At Edinburgh he met nearly five thousand
persons at the Corn Exchange, representing more than one hundred
Scottish Liberal Associations. In the Waverley Market Mr. Gladstone
addressed more than twenty thousand people, one of the largest
congregations ever assembled in-doors in Scotland, and met with a
reception which for enthusiasm was in keeping with the vastness of the
audience. December 5th, at Glasgow, he delivered his address as Lord
Rector to the students of the University, and in the evening addressed
an immense audience of nearly six thousand in St. Andrew's Hall. He was
most enthusiastically received, and he dwelt chiefly on Cyprus, the Suez
Canal, India, and Afghanistan. "We had Afghanistan ruined," he urged,
"India not advanced, but thrown back in government, subjected to heavy
and unjust charges, subjected to what might well be termed, in
comparison with the mild government of former years, a system of
oppression; and with all this we had at home the law broken and the
rights of Parliament invaded."
On the 8th of March, 1880, the immediate dissolution of Parliament was
announced in both Houses of Parliament, and the news created intense
political excitement and activity throughout the land.
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