New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-11-10
Mr.. GLADSTONE.
SOME OF HIS NEWEST VIEWS ON SOME OLD
SUBJECTS.


Sa,,n.r is an industrial suburb of Chester, partly
,;,b,n the parish of Hawarden and Mr. Glad
.ro,s ,nission WAS 10 open the new Reading
and Recreation Rooms erected by the Saltney
literary Institute His text was the familiar
one Of procress and the sermon sets forth how
mucb has been done in fifty years; how much
hotter off the working classes are now than they
were when Mr.. Gladstone began life. why they
u,e better of, and how they may, by-and-by, stln
further improve their condition. II need hardly
no snmmarized Its doctrines and its facts are
alike familiar.
But Mr.. Gladstone can be original even on
hackneyed SUBJECT on history, for instance; no
body would deny that some OF his views OH
history are original. He touches on Irish, Amer
lean and French history, and he told MS oaI'heS
audience that Irish history is almost entirety uh-
known. II is enough TO make one despair. The
education of the world is TO be begun over again
oud Home Rule to spring afresh from new egg
Irish history is almost unknown and yet no other
history is so well worth knowing. You musV
not mt il aside ms mere politics am speak
in0r declares Mr. Gladstone, with solemnity' 10
the historical student and what he has 10 say
,o tho historical student is that nothing VIII no
him co much good as knowledge OF the proceeo
ings of the Irish Parliament in the elghteeh'h
.,nturv- The sentence is one to be ouoted' sniS
y it.: ,.-oo, s.rdont and
= al bir, tbat rho one series of historical deVel-
.,r,on,s from which he may derive the greatest
benefit is the history of the Parliamentary III
situations of Ireland during the last century
Retter than the English? Yes, for II WORKED
ont purpose or design of freedom between wv
and l 800 much greater than the work that WAS
done by the English Parliament within the same
ncriod You cannot deny that this Is an orlsli'"i
view. .,,. ~
America comes second to Ireland s'uuy Vi
,ho American Revolution will benefit the student
in Mr.. Gldstone's opinion. only less than study
NJ the Irish Parliament. He Will find, II he lo
lows the teachings of Saltney, that the seeds
- Freedom were sown in America by England
that tho Colonial system in which America was
roorod was in the main a free COLONIAL system
II xvouh seem that we revolted on matters OF de-
tail There were. according TO MIR. Gladstone
I'M. two millions of US Yet from among these
two millions OF people there proceeded "t 'naO
epoch group of statesmen 1hat nilsnU ueH "no
..,ho,o history of the world to compare with them
in any one country or at any one perlou oi ''A"'
7, i no, oute clear whether Ireland is excepted.
One of Mr.. Ghdstone's colleagues IS IN the h"'i'
of contending that this group OF "oriu-uei!i ms
statesmen were In fact Engish, ana noV Hi,e'
lean. and that since the United States ceaseu ~
bc English Colonies, they have produced ho ef"'i
group Mr.. Gladstone himself however 10 oon.
font TO point out that the seeds of the crop were
sown in England.
At moments-only for a moment-lrelahu seein'
n mass ont of his mind and sentences now from
his Inns which have not been framed WIN refer
ence to the politics Of the hour.
.you have in America these two things COM
h;rod the love of freedom and respect Tor law
ord a desire for the maintenance of order, ana
,,be,e von find these two things combined, love
of Freedom together with respect for law ana tile
desire for order you have the elements OF ha'ion"l
excellence and national greatness
T, is we'll said Not less well in dnerehb way
is his COMPARISON between the french hapiu va
making constitutions TO order ana the His"
habit of going back to the beginnings Oh "iins'
for INGREDIENTS in reform. The Engnsh Oonsu'r
zion may give the same account OF nsel 'h''O
Topsy did: 'Specks grOwed" Don't neheVe '"e
neoplen cries Mr. Glad tone in his plaus DE- 'eHeH
ont way. who tell you that the Engilsh OonsUi'u-
tion began in the year 1900. VINO are INV p'V
Mo who tell you that? Pitt, with his black
20 ,.,,;sr, y * dead: IL cannot be he. Who is 1t
And IL indeed. the Act of Union of 1900 between
Eng,and and Ireland he a covenant with death
and an agreement with hell, why does not MI
Gladstone propose TO repeal 1T
Loss original. perhaps, but still original, are
Nv C,adstone's views on the French Revolution
opd ON the causes of il. His reading OF french
history varies from the accepted one, at leaso
in one point. The golden age for him ceaSeu
with Henri ". lie Will have nothing TO sly
n the four Louises who succeeded; theirs was
all a period of abominable disagreement. IL
WAS abominable for ] 80 or $50 years oeloic
the Revolution; that is, from 1903 or l0-D , tle
government of France was abomnapie' "ch'
hut Henri " was assassinated IN lolo; II" hin
succeeded Louis XIII, under whom Klchchou con-
solidated France II is the common vie" 'n"O
under Richeleu and under Mazarin France was
oor,ort NJ bomc-the Fronde Notwithstanding
powerful abroad, and that u was ourlhs 'ii''
ionc ncriod Of more than fifty years that the
80 10 tho glory of Louis XIV were sown, as
the seeds of American freedom were, according
~ NJ Gladstone sown in England The great
man whose names give lustre TO the reign OF the
Great Monarch. as the French still call nm ;
wore born during these years, born and educatcu'
their characters formed, their genius developed
at least in part. The germs OF the Revoiu'ioh
mood not be sought much further back than the
last Quarter of the seventeenth century.
But Mr.. Gladstone has opinions on the France
Of TODAY more extraordinary than on the France
of two hundred years ago He has discovered
a France of his own. He says: Will tell
Won frankly my own belief The French as d
nation are exceedingly friendly TO US, and desire
TO be united with us in bonds of brotherhood"
The facts, if there be any, on which this
belief is based not disclosed, nor is IT easy
10 see where Mr. Gladstone found them. Inc
explosions Of French hatred to England are
frequent; her feelings Of exceeding friendship
are either confined TO her own capacious bosom
or are expressions of diplomacy, Grand this
possibility is a clew-are manifestations Of personal
goodwill to eminent and aged English states
man, who announces that he visits the Paris
Exhibition as a tribute Of respect to France.
II England would clear out of Egypt, if she would
rcnounce her naval supremacy in the Mediter-
ranean, if she would stop lecturng her Galic