Gladstone came to
the rescue, and Lord Hartington found himself pushed aside. Mr.
Gladstone was again in fact the leader of the Liberal party, whose
standard he had carried aloft during those stirring times when the
Eastern question was the all-absorbing topic of debate in Parliament and
among the people of the land. The foreign policy of Lord Beaconsfield in
1878 and 1879 found a sleepless critic in Mr. Gladstone.
The day after the Parliament of 1878 had adjourned for the Easter
recess, it was announced that the Ministry had ordered the Indian
Government to dispatch 7000 native troops to the Island of Malta. The
order occasioned much discussion--political, legal, and constitutional.
It was warmly debated. It was thought that Lord Beaconsfield had
transcended his powers and done what could be done only by a vote of
Parliament. In the House of Commons Mr. Gladstone condemned the
proceedings as unconstitutional, and pointed out the dangers of the
Ministerial policy. Lord Beaconsfield received what he calculated
upon--the support of the House. For a member to differ from his policy
was almost to incur the imputation of disloyalty to Crown and country.
Indeed, Mr. Gladstone was seriously accused of treason by a member of
the House for an article in the _Nineteenth Century_.
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