CHAPTER III
THE RESTORATION ERA
In his speech of 1855, which has already been men-
tioned,* Mr. Gladstone referred to the seventeenth
and part of the eighteenth century as the golden age of
English colonisation, when, he said, the colonial con-
nexion was conceived in the true spirit of British
freedom. In particular he commended the early part
of the reign of Charles II, maintaining that the true
principle of colonial government was never better
understood in this country than at that time, and giving
as an illustration the liberal charter granted to the
colony of Rhode Island. To Mr. Gladstone’s mind
Greek colonisation in classical times strongly appealed,
as embodying perfect freedom and petfect self-govern-
ment. Perfect freedomand petfect self-government he
desired to be associated with British colonisation; not
the acquisition of dependencies, but the founding of
peoples on the English pattern, themultiplying of happy
Englandsbeyond the seas, such washis interpretation—
a very noble one—of what ought to be the outlook
upon the British overseas Empire. He was careful to
=xplain that, in his eulogy of the latter part of the
L See above, p. 7.