Editing William Ewart Gladstone (section)

==Opposition (1855–1859)==
[[File:William Ewart Gladstone by George Frederic Watts.jpg|thumb|right|Gladstone in 1859, painted by [[George Frederic Watts]]]]
The Conservative Leader [[Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby|Lord Derby]] became Prime Minister in 1858, but Gladstone&nbsp;– who like the other Peelites was still nominally a Conservative&nbsp;– declined a position in his government, opting not to sacrifice his free-trade principles.

Between November 1858 and February 1859, Gladstone, on behalf of Lord Derby's government, was made Extraordinary [[Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands]] embarking via Vienna and Trieste on a twelve-week mission to the southern Adriatic entrusted with complex challenges that had arisen in connection with the future of the British protectorate of the [[United States of the Ionian Islands]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9HGRx8ZotiUC&q=Gladstone's+extraordinary+mission&pg=PA13 |title=The British and the Hellenes |via= Google Books |year= 2006|access-date=1 May 2010|isbn=978-0199249961|last1=Holland |first1=Robert |last2=Markides |first2=Diana |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford}}</ref>

In 1858, Gladstone took up the hobby of tree felling, mostly of oak trees, an exercise he continued with enthusiasm until he was 81 in 1891. Eventually, he became notorious for this activity, prompting [[Lord Randolph Churchill]] to observe: <blockquote>For the purposes of recreation he has selected the felling of trees; and we may usefully remark that his amusements, like his politics, are essentially destructive. Every afternoon the whole world is invited to assist at the crashing fall of some beech or elm or oak. The forest laments in order that Mr Gladstone may perspire."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Speeches of Lord Randolph Churchill |editor-first=J. J. |editor-last=Jennings |publisher=Longman |date=1889 |pages=111–112}}</ref></blockquote> Less noticed at the time was his practice of replacing the trees felled by planting new saplings.

Gladstone was a lifelong [[bibliophile]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Geoffrey |last=Scarre |title='The Compages, the Bonds and Rivets of the Race': W.E. Gladstone on the Keeping of Books |journal=Library & Information History |volume=33 |issue=3 |date=2017 |pages=182–194 |doi=10.1080/17583489.2017.1334860 |url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/22040/1/22040.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612215505/http://dro.dur.ac.uk/22040/1/22040.pdf |archive-date=12 June 2020}}</ref> In his lifetime, he read around 20,000 books, and eventually [[Gladstone's Library|owned a library]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=Gladstone's: The UK's only residential library |date=23 October 2023 |work=BBC news |last=Monaco |first=Emily |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20231022-gladstones-the-uks-only-residential-library |access-date=27 October 2023}}</ref> of over 32,000.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherhowse/6270133/William-Gladstone-A-prime-minister-who-read-books.html |title=William Gladstone: A prime minister who read books |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=7 October 2009 |access-date=1 May 2010 |location=London |archive-date=26 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326164249/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherhowse/6270133/William-Gladstone-A-prime-minister-who-read-books.html |first=Christopher |last=Howse|url-status=live}}</ref>