The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-11-24
9ailu Eagle
NJ. NJ. MURDOCH. Editor.
GLADsToNE's UNPoPULARITY

GLADSTONE'S UNPOPULARITX-
'.A prophet is not without honor save
in his own country" holds as good un-
der the blazing intelligence of the dawn
of the twentieth century as when the
trlism was first uttered. The cable dis
patches of Sunday morning announced
that the DAYS of the Grand Old Man
were perceptibly drawing TO close.
With regret were the lines read by all
the world save by England. We Amer
icans think of Gladstone as the best
type of English character. Respect ana
admiration for the venerable statesniah
are well nigh universal throughout
America and it is hard TO realize that
Englapd's greatest man and purest
statesman is not held in equal esteem
and veneration by the English people
themselves. But Gladstone is hated and
feared by the English throne, by all
its aristocratic dependencies and by the
apes Of these generally. One of the first
shocks received by an American travel
ing in England is the disrespectful and
generally savage way in which English
aIlude to him. The dislike of the so
called ''better Sort Of English society
for the great reformer is very marked.
Although he is in quiet retirement and
taking no part in public affairs, the
venom of English clergy, of army OIL
GERS. and of the upper classes, is bitter.
In refusing TO become an arlstOcrat ana
Il iodr he engendered only hatred from
these classes and not admiration. Mr..
Godkin of the New York Evening Post,
who recently returned from long so
iourn in England, refers editOrially to
this English prejudice against man
who could not be held down. Mr.. God
kin goes on to say that nothing more
surprises an American, who has got his
ideas of Gladstone from the newspapers
and from literature, when he goes to
foreign watering place, than to hear
Gladstone always mentioned with de-
rision or contempt, or positive hatred,
and to find this low opinion of him sup
ported by attacks on his character, es-
pecially stories of gross immortality.
Apparently refined women. often OF
middle age, will grow white with rage
in speaking of him, and wish they could
hear of his being hanged or dead. They
will tell you with minuteneSs. as a noto-
rious fact, of his being in the pay OF
the Jesuits. of his having long been Sc
cretly Roman Catholic in good stand |
ing, of his having given large orders |
for things for which he could not pay, |
of his having left his wife on his way |
home from a dinner party, for dis |
reputable purpose. One of the best |
illustrated stories of this kind is of an |
old lady's having screamed with terror |
at a funeral on hearing that Mr.. Glad |
stone was coming, and having ''hoped |
he would not make a disturbance" In |
fact. no ruffianly demag0gue of any |
age has ever been depicted in darker |
colors than Mr.. Gladstone in what is |
called DHglish society 1t is very |
rarely that one can get from one of |
these vituperatoFs a statement Of what
Gladstone has done 10 merit this oblo-
guy. One lady, On being pressed on This
point, about 1889. exclaimed, after
some hesitation, Look at tie state of
affairs in Afghanistan"
OF course a man with so many con-
spicuous enemies must have frieds.
Gladstone has friends in England
hosts of them, no believe in him as
America does, and who endorse him.
They are of the sterling men and
women who do not figure in fashion
able society nor who ape to do so. They
are not the sporting class nor of the
upper class nor of the rural clergy or
army squirts, but people who appre
ciaie genuinenesS of character. The
others will never forgive him because
he opposed the occupation and despOil-
alton of Egypt and the numbering OF
whole tribes in equatorial Africa simply
for territorial acquisition.