The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-01-06

hrs WONDERFUL PERFoRMANcts IN e'
L.xp-a LOOK AT THE RESULTS.

mrs WONDERFUL PERFORMANCES IN SUI
I.xp-A LOOK AT THE RESULTS.
A c,,rcsnondent OF the Nation, wrltini
,ron, I,nndon. saws: Whatever its intrinsic
merI,s AIR. (,lsdstone's fortnight OF speak
ing and travelling was a. wonderful per
tarm,nce as the world has ever seen. III u
n,iou.. and Is likely TO remain so unless
sir. Gladstone supplies parallel to bis own
achievement or makes on advance upon ".
The Snowman Ia the Spectator the npec..'or
OF Addison & Steele, not o. Wen'"s. nv
street, strand described his oeast as Inv. no
.euv Mr.. (aladstone's claims TO preeini-
pence as popular orator "u'''' o"'' " "
similar qualification. TIL,
So much as TO the performance i,sen.
What as 10 its results? Is the enthusiasm
which he has kindied fierce name ",iicn
burnt itself out I'm bis presence, ana "hicn
vii, shoulder for few weeks and then ex.
nire. leaving only dust and ashes behind
IN This is not probable, so Tar as SCOT
land Is concerned. The Scotch nature
seems TO have been In Mr.. Giadstones
hands wax to receive; by its intrinsic quar-
tiles 1t il marble 10 retain. Behind the
thousands and tens OF thousands who
heard him are hundreds OF thousands who
are now reading him. In farm
houses and in the back-parlors oil
town shop.keepers cheap editions OF
his speeches are being pored over Tor
the time ms only Burns and the Bible
are conned. Bot Scotland was safe already.
The reaction OF 1874 extended to 6ui Few
counties and boroughs, and those wouid
have been won back without the transcend
ept effort which Mr.. Gladstone bas put
forth. On the northern side OF the Tweed
he was preaching 10 the converted. but
his specches, though made in Scotland,
were really made 10 the whole united Ming
dom, and their effect there is matter more
doubtful. Mr.. Gladstone's influence Is
largely an affair Of classes, though theie
are, OF course, numerous exceptions OF u.s.
approval and admiration in every class.
Among what we call here the higher ORDER
among the aristocracy, the permanent OIL
cials, and the wealtbier middle classes
bordering upon the aristocracy-Mr.
Gladstone's Scotch spoechesshave worked
alienation and repusion. Among the Non
conformisis. certain portion OF the HIGH
Church party, the sb0p-keepers, and the
working classes. they have stirred nero
Worship something akin TO the devotion Of
the Irish to O'Connell in his palmy days.
Curiously, and yet naturally enough con.
sidering Mr.. GladstOne's early training ard
career and the conditions OF official and POI
H,icaI life in this country, il is with the
former classes alone that he has any sort OF
habitua! communication. An official states
man belongs to the aristOcracy, or l.
adopted by them, and Mr.. Bright, who
some years ago was rs ignorant as Cete-
wayo OF The use and meaning Of dress
coat. 1, now the guest OF Wa'mer Castle and
OF Chatsworth. The classes whom Mr..
Gladstone has somewhat iepelled were the
classes which needed to he won over; the
classes whose ardor and energy he has slim
ulated were his already. TO the former,
The course which he has followed OF late
years has exhibited the conversion OF the
statesman into demag0gue. To the latter
il has seemed like the elevation OF the
statesman into the prophet. Mr. Gladstone,
to large portion Of the people Of Eng
land, j. q preacher Of political righteous
Dess. They regard him as being essentially
a Christian statesman. There is, Of course,
the usual eXaggeration OF a Puritan and
Blbe-reading enthusiasm in this view but
il is trueI than the opposite one. Mr.. Glad
stone is the moralizer OF politics. This is
the function which he has deliberately
chosen since his retirement from the leader
ship Of the Liberal party, and 1t is one
winch, with the Inconsistency OF merely
personal devotion ana attachment, his less
discreet followers complain that he is re-
stricted.