Maine's nature is to exercise power, and to find good reasons for adopted policy. Augustus or Napoleon would have made him Prime Minister. He has no strong sympathies, and is not at heart a Liberal, for he believes that Manchesterism will lose India. He considers also that the party, especially Lowe, has treated him less well than Salisbury. He is intensely nervous and sensitive. After that, I may say that I esteem him, with Mr. Gladstone, Newman, and Paget, the finest intellect in England.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Maine's nature is to exercise power, and to find good reasons for adopted policy. Augustus or Napoleon would have made him Prime Minister. He has no strong sympathies, and is not at heart a Liberal, for he believes that Manchesterism will lose India. He considers also that the party, especially Lowe, has treated him less well than Salisbury. He is intensely nervous and sensitive. After that, I may say that I esteem him, with Mr. Gladstone, Newman, and Paget, the finest intellect in England." in the context of "Lord Acton to Mary Gladstone (10 July 1880), quoted in Letters of Lord Acton to Mary, Daughter of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, ed. Herbert Paul (1904; 2nd ed. 1913), p. 21" to mean that wisdom is timeless.