A
conspicuous instance of this may be mentioned. When it was rumored that
he intended to recommend Dr. Benson, the present Archbishop, for the
vacant See of Canterbury, a political supporter called to remonstrate
with him. Mr. Gladstone begged to know the ground of his objection. "The
Bishop of Truro is a strong Tory," was the answer; "but that is not all.
He has joined Mr. Raikes's election committee at Cambridge; and it was
only last week that Raikes made a violent personal attack upon
yourself." "Do you know," replied Mr. Gladstone, "that you have just
supplied me with a strong argument in Dr. Benson's favor? for, if he
had been a worldly man or self-seeker he would not have done anything so
imprudent."
Mr. Gladstone sympathized more or less with the Nonconformists
struggling against the application of university tests and other
disabilities from which the Dissenters suffered, but it was not until
1876 that he really discovered the true religions work of the English
Nonconformists. The manner in which the Congregationalists, Baptists,
Quakers and others rallied to the standard raised in the cause of
Bulgarian nationality effected a great change in his attitude towards
his Dissenting fellow countrymen.
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