The Romanian Poet who wrote in French.
David Johnson May 19, 2024
After the long battle, rest in peace, my heart, Sleep in the midst of carnage as would a proud conqueror,
“Last night I met Gladstone, it will always be a memorable night for me.
... he was always noble of soul. Listening to every one, drawing out every one, with a force and a modesty that touched us more than all his power“
One of our most influential and arguably one of most intellectual Prime Minister ever, and certainly one of our longest serving Prime Ministers. Undoubtedly, a gigantic moral force, reliant upon conviction and rightness, emphatically, an enduringly fascinating figure immensely worthy of acclaim and deep study from his country and beyond. William Gladstone was revered not only in his homeland but admired and adored domestically and abroad.
William Gladstone was Prime Minister for over twelve years, yet this achievement alone does not fully sum up his vast importance in British, European and indeed world history. Upon his death in 1898 a grief stricken yet grateful nation gave this moral giant a gloriously sombre and magnificent ceremony never to be surpassed or forgotten by those in attendance. He captured the hearts of young and old, rich and poor, secular and religious.
Dismally, in our stridently ideological times innumerable figures from the past ( and the past itself ) are targeted and repudiated, and Gladstone has not avoided this idiocy. Time to repudiate the repudiaton! It is unfathomable, perhaps sinister, and undoubtedly morally and culturally remiss that no recognised group of amateurs, historians and thinking people currently pay any consistent homage to the staggeringly great figure of William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone’s political and religious evolution is singular and not without the deepest, most interesting of contradictions; it is this element of near on mystery and even contradiction which makes Gladstone such a fascinating figure and so worthy of reflection and extensive consideration.
This society is intended as a small step in the direction of remedying this regrettable situation. A society devoted to the appreciation of this giant of politics, history and morality, for William Gladstone was gigantic in action and intellect and, perhaps most intriguing- vast in complexity.
Gladstone was an extraordinarily intelligent, action minded leader acknowledged by rivals and allies alike as possessing levels of energy equal to those of ten others; indeed in an age of exceptional purposefulness and huge resources of energy Gladstone surpassed all others in his prodigious capacity for work and projects. His mind was astonishing in its depth, breadth and intellectual capacity and he dominated British history in the Nineteenth Century like no other.
Having expertise and knowledge in five languages he was a scholar, politician, theologian and wise commentator. Gladstone epitomised a restless, passionate and protean age.
There are, of course, innumerable biographical studies of Gladstone. There is the stunning library at Hawarden, and his huge collection of papers, correspondence and diaries. Such material, such fascinating debate, controversy and discussion to be had- perhaps too much for one individual’s entire life time but – and this is a powerful but – there seems to be no organised society who delight in the study of this great man. The Gladstone Society invites anyone with an admiration, with a yearning for knowledge, with expertise or with no prior knowledge to join and promote understanding of this unparalleled life and this extraordinary mind.
