(PRIME MINISTERS UK) GLADSTONE WILLIAM EWART Archive of 10

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(PRIME MINISTERS--UK.) GLADSTONE, WILLIAM EWART. Archive of 10 letters Signed, "WGladstone," three as Prime Minister, to Edward Lyulph Stanley or his son Arthur, including 8 ALsS and two LsS. Together 19 pages, 8vo, most on personal or "10 Downing Street" stationery; generally good condition. With 5 original envelopes, most addressed in holograph, 4 with Franking Signature ("WGladstone" or "W.G."). (SFC) Vp, 1879-96

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10 May 1882: ". . . It is a sharp edge at a dizzy height along which we have now to walk but I place undiminished and indeed enhanced reliance on that thorough comprehension of the situation by our great party which has been all along so remarkable . . . ."
7 November 1883, LS: ". . . I will make known your wishes to Sir W. Harcourt . . . . Should the occasion arise for constituting a Commission of the kind, I am sure Sir William is as well aware as myself how competent you would be to render valuable service to the country in such an inquiry."
23 July 1884: ". . . I concur in both your grounds of objection to the proposal that Prison Sites shall be sold below their value to build working men's dwellings on them.
"In principle the scheme is to say the least most questionable: but its unsuitableness to the present moment of abstinence from contested matter is really palpable and glaring."
4 August 1885: "I have not I think had any communication with Sir W. Harcourt on the question of Prison's Sites.
"Undoubtedly the more I think of the proposal in the Bill the more it evinces to me the aspect of one of the very worse pieces of Socialism that has yet come into our view."
3 December 1885: "In you the Liberal Party has to regret the loss . . . of a very able and much valued supporter. And I regret the falsification of the voice of the Boroughs [because Stanley did not win re-election as Member of Parliament for Oldham]. Most of all the six seats given . . . to the Tories. . . .
"You see however how merrily we are coming round. I do not cry [expression in Greek] for myself: but I cannot help glowing with delight at the good conduct of so many constituencies. . . ."
13 November 1894: ". . . I imagine that the plan now pursued by the London [School] Board has been honestly intended to deal with the difficulties of the case in a manner as fair as possible to all parties. . . . To a Christianity, a religion, defined and adjusted by the State, I have an insurmountable objection, but I by no means . . . say that that is the question . . . ."
17 January 1896, LS, to Arthur Lyulph Stanley: ". . . 70 years ago (in the beginning of 1827) I was your grandfather's guest at Alderley and I remember . . . the King's speech which called the battles of Navarino an untoward event. In 1835 I remember being so struck with your mother's young enthusiasm at a private concert . . . that I wrote verses (bad without doubt) . . . . Finally I recollect your father's deep feeling when I congratulated him on your class at Oxford. . . ."