The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-12-17
Gladstone's Fifty Years of Public Life.

end, "Well done, good and faithful servantp
Gladstone's Fifty Years of Public Life.
The fact that last week completed tho half
century during which Mr.. GLADSTONE has
been actively engaged in politics has natu-
rally led the English press to review the
incidents Of his remarkable career. 1t is
only possible, however, to fix in tenta-
tive and provisional way the place which
the present head OF the Liberal party
will occupy in history; for. 80 long as he re-
mains in public life, 1t may still be in his
power to notably exalt or irremediably in
jure his reputation. All that can be done at
this time Is to indicate the view Of his abili-
ties and achievements which would perhaps
be taken by disinterested observers. were it
certain that he had made his last appearance
upon the public stage.
When, on Dec. -, 1892 Mr.. GLADSTONE
was returned to Parliament for the borough
Of Newark, he was not twenty-five years old,
and only about a twelvemonth had elapsed
since he had taken his B. A. degree at Oxford,
where, we may note in passing, he, like
Sir ROBERT PEEL, had gained the COW
eted distinction Of "double-frst."
1t Is essential to fair judgment
Of the fragrant Inconsistencies which
have marked Mr.. GLADsToNE's principles at
different epochs to bear In mind the very
early age at which he was called upon to
express and vindicate opinions. A lad of
twenty-one no matter how the acquistive
powers Of his intellect may have been stimu-
lated in the forcing house Of a university, or
how tenacious may be the grasp Of his men,
DRY upon unassimilated facts and other mems
ideas, is, as q rule, too much cnGrossed in
the winnowing and distributing OF his stores
to transmute knowledge into wisdom, and
strike out for himself o programme which
will commend itself to ripened judgment
and enlarged experience. 1t was no uncom.
mon thing, in the period when very young
men were elected to the House Of Commons,
to see British statesmen completely repudiate
| at later stage Of their career the political
aims and affiliations which had obtained the
approval OF their first constituents. The ex-
| amples Of CHARLES JAMES Fox, Of the younger
PITT, Of EDMUND BURKE, and Of Sir ROBERT
PEEL at once suggest themselves; and We
may add that Mr.. DIsRARLI was himself open
to the taunt Of Inconsistency which he SO
often levelled at his lifelong antagonist.
1t is true that Mr.. GLADSTONE entered Par
lament as Tory, and for upward OF ten
years acted with the Tory party, warmly ad-
vocating, for instance the cause Of the West
Indian Shareholders, and defending, curious
| ly enough, the Anglican Church In Ireland,
which was afterward to find in him it's NOR
tai enemy. But before reproaching him too
sharply for acts impossible to reconcile
| with his subsequent attitude, we should
remember that he was not much over
thirty when he followed PEEL In abjur-
ing the economical policy Of the Tories, and
thus took the first step in path which ulti-
| mately led to total renovation OF his politi-
cal opinions. The process Of conversion,
however, did not, by any means, go on with
| the indecent haste which some unjust critics
would have us take for granted. For several
| years after the downfall Of his great leader
| Mr.. GLADSTONE remained in the detached
group OF Peelites which was reluctant
| to merge itself In either Of the
great contending parties; and 1t was not
until 1852 that he definitely Joined the new
Liberal party, evolved through junction Of
the more progressive Wings and Peelites
| with the followers Of BRIGHT and Golden.
| For more than ten years longer he figured
among the most cautious and sow-moving
| members Of the coalition, combining himself
| for the most part to financial questions. for
which he soon evinced an Incompatible apti-
| tude. Nor was 1t until after the death Of Lord
PALMERsToN and his own defeat at Oxford,
that he frankly accepted the whole Liberal
programme, and resolutely addressed him
self to the promotion OF constitutional re-
form. From that day to this it may be said
hat oIkh hp tn nhn,r Ila NIT hn.
| ton and vacillation, he has, on the whole,
kept pace with the majority Of his party,
has. indeed, been willing to lead wher-
ever he was assured by indisputa-
BILE evidence that they would follow.
1t is by the work done and the words spoken
during the thirty years which have elapsed
since Mr.. GLADSTONE first became Chancel-
lor OF the Exchequer, in 1853, that his rank
among British statesmen and orators may
be fairly estimated. As financier he en-
| joyed and apparently deserved higher rep
utation than any OF his contemporaries who
have attempted to discuss fiscal questions In
Parliament during the generation which
| Is passing away; but when we come to scru-
tinize the grounds OF the praise SO lavishly
given him on this score we find that he is
distinguished less for the prompt solution Of
profound fiscal difficulties and the extrication
OF the Treasury from grave financial perils
than for the lucid and ingenious interpreta-
ton Of an intricate topic to men, most of
whom were VIGOROUSLY ignorant OF the SUBJ
ject matter. When the conditions Of the prob
lens answered by Mr.. GLADsTCNE's budgets
are compared with the task imposed on Brit
ish Chancellors of the Excheqler during the
wars against NAPoLEoN-witt the desperate
entanglcments OF the French ancien regime,
from which TURGoT and NEcKAR were
called upon to save the State; with the en-
barrassmcnts under which the United States
long staggered after the Revolutionary war,
and for which remedy was found by
ALEXANDER HAMILTON; with the appalling
drain upon our national Treasury during the
late civil war; or with the stupendous load
which THEIRS knew how TO lift from the