earl of Aberdeen to recommend the Queen that Lord Palmerston 
 should replace the Duke of Newcastle at the War Office. That 
 suggestion had not been acquiesced in, and he had only remained 
 in office by the advice of Lord Palmerston. Notwithstanding his 
 representations to the Premier, he was unable to say that any 
 arrangements had been made to remedy defects ; and, as he 
 could not give the only answer that would stop inquiry, he felt 
 compelled to resign the office he held. In his concluding obser- 
 vations he said he should look back with pride to his association 
 with every member of the Administration, and especially eulogized 
 Mr. Gladstone's financial scheme of 1853. 
 
 When Lord John had resumed his seat, Mr. Roebuck proceeded 
 to move the resolution of which he had given notice, but was 
 labouring under physical weakness, and limited his speech to a 
 few introductory remarks. The British force in the Crimea had, 
 he said, been reduced from 54,000 to 14,000, of whom only 5,000 
 were fit for duty, and the country imperatively demanded that the 
 cause of such a condition of things should be fully investigated. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone defended the Ministry, and especially the Duke 
 of Newcastle, in a long speech. He contradicted Mr. Roebuck's 
 statements as to the reduction of the strength of the army, and 
 asserted that there were 30,000 available men. He added : — 
 
 " I sincerely hope that the House, in the vote which it is about to give, will 
 recollect its responsibility to the country, and will reflect on the mode of pro- 
 ceeding which it is about to adopt. For my part, I believe that mode of 
 proceeding to be worse than useless so far as regards the army in the Crimea. 
 Your inquiry will never take place ; or, if it does, it would lead to nothing but 
 confusion and disturbance, increased disaster, shame at home, and weakness 
 abroad. It would carry no consolation to those whom you seek to aid, but it 
 
1855.] FALL OF THE COALITION MINISTRY. 137 
 
 would carry malignant joy to the hearts of the enemies of England ; and for 
 my part I shall rejoice, if the motion is to be successful, that my last words as 
 a member of the present Government were an indignant protest against it, as 
 useless to the army, unconstitutional in its nature, and dangerous to the honour 
 and the interest of the Commons of England." 
 
 Mr. Roebuck, in a brief reply, took strong ground : — 
 
 "If we refuse this inquiry, we shall be abdicating our functions as the 
 representatives of the people. But we are asked to put off this committee until 
 the expedition to the Crimea shall be brought to a close. That means, in 
 other terms, until not a remnant of our gallant army remains. I say, inquire 
 at once ; inquire, and save that army which is in jeopardy. The country looks 
 to us for aid in this extremity. Let us not disappoint the expectation of the 
 whole English people." 
 
 Popular feeling was stronger than considerations of party, and 
 the motion was carried by a majority of 157, the numbers being 
 305 for and 148 against. 
 
 The fall of the Coalition Ministry necessarily followed. On 
 the 1st of February the Earl of Aberdeen in the House of Lords, 
 and Lord Palmerston in the House of Commons, announced 
 that Ministers had resigned. The Earl of Derby, and afterwards 
 Lord John Russell, were sent for by the Queen, but the former 
 declined the attempt, and the latter was unsuccessful in the 
 endeavour to arrange a Ministry. On the 8th, Parliament was 
 informed that Lord Palmerston had accepted office as Prime 
 Minister, and a week afterwards the Cabinet was completed. 
 Many of the old Ministers retained office ; but the Earl of Aber- 
 deen was, of course, omitted from the arrangements, and the 
 Duke of Newcastle, against whom, as Secretary of State for War, 
 a considerable amount of indignation had been directed, was 
 replaced by Lord Panmure. Mr. Sidney Herbert, who had not 
 held office in the previous Administration, took the Colonial 
 Office, Sir George Grey being transferred to the Home Depart- 
 ment in place of Lord Palmerston, and Mr. Gladstone resumed 
 his official duties as Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 
138 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1855. 
 
 When, on the 16th of February, Lord Palmerston announced 
 that he had been successful in forming a Ministry, he said the 
 great difficulty which' stared him in the face was Mr. Roebuck's 
 motion. He still retained his objection to the appointment of a 
 committee of inquiry, as not in accordance with the Constitution, 
 or efficient for its purpose ; and he trusted that the House would 
 at least consent to suspend its decision, and not proceed to the 
 nomination of the committee. The reason he would ask it to 
 give would be its belief that the Government would of itself do 
 all that was possible to be done. As an English king rode up to 
 an insurrection, and offered to be its leader, so the Government 
 offered the House of Commons to be its committee. 
 
 Even Palmerston, with all his popularity and personal influence, 
 could not persuade the House to stultify itself. Not only did 
 Mr. Roebuck and his supporters desire security for the future — 
 so far as that went, probably some of them would have trusted to 
 the Premier — but they were determined, and in that determination 
 they were encouraged by feeling outside the walls of the House, 
 that the causes of the past disastrous errors should, if possible, 
 be discovered. Mr. Roebuck refused to be a party to rescinding 
 the resolution the House had accepted, and tersely remarked, 
 " Although there is a new Ministry, there are not new members." 
 
in miiM* iw^m raniiraT^TrqaE^ \MVf* M \ m EEMl 
 
 h:Fb I ■'» l» 1 UiMf I « Ifrtol n -il .*U l*!» I nT' :r^nTil> a ^MHrlMEl^rmiTWH^m'T'lZE 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 RETIREMENT FROM OFFICE — THE IONIAN MISSION. 
 
 The three Peelites had accepted office under Palmerston with 
 the expectation apparently that his popularity and confidence in 
 his energy and desire to remedy defects would induce the House 
 to reconsider the proposition for a committee of inquiry. The 
 determined attitude of Mr. Roebuck and his friends speedily 
 undeceived them, and they determined to withdraw from the 
 Ministry. On the 22nd of the month the Prime Minister an- 
 nounced that Mr. Gladstone, Sir James Graham, and Mr. Sidney 
 Herbert had resigned office. On the following day, previous to 
 Mr. Roebuck moving the nomination of the committee, the ex- 
 ministers made the anxiously-expected explanations, Sir James 
 Graham leading the way. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone said he had taken office on the supposition that 
 Lord Palmerston would resist the appointment of the committee ; 
 but finding that the Premier yielded on the subject, and would 
 not make it a question of confidence, he had felt it his duty, 
 objecting as he did on constitutional principles to the inquiry, to 
 resign office. He took occasion to eulogise the Earl of Aber- 
 deen, who " had been dismissed by a blow darkly aimed from an 
 official hand." ' (Probably there was here a covert allusion to the 
 conduct of Lord John Russell.) "The fame of the Earl of Aber- 
 
40 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1855. 
 
 leen," continued Mr. Gladstone, " not so much on account of 
 he high office he has held, as from his elevated and admirable 
 haracter, will not only live, but his name, I venture to say, will 
 eceive the grateful recollection of his country." 
 
 An almost purely Whig Cabinet was the result of the recon- 
 duction of the Ministry. Lord John Russell returned to office 
 s Colonial Secretary, and Sir Charles Wood replaced Sir James 
 rraham at the Admiralty. The new Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 r as Sir George Cornewall Lewis, a man of vast ability and con- 
 iderable official experience, but, as yet, untried in finance. He 
 r as a scholarly and philosophical statesman, who said that " life 
 r ould be endurable were it not for its pleasures," and who 
 jund his recreation, in the intervals of Parliamentary and official 
 ibours, in writing treatises on "The Astronomy of the Ancients," 
 nd other abstruse subjects. 
 
 Sir George Lewis's liking for solving complex problems must 
 ave found ample scope for exercise in preparing the financial 
 tatement, which, on the 20th of April, less than two months after 
 is appointment to office, he laid before the House. The war 
 xpenditure had been enormous ; the estimates for the Army and 
 Tavy were each about^ 16,000,000, and there was a deficiency to 
 ie made good at which Mr. Gladstone himself, with all his financial 
 exterity and high courage, might have been appalled. The new 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer began with a compliment to his 
 iredecessor's accuracy. "In the last year Mr. Gladstone had, 
 iy exercising a sort of financial second sight, estimated the 
 roduce of the taxes at ^59,496,000 ; they actually produced 
 jst;£i54 above that sum." He (Sir George Lewis) estimated 
 tie expenditure of the current year at ,£86,339,000, and the 
 evenueat ^63,339,000, leaving a deficit of ^23,000,000 to be 
 irovided for, and Government had resolved, he announced, to 
 esort to a loan for a part of the required sum. He would have 
 
1855.] THE COSTLINESS OF WAR. 141 
 
 i 
 
 preferred raising money by terminable annuities, but it would be 
 impossible to obtain all that was needed by that means, and 
 accordingly the great bulk of the loan which had been that day 
 effected was contracted in a permanent Three per Cent. Stock, 
 for the gradual extinction of which it was proposed to set aside a 
 million annually. By this new stock ;£i 6,000,000 would be 
 raised ; ^2,000,000 more would be obtained by putting 2d. more 
 on the income-tax, raising it to i6d. in the pound, and the re- 
 maining ;£ 5,000,000 must be raised by indirect taxation. The 
 sugar duty would be increased by 3^. per cwt. ; an additional id. 
 a pound would be imposed on coffee, and 3d. a pound on tea ; 
 bankers' cheques drawn within fifteen miles of the place where 
 they were payable must have a penny stamp ; the duty on Scotch 
 spirits would be raised is, lod. a gallon, and Irish spirits 2s. In 
 this way the required amount would be provided. 
 
 The country was receiving very practical instruction as to the 
 costliness of war. Expenses of living had increased greatly 
 within the previous twelve months. The price of bread and meat 
 was already nearly double that at which those articles could be 
 obtained in " the year of peaceful prophecies of smooth things," 
 185 1, when the Great Exhibition was supposed to offer the 
 means of solving many complex problems. Employment was 
 scarce, for commercial and manufacturing enterprise was dormant, 
 and the infliction of so heavy an income-tax was felt severely by 
 all classes. We had seemed to be entering on a period of 
 national prosperity, in which the necessaries and comforts of life 
 were made more obtainable by the lessening or reduction of 
 indirect taxation, and a limit was promised to the direct 
 taxation which had been resorted to. The time had come when 
 Peel's economic theories, which Gladstone had so energetically 
 supported, must be laid aside until "a more convenient season." 
 We had indulged in the luxury of war, and must pay its price. 
 
i2 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1855. 
 
 It is probable that Sir George Lewis watched with some 
 nxiety, as with anxious care he explained his propositions, the 
 xpression of Mr. Gladstone's face. If, however, he anticipated 
 *vere criticism, his anticipations were not realised. Mr. Glad- 
 :one saw that the time had come when theories must be in 
 beyance, and the pressure of circumstances must be paramount. 
 Ee said, although as a general principle he greatly objected to a 
 >an, he thought resource to it was now inevitable, and con- 
 nued : — 
 
 " I apprehend there is a limit to the application of the principle, and that 
 r e cannot possibly expect a free country to push the very soundest economical 
 DCtrine to the extreme. You must remember that you have to deal with 
 esh and blood, and that you cannot ask from flesh and blood more than they 
 in reasonably bear. I go a step further, and I admit that there is a point at 
 hich the sudden accumulation of taxation becomes so great an evil, and so 
 :eat a source of disturbance to all personal and social relations, that it is 
 stter to provide yourself with money, up to a certain limit, at a pecuniary 
 isadvantage, than to carry that disturbance through all ranks of the country." 
 
 The budget resolutions were carried with slight opposition, 
 eyond a due amount of grumbling. The money must be pro- 
 ided, and nobody appeared able to suggest a better method of 
 roviding it than the Chancellor of the Exchequer had proposed. 
 
 The Conservatives appear to have perceived an opportunity in 
 le recent Cabinet difficulties, and the conduct of the Vienna 
 egotiations, for challenging the conduct of Ministers ; and on 
 be 22nd of May Mr. Disraeli, the leader of the Opposition in 
 le Commons, gave notice of a resolution expressing dissatisfac- 
 on with " the ambiguous language and uncertain conduct of Her 
 Majesty's Government in reference to the great question of peace 
 r war." The debate was opened on the 24th, when Sir Francis 
 Jaring moved an amendment substituting for the "dissatisfaction " 
 entence a regret that the conference at Vienna had not led to a 
 srmination of hostilities. 
 
 Lord John Russell, who represented Great Britain at Vienna 
 
1855.] THE PROPOSITIONS FOR PEACE. 143 
 
 and took part in the Conference, by which it was hoped peace 
 would be restored, had supported propositions which, how- 
 ever, were unacceptable to the Ministry at home, as being too 
 favourable to Russia, on which it was desired to impose certain 
 restrictions, the most important being the limitation of her Black 
 Sea fleet. Austria had suggested, as " a counterpoise," that the 
 sea should be open to the war navies of all nations, a proposition 
 which Lord Palmerston described as une mauvaise filaisanterie — a 
 bad joke. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone was strongly in favour of concluding a peace. 
 He said : — 
 
 " Russia had receded from her pretence ; she had gone far to put herself 
 in the right, and in war as well as in peace the great object should be to be in 
 the right. All the terms we had demanded had been substantially conceded , 
 and if it was not for terms we fought, but for military success, let the House 
 look at the sentiment with the eye of reason, and it would appear immoral, 
 inhuman, and un- Christian. If the war continued in order to obtain military 
 glory we should tempt Him in whose hands was the fate of armies to launch 
 upon us His wrath." 
 
 This speech brought up Mr. Whiteside, member for Ennis- 
 killen, a vigorous and showy rhetorician, whose ornate style and 
 dramatic elocution, although becoming old-fashioned, generally 
 commanded the attention of the House. He made a tremendous 
 attack on Mr. Gladstone, denouncing him as " the moralist and 
 philosopher upon whom a new light had broken respecting the 
 horrors of war, and who now felt the stings of conscience so 
 strongly. Who," he asked, "advised the invasion of Russia? 
 Who made war on the territories of Russia ? The right honour- 
 able gentleman. Who advised the attack on Sebastopol ? The 
 right honourable gentleman. Who plunged the country into the 
 horrors in which it was now involved? The right honourable 
 gentleman." 
 
 Mr. Lowe proposed an amendment adding to Sir F. Baring's 
 resolution words attributing the failure of the Conference to the 
 
.44 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1855. 
 
 efusal of Russia to restrict the strength of her navy in the Black 
 Sea. 
 
 Lord Palmerston made a characteristic speech in defence of 
 ;he Government. He said one of the alternatives before the 
 House was that offered by Mr. Gladstone, in the name of a 
 )arty who would accept dishonourable conditions of peace ; but, 
 le added, "if a Government were now formed of this party, I 
 hink that not one of them would be re-elected to serve in this 
 House." 
 
 Mr. Disraeli's resolution was negatived by a majority of exactly 
 coo, the numbers being 319 against 219 ; and on the 4th of June 
 Sir F. Baring's amendment (then a substantive resolution) was 
 ;arried, having received Ministerial support. Mr. Lowe's amend- 
 ment was negatived. 
 
 On another important subject, which gave rise to considerable 
 discussion, and the decision respecting which has materially 
 iffected the Civil Service, Mr. Gladstone made a decided utter- 
 ance. The popular demand for administrative reform had 
 followed that for free trade; and the new agitation, if less power- 
 ful than that which preceded it, was scarcely less demonstrative. 
 One of the leaders of the movement, Mr. Layard, brought forward 
 1 resolution on the 15 th of June, condemning the manner in 
 which public appointments were made — "merit and efficiency 
 had been sacrificed to party and family influences, and a blind 
 adherence to routine." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone supported the motion, and expressed his belief 
 that patronage was the weakness not the strength of the Executive. 
 Lord Aberdeen's Government, he said, had first brought under 
 public notice the principle of unrestricted competition. 
 
 The Conservatives were not unwilling to take some steps in 
 this direction, but decidedly objected to the sweeping censure 
 conveyed in Mr. Layard's resolution, which was described by the 
 
1855.] LORD JVHN RUSSELL AT VIENNA. 145 
 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer as tantamount to an expression of 
 want of confidence in the Ministry. Sir E. B. Lytton, represent- 
 ing the Opposition benches, moved an amendment in favour of 
 instituting "judicious tests of merit, and removing obstruction to 
 its fair promotion and legitimate rewards, so as to secure to the 
 service of the State the largest available proportion of the energy 
 and intelligence for which the people of this country were dis- 
 tinguished." 
 
 Mr. Layard's motion was rejected by 359 against 46 j and Sir 
 E. B. Lytton's amendment, becoming a substantive motion, was 
 accepted without a division taking place. The subject was re- 
 vived on the 10th of July by a motion by Mr. Vincent Scully, 
 member for the county of Cork, for an address to the Queen 
 thanking her for the Order in Council appointing commissioners. 
 In the course of the debate, Mr. Gladstone strongly supported 
 the demand for open and unlimited competition ; but the motion 
 was defeated, the " previous question " being carried by a 
 majority of 15. 
 
 The course pursued by Lord John Russell at Vienna, and his 
 retention of his office, although the other members of the Cabinet 
 did not support his views, in July formed the subject of two 
 adverse motions, by Mr. Milner Gibson and Sir E. B. Lytton ; 
 but Lord John resigned on the 16th, and the inconvenient 
 motions were withdrawn. The Sebastopol Committee had com- 
 pleted its labours and made its report, and Mr. Roebuck moved a 
 resolution, based upon it, to the effect that the House should visit 
 with severe reprehension every member of that Cabinet whose 
 conduct led to such disastrous results. There was a hot debate ; 
 but it ended on the second night by the previous question being 
 carried by 289 to 182, the House showing by a majority of 107 
 that it was not disposed to carry the controversy to the bitter 
 
146 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1855. 
 
 There was a very strong feeling that the time had arrived when 
 hostilities might be terminated, and that enough had been done 
 to limit the power of Russia. On the 3rd of August, Mr. Laing, 
 the member for the Wick Burghs, moved for copies of corre- 
 spondence respecting the recent Conference at Vienna, and de- 
 clared that the Government was " carrying on the war for no 
 definite object, or the miserable object of limitation versus 
 counterpoise." Mr. Gladstone supported the motion in a very 
 energetic speech, severely blaming the Ministers for prolonging 
 the contest. They had rejected the golden opportunity of 
 making peace, and continued to make war on account of petty 
 differences. He protested against the notion that the Cabinet of 
 which he had been a member considered the capture of Sebas- 
 topol as the great object of the war, to be pursued at all costs, 
 and continued : — 
 
 "I say that the doctrine that you never ought to forego the accomplishment 
 of a great military operation when the practical objects have been attained, 
 lest you should incur military odium, is both an immoral and an irreligious 
 doctrine — a doctrine which will not carry you forward and onward to the 
 furtherance of civilization, but backwards towards a state of savagery and 
 barbarism. ... I remain content in the belief that, in endeavouring to 
 recall the Government from that course of policy which they are now pur- 
 suing, I am discharging my duty as a patriot, a faithful representative of the 
 people, and a loyal subject of my Queen." 
 
 The motion had no result beyond producing an animated and 
 interesting debate, a motion for the adjournment of the House 
 being carried. 
 
 In the course of the Session, Mr. Gladstone had an oppor- 
 tunity of expressing his opinions on the subject of marriage with 
 a deceased wife's sister, respecting which he maintained that it 
 was contrary to Scriptural teaching, and that to permit it would 
 be to make an attack upon the doctrines and practices of the 
 Church. The debate on the Marriage Law Amendment Bill, 
 introduced almost every Session, took place on the 9th of May, 
 
1855.] MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER. 147 
 
 and Mr. Gladstone entered at length on the religious and social 
 aspects of the question : — 
 
 " When it is said that there shall be in the Church of England a law with 
 respect to these marriages, then I am told that this is a question of religious 
 liberty. By applying this fully, what would be its result ? Why, that every 
 principle and ordinance of the Church of England may be modified and abso- 
 lutely done away with under the pretence of religious liberty. ... If 
 the honourable member assumes that he has a right to introduce into the 
 Church of England an anarchy, or a principle of indifference for that which 
 is strictly commanded on the basis of Divine law, I say the principle on 
 which he proceeds is good for abolishing every restrictive law applicable to 
 the creed or discipline of the Church of England. The demand here made 
 is not for persons wishing to be relieved, but for the alteration of Church and 
 State, and in deference to the scruples of a small minority we are asked to 
 change a position which has been clearly maintained by the voice of Christen- 
 dom through all time. . ,\ . The honourable member for Kidderminster 
 (Mr. Lowe) speaks of the collective conscience of mankind — I interpret 
 him in the best sense, though I think that he meant the conscience of each 
 individual — and he maintains that this would be a proper and sufficient guide 
 from age to age for the course of legislation on this question. God forbid that 
 I should say a word lightly of conscience, which remains an index of the will 
 of God even among those who have not felt as we have the fuller and blessed 
 light of revelation. But are we, who have realised the results of Christianity, 
 to go back from Christianity to conscience ? That which is sometimes called 
 the light of conscience, sometimes the law of nature — and there are no two ages 
 or countries in which it has ever been alike — has been of gradual growth and 
 training, from the infancy of mankind until it has reached the highest level on 
 which Christianity has been placed ; and if we are asked to go back from 
 that level, I ask, where are we to stop ? And I say that, while I have a 
 superior, I should not be content to adopt an inferior standard. The law of 
 the land, not in an arbitrary manner, but on principles based on Divine reve- 
 lation, has adopted our present prohibitions in marriage ; and I oppose the 
 present measure because I see that it is part of a system, which I do not say 
 is intended to be so, but which in its working is certain to be most pernicious 
 to those results which the Christian religion has wrought out for mankind." 
 
 The Bill was rejected by a majority of 7. Since then, we 
 know, a similar Bill has several times received the sanction of the 
 House of Commons, but been rejected by the Lords. 
 
 The prorogation took place on the 14th of August, and Par- 
 liament did not meet again until the 31st of January, 1856. 
 
 Sebastopol had fallen, three weeks after the rising of Parlia- 
 
148 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE, [1856. 
 
 protocol had been signed accepting the propositions of peace 
 which, with the consent of the allies, Austria had forwarded to 
 St. Petersburg. On the 25th of February peace conferences 
 were opened at Paris, and an armistice agreed on. Termina- 
 tion of hostilities was virtually attained, although it was not until 
 the 30th of March that the treaty was signed at Paris. 
 
 All England rejoiced at the peace, for it was heartily sick of 
 the war. Many thousands of brave men had been sacrificed ; an 
 almost unbearable strain had been put upon the resources of the 
 nation ; and after more than eighteen months of terrible warfare 
 and more terrible disease, we had the satisfaction of knowing that 
 the Sebastopol fortifications and docks had been destroyed; that 
 France had achieved the chief glory of the final attack; that 
 Russia was for a time non-aggressive, and that Turkish mis- 
 government was granted a few years' longer lease. There was 
 public rejoicing, and a million rockets were discharged in Hyde 
 Park, and rockets and red fire in the other royal parks delighted 
 the hearts of loyal subjects — and then came the reckoning. 
 
 On the 22nd of February the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 was called upon prematurely to face the House with a scheme 
 for raising more money. He had the unpleasant task of inform- 
 ing the House that the financial position was worse than he had 
 anticipated to the extent of nearly ,£4,000,000. The war expenses 
 had, up to that date, been about ,£43,500,000. To meet the 
 deficiency already existing, and to provide funds for the remainder 
 of the financial year, he had that day obtained a loan of ,£5,000,000 
 in Three per Cent. Consols, and funded ,£3,000,000 of Exchequer 
 bonds. He asked the House to sanction these arrangements, 
 and congratulated himself on the fact that the resources of the 
 country were so elastic that the new additions to the debt would 
 not be severely felt. In support of this view he quoted Macaulay's 
 recently published "History of England," to show that the 
 
1856.] A GREAT DEFICIT. 149 
 
 country could bear a great addition to the National Debt without 
 serious injury. " Persons who confidently predicted that England 
 would sink under a debt of ^800,000,000 were beyond all doubt 
 under a twofold mistake. They greatly overrated the pressure of 
 the burden, and they greatly underrated the strength by which 
 the burden was to be borne." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, while offering no opposition to the proposal of 
 Sir George Lewis, repeated objections he had before made to the 
 power claimed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of borrowing 
 without direct Parliamentary sanction, " a power which ought 
 not to be given to any executive government whatever." The 
 quotation from Macaulay led him to indulge in a slight " gird " at 
 his brilliant adversary of former years. — "I would rather have 
 heard Mr. Macaulay quoted in almost any other passage of his 
 wonderful book than in that relating to the National Debt of the 
 country." 
 
 In less than three months afterwards, on the 19th of May, the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer had to make another financial 
 statement, the more formal annual Budget. Of deficiencies it 
 might be said as of Macbeth's foes, " The cry is still they come ! " 
 Sir George Lewis gravely announced that, notwithstanding all 
 that had been asked and given, he wanted ^6,875,000 more, 
 to supply the actual deficit, and he thought it very advisable that 
 this sum should be increased by a vote of credit of ^2,000,000, 
 as a provision for contingencies. He did not propose to make 
 any additions to taxation, but to have recourse to a loan for the 
 greater part of the amount, and to ask for power to raise, at a 
 later period of the session, ^2,000,000 by Exchequer bonds or 
 bills. 
 
 There was no help for it. Mr. Gladstone saw that it would be 
 useless to offer criticisms when the money must be had, and 
 when it was tolerably certain that the limits of taxation, direct or 
 
150 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1856. 
 
 indirect, had been reached ; but he urged that the Navy estimates 
 might have been reduced now that peace was assured. 
 
 Peace was proclaimed in London on the 29th of April, and 
 on the 6th of May there was a great debate in the Commons on 
 the subject of the Treaty. Mr. Gladstone made a memorable 
 speech, some passages of which merit quotation as evidencing the 
 opinions he then held regarding the government of the Ottoman 
 empire — opinions differing very slightly from those expressed so 
 forcibly in more recent times : — 
 
 " If I thought this treaty was an instrument which bound this country and 
 our posterity to the maintenance of a set of institutions in Turkey which you 
 are endeavouring to reform, if you can, but with respect to which endeavour 
 few can be sanguine, I should look for the most emphatic word in which to 
 express my condemnation of a peace which bound us to maintain the laws and 
 institutions of Turkey as a Mahometan state. . . . With respect to the 
 objects for which the war had been undertaken, it appears to me that my right 
 honourable friend (Mr. Milner Gibson) has quite misunderstood them in the 
 construction which he gives to the term ■ independence and integrity of the 
 Ottoman empire,' and the guarantee of that independence. I apprehend that 
 what is sought to secure by the war was not the settlement of any question 
 regarding the internal government of Turkey. Great Britain and France 
 have not yet been able to afford a complete solution to the problem which has 
 existed for six hundred or seven hundred years. . . . The juxtaposition 
 of a people professing the Mahometan religion with a rising Christian popu- 
 lation having adverse and conflicting influences, present difficulties which are 
 not to be overcome by certain diplomatists at certain hours and in a certain 
 place. It will be the work and care of many generations — if even then they 
 may be successful — to bring that state of things to a happy and prosperous 
 conclusion. " 
 
 In the course of the Session Mr. Gladstone supported a 
 motion by Viscount Goderich for an address to the Queen on the 
 subject of admission to the Civil Service, and spoke warmly in 
 favour of a system of competitive examinations. On the 1st 
 of July he spoke in favour of Mr. Moore's resolution condemning 
 the Government for their conduct in first covertly sanctioning a 
 scheme of enlistment for the British army in the United States, 
 and then repudiating the action of Mr. Crampton, the British. 
 
1857.] THE FINANCIAL POSITION. 151 
 
 Minister at Washington, and permitting him to be made " a scape- 
 goat," as Mr. Gladstone expressed it. 
 
 On the 29th of July Parliament was prorogued, meeting again 
 on the 3rd of February, 1857. Ten days afterwards the financial 
 situation of the country was again the subject of discussion. It 
 was then discovered that the cost of the war had been more than 
 ^76,000,000. There would probably be a surplus on the finan- 
 cial year ending on the 5th of April of ^1,384,000; and the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer estimated that in the year 1857-8 
 there would be a revenue of ,£66,365,000, to meet an expendi- 
 ture of £65,474,000, showing a balance on the right side of 
 £891,000. He proposed to give the public the benefit of the 
 reduction of some £15,000,000 in the annual expenditure by 
 reducing the income-tax to yd. in the pound for the next three 
 years, and making a gradual reduction in the tea and sugar 
 duties, not, however, going so far as to reduce these imposts to a 
 "peace footing." 
 
 It was anticipated that considerable dissatisfaction would be 
 aroused by this Budget. Ever since the time of Sir Robert 
 Peel's great financial achievements the effort on the part of 
 himself and successors in office had been to reduce indirect 
 taxation, and make direct taxation supply the deficiency. Mr. 
 Gladstone, who had done so much in that direction, had been 
 compelled by the pressure of circumstances to acquiesce in a 
 reimposition of some of the duties he had remitted ; but now 
 that the war was over, he desired that the added duties on tea, 
 sugar, and other necessaries of life, really constituting a war tax, 
 should be taken off. The partial remission proposed by Sir 
 George Lewis, and the reduction of the income-tax at the expense 
 of tea and sugar, were warmly opposed by him. 
 
 Mr. Disraeli also opposed the scheme of the Chancellor of the 
 V.xrhpnupr. hnt on other grounds. On the 20th of the month he 
 
152 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1857. 
 
 -moved " that it would be expedient, before sanctioning the finan- 
 cial arrangements for the ensuing year, to adjust the estimated 
 income and expenditure in a manner which should appear best 
 calculated to secure the country against the risk of a deficiency 
 in the years 1858-59 and 1859-60, and to provide for such a 
 balance of revenue and charge respectively in the year i860 as 
 may place it in the power of Parliament at that period, without 
 embarrassment to the finances, altogether to remit the income- 
 tax." 
 
 This motion was defeated by a majority of 80 ; but, influenced 
 perhaps by the vigorous criticism of Mr. Gladstone, the Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer announced, on the 6th of March, a modification 
 of the Budget resolutions so far as the tea duties were concerned, 
 and proposed that the amount of the tax, which he had arranged 
 for three years, should be applicable for one year only. Mr. 
 Gladstone moved an amendment to the effect that after April 5, 
 1857, the duty should be is. 3d., and after the 5th of April, 1858, 
 is. The amendment was negatived by 187 to 125, and the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer's resolution, fixing the duty at 
 is. $d. y was carried. When the report of the committee was 
 brought up on the 9th of March, Mr. Gladstone declared his 
 belief thajt the discontinuance of the income-tax could only be 
 effected by such a reduction of expenditure as the Government 
 did not appear able to make. The increase of the expenditure, he 
 said, was rapidly depriving the country of the means of doing 
 away with the tax. 
 
 There was little probability of an immediate decrease in the 
 expenditure, however ardently it might be desired, for another 
 war with China had broken out, and Admiral Seymour was busily 
 engaged in bombarding Chinese forts. What was described at 
 the time as "the miserable lorcha dispute," had occurred in the 
 preceding autumn, and the spark had kindled to a flame, involv- 
 
1857.] THE "LORCHA" WAR WITH CHINA. 153 
 
 ing, as we shall see, very considerable political consequences. 
 On the 8th of October, 18565 a "lorcha," the Arrow, a small 
 Chinese vessel, built on the European model, had been boarded 
 in the Canton river by Chinese officials, and twelve men taken 
 away on a charge of piracy. The owner of the lorcha declared 
 that it was a British vessel, and appealed to Mr. Parker, the 
 British consul at Canton, who made a formal demand on Yeh, the 
 Chinese governor of Canton, for the release of the men, as, by 
 treaty between the two powers, Chinese officials had no right to 
 seize Chinese offenders, pirates or otherwise, on board an English 
 vessel, but only to require the surrender of them by the British 
 authorities- Governor Yeh replied that the lorcha Arrow was 
 not an English vessel, but belonged to a Chinese pirate, who 
 occasionally displayed the English flag as a means of deception. 
 The fact was that the Arrow had been registered as a British 
 vessel, but the term of registration had expired about ten days 
 before the men were seized. It has been stated, and apparently 
 with truth, that the British authorities were not disposed to 
 renew the registration, having strong suspicions as to the real 
 character of the vessel. Consul Parker, however, insisted that a 
 breach of national rights had been committed, persisted in his 
 demand, and, as Yeh refused to submit, sent to the British 
 plenipotentiary at Hong Kong, Sir John Bowring, for assistance. 
 Sir John Bowring was a great linguist, a literary man of some 
 eminence, and a Benthamite of the first water ; but neither his 
 political economy nor his scholarship — his long experience in 
 China nor his knowledge of the principles of international law — 
 saved him from committing what at the time was considered to 
 be, and afterwards generally recognised as, a great blunder. He 
 sent a peremptory demand for the restoration of the men within 
 forty-eight hours, and an ample apology on the part of Yeh. If 
 the men were not restored, and if the apology were not sent, the 
 
154 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1857. 
 
 admiral in command of the fleet in Chinese waters would "know 
 the reason why." Yeh sent back the men for the sake of avoiding a 
 quarrel, but would not offer an apology, because, he maintained, the 
 Arrow not being a British, but a Chinese vessel, he had a perfect 
 right to board her if he chose. Sir John Bowring admitted to 
 Consul Parker that the registration had expired, but added that, as 
 the Chinese were not aware of the fact, they were in the wrong in 
 boarding it. He translated Palmerston's " Civis Romanus" into 
 Chinese, and let loose Sir Michael Seymour, the blue jackets, 
 and guns. Canton was bombarded, the suburbs destroyed, shot 
 and shell showered upon the city, forts and war junks destroyed. 
 No doubt there was a great destruction of life ; and as Chinese 
 morals could scarcely be expected to be superior to those oJ 
 English philosophers and diplomatists, Yeh offered rewards foi 
 the heads of Englishmen, and the English factories were burned. 
 When news of these events reached England, a strong feeling 
 of indignation was excited. Very shortly after the opening oi 
 Parliament, the Earl of Derby brought forward the subject in the 
 House of Lords, in the form of a motion condemning the con- 
 duct of the British authorities in China. It was supported by 
 the venerable Lord Lyndhurst, then in his eighty-fifth year, who, 
 supporting himself by leaning on a rail placed specially foi 
 his accommodation, made a powerful speech, explaining the bear- 
 ing of the law on the matter, and emphatically denying that the 
 lorcha had any claim to British protection ; but, he said, "When 
 we are talking of treaty transactions with Eastern nations, we have 
 a kind of loose law and loose notion of morality in regard tc 
 them." Lord Chancellor Cranworth attempted to reply to the 
 legal arguments of " the old man eloquent," adopting, in fact, Sii 
 John Bowring's suggestion, that as the Chinese did not know the 
 lorcha had no right to hoist the British flag, they should have 
 taken the nationality for granted. 
 
1857.] THE CENSURE ON THE MINISTRY. 155 
 
 The Lords rejected the Earl of Derby's motion by a majority 
 of 36 ; but, the day afterwards, a more formidable attack on the 
 Government was made by Mr. Cobden in the House of Com- 
 mons. The Conservatives and the Free Trade and Peace party 
 were by their very nature antagonistic ; but on this occasion the 
 followers of Lord Derby and the friends of Mr. Cobden united 
 in attacking the ministry, and the Peelites and ultra- Radicals 
 gave their support. On the 26th of February, Mr. Cobden 
 moved a resolution asserting that the papers laid on the table 
 failed to establish satisfactory grounds for the violent measures 
 resorted to at Canton in the affair of the Arrow, and that it was 
 desirable to appoint a select committee to inquire into the state 
 of our commercial relations with China. The debate lasted four 
 nights. Lord John Russell opposed the Government, and Mr. 
 Roebuck, who had given Lord Palmerston such uncompromising 
 support in the Pacific business, and defended the bombardment 
 of the Piraeus, objected to carrying out the principle in Chinese 
 waters, and protested against the shelling of Canton. 
 
 Mr. Disraeli supported the motion, and so did Mr. Gladstone. 
 The latter spoke at considerable length, and with his usual 
 earnestness. He said: " If the House has the courage to assert 
 its prerogative and adopt the resolution, it will pursue a course 
 consistent at once with sound policy and the principles of strict 
 justice." Religious considerations always influenced Mr. Glad- 
 stone's opinions, and he referred to them in his argument ; but 
 the House preferred to discuss the matter on its legal and inter- 
 national aspect, and the speaker continued : — 
 
 " As it seems to give offence, I will make no appeal to Christian principles, 
 but I will appeal to that which is older than Christianity, to that which is 
 broader than Christianity, because it extends in the world beyond Christi- 
 anity, and to that which underlies Christianity, for Christianity chiefly 
 appeals to it — I appeal to that justice which binds man to man. . . . With 
 every one of us it rests to show that this House, which is the first, the most 
 
156 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1857. 
 
 ancient, and the noblest temple of freedom in the world, is also the temple of 
 that everlasting justice without which freedom itself would only be a name, 
 or only a curse to mankind. And I cherish the trust that when you, sir, 
 rise in your place to-night to declare the numbers of the division from the 
 chair which you adorn, the words which you speak will go forth from the 
 walls of the House of Commons as a message of British justice and wisdom to 
 the farthest corner of the world." 
 
 Lord Palmerston put forth all his strength in reply ; but the 
 House was less easily moved than that which, seven years 
 before, listened to the defence of his Greek policy. He struck 
 out vigorously as ever at all his opponents, but the phalanx was 
 unbroken. He even reiterated the old charge against Mr. 
 Gladstone, that he defended the acts of retaliation committed by 
 the Chinese — a charge which, of course, nobody believed, and 
 which Mr. Gladstone again indignantly denied. When the 
 division took place there appeared, for the resolution, 263 ; 
 against, 247 ; leaving the Ministry in a minority of 16. 
 
 Lord Palmerston was not the man to take a beating in a spirit 
 of resignation. He had arguments to support his action which 
 the constituencies might accept, although they would have little 
 vitality in the House of Commons. He advised her Majesty to 
 dissolve the Parliament, then in the fifth year of its existence, 
 and he appealed to the country. In his address to the electors 
 of Tiverton, he adopted the tone of what the Americans know 
 as " spread-eagleism," or " high falutin'." There is an old 
 theatrical legend that, once on a time, at the Portsmouth Theatre, 
 a dull piece was dragging its slow length along, to the great dis- 
 satisfaction of the sailors in the gallery ; and the leading actor, 
 seeing how matters went, suddenly broke off a long speech, 
 stepped to the footlights, and, striking an attitude, shouted, 
 11 And did not our gallant Nelson, at Trafalgar, beat the French 
 mounseers ? " It was not necessary to say more, for a hurricane of 
 applause followed. In like manner, Palmerston did not attempt 
 to defend the legality of the proceedings in China, but declared 
 
1857.] PALMERSTON '3 TRIUMPH. 157 
 
 that "an insolent barbarian, wielding authority at Canton, 
 violated the British flag, broke the engagements of treaties, 
 offered rewards for the heads of British subjects in that part of 
 China, and planned their destruction by murder, assassination, 
 and poison." The last words referred to a supposed attempt by 
 a Chinese baker named Allum to poison bread which he supplied 
 for the household of Sir John Bo wring. He was tried for the 
 offence, but acquitted — a fact which did not prevent Palmerston 
 making the most of the incident. 
 
 The general election reversed the verdict of Parliament in the 
 most emphatic and decisive manner. Men who, a few months 
 before, had seemed to be almost the idols of their constituencies, 
 whose seats appeared to be assured, if ever Parliamentary seats 
 could be so described, were ejected in favour of supporters of 
 the Ministry. Mr. Cobden declined to offer himself again for 
 the West Riding of Yorkshire, and appeared as a candidate for 
 Huddersfield, but was defeated. Mr. Bright, absent from 
 England, suffering from severe illness, was rejected at Manches- 
 ter, as was his colleague, Mr. Milner Gibson. Mr. W. J. Fox 
 met a like fate at Oldham, and Mr. Layard was left in the cold 
 shade of defeat at Aylesbury. Mr. Lowe was elected for Kidder- 
 minster, but nearly killed in a hustings riot. Mr. Gladstone was 
 re-elected for Oxford University without competition; but Mr. 
 Card well lost his seat at Oxford. Only two members of the 
 Administration were unseated — Admiral Berkeley at Gloucester, 
 and Mr. Frederick Peel at Bury. 
 
 The new Parliament met on the 30th of April, and was ready 
 to begin business on the 7th of May. Lord Palmerston found 
 himself supported by a large majority, so successful had been 
 his appeal to the constituencies. There were 189 new members 
 in the House, and the party ranks showed 317 Liberals and 
 284 Conservatives. 
 
158 WILLIAM EWA'RT GLADSTONE. [1857. 
 
 When, on the 24th of June, the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes 
 Bill came on for second reading (having passed the House of 
 Lords), Mr. Gladstone opposed it, partly on the ground that the 
 session was too far advanced to permit the full discussion which 
 a measure of such importance demanded, but primarily on prin- 
 ciple. Especially he objected to the inequality between the 
 
 sexes which the Bill would establish. He said : — 
 
 1 
 
 "I shall always assert the principle of equal rights between the sexes with 
 regard to a right of divorce. It is impossible to do a greater mischief than 
 to begin now, in the middle of the nineteenth century, to undo, with regard 
 to womankind, that which has already been done on their behalf, by slow 
 degrees, in the preceding eighteen centuries, and to say that the husband 
 shall be authorised to dismiss his wife on grounds for which the wife shall 
 not be authorised to dismiss the husband." 
 
 Regarding the general scope of the Bill, he said : — 
 
 "It appears to me that by this Bill we are dealing with an unprecedented 
 levity with matters that do not belong to us. I do not appeal simply to the 
 conscience of the clergy — although I think the views of the clergy, as a class, 
 are entitled to much weight, with regard to a question of this description— I 
 speak of the religion which we entertain, and I do say that it is a matter of 
 the deepest consequence to take care that in our legislation with respect to 
 matrimony we do not offer profanation to that religion by making its sacred 
 rites — designated by Apostles themselves with the very highest appellations— 
 the mere creatures of our will, like some turnpike trust or board of health, 
 which we can make to-day and unmake to-morrow." 
 
 The second reading of the Bill was carried by a majority of 
 in, the numbers being 208 against 97 ; but in committee every 
 clause, almost every sentence, gave rise to a sharp contest. Mr. 
 Gladstone was one of the most persistent, certainly the most 
 formidable, of the assailants. He supported Mr. Drummond's 
 unsuccessful amendment to remove the distinction between man 
 and wife, and place the one on an equality with the other as to 
 the right to obtain a dissolution of marriage. He also spoke in 
 favour of Lord John Manners' amendment, to add to the grounds 
 on which a wife might petition for dissolution of marriage that 
 
1858] THE 0RSIN1 PLOT. 159 
 
 • 
 
 of adultery committed by the husband in the conjugal residence, 
 an amendment accepted by Lord Palmerston. Mr. Gladstone 
 then moved an amendment limiting the right of re-marriage of 
 divorced persons to a civil contract before the registrar, with a 
 view to avoid offending the conscientious scruples of clergymen 
 who might object to re-marry such persons. That amendment, 
 however, was withdrawn in favour of another, assented to by the 
 Government, which provided that no clergyman of the Church of 
 England should be compelled to solemnize the marriage of any 
 person whose previous marriage had been dissolved on the 
 ground of his or her adultery. The Bill passed the third reading 
 in the Commons on the 21st of August; but on the amendments 
 being referred to the Lords, the Bill narrowly escaped rejection, 
 for Lord Redesdale moved that the amendments should be taken 
 into consideration that day six months, and that motion was only 
 defeated by a majority of two. The amendment of Lord John 
 Manners, supported by Mr. Gladstone, and accepted by Lord 
 Palmerston, was, however, rejected; and, to that extent mutilated, 
 the Bill was passed, and received the Royal assent. 
 
 Parliament was prorogued on the 28th of August, soon after 
 the news of the incidents of the Indian mutiny had reached this 
 country ; and for a time Englishmen forgot all minor things in 
 the excitement produced by that terrible event. 
 
 The new year (1858) was marked at its opening by an event 
 which led to memorable results in connection with the English 
 Administration. On the 14th of January an attempt was made 
 by Felix Orsini, an Italian, to assassinate the Emperor Napoleon, 
 by the explosion of three shells, in the streets of Paris, as the 
 Emperor was on his way to the Opera. Napoleon escaped un- 
 hurt, but two persons were killed, and many wounded. Orsini, a 
 man of considerable ability and of good social position, had for 
 
160 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1858 
 
 tionary movements in Italy, and was associated with the chie 
 leaders of reactionary movements. He had twice visited Eng 
 land, had been well received, and had there arranged the mur 
 derous plot against the life of the French Emperor. The ide; 
 was entertained in Imperialist and military circles that the Englisl 
 people sympathised with the assassin and his associates, and tha 
 the English Government had been blameably lax in permitting 
 the conspiracy to be arranged. A congratulatory address to the 
 Emperor from colonels of the French army, printed in the officia 
 columns of the Moniteur, displayed a great feeling of irritation 
 Some of the addresses demanded " an account from the land o: 
 impurity which contains the haunts of the monsters who are 
 sheltered by its laws." " Give the order, Sire," said one, " and 
 we will pursue them even to their strongholds." Another said, 
 " Let the infamous haunts in which machinations so infernal are 
 planned be destroyed for ever." 
 
 Count Walewski, the French Minister for Foreign AffairSj 
 addressed a despatch to M. de Persigny, the French ambassadoi 
 in this country, for communication to our Government, in which 
 he asked, " Ought the right of asylum to protect such a state of 
 things ? Is hospitality due to assassins ? Should English legis- 
 lation serve to favour their designs and manoeuvres, and can il 
 continue to protect persons who place themselves, by flagranl 
 acts, without the pale of the common law, and expose themselves 
 to the law of humanity ? " 
 
 An address of congratulation to the Emperor on his escape 
 having been presented by the Lord Mayor and Corporation o: 
 the City of London to M. de Persigny, the ambassador said, ir 
 the course of his acknowledgments, "If men in France were 
 sufficiently infamous to recommend at their clubs, in their papers 
 in their writings of every kind, the assassination of a foreigr 
 sovereign, and actually to prepare its execution, a French. 
 
1858.]- CONSPIRACY TO MURDER BILL. 161 
 
 administration would not wait to receive the demands of a 
 foreign Government, nor to see the enterprise set on foot." 
 
 There was great irritation on each side of the Channel. The 
 French Imperialists were angry with us for giving a home to 
 political refugees, some of whom might be conspirators and 
 assassins ; and Englishmen generally warmly resented what they 
 considered the dictatorial tone of the French despatches and the 
 warlike blustering of the French colonels. As to the suggestion 
 that our law was imperfect, or imperfectly administered, English 
 feeling on the subject maybe described in homely fashion, " Let 
 them look after their own laws, and leave ours alone." There 
 was certainly a worse feeling between the two countries than there 
 had been at any time since the Prince de Joinville, a dozen years 
 before, had published his remarkable pamphlet speculating on 
 the capabilities of England to resist invasion. 
 
 When Parliament re-assembled, the indomitable Mr. Roebuck 
 called attention to the expressions in the addresses of the French 
 colonels and the tone of some of the speeches which had been 
 made. He asked whether official notice had been taken of the 
 matter, and whether any correspondence had passed between the 
 English and French Governments with reference to any proposi- 
 tions for making changes in the criminal code of this country. 
 Lord Palmerston replied that a communication had been made by 
 the French minister to our ambassador in Paris, urging the 
 British Government to take measures in that direction, but not 
 pointing out any particular step to be taken. This reply was not 
 considered satisfactory, especially as Lord Palmerston had already 
 given notice that he should ask for leave to bring in a Bill to 
 amend the law relating to conspiracy to commit murder. 
 
 On the 8th of February, the Prime Minister introduced the 
 Bill, the chief provision of which was to make conspiracy to 
 
J 
 
 162 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1858. 
 
 with penal servitude for five years, or imprisonment, with hard 
 labour, for three years. As the law stood, the offence was (ex- 
 cept in Ireland) only a misdemeanour. The second clause of the 
 Bill extended the same penalties to all who should " incite, insti- 
 gate, or solicit " any other person to commit the offence. Lord 
 Palmerston said, " I cannot but think that the provisions of the 
 Bill will have a decisive effect in deterring those who may wish 
 to make this country a place where they may hatch or concoct 
 crimes of a disgraceful character, and, at all events, they will 
 learn that they cannot do so without liability to punishment." 
 
 Mr. Kinglake, the future historian of the Crimean war, moved 
 an amendment to the effect that it was inexpedient to legislate in 
 compliance with the demands of Count Walewski's despatch of 
 the 30th of January, until further information should be obtained. 
 Sir George Grey, the Home Secretary, said the intention of the 
 Government was to make the law for England the same as that 
 for Ireland, and to mitigate the latter when the offence was a 
 felony, subject to the highest punishment. Referring to the 
 expression of feeling in France, he read a later despatch from 
 Count Walewski, in which it was stated that the colonels' address 
 had been published in the Moniteur by an inadvertence, which 
 the Emperor greatly regretted. Ultimately Mr. Kinglake with- 
 drew his amendment, and the House assented to the introduction 
 of the Bill by a majority of exactly 200, the numbers being 299 
 to 99. 
 
 Lord Palmerston, with all his experience and shrewdness, was 
 perhaps a little misled by the success he had obtained so far. 
 There was a fierce battle to come and a defeat to be sustained. 
 When the Bill came up for the second reading, on the 1 9th of 
 February, Mr. Milner Gibson moved an amendment which, after 
 expressing the detestation of the House of such guilty enterprises 
 as the conspiracy against the life of the French Emperor, went 
 
1858.] CONSPIRACY TO MURDER BILL. 163 
 
 on to say, " The House is ready at all times to assist in remedy- 
 ing any defects in the criminal law which, after due investigation, 
 are proved to exist; but it cannot but regret that Her Majesty's 
 Government (previously to wanting the House to amend the laws 
 relating to conspiracy at the present time) have not felt it to be 
 their duty to make some reply to the despatch received from the 
 French Government." 
 
 Mr. Disraeli, representing the opposition, supported the amend- 
 ment ; and in the course of the debate Mr. Gladstone made a 
 powerful speech against the Bill. He said : 
 
 " These times are grave for liberty. We live in the nineteenth century. 
 We talk of progress. We believe that we are advancing, but can any man of 
 observation who has watched the events of the last few years in Europe have 
 failed to perceive that there is a movement, indeed, but a downward and backward 
 movement? There are a few spots on which institutions that claim our sympathy 
 still exist and nourish. They are secondary places, nay, they are almost the 
 holes and corners of Europe so far as mere material greatness is concerned, 
 although their moral greatness will, I trust, ensure them long prosperity and 
 happiness. But in these times more than ever does responsibility centre upon 
 the institutions of England ; upon her principles, upon her laws, and upon her 
 governors. Then I say that a measure passed by this House of Commons — the 
 chief hope of freedom — which attempts to establish a moral complicity be- 
 tween us and those who seek safety in repressive measures, will be a blow 
 and a discouragement to that sacred cause in every country in the world." 
 
 The second reading of the Bill was lost ; but not by a very 
 large majority. Four hundred and forty-nine members went into 
 the lobby, and the numbers were 215 for the Bill and 234 against 
 — majority 19. The "Noes" included 146 Conservatives, 84 
 Liberals, and 4 Peelites — Gladstone, Graham, Cardwell, and 
 Sidney Herbert. Mr. Gibson's amendment was carried without 
 a division. The majority was not immense, but, like the wound 
 given by Tybalt, in " Romeo and Juliet," it was "enough " for 
 the Mercutio of the Ministry, and Palmerston could say, " I 
 have it, soundly too." He had lost popularity as well as Parlia- 
 mentary confidence. A few months before, when he talked about 
 
164 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1858. 
 
 the hour; but now when suspected of himself cringing to a 
 foreign Emperor, at no time a favourite in this country, the 
 popular voice was against him. On the 20th of February he 
 announced the resignation of himself and colleagues. 
 
 The new Ministerial arrangements, entrusted to the Earl of 
 Derby, were completed by the 25th. Mr. Disraeli resumed office 
 as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his great financial rival, Mr. 
 Gladstone, was invited to enter the Cabinet as Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies. He was not disposed, however, to cast in his 
 lot with the Conservatives, for between their political doctrines 
 and his the line of division was becoming more and more 
 marked. 
 
 One of the earliest subjects which engaged the attention of 
 Parliament was the seizure of a mail steamer, the Cagliari, be- 
 longing to Genoa, by the Neapolitan Government. A number of 
 men, belonging to the revolutionary party then so active in Italy, 
 had embarked on board the steamboat, and when well out at sea, 
 had forcibly taken possession of it, and compelled the captain to 
 steer for Ponza, where the Neapolitan prison was broken open, 
 and about 400 political and other prisoners released. The des- 
 peradoes having left the vessel, the captain directed his course to 
 Naples, with the intention of making the authorities acquainted 
 with what had occurred ; but was met by a Neapolitan squadron. 
 The Cagliari was boarded, and all hands taken into custody, 
 among them being two Englishmen, named Watt and Park, who 
 were imprisoned in dungeons where one became very ill, and the 
 other lost his reason. This occurred in June, 1857, but some 
 time elapsed before the particulars were known in England. 
 
 In March, 1858, Mr. Kinglake brought the matter before the 
 House of Commons. He stated that two British subjects were 
 wrongfully imprisoned, and made to suffer great hardships, on the 
 plea that they awaited trial, and he asked if any correspondence 
 
1858.] GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 16 
 
 on the subject could be produced. Shortly before Lord Palmer- 
 ston quitted office, the attention of the Foreign Office had been 
 directed to the subject, and it was at first supposed that the cap- 
 ture had taken place in Neapolitan waters, and that consequently 
 the authorities were within their legal right ; and Mr. Disraeli, the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer in the new Ministry — not, probably, 
 being aware at the time that it had been discovered the steamer 
 at the time of the capture was in neutral waters, beyond the 
 jurisdiction of Naples — could promise nothing more than that 
 care should be taken that the men were speedily tried, and have 
 justice. Along debate ensued; and perhaps there were some 
 who wished that Palmerston was once more at the Foreign Office 
 to administer a little advice of the Piraeus and Canton kind to 
 the Government of King Bomba. Mr. Gladstone spoke at some 
 length. He said : " I confess it will be with pain, astonishment, 
 and shame, I shall find that the duty of vindicating the law of 
 nations and the rights of Englishmen, even by accident, has 
 fallen into the hands of feeble Sardinia, and has not been taken 
 up by powerful England herself." Ultimately the Neapolitan 
 Government released the men, giving £3,000 as compensation 
 for their illegal detention. 
 
 Lord Palmerston had, in February, obtained permission, by 
 318 to 173, to introduce a Bill for transferring the government of 
 India from the East India Company to the Crown ; and it still 
 stood for second reading. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 
 the 26th of March, introduced a Government Bill having the 
 same object. Lord John Russell suggested that the Bill should 
 not be proceeded with, but that resolutions should be proposed 
 in Committee of the whole House, by which means there would 
 be a practical consultation between the Queen's Ministers and 
 the House of Commons on the principles of the future govern- 
 ment nf TnHia. TVfr. Disrapli arrpnterl thp snacrpstinn. which was 
 
166 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1858. 
 
 approved of by Lord Palmerston, who said the government of 
 India was far too important a matter to be made the shuttlecock 
 of political parties. A few days afterwards the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer submitted fourteen resolutions. 
 
 Some of the resolutions were unavailingly opposed by Mr. 
 Gladstone, who, on the 7th of June, moved as an amendment, 
 " That, regard being had to the position of affairs in India, it is 
 expedient to constitute the Court of Directors of the East India 
 Company, by an Act of the present Session, to be a Council for 
 administering the affairs of India in the name of Her Majesty, 
 under the superintendence of a responsible Minister, until the 
 end of the next session of Parliament." In opposing one of the 
 resolutions he had said that, notwithstanding some errors, the 
 Court of Directors had been practically a body protecting the 
 people of India, and he could not see in the plan of the Govern- 
 ment any advantages. Besides, the business of the Session 
 would not allow sufficient time for the discussion of all the im- 
 portant subjects involved. He was evidently averse to the 
 abolition of the governing power of the old Company; but his 
 amendment was rejected by 285 to no. 
 
 He afterwards moved the addition of a clause, accepted by the 
 Ministry, providing that, " except for repelling actual invasion, or 
 under other sudden and urgent necessity, Her Majesty's forces 
 in the East Indies shall not be employed beyond the external 
 frontier of her Majesty's Indian possessions, without the consent 
 of Parliament to the purposes thereof." This clause was fre- 
 quently referred to in after days. An India Bill, founded on the 
 resolutions, was brought in by Lord Stanley, passed with very 
 little opposition, and received the Royal assent on the 2nd 
 of August. 
 
 The first Budget of the new Ministry was introduced by the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer on the 19th of April. Mr. Glad- 
 
1858.] THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES. 167 
 
 stone did not subject it to hostile criticism, but expressed a hope 
 that Government would not lose sight of their obligations to 
 the country in respect to the income-tax and the reduction of 
 expenditure. 
 
 There was a remanent of the Crimean War in the position of the 
 Danubian Principalities — Wallachia and Moldavia. By the 22nd 
 Article of the Treaty of Paris, 1856, the two Principalities had 
 been guaranteed in all their privileges and immunities by the 
 great Powers. They now desired the privilege of self-govern- 
 ment ; and on the 4th of May Mr. Gladstone moved that an 
 address be presented to her Majesty expressing an earnest hope 
 that just weight might be given to the wishes of the people, ex- 
 pressed through their representatives elected in conformity with the 
 Treaty of Paris. If, he argued, the provinces were united, a 
 living barrier would be interposed between Russia and Turkey, 
 and the union would not have the slightest effect upon the Otto- 
 man Empire, which had not, and never had, the sovereignty of 
 the Principalities. The bonds of the people, in their relation to 
 Turkey, were, he said, " only silken bonds, if they consisted only 
 of the payment of a moderate sum of money, and the acknow- 
 ledgment of a nominal supremacy. Their relation to Turkey 
 leaves about everything that a people can most earnestly desire. 
 Their personal liberties, the power of self-government, and legis- 
 lation are entirely theirs. In the Principalities the feeling is 
 favourable to Turkey, and the reason why it is favourable is, not 
 that the people are inclined to the creed or the institutions of 
 Turkey, but that the relation between the countries is one founded 
 upon a liberal basis, and that there has been no sensible collision 
 of interests between them." These words were uttered only three 
 years after the conclusion of the Crimean War, when the feeling 
 against Russia had hardly subsided, and the " bag and baggage " 
 theory had not been developed. The motion for an address did 
 
168 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1858. 
 
 not meet the approval of the House, being rejected by a majority 
 of 178 (292 to 114). 
 
 Almost the only other occasion on which Mr. Gladstone 
 spoke at any length in the Session of 1858 (which came to 
 an end on the 2nd of August) was on the 1st of June, when he 
 supported a resolution in support of the project for making the 
 Suez Canal. 
 
 In the latter part of the autumn the political world was startled 
 by the announcement that Mr. Gladstone had accepted from 
 Lord Derby the appointment of Lord High Commissioner Extra- 
 ordinary to the Ionian Islands. The Saturday Review expressed 
 the astonishment very generally felt : — 
 
 1 ' What good is Corfu to derive from Mr. Gladstone, or Mr. Gladstone 
 from Corfu ? To the question of Cut bono ? or, Who is to profit by the appoint- 
 ment? Mr. Disraeli probably considers that he can give a satisfactory 
 answer. To buy off, or to seem to buy off, a dangerous rival or formidable 
 opponent — effecting the purchase at the low price of a remote personal interest 
 — is a transaction entirely in the spirit of that political philosophy which is 
 expounded in the pages of 'Vivian Grey.' . . . Mr. Gladstone's paradoxical, 
 or unexpected, determination to accept office under Lord Derby has assuredly 
 not arisen from any vulgar calculation of conscious selfishness. Romantic 
 sympathy for a church which he misunderstands, and for a race with which he 
 has no practical acquaintance, an intelligible longing to escape for a time from 
 party struggles at home, and an honourable ambition of acquiring fame in an 
 untried career, may explain a course which seems equally at variance with 
 public policy and with personal interest." 
 
 The acceptance of the appointment was supposed by some to 
 indicate an intention on the part of Mr. Gladstone to unite with 
 the Conservative party ; but all such speculations were ill-founded. 
 It seems to have been by the influence of Sir Edward Bulwer 
 Lytton, who had succeeded Lord Stanley as Colonial Secretary, 
 that Mr. Gladstone was offered the appointment, which involved 
 no compromise of political opinions, but was for the purpose of 
 an inquiry for which Mr. Gladstone's studies, sympathies, and 
 eminent position peculiarly qualified him. Some months before, 
 when Lord Palmerston was in office, Sir John Young, Lord High 
 
1858.] MISSION TO THE IONIAN ISLES. ] 
 
 Commissioner of the Ionian Islands (which had been, since 181 
 under British protectorate), had forwarded two despatches to t 
 Colonial Office, recommending the abandonment of the prot< 
 torate in all the islands, except Corfu, to be retained as a milita 
 post. Whatever the Palmerston Ministry might have thou§ 
 about the project, they kept their opinions to themselves, a 
 the despatch might have remained unknown to the public if, 
 the principle, it would seem, that all is fair in love, law, a 
 journalism, a person, who had access to the library of the Colon 
 Office, had not obtained a copy surreptitiously — " Convey, t 
 wise it call," said Antient Pistol — and forwarded it to the Da, 
 News, in which the despatch appeared soon after the prorogati 
 of Parliament, in the autumn of 1858. The ingenious, if r 
 ingenuous, purveyor of information was prosecuted, and appear 
 at the Old Bailey, but was acquitted on a point of law, name 
 that the offence did not amount to felony, as charged in t 
 indictment. 
 
 It was a matter of notoriety that there was a strong feeling 1 
 the part of many of the inhabitants of the Ionian Islands 
 favour of a union with Greece, a kindred nationality ; and nc 
 that it was announced to the world that official representatio 
 on the subject had been made to the British Government, it w 
 almost a necessity that some action should be taken on ti 
 matter ; and the appointment of a Commissioner of high reput 
 tion and independent position was an obvious and creditat 
 course to pursue. 
 
 On the 29th of November, Mr. Gladstone arrived at Coi 
 and met with an enthusiastic reception. The popular impressi< 
 seems to have been that he was empowered to make arrang 
 ments for the desired annexation with Greece. On the 3rd 
 December he addressed the Senate in explanation of the obje 
 of his mission, which, he said, avoided everv ulterior questic 
 
170 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1858. 
 
 that could derogate from the relation in which, by the consent of 
 so many great States, England and the Ionian Islands have been 
 reciprocally placed. " The liberty guaranteed by the Treaties 
 of Paris and by the Ionian law are, in the eyes of Her Majesty, 
 sacred. On the other hand, the purpose for which she has sent 
 me is not to inquire into the British protectorate, but to examine 
 in what way Great Britain may most honourably and amply dis- 
 charge the obligations which, for purposes European and Ionian 
 rather than British, she has contracted." 
 
 On the 27th of January, 1859, the members of the Ionian 
 Legislative Assembly passed a resolution in favour of union with 
 Greece. Mr. Gladstone advised the Assembly to proceed in the 
 usual way, by petition, memorial, or representation to the pro- 
 tecting Power: The Home Ministry advised her Majesty to 
 decline to grant the prayer of the petition, and Mr Gladstone, his 
 mission ended, returned to England. General Sir Henry Storks, 
 a soldier of great experience and administrative ability, was ap- 
 pointed Lord High Commissioner. The Legislative Assembly 
 continued its agitation for annexation ; and in May, 1864, the 
 desired result was obtained. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HOMERIC INVESTIGATIONS. 
 
 In one respect the visit to the " Isles of Greece " had probably 
 an especial charm for Mr. Gladstone. From a very early age 
 he had given himself with imaginative enthusiasm to Homeric 
 studies. To his scholarly taste the work of textual and historical 
 criticism was peculiarly adapted; his vigorous imagination de- 
 lighted to realise the great actions and the great events of the 
 Homeric narrative; and his religious instinct appreciated the 
 recognition of the alliance of the divine and human which is 
 concealed from common view behind the mythological veil. 
 He believed in the individuality of Homer from internal evidence, 
 although the personal poet is lost in the mists gathered around 
 the ages which have passed away ; and he sought to identify the 
 scenes of the great epic, to trace with some approach to certainty 
 the limits of the world known to the poet, and to tell us some- 
 thing of the manner in which his poems were preserved to 
 posterity. For sixty years or more Homer has been to Glad- 
 stone what Horace was to a genial, but much inferior man, who, 
 in one of his best moods, said — 
 
 " In childhood I prattled about him, 
 In youth he was ever my charm ; 
 In manhood I ne'er went without him, 
 In age he lies under my arm. " 
 
 If, in Sicily, Mr. Gladstone could trace the steps of Virgil, far 
 
172 WILLIAM EWART GLADS ONE. [1857-78. 
 
 more clearly could he recognise in the islands of the Greek sea 
 the influences which inspired or aided the muse of Homer. 
 The glorious skies, the Mediterranean waves, beating on rocks 
 and sandy shores, the rich verdure, the mountains and caves 
 were there. A less scholastic mind than that of Mr. Gladstone, 
 imbued so richly with classical lore that the past is almost as 
 vivid a reality as the present, a less vigorous imagination might 
 have indulged a vision of the lonely Penelope of Ithaca and 
 the wandering Odysseus, or of galleys filled with armed legions, 
 described in the famous catalogue of the ships in the second book 
 of the " Iliad," making way through devious channels amid the 
 cluster of islands to the Asian Troad, where, in Ilium, the 
 beauteous Helen, the stolen wife of Menelaus of Sparta, was a 
 captive. 
 
 Quitting for a time the records of the remarkable political 
 career of Mr. Gladstone, we may fitly devote a few pages to a 
 notice of the results of his studies in " Homerology," as he 
 styles it. A brief summary of the conclusions he has arrived at 
 respecting the personal history of Homer, and an analysis of the 
 great epics, are given in a little book — one of the popular 
 "Literature Primers," published in 1878. The year before his 
 visit to the Ionian Islands he had given to the world, " Place of 
 Homer in Classical Education and Historical Inquiry," and in 
 the year of his visit (1858), " Studies of Homer and the Homeric 
 Age." In 1869 appeared "Juventus Mundi : the Gods and 
 Men of the Homeric Age," and, so recently as 1876, when for a 
 brief space he rested from Parliamentary labours, and hoped to 
 pass the remainder of his life in learned leisure, appeared 
 11 Homeric Synchronism," and " An Inquiry into the Time and 
 Place of Homer." We do not propose to attempt a close and 
 analytical criticism of these works ; it will be sufficient for our 
 present purpose to indicate generally the conclusions the author 
 
1857-78.] HOMERIC STUDIES. 
 
 has arrived at. He probably hopes that he may be enabled 
 continue the work; at any rate there is a significant hint in 
 passage in the " Homer " of the " Literature Primers " series :- 
 
 " Unhappily, the full contents of the poems have never yet been metho 
 cally submitted to the world, so as to allow of a comprehensive considerat: 
 of their wide range, their variety, and their very extensive coherence in det; 
 Even German sedulity has until the present time shrunk from this task, a 
 the world has been contented hitherto with slight and imperfect effoi 
 Dr. Buckholz, of Erfurt, has at length confronted the enterprise, and 1 
 already published two volumes of Homerische Realsen . One Englishman, 
 least, has a similar undertaking in hand." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, as we have stated, believes in the personal: 
 of Homer, and rejects the theories advanced by the Germ 
 Professor, Frederick Augustus Wolf, and others, that the " Iliac 
 is a compilation of ballads by various authors, embodying natior 
 tradition, and not the work of one mind. " Over and abo 
 correspondence of tangible particulars," says Mr. Gladstor 
 " there is what I must call an unity of atmosphere in t 
 poems, such as I believe has never been achieved by forgery 
 imitation." Homer — which he does not understand strictly 
 the proper name of the poet, but rather as a generic term imp! 
 ing author — was born, he thinks, shortly before the Trojan war, 
 during the war. The much vexed question of the place of 1 
 nativity, " Scio's rocky isle," or elsewhere, he leaves as unsolv 
 and comparatively unimportant. In " Homeric Synchronisn 
 he maintains that the historical and ethnological situation in ti 
 " Iliad " and the " Odyssey " is such that we are able to fix t 
 date of the Trojan war, and also of the poems, with approxima 
 certainty, "to the satisfaction of all reasonable minds." Tb 
 evidence (and a confirmation is afforded by Egyptian inscription 
 justifies him in supposing that the overthrow of Troy to< 
 place some time between 1286 and 1226 B.C. He thinks, to 
 that the site of Troy, or Ilium, was discovered by Dr. Schliemai 
 when (187 1-3) he excavated the hill of Hissarlik. 
 
174 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1857-78. 
 
 In " Juventus Mundi," he says of Homer : — 
 
 " He has supplied us with a more complete picture of the Greek, or, as he 
 would probably say, of the Achaian people of his time, than any other author 
 — it might almost be said, than any number of authors have supplied with 
 reference to any other age and people. . . . He was not only the glory and 
 delight, but he was, in a great degree, the poietes, the ' maker ' of his 
 nation." 
 
 In the " Literature Primer," he says of the Homeric poems : — 
 
 "They, and the manners they describe, constitute a world of their own, 
 and are severed by a sea of time, whose breadth has not been certainly 
 measured, from the firmly set continent of recorded tradition and continuous 
 fact. In this sea they lie, as a great island. And in this island we find not 
 merely details of events, but a scheme of human life and character complete 
 in all its parts. We are introduced to man in every relation of which he is 
 capable, in every one of his acts, devices, institutions ; in the entire circle of 
 his experience. There is no other author whose case is analogous to his, or 
 of whom it can be said that the study of him is not a mere matter of literary 
 criticism, but is a full study of life in every one of its departments." 
 
 Some readers may be disposed to ask, after perusing the last 
 sentence, whether Shakspere is quite unknown to Mr. Gladstone. 
 The information contained in the Homeric poems is, he tells us, 
 " of the utmost interest, and even of great moment " — 
 
 " It introduces to us, in the very beginning of their experience, the most 
 gifted people in the world, and enables us to judge how they became such as 
 in later times we know them ; how they began to be fitted to discharge the 
 splendid part allotted to them in shaping the destinies of the world. And 
 this picture is exhibited with such a fulness both of particulars and vital 
 force, that perhaps never in any country has an age been so completely placed 
 upon record." 
 
 As a man of strong religious convictions, and profoundly in- 
 terested in the spiritual progress of humanity, Mr. Gladstone 
 naturally and earnestly directed his attention to the principles 
 which underlay the actual faith of the ancient Greeks. Homer 
 lived at a time when the worship of the greater deities of the old 
 Pelasgian system had been superseded, and that of smaller 
 divinities had succeeded, and when worship was localised. He 
 
1857-78.] THE OLYMPIAN RELIGION. \ 
 
 u had to exercise his plastic power as a poet upon traditic 
 which he found ready at hand ; " and some of these traditions 
 embodied with wonderful power. The strength of the Olymp 
 or highest form of localised religion — 
 
 "Lay in its beauty . . . and probably we could not name, in all hum 
 experience, a more signal instance of the vast power of the imagination th 
 is to be found in the long life and the extended influences of the Gr( 
 religion. It found a way to the mind of man through his sympathies a 
 propensities. Homer reflected upon his Olympos the ideas, passions, a 
 appetites known to us all, with such a force that they became with him t 
 paramount power in the construction of the Greek religion. This humani 
 rian element gradually subdued to itself all that it found in Greece of t: 
 ditions already recognised, whether primitive or modern, whether Hellen 
 Pelasgian, or foreign. The governing idea of the character of deity in Hon 
 is a nature essentially human, with the addition of unmeasured power." 
 
 In another passage he says : — 
 
 " During twelve or fourteen hundred years, it [the Olympian system] w 
 the religion of the most thoughtful, the most fruitful, the most energetic p< 
 tion of the human race. It yielded to Christianity alone. . . . Even wit! 
 what may be called our own time, the Olympian religion has exercisec 
 fascination altogether extraordinary over the mind of Goethe, who must 
 regarded as standing in the very first rank of the greatest minds of the lat< 
 centuries. The Olympian religion, however, owes perhaps as large a share 
 its triumphs to its depraved accommodations as to its excellences. Yet 
 instrument so durable, potent, and elastic must certainly have had a purpc 
 to serve . Let us consider for a moment what it may have been. We ha 
 seen how closely, and in how many ways, it bound humanity and de 
 together. As regarded matters of duty and virtue, not to speak of tl 
 highest form of virtue which is called holiness, this union was effected mair 
 by lowering the divine element. But as regarded all other functions of c 
 nature, outside the domain of life, and God-ward, all the functions which i 
 summed up in what St. Paul calls the flesh and the mind, the psychic a 
 the bodily life, the tendency of the system was to exalt the human eleme: 
 by proposing a model of beauty, strength, and wisdom, in all their combir 
 tions, so elevated that the effort to attain them required a continual upw£ 
 strain. It made divinity attainable, and thus it effectually directed t 
 thought and aim of man 'along the line of limitless desires.' Such 
 scheme of religion, though failing grossly in the government of t 
 passions, and in upholding the standard of moral duties, tended powerfu 
 to produce a lofty self-respect, and a large, free and varied conception 
 humanity. It manifested itself in schemes of notable discipline for mind a 
 body, indeed of a lifelong education : and these habits of mind and action h 
 their marked results (to omit many other greatnesses) in a philosophy, lite: 
 
 +ni-o unA art willed rpmain fr> tViic r\av nnrivcillprl nr iinsurnassprL T 
 
176 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1857-78. 
 
 sacred fire, indeed, that was to touch the mind and heart of man from above 
 was in preparation elsewhere. Within the shelter of the hills that stand 
 about Jerusalem, the great Archetype of the spiritual excellence and purifica- 
 tion of man was to be produced and matured. But a body, as it were, was to 
 be made ready for this angelic soul. And, as when some splendid edifice is 
 to be raised, its diversified materials are brought from this quarter and from 
 that, according as nature and man favour their production, so did the wisdom 
 of God, with slow but ever sure device, cause to ripen amidst the several 
 races best adapted for the work the several parts of the noble corporeal fabric 
 of a Christian manhood and a Christian civilisation. ' The kings of Tharsis 
 and of the isles shall give presents : the kings of Arabia and Saba shall bring 
 gifts.' Every worker was, with or without his knowledge and his will, to 
 contribute to the work. And among these an appropriate part was thus 
 assigned both to the Greek people and to what I have termed the Olympian 
 religion." 
 
 * 
 
 Mr. Gladstone admits that Hebrew tradition, the expectation of 
 a Redeemer at once human and divine, favoured the anthropo- 
 morphic principle, and "laid a basis for the entire system, by 
 annexing the glory of Divine attributes to the corporeal form of 
 man." The familiar belief of the intercourse of God with the 
 patriarchs was, he thinks, equally favourable to the principle, 
 which "readily adapts itself to, if, indeed, it does not require, the 
 use of a form approaching, at least, to the human type." 
 
 In the " Studies of Homer and the Homeric Age " Mr. Glad- 
 stone lays great stress upon these points, and his views excited 
 considerable controversy. He says : — 
 
 "The general view which will be given in these pages of the Homeric 
 Theo-Mythology is as follows : — That its basis is not to be found either in 
 any mere human instinct gradually building it up from the ground, or in the 
 already formed system of any other nation of antiquity, but that its true point 
 of origin lies in the ancient Theistic and Messianic traditions which we know 
 to have subsisted among the patriarchs, and which their kin and contem- 
 poraries must have carried with them as they dispersed, although their 
 original warmth and vitality could not but fall into a course of gradual efflux, 
 with the gradually widening distance from their source. To travel beyond 
 the reach of the rays proceeding from that source was to make the first de- 
 cisive step from religion to mythology. To this divine tradition there were 
 added, in rank abundance, elements of merely human fabrication, which, 
 while intruding themselves, could not but also extrude the higher and prior 
 parts of religion." 
 
1857 78.] GREEK LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 177 
 
 In another part of the work he says : — 
 
 "Those who have found in Homer the elements of religious truth have 
 resorted to the far-fetched and very extravagant supposition that he had 
 learned them from the contemporary Hebrews, or from the law of Moses* . . . 
 Few, comparatively, have been inclined to recognise in the Homeric poems 
 the vestiges of a real traditional knowledge, derived from the epoch when the 
 covenant of God with man, and the promise of a Messiah, had not yet fallen 
 within the contracted form of Judaism for shelter, but entered more or less 
 into the common consciousness, and formed a part of the patrimony, of the 
 human race. But surely there is nothing improbable in the supposition that 
 in the poems of Homer such vestiges may be found. Every recorded form of 
 society bears some traces of those by which it has been preceded ; and in 
 that highly primitive form which Homer has been the instrument of embalm- 
 ing for all posterity the law of general reason obliges us to search for elements 
 and vestiges belonging to one more primitive still. . . . Standing next to the 
 patriarchal histories of Holy Scripture, why should it not bear, how can it 
 not bear, traces of the religion under which the patriarchs lived?" 
 
 Whatever corruptions may have entered into the Greek myth- 
 ology, even in Homer's time, " the system of government was 
 addressed, in the main, to good ends. It exhibited, generally 
 speaking, though in an imperfect, yet in a real manner, supreme 
 power, as real and active on behalf of truth, justice and humanity." 
 Referring generally to Greek literature and philosophy, Mr. 
 Gladstone admits that 
 
 "It is quite idle for modern theorists to suppose that we can dispense with 
 their (the Greeks') aid, or shake off what some would call a thraldom. This 
 could only be done by going back to a state which, whatever its equipments 
 in certain respects, would be, in essential points, one nearer to barbarism than 
 that which we now hold. The work of the Greeks has been done once for 
 all, and for all mankind. Regarding more closely their office in the great 
 designs of Providence for the education of man, we may say at large that it 
 was to supply a special school, in which the whole intellect of the individual 
 man should be trained." 
 
 The writings of Mr. Gladstone on this subject have been gene- 
 rally acknowledged by scholars to be valuable contributions to 
 Homeric literature ; but, of course, all his conclusions have not 
 been accepted, especially by German critics. At home, the 
 Edinburgh Review, in an article on the " Studies of Homer and 
 the Homeric Age," highly praised the taste and feeling displayed, 
 
 N 
 
178 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [18 
 
 while dissatisfied with the volumes as a critical essay : — " A 
 attractive composition on the one hand, so far as taste 
 feeling are concerned, one more unsatisfactory, on the otb 
 a critical essay, the product of accurate learning, it is sea 
 possible to imagine. Under the first point of view, the vol 
 well deserve the great admiration, not to say enthusiasm, v 
 they have excited, especially among younger and fresher reac 
 but, in their learned aspect, we cannot regard them as anyl 
 but monuments of ingenuity wastefully expended, and, as 1 
 in such cases, and with such writers, the cleverest parts are 
 cisely the most unconvincing." 
 
 That so active a politician as Mr. Gladstone should esca 
 little badinage respecting his classical investigations was scai 
 likely .The Edinburgh Review smiled at his defence of H 
 " that primitive Traviata," and asked, " Does not the s 
 become broader still when we find the old Pagan poet pre 
 into the service of the Parliamentary corps with which Mr. G 
 stone has been acting during recent sessions ? — when a neg; 
 authority is squeezed out of him against the ' poor inventio 
 divorce' ? or, stranger yet, when the copiousness of his vocabi 
 in distinguishing different degrees of relationship by affinil 
 shown to indicate that, if he had lived, he would have vote 
 decided opposition to Lord Bury on the question of man 
 with a deceased wife's sister?" 
 
 Homer is not the only classical author who has enjoyed 
 attention of Mr. Gladstone. In 1861, in conjunction with 1 
 Lyttelton, he published a small volume of translations, his 
 tributions to the book including translations of passages from 
 "Agamemnon" of ^Eschylus, the " Iliad/' and the Ode 
 Horace and Catullus. Latin and Greek readings from D 
 and Manzoni were added. In noticing this volume, the E 
 burgh said : " In translating poetry of a high class, he takes n 
 
1857-78.] 
 
 LITERARY WORK. 
 
 179 
 
 beyond the possibility of controversy, in the forefront of the very 
 best translators." 
 
 Literature, however, is but an episode in the life of Mr. Glad- 
 stone, however much he may have desired to make it a very 
 prominent feature. He is always scholarly, well-informed, clear- 
 headed, and accurate ; a master of all mere forms of composition ; 
 but seeming to lack the fine instinct, the emotional suscepti* 
 bility, the unconscious mastery of language as an instrument of 
 thought, which mark the really great writer. As in his oratory, 
 so in his writings, there are fluency, force, rhetorical ornament, 
 but little fancy, and few phrases that will live for ages in crystal 
 clearness and epigrammatic vigour. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE CONSERVATIVE REFORM BILL. 
 
 The special feature of the opening of the Session of 1859 was 
 the introduction of the Conservative Reform Bill, by the Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer. Mr. Gladstone had returned from the 
 Ionian Isles, and dismissing, for a time, from his mind the blue 
 ^Egean and its poetical associations, prepared himself to examine 
 the provisions of the new measure. Unlike Lord John Russell, 
 he entertained no " finality " views, and did not regard the Re- 
 form Bill of 1832 as a masterpiece, to endure for all time. But, 
 as we shall see, he felt something like a lingering respect for 
 something that had been destroyed by that enactment. 
 
 On the 28th of February, Mr. Disraeli brought in the Bill, 
 which he explained had a tendency to " lateral " representation ; 
 that is, extended the suffrage sideways at its existing levels. He 
 said, "The House ought to represent not only numbers and 
 property, but all the interests of the country, and these interests 
 
 were often analogous and competing The object of 
 
 representation was to present a mirror of the mind of the country, 
 its agriculture, its commerce, its professional ability." Ministers, 
 he explained, did not propose to alter the limits of the franchise, 
 but to introduce into boroughs a new kind of franchise, founded 
 upon personal property, and to give a vote to persons having 
 
1859.] A SPLIT IN THE CABINET. 1 
 
 property to the amount of ;£io a year in the Funds, Bank Stoc 
 or East India Stock. A person having £60 in a savings' bar 
 would, under the Bill, be an elector for the borough in which ] 
 resided, as well as the recipient of a pension in the naval, militai 
 and civil services amounting to ^20 a year. Dwellers in 
 portion of a house, the aggregate value of which was ^20 a ye; 
 should be entitled to vote. The suffrage would also be conferr 
 upon graduates of the Universities, ministers of religion, membe 
 of the legal profession and of the medical body, and certa 
 schoolmasters. It was proposed also to make the suffraj 
 identical in towns and counties ; by giving to counties a £ : 
 franchise, 20,000 voters would be added to the constituencie 
 Polling papers might be substituted for the present mode 
 voting. The Bill proposed that there should be a West Yor 
 shire, a North-West Yorkshire, and a South Yorkshire j and th 
 sixteen small boroughs now returning two members each, shou 
 in future return only one. The seats thus vacated would 1 
 appropriated by giving four to Yorkshire (as newly dividec 
 two to South Lancashire, two to Middlesex (a new constituen 
 to include Chelsea and Kensington), and eight towns — Hart! 
 pool, Birkenhead, West Bromwich, Wednesbury, Barnsley, Stale 
 bridge, Croydon, and Gravesend — should be enfranchised, 
 a genuine vein of Disraelian grim humour, the Chancellor of t 
 Exchequer consoled the members for the small boroughs wl 
 would be deprived of their seats, by the suggestion that <( 
 would be an admirable opportunity for a display of patriotisi 
 an opportunity seldom offered by the circumstances and occasio 
 of society." 
 
 The introduction of the Bill caused a split in the Cabin 
 Mr. Walpole, the Home Secretary, and Mr. Henley, President 
 the Board of Trade, resigned, on the ground that they could n 
 accept the lowering of the county franchise, which Mr. Walpt 
 
182 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1859. 
 
 described as a dangerous innovation, and Mr. Henley as fatal to 
 the Constitution of the country. 
 
 Mr. Baxter, member for Montrose, moved "That it is expe- 
 dient to consider the law relating to the representation of the 
 people in England, Scotland, and Ireland, not separately, but in 
 one measure." One of the clauses of the Bill proposed to take 
 away from freeholders in boroughs the franchise by which they 
 were entitled to vote for counties. This was very unpalatable, 
 not only to Liberals, but to many Conservatives. So strongly 
 expressed was the feeling of opposition, that Ministers made a 
 concession by giving notice of the introduction of a clause by 
 which freeholders in boroughs should have the option of be ing 
 placed on the borough or county register, but not on both. 
 
 When the Bill came on for the second reading, on the 20th of 
 March, Lord John Russell moved, as an amendment, " That the 
 House is of opinion that it is neither just nor politic to interfere 
 in the manner proposed by the Bill with the freehold franchise as 
 hitherto exercised in counties in England and Wales ; and that 
 no re-adjustment of the franchise will satisfy the House or the 
 country which does not provide for a greater extension of the 
 suffrage in cities and boroughs than is contemplated by the 
 present measure." 
 
 Lord Stanley, on behalf of the Government, said the amend- 
 ment would, if carried, be fatal to the Bill. 
 
 The debate was vigorous and prolonged. On the 29th of 
 March, the sixth night, Mr. Gladstone spoke in favour of the 
 second reading of the Bill, especially approving of that part of 
 it which related to the redistribution of seats. He would have 
 voted for the resolution proposed by Lord John Russell, but he 
 found only a limited agreement among the Liberal leaders, and if 
 the resolution were carried, the Opposition would pursue separate 
 courses. Previous Governments had failed to carry a Reform 
 
1859.] DEFENCE OF SMALL BOROUGHS. 
 
 Bill, and now there was a golden opportunity, which should r 
 be lost. He concurred in nearly everything that had been sa 
 against the Bill ; but thought amendments might be made 
 committee. " I cannot," he said, " be a party to the d 
 franchisement of the county freeholders residing in boroughs, 
 cannot be a party to the uniformity of the franchise, I cam 
 be a party to a Reform Bill which does not lower the suffrage 
 boroughs." It was in this speech that he made his' remarkal 
 defence of the small nomination boroughs, which ad vane 
 reformers described as a political scandal : — 
 
 it 
 
 I must frankly own it appears to me that to proceed far in the c 
 franchisement of small boroughs is a course injurious to the efficiency of 
 House of Commons. You must not consider in this matter the question o 
 of the electors. You must consider quite as much who are likely to be elect 
 ... I am no great lover of small constituencies, and it never was my lol 
 sit for one. At the same time, small constituencies undoubtedly tend 
 answer the great purpose of a representative system, in securing its diven 
 and completeness. If you have nothing but large and populous bodies 
 return your members of Parliament, then, as recent experience seems, I 
 sorry to say, in a great degree to prove, local interests and local innuen 
 will upon the whole prevail, and you will not find it possible to introd 
 adequately into the House the race of men by whom the government of 
 country is to be carried on. By means of small boroughs, generally conside 
 — I have no doubt there are objections to them, but I believe these objecti 
 are gradually disappearing under the action of improved laws, and an impro^ 
 state of public feeling — by means of small boroughs you introduce into 
 House the representatives of separate interests, who stand apart from 
 great and the paramount interests of the country. You introduce here 
 masters of civil wisdom, such as Mr. Burke above all, Sir James Mackinto 
 and many others who might be named — a class of men with respect to wh 
 nothing is less probable than that they should command to any great ext 
 the suffrages of large and popular constituencies. You introduce those ca 
 sagacious, retired observers, who are averse from the rough contact necess 
 in canvassing large bodies of electors, but who form no small part of the r. 
 substrata of the House, and contribute greatly to the efficiency of your rep 
 sentative system. Many, however, have spoken on behalf of small borough: 
 of those where, from kindly interest, from ancient and affectionate recollectio 
 from local and traditional respect, from the memory of services received, fr 
 the admiration of great men and great qualities, the constituencies are will: 
 to take upon trust the recommendation of candidates for Parliament fr 
 noblemen or gentlemen who may stand in immediate connection with the 
 [Cries of " Oh ! " interrupted the speaker.] I do not complain at all of tl 
 interruption. I admit that there is something of paradox in such an argum< 
 
184 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1859. 
 
 upon such a question, if it is to be considered as an argument upon paper only ; 
 but practice has proved that the real paradox lies with those who will allow of 
 no ingress into the House but one. If that one ingress is to be the suffrages 
 of a large mass of voters, the consequence is a dead level of mediocrity, which 
 destroys not only the ornament, but the force of this House, and which, as I 
 think the history of other countries will show, is ultimately fatal to the liberties 
 of the people. Allow me, in explanation of my meaning, to state the case of 
 six men in one line each — Mr. Pelham, Lord Chatham, Mr. Fox, Mr. Pitt, 
 Mr. Canning, and Sir Robert Peel. Mr. Pelham entered the House for the 
 borough of Seaford in 17 19, at the age of twenty-two ; Lord Chatham entered 
 it in 1735 for Old Sarum, at the age of twenty-six ; Mr. Fox, in 1764, for 
 Midhurst, at the age, I think, of twenty ; Mr. Pitt, in 1781, for Appleby, at 
 the age of twenty-one ; and Sir Robert Peel, in 1809, for the city of Cashel, 
 at the age of twenty-one. Now, here are six men, every one of whom was a 
 leader in this House. Here are six men whom I do not hesitate to say you 
 cannot match out of the history of the British House of Commons for the 
 hundred years which precede our own day. Every one of them was a leader 
 in this House, almost every one was a Prime Minister, all of them entered 
 Parliament for one of those boroughs where influence of different kinds pre- 
 vailed. . . . What does this show ? It shows that small boroughs were the 
 nursery-ground in which these men were educated — men who not only were 
 destined to lead this House, to govern the country, to be the strength of 
 England at home, and its ornament abroad ; but who, likewise, when once 
 they had an opportunity of proving their powers in this House, became the 
 chosen of large constituencies and the favourites of the nation. ... It is not 
 too much to say that no one of those mere boys could have become a member 
 of Parliament if it had not been for the means of access to the House of 
 Commons which then existed. You must recollect that they were nearly all 
 chosen when they were about twenty-one or twenty-two. What is the case 
 now ? I fully grant that you have an answer as far as regards a very limited 
 class of persons indeed. Take the heir to a dukedom or an earldom, or the 
 son of a great territorial potentate, and there will be ready access to Parliament 
 for such men ; nor, I trust, shall we ever see any measures which will exclude 
 them. I rejoice to see that by so limited a class so much ability and so much 
 promise is shown. If you look to the young men of the day — and, after all, 
 it is to them we must look to carry on the business of the country in future 
 years — the most distinguished persons in this House are the men who owe 
 their seats here to territorial influence. The cases of Canning, Fox, Pitt, and 
 Peel carry a moral with them. What would have been Mr. Canning's chance 
 had he been dependent on that influence? I do not know what would 
 have been the chances of Mr. Fox, or Mr. Pitt, or Sir Robert Peel at twenty- 
 one or twenty-two if they had been dependent on territorial influence. You 
 cannot expect of large and popular constituencies that they should return boys 
 to Parliament, and yet, if you want a succession of men trained to take part in 
 the government of the country, you must have a great portion of them re- 
 turned to this House when they are boys. The conclusion to which this 
 brings me is that the matter will be a more serious one if you are prepared to 
 part with your whole system of small boroughs. I am not arguing this in the 
 
1859.] LOSS OF THE REFORM BILL. 185 
 
 sense of one party or another ; far less am I arguing it in a sense adverse to 
 popular rights. For what, let me ask, have these men whose names I 
 have just mentioned been ? Have they been the enemies of popular rights ? 
 Is it not, on the contrary, under Providence, in a great degree to be at- 
 tributed to a succession of these distinguished statesmen, introduced at an 
 early age into this House, and, once made known in this House, securing 
 to themselves the general favour of their countrymen, that we enjoy our 
 present extension of popular liberty, and, above all, the durable form 
 which that liberty has now assumed? " 
 
 On the seventh night a division took place, and the second 
 reading was lost ; the Ayes numbering 291 and the Noes 330 — 
 majority 39. Mr. Gladstone was the only Peelite who voted for 
 the Government ; Sir James Graham, Mr. Cardwell, and Mr. 
 Sidney Herbert voting with the opposition. Mr. Gladstone pro- 
 bably hoped that, if the second reading were carried, considerable 
 modification might be made in committee, and he was unwilling 
 to lose the opportunity of carrying a practically useful measure of 
 reform. Lord John Russell's resolution was carried as a sub- 
 stantive motion. 
 
 After so signal a defeat on a vital measure, Ministers had no 
 other course open than either to resign office or appeal to the 
 verdict of a general election. They preferred the latter alterna- 
 tive, and Parliament was dissolved on the 19th of April. In the 
 Royal Speech, delivered by Commission, it was stated, " Her 
 Majesty commands us to inform you that the appeal she is about 
 to make to her people has been rendered necessary by the diffi- 
 culties experienced in carrying on the public business of the 
 country." 
 
 The new Parliament met on the 31st of May. The appeal to 
 the country had been made on the ground that it was desirable 
 to obtain the judgment of the constituencies on the Reform pro- 
 positions of the Ministry ; but there was apparently some dispo- 
 sition to allow the subject to drift over to a more convenient 
 season. The result of the election showed that, to say the least, 
 Ministers had not strengthened their hands \ and, although they 
 
186 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1859. 
 
 could not well avoid a reference to Reform in the Speech at the 
 opening of Parliament, it was qualified and conditional : — 
 " Should you be of opinion that the necessity of giving your 
 immediate attention to measures of urgency relating to the 
 defences and financial condition of the country will not leave you 
 sufficient time for legislating with due deliberation during the 
 present session on a subject so difficult and so extensive, I trust 
 that at the commencement of the next session your earnest atten- 
 tion will be given to a question of which an early and satisfactory 
 settlement would be greatly to the public advantage." 
 
 The Liberal party, encouraged by the result of the elections, 
 determined to challenge the Ministry at once ; and a meeting of 
 the party was held at Willis's Rooms, on the 6th of June, to make 
 arrangements for proposing a vote of want of confidence. Lord 
 Palmerston, Lord John Russell, Mr. Bright, Mr. Horsman, and 
 Mr. Sidney Herbert (representing the Peelites, now almost 
 absorbed in the Liberal ranks), were among the speakers. 
 
 In the House of Commons, an amendment to the Address was 
 moved by a young member, destined in after times to occupy a 
 very prominent Parliamentary position — the Marquis of Harting- 
 ton, son of the Duke of Devonshire. He was then only twenty- 
 six years old, and bad sat in the House as representative of 
 North Lancashire for two years. He was very young to be 
 entrusted with so important a duty, but he proved that the con- 
 fidence of his friends was not misplaced. His amendment was 
 a direct expression of want of confidence in Her Majesty's 
 Ministers ; and he condemned their conduct in dissolving Parlia- 
 ment at a time when its advice was so much needed. The war 
 between Austria and France was waging, and our position in 
 regard to foreign complications was one which caused great 
 anxiety ; and there was a strong feeling that the Ministry should 
 not have considered the defeat on the Reform Bill as involving 
 
1859.] THE PALMERSTON ADMINISTRATION. ] 
 
 the necessity of a dissolution. The Liberal party, however, 
 may be observed, had no objection to the farther delay of bu 
 ness and the political embarrassment which the change of Minisi 
 they were so desirous to bring about would involve. 
 
 The amendment was carried by a majority of 13 — 323 agaii 
 310. The ministerial minority was therefore less (13 as compar 
 with 39) than on the division on the Reform Bill a few wee 
 before. Mr. Gladstone did not speak in the debate, but 
 voted for the Ministry, and against his old associates, Sir Jam 
 Graham, Mr. Cardwell, and Mr. Sidney Herbert, who swelled t 
 ranks of the majority. 
 
 On the 17th of June, the Earl of Derby, in the House of Lon 
 and Mr. Disraeli, in the House of Commons, announced t 
 resignation of the Ministry. The Queen, apprehensive, perha] 
 of a rivalry between Lords Palmerston and Russell, sent for E; 
 Granville ; but he declined to attempt to form a Ministry, a: 
 advised that Lord Palmerston should be entrusted with the taj 
 
 An understanding, it seems, existed between Lords Palmerst 
 and Russell that, whichever of the two should be selected 
 Prime Minister, the other would give him all the assistance in 1 
 power, and the arrangement was loyally carried out. Lord Jo! 
 Russell took the Foreign Office ; the Duke of Newcastle, t 
 Colonies ; Sir G. C. Lewis, the Home Department ; and ft 
 Sidney Herbert became Secretary of War. Lord Palmerston w 
 very desirous to include Mr. Cobden in the new arrangemen 
 and kept the office of President of the Board of Trade open f 
 his acceptance. The great Free Trader was then on his way hor 
 from America, and on his arrival declined to take office. V\ 
 Milner Gibson, who had been appointed President of the Po 
 Law Board, shifted to the vacant office, his place being suppli< 
 by Mr. Cardwell, who had previously accepted office as Chi 
 Secretary of Ireland. 
 
188 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1859. 
 
 There was still one great office to be filled up — that of Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer — in some respects the most important in 
 the Cabinet, next to that of the Prime Minister, and all eyes were 
 turned towards the man who, by universal consent, was best 
 qualified to fill it. Mr. Gladstone had opposed the vote of want 
 of confidence and had supported the second reading of the Con- 
 servative Reform Bill. That he was a Liberal in the main none 
 could doubt ; but lately he had shown more sympathy with the 
 opposite side. There was some curious speculation as to the 
 course he would take ; but the matter was settled by his accept- 
 ance of office. 
 
 Another appeal to the University constituency was necessary. 
 At the general election Mr. Gladstone had been returned without 
 opposition, but now he was not permitted to retain his seat un- 
 challenged, and an effort was made to bring forward the Marquis 
 of Chandos, son of the Duke of Buckingham. The opposition 
 was strongly commented on even by those organs in the public 
 press which by no means gave an undeviating support to Mr. 
 Gladstone. As exhibiting a very general feeling, we may quote 
 a passage from the Saturday Review of the 25th of June, 1859 : — 
 
 " This journal is not to be classed amongst the great admirers of Mr. Glad- 
 stone's course as a statesman ; nor does it contemplate the possible ascendancy 
 
 of his counsels in the Government at the moment with satisfaction 
 
 Were the representation of Oxford now a perfectly open question, and 
 were Mr. Gladstone placed in competition with a man approaching him in 
 genius and accomplishments, and superior to him in coolness of judgment and 
 steadiness of public conduct, we should think the University might do the 
 best thing for the country in giving his competitor the preference. But the 
 
 present opposition to his return is utterly unjustifiable Lord 
 
 Chandos is a man of great private worth and business-like habits, but his 
 sense and modesty must have been under a temporary eclipse when he allowed 
 himself to be put forward as a candidate for the representation of a great 
 intellectual constituency, against a man of genius — a man of genius who had 
 served Church and State in the highest offices, and with splendid distinction, 
 
 through a public life begun so early that it is already long A 
 
 doubtful and chequered fame Mr. Gladstone will assuredly leave, but he will 
 leave a fame bright enough to gibbet the ungenerous presumption of his 
 obscure opponent when his own faults are buried in a great man's grave." 
 
1859.] RE-ELECTION FOR OXFORD UNIVERSITY. 189 
 
 Mr. Gladstone himself felt that some explanation of his conduct 
 was necessary, and he addressed a letter to the Provost of Oriel 
 on the subject. He said : — 
 
 "Various differences of opinion, both on foreign and domestic matters, sepa- 
 rated me, during the greater part of the administration of Lord Palmerston, from 
 a body of men with the majority of whom I had acted, and had acted in per- 
 fect harmony, under Lord Palmerston. I promoted the vote of the House of 
 Commons in February of last year which led to the downfall of that Ministry. 
 Such having been the case, I thought it my duty to support, as far as I was 
 able, the Government of Lord Derby. Accordingly, on the various occasions 
 during the existence of the late Parliament when they were seriously threatened 
 with danger or embarrassment, I found myself, like many other independent 
 members, lending them such assistance as was in my power ; and although I 
 could not concur in the late Reform Bill, and considered the dissolution to be 
 singularly ill-advised, I still was unwilling to found on such disapproval a vote 
 in favour of the motion of Lord Hartington, which appeared to imply a course 
 of previous opposition, and which has been the immediate cause of the change 
 of Ministers. Under these circumstances it was, that while I had not the 
 smallest claim on the victorious party, my duty as towards the late advisers of 
 the Crown had been fully discharged. It is hardly needful to say that, pre- 
 viously to the recent vote, there was no negotiation or understanding with me 
 in regard to office ; but when Lord Palmerston had undertaken to form a 
 
 Cabinet, he acquainted me with his desire that I should join it 
 
 Were I permitted the mode of address usual upon elections, I should, after 
 the preliminary explanation, proceed to submit with confidence to my con- 
 stituents that, as their representative, I have acted according to the obligations 
 which their choice and favour brought upon me, and that the Ministry which 
 has thought fit to desire my co-operation is entitled in my person, as well as 
 otherwise, to be exempt from condemnation at the first moment of its existence. 
 Its title to this extent is perhaps the more clear because, among its early, as 
 well as its very gravest duties, will be the proposal of a Reform Bill, which, 
 if it be accepted by Parliament, must lead, after no long interval, to a fresh 
 general appeal to the people, and will then afford a real opportunity of judging 
 whether public men associated in the present Cabinet have or have not for- 
 feited by that act, or by its legitimate consequences, any confidence of which 
 they may previously have been thought worthy." 
 
 The 27th of June was the nomination dayat Oxford University. 
 The Dean of Christ Church proposed Mr. Gladstone, and the 
 President of St. John's nominated the Marquis of Chandos. The 
 polling commenced the same day, and continued till Friday, the 
 31st, when the voting stood — Gladstone, 1,050; Marquis of 
 Chandos, 859: majority, 191. 
 
190 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [185! 
 
 Very soon after the Palmerston Ministry had settled dow 
 
 in office, Sir William Somerville introduced a Bill to remov 
 
 one of the disabilities under which Roman Catholics in In 
 
 land still suffered, that which limited the office of Lord Chan 
 
 cellor of Ireland to members of the Protestant Church. 1 
 
 vigorous opposition set in from the Conservative side of th 
 
 House ; and Mr. Whiteside, representing the extreme Churcl 
 
 party, with all his fiery rhetoric, denounced the Bill as the " mos 
 
 indecent proposition ever submitted to Parliament, because i 
 
 proposed that a Roman Catholic should decide questions touch 
 
 ing the doctrines of the Church of England." Mr. Gladstone 
 
 replied to Mr. Whiteside with equal earnestness and certainly nol 
 
 less eloquence. The Irish Chancellorship, he maintained, was a 
 
 secular office, the holder of which had no direct ecclesiastical 
 
 influence, but was only connected with Church matters as an 
 
 administrator of the law, and in connection with others who were 
 
 Protestants. Mr. Disraeli, the Conservative leader, was willing 
 
 that the Bill should be referred to a select committee, in order that 
 
 the exact functions and position of the Irish Chancellor might be 
 
 clearly ascertained and defined. At length the debate was 
 
 adjourned, and the state of public business did not permit it to 
 
 be resumed. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone had scant time — only three weeks — to prepare 
 his Budget ; but he was ready by the 1 8th of July, when he made 
 his financial statement. The revenue of the past year had pro- 
 duced ,£65,477,000, and the expenditure had been £"64,663,000, 
 leaving a surplus in hand of ,£814,000. The estimated revenue 
 for the current year was £"64,340,000, and the expenditure, 
 £"69,207,000. The increase of expenditure was owing to the 
 increase in the Army and Navy estimates, the former to the 
 amount of ,£1,280,000 and the latter ,£3,091,000, due to the 
 expectation of a possibility of European complications. Austria 
 
1859.] THE BUDGET. 191 
 
 had been defeated by the French and Sardinian armies at Monte- 
 bello, Palestro, Magenta, and Solferino. The old dynasties had 
 been driven out, and provisional governments established at 
 Florence, Parma, and Modena : there had been an insurrection 
 in the Papal States ; and Austria, humbled, had signed the pre- 
 liminaries of peace at Villafranca. There was quite enough dis- 
 turbance in the air of Europe to justify England in keeping its 
 powder dry and strengthening its blue-jackets. But the Chancel- 
 lor of the Exchequer had to provide for a deficit of ^4,867,000, 
 and in accordance with his financial maxims, there was but one 
 mode by which the money could be provided. He declined to 
 increase indirect taxation, and so impose an additional burden on 
 the labouring man. "That being so," he said, "we arrive at a 
 point which can be easily anticipated. The divining faculty 
 of an intelligent audience altogether outruns either the power 
 or necessity of a detailed statement. It remains to consider what 
 we shall do with the income tax." He had, however, a minor 
 resource at hand ; and proposed to diminish the malt-tax credits 
 from eighteen to twelve months. Under the existing system of 
 collection, the maltster made and sold the malt before he paid 
 duty j as Mr. Gladstone put it, " the public found him capital." 
 By diminishing the period of credit, ^780,000 would come into 
 the Treasury in the current, instead of the next year, so reducing 
 the deficiency to little more than ^4,000,000. He proposed to 
 raise the income-tax from fivepence to ninepence in the pound, 
 which would yield about the amount required ; but the additional 
 fourpence would be limited to incomes of ^150 and above, and 
 upon incomes between that amount and £ 100 three-halfpence 
 only would be imposed. The whole of the addition to the 
 income-tax would be made available to the service of the year by 
 being charged on the first half-year's payment. On the larger 
 incomes the increase would be considerably more than fourpence ; 
 
192 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1859 
 
 for, as Mr. Gladstone explained, " The effect of my proposal is tc 
 place an addition of three-halfpence upon all incomes under 
 ^150, and upon all incomes above that amount an addition oi 
 sixpence-halfpenny, or at the annual rate of thirteenpence on all 
 incomes above £150 ; but the first half-yearly payment for the 
 taxpayer whose income is under £150 a- year will be at four- 
 pence in the pound, and the remaining liability for income tas 
 for 1859-60 will stand exactly as it does now, at twopence-half- 
 penny for both classes." The result of this arrangement would 
 bring into the Exchequer the sum of ^4,340,000, and that, with 
 the sum obtained by reduction of the malt credits, would yield 
 £5,120,000, leaving a surplus of ,£253,000. 
 
 The resolutions were much debated — nobody was particularly 
 pleased with proposals to increase the income-tax ; and the dis- 
 cussion of the financial proposition was enlivened by some 
 wanderings into the region of foreign politics and other not 
 strictly relevant matters. Mr. Disraeli especially widened the 
 range of debate. Probably he was not prepared to suggest a 
 better method of raising the money which everybody knew must 
 be raised; but he could interpose some gratuitous advice to 
 Ministers respecting the conduct of foreign affairs. Mr. Glad- 
 stone, in reply, said : " I may perhaps be permitted to observe 
 that, considering the range of those remarks, and the extent oi 
 the topics they introduce, which carry a mere journeyman Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer like myself out of his true regions, and 
 require much higher flights than he can hope to reach, it might 
 have been more convenient if the right honourable gentleman 
 had taken a more suitable opportunity, and one chosen after due 
 notice to the House, for advancing those principles of his higl: 
 policy than a discussion on the finances." 
 
 The Budget resolutions were carried. Maltsters and tax 
 payers were left to ease their minds by grumbling, and Parlia 
 
1859.] ITALIAN AFFAIRS. .] 
 
 ment was free to devote its energies to the consideration 
 European politics, certainly perplexed enough. The shaking 
 principalities and powers had not been so great as in the ear 
 quake year, 1848; but it had been considerable. The on 
 great Austrian empire had been humiliated ; another and 
 greater power was foreshadowing its predominance in German 
 a free and united Italy was rising on the ruins of the old a 
 corrupt dukedoms and of the temporal power of the Papac 
 and for*a time, at least, our "faithful ally," Napoleon the Thii 
 was posing as the liberator and the arbitrator of southe 
 Europe. 
 
 On the 8th of August, Lord Elcho revived a motion, which h 
 been postponed, for an address to Her Majesty on the subject 
 Italian affairs. The proposed address stated " that in the opini 
 of this House it would be consistent neither with the honour n 
 dignity of the country to take part in any Conference for t 
 purpose of settling the details of a peace the preliminaries 
 which had been arranged between the Emperor of the Frerj 
 and the Emperor of Austria." The late Government, said Lc 
 Elcho, had pursued a course of neutrality, and he could 1 
 sympathise with Sardinia and France. " If we had confidence 
 the Emperor of the French, let us keep out of the Conferem 
 if we distrusted him, a fo?'tiori } let us keep out of the C< 
 ference." 
 
 Mr. Kinglake moved the previous question. Lord Elch 
 motion, he said, was intended to express distrust of F 
 Majesty's Ministers, and was almost a vote of want of a 
 fidence. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone's speech in opposing Lord Elcho's motion v 
 manly and outspoken. He was not aware that the Governm< 
 proposed to take part in a Conference for the purpose of settli 
 
194 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1859. 
 
 peace would be settled by the belligerents themselves, and what 
 remained would be, not the details of the peace, but great 
 questions of European policy, virtually affecting the happiness of 
 Italy. He continued : — 
 
 "The main question we have to consider, after all, is not the abstract 
 question of whether diplomatic negotiations or conferences are desirable or 
 not, but whether under present circumstances there is a clear prospect or a 
 reasonable hope that the social position of a very large portion of our fellow 
 men would be benefited by the adoption of such a course. That is the real 
 question for our consideration, and it is in order that we may have free scope 
 to arrive at such a decision with respect to it as we may deem most advan- 
 tageous that Her Majesty's Government entreat the House of Commons to 
 leave their hands unshackled in the matter. The hon. and learned gentleman, 
 casting an eye over the States of Italy, saw that many questions were raised 
 by the peace which it failed to settle. What does the declaration made at 
 Villafranca, for instance, that certain Sovereigns should return to their terri- 
 tories, mean? It has received no authoritative construction, and I do not 
 understand what it necessarily conveys beyond this — that the parties sub- 
 scribing the terms of peace are perfectly willing that those Sovereigns should 
 return to their territories, other circumstances permitting. If it means that 
 they are to be restored by force — which interpretation, be assured, the 
 Emperor of the French does not mean to put upon it — then is there another 
 reason furnished why the hands of Her Majesty's Government should not be tied 
 up, and why they should not be prevented from protesting, with all that energy 
 which the Government of a free State can command, against a doctrine that 
 would treat the inhabitants of the territories in question as the property of so 
 many ducal houses, who might dispose of them, their families, their fortunes, 
 and those of their posterity, as they pleased, without any regard to that inde- 
 pendent will and judgment which, as human beings, they are entitled to 
 exercise. ... In reference to the Pope — quite apart from all sectarian differ 
 ences — as a personage occupying an eminent station and possessing distin- 
 guished personal virtues, as the head of a great body of Christian believers, 
 my wish would be to look upon him with all the respect which is due to 
 those united titles. I, however, lament, as cordially as I could lament if I 
 had the nearest interest in all that concerns him, when I see a Sovereign who 
 makes pretensions to represent in a peculiar manner the majesty of Heaven 
 reduced to become a mendicant at foreign Courts — a mendicant, too, not for 
 the purpose merely of obtaining the means of subsistence, but with the object 
 of procuring military armaments whereby to carry the ravages of fire and 
 sword over the fair provinces which he governs, and to rivet on the necks of 
 nen a yoke that is detested by every one except those who have a direct 
 personal interest in its continuance. That is a policy which is unworthy of a 
 civilised nation." 
 
 Satisfied with having produced a discussion on the subject, 
 
1859.] PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT. 195 
 
 Lord Elcho withdrew his motion ; and it was apparent that the 
 address to the Queen would have been superfluous, the Ministers 
 having no intention to advise taking part in a Conference. 
 
 When Parliament was prorogued by commission on the 13th 
 of August, the speech announced that Her Majesty "had not 
 yet received the information necessary to enable her to decide 
 whether she may think fit to take part in any such negotiation/' 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL TREATY AND BUDGET OP i860. 
 
 About the middle of January, Mr. Cobden, who had, as we have 
 seen, refused to take office in the Ministry, accepted the appoint- 
 ment of plenipotentiary to France, to negotiate a treaty of com- 
 merce with that country. Many Englishmen then believed in 
 Napoleon the Third. He had been our ally — " our faithful ally," 
 said Tennyson, accompanying the words by a famous sneer — in 
 the Crimean war; and Free Traders especially were ready to 
 credit him with the intention of making the alliance closer by 
 joining with us in the peaceful achievement of uniting the two 
 countries by commercial bonds, to their mutual benefit. Writing 
 about this time, one prominent Radical and Free Trader enthusi- 
 astically eulogised the Emperor, saying, " It is already asked, 
 which is Napoleon the Great ?" Mr. Cobden appears to have 
 felt a peculiar pleasure in the task of endeavouring to arrange a 
 treaty in the provisions and operations of which the two countries 
 should have a common interest, and by which they should be 
 alike advantaged. It has been truly remarked that " the treaty 
 was not altogether in accordance with the principles of political 
 science, of which Cobden declared himself the disciple and advo- 
 cate, but he rejoiced oyer it, and was proud of the share he 
 took in effecting it, because he believed that not only would it 
 
I860.] COMMERCIAL TREATY WITH FRANCE. 197 
 
 tend to increase the national prosperity, but also that in propor- 
 tion as nations were banded together by commercial and trading 
 interests would peace be rendered more secure, and that as these 
 bonds multiplied it would become more and more difficult for 
 rulers to fling nations into war at their will." 
 
 Cobden was old enough to remember something of the ani- 
 mosity of the English nation against France, and was well read in 
 the history of his own and the neighbouring country from the 
 time of the Revolutionary panic till the " crowning victory " of 
 Waterloo. He knew well what blind, almost brutal animosity 
 existed, how right judgment and feeling were obscured in the 
 national vanity, and he desired to see the two nations at once 
 more self-respecting and less suspicious and aggressive. If the 
 general public feeling were more liberal than in the old war-time, 
 when any street ruffian could ensure being called an "honest 
 fellow," and treated to a pot of beer, if he only cursed the French 
 with all the emphatic, if limited, vocabulary at his command — 
 when Nelson instructed his midshipmen that one of their para- 
 mount duties was to " hate the French with all their heart and 
 soul " — there had been evidence enough recently on both sides 
 of the Channel that there were smouldering embers which a little 
 breath might kindle into a fierce flame. In the belief, then, that 
 his efforts might be beneficent to both countries, the great Free 
 Trader and lover of peace — with no faith whatever in the efficacy 
 of war as a civiliser, and a very great belief in the value of corn, 
 coal, iron, and cotton as the best intermediary between nations — 
 accepted the mission entrusted to him by Lord Palmerston as 
 the head of the Government, but no doubt proposed and planned 
 by Mr. Gladstone, who, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, was 
 deeply interested in the financial results. Lord Palmerston had in 
 his nature a considerable amount of the pugnacity of the old 
 school, and was more disposed to adopt Grantley Berkeley's 
 
198 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1860. 
 
 famous " punch his head " policy towards a foreigner than to 
 show from price-currents and market reports that it would be to 
 his interest to make things pleasant. 
 
 M. Michel Chevalier, who had given his life to the study and 
 solution of economical problems, and was the leader of the small 
 band of French Free Traders, was chosen by the French Emperor 
 to arrange the treaty with Mr. Cobden, with whom he had long 
 maintained a private friendship. The provisions of the treaty 
 were arranged with little difficulty, and the signatures on behalf 
 of the respective governments were attached in the course of 
 February. This treaty, as we shall see, considerably affected 
 Mr. Gladstone's great Budget of i860. 
 
 On the 24th of January, Parliament was opened by the Queen. 
 The Royal speech announced that the revenue was in a satis- 
 factory condition, and also that measures would be introduced 
 "for amending the laws which regulate the representation of the 
 people in Parliament." In the debates on the address foreign 
 affairs were debated with much earnestness and some acrimony. 
 Many who did not believe in the Emperor Napoleon were greatly 
 averse to the cession of Savoy to the French empire ; and there 
 were others who, although they could not readily defend the old 
 Italian dukedoms of Italy, regarded with some apprehension the 
 results of their abolition and the substitution of a kingdom of 
 Italy, with Victor Emmanuel supreme in the entire peninsula— 
 the king of a revolution, backed up by the purchased support of 
 another result of revolution, the Emperor Napoleon. Neither 
 Lord Palmerston, the English Premier, nor Lord John Russell, 
 the English Foreign Secretary, had any liking for the annexation ; 
 but they felt that England had no recognisable plea for inter- 
 ference, and accepted the fact with the best grace they could. 
 
 The bulk of the English people were more interested in the 
 financial prospects of the year. If the middle and industrial 
 
I860.] A GREAT BUDGET. 
 
 classes had little liking for Napoleon, they liked the income-t 
 
 and the war duties on tea and sugar less ; and, with so adroil 
 
 financier as Mr. Gladstone at the Exchequer, great things we 
 
 hoped for. True, there had been a Chinese war entailing a hea 
 
 expense which must be met ; but then a considerable amou 
 
 would be available from the falling in of long annuities, and IV 
 
 Gladstone might be trusted to make the most of the opportunii 
 
 On the ioth of February, an unusually early period, he pi 
 
 duced the anxiously expected Budget, speaking for four hou 
 
 with unfailing vivacity (although he was just recovering from 
 
 sharp attack of illness) and a comprehensive mastery over t 
 
 arrangement of many topics. If, he said, the war with Chi 
 
 had not involved heavy charges, the position would have be 
 
 better ; but there had been an addition to the Army and Na 
 
 expenditure amounting to ;£i, 170,000, and he estimated besid 
 
 that the loss on the Customs in the period up to the end of Mar 
 
 would probably be ^640,000. These deficiencies would ha 
 
 put them " on the wrong side of the account"; but deliveran 
 
 came from an unexpected quarter. Spain had, with "a hi 
 
 sense of honour and duty,"paid^5oo,ooo which she owed, but w 
 
 not actually compelled to pay at that time. Half of that amou 
 
 would be placed to the credit of the revenue before Man 
 
 With that aid there would be a surplus of ^65,000, one 
 
 the smallest that a Chancellor of the Exchequer ever had to bo; 
 
 of. He estimated the revenue of the ensuing financial year 
 
 ^60,700,000, against which he must place an estimated expenditi 
 
 f ^70, 1 00,000, leaving a deficit of ,£9,400,000 to be provided f 
 
 He related at considerable length the financial history of the p: 
 
 vious year, and defended his policy when previously in offi< 
 
 and that of Sir Robert Peel. Between the years 1842 and 18 < 
 
 he said, the increase of the wealth of the country was at the n 
 
200 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1860. 
 
 l8 53 and 1859 the wealth grew at the rate of 16^ and the 
 public expenditure, so far as it was optional and subject to the 
 action of public opinion, at the rate of 58 per cent. He stated 
 frankly that he was not satisfied with the rapid growth of the 
 public expenditure, but before anything could be done there 
 must be provision for filling up " the gap which yawns before you, 
 represented by the figures £9,400,000." There were two alter- 
 natives which might be offered — one a " generous budget," which 
 would, with an income-tax of one shilling in the pound, relieve 
 tea and sugar of the "war duties"; the other a "niggardly 
 budget," which would keep up the tea and sugar duties and 
 leave the country liable to an income-tax of tenpence. Before 
 stating what course he intended to adopt, he explained the provi- 
 sions of the commercial treaty with France. On the 1st of 
 October, 1861, France would reduce duties and take away pro- 
 hibitions on British productions on which there was an ad valorem 
 duty of 30 per cent., and there was a promise that the maximum 
 of 30 per cent, should, after a lapse of three years, be reduced to 
 a maximum of 25 per cent. England engaged, with a limited 
 power of exception, to abolish immediately and totally all duties 
 on manufactured goods, to reduce the duty on brandy from 155. 
 to 8s. 2d. f on wine from $s. 10//. to 3s., with power reserved to 
 increase the duty on wine if we raised our duty on spirits. Eng- 
 land engaged to charge upon French articles subject to excise the 
 same duties which the manufacturer would incur in consequence 
 of the changes. The treaty would be in force for ten years, and 
 he epitomized the general results of it. The reduction of the duty 
 on wine, which would afford relief to the consumer, would be 
 £830,000, entailing a loss to the revenue of .£515,000. The 
 reduction of the duty on brandy would relieve the consumer of 
 £446,000, but the loss to the revenue would be £225,000. 
 The total financial result of the treaty would show that the con- 
 
i860.] THE COMMERCIAL TREATY. 201 
 
 sumer of the articles included in its provisions would be relieved 
 to the extent of ;£ 1,73 7,000 • but the revenue would lose 
 ;£i, 1 19,000. But, he continued, we should take other considera- 
 tions into account : — 
 
 " The commercial relations of England with France have always borne a 
 political character. What is the history of the system of prohibition on the 
 one side and on the other which grew up between this country and France ? 
 It is simply this — that finding yourselves in political estrangement from her at 
 the time of the Revolution, you followed up and confirmed that estrange- 
 ment, both on the one side and the other, by a system of prohibitory duties. 
 And I do not deny that it was effectual for its end. I do not mean for its 
 commercial end. Economically it may, I admit, have been detrimental 
 enough to both countries ; but for its political end it was effectual. And 
 because it was effectual, I call upon you to legislate now for an opposite 
 end by the exact reverse of that process. And if you desire to knit together in 
 amity those two great nations whose conflicts have often shaken the world, 
 undo for your purpose that which your fathers did for their purpose, and 
 pursue with equal intelligence and consistency an end that is more beneficial. 
 Sir, there was once a time when close relations of amity were established 
 between the Governments of England and France. It was in the reign of 
 the later Stuarts ; and it marks a dark spot in our annals, because it was an 
 union formed in a spirit of domineering ambition on the one hand, and of base 
 and vile subserviency on the other. But that, Sir, was not an union of the 
 nations ; it was an union of the Governments. This is not to be an union 
 of the Governments, it is to be an union of the nations ; and I confidently 
 say again, as I have already ventured to say in this House, that there never 
 can be any union between the nations of England and France except an 
 union beneficial to the world, because directly either the one or the other 
 began to harbour schemes of selfish aggrandisement, that moment the 
 jealousy of its neighbour would powerfully react, and the very fact of being 
 in harmony will itself be at all times the most conclusive proof that neither 
 of them can meditate anything that is dangerous to Europe." 
 
 Objections to the treaty, he said, came rushing in from all 
 quarters. " It was like the ancient explanation of the physical 
 causes of a storm — all the winds, north, east, west, and south, 
 rushing together." Some said the treaty was an abandonment of 
 Free Trade; and others said — an unquestionably sounder sug- 
 gestion, for it was founded on facts — that it was an abandonment 
 of the principle of Protection. The treaty was an abandonment 
 of the principle of Protection — " our old friend Protection, who 
 used formerly to dwell in the palaces of the land, and who was 
 
202 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1860. 
 
 dislodged from them some ten or fifteen years ago, and since 
 that period had found shelter and good living in holes and 
 corners ; but you are now invited, if you will have the goodness 
 to concur in the operation, to see whether you cannot eject him 
 from those holes and corners." Referring to the relative positions 
 of England and France, he said : — 
 
 "It is perfectly true that France is a foreign country, but she is a foreign 
 country separated from you absolutely by a narrower channel than that which 
 divides you from Ireland ; and while nature, or Providence rather, has placed 
 you in the closest proximity, it has also given to these two great countries 
 such diversities of soil, climate, products, and character that I do not believe 
 you can find on the face of the world two other countries which are so con- 
 stituted for carrying on a beneficial and extended commerce." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone predicted that great good would arise from in- 
 creasing facilities for the admission of pure French wines ; and de- 
 scribed the practice adopted in the wine trade by which African 
 wines were used for mixing with foreign European wines, and " new 
 composts are brought forward and delivered to a discerning public, 
 with what results it is not for me to say." There was a duty on 
 foreign wine of $s. lod. the gallon, on colonial wine of 2s. nd., 
 on British wine of is. 2d. ; the result was that the consumption 
 of foreign wine diminished, that of colonial wine increased, and 
 that of British wine had doubled within the previous ten years. 
 The case, then, had all the essential characteristics of a trade 
 carried on, and a revenue pining, under the influence of differen- 
 tial duties. There was, in some quarters, he asserted, a prejudice 
 against the use of French wines : — 
 
 "You find a great number of people in this country who believe, like an 
 article of Christian faith, that an Englishman is not born to drink French 
 wines. Do what you will, they say, argue with him as you will, reduce your 
 duties as you will, endeavour even to pour the French wine down his throat, 
 but still he will reject it. Well, these are most worthy members of the com- 
 munity ; but they form their judgment from the narrow circle of their own ex- 
 perience, and will not condescend for any consideration to look beyond that 
 narrow circle. What they maintain is absolutely the reverse of truth, for 
 nothing is more certain than the taste of English people at one time for French 
 
I860.] EULOGY OF COBDEN. 
 
 wine. In earlier periods of our history French wine was the great article 
 consumption here. Taste is not an immutable, but a mutable thing. If ; 
 go back to what an eminent living poet [Tennyson] has called ' the spaci 
 times of great Elizabeth,' you will find that the most delicate lady in the li 
 did not scruple then to breakfast off beefsteaks and ale. Down to the Re 
 lution, French wine was very largely consumed here. . . The importat 
 of French wine is absolutely increasing, as the percentage of the total c 
 sumption is relatively increasing. Taste, I say, is mutable. It is idle to t 
 of the taste for port and sherries and the highly brandied wines as fixed i 
 unchangeable. There is a power of unbounded supply of wine if you \ 
 only alter your law, and there is a power, I won't say of unbounded dema 
 but of an enormously increased demand, for this most useful and valua 
 commodity." 
 
 It would be seen, he added, that the changes on the Engli 
 side would come immediately into effect, notwithstanding t 
 postponement of the changes intended by France. Minist< 
 had acceded to this arrangement as, on the whole, advantagec 
 to the English people. The speech continued : — 
 
 " I cannot pass from the subject of the French treaty without paying 
 tribute of respect to two persons at least, who have been the main authors 
 it. I am bound to bear this witness at any rate with regard to the Empe 
 of the French, that he has given the most unequivocal proof of sincer 
 and earnestness in the progress of this great work, a work which he has pro 
 cuted with clear-sighted resolution, not, doubtless, for British purposes, but 
 the spirit of enlightened patriotism, with a view to commercial reforms 
 home and to the advantage and happiness of his own people. With reg£ 
 to Mr. Cobden, speaking, as I do, at a time when every angry passion 1 
 passed away, I cannot help expressing our obligations to him for the labc 
 he has, at no small personal sacrifice, bestowed upon a measure which he, r 
 the least among the apostles of Free Trade, believes to be one of the great 
 triumphs Free Trade has ever achieved. Rare is the privilege of any man wl 
 having fourteen years ago rendered to his country one single and splenc 
 service, now again, within the same brief span of life, decorated neither 
 rank nor title, bearing no mark to distinguish him from the people whom 
 serves, has been permitted to perform a great and memorable service to 1 
 Sovereign and to his country." 
 
 Having stated that there was a yawning gap of nine and a hi 
 millions to be filled up, and that the French treaty would great 
 increase the deficiency, the House was now prepared to listen I 
 the great master's propositions for raising the amount; but, i 
 the astonishment of his hearers, the Chancellor of the Excheoui 
 
204 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1860. 
 
 proceeded to say that the plan included considerable reductions 
 and remissions of taxation. That a Finance Minister with a large 
 surplus at command should take off or reduce duties was intel- 
 ligible enough; that a Finance Minister struggling against an 
 alarming deficiency should be a liberal giver, greatly perplexed 
 members on both sides of the House. Mr. Gladstone went on 
 calmly to explain his plan. He proposed to abolish entirely the 
 Customs duties on butter, tallow, cheese, oranges and lemons, eggs, 
 nuts, nutmegs, pepper, liquorice, dates, and various minor articles, 
 and those abolitions would entail a loss to the revenue of 
 £382,000. There would be a reduction in the duties on some 
 articles of great importance — timber, from js. 6d. and i$s. per 
 ton to is. and 2s. ; currants, from 15^. gd. per cwt. to js.; 
 raisins and figs, from io.r. to js.; hops (after Jan. 1, 1861), from 
 45 s. to 14s. The direct loss to the revenue from these changes 
 would be £1,035,000, but probably reduced by increase of con- 
 sumption to £910,000. To help make up that sum he intended 
 to resort to what had been described as " penny taxation," and 
 impose a registration duty of one penny per package on all goods 
 imported or exported, by which means, he thought, ,£300,000 a 
 year could be raised. He would also place a moderate imposi- 
 tion on various operations connected with the warehousing system, 
 such as "removals," "bottling," "vattings," &c, and this, he 
 hoped, would yield £120,000. One new duty he would impose — 
 6d. per cwt. on chicory or other vegetable product used with 
 coffee — partly as a protection to the coffee revenue ; and this duty, 
 with the improvement of the revenue from coffee, would produce 
 £ 9 o, o o per annum. 
 
 Having disposed of Customs matters, the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer turned to the Excise, or Inland Revenue. He pro- 
 posed a tax of id. on notes of sale of foreign and colonial pro- 
 duce and on broker's contract notes ; 3d. on dock warrants, and 
 
I860.] WINE LICENCES FOR PASTRYCOOKS. 205 
 
 a reduction of agreement stamp from 2s. 6d. to 6d., with repeal 
 of exemption under ^20. Then came the proposition destined 
 to arouse such a storm of opposition and vituperation from the 
 representatives of " vested interests " as a minister is rarely 
 doomed to encounter. The most violent of the broad-acred de- 
 fenders of Protection, in the hottest times of Free Trade agita- 
 tion — and they delighted in strong language — were mild in 
 comparison with the champions of the licensed victuallers, who 
 rushed into print and leaped on to platforms when the proposition 
 was announced. To the ordinary mind there was nothing very 
 terrible in it, for it was simply to the effect that licences at a low 
 rate should be granted to pastrycooks and keepers of eating- 
 houses to sell wine and beer. "We think," said Mr. Gladstone, 
 " that it is essential, in giving effect to the changes in the wine 
 duties, that this sort of facility should be provided in connection 
 with the sale of eatables, wherever the trade may be carried on, 
 and we also look on it as a ch,ange favourable to sobriety, for the 
 man who can get his glass of wine or beer at the same time with 
 his necessary food, in an easy manner, is less likely to resort to 
 places whither he would repair for drinking only, and where he 
 would be tempted to drink to excess." The expense of the 
 licence would be doubled in the case of houses kept open after 
 midnight. 
 
 A reduction would be made in the duty on game certificates, 
 and some limited minor changes effected in connection with 
 stamps on cheques, the probate duty, conveyances of building 
 societies, and other matters. These remissions and abolitions 
 would produce some diminution of expenditure as well as loss to 
 revenue, for savings could be effected in the official Customs 
 and Inland Revenue establishments to the extent together of 
 ;£ 86,000. That amount, added to ^896,000 to be raised by 
 the new taxes, would produce ,£982,000, more than sufficient to 
 
206 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1860. 
 
 replace the revenue he proposed to withdraw. So far, the balance 
 stood thus : there would be a relief to the interest payable on 
 the National Debt by the falling in of the long annuities of 
 ,£"2, 146,000; the treaty arrangements disposed of .£1,190,000, 
 and the remissions and abolitions of ^9 10,000, together 
 ,£2,100,000 ; but the changes and savings would produce 
 ^982,000, so that there would still be ,£1,128,000 available for 
 further remission. He proposed to devote the greater portion of 
 this to the abolition of the excise duty on paper. The uses to 
 which that material could be applied, but from which it was 
 totally or partially excluded by the duty, were numerous. He had 
 received communications from persons engaged in sixty-nine 
 trades, in not one of which, it was commonly supposed, it could 
 be used. Paper, for instance, was used in the construction of 
 artificial limbs, telescopes, boots and shoes, caps and hats ; ship- 
 builders could advantageously employ it ; it might be used in the 
 manufacture of portmanteaus, Sheffield goods, panels for doors 
 and decorative mouldings ; and even water-pipes of great strength, 
 equal to a pressure of 300 lbs. on the square inch, could be made 
 of paper. He proposed that the duty should be abolished after 
 the 1 st of July. The immediate loss to the revenue would be 
 ;£i, 100,000 ; but a saving of ^20,000 would, by the abolition, 
 be effected in the Inland Revenue establishment. Next, he pro- 
 posed to get rid of the impressed stamp on newspapers, and, to 
 meet some difficulties in connection therewith, the introduction of 
 a three-halfpenny rate into the present scale of book postage. 
 The Excise duty on hops would be reduced from 19^. per cwt. 
 to 14^. The prohibition on the importation of malt to be re- 
 mitted, but a Customs duty of $s. per bushel would be imposed. 
 So far the Budget had relieved indirect taxation to the extent 
 of about £4,000,000 ; and now he turned his attention to the 
 mode of supplying the deficiency of .£9,500,000 — a difficulty 
 
I860.] AN EARNEST APPEAL. 2 
 
 the consideration of which he had for the time laid aside, t 
 which must be encountered. He would not interfere with t 
 tea and sugar duties. In the presence of the great deficien 
 they must remain as they were for fifteen months, and he had t 
 consolation of knowing that " there never was a time when t 
 people were so able to pay taxes as now." The income-tax mi 
 bear the greater part of the burden. He proposed to fix it 
 lod. in the pound on incomes above ^150, and at jd. on i 
 comes below that amount. He proposed also to apply in aid 
 the expenditure ;£ 1,400,000 to be obtained by rendering avs 
 able another portion of the malt credit and the credit usua 
 given on hops. By these means he was able to estimate the 
 come for the coming financial year at £70,564,000, and the 1 
 penditure at £70,100,000, leaving him a disposable surplus 
 ,£464,000. 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer had concluded his expc 
 tion. Hitherto, in his long speech, he had exhibited a mat' 
 matical clearness of intellect in dealing with complicat 
 arithmetical details, and an unrivalled facility in making them 
 telligible and interesting to others ; but he concluded with 
 animated appeal characteristic of the emotional side of his cl 
 racter, and his habit of regarding the moral influence of admir 
 trative measures. Laying aside his notes, which had assisted 1 
 memory in dealing with the figures, he concluded his speech w 
 a power of voice and animation of gesture that showed no tn 
 of weariness. He said : — 
 
 ' ' I feel a hope, which amounts to a persuasion, that this House, whate 
 may happen, will not shrink from its duty. After all it has heretof 
 achieved by resolute and persevering commercial reforms on behalf of 
 masses of the people, and not on behalf of them alone, but on behalf of ev 
 class, on behalf of the Throne, and of the institutions of the country, I f 
 convinced that this House will not refuse to go boldly on in the directior 
 which Parliament has already reaped such honours and rewards. By p 
 
208 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1860. 
 
 the people, and blessings which are among the soundest and most whole some 
 of all the blessings at your disposal, because in legislation of this kind you 
 are not forging mechanical help for men, nor endeavouring to do that for 
 them which they ought to do for themselves ; but you are enlarging their 
 means without narrowing their freedom, you are giving value to their labour, 
 you are appealing to their sense of responsibility, and you are not impairing 
 their sense of honourable self-dependence. There were times, now long gone 
 by, when Sovereigns made progress through the land, and when, at the pro- 
 clamation of their heralds, they caused to be scattered heaps of coin among 
 the people who thronged upon their steps. That may have been a goodly 
 spectacle ; but it is also a goodly spectacle, and one adapted to the altered 
 spirit and circumstances of our time, when our Sovereign is enabled, through 
 the wisdom of her great Council assembled in Parliament around her, again to 
 scatter blessings among her subjects by means of wise and prudent laws ; of 
 laws which do not sap in any respect the foundations of duty or of manhood, 
 but which strike away the shackles from the arm of industry, which give new 
 incentive and new reward to toil, and which win more and more for the 
 Throne and for the institutions of the country the gratitude, the confidence, 
 and the love of an united people. Let me say even to those who are anxious, 
 and justly anxious, on the subject of our national defences, that that which 
 stirs the flame of patriotism in men, that which binds them in one heart and 
 soul, that which gives them increased confidence in their rulers, that which 
 makes them feel and know that they are treated with justice, and that we who 
 represent them are labouring incessantly and earnestly for their good, is in 
 itself no small, no feeble, and no transitory part of national defence." 
 
 Such a Budget was not to be criticised at once, and the House 
 took a week to think about it. Then the Opposition opened fire. 
 The Conservatives intensely disliked the French treaty, partly 
 because the provisions were opposed to their old notions, and 
 partly because Mr. Cobden had negotiated it ; and the House 
 generally had no love for the increased income-tax. Even some 
 members sitting on the Ministerial side of the House, although 
 bound by party ties to support the Ministry, had an uncomfort- 
 able presentiment that the French had got by far the best of 
 the arrangement. On the 17 th of February, Mr. Ducane, Mr. 
 Disraeli's colleague in the representation of Buckinghamshire, 
 gave notice of a resolution deprecating the diminution of the 
 revenue, and so adding to the existing deficiency and disappoint- 
 ing the just expectations of the country by reimposing the 
 expiring income-tax. This resolution was postponed in favour of 
 
I860.] THE PRESS ON THE TREATY. 209 
 
 another, proposed by Mr. Disraeli, the leader of the Opposition : 
 — " That this House does not think fit to go into Committee on 
 the Customs Act, with a view to the reduction or repeal of the 
 duties referred to in the treaty of commerce between Her Majesty 
 and the Emperor of the French, until it shall have considered 
 and assented to the engagements in that treaty." If, asked Mr. 
 Disraeli, the remissions of duty under the treaty were made, how 
 could the Government subject the treaty to the constitutional 
 control of the House of Commons ? He thought the appoint- 
 ment of Mr. Cobden as their secret agent to be a most unwise 
 act on the part of the Government, and that the treaty indicated 
 the idiosyncrasy of the negotiator. 
 
 Mr. Disraeli's amendment was negatived by 293 to 230, and 
 then Mr. Ducane's postponed resolution came on for debate. It 
 met with less favour than the other ; for on a division the num- 
 bers were — For, 223 ; against, 339, giving Ministers a majority of 
 116, or S3 more than in the division on Mr. Disraeli's resolution. 
 Afterwards, when Lord Palmerston, as Ministerial leader of the 
 House, moved an address to the Queen thanking her for con- 
 cluding the treaty, the majority was very decisive, 282 supporting 
 the address, and only 56 voting against it, giving the Ministry a 
 majority of 226. 
 
 The independent organs of the public press, even those least 
 favourable to the Conservative party, were by no means favour- 
 able to the treaty. One writer said : — 
 
 "The provisions of the treaty are apparently one-sided and unfair. France 
 gives us very little ; we give a great deal. What we give is of inestimable 
 value to France — coal, iron, raw materials of manufacture of all kinds — the 
 means, in fact, of developing all her latent resources, and power for manu- 
 facturing industry and for warlike equipment. What we receive from France 
 is comparatively of small importance — luxuries which afford no additional 
 means of directly augmenting our power or resources — brandy, wine, silks, 
 gloves, &c. And add to these the admission of our manufactures into 
 France at a duty of thirty per cent.'' 
 
 P 
 
210 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1860. 
 
 Another asked in the Saturday Review : — 
 
 " What practical benefit will the mass of the people of the country derive 
 from the admission at low prices of the inferior French wines ? Their present 
 beer is vastly superior for them in every respect, and the command of that at 
 a moderate price renders the admission of inferior French wines a privilege of 
 no real value, if not absolutely undesirable. " 
 
 The most virulent attacks, however, were from the publicans. 
 The highly respectable and influential licensed victuallers, always 
 vigorous in defending their vested interests, were more energetic 
 than ever. They were horrified at the idea of drinking a glass of 
 ale or wine in any other place than the bar or the parlour of a 
 public-house, and predicted not only the ruin of their own trade, 
 but such an amount of public demoralisation as had never before 
 been witnessed. To get gloriously drunk in a tavern was conduct 
 no fine old English gentleman need be ashamed of — indeed, rather 
 a constitutional proceeding; and the working man's aesthetic 
 faculties were wonderfully improved by the contemplation of the 
 gilding and gas-fittings of a gin palace. But nothing but destruc- 
 tion of individual and national character could result from assisting 
 the digestion of a bun eaten at a pastrycook's counter by drinking 
 a glass of sherry, or permitting the working man or poor clerk, 
 who dined at a coffee-house, to wash down the cut from the joint 
 with a draught of stout or sixpenny ale. 
 
 The licensed victuallers appointed a deputation to wait upon 
 Mr. Gladstone, and, either by a singular chance or a happy 
 inspiration scarcely to be looked for in such a quarter, selected 
 as the spokesman a gentleman named Homer. Certainly, if any 
 name would appeal to Mr. Gladstone's sympathies and claim his 
 attention, that ought to be expected to do so. 
 
 With admirable candour, the modern Homer informed the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer that "the licensed victuallers 
 thought they had a claim for consideration on account of the fact 
 that they had invested ^60,000,000 of capital in the business, 
 
I860.] THE LICENSED VICTUALLERS. 211 
 
 and the proposed change would be highly detrimental to their 
 interests, and it would be a gross injustice to the licensed victual- 
 lers to deprive them of vested rights and to depreciate their 
 property." The arguments of the earnest spokesman had little 
 effect on Mr. Gladstone. The subjects of King Priam might as 
 well have appealed to Agamemnon not to attack Troy because 
 such a course of action might be injurious to their vested interests ; 
 and, it is painful to add, the arguments of the deputation 
 were almost laughed at by some influential leaders of public 
 opinion. The cynical Saturday, which a few days before had 
 eulogised British beer at the expense of French wine, now said : — 
 " The victuallers seem to have forgotten the duty which their 
 name imposes. What we get at their shop is all drink, and no 
 victuals — what the Budget promises is victuals and drink in 
 moderation and decency. We want meat and liquor — not the 
 public-house refreshment of oceans of drugged beer and rivers 
 of gin, with a single mouldy biscuit." 
 
 Under the influence of panic men sometimes seek strange 
 alliances, and, perhaps, it was scarcely surprising that the publi- 
 cans implored teetotalers to help them in their time of trouble. 
 An appeal was made to " the clergy, temperance societies, and 
 all friends of decency, order, and morality, to avert this public 
 calamity, which will encourage drunkenness, legalise immorality, 
 offer every opportunity to temptation and vice, crime and de- 
 bauchery, and turn London, from one end to the other, into one 
 huge cafe." 
 
 The Morning Advertiser is, as everybody knows, the property 
 and daily organ of the Licensed Victuallers' Association ; and 
 the Morning Advertiser of the time to which we are referring 
 deserves a place among the curiosities of literature. It had a 
 character for high morality to sustain, for the editor at that time 
 orpnfleman nrnminent in evangelical circles, who indulged 
 
 •ma c a 
 
212 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1860. 
 
 his own taste by devoting a certain portion of the paper to mat- 
 ters interesting to the religious world, while a sub- editor of a more 
 eclectic mind provided the news respecting prize-fights, racing, 
 ratting, betting, sporting events generally, and conviviality, which 
 the public-house readers of the 'Tiser particularly appreciated. 
 This incongruity in the contents of the journal obtained for it, in 
 profane circles, the nickname of the "Gin and Gospel Gazette," 
 and evil-minded correspondents occasionally procured the inser- 
 tion of letters abounding in classical quotations, the subsequent 
 translation of which by some erudite friend greatly shocked the 
 pure-minded, if classically untaught, editor. The Budget was 
 smitten hip and thigh, and a correspondent, who modestly signed 
 his articles with the Greek word " Delta," displayed a power of 
 hitting out which the pugilistic readers of the journal must have 
 admired. " Eating and coffee-house keepers," argued one writer, 
 " will gladly avail themselves of the opportunity thus presented 
 to them of supplying the wants of their customers from their own 
 cellars," and then what will become of the property of the pub- 
 licans ? But it was when defending public morality that the 
 writers shone most brilliantly. " Not only," argued one, " shall 
 we have the working classes degraded by these temptations to 
 intemperance, but our females and domestic servants, and even 
 the children, will be tempted to these places for their pennyworth 
 of wine." (The quantity of the cheapest French claret which 
 could be procured for a penny, and the amount of intoxication 
 to be obtained from it, might have afforded an interesting subject 
 for inquiry.) " An Englishwoman" solemnly warned the readers 
 of the Advertiser: "Let women be able to obtain wine at a pastry- 
 cook's as easily as they can an ice or a jelly, and, my word for it, 
 hundreds and thousands will avail themselves of the privilege 
 beyond the limit of health and refreshment." But worse remained 
 behind. "These houses will become the resort of all the disso- 
 
I860.] AWFUL FOREBODINGS. 213 
 
 lute men and abandoned women in London, and the facilities 
 which will be given to indulgence in immoral practices will make 
 these places the high road to ruin." Day after day columns of 
 this kind of writing appeared in the papers; and the subject may 
 be dismissed by quoting one passage from one of the letters 
 signed with the Delta, which has almost become classical — as 
 classical, at least, as the phrase "The three tailors of Tooley 
 Street," and some others— so frequently has it been referred to, 
 and so hugely has it been laughed at : — " There is a class of sin- 
 ners who yearn for sin, but can't afford, or don't like to be 
 caught in it. Mr. Gladstone is the man for them. He will be, 
 as he deserves to be, an immense favourite with a certain sort of 
 ladies. They have a taste for stimulants which it would be 
 awkward to gratify at home ; they cannot go into a public-house 
 — that would be too conspicuous. A pastrycook's shop of Mr. 
 Gladstone's stamp is the very thing they wanted. For respect- 
 able females of easy virtue the locale is just as convenient, and 
 assignations can be decently masked under a passion for pastry. 
 A man, perhaps, might not unfrequently alight, in one of Mr. 
 Gladstone's beerhouses, on his wife dead drunk in the back par- 
 lour, or his daughter debauched upstairs." That, of course, 
 would be a terrible experience for any man ; but the phrase "not 
 unfrequently" is peculiarly rich. 
 
 The publicans, however, with all their energy and rhetoric, 
 failed to find the vulnerable part of the Achilles of the Exchequer. 
 The House of Lords was more successful. In the Commons Mr. 
 Gladstone had experienced more opposition to the resolution for 
 abolishing the paper duty than to any other part of his Budget. 
 At the different stages of the proposition the majority greatly 
 dwindled ; and when the Bill was brought into the Lords, Lord 
 Monteagle moved its rejection. The aged Lord Lyndhurst sup- 
 
214 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. ,[1860. 
 
 Lords had a right to refuse assent to a repeal of taxation ; and 
 that in the present state of European affairs it would be most un- 
 wise to reduce the revenue, which might be called upon to meet 
 great emergencies. Many of the Lords disliked the extension of 
 the cheap press, and thought that to cheapen paper would be to 
 offer facilities for the dissemination of dangerous, if not absolutely 
 revolutionary, doctrines. The second reading of the Bill was 
 rejected by a majority of 80. 
 
 Lord Palmerston at once moved for, and obtained, a com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons to ascertain the practice of 
 each House with regard to bills imposing or repealing taxes. 
 When the report of the Committee was presented, two months 
 afterwards, it was to the effect that the Lords had a constitutional 
 right to reject a Bill for the repeal of a tax. Mr. Bright, who 
 was a member of the committee, dissented, and drew up a 
 report of his own, in which he asserted that the Lords had no 
 right to reimpose a tax which the Commons had repealed, be- 
 cause, if they did so, the Commons would not have absolute con- 
 trol over the taxation of the country. On the presentation of 
 the report, Lord Palmerston proposed a series of resolutions, re- 
 affirming the claims of the Commons to a " rightful control over 
 taxation and supply." There was considerable agitation out of 
 doors. Public meetings were held, and the cheap papers of ad- 
 vanced principles made the most of the chance of attacking the 
 House of Lords. Mr. Gladstone was disposed to take much 
 stronger ground than his leader thought necessary to assume. He 
 protested against the " gigantic innovation," which Lord Palmer- 
 ston, more easy tempered, and better acquainted, perhaps, with 
 the inner life of the Upper House, treated with a sort of con- 
 temptuous indifference. Probably he did not care greatly 
 whether the paper duty were repealed or not ; and he knew that 
 the Lords, when they found themselves decidedly opposed to 
 
I860.] THE PAPER DUTY. 215 
 
 prevalent public opinion, would be very likely to be satisfied with 
 one attempt to assert their privileges, and the next session the 
 repeal of the duty would be quietly permitted. Mr. Gladstone 
 had no alternative but to yield the remission of the duty, and 
 content himself with carrying a resolution for removing, in ac- 
 cordance with the provisions of the French Treaty, so much of 
 the duty imposed by the Customs on imported paper as exceeded 
 the Excise duty on paper made in this country. 
 
 So ends the story of the Great Budget of i860, in some 
 respects the most memorable of Mr. Gladstone's financial achieve- 
 ments, but incomplete so far as he was thwarted in carrying one 
 of the propositions, to the advantageous results of which he had 
 looked forward with eager expectation. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 POST-OFFICE SAVINGS BANKS AND REPEAL OF THE PAPER DUTY. 
 
 The political year, 1861, opened with a demand for retrench- 
 ment. Some members of the House of Commons, before the 
 opening of the session, addressed a letter to Lord Palmerston on 
 the subject. They " could not but hope," they said, " that the 
 enormous expenditure of the current financial year was forced 
 upon the Government against their will, by an unhappy combina- 
 tion of circumstances." The Premier, possibly, was as little im- 
 pressed by the opinions of the author of the epistle as by the 
 peculiar English in which it was written. He knew that expen- 
 diture sanctioned by Parliament must be provided for ; and that 
 retrenchment would not be easy, indeed, scarcely possible, until 
 the occasion for heavy expenditure had passed away. There 
 certainly was a hope — more rational and more grammatical, be- 
 cause it was a hope for the future, not a paradoxical hope for the 
 past — that the new year then opening would be marked by less 
 expensive proceedings than the last, and that some of the public 
 burdens even might be lessened ; but any abstract resolves on the 
 subject were certainly premature, and very little could be known 
 of the financial position and consequent necessities of the year 
 until at least the Military and Naval Estimates of the year had 
 been brought forward, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer had 
 made his statement. We shall see, as we proceed, that there 
 
1861.] THE VACANT SEATS. 217 
 
 were other attempts early in the session to pledge the House to 
 resolutions which would embarrass the Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer. 
 
 Parliament was opened by the Queen, in person, on the 5th of 
 February, and several efforts to obtain fragments of reform in 
 the representation of the people were made. The Ministry, 
 desirous as they might be to introduce a Bill which would settle 
 many troublesome questions, were as yet not ready for the task, 
 and private members aired their various pet projects. On the 
 19th, Mr. Locke King again moved for leave to bring in a Bill to 
 reduce the county franchise to a ^10 qualification. The Bill was 
 introduced, but the motion for the second reading, on the 13th of 
 March, was defeated by 248 to 229. Mr. Baines's proposition 
 for extending the borough franchise in England was also nega- 
 tived, and a like fate befell Mr. H. Berkeley's renewal of his 
 annual Ballot motion, which was lost by a majority of 125. 
 
 There was vigorous fighting over the Government Bill for 
 assigning the four seats vacated by the disfranchisement of Sud- 
 bury and St. Albans, brought in by Sir G. C. Lewis, the Home 
 Secretary. It was proposed to assign one of the seats to the 
 West Riding of Yorkshire, one to South Lancashire, one to 
 Chelsea and Kensington (to form a new metropolitan borough), 
 and one to Birkenhead, a town which had risen into importance 
 with marvellous rapidity. Of course the propositions were 
 objected to, and the seats were eagerly claimed for other con- 
 stituencies. Mr. Bentinck, as a country gentleman and Tory of 
 the old school, thought all the seats should go to the counties ; 
 Mr. Stirling, member for Perthshire, claimed them for Scotland ; 
 Mr. Maguire, the eloquent representative of Dungarvan, while 
 willing that Scotland should have two, urged the propriety ot 
 allotting two more members to Ireland ; and some Scotch mem- 
 bers advocated the claim of the Scotch Universities. The second 
 
218 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1861. 
 
 reading of the Bill was agreed to, the consideration of the places 
 to which the seats should be allotted being left to the committee 
 of the whole House. Mr. Knightley, member for South North- 
 amptonshire, carried, by a majority of 103, an amendment by 
 which Chelsea and Kensington were excluded, and left to pine 
 memberless for a few years more, not because the majority of the 
 members thought the inhabitants of these important districts less 
 worthy of the franchise than the voters of Marylebone or Lam- 
 beth, but because they thought the metropolis, as a whole, had a 
 sufficient supply of representatives. By way of a slight compen- 
 sation, a proposal was made to add another member to Middle- 
 sex, but it met with little favour. After many amendments had 
 been discussed and many divisions taken, it was agreed that two 
 seats should be given to the West Riding, one to East Lanca- 
 shire, and one to Birkenhead. In that modified form the Bill 
 passed both Houses. 
 
 Another stock subject of debate duly made its appearance 
 early in the session. On the 24th of February, Sir John Tre- 
 lawney moved for leave to bring in a Bill to abolish Church rates. 
 It had been rumoured that Mr. Gladstone had modified his 
 opinions on the subject, and was not prepared to renew his sup- 
 port of the rates ; but he soon dispelled the illusion, speaking 
 with all his wonted animation and vigour. He said he retained 
 his opinions ; if he had changed them, he would have felt it to be 
 his duty to resign the representation of the University of Oxford. 
 In populous parishes, he allowed, the imposition of the rate might 
 be objectionable, and he would abandon the principle there; but 
 in rural parishes, where the rate was paid with as much satisfac- 
 tion as any other public charge, why should the ancient law be 
 abolished? What paid the charge in rural parishes ? The land; 
 and it was proposed to force ,£250,000 a-year upon the propri- 
 etors of land. If the law of Church rates was an old and a good 
 
1861.] ''FINANCIAL FREAKS." 219 
 
 law — if it provided for Divine ordinances for the benefit of the 
 poor, amounting to a large majority of the population, it was too 
 much to say that we were to abolish such a law to meet, not the 
 scruples, but the convenience of individuals. He suggested that 
 the Legislature should begin by converting the power of the 
 majority of the parish into a right, firmly maintaining the right 
 of the parish to tax itself, and giving to those parishes where the 
 ancient Church rates had lapsed the power of raising a volun- 
 tary rate. The division on the motion for the third reading of 
 the Bill showed a rather remarkable result, the numbers being 
 equal, 274 on each side. The decision was thus left to the 
 casting vote of the Speaker, who gave it for the Noes. 
 
 On the third day of the session Mr. Gladstone had obtained 
 leave to bring in a Bill for the creation of Post Office Savings 
 Banks, one of those practical projects which are sometimes 
 fortunate enough to be considered by both sides of the House as 
 beyond the region of party politics, and are welcomed as promising 
 great advantages to the public. The second reading was agreed 
 to, without opposition, on the 1 8th of March, and the Bill passed 
 the Upper House, though not without a sneer by the Earl of 
 Derby at " the financial freaks " of the Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer. 
 
 In anticipation of the Budget, the attempts to pass abstract 
 resolutions, to which we have alluded, were made. Mr. H. 
 Williams, member for Lambeth, believed by his constituents to 
 have inherited the position in the House as an economical re- 
 former so long occupied by Joseph Hume, moved a resolution, 
 " That real property should be made to pay the same duty as 
 was paid on personal property," but it was negatived by a 
 majority of 116. Mr. Dodson, one of the members for Sussex, 
 brought forward a resolution to the effect that provision should 
 
 V»p» marlfv in anv finann'al arratiorpmpnt frvr removal r\f fVi*» 
 
220 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1861. 
 
 duty on hops. Mr. Gladstone objected (as he had frequently 
 done before) to abstract resolutions on matters of finance, and 
 the motion was defeated by a majority of 92. Mr. H. B. Sheridan 
 (member for Dudley) renewed his motion for leave to bring in a 
 Bill for a reduction of the duty on fire insurance, but was left in 
 a minority of 89. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard, member for Birmingham, on whose soul the 
 income-tax always sat heavily, moved for the appointment of a 
 select committee to inquire into the mode of assessing and col- 
 lecting the tax, and found such support in the House — many 
 even of those who had made up their minds to accept the tax as 
 inevitable objecting to the mode in which it was levied — that, 
 notwithstanding Mr. Gladstone's opposition to the motion, it was 
 carried against the Government by a majority of four votes. The 
 Committee was appointed, but the report made did not support 
 the views of Mr. Hubbard, and no result followed. 
 
 ■ The Budget was looked forward to with even more than ordi- 
 nary interest. Was there to be another wonderful exposition oi 
 financial dexterity by the great master ? Would he make another 
 attempt to repeal the paper duty ? And, if so, would the Lords 
 again veto the proposition? Such were the questions eagerly 
 asked, and when, in a crowded house, on the 15th of April, Mr. 
 Gladstone rose to make his financial statement, there was almost 
 breathless expectation. His speech was another masterpiece oi 
 lucidity, and his manner was even more animated than usual. It 
 was soon evident that he intended to hazard another wrestle with 
 the House of Lords, and that he was quite " ready for the fray.' 
 It would not, at any rate, be his fault, if there was a repetition 
 of what he had a year before denounced as "the most gigantic 
 and dangerous invasion of the rights of the Commons which has 
 occurred in modern times." He began by stating that the revenue 
 of the past year had been ^70,283,100, considerably less thac 
 
1861.] •• THE RIVAL DAMSELS." 221 
 
 estimated, owing to a bad harvest and other causes, and the 
 expenditure .£72,842,000. These amounts indicated a deficiency 
 of £2, 559,000 ; but, allowing for drawbacks on stock belonging 
 to the account for the former year, the real deficiency was 
 ^855,000. Adverting to the effects of the commercial treaty 
 with France, he said that the imports of articles unaffected by 
 the legislation of the previous year had been nearly stationary, 
 but those on which the duty had been reduced had increased 
 17! per cent, and those from which the duty had been taken off 
 altogether had increased 48J per cent. The total expenditure 
 for the coming financial year he estimated at ^69,900,000, and 
 the revenue at ,£71,823,000, the highest estimate of revenue ever 
 made by a British Chancellor of the Exchequer. There would, 
 therefore, be available for disposal a surplus of ^1,923, 000. He 
 proposed to take a penny off the income-tax, and to abolish the 
 paper duty, and would then have a surplus of ,£408,000. The 
 tea and sugar duties would be continued for another year. 
 
 In the course of his speech, Mr. Gladstone referred to the com- 
 parative claims of direct and indirect taxation with an amusing 
 vivacity rarely bestowed on so dry a subject. He said: — 
 
 " I take some credit to myself that I have never entered in this House into 
 any disquisition upon such a subject. I have always thought it idle for a 
 person holding the position of Finance Minister to trouble himself with what 
 to him is necessarily an abstract question — namely, the question between 
 direct and indirect taxation, each considered upon its own merits. To many 
 people both, as is natural, appear sufficiently repulsive. As for myself, I confess 
 that, owing to the accident of my official position rather than to any more 
 profound cause of discrepancy, I entertain quite a different opinion. I never 
 can think of direct and indirect taxation except as I should think of two 
 attractive sisters who have been introduced into the gay world of London, 
 each with an ample fortune, both having the same parentage — for the parents 
 of both I believe to be Necessity and Invention — differing only as sisters may 
 differ, as where one is of a lighter, another of a darker complexion, or where 
 there is some variety of manner, the one being more free and open, the other 
 somewhat more shy, retiring, and insinuating. I cannot conceive any reason 
 why there should be any unfriendly rivalry between the admirers of the two 
 damsels j and I frankly own, whether it be due to a lax sense of moral obligation 
 
222 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1861. 
 
 or not, that, as a Chancellor of the Exchequer, if not as a member of this 
 House, I have always thought it not only allowable, but even an act of duty, 
 to pay my addresses to them both. " 
 
 In a similar vein he referred to the income-tax : — 
 
 " It has often been charged upon me, and I believe it is to this day alleged, 
 that it is my absolute duty, whatever be the circumstances and whatever be 
 the expenditure, to find means of abolishing that tax, with or without a substi- 
 tute. I must confess that I think that is a hard imposition. I should like 
 very much to be the man who could abolish the income-tax. I do not abandon 
 the hope that the time may come — [" Hear ! "]. I can assure hon. gentlemen 
 that I am not about to be too sanguine, for in finishing the sentence I should 
 have proceeded to quote Mr. Sidney Smith, who, in his admirable pamphlet 
 upon the ballot, speaking, I think, of its establishment, or of something else, 
 as a very remote result, says he thinks we had better leave the care of this 
 subject to those little legislators who are now receiving a plum or a cake after 
 dinner. I am afraid that some such amount of prudence may be necessary 
 with regard to the income-tax. ... I think it would be a most enviable lot for 
 any Chancellor of the Exchequer — I certainly do not entertain any hope that 
 it will be mine — but I think that some better Chancellor of the Exchequer, in 
 some happier time, may achieve that great accomplishment, and that some 
 future poet may be able to sing of him as Mr. Tennyson has sung of Godiva — 
 although I do not suppose the means employed will be the same — 
 
 ' He took away the tax, 
 And built himself an everlasting name.' '' 
 
 While expressing a hope that the subject of public expenditure 
 would be carefully considered, he deprecated rash reductions. 
 " For my own part, I say that if this country will but steadily 
 and constantly show herself as wise in the use of her treasure as 
 she is unequalled in the production of her wealth and moderate 
 in the exercise of her strength, then we may well believe that 
 England will, for many generations yet to come, continue to 
 hold her foremost position among the nations of the world." 
 
 The Budget resolutions encountered a strong verbal opposi- 
 tion, the repeal of the paper duty being especially objected to 
 by the Conservatives. Paper-makers did not want it, they 
 argued ) the proprietors of cheap newspapers would be chiefly 
 benefited, and the public would vastly prefer other remissions. 
 " Take fivepence a pound off tea," urged Mr. Baring, who added, 
 
1861.] THE TEA DUTY. 223 
 
 " If I were asked to say whether the Budget is safe, politic, or 
 even honest to the country, I should be obliged to answer in the 
 negative." 
 
 In reply, Mr. Gladstone, having lightly alluded to certain 
 members who had expressed an opinion that it was very doubtful 
 if there would be any surplus at all, insisted that, in asking the 
 House to consent to a resolution for the repeal of the paper 
 duty, which would close the controversy of i860, the Govern- 
 ment had done that which would be approved, he believed, by 
 those who brought a candid mind to the question before the 
 House. 
 
 The income-tax resolution was agreed to without a division. 
 In the discussion on the resolution for continuing the tea and 
 sugar duties, Mr. Gladstone argued that the reduction of duty 
 on tea would no doubt give an impulse to labour, but it would 
 be foreign labour, that of the Chinese, whereas the remission of 
 the paper duty would stimulate British labour in the manufacture 
 of the article and the produce of agricultural fibre, while the 
 removal of the Excise regulations would relieve the trade of 
 restrictions that operated as a check upon it by stinting and 
 repressing enterprise. 
 
 Mr. Horsfall, member for Liverpool, said the House had 
 pledged itself to reduce the tea duty before it had pledged itself 
 to remove the paper duty. In every town in England, he 
 believed it would be said by nine persons out of ten, " Give us 
 the duty off tea, and not off paper." He moved to amend the 
 resolution by reducing the duty on tea, on and after the 1st of 
 October, to is. per pound. 
 
 Mr. Disraeli accused the Chancellor of the Exchequer of in- 
 consistency, asserting that in 1857 he admitted the obligation of 
 abolishing the war duties on the ground of pledges given, and 
 because it was " imDortant to the political interests of the 
 
224 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1861. 
 
 country." The strength of the opposition to the resolution was 
 shown by the division on the amendment, 299 voting against 
 and 281 for it, leaving the Government the comparatively small 
 majority of 18. 
 
 The resolution for the repeal of the paper duty was allowed to 
 pass without a division, the decision of the House having been 
 practically given by the previous division ; but Mr. Gladstone 
 then disturbed the passive, if somewhat sullen, attitude of the 
 Opposition by announcing that he intended to include the chief 
 financial propositions of the Budget in one Bill, instead of dividing 
 them, as was generally the practice. His object in this course 
 was evident. The Lords could not again reject the abolition of 
 the paper duty without at the same time rejecting other items of 
 the financial scheme. The Opposition was furious at the 
 manoeuvre. Lord Robert Cecil (now the Marquis of Salisbury), 
 the man of "flouts and jeers," said the Ministerial course was 
 unworthy of a sharp attorney ; and Mr. Disraeli declared that 
 the proposed method of action was an injury and affront to the 
 other House of Parliament, and " an unhandsome mode of 
 retaliating upon the Peers for the rejection of the paper duty." 
 
 The second reading of the objectionable single Bill was fixed 
 for the 13th of May. Mr. Macdonogh, an eminent member of 
 the Irish bar, who had recently taken his seat for Sligo, said the 
 Bill raised a great constitutional question, and was an attempt to 
 coerce the House of Lords. Sir James Graham replied effec- 
 tively, expressing his belief that the power and authority of the 
 House of Commons would be supported by a very large majority 
 of their constituents. A long debate took place, and Mr. 
 Newdegate moved a resolution condemning the mode of pro- 
 ceeding by a single Bill, which was rejected by 195 to 31. The 
 Bill then went into committee, and another division took place 
 when the paper duty clause came on. Mr. Gladstone said the 
 
1861.] THE PAPER DUTY BILL. 225 
 
 doctrine of engagement set up by Mr. Disraeli was a perfect 
 figment. The remission of the " so-called war duties " on tea 
 and sugar would sacrifice ^2,500,000, or twice the amount of 
 the paper duty. Lord Palmerston wound up the debate by 
 describing the opponents of the clause as " a fortuitous concourse 
 of discordant atoms," and at length the clause was carried by a 
 majority of 15, the numbers being 296 to 281. Earl Granville 
 introduced the Bill into the House of Lords in a conciliatory 
 manner, and it passed through the stages, not without some 
 grumbling, but without a division. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. — THE " TRENT " AFFAIR. 
 
 The mission of Mr. Gladstone to the Ionian Islands, and the 
 subsequent administration of Sir Henry Storks, had not produced 
 the results which the annexation party in the islands desired ; and 
 in March the local assembly declared in favour of union with 
 Greece. They found sympathisers in probably unsuspected 
 quarters. Mr. Maguire, the member for Dungarvan, who had 
 warmly defended the temporal rule of the Pope and the tyrannies 
 of the King of Naples and the Italian dukes, now appeared as a 
 champion of the rights of the people of the Ionian Islands to 
 choose their own form of Government. Mr. Maguire had a great 
 command of the fervent oratory possessed by many of his 
 cultured countrymen, and he brought forward the subject in the 
 House of Commons on the 7th of May, in the form of a motion 
 for papers relating to the affairs of the Ionian Islands, his chief 
 object being, he said, to ascertain what were the recommenda- 
 tions Mr. Gladstone had made to the English Government. He 
 described, in vivid language, the expectations which had been 
 raised in the islands when it was known that so eminent and able 
 a man had been sent to investigate and report upon the political 
 position. " No sooner," said Mr. Maguire, " was it known that 
 he was to come on his great mission than a feeling of passionate 
 hope passed like electricity from island to island, from community 
 
1861.] THE IONIAN MISSION. 227 
 
 to community. Even before they caught one glimpse of that pale, 
 thoughtful countenance, or heard one sweet tone of that voice 
 which can lend enchantment even to the details of the dryest 
 Budget, they hailed him as a political saviour, who was to free 
 them from a detested country, and grant to them the fulfilment 
 of their wishes — union with the mother country, Greece." The 
 speaker quoted from a speech said to have been made by Mr. 
 Gladstone to the Bishop of Cephalonia (reported in the Trieste 
 Gazette and quoted by the Times), in which he said the union of 
 the islands with Greece seemed to be " designed by Providence." 
 Mr. Gladstone interrupted the speaker with a point-blank denial 
 that he had ever made such a speech. In the course of the 
 debate which ensued, he said the object of his mission was, 
 believing that the position of this country in relation to the 
 islands was not altogether satisfactory, to see if it would be prac- 
 ticable to set England right by offering institutions unequivocally 
 and undoubtedly founded on principles of freedom. He con- 
 cluded by saying : — 
 
 "If it is deemed even ridiculous that I should have undertaken so small 
 and limited a mission, and that I should have been obliged to retire from it 
 baffled and disappointed, without any visible result, I am willing to bear with- 
 out complaint any comments, any conclusion, or any ridicule that may attach 
 to my finding myself in that predicament. The object which I had in view, 
 if it has not been gained so far as the advantage of the Ionian Islands is con- 
 cerned, has been gained at least in one respect — namely, that we have 
 effectively placed England in her right position as the friend of free and 
 constitutional laws and institutions, and have thus enabled ourselves to look 
 Europe in the face, and say that if evils and abuses still prevail in the Ionian 
 Islands, they prevail not by our fault, but in despite of our honest endeavours 
 to cure and remove them." 
 
 The motion for the production of Mr. Gladstone's report was 
 opposed by Ministers, Lord Palmerston saying they were actuated 
 by a due sense of the best interests of the people in steadily 
 refusing to comply with the request for union with Greece. Mr. 
 Maguire withdrew his motion for the production of papers ; and 
 
228 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1861. 
 
 very little more was heard about the Ionian Islands until the end 
 of May, 1864. Lord Palmerston and Earl Russell no longer 
 seeing any reason for " steadily refusing to comply," the islands 
 were formally annexed to Greece. 
 
 The cession of Savoy to France, and the dominance in Italy of 
 the King of Sardinia, supported by the then powerful Emperor of 
 the French, was keenly felt by the Roman Catholic politicians of 
 this country, who feared, not without reason, that the temporal 
 power of the Pope was threatened. Tuscany, Parma, a consider- 
 able portion of Lombardy, and the kingdom of Naples, had been 
 added to the dominions of Victor Emmanuel, and his assump- 
 tion of the title of King of Italy was imminent (indeed, it was 
 formally conferred about three weeks afterwards), when Mr. Pope 
 Hennessy, the member for King's County, Ireland, called atten- 
 tion to the conduct of Lord John Russell in promoting the 
 "Piedmontese policy," although he had previously made a pro- 
 fession of neutrality. Mr. Hennessy charged the Foreign 
 Secretary with having committed a breach of international law, 
 and with destroying the confidence of European statesmen in 
 the honour and integrity of the British Foreign Office. Sir 
 George Bowyer, an enthusiastic and almost fanatical admirer 
 and defender of the Papacy as a temporal power, followed 
 Mr. Hennessy. About two years before, Europe had been 
 shocked by an account of the cruelties practised by the Papal 
 troops, under General Schmidt, in suppressing an insurrection in 
 Perugia. Sir George Bowyer denied that the massacre had taken 
 place, and went on to eulogise " the gallant young King of 
 Naples fighting for his rights." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone replied to Sir George Bowyer, and gave a history 
 of the sufferings of the people of Naples, which he had himself 
 witnessed, and established by documentary evidence the truth of 
 the statements respecting the murders at Perugia, and the execu- 
 
1862.] EVENTS IN ITALY. 229 
 
 tions ordered by the Duke of Modena, notwithstanding that the 
 victims were not legally liable to capital punishment. 
 
 Deviating a little from the chronological order of events, it may 
 here be mentioned that in the following session (April n, 1862} 
 Sir George Bowyer again ventilated his opinions on the recent 
 events in Italy, and attacked the Government for encouraging 
 revolutionary movements, which, he asserted, were promoted by 
 foreign adventurers, and received little sympathy from, the mass- 
 of the people, who were well satisfied with the government of the 
 old rulers. Mr. Gladstone replied in a powerful speech, indulging 
 in a little banter at the expense of the fervid Sir George : — 
 
 " I do not wish to use unparliamentary language; but if I may be per- 
 mitted — as I believe I may without being open to the charge — to accuse an 
 honourable member of indulging in paradox, and being the victim of 
 credulity, I would appeal to my honourable and learned friend himself, and, 
 at all events, with great confidence to the House generally, to say whether 
 his speeches are not distinguished by astonishing powers of paradox, as well as 
 by a capacity for credulity which is absolutely marvellous. . . He tells 
 us that 4,000 people in a corner of Italy, who, he says, are regarded as 
 strangers by all the rest of the people of the country, and are detested by the 
 Neapolitans, have, by their own unprincipled agency, succeeded, not, indeed, 
 in uniting in the bonds of friendly alliance, and fully incorporating with them- 
 selves, but in subjugating to their sway, some 15,000,000 or 20,000,000 of 
 Italians. . . . Let me take a particular instance — the downfall of the late 
 King of the Two Sicilies, in bringing about which my honourable and learned 
 friend was so kind — I do not know whether he meant it as a kindness or not — 
 as to speak of so humble an individual as myself as having had some infinitesi- 
 mal share ; and let me observe, that if he could prove to me that I have been 
 in the smallest degree instrumental in assisting to cause the removal from a 
 world in which there is wickedness, and misery, and sorrow enough, of one 
 great and gigantic iniquity, I should accept that proof as another favour con- 
 ferred upon me. I do not, however, assume to myself any credit of that 
 character. But what, according to the representation of the honourable and 
 learned baronet, has happened in the case of the King of the Two Sicilies, to 
 which I am referring ? Here was a kingdom in which, he tells us, the whole 
 population, with the exception of a few busybodies belonging to the middle 
 classes — in which the aristocracy, the educated classes, the peasantry, as well 
 as the great bulk of the middle classes — were attached to the expelled dynasty. 
 That being so, what takes place? An adventurer named Garibaldi, clad in 
 a red shirt, with a certain number of followers, also clad in red shirts, lands 
 upon the southern point of the Italian peninsula, marches through Calabria, 
 
230 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1861. 
 
 army of 80,000 men, and a fleet perhaps the best in Italy, and the Sovereign 
 at once disappears before him like a mock king of snow. Then comes my 
 honourable and learned friend, and with the evident sincerity and earnestness 
 which mark all he says and does in this House, seeks to persuade us that 
 such events as these can occur in a country where the feelings of the people 
 are not alienated from the throne, and where misgovernment does not 
 prevail — thus exhibiting, in addition to the power of paradox to which I have 
 already referred, a credulity which is almost incomprehensible, and in which 
 he asks us to receive his statements on this head as a kind of political 
 gospel. " 
 
 Reverting to the year 1861, it is only necessary to note that 
 Parliament was prorogued on the 8th of August, and that, before 
 the year closed, the Prince Consort was laid in his grave, and 
 with him departed the brightness of the British Court. The 
 11 fierce light that beats upon a throne " showed a broken-hearted 
 widow, whose tears were sympathised with by the entire nation. 
 About a month earlier a circumstance occurred which caused 
 great excitement both in Great Britain and the United States, 
 and at first seemed to presage an open rupture. The Southern 
 Confederation, as they styled themselves — the " rebels," in the 
 language of the Northern States— sent two Commissioners, Messrs. 
 Slidell and Mason, to England. They embarked on the West 
 India mail steamer the Trent, which was stopped on the open 
 seas by Captain Wilkes, of the San Jacmto, a vessel of the 
 United States navy. Messrs. Slidell and Mason, and their secre- 
 taries, were forcibly taken away, notwithstanding the protest of 
 the captain of the Trent, and carried to Boston as prisoners of 
 war. The United States Government, however, after the receipt 
 of a firm demand from the English Government, restored them to 
 British protection and disavowed the action of Captain Wilkes, 
 and so, probably, avoided a serious result ; for the British public 
 was in no humour to concede the right of search, and many of 
 the people of the Northern States were not unwilling to pick a 
 quarrel with this country. Congress gave a vote of thanks to 
 Wilkes for an action which the Executive Government admitted 
 
1861.] 
 
 THE TRENT AFFAIR. 
 
 231 
 
 to be illegal, and the captain was invited to a public dinner at 
 Boston, at which the Governor of Massachusetts declared that 
 "every American heart thrilled with pride when he read that 
 Captain Wilkes had fired a shotted gun across the bows of a 
 vessel surmounted by the British lion." Our Government had 
 made vigorous preparations for war, in case of an adverse reply 
 from Washington. Eight battalions of infantry were ready to 
 embark, and in the words of a writer of the time, "the 
 strengthening of the fleet has been attended to with as much 
 energy as the transport of troops, and not a day passes without 
 some fresh addition to the means available for the protection of 
 our commerce and the destruction of the naval power of the 
 Northern States, should they be rash enough to provoke a 
 conflict." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR OF SECESSION.— POSITION OF THE SOUTHERN 
 
 CONFEDERATION. 
 
 Parliament was opened by commission on the 6th of February. 
 The Queen, stricken down by her great sorrow, was unable to 
 appear personally ; and necessarily one of the leading topics of 
 the Address voted in reply to the Royal Speech was an expres- 
 sion of condolence with her Majesty, and a reverential eulogy of 
 the departed Prince. 
 
 One of the earliest subjects which occupied the attention of 
 Parliament was National Education. Earl Granville in the 
 House of Lords, and Mr. Lowe in the House of Commons, 
 made elaborate statements respecting the new Minute of the 
 Committee of the Privy Council. Although 2,200,000 children 
 ought to have been brought into the inspected schools, only 
 920,000 actually attended, and less than a third of that number 
 received adequate instruction in the elements of reading, writing, 
 and arithmetic. The new Minute substituted for the numerous 
 grants of the old system a capitation grant of one penny for each 
 attendance over a hundred, subject to a favourable report of the 
 inspector. Children, grouped according to age, would pass exami- 
 nations, and their failure in any one branch — reading, writing, or 
 arithmetic — would subject the school to the loss of one-third of 
 the allowance, and, in case of failure in all, the allowance would 
 
1862.]. THE BUDGET. 23 
 
 be altogether withdrawn. The discussions on the subject occupied 
 a considerable time. Ultimately Ministers made some conces- 
 sions. The early part of the session was chiefly occupied with 
 debates on this topic, Church rites and ceremonies, Maynooth, 
 and other matters which led to no great result, and in which 
 Mr. Gladstone did not take a conspicuous part. 
 
 On the i st of April Mr. Sheridan introduced his motion — 
 expected each year, as a matter of course — for leave to introduce 
 a Bill to reduce the duty on fire insurance. There was a majority 
 against the Government of n, and the Bill was introduced, but 
 rejected at a subsequent stage. Two days afterwards, the Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer made his financial statement for the 
 year. He was in possession of a surplus of ,£355,000, and 
 estimated the expenditure for the coming financial year at 
 ^■70,040,000, and the revenue at ^70, 190,000, leaving him the 
 small surplus of ^150,000 to deal with. He occupied three 
 hours in making his statement to the House, exhibiting his 
 wonted power of securing the interest of his hearers, although he 
 had little of an exciting nature to communicate. The Budget, 
 indeed, was remarkably simple. It was impossible, he said, to 
 make any very important remissions, but he proposed some alter- 
 ations and readjustments. The hop duty would be repealed, 
 and the scale of brewers' licences rearranged. A licence for 
 private brewers was included in the scheme, but abandoned in 
 deference to the expressed opinion of the House. The result of 
 these alterations would be a loss of ^45 1,000 ; and if, he said, 
 it was hoped to effect a reduction of taxation, it would be neces- 
 sary to apply to every department the principles of true economy. 
 The resolutions passed the House of Commons, but when the 
 Bills founded on them were presented to the House of Lords 
 they were unfavourably received, some of the Peers (among 
 them Lord Overstone), who usually supported Ministers, express- 
 
234 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1862. 
 
 ing disapprobation of the financial policy of the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer. The Bills, however, passed the House. 
 
 Although direct opposition to the Budget provisions was un- 
 availing, there was still some dissatisfaction in the House of 
 Commons on the subject, not confined to the Conservative 
 benches; and on the 13th of May Mr. Hubbard introduced a 
 resolution, "That the incidence of the income-tax should not 
 fall upon capital or property, and when applied to the annual 
 products of invested property should fall upon the net income 
 arising therefrom, and that net profits and salaries should be sub- 
 ject to such an abatement as may equitably adjust the burden 
 thrown upon intelligence and skill as compared with property." 
 Mr. Craufurd, member for the City of London, seconded the 
 resolution, which, after a speech in opposition to it by Mr. Glad- 
 stone, was lost by a majority of 37. 
 
 On the 3rd of June Mr. Stansfeld, the Radical member for 
 Halifax, recalled the attention of the House to financial matters 
 by moving, as a resolution, " That the national expenditure is 
 capable of reduction without compromising the safety, the inde- 
 pendence, or the legitimate influence of the country." Mr. Baxter, 
 member for the Montrose Burghs, who had already made a repu- 
 tation as an economist, seconded the resolution, to which Lord 
 Palmerston moved an amendment, to the effect that the House, 
 while deeply impressed with the necessity of economy, was, at the 
 same time, mindful of its obligation to provide for the security of 
 the country. Mr. Stansfeld's resolution was defeated by a very 
 large majority (367 to 65), and Lord Palmerston's amendment 
 agreed to without a division. Mr. Gladstone, as guardian of the 
 public purse, was bound to make provision for the public 1 service, 
 but certainly, neither by nature nor political training, was he dis- 
 posed to be extravagant, and was perfectly willing that the 
 strongest light should be thrown on the details of his financial 
 
1862.] VISIT TO NEWCASTLE. 21 
 
 administration ; and he moved the appointment of a standir 
 Committee of Public Accounts, for the examination of tl 
 accounts, showing the appropriation of the sums granted t 
 Parliament to meet the public expenditure. 
 
 The powerful speech on Italian affairs, delivered in reply 1 
 Sir George Bowyer, on the nth of April, has already bee 
 noticed. The session came to an end on the 7th of August, ar 
 after a few weeks of necessary leisure, Mr. Gladstone paid a vis 
 to the North of England, making one of those political " pr 
 gresses" which are now so familiarly associated with his caree 
 and in the course of which he has delivered some of his mo 
 effective speeches. 
 
 On the 7th of October he paid a visit to Newcastle-on-Tyn 
 where he was most enthusiastically received. A banquet w; 
 given in his honour in the New Town Hall, the Mayor presidin 
 All men's minds were then turned to the terrible civil war ragh 
 in America, and the effects so painfully felt in Lancashire, whe 
 the cotton trade and manufactures were nearly paralysed, ar 
 hundreds of thousands of workpeople were thrown out of er 
 ployment and reduced to the utmost extremity. The attitude 
 the English Ministry was eagerly watched, and any utterance ( 
 the subject by a Cabinet Minister anxiously looked for. Wou 
 England endeavour to exert its influence to obtain a pause in tl 
 terrible hostilities, for the purpose of arranging, if possible, tern 
 of peace ? Would it recognise the Southern Confederation as 
 belligerent power? Such were the questions asked, althou^ 
 little hope was entertained that a direct reply would be given, f 
 it was believed that within the Cabinet there were differences 
 opinion which would stand in the way of definite action, 
 replying to the toast of the day, Mr. Gladstone made a loi 
 speech, in the course of which he spoke in the highest terms 
 
236 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1862. 
 
 suffering factory hands in Lancashire. Referring to the Southern 
 Confederacy, he uttered a remarkable phrase, much quoted and 
 commented on : " We may have our own opinions about slavery, 
 we may be for or against the South, but there is no doubt, I think, 
 about this — Jefferson Davis and the other leaders of the South 
 have made an army ; they are making, it appears, a navy ; and 
 they have made, gentlemen, what is even of more importance, 
 they have made a nation." These words elicited an outburst of 
 cheering, and the speaker continued : " We may anticipate with 
 certainty the success of the Southern States, so far as regards 
 their separation from the" North. I, for my own part, cannot but 
 believe that that event is as certain as any event yet future and 
 contingent can be. But it is from feeling that that great event is 
 likely to arise, and that the North will have to suffer that morti- 
 fication, that I earnestly hope that England will do nothing to 
 inflict additional shame, sorrow, or pain upon those who have 
 already suffered much, and who may probably have to suffer 
 more." 
 
 This outspoken expression of opinion — false prophecy, as it 
 afterwards proved to be — excited much attention. Mr. Glad- 
 stone's high position in the Ministry encouraged the supposition 
 that the sympathy of the British Government was with the 
 Southern States — that it was prepared to recognise the Confede- 
 ration as an independent power, and that the time when it would 
 do so could not be far distant. The " Southern Association " at 
 Liverpool agreed to memorialise the Government for the imme- 
 diate recognition of the Confederate States, and the members of 
 the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce took into consideration 
 the propriety of presenting a similar memorial. 
 
 In reply to Mr. Mozley, of Manchester, who wrote on behalf of 
 many shippers of cotton, Mr. Gladstone said that his words at 
 Newcastle were no more than the expression, in rather more 
 
1862.] "THEY HAVE MADE A NATION." 23 
 
 pointed terms, of an opinion which he had long ago stated i: 
 public, that the efforts of the Northern States to subject th 
 Southern ones was hopeless by reason of the resistance of th 
 latter. This decided expression of opinion, and of sympathy b 
 implication, called forth a vigorous attack from Professor Franci 
 Newman, in the form of a letter to the Morning Star, a dail; 
 newspaper long since defunct. The writer declared that it wa 
 an offence against public morality for a statesman of Mr. Glad 
 stone's position to speak at all of the Southern Confederatio 
 " without declaring abhorrence of it ; or, at least, to speak i 
 such a tone that he can for a moment be suspected of desiring it 
 success." 
 
 While at Newcastle Mr. Gladstone made an excursion dow 
 the Tyne, described by the Newcastle Chronicle at the time a 
 resembling a royal progress. The report of the trip publishe 
 in that journal is really worth quoting : — 
 
 "What was intended at first as a visit of inspection, to show him to wh; 
 
 use the Tyne Commissioners were putting the ,£100,000 they lately borrowe* 
 
 expanded into a triumphant display of the wealth and industry of the Tym 
 
 side. It was not possible to show to royal visitors more demonstrations < 
 
 honour than were showered on the illustrious commoner and his wife. Tl 
 
 procession of vessels which followed his were regal in their multitude ar 
 
 splendour of enthusiasm. Some of the works upon the Tyneside, lifting the 
 
 grim and lofty piles high in the air, crowned with clouds of densest, blacke 
 
 smoke, out of which forks of sulphureous flames darted, revealing hundreds 
 
 living men surmounting roofs and pinnacles, cheering in ringing tones abov 
 
 while cannon boomed at their feet below, was a sight to see, which [the r 
 
 porter proceeds, with rather remarkable taste, to say] resembled one 
 
 Martin's famous pictures of the exultation of Pandemonium when Lucif 
 
 ascended his throne. [Recollecting himself, however, the gushing report 
 
 continued :] We do not intend by any means to apply the latter part of th 
 
 comparison to the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; but we are sure he must ha^ 
 
 been reminded of Martin's celebrated mezzotint by what he saw at some poin 
 
 of his triumphal progress. At every point, at every bank, and hill, an 
 
 factory, in every opening where people could stand or climb, expectant crowc 
 
 awaited Mr. Gladstone's arrival. Women and children in all costumes, an 
 
 of all conditions, lined the shores, and those waved their hands who ha 
 
 nothing else to wave as Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone passed. Cannon boome 
 
 from every point : the Chancellor was nearly shot to death, as far as violent 
 
238 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1862. 
 
 before greeted a triumphant conqueror on the march. It never ceased through- 
 out his whole progress, and recommenced as he returned, and continued until 
 the shades of evening fell." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone afterwards visited Sunderland, Middlesborough, 
 and York, and at each place his presence was made the occasion 
 of a most hearty demonstration of welcome. 
 
 The year 1863 opened well, except for the sad condition of 
 Lancashire. There was — but for that calamity, which had its 
 origin in external causes — a condition of general prosperity ; and 
 the sufferings produced by the cotton famine had been greatly 
 alleviated by the exertion of a noble spirit of generosity. It was 
 estimated by Mr. Bazley, a very competent authority, that the 
 loss to the labouring class was at the rate of ^12,000,000 a-year, 
 and near ^30,000,000 in addition was lost to the employing 
 classes. In Lancashire alone 315,000 persons were dependent 
 on the cotton manufacture, and, as the result of the stoppage 
 in the supply of the raw material, nearly every mill was wholly 
 or partially closed. About 163,500 persons were receiving 
 scanty parochial relief in the Lancashire district at the opening of 
 the year, although assistance in money and food to the amount 
 of j£i, 800,000 had been given. The intense desire for the restora- 
 tion of peace on the other side of the Atlantic can be readily 
 understood ; and when Parliament assembled early in February 
 Mr. Disraeli took the opportunity offered by the debate on the 
 Address to refer to the conduct of various members of the 
 Ministry in making different statements as to the recognition of 
 the Confederated States. Mr. Gladstone's utterances at New- 
 castle, of course, did not escape severe comment, not because Mr. 
 Disraeli himself had much sympathy with the Northern States, 
 the reverse being the case ; but because he blamed a leading 
 Cabinet Minister for encouraging the South by words which the 
 Ministry were not prepared to follow up by action, and to induce 
 
1862.] FALSE PROPHECIES RESPECTING AMERICA. 239 
 
 the public to suppose that his individual opinion expressed the 
 unanimous policy of the Administration. " If the speech meant 
 anything, it meant that the Southern States would be recognised ; 
 because, if it be true that they have created armies, navies, and a 
 people, we are bound by the principles of policy and of public 
 law to recognise their political existence." 
 
 It is remarkable that Mr. Disraeli, like Mr. Gladstone, believed 
 that the Southern Confederation had practically achieved inde- 
 pendence, and that separation was inevitable, for in the course of 
 this speech he said: "I cannot conceal from myself the conviction 
 that whoever in this House may be young enough to witness the 
 ultimate consequence of the Civil War, will see, whenever the 
 waters have subsided, a different America from that which was 
 known to our fathers, and even from that of which this genera- 
 tion has had so much experience. It will be an America of 
 armies, of diplomacy, of rival States and manoeuvring Cabinets, 
 of frequent turbulence, and probably of frequent wars." It is 
 well for the western world that both Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Glad- 
 stone proved to be false prophets. 
 
C H APTER XIX. 
 
 FINANCIAL SUCCESSES. 
 
 The speech from the throne announced that the Treaty of 
 Commerce with France had " already been productive of results 
 highly advantageous to both the nations to which it applies"; 
 and that statement, although, as might have been expected, a 
 little cavilled at in the course of the debate on the Address, was 
 not seriously impugned. The Budget was introduced on the 
 1 6th of April, and Mr. Gladstone was able to make the agreeable 
 announcement that he had a good surplus in hand. The 
 revenue for the coming year he estimated at ^71,490,000, and 
 the expenditure at .£67,749,000, leaving £3,741,000 at his 
 disposal. He proposed to equalise the duty on chicory and 
 coffee, remove some anomalies in respect to licences, and make 
 clubs liable to the duties payable for the sale of wines and spirits. 
 Railways were to pay 3 J per cent, on passenger receipts, without 
 exemption, for excursion trains, instead of the 5 per cent., with 
 exemptions, previously paid, and there were to be some slight 
 changes in the hackney carriages dues. Then came the proposition 
 for a charge which, as we shall see, gave rise to considerable 
 opposition — no less than the withdrawal of the exemption of 
 corporate trust property and charitable endowments from 
 the provisions of the Income Tax Act. These charges 
 would add ;£i 33,000 to the annual revenue, and so raise the 
 
1863.] CHARITABLE ENDOWMENTS TAXATION. 241 
 
 surplus to ,£3,874,000. He would then be enabled to take 
 twopence off the income-tax, and equalise* the tax on annual 
 incomes between ,£100 and ,£200, by making the former sum the 
 limit of liability to taxation, and allowing a deduction of ,£6o on 
 amounts between the two sums ; the tea duty would be reduced 
 to is. a pound, and then he would have a surplus of .£534,000, 
 which the Government proposed to keep in hand. 
 
 Of course the clubs were up in arms ; so were, the patrons, 
 trustees, and officials of the great hospitals and other charitable 
 institutions, who found support in the press. One influential 
 organ of opinion described the proposition as " a tax on the 
 convalescence of the poor " — not a very intelligible phrase ; and 
 it was stated that St. Bartholomew's Hospital would lose a 
 thousand a year, "which is now wholly spent in relieving the 
 very poorest at the most helpless moment; and the other metro- 
 politan hospitals will lose sums of proportionate amount." The 
 extravagant assertions of the licensed victuallers, when it was 
 proposed to give wine licences to pastrycooks, were almost 
 rivalled by the statements made on this occasion. It was gravely 
 asserted that the proposition " has been chiefly adopted on the 
 professed ground that the clerks at Somerset House are weary of 
 the calculations which so many exemptions force on them. . . . 
 The sufferings of the mechanic, whose broken limb cannot be 
 healed because Mr. Gladstone has impoverished the hospitals, 
 are amply balanced by the joys of the Inland Revenue clerk on 
 discovery that he has escaped three sums in decimals out of a 
 dozen rules of three." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, on his own showing, proposed to remove the 
 exemption, "partly on account of the altered position of the 
 State, and the heavy charge it undertakes for charitable purposes ; 
 partly on account of the difficulty and confusion encountered in 
 
242 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1863. 
 
 account of the sound general principle that all property ought 
 to contribute to the taxes of the country, which, if they are 
 justly and wisely imposed, ought not to be regarded as a penalty 
 on property, but as the necessary means of rendering property 
 available for the effective use and enjoyment of the owner." 
 
 On the 4th of May, a very influential deputation waited on the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer for the purpose of submitting 
 reasons why he should not persevere with the scheme. The 
 Duke of Cambridge, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop 
 of London, and other bishops, the Earl of Shaftesbury, and 
 many members of both Houses of Parliament attended ; and the 
 result was that the Chancellor of the Exchequer withdrew the 
 objectionable clause in the Customs and Inland Revenue Bill. 
 The proposed alterations in the hackney carriage dues and the 
 licences for clubs were also withdrawn. 
 
 One of Mr. Gladstone's most conspicuous political utterances 
 in this session was in reference to the condition of Ireland ; and, 
 in connection with later events, it is interesting to preserve a 
 record of his views in 1863. On the 12th of June, Colonel 
 Dunne, member for Queen's County, moved for a select com- 
 mittee on the condition of Ireland, " to inquire into the causes 
 of the depressed condition and the effect of the taxation which 
 it now bears." Mr. Gladstone, on the part of the Government, 
 declined to concur in the motion, and made a long speech on 
 the subject. To open an inquiry, he said, at a period of the 
 session when no effectual progress could be made with it, could 
 only have the effect of exciting hopes simply to disappoint them. 
 He did not see how the House could interfere to correct the 
 evil of absenteeism, except by endeavouring to do everything in 
 its power to improve the social and economical condition of 
 Ireland, and give its people equal rights and advantages with the 
 rest of the kingdom in regard to the security, confidence, and 
 
1863.] CONDITION OF IRELAND. 243 
 
 freedom of their enjoyment and disposal of their property. He 
 demurred to the assertion of — 
 
 " A right in the various parts of the kingdom to have public money expended 
 on what I may call geographical principles ; that the taxes raised in Ireland 
 is to be computed, and against that taxation a counter claim is to be lodged 
 on behalf of Ireland for the expenditure of the money so levied within her 
 own limits. If that doctrine is good, it will be difficult to confine it to 
 Ireland. It will travel into Scotland, it will come back into England, and 
 we shall have the south, the north, the west, and the east making their 
 separate claims. ... I cannot assent to the general proposition that the 
 taxation of the country is to be like a local shower, drawn for a while from 
 the surface of the earth by evaporation, and then descending on it again with 
 fertilising effect at the very spot from which it first rose." 
 
 Ireland, he said, was not illiberally treated in respect to public 
 expenditure for local purposes. Ireland had less than double 
 the population of Scotland ; but the special votes amounted to 
 three times as much as for Scotland. "Is there," he asked, 
 "any form of taxation among all those varieties which the 
 ingenuity or necessity of financiers has caused them to invent, 
 under which Ireland is subjected to a higher charge than 
 England?" Incomes went further in Ireland than in England. 
 Not a shilling of duty was levied on hackney coaches, 
 railways, or stage carriages in Ireland, although these duties 
 were levied in England and Scotland. In adjusting the income- 
 tax very considerable mitigations had been granted to Ireland. 
 The landowners there had the advantage of considerable re- 
 ductions not allowed in England. "We must look," he con- 
 tinued, "to the influence of good laws, liberal legislation, and 
 thorough and hearty equality in our endeavours to apply the 
 principles of justice and freedom to all three countries, for the 
 only means by which we can really confer benefit upon Ireland. 
 All real and permanent benefits which Ireland is to derive must 
 be, not administered like a dose of physic, but must be gained 
 by the exercise of her own energies and her own powers." 
 
 v*i/\/W» 
 
 r»i-»4» trrrxirr^ c o r\r\ r\ acoviro f hnn rrln4-ft-i1 r*/-v*n r»* M a-mm 
 
244 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1863. 
 
 tion. Colonel Dunne, satisfied apparently with having raised 
 discussion and elicited opinion, withdrew the motion ; but a few 
 days afterwards Irish affairs again furnished subject of debate, 
 in which, howeyer, Mr. Gladstone did not take part. Mr. 
 Maguire*, member for Dungarvan, moved an address to the 
 Queen, asking for the appointment of a Royal Commission " to 
 inquire into and report upon the state of the agricultural classes 
 of Ireland, and to suggest such improvements on the relations 
 between landlord and tenant as may seem necessary and ex- 
 pedient." The motion was opposed by the Government, and 
 negatived by a majority of 79. 
 
 It was impossible that the position of the country in relation to 
 the American States could escape discussion in Parliament. We 
 have already noticed Mr. Disraeli's speech in the debate on the 
 Address in reply to the Royal Speech. On the 30th of June Mr. 
 Roebuck brought the subject definitely before the House. By 
 that time there had been more than two thousand battles and 
 skirmishes since the outbreak of the war, in the spring of 1861 ; 
 and it appeared to many others besides Mr. Gladstone and 
 Mr. Disraeli, that the Southern States were able to achieve inde- 
 pendence. The prolongation of a war so disastrous to America, 
 and the effects of which had been so painfully felt in our own 
 manufacturing districts, was certainly most heartily to be depre- 
 cated. In the field, successes were nearly equally balanced. 
 Ulysses Grant, the Federal general, had made a successful 
 advance into Tennessee, but had been repelled in a tremendous 
 assault on the strongly fortified Vicksburg. The great Confede- 
 rate leader, Stonewall Jackson, had been killed in action, but his 
 opponent, General Hooker, had been forced to recross the 
 Rappahannock, and had been superseded in his command ; and 
 Lee, a chivalrous and dauntless general of the Confederates, had 
 invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania, and taken several towns. 
 
1863.] THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 24! 
 
 One result only of the terrific struggle could be clearly foreseen, 
 and that was an appalling sacrifice of human life and a paralysis 
 of the national energies. 
 
 Mr. Roebuck moved " that a humble address be presented t( 
 Her Majesty, praying that she will be graciously pleased to entei 
 into negotiations with the great Powers of Europe for the purpos< 
 of obtaining their co-operation in the recognition of the Con- 
 federate States of North America." " If/' said Mr. Roebuck 
 " we take time by the forelock, we shall be so much the greate: 
 people ; and London will be the imperial city of the world. Bu 
 if we abstain from availing ourselves of the opportunity, it wil 
 go away at once to France." He added : " The cry about slaver 
 is hypocrisy and cant." Lord Robert Montagu, member fo: 
 Huntingdonshire, moved an amendment in favour of an impartia 
 neutrality. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone spoke in opposition to Mr. Roebuck, and sug 
 gested reasons why direct intervention would be unadvisable 
 Referring to the terrible war then raging, he said : — 
 
 "Her Majesty's Ministers, I do not think, have ever professed to fee 
 indifferent on the question. It is impossible for anyone with the feelings o 
 a man within him to be indifferent upon it. Moreover, I believe that a ver 
 general union of sentiment and opinion exists in the country — not upon ever 
 matter relating to the present war, but upon this great question — whether w< 
 wish that this war should continue or should cease. My belief is that at leas 
 nineteen out of every twenty men in this House, perhaps I might say ninety 
 nine out of every hundred — I do not know, indeed, that there is a singh 
 exception — earnestly and fervently desire that it should terminate. Why, sir 
 was there ever a war of a more destructive and more deplorable— I will ven 
 ture to add, of a more hopeless character? Measure it by the enormou 
 absorption of human life, which counts, not by thousands, nor by tens o 
 thousands, but by hundreds of thousands. Was there ever a more deplorabL 
 absorption of human treasure, which has brought debts upon countries whicl 
 heretofore were happily, in practice, free from them, such as not only threatei 
 to depress permanently, or for a long course of years, the condition of th< 
 population, but even, perhaps, to involve the greatest political difficultie 
 throughout the whole of what was once 4 the flourishing and happy Americai 
 Union ? Well, if these are common to both parties, is it possible that we, a; 
 
246 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1863. 
 
 quences entailed by this war upon each party severally? Look at the 
 
 embittering and exasperation of the relations between the black man and 
 
 the white man in the South. Look, again, at the suspension of constitutional 
 
 liberty in the North — the utter confusion of all the landmarks that separate 
 
 between right and power — the danger into which the very principle of freedom 
 
 has been brought in that which used to boast itself the great, and which we, 
 
 perhaps most of us, admit to have been, at any rate, one of the freest nations 
 
 of the earth. Look at the discredit to liberty abroad — the discredit not only 
 
 to democratic, not only to popular, but, I venture to say, to all liberal and 
 
 constitutional principles — which has been caused, in the eyes of the rest of the 
 
 world, by the contemplation of the transactions of the last two or three years, 
 
 and especially of the last twelve months, in North America. I trust there are 
 
 few of us here who have ever suffered narrow, unworthy jealousies of the 
 
 American Union to possess our minds. But I believe, if there be such a man 
 
 — if there be those who have taken illiberal or extreme views of what is 
 
 defective in the American character, or in American institutions, who close 
 
 their eyes against all that is great and good and full of promise to mankind 
 
 in that country — surely all alike must have felt sentiments of compassion and 
 
 concern absorbing every other sentiment. And the regret and sorrow which 
 
 we feel at the calamities brought to our own door by this miserable contest 
 
 are almost swallowed up when we consider the fearful price — more fearful, I 
 
 believe, than in the history of the world was ever paid, I do not mean in 
 
 money, by a nation in a state of civil war — a price not alone in the loss of life, 
 
 not alone in the loss of treasure, but in the desperate political extremities to 
 
 which the free popular institutions of North America have been reduced. 
 
 Why, sir, we must desire the cessation of this war. No man is justified in 
 
 wishing for the continuance of a war unless that war has a just, an adequate, 
 
 and an attainable object. For no object is adequate, no object is just, unless 
 
 it be also attainable. We do not believe that the restoration of the American 
 
 Union by force is attainable I will go one step further, and say 
 
 I believe the public opinion of this country bears very strongly on another 
 matter upon which we have heard much — namely, whether the emancipation 
 of the negro race is an object that can be legitimately pursued by means of 
 coercion and bloodshed. I do not believe that a more fatal error was ever 
 committed than when men — of high intelligence, I grant, and of the sincerity 
 of whose philanthropy I, for one, shall not venture to whisper the smallest 
 doubt — came to the conclusion that the emancipation of the negro race was to 
 be sought, although they could only travel to it by a sea of blood. ... I 
 know of no benefit or advantage that would attach to any intervention, 
 arbitration, recognition, or interference of any sort, unless it was actually free 
 from all suspicion of partial or separate interest, or peculiar views. An act 
 of recognition proceeding from England, an act of recognition proceeding 
 from any State which, either from tradition or other circumstances of that 
 kind, is placed in critical relations with America in matters pertaining to its 
 own interests, not only might have, but probably would have, a result pre- 
 cisely opposite to that anticipated by the honourable and learned gentleman. 
 It would assume the character of an interference in the, so to speak, private, 
 at any rate particular, affairs of the American nation I confess I 
 
1863.] PUBLICATION OF BUDGET SPEECHES. 24' 
 
 have more faith in the gentle action of public opinion, as it grows and ii 
 gradually matured in Europe, than I have in diplomatic acts which may tenc 
 to assume an appearance of undue interference in American affairs, and espe 
 daily those diplomatic acts which may justly be suspected of interestec 
 motives." 
 
 The debate was adjourned, and, on its resumption, Lore 
 Palmerston appealed to Mr. Roebuck, for political reasons, t( 
 withdraw the motion, especially as he (Mr. Roebuck) had hac 
 an interview with the Emperor of the French on the subject 
 The request was complied with, and both motion and amend 
 ment fell to the ground. 
 
 Parliament was prorogued on the 28th of July, by Royal Com 
 mission. The Speech announced, in reference to the civil wa 
 in America, that Her Majesty saw no reason to depart frori 
 the strict neutrality which she had observed from the beginnin: 
 of the contest. 
 
 In the autumn of the year, Mr. Gladstone collected and re 
 published his Budget speeches. The Saturday Review, cei 
 tainly not an undiscriminating admirer generally of the Chancello 
 of the Exchequer, did him no more than justice in saying : " N> 
 similar statements have been more remarkable for clearness, fo 
 fulness, or for judicious distribution of topics. Hearers hav 
 been known to mark the termination of one of Mr. Gladstone' 
 speeches, though it had extended over the length of ten sermons 
 with a sigh, not of relief, but regret, and almost of disappoinl 
 ment. The easy play of a powerful intellect rendered visible i 
 one of the most attractive of spectacles." 
 
 In October Mr. Gladstone visited Burslem, in the Stafforc 
 shire Potteries, for the purpose of laying the first stone of th 
 Wedgwood Memorial Institute, or school of art, free librar) 
 and museum, intended to commemorate Thomas Wedgwood, 
 native of that town, whose beautiful productions so greatly ac 
 
248 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1864. 
 
 enthusiastic collector of porcelain, was quite at home with his 
 subject, and delivered an eloquent address advocating the union 
 of beauty and utility in articles of daily use. A love of beauty, 
 he insisted, is the best correction of sordid and avaricious pro- 
 pensities. He was particularly hard upon the "crane-necked 
 water-jugs " for dressing-rooms, insisting that wide-mouthed 
 ewers were at once more useful and more beautiful. Certainly 
 water is poured out more freely from wide -necked than from 
 narrow vessels, but Mr. Gladstone appeared to forget that the 
 latter expose a smaller surface of fluid to atmospheric effects 
 during the night, and that therefore the water is purer and cooler 
 in the morning. A few years afterwards Mr. Gladstone sold his 
 collection of old china and chimney ornaments. 
 
 The opening of the session of 1864 is memorable for the attack 
 made by the Earl of Derby, in the Lords' debate on the Address, 
 on the foreign policy of Earl Russell, and his professed advocacy 
 of non-intervention. "As to non-intervention in the internal 
 affairs of other countries," said Earl Derby, scornfully, " when I 
 look around me I fail to see what country there is in the internal 
 affairs of which the noble Earl has not interfered. The foreign 
 policy of the noble Earl, as far as the principle of non-interven- 
 tion is concerned, may be summed up in the homely words, 
 1 meddle and muddle.' " 
 
 A few days after the House met, Mr. Gladstone introduced a 
 measure to extend the operations of the Post Office Savings 
 Bank. The object of the Government Annuities Bill was to 
 amend the law relating to the purchase of annuities, by making 
 use of the savings bank machinery, and to authorise the granting 
 of life insurances by the Government. In introducing the Bill 
 Mr. Gladstone explained that, as the law stood, only large 
 amounts could be received for the purchase of deferred annuities, 
 and it was proposed to facilitate the reception of smaller amounts 
 
1864.] UNIVERSITY TESTS. 249 
 
 through the medium of the Post Office Savings Bank. Govern- 
 ment could grant life insurances, but only to the amount of ,£100, 
 and then only to persons who purchased deferred annuities, and 
 it was proposed to abolish that restriction. Some opposition was 
 made. There was, of course, an outcry that Government was 
 exceeding its proper functions ; but the Bill was carried through 
 both Houses. 
 
 Another plan proposed by Mr. Gladstone, early in the session, 
 was less successful. He proposed to alter the mode of collecting 
 land-tax, assessed taxes, and income-tax, by adopting the method 
 practised in Ireland and Scotland, by which the collection of 
 taxes are intrusted to the department of Inland Revenue, instead 
 of employing unofficial collectors. The Bill was defeated by a 
 small majority on the motion for second reading. 
 
 On the 1 6th of March, Mr. Dodson, member for East Sussex, 
 introduced a Bill to abolish the tests required on taking degrees 
 at the University of Oxford, and so putting it on the same foot- 
 ing in that respect as the Universities of Cambridge and Dublin. 
 Sir William Heathcote, Mr. Gladstone's colleague in the repre- 
 sentation of Oxford University, moved as an amendment that the 
 Bill should be read a second time that day six months. On such 
 a subject Mr. Gladstone could not, as a Churchman and member 
 for the University, be silent. He said he would support the 
 second reading, though he was not prepared to accept the Bill 
 unless considerable alterations were made in committee. He 
 could not agree that no test should be applicable to the divinity 
 degree, and he thought that the governing body of the University 
 should not be thrown open irrespective of religious distinctions. 
 The education given at Oxford had always been, and, he trusted, 
 would continue to be, a strictly and formally religious education ; 
 and although the University had endeavoured to provide that the 
 liberal enactments of the Act of 1858, in relation to Dissenters, 
 
250 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1864. 
 
 should be carried out, it had resolved that in no respect should 
 
 the course of its tuition with regard to members of the Church of 
 
 England be affected. He warned churchmen, however, against 
 
 a policy of indiscriminate resistance to proposals of change. He 
 
 said : — 
 
 " Lately it has been too much the fashion to adopt a policy of indiscrimi- 
 nate resistance. I cannot conceal my own opinion on that subject. If you 
 look back upon history you will find that the greatest vice and misfortune of 
 the Church of England has been that, for many generations past, on questions 
 not of temporal, but spiritual interest, her friends, or those who thought 
 themselves her friends, have shown a great tenacity in clinging to their privi- 
 leges to the very last moment that it was practicable, and at length only had 
 them positively wrenched from their grasp when concession had lost all pos- 
 sible grace and value, and when consequently nothing could be obtained in 
 return. Sir, if I take my present course, it is not because I believe that this 
 is an easy time for the Church of England, or a time without its dangers. 
 On the contrary, as regards the religion of that Church, I admit that these 
 are days when it is subjected to peculiar and perhaps unprecedented dangers. 
 But these dangers will not be averted, or even mitigated, by declining to 
 make concessions which do not touch her faith, but indicate her desire to live 
 in goodwill with every branch and section of the community — to consult, as 
 far as possible, the feelings of all Christians, and all persons, be they Christians 
 or not, to whom it is possible for the Universities to impart a portion of their 
 benefits, and thus to show that, when she does take a course of resistance, it 
 is from no narrow or hasty impression, but because she is convinced that the 
 vital interests are at stake of that faith which is committed to her charge. 
 That is the policy upon which I desire to act." 
 
 The Bill was read a second time by a majority of 22, the 
 numbers being 211 against 189. Mr. Gladstone did not vote. 
 On the motion for committal the majority was reduced to no. 
 The division on the motion for the third reading resulted in equal 
 numbers, and the Speaker, being called on for his casting vote, 
 gave it for the Ayes, in order that the measure might not be 
 dropped, but that the House might have another opportunity ot 
 voting. When that opportunity was afforded, by the division on 
 the question that the Bill do now pass, it was rejected by a 
 majority of two, the numbers being 173 to 171. In each of these 
 divisions Mr. Gladstone voted against the Bill, and, in doing so, 
 separated himself from most of his colleagues. 
 
1864.] INCREASE OF TRADE AND THE REVENUE. 
 
 Another Bill, having to some extent the same object — proposii 
 the repeal of those portions of the Act of Uniformity which i 
 quired subscription from persons who sought fellowships at ui 
 versities — was afterwards brought in by Mr. Bouverie, b 
 rejected by a majority of 56. 
 
 The Budget was introduced early in the session, on the 7th 
 April. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had a surplus 
 hand, after allowing for extra expenditure on fortifications, 
 .£2,352,000. He took occasion, in introducing the stateme 
 to refer to the financial progress of the country in the five ye; 
 during which he had held office. The revenue had increased 
 the rate of more than a million a year, and the advance in tra 
 had been surprising. The aggregate value of imports and expo 
 in 1861 was ^377,000,000; in 1862,^391,000,000; and 
 1863, ^"444,000,000. He was entitled to refer to this res 
 with some feelings of pride, for he had encountered enou 
 prophecies of disaster resulting from his financial policy to ha 
 alarmed a weaker man : — 
 
 ' ' The present amount of trade is about three times the trade of the cour 
 as it stood at a period comparatively recent — namely, in the year 1842, w 
 Parliament first began deliberately and advisedly to set itself to the tasl 
 reforming our commercial legislation ; and, in the second place, the se 
 maybe taken to represent, as nearly as possible, ^1,500,000 for every wc 
 ing day in the year, a magnitude of industry and of operation so vast that i 
 did not stand upon incontrovertible figures, it hardly could receive be] 
 But, in my judgment, not only are these figures remarkable when we consi 
 them as the produce of the energy of Englishmen and of the strength of 
 country, which is dear to all our hearts ; they mean much more than tha 
 though that, too, of itself were much — they mean that England is becoir 
 more and more deeply pledged from year to year to be the champion of p€ 
 and justice throughout the world ; and to take part, with no view to nar: 
 or selfish interests, but only with a view to the great object of the welfar 
 humanity at large, in every question that may arise in every quarter of 
 globe. ... I find that if I select several years, in which Parliament 1 
 with firm and unsparing hand, addressed itself to the business of liberal 
 commerce, these operations have been immediately followed by stril< 
 augmentations in the trade and industry of the country. ... I think 
 
252 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1864. 
 
 when we have held that, in giving freedom to the energy, capital, and skill 
 of Englishmen, we were adopting the true means of extending our commercial 
 prosperity." 
 
 Referring to the treaty of commerce with France, he said that 
 in 1859, immediately before the treaty, our imports from that 
 country amounted to ;£ 16, 8 7 0,000, and in 1863 they had risen 
 to ^24,024,000. The value of the exports in 1859 was ^"9,561,000; 
 in 1863, ^£22, 963,000. Mr. Gladstone added: " I am very glad 
 to say that the French manufacturers are beginning to discover 
 the futility of their alarms, just as the traders of this country have 
 so frequently found it by experience on their side." In fact, the 
 trade of the country had not been swamped by a deluge of French 
 wine, and the publicans were still "lusty gentlemen." Both 
 countries had prospered by the increased facilities of commercial 
 intercourse ; and it was as obvious as figures could make it that 
 in the course of the five years of Mr. Gladstone's administration 
 of the finances, very notable results had occurred. In 1859 we 
 exported to France very little more than half what we received 
 from that country, and to that extent the balance of trade was 
 against us. In 1863 the imports and exports were very nearly 
 equal, and the former had increased about 50 per cent, and the 
 latter more than 130 per cent. If the commercial community 
 was not thankful to Mr. Gladstone, it should have been so. 
 
 An estimated expenditure for the year 1864-5 of ^66,890,000, 
 against an estimated revenue of ^69,460,000, gave promise of a 
 surplus of ^2, 570,000. Against the alliterative "meddle and 
 muddle " of Lord Derby, the Minister might have pitted another 
 alliterative phrase — " surprises and surpluses " — as descriptive of 
 Mr. Gladstone's Budgets. A reduction of the sugar duty to one 
 shilling per hundredweight disposed of ;£ 1,330,000 ; the fire in- 
 surance duty on stock-in-trade was diminished by one-half; the 
 duty on malt used for the consumption of cattle was taken off 
 
1864.] COUNTY AND BOROUGH FRANCHISE. 253 
 
 and altogether taxation was lightened to the amount of more 
 than ^2,000,000, leaving a surplus of ^£238,000 to be carried 
 forward to the next account. An unsuccessful struggle was made 
 on behalf of a total repeal of the malt-tax, and later in the 
 session (June 24) Mr. Morritt, member for the North Riding of 
 Yorkshire, moved a resolution, " That in case of any modification 
 of the indirect taxation of the country the excise on malt requires 
 consideration." Once more Mr. Gladstone objected to pledging 
 the House to abstract financial resolutions, and the motion was 
 lost by 166 to 118. 
 
 The session of course produced the accustomed motions con- 
 nected with Parliamentary representation. Mr. Berkeley again 
 advocated vote by ballot, and was again defeated, Lord Palmer- 
 stcn opposing the motion. Mr. Locke King revived the propo- 
 sition for extending the franchise in counties to occupiers of the 
 value of ^10. Lord Palmerston, on the part of the Government, 
 did not oppose the introduction of the Bill, because he did not 
 wish it to be thought that the Government were averse to any 
 change in the county franchise ; but he gave notice that in com- 
 mittee he should vote against the particular franchise the Bill 
 provided, and added that he thought it was hardly expedient on 
 the part of Mr. Locke King to bring it in at a time when, from 
 the course of foreign affairs, and other causes, there was very 
 little desire on the part of the people for organic change. The 
 Bill was rejected. 
 
 A more vigorous debate on the subject of the franchise was 
 begun on the nth of May, when the Borough Franchise Bill, 
 introduced by Mr. Baines, member for Leeds, came on for dis- 
 cussion. The object was to extend the franchise in boroughs by 
 substituting a £6 rental for the existing ^"io standard. Mr. Cave, 
 member for New Shoreham, met the Bill by moving "the 
 previous question." Mr. Gladstone, representing the Ministry, 
 
254 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1864. 
 
 opposed the Bill. It was not a time, he said, for Government to 
 deal with the question, and even the party which represented the 
 liberal opinion of the country was not unanimous in respect to it. 
 Yet, as the subject had been introduced, he would not vote for 
 the amendment, which went to deny that the question of the 
 franchise ought to be discussed, and, if possible, settled. In the 
 course of his speech he made a memorable declaration respecting 
 the extension of the franchise to the working-classes : — 
 
 " I will not enter into the question whether the precise form of franchise 
 and the precise figure which my honourable friend has indicated is that which, 
 upon full deliberation, we^'ought to choose ; whether the franchise should be 
 founded on ratepaying or on occupation ; neither will I consider whether or 
 not there should be a lodgers' franchise. I put aside every question except 
 the very simple one which I take to be at issue, and on this I will endeavour 
 not to be misunderstood. I apprehend my honourable friend's Bill to mean 
 (and if such be the meaning, I give my cordial concurrence to the proposi- 
 tion) that there ought to be, not a wholesale, nor an excessive, but a sensible 
 and considerable addition to that portion of the working-classes — at present 
 
 almost infinitesimal — which is in possession of the franchise I 
 
 apprehend that I am correct in saying that those who possess the franchise 
 are less than one-fiftieth of the whole number of the working-classes. Is 
 that a state of things which we cannot venture to touch or modify ? Is there 
 no choice between excluding forty-nine out of every fifty working-men on the 
 one hand, and on the other a 'domestic revolution'? [Mr. Cave had made 
 
 use of that phrase in moving the amendment ] We are told 
 
 that the working- classes do not agitate for an extension of the franchise ; but 
 is it desirable that we should wait until they do agitate ? In my opinion, 
 agitation by the working-classes, upon any political subject whatever, is a 
 thing not to be waited for, not to be made a condition previous to any Parlia- 
 mentary movement, but, on the contrary, it is a thing to be deprecated, and, 
 if possible, anticipated and prevented by wise and provident measures. An 
 agitation by the working-classes is not like an agitation by the classes above 
 them— the classes possessed of leisure. The agitation of the classes having 
 leisure is easily conducted. It is not with them that every hour of time has 
 a money value ; their wives and children are not dependent on the strictly 
 reckoned results of those hours of labour. When a working-man finds him- 
 self in such a condition that he must abandon that daily labour on which he 
 is strictly dependent for his daily bread, when he gives up the profitable 
 application of his time, it is then that, in railway language, ' the danger 
 signal is turned on,' for he does it only because he feels a strong necessity 
 for action, and a distrust in the rulers who, as he thinks, have driven him to 
 
 that necessity / venture to say that every man who is not 
 
 presumably incapacitated by some consideration of personal unfitness^ or of 
 
1864.] REMARKABLE SPEECH ON THE FRANCHISE. 
 
 political danger, is morally entitled to come within the pale of the Con. 
 
 tution As a general rule, the lower stratum of the mid 
 
 class is admitted to the exercise of the franchise, while the upper stratum 
 the working-class is excluded. That, I believe, to be a fair general desci 
 tion of the present formation of the constituencies in boroughs and towns. 
 it a state of things, I would ask, recommended by clear principles of reasc 
 Is the upper portion of the working-classes inferior to the lowest port: 
 of the middle ? That is a question I should wish to be considered on b( 
 sides of the House. For my own part, it appears to me that the negative 
 the proposition may be held with the greatest confidence. Whenever t 
 question comes to be discussed, with the view to an immediate issue, the c< 
 duct of the general body of the operatives of Lancashire cannot be forgott 
 What are the qualities which fit a man for the exercise of a privilege such 
 the franchise ? Self-command, self-control, respect for order, patience uni 
 suffering, confidence in the law, regard for superiors ; and when, I sho' 
 like to ask, were all these great qualities exhibited in a manner more signa] 
 would even say, more illustrious, than under the profound affliction of 
 winter of 1862? I admit the danger of dealing with enormous masses 
 men ; but I am now speaking only of a limited portion of the working-ck 
 and I, for one, cannot admit that there is that special value in the nature 
 the middle class which ought to lead to our drawing a marked distinction 
 distinction almost purporting to be one of principle, between them and a sel 
 portion of the working-classes, so far as relates to the exercise of the frs 
 
 chise? I believe that it has been given to us of this generati 
 
 to witness, advancing, as it were, under our very eyes from day to day, 
 most blessed of all social processes ; I mean the process which unites togeth 
 not the interests only, but the feelings of all the several classes of the cc 
 munity, and which throws back into the shadows of oblivion those disco: 
 by which they are kept apart from one another. I know of nothing wh 
 can contribute, in any degree comparable to that union, to the welfare of 
 commonwealth. It is well, sir, that we should be suitably provided w 
 armies, and fleets, and fortifications ; it is well, too, that all these should 1 
 upon and be sustained, as they ought to be, by a sound system of finance, a 
 out of a revenue not wasted by a careless Parliament or by a profligate 1 
 ministration. But that which is better, and more weighty still is, that hea 
 should be bound together by a reasonable extension, at fitting times, 1 
 among selected portions of the people, of every benefit and every privih 
 that can justly be conferred on them. " 
 
 The "previous question" was carried by 272 against 21 
 majority against the second reading, 56. In this division neitl 
 Mr. Gladstone nor Lord Palmerston voted, unwilling, it woi 
 seem, either to support the Bill or to place on record a Min 
 terial opinion that the subject should not be discussed. IV 
 Gladstone's speech was described at the time as having " afford 
 
256 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1864. 
 
 great delight and encouragement to the reforming party, but as 
 having also produced considerable dismay and consternation 
 among the Conservative benches." It was certainly a very near 
 approach to an approbation of the principle of universal suffrage, 
 and was generally accepted as the first step in a new political 
 departure. Mr. Gladstone was evidently not desirous that his 
 words should be too literally interpreted; for he immediately 
 published the speech, with a preface, in which he said : " Candid 
 minds ought to find an explanation of general statements in the 
 context of the speech which contains them." The already famous 
 sentence was " drawn forth on the moment, by a course of argu- 
 ment from the opponents of the measure." He fully admitted that 
 candidates for the franchise might rightly be rejected "if it should 
 appear that though no present unfitness can be alleged against 
 them, yet political danger might arise from their admission." 
 "As the opinion of an individual," wrote Mr. Gladstone, "the 
 whole matter is of trifling consequence." But when that indi- 
 vidual happened to be the Chancellor of the Exchequer, one of 
 the most able and influential of members, and a probable Prime 
 Minister in the future, his expressed opinion was of no trifling 
 importance. In offering the explanation, Mr. Gladstone com- 
 mitted the same error that Lord Palmerston did, when, being 
 Foreign Secretary, he asserted that the expression of his views on 
 a question of foreign policy had no greater weight than the 
 utterances on the subject of any other member of the Cabinet. 
 As a writer of the time properly observed, " The consequence 
 which attaches to the opinion of an individual depends on the 
 preliminary consideration who the individual is." 
 
 In October Mr. Gladstone visited Lancashire, and spoke at 
 length at Liverpool, Bolton, Farn worth, and other places. He 
 avoided political topics likely to arouse party feeling. He 
 described the growing prosperity of England, fostered by prudent 
 
1864.] SYMPATHY WITH THE WORKING CLASSES. ! 
 
 legislation, congratulated his hearers on the diminution of politic 
 disaffection, and on the better understanding between the varic 
 classes of the community. He spoke of England's high pk 
 among nations, and her privileges at home. But all this was 
 lead up to the moral that this place and these privileges impos 
 duties which must be manfully undertaken and performed. ] 
 enlarged upon our recent progress, but it was less our progress 
 wealth and comfort than our progress in intelligence and morali 
 "In one word," said a contemporary writer, "Mr. Gladston 
 theme has been the rise of a sense of brotherhood in our land, 
 has sprung up as soon as the burden of physical want has be 
 removed, through the operation of the wise measures which, sir 
 the Reform Bill, have been inaugurated, but its effects have be 
 moral even more than physical." 
 
 On the 7th of November Mr. Gladstone attended at the closi 
 of the North London Industrial Exhibition, at the Agricultu 
 Hall, Islington, and delivered a genial and instructive addre 
 some passages of which may well be read in connection with 
 presumed encouragement in Parliament of the principles of m 
 hood suffrage. He told his hearers, presumably working m 
 that although legislation had done much for them, there \ 
 much remaining which they must do for themselves : " It is i 
 possible, in a well-organised society, that any one class shoi 
 make essential progress in any way, except through its own ex 
 tions. The mere mitigation of abuses will never give energy a 
 dignity of character to a class, and especially to the great labo 
 ing classes of the community ; it is upon themselves they m 
 depend, in order to exhibit in the face of their fellow-countryrc 
 those characteristics which constitute the true basis of greatnes 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 REJECTED BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY, AND " UNMUZZLED." 
 
 The session of 1865 — the last session of the sixth Victorian 
 Parliament — was opened on the 7th of February. Mr. Glad- 
 stone's first speech of importance was on the 28th of March, in 
 the debate on a motion by Mr. Dillwyn, member for Swansea, 
 " That the Irish Establishment is unsatisfactory, and calls for the 
 early attention of Her Majesty's Government." There was 
 nothing very novel in the arguments of the mover of the resolu- 
 tion. Then, as before, "the church of the minority" was the 
 main point relied on; but Mr. Gathorne Hardy, in his earnest 
 and impetuous manner, speaking on the Conservative side, had 
 imparted a little unwonted spirit into the debate, declaring that 
 the maintenance of the Protestant Church in Ireland was part of 
 the contract made at the Union, and that if the resolution were 
 carried the House would violate the principles of the Reforma- 
 tion, the Act of Settlement, the Act of Union, and the Settlement 
 of 1829. Mr. Gladstone did not support the motion, but replied 
 to Mr. Hardy. He said : — 
 
 "I am bound to say that I must differ from the doctrine to which the 
 honourable member appears to incline, that the Protestants in Ireland, or the 
 members of the Established Church in any one of the three kingdoms — for I 
 believe them all to be on the same footing — are solely entitled to have pro- 
 vision made for their spiritual wants, without any regard being paid to the 
 requirements of the remaining portion of the population. Neither our consti- 
 tution nor our history will warrant such a conclusion. There is not the 
 
1865.] THE IRISH CHURCH. 
 
 slightest doubt that if the Church of England is a national Churc 
 if the condition upon which the ecclesiastical endowments are held \ 
 at the Reformation, that alteration was made mainly with the view 
 endowments should be intrusted to a body ministering to the want: 
 majority of the people. I am bound to add my belief that those w] 
 the government of this country in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ai 
 firm conviction that that which had happened in England would 
 Ireland ; and they would probably be not a little surprised if they 
 down the vista of time and see that in the year 1865 the result 1 
 labours had been that, after three hundred years, the Church whic 
 endowed and established ministered to the religious wants of only 
 or one-ninth part of the community." 
 
 The House was not called on to vote on the motio 
 adjournment of the debate was carried by 221 to 10 
 was not resumed. Mr. Gladstone's words were natura 
 canvassed. They were something like an open adA 
 disestablishment in Ireland; and they certainly con 
 affected the decision of the Oxford University constitu* 
 months afterwards. Public and private remonstran 
 addressed to the speaker, and he felt it necessary to m 
 explanation of his position in relation to the question. 
 8th of May he replied to a letter from Dr. Hannah, 
 principal of a Church of England college, had forw 
 Mr. Gladstone a letter he had received on the subject :- 
 
 "It would be very difficult for me to subscribe to any interpreta 
 speech on the Irish Church like that of your correspondent, whic 
 so many conditions and bases of a plan for dealing with a question 
 remote, and at the same time full of difficulties on every side. 1 
 are, I think, plain. First, because the question is remote, and 
 out of all bearing on the practical politics of the day, I think it w< 
 me worse than superfluous to determine upon any scheme, or basis of 
 with respect to it. Secondly, because it is difficult, even if I antic 
 likelihood of being called upon to deal with it, I should think it rij 
 no decision beforehand on the mode of dealing with the difficulty 
 as I know, my speech signifies pretty clearly the broad distincti< 
 make between the abstract and the practical views of the subject, 
 thing, however, I may add, because I think it is a clear landmarl 
 measure dealing with the Irish Church, I think (though I scarcely 
 be called on to share in such a measure) the Act of Union must 
 
260 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [I860. 
 
 Notwithstanding that, in May, 1865, he "did not expect to 
 be called on to share in such a measure," less than five years 
 afterwards, he introduced a Bill to disestablish the Irish Church. 
 
 In anticipation of the financial statement, the familiar attempts 
 were made to pledge the House, by abstract resolutions, to 
 remit or reduce certain taxes. The Conservative " friends of 
 the farmer " made a desperate effort to score a success by carry- 
 ing a resolution in favour of the abolition of the malt duty, 
 moved by Sir Fitzroy Kelly and seconded by Sir B. Lytton. 
 Neither law nor literature, however, was able to command a 
 majority of the House. The "previous question" was carried by 
 a majority of 81. 
 
 Mr. Sheridan was more fortunate. In the previous session he 
 had, by dint of perseverance, obtained a partial remission of the 
 fire insurance duty, and he now moved to extend the remission 
 to houses, household goods, and all description of insurable 
 property. Mr. Gladstone did not wish to place on record an 
 absolute refusal to make the desired reduction ; but he decidedly 
 objected to being pledged to anything in advance of his Budget. 
 He met the proposition by moving the "previous question," but 
 was defeated, and the resolution was carried by a majority 
 of 72. 
 
 The 27th of April was Budget night; and as it was very con- 
 fidently anticipated that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would 
 have a good surplus to dispose of, and, that being the case, 
 would be in good spirits, and make a capital speech, even more 
 than the usual interest was excited. In that respect, indeed, he 
 did not disappoint his hearers. The actual expenditure for the 
 past year had been ^66,462,000 (less than the estimate), and the 
 revenue ^70,313,000 (more than the estimated sum), and there 
 was therefore a surplus of ^3,851,000, or, if the expenditure on 
 fortifications sanctioned by the House were taken into account 
 
1865.] COMPARATIVE INCREASE OF TRADE. 
 
 °f ^S*^ 1 ) 000 - Comparing the financial position of th 
 with that in previous years, he said that from 1859 (th* 
 which he took office) to 1865, the balance of taxes 
 over taxes imposed might be taken at ,£6,7 13,000. D 
 same period the increase of the revenue had been ^3 
 A total of ^10,681,000 was thus obtained, and divi 
 sum among the six years, he arrived at the remarkal 
 that the rate of annual growth in the income of the 
 from the same sources was, in that time, ^1,780,000. 
 imports and exports amounted to ^487,000,000, or an 
 of more than ^219,000,000 since the comparative' 
 period of 1854. The absolute increment of trade in th 
 was nearly 30 per cent more in England than in Fran( 
 country had experienced an increase of 71 per cer 
 Belgium had advanced only 43 per cent., and HolL 
 25 per cent. Having referred to the magnitude of ou 
 system, the large amount of capital invested in it, 
 facilities it offered for increasing the wealth of the cou 
 Gladstone continued : — 
 
 "After all that has been said on the subject of machinery and 1< 
 all these figures go to place it beyond doubt that immense advan 
 also resulted from the apparently simple, but in practice sufficien 
 business of removing the bars, fetters, and obstructions devised r. 
 versity of man himself from the processes of human industry, and 
 to the simple expedient of freedom for the development of the 
 power of a country. And, sir, it is no small honour to the kingc 
 Queen that, as in regard to locomotion, so in regard to the freedoi 
 and industry, it has been given to them to lead the vanguard an 
 banner of civilisation. In the words of one of our own poets ["] 
 used to describe the establishment of justice and order after 
 anarchy, and not less justly applicable to the changes we have nc 
 with all their long train of consequences, it may be given to our acts 
 
 ' To serve as model for the mighty world, 
 And be the fair beginning of a time. 
 
 To be the beginning of a time richly fraught not only with e 
 
union of class with class among ourselves, and even, as we may hope, of 
 nation with nation throughout the wide surface of the earth. " 
 
 Diverging for a few moments to eulogise the great public ser- 
 vices of Mr. Cobden (at whose funeral he had been present ten 
 days before), Mr. Gladstone, then proceeded to his estimates of 
 income and expenditure for the coming financial year. He calcu- 
 lated that the revenue would amount to ^70,170,000, and the 
 expenditure to ^66,139,000, leaving a surplus of ^"4,031,000. 
 Having given notice of some slight alteration in stamp duties, 
 he referred to the attempts which had been made to obtain a 
 remission of the duty on malt. Ministers had, he said, been 
 reproached with having done nothing for the agriculturists ; but 
 they disclaimed any design of looking to the interests of classes ; 
 they looked to the interest of the community — the revenue of 
 the country was the public property of the country. He examined 
 the reasons brought forward to justify the abolition or the reduc- 
 tion of the duty. " The total abolition of the duty would," he 
 said, " be the death warrant of our whole system of indirect taxa- 
 tion, and transfer of the burden to property." He proposed, how- 
 ever, to give the maltster the option of having the amount of duty 
 estimated according to weight instead of measure, the latter mode 
 being unfair to barley of different qualities. The tea duty would 
 be lessened by 6d. per pound, and that reduction would involve a 
 loss to the revenue for the year of ;£i, 868,000; the income-tax 
 would be reduced from 6d. to 4^., equivalent to a loss on the year 
 of ^1,650,000. As the House had assented to a resolution in 
 favour of reducing the duty on fire insurance, he was bound to 
 accept the decision, and proposed to impose a uniform duty of 
 is. 6d., and substitute a id. stamp on the policy for the is. duty 
 previously paid. Allowing for all these reductions, the estimated 
 surplus for the current year would be ,£253,000, a respectable 
 result, considering the reductions made. 
 
1865.] A MINISTERIAL DILEMMA, 
 
 The Budget resolutions were carried, though not witho 
 running fire of adverse comments from the Opposition bene 
 but the reduction of the income tax and of the tea duty were 
 generally acceptable advantages to allow a very strong fight t 
 made by the opponents of the malt duty. 
 
 Early in May, Mr. Baines once more brought in a Bill 
 reducing the borough franchise, which, however, was rejectee 
 the motion for the second reading, by a majority of 74. ] 
 Palmerston, the Premier, was ill from an attack of the gout v 
 the Bill was introduced — too ill even to see and advise with 
 colleagues ; and a Tory contemporary writer tells us : " W 
 Mr. Baines rose to address the House, nobody on the Minist 
 benches knew either what he was to do or what was expecte 
 him. Then was seen on the Cabinet bench a spectacle such 
 in modern times, has rarely astonished the Senate. The Mini! 
 spoke together, not in quiet whispers, but with eagerness, n 
 gesticulation, and warmth. The Chancellor of the Exche 
 made a movement as if to get upon his legs, and was 
 difficulty restrained ; and the Lord Advocate jumping up, not 
 would hear him." 
 
 Before the time came on for the resumption of the der. 
 Palmerston was able to pay a little attention to public affairs, 
 a Cabinet Council was summoned to meet at his private reside 
 Cambridge House. Mr. Gladstone's disposition to extend 
 franchise was well known, and the Premier's objection to ex 
 sion was also a familiar fact : and if we may believe statem< 
 made at the time, a serious Ministerial crisis was immin 
 Blackwood's Magazine, the High Tory organ, gave its version 
 what occurred : " Lord Palmerston, we understand, inforn 
 Mr. Gladstone that, if he was determined to speak in favoui 
 Mr. Baines's motion, he must resign the seals of office. '. 
 
accepted the alternative, and was with difficulty prevailed upon to 
 give way rather than break up the Cabinet. Hence his silence 
 during the second debate. He held his peace when his friends of 
 Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, and Bolton expected him to speak, 
 and submitted to be marched out, a silent and disgusted voter, 
 into the same lobby with Sir George Grey, Mr. Milner Gibson, 
 and Mr. Baines. 
 
 The attempt to abolish tests in the University of Oxford was 
 renewed in June, when Mr. Goschen obtained leave to bring in 
 another Tests Abolition (Oxford) Bill, which Mr. Gladstone 
 opposed in an earnest speech, and voted against in the division. 
 The second reading was carried by a majority of 16; but the 
 session was too far advanced to permit a hope that the Bill could 
 be passed through all its stages, and it was withdrawn. 
 
 The Parliament died a natural death in July, and on the 6th of 
 the month a Royal Commission dismissed the members to make 
 their preparations for a general election. Mr. Gladstone had 
 represented the University of Oxford for eighteen years ; but his 
 growing Liberalism, and especially his expressed opinions on the 
 subject of the Irish Church, had alienated the affections of many 
 of his supporters in the constituency, and made the renewed 
 tenure of his seat doubtful. In view of the probability of his 
 rejection, the Liberals of South Lancashire nominated him as 
 candidate for their division of the county. 
 
 Before the dissolution of Parliament, Mr. Gladstone made a 
 speech at Chester in support of the candidature of his son, Mr. 
 W. H. Gladstone, for the representation of that city; and by doing 
 so, laid himself open to severe comments from the Tory party. In 
 his famous speech in defence of small nomination boroughs, on 
 account of the facilities they offered for introducing young men of 
 great talent into Parliament (see ante, page 183), he had adduced 
 instances of the eminent services rendered to the country by states- 
 
1865.] THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY ELECTION. 
 
 men who in very early manhood had been introduced ini 
 ment ; and that speech was remembered when he introduce 
 as admittedly an inexperienced and very young man, to th 
 of Chester. Blackwood made a fair and telling hit in a 
 "Mr. Gladstone at Chester":— 
 
 " It is quite true, as Mr. Gladstone urged, that many of our lead 
 men were introduced early into Parliament upon what he calls the ] 
 trust, and more than justified that selection by the talents which tl 
 quently displayed. But he was most careful not to tell his audieni 
 almost every case, these young men had won distinction at the uni\ 
 had otherwise given such proofs of their genius and mental capacit) 
 them to come forward in the capacity of political aspirants. Peel, 
 Mr. Gladstone himself, were eminent instances of this. The hon 
 they gained at the university were their passports into public life, 
 marked men before they ever crossed the threshold of St. Stephen' 
 If Mr. Gladstone could have pointed to any such achievements on 
 his son — to any indication, however faint, of his talents — we shouk 
 inclined to pass over, leniently at least, the extraordinary demonstrs 
 he has made, and have abstained from censuring an indiscretion whi 
 fondness might excuse. But no such apology can be preferred." 
 
 It was certainly an error of judgment on Mr. Gladsfc 
 to indulge in remarks about " the youth and imperfect kr 
 of Mr. Raikes, the Conservative candidate. It was in tr 
 he declared that " the principle of the Conservative ] 
 mistrust of the people, tempered by fear." 
 
 The nomination for the University of Oxford was fix* 
 13th of July. The Warden of All Souls proposed Si 
 Heathcote (whose return was secure) ; the Dean of Chri 
 proposed Mr. Gladstone ; and the Public Orator i\ 
 Mr. Gathorne Hardy. Votes for the latter were givei 
 Mr. Gladstone's supporters lagged behind, and on the 
 of polling he was 230 behind. Sir J. T. Coleridge, ch; 
 Mr. Gladstone's committee, issued a circular to the ele 
 unpledged, announcing that there was reason to fear 
 was in danger, and pressing upon them the duty of 
 
266 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1865. 
 
 advocate his cause on grounds above the common level of 
 politics. They claim for him the gratitude due to one whose 
 public life has for eighteen years reflected a lustre on the Univer- 
 sity herself. They confidently invite you to consider whether his 
 pure and exalted character, his splendid abilities, and his eminent 
 services to Church and State do not constitute the highest of all 
 qualifications for an academical seat, and entitle him to be judged 
 by his constituents as he will assuredly be judged by posterity." 
 
 This appeal was unavailing to save the seat. At the close of 
 the poll, which Sir W. Heathcote headed, Mr. Hardy occupied 
 the second place by a majority of 180 over Mr. Gladstone, the 
 numbers being respectively, 1,904 and 1,724. It was a notable 
 circumstance that Bishop Wilberforce, of Oxford, and Bishop 
 Baring, of Durham, voted, as members of the University, for 
 Mr. Gladstone, although it is certain that, in case of a scrutiny, 
 the votes would have been rejected, on the ground that, as 
 spiritual peers, they could not legally interfere in the election of 
 a member to the House of Commons. The total number of 
 voters who polled, either in person or by proxy, was 3,850, a 
 number nearly double that on any former occasion. Mr. Glad- 
 stone received 415 plumpers, and, although rejected, polled 674 
 more than at the previous election, when the seat was contested 
 by the Marquis of Chandos. 
 
 The result at Oxford was so clearly foreseen from the daily 
 state of the poll that Mr. Gladstone had no hesitation in accept- 
 ing the candidature for South Lancashire, and he was addressing 
 the electors at Liverpool at the very time when the poll at Oxford 
 closed. He had borne his defeat with a dignity which his most 
 virulent opponents recognised and respected. Even the combative 
 and often truculent Blackwood could not deny that the University 
 had sustained a loss : " The feeling towards him of the great bulk 
 of the constituencies was rather that of brother for brother than 
 
1865.] FAREWELL TO OXFORD UNIVERSITY. 267 
 
 anything else. All were proud of his scholarship, of his eloquence, 
 of his great ability, of the place which he had won for himself in 
 public estimation. Probably there are not a dozen among all who 
 have recorded their votes against Mr. Gladstone but lament now, 
 as they lamented when their minds were, after a severe struggle, 
 made up, that they had no choice in the matter." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone himself said, when addressing the electors of 
 Liverpool : — 
 
 " I have endeavoured to serve that University with my whole heart and with 
 the strength or weakness of whatever faculties God has given me. It has been 
 my daily and my nightly care to promote, as well as I could, her interests, and 
 to testify to her, as well as I could, my love. Long has she borne with me — 
 long, in spite of active opposition, did she resist every effort to displace me. 
 At last she has changed her mind. If I have clung to the representation of 
 the University with desperate fondness, it was because I could not desert that 
 post in which I seemed to have been placed. I have not abandoned it. I have 
 been dismissed from it, not by academical, but by political agencies.'' 
 
 He told his hearers that it had been his ardent desire, and his 
 earnest labour, to unite that which is represented by Oxford and 
 that which is represented by Lancashire ; to establish and main- 
 tain a harmony between the past of England and the future that 
 is in store for her. To the University constituency he said, in a 
 farewell address : — 
 
 "After an arduous connection of eighteen years, I bid you respectfully 
 farewell. My earnest purpose to serve you, my many faults and short- 
 comings, the incidents of the political relations between the university and my- 
 self, established in 1847, so often questioned in vain, and now at length finally 
 dissolved, I leave to the judgment of the future. It is one imperative duty, 
 and one alone, which induces me to trouble you with these few parting words 
 — the duty of expressing my profound and lasting gratitude for indulgence as 
 generous, and for support as warm and enthusiastic in itself, and as honour- 
 able from the character and distinction of those who have given it, as has, in 
 my belief, ever been awarded by any constituency to any representative." 
 
 " Henceforward," exclaimed the Times, " Mr. Gladstone will 
 belong to the country, but no longer to the University." " The 
 loss to the University bids fair to be the gain of the people of 
 
268 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1865. 
 
 England/' said a writer in another journal of the time. The 
 Liberal party believed that he had been relieved from restraints 
 which impeded his political development. "Those Oxford in- 
 fluences and traditions which have so strongly coloured his views, 
 and so often interfered with his better judgment, must gradually 
 lose their hold on him," said the Times. 
 
 The Saturday Review, commenting on the result of the election, 
 said : " No harm has been done to Mr. Gladstone, who will be a 
 more powerful man in the House of Commons as the representa- 
 tive of a great commercial constituency. . . . Few people will 
 take the trouble to analyse the majority and minority, and to 
 weigh as well as to count. Otherwise it would be easily seen that 
 it is not by the academical, but by the non-academical element 
 of the constituency that Mr. Gladstone has been turned out. 
 He had an immense majority among the residents, and the 
 lists of his two committees show that not only almost all the 
 academical eminence, but the great body of those who take any 
 active interest in academical or literary matters, were upon his 
 side. On the other side were the men whose names ' are on 
 the books,' and no small number of whom were persuaded to put 
 their names upon the books solely that they might give a party 
 vote at the election. It was, in fact, a battle between the 
 University, struggling for its independence, and the Carlton 
 Club; and the University — for the time, at least — has gone under 
 the yoke." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone himself appears to have felt that the University 
 connection imposed certain restrictions ; for, speaking at Man- 
 chester, in the Free Trade Hall, he told the electors that he came 
 among them "unmuzzled." He spoke freely on Church ques- 
 tions. He denounced as misguided folly any endeavour to pro- 
 mote the interests of the Establishment by maintaining odious 
 stigmas on Dissenters and Roman Catholics, and said : — 
 
1865.] MR. DISRAELI ON FINANCIAL POLICY. 269 
 
 "If the Church of England is to live amongst us, she must flourish, and 
 she must grow ; and God grant that she may do so by making herself bene- 
 ficially known in the discharge of her apostolic offices, by the faithful custody 
 of the word which she has received, by making her ministration the friend and 
 consoler of every man in every rank of life, by causing herself to be felt by 
 each one of you in those actions wherein her assistance can be available." 
 
 On the subject of Parliamentary Reform he spoke with plain- 
 ness and boldness \ though, of course, he declined to pledge his 
 colleagues in the Ministry to any particular course of action. But 
 he blamed successive Governments for trifling with the question 
 — taking it up when it was forced upon them, and laying it aside 
 as soon as they could escape from their pledges. Such conduct, 
 he said, was attended with " loss of credit, loss of dignity, loss of 
 confidence in the powers and institutions of the country in rela- 
 tion to the mind of the nation at large. ,; 
 
 In the course of the electoral campaign Mr. Disraeli had taken 
 occasion, in addressing the Buckinghamshire voters, at Aylesbury, 
 to make a vigorous attack on Mr. Gladstone's financial arrange- 
 ments, and his last Budget speech especially. The Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, according to Mr. Disraeli, had appeared to 
 claim, as results of his financial arrangements, benefits which 
 came from the bounty of Providence. "I don't believe," he 
 went on to say, in that drily humorous manner which he could 
 adopt so effectively, "the good harvest we enjoy has been pro- 
 duced by any Cabinet Council whatever. I don't think the gold 
 discoveries, nor the wonderful construction of railroads which 
 now interline the country, are due to Downing Street, nor that 
 these enterprises have been carried on by the capital or enter- 
 prise of the Government." The Conservatives, he maintained, 
 had originated, but were unable to carry out, the most important 
 of the financial changes which Mr. Gladstone prided himself on 
 effecting. He, Mr. Disraeli, had been the first to grapple with 
 the tea duties; he had advocated the repeal of the paper duties, 
 
270 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1365. 
 
 and, indeed, pledged the House to the remission at the first con- 
 venient opportunity; and Lord Derby's Government, as far back 
 as 1852, had entered into negotiations with France respecting 
 the establishment of a treaty of commerce. The Conservatives 
 had reduced the income-tax ; and, as to the surplus which Mr. 
 Gladstone had announced, the surplus was " obtained by the adop- 
 tion of the policy which we have been urging year after year." In 
 dealing with the terminable annuities Mr. Gladstone had performed 
 a feat of legerdemain. " He took one million and turned it into 
 ducks, then he took another million and turned it into drakes, and 
 for half an hour those ducks and drakes flew cackling about the 
 House of Commons." As to the claim of having reduced public 
 expenditure, made by the Liberals, the whole thing, said Mr. 
 Disraeli, " has been a genteel imposture from beginning to end, 
 and if the ' parties,' as the phrase has it, did not move in eminent 
 circles, and occupy a distinguished position in life, they would be 
 taken before the Lord Mayor and punished for obtaining applause 
 under false pretences." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone replied to these assertions. When he entered 
 office he had found that the actual expenditure was rapidly 
 advancing beyond Mr. Disraeli's estimate for the year. The six 
 millions of money spent on the Chinese War, in 1859, had been 
 caused by the mismanagement of affairs by the Conservative 
 Government, and as to the negotiations for the treaty of com- 
 merce with France, Mr. Disraeli and his friends had endeavoured 
 to arrange a treaty which should " carry out Free Trade in the 
 abstract, while protecting every important English interest in the 
 concrete." 
 
 As the result of the polling for South Lancashire, Mr. Glad- 
 stone came in third, with 8,768 votes; two Conservatives being 
 ahead. 
 
CHAPTER XX L 
 
 DEATH OF LORD PALMERSTON MR. GLADSTONE LEADER OF THE 
 
 HOUSE — MINISTERIAL DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION. 
 
 Lord Palmerston died on the 18th of October, 1865, and 
 Earl Russell succeeded to the Premiership, being succeeded at 
 the Foreign Office by the Earl of Clarendon, transferred from 
 the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster. Mr. Gladstone 
 was the only Minister of sufficient prestige to fill the vacant 
 position of leader of the House when it should reassemble in 
 February, and no attempt was made to dispute his supremacy. 
 There were some who doubted whether his acute sensitiveness 
 and impulsiveness of temperament fitted him for a position 
 requiring peculiar tact and that self-control which enables a 
 man to control others ; but the admiration of his great abilities, 
 and respect for his high character far outweighed other considera- 
 tions, and a cordial allegiance to the new chief was promised, 
 not only by the lieutenants, but by the rank and file of the 
 party. 
 
 Nearly four months, however, would elapse before he would 
 be called on to take his place in Parliament ; and, as his custom 
 was, Mr. Gladstone occupied himself during the vacation by 
 hard intellectual work. Some brains require to lie fallow for a 
 time; others find refreshment and recreation in (to employ an 
 agricultural figure) a change of crops. Sir George Cornewall 
 
272 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1865. 
 
 Lewis turned from hard Parliamentary work to astronomical 
 calculation, and Mr. Stuart Mill from political economy to the 
 Hamiltonian philosophy. When Mr. Gladstone laid aside for a 
 time the preparation of Budgets, he found a delightful recreation 
 in investigating the problems presented by the Greek mythology, 
 and the effect of the Homeric poems on human civilisation, 
 varied by occasional recurrences to the political arena, in the 
 way of addressing popular gatherings in the provinces. 
 
 His term of office as Lord Rector of the University of Edin- 
 burgh was about to expire, and it was arranged that he should 
 deliver a parting address to the students. Availing themselves 
 of his visit to Scotland for that purpose, the good folks of 
 Glasgow resolved to present him with the freedom of that city ; 
 
 
 
 • and, of course, there would be other demonstrations of welcome 
 to the commercial capital of Scotland. 
 
 On Wednesday, the ist of November, an address was pre- 
 sented to him in the Trades' Hall, Glasgow, from the Parlia- 
 mentary Reform Union. Mr. Graham, one of the members for 
 the city, presided. The address expressed a hope that a com- 
 prehensive measure of reform, extending the franchise both in 
 boroughs and counties, and providing for the redistribution of 
 seats, would be carried through by the Government. Mr. Glad- 
 stone made only a brief reply, reserving for another occasion a 
 more complete exposition of his views, and carefully avoiding 
 pledging the Ministry to details. Mr. Gladstone, who was 
 accompanied, as usual on such occasions, by his wife and 
 daughters, then proceeded to the City Hall, where the Lord 
 Provost formally presented him with the freedom of the city, 
 inclosed in a massive gold box. In the course of his reply, 
 Mr. Gladstone made a touching allusion to the losses the country 
 had sustained by the death of men eminent in the political 
 world. " I confess to you," he said, " that a painful, perhaps a 
 
1865.] THE TERRITORIAL THIRST. 273 
 
 predominant, feeling in my mind at the present juncture is a 
 feeling of solitariness in the struggles and in the career of public 
 life. ; ' He mentioned Palmerston, the great leader, who had so 
 recently been removed, Cobden, Lord Elgin, Lord Dalhousie, 
 Lord Canning, Lord Herbert, Sir G. C. Lewis, and the Duke of 
 Newcastle. An eulogium of the abilities and public services of 
 Earl Russell was followed by a review of the great material 
 progress made by the country in the course of the preceding 
 thirty or thirty-five years; and a denunciation of the evils in- 
 flicted by many of the great wars in which, especially during the 
 past century, England had been engaged, due, in a great 
 measure, to a thirst for territorial acquisitions : — 
 
 " Had our forefathers known, as we now know, the blessings of free 
 commercial intercourse, all that bloodshed would have been spared. For 
 what was the dominant idea that governed that policy ? It was this — that 
 colonising, indeed, was a great function of European nations ; but the 
 purpose of that colonisation was to reap the profits of exclusive trade with 
 the colonies which were founded ; and, consequently, it was not the error of 
 one nation or of another, it was the error of all nations alike. All the 
 benefits of colonisation were summed up as these — that when you had planted 
 a colony on the other side of the ocean, you were to allow that colony to trade 
 exclusively and solely with yourselves. But from that doctrine flowed 
 immediately all these miserable wars ; because if people believed, as they 
 then believed, that the trade with colonies must, in order to be beneficial, 
 necessarily be exclusive, it followed that at once there arose in the mind of 
 each country a desire to be possessed of the colonies of other countries, in 
 order to secure the extension of the exclusive trade. Such was the perversity 
 of the misguided ingenuity of man, that during the period to which I refer he 
 made commerce itself, which ought to be the bond and link of the human 
 race, the cause of war and bloodshed, and wars were justified both here and 
 elsewhere — justified when they were begun, and gloried in when they were 
 ended — upon the grounds that their object and effect had been to obtain from 
 some other nation a colony which previously had been theirs, but which now 
 was ours, and which in our folly we regarded as the sole means of extending 
 the intercourse and the industry of our countrymen." 
 
 Adverting to the working of the commercial treaty with France, 
 Mr. Gladstone said : — 
 
 " Human beings on the two sides of the water are coming to know each 
 other better, and to esteem one another more ; they are beginning to be 
 
 T 
 
274 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1865. 
 
 acquainted with one another's common interests and feelings, and to unlearn 
 the prejudices which make us refuse to give to other nations and peoples in 
 distant lands credit for being governed by the same motives and principles as 
 ourselves. We may say that, labelled upon all these parcels of goods there 
 is a spark of kindly feeling from one country to the other, and the ship 
 revolving between those lands is like the shuttle upon a loom weaving the 
 
 web of concord between the nations of the earth It is the 
 
 quiet unassuming prosecution of daily duty by which we best fulfil the pur- 
 pose to which the Almighty has appointed us ; and the humble task, as it 
 may appear, of industry and commerce, contemplating it in the first instance 
 as little more than the supply of our necessities and the augmentation of our 
 comforts, has in it nothing that prevents its being pursued in a spirit of devo- 
 tion to higher interests ; and if it be honestly and well pursued, I believe that 
 it tends — with a power, quiet and silent, indeed, like the power of your vast 
 machines, but at the same time manifold and resistless — to the mitigation of 
 the woes and sorrows that afflict humanity, and to the acceleration of better 
 times for the children of our race." 
 
 He concluded a really remarkable speech, and one very illus- 
 trative of his mental character, so greatly influenced by a sense of 
 religious obligation, by saying : — 
 
 " We have little to complain of — we have much indeed to acknowledge 
 with thankfulness — and most of all we have to delight in the recollection that 
 the politics of this world, are perhaps very slowly — with many hindrances, 
 many checks, many reverses, yet that upon the whole they are gradually — 
 assuming a character which promises to be less and less one of aggression and 
 offence, less and less one of violence and bloodshed, more and more one of 
 general union and friendship, more and more one connecting the common 
 reciprocal advantages and the common interests pervading the world, and 
 uniting together the whole of the members of the human family in a manner 
 which befits rational and immortal beings, owing their existence to one 
 Creator, and having but one hope either for this world or the next." 
 
 In the evening, after dining with the Lord Provost, Mr. Glad- 
 stone received, in the Scotia Hall, an address from the working 
 men of Glasgow. Mr. Dalglish, member for Glasgow, presided, 
 as his colleague in the representation of the city, Mr. Graham, 
 had done in the morning in the Trades' Hall. Mr. Gladstone 
 made another long speech. One speech a day is generally con- 
 sidered a creditable achievement for an ordinary orator ; but 
 Gladstonian powers are not of an ordinary kind, and the speaker 
 was as fresh and eloquent as in the earlier part of the day. He 
 
35.] ADDRESS AT EDINBURGH. 275 
 
 oke of the recent legislation on behalf of the working classes, 
 d the benefits they had derived from financial changes ; and 
 :precated any course of action that would tend to diminish the 
 iedom of labour and sow dissension between classes of the 
 immunity. 
 
 On the following morning, at Edinburgh, Mr. Gladstone, as 
 ector of the University, received from the Provost a bust of 
 rince Alfred (now the Duke of Edinburgh), to be placed in the 
 niversity buildings. Friday, the 3rd, was appointed for the 
 ilivery of the address to the members of the University. The 
 [usic Hall, in George Street, one of the largest, if not the 
 rgest, public hall in Edinburgh, capable of accommodating 
 lore than two thousand persons, was densely crowded. For the 
 me the speaker divested himself of the character of the poli- 
 cian, and appeared, robed in academic gown, as the scholar and 
 istorian. The subject chosen was " The Place of Greece in the 
 rovidential History of the World." The address was a de- 
 elopment of the theories suggested in his " Studies on Homer 
 rid the Homeric Age." (See ante, the chapter on " Homeric 
 nvestigations," p. 171.) So marked, indeed, was the advance in 
 le argument, that some critics maintained that the later theories 
 ontradicted the former. In the earlier essay he considered the 
 ncient Greeks as the transmitters of a " traditional knowledge, 
 lerived from the epoch when the covenant of God with man, and 
 he promise of a Messiah, had not yet fallen within the contracted 
 Drm of Judaism for shelter, but entered more or less into the 
 ;ommon consciousness, and formed a part of the patrimony of 
 he human race." In the Edinburgh address he claimed for 
 .ncient Greece " a marked, appropriate, distinctive place in the 
 >rovidential order of the world, not in the general, ordinary, and 
 :lementary way, but in a high and special sense — the rearing and 
 raining of mankind for the Gospel. " The Greeks," he argued, 
 
276 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1865. 
 
 "had their place in the providential order, aye, and in the evan- 
 gelical preparation, as truly and really as the children of Abraham 
 themselves." This " evangelical preparation " consisted of two 
 principles — the first "a humanistic element," which led the 
 Greeks to represent their deities in a human form, arid invest 
 them with the noblest human attributes, a principle that reached 
 its culmination in the incarnation of Apollo, a type of the in- 
 carnation of the Saviour; and, secondly, the almost perfect 
 development of bodily and mental excellence which was given to 
 Greece beyond other nations, " so as to lift up man's universal 
 nature to the level upon which his relation as a creature to his 
 Creator, and as a child to his father, was about to be established." 
 No wonder Scottish Puritanism was rather startled by this an- 
 nouncement of the discovery of a second " chosen people ; " and 
 that classical scholars inquired at what period the Greek mythology 
 and history possessed such credentials. The anthropomorphism 
 of Olympus was considerably below the ideal ; if the Pelagic an- 
 cestors of the Hellenes had clearer views, the evidences of their 
 mission were unknown to scholars ; if polished Athens knew much 
 about the matter, historians, and its own poets and philosophers, 
 must have been greatly misrepresented by modern critics ; and 
 certainly St. Paul found very scanty traces of the preservation 
 of primitive knowledge in the " altar to the unknown God," 
 and apparently believed very little in it when he said the Gospel 
 was " foolishness to the Greeks." The oration, however, was 
 enthusiastically received by the vast audience, ready enough to 
 be delighted with the voice and elocution of the brilliant speaker, 
 and not very curious to inquire into the validity of his theories. 
 One of the publications of the day, which ranked among the 
 warmest admirers of Mr. Gladstone, probably expressed the 
 verdict of the majority of the reading public when it said: 
 " As an oration, this performance has certainly a rhetorical value 
 
1866.] THE CATTLE PLAGUE. 277 
 
 of a high degree ; as an historical or religious essay, its value 
 is worthless, for the principles on which it rests have no solid 
 foundation." 
 
 Very shortly after the delivery of this oration, Mr. Gladstone 
 and his colleagues found it necessary to give all their energies to 
 the preparation for very practical and difficult work. The closing 
 months of 1865 and the opening of 1866 were made painfully 
 memorable in this country by the ravages of the cattle plague. 
 From six thousand to eight thousand animals were dying weekly, 
 graziers were nearly ruined, and food was scarce and dear. There 
 was reasonable ground for fear that the dreaded cholera might 
 again visit these shores, and that human beings might be sub- 
 jected to as terrible an enemy as that which had attacked the 
 cattle. The Fenian conspiracy, with its attendant outrages in 
 Ireland, kept the public in a state of anxiety, and offered a topic 
 for the immediate consideration of Parliament, when it met. 
 The condition of the money market gave rise to unpleasant 
 anticipations ; and during the year there had been an unhealthy 
 development of limited liability companies, which suggested to 
 cool-headed and prudent observers the remembrance of the 
 results which had followed similar growths of the mania for 
 speculation. 
 
 The General Election of the preceding summer had resulted in 
 the return of 367 professed Liberals and 290 Conservatives. On 
 the surface, therefore, there was a good ministerial majority ; 
 but " Liberal " then, as before and after, was a designation which 
 covered many variations of opinion ; and it was not long before 
 discordant elements of great potency exhibited themselves. Earl 
 Russell was deficient in some of the qualities which made 
 Palmerston so popular, and Mr. Gladstone was as yet an untried 
 leader, and his power of leading a new Parliament, containing 
 many members sitting in the House for the first time, remained 
 
278 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1866. 
 
 to be tested. Legislation of a coercive character for Ireland 
 appeared to be certain ; but it was almost as certain that 
 many of the more advanced members of the Liberal party 
 would be unwilling to accede to it, even if they did not openly 
 oppose it. Earl Russell considered himself and his colleagues 
 pledged to introduce yet another Reform Bill ; and on that rock 
 previous Ministries had split and ignominiously come to grief. 
 No hint had been given of the manner in which Ministers pro- 
 posed to deal with the subject. It was known, however, that 
 there was enough of difference of opinion in the Cabinet to make 
 it probable that concessions would be made to avoid secessions ; 
 and it was generally expected that the Bill,^ when introduced, 
 would be found to be of a half-hearted and tentative character. 
 
 On the 6th of February the Queen opened Parliament in per- 
 son, for the first time since the death of the Prince Consort ; and 
 that was a popular proceeding to begin with. The Royal Speech 
 promised the introduction of a Reform Bill, and, of course, in- 
 vited attention to the alarming condition of Ireland. In the 
 debate on the Address, Mr. Gladstone strongly condemned " the 
 folly, the madness, and the deep guilt " of the Fenian conspiracy ; 
 but he added, "the existence of, and the emerging from, a 
 conspiracy like this — so far from taking away any duty, any 
 obligation of the Legislature and the Government to examine 
 into Irish evils with a sincere desire to improve the condition of 
 the country — on the contrary, raised that obligation to its highest 
 
 point. " 
 
 Very little time elapsed before an attempt was made to extort 
 from the Government some declaration of its intentions as to 
 Reform. On the 20th of February, Mr. Clay, member for Hull, 
 obtained leave to bring in a Bill to extend the elective franchise 
 for cities and boroughs in England and Wales. The chief object 
 appeared to be to " force the hand " of Ministers ; but Mr. Glad- 
 
1866.] ANOTHER REFORM BILL. 279 
 
 stone said he intended, when the proper time came, to make a 
 proposal to the House on the subject, and he resolutely declined 
 to give any forecast of the details of the promised measure. 
 
 About three weeks afterwards, on the 12th of March, he intro- 
 duced the Reform Bill, and it proved to be, as had been antici- 
 pated, a fragmentary scheme. From the brief time at the disposal 
 of Parliament, Government, said Mr. Gladstone, had been com- 
 pelled to restrict their labours to dealing with the elective fran- 
 chise alone, excluding the subject of redistribution of seats and 
 other matters. The Bill proposed to extend the occupation 
 franchise in counties from houses of ^50 rental to ^14 rentals; 
 to create savings-bank franchises, place compound householders 
 on the same footing as ratepayers, abolish tax and ratepaying 
 clauses, and to make the gross estimate rental from the rate-book 
 the measure of the value, thus making the rate-book the register. 
 A lodger franchise was to be established, and it was proposed to 
 follow the example of the Conservatives, and introduce a clause 
 disabling from voting persons employed in the Government dock- 
 yards. Altogether, about 400,000 new voters would be added to 
 the electoral lists. 
 
 On the 20th of March, Earl Grosvenor gave notice that he 
 would, on the motion for the second reading of the Bill, move 
 as an amendment a resolution to the effect that "it is inexpedient 
 to discuss a Bill for the reduction of the franchise in England 
 and Wales until the House has before it the entire scheme con- 
 templated by Government for the amendment of the representa- 
 tion of the people." On the 23rd, Mr. Gladstone intimated that 
 the Government would consider this amendment as a vote of want 
 of confidence, but promised that, before going into committee, 
 Ministers would be prepared to state their intentions with respect 
 to the franchise for Scotland and Ireland, and also as to the re- 
 distribution of seats. 
 
280 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1866. 
 
 A division in the Liberal ranks was at once apparent. Mr. 
 Bright said the Bill did not go far enough to give him unqualified 
 satisfaction, but he would support it as, so far, a simple and 
 honest measure. He addressed great meetings at Birmingham, 
 urging the constituencies to support Ministers, and recommended 
 immediate organisation for meetings and petitions. In the House 
 the most violent opposition had come from the Liberal side of 
 the House, led by Mr. Horsman and Mr. Lowe, who, said Mr. 
 Bright, had succeeded in forming a party of two, which reminded 
 him of a " Scotch terrier that was so covered with hair that you 
 could not tell which was the head and which was the tail." Mr. 
 Lowe, in language which was long remembered against him, de- 
 nounced the working men who, under the Bill, would be so largely 
 added to the constituencies, as unfit for the franchise. " You 
 have had," he said, " the opportunity of knowing some of the 
 constituencies of the country, and I ask, if you want venality, 
 ignorance, drunkenness, and the means of intimidation — if you 
 want impulsive, unreflecting, and violent people, where will you 
 go to look for them, to the top or to the bottom?" In con- 
 cluding his speech, which, as a mere specimen of animated 
 rhetoric, he has never surpassed, Mr. Lowe said : " If the Bill is 
 passed, I covet not a single wreath of the laurels that may 
 encircle the brow of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I do not 
 envy him his triumph. His be the glory of carrying it \ mine, of 
 having, to the best of my poor ability, resisted it." 
 
 The "party of two" was increased by the adhesion of Earl 
 Grosvenor, Lord Elcho, Mr. Laing, and several other prominent 
 Liberals, whose action gave occasion for a saying by Mr. Bright 
 which has taken a permanent place in the literature of political 
 controversy. Mr. Lowe, he said, had entered " into what might be 
 called his political Cave of Adullam, to which he invited every one 
 who was in distress or discontented." The allusion was, of course, 
 
1866.] CROSSING THE RUBICON. 281 
 
 to David's hiding in the Cave Adullam, as recorded in the First 
 Book of Samuel. Lord Elcho accepted the comparison : " No 
 improper motive has driven us into this cave, where we are a most 
 happy family, daily — I may say hourly — increasing in number and 
 strength, where we shall remain until we go forth to deliver Israel 
 from oppression." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone was entertained by the Liberal electors of the 
 town at a great banquet at Liverpool, at which the Duke of 
 Argyll, Mr. Goschen, Lord Clarence Paget, and many of the 
 leading merchants and residents were present. The dinner was 
 followed by a public meeting at the Amphitheatre, at which a 
 resolution approving of the Bill was unanimously carried. In 
 Mr. Gladstone's speech, he said : " We stake ourselves, we stake 
 our existence as a Government — whether it be much or little, is 
 not for us to say — but such as it is, we stake it, and we also stake 
 our political character on the adoption of the Bill in its main 
 provisions. You have a right to expect from us that we should 
 tell you what we mean, and that the trumpet which it is our 
 business to blow shall give forth no uncertain sound. Its sound 
 has not been, and I trust will not be, uncertain. We have passed 
 the Rubicon, we have broken the bridge and burned the boats 
 behind us. We have advisedly cut off the means of retreat ; 
 and, having done this, we hope that, as far as time has yet per- 
 mitted, we have done our duty to the Crown and the nation." 
 It is well that when Mr. Gladstone was staking so much, he did 
 not stake his credit as a classical scholar on the Rubicon 
 allusion. Caesar crossed that familiar little stream on horseback ; 
 there was no bridge to be broken, and there were no boats to be 
 burned. 
 
 On the 1 2th April the Bill came on for the second reading, and 
 Earl Grosvenor's resolution was moved as an amendment. The 
 debate lasted eight nights, and was carried on with indomitable 
 
282 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [I860. 
 
 vigour on both sides of the House, nearly all the leading speakers 
 taking part. Mr. Lowe, roused apparently into unwonted anima- 
 tion by Mr. Bright's allusion to Scotch terriers and Adullam 
 caves, and the storm he had aroused outside the House by his 
 vituperation of working-class voters, made a fierce attack on 
 Ministers : " they had laid on the grave of Palmerston, as a 
 mortuary contribution, all their moderation, all their prudence, 
 and all their statesmanship." On the last night of the debate 
 Mr. Disraeli, the leader of the Opposition, spoke. The Bill, he 
 asserted, would swamp the county constituencies, and put the 
 government of the country into the hands of one class of the com- 
 munity. He bitterly attacked Mr. Gladstone, and was betrayed 
 into the pettiness of recurring to the records of the Oxford Union 
 Debating Society, for the purpose of showing that, thirty-five 
 years before, Mr. Gladstone had, when an undergraduate of 
 Christ's College, spoken, at a meeting of the Society, against the 
 Reform Bill introduced by Lord John Russell. This inex- 
 cusable attack was replied to by Mr. Gladstone, and the reply has 
 a special interest as a fragment of autobiography : — 
 
 1 ' The right honourable gentleman, secure, I suppose, in the recollection of 
 his own consistency, has taunted me with the political errors of my boyhood. 
 The right hon. gentleman, when he addressed the honourable member for 
 Westminster [Mr. Mill], took occasion to show his magnanimity, for he 
 declared that he would not take the philosopher to task for what he wrote 
 twenty-five years ago. But when he caught one who, thirty-five years ago, 
 just emerged from boyhood, and still an undergraduate at Oxford, had ex- 
 pressed an opinion adverse to the Reform Bill of 1832, of which he had so 
 long and bitterly repented, then the right honourable gentleman could not 
 resist the temptation that offered itself to his appetite for effect. He, a 
 Parliamentary champion of twenty years' standing, and the leader, as he 
 informs us to-night, of the Tory party, is so ignorant of the House of Com- 
 mons, or so simple is the structure of his mind, that he positively thought he 
 would be obtaining a Parliamentary advantage by exhibiting me to the public 
 view for reprobation as an opponent of the Reform Bill of 1832. Sir, as the 
 right honourable gentleman has done me the honour thus to exhibit me, let 
 me, for a moment, trespass on the patience of the House to exhibit myself. 
 What he has stated is true. I deeply regret it. But I was bred under the 
 shadow of the great name of Canning ; every influence connected with that 
 
1866.] REPLY TO AN ATTACK. 283 
 
 name governed the first political impressions of my childhood and my youth ; 
 with Mr. Canning I rejoiced in the removal of religious disabilities from the 
 Roman Catholic body, and in the free and truly British tone which he gave to 
 our policy abroad ; with Mr. Canning I rejoiced in the opening he made 
 towards the establishment of free commercial interchange between nations ; 
 with Mr. Canning, and under the shadow of that great name, and under the 
 shadow of the yet more venerable name of Burke, I grant my youthful mind 
 and imagination were impressed with some idle and futile fears which still 
 bewilder and distress the mature mind of the right honourable gentleman. I 
 had conceived that very same fear, that ungovernable alarm at the first Reform 
 Bill, in the days of my undergraduate career at Oxford, which the right honour- 
 able gentleman now feels, and the only difference between us is this — I thank 
 him for bringing it into view by his quotation — that, having those views, I, 
 as it would appear, moved the Oxford Union Debating Society to express 
 them clearly, plainly, in downright English, while the right honourable 
 gentleman does not dare to tell the nation what it is that he really thinks, 
 and is content to skulk under the shelter of the meaningless amendment 
 which is proposed by the noble Lord. And now, Sir, I quit the right 
 honourable gentleman ; I leave him to his reflections, and I envy him not 
 one particle of the polemical advantage which he has gained by his direct 
 reference to the proceedings of the Oxford Union Debating Society in the 
 year of grace 1831." 
 
 Mr. Disraeli had hinted that the Ministers were endeavouring 
 to coerce the House, and force it, by a threat of resignation, to 
 support the measure, because Earl Russell had pledged himself 
 to introduce it. Mr. Gladstone said, after a splendid tribute to 
 the political career of the Prime Minister :— 
 
 '* Sir, I am not Earl Russell. My position in the Liberal party is in all 
 points the opposite of Earl Russell's. Earl Russell might have been misled, 
 possibly, had he been in this place, into using language which would have 
 been unfit coming from another person. But it could not be the same with 
 me. I am too well aware of the relations which subsist between the party 
 and myself. I have none of the claims he possesses. I came among you an 
 outcast from those with whom I associated, driven from them, I admit, by no 
 arbitrary act, but by the slow and resistless force of conviction. I came among 
 you, to make use of the legal phraseology, in pauperis for md. I had nothing 
 to offer you but faithful and honourable service. You received me as Dido 
 received the shipwrecked iEneas. You received me with kindness, indul- 
 gence, generosity, and, I may even say, with some measure of confidence. And 
 the relation between us has assumed such a form that you can never be my 
 debtors, but that I must for ever be in your debt. It is not from me, under 
 such circumstances, that any word will proceed that can savour of the 
 character which the right honourable gentleman imputes to the conduct of the 
 Government with respect to the present Bill. ' 
 
284 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1866. 
 
 He concluded an especially animated speech with an especially 
 animated peroration, which produced a storm of cheers : — 
 
 "You cannot fight against the future. Time is on our side. The great 
 social forces which move onward in their might and majesty, and which the 
 tumult of our debates does not for a moment impede or disturb, those great 
 social forces are against you ; they are marshalled on our side ; and the banner 
 which we now carry in the fight, though, perhaps, at some moment, it may 
 droop over our sinking heads, yet it soon again will float in the eye of 
 heaven, and it will be borne by the firm hands of the united people of the three 
 kingdoms, perhaps not to an easy, but to a certain and to a not distant 
 victory." 
 
 At 3 o'clock in the morning the division was taken, the House 
 being greatly excited. The number for the second reading was 
 318, and against it 313, giving Ministers the small majority of 5. 
 So many members had never before voted in one division, and 
 only two paired. 
 
 On the last day of April Mr. Gladstone announced that the 
 Government did not see in the result of the division any reason 
 or warning against persisting in the efforts they had engaged in 
 to amend the law for the representation of the people. Their 
 present duty was a very simple one — it was, to lose no time in 
 producing the plan for the redistribution of seats, and the Reform 
 Bills for Scotland and Ireland. By the expression " stand or 
 fall," he had meant while the Bill stood the Government stood, 
 and the Bill had not fallen. 
 
 Amid all this turmoil of debate, all this excitement within and 
 beyond the walls of the House, the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 had found time to arrange the details of the Budget. Perhaps 
 he found in financial details a relief from the labour of discussing 
 the franchise ; and during the sitting of Parliament the income 
 tax and the results of the commercial treaty afforded refreshment 
 to his wearied brain, as, in the autumn recesses, did the Homeric 
 mythology. Endeavours to anticipate the financial arrangements 
 had, as usual, been made; but with less success than Mr. Sheridan 
 
1866.] THE FAILING SUPPLY OF COAL. 285 
 
 had achieved in the preceding session, in the matter of the fire 
 insurance duty. Mr. White, one of the members for Brighton, 
 moved a resolution in favour of an early and large reduction of 
 the Government expenditure ; and Sir Fitzroy Kelly made 
 another gallant effort to pledge the House to an "immediate 
 reduction and ultimate repeal " of the malt tax. Both motions 
 were opposed, as a matter of course, by Mr. Gladstone, and both 
 were unsuccessful. 
 
 The Budget was brought forward on the 3rd of May ; and once 
 more the favourite of financial fortune announced that the revenue 
 of the past year had exceeded the expenditure. He had a surplus 
 of ,£2,338,000 to begin with ; and his estimates for the coming 
 year left him with even a slightly larger amount on the right side 
 of the balance sheet. He anticipated a revenue of £67,575,000, 
 against an expenditure of £66,225,000, showing a surplus of 
 ;£i, 35 0,000. He proposed to remove the duty from timber and 
 pepper, to modify the duty on wine in regard to the proportion 
 of alcohol, and to reduce the stage-carriage and post-chaise duty 
 from a penny to a farthing a mile. These reductions would 
 absorb £562,000, almost one-half of the surplus; and the re- 
 mainder he proposed to apply to the reduction of the National 
 Debt, the capital of which then stood at £799,000,000. Mr. 
 Gladstone had often enough shown that he was a Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer sui generis, and had, in that capacity, said many 
 unexpected things, and opened up many unexpected views ; but 
 he fairly astonished his hearers when he invited them to accom- 
 pany him, in imagination, to the subterranean coal fields, and 
 estimate the probability of the extent of the continuance of the 
 supply ; and still more, when he undertook to show that his 
 financial plans for the present year took into account the interests 
 of their descendants yet unborn — the Englishmen of a century 
 hence. Probably some of the members mentally repeated the 
 
286 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1866. 
 
 testy exclamation of the worthy politician who objected to look- 
 ing too far ahead, " Let posterity take care of itself ! " According 
 to the most carefully prepared estimates of the highest authorities, 
 said Mr. Gladstone, in less than a hundred years, at the present 
 annually increasing rate of consumption, the supply of coal in 
 this country would be exhausted; probably in a much shorter 
 time, for some of the known beds lay so far beneath the surface 
 that it was impossible to work them. The final disappearance of 
 coal in this country would put an end to our power of cheap 
 production. " Suppose coal to fail, and to carry away this pre- 
 eminence of cheap production of ours across the Atlantic, I ask 
 you what will happen ? There will be a decline of rent, profits, 
 and wages. At that period, when rent, profit, and wages decline, 
 the charge on the National Debt will remain a permanent mort- 
 gage on the land and durable property of the country. I wish I 
 could convey to the committee my own sense of the importance 
 of these considerations." 
 
 To provide against this alarming, if remote, catastrophe, he 
 proposed to convert ^24,000,000 of the savings bank stock into 
 terminable annuities, to expire in 1885, and to reinvest the spare 
 dividends. By these means he hoped to extinguish by the year 
 1905 nearly ^50,000,000 of the debt, at an annual increased 
 charge of a little more than one million. 
 
 Legislation for a distant future was not recognised by some 
 members as a very distinct duty incumbent on them to perform ; 
 and they reasoned on the good old-fashioned principle that " a 
 bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," especially when the 
 bush is so far off that it would take a century to reach it. The 
 annual charge of a little more than a million represented a penny 
 in the pound on the income tax, and that was a practical matter. 
 Sir Fitzroy Kelly objected to burdening the country, whether 
 there was a surplus or not, to pay more than a million sterling 
 
1866.] "BLACK FRIDAY." 2S7 
 
 for the next forty years. Mr. Fawcett (then a young member, 
 sitting for Brighton) also objected, but from a different point of 
 view. It was proposed, he argued, to throw upon the next 
 generation a greater burden than the present generation was able 
 to bear. The House should adopt measures for creating a sur- 
 plus, and then follow the old-fashioned method of cancelling 
 
 stock. Mr. Henley described the operation as a revival of the 
 old sinking fund. 
 
 The Bill passed its second reading, but made no further pro- 
 gress. A Ministerial crisis was not far off; and before the end 
 of the session there was a new Chancellor of the Exchequer — 
 Mr. Disraeli — who abandoned the Bill, and appropriated the 
 balance of Mr. Gladstone's surplus, intended to go towards the 
 relief of the coal-less Englishmen of the twentieth century, to 
 provide for Supplementary Army Estimates. Mr. Gladstone, then 
 leading the Opposition, made no objection ; but intimated that, 
 if the opportunity offered, he should revive his project for reducing 
 the National Debt. 
 
 On Thursday, the 16th of May, three days after the introduc- 
 tion of the Budget resolutions, came the terrible crash which made 
 commercial London tremble to its foundations. Since the winter 
 of 1825 there had been no such catastrophe. 
 
 Over speculation in limited liability companies, the manoeuvres 
 of desperate and unscrupulous promoters and wreckers, had 
 produced their fruit, and bitter fruit it was. The announcement 
 of the suspension of the great discount house, Overend, Gurney 
 and Co., was followed by the stoppage of other establishments 
 of a similar kind, and of private and joint stock banks. There 
 was an unprecedented rush of depositors, and bank after bank 
 closed their doors. Friday, the nth of May, " Black Friday," is 
 sadly memorable, not only in City annals, but in the history of 
 thousands of ruined families. The depositing public was frantic 
 
288 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1866. 
 
 with excitement, and scarcely less so bank directors and managers. 
 Appeals for assistance to the Bank of England were incessant ; 
 but the extent of the aid that could be afforded was strictly 
 limited by the provisions of the Bank Charter Act. In the 
 course of the day the governor and directors, and directors of 
 joint stock and private banks, had interviews with the Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, and at midnight he announced to the anxious 
 and excited House of Commons that Government had taken 
 upon itself the responsibility of authorising the suspension of the 
 Act. The assistance was given, and the panic was allayed ; but 
 the disastrous effects were felt long afterwards. In one day, 
 " Black Friday," the resources of the Bank of England were 
 reduced to the extent of nearly ^6,000,000. One of the great 
 joint stock banks paid over the counter two millions of money in 
 the course of the day, and other banks were drawn upon for 
 nearly as large amounts. " Another day of similar panic," re- 
 marked a writer of the time, "and every bank and monetary 
 establishment in London must have stopped payment." 
 
 A prominent feature of the session was the introduction of a 
 Bill for the abolition of Church-rates, by Mr. Hardcastle, member 
 for Bury St. Edmunds. The motion for the second reading of 
 the Bill was made on the 7th of March, and Mr. Walpole met 
 it by moving that it be read a second time that day six months. 
 Mr. Gladstone spoke in the debate, not in his ministerial capacity, 
 but as an individual member. He was not prepared to consent 
 to the simple and unconditional abolition of Church-rates. To 
 abolish the rates, he argued, and at the same time to allow 
 Dissenters to interfere with the disposal of funds to which they 
 did not contribute, would be the introduction of a new injustice 
 in the removal of the old one. He invited Mr. Hardcastle to 
 consider whether, by an equitable compromise, Dissenters ought 
 not to be exempted from paying Church-rates, and at the same 
 
1866.] REDISTRIBUTION OF SEATS. 289 
 
 time disqualified from interfering with funds to which they had 
 not contributed. 
 
 Mr. Hardcastle refused to withdraw the Bill. Mr. Walpole's 
 amendment was rejected, and the second reading was carried by 
 a majority of 33 in a full House. Before, however, any further 
 progress was made, Mr. Gladstone himself (on the 8th of May) 
 obtained leave to bring in a Compulsory Church-rate Abolition 
 Bill, the leading provisions of which were that no suit or pro- 
 ceedings could be taken to compel the payment of Church-rates 
 in England and Wales; except in parishes where Church-rates 
 were provided for by endowments or fixed funds, parishioners in 
 vestry might assess a voluntary rate for the purpose; persons 
 who declined to pay the rate should, after a certain lapse of time, 
 be ineligible to fill the office of churchwarden, but if they 
 changed their minds and made a tender of the amount ot their 
 proper proportion, they should be entitled to vote. The second 
 reading of the Bill was agreed to on the 1st of August, and on 
 the same day Mr. Hardcastle withdrew his Bill, and Mr. Newde- 
 gate adopted the same course with a Church-rates Commutation 
 Bill to which he stood sponsor. By that time, however, Mr. 
 Gladstone had ceased to be a Minister, and the prorogation of 
 Parliament following so soon afterwards, the Bill failed to reach 
 the Lords. 
 
 It is time now to take up the dropped thread of the narrative 
 of the fortunes of the Reform Bill and of the Ministry. On the 
 7th of May, Mr. Gladstone brought in the promised measure for 
 the redistribution of seats. The Bill proposed to withdraw one 
 member from every borough with a population under 8,000, and 
 by that plan thirty seats would be placed at the disposal of 
 Parliament. It was also proposed to group as many of the 
 boroughs as could be joined together with geographical con- 
 venience. When the population of a group was under 15,000, 
 
 u 
 
290 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1866. 
 
 there would be one member, and when above that number, two 
 members. Altogether there would be 49 seats available for re- 
 distribution. Of these, 26 were to be given to English counties — 
 first, by dividing the southern division of Lancashire, and giving 
 to each division three members, and 23 seats would be disposed 
 of by giving an extra member each to counties, or divisions of 
 counties, previously returning two members. Liverpool, Man- 
 chester, Birmingham, and Leeds were each to have a third 
 member, and Salford a second member. The Tower Hamlets 
 would be divided ; Chelsea and Kensington united into a borough 
 with two members ; and the large towns, Burnley, Staleybridge, 
 Gravesend, Hartlepool, Dewsbury, and Middlesborough were to 
 be constituted Parliamentary boroughs, returning one member 
 each. One seat would be given, to the University of London, 
 and the remaining seven seats would be transferred to Scotland ; 
 the counties of Ayr, Lanark, and Aberdeen receiving an addi- 
 tional member each; Edinburgh and Glasgow each a third 
 member, Dundee a second, and the Scotch Universities one 
 representative. 
 
 On the same night the Lord Advocate and Mr. Chichester 
 Fortescue respectively brought forward the Scotch and Irish 
 Bills. The Scotch Bill followed the lines of the English measure 
 in proposing a £7 borough and a ,£14 county franchise, and the 
 property franchise was reduced from ;£io to ^5, with the con- 
 dition, however, of personal residence. The Irish Bill reduced 
 the rating occupation franchise from ^8 to ^6, and lodger and 
 savings' bank franchises, as in the English Bill, were proposed. 
 Dublin City and Cork County were each to have another member, 
 and one would be given to Queen's University. To provide 
 these seats some of the smaller boroughs would be grouped. 
 
 The second reading of the three Bills was not actively opposed ; 
 but Mr. Disraeli satirically advised Mr. Gladstone to recross the 
 
1866.] DEFEAT OF THE MINISTRY. 291 
 
 Rubicon and reconstruct his boats. He had a majority in the 
 House, and could afford to accept advice. His best course 
 would be to withdraw the Bill, and prepare for a better considered 
 measure in the next session. 
 
 When the House went into committee, on the 28th of May, 
 after the Whitsuntide holidays, the Representation of the People 
 Bill and the Redistribution of Seats Bill were considered together. 
 Sir R. Knightley, representative of South Northamptonshire, moved 
 " that it be an instruction to the committee to make provision for 
 the better prevention of bribery and corruption at elections ; " and 
 that resolution was carried against the Government by a majority 
 of 10, notwithstanding Mr. Gladstone's opposition. Captain 
 Hayter, member for Wells, then moved : " That, in the opinion 
 of this House, the system of groups proposed by the Government 
 is neither convenient nor equitable, nor sufficiently matured to 
 form the basis of satisfactory legislation." The debate on the 
 resolution occupied four nights, and ultimately Captain Hayter 
 withdrew the motion. In committee Mr. Gladstone expressed 
 himself willing to make some slight concessions, and various 
 amendments were proposed, but negatived. On the 18th of 
 June, Lord Dunkellin, member for Galway County, aimed a 
 deadly blow at one of the vital points of the Bill, by moving the 
 substitution of rateable value instead of clear yearly value. The 
 discussion was most animated, and the excitement was intense. 
 When the division was taken the number in favour of the 
 amendment was 315, and against it 304. Ministers were defeated 
 by n. The Bill had now really fallen, and they must fall with 
 it. The scene which followed the Speaker's announcement of 
 the numbers has rarely been equalled, even in the British House 
 of Commons. Conservatives, Adullamites, thirty-two Liberals, 
 and the floating balance of " independents," whose action can 
 never be predicted with certainty, had united to swell the ranks 
 
292 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1866. 
 
 of the victors, and they again united to swell the chorus of cheers 
 and counter-cheers. Members rushed into the lobby to acquaint 
 their anxiously waiting friends with the result, and " Bob Lowe 
 has done it " was uttered by more than one voice. 
 
 On the following day, the 19th, the announcement was made 
 in both Houses that Ministers had made a communication to 
 Her Majesty, and on the 20th the resignation of the Russell 
 Ministry was announced. 
 
 The Earl of Derby accepted the task of constructing a new 
 Administration, and Mr. Disraeli was again Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, and leader in the Commons. That one of the earliest 
 duties of the Conservative Ministry would be to prepare a Reform 
 Bill was evident. The public were considerably excited on the 
 subject. On the 29th of June there was a Reform demonstration 
 in Trafalgar Square, attended by about 10,000 people. Earl 
 Russell was censured for not having appealed to the country by 
 a general election, but the name of Gladstone was received with 
 enthusiastic cheers. From Trafalgar Square the collected thou- 
 sands marched in orderly procession to Carlton Gardens, where 
 Mr. Gladstone resided, shouting " Gladstone for ever." They 
 evidently expected an address from the ex-Minister ; but he was 
 absent from home, and Mrs. Gladstone and some members of 
 the family having appeared on the balcony, by request of the 
 police, who feared a disturbance might take place, the concourse 
 of admirers dispersed in tolerably good order, stopping in front 
 of the Carlton Club, however, to give a few yells. 
 
 « 
 
 On the 23rd of July occurred the famous Hyde Park riot, when 
 the railings were pulled down, Ministers having refused to permit 
 a Reform meeting to be held in the Park, and ordered the gates 
 to be closed. The gates were closed, and policemen stationed 
 to inform the leaders of the Reform deputations and their multi- 
 tudinous following that no access to the Park would be permitted. 
 
1866.] THE HYDE PARK FIGHT. 293 
 
 The Reformers wasted no breath on argument, but set to work 
 to show that " iron bars do not make a cage." Five thousand 
 strong arms pulled the railings down, the police plied their 
 truncheons, but were knocked over, and Mr. Beales and his 
 legions marched triumphantly into the Park, having by a for- 
 tunate combination the law on their side, as well as muscular 
 superiority and numbers. The meeting, presided over by Mr. 
 Beales, was held, and the right of the people to the use of the 
 Park established. A Reform meeting, chiefly composed of 
 working-men, was held in the City, under the presidency of 
 Lord Mayor Phillips, on the 8th of August, and there were 
 colossal demonstrations at Birmingham and Manchester in August 
 and September, at each of which Mr. Bright was the most pro- 
 minent speaker. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 TWO YEARS OF OPPOSITION — THE REFORM BILL OF 1 86 7. 
 
 The political world was in a state of considerable anxiety and 
 uncertainty previous to the opening of the Session of 1867. The 
 public demand for a Reform Bill — that is, if excited demonstra- 
 tions at all fairly represented general public opinion — had 
 increased rather than slackened during the recess, and the pro- 
 gramme of the new Administration was awaited with no ordinary 
 interest. The country generally was dissatisfied and alarmed. 
 The harvest of 1866 had been poor, the cattle plague was by no 
 means stamped out, the Fenians were gaining head in Ireland, 
 and the closing months of the year had amply justified the 
 description of a writer of the time as " a gloomy and unprosperous 
 period." 
 
 Parliament opened on Tuesday, the 5th of February, and one 
 paragraph of the Royal Speech announced : " Your attention will 
 be again called to the state of the representation of the people in 
 Parliament ; and I trust that your deliberations, conducted in a 
 spirit of moderation and mutual forbearance, may lead to the 
 adoption of measures which, without widely disturbing the 
 balance of political power, shall freely extend the elective 
 franchise." 
 
 On the nth, Mr. Disraeli, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 
1867.] THE CONSERVATIVE REFORM BILL. 295 
 
 moved that on the 25th the House should resolve itself into a 
 committee, and take into consideration the Act 2 and 3 
 Will. IV., cap. 45, by which formula, of course, the famous 
 Reform Act of 1832 was meant. This method of procedure, 
 superseding the ordinary practice of asking for leave to introduce 
 a Bill, intimated that the Ministry were about to adopt an unusual 
 course. On the 25th, Mr. Disraeli, instead of bringing forward 
 a Bill, moved thirteen resolutions laying down bases on which a 
 Reform Bill could be constituted. If these were carried, the 
 House would be to a certain extent pledged to the principles of 
 the measure, and Mr. Disraeli, in his speech, described the chief 
 provisions of the Bill, which, if the resolutions were approved, he 
 would bring forward. There would be four new franchises con- 
 ferred, by which the power of voting would be given to persons 
 who had taken degrees, ministers of religion, and others; to 
 depositors of ^30 for one year in savings' banks ; to holders of 
 ^■50 in the public funds ; to payers of 20s. annually of direct 
 taxation. In conformity with the decision of the House on 
 Lord Dunkellin's amendment in the last session, rating, not 
 rental, would be the basis of the occupation franchise. A £6 
 rating franchise would be fixed for boroughs, and the occupation 
 franchise in counties reduced from £50 to ^20. The Bill would 
 contain provisions for the punishment of bribery ; and it would 
 be proposed to disfranchise four boroughs which had been un- 
 fortunate enough to be found out — Great Yarmouth, Lancaster, 
 Totnes, and Reigate — and to transfer the seven seats thus 
 vacated to towns which had risen into importance since 1832. 
 The Tower Hamlets would be divided, and new county divisions 
 formed, while, to find the required seats, a certain number of 
 small boroughs would be deprived of a member each. 
 
 Mr. Lowe and Mr. Bright vigorously attacked the Ministry 
 for proceeding by resolution instead of at once bringing for- 
 
296 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1867. 
 
 ward a Bill. Mr. Gladstone, although he would have preferred 
 a Bill, was not unwilling to consider the resolutions. The Liberal 
 party, however, were so evidently opposed to that course that, 
 on the following day, there was a very large gathering at Mr. 
 Gladstone's residence on Carlton Terrace, and, yielding to the 
 wishes of the meeting, the leader of the Opposition agreed to 
 move an amendment which, if carried, would set aside the resolu- 
 tions, and call upon Ministers to proceed at once with a Bill. 
 There was a crowded House that night, and a very animated 
 debate was expected. The Liberals were united in their deter- 
 mination to support Mr. Gladstone's amendment, and it was 
 reasonably expected that the Conservatives would strain every 
 nerve to " stand at the right hand " of the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer. To the surprise of the Liberals, and very probably 
 to the surprise and astonishment of the greater number of the 
 Conservative members as yet not in the secret, Mr. Disraeli 
 announced that the Government had decided to withdraw the 
 resolutions, and that, in the course of the following week, he 
 would introduce a Bill. It was inexplicable that Ministers, with 
 a solid majority at their back, could have feared the success of 
 Mr. Gladstone's amendment, supported by a minority notoriously 
 composed of incohesive elements ; more inexplicable still that, 
 in the course of twenty-four hours, Ministers should have changed 
 their views of the proper mode of proceeding. There had been 
 either strange timidity or strange vacillation in Downing Street. 
 It is not easy to keep even Cabinet secrets, when so many eager 
 eyes and ears are at work to find out a mystery. Rumours of 
 dissensions were soon flying about, and speculation was at an end 
 when, on the 4th of March, it was announced that Lord Cran- 
 borne (Secretary of State for India), the Earl of Carnarvon (Sec- 
 retary for the Colonies), and General Peel (Secretary for War), had 
 resigned office. Sir John Pakington was transferred from the 
 
1867.] CRISIS IN THE CABINET. 297 
 
 Admiralty to the War Office, and, re-election being necessary, 
 told the story of the Cabinet quarrel and the mysterious resolution 
 in the course of a speech to his constituents at Droitwich. In 
 that speech and the Ministerial explanations, a few days after- 
 wards, we have the materials of a strange and rather amusing 
 chapter of political history. 
 
 The Cabinet met on Saturday, the 23rd of February, and the 
 resolutions which were to form the basis of a Bill were almost 
 unanimously agreed on, and the draft of a Bill approved. One 
 Minister, General Peel, found it difficult to accept the estimate of 
 the number which would, according to Mr. Disraeli, be added to 
 the constituencies by the new franchise, but offered to resign, if 
 his dissent would embarrass his colleagues. He was persuaded 
 by the Premier not to take that extreme course, but to accept 
 the decision of the majority ; and the Cabinet Council broke 
 up, apparently, in a very pleasant spirit of accord and good- 
 humour. 
 
 La nuit porte conseil, says a French proverb ; and when Lord 
 Cranborne woke on the morning of Sunday, the 24th, he began 
 to think that probably General Peel was right and Mr. Disraeli 
 wrong. He set to work with the official returns and other blue 
 books which his well-stocked Parliamentary library contained, 
 passed a pleasant arithmetical Sunday, and on the following 
 morning communicated with Earl Carnarvon, the result of their 
 deliberations • being that the estimates of Mr. Disraeli were un- 
 trustworthy, and that the proposed franchise would be exceed- 
 ingly disastrous to the political balance so essential to the 
 proper working of the British Constitution. The two Ministers 
 
 to whom General Peel, thus encouraged, joined himself — 
 
 called on the Premier, and, in a few words, shattered the har- 
 monious fabric reared on the Saturday. A Council was hastily 
 summoned, but the Ministers were scattered. Some were busy 
 
298 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1867. 
 
 at their offices, some did not arrive in town until the middle of 
 the day, and although half-past one was the time announced for 
 the meeting, a Council was not formed till after two o'clock. 
 That very afternoon the Earl of Derby had arranged to address a 
 meeting of his supporters, and Mr. Disraeli to introduce to the 
 House of Commons the thirteen resolutions, and to sketch the 
 measure to be founded upon them. That, in the face of the 
 secession of three very prominent Ministers, the Bill agreed to 
 on the Saturday could be proceeded with, was, it seemed, out of 
 the question. But another Bill of a less alarming character had 
 been sketched out, and it was resolved, the three troublesome 
 Ministers agreeing, that that should be the Ministerial measure. 
 Only ten minutes were occupied in coming to this decision, and 
 with the rough draft of the Ten Minutes' Bill (as it came to be 
 named) in his pocket, Mr. Disraeli, who had not even had time 
 to snatch a luncheon, and could only fortify himself with a glass 
 of wine in Downing Street, hurried to meet the expectant 
 Commons. 
 
 A few hours of reflection convinced the Earl of Derby that a 
 false step had been taken. For once in his life the dashing 
 Rupert had erred on the side of timidity ; but his old spirit re- 
 vived, and he resolved to retrace his steps, and, if the three 
 Ministers adhered to their decision, accept a reconstruction of 
 the Cabinet. So came it that, on the evening of Tuesday, the 
 26th, the Chancellor of the Exchequer withdrew the resolutions, 
 the Ten Minutes' Bill was consigned to oblivion, and another 
 Bill promised. The Cabinet was not much the worse for the 
 change. Sir John Pakington was quite as useful at the War 
 Office as at the Admiralty ; the Duke of Buckingham was, per- 
 haps, a little weaker in administering the affairs of the Colonies 
 than was Earl Carnarvon ; and if Sir Stafford Northcote was less 
 energetic and autocratic than Lord Cranborne at the India 
 
1367.] A LEAP IN THE DARK. 299 
 
 Office, he was clear-headed, industrious, able, and conciliatory — 
 very good qualities in an Indian Secretary. 
 
 When the personal explanations of the causes of the Minis- 
 terial rupture were made in Parliament, the Earl of Derby said : 
 " It very shortly became obvious that on neither side of the 
 House would the propositions of the Government meet with a 
 satisfactory concurrence, and therefore it became necessary to 
 consider whether they should adhere to the second proposition 
 or revert to the first. They resolved on taking the latter course, 
 and the scheme would in a short time be laid before the other 
 House of Parliament." Mr. Disraeli made a statement to the 
 same effect in the House of Commons, and announced that he 
 would bring in the new Reform Bill on the 18th of March. " It 
 is our business," he said, " to bring forward as soon as we pos- 
 sibly can the measure of Parliamentary Reform which, after such 
 difficulties and sacrifices, it will be my duty to introduce to the 
 House. Sir, the House need not fear that there will be any 
 evasion, any equivocation, any vacillation, or any hesitation in 
 that measure. The measure will be brought forward as the defi- 
 nite opinion of the Cabinet, and by that definite opinion they 
 will stand." 
 
 On the date mentioned, the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 explained the provisions of the proposed measure. Three days 
 previously the Earl of Derby had called a meeting of the Con- 
 servative party, and described the scope of the Bill, which he, 
 not very hopefully, it would seem, styled " a leap in the dark." 
 Speaking at a later date, Mr. Disraeli modestly said that since 
 1859, when his earlier Reform Bill was so unsuccessfully intro- 
 duced, he had " educated his party " to the belief that if the 
 borough franchise was to be dealt with at all, it must be in the 
 boldest manner. The Bill now introduced proposed that all 
 householders within boroughs who were rated for the payment of 
 
300 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1867. 
 
 poor-rates should be entitled to vote; but two years' residence 
 and the personal payment of rates were necessary. 
 
 That troublesome person, the " compound householder" (that 
 is, a tenant whose landlord paid rates for him, charging them in 
 the rent), might obtain the franchise if he claimed to be personally 
 rated — a claim to be made only at the expense of some time and 
 money, and probably without the lessening of the rent he paid to 
 his landlord; and payers of £i yearly of direct taxation (not to 
 include licences), depositors in savings' banks to the amount of 
 ^50, or investors to that amount in the public funds, educated 
 persons who had taken degrees, and ministers of religion, would 
 also be entitled to the franchise. Then there came a remarkable 
 proposition, the " dual vote," by which every possessor of one of 
 these " fancy franchises " would, in virtue of it, have a vote in 
 addition to that which, if he were a rated householder, he would 
 possess. For counties, the Bill proposed a ,£15 rating franchise, 
 all existing franchises remaining untouched. By the disfran- 
 chisement of the guilty, if impenitent, boroughs named in the 
 preceding Bill, and by taking away one member each from 
 boroughs having less than 7,000 inhabitants, thirty seats would 
 be available for distribution, and it was proposed to give a repre- 
 sentative each to Hartlepool, Darlington, Burnley, Stalybridge, 
 St. Helen's, Dewsbury, Barnsley, Middlesborough, Wednesbury, 
 Croydon, Gravesend, and Torquay ; to form a new borough, with 
 two representatives, out of the immense metropolitan borough, 
 the Tower Hamlets ; to divide North Lancashire, North Lincoln- 
 shire, West Kent, East Surrey, Middlesex, South Staffordshire, 
 and South Devon, giving two members to each of the new con- 
 stituencies, and to give an additional member to South Lanca- 
 shire, which, already returning three members, was to be divided 
 into two constituencies, each returning two members. It was also 
 proposed to allot a seat to the University of London. There 
 
1867.] LODGER FRANCHISE AND DUAL VOTE. 301 
 
 was also a provision for permitting the use of voting papers, in- 
 stead of personal voting. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone at once expressed a vigorous dissent from the 
 provisions of the Bill. He began his speech by censuring the 
 conduct of the Earl of Derby in calling a meeting of his sup- 
 porters, and acquainting them with the details of a measure 
 which would be submitted, to Parliament a few days afterwards. 
 To the compound householder clause he strenuously objected. 
 It would give to parochial officers, many of whom might not 
 unfairly be supposed to be political partizans, the power of 
 enfranchising or not whom they pleased. Vestries had the option 
 of adopting or not the Small Tenements Act, which provided 
 for owners paying rates instead of the occupiers of houses ; and 
 as vestries were mainly composed of the proprietary classes, they 
 could withhold the franchise from hundreds of occupiers of small 
 houses whose known opinions might be disapproved. Mr. 
 Gladstone also suggested the propriety of introducing a lodger 
 franchise. 
 
 When the motion for the second reading was made on the 
 25 th of March, Mr. Gladstone criticised the scheme more 
 minutely, and enumerated the alterations the Bill would require 
 to make it an acceptable measure of reform ; among the most 
 important being the introduction of a lodger franchise, the 
 abandonment of the tax-paying franchise and the dual vote, and 
 of the plan for voting papers. The redistribution scheme must 
 be enlarged and the proposition of voting papers dropped. 
 
 Mr. Disraeli said he was willing to accept the lodger franchise 
 and to abandon the dual vote — in fact, to make considerable 
 concessions; and on the 1st of April, in the adjourned debate 
 on the second reading, announced that he would move in com- 
 mittee that the dual vote clause be struck out. Probably his 
 ingenious mind did not consider that the withdrawal of that 
 
302 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1867. 
 
 clause was a symptom of vacillation or hesitation, or that the 
 proposition of dual voting represented " the definite opinion of 
 the Cabinet " by which they would stand. 
 
 On the 5 th of April another meeting was held at Mr. Glad- 
 stone's residence. As before, the members assembled in the 
 spacious hall, and Mr. Gladstone addressed them from the stair- 
 case, none of the rooms in the house being large enough to 
 accommodate the 259 Liberal representatives who attended. It 
 was agreed that Mr. Coleridge, the member for Exeter (now 
 Chief Justice Coleridge), should move an amendment on the 
 motion for going into committee, " That it be an instruction to 
 the committee that they have power to alter the law of rating, 
 and to provide that in every Parliamentary borough the occupiers 
 of tenements below a given rateable value be relieved from 
 liability to personal rating, with a view to fix a line for the 
 borough franchise, at and above which all occupiers shall be 
 entered on the rate-book, and shall have equal facilities for the 
 enjoyment of such franchise as a residential or occupation fran- 
 chise." 
 
 Mr. Coleridge duly gave notice of this amendment ; but before 
 he had the opportunity to exert his persuasive eloquence in its 
 favour, discord appeared in the Liberal ranks, and Mr. Gladstone 
 once more was made aware of the fact that his nominal following 
 was anything but a compact phalanx. A considerable number 
 of Liberal members assembled in the Tea-room of the House of 
 Commons, and resolved that they would not support the amend- 
 ment, as worded. The result was that Mr. Coleridge limited his 
 resolution to the first few words, " That it be an instruction to the 
 committee that they have power to alter the law of rating." In 
 that form it was accepted by Mr. Disraeli, and adopted. The 
 Tea-room party was now almost as great a cause of perplexity to 
 the Liberal leader as the Adullamites had been in the previous 
 
1867.] DEPUTATION TO MR. GLADSTONE. 303 
 
 session. The Bill was allowed to be read a second time without 
 a division. 
 
 On the nth of May a deputation from some provincial 
 Reform Associations waited on Mr. Gladstone, at his residence, 
 for the purpose of presenting addresses expressive of confidence 
 in him as leader of the Liberal party. In his reply, after re- 
 ferring to the unfortunate dissensions among the Liberals, Mr. 
 Gladstone spoke of the delusive character of the Government 
 scheme of reform, especially condemning " the absurd, prepos- 
 terous, and mischievous distinctions of personal rating," which 
 he held to be a totally unfit basis for the franchise, and to which 
 he would continue to offer an unqualified and unhesitating oppo- 
 sition. Three days afterwards Mr. Disraeli took occasion to 
 refer to the deputation, and, in his customary style of polite 
 sneering, to Mr. Gladstone's reception of the addresses : — " I 
 should have been very glad if these spouters of stale sedition had 
 not taken the course they have done. It may be their function 
 to appear at noisy meetings, but I regret very much they should 
 have come forward as obsolete incendiaries of that character to 
 pay homage to one who, wherever he may sit, must always be 
 the pride and ornament of this House — 
 
 ' Who would not smile if such a man there be ? 
 Who would not weep if Atticus were he?' " 
 
 In the course of the debate Mr. Gladstone slightly alluded to 
 this sneer, with a touch of contempt best fitted to reply to such 
 a splenetic breach of good taste. 
 
 In committee Mr. Gladstone moved an addition to the per- 
 sonal payment clause, " Whether he in person or his landlord be 
 rated to the relief of the poor." He said there were two results 
 which it was desirable to attain — one, the passing a Reform Bill ; 
 and the other, passing it that year, and without a change in the 
 Government ; but he was not prepared to sacrifice the first to 
 
304 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1867, 
 
 the second. The Bill, as it now stood, opposed great barriers 
 to enfranchisement. In boroughs, the rates of two-thirds of the 
 houses under the value of jQio were compounded for; and 
 as the occupiers of these houses would practically remain 
 disfranchised, the Bill would do little towards enfranchising the 
 working classes in towns. It was an error to say that by paying 
 the rates the occupiers might get the votes ; for, besides 
 the expenditure of money, there would be the expenditure of 
 time to take the necessary steps. If they passed the Bill in 
 the form in which it stood, an agitation would commence, as its 
 true character was seen, which would never cease till the last 
 vestige of such legislation was swept away. The amendment 
 was lost by a majority of 21, and the division list showed that 
 many Liberals had voted with the Government. Other amend- 
 ments stood in Mr. Gladstone's name, but, in reply to a letter of 
 inquiry from Mr. Crawford, one of the members for the City of 
 London, representing many Liberal members, Mr. Gladstone 
 announced that he should not proceed with the amendment, nor 
 give notice of others. 
 
 By the time the Bill had got through committee, passed the 
 third reading, and been sent up to the Lords, it was changed 
 indeed. " Bless thee, Bottom ! bless thee ! thou art translated ! " 
 might have been the exclamation of many a Quince on the Con- 
 servative benches ; but probably Mr. Disraeli satisfied himself 
 and his colleagues that the " definite opinion" of the Cabinet was 
 an elastic material, and that a little stretching would not hurt the 
 fabric. The savings' bank and public funds clause had vanished, 
 in company with the dual franchise ; the interesting compound 
 householder was swept away altogether, and the franchise was 
 conferred upon all householders except those excused from paying 
 rates on the score of poverty. Mr. Ayr ton, member for the 
 Tower Hamlets, had obtained the reduction of the period of 
 
1867.] THE REDISTRIBUTION SCHEME. 305 
 
 _ 
 
 residence from two years to one, and Mr. M'Cullagh Torrens, 
 one of the representatives of Finsbury, had obtained the franchise 
 for lodgers who paid ^10 a-year for unfurnished apartments. The 
 county franchise was reduced from ^15 to ^12 rating, and copy 
 or leaseholders of property of the free annual value of ^5 were 
 to be entitled to vote, and to that extent put on an equality with 
 the old forty-shilling freeholder. Some other attempts at amend- 
 ment were rejected, among them Mr. Lowe's proposal for cumu- 
 lative voting — that is, allowing a voter, when more than one 
 candidate was to be returned, to " cumulate " his votes in favour 
 of one candidate ; and Mr. Stuart Mill's amendment in favour of 
 extending the suffrage to women ; a proposition which obtained 
 seventy-three supporters. 
 
 The scope of the redistribution scheme was greatly enlarged. 
 The limit at which boroughs then returning two members should 
 hereafter return only one was raised from 7,000 inhabitants to 
 10,000. This gave thirty-eight seats to be distributed, making, 
 with the seven seats forfeited by corruption, forty-five available 
 for distribution. West Kent, North Lancashire, East Surrey 
 (already having two members each), and South Lancashire (already 
 with three members), were subdivided, and two members given 
 to each division; and the counties of Chester, Derby, Devon, 
 Essex, Lincoln, Norfolk, Somerset and Stafford, together with 
 the West Riding (all already in two divisions, with two members 
 each), were divided into three parts, each represented by two 
 members. Middlesex got no more members ; but two new 
 metropolitan boroughs within the county, Hackney (a division of 
 the Tower Hamlets), and Chelsea (including Kensington), were 
 created. Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Salford, 
 and Merthyr Tydvil were each to have an additional member, 
 and some new boroughs, with one member each, were formed. 
 
 When the Bill reached the Lords, Lord Cairns introduced, sup- 
 
 x 
 
306 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1867. 
 
 ported by a large majority, a clause providing for the representa- 
 tion of minorities. This clause provided that in counties and 
 boroughs where three members are returned, a vote can only 
 be given for two, and in London, where four members are 
 returned, for three only. A similar proposition had been made 
 in the House of Commons by Mr. Lowe, but rejected; Mr. Bright 
 being in the majority against it. The idea was not original, for 
 Lord John Russell had included it in the provisions of his Bill in 
 1854. When the amendment came down from the Lords it was 
 accepted. The Bill received the Royal assent on the 15th of 
 August. It cannot be spoken of in political history as a Con- 
 servative or a Liberal Bill, as Disraeli's or Gladstone's. It was 
 the result of an accommodating Ministerial conscience and 
 Liberal disunion, and yet was a very good measure, the result of 
 the eclectic wisdom of all parties and floating balances of parties. 
 The compound householder had been politically extinguished, 
 but the compound Reform Bill remained and throve. 
 
 In an interval of the discussion, on the 4th of April, the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer made his financial statement, and 
 his Budget received the general support of Mr. Gladstone. The 
 only noticeable feature was that, having a surplus of ^1,206,000 
 to dispose of, Mr. Disraeli adopted to some extent the scheme ot 
 Mr. Gladstone for creating terminable annuities, and so reducing 
 the National Debt. 
 
 On the 20th of March Mr. Gladstone voted in the majority for 
 the second reading of Mr. Hardcastle's Church-rate Abolition 
 Bill. On the 7th of May the greater ecclesiastical question, the 
 status of the Irish Church, was once more the subject of discus- 
 sion. There had been a debate on the subject in the Lords, and 
 on the day named, Sir John Grey, member for the borough of 
 Kilkenny, moved, in the Commons, that the House would, on a 
 future day, resolve itself into a committee to consider the tern- 
 
1867.] THE IRISH CHURCH. 307 
 
 poralities and privileges of the Established Church in Ireland ; 
 and the motion was seconded, in a very earnest speech, by Col. 
 Gr-ville-Nugent, member for the county of Longford. Mr. Glad- 
 stone said he felt a difficulty in supporting the motion, because 
 he thought they ought not to pass a resolution on the subject 
 without being prepared to give effect to it ; but he agreed with 
 much that had been said by the mover and seconder. One of the 
 grounds on which the State support of the Irish Church might 
 be defended was that the Church maintained the truth. But 
 such a plea would be inconsistent, as the State also supported 
 the College of Maynooth, where priests were educated to teach 
 that the doctrines of the Protestant Church were false. A second 
 ground might be that the Established Church represented the 
 iaith of the bulk of the people ; but that notoriously was not the 
 case. A third ground might be that it was the Church of the 
 poor ; on the contrary, it was the Church of the rich. Neither 
 Englishmen nor Scotchmen would tolerate being treated in eccle- 
 siastical matters as the Irish were. We should apply to Irishmen 
 the same measure by which we would ourselves be treated. He 
 thought the time was not far distant when Parliament must look 
 the question fairly and fully in the face. " I confess that I am 
 sanguine enough to cherish a hope that, though not without 
 difficulty, a satisfactory result will be arrived at, the consequences 
 of which will be so happy and pleasant for us all that we shall 
 wonder at the folly which has so long prevented it being brought 
 about." 
 
 The Attorney General for Ireland (Mr. Chatterton) opposed 
 the motion, and described Mr. Gladstone's speech as full of the 
 Socialist and Communistic element. In his time Mr. Gladstone 
 has had to endure many hard words, but there was a striking 
 novelty in this description of his opinions which was decidedly 
 amusing. 
 
308 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [18 
 
 Sir Frederick Heygate, member for the county of Londondei 
 had met the resolution by moving the previous question, 1 
 result being that Sir John Grey's motion was lost by a majoi 
 of 12, Mr. Gladstone voting in the minority. 
 
 In the course of the session Mr. Gladstone spoke on one 
 two subjects of some importance. He supported, but unsucce 
 fully, a clause in the Officers and Oaths Bill, introduced by I 
 Colman O'Loghlen, member for Clare county, which would enal 
 a Roman Catholic to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The Sec: 
 tary for Ireland could, he argued, by the existing laws be 
 Roman Catholic, and why should the Lord Lieutenant, who 
 political functions were less important, necessarily be a Pr 
 testant? He spoke and voted in favour of Mr. Fawcett's i 
 struction to the committee on Mr. Coleridge's Bill for t 
 Abolition of Religious Tests at Oxford, by which the provisio 
 of the Bill would be extended to Cambridge. 
 
 On the ioth of July Mr. Bruce, member for Merthyr Tydv 
 who had been Vice-President of the Committee of Council ( 
 Education, introduced a Bill on the subject of the Education 
 the People. He had no hope that it could be carried in tl 
 present session, but laid it on the table with the view of elicitii 
 opinions on the subject, and paving the way for future legi 
 lation. Mr. Gathorne Hardy, who had succeeded Mr. Walpo 
 at the Home Office, said the Government would not support tl 
 Bill, nor would he pledge Ministers to bring in a Bill on tl 
 subject next session. Mr. Gladstone expressed dissatisfactic 
 with the statement, and said a comprehensive measure w; 
 required which would effect a national object. 
 
 In the course of the Reform agitation outside the Hou< 
 Mr. Bright took occasion, in a speech delivered at Birminghai 
 on the 22nd of April, to pay a splendid compliment to Mr. Gla( 
 stone. "Who," he asked, "is there in the House of Commor 
 
1867.] A CANDID ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 309 
 
 who equals him in knowledge of all political questions ? Who 
 equals him in earnestness? Who equals him in eloquence? 
 Who equals him in courage and fidelity to his convictions ? If 
 these gentlemen [referring to the Tea-room party] who say they 
 will not follow him have anyone who is his equal, let them show 
 him. If they can point out any statesman who can add dignity 
 and grandeur to the stature of Mr. Gladstone, let them produce 
 him." 
 
 Shortly before the end of the session Mr. Gladstone addressed 
 a letter to a correspondent at New York respecting his memorable 
 statement at the Newcastle banquet, that the South had made 
 itself a nation. There was a characteristic conscientious candour 
 in this acknowledgment of an error of judgment : — 
 
 "I must confess that I was wrong ; that I took too much upon myself in 
 expressing such an opinion. Yet the motive was not bad. My sympathies 
 were then — where they had long before been — with the whole American 
 people. I probably, like many Europeans, did not understand the nature 
 and working of the American Union. I had imbibed conscientiously, if 
 erroneously, an opinion that twenty or twenty-four millions of the North 
 would be happier, and would be stronger (of course assuming that they would 
 hold together), without the South than with it, and also that the negroes would 
 be much nearer to emancipation under a Southern government than under the 
 old system of the Union, which had not at that date (August [October] 1862) 
 been abandoned, and which always appeared to me to place the whole power 
 of the North at the command of the slaveholding interests of the South. As 
 far as regards the special or separate interest of England in the matter, I, 
 differing from many others, had always contended that it was best for our 
 interest that the Union should be kept entire. " 
 
 Parliament was prorogued by commission on the 15th of 
 August, but assembled again on the 19th of November, for the 
 purpose of sanctioning the Abyssinian expedition, and providing 
 for the necessary expenditure. Mr. Disraeli, the Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer, was ill, and the duty of proposing an additional 
 penny on the income-tax devolved on Mr. Ward Hunt, the 
 Secretary of the Treasury. That uncomfortable proposition 
 having been assented to, the Houses adjourned. The Royal 
 
310 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1868. 
 
 Speech was delivered in November, the new session beginning 
 then; and in it the subject of the education of the people 
 was especially recommended to the consideration of the 
 Houses, showing that Mr. Hardy was not quite correct in saying 
 that the Government were not prepared to take action in the 
 matter. 
 
 A few days after the meeting of Parliament in February it was 
 announced that the Earl of Derby had resigned his high office 
 on account of failing health, and that, on his recommendation, 
 Mr. Disraeli had been raised to the dignity of First Lord of the 
 Treasury. Rather singularly, the duty of officially announcing 
 the resignation of the Premier to the House of Commons de- 
 volved on his son, Lord Stanley, Foreign Secretary, the accept- 
 ance of the new office by Mr. Disraeli having vacated his seat. 
 Mr. Gladstone took occasion to eulogise the high character and 
 great ability of the Earl of Derby, and to express a sincere 
 sympathy on account of the illness which had incapacitated him 
 for political work. The new Premier made some ministerial 
 rearrangements. Lord Chelmsford was not reappointed Lord 
 Chancellor, Lord Cairns taking his place on the woolsack, and 
 Mr. Ward Hunt, Secretary to the Treasury, was promoted to the 
 dignity of Chancellor of the Exchequer, with, of course, Cabinet 
 rank. 
 
 On the 19th of February Mr. Gladstone moved the second 
 reading of the Compulsory Church-rates Abolition Bill, a similar 
 measure to that which had been partially accepted in the previous 
 session, but had not gone through all its stages when the close of 
 the session extinguished it. Mr. Hardcastle, whose Bill for the 
 entire abolition of the rate had been rejected in the House of 
 Lords by a majority of 58, reintroduced it; and two other Bills 
 on the subject were before Parliament. Mr. Gladstone's Bill, 
 however, was the most important, as most likely to receive 
 
1868.] THE CONDITION OF IRELAND. 311 
 
 support. It abolished all legal process for the recovery of Church- 
 rates, except in cases of rates already made, or where money had 
 been borrowed on the security of the rates ; but permitted volun- 
 tary assessments to be made, and all agreements to make such 
 payment on the faith of which any expenditure had been incurred 
 would be enforcible in the same way as any other contract would 
 be. No person who had not paid the rate would be able to vote 
 on any question relating to voluntary assessment. 
 
 The Bill offered a compromise, but it obtained an amount of 
 support which a more thorough measure would probably have 
 failed to secure. In committee, Mr. Henley made an unavailing 
 attempt to defeat the first clause, which contained the pith of the 
 measure; but the numbers on the division in favour of the 
 clause, 167 to 30, showed that the principle of the Bill was 
 satisfactory. The third reading was carried by 131 to 28; and 
 after some slight cavilling in the House of Lords, it passed, and 
 received the Royal assent. 
 
 An early discussion of Irish affairs was inevitable. More and 
 more was it becoming evident that the condition of Ireland was 
 the great problem to the solution of which the Government, from 
 whichever side of the Hous"e it was chosen, must speedily address 
 itself. On the 16th" of March, Mr. Maguire, one of the members 
 for Cork, moved that the House should resolve itself into a com- 
 mittee to take into immediate consideration the condition of 
 Ireland. In a strain of impassioned eloquence he dwelt on the 
 decaying condition of his country, and the miserable condition of 
 the peasantry, starving in their native land and straining every 
 nerve to expatriate themselves to other lands where the means of 
 subsistence could be obtained. Absentee and oppressive land- 
 lords and an alien Church were grievances to the consideration 
 of which Parliament was morally bound to apply itself. 
 
 The Earl of Mayo, Secretary for Ireland, opposed the motion 
 
312 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1868; 
 
 on the part of the Government, and denied that Ireland was 
 exhibiting the symptoms of decay spoken of. In respect of the 
 Church, he reminded the House that a committee, appointed at 
 the instance of Earl Russell, was then sitting, and Government, 
 therefore, thought it would be impolitic to endeavour to deal with 
 the question immediately. 
 
 The debate lasted four nights, most of the prominent members 
 taking part in it. Among those who spoke were Mr. Lowe, Mr. 
 Mill, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Chichester Fortescue, Mr. Bright (who 
 made one of the most effective and brilliant speeches he has ever 
 delivered), and Sir Stafford Northcote. Towards the close of the 
 fourth night's debate Mr. Gladstone rose. Ireland, he said, had 
 an account with this country which had endured for centuries, 
 and in the opinion of every enlightened nation in the world, 
 much as we had done, we had not done enough to place our- 
 selves in the right. He thought that the great political changes 
 introduced into the constitution of the representation by the 
 Reform Bill of the previous session had produced a considerable 
 effect in imparting an impetus to the public mind, and in 
 quickening the temper, that for many years had been somewhat 
 sluggish, to grapple closely and resolutely with the problems and 
 the necessities of legislation. He recommended Mr. Maguire to 
 withdraw the motion, because it embraced many Irish questions 
 which had better be dealt with separately, and in respect to some 
 of which the Government had promised action. On the subject 
 of the Irish Church he spoke out boldly : — 
 
 " If we are to do any good at all by meddling with the Church in Ireland 
 it must, in my judgment, be by putting an end to its existence as a State 
 Church. No doubt it is a great and formidable operation — I do not disguise 
 it — to constitute into a body of Christians united only by a voluntary tie 
 those who have for three centuries and a half been associated more or less 
 closely with the State — and by the Act of Union, seventy years ago, brought 
 still more closely into relation with the civil power. This is a great and 
 formidable task, yet my persuasion is that, in removing privilege and 
 
1868.] THE IRISH CRISIS. 313 
 
 restraint together, in granting freedom in lieu of monopoly, a task will be 
 proposed to us that is not beyond the courage and the statesmanship of the 
 British Legislature. ... I recognize the fact that the time has come 
 when this question ought to be approached, and when, if approached, it 
 ought to be dealt with once for all." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone concluded a long and animated speech in these 
 words : — 
 
 "We remember the words, the earnest and touching words, with which 
 the noble Earl the Chief Secretary for Ireland closed his address, when he 
 expressed a hope and uttered a call inviting the Irish people to union and 
 loyalty. Sir, that is our object too, but I am afraid that, as to the means, 
 the differences between us are still profound ; and it is idle, it is mocking, to 
 use words unless we can sustain them with corresponding substance. That 
 substance can be supplied by nothing but by the unreserved devotion of our 
 efforts now, in, perhaps, the last stage of the Irish crisis, to remove the 
 scandal and mischief which have long weakened and afflicted the Empire. 
 For that work I trust strength will be given us. If we be prudent men, I 
 hope we shall endeavour, so far as in us lies, to make provision for the con- 
 tingencies of a doubtful and, possibly, a dangerous future. If we be 
 chivalrous men, I trust we shall endeavour to wipe away the stains which the 
 civilized world has for ages seen, or seemed to see, upon the shield of Eng- 
 land in her treatment of Ireland. If we are compassionate men, I hope we 
 shall now at once, and once for all, listen to that tale of sorrow which comes 
 from her, and the reality of which, if not its justice, is testified by the 
 continuous migration of her people ; that we shall 
 
 ' Raze out the written troubles from her brain, 
 Pluck from her memory a rooted sorrow.' 
 
 But, above all, if we be just men, we shall go forward in the name of truth 
 and right, bearing this in mind : that, where the case is proved and the hour 
 is come, justice delayed is justice denied." 
 
 Mr. Disraeli's reply, as customary with him, was rhetorically 
 effective and bristled with personalities. How was it, he asked, 
 that Mr. Gladstone, at this period of his long political career, 
 had only just discovered that there was a crisis in Irish affairs, 
 which nothing but the disestablishment of the Church could 
 relieve. Government were preparing carefully considered reme- 
 dies for admitted Irish grievances, and " they ought not to be 
 deterred from a moderate and a judicious course by those 
 monstrous inventions of a crisis in Ireland, got up by the right 
 honourable gentleman opposite for the advantage of his party." 
 
314 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1868. 
 
 He hit hard when he continued, " The right honourable gentle- 
 man, who has had the power of the Crown in a large proportion 
 for a quarter of a century, has never done anything but make 
 speeches — make speeches in favour of the Irish Church. . . . 
 At the last general election the Liberal party had been seven 
 years in power, but not one word during those seven years had 
 ever issued from any person in authority — certainly not from the 
 right honourable member for South Lancashire — as to his having 
 doubted the wisdom of the cardinal principle upon which our 
 whole social system is founded." That cardinal principle the 
 speaker had previously explained to be, ecclesiastical endow- 
 ments. 
 
 Mr. Maguire's motion was withdrawn, Mr. Gladstone's sig- 
 nificant speech being considered satisfactory evidence that he 
 was prepared to take the lead in attacking the giant evils of 
 which the Irish complained. He redeemed his implied promise 
 by giving notice, on the 23rd, of March of three resolutions, to 
 be proposed in a committee on Acts relating to the Established 
 Church of Ireland. These memorable resolutions were to this 
 effect : — 
 
 " 1. That, in the opinion of this House, it is necessary that the Established 
 Church of Ireland should cease to exist as an establishment, due regard 
 being had to all personal interests and to all individual rights of property. 
 
 " 2. That, subject to the foregoing considerations, it is expedient to prevent 
 the creation of new personal interests by the exercise of any public patron- 
 age, and to confine the operations of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners of 
 Ireland to objects of immediate necessity as involving individual rights, pend- 
 ing the final decision of Parliament. 
 
 " 3. That an Address be presented to Her Majesty,humbly to pray that, with 
 a view to the purposes aforesaid, Her Majesty be graciously pleased to p)ace 
 at the disposal of Parliament her interest in the temporalities of the arch- 
 bishoprics, bishoprics, and other ecclesiastical dignities and benefices in 
 Ireland and in the custodies thereof." 
 
 It was arranged that the resolutions should be moved on the 
 30th of March ; and on the 27th Lord Stanley, on the part of the 
 
1868.] LORD STANLEY'S AMENDMENT. 315 
 
 Government, took up the glove, in a somewhat feeble fashion, by 
 giving notice that he would move as an amendment, on the motion 
 for immediately going into committee — 
 
 " That this House, while admitting that considerable modifications in the 
 temporalities of the Established Church in Ireland may, after pending inquiry, 
 appear to be expedient, is of opinion that any proposition tending to the 
 disestablishment or disendowment of that Church ought to be reserved for 
 the decision of the new Parliament." 
 
 The fact seems to be that Ministers were apprehensive and 
 disunited. In the present temper of the House of Commons a 
 defeat was more than probable ; and some of the Cabinet were 
 disposed to hope that another House, elected under the new 
 conditions, might strengthen their hands. There were, however, 
 one or two bolder spirits— notably Mr. Gathorne Hardy, the 
 Home Secretary — who were eager for the fray, and ready to 
 respond to Mr. Gladstone's challenge a Voutrance. 
 
 On the 28th, the day following that on which Lord Stanley 
 had given notice of his amendment, the leading members of the 
 Liberal party entertained at a banquet Mr. Brand, the devoted 
 and clever Whip of the party, and in later times the much- 
 enduring Speaker, and presented him with a testimonial in 
 recognition of his long and valuable services to the party. Mr. 
 Gladstone occupied the chair, and, as the occasion was essen- 
 tially political, the great topic of the day — the Irish Church 
 resolutions — was alluded to. " Having put our hand to the 
 plough," said Mr. Gladstone, " we shall not look back. Now is 
 the time to address ourselves, not as to a trivial work, but as to 
 one demanding every exertion we can make, and with a firm 
 determination that, so far as depends on us, efforts shall not be 
 wanting to establish throughout the civilised world the good 
 name of England in her relation to her sister Ireland, and to 
 make the kingdom united, not merely by the paper form of law, 
 
316 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1868. 
 
 but by the blessed law of concord and harmony which is written 
 in the heart of man." 
 
 When, on the 30th of March, the order of the day for moving 
 the resolutions was reached, Colonel Stuart Knox, member for 
 Dungannon, a Tory of the old school, moved that the 5th Article 
 of the Act of Union be read. In the belief of many persons 
 this article made the maintenance of the Irish Church as an 
 establishment an essential element of the union between the two 
 countries, and to disestablish the one would be to destroy the 
 other. The article was read by the Clerk at the table, as was 
 also, on the motion of Mr. H. E. Surtees, member for Hertford- 
 shire, the formula for the administration of the Coronation Oath, 
 prescribed for use by the Statute of William and Mary. By this 
 oath the Sovereign promised to support and defend the Protestant 
 Church in Ireland "as by law established; " but Mr. Gladstone, 
 and others who wished to alter the status of the Church, naturally 
 understood by these words that the Sovereign's promise only ex- 
 tended to the Church so long as it was by law established, and 
 would cease to be operative if the Church was " by law " dis- 
 established. At any rate, the reading of the article of the Union 
 and of the extract from the Coronation Service was listened to 
 with about as much respect and attention as formal readings by 
 the Clerk of the House generally are, and did not appear to 
 exercise the slightest influence on the course of the debates. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone spoke for an hour and a half. He sketched 
 the history of the Protestant Church in Ireland, and of the 
 influence in the country generally of British domination. He 
 anticipated the accusation of inconsistency which he knew would 
 be brought against him, and was quite prepared to encounter the 
 storm of quotations from his early book on " The State in its 
 Relation with the Church," which he reasonably guessed was 
 preparing. A change, he said, which extended over a quarter 
 
1868.] A RETROSPECT. 317 
 
 of a century could hardly be deemed a sudden change. In 1846 
 he, having then lost his seat on account of the Corn Laws, was 
 invited to oppose a member of Lord Russell's cabinet, and obtain 
 for himself a seat in Parliament; but he refused, because they 
 had both voted on the same side as to Free Trade, and because 
 the question of the Irish Church was then likely to come forward. 
 His proposed opponent was averse to the maintenance of the 
 establishment, and he (Mr. Gladstone) felt it impossible to pledge 
 himself to maintain it. In the following year he had a contest 
 for the University of Oxford. Application was then made to 
 him to know his views as to the Irish Church, and he replied 
 that he did not anticipate the proposal of any plan which would 
 lead him to vote for a change in the ecclesiastical establishment 
 of Ireland, but that to maintain it in principle he must entirely 
 decline. In 1865 it appeared to him that the coming Parliament 
 would probably have to deal with the question, and he at once 
 took the opportunity, for the fair warning and notice of his con- 
 stituents, of making a speech, and detaching himself wholly and 
 absolutely from the maintenance of the Irish Church, either on a 
 large or more contracted scale. Having given this notice, the 
 constituency, as they were perfectly entitled to do, took advan- 
 tage of it, and in consequence he was not now member for Oxford 
 University, but for South Lancashire. , 
 
 " For my part," he said, referring to the frequent coercive 
 legislation for Ireland, " I know not what is worse than tran- 
 quillity purchased by the constant suspension of the Habeas 
 Corpus Act, unless it be that last extremity of public calamity — 
 civil war." He continued — 
 
 "That being the state of things, I, for one, Sir, am not willing to wait. 
 It appears to me that our responsibility is quite sufficient for having waited 
 thus long, and that it befits us now to do all that the time will permit towards 
 clearing our account with Ireland. I know there is a feeling in this matter 
 which I admit it is difficult to get over. There are many who think that to 
 
318 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1868. 
 
 lay hands upon the national Church Establishment of a country is a profane 
 and unhallowed act. I respect that feeling. I sympathise with it. I sympa- 
 thise with it, while I think it my duty to overcome and repress it. But if it 
 be an error, it is an error entitled to respect. There is something in the idea 
 of a national establishment of religion, of a solemn appropriation of a part of 
 the commonwealth for conferring upon all who are ready to receive it what we 
 know to be an inestimable benefit ; of saving that portion of the inheritance 
 from private selfishness in order to extract from it, if we can, pure and un- 
 mixed advantages of the highest order for the population at large — there is 
 something in this so attractive that it is an image that must always command 
 the homage of the many. It is somewhat like the kingly ghost in Hamlet, of 
 which one of the characters of Shakespeare says — 
 
 ' We do it wrong, being so majestical, 
 To offer it the show of violence ; 
 For it is, as the air, invulnerable, 
 And our vain blows malicious mockery.' 
 
 But, Sir, this is to view a religious establishment upon one side — only upon 
 what I may call the ethereal side. It has likewise a side of earth ; and here 
 I cannot do better than quote some lines written by the present Archbishop of 
 Dublin [Dr. Trench] at a time when his genius was devoted to the Muses. 
 He said, in speaking of mankind — 
 
 * We who did our lineage high 
 Draw from beyond the starry sky, 
 Are yet, upon the othe side, 
 To earth and to its dus allied ! ' 
 
 And so the Church Establishment, regarded in its theory and in its aim, is 
 beautiful and attractive. Yet what is it but an appropriation of public 
 property, an appropriation of the Jruits of labour and of skill, to certain pur- 
 poses, and unless those purposes be fulfilled that appropriation cannot be 
 justified. Therefore, Sir, I cannot but feel that we must set aside fears 
 which thrust themselves upon the imagination, and act upon the sole dictates 
 of our judgment." 
 
 The debate extended over four nights, and the speech of 
 Lord Cranborne was certainly one of the most effective de- 
 livered. Much as he disliked Mr. Gladstone's resolutions, he 
 scarcely less disliked Lord Stanley's amendment, which he de- 
 nounced as half-hearted. He pledged himself to support the 
 principle of establishment to the last extremity, and expressed a 
 feeling of great disappointment that a principle had not been 
 laid down for which the Conservative party could fight, and 
 appeal to the tribunal of public opinion. The amendment, he 
 
1868.] A VIGOROUS DEBATE. 319 
 
 declared, gave no clue to the policy of Ministers, but its 
 ambiguity indicated that the object was merely to gain time, and 
 to enable the Government to keep the cards in their hands for 
 another year, arid shuffle as they pleased. 
 
 General Peel, another Conservative of the antique sturdy school, 
 who did not believe in the good old Tory trumpet emitting an 
 uncertain note, also condemned the amendment. As a minis- 
 
 r 
 
 terial blast, the note was uncertain indeed, but at least one 
 Minister, Mr. Gathorne Hardy, who made a vigorous speech on 
 the second night of the debate, was ready at once to enter into 
 the fray, and support the Protestant Establishment, although 
 willing to admit that the Irish Church needed reform and modifi- 
 cation. General Peel avowed that so long as Mr. Hardy sat on 
 the Treasury bench he should feel perfectly secure. 
 
 Sir Stafford Northcote, another of the Ministers, though not so 
 fiery as Mr. Gathorne Hardy, gave promise of being quite as 
 resolute. Ministers, he said, would vote with Lord Stanley on 
 the question of time, but, if beaten on the amendment, would 
 oppose the resolutions on principle. The object of Mr. Glad- 
 stone and his supporters, he said, was less to benefit Ireland 
 than to turn out the Government. 
 
 As Prime Minister and Ministerial leader in the Commons, 
 Mr. Disraeli, of course, spoke at length. He defended the 
 course the Government had taken in meeting the resolutions by 
 Lord Stanley's amendment. They might have met them by a 
 direct negative, but then it would have been said that Ministers 
 were of opinion that no change, no improvement, no modification 
 was necessary, expedient, or desirable in the condition of the 
 Church in Ireland, and Government did not wish that inference 
 to be drawn. The amendment they had adopted had been 
 drawn in strict accordance with Parliamentary experience and 
 precedent — a precedent sanctioned on more than one occasion 
 
320 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1868. 
 
 by the practice and advice of Sir Robert Peel and Lord John 
 Russell. The former statesman had said, " If you are obliged 
 to have an amendment, never attempt to express your policy in 
 it. Your amendment should never be inconsistent with your 
 policy, but you must fix on some practical point which, if carried, 
 would defeat the motion of your opponent." When the present 
 Parliament was elected, the question of the Irish Church was 
 not before the country, and the constituencies had had no 
 opportunity of expressing an opinion on the subject ; and " when 
 a fundamental law of the country was called into question, 
 though technically and legally this House had a right to do any- 
 thing within the sphere of the House of Commons, it was not 
 morally competent to decide such a question if those who had 
 elected it had not, in the constitutional course of public life, 
 received some intimation that such a question was to come 
 before it." Therefore the terms of the amendment had been 
 arranged with the view of deferring the consideration of the 
 matter until the assembling of a new Parliament. The Prime 
 Minister took the opportunity of giving a good " dig " to Lord 
 Cranborne, who, a few months before, had hit him very hard in 
 the Quarterly. Mr. Lowe, too, came in for a castigation in the 
 true Disraelian manner : — 
 
 "The hon. gentleman the member for Calne is a very remarkable man. 
 He is a learned man, though he despises history. He can chop logic like 
 Dean Aldrich ; but what is more remarkable than his learning and his logic 
 is that power of spontaneous aversion which particularises him. There is 
 nothing that he likes, and almost everything that he hates. He hates the 
 working-classes of England. He hates the Roman Catholics of Ireland. 
 He hates the Protestants of Ireland. He hates Her Majesty's Ministers. 
 And until the right hon. gentleman the member for South Lancashire placed 
 his hand upon the ark, he seemed almost to hate the right hon. gentleman the 
 member for South Lancashire." 
 
 The speech ended with a personal innuendo respecting Mr. 
 Gladstone : — " High Church Ritualists and the Irish followers of 
 
1868.] REPLY TO AN INNUENDO. 321 
 
 the Pope have long been in secret combination, and are now in 
 open confederacy. I know the almost superhuman power of this 
 combination. They have their hand almost upon the realm of 
 England. Under the guise of Liberalism, under the pretence of 
 legislating in the spirit of the age, they are, as they think, about 
 to seize upon the supreme authority of the realm. But this I 
 can say, that so long as, by the favour of the Queen, I stand 
 here, I will oppose to the utmost of my ability the attempt they 
 are making. I believe the policy of the right hon. gentleman 
 who is their representative, if successful, will change the character 
 of this country. It will deprive the subjects of Her Majesty of 
 some of their most precious privileges, and it will dangerously 
 touch even the tenure of the Crown." 
 
 In replying, Mr. Gladstone described some parts of Mr. 
 Disraeli's speech as the result of a heated imagination, and ex- 
 plained the calculations by which he had arrived at the conclu- 
 sion that his scheme would leave the Protestants in possession of 
 three-fifths of the present value of the Church property. 
 
 The insinuation of Mr. Disraeli respecting Mr. Gladstone's 
 supposed Ritualistic and Papistical tendencies led to a letter 
 from Mr. Gladstone, which appeared in the principal daily news- 
 papers on the 24th of April. The writer replied categorically to 
 statements made to the effect that, when he visited Rome, he 
 had made arrangements with the Pope' to destroy the Church 
 establishment in Ireland, being himself a Roman Catholic at 
 heart ; that he had publicly condemned all support to the 
 clergy in the three kingdoms from Church or public funds ; that 
 he had refused, when at Balmoral, to attend Her Majesty at 
 Crathie church ; that he had received the thanks of the Pope 
 for his proceedings respecting the Irish Church ; and that he 
 was a member of a High Church Ritualistic congregation. Mr. 
 Gladstone declared that these statements were " one and all 
 
 Y 
 
322 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1868. 
 
 untrue, in the letter and in the spirit, from the beginning to the 
 end." Violent political opponents are not always squeamish as 
 to accusations, and Mr. Gladstone's sensitiveness would not per- 
 mit him to treat them with silent contempt. Indeed, before the 
 year was over, speaking at Bootle, in Lancashire, he gravely and 
 emphatically denied that there was any truth in a charge made 
 by somebody that he had misappropriated pew rents and other 
 Church moneys. 
 
 When the division was taken on Lord Stanley's amendment 
 it was negatived by 60 ; the numbers being 270 for, and 330 
 against. Mr. Gladstone's motion for going into committee was 
 then put, and carried by 328 against 272. In each division 
 exactly 600 members voted. Lord Cranborne did not go into 
 the lobby in the amendment division, but voted in the minority 
 when the second division was taken. The House having gone 
 into committee, the Chairman was ordered to report progress, 
 and the debate was adjourned till the resumption of the House 
 after the Easter holidays. 
 
 The greater number of members hastened to enjoy such rest 
 and rural enjoyment as early April could afford, but there were 
 politicians enough left in town to attend two large meetings held 
 in St. James's Hall, one presided over by Earl Russell, to sup- 
 port Mr. Gladstone's resolutions, and the other, with Mr. Camp- 
 bell Colquhoun in the chair, called for the purpose of denouncing 
 them. At the former, the Earl, then in his seventy-sixth year, 
 eulogised Mr. Gladstone's political sincerity. At the opposition 
 meeting, Mr. Colquhoun expressed great alarm at the prospect of 
 the results which might be expected from " the selfish madness of 
 politicians and the blindness of party." The inevitable conse- 
 quence of disestablishing the Irish Church, as proposed by 
 Mr. Gladstone, would be that we should have, "within six 
 hours of our shores, four millions and a half of men, led 
 
1868.] EARL RUSSELL'S LETTER. 
 
 323 
 
 by fanatical priests, hating England with an undying hatred, 
 detesting her political principles, and detesting as odious her 
 Crown." The Tory Blackwood, which had been in a fright- 
 ful state of despondency, and preparing for the crack of 
 doom ever since Mr. Gladstone had given notice of his re- 
 solutions, plucked up courage, and, indeed, became quite 
 jubilant when Mr. Colquhoun uttered his " masterly appeals " 
 and " solemn sentences." 
 
 Earl Russell said Mr. Gladstone "had indeed changed his 
 opinions," and then asked, " what statesman had not ? " As a 
 commentary on this inquiry, the Times said : — " The resolutions, 
 as explained by their author, contemplate a course of action 
 altogether different from that proposed by Lord Russell two 
 short months since. Lord Russell anticipated the session by a 
 letter to Mr. Chichester Fortescue, recommending a redistri- 
 bution of the revenues of the Irish Church Establishment 
 among the principal religious bodies in Ireland. Three or 
 four weeks later, Mr. Gladstone pronounced this proposition 
 antiquated and impracticable, and submitted to the House of 
 Commons the pure and simple disestablishment and disendow- 
 ment of the Irish Church, and last night the veteran Whig went 
 to Piccadilly to declare for Mr. Gladstone and against himself." 
 
 The ultra- Conservative press teemed with denunciations of the 
 " wicked act," the "iniquity" of which Mr. Gladstone had been 
 guilty in proposing the resolutions; and the Earl of Derby 
 recovered sufficiently from the indisposition which had com- 
 pelled him to retire from office to be able to appear in the House 
 of Lords on the 27 th of April, and make an endeavour to obtain 
 the expression of an adverse opinion, in advance of the renewal 
 of the debate in the House of Commons. 
 
 The first resolution, that which expressed the opinion that 
 " the Church of Ireland should cease to exist as an establish- 
 
324 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1868. 
 
 ment," was carried against Ministers by a majority of 35, the 
 numbers being 265 against 230. As this resolution involved the 
 main principle in dispute, and as the majority was so consider- 
 able, Ministers were evidently called upon to consider their 
 position, and Mr. Disraeli moved an adjournment till the follow- 
 ing Monday. On that night, the 4th of May, the announcement 
 was made in both Houses that the resignation of Ministers had 
 been submitted to the Queen, who had declined to accept it, 
 but was prepared to dissolve the existing Parliament whenever 
 the state of public business would permit. Mr. Bright and 
 other Liberals blamed Ministers for not pressing their resigna- 
 tion; and it appeared, by subsequent statements, that Mr. 
 Disraeli had first advised a dissolution, and that the offer of 
 resignation was only an alternative. 
 
 It was not likely that the prelates of the English Church 
 would view with indifference an attempt to disestablish the Irish 
 Church; and a largely attended meeting, at which the arch- 
 bishops, bishops, and many of the dignified clergy attended, 
 supported by peers and members of the House of Commons, 
 passed resolutions protesting against the course taken by Mr. 
 Gladstone. 
 
 The debate on the resolutions in committee was resumed on 
 the 7th of May, and the second and third were carried; and 
 then Mr. Aytoun, member for Kirkaldy, proposed another, 
 which, after considerable discussion, was accepted in this amended 
 form : — " That when legislative effect shall be given to the first 
 resolution of the committee respecting the Established Church of 
 Ireland, it is right and necessary that the grant to Maynooth and 
 the Regium Donum be discontinued, due regard being had to all 
 personal interests? The words in italics were added on the motion 
 of Mr. Gladstone, who would, he said, have preferred that the 
 resolution had not been brought forward. 
 
1868.] ACTION OF THE LORDS. 325 
 
 The Address to the Queen, prepared in conformity with the 
 third resolution, having been presented, a royal reply was re- 
 ceived, expressing the willingness of Her Majesty, in accordance 
 with the spirit of the resolution, to place at the disposal of Par- 
 liament her interest in the temporalities of the Irish Church. 
 The next step to be taken was to introduce a Bill to prevent, for 
 a limited time, new appointments in the Irish Church, and to 
 restrain, for the same period, the proceedings of the Ecclesiastical 
 Commission for Ireland. When Mr. Gladstone moved the second 
 reading of the Bill, on the 23rd of June, Mr. Gathorne Hardy 
 moved as an amendment that it be read a second time that day 
 six months ; but, on a division, the Government was beaten by a 
 majority of 54 — 312 voting for the second reading, and 258 
 against it. 
 
 So far Mr. Gladstone had been successful, and, if the ultimate 
 decision had rested with the House of Commons, the Irish 
 Church would have been practically disestablished in 1868. 
 But the ordeal of the Lords was to be encountered ; and probably 
 when Lord Granville introduced the Bill, on the 25th of June, 
 neither he nor Mr. Gladstone supposed it would be easily 
 accepted, if, indeed, they were not decidedly of opinion that it 
 would be rejected. The Earl of Derby, notwithstanding the 
 state of his health, which incapacitated him for great exertion 
 earnestly opposed the measure; and Lord Cairns, the Lord 
 Chancellor, made a very powerful speech, one of the ablest he 
 ever delivered, and generally considered to be the best defence 
 of the Establishment which the Parliamentary discussion had 
 produced. The Bill was rejected by the Lords by a majority of 
 very nearly two to one — the numbers being 192 against 97. 
 
 So, for that session, ended the attempt to deprive the Protestant 
 Church of Ireland of the support of association with the State. 
 Mr. Gladstone, however, was convinced that the great result was 
 
326 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1868. 
 
 only deferred for a time, and that the great and compact majority 
 which had supported him in the Commons was not likely to be 
 lessened in the new Parliament, and to that majority, he believed, 
 the Peers must ultimately give way. 
 
 The financial business of the session may be briefly disposed 
 of. Mr. Ward Hunt produced his first Budget on the 23rd of 
 April, and was compelled to make the unpleasant announcement 
 that he found himself in a deficiency of ^"1,636,000 ; besides 
 which, the war in Abyssinia would involve an expenditure of 
 ^£3,72 2,000. His estimates of revenue and expenditure for the 
 coming year, however, promised a surplus of nearly a million, and 
 by putting twopence more on the income-tax, he hoped to be 
 able to provide for the expenses incurred in giving a lesson in 
 good manners to King Theodore, and to be in possession of a 
 surplus of ^7 2 2,000. Mr. Gladstone, the great financial authority 
 and critic, as well as leader of the Opposition, did not object to 
 the Budget plan — indeed, as the House had voted the money in 
 the previous November, objection would have been useless; and 
 the resolutions were carried. True patriots were, of course, very 
 well satisfied that Sir Robert Napier had led his Indian warriors, 
 with elephants, camels, many thousand mules and many donkeys, 
 over the mountains to Magdala, which he had stormed; that 
 Theodore had committed suicide; and that we could enjoy all 
 that amount of national glory at the trifling cost of another two- 
 pence on the income-tax. 
 
 Parliament was prorogued on the last day of July, and on the 
 nth of November was dissolved by proclamation. Preparations 
 were eagerly made for the electoral campaign. There were many 
 new constituencies, the effect of which on the strength of parties 
 had as yet to be seen. The great question before the electors 
 was that of the Irish Church, and that subject was the one in 
 respect of which the most explicit declarations were required 
 
1868.] ATTACKS AND INSINUATIONS. 327 
 
 from candidates. The election addresses of the leaders of the 
 opposite parties almost assumed the importance of State papers. 
 The Prime Minister addressed the Buckinghamshire electors at 
 great length. He recounted the work of the dead Parliament in 
 the style of a Royal speech, but with much greater prolixity ; and 
 then he made an appeal to the Protestantism of the county by 
 declaring that the movement for the disestablishment of the 
 Church in Ireland had been fostered by the Papacy to further its 
 own ambitious ends : — " Amid the discordant activity of many 
 factions there moves the supreme purpose of one power. The 
 philosopher may flatter himself he is advancing the cause of 
 enlightened progress ; the sectarian may be roused to exertion 
 by anticipations of the downfall of ecclesiastical systems. These 
 are transient efforts — vain and passing aspirations. The ulti- 
 mate triumph, were our Church to fall [he had previously ex- 
 pressed his conviction that the assault on the Irish Church was 
 only a prelude to an attack on the English Establishment], 
 would be to that power which would substitute for the authority 
 of our Sovereign the supremacy of a foreign prince." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone was freely attacked, not only by direct political 
 opponents, but by some of those who professed independence 
 of any party. He was charged with having laid aside his own 
 opinion for the sake of a political triumph over a rival, and 
 violated his own convictions in an attempt to regain a seat on 
 the Treasury bench, and to attain the Premiership, for which he 
 had now no competitor in the Liberal ranks. His opponents 
 were unceasing in their open attacks and covert insinuations — 
 attacks and insinuations as inconsistent as such outbreaks of 
 vituperation generally are. He was at once a Papist in disguise, 
 an agent of the Jesuits, a Ritualist, a Nonconformist, a Leveller, 
 and a turncoat. He was to be fought in the new constituencies, 
 the boroughs and county divisions enfranchised by the Reform 
 
328 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1868. 
 
 Bill. Mr. Gladstone offered himself as a representative of South- 
 West Lancashire, and there stupendous exertions were made to 
 insure his defeat. His address to the electors, issued from 
 Hawarden on the 9th of October, contained a dignified defence 
 of his Parliamentary conduct. After referring to the discussions 
 on the Reform Bill, economy in the public service, primary 
 education, and some other of the subjects which had been actually 
 debated since he had obtained their suffrages three years pre- 
 viously, Mr. Gladstone adverted to the Irish question, then so 
 prominently before the political public : — 
 
 " At this time one question, or group of questions, overshadows all the 
 rest. The state of Ireland, and the actual temper of no small portion of its 
 people towards the Throne and Government of the United Kingdom, impera- 
 tively demand the care of all public men and of all good citizens who would 
 seek not merely to live by expedients from day to day, but, looking onwards 
 into the future, to make provision, so far as human means avail, for the 
 strength, concord, and stability of the empire. . . . We thought that ministers 
 had mistaken alike the interests and the convictions of the country ; we 
 refused to open a new source of discord through the establishment by the 
 State of any denominational university ; we repudiated the policy of universal 
 endowment ; but, agreeing with the Government that the subject was ripe, 
 we proposed a counter plan of disestablishment of the existing Church, with 
 strict regard to the rights of property and to vested interests, but without 
 establishing any other Church, and with a general cessation of State endow- 
 ments for religion in Ireland. 
 
 "The Church of Ireland is the Church of a minority, insignificant in 
 numbers. True, while insignificant in numbers, that minority is great in 
 property, in education, and power. All this does not mend but aggravate 
 the case ; for if a national Church be not the Church of the nation, it should 
 at least be the Church of the poor. Every argument which can now be used 
 in favour of civil establishments of religion is a satire on the existence of the 
 Church in Ireland. But while that Establishment is thus negative for good, 
 it misapplies the funds meant for the advantage of the nation at large. It 
 remains as the memorial of every past mischief and oppression ; it embitters 
 religious controversy by infusing into it the sense or the spirit of political in- 
 justice ; and it carries the polemical temper into the sphere of social life and 
 public affairs. Nor need we feel surprise when we find that since the penal 
 laws began to be repealed, the relative number of Protestants in Ireland 
 appears to have declined. 
 
 " In the removal of this Establishment I see the discharge of a debt of civil 
 justice, the disappearance of a national, almost a world-wide reproach, a con- 
 dition indispensable to the success of every effort to secure the peace and con- 
 tentment of the country; finally, relief to a devoted clergy from a false 
 
1868.] DEFEAT FOR SOUTH-WEST LANCASHIRE. 329 
 
 position, cramped and beset by hopeless prejudice, and the opening of a 
 freer career for the sacred ministry. 
 
 " Rest as we are by common consent we cannot. Endowment of all, after 
 the events of the last session, is out of the question. Retrenchment or mutila- 
 tion of the existing Church, by reduction of its spiritual offices, has been pro- 
 posed by a Royal Commission ; but I do not learn, from the latest and most 
 authentic declarations of the Ministry, that they adopt that, or indeed any 
 other method of proceeding. We of the Opposition, gentlemen, have done 
 our part; the matter now rests with you. One path, at least, lies before 
 you — broad, open, and well-defined. One policy has advocates who do not' 
 shrink from its avowal. It is the policy of bringing absolutely to an end the 
 civil establishment of the Church of Ireland. It has received the solemn 
 sanction of the representatives whom the nation chose in 1865. For this line 
 of action, the only one just, and the only one available, I confidently ask 
 your approval." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone appeared to be very confident of the success 
 of his candidature. In a speech made in support of his friend 
 and Parliamentary supporter, Lord Hartington, who was in the 
 field for North Lancashire, he said :— " I tell you, upon a minute 
 and careful examination of the promises of the men in South- 
 West Lancashire, that if there is truth in man — and there is truth 
 in man — and apart from any strange and unforeseen accidents, 
 this day week, please God, I shall be member for South-West 
 Lancashire." 
 
 He was destined to experience a great disappointment. When 
 the time came, the Conservatives were above him on the poll, 
 which was headed by Mr. R. A. Cross (then untried as a politician, 
 but who afterwards made his mark as a very able Home Secretary 
 in Mr. Disraeli's second administration). Mr. Turner, a gentle- 
 man of considerable local influence, was the second successful 
 candidate, and he obtained 7,676 votes, 261 more than were 
 given for Mr. Gladstone. 
 
 Anticipating that the prodigious efforts to insure his rejec- 
 tion in Lancashire might be successful, his admirers in one of 
 the metropolitan boroughs had proposed him as a candidate, 
 and carried his election. The advanced Liberals of Greenwich 
 
330 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1868. 
 
 were an able and energetic body, had established an active asso- 
 ciation, and many less impulsive members of the constituency, 
 less disposed to take extreme views, united with them in the 
 desire to secure Mr. Gladstone as a representative of the borough. 
 Canon Miller, the vicar, was among his supporters, by the side 
 of most of the Dissenting inhabitants ; and Dr. W. C. Bennett, 
 an ardent Radical, but better known for his charming poetry, 
 a resident in the borough, was unceasing in his advocacy. The 
 result was that, though defeated for South-West Lancashire, Mr. 
 Gladstone was returned for Greenwich, as the colleague of Alder- 
 man Salomons. 
 
 On the 23rd of November, two days before the formal accept- 
 ance of the Greenwich seat, appeared " A Chapter of Autobio- 
 graphy," in which Mr. Gladstone explained the reasons which 
 had induced him to appear as the antagonist of the Irish Esta- 
 blishment. It was natural, he admitted, that, as the author of 
 " The State in its Relations with the Church," he should be exposed 
 to the charge of inconsistency ; but he professed that " the great 
 and glaring change in his course of action, with respect to the 
 Established Church of Ireland, was not the mere eccentricity, 
 or even perverseness, of an individual mind, but connected itself 
 with silent changes which were advancing in the very bed and 
 basis of modern society ; and that the progress of a great cause, 
 signal as it had been and was, appeared liable, nevertheless, to 
 suffer in point of credit, if not of energy and rapidity, for the real 
 or supposed delinquencies of a person with whose name, for the 
 moment, it happened to be specially associated." The appear- 
 ance of this " Chapter of Autobiography " gave rise to several 
 "Replies," "Commentaries," &c, which soon passed into 
 oblivion. 
 
 The results of the general election showed that in the English 
 boroughs generally the Liberals had been successful, but that in 
 
1868.] PRIME MINISTER AT LAST. 331 
 
 the English counties the Conservatives had gained many victories. 
 When the balance-sheet of political profit and loss was made out, 
 it was estimated that the new Parliament would include nearly 
 380 Liberals and 270 Conservatives. Several very prominent 
 Liberals lost their seats. 
 
 Mr. Disraeli did not wait for the assembling of the new Parlia- 
 ment (fixed for the 10th of December) to accept the verdict of 
 the constituencies, but on the first of the month submitted to 
 the Queen the resignation of himself and his colleagues, and, 
 following constitutional precedent, advised that Mr. Gladstone 
 should be sent for. 
 
 The boyish admirer of Canning, the political pupil of Peel, the 
 colleague of Palmerston and Russell, had at length attained the 
 distinguished position which those great statesmen had held. In 
 this country the highest honours are seldom attained by leaps. 
 Step by step the topmost round is reached, and each stage in 
 the journey is long. Canning was fifty-seven years old when 
 he was called on to form an administration ; Peel was Premier at 
 forty-six, but first held office twenty-four years before ; Palmerston 
 had been forty-eight years a member of Parliament when, in 1855, 
 in his seventy-first year, he became the head of the Ministry; and 
 Russell was fifty-four when he attained the same position. Mr. 
 Disraeli was sixty-two when "Vivian Grey" was sent for; and 
 his great opponent, the victor in the electoral struggle which un- 
 seated him, wanted a few days only to complete his fifty-ninth 
 year when he became Prime Minister of England. 
 
 Before concluding this chapter, it may be noted that the ex- 
 citing political contests of the year, the arduous Parliamentary 
 debates, and the work of a great electoral campaign, did not 
 hinder Mr. Gladstone from performing with characteristic ardour 
 literary and theological work. The " Chapter of Autobiography " 
 has been mentioned ; and in the course of the year he contributed 
 
332 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1868. 
 
 a series of papers to "Good Words," referring to the book " Ecce 
 Homo," which, from the boldness of its views, had attracted so 
 much attention in the religious world. These articles were 
 collected and published in the form of a little book towards the 
 end of the year. Mr. Gladstone generously defended the writer 
 of the freely-attacked volume, and showed that the position he 
 had taken had been misunderstood and misrepresented; that 
 in describing the beautiful human nature of the Saviour he had 
 not, as imputed, overlooked the union with the Divine nature. 
 Mr. Gladstone's small volume is an admirable piece of sympa- 
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 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 PRIME MINISTER — LEGISLATION FOR IRELAND. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues in the Ministry received the 
 seals of office on the 9th of December. The Cabinet was strong 
 in talent, though some of its more conspicuous members were 
 new to office. Mr. . Bright, who rivalled — some persons think 
 surpassed — his chief as an orator, gave the aid of his brilliant 
 powers in debate, and his experience as a manufacturer and 
 leadership in the free-trade movement specially qualified him for 
 the office of President of the Board of Trade. Mr. Lowe, who 
 had opposed Mr. Gladstone quite as often as he had supported 
 him, the Adullamite and the Tea-room leader, always combative 
 and always clear, who was Mr. Disraeli's match in sarcasm, and 
 Mr. Gladstone's in classical reference, undertook to manage 
 the Exchequer, frame budgets, and sit at the council board 
 peaceably and pleasantly with John Bright, who had compared 
 him to one end of a Scotch terrier. The most eminent of the 
 Liberal lawyers could not be secured for the high office of Lord 
 Chancellor, for Sir Roundell Palmer, staunch Liberal as he was, 
 was a staunch Churchman too. He would have laboured willingly 
 enough to amend the Irish Establishment, but help to disestablish 
 and disendow it he would not ; and not even the seat on the 
 woolsack and a peerage could lure him from his allegiance to 
 the principle of the union of Church and State. An excellent 
 
334 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1869. 
 
 Chancery lawyer, and a sound, but not very profound politician, 
 Sir William Page Wood, became Lord Chancellor and Baron 
 Hatherley. The Earl of Clarendon resumed his old position at 
 the Foreign Office, Earl Granville was Secretary for the Colonies, 
 the Duke of Argyll for India, and Mr. Cardwell for War. Mr. 
 Austen Bruce was Secretary of State for the Home Department, 
 and, very fitly, Mr. Chichester Fortescue was appointed Chief 
 Secretary for Ireland. Mr. Childers and Mr. Goschen, both men 
 of acknowledged ability, became respectively First Lord of the 
 Admiralty and President of the Poor Law (afterwards Local 
 Government) Board. 
 
 The new Ministers who were members of the House of Com- 
 mons of course vacated their seats, and there was no difficulty 
 about their re-election ; but as the new writs could not be 
 ordered until Parliament was properly constituted, they could not 
 be present when the House met in December. The only busi- 
 ness transacted, however, was the election of a Speaker, and the 
 swearing-in of members, and the House then adjourned till the 
 1 6th February, when it met for the despatch of business. 
 
 On the evening of the ioth the new Ministers were entertained 
 at a banquet by the Fishmongers' Company. In acknowledging 
 the toast " Her Majesty's Ministers," Mr. Gladstone, while de- 
 clining to anticipate official announcements of the leading busi- 
 ness which would occupy the coming session, assured his hearers 
 that not a moment would be lost in the maturing of those 
 measures which, when produced and explained, would, he believed, 
 be gratifying to all. He asked, with great earnestness of manner : 
 
 " What can be an object dearer either to the understanding or the heart of 
 man than to endeavour to bring about, through the whole of this vast com- 
 munity, that union of feeling and interest which, even in the degree in which 
 we have hitherto possessed it, has been the source of our strength and glory 
 but which still presents to view, here and there, some points in which it is 
 unhappily defective, and which we wish to bring up to that condition in which 
 
1869.] LEGISLATION FOR IRELAND. 335 
 
 every man will almost forget whether he is a Scotchman, Englishman, or 
 Irishman, in the sense and consciousness of his belonging to a common 
 country ? " 
 
 The Royal Speech, at the opening of the session, was disappoint- 
 ing to those who had anticipated a revelation of the details of the 
 Ministerial plans. The reference to Ireland was slight ; the Church 
 was not even mentioned, and there was no announcement of special 
 legislation of any kind. The Address speeches brought forth 
 no announcements from Ministers ; but before the mover of the 
 Address in the House of Commons rose, Mr. Gladstone gave 
 notice that on the ist of March he would move that the Acts 
 relating to the Irish Church Establishment and to the grant to 
 Maynooth College be read, and also the resolution agreed to by 
 the House in the previous session ; and that the House should 
 resolve itself into a committee " to consider of the said Acts and 
 resolution." 
 
 There was a very full attendance on that memorable ist of 
 March. Members who could not find seats in the body of the 
 House took up their positions in the galleries ; Peers were pre- 
 sent in their own gallery ; and strangers who had waited for many 
 hours about Westminster Hall thronged into the place reserved 
 for them. In the lobby, and around and about the House, 
 were eager crowds waiting for the revelations expected to be 
 made. The formal motion as to reading the Acts and resolution, 
 and going into committee of the whole House, having been agreed 
 to, the Prime Minister proceeded to disclose the leading pro- 
 visions of the Bill which he was about to ask leave to introduce. 
 The existing Ecclesiastical Commission was to be wound up, and 
 a new Commission appointed, to exist for ten years, in which the 
 property of the Irish Church should be vested. The union of the 
 Irish Church with the Church of England would terminate on the 
 ist January, 187 1. The Irish ecclesiastical courts would cease 
 
336 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1869. 
 
 to exist, and the ecclesiastical law be no longer binding. In the 
 interval between the passing of the Bill and the date named, 
 appointments were to be made in a provisional and temporary 
 manner, and not to convey with them freeholders' vested interests. 
 The Convention which prevented assemblings of the clergy and 
 laity would be at once repealed, and power would be taken by 
 the Queen in Council to recognise any. governing body which 
 the clergy and laity of the disestablished Church might agree on, 
 as actually representing both, and which body would be incorpo- 
 rated. So much for the Church in the abstract ; then the inte^ 
 rests of the clergy had to be considered, and the clergy were 
 naturally much interested in the matter. The Commission to be 
 appointed would ascertain the amount of each incumbent's in- 
 come, deducting what he paid for curates, and, so long as he con- 
 tinued to discharge his duties, that income would be paid to him ; 
 but the option was reserved to him, if he thought fit to exercise 
 it, of applying to have the annual income commuted into an 
 annuity for life. The tithe and the tithe-rent charge would be 
 vested in the Commission, and the freehold of churches wholly 
 in ruins would be taken from the incumbents. Irish bishops 
 would no longer be Peers, and to that extent they would suffer in 
 dignity. Curates were not overlooked in preparing the clauses 
 of the Bill, but compensation — or, if they preferred it, commuta- 
 tion — was provided. Personal endowments would be respected ; 
 but the term was limited to money contributed from private 
 sources since the year 1660. Churches intended to be preserved 
 for public worship would be handed over to the governing body, 
 and burial-grounds adjacent to the churches would go with them. 
 Glebe-houses, also, would become the property of the Church on 
 payment of building charges. 
 
 It would have been obviously illogical and unfair to continue 
 State aid to other denominations; and therefore the Regium Donum 
 
1869.] DISESTABLISHMENT OF THE IRISH CHURCH. 337 
 
 and the Maynooth grant must be dealt with. Compensation would 
 be made to Presbyterian ministers for the abolition of the former, 
 and the grants to Presbyterian colleges and to Maynooth would 
 be commuted by payment of fourteen years' value of the money 
 annually voted. As the financial result of the disestablishment 
 scheme, there would remain a surplus of nearly ^8,000,000, and 
 that would be devoted to the relief of unavoidable calamities and 
 suffering not provided for by the operation of the Poor Law, and 
 be given to asylums for lunatics, the blind, deaf, and dumb, 
 associations of nurses, infirmaries, reformatories, and similar in- 
 stitutions. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone concluded his long speech by saying : — 
 
 * ' This measure is in every sense a great measure — great in its principles, 
 great in its multitude of dry, technical, but interesting detail, and great as a 
 testing measure ; for it will show for one and all of us of what metal we are 
 made. Upon us ail it brings a great responsibility ; great and foremost on 
 those who occupy this bench. We are especially chargeable — nay, deeply 
 guilty — if we have either dishonestly, as some think, or even prematurely or 
 unwisely, challenged so gigantic an issue. I know well the punishment that 
 follows rashness in public affairs, and that ought to fall upon those men, those 
 Phaetons of politics, who, with hands unequal to the task, attempt to guide 
 the chariot of the sun. But the responsibility, though heavy, does not exclu- 
 sively press upon us — it presses on every man who has to take part in the dis- 
 cussion and decision upon this BilL Every man approaches the discussion 
 under the most solemn obligations to raise the level of his vision and expand its 
 scope in proportion with the greatness of the matter in hand. The working 
 of our constitutional government itself is upon its trial, for I do not believe 
 there ever was a time when the wheels of legislative machinery were set in 
 motion, under conditions of peace and order and constitutional regularity, to 
 deal with a question greater or more profound. And more especially, Sir, 
 is the credit and fame of this great assembly involved. This assembly, which 
 his inherited through many ages the accumulated honours of brilliant triumphs, 
 of peaceful but courageous legislation, is now called upon to address itself to a 
 task which would, indeed, have demanded all the best energies of the very 
 best among your fathers and your ancestors. I believe it will prove to be 
 worthy of the task. ... I think the day has certainly come when an end 
 is finally to be put to that union, not between the Church and religious 
 association, but between the Establishment and the State, which was com- 
 menced under circumstances little auspicious, and has endured to be a source 
 of unhappiness to Ireland, and of discredit and scandal to England. For 
 my part, I am deeply convinced that when the final consummation shall 
 
338 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1869. 
 
 arrive, and when the words are spoken that shall give the force of law to the 
 work embodied in this measure — the work of peace and justice — those 
 words will be echoed upon every shore where the name of Ireland or the 
 name of Great Britain has been heard, and the answer to them will come back 
 in the approving verdict of civilised mankind. " 
 
 The Opposition knew it would be useless to attempt to oppose 
 the introduction and first reading of the Bill. Mr. Disraeli said 
 the general election had showed that it was the opinion of the 
 country that Mr. Gladstone should have the opportunity of deal- 
 ing with the question of the Irish Church, and he would therefore 
 not oppose the introduction of the Bill ; but he and his friends 
 had not changed their opinion, and still looked upon disesta- 
 blishment as a great political error, and the disendowment of a 
 Church, particularly when its property was to be applied to secular 
 purposes, as " mere and sheer confiscation." 
 
 Thursday, the 18th of March, was fixed for the second reading. 
 Before that time the Opposition had resolved to make a fight, 
 even if they could not hope for victory. The whips on either 
 side could have told, with almost absolute precision, how each 
 member would vote, for nearly every member had been pledged 
 by his election address ; but it was necessary for Conservatism to 
 display its colours, and show a compact front, even if defeat were 
 certain ; and Mr. Disraeli gave notice that he should move as an 
 amendment that the Bill be read a second time that day six months. 
 
 The debate on the motion for the second reading extended 
 over four nights, the division being taken on Tuesday, the 23rd. 
 In moving his amendment, Mr. Disraeli exerted his great powers 
 to the utmost ; very effective opposition to the Bill was given by 
 Dr. J. Ball, who had been Attorney General for Ireland in the 
 late Ministry, and one of the Commissioners appointed to inquire 
 into the revenue and administration of the Irish Church, and was 
 therefore peculiarly well qualified to deal with the statistics of 
 the question. Mr. Bright made a great speech in support of the 
 
1869.] THE DEBATE ON THE BILL. 339 
 
 Bill — and when Mr. Bright makes a great speech it is an event 
 worth remembering — and especially defended the application of 
 the surplus funds to works of charity ; " for, after all," he said, 
 " I hope it is not far from Christianity to charity, and we know 
 that the Divine Author of our faith has left us much more of the 
 doings of a compassionate and loving heart than of dogma." 
 
 Much interest was aroused by the speech of Sir Roundell 
 Palmer. His secession on this question from the Liberal 
 phalanx — a secession involving the sacrifice of the realisation of 
 a legitimate professional and political ambition — was an unques- 
 tionable loss to the Ministry. He opened the third night's de- 
 bate with a long speech against the Bill, dwelling particularly on 
 the legal questions involved, and was replied to by Sir John 
 Coleridge, Solicitor-General, who said Sir Roundell had brought 
 the Court of Chancery into the House, and had argued the ques- 
 tion as if before a tribunal which interpreted the law, and not 
 before one which made it. 
 
 The debate was marked by a brilliant speech by Mr. Lowe, a 
 mild but well-argued protest against the Bill by Mr. Spencer 
 Walpole, and a slashing speech by Mr. Gathorne Hardy, the 
 beau sab?'eur of the Opposition benches. Mr. Gladstone having 
 replied, the division was taken, and there appeared a majority of 
 118 against the amendment, and in favour of the second reading. 
 The numbers were 368 against 250. The number of members 
 who voted, including the four tellers, was 622, and 14 paired. 
 After so fierce a strife repose was welcome, and the House ad- 
 journed for the Easter holidays. 
 
 On the 15th of April, the date fixed for the motion to go into 
 Committee, Mr. Newdegate, the unflinching Tory member for 
 North Warwickshire, moved that the House go into committee 
 that day six months; but was beaten by a majority of 126. The 
 Speaker having left the chair, the battle of the clauses began. 
 
340 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1869. 
 
 Many amendments were proposed, and lost by large majorities ; 
 and with very little alteration — none that essentially affected the 
 principle of the measure — the Bill passed through committee 
 on the 7th of May, not, however, without a sharp fight on the 
 Maynooth clause. 
 
 The motion for the third reading was made on the 31st of 
 May, exactly three months after the introduction of the Bill into 
 the House : and on that motion a " this day six months " 
 amendment was moved by Mr. Hill, member for North-Eastern 
 Lancashire, and seconded by Lord Elcho. The attempt to stop 
 the further progress of the Bill in that House was, of course, 
 hopeless, but it enabled some Conservatives to make a last pro- 
 test. Mr. Disraeli, in a very solemn vein, declared that the pass- 
 ing of the Bill might lead to the entire repeal of the Union, and 
 the tendency of it would be to provoke a civil war. The Papal 
 power would instantly attempt to gain ascendency, and, he asked, 
 was it likely the Protestants would submit without a struggle ? 
 Must England again attempt to conquer Ireland ? Was there to 
 be another battle of the Boyne? another siege of Derry? 
 another treaty of Limerick? The policy of the Government, 
 argued Mr. Disraeli, with portentous gravity, would inevitably 
 lead to such results. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone replied with much energy, and apparently with- 
 out any fear of the recurrence of such a catastrophe ; and the 
 division being taken, it appeared that 361 had voted for the 
 third reading, and 247 against it, the majority being only four 
 below that which carried the second reading, so compact and well 
 looked after were the Ministerial forces. 
 
 What will the Lords do ? was a question generally asked. On 
 the 9th of June, five days before the Bill was introduced into 
 the Upper House, Mr. Bright, who at no time found himself 
 much restrained by the fetters of official life and ministerial 
 
1869.] THE BILL IN THE LORDS. 341 
 
 reticence, addressed a letter to the secretary of a political meet- 
 ing about to be held at Birmingham, in which he alluded to the 
 House of Lords in very disrespectful fashion. "Instead," he 
 said, " of doing a little childish tinkering about life peerages, it 
 would be well if the Peers could bring themselves in a line with 
 the opinions and necessities of our day. In harmony with the 
 nation, they may go on for a long time ; but by throwing them- 
 selves athwart its course they may meet with accidents not 
 pleasant for them to think of." Earl Granville found it rather 
 difficult in the House of Lords, when Earl Cairns called atten- 
 tion to this certainly " bumptious " epistle, to explain that his 
 too impetuous and outspoken colleague did not intend to make a 
 threat — used the words, indeed, only in " a Pickwickian sense." 
 
 The House of Lords presented an unusually animated scene 
 when Earl Granville, Secretary for the Colonies and Ministerial 
 leader in the Upper House, moved the second reading of the 
 Bill. He is always a clear and pleasant, but not an impassioned 
 or very energetic speaker, and failed to produce a very striking 
 effect. The debate warmed considerably as it proceeded. The 
 Earl of Harrowby moved that the Bill be taken into consideration 
 that day three months. The Earl of Carnarvon gave a modified 
 support to the Bill, thought it ought to go on to a second read- 
 ing, but that considerable amendments were required. The 
 Archbishop of Dublin (Dr. Trench), spoke in pitiful strains of 
 "the unfortunate Church, threatened to be cut adrift without 
 warning." It was a grand field-day for some of the Bishops, and 
 two of the most eminent prelates greatly distinguished them- 
 selves by speeches on opposite sides. Dr. Connop Thirl wall, 
 the historian of Greece, Bishop of St. David's, supported the 
 measure in words which showed that, at seventy-two, his old fire 
 was not exhausted ; and the eloquent, witty, incisive Irishman, 
 Dr. Magee, Bishop of Peterborough, a prelate of only a year's 
 
342 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1869. 
 
 standing, resisted the Bill in a speech which, to use a theatrical 
 phrase, brought down the house, bursts of applause frequently 
 coming even from the strangers' gallery. He defended the 
 establishment of the Church for the sake of the principle of 
 establishment. He did not consider the Bill as involving a 
 violation of the coronation oath, or of the Act of Union, or as an 
 attack on private property ; but he warned the House not to be 
 moved by menaces. " The measure had," he asserted, " been 
 put forth as a magnanimous specimen of national repentance for 
 English injustice to Ireland, but the remarkable thing was that 
 the Bill placed the sackcloth on the Irish Church." 
 
 The excitement caused by his speech — excitement very un- 
 usual in that placid assembly — was succeeded by a deep hush 
 when the Earl of Derby rose to speak. He looked ill, and spoke 
 at first with some feebleness, but soon rose to the occasion, and 
 there were more than occasional flashes of his wonted fire in his 
 protest against the Bill. It was his last great effort. Four 
 months afterwards the vigorous and eloquent Parliamentary 
 orator, before whom, in his young days of debate, even O'Connell 
 quailed, the Rupert who feared no odds, the proud, open-handed 
 Lord of Knowsley, and representative of the great race of Stanley, 
 closed his eyes on the world. 
 
 The Marquis of Salisbury, the Lord Cranborne of a year be- 
 fore, did not object to the second reading, trusting, like Earl 
 Carnarvon, to introduce several amendments in committee. Old 
 Earl Russell, nearly at the close of his seventy-seventh year of 
 life, who had first entered Parliament fifty-six years before, 
 spoke in support of the second reading of the Bill, while strongly 
 objecting to some of its provisions ; and then, towards the close 
 of the debate, came the lawyers, Lord Westbury, the Lord 
 Chancellor, and Lord Cairns. The second reading was carried 
 by 179 against 146, giving the Ministers a clear majority of 33. 
 
1869.] ORANGEMEN RAMPANT. 343 
 
 It was noticed that many Peers who usually ranked with the 
 Conservatives voted in the majority. Both the English Arch- 
 bishops abstained from voting, as did the Bishop of Oxford, who 
 was present in the House. The Bishop of St. David's was the 
 only prelate who gave his vote in favour of the measure. 
 Thirteen bishops voted against the second reading. The third 
 reading took place on the 12th of July. Some of the amend- 
 ments passed in committee were accepted by the House of 
 Commons, but others were rejected, and not insisted on by the 
 Lords. The Royal assent was given on the 26th of July, and the 
 first great measure of Mr. Gladstone's first administration was an 
 accomplished fact. 
 
 During the progress of the measure through Parliament, Mr. 
 Gladstone was exposed to unmeasured abuse from the ultra- 
 Protestants of the country and the Orangemen of Ireland, 
 There was a great demonstration at Exeter Hall, at which Mr. 
 Charley (afterwards Common Serjeant of the City of London) 
 said thousands of Protestants considered Mr. Gladstone " a traitor 
 to his Queen, his country, and his God," and that " he ought to 
 be excluded from power for having dared to put his hand on the 
 ark of God." Another speaker, a clergyman, described Ministers 
 as "a Cabinet of brigands." At an Orange demonstration at 
 Tannamore Hall, Tyrone, the Chairman said they (the Orange- 
 men) were ready to take their rifles and march to the Boyne ; 
 and another speaker described the pleasure he should experi- 
 ence in seeing " Gladstone and his co-conspirators hanging as 
 high as Haman." A third speaker prophetically intimated that, if 
 the Bill passed, " they would give the Union an Irish wake and a 
 Protestant burial." 
 
 While the Bill was under discussion in the House of Lords, 
 Mr. Gladstone attended a banquet given by the Lord Mayor, and, 
 replying to the toast, " Her Majesty's Ministers," said they 
 
344 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [3869. 
 
 had pledged themselves that the surplus of Church property 
 should be applied for the benefit of the Irish people, and not for 
 the support of a Church or a clergy. That was a covenant the 
 terms of which were tendered " when we sat in the exile of 
 opposition, and we shall not forget it now that we are installed 
 in the seat of power." 
 
 Although Mr. Gladstone did not personally prepare the Budget 
 of the year, that task having devolved on Mr. Lowe, it was a 
 worthy pendant to the former series of Gladstonian financial 
 statements. The estimates of revenue and expenditure for the 
 coming year showed a surplus of ,£3,382,000, and a remission of 
 taxation to the amount of more than £3,000,000 was arranged. 
 
 Parliament was prorogued by commission on the nth of 
 August. The paragraph in the Speech referring to the Irish 
 Church Act expressed a hope that this " important measure may 
 hereafter be remembered as a conclusive proof of the paramount 
 anxiety of Parliament to pay reasonable regard, in legislating for 
 each of the three kingdoms, to the special circumstances by 
 which it may be distinguished, and to deal on principles of im- 
 partial justice with all interests and all portions of the nation." 
 
 The Royal Speech at the opening of the Session of 1870, on 
 the 8th of April, promised more legislation for Ireland, and " a 
 measure which would be calculated to bring about improved rela- 
 tions between the several classes concerned in Irish agriculture, 
 which collectively constitute the bulk of the Irish people." On 
 the 15th Mr. Gladstone asked for leave to bring in the Land Bill 
 for Ireland, and spoke for three hours. At the close of his speech, 
 he said, with that peculiar turn of thought— perhaps, it might be 
 said, of over-subtle speculation — which so frequently influences 
 his reasoning : 
 
 " The measure had reference to evils which have been long at work ; their 
 roots strike far back into bygone centuries : and it is against the ordinance of 
 
1870.] A LAND BILL FOR IRELAND. 345 
 
 Providence, as it is against the interest of man, that immediate reparation 
 should in such cases be possible ; for one of the main restraints of misdoing 
 would be remedied if the consequences of misdoing could in a moment 
 receive a remedy. For such reparation and such effects it is that we look 
 from this Bill ; and we reckon on them not less surely and not less con- 
 fidently because we know they must be gradual and slow, and because we are 
 likewise aware that if it be poisoned by the malignant agency of angry and 
 bitter passions, it cannot do its proper work. In order that there may be a 
 hope of its entire success, it must be passed — not as a triumph of party over 
 party, or class over class j not as the lifting up of an ensign to record the 
 downfall of that which has once been great and powerful — but as a common 
 work of common love and goodwill to the common good of our common 
 country. " 
 
 The motion for leave to bring in the Bill (which bore the names 
 of Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Chichester Fortescue, and Mr. Bright) 
 was agreed to, and it was read the first time. The most important 
 provisions, so far as tenants were concerned, were that the Ulster 
 tenant-right custom, and similar customs in other parts of Ireland, 
 received a legal status ; new rights were conferred with reference 
 to compensation for disturbance by the acts of landlords ; 
 compensations were given for improvements, and the respect- 
 ive liabilities of landlord and tenant were defined. One leading 
 object of the Act was to facilitate the creation of a tenant pro- 
 prietary. A landlord would be enabled, subject to the approval 
 of the Landed Estates Court, to agree with the tenant for the 
 purchase by the latter of his holding, and Government was to be 
 empowered to advance to the tenant a sum not exceeding two- 
 thirds of the purchase money, repayable, with interest, by instal- 
 ments. The Landed Estates Court was directed, on the ordinary 
 sale of estates under the Court, to afford, by the formation of lots, 
 reasonable facilities for tenants to purchase their holdings. 
 
 The Bill, as has been remarked, was "a compromise, a step in 
 advance, which committed the English Parliament and Govern- 
 ment to two principles : the principle of tenant-right, and the 
 expediency of a tenant proprietary." 
 
 The second reading was moved on the 7th of March, and the 
 
346 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1870. 
 
 debate lasted four nights. Dr. Ball, member for Dublin Univer- 
 sity, made a powerful speech — indeed, the most powerful speech 
 on his side of the House that the discussion produced ; Sir 
 Roundell Palmer described the Bill as "a humiliating necessity; " 
 and Mr. Disraeli, on the fourth night of debate, delivered himself 
 in a diffuse and somewhat random manner. He disposed of the 
 Ulster custom by saying no such thing existed — the custom varied, 
 and had no prescription of antiquity ; the proposed tribunal 
 would be ineffectual, and advances of public money would do 
 more harm than good. " Do not," he said, "let us vote upon the 
 subject as if we had received a threatening letter, as if we 
 expected to meet Rory of the Hills when we go into the 
 lobby." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone's concluding speech was marked by a brilliant 
 peroration : — 
 
 <( 
 
 For a hundred years Ireland has been engaged in almost a continuous 
 conflict with the governing power — I will not say of the nation, but with the 
 governing power of this island. She has engaged in the conflict with all the 
 disadvantages of a limited population, of inferior resources, of backward 
 political development, and yet she has been uniformly successful. Strength 
 and weakness have grappled together in almost incessant conflict, and on every 
 occasion, in a succession of falls, strength has been laid prostrate on the 
 ground, and weakness has waved the banner of victory over it . . . The 
 career of Ireland has ever been onward, her cry has ever been Excelsior ! 
 because she has had justice for her cause, and has been sustained in it by 
 that which is the highest earthly organ of justice, the favouring opinion of the 
 civilized and Christian world . . . We have been invoked to-night in 
 solemn terms, from both sides of the House, to be just and fear not. It is 
 our desire to be just, but, to be just, we must be just to all. The oppression of 
 a majority is detestable and odious— the oppression of a minority is only by 
 one degree less detestable and less odious. The face of justice is like the 
 face of the god Janus — it is like the face of those lions, the work of 
 Landseer, which keep watch and ward around the record of our country's 
 greatness. She presents one tranquil and majestic countenance towards every 
 point of the compass and every quarter of the globe. That rare, that noble, 
 that imperial virtue has this above all other qualities, that she is no respecter 
 of persons, and she will not take advantage of a favourable moment to op- 
 press the wealthy for the sake of flattering the poor, any more than she will 
 condescend to oppress the poor for the sake of pandering to the luxuries of 
 the rich." 
 
1870.] MR. DISRAELI'S AMENDMENT. 347 
 
 Mr. Disraeli did not attempt to oppose the second reading ; 
 on the contrary, he led his party to vote for it, reserving power 
 to deal with it in committee. When the division took place, 
 there appeared for the second reading, 442 ; against it, only 11, 
 mostly Irish members, but aided by the presence of that stout, 
 uncompromising old Tory, Mr. Henley. 
 
 Before the time came for going into committee, Ireland was in 
 such a disturbed condition — armed bands visiting farmers in 
 county Mayo, compelling them to take oaths to break up the 
 pasture lands, and committing other outrages — that another and 
 very stringent Peace Preservation Bill was hurried through both 
 Houses, prohibiting the possession of arms, and giving power to 
 suppress newspapers if found necessary, and to trace out the 
 authors of threatening letters. 
 
 Notice had been given of about three hundred amendments 
 to be proposed in the committee on the Irish Land Bill, but 
 many were withdrawn or otherwise disposed of. The most im- 
 portant amendment, over which a sharp fight took place, was 
 proposed by Mr. Disraeli. The third clause of the Bill pro- 
 vided for compensation for eviction, and it was known that 
 Ministers intended to propose an alteration in that clause in com- 
 mittee, establishing the right of an evicted tenant to compensation 
 for the loss which the Court shall find to have been sustained by 
 him in quitting his holding. Mr. Disraeli contended that this 
 alteration would change the entire character of the Bill as first 
 introduced, and which he and his friends had been willing to 
 support. His amendment proposed to limit the compensation to 
 cases in which it was claimed for unexhausted improvements, or 
 on account of interruption in the course of husbandry. This 
 amendment was lost by a majority of 76; and the Government 
 alteration of the clause was adopted by a majority of 111. A 
 writer of the time, referring to the division on Mr. Disraeli's 
 
348 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1870. 
 
 amendment, said, " This vote, in effect, rescinded the policy of 
 two hundred years, and acknowledged generally that, in the great 
 question in dispute between England and Ireland, the tenure of 
 Irish land, Ireland had been right and England wrong." 
 
 The Bill was read a third time and passed in the Commons, 
 without having sustained any other material alteration, on the 
 30th of May. In the Lords some amendments were made in 
 committee, but, on going back to the Commons, a spirit of con- 
 cession prevailed, and the Bill received the Royal assent on the 
 1 st of August. 
 
 Two sessions had produced two great measures for Ireland, 
 but Mr. Gladstone was already meditating another. He had dis- 
 established the Church and established (as he thought — it proved 
 too hopefully) a peasant proprietary ; the next difficulty to be 
 grappled with was connected with the Irish Universities, almost 
 a necessary complement to the ecclesiastical reform. 
 
 The next most important achievement of the Session of 1870 
 was the passing of the Elementary Education Act. Mr. Forster 
 had charge of the Bill, and gallantly he fought clause by clause. 
 Churchmen, Dissenters, Secularists, all had their hobbies to ride. 
 Some insisted that the Bible should be read to the children, 
 others that it should not. Churchmen feared that the character 
 of her special schools would be altered ; Dissenters objected to 
 Churchmen teaching their children ; Secularists wished to exclude 
 all kinds of religious teaching, and against them were arrayed 
 the whole force of Church and Dissent. Mr. Gladstone did not 
 take a very active part in the excited debate, but made one 
 memorable unpremeditated speech. Mr. Miall, member for 
 Bradford, a man of great mark among the Nonconformists, 
 attacked Ministers for not having, as he asserted, sufficiently de- 
 ferred to the views of Dissenters. Speaking in a style which a 
 sensitive man might easily mistake for an exhibition of arrogant 
 
1870.] REPLY TO MR. MI ALL. 349 
 
 assumption, Mr. Miall said the Dissenters had mainly contri- 
 buted at the last election to place the Administration in power — 
 " they were the heart, and, he might say, the hand of the Liberal 
 cause in this country," and they thought they were entitled to be 
 consulted, in some respects, as to the great principles and drift of 
 legislation which grated harshly on their sympathies ; but they 
 had been made to pass through the Valley of Humiliation. 
 There was scarcely a Dissenting congregation in the country that 
 had not pronounced condemnation of the Bill. The Dissenting 
 community were " elbowed out " of their rights ; and almost all 
 the measures in which they were interested had been cast out 
 with something like contumely ; but, " once bit, twice shy." 
 
 Directly Mr. Miall sat down Mr. Gladstone sprang to his feet. 
 He had not intended to speak at that stage of the debate ; but 
 he was evidently moved to the quick, and with animated gestures 
 and, even for him, amazing fluency, proceeded to administer a 
 rebuke which perhaps even Mr. Miall felt to be severe, and which 
 many present thought to be well deserved — 
 
 "The speech of my honourable friend amounts to a reproach on the 
 Government for not having fulfilled the expectations under which they were 
 brought into power. To this I say fearlessly, in the face of my honourable 
 friend and of those who have made use of similar language, that if, in 1868, 
 we made bold professions to the country — professions involving, as we well 
 knew then, and as we know now, the greatest responsibility — we have laboured 
 to the utmost to fulfil them, and the whole of our energies and the whole of 
 our influence have, in no spirit of common calculation, been devoted to the 
 purpose of redeeming those pledges. I am not here, therefore, to be told, 
 with nice analysis, of what elements was made up that large degree of national 
 support to which we owe the position we hold. I am not prepared to admit 
 that my honourable friend, great as is the weight of his character and the 
 respect to which he is justly entitled, speaks in this matter the sentiments of 
 all those with whom he is connected by religious opinions, because there are 
 others in this House, who have sat on these benches for many years and who 
 have earned the respect of all who know them, who have not participated in 
 the severe judgment passed upon us by my honourable friend. My honour- 
 able friend thinks it worthy of him to resort to a proverb, and to say that the 
 time has come when he is entitled to use the significant language, ' once bit, 
 twice shy.' But if my honourable friend has been bitten, by whom is it ? If 
 
350 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1870. 
 
 he has been bitten it is only in consequence of expectations which he has him- 
 self chosen to entertain, and which were not justified by the facts. We have 
 been thankful to have the independent and honourable support of my honour- 
 able friend, but that support ceases to be of value when accompanied by re- 
 proaches such as these. I hope my honourable friend will not continue that 
 support to the Government one moment longer than he thinks it consistent 
 with his sense of duty and right. For God's sake, Sir, let him withdraw it the 
 moment he thinks it better for the cause that he has at heart that he should do 
 so. So long as my honourable friend thinks fit to give us his support, we will 
 co-operate with him for every purpose we have in common ; but when we 
 think he looks too much to the section of the community which he adorns, and 
 too little to the interests of the people at large, we must then recollect that we 
 are the Government of the Queen, and that those who have assumed the high 
 responsibility of administering the affairs of this Empire must endeavour to 
 forget the parts in the whole, and must, in the great measures they introduce 
 to the House, propose to themselves no meaner or narrower object — no other 
 object than the welfare of the Empire at large." 
 
 The clause of the Bill which provided for the election of 
 members of School Boards by ballot, encountered considerable 
 opposition, but was at length agreed to by the Commons ; but 
 when the Bill reached the Lords, the Duke of Richmond moved 
 an amendment, afterwards accepted by the other House, which 
 limited the operation of the clause to the metropolitan district. 
 
 The Irish Land Act and the Elementary Education Act were 
 considerable achievements for one session ; and the fact, in 
 addition, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Lowe) was 
 able to announce an estimated surplus of ,£4,357,000, and the 
 consequent reduction of taxation to that amount, added to the 
 general satisfaction. It is just worth noting that halfpenny 
 postage-cards were instituted, because Mr. Gladstone is popularly 
 credited with a peculiar liking for these cheap and convenient 
 means of transmission. 
 
 Earl Clarendon, the Foreign Secretary, died on the 27 th of 
 June, and Earl Granville succeeded to the vacant office. As 
 customary, he consulted the officials of the Foreign Office as to 
 the state of affairs, and was informed by the Permanent Under- 
 Secretary of State, Mr. Hammond, an official of the old school 
 
1870.] A GATHERING CLOUD. 351 
 
 industrious, precise, courteous, but very "official" and not par- 
 ticularly far-seeing, that the world had never been so profoundly 
 at peace. If the late Earl of Clarendon had seen elements of 
 disturbance very near the surface, he had kept his opinions to 
 himself, and death had erased whatever might have been written 
 on the tablets of his mind. 
 
 In the first week of July angry speeches were made in the 
 French Chamber by the Due de Grammont, Minister for Foreign 
 Affairs, respecting the support given by the Prussian Govern- 
 ment to the proposal that Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern- 
 Sigmaringen should be a candidate for the throne of Spain. A 
 few days sufficed for the embers of a quarrel to break out into 
 a great flame. France demanded guarantees from Prussia, 
 and Prussia, irritated, refused to give them. King William 
 snubbed the French Ambassador, M. Benedetti, and on the 15th 
 of July, France proclaimed war against Prussia. In about a 
 fortnight after Earl Granville had been assured that Europe, 
 indeed the world generally, was enjoying peace, with no proba- 
 bility of being alarmed by the blast of war, the most terrible 
 contest of modern times began, not to be concluded till the 
 French empire had been destroyed, the French Emperor made a 
 prisoner, and Paris had been so terribly besieged. Belgium was 
 imperilled, and we were bound by treaty to support Belgium. 
 Mr. Gladstone was eagerly questioned as to the course England 
 would take, and at first his replies amounted to little more than 
 vague professions of neutrality. In fact, the English Ministers, 
 like the world generally, were taken by surprise, but soon re- 
 covered themselves, and on the 9th of August a treaty with 
 Prussia, and two days afterwards with France, was arranged, by 
 which the security of Belgium was assured. 
 
 The Session of 187 1 was opened on the 9th of February, by 
 the Queen in person. The Royal Speech announced a Bill for 
 
52 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1870. 
 
 the better regulation of the Army and auxiliary forces, and another 
 for the adoption of the Ballot in Parliamentary election ; and re- 
 commended that attention should be directed to the subject of 
 primary education in Scotland. 
 
 The introduction and management of the Ballot Bill was en- 
 trusted to the indefatigable Mr. Forster, who had fought so well 
 in the fierce educational battle; but it was cruelly mangled in the 
 Commons, and the Lords rejected it. Mr. Cardwell, Secretary of 
 S r ate for War, by virtue of his office took charge of the Army 
 Regulation Bill, and as that measure included a provision for the 
 abolition of the purchase of commissions, a tremendous storm 
 arose. The House of Commons passed the Bill by 289 to 231, 
 on the 4th of July, and on the 13th of that month' it was intro- 
 duced into the Lords, receiving the support of the Duke of 
 Cambridge. But the Lords " would have none of it ; " and at 
 the close of an unusually long sitting (protracted until 2 o'clock 
 in the morning of the 18th of July) the motion for the second 
 reading was lost by a majority of 25. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone had set his heart upon carrying the measure, 
 and resolved on taking a very bold course. He advised the 
 Queen to cancel the Royal warrant authorising the purchase of 
 commissions, and issue a fresh one, which would make purchase 
 illegal. His peremptory mode of setting aside the verdict of the 
 House of Lords produced no little excitement. It was described 
 by the Tory peers as a coup d'etat, a flagrant outrage offered to 
 the House of Lords. Blackwood declared that Mr. Gladstone 
 deserved to be impeached, and that he had " struck such a blow 
 at Parliamentary government as it has not received since the days 
 of Strafford and Laud. Nor is this all : the blow is struck by the 
 hand of the Queen. The Queen's signature is attached to the 
 deed or warrant which deliberately reverses a decision of the 
 House of Lords ; and the Queen can do no wrong. But the 
 
1871.] VOTE OF CENSURE BY THE LORDS. 353 
 
 Minister who advised the Queen is responsible." The discussion 
 of the subject in both Houses turned on nice distinctions be- 
 tween the Royal prerogative, or the special power of the Sove- 
 reign in right of pre-eminence over all persons and laws, and the 
 discretion conferred on the Crown by statutory enactment. Mr. 
 Disraeli said Ministers had fallen back on prerogative, and put it 
 in conflict with Parliament ; and Mr. Gladstone replied, " We 
 have had no recourse to prerogative, and we have had no con- 
 flict with Parliament." The Earl of Granville, in the House of 
 Lords, said Ministers had advised her Majesty " not to make 
 any use of her Royal prerogative, because there is no question of 
 that in the matter, but in the exercise of that discretion which is 
 conferred on the Crown by statutory enactment, to take the only 
 means which is possible, and put an end to the illegal practice." 
 The Opposition flatly denied that any statutory power of the kind 
 mentioned existed, and charged Ministers with having obtained 
 the Royal signature by false representations. 
 
 A vote of censure on the Administration was carried in the 
 House of Lords by a majority of 80, on the 24th of July, but the 
 Ministers bore it with equanimity, strong in the support of the 
 Commons ; and the Regulation of the Forces Act, arranging the 
 compensation to be given for the loss of the price of commission, 
 passed both Houses, though not without some opposition. The 
 Royal warrant was a fact which even the Lords were compelled 
 to accept; but Lord Cairns, at the close of an eloquent speech, 
 summed up the anger of the Peers on his side of the House. 
 " Read your Bill a second time, but take with it the mark of 
 censure and condemnation of the House — censure and condem- 
 nation which I am persuaded will be approved by the deliberate 
 opinion of the country, and confirmed by the verdict of history — 
 censure and condemnation, that, at a crisis which demanded the 
 wisdom and the forbearance of statesmen, you, with the petulance 
 
 A A 
 
354 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1871. 
 
 and fickleness of children, in order to obtain an apparent and 
 casual triumph at the last moment, pre-eminently violated and 
 wantonly strained the constitution of your country." 
 
 This was altogether a busy session. Soon after it opened, 
 the Westmeath Commission was appointed, in consequence of 
 the outrages in that part of Ireland, resulting in the passing of a 
 very stringent measure, the Protection of Life and Property 
 Act, popularly known as the Westmeath Act. It was the year, 
 too, of the Match Duty Budget, which damaged the reputation of 
 Mr. Lowe as Chancellor of the Exchequer. His estimates for 
 the year (chiefly owing to the effect on trade of the great 
 war raging on the continent) showed a deficiency of ,£2,713,000, 
 to be supplied by the increase of taxation. Mr. Lowe hit upon 
 the brilliant idea of stamping match-boxes, the result being a 
 universal outcry, and a procession of match-makers from Bethnal 
 Green and Shoreditch and Westminster, to protest against a pro- 
 position which would lessen the demand for matches, deprive them 
 of their wretchedly-paid occupation, and drive them over the 
 narrow line which separated abject poverty from actual starvation. 
 Mr. Gladstone came to the rescue, modified the obnoxious 
 Budget, which was ultimately withdrawn altogether, and put 
 twopence on the income-tax, by way of getting out of the 
 difficulty. 
 
 There was a strong party who held that the disestablishment 
 of the English Church was a necessary corollary of disestablish- 
 ment in Ireland. But Mr. Gladstone by no means accepted that 
 view. Mr. Miall brought the matter to an issue on the 9th of 
 March, by moving " That it is expedient, at the earliest practicable 
 period, to apply the policy introduced by the disestablishment 
 of the Irish Church by the Act of 1869 to the other Churches 
 established by law in the United Kingdom." Just as Mr. Miall 
 was on the point of rising, some amusement was created by the 
 
1871.] A REVERSE TO THE MEDAL. 355 
 
 presentation, by Mr. Gathorne Hardy, of a petition from Brad- 
 ford (represented by Mr. Miall) against the reception of the 
 resolution, with 24,700 signatures, genuine or otherwise — "very 
 much otherwise," the Committee on Petitions afterwards seemed 
 to think. The debate was vigorously conducted — few subjects could 
 be found better adapted to promote an exciting debate in the 
 House of Commons. Sir Roundell Palmer, a devoted son of the 
 Church, editor of " Hymns Ancient and Modern," eloquently 
 opposed the motion ; Mr. Richard, a Nonconformist of renown, 
 formerly a Congregational Minister, eloquently defended it. Each 
 side had able champions. Mr. Disraeli, as leader of the Opposi- 
 tion, spoke against the motion, " in the interest of civil and re- 
 ligious liberty, more for the sake of the State than of the Church, 
 more for the sake of society than of the congregation, because I 
 believe, in resisting that policy, we are maintaining the best 
 interests of all, of civilisation and of pure religion." Mr. Glad- 
 stone spoke with moderation and dignity in opposition to the 
 resolution, explaining that the positions and histories of the two 
 Churches were unlike ; and the division resulted in the resolution 
 being lost by a majority of 285 — the numbers being 374 against 
 
 89. 
 
 When the end of the session came — Parliament was prorogued 
 on the 21st of August — the Prime Minister could congratulate 
 himself on some successes ; but there was a reverse to the medal. 
 He had vanquished the Lords on the University Tests Bill and 
 the Abolition of Purchase in the Army, but they had thrown out 
 the Ballot Bill, and had passed a vote of censure on the Ministry, 
 which had not been met by a vote of confidence in the Commons. 
 Russia had been permitted to violate the Black Sea clause of the 
 Treaty of Paris ; the Budget had been a failure, and Mr. Glad- 
 stone had offended many of his working-class supporters by 
 opposing the scheme for securing Epping Forest as an open space 
 
356 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1871. 
 
 for the inhabitants of the metropolis. Some evidence of his de- 
 clining popularity appeared when, in the autumn, he addressed his 
 constituents from a platform erected on Blackheath. At least 
 20,000 people assembled, and when the Prime Minister came for- 
 ward a considerable amount of hissing mingled with the cheers. 
 Nothing daunted, he made a long speech, covering the whole 
 field of political discussion, and before he had concluded, his 
 earnestness and eloquence had reinstated him in the estimation 
 of his hearers as " The People's William," the most popular of 
 statesmen, the most effective of orators. 
 
 There were other extra-Parliamentary utterances. At Aberdeen, 
 on the 26th of September, speaking on the occasion of receiving 
 the freedom of the city, he referred to the Irish demand for Home 
 Rule. He had been accused of trifling with the agitation, and 
 now he spoke out. " What," he asked, " are the inequalities of 
 England and Ireland ? I declare that I know none, except that 
 there are certain taxes still remaining which are levied over 
 Englishmen and Scotchmen, and which are not levied over Irish- 
 men; and likewise that there are certain purposes for which public 
 money is freely and largely given in Ireland, and for which it is 
 not given in England and Scotland." There was a higher law 
 than the law of conciliation, good as that might be, and that was 
 the law of duty. 
 
 There was a scare that autumn about our national defences, 
 especially the condition of the army. The wonderful achieve- 
 ments of the Germans, who had " made hay " of the gallant 
 French corps d'armee, the perfection of her military system, had 
 invited unpleasant comparisons. What could we do to resist an 
 invading army, led by a Red or Black Prince and manoeuvred by 
 a Moltke ? Our army, brave as were the men individually, was 
 but a handful compared to the legions our neighbours could hurl 
 against us. Colonel Chesney, a clever writer and capital soldier, 
 
1871.] INNOCENT IMPERTINENCE. 357 
 
 added no little to the panic by describing, in Blackwood's Maga- 
 zine, an imaginary Battle of Dorking, in which he showed how 
 futile would be any attempt on our part to prevent the march of 
 an invading army on London, supposing it had effected a landing 
 on the south coast. "After the first stand in line," wrote the 
 fictitious volunteer, supposed to be relating the story of the 
 defeat, "and when once they had got us on the march, the 
 enemy laughed at us. Our handful of regular troops was sacri- 
 ficed almost to a man in a vain conflict with numbers ; our volun- 
 teers and militia, with officers who did not know their work, 
 without ammunition or equipment, or staff to superintend, starv- 
 ing in the midst of plenty, we had soon become a helpless 
 mob, fighting desperately here and there, but with whom, as a 
 manoeuvring army, the disciplined invaders did just what they 
 pleased. Happy those whose bones whitened the fields of Surrey ; 
 they at least were spared the disgrace we lived to endure." 
 
 In a speech at Whitby, after the recess, Mr. Gladstone took 
 occasion to utter a warning against the spread of the spirit of 
 " alarmism." " The power of this country," he said, " is not de- 
 clining. It is increasing; increasing in itself, and, I believe, 
 increasing as compared with the power of the other nations of 
 Europe. It is only our pride, it is only our passions, it is only 
 our own follies, which can ever constitute a real danger to us." 
 
 Obscure writers and speakers had not unfrequently hinted that 
 Mr. Gladstone was a Roman Catholic at heart, if not, indeed, a 
 Jesuit in disguise, but perhaps the only p erson of the grade of a 
 member of Parliament who would have ventured openly to give 
 publicity to such a suspicion was good, one-idead, simple-minded 
 Mr. Whalley, the member for Peterborough, that grown-up Alice 
 in the Wonderland of politics. In all innocence of heart and 
 sincerity he addressed a letter of inquiry to Mr. Gladstone at 
 Hawarden, stating that it would be very satisfactory if the Premier 
 
358 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1872. 
 
 would kindly say whether he really was a Roman Catholic who 
 declined to avow his faith for reasons of convenience. Mr. Glad- 
 stone replied politely but cuttingly, " I am entirely convinced 
 that, while the question you have put to me is in truth an insult- 
 ing one, you have put it only from having failed to notice its true 
 character." 
 
 The great achievement of the session of 1872 was the passing 
 of the Ballot Act. The year before the Lords had thrown out 
 the Bill, and once more Mr. Gladstone had to express his deter- 
 mination that he would not consider the decision of the Upper 
 House as final on any important question. If a measure ap- 
 proved by the House of Commons was rejected by the House of 
 Lords, he determined it should be reintroduced, and so their verdict 
 directly challenged. Walter Scott's literary motto, "If it is nae 
 weel bobbit, we'll bobbit agen," was practically adopted. One of 
 the first Ministerial acts of the session was the revival of the 
 Ballot Bill \ and the second reading passed the House of Com- 
 mons, on the 15th of February, by 109 to 51, and the third read- 
 ing by 271 to 216. The whirligig of time does, indeed, bring 
 about strange changes. Not many years before, Mr. Grote was 
 looked upon by steady-going politicians, both Tory and Whig, as 
 little better than a revolutionist, and, after him, Mr. H. Berkeley 
 as a political crotcheteer, because they made annual motions in 
 favour of vote by ballot ; but the House of Commons in 18 71 
 and 1872 adopted the principle by large majorities, and for 
 several years past Englishmen have recorded their votes on slips 
 of paper dropped into a ballot-box, and we are no more the 
 worse for it than we are for the prophecies of Mother Shipton. 
 The Lords seemed to think they must concede a little. When 
 the House of Commons keep "pegging away," as Abraham 
 Lincoln expressed himself, the Lords not unfrequently look at 
 matters in a new light. As a body, they disliked Reform, but 
 
1872.] THE BALLOT. 359 
 
 they gave in ; they intensely disliked the disestablishment of the 
 Irish Church, but they passed the Act ; Protection was a pet, but 
 Protection came to an end ; Church-rates were dear to them, 
 but they were given up ; they nailed their colours to the mast 
 in the Army Purchase contest, and there they remained nailed, 
 but purchase was got rid of nevertheless ; they vowed to main- 
 tain the paper duty, yet the paper duty disappeared, thanks to 
 the daring and adroit management of Mr. Gladstone ; and now, 
 for the second time, the ugly phantom of secret voting intruded 
 itself into the gilded chamber, and the Lords arrived at the 
 prudent conclusion that they had better not attempt to turn it 
 out again, but do their best to mutilate and make it as little 
 harmful as possible. The second reading was passed ; but, in 
 committee, an amendment, making secret voting optional in- 
 stead of imperative, was carried by 162 to 91. The amend- 
 ment would have taken the life out of the measure ; for, in 
 boroughs where family or territorial interest is paramount, an 
 elector asking to record his vote secretly would be a marked man, 
 because it would be understood that he intended to vote against 
 the favoured candidate. The third reading was passed on the 
 25th June, and the Bill was sent back to the Commons, who re- 
 jected the amendment. The Lords accepted the decision of the 
 " other place," and, the Royal assent being given on the 13th of 
 July, Vote by Ballot, which had been advocated by Andrew 
 Marvell a hundred and eighty years before, which had been 
 approved by the Commons, but rejected by the Lords, in 17 10, 
 which had figured in the first draught of the great Reform Bill of 
 1832, and the discussion of which had troubled the Parliamentary 
 waters for about forty years, was added to the achievements of 
 the Gladstone Administration. 
 
 An appointment made by Mr. Gladstone at this time was 
 seriously animadverted on. Sir Robert Collier, Attorney General, 
 
360 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1872. 
 
 was selected for the office of one of the Judges of the Judicial 
 Committee of the Privy Council. As a preliminary qualification, 
 he was, in November, 187 1, appointed a Judge of the Court of 
 Common Pleas, and, a few days afterwards, transferred to the 
 Judicial Committee. This procedure was strongly objected to by 
 the members of the legal profession, and Lord Chief Justice 
 Cockburn remonstrated on behalf of the Bench and the Bar, de- 
 scribing the appointment as a subterfuge and evasion of the Act 
 regulating the appointment. When Parliament met, the subject 
 provoked warm discussion, and votes of censure on the Ministry 
 were proposed in both Houses, but lost by a majority of 2 in the 
 Lords, and of 2 7 in the Commons. 
 
 One of the most serious imputations made upon the Ministry 
 in the course of the year was that they had too tamely submitted 
 to the demands of the United States in the matter of the Alabama 
 damages. In May, 1862, a powerful steam vessel, constructed by 
 Messrs. Laing, at Birkenhead, had been launched. There was 
 good reason to believe that she was intended for the service of 
 the Confederate States of America, and on the 28th of July the 
 British Government telegraphed to detain her in the Mersey. 
 The message was a day too late ; the Alaba7na had started on its 
 voyage, and soon afterwards became notorious under the com- 
 mand of the famous Confederate sailor, Captain Semmes, for 
 attacks on the mercantile navy of the United States. She was, in 
 June, 1864, attacked and destroyed by the Federal ironclad, 
 Kerseage in the British Channel. The Government of the United 
 States claimed reparation from the British Government for the 
 losses sustained in consequence of the depredations committed by 
 the Alabama, on the ground that she was built in an English 
 dockyard, and that the Government ought to have interfered. It 
 is not necessary to relate in detail the history of the correspond- 
 ence between the Governments, the Joint Commission at 
 
1872.] THE "ALABAMA" CLAIMS. 361 
 
 Washington, the Arbitration Tribunal at Geneva, and the final 
 payment of about .£3,330,000 (about one third of the amount 
 claimed, and very probably considerably more than should have 
 been paid) as damages to the United States. 
 
 The more violent opponents of the Ministry made the most of 
 the transaction; and even now, when the subject is referred to in 
 the Press or on the platform, charges of " cowardice," " trickery/' 
 " disgracing the British flag," if not of acting disrespectfully to the 
 British lion, are freely made. The "peace at any price" party, 
 we are told, submitted abjectly to be kicked, and so disgraced 
 England. Other writers and speakers, however, have argued, with 
 greater reason, that by submitting the matter to arbitration, and 
 abiding by the decision of the chosen tribunal, instead of pro- 
 voking a conflict which might have been productive of almost 
 inconceivable bloodshed and misery, the Ministry acted wisely 
 and patriotically. One of the greatest blessings possible to the 
 world would be a great cosmopolitan tribunal for the settlement 
 of quarrels between nations far too ready to blow one another's 
 brains out, even if the big guns were melted down to supply 
 metal for statues of Peace and Justice and medals to commemo- 
 rate the fact that the world is coming to its senses. 
 
 The damages awarded at Geneva may have been excessive ; 
 but the tribunal was one chosen by all parties to the dispute, and 
 by submitting to its adjudication the British Government set a 
 good example, and marked an epoch in civilization. A similar 
 course, similarly reviled, was adopted when the San Juan dispute, 
 involving the question of the exact boundary between the English 
 possessions on the north-west coast of America, and those of the 
 United States, was submitted to the arbitration of the Emperor 
 of Germany, and his decision was accepted. There were English- 
 men enough ready to fight about that, but the Ministry would 
 not give them the chance. 
 
362 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1873. 
 
 On the 21st of December Mr. Gladstone addressed the 
 students of Liverpool College, and strongly condemned the 
 writings of Strauss and the German Rationalists, advising his 
 hearers not to adopt too readily the prevalent notion that this 
 age is vastly superior to all that have gone before it. 
 
 The Session of 1873 was opened on the 6th of February, and 
 the Royal Speech announced the introduction of a Bill dealing 
 with the subject of University Education in Ireland. This was 
 to complete the triad of measures by which Mr. Gladstone hoped 
 to " satisfy the unsatisfiable," and put Ireland at peace. 
 Certainly he was not so popular outside the House as he had 
 been. The British public is rather fickle in its hero worship, 
 and in the course of a few years is rather disposed to listen to the 
 Outs who want to be the Ins, and who lose no opportunity of 
 insinuating that " Codlin's your friend, not Short." In the House, 
 too, the bye-elections had transferred fourteen seats to the 
 Conservatives. 
 
 A week after the meeting of Parliament Mr. Gladstone intro- 
 duced the Irish University Bill, by which he proposed to abolish 
 the exclusive connection of the University of Dublin with Trinity 
 College, and transfer the Theological Faculty to that college, as 
 the representative body of the Disestablished Irish Church. The 
 University of Dublin, with the Queen's Colleges (" the godless 
 colleges " as they were termed by ardent sectarians), were to be 
 converted into a university, which was to be a teaching as well 
 as an examining body, though, in deference to the feelings of 
 various religious denominations, theology, modern history, and 
 moral and metaphysical philosophy, were not to be included in the 
 curriculum. The University funds were to be furnished in different 
 proportions by Trinity College and the Consolidated Fund. 
 
 The Bill pleased very few ; and on the motion for the second 
 reading, after a debate of four nights' duration, it was, on 
 
1873.] OFFER TO RESIGN. 363 
 
 the nth of March, rejected by a majority of 3, the numbers 
 being 287 against 284. Thirty-six Irish members voted in the 
 majority. 
 
 This defeat on a question which Mr. Gladstone had made a 
 vital point of policy left him no other course open but to tender 
 his resignation of office ; and, on the 13th, Earl Granville in the 
 Upper House, and Mr. Gladstone in the Commons, announced 
 that the Minstry only held office until the appointment of their 
 successors. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone afterwards described the defeat as having been 
 effected, " if not by a combined, yet by a concurrent effort of the 
 leader of the Opposition and of the Roman Catholic prelacy of 
 Ireland." 
 
 In accordance with constitutional precedent, the Queen sent for 
 Mr. Disraeli, the leader of the Opposition. He declined to 
 undertake the task of forming an Administration with the exist- 
 ing House of Commons ; for, although the Ministry had suffered 
 a defeat on one particular question, there was still a majority 
 which might be generally relied on, and there appeared to be no 
 hope that if the country were appealed to a Conservative 
 majority would be obtained. 
 
 The Gladstone Ministry consequently remained in power. 
 In England the question of the reconstruction of the Irish 
 University excited but moderate interest, and as Mr. Lowe's 
 budget was, compared with that of the preceding year, very 
 satisfactory, showing an estimated surplus of ^3, 146,000, 
 permitting a reduction of the income tax and sugar duties, and 
 some minor ameliorations, the British public, if not enthusiastic, 
 were tolerably well satisfied, especially when it was officially 
 stated that between April, 1869, and April, 1873, the four years 
 of Liberal administration, the funded and unfunded debt had 
 been reduced by more than ^2 0,000, 000. The Alabama com- 
 
364 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1873. 
 
 pensation had been paid partly out of the ordinary revenue and 
 partly by Exchequer bonds or bills. 
 
 On the 1 6th of May Mr. Miall, undismayed by former defeats, 
 renewed his attack on the strong fortress of the Established 
 Church by moving a resolution, " That the establishment by law 
 of the Churches of England and Scotland involves a violation of 
 religious equality, deprives these Churches of the right of self- 
 government, imposes upon Parliament duties which it is not 
 qualified to discharge, and is hurtful to the religious and political 
 interests of the community, and therefore ought no longer to be 
 maintained." 
 
 It is very noticeable that throughout the political career of Mr. 
 Gladstone in his advance from Tory to, in some cases, almost ex- 
 treme Liberal views, he has never faltered in his attachment to the 
 Church of England, and his belief that the best interests of the 
 country are — at present, at least — bound up with its retention as 
 an establishment. He vigorously opposed the resolution, and 
 made a most earnest defence of the Church : — 
 
 " It is all very well to complain of the Church, and I might, perhaps, complain 
 of the particular course that some of its leading members may have taken upon 
 this question or upon that, but the Church of England has not only been a 
 part of the history of this country, but a part so vital, entering so profoundly 
 into the entire life and action of the country, that the severing of the two 
 would leave nothing behind but a bleeding and lacerated mass. Take the 
 Church of England out of the history of England, and the history of 
 England becomes a chaos, without order, without life, and without meaning. 
 .... I once made a computation of what sort of allowance of property 
 should be made to the Church of England if we were to disestablish her, upon 
 the same rules of equity and liberality with respect to property which we 
 adopted in the case of the Irish Church, and I made out that between life 
 incomes, private endowments, and the value of fabrics and advowsons, some- 
 thing like ^90,000,000 sterling would have to be given in the process of 
 disestablishment to the ministers, members, and patrons of the Church of 
 England. That is a very staggering kind of arrangement to make in supplying 
 the young lady with a fortune and turning her out in life to begin the 
 world." 
 
 Mr. Miall's resolution was rejected by a majority of 295, 
 
1873.] THE EWELME RECTORY. 365 
 
 ten more than the majority on the resolution in the previous 
 session. 
 
 An incident of the session was the debate raised by Mr. 
 Mowbray, the member for Oxford, on the appointment by Mr. 
 Gladstone, of the Rev. Mr. Harvey to the rectory of Ewelme, 
 Oxfordshire. That living had been attached to the Regius Pro- 
 fessorship of Divinity of Oxford, until a few years previously, when 
 an Act of Parliament separated the appointments, but provided 
 that the incumbent should be a member of the Convocation of 
 Oxford. Mr. Harvey was a Cambridge man; but, on being offered 
 the appointment, applied to become a member of the Oxford 
 Convocation. The necessary formalities were not completed 
 when he became Rector of Ewelme, although the Royal Warrant 
 appointing him described him as a member of the Oxford Convo- 
 cation. Mr. Henley said Mr. Harvey could no more be made an 
 Oxford man than a blackamoor could be washed white. The 
 appointment was unquestionably a mistake. 
 
 The prorogation of Parliament took place early in August, 
 and Mr. Gladstone retired to Hawarden to read Homer, 
 cut down trees, and indulge for a brief space in such other 
 congenial pastimes as his considerate fellow-countrymen will 
 permit an eminent man who nearly works himself to death in the 
 public service to enjoy. An active politician, who has been for 
 several months working by night as well as by day, in his office and 
 in his place in Parliament, is expected to recreate his wearied 
 mind and body by addressing public meetings, travelling at 
 express speed from one end of the country to the other, lecturing 
 at literary institutions, and presiding at all kinds of commemora- 
 tions and festivals. He must always hold himself in readiness to 
 take the chair at a dinner or a public gathering, or to unveil a 
 statue, and on every opportunity to speak for two hours at a 
 time. (It is noticeable, by the way, how successfully Mr. Gladstone 
 
366 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1874. 
 
 has avoided the dinner ordeal, the occasions on which he has 
 officiated as chairman being few indeed.) On the 19th of August 
 Mr. Gladstone presided at the Welsh National Eisteddfod, at 
 Mold, in Flintshire. The old Welsh bards were the national 
 orators, and Mr. Gladstone, besides his supreme claims as an 
 orator, was to some extent a bard too ; that, coupled with the 
 fact that his wife's remote ancestor was a Welsh prince, entitled 
 him to the privilege of listening to poetical effusions in a language 
 which, with all his accomplishments, he has admitted he does not 
 understand. 
 
 In the course of the autumn Ministerial rearrangements were 
 announced. Mr. Bruce was raised to the Peerage, Mr. Lowe 
 taking his place at the Home Office, and Mr. Gladstone adding 
 the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Premiership. Mr. 
 Ayrton, the Chief Commissioner of Works, a very able man, but 
 who contrived to be unpopular, and so damaged the Administra- 
 tion, was removed from office. 
 
 The session of 1874 was to have begun on the 5th of February, 
 but the daily papers of the 24th of January published a manifesto 
 from Mr. Gladstone, in the form of a letter to his Greenwich 
 constituents, informing them that her Majesty had been advised 
 to dissolve Parliament. The announcement caused some sur- 
 prise, but the Liberal majority had greatly dwindled, and Mr. 
 Gladstone was unwilling to enter on a new session with weakened 
 resources. The Prime Minister's letter was lengthy. He alluded 
 to the efforts he had made to carry the three great Irish measures, 
 and the failure of his attempt to place the Irish University on a 
 new footing, and he expressed a hope that a new appeal to the 
 constituencies would result in such a strengthening of his hands 
 that another attempt to complete his Irish programme would be 
 more successful than the last. The first two measures had been 
 carried by large majorities — the House of Lords not especially 
 
1874.] DEFEAT AT THE GENERAL ELECTION. 367 
 
 favouring them, but submitting to the irresistible force of public 
 opinion. The third measure had met with disfavour on the part 
 of the Roman Catholic priesthood, in spite of the concessions 
 made to their Church ; and it was defeated, to use Mr. Gladstone's 
 own words, " if not by a combined, yet by a concurrent effort of 
 the leader of the Opposition and of the Roman Catholic pre- 
 lacy of Ireland." The financial position of the country, due in 
 no small degree to his administration, would, he believed, con- 
 stitute an irresistible claim to renewed confidence ; and he so 
 far anticipated the ordinary Budget announcement as to affirm 
 that he believed it would be possible, with the surplus at his 
 command, to abolish the income-tax. 
 
 The result of the general election was to give the Conservatives 
 a majority of 60. It may be observed that this was the first 
 general election in which vote by ballot was adopted. On the 
 17 th of February Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues resigned office, 
 and Mr. Disraeli, being now supported by a majority, under- 
 took the responsibility he had declined a few months before. 
 
3sa^^5KKmxsa^^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 RESIGNATION OF THE LIBERAL LEADERSHIP. 
 
 LITERARY ACTIVITY. 
 
 -INCESSANT 
 
 Parliament met on the 5th of March, and Mr. Brand, who for 
 many years had been the Liberal Whip, was elected Speaker. 
 The business of the session began on the 9th, and the debate on 
 the address was marked by rather an unfortunate occurrence. 
 Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, member for Perthshire, but better 
 known in connection with literature and art than with politics, on 
 moving the address, commented with some asperity on the 
 " elaborate surprise of the dissolution," and said : " It is obvious 
 that the right honourable gentleman, the late Prime Minister, by 
 the dissolution and by his manifesto, was determined to astonish 
 the country. The country, not to be outdone, seemed also bent 
 on astonishing the right honourable gentleman." Mr. Gladstone, 
 in reply, stated that the bye-elections having gone against the 
 Government, their position was " very considerably worsted " in 
 the month of January, and that he had felt it right to appeal to 
 the country before the meeting of Parliament. 
 
 Mr. Disraeli mildly but firmly rebuked his too zealous follower, 
 who, he said, in deference to his previous Parliamentary experi- 
 ence, had not been advised as to the tone of his speech, and who 
 " had made some general observations without consultation with 
 anybody." The new Premier, moreover, took occasion to pay a 
 very high compliment to his distinguished opponent. "The 
 
18.74J PROSPEROUS CONDITION OF THE REVENUE. 369 
 
 Liberal members," he said, " even if they might think that the 
 action of their leader had been precipitate, refrained from com- 
 plaint, and/' he continued, " if I had been a follower of a Parlia- 
 mentary chief as eminent as the right honourable gentleman, even 
 if I had thought he had erred, I should have been disposed 
 rather to exhibit sympathy than to offer criticism. I should re- 
 member the great victories which he had fought and won ; I 
 should remember his illustrious career, its continuous success 
 and splendour, not its accidental or even disastrous mistakes." 
 
 Early in the session Mr. Gladstone had expressed his desire to 
 resign, at no distant time, the position of leader of the Liberal 
 party. He felt the need of rest, and could not undertake to give 
 more than occasional attendance in the House during the session. 
 His friends, however, were not disposed to select another leader, 
 and the proposed resignation was deferred. There was, in the 
 aspect of political affairs, no demand for a very vigorous opposi- 
 tion, and Mr. Gladstone remained nominally the head of the 
 party in the Commons, although not taking a very active part in 
 the debates. 
 
 The large surplus left by the late Government had made the 
 preparation of the Budget a comparatively easy task. The esti- 
 mate by Mr. Gladstone, although at first received with some 
 incredulity^ was found to be far below the actual result, and the 
 surplus really approached the sum of six millions. In introducing 
 the financial statement, Sir Stafford Northcote referred to the late 
 Prime Minister as " one of the very highest financial authorities, 
 perhaps I may say, of the century." The total estimated revenue 
 for the financial year 1874-5 was ;£77.995- 000 > and tn e estimated 
 expenditure ^72,583,000, leaving a surplus of ,£5,492,000. But 
 as interest on advances ought to be included in the revenue of 
 the year, although not so reckoned hitherto, another half million 
 was added to the surplus. Mr. Gladstone had promised, if he 
 
 B B 
 
370 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1874. 
 
 remained in office, to abolish the income-tax; but the Con- 
 servative Chancellor of the Exchequer resolved to apply the 
 magnificent amount in another manner. The half-million interest 
 on advances he proposed to set apart for the reduction of the 
 National Debt ; the sugar duties were to be abolished, a penny- 
 taken off the income-tax and the house duty ; the horsedealer's 
 licence duty and the race-horse duty were remitted. A surplus 
 of ,£462,000 then remained. 
 
 One of the most important debates of the session arose on the 
 introduction to the House of Commons, by Mr. Russell Gurney 
 (the Recorder of London), of the Public Worship Regulation Bill, 
 which had passed the House of Lords. The second reading was 
 moved on the 9th of July. Mr. Gladstone opposed the Bill with 
 great vehemence, maintaining that " in different parts of the 
 country, and in different congregations, various customs had grown 
 up in accordance with the feelings and usages of the people, and 
 they ought not to be rashly and rudely rooted out." He placed on 
 the table six resolutions, which he conceived might be the basis 
 of legislation which might control the eccentricities of individuals 
 without proscribing all varieties of opinion and usage. This 
 speech, one of Mr. Gladstone's most fervid utterances, produced 
 a great effect, and Sir William Harcourt, who followed, supporting 
 the Bill, said, " We have all been under the wand of the great 
 enchanter to-night, and have listened with rapt attention as he 
 poured forth the wealth of his incomparable eloquence. " Mr. 
 Disraeli spoke in favour of the Bill, and flung a famous phrase 
 at the Ritualists — "mass in masquerade." 
 
 The second reading was agreed to without a division. Mr. 
 Gladstone withdrew his resolutions; and after a slight squabble 
 with the Lords respecting amendments, the Bill passed on the 
 5 th of August. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone spoke at some length in opposition to the En- 
 
1875.] THE LIBERAL LEADERSHIP. 371 
 
 dowed Schools Bill, brought in by Lord Sandon on the 2nd of 
 July. The object was to reverse the policy sanctioned by the 
 late Parliament, and transfer to the Charity Commissioners the 
 power exercised by the Endowed Schools Commission. The 
 second reading was carried in the Commons by 291 against 209 ; 
 but in committee the Liberals were resolute and compact, and out 
 of doors the excitement was considerable. Lord Sandon offered 
 some concessions, which were rejected. The debate lasted two 
 days, and then Mr. Disraeli announced that, partly in consequence 
 of the state of public business, and partly because he desired to 
 have more time to consider some of the " perplexing " questions 
 to which the ''restoration clause" of the Bill gave rise, any 
 attempt to amend the existing law would be postponed to another 
 session. 
 
 Parliament rose on the 8 th of August, leaving a very blank 
 record of important public business. 
 
 Previously to the opening of the session of 1875 Mr. Gladstone 
 formally resigned the leadership of the Liberal party in the 
 House of Commons. He wished, he intimated, to devote more 
 attention to literary work and the investigation of social and 
 theological questions than the hurry and drive, the incessant 
 work and worry, of an active political career would permit. Satis- 
 fied with the political greatness he had achieved, he apparently 
 desired to give the remaining years of his life to the production 
 of some work which would achieve for him a distinguished posi- 
 tion in the world of letters. In his own words, the desire to 
 retire from the leadership was " dictated to me by my personal 
 views as to the best method of spending the closing years of my 
 
 life." 
 
 The Liberal members probably anticipated— certainly the 
 
 public press did — that the retirement would be more nominal 
 
 than real. So long as Mr. Gladstone remained a member of the 
 
372 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1875. 
 
 House, his influence would be paramount with his party, who- 
 ever might discharge the routine functions of leadership, and be 
 the spokesman when Ministers were to be questioned or formal 
 opposition offered. There were good men and true on the Oppo- 
 sition benches, men who had held high office with credit, whose 
 ability was great and fidelity unquestionable. Lord Harrington's 
 industry, clear views, tact, and temperate firmness, his familiarity 
 with official and Parliamentary business, and his social position 
 marked him out as a fitting candidate for the dignity of leader of 
 his party. Mr. Bright, one of the greatest and most popular 
 orators the country has ever possessed, was a doughty champion, 
 but fitter to be an active combatant than a general, and, besides, 
 his delicate health was a disqualification for a position demanding 
 incessant work. Mr. Lowe possessed extraordinary talents as a 
 debater of the highest rank, but, unfortunately, his talents included 
 a great ability for seceding from his party on peculiarly inoppor- 
 tune occasions, and a leader who might at any time develop a 
 tendency to retire into an Adullamite cave would be the cause of 
 considerable inconvenience. The real choice lay between Lord 
 Hartington and Mr. Forster, whose management of the Elemen- 
 tary Education Bill had greatly advanced his reputation, and 
 established him in the confidence of the Liberals. Mr. Forster 
 waived his claim in favour of Lord Hartington, who, at a 
 meeting of the party presided over by Mr. Bright, was unani- 
 mously selected to succeed to the leadership. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone loyally accepted the choice of his party, and to 
 a considerable extent withdrew from Parliamentary work ; but his 
 ardent temperament and the deep interest he felt in ecclesiastical 
 and financial questions would not permit him to remain inactive 
 when such subjects were under discussion ; and when he spoke 
 it was to him that the Liberal members looked as their guide. 
 One of the writers of the time remarked, " It was all very well 
 
1874-9.] WOODCRAFT AND LITERATURE. 373 
 
 of the Liberals to elect Lord Hartington leader, vice Mr. Glad- 
 stone, retired from politics. It would have been just as efficacious 
 for the solar system to meet and elect the moon to rule the day, 
 vice the sun, resigned. Mr. Gladstone's erratic appearances in the 
 political firmament were sufficient temporarily to dispose of the 
 titular leader of the Liberals, and it set the whole system once 
 more revolving round himself." Lord Hartington discharged the 
 duties of his position with great ability and admirable tact, and 
 Mr. Gladstone never consciously obtruded his personality, but it 
 was impossible that its influence should not be felt. 
 
 The record of the ensuing five years of Mr. Gladstone's life is 
 a narrative of incessant intellectual and polemical activity. Occa- 
 sionally he appeared in Parliament, occasionally his fervid oratory 
 once more stirred the languid blood of Her Majesty's faithful 
 Commons. But criticism and controversy, examination of the 
 validity of Papal pretensions, and, latterly, courageous and 
 uncompromising championship of the oppressed nationalities 
 subjected to the atrocious misrule of the Turkish Government, gave 
 scope for the exercise of all his power. When he laid down the 
 pen, he took up the woodman's axe, and having demolished an 
 opponent who held heretical opinions respecting the hero of the 
 Iliad or the genuineness of the Homeric epic, with equal 
 vigour attacked a mighty tree in Hawarden Park. One beech tree, 
 thirteen feet in circumference, fell before his axe, after six hours 
 of stupendous exertion; and the vigorous amateur woodman, nearly 
 seventy years old, could scarcely have felt greater pleasure had 
 he demolished the root and branches of a Conservative budget. 
 
 When, on the 6th of August, 1877, the members of the Bolton 
 Liberal Association, including many ladies, went to Hawarden to 
 present an address, they probably expected a formal reception 
 and a political speech. Mr. Gladstone, however, invited them to 
 enjoy themselves in the park, while he and his son cut down a 
 
374 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1874-9. 
 
 tree. Resting now and then from his work, he chatted with his 
 visitors, and shook hands with the ladies ; but there was no set 
 speech, and the Bolton Liberals probably were quite as pleased 
 at seeing the great leader in his shirt-sleeves, axe in hand, at 
 home, enjoying his usual occupation, as if he had hurled thunder- 
 bolts at the Conservative management of finance and foreign 
 affairs. 
 
 About this time there was a remarkable development of 
 periodical literature. A few years before, Mr. George Lewes 
 had started the Fortnightly Review, and the example was followed 
 by the issue of the Contemporary Review, and, later, the Nineteenth 
 Century. The peculiarity of these publications is that they 
 invite the contributions of men of eminence, holding different 
 literary, political, and theological opinions. The articles are 
 signed, and the publication, as a publication, has no individuality, 
 in that respect unlike the other reviews' and magazines. A 
 certain subject is frequently discussed from all points of view by 
 many writers, high-class ability being the only condition insisted 
 on by the editors. In the lists of contributors may be found 
 Tennyson, Gladstone, Archbishop Manning, Freeman, Froude, 
 Lowe, Harrison, Tyndall, the Morleys — Ritualists, Positivists, and 
 men of the highest rank in literature, science, philosophy, and 
 politics. Mr. Gladstone's activity and variety as a contributor 
 were prodigious. Between 1874 and 1879 his name appears in 
 the Contemporary Review, appended to long and elaborate 
 articles entitled, " Is the Church of England Worth Preserving ? " 
 " Ritualism and Ritualists," " The Place of Honour in History," 
 " The Course of Religious Thought," " Russian Policy and Deeds 
 in Turkistan," " The Iris of Homer and her Relation to Genesis 
 ix. n-17" (the announcement of the rainbow covenant with 
 Noah), and " The Sixteenth Century Arraigned before the Nine- 
 teenth : A Study of the Reformation " (a comment on a paper in a 
 
1874-9.] LITERARY ACTIVITY. 375 
 
 previous number, " What Hinders the Ritualists from Becoming 
 Roman Catholics ? " by the Abbd Martin). 
 
 His contributions to the Nineteenth Century were even more 
 diverse in subjects :— "The County Franchise," " The Peace to 
 Come" (having reference to the Eastern Question and India), 
 "England's Mission," "The Slicing of Hector," "Electoral 
 Facts," " The Friends and Foes of Russia," " On Epithets of 
 Movement in Homer," " Probability as the Guide of Conduct," 
 "Greece and the Treaty of Berlin," "The Olympian System 
 versus the Solar Theory," and "The Country and the Govern- 
 ment." One paper, which appeared just before the assembly of 
 the Berlin Conference, " The Paths of Honour and of Shame," 
 attracted great attention. It was a vigorous attack on the 
 Ministerial policy, and concluded with these words : — 
 
 " I am selfish enough to hope, in the interest of my country, that in the 
 approaching Conference, or Congress, we may have, and may use, an oppor- 
 tunity to acquire the goodwill of somebody. By somebody I mean some 
 nation, and not merely some government. Neither in personal nor in national 
 life will self-glorification supply the place of general respect, or feed the 
 hunger of the heart. Rich and strong we are ; but no people is' rich enough 
 or strong enough to disregard the priceless value of human sympathies." 
 
 The contributions to the Fortnightly included " Free Trade, 
 Railways, and the Growth of Commerce," " Russia and England," 
 " Religions, Achaian and Semitic," " On the Influence of 
 Authority in Matters of Opinion " (which produced a reply from 
 Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, to which Mr. Gladstone made a 
 rejoinder), "Montenegro: A Sketch," "Aggression in Egypt 
 and Freedom in the East," " The Colour Sense," and two 
 articles on " The County Franchise," in reply to Mr. Lowe's 
 arguments. 
 
 It will be seen from the titles ot some of these articles that 
 the unhappy disputes in the Church of England greatly exercised 
 Mr. Gladstone's mind. A staunch Churchman, and attached to 
 
376 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1874-9. 
 
 the High Church section, he is strongly opposed to Ritualism, 
 with its vestments and genuflections* which seem to him, as they 
 seem to many others, an imitation of the ceremonies and a sym- 
 bolising of the doctrines, of the Romish Church, unaccompanied 
 on the part of the imitators by the courage of their convictions. 
 When at home at Hawarden he generally reads the lessons of 
 the day in the church, of which his son is incumbent — an office 
 which a layman may discharge ; and when in town he usually 
 attends a church where the service is somewhat " high " and 
 choral ; but to walk in a procession carrying a taper or a banner, 
 following priests wearing embroidered stoles and birettas, would 
 be an act entirely opposed to Mr. Gladstone's notions of Protes- 
 tant Churchmanship. His greatest literary achievement at that 
 period was a vigorous protest against Papal pretensions to 
 exercise a dominion over the consciences of British Catholics. 
 " The Vatican Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance : A 
 Political Expostulation/' was published, and at once made a sen- 
 sation. In the course of a few weeks Mr. Murray, the publisher, 
 disposed of 120,000 copies, edition following edition. 
 
 Writing in the Contemporary Review for October, 1874, in the 
 article headed " Ritualism and Ritualists/' Mr. Gladstone, re- 
 ferring to " the question whether a handful of the clergy are or 
 are not engaged in an utterly hopeless and visionary effort to 
 Romanise the Church of England," went on to say 1 
 
 " At no time since the bloody reign of Mary has such a scheme been possible. 
 But if it had been possible in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, it would 
 still have become impossible in the nineteenth ; when Rome has substituted 
 for the proud boast of s£mper eadem a policy of violence and change in faith ; 
 when she has refurbished, and paraded anew, every rusty tool she was fondly 
 thought to have disused ; when no one can become her convert without re- 
 nouncing his moral and mental freedom, and placing his civil loyalty and 
 duty at the mercy of another ; and when she has equally repudiated modern 
 thought and ancient history." 
 
 The comments and expostulations which this passage excited 
 
1874-9.] THE VATICAN DECREES. 377 
 
 induced Mr. Gladstone to repeat and enlarge upon them, to 
 " expostulate in his turn ; ; ' the result being the pamphlet. He 
 denied that his remarks were an attack upon, or an insult to 
 Roman Catholics generally — " they constitute generally a free 
 and strong animadversion on the conduct of the Papal Chair, and 
 of its advisers and abettors." At considerable length he defended 
 the four allegations contained in the paragraph quoted, and 
 maintained that in the third chapter of the Constitutio Dogmatica 
 Prima de Ecclesia Christi, issued by the Vatican Council, — 
 
 " Absolute obedience, it is boldly declared, is due to the Pope, at the peril 
 of salvation, not alone in faith, in morals, but in all things which concern the 
 discipline and government of the Church. . . . On all matters respecting 
 which any Pope may think proper to declare that they concern either faith or 
 morals, or the government or discipline of the Church, he claims, with the 
 approval of a Council undoubtedly oecumenical in the Roman sense, the abso- 
 lute obedience, at the peril of salvation, of every member of his communion. 
 It is well to remember that this claim in respect of all things affecting the 
 discipline and government of the Church, as well as faith and conduct, is 
 lodged in open day by and in the reign of a Pontiff who has condemned free 
 speech, free writing, a free press, toleration of nonconformity, liberty of con- 
 science, the study of civil and philosophical matters in independence of the 
 ecclesiastical authority, marriage unless sacramentally contracted, and the de- 
 finition by the State of the civil rights of the Church ; who has demanded for 
 the Church, therefore, the title to define its own civil rights, together with a 
 divine right to civil immunities, and a right to use physical force. . . I sub- 
 mit, then, that my fourth proposition [that Rome has equally repudiated modern 
 thought and ancient history] is true ; and that England is entitled to ask, and 
 to know, in what way the obedience required by the Pope at the Council of 
 the Vatican is to be reconciled with the integrity of civil allegiance ? " 
 
 The sixth section of the pamphlet answered a question which 
 Mr. Gladstone probably felt would very likely come to the front, 
 " Were the propositions proper to be set forth by the present 
 writer ? " So long as he continued to be Prime Minister he should 
 not have considered a broad political discussion on a general 
 question suitable to him ; but now the limitations of official 
 position had been removed. In fact, he was once more " un- 
 muzzled." The reason why he now took up the questions are 
 given : — 
 
378 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1874-9. 
 
 " For thirty years, and in a great variety of circumstances, in office and as 
 an independent member of Parliament, in majorities and in small minorities, 
 and during the larger portion of the time as the representative of a great con- 
 stituency, mainly clerical, I have, with others, laboured to maintain and 
 extend the civil rights of my Roman Catholic fellow countrymen. The 
 Liberal party of this country, with which I have been commonly associated, 
 has suffered, and sometimes suffered heavily, in public favour and in influence 
 from the belief that it was too ardent in the pursuit of that policy ; while, at 
 the same time, it has always been in the worst odour with the Court of Rome 
 in consequence of its (I hope) unalterable attachment to Italian liberty and 
 independence. I have sometimes been the spokesman of that party in re- 
 commendations which have tended to foster, in fact, the imputation I have 
 mentioned, though not to warrant it as a matter of reason. But it has existed 
 in fact. So that while (as I think) general justice to society required that 
 these things which I have now set forth should be written, special justice as 
 towards the party to which I am loyally attached, and which I may have had 
 a share in thus placing at a disadvantage before our countrymen, made it, to 
 say the least, becoming that I should not shrink from writing them." 
 
 It may be necessary, as a key to this controversy, to recall the 
 fact that on the 8th of December, 1864, the tenth anniversary 
 of the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, 
 the Pope issued an Encyclical Letter, accompanied by an appen- 
 dix of eighty propositions, enumerating the principal modern 
 errors which the Pope, as head of the Church, condemned. 
 Among other opinions widely entertained and advocated, but 
 which were condemned as heretical, were these : — 
 
 " That the Pope can and ought to become reconciled to progress, Liberalism, 
 and modern civilization." 
 
 " That it is not fitting that in the present day the Catholic religion should 
 be the exclusive religion of the State." 
 
 "That it is untrue that civil liberty to worship and freedom of the press 
 conduce to the corruption of morals and to propagate indifference." 
 
 The appearance of Mr. Gladstone's pamphlet produced a host 
 of replies, and among the most eminent of those who entered 
 the controversial lists were Dr. Manning, Dr. Newman, and 
 Monsignor Capel. These replies and comments — Mr. Gladstone 
 enumerates twenty-one, books, pamphlets, and articles in reviews 
 and magazines — were met by the appearance of another and 
 larger pamphlet from Mr. Gladstone's pen, "Vaticanism; or, 
 
1874-9.] "KIN BEYOND SEA." 379 
 
 Answer to Reproofs and Replies." It displays great research 
 and scholarship, and amply proved — if proof were necessary 
 to anybody who had any acquaintance with the range of the 
 author's studies — that if he had not been a great politician and 
 financier, he might have occupied an eminent position among 
 controversial theologians and ecclesiastical scholars. The 
 pamphlet concluded eloquently : — 
 
 " I am not one of those who find or imagine a hopeless hostility between 
 authority and reason, or who undervalue the vital moment of Christianity to man- 
 kind. I believe that religion to be the determining condition of our well or 
 ill-being, and its Church to have been, and to be, in its several organisms, by 
 far the greatest institution that the world has ever seen. The poles on which 
 the dispensation rests are truth and freedom. Between them there is a holy and 
 divine union, and he that impairs or impugns either is alike the enemy of both. 
 To tear or beguile away from man the attribute of inward liberty is not only 
 idle, I would almost say it is impious. When the Christian scheme first went 
 forth, with all its authority, to regenerate the world, it did not discourage, but 
 invited the free action of the human reason and the individual conscience, while 
 it supplied these agents from within with the rules and motives of a humble, 
 which is also a noble, self-restraint. ... As freedom can never be effectually 
 established by the adversaries of that Gospel which has first made it a reality 
 for all orders and degrees of men, so the Gospel never can be effectually de- 
 fended by a policy which declines to acknowledge the high place assigned to 
 Liberty in the councils of Providence, and which, upon the pretext of the 
 abuse that, like every other good, she suffers, expels her from its system. 
 Among the many noble thoughts of Homer, there is not one more noble or 
 more penetrating than his judgment upon slavery. 'On the day,' he says, 
 ' that makes a bondman of the free, wide-seeing laws take half the man away.' 
 He thus judges, not because the slavery of his time was cruel, for evidently it 
 was not, but because it was slavery. What he said against servitude in the 
 social order, we may plead against Vaticanism in the spiritual sphere, and no 
 cloud of incense which zeal or flattery, or even love, can raise, should hide the 
 disastrous truth from the vision of mankind. " 
 
 Many as were Mr. Gladstone's contributions to English litera- 
 ture, they did not, it would seem, afford scope enough for his 
 mental activity. In the autumn of 1878 he contributed to the 
 North American Review an article, " Kin beyond Sea," in which 
 he described with great minuteness the political working of the 
 British Constitution, and, as some of his critics thought, instituted 
 a comparison between British and American institutions, very much 
 
380 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1876. 
 
 to the disparagement of the former. Some went so far as to accuse 
 him of disloyalty and disrespect to the Sovereign, because the 
 American printers, as is their custom, spelled Queen with a 
 small " q." 
 
 The various articles we have mentioned display great scholar- 
 ship, close reasoning, many graces of style, and much vigour 
 of expression, with an almost pedantic care for accuracy. If the 
 writer uses a Shakspearian phrase — or even two words, such as 
 " sucking dove" — in a familiar manner, a foot-note gives the exact 
 reference to the act and scene of the play. He is convinced 
 that Shakspeare apparently misunderstood the character of Hector 
 of Troy, because, in the Merry Wives of Windsor, the Host 
 of the Garter speaks of " Bully Hector," not remembering that 
 the word was a familiar prefix ; that Bully Hercules is also spoken 
 of, and that Bottom the Weaver is addressed as Bully Bottom. 
 These are little matters, but they indicate the fastidious desire for 
 accuracy characteristic of the writer. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone earnestly but unsuccessfully opposed the Bill 
 introduced by Mr. Disraeli in the Session of 1876, by which the 
 title of Empress of India was added to the style of the Queen 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 In 1876 Europe was horrified by the narrative of the mas- 
 sacres and other atrocities in Bulgaria. We need not dwell on the 
 details. Mr. Gladstone questioned Ministers on the subject, but 
 received cold and unsatisfactory answers. He then published a 
 pamphlet, " Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East," 
 urging that England was grossly neglecting her duty, and ought 
 to " put a stop to the anarchical misrule, the murdering which 
 still desolated Bulgaria." The Turks should be expelled from 
 the province "bag and baggage." He made a great speech, on 
 the subject to his constituents atBlackheath; and when in Decem- 
 ber a great meeting or " conference" was held at St. James's 
 
1877.] THE BULGARIAN ATROCITIES. 
 
 Hall, he spoke at great length. At various smaller meetin 
 railway stations when travelling, and at other places, he i 
 strongly on the subject. In vain Mr. Disraeli, speaking at 
 dinners and on other occasions, sneered at the " hare-bi 
 chatter of irresponsible frivolity," Mr. Gladstone had once 
 got the ear of the majority of the public and the sympa 
 the great mass of the nation. 
 
 Parliament assembled on the 8th of February, 1877. Thr< 
 out the session the debates on the Eastern Question e: 
 the greatest amount of interest. On the 30th of Apri 
 Gladstone introduced five resolutions, which he afterwan 
 duced to one, complaining of the conduct of the Porte 
 regard to the despatch of the Earl of Derby relating tc 
 massacres in Bulgaria ; but after several nights' discussion i 
 lost by a majority of 151. The debate was memorable 
 direct attack on Mr. Gladstone by Mr. Chaplin, the Cons 
 tive member for Mid-Lincolnshire, and the crushing reply giv 
 
 11 The time is short ; the sands of the hour-glass are running out. 
 longer you delay, the less, in all likelihood, you will be able to save fii 
 wreck of the independence and integrity of the Turkish empire. If 
 should fail, her failure would be a disaster to mankind, and the condi 
 the suffering races, for whom we are supposed to have laboured, will be 
 than it was before. If she succeeds, and if her conduct be honourable 
 even if it be but tolerably prudent — the performance of the work she 
 hand will, notwithstanding all your jealousies and all your reproaches, 
 for her an undying fame. When that work shall be accomplished, th< 
 be not in the way and by the means I would have chosen, as an Englisl 
 shall hide my head, but as a man I shall rejoice. Nevertheless, to nr 
 day I will exclaim, Would God that in this crisis the voice of the nati 
 been suffered to prevail ! Would God that in this great, this holy 
 England had not been refused her share. " 
 
 During the session he delivered an important speech o: 
 same topic at Birmingham. 
 
 In the autumnal recess Mr. Gladstone, for the first time 
 a visit to Ireland, but only in a private capacity, and st< 
 declined all invitations to make political speeches. He 
 
382 
 
 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 
 
 [1878. 
 
 presented with the freedom of Dublin. On his return th e 
 Anglesea folk received him at Holyhead, and he indulged them 
 with a speech. 
 
 Comparatively unimportant incidents of this period were, that 
 on the 1 6th of February, 1876, Mr. Gladstone was presented with 
 the freedom of the Worshipful Company of Turners ; and that on 
 the 30th of January, 1878, he addressed a meeting of Oxford 
 undergraduates, on the occasion of a meeting to celebrate the 
 opening of the Palmerston Liberal Club. 
 

 i; 
 
 , . r7R7^TffPi^i>w;yjvni *u\ \ r^R «T^i> > >rera -wm ■< h- m » i w, w& m^wm 
 
 A^v. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE GREAT MIDLOTHIAN CAMPAIGN. 
 
 The ninth Victorian Parliament was dying out. It met on the 5th 
 of March, 1874, and few people believed that the full legal term 
 of seven years would be reached, and the only question was 
 whether the dissolution would take place in the autumn, or that 
 Ministers would try the hazard of another session. There was not 
 only a black cloud in the horizon, but the whole atmosphere was 
 gloomy. The handsome surplus of nearly six millions which, in 
 1874, Mr. Gladstone had bequeathed as a legacy to his successor 
 had disappeared, and Sir Stafford Northcote's financial arrange- 
 ments showed at the end of the session a deficiency of 
 ;£i, 163,000, besides which there was an increase in the debt of 
 ,£5,350,000, the payment of which was deferred till better times. 
 What the attainment of a " scientific frontier " meant, on the 
 Afghanistan side of British India, no man knew, and the Indian 
 officials were very anxious that no man should know — at any rate, 
 for the present The Zulu account was yet to be settled, and any 
 impartial observer must have been sanguine indeed if he supposed 
 that South African difficulties were ended by the capture and 
 imprisonment of King Cetewayo. Very hopeful, too, must he 
 have been if he expected that the Treaty of Berlin, the partition 
 of the provinces of the Turkish empire, and the promise of 
 reform, had settled the Eastern Question. 
 
384 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1879. 
 
 The energy with which Mr. Gladstone had denounced the 
 apathy of the Ministers in respect to the Bulgarian atrocities, and 
 the reaction of public opinion which had been stimulated and 
 dazzled for a time by the loud talk about " peace with honour," 
 had materially weakened the position of the Beaconsfield 
 Administration ; and strenuous efforts were made by the Liberal 
 party to prepare for the inevitable, and probably immediate, 
 general election. It was resolved to attack the counties, where 
 the Conservatives were strongest; and the boldest attempt in 
 that direction was undertaken by Mr. Gladstone. 
 
 He was then in his seventieth year. He had been a member 
 of Parliament for forty-seven years, for nearly twenty years had 
 sat in the Cabinet, and had attained the summit of political 
 ambition when, eleven years before, he became Prime Minister. 
 He had professed himself weary of politics, and desirous of 
 peaceful literary pursuits ; but that dream — for dream it was, in 
 the case of a man so acutely sensitive and sympathetic — had been 
 dispelled, perhaps almost forgotten, in the excitement of the last 
 three years. He might be desirous to tell the world more about 
 Homer, he might wish to disentangle some ecclesiastical com- 
 plexities, to help to disperse some of the shadows which darkened 
 the fair picture of his beloved Church ; but there, in the far East, 
 loomed the phantom of the " unspeakable Turk," most unwilling 
 to be driven out "bag and baggage;" and at home there were 
 financial difficulties, rapidly increasing distrust in the Ministry, 
 and the opportunity once more to hold the helm and guide the 
 vessel of the State. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone had found Greenwich convenient, and he 
 appreciated the trust the constituency reposed in him, but he 
 desired to represent a county rather than a metropolitan borough. 
 He determined to lead the movement against the predominance 
 of Conservatives in the counties by attacking the metropolitan 
 
1879.] THE MIDLOTHIAN CAMPAIGN. 385 
 
 county of Scotland, Midlothian, the representation of which had 
 come to be looked on almost as part of the property of the 
 Buccleuch family. While to win the county would be a great 
 political achievement, it would also be a great personal gratifica- 
 tion to Mr. Gladstone, who prided himself on his Scotch ancestry, 
 and who had so many family associations with that part of 
 Scotland. 
 
 On Monday the 24th of November, 1879, Mr. Gladstone 
 started on one of the most arduous expeditions ever undertaken — 
 not, of course, arduous in the sense in which the word is applied 
 to a walk across Africa, or a search expedition in the Arctic 
 regions, but as involving a strain upon the mental powers which 
 very few young men, even those most gifted with intellectual and 
 bodily vigour, could have successfully encountered. The old man 
 of seventy, who for nearly half a century had been incessantly 
 at work by night and by day, to whose capacious brain and 
 indomitable energy, rest, except the nightly sleep, seemed 
 almost unnecessary, undertook and achieved a feat, occupying 
 just two weeks, the like of which was probably never performed 
 by mortal man. 
 
 Accompanied by Mrs. Gladstone and his daughter, he quitted 
 Liverpool en route for Scotland. At every station at which the 
 train stopped crowds assembled, and he was loudly cheered. At 
 Carlisle many Liberal Members of Parliament and other gentle- 
 men awaited his arrival, and Mr. M'Laren, Vice-President of, and 
 representing the East and North of Scotland Liberal Association, 
 was there to welcome him. In the hall of the County Hotel 
 there was a representative gathering of more than 500 Liberals, 
 and probably there would have been many more if accommoda- 
 tion could have been afforded. Addresses were presented from 
 Langholm, Dumfriesshire, accompanied by a present of cloth 
 
 manufactured in the district j from the Carlisle Liberal Associa- 
 
 r r. 
 
386 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1879. 
 
 tion, the Newcastle-on-Tyne Liberal Association, the Newcastle 
 Liberal Club, and the Gateshead Liberal Association. In his 
 reply he described the existing condition of political affairs as a 
 crisis of an extraordinary character, such as alone could " induce 
 me at my time of life, when every sentiment would dictate a 
 desire for rest, to undertake what may be called an arduous 
 contest." 
 
 At Hawick there was a crowd at the station, to whom Mr. 
 Gladstone, at the invitation of the Provost and other leading 
 Liberals, addressed a few words, hailing them as " fellow soldiers 
 in a common warfare, who had in their charge a cause which is 
 the cause of liberty, which is the cause of honour, and which in 
 the hands of the people of this country, by the blessing of God, 
 will not fail." 
 
 As the train dashed past St. Boswell's and Melrose loud cheers 
 rose from assembled crowds, and at Galashiels, where a halt was 
 made, there was an enthusiastic reception. There stood the 
 Provost of the busy town, that day en fete. Addresses from the 
 Galashiels Liberal Committee and the Selkirk Liberal Association 
 were presented, and there were packages of the tartans and tweed 
 fabrics, the staple manufacture of the town, awaiting Mr. Glad- 
 stone's acceptance. A long speech was made here, and then the 
 carriage was re-entered, and the train went swiftly on its way to 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 Those who are -familiar with " stately Edinburgh, throned on 
 crags," know the large railway station in the depression between 
 the old and new towns, and the splendid Princes Street which 
 skirts it on the northern side. That broad thoroughfare was densely 
 thronged, every available spot at the station was occupied by 
 privileged spectators, and on the platform, waiting to receive 
 the distinguished visitor, were the Earl of Rosebery, President 
 of the East and North of Scotland and of the Midlothian Liberal 
 
1879.] THE MIDLOTHIAN CAMPAIGN. 387 
 
 Associations, many members of Parliament, nearly all the 
 members of the Midlothian Executive Committee, a deputation 
 from the Trades Council, and a considerable number of the 
 members of the Corporation. There were no addresses or 
 speeches — the hour was late, and it would have been unkind to 
 impose additional fatigue on Mr. Gladstone ; besides, on the 
 morrow he was to make his first great Midlothian speech. Lord 
 Rosebery was his host, and, bowing in acknowledgment of the 
 storm of cheers, Mr. Gladstone entered an open carriage and rode 
 to Dalmeney Park, where he rested for the night. 
 
 The Music Hall in George Street, Edinburgh, is the most 
 capacious building in the city; and there, on Tuesday, an 
 immense audience assembled. Three hundred ladies occupied 
 the gallery, the platform was crowded with political and local 
 notabilities, and nearly two thousand persons were massed in the 
 great hall. The speech was of great length, and referred chiefly 
 to the action of the Government in relation to foreign affairs, 
 especially the Eastern Question. The financial position of the 
 country he reserved as a topic for another opportunity. At the 
 opening of his address he took occasion to explain that he con- 
 tested Midlothian solely on public grounds, and with no feeling 
 of personal animosity against the dominant ducal family. 
 
 " I will begin this campaign, if so it is to be called — and a campaign, and 
 an earnest campaign I trust it will be — I will begin by avowing my personal 
 repect for my noble opponent, and for the distinguished family to which he 
 belongs. Gentlemen, I have had the honour — for an honour I consider it— to 
 sit as a colleague with the Duke of Buccleuch in the Cabinet of Sir Robert 
 Peel. That is now nearly forty years ago. I render to the Duke of 
 Buccleuch as freely as to Lord Dalkeith this tribute, that he— given and pre- 
 supposed the misfortune of his false political opinions— is in all respects what 
 a British nobleman ought to be, and sets to us all an example in the active 
 and conscientious discharge of duty, such as he believes duty to be, which we 
 shall do well, from our very different point of view, to follow." 
 
 On the following day, the 26th, he addressed a meeting, at 
 which nearly 3,000 persons attended, in the Corn Exchange, 
 
388 
 
 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1879. 
 
 Dalkeith. The foreign policy of the Ministry, the desire for 
 annexation, and the engagements entered into, which, he said, 
 bound this country as the Liliputians bound Gulliver, with a 
 multitude of small threads and pins ; the inadequate representa- 
 tion of Scotland— a subject sure to enlist the sympathies of a 
 Scotch audience, and an allusion to the law of hypothec, also a 
 purely Scotch topic, and disestablishment of the Church — which 
 he said was not for him, but for the people of Scotland themselves 
 to decide on — were then noticed, and the land laws and the laws of 
 entail and settlement came under notice. Respecting the latter 
 laws he was particularly outspoken : — 
 
 "It appears to me that if there is one law written more distinctly than 
 another upon the constitution of human society by the finger of the Almighty, 
 it is this, that the parent is responsible for making sufficient provision on 
 behalf of the child ; but the law of England is wiser than the Almighty. It 
 improves upon Divine Providence. It will not trust the father to make pro- 
 vision for his son. It calls in the aid of the grandfather, commits to him the 
 function of the parent, introduces a false and, in my opinion, a rather unnatural 
 relation even into the constitution of that primary element of society, the sacred 
 constitution of the family. Not only, then, to liberate agriculture, gentlemen, 
 but upon other grounds — and I will say upon what 1 think still higher grounds 
 — I am for doing away with the present law of settlement and entail. " 
 
 Local Government and the Irish demand for Home Rule were 
 then touched on. Subject to the supreme authority of the 
 Imperial Parliament, he thought a very considerable amount of 
 local government, and even of Home Rule, might be conceded. 
 At present Parliament was overweighted, he might say over- 
 whelmed by business, and the man who should devise a machinery 
 by which some portion of the excessive and impossible task laid 
 upon the House of Commons would be shifted to the more free 
 and therefore more efficient hands of secondary and local 
 authorities, would confer a blessing upon his country that would 
 entitle him to be reckoned among the prominent benefactors of 
 the land. 
 
1879.] THE MIDLOTHIAN CAMPAIGN. 389 
 
 After the meeting at the Corn Exchange, a visit was paid to the 
 Foresters' Hall, where a presentation was made to Mrs. Gladstone 
 by the ladies of the place. Mrs. Gladstone herself acknowledged 
 it with a few earnest words, and her husband addressed the ladies 
 in a very graceful speech, in the course of which, however, he 
 made a slip of memory, which excited some amusement, and 
 which, with his usual sensitiveness, he felt it necessary to explain 
 in a letter to the newspapers. He quoted Lady Nairne's beautiful 
 epithet, "the land o' the leal," as if she meant Scotland, not 
 heaven. When the speech was published in the revised collection 
 the slip was corrected. 
 
 A third speech was delivered on the following day at West 
 Calder, fifteen miles to the west of Edinburgh, in a temporary 
 building specially erected. The route from Dalmeney Park to 
 West Calder was decorated with triumphal arches, and the town 
 was brilliantly illuminated at night. Agricultural matters, the 
 price of land, legislative restraint, small proprietaries, and similar 
 topics, formed the staple of his speech, and the free trade and 
 " reciprocity " doctrines were dilated on ; a very comprehensive 
 view of foreign affairs ; and then came a scathing exposition of the 
 real value of Lord Beaconsfield's famous quotation, " Imperium et 
 Libertas." 
 
 " The Prime Minister quoted certain words, easily rendered as 'Empire 
 and Liberty ' — words (he observed) of a Roman statesman, descriptive of the 
 state of Rome — and quoted by him as capable of legitimate application to the 
 position and circumstances of England. I join issue with the Prime Minister 
 upon that subject ; and I affirm that nothing can be more fundamentally un- 
 sound, more practically ruinous, than the establishment of Roman analogies 
 for the guidance of British policy. What, gentlemen, was Rome ? Rome 
 was, indeed, an Imperial State, you may tell me — I know not, I cannot read 
 the counsels of Providence — a State having a mission to subdue the world ; 
 but a State whose very basis it was to deny the equal rights, to proscribe the 
 independent existence of other nations. That, gentlemen, was the Roman 
 idea. . . We are told to fall back upon this example. No doubt the word 
 'Empire' was qualified with the word 'Liberty.' But what did the two 
 words ' Liberty ' and ' Empire ' mean in a Roman mouth ? They meant simply 
 
390 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. . [1879. 
 
 this — 'Liberty for ourselves, Empire over the rest of mankind.' Gentle- 
 men, it is but in a pale and weak and almost miniature form that such ideas 
 are now set up, but you will observe that the poison lies — that the poison and 
 the mischief lie — in the principle and not the scale. It is the opposite prin- 
 ciple, which, I say, has been compromised by the action of the Ministry, and 
 which I call upon you, and upon any who choose to hear my views, to vindi- 
 cate when the day of our election comes ; I mean the sound and the sacred 
 principle that Christendom is formed of a band of nations who are united to 
 one another in the bonds of right ; that they are without distinction of great 
 and small ; there is an absolute equality between them : the same sacredness 
 defends the narrow limits of Belgium as attaches to the extended frontiers of 
 Russia, or Germany, or France. I hold that he who by act or word brings 
 that principle into peril or disparagement, however honest his intentions may 
 be, places himself in the position of one inflicting — I will not say intending to 
 inflict — I ascribe nothing of the sort— but inflicting injury upon his own 
 country, and endangering the peace and all the most fundamental interests of 
 Christian society. ' 
 
 A little rest from oratorical exertion was taken on Friday, the 
 27th, at Dalmeney Park, but an address was presented by the 
 Corporation of Leith, and of course suitably and briefly replied 
 to ; and in the afternoon the Countess of Rosebery gave a re- 
 ception to the Executive Committee of the Midlothian Liberal 
 Association. • 
 
 Two important speeches were delivered at Edinburgh on Satur- 
 day, one in the Corn Exchange, and the other in the Waverley 
 Market. At the former, Lord Rosebery took the chair. These 
 great meetings were not directly connected in any way with the 
 Midlothian election, and therefore Peers felt themselves at liberty 
 to be present, and at the first meeting eleven were on the platform. 
 At the Corn Exchange about 4,700 persons assembled from all 
 parts of the country, under the auspices of the East and North 
 of Scotland Liberal Association, to hear Mr. Gladstone, and more 
 than one hundred Scotch Liberal Associations were represented. 
 At the Waverley Market a vast gathering of more than 20,000 
 people met for the same purpose, under the direction of a com- 
 mittee of working men representing the different trades of Edin- 
 burgh. At the Corn Exchange meeting the financial state of 
 
1879.] THE MIDLOTHIAN CAMPAIGN. 391 
 
 the country was the chief subject of comment. The Tory 
 Government, he asserted, had raised the annual expenditure by 
 ^8,000,000. They had imposed nearly ,£6,000,000 of taxation, 
 in order to produce ^6,000,000 of deficiency ; and in India the 
 deficiency was about the same in amount. The speaker was quite 
 happy when dealing with figures in this fashion. His examination 
 of the financial situation was like the preludes to half a dozen 
 Budgets rolled into one. 
 
 The meeting in the Waverley Market was attended by, it is 
 said, more than 20,000 persons. Various addresses were pre- 
 sented, and the speech, though short, chiefly referred to foreign 
 affairs, especially the position of the provinces of the Balkan, 
 and the possible intentions of Austria respecting them. "It 
 is not Russia alone whose movements ought to be watched 
 with vigilance. There is too much reason to suspect that some 
 portion of the statesmen of Austria will endeavour to extend her 
 rule, and to fulfil the evil prophecies that have been uttered, and 
 cause the great change in the Balkan peninsula to be only the 
 substitution of one kind of supremacy for another." 
 
 These words gave rise to some unpleasant comments in the 
 Austrian press, and official explanations were made. 
 
 Sunday, the 30th of November, was passed in privacy, Mr. 
 Gladstone attending divine service and the communion at one 
 of the Episcopal churches. On Monday morning he took his 
 departure for Taymouth Castle, on a brief visit to the Earl and 
 Countess of Breadalbane, previous to going to Glasgow. The 
 commercial capital of Scotland is not within the limits of Mid- 
 lothian ; but Friday, the 5th of December, was the day fixed for 
 his installation as Lord Rector of Glasgow University ; and it 
 was not to be expected that he would be permitted to visit the 
 great town without being called upon to make a political speech. 
 The eyes of all Scotland were fixed upon him, and the " Glasgow 
 
392 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1879. 
 
 bodies " were not likely to allow the students to have him all to 
 themselves. 
 
 On the way from Dalmeney Park to Taymouth Mr. Gladstone 
 crossed the Forth at Queensferry, and went thence by train to 
 Inverkeithing, where he received an address from the magistrates 
 and town council. The next stopping-place was Dunfermline, 
 and there a crowd, estimated at 9,000 strong, was waiting for 
 him. The Provost presented an address, to which Mr. Gladstone 
 replied ; and then beautiful specimens of the manufactures of the 
 town, in the shape of sets of damask table linen, were presented 
 to Mrs. Gladstone. 
 
 When the train reached Perth a halt was made. The Lord 
 Provost and magistrates were ready to give a welcome, and on 
 their invitation Mr. Gladstone proceeded to the City Hall and 
 received the freedom of Perth. In replying, he made a feeling 
 allusion to the late Mr. Roebuck, of whose death he had just 
 heard. The party then returned to the railway station, near 
 which a platform had been erected, and addresses from the City 
 and County Liberal Associations were presented. In his speech 
 Mr. Gladstone summarized the charges he had made against the 
 Ministry, and certainly it was a very copious and tremendous 
 indictment : — 
 
 "I charged them with the mismanagement of finance; secondly, with an 
 extravagant scale of expenditure ; thirdly, with having allowed legislation, 
 which is always in arrear in this country, from the necessary pressure of the 
 concerns of so vast an empire — with having allowed that legislation to come 
 into such a state that its arrears are intolerable and almost hopeless. I 
 charged them with a foreign policy which has gravely compromised the faith 
 and honour of the country. I charged them with having, both through their 
 ruinous finance and through their disturbing measures, broken up confidence 
 in the commercial community, and thereby aggravated the public distress. I 
 charged them with having contributed needlessly and wrongfully to the 
 aggrandizement of Russia. I charged them with having made an unjust and 
 dangerous war in Afghanistan, and I further charged them in these terms : 
 ' By their use of the treaty-making and the war-making powers of the Crown, 
 they have abridged the just rights of Parliament, and have presented preroga- 
 
1879.] THE MIDLOTHIAN CAMPAIGN. 393 
 
 tive to the nation under an unconstitutional aspect, which tends to make it 
 
 insecure." 
 
 There were other speeches at railway stations. At Dunkeld an 
 address was presented and replied to; and at Aberfeldy an 
 address was presented from the inhabitants of the town and 
 district, in reply to which he said, " It really seems as if, undei 
 the present sway, our business was not to regulate the concerns oi 
 our own land and of our own firesides, but the concerns of the 
 people of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the rest of the world." He 
 denounced the "theatrical displays and tricks," the "high- 
 sounding discourses about the great position of England, and th« 
 necessity that England should become the teacher and th< 
 instructor of every nation in the world, while we are in dange 
 of falling into a condition in which we shall be conspicuous fo 
 the neglect of our own affairs." 
 
 At Aberfeldy the railway was quitted, and the party drov 
 through the village of Aberfeldy on the way to Taymouth Castle 
 Bonfires blazed upon the hills, and rows of torch-bearers line< 
 the approach to the castle, where "fireworks and rejoicing 
 closed the eventful day," in the course of which Mr. Gladston 
 had been presented with four addresses, made a freeman c 
 Perth, and delivered two lengthy speeches and several brie 
 
 replies. 
 
 The address to the students of the University of Glasgow wa 
 delivered on the $th of December. It dealt with subjects fa 
 apart from political strife, and urged the students to be mindft 
 of the great duties and responsibilities imposed on them by the 
 opportunities for intellectual culture. " Be thorough in all yo 
 do, and remember that though ignorance often may be innocen 
 pretension is always despicable. Be you, like men, strong, an 
 the exercise of your strength to-day will give you more strength b 
 morrow. Work onwards and work upwards, and may the blessin 
 
391 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1879. 
 
 of the Most High soothe your cares, clear your vision, and crown 
 your labours with reward." 
 
 In the evening of the same day Mr. Gladstone addressed a 
 meeting in St. Andrew's Hall, attended by nearly 6,000 persons. 
 It was one of the longest and most elaborate addresses he de- 
 livered in Scotland ; and although some short speeches were de- 
 livered in reply to addresses, it virtually concluded the Mid- 
 lothian campaign. At the conclusion of the speech, having 
 summarized the proceedings of the Government, he said : — 
 
 " I will use the fewest words. We have finance in confusion ; we have 
 legislation in intolerable arrear ; we have honour compromised by the breach 
 of public law ; we have public distress aggravated by the destruction of con- 
 fidence ; we have Russia aggrandised and yet estranged ; we have Turkey 
 befriended as we say, but mutilated, and sinking every day ; we have Europe 
 restless and disturbed. . . . To call this policy Conservative is, in my 
 opinion, a pure mockery, and an abuse of terms. Whatever it may be in its 
 motive, it is in its result disloyal, it is in its essence thoroughly subversive. 
 There is no democrat, there is no agitator, there is no propounder of anti-rent 
 doctrines, whatever mischief he may do, who can compare in mischief with 
 possessors of authority who thus invert and who thus degrade the principles of 
 free government in the British Empire. Gentlemen, I wish to end as I began. 
 Is this the way, or is this not the way, in which a free nation, inhabiting these 
 islands, wishes to be governed ? Will the people, be it now or be it months 
 hence, ratify the deeds that have been done, and assume upon themselves that 
 tremendous responsibility? The whole humble aim, gentlemen, of my pro- 
 ceedings has been to bring home, as far as was in my power, this great question 
 to the mind and to the conscience of the community at large. If I cannot 
 decide the issue — and of course I have no power to decide it — I wish at least 
 to endeavour to make it understood by those who can." 
 
 In the course of the fortnight he spent north of the Tweed he 
 addressed upwards of 75,000 persons. 
 
CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1880 — AGAIN PRIME MINISTER. 
 
 As the appeal to the country was inevitable, it was thought that 
 the Ministry might resolve on a dissolution at once ; but they 
 decided to meet Parliament. A temporary Budget was pre- 
 sented, showing a further deficiency. The great impression 
 made by Mr. Gladstone's speeches, and his vigorous denuncia- 
 tion of the foreign policy of the Government, had greatly affected 
 public opinion, and the shout of disapprobation which greeted 
 Mr. Cross's Bill for purchasing the stock of the Metropolitan 
 Water Companies at a price inordinately beyond the real value, 
 completed the discomfiture of the Ministers. Without any pre- 
 vious intimation, it was announced in both Houses, on the 8th of 
 March, that a dissolution would take place, and on the 24th of 
 March, 1880, the ninth Victorian Parliament came to an end. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone made another visit to Midlothian to address his 
 constituents previous to the election. His exertions were almost 
 as great as on the previous occasion, for he made long speeches 
 at Edinburgh on the 17 th of March, at Corstorphine March 18, 
 at Ratho on the same day, at Dalkeith on the 19th, at Peni- 
 cuik on the 24th, at Storm on the 30th, and at West Calder on 
 the 2nd of April. At the close of the last speech he said, 
 referring to the victories of the Liberals at the elections : — 
 
 "Great things have been done in the last three days, and these things, 
 
396 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1880. 
 
 gentlemen, are not done in a corner. The intelligence, limited, but yet in- 
 telligible, has been flashed over sea and land, and has reached, long before I 
 address you, the remotest corners of the earth. I can well conceive that it 
 has been received in different countries with different feelings. I can believe 
 that there are one or two Ministers of State in the world, and possibly even 
 here and there a Sovereign, who would have eaten this morning a heartier 
 breakfast if the tidings conveyed by the telegraph had been reversed, and if 
 the issue of the elections had been as triumphant for the existing Administra- 
 tion as it has been menacing, if not fatal, to their prospects. But this I know, 
 among other places to which it has gone, it has passed to India — it has before 
 this time reached the mind and the heart of many millions of your Indian 
 fellow-subjects — and I will venture to say that it has gladdened every heart 
 among them. They have known this Government principally in connection 
 with the aggravation of their burdens and the limitation of their privileges ; 
 and, gentlemen, I will tell you more, that if there be in Europe any State or 
 country which is crouching in fear at the feet of powerful neighbours with 
 gigantic armaments, which loves, enjoys, and cherishes liberty, but which at 
 the same time fears lest that inestimable jewel should be wrenched out of its 
 hands by overweening force — if there be such a State, and there may be such 
 a State in the East and in the West — then I will venture to say that in that 
 State, from the highest to the lowest, from sovereign to subject, joy and 
 satisfaction will have been diffused by the intelligence of these memorable days. 
 The great trial, gentlemen, proceeds. It is a great trial. You have great 
 forces arrayed against you. . . . The nation is a power hard to rouse, but 
 when roused harder still and more hopeless to resist. I believe from the 
 indications that crowd upon us from hour to hour that it is now roused. It is 
 impossible for a nation — for the mass of a community — to make politics its 
 daily task. It can be but occasionally and rarely that you can afford to draw 
 aside your minds from the pursuits and exigencies of life and to concentrate 
 them upon public interests. But one has arrived, gentlemen, of those great 
 occasions on which it is alike your interest, your duty, I would even say your 
 necessity, to concentrate your attention, now when this great trial is proceed- 
 ing, in which I figure to myself those who have constituted the majority of the 
 late House of Commons as the persons arraigned, and the constituencies of 
 the country as those who are called together in the solemn order of the Con- 
 stitution to hear the evidence and to pronounce the verdict. That evidence 
 has been pretty largely given. That verdict we await. We have none of the 
 forms of a judicial trial. There are no peers in Westminster Hall, there are 
 no judges on the woolsack ; but if we concentrate our minds upon the truth 
 of the case as apart from its mere exterior, it is a grander and more august 
 spectacle than ever was exhibited either in Westminster Hall or in the House 
 of Lords ; for a nation called to undertake the discharge of a great and 
 responsible duty, a duty which is to tell, as we are informed from high 
 authority, on the peace of Europe and on the destinies of England, has found 
 its interests mismanaged, its honour tarnished, its strength burdened and 
 weakened by needless, mischievous, unauthorised, unprofitable engagements, 
 and it has resolved that this state of things shall cease, and that right and 
 justice shall be done." 
 
1880.] AGAIN PRIME MINISTER. S9\ 
 
 The election took place on Monday, the 5th of April. The 
 result of the poll showed votes for Gladstone 1,579; Lore 
 Dalkeith, 1,368; majority, 211. To guard against the conse 
 quences of a possible, though improbable defeat, Mr. Gladston< 
 had been nominated and returned for Leeds ; but he electee 
 to sit for Midlothian. 
 
 The final elections showed that the tide had turned. Day b) 
 day appeared the record of Liberal gains. When the final retun 
 was made, it appeared that the Liberals had a majority, including 
 the Irish Home Rulers, of 175, and of 53 over Conservatives anc 
 Home Rulers combined. In the list of Liberal gains there wer< 
 no less than 54 constituencies in which the verdict of 1874 ha( 
 been wholly or partially reversed. The Conservatives, for thei 
 part, succeeded in wresting back from the Liberals only two seat! 
 gained by the latter in 1874. The counties closely compete< 
 with the boroughs in swelling the Liberal gains. Of the 219 seat 
 for county constituencies, 45 were gained, and the Liberal repre 
 sentatives of the counties (94 in number) are more than the; 
 have ever been since the general election of 1835. The tota 
 number of Conservative votes recorded in 1-874 was 1,217,806 
 in 1880, 1,412,956. The total number of Liberal votes recorde< 
 in 1874 was 1,431,805 ; in 1880, 1,877,290. 
 
 The Earl of Beaconsfield placed his resignation in the hand 
 of the Queen when the result of the elections was known, and th 
 Queen sent first for Lord Hartington, the Liberal leader in th< 
 House of Commons, and then for Earl Granville, the leader o 
 the party in the House of Lords. Both these statesmen kne\ 
 that the victory was due to Mr. Gladstone, and declined to unde: 
 take the task of forming an administration; and on the 23rd c 
 April Her Majesty sent for Mr. Gladstone, who accepted th 
 office of First Lord of the Treasury, combining with it that c 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 MORE LEGISLATION FOR IRELAND. TWO EXTRAORDINARY 
 
 SESSIONS. 
 
 The new Parliament was opened by Royal Commission on the 
 29th of April ; but the Royal Speech was not read until the 20th 
 of May, the intermediate time being occupied in the House of 
 Commons by the election of the Speaker and the swearing in of 
 the members. This generally formal proceeding was interrupted 
 by the first mutterings of a storm which greatly disturbed the 
 House in this and the ensuing session. Mr. Bradlaugh, who 
 had been many years before the public as a propagator, in the 
 press and on the platform, of atheistic opinions, had been 
 elected for the borough of Northampton, and presented himself 
 at the table, claiming to make a declaration, or affirmation, in- 
 stead of taking the oath in the usual form. He had been per- 
 mitted to do so by magistrates and by the Judges of the Superior 
 Courts, on the ground that, as he did not believe in the existence 
 of God, the form of oath could not be specially binding on his 
 conscience. The Clerk at the table and the Speaker himself 
 were perplexed by the claim. Parliament had generously made 
 provision for accommodating the consciences of Quakers and 
 Jews; but "Turks and heretics" had not hitherto claimed 
 exemption from the ordinary form. Mr. Bradlaugh was certainly 
 not a Jew, and he repudiated Quakerism as emphatically as he 
 
1880.] THE NEW ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 did any other form of Christianity. If he had been content t< 
 follow the example of many, and repeat the words of the oat] 
 without attaching any meaning to them, or with any amount c 
 mental reservation he might have thought fit to employ, he couL 
 have taken his seat quietly j but he stood out for the right o 
 making an affirmation, and the House could not see its way clea 
 to any other course than the appointment of a committe 
 of nineteen members to enquire whether he was or was no 
 entitled to affirm only. When the report was presented, it ap 
 peared that, by a majority of one only, the committee denied 
 Mr. Bradlaugh's right to affirm. 
 
 On the 20th of May the Royal Speech was read by the Lore 
 Chancellor. The position of affairs in Afghanistan and Soutl 
 Africa was of course referred to ; but the most important an 
 nouncement was that the Peace Preservation Act for Ireland 
 the operation of which expired on the ist of June, would not bi 
 renewed. In the debates on the Address, in both Houses, this de 
 termination was vigorously commented on ; and beyond the wall 
 of Parliament the opinion was freely expressed that, in presence o 
 the elements of disorder so abundant in Ireland, the Ministr 
 exhibited an undue amount of confidence in divesting themselve 
 of the power given by the Act. In the Commons, Mr. O'Conno 
 Power, member for Mayo, moved, and Mr. R. Power, member fo 
 the city of Waterford, seconded, an amendment, but it wa 
 rejected by a majority of 253, and the Address was carried. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone met Parliament with a strong array of Minis 
 terial colleagues — some veterans of proved power, others 
 recruits of more than ordinary promise. Lord Selborne and 
 Earl Granville had resumed the offices they had previously held; 
 Lord Hartington was Secretary of State for India, the Earl of 
 Kimberley for the Colonies, the Duke of Argyll Lord Privy Seal 
 and Earl Spencer President of the Council; Lord Northbrook 
 
400 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1880. 
 
 was at the Admiralty, and Mr. Childers at the War Office ; Sir 
 William Harcourt was at the head of the Home Department; 
 Mr. Forster, whose administrative capacity was so well established, 
 undertook what proved to be the most arduous position in the 
 Ministry, that of Secretary for Ireland ; and Mr. Bright, in the 
 comparatively easy office of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 
 gave the prestige of his great reputation to the Cabinet. The most 
 conspicuous of the new men were Mr. Fawcett, whose physical 
 infirmity was an insurmountable objection to his becoming a 
 Cabinet Minister, but who undertook the office of Postmaster 
 General; Mr. Mundella, Vice-President of the Council; Mr. 
 Chamberlain, the colleague of Mr. Bright in the representation of 
 Birmingham, who entered the Cabinet as President of the Board 
 of Trade, and Sir Charles Dilke, who, as Under-Secretary, repre- 
 sented the Foreign Office in the Commons. The two appoint- 
 ments last mentioned were a recognition of the abilities of the 
 leading members of the advanced Liberals. Of Mr. Gladstone's 
 colleagues in his previous administration, two eminent members 
 had no place in the new arrangements. Lord Cardwell apparently 
 had no desire to resume office, content to be an unattached 
 member of the Liberal party ; and Mr. Lowe, with the title of 
 Viscount Sherbrooke, transferred his great abilities and uncertain 
 support of the Premier to the Upper House. 
 
 The House had scarcely settled down to work, when Mr. 
 Bradlaugh again appeared upon the scene. The committee 
 having decided against him on the affirmation claim, he presented 
 himself at the table on the 21st of May, and offered to take the 
 oath. Here was a change of front involving an embarrassing 
 dilemma. About a fortnight before, he had objected to take the 
 oath because he did not believe in the assumption it involved, 
 and to which he would appear to assent; now he demanded to 
 take it, admittedly as a fictitious ceremony — an affirmation in 
 
1880.] THE BRADLAUGH DIFFICULTY. 40 
 
 disguise. A large number of members of the House were unable 
 to appreciate the subtle train of reasoning which had apparentl) 
 been satisfactory to Mr. Bradlaugh. To some, taking the oath 
 with an avowed expression of disbelief in its obligation seemed a 
 profanation ; to others, an audacity. Sir H. Drummond Wolff 
 member for Portsmouth, brought the matter to an issue by moving 
 a resolution to the effect that Mr. Bradlaugh could not be per- 
 mitted to take the oath, as he had publicly declared it was not 
 binding on his conscience. A two-nights' debate ensued, in th( 
 course of which much irrelevant matter was introduced, and it is 
 to be hoped that Mr. Bradlaugh benefited by the criticisms on his 
 character and contributions to his biography. Mr. Gladstone 
 anxious that any action of the House should be deliberatel) 
 taken, moved, as an amendment to the resolution, that a selec 
 committee should be appointed to consider and report upon th( 
 question whether an avowed atheist could legally take the oath 
 This amendment was strongly objected to, the Opposition insisting 
 that the House was competent to decide upon the matter at once 
 A division was taken, and Sir H. Wolff's resolution being negativec 
 by 289 to 214, the committee was appointed. On the 16th o 
 June, Mr. Walpole reported that the committee had arrived a 
 the conclusion that the oath ought not to be administered to ai 
 avowed atheist. A few days afterwards, Mr. Henry Labouchere 
 Mr. Bradlaugh's colleague in the representation of Northampton 
 moved that he should be allowed to make a declaratioi 
 or affirmation; but, after an exciting debate, the motion wai 
 negatived by a majority of 45. On the following night Mr 
 Bradlaugh presented himself at the bar of the House, anc 
 having been permitted to make a speech in support of hi< 
 claim to take his seat, was ordered to withdraw. He refused tc 
 do so, on the ground that he was a duly elected member of th« 
 House, and resisted the Sergeant-at-Arms, wherefore he was, 01 
 
 D D 
 
402 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1880. 
 
 the motion of Sir Stafford Northcote (Mr. Gladstone, the leader 
 of the House, having declined to interfere), taken into custody 
 and committed to an apartment in the clock-tower, where he 
 remained a prisoner in comfortable quarters until the following 
 evening, when Sir Stafford Northcote, thinking that the dignity of 
 the House had been sufficiently vindicated, moved that he be 
 released from custody — a motion to which nobody objected. On 
 the ist of July Mr. Gladstone moved a resolution permitting 
 Mr. Bradlaugh to affirm, " subject to any liability by statute." 
 The words quoted made the resolution different from that pro- 
 posed by Mr. Labouchere and rejected by the House ; and many 
 members who hesitated to accept the responsibility of coming to 
 a decision, the legality of which might afterwards be questioned, 
 saw, in the words introduced by the Prime Minister, a saving 
 clause by which any responsibility would be made to rest on Mr. 
 Bradlaugh himself, and not on the House. The resolution was 
 carried by 303 against 249. 
 
 The course adopted by Mr. Gladstone was much criticised at 
 the time; and some of his habitual supporters and admirers 
 fancied they had discovered a concession to the opinions of the 
 advanced Radicals in the Cabinet. It may be well, therefore, 
 for the purpose of showing that the Prime Minister acted in 
 accordance with his own views of political duty, to quote his 
 words : — 
 
 "It is not well that any person duly elected, and tendering himself in the 
 terms of the Act of Parliament at the table to swear or affirm, should be pre- 
 cluded from taking his place in the House — subject to the liabilities incumbent 
 on him by statute — through any question put to him on behalf of the House. 
 That, sir, is the simple issue which I present to the mind of the House, and 
 I detach it altogether from the specialties of Mr. Bradlaugh's opinions. 
 There might have been other opinions which might have been elicited by 
 questions from persons in other circumstances. I care not what the 
 opinions were ; we stand upon this point — that where the law has laid down 
 a rule, where the constituency have exercised their privilege, where the pro- 
 ceedings are unimpeachable in form and substance, and where the man whom 
 
ls 30-] A BIG BLUNDER. 402 
 
 they have chosen neither says nor does anything in this House, of his owr 
 accord, spontaneously deviating either to the right or left from the line pointed 
 out by the Act of Parliament — we say that it is not well for the general 
 interests of the country, it is not well for the interests or character of this 
 House, that such a person, whatever his opinions, on presenting himself should 
 be stopped on his road to his seat by the act of any person proceeding to 
 question him on the part of the House. It is well that he should be left to 
 be tried by the tribunals of his country, which have full means for conducting 
 his trial, and which will acquit or condemn him according to law." 
 
 One of the earliest duties incumbent on Mr. Gladstone was the 
 preparation of a new Budget. Sir Stafford Northcote, previous 
 to the dissolution of Parliament, had made a comfortable finan- 
 cial arrangement, to which Mr. Gladstone had assented j but 
 neither of them then knew what soon became very unpleasantly 
 apparent, that Sir John Strachan, the Military Accountant-General 
 in India, had, " by mistake," under-estimated the cost of the war 
 in Afghanistan to the extent of about ^9,000,000 ! As some 
 portion of the expense must devolve on the Imperial Government, 
 and a supplemental estimate had not only absorbed the small 
 surplus on which Sir Stafford had relied, but created a consider- 
 able deficiency, Mr. Gladstone was compelled to confine his 
 financial arrangements within narrow limits. It was not a time 
 for a sensational Budget. In expectation of the renewal of the 
 expiring Commercial Treaty with France, he proposed some 
 modifications of the wine duties, but subsequently withdrew the 
 resolution, in consequence of the difficulties attending the negotia- 
 tions for the renewal of the treaty. The malt-tax — that bete noir 
 of so many Chancellors of the Exchequer — was at length to be 
 abolished ; but a tax on beer was substituted, a duty of 6s. 3d. 
 being made payable on every barrel (with allowance for waste) ; 
 and private brewers would be required to take out a licence. 
 Another penny would be added to the income-tax, and that was 
 all. Lord George Hamilton and Sir Stafford Northcote objected 
 to the abolition of the malt-tax at the expense of the payers of 
 
404 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. . [1880. 
 
 ncome-tax ; but no formal opposition was made to the passing of 
 the resolutions. 
 
 On Sunday, the ist of August, Mr. Gladstone was prostrated by 
 a severe attack of congestion of the lungs ; and for several days 
 was in great danger. An intense sympathy was aroused, and all 
 political differences were forgotten in the anxiety respecting the 
 condition of the Prime Minister. The excellent constitution of 
 the patient and the skill of his medical attendants obtained the 
 mastery in the struggle between life and death ; and when 
 sufficiently recovered to be removed from Downing Street, a 
 cruise round Great Britain, on board one of Mr. Donald Currie's 
 magnificent steamers, restored Mr. Gladstone to health and com- 
 parative strength. It is not too much to say that all England 
 rejoiced when, on the 28th of August, exactly four weeks after the 
 first attack, Mr. Gladstone resumed his place in the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 During the enforced absence of the Prime Minister, Lord 
 Hartington occupied the position of leader of the House ; and 
 seldom has a most arduous duty been more ably discharged. 
 Firmness, discretion, and good temper were qualities pre- 
 eminently necessary under the circumstances, and all these 
 qualities Lord Hartington exhibited. Previous to Mr. Gladstone's 
 illness, the Compensation for Disturbance Bill, introduced by 
 Mr. Forster, had been carried through the House, with no little 
 difficulty, some of the Irish members doing their best to obstruct 
 it at every stage. The Bill reached the House of Lords on the 
 27th of July, and was rejected by their lordships on the 3rd of 
 August by 282 against 51. Once more the Lords had defeated 
 the Ministerial policy ; but, this time, Mr. Gladstone reserved his 
 strength for another opportunity. 
 
 The Irish members were not the only obstructors. A small 
 " Fourth Tarty," as it was named, consisting of three members, 
 
BOYCOTTING. 405 
 
 d Randolph Churchill, Sir H. Wolff, and Mr. Gorst, professedly 
 iservatives, but dissatisfied with the mild-mannered Sir Stafford 
 •thcote, and fighting "for their own hand," in Hal-o'-the-Wynd 
 ion, were indomitable and irrepressible. If their philosophy 
 
 not Socratic, their power of putting questions on all possible 
 isions was quite in accordance with the Socratic method; 
 
 their speech-making proclivities were equally active. Lord 
 rtington, while acting as leader, summed up in an amusing 
 iner the performances of the Fourth Party and the Irish 
 nbers. Up to that time (August 20) — exactly three months 
 a the beginning of business — Mr. Gorst had asked 85 questions 
 . made 105 speeches; Sir H. Wolff, 34 questions and 68 
 eches ; Lord R. Churchill, 21 questions, 74 speeches; Mr. 
 gar, T4 questions, 58 speeches; Mr. Finigan, 10 questions, 
 speeches; Mr. A. O'Connor, 2 questions, 55 speeches. Six 
 nbers, said Lord Hartington, had made 407 speeches, and, 
 wing ten minutes for each speech, occupied a fortnight of the 
 king time of the House. 
 
 "he prorogation took place on the 7th of September. Little, 
 ?ed, had been done in legislation ; and absolutely nothing in 
 )ect to Irish difficulties, which were assuming alarming dimen- 
 is. Early in the year Mr. Parnell had visited America with 
 view of organizing an Irish party there, who would assist to 
 vide funds for carrying on the political objects of his party, 
 . for the relief of the distress suffered by the Irish peasantry, 
 jre was distress indeed, but it was mitigated as the summer 
 ie on. The Land League then advised the tenants to refuse 
 pay rent, and then followed evictions and outrages. That 
 uliar form of opposition known as Boycotting, from the name 
 Captain Boycott, the most conspicuous victim, was pursued 
 1 indomitable tenacity of purpose. It consisted in isolating 
 objectionable person from all kinds of social intercourse. No 
 
406 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1880. 
 
 shopkeeper would supply him with food or other necessaries ; his 
 labourers left the crops to rot in the ground ; no one would speak 
 to him, or to any member of his family. If he himself drove a 
 few cattle to the public market, there was no purchaser to be 
 found. His life was in such peril that he wandered about his 
 farm or pastures guarded by policemen with loaded rifles, and his 
 house was converted into a small garrison. Captain Boycott 
 appealed to the authorities for help, and, a party of Ulster 
 Protestants having volunteered to cut and house his crops, a 
 strong military force escorted them to the estate near Lough 
 Mask, and remained on guard till the harvest was got in. Then 
 the relief party returned, guarded as before, greeted in every 
 village they passed through with muttered execrations and malig- 
 nant jeers. Outrages increased; evictions were resisted or the 
 evicted tenant was replaced in his holding by silent, but deter- 
 mined parties of angry men, whom the landlord dared not attempt 
 to resist. Cattle and sheep were cruelly mutilated in a spirit of 
 revenge. Process servers, unless guarded by soldiers, were 
 assaulted, sometimes nearly killed ; sheriff's officers performed 
 their duties accompanied by an imposing array of armed con- 
 stabulary. There were open assassinations of unpopular land- 
 lords and others. The ordinary operations of law were suspended ; 
 and virtually, if not legally, a large portion of western Ireland was 
 under martial law, and that very inadequate to the work of main- 
 taining order and suppressing crime. The Land League agitators 
 travelled through the country, making inflammatory speeches and 
 encouraging the ignorant, violent peasantry to continue in their 
 work of intimidation and outrage. 
 
 By their refusal to renew the Peace Preservation Act, which 
 expired in June, Ministers greatly weakened the arm of the 
 executive; and it became evident that some strong measures 
 must be taken. Irish noblemen and gentlemen urged the Lord 
 
880.] TERRORISM IN IRELAND. 407 
 
 lieutenant and the Chief Secretary to adopt some steps by which 
 liey would be protected, not only in executing processes of law, 
 >ut in the ordinary peaceful and secure enjoyment of life and 
 •roperty. The known aversion of some members of the Cabinet 
 
 coercive measures, the acknowledgment of the Ministry 
 enerally that Ireland had great grievances, which they were 
 ound in reason and justice to endeavour to redress, encouraged 
 tie agitators, who believed that the terrorism they aroused would 
 iduce Ministers to make great concessions. Mr. Forster, 
 tie Chief Secretary, visited Ireland several times during the 
 ession, and it was believed that he advocated strong measures 
 f repression; but, on the other hand, Mr. Bright and Mr. 
 "hamberlain, Cabinet Ministers, in addressing their Birmingham 
 onstituents, had maintained that "force is no remedy." The 
 rish members believed, perhaps the Opposition members hoped, 
 lat there were dissensions in the Ministry. If so, they must 
 ave been disappointed when Mr. Gladstone, at the Lord Mayor's 
 anquet, on the 9th of November, speaking, of course, as Prime 
 linister, with full authority, said : — 
 
 " Anxious as we are for the practical improvement of the land law, I 
 ssure your lordship, and all who hear me, as well as those who may become 
 :quainted with the proceedings of this meeting, that we recognise also the 
 riority of the duty above any other of enforcing the law for the purposes of 
 -der. We hold it our first duty to look to the law as it stands, and to 
 icertain what fair and just administration means. But the obligation incum- 
 ;nt upon us to protect every citizen in the enjoyment of his life and property 
 ight, under certain circumstances, compel us to ask for an increase of 
 Dwer • and, although we will never contemplate such a contingency, nor 
 lagine it to exist, until it is proved by the clearest demonstration, yet if that 
 mtingency were realised, if the demonstration were afforded, you may rely 
 
 1 it we should not shrink from acting on the obligation it would entail." 
 
 The demonstration and clear evidence were not far to seek, 
 he Judges of Assize supplied them. "Mr. Justice Fitzgerald 
 
 Cork, and Mr. Baron Dowse in Galway," we are told, " drew 
 1 alarming picture of the prevailing lawlessness in Munster and 
 
408 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [2880. 
 
 Connaught, while Justices Barry and Lawson bore testimony to 
 the progress of the contagion in Leinster and even in Connaught. 
 Not one case of outrage in ten led to a prosecution, and the trials 
 at the assizes proved that, even of this small proportion, very few 
 could be expected to end in the punishment of the guilty. Mr. 
 Justice Fitzgerald complained that both witnesses and jurors had 
 been driven by menaces to forget or forego the obligations of 
 their oaths. Prisoners were acquitted against whom conclusive 
 evidence had been taken before the magistrates. The judges 
 themselves were threatened if they persisted in doing their duty." 
 
 Nearly thirty years ago, Mr. Griffiths had made an official 
 valuation of land in Ireland ; and the Land League orators now 
 advised the tenants to refuse payment according to any other 
 valuation, and to resist any consequent proceedings. Thirty years 
 make a considerable change in most things; but, according to 
 the agitators, not in the value of Irish land. At any rate, 
 Griffiths' valuation was a convenient pretext for resisting authority 
 Very strong language was used ; and the Government decided on 
 indicting Mr. Parnell, some other Members of Parliament, and 
 some officials of the Land League, for seditious conspiracy. The 
 trial at Dublin began on the 28th of December, and resulted in 
 the acquittal of the accused. 
 
 The year ended in gloom. There was little repose for Ministers . 
 Not Ireland only occupied their thoughts. They felt the necessity 
 of reviewing the decision of their predecessors in respect of 
 Afghanistan and South Africa. The former must be evacuated 
 by British troops, and the Ameer and his rivals left to fight their 
 own battles ; the Transvaal must be restored to the Boers, and the 
 restoration of annexed territory was an idea not agreeable to 
 British traditions, and certainly very disagreeable to pugnaciously 
 disposed persons. It may be added that intelligence early in the 
 year of defeats of the English troops, by the Boers, and the death 
 
1881.] A REMARKABLE SESSION. 409 
 
 of Sir George Colley, the British general, did not make the project 
 of restoration one whit more acceptable. 
 
 Parliament was summoned to meet on the 6th of January. 
 The Royal Speech referred to the alarming social condition of 
 Ireland. Agrarian crimes had multiplied far beyond the experi- 
 ence of recent years ; the administration of justice had been 
 frustrated by the impossibility of procuring evidence ; and an 
 extended system of terror had been established in some parts of 
 the country which paralyzed almost alike the exercise of private 
 right and the performance of civil duties. Propositions, it was 
 announced, would be submitted for additional powers necessary 
 for the vindication of order and public law, and to secure pro- 
 tection for life and property and personal liberty of action. 
 Parliament was recommended to undertake the further develop- 
 ment of the principles of the Land Act of 1870 in a manner con- 
 formable to the special wants of Ireland, both as regards the 
 relation of landlord and tenant, and with a view to effective efforts 
 for giving to a large portion of the people by purchase a perma- 
 nent proprietary interest in the soil. A measure was also pro- 
 mised for the establishment of county government in Ireland, 
 founded upon representative principles, and framed with the 
 double aim of conferring popular control over expenditure, and of 
 supplying a yet more serious want by extending the formation of 
 habits of local self-government. 
 
 Then commenced a session the records of which will form one 
 of the strangest chapters in the history of the Parliament of the 
 United Kingdom. The Irish members decided on a policy of 
 obstruction, the like of which had never before been encountered. 
 The previous Parliament had tasted the pleasures of an all-night 
 sitting, and had enjoyed some little experience of the ability of 
 the Irish members to impede business. But the session of 188 1 
 was unique. The motion for the Address in reply to the speech 
 
410 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1881. 
 
 produced a vigorous debate in the House of Lords, in which the 
 Earl of Beaconsfield defended the Afghan policy of the late 
 Ministry, and referring to Ireland, said : "I am not using 
 exaggerated language when I say that Her Majesty's executive in 
 Ireland have absolutely abandoned their functions." 
 
 The debate on the Address in the Commons occupied eleven 
 nights. Mr. Parnell, Mr. Justin M'Carthy, Mr. Dawson, Mr. 
 Sexton, Mr. O' Kelly, and others proposed amendment after 
 amendment, nothing daunted by the fact that they were all 
 rejected by large majorities. Time was wasted, and that was all 
 the obstructionists desired. Ultimately the Address was carried 
 by 435 t0 57« On the 24th of January Mr. Forster moved for 
 leave to bring in a Bill for the Protection of Person and Property 
 in Ireland. The Bill would confer on the Lord-Lieutenant the 
 power by his warrant to make arrests of persons reasonably sus- 
 pected of having been, either before or after the passing of the 
 Act, guilty, as principal or accessory, of treason-felony, or treason- 
 able practices, or of having incited acts of violence or intimidation. 
 The Act was to be in force until the end of September, 1882. 
 On the following night Mr. Gladstone moved that the Bill, and 
 the Bill which was to follow, should have precedence over all 
 other Bills. It cost the House twenty-two hours of continuous 
 sitting to carry this motion, although only thirty-three members 
 voted against it. But when some thirty members, gifted with 
 fluency of speech and good lungs, persist in moving amendments 
 and adjournments, and make speeches on every motion, they can 
 easily amuse themselves for twenty-two hours by working in relays. 
 
 It was not until the 25th of February that the Bill passed the 
 Commons, by a majority of 245, the numbers being 281 to 36. It 
 was carried in the Lords and received the Royal Assent on the 
 2nd of March, the day after Sir William Harcourt had moved in 
 the Lower House for leave to bring in the Peace Preservation 
 
1881.] IRISH MEMBERS "ORDERED OUT." 411 
 
 (Ireland) Bill. According to his wont, the Home Secretary was 
 very outspoken. " Pikes, revolvers, and dynamite," he said, 
 "are not the instruments of legitimate reform; but in such a 
 state of society as has been created in Ireland, they are the secret 
 armouries of treason and revolution, of the midnight brigand and 
 the skulking assassin. It is against such persons that the Bill is 
 directed." 
 
 The debate — if by any stretch of ordinary language the obstruc- 
 tive talk can be considered a debate — on the motion for leave 
 to bring in Mr. Forster's Bill, extended over five nights, and 
 involved a continuous sitting of the House for forty-two hours. 
 At length, the Speaker, exercising an authority which, however 
 desirable, was perhaps a little open to question, refused to hear 
 any more speeches and put the question of the first reading. On 
 the following night a very remarkable scene was enacted. 
 Ministers and the regular Opposition were alike agreed that some- 
 thing must be done to prevent hindrance to public business 
 by the Irish members taking advantage of the existing rules of 
 the House. Mr. Gladstone introduced a resolution giving power 
 to the Speaker to frame new rules; and Mr. Dillon, persistently 
 out of order with his interruptions, and refusing to defer to the 
 Speaker, was at length suspended from taking any further part in 
 the sitting, and ordered to leave the House. Other Irish 
 members sprang to their feet, defied the Speaker, and were 
 ordered out. Altogether, thirty-five, the whole body of the 
 obstructors, marched out, one after the other, escorted by the 
 Sergeant-at-Arms. Relieved of this troublesome contingent, the 
 House then agreed to a resolution that when a Bill was declared 
 urgent by a majority of three to one in a House of 300 members, 
 on the proposal of a Minister of the Crown, the power of the 
 House for the regulation of all business should be in the hands of 
 the Speaker. The resolution worked well, with the assistance of a 
 
412 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [3 881. 
 
 code of rules devised by the Speaker and sanctioned by the House. 
 Mr. Gladstone introduced his Budget fit might be, he said, his 
 last Budget) on the 4th of April, before the Easter holidays. It 
 was simple in its arrangements, and did not excite much interest. 
 The penny added to the income-tax in 1880 was taken off, and 
 some alterations were made in the surtax on foreign spirits and 
 wines, and in the legacy and probate duties. A surplus of about 
 ^300,000 would be in hand. He avoided complex arrange- 
 ments, which might produce long debate, for his great object was 
 to introduce the promised Land Bill for Ireland, on the success 
 of which he had staked his Ministerial fortunes. 
 
 On Thursday, the 7th of April, Mr. Gladstone rose to move 
 for leave to bring in the Irish Land Bill. A rumour of dissen- 
 sions in the Cabinet, and the consequent retirement of the Duke 
 of Argyll from the office of Lord Privy Seal, had reached the 
 members, and before the sitting had ended was confirmed. In his 
 introductory remarks, Mr. Gladstone admitted that the Bill of 
 1870 had failed to realize the results proposed. Having referred 
 to the two commissions which had been appointed, one by the 
 late and one by the present Government, he proceeded to sketch 
 the leading provisions of the Bill. He went on to say : — 
 
 "I feel that I have led the House through a wilderness of detail, and I 
 will now try to sum up in a very few words the effect of what I have said. 
 What we propose to do is this. To set up, on one hand, a system of limited 
 and regulated freedom of contract between the landlord and the tenant, 
 wherein, in consideration of the circumstances of Ireland, the tenant shall, 
 notwithstanding, be fortified by certain provisions of the law as to his right 
 of sale, and as to guarantees against arbitrary increase of rent. That we offer 
 on the one side. On the other side, we offer freely the entrance into a Court 
 passing under a public authority, so that no matter relating either to tenure, 
 assignment, or to rent, can escape the supervision of the Court. The Court 
 must act upon general principles of justice. Improved. general law may keep 
 the tenant out of the Court ; but if it does, it is only because it is his interest 
 to remain out. I must say that I think in any country of which the agricul- 
 tural relations were established on a tolerably happy footing, it would indeed 
 be an extremely sorry offer either to landlords or tenants to tell them they 
 might have the privilege of going into a court of justice, with all the incidents 
 
1881.] THE IRISH LAND BILL. 413 
 
 attaching to such a proceeding, for the purpose of making their bargain. 
 Still, in this peculiar case that is what we deliberately and advisedly make an 
 essential part, and indeed the very core of the measure. On the morning after 
 this Bill passes every landlord and tenant will be subject to certain new pro- 
 visions of the law of great importance. In the first place increase of rent will 
 be restrained by certain rules. In the second place, compensation for disturb- 
 ance will be regulated according to different rates ; and in the third place — 
 more important probably than any — the right to sell the tenant's interest will 
 be universally established. What I am now saying is outside the 
 Court. But there also remains free power to go into the Court, to authorise 
 application to the Court for a judicial rent, which maybe followed by a judicial 
 tenant right ; that judicial rent to entail a statutory term of fifteen years, and 
 the renewal of it Mies quoties to be provided so long as the present tenancy 
 exists, and the present tenancy not to be determined by the mere change of 
 tenant. Eviction will hereafter, as I trust, be only for default, and resump- 
 tion by the landlord, apart from the default of the tenant, will disappear in 
 Ireland, except it be for causes both reasonable and grave, the which causes 
 may be brought into question before the Court. Well, we are sometimes told 
 that it is a hopeless business to legislate for Ireland. I am not of that 
 opinion. Let me consider what has happened in Ireland in our time. For 
 half a century Parliament has been intermittently — but still, on the whole, not 
 without resolution and not without good intention, engaged in bringing into 
 Ireland better, larger, and more liberal systems of policy and legislation. 
 And what has happened in Ireland within that time ? No country has reaped 
 greater benefits. Ireland had, from the great transition between Protection 
 and Free Trade, reaped benefits absolutely unmixed. The price of every- 
 thing Ireland produced was raised. In England the tenant farmer had to 
 face a decrease in the price of his principal commodity, on which he had 
 always mainly and unduly relied for the payment of his rent, namely, his 
 wheat. But to Ireland, a country which imports more wheat than she grows, 
 the benefit from that has been unmixed, and from other causes it has been 
 abundant. Look at the improved condition of the people. What old man is 
 there in Ireland now who can compare the condition of the people in almost 
 every part of Ireland with what it was half a century ago, and not thank God 
 
 for the transformation which has passed over that country There 
 
 may be other facts disheartening enough, but there are circumstances which 
 should teach us neither to despair nor to despond. But there is a higher 
 encouragement and nobler encouragement yet than these ; and that is one tha 
 is to be enjoyed by all men who have faith in certain principles of action. It 
 is said that we have failed in Ireland. I do not admit failure. I admit success 
 to be incomplete. I am asked how it is to be made complete. I say by 
 patient persistence in well-doing— by steady adherence to the work of justice. 
 Then we shall not depend on the results of the moment. It will not be what 
 to-day may say, or to-morrow may say. It will be rather what fruits we are 
 to reap in the long future of a nation's existence, and with that we have a 
 reckoning which cannot fail. Justice, sir, is to be cur guide. It has been 
 said that love is stronger than death, and so justice is stronger than popular 
 excitement, than the passion of the moment, than even the grudges and re- 
 
414 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1881. 
 
 sentments and sad traditions of the past. Walking in that path we cannot 
 err. Guided by that light— that Divine light — we are safe. Every step we 
 make upon our road is a step that brings us nearer to the goal ; and every 
 obstacle, even although it seems for the moment insurmountable, can only for 
 a little while retard, and never can defeat, the final triumph." 
 
 The Bill having been read a first time, the House adjourned 
 for the Easter vacation. Mr. Gladstone's health had been some- 
 what impaired in consequence of severe contusions on the head 
 he had received by a fall as he was stepping from his carriage 
 on to the pavement coated with ice, a result of the intense frost. 
 He needed repose, and a few days of rest and country air at 
 Hawarden were welcome. The second reading was proposed 
 to be taken on the 25th of April. Sir Stafford Northcote, leader 
 of the Conservative Opposition, declared that the Bill contained 
 principles so intrinsically unjust, and so open to objection from 
 an economic point of view, that he and his friends could not 
 conscientiously vote for the second reading. After seven nights' 
 debate, Lord Elcho moved an amendment to the effect that 
 the House, while willing to consider any just measure founded 
 upon sound principles that would benefit the tenants of land in 
 Ireland, was of opinion that the provisions of the Bill were in the 
 main economically unsound, unjust, and impolitic. The amend- 
 ment was defeated by 352 to 176, exactly two to one, and the 
 second reading was carried. 
 
 Then came the committee, and the consideration of the clauses 
 occupied thirty-two sittings of the House. Upwards of a thousand 
 amendments were placed on the paper ; and although many were 
 withdrawn, there was fierce fighting over the remainder. At 
 length, on the 29th of July, the third reading was carried by 226 
 to 14, and the Bill went up to the Lords. It was introduced by 
 Lord Carlingford, who had succeeded the Duke of Argyll as 
 Lord Privy Seal, and who, when Mr. Chichester Fortescue, had 
 enjoyed peculiar opportunities of becoming acquainted with Irish 
 
1881.] THE IRISH LAND BILL. 4 
 
 matters. On the motion for the second reading, the Marquis 
 Salisbury attacked the Bill with great energy, and the Duke < 
 Argyll made a characteristic speech, in which he compared r 
 late colleagues in the Ministry to jelly-fishes, brilliant ai 
 interesting, but with no backbone. Several important amen 
 ments were made, nearly all of which were rejected when tl 
 Bill returned to the Commons. The Bill was then sent back ' 
 the Lords, who restored some of their amendments which h; 
 been struck out. The Bill went " downstairs " once more. TJ 
 Commons would not yield, and a crisis was imminent. The 
 was talk about an autumnal session, and the introduction of 
 new Bill, if the Lords would not accept this. Evidently tl 
 Conservative Peers desired to avoid a collision, and a meetii 
 was held, the result of which was that when the Lords met ( 
 Tuesday, the 16th of August, the Marquis of Salisbury announci 
 that his party would offer no further opposition, and expressed 
 hope " that the Bill might be of great benefit to the Irish tenar 
 and not of much harm to the landlord." 
 
 The contest was over, and the great Bill, not materially altere 
 though modified in a few details, passed the House, and receiv< 
 the Royal assent on the 22nd of August. The leading principl 
 of this important measure may be briefly summarized. T 
 complex details must be studied in the Act itself, which consis 
 of forty-four pages. Subject to certain regulations, a tenant m; 
 sell his tenancy for the best price that can be got for it, t 
 landlord having the right to pre-emption, or of objection, 
 specific grounds. A tenant disturbed in his holding by the a 
 of a landlord after the passing of the Act, shall be entitled 
 compensation, according to a revised scale. The law as to coi 
 pensation for improvements is amended. If the landlord deman 
 an increase of rent, the tenant may apply to the Civil Bill Court 
 the county, and that Court will have the power, after heari 
 
416 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. [1881. 
 
 both parties, to fix the fair rent. The Court has also power to 
 act equitably between the landlord and tenant, where either has 
 made unreasonable demands. The ordinary tenancy may be 
 converted into a fixed tenancy, the rent subject to re-valuation 
 after a period of not less than fifteen years. The Land Com- 
 mission (appointed by the Act) is empowered to advance money 
 on security, to tenants, for the purpose of enabling them to 
 purchase their holdings ; to purchase estates and re-sell them in 
 parcels to tenants ; and to advance money for the reclamation of 
 land, or to enable poor families to emigrate. A new Land Com- 
 mission, to act as a superior Court and Court of Appeal for the 
 Civil Bill, or County Court, is appointed, with a judicial com- 
 missioner, a barrister with the rank and pay of a Judge of the 
 Supreme Court, and two other commissioners, each of whom is 
 to receive a salary of ^3,000 a year. 
 
 An official statement, in language unencumbered by legal 
 technicalities, of the provisions of the Act, issued by the newly- 
 appointed Commissioners, for the information of the parties 
 interested, thus summarises the clauses which refer to security of 
 tenure and define the position of the tenant : — 
 
 "Whenever a fair rent is fixed either by the Court or Commission, or by 
 agreement, or by arbitration, the rent cannot be raised or altered for fifteen 
 years, nor can the tenant be disturbed during that period. In the last year 
 of the fifteen years the tenant can again get the rent settled and a new term 
 of fifteen years granted, and so on. It is not, therefore, merely a term of 
 fifteen years which the tenant gets, but practically a term renewable every 
 fifteen years. It amounts to this, that the tenant paying a fair rent and 
 treating the land in a proper tenantable way, and not subdividing or sub- 
 letting his farm, will be safe from eviction or arbitrary increase of rent, and 
 his rent cannot be increased by reason of his own improvements." 
 
 The much desired " three Fs " were nearly conceded by this 
 Act. The tenant gains something undistinguishable from fixity 
 of tenure, and something almost approaching to free sale, and the 
 
1881.] CHANGE IN THE ARMY. 417 
 
 Act confers, in the most positive terms, a means of getting a fair 
 rent fixed. 
 
 The Irish measures almost monopolized the business of the 
 session. Two hundred and twenty-five public Bills were intro- 
 duced into the House of Commons, but not many survived the 
 embryo stage. Government Bills on the subjects of Bankruptcy, 
 Educational Endowments in Scotland, Merchant Shipping, Corrupt 
 and Illegal Practices at Parliamentary Elections, Rivers Conserv- 
 ancy, and Floods Prevention, were one and all withdrawn ; and, 
 of course, private members were in worse case than the 
 Government. 
 
 One of the most important of the few measures passed — the 
 Army Discipline and Regulation Act— made great changes in the 
 organization of the army. The Bradlaugh difficulty cropped up 
 a^ain. The Law Courts having decided that the member for 
 Northampton could not sit without taking the oath, the seat was 
 declared vacant, and a new writ issued. Mr. Bradlaugh was re 
 elected, and presented himself in the House, demanding to be 
 sworn. This the House would not allow, and Mr. Bradlaugli 
 received an intimation that he would not be permitted to entei 
 the House. On the 3rd of August he attempted to force his way 
 but was opposed in the lobby by the assistants of the Sergeant-at 
 Arms, aided by the police. A fight ensued, Mr. Bradlaugh wa 
 considerably hurt, and one of the ushers was nearly strangled 
 That however, was only one strange episode of this strang< 
 
 session. 
 
 Debates on the conduct of Afghan and South African affair 
 were of course inevitable. Mr. Gladstone bravely defended th< 
 retrocession of the Transvaal, taking high ground. The occasio: 
 was the debate on a resolution introduced on the 25 th of July b 
 Sir Michael Hicks Beach, censuring the Government. With th 
 concluding passage of Mr. Gladstone's speech, so loftily mail 
 
418 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE, [1881. 
 
 taining the supremacy of principle over mere political expediency 
 and false prestige, this all too incomplete sketch of the labours 
 of the great statesman may be brought to a close. : — 
 
 "Our case is summed up in this. We have endeavoured to cast aside all 
 considerations of false shame, and we have felt that we were strong enough 
 to put aside those considerations of false shame without fear of entailing upon 
 our country any sacrifice at all. We have endeavoured to do right, and to 
 eschew wrong, and we have done that in a matter involving alike the lives of 
 thousands and the honour and character of our country. And, Sir, what- 
 ever may be the sense of gentlemen opposite, we believe that we are supported, 
 not only by the general convictions of Parliament, but by those of the country. 
 We feel that we are entitled to make that declaration, for from every great 
 centre of opinion in Europe, from the remotest corners of Anglo-Saxon 
 America, have come back to us the echoes of the resolution which we have 
 taken, the favouring and approving echoes, recognising in the policy of the 
 Government an ambition higher than that which looks for military triumph or 
 for territorial aggrandizement, but which seeks to signalise itself by walking 
 in the plain and simple ways of right and justice, and which desires never to 
 build up empire except in the happiness of the governed." 
 
 Here we may pause. "The Thane of Cawdor lives, a pro- 
 sperous gentleman." The latest step in his career has been an 
 effort to conquer Ireland by justice. His gifted political rival has 
 passed away from earth ; and at the present time the " old man 
 eloquent," on whom the burden of nearly seventy-two years sits 
 so lightly — Statesman, Orator, Scholar, Theologian — who, fifty 
 years ago, was the pride of his University, who in the course of 
 his long career has been an example of the union of noble 
 morality with the highest intellectual attainments, is the one 
 prominent figure in English political life. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 -+o*- 
 
 Aberdeen, Earl of, 37, 121, 122, 123, 137. 
 Abstract resolutions on finance, 6, 216, 218, 
 
 260, 284. 
 Absurd charge, an, 321, 322. 
 Abyssinian expedition, the, 309, 326. 
 " A chapter of Autobiography," 320. 
 Act of Uniformity, 251 
 Act of Union, 316, 342. 
 Adullam, cave of, 280, 281. 
 Advertisement duty, 96, 108, 125, 127. 
 Administrations — 
 
 Melbourne, 35, 37. 
 
 Peel, 36, 65. 
 
 Russell, 80, 271. 
 
 Derby, 105, 218, 292. 
 
 Aberdeen, 121. 
 
 Palmerston, 137, 187. 
 
 Disraeli, 313, 363. 
 
 Gladstone, 332, 399. 
 Afghanistan, British action in, 399, 408, 
 
 417. 
 Agreement stamps, 221. 
 Agricultural Hall, Islington, visit to, 257. 
 Agriculture in Sicily, 51. 
 Alabama claims, 360. 
 Althorpe, Lord, 35. 
 
 America, civil war in, 232, 235, 239, 245, 247. 
 Anglican Church in the Colonies, 107. 
 Anstey, Mr. Chitholm, 82. 
 Anti-Corn Law League, 58, 63, 66, 70. 
 Anti- Papal agitation, 97. 
 Apprenticeship system in the Colonies, 38. 
 Arbitration tribunal at Geneva, 361. 
 Argyll, Duke of, 123, 399, 413. 
 Armed bands in Ireland, 347. 
 Army, condition of, 356. 
 condition of English, in the Crimea, 
 
 133. 134- 
 Mr. Roebuck's motion for committee of 
 
 inquiry, 135. 
 
 motion by Earl of Ellenborough, 135. 
 
 motion by Lord Lyndhurst, 135. 
 
 Army and Auxiliary Forces, Bill for 
 
 Regulation of, 352. 
 
 Discipline and Regulation Act, 4 
 
 Asylum, right of, for assassins, 159. 
 Attorneys' certificates, reduction of 
 
 duty on, 127. 
 Australian Government Bill, 89. 
 Aylesbury, Mr. Disraeli at, 269, ejo. 
 Ayrton, Mr., 304, 366. 
 Aytoun, Mr., 324. 
 
 " Bag and baggage," 384. 
 
 Baines, Mr., 216, 263. 
 
 Ball, Dr., 346. 
 
 Ballot, vote by, 253, 352, 355, 358, 359 
 
 Bank Charter Act, suspension of the, 
 
 Bankers' cheques, stamps on, 140. 
 
 Baring, Bishop, 266. 
 
 Sir Francis, 142. 
 
 " Battle of Dorking," the, 357. 
 Baxter, Mr., 182, 234. 
 Beaconsfield, Earl of, 397, 384. 
 Beer, tax on, 403. 
 Belgium, position of, 351; 
 Bennett, Rev. Mr., 107. 
 Bentinck, Lord George, 82. 
 
 Mr., 217. 
 
 Berkeley, Admiral, 157. 
 Biggar, Mr., 405. 
 " Black Friday" in the City, 287. 
 Blackheath, address to constituents at 
 Blackwood on the borough franchise < 
 265. 
 
 on the defeat at Oxford, 266. 
 
 on the Irish Church resolutions, ; 
 
 " Bold Buccleuch," 4. 
 
 Bolton Liberal Association, 373. 
 
 visit to, 257. 
 
 " Bomba," King, 91. 
 Book postage, 206. 
 Bookselling trade, the, 108. 
 Borough franchise, 181, 216, 253, 263, 
 
420 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Bouverie, Mr., 251. 
 
 Bowring, Sir John, 153, 157. 
 
 Bowyer, Sir George, 228. 
 
 Boycotting, 405, 406. 
 
 Bradlaugh difficulty, the, 398, 399, 4°°» 4*7- 
 
 Brand, Mr., 315. 
 
 Brewers, licence for private, 233. 
 
 Bright, Mr. John, 63, 70, 157, 186, 214, 280, 
 
 282, 295, 306, 308, 312, 324, 333, 33 8 > 345. 
 
 400, 407. 
 British Army, enlistment for, in the United 
 
 States, 150. 
 British authorities in China, motion of censure 
 
 on, 152, 153. 
 Brougham, Lord, 3, 9, 36, 38. 
 Bruce, descent of Mr. Gladstone from 
 
 Robert, 1. 
 
 Mr., 308, 333, 366. 
 
 Buckingham, Duke of, 298. 
 Buckinghamshire, Mr. Disraeli's address to 
 
 electors of, 327. 
 Budgets, 61, 109, 116, 126, 131, 142, 149, 151, 
 
 166, 192, 199, 220, 232, 240, 251, 260, 284, 
 
 306, 326, 344, 350, 363, 369, 370, 403, 
 
 412. 
 
 " generous and niggardly," 199, 200. 
 
 Bulgarian atrocities, 285. 
 Buller, Charles, 55. 
 Burslem, visit to, 247. 
 
 Cagliari, seizure of the mail steamer, 164. 
 Cairns, Lord, 305, 325, 34 z > 353- 
 Calcutta, first private vessel to, 7. 
 Cambridge, Duke of, 352. 
 Canada, Government of, Bill, 58. 
 
 clergy reserves in, 59. 
 
 Canadian difficulties, 38, 40. 
 Canning, George, 10, 11, 17. 
 
 Lord, 76, 273. 
 
 Canton, bombardment of, 153, 155, 157. 
 Cardwell, Mr., (Lord) 17, 76, 82, 123, 157, 
 
 163, 185, 187, 352, 400. 
 Carnarvon, Earl of, 256, 298, 299. 
 Cattle plague, the, 277, 294, 
 Censure, vote of, by the Lords on Mr. 
 
 Gladstone's Government, 253. 
 Chandos, Marquis of, 266. 
 Chaplin, Mr., 381. 
 " Chapter of Autobiography," 24. 
 Charitable endowments, proposal to with- 
 draw the exemption from duty, 240. 
 
 deputation respecting, 242. 
 
 Charley, Mr., 343. 
 
 Chatterton, Mr., Attorney-General for Ire- 
 land, 307. 
 
 ^hesney, Colonel, 356. 
 Chester, visit to, 265. 
 
 ? -r, M.Michel, 198. 
 nberlain, Mr., 400, 407. 
 •Cory, duty on, 284, 240. 
 
 Childers, Mr., 300, 333. 
 
 China, war with, 152. 
 
 Church of England, duty of, 26?. 
 
 and State, 41, 354, 359. 
 
 rites and ceremonies, 233. 
 
 Temporalities (Ireland) Bill, 33, 34. 
 
 Church-rates, 37, 218, 288, 306. 
 
 Commutation Bill, 289, 290. 
 
 Churchill, Lord Randolph, 405. 
 
 Civil Service, appointments in, 148, 151. 
 
 " Civis Romatiris Sum" 84. 
 
 Clarendon, Earl of, 134, 271, 333. 
 
 Clay, Mr., 278. 
 
 Clerk, Sir George, 76. 
 
 Clubs, proposal to make liable to wine and 
 
 spirit duties, 240, 242. 
 Coal, probable failure of, 287. 
 Coalition ministry, 123, 137. 
 Cobden, Richard, 6$, 69, 70, 155, 157, 187, 
 
 196, 208, 209, 262, 273. 
 Coffee, duty on, 141, 204, 240. 
 Coleridge, Sir J. T., 265, 302. 
 Collier, Sir Robert, appointment of, to Judge- 
 ship of Committee of Privy Council, 270. 
 Colonial Bishops Bill, 113. 
 
 Passengers Bill, 59. 
 
 Colquhoun, Mr. Campbell, 322. 
 Commercial crash of 1866. 
 
 Treaty with France, 196, 198, 200, 201, 
 
 203, 209, 212, 240, 252, 270. 
 Committee of Privy Council, 232, 
 Commons, House of, its claim to control 
 
 taxation and supply, 214. 
 Compensation for Disturbance Bill, 404. 
 
 rejected by the Lords, 404. 
 
 Compound householder, the, 300, 301. 
 Compulsory Church-rates Abolition Bill, 
 
 306,310. 
 Conservative Cabinet, dissensions in, 181, 
 
 296, 297. 
 Conservative Reform Bill, 180. 
 Conspiracy to Murder Bill, 161. 
 
 Ritualists and Irish Roman Catholics 
 
 charged with, 321. 
 Contract notes, duty on, 204. 
 Corfu, Mr. Gladstone's arrival at, 169. 
 Corn Laws, the, 63, 65, 68, 69, 70, 77, 79. 
 Coronation Oath, 256, 315. 
 Correspondence with Macaulay, 47, 49. 
 Costliness of war, 140. 
 County franchise, 113, 216, 253. 
 Coup d'Etat, the, 102. 
 
 Cranborne, Lord, 296,298, 318, 320, 322, 342. 
 Crane-necked water-jugs, Mr. Gladstone on, 
 
 248. 
 Cranworth, Lord, 123, 154. 
 Creevy, Mr., candidate for Liverpool, 9. 
 Crimean War, the, 129, 147. 
 Cross, Sir R. A., 329. 
 Currants, duty on, 204. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 421 
 
 Carrie, Gladstone, and Bradshaw, firm of, 
 at Liverpool, 7. 
 
 Dalhousie, Lord, 273. 
 
 Danubian Principalities, position of, 167 
 
 motion for an address, 167. 
 
 Davis, Jefferson, President of the Southern 
 Confederacy, 236. 
 
 Dawson, Mr., 41a. 
 
 Deferred Annuities, purchase of, 248. 
 
 Denison, Archdeacon, 124. 
 
 Derby, Earl of, 29, 83, 121, 137, 154, 168, 187, 
 219,248,292,298,299,301,310,325,342. 
 
 Dilke, Sir C, 400. 
 
 Dillwyn, Mr., 258. 
 
 Dillon, Mr., 412. 
 
 Disraeli, Mr., 63, 77, 87, 107, u>6, 120, 121, 
 126, 132, 142, 151, 165, 168, 1S0, 187, 190, 
 209, 223, 225, 239, 269, 282, 283, 287, 290, 
 299,301, 306, 309, 310, 313,319, 321, 324, 
 
 3 2 9> 33i. 33%, 346, 347. 353. 355. 3 6 3. 3 6 7, 
 368, 370. 
 Distress in the manufacturing districts, 67. 
 Divisions — 
 
 Opium war, 53. 
 
 Importation of grain, 58. 
 
 Municipal Corporations Act, 61. 
 
 Sugar duties, 61, 
 
 Want of confidence, 64. 
 
 Address of confidence, 65. 
 
 Sliding Scale, 66. 
 
 Distress in manufacturing districts, 67. 
 
 Repeal of the Corn Laws, 68, 77. 
 
 Protection duties, 70. 
 
 Maynooth College, 73. 
 
 Protection of Life (Ireland) Bill, 79. 
 
 Disabilities of the Jews, 80. 
 
 Don Pacifico affair, 83. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, 99. 
 
 Local militia, 105. 
 
 Institution to the vicarage of Frome, 105. 
 
 Taxes on knowledge, 108. 
 
 (Redistribution of seats, no. 
 
 Mr. Villiers' amendment, 117. 
 
 Budget of 1852, 119. 
 
 Sncome Tax Bill, 129. 
 
 Condition of army, 134- 
 Vienna negotiations, 145. 
 
 Appointments in the Civil Service, 144. 
 
 {Resolution on the Sevastopol Committee's 
 report, 143. 
 
 ■British officials in China, 156". 
 
 Divorce and Matrimonial Causee Bill, 158. 
 
 Conspiracy to Murder Bill, 162, 163. 
 
 East India Company Bill, Mr. Gladstone's 
 amendment, 165. 
 
 Danubian Principalities, 168. 
 
 Conservative Reform Bill, 186, 187. 
 
 Amendment to the Address, 187 
 
 Divisions, continued. 
 
 Mr. Disraeli's resolution on the Commer- 
 mercial Treaty, 209. 
 
 Mr. Ducane's resolution, 208. 
 
 Lord Palmerston's address to the Queen 
 209. 
 
 Church-rates, 218. 
 
 Paper Duty Bill, 224. 
 
 University Tests, 249, 264. 
 
 Borough franchise, 253. 
 
 Protestant Church in, 259. 
 
 Reform Bill, second reading, 287. 
 
 Lord Dunkellin's motion, 291. 
 
 Personal payment clause, 303. 
 
 Compulsory church-rates, 310. 
 
 Irish Church resolution, 314, 315. 
 
 Bill to regulate Ecclesiastical Commission 
 for Ireland, 325. 
 
 Irish Church Bill, 238. 
 
 Land Bill, 344, 345, 412. 
 
 Ballot Bill, 358. 
 
 Irish University Bill, 362. 
 
 Endowed Schools Bill, 278. 
 Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Bill, 
 
 amendments in, 158. 
 
 Dock warrants, duty on, 204. 
 
 Dodson, Mr., 219, 249. 
 
 Don Pacifico affair, 831. 
 
 Doyle, Sir Francis Hastings, 19. 
 
 Drummond, Mr., 158. 
 
 Dual vote, 361. 
 
 Dublin, freedom of the city conferred, 362. 
 
 University of, 382. 
 
 Ducane, Mr., 209. 
 
 " Ducks and drakes," Mr. Disraeli's descrip- 
 tion of, 270. 
 Dungeons of Naples, 90. 
 Dunkellin's, Lord, motion, 291. 
 Dunne, Colonel, 242. 
 Durham, Earl of, 58. 
 letter, the, 97. 
 
 East India Company, Bill for transferring 
 their powers to the Crown, 165, 166. 
 
 Eastern affairs, 129. . 
 
 resolution oh, 384. J 
 
 •*Ecce Homo," ife^J 
 
 Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Bill, 99, 101. 
 
 Eisteddfod, Welsh National, 366. 
 
 Elcho, Lord, 193, 280, 340, 
 
 Election squib, an, to. 
 
 Elementary Education Act, 348, 350. 
 
 Elgin, Earl of, 76, 273. 
 
 Ellenborough, Earl of, 135. 
 
 Endowed Schools Bill, 371. 
 
 English Church, proposal for disestablish- 
 ment, 33s, 354. 362* 
 
 Epping Forest, 355. 
 
 Etna, visit to, 50. 
 
422 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 " Eton Miscellany, The," 20, 
 Evans, Sir De Lacy, 94. 
 Ewart, Mr., of Liverpool, 16. 
 Ewelme rectory, 365. 
 Exchequer Bills, 148. 
 Exeter Hall, meeting at, 343. 
 Expenditure, reduction of, 152, 284, 285. 
 Expenses of living, 140. 
 
 Farnworth, visit to, 256. 
 
 Fawcett, Mr., 287, 308, 400. 
 
 Fenians, the, 277, 294. 
 
 " Financial freaks," 219. 
 
 Finnigan, Mr., 405. 
 
 Fire insurance, duty on, 220, 233, 260, 262. 
 
 Fishmongers' Company, banquet by, 334. 
 
 Follett, Sir William, 56. 
 
 Foreign policy of Earl Russell, Earl Derby 
 on, 248. 
 
 Forster, Mr., 308, 348, 372, 400, 407, 410. 
 
 Fortescue, Mr. Chichester, 290, 312, 34s. 
 
 " Fourth Party," the, 404. 
 
 Fox, Mr. J., 100, 157. 
 
 Franchise, qualifications for the, 300. 
 
 Franco-Prussian War, 351. 
 
 Free Trade, 63, 66, 81, 105, 116, 196. 
 
 French Colonies, their address to the Em- 
 peror, 60, 161. 
 
 wines, prejudice against, 202. 
 
 Frere, John Hookham, 19. 
 
 Game certificates, duty on, 205. 
 
 Gascoyne, General, 8.. 
 
 General elections, 64, 115, 157, 186, 264, 326, 
 
 367, 395, 397- 
 Gibson, Mr. Milner, 108, 142, 145, 157, 163, 
 
 187. 
 
 Gladstone family, the, 1, 5, 7, 9. 
 
 changes in the orthography of the 
 
 name, 7. 
 
 John (Sir John), a, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13. 
 
 William Ewart, 8. 
 
 Birth at Liverpool, 16. 
 His first schoolmaster, 18. 
 Sent to Eton, ng. 
 His schoolfellows, 14, 19. 
 Contributions to the"Eton MiscelIany,"2o. 
 His boyish ambition, 20. 
 At Oxford, 21. 
 
 His speeches at the Oxford Union, 22. 
 Takes a " double first," 23. 
 Elected for Newark, 26. 
 His first speech, 29, 30. 
 Studies for the bar, 34. 
 Under-Secretary for the Colonies, 36, 37. 
 First appears as an author, 42. 
 His visit to Sicily, 50. 
 His marriage, 52. 
 
 Vice-President of Board of Trade, 65. 
 President of Board of Trade and Cabinet 
 Minister, 69. 
 
 Gladstone resigns office, 71. 
 
 Secretary of State for the Colonies, 761 
 
 Re-elected for Newark, 78. 
 
 Elected for University of Oxford, 79. 
 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, 123. 
 
 Retires from office, 139. 
 
 Declines office in the Derby Administra- 
 tion, 168. 
 
 Lord High Commissioner to the Ionian 
 Isles, 168. 
 
 Again Chancellor of the Exchequer, 188. 
 
 Rejected by Oxford University, 266. 
 
 Elected for South Lancashire, 270. 
 
 Leader of the House of Commons, 271. 
 
 Addresses students of Edinburgh Univer- 
 sity, 272. 
 
 Presented with the freedom of the City of 
 Glasgow, 272, 274. 
 
 Resigns office, 292; 
 
 Candidate for South- West Lancashire, yz8. 
 
 Rejected, 329. 
 
 Returned for Greenwich, 330* 
 
 Becomes Prime Minister, 331. 
 
 Adds office of Chancellor of Exchequer,366. 
 
 Resigns office, 367 
 
 Returned for Midlothian, 397. 
 
 Again Prime Minister, 398. 
 
 Serious illness, 264. 
 Mr. W. H., 264. 
 
 Mrs., 52. 
 
 Gladstones, William, of Bigger, 5 ; John, 5 ; 
 
 John, of Leith, 6. 
 Glasgow, rectorial address at, 393, 
 
 visits to, 272, 274, 275, 39.3. 
 
 Gledestane, Herbert de, 4. 
 
 Gledstanes, the, of Libberton, 4 ; William 
 
 of, 4 ; Walter, 4 ; John, of Ormiston, 5. 
 Glynne family, the, 52. 
 
 Sir Stephen, 53. 
 
 Serjeant, 52-. 
 
 Glyns, of Surrey, the, 52. 
 
 Goderich, Viscount, 150. 
 
 Gorham case, the, 87. 
 
 Gorst, Mr., 405. 
 
 Goschen, Mr., 164, 281, 334. 
 
 Goulburn, Mr., 607, 682. 
 
 Graham, Sir James, 52, 60, 76, 100, 119, i2o> 
 
 122, 139, 163, 187, 224. 
 Grant, General Ulysses, 244. 
 Granville, Earl, 102, 123, 134, 225, 232, 325, 
 
 334. 34i. 353. 363. 397. 399- 
 Great Budget of 1860, 196. 
 Greek mythology, principles of, 171, 173, 
 
 275, 276. 
 Greeks, place of, in providential order of the 
 
 world, 275. 
 Greenwich constituency, letter to, announce 
 
 ing resignation of office, 366. 
 
 election, 330. 
 
 Greville-Nugent, Colonel, 303. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 423 
 
 Grey, Sir George, 134, i D -. 
 Grosvenor's, Earl, amendment, 280, 281. 
 Gurney, Mr. Russell, 370. 
 
 Hackney carriage dues, 240, 242, 28s. 
 
 Hallam, Arthur Henry, 19. 
 
 Harcourt, Sir William, 370, 399, 410. 
 
 Hardcastle, Mr., 288, 306. 310; 
 
 Hardy, Mr. Gathorne, 258, 310, 312, 315, 
 
 3'9, 339. 355- 
 Harrowby, Earl of, 341. 
 Harrington, Marquis of, 186, 329, 372, 399, 
 
 405 
 Hatherley, Lord, 334. 
 Hawarden Castle, 52, 365, 373. 
 Hayter's, Captain, resolution, 291. 
 Heathcote, Sir William, 249. 
 Hebrew tradition & Greek mythology, 173. 
 Henley, Mr., 181, 287, 311, 347. 
 Hennessy, Mr. Pope, 228. 
 Henry the Third, descent from, 1. 
 Herbert, Mr. Sidney (Lord Herbert), 55, 
 
 76, 82, 100, 137, 139, 163 186, 187, 273. 
 Heygate, Sir Frederick, 308. 
 Hill, Mr., 340. 
 
 Hill coolies, treatment of, 59. 
 Holy places, the, 131. 
 
 Holyhead, reception at, 286. 
 
 Home Rule, Irish demand for, 354. 
 
 Homer, Mr. Gladstone's admiration of, 171. 
 
 German theories respecting, 172. 
 
 Homer, Mr., and the licensed victuallers,2io. 
 
 Homeric investigations, 173, 275, 276. 
 
 poems, traditional knowledge in, 174. 
 
 Hooker, General, 244. 
 
 Hop duty, 204, 220, 232. 
 
 Horrible condition of Neapolitan prisons, 
 
 9 2 > 93. 
 Horsedealers' licence duty, 370. 
 
 Horsman, Mr., 107, r86, 280. 
 House tax, 119, 370. 
 Howick, Lord, 67, 69. 
 Hubbard, Mr., 220, 234. 
 Hume, Mr. Joseph, 33. 
 Hunt, Mr. Ward, 310, 326. 
 Hyde Park riot, 292. 
 
 Income-tax, the, 67, 68, 119, 128, 132, 151, 
 191, 192, 199, 200, 207, 222, 223, 234, 262, 
 
 370. 
 Indian mutiny, the, 159. 
 Inglis, Sir Robert, 60, 79, 80, 112. 
 Inhabited house duty, 119. 
 Innuendo, an unfounded, 320. 
 Ionian Isles, Mr. Gladstone Lord High 
 
 Commissioner to, 168, 226. 
 
 Legislative Assembly, 170. 
 
 Ireland, depressed condition of, and effect 
 
 of taxation, 242. 
 office of Lord Chancellor of, 188. 
 
 Ireland, Protestant Church in, 258. 
 
 visit to, 381. 
 
 outrages in, 404, 405. 
 
 Irish Church, 28, 37, 307, 311. 
 
 resolution respecting, 314. 
 
 Lord Stanley's amendment.si/jiiS^tg. 
 
 the Queen's interest in the temporali- 
 ties of, 324. 
 
 Eill for the disestablishment of, 336, 343. 
 
 Reform Bill, 289. 
 
 Universities Bill, 348, 362. 
 
 Italian affairs, Lord Elcho's motion on, 193, 
 
 195- 
 Mr. Pope Hennessy's motion on, 228. 
 
 Italy, kingdom of, 198, 228. 
 
 Jackson, General " Stonewall," 244. 
 James the First of Scotland, 1, 2. 
 Jews, disabilities of, 61, 80. 
 Joan Beaufort, descent from, 1. 
 John of Gaunt, descent from, 1. 
 Keble, Rev. John, 24. 
 Kelly, Sir Fitzroy, 216, 260, 285, 286. 
 Kemberley, Earl of, 399. 
 King, Mr. Locke, 113, 190, 217, 233. 
 Kinglake, Mr., 162, 146, 193. 
 Kings of Man, ancient, 3. 
 Knightley, Mr., 218. 
 
 Sir R., 291. 
 
 Knox, Col. Stuart, 316. 
 
 Labouchere, Mr., 401. 
 
 Laing, Mr., 146, 280. 
 
 Lancashire, sufferings of the factory hands 
 
 in, 238. 
 
 visit to, 256. 
 
 Land Bill for Ireland, 345, 347. 
 
 Land League, the, 405, 406. 
 
 Landed Estates Court, 345. 
 
 Lansdowne, Marquis of, 105. 
 
 Layard, Mr., 146, 157. 
 
 Leadership of the Liberals in the House of 
 
 Commons, 369, 371. 
 " Leap in the dark," the, 299. 
 Lee, General, 244. 
 Lewis, Sir G. C, 140, 149, 151, 187, 217, 272, 
 
 273. 
 Licensed Victuallers, panic among, 205, 210, 
 
 212. 
 Life assurance, reduction of duty on, 129, 
 
 249. 
 
 Government plan for, 249. 
 
 Light dues on shipping, 118. 
 Lincoln, Earl of, 26, 76, 82. 
 Liverpool, banquet at, 281. 
 
 bribery and corruption at, 30. 
 
 election for, 9, 10. 
 
 College, address at, 362. 
 
 visit to, 256. 
 
 Loans, 148. 
 
424 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Local Militia Acts, 104. 
 
 Lodger franchise, 279, 300, 305. 
 
 Long Annuities, 206. 
 
 Lorcha Arrow, the, 153, 154. 
 
 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, why should he 
 
 be a Protestant ? 306, 307. 
 Lowe, Mr., 143, 157, 232, 280, 282, 295, 306, 
 
 312, 320, 332, 350, 366, 400. 
 Lushington, Sir Stephen, 58. 
 Lyndhurst, Lord, 36, 154, 213. 
 Lyttelton, Lord, 60. 
 Lytton, Sir E. B., 168. 
 
 Macaulay, Mr. Thomas Babington, 45, 46, 
 
 61, 62. 
 
 correspondence with, 47, 49. 
 
 his opinion of the National Debt, 149. 
 
 M'Carthy, Mr. Justin, 410. 
 
 M'Cullagh Torrens, Mr., 305. 
 
 Macdonogh, Mr., 224. 
 
 Mackenzie of Kintail, the, 3. 
 
 Magee, Dr., Bishop of Peterborough, 341. 
 
 Maguire, Mr., 217, 226, 227, 244, 311. 
 
 Malt tax, 118, 252, 262, 285, 403. 
 
 credits, roi. 
 
 Manchester, inauguration of Peel's statue at, 
 
 130. 
 Manners, Lord John, 158. 
 Manning, Cardinal, 23. 
 Marriage with a deceased wife's sister, 146, 
 
 147. 
 Match-duty Budget, the, 354. 
 Matchbox makers, procession of, 354. 
 Maynooth College, 73, in, 233, 307, 324, 
 
 337- 
 Mayo, Earl, 311. 
 
 Meeting at Mr. Gladstone's house, 296, 302. 
 
 Messiah, the promise of, 176, 275. 
 
 Messina, bombardment of, 91. 
 
 Miall, Mr., 348, 349, 354, 364. 
 
 Middlesborough, visit to, 238. 
 
 Midlothian campaign, the great, 386, 387. 
 
 Militia Bill, 106. 
 
 Mill, Mr. J. Stuart, 272, 305, 312. 
 
 Minorities, representation of, 306. 
 
 Molesworth, Sir William, 123. 
 
 Montagu, Lord Robert, 245. 
 
 Monteagle, Lord, motion against the repeal 
 
 of the paper duty, 213, 214. 
 Morning Advertiser a curiosity of literature, 
 
 211. 
 
 dismal prophesyings by, 212, 213. 
 
 Morritt, Mr., 253. 
 Mundella, Mr., 400. 
 Municipal Corporations Act, 61. 
 
 Napier, Admiral Sir Charles, 131. 
 Naples, political prisoners at, 92. 
 Napoleon III., attempt to assassinate, 159. 
 National Debt, reduction of, 285, 286, 370. 
 
 National Debt, resolution on the subject of, 
 
 125. 
 National education, 232, 308. 
 
 expenditure, 233, 234. 
 
 New Zealand, in. 
 
 Newark, election for, 26, 29, 77. 
 
 Newcastle, Duke of, 26, 121, 134, 136, 137, 
 
 187, 205, 273. 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne, visit to, 235, 237. 
 Newdegate, Mr., 81, 255, 289, 339. 
 Newman, Dr., 24. 
 Professor Francis, his letter to the 
 
 Morning Star, 237. 
 Newspaper stamps, 109, 126, 128, 206. 
 Nicholas, the Emperor, 131. 
 Nonconformist Churches in the Colonies,'ii2. 
 North London Industrial Exhibition, 257. 
 Northbrook, Lord, 399. 
 Northcote, Sir Stafford, 298, 312, 319, 369- 
 Notes of sale, duty on, 204. 
 
 Obstruction in the House, 404, 405. 
 
 O'Connell, Mr. Daniel, 29, 38. 
 
 O'Connor, Mr. A., 405. 
 
 Officers and Oaths Bill, 308. 
 
 Old china, a collection of, 24 c. 
 
 O'Kelly, Mr., 410. 
 
 O'Loghlen, Sir Colman, 308. 
 
 Olympian system, the, 176, 275, 276. 
 
 Opium war, the, 55. 
 
 Orangemen, wild talk of, 343. 
 
 Orsini, Felix, 159. 
 
 Oxford, opening of Palmerston Liberal Club 
 
 at, 382. 
 Oxford Union, the, 22, 23, 282. 
 Oxford University, religious life of, 24. 
 election for, 79, 114, 124, 157, 188, 265, 
 
 266. 
 Overstone, Lord, 233. 
 
 Paget, Lord Clarence, 281. 
 
 Pakington, Sir John, 296, 298. 
 
 Palmer, Sir Roundell, 333, 339. 346. 355- 
 
 Palmerston, Lord, 38, 55, 83, 102, 103, 117, 
 x 23» 135. i3 6 » J 37» *3%> H3. M4. 155. 156. 
 i57i I 59i i6 2 » l6 S» 169, 186, 187, 197, 198, 
 209, 214, 216, 225, 227, 247, 253, 255, 263. 
 
 death of, 271, 272. 
 
 Panmure, Lord, 137. 
 
 Paper, variety of articles made from, 206. 
 
 duty, the, 109, 126, 206, 214. 
 
 Papistical tendencies, denial of, 320, 321. 
 
 Parker, Mr., British Consul at Canton, 153, 
 
 154- 
 Parliament, dissolution of, 36, 40, 49, 113, 
 
 i57» ^5, 264. 326, 265. 
 Parliamentary Reform, 104, 182, 183, 269, 
 
 279, 281, 282, 289, 290, 294, 299, 304, 306. 
 seats, vacant, no, 111,217, 289, 290* 
 
 295, 298, 305. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 425 
 
 Parnell, Mr., 405, 408. 
 
 Pastrycooks, wine licences for, 205, 210. 
 
 Peace Conference at Paris, 148. 
 
 signature of treaty of, 148. 
 
 1 rejoicings in Hyde Park, 148. 
 
 proclamation of, 150. 
 
 Preservation (Ireland) Bill, 347, 399, 
 
 404, 405,409, 410. 
 Peel, Sir Robert, 36, 51, 64, 65, 67, 71, 73, 
 
 75. 86, 130. 
 
 death of, 86. 
 
 Free Trade policy of, 117. 
 
 General, 297, 319. 
 
 Mr. Frederick, 157. 
 
 Peelites, the, 76. 
 
 Peers and the paper duty, 213, 225. 
 practice of, with regard to Bills for im- 
 posing or reducing taxation, 214. 
 
 vote of censure by, 353. 
 
 Penny receipt stamps, 127. 
 
 Pepper duty, 285. 
 
 Perceval, Mr. Dudley, 124. 
 
 Periodical Literature, contributions to, 374. 
 
 Persigny, M., speech to the Lord Mayor 
 
 and Corporation of London, 160. 
 Personal payment clause, 303. 
 Phillimore, Dr. R., 125. 
 Plantation, Mr. John Gladstone's, 30. 
 Poerio, Carlo, the Neapolitan political 
 
 prisoner, 92. 
 Poisoning of bread by the Chinese, charge 
 
 of, 156, 157. 
 Political persecutions at Naples, 91, 92, 228. 
 Poor Laws, 87. 
 Postal cards, 350. 
 Post-office savings banks, 219, 248. 
 Praed, Winthrop Mackworth, 20. 
 Prince Consort, death of the, 230, 232, 
 
 278. 
 Protection, abandonment of, 112. 
 
 of Life (Ireland) Bill, 79. 
 
 of Person and Property (Ireland) Bill, 
 
 410. 
 Protocol between Great Britain, France, 
 
 Austria, and Russia, 130. 
 Public expenditure, 220. 
 
 Worship Regulation Bill, 370. 
 
 Purchase of Army Commissions, 267, 352, 
 
 357- 
 Pusey, Dr., 24. 
 
 Queen's College, Ireland, 362. 
 
 Racehorse duty, 370. 
 
 Railway passengers, duty on, 243. 
 
 Traffic, regulations of, 66. 
 
 Raisins and figs, duties on, 204. 
 Rating and rental, 279. 
 
 law of, Mr. Coleridge's amendment 
 
 respecting, 302. 
 
 Real property, duty on, 219. 
 
 Redistribution of seats, no, in, 217, 289, 
 291, 298, 305. 
 
 Reduction of duties, 61, 125, 200, 204, 205, 
 262, 285, 370. 
 
 Reform Bills - 
 Lord John Russell's, 104. 
 Conservative, 180. 
 Russell's second, 278, 289, 292. 
 Conservative, 294, 299, 301, 305. 
 
 Reform meeting in the City, 292. 
 
 riots, 25. 
 
 Associations, deputation to Mr. Glad- 
 stone, 303. 
 
 resolutions on, 294, 297. 
 
 Reformed Parliament, the, 28. 
 
 Registration duty, 204. 
 
 Regium Donum, 324, 336, 337. 
 
 " Remarks on the Royal Supremacy," 88. 
 
 Resolutions on Reform, Mr. Disraeli's, 294, 
 293. 
 
 Retrenchment, demand for, 216. 
 
 Richard, Mr., 355. 
 
 Right of search, claim of British Govern- 
 ment to, 8. 
 
 Robertson, the historian, 2. 
 
 Robertson, Anne, her marriage with John 
 'Gladstone, 2, 7 ; her death, 14. 
 
 Rodney Street, Liverpool, the residence of 
 Mr. John Gladstone in, 15, 17. 
 
 Roebuck, John Archer, 40, 83, 135, 136, 138, 
 
 139. M5. *5S, 161, 244, 245, 247. 
 Roman Catholic academies, 71, 72. 
 
 disabilities, 190. 
 
 Relief Bill, 82. 
 
 Royal descent of the Gladstone family, 1. 
 
 Rubicon, crossing the, 281, 290, 291. 
 
 Russell, Lord John (Earl), 37, 38, 58, 64, 
 65, 69, 98, 100, 103, 134, 135, 136, 137, 140, 
 142, 145, 155, 165, 180, 187, 198, 228, 248, 
 271, 277, 278, *82, 292, 312, 320, 322,342. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone's tribute to, 283. 
 
 Russia, declaration of war against, 130, 131. 
 
 Russian army, advance of the, 130. 
 
 St. Andrew's Church, Liverpool, 14. 
 
 St. James's Hall, meetings at, 322. 
 
 St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, High Church 
 
 practices at, 107. 
 Salisbury, Marquis of (Lord Cranborne), 
 
 224, 342. 
 San Juan dispute, the, 361. 
 Saturday Review on the commercial treaty 
 
 with France, 211. 
 
 on the licensed victuallers, 211. 
 
 Saturday Review on the Budget speeches, 
 
 247. 
 
 on the defeat at Oxford, 268. 
 
 on the Ionian mission, 168. 
 
 Savings' bank franchise, 279, 300. 
 
426 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Savoy, cession of, to France, 197, 228. 
 
 School-boards, voting for, 350. 
 
 Scotch Reform Bill, 290. 
 
 " Scotch terrier party of two," 280, 281. 
 
 Seats, redistribution of, 284, 292, 296, 298, 
 
 305. 
 Sebastopol, fall of, 147. 
 
 Committee, report of, 14s. 
 
 Selborne, Lord, 399. 
 Selwyn, Bishop, 18. 
 Settembrini, torture of, at Naples, 93. 
 Sexton, Mr., 410. 
 
 Seymour, Admiral Sir Michael, 152. 
 — Sir Hamilton, 131. 
 Sherbrooke, Lord, 400. 
 Sheridan, Mr. H. B., 220, 233, 260. 
 Sibthorpe, Colonel, 100. 
 Sicily, visit to, 50. 
 Slavery, opinions respecting, 27, 28. 
 Slidell and Mason, Messrs., the Confede- 
 rate Commissioners, 230. 
 Sliding scale, the, 65, 66, 67, 69. 
 Small Tenements Act, operation of the, 301. 
 Socialism, Mr. Gladstone charged with, 313. 
 Soap duty, remission of, 127. 
 South Africa, war in, 399, 403. 
 South Lancashire, election for, 270. 
 South-West Lancashire, Mr. Gladstone's 
 
 address to electors of, 328. 
 Southern Confederacy, remarkable utter- 
 ance, 136, 238, 239, 309. 
 
 false prophecies respecting, 236. 
 
 Speaker, action of the, 411. 
 Speeches, extracts from — 
 
 Church Temporalities (Ireland) Bill, 3 4, 37. 
 
 Liverpool Freemen Bill, 39. 
 
 Abolition of Church-rates, 43. 
 
 Bombardment of Canton, 57. 
 
 Government of Canada Bill, 58, 59. 
 
 Sugar duties, 63, 83. 
 
 Income-tax, 68, 126. 
 
 Sliding scale, 69. 
 
 Anti-Corn Law League, 70. 
 
 Resignation of office, 71. 
 
 Endowment of Maynooth, 73, 74. 
 
 Disabilities of the Jews, 83. 
 
 Don Pacifico affair, 84, 85. 
 
 Death of Sir Robert Peel, 86. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Bill, 99. 
 
 Colonial Bishops' Bill, 113. 
 
 Sir R. Peel's Free Trade policy, n7, 118. 
 
 Conservative Budget, 120. 
 
 Abstract financial resolutions, 126, 127. 
 
 Budget of 1854, *3*> 132. 
 
 State of the army in the Crimea, 136, 137, 
 
 Sir G. Lewis's Budget, 142. 
 
 Propositions for peace, 143, 150. 
 
 Marriage with a deceased wife's sister, 147. 
 
 The Ottoman empire, 150. 
 
 The Chinese war of 1857, I 56- 
 
 Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Bill, 158. 
 
 Conspiracy to Murder Bill, 163. 
 
 Disfranchisement of small boroughs, 183. 
 
 Peace of Villafranca, 194. 
 
 Commercial treaty with France, and 
 Budget of i860, 201. 
 
 Budget of 1861, 220. 
 
 State of Italy, 229. 
 
 Distress in Ireland, 243, 
 
 Recognition of the Confederate States of 
 America, 245, 246. 
 
 University Tests, 250. 
 
 Budget of, 164, 251. 
 
 Borough fianchise, 254.. 255. 
 
 Irish Church, 258, 259. 
 
 Budget of 1865, 261. 
 
 Election for South Lancashire, 267. 
 
 Reception of the freedom of Glasgow, 273. 
 
 Reply to Mr. Disraeli respecting the Ox- 
 ford Union Debating Society, 282, 283. 
 
 Mr. Maguire's motion on the state of 
 Ireland, 311. 
 
 Irish Church resolutions, 314. 
 
 At the Fishmongers' banquet, 334, 335. 
 
 Disestablishment of the Irish Church, 337. 
 
 Irish Land Bill, 338. 
 
 Reply to Mr. Miall, 349. 
 
 Defence of the Church of England, 364. 
 
 Eastern question, 383, 384. 
 
 In Midlothian, 387, 388, 389, 396, 397. 
 
 The Bradlaugh difficulty, 401, 417. 
 
 At Lord Mayor's banquet (1880), 407. 
 
 Land Bill (Ireland), 413, 414. 
 
 Retrocession of the Transvaal, 417. 
 
 Spencer, Earl, 399. 
 Spirits, duties on, 129, 133, 141. 
 Spooner, Mr., in. 
 " State, the, in its relation with the Church," 
 
 42. 
 Reviews in the Edinburgh and Quar- 
 terly, 44, 45. 
 Stamps, 128, 141. 
 Stanley, Lord, 310, 314. 
 Stansfeld, Mr., 234. 
 Staunton, Sir George, 56. 
 Stewart, Lady Isabella, 2. 
 
 Sir James, Black Knight of Lome, 2. 
 
 Stirling, Mr., 217. 
 
 Stirling-Maxwell, Sir William, 368. 
 
 Stocks, conversion of, 125. 
 
 Stock-in-trade, fire insurance duty on, 252. 
 
 Storks, Sir Henry, 226. 
 
 Strauss and the German Rationalists, 362. 
 
 Succession duties, 127. 
 
 Suez Canal, 168. 
 
 Sugar duties, 6i, 63, 82, 133, 221, 252, 370. 
 
 Sunderland, visit to, 238. 
 
 Surtees, Mr. H.E.,316. 
 
 Tariff, revision of the, 67. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Tasmania, Bishop of, 112. 
 
 Taxation, direct or indirect, 131, 133,151, 
 
 221, 223. 
 Taxes, collection of, 249. 
 
 on knowledge, io3, 125. 
 
 Tea duty, 118, 128, 141, 152, 198, 221, 262. 
 Tea-room party, 302. 
 Temples, ancient, in Sicily, 49, 50. 
 "Ten Minutes Bill," the, 298. 
 Terminable Annuities, 270, 286. 
 Territorial acquisitions, thirst for, 273. 
 Tests at Cambridge, 308. 
 
 at Oxford, 249, 264. 
 
 Teviotdale estates of the Gladstones, 4. 
 Thesiger, Frederick (afterwards Lord 
 
 Chelmsford), 100. 
 Thirlwall, Dr. Connop, Bishop of St. 
 
 David's, 341. 
 Thompson, Colonel, 63. 
 Timber duties, 204, 285. 
 Times, the, on the defeat at Oxford, 267, 268. 
 
 on the Irish Church resolutions, 323. 
 
 Tortures in Neapolitan prisons, 90, 9c, 92. 
 Trafalgar Square, Reform demonstration in, 
 
 292. 
 Translations from classical and Italian 
 
 authors, 178, 179. 
 Treaty of Alliance between Great Britain, 
 
 France, and Turkey, 130. 
 
 of Peace with Russia, 143. 
 
 great speech on, 146. 
 
 Trees, amusement in cutting down, 373, 374. 
 Trelawney, Sir John, 218. 
 Trench, Dr., Archbishop of Dublin, 341. 
 Trent, West India mail steamer, forcible 
 
 stoppage of, 230. 
 Trinity College, Dublin, 362. 
 Trumble, Margaret, 4. 
 Turners, banquet by Company of, 382. 
 Tyne, excursion down the, 237. 
 
 United States, probability of rupture with, 
 230. 
 
 University of Edinburgh, address to mem- 
 bers, 267, 272. 
 
 education in Ireland, 362. 
 
 " Unmuzzled," 268. 
 
 " Vatican Decrees," 376. 
 
 Vienna negotiations, the, 142, 143. 
 
 Villiers, Mr. Charles, 58, 69, 116. 
 
 Virgil's description of Italian agriculture, 50. 
 
 Vote by Ballot, 350, 353, 358, 359. 
 
 Voting papers, 301. 
 
 Vreeden Hoop, condition of the slaves at, 30. 
 
 Walewski, Count, his despatch to 1 
 
 English Government, 160, 162. 
 Walpole, Mr. Spencer, to5, 181, 288, 3 
 
 401. 
 War, declaration of, by Turkey agaii 
 
 Russia, 130. 
 " War duties," remission of, 225. 
 Wedgwood Memorial Institute, the, 247. 
 Weli-poisoning, alleged, by the China 
 
 57- 
 Wellington, Duke of, 36, 107. 
 Westbury, Lord, 342. 
 Westmeath Commission, the, 354. 
 
 Act, 354. 
 
 Whalley's, Mr., indiscreet letter of inquii 
 
 357- 
 Whateley, Dr., 24. 
 Whitby, speech at, 357. 
 White, Mr., 285. 
 Whiteside, Mr., 143, 190. 
 Wilberforce, Bishop, 266, 343. 
 Wilde, Sergeant (afterwards Lord Trun 
 
 26. 
 Wilkes, Captain, United States Navy, 2; 
 
 231- 
 William the Fourth, death of, 40. 
 Williams, Mr. H., 219. 
 Willis's Rooms, great meeting of Liber; 
 
 at, 186. 
 Wine, duty on, 200, 285, 403. 
 Wiseman, Cardinal, 97. 
 Wolff, Sir H., 401, 405. 
 Woman's Suffrage, 305. 
 Wood, Sir Charles, 119, 140. 
 Works, Literary, extracts from — 
 
 Chapter of Autobiography, 24. 
 
 The State in its Relation with the Chun 
 42. 
 
 Diary on Italy, 50, 51. 
 
 Remarks on the Royal Supremacy, 87. 
 
 Homer (Literary Primer Series), 1; 
 171, 172, 173. 
 
 Juventus Mundi, 174. 
 
 Studies of Homer and the Homeric Ag< 
 
 *77- 
 Ritualism and Ritualists, 376, 377. 
 The Vatican Decrees in their Bearing 1 
 
 Civil Allegiance, 378, 379. 
 
 Yeh, Chinese Governor of Canton, 153, i< 
 
 156. 
 York, visit to, 238. 
 Young, Sir John, 168. 
 — — his despatch purloined, 169. 
 
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