e service, was as vivacious and as
energetic as ever, as formidable in debate, and as unquestionably
supreme in his party whenever he chose to assert his power. Another
important result of the controversy was that Gladstone was now the
delight and glory of the Ritualists. The Committee organized to defend
the clergy of St. Alban's, Holborn, against the _forum domesticum_ and
"coercive force" of Bishop Jackson, made a formal and public
acknowledgment of their gratitude for Gladstone's "noble and unsupported
defence of the rights of the Church of England." Cultivated and earnest
Churchmen, even when they had little sympathy with Ritualism, were
attracted to his standard, and turned in righteous disgust from the
perpetrator of clumsy witticisms about "Mass in masquerade." In towns
where, as at Oxford and Brighton, the Church is powerful, the effect of
these desertions was unmistakably felt at the General Election of 1880.

It has been truly said that among the subjects which never fail to
excite Englishmen is Slavery. "No public man," said Matthew Arnold, "in
this country will be damaged by having even 'fanaticism' in his hatred
of slavery imputed to him." In July, 1875, the Admiralty issued to
Captains of Her Majesty's ships a Circular of Instructions which roused
feelings of anger and of shame. This circular ran counter alike to the
jealousy of patriots and to the sentiment of humanitarians. It directed
that a fugitive slave should not be received on board a British vessel
unless his life was in danger, and that, if she were in territorial
waters, he should be surrendered on legal proof of his condition. If the
ship were at sea, he should only be received and protected until she
reached the country to which he belonged. These strange and startling
orders were not in harmony either with the Law of Nations or with the
law of England. They infringed the invaluable rule which prescribes that
a man-of-war is British territory, wherever she may be; and they seemed
to challenge the famous decision of Lord Mansfield, that a slave who
enters British jurisdiction becomes free for ever. Parliament had risen
for the recess just before the circular appeared, so it could not be
challenged in the House of Commons; but it raised a storm of indignation
out of doors which astonished its authors. Disraeli wrote "The incident
is grave;" and, though in the subsequent session the Government tried to
whittle down the enormity, the "incident" pr