The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-19 00:00:00

creditable to the University and some of them very 12111C11
the reverse. But it has had one effect, little intended pro-
bably by those who brought it about. It appears to have
convinced Mr. Gladstone that his declarations in favour of
universal suffrage, and his open flirtations with Mr. Bright,
were not so popular as one time he imagined they would
be. The fact that a majority of the lay portion of the con-
stituency has rejected him is a fact which cannot fail to
tell upon his mind. Though they may be very sincere
Christians, the laity are not usually so sensitive to ques-
tions affecting the Established Church as the clergy. They
aro apt, rightly or wrongly, to treat the sensitiveness of
the clergy upon such points as exaggerated, and to set
down the questions upon which clerical apprehensions are
the liveliest as mere questions of detail. It was no ecclesi-
astical quarrel that' induced the lay members of the Oxford
constituency, speaking of them as a whole, to dissever the
University from Mr. Gladstone's splendid fame. That
speech in favour of manhood suffrage told upon the edu-
cated classes with a fatal effect which no subsequent apologies
or prefaces could dispel. But Mr. Gladstone, quick as his
perceptions are in many respects, is slow to recognise the
movements of opinion, and especially of the educated opinion
by which in England all political issues are decided. The
speeches, however, which he delivered at Manchester and
Liverpool give a fair groundforhoping that, under the stern
teaching of the Oxford election, he has at last recognised
the,danger of his course. Taose speeches paid a deference
to the feelings and apprehensions of the propertied classes
which for many a year he had not displayed. The dulness,
again, of his last oration al Hawarden seems to show—
unless, indeed, like Addison, Mr. Gladstone has some
special reason for being intentionally stupid—that he re-
cognises, in the necessities and prospects of the present
moment, the policy, or at lease the safety, of humdrum. It
is dangerous to predict anything concerning his future
course. His moderation in Lancashire may be but a pass-
ing phase of opinion, such as many others by which his
political life has been marked. But he has arrived at a
time of life when " phases of opinion" should cease. If
he again changes, and, in obedience to the fancied neces-
sity of the hour, holds out his hand once more to the ex-
treme Radicals, he will have created a deep-seated distrust
which he is now too old to dissipate.
There can be no doubt that the Bristol workmen were
right ; and that in fame Mr. Gladstone is only second, if
second, to Lord Palmerston. But in England something
more beside surpassing gifts of oratory are needed to
qualify a ruler. No talent will reconcile the reallypowerful
classes in this country to a democratic leader. Democracy
has of late years achieved no success so brilliant as• to
abate the natural dislike which the possessors of property,
be it large or small, entertain to the idea of consigning the
power of taxation to those who have no property to tax.
The dominant opinion of England desires progress ear-
nestly and intently, but it would wish it not to be left to
the caprice of the uninstructed multitude. Progress, under
the protection of the educated minority, is the end to
which all that is best and most powerful in England tends.
It is for Mr. Gladstone to say whether he will be the
leader of such an enterprise or not. If he enters heartily
into such conditions, it is not likely that any power will
be strong enough to displace him from the primacy
which his marvellous ability naturally claims. Personal
antipathies or bitter memories will have lost their power
against a position based on a foundation so secure. But if
he persists in making himself the Minister of democracy,
ho will have raised against himself a phalanx of powerful
interests and tenacious animosities against which no dis-
plays of talent will avail. The decision that he will form
within the next few months will be momentuous for his
own career, and not without grave influence upon the
destinies of England. It will remain for him to decide
whether the rank which the Bristol workmen have given
him shall or shall not be his rank in history.