The Grand Old Man | Page 4

the Munros of Fowlis, and the Robertsons of
Strowan and Athole. What was of more consequence to the Gladstones
of recent generations, however, than royal blood, was the fact that by
their energy and honorable enterprise they carved their own fortunes,
and rose to positions of public esteem and eminence." It has been their
pride that they sprang from the ranks of the middle classes, from which
have come so many of the great men of England eminent in political
and military life.
In an address delivered at the Liverpool Collegiate Institute, December
21, 1872, Sir John Gladstone said; "I know not why the commerce of
England should not have its old families rejoicing to be connected with
commerce from generation to generation. It has been so in other
countries; I trust it may be so in this country. I think it is a subject of
sorrow, and almost of scandal, when those families who have either
acquired or recovered wealth and station through commerce, turn their

backs upon it and seem to be ashamed of it. It certainly is not so with
my brother or with me. His sons are treading in his steps, and one of
my sons, I rejoice to say, is treading in the steps of my father and my
brother."
George W.E. Russell, in his admirable biography of Mr. William E.
Gladstone, says, "Sir John Gladstone was a pure Scotchman, a
lowlander by birth and descent. Provost Robertson belonged to the
Clan Donachie, and by this marriage the robust and business-like
qualities of the Lowlander were blended with the poetic imagination,
the sensibility and fire of the Gael."
An interesting story is told, showing how Sir John Gladstone, the father
of William E. Gladstone, came to live in Liverpool, and enter upon his
great business career, and where he became a merchant prince. Born at
Leith in 1763, he in due time entered his father's business, where he
served until he was twenty-one years old. At that time his father sent
him to Liverpool to dispose of a cargo of grain, belonging to him,
which had arrived at that port. His demeanor and business qualities so
impressed Mr. Corrie, a grain merchant of that place, that he urged his
father to let him settle there. Consent was obtained and young
Gladstone entered the house of Corrie & Company as a clerk. His tact
and shrewdness were soon manifest, and he was eventually taken into
the firm as a partner, and the name of the house became Corrie,
Gladstone & Bradshaw.
John Gladstone on one occasion proved the temporary preserver of the
firm of which he had become a member. He was sent to America to buy
grain for the firm, in a time of great scarcity in Europe, owing to the
failure of the crops, but he found the condition of things the same in
America. There was no grain to be had. While in great perplexity as to
what to do he received advices from Liverpool that twenty-four vessels
had been dispatched for the grain he was expected to purchase, to bring
it to Europe. The prospect was that these vessels would have to return
to Europe empty as they had come, and the house of Corrie &
Company be involved thereby in ruin. It was then that John Gladstone
rose to the emergency of the occasion, and by his enterprise and energy

saved himself and partners from financial failure, to the great surprise
and admiration of the merchants of Liverpool. It was in this way: He
made a thorough examination of the American markets for articles of
commerce that could be sold in Europe to advantage, and filling his
vessels with them sent them home. This sagacious movement not only
saved his house, but gave him a name and place among the foremost
merchants of his day. His name was also a synonym for push and
integrity, not only on the Liverpool exchange, but in London and
throughout all England. The business of the firm became very great and
the wealth of its members very large.
During the war with Napoleon, on the continent, and the war of 1812
with the United States, the commerce of England, as mistress of the
seas, was injured, and the Gladstone firm suffered greatly and was
among the first to seek peace, for its own sake and in the interests of
trade. In one year the commerce of Liverpool declined to the amount of
140,000 tons, which was about one-fourth of the entire trade, and there
was a decrease of more than $100,000 in the dock-dues of that port.
John Gladstone was among those who successfully petitioned the
British government for a change of its suicidal policy towards the
American States.
After sixteen years of successful operations, during a