GLADSTONE, POLITICS AND RELIGION GLADSTONE, POLITICS AND RELIGION

A Collection of Founder's Day Lectures delivered at St. Deiniol's Library, Hawarden, 1967-83

Edited by Peter J. Jagger

M MACMILLAN © Peter J. Jagger 1985 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1985 978-0-333-37447-4

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Gladstone, politics and religion. 1. Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart) 2. Prime ministers-Great Britain-Biography I. Jagger, Peter J. 941 .o81'og2'4 DA563.4

ISBN 978-1-349-17752-3 ISBN 978-1-349-17750-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-17750-9 Contents

Notes on the Contributors Vl Introduction by Peter]. Jagger lX Acknowledgements xxm Abbreviations XXlV

1 Disraeli and Gladstone 1 Lord Blake

2 Mr Gladstone 21 Lord Home of the Hirsel 3 The Gladstone Diaries 28 M. R. D. Foot 4 Mr Gladstone, his Parents and his Siblings 40 SydT!f:Y Check/and 5 Mr Gladstone, the Librarian, and St Deiniol's Library, Hawarden 49 Frederick W. Ratcliffe 6 Young Gladstone and Italy 68 Owen Chadwick

7 Midlothian: 100 Years After 88 Richard T. Shannon 8 Gladstone as Politician 104 Agatha Ramm g Gladstone and Palmerston, 1855-65 117 David Steele 1o Gladstone and Manning: a Question of Authority 148 V. Alan McClelland

Name Index 171

Subject Index 1 78 Notes on the Contributors

Peter J. Jagger, MA, M Phil, F R Hist S, the editor, was appointed Warden and Chief Librarian of St Deiniol's Library in 1977; there he is able to continue his nineteenth-century studies, particularly his research on William Ewart Gladstone. In addition to his editorial work on Gladstone material he is now writing a book on the subject of Gladstone's personal religious life and the working out of his piety, in public life. His books published to date, in addition to a large number of articles in learned journals, include Christian Initiation, 1552-1¢9: Rites of Baptism and Confirmation since the Reformation Period; Being the Church Today: A Collection of Sermons and Addresses of Bishop Henry de Candole; The Alcuin Club and its Publications: An Annotated Bibliography, 1897-1974; Bishop Henry de Candole: His Life and Times, 1895-1971; The History of the Parish and People Movement; Clouded Witness: Initiation in the Church of England in the Mid-Victorian Period, 1850-1875. In addition to his research and the many facets of his appointment he is a regular lecturer to mature students undertaking courses of theological study at the Library.

Lord Blake (Robert Blake) has been Provost of the Queen's College, Oxford, since 1968 and a Fellow of the British Academy since 1967. He is Chairman of the Royal Historical Manuscripts Commission and a Trustee of the British Museum. He was a Student of Christ Church, 194 7-68. His publications include The Unknown Prime Minister: Life of Bonar Law (1955); Disraeli (1966); The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill ( 1970); A History of Rhodesia (1977).

Lord Home of the Hirsel. Born 1903. Succeeded his father as 14th Earl of Home, 195 1. Secretary of State for the Commonwealth, 1955-60. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1960-3. Prime Minister, 1963-4. Secretary of State for Foreign and Common• wealth Affairs, 1970-4. Received life peerage, 1974.

VI Notes on Contributors vu

M. R. D. Foot, Gladstone Memorial Exhibitioner at Oxford in 1948, wrote with J. L. Hammond Gladstone and Liberalism ( 1952), was Professor of Modern History at Manchester, 1967-73, and was the first editor of The Gladstone Diaries ( 1968 ff.). He has also written several books on resistance to Hitler, and is the author of the volume in Methuen's History ef England on the period 1815-1916.

Sydney Checkland, FBA, FRSE, is the author of The Gladstones: A Fami!J Biography, 1764-1851, and of other works, the most recent of which is British Public Policy, 1776--1939. He was Professor of Economic History in the University of Glasgow from 1957 to 1982, and is a past President of the Economic History Society. He is a member of the Economic and Social Research Council and Chairman of its Industry and Employment Committee, and is at present Senior Visiting Research Associate, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge.

Frederick W. Ratcliffe is University Librarian of Cambridge and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College. He is also a Visiting Professor at Loughborough University. He was University Librarian and Director of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester for fifteen years and has published extensively on academic librarianship.

Owen Chadwick retired in 1983 from the Regius Professorship of Modern History at Cambridge. He has particularly studied the place of religion within the societies of Western Europe since the Enlightenment. Among his Victorian studies were the two-volume history The Victorian Church and the analysis of a friendship in Acton and Gladstone.

Richard T. Shannon is Professor of Modern History at University College, Swansea. He has published two books on Gladstone, one of which is the first volume of a biography.

Agatha Ramm was from 1952 to 1981 Fellow and Tutor in Modern History of Somerville College, Oxford. Her books include The Political Correspondence of Mr Gladstone and Lord Granville (four volumes); Germany, 178fr1919; Sir Robert Morier, Envoy and Ambassador in the Age ef lmperalism. Articles by her which discussed Gladstone's foreign policy appeared in 1944 ('Great Britain and Vlll Notes on Contributors

the Planting of Italian Power in the Red Sea', English Historical Review) and in 1971 ('Great Britain and France in Egypt' in Gifford and Louis, France and Britain in Africa). Two articles by her on other aspects ofGlads tone's career appeared in historical journals in 1984.

David Steele teaches history at the University of Leeds. He has published Irish Land and British Politics: Tenant-right and Nationality, 1865-1870, and a number of articles on British and Irish history.

V. Alan McClelland is Professor of Educational Studies in the University of Hull and Director ofits Institute of Education. Author of Cardinal Manning: His Public Life and Influence, 1865-1892 and English Roman Catholics and Higher Education, 1830-1903, he has written extensively in journals and contributed to symposia on nineteenth-century ecclesiastical and educational themes. His current research interests include the interaction of educational and ecumenical activity in nineteenth-century England and the pas• toral ministry of Henry Edward Manning. Introduction

PETER J. JAGGER

The object of this introduction is three-fold: first, to contribute something about Mr Gladstone, secondly, to say something about Mr Gladstone's Memorial Library, and thirdly, to provide a brief introduction to the lectures which form this book. The lectures which constitute this unique collection are all variations on a central theme - William Ewart Gladstone. They reflect a few of the many facets of the life of one recognised both in his own day, and today, as a man of varied and considerable gifts, whose influence touched many parts of British life in the nineteenth century. New light is thrown on his relationship with some of the leading figures who played their own part in politics, the Church and the academic world. Together these studies indicate something of the tremendous drive and the extraordinary ability of this Victorian Colossus. Amid all the demands of his complex political career he was actively involved in numerous other spheres. The diaries show how Gladstone felt that he had to render an account to God of how he spent every moment of his life. Underpinning all that he did politically or personally were the two concerns nearest to his heart which influenced all else, Christ and His Church, and reading and his books. Gladstone was first and foremost a churchman, and thus became involved in a wide range of associated activities, including his charitable and rescue work, his regular, sometimes daily, public worship, and his daily private prayer; he was equally regular in his theological and devotional reading which, in turn, found expression in his wide theological writing. For Gladstone a day without some reading was the exception to the rule. An examination of his published diaries, now available for the period 1825-74, leaves us in no doubt that he was always a voracious reader and that the reading and collecting of books played a very important part in his life. On 3 March 1852 he wrote:

lX x Introduction

'Worked most of the morning upon my books. I am weeding my library- for the binder.' He goes on to write 'Read Pusey'. This does not refer to Pusey the leader of the Oxford Movement, but to P. Pusey's book, The Improvement ofFarming. What ought Landlord and Farmers to Do? Three days later he records 'Shipped off my books to the binder with all directions'. The following month finds him reading Physic and Physicians by E. B. Winslow, while on 25 May he turns his thought and attention to W. Buchanan's Memoirs ef Painting, with a Chronological History ef the Importation ef Pictures by the Great Masters into England since the French Revolution, 2 vols, 1824. Two years later on 3 October 1854 he wrote: 'settled the new book cases or rather book holders ... Unpacked 3 boxes of the first fruits of the 5,000 vols. that are to come here: my Divinity and Literature'. The following year he wrote: 'Arranged and Indexed my own Tracts'. Eventually his study at Hawarden Castle became his 'Temple of Peace', the haven to which he could retreat for the purpose of reading. He took pride in showing others his temple of books. In September 1861 he wrote: 'Sir J. L. paid a Bibliographical visit to me in the Temple of Peace and some good things were discovered', and on 4 October he recorded: 'Divers visits of guests to the Temple of Peace'. To Mr Gladstone, books were both a consuming interest and also a cause for concern and hard work. His diary entry on 1 September 1863 states: 'Unpacked my books from London: the stock of the season added to my library here'. Eleven months later the problem was acute: 'Examining the new rooms: especially with a view to the vast undertaking of moving my books'. His growing collection had outgrown his original 'Temple of Peace', which on 27 October 1860 he had so described without using capital letters, and on 22 October 1864 he referred to his new study as 'the new "Temple of Peace"'. The move was carefully planned, as were all things in Mr Gladstone's life. On 1 7 October 1864 he wrote: 'Busy about plans for the moving of my library: a critical business'. A week later, we read 'Had much work importing all the book cases from above'. While moving his own library he found time to read E. Edwards, Libraries and Founders ef Libraries. His own library was far from settled in July 1865, when he wrote in his diary, 'Prepared for moving Library'. Two weeks later we read: 'Two hours hard muscular work in moving books. Amongst us we got near 3,000 downstairs'. In 1867, three years after the first move into the new 'Temple of Peace' he wrote on 28 August: 'Worked on arranging bookcases'; Introduction XI

I I September: 'Worked much on books'; two days later: 'Worked on books now in better order'. From books he turned to his pamphlets: and wrote on 4 October 'Finished working on pamphlets'. Later that month he welcomed back a previous visitor: 'Walk and much hist. & philol. conversation with Sir J Lacaita And he examined my few rare books. Worked on Homer. Read Malcolm (so called) Customs of London', i.e. J. P. Malcolm, Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London, 1811. But still the work on the books was not complete, and indeed never was, because books were such an integral part of Gladstone's life. And so on 8 August I868 we read yet again: 'Worked on arranging of books'. These selected references, covering a period of sixteen years, leave us in no doubt of Gladstone's love of books, some might say obsession, which lasted from his days at Eton in the I82os to his final days at Hawarden in his Temple of Peace in I898. The thousands of books which Mr Gladstone both collected and read were fundamental to his life as a politician or, as he would say, 'his life in politics', and to his life in the Church. In addition to his wide-ranging and absorbing theological reading, perhaps equal to that of any cleric or theologian of his day, he read widely in many other areas, classical studies, history, literature, philosophy. Moreover the diaries show he was an avid reader in political affairs. Through his constant reading of relevant books and pamphlets he sought to keep himselfinformed in political matters, especially those on which he intended to speak in the House. As a scholarly politician the printed word, books, influenced his thoughts -while as a political orator he was most at ease when those thoughts were clothed in the spoken word. All this emerges from the diaries, that new source of Gladstone material, now so essential for every student of Gladstone, which has influenced most of the lectures in this collection. From the diaries we learn of the breadth of his reading and also his constant study of Homer, his love of Butler, the profound influence upon him of Dante, and his devotion to the Bible and ongoing biblical study. Between his time at Eton in I82I and the end of his second premiership in I874 he read well over 100 books on the Bible or directly related subjects, and this reading did not isolate his mind from the world of politics in which, under the Providence of God, he strove to apply his Christian faith, for he also read widely in the fields of secular and Church history, social studies and science, including Darwinism and geology. Thus his reading informed both his politics and his churchmanship; it lay behind his XU Introduction

speeches and his reviews, his articles on a host of subjects, and his books, including a number of major works of theology. His literary output was astonishing in a man whose main business was politics, not scholarship. This is borne out by the 300 or so items listed in the Bibliography 1 of writings by him held at St Deiniol's Library, and even this collection is incomplete. Much that he wrote was strongly criticised for various reasons, but none can deny the sheer quantity and variety of his writing. As for the quantity and variety of writings about Gladstone these are reflected in Caroline Dobson's 34-page Bibliography 2 1isting some 469 items. H. Colin G. Matthew, the editor of the Gladstone Diaries, says in his introduction to it: 'This bibliography together with Patricia Long's bibliography of works by Gladstone makes him the most thoroughly listed of British Prime Ministers, with the possible exception of Churchill. The two bibliographies together list almost a thousand items by or about Gladstone, and demonstrate the central importance of St Deiniol's for Gladstonian studies.' The editor of this collection of lectures, as Warden and Chief Librarian of St Deiniol's Library, lives daily under the shadow and influence of Mr Gladstone. Gladstone's presence pervades the Library-his books, pictures, busts and statues are all constant reminders of the great man. Research on William Ewart Gladstone is part of the Warden's appointment. He is privileged, with the personal permis• sion of Sir William Gladstone, and with the aid of the County Record Office, to have regular access to the Glynne/Gladstone Papers housed at St Deiniol's Library which contain all the Gladstone personal/family correspondence. The object of this ongoing research is to fill a gap which has existed in Gladstone studies ever since the publication ofJohn Morley's Life of William Ewart Gladstone in r 903. It was felt by the family that Morley was not a suitable person to write about Gladstone's personal religious life, and so the official biographer had this restriction placed upon him. Gladstone's children hoped that the gap would be filled by the publication of D. C. Lathbury's two volumes entitled Correspondence on Church and Religion of William Ewart Gladstone, r 9 r o, but they were to be deeply disappointed. Gladstone's son, Herbert, wrote to his brother Stephen on this subject on 28 July r 9 r 7. He wrote of 'the unfortunate Lathbury' and went on, 'Lathbury is unsale• able ... We made a great mistake over poor Lathbury and I feel responsible to father for that. And it might have been done so well.' On another occasion he wrote: 'Following Morley's Biography, and Introduction Xlll

its varying editions, came the Lathbury-which was a failure.' 3 To this day the gap remains, and to fill it with a full and objective account of Gladstone's personal religious life is the object of the editor's present research, which will eventually be published under the title: Gladstone: Churchman and Politician - The Personal Religious Life of William Ewart Gladstone.This book will throw new light onto Gladstone's inner life and the outworking of his Christian faith; his all-embracing religious convictions which were the very foundation of his every word and daily action, in both private and political life. It will show that for him politics were subordinate to religion. Based entirely on prime source material, much of which has not been thoroughly examined before in this connection, it will correct a number of previous misunderstandings in this area. Meanwhile this collection of Founder's Day lectures shows how the publication of the diaries has ushered in a new era in Gladstone studies. The first of these lectures was delivered the year before the publication of the first two volumes of the diaries, but was influenced by them when it was enlarged and delivered elsewhere two years later. The other lectures bear witness on almost every page to the importance of the diaries for Gladstonian studies, and they have much to say also about Gladstone and his books. It was towards the end of his life that he began to formulate a plan for creating a foundation where his own great library could be housed and the opportunity for peaceful and uninterrupted reading could be given to others. This idea occupied so much of his thought in his last years that it is surprising that John Morley's three volumes manage to devote only four lines to the subject, while Philip Magnus gives only two short paragraphs.4 Gladstone's plans took tangible form in 1896 when he set up a trust. To this trust he gave his personal library of approximately 30 ooo volumes and to house them built a temporary corrugated 'iron library' situated close to his beloved parish church dedicated to St Deiniol. The 'iron library' was built at limited cost and on the understanding that it was to be no more than a temporary home for the books until the newly formed trust, and ultimately the nation, should decide on their permanent location. To maintain the library Gladstone left endowment amounting to£ 30 ooo. After his death in 1898 there was a national appeal to set up a fitting memorial for one who had given so much to the nation. It was generally felt that the most suitable memorial would be a permanent library to house Mr Gladstone's books. So the present library was built at a total cost of XIV Introduction

about£ 9000 and formally opened in October 1902. Two years later the family offered to build the hostel or residential accommodation which was opened in January 1907. The memorial reached its culmination when Edward vn visited the newly founded Residential Library in 1908. And so this unique academic insti• tution, a fully residential library, the brilliant conception of Gladstone, came into being. What better or more fitting memorial could there have been to one for whom books and the study of them had played such a vital part in his life? St Deiniol's Library still exists to fulfil the intention of its Founder and welcomes all genuine students to take advantage of its facilities. To this end residential readers of many nations, of all ages, disciplines, political persuasions, cultures and religions, now travel to Hawarden, to engage in uninterrupted reading and study among the 165 ooo printed items which make up the holdings of the present collection, including, of course, the 30 ooo volumes which had meant so much to Gladstone and which helped to make him an exceptional man. Founder's Day, the occasion on which the following lectures were delivered, was inaugurated inJ uly 1931 when the first lectures were given by Bishop Edward Talbot and the Hon. George Peel. While the lectures reproduced in this collection, covering the period 1967- 83,5 are given in chronological order, the date of delivery being given in each case, for convenience and brevity they have been re• grouped in this introduction. The first editor of the Gladstone Diaries, M. R. D. Foot, is able to speak with authority on this particular subject. We have already stated that the publication of the first two volumes of the Diaries in 1968, covering the period 1825-39, marked the beginning of a new era in Gladstonian studies. To some, including Archbishop Cosmo Gordon Long, who was responsible for their being deposited at the Lambeth Palace Library, the diaries may appear both long and dull. However, to the trained eye, the ardent researcher, the historian, the student of Gladstone, they are full of information about human nature, religious quest, the Church, social activities, family life, leisure pursuits, literary works and, not least, political matters. As further volumes of the diaries become available, so further light will be thrown on this unique personality and on the age in which he lived. In this lecture Mr Foot tells of the choice ofJohn Morley to write the official biography of Mr Gladstone and of the restrictions laid Introduction xv

upon him, because he was an atheist, not to deal with Mr Gladstone's personal religious life. The three-volume biography contains over 500 references from the diaries but, writes Michael Foot, they are carefully slanted to fit Morley's political picture of Gladstone. A more serious defect is Morley's inability to reproduce the material correctly. The diaries span a period of over 70 years and were written up each night as an 'account book of time'. Both the Gladstone family, and Morley, realised that they contained information which it was not expedient to disclose in 1903, in particular Gladstone's constant self-abasement and obsession about his unworthiness before God, and the details of his rescue work. Fortunately, these valuable and historic records have now emerged from their previous limbo and have influenced much of what follows. Behind Mr Gladstone the man and politician, and contributing towards the making of the man and his political ideals, were his religious convictions, his reading, and the early influence of his parents and his siblings. Professor Sydney Checkland has placed us in his debt not only by the publication of his most informative work The Gladstones, but also by his lecture, 'Mr Gladstone, His Parents and His Siblings'. For Gladstone, parents and parental authority, family loyalty and family life, were extremely important. Here we are told of the rise of William's father, John, his success as a self-made merchant, his parliamentary activities, his ownership of slaves - an embarrass• ment to at least some of his family- his philanthropic activities, his influence, power and authority over his family. From his father Mr Gladstone inherited, among other things, a hierarchical view of the family. We are also told of the evangelical influence of his mother and her constant illness and of the admiration and devotion inspired in him by his older sister, Anne, even after her early death in 1829. Following her death, and while he was at Oxford, a deeper relationship developed between William and the later wayward younger sister, Helen. But it was Anne who had the most profound influence upon William's spiritual development. Miniatures are given of brothers Tom, Robertson and John Neilson, all of which add to the total picture. Professor Checkland presents the theory that Gladstone 'idealised womanhood' and that this attitude and his subsequent sex life were probably the result of the relationship with his mother and his idolised sister Anne. Those who are conversant with the writings of Professor Owen XVI Introduction

Chadwick are well aware of his penetrating insight and the masterly fashion in which he handles his sources. His contribution, 'Young Gladstone and Italy' could not possibly have been written without the aid of the published Diaries. With great skill he explains how Gladstone's political interest in Italy emerged from his love of the country, his knowledge of the language and literature and es• pecially the writings of Dante. He traces Gladstone's interest in Italy back to a contribution he wrote while at Eton, for the Eton Miscellany, of which he was both a founder and editor. During his first visit to the country he visited the Vaudois and faced the shattering of some of his ideals. Later he developed a growing interest in Italian literature and an increasing knowledge of the language. The influence of Arthur Hallam led Gladstone to his first serious introduction to Dante. It was the Paradiso that met the urgent need of the young Gladstone's innermost being. 'Here', writes Professor Chadwick, 'in the young politician's first affection for Dante we see the yearning for peace within a troubled soul: troubled by this secular world into which he had been driven willy nilly by his father ... ' Gladstone continued his reading and re• reading of Dante until old age. This lecture reveals how Gladstone's hidden religious longing and aspirations could and did affect his political activities. To him religion was the first priority in his life, and his political activities were the outworking of his religious convictions, under the Providence of God. It is impossible to think of Mr Gladstone's religious life and development without giving some consideration to Henry Edward Manning.Until his secession to the Roman Catholic Church he was amongst Gladstone's most intimate friends, possibly his closest confidant. After the parting of their ways the relationship was never the same again, but although Gladstone at first found their meetings both difficult and painful they were eventually reconciled and continued to correspond and to meet. Gladstone continued to read all that Manning wrote, and indeed the diaries show that he read more items of Manning's than of any other author. Professor Alan McClelland, a leading authority on Manning, examines two major crises in the personal relationship of Gladstone and Manning in 1851 and 1874. Both were matters of faith and theology with political implications. Manning was more concerned about the political implications of the Gorham Judgement in 1851, although Gladstone was not unaware of the problems. Gladstone thought he saw political implications in the 1874 crisis, but Introduction xvu

Manning believed him mistaken. These two events are used to illustrate their respective attitudes 'to that delicate balance involved in the rights and limitations of authority and freedom at the interface where Church and State converge'. The Gorham Baptismal Controversy of I 85 r, a subject well documented in the diaries of the period, was the final cause which led to Manning's secession. For Manning the decision of a secular court on a theological issue was clear evidence that the civil state was assuming 'the ultimate power to interpret the formularies of the Church of England'. Such a decision was incompatible with his doctrinal position that the power to teach and interpret doctrine lay with the Church and not with the state or a secular body. The Church must be completely independent of any outside authority- including the state - a doctrinal position which Manning felt Gladstone never really understood. Manning's departure was accompanied by that ofj am es Hope and a number of other leading Anglicans. Gladstone could neither understand nor tolerate such desertions. For him it was the duty of an Englishman to be loyal to the Church of England and his country. Because of this deep conviction he could not comprehend how an Englishman and a good Anglican could possibly embrace the faith of the Roman Catholic Church. The second major rift in their relationship came as a result of the Vatican Council. Gladstone believed that the Council had declared open war on the prerogatives of the state and that as a result of its decrees a Roman Catholic could no longer be a loyal citizen of the state. His attack on the Roman Catholic Church took the form of a pamphlet entitled The Vatican Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance: A Political Expostulation, I 874. Newman, Ullathorne and Capel responded. The final response came from Manning in February 1875 in which he sought to destroy Gladstone's argument and show that he had confused the issue. To these replies Gladstone made his own reply in his pamphlet Vaticanism. In spite of everything these two leading churchmen, whose parting of ways had caused both of them much sorrow, remained friends until the end of their lives, albeit not so close as in early days. It is impossible to understand Mr Gladstone in isolation from his books. Dr Frederick Ratcliffe makes this point abundantly clear. Here the scholarly side of Mr Gladstone's life is brought to the fore. In this well-documented lecture we are told of his life-long preoccupation with books and libraries. His insight and expertise as XVlll Introduction a 'lay' librarian are presented by means of illustrations from his writing on the subject, his involvement in the library world and his personal association with books. We are shown how in numerous areas oflibrarianship Gladstone was well ahead of his time. He had much to say about the shelving, housing and storage of books and even of mobile shelving, library planning and administration, the necessity of careful classification of books and the need to provide adequate catalogues, on the purchase of books, and on budgeting and binding. Mr Gladstone moved in the library world with confidence and expertise. Never before or since has the library service had such a dedicated advocate in the corridors of power. The Public Libraries Act of 1850 marked a new phase in the British library system. Gladstone was to be found at the opening of new public libraries delivering appropriate speeches, and also in the world of academic libraries, the British Museum Library, the London Library and the.Bodleian. In the second half of his paper Dr Ratcliffe turns his attention to the foundation of the Gladstone Memorial Library, St Deiniol's, and reflects on Gladstone's books and reading and on the contents of the Library and some of its associated copies and treasures. A careful reading of the five lectures already introduced reveals how these, as indeed all the lectures in this book, are closely and integrally related to the political side of Mr Gladstone's life. In the remaining lectures politics, and political figures and history, are the dominant theme, and in some case the thesis presented is long and complex. In the lecture entitled 'Gladstone as Politician', Dr Agatha Ramm seeks to dispel two illusions about Mr Gladstone: first, that he achieved greatness without effort, and secondly that he was aloof. In her examination she considers his ability as a politician - or as he himself would say, 'a man in politics'. She traces three threads in the story, the Palmerstonian, the Disraelian and the Liberal or popular. Three distinctive features of Gladstone's practice established his new position: first, he became a national political figure through his speeches and political meetings; secondly, he made 'acute use of the growth of the newspaper press'; and thirdly, he 'combined an exact attention to publicity with a most advantageous appearance of unworldliness'. Dr Ramm weaves a fascinating 'story'. Disraeli, who is mentioned by Dr Ramm and, indeed, most of the contributors, is the subject of an interesting comparison and character study in 'Disraeli and Gladstone' by Lord Blake. At the Introduction XlX

outset he urges the devotees of these two great men to avoid a partisan approach. He compares their early life, Gladstone ever pondering on his own unworthiness and shortcomings, Disraeli ever striving to get to the top. He traces their entry into politics, Disraeli's struggle, Gladstone's obedience to his father's wishes, against his own desire to be ordained. The opportunity of entering Parliament as the member for Newark apparently settled the issue, but throughout his political life Gladstone felt the need for moral and theological justification for his actions. Disraeli prided himself on being a man of the world who cared little for high moral issues. He always felt at ease in society and in the company of the opposite sex. Gladstone was never a man of the world and was intensely and passionately committed to 'moral issues' and had absolute convic• tions about right and wrong. He was never really at ease either with society or women. However, contrary to popular opinion, Gladstone was the more cosmopolitan and cultured of the two, and would, says Lord Blake, have been better company at dinner. Another instructive contrast in personalities is to be found in Dr David Steele's long and well-documented study of Gladstone and Palmerston during the decade 1855-65 which clearly illustrates the incompatibility of these two men. Both Palmerston and Gladstone served in the Aberdeen Coalition formed on 19 December 1852, Palmerston as Home Secretary, Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The coalition lasted barely two years, coming to an end on 30 January 1855. The following day Palmerston visited Gladstone - the meeting is recorded in the diaries, 31 January 1855: 'Lord Palmerston came to see me between 3 & 4 with a proposal from Ld Derby that he and I with S. Herbert should take office under him with P [Palmerston] to be President of the Council and lead the H of C ... I ... argued strongly with him that though he might form a Govt, and though if he formed it he would certainly start it amidst immense clapping of hands, yet he could not have any reasonable prospects of stable Parliamentary support .. .' Was Gladstone being prophetic, or anticipating his own and somewhat inevitable criticism of and opposition to Palmerston? At the outset of this lecture we are told that the antagonism which Gladstone had towards Palmerston was 'personal rather than political'. Dr Steele states: 'A man such as Gladstone was, steeped in Thomas a Kempis [whose work he re-read more than any other xx Introduction author] and Pascal, could not but find Palmerston's unashamed worldliness hard to bear, aggravating as it did their natural incompatibility. To the end of their lengthy association in the Cabinet of 1859-65 he felt sorely tried by the necessity of encountering the Prime Minister in prolonged argument, in person or on paper.' The lecture records the main events of these ten trying years. David Steele carefully chronicles the major political activities of both Palmerston and Gladstone during his chosen period. It includes the fall of the Palmerston Government in February l 858 and the short-lived Conservative Government under Derby from February 1858 to June the following year. That same month, June l 859, Palmerston returned to office and remained Prime Minister until 18 October 1865. Palmerston's style, his approach to politics, his courting of public opinion, his attitude to the press, his political speeches, all these and many other issues are touched upon. We are also told not only of Mr Gladstone's political activities and his relations with his fellow politicians during this period but also of his reaction to Palmerston, the criticism of his speeches, his opposition to his policies and activities. They had so little in common that when Palmerston founded his Liberal Government of 1859 he did not intend that Gladstone should become Chancellor of the Exchequer, but Gladstone was unwilling to accept anything else; he got the appointment he wanted and the opposition continued. In 1878 Gladstone informed the Liberals in the constituency of Greenwich that he had decided not to stand again as their candidate. In January the following year, having declined the possibility of a safe seat in Edinburgh, he accepted the request to contest Midlothian. On 24 November he left Liverpool for Edinburgh. John Morley records the scene:

The journey from Liverpool ... was really more like a trium• phal procession. Nothing like it had ever been seen before in England. Statesmen had enjoyed great popular receptions before, and there had been plenty of cheering and bell-ringing and torchlight in individual places before. On this journey of a bleak winter day, it seemed as if the whole countryside were up. The stations where the train stopped were crowded, thousands flocked from neighbouring towns and villages to main centres on the line of route ... merely to catch a glimpse of the express as it dashed through. Introduction XXl

Of the actual campaign Morley writes:

The only flattery in the Midlothian speeches was the manly flattery contained in the fact that he took care to address all these multitudes of weavers, farmers, villagers, artisans, just as he would have addressed the House of Commons, -with the same breadth and accuracy of knowledge, the same sincerity of interest, the same scruple in right reasoning, and the same appeal to the gravity and responsibility of public life.

It is impossible to give an adequate summary of Professor Richard Shannon's reflections on 'Midlothian: 100 Years After'. He sets out in this lecture his theory that this event was not quite as simple and straightforward as might appear. Canning, Palmerston, Disraeli, British foreign policy, the Crimean policy, Bulgaria and the Ionian Islands and a host of other political issues are woven into the tapestry with great expertise, as Professor Shannon examines the issues which he believes led up to and influenced the Midlothian Campaign. With Midlothian behind him Gladstone wrote on 28 December 1879, the eve of his seventieth birthday, 'For the last three and a half years I have been passing through a political experience which is, I believe, without example in our parliamentary history. I profess to believe it has been an occasion when the battle to be fought was a battle of justice, humanity, freedom, law ... I cannot but believe that He [God] has given me special gifts of strength on the late occasion, especially in Scotland.' After this, reflecting on the triumph of Midlothian, and having expressed his belief that God's hand was very much involved in the events, it seems rather strange that in the same diary entry he should go on to write: 'Three things I would ask of God over and above all the bounty which surrounds me. This first, that I may escape into retirement. This second, that I may speedily be enabled to divest myself of everything resembling wealth. And the third - if I may- that when God calls me He may call me speedily. To die in church appears to be a great euthanesia, but not at a time to disturb worshippers.' As Shannon rightly implies, for Gladstone nothing could be simple or straightforward. Lord Home's study 'Mr Gladstone' looks at Gladstone's religious convictions and his attempt to apply Christian principles even to the complex political problems of life. He draws interesting com- xxn Introduction

parisons between the political issues of the nineteenth century and those of the twentieth. These include the welfare state, apartheid, the oil routes, Communism, European problems, Anglo-American relations, United Nations, the nuclear deterrent. He comments: I think, however, that while the modern statesmen would concede to Mr Gladstone that there are a host of problems which are beneath the notice of even the most active God, all the great decisions which really matter have a high moral content. The modern statesman would plead, in extenuation, that in politics Christianity is a guide and not a rule. That to Mr Gladstone would have been heresy ... In all things big and small he acted on what he interpreted to be the will of God. To him that (his own interpretation of it) was a rule, not a guide.

NOTES

1. Patricia M. Long, A Bibliography of Gladstone Publications at St Deiniol's Library (1977). 2. Caroline S. Dobson, Gladstoniana: A Bibliograplry of Material relating to W. E. Gladstone, at St Deinio/'s Library ( 1981 ). 3. Lambeth Palace Library, Gladstone Papers, Ms 2758, ff. 86-88, I02. 4. A full and definitive history of St Deiniol's Library is already in hand. 5. It is hoped that a collection of earlier Founder's Day lectures relating to Mr Gladstone will be published in due course. Acknowledgements

On behalf of the Trustees of St Deiniol's Library, Hawarden, who have encouraged me to undertake the editing of these lectures, I acknowledge their gratitude to the Founder's Day lecturers who, in freely offering their manuscripts, have made this work possible. I acknowledge, on behalfof the lecturers, thanks and appreciation to all those individuals and institutions who have allowed them access to manuscript material and have given permission to reproduce material for which they hold copyright. Thanks are due, on two accounts, to Cambridge University Press, for their kind permission to reproduce Lord Blake's lecture, 'Disraeli and Gladstone', first delivered at St Deiniol's Library in 1967 and delivered in 1969 as the Leslie Stephen Lecture, in which year it was published in pamphlet form by Cambridge University Press. They have also granted permission to reproduce Professor Owen Chadwick's lecture which was published in the Journal ef Ecclesiastical History (April l 979), the year after its delivery. Once again I must put on record my profound debt to Miss Lucy Donkin who gave freely of her time to type and correct the manuscript. To my colleague Jean Turner I offer thanks for reading and correcting the final draft and for her suggested improvements, and also for reading and correcting the proofs. Thanks are also due to Geoffrey Lewis, who helped to prepare the name index. Lastly, my sincere thanks are offered to Anne Beech for all her help in seeing the manuscript through the press.

xxm Abbreviations

Autobiographica, ed.J. Brooke and M. Sorensen, The Prime Minister's Papers: W. E. Gladstone. I-Iv (I97I-8I) Diaries, The Gladstone Diaries, vols I-II, I825-39, ed. M. R. D. Foot; vols III-Iv, I840-54, eds M. R. D. Foot and H. C. G. Matthew; vols v-vm, I855-74, ed. H. C. G. Matthew (Oxford, I968-82) Glynne/Gladstone Papers, the Glynne/Gladstone family and estate papers deposited at St Deiniol's Library, Hawarden, by kind permission of Sir William Gladstone G. P., Add MS(S), the Gladstone Papers, Additional Manu• script(s), 44086-44835, 56444-56453, British Library 3 Hansard, Hansard 3 Series Morley, Gladstone, John Morley, The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, 3 vols (London: Macmillan, I 903). When other editions of Morley are used this is indicated in the footnotes

The place of publication of all books quoted in footnotes is London, except where otherwise stated.

XXIV