The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-05-31
position of a Pitt-equalIy great as
commoner and fnancier."

and financier."
He was not 80 great a party leader
as some other Engiishmen. Much
smaller men, like Palmerston, excelled
him here. Henry Clay was the great
party leader and debater in the United
States congress-, but how much more
intellectual were Calhoun and Web
ster. The Tribune states it well in say
ing that Mr.. Gladstone was a leader
He had what better party managers
lacked-moraI earnestness and a con-
viction that his principles and meas
ures were not only right, bue neces-
sary. It was this magnificent faith in
himself and his work that inspired the
respect and confidence Of the Eng sh
people. They laughed at or ~cynically
admired Beaconsfield, but they
believed in him. Mr.. Gladstone was
genuine. They believed in him"
When Gladstone's services are fully
realized and frankly acknowledged, it
will be seen that he was indeed of all
great and serviceable reformers the
Z iCdACoL ~ dOCNS o0"AiA LIZ WA
considered estimation of the Tribune,
every landmark of English rogress
since the passage of the great Reform
bill has been shaped by his hand. The
course of financial administration and
commercial law was directed by him;
a series of radical reform measures was
enacted under his leadership; funda-
1890 - r~~J;-l 1x;+r
ordered and mOmentous proposals
made in relation to Ireland" What
ever pessimistic or carping criticism
may be made as to his work n har
Acter, after deducting all that can be
justly and wisely said IN disparage-
ment, the fact remains that his work
done for Great Britain and it's vast do
mains, remains in volume and utility
surprising the achievements of any
other statesman"
Prince Bismarck treated the German
Empire, and he ruled with a rod of iron
until the very young Emperor William
Wearied Of him and sent him way
into retirement. intellectually a very
great man, of imperious will, of iron
nerve, of great powers in manage
ment, dominating men by brain force
and a will hat brOOked no opposition,
he did marvellous things, and created
practically, by consolidation and bloody
battles fought by others, an Empire.
On the continent of Europe, since Ma
pOleon, there has been no all-round
equal, although men like Cavour and
one or two others had great abilities
in statecraft and administration quail
tiles. Bismarck is called in Europe the
Iron Chancellor" and has been most
aptly described as "the man of blood
and iron" These were his of
conquest and of consolidation. With
him, as with Napoleon, to carry out his
ambitious schemes the destruction of
men counted as nothing. His real
character and achievements are we'll
understood and presented in another
editorial of the able Tribune upon
which we draw again. It says:
Not since Napoleon has the world
known an aggressor like Bismarck.
Frankly a man of 'b1OOd and irOn,"
he built an empire by the most syste-
matte trampling on every man and
nation standing in his way. War was
only one Of his weapons of statecraft,
to be used whenever it suited his pur-
pose better than peace, and when his
ambitious plan called for war; he
brought war about, whether those
whom he sought to despoil wished to
fight or not"
In office he dominated, or as we
would say in American lingo, "bossed'
every body. He bossed the old Emper-
or William; he bossed the parliament
or reichstag: he bossed, the country at
large. Great and im%perious, he is lack
ing in Gladstone's high morale; in his
softer and more charming qualities; in
his warm sympathies with the crushed
and prosecuted of earth; in his great
civilizing and ameliorating power; in
his lofty sense of propriety, of honor,
of justice. One consolidated a great
empire by 'blood and from" the other
was the enlightened statesman of the
world, seeking to bless the nations, to
stamp out wrong, to spread the bless
ings of Christian civilization, the
mighty champion of the great masses,
commanded by ure principles always,
n making morality the basis of gov
eminent. We close with this supple
mental extract from an editorial in the
Baltimore Herald:
Gladstone was not only a profound
student of the science of government
and a keen and prophetic observer of
the political drift of the times in which
he lived. but his explorations into the
fields of literature, art and philosophy
were far extended and rich in results.
A man past eighty years Of age en-
gagged a~rduously in the critical study
and translation of Homer afforded a
most captivating glance of that high
order of mentality which so clearly
distinguished Gladstone from his CO.
temporaries.
Not the least Of his distinguished
traits was that catholicity of spirit