ABSTRACT
William Ewart Gladstone supported by Chamberlain, the Irish Secretary, would have been in a much stronger position for overcoming Harcourt and Hartington than Gladstone supported by Chamberlain, the President of the Board of Trade. When Forster resigned in May, 1882, it was generally expected that Chamberlain would take his place. To the general astonishment Gladstone chose Lord Frederick Cavendish, known in the Treasury as an able and conscientious Minister, in the House of Commons as a good Liberal and a bad speaker, and in society as a man who combined high principle with great charm and sincerity of character. Trevelyan brought to a strange and bewildering task a mind steeped in English ideas and trained in administration in a department where a good Minister was a man who kept down waste.
