e shall cease to be answerable for it." So
he has--he has retired from the ministry. While he thought he could
believe it had a conscience--till he was forced to give up, what it
was his duty to cherish as long as ever he could, the notion that
the British empire was a subject and servant of the kingdom of
Christ--he served the state. Now that he finds this to be a mere
dream, much as it ought to be otherwise, and as it once was
otherwise, he has said, I cannot serve such a mistress.

'But really,' I continue, 'do you in your heart mean to say that he
should absolutely and for ever give up the state and country? I
hope not. I do not think he has so committed himself. That the
conclusion he has come to is a very grave one, and not consistent
with his going on blindly in the din and hurry of business, without
having principles to guide him, I admit; and this, I conceive, is
his reason for at once retiring from the ministry, that he may
contemplate the state of things calmly and from without. But I
really cannot pronounce, nor can you, nor can he perhaps at once,
what is a Christian's duty under these new circumstances, whether
to remain in retirement from public affairs or not. Retirement,
however, could not be done by halves. If he is absolutely to give
up all management of public affairs, he must retire not only from
the ministry but from parliament.

'I see another reason for his retiring from the ministry. The
public thought they had in his book a pledge that the government
would not take such a step with regard to Maynooth as is now before
the country. Had he continued in the ministry he would to a certain
extent have been misleading the country.

'You say, "He made some show of seeing his way in future, for he
gave advice; he said it would be well for all parties to yield
something. To see his way and to give advice is as if he had found
some principle to go on." I do not so understand him. I thought he
distinctly stated he had not yet found a principle. But he gave
that advice which facts, or what he called circumstances, made
necessary, and which if followed out, will, it is to be hoped, lead
to some basis of principle which we do not see at present.'

Compared to the supreme case of conscience indicated here, and it
haunted Mr. Gladstone for n