The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-03-06


only . man Of absolute moral courage and
senacity. but he has the temperament OF
horn fighter. To be ''one with God" Was
with Gladstone always ~ majority" and
such men nsver resign 50 long IS tney can
WELD the sword, bat he will Be s. years
Old next December, and he has doubtless
been informed of some infirmisy that will
make IL impossible for him to continue 20
be the active parliamentary leader OF his
party: the clearness Of his intellectual eye
Is not dimmed nor the natural force
and IRE Of his soul abated. but his
increasing bodily infrmities Of i'm
paired sight and. hearing have warned
him that he must give up his trust
70 some younger man. The same
moral courage, which would make Glad
stone lead his party untinehingly into
doubtful fight, would make him refuse 10
lead an army an hour after he deemed that
he was incapaeitated in body for further
leadership In the field. He never was
fgurehead: he never would consent to DO
the nominal leader of . great party in
great battle: when he could no longer
ride his warhorse, or bear the weight of
his armor, or WELD his sword. he would
consent to retire TO his tent and let
another hand conduct the campaign; he
would shirk no responsibility; he would
accept the glory Of victory or the anguish
OF defeat without hesitation II he thought
he was fit for the field; but he has reached
the conclusion that his fighting days are
over. and he. in obedience to his high sense
of duty, surrenders his trust to his
sovereign and asks her TO appoint
younger successor.
The queen can not have accepted his
resignation without emotion, tor her great
minister has been q burning and shining
light of English statesmanship during her
whole reign. Gladstone Was nearly %
when Victoria assembled the throne in 1887
and he was already . distinguished man
rs an orator and . writer. He had de-
Tended the union of church and state 20
ably that Macaulay deemed his essay
worthy of a mastery reply in the Edin-
burgh Reriew. and he enjoyed the friend
ship of Lord Melbourne and Sir Robert
Peel. the leading statesmen of Victor:a's
coronation year.
While the ''rising hope OF the Tories"
and the defender of the union of church
and state Of 1887 has long ago outgrown
his Tory opinions. nevertheless Victoria
knows that it has been with him an honest
growth. an evolution a. sincere as was
that which took place with Abraham Lin
coin. who when elected president was
nothing but. very conservative anti
slavery Henry Clay Wing. but in no sense
radical. aggressive anti-slavery man of
the quality of Sumner, Greeley, Chase or
even Seward. And yet Lincoln, who was
nominated over Seward at Chicago be-
cause of his very conservative Republican
ism, became the most radical anti-slavery
man in his cabinet before tho civil war
closed: that is, he grew with events; he
rose to the level Of the occasion; and he
was not afraid to gro,r nor ashamed to grow.
OF Lincoln more than any other American
statesman it can DO truthfully said that he
was always growing man; and 1t is equally
true OF Gladstone that, above all English
men of this century, unless it DO his
teacher. Sir Robert Peel, he was always q
groseing man. History does not rate either
Peel or Gladstone as turncoats; they were
honest, conscientious men who had moral
courage enough to announce change of
convictions and act upon it. and so it was
with our own Lincoln.
The immense influence of Gladstone's
personality cannot be withdrawn from
English politics without causing impor-
tant results. Gladstone was always the
McGregor of his party; nobody ever que.-
toned his right to sit at the head of the
table, but with his retirement it seems
doubtful whether the radical Liberals will
follow a leader like Lord Rosebery, or any
other peer; IL is almost certain that the
Irish Home Rulers would not. With
Gladstone's retirement il is quite likely
that IN open assault upon the house OF
lords as body of hereditary legislators
will be made, and such an attack would.
to be successful. have to be conducted
by some great "commoner" Until that
great "commoner" appears the 6ladstonian
party is likely TO be divided and discord-
ant. The Irish home rulers, of course. see
;ha. with an obstructive hereditary house
of lords there is no chance of success for
Ireland. and the shortest road to home
rule is 10 upset the house of lords as an
hereditary body of leg .slators and replace
them With an elective upper house like the
French or the United States senates. The
during the revolution of i641. ex-
tinguished the house of lords, and
the retirement Of Gladstone is likely
10 hasten the unavoidable fight to
finish between the English peo-
pie and the obstructive hereditary house
OF lords. To upset tho house of lords the
cause of home rule can afford 10 wait: in
act AZ h.