Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-08
VindicatiOn of Gladstone
Approved by American Press

The vindication of the good name of
England's great prime minister, Will
| liam e. Gladstone, through the medium
| or court action, arouses enthusiastic
approval OF the American public. The
SANDER OF the statesman of a former
day appeared In a book by Capt. Peter
Wright, and was so resented by the
living sons of Gladstone that they pub
| licly attacked the character of the
author. Wright has lost his suit for
libel. The American press condemns
books of that type as dealing with
backstairs" gossip. and expresses
resentment at the attempts to blaclxen
regulations of men of fame.
"ViScount Gladstone's gallant de-
Tense of his fathers name and mem
Org" appeals to the Newark Evening
News as 'one of those rare incidents
that bring a thrill into the drama of
life. Horace, If memory serves" con-
tinues the News, records a memo
rable tribute from son to a father. It
makes excellent literary material, al
though there is always chance that
when a son sets out to interpret his
father he will put into the interpreta-
ton something of himself as well as
of his subject. Viscount Gladstone has
shown already that he is q chip of
the old block, possessing his fathers
sense of justice and courage in attack
ing what he believes to be wrong"
THE action of the Gladstone broth
ers should have a salutary effect. If
great men are to be pursued by Capt
Wrights,' the pursuing ought at least
to be done while the victims are alive
to defend themselves" says the Day
ton Daily News. The Manchester
Union believes that "the public sense
M inc ffan hox
had the defendant secured damages
from the plaintiff. for there can be
scant sympathy for a man who writes
book casting apparently baseless re-
fiectionS upon the character of an emf
nent statesman long dead" The
Union credits Viscount Gladstone with
"a substantial contribution to the
maintenance OF the literary decencies."
X X X
The position that GIadstone's char
acter was unassailable is argued by
the San Francisco Bulletin with the
statement: mo such attacks were
made public in Gladstone's lifetime,
though he was perhaps the most bitter
ly chiticized of all cotemporary Brit
ish politicians. When he refused fur
Their association with Charles Stewart
Parnell on the ground of revelations
private life would have been assailed
had there been any grounds for assail-
ing it. Mrs. Gladstone Worshiped him,
his intimate friends adored him, and
however 1t was divided as to his poll
tics, the British nation respected him
as an exemplary citizen"
Attention is directed by the Danville
Register to the fact that this attack
is made a full generation and q half
after Mr.. Gladstone's day, when his
aged sons, over 70 years old, are retir-
ing with laurels that they have won
in their own names. 1t is worth moth
ing, not even comment" continues the
Register, Except for one thing-it IL
illustrates a mania that has gripped
England since the war; a sort of pa
thology of the literary mind.
The English people should do some
thing to protect their great portraits
from the tongues of fire." The New
Bedford Standard insists that IF the
new biography depends upon the pub
lication as facts of whispers and innu-
endoes against people who are dead
and incapable Of defending themselves,
1t is time that a higher standard of
historical accuracy was established.
T. The same restraint of de-
cency which prevents a man from
publishing improved aspersions upon
the living should be applied to writing
of the dead" The Duluth Herald adds
that those who libel a dead man, be-
ing perfectly safe physically and le-
gally, show 81 great deal more discre-
ton than those who libel a living man.
Discretion is a kind word for what
sometimes is called 'cowardice.
X X X
"The captain on the stand" in the
opinion of the Omaha World Herald,
/, proves the contentious of the sons OF
Gladstone that he Ia q. coward and a.