Editing William Ewart Gladstone (section)

==House of Commons==
===First term===
When Gladstone was 22 the [[Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne|Duke of Newcastle]], a Conservative party activist, provided him with one of two seats at [[Newark (UK Parliament constituency)|Newark]] where he controlled about a fourth of the very small electorate. The Duke spent thousands of pounds entertaining the voters. Gladstone displayed remarkably strong technique as a campaigner and stump speaker.<ref>Morley 1:92</ref> He won his seat at the [[1832 United Kingdom general election]] with 887 votes.<ref>Partridge, (2003) p. 32</ref> After new bills to protect child workers were proposed following the publication of the [[Sadler report]], he voted against the 1833 [[Factory Acts]] that would regulate the hours of work and welfare of minors employed in cotton mills.<ref>{{cite book|title= Hansard's Parliamentary Debates|publisher= Hansard: Great Britain. Parliament|year=1833|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=P9hbAAAAQAAJ&dq=gladstone+objects+Althorp+Act+1833&pg=PA481 482]}}</ref>

===Opposition to the opium trade===

Gladstone was an intense opponent of the [[History of opium in China|opium trade]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Bruce D. |last=Johnson |title=Righteousness before revenue: The forgotten moral crusade against the Indo-Chinese opium trade |journal=Journal of Drug Issues |volume=5 |issue=4 |date=1975 |pages=304–326|doi=10.1177/002204267500500404 }}</ref><ref name="Lodwick2015">{{cite book|first=Kathleen L. |last=Lodwick|title=Crusaders Against Opium: Protestant Missionaries in China, 1874–1917|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrAeBgAAQBAJ&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PA86|year=2015|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0813149684|page=86|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418115137/https://books.google.com/books?id=DrAeBgAAQBAJ&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PA86|url-status=live}}</ref> Referring to the opium trade between [[Company rule in India|British India]] and [[Qing dynasty|Qing China]], Gladstone described it as "infamous and atrocious".<ref name="Chouvy2009">{{cite book|first=Pierre-Arnaud |last=Chouvy|title=Opium: Uncovering the Politics of the Poppy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qGl4TN_qIsgC&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PA9|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0674051348|page=9|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418115718/https://books.google.com/books?id=qGl4TN_qIsgC&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PA9|url-status=live}}</ref> Gladstone emerged as a fierce critic of the [[Opium Wars]], which Britain waged to re-legalise the British opium trade into China, which had been made illegal by the Chinese government.<ref name="QuinaultWindscheffel2013">{{cite book|first1=Roland |last1=Quinault|first2=Ruth |last2=Clayton Windscheffel|first3=Roger |last3=Swift|title=William Gladstone: New Studies and Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hve4IOulDlwC&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PT238|date=2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1409483274|page=238|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418130622/https://books.google.com/books?id=Hve4IOulDlwC&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PT238|url-status=live}}</ref> He publicly lambasted the wars as "[[Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Palmerston's]] Opium War" and said that he felt "in dread of the judgements of God upon England for our national iniquity towards China" in May 1840.<ref name="Foxcroft2013">{{cite book|first=Louise |last=Foxcroft|title=The Making of Addiction: The 'Use and Abuse' of Opium in Nineteenth-Century Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VPosEno3uNYC&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PA66|year=2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1409479840|page=66|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418132231/https://books.google.com/books?id=VPosEno3uNYC&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PA66|url-status=live}}</ref> A famous speech was made by Gladstone in Parliament against the [[First Opium War]].<ref name="HanesSanello2004">{{cite book|first1=William Travis |last1=Hanes|first2=Frank |last2=Sanello|title=Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jYmFAAAAQBAJ&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PA78|year=2004|publisher=Sourcebooks, Inc.|isbn=978-1402201493|page=78|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418115711/https://books.google.com/books?id=jYmFAAAAQBAJ&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PA78|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="IIISanello2004">{{cite book|first1=W. Travis |last1=Hanes III|first2=Frank |last2=Sanello|title=The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXiiAAAAQBAJ&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PT88|year=2004|publisher=Sourcebooks|isbn=978-1402252051|page=88|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418115129/https://books.google.com/books?id=lXiiAAAAQBAJ&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PT88|url-status=live}}</ref> Gladstone criticised it as "a war more unjust in its origin, a war more calculated in its progress to cover this country with permanent disgrace".<ref name="Fay2000">{{cite book|first=Peter Ward |last=Fay|title=The Opium War, 1840–1842: Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century and the War by which They Forced Her Gates Ajar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EgSs61pjvS8C&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PT290|year=2000|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0807861363|page=290|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418102541/https://books.google.com/books?id=EgSs61pjvS8C&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PT290|url-status=live}}</ref> His hostility to opium stemmed from the effects of opium upon his sister [[Helen Jane Gladstone|Helen]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://iow-chs.org/island-people/helen-jane-gladstone-1814-80/ | title=Isle of Wight Catholic History Society}}</ref><ref name="Isba2006">{{cite book|first=Anne |last=Isba|title=Gladstone and Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gaxDs8_oz_QC&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PA224|year=2006|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-85285-471-3|page=224|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418115715/https://books.google.com/books?id=gaxDs8_oz_QC&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PA224|url-status=live}}</ref> Before 1841, Gladstone was reluctant to join the Peel government because of the First Opium War, which Palmerston had brought on.<ref name="Bebbington1993">{{cite book|first=David William |last=Bebbington|title=William Ewart Gladstone: Faith and Politics in Victorian Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jEzV7PYYe5kC&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PA108|year=1993|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0802801524|page=108|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418134251/https://books.google.com/books?id=jEzV7PYYe5kC&q=William+Gladstone+opium&pg=PA108|url-status=live}}</ref>