Gladstone, we are told, had already, for many years past, pondered anxiously at intervals about Ireland, and now he describes himself as 'thinking incessantly about the matter' (vol.iii.p.

268), and 'preparing myself by study and reflection' (p.

273).
He has first to consider the state of feeling in England and Ireland, and to calculate to what extent and under what influences it may be expected to change.

As to English feeling, 'what I expect,' he says, 'is a healthy slow fermentation in many minds working towards the final product' (p.

261).