GLADSTONE'S SON IN BOX.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18917, 4 February 1927, Page 11

GLADSTONE'S SON IN BOX.

FATHER'S REPUTATION DEFENDED. j CLIMAX OF LIBEL ACTION. \ (BT CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPTRIGHT.) (AUSTRALIAN- AND S.z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.) LONDON, February 2. When Mr Birkett called Viscount Gladstone to the witness box, the cause celcbio of the day reached its climax. Viscount Gladstone is of middlo height, not looking hie 73 years of a£e, with a clipped crcy moustache, and close-cropped iron-grey hair. Ho answered dispassionately until Mr Birkett asked: "What do you say about this passage in Wright's book ? ' Viscount Gladstone's faco flushed and ho answered emotionally: "It was rovolting. It made me angry, almost to an ungovernable extent." Mr Birkett asked: "What was the relationship of your father nnp mother?" Viscount Gladstone, with emphasis: "Absolutely perfect." Mr Birkett: After Wright's evidencedo you wish to qualify or withdraw the expression "foul" ?—Certainly not. One who makes a foul charge js foulminded. I thought Wright a /foul fellow, and think 60 still. Witness proceeded to outline his father's work in connexion with fallen women. He mentioned several institutions founded and liberally supported by him throughout his lifetime. L'urthermore, in this connexion he often spoke to women in the streets. Despite what Lord Morley described as tlio "baseness of men's tongues' he kept to his resolution with iron tenacity. _. ~ Referring to his letter to Wright, he declared that he wroto with the express and absolute purpose of forcing him into the law courts. It was the only romedv. because, when no and his brother had gone, nonn of M>o familv would be left with a full knowledge of the facts. 0 „ Correspondence extending over •« vears between his father and MUlie Olga Novikoff was available, in which there was not the slightest suggestion or hint of impropriety. It was an infamous and vile charge ngainist Mdlle Novikoff also. . Viscount Gladstone reviewed it length the associations of Mrs OShea and Parnell, quoting an instance to prove that his father was not awar<B of the relationship. Mr Birkett, in that connexion, real extracts from Mrs O'Shea's book, adding: "This proves conclusively that Mr Gladstone was not aware of tho relationship." . Tho cross-examination doveloi*d into a lively duel. Mr Merrimun (Wright s counsel) referred to a passago in which it was suggested tlint Lord Bnaconsfield regarded Mr Gladstone as a religious hypocrite, and Viscount Gladstone retorted: "1 don't care what you sav. Beaconsfield can say what ho likes, I know." Counsel proceeded to refer to tn* "hostility" of Queeii Victoria to Mr Gladstone, whereupon the Judga ruled that the name of the Sovereign must not bo mentioned. When various charges, such as those regarding Novikoff. were mentioned, proceedings developed into a veritable verbal duel, and Viscount Gladstone's voice rana through the Court: "I was with my father at the tL..\ so I know what I am talking about." Often the witness and counsel were speaking simultaneously, and Viscount Gladstone heatedly remarked: "My father would hare taken action had the Njvikoff charges been brought in his lifetime." ... . Mr Merftman questioned witness at length ahont an article published during his father's lifetime, asking why he had not taken action, and the Judco brolie in with: "All I can say is that if the case happened to Do tried before~me. I should have to consider whether the words were capable of any such meaning at nil.** The case was adjourned.