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Thesis--Bonn. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 4-7).

This thesis examines American perceptions of William Ewart Gladstone in the religious and secular press from 1868 to 1900. The scope of the study encompasses his role as a Christian apologist and his engagement in public affairs where religion and politics converged. The opinions of Americans are examined in the general categories of evangelicals, Roman Catholics, secular news organs and to a lesser extent Unitarians and agnostics. Gladstone’s reputation in the United States is followed through much of the latter half of the nineteenth century, beginning shortly after the close of the Civil War when Americans in the North held him in disrepute for his impolitic acknowledgement of Southern nationhood. This thesis demonstrates that American opinions of Gladstone were transformed as they increasingly perceived him to be a champion of Liberal reform and religious liberty and, especially for conservative evangelicals, a stalwart defender of Christian truth and civilisation against the rising tide of modern secularism. It also suggests that a pervasive anti-Catholicism inspired many in the United States to support Gladstone’s political causes. Finally, this study demonstrates that Americans projected their own values and myths on to the statesman. For many, he came to embody their progressive worldview with respect to the spread of religious and political liberty.

Texte remanié de: Doct. diss.--University of Illinois. / Bibliogr. p. 325-344. Index.

The topic of this thesis is the confrontations between William Gladstone and the Bank of England. These confrontations have remained a mystery to authors who noted them, but have generally been ignored by others. This thesis demonstrates that Gladstone's measures taken against the Bank were reasonable, intelligent, and important for the development of nineteenth-century British government finance. To accomplish this task, this thesis refutes the opinions of three twentieth-century authors who have claimed that many of Gladstone's measures, as well as his reading, were irrational, ridiculous, and impolitic. My primary sources include the Gladstone Diaries, with special attention to a little-used source, Volume 14, the indexes to the Diaries. The day-to-day Diaries and the indexes show how much Gladstone read about financial matters, and suggest that his actions were based to a large extent upon his reading. In addition, I have used Hansard's Parliamentary Debates and nineteenth-century periodicals and books on banking and finance to understand the political and economic debates of the time.

No description available.

In early 1868 William E. Gladstone presented several bills in Parliament to disestablish the Church of Ireland. Prior to 1868 Gladstone had stated his opposition to the official connection between the Church of Ireland and the State. Gladstone, however, had also claimed that he was not in favor of immediate action and instead advocated restraint in attacking the Church of Ireland. The 1860's also saw the rise of the Fenian organization. The Fenians were dedicated to the overthrow of English rule in Ireland and the establishment of an Irish republic. The role that the Fenians played in convincing Gladstone to disestablish the Irish church has received varying interpretations from historians; yet no attempt has been made to look closely at the issue.

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The intractable problems posed by the decline of the Ottoman Empire were a defining feature of the nineteenth-century British experience. Events such as the Greek War of Independence (1821-32), the Crimean War (1853-5), and the Bulgarian Agitation (1876-8) were merely prominent denouements in the protracted history of what contemporaries called 'the Eastern Question'. The Eastern Question could be construed in many ways and admitted many answers. But by the 1870s, many Victorians had come to construe the Eastern Question as primarily an historical question. This thesis explores the ways in which Victorian public intellectuals brought 'historical-mindedness' to bear on the Eastern Question. Nineteenth-century historiography, it is suggested, may often be understood as a variety of contemporary political thought. Part One takes the historian E.A. Freeman, one of the Bulgarian Agitation's leaders, as its subject. Studied in depth, Freeman becomes a window onto how nineteenth-century intellectuals could experience and understand the Eastern Question. Part Two turns to the remarkable efflorescence of historical writing elicited by the so-called Eastern Crisis of 1875-80, investigating how historical arguments were invoked not merely in history books but also in newspaper reports, politically-freighted travel writing, and above all in periodical articles, over two-hundred of which are studied here. When Gladstone invoked the authority of 'the historical school of England' to criticise Lord Beaconsfield during this period, he did so advisedly, for historians both lay and professional were remarkably unanimous in their interpretation of events in south-eastern Europe. Drawing on the insights of comparative philology and often sympathetic to Eastern Orthodoxy for reasons of religion, these historians tended to emphasise the Balkan Christians' European identity, situating them within teleological narratives of progress which evoke contemporaneous Whig histories of England.

This thesis examines the Egyptian and Sudanese policy of Gladstone's Second Ministry. Sources include microfilms of letters from the prime ministers to the Queen, and Cabinet papers. Essential were Hansard, The Times, and Herslet, as well as biographical and autobiographical studies of the persons involved. The thesis narrates the Egyptian events preceding the formation of Gladstone's Ministry. It then discusses the revolt in Egypt, which resulted in British occupation, and the Mahdi's rebellion in the Sudan, which led to the fall of Khartoum. The thesis concludes that Gladstone failed because he did not want Britain to be in Egypt or the Sudan. Therefore, there was no consistent policy, and his failures were among the elements that led to the fall of his Government.