stated them with quite unusual force, and when he stated the one
side, people forgot that there was another which would be no less
vividly present to him at some other moment. He was not only, like
all successful parliamentarians, necessarily something of an
opportunist, though perhaps less so than his master Peel, but was
moved by emotion more than most statesmen, and certainly more than
Peel. The relative strength with which the need for comprehensive
reform or the need for watchful conservatism presented itself to his
mind depended largely upon the weight which his emotions cast into
one or the other scale, and this element made it difficult to
forecast his probable action. Thus his political character was the
result of influences differing widely in their origin--influences,
moreover, which it was hard for ordinary observers to appreciate.



CHAPTER III: PARLIAMENTARIAN



Mr. Gladstone sat for sixty-three years in Parliament, and for more
than twenty-six years was the leader of his party, and therefore the
central figure of English politics. As has been said, he began as a
high Tory, remained about fifteen years in that camp, was then led
by the split between Peel and the protectionists to take up an
intermediate position, and finally was forced to cast in his lot
with the Liberals, for in England, as in America, third parties
seldom endure. No parliamentary career in English annals is
comparable to his for its length and variety; and of those who saw
its close in the House of Commons, there was only one man, Mr.