The times., 1898-05-19

and other n&w fhurchmen found their
following. tf midst of this confu-
Parliamentary ..Gareer with the backing
of the Duke Sf3 Newcastle. who was one
of the potent4tes In the Tory party. The
Duke was lpp1tfngs for a suitable man
TO help him h'egh in ascendancy over the
wayering borough of Newark. and his
eye fell upon Gladstone. AS the son of
one of the prominent Tory merchants
of LiverpoolIas q, brilliant student, and
young and enthusiastic man. the
young Scotchrnan. who had been a col
lege mate of his son, Lord Lincoln,
pleased him exceedingly.
One of the things which was yexng the
English conscience about that time was
the question of slavery in the colonies,
and Gladstones first speech was mainly
upon this subject. He began. as he con-
tinued through life, in the character OF a
conservative man, who wanted peace. He
deprecated the general desire for change
and held that legislatures, like individ-
uals, were bound to carry through all
their acts the spirit of high religious
truth. Labor, he held. should be ade-
quately paid, Slavery, according to his
view, was sanctioned by Scripture, but
the slaves should be educated and grad
ually emancpated. His dialectical inge-
nuity stood him in good stead on this oc-
casion. for an opponent inquired sarcas-
ticalIY as to the circumstances of his
nomination. and Gladstone. by clever
turn of the argument, avoided defining
the exact arrangement by which ne was
1.-The Duke OF Newcastle's man" He was
elected to the House of Commons, and
was a member OF its first reform parlia-
ment, in which II had over three hundred
new members.s The Wings had large
majority. led by Lord Althrop; the Tories
a compact minority under Sir Robert
Peel; and there was besides a body of
Irish members under O'Connell hostile TO
the ministry. The subjects that doomed
largest in the public mind were the So
cial condition of Ireland and the position
of the Established Church there, the dis
content and misery of the poor in Eng
| land and slavery in the British colonies.
! GIadstone's maiden sneech in Parlia-.
/ ment concerned resolution on the sub
! iect of slavery This resolution provided
| that all children of slaves born after the
/ passage of the act. and all children OF
| six years of age or under. be declared
/ free The other slaves were to serve
/ sort of apprenticeship, working three
fourths of their time for certain num-
ber of years for the master, while the
/ other fourth of their time was their own,
and should be paid for at a fixed rate.
/ In the discussion Of these resolutions
! Lord Howick made a speech which was
/ almost a personal challenge to Glad
/ stone, citing certain occurrences on Sir
! John Gladstone's plantation in Demerara.
! TO Illustrate the mortality due TO slave
| labor. Gladstone answered this partly
by denials and partly by explanation,
! claiming that his fathers plantation was
humanely managed as was possible,
! and that the cultivation of sugar was no
more injurious TO health than many other
! 'death-dealing trades" In later speech
lsa .1,n 81. 4
| favored gradual emancipation. His two
! other speeches in this Parliament were
| entirely in character. One was on the
| subject of the Irish Established Church
and the other in regard TO the Universi-
| ties Admission Bill in which he strongly
| advocated compulsory religious services
| in the universities.
The Winter of 1884 was very lively
The dismissal of the Whig ministers
| was followed by a general scramble for
office. and Sir Robert Peel, who was in
Rome. was sent for TO form new ad-
ministration. He found his junior sec
| retary of the treasury ready 10 his hand
| in Gladstone, already a decided force in
! public affairs During the next session
| of Parliament he was promoted to the
( position of under secretary of state for
! the colonies in the Peel government
His official chief was Lord Aberdeen.
with whom he formed a strong and per-
manent friendship, The administration
was not Tong-liVed. In April 1885 Peel
resigned. and Gladstone followed his
chief into private life. AS a private
member he went freely into society.
pursued his favOrite studies of Homer
and Dante. took course in St. Angus
tine and figured in numerous amateur
musical entertainments. In this session
1 of Parliament he spoke on the necessity
OF national religion to the security of
a state.
Victoria Ascends the Throne.
In 1887. King William " died and
the young Queen Victoria ascended to
the throne. Gladstones eloquence and
readiness in debate were rapidly MAX
ing him a reputation. In 1898 he wrote
his first book. on The State in its Re
lations with the Church." which caused
a considerable sensation. and to some
Of his friends a sensation not altogeth-
er agreeable. Sir Robert Peel said.
With such career before him, why
should he want to write books?'' The
book was clearly due more or less to
the great Catholic revival under the di-
recting genius of Cardinal Newman.
The distinctive principle of the book
was that the state had a conscience and
the government, standing in loco parents
to the people, was in duty bound to have
and maintain an opinion on questions sc
| grave that Of religion. Consequently
its support was due to that form of re.
ligion which should upon mature consid.
| GRAFTON appear to be the best Gladstone
was accordingly strongly in favor of ar
Established Church. This principle he
unshrinkingly applied to the Irish
, Church, one of the burning questions OF
the day. ITO remove this peculiar treas.
. ure from the view and the reach of the
irish np0DlP he ''yUpIItd he sIy
to purchase their momentary favor a.
, the expense of their permanent interests
and would be a high offense against ouI
. own sacred obligations There might bt
two opinions as to the wisdom and trutf
of the book. but there was but one as Il
its cleverness. Baron Bunsen said of 1t
This is the first book since Burke tha-
goes to the bottom of the vital question
l sat up till midnight to read it. and fin
ished it the next morning. He is the frs
, man in England, as to intellectual DOW
err"
In 1871 came the great Corn Law agi
tation. Lord John Russell proposed {
fixed duty on corn, which was defeated
by Peel. In the new Peel administration
Gladstone was appointed vice presiden
! of the board of trade ard master of tn,
mint, and was one of the Privy Coun
Gil. In 1913 he succeeded Lord Ripon a.
president of the board in name as he ha,
long been in reality. He was at this tim,
thirtyfour years old and Lord Palmers
ton wrote of him somewhat quantity
'Breakfasted rrith Gladstone littI
disappointed in his appearance which Il
that of a Roman Catholic ecclesiastic
! but very agreeable"
! Repeal of the Corn Laws.
Next to his chief. Gladstone took tn
most prominent part in the revision of tn