Chapter IX. Washington And Geneva. (1870-1872)
Chapter X. As Head Of A Cabinet. (1868-1874)
Chapter XI. Catholic Country And Protestant Parliament. (1873)
Chapter XII. The Crisis. (1873)
Chapter XIII. Last Days Of The Ministry. (1873)
Chapter XIV. The Dissolution. (1874)
Book VII. 1874-1880
Chapter I. Retirement From Leadership. (1874-1875)
Chapter II. Vaticanism. (1874-1875)
Chapter III. The Octagon.
Chapter IV. Eastern Question Once More. (1876-1877)
Chapter V. A Tumultuous Year. (1878)
Chapter VI. Midlothian. (1879)
Chapter VII. The Eve Of The Battle. (1879)
Chapter VIII. The Fall Of Lord Beaconsfield. (1880)
Chapter IX. The Second Ministry. (1880)
Appendix
Footnotes

[Frontispiece: Portrait of Gladstone.]

William Ewart Gladstone; from a painting by Sir J. E. Millais, P.R.A, in
the National Gallery.

BOOK V. 1859-1868

Chapter I. The Italian Revolution. (1859-1860)

Rarely, if ever, in the course of our history has there been such
a mixture of high considerations, legislative, military,
commercial, foreign, and constitutional, each for the most part
traversing the rest, and all capable of exercising a vital
influence on public policy, as in the long and complicated session
of 1860. The commercial treaty first struck the keynote of the
year; and the most deeply marked and peculiar feature of the year
was the silent conflict between the motives and provisions of the
treaty on the one hand, and the excitement and exasperation of
military sentiment on the other.--GLADSTONE.(1)

This description extends in truth much beyond the session of a given year
to the whole existence of the new cabinet, and through a highly important
period in Mr. Gladstone's career. More than that, it directly links our
biographic story to a series of events that created kingdoms, awoke
nations, and re-made the map of Europe. The opening of this long and
complex episode was the Italian revolution. Writing to Sir John Acton in
1864 Mr. Gladstone said to him of the budget of 1860, "When viewed as a
whole, it is one of the few cases in which my fortunes as an individual
have been closely associated with matters of a public and even an historic
interest." I will venture to recall in outline to the reader's memory the
ampler background of this striking epoch in Mr. Gladstone's public li