GREAT BRITAIN. 



them by blood or lineage. Of Scotch parent- 

 age on both sides, and descended from the 

 Gladstanes of Leith, prosperous corn-factors 

 and ship-owners of that city, he was himself 

 born in Liverpool, to which city his father, 

 afterward Sir John Gladstone, had removed in 

 1787. He was the fourth son (the first by Sir 

 John's second wife) of his father, and first saw 

 the light December 29, 1809. John Gladstone 

 was wealthy and intelligent, and lie seems to 

 have intended this son to have followed in the 

 political career which had made his own name 

 so highly honored. The boy was sent to Eton, 

 where he was very popular and studious ; and 

 thence to Christ Church College, Oxford, 

 where he distinguished himself by his brilliant 

 scholarship, receiving that often-sought but 

 rarely-won honor of a double first-class, in 

 1831. After taking his first degree, he spent 

 a year or more in Continental travel, being 

 elected Fellow of All Souls' College. He en- 

 tered Parliament when but twenty-three years 

 of age for one of the Duke of Newcastle's 

 pocket-boroughs, for which he sat thirteen 

 years. He was at this time a High Tory, as 

 his father had been before him, and, attracting 

 the attention of Sir Robert Peel, then the Tory 

 Premier, he was in 1834 made a Junior Lord 

 of the Treasury, and, in 1835, Under-Secretary 

 for Colonial Affairs. He was not long in office 

 at this time, however, but in the ensuing 

 spring followed his leader, and remained in 

 opposition for six years. In 1834 he pub- 

 lished a treatise, entitled "The State in its 

 Relations with the Church," which took High 

 Tory ground in favor of a state Church, and 

 defended it with great ability. But in this, as 

 well as in many another act of his life, Mr. 

 Gladstone soon found occasion to retrace his 

 steps. One who should to-day read this book 

 (which even Macaulay thought to merit a care- 

 ful and elaborate review) could hardly imagine 

 it possible that its author should have also 

 been the author of the Irish Church Disestab- 

 lishment Bill. From 1841 to 1845 Mr. Glad- 

 stone was again in the Cabinet as Vice-Presi- 

 dent of the Board of Trade and Master of the 

 Mint, and made himself useful by a complete 

 and admirable revision of the tariff, as well 

 as by a large amount of literary labor. He 

 withdrew from the Cabinet in the spring of 

 1845, from scruples of honor in regard to the 

 "Maynooth Grant;" he was recalled before 

 the close of the year, as Secretary of State for 

 the Colonies, but remained out of Parliament 

 (having resigned his seat from the pocket- 

 borough because he was in favor of a repeal 

 of the corn-laws) until 1847, when he was 

 elected for the University of Oxford. His 

 Toryism, like that of Sir Robert Peel, was 

 visibly moderating, and in 1852 he formally 

 separated himself from the Conservative party, 

 and entered the Coalition Cabinet of the Earl 

 of Aberdeen as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 

 which position he retained in the Palmerston 

 Cabinet of 1853. He soon after, however, sent 



in his resignation, but sustained, indepen- 

 dently, Lord Palmerston's adminstration. In 

 1859 he accepted from the Earl of Derby, 

 then Premier, a special diplomatic mission to 

 the Ionian Islands, which proved successful. 

 Another fruit of this season of comparative 

 leisure was his elaborate volume of "Homeric 

 Studies." When Palmerston returned to power 

 in 1859, Mr. Gladstone was again Chancellor 

 of the Exchequer, repealed the paper duty, 

 and negotiated, through Mr. Cobden, the com- 

 mercial treaty with France. In 1865 his lib- 

 eralism had become too strongly pronounced 

 for the Tory constituency of the University 

 of Oxford, and he was defeated, but immedi- 

 ately elected by South Lancashire, his native 

 county. At this time the death of Palmerston 

 made him the leader of the House of Commons, 

 though he still retained his position as Chan- 

 cellor of the Exchequer. His unconcealed hos- 

 tility to the American Union during the late 

 civil war evinced the depth and bitterness of 

 his prejudices against republicanism, despite 

 his theoretical advocacy of liberalism, and in 

 1868 he found himself defeated in his native 

 county, through distrust of his heartiness in 

 matters of reform, as he had been in Oxford 

 three years before, because he was too liberal. 

 He was then elected by the metropolitan con- 

 stituency of Greenwich, which he still repre- 

 sents. From 1866 to 1868 he was out of office, 

 but in December, 1868, he was summoned to 

 form a ministry on the defeat of the Derby- 

 Disraeli Cabinet, and this time, as First Lord 

 of the Treasury and Premier, attained what 

 had long been the height of his ambition. In 

 this capacity he has secured the passage of the 

 bill for the Disestablishment of the Irish 

 Church, the Irish Land Bill, the Education 

 Bill, and the abolition of the purchase sys- 

 tem, by royal warrant. Yet, it must be con- 

 ceded that there is a growing discontent with 

 his administration, which, at no distant day, 

 must cause its overthrow. This discontent, 

 which is manifested alike in and out of Parlia- 

 ment, arises from various causes. The im- 

 pression prevails that the Premier is not really 

 in earnest in measures of reform ; that he only 

 yields to them under strong pressure, and not 

 then, if he can help it ; and the people, who 

 are really in earnest, are not disposed to toler- 

 erate this lukewarmness. Complaint is made 

 also of his arrogance and irritability, and more 

 than once in the theatres, and in the public 

 press, there have been stinging allusions to his 

 inability "to keep his temper." His provo- 

 cations are numerous, undoubtedly, and with 

 an opponent like Disraeli, who delights in ir- 

 ritating him, it is very difficult to be always 

 on his guard, but he loses ground with both 

 Parliament and people with every ^ebullition 

 of anger, and sometimes incurs the risk of still 

 greater misfortunes. 



Benjamin Disraeli, the foremost man of 

 the Conservative party, though not wholly 

 trusted by them, is, like Mr. Gladstone, from 



