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according to Gladstone 14 Journal of Liberal History 52 Autumn 2006 Gladstonian Liberalism What were the prevailing principles of the Liberal Party in the late Victorian period? David Bebbington explores the views of its leader, W. E. Gladstone.

illiam Ewart oppressive at home. Gladstonian Gladstone was Prominent among Gladstone’s Liberalism certainly embraced a man of ideas. values as Liberal leader was lib- the principle of : ‘with- He read widely, erty, a principle usually associ- out liberty,’ remarked the states- as the collec- ated with classic liberalism. He man, ‘there is nothing sound’.1 Wtion of his books at St Deiniol’s had altered his view of this sub- Gladstone had come to give Library, Hawarden, bears wit- ject since the 1830s, when, as a a high place to liberty chiefly ness, and he wrote extensively. young Conservative MP, he had through developing his eco- He published five separate titles not believed that freedom was nomic views. He had learned on Homer alone; during peri- intrinsically good. Gladstone from Sir Robert Peel that it was ods of opposition he composed a sometimes remarked that the wise to reduce tariff barriers lengthy article every month; and single change of opinion during so as to promote and he encompassed a broad range of his career had been in this area, global prosperity. His economic subjects, taking in not only poli- because he had come to accept synthesis was a Christian ver- tics and Homer but also many the importance of liberty. The sion of political economy deriv- aspects of theology. principle included, he main- ing from the Scottish theologian His most important out- tained, free speech, freedom of Thomas Chalmers. Laws made put was concerned with Lib- assembly, , by human governments, accord- eralism. He acted as leader of freedom to worship and freedom ing to Chalmers, could interfere the Liberal Party from 1866 of the person. It extended in for- with the laws of providence. The onwards, remaining in the role eign affairs to liberty for subject world was designed by its Crea- in substance, if not in name, races struggling to escape from tor to be a self-acting mechanism during the 1870s and not retir- oppression, notably the Bulgar- that, if left alone, would operate ing until 1894. During this ians against the Turks in the efficiently. Hence there should period Gladstone defined what 1870s. Freedom also implied the be as little regulation of trade the principles of Liberalism minimising of the state. People, as possible. Gladstone’s policies were. The focus of this arti- Gladstone held, should not look ‘Without were erected on this foundation. cle is not on particular poli- to the legislature for answers to liberty’, As Chancellor of the Exchequer cies, the stuff of parliamentary their problems, but should seek in the 1850s and 1860s, he called debate, but on Liberal funda- solutions themselves. Here was remarked for retrenchment, the cutting mentals, the groundwork of the rationale for self-help. If the back of public spending. He even Gladstone’s mature political population expected the gov- the states- circulated to his civil servants a theory. What was Gladstonian ernment to provide social ben- memorandum about regularly Liberalism according to Glad- efits, the consequence would man, ‘there counting the number of paper stone? The statesman’s articles be an undermining of freedom. is nothing clips on their desk. None was to and speeches enable us to con- The state would grow and the be wasted. Taxation was to be as struct an answer. government would become sound’. low as possible, with Gladstone

Journal of Liberal History 52 Autumn 2006 15 gladstonian liberalism according to gladstone constantly aiming for the aboli- Gladstone leaders. Individuals should be own rulers, the bishops, whose tion of income tax. was willing to submit their judge- authority was independent of to be left in people’s pockets so should not ment to the inherited wisdom that of the state. Although a that it would circulate and gen- of the collectivity. Reverence strong defender of the Church erate wealth. The population be seen would then function as the glue of England as established, Glad- was to be free in the economic of human communities. stone always insisted that the sphere to engage in enterprise. as an indi- Which communities in par- state was not to interfere with The question arises of whether vidualist, ticular did Gladstone mean? In the internal life of the church, Gladstone should be classified as the first place there was the fam- specially its teaching. His bête an individualist in consequence for he per- ily, the basic building block of noire was Erastianism, the belief of his version of economic lib- society. Its high esteem in the that the state was to control the eralism. is often ceived the nineteenth century, according church. seen as the kernel of nineteenth- to Gladstone, was one of the This conviction caused seri- century liberalism. Society, on theoretical greatest fruits of Christianity. ous problems in government. this understanding, is an asso- impor- The Christian faith had raised During his first administration, ciation of rational egoists pur- respect for women over the cen- in 1870, the government was suing their own self-interest. tance of turies. In Aristotle, women are responsible for a bill that aimed Gladstone’s concern for liberty wrongly treated as inferior par- to fill the gaps in the national seems to be an assertion of the belonging ticipants in the household. In system of education in England right of the individual to be free Christian teaching, by contrast, and Wales. It had to consider from the tyrannies of the state to human women possessed moral and what form of religious instruc- and so his identification with groups. social equality. There might be a tion should be given in the this perspective appears plau- difference of function, but there new schools. Gladstone wanted sible. His speeches, however, was equality of status. Gladstone there to be dogmatic Anglican show that he set a high on praised the ‘reciprocal deference’ teaching in accordance with other principles beside freedom. between husband and wife to be the creed. His fellow cabi- He habitually suggested that lib- found in the pages of Homer.3 net members, on the contrary, erty needed to be balanced by The family was the essential wanted the religious training to order, or law and order, or loy- training ground for children. be acceptable to all Protestants, alty. Liberty did not stand alone And, not least for that reason, whether Anglican, Methodist, in splendid isolation as a sanction the statesman denounced threats Congregationalist or whatever. for individualism. Rather, val- to the family. In 1857, when he There were acute tensions in ues associated with the commu- was out of office, the govern- cabinet until, in the end, the bill nity were ranked alongside it. ment introduced a bill to allow was passed in the form preferred Gladstone should not be seen as divorce. Previously divorce had by his colleagues. One of the an individualist, for he perceived been possible only by means of a greatest legislative measures of the theoretical importance of separate act of parliament, which his government enacted a policy belonging to human groups. by its cumbersome and expen- that Gladstone himself detested. sive nature was inconceivable for Yet as Prime Minister, Glad- nearly all the population. Now, stone was able to serve the Community although limited to very specific Church of England. The bishops Another feature of Gladsto- circumstances, divorce was to were appointed by the Queen on nian Liberalism was therefore be made more widely available. the advice of her premier, and community. The language of Gladstone resisted vehemently so Gladstone was able to rec- community runs through Glad- in parliament, arguing that mar- ommend men who would give stone’s discourse. It is applied riage was sacred and designed able leadership on the episco- to corporate life of all kinds, to be permanent. Although pal bench. He drew up a list of whether small or large, at home his campaign was unsuccessful the qualities he looked for in a or abroad. ‘The sense of a com- and the bill passed into law, the potential bishop: mon life’, he declared in 1890, strength of his opposition was ‘– parochial, municipal, county, an index of the high value Glad- Piety. Learning (sacred). national – is an ennobling quali- stone placed on the family. Eloquence. Administrative fication to civilised man.’2 Each A second community that power. Faithful allegiance individual must show respect Gladstone envisaged as hav- to the Church and to the for the whole, for the common ing a place in social theory was Church of England. Activity. good. This bond of human soci- the church. Gladstone, though Tact and courtesy in dealings ety Gladstone called ‘reverence’. beginning as an evangelical, had with men: knowledge of the There must be reverence for the adopted a high view of the place world. Accomplishments and customary, traditional ways of of the church as a visible and literature. An equitable spirit. the group, and especially for its organised society. It possessed its Faculty of working with his

16 Journal of Liberal History 52 Autumn 2006 gladstonian liberalism according to gladstone

brother bishops. Some legal in the direction of local affairs, and Britain that might well have habit of mind. Circumspec- would go on to become MPs. averted the troubles of the suc- tion. Courage. Maturity of age Gladstone in office set himself ceeding century. Irish Home and character. Corporal vigour. to extend local government, his Rule was an indication of Glad- Liberal sentiments on public last bill as Prime Minister being stone’s commitment to giving affairs. A representative char- a measure to establish a council recognition to nations as distinct acter with reference to shades in every parish. Even villages communities. of opinion fairly allowable in were to have a distinct political Nations, however, were part the Church.4 identity, together with a sense of a larger international commu- of responsibility for their own nity. In that sphere, Gladstone With such paragons at its head, affairs. Whether tiny villages held, there should be coopera- the church could hardly fail to or great cities, local settlements tion rather than . thrive. Gladstone wanted to were to display a community He often spoke of the Concert strengthen the church through consciousness. of Europe, meaning the great its leadership so that it would The nation had even stronger powers acting together to settle be a powerful and independent claims on the loyalty of the indi- differences, restrain over-ambi- force in the life of the nation. vidual. Gladstone saw patriotism tious states and keep interna- A third type of commu- and nationalism as interchangea- tional order. Gladstone believed nity that he envisaged was the ble. Nationalism, he maintained, that each great power, when municipality. Gladstone saw was a force for good in the mod- acting separately, naturally pur- towns and cities as possessing a ern world. He conceded that it sued its own self-interest. When, strong corporate identity. He could be corrupted into national however, the great powers took believed it was desirable to fos- pride and so become oppressive joint action, the effect was to ter a sense of local loyalty, and or assertive. In general, however, neutralise national selfishness. In so opposed measures of cen- nationalism fostered progress, Gladstone’s series of Midlothian tralisation transferring powers stimulating industry, for exam- speeches in 1879, the most cele- from local to national authori- ple, in the newly united Italy. brated triumph of his public ora- ties. Municipalities, he believed, Gladstone envisaged nationhood tory, he explained that among should be entrusted with large as a compound of race, religion, the proper principles of foreign powers. language, history and other fac- policy was the maintenance of The point can be illustrated by tors. In Wales, national identity the Concert of Europe. reference to temperance reform. was specially linked to history Gladstone’s vision extended Some Liberal leaders rejected and language. More often it was beyond his own continent, rec- the proposal that local authori- linked to religion and even more ognising the importance of Brit- ties should be allowed to pro- frequently it was rooted in race. ain’s relations with America, a hibit the sale of alcohol within Nationhood was a delicate great power of the future. In his their bounds. If in a local poll question in the British Isles Irish Home first administration he insisted most people voted to ban liquor, in Gladstone’s day. Whereas on settling the big outstand- leaders such as Lord Hartington England, Scotland and Wales Rule was ing difference with the United believed, the majority would were content to form part of a States. During the Civil War be tyrannising over the minor- , Ireland was an indi- the Confederate vessel Ala- ity who wanted to able to buy a not. There a strong movement cation bama, built on the Mersey, had drink. That would infringe the aimed at establishing a separate preyed on Federal shipping. principle of individual liberty. parliament and perhaps a sepa- of Glad- After the war the United States Gladstone, however, was willing rate state. Gladstone pondered demanded damages from Brit- to support a majority decision to Irish claims, gradually reach- stone’s ain. The Conservatives gener- ban alcohol. The expression of ing the conclusion that Ireland ally favoured brushing aside conviction by the community should be treated as a nation commit- the idea as an impertinence, but as a whole should, in his view, distinct from Britain. In 1886, ment to Gladstone made a generous set- override individual freedom. therefore, he proposed Home tlement through arbitration. He Because he upheld local deci- Rule, the setting up of a par- giving argued that the decision helped sion-making, Gladstone thought liament in Dublin, separate but establish the principles of inter- it crucial for people to partici- subordinate. Accepting Irish recognition national law. pate in municipal affairs. They claims against Britain was the Furthermore, Gladstone should both vote and offer them- boldest move of Gladstone’s to nations held that small nations should selves as candidates for election. career, and, though he failed to as dis- have a recognised place in the Local political involvement was, carry the bill, the proposal rep- international arena. Another in the statesman’s opinion, a sure resented a noble effort to bring tinct com­ Midlothian principle was sign of a healthy body politic. about a peaceful settlement to acknowledging the equal Local leaders, trained by joining the relations between Ireland munities. of all nations, not just of the

Journal of Liberal History 52 Autumn 2006 17 gladstonian liberalism according to gladstone great powers. The statesman was individuals, claiming their alle- Gladstone saw it, was to achieve known as a champion of small giance without calculation of a balance between classes. Thus nationalities struggling to be self-interest. Involvement in in taxation policy, he tried free. Nations therefore should public life is a duty, and patri- to ensure that all classes con- accord respect to each other, so otism, based on a sense of com- tributed their fair share to the avoiding war. Each nation was to mon values, is a virtue. The national coffers. The aristoc- recognise itself as part of a wider principle of justice is embodied racy should pay tax on land, the community of nations. in the community. All these middle classes on income and views were shared by Gladstone the working classes on food. with the communitarians. The Gladstone’s fiscal skill lay in per- Communitarianism and its foundation of his position was suading each of the classes that critics by no means a species of liberal the balance was just. In his last Gladstone’s mature political individualism. Paradoxical as it years in public life, Gladstone vision therefore embraced a may appear, the leader of the late often spoke of the conflict of the range of communities: family, Victorian Liberal Party was far masses against the classes. The church, municipality, nation more of a communitarian than ‘masses’ were the rank and file and international relations. He a liberal. of the population, the mass of broadly fits the school of thought Two major criticisms are the people who represented the called in recent times the com- often mounted against the com- whole nation. The ‘classes’ were munitarians. These writers were munitarian political thinkers of the selfish professionals, whether theorists who in the 1970s and the modern world. One is that soldiers or lawyers, who pur- 1980s criticised the assumptions they neglect the sharpness and sued their own interests at the of American political life pre- frequency of conflict within expense of the nation at large. vailing at the time. communities. The commu- He was highly aware of the frag- Their critique was directed nitarians, on this view, are so mented nature of the body poli- centrally against ’s concerned with the role of the tic, but he asserted the priority of book A Theory of Justice (1971). group that they assume its soli- the whole, of the common good. Rawls postulated the absolute darity. Internal differences such That was to stand in a long tradi- priority of liberty in making as class conflict are minimised or tion of Christian social analysis. political arrangements. Such else ignored altogether. A second The other question raised by a liberal polity, Rawls argued, criticism is that theorists of this critics against the communitar- would be chosen in the abstract school neglect the relations of ian school is the issue of the rela- by any rational agent. This case, members of a community with tion between members of one communitarians contended, those outside its bounds. They polity and those outside. The postulated a mistaken con- so stress the mutual obligations communitarians often neglect ception of how human beings of people within the commu- the responsibility of people in operate. They do not live as nity that they have nothing to one land for those elsewhere, rational agents in the abstract, say about their responsibilities to treating each nation as self-suf- but, rather, are bound up with members of other communities. Para- ficient. Gladstone, however, did particular communities possess- Where did Gladstone stand on not fall into that snare. Here ing a distinct territory, shared these points? doxical another salient category of activities and common val- On the issue of the internal Gladstone’s thought needs to be ues. Rawlsian theory deprived divisions within communities, as it may introduced, the idea of human- human beings of the benefits Gladstone often spoke of the appear, ity. Gladstone frequently spoke of community, and in particu- separation of interests within of our ‘common humanity’.5 In lar of mutual encouragement to groups. In the church, he was the leader 1876, for instance, he urged that the good life. This charge was extremely conscious of the party Turkey must not be allowed to the burden of Charles Taylor’s tensions. In the nation, he often of the late massacre her Bulgarian sub- Hegel and Modern Science (1979) spoke of the divergent interest of jects. The Conservative govern- and of Alasdair MacIntyre’s After the classes. In the international Victorian ment was declaring that it was Virtue (1981). Communitarians community, he was highly Liberal in Britain’s interest to support offered an alternative political aware of the pursuit of national Turkey against Russia, and so to theory to what in Rawls, despite self-interest. Gladstone’s con- Party was ignore the massacres. Accord- all the qualifications he offered, stant theme was that every sec- ing to Gladstone, however, the amounted to a form of liberal tion should subordinate its own far more of people of Britain shared their individualism. Gladstone was interests to those of the com- humanity with the Bulgar- far more like Taylor and Mac- munity as a whole. Within the a communi- ian people. Because the Brit- Intyre than he was like Rawls. nation, for example, all classes tarian than ish had fellow-feeling with the The community, according to were to seek the common good. oppressed in their suffering, they Gladstone, confers benefits on The task of the politician, as a liberal. must denounce Turkish misrule.

18 Journal of Liberal History 52 Autumn 2006 gladstonian liberalism according to gladstone The effect was to galvanise the Gladstone He believed in humanity, but Victorian Britain (Grand Rap- existing Bulgarian agitation not in the abstract: the need of ids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993) and The into a powerful political force. escapes individuals to enjoy freedom had Mind of Gladstone: Religion, His efforts are still remem- to be taken into account. The Homer and Politics (Oxford: bered to this day, with a street the combination provided its own Oxford University Press, 2004), in Sofia, the Bulgarian , checks and balances. In terms of Chapter 9 of which provides an being named after Gladstone. criticism recent debate in political theory, ampler and fully referenced version The rationale for the campaign mounted Gladstone should be seen as a of the case propounded here. This was humanity, the fundamen- communitarian, but, unlike paper was delivered as the Founder’s tal human characteristics of the against some later representatives of the Day address at St Deiniol’s Library, peoples of the two lands. school, he was acutely aware of Hawarden, on 8 July 2004. The same theme of humanity other the salience of internal divisions runs through Gladstone’s later within communities. Hence the 1 The Times, 24 October 1890, p. 4. speeches. In 1879 he appealed commu- statesman’s position was a quali- 2 The Times, 30 October 1890, p. 4. 3 William E. Gladstone, Juventus on behalf of the hill tribes of fied communitarianism. nitarians Mundi:. The Gods and Men of the Afghanistan when the country That stance may even have its Heroic Age (London: Macmillan and was invaded by Britain under a because relevance today. Perhaps a com- Co., 1869), p. 410. Conservative administration. bination of liberty, community 4 John Morley, The Life of William ‘Remember’, he declared, ‘that his version and humanity is worth pursuing Ewart Gladstone, 3 vols (London: Macmillan and Co., 1903), Vol. 2, p. He who has united you together in the twenty-first century, as in of their 431. as human beings in the same flesh the nineteenth. 5 The Times, 28 November 1887, p. 4. and blood, has bound you by the theory was 6 William E. Gladstone, Political law of mutual love.’6 Humanitar- David Bebbington is Professor of Speeches in Scotland, November and ian concern is rooted here in the History at the University of Stirling. December 1879 (Edinburgh: Andrew tempered Elliot, 1879), p. 94. intentions of the Creator, and He is the author of William Ewart humanity was conceptualised by by humani- Gladstone: Faith and Politics in Gladstone as a distinctly Chris- tian value. It derived from the tarianism. statesman’s theological develop- ment. He had come to recognise the humanity of Christ and his consequent sympathy for suf- fering as central dimensions of faith. Consequently Gladstone Letters insisted that dwellers in one land must be concerned for inhabit- ants of others, particularly when Cuckoo in the nest? they were undergoing suffering. I am not sure that Lawrence Iles and that the long-term benefi- There was an obligation not just fuly appreciates the point of my ciaries would be the Tories. At to other members of one’s own criticism of Herbert Gladstone worst, it would actually kill the community but also to all other for his part in the Liberal–LRC Liberal Party – as it very nearly human beings. Gladstone escapes pact of 1903–06 (‘Organiser par did. the criticism mounted against excellence: Herbert Gladstone Roy Douglas other communitarians because (1854–1930), in Journal of Liberal his version of their theory was History 51 (summer 2006)). tempered by humanitarianism. Gladstone was absolutely Liberals in Windsor Gladstone’s Liberalism is right to want more work- In arguing that the Liberal therefore rather different from ing-class MPs. His father had Democrat position in 2005 how it is often portrayed. Cer- expressed eager appreciation was too far to the left, Antony tainly it did not amount to a of the few who already existed Wood claims that Windsor ‘has simple individualism. Rather, in the late nineteenth century. never had anything other than his political philosophy as Lib- But he went disastrously wrong a Conservative MP’ (Letters, eral leader had three supreme when he helped a separate party Journal of Liberal History 51 (sum- values: liberty, community and to struggle to its feet. mer 2006)) humanity. He believed in free- It was predictable at the time In fact this is not true. Elec- dom for individuals, but not at that, at the very least, the nas- tions in Windsor between 1832 the expense of responsibilities cent Labour Party would thus and 1874 frequently returned to others. He believed in the become stronger when it sought Liberal MPs. importance of community, but to fish in the same pond as the John Austen not to the neglect of outsiders. Liberals for working-class votes,

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