[The Might]

This is something I personally also have had trouble with for a long time.

Of course coming of age, blah blah, but the point remains - Hobbits died. Now, Gandalf here is being extremely harsh by acting solely by the old ideal of the end justifies the means. And this is in my opinion not only a horrible ideal to live by, but also something totally unfitting for an emissary of the Valar. Of course the Hobbits should learn their lesson, they should become independent, but at that cost?

Now, one could argue that in M-e death was not that bad actually. It was the gift of death that Eru was making to Men, but still, did these Hobbits not have the right to enjoy their lives to the fullest before leaving Arda for some unknown place that only Eru knew of? And who was Gandalf to deny them that, for he, as already mentioned in the other posts, felt that something was wrong within the Shire.

The only way that Gandalf can come clean out of this whole event is to speculate that what he expected was a lot less than a ruffian takeover under Saruman and a bloody battle or that he expected the Hobbits to manage to solve the situation peacefully (why, I don't know after all they saw in the War of the Ring) and that it was the four companions who actually failed in that respect.

No, but in the end, I share the view that Gandalf knew that something was wrong in the Shire, and that he, knowing full well what the risks involved were, let the Hobbits handle things themselves. A terrible deed nonetheless, unless you come from the planet Qo'nos.