New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-10-10
LIP GL1DcTONE 1T LEEDS.


Mr.. GLADSTONE At LEEDS.
There are no siens of decadence in Mr..
Gladstones public utterances. His speeches at
Leeds are veined with vigOr, courage and COM
mon sense With a touch of genuine pathOs
he confesses that he cannot anticipate the
long future which his followers desire for him,
as his life is drawing to its end. Yet, like the
aged prophet when last seen of men on the
plains of Moab, his eye is not dim, nor his
natural force abated. He towers among the
leaders of the Liberal camp, the most intrepid
of them all, bearing his armor with
such consummate grace and directing the
attack with such commanding force that
the admiring spectator is reminded of
the Homcric tribute to Achilles: "NOt twelve
" strongmcn the mighty shield could raise, Such
"men as live in these degenerate days" With
a generous appreciation of the political ca
pacity of his associates, he seems content to
leave the affairs of the country in their hands;
but they know already how their hearts will
fail them when the veteran falls at his post
and they are forced to battle without him.
The strongest men in English public life may
be on their side, but who will venture to take
up his shield
When a Premier appears in public for the
first time after a prOtracted session of Paria-
ment, he naturally assumes defensive pO
sition. After resisting the continuous assaults
of the Opposition at Westminster, he takes the
country into his confidence, and, appealing to
its mature Judgment explains the whole
course of his administration and the general
policy of his party Such defence Mr. Glad
I :. :. l. r,I
one. His foreign policy he grounds on the
broad principles that every nation is entitled
TO its rights without reference to its own
sizc-thc Transvaal, for eXamplc-and that a
great country-say Russa-is TO be credited
with good motives until the contrary is proved.
HIS domestic policy he bases in like manner
upon common justice assuming that what is a
sacred duty to Ireland cannot be performed
without an equal measure of justice to Eng
land and Scotland. These lines of defence are
RAPIDLY drawn, and then the enemy is met on
his own ground. Sir Stafford Northcote is
stcrnly rebuked for his equivocal utteranccs
respecting fair trade and corn duties and Mr..
ParneI is denounced rs a dcma~ogue who Is
"not ashamed to preach to Ireland the doe
trinc of public plundcr." Contrasting O'Con-
property and human life with Mr. Parncll'. Los
tility to everything English and dalliance
with land cOnfScation and assassination Gtera-
ture. Mr. Gladstone pillorcs the Irish leader
rs the sworn enemy of land reform, who Ia
bored in season and out of season to defeat the
great measure which the Liberals had intro
duccd, and who is now striving to render +
imperative and to prejudice the tcnaut farmers
against it 10y series of hmsv test eases. This
fiery Pronunciation of q mischicyous agitatOr,
who stands between the tenant farmers and the
practical reforms for which they have been
clamoring, is coupled with the declaration that
the Government is "dctcrmincd that no force,
cor fear of force, or fear Of ruin through force,
"shall prevent the people from having full
"and free benefit of the Land Act
Such speech as this, so dauutlcss in cour
age, 80 progressive in tendency and so inilcx-
lille in purpose, ought to give powerful inn
pulse to British Liberalism. Every line Of it
is wholesome, and there are TIVE passages
which are positively inyigOwtug. One is an
arraignment of the property classes in
Ireland for general cowardice-this is the sim
pie truth, but we doubt if there be another
Liberal in England brave enough 10 ayow it
while the other is q cOntcmptuous reference to
the assassination literature published
on this side of the sea. O'Donoyan
Rosa and creatures of that sort were
found out here a long time ago, and we have
marvcllcd that their yap0rHgs and swmdleS
should cause 80 much trepidation in England.
So far as such Literature is needed at all,
il is "scorncd, spurncd and loathCd,' as Mr..
Gladstone saws; but the conviction has been q
general one among Americans that, on this
subject the English public has allowed itself
tc be drawn" too readily. The Literature"
has been taken too seriously and if$lO, 1000 has
been paid for the information respecting the
dynamite machines the English Government
has been easily duped. If we interpret Mr..
Gladstones remark Alright, it not only proves
that he does our people ample justice, but
that he dcspises these dynamite conspiratOrs
as pack of arrant cheats.