Of that oratory, something must now be said. By it he rose to fame
and power, as, indeed, by it most English statesmen have risen, save
those to whom wealth and rank and family connections have given a
sort of presumptive claim to high office, like the Cavendishes and
the Russells, the Cecils and the Bentincks. And for many years,
during which Mr. Gladstone was distrusted as a statesman because,
while he had ceased to be a Tory, he had not fully become a Liberal,
his eloquence was the main, one might almost say the sole, source of
his influence. Oratory was a power in English politics even a
century and a half ago, as the career of the elder Pitt shows. But
within the last fifty years, years which have seen the power of rank
and family connections decline, it has continued to be essential to
the highest success although much less cultivated as a fine art, and
brings a man quickly to the front, though it will not keep him there
should he prove to want the other branches of statesmanlike
capacity.

The permanent reputation of an orator depends upon two things, the
witness of contemporaries to the impression produced upon them, and
the written or printed--we may, perhaps, be soon able to say the
phonographed--record of his speeches. Few are the famous speakers
who would be famous if they were tried by this latter test alone,
and Mr. Gladstone was not one of them. It is only by a rare
combination of gifts that one who speaks with so much readiness,
force, and brilliance as to charm his listeners is also able to
deliver such valuable thoughts in such choice words that posterity
will read them as literature. Some few of the ancient orators did
this; but we seldom know how far those of their speeches which have
been preserved are the speeches which they actually delivered.