The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli

by Richard Aldous

When the unusually mild-mannered Gladstone sat down after introducing the bill, a fierce debate erupted. High Tories such as Lord Cranborne (formerly Lord Robert Cecil) attacked the bill as democracy by the back door. From Gladstone’s own benches, Robert Lowe led the Whig assault. Lowe was among the most extraordinary characters in the House. He was an albino, with extremely poor eyesight. Reading was a struggle, particularly in the murky gaslight of late night debates, so he undertook exceptional preparation to commit vast amounts of information to memory. At Winchester College he had initially been tormented, but the boy soon learnt that a quick mind and an acid tongue won admiration and a reputation for fearlessness. It was a technique that transferred effortlessly to the chamber of the House of Commons, where he was respected as a formidable, often cruel, debater. Lowe’s attack on the Reform Bill would become notorious. ‘If you want venality, if you want drunkenness, and facility for being intimidated; or if, on the other hand, you want impulsive, unreflecting, and violent people, where do you look for them?’ he demanded. ‘Do you go to the top or the bottom? … The effect will manifestly be to add a large number of persons to our constituencies of the class from which if there is to be anything wrong going on we may naturally expect to find it.’