In his articles on "Ecce h.o.m.o" he expresses the hope "that the present tendency to treat the old belief of man with a precipitate, shallow, and unexamining disparagement, is simply a distemper, that inflicts for a time the moral atmosphere, that is due, like plagues and fevers, to our own previous folly and neglect; and that when it has served its work of admonition and reform, will be allowed to pa.s.s away."
The "Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture" is the t.i.tle of a book by Mr.
Gladstone, the articles of which were originally published in _The Sunday School Times_, Philadelphia.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. GLADSTONE"S AXE]
CHAPTER XIII
GREAT BUDGETS
The year 1860 marked the beginning of the second half of Mr. Gladstone"s life as a statesman, in which he stood prominently forward as a Reformer. July 18, 1859, as Chancellor in the Liberal government of Lord Palmerston, he brought forward his budget. The budget of 1860 was the greatest of all his financial measures, for a new departure was taken in British commerce and manufactures. Mr. Cobden, in behalf of the English Government, had negotiated with France a treaty based on free trade principles--"a treaty which gave an impetus to the trade of this country, whose far-reaching effects are felt even to our day."
The Chancellor explained the various propositions of his financial statements. Speaking of discontent with the income tax he observed: "I speak on general terms. Indeed, I now remember that I myself had, about a fortnight ago, a letter addressed to me complaining of the monstrous injustice and iniquity of the income tax, and proposing that, in consideration thereof, the Chancellor of the Exchequer should be publicly hanged."
Mr. Gladstone said that the total reduction of duties would be over 1,000,000, requiring a slight extension of taxation; that by this means nearly 1,000,000 would be returned to the general revenue; that the loss to the revenue by the French Treaty, which was based upon free trade principles, and the reduction of duties, would be half made up by the imposts specified; that the abolition of the paper duty would produce the happiest results from the spread of cheap literature. The reductions proposed would give a total relief to the consumer of nearly 4,000,000, and cause a net loss of the revenue of over 2,000,000, a sum about equivalent to the amount coming in from the cessation of government annuities that year. The total revenue was 70,564,000, and as the total expenses of government was 70,000,000, there remained an estimated surplus of 464,000.
Mr. Gladstone concluded; "There were times, now long by, when sovereigns made progress through the land, and when at the proclamation of their heralds, they caused to be scattered whole showers of coin among the people who thronged upon their steps.... Our Sovereign is enabled, through the wisdom of her great council, a.s.sembled in Parliament around her, again to scatter blessings among her subjects by means of wise and prudent laws; of laws which do not sap in any respect the foundations of duty or of manhood, but which strike away the shackles from the arm of industry."
"It was one of the peculiarities of Mr. Gladstone"s budget addresses that they roused curiosity in the outset, and, being delivered in a musical, sonorous, and perfectly modulated voice, kept the listeners interested to the very close. This financial statement of 1860 was admirably arranged for the purpose of awakening and keeping attention, piquing and teasing curiosity, and sustaining desire to hear from the first sentence to the last. It was not a speech, it was an oration, in the form of a great State paper, made eloquent, in which there was a proper restraint over the crowding ideas, the most exact accuracy in the sentences, and even in the very words chosen; the most perfect balancing of parts, and, more than all, there were no errors or omissions; nothing was put wrongly and nothing was overlooked. With a House crowded in every corner, with the strain upon his own mental faculties, and the great physical tax implied in the management of his voice, and the necessity for remaining upon his feet during this long period, "the observed of all observers," Mr. Gladstone took all as quietly, we are told, as if he had just risen to address a few observations to Mr.
Speaker. Indeed, it was laughingly said that he could address a House for a whole week, and on the Friday evening have taken a new departure, beginning with the observation, "After these preliminary remarks, I will now proceed to deal with the subject matter of my financial plan.""
The ministry was supported by large majorities, and carried their measures, but when the bill for the repeal of the duty on paper at home, as well as coming into the country, came before the House of Lords, it was rejected. Mr. Gladstone appeared to be confronted by the greatest const.i.tutional crisis of his life. He gave vent to his indignation, and declared that the action of the Lords was a gigantic innovation, and that the House of Commons had the undoubted right of selecting the manner in which the people should be taxed. This speech was p.r.o.nounced by Lord John Russell "magnificently mad," and Lord Granville said that "it was a toss-up whether Gladstone resigned or not, and that if he did it would break up the Liberal party." Quiet was finally restored, and the following year Mr. Gladstone adroitly brought the same feature before the Lords in a way that compelled acceptance.
The budget of 1861 showed a surplus of 2,000,000 over the estimated surplus, and proposed to remit the penny on the income tax, and to repeal the paper duty. Instead of being divided into several bills as in the previous year, the budget was presented as a whole--all included in one. By this device the Lords were forced to acquiesce in the repeal of the paper duty, or take the responsibility of rejecting the whole bill.
The Peers grumbled, and some of them were enraged. Lord Robert Cecil, now Marquis of Salisbury, rudely declared that Mr. Gladstone"s conduct was only worthy of an attorney. He begged to apologize to the attorneys.
They were honorable men and would have scorned the course pursued by the ministers. Another member of the House of Lords protested that the budget gave a mortal stab to the Const.i.tution. Mr. Gladstone retorted: "I want to know, to what Const.i.tution does it give a mortal stab? In my opinion it gives no mortal stab, and no stab at all, to any Const.i.tution that we are bound to care for. But, on the contrary, so far as it alters anything in the most recent course of practice, it alters in the direction of restoring that good old Const.i.tution which took its root in Saxon times, which grew from the Plantagenets, which endured the iron repression of the Tudors, which resisted the aggressions of the Stuarts, and which has come to its full maturity under the House of Brunswick. I think that is the Const.i.tution, if I may presume to say so, which it is our duty to guard, and which--if, indeed, the proceedings of this year can be said to affect it at all--will be all the better for the operation. But the Const.i.tution which my right honorable friend worships is a very different affair."
In 1860, Mr. Gladstone was elected Lord Rector of Edinburgh University, and the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him.
Mr. Gladstone, in 1861, introduced one of his most beneficial measures--a bill creating the Post Office Savings Bank. The success of the scheme has gone beyond all expectation. At the close of 1891, the amount deposited was 71,608,002, and growing at the average rate of over 4,000,000 annually.
Mr. Gladstone"s financial measures for 1862, while not involving such momentous issues as those of the preceding year, nevertheless encountered considerable opposition. The budget was a stationary one, with no surplus, no new taxes, no remission of taxes, no heavier burdens.
In October, 1862, Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone made a journey down the Tyne, which is thus described: "It was not possible to show to royal visitors more demonstrations of honor than were showered on the ill.u.s.trious Commoner and his wife.... At every point, at every bank and hill and factory, in every opening where people could stand or climb, expectant crowds awaited Mr. Gladstone"s arrival. Women and children, in all costumes and of all conditions, lined the sh.o.r.es ... as Mr. and Mrs.
Gladstone pa.s.sed. Cannon boomed from every point;... such a succession of cannonading never before greeted a triumphant conqueror on the march."
It was during this journey that Mr. Gladstone made the memorable speech, at New Castle, upon the American Civil War, which had broken out the same year. There had been much speculation as to whether the English government would recognize the Confederacy as a separate and independent power, and the utterance of a member of the Cabinet under the circ.u.mstances was regarded as entirely unwarranted. Mr. Gladstone himself frankly acknowledged his error in 1867: "I must confess that I was wrong; that I took too much upon myself in expressing such an opinion. Yet the motive was not bad. My sympathies were then--where they had long before been, where they are now--with the whole American people."
The session of 1863 was barren of important subjects of debate, and hence unusual interest was centered in the Chancellor"s statement, which was another masterly financial presentation, and its leading propositions were cordially received. The whole reduction of taxation for the year was 3,340,000, or counting the total reductions, present and prospective, of 4,601,000. This still left a surplus of 400,000.
In four years 8,000,000 had been paid for war with China out of the ordinary revenues. A proposition to subject charities to the income tax, although endorsed by the whole cabinet, led to such powerful opposition throughout the country that it was finally withdrawn. The arguments of the Chancellor were endorsed by many who were opposed to the indiscriminate and mistaken beneficence which was so prevalent on death-beds.
A bill was introduced at this session by Sir Morton Peto, ent.i.tled the "Dissenters" Burial Bill," the object of which was to enable Nonconformists to have their own religious rites and services, and by their own ministers, in the graveyards of the Established Church. The bill was strongly opposed by Lord Robert Cecil and Mr. Disraeli. Mr.
Gladstone favored the measure. The bill was rejected, and Mr. Gladstone at a later period discovered that his progress in ecclesiastical and political opinions was creating a breach between himself and his const.i.tuents at Oxford.
Mr. Gladstone"s financial scheme for 1864 was received with undiminished interest. It was characterized as "a policy of which peace, progress and retrenchment were the watchwords." An available surplus of 2,260,000 enabled him to propose reductions.
The subject of reform, which had been coming up in the House of Commons in one way or another and agitating the House and the country since 1859, when the Conservative party was beaten on the question, reappeared in 1864. The question of lowering the borough franchise came up, and Mr.
Gladstone startled the House and the country by his declaration upon the subject of reform, which showed the rapid development of his views upon the subject. The Conservative party was filled with alarm, and the hopes of the Reform party correspondingly elated. "The eyes of all Radical Reformers turned to Mr. Gladstone as the future Minister of Reform in Church and State. He became from the same moment an object of distrust, and something approaching to detestation in the eyes of all steady-going Conservatives."
Mr. Gladstone said: "I say that every man who is not presentably incapacitated by some consideration of personal unfitness or political danger, is morally ent.i.tled to come within the pale of the const.i.tution." This declaration was the first note sounded in a conflict which, twelve months later, was to cost Mr. Gladstone his seat for Oxford University, and finally to culminate in the disruption of the Liberal Government. The general feeling in regard to this speech was that if the Liberal party had failed in its duty on the subject of reform in the existing Parliament after Mr. Gladstone"s utterances, that the condition of things must undergo a change, so great was the effect of his speech in the country. The bill, which was presented by a private member and lost, was made memorable by the speech of the Chancellor. The eyes of careful political leaders were again turned towards Mr. Gladstone, and strong predictions made of his coming exaltation to the Premiership. Mr. Speaker Denison said, in October, 1864: "I now antic.i.p.ate that Mr. Gladstone will be Premier. Neither party has any leader. I hope Mr. Gladstone may get support from the Conservatives who now support Palmerston." And these expectations were known to Mr. Gladstone himself, for Bishop Wilberforce had a conversation with him and writes: "Long talk with Gladstone as to Premiership: he is for acting under John Russell." Again to Mr.
Gladstone: "Anything which breaks up, or tends to break up, Palmerston"s supremacy, must bring you nearer to the post in which I long to see you, and, if I live, shall see you." Lord Palmerston himself said: "Gladstone will soon have it all his own way; and whenever he gets my place we shall have strange things."
The hostile feeling towards the Palmerston government, which had been growing in intensity, chiefly on the ground of its foreign policy, reached its full height in a fierce battle between the Ministry and the Opposition. July 4, 1864, Mr. Disraeli brought forward his motion of "no confidence." Mr. Gladstone replied for the government, and sought to rebut the accusations made by the leader of the Opposition. He said that it was the very first time in which the House of Commons had been called upon to record the degradation of the country, simply for the sake of displacing a ministry.
An amusing episode which occurred during this debate is worthy of record here; Mr. Bernard Osborne "grew amusingly sarcastic at the expense of the government, though he paid at the same time a great compliment to Mr. Gladstone. He likened the Cabinet to a museum of curiosities, in which there were some birds of rare and n.o.ble plumage, both alive and stuffed. There had been a difficulty, unfortunately, in keeping up the breed, and it was found necessary to cross it with the famous Peelites.
"I will do them the justice to say that they have a very great and n.o.ble Minister among them in the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and it is to his measures alone that they owe the little popularity and the little support they get from this Liberal party." Describing Mr. Milner Gibson, the honorable gentleman said he was like some "fly in amber," and the wonder was "how the devil he got there." Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright must have been disappointed in this "young man from the country." He had become insolent and almost quarrelsome under the guidance of the n.o.ble lord. Should that Parliament decide on terminating its own and their existence, they would find consolation that the funeral oration would be p.r.o.nounced by Mr. Newdegate, and that some friendly hand would inscribe on their mausoleum, "Rest and be thankful."" Mr. Disraeli"s motion was lost, and the ministry was sustained.
The budget of 1865 represented the country as in a prosperous financial condition. The total reduction was over 5,000,000. Such a financial showing gained the warm approval of the people, and excited but little opposition in the House. It was evident that a master-hand was guiding the national finances, and fortunately the Chancellor"s calculations were verified by the continued prosperity of the country. At a later period, in commenting upon the policy of the two parties--Conservative and Liberal--Mr. Gladstone said: "From thence it follows that the policy of the Liberal party has been to reduce the public charges and to keep the expenditure within the estimates, and, as a result, to diminish the taxation of the country and the national debt; that the policy of the Tory government, since they took office in 1866, has been to increase the public charges, and to allow the departments to spend more than their estimates, and, as a result, to create deficits and to render the reduction of taxation impossible. Which policy will the country prefer?"
CHAPTER XIV
LIBERAL REFORMER AND PRIME MINISTER
July, 1865, Parliament having run its allotted course, according to the const.i.tution, was dissolved, and a general election took place, which resulted in the Liberal party being returned again with a majority. Mr.
Gladstone"s relations with many of his const.i.tuents were not harmonious, owing to his p.r.o.nounced Liberal views, and his seat for Oxford was seriously imperilled. Mr. Gathorne Hardy was nominated to run against him. The High Tory party resolved to defeat him, and he was defeated by a majority of 180. "The electors preferred the uncompromising defender of the Church and Toryism to the brilliant statesman and financier."
Almost all of the distinguished residents of Oxford and three-fourths of the tutors and lecturers of the University voted for Mr. Gladstone, and his rejection was entirely owing to the opposing vote of non-residents and the bigotry of the hostile country clergymen of the Church of England. From the Bishop of Oxford Mr. Gladstone received the following indignant protest:
"I cannot forbear expressing to you my grief and indignation at the result. It is needless for me to say that everything I could with propriety do I did heartily to save our University this great loss and dishonor, as well from a loving honor of you. You were too great for them."
"The enemies of the University," observed the _Times_, "will make the most of her disgrace. It has. .h.i.therto been supposed that a learned const.i.tuency was to some extent exempt from the vulgar motives of party spirit, and capable of forming a higher estimate of statesmanship than common tradesmen or tenant-farmers."
His valedictory address to his former const.i.tuents was short: "After an arduous connection of eighteen years, I bid you, respectfully, farewell.... It is one imperative duty, and one alone, which induces me to trouble you with these few parting words, the duty of expressing my profound and lasting grat.i.tude for indulgence as generous, and for support as warm and enthusiastic in itself, and as honorable from the character and distinctions of those who have given it, as has, in my belief, ever been accorded by any const.i.tuency to any representative."
One event in Parliament, in 1865, contributed much to Mr. Gladstone"s defeat: In March, 1865, Mr. Dillwyn, the Radical member for Swansea, moved "that the present position of the Irish Church Establishment is unsatisfactory, and calls for the early attention of her Majesty"s Government."
Sir Stafford Northcote wrote: "Gladstone made a terribly long stride in his downward progress last night, and denounced the Irish Church in a way which shows how, by and by, he will deal not only with it, but with the Church of England too.... He laid down the doctrines that the t.i.the was national property, and ought to be dealt with by the State in a manner most advantageous to the people; and that the Church of England was only national because the majority of the people still belong to her."
"It was now felt that henceforth Mr. Gladstone must belong to the country, and not to the University." He realized this himself, for driven from Oxford, he went down to South Lancashire, seeking to be returned from there to Parliament, and in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, said: "At last, my friends, I am come among you, and I am come among you unmuzzled." These words were greeted with loud and prolonged applause. The advanced Liberals seemed to take the same view, and regarded Mr. Gladstone"s defeat at Oxford by the Conservatives as his political enfranchis.e.m.e.nt. His defeat was not wholly unexpected to himself. In 1860 he said: "Without having to complain, I am entirely sick and weary of the terms upon which I hold the seat."
Mr. Gladstone felt keenly the separation, for he wrote to the Bishop of Oxford: "There have been two great deaths, or transmigrations of spirit, in my political existence--one, very slow, the breaking of ties with my original party, the other, very short and sharp, the breaking of the tie with Oxford. There will probably be a third, and no more." And in a speech at Liverpool, there was something of pathos in his reference to Oxford, when he said that if he had clung to the representation of the University with desperate fondness, it was because he would not desert a post to which he seemed to have been called. But he had now been dismissed from it, not by academical, but by political agencies.
Mr. Gladstone was elected to represent his native district in Parliament, and he was at the head of the poll in Manchester, Liverpool, and all the large towns. The result of the general elections was a considerable gain to the Liberal party, but that party sustained a severe loss by the death of Lord Palmerston, October 18, 1865.
A new cabinet was constructed, with Earl Russell as Premier, and Mr.
Gladstone as the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. Gladstone became for the first time the recognized leader in the House of Commons, which then meant virtually Prime Minister, for with the aged Premier in the House of Lords, and the youthful Chancellor in the Commons, it meant nothing else. But Earl Russell and his younger colleague were calculated to work in harmonious action, for they were both Reformers. The ardent temperament and the severe conscientiousness of the leader was the cause of much speculation and anxiety as to his management. His first appearance as leader of the House was therefore waited for with much curiosity. The new Parliament was opened February 6, 1866, by the Queen in person, for the first time since the death of Prince Albert. In the speech from the throne it was announced that Parliament would be directed to consider such improvements in the laws which regulate the right of voting in the election of the members of the House of Commons as may tend to strengthen our free inst.i.tutions, and conduce to the public welfare. Bishop Wilberforce wrote: "Gladstone has risen entirely to his position, and done all his most sanguine friends hoped for as leader.... There is a general feeling of insecurity of the ministry, and the Reform Bill to be launched to-night is thought a bad rock."
May 3, 1866, Mr. Gladstone brought forward what was destined to be his last budget for some years. There was a surplus of over a million and a quarter of pounds, which allowed a further and considerable reduction of taxation.
The condition of Ireland was very grave at this time, and as apprehensions were felt in regard to the Fenians, a bill suspending the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland was pa.s.sed. Mr. Gladstone, in explaining the necessity for the measure, said that the government were ready at any time to consider any measure for the benefit of Ireland, but it was the single duty of the House at the moment to strengthen the hands of the Executive in the preservation of law and order. The bill was renewed by the Derby government, and pa.s.sed as before, as the result of an antic.i.p.ated great Fenian uprising under "Head-Centre" Stephens.