and taxation.
Nov. 14. At Middle Temple on legal opposition to legal reforms and on
arbitration.
Nov. 28. At American Thanksgiving dinner on good understanding between
England and United States.
Dec. 3. At Society of Biblical Archæology on results of excavations in the
East.
Dec. 21. At Liverpool College on unbelief.
1873.
Feb. 6. On _Alabama_ award.
Feb. 13. Introduces Irish University bill.
Feb. 14. On resolution that treaties with foreign powers be submitted to
House of Commons.
Feb. 18. On Mr. Harcourt’s motion that the rate of public expenditure is
excessive.
March 6. At Croyden on Irish University bill.
March 7. On relations between England and the colonies.
March 11. On second reading of Irish University bill.
March 13. Resignation of ministry.
March 20. Resumes office. Explains history of crisis.
March 21. On the three rules of Washington treaty.
April 21. On University Tests (Dublin) bill.
April 29. On proposal for state purchase of Irish railways.
May 2. On German Emperor’s award on Canadian-American boundary.
May 6. On resolution urging redress of electoral inequalities.
May 16. On disestablishment of church of England.
May 26. On _Alabama_ award and arbitration.
July 8. On international arbitration.
July 10. On Judicature bill.
Aug. 15. At Hawarden on school boards.
Aug. 19. Presides at Welsh National Eisteddfod at Mold: on Welsh language.
Dec. Letter on “Evolution” in _Contemporary Review_.
1874.
Jan. 23. Issues election address.
Jan. 28. Speech on Blackheath Common on issues before the electors.
Jan. 31. At Woolwich.
Feb. “The Shield of Achilles” in _Contemporary Review_.
Feb. 2. Replies to Mr. Disraeli’s speeches at New Cross.
Feb. 4. Re-elected for Greenwich,—Boord (C.), 6193; Gladstone (L.), 5968;
Liardet (C.), 5561; Langley (L.), 5255.
Feb. 17. Resignation of ministry.
March 5. On the office of speaker.
March 12. Letter to Lord Granville on leadership.
March 19. Defends the late dissolution.
March 20. On Mr. Butt’s Home Rule motion.
March 30. On the Ashantee war.
April 23. On Sir S. Northcote’s budget.
April 24. On proposed vote of censure on late government for dissolution.
May “The Reply of Achilles to the envoys of Agamemnon” in _Contemporary
Review_.
June “Homer’s place in history” in _Contemporary Review_.
July “The place of Homer in history and in Egyptian chronology” in
_Contemporary Review_.
July 6. Opposes the Scotch Church Patronage bill.
July 9. Opposes Public Worship Regulation bill, explains his Six
Resolutions.
July 14, 21, 24. Opposes Endowed Schools Act Amendment bill.
Aug. 4. Protests against premature annexation of Fiji.
Aug. 5. On Public Worship Regulation bill.
Sept. 7-25. Visits Dr. Döllinger in Munich.
Oct. “Ritualism and Ritual” in _Contemporary Review_.
Oct. Reviews Miss Yonge’s _Life of Bishop Patteson_ in _Quarterly Review_.
Nov. _The Vatican Decrees in their bearing on civil allegiance: a
political expostulation._
1875.
Jan. “Speeches of Pope Pius IX.” in _Quarterly Review_.
Jan. 13. Announces retirement from leadership.
Feb. _Vaticanism: an answer to replies and reproofs._
March Sells 11 Carlton House Terrace.
April 21. Supports Burials bill.
May “Life and Speeches of the Prince Consort” in _Contemporary Review_.
May 5. In support of Irish Sunday Closing bill.
May 7. Criticises Sir S. Northcote’s budget.
May 27. Criticises Savings Bank bill.
June 8. On National Debt (Sinking Fund) bill.
July “Is the Church of England worth Preserving?” in _Contemporary
Review_.
Sept. 9. Lays foundation-stone of King’s School, Chester: on English
public schools.
Sept. 14. At Hawarden on mental culture.
Oct. “Italy and her Church” in _Church Quarterly Review_.
Nov. 11. Distributes prizes to science and art students at Greenwich: on
education.
Dec. Latin translation of “Art thou weary, art thou languid?” in
_Contemporary Review_.
1876.
Feb. 8. On the Andrassy note and the Crimean war.
Feb. 16. Presented with freedom of Turners’ Company: on city companies.
Feb. 21. On purchase of Suez Canal shares.
March “Homerology: I. Apollo” in _Contemporary Review_.
March 6. On danger of future complications in Egypt.
March 9. On Royal Titles bill.
March 23. In support of House of Charity at annual meeting in Soho.
March 23. On third reading of Royal Titles bill.
April “Homerology: II. Hippos, the Horse. III. Diphros, the Chariot,” in
_Contemporary Review_.
May 23. On city of London companies.
May 31. Presides at dinner in celebration 100th anniversary of publication
of _Wealth of Nations_.
June “Courses of Religious Thought” in _Contemporary Review_.
June “A Letter on Newman and Wesley” in _Contemporary Review_.
July “Homerology: IV. Athené. V. Aiolas,” in _Contemporary Review_.
July “Lord Macaulay” in _Quarterly Review_.
July “Memoir of Norman Macleod, D.D.,” in _Church Quarterly Review_.
July 6. Distributes prizes at King’s College: on knowledge.
July 13. Distributes prizes at London Hospital Medical College: on medical
education.
July 21. On Turkish Loan of 1854.
July 31. Defends Crimean war and European concert.
Aug. 17. On cottage gardening at Hawarden.
Aug. 19. Receives five hundred Lancashire liberals at Hawarden.
Sept. 6. _The Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East_ published.
Sept. 9. On Blackheath Common on Bulgarian atrocities.
Nov. “Russian Policy and Deeds in Turkestan” in _Contemporary Review_.
Dec. “The Hellenic Factor in the Eastern Problem” in _Contemporary
Review_.
Dec. Publishes, _The Church of England and Ritualism_.
Dec. _A Biographical Sketch of Lord Lyttelton._
Dec. _Homeric Synchronism: an Inquiry into the Time and Place of Homer._
1877.
Jan. “Life of the Prince Consort” in _Church Quarterly Review_.
Jan. 16. At Hawarden on the Turks, the Greeks, and the Slavs.
Jan. 22. At Bath railway station on Eastern Question.
Jan. 27. At Taunton railway station on duty of England in Near East.
Feb. 3. Address to boys of Marlborough College on value of simple habits.
Feb. 8. On Eastern Question.
Feb. 16. Attacks government’s Turkish policy.
Feb. 28. In support of Servian Relief Fund at Grosvenor House.
March “On the influence of authority in matters of opinion” in _Nineteenth
Century_.
March _Lessons in Massacre_ published.
March 22. On Preaching at the City Temple.
March 23. Supports Mr. Fawcett’s resolution that Turkish promises without
guarantees are useless.
April 24. On a motion in favour of an Irish parliament.
April 30. Gives notice of five resolutions—on the Eastern Question.
May “Montenegro: a sketch” in _Nineteenth Century_.
May 7. Moves first of his resolutions.
May 12. On ceramic art at the Cymmodorian Society, London Institution.
May 14. Closes debate on his first resolution.
May 31. At Birmingham on the Eastern Question.
June 1. At Bristol Street Board School, Birmingham, on Ireland and Irish
representatives. Presented with address by the City: on municipal life.
June 4. Supports amendment to Universities bill, providing that holy
orders shall not be a condition of holding any headship or fellowship.
June 30. Opens Caxton Exhibition: on the work of Caxton.
July “Rejoinder on authority in matters of opinion” in _Nineteenth
Century_.
July “Piracy in Borneo and the Operations of July 1849” in _Contemporary
Review_.
July 13. At Plymouth and Exeter on liberal party and Eastern Question.
July 16. On behalf of Bosnian refugees at Willis’s Rooms.
July 20. On Irish demand for pardon of Fenian convicts.
Aug. “Aggression on Egypt and Freedom in the East” in _Nineteenth
Century_.
Aug. 4, 18, 20. Receives deputations of 5200 liberals at Hawarden on
Eastern Question.
Sept. 19. At Hawarden Grammar School on education.
Sept. 27. At University College, Nottingham, on higher education. At
Alexandra Hall on Eastern Question.
Oct. “The colour sense” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Oct. “The Dominions of the Odysseus and the island group of the Odyssey”
in _Macmillan’s Magazine_.
Oct. 17. Visits Ireland.
Nov. “The County Franchise and Mr. Lowe thereon” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Nov. 7. Presented with freedom of Dublin: on Irish questions. Entertained
at luncheon by corporation of Dublin: on Irish municipalities.
Nov. 12. At Holyhead on Eastern Question.
Nov. 15. Elected Rector of Glasgow University,—Mr. Gladstone, 1153; Sir
Stafford Northcote, 609.
Nov. 23. At Hawarden on Russians, Turks, and Bulgarians.
1878.
Jan. “The Life of the Prince Consort” in _Church Quarterly Review_. “Last
words on the County Franchise” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Jan. 17. Comments on Sir S. Northcote’s explanation of the government’s
Eastern policy.
Jan. 30. At Corn Exchange, Oxford, on the vote of credit for six millions.
At Palmerston Club dinner on Canning, Palmerston, and liberal party.
Feb. “The Peace to Come” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Feb. 4. On Mr. Forster’s amendment against vote of credit.
March. “The Paths of Honour and of Shame” in _Nineteenth Century_.
March 19. On Indian press law.
March 23. Receives deputation of Greenwich liberals: on unpopularity of
economy in public expenditure.
March 28. To deputation from Leeds on the Eastern Question.
April “The Iris of Homer: and the relation of Genesis ix. 11-17” in
_Contemporary Review_.
April 1. Supports Irish Sunday Closing bill.
April 3. On Vaccination Law (Penalties) bill.
April 5. On government and the Berlin Congress.
April 8. On government’s Eastern policy in debate on calling out army
reserves.
April 18. At Memorial Hall on Eastern Question at conference of 400 London
nonconformist ministers.
May 21. Protests against use of Indian troops in Europe without consent of
parliament.
May 23. Receives deputation of Scotch Presbyterian ministers: on the
Eastern Question.
May 27. Protests against despatch of Indian contingent to Malta.
June “Liberty in the East and West” in _Nineteenth Century_.
June 13. On treaties of 1856 and 1871.
June 18. On a motion to appoint select committee on Scotch Church
Patronage act, 1874.
July Contributes paper to symposium,—“Is the popular judgment of politics
more just than that of the higher orders?” in _Nineteenth Century_.
July 6. On Homer at Eton.
July 11. In London on spendthrift administration of charity.
July 15. Supports Irish Intermediate Education bill.
July 20. At Bermondsey on Anglo-Turkish convention.
July 23. Moves address that proceedings under Indian Vernacular Press Act
be reported to parliament.
July 30. Criticises action of British plenipotentiaries at Berlin
Congress.
Aug. 6. Criticises Sir S. Northcote’s finance.
Aug. 15. On art-labour at Hawarden.
Sept. “England’s Mission” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Oct. “The Sixteenth Century arraigned before the Nineteenth: a Study on
the Reformation” in _Contemporary Review_.
Oct. 1-7. Visits Isle of Man.
Oct. 31. At Rhyl on the political situation.
Nov. “Electoral Facts” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Nov. 11. At Buckley on books.
Nov. 30. At Greenwich on liberal organisation. At Woolwich on Afghan war.
Dec. 10. On Afghan war and policy.
Dec. 16. Protests against charging Indian revenues with expenses of Afghan
war.
Dec. Publishes a Literary Primer on _Homer_.
1879.
Jan. “The Friends and Foes of Russia” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Feb. 10. At Hawarden on Life and Labours of Dr. Hook.
March “On Epithets of Movement in Homer” in _Nineteenth Century_.
April 21. At Mentmore on liberal party and foreign policy.
April 28. On increase in national expenditure.
May “Probability as the Guide of Conduct” in _Nineteenth Century_.
May 2. In favour of enabling Irish tenants to purchase their holdings.
May 5. In explanation and defence of his financial policy in 1860.
May 13. Opposes resolution protesting against government’s abuse of
prerogative of the crown.
May 19. On church home missions at Willis’s Rooms.
June. “Greece and the Treaty of Berlin” in _Nineteenth Century_.
June. 11. On education at Mill Hill School.
June. 12. On financial condition of India.
June 14. On tendency of political life to mar a literary career at Savage
Club.
June 20. On condition of Cyprus under English administration.
June 24. Letter to Principal Rainy on Scotch disestablishment.
July. “The Evangelical Movement, its Parentage, Progress, and Issue,” in
_British Quarterly Review_.
July 5. On Homer at Eton College.
July 22. On unfulfilled stipulations of Berlin treaty.
Aug. “The Country and the Government” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Aug. 11. Opens Fine Art Exhibition, Chester: on art and manufacture.
Aug. 19. At Chester on government’s foreign policy.
Aug. 21. At St. Pancras workhouse.
Aug. 28. At Hawarden on garden cultivation.
Sept. 14-Oct. 21. Travelling in Bavaria and Italy.
Oct. “The Olympian System versus the Solar Theory” in _Nineteenth
Century_.
Nov. 3. To students at Wellington College on knowledge.
Nov. 25. At Music Hall, Edinburgh, on issues before the electors.
Nov. 26. At Dalkeith on domestic questions.
Nov. 27. At West Calder on right principles of foreign policy.
Nov. 29. At Edinburgh on tory finance. In Waverley Market on Balkan
principalities.
Dec. 5. Inaugural address at Glasgow University. In St. Andrew’s Hall on
government’s European, Indian, and South African policies.
Dec. Publishes _Gleanings of Past Years_ 1843-79, in seven volumes.
FOOTNOTES
_ 1 Eng. Hist. Rev._ April 1887, p. 296.
M1 Doctrine Of Nationality
M2 Napoleon III
_ 2 Il Conte di Cavour. Ricordi biografici._ Per G. Massari (Turin,
1875), p. 204.
3 See _L’Empire Libéral_, by Émile Ollivier, iv. p. 217.
4 It is a notable thing that in 1859 the provisional government of
Tuscany made a decree for the publication of a complete edition of
Machiavelli’s works at the cost of the state.
M3 Annexation Of Savoy And Nice
5 One of the pope’s chamberlains gravely assured the English resident
in Rome that he knew from a sure and trustworthy source that the
French Emperor had made a bargain with the Devil, and frequently
consulted him.
M4 Garibaldi
M5 Reform Not Unity
M6 Napoleon’s Share
6 Walpole’s _Russell_, ii. pp. 335-339.
7 Martin’s _Prince Consort_, v. p. 226.
_ 8 A General Review of the Different States of Italy_; prepared for
the Foreign Office by Sir Henry Bulwer, January 1853.
M7 The English Despatch
9 Cavour to Marquis d’Azeglio, Dec. 9, 1860. _La Politique du Comte
Camille de Cavour de 1852 à 1861_, p. 392.
10 June 6, 1861.
11 The disaster was the outcome of the Chinese refusal to receive Mr.
Bruce, the British minister at Pekin. Admiral Hope in endeavouring
to force an entrance to the Peiho river was repulsed by the fire of
the Chinese forts (June 25, 1859). In the following year a joint
Anglo-French expedition captured the Taku forts and occupied Pekin
(Oct. 12, 1860).
_ 12 Odyssey_, xx. 63.
13 On a motion by Lord Elcho against any participation in a conference
to settle the details of the peace between Austria and France.
14 I may be forgiven for referring to my _Life of Cobden_, ii. chap.
xi. For the French side of the transaction, see an interesting
chapter in De La Gorce, _Hist. du Second Empire_, iii. pp. 213-32.
15 “I will undertake that there is not a syllable on our side of the
treaty that is inconsistent with the soundest principles of free
trade. We do not propose to reduce a duty which, on its merits,
ought not to have been dealt with long ago. We give no concessions
to France which do not apply to all other nations. We leave
ourselves free to lay on any amount of internal duties and to put on
an equal tax on foreign articles of the same kind at the
custom-house. It is true we bind ourselves for ten years not
otherwise to raise such of our customs as affect the French trade,
or put on fresh ones; and this, I think, no true free trader will
regret.”—_Cobden to Bright._
M8 Outline Of The Scheme
16 The reader who wishes to follow these proceedings in close detail
will, of course, read the volume of _The Financial Statements_ of
1853, 1860-63, containing also the speech on tax-bills, 1861, and on
charities, 1863 (Murray, 1863).
17 Strictly speaking, in 1845 the figure had risen from 1052 to 1163
articles, for the first operation of tariff reform was to multiply
the number in consequence of the transition from _ad valorem_ to
specific duties, and this increased the headings under which they
were described. In 1860 Mr. Gladstone removed the duties from 371
articles, reducing the number to 48, of which only 15 were of
importance—spirits, sugar, tea, tobacco, wine, coffee, corn,
currants, timber, chicory, figs, hops, pepper, raisins, and rice.
18 See an interesting letter to Sir W. Heathcote in reply to other
criticisms, in Appendix.
19 On Mr. Duncan’s resolution against adding to an existing deficiency
by diminishing ordinary revenue and against re-imposing the
income-tax at an unnecessarily high rate. _Moved Feb. 21._
20 Martin’s _Life of Prince Consort_, v. pp. 35, 37, 51.
M9 Budget Introduced
21 Greville, III. ii. p. 291.
_ 22 Eng. Hist. Rev._ April 1887, p. 301. The majority in the Lords was
193 to 104.
23 Aug. 31, 1897.
24 Martin, v. p. 100.
25 Bright wrote to Mr. Gladstone that he was inclined “to think that
the true course for Lord John, yourself, and Mr. Gibson, and for any
others who agreed with you, was to have resigned rather than
continue a government which could commit so great a sin against the
representative branch of our constitution.”
M10 Revival Of Popularity
M11 Cabinet Currents
26 See Appendix.
27 “He made an administration so checkered and speckled, he put
together a piece of joinery so crossly indented and whimsically
dovetailed, a cabinet so variously inlaid, such a piece of
diversified mosaic, such a tessellated pavement without cement ...
that it was indeed a very curious show, but utterly unsafe to touch
and unsure to stand upon.”—_Speech on American Taxation._
M12 Defeat Of The Lords
28 At Manchester, Oct. 14, 1864.
M13 Resistance To Panic
29 For his letter to Mr. Gladstone, Dec. 16, 1859, see Ashley, ii. p.
375.
M14 Resistance To Panic
M15 Fortifications
30 See Appendix. “This account,” Mr. Gladstone writes, “contains
probably the only reply I shall ever make to an account given or
printed by Sir Theodore Martin in his _Life of the Prince Consort_,
which is most injurious to me without a shadow of foundation: owing,
I have no doubt, to defective acquaintance with the subject.” The
passage is in vol. v. p. 148. Lord Palmerston’s words to the Queen
about Mr. Gladstone are a curiously unedifying specimen of loyalty
to a colleague.
31 “It appears that he wrote his final opinion on the subject to the
cabinet on Saturday, left them to deliberate, and went to the
Crystal Palace. The Duke of Argyll joined him there and said it was
all right. The Gladstones then went to Cliveden and he purposely did
not return till late, twelve o’clock on Monday night, in order that
Palmerston might make his speech as he pleased. I doubt the policy
of his absence. It of course excited much remark, and does not in
any way protect Gladstone. M. Gibson was also absent.”—_Phillimore
Diary_, July 23. In his diary Mr. Gladstone records: “_July
21._—Cabinet 3 ½-5 1/4. I left it that the discussion might be free
and went to Stafford House and Sydenham. There I saw, later, Argyll
and S. Herbert, who seemed to bring good news. At night we went off
to Cliveden.”
32 For an interesting letter on all this to the Duke of Argyll, see
Appendix.
M16 Correspondence With The Prime Minister
33 This letter is printed in full by Mr. Ashley, ii. p. 413.
34 Diary.
35 Mr. Evelyn Ashley in _National Review_, June 1898, pp. 536-40.
36 Plan for Economical Reform.
M17 Savings Banks
37 27 and 28 Vict., chap. 43.
M18 Private Thrift And Public
_ 38 Financial Statements_, p. 151.
M19 Creation Of Public Interest
39 See his elaborate article in the _Nineteenth Century_ for February
1880, on _Free Trade, Railways, and Commerce_, in which he
endeavours fairly to divide the credit of our material progress
between its two great factors, the Liberation of Intercourse, and
the Improvement of Locomotion. Under the head of new locomotive
forces he counts the Suez canal.
M20 The True Social Question
M21 Mark Of His Originality
40 From a letter to his son Herbert, March 10, 1876, containing some
interesting remarks on Pitt’s finance. See Appendix.
41 Τὸ ζητεῖν πανταχοῦ τὸ χρήσιμον ἤκιστα ἁρμόττει τοῖς
ἐλευθεροῖς.—_Politics_, viii. 3.
M22 Effect Upon The Public Service
42 Edinburgh, Nov. 29, 1879.
M23 Heroic In Economy
43 Edinburgh, Nov. 29, 1879.
_ 44 Guinevere_, 90-92.
M24 Budget Of 1863
45 For his later views on the French treaty, see his speech at Leeds in
1881, an extract from which is given in Appendix.
_ 46 Nineteenth Century_, Feb. 1880, p. 381.
47 Mr. Courtney contributes a good account of this measure to the
chapter on Finance in Ward’s _Reign of Queen Victoria_, i. pp.
345-7.
48 On this sentence in his copy of the memorandum Mr. Gladstone pencils
in the margin as was his way, his favourite Italian corrective,
_ma!_
49 Of course the literature of this great theme is enormous, but an
English reader with not too much time will find it well worked out
in the masterly political study, _The Slave Power_, by J. E. Cairnes
(1861), that vigorous thinker and sincere lover of truth, if ever
there was one. Besides Cairnes, the reader who cares to understand
the American civil war should turn to F. L. Olmsted’s _Journeys and
Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom_ (1861), and _A Journey in the
Seaboard Slave States_ (1856)—as interesting a picture of the South
on the eve of its catastrophe, as Arthur Young’s picture of France
on the eve of the revolution.
M25 General Ideas On The American War
50 See Nicolay and Hay, _Abraham Lincoln_, v. p. 28. Also Martin’s
_Life of the Prince Consort_, v. p. 421.
51 See Walpole’s _Russell_, ii. p. 358.
M26 Progress Of The War By 1862
52 War-with England, or the probability of it, would have meant the
raising of the blockade, the withdrawal of a large part of the
troops from the Southern frontier, and substantially the leaving of
the Confederates to a _de facto_ independence.—Dana’s _Wheaton_, p.
648.
53 Rhodes, _History of the United States since 1850_, iii. p. 538. See
also _Life of C. F. Adams_, by his son C. F. A., Boston, 1900,
chapter xii., especially pp. 223-4.
54 In the summer of 1862 he took an active part in schemes for finding
employment at Hawarden for Lancashire operatives thrown out of work
by the cotton-famine. One of the winding-paths leading through some
of the most beautiful spots of the park at Hawarden was made at this
time by factory workers from Lancashire employed by Mr. Gladstone
for purposes of relief.
55 Walpole’s _Life of Russell_, ii. p. 361.
M27 On The Tyne
56 In a jingle composed for the occasion, the refrain is—
“Honour give to sterling worth,
Genius better is than birth,
So here’s success to Gladstone.”
In thanking a Newcastle correspondent for his reception, Mr.
Gladstone writes (Oct. 20, 1862): “To treat these occurrences as
matter of personal obligation to those who have taken a part in them
would be to mistake the ground on which they rest. But I must say
with unfeigned sincerity that I can now perceive I have been
appropriating no small share of honour that is really due to the
labour of others: of Mr. Cobden as to the French treaty, and of the
distinguished men who have in our day by their upright and
enlightened public conduct made law and government names so dear to
the people of England.” “Indeed,” says a contemporary journalist,
“if Middlesborough did not do honour to Mr. Gladstone, we don’t know
who should, for the French treaty has been a greater boon to the
iron manufacturers of that young but rising seaport, than to any
other class of commercial men in the north of England.”—_Newcastle
Daily Chronicle_, Oct. 11, 1862.
_ 57 Letters on England_, pp. 146-78.
58 Adams wrote in his diary: “_Oct. 8._ If Gladstone be any exponent at
all of the views of the cabinet, then is my term likely to be very
short. The animus, as it respects Mr. Davis and the recognition of
the rebel cause, is very apparent. Oct. 9:—We are now passing
through the very crisis of our fate. I have had thoughts of seeking
a conference with Lord Russell, to ask an explanation of Gladstone’s
position; but, on reflection, I think I shall let a few days at
least pass, and then perhaps sound matters incidentally.”—Rhodes,
iv. p. 340. _Life of Adams_, pp. 286-7.
59 Oct. 18, 1862.
M28 Estimate Of His Error
60 Rhodes, iv. p. 340. Also _Life of C. F. Adams_, p. 287.
61 Lewis, throughout 1861, used language of characteristic coolness
about the war: “It is the most singular action for the restitution
of conjugal rights that the world ever heard of.” “You may conquer
an insurgent province, but you cannot conquer a seceding state”
(Jan. 21, ’61). “The Northern states have been drifted, or rather
plunged into war without having any intelligible aim or policy. The
South fight for independence; but what do the North fight for,
except to gratify passion or pride?”—_Letters_, p. 395, etc. See
also preface to his _Administration of Great Britain_ (p. xix),
where he says, in 1856, he sees no solution but separation.
M29 A Balanced Speech
62 There is a story, not very accurate, I should suppose, about Mr.
Disraeli’s concurrence in the Emperor’s view, told from Slidell’s
despatches in an article by O. F. Aldus, in _North American Review_,
October 1879.
63 June 30, 1863. _Hansard_, vol. 171, p. 1800. On four other occasions
Mr. Gladstone gave public utterance to his opinion “on the subject
of the war and the disruption”—at Leith, Jan. 11, 1862, at
Manchester, April 24, 1862, at Newcastle, Oct. 7, 1862, and once in
parliament when a member spoke of the bursting of the American
bubble, he says, “I commented on the expressions with a reproof as
sharp as I could venture to make it” (May 27, 1861).
64 See Appendix.
65 x. iii. 10.
_ 66 Memoirs of J. R. Hope-Scott_, ii. pp. 284-293.
_ 67 Richard III._ I. sc. ii. At Salisbury, Sept. 7, 1866.
68 His school friend, and later, governor-general of India.
M30 Aberdeen, Graham, And Herbert
_ 69 March 19._—Reading, conversation, and survey in the house filled
the morning at Cliveden. At four we went to Windsor ... I had an
audience of the Queen ... I had the gratification of hearing,
through Lady A. Bruce, that it was agreeable to H. M.—(_Diary._)
_ 70 Gleanings_, i.
71 The Lancashire cotton famine.
72 See the three articles on the Life of the Prince Consort in
_Gleanings_, i. PP. 23-130.
73 On the estimates for 1862-68.
74 2 _Henry IV._, v. sc. i.
_ 75 Death of Wallenstein_, Act v. Sc. 3. In Coleridge, v. 1.
76 Denn nur der grosse Gegenstand vermag
Den tiefen Grund der Menschheit aufzuregen,
Im engen Kreis verengert sich der Sinn.
Es wächst der Mensch mit seinen grössern Zwecken.
_Prologue to Wallenstein_, stanza 5.
77 See Walpole’s _Life of Russell_, ii. p. 402.
78 A memorandum of Mr. Gladstone’s of March 1863 on the Roman Question
is republished in Minghetti’s posthumous volume, _La Convenzione di
Settembre_, Bologna, 1899.
79 April 11, 1862. That of March 7, 1861, is also worth turning over.
M31 Reception Of Garibaldi
80 Speech at Stafford House. June 2, 1883.
81 Speech not discoverable by me.
M32 Garibaldi’s Departure
_ 82 Hansard_, April 19, 1864, pp. 1277, 1290. April 21, p. 1423.
83 This was in reply to a letter from Lord Clarendon to Mr. Gladstone,
April 23, ’64, asking him: “Do not you think that he ought in a
letter to some personal friends to state frankly the reasons which
have induced him to go? He alone can put a stop to all these
mischievous reports.... He ought to say that no government, English
or foreign, has to do with his departure, and that he goes solely
because the state of his health does not permit him to fulfil his
engagements.”
84 The story has been told from the radical point of view by Sir James
Stansfeld in _Review of Reviews_, June 1895, p. 512. Another account
by Mr. Seely, M.P., was furnished to the _Times_ (April 21, 1864).
Lord Shaftesbury, who was a staunch Garibaldian, presumably on high
protestant grounds, also wrote to the _Times_ (April 24): “The
solid, persevering and hearty attachment of Mr. Gladstone to the
cause of Italy and General Garibaldi is as notorious as it is
generous and true, and I declare in the most solemn manner and on
the word of a gentleman, my firm belief that we were all of us
animated by the same ardent desire (without reference to anything
and anybody but the General himself) to urge that and that only,
which was indispensable to his personal welfare. It was, I assert,
the General’s own and unsuggested decision to give up the provincial
journey altogether.”
85 Fagan’s _Panizzi_, ii. p. 252. The same view was reported to be
taken at the English Court, and a story got abroad that the Queen
had said that for the first time she felt half ashamed of being the
head of a nation capable of such follies. Mérimée, _Lettres à
Panizzi_, ii. p. 25. On the other hand, the diary has this entry:
_Oct. 1, 1864._ Dined with H.M. She spoke good-humouredly of
Garibaldi.
_ 86 Le Comte de Cavour_: par Charles de Mazade (1877), p. 389.
M33 Nationality And Schleswig-Holstein
87 July 23, 1863.
88 Memorandum of 1897.
89 See Walpole’s _Russell_, ii. pp. 402-404.
90 For the revision of the Treaty of Vienna. See Ashley’s _Palmerston_,
ii. p. 424.
91 See Ollivier’s _Empire Libéral_, vii. 71; De la Gorce, iv. 512.
M34 Cabinet And Non-Intervention
92 July 4, 1864.
93 Feb. 4, 1864.
94 Lord Robert Cecil, July 4, 1864.
M35 A Wonderful Combination
_ 95 Life of W. E. Forster_, i. p. 362.
96 Speech at Liverpool, April 6, 1866.
M36 Springs Of New Liberalism
M37 A Decisive Utterance
M38 Speeches In Lancashire
M39 Speeches In Lancashire
M40 The Protestant Dissenters
97 The dinner in honour of M. Berryer.
98 Above, p. 53.
M41 Death Of Cobden
99 Heathcote, 3236; Hardy, 1904; Gladstone, 1724.
M42 Valedictory Address
100 Egerton 9171; Turner, 8806; Thompson (L.), 7703; Heywood (L.),
Gladstone, 8786; Legh (C.), 8476; 7653.
_ 101 Aen._ iv. 653. I have lived my life, my fated course have run.
102 Aristotle, _Rhet._ i. 5, 4.
_ 103 Life of Wilberforce_, in. pp. 161-164. The transcriber has omitted
from Mr. Gladstone’s second letter a sentence about Archbishop
Manning’s letter—“To me it seemed _meant_ in the kindest and most
friendly sense; but that the man is gone out, φροῦδος and has left
nothing but the priest. No shirt collar ever took such a quantity of
starch.”
104 See _Saturday Review_, July 29; _Spectator_, June 24, etc.
M43 Death Of Lord Palmerston
105 Ei fu! siccome immobile, etc. First line of Manzoni’s ode on the
death of Napoleon.
106 First lord, Earl Russell; foreign secretary, Lord Clarendon;
secretary for war. Earl de Grey; first lord of the admiralty, Duke
of Somerset.
M44 Leader In The Commons
107 Church’s _Letters_, p. 171.
108 Once at Hawarden I dropped the idle triviality that Mr. Pitt, Mr.
Goschen, and a third person, were the three men who had been put
into cabinet after the shortest spell of parliamentary life. (They
were likewise out again after the shortest recorded spell of cabinet
life.) “I don’t believe any such thing,” said Mr. Gladstone. “Well,
who is your man?” “What do you say,” he answered, “to Sir George
Murray? Wellington put him into his cabinet (1828); he had been with
him in the Peninsula.” On returning to London, I found that Murray
had been five years in parliament, and having written to tell Mr.
Gladstone so, the next day I received a summary postcard—“Then try
Lord Henry Petty.” Here, as far as I make out, he was right.
“It is very unusual, I think,” Mr. Gladstone wrote to the prime
minister (Jan. 6, 1866) “to put men into the cabinet without a
previous official training. Lord Derby could not help himself. Peel
put Knatchbull, but that was on political grounds that seemed broad,
but proved narrow enough. Argyll was put there in ’52-3, but there
is not the same opportunity for previous training in the case of
peers.”
_ 109 Life of Cobden_, ii. p. 232.
_ 110 Life of Sir Charles Murray_, p. 300.
M45 Temper Of His Churchmanship
111 To Sir W. Farquhar, April 4, 1864.
M46 Abolition Of Church Rates
_ 112 Life of Wilberforce_, ii. pp. 136-46; _Life of Shaftesbury_, ii. p.
404.
113 Pattison’s _Tendencies of Religious Thought in England, 1688-1750_.
Reprinted in his _Essays_, vol. ii.
114 See the lines from _Euripides_ at the head of the chapter.
115 In a series of articles published in _Good Words_ in January,
February, March 1868, and reprinted, in volume form the same year.
Reprinted again in _Gleanings_, vol. iii.
_ 116 Gleanings_, iii. p. 41.
M47 “Ecce Homo”
_ 117 Purgatorio_, xxvii. 126-42.
M48 Bishop Colenso
118 A concise account of this transaction is in Lord Selborne’s
_Memorials Family and Personal_, ii. pp. 481-7. See also Anson’s
_Law and Custom of the Constitution_, ii. p. 407.
119 “The Courses of Religious Thought” in _Gleanings_, iii. p. 115.
_ 120 Life of Bishop Wilberforce_, ii. p. 286.
_ 121 Life of Bishop Wilberforce_, ii. p. 412.
_ 122 Ibid._, iii. pp. 92, 101.
M49 Judgement Of Friends
_ 123 Life of Lord Shaftesbury_, iii. pp. 171, 188.
_ 124 Ibid._, iii. pp. 201-2.
_ 125 Edinburgh, Review_, April 1857, p. 567.
M50 The Rising Star
126 Mr. M. Townsend in the _Spectator_.
_ 127 Spectator_, October 29, 1864.
M51 Francis Newman—Church—Bright
_ 128 Life of Dean Church_, pp. 179, 188.
_ 129 Life of Jowett_, i. 406.
130 Liverpool, July 18, 1865.
M52 “Always A Learner”
131 Norwich, May 16, 1890.
M53 Too Busy For Epistolary Gift
132 “Quid igitur? quando ages negotium publicum? quando amicorum? quando
tuum? _quando denique nihil ages_? Tum illud addidi, mihi enim liber
esse non videtur qui non aliquando nihil agit.”—CIC., _Orat._ ii.
42.
M54 The Duchess Of Sutherland
133 Martin’s _Prince Consort_, ii. p. 245 _n._
134 1: Lord Ronald Gower, _Reminiscences_, pp. 114-5.
135 See Morison’s _Life of St. Bernard_ (Ed. 1868), ii. ch. v.
136 A French actor who pleased the town in those days.
137 Edmund John Armstrong (1841-65). Republished in 1877. Sir Henry
Taylor, _Edinburgh Review_, July 1878, says of this poet: “Of all
the arts Poetic, that which was least understood between the
Elizabethan age and the second quarter of this century was the art
of writing blank verse.
“Armstrong’s blank verse [The Prisoner of Mount Saint Michael] not
otherwise than good in its ordinary fabric, affords by its
occasional excellence a strong presumption that, had he lived, he
would have attained to a consummate mastery of it.”
138 Panizzi recovered and lived for eleven years. See _Life_, ii. p.
299.
_ 139 Grey Papers_, Oct. 22, 1865.
M55 Position Of The Question
140 See vol. i. p. 625.
M56 The New Reform Bill
M57 “Our Own Flesh And Blood”
_ 141 Hans._, Mar. 23, 1866, p. 873.
142 Lord Robert Cecil had on the death of his elder brother in 1865
become Lord Cranborne.
143 Above, i. p. 613.
_ 144 Aen._ iv. 373: “The exile on my shore I sheltered and, fool as I
was, shared with him my realm.”
M58 A Cause And A Man
M59 Defeat Of The Bill
M60 Resignation Of Office
145 Prussia had declared war on Austria, June 18.
146 Mr. Gladstone had sat on the front opposition bench from 1847 to the
defeat of the Russell government in Feb. 1852. See footnote vol. i.
p. 631.
M61 Rise Of The Popular Tide
_ 147 Charles Francis Adams._ By his Son, p. 368.
148 Son of Oliver Wendell Holmes, afterwards chief justice of
Massachusetts, and in 1902 appointed a judge of the United States
Supreme Court.
M62 Journey To Rome
149 Purcell, ii. p. 398.
_ 150 Oct. 22._—Saw the pope. _Oct. 28._—We went at 3 (reluctantly) to
the pope. Lady Augusta Stanley accompanied us. We had a conversation
in French, rather miscellaneous. He was gracious as usual. N.B. his
reference to the papal coinages.—(_Diary_)
M63 Monte Cassino
151 Mr. Gladstone was elected by 27 votes out of 29, two being cast for
J. S. Mill. The minister of instruction wrote: “Veuillez croire,
monsieur, qu’il n’est pas de décret que j’aie contresigné avec plus
de bonheur que celui qui rattache à notre Institut de France un
homme dont le savoir littéraire, l’habileté politique, et
l’éloquence sont l’orgueil de l’Angleterre.”
M64 Member Of The Institute
M65 Operations Of 1867
152 This proposal was in effect to abolish compounding in the limits of
parliamentary boroughs. Carried May 27.
M66 Opinion Out Of Doors
153 The electorate was enlarged from 1,352,970 in 1867 to 2,243,259 in
1870.
154 Sir Charles Wood had been created Viscount Halifax on his
resignation of the India Office in 1866.
155 Grant Duff, _Elgin Speeches_, p. 101.
M67 Chaotic Parties
_ 156 Spectator_, April 20.
_ 157 Memories, etc., of Miss Caroline Fox_, p. 339 (March 5, 1867).
_ 158 Life of Wilberforce_, iii. p. 227.
M68 First Proposals
159 March 18.
160 “Gladstone,” says Lord Selborne, “would have been ready to oppose
Disraeli’s bill as a whole, if he could have overcome the reluctance
of his followers. But when a meeting was called to take counsel on
the situation, it became apparent that this could not be done”
(_Memorials_, Part II. i. pp. 68-9).
M69 “Fresh Intrigue Every Twelve Hours”
_ 161 Halifax Papers._
162 See above, p. 126.
_ 163 Gleanings_, vii. p. 135.
M70 Fenian Plots
_ 164 Hansard_, May 31, 1869.
165 At Greenwich, Dec. 21, 1868.
M71 The Standard Raised
166 He had also in his own mind the question of the acquisition of the
Irish railways by the state, and the whole question of the position
of the royal family in regard to Ireland. On the first of these two
heads he was able to man a good commission, with the Duke of
Devonshire at its head, and Lord Derby as his coadjutor. “But this
commission,” he says, “did not venture to face any considerable
change, and as they would not move, I, who might be held in a manner
to have appealed to them, could do nothing.”
167 Mr. Gladstone’s letter to Lord Russell is given in Walpole’s
_Russell_, ii. 446.
168 Till like a clock worn out with eating time,
The wheels of weary life at last stood still.—Dryden’s _Œdipus_.
M72 Disraeli Becomes Prime Minister
169 Lord R. Gower, _Reminiscences_, p. 202.
M73 Resolutions On Irish Church
_ 170 Gleanings_, vii.
M74 Elected At Greenwich
171 In Lancashire (Nov. 24) the numbers were—Cross, 7729; Turner, 7676;
Gladstone, 7415; Grenfell, 6939. At Greenwich (Nov. 17)—Salomons,
6645; Gladstone, 6351; Parker, 4661; Mahon, 4342.
172 England and Wales, Liberal, 1,231,450, Conservative, 824,056,
Liberal Majority, 407,393. Scotland, Liberal, 123,410,
Conservative, 23,391, Liberal Majority 100,019. Ireland, Liberal,
53,379, Conservative, 38,083, Liberal Majority, 17,297.
_ 173 National Review_, June 1898.
M75 Formation Of Government
M76 First Cabinet
174 The reader will find the list of its members, now and at later
periods of its existence, in the Appendix.
M77 The General Situation
M78 Views Of The Queen
175 No: Archbishop Trench and Lord Carnarvon. See Selborne, _Memorials_,
i. pp. 114-6.
M79 Bill Introduced
176 See _Life of Tait_, ii. pp. 8-14.
177 The Irish Church bill is the greatest monument of genius that I have
yet known from Gladstone; even his marvellous budgets are not so
marvellous.—_Dr. Temple to Acland, March 12, 1869._
M80 Second Reading
178 368 against 250.
_ 179 Life of Tait_, ii. pp. 18-19. How little he was himself the dupe of
these illusions was shown by the next sentence, “What is of
importance now is the course to be pursued by the House of Lords.”
Bishop Magee met Disraeli on Jan. 28, ’69. “Dizzy said very little,”
he wrote to a friend, “and that merely as a politician, on the
possibilities in the House of Lords. He regards it as a lost game in
the Commons.”—_Life of Archbishop Magee_, i. p. 214.
180 See _Daily News_, April 26, 1869.
M81 The House Of Lords
M82 Destructive Amendments
M83 Difficulties Thicken
181 The memorandum is dated Aug. 14, 1869.
182 1. The Lords’ amendment as to curates to be adopted, £380,000. 2.
The Ulster glebes, 465,000. 3. The glebe houses to be free, 150,000.
Total £995,000.
Or the Bishop of Peterborough’s amendment as to the tax upon livings
in lieu of No. 3, would carry a heavier charge by 124,000. Total
£1,119,000.
183 The version in society was that “Gladstone wanted to throw up the
bill after the debate of last Tuesday, when the words of the
preamble were re-inserted, but he was outvoted in his cabinet; and
it is said that Lord Granville told him that if he gave up the bill
he must find somebody else to lead the Lords.”—(July 22, 1869),
_Memoirs of an Ex-Minister_, ii. p. 409.
M84 Action Of Lord Cairns
184 They were somewhat but not very greatly improved. The Ulster glebes,
however, were gone. He now demanded: 1. The acceptance of the
amendment respecting curates = £380,000; 2. Five per cent, to be
added to the seven per cent, on commutations = £300,000; 3. The
glebe houses to be given to the church at ten years’ purchase of the
sites, a slight modification of Lord Salisbury’s amendment =
£140,000. From this it appeared that even in the mid hours of this
final day Lord Cairns asked above £800,000.
_ 185 Life of Archbishop Tait_, ii. p. 45.
M85 Views Of Mr. Bright
M86 A Digression
186 When the present writer once referred to the Principle of the Act of
1860 as being that the hiring of land is just as much founded on
trade principles as the chartering of a ship or the hiring of a
street cab, loud approbation came from the tory benches. So deep was
parliamentary ignorance of Ireland even in 1887, after the Acts of
1870 and 1881.—_Hans._ 314, p. 295.
M87 Land Bill In Cabinet
M88 New Principle
M89 Critical Contest
M90 Bill Carried
_ 187 Spectator._
188 Lecky, _Democracy and Liberty_, i. p. 165.
M91 Fenian Prisoners
189 Article on Mr. Forster, _Nineteenth Century_, September 1888.
M92 Advance Of Ideas
190 “In 1843 the government of Sir R. Peel, with a majority of 90,
introduced an Education bill, rather large, and meant to provide for
the factory districts. The nonconformists at large took up arms
against it, and after full consideration in the cabinet (one of my
first acts in cabinet), they withdrew it rather than stir up the
religious flame.”—_Mr. Gladstone to Herbert Gladstone, May 7, 1896._
M93 Mr. Forster
191 In 1869 about 1,300,000 children were being educated in state-aided
schools, 1,000,000 in schools that received no grant, were not
inspected, and were altogether inefficient, and 2,000,000 ought to
have been, but were not at school at all. The main burden of
national education fell on the shoulders of 200,000 persons whose
voluntary subscriptions supported the schools. “In other words, the
efforts of a handful out of the whole nation had accomplished the
fairly efficient education of about one-third of the children, and
had provided schools for about one-half; but the rest either went to
inefficient schools, or to no school at all, and for them there was
no room even had the power to compel their attendance existed.”—See
Sir Henry Craik’s _The State in its Relation to Education_, pp. 84,
85.
M94 A Crucial Decision
M95 Anger Of Nonconformists
_ 192 Life of Dale_, p. 295.
_ 193 Life of Forster_, i. p. 497.
M96 Effects Of Party
M97 Bright’s Return To Government
194 For the rest of the letter see Appendix.
M98 Endowed Schools
195 See Appendix.
196 In 1874 the conservative government brought in a bill restoring to
the church of England numerous schools in cases where the founder
had recognised the authority of a bishop, or had directed attendance
in the service of that church, or had required that the masters
should be in holy orders. Mr. Gladstone protested against the bill
as “inequitable, unusual, and unwise,” and it was largely modified
in committee.
M99 University Tests
197 See vol. i., book iv., chap. iv. By the act of 1854 a student could
proceed to the bachelor’s degree without the test of subscribing to
the Thirty-nine Articles. Cambridge was a shade more liberal. At
both universities dissenters were shut out from college fellowships,
unless willing to make a declaration of conformity.
198 Speech on Mr. Dodson’s bill, March 16, 1864.
M100 Opening Of Civil Service
199 Vol. i. p. 509.
M101 State Of Europe
200 July 28, 1870.
M102 Efforts For Disarmament
_ 201 Reminiscences of the King of Roumania._ Edited from the original by
Sydney Whitman. 1899. P. 92.
M103 The Spanish Throne
202 King William wrote to Bismarck (Feb. 20, 1870) that the news of the
Hohenzollern candidature had come upon him like a thunderbolt, and
that they must confer about it. _Kaiser Wilhelm I. und Bismarck_, i.
p. 207.
203 The story of a ministerial council at Berlin on March 15, at which
the question was discussed between the king, his ministers, and the
Hohenzollern princes, with the result that all decided for
acceptance, is denied by Bismarck.—_Recollections_, ii. p. 89.
_ 204 Hansard_, July 11, 1870.
205 The despatch is dated July 6 in the blue-book (C. 167, p. 3), but it
was not sent that day, as the date of Mr. Gladstone’s letter shows.
No cabinet seems to have been held before July 9. The despatch was
laid before the cabinet, and was sent to Berlin by special messenger
that evening. The only other cabinet meeting during this critical
period was on July 14.
_ 206 Gleanings_, iv. p. 222. Modern French historians do not differ from
Mr. Gladstone.
207 The Rothschild telegram was: The Prince has given up his
candidature. The French are satisfied.
208 No. 39. Correspondence respecting the negotiations preliminary to
the war between France and Prussia, 1870.
M104 British Remonstrances
M105 French Diplomacy
_ 209 The Diplomatic Reminiscences of Lord Augustus Loftus._ Second
series, i. p. 283.
210 Busch, i. p. 312.
M106 Count Bismarck’s Telegram
_ 211 Bismarck: His Reflections and Reminiscences_, 1898, ii. pp. 95-101.
As I have it before me, the reader will perhaps care to see the
telegram as Bismarck received it, drawn up by Abeken at the King’s
command, handed in at Ems, July 13, in the afternoon, and reaching
Berlin at six in the evening: “His Majesty writes to me: ‘Count
Benedetti spoke to me on the promenade, in order to demand from me,
finally in a very importunate manner, that I should authorise him to
telegraph at once that I bound myself for all future time never
again to give my consent if the Hohenzollerns should renew their
candidature. I refused at last somewhat sternly, as it is neither
right nor possible to undertake engagements of this kind _à tout
jamais_. Naturally I told him I had as yet received no news, and as
he was earlier informed about Paris and Madrid he could clearly see
that my government once more had no hand in the matter.’ His Majesty
has since received a letter from the Prince. His Majesty having told
Count Benedetti that he was awaiting news from the Prince, has
decided, with reference to the above demand, upon the representation
of Count Eulenburg and myself, not to receive Count Benedetti again,
but only to let him be informed through an aide-de-camp: That his
Majesty has now received from the Prince confirmation of the news
which Benedetti had already received from Paris, and had nothing
further to say to the ambassador. His Majesty leaves it to your
excellency whether Benedetti’s fresh demand and its rejection should
not be at once communicated both to our ambassadors and to the
press.” (ii. p. 96.)
212 See Sorel, _Hist. diplomatique de la guerre franco-allemande_
(1875), i. pp. 169-71.
M107 France Declares War
213 In the Reichstag, on July 20, Bismarck reproached the French
ministers for not yielding to the pressure of the members of the
opposition like Thiers and Gambetta, and producing the document,
which would have overthrown the base on which the declaration of war
was founded. Yet he had prepared this document for the very purpose
of tempting France into a declaration of war.
214 Grant Duff’s _Diaries_, ii. p. 153. The technical declaration of war
by France was made at Berlin on July 19.
_ 215 Life_, ii. p. 78.
216 “II fallait donner à l’Europe le temps d’intervenir, ce qui
n’empêchait pas que vos armements continuassent, et il ne fallait
pas se hâter, de venir ici dans le moment où la susceptibilité
française devait être la plus exigeante, des faits qui devaient
causer une irritation dangereuse.... Ce n’est pas pour l’intérêt
essentiel de la France, c’est par la faute du cabinet que nous avons
la guerre.”—_Thiers_, in the Chamber, July 15, 1870. For this line
of contention he was called an “unpatriotic trumpet of disaster,”
and other names commonly bestowed on all men in all countries who
venture to say that what chances for the hour to be a popular war is
a blunder.
_ 217 Gleanings_, iv. p. 222.
M108 First Thoughts In England
M109 Mind Of The British Government
M110 The Storm Of War
_ 218 Gleanings_, iv. p. 197.
M111 Article In “Edinburgh Review”
219 To be found in _Gleanings_, iv. In republishing it, Mr. Gladstone
says, “This article is the only one ever written by me, which was
meant for the time to be in substance, as well as in form,
anonymous.” That was in 1878. Three years later he contributed an
anonymous article, “The Conservative Collapse,” to the _Fortnightly
Review_ (May 1880).
220 House of Lords, Feb. 14, 1871.
221 The stipulations “were politically absurd, and therefore in the long
run impossible.” “The most inept conclusions of the peace of
Paris.”—Bismarck, _Reflections_, ii. p. 114.
_ 222 Hansard_, May 6, 1856. See also May 24, 1855, and Aug. 3, 1855.
223 Bismarck, in his _Reflections_, takes credit to himself for having
come to an understanding with Russia on this question at the
outbreak of the Franco-German war.
M112 The Russian Circular
224 “The whole pith of the despatch was yours.”—Granville to Mr.
Gladstone, Nov. 18, 1870.
M113 Bismark’s Action
225 Bismarck’s private opinion was this: “Gortchakoff is not carrying on
in this matter a real Russian policy (that is, one in the true
interests of Russia), but rather a policy of violent aggression.
People still believe that Russian diplomats are particularly crafty
and clever, full of artifices and stratagems, but that is not the
case. If the people at St. Petersburg were clever they would not
make any declaration of the kind but would quietly build men-of-war
in the Black Sea and wait until they were questioned on the subject.
Then they might reply they knew nothing about it, but would make
inquiries and so let the matter drag on. That might continue for a
long time, and finally people would get accustomed to it.”—Busch,
_Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History_, i. pp. 312-13.
226 Correspondence respecting the treaty of March 30, 1856, No. 76, pp.
44, 45, c. 245.
227 The tripartite treaty of England, France, Austria, of April 15,
1856.
M114 The London Conference
228 Russell to Lord Granville, c. 245, No. 78, p. 46.
229 Sorel’s _Guerre Franco-Allemande_, ii. chap. 4.
230 That this failure to take advantage of the conference was an error
on the part of France is admitted by modern French historians.
Hanotaux, _France Contemporaine_, i. p. 108; Sorel, ii. pp. 216-7.
Lord Granville had himself pointed out how a discussion upon the
terms of peace might have been raised.
M115 Changes In English Opinion
_ 231 Lord Stanley on the Luxemburg Guarantee, June 14, 1867._—The
guarantee now given is collective only. That is an important
distinction. It means this, that in the event of a violation of
neutrality, all the powers who have signed the treaty may be called
upon for their collective action. No one of those powers is liable
to be called upon to act singly or separately. It is a case so to
speak of “limited liability.” We are bound in honour—you cannot put
a legal construction upon it—to see in concert with others that
these arrangements are maintained. But if the other powers join with
us, it is certain that there will be no violation of neutrality. If
they, situated exactly as we are, decline to join, we are not bound
single-handed to make up the deficiencies of the rest.
232 The number of men was reduced from 49,000 in 1868 to 20,941 in 1870;
at the same time the military expenditure on the colonies was
reduced from £3,388,023 to £1,905,538.
_ 233 Reign of Queen Victoria_, edited by T. H. Ward (1887), i. p. 211.
M116 Army Reform
_ 234 Hansard_, Feb. 21 and March 23, 1871.
M117 Purchase And Royal Warrant
235 At the end of the volume, the reader will find some interesting
remarks by Mr. Gladstone on these points. See Appendix.
M118 Freeman’s Judgment
_ 236 Memorials, Personal and Political_, vol. i. pp. 193, 194.
237 E. A. Freeman, in _Pall Mall Gazette_, February 12, 1874.
_ 238 Representative Government_, chap. x.
M119 The Ballot
239 The reader may remember his stripling letters—vol. i. p. 99.
M120 The Ballot Passed
240 In the House of Lords only 48 peers voted for the bill against 97.
Many of the whigs abstained.
241 The first parliamentary election by ballot in England was the return
of Mr. Childers at Pontefract (Aug. 15, 1872) on his acceptance of
the duchy.
_ 242 Life of Grote_, pp. 312, 313.
M121 Finance
243 See Appendix.
M122 Match Tax
244 Writing to Mr. Lowe on his budget proposals, Mr. Gladstone Says
(April 11, 1871): “The lucifer matches I hope and think you would
carry, but I have little information, and that old. I advise that on
this Glyn be consulted as to the feeling in the House of Commons. I
am sceptical as to the ultimate revenue of one million.”
245 See _The Match Tax: a Problem in Finance_. By W. Stanley Jevons
(London: Stanford, 1871). A searching defence of the impost.
246 See a speech in the House of Commons by Mr. Childers, April 24,
1873.
247 The estimates of 1874-5 were practically the estimates of the
Gladstone government, showing a revenue of £77,995,000, or a surplus
of £5,492,000. See Lord Welby’s letter to Mr. Lowe in _Life of Lord
Sherbrooke_, ii. pp. 383, 384.
_ 248 Economist_, Feb. 8, 1873.
M123 Lowe As Chancellor Of The Exchequer
_ 249 Life of Tennyson_, ii. p. 108.
M124 Speech At Blackheath
250 Mr. Bright had retired from the cabinet on account of ill health in
December 1870.
M125 Case Of Sir Robert Collier
251 34 and 35 Vict. c. 91, sect. 1.
M126 Parliamentary Criticism
252 Selborne’s _Memorials_, i. p. 200.
_ 253 Brand Papers._
M127 Ewelme Rectory
M128 Disraeli Takes The Field
254 House of Commons, June 15, 1880.
M129 Escape Of The _Alabama_
255 Walpole’s _Russell_, ii. p. 373 _n._
256 See _Rhodes_, iv. pp. 377-86.
M130 American Claims
257 Walpole’s _Russell_, ii. p. 370.
258 Sir William Harcourt called the Act “the best and most complete law
for the enforcement of neutrality in any country.” See _Hansard_,
Aug. 1, 3, 4, 1870.
_ 259 Life of Childers_, i. p. 173.
M131 The British Commission
_ 260 A Historical Account of the Neutrality of Great Britain during the
American Civil War._ 1870.
261 Franklin, in the negotiations on the recognition of the independence
of the American colonies in 1782, had made the same suggestion of
the cession of Canada by way of reparation and indemnification to
the colonists for losses suffered by them in their rebellion, and
Lord Shelburne was as deaf in 1782 as Lord de Grey in 1871. At an
inaugural dinner of what was then called the Colonial Society (March
10, 1869), Mr. Johnson, then American minister, made some
semi-facetious remarks about colonies finding themselves transferred
from the union jack to the stars and stripes. Lord Granville said he
was rather afraid that the minister of the great republic, who had
spoken with such singular eloquence, would feel it was a little want
of sense on his part, that made him unprepared at that moment to
open negotiations for the cession of British Canada. Mr. Gladstone,
who was present, referred to the days when he had been at the
colonial office, when in every British colony there was a party,
called “the British party,” which, he rejoiced to think, had since
become totally extinct.
M132 Difficulties In Cabinet
262 Selborne, _Personal and Political Memorials_, i. p. 214.
M133 Treaty Signed
_ 263 International Law_, p. 240. On the doubtful value of the rules, see
Lawrence’s _Principles of International Law_ (1895), pp. 553-4.
264 Boyd, third Eng. edition of _Wheaton_ (1889), p. 593.
M134 Indirect Claims
265 Lord de Grey had been created Marquis of Ripon after the signature
of the treaty of Washington.
266 See Moore, _History and Digest of International Arbitration to which
the United States have been a Party_. Washington, 1898, i. pp.
629-37.
267 Mr. Bruce writes home from the cabinet room: “June 5, 1872: You must
read the House of Lords debate on the _Alabama_ treaty. It was a
most mischievous move of Lord Russell, as the discussion must weaken
our last chance—not a bad one—of settling differences. The debate
was adjourned. But there is no doubt that a vote will be carried
which, if it were in the House of Commons, would lead to
resignation. We cannot of course treat the vote of the Lords, where
we are always in a minority, as of the same quality. But it will be
misunderstood in America. We are now in the cabinet discussing the
next steps.” The motion was withdrawn.
M135 At Geneva
_ 268 Charles Francis Adams._ By his Son. Boston, 1900, pp. 394-7.
M136 The Award
M137 Criticism By Colleagues
269 Sir James Stansfeld, _Review of Reviews_, xi. p. 519.
_ 270 Pall Mall Gazette_, Dec. 14, 1883.
271 M. C. M. Simpson’s _Many Memories_, pp. 232-3.
272 Quoted in Sir E.W. Hamilton’s _Monograph_, p. 324.
M138 Lord Clarendon—Lowe—Bright
M139 Ministerial Discipline
273 May 6, 10, 1873. _Life of Wilberforce_, iii. p. 413.
_ 274 Gleanings_, i. pp. 232-3.
275 July 25, 1889.
M140 The Queen
276 See the remarkable article in the _Quarterly Review_, April, 1901,
p. 320.
_ 277 Pall Mall Gazette_, Sept. 29, 1871.
278 See Appendix.
_ 279 Quarterly Review_ for April, 1901, p. 305.
280 This circumstance is accurately told, among other places, in Mr.
Sidney Lee’s _Queen Victoria_.
M141 Patronage
281 During the twelve years in which he held the office of prime
minister, he was answerable for sixty-seven new peerages (twenty-two
of these now extinct), and on his recommendation fourteen Scotch and
Irish peers were called to the House of Lords. In addition, he was
responsible for seven promotions of peers to higher rank. During the
same period ninety-seven baronetcies were created.—See Sir Edward
Hamilton, _Mr. Gladstone, a Monograph_, p. 97.
_ 282 Life of Grote_, pp. 306-10.
M142 Ecclesiastical Appointments
M143 At Work On The Bill
283 The promotion of Dr. Temple to the bench.
M144 Well Received On Introduction
284 Stephen’s _Life of Fawcett_, p. 282.
M145 Hostility Of Irish Bishops
285 The adverse majority was made up of 209 English, 68 Irish, and 10
Scotch members. The minority contained 222 English, 47 Scotch, and
15 Irish members. The absentees numbered 75, of whom 53 were
English, 3 Scotch, and 19 Irish. There voted with the opposition 43
liberals—eight English and Scotch, including Mr. Bouverie, Mr.
Fawcett, Mr. Horsman, Sir Robert Peel, and 35 Irish, of whom 25 were
catholics and 10 protestants.
M146 Ministers Defeated
_ 286 Life of W. E. Forster_, i. p. 550.
_ 287 March 13._—Cabinet again at twelve. Decided to resign ... Gladstone
made quite a touching little speech. He began playfully. This was
the last of some 150 cabinets or so, and he wished to say to his
colleagues with what “profound gratitude”—and here he completely
broke down, and he could say nothing, except that he could not enter
on the details. ... Tears came to my eyes, and we were all
touched.—_Life of W. E. Forster_, i. pp. 550, 551.
M147 Attitude Of Mr. Disraeli
M148 Further Discussions
_ 288 Carm._ iii. 5, 27. In Mr. Gladstone’s own translation, _The Odes of
Horace_ (p. 84):—
... Can wool repair
The colours that it lost when soaked with dye?
Ah, no. True merit once resigned,
No trick nor feint will serve as well.
A rendering less apt for this occasion finds favour with some
scholars, that true virtue can never be restored to those who have
once fallen away from it.
289 He said he had once made a computation of what property the church
would acquire if disestablished on the Irish terms, and he made out
that “between life incomes, private endowments, and the value of
fabrics and advowsons, something like ninety millions 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 to begin the world.”—_Hans._, May
16, 1873.
M149 Death Of Bishop Wilberforce
290 The house of Mr. Frederick Leveson Gower where for many years Mr.
Gladstone constantly enjoyed a hospitality in which he delighted.
_ 291 Life of Hope-Scott_, ii. p. 284.
M150 Ministerial Embarrassments
292 Rising as soon as Mr. Ayrton sat down he said that his colleague had
not accurately stated the law of ministerial responsibility. He then
himself laid down its true conditions under the circumstances, with
the precision usual to him in such affairs. This was one of the
latest performances of the great parliament of 1868.—July 30,
_Hans_, 217, p. 1265.
293 The following changes were made in the cabinet: Lord Ripon
(president of the council), and Mr. Childers (chancellor of the
duchy of Lancaster) retired. Mr. Bright succeeded Mr. Childers, Mr.
Bruce (home secretary, created Lord Aberdare) Lord Ripon. Mr. Lowe
became home secretary, and Mr. Gladstone chancellor of the exchequer
in union with the office of first lord. The minor changes were
numerous. Mr. Monsell was succeeded at the post office by Dr. Lyon
Playfair; Mr. Ayrton was made judge advocate-general, and Mr. Adam
took his place as commissioner of public works; Mr. Baxter retired
from the treasury, Mr. Dodson becoming financial, and Mr. A. Peel
parliamentary secretaries to the treasury; Lord F. Cavendish and Mr.
A. Greville were appointed lords of the treasury. On Sir John
Coleridge being appointed lord chief justice, and Sir George Jessel
master of the rolls, they were succeeded by Mr. Henry James as
attorney-general and Mr. Vernon Harcourt as solicitor-general. “We
have effectually extracted the brains from below the gangway,” Lord
Aberdare wrote, Nov. 19, 1873, “Playfair, Harcourt, James, and Lord
Edmond Fitzmaurice, who is Lowe’s private secretary, being gone,
will leave Fawcett all alone, for Trevelyan does not share his
ill-will towards the government.”
294 30 and 31 Vict., cap. 102, sec. 52, and schedule H.
295 Sir Spencer Walpole thinks that Perceval’s case (_Life of Perceval_,
ii. P. 55) covered Mr. Gladstone. In its constitutional aspect this
is true, but the Act of 1867 introduced technical difficulties that
made a new element.
M151 The Greenwich Seat
296 Yet Lord Selborne says that Coleridge ’must have been
misunderstood’!—_Memorials_, i. pp. 328-9.
297 21 and 22 Vict., c. 110 (1858).
298 Mr. Childers (_Life_, i. p. 220) writing after the election in 1874,
says, “It is clear to me that he would not have dissolved but for
the question about the double office.” In the sentence before he
says, “Some day perhaps Gladstone will recognise his mistake in
August.” This mistake, it appears, was going to the exchequer
himself, instead of placing Mr. Childers there (p. 219). I am sure
that this able and excellent man thought what he said about “the
question of the double office,” but his surmise was not quite
impartial. Nor was he at the time a member of the cabinet.
_ 299 Memoir of Hope-Scott_ ii. p. 284.
M152 The Bath Election
300 To Lord Grey de Wilton, Oct. 3, 1873.
301 In 1871-73 the tories gained twenty-three seats against only one
gained by the liberals; in the first three years of the government
nine seats had been lost and nine gained.
“Individuals may recover from even serious sickness; it does not
appear to be the way with governments.”—Mr. Gladstone, _Nineteenth
Century_, Sept. 1887.
M153 Actual Occasion For Dissolution
302 Dec. 2, 1873.
303 The conservatives had gained a seat at Stroud on Jan. 6, and greatly
reduced the liberal majority at Newcastle-on-Tyne.
304 “The continual loss of elections,” Lord Aberdare wrote to his wife,
“and the expediency of avoiding being further weakened in detail,
have determined us to take at once the opinion of the country, and
to stand or fall by it. I am rejoiced at this resolution.”—_Aberdare
Papers_, Jan. 23, 1874.
M154 Electoral Manifesto
305 It was an extraordinary feat for a Statesman of sixty-five who had
quite recently been confined to his bed with bronchitis. The day was
damp and drizzly; numbers, which are variously estimated from six to
seven thousand, had to be as far as possible brought within the
range of his voice, and his only platform was a cart with some sort
of covering, in the front of which he had to stand
bareheaded.—_Spectator_, Jan. 31, 1874.
M155 The General Election
306 Mr. Gladstone on Electoral Pacts, _Nineteenth Century_, November
1878.
M156 To Meet Parliament Or Resign
307 February 17, 1874.—“I was with the Queen to-day at Windsor for
three-quarters of an hour, and nothing could be more frank, natural,
and kind, than her manner throughout. In conversation at the
audience, I of course followed the line on which we agreed last
night. She assented freely to all the honours I had proposed. There
was therefore no impediment whatever to the immediate and plenary
execution of my commission from the cabinet; and I at once tendered
our resignations, which I understand to have been graciously
accepted. She left me, I have no doubt, to set about making other
arrangements.”
M157 Explanations Of Defeat
308 March 19, 1874.
_ 309 Aberdare Papers._
M158 Reasons For Withdrawal
310 See vol. i. p. 337.
M159 Ecclesiastical Debate
M160 Bright And Other Colleagues
_ 311 Blachford’s Letters_, p. 362.
_ 312 Herod._ vii. 157.
_ 313 Congregationalist_, Feb. 1875, p. 66.
314 See Cecconi’s _Storia del Conc. Vat._ i. p. 3. For Mr. Gladstone’s
earlier views on the temporal power, see above, vol. i. p. 403.
M161 The Two Schools
315 See Purcell, ii. chap. 16.
316 “Outside the Roman state, I am amazed at the Italian government
giving over into the hands of the pope not only the nomination to
the bishoprics as spiritual offices, but a nomination which is to
carry with it the temporalities of the sees. They ought to know
their own business best; but to me it seems that this is liberality
carried into folly; and I know that some Italians think so.”—_To
Lord Granville, Dec. 21, 1870._
M162 Issue Of The Council
M163 Visit To Munich
_ 317 Conversations of Döllinger_, by Louise von Köbell, p. 100.
318 Mr. Gladstone in _Speaker_, Jan, 18, 1890.
_ 319 Gleanings_, vi. pp. 107-191. There the reader will also find (p.
141) the six resolutions deemed by him to furnish a safer and wiser
basis of legislation than the Public Worship Regulation Act.
M164 Publication Of The Pamphlet
_ 320 The Vatican Decrees in their bearing on Civil Allegiance: a
Political Expostulation._
M165 The Pamphlet
321 Republishing his article on ritualism in 1878 (_Gleanings_, vi. p.
127) Mr. Gladstone appends in a footnote on the passage that stated
the anti-vatican campaign, an expression of belief and hope that
“some at least who have joined the Latin church since the great
change effected by the Vatican council, would upon occasion given,
_whether with logical warrant or not_, adhere under all
circumstances to their civil loyalty and duty.”
322 He died in 1821, when Mr. Gladstone was a boy at Eton.
M166 Labours Of The Controversy
323 Dr. Michael’s _Ignaz von Döllinger_, p. 296.
M167 Change Of Abode
324 For a detailed description of this collection, see _Times_, June 21,
26, 1875. His London house for the next five years was 73 Harley
Street.
_ 325 Guardian_, May 22, 1872.
326 In the preface to his fourth edition Strauss said, “My countrymen
might learn from the foreigner how the earnest conscientious
statesman recognises a similar quality in an author whose influence
he nevertheless considers to be dangerous. They might learn how the
true gentleman speaks of one whom he cannot but admit to have
devoted a long life to the search of truth, and allow to have
sacrificed every personal prospect to the promulgation of that which
appeared to him as such.”
327 Olymp. i. 53.
M168 Correspondence
M169 Variety Of Correspondence
328 George Meredith.
M170 Polygot And Encyclopædic
M171 Spirit Of Tolerance
329 Barrow’s _Works_, iv. p. 107 (ed. 1830).
M172 Darwin—Hooker—Huxley
M173 Men Of Letters
330 See Southey’s _Life_, vi. p. 327.
331 εὐδαίμων μὲν ὅς ὲκ θαλάσσας ἔφυγε χεῖμα, λιμέυα δ᾽ἔκιχεν; εὐδαίμων
δ᾽ὅς ὕπερθε μόχθων ἐγένεθ.
Happy the man who from out the floods has fled the storm and found
the haven; happy too is he who has surmounted toil and
trouble.—_Bacchae_, 902-5.
332 Pyth. iv. 485; _Life of Tennyson_, ii. pp. 332, 308. Mr. Gladstone’s
share in the pensions to Wordsworth and Tennyson is described in Mr.
Parker’s _Peel_, iii. pp. 437-442.
M174 Matthew Arnold—Watts
333 The glorious lines of the Lycian chief in _Iliad_, xii. 322-8,
valiantly repeated, by the way, by Carteret, as he lay dying, and
the very essence and spirit of the minister to whom Mr. Watts was
writing.
M175 Death Of Mill
334 Mr. Gladstone to Mr. W. L. Courtney, Sept. 5, 1888.
335 See above, vol. i. p. 143.
336 Referred to by Mr. Gladstone in the House of Commons, Nov. 19, 1867.
_ 337 The Prelude_, vii.
338 Vol. i. pp. 476 and 521.
M176 Rejection Of Berlin Memorandum
339 Mr. Stead, then at the _Northern Echo_ in Darlington, began his
redoubtable journalistic career in pressing this question into life.
M177 Bulgarian Pamphlet
_ 340 The Bulgarian Horrors, and the Question of the East._
M178 Lord Stratford De Redcliffe
M179 Feeling In The Country
341 The story of the heroic death of Colonel Kiréeff, her brother, was
vividly told by Kinglake in the introduction to the cabinet edition
of his _Invasion of the Crimea_. This episode is supposed by some to
have helped to intensify Mr. Gladstone’s feeling on the issues of
the eastern war.
M180 Conference At St. James’s Hall
_ 342 Lessons in Massacre._
343 Church, _Life_, p. 252.
M181 J. R. Green’s Description
_ 344 Letters of J. R. Green_, pp. 446-7.
M182 Episode Of The Resolutions
M183 Episode Of The Resolutions
_ 345 Spectator._
346 Mr. Balfour, House of Commons, May 20, 1898.
M184 Tacks In Public Opinion
347 At this interview Mr. Chamberlain was present. He had asked Mr.
Gladstone what he would like to do or see in Birmingham. Mr.
Gladstone said he thought he should like to call upon Dr. Newman.
The wonderful pair were nervous and constrained, and each seemed a
little relieved when, after twenty minutes of commonplace
conversation, they rose to part.
_ 348 Speeches of the Fifteenth Earl of Derby_, i. p. 297.
_ 349 Pall Mall Gazette_, Feb. 26, 1898.
M185 Treaty Of San Stefano
350 Lord Carnarvon resigned in January, 1878, when the fleet was ordered
to the Dardanelles, and Lord Derby in March on the calling out of
the reserves.
351 Russia demanded from Turkey the Dobrudscha in order to cede it to
Roumania in exchange for the Roumanian province of Bessarabia.
M186 Congress Of Berlin
352 As it happened, the severance of northern from southern Bulgaria
only lasted seven years.
M187 The British Plenipotentiaries
353 Mr. Gladstone made an important speech on the treaty-making power on
June 13, 1878.
M188 Kernel Of The Case
354 At Knightsbridge, July 27, 1878.
M189 Miscellaneous Activities
355 See _Gleanings_, ii. p. 213.
_ 356 Ibid._ ii. pp. 146-7.
M190 Candidature Decided
_ 357 Spectator_, February 8, 1879.
M191 Journey To Edinburgh
_ 358 Saturday Review_, November 29, 1879.
M192 Oratory
M193 Character Of The Campaign
_ 359 Much Ado_, Act I. Sc. i.
360 Faguet.
M194 End Of The Year At Hawarden
M195 To Mr. Bright On Leadership
361 Lord Selborne (_Memorials_, i. 471) says that Lord Granville
reported to him (Dec. 21), that Lord Hartington at this meeting
wished to insist upon Mr. Gladstone resuming the lead, but that the
rest were, for the present at all events, against any such step.
Lord Granville’s own view was that the question, like many other
questions, would have to be solved _ambulando_.
M196 Dissolution
362 Speech at West Calder, April 1, 1880.
M197 Elected For Midlothian And Leeds
363 The other candidates stood:—Barran (L.), 23,674; Jackson (C),
13,331; Wheelhouse (C), 11,965. As the constituency was
three-cornered, Gladstone, Barran, and Jackson were elected.
364 Letter to electors of Leeds, April 7, 1880.
365 The iron railing of this balcony is now a sacred relic in the hands
of a faithful follower.
M198 Results
366 Published anonymously in the _Fortnightly Review_, May 1880.
M199 Question Of Leadership
367 See, for instance, _Pall Mall Gazette_, April 2 and 22, then
conducted by Mr. Greenwood, the most vigorous and relentless of Mr.
Gladstone’s critics.
368 November 25, 1879.
369 The Plimsoll matter was a movement to give Mr. Gladstone a public
reception on his arrival in London. Mr. Gladstone declined the
reception as inconsistent with his intention, expressed at
Edinburgh, to avoid all demonstration, and also because it would be
regarded as an attempt made for the first time to establish a
practice of public rejoicing in the metropolis over the catastrophe
of an administration and a political party, and would wound feelings
which ought to be respected as well as spared.
370 See an interesting letter from Viscount Esher, _Times_, Feb. 22,
1892.
371 “Without their full acquiescence—and indeed their earnest
pressure—he could not even now take a step which would seem to
slight claims which he has amply and generously acknowledged.... If
either now or a few days later he accepts the task of forming and
the duty of presiding over a liberal administration, it will be
because Lord Granville and Lord Hartington, with characteristic
patriotism, have themselves been among the first to feel and the
most eager to urge Mr. Gladstone’s return to the post to which he
has been summoned.”—_Daily News_, April 22.
372 Up to this point the memorandum is on Windsor notepaper, and must
have been written between the end of the audience and the time for
the train—a very characteristic instance of his alacrity.
M200 Construction Of Cabinet
373 The reader will find the list of the members of the cabinet, now and
at later periods of its existence, in the Appendix.