ared that the government would have for its first object to relieve
the agricultural interest from certain taxes. Was that a bribe? As if Peel
in 1834-5 had not set forth in the utmost detail all the measures that he
intended to submit to parliament if the constituencies would give him a
majority. Was this to drive an unprincipled bargain? As if every minister
does not always go to the country on promises, and as if the material of
any promise could be more legitimate than a readjustment of taxation. The
proceeding was styled a sordid huckstering of a financial secret for a
majority. Why was it more sordid to seek a majority for abolition of the
income-tax, than it was sordid in Peel in 1841 to seek a majority for corn
laws, or in whigs and Manchester men to seek to win upon free trade? Why
is it an ignoble bargain to promise to remove the tax from income, and
pure statesmanship to remove the tax from bread? "Give us a majority,"
said Mr. Gladstone, "and we will do away with income-tax, lighten local
burdens, and help to free the breakfast table." If people believed him,
what better reason could they have than such a prospect as this for
retaining him in the place of their chief ruler?

IV

Parliament was dissolved on January 26, and the contending forces
instantly engaged. Mr. Gladstone did not spare himself:--

_Jan. 26, '74._--8-3/4-5-3/4. To Osborne. Audience of H.M. who
quite comprehends the provisional character of the position. ...
Boundless newspaper reading. 28.--2-5. To Greenwich. Spoke an hour
to 5000. An enthusiastic meeting, but the general prospects are
far from clear.(305) 31.---Woolwich meeting. The meeting disturbed
by design was strangely brought round again. _Feb. 2._--Third great
meeting and speech of an hour at New Cross for Deptford. Much
enthusiasm and fair order. 3.--Many telegrams and much conversation
with Granville and Wolverton in the evening. The general purport
was first indifferent, then bad. My own election for Greenwich
after Boord the distiller, is more like a defeat than a victory,
though it places me in parliament again. A wakeful night, but more
I believe from a little strong coffee drunk incautiously, than
from the polls, which I cannot help and have done all in my power
to mend.

The Greenwich seat, the cause of such long perturbation, was saved after
all, but as Mr. Gladstone wrote to a defeated colleague, "I