19 - Beacon Lights of History - European Leaders by John Lord

Join Dr. Lord in this captivating installment of the European Leaders series, where he delves into the lives and legacies of influential figures such as William IV, Sir Robert Peel, Cavour, Czar Nicholas, Louis Napoleon, Prince Bismarck, and William Ewart Gladstone. Discover the pivotal moments that shaped Europe through the stories of these remarkable leaders. (Summary by KHand)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section nineteen of Beacon Lights of History, Volume ten, European
Leaders by John Lord. This LibriVox recording is in the
public domain. Recording by K Hand William Ewart Gladstone, Part two.
The indignation created by Gladstone's letters extended beyond England to

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France and Germany, and probably had no slight influence in
the final overthrow of the King of Naples, whose government
was the most unjust, tyrannical, and cruel in Europe and
perhaps on the face of the globe. Its chief evil
was not in chaining suspected politicians of character and rank
to the violist felons and immuring them in underground cells

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too filly and horrible to be approached even by physicians
for months and years before their mock trials began, but
in the utter perversion of justice in the courts by
judges who dared not go counter to the dictation or
even wishes of the executive government, with its deadly and
unconquerable hatred of everything which looked like political liberty. All

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these things and others, mister Gladstone exposed with an eloquence,
glowing and burning with righteous and fearless indignation, the Neapolitan
government attempted to make a denial of the terrible charges,
but the defense was feeble and inconclusive, and the statesman
who made the accusation was not convicted even of exaggeration,
although the heartless tyrant may have felt that he was

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no more guilty than other monarchs bent on sustaining absolutism
at any cost and under any plea. In the midst
of atheists, assassins and anarchists. It is said that Warren Hastings,
under the terrible invectives of Burke, felt himself to be
the greatest criminal in the world, even when he was
conscious of having rendered invaluable services to Great Britain, which

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the country in the main acknowledged in one sense. Therefore,
a statement may be rhetorically exaggerated even when the facts
which support it are incontrovertible, as the remorseless logic of
Calvin leads to deductions which no one fully believes. The
de creetoumb quidem orrible, as Calvin himself confessed. But is

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it easy to convict mister Gladstone of other exaggeration than
that naturally produced by uncommon ability to array facts so
as to produce conviction, which indeed is the talent of
the advocate rather than that of the judge. The year
eighteen forty eight was a period of agitation and revolution
in every country in Europe, and most governments, being unpopular,

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were compelled to suppress riots and insurrections and to maintain
order under exceeding difficulties. England was no exception, and public
discontents had some justification in the great deficiency in the
national treasury, the distress of Ireland, and the friction which
new laws, however beneficent, have to pass through. About this time,

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mister Disraeli was making himself prominent as an orator and
as a foe to the administration. He was clever in
nicknames and witty expressions, as when he dubbed the Blue
Book of the Import Duties Committee the greatest work of
an imagination that the nineteenth century had produced. Mister Gladstone
was no match for this great parliamentary fencer in irony,

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in wit, in sarcasm, and in bold attacks. But even
in a house so fond of jokes as that of
the Commons, he commanded equal, if not greater, attention by
his luminous statements of fact in the earnest solemnity of
his manner. Benjamin Disraeli entered Parliament in eighteen thirty seven
as a sort of democratic Tory, when the death of
King William the Fourth necessitated a general election. His maiden

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speech as a member for Maidstone was a failure, not
because he could not speak well, but because a certain
set determined to crush him and made such a noise
that he was obliged to sit down, declaring in a
loud voice that the time would come when they should
hear him. He was already famous for his novels and
for a remarkable command of language the pet of aristocratic women,
and admired generally for his wit and brilliant conversation, although

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he provoked criticism for the vulgar finery of his dress
and the affectation of his manners. Already he was intimate
with Lord Lyndhurst, a lion in the highest aristocratic circles,
and universally conceded to be a man of genius. Wine
should not such a man, at the age of thirty three,
aspire to a seat in Parliament. His future rival, Gladstone,

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though five years his junior, had already been in Parliament
three years and was distinguished as an order before Disraeli
had a chance to enter the House of Commons as
a supporter of Sir Robert Peel. But his extraordinary power
was not felt until he attacked his master on the
repeal of the corn Laws. Nor was he the rival
of mister Gladstone until the Tory Party was disintegrated and
broken into sections in eighteen forty seven. However, he became

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the acknowledged leader of the most conservative section, the Party
of Protection, while Gladstone headed the followers of Peel. On
the disruption of the Whig administration in eighteen fifty one
under Lord John Russell, who was not strong enough for
such unsettled times, Lord Derby became Premier, and Israeli took
office under him as Chancellor of the Exchequer, a post

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which he held for only a short time. The coalition
cabinet under Lord Aberdeen having succeeded that of Lord Derby,
keeping office during the Crimean War and leaving the Tories
out in the cold until eighteen fifty eight. Of this
famous coalition ministry, mister Gladstone naturally became Chancellor of the Exchequer,
having exhibited remarkable financial ability in demolishing the arguments of

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Disraeli when he introduced his budget as Chancellor in eighteen
fifty one. But although the rivalry between the two great
men began about this time, neither of them had reached
the lofty position which they were destined to attain. They
both held subordinate posts. The Prime Minister was the Earl
of Aberdeen, but Lord Palmerston was the commanding genius of
the cabinet, controlling as Foreign Minister the diplomacy of the

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country in stormy times. He was experienced, versatile, liberal, popular,
and ready in debate. His foreign policy was vigorous and aggressive,
raising England in the estimation of foreigners and making her
the most formidable power in Europe. His diplomatic and administrative
talents were equally remarkable, so that he held office of
some kind and every successive administration but one for fifty years.

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He was Secretary at War as far back as the
contest with Napoleon, and Foreign Secretary in eighteen thirty during
the administration of Lord Gray. His official life may almost
be said to have been passed. In the Foreign Office,
he was acquainted with all its details, and as indefatigable
in business as he was witty in society to the
pleasures of which he was unusually devoted. He checked the

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ambition of France in eighteen forty on the Eastern Question,
and brought about the cordial alliance between France and England
in the Crimean War. Mister Gladstone did not agree with
Lord Palmerston in reference to the Crimean War. Like Lord Aberdeen,
his policy was pacific, avoiding war, excepting cases of virgent necessity.
But in this matter he was not only in the
minority in the Cabinet, but not on the popular side,

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the press and the people and the commons being clamorous
for war. As already shown, it was one of the
most unsatisfactory wars in English history, conducted to a successful
clothes indeed, but with an immense expenditure of blood and money,
and was such an amount of blundering in management as
to bring disgrace rather than glory on the government and
the country. But it was not for mister Gladstone to

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take a conspicuous part in the management of that unfortunate war.
His business was with the finances to raise money for
the public exigencies, and in this business he never had
a superior. He not only selected with admirable wisdom the
articles to be taxed, but in his budgets he made
the minutest details interesting. He infused eloquence into figures. His

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audiences would listen to his financial statements for five continuous
hours without wearying. But his greatest triumph as Finance Minister
was in making the country, except without grumbling, an enormous
income tax, because he made plain its necessity. The mistakes
of the Coalition ministry in the management of the war
led to its dissolution, and Lord Palmerston became Prime Minister.

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Lord Clarendon foreign Minister, when Mister Gladstone retained his post
as Chancellor of the Exchequer, yet only for a short time.
On the appointment of the Committee to examine into the
conduct of the war, he resigned his post and was
succeeded by Sir G. C. Lewis. At this crisis, the
Emperor Nicholas of Russia died, and the cabinet, with a
large preponderance of Whigs, having everything their own way, determined

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to prosecute the war to the bitter end. Yet the
great services and abilities of Gladstone as Finance Minister were
everywhere conceded not only for his skill in figures, but
for his wisdom in selecting and imposing duties that were
acceptable to the country and did not press heavily upon
the poor, thus following out the policy which Sir Robert
Peel bequeathed. Ever since, this has been the aim, as

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well as the duty, of a Chancellor of the Exchequer,
whatever party has been in the ascendant from this time onward.
Mister Gladstone was a pronounced free lancer of the Manchester School.
His conscientious studies into the mutual relations of taxation, production
and commerce had convinced him that national prosperity lay along
the line of freedom of endeavor. Had taken a great

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departure from the principles he had originally advocated, which of
course provoked a bitter opposition from his former friends and allies.
He was no longer the standard bearer of the Conservative Party,
but swung more and more by degrees from his old
policy as light dawned upon his mind and experience taught
him wisdom. Perhaps the most remarkable characteristics of this man,
opinionated and strong headed as he undoubtedly is, are to

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be found in the receptive quality of his mind, by
which he is open to new ideas, and in the
steady courage with which he affirms and stands by his
convictions when once he has by reasoning arrived at them.
It took thirteen years of parliamentary strife before the Peelites
whom he led were finally incorporated with the Liberal Party.
Mister Gladstone, now without office, became what is called an

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independent member of the House, yet active in watching public interests,
giving his vote and influence to measures which he considered
would be most beneficial to the country, irrespective of party. Meantime,
the continued mistakes of the war and the financial burdens
incident to a conflict of such magnitude had gradually produced
disaffection with the government, of which Lord Palmerston was the head.

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The Ministry, defeated on an unimportant matter, but one which
showed the animus of the country, was compelled to resign,
and the Conservatives, no longer known by the opprobrious nickname
of Tories, came into power eighteen fifty eight under the
premiership of Lord Derby Disraeli, becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer
and leader of his own party in the House of Commons,

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but this administration was also short lived, lasting only about
a year, and in June eighteen fifty nine a new
coalition ministry was again formed under Lord Palmerston, which continued
seven years, mister Gladstone returning to his old post as
Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mister Gladstone was at this time
fifty years of age. His political career thus far, however

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useful and honorable, had not been extraordinary. Mister Pitt was
Prime Minister at the age of twenty eight. Fox Canning
and Castlereagh at forty were more famous than Gladstone. His
political promotion had not been as rapid as that of
Lord John Russell, or Lord Palmerston or Sir Robert Peel.
He was chiefly distinguished for the eloquence of his speeches,

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the lucidity of his financial statements, and the moral purity
of his character. But he was not then pre eminently great,
either for initiative genius or commanding influence. Aside from politics,
he was conceded to be an accomplished scholar and a
learned theologian, distinguished for ecclesiastical lore rather than as an
original thinker. He had written no great book likely to

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be a standard authority. As a writer, he was inferior
to Macaulay and Newman, nor had he the judicial powers
of Hallam. He could not be said to have occupied
more than one sphere, that of politics. Here, unlike Tears,
Guiseaux and even Lynhurst and Broham. In eighteen fifty eight, however,
Gladstone appeared in a new light and commanded immediate attention

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by the publication of his Studies on Homer and the
Homeric Age, a remarkable work in three large octavo volumes,
which called into the controversial field of Greek history a
host of critics, like mister Freeman, who yet conceded to
mister Gladstone wonderful classic learning, and the more wonderful as
he was preoccupied with affairs of state, and without the

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supposed leisure for erudite studies. This learned work entitled him
to a high position in another sphere than that of politics.
Guiseeau wrote learned histories of modern political movements, but he
could not have written so able a treatise as Gladstone's
on the Homeric Age. Some advanced German critics took exceptions
to the author's statements about early Greek history. Yet it

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cannot be questioned that he has thrown a bright, if
not a new light on the actors of the Siege
of Troy and the age when they were supposed to live.
The illustrious author is no agnostic. It is not for
want of knowledge that in some things he is not
up to the times, but for a conservative bent of
mind which leads him to distrust destructive criticism. Gladstone has

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been content to present the ancient world as revealed in
the Homeric poems. Whether Homer lived less than one hundred
years from the heroic deeds described with such inimitable charm,
or whether he did not live at all. He wrote
the book not merely to amuse his leisure hours, but
to incite students to a closer study of the works
attributed to him, who alone is enrolled with two other

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men now regarded as the greatest of immortal poets. Gladstone's
admiration for Homer is as unbounded as that of German
scholars for Dante and Shakespeare. It is hardly to be
supposed that this work on the Heroic Age was written
during the author's retirement from office. It was probably the
result of his life studies on Grecian literature, which he

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pursued with unusual and genuine enthusiasm. Who among American statesmen
or even scholars are competent to such an undertaking. Two
years after this, in eighteen sixty, mister Gladstone was elected
Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh in recognition of
his scholarly attainments, and delivered a notable in inaugural address

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on the work of universities. The chief duty of mister
Gladstone during his seven years connection with the new Coalition
party headed by Lord Palmerston was to prepare his annual
budget or financial statement they proposed scheme of taxation. As
Chancellor of the Exchequer. During these years, his fame as
a finance minister was confirmed. As such, no minister ever

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equalled him, except perhaps Sir Robert Peel. My limits will
not permit me to go into a minute detail of
the taxes he increased and those he reduced. The end
he proposed in general was to remove such as were
oppressive on the middle and lower classes, and to develop
the industrial resources of the nation to make it richer
and more prosperous. While it felt the burden of supplying

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needful moneies for the government less onerous. Nor would it
be interesting to Americans to go into those statistics. I
wonder even why they were so interesting to the English people.
One would naturally think that it was of little consequence
whether duties on some one commodity were reduced where those
on another were increased, so long as the deficit in
the national income had to be raised somehow, whether by

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direct or indirect taxation. But the interest generally felt in
these matters was intense, both inside and outside Parliament. I
can understand why the paper makers should object when it
was proposed to remove the last protective duty, and why
the publicans should wax indignant if an additional tax were
imposed on hops. But I cannot understand why every member

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of the House of Commons should be present when the
opening speech on the budget was to be made by
the Chancellor. Why the intensest excitement should prevail, Why members
should sit for five hours, enraptured to hear financial details presented,
Why every seat in the galleries should be taken by
distinguished visitors, and all the journals the next day should
be filled with panegyrics or detractions as to the minister's

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ability or wisdom. It would seem that no questions concerning
war or peace, or the extension of the suffrage, or
the removal of great moral evils, or promised boons in
education or church dissent ablishment were threatened dangers to the state.
Questions touching the very life of the nation received so
much attention or excited so great interest as those which

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affected the small burdens which the people had to bear.
Not the burden of taxation itself, but how that should
be distributed. I will not say that the English are
a nation of shopkeepers, but I do say that comparatively
small matters occupy the thoughts of men in every country
outside the routine of ordinary duties, and formed the staple

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of ordinary conversation among pedants. The difference between ac and
et among aristocrats, the investigation of pedigrees in society, the
comparative merits of horses, the movements of well known persons,
the speed of ocean steamers, boat races, the dresses of ladies,
of fashion, football contests, the last novel, weddings, receptions, the

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trials of housekeepers, the claims of rival singers, the gestures
and declamation of favorite play actors, the platitudes of popular preachers,
the rise and fall of stocks, murders in bar rooms,
robberies in stores, accidental fires, and distant localities. These and
other innumerable forms of gossip collected by newspapers and retailed

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in drawing rooms, which have no important bearing on human life,
or national welfare or immortal destiny. It is not that
the elaborate presentations of financial details for which mister Gladstone
was so justly famous were without importance. I only wonder
why they should have had such overwhelming interest to English
legislators and the English public, and why his statistics should

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have given him claims to transcendent oratory and the profoundest statesmanship.
For it is undeniable that his financial speeches brought him
more fame and importance in the House of Commons than
all the others he made during those seven years of
parliamentary gladiatorship. One of these triumphantly carried through Parliament a
commercial reciprocity treaty with France arranged by mister Cobden, and

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another scarcely less notable repealed the duty on paper, a
measure of great importance for the facilitation of making books
and cheapening newspapers, but both of which were desperately opposed
by the monopolists and manufacturers. Some of mister Gladstone's other
speeches stand on higher ground and are of permanent value.
They will live for the lofty sentiments and the comprehensive

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knowledge which marked them, appealing to the highest intellect as
well as to the hearts of those common people, of
whom all nations are chiefly composed. Among these might be
mentioned those which related to Italian affairs, sympathizing with the
struggle which the Italians were making to secure constitutional liberty
and the unity of their nation severe in the despotism
of that miserable King of Naples, Francis the Second, whom

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Garibaldi had overthrown with a handful of men. Mister Gladstone,
ever since his last visit to Naples, had abominated the
outrages which its government had perpetrated on a gallant and
aspiring people, and warmly supported them by his eloquence. In
these same friendly spirit, in eighteen fifty eight he advocated
in Parliament a free constitution ustion for the Ionian Islands

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then under British rule, and when thither as a British commissioner.
He addressed the Senate of those islands at Corfu in
the Italian language. The islands were, by their own desire
finally ceded to Greece, whose prosperity as an independent and
united nation. Mister Gladstone, ever, had at heart the land
of Homer to him was hallowed ground. On one subject,

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mister Gladstone made a great mistake which he afterward squarely acknowledged,
and this was in reference to the American Civil War.
In eighteen sixty two, while Chancellor of the Exchequer, he
made a speech at Newcastle in which he expressed his
conviction that Jefferson Davis had already succeeded in making the
Southern States of America, which were in revolt, an independent nation.

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This opinion caused a great sensation in both England and
the United States, and alienated many friends, especially as Earl Russell,
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, had refused to recognize the
Confederate States. It was this indiscretion of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer which disturbed some of his warmest supporters in England.
But in America the pain arose from the fact that

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so great a man had expressed such an opinion, a
man moreover, for whom America had then and still has
the greatest admiration and reverence. It was feared that his sympathies,
like those of a great majority of the upper classes
in England at the time, were with the South rather
than the North, and chiefly because the English manufacturers had
to pay twenty shillings instead of eight pence a pound
for cotton. It was natural for a manufacturing country to

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feel this injury to its interests, but it was not
magnanimous in view of the tremendous issues which were at stake,
and it was inconsistent with the sacrifices which England had
nobly made in the emancipation of her own slaves in
the West Indies. For England to give her moral support
to the revolted Southern states founding their confederacy upon the
baneful principle of human slavery was a matter of grave

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lamentation with patriots at the North, to say nothing of
the apparent English indifference to the superior civilization of the
Free States and the great cause to which they were
devoted in a struggle of life and death. It even
seemed to some that the English aristocracy were hypocritical in
their professions and at heart were hostile to the progress
of liberty, that the nation as a whole cared more

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for money than justice, as seemingly illustrated by the war
with China to enforce the opium trade against the protest
of the Chinese government pagan as it was end of
Section nineteen