THE DEATH OF MR GLADSTONE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 149, 27 June 1898, Page 8

THE DEATH OF MR GLADSTONE.

(From Our Special Co-respondent.) LONDON, May 20. All the events of this week have been rendered of little importance to the public by the great loss sustained by the nation in the death of Mr Gladstone, who, after ■ months of sut'ering borne with splendid fortitude, passed peacefully to the (ireat Beyond at live o'clock yesterday morning, lie died as he desired' to die, in his own house and surrounded by those he loved best on earth, 'and we have the word of his physicians that for many days before the end came he suffered no pain from the malignant disease-necrosis of the nasal bone—which was the souren of those excruciating neuralgic pains that had rendered lm life a burden during the last month or two. From the oliifial statement issued to the weary journalists who haunted the grounds lof tlawnrden Castle during the last few | days I gather that it wan not until the j illustrious statesman returned from tho | Continent that the true cause of his snflorin ga was discovered. The announcement of tho fatal character of the malady wa\s a source uf great comfort to Mr Gladstone, worn as he was with sulVering and distress. For some time before this he had been giving up his ordinary habits of life one by one. On his return to lla/warderi at the end of March this feature became more marked as his strength failed, though until within a month of the end he came down to dinner every night. The discovery of the true nature of Mr Gladstone's illness brought an altered view as to the treatment and it was considered justifiable to endeavour to relievo the severe pain that had been a feature of those early months by frequent injections of morphia. These were so far successful on his return home that his suffering wan greatly assuaged, but he had still occasional twinges of some severity. Gradually as the patient's strength waned the pain became less and less and for ouite a fortnight before hi.s death it hardly ever made itself felt. Though he ceased to come downstairs rtfter April ISth Mr Gladstone <jot up for an hour or two every day and lay on a sofa in hi.s room. On May l'-ih he was noticed to be very much tired by this exertion and hi.H circulation showed si^rns of grave disturbance. The next day it was decided to keep him entirely in bed lest (syncope might occur. That he would die of the increasing infirmity of his years and not of his illneH-i nor its complications was now apparent. Confined to bed, without nain, taking nourishment at intervals, his I heart failing little by little Mr Glad- | stone's end drew appreciably nearer ami ! nearer. Once or twice it scented likely to come aooner than was eventually the case. On Monday morning, May 10th, it was uvidtnt that lifts was ebbing very fast. He v.;l-> asked about this lime if ho had any pain, to which he replied : "Oh, no; 1 am <jiiile comfortable -quite comfortable. 1 am only waiting- only waiting." -Sordid he 1 have long to wait. During the laM three dayH lie wuts scarcely conscious, and except, when raised to take a spworiful or two of nourishment he lay very- rcstfuliy. On Tuesday evening he was too weak to

speak coherently or audibly. The warning given by these symptoms had been »ufti-<-iently ample to allow (if his relatives being summoned, and all those immediately connected with him were present to the last. At half-past three o'clock on Wednesday morning the end seennrd very

near and his family gathered round Jhh bed. lit- rallied, however, towards live o'clock and for the next twenty four hours ho remained on his back, being now too weak to turn, hut lifted his arms from time to time, or returned the pressure of the hand. There was a slight temporary improvement on the morning of the lSth. The breathing became steadier, and the duskiness of the face was replaced by a more natural colour. He roused a little on being spoken to, and an occasional glimmer of ronseiousncHs was shown onco or twice by some Blight change of expression or a barely articulate recognition of some trivial attention. ThuH lie remained until half-past two on Thursday morning, when a change took place that made it obvious that the end was at hand. Reverently and on bended knees prayers were offered and his favourite hymns read. At ten minutes to live the pallor of death •and a few laboured respirations led to tlia recital of the commendatory prayer. Hefore it was finished Mr Gladstone had passed away.

IN THIS HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Tlie news of the eminent statesman's passing reached London before six o'clock and before most people had breakfasted the streets were alive .with special editions containing lengthy obituary notices, anecdotes of Mr Gladstone from his youth up and painfully minute details of his last hours on earth. I need not trouble you with any of these things nor quote from tlio avalanche of telegraphed messages of condolence which overwhelmed the sorrowing relatives within an hour or two of their loved one's release. But of the scene in the House of Commons yesterday I am minded to speak. The members almost without exception were in half mourning and the silence with which they took their places was a strange almost awesome contrast to the ordinary vivacity and bustle. Mr Gully took the chair, the muster of mem hers was so large that they not only Tilled every neat on the floor of the House but crowded the space below the bar and overflowed into the galleries. In marked contrast to the other parts of the Chamber, where sitting and even standing room were taxed to thenutmost, was the Peers Gallery, which had only two occupants. A few minutes after the Speaker had assumed the chair, Mr Balfour arose amid a death-like silence. Old Parliamentarians had to carry their memories back 16 years this very month to that never-to-be-forgotten Monday, in 18S2, when Mr Gladstone himself moved the adjournment of the House to mark its sense of the tragic death of Lord Frederick Cavendish.

Mr Hal four, whose emotion was manifest, rose at the summons of the Speaker, for the purpose of giving a notice to do "fitting honour to the memory of that great man whose long and splendid career closed to-day.'] For the moment he refrained from giving utterance "to any of tho thoughts which naturally suggest themselves," as the occasion would more suitably arise on the morrow, when, as he went on to announce, it would be his duty m Committee of the whole House to submit an address praying Her Majesty "to grant the honour of a public funeral 'to Mr Gladstone." Here Mr Balfonr paused to remark that this proposed honour was sub ject, of course, to Mr Gladstone's expressed wishes and the wishes of those who had a right to speak on his behalf. The address, he continued, would also pray Her Majesty to give directions for a public monument in Westminster Abbey, with an inscription "expressive of public admiration and attachment and of the high sense entertained by

the House of Mr Gladstone's rare and splendid gifts and of his devoted labours in Parliament and in great oHices of State." A formal resolution to set up the necessary Committee to-day having been passed sub silentio, Mr Baliour moved the adjournment. Thereupon Sir William Harcourt, with every symptom of profound grief, in his voice and manner, seconded,.observing that lie would defer any expression on his own part of " those sentiments of national sorrow" to which Mr Balfour had just given utterance. Forthwith in a tremulous voice the Speaker put the motion and the murmured "Aye" of the assemblage, followed by a reverent dispersal, had all the solemnity that marks the close of a burial service. It was, in truth, an impressive scene, the gloom of which was enhanced by its very brevity, for the House had risen within ten minutes of its meeting. So far the family have not made public any desire of the dead statesman with regard to his burial, except to intimate that he desired that no flowi en should be placed upon his grave. Unless Mr Gladstone expressed a particular desire to be laid to rest in Hawarden Churchyard, it is hardly likely that the family will place any obstacle in the way of fulfilling what is undoubtedly the wish of the nation, namely, that he should be buried as becomes one who had been four times Prime Minister of England, and who lias made history—by the nation and with the great dead in the Abbey or in St. Paul's.