ANECDOTAL PHOTOGRAPHS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6536, 7 February 1882, Page 6

ANECDOTAL PHOTOGRAPHS.

Mb Qosohbk. (Truth.) Of successful Bugby men there iis no end. This it another of them, though not of the number of Arnold’s pupils, having been bom a little too late to come under the loving care of that famous wielder of the birch. His natal year was 1831; his parents, it is needless to say, were of German origin, or, to go further back, Hebraic. . He is certainly not ashamed of his paternity, near or remote ; but it is worth noticing thatjlike another Jew illustrious in English annals, he has slightly Anglicised his name. As-Lord Beaoonsfield gradually changed his patronymic from D’lsraeli to Disraeli, so Mr Gosohen has abandoned the use of those dots over the o, which indicate that he ought to be called Goershen rather than Gosohen. To do Ur G. justice, it was not his fault, if fault there were. Society would not pronounce his name properly, and he wisely contented himself with the appellation it was pleased to bestow on him. The two Head-Masters under whom he studied at Bugby may well have given him ..lessons in that art which the French emphatically term the art of knowing how to live. Our genial Primate has before now boasted that he could be all things to all men, and Dr Goulburn has as shrewd an idea of making the best of both worlds, as any other cleric in the Establishment. '

What is less disputable is that he and Dr Tait, succeeded in turning out a first-rate scholar in George Joachim Gosohen, who took the complete Oxford First, viz., a First in Moderations and a First‘ in Greats (both Classical), which the profane crowd is apt to term a double first, therein greatly erring. Curiously enough, the future author of-the "Theory of Foreign Exchanges” obtained no mathematical honours. Mr Gosohen, by the way, was amongst the earliest who presented themselves for honours in Moderations, which were granted for the first time in the summer term of 1852. Fifteen firsts were given ip Classics, among the recipients, besides Gosohen, of Oriel, being George Thorley, who has just been elected Warden of Wadham; and George Brodriok. The three kept one another oompany'in the more important First Class List eighteen months later. Gosohen did not stand for a fellowship, which he could easily have won, not needing the same } nor did he even take his degree at that time. Beligious scruples about the test were supposed to have influenced him in this abstention; but he flatly denied that they had anything to do with the matter. It is quite as likely that, being a busy man, and having missed one degree-day, he never again found leisure to assume the Academical title which was his due, till the result of the General Election of 1874 gave him some spare time.

For ten years after leaving Oxford Ur Gfosohen was actively engaged in business; then he took to .politics. Hit tuooett vraa amazingly rapid. ■ A Cavendish or a Cecil could not have been more hastily pushed into a front place. Of course, he had ad van* tages to start with. Betides the linditpens* able one of brains, he had money, an d he entered Parliament in 1863 as member for the City of London. In 1865 he was returned a second time for the same constituency, at the head of the poll; and on the reconstruction of the Government, after Lord Palmerston’s death, Lord Bussell yn*de him Tioe-President of the Board of Trade, promoting him, a few weeks later, to the Chancellorship of the Duchy and a seat in the Cabinet. The significance of these apSintments may be measured by the fact that r Gladstone himself had to climb up the official ladder step by step, beginning with a Junior Lordship of the Treasury, and passing on to an Under-Secretaryship, only attaining Cabinet rank in the eleventh year of his Parliamentary career. It was generally understood that Ur Qosohen’ssudden rise was due to Mr Gladstone, who

was farther said to bo grateful for (he assistance the former had given him in the preparation of his Budgets. The Whig section of (he Cabinet were by no means delighted at the advent of the “young man from the City,” as a veteran placeman called him; and towards the close of 1868, when the party expected its return to office, a pleasant little plot wail formed for the ex* elusion of Hr Gosohen from a share in the anticipated good things. It required no small amount of firmness on the part of Mr Gladstone to secure a place for his friend.

Assuredly the Premier never repented having stood by Mr Gosohen, and yet that gentleman was destined to give him some (rouble. In this point also, resembling Mr Disraeli, Ur Goscoen has thought it necessary to adopt especially English sentiments, more English, indeed, than those of the majority of his compatriots. It is his humor to be a John Bull, of the slightly aggressive type—not to say a Jingo. When he became First Lord of (he Admiralty, duty and inclination seemed to coincide } for now oould the ruler of the Queen's Navy be better employed than in. making jolly after-dinner speeches about Britain’s claim to rule the waves, and other cognate topics? Mr Gosohen shook the Union Jack, with evident enjoyment, in (he face of foreign nations at large. Mr Gladstone grew alarmed, and sat him down to write a lecture for his colleague’s benefit. Some Marvin of (he period got temporary possession of the document, and, of course, it appeared in print. The incident was regrettable, for many reasons, and yet not wholly so, because nothing could be more admirable than the Prime Minister’s exposition of the rule to be observed in public utterances on questions of foreign policy. Mr Gosohen, though he must have been beyond measure annoyed at the publication of his scolding, yet took it in excellent part, and to have profited by it. The subject of the County Suffrage separates him from his old chief for the moment ; but once it is disposed of, we shall see (hem working again together. It has been asserted, and may be believed, that Mr Goschen could have the Exchequer for the asking. He is, moreover, one of the likeliest leaders in the not very remote future, should the moderate Liberals retain their ascendancy over their Radical allies. Mr Gladstone and. Lord Hartington, both out of the House of Commons—(he Duke of Devonshire is in his seventy-fourth year—the right of succession to the leadership in that house weuld belong, so far as seniority goes, to Mr Goschen, who was a Cabinet Minister before Mr Bright and Mr Childers, long before Mr Forster, and a still longer time before Sir William Harconrt. Mr Bright has, of course, higher claims to lead than any founded on the grades of official hierarchy; but every one knows he is out of the running. And yet it would not surprise some of Mr Gosohen’s friends if he were himself to retire from the arena before his time. Though ambitions, he is not overfond of “the illness which should attend ambition.” He likes his dinner, and politics are apt to prevent your dining on four days in the week during session. Perhaps the safest prediction on which one can venture with regard to Mr Goschen is that he may end as Prime Minister, if the ascent to that height does not cost him too much trouble. One word more: should he ever become Premier, he will be a wonderfully popular one with ofloials, with politicians and with society. The beloved chief of the whole nation, and its constitutional dictator—such as is Mr Gladstone—he will never be. He is a statesman of marked ability, but not exactly that indefinable, yet unmistakable work of Nature—a great man.