we ought to have some regard to the fact that
down to the present day, as between the two religions, the offence
has been in the proportion of perhaps a hundred to one on the
protestant side, and the suffering by it on the Roman side. At the
present hour, I am pained to express my belief that there is far
more of intolerance in action from so-called protestants against
Roman catholics, than from Roman catholics against protestants. It
is a great satisfaction to agree with you, as I feel confident
that I must do, in the conviction that of prayers we cannot
possibly have too much in this great matter, and for my own part I
heartily desire that, unless the policy I am proposing be for the
honour of God and the good of His creatures, it may be trampled
under foot and broken into dust. Of your most charitable thoughts
and feelings towards me I am deeply sensible, and I remain with
hearty regard.

As he wrote at this time to R. H. Hutton (July 2), one of the choice
spirits of our age, "Rely upon it, I can never quarrel with you or with
Bright. What vexes me is when differences disclose baseness, which
sometimes happens."

BOOK X. 1886-1892

Chapter I. The Morrow Of Defeat. (1886-1887)

Charity rendereth a man truly great, enlarging his mind into a
vast circumference, and to a capacity nearly infinite; so that it
by a general care doth reach all things, by an universal affection
doth embrace and grace the world.... Even a spark of it in
generosity of dealing breedeth admiration; a glimpse of it in
formal courtesy of behaviour procureth much esteem, being deemed
to accomplish and adorn a man.--BARROW.

I

After the rejection of his Irish policy in the summer of 1886, Mr.
Gladstone had a period of six years before him, the life of the new
parliament. Strangely dramatic years they were, in some respects unique in
our later history. The party schism among liberals grew deeper and wider.
The union between tories and seceders became consolidated and final. The
alternative policy of coercion was passed through parliament in an extreme
form and with violent strain on the legislative machinery, and it was
carried out in Ireland in a fashion that pricked the consciences of many
thousands of voters who had resisted the proposals of 1886. A fierce storm
rent the Irish phalanx in two, and its leader vanished from the field
w