San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1886-04-12
MONDAY, APRIL IL, 1886.
GLADSTONE THE GREAT.

There has been very marked change
In the tone OF the American press, in Its
comments upon English parliamentary
measures, Of late. In nothing Is this
change more apparent than in the critic
isms passed upon the English Prime
Minister. The journals that one week
since were remarklng the mental decay
and senllity Of Mr.. Gladstone are now
vieing with each other in their laHda-
tions of the marvellous, many-sidedness
Of his wonderful statesmanship. The
judgments that did not read more clear
ly his character and powers then are
not much better informed to-day; the
only difference is, Mr.. Gladstone has
been accepted by certain OpIniOnmakers
as success, and their claCquers of the
press have caught the echo Of his praises
and sound it as an original note. The
opinions of such journals are not to be
trusted. The simple fact is that Mr..
Gladstone is not understood in America
He is pre-eminently an Englishman.
His modes Of thinking, as well as
speaking and acting, are English,
and not easily to be understood by anti
English minds. His last speech was
more American than any previously de-
liVered by him, because the circum-
stances and occasion made 1t SO, and for
this reason, perhaps, it has opened the
eyes Of many to the real quality Of the
man as never before. We have no
American statesman with whom to
compare him. The late Charles Sum-
ner was, in some respects, his counter
part, particularly in his clearcut intel
lectualism and in his moral manhood,
but the theater Of their operations pre-
sent so little In common that we gain
scarcely anything by trying to trace the
parallelism between them. Much has
been said, and as foolishly as unjustly,
about Mr.. Glsdstons's vascIlsting policy,
the lmpossibility of his colleagues I'M
Outstanding him, the mysteriousness of
his movements, etc.
Mr.. Gladstone has had the most diff
cult and the most delicate task set be-
fore him Of any statesman of this cen
fury. Itdetraots nothing from the situa-
tisn that the task was self-imposed.
This was to reconcile the imperialism Of
England with the demand for Irish in
dependence. 1t is safe to say no other
man has had the true statesmsnship
to conceive such scheme, certainly
none other has attempted it. The inter-
ruptisn to bis plans by the advancement
Of Beaconsfield laid obstacles in his way
that are not yet removed. To Beacons-
fields Influence is due the hostility OF
the Queen to Mr.. Gladstone, a hostility
ill-conoealed and which has exposed him
to no little annoyance In the House of
Lords and among his own Cabinet. The
distrust Of the Irish National party has
always hampersd Mr.. Gladstone, as also
the divisions in his own ranks, for the
great majority Of whom he has been al
together too radical. These considera-
tions will serve to show somew what the
difficulties In the way of the Prime Min
listers shaping q working policy, bat
they give no idea Of the still greater dii-
ficulties arising from the intense hostil-
ity Of the two national ideas. England
was. and is, unalterably opposed not only
to Irish independence, but to Irish ma
tionality as "A something distinct
and separate from English ma
tionality. Ireland hates the as
sumptions Of English interference
In her home affairs az bitterly as the
American colonists did the stamp tax Of
George the Third. Gladstone is an Eng
lishman. He has no thought OF Irish in
dependence, only OF Irish autonomy.
His work becomes all the more difficult
because Of his answering loyalty to his
own convictions Of what is right for both
peoples. Whatever may be the result Of
his measures for Ireland's home govern
ment, and the preservation of the British
Empire intact, the work he has begun
cannot be stayed until sooner or later it
Is accomplished. Coercion in Ireland is
dead, killed by Gladstone's hand. Home
rule for Ireland will follow, II not now,