THE RETIREMENT OF MR GLADSTONE.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 21 December 1881, Page 2

THE RETIREMENT OF MR GLADSTONE.

Was it a simple official compliment or with a deeper feeling, that the I'rime Minister at Leeds made so marked an allusion to the time when he must Ity aside the burdens o' 1 State ? Tfcese are the words used by the right honorable gentleman : 'It is for me a great, satisfaction to think, especially at my time of Ji r e, that y< v ! do riot depend upon my life, or upon the life of any other man, but partic iilarljL^ttPl--yjii2B^3is 6 Ju^SdJLwish now to repeat in this hall, one thing • only of what I said or endeavored to say, in a speech of yestreday, that when the time comes, ani «ome. it must very soon, when I cease to be able to carry on the duties with which I am now entrusted there are two m j n prossessed already of your confidence already enshrined in your affections, already tested by long experience, to whom I well know that with safety and with advantage ttase duties may pass over — and these two men, with other and fresher years in various degrees of tU9 future before them, will serve you, not, perhaps, with greater sincerity' — cries of * No, 1 and cheers — ' bat in such manner as I know will ser cure fyrMir frnd attachment. These two men> I need not say, are Lord Qtanville in the oneifoaseofParliament and Lord Hartington in the other.' If we were to decide either by the proofs of jexhausttess ..energy which the Premiefr afford*, or by the wish which all his countrymen must fe e l that he may Jong, enjoy and exercise such magrfifitieot'^fts^ mental and physical, the inclination everywhere would be to regard this language merely as conveping a tribute of honor and gratitude to political associate-". That conclusion would be strengthened by the recollection that Mr Gladstone has already ' decorated ' with Pallia* mentary praise the Irish Chief Secretary, and found an occasion during the Leeds pilgrimage to eulogise Mr Bright. It is significant, however that twice in the course of his York' shire orations he has specially mentioned Lord Granville and Lord Hartington in connection with the days which must come and the'duties which must descend. — European Mnil.