The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-25
SOME NEW BOOKS.
Wor,e,'s Iifr Of Gladstone.


il Mr. JOHN MORLEY from the viewpoints OF
sympathy, Of literary ability and of parha-
msntarv and ministerial experiences, to
produce the long expected biography now
published in three volumes, The Life OF
William ETart Gladstone Macmilans). No
other biographer mas had imposed upon him
a task so exacting rs regards the ouIh o'
the documentary mat erials that Lave lad 10
I've examined. In the first place, all tie
papers collected at Hawarden were placed
at Mr.. Morley'9 disposal, Besides thar vast
accumulation he has been supplied WIN sew
eral thousands OF letters forthcoming from
the legion of Mr.. Gladstone's correspond
ents he tells us that. on the wnoie, between
two and three hundred thousand written
papers of one sort or another have passed
under his eve. The diaries from which
he often quotes consist OF forty httle DOCKS
in double columns. intended to do llttI" more
then record persons seen or books read,
or letters written by the subiec OF the biog-
raphy as the days passed by As regards the
spirit in which the work has been composed
the author saws that lie has obeyed-bo-
cause il agreed with his own conception OF
his duty the injunction laid upon him by
Queen Victoria. that the narrative be not
handled in a narrow. partisan way,
In an Introduction, MI. Morley shows
himself keenly alive to the temerity of the
attempt to write a life of Mr., Gladstone so
soon after the statesman's death Herecog-
nizes that the ashes OF the controversies
in which the sub ect o! this work was so
deeply concerned are still hot and that
while the narrat or stands so near the events.
il is difficult to adjust perspective, scale
and rela; ion. Moreover. not all the particu-
lars, especially with regard to the later
stages Of Mr.. Gladstones public life, can
he disclosed without risk of uni ust pain
to persons now alive, N is equally obvious
that, to defer tho task for thirty or forty
years. would also, though on other grounds,
be Objectionable. Interest would grow less
vivid truth would become harder TO dis
cover; memories would pale and color would
fade. If. in one sense. n statesmans con-
temporares even when death has abated
the storm and emper of faction can scarcely
Judge him, yet, in another sense, they who
breathed the same air that he breathed, Who
knew at close quarters the problems that
faced him. the materials with which he had
TO work and the limitations of his time,
may be the best memorialists. This was an
advantage that Thucyddes had over
Tacitus.
Another question had to be settled by
Mr.. Morley before he began his narrative.
What was to be the scope of his work?
Should it he as nearly as possible, eX
clusively biographical, or should it pre-
sent, in addition to the subjects life,
a history Of his time? This is question
with which bographer is not perplexed
in the case of a man Of letters. Where,
on the other hand, the subject is a man
who was four times at the head of the
British Government, and who held the
office of Prime Minister for a longer time
than any other statesman in the reign
Of Queen Victoria, it is plainly impract
cable to tell the story of his works and
days without continual and ample ref
erence to the events over whose unrolling
he presided. Mr.. Morley does not profess
TO have overcome successfully the almost
insuperable difficulty Of fixing in task
like his the precise boundary which should
le drawn between history and biogra-
ply. He warm -sis readers that detailed
account of Mr. Gladstoue's work as theo-
Logan and churchman will not be found
in these pages. Some may think, conse-
uuently. that he has made the preponder-
ance of politics excessive in the story OF
man of signal versatility 10 whom poll
tics was but one interest among many.
Touching this possible criticism, the biog-
rapher saws: No doubt. speeches. de-
bates, bills. divisions, motions and ma
n0uvres Of parties, like the mama that
fed the Children OF Israel in the wilder
ness, lose their SAVIOR and power of nutri-
ment on the second day Yet, after all,
it was to his thoughts, his purposes, his
ideals, his performances "a a statesman,
in all the widest significance of that lofty
and honorable designation, that Mr.. Glad
stone owes the lasting substance of his
fame" As he himself said, his life was
ever greatly absorbed in working the
institutions of his country.
We have seen that Mr.. Morley took to
heart the Queens suggestion that he
write in no blind spirit of party. 1t
does not follow that there is no trace
of bias in this biography. All hat is
claimed for il is that there is no bias
against the truth. Indifferent neutrality,
frigid insensiblty in work penned,
as this is, in the spirit of loyal and affec-
tionate remembrance. would be distaste-
full, dscordaut and impossible, II should
be-" says the biographer, heartily sorry
II there were no signs of Partially and
no evidence Of prepossession. On the
other hand, there is, trust, no impor
tunate advocacy or tedious association.
He was great man enough TO stand in need
of neither Still less has il been needed,
in order to exalt him. to disparage others
with whom he came into strong collisio
His own funeral orations from time to
time on some who were in one degree or
another his antagonists proved that this
petty and rngenerous method would have
been to him of all men most repugnant.
Admiration and sympathy however. need
not exclude discriminate To pretend hat
for sixty years Mr. Gladstone "traversed
in every zone the restless ocean Of a great
nations shifting and complex polit les with
out many a faulty tack and many wrong
reckoning would indeed be idle" We are
reminded that no such claim is set up by
rational men for Pym, Cromwell, Washing
ton or either Pitt II is not set up for any
of the three contemporaries of Mr.. Glad
stone whose names are bound up with the
three most pomentous transactions Of
his age-Cayour, Lincoln and Bismarck
Neither has Mr. Morley acted on the asslImp-
k,, oil EnlIS nf inIniry n eplan,nr