Lord Rosebery on Saturday last while unveiling at Glasgow a
statue of Mr. Gladstone delivered a singularly eloquent and appreciative eulogy of its original. He described him as "one of the great figures of our country," a man who might have been a great Churchman, "greater perhaps than this island has known," a great professor, a great historian (this we doubt, for he would have persuaded himself that his own view was unanswerable), or a great bookman. He had daunt- less courage, unflagging industry, a faith, not only in his creed, but in his causes, "which was part of his fibre." He "had, of course, often to traffic with expediency," but his faith " kept his head high in the heavens." He was "brave among the brave," brave as George II. declared Sir R. Wal- pole to be, and his course once determined nothing could hinder that puissant force from rushing along it. It is all true, and all finely expressed, and yet when the historian of the future sums up Mr. Gladstone, Lord Rosebery's speech will be but a valued contribution to his estimate of one of the greatest yet most complex of mankind.
Previous page
