Gladstone was born into a wealthy family in Liverpool. His father, John gladstone, ran the slave trade in the West Indies and became a wealthy businessman in Liverpool. John gladstone, a liberal, later joined the Conservative Party and was made a baron at 1846.
Gladstone studied with a priest when he was a child. He entered Eton College at the age of 65,438+03, Oxford University at the age of 65,438+07, and completed his studies at the age of 65,438+08,365,438+0,65,438+0. At Oxford University, he took part in various seminars of Oxford Association in his spare time, and served as the chairman and secretary of the Association continuously, and was known as the first speaker. Among the many debates he participated in, the most striking one was a speech against the Whig parliamentary reform. He made a "terrible" attack on the principle of this bill for three quarters of an hour, which greatly shocked the audience. Because of his obvious opposition to parliamentary reform, he was appreciated by Duke Newcastle V, one of the main Tories in power. 1832 65438+February, with the support of the Duke of Newcastle, he was elected as a Newark City Councillor, and participated in the first parliament after the election reform in1833 65438+1October. From then on, Gladstone began his political career of 6 1 year.
Influenced by his father, Gladstone was a Conservative who defended the interests of the land aristocracy in his early years. He opposed the parliamentary reform, and the Whigs gave the Jewish people the right to vote in parliamentary elections, and opened universities to "non-Christians" and other liberal reforms. He agreed with the Tories' resolution on gradually liberating slaves and supported corn laws, who was beneficial to the land aristocracy. In his first book, The Relationship between the State and the Church, published in 1838, he tried his best to maintain the dominant position of the Anglican Church in Ireland.
1In the 1940s, Britain completed the industrial revolution before other capitalist countries and became the most developed country in the capitalist world. The rapid development of capitalist economy has strengthened the position of the domestic industrial bourgeoisie, which requires * * * to implement a free trade policy in their favor. Therefore, a group of moderate Tories headed by Bill appeared in the ruling Tories, who advocated paying attention to the interests of the industrial bourgeoisie and carrying out some liberal reforms under the condition of maintaining the rule of big landlords and big financiers. 184 1 Gladstone was a member of the bill school when he was the deputy minister of commerce in bill's cabinet. At this time, he was mainly involved in the preparations for the revision of tariffs. Import duties on raw materials and grain were reduced for 65,438+0,200 dutiable commodities by modifying tariffs and canceling export taxes. 1846, he and bill joined the Whig Party despite the opposition of the majority of the party, and cancelled corn laws by 357 votes to 104. His actions won the praise of free traders, but angered the Duke of Newcastle and deprived him of his parliamentary qualification in Newark. After the Conservative Party opposed the declaration of Ireland as a military control zone, Bill resigned and Gladstone withdrew.
Gladstone was elected as a member of the Oxford University in 1847, but did not participate in Russell's Whig Cabinet (1846- 1852). Although he is still a Conservative Party party member on the surface, his thoughts have changed a lot. 1850 winter 185 1 spring, he traveled to Italy and visited two Naples prisons in Sicily. There, he saw the cruel persecution of 1848- 1849 by Ferdinand II, the king of artillery shells, and thought that this crime violated justice and fairness and was an insult to European civilization. After returning home, he published "Two Letters to Count Aberdeen about the persecution of state prisoners in Naples", exposing and reprimanding Naples's atrocities of abusing political prisoners, which won favorable comments at home, and people called him "William of the people".
1852, Debbie disraeli's Conservative Party * * put forward a budget plan in favor of the big landlords, which aroused strong opposition from the bourgeois radicals and triggered a heated debate. In this debate, Gladstone sided with the opposition and criticized disraeli's budget plan to pieces. Disraeli * * * has fallen as a result. This action clearly shows the bourgeois radicals that he is getting farther and farther away from the Conservative Party. 1859, he decided to join the Liberal Party evolved from Whig Party, became the finance minister of Pa Max Don Liberal Party, and formally broke with the Conservative Party.
Gladstone served as finance minister of * * * during 1852- 1874, except for a few short periods. During this period, Britain became the "world factory" after the completion of the industrial revolution. The bourgeoisie felt that its power was stable, so it chose a liberal method of governing the country, implemented a free trade policy economically, and flaunted liberal rule politically. Gladstone complied with this historical development trend and tried his best to safeguard the interests of industrial capital. He overcame all difficulties despite the resistance of the Tory opposition, made a free trade budget plan for the bourgeoisie, abolished the protective tariff system, and signed trade treaties with France, Belgium, Italy and Austria, which enabled the British bourgeoisie to successfully defeat its competitors in the whole world market with powerful industries and seize the world industrial hegemony. Bourgeois free traders deeply feel that Gladstone is the most powerful expression of their own interests. 1867, Earl Russell, leader of the Liberal Party, announced his retirement from politics. People cheered and recognized him as the leader of the party.
From 1868 to 1874, Gladstone led the Liberal Party for the first time and carried out various reforms. In view of the fact that all schools in Britain are controlled by the church, most school-age children can't get any literacy education. In 1870, he implemented the national education reform and set up a non-religious primary school funded by * * * to improve the cultural level of workers and support the competition of industrialists in the international market. In the same year, the civil service examination system was implemented, which established a cheap * * * that can not only improve administrative efficiency but also save expenses, so that more funds can be used for economic development. 187 1- 1872, he strengthened the military bureaucracy by reforming the army, canceling the donation of officers, promoting the short-term military service system, and creating the Ministry of the Interior to supervise the activities of local self-government organs, which made Britain take a very important step on the road to establishing a centralized bureaucracy in continental Europe.
Gladstone in his first cabinet, through a series of political reforms, finally completed the bourgeois transformation of the national political superstructure since the19th century, making it a handy tool for the bourgeoisie to rule the people. This period was the golden age of his rule. For this reason, Britain is regarded as a model by European rulers. In order to win over the petty bourgeoisie and the upper working class among the residents, he issued a decree in 187 1 to legalize the trade union and held a secret ballot election in 1872. However, after 187 1 promulgated a law prohibiting workers from setting up pickets during the strike, many strike leaders were arrested, and even seven women shouted "Ah!" He was sentenced to imprisonment by the bourgeois judicial organs. These incidents have greatly damaged Gladstone's reputation among workers.
In the 1874 general election, the prestige of the Liberal Party in China dropped to the lowest point, and "William of the people" was worthless in people's minds. The free trade bourgeoisie, which originally supported him, demanded to strengthen colonial plunder under the blow of the serious economic crisis in Europe. Disraeli put forward the slogan of "imperialism" according to the needs of the bourgeoisie, transforming the Tories into a Conservative Party that can satisfy the expansion ambitions of aristocratic landlords, industrial capitalists and financial capitalists. Therefore, Gladstone was defeated by disraeli's Conservative Party in this election.
1876 In April, a Bulgarian national uprising against the Turkish rulers took place in the Balkans. Turkey suppressed the uprising by extremely brutal means and was condemned by Democrats all over Europe. However, Disraeli's Conservative Party tried every means to cover up its crimes. Gladstone thought it was a good opportunity for him to oppose * * * *, so he dressed himself up as an enthusiastic protector of weak ethnic groups, and used every opportunity such as mass meetings, demonstrations or parliamentary speeches to accuse the atrocities of Turkish rulers and disraeli's reactionary policies, thus gaining the reputation of "a friend of Balkan Slavs".
After 1876, due to the fiscal deficit caused by the colonial war, disraeli had to raise its income tax and lost the support of the bourgeoisie. This gave Gladstone a chance. In the general election of 1880, as a candidate of central Rhodesia, he traveled all over the country and gave speeches everywhere, opposing Disraeli's aggressive policy and defrauding the people's trust. He is regarded as the leader of British democracy. On the eve of the election, he asked the voters a puzzling question, "Do you support or condemn disraeli's foreign policy", which made the Liberal Party win many votes in the election. Gladstone dressed himself up as a "hero" against disraeli's aggressive policy. As a result of the general election, the Liberal Party defeated the Conservative Party overwhelmingly, and he organized * * * again.
After Gladstone came to power, he inherited disraeli's aggressive policy. He declared Afghanistan a British protectorate; South African Ying Bu War. After the British army was defeated by the Boers in Majiba Mountain, he had to admit the independence of the Boers and the country. He occupied Egypt, then invaded Sudan south, sent Gordon, the executioner of China people, and organized an expeditionary force to suppress the liberation uprising in Sudan. As a result, the expeditionary force was defeated in Khartoum and Gordon was killed. Gladstone's failure in foreign aggression was regarded as a great disgrace to England by the bourgeoisie with imperialist feelings, and was ridiculed as "a timid' little Englishman' insulted by Majuban and Khartoum". Gladstone's second cabinet was not brilliant for the first time, and his "great" image in the eyes of the bourgeoisie disappeared day by day.
Gladstone once said: "My task is to appease Ireland" when he formed the cabinet in 1868. Since then, he has increasingly regarded solving the Irish problem as an important task in his political life, so he was described by bourgeois historians as a "friend of Ireland" and sacrificed everything for Ireland. On the contrary, Gladstone's policy towards Ireland just reveals that he is a bourgeois politician who is good at rhetoric and a hypocrite who is used to playing two-faced to safeguard the interests of the bourgeoisie.
1868 during the general election, in order to win votes, gladstone defended the uprising of Irish members in Fenia, criticized the conservative party's policy of suppressing Irish people, and promised voters to solve the Irish problem. After he came to power, in the summer and autumn of 1869, a campaign was widely launched in Ireland to pardon imprisoned members of the fenian society, demanding that Britain * * * release Irish revolutionaries. Gladstone rudely refused Ireland's request for Amnesty, which fully exposed his face as a "fake good man". He was tarred with disraeli's Conservative Party in suppressing the Irish national liberation movement.
At the end of 1970s, Ireland set off a new wave of national liberation struggle. Dewitt, who was arrested in the past for joining the Fenia society, returned to Ireland from exile, organized a "land alliance" and mobilized farmers to resist. At the same time, the Irish Autonomous Party headed by parnell also launched a moderate autonomy movement. Facing the Irish liberation movement, Gladstone implemented the strategy of combining hard and soft. On the one hand, he issued a high-handed decree and arrested Pan Er, David and other 1000 members of the "Land Alliance". On the other hand, the promulgation of "Land Regulations" eased farmers' antagonism. Later, he negotiated with Pan Er in prison and released Pan Er and the leaders of the Land Alliance on the condition of stopping the "terrorist acts" of farmers. When Irish petty-bourgeois terrorists assassinated Irish Affairs Minister cavendish and his assistant Polk, he took advantage of this terrorist act, promulgated a three-year Crime Prevention Act and arrested a large number of Irish people in order to achieve his goal of suppressing the Land Alliance movement. Gladstone's policy of alternately suppressing and appeasing Ireland in the second cabinet not only failed to quell Ireland's national liberation movement, but led to his own downfall. 1885 In June, when the British Parliament discussed the budget, parnell and Irish parliamentarians voted with the Conservative Party to overthrow Gladstone's second term.
Parnell's action made Gladstone see that the Irish Self-Governing Party is the decisive force that can overthrow any party in Parliament. Only by giving Ireland limited autonomy can the British Empire maintain its rule and use the autonomy bill as a means of political struggle with the Conservative Party. Therefore, in the last ten years of his life, he devoted himself to the struggle to realize the Irish autonomy bill. 1886, Gladstone formed a cabinet for the third time and put forward the first autonomy bill on April 8. According to this bill, Ireland can have its own parliament and cabinet. However, foreign affairs, military affairs and tariffs are still in the hands of the British cabinet. After the bill was put forward, he made a very beautiful speech in the House of Commons, calling on all parties to agree to the bill. Unexpectedly, it was opposed by the imperialist free merger faction headed by Joseph Chamberlain in the Liberal Party. 1886 In June, they voted unanimously with the Conservative Party against the autonomy bill, and the gladstone regime collapsed only a few months later.
1892, 83-year-old gladstone organized * * * for the fourth time and proposed the second autonomy bill in February 1893. Judging from the balance of power in the lower house at that time, it was difficult to pass the autonomy bill. After a long debate, the bill was passed on September 26th with a narrow majority of 30 1 vote to 267. When the dystocia child was sent to the upper house, after four days of debate, the members of the upper house voted against it by a wide margin of 4 19 to 4 1.
At this time, Gladstone clearly saw that he was at the end of his tether politically and could no longer control the parliament. His physical strength is declining, his hearing and eyesight are getting worse and worse, and his health does not allow him to make a comeback. In March 1894, 1, he gave his last speech in the House of Commons, submitted his resignation letter to the Queen, and retired from politics.
After the 1970s, the British bourgeoisie increasingly regarded the colony as the lifeline of the existence of the British Empire when it lost its industrial monopoly position and domestic monopoly organizations appeared constantly. They are afraid that Irish autonomy will cause a chain reaction in other colonies, leading to the collapse of the British Empire. The bourgeoisie is firmly opposed to the autonomy plan. Therefore, Gladstone's failure on the Irish issue is inevitable. But he was not satisfied with his failure. He said more than once, "I am very satisfied with my half century." I do not envy my successor. Finally, this once prominent bourgeois politician, after all, could not meet the needs of the monopoly bourgeoisie, and with lifelong regret, passed away in May 1898.