The times., 1898-05-19
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE

ters which bear directly upon the char
acter and career of the Grand Old Man
of English politics.
The Gladstone family lived for many
! hundred years in the parish of Libberton,
near the town of Biggar, in the upper
ward of Lanarkshlre and were known
first as the Gledestanes from the Scotch
! words "gled,' a hawk, and ''stane,
| stone. Herbert de Gledestane was one
/ of the lairds who swore fealty to Ed
/ ward !. in 1896 according to the Ragman
/ Roll. AT the beginning of the seven
/ teenth century the estate of Gledestane
/ passed out of the family. but that Of
Arthurshiel. the adjoining property.
! manned with them till nearly a century
later when the last Gledestane of Arthur
shiel took the proceeds of the sale of his
ancestral estate and opened a masters
! business in the town of Biggar. His
| grandson, Thomas Gladstone, the
name had come to be spelled. migrated
In course of time TO Laith, and became
corn merchant. and when his son John
had come to years of discretion found oc-
casion to send him to Liverpool in charge
of cargo of grain.
The business capacity and address of
the young man attracted the attention of
one of the leading grain merchants OF
Liverpool. who offered him n position, and
John Gladstone eventually settled in that
city. where he became in every sense Of
the word one of the leading citizens. He
was member for Lancaster for several
years took an intense interest In all pub
lie affairs. and was created baronet some
years before he died at the ripe old age of
eighty-seven. Cautious determined ar
gumentative, clear-headed and shrewd TO
the last degree, he was a typical Low
land Scotchman, and the stubborn will
which has been characteristic of his son,
William Ewart. on several occasions was
clearly inherited from John Gladstone.
Curiously enough. the man who has been
one of the most prominent figures in
English politics for more than fifty years
has not drop of English blood in his
veins. for his mother was Ann Robertson.
daughter of Provost Robertson. who be-
longed TO the Clan Donachie of the High
lands. The dreamy. poetic, idealistic and
more or less erratic blood of the Gael was
thus mingled with the practical and de-
termined nature of the Lowlander, and
these two conflicting natures may be
/ traced through the entire career of VIII
liam Ewart Gladstone, from the time OF
his first appearance in public life till now.
4 Crucial Time in History.
At the time when William Ewart,
third son of John Gladstone, came into
the world, the European part of that
world. at least, was in a much tossed
about and very unhappy condition. Ma
poIeon menaced the liberty of Europe
and the existence of its states. and the
briIliance of his military genius was so
unheard of and so great that even the
Oldest and wisest observers of public af-
fairs felt no certainty as to what would
happen next. In England. Crazy king
and a profigate heir apparent presided
over a social system in which all civil
evils were combined in a way TO make
angels. not TO say ordinary human be-
ings, weep. With a nominally represen-
tative government, England had a des-
potic administration and the represen-
tation was a delusion and a snare The
Established Church had sold herself
body and soul TO the governing classes
There had just been a revolution in
r France, and the discomfort among the
poorer classes seemed to threaten one
; in the British Isles. Ireland was almost
, in a condition of insurrection War and
famine were driving the common people
almost to desperation Public credit
: was shaken to its basis. and the merest
necessaries of life were ruinously dear
John Gladstone, one of the substan.
| tial business men of Liverpool. had Sc
rious thoughts on the condition of the
kingdom, and on account of the distrusi
{ I and Indignation which the business de.
. preston inspired, he. with many 9TH
ers, left the Wing party and became q
. | Tory. and was for many years the Close
friend of Canning. The Toryism of the
father had important influence or
the beginning of the sons career.
William Ewart Gladstone was named
after a close friend of his father. a Liv.
erpoOl merchant. His childhood was tha
l of weli-brought-up boy of the bette
classes. and only one Of the family Gus
toms appears TO have been of nature
= gree John Gladstone believed in argu
ment. He encouraged the children TO ar
que out all questions from a logical ba
. sis, to be careful of their words and no
TO do anything without knowing the rea
son. 1t is recorded that even the cues
ton whether a fish should be broiled o
2 baked. or what sort of weather was likel,
to be on the morrow, was deemed worth,
of debate, and all the young Gladstone
, were thus prepared to give the reason 70
the faith that was in them, on any posi-
BILE subject. The astonishing readines
/ and volume of Gladstone's speeches in af
ter years doubtless owe something to thi
early training.
In due time William was sent to Etor
= where his older brothers, Thomas an
: Robertson, already were. Sir Roderic
Murchison called him "the prettiest lit
= tie boy who ever went to Eton," and ther
= Is no 1ecOIu Oh MS ever uotllS any llill
he should not have done during his Who'll
5 school life, except that the name Glad
= stone" is scratched on a wall near tn
house where he boarded. and it is not al
soIuteIy certain that this DETACHMENT of
e neighbor's property was not done by on
Il of the other Gladstone boys. At tha
time the fag system was in full blast a
Eton. and William became fag for hi
s brother Thomas.
Boys We're not expected to learn yer
much at school in those days, but VIII
s liam was what the other boys called Is
sap'-that is, he studied. He was in a
respects a model little boy, and it is tol
of him that on one occasion he interfere
n successfully in behalf of some unhapp
pigs which the young Etonians wer
= wont to torture on Ash Wednesday. Dun
r ing his last two years at Eton he wa
one of the principal promoters of tn
{ Eton Miscellany. a school magazine t
n which Arthur Henry Hallam, his mos
intimate friend, was q contributor. Glad
( stone wrote under the pseudonym G
h bartholomew Bouvere,' and his cor
tributions were both in prose and verse
Another friend of nis school days wa
e Arthur Penrhyn Stanley.
In 1925 after six months reading wit
{ private tutors, he entered Christ Church
= Oxford. He too early for the grea
Catholic revival which dominated Oxfor
under Newman In the course of time, bu
he nevertheless developed a strong an
n abiding interest in things theolog
f cal while in college, and if
Il had had his own way, would cei
tainly have taken orders HI
father, however, had decided objet
p tions, having designed his son for tn
e career of a statesman. and the youn
man accordingly trayalad fnr ciy mon ~