Rice cutlets with mushrooms - original, simple, but at the same time amazing...
-William Ewart Gladstone
Context: Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home. My second principle of foreign policy is this—that it aims to be to preserve to the nations of the world—and especially, were it but for shame, when we recollect the sacred name we bear as Christians, especially to the Christian nations of the world-the blessings of peace. That is my second principle. Speech in West Calder, Scotland (27 November 1879), quoted in W. E. Gladstone, Midlothian Speeches 1879 (Leicester University Press, 1971), p. 115.
-William Ewart Gladstone
Context: Ireland, Ireland! That cloud in the west! That coming storm! That minister of God"s retribution upon cruel, inveterate, and but half-atoned injustice! Ireland forces upon us those great social and great religious questions— God grant that we may have the courage to look them in the face, and to work through them Letter to his wife, Catherine Gladstone (12 October 1845), quoted in John Morley, The Life of Wiliam Ewart Gladstone: Volume I (London: Macmillan, 1903), p. 383.
-William Ewart Gladstone
Context: My fourth principle is that you should avoid needless and entangling engagements. You may boast about them, you may brag about them, you may say you are procuring consideration of the country. You may say that an Englishman may now hold up his head among the nations. But what does all this come to, gentlemen? It comes to this, that you are increasing your engagements without increasing your strength; and if you increase your engagements without increasing strength, you decrease strength, you abolish strength; you really reduce the empire and do not increase it. You render it less capable of performing its duties; you render it an inheritance less precious to hand on to future generations. Speech in West Calder, Scotland (27 November 1879), quoted in W. E. Gladstone, Midlothian Speeches 1879 (Leicester University Press, 1971), p. 116.
-William Ewart Gladstone
Context: Economy is the first and great article (economy such as I understand it) in my financial creed. The controversy between direct and indirect taxation holds a minor, though important place. Letter to his brother Robertson of the Financial Reform Association at Liverpool (1859), as quoted in Gladstone as Financier and Economist (1931) by F. W. Hirst, p. 241
-William Ewart Gladstone
Context: All selfishness is the great curse of the human race, and when we have a real sympathy with other people less happy than ourselves that is a good sign of something like a beginning of deliverance from selfishness. Speech at Hawarden (28 May 1890), quoted in The Times (29 May 1890), p. 12.
-William Ewart Gladstone
Context: A rational reaction against the irrational excesses and vagaries of skepticism may, I admit, readily degenerate into the rival folly of credulity. To be engaged in opposing wrong affords, under the conditions of our mental constitution, but a slender guarantee for being right. Homeric Synchronism: An Inquiry Into the Time and Place of Homer (1876), Introduction
-William Ewart Gladstone
Context: I am certain, from experience, of the immense advantage of strict account-keeping in early life. It is just like learning the grammar then, which when once learned needs not be referred to afterwards. Letter to Mrs. Gladstone (14 January 1860), as quoted in Gladstone as Financier and Economist (1931) by F. W. Hirst, p. 242
-William Ewart Gladstone
Context: I am delighted to see how many young boys and girls have come forward to obtain honorable marks of recognition on this occasion, - if any effectual good is to be done to them, it must be done by teaching and encouraging them and helping them to help themselves. All the people who pretend to take your own concerns out of your own hands and to do everything for you, I won"t say they are imposters; I won"t even say they are quacks; but I do say they are mistaken people. The only sound, healthy description of countenancing and assisting these institutions is that which teaches independence and self-exertion... When I say you should help yourselves - and I would encourage every man in every rank of life to rely upon self-help more than on assistance to be got from his neighbors - there is One who helps us all, and without whose help every effort of ours is in vain; and there is nothing that should tend more, and there is nothing that should tend more to make us see the benefit of God Almighty than to see the beauty as well as the usefulness of these flowers, these plants, and these fruits which He causes the earth to bring forth for our comfort and advantage. Speech to the Hawarden Amateur Horticultural Society (17 August 1876), as quoted in "Mr. Gladstone On Cottage Gardening", The Times (18 August 1876), p. 9
-William Ewart Gladstone
Context: The right hon. Gentleman quoted repeatedly this declaration... to keep out of Egypt it is necessary to put it down in the Soudan; and that is the task the right hon. Gentleman desires to saddle upon England. Now, I tell hon. Gentlemen this-that task means the reconquest of the Soudan. I put aside for the moment all questions of climate, of distance, of difficulties, of the enormous charges, and all the frightful loss of life. There is something worse than that involved in the plan of the right hon. Gentleman. It would be a war of conquest against a people struggling to be free. ["No, no!"] Yes; these are people struggling to be free, and they are struggling rightly to be free. Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1884/may/12/vote-of-censure in the House of Commons (12 May 1884) during the Mahdist War.
GLADSTONE WILLIAM Ewart (eng. William Ewart Gladstone) - English statesman, prime minister in 1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886, 1892-1894.
Gladstone was born into the family of a wealthy Scottish businessman. The formation of William's personality was greatly influenced by his parents, who managed to instill in their son a deep faith in God, a love of literature and an interest in public affairs. He graduated from school at Eton (1821-1828), then studied at Oxford (Christ Church College), where he discovered an interest in theology and was one of the best students. Gladstone dreamed of devoting himself to serving God, but his father saw his son’s future in the political field and forbade him to take ordination. Having completed his education, in 1832 Gladstone went on a trip to Italy, after visiting which he changed his attitude towards Catholics. In Rome, he said, he especially felt the loss of unity in the Christian world and for some time after his return, while remaining an evangelical, he was carried away by the ideas of the Oxford movement.
Gladstone began his political career as a Tory, sharing conservative views on major issues of domestic and foreign policy. He was a supporter of repressive measures against Ireland, opposed the admission of Jews to parliament, dissenters into the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and also opposed the abolition of corporal punishment in the army. He was an opponent of the parliamentary reform of 1832 and the ban on slavery. At the age of 23 he won the parliamentary elections. Gladstone's program included maintaining the union of the Anglican Church and state. Subsequently he considered himself an Anglican. The Church, being one of the branches of the united Catholic Church (the so-called Branch Theory), retained its own doctrines and organization.
From 1832 and for 63 years, Gladstone consistently took an active position and spoke in Parliament on all the most important issues.
In 1834-1835 he was a member of the 1st Conservative government of R. Peel. In 1838, Gladstone published The State in Its Relations with the Church, which was a defense of the status of the state Church. Gladstone argued that the purpose of the state was to serve religion, and the Church in this union needed state support. The book was a young man’s reaction to the granting of political and civil rights to Catholics in 1829 (the so-called emancipation of Catholics) and the demands of nonconformists to eliminate the state status of Anglicans. Church and caused heated debate in society. In subsequent years, Gladstone's books and articles were devoted to church history and theology. He wrote essays on the history of the Reformation, works on the authenticity and authority of Holy Scripture, etc.
Gladstone's deep inner religiosity remained unchanged, but his views on issues of domestic and foreign policy of the state underwent serious changes, which over time led him to the liberal camp. The revision of the position was the result of deep reflection, flexibility of mind, openness to new trends, facts, phenomena, and the ability to abandon delusions. Gladstone understood the need to implement changes in the social and political areas, which were opposed by the extreme Tories. As Minister of Trade in 1843-1845 in Peel's 2nd cabinet, Gladstone supported his policy of establishing liberal principles of trade (free trade) and encouraged the development of railway construction. He spoke out for the expansion of self-government in the colonies, which was sought by the colonists and radicals. His position indicated a transition to the camp of liberal conservatives, supporters of Peel's policies. Gladstone's resignation in 1845 was caused by his opposition to an increase in subsidies for Catholic colleges in Ireland. Gladstone was convinced that the state should support only the dominant Anglican religion.
In the 50s, he finally broke with the conservatives and entered the coalition governments of Aberdeen (1852-1855) and the Liberal cabinet of Palmerston (1859-1866). After the death of G.J. Palmerston Gladstone became leader of the Liberals in the House of Commons in 1868. Gradually he came to religious tolerance. Reflections led him to the conviction of the need to strengthen religious institutions and change the nature of the relationship between the Church and the state. In 1865 he declared the unsatisfactory position of the Anglicans. Churches in Ireland. The Church relied on a minority of the population, but the Catholic majority supported it financially by paying tithes. Therefore, the first law of the Gladstone government in 1869 was the elimination of the state status of the Anglican Church in Ireland. According to the law, the provision of maintenance to priests was stopped, all church property was transferred into the hands of a royal commission; Irish bishops lost their seats in the House of Lords; Church courts were abolished. Gladstone believed that the law would help pacify the Catholic population of Ireland, but these actions caused violent indignation among Gladstone's opponents. Oxford University, which he represented in Parliament from 1847 to 1865, severed all ties with him. However, Gladstone had no doubt that he was right and in 1890 spoke about the need for similar changes in Scotland and Wales. Gladstone's first cabinet went down in history as a reform government. Administrative reform was carried out, the principles of admission to civil and military service were revised; the system of selling positions was abolished; secret voting was established for parliamentary elections; universal primary education was introduced; trade unions are legalized; The Land Act was passed, limiting the rights of landlords in Ireland. Colonial policy was aimed at expanding the sphere of influence of Great Britain and providing the settler colonies with greater independence, which consisted of developing forms of self-government, expanding economic ties between the mother country and the dominions based on the principles of free trade: freedom of trade and non-interference of the state in private business activities.
After the resignation of the cabinet, Gladstone resigned as leader of the Liberal Party, believing that his political career was over. He wanted to pay more attention to issues of religious and spiritual life. The strengthening of Catholicism and nonconformism, as well as the successes of natural sciences, caused a new wave of interest in religious problems in society in the 60-80s. Gladstone believed that the decisive time had come for the struggle “for minds” in matters of faith. In the mid-70s, he published a number of works in defense of the principles of religious freedom, for example against the Vatican. A major role in the evolution of Gladstone’s views towards ecumenism was played by the so-called. the case of Bradlow, an atheist who was elected to parliament in 1880, but did not become a deputy due to his refusal to take the oath, which spoke of faith in God. Reflections on the current situation led Gladstone to the opinion about the possibility of separation of Church and state, to tolerance in matters of faith. In a parliamentary speech in 1883, Gladstone spoke of the need to separate the question of religious difference from the question of civil rights and power. In 1880-1885, Gladstone's 2nd government continued the electoral reforms of 1884 and 1885, as well as the expansionist policies of its Conservative predecessors, intervening in the Egyptian conflict and suppressing opposition movements in Ireland. At the same time, Gladstone was looking for ways to solve the Irish problem and carried out the 2nd land reform (1881). By 1886, Gladstone became convinced of the need for further changes in England's policy towards Ireland and, during his 3rd stay in power, proposed introducing self-government (Home Rule) in it. The Home Rule law failed, which led to the resignation of the government. Disagreements over Irish politics caused a split in the Liberal camp and weakened Gladstone's position. In 1892-1894, Gladstone managed to pass the Home Rule Act through the House of Commons, but the House of Lords voted against it and the law did not come into force.
Gladstone's early life
Gladstone William Ewart (Ewart) - famous English politician, born December 29, 1809, died May 19, 1898. His father, John Gladstone, a Scot by birth, a wealthy merchant who settled in Liverpool, was a Conservative member of the House of Commons in 1819 - 1827 . Young William Gladstone brought from home a rare work ethic, deep orthodox Anglican religiosity, and excellent home training. Already during his school years spent at Eton (1820 - 1827), he discovered at meetings of various school circles a strong oratorical talent, a versatile education, which was reflected in his numerous articles in the school (printed) magazine Eton Miscellaneous, published in 1827 under his editorship, and the ability to make a deep impression on everyone around you. Brought up under the influence of his father, as well as Canning, who was a close friend of his father, Gladstone, who at that time dreamed of either a spiritual career or a career as a political figure, was a definite conservative of the Canning shade. During his student years (1829 - 1832), which he spent at Oxford, Gladstone's conservatism remained unshaken; At meetings of student political societies, in which he took an active part, he made speeches against parliamentary reform, against the emancipation of slaves in the colonies, and for the patrimonial aristocracy. Having completed his university course with double honors in ancient languages and mathematics, he traveled around Italy. At the end of 1832, Gladstone was elected a member of the House of Commons in the Newark district, which was under the strong influence of the Duke of Newcastle, who patronized him.
William Gladstone's first speech in the House of Commons was devoted to the issue of slavery in the English colonies; While not unconditionally opposed to emancipation in principle, Gladstone found it untimely, insisted on the need to reward slave owners, and in particular defended his father against the charges brought against him for the mistreatment of slaves on his sugar plantations. This speech and, in general, Gladstone’s activities in the House of Commons so quickly promoted him in the ranks of the Tories that already in 1834 Robert Peel upon taking office as head of government, he was offered the post of first junior lord of the treasury, and a few months later assistant secretary of the colonial affairs. In 1835, William Gladstone retired along with the ministry of Robert Peel.
He devoted the following years, in addition to his current parliamentary studies, to an in-depth study of Homer, Dante and St. Augustine. The fruit of the study of theological literature was the books “The State in its Relations to the Church” (1838) and “The Principles of the Church, Evaluated by Their Results” (1840); in them Gladstone, based on the idea that the state, as such, “has a conscience,” argued for the need for the state to support and spread the Christian religion with the help of the state church. At this time, the future liberal Gladstone, according to Macaulay, was still “the rising hope of the stern and unyielding Tories” who followed Peel, horrifying him.
Gladstone's evolution from conservative to liberal
In 1841, R. Peel appointed Gladstone as associate president of the Bureau of Trade, and in 1843 as president; at the same time, William Gladstone became a member of the cabinet. During the execution of this position, a significant change took place in Gladstone, as well as in R. Peale. From extreme protectionists and in particular supporters of agrarian protectionism, they, gradually softening, became supporters of the abolition of the Corn Laws, and then free traders (adherents of free international trade). At this time, Gladstone carried out significant work on revising the customs tariff in the direction of its significant softening, and then spoke out for the repeal of the Corn Laws. However, the implementation of this last measure was no longer Gladstone’s business, since in February 1845 he resigned due to disagreement with R. Peel’s promise of a state subsidy for a Catholic educational institution in Ireland.
At the end of 1845, William Gladstone re-entered the cabinet as Colonial Secretary, but, having at the same time lost his seat in the House of Commons, did not consider it possible to appear before the voters of Newark, which was under the influence of the strictly conservative Duke of Newcastle. Only in 1847 was he re-elected as a member of the House of Commons from Oxford University. From 1846 to 1852, Gladstone was a prominent member of the opposition (the Peelite party) against the liberal ministry of Rossel; however, this opposition was far from conservative. Gladstone supported government measures such as the emancipation of the Jews; at the same time, he was a resolute opponent of the Lord's aggressive foreign policy Palmerston. In 1850, when Palmerston presented the Greek government with a demand for the payment of a significant remuneration to the English subject Pacifico, and motivated this by the need to achieve exceptional respect for the title of the English subject, so that he could proudly say everywhere, like an ancient Roman, “civis romanus sum” (“I am Roman citizen"), then Gladstone, in a remarkable speech, attacked this chauvinistic principle as unchristian.
William Gladstone spent 1850–1851 in Italy. Its political system and in particular the situation of prisoners in prisons in the Kingdom of Naples attracted his close attention, and he published the result of his study in the form of two letters to Lord Aberdeen “Two letters to the earl of Aberdeen on the state prosecutions of the Neapolitan government "; in these letters he severely castigated the despotism of the Neapolitan king, the arrests of the best citizens of the state without trial by administrative order, and especially the situation of prisoners in prisons. The letters made a deep impression throughout Europe and, although they could not have any immediate practical impact, they aroused special respect for Gladstone in Italy and brought him closer to many members of the " Young Italy" In 1852, the Earl of Derby, when forming a cabinet, offered Gladstone a place in it, but Gladstone refused; this refusal marked his final break with the Conservative Party. He even made severe criticism of the budget introduced by the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Disraeli.
Also in 1852, William Gladstone became Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Liberal-Pilite coalition cabinet of Lord Aberdeen. The policy of the cabinet, despite the constant peace-loving statements of the Prime Minister himself and Gladstone, led to a war with Russia (see the Crimean War), for which Gladstone shared some responsibility, and which is in undoubted contradiction with the fundamental statements made by Gladstone in his dispute with Palmerston 1850. Since 1855, with the fall of the Aberdeen cabinet, Gladstone went into opposition. He protested against Chinese expedition of Lord Palmerston 1857, and contributed to Palmerston's defeat in the House of Commons on this issue. He remained in opposition during the administration of Derby (1858 - 1859). He took advantage of the comparative leisure to finish a large three-volume work on Homer, “Studies on Homer and the Homeric Epoch” (1858), to which Juventus mundi is adjacent in content. Gods and Men of the Homeric Age" (1869), "Homeric synchronism" (1876), "Landmarks of Homeric studies" (1890) and some minor works of Gladstone. They express Gladstone's conservative mindset in an original way, forcing him to treat all traditions with the deepest respect, but not preventing him from being a political reformer. In these works, Gladstone proves the historical authenticity of the Trojan War, the historical reality of the personality of the poet Homer, who glorified this war, and the unity of the poems of the Iliad and Odyssey. In his attitude to these facts, he is not only behind Wolf and other modern philologists, but even behind the New Alexandrian scientists, since he proves the authenticity of those poems that they had already suspected. Nevertheless, these works belong to remarkable studies. Incidentally, Gladstone put forward the theory (later rejected) that the ancient Greeks were not able to see the color blue.
In 1858, Gladstone accepted an assignment from the office of the Earl of Derby to travel to the Ionian Islands as an English commissioner to resolve the issue of the fate of these islands; Gladstone presented a report on the need to annex the islands in Greece, which was carried out by the next ministry of Lord Palmerston. In this ministry in 1859, Gladstone, despite significant disagreements between him and the prime minister, agreed to assume the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer. The following years revealed a remarkable financier in William Gladstone. Under him, a long series of reforms were carried out in the financial system of England in a democratic direction; by the way, the paper tax was abolished, postal savings banks were introduced, the national debt was reduced, etc. In the field of foreign policy, Palmerston's ministry supported the South American States in their struggle with the North, and Gladstone defended this policy. In the elections of 1865, Gladstone was voted out of office at the Conservative University of Oxford, but received a parliamentary mandate for South Lancashire (which he had to replace in 1868 with a mandate for Greenwich, and in 1880 for Midlothian, whose representative he remained until the end of his parliamentary career in 1895).
William Gladstone, photo 1861
After Palmerston's death (1865), William Gladstone retained his post in Lord Rossel's cabinet and at the same time took the place of leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons. In 1866 he introduced a parliamentary reform bill into the House. The failure of the bill forced the ministry and Gladstone to resign. However, this bill was introduced in a modified form by the new Conservative cabinet of Derby-Disraeli, and Gladstone, having made some significant amendments to it, was a strong supporter of it.
Gladstone's first cabinet
After new elections (1868), which gave a significant majority to the Liberal Party, the Queen entrusted the composition of the cabinet to Gladstone. The first cabinet of William Gladstone (1868 - 1874), supported by a large majority in the House of Commons and strong support in public opinion, was rich in reform activities. In 1869, church and state were separated in Ireland. To justify himself from the charge of betrayal of the principles he set forth in his books on the relationship of church to state, Gladstone published “A chapter of autobiography” (Lond., 1869), in which he explained the motives that forced him to abandon his previous views. In 1870, the Irish Land Act was passed, which eased the situation of Irish tenants of plots from English landlords, and a law on compulsory education; in 1871, the sale of positions in the army was abolished; in 1872, a system of secret voting in parliamentary elections was introduced.
After the elections of 1874, which gave a significant majority to the Conservatives, Gladstone wanted to abandon political activity; The Marquis of Hartington was elected leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons in his place. In 1876, Gladstone published the famous pamphlet, immediately translated into all languages, “Bulgarian Horrors,” and organized a social movement against Turkey and the Turkophile policies of Disraeli’s conservative English government. Thanks to this movement, Disraeli-Beaconsfield was unable to actively intercede for Turkey during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878.
Gladstone's second cabinet
In 1880, new elections again gave a majority to the Liberal Party, and Gladstone formed his second cabinet (1880 - 1885). The main task that the cabinet had to resolve was the pacification of Ireland. In 1881, Gladstone carried out a new Irish Land Act, but since this measure did not calm the anti-English movement in the country, he decided to apply severe repressive measures to the Irish, the implementation of which was entrusted to the Secretary of Irish Affairs Forster. The Irish Land League (the main body of national resistance to the British) was closed; Habeas Corpus Act has been repealed in Ireland. The most prominent Irish figures, including Parnell, were arrested. Since this system also did not achieve its goal, Gladstone entered into negotiations with the arrested Parnell and concluded an agreement with him, on the basis of which Parnell and his comrades were released, Forster was replaced by Cavendish, and some conciliatory measures were promised. But Cavendish was killed by Irish patriots - Fenians immediately after arriving in Dublin, and this gave Gladstone a reason to once again take the path of harsh repressive measures. In 1882 Gladstone's cabinet bombed Alexandria and occupied Egypt, turning it into an English colony. In 1884, the same cabinet carried out a third parliamentary reform, which again increased the number of Englishmen who had the right to elect members of the chamber. In 1885 clash between England and Russia in Afghanistan almost led to war. Gladstone's acquiescence to Russia led to Gladstone's defeat in the House of Commons, which forced his resignation on June 9, 1885.
Gladstone's third cabinet
But after new elections in January 1886, William Gladstone formed his third cabinet, which included Chamberlain, Morley and other radicals, and did not include Gladstone's former allies, moderate liberals Goshen, Hartington and others. Chamberlain, however, soon left the government. The need to support the Irish party in the House forced Gladstone to agree with it, and he introduced the famous draft Home Rule(autonomy) for Ireland, from which begins an era in the history of the liberal party of England and in the life of Gladstone himself. A significant part of the liberal party, led by Hartington and Chamberlain, not wanting Irish autonomy, formed a new party liberal unionists. The rest of the liberals, led by Gladstone, have since received the name Gladstonians and have shown a clear attraction to radicalism. The Home Rule project led to the defeat of the ministry in the chamber, and after its dissolution, to defeat in the new parliamentary elections. Gladstone ceded the post of head of cabinet to the Marquis Salisbury and became the leader of the opposition.
William Gladstone devoted the next six years of relative leisure between his third and fourth cabinets to passionate agitation for Irish Home Rule, which he conducted in the House of Commons, at countless rallies and in the press; then - writing a number of articles on the situation in Italy, in which he severely condemned the policy Krispy, a number of works in the form of books (“The impregnable rock of Holy Scripture”, 1892) and many articles in various journals on theological issues, in which he, among other things, polemicized with Huxley And Darwinism and defended the truth of the Mosaic cosmogony. In 1890, when the court ordered a divorce between the O'Shea spouses and found the leader of the Irish movement Parnell guilty of adultery, Gladstone declared that it was impossible for him to continue relations with the Irish party while Parnell was its head, and thereby dealt the latter a severe blow. In 1891, At the annual meeting of the National Liberal Federation in Newcastle, William Gladstone gave a remarkable speech in which he outlined a new program for the Liberal Party. This program included: Home Rule for Ireland, separation of church and state in Wales and Scotland, new democratic reform of the suffrage, adoption of state account of the costs of the electoral struggle, the introduction of salaries for members of parliament, the expansion of local self-government, the end of the occupation of Egypt. Reform of the House of Lords (which had the right to override the decisions of the House of Commons) was planned conditionally if “the Lords do not show prudence.”
Gladstone shortly before his death
Gladstone's Fourth Cabinet
During the election of 1892, “the great old man” Gladstone, as he was called, showed remarkable activity, astonishing in his old age. The election gave a majority of 42 votes to the Gladstonians in alliance with the Irish, and Gladstone formed his fourth cabinet. This cabinet passed Home Rule for Ireland through the House of Commons, but it was defeated by the House of Lords, just like some of Gladstone's other liberal bills. This time Gladstone did not have enough energy to fight the lords, and he, suffering from eyes and some deafness, retired in March 1894; his place was taken by Earl Rosebery. Gladstone no longer spoke in the 1895 elections. After a long illness, he died in 1898 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, near the grave of his long-term political rival, Lord Beaconsfield (Disraeli).
Assessment of the personality and activities of William Gladstone
The whole life of William Gladstone represents one slow and steady process of transition from one camp to another, a transition that is far from being fully explained by a change in the political mood of those social classes of which Gladstone could be considered a representative. This political evolution of his is largely a matter of a personal change in his way of thinking. At the beginning of his career, Gladstone acted as a representative of the interests of the aristocratic class, then he defended the interests of the middle and petty industrial bourgeoisie, and at the end of his life he began to become intensely interested in social issues. Previously a strong opponent of legislative regulation of the working hours of adult men, he now wavered in his conviction. In connection with this change of heart, one important change took place in Gladstone. In his own words, neither Eton nor Oxford taught him to sufficiently respect a person’s personal freedom, the importance of which he later appreciated.
The constant work of remaking his own views resulted in some inconsistency, not only between the actions of William Gladstone in different eras, but also between his policies of the same period. Thus he discovered remarkable compliance towards Boers of South Africa, the war with which, inherited (1880) from the Beaconsfield cabinet, he stopped with England's voluntary recognition of their independence, despite the defeat they inflicted on the British at Majuba, which was offensive to English pride and required, in the opinion of the patriots, retribution. This compliance is sharply contradicted by the occupation of Egypt in 1882 - insufficiently motivated even from the point of view of British conservatives. Gladstone's repressions in Ireland are in conflict with his liberal activities there. However, Irish repressions and the occupation of Egypt represent only isolated deviations in Gladstone’s activities, sometimes explained by the circumstances of the moment; in general, since 1852, it has been constantly aimed at serving the ideals and interests of that democracy in England, which at the moment was taking an active part in political life.
Gladstone was married from 1839 to Catherine Glynn. The eldest of his four sons, William Henry (1840–1891), was a member of the House of Commons and briefly Lord of the Treasury. The second Stephen was a pastor. The fourth, Herbert John, studied at Eton and Oxford, was a member of the House of Commons from 1880, was his father’s private secretary in 1880–1881, and a junior lord of the treasury in 1881–85 and one of the prominent figures of the Gladstonian party.
(29 December 1809 - 19 May 1898) - English statesman and writer. He was Prime Minister of Great Britain four times (December 1868 - February 1874, April 1880 - June 1885, February - August 1886, August 1892 - February 1894). 41st, 43rd, 45th and 47th Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Born in Liverpool into a family of Scottish origin. He was the fifth child of six children of Sir John Gladstone (1764-1851), a wealthy merchant, well educated and active in public life; in 1819-1827 he was a member of Parliament, and in 1846 he became a baronet. Mother Anna Mackenzie Robertson instilled in William a deep religious feeling and developed in him a love of poetry. From an early age he showed outstanding abilities, the development of which was greatly influenced by the influence of his parents.
Gladstone received his initial education at home, in 1821 he was placed at Eton School, where he remained until 1828, and then entered Oxford University, where he graduated in the spring of 1832. Mentally, he took everything he could from Eton and Oxford; hard work gave him extensive and versatile knowledge and aroused in him a keen interest in literature, especially classical literature. He took an active part in the debates of the Eton Society of Fellows (under the name The Literati) and in the publication of the Eton Miscellany, a periodical collection of the works of the students, being its energetic editor and its most active supplier of material, in the form of articles, translations and even satirical and humorous poems.
At 22, Gladstone is already a member of parliament from the Tory party, and soon enters the Conservative government. His political and economic views have evolved over time. A conservative guardian of the fundamentals early in his career, opposing the abolition of grain duties, Gladstone from the mid-40s. draws closer to supporters of free trade (free traders) and leans toward liberalism.
The changes taking place in society (the weakening of the position of landlords, the growth of the urban population, the increasing role of the middle strata, the strengthening of trade unionism and the political activity of the working masses) required a turn of society towards democratization. William Gladstone sensitively grasped the vector of this turn. He left the Conservatives and joined the Liberal ranks, and in 1865 became leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons.
The liberal doctrine included the following components: an economy based on private property and the market, a minimal role of the state (the idea of the state as a “night watchman”), constitutionalism and parliamentarism, personal freedom, freedom of speech, conscience, assembly, and finally, reforms as a method of gradual, moderate and purely legal changes in society to solve pressing problems.
His activities reflected the main positions of classical liberalism. The first Liberal government of William Gladstone was rightly called "reformist". At this time, a law was passed on the separation of the Anglican Church from the state in Ireland and the Land Act, which provided a number of guarantees to Irish tenant farmers. The 1870 education law was very relevant, introducing a system of public primary schools and compulsory education, which provided the opportunity for the children of workers to attend school. Religious qualifications in universities were abolished, and people of non-Anglican faiths could receive scholarships and degrees. A secret voting procedure was introduced for parliamentary elections. Trade unions received legal rights. These reforms contributed to the democratization of English society.
During the election campaign of 1879 - 1880, Gladstone for the first time used political technologies unprecedented for that time: delivering keynote speeches directly to voters. During a 2-week trip to the Midleton constituency, he spoke in front of tens of thousands of Englishmen, becoming a kind of “trend setter” for such political events.
William Gladstone also contributed significantly to the democratization of the British electoral system. Back in 1866, he introduced a bill on suffrage reform to parliament; the Conservatives then defeated it, accepting the reform when they came to power in 1867. But Gladstone introduced liberal amendments to the law, which significantly changed its character. As a result, qualified workers received the right to vote based on property qualifications. In 1884, after William Gladstone's third parliamentary reform, when this right was extended to small tenants and agricultural workers, the size of the electorate increased by 1.5 times.
Within the framework of the liberal system of views, W. Gladstone also considered the problems of the British Empire. He believed that the empire was a weakness for England; its strength was in guaranteeing equal rights to other peoples. Gladstone called for the empire to be given the character of self-governing nations with representative governments. In an effort to neutralize Irish resistance to British rule, Gladstone repeatedly tried to introduce into Parliament a Bill for Home Rule (autonomy) of Ireland within the British Empire. His last attempt to pass this bill led to a split in the Liberal Party, from which came supporters of preserving the union of England and Ireland (liberal unionists). Disagreements within the Liberal Party forced Gladstone to resign as prime minister in 1894.
The “Great Old Man,” as his contemporaries called him, died on May 19, 1898, but contradictions within the ranks of liberals were intensifying, which was a reflection of the deepening crisis of classical liberalism.
Gladstone (1809 - 1898). - A prominent politician in England in the second half of the 19th century. Leader of the Liberals. In his youth he was a Tory and a protectionist, but then he began to “move to the left”, and already in 1847 he became a moderate Tory, joining the so-called “Pilites” (supporters of the left Tory Robert Peel). In 1852, Gladstone participated in Lord Aberdeen's coalition ministry of Whigs and Peelites as Minister of Finance. Since 1859 - Minister of Finance in the Liberal Ministry of Palmerston. From then on, he finally became a liberal, participating in all subsequent liberal cabinets until 1893. Gladstone remained faithful to the old principles of English liberalism even when he left the latter in the 80s. imperialist elements broke away. His name is associated with a significant expansion of suffrage and the struggle for self-government (“Home Rule”) for Ireland. The Home Rule Act, introduced by Gladstone when he was Chairman of the Council of Ministers in 1886, was rejected by the House of Commons. In 1893, Gladstone managed to insist on the bill being passed by the House of Commons, but he ran into resistance from the House of Peers, where the bill was defeated. Because of this conflict, Gladstone soon resigned.
+ + +
Gladstone, William Ewart (29.XII.1809 - 19.V.1898) - English statesman. Born in the city of Liverpool into the family of a wealthy businessman. He received his education at the closed aristocratic school at Eton and at Oxford, where he studied theology and classical literature. In 1832 he was elected to parliament from the Tory party. During this period, he approved of the state of siege in Ireland, objected to the abolition of grain duties and the introduction of secret voting in elections. However, gradually, realizing that the development of capitalism and the strengthening of the bourgeoisie were making the old Toryism unpromising, Gladstone began to move away from it and focus on the liberals. In 1843-1845, Gladstone was Minister of Trade, in 1845-1847 - Minister of Colonies. In 1852-1855 - Minister of Finance in the coalition government Aberdeen, was a supporter of the war against Russia ( Crimean War 1853-1856). In 1859-1866 - Minister of Finance in the Liberal government of Palmerston; during the American Civil War of 1861-1865, he supported the slave owners of the Southern states. In 1868 he was elected leader of the Liberal Party. In 1868-1874, Gladstone was prime minister; his government carried out a reform of primary education, legalized trade unions (at the same time introducing penalties for picketing by strikers of enterprises in order to combat strikebreakers), and introduced secret voting in elections. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, Gladstone opposed the strengthening of Prussia and saw this as a danger to Great Britain. After the parliamentary elections of 1874, which brought defeat to the Liberals, Gladstone led the opposition to the Conservative government Disraeli. The struggle of these two figures was determined to a large extent by the desire to gain the support of voters and stay in power, so often bills put forward by conservatives and criticized by the liberals who were in opposition were carried out by them when the liberals came to power. K. Marx called Gladstone “a notorious hypocrite and casuist” (see K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, vol. 27, 1935, p. 129). Having headed the government in 1880-1885, Gladstone continued the expansionist foreign policy of the Conservatives. In 1882, Gladstone's government sent British troops to conquer Egypt. In Ireland, while brutally suppressing the national liberation movement, Gladstone's government simultaneously made minor concessions. The defeat of British troops in Sudan and complications in Ireland led to the fall of Gladstone's government. Briefly leading the government in 1886, Gladstone introduced the Home Rule Bill to Parliament. The fight over this issue dragged on. Back in government from 1892 to 1894, Gladstone pushed the bill through the House of Commons, but the House of Lords rejected it. Gladstone retired, ending his more than 60-year political career.
English historiography, without proper grounds, created Gladstone's reputation as a great statesman. K. Marx used the expression “great” in quotation marks to him. Political unscrupulousness, casuistic hypocrisy, flirting with the masses and shameless deception of them, expansion in foreign policy, covered by verbal sympathy for small countries and peoples, and finally, religious hypocrisy - these are the typical features of Gladstone's political face.
V. G. Trukhanovsky. Moscow.
Soviet historical encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 4. THE HAGUE - DVIN. 1963.
Works: A chapter of autobiography, L., 1868; Gleanings of past years 1843-1878, v. 1-7, L., 1879; Speeches and public addresses, v. 9-10, L., 1892-94; Bassett A. T., Gladstone's speeches (descrip. index and bibl.), L., 1916.
Literature: Erofeev N. A., Essays on the history of England. 1815-1917, M., 1959; Morley J., The life of W. E. Gladstone, v. 1-3, L., 1911; Knaplund P., Gladstone's foreign policy, L., 1935; his, Gladstone and Britain's imperial policy, L., 1927.
Gladstone, William Ewart (1809-98) - English politician who, during his long career, went from extreme Toryism to liberalism. Gladstone came from a wealthy Liverpool merchant and colonial plantation family; received an excellent education. At the age of 22, Gladstone was elected to parliament from one of the “rotten towns” (pocket constituencies of local land magnates), in 1841 he was already a fellow minister of trade, two years later - minister of trade, and in 1852 received the portfolio of Chancellor of the Exchequer, i.e. e. Minister of Finance. Gladstone owed such rapid advancement not only to his influential family connections, but also to his own talents; outstanding oratorical talent, great diligence and ability to master the smallest details of the most difficult issue, as well as his exceptional art of moving from one position to another, directly opposite to it, to defend today what he furiously condemned the day before. Toryism at that time was on the decline: liberalism, under the slogans of free trade and universal peace, triumphed. From the beginning of the 50s, Gladstone began to move away from his party, and in 1860 he officially broke with the conservatives, moving to the liberal camp. Nevertheless, being, after his retirement, the “high commissioner” of the Ionian Islands, which had been under the protectorate of England since 1815, Gladstone, an admirer of Hellenic culture, found that Greece had no rights to the Ionian Islands (although their population was exclusively Greek) and that it would be a crime for England to give them up. Another 10 years later, during the American Civil War, Gladstone did not hesitate to take the side of the southern slaveholding states; he defended the preservation in Ireland, a Catholic country, of the dominance of the state Anglican Church. In 1868, after the electoral victory of the Liberals, he headed the Liberal cabinet for the first time. After this, G. served as prime minister three more times. Over this long period, he carried out many reforms, but they were often dictated by opportunistic considerations of the parliamentary struggle with the opposition, in particular with Beaconsfield. Thus, the struggle for granting self-government to Ireland (the so-called Home Rule), which glorified Gladstone’s political activity, although it ended unsuccessfully, was started by him after the Conservatives themselves negotiated on this topic with the Irish leaders: Gladstone intercepted from them the support of the strong Irish faction in the House .
Even more controversial were Gladstone's positions on foreign policy. As a member of the government when the Crimean War broke out, Gladstone fully approved of England's action in defense of Turkey "in the name of international law"; but he fiercely opposed Turkey when, in 1877-1878, Beaconsfield supported the Turks in the name of the same “right.” From that time on, Gladstone acquired a reputation as a friend of Russia and the Balkan Slavs. Gladstone became close friends with the secret agent of Russian diplomacy in London O. Novikova (...). However, Gladstone loudly condemned the famous Stoletov mission (see Stoletov mission) in Afghanistan. When in 1885 Russia actually moved closer to the very borders of Afghanistan (into the Pendine Valley), Gladstone, who was in power, at the last moment prevented an armed clash, eliminating the conflict with a compromise. True, it must be taken into account that Bismarck also played a role in this matter, who forced the Sultan to close the straits and thereby thwarted the planned plan to send the English fleet to the Black Sea. In the mid-90s, when Gladstone had finally retired from political life, he, in connection with the bloody reprisals of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (...) against the Armenian population, demanded the expulsion of the Turks from Europe and the transfer of the vilayets populated by Armenians to Russia. In general, when Gladstone was out of work, he acted as a passionate defender of small nations and an ardent opponent of imperialism. However, having headed the government, he also carried out the seizure of Egypt; stopped the war started with Afghanistan only after the latter renounced sovereign rights to the strategically important area of Quetta in favor of England; returned "independence" to the Transvaal only after the British army was completely defeated by the Boers, and the Transvaal agreed to recognize English control over its foreign relations. In Europe itself, Gladstone pursued a policy of neutrality in all the wars that then took place: he was not influenced either by the Truce of Villafranca in 1859, although he considered himself a friend of Italy, or by the annexation of Bismarck after 1866, although he considered himself an enemy of Prussia, or by the capture of Alsace and Lorraine as a result of the Franco-Prussian War, although he fully sympathized with the new republican regime in France. Gladstone at this time obtained a written commitment from both sides in the said war to respect Belgian neutrality, which was in the immediate interests of England. After the second failure of Gladstone's Irish Home Rule Bill in 1894, rejected by the House of Lords, he resigned from the leadership of the government and the Liberal Party and took no further part in political life.
Diplomatic Dictionary. Ch. ed. A. Ya. Vyshinsky and S. A. Lozovsky. M., 1948.
Read further:
Marx Karl. The New Financial Fraud, or Gladstone and the Pence. K. Marx, F. Engels. Essays. 2nd ed., vol. 9, p. 44-49.
Historical persons of England (biographical index).
Great Britain in the 19th century (chronological table).
Essays:
A chapter of autobiography, L., 1868;
Gleanings of past years 1843-1878, v. 1-7, L., 1879;
Speeches and public addresses, v. 9-10, L., 1892-94;
Bassett A. T., Gladstone's speeches (descrip. index and bibl.), L., 1916.
Literature:
Marx, K. and Engels, F. Works. T. X. P. 297. T. XIII. Part 1. P. 339, 407. T. XV. pp. 675-682. T. XVI. Part II. P. 360. T. XXVII. G. 129, 239. - Gladstone, W. E. A chapter of autobiography. London. 1868. - Gladstone, W. E. Gleanings of past years 1843-1878. Vol. 1-7. London. 1879. - Gladstone, W. E. The speeches and public addresses of W. E. Gladstone, with notes and introductions. Ed. by A. W. Hutton and H. J. Cohen. Vol. 9-10. London. 1892- 1894. - Gladstone, W. E. Bulgarian horrors and question of the East. London. 1876. 64 p. Translations: Gladstone, V. E. Bulgarian horrors and the Eastern question. Transl. from English K. P. Pobedonostsev and K. N. Bestuzhev-Ryumin. St. Petersburg 1876. XIII, 48 pp.; -Gladstone, V. E. Bulgarian horrors and the Eastern question. From app. his speeches and letters. St. Petersburg 1876. 115 p. (Questions of the day. 1.). - Imperialism and Mr. Gladstone (1876-1887). Sotr. by R. H. Gretton. London. 1913. VI, 120 p.- Gladstone and Palmerston. The correspondence of lord Palmerston with Mr. Gladstone 1851-1865. Ed. with introduction and commentary by P. Guedalla. London. Gollancz. 1928. 368 p. - Gladstone's speeches, descriptive index and bibliography by Arthur Tilney Bassett, with a pref. by Bryce and introduction. to the selected speeches by H. Pane. London. . XI, 667 p. - Temperley, H. W. and Penson, L. M. Foundations of British foreign policy from Pitt (1792) to Salisbury (1902) or Documents old and new. Select, and ed. with historical introduction. Cambridge. 1938. P. 317-346, 390-415, 416-428. - Morley, J. Life of William Ewart Gladstone. Vol. 1-3. London. 1911. - Knaplund, P. Gladstone's foreign policy. New York - London. 1935. XVIII, 303 p. - Somervell, D. C. Disraeli and Gladstone: a duo-biographical sketch. London. 1932. 320 p. - Seton-Watson, R. W. Disraeli, Gladstone and the Eastern question... London. 1935. XV, 590 p.
