VICTORIA AND GLADSTONE

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21122, 24 March 1934, Page 15

VICTORIA AND GLADSTONE

IMR GUEDALLA'S SECOND VOLUME The Queen and iVIr Gladstone. Vol. 11. By Philip Guedalla. Hoddcr and Stoughton. 510 pp. (25/- net.) I From \V. S. Smart. | [Reviewed by IH'DV FIKDI.AV ! It is no easy task to follow an i excellent first volume with a scc- ! ond of equal merit. In the first part | of this work, Mr Guedalla set himj self a high standard; in the prcs- ] ent volume he has maintained it, ! with apparent ease, j The whole book forms the story of a relationship, begun in friendliness ! and ended in dislike, which lasted ! for 53 years and coloured the whole I history of British politics during that period. The present volume i opens with Gladstone's return to j power in 1880, after Disraeli had. as Prime Minister for six years, enI joyed the full confidence of the j Queen. How far Disraeli's influence i was responsible for the change in the Queen's attitude towards Gladstone is a matter of opinion; Mr Guedalla considers that her obvious reluctance to receive Gladstone in 1880 and her personal distrust of him are largely to be attributed to that influence. No doubt Disraeli, while in office, indulged in a good deal of sly backbiting and made the most of Gladstone's speeches against the Government in order to represent him to the Queen as a rather dangerous radical; but such criticism could only encourage an ai- j ready existent "dislike, for she and [Gladstone had disagreed as early as! 1871, and the change of Ministry in j 1874 had been most welcome to her. | Mr Guedalla. in fact, lays a great | deal to the charge of Disraeli. He j considers the Queen's fondness for j identifying herself with acts of I State as part of a "transformation" | effected by that "magician." Now it , is a fact that by judicious j flattery, Disraeli continually pre- 1 senteci to the Queen the picture ofj a sovereign governing a great Empire by means of a Cabinet of obedient servants, and that this picture was altogether to her liking; but the taste for personal government was evident in Victoria in her earliest reigning days. Nobody can doubt this, who reads her correspondence in the early thirties, when Palmerston was in charge of the Foreign Office. But though one may hesitate to follow Mr Guedalla to the full extent of his conclusions, it is plain that the difficulties which Gladstone left behind him in 11174 , were increased when lie again en- j countered them in 1880 after h:.s> rival's tenure of office. : I General Gordon The ensuing years did not dimm- ! ish the differences between the j Queen and Gladstone, who con- I tinued, indeed, to drift further apart. | The Queen's mind, as her age ad- ! vanced, became more set in that j conservative mould to which it was ' naturally suited; the mind <>f Glad- ! stone, growing younger as his years increased, conceived dreams of

j democracy impossible of realisation |in his time. During his second I Ministry there arose belwefi, them the question of the Government's policy in Egypt. It was agreed that the Sudan must lie evacuated: and the Queen gave a half angry assent. The choice of the man who was to undertake this important mission had her full approval, and was i strongly indicated by popular opinion; but Gladstone had bis doub!> at the time, and later admitted that his decision to send General Gordon Was a great mistake. The results of that mistake are well known. Gordon exceeded his instructions in a desperate attempt, which failed. The relieving force sent by the Government arrived too late. To those who knew the terms of his mission and who were in receipt of his numerous telegrams during his progress, it might seem that Gordon w r as responsible for his own destruction; but the figure of a lonely hero, surrounded by enemies, hopelessly defending his garrison while a dilatory Government argued over what relief should be sent, appealed powerfully to the imagination of the English people. His death was an answer to all criticism. The Queen's feelings entirely coincided with those of her people. She was bitterly disappointed with her Ministers, and particularly with Gladstone. She never ceased to charge him with the responsibility for Gordon's death, or to doubt his ability to deal witii foreign affairs. Also, his conduct in the affair of the Sudan appeared to the Que<?n as another proof of that absence of imperialism which she had already deplored in her Prime Minister, so that it. is not surprising that she looked askance at his scheme for granting Home Rule to Ireland, seeing in this another blow aimed at her K'"eat Empire.

Home Rule The story of Gladstone's attempt, to deal with the Irish question is well told by Mr Guedalla. The picture of the Grand Old Man introducing his Home Rule bill at the age of 77, in a spjech of three and a half hours, is a touching one: but nothing softened the bitter antagonism of the Queen, who was in direct correspondence with the Opposition. In the elections of 1885 Gladstone had asked for a majority which would enable him to settle the Irish question free lrom Irish dictation; but Khartoum and Phoenix Park were together too much for him, and in his short Ministry of 1886 he ruled by the grace of Mr Parnell. A majority dependent on the Irish vote was not sufficient to outweigh the loss of moderate Liberal opinion, due to the uncompromising terms of the bill, and a Conservative Ministry gave the Queen a long rest from Mr Gladstone until 1892, when he again anpeared, older and grander but not, in the Queen's eyes, wiser, with a fresh Home Rule Bill to present to Parliament. That he succeeded in passing this bill through the lower House must stand as a great personal achievement. It was, of course, thrown out by the House of Lords. He retired from public life next year and Lord Salisbury's Ministry settled down to the gentle task of "killing Home Rule by kindness."

The End of an Age The few letters exchanged between the Queen and Gladstone during his retirement show a chilliness on her part and on his a gentle regret that he had not pleased her better. They had one meeting at Cannes the year before he died, when she gave him her hand, a kindness he had never before experienced. The long relationship was closed; and three years later the Victorian reign was over. A reference in the Queen's correspondence after his death shows how