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JOHN HALL GLADSTONE (1827-1902)
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See also:
His studies, with See also:Alfred Tribe (184o–1885) and W
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Hibbert, in the chemistry of the storage See also:battery, have added largely to our knowledge, while the " See also:copper-See also:zinc couple," with which his name is associated together with that of Tribe, among other things, afforded a See also:simple means of preparing certain
generally popular or even widely known
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He was seen to the greatest See also:advantage, and was most thoroughly at See also:home, in the debates of the See also:Eton Society, learnedly called " The Literati," and vulgarly " Pop," and in the editorship of the Eton See also:Miscellany
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He See also:left Eton at See also:Christmas 1827
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He read for six months with private tutors, and in See also:October 1828 went up to See also:Christ See also:
It certainly was the finest speech of his that I ever heard." See also:Bishop See also:
The last of the Unreformed parliaments was dissolved on the 3rd of December 1832
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Gladstone, addressing the See also:electors of Newark, said that he was See also:bound by the opinions of no man and no party, but felt it a See also:duty to See also:watch and resist that growing See also:desire for See also:change which threatened to produce " along with partial See also:good a See also:melancholy preponderance. of See also:mischief." The first principle to which he looked for national salvation was, that the"duties of See also:governors are strictly and peculiarly religious, and that legislatures, like individuals, are bound to carry throughout their acts the spirit of the high truths they have acknowledged." The See also:condition of the poor demanded See also:special See also:attention; labour should receive adequate remuneration; and he thought favourably of the " See also:allotment of cottage grounds." He regarded slavery as sanctioned by Holy Scripture, but the slaves ought to be educated and gradually emancipated
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The contest resulted in his return at the See also:head of the See also:poll
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The first Reformed See also:parliament met on the 29th of See also:January 1833, and the See also:young member for Newark took his seat for the firsttime in an See also:assembly which he was destined to adorn, delight and astonish for more than See also:half a See also:century
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His See also:maiden speech was delivered on the 3rd of See also:June in reply to what was almost a See also:personal See also:challenge
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The colonial secretary, ton ofe3 Mr See also:Stanley, afterwards Lord See also:Derby, brought forward slavery. a See also:series of resolutions in favour of the extinction of
slavery in the See also:British colonies
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On the first See also:night of the debate Lord Howick, afterwards Lord See also:Grey, who had been under-secretary for the Colonies, and who opposed the resolutions as proceeding too gradually towards abolition, cited certain occurrences on See also:Sir See also:
The owners of emancipated slaves were entitled to receive See also:compensation from parliament, because it was parliament that had established this description of See also:property
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" I do not," said Gladstone, " view property as an abstract thing; it is the creature of See also:civil society
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By the legislature it is granted, and by the legislature it is destroyed
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" On the following day See also:
Parliament was dissolved on the 29th of December
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Gladstone was returned unopposed, this time in See also:conjunction with the Liberal lawyer whom he had beaten at the last election
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The new parliament met on the 19th of February 1835
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The elections had given the Liberals a considerable See also:majority
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Immediately after the See also:meeting of parliament Glad-See also: On the loth of June 1837 King William IV. died, and Parliament, having been prorogued by the young See also:queen in See also:person, was dissolved on the 17th of the following See also:month . Simply on the strength of his parliamentary reputation Gladstone was nominated, without his consent, for See also:Manchester, and was placed at the bottom of the poll; but, having been at the same time nominated at Newark, was again returned . The year 1838 claims special See also:note in a See also:record of Gladstone's life, because it witnessed the See also:appearance of his famous work on The See also:State in its Relations with the Church . He had left Oxford just before the beginning of that Catholic revival which has transfigured both the inner spirit and the outward aspect of the Church of England . But the revival was now in full strength . The Tracts for the Times were saturating England with new influences . The See also:movement counted no more enthusiastic or more valuable See also:disciple than Gladstone . Its See also:influence had reached him through his friendships, notably with two See also:Fellows of Merton—Mr James See also:Hope, who became Mr Hope-See also:Scott of See also:Abbotsford, and the Rev . H . E . See also:Manning, afterwards See also:cardinal See also:archbishop . The . State in its Relations with the Church was his See also:practical contribution to a controversy in which his deepest convictions were involved . He contended that the Church, as established by See also:law, was to be " maintained for its truth," and that this principle, if good for England, was good also for See also:Ireland . On the 25th of See also:July 1839 Gladstone was married at See also:Hawarden to See also:Miss See also:Catherine Glynne, See also:sister, and in her issue See also:heir, of Sir See also:Stephen Glynne, 'ninth and last See also:baronet of that name . In 184o he published Church Principles considered in their Results . Parliament was dissolved in June 1841 . Gladstone was again returned for Newark . The general election resulted in a Tory majority of eighty . Sir Robert Peel became Eaters the See also:cabinet. prime minister, and made the member for Newark See also:vice-president of the See also:Board of See also:Trade . An inevitable change is from this time to be traced in the topics of Gladstone's parliamentary speaking . Instead of discoursing on the corporate See also:conscience of the state and the endowments of the Church, the importance of See also:Christian education, and the theological unfitness of the See also:Jews to sit in parliament, he is solving business-like problems about See also:foreign tariffs and the exportation of machinery; waxing eloquent over the regulation of See also:railways, and a graduated tax on See also:corn; subtle on the monetary merits of half-farthings, and great in the mysterious See also:lore of See also:quassia and cocculus indicus . In 1842 he had a See also:principal See also:hand in the preparation of the revised See also:tariff, by which duties were abolished or sensibly diminished in the See also:case of 1200 duty-paying articles . In defending the new See also:scheme he spoke incessantly, and amazed the House by his mastery of detail, his intimate acquaintance with the commercial needs of the See also:country, and his inexhaustible See also:power of exposition .
In 1843 Gladstone, succeeding Lord See also:Ripon as president of the Board of Trade, became a member of the cabinet at the age of thirty-three
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He has recorded the fact that " the very first opinion which he ever was called upon to give in cabinet " was an opinion in favour of withdrawing the bill providing education for See also:children in factories, to which vehement opposition was offered by the Dissenters, on the ground that it•was too favourable to the Established Church
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At the opening of the session of 1845 the government, in pursuance of a promise made to Irish members that they would See also:Maynooth See also:deal with the question of academical education in See also: The Corn Bill passed the House of Lords on the 28th of June 1846, and on the same day the government were beaten in the House of Commons on an Irish See also:Coercion Bill . Lord John Russell became prime minister, and Gladstone retired for a See also:season into private life . Early in 1847 it was announced that one of the two members for the university of Oxford intended to retire at the general election, and Gladstone was proposed for the vacant seat . The representation of the university had been pronounced by Canning to be the most coveted See also:prize of public life, and Gladstone himself confessed that he " desired it with an almost passionate fondness." Parliament was dissolved on the 23rd of July 1847 . The nomination at Oxford took place on the 29th of July, and at the See also:close of the poll Sir Robert See also:Inglis stood at the head, with Gladstone as his colleague . The three years 1847, 1848, 1849 were for Gladstone a See also:period of See also:mental growth, of transition, of development . A change was silently proceeding, which was not completed for twenty years . " There have been," he wrote in later p,8.isons. days to Bishop See also:Wilberforce, " two great deaths, or transmigrations of spirit, in my political existence—one, very slow, the breaking of ties with my See also:original party." This was now in progress . In the See also:winter of 1850-1851 Gladstone spent between three and four months at See also:Naples, where he learned that more than half the chamber of deputies, who had followed the party of Opposition, had been banished or imprisoned; that a large number, probably not less than 20,000, of the citizens had been imprisoned on charges of political disaffection, and that in See also:prison they were subjected to the grossest cruelties . Having made careful investigations, Gladstone, on the 7th of April 1851, addressed an open See also:letter to Lord Aberdeen, bringing an elaborate, detailed and horrible See also:indictment against the rulers of Naples, especially as regards the arrangements of their prisons and the treatment of persons confined in them for political offences . The publication of this letter caused a wide sensation in England and abroad, and profoundly agitated the See also:court of Naples . In reply to a question in the House of Commons, Lord See also:Palmerston accepted and adopted Gladstone's statement, expressed keen sympathy with the cause which he had espoused, and sent a copy of his letter to the queen's representative at every court of See also:Europe . A second letter and a third followed, and their effect, though for a while retarded, was unmistakably felt in the subsequent revolution which created a free and See also:united Italy . In February 1852 the Whig government was defeated on a See also:Militia Bill, and Lord John Russell was succeeded by Lord Derby, formerly Lord Stanley, with Mr Disraeli, who now fitted by an unique See also:combination of See also:financial, administrative and rhetorical gifts . His first See also:budget was introduced on the 18th of April 18 J3 . It tended to make life easier and cheaper for large and numerous classes; it promised wholesale remissions of See also:taxation; it lessened the charges on See also:common processes of business, on locomotion, on postal communication, and on several articles of general See also:consumption . The deficiency thus created was to be met by a " See also:succession-duty," or application of the See also:legacy-duty to real property; by an increase of the duty on See also:spirits; and by the See also:extension of the income-tax, at 5d. in the See also:pound, to all incomes between £roo and £15o . The speech in which these proposals were introduced held the House spell-bound . Here was an orator who could apply all the resources of a burnished See also:rhetoric to the elucidation of figures; who could sweep the widest See also:horizon of the financial future, and yet stoop to bestow the minutest attention on the See also:microcosm of See also:penny stamps and See also:post-horses . Above all, the chancellor's mode of handling the income-tax attracted interest and admiration . It was a searching See also:analysis of the financial and moral grounds on which the See also:impost rested, and a See also:historical See also:justification and eulogy of it . Yet, great as had been the services of the tax at a time of national danger, Gladstone could not consent to retain it as a part of the permanent and See also:ordinary finances of the country . It was objectionable on See also:account of its unequal incidence, of the harassing investigation into private affairs which it entailed, and of the frauds to which it inevitably led . Therefore, having served its turn, it was to be extinguished in 186o . The scheme astonished, interested and attracted the country . The queen and See also:Prince See also:Albert wrote to congratulate the chancellor of the exchequer . Public authorities and private See also:friends joined in the See also:chorus of eulogy . The budget. demonstrated at once its author's See also:absolute mastery over figures and the persuasive force of his expository See also:gift . It established the chancellor of the exchequer as the See also:paramount financier of his day, and it was only the first of .a long series of similar performances, different, of course, in detail, but alike in their bold outlines and brilliant handling . Looking back on a long life of strenuous exertion, Gladstone declared that the work of preparing his proposals about the succession-duty and carrying them through Parliament was by far the most laborious task which he ever performed . War between Great See also:Britain and See also:Russia was declared on the 27th of March 1854, and it thus See also:fell to the lot of the most pacific of ministers, the devotee of See also:retrenchment, and the anxious See also:cultivator of all See also:industrial arts, to prepare a war budget, and to meet as well as he might the exigencies of a conflict which had so cruelly dislocated all the ingenious devices of financial optimism . No amount of skill in the manipulation of figures, no ingenuity in shifting fiscal burdens, could prevent the addition of See also:forty-one millions to the national See also:debt, or could countervail the appalling mismanagement at the seat of war . Gladstone declared that the state of the See also:army in the See also:Crimea was a " See also:matter for weeping all day and praying all night." As soon as parliament met in January 1855 J . A . See also:Roebuck,,the Radical member for See also:Sheffield, gave notice that he would move for a select committee " to inquire into the condition of our army before See also:Sevastopol, and into the conduct of those departments of the government whose duty it has been to minister to the wants of that army." On the same day Lord John Russell, without announcing his intention to his colleagues, resigned his office as president of the See also:council sooner than See also:attempt the defence of the government . Gladstone, in defending the government against Roebuck, rebuked in dignified and significant terms the conduct of men who, " hoping to See also:escape from See also:punishment, ran away from duty." On the See also:division on Mr Roebuck's See also:motion the government was beaten by the unexpected majority of 157 . Lord Palmerston became prime minister . The Peelites joined him, and Gladstone resumed office as chancellor of the exchequer . A shrewd observer at the time pronounced him indispensable . " Any other chancellor of the exchequer would be torn in bits by him." The government was formed on the understanding that Mr Roebuck's proposed committee was to be resisted . Lord Palmerston soon saw that further resistance was useless; his Peelite colleagues See also:stuck to their See also:text, and, within three See also:weeks after resuming office, Gladstone, Sir James Graham and Mr See also:Sidney See also:Herbert resigned . Gladstone once said of himself and his Peelite colleagues, during the period of political See also:isolation, that they were like roving icebergs on which men could not See also:land with safety, but with which See also:ships might come into perilous collision . He now applied himself specially to financial See also:criticism, and was perpetually in conflict with the chancellor of the exchequer, Sir See also:George Cornewall See also:Lewis . In 1858 Lord Palmerston was succeeded by Lord Derby at the head of a Conservative administration, and Gladstone accepted the temporary office of high See also:commissioner extraordinary to the Ionian Islands . Returning to England for the session of 1859, he found himself involved in the controversy which arose over a mild Reform Bill introduced by the government . They were defeated on the second reading of the bill, Gladstone voting with them . A See also:dissolution immediately followed, and Gladstone was again returned unopposed for the university of Oxford . As soon as the new parliament met a See also:vote of want of confidence in the See also:ministry was moved in the House of Commons . In the See also:critical division which ensued Gladstone voted with the government, who were left in a minority . Lord Derby resigned . Lord Palmerston became prime minister, and asked Gladstone to join him as chancellor of the exchequer . To vote confidence in an imperilled ministry, and on its defeat to take office with the rivals who have defeated it, is a manoeuvre which invites the reproach of tergiversation . But Gladstone risked the reproach, accepted the office and had a See also:sharp tussle for his seat . He emerged from the struggle victorious, and entered on his duties with characteristic zeal . The prince See also:consort wrote: " Gladstone is now the real leader in the House of Commons, and See also:works with an See also:energy and vigour altogether incredible." The budget of 186o was marked by two distinctive features . It asked the See also:sanction of parliament for the commercial treaty which See also:Cobden had privately arranged with the See also:emperor See also:Napoleon, and it proposed to abolish the duty on See also:paper . The See also:French treaty entered office for the first time, as chancellor of the exchequer and leader of the House of Commons . Mr Disraeli introduced and carried a makeshift budget, and the government Gladstone ded over the session, and dissolved parliament on the and Disraeli . 1st of July 1852 . There was some talk of inducing Glad- stone to join the Tory government, and on the 29th of November Lord See also:Malmesbury dubiously remarked, " I cannot make out Gladstone, who seems to me a dark See also:horse." In the following month the chancellor of the exchequer produced his second budget . The government redeemed their See also:pledge to do something for the See also:relief of the agricultural interest by reducing the duty on See also:malt . This created a deficit, which they repaired by doubling the duty on inhabited houses . The voices of criticism were heard simultaneously on every See also:side . The debate waxed fast and furious . In defending his proposals Mr Disraeli gave full See also:scope to his most characteristic gifts; he pelted his opponents right and left with sarcasms, taunts and epigrams . Gladstone delivered an unpremeditated reply, which has ever since been celebrated . Tradition says that he " foamed at the mouth." The speech of the chancellor of the exchequer, he said, must be answered " on the moment." It must be " tried by the laws of decency and propriety." He indignantly rebuked his See also:rival's language and demeanour . He tore his financial scheme to See also:ribbons . It was the beginning of a See also:duel which lasted till See also:death removed one of the combatants from the political See also:arena . " Those who had thought it impossible that any impression could be made upon the House after the speech of Mr Disraeli had to acknowledge that a yet greater impression was produced by the unprepared reply of Mr Gladstone." The House divided, and the government were left in a minority of nineteen . Lord Derby resigned . The new government was a See also:coalition of Whigs and Peelites . Lord Aberdeen became prime minister, and Gladstone chancellor of the exchequer . Having been returned again for chancellor the university of Oxford, he entered on the active of the duties of a great office for which he was pre-eminently exchequer . was carried, but the abolition of the paper-duty was defeated in the House of Lords . Gladstone justly regarded the refusal to remit a duty as being in effect an See also:act of taxation, and therefore as an infringement of the rights of the House of Commons . The proposal to abolish the paper-duty was revived in the budget of 1861, the chief proposals of which, instead of being divided, as in previous years, into several bills, were included in one . By this See also:device the Lords were obliged to acquiesce in the repeal of the paper-duty . During Lord Palmerston's last administration, which lasted from 1859 to 1865, Gladstone was by far the most brilliant and most conspicuous figure in the cabinet . Except in See also:finance, he was not able to accomplish much, for he was met and thwarted at every turn by his chief's invincible hostility to change; but the more advanced See also:section of the Liberal party began to look upon him as their predestined leader . In 1864, in a debate on a private member's bill for extending the See also:suffrage, he declared that the See also:burden of See also:proof See also:lay on those " who would exclude forty-nine fiftieths of the working-classes from the See also:franchise." In 1865, in a debate on the condition of the Irish Church See also:Establishment, he declared that the Irish Church, as it then stood, was in a false position, inasmuch as it ministered only to one-eighth or one-ninth of the whole community . But just in proportion as Glad-stone advanced in favour with the Radical party he lost the confidence of his own constituents . Parliament was dissolved in July 1865, and the university elected Mr Gathorne See also:Hardy in his place . Gladstone at once turned his steps towards See also:South See also:Lancashire, where he was returned with two Tories above him . 
The result of the general election was to retain Lord Palmerston's Leader of government in power, but on the 18th of October the ~ID„aos old prime minister died . He was succeeded by Lord Russell, and Gladstone, retaining the chancellorship of the exchequer, became for the first time leader of the House of Commons . Lord Russell, backed by Gladstone, persuaded his colleagues to consent to a moderate Reform Bill, and the task of piloting this measure through the House of Commons fell to Gladstone . The speech in which he See also:wound up the debate on the second reading was one of the finest, if not indeed the very finest, which he ever delivered . But it was of no practical avail . The government were defeated on an See also:amendment in committee, and thereupon resigned . Lord Derby became prime minister, with Disraeli as chancellor of the exchequer and leader of the House of Commons . On the 18th of March 1867 the Tory Reform Bill, which ended in establishing See also:Household Suffrage in the boroughs, was introduced, and was read a second time without a division . After undergoing extensive alterations in committee at the hands of the Liberals and Radicals, the bill became law in See also:August . At Christmas 1867 Lord Russell announced his final retirement from active politics, and Gladstone was recognized by acclama- tion as leader of the Liberal party . Nominally he was in Opposition; but his party formed the majority of the House of Commons, and could See also:beat the govern- ment whenever they See also:chose to See also:mass their forces . Gladstone seized the opportunity to give effect to convictions which had long been forming in his mind . Early in the session he brought in a bill abolishing compulsory church-rates, and this passed into law . On the 16th of March, in a debate raised by an Irish member, he declared that in his judgment the Irish Church, as a State Church, must cease to exist . Immediately afterwards he embodied this opinion in a series of resolutions concerning the Irish Church Establishment,, and carried them against the government . Encouraged by this See also:triumph, he brought in a Bill to prevent any fresh appointments in the Irish Church, and this also passed the Commons, though it was defeated in the Lords . Parliament was dissolved on the r rth of November . A single issue was placed before the country—Was the Irish Church to be, or not to be, disestablished ? The response was an overwhelming affirmative . Gladstone, who had been doubly nominated, was defeated in Lancashire, but was returned for See also:Greenwich . He chose this moment for See also:publishing a See also:Chapter of Autobiography, in which he explained and justified his change of opinion with regard to the Irish Church . On the 2nd of December Disraeli, who had succeeded Lord Derby as.premier in the preceding February, announced that he and his colleagues, recognizing their defeat, had resigned without waiting for a formal vote of the new parliament . On the following day Gladstone was summoned to See also:Windsor, and commanded by the queen to form an administration . The great task to which the new prime minister immediately addressed himself was the disestablishment of the Irish Church . The queen wrote to Archbishop See also:Tait that the subject of the Irish Church " made her very anxious," but that Mr Gladstone " showed the most conciliatory disposition." " The government can do nothing that would tend to raise a suspicion of their sincerity in proposing to disestablish the Irish Church, and to withdraw all state endowments from all religious communions in Ireland; but, were these conditions accepted, all other matters connected with the question might, the queen thinks, become the subject of discussion and negotiation." The bill was See also:drawn and piloted on the lines thus indicated, and became law on the 26th of July . In the session of 187o Gladstone's principal work was the Irish Land Act, of which the object was to protect the See also:tenant against eviction as long as he paid his See also:rent, and to secure to him the value of any improvements which his own industry had made . In the following session Religious Tests in the universities were abolished, and a bill to establish See also:secret voting was carried through the House of Commons . This was thrown out by the Lords, but became law a year later . The House of Lords threw out a bill to abolish the See also:purchase of commissions in the army . Gladstone found that purchase existed only by royal sanction, and advised the queen to issue a royal See also:warrant cancelling, on and after the 1st of November following, all regulations authorizing the purchase of commissions . In 1873 Gladstone set his hand to the third of three great Irish reforms to which he had pledged himself . His scheme for the establishment of a university which should satisfy both Roman Catholics and Protestants met with general disapproval . The bill was thrown out by three votes, and Gladstone resigned . The queen sent for Disraeli, who declined to take office in a minority of the House of Commons, so Gladstone was compelled to resume . But he and his colleagues were now, in Disraelitish phrase, " exhausted volcanoes." Election after election went wrong . The government had lost favour with the public, and was divided against itself . There were resignations and rumours of resignations . When the session of 1873 had come to an end Gladstone took the chancellorship of the exchequer, and, as high authorities contended, vacated his seat by doing so . The point was obviously one of vital importance; and we learn from Lord See also:Selborne, who was lord chancellor at the time, that Glad-stone " was sensible of the difficulty of either taking his seat in the usual manner at the opening of the session, or letting .. . . the necessary arrangements for business in the House of Commons be made in the prime minister's See also:absence . A dissolution was the only escape." On the 23rd of January 1874 Gladstone announced the dissolution in an address to his constituents, Dissolution declaring that the authority of the government had of 1874 . now " sunk below the point necessary for the due de- fence and See also:prosecution of the public interest." He promised that, if he were returned to power, he would repeal the income-tax . This bid for popularity failed, the general election resulting in a Tory majority of forty-six . Gladstone kept his seat for Greenwich, but was only second on the poll . Following the example of Disraeli in 1868, he resigned without meeting parliament . For some years he had alluded to his impending retirement from public life, saying that he was "strong against going on in politics to the end." He was now sixty-four; and his life had been a continuous experience of exhausting rTetiremement . porary labour . On the 12th of March 1874 he informed Lord See also:Granville that he could give only occasional attendance in the House of Commons during the current session, and that he must " reserve his entire freedom to divest himself of all the Budget of 1860 . Leader of Liberal Party Prime Minister: Irish Church disestablishment . responsibilities of leadership at no distant date." His most important intervention in the debates of 1874 was when he opposed Archbishop Tait's Public See also:Worship Bill . This was read a second time without a division, but in committee Gladstone enjoyed some See also:signal triumphs over his See also:late See also:solicitor-general, Sir William See also:Harcourt, who had warmly espoused the cause of the government and the bill . At the beginning of 1875 Gladstone carried into effect the resolution which he had announced a year before, and formally resigned the leadership of the Liberal party . He was succeeded by Lord Hartington, afterwards duke of See also:Devonshire . The learned leisure which Gladstone had promised himself when released from official responsibility was not of long duration . In the autumn of 1875 an insurrection See also:broke out in See also:Bulgaria, and the suppression of it by the See also:Turks was marked by massacres and outrages . Public indignation was aroused by what were known as the " Bulgarian atrocities," and Gladstone flung himself into the agitation against See also:Turkey with characteristic zeal . At public meetings, in the See also:press, and in parliament he denounced the See also:Turkish government and its See also:champion, Disraeli, who had now become Lord See also:Beaconsfield . Lord Hartington soon found himself pushed aside from his position of titular leadership . For four years, from 1876 to T88o, Gladstone maintained the strife with a courage, a persistence and a versatility which raised the See also:enthusiasm of his followers to the highest See also:pitch . The See also:county of See also:Edinburgh,- or Midlothian, which he contested against the dominant influence of Midlothian campaign. the duke of See also:Buccleuch, was the See also:scene of the most campaign. astonishing exertions . As the general election approached the only question submitted to the electors was—Do you approve or condemn Lord Beaconsfield's foreign policy ? The See also:answer was given at See also:Easter 188o, when the Liberals were returned by an overwhelming majority over Tories and Home Rulers combined . Gladstone was now member for Midlothian, having retired from Greenwich at the dissolution . When Lord Beaconsfield resigned, the queen sent for Lord Hartington, the titular leader of the Liberals, but he and Lord Granville assured her that no other chief than Gladstone would satisfy the party . Accordingly, on the 23rd of April he became prime minister for the second time . His second administration, of which the See also:main achievement was the extension of the suffrage to the agricultural labourers, was harassed by two controversies, See also:relating to Ireland and See also:Egypt, which proved disastrous to the Liberal party . Gladstone alienated considerable masses of English opinion by his efforts to reform the See also:tenure of Irish land, and provoked the Irish See also:people by his attempts to establish social order and to repress See also:crime . A bill to provide compensation for tenants who had been evicted by Irish landlords passed the Commons, but was shipwrecked in the Lords, and a ghastly record of See also:outrage and See also:murder stained the following winter . A Coercion Bill and a Land Bill passed in 1881 proved unsuccessful . On the 6th of May 1882 the newly appointed chief secretary for Ireland, Lord See also:Frederick See also:Cavendish, and his under-secretary, Mr See also:Burke, were stabbed to death in the See also:Phoenix See also:Park at See also:Dublin . A new Crimes Act, courageously administered by Lord See also:Spencer and Sir George Trevelyan, abolished exceptional crime in Ireland, but completed the See also:breach between the British government and the Irish party in parliament . The See also:bombardment of the forts at See also:Alexandria and the occupation of Egypt in 1882 were viewed with great disfavour by the bulk of the Liberal party, and were but little congenial to Gladstone himself . The circumstances of General See also:Gordon's untimely death awoke an outburst of indignation against those who were, or seemed to be, responsible for it . Frequent votes of censure were proposed by the Opposition, and on the 8th of June 1885 the government were beaten on the budget . Gladstone resigned . 'The queen offered him the dignity of an earldom, which he declined . He was succeeded by Lord See also:Salisbury . The general election took place in the following November . When it was over the Liberal party was just See also:short of the numerical strength which was requisite to defeat the combination of Tories and Parnellites . A startling surprise was at hand . Gladstone had for some time been convinced of the expediency of conceding Home See also:Rule to Ireland in the event of the Irish constituencies giving unequivocal proof that they desired it . His intentions were made known only to a privileged few, and these, curiously, were not his colleagues . The general election of 1885 showed that Ireland, outside See also:Ulster, was practically unanimous for Home Rule . On the 17th of December an See also:anonymous See also:paragraph was published, stating that if Mr Gladstone returned to office he was prepared to " deal in a liberal spirit with the demand for Home Rule." It was clear that if Gladstone meant what he appeared to mean, the Parnellites would support him, and the Tories must leave office . The government seemed to accept the situation . When parliament met they executed, for form's See also:sake, some confused manoeuvres, and then they were beaten on an amendment to the address in favour of Municipal Allotments . On the 1st of February 1886 Gladstone became, for the third time, prime minister . Several of his former colleagues declined to join him, on the ground of their absolute hostility to the policy of Home Rule; others joined on the See also:express understanding that they were only pledged to consider the policy, and did not fetter their further See also:liberty of See also:action . On the 8th of April Gladstone brought in his bill for establishing Home Rule, and eight days later the bill for buying out the Irish landlords . Meanwhile two members of his cabinet, feeling themselves unable to support these See also:measures, resigned . Hostility to the bills See also:grew apace . Gladstone was implored to withdraw them, or substitute a resolution in favour of Irish See also:autonomy; but he resolved to press at least the Home Rule Bill to a second reading . In the early See also:morning of the 8th of June the bill was thrown out by thirty . Gladstone immediately advised the queen to dissolve parliament . Her Majesty strongly demurred to a second general election within seven months; but Gladstone persisted, and she yielded . Parliament was dissolved on the 26th of June .
In spite of Gladstone's skilful See also:appeal to the constituencies to sanction the principle of Home Rule, as distinct from the practical provisions of his late bill, the general election resulted in a majority of considerably over Too against his policy, and Lord Salisbury resumed office
.
Throughout the existence of the new parliament Gladstone never relaxed his extraordinary efforts, though now nearer eighty than seventy, on behalf of the cause of self-government for Ireland
.
The fertility of argumentative resource, the copiousness of rhetoric, and the physical energy which he threw into the enterprise, would have been remarkable at any See also:stage of his public life; continued into his eighty-fifth year they were little less than miraculous
.
Two incidents of domestic interest, one happy and the other sad, belong to that period of political See also:storm and stress
.
On the 25th of July 1889 Gladstone celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his See also:marriage, and on the 4th of July 1891 his eldest son, William See also:
Parliament reassembled in January 1893
.
Gladstone brought in his new Home Rule Bill on the 13th, of February
.
It passed the House of Commons, but was thrown out by the House of Lords on the second reading on the 8th of September 1893
.
Gladstone's political work was now, in his own judgment, ended
.
He made his last speech in the House of Commons on the 1st of March 1894, acquiescing in some amendments introduced by the Lords into the See also:Parish See also:Councils Bill; and on the 3rd of March he placed his resignation in the queen's hands
.
He never set See also:foot again in the House of Commons, though he remained a member of it till the dissolution of 1895
.
He paid
First Home Rule Bill
.
occasional visits to friends in London, See also:Scotland and the south of See also:France; but the See also:remainder of his life was spent for the most part at Hawarden
.
He occupied his leisure by See also:writing a rhymed See also:translation of the Odes of See also:Horace, and preparing an elaborately annotated edition of See also:
But the end, though not yet apprehended, was at hand
.
Since his retirement from office Gladstone's physical vigour, up to that time unequalled, had shown signs of impairment
.
Towards the end of the summer of 1897 he began to suffer from an acute See also:pain, which was attributed to facial See also:neuralgia, and in November he went to See also:Cannes
.
In February 1898 he returned to England and went to See also:Bournemouth
.
There he was informed that the pain had its origin in a disease which must soon prove fatal
.
He received the See also:information with simple thankfulness, and only asked that he might See also:die at home
.
On the 22nd of Heats
.
March he returned to Hawarden, and there he died
on the 19th of May 1898
.
During the night of the 25th of May his See also:body was conveyed from Hawarden to London and the See also:coffin was placed on a bier in Westminster See also: The body was buried in the See also:north See also:transept of the abbey, where, on the 19th of June 1000, Mrs Gladstone's body was laid beside it . Mr and Mrs Gladstone had four sons and four daughters, of whom one died in See also:infancy . The eldest son, W . H . Gladstone See also:Family . (1840—1891), was a member of parliament for many years, and married the daughter of Lord See also:Blantyre, his son William (b . 1885) inheriting the family estates . The See also:fourth son, Herbert John (b . 18J4), sat in parliament for See also:Leeds from 1880 to 1910, and filled various offices, being home secretary 1905—1910; in 1910 he was created Viscount Gladstone, on being appointed See also:governor-general of united South See also:Africa . The eldest daughter, See also:Agnes, married the Rev . E . C . Wickham, headmaster of Wellington, 1873—1893, and later See also:Dean of Lincoln . Another daughter married the Rev . Harry See also:Drew, See also:rector of Hawarden . The youngest, See also:Helen, was for some years vice-principal of Newnham College, See also:Cambridge . After a careful survey of Mr Gladstone's life, enlightened by personal observation, it is inevitable to attempt some analysis Character. of his character . First among his moral attributes must be placed his religiousness . From those early days when a fond See also:mother wrote of him as having been " truly converted to See also:God," down to the See also:verge of ninety years, he lived in the habitual contemplation of the unseen See also:world, and regulated his private and public action by reference to a See also:code higher than that of See also:mere prudence or worldly See also:wisdom . A second characteristic, scarcely less prominent than the first, was his love of power . His ambition had nothing in common with the vulgar eagerness for place and pay and social See also:standing . Rather it was a resolute determination to possess that See also:control over the See also:machine of state which should enable him to fulfil without let or hindrance the political See also:mission with which he believed that See also:Providence had charged him . The love of power was supported by a splendid fearlessness . No dangers were too threatening for him to See also:face, no obstacles too formidable,no tasks too laborious, no heights too steep . The love of power and the supporting courage were allied with a marked imperiousness . Of this quality there was no trace in his manner, which was courteous, conciliatory and even deferential; nor in his speech, which breathed an almost exaggerated humility . But the imperiousness showed itself in the more effectual form of action; in his sudden resolves, his invincible insistence, his recklessness of consequences to himself and his friends, his habitual See also:assumption that the civilized world and all its See also:units must agree with him, his indignant astonishment at the See also:bare thought of dissent or resistance, his incapacity to believe that an overruling Providence would permit him to be frustrated or defeated . He had by nature what he himself called a " vulnerable See also:temper and impetuous moods." But so absolute was his lifelong self-mastery that he was hardly ever betrayed into saying that which, on cooler reflection, needed to be recalled . It was easy enough to see the " vulnerable temper " as it worked within, but it was never suffered to find audible expression . It may seem paradoxical, but it is true, to say that Mr Gladstone was by nature conservative . His natural See also:bias was to respect things as they were . In his eyes, institutions, customs, systems, so long as they had not become actively mischievous, were good because they were old . It is true that he was sometimes forced by conviction or fate or political See also:necessity to be a revolutionist on a large See also:scale; to destroy an established Church; to add two millions of voters to the electorate; to attack the parliamentary union of the kingdoms . But these changes were, in their inception, distasteful to their author . His whole life was spent in unlearning the prejudices in which he was educated . His love of freedom steadily See also:developed, and he applied its principles more and more courageously to the problems of government .
But it makes some difference to the future of a democratic state whether its leading men are eagerly on the look-out for something to revolutionize, or approach a constitutional change by the gradual processes of conviction and conversion
.
Great as were his eloquence, his knowledge and his financial skill, Gladstone was accustomed to say of himself that the only quality in which, so far as he knew, he was distinguished from his fellow-men was his See also:faculty of concentration
.
Whatever were the matter in hand, he so concentrated himself on it, and absorbed himself in it, that nothing else seemed to exist for him
.
A word must be said about physical characteristics
.
In his prime Gladstone was just six feet high, but his inches diminished as his years increased, and in old age the unusual See also:size of his head and breadth of his shoulders gave him a slightly See also:top-heavy appearance
.
His features were strongly marked; the See also:nose trenchant and See also:hawk-like, and the mouth severely lined
.
His flashing eyes were deep-set, and in See also:colour resembled the See also:onyx with its double See also:band of See also: Lord See also:Morley of See also:Blackburn's Life of Gladstone was published in 1903 . (G . W . E . |
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