The Washington herald., 1911-10-05
OF "GLADSTONE'' STOCK,
:. BUT NOT A STATESMAN

1 have greatly enjoyed the joke about
the objection raised against young Mr..
Gladstone as the future member of Par
lament for Kilmarnock. There are, of
course, several good and true Scots
men who are anxious to try for the
vacant seat. but the local Radicals are
keen on the youthful squire of Hawarden.
They believe that his name alone should
insure him the election. They are try
ing to prove Mr.. Gladstone to be a
Scotsman by the aid of Lord Morley's
Life of Mr.. Gladstone" and with the
assistance of that typical Scot, the Mas
ter OF Elibank. Time was when the good
folk OF Lanarkshire hailed the Grand
Old Man as the greatest living Scots
man, and it would seem an instance Of
Scottish ingratitude that his grandson's
pedigree should be made a bar to his
candidacy.
Still, there is another side to the ques-
ton. The Scots lOaths incompetence.
They know that, however great their
admiration for the candidates distin-
guished grandfather. statesmanshtp is
not a hereditary talent. For there Is no
greater illustration Of failure in state
craft to-day than Mr. Gladstones son,
Viscount Gladstone. Lord Gladstone is
now in Rhodesia. apologizlng for his
mistake in the Umtal case. He owes
his position as governor general and
commander-ln-chief of the Union of
South Africa to being the son of his
father. not to any merit of his own.
The Independent Scots. who dislike this
sort Of thing. have no feeling for young
STRIPPING simply because he is Glad
stone, especially with the example of the
futility OF such a selection as Viscount
Gladstone before their eyes.
But when it comes to deciding the
Gladstone nationality, there ought to be
no difficulty. When the present South
African governor general was ennObled,
he was created Viscount Gladstone of
Lanark, and he certainly had more right
to that title than some other modern
peers have to the titles they have taken.
To quote an instance, know of one,-nOt
long ago created a Radical peer who
took his lengthy handle to his new
name from an obscure village where his
mother had lost her favorite dog. the
name of which had so impressed itself
on his mind that he had come to re-
gard himself as the squire of that viii
lage.
That the Gladstones are Lanarkshire
folk there is little doubt. The late prime
minister's own account of his ancestry
is as follows:
They were a race of borderers. There
is still an old Gledstanes or Gladstone
Castle. have never heard of
them in Scotland. until after the Res
toration, otherwise than as persons of
family. At that time there are traces
of their having been fined by public
authority. but not for any ordinary
criminal offense. During the
eighteenth cntury they are, I think.
principally traced by line of maItsters
mo doubt a small busino s them in
Lanarkshire. Their names are recorded
on tOmbstones in the churchyard of Big
gar. I remember going as a child or
boy to see the representative of that
branch, either in 1870 or some years
earlier. who was a small matchmaker in
that town"
The Gledstaneses were a numerous
family in the counties Of Lanark
PEBBLES. Roxburgh, and Dumtries, and
the Hawarden family are descended from
William Gledstanes, of Arthurshiel, who
in l55l was laird of that place.
The joke of the whole thing is that