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The Grand Old Man

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The elevation of Mr. Disraeli to the Premiership before Mr. Gladstone,
produced, in some quarters, profound regret and even indignation. But
Mr. Disraeli, though in office, was not in power. He was nominally the
leader of a House that contained a large majority of his political
opponents, now united among themselves. The schism in the Liberal party
had been healed by the question of Reform, and they could now defeat the
government whenever they chose to do so; consequently Mr. Gladstone took
the initiative. His compulsory Church Rates Abolition Bill was
introduced and accepted. By this measure all legal proceedings for the
recovery of church rates were abolished. The question that overshadowed
all others, however, was that of the Irish Church.

On the 16th of March Mr. Gladstone struck the first blow in the struggle
that was to end in the disestablishment of the Irish Church. Mr. Maguire
moved that the House consider the condition of Ireland. Mr. Gladstone
said that Ireland had a controversy with England and a long account
against England. It was a debt of justice, and he enumerated six
particulars, one of which was the Established Episcopal Church.
Religious Equality, he contended, must be conceded. He said, in
referring to his speech made on the motion of Mr. Dillwyn in 1865: "The
opinion I held then and hold now--namely, that in order to the
settlement of this question of the Irish Church, that Church, as a State
Church must cease to exist."

This speech excited feelings of consternation amongst the
Ministerialists. Mr. Disraeli bewailed his own unhappy fate at the
commencement of his career as Prime Minister, at finding himself face
to face with the necessity of settling an account of seven centuries
old. He complained that all the elements of the Irish crisis had existed
while Mr. Gladstone was in office, but no attempt had been made to deal
with them.

March 23d Mr. Gladstone proposed resolutions affirming that the Irish
Episcopal Church should cease to exist as an establishment, and asking
the Queen to place at the disposal of Parliament her interest in the
temporalities of the Irish Church.

Mr. Gladstone's resolution was carried by a majority of 65, and the
Queen replied that she would not suffer her interests to stand in the
way of any measures contemplated by Parliament. Consequently Mr.
Gladstone brought in his Irish Church Suspensory Bill, which was adopted
by the Commons, but rejected by the Lords. During the discussion,
ministerial explanations followed; Mr. Disraeli described, in his most
pompous vein, his audiences with the Queen. His statement amounted to
this--that, in spite of adverse votes, the Ministers intended to hold on
till the autumn, and then to appeal to the new electorate created by the
Reform Act.

Lord Houghton wrote: "Gladstone is the great triumph, but as he owns
that he has to drive a four-in-hand, consisting of English Liberals,
English Dissenters, Scotch Presbyterians, and Irish Catholics, he
requires all his courage to look the difficulties in the face and trust
to surmount them."

An appeal was now made to the country. The general election that
followed, in November, was fought out mainly upon this question. A great
Liberal majority was returned to Parliament, which was placed at 115.
But there were several individual defeats, among them Mr. Gladstone
himself, who was rejected by South Lancaster. This was in part owing to
the readjustment of seats according to the Reform Bill. But Mr.
Gladstone received an invitation from Greenwich, in the southwestern
division, where he was warmly received by the electors. "He spoke
everywhere, with all his fiery eloquence, on the monstrous foolishness
of a religious establishment which ministered only to a handful of the
people." Is the Irish Church to be or not to be? was the question. He
was returned for that borough by a large majority over his Conservative
opponents.

Archbishop Wilberforce wrote in November: "The returns to the House of
Commons leave no doubt of the answer of the country to Gladstone's
appeal. In a few weeks he will be in office at the head of a majority of
something like a hundred, elected on the distinct issue of Gladstone and
the Irish Church."

The feeling was so enormously great in its preponderance for Mr.
Gladstone's policy of Liberal Reform, especially for the
disestablishment of the Irish Church, that Mr. Disraeli did not adopt
the usual course of waiting for the endorsement of the new Parliament,
which he felt sure would be given to Mr. Gladstone, but resigned, and
the first Disraeli Cabinet went out of office, December 2d.

December 4, 1868, the Queen summoned Mr. Gladstone to Windsor to form a
Cabinet. He had now attained the summit of political ambition. He was
the first Commoner in the land--the uncrowned king of the British Empire
--for such is the English Premier. "All the industry and self-denial of
a laborious life, all the anxieties and burdens and battles of five and
thirty years of Parliamentary struggle were crowned by this supreme and
adequate reward. He was Prime Minister of England--had attained to that
goal of the Eton boy's ambition; and, what perhaps was to him of greater
consideration, he was looked up to by vast numbers of the people as
their great leader."

December 9th the new government was completed and the ministers received
their seals from the Queen. Mr. Bright, contrary to all expectation,
became President of the Board of Trade. In offering themselves for
re-election, the members of the new Cabinet found no trouble--all were
returned. Mr. Gladstone was returned by Greenwich.

With the year 1869 Mr. Gladstone entered upon a great period of Reform.
The new Parliament was opened December 10th. On the 11th Mr. and Mrs.
Gladstone paid a visit to Lord and Lady Salisbury, at Hatfield. Bishop
Wilberforce was there and had opportunity to observe his old and honored
friend in the first flush of his new dignity. Here are his comments:
"Gladstone, as ever, great, earnest, and honest; as unlike the tricky
Disraeli as possible." To Dr. Trench the Bishop wrote: "The nation has
decided against our establishment, and we bow to its decision, and on
what tenure and conditions it is to be held, remains confessedly open."
"But his sagacious and statesmanlike counsel was disregarded. The Irish
Bishops ranged themselves in bitter but futile hostility to the change.
A frantic outbreak of Protestant violence began in Ireland and spread to
England." Bishop Wilberforce notes this conversation at Windsor Castle:
"The Queen very affable. 'So sorry Mr. Gladstone started this about the
Irish Church, and he is a great friend of yours.'"

On the 15th of February Parliament assembled. March 1st Mr. Gladstone
introduced his momentous bill in a speech of three hours, his first
speech as Prime Minister, which was characterized as "calm, moderate and
kindly." It was proposed that on January 1, 1871, the Irish Church
should cease to exist as an establishment and should become a
free Church.

Mr. Disraeli, in the Commons, moved the rejection of the bill. In
opposing the measure he objected to disestablishment, because he was in
favor of the union of Church and State.

Mr. Gladstone eloquently concluded as follows: "As the clock points
rapidly towards the dawn, so as rapidly flow out the years, the months,
the days, that remain to the existence of the Irish Established
Church.... Not now are we opening this great question. Opened, perhaps,
it was when the Parliament which expired last year pronounced upon it
that emphatic judgment which can never be recalled. Opened it was,
further, when in the months of autumn the discussions were held in every
quarter of the Irish Church. Prosecuted another stage it was, when the
completed elections discovered to us a manifestation of the national
verdict more emphatic than, with the rarest exceptions, has been
witnessed during the whole of our Parliamentary history. The good cause
was further advanced towards its triumphant issue when the silent
acknowledgment of the late government, that they declined to contest the
question, was given by their retirement from office, and their choosing
a less responsible position from which to carry on a more desultory
warfare against the policy which they had in the previous session
unsuccessfully attempted to resist. Another blow will soon be struck in
the same good cause, and I will not intercept it one single
moment more."

The bill passed by an overwhelming vote--368 against 250--and went up to
the Lords, where stirring debates occurred. But there, as well as in the
House, the Irish Establishment was doomed. The bill, substantially
unaltered, received the Royal assent July 26, 1869.

The Annual Register for 1869 declared that the bill "was carried through
in the face of a united and powerful opposition, mainly by the resolute
will and unflinching energy of the Prime Minister.... Upon the whole,
whatever may be thought of its merits or demerits, it can hardly be
disputed that the Act of the Disestablishment of the Irish Church,
introduced and carried into a law within somewhat less than five months,
was the most remarkable legislative achievement of modern times."

The parliamentary session of 1870 was rendered memorable by the passing
of a scarcely less popular and important measure--the Irish Land Bill.
Mr. Gladstone, in speaking of Ireland, had referred to three branches of
an Upas tree, to the growth of which her present sad condition was
largely owing--the Irish Church, the Irish Land Laws, and the Irish
Universities. The first branch had fallen with the disestablishment of
the Irish Church, and Mr. Gladstone, pressing on in his reform, now
proposed to lop off the second branch by his Irish Land Bill, which was
in itself a revolution. It was claimed for Mr. Gladstone's new bill, or
Land Scheme, that while it insured for the tenant security of holding,
it did not confiscate a single valuable right of the Irish land-owner.
Mr. Gladstone remarked that he believed there was a great fund of
national wealth in the soil of Ireland as yet undeveloped, and said he
trusted that both tenant and landlord would accept the bill because it
was just. The bill passed, and received the approval of the Queen,
August 1, 1870.

[Illustration: The Old Lion]




CHAPTER XV


THE GOLDEN AGE OF LIBERALISM

In what has been denominated the "Golden Age of Liberalism" the Liberal
party was united, enthusiastic, victorious, full of energy, confidence
and hope. "I have not any misgivings about Gladstone personally," says
an English writer, "but as leader of the party to which the folly of the
Conservatives and the selfish treachery of Disraeli, bit by bit, allied
him, he cannot do what he would, and, with all his vast powers, there is
a want of sharp-sighted clearness as to others. But God rules. I do not
see how we are, after Disraeli's Reform Bill, long to avoid fundamental
changes, both in Church and State."

Justin McCarthy has well summed up the aims of Mr. Gladstone and his
party on their accession to power: "Nothing in modern English history is
like the rush of the extraordinary years of reforming energy on which
the new administration had now entered. Mr. Gladstone's government had
to grapple with five or six great questions, any one of which might
have seemed enough to engage the whole attention of an ordinary
administration. The new Prime Minister had pledged himself to abolish
the State Church in Ireland, and to reform the Irish Land Tenure system.
He had made up his mind to put an end to the purchase of commissions in
the army. Recent events and experiences had convinced him that it was
necessary to introduce the system of voting by ballot. He accepted for
his government the responsibility of originating a complete system of
national education."

The first great measure of the new administration had been successfully
pushed through, and, flushed with triumph, the Liberal leaders were now
ready to introduce other important legislation. In 1870, the Elementary
Education Act, providing for the establishment of school boards, and
securing the benefits of education for the poor in England and Wales was
introduced. By it a national and compulsory system of education was
established for the first time. "It is important to note that the
concessions made during its course to the convictions of Tories and
Churchmen, in the matter of religious education, stirred the bitter and
abiding wrath of the political Dissenters." The measure was passed,
while the half-penny postage for newspapers, and the half-penny post
cards were among the benefits secured.

In April, 1870, a party of English travelers in Greece were seized by
brigands. The ladies were released and also Lord Muncaster, who was sent
to Athens to arrange for ransom and a free pardon. But the Greek
Government sending soldiers to release the captives and capture the
captors, the English were murdered. The English Minister at Athens was
in treaty for the release of his countrymen, but the great difficulty
was to procure pardon from the Greek government. This terrible affair
created a profound sensation in England, and it was brought before
Parliament. Mr. Gladstone pleaded for further information before taking
decided steps. But for the arrest and execution of most of the brigands,
and the extirpation of the band, the diabolical deed went unavenged.

In July, war broke out suddenly between France and Germany, which
resulted in the dethronement of Napoleon III. England preserved
neutrality. However, Mr. Gladstone had his opinion regarding the war and
thus represented it: "It is not for me to distribute praise and blame;
but I think the war as a whole, and the state of things out of which it
has grown, deserve a severer condemnation than any which the nineteenth
century has exhibited since the peace of 1815." And later, in an
anonymous article, the only one he ever wrote, and which contained the
famous phrase, "the streak of silver sea," he "distributed blame with
great impartiality between both belligerent powers."

Among the business transacted in the session of 1870 was the following:
All appointments to situations in all Civil Departments of the State,
except the Foreign Office and posts requiring professional knowledge,
should be filled by open competition; and the royal prerogative that
claimed the General Commanding-in-Chief as the agent of the Crown be
abolished, and that distinguished personage was formally declared to be
subordinate to the Minister of War. Mr. Gladstone announced the
intention of the government to release the Fenian prisoners then
undergoing sentences for treason or treason-felony, on condition of
their not remaining in or returning to the United Kingdom. The Premier,
alluding to the enormity of their offenses, said that the same
principles of justice which dictated their sentences would amply
sanction the prolongation of their imprisonment if the public security
demanded it. The press and country generally approved this decision of
the Premier, but some condemned him for the condition he imposed in the
amnesty. The religious test imposed upon all students entering at the
universities was abolished, and all students of all creeds could now
enter the universities on an equal footing. Heretofore special
privileges were accorded to members of the Established Episcopal Church,
and all others were cut off from the full enjoyment of the
universities.

A bill to establish secret voting was rejected by the Lords, but was
passed the next session. The House of Lords, emboldened by their success
in throwing out the voting bill, defeated a bill to abolish the purchase
of commissions in the army, but Mr. Gladstone was not to be turned from
his purpose, and startled the peers by a new departure--he dispensed
with their consent, and accomplished his purpose without the decision of
Parliament. Finding that purchase in the army existed only by royal
sanction, he, with prompt decision, advised the Queen to issue a royal
warrant declaring that on and after November 1, 1871, all regulations
attending the purchase of commissions should be cancelled. The purchase
of official positions in the army was thus abolished. It was regarded as
a high-handed act on the part of the Prime Minister, and a stretch of
executive authority, and was denounced by Lords and Commons, friends and
foes. Tories and Peers especially were enraged, and regarded themselves
as baffled.

The condition of affairs in Ireland was alarming. The spread of an
agrarian conspiracy at Westmeath compelled the government to move for a
committee to inquire into the unlawful combination and confederacy
existing. "Mr. Disraeli was severely sarcastic at the expense of the
government."

The grant proposed by the government to the Princess Louise on her
marriage aroused the opposition of some members of the House, who
claimed to represent the sentiments of a considerable number of people.
It was proposed to grant £30,000 and an annuity of £6,000. The Premier
stated that the Queen in marrying her daughter to one of her own
subjects, had followed her womanly and motherly instincts. He dwelt upon
the political importance of supporting the dignity of the crown in a
suitable manner; upon the value of a stable dynasty; and the unwisdom of
making minute pecuniary calculations upon such occasions. It was carried
by a remarkable majority of 350 votes against 1.

In 1871 the treaty of Washington was concluded. But the Geneva awards
for the damage done to American shipping by the "Alabama," did much to
undermine Mr. Gladstone's popularity with the warlike portion of the
British public and there were various indications that the Ministry were
becoming unpopular. There were other causes tributary to this effect.
His plans of retrenchment had deprived Greenwich of much of its trade,
hence his seat was threatened. Mr. Gladstone resolved to face the
difficulty boldly, and to meet the murmurers on their own ground,
October 28, 1871, he addressed his Greenwich constituents. The air was
heavy with murmurs and threats. Twenty thousand people were gathered at
Blackheath. It was a cold afternoon when he appeared bare-headed, and
defended the whole policy of the administration. "His speech was as
long, as methodical, as argumentative, and in parts as eloquent, as if
he had been speaking at his ease under the friendly and commodious
shelter of the House of Commons." The growing unpopularity of the
Government was evidenced in the first reception given to the Premier by
his constituents. Groans and cheers were mingled, and his voice at first
was drowned by the din. Finally he was heard, and won the day, the
people enthusiastically applauding and waving a forest of hats. One
cause of unpopularity was what is called "the Ewelme Scandal," and
another the elevation of Sir Robert Collin to the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council.

Mr. Gladstone said: "I have a shrewd suspicion in my mind that a very
large proportion of the people of England have a sneaking kindness for
the hereditary principle. My observation has not been of a very brief
period, and what I have observed is this, that wherever there is
anything to be, done, or to be given, and there are two candidates for
it who are exactly alike--alike in opinions, alike in character, alike
in possessions, the one being a commoner and the other a lord--the
Englishman is very apt indeed to prefer the lord." He detailed the great
advantage which had accrued from the legislation of the past generation,
including free-trade, the removal of twenty millions of taxation, a
cheap press, and an education bill, Mr. Gladstone thus restored himself
to the confidence of his constituents, but the ministry did not wholly
regain the popularity they once enjoyed. The Gladstone period had passed
its zenith and its decadence had already begun.

During the autumn Mr. Gladstone received the freedom of the city of
Aberdeen, and made a speech, in which occurred a remarkable reference to
"the newly-invented cry of Home Rule." He spoke of the political
illusions to which Ireland was periodically subject, the extremes to
which England had gone in satisfying her demands, and the removal of all
her grievances, except that which related to higher education. He said
that any inequalities resting between England and Ireland were in favor
of Ireland, and as to Home Rule, if Ireland was entitled to it, Scotland
was better entitled, and even more so Wales.

Ireland had proved the glory of Mr. Gladstone's administration. Its name
had been associated with the most brilliant legislative triumphs of
government. But Ireland was also destined to be the government's most
serious stumbling-block, and fated to be the immediate measure of its
overthrow. In the session of 1873 Mr. Gladstone endeavored to further
his plans for Reform, and consequently vigorously attacked the third
branch of the "upas tree," to which he had referred. He labored to put
the universities on a proper basis, that they might be truly educational
centres for the whole of Ireland, and not for a small section of its
inhabitants alone. This step followed legitimately after the
disestablishment of the Irish Church. He introduced to this end a large
and comprehensive measure, but although it was favorably received at the
outset, a hostile feeling soon began and manifested itself. Mr.
Gladstone pleaded powerfully for the measure, and said: "To mete out
justice to Ireland, according to the best view that with human infirmity
we could form, has been the work--I will almost say the sacred work--of
this Parliament. Having put our hands to the plough, let us not turn
back. Let not what we think the fault or perverseness of those whom we
are attempting to assist have the slightest effect in turning us, even
by a hair's-breadth, from the path on which we have entered. As we begun
so let us persevere, even to the end, and with firm and resolute hand
let us efface from the law and practice of the country the last--for I
believe it is the last--of the religious and social grievances of
Ireland." Mr. Disraeli made fun of the bill, stalwart Liberals condemned
it, and the Irish members voted against it, hence the bill was defeated
by a small majority of three votes. Mr. Gladstone consequently resigned,
but Mr. Disraeli positively declined to take office with a majority of
the House of Commons against him, and refused to appeal to the country.
Mr. Gladstone read an extract from a letter he had addressed to the
Queen, in which he contended that Mr. Disraeli's refusal to accept
office was contrary to all precedent. But under the extraordinary
circumstances he and his colleagues consented to resume office, and they
would endeavor to proceed, both with regard to legislation and
administration upon the same principle as those which had heretofore
regulated their conduct. Mr. Lowe, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
having resigned, Mr. Gladstone assumed the duties of the office himself,
thus serving in the double offices of Premier and Chancellor. During the
recess various speeches were made in defence of the Ministerial policy,
but the government failed to recover its once overwhelming popularity.

On the 19th of July, 1873, Mr. Gladstone lost by sudden death one of his
oldest and most highly esteemed friends--Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of
Winchester. He was riding to Holmbury with Earl Granville, when he was
thrown from his horse and killed instantly.

The end of Mr. Gladstone's first ministry was now drawing near. The
people no longer desired to keep up with the reforming zeal of the
administration. Mr. Disraeli's strongly exaggerated description of the
Premier's policy had the effect of forming the popular discontent;
Liberal members were deserting him. The Bible was in danger of being
left out of the schools, and beer was threatened with taxation. The flag
of "Beer and the Bible"--strange combination--having been hoisted by
clergy and publicans, the cry against the ministry became irresistible.
Deserted by the people and by many of his own party, what was to be done
unless to appeal to the country and decide by a general election what
was wanted and who would be sustained.

January, 1874, Mr. Gladstone issued a manifesto dissolving Parliament.
In this document, entitled to be called a State paper for its political
and historical importance, Mr. Gladstone stated his reasons for what was
regarded by many as a _coup d' tat_. It is impossible to describe the
public excitement and confusion which attended the general election thus
unexpectedly decreed. Mr. Gladstone, recovering from a cold, appealed
with great energy to Greenwich for re-election. The general election
resulted in the defeat of the Liberals, and gave to the Conservatives a
majority of forty-six in the House. Mr. Gladstone was elected, but
Greenwich which returned two members, placed the Premier second on the
poll--below a local distiller. Following the example of his
predecessor, in 1868, Mr. Gladstone resigned. "Thus was overthrown one
of the greatest administrations of the century; indeed, it may be
doubted whether any other English Ministry was ever able to show such a
splendid record of great legislative acts within so short a period.
There was not one measure, but a dozen, which would have shed lustre
upon any government; and the six years of Mr. Gladstone's first
Premiership are well entitled to the epithet which has been accorded to
them of 'the Golden Age of Liberalism.'"

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