Show i I J GLADSTONES iLVNIFESTO l 1 I M Ft l J 1 j Mr Gladstone has issued his manifesto i 11 I mani-festo to his constituents and from the t til j I meagre reports of it that the telegraph tj 1 bus brought shows the Grand Old Man r to to be still n power Throughout his f manifesto there is that most essential I quality of all political documents hope f Mr Gladstone shows the fame grasp of i f I I subjects that PO marked him in years long gone by There is in this manifesto i i I > I the same clear ring that marked his famous I l fam-ous Midlothian speeches those speeches I that were the envy and admiration all and tho scourge of the Conservative i I 1 party Mr Gladstone shows a deep and true insight into human nature when he frankly acknowledges that he and his li party made mistakes and committed serious i 1 seri-ous errorsof judgment Yeq grave mistakes J mis-takes and serious errors were made but I I I the manly acknowledgement of them I shows that Gladstones and his partys I pride is not in a consistent adherence to such mistakes and errors This very acknowledgement t ac-knowledgement proves Gladstone a statesman for he who is a leader and can Bee no errors in a long and troubled administration ad-ministration of the affairs of a great nation na-tion cannot justly claim to be a statesman 1 states-man Lord Beaconsfield made many I I grave mistakes but the pride of party I I f and the love of self prevented him and his followers from acknowledging that they had ever embarked in any scheme I that was not wise and that was not carried I car-ried to a successful close Mr Gladstone traces all the trouble in 1 Egypt to the policy of foreign intervention I ff interven-tion pursued by the Conservatives That 1 such is the case in part is no doubt true but as he inherited some troubles on account of such intervention in foreign affairs by his predecessors in office so has he transmitted some to his successors Man is necessarily and naturally influenced influ-enced by the actions of his fellowman even in his own affair and how much greater then must he that influence where different men shape the destiny of the same thing The destiny of a nation is not entirely in the hands of any party nor is it solely influenced by one policy t Tho reaction of extreme policy is often as powerful as tho policy itself and an extreme reaction is as liable to result in mil as an extreme policy A grave error that may ho attributed to the Gladstone Government was its failure to accept accomplished facts as irreversible facts When the policy of the Gladstone Ministry I Min-istry towards Ireland is considerod the conclusion irresistibly forces itself upon the mind that the policy there was sufficiently suffi-ciently radical but that its radicalism I took the wrong direction rho dealings I with the land were as exasperating to tho i land owner3 as could bo but were anything any-thing but satisfactory to the Irish ten antry or the Irish people Something was needed in the government of Ireland to meet the changed condition of the people peo-ple and their growing wants A change of the most radical nature was made but the change was from a bad state of affairs Ito I-to a worso one and Coercion Acts and I military support failed in every respect Whenever Irelands wrongs are righted and her disturbed state is made peaceful it must be done upon the policy of conciliation concil-iation and tho granting of the right of local selfgovernment to the Irish in Irish affairs Mr Gladstone believes that the genius of th3 English nation will be equal to the successful solution of the Irish qu3stion an 1 that no cmVittereJ civil strife will ensue Should such strife I arIse Otis m ly cast blani3 on tho other I but the verdict of the civilized world I I am convinced will alike condemn both eays Mr Gladstone Some of his suggestions as to the land system are admirable especially the I part relating to the providing of greater I facilities for the transfer of land and the Ii recorJing of title thereto and the opposition I opposi-tion to primogeniture and entails Primogeniture I Primo-geniture is the purest remnant of feudalism feudal-ism that remains in England but even the terrible and logical attacks of James I Mill and others in tho Westminster Review Re-view in the early part of thiscentury were impotent to strike it down Primo I i enituro is tho donjon of English aristocg iE r racy and when it goes there will follow iriits wako the British nobility |