rals and
tories vehemently differed from one another then, and will vehemently
differ again. Mr. Gladstone was bold and firm in his replies. As to the
idea, he said, that all independent action on the part of this great
country was to be made chargeable for producing war in Europe, "that is in
my opinion a mistake almost more deplorable than almost any committed in
the history of diplomacy." We had a right under the convention. We had a
duty under the responsibilities incurred at Paris in 1856, at Berlin in
1878. The upshot of his arguments at Liverpool was that we should break
off relations with the Sultan; that we should undertake not to turn
hostilities to our private advantage; that we should limit our proceedings
to the suppression of mischief in its aggravated form; and if Europe
threatened us with war it might be necessary to recede, as France had
receded under parallel circumstances from her individual policy on the
eastern question in 1840,--receded without loss either of honour or power,
believing that she had been right and wise and others wrong and unwise.

If Mr. Gladstone had still had, as he puts it, "the years of 1876," he
might have made as deep a mark. As it was, his speech at Liverpool was his
last great deliverance to a public audience. As the year ended this was
his birthday entry:--

_Dec. 29, 1896._--My long and tangled life this day concludes its
87th year. My father died four days short of that term. I know of
no other life so long in the Gladstone family, and my profession
has been that of politician, or, more strictly, minister of state,
an extremely short-lived race when their scene of action has been
in the House of Commons, Lord Palmerston being the only complete
exception. In the last twelve months eyes and ears may have
declined, but not materially. The occasional contraction of the
chest is the only inconvenience that can be called new. I am not
without hope that Cannes may have a [illegible] to act upon it.
The blessings of family life continue to be poured in the largest
measure upon my unworthy head. Even my temporal affairs have
thriven. Still old age is appointed for the gradual loosening and
succeeding snapping of the threads. I visited Lord Stratford when
he was, say, 90 or 91 or thereabouts. He said to me, "It is not a
blessing." As to politics, I think the basis of my mind is laid
principally in finance and p