THE 'PALL MALL GAZETTE' ON MR. GLADSTONE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 109, 29 May 1875, Page 13

THE 'PALL MALL GAZETTE ' ON MR. GLADSTONE.

«m. m?f l? aU Mall Gazette> of Januaiy 30, entitled "Mr. Gladstone in Eetn-ement," we take the following^extracts wTi tU KM-? erUSal o^' l 6^ 61 ' 8 wiU see that Mr - GHaSto g n?s £olish i-ets 1 -— GS VGiy Mgh estimation toe EngM ™I B fl ts r?? WC consider Mr. Gladstone's retirement, temporSo^fll^' ° ia - Ye cc , n PP racticall y inevitable, we think that the reasons he has assigned for it, and which our contemporaries have mosly accepted render it a bad precedent. It seems to £ L ntl? be justly charged with having acted on the very principle with which he reproaches the Roman Catholic Church under ="Vl-X DD m T2;s teUs us that he leaves the pubUc service to write theoW JSS b / en .? ove 1 r f ns ' i^tesme^and generals who beforfi owW quitted active Me for the clositer; but then they had reasons fwifc like the great Emperor's gout; and, in fact, the^e retSments W been honorable retreats frW work iJ^t££h?a££ The exact form of retirement which Mr. Gladstone has chosen ?s certainly one for which it is not easy to find a parallel; tte Su sion from public labors which is occupied with^writ£o-' fiei Cc £" log!cal Tuamfestoes is probably of a land which could only occur to aa English pohtician But the step has a general resemblance to the acts of extreme religious enthusiasts, and this f orm of rXfoS coun?i7 Sm tl7 fOUnd6d ° n P re£er « %S

Finally, we think Mr. Gladstone's retirement to be re«rettM as m one respect a memorable instance of self-deceptton. Ye canw d^t that hlle?h l le ?; yeS poHtical debate fOT Polemical controversy not only because he has a strong wish for the last, but becauleTe thinkshe excels mit. Therecouldnot be a grosser mistake . Slad^ stone is a very poor writer ; and it is only by careful study and by Su?° g tlSt t]ie f^f P"*.^ «*» assodatlonTfegood wnting, that one can find ti-aces m Hs productions ofthenowei^ which made him a master in debate, ko doubt, at fi?t sS there is an answer to this in the enormous circulation of his iS? pamphlets. But the fact that near 150,000 of them have bLn sold only proves the more conclusively that he is leavin J a field in which he is strong for a field in which he is weak. For fir Gk? stone is read not because he is a telling writer, but because he is an orator so distinguished that he led a great political party X the ex-Piime Minister, not the pamphleteer, wholes been read by Bov^st a multitude. His publications certainly do show a certain kmd of ability. As we said above, he knows wh^f to hit an ad yersaiy, and his trick was, of course, learned in pariiamentarv fence. But otherwise he is obscui-e, ponderous, and coSused • S we venture to think that, if he lives long enough for SoS parliamentary ascendancy to be forgotten,°and go^ oSwrituSaU the while, he wiU be scarcely read tt aU. Such a ScSsSlfor the man who possesses almost in perfection the one talenUhe most lU mTl er th l instltufci °ns of our countiy, is melancholy iSed Mr. Gladstone become a pamphleteer cai only be compared to Bichelieubusymth tragedy, or Frederick occupied wiS Alexan drines; but then at all events, the Frenchman*^ contteuedto^dmuuster, and the German never wearied of war." mueci ™ att

of disc< Tr l that fche l °S™* o£ the building of the Towof Babel is recorded among the inscriptions on tlio Assyrian tablets m the British Museum. "o^ipwons on tjie