Review of reviews and world's work . expected barrierswhich must be cleared before he reaches the this, displayed time after time, under the mostdiverse circumstances, has made the public confidentthat Mr. Gladstone is never so sure to excel himselfas. when he is confronted with difficulties that wouldutterly crush a weaker man. THE IDEAL GLADSTONE. But it is not as an Admirable Crichton of the Nine-teenth Centurj- that he commands the homage of hiscountrymen. The English and Scotch seldom are en-thusiastic alxiut mere intellectual versatility in thesmartest mental g>-mnastic. We a
Review of reviews and world's work . expected barrierswhich must be cleared before he reaches the this, displayed time after time, under the mostdiverse circumstances, has made the public confidentthat Mr. Gladstone is never so sure to excel himselfas. when he is confronted with difficulties that wouldutterly crush a weaker man. THE IDEAL GLADSTONE. But it is not as an Admirable Crichton of the Nine-teenth Centurj- that he commands the homage of hiscountrymen. The English and Scotch seldom are en-thusiastic alxiut mere intellectual versatility in thesmartest mental g>-mnastic. We are at bottom a profoundly religious race, and those who would arousethe enthusiasm of our people must touch the heartrather than the lieatl of the nation. Mr. Gladstone isgreat in Parliamentary cut and thrust and pany. Heis wonderful in a great debate, and beyond all rivalryas a platform orator ; but the great secret of his holdupon the popular heart is the p<)i)ular conviction thathe is at the bottom not a mere old Parliamentary. I/,, s^ \¥%, I HAWARDEN CHURCH. hand or cunning lecturer, but like a knight and a herowhenever there is any knightly and heroic task to bedone. It is all humbug, says the enemy, he is aself-seeker like the rest of us. But that is just whatthe mass of men w^U not believe. To them Mr. Glad-stone is the one man left in politics now that is dead, who is capable of self-sacrifice. If agulf opened in our forum and the ciy went forth foran English Quintus Curtius, it is from Hawarden thatmost people would expect the answer to come. Herepresents the element of the ideal in our politicalstrife. He is the statesman of aspiration and ofenthusiasm ; he is the man of faith, the leader of theforlorn hope, the heaven-sent champion of the desolateand the oppressed. Many of us for years needed noother watchword than Gladstone to nerve us forthe where you see my white plume shine amid the ranks of war,And be your oriflamme to-day, the helmet of
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