Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1898-05-25

down, and the night was passed in nat
ural sleep. During Wednesday there was
a slow Pickering of vital flame, and there
were only occasional intervals Of semi
consciousness until the end came, at D
o'clock Thursday morning.
The Retrospect,
James Madison was President of the
United States, Sir John Moore had fallen
at Coruna, Napoleon Bonaparte had
reached the summit of his glory in his
triumphant assault upon Vienna, and the
beginning of his tragic decline in the dd-
yorce of Josephine; Wellington, with
Waterloo beckoning him on, had crossed
the Duoro, the Pope of Rome was prls-
ouer the battle of Wagram had been
fought and won, and all Europe, from the
Spanish peninsula to the Netherlands and
from the borders of Siberia to the Irish
sea, was under sword in 1909, the year
that gave William Ewart Gladstone to
England and humanity.
OF a lineage remarkable only for Its
rugged honesty and unquestioning de-
votion to the sovereign power, the son of
a successful East India merchant who
had earned q baronetcy by his achieve
ments in commerce, he seemed predeStin"
ed upop his entrance into public life to
become the representative statesman of
the middle classes. That he had come to
them with hands full of promise was evil
dent from the beginning of his career.
Double honors from Oxford at the age of
%. a member of Parliament at the age
of %. Lord of the Trasur. and Under
Secretary of State in the Peel govern
ment at the age of 25.
Remark ka Bile above al things in the long
career of this remark;tb BILE man was the
influence he exerted upon the minds II
the common people of the three king
doms. His feat in 6sestabishing the
Irish church was one of the most marvel
GUS in the history of modern times. 10
accomplish it a revolution had TO be
created in the British mind. With Glad
stones views he could not long retain his
early affiliations with the Tories, and his
secession from the ranks of the political
friends OF iis youth was for time the
faycrife theme of those who thought they
could see something akin to instability in
his character. But the secret Was llat
Toryism had stood like a granite monu-
ment, unchanged and unchanging, while
England moved onward marking the
Victorian era with golden milestones.
Gladstones commercial treaty with the
French. which gave new life to British
trade, his wonderful ability as a budget
aker, his direction upon business princi-
.es Of the vast machinery Of the empire,
something never known before, won TO
him the hearts Of the mercantile classes,
home and colonial. For over sixty years
Gladstone has been in public life. For the
greater part Of sixty years he has la
bored to turn England from her medieval
folIies, superstitions and bigotries.
For the better part of sixty years
this figure has stood amid the wayerinG
and cowaryily policies of Europe, a stead
fast supporter of truth and justice, sub
lime example of the power Of courage and
the nobility Of man.
Gladstone's battles were not alone for
British trade and Britist prosperity, blt
for British manhood aud British primo
pies. Their influence has been felt to the
remotest corners of the globe. He gave
to modern political thought a width and
depth Of Hberality and humare eolorlng
that will illumine the hearts and tie
minds of his fellowgnen.