The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-05-19

house Of commons. he compelled an ap-
peal to the country in a general cleo.
ton by which h III erals were re-
turned to power In 1868 with Gladstone
as prime minister.
His administration. 1854, remains
notable in English history for various
great reforms besides those pertaining
to Ireland as mentioned above. He es-
tablished a system of national educa-
ton: provided ballot laws for protec-
ton of voters. and. by bold resort to
the method OF direct royal warrant,
abolished the purchase of Offices in the
army-a bill for which had been passed
in the commons. but rejected by the
lords. From the first of these reforms,
the disestablishment of the church In
Ireland. through the whole list. his
movement was with celebrity and vigor.
His administration was ended by the
wave of popular reaction which follows
a period of energetic reform-the pub
lie, fatigued with so much well-doing.
demanding some relaxation from the
stern appeal to conscience and from
the high moral strain. In 1873 the con-
servatives, availing themselves of the
help of the Irish Roman Catholic MEM
bers of parliament. who were dissatis-
fed with some points in the govern
ment's bill for university education in
Ireland, defeated the bill by PSI votes
against 2s4. Gladstone rendered his
resignation. but was compelled to con-
tinue in office nearly a yea longer.
Then suddenly he appealed to the
country; a conservative majority was
returned; and Disraeli came back to
power for six years. In 1850 the tide
turned again. and. after a campaign
in which Gladstone led with splendid
oratory and was returned for Midlo-
THAN, the liberal party IN over
whelming victory, n he was agsin AT
the head of the government for five
troubled ears-year OF remarkable
administrative difficulty. Ireland was
flooded with agrarian crime: Egypt
presented for Britain a scene of diplo-
matte struggl and military disasters;
South African colonia affairs were in
confusion. In parliament the franchise
bill for extending household suffrage
to the counties "a grand parliamentary
reform), and the coercion bill Ga severe
measure to repress crime in Ireland),
followed by the conciliatory and act
of 1881. were subjects OF excited debate
whose a~ntagonisms were heightened
by the tactics of fierce and obstinate
obstruction to governmental action
adopted by the Irish home rule men,
bers under the lead of Parnell. The
obstruction was aimed to prevent the
passing of coercion measures. and to
III seotaS ~ NV Ill
of Ireland. Gladstone's resistance to
the Irish obstructionists caused them
and the Irish people to count him their
great enemy. and in June. 1885, they
Joined with the tories to defeat him In
a vote on the budget; and he gave
place for seven months to a conserva-
tive government under Lord Salisbury,
which in turn was overthrow in the
election of November. 1885, by the new
voters which Gladstone's reform bill
had made.
He Took Them By Surprise.
Returning to Office, he introduced his
home rule bill March, 1850 providing
a statutory parliament for Ireland.
This measure seems amazing. until one
reflects that when Gladstone acts as a
reformer the unexpected is often the
one thing to be eXpected-his conser-
vatism holding in check the reforma-
tory flood of his convictions until the
rising pressure bursts the strong bar
riers with it's sudden flood. The in
consistency and the dangers of such
methods in craftsmanship generally do
not need to be pointed out; they are
on the surface. What should be OBJ
served, II, that in the case of this
statesman-while some of his theories
of retrogression have been discarded.
and some of his minor measures In re-
form have been set aside-not one of
his large, decisive. and surprising
movements in behalf of popular rights
has yet been found untenable in prin-
ciple or injurious in results. The home
rule measure now awaits Its test. OF
the varying phases of political princi-
pie and action which his life has pre-
scented. he himself has given the key"
Il was educated to regard liberty as
an evil; ] have learned to regard IL as
a good. j love antiquity. ! have never
been a lover of change, nor do I re-
gard 1t as a good in itself: liberty,
however, is a good in itself. and the
growing recognition OF that is the key
to all these changes"
Meanwhile his personal magnanimity
is as evident as his political ~inconsis-
tency. While the fight over coercion
and obstruction was still hot. while
Ireland was ringing with his name
coupled with epithets of infamy as the
name of the great oppressor of a help
less and hopeless nation, he noted the
fact that of the Irish members In the
new parliament the Irish nationalist
party had an overwhelming majority.
He said in effect-This indicates u
practical line of action. We have been
trying for centuries to govern the Irish
people on various theories: every at
tempt has broken down: discomfort,
disorder. and distress prevail; they
now claim with a national and Official
voice the right to try at last a degree
of self-government with their own par
lament: the claim is not unreasonable. |
the risk no greater than now exists, |
land here the old Gladstonian out
BURST however great the risk. so great
will surely be the victory of fair deal
ing at last: let the Dublin parliament
be granted. He brought onward his
home rule bill. His opponents were
astonished. some of them ever furious:
his own party were startled, many of
them affTighted. while "A large section
Of them-led by a number of his prom
inent liberal colleagues, Harrington, |
Goschen, Bright. Chamberlain, and
others-deserted him with indignation.
and. as liberal unionists." Joined with
the tories and defeated the home rule
bill in parliament by a majority of 80.
Gladstone and the liberal party APP |
pealed to the n and were over