to the field,
and his last speech in public (delivered at Liverpool in the autumn of
1896) was a powerful argument in favour of British intervention to
rescue the Eastern Christians. In the following spring he followed
this up by a pamphlet on behalf of the freedom of Crete. In neither of
these two cases did success crown his efforts, for the Government,
commanding a large majority in Parliament, pursued the course upon
which it had already entered. Poignant regrets were expressed that Mr.
Gladstone was no longer able to take effective action in the cause of
humanity; yet it was a consolation to be assured that age and
infirmity had not dulled his sympathies with that cause.

That he was right in 1876-78 in the view he took of the line of
conduct England should adopt towards the Turks has been now virtually
admitted even by his opponents. That he was also right in 1896, when
urging action to protect the Eastern Christians, will probably be
admitted ten years hence, when the facts of the case and the nature of
the opportunity that existed for taking prompt action without the risk
of a European war have become better known. In both cases it was not
merely religious sympathy, but also a far-sighted view of policy that
governed his judgment. He held that the faults of Turkish rule are
incurable, and that the Powers of Western and Central Europe ought to
aim at protecting the subject nationalities and by degrees extending
self-government to them, so that they may grow into states, and in
time be able to restore prosperity to regions ruined by long
misgovernment, while constituting an effective barrier to the advance
of Russia. The jealousies of the Powers throw obstacles in the way of
this policy, but it is a safe policy for England, and offers the best
hope for the peoples of the East.

The facts just noted prove that he possessed and exerted a capacity
for initiative in foreign as well as in domestic affairs. In the
Neapolitan case, in the _Alabama_ case, in the Bulgarian case, he
acted from his own convictions, with no previous suggestion of
encouragement from his party; and in the last-mentioned instance he
took a course which did not at the moment promise any political gain,
and which seemed to the English political world so novel and even
startling that no ordinary statesman would have ventured on it.

His courage was indeed one of the most striking parts of the man.[68]
It was not the rashness of an impetuous natur