The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-07
Gladstone ON wAsH1NcToN.
The Character Of the Great Patriot-Dest1n
of English Speaking Peoples.

The Character of the Great Patriot-Dest1Hy
of English-speaking Peoples.
G. w. smalley's London Letter in New York Tribuna.
The letter which this accompanies is sent fox
publication, need hardly say. by Mr.. Glad-
stones permission. brief note on the circunu-
stances which give rise to it may perhaps prove
interesting, and for that, too, | have his leav0s
as we'll as the consent of the friend under whose
roof the incident occurred. The date was last
September, the place a country house in Scot
land. The reasons or some of the reasons why
have held back the letter till now are. sup
pose, obvious enough. One may hope that by
this time the effervescence of the presidential
campaign has pretty we'll subsidized.
A conversation had been started by one of the
company on the subject of reverence for great
men. The question was asked: Do wc in These
days feel and show as much reverence for noble
character as was felt and shown formerlyl
Some one said NO and the reason is that
such characters are fewer than they used to bes
the standard is not so high; men have as much
reverence in their nature but there is less To
call it FORTH" Mr.. Gladstone dissented at once
If" he said, You look back over the period
within the memory of the oldest of us, you viii
find it rich in men who deserve and who have
received the deep respect and reverence of their
contemporaries. To take but one example,
there is Golden. do not know that there is in
any period man whose public and life
were nobler or more admirable than Cobdenss
Then, interrupting himself, and looking across
the table to me- Mr.. Gladstone said:
vi COURSE except w dSnlngLO0. WaSnlnR-
ton, to my mind is the purest figure in his
tory"
Mr. Gladstone added sentence or two which
need not repeat, as the full expression of his
opinion about Washington will be found in his
own letter. All those present excepting myself
were Englishmen, and all of them 1T is pleas
ure to say, agreed with Mr.. Gladstone.
The morning after this there was a report in
the papers of meeting in favor of imperial fed
GRAFTON, and as we walked along the gallery to
the breakfast-room, Mr. Gladstone asked what
was thought in America on that subject l an
swered as well as could, and finally said there
was matter in which we, I thought, were more
directly and deeply interested, and that was the
promotion of a good understanding among all
English speaking people the world over.
''Ah, there" exclaimed Mr.. Gladstone az am
heartily with YOU The future of the world be-
longs to us, to us who are of the same blood and
language, if we are true to ourselves and to our
opportunities not of conquest or aggression but
of commercial development and benehcent in
fluence."
For fuller account of his opinions, refer the
reader again to Mr.. Gladstone's letter to which
this is perhaps a needless preface have only to
add that, thinking what he said on these two sub
iects would interest Americans profoundly, | sub
sequenty wrote to ask if l might repeat it
Yes" was his answer. lin such words, and as
publicly as you please;" and at the same time
came the letter III which he restates his views on
both subjects.