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The Grand Old Man

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The most important among the bills passed by Parliament was the India
Bill, by which the government of India was transferred from the East
India Company to the Crown and the Home government. Mr. Gladstone, who
opposed the bill, proposed a clause providing that the Indian troops
should not be employed in military operations beyond the frontiers
of India.

In November, 1858, Mr. Gladstone accepted from the Premier the post of
Lord High Commissioner Extraordinary to the Ionian Islands. The people
of the Ionian Islands, which in 1800 was formed into the Republic of the
Seven Islands, and was under the protection of Great Britain from 1815,
were desirous of adding themselves to Greece. But the British government
objected to the separation and their union with Greece. Mr. Gladstone
was to repair to Corfu for the purpose of reconciling the people to the
British protectorate. The Ionians regarded his appointment as a virtual
abandonment of the protectorate of Great Britain. Mr. Gladstone,
December 3d, addressed the Senate at Corfu in Italian. He had the
reputation of being a Greek student, and the inhabitants of the Islands
persisted in regarding him not as a Commissioner of a Conservative
English Government, but as "Gladstone the Phil-Hellene!" He made a tour
of the Islands, holding levees, receiving deputations and delivering
harangues, and was received wherever he went with the honors due to a
liberator. His path everywhere was made to seem like a triumphal
progress. It was in vain he repeated his assurance that he came to
reconcile them to the protectorate and not to deliver them from it. But
the popular instinct insisted upon regarding him as at least the
precursor of their union with the Kingdom of Greece. The legislative
assembly met January 27, 1859, and proposed annexation to Greece.
Finding that this was their firm wish and determination, Mr. Gladstone
despatched to the Queen a copy of the vote, in which the representatives
declared that "the single and unanimous will of the Ionian people has
been and is for their union with the Kingdom of Greece." Mr. Gladstone
returned home in February, 1859. The Ionians continued their agitation,
and in 1864 were formally given over to the government of Greece.

Parliament was opened February 3, 1859, by the Queen, who in her speech
from the throne said that the attention of Parliament would be called
to the state of the law regulating the representation of the people. The
plan of the government was presented by Mr. Disraeli. "It was a fanciful
performance," says an English writer. The ministry proposed not to alter
the limits of the franchise, but to introduce into boroughs a new kind
of franchise founded on personal property. Mr. Disraeli characterized
the government measure as "wise, prudent, adequate, conservative, and
framed by men who reverence the past, are proud of the present, and
confident of the future." Two members of the Cabinet promptly resigned
rather than be parties to these proposals. Mr. Bright objected because
the working classes were excluded. An amendment was moved by Lord John
Russell condemning interference with the franchise which enabled
freeholders in boroughs to vote in counties, and demanding a wider
extension of the suffrage in boroughs.

Mr. Gladstone, though agreeing with these views, declined to support the
amendment, because, if carried, it would upset the government and bring
in a weaker administration. He did not propose to support the
government, but he desired to see a settlement of the question of
reform, and he thought the present opportunity advantageous for such
settlement. He pleaded eloquently for the retention of the
small boroughs.

The bill was lost by a majority of thirty-nine. Lord Derby having
advised the Queen to dissolve Parliament, this was done April 3d. The
general elections which resulted from the defeat of the Conservatives in
the House of Commons on the Reform Bill, resulted in returning the
Liberals with a considerable majority. Mr. Gladstone was again returned
unopposed for the University of Oxford. The Queen opened the new
Parliament June 7th. In reply to the speech from the throne an amendment
to the address was moved by Lord Hartington, proposing a vote of want of
confidence in the ministers. After three nights debate it was carried on
June 10th, by a majority of thirteen, Mr. Gladstone voting with the
government. Lord Derby and his colleagues immediately resigned. The
Queen being averse to choosing between Lord John Russell and Lord
Palmerston, turned to Lord Granville, leader of the Liberal party in the
House of Lords. He failed to form a Cabinet, and Lord Palmerston again
became Prime Minister.

The revolution of the political wheel once more brought Mr. Gladstone
into office as Chancellor of the Exchequer. It became necessary in
accepting a Cabinet position to again appeal to his constituents at
Oxford for re-election. He voted as he did to sustain Lord Derby's
administration and to settle the Reform question, yet he was
misunderstood and some of his constituents alienated. He was strongly
opposed by the Conservative Marquis of Chandos. The Conservatives
claimed that he should not be returned, because, as Professor Mansel
said, by his "acceptance of office he must now be considered as giving
his definite adhesion to the Liberal party, as at present reconstructed,
and as approving of the policy of those who overthrew Lord Derby's
government." It was found on the conclusion of the poll, which continued
for five days, that Mr. Gladstone was returned with a majority of nearly
two hundred over his opponent. It is worthy of note that this same year
Cambridge conferred upon Mr. Gladstone the honorary degree of D.C.L.

[Illustration]




CHAPTER XII


HOMERIC STUDIES

"The plenitude and variety of Mr. Gladstone's intellectual powers," says
G. Barnett Smith, "have been the subject of such frequent comment that
it would be superfluous to insist upon them here. On the political side
of his career his life has been as unresting and active as that of any
other great party leader, and if we regard him in the literary aspect we
are equally astonished at his energy and versatility. Putting out of
view his various works upon Homer, his miscellaneous writings of
themselves, with the reading they involve, would entitle their author to
take high rank on the score of industry.... We stand amazed at the
infinity of topics which have received Mr. Gladstone's attention."

To solve the problems associated with Homer has been the chief
intellectual recreation, the close and earnest study of Mr. Gladstone's
literary life. "The blind old man of Scio's rocky isle" possessed for
him an irresistible and a perennial charm. Nor can this occasion
surprise, for all who have given themselves up to the consideration and
attempted solution of the Homeric poems have found the fascination of
the occupation gather in intensity. It is not alone from the poetic
point of view that the first great epic of the world attracts students
of all ages and of all countries. Homer presents, in addition, and
beyond every other writer, a vast field for ethnological, geographical,
and historical speculation and research. The ancient world stands
revealed in the Homeric poems. Besides, almost numberless volumes have
been written based upon the equally debatable questions of the Homeric
text and the Homeric unity.

Some literary works of Mr. Gladstone have been already noticed. "Studies
on Homer and Homeric Age" shows Mr. Gladstone's classic tastes and
knowledge as well as his great industry and ability. This work was
published in three volumes, in 1858. It is his _magnum opus_ in
literature, and exhibits wide and laborious research. "It discusses the
Homeric controversy in its broad aspects, the relation of Homer to the
Sacred Writings, his place in education, his historic aims, the probable
period of the poet's life, the Homeric text, the ethnology of the Greek
races, and the politics and poetry of Homer. Among subsequent Greek
studies by Mr. Gladstone were his 'Juventus Mundi' and the 'Homeric
Synchronism.' There is probably no greater living authority on the text
of Homer than Mr. Gladstone, and the Ancient Greek race and literature
have exercised over him a perennial fascination."

Mr. Gladstone dwells much on the relation of Homer to Christianity. "The
standard of humanity of the Greek poet is different, yet many of his
ideas almost carry us back to the early morning of our race; the hours
of its greater simplicity and purity, and more free intercourse with
God.... How is it possible to overvalue this primitive representation of
the human race in a form complete, distinct and separate, with its own
religion, stories, policy, history, arts, manners, fresh and true to the
standard of its nature, like the form of an infant from the hand of the
Creator, yet mature, full, and finished, in its own sense, after its own
laws, like some masterpiece of the sculptor's art?" The Homeric scene of
action is not Paradise, but it is just as far removed from the vices of
a later heathenism.

Mr. Gladstone compares the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," which he believed
to be the poems of one poet, Homer, with the Old Testament writings, and
observes that "Homer can never be put into competition with the
Scriptures as touching the great fundamental, invaluable code of truth
and hope;" but he shows how one may in a sense be supplementary to the
other. As regards the history of the Greek race, it is Homer that
furnishes "the point of origin from which all distances are to be
measured." He says: "The Mosaic books, and the other historical books of
the Old Testament, are not intended to present, and do not present, a
picture of human society or of our nature drawn at large. The poems of
Homer may be viewed as the complement of the earliest portion of the
sacred records."

Again: "The Holy Scriptures are like a thin stream, beginning from the
very fountain-head of our race, and gradually, but continuously, finding
their way through an extended solitude into times otherwise known, and
into the general current of the fortunes of mankind. The Homeric poems
are like a broad lake, outstretched in the distance, which provides us
with a mirror of one particular age and people, alike full and
marvelous, but which is entirely disassociated by a period of many
generations from any other records, except such as are of the most
partial and fragmentary kind. In respect of the influence which they
have respectively exercised upon mankind, it might appear almost profane
to compare them. In this point of view the Scriptures stand so far apart
from every other production, on account of their great offices in
relation to the coming of the Redeemer and to the spiritual training of
mankind, that there can be nothing either like or second to them."

Mr. Gladstone thinks that "the poems of Homer possess extrinsic worth as
a faithful and vivid picture of early Grecian life and measures; they
have also an intrinsic value which has given their author the first
place in that marvelous trinity of genius--Homer, Dante, and
Shakespeare."

As to the historic aims of Homer, Mr. Gladstone says: "Where other poets
sketch, Homer draws; and where they draw he carves. He alone of all the
now famous epic writers, moves (in the 'Iliad' especially) subject to
the stricter laws of time and place; he alone, while producing an
unsurpassed work of the imagination, is also the greatest chronicler
that ever lived, and presents to us, from his own single hand, a
representation of life, manners, history, of morals, theology, and
politics, so vivid and comprehensive, that it may be hard to say whether
any of the more refined ages of Greece or Rome, with their clouds of
authors and their multiplied forms of historical record, are either more
faithfully or more completely conveyed to us."

Mr. Gladstone fixes the probable date of Homer within a generation or
two of the Trojan war, assigning as his principal reason for so doing
the poet's visible identity with the age, the altering but not yet
vanishing age of which he sings, and the broad interval in tone and
feeling between himself and the very nearest of all that follow him. He
presents several arguments to prove the trustworthiness of the text
of Homer.

In 1877, Mr. Gladstone wrote an article on the "Dominions of the
Odysseus," and also wrote a preface to Dr. Henry Schliemann's "Mycenae."

One of his most remarkable productions bore the title of, "The Vatican
Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance; a Political
Expostulation." This book was an amplification of an article from his
own pen, which appeared October, 1874, in the _Contemporary Review_. It
created great public excitement and many replies. One hundred and twenty
thousand copies were sold. Mr. Higginson says: "The vigor of the style,
the learning exhibited, and the source whence it came, all contributed
to give it an extraordinary influence.... It was boldly proclaimed in
this pamphlet that, since 1870, Rome has substituted for the proud boast
of _semper eadem_, a policy of violence and change of faith;... 'that
she had equally repudiated modern thought and ancient history;' ... 'that
she has reburnished and paraded anew every rusty tool she was thought to
have disused,' and 'that Rome requires a convert who now joins her to
forfeit his moral and mental freedom, and to place his loyalty and
civil duty at the mercy of another.'"

Mr. Gladstone issued another pamphlet, entitled "Vaticanism; and Answers
to Reproofs and Replies," He reiterated his original charges, saying:
"The Vatican decrees do, in the strictest sense, establish for the Pope
a supreme command over loyalty and civil duty.... Even in those parts of
Christendom where the decrees and the present attitude of the Papal See
do not produce or aggravate open broils with the civil power, by
undermining moral liberty, they impair moral responsibility, and
silently, in the succession of generations, if not in the lifetime of
individuals, tend to emasculate the vigor of the mind."

Mr. Gladstone published in seven volumes, in 1879, "Gleanings of Past
Years." The essay entitled "Kin Beyond the Sea" at first created much
excitement. "The Kin Beyond the Sea" was America, of which he says: "She
will probably become what we are now, the head servant in the great
household of the world, the employer of all employed; because her
services will be the most and ablest." Again: "The England and the
America of the present are probably the two strongest nations in the
world. But there can hardly be a doubt, as between the America and the
England of the future, that the daughter, at some no very distant time,
will, whether fairer or less fair, be unquestionably yet stronger than
the mother." Mr. Gladstone argues in support of this position from the
concentrated continuous empire which America possesses, and the enormous
progress she has made within a century.

In an address at the opening of the Art Loan Exhibition of Chester,
August 11, 1879, Mr. Gladstone said: "With the English those two things
are quite distinct; but in the oldest times of human industry--that is
to say amongst the Greeks--there was no separation whatever, no gap at
all, between the idea of beauty and the idea of utility. Whatever the
ancient Greek produced he made as useful as he could; and at the same
time, reward for work with him was to make it as beautiful as he could.
In the industrial productions of America there is very little idea of
beauty; for example, an American's axe is not intended to cut away a
tree neatly, but quickly. We want a workman to understand that if he can
learn to appreciate beauty in industrial productions, he is thereby
doing good to himself, first of all in the improvement of his mind, and
in the pleasure he derives from his work, and likewise that literally he
is increasing his own capital, which is his labor."

In his articles on "Ecce Homo" he expresses the hope "that the present
tendency to treat the old belief of man with a precipitate, shallow,
and unexamining disparagement, is simply a distemper, that inflicts for
a time the moral atmosphere, that is due, like plagues and fevers, to
our own previous folly and neglect; and that when it has served its work
of admonition and reform, will be allowed to pass away."

The "Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture" is the title of a book by Mr.
Gladstone, the articles of which were originally published in _The
Sunday School Times_, Philadelphia.

[Illustration: MR. GLADSTONE'S AXE]




CHAPTER XIII


GREAT BUDGETS

The year 1860 marked the beginning of the second half of Mr. Gladstone's
life as a statesman, in which he stood prominently forward as a
Reformer. July 18, 1859, as Chancellor in the Liberal government of Lord
Palmerston, he brought forward his budget. The budget of 1860 was the
greatest of all his financial measures, for a new departure was taken in
British commerce and manufactures. Mr. Cobden, in behalf of the English
Government, had negotiated with France a treaty based on free trade
principles--"a treaty which gave an impetus to the trade of this
country, whose far-reaching effects are felt even to our day."

The Chancellor explained the various propositions of his financial
statements. Speaking of discontent with the income tax he observed: "I
speak on general terms. Indeed, I now remember that I myself had, about
a fortnight ago, a letter addressed to me complaining of the monstrous
injustice and iniquity of the income tax, and proposing that, in
consideration thereof, the Chancellor of the Exchequer should be
publicly hanged."

Mr. Gladstone said that the total reduction of duties would be over
£1,000,000, requiring a slight extension of taxation; that by this means
nearly £1,000,000 would be returned to the general revenue; that the
loss to the revenue by the French Treaty, which was based upon free
trade principles, and the reduction of duties, would be half made up by
the imposts specified; that the abolition of the paper duty would
produce the happiest results from the spread of cheap literature. The
reductions proposed would give a total relief to the consumer of nearly
£4,000,000, and cause a net loss of the revenue of over £2,000,000, a
sum about equivalent to the amount coming in from the cessation of
government annuities that year. The total revenue was £70,564,000, and
as the total expenses of government was £70,000,000, there remained an
estimated surplus of £464,000.

Mr. Gladstone concluded; "There were times, now long by, when sovereigns
made progress through the land, and when at the proclamation of their
heralds, they caused to be scattered whole showers of coin among the
people who thronged upon their steps.... Our Sovereign is enabled,
through the wisdom of her great council, assembled in Parliament around
her, again to scatter blessings among her subjects by means of wise and
prudent laws; of laws which do not sap in any respect the foundations of
duty or of manhood, but which strike away the shackles from the arm of
industry."

"It was one of the peculiarities of Mr. Gladstone's budget addresses
that they roused curiosity in the outset, and, being delivered in a
musical, sonorous, and perfectly modulated voice, kept the listeners
interested to the very close. This financial statement of 1860 was
admirably arranged for the purpose of awakening and keeping attention,
piquing and teasing curiosity, and sustaining desire to hear from the
first sentence to the last. It was not a speech, it was an oration, in
the form of a great State paper, made eloquent, in which there was a
proper restraint over the crowding ideas, the most exact accuracy in the
sentences, and even in the very words chosen; the most perfect balancing
of parts, and, more than all, there were no errors or omissions; nothing
was put wrongly and nothing was overlooked. With a House crowded in
every corner, with the strain upon his own mental faculties, and the
great physical tax implied in the management of his voice, and the
necessity for remaining upon his feet during this long period, 'the
observed of all observers,' Mr. Gladstone took all as quietly, we are
told, as if he had just risen to address a few observations to Mr.
Speaker. Indeed, it was laughingly said that he could address a House
for a whole week, and on the Friday evening have taken a new departure,
beginning with the observation, 'After these preliminary remarks, I will
now proceed to deal with the subject matter of my financial plan.'"

The ministry was supported by large majorities, and carried their
measures, but when the bill for the repeal of the duty on paper at home,
as well as coming into the country, came before the House of Lords, it
was rejected. Mr. Gladstone appeared to be confronted by the greatest
constitutional crisis of his life. He gave vent to his indignation, and
declared that the action of the Lords was a gigantic innovation, and
that the House of Commons had the undoubted right of selecting the
manner in which the people should be taxed. This speech was pronounced
by Lord John Russell "magnificently mad," and Lord Granville said that
"it was a toss-up whether Gladstone resigned or not, and that if he did
it would break up the Liberal party." Quiet was finally restored, and
the following year Mr. Gladstone adroitly brought the same feature
before the Lords in a way that compelled acceptance.

The budget of 1861 showed a surplus of £2,000,000 over the estimated
surplus, and proposed to remit the penny on the income tax, and to
repeal the paper duty. Instead of being divided into several bills as in
the previous year, the budget was presented as a whole--all included in
one. By this device the Lords were forced to acquiesce in the repeal of
the paper duty, or take the responsibility of rejecting the whole bill.
The Peers grumbled, and some of them were enraged. Lord Robert Cecil,
now Marquis of Salisbury, rudely declared that Mr. Gladstone's conduct
was only worthy of an attorney. He begged to apologize to the attorneys.
They were honorable men and would have scorned the course pursued by the
ministers. Another member of the House of Lords protested that the
budget gave a mortal stab to the Constitution. Mr. Gladstone retorted:
"I want to know, to what Constitution does it give a mortal stab? In my
opinion it gives no mortal stab, and no stab at all, to any Constitution
that we are bound to care for. But, on the contrary, so far as it alters
anything in the most recent course of practice, it alters in the
direction of restoring that good old Constitution which took its root in
Saxon times, which grew from the Plantagenets, which endured the iron
repression of the Tudors, which resisted the aggressions of the Stuarts,
and which has come to its full maturity under the House of Brunswick. I
think that is the Constitution, if I may presume to say so, which it is
our duty to guard, and which--if, indeed, the proceedings of this year
can be said to affect it at all--will be all the better for the
operation. But the Constitution which my right honorable friend worships
is a very different affair."

In 1860, Mr. Gladstone was elected Lord Rector of Edinburgh University,
and the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him.

Mr. Gladstone, in 1861, introduced one of his most beneficial
measures--a bill creating the Post Office Savings Bank. The success of
the scheme has gone beyond all expectation. At the close of 1891, the
amount deposited was £71,608,002, and growing at the average rate of
over £4,000,000 annually.

Mr. Gladstone's financial measures for 1862, while not involving such
momentous issues as those of the preceding year, nevertheless
encountered considerable opposition. The budget was a stationary one,
with no surplus, no new taxes, no remission of taxes, no
heavier burdens.

In October, 1862, Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone made a journey down the Tyne,
which is thus described: "It was not possible to show to royal visitors
more demonstrations of honor than were showered on the illustrious
Commoner and his wife.... At every point, at every bank and hill and
factory, in every opening where people could stand or climb, expectant
crowds awaited Mr. Gladstone's arrival. Women and children, in all
costumes and of all conditions, lined the shores ... as Mr. and Mrs.
Gladstone passed. Cannon boomed from every point;... such a succession
of cannonading never before greeted a triumphant conqueror on
the march."

It was during this journey that Mr. Gladstone made the memorable speech,
at New Castle, upon the American Civil War, which had broken out the
same year. There had been much speculation as to whether the English
government would recognize the Confederacy as a separate and independent
power, and the utterance of a member of the Cabinet under the
circumstances was regarded as entirely unwarranted. Mr. Gladstone
himself frankly acknowledged his error in 1867: "I must confess that I
was wrong; that I took too much upon myself in expressing such an
opinion. Yet the motive was not bad. My sympathies were then--where they
had long before been, where they are now--with the whole
American people."

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