A Proud Aristocracy.-In his speech on the opening of Parliament in 1846, Sir Robert Peel had made the remark," It is no easy task to insure the harmonious and united action of an ancient monarchy, a proud aristocracy, and a reformed House of Commons." Lord George thus commented upon the Minister's observation a few weeks later, in the peroration of an elaborate harangue (full, as usual with the speaker's addresses, of statistics). Such as it is, it is the best example that can be cited of the oratorical powers of one who at the time promised to be the future leader of his party: "We have heard, in the course of these discussions, a good deal about an ancient monarchy, a reformed House of Commons, and a proud aristocracy. Sir, with regard to our ancient monarchy I have no observation to make; but, if so humble an individual as myself might be permitted to whisper a word in the ear of that illustrions and royal personage who, as he stands nearest, so is he justly dearest to her who sits upon the throne, I would take leave to say that I cannot but think he listened to ill advice when, on the first night of this great discussion,* he allowed himself to be seduced by the First Minister of the Crown to come down to this House to usher in, to give éclat, and, as it were, by reflection from the Queen to give the semblance of the personal sanction of her Majesty to a measure which, be it for good or for evil, a great majority, at least of the landed aristocracy of England, of Scotland, and of Ireland, imagine fraught with deep injury, if not ruin, to them. . . I come now to the reformed House of Commons; and, as one who was a party to that great measure, I cannot but feel a deep interest in its success, and more especially in that portion of it which extended the franchise to the largest and the most respectable body in the kingdom-I mean the landed tenantry of England; and deeply should I regret did any large proportion of those members who have been sent to Parliament to represent them in this House prove to be the men to bring lasting dishonour upon themselves, their constituencies, and this House by any act of tergiversation so gross as to be altogether unprecedented in the annals of any reformed or unreformed House of Commons. Lastly, I come to the proud aristocracy.' We are a proud aristocracy, but if we are proud it is that we are proud in the chastity of our honour. If we assisted in '41 in turning the Whigs out of office because we did not consider a fixed duty of 8s. a quarter on foreign corn a sufficient protection, it was with honesty of purpose and in singlemindedness we did so; and, as we were not before the fact, we will not be accomplices after the fact, in the fraud by which the Whig Ministers were expelled from power. If we are a proud aristocracy, we are proud of our honour, inasmuch as we have never been guilty, and never can be guilty, of double dealing with the farmers of England, of swindling our opponents, deceiving our friends, and betraying our constituents."

A Sacrifice.-On the day after the Derby, 1848 (says Mr. Disraeli), the writer met Lord George Bentinck in the library of the House of Commons.

Prince Albert was in the House when the Minister introduced his Corn Law Repeal Bill.

He was standing before the book-shelves, with a volume in his hand, and his countenance was greatly disturbed. His resolutions in favour of the colonial interest, after all his labours, had been negatived by the committee on the 22nd, and on the 24th his horse Surplice, whom he had parted with among the rest of his stud, solely that he might pursue without distraction his labours on behalf of the great interests of the country, had won that paramount and Olympian stake to gain which had been the object of his life. He had nothing to console him, and nothing to sustain him except his pride. Even that deserted him before a heart which he knew at least could yield him sympathy. He gave a sort of superb groan: "All my life I have been trying for this, and for what have I sacrificed it ?" he murmured. It was in vain to offer solace. 'You do not know what the Derby is," he moaned out. "Yes, I do; it is the blue ribbon of the turf." "It is the blue ribbon of the turf," he slowly repeated to himself, and, sitting down at the table, he buried himself in a folio of statistics.

66

Bolting from the Course.-The writer of a " Memoir of the fifth Duke of Richmond" relates the following of Lord George Bentinck: When canvassing at King's Lynn in company with his colleague Lord William Lennox, at a moment when Lord George had offended some of the extreme Radical party by voting for Lord Chandos's motion during the progress of the Reform Bill, he was shown into the lion's den of a somewhat gruff elector, who had only recently enjoyed his privilege as a voter. Lord George was all politeness, and, presenting his electioneering card, asked him for the honour of his support. The independent Liberal put on a smile, and, in the pleasantest manner imaginable, said, "Good morning, my lord; has your lordship been at Newmarket lately?" The candidate smiled. "You're very fond of a race," continued the other. "Very," responded the scion of the House of Portland. “I wish to ask you a question, my lord-a racing question." The noble turfite gave one of his most willing looks, and replied that he should be very happy to give all the information he could on the subject. "Now, my lord," proceeded the inquirer in a rather dry and solemn tone, “if a horse, however thoroughbred and good he may be in other respects, is given to swerving or bolting from the course, what should you think of him ? " "Perfectly useless-not worth training." "You've said it," responded the other with a demoniac laugh. "I quite agree with your lordship. As Nathan said to David, 'Thou art the man.' How came you not to run straight on the Reform Bill ?"

His Death.-Lord George Bentinck died suddenly, while walking near the family seat of his father, the Duke of Portland, at Welbeck, on the 21st of September, 1848. Although he had been less than three years before the public as a parliamentary figure, his industry and mastery of commercial detail, as shown in his speeches, had impressed the nation, and, as Mr. Disraeli mentions, on the day of his interment all the British shipping in port had their flags half-mast high. Lord Lytton, in one of his admirable sketches, depicts both Bentinck's career and the national feeling at its close:

"The lounging member seldom in his place,
And then with thoughts remote upon a race,
Stung into sympathy with others, blends
His life with theirs, and ease for ever ends.
Each task by which industrious toil supplies
What culture lacks or native bent denies,
Conscience itself imposes ;-in his creed,
Who shuns one labour is unfit to lead.
Thus, victim of his own remorseless zeal,
Life, overwound, snapt sudden at the wheel,

And the same grief which England gives the brave
Slain at their post, did homage to his grave."

WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE.
(1809.)

His First Return.-Mr. Gladstone was first returned to Parliament in the Tory interest in 1832, for the borough of Newark-on-Trent, then under the influence of the Duke of Newcastle. This nobleman is celebrated as having asked the question, in response to a remonstrance against his eviction of more than a hundred persons who had voted against his wishes, "May I not do what I like with my own?" The duke's eldest son, Lord Lincoln (the future duke, and Minister for War and the Colonies, during the Crimean hostilities), was a schoolfellow of Mr. Gladstone's at Eton, and fellow student with him at Christ Church, Oxford; and upon Lord Lincoln's recommendation, it is presumed, the duke made his acquaintance. Mr. Gladstone had not quite completed his twenty-third year when he stood for the borough. In answer to a question put to him on the hustings, he is reported in a newspaper of the day to have said: "I found my way to Newark because I was invited by a numerous body of men, than whom none are more respectable or intelligent. The Red Club had written to the Duke of Newcastle to know if he could recommend any gentleman as a fit and proper person, and in consequence of that application I was invited by the Red Club. I was unknown to the Red Club as much as though I had been a person of New Zealand or Kamschatka; but my recommendation was such that the Red Club determined to invite me." What followed on Mr. Gladstone's part is somewhat characteristic. An elector: "Are we to understand you, then, as the nominee of the Duke of Newcastle?" Mr. Gladstone: "I will answer that question if you tell me what you mean by nominee." The elector: "I consider the man as the nominee of the duke when he is sent by his grace to be crammed down the throats of the electors, whether they will or not." Mr. Gladstone: "Then, according to that definition, I am not the nominee of the Duke of Newcastle." elector: "What is your definition of a nominee?"

The

Mr. Gladstone: "I

am not here to give the definition. I ask what you mean by the word nominee, and according to your own explanation of it I give the answer." Mr. Gladstone was returned at the head of the poll. He continued to represent Newark until 1846.

First Appearances in Parliament.-The Parliament in which Mr. Gladstone first sat was the first after the passing of the Reform Act, and met in January, 1833. The young member did not address the House till the following May, when he rose to repel some accusations respecting the treatment of slaves on his father's estates in Demerara. The abolition

of slavery was then under discussion in the House, and was carried during this session. Lord Althorp's bill for the reduction of the Irish Church Establishment also passed in the same year, Mr. Gladstone speaking and voting against it.

Macaulay on Gladstone.-Macaulay's sketch of Mr. Gladstone as a young man shows the impression the future Premier made upon some of his early contemporaries in Parliament. In his review of Mr. Gladstone's work on "The State in its Relations with the Church' (Edinburgh Review, April, 1839) the essayist wrote: "The author of this volume is a young man of unblemished character, and of distinguished parliamentary talents, the rising hope of those stern and unbending Tories who follow, reluctantly and mutinously, a leader [Sir Robert Peel] whose experience and eloquence are indispensable to them, but whose cautious temper and moderate opinions they abhor. It would not be at all strange if Mr. Gladstone were one of the most unpopular men in England. But we believe that we do him no more than justice when we say that his abilities and his demeanour have obtained for him the respect and good will of all parties. . . Mr. Gladstone seems to us to be, in many respects, exceedingly well qualified for philosophical investigation. His mind is of large grasp; nor is he deficient in dialectical skill. But he does not give his intellect fair play. There is no want of light, but a great want of what Bacon would have called dry light. Whatever Mr. Gladstone sees is refracted and distorted by a false medium of passion and prejudices. His style bears a remarkable analogy to his mode of thinking, and indeed exercises great influence on his mode of thinking. His rhetoric, though often good of its kind, darkens and perplexes the logic which it should illustrate. Half his acuteness and diligence, with a barren imagination and scanty vocabulary, would have saved him from almost half his mistakes. He has one gift most dangerous to a speculatora vast command of a kind of language, grave and majestic, but of vague and uncertain import."

Mr. Gladstone and the "Sliding Scale."-Mr. Gladstone had occupied subordinate offices in the brief Administration of Sir Robert Peel in 1835, and, on the return of that statesman to power in 1841, he was made Master of the Mint as well as Vice-President of the Board of Trade. Miss Williams Wynn, writing at the time from London to Baron Varnhagen von Ense, observed, "They say Mr Gladstone has been given two offices in order, if possible, to keep him quiet, and, by giving him too much to do, to prevent him from troubling his head about the Church." In presenting himself for re-election at Newark on accepting his new offices, it is interesting to note the future promoter of the Commercial Treaty with France and similar measures declaring protectionist principles. "There are," said he, "two points on which the British farmer

may rely; the first of which is that adequate protection will be given to him; and the second is that protection will be given to him through the means of the sliding scale" (regulating the duties on corn accord ing to the market price per quarter). In the preparation of this "sliding scale," which was introduced in 1842, it was understood that Mr. Gladstone had rendered active assistance to the head of the Government.

A Reply to Lord Palmerston.-In the adjourned debate on the foreign policy of the Government, in June, 1850, Mr. Gladstone made the following remarks in reference to Lord Palmerston's famous declaration, "Civis Romanus sum:"-" He vaunted, amid the cheers of his supporters, that under his administration an Englishman should be, throughout the world, what the citizen of Rome had been. But I ask, what then was a Roman citizen? He was the member of a privileged caste; he belonged to a conquering race, to a nation that held all nations bound down by the hand of Imperial power. For him there was to be an exceptional system of law; for him principles were to be asserted, and by him rights were to be enjoyed, that were denied to the rest of the world. Is such, then, the view of the noble lord as to the relation that is to subsist between England and other countries? Does he make the claim for us that we are to be uplifted on a platform high above the standing-ground of all other nations? It is, indeed, too clear that too much of this notion is lurking in his mind; that he adopts, in part, that vain conception that we, forsooth, have a mission to be the censors of abuses and imperfections among the other countries of the world; that we are to be the universal schoolmasters, and that all who hesitate to recognise our office should have the war of diplomacy, at least, forthwith declared against them. And certainly, if the business of a Foreign Secretary is merely to carry on diplomatic war, all must admit the perfection of the noble lord in the discharge of his functions. But it is not the duty of a Foreign Minister to be like a knighterrant, ever pricking forth, armed at all points, to challenge all comers, and lay as many adversaries as possible sprawling, or the noble lord would be a master of his art; but to maintain that sound code of international principles which is a monument of human wisdom, and a precious inheri tance bequeathed by our fathers for the preservation of the future brotherhood of nations."

An Impulsive Speech.-In the debate on the Budget of the Derby Ministry in December, 1853, Mr. Disraeli (Chancellor of the Exchequer) closed his defence of the measure in a warm and bitter speech, in which he retorted on his antagonists the charge of incompetence which they had made against himself. Sir Charles Wood (a former Chancellor) especially was the object of his animadversion, and was told, "If he has learned his business, he has still to learn that petulance is not sarcasm, and that insolence is not invective." Sir James Graham also, Mr. Disraeli remarked, he looked upon with regard, but not with respect; and he concluded by denouncing the coalition among his adversaries, and declaring, "England does not love coalitions." It had been understood that his speech would close the debate; but the moment he sat down,