Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-12-29

his reputation as brilliant debater.
/ His work on THE State In It's ReIa
/ lions With the Church" won compIi-
/ ments from Macaulay in his famous
review congratulating the 'stern and
/ unbending Tories" on the advent of
"their rising hope But the marvel
Gus insight and foresight of Macaulay
/ in their daring and their complete full
fillment In Gladstone's career must
speak for themselves. His reading of
character in 1888 can be checked even
in this epitome of its subjects career:
Whatever Mr. Gladstone sees is refract-
ed and distorted by a false medium of
passions and prejudices. He has vast
command of a kind of language grave
and majestic, but OF vague and uncertain
import, -" and in this way he deludes
first himself and then his readers.
The more he reasons on his premises the
more absurd are the conclusions which
he brings out, and he is reduced
sometimes to take refuge In arguments
inconsistent with his fundamental doc
trines and sometimes to escape from the
legitimate consequences OF his false prin-
cipIes under cover of equally false his
tory.
Now let us hear Gladstone illustrate
this for himself In 1884 he was asked
as premier If the government was
SOIuS ~ 6eiIu IcilcI 10
General Gordon, then trapped in Khar-
tuna very simple and direct ques-
ton, to which the premier made this
mastery reply, which was reported
verbatim: What we say is that we
are not prepared to say at present that
there Is no obligation upon US to use,
according to circumstances, reasonable
efforts, If we can, for leaving behind
US an orderly government in Khar-
tum." But they were too late TO save
Gordon, Another brilliant answer to
a question put by a member who re-
ferred to "the war we are waging in
the Sudan" Gladstone jumped up and
said, Il deny that we are at war;
Then what are we at?" I'VE are
engaged In military operations Incl
dentally killing 1900 Sudanese. An
other member on another occasion
charged the government with spending
f11,O0O,O00 Gladstone rose and in
dignantly denied it. On being chaI-
lenged he rose again-"We have only
given orders which viii absorb that
sum-"
A more curious and significant an
swer was that given to one of the au-
dience In great meeting during the
famous Midlothian campaign. Glad
stone had spoken of the secrecy Of
the ballot. The man at the back asked
what he should reply If his employer
were to inquire how he voted. Glad
stone said: There is not a bad story
about secrecy which is not inappro-
pirate now. Sir Walter Scott when
asked If he was the author of the
Waverley novels said, No, I am not,
and If l had written them I should
have made you precisely the same an
swer.' l don't think any one can say
that person who gave that answer
was guilty Of any act of deceit. l do
not see myself how you can object to
it." This little episode was carefully
omitted from the printed volume Of
those speeches. Sir Edward Hamilton
was chief private secretary TO Gladstone
and his intimate friend for forty years
In his memoir he writes that Mr. Glad
stone disliked and dreaded the rising
''preponderance of plutocracy over he
reditary aristocracy. 1 have heard him
exclaim, L am worshiper of the
hereditary principle - hereditary title
and hereditary possessions He was
an absolute slave to precedent and ira
dition."
Between 1860 and 1886 Gladstone Gre I
ated seventyfour peers, mostly plutoS
Gratis The rent roll Of his cabinet elin- (
listers was larger than that Of the Tory .
In 1869 he, as premier, ap-
pointed his then quite young stephen .
to the family living of Hawarden .
church, then worth nearly $4,000 a
year. He is there still, but the stipend .
was cut In half years ago.
The authorized biography by the
Right Hon. now Lord Morley re-
cords Gladstone's penitence for his
speech in 1862, in which he
said: There is no doubt that Jefferson
Davis and other leaders of tie south
have made an army. They are making,
1t appears, a navy, and they have made
what is more than either-they have
made q nation Writing in 1896, Glad
stone confesses: Il did not perceive the
gross improperly of such an utterance
from a cabinet minister. 1t
illustrates wildly what my mind so
long retained and perhaps still exhibits
an incapacity Of viewing subjects all
round and thereby of knowing when to
be silent and when to speak"
His various and contradictory Irish
policies are rich in illustrations of
subtlety. From 1892 until
1895 he was consistent coercionist,
cooking, indeed, to measures for the re-
ief Of the people without hurting the
anded interest too severely. The To-
-ies were in power from 1874 until
1880. during which period there were
1861 agrarian outrages in Ireland.
When Gladstone became premier again
n 1880 these outrages increased in
i've years to 12.0S9. The Tory gar
'ison of 1864 soldiers Gladstone in
.reased to 29,361 in two years. One
public meeting in eight was now sup
pressed; under the Tories it was only
'ne in thirty-three. In his first speech ,
Is premier he referred to Lord Bea-