The greatest English statesman of the time is by descent a Scotchman,
his father having removed from Scotland to Liverpool, in England, where
he became a wealthy merchant, and where in 1809 his second son, William,
was born.
At his first school the young Gladstones (as the name then was) was
considered very stupid at arithmetic; but he must soon have overcome
this failing, for at the University of Oxford he took the highest honors
in mathematics as well as in classical studies, and as a statesman he
has handled the enormous revenues of the British Empire with wonderful
skill.
At twenty-three years of age Mr. Gladstone became a member of
Parliament, and during the half-century that has elapsed since that time
he has only been without a seat in the House of Commons for a few
months. At thirty-four he became a member of the cabinet, and in every
succeeding cabinet, when the Liberal party has been in power, he has had
a seat.
He has twice been Prime Minister--an office which can be held only so
long as the Minister is supported by a majority of the members of the
House. This office he still holds; and though he is said to be anxious
to retire from public life, he is so far superior to any other statesman
in the Liberal party that he must remain at its head as long as health
and strength will permit.
Although he is now seventy-two years of age, Mr. Gladstone is still a
young man so far as work is concerned. It is said that he does the work
of two men, and as if to prove the fact, he holds two offices in the
government of which he is the head.
He is a powerful speaker, and has frequently spoken in Parliament, and
once in the open air, for four hours without a break. The fact that he
held the attention of his listeners for so long a time is the highest
tribute to his powers as an orator.
When Mr. Gladstone wants rest, he reads Homer in the original Greek or
writes a book, and for recreation he cuts down trees in his beautiful
park at Hawarden, in Wales. Abraham Lincoln in his youth was a
rail-splitter; Mr. Gladstone in the fullness of his years is an expert
lumberer.
[Illustration: THE NEW LOVE.]