The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-01-13 00:00:00

MR. GLADSTONE'S RENT AUDIT DINNER.

The Premier's annual rent audit dinner was held on
Tuesday evening at the " Glynne Arms" Inn, Ha
warden. Mr. Gladstone attended the dinner last year
and on several previous occasions, but he was not
present on this occasion, owing, no doubt, to the
indisposition from which he is suffering. Mr. W. H.
Gladstone, M.P., presided, and the Rev. Stephen
Gladstone was also present. The chairman, in respond-
ing to the toast of "The Prime Minister's Health,"
referred to the postponement of the Mid Lothian visit
in deference to the advice of Mr. Gladstone's medical
attendant, and said that this must not be understood as
giving rise to grave anxiety about his health generally.
The present moment, following upon the autumn
Session, was an unfortunate one to choose for an
arduous undertaking of that kind, and some sleepless-
ness from which Mr. Glaistone had suffered would
rightly and wisely be taken as a warning against
running risks. Moreover, from a public point of
view, the present could hardly be regarded as a critical
tnoment. A great policy had been inaugurated in Ire-
land, and time Was necessary for it to bear fruit. Simi-
larly as to Egypt, alittle patience was required before the
country could be expected to settle down. Only a few
days had passed since Mr. Gladstone's seventy-third
birthday and the attainment of his fiftieth year of
public service. He (the chairman) could say that his
father had t eon much touched by the kindness which
Euad been shewn by his neighbours high and low, by
the enthusiasm manifested by his political friends
throughout the country, and also by the generous
Interpretation which had been put upon his public
acts arid motives by many of his political opponents.
Mr. W. H. Gladstone's remarks were loudly cheered
by the large body of tenantry who were present.

Mr. Gladstone has sent the following letter to Lord
Rosebery

"Hawarden Castle, Chester, Jan. 3, 1883.
"My Dear Roseberry,—l much regret that I have to con-
arm by letter the intimation made In you yesterday by tele-
graph, that Dr. Clark, who has kindly come from London to
visit me. bad directed, in an unequivocal manner, the
abandonment of my projected visit to Miolothian in the
present month
"The disturbance of sleep which led Dr. Clarke to this
conclusion is, in his view, but temporary, due only to too
great and too prolonged a strain of woik, andto be cured by
a short period of abstinence as nearly complete as may be,
Possibly accompanied with change of place for the moment.
"To pay this visit to Midlothian. and to give my generous
constituents the opportunity of comparing fully and in
detail my declarations before the Election of 1880 with my
conduct since, has all along been regarded by me as matter
of high obligation. I was much concerned to postpone the
fulfilment of this duty on account of the Autumn Sittings,
and I lament still more the present nece,sity for a further
postponement; but I look with undiminished confidence to
Paying my visit at a future and, I hope, not very distant
.day.
- "In the meantime, I rely without fear on the indulgence
which I have heretofore so largely experienced, and
"I remain, ever yours,
"W. E. qI.ADSToNE. '

The Times, in a leader, commenting upon the
abandonment of Mr. Gladetone's visit to Mid Lothian,
remarks
It is characteristic of Mr. Gladstone that, in his
seventy-fourth year, he has needed the curb of medical
advice to restrain him from faeing the inclemency of
the weather and the fatigues ef a long series of public
meetings in the metropolitan county of Scotland No
one who had witnessed his performauces in Par
lia
went during the past session could doubt that the
Prime Minister himself would not have dreamed of
shrinking from his engs.gernents on the score of age
or infirmity. Nor is it probable that Mr. Glad
stone', speeches in Mid Lothian would have been at
all deficient in the familiar qualities ( his oratory.
At the same time, even Air. Gladstone is human,
though he sometimes seems to need the ancient re-
minder of that truth. The member for Mid Lothian
has, in all probability, paid many fine and some de-
served compliments to the invigorating breezes of the
country which, three years ago, in a pardonable con-
usion of ideas, he called "the land o' the leal."
Nevertheless, the airs of the East Coast of Sc.)tland
:ars rather too sharply tonic, at the present season, for
'A statesman who is not only in his . sevonty-fourth
year, but who has worked as a Minister and as
a Parliamentary leader during the past twelve
Months to the astonishment and shame of ener-
getic men his juniors by a whole generation.
Three years ago the Liberals Could not dispense:
,with Mr. Gladstone's aid. The Mid Lothian cam-
vaign was the CAT dinal roovemeni; in the struggle which
ended in the victory of April, 1880. Eut there is on
Ruch nEcessity at present for insisring that the Prime
Minister, who has a duty to discharge to the country
as well as to his constituents,,_ shall expose himself to
hardship, and even grave Has, in order that he may
.gratify public curiosity or conduct the formal triumph
'of a party. The Liberals are eufficiently assured of
their hold upon the electorate to acknowledge frankly ,