On reaching Hawarden, Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone were received with
a very cordial welcome from hundreds of the villagers who had crowded thither to congratulate them on the celebration of their golden wedding; and, the horses having been taken out of the carriage, Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone were drawn in it through the village by thirty men, preceded by the band of the Denbighshire Hussars. Mr. Gladstone, in acknowledging the heartiness of their reception, referred with deep feeling to the illness of his eldest son, of which he spoke as in a great measure surmounted, and to the singular bless- ings which he and his wife had derived from their children's characters and affection. They had never at any part of their lives been governed with any constraint, and the consequence was the happiness they had had in them. Perhaps Mr. Glad- stone intended to suggest that in the political family the same freedom from constraint is also desirable. If so, we venture to think that he exaggerates the delicacy and depth of the mutual regard by which political life is penetrated. Without strict discipline, no organisation of service or right or labour can be achieved, and we know of no "Union of Hearts" to which we can trust in political life, as we can trust to the filial and parental affection of noble minds in family life.
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