WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES: FIFTY YEARS OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PROGRESS. BY THOMAS ARCHER, F.R. H.S., AUTHOR OF "PICTURES AND ROYAL PORTRAITS," DECISIVE EVENTS OF HISTORY, VOL. I. 1830 TO 1845. WITH BRIEF RETROSPECT FROM 1820 TO 1830 BOO GH BLACKIE & SON: LONDON, EDINBURGH, GLASGOW, AND DUBLIN. 1883. 8640142 PREFAСЕ. BUT for the desire to observe the usual courtesies, a preface to the following pages would perhaps be unnecessary. The reader has, so to speak, been taken into the confidence of the writer in the book itself, and no formal introduction could place them on better terms. Before the first portion of the work appeared, a few introductory words were written and published, setting forth as plainly as might be the intention of the book, its scope, aim, and character, and that intention has, it is believed, been constantly kept in view and reasonably fulfilled. It was proposed to recount earnestly, truthfully, and without political bias, the wonderful story of the last half century: to present a graphic view of a period which perhaps beyond any other has been marked by great events, intense inquiry, and striking incidents, and to comprise in the narrative such characteristic sketches of some of those who have been conspicuous in the arena of public life, as would vividly indicate those personal associations which are inseparable from great social or political advances. No one who is acquainted with the great movements of the last fifty years can fail to see how large a space in the history of the period has been filled by Mr. Gladstone, and how important in any picture of our time is the figure of the leader whose uplifted voice and hand has often roused the nation and called it to pursue the path of social and political progress. But though Mr. Gladstone's name stands at the head of the title of the book, the story of our time is too full and varied to be bounded by even the most illustrious life, or to be told in a single biography. The design has been to depict with some colour and effect the chief men who have aided in the making of history during the last fifty years,-history, that is to say, not only in a political or legislative meaning, but in the wider sense which includes the striking events, occurrences, errors, achievements, struggles, failures, and successes that have been the stories of our national lives from year to year. It was not contemplated to make this book an exact chronological record. A reference calendar is not history, nor can the great drama of a country be even so much as indicated in a narrative broken by subservience to an orderly succession of dates. The major and minor events, the serious, romantic, and humorous episodes, overlap and bear constant reference to each other, indepen dently of the particular time at which they occur. In other words, the narrative of "Fifty Years of Social and Political Progress," consists of a number of concurrent stories in which the plots sometimes intermingle; the situations have certain points of contact, the characters meet and separate, without special regard to dates, except when here and there a turning-point or a crisis may arrest attention. It will be found, however, that some regard has been shown for chronological order, and that dates have been recorded in such a manner, that while the reader will not be harassed by a continual sense of broken sequences, the student will not be at a disadvantage for want of information. It is sincerely hoped that to young men and women seeking to learn what has been the history of the last half century, the book will be found none the less useful because some endeavour has been made to give life and colour to the scenes and people described. It is believed that the record is accurate, that the characters of the personages have not been misrepresented, that the reflections and observations are the results of impartial and sometimes of anxious thought. The preface or the prologue is mostly written after the last page of the book itself is completed; and the writer has to wait to see whether his pretensions. are accepted, his anticipations realised. It has happily fallen to the lot of the author of this book to be able to record the endorsement of his promises and the fulfilment of many of his hopes in regard to it. The publication of the work in periodical sections has given him the opportunity to say that it has already been successful; the reception which has been accorded to it both by the public and by the critics, who have so widely and so favourably reviewed it in the newspaper press, leaves him with a humble spirit, he hopes-with a grateful heart, he is sure. London, July 4, 1883. T. A. |