The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1882-04-08 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

GLADSTONE'S ASSAILANT.  Like M'Lean, the fellow who lately horrified England by shooting at her Majesty, Henry Wilson, the man who recently interfered with Mr. Gladstone at the tenants' dinner at Hawarden, seems to be a hopeless lunatic. He has again been arrested, this time at Birmingham. Upon him were found a large number of copies of letters which he had sent to statesmen and others. In one to the Right Hon. John Bright he enclosed an extract from his diary, and alluded to letters he had sent to Mr. Gladstone, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Newman, Mr. Bradlaugb, and others. In it he talked of his impecuniosity, and said he had no means, and had purposely shut off an opportunity of getting an appointment by, in the iirst place, giving his late employer every justification for calling him dishonest, and then, by his visit to Hawarden, and apparent insult to Mr. Gladstone, becoming a notorious fool as well as a rogue. Then, he says, " I did this on purpose to see whether tho faith I have in the love of God would, as I considered it ought to if sound, stand any strain that could he imposed upon it, and so that I could be able to speak from experience of what it was like to be placed in a professedly Christian country without friends, money, or character." Further on in the letter he said, " I do not see my way to continue longer in the world except by being supported at the expense of the country as a common felon or pauper, and when the shilling or two I have are expended I shall have ' to commit some crime sufficiently grave to break the law or go into the workhouse." The remainder of the letter was devoted to blasphemous allusions to the Deity, in which he said Christ had "taken him in most deliciously." The extract from his diary forwarded with this letter was a lengthy document, in which he related how he had combatted with a desire to commit suicide.  In it he said that, having become from day to day more depressed, having no chance of getting employment for want of a character, and being in a " languid frame of mind," he did not 800 any way out of his difficulty except by making an exit from the world. As the least painful way of doing this he decided to go to Liverpool, there hire a boat, and, having rowed out to sea until he was exhausted, to throw himself into the sea and drown himself. Having so resolved he sold his books for 3s. and his overcoat for 7s. By the time he had done this he began to " ruminate " as to whether it was absolutely necessary for him to sacrifice himself, and to reflect whether there were not scone less drastic means of getting out of his diemmas. Then he resolved to take no further steps until the morning, in order to see if any other mode of proceeding suggested itself. Another document contained a number of " original riddles," most of which were of a blasphemous character. One was, " What prominent member of the Fourth Party and aspiring politician is like a vast but unhealthy national establishment? Answer : Lord Randolph, who is a Church-ill." It is one of the disagreeable adjuncts to rank and fame that those possessing them must expect to receive a very large amount of the attention of such crack-brained individuals.