XIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} is the
fault of political life with its insatiable demands, which do not
leave the smallest stock of moral energy unexhausted and available
for other purposes.... Swimming for his life, a man does not see
much of the country through which the river winds, and I probably
know little of these years through which I busily work and
live.... It has been a special joy of this December that our son
Stephen is given to the church, "whose shoe latchet I am not
worthy to unloose."

BOOK VI. 1869-1874

Chapter I. Religious Equality. (1869)

In the removal of this establishment I see the discharge of a debt
of civil justice, the disappearance of a national, almost a
worldwide reproach, a condition indispensable to the success of
every effort to secure the peace and contentment of that country;
finally relief to a devoted clergy from a false position, cramped
and beset by hopeless prejudice, and the opening of a freer career
to their sacred ministry.--GLADSTONE.

I

Anybody could pulverise the Irish church in argument, and to show that it
ought to be disestablished and disendowed was the easiest thing in the
world. But as often happens, what it was easy to show ought to be done,
was extremely hard to do. Here Mr. Gladstone was in his great element. It
was true to say that "never were the wheels of legislative machinery set
in motion under conditions of peace and order and constitutional
regularity to deal with a question greater or more profound," than when
the historic protestant church in Ireland was severed from its sister
church in England and from its ancient connection with the state. The case
had been fully examined in parliament. After examination and decision
there, it was discussed and decided in the constituencies of the United
Kingdom. Even then many held that the operation was too gigantic in its
bearings, too complex in the mass of its detail, to be practicable. Never
was our political system more severely tested, and never did it achieve a
completer victory. Every great organ of the national constitution came
into active play. The sovereign performed a high and useful duty. The
Lords fought hard, but yielded before the strain reached a point of
danger. The prelates in the midst of anger and perturbation were forced
round to statesmanship. The Comm