minister of finance with a
strong financial arm, and to secure his independence of the City
by giving him a large and certain command of money.

A sequel to this salutary measure was a bill three years later with the
apparently unheroic but really beneficent object of facilitating the
acquisition of small annuities, without the risk of fraud or
bankruptcy.(37) An eyewitness tells how (March 7, 1864) "Mr. Gladstone
held the house for two hours enchained by his defence of a measure which
avowedly will not benefit the class from which members are selected; which
involves not only a 'wilderness of figures,' but calculations of a kind as
intelligible to most men as equations to London cabdrivers; and which,
though it might and would interest the nation, would never in the nature
of things be made a hustings cry. The riveted attention of the House was
in itself a triumph; the deep impression received by the nation on the
following day was a greater one. It was felt that here was a man who
really could lead, instead of merely reflecting the conclusions of the
popular mind." The measure encountered a pretty stiff opposition. The
insurance companies were vexed that they had neglected their proper
business, others feared that it might undermine the poor law, others again
took the pessimist's favourite line that it would be inoperative. But the
case was good, Mr. Gladstone's hand was firm, and in due time the bill
became law amid a loud chorus of approval.

(M18) Thus he encouraged, stimulated, and facilitated private and personal
thrift, at the same time and in the same spirit in which he laboured his
fervid exhortations to national economy. He was deeply convinced, he said
and kept saying, "that all excess in the public expenditure beyond the
legitimate wants of the country is not only a pecuniary waste, but a great
political, and above all, a great moral evil. It is a characteristic of
the mischiefs that arise from financial prodigality that they creep
onwards with a noiseless and a stealthy step; that they commonly remain
unseen and unfelt, until they have reached a magnitude absolutely
overwhelming." He referred to the case of Austria, where these mischiefs
seemed to threaten the very foundations of empire.

Chapter IV. The Spirit Of Gladstonian Finance. (1859-1866)

Nations seldom realise till too late how prominent a place a sound
system of finance holds among the vital elements of national