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Gladstone on Liberty and Democracy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2009
Extract
It is well known that Gladstone entered Parliament in 1832 as a conservative and a Tory, and ended his Parliamentary career as leader of the Liberal Party. As late as 1839 Macaulay could call him “the rising hope of … stern and unbending Tories.” What was the reason for his change of position? Did he merely drift with Peel, or was there some positive principle which led him to liberalism? There is much in his notebooks to suggest the latter. It is the purpose of this brief article to discuss this change, and to examine the position which Gladstone came to accept in later life. It will also be necessary to relate his notion of liberty to the ideas of democracy and equality which he entertained. Although it cannot be claimed that Gladstone was a political philosopher, he did hold a series of principles and an understanding of them is essential for a correct interpretation of his actions as a statesman.
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- Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1961
References
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