were i to edit a new journal again i should call it open thought. i know no characteristic of man so wise, so useful, so full of promise of progress as this. the great volume of nature, of man and of society opens a new page every day, and mr. gladstone read it. it was this which gave him that richness of information in which he excited the admiration of all who conversed with him.
were plutarch at hand to write historical parallels of famous men of our time, he might compare voltaire and gladstone. dissimilar as they were in nature, their points of resemblance were notable. voltaire was the most conspicuous man in europe in the eighteenth century, as mr. gladstone became in the nineteenth. both were men of wide knowledge beyond all their contemporaries. each wrote more letters than any other man was ever known to write. every court in europe was concerned about the movements of each, in his day. both were deliverers of the oppressed, where no one else moved on their behalf. both attained great age, and were ceaselessly active to the last in decision of conviction they were also alike. voltaire was as determinedly theistic as mr. gladstone was christian. they were alike also in the risks they undertook in defence of the right. voltaire risked his life and gladstone his reputation to save others. mr. morley relates of the philosopher of ferney, that when he made his triumphal journey through paris, some one asked a woman in the street "why do so many people follow this man?" "don't you know?" was the reply. "he was the deliverer of the calas." no applause went to voltaire's heart like that mr. gladstone had also golden memories of deliverance no one else moved hand or foot to effect, and multitudes, even nations, followed him because of that.
on the first occasion of my going to breakfast with him he was living in harley street, in the house in which sir charles lyell died. as mr. gladstone entered the room, he apologised for not greeting me earlier, as his servant had indistinctly given him my name. he asked me to sit next to him at breakfast. there were seven or eight guests. the only one i knew was mr. walter. h. james, m.p., since lord northbourne—probably present from consideration for me. one was the editor of the jewish world a journal opposed to mr. gladstone's anti-turkish policy. others were military officers and travellers of contemporary renown. it was a breakfast to remember—mr. gladstone displayed such a bright, unembarrassed vivacity. he told amusing anecdotes of the experiences of the wife of the lord-lieutenant of ireland, whose charm he said he could only describe by the use of the english rural term "buxom." on making a time-bargain with a cabman, he observed to her ladyship that "he wished the engagement was for life." mr. gladstone thought no english cabman would have said that. another pleasantry was of one of lord lyttelton's sons, who was very tall and lank. he being in birmingham and wishful to know the distance to a place he sought, asked a boy in the street who was passing, "how far it was." "oh, not far," was the assuring but indefinite answer. "but can you not give me some better idea of the distance?" mr. lyttelton inquired. "well, sir," said the lad, looking up at the obelisk-like interrogator before him, "if you was to fall down, you would be half way there."
these incidents were not new to me, but i was glad to hear what was probably the origin of them. from mr. gladstone's lips they had a sort of historic reality which was interesting to me.
afterwards he spoke of the singular beauty of the "dream of gerontius" by cardinal newman, and turning to me asked if i knew of it, as though he thought it unlikely my reading lay in that direction. he was very much surprised when i said i had read it with great admiration. he said it was strange, as he had mentioned the poem at three or four breakfast tables, without finding any one who knew it.
as i left, mr. gladstone accompanied me downstairs. on the way i took occasion to thank him for a paper that had appeared in the contemporary containing definitions of heretical forms of thought, so fair and accurate and actual, that shakespeare or bunyan, who had the power of possessing himself of the minds of those whose thoughts he expressed, might have produced. there had been nothing to compare with it in my time. theological writers described heterodox tenets from their inferences of what they must be—never inquiring what they actually stood for in the minds of those who held them—whereas he had written with unimputative knowledge. stopping on the first platform of the stairway we reached, he paused, and (holding the lapel of his coat with his hand, as i had seen him do in the house of commons) he said he was glad i was able to think so, "for that is the quality in which you yourself excel." this amazed me, as i never imagined that he had ever taken notice of speeches or writings of mine, or formed any opinion upon them. nor was he the man to say what i cite from mere courtesy.
the second time i breakfasted in harley street was in the days of the eastern question. mr. john morley was one of the party. mr. gladstone had again the same disengaged manner. before his guests broke up he entered the room, bearing on his arm a pile of letters and telegrams, and apologised for leaving us as he had to attend to them. that morning mr. bright came in, and seeing me, said, "poor acland is dead. of course there was nothing in the house, and a few of us had to subscribe to bury him." james acland was the rider on a white horse who preceded cobden and bright the day before their arrival to address the farmers on the anti-corn law tour in the counties. mr. gladstone's grand-daughter was to have arrived at harley street that morning, but her nurse missed the train. when she appeared, bright, who had suggested dolorous adventures to account for her non-appearance, proposed, when the child was announced to be upstairs, that a charge of sixpence should be made for each person going to see her.
that morning one of the guests, who was an actor, maintained that it was not necessary that an actor should feel his part. mr. gladstone, to whom conviction was his inspiration—who never spoke without believing what he said—dissented from the actor's theory, as i had done.
towards the end of his life, i saw mr. gladstone twice at the lion mansion in brighton. on one occasion he said, after speaking of cardinal newman and his brother francis, "i remember dr. martineau telling me that there was a third brother, a man also of remarkable power, but he was touched somewhere here," putting his finger to his forehead. "do you know whether it was so? it is so long since dr. martineau named it to me, and my impression may be wrong." i answered, "it was true. at one time i had correspondence with charles newman. he would say at times, 'my mind is going from me for a time. do not expect to hear from me until my mind returns.' in power of reasoning, he was, when he did reason, distinguished for boldness and vigour." mr. gladstone said, "when you write again to his brother francis, convey to him for me the assurance of my esteem. i am glad you believe that the cessation in his correspondence was not occasioned by anything on my part or any change of feeling on his. i must have been mistaken if i ever described mr. francis newman as 'a man of considerable talent.' he was much more than that. his powers of mind may be said to amount to genius."
mr. gladstone asked what i would advise as a rule of policy as to the anarchists who threw the bombs in the french chambers. i answered, "there were serious men who came to have anarchical views from despair of the improvement of society. there were also foolish anarchists who think they can put the world to rights, had they a clear field before them. there are also a class who are quite persuaded that by killing people who have nothing to do with the evils they complain of, they will intimidate those who have. they take destruction to be a mode of progress. these persons are as mad as they are made, and you cannot legislate against insanity."
i mentioned the case of a nonconformist minister, who was so incensed by the injustice done to mr. bradlaugh that he took a revolver, loaded, to palace yard, intending to shoot the policemen who maltreated him. but the member for northampton was altogether against such proceedings. the determined rectifier of wrong in question had a project of throwing a bomb from the gallery on to the floor of the house. i had great difficulty in dissuading him from this frightful act. he was no coward, and was quite prepared to sacrifice his own life. to those ebullitions of vengeance society in every age has been subject, and its best protection lies in intrepid disdain and cool precaution. the affair of phoenix park showed that the english nation did not go mad in the face of desperate outrage. however, mr. gladstone himself gave the best answer to his inquiry. he said, "the spanish government had solicited him to join in a federation against anarchists. but how could we do that? we cannot tell what other governments may do, and we should be held responsible for their acts which we might deplore."
he added, "it fills me with surprise, not to say disgust, to see it said at times in liberal papers that the tories of to-day are superior to their class formerly. sir robert peel was a man of high honour, patriotism, and self-respect he would never have joined in nor countenanced the treatment to which mr. bradlaugh was subjected. i never knew the tories do a meaner thing. nothing could have induced sir robert peel to consent to that."
on one occasion, after reference to out-of-the-way persons of whom i happened to have some knowledge, mr. gladstone said, "i have known many remarkable men. my position has brought me in contact with numbers of persons." indeed, it seemed when talking to him that you were talking to mankind, so diversified and plentiful were the persons living in his memory, and who, as it were, stepped out in his conversation before you. the individuality, the environment of persons, all came into light. his conversation was like an oration in miniature. its exactness, its modulation, its force of expression, its foreseeingness of all the issues of ideas, came at will. i never listened to conversation so easy, so natural, so precise, so full of colour and truth, spoken with such spontaneity and force.
mr. morley, in his "life of gladstone," cites a letter he sent to me in 1875: "differing from you, i do not believe that secular motives are adequate either to propel or restrain the children of our race, but i earnestly desire to hear the other side, and i appreciate the advantage of having it stated by sincere and high-minded men." this shows his brave open-mindedness.
a few years later it came into my mind that my expressions of respect for persons whose christian belief arose from honest conviction, and was associated with efforts for the improvement of the material condition of the people, might lead him to suppose that i myself inclined to belief in christian tenets of faith. i therefore sent him my new book on "the origin and nature of secularism: showing that where free thought commonly ends secularism begins"—saying that as i had the honour of his correspondence, i ought not to leave him unaware of the nature of my own opinions. he answered that he thought my motive a right one in sending the book to him, and that he had read a considerable part with general concurrence, though, in other parts, the views expressed were painful to him. but this made no difference in his friendship, which continued to the end of his days.
an unknown aphorist of 1750, whom mr. bertram dobell quotes, exclaims: "freethinker! what a term of honour; or, if you will, dishonour; but where is he who can claim it?" mr. gladstone might claim it beyond any other eminent christian i have known. it was he who, at the opening of the liverpool college some years ago, warned the clergy that "they could no longer defend their tenets by railing or reticence"—a shaft that went through the soul of that policy of silence and defamation pursued by them for half a century. mr. gladstone was the first to see it must be abandoned.
it is diderot who relates that one who was searching for a path through a dark forest by the light of a taper, met a man who said to him, "friend, if thou wouldst find thy way here, blow out thy light." the taper was reason, and the man who said blow it out was a priest mr. gladstone would have said, "take care of that taper, friend; and if you can convert it into a torch do so, for you will need it to see your way through the darkness of human life."
at our last interview he said, "you and i are growing old. the day is nearing when we shall enter——" here he paused, as though he was going to say another life, but not wishing to say what i might not concur in, in his sense, he—before his pause was well noticeable—added, "enter a changed state." what my views were he knew, as i had told him in a letter: "i hope there is a future life, and, if so, my not being sure of it will not prevent it, and i know of no better way of deserving it than by conscious service of humanity. the universe never filled me with such wonder and awe as when i knew i could not account for it. i admit ignorance is a privation. but to submit not to know, where knowledge is withheld, seems but one of the sacrifices that reverence for truth imposes on us."
i had reason to acknowledge his noble personal courtesy, notwithstanding convictions of mine he must think seriously erroneous, upon which, as i told him, "i did not keep silence."
he had the fine spirit of the abbé lamennais, who, writing of a book of mark depicting the "passive" christian, said: "the active christian who is ceaselessly fighting the enemies of humanity, without omitting to pardon and love them—of this type of christian i find no trace whatever." mr. gladstone was of that type. it was his distinction that he applied this affectionate tolerance not only to the "enemies of humanity," but to the dissentients from the faith he loved so well.
at our last meeting in brighton he asked my address, and said he would call upon me. he wished me to know lord acton, whom he would ask to see me. an official engagement compelled lord acton to defer his visit, of which mr. gladstone sent me notice. it was a great loss not to converse with one who knew so much as lord acton did.
mr. gladstone knew early what many do not know yet, that courtesy and even honour to adversaries do not imply coincidence in opinion. as i was for the right of free thought, i regarded all manifestations of it with interest, whether coinciding with or opposing views i hold. shortly before his death i wrote to him, when miss helen gladstone sent me word, "to-day i read to my father your letter, by which he was much touched and pleased, and he desired me to send you his best thanks." i shall always be proud to think that any words of mine gave even momentary pleasure to one who has given delight to millions, and will be an inspiration to millions more.
in former times, when an eminent woman contributed to the distinction of her consort, he alone received the applause. in these more discriminating days, when the noble companionship of a wife has made her husband's eminence possible, honour is due to her also. therefore, on drawing the resolution of condolence to mrs. gladstone, adopted at the peterborough co-operative congress, we made the acknowledgment how much was due to the wife as well as the husband. i believe no resolution sent to her, but ours, did this. sympathy is not enough where honour is due. in the splendid winter of mr. gladstone's days there was no ice in his heart like the light that ever glowed in the temple of montezuma the generous fire of his enthusiasm never went out. the nation mourned his loss with a pomp of sorrow more deep and universal than ever exalted the memory of a king.
