The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-11
At GLADSToNE'S HOME
CLOSING SCENES IN THE CAREER OF
ENGLAND,s GREAT LEADER.
His HOmc-RuIe Project Was Fail
ure, but the Work Of Race Recon-
ciliation Is Now triumphant.
london Letter in New York Tribune.

c1ll0NtOn ~ NOW lEIUIupDNAts
London Letter in New York Tribune.
Sensbility is not an English trait How
| can it be when an enervating climate, with
| dull skies. humid atmosphere and deprcss-
| ing influences, forces every one to with
draw within his shell, to protect himself
| against external effects and to become in
| sensible to what is going on around him?
| An Englshman is preoccupied with his
| own interests and prejudices, but some
| where within the shell of cod reserve
| there is u big heart pulsating with warm
blood All England is touched by the pathos
of great career ending in d hopeless
struggle with physical suffering Mr.. Glad
stone is no longer regarded merely as the
leader of an Irish movement profoundly
distasteful to the majority of Englishmen.
He commands sympathy and respect as a
great Englishman approaching his end and
enduring the hardness" like a veteran SOL
der of the state. The most obstinate Union
list could not read without emotion the ac-
count of the leave-taking at Bournemouth
for the journey to Hawarden, when the
voice which had sounded like trumpet for
generations was reduced to a whisper OF
benediction. There is not a discordant note
in the sympathetic chorus with which the
press of all parties receives Mr. Morley
moving sentence at Leicester "Ah, with
what stirring of unalterable affection do
we all feel tonight as we think of him.
oVertaken in the evening of that long day
of so many interests, so many glories, so
many triumphS so many grand public SerV-
ices-overtaken by suffering and pain"
The seriousness of Mr.. GladstOne'S cond1-
ton was not generally appreciated by the
general public when he went to the Riviera.
He (, surrounded by a large and affectionate
family group whose one thought is to pro-
tect him from disquieting inquiries and
anxieties They are optimists respecting his
health, because in their devotion TO him
they cannot find courage to face the truth
that his strength and powers of endurance
are gradually failing from sleeplessness and
acute neuralgia pain. This Is the natural
explanation of the delusive reports which
came for a long season from the Riviera
and Bournemouth. Mr.. Gladstone's eager
desire to return to his own home at Hawar-
den conveys its own pathetic import to
every home-loving Englishman. The de-
tails of his distressing ailments are not pub
lished, but it is known that his sufferings
have been acute and unceasing, and that
two changes of air have not availed to re-
leve him from the burden of severe neu-
ralgic pain nor to diminish the risks of heart
failure
HIS ONE GREAT FAILURE.
Small and mean-spirited must be the po-
litical opponent whose compassion is not
excited by the closing scenes of Mr.. Glad
stones life Priam's last battle was fought
when he resigned the office of prime min
lister. He did not attempt to give counsel
to younger warriors, who were jealous one
of another, rather than eager and burning
to take up sword and shield in defense OF
his principles. He remained alOof deVOt-
ing his leisure to congenial literary occupa-
tons, with serenity of mind. JAS the end
now, draws near he bears with patience and
meekness the pains and intirmtieS of old
age, with vital energies spent and a film
before his eyes. Partisanship is silenced and
justice is done. Whatever may have been
the logic or expediency of home rule or of
Unionism, this is the greatest Englishman
since Chatham and Pitt, and every land
| Oory rNf rNrsn =,
reign bears the impress of his hand The
bitterest partisan is now ready to recog-
nize in him the Grand Old Man of English
history No caviing critic ventures to ques-
ton Mr.. Morleys judgment that Mr.. Glad
stone has aroused conscience elevated pol
iticS and deepened the sense of moral re-
sponsibility, individual and national, in pub
lie life.
The one great failure of Mr. Gladstone's
career has been home rule for Ireland, on
which he staked his reputation prestige and
popularity when old age was already warn
ing him that his effective work was done.
1t must be accounted a failure because the
House of Lords vetoed bill enacted by a
deliberative assembly elected by seven mil
lions of men; and because also that veto
was not overridden by the democratic cleo
torate and since there is no immediate pros
pect of the successful revival of the demand
| for a separate Parliament. With the Lib
eral party in discredited minority and de-
moraliZed in leadership and policies. and
with the Nationalist divided into three ir-
reconcilahle groups, home rule has passed.
at least temporarily out of the range Of
practical politics. The great work to which
Mr.. Gladstone devoted the closing wears of
an eventful life is not only unfinished. but
there are no signs that any leader on the
Liberal side with the single exception Of
carry it forward. Indeed, the conclusion is
justified by direct and circumstantial evil
dence that in the next general elections the
Liberals will have little to say about home
rule, hut will appeal for popular support on
broader issues of democratic reform. and
that their chief resource will be destructive
criticism of Unionist foreign policy.
POLICY NOT BARREN OF RESULTS
Home rule as embodied in Mr.. Gladstones
legislative scheme must be regarded as a
failure; but his policy of reconciliation with
Ireland has not been barren of results. The
island, which could be governed a few
years ago only by force bills and garri-
son, is now quiet and peaceable. Lawless-
ness and polltlcal crime have ceased; agra
rlan courage is at an end. The Unionist
government has introduced and carried to
measure of local government as Mr.. Glad
stones own Dublin Parliament could have
devised; and there is no organized opposi-
ton to It from any. quarter of the House.
obstruction tactics have disappeared: Irish
debates are conducted with good humor
and better feeling exists between England
and Ireland than there has been since Mr.
Parnell with his invincible will and genius
for leadership, forced Parliament to consid-
thing else.
Whoever attends debate on Mr. Gerald
Bal1OurS lOcal-g0Vernment bill and hears
the compliments which showered upon
the secretary for Ireland from the same
Nationalist benches from which Mr. For
ster and his successors were denounced is
half persuaded that the age of miracles has
not passed. But this era of reconciliation
and good feeling is not a miracle. Mr..
Gladstone opened the way for it by his
chivalrous championship of Irish ideas and
principles He created atmosphere for
the redress of Irish grievances and forced
the UniOnists to bring in a measure of To-
cal government founded on justice and dem
ocratic principles. He softened the asperi-
ties of Irish judgments respecting England
and changed the temper as well as the tao
tics Of the Nationalist in Westminster. If
he failed in securing the enactment of the
home-rule bill, he succeeded in leaving a
free field for the recognition of nearly every
other demand of the Irish people, Catho-
lie university bill not excepted, for the
Unionists avow their willingness to intro
duce one another year The Nationalist
factions unite in declaring that nothing
short of legislative autonomy will satisfy
the island, and Mr. Morley is confident
that the Liberals in the future will be loyal
to Mr.. Gladstone'S memory and support
their cause. Be this ii may there has
been marvellous improvement in the re-
lations of Ireland and England, and it is
to be attributed mainly to the touch of sym
pathy which Matthew Arnold in one of his
Irish essays. said was lacking, but which
Mr.. Gladstone hes supplied,
The earlier English statesman, Lord Chat
ham, with whom Mr.. Gladstone has often
been compared. also was charged with
conspicuous failure. This his unsuc-
ceSSful effort to secure justice and fair play