But Mr. McCarthy was mistaken about this being the closing public
service in the life of Mr. Gladstone. It was very far from his last
public appearance. After that event Mr. Gladstone appeared repeatedly.
Though his official life had closed, yet he was to emerge from
retirement many times, and especially when it became necessary for him
to raise his strong voice for humanity. His advocacy of the great causes
of Armenian rescue, of Grecian independence, of Arbitration instead of
War, and the unity and harmony of the two great English-speaking people,
was given with all the old time fire of youth. What Mr. Gladstone did
and said with pen and voice since the occasion mentioned, was enough not
only for another chapter, but a whole volume, and sufficient alone to
immortalize any man.
After the great struggle for Home Rule and during the sultry summer of
1893, Mr. Gladstone repaired to his favorite winter resort, Biarritz, in
the south of France, It was while he was there that rumors of his
resignation were heard, based on the ground of his failing health. Dr.
Granger, of Chester, who was also an oculist, was summoned to examine
Mr. Gladstone's eyes. He told Mr. Gladstone that a cataract had
obliterated the sight of one eye, and that another cataract had begun to
form on the other.
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