Recollections of Gladstone.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 22 June 1910, Page 4

Recollections of Gladstone.

The author of "Collections and Recollections." writing in a recent Manchester Guardian, lias the following interesting reminiscence :— And now conies a passage'of personal history. On ithe 2nd of October, 1885, I went on a viisit to Hawarden. Gladstone and his Government toad been turned out in the previous June. It had been arranged thait Parliiflimcnit was to be dissolved in November, and it seemed only too likely that (the General Election would find the. Liberal Party acutely divided. Even if we accepted Lord Rcsclbery's metaphor, iand all crowded itogether under Gladstone's umbrella, still, the moment we stepped' outside its circumference, we found ourselves on opposite sides of the street. Rioughly, there were the

old-fashioned Liberals , who accepted the Authorised Programme, all the more gladly because the.ro was nothing in it; and there were the Radicals, who saw their beliofs emSbocliied, for the first- itime, in Chamberlain's Unauthorised Programme, and were .

resolved to follow wherever he led. In this state 'of tension, it was inevitable that conversation, at Hawardon as elsewhere, should turn on the piwiperfs of the election). To what extent would thev be affected bv the conflict of Programmes? What did Chamberlain mean? Howfar would he push his independence? Mr Gladstone ilo'ok me for a solitary walk in ■Hαwarden Park, amd asked me to tell him plainly what I thougUr. T said t,h n ,t, ji S f., r as J knew, Mr ChamberHn had no de-y-ign of trviug to oust Gladstone from the Libi-rnl leadership; but T felt sure that ho meant so to make himself the indispensable leader whenever a vacancy should occur. T felt sure that, wlwitever else happened, lie did not mean Lord Hartington (the idol of the Moderate r.ectian) to he Prime Milliliter. Further, I vetiired to say Ithat, with the younger men of the party (among whom T could then ibe reckoned), the Unauthorised Programme was extremely popular, and itlia.t, if on],\ Mr Gladstone could make some con ee&sion to .ilb. the resullt would tend to unity. Then, warming to i.y work, T said: "The General TClectbii almost upon us. To go into it with two Leadiers and twio polioses would bo disastrous. Chaniberinin i.s your colleague. Surely, instead of ascertaining his purpose thr>ii.;h my cuesses at it, your best course would .bo to ask him here, and have it out with him am a straightforward conversation." If ,1 hlad'+hrow;i a bomb into the Temple of Peace, tr had proposed an invitation to the Sultan, Gladstone could not have: seemed more surprised. He said that he had always tried to keep Haiwarden- free from politics, and 'that he had never been in the haibit of asking liis colleagues to visit him there, unless, as well as colleagues, they \yere private friends. • To tin's I replied that urgent cases required special treatment, and! that this was eminently a case where no preconceived kfeas or crusted, halbits ought to be allowed to interfere with a move which .might avert a. grave disaster from the Liberal Party. T gained a potent ally in Mrs' Gladstone, and with my own hand wrote 'the telegram .which invited Mr Chamberlain ifo Hawardera. My visit there ended just before his began, .bulfc he wrote mo an account of his experience. Nothing, lie said, could exceed the social pleasantness or it all, but mi the points at issue between him and his host no approach io an agreement had been arrived alt. Gladstone, in brief was resolutely opposed to the Unauthorised Programme, and Cham berlam was absolutely committed, to >*• It I were now to draw back, , ' lie wrote, "the stones would immediately cry out." I had no 'funther relation .'to the matter. We wont into the election with divided counsels. >Mr OhianK 'berltain appealed on his own policy, <mi<l did not even menition Gladstones name. Tlie result of the election was a tie between Tories, Plus Irish', 'and liberals; .and the •tie precipitated the disclosure of Gladstone's views on Ireknid , . Not ror the first or the last time, Gladstone had under-estimated the forces arrayed against Mm. His hostile •attitude ltow.a.rds Social Reform had turned an invaluable 'ally in!to a* .implacable foe. The Chamiber.lain whom the present generation of Liberals has known and feared was created by the nerverse misunder-stand-rngs of 1885 .