The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-12-06
GLADSTONE.

The notable features in tho br illiant career CT
the ex-premier OF England, and the sudden pro-
| minence he has acquired in his remarkab'e PAM
phlet against the Vatican DEGREES, make him an
object Of conspicuous interest in the literary
circles on both sides Of the Atlantic. An article
from the pen OF Bonamy Price, in f,Gzer's Maga-
zine for February, 1864, draws the following por-
trait OF him which will, of course, be read with
universal interest:
! Few men have derived from nature so peculiar
a mental const. tuition as Mr.. Gladstone. Its sin
gularity-and it is most marked-cOnsists IL this:
! That he combines the extreme Of impression
| ableness with the extreme OF want OF intuition.
Never, probably, WAS there a statesman 50 per-
fectly accessible to the influence OF every intel
| lectua element OF every question, SO ready to
| surrender himself to it, and yet destitute OF
the light Within OF the judging faculty, to enable
him to assign to each its power. There have
who were able to penetrate to the depths OF every
element, ana yet never worked their way to d
comprehensive ard final conclusion.
But these IL en- have been cold and Indifferent
Intellectually, Mr.. Gladstone belongs TO this
class, but morally he is separated from them by
distance as wide as that viii ch sunders apart
the two poles. Each partial truth that reveals
itself to his understanding enkindles passion
which for awhile refuses 10 DE controlled; and
Mr.. Gladstone is thus led across the most oppG-
site regions of thought and principle by this pc.
culiar enthusiasm of his nature. This tendency
OF his mind has been much aggravated by edu-
cation MIR. Gladstone has been called an over
educated man; and in reference to his peculiar
constitution Ut character the assertion is true
Abstractedy, man cannot be over educated he
cannot have too much knowledge OF too varied
al insight into human existence.
Sir George Lewis was intellectually still ADLER,
a still more educated man than Mr.. Gladstone,
but no one ever said that his education impaired
his Judgment, or rendered his counsels more I'M
certain, less surely to be trusted. Mr.. Gadstones
educatOn-and 1t is OF the most accomplished
renders him more capable of diving into the
depths OF every problem but it has not bestowed
upon him the faculty. of judging the relative
value of his discoveries: 1t has refined and
strengthened the power Of his intellect to detect
the incest shades of distinction, to track out the
most subtle elements, to appreciate the most
delicate influences but it has not inspired him
with the vision and The faculty divine, the in
stinctve sense of the great and true the discern
ment Of the master principle. the faith in the
commanding truth, which governs by its own
right, and thrusts aside objections as subordi- !
nate even II no answer suggests itself for the
moment.
Hence Mr. Gladstone is the sport of his own
intellect; it leads him about at its pleasure,
passionate and sincere slave, but still slave. |
No man has contradicted himself 80 often in the |
House OF Commons as Mr.. Gladstone 10 ran |
has ever commended with SO much vehement earn
estness for the most conflicting views on the
same question. BY no one can Mr.. Gladstone
be go powerfully and eloquently refIted as by
himself. For while he was denounced for in |
sincerity but the world has grown more just, |
and the charge has died away. Mr.. Gladstone is
the most acknowledging, the most inconslst
ent, the most uncertain of statesmen, not be-
cause he is insincere or tickle morally, but be-
cause he cannot command his own intellect The
principles and conclusions which he advo-
cafes for the day spring not from an
intuition which is always the Ame,
and is sure guarantee to himself and others
for consistency; they are the products of COM
putatiOn-of detailed reasonlngs-os a process
of mind which may almost be called arithmetlcal.
When great subject is presented to Mr.. Glad
stone, he addresses the whole attention of his
powerful mind to its investigation; he probes
into its very heart he brings to light every ee-
ment he marshals the arguments on the con-
tending sides; he adds the totals, strikes the
balance and then decides on his opinion. Bnt
there is fatal weakness in this method, and Mr..
Gladstone is profoundly. but perhaps not con-
be placed in its results. His conclusions are no
dictates OF an ntuitive reason, they are SUFFRAGE
ton sums, Of which the figures depend acct.
dent.
The New York Herald thinks the salary grab
bers have learned costly lesson in the dear
school of experience, but it comes too late to be
Of any advantage to them, however impressive
as a warning to others. Of the one hundred and
two members of the present Congress who voted
FOR the salary grab, only twenty-four were re-
by their constituent, and nearly half
Of the twenty-four were defeated at the
polls. Ii al ex firing Congress had raised
the compensation of their successors, the
public Indignation would not have fallen with
sucn severity: but for men in the public
service to raise their own pay, and then date
t back for nearly year previous to the
passage of the act evinced so sordid and dis.
loae-t spirit that the people were justly in
,ensed. Less than one IN six Of the salary
,rabbers have been returned to the next
Congress.
The latest fashion in Chicago-one term MARI