"
What the friends and foes of the new Tory member for Newark thought of
his successful canvass and election, it is interesting to learn. When
Mr. Gladstone entered upon the contest the question was frequently put,
"Who is Mr. Gladstone?" And it was answered, "He is the son of the
friend of Mr. Canning, the great Liverpool merchant. He is, we
understand, not more than four or five and twenty, but he has won golden
opinions from all sorts of people, and promises to be an ornament to the
House of Commons." And a few days after his election he addressed a
meeting of the Constitutional Club, at Nottingham, when a Conservative
journal made the first prophecy as to his future great political fame,
saying: "He will one day be classed amongst the most able statesmen in
the British Senate." The impression his successful contest made upon the
late friends of his school-days may be learned from the following: A
short time before the election Arthur Hallam, writing of his friend,
"the old _W.E.G._," says: "I shall be very glad if he gets in.... We
want such a man as that. In some things he is likely to be obstinate and
prejudiced; but he has a fine fund of high, chivalrous Tory sentiment,
and a tongue, moreover, to let it loose with.
Pages:
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94