* * * * *
When that history comes to be written you know whose will be the central
and prominent figure. You know that Mr. Gladstone will stand out before
posterity as the greatest man of his time--remarkable not only for his
extraordinary eloquence, for his great ability, for his stedfastness of
purpose, for his constructive skill, but more, perhaps, than all these,
for his personal character, and for the high tone that he has introduced
into our polities and public fife. I sometimes think that great men are
like great mountains, and that we do not appreciate their magnitude
while we are close to them. You have to go to a distance to see which
peak it is that towers above its fellows; and it may be that we shall
have to put between us and Mr. Gladstone a space of time before we shall
see how much greater he has been than any of his competitors for fame
and power. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN.