e general situation in a letter to a
correspondent out of England:--

I cannot say much for the conduct of the Powers. That of the pope
and his court has been vile; Manning and most part of Ireland have
followed suit; France and Germany are thinking of themselves and
one another; and Italy, for fear of the pope, is obliged to look
very much to Germany. Austria is to some extent in a false
position. For us there is no excuse: there was no difficulty
whatever in our doing our duty. I have said in parliament, and I
deeply feel, it is the most deplorable chapter of our foreign
policy since the peace of 1815. The good cause has been further
weakened by the bad conduct, in varying degrees, of many races,
Magyars and Jews above all. You see I cannot help filling up my
paper with this subject.

In July he made a pleasure trip in one of Sir Donald Currie's steamers,
from London to Dartmouth. "We set out at 10.20," he says, "for the docks.
Started in the _Dublin Castle_ at noon. We spent the night at the Nore,
good weather, kind reception, splendid fare. The Cape deputies came with
us as far as Gravesend." Among these deputies was Mr. Kruger.

In October he paid his first and only visit to Ireland. It lasted little
more than three weeks, and did not extend beyond a very decidedly English
Pale. He stayed in great houses, was feasted by the provost of Trinity, in
spite of disestablishment, and he had a friendly conversation with
Cardinal Cullen, in spite of Vaticanism. "You know, Mr. Gladstone," said
the Cardinal, "we could have given you a warmer reception if it had not
been for certain pamphlets which we in Ireland did not like very well." He
received the freedom of the city of Dublin, broke bread with the Duke of
Marlborough at the vice-regal lodge, admired the picturesque site of the
castle at Kilkenny, enjoyed sympathetic talks with host and hostess at
Abbeyleix, and delighted in the curious antiquities and exquisite natural
beauties of the county of Wicklow. Of the multitudes of strange things
distinctively Irish, he had little chance of seeing much.

Chapter V. A Tumultuous Year. (1878)

On these great questions, which cut so deep into heart and mind,
the importance of taking what they think the best course for the
question will often seem, even to those who have the most just
sense of party obligation, a higher duty than that of party
alleg