The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli

by Richard Aldous

Gladstone remained the dominant Liberal in parliament and beyond, with no rivals to his reluctantly worn crown. Even though he could spectacularly misjudge the public mood, he retained that gossamer ability to define an issue in a way that caught public opinion. In this he remained unmatched by any other figure in public life. He had found himself on the wrong side of popular opinion during the debate on ritualism, but this was immediately forgiven and forgotten in the wake of his attack on Catholics for their lack of patriotism. In October 1874, he had included in an essay for Contemporary Review the assertion on Roman Catholicism that ‘no one can become her convert without renouncing his moral and mental freedom and placing his civil loyalty and duty at the mercy of another’. This drew an immediate response from prominent Catholics, including Newman and Ripon, which in turn prompted Gladstone to develop his theme that conversion to Rome put civil allegiance in doubt. The resulting pamphlet, The Vatican Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance, was a huge popular success, selling more than seventy thousand copies in a month.