The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-11-30

The spectacle presented by the government
Of Great Britain at this critical moment Is so
pitiable that it should go far to crafty and
satisfy the fercest hater of that country. Mr..
Gladstone is Premier of England; and il must
be borne In mind that in the British c0nstitu-
ton the Prime Minister it is whose mental and
moral caliLrs determines the character and
fate OF tho administration. II he il q great
man he may make his government great in
spite Of the weakness Of sub0rdinates. II he
is weak aud small man all the oloquence and
craftsmanship imaginable in inferior members
of tho Ministry will not save it from failure and
contempt. And nasmuch as 1t is the Premier
whose guidance and judgment must necessarily
influence aud determine the whole course Of
policy, domestic and foreign, il will not do for
him TO be one-sided or two-slded man. He
must be. as Lord Bacon described man, "a
being of large discourse, looking before and
after" II he happen to be great student he
had better brush the dust Of bis library we'll off
before he goes into the council chamber. For
it is his business to make hist0ry--nOt to write
about history or think about history or advise
about history, or, least Of all, to croak about
history. And it is above all things necessary
that he should be able to deal with facts as
they are and as they arise, and have no over
whemng preference for one part of political
action over another. He ought to BIO able to
take impartial interest In foreign affairs,
finance, law reform-all sides, in word, Of
international and domestic politics. Unless
he be endowed with this sovereign quality Of
large-hearted and large-minded impartiality he
is subordinate in soul, and ought to be a
subordinate in place. n
Now it Is the peculiar misfortune Of Eng
land at this crisis that she has q man at her
head who has such an exclusive genius for
financial and other domestic reforms, such
passion for economy and Improvement at
home that he positively abhors the interna-
tional side of politics altogether. If there
were no foreign politics there would be no
armies, no fighting, NO wasteful expenditure
on guns and gunpowdsr. That is the short
gospel of Utopia, and Mr.. Gladstone is its
short-sighted apostle. He hates the whole
foreign trouble so bitterly that his mind is
positively blind and deaf and dumb on that
side. He simply will not look at it. The cor
sequence is that he has always set his face
against the very question Of efficiency in the
army and the navy, and resents with ludi-
crous bitterness any attempt to make him con-
slider what may be the duty and position Of
his country under any of those terrible turns
Sea-
fabric of Europe makes possible every day.
They come upon him, therefore, with q shock
that deprives him for the time Of all judgment,
all power to act, almost of all sense Of what
is fitting and decent in his great position Of
helmsman Of the ship Of state, and forces him
into acts and utterances which make him and
the nation he is supposed to govern the laugh
ing stock Of mankind.
Mr.. Gladstone it is very well understood,
has left the practical conduct Of foreign affairs
in England Of late altogether to Lord Gran
vile, the Foreign Secretary. Both in Parlia-
mont and in council the Premier has been, in
these latest months, on this greatest Of great
subjects, silent non-combatant. But Ii he
has been silent where he ought to have
spoken, he has been only too outspoken
where he had better have held his peace.
Both on the platform and in the press he has
been deplorably, not to say fatally,
copious and fluent on this head,
and some of the things he has
said have been az surprising and shocking to
public opinion as minor earthquake. A few
weeks ago, at a public meeting, he actually
declared that he was 'sastonished, panied and
bewildered' at the events that were going on
in Europe. Now let any man of business who
has heavy litigation on hand just consider
what his feelings would be if his counsel were
to declare that the case, If committed to his
charge, s'astonished panied and bewildered''
him. There can be no doubt that the case
would very speedily be out of that lawyers
control. But poor Mr.. Gladstone, although
one of the most conscientious Of men, does
not perceive the absurd incongruity Of such
sentiments with his position. The ship Of state
in England is likely to get into very deep
water indeed just now. In fact, only briel
fortnight 81 50 after Mr.. Gladstone uttered this
Aaivs confession Of the incompetence qf dis
| tracted mind down came Russia and the East
ern question like thunder-clap upon British
ssbewildermcnt" and neutrality. Every mar
with ordinary common sense and cool brain Ia
English councils might have seen the cloud
gathering. Mr.. Gladstone assuredly had
faculties big enough for that if he could have
used them. But no. Blood was flowing in
torrents. Empires were falling. The ''capita
of civilization" was being besieged. Arranged
don seemed coming on. There was genera
appearance, to Mr.. Gladstone's PHILOSOPHERS
and fiscal and ecclesiastical benevolence, o
hell or bedlam having broken loose all round.
So he, whose duty it is to guide, control and