1833 to Lord Napier, saying that it was not by force and violence that his Majesty intended to establish a commercial intercourse between his subjects and China, but by conciliatory measures which had been constantly inculcated in instructions. The existing Government were blamed for directing Lord Napier to take up his residence at Canton, knowing the jealousy which the Chinese had of strangers. With regard to the assertion that the only charge against the Government was a charge of omission, Mr. Gladstone forcibly said:-'A son starved his father to death, but that was only a sin of omission. A rebellion took place, the magistrates were not on the spot, the military were not called out, the peace of the country was disturbed, and several lives were lost, but these were only sins of omission. All those disasters which the country had witnessed arose only from sins of omission; and such was the character of the omissions of the noble lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs.' We had in every way forced ourselves upon the Chinese against their will. 'You will be called upon,' said Mr. Gladstone, addressing himself to the Ministers, even if you escape from condemnation on this motion, to show cause for your present intention of making war upon China. I do not mean to say that you ought not to send out an armament against China. Far from it. We have placed We have placed ourselves, under your auspices, in a position so unfavourable, that it is a matter of certainty that we cannot even demand terms of equity without a dis play of force. But we are going to exact reparation for insult, and compensation for confiscation, which we allege ourselves to have suffered. If that be so, then I tell you that you are bound to show to us and to the world what the insult is for which we are to demand reparation.' After an examination of the alleged insults to the British Power, the speaker continued: They gave you notice to abandon your contraband trade. When they found that you would not, they had a right to drive you from their coasts, on account of your obstinacy in persisting in this infamous and atrocious opium traffic. You allowed your agent to aid and abet those who were concerned in carrying on that trade, and I do not know how it can be urged as a crime against the Chinese that they refused provisions to those who refused obedience to their laws whilst residing within their territories. I am not competent to judge how long this war may last, or how protracted may be its operations; but this I can say, that a war more unjust in its origin, a war more calculated in its progress to cover the country with permanent disgrace, I do not know, and I have not read of.' Answering the speech of Mr. Macaulay of the previous evening, Mr. Gladstone said: The right hon. gentleman opposite spoke last night in eloquent terms of the British flag waving in glory at Canton, and of the animating effects produced on the minds of our sailors by the knowledge that in no country under heaven was it permitted to be insulted. But how comes it to pass that the sight of that flag always raises the spirit of Englishmen? It is because it has always been associated with the cause of justice, with opposition to oppression, with respect to national rights, with honourable commercial enterprise; but now, under the auspices of the noble lord, that flag is hoisted to protect an infamous contraband traffic, and if it were never to be hoisted except as it is now hoisted on the coast of China, we should recoil from its sight with horror, and should never again feel our hearts thrill, as they now thrill with emotion, when it floats proudly and magnificently on the breeze.' Notwithstanding the eloquence arrayed against them, Ministers obtained a bare majority upon the proposed vote of censure, the numbers being—for Sir J. Graham's motion, 262; against, 271. On hands. Accordingly, on the 27th of The Whig Government, however, which for some time back had been growing very unpopular, was doomed to fall in the following year. Many causes had combined to render the Ministry obnoxious to the country. They had disappointed both their English Dissenting supporters and their Irish allies; and when the rity. and when the session of 1841 opened, their overthrow was felt to be imminent. In financial matters their policy had proved a complete failure, and had grievously disappointed the nation. The deficit in the revenue this year amounted to no less a sum than two millions and a half. On all sides it was felt that the government of the country must be committed to stronger Manners became his colleague, with 630 votes; Mr. Hobhouse, the Whig candidate, polling only 394 votes. Parliament met on the 24th of August, and Ministers were defeated in both Houses on the Address. In the House of Commons, at the close of an animated discussion, the numbers were-for the Ministerial Address, 269; amendment, 360-majority against the Government, 91. Ministers now resigned office, and on the 31st of the month Sir Robert Peel accepted her Majesty's commands to form a Ministry. Mr. Gladstone received from his leader the appointments of Vice-President of the Board of Trade and Master of the Mint. In appearing on the hustings at Newark, where he was returned unopposed, he said there were two points upon which the British farmer might rely-the first being that adequate protection would be given to him, and the second that protection would be given him through the means of the sliding scale. In this speech Mr. Gladstone made a reference to the various blunders committed by the Melbourne Administration, and in his enumeration this passage, which will be read with considerable interest, occurred: 'He lamented that acts had been done by the late Government, such as the presentation by Lord Melbourne of Robert Owen to their young and maiden Queen, which had had the fatal effect of producing a laxity of opinion, and of fostering those evils which all now most deeply lamented.' The man thus alluded to (Robert Owen) occupied at that date, and for some time afterwards, a conspicuous position in regard to the industrial classes of the community. His bold Socialist doctrines commended themselves to thousands who were not in the habit of thinking for themselves, and alike in France and the United States societies rapidly sprang up based upon and fostered by his principles. But Owenism, and that cognate Socialistic philosophy, Fourierism, gradually died out, and both have ceased to wield any permanent or wide-spreading influence either in England or abroad. On the question of the work to be performed by Sir Robert Peel's Administration, Mr. Gladstone thus eloquently spoke : -He had stated in the address he had published, and in the language of that great and enlightened statesman who was at the head of the present Administration, and who, he rejoiced to believe, enjoyed the entire confidence of her most gracious Majesty the Queen, the duty of the Administration would be to maintain upon their ancient foundations the institutions of the country in Church and State to maintain them, not from a bigoted love of their antiquity, but from a deep, solid, and experimental conviction that, upon the whole, they were founded on the principles of truth and justice; and that, compared with other human institutions, they were best calculated to tend to the welfare of all classes of the community; and that if there was any class (as he lamented to say there was) who suffered grievously in this country yet if that suffering was connected with who heard him would deal with the causes of a political kind, to lay it not magnificent building before him (St. to the principles on which the institu- Mary's Church), whose spire seemed tions were founded, but rather to say almost to pierce the heavens. They it was owing to abuses which had been would repair that splendid fabric for allowed to creep in, or to impediments the sake of the fabric itself, and would which prevented the full development so conduct their operations as to con INTERIOR OF HAWARDEN CHURCH, IN WHICH MR. GLADSTONE WAS MARRIED. of their powers to promote the public good. His opinion was that the present Government would not be less zealous to remove every reasonable cause of complaint-not as a concession to clamour-not as an ignoble expedient to evade a present difficulty, but for the sake of those institutions themselves, as well as the happiness of the entire people. They would deal with them as he was certain those duce to its permanent stability, without at the same time departing from the ideas of its original architect.' With regard to the great question already then looming in the distance, we may say that there was no English statesman who could foresee at this period the results of the extraordinary agitation which, in the course of the next five years, was destined to secure the abrogation of the Corn Laws. Before this consummation arrived Mr. Gladstone was to demonstrate that he not only possessed the arts of a fluent and vigorous Parliamentary debater, but the more solid qualities pertaining to the practical statesman and the financier. In the month of July, 1839, Mr. Gladstone was married to Miss Catherine Glynne, a lady who has since become almost as distinguished for her many benevolent and social qualities as Mr. Gladstone is in political and public life. The following account of the ceremony appeared in one of the local journals For some time past the little town of Hawarden has been in a state of excitement in consequence of the anticipated nuptials of the two sisters of Sir Stephen Glynne, Bart., M.P., who have been engaged for some time past to Lord Lyttelton and to Mr. W. Ewart Gladstone. Thursday last (July 25th), was fixed upon for the ceremony to take place, but in consequence of the Chartists having attacked Lord Lyttelton's mansion in Worcestershire, it was feared that the marriages would be delayed. All anxieties on this subject were put an end to by orders being issued to make ready for the ceremony, and the Hawarden folks lost no time in making due preparations accordingly. The church was elegantly and profusely decorated with laurels, while extremely handsome garlands, composed of the finest flowers, were suspended from the venerable roof. About half-past ten a simultaneous rising of the assembled multitude, and the burst of melody from the organ, announced that the fair brides had arrived, and all eyes were turned towards the door to witness the bridal cortège. In a few minutes more the party arrived at the Communion table, and the imposing ceremony commenced. At this period the coup d'œil was extremely interesting. The bridal party exhibited every elegance of costume, while the dresses of the multitude, lit up by the rays of a brilliant sunlight, filled up the picture. The Rev. the Hon. G. Neville performed the ceremony. At its conclusion, the brides visited the rectory, from whence they soon afterwards set out-Lord and Lady Lyttelton to their seat in Worcestershire, and Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone on a visit to Sir Richard Brooke, Norton Priory mansion, in Cheshire. The bridal party having returned to the castle, the good folks of Hawarden filled up the day with rambling over Sir Stephen Glynne's delightful park, to which free access was given to all comers; and towards evening a dance on the green was got up.. The name of Mrs. Gladstone is widely known as that of a practical philanthropist, while to Mr. Gladstone himself-we may perhaps be pardoned for saying she has ever been that interested sharer in his triumphs and consoler in his defeats which the late Viscountess Beaconsfield was to his Parliamentary rival. The Premier has been blessed with a family of eight children, all of whom, save one, still survive. Of the four sons, the eldest and the youngest-namely, William Henry and Herbert John-are members of the Legislature, and the second, the Rev. Stephen Edward Gladstone, is rector of Hawarden. The third son is named Henry Neville Gladstone, and he pursues a commercial career. Mr. Gladstone's eldest daughter, Anne, is married to the Rev. E. C. Wickham, M.A., head-master of Wellington College; the second daughter, Miss Catherine Jessy Gladstone, died in 1850. Two other daughters still survive, in addition to Mrs. Wickham-viz., the Misses Mary and Helen Gladstone. We have already seen that by the melancholy death of Sir Stephen Glynne, his large estates passed into the possession of Mr. Gladstone's family. As Sir John Gladstone had the pleasure of seeing his son William Ewart become distinguished member of the British Senate, so Mr. Gladstone in his turn has been able to witness his eldest and youngest sons take their seats in the House of Commons. a |