William Ewart Gladstone(English) William Ewart Gladstone; December 29th ( 18091229 ) , Liverpool - May 19) - English statesman and writer, 41st (December - February 1874), 43rd (April - June 1885), 45th (February - August 1886) and 47th ( August - February 1894) Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Early life

William Ewart Gladstone was born in Liverpool. His family was of Scottish origin. He was the fifth of six children of Sir John Gladstone (1764-1851), a wealthy merchant, well educated and active in public life; in -1827 he was a member of Parliament, and in 1846 he became a baronet. Mother Anna Mackenzie Robertson instilled in William a deep religious feeling and developed in him a love of poetry. From an early age, he showed outstanding abilities, the development of which was greatly affected by the influence of his parents.

His father gave him a keen interest in social issues, and at the same time a conservative point of view on them. William was not yet twelve years old when his father, in conversations with him, introduced him to various political topics of the day. John Gladstone was at that time on friendly terms with Canning, whose political ideas had a great influence on the young Gladstone, partly through his father, partly directly.

Gladstone received his initial education at home, in 1821 he was placed at Eton School, where he remained until 1828, and then entered Oxford University, from which he graduated in the spring of 1832. School and University further contributed to the fact that Gladstone entered life as a supporter of the conservative direction. Recalling Oxford many years later, he said:

I did not learn from Oxford what I acquired only later - the ability to appreciate the eternal and inestimable principles of human freedom. Some suspicious attitude towards freedom was too prevalent in the academic environment.

Mentally, he took everything he could from Eton and Oxford; hard work gave him extensive and versatile knowledge and aroused in him a keen interest in literature, especially classical literature. He took an active part in the debates of the Eton Society of Comrades (under the name The Literati) and in the publication of "Eton Miscellany", a periodical collection of works by students, being his energetic editor and the most active supplier of material for him, in the form of articles, translations and even satirical and humorous poems. At Oxford, Gladstone was the founder and chairman of a literary circle (called by his initials - WEG), in which, among other things, he read a detailed sketch of Socrates' belief in immortality; He also took an active part in the studies of another society, the Union, where he delivered an ardent speech against the Reform Bill - a speech that he himself later called "the mistake of youth." His comrades already then expected outstanding political activity from him.

Upon leaving the University, Gladstone intended to devote himself to a spiritual career, but his father opposed this. Before resolving the issue of choosing a profession, he took a trip to the continent and spent half a year in Italy. Here he received from the 4th Duke of Newcastle (whose son, Lord Lincoln, was close friends with Gladstone at Eton and Oxford) an offer to stand as a candidate for the Tory party from Newark, of which he was elected on December 15, 1832. With his speeches and manner of action during the election campaign (he had two dangerous opponents), Gladstone attracted everyone's attention.

Career in Parliament. Ministerial post under Peel

Gladstone made his first significant speech in Parliament on May 17, 1833, when discussing the abolition of slavery. Since then, he has been an active participant in the debate on the most diverse issues of current politics and soon established a reputation for himself as an outstanding orator and a very skillful debater. Despite Gladstone's youth, his position among the Tory Party was so prominent that when a new Cabinet was formed in December 1834, Robert Peel appointed him Junior Lord of the Treasury, and in February 1835 moved him to the highest position of Assistant Secretary (Minister) for the Administration of the Colonies. . In April 1835 Peel's ministry fell.

In the following years, Gladstone took an active part in the opposition, and devoted his free time from parliamentary studies to literature. With particular zeal he studied Homer and Dante, and read all the writings of Blessed Augustine. The study of the latter was undertaken by him with the aim of elucidating some questions about the relationship between church and state and had a great influence on the development of those views that he outlined in his book: "The state in its relations to the Church" (1838). This book, in which Gladstone was emphatically in favor of the established church, received much attention; she, incidentally, caused a lengthy critique of Macaulay, who, however, recognized the author's outstanding talent and called him "the rising hope of the harsh and adamant Tories."

Robert Peel was skeptical of Gladstone's book, saying: "What a desire he would write books with such a career ahead of him!" The famous Prussian envoy, Baron Bunsen, entered the following enthusiastic lines in his diary: “The appearance of Gladstone's book is a great event of the day; this is the first book since Bork that touches on the fundamental question of life; the author is above his party and his time.

When the new ministry of Robert Peel was formed in 1841, Gladstone took the post of vice president of the bureau (ministry) of trade in it, and in 1843 became its president, becoming a member of the cabinet for the first time, at the age of 33. He actively participated in the debate on the abolition of grain duties; in 1842, he completed the work of revising the customs tariff in the spirit of partly a complete abolition, partly a reduction in duties. Little by little, from a protectionist, Gladstone became an ardent supporter of the ideas of free trade.

Chancellor of the Exchequer

First cabinet, 1868-1874

The formation of a new ministry was entrusted to Gladstone (in December 1868), who was the first Prime Minister. This first Gladstone cabinet lasted until February 1874; its most important measures: the abolition of the state church in Ireland in 1869, the Irish Land Act of 1870, a radical reform in the field of elementary public education in 1870, the abolition of the system of selling positions in the army in 1871, the introduction of secret voting in elections in 1872, etc. e. After the fall of the Cabinet, in March 1874, Gladstone, in a letter to Lord Grenville, announced his intention to withdraw from the active leadership of the Liberal Party. It is curious that he then considered his political career to be over, telling friends that none of the prime ministers managed to accomplish anything outstanding after the age of 60.

in opposition

In January 1875, in a new letter to Lord Grenville, Gladstone formally announced his resignation of leadership. He was succeeded by the Marquess of Hartington.

However, already in 1876, Gladstone returned to active participation in political life, publishing a pamphlet: "Bulgarian Horrors" and taking an active part in organizing a social movement against the Eastern policy of Benjamin Disraeli Lord Beaconsfield. The pamphlet had a significant impact: denouncing the "Turkish race" as "one great inhuman specimen of the human race" Gladstone proposed to give autonomy to Bosnia, Herzegovina and Bulgaria, as well as to stop giving unconditional support to the Porte.

When, in 1880, Beaconsfield dissolved Parliament, the general election gave a huge majority to the Liberal Party. This election was preceded by Gladstone's electoral campaign in Scotland, of astonishing energy and a series of brilliant speeches, in the Midlothian constituency of which he announced his candidacy.

Second Ministry, 1880-1885

Gladstone under the influence of the Land League. Caricature from the 1880s.

The drawing up of a new ministry was entrusted first to Hartington (who continued to be considered the leader of the Liberal Party), then to Grenville, but they could not form a cabinet and the queen was forced to entrust it to Gladstone. Gladstone's second ministry lasted from April 1880 to July 1885. He succeeded in passing the Irish Land Act of 1881 and the third parliamentary reform (1885).

Third cabinet, 1886

In June 1885, Gladstone's cabinet was defeated, but the new ministry of Lord Salisbury did not last long: after the general election, in December 1885, a significant majority turned out to be on the side of the Liberals, due to the accession of the Irish party to them, and in January 1886 Gladstone's third ministry was formed. By this time there is a decisive turn in Gladstone's views on the Irish question; the main task of his policy, he set the gift of home rule to Ireland (internal self-government). The bill introduced on this subject was rejected, prompting Gladstone to dissolve Parliament; but new elections (in July 1886) produced a hostile majority. The failure of Gladstone was greatly facilitated by a split in the environment of the liberal party: many influential members fell away from it, forming a group of liberal unionists. There was a long period of Salisbury ministry (July 1886 - August 1892). Gladstone, despite his advanced age, took an active part in political life, leading the party of his adherents, which, since the split among the liberals, began to be called the "Gladstonian" party. He made the realization of the idea of ​​home rule the main goal of his life; both in Parliament and outside it, he vigorously defended the need to grant political self-government to Ireland.

Fourth cabinet, 1892-1894

Salisbury was in no hurry to call a general election, and they did not take place until July 1892, that is, just one year before the expiration of the legal seven-year term of Parliament. The election campaign was conducted with great enthusiasm both by supporters of Home Rule and by its opponents. As a result of the elections, a majority of 42 votes was on the side of the Gladstoneians and groups adjacent to them, and in August, immediately after the opening of the new parliament, the Salisbury cabinet was defeated; a new, fourth Gladstone ministry was formed (this is the first time in the history of England that a politician became prime minister for the fourth time). Appointed prime minister at the age of eighty-three, Gladstone became the oldest Prime Minister of Great Britain in its history.

Main directions of political activity

These are the most important facts of Gladstone's long political career. One of its most characteristic features is the gradual change in the political convictions and ideals of Gladstone, who began his activity in the ranks of the Tories and ends it at the head of the advanced part of the English liberals and in alliance with extreme radicals and democrats. Gladstone's break with the Tory party is dated to 1852; but it was prepared gradually and over a long period of time. In his own words, from those with whom he had previously acted, he "was cut off not by any arbitrary act, but by a slow and irresistible work of inner conviction." In the literature about Gladstone one can come across the opinion that, in essence, among his comrades he always occupied a completely independent position and, in fact, did not belong to any party. There is a lot of truth in this opinion. Gladstone himself once said that parties in themselves are not good, that party organization is necessary and indispensable only as a sure means to achieve this or that lofty goal. Along with independence in relation to questions of party organization, it is necessary to note, however, another important feature of Gladstone's political worldview, a hint of which is already in the first speech he delivered to the electors on October 9, 1832: this is a firm conviction that the basis of political events first of all, "sound general principles" must lie. The special properties of his outstanding mind, clarity and logical thinking developed in him this characteristic feature, which manifested itself early and never weakened. In the course of his entire activity, he constantly searched for and found the fundamental basis for the views and actions of each given moment. These features served as the source of that revolution in the political views and ideals of Gladstone, which took place in him as he became more familiar with the life and needs of the people. Gladstone's political views were constantly in the process of internal evolution, the direction of which was determined by a conscientious and attentive attitude to the general conditions and demands of the country's cultural growth. The more the range of phenomena available to his observation expanded, the more clearly the democratic movement of the century appeared to him, the more convincing his legitimate demands became. It could not help but give rise to doubts about the justice and fidelity of the views that the conservative party continued to hold in its opposition to the new trend. Gladstone's inherent desire to find the fundamental basis of any social movement, in connection with his humane worldview, highly honest views on life and demanding attitude towards himself, helped him come to the right answer to the question, where is truth, where is justice. As a result of a long internal work to clarify the doubts that arose, his final transition to the ranks of the liberal party was.

A remarkable feature of Gladstone's political activity is also the predominance that questions of internal cultural development have always had in it over the interests of foreign policy. This latter, during the periods when he was the first minister, aroused especially strong criticism from his opponents, and in 1885, for example, served as the immediate cause of the fall of his cabinet. In this area he proved to be the most vulnerable, but only because he was never inclined to attach paramount importance to international issues and has views on them that differ too sharply from the point of view that prevails today in European states. According to his fundamental convictions, he is an enemy of war and all violence, the manifestations of which are so rich in the field of international politics. While the merits of Gladstone's famous rival, Lord Beaconsfield, are reduced mainly to a series of clever diplomatic moves and deals, the list of Gladstone's great deeds for the benefit of England embraces only questions of her inner life. Quite characteristic is the definition of the role of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which Gladstone made back in 1850, in a dispute with Lord Palmerston over Greek affairs. His task is "the preservation of the world, and one of his first duties is the strict application of that code of great principles, which was bequeathed to us by previous generations of great and noble minds." He ended this speech with an ardent invitation to recognize the equality of the strong and the weak, the independence of small states, and in general to renounce political interference in the affairs of another state.

In his political activities, Gladstone, however, more than once concerned the interests of other states, intervened in other people's affairs, but this interference takes on a peculiar form for him. So, Gladstone spent the winter of 1850-1851 in Naples. At that time, the government of King Ferdinand II, nicknamed “The Bomb” for his ferocity, carried out cruel reprisals against those citizens who took part in the movement against the unbearable regime: up to twenty thousand people were imprisoned in gloomy prisons without investigation or trial, in which conditions existence were so terrible that even serving doctors did not dare to enter there, for fear of infection. Gladstone carefully studied the state of affairs in Naples and was filled with indignation at the sight of this gross barbarism. In the form of "Letters to the Earl of Aberdeen," he announced the details of all the horrors that he had to know and see. Gladstone's letters made a huge impression throughout Europe and did not remain without influence on subsequent events in Italy.

Gladstone (1809 - 1898). - A prominent political figure in England in the second half of the XIX century. Liberal leader. In his youth he was a thorium and a protectionist, but then he began to "left", and already in 1847 he became a moderate thorium, adjoining the so-called "peelites" (supporters of the left thorium of Robert Peel). In 1852, Gladstone participates in Lord Aberdeen's coalition ministry of Whigs and Peelites as Minister of Finance. Since 1859 - Minister of Finance in the liberal ministry of Palmerston. From that time on, he finally became a liberal, participating in all subsequent liberal cabinets until 1893. Gladstone remained true to the old principles of English liberalism even when, from the latter in the 80s. imperialist elements broke away. His name is associated with a significant expansion of suffrage and the struggle for self-government ("home rule") for Ireland. The Home Rule Act, introduced by Gladstone when he was President of the Council of Ministers in 1886, was rejected by the House of Commons. In 1893, Gladstone succeeded in getting the bill passed by the House of Commons, but he ran into opposition from the House of Peers, where the bill failed. On the basis of this conflict, Gladstone soon resigned.

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Gladstone, William Ewart (29.XII.1809 - 19.V.1898) - English statesman. Born in Liverpool in the family of a wealthy businessman. Educated at a closed aristocratic school at Eton and Oxford, where he studied theology and classical literature. In 1832 he was elected to parliament from the Tory party. During this period, he approved of the state of siege in Ireland, objected to the abolition of grain duties and the introduction of secret ballots in elections. However, gradually, realizing that the development of capitalism and the strengthening of the bourgeoisie make the old Toryism unpromising, Gladstone began to move away from it and focus on the liberals. From 1843-1845 Gladstone was Minister of Trade, from 1845-1847 he was Minister of the Colonies. In 1852-1855 - Minister of Finance in the coalition government Aberdeen, was a supporter of the war against Russia ( Crimean War 1853-1856). In 1859-1866 - Minister of Finance in the liberal government of Palmerston; During the American Civil War of 1861-1865, he supported the slave owners of the Southern states. In 1868 he was elected leader of the Liberal Party. In the years 1868-1874 Gladstone - Prime Minister; his government reformed elementary education, legalized trade unions (while penalizing strikers picketing businesses to fight strikebreakers), introduced secret ballots in elections. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, Gladstone opposed the strengthening of Prussia, saw this as a danger to Great Britain. After the 1874 parliamentary elections that defeated the Liberals, Gladstone led the opposition to the Conservative government. Disraeli. The struggle of these two figures was determined to a large extent by the desire to gain the support of voters and stay in power, so often the bills put forward by the conservatives and criticized by the liberals who were in opposition, when the liberals came to power, were carried out by them. K. Marx called Gladstone "a notorious hypocrite and casuist" (see K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., vol. 27, 1935, p. 129). Having headed the government in 1880-1885, Gladstone continued the expansionist foreign policy of the Conservatives. In 1882, the Gladstone government sent British troops to take over Egypt. In Ireland, while brutally suppressing the national liberation movement, the Gladstone government made minor concessions at the same time. The defeat of the British troops in the Sudan and complications in Ireland led to the fall of the Gladstone government. After briefly leading the government in 1886, Gladstone introduced the Home Rule Bill to Parliament. The fight over this issue has dragged on. Again heading the government in 1892-1894, Gladstone pushed the bill through the House of Commons, but the House of Lords rejected it. Gladstone retired and his political career of over 60 years ended.

English historiography, without proper grounds, created for Gladstone the glory of a great statesman. K. Marx applied to him the expression "great" in quotation marks. Political unscrupulousness, casuistic hypocrisy, flirting with the masses and shamelessly deceiving them, expansion in foreign policy, covered with verbal sympathy for small countries and peoples, and finally, religious hypocrisy - these are the typical features of Gladstone's political face.

V. G. Trukhanovsky. Moscow.

Soviet historical encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 4. THE HAGUE - DVIN. 1963.

Works: A chapter of autobiography, L., 1868; Gleanings of past years 1843-1878, v. 1-7, L., 1879; Speeches and public addresses, v. 9-10, L., 1892-94; Bassett A. T., Gladstone's speeches (descrip. index and bibl.), L., 1916.

Literature: Erofeev N.A., Essays on the history of England. 1815-1917, M., 1959; Morley J., The life of W. E. Gladstone, v. 1-3, L., 1911; Knaplund P., Gladstone's foreign policy, L., 1935; his own, Gladstone and Britain's imperial policy, L., 1927.

Gladstone, William Ewart (1809-98) - an English politician who, during his long career, went from extreme Toryism to liberalism. Gladstone came from a wealthy Liverpool merchant and colonial plantation family; received an excellent education. At the age of 22, Gladstone was elected to Parliament from one of the "rotten towns" ("pocket" districts of local land magnates), in 1841 he was already a deputy minister of commerce, two years later he was a minister of commerce, and in 1852 he received the portfolio of chancellor of the exchequer, i. e. Minister of Finance. Gladstone owed this rapid advance not only to his influential family connections, but also to his own talents; outstanding oratorical talent, great diligence and ability to master the smallest details of the most difficult issue, as well as his exceptional art of moving from one position to another, directly opposite to it, to defend today what he vehemently condemned the day before. Toryism at that time was on the decline: liberalism, under the slogans of free trade and universal peace, triumphed. Gladstone from the beginning of the 50s began to move away from his party, and in 1860 he officially broke with the conservatives, moving to the liberal camp. Nevertheless, being after his retirement the "high commissioner" of the Ionian Islands, which had been under the protectorate of England since 1815, Gladstone, an admirer of Hellenic culture, found that Greece had no rights to the Ionian Islands (although their population was exclusively Greek) and that it would be a crime on the part of England to give them away. Ten years later, during the American Civil War, Gladstone did not hesitate to take the side of the southern slave states; he advocated the preservation in Ireland, a Catholic country, of the dominance of the state Anglican Church. In 1868, after the electoral victory of the Liberals, he headed the Liberal cabinet for the first time. After that, G. was prime minister three more times. During this long period, he carried out many reforms, but often they were dictated by opportunistic considerations of parliamentary struggle with the opposition, in particular with Beaconsfield. Thus, glorifying Gladstone's political activities, although ending unsuccessfully, the struggle for granting Ireland self-government (the so-called Home Rule) was started by him after the Conservatives themselves had negotiated with the Irish leaders on this subject: Gladstone intercepted their support for a strong Irish faction in the House .

Even more controversial were Gladstone's foreign policy positions. As a member of the government when the Crimean War broke out, Gladstone fully approved of England's defense of Turkey "in the name of international law"; but he vehemently opposed Turkey when, in 1877-1878, Beaconsfield supported the Turks in the name of the same "right." Since that time, Gladstone has gained a reputation as a friend of Russia and the Balkan Slavs. Gladstone became close friends with the secret agent of Russian diplomacy in London, O. Novikova (...). However, Gladstone loudly condemned the well-known mission of Stoletov (see Stoletov Mission) in Afghanistan. When, in 1885, Russia really moved to the very borders of Afghanistan (to the Pendinsky Valley), Gladstone, who was in power, at the last moment prevented an armed clash, eliminating the conflict by compromise. True, it must be taken into account that Bismarck also played a role in this matter, who forced the Sultan to close the straits and thereby frustrated the planned plan to send the English fleet to the Black Sea. In the mid-90s, when Gladstone had already completely retired from political life, he, in connection with the massacres of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II (...) over the Armenian population, demanded the expulsion of the Turks from Europe and the transfer of the vilayets inhabited by Armenians to Russia. In general, when Gladstone was out of work, he acted as a passionate defender of small nations and an ardent opponent of imperialism. However, having headed the government, he also carried out the capture of Egypt; the war started with Afghanistan was stopped only after the latter renounced in favor of England from sovereign rights to the strategically important region of Quetta; returned "independence" to the Transvaal only after the English army was utterly defeated by the Boers, and the Transvaal agreed to recognize English control over its foreign relations. In Europe itself, Gladstone pursued a policy of neutrality in all the wars that were then taking place: he was not affected by the Armistice of Villafranca in 1859, although he considered himself a friend of Italy, nor by the annexation of Bismarck after 1866, although he considered himself an enemy of Prussia, nor by the capture of Alsace and Lorraine as a result of the Franco-Prussian war, although he sympathized in every possible way with the new republican regime in France. Gladstone at this time obtained a written commitment from both sides in the said war to respect Belgian neutrality, which was in the immediate interests of England. After the second failure of Gladstone's Irish Home Rule Bill in 1894, rejected by the House of Lords, he resigned his leadership of the government and the Liberal Party and took no further part in political life.

Diplomatic Dictionary. Ch. ed. A. Ya. Vyshinsky and S. A. Lozovsky. M., 1948.

Read further:

Marx Karl. The New Financial Fraud, or Gladstone and Pence. K. Marx, F. Engels. Works. 2nd ed., vol. 9, p. 44-49.

Historical Persons of England (Biographical Index).

Great Britain in the 19th century (chronological table).

Compositions:

A chapter of autobiography, L., 1868;

Gleanings of past years 1843-1878, v. 1-7, L., 1879;

Speeches and public addresses, v. 9-10, L., 1892-94;

Bassett A. T., Gladstone's speeches (descrip. index and bibl.), L., 1916.

Literature:

Marx, K. and Engels, F. Works. T. X. S. 297. T. XIII. Part 1. S. 339, 407. T. XV. pp. 675-682. T. XVI. Part II. S. 360. T. XXVII. G. 129, 239. - Gladstone, W. E. A chapter of autobiography. London. 1868. - Gladstone, W. E. Gleanings of past years 1843-1878. Vol. 1-7. London. 1879. - Gladstone, W. E. The speeches and public addresses of W. E. Gladstone, with notes and introductions. Ed. by A. W. Hutton and H. J. Cohen. Vol. 9-10. London. 1892-1894. - Gladstone, W. E. Bulgarian horrors and question of the East. London. 1876. 64 p. Translations: Gladstone, V. E. Bulgarian Horrors and the Eastern Question. Transl. from English. K. P. Pobedonostsev and K. N. Bestuzhev-Ryumin. SPb. 1876. XIII, 48 p.; - Gladstone, V. E. Bulgarian Horrors and the Eastern Question. From app. his speeches and letters. SPb. 1876. 115 p. (Questions of the day. 1.). - Imperialism and Mr. Gladstone (1876-1887). Associate by R. H. Gretton. London. 1913. VI, 120 p. - Gladstone and Palmerston. The Correspondence of Lord Palmerston with Mr. Gladstone 1851-1865. Ed. with introduction. and commentary by P. Guedalla. London. Gollancz. 1928. 368 p. - Gladstone's speeches, descriptive index and bibliography by Arthur Tilney Bassett, with a pref. by Bryce and introduced. to the selected speeches by H. Pane. London. . XI, 667 p. - Temperley, H. W. and Penson, L. M. Foundations of British foreign policy from Pitt (1792) to Salisbury (1902) or Documents old and new. Select, and ed. with historical introductions. Cambridge. 1938. P. 317-346, 390-415, 416-428. - Morley, J. Life of William Ewart Gladstone. Vol. 1-3. London. 1911. - Knaplund, P. Gladstone's foreign policy. New York - London. 1935. XVIII, 303 p. - Somervell, D. C. Disraeli and Gladstone: a duo-biographical sketch. London. 1932. 320 p. - Seton-Watson, R. W. Disraeli, Gladstone and the Eastern question... London. 1935. XV, 590 p.

- William Ewart Gladstone
Context: Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home. My second principle of foreign policy is this-that its aim ought to be to preserve to the nations of the world-and especially, were it but for shame, when we recollect the sacred name we bear as Christians, especially to the Christian nations of the world-the blessings of peace. That is my second principle. Speech in West Calder, Scotland (27 November 1879), quoted in W. E. Gladstone, Midlothian Speeches 1879 (Leicester University Press, 1971), p. 115.

- William Ewart Gladstone
Context: Ireland, Ireland! That cloud in the west! That coming storm! That minister of God's retribution upon cruel, inveterate, and but half-atoned injustice! Ireland forces upon us those great social and great religious questions—God grant that we may have courage to look them in the face, and to work through them Letter to his wife, Catherine Gladstone (12 October 1845), quoted in John Morley, The Life of William Ewart Gladstone: Volume I (London: Macmillan, 1903), p. 383.

- William Ewart Gladstone
Context: My fourth principle is-that you should avoid needless and entangling engagements. You may boast about them, you may brag about them, you may say you are procuring consideration of the country. You may say that an Englishman may now hold up his head among the nations. But what does all this come to, gentlemen? It comes to this, that you are increasing your engagements without increasing your strength; and if you increase your engagements without increasing strength, you diminish strength, you abolish strength; you really reduce the empire and do not increase it. You render it less capable of performing its duties; you render it an inheritance less precious to hand on to future generations. Speech in West Calder, Scotland (27 November 1879), quoted in W. E. Gladstone, Midlothian Speeches 1879 (Leicester University Press, 1971), p. 116.

- William Ewart Gladstone
Context: Economy is the first and great article (economy such as I understand it) in my financial creed. The controversy between direct and indirect taxation holds a minor, though important place. Letter to his brother Robertson of the Financial Reform Association at Liverpool (1859), as quoted in Gladstone as Financier and Economist (1931) by F. W. Hirst, p. 241

- William Ewart Gladstone
Context: All selfishness is the great curse of the human race, and when we have a real sympathy with other people less happy than ourselves that is a good sign of something like a beginning of deliverance from selfishness. Speech at Hawarden (May 28, 1890), quoted in The Times (May 29, 1890), p. 12.

- William Ewart Gladstone
Context: A rational reaction against the irrational excesses and vagaries of skepticism may, I admit, readily degenerate into the rival folly of credulity. To be engaged in opposing wrong affords, under the conditions of our mental constitution, but a slender guarantee for being right. Homeric Synchronism: An Inquiry Into the Time and Place of Homer (1876), Introduction

- William Ewart Gladstone
Context: I am certain, from experience, of the immense advantage of strict account-keeping in early life. It is just like learning the grammar then, which when once learned need not be referred to afterwards. Letter to Mrs. Gladstone (14 January 1860), as quoted in Gladstone as Financier and Economist (1931) by F. W. Hirst, p. 242

- William Ewart Gladstone
Context: I am delighted to see how many young boys and girls have come forward to obtain honorable marks of recognition on this occasion, - if any effectual good is to be done to them, it must be done by teaching and encouraging them and helping them to help themselves. All the people who pretend to take your own concerns out of your own hands and to do everything for you, I won't say they are imposters; I won't even say they are quacks; but I do say they are mistaken people. The only sound, healthy description of countenancing and assisting these institutions is that which teaches independence and self-exertion... When I say you should help yourselves - and I would encourage every man in every rank of life to rely upon self-help more than on assistance to be got from his neigbours - there is One who helps us all, and without whose help every effort of ours is in vain; and there is nothing that should tend more, and there is nothing that should tend more to make us see the beneficence of God Almighty than to see the beauty as well as the usefulness of these flowers, these plants, and these fruits which He causes the earth to bring forth for our comfort and advantage. Speech to the Hawarden Amateur Horticultural Society (17 August 1876), as quoted in "Mr. Gladstone On Cottage Gardening", The Times (18 August 1876), p. nine

- William Ewart Gladstone
Context: The right hon. Gentleman quoted repeatedly this declaration... to keep out of Egypt it is necessary to put it down in the Soudan; and that is the task the right hon. Gentleman desires to saddle upon England. Now, I tell hon. Gentlemen this-that that task means the reconquest of the Soudan. I put aside for the moment all questions of climate, of distance, of difficulties, of the enormous charges, and all the frightful loss of life. There is something worse than that involved in the plan of the right hon. Gentleman. It would be a war of conquest against a people struggling to be free. ["No, no!"] Yes; these are people struggling to be free, and they are struggling rightly to be free. Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1884/may/12/vote-of-censure in the House of Commons (12 May 1884) during the Mahdist War.

The liberals were in power in 1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1892-1894. Party leader - William Gladstone. He headed the government for 6 years. Gladstone is associated with the rise of the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party reflected the interests of the industrial (light) bourgeoisie. Conservatives - the interests of large industry, banks.

Gladstone's first cabinet was in power from 1868 to 1874. Fight for what to keep the industry safe. The Conservatives advocated colonial expansion, the Liberals advocated the expansion of democracy, defended the traditional principles of free trade, and carried out a number of reforms that contributed to the development of civil society and the rule of law in England.

the most important of them:

- in 1871 - an attempt to reconcile the working class and the bourgeoisie. The legalization of trade unions and the law, according to which strikers were forbidden to put up pickets. This is a blow to the strike movement.

Parliament reforms (electoral reforms). The first such law was passed in 1832.

A special place is held by Gladstone school reform which has long been needed. Reform of elementary education (Foster reform). And in 1870, Parliament passed a law on the organization of public schools. Gladstone understood that democratic government was incompatible with illiteracy, because only a third of children under the age of 13 attended school at that time. After the adoption of the law, a network of public schools was created throughout the country, many of which were free. Education in the new schools was secular. Ten years later, 3.5 million children were studying in England.

Gladstone also carried out university reform, as a result of which medieval rules were abolished in Oxford and Cambridge, following which persons of a non-Anglican religion could not receive scholarships and degrees.

1871 - army reform– reduction of service life from 12 to 6 years. The purchase of officer ranks has been cancelled. The army becomes the weapon of the bourgeois state.

An administrative reform that introduces an examination for entry into the civil service. Closed entry for people from the bottom. But the exam is also for aristocrats. The state apparatus is in the hands of the bourgeoisie.

1869 - act of liquidation of the Anglican Church in Ireland. Separation of church from state.

1870 - a land bill restricting the rights of English landlords.

The conservatives, who succeeded the liberals in power, also carried out a number of reforms. In 1875, they passed a law establishing a 54-hour work week and forbidding the employment of children under 10 years of age.

1884 Gladstone passed the third parliamentary reform, granting voting rights to the small tenants of England and Ireland, agricultural workers and tenant workers. Women still did not have the right to vote and the so-called "bottom" - the poor, huddled in slums or ended up in workhouses - In 1888, the local government reform divided England and Wales into 122 districts, each of which established a council that had rights local authorities.

The reforms carried out by liberals and conservatives contributed to the democratization of the country. He gave Ireland the right to self-government (even for the liberals it was too much, some went to the conservatives).

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Biography

English statesman. Repeatedly appointed minister in British cabinets.

Since 1868 - the leader of the Liberal Party. In 1868-1874, 1885-1885, 1886 and 1892-1894. - Prime Minister. He actively spoke in favor of stopping the Abdul-Hamid pogroms of 1844-1896.

It was Gladstone who initiated the delivery of the collective notes of the Powers dated June 11 and September 11, 1880 to Turkey. He owns two popular expressions that have entered history.

• First: “Serving Armenia means serving civilization”.
• Second: “The Armenian issue is higher than the internal party struggle and national strife, it concerns the whole of humanity”.

In the fight against the conservatives, Gladstone undoubtedly pursued political goals. Member of Parliament from the Liberal Party No during the Ablul Hamid pogroms of 1894-96. Gladstone took a deeply humanist position, demanding a disinterested decisive intervention of England in stopping the pogroms. In 1885, at the age of 75, Gladstone helped create a fierce campaign in the country in defense of the Armenians.

On August 6, at a rally in Chester, he declared that the only way to resolve the Armenian Question was "the expulsion of the Turks from Armenia" and sharply condemned the Powers for their position of non-intervention.

A year later, on September 21, 1896, in Liverpool, Gladstone delivered a famous speech that lasted one hour and twenty minutes. He said that England should decide to break off relations with the Sultan and to intervene directly, that she should publicly declare that she was not going to derive any benefit from her intervention, but was striving to put an end to the horrors of the pogroms and prepared to carry out reforms. In this speech, Gladstone called Abdul Hamid "Great Killer".

Bibliography

• From Illusion to Tragedy: The French Public on the Armenian Question: From the Abdul-Hamid Pogroms to the Young Turk Revolution (1894-1908) / M. Kharazyan; Transl.: M. Kharazyan.-Yer.: Author's edition, 2011. ISBN 978-9939-0-0143-2