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The Grand Old Man

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Sir Robert Peel acceded to office in very critical times. The condition
of the country was truly lamentable. Distress and discontent were
widespread and the difficulties of the government were greatly enhanced
by popular tumults. The Free Trade agitation was already making great
headway in the land, and when the Premier brought forward his new
sliding scale of duties in the House of Commons it was denounced by Mr.
Cobden as an insult to a suffering people. The Premier said that he
considered the present not an unfavorable time for discussing the corn
laws; that there was no great stock on hand of foreign growth to alarm
the farmers; that the recess had been marked by universal calm; that
there was no popular violence to interrupt legislation; and that there
was a disposition to view any proposal for the adjustment of the
question with calmness and moderation.

The Premier's view of the situation did not seem to be wholly in accord
with the well-known facts, for the Queen even, on her appearance at the
London theatres, had been hooted, and the Prime Minister himself was
burnt in effigy during a riot at Northampton; great excitement prevailed
throughout the country, and Lord John Russell moved as an amendment
"That this House, considering the evils which have been caused by the
present corn laws and especially by the fluctuation of the graduated or
sliding scale, is not prepared to adopt the measure of her Majesty's
government, which is founded on the same principles and is likely to be
attended by similar results."

It was incumbent upon Mr. Gladstone to lead the opposition to this
motion. He showed that the proposed plan was not founded on the same
principle of the existing one, except that both involved a sliding
scale; that the present distress was caused by fluctuation of the
seasons and not by the laws; that high prices of food were chargeable to
successive failures of the crops; that these unavoidable fluctuations
were not aggravated by the corn laws; that Sir Robert Peel's plan of
working was far superior to that of Lord John Russell; that the drains
upon the currency, caused by bad harvests, were not to be prevented by a
fixed duty; that a uniform protection could not be given to corn, as to
other articles, because at high prices of corn no duty could be
maintained, and that, therefore, at low prices, it was but just to give
a duty which would be an effectual protection. The debate which followed
was characterized by vigorous speeches from Mr. Roebuck and Lord
Palmerston. Lord John Russell's amendment was lost by a large majority.
A motion presented by Mr. Villiers, the Free Trade advocate, for the
immediate repeal of the corn laws was also lost by a majority of over
three hundred.

On the 11th of March Sir Robert Peel introduced his budget. The budget
for 1842 was produced under depressing circumstances. There was a
deficit of £2,750,000, or about $15,000,000, and taxation upon articles
of consumption had been pushed to its utmost limit. Peel was a great
financier, but the fiscal difficulties by which he was now surrounded
were enough to appall the most ingenious of financial ministers.

Mr. Gladstone rendered the Premier invaluable service in the preparation
both of his budget and of his tariff scheme. The merit of the budget was
its taxation of wealth and the relief of the manufacturing industry. The
second branch of the financial plan, the revised tariff--a customs
duties scheme--was very important, and it was understood to be mainly
the work of Mr. Gladstone. Out of nearly 1200 duty-paying articles, a
total abolition, or a considerable reduction, was made in no fewer than
750. This was certainly a great step towards the freedom of
manufacturers, Sir Robert Peel's boast that he had endeavored to relieve
manufacturing industries was more than justified by this great and
comprehensive measure. The very best means for relieving the
manufacturing industries had been devised.

But while this great relief to industry was welcomed the Opposition did
not relax their efforts for the abolition of the corn laws, which were
continued into the session of 1843. Sir Robert Peel acknowledged, amidst
loud cheers from the Opposition, that all were agreed in the general
rule that we should purchase in the cheapest market and sell in the
dearest; but he added, "If I propose a greater change in the corn laws
than that which I submit to the consideration of the House I should only
aggravate the distress of the country, and only increase the alarm which
prevails among important interests." Mr. Hume hailed with joy the
appearance of the Premier and his colleagues as converts to the
principles of Free Trade; Mr. Gladstone replied, that, whoever were the
authors of the principles on which the government measures rested, he
must protest against the statement that the ministry came forward as
converts to principles which they had formerly opposed.

During the progress of the debate of 1842, on the revised Tariff Bill,
Mr. Gladstone's labors were very great. He was called upon to explain or
defend the details of the scheme, and had something to say about every
article of consumption included in, or excluded from, the list. He spoke
one hundred and twenty-nine times, chiefly on themes connected with the
new fiscal legislature. He demonstrated his capacity for grasping all
the most complicated details of finance, and also the power of
comprehending the scope and necessities of the commercial interests of
the country. No measure with which his name has since been connected has
done him more credit. He spoke incessantly, and amazed the House by his
mastery of details, his intimate acquaintance with the commercial needs
of the country, and his inexhaustible power of exposition. On March 14th
Greville wrote, "Gladstone has already displayed a capacity which makes
his admission into the Cabinet indispensable." A commercial minister had
appeared on the scene, and the shade of Hoskisson had revived.

Though engrossed in schemes of practical legislation, and in all the
excitements and interests of office, he could, as he has ever done
during his long career, turn aside for the discourse on social and
educational questions with much earnestness and eloquence, as if they,
and only they, possessed his mind. In January, 1843, he spoke at the
opening of the Collegiate Institute of Liverpool, and delivered a
powerful plea for the better education of the middle classes, which was
one of the most forcible speeches he ever delivered. He said:

"We believe that if you could erect a system which should present to
mankind all branches of knowledge save the one that is essential, you
would only be building up a Tower of Babel, which, when you had
completed it, would be the more signal in its fall, and which would bury
those who had raised it in its ruins. We believe that if you can take a
human being in his youth, and if you can make him an accomplished man in
natural philosophy, in mathematics, or in the knowledge necessary for
the profession of a merchant, a lawyer, or a physician; that if in any
or all of these endowments you could form his mind--yes, if you could
endow him with the science and power of a Newton, and so send him
forth--and if you had concealed from him, or, rather, had not given him
a knowledge and love of the Christian faith--he would go forth into the
world, able indeed with reference to those purposes of science,
successful with the accumulation of wealth for the multiplication of
more, but 'poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked' with reference to
everything that constitutes the true and sovereign purposes of our
existence--nay, worse, worse--with respect to the sovereign purpose--
than if he had still remained in the ignorance which we all commiserate,
and which it is the object of this institution to assist in removing."

It was admitted on all hands that great fiscal reforms had been
conceived and executed; and speaking of the session of 1842, a writer,
not favorable to the Tories, wrote: "The nation saw and felt that its
business was understood and accomplished, and the House of Commons was
no longer like a sleeper under a nightmare. The long session was a busy
one. The Queen wore a cheerful air when she thanked Parliament for their
effectual labors. The Opposition was such as could no longer impede the
operations of the next session. The condition of the country was fearful
enough, but something was done for its future improvement, and the way
was now shown to be open for further beneficent legislation."

The corn law reformers renewed their efforts, led by Lord Howick, as
soon as the parliamentary session of 1843 opened. An inquiry by the
whole House was demanded into the causes of the long continued
manufacturing depression referred to in the Queen's speech. Mr.
Gladstone replied that while the Opposition proposed to repeal the corn
laws, they offered no measure of relief in their place. The corn laws
were at the root of the distress in the country, but the difficulty was
to unite the ranks of the Opposition in opinion as to what ought to
follow the repeal of the corn laws. The question between the government
and the Opposition was not really so great as the latter wished to make
out. It was simply as to the amount of relaxation the country could bear
in the duties. It was the intention of the First Lord of the Treasury to
attain his object "by increasing the employment of the people, by
cheapening the prices of the articles of consumption, as also the
articles of industry, by encouraging the means of exchange with foreign
nations, and thereby encouraging in return an extension of the export
trade; but besides all this, if he understood the measure of the
government last year, it was proposed that the relaxation should be
practically so limited as to cause no violent shock to existing
interests, such as would have the tendency of displacing that labor
which should be employed, and which, if displaced, would be unable to
find another field." The measure of the previous year had nothing but a
beneficial effect, but the repeal of the corn laws would displace a vast
mass of labor. Lord Howick's motion was defeated and so were others
offered by Mr. Villiers and Lord John Russell, by diminishing
majorities, and Mr. Gladstone protested against the constant renewal of
uneasiness in the country by successive motions of this kind in
Parliament.

The year 1843 was one destined to witness a great advance in Mr.
Gladstone's progress towards the front rank among statesmen. June 10th,
Lord Ripon, who was President of the Board of Trade, left this place for
the Board of Control, and Mr. Gladstone was appointed to the position,
and thus became a member of the Cabinet at the age of thirty-three Mr.
Gladstone now became in name what he had been already in fact--the
President of the Board of Trade. He states that "the very first opinion
which he was ever called upon to give in Cabinet" was an opinion in
favor of withdrawing the bill providing education for children in
factories; to which vehement opposition was offered by the Dissenters,
on the ground that it was too favorable to the Established Church. It
seemed that his position was assured and yet in October he wrote to a
friend: "Uneasy, in my opinion, must be the position of every member of
Parliament who thinks independently in these times, or in any that are
likely to succeed them; and in proportion as a man's course of thought
deviates from the ordinary lines his seat must less and less resemble a
bed of roses." Mr. Gladstone possibly felt when he penned these lines
that the time was at hand when his convictions would force him to take a
position that would array against him some of his most ardent friends.

During the session of 1844 Mr. Gladstone addressed the House on a
variety of subjects, including rail ways, the law of partnership, the
agricultural interest, the abolition of the corn laws, the Dissenters'
Chapel Bill and the sugar duties. One very valuable bill he had carried
was a measure for the abolition of restrictions on the exportation of
machinery. Another was the railway bill, to improve the railway system,
by which the Board of Trade had conditional power to purchase railways
which had not adopted a revised scale of tolls. The bill also
compulsorily provided for at least one third-class train per week-day
upon every line of railway, to charge but one penny a mile, regulated
the speed of traveling, compelled such trains to stop at every station,
and arranged for the carrying of children under three years of age for
nothing and those under twelve at reduced fares. This measure, conceived
so distinctly in the interests of the poorer classes, met with
considerable opposition at first from the various railway companies, but
it was ultimately passed into law. These were measures passed in the
spirit of reform, though by a Conservative government.

There was another matter legislated upon which shows how Mr. Gladstone's
mind was undergoing changes in the direction of religious toleration.
Lady Hewley had originally founded and given to Calvinistic Independents
certain charities which had gradually passed to Unitarians, who were
ousted from their benefits. A bill was proposed to vest property left to
Dissenting bodies in the hands of that religions body with whom it had
remained for the preceding twenty years. The measure was passed, but
when it was discussed in the House of Commons Mr. Gladstone said that it
was a bill which it was incumbent upon the House to endorse; that there
was no contrariety between his principles of religious belief and those
on which legislation in this case ought to proceed; that there was a
great question of justice, viz., whether those who were called
Presbyterian Dissenters, and who were a century and a half ago of
Trinitarian opinions, ought not to be protected at the present moment in
possession of the chapels which they held, with the appurtenances of
those chapels? On the question of substantial justice he pronounced the
strongest affirmative opinion. "After this speech there were those who
thought, and expressed their hope and belief in words, that the
'champion of Free Trade' would ere long become the advocate of the most
unrestricted liberty in matters of religion. Their hope, if sanguine as
to its immediate fulfillment, was far from groundless."

However, in December of the same year Mr. Gladstone wrote to his friend
Archdeacon, afterwards Bishop Wilberforce, about the prospects of the
Church of England: "I rejoice to see that your views on the whole are
hopeful. For my part I heartily go along with you. The fabric
consolidates itself more and more, even while the earthquake rocks it;
for, with a thousand drawbacks and deductions, love grows larger, zeal
warmer, truth firmer among us. It makes the mind sad to speculate upon
the question how much better all might have been; but our mourning
should be turned into joy and thankfulness when we think also how much
worse it _was_."

The next event in the life of Mr. Gladstone is marked by a momentous
change in his political position. Scarcely had Parliament met in
January, 1845, when it was announced to the astonishment of everyone
that Mr. Gladstone had resigned his place as President of the Board of
Trade in the Cabinet. He set a good deal of speculation at rest by the
announcement made in his speech on the address of the Queen, that his
resignation was due solely to the government intentions with regard to
Maynooth College. Before, however, he had resigned, Mr. Gladstone had
completed a second and revised tariff, carrying further the principles
of the revision of 1842.

In the session of 1844 Sir Robert Peel, in response to the requests of
Irish members, had promised that the Government would take up the
question of academical education in Ireland, with the view of bringing
it more nearly to the standard of England and Scotland, increasing its
amount and improving its quality. In fulfillment of this pledge the
government, at the beginning of the session of 1845, proposed to
establish non-sectarian colleges in Ireland, and to increase the
appropriation to Maynooth. The College of Maynooth, which was
established for the education of Roman Catholic priests and laymen, had
fallen into poverty and decay. In order to gratify the Irish, the
government offered to increase the grant already made from $45,000 to
$150,000 a year. This appropriation was not to be subject to any annual
vote, and the affairs of the College were to be executed by the Board of
Works. These proposals placed Mr. Gladstone in a position of great
difficulty. He must either support Sir Robert Peel's measure, or retire
from the Cabinet into isolation, if not subject to the imputation of
eccentricity. He took council with his friends, Archdeacon Manning and
Mr. Hope, who advised him to remain, and with Lord Stanley who warned
him that his resignation must be followed by resistance of the proposals
of the government, which would involve him in a storm of religious
agitation. But Mr. Gladstone persisted in his intention, in what seemed
like giving up his brilliant prospects, but said it would not
necessarily be followed by resistance to the proposal about Maynooth.

Mr. Gladstone said that the proposed increase in the Maynooth endowment
and the establishment of non-sectarian colleges were at variance with
views he had written and uttered upon the relations of the Church and
State. "I am sensible how fallible my judgment is," said Mr. Gladstone,
"and how easily I might have erred; but still it has been my conviction
that although I was not to fetter my judgment as a member of Parliament
by a reference to abstract theories, yet, on the other hand, it was
absolutely due to the public and due to myself that I should, so far as
in me lay, place myself in a position to form an opinion upon a matter
of so great importance, that should not only be actually free from all
bias or leaning with respect to any consideration whatsoever, but an
opinion that should be unsuspected. On that account I have taken a
course most painful to myself in respect to personal feelings, and have
separated myself from men with whom and under whom I have long acted in
public life, and of whom I am bound to say, although I have now no
longer the honor of serving my most gracious Sovereign, that I continue
to regard them with unaltered sentiments both of public regard and
private attachment."

Then again he said: "My whole purpose was to place myself in a position
in which I should be free to consider any course without being liable
to any just suspicion on the ground of personal interest. It is not
profane if I now say, '_with a great price obtained I this freedom_.'
The political association in which I stood was to me at the time the
_alpha_ and _omega_ of public life. The government of Sir Robert Peel
was believed to be of immovable strength. My place, as President of the
Board of Trade, was at the very kernel of its most interesting
operations; for it was in progress from year to year, with continually
waxing courage, towards the emancipation of industry, and therein
towards the accomplishment of another great and blessed work of public
justice. Giving up what I highly prized, aware that

male sarta
Gratia nequicquam coit, et rescinditur.

I felt myself open to the charge of being opinionated and wanting in
deference to really great authorities, and I could not but know that I
should inevitably be regarded as fastidious and fanciful, fitter for a
dreamer, or possibly a schoolman, than for the active purposes of public
life in a busy and moving age."

There were some of his party angry and others who thought that there was
something almost Quixotic in Mr. Gladstone's honorable resignation,
because so soon as he felt himself free he gave his support to the
Maynooth Bill and also to the scheme for the extension of academical
education in Ireland, which latter was described by Sir R. Inglis as a
"gigantic scheme of godless education." In Greville's "Memoirs" we find:
"Gladstone's explanation is ludicrous. Everybody said that he had only
succeeded in showing that his resignation was unnecessary. He was
criticised as the possessor of a kind of supernatural virtue that could
scarcely be popular with the slaves of party, and he was considered
whimsical, fantastic, impracticable, a man whose 'conscience was so
tender that he could not go straight,' a visionary not to be relied
on--in fact, a character and intellect useless to the political
manager." "I am greatly alarmed at Gladstone's resignation. I fear it
foretells measures opposed to the Church truth," wrote Wilberforce; and
Peel told Gladstone beforehand that his reasons for his resignation
would be considered insufficient. But Mr. Gladstone's resignation, when
understood, elicited the liveliest expressions of regret from friend and
foe, as well as the most flattering testimonies as to his ability and
character. His chief, Sir Robert Peel, and Lord John Russell, the leader
of the Opposition, were alike complimentary in their remarks.

Dr. Russell, the biographer of Mr. Gladstone, says: "Mr. Gladstone's
retirement, by impairing his reputation for common sense, threatened
serious and lasting injury to his political career, But the whirligig
of time brought its revenges even more swiftly than usual. A conjunction
of events arose in which he was destined to repair the mischief which
the speculative side had wrought; but for the moment the speculative
side was uppermost."

Mr. Gladstone was fast leaving his Toryism behind. To show how far his
views had changed in the course of seven years, it may be said that in
his speech on these measures he observed how that exclusive support to
the Established Church was a doctrine that was being more and more
abandoned. Mr. Burke considered it contrary to wise policy to give
exclusive privileges to a negative creed like that of Protestantism.
They could not prove their religious scruples for denying this grant to
Roman Catholics, because they gave their votes of money to almost every
Dissenting seat. He hoped the concession now made--which was a great and
liberal gift, because unrestricted and given in a spirit of
confidence--would not lead to the renewal of agitation in Ireland by Mr.
O'Connell. It might be well for him to reflect that agitation was a
two-edged sword. Being conformable to justice and not contrary to
principle, he hoped the measure proposed would pass into a law.

W.T. Stead, in a recent article, said, in relation to Mr. Gladstone's
retirement from the Cabinet, that "It is ridiculous to pretend, with
Mr. Gladstone's career before us, that his course has been swayed by
calculating self-interest. He has been the very madman of politics from
the point of view of Mr. Worldly Wiseman. 'No man,' said he, the other
day, 'has ever committed suicide so often as I,' and that witness is
true. The first and perhaps the most typical of all his many suicides
was his resignation of his seat in Sir Robert Peel's Cabinet, not
because he disapproved of the Maynooth Grant, but because, as he had at
one time written against it, he was determined that his advocacy of it
should be purged of the last taint of self-interest. As Mr. George
Russell rightly remarks, 'This was an act of Parliamentary Quixotism too
eccentric to be intelligible. It argued a fastidious sensitiveness of
conscience, and a nice sense of political propriety so opposed to the
sordid selfishness and unblushing tergiversation of the ordinary
place-hunter as to be almost offensive.' But as Mr. Gladstone was then,
so he has been all his life--the very Quixote of conscience. Judged by
every standard of human probability, he has ruined himself over and over
and over again. He is always ruining himself, and always rising, like
the Phoenix, in renewed youth from the ashes of his funeral pyre. As was
said in homely phrase some years ago, he 'always keeps bobbing up
again.' What is the secret of this wonderful capacity of revival? How
is it that Mr. Gladstone seems to find even his blunders help him, and
the affirmation of principles that seem to be destructive to all chance
of the success of his policy absolutely helps him to its realization?"

From a merely human standpoint it is inexplicable. But

'If right or wrong in this God's world of ours
Be leagued with higher powers,'

then the mystery is not so insolvable. He believed in the higher powers.
He never shrank from putting his faith to the test; and on the whole,
who can deny that for his country and for himself he has reason to
rejoice in the verification of his working hypothesis?

'We walk by faith and not by sight,' he said once; 'and by no one so
much as by those who are in politics is this necessary.' It is the
evidence of things not seen, the eternal principles, the great invisible
moral sanctions that men are wont to call the laws of God, which alone
supply a safe guide through this mortal wilderness.

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