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stone was a suitable man to represent the town of 

 Newark in Parliament, and help with his oratory to 

 stem the tide of reform. Gladstone, at the sessions 

 of the Union, showed the strongest opposition to 

 political reform, and was instrumental in causing 

 the club to pass votes of censure on Lord Gray for 

 the passage of the reform bill, and on the Duke of 

 \\Vllington for Catholic emancipation. Justin Mc- 

 Carthy savs, speaking of Gladstone at this tune: 

 -His mind was a mirror of Oxford opinion, venera- 

 tion for the past, a romantic sense of reverence for 

 the ancient institutions of the country ; yet a mind 

 opened to the inevitable tendencies of the future. 

 Gladstone while at Oxford founded the Oxford &s- 

 say Club, which became familiar to its members as 

 the " W. E. G.," so named after the initials of Glad- 

 stone's name. The object of this intellectual asso- 

 ciation was the reading of essays alternately in the 

 rooms of each member, subject to the criticism of 



unrest harassed the country. The Tories were filled 

 with extravagant fears, the party of progress aflame 

 with extravagant hopes. Gladstone, in his first 

 electoral address at the general election of 1833, felt 

 it a duty to watch and resist that growing desire for 

 change which threatened to produce, " along with 

 partial good, a melancholy preponderance of mis- 

 chief." The reform bilr*of 1832 first introduced 

 the great middle-class cities and towns to the right 

 of representation in Parliament and gave them the 

 right of suffrage. The bill struck sharply at the 

 privileges of the territorial magnates, but was really 

 very limited, and left the vast mass of the working 

 population outside the pale of constitutional repre- 

 sentation. The Duke of Wellington declared the 

 reform bill to be " a revolution by course of law." 

 Gladstone was returned for Newark, and on the 

 opening of the reformed Parliament on Jan. 20, 

 1833, took his seat for the first time in the house, 



HAWARDEN CASTLE, MR. GLADSTONE'S RESIDENCE. 



the other members. As an example of the trend of 

 Gladstone's mind, he chose for one subject a paper 

 "to explain and define the belief of Socrates in im- 

 mortality." At Oxford he widely extended his 

 classic knowledge, which was, it has been said, 

 never pedantic, and was not open to the charge of 

 having missed the beauties of the ancient authors 

 by parsing. He now began to take an absorbing 

 interest in Greek life of the Homeric era, on which 

 he was probably unequaled as an accurate authority. 

 He was a strong and firmly convinced believer in the 

 actual personality of the blind poet, and scouted 

 the idea of the Iliad being a sagalike or romaunt 

 M ring of separate pearls. It is said that strongly 

 expressed contrary views by Mr. Disraeli on his 

 first meeting with Gladstone on this, to the latter 

 vital question, initialed the rancor and ill-feeling 

 which characterized the private and political con- 

 nection of two men, who, both great in their re- 

 spective spheres, were in temperament and ambi- 

 tions antipodal. In December, 1831, Gladstone 

 secured the highest collegiate honor conferred by 

 the university, a double-first, or first in each, the 

 classical, mathematical, and theological schools. 



While taking a needed rest in Italy he was re- 

 called by an earnest request from the Duke of New- 

 castle to represent the town of Newark, which was 

 what was tnen called a " pocket borough," or one 

 whose voters were by strong ties of interest almost 

 bound to vote for the duke's nominee. The first 

 reform bill had become law, and political and social 



beiTig then twenty-three years of age. He was strik- 

 ingly handsome, his face pallid, almost bloodless, his 

 eyes more radiant than in youth, his voice strong, 

 clear, flexible, and sweet, heard without strain in 

 any part of the house. As he appeared under the 

 auspices of the ducal house of Newcastle, with the . 

 added prestige of his Oxford achievements and his 

 physical qualifications for oratorical success, his 

 maiden speech was eagerly anticipated. He made 

 no attempt to dazzle the house by his brilliance or 

 impress it with his scholarship ; the maiden speech 

 was simple and to the point, and produced a good 

 impression. Great orators as both Sheridan ard 

 Disraeli were, their first attempts to address the 

 house were ghastly failures ; Disraeli's confused 

 declaration as he broke down and took his sea.t, 

 ''The time will come when you shall hear me," being 

 both historic and prophetic. 



The first session of the new Parliament w.tf 

 largely devoted to the question of slavery in the 

 colonies, and Gladstone defended his father, a larije 

 slave owner, against an attack made upon him in 

 the house. The question of the Irish state Church 

 and the steps advisable to repress agrarian dis- 

 turbances in that country were also discussed, and 

 Gladstone first made acquaintance with the " Irwh 

 specter" which was to haunt him through his long 

 and arduous parliamentary career. The great Irish 

 orator O'Connell was very friendly and helpful to 

 Gladstone during his early parliamentary career, 

 and doubtless enlisted the sympathy of Gladstone 



