inharmoniously blend with his general fame as scholar and
statesman. 'To reconcile a race that speaks the Greek language to the
science of practical liberty seemed to me a task that might be a noble
episode in your career.' The origin of an invitation so singular is
explained by Phillimore:--

_November_ 2nd, 1858.--Lord Carnarvon (then under-secretary at the
colonial office) sent an earnest letter to me to come to the C.O.
and advise with Rogers and himself as to drawing the commission. I
met Bulwer Lytton there, overflowing with civility. The offer to
Gladstone had arisen as I expected from Lord C., and he had told B.
L. the conversation which he (C.) and I had together in the summer,
in which I told Lord C. that I thought Gladstone would accept a
mission extraordinary to Naples.... I risked without authority
from G. this communication. Lord C. bore it in mind, and from this
suggestion of mine sprang in fact this offer. So Lord C. said to
me.

Lord Malmesbury very sensibly observed that to send Mr. Gladstone to
Naples was out of the question, in view of his famous letters to Lord
Aberdeen. To the new proposal Mr. Gladstone replied that his first
impulse on any call from a minister of the crown to see him on public
business, would be to place himself at the minister's disposal. The
interview did not occur for a week or two. Papers were sent from the
colonial office to Hawarden, long letters followed from the secretary of
state, and Mr. Gladstone took time to consider. The constitution of the
Ionian islands had long been working uneasily, and what the colonial
secretary invited him to undertake was an inquiry on the spot into our
relations there, and into long-standing embarrassments that seemed to be
rapidly coming to a head. Sir John Young, then lord high commissioner of
the Ionian islands, had been with him at Eton and at Oxford, besides
being a Peelite colleague in parliament, and Mr. Gladstone was not
inclined to be the instrument of indicating disparagement of his friend.
Then, moreover, he was in favour of 'a very liberal policy' in regard to
the Ionian islands, and possibly the cabinet did not agree to a very
liberal policy. As for personal interest and convenience, he was not
disposed to raise any difficulty in such a case.

The Peelite colleagues whose advice he sought were all, with the single
exception of the Duke of Newcastle, more or less unconditio