[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "' SIR, -1 think you are
wrong as to the prc portion of Liberal clergymen who voted in the late Election for the Gladatonian candidates ; and wrong, too, in your estimate of the motives which prompted those who did so vote. No one, of course, can speak for any one beyond himself; but your article did not touch me. No memory of such ancient history as the Durham Letter and the Palmerstonian Bishops came to my mind; nor was I troubled with dreams of such an uncertain future as the Premiership of Mr. Chamberlain. Personal worth will, I hope, always have its due weight in deter- mining the choice of a candidate and a leader by the electors ; but Mr. Gladstone's personal character only so far moved me as to cause me to feel great indignation at the impu- tation of mean motives, which has formed the staple of Tory invective, and has not been altogether absent from the criticism of Dissentient Liberals. I supported the Gladstonian candi- date, because I had for some time conceived that in the prin- ciple of Home-rule was, under existing circumstances, to be found the best method of settling the Irish difficulty. Nor should I be afraid for the future of the Empire if the grant of Home-rule to Ireland had proved the first step towards a grand federation of all the various peoples who own allegiance to the British Crown. And with regard to this question of Ireland and Home-rule, the political character of Mr. Gladstone did weigh con- siderably with me. For whatever line of action be taken, whether Mr. Gladstone's principle is followed, or any other statesman's, through Mr. Chamberlain or Lord Hartington to Lord Salis- bury, with his twenty years of resolute government, it is easy to point out possible dangers. So that, whomsoever we trust as leader, we are making a venture of faith ; and in considering the domestic legislation of the past twenty years, I think that Mr. Gladstone has proved himself to have the truest political in- sight into what needs to be done, and how to do it. Lord: Aberdare's estimate of Mr. Gladstone's proposal seems to me far more just than Lord Hartington's.—I am, Sir, &c., St. Barmabas, Bristol, Tuly 20th. E. A. FULLER.
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