The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-25

eighteenth century. When ne had grownto
he the most famous man in the British realm
Mr.. Gladstone said Il am not SLOW 10
claim the name Of Scotsman, and, even
if ! were there il the IA It staring me in the
face that not "A drop OF blood runs in my
veins except what IL derived from a Scottish
ancestry" BY way OF hitting his curious
duality of disposition, an opponent once
described him at an ardent Italian III the
custody OF Scotsman. Mr.. Morley thinks
that II is easy to make too much oil race.
but he adds When we are puzzled by
Mr.. Gladstone's seeming contrarie'ies OF
temperament, his union of impulse with
caution, of passion with circumspection,
of pride and FIRE with self-control, of
Ossianic flight with steady foothold ON
the solid earth, we may, perhaps. find a
sort of explanation in thinking Of him as a
Highlander in the custody Of a l.owiander.
To understand Gladstone il is important
TO bear in mind not only that he was Scots
man but also that he was brought up in
"A household of strong Tory prediction,
Il was bred" said Mr. Gladstone, when
risen to meridian splendor, under the
shadow of the great name OF Canning;
every influence connected with that name
governed the politics OF my childhood and
of my youth; with Canning | rejoiced in
the removal of religious disabilities and
in the character which he gave to our policy
abroad; with Canning rejoiced in the open
ing which he made toward the establish
ment OF free commercial interchanges be-
tween nations: with Canning, and under the
shadow Of the yet more venerable name
r,,l ,,,l
ton were impressed By the authority of
the same names. Mr. Gladstone might have
consoed himself for the fact that when a
Young member Of the House of Commons
he had opposed the emancipation of slaves
in the British colonies II is certain that
on slavery and even the slave trade Burke
had argued against total abolition. Canning
in 1929 laid down the principle that ameliora-
ton of The lot of the negro slave was the
utmost limit Of action, and that his freedom.
a. a result of ameioration, was the oh ject
of pious hope, and no more Canning de-
scribed the negro As a being with the form of
a man and the intellect of a child. He goes
on to use words that express the convictions
of many Americans who have marked the
results of the ndiscrminate bestowal OF the
franchise on the negro by the trainers of
our Reconstruction legislation. ITO turn
him loose, said Canning, ain the manhood
of his physical strength, in the maturity of
his physical passions, but in the infancy of
his uninstructeG reason, would be to raise
up creature resembling the splendid fiction
of II recent romance IFrankensteinl, the
hero of which constructs human form with
all the corporal capabilities of Il man, but
being unable to impart TO the work Of his
hands perception of right and wrong, he
finds too late that he has only created IA more
than mortal power of doing mischief
Like Canning, Gladstone was sent TO
Eton. He entered the school in his twelfth
year and left it at the age of eighteen His
attachment for Elton grew with the lapse of
vears-to him it was ever the queen of all
schools" When | was at Eton, he said
long afterward, we knew very little indeed,
but we knew it accurately" In mathe-
mates he did not 60 far, but his sllbse-
quent career at the university shows that
he must have been we'll grounded in algebra
and geometry as we'll as in the classics
Probably AS his biographer suggests it was
less by school work. or spoken addresses in
Juvenile debate, or by early attempts in the
difficult art Of written composition, than by
blithe ana congenial comradeship, that at
Eton the mind of the young Gladstone was
stimulated opened and strengthened
Again like Canning, Gladstone proceeded
from Eton to Christ Church College. Ok ford,
which at that time was at the top Of its
academic fame, Christ Church was then
almost as conspicuous in the class lists
Dill ,ll .Niia l.. ogt
a year and half the young man took his
college course pretty easily. but in 1890
his really hard work began and, ultimately,
like Sir Robert Peel, he took double
first that is TO say. first GLASS in classics
and also in mat hematics He twice COM
peted unsuccessfully for the Ireland scholar
ship, conferred for especial proficiency
in Greek, and tried but failed. TO secure
the Newdigate prize for poem. 1t is
well known that he was active in the de-
bates in the Union Debating Society, and
in Nav 1881. made speech there against
Parliamentary reform that struck all his
hearers with amazement. 80 powerful and
splendid did it seem in their youthful eyes
Two generations after he had quilted
the university, Mr.. Gladstone summed up
her lnnuenCe upon MN IN tne following
words Oxford had rather tended to hide
from me the great fact that liberty is a
great and precious gift Of God. and that
human excellence cannot grow up in ma
ton without it. Yet do not hesitate to say
that Oxford even at this time had laid the
foundations of my liberalism; school pur-
suits had revealed little; but in the region
of philosophy she had initiated, if not in
ured me to the pursuit of truth as an end
of study. ! declare that. while
in the arms of oxford. | was possessed
through and through with single-minded
and passionate love of truth. with a virgin
love Of truth. so that, although I might
be swathed in clouds of prejudice, there
was something of an eye within that might
gradually pierce them
1t was the memorable ant-reform speech
at the oxford Union that caused the Duke
of Newcastle to inform Gladstone, then
not 20 years old, that his influence in the
borough of Newark was at the young mans
disposal, should he desire TO enter Plrlia-
mentary life The Duke also offered
handsome contribution toward expenses,
vet asked for no pledges from his protege.
After brief correspondence with his father
Gladstone issued an address to the electors