Gladstone, William Ewart (1809-1898), an eminent British statesman and orator. He was born at Liverpool and died at Hawarden. He came of Scottish parentage. The original family name was Gledstanes, meaning hawk stones, having reference, no doubt, to a crag on which hawks built. Gladstone was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford. He was graduated in 1831 with the highest honors in classics and in mathematics, being what is known as a double first. In 1832 he entered Parliament, in which he held a seat almost continuously until his final retirement from public life in 1894. Among his associates were Peel, Palmerston, Disraeli, Bright, Cobden, Parnell, Bulwer, and Russell. His name is one of the most prominent in the Victorian Age. A mere index list of the public measures with which his name was identified occupies over a column in Justin McCarthy's History of Our Own Times, while his sovereign, the queen, is accorded barely a fourth of that space. Gladstone's ability as a debater gave him prominence while yet in college, and secured immediate recognition in the House of Commons. He was made a junior lord of the treasury in 1834. He was subsequently advanced from one cabinet position to another, and was four times prime minister. He was a Tory by birth and education. He entered Parliament as a member of the Conservative party, but changed his views and became the leader of the Liberals. He advocated and carried many measures that overturned the ancient order of affairs. Many measures were carried by the party of progress under his leadership. The duty on paper was abolished, because it was a tax on reading. In 1870 a system of public schools, known as board schools, was established because it was felt that a part of the children were neglected by the parish schools. Formerly the government sold positions in the army to young men who were able to pay for them. Appointment on merit was substituted for the purchase of commissions. A system of civil reform was instituted whereby officeholders were retained by reason of merit, rather than because they were efficient party workers. In accordance with ancient law and customs, none but members of the Church of England might be granted degrees by the universities. This restriction was removed. Labor unions were legalized; that is to say, it was made lawful for laboring men to associate for the purpose of obtaining better wages or otherwise improving their condition. Under Gladstone's leadership Great Britain was divided into parliamentary districts after the American fashion, and the right of voting was extended. In 1884 3,000,000, chiefly rural laborers, were granted the right of ballot by a single parliamentary act. Although for the greater part Catholic in faith, the property holders of Ireland were required to pay taxes in support of the Protestant church, that is, the Church of England. Gladstone secured the repeal of this measure. This act is known in history as the Disestablishment of the Irish Church. Provision was made whereby Irish tenants were enabled to borrow money from the general government to purchase the little farms on which they worked, and thus escape the ruinous rents exacted by absentee landlords. One of the latest measures in which Gladstone was interested was a government by home rule--a local parliament for Ireland. The measure passed the House of Commons but was killed in the House of Lords. Although Scotland and Wales are satisfied with representation in the general Parliament and have no local legislature, it is probable that Irish sentiment is so strong for home rule that the issue is certain to be brought up again. Gladstone was not a favorite with Queen Victoria. She felt, perhaps, that he was too willing to overturn ancient customs, too active a friend, possibly, of the interests of the common people; yet she treated him with respect and offered him, it is said, a seat in the House of Lords. Gladstone had very little regard, however, for the upper house. At one time when the lords delayed passing a reform bill he agreed to a proposition to appoint enough new Liberal peers to give that party a working majority in the House of Lords. It is needless to say that the House of Lords passed the bill rather than suffer such an inroad upon their ancient dignity. Gladstone was a remarkable speaker. Although a quiet man, his face was massive and impressive. His voice was clear and melodious. His memory seemed never to fail him. He was able to refer to the details of proposed measures without the slightest hesitation. He had a fund of ready wit that charmed his supporters and caused even his opponents to listen with pleasure. He was a master of invective. He would begin a sentence in a low, pleasing key, gathering force as he advanced, then, rising slightly on his feet, and raising his arm, he would deliver a measured, resounding blow at his opponents that reminded one, not so much of Jove's thunderbolts, as of a blow with a flail or a sharp rap with a single-stick. In spite of a busy life, the busiest, perhaps, in all England, Gladstone found time for authorship. Instead of writing on political questions, however, he chose such subjects as the State in its Relation to the Church, Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, The Vatican Decrees, etc. He was a frequent writer for various magazines and reviews. At the time of his retirement from Parliament he was hated heartily by the adadherents of the established churches of England and Scotland. To his political adherents, however, the Liberals, he was ever the "Grand Old Man." His popularity in the United States is impaired slightly by the fact that, during our Civil War, he took the side, at first, of the Confederates. Without doubt he was influenced, in part at least, by the desire of obtaining cotton for the mills in which so many English workingmen were employed. His opponents called him a traitor, a trader, and a trickster. See DISRAELI.