New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-03-18

whose efforts in behalf Of the Irish Home Rule
policy would II successful break up the En-
pire. or put t. IN great peril Of being broken up.
When such large issues as those are pending.
no doubt the sometimes comes in for a
share Of that hostility which is really or
mainly directed against the politician. There
certainly time-it began in 1856 and lasted
for two or three years or more.-during which
Mr.. Gladstone boycotted by a large Sec
ton Of London society. People did not wish 10
meet him That was episode and 1t passed
away The feeling toward him softeneI The
opposition to his policy remained as strong as
ever. Such as 1t was. this bitterness hardly ex-
tended beyond London nor do believe there
ever was time either in London elsewhere
when Mr.. Gladstone himself. an individual
though not Mr. Parnelrs convert, was not an
object Of almost universal admiration and re-
spect.
OF course there were exceptions. They were
more frequent among the Radicals than among
the Tories. The Radical press and the Radical
politician too often fail to draw the distinc-
ton above noted between the person and
his politics. They take feminine views. They
quite sure that man who differs from
them must be bad man. They attacked Mr..
Gladstone. some Of them he has never
been attacked in the Tory Press. or never per-
haps except in such paper THE Saturday
Review" which has elevated rancOr into re-
liglon. That Journal which denounced the true
statement that Mr. Gladstone was suffering from
cataract outrage thought it consistent
with deccncy to allege that his policy was
founded vanity and vindictiveness. | think
the more respectable part of the Conservative
Press sometimes used violent language, though
never violent the Radical Press when it
was desired to force Mr.. Gladstone into adopting
more of the New Radcallsm than he thought
expedient or opportune But there Is only one
Saturday Review; only one paper which is
nippant on all subjects and which has adopted
and practises weekly the worst ethical methods
of the worst portion of the gutter journalism Of
Paris
1t is not in the traditions or not in the modern
traditions. of English public life. or of English
journalism. to hate the man because you dislike
his opinions dissent from his policy. What IL
said Of Mr. Gladstone on his withdrawal from
political antagonlsm. just the most strenuous
political antagon!sm is consistent with an hon.
orable pride in his career and splendid gifts.
As age and the inhrmit!es OF age came upon
him. this pride increased There can have been
few Englishmen who did not feel that his cour-
age and great qualities lent lustrc to the Eng
lish name. That did not prevent the Unionsts
from resisting with might and main a measure.
or more measures than one. which they thought
pregnant with disaster The remark which used
To he most often heard was criticism based on
psychological researches and upon experience
Men said to each other: the first faculty 10 BE-
impaired Is the judgment.
Whether Mr. Gladstone became aware that.
though his other powers were unclouded his
judgment less sur, than II had been. do
not know. But unless some Of his near friends
and associates mistaken. he did feel that
there were other reasons than falling cycsight
ana hearing which made resignation impcraflvc /
1t is, | believe true that during the las. few
weeks his sight grew worse very rapidly But /
for some time before that he had begun To- feel /
the strain If Office Heretofore. he had worn the
burden Of Empire lightly His strength and .
spirits were equal t. anything The buoyancy /
Of his nature threw of care and anxiety. In .
cessant toll left no mark. The freshness of mind .
and body remained the same Work n Sir
Andrew Clark used 50 often to say was q tonic. /
But time trumphs at last. Nature never for
gives She sometimes seems to forget; but never
for very long. and at last she IS memorable Mr.
Ciladstone's vitality was marvellous but even
TO his power 81 resistance there were limits
Last winter taught him that he was nearing
them. For more than year he has found read
ng difficult. 1t Is characteristic OF him that
what distressed him most was not that ne
could no longer keep up his old intimacy with
Homer. or make easy acquaintance with the new /
'st treatise but that he found II an cver-lncreas-
ng effort TO master a blue book. The blue book
las been his strength and his weakness. a source .
If mastery In the House Of Commons. and else
where distraction at times from the weightier
,onccrns Of government But he chung 10 II 10
he end, and his growing inability 10 deal I'm his
3D. thorough way with this mass Of official
literature Of the things which brought
nome - his mind the duty Of retirement. An
'ther was the unappeasablc wrangle that for
yer went on between the heterogeneous sec
ions Of which the Gladstonian party was made
lp and his growing perception Of the hopeless
less Of the struggle reconcile their rreconcila-
lie claims and contending policies Far moro
han that what have called the strain II
nice It may be more truly called the strain Of
worldwide responsibility, and Of i'm
'eria duties which began afro sh each hour He
cit Of himself what Matthew Arnold said Of
england. lie the weary Titan
Bearing on shoulders immense.
Allan elm, the load
Well nigh not to be borne.
or the too vast orb OF her fate
I had become too vast for him. He owed It to
lmsef and 10 his friends ana perhaps the con-
cssion that the time had come when duty babe
i'm lay down the load and relinquish the scep-
re- one Of the most painful acts In his pub
C life, and also one Of the noblest
G. W. s. t