Series 3 > Court book of the Burgh of Kirkintilloch 1658-1694

4
Gordon Donaldson. The meeting duly adopted the Report
and Accounts.
The President then delivered an address entitled “ My
Grandfather’s Politics ”. He described the scene at Perth
Station on the afternoon of 2nd December 1879, when Mr.
Gladstone arrived from Queensferry. The newly-adopted
candidate for Midlothian had begun to mobilise the forces
of Liberalism in Scotland. He said that his grandfather,
who was present on that day, had been bred in the United
Presbyterian Church, a nursery of radicalism, and remained
a life-long Gladstonian Liberal. He was thus present at
Scottish Liberalism’s finest hour, when it became the
dominant force in British politics. The Midlothian
campaign has often been described in the context of
British history, but to his grandfather it was a famous
episode of Scottish history too.
Gladstone used Midlothian and Scotland as a lever with
which to move the kingdom. His “ whistle-stop ”
campaign was an unprecedented electoral activity and his
words were intended to be heard on both sides of the
Border. Scottish Liberalism seemed a reliable enough
weapon, but until 1868 it had been largely unproved in
practice. In some constituences, there had been no contest
for decades. The cities were strongly Liberal and after the
burgh franchise was broadened in 1868, the aim was to
wrest county seats from the Conservatives. But in the
election of 1874 the Conservatives had notable gains and
the old Liberal domination was apparently over. In the
new Liberal attack, the counties were the key. When
Gladstone agreed to stand in Midlothian, the hope was that
from there all Scotland could be won.
For Gladstone, success in Midlothian would enhance the