The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-02

From Goldwin Smiths "Reminiscences in
 the December McClures.
 TSHAT Gladstone was statesman of
 the very highest class I should
 \ find it difficult to believe, His moves always seemed to be impulses rather than parts of settled plan. In his speeches on the extension of the fran chise he failed to indicate the polity which he expected to produce, and talked fallacious commonplace about uniting the whole people about their ancient throne. If he attacked the lords, 1t was not that he had deliberately made up his mlnn in favor of a change, but that they came in his way at the moment; and the con- stitutional doctrines which he put for ward on that occasion were the angry fabrication of the hour. Ills proposal 10 give Ireland 0 parliament Of her own, and at the same time a representation in the united parliament which would have enabled her to hold the balance of parties and practically to dominate there, can hardly be mentioned with calmness.
 Az speaker he was in the highest de- gree effective, but the effect was pro duced by his command of the subject, by the ascendency of his character, by the impressiveness of his manner and an admirable voice, rather than by any grace or force of language. He was at his best, I think. in expounding great measure and steering 1t through the house. He had, as was said before, marred the freshness of his style by overmuch speaking in debating clubs In early ljfe. His prolixity, which Disraeli called his verbosity, was not felt by the hearers of his speeches. who were rather struck by his command of perfectly cor rect language; but it Is greatly felt by his readers.
 fo- a leader" said conservative mem Der of parliament to a liberal. Ours is only an unprincipled scoundrel; yours is a dangerous lunatic."
 Tories were always saying, and half be- lieved, that Gladstone was literally in sane, and stories Of his insanity were current One was that he had gone to a toy shop and ordered its whole con- tents to be sent to his house. I asked Lady Russell whether there could be any foundation for this report. Her answer was: 'T begin to think there must be- for I have heard it now every session for several years"
 l If Gladstone had not, like Brougham, tho vanity of versatility, he had the pro- ,- sity in large measure. It is true that his amazing powers of acquisition enabled him, in a way, to deal with many subjects. But his writings, enormously voluminous and various, are f little | value His controversy with Huxley about Genesis displayed his weakness. His argument, in effect, was that the Creator, though unscientifc, had come remarkably near the truth about his own work and had all but hit upon the nebu- | lar hypothesis. In his Homeric and mythological lucubrations there are some things that are interesting, but there are others so fantastic that their publica- ton shakes one's confidence in the gen eral wisdom of the man.
 He once propounded to me a Homeric theory which he was going to give tc the world, founded on a pathological dis
 covery which he supposed himself tt have made. I felt sure that the discov- cry was an illusion, and tried to con
 vince him of this, without effect. Jus then his brother-in-law, Lord Lyttleton
 who was a first-rate classical scholar
 came into the room. He evidently saw
 the matter as I did, yet he allowed him
 self to be half talked over, and sup
 pose the fancy went into print. Before
 the publication Gladstone gave a Ho
 merle dinner to half dozen scholars
 including Mlman and Cornewall Lewis The ostensible object of our meeting wal
 to discuss Gladstone's theories. But O
 discussion there was very little. I sus
 pect 1t was not easy for adverse truths | |, find access to the Great Man. It wa, very difficult to convince him by argu