WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE (1809-98) & FAMILY

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WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE (1809-98) & FAMILY
Two autograph letters, signed, altogether 9-pages, from Fasque, 10 November 1834 and Albany, 31st January 1835, to his brother Lieutenant John Neilson Gladstone, sending detailed news of other members of his family and their health, discussing the abolition of slavery and describing his appointment as Under Secretary for the Colonies by Peel, his duties and his salary: "He [Peel] said to me among much other matter 'I am going to propose to you, Gladstone, that you should become the representative of the Colonial Department in the House of Commons, and I give you my word I do not know of six offices in the state which are at this time of greater importance.' He described it as being an opening for a young man such as rarely occurred ... I could only say to him, with my best acknowledgements, that I should not shirk from any responsibility that he thought fit to place upon me ... At the close of his conversation he took my hand and said emphatically 'Well God bless you whichever you are'... such a conversation with such a man, at this period when he stands forward in the gap between his country and Destruction, heading in the conflict the virtue and power in general of this great country, and staking his all upon the issue, is an event of interest in almost any life, but much more in mine" (creased on folds, very light spotting). With correspondence addressed to John Neilson Gladstone by his parents, his brothers Robertson and Thomas Gladstone and other family members.

Lot Essay

In December 1834 Gladstone was appointed junior lord of the Treasury by Sir Robert Peel. This promotion was swiftly followed in January by his appointment as under-secretary for the colonies which was to begin his steady rise in the field of politics culminating 34 years later in his election as Prime Minister. These letters uniquely record Gladstone's feelings on his new appointments and reveal the vast respect and loyalty that he had for Peel that was to stand him in good stead for the next 16 years until Peel's death in 1850.

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