itliveaidonya REP RIS VAAO MO aD TEOMA As! 2 . 3 3 i § : 3 = re ; vd Wa RE ROAR H Wridtes of dere reseek perre es ans wnTStats EN ator eNetereteNes: wives for ev an - ‘THE UNIVERSITY | OF ILLINOIS | LIBRARY From the collection of | — Julius Doerner, Chicago . Purchased, 1918, 942.08 M73h COVER SYSTEM @® , % i es ? ‘ - > i . ad & . art 6a: / ’ ~ <@ ; : A, ; ‘ ‘ P ; “ -- ae Le ? ’ ¢ . 8 } a oe) : 0 ; : deal } F ‘ aie Fy % 4 or | hike , 19 Me . ‘ > 4 a) i a v5 ra P Tt RS eS ; ne i ae A a 7 | S { } oe ‘ ; > ts 7 ie es ; ews: i i 4 te v. 4 ee t ‘ i HISTORY OF ENGLAND _ FROM THE YEAR 1830—1874. hy . . . ‘ = ~ } ‘i> Ie 1 e < 4 bs From tHe Ricut Hon. JOHN BRIGHT’S SPEECH ar BIRMINGHAM : ‘It is a great misfortune that the history of our country that is nearest our own times young men are least acquainted with. It is not written in histories that were read at school, and they are not old enough, as I am old enough, to remember almost every political fact since the great Reform Rillof 1832. I wish young men would read some history of this period. A neighbour and a friend of mine, a most intelligent and accomplished clergyman—Mr. Molesworth—has published a work, being a political history of England from the year 1830—that is, from the first Reform Bill—until within the last two or three years: a book honestly written, in which facts are plainly—and I believe truly—stated, and a work which would give great information to all the young men of the country, ‘if they could be prevailed upon to read it.” HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM THE YEAR 1830-1874. BY WILLIAM NASSAU MOLESWORTH, M.A. AUTHOR OF ‘‘ THE HISTORY OF THE REFORM BILL OF MDCCCXXXII,” ETC, SIXTH THOUSAND. WOT LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 198, PICCADILLY. LST 5. [All rights reserved.) 4 +h ’ Ba = . a tat cae hehe (eon * a 7 | 4 te Ki a. : fi « ¢ : . d ‘ " BRADBURY, AGNEW, s — : t ‘ Q ; dy @N “Lae tt 1 “A * * ” 7% , H ‘ : A " vA < oe & 1 ¥ Lx 4 } ai >™ ' tae at ee iy & CO., PRINTERS, re “ ’ ‘ - MU SE 9 PRES ee e et . ‘ ‘ 4 i f yh ee 7 wee 4 : : | +. t ' / \ i : ; ; ‘ £ ? ‘ ‘oa . ’ ¥ r - s. Pad ) 4 fre? | aa: ‘ ; , 5" \ aa lad | ae t ¢ " 4 ; ‘ i * : 4 , aa he : sais Z é CONTENTS OF VOLUME IIL. —_4—_. CHAPTER I. SEPASTOPOL. PAGE Characteristics of the period Defeat and Resignation of the under consideration 1 Government . Retreat of the Russians from Disorder in the War adminis- the Danubian provinces 2 tration . ; Efforts made to prevent a re- The Duke of N eweastle course to arms . 3 | The new Government Transport of Troops . 3 | Lord Palmerston Lord Raglan and Marshal St. Withdrawal of the Peelites from Arnaud 4 the Ministry Ultimatum 6 | Death of the Czar Landing at Eupatoria 7 | Scarcity of Food . Desperate Resolution of Prince Report of Mr. Roebuck’s Com- Mentschikoff 9 mittee . Ineffectual Bombardment of Visit of the Emperor and Em- Sebastopol ‘| 10 press of the French : Battles of Balaclava and Inker- Annual Financial Statement . mann . 11 | Lord John Russell’s Resigna- Miss Florence Nightingale 13 tion . ; The Hurricane. 14 | Speech of Prince Albert . The Army wintering in the The Hyde-park Riots Crimea 16 | Death of Lord Raglan Opening of the Session of 1854 16 | Prorogation of Parliament . Another Reform Bill 17 | Operations in the Baltic. Mr. Gladstone’s Budget 20 | Operations before Sebastopol . The Reform-Club Dinner 22 | Capture of the Mamelon Declaration of War ‘ 24 | Unsuccessful Attack on the Departure of the Baltic Fleet . 2 Malakoff, &c. ; The prosecution of the War in Battle of Traktir Bridge : the Crimea . . . 27 | The Navy in the Black Sea and The Patriotic Fund 29 the Sea of Azoff : Winter Session of Parliament. 3 Capture of the Malakoff The Karl of Derbyand the Duke Evacuation of the southern of Newcastle . ease side of aes By the Return of the Baltic Flect . 32 Russians Complaints of Neglect and Mal- Kars administration . 34 1 Peace 800675 REMOTE STORAGE PAGK vi CONTENTS OF VOLUME IIT. CHAPTER II. THE INDIAN MUTINY. Life-peerages . Peace-rejoicings . Execution of Gocenelt Palmer Dispute with the United ‘States Close of the year 1856. Our Convicts ; The Budget é : Debate on the Chinese Wa arf Defeat of the Government The General Election . Dr. Letheby’s Report The Manchester Art-Treasures Exhibition Prince Albert’s Speech on Education . ; 5 aes The new Parliament . The Divorce Bill The greased Cartridges . Meerut . Dethi Lucknow ‘ . Nana Sahib ; 4 Delhi taken . 5 ; Havelock . : “ Sir Colin Campbell Reconquest of the kingdom of Oude Reception of the news of the Mutiny in England Mr. Disraeli’s Motion : Causes of the Revolt The Bank Charter ‘ Other Events of the year 1857 The Attempt to assassinate the French Emperor . The Addresses of the French Colonels . . Defeat and Resignation of the Government The Derby Administr ation India Bills . : Competitive Examinations Settlement of the Jewish-dis- abilities Question Purification of the Thames ‘ Conservative Progress’ The Atlantic Telegraph Renewal of the Reform Agita- tion 4 ; ° . CHAPTER III. THE FRENCH TRE The Conservative Reform Bill Defeat of the Government on Lord J. Russell’s Amend- ment 5 General Election Defeat and Resignation bf the Ministry . Appointment of their Suc- cessors : aes Mr. Cobden Frequent Changes of Ministries The Budget Liv erpool Financial Reform Association . 4 e ATY. Riots at St. George’s-in-the- Kast . Death and Charaehen of Tord Macaulay ; Position of the Reform Ques- tion . Cominen tana of ihe Seasian of 1860 . : ‘ The French-Treaty Budget . Lord J. Russell’s Reform Bill ° Py . . Mr. Mackinnon’s Motion 4 Withdrawal of the Reform Bill 5 . . CONTENTS OF VOLUME III. The Paper-duties Bill rejected by the Lords Lord Palmerston’s Recolnticns The Invasion Panic International Pugilism The Harvest : P The Reform Question . The better Dispatch of Public Business . Church-rates . Mr. Turnbull The Budget of 1861 ‘ie Repeal of the Paper Duties . The Civil War in America The Affair of the Trent Death of the Prince Consort . The Hartley Coal-mine Acci- dent F : 4 PAGE 165 167 169 172 173 173 175 The Session of 1862 Effects of the Civil War in America . ; New Law-courts required The Church-rate Question again ; Defensive Worbifications: ; Counts-out . The Cotton Famine. The Exhibition of 1862 Mr. Glaisher’s Ascent William Roupell . ? Improvement in the Condi- tion of the Factory Opera- tives : é ‘ The Alabama. ° Ce Cooperation ° 5 ° CHAPTER IV. THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. The Garrotters . President Lincoln’s Proclama- ion” . 5 The Prince of Wales and the Princess Alexandra . The Budget ; : Poland e e The Trent Mair) A Law Reform A Volunteer Corps. The End of the Session . The Death of Thackeray . . Schleswig-Holstein The Se eeimnent - Annuities Bill - The Budget of 1864 Capital Punishments Education Mr. Gladstone on Parliamen- tary Reform Two Measures for the benefit of the Working Classes >| The Permissive Bill. The Sheffield Flood . Garibaldi’s Visit to England . Murder of Mr. Briggs : Commencement of the Session of 1865 . The Union- -chargeability Bill. The Irish-church Question The Budget Mr. Baines’ Motion for “the Reduction of the Franchise Preparation for aGeneral Elec- tion . Lord-Chancellor W estbury The General Election Mr. Gladstone . Death of Mr. Cobden : The Assassination of President Lincoln . Death of Lord Palmerston Strike and Lock-out in the Iron Districts : The Cattle Plague y The Condition ‘of the Countr y Vil CONTENTS OF VOLUME IIL. CHAPTER Y. THE REFORM BILL oF 1867. The Alabama Question Mr. Peabody Treaty with Austria Parliament opened by the Queen Legislation for Placue Mr. Gladstone as Leader of the House of Commons The Reform Question The Reform Bill of 1866 The Cave of Adullam . Opposition to the Bul Karl Grosvenor’s Amendment Defeat of the Government on Lord Dunkellin’s Motion . Resignation of the Ministry . The ‘Derby Cabinet : Attempted Meeting of the Re- form League in Hyde-park The Park- railings Monetary Panic. : Governor Eyre , The Atlantic Telegraph Fire at the Crystal Palace The Reform Agitation Close of the year 1866. The Cabinet resolves to bring forward a Reform Bill . The Reform Resolutions The Islington Resolutions Resignation of Three Cabinet Ministers Mr. Gladstone’s Objections to the Bill . 4 M48 ‘the Cattle PAGE 271 272 274 274 275 277 277 278 279 280 281 285 285 287 289 291 293 294 298 301 301 302 The Tea-room Party ° Mr. Bright’s Speech at Bir- mingham ‘ ‘ The Bills in Comarhitige’ : Concessions made ae the Government The Third Reading The Bil in the House of Lords. : Consideration of the Tenie’ Amendments . An Autumn Session Murphy . Murder of Br ite Fenian Attemptat the Clerken- well Prison. : 3 Trade Outrages . Commencement of the Session of 1868 Se Lord Derby is succeeded by Mr. Disraeli Mr. Gladstone’s Resdiutees Mr. Disraeli’s explanatory Letter : Defeat of Governan on ‘Mr. Gladstone’s first Resolution Mr. Disraeli’s Explanations . A Rider to Mr. Gladstone’s Resolutions The Scotch Rete Billa Compromise . Mr. Disraeli’s Address! to his Constituents > Mr. Gladstone’s iAGdreas” The General Election . CONTENTS OF VOLUME III. CHAPTER VI. THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. Mr. Gladstone’s Cabinet Death of Lord Brougham . The Abergele Catastrophe Commencement of the Session of 1869 . The Irish- church Bill 5; Mr. Gladstone’s Speech . . The Debate on the Second Reading . : Mr. Lowe’s Budget . : The Bill passed “by the Com- mons .. . The Bill in the Lords. The Amendments of ‘the Lords considered by the Commons A Compromise : The Character of the 1 new Parliament . Speech of Mr. Bright o on the Irish Land-question Alarming Increase of Pauper- ism ; : , ; Opening of the Session of 1870 . ‘ Mr. Gladstone introduces ‘the Trish Land- bill F Reception and Progress of the Bill Mr. Forster ‘introduces “the Education Bill : Its reception in the House and in the Country ; Mr. Gladstone’s Reply to Mr. Miall . : The Education Bill passed The End of the Session Loss of the Captain The Franco-German War . English sympathy with France The Crimean question re- opened . Opening of the Session of 1871 ‘The Battie of Dorking’ Fouss of PAGE 552 352 393 358 859 360 363 367 369 369 374 376 377 Increase in the Army Ksti- mates . Bill for the Abolition of Pur- chase in the Army Bill passed by House of Lords The University Tests Bill The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill Trades Union Act Local Government Act. Mr. Lowe’s Budget ‘ Tax on Lucifer Matches aban- doned Agitation for the extablish= meut of a Republic . Illness of the Prince of Wales Great anxiety of the nation . Thanksgiving service in St. Paul's Opening of the ‘Séssion of 1872 Appointment of Sir R. Collier as Judge of new Court of Appeal ; Bill passed establishing vote by Ballot ; “ The Permissive Bill. : The Treaty of Washington Appointment of Arbitrators . Settlement of the Alabama and Florida claims The San Juan Question The French Treaty Strike of 30,000 colliers in Wales A coal famine . Death of Napoleon I. Opening of the Session of 1873 . The Irish University Bill . Debate on the Bill The Bill lost . i Resignation of the Govern- ment ‘ Mr. Disraeli declines to form a new Administration 1X x CONTENTS PAGE Mr. Gladstone retains office . 422 The Judicature Bill passed 423 Changes in the Cabinet 424 Financial operations of the Government 424 The Tichborne Trial 425 Dissolution of Parliament 425 Conservative gains in the Elec- tion ; 426 The Conservative victory. ex- plained . 497 Resignation of Mr. Gladstone 428 OF VOLUME IfE. Mr. Disraeli forms new Ad- ministration Tractarianism ‘ - Mr. Newman’s ‘Tract on ‘Scripture Difficulties ’ ‘Essays and Reviews’ Dr. Colenso . The Rev. Charles Voysey_ Growth of Ritualism The Free and Open Church Movement ; Progress of the N ation nee PAGE 428: 429 430 431 432 434 435: 437 440 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND, ETC. CHAPTER I. SEBASTOPOL. WE are now entering on a period which presents some very marked contrasts with those that preceded it. The prospect _of a great European war turned men’s thoughts from those important organic changes which had so strongly stirred their minds; and, after the close of the war, those changes were regarded by them in a different light. They were still as resolved to obtain the franchise as they had been in the palmiest days of the charter, and they possessed much greater power of enforcing their claim to it. But they sought it less eagerly, because they rightly felt that social and moral changes which were within their reach were more needed, and more likely to benefit them than political changes. And though the majority of the upper and middle classes still opposed such an extension of the fran- chise as the working classes demanded, they no longer dreaded them as the precursors of a revolutionary deluge. If, therefore, the extension of the franchise was less eagerly pressed, it was also less vehemently resisted. More or less closely connected with these changes in public feeling were the changes which were taking place . in the legislature. The House of Lords had now tacitly accepted that place in the constitution which the victory of the people had assigned to it. It no longer arrogated to itself a legislative authority codrdinate with that possessed by the representatives of the nation; and the Commons, on the understanding that they should enjoy an unques- tioned superiority of real power, were quite willing that the Peers should retain their superiority in dignity and pre- VoL. III. a 2 SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap., I, cedence. In both Houses the subjects under discussion were, with few exceptions, such as were not calculated to agitate men’s minds in the way that the great changes we have related had done. There was in the legislature, as in the country, a subsidence of political excitement; and in consequence the debates in both Houses were, as a rule, less vehement, less sensational, less rhetorical, more decorous and business-like, but redundant to an extent that seriously delayed the progress of public affairs. The abatement of party-spirit which we have noticed was not without its effect on the composition of the govern- ment; the cabinets having generally a more representative character than had hitherto belonged to them, and contain- ing men whose views avowedly differed very widely, but who were content to merge their differences in order to promote the objects and measures they agreed in desiring to carry. Of course to some extent this had all along been the case; but it was so in a much more marked degree throughout the period whose history we have now to narrate. Tt was generally supposed that, notwithstanding the strategical error which the emperor had committed in ordering the occupation of the Danubian provinces, his army, led as it was by able generals, well supplied with food, clothing, and warlike material, admirably drilled, and, to all appearance, highly effective, would speedily dissipate any force that the Turkish government might send against it: but, to the great mortification of the Russian emperor, and to the gratification and astonishment of the rest of Kurope, the Russians, defeated by the Turkish forces at Kalafat, Oltenitza, Citale, Guiergevo, were re- pulsed again and again from, and eventually obliged to abandon the siege of, the earthwork of Silistria, garrisoned by a body of Turkish troops, commanded by two or three English lads, and were at length ignominiously expelled from the provinces they had so aggressively entered. At this moment the emperor—humbled by the reverses he had undergone; looking forward with painful apprehension to a war in which, owing to the immense naval preponder- ance of the allies, he must needs be shut up in his own dominions, seems to have been willing to make peace. Unfortunately the moment that found him disposed to 1854.] ENDEAVOURS TO MAINTAIN PEACE, 3 meet any overture made to him, but not willing to be lowered in the eyes of his subjects, found the allies less disposed than they had been to make fresh advances. But we must return from the struggle in the Princi- palities to the events that had occurred elsewhere. Though the occupation of them had been followed by war between Russia and Turkey, the great powers did not cease from their efforts to bring about an amicable settlement of the question at issue between the belligerents. On the 29th of January the French emperor wrote to the czar an auto- graph letter, proposing terms which would have carried with them no humiliation; but thé czar, who at this moment was rather provoked than humbled by the unex- pected vigour with which the Turks were encountering his invasion of the Danubian provinces, replied in a somewhat haughty tone, and made an allusion to the retreat of the ' French from Moscow, which looked like a menace. His reference to that disaster was perhaps intended to serve as a warning to the French nation not to enter into a war which might prove to be more serious than they anticipated. If this was his object, he greatly miscalculated the effect this unfortunate allusion was likely to have on that high- spirited nation. They needed not to be reminded of that terrible disaster, and the invasion that followed it: they too well remembered the events to which he referred, were burning to avenge them, and were more likely to be exasperated than deterred by this reference to them. About the same time another and still more earnest attempt was made to quench the warlike conflagration that had commenced. A deputation from the Society of Friends travelled to St. Petersburg to implore the Russian emperor . to prevent the farther effusion of blood. They were kindly and courteously received. The czar listened attentively to their address, and gave a reply to it, in which he professed his desire for peace, but added that he could not permit the Turks to violate the stipulations of treaties made for the protection of his co-religionists. But he had already decided on the course he would pursue, and neither impe- rial nor quaker remonstrances could turn him from it. And now at length it became necessary that serious preparations should be made for hostilities. Nearly forty years had elapsed since this country had been engaged in B 2 4 SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap. I. a@ war on a scale to be at all compared with that into which she was now drifting. When troops began to be sent out, ; it was found that the transport-service was in a most in- effective condition—indeed, it would be nearer the truth to say that no transport-service existed—and yet somehow or other the means must be provided for sending out an army, with all its arms, ammunition, baggage, and other necessary supplies, a distance of some 3000 miles by sea. All the troops that could be spared at the outbreak of this war amounted to about 25,000, and some time must elapse before even that number could be despatched to the seat of war. It was deterniined that vessels for the transport of this force should be at once hired or purchased, and that they should carry ten thousand men to Malta, to be landed there, and forwarded as soon as possible to Constantinople by such means of conveyance as could be procured. ‘The vessels which transported them were to return at once to England, and carry out another detachment of fifteen thousand men direct to Constantinople. By this means it was hoped that the whole force would arrive about the same time at the places where its presence might be re- quired. Other troops were sent after them as soon as possible. The general appointed to command the English contin- gent was Lord Raglan. As Lord Fitzroy Somerset he had accompanied the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular war, during which he had acted as his military secretary. He had therefore reached an age at which prudence generally predominates over enthusiasm. He was not, indeed, a brilliant, but a thoroughly safe man; one who might be fully trusted not to risk the destruction of the force com- mitted to his care by any wild or desperate enterprise. Always accustomed to ask himself when in difficulties what ‘the Duke’ would do under similar circumstances, he was a little old-fashioned in his military notions, and not well acquainted or disposed to fall-in with the improvements in the military art which had been adopted since the duke’s days. The French colleague, with whom he was some- what unequally yoked, was cast in a very different mould. In Algiers he had bravely and skilfully, but somewhat re- morselessly, sustained the glory of the French arms, when he was sent for to aid in carrying out that plot which had 1854] LORD RAGLAN AND MARSHAL ST. ARNAUD. 9 for its object the restoration of the empire in France. Of that restoration he had been the soul; and the part he had taken in effecting it was rewarded by his being put at the head of the army which was to codperate with our troops in the operations to be undertaken against Russia. Marshal St. Arnaud was well adapted to fill the post to which he was thus appointed. Brave, skilful, experienced, and coolly daring, he was as little likely to compromise his troops as Lord Raglan, but more likely to make those bold and successful strokes by which the fate of a campaign is often decided. The army under his command was far more numerous than that under the orders of the British general ; but to balance this difference in the land-forces it had been agreed that the English fleet should be much larger than the French fleet, and as Marseilles and Toulon were much nearer to the seat of war than the places from which the _ English troops were embarked, the expenses incurred by two allied governments were on the whole not very un- equal. The immense naval superiority of the allies enabled them to command at will the Black Sea, the Sea of Azof, the Baltic, and the White Sea—in a word, all the waters by which the Russian coast was washed, and thus to cut off communication by sea between Russia and the rest of the world, and enable the allies to make a descent on any part of that coast which they might deem to be vulnerable, to re- embark after having effected what they could there, and then go away to make another unexpected descent on some _ distant and ill-defended place. By this means the whole coast was kept in a state of constant alarm; the Russian government was obliged to dismantle many of its fortifi- cations lest they should shelter their enemies, and to keep large forces on foot to be ready to meet any attempt that might be made by the allied fleets or the troops they conveyed with them. The limits of this History will not allow us to follow out the events of the desultory warfare thus carried on; we must fix our attention on that which was the object of the main contest between the two con- tending parties,—the defence or the destruction of Sebas- topol, to which the Russian Black Sea fleet had retired. In point of fact all the other attacks that were made after this attempt was determined on were little more than di- versions intended to prevent forces or supplies from being 6 SEBASTOPOL. (Cuap. I. sent to that part on which the attention of both parties was chiefly concentered. It was on the 8th of February that the Russian am- bassador, Baron Brunow, quitted London. On the 21st of that month the czar issued a manifesto, in which he de- nounced Hngland and France as having ranged themselves side by side with the enemies of Christianity against Russia, which was fighting for the orthodox faith. On the 27th the ultimatum of the English government was conveyed to him in a letter written by Lord Clarendon, the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, to Prince Nesselrode, the Russian minister, which contained the following passage : ‘The British government, having exhausted all the efforts of negotiation, is compelled to declare to the cabinet of St. Petersburg that, if Russia should refuse to restrict within purely diplomatic limits the discussion in which she has for some time past been engaged with the Sublime Porte, and does not by return of the messenger who is the bearer of my present letter announce her intention of causing the Russian troops under the orders of Prince Gortschakoff to commence their march with a view to re-cross the Pruth, so that the provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia shall be completely evacuated on the 80th of April next, the British government must consider the refusal or the silence of the cabinet of St. Petersburg as equivalent to a declaration of war, and will take its mea- sures accordingly.’ The only reply vouchsafed by the Russian government to this communication was a verbal announcement to the English consul, that the emperor did not consider it be- coming in him to give any reply to Lord Clarendon’s letter ; and shortly after, war was formally declared. We pass over the various stoppages made by the troops sent out at Valetta, Gallipoli, Constantinople, Scutari, and Varna; nor shall we attempt to give any account of the hardships, annoyances, and difficulties, avoidable and un- avoidable, to which they were exposed during their stay at these different places. We proceed at once to relate the steps that were taken with a view to the possession of Sebastopol. The design of this attack originated with the Duke of Newcastle, the Secretary at War, who per- suaded his colleagues that it might be easily captured, and 1854.] LANDING AT EUPATORIA. y that to take it would be the likeliest means of bringing the war to a close. On the 29th of June he wrote to Lord Raglan, requesting him on the part of her Majesty’s govern- ment, to concert measures with his colleague for the siege of Sebastopol, unless, with the information in Lord Raglan’s possession, but unknown in this country, he should be de- cidedly of opinion that it could not be undertaken with a reasonable prospect of success. Neither the English general nor his French colleague possessed any trustworthy infor- mation on this subject, and nearly all the knowledge they were able to obtain before their actual arrival in the Crimea was communicated to them by the governments at home. They, however, decided on carrying out the instructions received by Lord Raglan, which were in full accordance with those which St. Arnaud had received from his govern- ment. Had they been aware of the obstacles and diffi- ~ eulties with which they would have to contend, they would probably have hesitated longer. But both the minister who gave the order, and the generals who carried it out, hoped that by a sudden assault, by land and sea, on Sebastopol, before the Russians had time to strengthen its exterior for- tifications, the allies would gain possession of the town, the harbour, and the Black Sea fleet, and thus put an effectual check on the supposed projects of the Russian government. How far they were justified in forming these expectations we shall have occasion to see presently. But it is evident to any one who considers the position of the different powers, that if the objects for which the war was com- menced were to be attained, the next move was to attack the place where the Black Sea fleet was shel- tered. The decision to do so having been made, measures were promptly taken to transport the allied forces from Varna, where they were now assembled, to a point in the Crimea whence they could most conveniently march on Sebastopol. After many deliberations and much recon- noitring, it was determined that the landing should be effected at a part of the coast called the Old Fort, near the town of Eupatoria. Here accordingly 27,000 Hng- lish, 22,000 French, and 5000 Turks were landed; the remainder of the French force, being left behind for the present, for want of a sufficient number of transports t¢ convey the whole of it over, was to follow as soon as 8 SEBASTOPOL. (Cuar. 1. possible. The allies then marched southwards along the coast, meeting with no resistance till they approached the banks of the river Alma, on the other side of which a Russian army, commanded by Prince Mentschikoff, was strongly posted and entrenched on the heights over- looking the river from that side. After a long and deadly attack, bravely sustained by the Russians, the allies forced their way into the Russian entrenchments, compelling the Russian army to retreat, after having suffered heavy losses. But the allied troops were too much fatigued, and too weak in cavalry, to be able to follow up immediately the advantage they had gained. After resting on the field of battle, they marched on, still keeping near the sea, without meeting with any serious resistance; and there seems to be little reason for doubting that if the fleet had, immediately after the landing of our troops, pro- ceeded to force its way into the harbour of Sebastopol, and our troops had assaulted the north-west side of the town, which at that time was very slightly fortified, as an attack from the land side was an event on which the Russian go- vernment had not calculated, Sebastopol would have fallen at once into the hands of the allies. A young and daring general would undoubtedly have done this. Lord Raglan, though he had reached an age at which the spirit of caution and calculation generally pre- dominates over the spirit of audacious enterprise, was nevertheless willing to make the attempt; and we may be sure that he would not have consented to it if he had not felt tolerably certain of succeeding. But his colleague St. Arnaud, who possessed the élan and daring necessary for such an enterprise, was at the moment suffering from a Severe and agonising illness, which carried him off only a few days after. He refused his concurrence, and his refusal was the cause of the long and wholly unforeseen protraction of the siege. The allied army continued its march south- wards past Sebastopol to Balaclava, pitching their camp near the coast, from which they must now draw their sup- plies of provisions, ammunition, and other things necessary for carrying on the siege of the town in regular form, Before his death, Marshal St. Arnaud, acting on sealed orders he had brought out with him, transferred the com- mand of the French army to General Canrobert. 1854.] PRINCE MENTSCHIKOFF. 9 The course adopted by the allies had been rendered necessary by the measures that had been taken by Prince Mentschikoff, the Russian general. Profiting by the respite that the allies had given him, he determined to make one of those desperate but prudent and calculated sacrifices of which the history of Russia affords several instances. He - gave orders that seven of his largest ships should be sunk across the entrance of the harbour of Sebastopol, in such a manner as to render it impossible for the allied navies to force their way into it. By this great sacrifice he put it out of the power of the allies to carry the place by a naval and military attack, and compelled them to prepare for a regular siege. The allies nevertheless clung to the hope that a severe bombardment, followed by a vigorous assault, would give them possession of the town ; and in this hope they laboured hard to get up their artillery and ammu- nition. But while they were employed in making prepa- rations for the attack, the Russian general was no less diligently providing for the defence ; and the system ot earthworks, now first brought into extensive use, enabled him speedily to render the defences of the place far more formidable than they were when the allies first marched on it. The prize was indeed well worthy of the efforts which the two contending armies were making for the possession of it. Besides the town and a great number of government works and buildings which were contained within its for- tifications, there was an immense system of docks, con- structed with great skill and at an enormous expense, of solid masonry, and supplied with fresh water by an aque- duct twelve miles long, formed of gigantic blocks of stone. The Russian fleet in Sebastopol at the time of the com- mencement of hostilities comprised eighteen line-of-battle ships, seven frigates, thirty-two steamers, thirty-six smaller war vessels, twenty-eight gunboats, and thirty transports. ‘An inlet of the sea at Balaclava served as a harbour for the English, and the Bay of Kamiesch for the French. But a long time was necessarily consumed in bringing up stores of various kinds required by the besieging army, and especially in getting the great siege guns into the position they were destined to occupy—a work which was farther impeded by the heavy and continued fire which the Russians kept up on the besiegers. At length, on the 17th 10 SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap, I, of October, the allies made a tremendous and simultaneous attack by sea and land. The allied fleets, however, were unable to force an entrance into the harbour; and so strong were the fortifications by which it was defended, that, not- withstanding the discharge of an immense number of guns which were brought to bear upon them, the allied fleet made but little impression on them, and the damage that they succeeded in inflicting was speedily repaired. The land-attack was not more successful than that made by sea. The batteries of the allies poured forth on the town such a hail of bombs, cannon-balls, and rockets as had never before been rained on a besieged town ; but the batteries of the Russians replied with nearly equal vigour, and at an early period in the contest a powder-magazine exploding in the very midst of the French works, paralysed their attack throughout the rest of the day, and enabled the Russians to keep up an uninterrupted fire on the British siege-works. After the discharge of an enormous number of projectiles, and a considerable destruction of life on both sides, it was found that little progress had been made by the allies, and that the damage done was such as could soon be repaired. Thus it was evident that, if the town was to be taken at all, it must be taken by the slow process of a regular siege, carried on under very difficult circumstances and against a very powerful garrison, continually supplied with all things that were needed. For the allies, being unable with the force at their disposal to occupy the roads leading from Russia to Sebastopol, could not invest the town. Their cannon had suffered so much from the effect of the dis- charges made during the bombardment, which was kept up for a few days longer, that many of the guns were nearly rendered unserviceable. On the other hand, the Russians had a garrison in Sebastopol sufficient for the defence of that town, and a far larger army outside, ready to attack any of the very extended positions which the allies were obliged to occupy. Thus the allies were not only unable to invest Sebas- topol, but were, to a certain extent, themselves besieged in that corner of the Crimean peninsula which they occupied, and were in some danger of being driven to make a pre- cipitate, and perhaps even a disastrous retreat. However, they had, on the whole, the advantage, because supplies 1854.) CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE. 11 and reinforcements could be brought up to them more easily by sea than by such roads as then existed in Russia, and over which the reinforcements of the Russian army had to be marched, and their supplies conveyed, at the cost of an immense number of lives and with ever-increasing difficulty. The Russian general soon showed that he was deter- mined not to allow the allies to carry on their operations against the town undisturbed. Large parties of Russian soldiers had for some time been reconnoitring in the direc- tion of Balaclava, showing that an attack in that quarter was meditated. At length, on the 25th of October, an army of 30,000 Russians advanced against the English position, hoping to get possession of the harbours and to cut the allies off from their supplies, or at any rate to de- stroy the stores which had already been landed. The part of the works on which the Russian troops first came was occupied by redoubts, defended by a body of Turkish re- cruits, recently arrived from Tunis, who, after offering a very feeble resistance, fled in confusion. But when the Rus- sians, flushed with this first success, attempted to pursue the advantage they had gained, they soon encountered a very different foe in the Highlanders, commanded by Sir Colin Campbell, who bore the brunt of the Russian attack with great firmness. The British cavalry particularly dis- tinguished themselves in this action, routing a far superior force of Russian cavalry. It was in the course of this en- gagement that the unfortunate blunder occurred, in conse- quence of which 607 men galloped forth against an army, and only 198 came back, the rest having been killed, wounded, or made prisoners. A long, unsatisfactory con- troversy was carried on some time after, having for its object to decide who was to blame for throwing away, in this foolish manner, the lives of so many gallant men. It seems that the orders were not very clearly expressed, and that the general—Lord Lucan—by whom they were re- ceived, misapprehended them more completely than a man in his position ought to have done. In the end, the Russians were forced to retire, without having effected their object; but as they retained some portion of the ground that had been occupied by the allies at the com- mencement of the battle, they too claimed the victory, and 12 SEBASTOPOL, [Cuap, I, Te-Dewms were sung all over Russia in honour of this fragmentary success. However, the Russian commander did not abandon the hope of being able to obtain possession of Balaclava. On the very day following the affair which has just been related, the Russians within the town made a sortie with a force of about 6000 men; but near the vil- lage of Inkermann they encountered so strong a resistance from a far inferior force, that they were obliged to retreat. The Russian army at Balaclava had been prepared to codperate with them; but the promptitude and vigour with which the allies repelled the sortie prevented the Russians from entrenching themselves at Inkermann, and thus frus- trated the plan of a combined attack on the allied position which had probably been formed. The village of Inker- mann, which was the scene of this skirmish, shortly after witnessed a more deadly and decisive contest. It was on the morning of Sunday, November 5th, that the approach of the Russian army was heard, while it was still concealed from view by the mists which overhung the British position. That army had been greatly increased by the arrival of large reinforcements, and every effort had been made to exalt the courage of the soldiers: they had been stimulated by religious services and exhortations, as well as by an abundant supply of ardent spirits; and they came on in the full confidence that they would be able to sweep the com- paratively small British force from the position it occupied. That position was the centre of a grand attack made by the whole Russian army. The obscurity prevented the generals of the allies from discovering what was going on, or from clearly discerning, among a series of attacks on different parts of their position, which were real, and which were mere feints. There was a good deal of confusion in both armies; but the obscurity, on the whole, favoured the Russians, who had received their instructions before they set out, and were moving together in large masses. It was, in fact, a battle fonght pell-mell, man against man, and regiment against regiment, with very little guidance or direction from the commanding officers, and consequently one in which the superior skill of the British gave them little advantage. The principal point of attack throughout was the plateau of Inkermann, occupied by the Guards and a few British regiments, who maintained a long and une 1854.] INKERMANN. 13 equal struggle against the main body of the Russian army. It was, in fact, a hand-to-hand contest between superior civilization on the one hand, and superior numbers on the other, in which it is probable that the small British force | would have been eventually swept off the field. Bosquet, the ablest of the French generals, with a soldier’s instinct at once divined, amid all the obscurity, turmoil, and con- | fusion, that the British position was the real point of attack; and therefore, leaving a portion of his force to defend his own position, he marched off to Inkermann, and never halted till his troops charged the Russians with such fury that they drove them down the hill, and decided the fate of the battle in favour of the allies. The Guards on this occasion displayed courage and firmness which has perhaps never been surpassed, and probably their valour and determina- tion saved the British army. When Lord Raglan, in his report of the battle, after highly praising the gallantry they had displayed, and doing justice to the service they had rendered, added that at length they had been forced to re- tire, they indignantly contradicted the statement, declaring that they had never retired at all, but had maintained the position assigned to them against all the efforts of the enemy till the French came to their assistance. Thus the Russians sustained another repulse, attended with very heavy loss, which put an end for the present to their at- tempts to drive the allies from the position they occupied. Meanwhile Mr. Sidney Herbert, the minister at war, had succeeded in inducing Miss Florence Nightingale, well known in London for her skilful and self-denying bene- volence, to go out and take charge of the military hospitals in which the wounded soldiers were received. Hverything connected with the hospitals there was in a state of the most chaotic confusion. The medical and other stores which had been sent out were rotting in the holds of vessels, or in places where they were not wanted. Pro- visions had been despatched in abundance, and yet nothing could be found to support men who were simply dying from exhaustion. The system of check and counter-check, which had been devised to prevent waste and extravagance in the time of peace, proved to be the very cause of the most prodigious waste, extravagance, and inefficiency in the great war in which Engiand was now embarked. The 14 SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap. I. sort of dictatorial authority which had been conferred on Miss Nightingale, supported by her own admirable organ- ising and administrative ability, enabled her to substitute order for confusion, and procure for the multitudes of wounded men who came under her care the comforts as well as the medical attendance they needed. She arrived at Scutari with her nurses on the very day of the battle of Inkermann. Winter was setting-in in the Crimea with unusal rigour and severity. In less than a week after a storm of terrific violence swept over the Black Sea, pro- ducing indescribable confusion among the ships of war and the transports. The Agamemnon and Sanspareil, two of the finest ships in the British Navy, were stranded, but were afterwards got off; great numbers of transports perished ; some were dashed against one another; others were scarcely able, with all the anchors they could throw out, and all the force of steam they could exert, to keep themselves from being driven on the shore. An immense quantity of clothing and other stores, which had been sent in them for the army, was cast away. Among the ships belonging to the transport-service that were lost in this storm was the Prince, a magnificent vessel of 2700 tons burthen, which had been specially purchased for this service by the government. She had on board a body of troops, and the greater part of the winter-clothing of the men, as well as medicines, and all things likely to be required for the sick and wounded. She had landed her troops, and was then ordered out of the harbour, which was already overcrowded with transports, and in which, before the commencement of the storm, the greatest confusion and disorder reigned, through the divided authority and ill-defined responsibility of those who had the management of it. When the storm came on, her anchors would not hold; she was dashed against the rocks, and nearly all her crew, together with the valuable and almost indispensable stores she contained, were lost. The want of proper system that prevailed, the blundering character of the arrangements by which these terrible and almost irre- parable losses were caused, were faithfully reported by the correspondents of the English journals who had been sent out to the Crimea, and produced a strong feeling at home. The hurricane which had caused these disasters on the 1854.) THE HURRICANE. 15 sea produced consequences scarcely less terrible on the land. It came rushing over the plateau on which the greater part of the Hnglish army was stationed, carrying away the tents, breaking the tent-poles, tearing the canvas to tatters, bearing off the baggage of officers and men, drenching its contents with rain, forcing the very mud from the rocks and dashing it in the faces of the soldiers, who were attempting to save something from the general wreck. Such was the violence of the storm, that much of the stores of the commissariat was blown away, and those who had the care of them were so occupied with endeavours to preserve what was left as to be unable to serve out the rations to the men: the cooking fires were extinguished ; the very coverlets that afforded a last shelter to the wounded and sick were carried away; and many of these poor creatures, exposed to the cold blast and rain, without help or protection, found an end to their sufferings in death. Some of those too who had previously been in good health succumbed under the privations and cold to which they were now exposed. Never perhaps did an army pass a more wretched night than that spent by our brave troops on the heights above Inkermann during and after this storm. Without shelter, food or fire, wet, cold, and comfortless, they were obliged to lie down to rest, and if possible to sleep, on the mud, to which rain and the trampling of many men and animals had reduced the surface of their position. All these incidents, fully narrated by the correspondents of the daily press at home, called forth a strong feeling of sympathy and compassion, and caused efforts to be made, both by the government and by indi- viduals, to succour those who were exposed to such ter- rible dangers and cruel hardships. With this feeling was associated one less laudable—a disposition to blame the ministry generally, and those who had the superintendence of the operations especially, not only for those neglects for which they were properly responsible, but for the system which they had found in operation, and for disasters that were the work of the elements, and which no human care or foresight could have prevented. The English government, as we have seen, had originally cherished the flattering hope that Sebastopol might be taken by a cowp de main, or, at all events, after a very 16 SEBASTOPOL. |Cuap. I, short siege; and this illusion was shared by the English people generally, who day by day were anxiously looking for tidings of the capture of Sebastopol, and lending a ready ear to the reports of its fall erroneously or dishonestly raised. But it had now become evident that, if Sebastopol were to be taken at all, it would not be during this year, and that consequently the allied governments must choose between withdrawing their forces from the Crimea altogether, or keeping their fleets and armies as near as they could to the besieged town. They determined on adopting the latter course, which, indeed, was forced on them by public opinion. It only remained, therefore, that they should do their best to render the condition of our troops as comfortable as circumstances would allow, and protect them as far as possible from a recurrence of the hardships and sufferings to which they had been exposed. To clothe, to shelter, to feed the troops that remained ; ta take care that the sick and wounded received due care and skilful medical attendance; such were the chief cares and duties of the government at this moment, and more particularly of those members of it on whom the charge and responsibility of the war especially rested—the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Sidney Herbert. Tt is now time to turn from the contemplation of so much courage and so much suffering to the events that had been occurring in England, while the ranks of our brave troops were being rapidly thinned by the sword and by disease, in the Crimean peninsula. The parliamentary session of the year 1854 was opened by the Queen in person on the 31st of January. There were circumstances which gave to this customary solemnity more than usual interest and importance. In the first place, there was the expectation that some important an- nouncement would be made in the Queen’s speech with regard to the great war which was then impending, of “which we have already narrated the commencing scenes, - and the thought of which was at that moment uppermost in the minds of all men. Then there was a report which, though contradicted, was still industriously circulated, that Prince Albert had interfered unduly in the negotiations, and carried on a secret and improper correspondence with the emperor of Russia. It was expected that the prevalence 1854.] REFORM BILL INTRODUCED, 17 of this report would cause some demonstrations to be made against the prince; and to prevent anything of the kind, the precaution had been taken—said to be unprecedented —of requiring the attendance of the whole of the Horse Guards. At the same time every available policeman was on duty along the line of the procession. It was also anticipated that the Turkish and Russian ambassadors would appear in the procession, and that a tremendous popular demonstration of favour to the former and hostility to the latter would be made. These anticipations were only partially fulfilled. The speech from the throne did, of course, touch on the impending war ; a few hisses were raised against Prince Albert at certain points in the line of procession, but they were at once drowned in a roar of loyal acclamations; the Turkish ambassador was in the procession, and was uproariously cheered; but the Russian ambassador wisely kept away. The royal speech intimated that an augmentation of the naval and military forces would be required to support the representations of the English government; that a bill for opening the coasting-trade of Great Britain to friendly nations would be introduced, as well as measures for ‘the amendment of the laws relating to the representation of the commons in parliament.’ This announcement naturally drew forth from those opposed to the changes thus foreshadowed strong expressions of opinion as to the inopportuneness of the introduction of suth a bone of contention at a time when the nation seemed to be on the brink of a great war. These objections were met by Lord J. Russell, who, as might be expected, was the member of the administration who had taken the warmest interest in the question, and had, not without difficulty, obtained the consent of the cabinet to its being brought forward. He thus justified the course which he had persuaded his colleagues to adopt: ‘I cannot think that there is any danger in discussing the question of reform during the excitement of a foreign war. The time that is really dangerous for such a discussion is the time of great popular excitement and dissension at home. It is said that there is no feeling on the subject ; that there is a complete apathy about reform. If that really is the case, is it not the proper time to discuss questions of reform, lest in the course of the war there should be times VOL. III. Cc OY 18 SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap, I. of distress, when the people should become excited, and large meetings should be assembled in every town, partly crying out for more wages and cheaper food, and partly crying out for an increase of political power? Supposing we should have the calamity of war, and with it the necessity for increasing the public burdens, is it not a fitting time to enlarge the privileges of the people when parliament is imposing fresh taxes, that in imposing them we may as far as possible impose them on those who have elected.us P’ Lord J. Russell concluded his speech with an explanation of the constitutional position of Prince Albert as the consort of the Queen, of the part he took in the public affairs of the nation, and gave a distinct and emphatic denial to those charges of improper interference in the Hastern question which had been brought against the prince. The reform bill to which Lord J. Russell referred in this speech was introduced and explained by him to the House of Commons on the 13th of February; and as it may be interesting to the reader to compare it with measures of a similar character that were subsequently brought forward, we give a very condensed abstract of its principal pro- VisiONS : A. Persons to whom votes were to be given both in counties and boroughs. 1, Persons in receipt of salaries from public or private employments of not less than 100/. per annum, payable quarterly or half-yearly. 2. Persons in receipt of 10/7. per annum derived from government stock or bank or India stock. 3. Persons paying forty shillings per annum of income or assessed taxes. 4. Graduates of any university in the United Kingdom. 5. Persons who have for three years possessed a deposit of 502. in a savings-bank. ; B. Persons to whom votes were to be given in counties. 6. All occupiers rated at 107. per annum residing elsewhere than in represented towns. C. Persons to whom votes were to be given in boroughs. 7. All occupiers rated at 67. who have been resident within the borough two years and a half. Schedule A. Boroughs having fewer than 300 electors or than 5000 inhabitants to be disfranchised : Andover, returning 2; Arundel, 1; Ashburton, 1; Calne, 1; Dartmouth, 1; Evesham, 2; Harwich, 2; Honiton, 2; Knaresborough, 2; Lyme Regis, 1; Marlborough, 2; Midhurst, 1; Northallerton, 1; Reigate, 1; 1854.] REFORM BILL. 19 Richmond (Yorkshire), 2; Thetford, 2; Totnes, 2; Wells, 2; Wilton, 1. Total, 19 boroughs, returning 29 members. Schedule B. Boroughs having fewer than 500 electors, or than 10,000 inhabitants, now returning two members, in future to return one member only. Bodmin, Bridgenorth, Bridport, Buckingham, Chichester, Chippenham, Cirencester, Cockermouth, Devizes, Dorchester, Guildford, Hertford, Huntingdon, Leominster, Lewes, Ludlow, Lymington, Lichfield, Maldon, Malton, Marlow (Great), Newport (Isle of Wight), Peterborough, Poole, Ripon, Stamford, Tamworth, Tavistock, Tewkesbury, Tiverton, Weymouth, Windsor, Wycombe (Chipping). ‘Total, thirty-three members. Schedule C. Additional members to counties. Counties and divisions of counties containing a population of more than 100,000 each, at present returning two members, for the future to return three members : Bedford; Chester, Southern Division; Chester, Northern; Cornwall, Western; Cornwall, Eastern; Derby, Northern; Derby, Southern; Devon, Southern; Devon, Northern; Durham, Southern; Durham, Northern; Essex, Southern; Essex, Northern; Gloucester, Western; Kent, Western ; Kent, Eastern; Lancaster, Northern; Lincoln, parts of Lindsay; Lincoln, parts of Kesterne and Holland; Middlesex; Monmouth; Norfolk, West- ern; Norfolk, Eastern; Stafford, Northern ; Stafford, Southern ; Somerset, Western; Somerset, Eastern; Salop, Northern; Southampton, Northern ; Suffolk, Eastern; Suffolk, Western; Surrey, Eastern; Sussex, Eastern ; Warwick, Northern; Worcester, Hastern; York, Kast Riding; York, North Riding. Watrxss: Glamorgan. Divisions of counties to be subdivided, and each subdivision in future to return three members : Lancashire, Southern Division; York, West Riding. Schedule D. Cities and boroughs to return for the future additional members. Cities and boroughs containing more than 100,000, at present returning two members, for the future to return three each: Birmingham, Bristol (city), Bradford (Yorkshire), Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Southwark, Wolverhampton. Boroughs now returning one member to return in future two members. Salford. Additional members, ten. Schedule E. Unrepresented places to return members in future. Towns containing 20,000 inhabitants to return in future one member each. Birkenhead, Burnley, Staleybridge. Inns of Court to return in future two members; London University to return in future one member. Ad- ditional members, six. The City of London was to continue to return four members, but each elector was to have only three votes. This was the first step towards the representation of minorities, which has since been more fully developed. Such was the measure which Lord J. Russell introduced and explained; but in spite of the able and ingenious c 2 20 SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap. I. reasoning by which he justified the introduction of such large organic changes, at a time when the country was entering on a most arduous and doubtful struggle, the ‘YLouse of Commons soon showed that it was not convinced by his arguments, or at least was not prepared to accept his conclusions. Lord John found himself under the necessity of withdrawing his carefully elaborated measure with a mortification he was unable to conceal. In making the announcement, he was so deeply moved, that it was not without difficulty he could finish his speech; but he was in some degree repaid for the sacrifice he thus made, the propriety of which all parties in the House fully admitted, by the testimonies of respect for his character and con- sistency which were freely given by his opponents as well as by his friends, and by none more cordially or more eloquently than by Mr. Disraeli, who, while strongly con- demning the measure, professed the highest respect for its author, whose character and career he declared to be the ‘ precious possession of the House of Commons.’ Mr. Gladstone brought forward his budget under cir- cumstances strongly contrasting with those by which he was surrounded when he made his last financial state- ment. War had then been alluded to as a bare possibility ; now it had to be dealt with as an almost inevitable cer- tainty. However, considering the circumstances in which he was placed, the position of the finance-minister was very satisfactory. He had estimated the revenue of the country for the year 1853-4, after all the reductions that had been effected, at 52,990,000/.; it actually reached 54,025,000/.; thus exceeding his estimate by more than a million. On the other hand, the expenditure had fallen short of his expectations by above a million; so that he had at his disposal upwards of two millions more than he had hoped for. Nothing could be more gratifying than the financial condition of the country at this moment, and it would have enabled Mr. Gladstone to make great pro- eress in fiscal reform if this unfortunate event had not effectually checked his farther advances, and arrested him in the midst of his brilliant career. If it was a source of deep mortification to Lord John Russell to be obliged to relinquish a measure of parliamentary reform on which he had bestowed much pains, it must have been no less 1854.] INCREASED TAXATION. 21 mortifying to Mr. Gladstone to be compelled to abandon his plans of financial reform, and to increase that burden of taxation which he had so successfully laboured to alleviate. One thing, however, he wisely and courageously resolved to do: instead of devolving on posterity the chief share of the cost of this war, as had been done in the case of so many previous wars; instead of adding to the debt of the country more millions than he had taken from it,— he determined, as far as practicable, to raise within the year the funds that would be required to meet both the ordinary and extraordinary expenses of the year; and in order to effect this, he proposed to the House of Commons to double the income tax during the continuance of the war. For the present, however, he only asked the House to sanction the duplication of the tax for six months, reserving to him- self the right of making a fresh appeal to it for a renewal of the increased tax if the war should be prolonged beyond that period. He also proposed to increase the duty on Trish spirits by 8d., and on Scotch spirits by 1s. the gallon; to raise the malt-tax from 2s. 9d. to 4s. per bushel; and to postpone the reduction of the sugar duties. By these changes he expected to be able to raise 6,859,0001. in addition to the amount yielded by the increased income and property tax, to levy above 10,000,0002. more than in previous years, and to make the annual revenue of the country up to 66,746,000/., which would exceed the antici- pated expenditure of the year by more than 3,500,0001. These proposals were very favourably received both by the legislature and the country; and notwithstanding some criticisms of the plan by Mr. Disraeli, it was adopted in all its points. Nothing more fully proves the progress of the wealth of the nation and the buoyancy of its resources than the cheerfulness with which the burdens thus imposed were borne. Before the passing of the reform bill Lord Castlereagh bemoaned the existence of an ignorant im- patience of taxation. Mr. Gladstone, on the contrary, might rejoice at an enlightened endurance of taxation. It may perhaps be thought that a public dinner is an event which ought not to figure in a serious history; and as a general rule the opinion is correct: But when a public dinner has excited the interest and riveted the attention of a large portion of the nation; when English statesmen 22 SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap. I, have made it the occasion of an appeal to large bodies of their fellow-countrymen ; and when the appeal has elicited such a response as those who made it expected and desired, —then the historian would be neglecting a portion of the task he has undertaken, if he were to pass it by without notice. Such a dinner was the one which was given to — Sir Charles Napier at the Reform Club of London, a few days before his departure to take the command of the Baltic fleet. This banquet was presided over by Lord Palmerston; among the guests were Sir James Graham, the first lord of the Admiralty, Sir William Molesworth, the chief secretary for Ireland, and the Turkish minister. Lord Palmerston warmly eulogised the character and con- duct of the French emperor. In proposing the health of the sultan, he said, ‘ There never was a sovereign who was - more the object of abominable injustice than the sultan is now; an injustice only to be equalled by that which is described in the old fable of the wolf and the lamb; but this time the wolf has made a great mistake; it is no lamb that he has to deal with.’ He eulogised the sultan as a great reformer, engaged in carrying out important improve- ments in his dominions, and only prevented from making still greater improvements by a wise allowance for the inveterate prejudices and deep-rooted habits of his subjects. He warmly praised the firmness with which, notwithstanding the threats and demands of Russia and Austria, he had refused to give up the Hungarians who had taken refuge in his dominions, even before he was assured of the support of England and France. Sir Charles Napier, in returning thanks for the toast of his health, thus expressed himself: ‘When I get to the Baltic, I shall have an opportunity of declaring war. And certainly if I have that opportunity, I hope it will end ina prosperous war; because I can safely say that this country never sent out such a splendid fleet as that which is about to go into the Baltic in a few days. My right hon. friend Sir James Graham deserves the greatest credit for having, after so long a peace, when we had no seamen or very few, been able to fit-out so magni- - ficent a fleet. Well, with that foree—I do not say that it is equal to the force of Russia—but with the assistance of the screw, we shall be able to attack a very large and a superior force.’ Sir James Graham, in returning thanks 1854. ] DINNER AT THE REFORM CLUB. 23 after his health had been drank, spoke thus of the gallant admiral: ‘He possesses my entire confidence, and I rejoice in having had the opportunity on this great occasion to commend him to the choice of my sovereign. The selection, I believe, is approved by the country ; it is approved by the profession ; and although the propelling power of the fleet may be changed, though naval tactics may be altered, as he goes forth the commander, not of a pressed body of men, but of volunteers in her Majesty’s service—though all these old plans may be changed, yet there is one thing that is unchanged—the gallantry and the power of command of my honourable friend. He does not go forth under the hypo- critical pretence of conducting a religious war; but he goes forth to assert the independence of Hurope—to resist, and I hope successfully to resist, that lawless spirit of -ageression and aggrandisement which now threatens to disturb the general peace. My gallant friend says, that when he gets into the Baltic he will declare war. I, as first lord of the Admiralty, give him my free consent to do so. I hope that war will be short. It may be sharp, but I trust that, with the spirit and energy which has ever guided my gallant friend, it will be decisive.’ These speeches, circulated as they were by the journals, had the effect, which they no doubt were intended to have, of stimulating very strongly the war-spirit that was already abroad in Hngland. But they also offended and disgusted those who were trying to withstand the martial frenzy that was impelling the prime-minister into a war which he regarded with evident horror. The subject was taken up in the House of Commons. Mr. Bright said on this occa- sion: ‘I have read the proceedings of that banquet with pain and humiliation. The reckless levity displayed is, in my opinion, discreditable to the grave and responsible statesmen of a civilised and Christian nation.’ This sentence stung Lord Palmerston to the quick. He rose to reply in evident anger, and he commenced in a manner which was intended to be insulting, and which certainly was very un- parliamentary: ‘Sir, the honourable and reverend gentle- man.’ These words produced one of those movements of dissatisfaction in the House which make a speaker feel that in its opinion he has been guilty of a violation of good taste 24, SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap. I. and decorum; and Mr. Cobden appealed to the speaker to rebuke the expression, stigmatising it as ‘flippant, un- deserved, and not justified by the rules of the House.’ Lord Palmerston was then allowed to go on, but his temper had evidently not been improved by the manifestation of feeling that had been displayed. ‘I will not quarrel,’ he continued, ‘about words ; but as the honourable gentleman has been pleased to advert to the circumstance of my being chairman of the dinner to which allusion has been made, and as he has been kind enough to express an opinion as to my conduct on that occasion, I deem it right to inform the hon. gentleman that any opinion he may entertain, either of me personally or of my conduct, private or political, is to me a matter of the most perfect indifference. I am farther convinced that the opinion of this country with regard to me and to my conduct will be in no way whatever influenced by anything the hon. gentleman may say. I therefore treat the censure of the hon. gentleman with the utmost indifference and contempt.’ This insolent attack provoked a strong explosion of indignation, mingled with some cries of approbation and a good deal of laughter. When the noise had a little subsided, Lord Palmerston asked, ‘Is that parliamentary or not?’ The question pro- voked a shout of laughter. ‘If it is not,’ said his lordship, ‘I do not insist on the expression.’ If Lord Palmerston thought to thrust aside comments and criticisms, which his opponent had an unquestionable right to make, he must soon have perceived that he had greatly miscalculated. The feelings of many members of the House, who differed » widely and decidedly from Mr. Bright on the merits of this war, and on other political questions, were revolted by the insolence and injustice of the invectives that Lord Palmer- ston had uttered, and that astute minister was made to feel, ina very unmistakable way, that he had committed a great mistake, the repetition of which might seriously endanger his influence. It must be remembered, that while all the warlike declamation, which we have read above, was being uttered, war was not yet formally declared, and that the emperor of Russia, against whom it was levelled, was still our ally, He was not, however, long permitted to retain that position. On the afternoon of the 22nd of March the formal declara- 1854.] DEPARTURE OF THE BALTIC FLEET. 25 tion of war was made. The Lord Chancellor read a message from the Queen, which, though its purport was already known, was listened to with breathless silence. It informed the House that negotiations with the emperor of Russia had terminated, and that her Majesty felt bound to afford active assistance to her ally the sultan against unprovoked aggression. In the discussion that took place on this message, Lord Aberdeen expressed the deep grief he felt in being obliged to enter on this sanguinary course, and declared that even now, when compelled to ‘make war, he should carry it on with the utmost vigour only for the sake of securing a speedy peace.’ And his whole career shows, that if he did retain office under the circumstances in which he was placed, he was actuated in doing so by a deep sense of duty, and a hope that he might be instru- mental in bringing about a speedy restoration of that peace which, in spite of all his efforts to the contrary, he found himself compelled to interrupt. Six days after, a formal statement of the causes of the war was published in the Gazette. On the same day on which the Queen’s message was sent to the House of Lords, a similar message was sent by the Emperor of the French to the senate and legislative assembly of that country, and received with enthusiastic acclamations. The departure of the first division of the Baltic fleet, under the command of Sir Charles Napier, on the 11th of March, was an event which, even more than the departure of the land-forces, excited the interest and attention of the whole nation. We all know the historic pride with which Englishmen have in all ages been accustomed to regard what they fondly called ‘the wooden walls of old England,’ when as yet ironclads were not; and we can therefore understand the feelings with which the departure of the stateliest fleet that had ever gone forth to war from the chief naval station of the kingdom was regarded. Ports- mouth was of course the centre towards which the thoughts of the whole nation were directed, and to which all who could visit it were anxious to go. During Friday and the whole of Saturday morning thousands on thousands of excursionists came pouring into the town from all parts of the country. The Queen, who had visited the fleet on Friday, came again to witness its departure on Saturday. 26 SEBASTOPOL, [Cuap. I. At half-past one the signal for weighing anchor was given from the admiral’s ship, and promptly obeyed. The Royal George led the way. In ten minutes from the time when the signal was given, her anchor was raised and her sails set. She was quickly followed by the St. Jean d’Acre, the Tribune, Impérieuse, Blenheim, Amphion, Princess Royal, Edinburgh, Ajax, Arrogant, Leopard, Valorous, and Dragon. When all these were fairly started, the admiral’s ship, the Duke of Wellington, the finest vessel in the English navy, — got under weigh. The squadron comprised eight screw line-of-battle ships, four screw and four paddle ships of inferior size, making a total of sixteen war steamers. Of these the Duke of Wellington and the Royal George were three-deckers. As at that time the use of steam had recently been introduced into the navies of the world, it was noticed with some pride that every one of these vessels was propelled by steam power. The Neptune, the Prince Regent, and the Boscawen remained behind to form the nucleus of a second division, which was intended to follow under the command of Rear-admiral Corry. Thus departed the first division of the great Baltic fleet, full of high hope, and carrying with it the good wishes and sanguine expecta- tions of almost all who remained behind, and who had either witnessed the magnificent spectacle with their own eyes, or had it vividly exhibited to them in the letters of special correspondents and the pictorial representations of the Illustrated London News. The admiral himself felt that the national expectations had been so highly raised that it was impossible they should be realised, even by the utmost that he could hope to achieve; and therefore he did his best, before his departure, to moderate them. Before commencing operations in the Baltic the admiral signalled the following address to the fleet under his com- mand: ‘Lads, war is declared. We are to meet a bold and numerous enemy: should they offer us battle, you know how to dispose of them. Should they remain in port, we must try to getat them. Success depends on the quickness and precision of your fire. Lads, sharpen your cutlasses, and the day is your own.’ Sir J. Graham, fearing that the admiral might be led by his own ardour, and by a desire to satisfy the highly-raised expectations of the nation, into enterprises, which might seriously endanger the safety of 1854.] THE BALTIC FLEET. 27 his fleet, wrote to him to counsel prudence; and after advising him to feel his way, and to make good his hold on the Gulf of Finland, he thus proceeded: ‘ When I say this, I by no means contemplate an attack either on Sveaborg or on Cronstadt. I have a great respect for stone walls, and. have no fancy for running even screw line-of-battle ships against them. Because the public here may be impatient, you must not be rash; because they, ata distance from the danger, are foolhardy, you must not risk the loss of your fleet in an impossible enterprise.’ Headded much more to the same effect, expressing an opinion that Sveaborg and Cronstadt were impregnable. Hventually Bomarsund was taken, but nothing at all commensurate with the highly- raised hopes of the nation was effected, and the public disappointment was strongly expressed. Then ensued a recriminatory correspondence between the First Lord of the Admiralty and Sir Charles Napier, in which each tried to throw on the other the blame of the failure with which they were reproached. The fact was, that neither the one nor the other was really blameworthy. The nation had. expected impossibilities, and was mortified because these expectations were disappointed; but both the First Lord of the Admiralty and Sir Charles had helped to raise, by their speeches at the Reform Club dinner, these impossible hopes, which they were now censured for not having real- ised. The avenging Nemesis of these speeches had at length overtaken those who made them, and destroyed the friendship and confidence which they had so warmly expressed. While the war was being carried on, the British people were watchful and interested spectators of its chief events, and especially of those transacted outside Sebastopol. In spite of the objections urged by military men of the old school against the presence of reporters at the seat of war, they were sent by the principal journals in great numbers, and gave such detailed accounts of what was passing as would not have been permitted to have been sent in any previous war. Men of great abilities and high character were chosen for this purpose by the principal journals, and they discharged the duty assigned to them with fearless- ness and impartiality. They gave the fullest details, and criticised with much freedom the conduct both of the civil — 28 SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap. I. and military authorities under whose superintendence the expedition was placed; and there can be no doubt that the fear of their criticisms had a very salutary effect in quick- _ ening the diligence and increasing the care of those who were or might be the objects of them. While these cor- respondents did full justice to the skill and courage displayed in the field, they also described in the most graphic manner the horrid carnage of the battle-field and the sufferings of the sick and wounded. Nor did they hesitate to expose the mismanagement of those who had the care of the various departments of the army in the Crimea, as well as of those whose duty it was to forward supplies from home. These letters were perused in England with very various and mingled feelings. Some gloated over the scenes of ‘ glory’ and carnage which were so vividly depicted by their writers. Others regarded with feelings of unmingled abhorrence and disgust the horrid details of the butchery of so many brave men on both sides. Some, moved by compassion for those who had fallen in the conflict, were anxious to provide for their families. Others were stimu- lated to alleviate the tortures of those who had been wounded, or who were suffering from some of the terrible diseases which the rigour of the Crimean winter—exposure, or the want of sufficient food and clothing—had produced. The Queen took the lead in giving effect to these feelings of her subjects. She issued a commission, directed to Prince Albert and a large number of noblemen and gentle- men, authorising them to raise a ‘ Patriotic Fund’ for the relief of the orphans and widows of the soldiers, sailors, or marines who might fall in the war. The Times, which, by its correspondent at the seat of war, Dr. Russell, as well as by numerous articles it had published on the subject, had been very mainly instrumental in drawing public attention to the condition of our sick and wounded sol- diers in the Crimea, made an appeal on their behalf, which was responded to by a contribution amounting to 25,4001., and a central association in aid of the wives and families of soldiers ordered on foreign service raised upwards of 100,000/. towards the objects for which it had been estab- lished. While the ministry and the great majority of the nation were thus endeavouring to alleviate the miserieg which were the foreseen and inevitable consequences of the 1854.] PATRIOTIC FUND. 29 war in which they had embarked, there was still a small party which, having from the first protested against this war, now refused to contribute to the relief of sufferings which, if their counsels had been followed, would have been altogether avoided. Of their views Mr. Bright was the chief exponent. Being at that time member for Man- chester, he was requested to take part in a meeting to be holden in that city on the 29th of October, for the purpose of raising money for the Patriotic Fund. In reply to this invitation, he wrote a letter, in which he thus stated his reasons for believing the war to be unnecessary, and for . refusing to contribute to the removal of the evils which had resulted from it. ‘My doctrine,’ he wrote, ‘would have been non-intervention in this case. The danger of the Russian power was a phantom; the necessity of perma-~ nently upholding the Mahometan rule in Europe an ab- ‘surdity; our love for civilisation, when we subject the Greeks and Christians to the Turks, is a sham; and our sacrifices for freedom, when working out the behests of the emperor of the French, and coaxing Austria to help us, are pitiful imposture. The evils of non-intervention were remote and vague, and could neither be weighed nor de- scribed in any accurate terms.’ This bold and plain-spoken avowal afterwards cost Mr. Bright his seat. The opinions he expressed were such as he had all along professed. If he ceased to represent Manchester, it was not because he had changed, but because his constituents would no longer tolerate those peace-principles which they knew that he held when they first elected him to be their represen- tative. Subsequently a meeting of many who were opposed to war upon principle was called, to consider whether they should contribute to the Patriotic Fund. After long and earnest deliberation, they came to the conclusion that they would withhold their contributions; and their organ, the Herald of Peace, thus stated the grounds which had led them to feel that they ought to hold aloof from it alto- gether: ‘It does not seem to us possible to take part in this movement without directly contributing to feed and further the system by which these orphans and widows have been created, and which, the more it is encouraged, will only add the more to the numbers of such sufferers 30 SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap. I. day by day and year by year. For, in the first place, no one can have marked the tone of the meetings which have been held to promote this fund without perceiving that, with very few and rare exceptions, their whole tendency is to glorify the entire war-system, and to fan into a broader and hotter flame the sinister enthusiasm for the present . war which already burns so fiercely among the people.’ They who ventured to give expression to opinions so little in harmony with the spirit which almost universally pre- vailed, were loaded with all kinds of objurgatory epithets ; were accused of being guilty of ‘immorality,’ of ‘mean- ness,’ of ‘hypocrisy ;’ were reviled as ‘pitiless Quakers,’ were told that ‘they might keep their dirty money,’ and reproached with refusing to consider the hard case of the widow and the orphan. The continuance of the war rendered it necessary, in the opinion of the government, to assemble the legislature at a very unusual period. Tuesday, December 12th, was appointed for its meeting, and it was opened by the sovereign in person. ‘The day was fine; an immense mul- titude lined the roads along which the procession passed on its way to the palace of the legislature, and greeted the Queen with unbounded enthusiasm. In fact, the loyal excitement on this occasion was so great that it was diffi- cult to keep it within the bounds of safety and prudence ; and if precautions had not been taken beforehand, it is probable that some serious accidents would have occurred, through the inability of the police to prevent a general rush after the Queen’s carriage. The royal speech was very brief. Jt announced that the two Houses had been called together at this unusual period in order that they might take such measures as might enable the Queen to carry on the great war in which the country was engaged with the utmost vigour and effect. It referred to the hearty and efficient codperation which had been afforded by the brave troops of the emperor of the French, and to the alliances which had been concluded with the emperor of Austria and the United States of America. In the debates on the address no opposition was offered, but many complaints were uttered. Lord Derby attacked ministers on account of the tardiness and want of prescience they had displayed throughout all the proceedings that had led 1854.| SPEECH OF THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. 31 to the war, as well as during the war itself. He charged them with being always too late; too late with their fleets, too late in sending troops to Constantinople, too late in entering the Black Sea, too late in declaring the crossing of the Pruth to be a casus belli, too late in sending an army to Varna, too late in their preparations for the war, and, to crown all, too late in arriving in Sebastopol. He concluded by urging the necessity of prosecuting the war energetically, and stated his conviction that in doing so ministers would be sustained by the public opinion of the country. To the attacks of Lord Derby, the Duke of Newcastle, who, as minister of war, was chiefly responsible for the neglects with which the government was reproached, made the following reply : ‘T will not attempt to make an out-and-out defence of all that has been done, nor will I deny that mistakes have been made at the commencement, which would be remedied now if the same things had to be done again. But I must remind your lordships that the first object in view was the protection of Constantinople. This being secured, other objects were desired, and efforts were made to accomplish them. With respect to the Baltic, it is true that Cronstadt is not taken, and that the Russian fleet is intact; but a great moral effect has been produced by the expedition. The trade of Russia has been destroyed, and its fleet cannot put to sea—a circumstance which cannot fail to be humili- ating to the pride of a country like Russia. With regard to the Black-Sea expedition, the best defence of the govern- ment would be the production of the despatches which have passed between Lord Raglan and myself, if the pre- sent were a time when they could be produced without detriment to the service. The expedition to Sebastopol was not rashly undertaken. Lord Raglan had been in- structed to make all necessary inquiries as to the strength of the place, and the force necessary for its capture. From the first the invasion of the Crimea was contemplated. The order for attacking Sebastopol was given from home, but not against the opinion of the generals. That order was issued on the 29th of June, seven days after the raising of the siege of Silistria.’ After explaining the difficulties and delays that had occurred in the transport of troops on the 82 SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap. I. pait of our allies, he thus proceeded: ‘We too made war under novel circumstances; our system of recruitment for both army and navy being entirely voluntary. It should be borne in mind too that recruiting was least successful at the beginning of a war; but the zeal and energy of the people were aroused when military success was retarded, and in a military point of view that was an inconvenience. The siege of Sebastopol commenced on the 17th of October. In common with eminent men in this country and in France, the government did certainly hope that the fortress would have fallen sooner than it had done; but when they saw the siege was to be long, they sent out reinforcements— even using newly-recruited regiments for the purpose, in conformity with the pressing requests of Lord Raglan. Also it must be admitted that the government miscalculated as to the rapidity of the Russian reinforcements; they did not anticipate that an army could be moved so quickly from Odessa to Simpheropol (forty-two miles having on that occasion been accomplished by the Russians in one day). But we also have sent out reinforcements. Since June we have sent out 20,000 men; making up the whole army in the Crimea to 53,000 men; a force raised, it must be remembered, on a peace-establishment.’ The duke then gave details of the quantity of ordnance and ammunition that had been sent out, which, as he stated, far exceeded what had been sent on any previous occasion to a British army. He referred to the unfortunate wreck of the Prince, which had caused the loss of a great part of the supply of winter clothing intended for the troops, and he dwelt on the prompt and vigorous measures that had been taken by the government to supply the deficiencies caused by that disaster, so that before authentic intelligence of the calamity arrived, a great portion of the goods were on their way to their destination. Criticisms similar to those which had been made in the upper House, were also made in the House of Commons, and received similar replies. Meanwhile Sir C. Napier and his fleet had returned from the Baltic. The welcome he received on his return was very different from the enthusiastic greetings which had accompanied his departure. Nevertheless he had probably effected all that was possible under the circumstances in 1954.) ADMIRAL SIR GC. NAPIER. 835 which he was placed and with the means at his disposal. The results he had obtained were summed up by one whose style seemed to prove him to be a distinguished relative of the officer whose deeds he glorified. ‘He has caused the thirty sail composing the powerful Russian fleet to shrink like rats into their holes; he has taken Bomarsund, caused Hango to be blown-up, interrupted the Russian commerce ; and for six months has kept in a state of inaction certainly 80,000 or 90,000 good troops—viz., 20,000 at Helsingfors, 15,000 at Abo, and 40,000 at Cronstadt, besides smaller corps protecting Revel and other places. He has restored and enlarged the knowledge of the Finland Gulf to naviga- tion; has ascertained what large vessels can do there, and what they cannot do; when they can act alone, when with troops, and when gunboats can be used with effect. He carried out an ill-manned and undisciplined fleet, and brought back unharmed a well-organised, well-disciplined one, with crews exercised in gunnery and seamanship—in fine, a fleet now really what it was falsely called when it started, that is to say, one of the most irresistible that ever floated on the ocean for all legitimate purposes of naval warfare.’ These praises, though written by a partial hand, were not andeserved; and the country generally, notwithstanding its disappointment, did justice to the veteran commander, acknowledging that he had faithfully and ably done his duty, and achieved all that could prudently be attempted. The war, if it produced-no other good effect, had at least that of drawing closer the alliance between England and France. By the remembrance of common dangers and common sufferings; by the interchange of various interna- tional civilities and hospitalities, from the sovereign on the throne down to the meanest citizens, it caused a transient discontinuance of those jealous and hostile feelings which previous wars, and especially that which terminated in 1815, had irritated and engendered. It is true that with the return of peace there was to a certain extent a revival of the preéxisting ill-feeling, but its rancour was greatly diminished, and the mitigation of it that followed paved the way for closer relations between the two countries than had previously existed, and disposed their inhabitants to regard each other, not, as they had hitherto done, as natural enemies, but rather as natural allies. It must be admitted VOL. III. D 54 SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap, I, that much of this change was attributable to the Emperor of the French, who laboured to perpetuate that good under- standing which existed between the two nations, and whose efforts in this direction were eminently successful. Meanwhile parliament, after sitting for eleven days, and after having accomplished in that brief period more busi- ness than had ever been dispatched in a similar period, adjourned for a month. Of the measures it had passed, was one brought forward by the government in accord- ance with former precedents, for the enlistment of foreign soldiers, as a sufficient number of recruits could not be obtained in Great Britain and its dependencies. But notwithstanding all that parliament did, complaints of neglect and maladministration waxed louder and louder, and on the 23rd of December the Times, in a leading article which produced a profound sensation throughout the country, complained bitterly that ‘the noblest army ever sent from our shores has been sacrificed to the grossest mismanagement ;’ that ‘incompetency, lethargy, aristo- cratic hauteur, official indifference, favour, routine, per- verseness, and stupidity reign, revel, and riot in the camp before Sebastopol, in the harbour of Balaclava, in the hos- pitals of Scutari, and how much nearer home we do not venture to say. We say it with extremest reluctance, no one sees or hears anything of the commander-in-chief. Officers who landed on the 14th of September, and have been incessantly engaged in all the operations of the siege, are not even acquainted with the face of their commander.’ These exposures of the state of things at the seat of war were accompanied by recommendations for the removal of the abuses thus severely and plainly denounced. ‘Send out,’ said the writer of the article, ‘some man with com- petent administrative powers to the necessary basis of our operations, Constantinople; give him the command of the hospitals, that present so scandalous a contrast to the French hospitals; the command of the post-office, and of the transports waiting for orders; and give him also the ordering of such supplies for the army as can be procured in the neighbourhood, and which the French have not obtained before us. Nobody has yet had the command of this important station who is fit for anything else than to be the figure-head of his own ship.’ These statements, 1854.] DISORDER IN THE WAR DEPARTMENT. 35 founded as they were on facts which could no longer be concealed, produced a profound sensation. Already Lord J. Russell had addressed strong remonstrances to the Earl of Aberdeen on the subject of that maladministration which the Times so bitterly denounced, and placed in so strong a light. In a long letter to the premier he had urged the necessity of having the war-minister in the House of Commons, and had insisted that he should be a man who, from his experience of military details, his inherent vigour of mind, and his weight with the House of Commons, might be expected to guide the great opera- tions of the war with authority and success; and. he re- commended that Lord Palmerston, who combined all these qualifications, should be intrusted with the seals of the war-department. It would have been well for all parties concerned if this recommendation had been adopted; but the prime-minister refused to recommend the proposed change to the Queen, on the ground that it would be un- fair to the Duke of Newcastle, against whom, as he said, no defect had been proved or incapacity alleged. It was unfortunate for Lord J. Russell that, in his anxiety to avoid hurting the feelings of his colleague, he urged that the minister of war should be in the House of Commons; and thus he laid himself open to a charge of glaring incon- sistency when he soon after accepted office in Lord Palmer- ston’s administration, of which Lord Panmure, a peer, was the war-minister. But though Lord J. Russell failed in his attempt to effect a change in the war-deparimeni, the vigorous denunciation of the Times produced an. effect on the public mind which no minister could disregard; and before the year closed there was an irresistible demand that something should be done to put the administration of the war on a more satisfactory footing. Accordingly, when parliament reassembled on the 25th of January, 1855, Mr. Roebuck gave notice of his intention to move for a select committee ‘to inquire into the condition of our army before Sebastopol, and into the conduct of those departments of the government whose duty it has been to minister to the wants of that army.’ Lord J. Russell at once wrote to Lord Aberdeen, stating that he did not see how Mr. Roebuck’s motion was to be resisted, but that, as it involved a censure on the war-department, he considered D2 36 SEBASTOPOL. (Cuar. I. that the only course open to him was to tender his resigna- tion, which of course was accepted. The retirement of the leader of the House of Commons at this crisis paralysed the resistance which the government might otherwise have offered to Mr. Roebuck’s motion, and, after a debate of two nights, the division showed the following numbers :— For Mr. Roebuck’s-motion f . 4 > 3 . 3800 Against . ° ° ; ° : ° ° ° . 148 Majority against ministers . . «¢ om aby. Never perhaps had a government been more decisively defeated. When the numbers were announced, the house seemed to be surprised and almost stunned by its own act. There was no cheering; but for a few moments a dead silence, followed by a burst of derisive laughter. Ministers of course resigned. The majority that voted in favour of Mr. Roebuck’s resolution must have foreseen that the chief result of its success would be to displace the ministry at a very critical moment, and to bring about changes calculated to increase the disorder that already prevailed in the war-administra- tion. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that both parlia- ment and the country had reason to be greatly dissatisfied with the state of destitution in which the army generally, and especially the sick and wounded, had been left. Whether it arose from maladministration, faults in the system, or from accidental circumstances which no system and no minister could altogether control, the fact could not be denied, that the administration of our army con- trasted most unfavourably in every respect with that of our French allies. It was vain to plead that it could not have been anticipated that our army would have to pass the winter in the Crimea. The French authorities were equally taken by surprise, but they had been found fully equal to the emergency. It had long been said that our parliamentary system was on its trial; and it certainly seemed at this moment as if it was going to break down and prove itself to be altogether a failure, when the nation was engaged in such a serious war as was now being car- ried on. Could a general, surrounded by newspaper-cor- respondents, who pried into all his proceedings, described 4 1855.] THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. oT all his movements, gave the enemy, to a certain extent, an insight into all his plans; a general who was criticised by correspondents of journals at the seat of war, and by writers in journals at home; liable to have all his proceed- ings openly discussed in an assembly in which the strongest party-feeling prevailed, and withheld by considerations of duty from offering any defence or explanation; could such a general, it was asked, cope on equal terms with an abso- lute monarch of almost boundless resources, responsible to no one, and able to wrap his movements and intentions in the most absolute concealment? It was no doubt true that the extraordinary bravery and resolution of our troops had enabled them repeatedly to repel the attacks of greatly superior numbers; but this result seemed to be due to their courage rather than to the skill with which they had been led, and certainly was still less due to those by whom the administration of the war had been so egregiously mis- managed; and now the crisis had at last arrived, which was finally to determine whether liberty and publicity could prove itself a match in war as well as in peace for despotism and secrecy. It could not be denied that during the long peace the wheels and springs of our military organisation had become rusty, and worked slowly and laboriously ; and it remained to be seen whether they could now be made to work, under the system which the great Reform Bill had inaugurated, as efficiently as they had done in the old times, and could even be improved, so as to prove equal and even superior to the machinery of a despotic government. The man whose reputation was most compromised by the mismanagement of which we have spoken was the Duke of Newcastle. He was most directly responsible for the maladministration that had been so much complained of; and even some of his colleagues were disposed to con- demn him. He was accused of indolence, indifference, and incapacity. Against the two first of these charges he defended himself with vigour and spirit, and they were undoubtedly groundless; but it may be true that a man might have been found who would have carried on the war with greater vigour, and have taken care to have the army better provided with all kinds of necessaries. Yet he certainly was not an incapable man. He had been looked to by that small but able band of statesmen who 83 SEBASTOPOL. [Cuap. I. went by the name of Peelites as their future leader. But though by no means deficient in administrative ability, he was a legislator rather than an administrator. But his defects were to a great extent supplied by the zeal and diligence of his colleague, Mr. Sidney Herbert, an admir- able administrator and one who laboured most diligently. with him. On the whole, when we look dispassionately back on the events of that critical time, it would appear that the fault lay rather with the system and the circum- stances than with the man. Lord Panmure certainly suc- ceeded better. But the Duke of Newcastle resigned at the moment when the difficulties with which he had been obliged to contend were to a considerable extent overcome. Lord J. Russell and Lord Derby, each in turn, endeavoured to form an administration, but both of them failed, and were obliged to relinquish the attempt. The task was then undertaken by Lord Palmerston, and on the 6th of February Lord Granville announced to the House of Lords that a new ministry had been formed. It contained most of the members of the old administration. The members of the new cabinet were: First Lord of the Treasury. . . Viscount Palmerston. Lord Chancellor . . . Lord Cranworth. Lord President of Council. . . Earl Granville. Lord Privy Seal _. . Duke of Argyle. Chancellor of the Exchequer . . Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. Home Secretary . Sir G. Grey. Foreign Secretary . : Earl of Clarendon. Colonial Secretary . : Right Hon. Sidney Herbert. Secretary at War . Lord Panmure. Board of Control . Sir C. Wood. Indian Secretary. Right Hon. E. Cardwell. Chancellor of the Duchy of Laneaster Earl of Harrowby. Postmaster-general , ; Viscount Canning. First Lord of the Admiralty . . Sir James Graham - Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . . Earl of Carlisle. Chief Secretary for Ireland . . Right Hon. E. Horsman, Woods and Forests ; . . Sir B. Hall. It will be seen by an inspection of this list that the chief change that had been effected was the substitution of Vis- count Palmerston for the Harl of Aberdeen at the head of the government, and the replacement of the Duke of New- castle in the office of secretary at war by Lord Panmure. These two names indicated greater vigour in the civil de- partment of the army, and in ‘the general prosecution of the 1855. ] LORD PALMERSTON. 39 war. Lord Panmure, better known as Mr. Fox Maule, had already filled the office of minister of war during the six years of Lord J. Russell’s administration, and had in that situation displayed a perfect mastery of the principles which should regulate an army, as well as of all the details of its administration. But there was much in the management.of the army that no ability, however great, could at once change. The evil was not only in the system, but also in the men that it had produced. Thesystem might be changed, though not with- out great difficulty; but the men could not be; it required a new generation to grow up under a new system before the inveterate evils which had been brought to light by this war could be wholly eradicated. And so the outcry that had been raised gradually merged into a general demand for administrative reform, culminating in a motion by Mr. Layard for competitive examinations, which was opposed and got rid of by the premier. It would have been better for the reputation and the peace of mind of Lord Aberdeen if he had retired sooner, as he would have done if he had felt himself at liberty to follow his own inclinations. Dragged step by step into a war which he abhorred, he naturally did not throw into the prosecution of it all the vigour and energy with which war, if once declared, should be carried on. ord Palmerston, on the other hand, had all along been the head of the war- party in the country. By means of his own speeches, and still more through journals over which he possessed more or less control, he had strongly stimulated the war-spirit. He therefore, beyond any other man, possessed the con- fidence of the war-party, which, at the moment, constituted the overwhelming majority of the nation, and was there- fore the man best adapted to carry the contest, of which he may be regarded as the chief author, to a successful termination. There have been in this country two kinds of primee ministers. Some have been statesmen of strong and de- cided political convictions, who have succeeded to a great extent in impressing their opinions on their colleagues and on the country, and in proposing and carrying measures which have exercised a powerful influence on the progress of legislation and the development of events. The others 40 SEBASTOPOL. (Cuap. I, have been men of refined manners and good nature—agree- able rather than great—who have made things pleasant with the sovereign, with their colleagues, and the legisla- \ ture, and by their urbanity, hospitality, good fellowship, and good sense, have kept together administrations which otherwise would have fallen to pieces. To the former of these classes belonged Earl Grey, Sir R. Peel, Lord J. Russell, Lord Derby, and Mr. Disraeli; while Lord Mel- bourne was the very incarnation and beau idéal of the latter. Lord Palmerston partook of the nature of both. He was not altogether destitute of statesmanlike ability and states- manlike earnestness, especially on questions of foreign policy ; but it was not so much to these qualities that he owed his long enjoyment of power, as to his bonhomie, his plausibility, his good nature, his strong common sense, his affability, his tact, his skill, the efforts he made to conci- liate the principal journalists, and the manner in which he succeeded in obtaining their support or disarming their opposition. If there ever was a subject on which he felt strongly, it was that which was now being decided by an appeal to arms, of which he was the chief instigator. The first question with which the reconstituted ministry found itself compelled to deal was that which had caused the resignation of Lord Aberdeen. Three of its ablest and most distinguished members—Sir J. Graham, Mr. Glad- stone, and Mr. Sidney Herbert—had offered a strenuous opposition to the appointment of Mr. Roebuck’s committee, and their objections to it were still strong and decided. Lord Palmerston proposed the adoption of a middle course. He felt that a very large majority, both of the legislature and the country, were so bent on an investiga- tion, that it would be useless to oppose it; but he hoped to save the honour of the government by substituting another committee selected by the government, whose names he thought would inspire confidence in their decisions, for that which Mr. Roebuck had proposed. Mr. Roebuck accepted the altered list ; but the three gentlemen who had originally deprecated the inquiry were not satisfied with this arrauge- . ment, and gave in their resignation. Sir James Graham was succeeded by Sir C. Wood, Mr. Gladstone by Sir Cornewall Lewis, and Mr. Sidney Herbert by Lord J. Russell, who at the moment of his appointment - : 1855]. DEATH OF THE CZAR. 41 was on his way to Vienna, for the purpose of assisting in negotiations which it was hoped might bring about a termination of the war. Thus almost before the new ministry was installed it underwent a most important change. lord Aberdeen and the Duke of Newcastle had now been followed into retirement by the rest of the Peelites. The coalition ministry, or the ministry of all the talents, as it was derisively but not incorrectly termed, was now at an end, and a purely Whig ministry was once more at the head of affairs. Other important though less funda- mental changes were made. Lord Panmure combined in his own person the hitherto separated functions of secretary at war and secretary for war. The control of the military discipline of the army was transferred to the commander- in-chief, and the new first lord of the Admiralty was charged with the duty of organising a special board to superintend the transport service. A commission, at the head of which were Colonel Tulloch and Sir J. M‘Neill, who had taken a very active and conspicuous part in exciting the anti-Russian feeling in this country, was dis- patched to the Crimea to inquire on the spot into the | administration of the commissariat department and of other supplies, respecting which great complaints had been made. Other commissions were at the same time sent out to examine into the sanitary condition of the hospitals, barracks, and the camp generally. of such long duration could not be altogether unfruitful, and we may mention among the measures which it pro- duced, a metropolitan-improvement act, a limited-liability act, the abolition of the stamp-duty on newspapers, and a beer bill, intended as a concession to the feeling that had found expression in the Hyde-park riots. Four days after the prorogation the Queen and Prince Albert drew still closer the cordial alliance between the two kingdoms and the intimacy between the two courts by a return visit to the Emperor and Empress of the French, © 1855.] THE BALTIC FLEET. 58 during which the hospitalities shown to the French ruler were reciprocated by him; and which, to borrow the language of the official statement, was highly satisfactory ‘both on personal and political grounds.’ We must now return to the military and naval opera- tions that were being carried on in the two principal theatres of war, the Baltic, and the Black Sea. And first with regard to the Baltic. We have already seen the disappointment of the hopes that had been raised by the boastful talk of the Reform dinner, and by the formidable nature of the preparations intrusted to Sir Charles Napier. This year the public expectations were less highly raised, and were therefore less disappointed. A fleet larger and better appointed than that of the preceding year sailed under the command of Rear-admiral Dundas. Of course the interest and enthusiasm had somewhat abated, the attendance was not so large nor the acclamations so loud as when the first fleet departed ; nevertheless the magnificent spectacle drew together a large concourse of spectators, and created a warm interest throughout the nation. The chief difference between this fleet and that commanded by Sir C. Napier was, that whereas one division of the latter was composed chiefly of sailing line-of-battle ships, the former was entirely composed of. vessels propelled by steam. The latter too was without floating batteries and mortar-vessels, with which the former was provided. It was followed by a flotilla of gunboats, while Sir C. Napier’s fleet was attended by only one. Some delay was caused by a collision which took place between the Duke of Wellington, the largest ship in the fleet, and an American emigrant ship, obliging the admiral to transfer his flag from her to another ship, and to send her back to Gosport for repairs. The allied fleets met in the Baltic on the lst of June. Their chief exploit there was the bombardment of Sveaborg by means of those gun and mortar-boats of which Sir C. Napier’s fleet was destitute. The bombardment was carried on for three days, with scarcely any injury to the men or the ships. Upwards of ten thousand tons of shot and shell were rained on the fortress, setting fire to a large number of buildings, and causing a great destruction of life and property, but producing no appreciable effect on the result of the war. After its conclusion the state of the weather 54 SEBASTOPOL. | [Cuap, I. rendered it necessary that the fleets should withdraw, and they returned to their respective harbours. _ Sir C. Napier, in a letter he published on the subject, stated, and probably with truth, that if as large a number of gun and mortar boats had been sent when he commanded the fleet, the fortifications might have been completely destroyed and a way opened for the large ships to operate; as it was, the work was entirely done by the gun and mortar boats, and the sailors in the large ships had no opportunity afforded them of participating in the fight: all they could do was to crowd the masts and yards of their vessels, and encourage their more actively-engaged comrades by their cheers. At the other theatre of war a more decisive success was achieved. The sufferings of the army at the commence- ment of the year 1855 were little, if at all, less severe than they had been at the close of the year 1854. Public opinion at home was loudly demanding that our brave soldiers should be supplied with everything necessary to maintain them in health, if not in comfort; but it was only very slowly that the improvements demanded could be introduced; and even when the supplies did reach Bala- clava, it was only with great difficulty that they could be sent forward to the men who were in the camp, and with still greater difficulty to those who were labouring in the trenches. The old track-road from Balaclava to the camp, never sufficient for the purpose, was so worn by the transit of artillery and heavy carriages that it had become a sea of mud, through which vehicles could with difficulty force their way. It was determined therefore to lay down a railway; and about Christmas a large body of engineers and navvies, with all the material necessary for its con- struction and working, were sent out, and reached Balaclava towards the end of January. While the engineers were surveying the country, planning the pro- posed line, and making their preparations, the labourers they had brought with them were very usefully employed in clearing away the filth that cumbered the streets of Balaclava ; which had been the fertile source of cholera and other diseases, and if allowed to remain would no doubt have proved still more fatal. Having rendered this great service, they next set to work on the railway; and in the course of a very short time it was laid down and in full ~ 1855.) RAILWAY FROM BALACLAVA. A) operation, conveying all the ammunition which was required for the operations in front of Sebastopol, and ministering to the wants of the troops. Henceforth the soldiers in the camp and the trenches were well clad, sheltered, and sup- plied, and were consequently much better able to perform their duties. Reinforcements too were rapidly pouring in; large siege-guns were being brought up to the trenches; and when, on the 9th of April, the bombardment recom- menced, the superiority of our fire over that of the Russians was very apparent. But while our men had been labouring in the trenches, the Russians had been as diligently occupied in throwing-up fresh earthworks, and making Sebastopol a far more formidable fortress than ever; so that the allies had a very much greater and more difficult work now before them, after all their trials and sufferings, than they had when they first came before Sebastopol. One great advantage especially the Russians had been allowed to gain. A hill called the Mamelon, a position the possession of which was of the greatest possible importance to both | parties, and which the allied troops might easily have / occupied, was seized and fortified by the Russians in a way that greatly increased the difficulties with which their opponents had to contend, and served to prolong con- siderably the duration of the siege. General Canrobert, finding his health failing, and feeling himself unequal to the discharge of the duties of commander-in-chief, sent in his resignation, with a request that he might be allowed to serve under his successor as a general of division. In the reply his resignation was accepted; but instead of being made a simple general of division as he had requested, he was placed in command of the first corps of the army. _ By his own recommendation he was succeeded by General _ Pelissier. The man thus recommended was in every way fitted for the task that was confided to him. An olderand more experienced soldier than Canrobert, having served in the French army for forty-one years out of a life of fifty- nine, like most of the eminent French generals of that time the school in which he had chiefly learned the art of war was Algeria. He was a man of strong constitution, firm, resolute, and persistent ; one who would work steadily on the same line till he had effected his object. About the same time reinforcements arrived, which brought the army 56 SEBASTOPOL [Cuap. I. under his command up to nearly 120,000, while the effective English force was raised to its old number of 30,000. A Sardinian contingent of 15,000 reached the Crimea about the same time, raising the total amount of the allied forces, including the Turks, to more than 200,000 effective men; an army more than sufficient, to carry on the operations of the siege and protect those who were engaged in the trenches. On the other side the Russians were endeavouring to entrench themselves more and more strongly against our attacks. It was not so much a siege and defence of a town—for it must be remembered that the allies were never able to invest Sebastopol—as a contest between two armies each in com- munication with its respective country, one by sea, the other by land. Thus the victory was pretty sure ultimately to be with that party which could bring up its{ supplies and reinforcements with the greatest rapidity ; and in this contest the allies necessarily had the advantage; while the difficulties of their opponents were continually increasing, as the roads, by which the prodigious supplies of food and warlike material they required had to be brought over enormous distances, became worse and worse and afforded a passage which daily became more and more difficult. At the commencement of June the generals of the allies determined to make another attack on the defences of Sebastopol. On the 9th of that month, and on the two following days, bombs, cannon-balls, rockets, and other fiery missiles were rained on the town with greater fury vand persistence than on any previous occasion. The Rus- sian batteries replied with nearly equal vigour. But the tremendous cannonade of the allies was chiefly intended to cover an attack which had previously been arranged by their generals, and which was to be directed against three of the most important of the Russian defences : the Sapone or white redoubts, the Mamelon, and the quarries which lay between the British position and the Redan. The assaults on the two first-mentioned defences were under- taken by the French, that on the latter by the British: to the Turks was assigned the defence of Inkermann, and the other positions from which the English and French troops were withdrawn. The three attacks were separated from 1855.) ATTACK OF DEFENCES OF SEBASTOPOL. 57 each other by the Varabelnaia and Careening ravines, which, however, served as a shelter for the British and French reserves. The quarries against which the efforts of the English were directed had been converted into rifle- pits, and as they formed a sort of outwork to the Redan, they had to be captured before it could be attacked. Our troops found them undefended, and speedily converted them from a shelter to the defending Russians into a shelter for . the attacking British by reversing their parapets: and then a force amounting only to about a thousand men, supported by artillery, held them against five repeated efforts made to recover them by a very superior Russian force; and so completely were the Russians overmastered by the fire poured on them from our batteries, that some of our officers made their way into the Redan, and, according to the reports they gave, that important fortress might have been captured if the order to take it had been given; but the English general, not being aware of the condition to which it was reduced, would not, with the information he pos- sessed, have been justified in giving an order, which might greatly have accelerated the conclusion of the siege, and might perhaps have led to the immediate capture of the town. Be this as it may, the British troops on this day accomplished the task that had been assigned them. Our allies were no less successful. Bosquet, the ablest of the French generals, commanded the attack on the Mamelon; but it was an enterprise depending less on the skill of the general than on the agility and courage of the assailants. And the Zouaves, to whom the assault had been confided, possessed these qualifications in perfection. They scrambled like monkeys up the hill, carried battery _ after battery at the point of the bayonet, and ended by ' forcing their way into the redoubt that crowned it. But | their precipitation nearly undid what their courage had accomplished. Carried away by an excess of ardour, fn spite of the orders they had received to the contrary, they rushed towards the Malakoff, hoping to be able to carry it in the same manner as the Mamelon. But they were met with such a blast of artillery as compelled them first to stop, and then retreat. At this critical moment the Russian reserves poured down on them, drove them back in great confusion, and reconquered the Mamelon. But the French 58 SEBASTOPOL., [Cuap, I, reserves, under General Brunet, in their turn came on with So impetuous a rush that the Russians were again driven out of the redoubt, and obliged to leave the French masters of the position. 110 THE INDIAN MUTINY. [Cuap. IT. drove away another large force, under the command of Nana Sahib, which was watching the engagement at a little distance. ‘The army entered the residence of Nana Sahib at Bithoor, and took possession of much treasure, which had been concealed in a well. Nearly the whole of the enemy’s artillery was captured; and the army, being over- taken as they were in the act of crossing into Oude, great numbers of them were destroyed. Of course, for the moment Lucknow, being no longer garrisoned, had fallen into the hands of the insurgents; but they were not long permitted to retain it. Strong reinforcements arrived, and. the Indian government was enabled to send a force against Lucknow sufficient to overwhelm all resistance ; and on the 15th of December this important city was in the undisputed possession of the British troops. This final recovery of the capital of Oude decided the reconquest of that country. A struggle was, indeed, maintained for some time longer ; innumerable battles were fought ; and the final subjugation of the country was effected in the month of June, 1858, when Sir H. Rose issued the following general order, which we copy because it gives a just and striking réswmé of the operations of the campaign, which ended in the complete restoration of the British authority in India: J ‘Soldiers, you have marched more than a thousand miles, and taken more than a hundred guns. You have forced your way through mountain passes and intricate jungles, and over rivers ; you have captured the strongest forts, and beat the enemy, no matter what the odds, wherever you met them; you have restored extensive districts to the govern- ment, and peace and order now reign where before for twelve months were tyranny and rebellion: you have done all this, and you have never had a check. I thank you with all sincerity for your bravery, your devotion, and your dis- cipline. When you first marched, I told you that you, as British soldiers, had more than enough of courage for the work which was before you, but that courage without dis- cipline was of no avail; and I exhorted you to let discipline be your watchword. You have attended to my orders. In hardships, in temptations, and in dangers you have obeyed your general, and you have never left your ranks. You | have fought against the strong, and you have protected the rights of the weak and defenceless, of foes as well as friends: 1857. ] SCINDIA. lll I have seen you in the ardour of the combat preserve and place children out of harm’s way. This is the discipline of Christian soldiers, and this it is that has brought you trium- phant from the shores of Western India to the waters of the Jumna, and establishes without doubt that you will find no place to equal the glory of your arms.’ It is true that after the issue of this order there was a momentary renewal of the struggle; that a large body of the defeated rebels in their retreat from Culpee captured Gwalior and deposed Scindia, who throughout the whole of the revolt had steadily adhered to the British. He now fled to Agra, being unable to withstand this unexpected deluge ; but the arrival of the British troops in pursuit of the invaders soon put an end to their brief triumph. Scindia reéntered his capital on the twentieth day of the same month in which he had been driven out of it. When the news of the mutiny began to reach England, it was generally received with that insouciance which has | almost always been displayed with regard to the affairs of that vast and important part of our empire in which it occurred. It was assumed that the outbreaks had been suppressed, or easily would be; and that the next mail or telegram would announce their complete extinction, and the condign punishment of those who had taken part in them. Few, indeed, were aware of the real gravity of the crisis. And when the mutiny had grown into a revolt, and the revolt into a rebellion, the feeling was still the same; a feeling of perhaps overweening confidence in the force and fortune of Hngland. When one sepoy regiment after another was joining the rebellion; when at one post after another the Europeans were massacred or driven away ; when mail after mail brought home news that Delhi was still holding out, that Lucknow was still beleaguered, and that a gigantic effort was being made by the natives of a great portion of India to chase the handful of English out of their country; and above all when accounts of the more and more frightful atrocities practised on our countrymen and countrywomen reached our shores, then a very different feeling arose; not a feeling of fear—for throughout the \ whole of this critical struggle the English people never realised the greatness of the danger that threatened our a government of India—but a cry for vengeance, and ar . 112 THE INDIAN MUTINY. [Cuar, IL. urgent demand that all the resources of the nation should be put forth to maintain our authority and inflict condign punishment on the perpetrators of the crimes that had been committed. These feelings were rendered all the more intense, and these demands all the more loud and imperious, by the terrors and anxieties of the numerous families having relatives or friends in India, who did not know whether they had not already fallen, or might not be the next victims of the ferocity of the revolted sepoys. While this excitement of the public mind was at its height, the subject of the Indian rebellion was brought before the House of Commons by Mr. Disraeli. It was on Monday the 25th of July that his motion was made, and the interest with which the debate was regarded was intensified by the circumstance that the public mind was in a state of feverish impatience for the arrival of the Indian mail, which was already several days overdue. Mr. Disraeli’s motion was for papers; but he delivered a three-hours’ speech, which he concluded by recommending that a royal commission should instantly be sent to India to examine into the grievances of the natives; that a pro- clamation should be issued declaring that the Queen would not sanction the violation of treaties, or the disturbance of property, and that she would respect the laws, customs, and usages of the natives of India. Mr. Disraeli’s motion gave an opportunity of entering into as full a discussiun of the Indian question as was desirable at a moment when the whole energies of the government were, or should have been, concentrated on the object of suppressing the revolt as speedily as possible. Having served this purpose, the motion was not pressed to a division; and an amendment brought forward by Lord J. Russell for an address to her Majesty, assuring her of the cordial support of the house in any measure that might be necessary for the suppression of the disturbances, was unanimously adopted. | Although a motion, which was no doubt brought forward in a spirit of hostility to the government, ended in obtaining for it a unanimous vote, if not of confidence, at least of support, it cannot be denied that the government was chargeable with a very culpable disregard of the state of feeling that existed in India, and especially among the native troops. It might, indeed, be urged that the 1857.] WARNINGS. 113 ignorance and indifference under which they laboured with regard to the most important concerns of our vast Indian empire only too faithfully represented the still greater ignorance and still profounder indifference with which almost all parties in the legislature and in the nation at large regarded the concerns of that vast empire which we had. undertaken to govern; and that if our rulers were careless and ill-informed, the houses of parliament and the people generally were still more careless and still more uninformed. All the debates relating to this, the largest and most valu- able portion of our possessions, up to the time of which we are now writing, had been carried on in the most languid and indifferent manner, in thin houses, and amidst manifold indications of the ignorance which prevailed on the subject, and the careless disregard, and even impatience, with which everything relating to India was received. It was indeed. alleged, and alleged by some of the ministers themselves, that the mutiny was an occurrence which none could have | foreseen, and against which, therefore, no provision could have been made. To show how far this was from being the case—to show that the mutiny was no sudden and accidental outbreak, but an event which had for some time past been coming on, to which the attention of the govern- ment of India had been drawn, and which it might have anticipated and prepared for—we need only refer to a pamphlet published by Colonel Hodgson at Meerut, the very cradle of the mutiny, in 1851, that is, full six years » before the revolt broke out. In that pamphlet the writer proved that the admission of the priestly caste of Brahmins into the ranks of our Indian army, in spite of the positive prohibitions limiting their employment, was the occasion of engendering and fomenting discord and sedition among the native troops. Another source of discord and danger to which he referred was the promotion of native oflicers, which, as he pointed out, failed to animate them to a more zealous and conscientious execution of their professional obligations to the state. ‘On all occasions of discontent and insubordinate caballing,’ wrote the colonel, ‘how very rare it is to see a native officer come forward in a firm and. unequivocal manner to disclose what has come to his know- ledge, and thereby to evince a becoming consciousness of the duty he owes to his own rank and to the government VOL. III. A 114 THE INDIAN MUTINY. (Cuar. II, which conferred it. It would be the height of credulity to imagine the possibility of evil intention existing in the lines without his most entire cognition; and therefore, by failing in moral energy, he virtually becomes an accomplice, shrinking from the manly performance of his duty as a commissioned officer, which imperatively requires a prompt disclosure of such seditious designs. It is lamentable to know that, with his increased rank, he acquires not the slightest perception of his increased responsibility. He still remains in all his feelings and sentiments a common soldier, and seldom assumes the moral tone of a commissioned officer.’ Nor was this the only warning which had been given. The late General Sir Charles Napier, whose high and deserved military reputation gave great weight to his representations, had again and again vainly complained of the inferior character of many of the English officers by whom the native regiments were commanded. The remonstrances of this great soldier and general were thus supported and enforced by Colonel Hodgson: ‘It is chiefly upon the zeal, loyalty, competency, and conciliatory deportment of the European officers that the efficiency and allegiance of the Sepahees must depend. The British officer of the native army must always look upon himself as a very closely-connected part of it; should he in the smallest degree alienate himself from the men, or in any way evince by his demeanour that their interests and professional honour are something distinct from his, or superciliously neglect to become acquainted with all the circumstances of those under his command, he is deficient in a most essential portion of his official qualifications. Unless he is familiar with all their habits and peculiarities, and properly mindful of their just rights and requirements, it is impossible that he can exercise any personal influence amidst trials and dangers, or prove capable of animating them during the arduous and trying scenes of war.’ How far many among them were from possessing these essential qualifications for command the colonel thus pointed out : ‘The European subaltern officer of the native army too generally looks upon the performance of regimental duties as a task irksome, if not humiliating. He has very little ambition to acquire the character of a good regimental 1857.] PROSELYTISM IN INDIA. Bs) officer. He has scarcely joined the corps when his every effort is strained to quit it, so as to escape from what he is apt to pronounce drudgery and thraldom. ... A wide chasm separates the Huropean officer from his native comrade—a gulf in which the dearest interests of the army may be entombed, unless a radical change of relations between the parties is introduced.’ But the causes of this terrible revolt were not military only; they were also religious. There can be no doubt that, whether it arose from carelessness and folly, or from a studied intention to insult the religious prejudices of the Indian soldiery, the suspicions entertained by the sepoys with regard to the greased cartridges were not altogether without foundation; and farther, that the efforts which were being made—with the sanction, or at least the appa- rent sanction, of the Indian government—to convert the natives to Christianity had produced a strong feeling among the Indian people, and especially among the Indian soldiers. The danger of these well-meant but often ill-judged attempts to proselytise had long before been pointed out by Sydney Smith, and they had not escaped the notice of Colonel Hodgson, but had been adverted to in the pamphlet which we have already cited, published six years before the mutiny broke out, or before there was any general suspicion of the slightest danger of such an occurrence. ‘It is very clear,’ wrote the colonel, ‘that the great secret of our success has been a most judicious and careful avoid- ance of every act that would greatly alarm the religious and conventional prejudices of the natives of India, or call in question our national good faith.’ And so too the great cause of the present misfortune had been the impression—that there was an intention to use the influence which belonged to the government to force the English religion, as well as the English rule, on the natives, and especially on the native soldiers. But however much the Indian and the English govern- ments might be blamed for not having given their attention to the danger that existed before the storm arose, they at all events showed no want of energy or activity in meeting it now that it had at length burst forth. We have seen the promptitude with which Sir Colin Campbell was dispatched to the scene of action, and troops were sent after him; not I 2 116 THE INDIAN MUTINY. (Cap. IE, indeed, with sufficient speed to satisfy the unreasonable impatience of the public, or to silence the complaints of the press, but as rapidly as the circumstances of the case and the suddenness of the emergency would allow. The French emperor at this time evinced his fidelity to the alliance he had formed with England, and the sincerity of his desire to maintain a cordial understanding with our government, not only by abstaining from any attempt to take advantage of the embarrassment caused to us by the necessity of sending off every disposable soldier to India, but by offering a passage through France to our troops, in order that they might more speedily arrive at their destination ; an offer which, though not accepted by the English government, entitled him who made it to the grateful remembrance of the English people, and all the more so because, in making it, he sacrificed no small amount of popularity in the country which he governed, and in which at that moment there was a very strong desire to take advantage of the state of momentary defencelessness to which we were reduced by the Indian insurrection. The Indian rebellion was certain to draw after it a very large measure of those internal evils which every great war produces. And these evils were the more acutely felt, because the country had scarcely recovered from the effects of the Crimean war. There was much depression of trade and manufactures, and great derangement of our monetar system—so great, in fact, as to threaten the stability of the Bank of England itself, and to render it necessary to take extraordinary measures in order to enable it to meet the demands made on it. The government, having been appealed to by the governors of the Bank, and made acquainted with the critical position in which they were » placed, resolved, as the only means of avoiding a suspension - of payment on the part of that establishment, to authorise a temporary violation of the bank charter as settled by the act of 1844, and to summon parliament in order to obtain - an indemnity. The announcement of this decision took the country by surprise, and the more so as parliament had a short time before been prorogued to a period which indi« cated an intention on the part of the government not to summon it for business before the usual time. The session was opened on the 3d of December, the Queen attending in 1857.] THE BANK CHARTER. vay person, and delivering a speech which contained the follow- ing clause, showing that the government had resolved to introduce farther measures for the reform of parliament during the coming session: ‘ Your attention will be called to the laws which regulate the representation of the people in parliament, with a view to consider what amendments may be safely and beneficially made therein.’ Seldom in the whole course of its history had the bank been placed in a more critical position. The provisions of the bank-charter act restricting the issue of notes had ¢ been found inexecutable, and were therefore suspended. The authority for this suspension was communicated in a | letter addressed by the first lord of the Treasury to the governors of the Bank. The reason assigned for this step was the failure of certain mercantile and trading establish- ments, and the consequent withdrawal from circulation of a large amount of paper-money. But the true motive for the relaxation was the condition to which the Bank itself was reduced, which was such that, without the liberty thus afforded, it would have been unable to meet the demands made on it. On Wednesday November the 18th, when the accounts were made up, it appeared that there were in the Bank notes and gold to the value of 1,462,153/., while the deposits that might at any time be drawn out amounted to 18,248,003/7. On the following day the liabilities of the Bank were upwards of 4,000,000/. more than they had been in the preceding July, while its available resources were more than 4,000,000/. less than they had been at that time. Tf therefore the act of 1844 had been strictly carried out, the Bank must have failed. Under these circumstances the government sanctioned the suspension of the act in this respect, and the Bank at once issned notes for 180,000/. more than the law permitted. Having done this necessary but illegal act, the government determined to hold a December session and ask parliament to indemnify them for their unavoidable violation of the law. This ses- sion lasted only eight days, and was terminated on the 11th of December by an adjournment to the 4th of February. There were other events besides those we have recorded which render this year remarkable. While the great struggle was going on which was to determine whether Jndia should be preserved or lost to England, the Social- 118 THE INDIAN MUTINY. (Crap. IT. Science Association was being founded, the South Ken- sington Museum established, the noble reading-room of the British Museum inaugurated, the Art-treasures Exhibition held at Manchester, and the first Handel festival at the Crystal Palace. Great efforts were being made to convey the electric telegraph across the Atlantic, which, though not successful, encouraged the hope of future success. The Leviathan or Great Eastern, by far the most gigantic steam-ship ever constructed, was brought to a completion; and though the attempts to launch her had not as yet succeeded, there was no doubt that she would in the course of the next few months be floating in the element for which she was destined. Mr. Macaulay was raised to the peerage, and Mr. Bright elected member for Birmingham, during his absence from England through illness. Parliament resumed its sittings on the day to which it had been adjourned. On the 12th of February the govern- ment introduced into the House of Commons a bill for the transfer of the government of India from the Company to the Crown; thus obeying the demands of public opinion, which required, especially since the recent rebellion, that the division of authority which had hitherto prevailed in the administration of that great and important possession should at once and for ever be put an end to. We will not enter into any examination of the details of the measure thus brought forward; for a speedy and unexpected catastrophe caused it to be withdrawn shortly after its introduction, under circumstances to which it is necessary that we should briefly refer. On the 14th of January a most determined attempt was made to assassinate the French emperor, as he was being driven to the opera with the empress and General Roquet. Just as the carriage in which they were riding entered the Rue Lepelletier, a bomb was thrown at it, which instantly exploded and killed twenty persons, without injuring the carriage or its occupants. Almost immediately after, a second bomb was thrown, killing one of the horses, and con- sequently stopping the carriage. A third bomb burst im- mediately under the vehicle with a tremendous explosion ; but though the carriage itself was almost blown to pieces, its occupants escaped with only very trifling injuries. A man who, at the moment of the last explosion, rushed for- 1853. ] LETTER OF COUNT WALEWSKI. 119 ward with a dagger and a revolver to accomplish his mur- derous object was seized by a sergent de ville, and appre- hended after a violent struggle, in which his captor was wounded. Just before the attempt was made, aman named Pierri, a refugee who had recently entered France with a forged passport, was recognised and appredended with a bomb in his possession similar to those that had been em- ployed in the murderous attempt, as well as other arms. On the following morning Felix Orsini, who seems to have been the leader of this gang of assassins, wasarrested. As these men had come from London, where they had made their preparations for this atrocious attempt, a great num- ber of the French people felt hurt and indignant that, after an alliance so close and so loyal, after the recent sympathy manifested towards England at the time of the outbreak of the Indian war, we should harbour such a crew of villains, - and allow the murderous weapons they employed to be con- structed without taking steps to prevent this gross abuse of our hospitality. It was felt to be unjust that shelter should be afforded to the assassins of a friendly prince, which would not be afforded to the assassins of the meanest of his subjects. Accordingly Count Walewski, the minis- ter of foreign affairs at Paris, wrote to Count Persigny, the French ambassador at London, a letter which strongly, but not too strongly, expressed the feeling with which the har- bouring of such criminals was regarded by the French government and people. ‘Itis no longer,’ he wrote, ‘ the hostility of misguided parties manifesting itself by all the excesses of the press and every violence of language; it is no longer even the labour of factions seeking to agitate opinion and to provoke disorder; it is assassination re- duced to a doctrine, preached openly, practised in repeated attempts, the most recent of which has struck EKurope with stupefaction. Ought, then, the right of asylum to protect such a state of things? Is hospitality due to assassins P Shall English legislation serve to favour their designs and their manceuvres? and can it continue to protect persons who place themselves by flagrant acts without the pale of the common law ?’ Representations in accordance with the instructions thus conveyed were made to the English government by the French ambassador, and favourably received. Lord Palmerston and his colleagues resolved to 120 THE INDIAN MUTINY. [Cuap. IT. bring into parliament a measure bearing on the subject; and in conformity with this determination Lord Palmers- ton on the 9th of February introduced a bill for the punishment of conspiracy to murder ; and though its intro- duction was strongly opposed by Mr. Kinglake, who moved an amendment, leave to bring in the bill was carried by a majority of 299 to99. The measure, however, was brought forward under circumstances which strongly tended to rouse the passions of the English nation, and to prevent the bill from obtaining a calm and candid consideration. Addresses had been presented to the emperor from certain members of the French army, some of them holding the rank of colonel, which, while congratulating him on his wonderful escape, contained menaces but too well calculated to wound the susceptibility of the English people. One of these addresses spoke of them as the protectors of ‘assassins surpassing those who had gone before them in all that was odious ;’ another stated that their indignation moved them ‘to demand an account of the land of impunity which contains the haunts of the monsters who are sheltered by its laws. Give us the order, sire, and we will pursue them even to their strongholds.’ A third address was couched in these terms: ‘ Let the miserable assassins, the subordin- ate agents of such crimes, receive the chastisement due to their abominable attempts; but let also the infamous haunt in which machinations so infernal are planned be destroyed for ever.’ This martial balderdash would probably have been treated in England with the contempt it deserved, if it had not unfortunately been inserted in the Monitewr, the organ of the French government, and thus received, or at least appeared to receive to a certain extent, the stamp of the approbation of the French government. It was thought that the French were taking advantage of the critical posi- tion in which the Indian revolt had placed us in order to coerce our government. ‘The consequence was, that the spirit of this country was thoroughly roused, and it was determined to meet menace with defiance. The measure brought in by Lord Palmerston was regarded as an unworthy concession to the bombastic threats of the French colonels ; and many who at another time would have been disposed to support it, now refused to give it any consideration. In 1858.} DEFEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT. 121 vain did Count Walewski endeavour to remove the unfor- tunate feeling which these addresses had roused in this country, by expressing his regret at their publication, and explaining that it had arisen from inadvertence, caused by the number of the addresses presented. These apologies and explanations, ample and sincere as they were, did not succeed in allaying the indignation that had been awakened. The claims which the French emperor had established on the friendly feeling of this country were forgotten, and there was a strong combination of parties to defeat the government measure. On the question of the introduction | of the bill, Mr. Roebuck, Lord John Russell, Mr. Disraeli, and Mr. Monckton Milnes, declared themselves against it. When the second reading was proposed, on the 19th of February, Mr. Milner Gibson moved the following amend- ment: ‘ That this house hears with much concern that it is alleged that the recent attempt on the life of the emperor of the French has been devised in England, and expresses its detestation of such a wicked enterprise; and that while the house is ready at all times to assist in remedying any defects in the criminal law which, after due investigation, are proved to exist, yet it cannot but regret that her Majesty’s government, previously to inviting the house to amend the law of conspiracy at the present time, have not felt it their duty to make some reply to the important despatch received from the French government, dated Paris, January 22nd, 1858, and which has been laid before parliament.’ In the debate that followed Mr. Gladstone joined the opponents of the government. When the House divided at the close of the debate the numbers were : For the amendment ‘ ‘ : ° ° . . 234 Against . : : é ; : ° e . 216 Majority against the government . oat iy Ae Such was the answer the House of Commons gave, not so much to Lord Palmerston as to the foolish threats of the French colonels. Many of those who thus voted did not wish to overthrow the government; and as the question was not a very vital one, Lord Palmerston might have appealed to the House of Commons for a vote of confi- dence, which would probably have been accorded to him, and the house, after having exhaled its ill-humour, might an 122 THE INDIAN MUTINY. [Cuar, II. perhaps have permitted him to proceed with his bill, or to substitute for it and carry another measure of a similar character and equal efficacy. But Lord Palmerston, who, though ambitious of office, never manifested any undue tenacity in the retention of it, determined to follow the rigorously constitutional though less convenient course, and at once resigned, leaving the fate of the Indian bill in the hands of a government which would probably not be able to command a majority in the house. Just before his resignation he received intelligence of the triumph of his Chinese policy, and of the capture of Canton by the British troops. On the resignation of Lord Palmerston, Lord Derby was sent for by the Queen, and with some difficulty formed an administration, the principal members of which were: First Lord of the Treasury a . Earl of Derby. Lord Chancellor ; : . Lord Chelmsford. Lord President of the Council Marquis of Salisbury. Lord Privy Seal . . : Earl of Hardwicke. Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr. Disraeli. Home Secretary . : . Mr. Walpole. Foreign Secretary - Karl of Malmesbury. Colonial Secretary . . Lord Stanley. War Secretary . - ins Colonel Peel. Indian Board of Control Lord Ellenborough, President of Board of Trade ’ . Mr, Henley. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Duke of Montrose. Postmaster-general . ; : . Lord Colchester. First Lord of the Admiralty ° Sir J. Pakington. Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . : . The Earl of Kglinton. Chief Secretary for Ireland . . . Lord Naas. ‘Woods and Forests. : ° Lord J. Manners. On Monday the 1st of March, the parliament having re- assembled after the adjournment, which had been carried in order to allow the new minister time to make the neces- sary arrangements, Lord Derby rose in his place in the House of Lords to explain the circumstances under which he had assumed the government of the country. He excused himself from entering into a full statement of the policy which he would endeavour to carry out, on account of the shortness of the time that had elapsed since he took office and the late period of the session; but he referred to two questions which appeared to him specially to demand the attention of the government; the first of these was the question of the changes to be effected in the system of (1858. THE NEW MINISTRY. 128 government, or rather the constitution of the home govern- ment, of India; the other was the question of parliamentary reform. On both these questions he expressed an opinion that it would have been better at present to have let them alone; but he at the same time acknowledged that, after the feeling that had been manifested with respect to them by the House of Commons, and after the manner in which the latter question had been referred to in several speeches from the throne, 'he thought that it would be his duty to try and effect a settlement of them. As the preceding government had been thrown out of office on the ground that it had not sent an answer to the note of Count Walewski, one of the first duties that devolved on the new ministry was to send the answer which their predecessors had been censured for not having given. ‘The reply was of course written by Lord Malmes- bury the foreign secretary, who remarked in it that the language employed by Count Walewski in his letter had ‘not unnaturally been understood to imply imputations not only that the offences enumerated are not recognised as such by the English law, and may be committed with im- punity, but that the spirit of English legislation is such as designedly to shelter and screen the offender from punish- ment. Her Majesty’s government are persuaded, that had Count Walewski known, when his excellency held with your lordship the conversation to which I have adverted above, that such a construction was put on certain portions of his despatch of January 20th, he would have no difficulty in adding to the assurance then given the assurance that nothing could have been farther from his intention than to convey an imputation injurious alike to the morality and honour of the British nation.’ On the 12th of Marcha reply to this communication was received from the French government which enabled Mr. Disraeli to announce to the House of Commons the same evening that the unfortunate misunderstanding which had recently existed between the two countries was now entirely terminated in a manner alike friendly and honourable, and which would be as satisfactory to the feelings as it was conducive to the interests of the two countries. On the 26th of March it fell to the lot of Mr. Disraeli, as leader of the House of Commons, to introduce the India 124 YHE INDIAN MUTINY. ‘[Cuap. IL bill of the new government, known at the time as India bill No. 2, in order to distinguish it from the bill that had previously been brought in by Lord Palmerston. As this measure, like No. 1, never went beyond its first reading, we need not enter into any description of it. A storm of ridicule and unpopularity arose against it, and it soon became evident that there was no chance of its passing. At this crisis, Lord J. Russell came forward and suggested that the house should deal with the question by way of resolution. Mr. Disraeli very cordially accepted Lord John Russell’s proposal, and offered to allow him to move the resolutions. As, however, this arrangement was strongly objected to, on the ground that it was incompat- ible with ministerial responsibility, Mr. Disraeli himself brought forward resolutions on which a third bill might be founded, that he hoped would make its way through the house and be finally adopted. But before they came under the consideration of the house, an incident occurred which had nearly occasioned the dissolution of the newly-formed government. Lord Canning sent back the draft of a pro- clamation he proposed to issue, announcing a scheme of confiscation open to very grave objection, and which would probably have caused the nearly-extinguished flame of re- bellion to burst forth with renewed fury. Against the policy thus announced, Lord Ellenborough wrote a strongly- worded protest, which ought to have been kept secret till it had reached its destination. However, copies of it were sent to Lord Granville, the intimate friend of Lord Can- ning, and Mr. Bright, the leader of the party which advo- cated a mild and generous policy towards the natives of India. The consequence was, that the purport of the pro- posed proclamation and of Lord Ellenborough’s strictures on it became known; and Lord Shaftesbury in the House of Lords, and Mr. Cardwell in the House of Commons, brought forward motions which were in fact censures on the ministry, and which if carried would probably have caused another change of government. ‘This result was averted by the resignation of Lord Ellenborough. It was afterwards found that objections similar to those which had been made by Lord Ellenborough had been raised by Sir James Outram in India, and that the proclamation had been modified by Lord Canning in accordance with his re- _1858.] MR. CARDWELL’S MOTION WITHDRAWN. = 125 presentations. Lord Shaftesbury’s motion had already been rejected by the Lords, and after a protracted debate, extending over four nights, Mr. Cardwell withdrew that which he had proposed, in deference to the wishes and | opinions of several members who had previously intended to have supported it. The circumstances which accom- — panied this withdrawal were thus triumphantly depicted by Mr. Disraeli in an address delivered at Slough to the con- servative electorsof Buckinghamshire on the 26th of May, five days after the occurrence of the scene which he described : ‘There is nothing like that last Friday evening in the history of the House of Commons. We came down to the house expecting to divide at four o’clock in the morning ; I myself probably expecting to deliver an address two hours after midnight; and I believe that, even with the _ consciousness of a good cause, that is no mean effort. Well, gentlemen, we were all assembled ; our benches with their serried ranks seemed to rival those of our proud opponents; when suddenly there arose a wail of distress, but not from us. I can only liken the scene to the mutiny of the Bengal army. Regiment after regiment, corps after corps, general after general, all acknowledged that they could not march through Coventry. It was like a convulsion of nature rather than an ordinary transaction of human life. I can only liken it to one of those earthquakes which take place in Calabria and Peru. There was a rumbling murmur, a groan, a shriek, a sound of distant thunder. No one knew whether it came from the top or the bottom of the house. There was a rent, a fissure in the ground, and then .a village disappeared, then a tall tower toppled down, and the whole of the opposition benches became one great dis- solving view of anarchy.’ Perhaps a more splendid specimen of high art in word- painting, of an extravagantly-imaginative and decorative description, was never exhibited. It brings to the mind some of Martin’s great pictures; only it has the advantage over them that motion has over rest, and the representation of the succession of events over the representation of their contemporaneous occurrence. The speech provoked more criticism perhaps than any address on a similar occasion ever was subjected to. It was repeatedly referred to in both houses; and Lord Derby, in defending and justifying 126 THE INDIAN MUTINY. [Cuap. IT. it, thus alluded to the passage we have quoted from it: ‘I felt eminently convinced that, great as was the wit, great as was the clearness, great as was the humour of this most graphic description—that which most peculiarly appertained to it was its undeniable truth. There was no exaggeration even of colouring; for no exaggeration could be applied to that matchless scene at which—I shall remember it to the last day of my life—I had the good fortune to be pre- sent.’ The passage which attracted so much attention was by no means the only portion of this clever and remarkable address that was subjected to adverse criticism. Two other statements it contained gave serious offence to the late ministry and their supporters, and were strongly contro- verted. In one of them Mr. Disraeli had applied to the late ministry the term ‘cabal,’ and in the other he had alleged that war with France was imminent when the late ministry quitted office. These allegations were indignantly denied by the members of the late government, but main- tained and insisted on by Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli. After all these discussions and interruptions, the House of Commons returned to the disagreeable but indispensable business of the consideration of the resolutions on which the India bill No.3 was to be based. They were under the charge of Lord Stanley, and were subject to the especially- severe criticism and animadversion of Lord J. Russell, at whose suggestion the plan of proceeding by resolution had been originally adopted. After long and careful delibera- tion, and much modification, the resolutions were at length _ agreed to, and embodied in a bill by which it was proposed that the government of India should be transferred from the Company to the Crown. A secretary of state for India was to be appointed, who was to be assisted by a council of fifteen, to hold office ‘during good behaviour. Hight members of this council were to be nominated by the crown, and seven, for the first time, by the board of directors, and afterwards by the council itself. One great feature of this measure was the introduction into it of the system of com- petitive examinations for the various civil offices, which had _ hitherto been in the patronage of the board of directors. | This system had been advocated by Mr. Edwin Chadwick | in the year 1827, in which year he brought it forward in a 1858.] COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION. 127 paper on the administration of the medical charities in France. It was now powerfully urged by his friend Mr. Mill; and the government, which would probably have strenuously resisted such an attempt to interfere with its patronage in England, consented, without much reluctance, to a trial of the experiment in India. And thus a principle was inaugurated which was afterwards extended to branches of the home service to which it seemed to be peculiarly applicable—the engineers anq She artillery—with such suc- cess, that it will no doubt be employed in every branch of the public service to which it can be applied. The grounds on which this great change was advocated have been laid down by Mr. Mill with his usual force and clearness: ‘The proposal to select candidates for the civil service of government by a competitive examination appears to me to be one of those great public improvements, the adoption of which would form an era in history. The effects which it is calculated to produce in raising the character both of the public administration and of the people can scarcely be over-estimated. It has equal claims to support from the disinterested and impartial among Conservatives and among Reformers. For its adoption would be the best vindication which could be made of existing political institutions, by showing that the classes who under the present constitution have the greatest influence in the government do not desire any greater share of the profits derivable from it than their merits entitle them to, but are willing to take the chances of competition with ability in all ranks; while the plan offers to Liberals, so far as it extends, the realisation of the principal object which any honest reformer desires to effect by political changes, namely, that the administration of affairs should be in the most competent hands, which, as regards the permanent part of the administrative body, would be insured by the proposed plan, so far as it is pos- sible for any human contrivance to secure it. When we add to this consideration the extraordinary stimulus which would be given to mental cultivation in its most important branches, not solely by the hope of prizes to be obtained by means of it, but by the effect of the national recognition of it as the exclusive title to participation in the conduct of so large and conspicuous a portion of the national affairs; and when we farther think of the great and salutary moral 128 THE INDIAN MUTINY. [Cuap. IT. revolution, descending to the minds of almost the lowest classes, which would follow the knowledge that government (to people in general the most trusted exponent of the ways of the world) would henceforth bestow its gifts according to merit and not to favour, it is difficult to express in any language which would not appear exaggerated, the benefits which, as it appears to me, would ultimately be the conse- quences of the successful execution of the scheme.’ Such were the arguments which induced the government and the legislature to adopt the principle of competitive examinations. And now it may be asked, How far have the anticipations of advantage been actually fulfilled in the result P ‘It cannot be denied,’ says Mr. Chadwick, ‘ that compe- tition has raised the average of service; it has insured a more hard-working and steady average of officers—a more frugal and more moral average, a higher social average, with fewer snobs. With important and valuable exceptions of a few men from the ranks, the social condition of the average, instead of being lowered, has-remained much the same, and rather advanced. Members of the aristocracy enter into competition, and, with the advantages of special culture, maintain their own. The Horse Guards bemoaned, in respect to the army, the prospect of having the service filled with mere feeble “ bookworms.” Harl Grey lamented this, which, he would have it, was an inevitable conse- quence of the scheme. Now the fact is, that the average not only exceeds the former average in mental acquire- ments, but, what I confess I was not prepared to expect, it turns out a better average of bodily acquirement. The Woolwich cadets, who have a higher order of mental acquirement than those of Sandhurst, beat them in athletic exercises, and also beat their seniors, the non-competitives. The average of bodily attainment, with much more yet to do, has decidedly improved. Then we have, at the same time, to look to the promise on the other side of the account —of the removal of corrupt political influence on constitu- encies and in parliament, as well as the reduction of waste from inefficiency in the executive business of the country. We heard the other day a member of a conservative ad- ministration declare, from this chair, that there is already little or no political patronage worth haying. And last 1858. ] PURIFICATION OF THE THAMES. 123. week I heard a leading liberal parliamentary agent state that the new measure, the public benefits of which he acknowledged, had deprived him of accustomed and potent means of electoral influence.’ We may note here the quiet settlement of a question which had long agitated the legislature and the country, and to the agitation carried on in favour of which we have already more than once had occasion to refer. On the Ist of July the long-standing controversy on the subject of the Jewish disabilities received its quietus by means of a com- promise suggested by Lord Lucan, which was in fact a sur- render by the House of Lords of the principle which it had hitherto so obstinately maintained. The suggestion was, that each house should have the power to modify, according to its pleasure, the form of oath to be administered to its members. A bill embodying this suggestion having been | carried rapidly through its various stages, and the form of oath in the lower house having been altered in such a way as to allow of its being taken by a Jew, was administered in its amended form to Baron Rothschild, who was allowed, without farther opposition, to occupy the seat in the house from which he had so long been debarred. An almost tropical heat, and a pestilential stench from the Thames, which neither black rod nor sergeant-at-arms could keep out of the halls of parliament, made the mem- bers of both houses more than usually anxious to bring. to a termination their legislative work, and hasten as quickly as possible into a purer atmosphere; and the government, for many reasons, was only too anxious to gratify this desire. But before the session closed, ministers very properly determined to abate the intolerable nuisance which had so unpleasantly forced itself on their notice. Accordingly, on Thursday July the 15th, Mr. Disraeli moved for leave to bring in a bill for the main drainage of the metropolis; a work which it was calculated would cost at least 3,000,0002. It was proposed that parliament should impose a special rate on the metropolis for the purpose of purifying the river and completing the main drainage of the metropolis ; the money to be borrowed on the guarantee of the government, and repaid by a special rate of, dd. in the pound, to be called the sewage rate, in forty years, by annual instalments; the work to be completed in five years VOL, III. K 1350 - THE INDIAN MUTINY. (Cuap. II. and a half. The expenditure of the money and the carry- ing out of the object of the bill was to be intrusted to the metropolitan board of works. The bill went through its various stages with few alterations. On Monday the 2nd of August parliament was prorogued by commission; and on the following Wednesday the Queen and Prince Albert started from Portsmouth on board the Victoria and Albert steam yacht, and attended by a large convoy, to meet the Himperor and Empress of the French at Cherbourg, and to assist at the fétes held in that town on the occasion of the inauguration of a new Napoleon dock and a statue of the First Napoleon. Thus the ministry of a minority had, under the deft and dextrous guidance of Mr. Disraeli, passed through the session without sustaining any defeat, and their leader had cleverly managed to give toa great escape the semblance of a great victory. But it was not by any feats of political legerdemain, however skilful, that public support was to be obtained for a ministry which existed not so much on the sufferance as on the divisions of its opponents, by which the great liberal majority was broken up into frag- ments. There was a party led by Lord J. Russell; another led by Lord Palmerston ; another consisting of the Peelites, as they were called, few in number but formidable on account of their great legislative and administrative capa- city as well as their eloquence; and lastly there was the party which had forced on a reluctant and protectionist legislature the adoption of a free-trade policy, and which, under the able and eloquent leadership of Messrs. Cobden and Bright, would probably have attached to itself all the other sections of the liberal party, if those eminent men had not chosen to sacrifice power and popularity rather than yield to the warlike passions and prejudices of their fellow-countrymen. But the clever leaders of the conservative party did not rely only on the divisions of their opponents. They were well aware that, unless they could obtain a greater amount of public confidence and support than they at present possessed, they could not exercise power, nor long continue to retain their places ; and they felt at once the necessity and the difficulty of putting forth a programme of their policy. Something must be done to conciliate public 1858. | THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 131 opinion; yet what change could be proposed that would not rouse the opposition of their extreme followers? . They met this difficulty by putting forward a cry instead of a programme, and talking about ‘conservative progress ;’ a phrase too vague to cause alarm to the most decided re- actionist, and yet holding out the promise that the existence of a conservative government would not altogether stop the march of improvement. While the Queen and the Emperor were exchanging civilities at Cherbourg, and cementing the existing alliance between France and England, the Agamemnon and Niagara had succeeded, in spite of most unfavourable weather, in depositing the electric cable at the bottom of the Atlantic ; and messages of congratulation on the result thus achieved were transmitted between the Queen of England and the President of the United States, and between the Mayors of London and New York. Great was the joy which the tidings of this scientific success caused in the two countries, especially in the United States. But the signals became fainter and fainter; at length they ceased altogether ; yet no explanation could be afforded of the cause of their cessation. It was, however, alleged that the electric current went feebly and only for a short distance ; and it was there- fore hoped that the failure had occurred in the shallow water near the Irish coast, and in a portion of the cable weaker than the rest, and which had been temporarily laid down, for the purpose of being afterwards replaced. This , hope, however, was disappointed; and for the present this great and bold exper.ment had failed. The Chinese war was brought to a close towards the end of the year by a treaty, of which it was observed at the time that it was ‘highly satisfactory on paper.’ It was found on trial to be tolerably satisfactory in its practical working. The Oxford middle-class examination, now known as the ‘University local examination,’ commenced at Oxford on the 21st of June; and the example thus set was followed by the sister university of Cambridge in December. The admission of girls to the university examinations was not obtained till 1865. Before the end of the year 1858 a proclamation was issued announcing the transfer of the government of India K 2 132 THE INDIAN MUTINY. (Cua. II. from the Company to the Crown, in conformity with the provisions of the act which had been passed for that pur- pose; and very shortly after, the commander-in-chief of the Indian army, Sir Colin Campbell, who had been raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Clyde, was able officially to announce to the governor-general that the last vestiges of the rebellion had been trampled out, and that the last bands of the insurgents had been driven across the frontiers of our possessions into the kingdom of Nepaul. The desire for parliamentary reform had never ceased to exist ; but the agitation of the question had been to a great extent suspended during the years that had passed between the collapse of Chartism in 1848 and the period we have now reached. The attention of the legislature and the country had been engrossed by the Great Exhibition, by the Crimean, Chinese, Persian, and Indian wars, and by other events of less importance. The consequence was that the consideration of this question had, with general consent, been postponed to a more convenient season. Now, however, the state of parties favoured the revival of its agitation ; and towards the close of this year several large and important meetings were held for the purpose of mani- festing the feeling. In this agitation Mr. Bright took the lead. He had now recovered from the very serious illness under which he had been suffering, and which for nearly two years had prevented him from transacting any kind of business. He attended very large and important meet- ings at Birmingham, Manchester, and Glasgow; and at the earnest request of the parties who were engaged in this agitation, he reluctantly consented to prepare a measure. Accordingly he drew up a bill conferring the borough franchise on all persons rated to the relief of the poor, and on all lodgers who paid a rent of ten pounds, reducing the franchise in the counties to a ten-pound rental, laying the expenses of the returning-officer on the county or borough rate, prescribing that votes should be taken by ballot, wholly disfranchising eighty-six boroughs, taking away one member from thirty-four other boroughs, and trans- ferring the seats thus obtained to the larger towns, counties, and divisions of counties. The measure was one that very happily and exactly met the wishes and aspira- tions of the really-earnest reformers throughout the 1858.] REFORM AGITATION RENEWED. 133 country, and obtained a very decided support from them. It is true that the feeling exhibited in favour of it was far inferior in intensity to that which had prevailed in 1831 and 1832. For this there were many reasons. The abuses of our representative system were not nearly so glaring as those which existed before the passing of the first reform bill; the influence of public opinion was much more power- ful than it had been; class-legislation was on the wane ; the number of those who constituted the electoral body was proportionately much larger, the number of those excluded from it was proportionably smaller; the condition of the country was very different, for instead of the suffering that prevailed in 1851, and affected almost every class and description of persons, there was in 1858 general prosperity and contentment. All these circumstances tended to abate the eagerness with which a reform of our electoral system was demanded. Nevertheless a strong feeling in favour of such a reform existed at this time, and its existence is proved by the fact that not only Lord J. Russell and Lord Palmerston were prepared to deal with the question, but that even Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli, knowing as they did the perils they would have to encounter not only from their political opponents, but also, and perhaps even more formidably, from the more extreme section of their political supporters, felt that the only course open to them was that of boldly braving these dangers, and staking the existence of their government on the success of a measure for the reform of parliament. Their intention to do this, though not known, was suspected; and it was generally believed at the end of this year that a measure of parliamentary reform would be announced in the Queen’s speech, and introduced at an early period of the approaching session. Both parties were therefore looking forward, not indeed with strongly-excited feelings such as the question had formerly raised, but still with a certain anxious and feverish curiosity, for the introduction of the bill which the cabinet of Lord Derby was understood to be engaged in framing, and to the struggle for which it would be sure to be the signal in the next parliamentary session. 134 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. CHAPTER III. THE FRENCH TREATY. Ir was certainly a bold stroke of policy on the part of the conservative administration to bring forward a reform. bill; and if we regard politics merely in the light of a game, in which office is the prize of the most adroit or lucky player, we cannot but bestow unmixed praise on this move on the political chess-board, as being the one that was best calculated to check-mate the opponents of the government, and to afford it the best chance of converting the minority by which it was supported into a majority. But it was a move of great delicacy and danger. : Two things which it was exceedingly difficult to combine were absolutely necessary to its success. The reform bill of the ministry must not too much alarm the ultra Tories, and at the same time must commend itself to the country as a bold and statesmanlike measure, which extended the fran- chise and improved the representative system of the country, And though it would have been very difficult, it perhaps might not have been impossible to unite these two seeming incompatibilities. For the Whig party had dealt with this question in such a manner as to have forfeited the confidence of the country. Up to the year 1831 they had manifested marked indifference to the question ; then, indeed, they had given a warm support to the great reform bill; but they supported it not so much because they regarded it as a measure desirable on its own merits, as because it was vehemently demanded by the nation, and likely to give the party that carried it through both houses along tenure of power and office. When that measure was passed, they relapsed into their former indifference, and in fact showed no more disposition to entertain the question than the Conservatives themselves; and there can be little doubt that one of the chief reasons why Lord Pal- 1859.] THE REFORM BILL. 135 merston was preferred to Lord J. Russell was, that the hostility with which the former regarded reform was much more in accordance with the secret feelings of the leaders of the Whig party than the zeal which Lord J. Russell mani- fested in favour of it. If, therefore, the conservative ministry had brought forward a plain, decided, and coura- geous measure of reform, itis very probable that the Whigs would not have tried to outbid them; and in that case it is quite possible that they might have carried with them the sympathies of the people, wearied and disgusted at the manner in which the question had been played with for party purposes by the Whigs, and on an appeal to the nation might have obtained the support of many sincere reformers, and at the same time have succeeded in per- suading the extreme men of their own party that, the question being one which must be settled soon, it was better that it should be dealt with by a conservative government rather than by their opponents. But instead of proposing a simple, straightforward measure, which would have been at once understood by the country, they framed one of a very complicated description, and which contained provisions so strong that Mr. Walpole could truly say with regard to it, ‘It was one which we should all of us have stoutly opposed if either Lord Palmerston or Lord J. Russell had brought it forward ;’ and yet, on the other hand, it was not calculated to excite any enthusiasm in its favour either in the country or in the legislature. Before parliament met, two of the most eminent members of the conservative government had retired from it, and that on the express ground of their disapproval of the reform bill, which the majority of their colleagues had determined to introduce. This defection was the more damaging because they were men of very high integrity, entertaining opinions with regard to the reform question shared by that large portion of the conservative party which viewed all reform with jealousy, and only acquiesced in the introduction of a measure on the subject by their own party as a means of preventing a still strongef measure from being carried by the party opposed to them However, notwithstanding this ominous loss, the governs ment determined to meet parliament, and to lay before 136 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. IIT. it the measure which had been carefully prepared during the vacation. The session was opened on Thursday the 8rd of February by the Queen in person. The speech from the throne recommended the reconstruction of the navy; 8 point on which it was noticed that her Majesty, in her reading of the speech, dwelt with marked emphasis; and it was expected from the terms employed that a very large demand would be made on the nation for the purpose. It was, therefore, an agreeable surprise to the legislature and the nation when it subsequently turned out that Sir J. Pakington asked no more than 1,000,0001. for the per- formance of the operation which had been so magnilo- quently announced. The sum required seemed to show either that the required reconstruction was not very exten- sive, or that it would be effected at a cheap rate. The portion of the speech which naturally excited the greatest interest, although it only announced what was already generally known, was that which referred to the intended introduction of a reform bill. Accordingly, on the 28th of February, Mr. Disraeli explained the measure of the government, and asked leave to introduce it. The house was crowded in all its parts as it is only crowded when some question of grave and serious importance is to be brought forward. The bill proposed to give a vote in boroughs to persons who had property to the amount;of 10J. a year in the funds, bank stock, or Hast Indian stock; to persons having 60/. in a savings’ bank ; to the recipients of pensions in the nayal, military, and civil services amounting to 201. a year; to the inhabitants of a portion of any house whose aggregate rent was 20/. per annum; to graduates, ministers of reli- gion, members of the legal and medical professions, and, under certain defined circumstances, to schoolmasters. It proposed to remedy the working of the celebrated Chandos clause of the reform bill of 1832 by extending the 100. household franchise to the counties; an arrangement, which it was calculated would add two hundred thousand to the number of the county electors. The bill was allowed to be brought in without opposition, but very strong objections were entertained against it by men of all parties in the house. The problem which its framers 1859.] DEFEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT. 137 had sought to solve appears to have been how to increase the number of voters throughout the kingdom in such a way as to secure the return of a conservative majority. But though this seems to have been the aim of those who devised the bill, the majority of the conservative party seriously doubted, and probably with justice, whether the proposed end would be attained by the measure. The interval that elapsed between the first and the second read- ing of the bill by no means improved its prospects or strengthened the position of the government. However, the greater part of the conservative party faithfully, though not without much murmuring and dissatisfaction, followed their leaders, and a great struggle took place when the question of the second reading was brought forward by Mr. Disraeli. On the 21st of March Lord John Russell proposed the - following amendment: ‘ That it is neither just nor politic to interfere in the manner proposed in the government bill with the freehold franchise as hitherto exercised in the counties of England and Wales; and that no readjustment of the franchise will satisfy the house or the country which does not provide for a greater extension of the suffrage in cities and boroughs than is contemplated in the present measure.’ The debate on the question of the second read- ing extended over nearly two weeks, at the close of which a division took place, when the numbers were— For Lord J. Russell’s amendment . : ‘ . ° . 300 Against . ; : : ; Z ° ° ° ° «20k Majority against the government ww ee . an ae Thus the almost unequalled number of 621 members was present and voted on this division. Ministers had only two courses which, under the circumstances, they could take without dishonour—they must either resign or dissolve. They chose the latter alternative. As soon as this decision became known, the interest of the public was swiftly turned from the moribund House of Commons to the constituencies by which the new House was to be elected. The grounds on which the government made its appeal from the decision of the Commons to those whom they represented were ably and concisely stated in 138 THE FRENCH TREATY. (Cuap. IIT. Mr. Disraeli’s address to his Buckinghamshire constituents, which was intended, not for them only, but for the whole English people. ‘To the Electors of the County of Buckingham. ‘Gentlemen,—A parliamentary majority, composed of discordant sections, has availed itself of its numerical strength to embarrass her Majesty’s government, and, by a disingenuous manceuvre, to intercept the discussion of their measures, ‘A year ago Lord Derby was summoned by her Majesty ~ to undertake the administration of public affairs. Assisted by his colleagues, he has with diligence and devotion en- deavoured to discharge his duty to the country. ‘The blow which has lately been inflicted on the govern- ment deprives it of authority; and yet in the ranks of the opposition there is no more unity of sentiment than when their distracted polities rendered it necessary that Lord Derby should assume the helm. ‘The opposition in the present House of Commons, which was elected under ambiguous circumstances, is broken into sections, which can always combine and overthrow the Queen’s government, however formed. This is a condition alike prejudicial to parliament and to the empire. ‘It is for the country to comprehend and to remedy these evils. ‘The moment is critical. Hngland has engaged to me- diate between two great monarchs, and, if possible, preserve for Europe the blessings of peace. It is necessary that the Queen’s government should be supported by a patriotic parliament. ‘Her Majesty therefore, under the advice of her ministers, will shortly prorogue the present parliament, with a view to its immediate dissolution, and will recur to the sense of her people, so that those who may be intrusted with her Majesty’s confidence may be enabled to conduct the govern- ment with becoming authority. ‘I have the honour to be, gentlemen, ‘Your obliged and faithful servant, ‘B. DisRantt. ‘Downing-street, April 4, 1859.’ 1859.] PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT. 139 There was some truth, but more plausibility, in this statement of the case of the government. The Conserva- tives, though outnumbered by the Liberals, did unquestion : ably form the largest body in the House of Commons, be- cause their opponents were split up into four sections, of which Lord Palmerston, Lord J. Russell, Mr. Bright, and Mr. Horsman were the leaders; and when the opinions of these parties were looked into, it appeared almost impos- sible that the liberal party would lay aside their divisions, and give a sustained and continued support to a ministry selected by either of the leaders of its two largest divi- sions. Parliament was prorogued on the 19th of April, and dis- solved on the following day. Beforethe commencement of the elections, it was known that war had broken out be- tween France and Sardinia on the one hand, and Austria on the other. This event afforded the conservative candi- _ dates an opportunity of descanting on the danger of a change of ministry occurring at such a moment; and on the other hand caused Lord J. Russell and the opposition candidates generally to urge that a government which would be listened to with deference abroad ought to have strength and stability at home; but that the present administration exhibited itself to Europe at the outset of an approaching congress as having an irreconcilable difference with parlia- ment, of whose assistance it will have deprived itself during what may be a critical period of the negotiation. The announcement of the war produced a panic on the stock exchange, drawing after it several heavy failures: but con- fidence was restored as soon as it became known that the English government had determined to abstain from all in- tervention in the contest. There can be no doubt, however, that, so far as the war influenced the elections at all, it told, on the whole, against the government, because the sympa- thies of the majority of the English people were strongly in favour of the liberation of Italy from Austrian oppression ; and it was generally believed that, while the sympathies of the conservative party and government. were with Austria, the influence of any liberal government would be thrown into the scale of Italy. It was under such auspices and influences that the battle at the hustings was fought, and though it brought a 140 THE FRENCH TREATY. (Cuar. IIT. gain to the government of some twenty seats, this gain was not sufficient to turn the scale in their favour. The result of this appeal to the country was, that about 302 Conservatives and 350 Liberals were returned to the new parliament. It was opened by royal commission on the 31st of May, and by her Majesty in person on the 7th of June, the interval having been spent in swearing-in the members and going through other preliminary for- malities. When the address in answer to the speech from the throne was brought forward, the Marquis of Hartington moved an addition to it, which was, in fact, a vote of want of confidence in ministers. The debate on this motion was carried on with great vivacity and some irritation during three nights, and concluded on the night of the 10th of June, when on a division the numbers were— For the amendment >) 0) bi on . 323 Against . ° > . . e e ° e «ol0 Majority against the government — orga This defeat of the ministry was immediately followed by its resignation. It was already known that Lord J. Russell and Lord Palmerston, between whom a coolness had for some time prevailed, and who respectively headed two different sections of the liberal party, had been reconciled, and had agreed to act together; but speculation was still rife as to which of them would hold the first place in the ministry that would have to be formed. ‘To the surprise, and somewhat to the dismay, of the liberal party, it was announced that Lord Granville had been sent for by her Majesty. A better choice probably could not have been made at the time ; but as both Lord J. Russell and Lord Palmer- ston had held the post of prime-minister, it had generally been expected that one or other of them would have been selected ; and the public curiosity was excited to know whether the bolder views of the former, or the more con- servative policy of the latter, would prevail. There. was therefore a feeling of baffled inquisitiveness when it was announced that Lord Granville had been called on to form an administration, and a desire to know why the claims of the two eminent men who led the liberal party in the House of Commons had been disregarded. An explanation of the 1859.] EARL GRANVILLE. 141 reasons of the course adopted was speedily given, and given in a most extraordinary and unprecedented manner. The interview between her Majesty and Karl Granville took place on the afternoon of the 11th of June, and on the morning of the 13th the following detailed account of the conversation which had taken place on the occasion appeared in the Times newspaper : ‘Her Majesty, after listening to all the objections which Lord Granville had to offer, commanded him to attempt to form an administration, which should at once be strong in ability and parliamentary influence, and should at the same time comprehend within itself a full and fair representation of all the sections into which the liberal party has notori- ously been divided. Feeling, probably, that it might be urged as an objection to this course, that Lord Granville, who has never yet held the office of prime-minister, would thus be placed in a position paramount to that occupied by Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, each of whom had served her long and faithfully in many high offices of state, who had each filled the office of first minister of the crown, her Majesty was pleased to observe, that she had in the first instance turned her thoughts towards Lord Palmerston and Tord J. Russell. Her Majesty felt, however, that to make so marked a distinction as is implied in the choice of one or other as a prime-minister of two statesmen so full of years and honours, and possessing so just a claim on the consideration of the Queen, would be a very invidious and unwelcome task. Her Majesty also observed, that Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston appeared to represent different sections of the liberal party: Lord Palmerston the more conservative, and Lord John Russell the more popular section. Impressed with these difficulties, her Majesty cast her eyes on Lord Granville, the acknowledged leader of the liberal party in the House of Lords, in whom both Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston had been in the habit of placing confidence, and who might have greater facilities for uniting the whole liberal party under one administration than could be enjoyed by either of the sectional leaders.’ A few days after, in officially announcing his resignation in the House of Lords, the Earl of Derby not unnaturally expressed his surprise that a conversation of so confidential 142 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Caap. III. a character should have appeared in the Times. arl Gran- ville, in reply, explained that he had obtained permission from her Majesty to state to his political friends the result of what had occurred ; but it was never intended that it should be communicated to any newspaper, nor had he done so. At the same time, he could not see that any injury had resulted from the publication, seeing that her Majesty ap- peared therein as desirous as ever of walking in the spirit of the constitution. Lord Palmerston agreed to the pro- posed arrangement; but Lord John Russell would not con- sent to serve under Lord Granville, expressing, however, his willingness to serve under Lord Palmerston. This refusal rendered it impossible for Lord Granville to form a ministry that would be likely to command a majority in the House of Commons. Lord Palmerston was then sent for by the Queen, and undertook the formation of a new ministry, of which the following were the principal members: First Lord of the Treasury . A . Viscount Palmerston. Lord Chancellor . ; ; . Lord Campbell. Lord President of the Council . Earl Granville. Lord Privy Seal . ‘ ° Duke of Argyle. . Chancellor of the Exchequer Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. Home Secretary . : Sir G. C. Lewis. Foreign Secretary Lord J. Russell. Colonial Secretary . . Duke of Newcastle. War Secretary . , eke . Right Hon. Sidney Herbert. Indian Secretary f : . . Sir C. Wood. President of the Board of Trade . ; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster . Sir G. Grey. Postmaster-general . 5 Farl of Elgin. First Lord of the Admiralty ; . Duke of Somerset. Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; . Earl of Carlisle. Chief Secretary for lreland : . Mr. Cardwell. It will be perceived that the name of the president of the Board of Trade is omitted in this list. And the reason of the omission is, that Mr. Cobden, who was on his way back from America, had in his absence been elected member for Rochdale, and Lord Palmerston, anxious to have the support of the Manchester party, had determined to offer © him that office. Accordingly, on his arrival he was informed of his election for the borough of Rochdale, and received Lord Palmerston’s offer of office, which was couched in very flattering terms. To Mr. Cobden this offer was very tempting. The salary of the office would at that time have 1859.] FREQUENT CHANGES OF MINISTRIES. 143 been an object of consequence to him; and, as he after- wards said, the office was one in which he felt that he would have been ‘a square peg in a square hole.’ He nevertheless refused it. He strongly disapproved the policy of Lord Palmerston, and especially his foreign policy; he was decidedly opposed to the large military ex- penditure which he knew that the prime-minister deemed to be absolutely necessary, but which he could not, con- sistently with the opinions he had often avowed and still held, consent to sanction or support. The post which he refused was accepted by his friend Mr. Milner Gibson, who generally acted with him, and whose opinions on almost all the great questions of the day were nearly identical with his own. Another gentleman whose accession to the ministry gave it great strength and stability, and whose presence in it was perhaps necessary to its existence, and certainly to its permanence, was Mr. Gladstone. He had to face a strong contest for his seat for the university of Oxford; but his friends succeeded, though not without difficulty, in obtaining his re-election, notwithstanding the opposition of many members of the university who had formerly given him their support, but who were becoming intolerant of the more and more pronounced liberality of his views, and whose anger and suspicions were farther roused by his acceptance of office in the Palmerston adminis- tration. Thus in the brief period which intervened between June 1846 and July 1859 there had been no fewer than six changes of ministry, each attended with all the evils in- separable from such changes; the interruption of the public and private business of parliament, alteration in the domestic and foreign policy of the government as a whole, and in the direction of its several departments. The con- Sequence was, that before a minister had become familiar- ised with the duties he had to discharge, or with the faces of the subordinate members of his department, he was obliged to make way for a successor, who in his turn was speedily compelled to yield his place to another. And it must be remembered that during this period the holders of the different great offices of state were even more frequently changed than the ministries. These changes led thinking men to inquire whether the time was not approaching when 14.4 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuar. IIt. the system of government by party, which had existed ever since the year 16938, would not have to be replaced by a system under which each office of the government would be occupied by the person best qualified, in the opinion of the representatives of the nation, to fill, and who would be allowed to remain in it not for a few months only, but as long as it seemed to be for the interest of the public service that he should retain it. Itis no part of our duty to en- deavour to resolve the problem; but it is a part of it to ‘mention the fact that such questions were raised, and to direct the attention of our readers to the circumstances which at this time naturally gave rise to it, and the more © so as these circumstances will very likely recur in a not far distant future. While the political changes to which we have referred were being made in England, events of a much more serious nature were occurring on the Continent. The Austrians, after having suffered a rapid succession of defeats, had been driven out of Northern Italy by the combined forces of the French and Sardinians, into the quadrilateral of fortresses from which it would have been a matter of great difficulty to dislodge them; and as Prussia showed signs of prepar- ing to interfere on behalf of Austria, the war was brought to a speedy close. An interview took place at Villafranca between the emperors of France and Austria, at which an armistice was concluded, followed by a treaty of peace. An intention to annex Savoy to France was re- ported to be entertained, was protested against by the English government, disavowed by Count Walewski on behalf of France, but shortly after carried into effect. Mr. Gladstone’s budget, introduced on the 18th of July, was a thoroughly simple and at the same time a thoroughly honest measure. He had to provide for a large addition to our naval and military establishments, in consequence of which it was expected that while the revenue for the coming year would be 64,540,000/., the expenditure would be 69,207,000. Mr. Gladstone did not attempt to make up this deficiency by a loan, or by any of the expedients usually adopted by chancellors of the exchequer for putting off the evil day, but by an addition of 4d. in the pound to the tax on incomes of above 150/., a penny stamp on bankers’ cheques drawn across the counter, and by the 1859.] FINANCIAL REFORM. 145 diminution of the malt credits from eighteen to twelve weeks; thus adding tothe accounts of the present year this duty, which otherwise would not have been available till the year following. A Financial-reform Association had been formed at Liver- pool, and was the means of drawing public attention to the increase of taxation which had taken place during the last few years ; it was replied that the increase of taxation had gone on less rapidly than the increase of population, and that while at the commencement of the century the taxa- tion of the country was 43s. per head, in the year 1858 it was 4:1s. 2d. per head, and in the year 1851 it had fallen as low as 39s. per head. It was also argued that the increase of the wealth of the country had during the same period gone on much more rapidly than the increase of its taxa- tion; and that the proportion which the taxation of the country bore to its wealth was only half what it was in 1803, and only four-fifths of what it was in 1845, and this notwithstanding the large increase of expenditure that had been caused by the reconstruction of our national defences. The association adverted to the heavy cost incurred in collecting the revenue of the country. That revenue, as we have just seen, was estimated by the chancellor of the exchequer at 69,207,000/.; and it was stated that the cost of collecting this amount would be 4,740,0001., that is to say, ¢/. 10s. to the collector for every 100J. collected by him. By the Financial Association the cost of collection was placed much higher than this. But it was alleged to be lower in England than in France or America, and to appear to be much more than it really was, because it included the payment of a multitude of extraneous and miscellaneous functions—the collecting of statistics, of light duties, the working of the merchants’ shipping act, the whole cost of bonding and warehousing incurred for the benefit of the merchant. And it was affirmed that when these various items were deducted, it would be found that the cost of collecting would be greatly reduced, and probably be found not to exceed three per cent.; and that if some protective duties that still remained could be abolished, this amount would undergo a farther and con- siderable reduction. It was difticult to discover the truth VOL. III. sf 146 THE FRENCH TREATY. (Cuar. III. amongst the greatly-different statements that were made; and the general opinion was, that the expenditure under this head was excessive, and that a saving of at least two millions in the cost of collecting might be effected. The plan of the Liverpool financial reformers was ably put forward by Mr. Bright, in a speech which he delivered on the Ist of December 1859, at a meeting arranged by the Financial-reform Association, and which being pub- lished by them may be regarded as an exposition of their views. The plan proposed by Mr. Bright on this occasion was certainly one of the boldest that has ever been put forward, involving, in fact, a complete financial revolution. He proposed the repeal of those taxes which fall on the bulk of the community and on persons with precarious incomes, and to substitute for them taxes on property producing a fixed income. He proposed to repeal the income-tax, the assessed taxes (except the house-tax), the tax on marine assurances, the tax on fire insurances, and the excise duty on paper. He farther proposed to strike off every duty from the customs’ tariff excepting those on foreign wines (which he would reduce from five shillings and sixpence to one shilling on the gallon), foreign spirits, and tobacco. He calculated that these remissions would have the effect of reducing the revenue by upwards of 26,000,0001. He proposed to cover this enormous deficiency by a tax of 8s. per cent on the income of all persons whose property was above 1001., which, according to his estimate, based on parliamentary returns, would yield a revenue of about 27,000,000/., and thus more than cover the amount of the deficiency which his proposed reductions would have pro- duced. These bold proposals attracted at the time a large share of the public attention, and would probably have led to some important changes, if there had not arisen about the same time one of those invasion panics which have periodi- cally affficted this country, encouraged, as it would seem, by the prime-minister himself, and certainly aggravated by the intemperate boasts and menaces of French officers and journalists. One of the consequences of the alarm thus created was the formation of rifle-corps throughout the country, intended to assist in its defence, in case the very 1859.] RIOTS AGAINST RITUALISM. 147 improbable contingency of an invasion should occur. These corps have survived the alarms that gave birth to them ; and by allowing the reduction in the number of our regular army they have enabled the government to reduce our military expenditure more than the opinion of the public and the legislature would otherwise have per- mitted. During the vacation the government first adopted the plan of publishing diplomatic documents in the Gazette, without waiting for the authority of parliament. By this means the desire naturally felt by the people to be made acquainted with the progress of foreign affairs was gratified during the recess, as well as during the session of parlia- ment. Throughout the autumn of this year the church of St. George’s-in-the-Hast was the scene of a series of disgrace- ful riots, originating in the introduction of vestments, and other changes in the mode of conducting the service, which had given great offence to some of the congregation, as well as to many more who never attended the church. These riots, however, were carried on by persons destitute of every kind of religious principle, who made the obnoxious rites a pretext for the indulgence of their brutal profanity, shouting, whistling, introducing dogs into the church, hustling and insulting the clergy, and those who assisted them in the performance of the service. These riots rose to such a height of violence, and were continued so long, that the bishop of London, assuming an authority that did not belong to him, ordered the church to be closed for a time, in the hope of thus putting an end to the unseemly brawl- ing of which it had been the scene. In this expectation he was disappointed ; for on the re-opening of the church the disturbances were renewed with greater violence and more shocking profanity than ever; and though the vestments and ceremonies which had been the original cause of them were discarded, they continued to be carried on till the Rey. Bryan King exchanged to another parish. The war against Austria had so greatly aggrandised the king of Sardinia, who had now assumed the title of King of Italy, that the French emperor began to fear he had raised up a power which might at some future time prove a formidable rival. The consequence was, that when peace L 2 148 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. was concluded, France, which had lavished so much blood and treasure in the cause of Italian independence, was regarded by the Italians with feelings of jealousy and sus- picion ; while England, who had given nothing but her good wishes, was looked to with respect and gratitude; a result which may serve as a warning to other nations than the French, that are disposed to interfere in quarrels in which they have only an indirect, perhaps only an imagi- nary, interest. The year 1859 came to a close amidst unmistakable tokens of reviving prosperity. The customs, the excise, the assessed taxes, and the post-office, yielded a revenue which surpassed that of any previous year by 2,023,0001. The imports and exports were greatly in excess of those of any former year. Trade and commerce were flourishing in all their branches; pauperism was much diminished ; employment was plentiful, and wages high; the funds high and steady; the rate of discount low, and money abundant. A shadow of gloom was cast on all this prosperity by the sudden death of our wonderfully accom- plished historian Lord Macaulay, leaving his chef-d’cewvre still uncompleted. As long as the English language shall be spoken, the works of Macaulay, and especially his History of England, will be read with delight, and all that relates to their author will be regarded with interest. Like most of our other great writers, the groundwork of his excellence was laid in the careful and continual perusal of our beautiful translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, with which in his earlier years his mind was saturated through the care of his father, a man of a deeply religious cha- racter. ‘Io this was superadded a diligent study of the writers of antiquity, and particularly of the great Greek dramatists, Alschylus, Sophocles, and Kuripides: but with these studies he also joined that of the writings of the Christian Fathers—writings which, at that period at least, were seldom read except by the professional students of theology. His university career at Cambridge was one of great and remarkable distinction. He does not, indeed, appear to have given much attention to those mathematical studies which at that time, even more than at present, formed the peculiar boast of the university to which he belonged; but he twice won the Chancellox’s medal, he 1859.] DEATH OF MACAULAY. 149 was bracketed with two others for the Craven scholarship, and was elected a fellow of Trinity College. It is evident, however, that his attention was not wholly engrossed by his academic studies. He was a frequent speaker at the university debating club; and his after-career shows that he must have been a very general and discursive reader. His father’s wealth rendered it unnecessary that he should devote himself to any profession; and though he was called to the bar in 1826, he does not appear to have ever intended to follow the law as a profession, though it is probable that, had he done so, he would have risen, by the force of his genius and talents, to the highest honours that it holds out to its most successful votaries. At this time he formed a connection with the Hdinburgh Review—then in the zenith of its reputation—which continued through- out the greater part of the remainder of his life, and which no doubt contributed in no small degree to give that direc- tion to his mind which led to the production of those works which must immortalise the name of Thomas Ba- bington Macaulay. By degrees everything connected with the history of England riveted his attention, and at length caused him to undertake that extraordinary work, in which the most profound thoughts and the highest philosophy are conveyed with a beauty of style and a luxury of adornment that render it more fascinating than the most powerful romance. ‘The most extraordinary feature in this great man’s mind was the immense power of memory with which he was gifted, and which enabled him to retain, ready for production whenever they might be required, all those vast stores of information which he had amassed in the course of a life principally devoted to reading of all kinds. It is often found that men who are gifted with strongly-retentive and ready memories are deficient in vigorous and philoso- phic thought or in imaginative power; but in both these respects Macaulay was preéminently great. What, how- ever, was still more extraordinary was, that he combined with the highest philosophical and poetic genius the plod- ding industry and the careful accuracy of the antiquarian. | If he was distinguished as a man of genius, he was no less * remarkable for the careful manner in which he unfolded and scrutinised the dusty worm-eaten records of parlia- ment, or the stained and tattered ballads of a distant 150 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. ITI. age. Nothing was too high for his genius, nothing too difficult for his industry, nothing too low and humble for his investigation. A great poet, a great philosopher, a great historian, and a great antiquary, he possessed ex- cellence in each of these walks sufficient to make a lasting reputation ; but he possessed all these in combination, and united with them a splendour of genius quite peculiar to himself. His literary character was undoubtedly his chief glory, and that by which he will always be chiefly remembered ; but he was great also as a politician and a debater. His published speeches, though inferior to his written works, and especially to his History, have an excellence which has very rarely been surpassed, even in the annals of British eloquence. But from the first he appears to have felt that the House of Commons was not the place in which his genius could shine with all its brilliancy, and that he could do higher and better work with his pen than with his tongue. In the year 1857 he was raised to the peerage, on which the lustre of his genius conferred much more distinction than he could receive from it; but he never enjoyed an opportunity of addressing the senate into whose ranks he was admitted, and his death followed two years after, at the age of fifty-nine. Lord Macaulay was strongly attached to Whig principles and to his political friends; and if there is any blemish in his History, it has arisen from this feeling. He idealised the principles of the Whigs, and though, taken as a whole, his work is as remarkable for its accuracy and impartiality as itis for the genius that irradiates it; yet his political bias has perhaps sometimes led him to do more than justice to those whose political conduct he approved, and less than justice to those whose opinions were adverse to the party to which he belonged. But if he were thus biassed, it was quite unconsciously to himself, and in spite of his own earnest endeavour to state truly the motives and the cha- racters of the men whose lives and actions he desired to narrate with conscientious fidelity. That he never wilfully misstated any fact or misrepresented any character, no one who has read his work with attention will for a moment doubt. Those who knew him best were the most enthusiastic in 1859,] DEATH OF HALLAM. 151 their admiration of his private character. A friend who was himself a writer of no mean power thus speaks of him: ‘The brilliant efforts of accomplished rhetoric, the graphic scenes traced by a vivid imagination, the energetic defence of political principles would, however, fail to secure to Lord Macaulay that place which he deserves in the memory of his countrymen, if his prodigious intellectual powers had not been allied to a still nobler temperament. It has been said by some, who must indeed have known him imperfectly and judged him very unwisely, that he lacked the warmer qualities of the heart. Is it credible that without the highest qualities of the heart a man could live the enthusiastic ad- mirer of all that was generous, disinterested, genial, and _ good; could die without one single action to be recorded of him which does not do honour tohis name? No one, in- deed, who has lived in or heard of the society of London in - our time, could be ignorant of the animation and brilliancy of his conversation—of the fascinating influence which drew the hearers round his chair—of the varied and abundant stores of past knowledge and sudden inspiration by which he was wont to illuminate his path through life with a preternatural radiance. But it requires a more intimate acquaintance with the unobtrusive tenor of his private life to know with what sympathy and munificence he was ever ready to assist with lis counsel and fortune those who were struggling in the humbler walks of literary toil ; and if we were at liberty to follow him into the narrower circle which | bounded his domestic ties, it would be seen that no man ever lived of a more tender and affectionate nature. Many are they who at this hour feel as we do, that they have lost one of the kindest as well as one of the greatest of their friends; and although the applause and veneration of the world does in one sense perpetuate the existence of so illus- trious a writer, we cannot forget that the virtues and the graces we loved in his life and conversation have vanished for ever.’ The same year that witnessed the death of Macaulay also witnessed that of another historian, less eminent, in- deed, but still of a very high and extraordinary merit. But Mr. Hallam had survived for some time his powerful intel- lect, while that of Macaulay appeared to be unimpaired almost to the last moment of his brilliant career. 152 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap, III. The prosperity that marked the close of the year 1859 and the commencement of 1860 was not calculated to pro- mote the agitation in favour of reform. But if on the one hand the demand for it was less eager, on the other the dread of it was less violent. The question was regarded on all sides in a spirit of calmness and moderation, which seemed to promise a speedy and satisfactory settlement. Mr. Bright, having been consulted, was ready to accept the plan of reform prepared by Lord John Russell us a settle- meut of the question, at least for the present; and Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli, after seeing the result of the last elections, had expressed their willingness to concede as much as Lord John Russell asked for. When, therefore, it was intimated in the Queen’s speech that an attempt would be made to place the national representation on a broader and firmer basis, it seemed that the time had come when this long-vexed question, recommended to the atten- tion of parliament in so many royal speeches, and the sub- ject of so many abortive bills, would at length be discussed in a calm and business-like spirit, and that a practical and moderate measure would be carried through with the acquiescence of all parties. This hopeful state of things was farther improved by the knowledge that Mr Cobden was engaged as the plenipo- tentiary of the English government in negotiating a com- mercial treaty with France based on free-trade principles, calculated to give an enormous impulse to the trade between the two countries, and to unite them by bonds that would render a war between them almost impossible. With Mr. Gladstone as the chief finance-minister of the country, and Mr. Cobden as the negotiator of the treaty, both acting together with the most cordial unanimity, the strongest confidence was felt that it would prove highly advantageous to this country; and this confidence was strengthened by the fact that the emperor had warmly embraced the prin- ciples of free trade, and was determined to use the power which his position gave him to overcome the strong opposi- tion which the attempt to apply them was sure to encounter in France. The treaty was signed on the twenty-third of January in this year, and was soon after laid before the two Houses. Such were the favourable auspices under which the 1860. ] THE BUDGET. 153 session of 1860 commenced. It was opened by the Queen in person, with a ceremonial far more brilliant and an attendance more numerous and enthusiastic than had been witnessed for many years. Ministers evinced their desire to carry forward the business of the session as speedily as possible by fixing its beginning for the 24th of January, ten days earlier than the usual time, by announcing that the financial statement would be made on the 6th of February, and the reform bill brought forward on the 20th. The budget was postponed from the day originally fixed for its introduction on account of the indisposition of the _ chancellor of the exchequer; but on the 10th of February he was sufficiently recovered to be able to introduce it. ‘The delay that thus occurred whetted the public patience for a statement which it was known beforehand would derive a peculiar importance from the treaty which had been negotiated in France, and the fiscal changes which it would render necessary. Accordingly, when Mr. Glad- stone rose the House and all its approaches were crowded, and he was received with loud and cordial cheers, not from the ministerial benches only, but from all parts of the House. Great as had been the interest with which his former statements had been received, this one excited higher expectations, and was listened to with a still more breathless attention. It was, indeed, a speech of much historical value; and it so fully and clearly describes the great changes which affected beneficially not this country only, but France at least equally, and, we may say, the whole world, that we cannot better carry forward our narrative of events than by quoting largely from it. In the midst of the anxious expectation and deep interest which prevailed, Mr. Glad- stone rose, and thus addressed the House of Commons, which had resolved itself into a committee of ways and means : ‘Sir, public expectation has long marked out the year 1860 as an important epoch in British finance. It has long been well known that in this year, for the first time, we were to receive, from a process not of our own creation, a very great relief in respect of our annual payments of in- terest upon the national debt; a relief amounting to no less a sum than 2,146,0001.; a relief such as we never have 154 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. known in times past, and such as I am afraid we never shall know in time to come. Besides that relief, other and more recent arrangements have added to the importance of this juncture. A revenue of nearly 12,000,0001. a year, levied by duties on tea and sugar,. which still retain a portion of the additions made to them on account of the Russian war, is about to lapse absolutely on the 31st of March, unless it shall be renewed by parliament. The income-tax act, from which during the financial year we shall have derived a sum of between 9,000,0001. and 10,000,0002.; is likewise to lapse at the very same time, although an amount not inconsiderable will still remain to be collected in virtue of the law about to expire. And lastly, an event of not less interest than any of these, which has caused public feeling to thrill from one end of the country to the other—I mean the treaty of commerce with France, which my noble friend the foreign minister (Lord John Russell) has just laid on the table—has rendered it a matter of propriety, nay almost of absolute necessity, for the government to request the House to deviate, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, from its usual, its salu- tary, its constitutional practice of voting the principal. charges of the year before they proceed to consider the means of defraying them ; and has induced the government to think they would best fulfil their duty by inviting attention on the earliest possible day to those financial arrangements for the coming year, which are materially affected by the treaty with France, and which, though they reach considerably beyond the limits of the treaty, yet, notwithstanding, can only be examined by the House in a satisfactory manner when examined as a whole. This must be our apology, if any apology is needed, for asking parliament at this unusually early period to take into its earnest consideration the matters which I am about to submit to it.’ Mr. Gladstone proceeded to state that the results of the year from a financial point of view had been eminently satisfactory, as far as the receipts were concerned. Going through the various branches of revenue, he showed the fol- lowing general result—that whereas it had been estimated to produce 69,460,0001., it had actually produced at least 70,578,0002. Turning then to the expenditure, after going 1860.]} THE BUDGET. 155 through its various leading items, he stated as the general result, that whereas the estimated charges of the year were 69,270,0001., the total expenditure of the year, apart from certain disturbing causes, would probably be about 68,953,0001.; thus giving a surplus of income over expendi- ture of not less than 1,625,0001. From this amount, how- ever, he found himself obliged to deduct expenses incurred by the additional charges caused by the Chinese expedi- tion and the treaty with France, amounting together to 1,810,0002., which would have placed the government on the wrong side of the account but for the payment of a debt due by Spain of 500,000/., half of which sum would come to the credit of revenue before the 3lst of March, leaving a surplus of 65,0001. He then proceeded to estimate the income and expenditure of the year 1860-1; and con- eluded by arriving at an apparent deficit of 9,400,000/., to the amount of which he proposed to add largely by making great commercial reforms, which would increase the wealth of the nation, and enable it better to bear, as in past years it had better borne, the heavy burdens that must be laid on it; and he proposed to meet the deficiency thus largely augmented, by continuing the income-tax, and by renewing for another year the tea and sugar duties at the present high rates of one shilling and fivepence per lb. on tea, and about three shillings per ewt. on sugar, and by the expected operation of the new French treaty, ‘to which he referred in the following terms: ‘Perhaps, sir, as the committee have not yet had an opportunity of reading the instrument itself, it may be convenient that I should in the first place state to them very briefly its principal covenants. First, I will take the engagements of France. Trance engages to reduce the duty on English coal and coke, from the Ist of J uly 1860; on bar and pig iron and steel, from the Ist of October 1860; on tools and machinery, from the Ist of December 1860 ; and on yarns and goods in flax and hemp, including, i believe, jute—this last an article comparatively new in commerce, but one in which a great and very just interest is felt in some great trading districts,—from the Ist of June 1861. That is the first important engagement into which France enters. Her second and greater engagement is postponed to the Ist of October 1861. I think it is pro- 156 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuar, III. bably in the knowledge of the committee that this post- ponement is stipulated under a pledge given by the government of France to the classes who there, as here, have supposed themselves to be interested in the mainte- nance of prohibition. On the lst of October, then, in the year 1861, France engages to reduce the duties and to take away the prohibitions on all the articles of British produc- tion mentioned in a certain list, in such a manner that no duty upon any one of those articles shall thereafter exceed thirty per cent ad valorem. I do not speak of articles of food, which do not materially enter into the treaty ; but the list to which I refer, sir, includes all the staples of British manufacture, whether of yarns, flax, hemp, hair, wool, silk, or cotton—all manufactures of skins, leather, bark, wood; iron and all other metals; glass, stoneware, earthenware, or porcelain. I will not go through the whole list; it isindeed needless, for I am not aware of any great or material article that is omitted. France also engages to commute those ad-valorem duties into rated duties by a separate convention, to be framed for the purpose of giving effect to the terms I have described. But if there should be a disagreement as to the terms on which they should be rated under the convention, then the maximum chargeable on every class at thirty per cent ad valorem will be levied at the proper period, not in the form of a rated duty, but upon the value; and the value will be determined by the process now in use in the English customs. ‘I come next, sir, to the English covenants. England engages, with a limited power of exception, which we pro- pose to exercise only with regard to two or three articles, to abolish immediately and totally all duties upon all manufactured goods. There will be a sweep, summary, entire, and absolute, of what are known as manufactured goods from the face of the British tariff. Farther, England engages to reduce the duty on brandy, from 15s, the gallon to the level of the colonial duty, viz. 8s. 2d. per gallon. She engages to reduce immediately the duty on foreign wine. In the treaty it is of course French wine which is specified ; but it 1s perfectly understood between France and ourselves, that we proceed with regard to the commodities of all countries alike. England engages, then, 1860.] THE BUDGET. 157 to reduce the duty on wine, from a rate nearly reaching ds. 10d. per gallon, to 3s. pergallon. She engages, besides a present reduction, farther to reduce that duty from the 1st of April 1861, to a scale which has reference to the strength of the wine measured by the quantity of spirit it contains. ..... Sir, [cannot pass from the subject of the French treaty without paying a tribute of respect to two persons at least, who have been the main authors of it. I am bound to bear this witness, at any rate, with regard to the Emperor of the French—that he has given the most unequivocal proofs of sincerity and earnestness in the progress of this great work, which he has prosecuted with a clear-sighted resolution, not, doubtless, for British pur- poses, but in the spirit of enlightened patriotism, with a view to commercial reforms at home, and to the advantage and happiness of his own people by means of these reforms. With regard to Mr. Cobden, speaking as I do at a time when every angry passion has passed away, I cannot help _ expressing our obligations to him for the labour he has, at no small personal sacrifice, bestowed upon a measure which he, not the least among the apostles of free trade, believes to be one of the most memorable triumphs free trade has ever achieved. Rare is the privilege of any man who, having fourteen years ago rendered to his country one signal and splendid service, now again, within the same brief span of life, decorated neither by rank nor title, bearing no mark to distinguish him from the people whom he loves, has been permitted again to perform a great and memorable service to his sovereign and to his country. ‘The point to which I have now brought the committee in this, to them, I fear, laborious and irksome statement is this: I have asked them to sacrifice 1,190,0001. of the existing revenue in order to effect a relief to the consumer of, | think, 1,737,000/. by giving effect to the provisions of the treaty with France. That treaty would bring about a sensible reform in the customs establishments of the country; at the same time it would not effect a reform which would of itself have any pretensions to a character of completeness, and there are many other duties still re- maining on the tariff of a description which we think calls for the attention of parliament, and by the reduction or re- 158 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. moval of which immense advantage might be conferred upon the nation.’ Mr. Gladstone then proceeded to explain what he termed a ‘supplemental measure of customs reform,’ containing reductions and abolitions of duties which would entail at first a loss of 910,000/., and give at the same time a relief to the consumer of about 1,040,0007. Of these the most important and the one most likely to encounter opposition—and which did in fact meet with a very determined resistance—was the abolition of the duty on paper. After going into the supplemental plan at considerable detail, Mr. Gladstone thus proceeded: ‘It is now time, sir, that I should bring into one view the alterations which I have stated in detail. In doing so I must endeavour to place clearly before the minds of the committee three separate sums : ‘First, there is the entire amount of the remission or relief to the consumers by the adoption of the plans we propose; secondly, the amount of loss to the revenue which they will entail; and thirdly, the amount of compensation which will be derived from the new charges, chiefly upon operations of trade, which we recommend for the adoption of parliament. The customs duties, altered under the stipulations of the treaty with France, will give to the consumer and to the trader relief to the extent of 1,737,000/., and will cause a loss to the revenue of 1,190,0001. By the supplemental customs plan we shall give relief to the consumer and to trade amounting to | 1,039,000/., while there will be a loss to the revenue of 910,0002. The total relief will thus be 2,771,000/., and the total loss to the revenue 2,100,0001.’ We will not follow Mr. Gladstone farther into the details of his explanation. Suffice it to say that he anticipated a probable net loss of revenue for 1860-61 of 2,108,0002.; a sum which would nearly correspond with the amount of relief which would be obtained by the falling-in of the long annuities. One great effort was made by the opposition to prevent, at least for a time, the adoption of the treaty. On the motion being made for going into committee on the plan, Mr. Disraeli, having first induced Mr. Du Cané to post- pone a motion of which he had given notice, moved ‘that 1860.] LORD JOHN RUSSELL’S REFORM BILL. 159 this house does not think fit to go into committee on the customs act with a view to the reduction or repeal of the duties referred to in the treaty of commerce between her Majesty and the Emperor of the French, until it shall have considered and assented to the engagements in that treaty.’ This motion was rejected by a majority of sixty- three. The repeal of the paper-duty, which formed a very important part of the financial plan of the chancellor of the exchequer, and which had, as it was intended to effect, a farther reduction of the cost of newspapers, was opposed by Mr. Miles, but carried against him by a majority of fifty-three. Lord J. Russell introduced his measure, which was entitled the representation of the people bill, on Thursday, March Ist. The simplicity of this measure presented a very striking contrast to the complexity of that brought forward by the last government. It proposed to introduce a 10/. occupation franchise for the counties, and to reduce the borough franchise to 6/. The law with regard to rating was to remain unchanged, but the payment of poor- rates only, and not as heretofore of assessed taxes also, was to be made a condition of the vote. The bill farther proposed to take one member from twenty-five boroughs which returned two members each; to give to the West Riding two additional seats, to the southern division of Lancashire two, and to each of the following counties or county divisions one; North. Lancashire, Middlesex, West Kent, South Devon, South Stafford, North Riding, the port of Lindsay, South Hssex, Kast Somerset, West Nor- folk, West Cornwall, and North Essex; it proposed that Kensington and Chelsea should form a borough with two members; that Birkenhead, Stalybridge, and Barnsley should each have one member; and that Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Leeds should each return one additional member. In case of places where there were three members, it proposed that the third member should represent the minority. Lord John also proposed to give a member to the University of London. The plan thus announced was received both in the country and in the House of Parliament to which it was submitted in a manner that contrasted most strikingly with the manner in which his reform bill of 1831 was 160 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cnap. III. met. When Lord J. Russell asked leave to bring in the bill the House was respectably filled, but by no means crowded. His exposition of his plan was listened to with a decorous calmness that almost amounted to indifference. His address occupied an hour. Mr. Cardwell followed, and in proposing an Irish reform bill, spoke just ten minutes: and the Lord Advocate a quarter of an hour in introducing a Scotch reform bill. A few remarks were made, and leave was given to bring in the bill, which was ordered to be read a second time on the 19th of March. The same indifference was shown when the question of the second reading was brought forward. The debate was opened by Mr. Disraeli, who described the bill as ‘a measure of a medieval character, without the inspiration of the feudal system or the genius of the middle ages.’ In speaking of the machinery by which the repre- sentation of minorities was proposed to be effected, he made the following remarks, to which subsequent events have given a curious significance; ‘The destruction of spirit and energy in public life would, I cannot help think- ing, be the consequence, and therefore it is that I, for one, am entirely opposed to the second object which the noble lord seeks to obtain by his scheme of dealing with the redistribution of seats.’ The debate on the second reading was long and languid. Such was the indifference which was exhibited with regard to a question that had once con- vulsed the empire, that on the night when the debate should have been continued the House was counted out. The bill too was ingeniously played off against the budget, and the budget against the bill; so the debate went on at intervals, before and after the Easter vacation, till the 3d of May, when it was read asecond time without a division; having been delayed partly by want of earnestness on the part of the supporters of the government, and partly by the prospect which their lukewarmness afforded the oppo- sition of being able to defeat the measure by retarding its progress. Thus the Conservatives, who had at. first supposed that the bill could not be successfully resisted, were delighted at the hope now afforded them of being able at once to get rid of a measure which they disliked, and to damage the ministry under whose auspices it had been introduced. These tactics were soon exhibited by the 1860.) PARLIAMENTARY REFORM QUESTION. 161 number of notices given of amendments in committee, evidently intended to delay the progress of the measure. Lord J. Russell, who, whatever might be the case with regard to some of his colleagues in the ministry, was him- self thoroughly in earnest with regard to his bill, endea- voured to conciliate some of the more moderate opponents of the measure by promising large concessions if they would allow it to pass. Meanwhile Mr. Massey, the member for Salford, had given notice that it was his intention to move that the bill should be referred to a select committee. The indifference manifested by the legislature as a whole was shared by many of the cabinet, and certainly by the premier, who was far enough from holding the resolute language regarding it which he had held two years before, when the divorce bill was under the consideration of the house. He was more than indifferent, he was hostile. His feeling regarding it is well illustrated by an anecdote furnished to the author of this work by one of his col- leagues. Conversing with a friend who maintained that the representatives who would be sent to a reformed parliament would be men of the same standing and character with those who sat in the present parliament: ‘ Yes,’ re- plied the premier, ‘I daresay the actors will be the same, but they will play to the galleries instead of to the boxes.’ Lord Palmerston’s feeling on the question was so well understood by the Conservatives, that Lord Derby not obscurely hinted that if Lord Palmerston would remove Lord J. Russell, Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. Milner Gibson from the cabinet, he would be prepared to support the government; and it is probable that the desperate but un- successful efforts made to defeat the paper duty were inspired by the hope of forming a ministry composed of conservative liberals and liberal conservatives, two sections © that were certainly much nearer to one another in senti- ment and opinion than the men who sat round the council- board of Lord Palmerston’s cabinet. There is no reason, however, to suppose that Lord Palmerston lent an ear to these overtures. Whatever his other faults and failings may have been, he was not the man to throw his colleagues in the ministry overboard, even though on some points of public policy he differed from them widely. But it is equally certain that he regarded the reform bill with an VOL, III. M 162 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. IIL indifference almost bordering on aversion. ‘ Mr. Massey, whose motion was intended to shelve the bill, was a faith- ful and confidential adherent whose services he afterwards rewarded; and Mr. Mackinnon, who had given notice of a motion for delaying the consideration of the bill till after the year 1861, when the census would be taken, and whose motion was the immediate occasion of the defeat of the measure, always considered that he had thereby rendered Lord Palmerston a very acceptable service. The premier, too, who was remarkable for the steadfastness with which on almost all occasions he kept his place in the House whenever any subject in which the government was concerned was under discussion, was almost inyari- ably absent from the debates on the reform bill, and significantly silent with regard to it even when present. Thus, what with the obstructive policy, not only of the opposition but of many professed members of the liberal party, and what with the half-hearted support that many of the followers of the government and even many of the ministry themselves, not excepting the head of the ad- ministration, gave to it, there was little hope of being able to push the bill through the House of Commons in the course of this session. However, Monday, the 4th of June, was the day on which it had been fixed that the House of Commons should go into committee on the bill. Mr. Mackinnon then moved that the House should not proceed farther with the con- sideration of it until it was placed in possession of the census of 1861; a motion which, if carried, would have the effect of postponing the measure for at least three years. Mr. Mackinnon, who for many years had been a well- known member of parliament, had, as we have already seen in the history of that year, proposed a similar motion with regard to the reform bill of 1831, and had obtained a larger number of supporters for it than was procured for any other motion that was resisted by the government ; and he eventually succeeded in carrying his point, the census of 1831 being made by the government the basis of the act of 1832. His long standing in the House, his personal popularity, but, above all, the desire that was felt ‘by a majority of the members to avail themselves of a specious pretext for getting rid of the question for the next 1860.] MR. MACKINNON, 163 three years, brought together an unusually large number of members, and when Mr. Mackinnon rose to propose his motion the house was crowded in all parts; and as it was very generally believed that the government was likely to be defeated on his motion, the scene was like that which accompanies the explanation of a great measure by the leader of the government, or the introduction of a budget by Mr, Gladstone. Mr. Mackinnon, who was usually an embarrassed and ineffective speaker, and who, though a very old member of the House, rarely addressed it, was, as may well be imagined, somewhat unnerved when he found himself the centre of so much interest and excitement, and he commenced his address, amidst the breathless silence of the crowded and excited assembly, in a manner that showed he was not a little daunted by the great and -unwonted interest his motion had awakened. However, stimulated by the cheers which greeted almost every sentence he uttered, he soon recovered his Self-possession, and gathering courage as he went on, he made a long and very telling speeeh. The opposition leaders saw the effect that had been produced, but they were not that evening sufficiently strong in numbers to take advantage of it. Members were therefore put up to speak against time, and the debate was adjourned with a very prevalent belief that Mr. Mackinnon’s motion would ‘be carried. Accordingly, on the following Monday, there were great preparations for a division, and a general expectation that it would be fatal to the farther progress of the measure. Ministers, however, determined to decline a contest which had no longer an object, and to avoid what would probably have been a damaging defeat by withdrawing a bill which - evidently could not be carried even through the House ef Commons during the session, still less through the House of Lords, where it was sure to encounter a very formidable opposition, When, therefore, on Monday, June the 11th, the order of the day was moved, for the resumption of the adjourned debate on going into committee on the repre- Sentation of the people bill, Lord J. Russell said: ‘It is impossible that the government can agree to the motion of Mr. Mackinnon, to stay the progress of this measure till the result of the next census has been ascertained. Neither can they, regard being had to the fact that 250 members M 2 164° THE FRENCH TREATY. pCuar. IIL. have voted in favour of postponing the measure, insist any longer on urging it forward. Looking also to the impossi- bility of carrying the bill through both houses of parliament in the present session, without sacrificing the other business of the session, they feel it is their duty to withdraw it at once.’ He stated that the delay had arisen from the neces- sity of giving precedence to discussions arising out of the French treaty, and defended the government from thecharge of insincerity. That Lord John Russell himself was not obnoxious to any such accusation will be readily admitted, but it is not so easy to absolve some of his colleagues, especially when we consider the course that was adopted with regard to this question during the remainder of Lord Palmerstou’s administration. But something no doubt may be pleaded, if not in excuse, at least in extenuation of their conduct. The people, though by no means indifferent, did not feel strongly on the subject, and did not give the government a very warm support. It is no doubt true, as Lord J. Russell repeatedly urged, that it is better to deal with questions of this nature when the people are calm rather than wait for periods of strong excitement; but unfortunately it is only when a very strong feeling on the subject prevails that parliament can be induced to deal with them. And so we find that when the majority of the nation was coldly favourable to reform, the majority of their representatives was decidedly unfavourable; and there can be no doubt that many a member sent to the House of Commons because he was believed to be a strong and honest reformer, was secretly doing his utmost to defeat the small modicum of reform which the government was willing to concede, because they knew that the adoption of a reform bill would be followed by a dissolution. All this did not tend to raise the character of the House of Commons in the eyes of the nation at large, but it did tend to confirm the opinion that reform was needed, and to insure that when it came it should be decided and efficient. On Monday, the 21st of May, the paper-duties bill came before the House of Lords for the second reading, and it was rumoured that a great attempt would be made to throw it out. The consequence was, that the approaches to that house were crowded, and the same kind of interest mani- 1860.] THE LORDS REJECT PAPER-DUTY BILL. 165 fested as when some highly-important measure was under the consideration of the House of Commons. As the bill involved a remission of taxation, the attempt to reject it raised a great constitutional question. It was admitted that the Lords had no right to amend a money bill so as to change the amount or incidence of taxation in the smallest particular ; but when the question of the second | reading had been brought before the House of Lords by Lord Granville, Lord Lyndhurst, who on that very day had reached his eighty-eighth year, stood up, and speaking with all the eloquence and all the acuteness which had made hima man of mark some fifty or sixty years before, contended that the House of Red possessed the right to reject a money- bill. He produced several venerable and mouldy documents, which showed beyond dispute the fact that the peers had in past ages exercised this right, and he asked the pertinent question, ‘If we have not this right, what is the use of our discussing money-bills at all?’ This was unanswerable, so far as the question of abstract right was concerned ; but the real question was, is it wise to attempt to revive a dormant privilege which clearly trenches on the supremacy of the representatives of the people in regard to all matters of taxation, and the exercise of which is certain to lead to its withdrawal, and that too under circumstances calculated to weaken the authority of the House of Lords and lower its reputation ? The opposition to the bill, led by Lord Monteagle, formerly Mr. Spring Rice and Whig chancellor of the exchequer, was warmly supported by Lord Derby and Lord Chelmsford. On the other hand, Lord Cranworth, the lord chancellor, urged that the course proposed to be taken, if not, strictly speaking, unconstitutional, was so thinly separated from it, that to ordinary minds the distinction ~ would be unintelligible. He pointed out that in no in- stance since the revolution of 1688 had such a step as the rejection of a bill passed by the House of Commons for the repeal of a tax been taken by the peers; and he contended that all the precedents quoted by Lord Lyndhurst were peculiar in their circumstances and exceptional in their nature. These considerations were disregarded, and when the division took place the numbers were : 166 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. IIT. Contents present ° : : ; ver ee Proxies . : : : : . . 14 104 Non-contents present . . . . 20s Proxies . : he . ° . 32 193 Majority against the bill . : ajeilis « « 89 Thus a tax, which a majority of the representatives of the people had determined to remit, was continued by the authority of the House of Lords. The constitutional question thus raised was evidently of the gravest import- ance, and it was expected that the government, whose measure had been defeated and whose financial plans had been disarranged, would take the matter up warmly, and that a collision between the two houses would inevitably follow. There was therefore a very general expectation that on the following evening some very decided step would be taken, or that a ministerial crisis would be announced ; and there was all that crowding of the house and of its approaches which such an expectation is sure to produce. But no little disappointment was felt when Lord Palmerston, on moving the adjournment of the house over the 25th, the Derby-day, contented himself with giving a simple notice that he should on Thursday the 24th move for the appoint- ment of a select committee to examine the journals of the House of Lords for precedents with reference to the course which had been adopted by that house with regard to the bill for the repeal of the paper duties, and disclaimed, on the part of the government, any intention of taking steps which might bring the two houses into collision. On the following Thursday the motion for the committee was made. It was a mere matter of form. The gentlemen nominated never left their seats, and their report, couched in bad Hnglish and worse Latin, was brought up and read at the bar of the house. It contained nothing which had not already been made known by the newspapers to every- body both inand out of the House. The real discussion of what had taken place was reserved for a future day, and it was still generally expected, notwithstanding the charac- teristic coolness with which the premier treated the matter, that some very decided course would be taken by the government; but the arrival of the Whitsun holidays pre- vented the subject from being considered until Thursday, saly the 5th. Onthat evening a great number of petitions 1860.] LORD PALMERSTON’S RESOLUTIONS. 167. were presented, praying the house to maintain its right of dealing exclusively with all measures of taxation. The chamber in which the Commons sit was crowded, for it was felt that the question was one the gravity of which it was impossible to exaggerate. Mr. Collier had given notice of a strongly-worded motion on the privilege question, and Mr. IT. Duncombe had given notice of a resolution even more strongly worded ; but both made way for Lord Palmerston who moved the three following reso- lutions : ‘1. That the right of granting aids and supplies to the crown is in the Commons alone, as an essential part of their constitution ; and the limitation of all such grants, as to matter, manner, measure, and time, is only in them. ‘2. That although the Lords have exercised the power of rejecting bills of several descriptions relating to taxation _ by negativing the whole, yet the exercise of that power by them has not been frequent, and is justly regarded by this House with peculiar jealousy, as affecting the rights of the Commons to grant the supplies. ‘3. That to guard for the future against any undue exercise of that power by the Lords, and to secure to the Commons their rightful control over taxation and supply, this House has in its own hands the power so to impose and remit taxes, and to frame bills of supply, that the right of the Commons as to the matter, manner, measure and time may be maintained inviolate.’ These resolutions. were received with some disappoint- ment. They touched the question at issue between the two Houses very lightly, and even acknowledged the con- stitutional right of the peers to do as they had done; and they pronounced a very mild and feeble censure on the use which on this occasion the peers had made of their power. But if the resolutions were moderate, the speech in which Lord Palmerston introduced them was still more so. He admitted the importance of maintaining the privileges of the House, and declared that any attempt at aggression on them by the peers would be most dangerous, and ought to be strenuously resisted. He defended the conduct of the Lords in rejecting the paper-duties bill on the ground of the smallness of the majorities by which the second and third readings had been carried in the House of Commons; 168 THE FRENCH TREATY, (Cuar, III. and spoke of that bill in almost disparaging terms. He was therefore of opinion that nothing had occurred to cause a collision between the two Houses, and he adjured honourable members not to adopt any course which would bring them into conflict with the House of Lords. This speech was delivered with more energy and passion than he usually displayed, and was received with significant silence by the ministerialists, but with loud cheers by the Conser- vatives, who invariably showed themselves the zealous sup- porters of the other House. Mr. Collier, Mr. Conyng- ham, Mr. V. Scully, Mr. Leatham, Mr. B. Osborne, and Mr. James, all members of the liberal party, protested more or less strongly against the course that was being adopted by the government, which seemed to them ill-caleulated to maintain the dignity and honour of the House of Commons, Then Mr. Gladstone rose. His opinion was naturally looked for with anxiety and curiosity, because the bill that had been thrown out was one to which he attached con- siderable importance. He justified the resolutions pro- posed by the government, which he described as doing all that language could do to defend the honour of that House; but he added, that he was prepared to go farther, and to reserve to himself the right of acting. Referring to the precedents that had been so much insisted on, he denied emphatically that they had in the slightest degree touched the question under consideration, for there was not one of them that could properly be called a precedent, There was, he said, a great difference between the House of Lords advising the alteration of a money-bill and reject- ing the repeal of a tax. The House of Commons had declared that they could spare from the revenue of the country 1,125,000/. of taxation, and that having an option between the tea and the paper duties as to which they should remit, they chose that which they believed would prove more beneficial to the country, though perhaps not the most popular. The result had been, that the House of Lords had assumed to themselves a power of dictating to the House of Commons, and saying that the country could not spare such a remission of taxation. He admitted that it would be very acceptable to have that money placed at their disposal; but he considered that the duty of the government to the country rendered it imperative upon 1860. ] INVASION PANIC. 169 them to carry out the promise which they had made. With this speech the interest of the debate ended; it was, indeed, - continued and adjourned, but all that was to be said on the subject had been spoken, and the final decision of the ques- tion was left to a future occasion. An attempt made by Lord Fermoy to push the matter farther was defeated by a majority of thirty-nine. For some time past the invasion panic had been gaining strength, and was fomented by a man who of all others ought to have known better. Lord Palmerston, who had embroiled himself with Lord John Russell by his excessive eagerness to recognise the empire without waiting for the concurrence of his colleagues; Lord Palmerston, who had. all along been the emperor’s man in England; Lord Palmerston, who had doneso much to cement that alliance with France, which had enabled us to prosecute the Crimean war to what he regarded as a satisfactory termi- nation; Lord Palmerston, who had in this very session concluded a commercial treaty with France ;—this very Lord Palmerston was the man to come forward to propose a vote of two millions, as a first instalment of a much larger sum to be expended in fortifying our dockyards, and providing against the contingency of a sudden and treacherous attack from that government of which he had all along been the patron and the zealous advocate. It was in vain that that the emperor, in a letter addressed to Lord Cowley, and full of good sense and right feeling towards this country, endeavoured to allay the alarm that had been so industriously excited, and to show by statements of facts which might easily be tested how utterly groundless these fears were; Lord Palmerston brought forward his resolu- tion in favour of this wasteful and wanton expenditure. In vain did Mr. Bright and a few other members protest against this reckless and ridiculous prodigality. Lord Palmerston urged forward his project; the appeal to the Gallophobian instincts of the country and of the House of Commons was responded to as it had been responded to on SO many previous occasions, and after various amendments had been considered and rejected, Lord Palmerston’s reso- lutions were carried by a majority of two hundred and twenty-nine by the same House of Commons which had set aside the reform bill in the manner we have described. 170 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. At the same time reviews of the newly-formed volunteer regiments were held in all parts of the country. Twenty- one thousand men were mustered in Hyde Park, and eleven thousand at Knowsley, the seat of the Harl of Derby: prizes for successful rifle-shooting were proposed and awarded, and a defensive stir was made which seemed to indicate that some great peril was impending over the country. Nothing could more clearly show the hollowness and un- reality of the prevalent invasion panic than the treatment of a motion made by Sir De Lacy Evans for the fortifica- tion of Woolwich. He had just commenced his speech, and was enforcing in very earnest tones the danger in which the country was placed in case of an invasion, by the unprotected state of this great naval arsenal, when a member moved that the house should be counted. The requisite forty were not present, and so Woolwich had to be left exposed for at least another year to all the dangers against which Sir De Lacy Hvans was endeavouring to warn the nation; and certainly while the money which the gallant General was anxious to spend was saved, the country suffered none of the injuries against which he implored it to provide. The question of the paper duties was submitted to the House of Commons in another shape on Monday the 6th of August. Mr. Gladstone moved a resolution for removing so much of the customs duty on paper as exceeded the ex- cise duty at home. Notwithstanding the late period of the session at which it was brought forward, the benches on both sides of the House were well filled, and there were all the usual symptoms of a strong party contest, in which the op- position hoped. to be able to inflict a defeat on the govern- ment which would be followed by the withdrawal of Mr. Gladstone. Great exertions were made by both parties to muster their respective adherents. One member was brought back from Switzerland, another from Beyrout; but the ministers triumphed in a House of 449 by a majority of thirty-three ; and the satisfaction of the liberal party, and their appreciation of the value of Mr. Gladstone’s services, were shown by the loud cheers that greeted this victory, which were prolonged for more than five minutes when he rose to propose his second resolution. 1860. ] PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT. wal The law reforms of the government shared for the most part the fate of their parliamentary reform. Like it, they fell through rather on account of the time required for the consideration of questions of finance than on any other ground, except perhaps the fact that the Lower House con- tained upwards of one hundred and fifty gentlemen of the long robe, the interests of many of whom were no doubt affected by the proposed changes, and all of whom would probably have something to say respecting them. A strong agitation was raised by the Dissenters against a provision contained in the census act of this year, which ordered that the religious denomination of every adult through the country should be obtained. The motive of this opposition was the belief entertained by those who raised it that numbers of persons who attended no place of worship, and really belonged to no religious deno- mination, would, if asked the question, profess to be members of the Established Church, and that in this way the number of Churchmen, and the proportion they bore to the Dissenters, would be made to appear greater than it really was. Numerous petitions were sent up both in favour of and in opposition to the proposed religious census, and the project was abandoned. Parliament sat from the 12th of January till the 12th of August, on which day it was prorogued by commission. During the whole of the autumn of this year the negotia- tions for settling the manifold and intricate details of the tariff, established in accordance with the terms of the com- mercial treaty negotiated with France in the commencement of 1860, were ably and diligently carried out by Mr. Cobden with the French government at Paris. Great and not al- together unsuccessful efforts had been made on both sides of the Channel to excite a prejudice against the treaty ; but the groundlessness of the objections made against it were best shown by the fact that while in England it was loudly proclaimed that our government had been duped by the astuter diplomacy of France, it was still more loudly complained in France that the interests of that country had been sacrificed to those of England. Both allegations were baseless. Hach country was greatly benefited by the removal of restrictions which had shackled the free move- ments of commercial enterprise, and kept it down to less ine THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. IIL. than a tithe of what it became under the liberal system which Mr. Cobden succeeded in establishing by the en- lightened patronage and codperation of the French emperor. And here we may remark, that, whatever may have been the faults of Napoleon III., on this occasion at least he deserved highly of both France and England, and to some considerable extent redeemed by his conduct the mischief that he wrought on other occasions. Lord Macaulay has written at the commencement of his great History: ‘I shall cheerfully bear the reproach of having descended below the dignity of history, if I can succeed in placing before the English of the nineteenth century a true picture of the life of their ancestors.’ It is on the principle that has received this high sanction that we venture to introduce into this work an event which without such an authority we should hardly have ventured to record. On the 17th of April a contest took place which resounded throughout England. An American boxer named Heenan crossed the seas to show that the new world could produce a pugilist of greater skill and prowess than Tom Sayers, who wore the champion-belt of England. Heenan was a giant, while his competitor was comparatively a man of small stature, but agile, skilful, and watchful. Almost at the commencement of the fight the English champion had one of his arms disabled; but made such good use of the other that Heenan’s face was battered into a mass in which it was difficult to discover any trace of the human countenance, and he was for the time completely blinded, while his antagonist was hardly less severely punished. The appearance of the police brought the fight to a pre- mature close. Both claimed the victory, but Sayers kept the champion’s belt ; and an attempt made to satisfy both of the combatants by presenting a belt to each was only very partially successful. Our principal object in mentioning this fight is to draw attention to the immense interest it excited. Half London endeavoured to be witnesses of it; and though comparatively few of those who attempted to make their way to the scene of action succeeded in reaching it, the number of spectators was enormous. But that which will most astonish our posterity to learn is, that peers, members of parliament, clergymen, men of highly- cultivated minds, men remarkable for artistic taste and 1861.] THE REFORM QUESTION. 178 artistic power, were amongst the foremost spectators of this disgusting and unlawful exhibition. Sayers made his public entry into the metropolis through a vast crowd, and amidst most tumultuous applauses. Bell’s Life in London boasted that the enthusiasm displayed was greater than would have attended the proclamation of a new king; and Lord Palmerston, in his place in the House of Commons, declared that he saw nothing more demoral- ising in a boxing-match than in the ascent of a balloon; apparently forgetting that the latter was permitted by the law, while the former was carried on in direct violation of its well-known provisions. Sayers also made a trium- _phal entry into Liverpool, where his reception was no less enthusiastic. During the months of June, July, and August, there was _a prevalence of severe cold, heavy rains, violent gales, and destructive floods, which gave rise to a fear that there would be a very serious failure of the crops. Fortunately, however, about the end of August a favourable change occurred, and the harvest, though by no means super- abundant, was more plentiful than had been anticipated. The peace which had often appeared to be on the point of being established with China was at length concluded ; and the only war in which this country was involved when the year closed was one of a not very serious character, which was waged in New Zealand. Never, perhaps, had the Queen of England been hailed with more ardent demonstrations of loyalty than when she opened the session of 1861, on Thursday the 5th of February. From Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament she was welcomed with one loud, sustained, boisterous cheer. There was nothing in the circumstances of the opening calculated to call forth this enthusiasm ; it was a tribute of loyalty to the person of the sovereign. The royal speech was very meagre in its promises of im- portant legislation. On the question of reform it was silent, and the only promise of legislation it held out had refer- ence to some of those law-reforms which had already been under the consideration of parliament. When the address, in reply to the royal speech, was brought forward, Mr. White moved an amendment expressive of dissatisfaction at the omission of all reference to the question of reform ; 174 THE FRENCH TREATY, (Cua, IIL, indicating that the government had resolved to abstain from taking up that question in the course of the present session. Mr. Disraeli, expressing, no doubt, the feeling of his party as well as his own, approved of this omission, and so did Lord John Russell, on the ground that he thought it better to leave the question altogether un- touched than to bring in a measure which would only cause disappointment and waste valuable time. His tone on this occasion contrasted strangely with what it had been a few sessions before, when he was overcome with emotion because he was obliged to withdraw his reform bill; and this inconsistency was strongly animadverted on by Mr. Bright, who said that the humiliating position of Lord John in reference to it reminded him of the bankrupt tradesman, who, having carried on business for many years on fictitious credit, at length called his creditors together, — glad of an opportunity of getting rid of his obligations. Why, continued Mr. Bright, ‘it is not many years ago since the noble lord shed bitter tears on the very subject which he has this evening treated with indecorous jocularity.’ Deserved as this rebuke was, the course determined on by the ministry was perhaps a wise one. It was useless to waste the time of the country by bringing in a bill on the subject unless the cabinet were united in favour of it and determined to carry it through; and it is very doubtful whether, even if they had been united and determined, they would have succeeded with a House of Commons the majority of whose members were anxious to get rid of it : and this was proved by the division on an amendment moved by Mr. White in favour of reform, which was sup- ported by only forty-six, while it was opposed by a hundred and twenty-nine. But whatever doubts may be entertained with regard to the wisdom of the course pursued by the government in re- gard to this question, there can scarcely be any difference of opinion with regard to the political morality of their conduct in this respect. Lord Palmerston, after having succeeded in obtaining the support of all sections of the liberal party to enable him to expel the Derby government from office on the ground that the reform bill they had in- troduced was not sufficiently effective to meet the wants of the nation or the requirements of public opinion, now 1861.] _ CHURCH-RATES. 175 threw overboard the question altogether ; and his colleagues shared the blame that attached to him for this conduct by continuing to hold office under a minister who had been guilty of such palpable inconsistency. A question of no small importance was submitted to parliament on the Thursday following the day on which the government repudiated its reform pledges in the manner we have seen. Lord Palmerston then moved for the ap- pointment of a select committee to consider whether, by any alteration in the form of proceeding of the House, the dis- patch of public business could be more effectually promoted. Amongst other suggestions that he offered was one, that bills dropped in one session might be taken up in the succeeding session at the stage at which they had been stopped, instead of recommencing entirely. That in this and other ways an enormous waste of time might be pre- vented, and the public business greatly expedited, seems certain ; and though objections were made by Mr. Disraeli, the motion was agreed to. On the whole, the debates of this session were charac- terised by more than usual tameness and dulness. There were, however, one or two questions which roused and ex- cited a lively interest ; and none more so than a bill for the abolition of church-rates, which was brought forward by Sir John Trelawney. This question had been repeatedly before the House of Commons, and the divisions on it had shown an increasing feeling in favour of the entire abo- lition of the impost, manifested not only by the majorities which had supported proposals for effecting that object, but also by the steady rejection of every suggested com- promise. But now it had been determined, both in and out of the House, to make a great effort to turn the tide. Mr. Disraeli placed himself at the head of the movement. A short time before the commencement of the session he had attended a combined meeting of clergy and laity of the rural deanery of Amersham, Bucks, at which he stated that in his opinion the question of church-rates involved the still more important question of the existence of a national church. This declaration was the signal for astrong agita- tion to secure the preservation of the church-rate. All mem- bers of the church, whatever their political opinions might . be, were exhorted to come to the rescue; meetings were 176 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap, III. held and petitions were got up throughout the country. Churchmen were recommended to write to their represen- tatives and urge them to vote in favour of the retention ' of the rate for the support of the fabrics of the churches, or at least not to vote against it. When, therefore, Sir J. Trelawney’s bill came on for its second reading, the result of these efforts was apparent. The conservative party mustered very strongly. Mr. Gladstone spoke earnestly in defence of church-rates, amidst cheers from the opposi- tion, which were described at the time as ‘ ecstatic.’ His colleague, Lord John Russell, also spoke, but less effec- tively, on the other side of the question; and on the division the second reading of Sir J. Trelawney’s bill was carried by 281 to 266, being a great falling-off from the previous majority in its favour. Encouraged by this first gleam of success, the defenders of church-rates in and out of the House redoubled their exertions; and the result was, that when the division took place on the third reading, the numbers for and against the bill were exactly equal, there being 274 on each side. The speaker therefore gave his casting vote against it, on the ground that, as the numbers were so large on both sides at this stage, it was desirable to give the House an opportunity of reconsidering the question. The interest which generally attaches to a personal question was strongly drawn out by the case of Mr. Turn- bull, who had announced that he had found himself obliged to resign a positon he held at the Record-office on account of the persecution carried on against him by the Protestant Alliance, which body had persistently assailed him on account of his decided Roman-Catholic convictions. The matter was brought under the notice of the House of Lords by Lord Normanby, who complained that the government had sacrificed Mr. Turnbull, and moved for a committee to inquire into the cirumstances connected with his dismissal. Lord Shaftesbury opposed the motion, on the ground that Mr. Turnbull had given notice of his intention to take legal proceedings against the secretary of the Protestant Alliance. At the same time he alleged that the objection raised against Mr. Turnbull did not so much rest on the ground of his religious opinions as on that of his decided partisanship. Lord Derby, with his usual 2861.] THE BUDGET. 177 manliness, did not hesitate to run the risk of offending his Orange Protestant supporters by defending Mr. Turnbull. © He justly observed that the question was not one of reli- gion, but it was whether that gentleman had received due protection from an unfairly conducted attack. At a later period of the year Mr. Turnbull brought his action against the secretary of the Protestant Alliance, but without suc- cess; and died soon after, of an illness which, if not pro- duced, was certainly aggravated, by the annoyances and mortifications he had undergone. The chancellor of the exchequer brought forward his annual financial statement on Monday, Aprill5. Although there was not now the excitement which the French treaty had produced, the anxiety to hear the statement, and the interest with which it was listened to, were as great as they had ever been before. It was a sensation in the ~ midst of the dreariness which seemed to have settled down on the parliamentary debates of this year, even more than on those of any preceding session; and there was a strong curiosity to see whether Mr. Gladstone would attempt to carry on the system of bold reduction of taxation on which he had ventured so far, or whether, now, at last, he would not find himself compelled to hold his hands, and to tread in the steps of his less ambitious predecessors. The House was beset by multitudes, patiently but vainly hoping to obtain admission to the strangers’ gallery, and the interest manifested within the house was at least as extraordinary as that exhibited in the approaches to it, and was sustained to the last. Putting aside the consideration of the two millions voted for the fortifications at the close of last year, Mr. Gladstone informed the House that the estimated expenditure was 73,664,0001., but that the actual expenditure only amounted to 72,842,0007. He then came to the revenue, and began by comparing the income of the past with that of the two preceding years. He stated that in 1859 there was a favourable balance of about 1,200,0002. In 1859 the reve- nue was 71,089,0002., in 1860 it was 70,283,0002. But he pointed out that the difference was partly accounted for by the circumstance that leap-year had occurred in the preceding year, and that Good Friday and the day follow- ing had been reckoned in the one year, and not in the other. VOL, III, N 178 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. The estimated expenditure for the coming year was 69,900,0002., and the estimated revenue 71,823,0001. ; there was therefore a surplus of 1,923,0001. Under these circum- stances the government proposed to remit the additional penny on the income-tax that was imposed in 1860, which would cause a loss to the present financial year of 850,0000. He also proposed to repeal the duty on paper on the Ist of October, by which the revenue would lose about 665,000/. This would reduce the surplus for the year to 408,000Z. The chancellor of the exchequer then gave his reasons for not assenting to some minor remissions of taxes, respecting which he had received strong remonstrances from the trading community. He proposed to renew the income- tax, and the taxes on tea and sugar, for one year only. He concluded his speech by warnings and lessons which derived peculiar impressiveness from his character and experience. ‘Now, sir, it is impossible for me to conclude a financial survey of the affairs of the country, with, at any rate, so much of effort to exhibit their details to the committee, without some few reflections upon its general condition. And in referring to that general survey, I must, in the first place, tender the expression of my gratitude for the kind- ness and patience with which the committee have followed me through what I may call a wilderness of figures. Sir, as respects the connection between the general condition of the country and its financial state, I must say the reflec- tions which the future before us suggest are satisfactory. We have seen this country, during the last few years, without European wars, yet placed under a burden of taxation such as, out of a Huropean war, it never was before called on to bear; we have seen it last year under the pressure of a season of blight, such as but few of living men can recollect. Yet, on looking abroad over the face of England, no one is sensible of any signs of decay. Least of all can such an apprehension be felt with regard to those attributes which perhaps are the highest of all, and on which most of all depend our national existence,— the spirit and courage of the country. It is almost need- less to say that neither the sovereign on the throne; nor the nobles and the gentry, that fill the place of the gallant chieftains of the middle ages ; nor the citizens, who repre- 1861.] "THE BUDGET. 179 sent the invincible soldiers of Cromwell; nor the artisans and peasantry, who are the children of those sturdy archers that drew the crossbows of England on the fields of France —that none of these betray either inclination or tendency to depart from the traditions of their forefathers. If there be any one danger which has recently in any especial man- ner beset us, I confess that, though it may be owing to some peculiarity in my position, or to some weakness in my vision, danger has seemed to me to lie during recent years chiefly in an increased susceptibility to excitement, in our proneness to constant and apparently boundless augmentations of expenditure. I do not refer to this or that particular change or scheme. Of course, I do not refer to the estimates for the year, which are in our judg- ment required by the circumstances, taken as a whole, in which we stand. But I think that when, in an extended retrospect, we take notice of the rate at which we have been advancing for a certain number of years, we must see that there has been a tendency to break down all barriers and all limits which restrain the amount of public charges. For my own part, I am deeply convinced that all excess in the public expenditure beyond the legitimate wants of the country is not only a pecuniary waste—for that, although an important, is yet a comparatively trifling matter—but a great political, and above all a great moral evil. It is a characteristic, sir, of the mischiefs which arise from financial prodigality, that they creep onwards with a noiseless and a stealthy step; that they commonly remain unseen and unfelt until they have reached a mag- nitude absolutely overwhelming; and then at length we see them, such and so great as they now appear to exist. in one at least among the great European states—I mean the empire of Austria; so fearful and menacing in their aspect, and so large in their dimensions, that they seem to threaten the very foundations of national existence. Sir, I do trust that the day has come when a check is beginning among ourselves to be put to the movement in this direc- tion. I think, as far as I have been able to trace the scn- timents of the House, and the indication of general opinion during the present session, that the tendency to which I have adverted is at least partially on the decline; I trust it will altogether subside and disappear. It is indeed true N 2 180 THE FRENCH TREATY, [Cuap. III. . —at least, I for one should be among the first to uphold the soundness of the assertion—that sweeping and violent reductions of expenditure are to be deprecated almost as much as excess and prodigality. But at the same time there is many a one who shares that sentiment, and yet who still feels that it is demanded by high public expe- diency and by national duty, that we should recur, I do not say to the charges—for national wants with the nation’s ever-increasing growth will vary and. will grow— but to the spirit, the temper, and the rules with which no long time ago we were all wont to apply ourselves to the subject of public expenditure. Sir, I trust that such a wish may be realised ; and if only it be so, then, for my part, I say that, if there be difficulties in the work of government, they are not, so far as regards the department with which I have the honour to be connected, difficulties which any man of ordinary courage need for a moment, under whatever contingencies, hesitate to face. The spirit of the people is excellent. There never was a nation in the whole history of the world more willing to bear the heavy burdens under which it lies, more generously dis- posed to overlook the errors of those who have the direction of its affairs. And, for my own part, I hold that, if this country can steadily and constantly remain as wise in the use of her treasure as she is unrivalled in its production, and as moderate in the exercise of her strength as she is rich in its possession, then we may well cherish the hope that there is yet reserved for England a great work to do on her part and on the part of others, and that for many a generation yet to come she will continue to hold a foremost place among the nations of the world.’ The question which had been raised between the two houses by the rejection of the paper-bill duty by the Lords remained still undecided. Should the Commons send u another bill for its repeal, to be again rejected, after the solemn resolutions it had passed during the last session ? That was a course which the public opinion of the country would not tolerate, even if the government and the House of Commons had been willing to acquiesce in it. Never- theless great efforts were made to effect this; and the claims of tea to a remission of duty were put forward in opposition to those of paper, and not without effect. No 1861. ] REPEAL OF THE PAPER DUTIES. 181 tax was more unpopular than that on tea, which in England had come to be regarded as a necessary of life. The agita- tion in favour of the reduction of the duty on this article was one which under other circumstances would have been very popular in England; but now the English people firmly repelled the temptation. A very successful agitation had been carried on in favour of the repeal of the paper- duties in such a way as would settle the constitutional question that had arisen between the Lords and the Com- mons in favour of the latter. Backed, therefore, by the strongly-expressed opinion of the majority of the English people in favour of the course he had determined to take, Mr. Gladstone, on the 6th of May, announced that he intended to include all the chief financial propositions of the budget in one bill, instead of dividing it into several bills, as had hitherto been the practice. This virtually placed the Lords in the position of being obliged to accept or reject the whole financial scheme, and in fact deprived them not only of the power that they had exercised in the case of the paper-duties, but of that power of examination and amend- ment of details which they had hitherto enjoyed without question or dispute, and which but for this unfortunate revival of a dormant and useless right they would long have continued to retain. Of course this was not effected with- out a severe struggle. The influence of the aristocracy in the House of Commons, though greatly weakened, was still very great. ‘There were a large number of members in the lower House who were heirs-apparent, presumptive or expectant of some peerage, and who were consequently anxious to defend the privileges and prerogatives of an assembly of which they would probably be members. A still larger number were returned by constituencies over which members of the aristocracy exercised an indirect and unavowed but still very powerful influence; to this must be added the social influence which the Lords possessed ; and lastly the fact, that whenever a question arose between the two Houses, the conservative party almost to a man was ready to support the claims of the peers. But on this occasion the leader of the conservative party possessed another advantage, of which he made great use. Lord Derby, during his brief term of office, had earned no small amount of popularity among the Irish, and 182 7 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. IIT. especially the Irish Catholics, by obtaining a grant towards the maintenance of a mail-packet service between the port of Galway and the United States. It was hoped that this service would prove a source of wealth not only to Galway itself and the neighbouring districts, but also to the whole of that part of Ireland in which it is situated. When, therefore, the grant that had been made for this purpose was withdrawn by the government of Lord Palmerston, and the visions of prosperity which had been conjured up in the minds of the Irish people were dashed and dispelled, great was the indignation excited throughout Ireland, and especially the parts of Ireland which had expected to profit most largely by the scheme. The consequence was, that the government had become exceedingly unpopular in the sister country; and no effort was spared by many who had hitherto been reckoned amongst its supporter to place it in a minority, and bring Lord Derby back into office before the withdrawal of the grant had been irrevocably effected. A priest named Daly, who had been mainly instrumental in obtaining the grant, was energetically active in his efforts to secure the continuance of it. He came over armed with credentials from men of all parties, and used his utmost exertions to cajole or intimidate the Irish liberal members into transferring their support from the present government to the conservative party, and it was hoped that if they could succeed in defeating the government, they would in case of a dissolution gain a large accession of strength in Ireland. A great effort, therefore, was made to defeat the plan of the chancellor of the exchequer. It was strongly opposed by Mr. Disraeli; Lord Robert Cecil especially distinguished himself by the violence of his attacks on the government, denouncing the bill as designed to avenge a special political defeat, to gratify a special pique, and to gain the doubtful votes of a special political section; and making a vehement attack on Mr. Gladstone. On the other hand Sir J. Graham, though suffering from a disease which in less than six months after carried him off, came down to the House to express his warm approval of the course taken by the government, and spoke with remarkable earnestness and eloquence in favour of the bill. When the House divided the numbers were 1861. ] REPEAL OF THE PAPER DUTIES. 183 For the bill . ‘ : 4 : : ‘ é . 296 Against... ‘ . ; , ; ‘ . 281 Majority in favour of the government . : - 16 There can be no doubt that the efforts of the numerous penny papers which had been started in anticipation of the reduction of the duty, and could not be profitably carried on so long as it remained unrepealed, contributed in no small degree to this result. Mr. Disraeli, finding that by attempting to continue the contest he would only expose himself to a still more signal defeat, wisely gave way; and the peers were obliged to submit. The bankruptcy bill, one of the few government measures promised in the Queen’s speech, was brought in by the attorney-general, Sir R. Bethell, and passed through both Houses; but so altered in form, that its framer de- clared that it had not one valuable feature left init. He soon after became Lord Westbury and lord chancellor, that office having been rendered vacant by the sudden death of Lord Campbell. The question of reform was raised in this session by the motion of Mr. Locke King for lowering the county franchise to a 10/. qualification, and that of Mr. Baines for reducing the borough franchise to 6/., but both of these proposals were summarily rejected. The civil war which had broken out in the United States of America seemed at this time not unlikely to terminate in the formation of two separate republics; one composed of the free states of the North, and the other of the slave states of the South. It does not fali within the province of this History to trace the course of that great struggle, except so far as it affected our own country, which it did to a very considerable extent. The quarrel had its origin in the persevering efforts of the opponents of slavery in the North to obtain the abolition of that institution throughout the Union. These efforts had gained a great triumph in the election for the first time of an anti-slavery president of the Union in the person of Abraham Lincoln. This event caused much consternation throughout the slave states, and was the signal for the preparation for a mighty effort on the part of the slaveholders to separate themselves from the free states; the result was, that on 184 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. ‘= the 20th of December, 1860, the state convention of South Carolina, sitting at Charleston, adopted an ordinance dis- solving the connection between that state and the other states of the Union, and took measures to resist any at- tempt to enforce the authority of the government of the United States over the province. The example thus set was followed in the course of 1861 by the states of Missis- sippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Vir- ginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, which, one after another, gave in their adhesion to the rebellion. President Buchanan, who was in office when the secession commenced, was strongly Southern in his sympathies ; and instead of taking prompt and vigorous measures to suppress the rebellion in its infancy, he temporised with it, hoping that some solution of the difficulty might be found without recourse to arms. His successor took a more decided course, and prepared, with the zealous assistance of his ministers, to maintain the authority of the govern- ment in all parts of the United States. Meanwhile the rebellious states had formed themselves into a confedera- tion, of which Mr. Jefferson Davis was appointed the first president. The two parties were mustering their forces, and preparing for a war which it seemed probable would be long and bloody. It might have been anticipated that, as this was a struggle into which the Southern states had entered with the avowed object of maintaining and per- petuating slavery within their borders, the feeling in favour of the Northern states in England would have been strong and unanimous, and that the sympathy of the English government and of the English people would have gone with the enemies of an institution which England had so long been foremost in opposing. This, however, was very far from being the case. The majority of the English people had not forgotten many displays of arrogance thathad been made by the government of the States, and many alarms of war, which, though groundless, were not altogether unfounded ; and they were rather disposed to rejoice at the humiliation of the United States than to rejoice at the prospect of the liberation of the vast number of negroes who were held in bondage throughout the Southern confederacy. It is true that a considerable part of the nation, and especially of the working classes, was superior to this unworthy jealousy, ~ a 1861. ] THE AFFAIR OF THE TRENT. 185 and gave an unalloyed sympathy to the North ; but a large portion of the government, of the aristocracy, of the middle classes, and not a few also of the lower orders, strongly _ sympathised with the South, and seemed to abjure that spirit which had sacrificed twenty millions to purchase freedom for the slave throughout the British dominions, and had compelled our government to make such costly sacrifices in order to put down the slave-trade and slavery in other parts of the world. When, therefore, intelligence reached Hngland that the Southerners had achieved a _ signal success at the battle of Bull’s Run, and had pursued their flying and panic-stricken opponents almost into Washington, the news was received here with general satis- faction; and when it was found, later in the year, that a United-States war-vessel, the San Jacinto, commanded by Captain Wilkes, had stopped the Trent, West-Indian steamer, and with needless insolence had forcibly taken Messrs. Mason, Slidell, M‘Farland, and Eustis, who were on board her and under the protection of the British flag, a thrill of patriotic emotion passed through the country. Indignation was mingled with astonishment. The sensa- tional announcements put forth by the newspapers, such as ‘Outrage on the British Flag,’ increased the feeling that the act itself, and the manner in which it had been carried out, was calculated to awaken. ‘ What,’ said the men who had been accustomed to sing ‘ Rule, Britannia!’ ‘Hngland insulted on the sea, and by the Americans, whose insolence we have so often endured! Now is the time to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard.’ Some voices timidly suggested that perhaps, after all, Captain Wilkes had right on his side, and that though he had undoubtedly behaved with swaggering insolence, he had only done what he was authorised by international law to do, and what certainly had been done before with at least equal insolence by many an Hnglish captain. The highest legal authorities were consulted; and there was a moment of hushed and anxious Suspense, until they gave a distinct opinion that the action of Captain Wilkes was illegal. This opinion was received with loud exultation. It was forgotten that the American legal authorities might deliver an opposite opinion to that given by our legists. It was forgotten that the South was fighting for slavery, and the North for freedom. It was LEG, THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap, III. forgotten that in the southern port of Savannah, Captain Vaughan, the commander of a British vessel, guilty of no other crime than that of entertaining a man of colour at dinner, had been seized on board his ship, torn from the arms of his wife, and then tarred and feathered. All these things were forgotten ; and from one end of the country to , the other there was one loud and almost unanimous ery for war and vengeance. Messrs. Bright and Cobden stood alone among our public men, in resisting the war mania that prevailed for the moment throughout the country. Lord Palmerston, on the other hand, put himself at the head of the movement, and by his acts and language stimu- lated the feeling that prevailed. It was noticed that there was a marked difference between his tone and that of Lord John Russell when they referred to the subject. However, both the prime minister and the foreign secretary were carried away by the general fecling. A despatch was at once forwarded to Lord Lyons, the British minister at Washington, instructing him peremptorily to demand the liberation of the four gentlemen who had been taken out of the Trent, with a suitable apology for the insult which had been inflicted on the British flag. By another despatch he was instructed to allow the American government a delay of only seven days to deliberate on the course they would adopt, and was directed to leave Washington with all the members of his legation, and repair to London with the archives of the embassy, if an answer was not given within the stipulated time, or if any other answer should be given except a promise of compliance with the demands of the British government. This message was supported by France, Austria, and Prussia, ina manner which showed that the view taken of the affair by these great powers was in accordance with that taken of it by our own government, and that they were therefore prepared to give a moral if not a material support to the efforts that England might make to obtain redress. Without waiting for a reply to these demands, the British government made immediate preparations for war. Though winter was coming on, the Guards and other troops were hurried off to Canada; and their departure was accompanied by loud cheering and other manifestations, which showed that the war would be popular, at least at its commencement. The American 1861.] DEATH OF PRINCE ALBERT. 187 mob, even more foolish than ‘the London mob, demanded that the captives should be retained. The American con- gress passed a vote of thanks to Captain Wilkes; but the American government wisely yielded, and the gentlemen who had been taken out of the Trent were sent back in a British ship of war, and restored to the protection of the British flag; and so the warclouds, which at one time looked so black and thunderous, rolled away, not a little to the disappointment of many, who would gladly have taken advantage of the difficulties of the United States in order to cripple their power. Towards the close of this year an event occurred which spread sorrow and mourning through the land, from the palace of the sovereign to the cottage of the lowest and poorest of her subjects. On the 8th of December the Court Circular stated that the Prince Consort had been confined to his apartments by a feverish cold and pains in the limbs. Not much importance, however, was attached to this announcement, which was supposed to point to nothing more than an ordinary cold. Little more uneasi- ness was caused by the issue of a formal bulletin on Wed- nesday the 11th of December, informing the public that his royal highness was suffering from fever, unattended by unfavourable symptoms, but likely to continue for some time. It was therefore a terrible surprise to the Lon- doners when, on Sunday morning, just after midnight, the great bell of St. Paul’s, booming through the deep silence, spread far and wide the tidings that the consort of the queen of England was dead. But, though the nation generally was wholly unprepared for the event, it had been known some time before to the queen, to the family, and to the court, that the danger was great and imminent, His worth and his services were most strongly attested by the grief of the illustrious lady who had enjoyed the best opportunities of appreciating them, and who described herself with the simple truthfulness of grief, as ‘the heart-broken Queen of England.’ What made the loss more terrible was that the prince was in the prime of life, being only forty-one years of age, and having up to the time of this illness enjoyed excellent health, which, combined with temperate and regular habits, seemed to give promise of a long life. England lost in him the 188 THE FRENCH TREATY. (Cuar. III. consort of her queen, and the father of her line of future kings. The deceased prince was a man of great and varied accomplishment. The speeches delivered by him on several public occasions showed that his naturally reflec- tive mind had largely profited by the lessons of German philosophy received in his youth. He was a warm and discriminating patron of art, and he loved the society of men of genius. He took a scientific and intelligent interest in agriculture. He entertained sound and elevated views with regard to the industrial progress of the country of his adoption, which were conspicuously exhibited, as we have already seen, in the part he took in promoting the Great Exhibition of 1851. That of 1862 was even more completely his work, though he did not live to witness its commencement. His death was a terrible blow to the queen. By it she lost her best adviser, the natural guardian of her children, her devoted friend and companion, the joy of her life, the solace of her many anxieties. A few months before, she had lost her mother; she now endured a more cruel blow in the loss of her husband. Her great consolation under this affliction was in the comforts of religion, in the love of her family, and the warm sympathy of her people, to whom her private virtues, no less than the faithful and con- scientious discharge of her public duties as a constitutional queen, had greatly endeared her. It was felt that this was in no small degree owing to the wise counsels she had received from the deceased prince; and this conviction served to increase the sympathy which was felt for her, as well as the regret with which the loss of her consort was regarded. His funeral, though conducted with all due ceremonial, was strictly private. The sorrow of the be- reaved queen was too deep to bear the trial of a public demonstration. This great calamity was shortly after followed by another, which sent a second wave of sorrow through the nation. On the 16th of January, 1862, upwards of two hundred men and boys were buried alive in the Hartley mine, near North Shields. A huge beam, which formed part of the pumping apparatus, gave way, and falling down the shaft below, crushed to death five men who were 1862.} THE HARTLEY COAL MINE. 189 ascending at the moment the accident occurred, and so completely choked the mouth of the pit as to render all ingress and egress impossible. Instantly every effort was put forth to clear away the rubbish, and relieve those who were imprisoned in the mine; but several days and nights of hard and continuous labour, rendered more difficult by the deadly vapours which rose from the interior, passed before an entrance into the mine could be effected. When at length an opening was made the silence of death pre- vailed throughout the workings. ‘The miners were found lying in rows, with calm placid countenances; here boys were reposing on the shoulders of their fathers, there a youth clasped with his arm the neck of his brother. Some had scratched messages to their surviving relatives on the flasks and boxes they carried. Ina book taken from the pocket of one of them was found the following memoran- dum, which told in its simple way how calmly and reli- giously he and his comrades had met their terrible end: ‘Friday afternoon, half-past two o’clock. Edward Arm- strong, Thomas Gledson, John Hardie, Thomas Bell, and others, took extremely ill. We had also a prayer-meeting at a quarter to 2, when Tibbs, H. Sharp, J. Campbell, H. Gibson, and William Palmer... . Tibbs exhorted to us again, and Sharp also.’ It is useless to attempt to picture the grief of the village, in which there was hardly a family of which some member had not perished. The sorrow- stricken queen roused herself from her own grief to express the sympathy she felt for the humble women, whom this accident had plunged in a sorrow like her own. A letter of consolation which she sent was read to them by the clergy of the neighbourhood, and was stated to have had a great effect in alleviating their afiliction. A subscription for the relief of the widows and orphan children of those who had perished amounted to upwards of 81,0001. The inspectors of mines had frequently recommended that every mine should have at least two shafts. Had this recommendation been attended to, the lives of the unfor- tunate workmen would have been saved. But the pro- prietors of the mines pleaded that the expense would be too great; and the consequence was that neither man nor child escaped. The session of 1862 commenced under very sorrowful 190 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. auspices. The grief of the bereaved queen cast a shadow of gloom and sadness over the opening of the parliament. She of course did not appear, and the commissioners who represented her on this occasion seemed to steal down to the House as though engaged in something they almost felt to be wrong. ‘There was not only an absence of cere- monial, but an absence of the stir and curiosity which even an opening of the session by commission ordinarily excites; and the topic which alone monopolised the attention of both houses was the great loss which both the sovereign and the nation had sustained. The gloom which pervaded parliament at the commencement of the session seemed to settle down on it and overhang it throughout its con- tinuance ; which was characterised by a marked absence of political excitement and party struggles, and an evident desire on every side, not only in the legislature, but throughout the kingdom—to spare the queen all needless pain and anxiety in the first months of her grievous bereavement. A subscription for a national memorial to the deceased prince was set on foot; and as it had been suggested that the choice of the memorial should be left to the queen, it was announced that her majesty would not shrink fromthe performance of this melancholy duty, but would be guided in discharging it by the adyice of those who were best qualified to give an opinion on the subject. The civil war in America was now beginning to make itself deeply felt in this country. In the first quarter of the year our exports to the States had diminished from 21,667,0002. to 9,058,0007., being a difference of no less than 12,609,0002. This alone must have produced a great derangement of monetary and commercial affairs, and the necessary accompaniment of that derangement in the enforced idleness and distress of large masses of the work- ing population. But this class was still more affected by the sudden and almost entire cessation of the importation of cotton from America, whence the greater part, and cer. tainly by far the best part, of our supplies of that article had hitherto been drawn. ‘To these causes of distress was to be added the effect of a partial failure of the crops in the last harvest, which, though good in quality, was defi- cient in quantity. All these circumstances tended to try 1862. ] NEW LAW COURTS. 191 the resources of the country, and greatly to lessen its reve- nues. And yet, such was the almost magical success which had attended Mr. Gladstone’s financial operations and the treaty which Mr. Cobden had negotiated with France, that, notwithstanding all the disadvantages and depressing cir- cumstances we have enumerated, the revenue showed an increase of no less than 2,000,0002.; and while our trade with the United States had so seriously diminished, that with France had increased within the period of a single year from 2,190,000/. to 6,910,000. This increase of revenue was balanced by a nearly cor- responding increase of expenditure, chiefly owing to the affair of the Trent, through which this country obtained satisfaction for its wounded honour at a cost of upwards of a million of money; so that when the chancellor of the exchequer made up his accounts he found that the sum at his disposal was only 150,000. With a balance so small; with a war in America that had already produced much distress in the manufacturing districts, and the continuance of which was ‘certain to be attended by a rapidly progres- Sive increase of that distress; with the danger of the country being involved, as she had already so nearly been, in war—with all these difficulties and perils before him, it would have been in the highest degree rash in the chan- cellor of the exchequer to attempt to carry out bold finan- cial operations such as had so favourably distinguished his previous budgets. He was therefore compelled to content himself with a few changes in the incidence of taxation, such as the replacement of the duties on hops by an increase of brewers’ licenses, and a lowering of the duty on playing-cards. The necessity that existed for the erection of new law- courts had long been felt, Those which were in existence were inconvenient in point of arrangement, insufficient in regard to size, and miserably mean in appearance both externally and internally, utterly unworthy of the great, venerable, and historic tribunals of England, and disfigure- ments of the magnificent palace of the legislature, to which they clung like parasitic excrescences, marring the beauty of the building, and requiring to be removed in order that it might be duly appreciated. It was felt also that when the erection of new law-courts 192 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. did take place, it was desirable that they should be worthy of the great purpose to which they were devoted, and should have all requisite accommodation. This could only be effected at an expense so vast that, in the present state of the finances, the government might well hesitate to sanction it, but fortunately there was a large sum of money disposable for this purpose. Certain funds in chancery had accumulated during a long period, the greater part of which was never likely to be claimed. It was proposed that they should be appropriated to the erection of new courts, and a bill was brought into parliament sanctioning this application of them, on condition that if the owners of any portion should come forward and substantiate their claim, they should receive the amount due to them. To this it would seem that there could be no valid objection. No application of the money could be more proper, and it was exceedingly unlikely that any claimants for it would now appear. But the spirit of party and personal hostility interfered to defeat the project. It was known to be a favourite plan of the lord chancellor, who was very unpo-. pular with the legal profession generally, and especially with some of its leading members. When, therefore, the ~ question of the second reading of the measure was brought forward in the House of Commons the lawyers mustered in great force, and the discussion was carried on with all the excitement which is generally raised by a debate into which personal feeling largely enters. Mr. Selwyn moved an amendment, on which a division was called for. When the paper containing the numbers was handed in, Mr. ' Brand (one of the tellers on the government side) gave it to Mr. Selwyn, the mover of the amendment, and one of the tellers on the opposite side. This, according to the usual parliamentary practice, was supposed to denote that there was a majority in favour of the amendment. The opposition thereupon raised a loud shout of triumph; but their exultation was somewhat damped when the announce- ment was read, from which it appeared that the numbers for and against the amendment were exactly equal. The speaker was about to give his casting vote on the side of the government, when it was discovered that a gentleman in full evening dress had been unable to find his way through the division turnstile into the House. He was ie 1862.| THE CHURCH-RATE QUESTION AGAIN. 193 therefore brought before the speaker, and asked which way he intended to vote. He replied that he should vote against the amendment; thus causing it to be rejected by a majority of one vote. It is usual when an amendment _ has been rejected to allow the original motion to pass. But the peculiar circumstances that had attended the preceding division induced the opponents of the bill to make another attempt to get rid of it on the second reading, which they had good reason to believe would be successful; for they had ascertained that two of the members who voted against the amendment would not vote in favour of the second reading. The excitement was now tremendous on both sides; and it increased when, at this critical moment, a government official entered the house and reinforced his party. However, just as the doors were being closed, a member of the opposition slipped through them. Thus in _ the division the opponents of the bill were in a majority of two. The exultation of the triumphant party now went beyond all bounds. They did not cheer—they absolutely yelled, exhibiting such a scene of wild triumph as has rarely been displayed within the walls of the House of Commons. _ On Wednesday the 14th of May there was another re- markable debate and division on the church-rate question, which was decided last year by the speaker’s casting vote. This circumstance gave an extraordinary interest to the question when again brought forward, and caused an attendance which for a Wednesday-afternoon debate was un- usually large. Mr. S. Estcourt moved a hostile amendment; and when the division took place it was at first thought that it had again issued in a tie, and that the speaker would once more be required to give his casting vote. But when, amid the intense expectation of the house, the numbers were given out, it was found that 287 had supported Mr. Hstcourt’s amendment, while 286 had voted against it; so that it was carried by a majority of one. This small gain | was hailed with great delight by the supporters of church- rates in the house. However, Mr. Estcourt’s amendment having now been carried, had, according to the rules of the house, to be put as a substantive motion; and a division being demanded by the defeated party, it was carried by 288 to 271; a result which we need hardly add called forth VOL. III, 0 194 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. ITT, another burst of noisy exultation. ‘The cheers of the victors were echoed by their supporters throughout the country, who triumphantly proclaimed everywhere that a great reaction was taking place in favour of the church, and were stimulated by this success to agitate more actively than ever in favour of the threatened impost. Subsequently Sir J. Trelawney asked whether the government intended to bring in a measure on the subject, and was told by Lord Palmerston, that they had no such intention. A sum of 1,200,000/. in addition to what had been already spent for the same purpose was asked from the house, to be employed in the construction of fortifications intended for the defence of the country against invasion. It was alleged on the part of the government, that the ex- penditure was demanded by public opinion. It might more correctly have been described as demanded by a public panic, which the premier himself had stimulated. However, whether demanded or not, it was numerously supported in the House of Commons; and Mr. Osborne, who resisted the grant, and urged that we might rely with confidence on our navy, yielded .to the feeling of the majority. This question of fortifications was the subject of repeated debates in the house; in the course of one of which Mr. Cobden distinctly accused Lord Palmerston of fomenting the alarm which gave rise to the demand for additional fortifications ; and to these strictures his lordship replied in a very angry tone, attacking Mr. Cobden, sneer- ing at the French treaty—to the manifest dissatisfaction of some of his colleagues, who had taken an active part in negotiating it—and declaring that though Mr. Cobden was a great authority on questions of free-trade, he was on military and naval matters in a state of blindness and delusion, and therefore unsafe as a guide or adviser in matters of national defence. One striking peculiarity of this session was the large number of counts-out that occurred in the course of it. Counting-out had, in fact, now become a regular institu- tion. There were gentlemen who had undertaken the task of endeavouring to provide that, at a certain moment, there should be fewer than forty members in the house or within call. When that object was supposed to be attained, another member slipped in from behind the speaker’s chair, 1862.] THE COTTON FAMINE. 195 moved that the house should be counted; and if those who wished for a continuance of the debate could not muster the required forty, the discussion was brought to a close for that evening, and perhaps the question was shelved for the residue of the session. The American war, and the cotton famine, as it was then termed, which had arisen from it, had to a great extent deprived two millions of persons of their usual employment, and was gradually reducing them to destitution. What the consequences would be if the war should be protracted for a much longer period, it was impossible to foresee : they would no doubt be terrible indeed ; but even now they were beginning to be very serious. An enormous increase of pauperism had taken place in the manufacturing districts. In Ashton it was found, that at the end of a few weeks the number of paupers was five times larger than it had been at the commencement of that period. At Manchester and Burnley they had increased threefold; at Bury, Hasling- den, Oldham, Preston, and Rochdale, they had more than doubled ; at Stockport they had increased fourfold; and in all these places the distress was still rapidly progressing, and seemed likely to continue till almost all the inhabitants of the district had been engulfed in one terrible abyss of pauperism. Under such circumstances it seemed to be the imperative duty of the government to step in and endeavour to alle- viate the misery and destitution into which the inhabitants of these districts were falling through no fault of their own, especially as they were exhibiting, amidst all their priva- tions, a fortitude, an endurance, and an independence, which commanded for them the respect of the whole world. Never before had the working classes in any country ex- hibited in a more praiseworthy manner the desire to support themselves by their own industry, and to avoid being burdensome to others. And it was felt everywhere that these were persons who not only ought to be liberally assisted, but towards whom it would be disgraceful to en- force those severe provisions of the new poor-law, which had been framed for the purpose of checking imposition and curing inveterate indolence. Great efforts, therefore, were made to alleviate distress which was borne with such heroic patience. Private charity was doing all that it could. : 0) 196 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Caap. III. Many individuals placed money at the disposal of the clergy of the suffering districts for the relief of their parishioners. Large sums were also raised by a society, at the head of whichthe lord mayor of London placed himself; and greatand noble efforts were made by a relief fund committee, sitting at Manchester under the presidency of the Earl of Derby. The queen gave 2000/.; the pasha of Egypt, who happened to be in England at the time, generously con- tributed 1000/.; and other persons of inferior rank dis- played a liberality no less princely. But private bounty, however great, could not meet the destitution of nearly half a million of persons, who at this time were dependent on others for the barest necessaries of life. Ministers were therefore called on to take the matter up, and not only to use the powers that belonged to them under the existing law, but to endeavour to effect such changes in it as would enable them to meet in a fitting manner the emergency that had arisen. Accordingly, on Tuesday the 22nd of July, Mr. Villiers, as president of the new poor-law board, in- troduced into the House of Commons a bill on the subject, the provisions of which he explained to a house consisting of about twenty members. On the following Thursday it was read a second time, and it passed rapidly and without opposition through its remaining stages. The reader will no doubt have observed that this session was of the number of those in which no great measure of public policy, no great organic change was made, or even proposed, by the government. This was partly owing to the unconcealed aversion of the head of the cabinet to force on such changes; partly to the death of the prince consort, and to the unwillingness that was consequently felt to engage in struggles which might aggravate the sorrows and anxieties of the bereaved queen, and partly also to the Great Exhibition, which was opened on the Ist of May. The opening took place under favourable circumstances. The South-Eastern Railway Company had for some time back been daily bringing from Boulogne-sur-Mer to London some 400 passengers, and foreigners were flocking in by Dover, by Newhaven, by Southampton, and other ports in proportionate numbers. The sum which had been received on the day before the opening of the exhibition exceeded by ten thousand pounds that which had been received on 1862.] THE EXHIBITION OF 1862, 197 the day preceding the opening of the exhibition of 1851. The multitudes that were assembled within the exhibition and outside of it were enormous. But the recent death of Prince Albert, drawing after it, as it did, the absence of the sovereign, cast a shadow of gloom on the inaugural ceremony. Thoughts of the illustrious dead and of the mourning queen would intrude themselves. The Prince of Wales, too, was in Egypt. Many sovereigns, whose presence had been anticipated, were not there. Some un- pleasant feeling was caused by the determination of the commissioners, to whom the arrangements had been in- trusted, to require the exhibitors to pay for their admis- sion to the ceremony at the same rate as the rest of the _ public. Then, an ode having been composed for the occa- sion by Tennyson, and set to music by Sterndale Bennett, _M. Costa refused to lead the orchestra, on the ground of —_ some personal dispute that had formerly arisen between Mr. Bennett and himself; and when M. Sainton replaced M. Costa at the head of the orchestra, it was somewhat angrily asserted that Englishmen could be found who would have led it as well as an Italian or a Frenchman. Half the articles to be exhibited were not yet unpacked; and lastly, there were loud complaints of the downright ugliness of the building, the bad taste of its decorations, and the un- skilful arrangement and classification of its contents. The opening ceremony was conducted with as much éclat as could be expected under such circumstances. The Duke of Cambridge appeared for the queen, Lord Granville took the part in the ceremony which would have been performed by Prince Albert if he had been alive, and Prince Oscar of Sweden and the Prince Royal of Prussia represented the sovereigns of Hurope. Through an unfortunate blunder the foreign ambassadors had not been invited. The music of Bennett and Auber in some degree compensated for the deficiencies in the opening ceremony and in the procession, which included the members of the Japanese embassy ; the members of both Houses of Parliament, with their respective speakers; the corporation of London; and a great number of English and foreign notabilities, all arrayed in the costumes of the countries to which they belonged and the offices which they filled. After the procession had passed through the building, the Duke of Cambridge said, 198 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. in a loud and distinct voice, ‘By the command of the Queen, I now declare the Exhibition open.’ The building, notwithstanding its undeniable ugliness, and the bad taste of many of its decorations—respects in which it contrasted very disadvantageously with the fairy lightness and beauty of the Crystal Palace, decidedly the most original concep- tion of our age—was not ill adapted for the purpose for which it was designed. There was a great and marked improvement both in the quality and quantity of the objects exhibited, and this was the case especially in the foreign departments ; for while in the exhibition of 1851 the num- ber of foreign exhibitors was 6,566, in that of this year they were 16,456, an increase of nearly 10,000. On the other hand, there was a slight diminution in the number of visitors to the exhibition, which was less than at the first exhibition by about 50,000. During the first month after the opening of the exhibition the prices of admission to it varied from five guineas to half-a-crown, and during the whole of this period it was in a veryimperfect and unfinished. state. It was not until Monday the 2nd of July that the masses were admitted at a shilling, which from that day became the usual charge. The distress prevailing in the manufacturing districts, and the war which was being carried on in America, no doubt had an injurious influence on the attendance. There was much difference of opinion expressed in the public press with regard to this exhibition. Some writers dwelt with complacent delight and admi- ration on the unrivalled assemblage of the products of the industry of all nations; while others derided it as a ‘monster bazaar,’ a ‘great advertismg medium,’ a ‘ palace of puffs.’ The ascents of aeronauts have generally been associated in fact and in men’s minds with fireworks, tight-rope dan- cing, and other amusements of that nature, or at best have been regarded as mere exhibitions of audacity on the part of those who ventured to make a voyage not unlikely to terminate in a precipitate and fatal fall. But the balloon ascent of September 5, 1862, was an event in the scientific history of England, which deserves to be recorded. Mr. Glashier, who made this great aerial voyage of discovery into the upper regions of the atmosphere, was provided by the British Association with the means of accomplishing 1862.] MR. GLASHIER’S ASCENT. 199 his daring feat, and making the scientific observations which were the chief object of it. The ascent had been postponed from time to time, owing to unfavourable weather. At length, on the above-mentioned day, Mr. Glashier rose from the earth, accompanied by Mr. Coxwell, who was to navigate the aerial vessel, in which a voyage was to be made into the hitherto inaccessible heights of the atmosphere. The two gentlemen had already several times ascended together, and made some valuable scientific observations ; but on this occasion they attained to a height which had never been reached before, and which in all pro- bability no one will ever attempt to reach again. They quitted Wolverhampton about one o’clock in the afternoon : in a few minutes they were enveloped in a dense mist, from which they speedily emerged into the full blaze of the sun. The thermometer sank to freezing-point, and the hygro- metric instruments indicated an extraordinary dryness in the atmosphere. In twenty minutes from the time of their departure they had risen to the height of the top of Mont Blanc. All this while they were busily engaged in making thermometric, hygrometric, and other scientific observa- tions. Presently Mr. Glashier observed that Mr. Coxwell showed symptoms of being out of breath, which was not surprising considering that he had been actively and incessantly occupied with the navigation of the balloon. In thirty-five minutes from the time of their departure they were at a distance from the ground equal to the height of Chimborazo. In ten minutes more they were at’ an elevation equal to that of the summit of Dawalagiri: the temperature was now below zero. The voyagers con- tinued to ascend; though Mr. Coxwell, still hard at work, showed signs of excessive fatigue. The balloon, which had revolved from the moment of their departure, had by its rotation entangled the cord that opened the valve, and Mr. ’ Coxwell was obliged to mount the hoop above the car in order to disentangle it. At this time they had reached an altitude of upwards of 36,000 feet. Mr. Glashier became unconscious ; and Mr. Coxwell, finding that he was incap- able of using his arms, seized the rope between his teeth, and by a movement of his head caused a sufficient escape of gas to determine the descent of the balloon. He then roused Mr. Glashier from his state of unconsciousness. 200 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. IIT. The last observation had been made at 1°54; at 1°57 he was in a sleep, from which he probably would never have awoke if Mr. Coxwell had not succeeded in determining the descent of the balloon. At seventeen minutes past two Mr. Glashier was able to resume his observations ; he had risen to the enormous height of at least 37,000 feet above the levél of the sea. Of all the events of this year, there was none better calculated to point a national and political as well as pri- vate and personal moral than the crime and punishment of William Roupell. Richard Palmer Roupell, a wealthy lead-merchant, had for some years cohabited with a woman by whom he had several children, of whom William, the hero of our narrative, was one. Richard Roupell eventually married her, and had by her another son after the marriage, to whom he gave his own name, and who of course was his only legiti- mate child. For many years he had been investing the large profits of his business in land; and amongst his other pur- chases was that of a property of considerable value to which he gave the name of the Roupell-park estate. William, who was the favourite son and the chief adviser of his father in all matters of business, was ignorant of his own illegitimacy, and not unnaturally conceived that he would one day inherit this estate. He afterwards defrauded his father of the sum of 10,000. for the purpose, as he alleged, of assisting a friend who was in difficulties. There is no reason for doubting the truth of his statement; for when he made it he had no conceivable motive for deceiving, and he seems to have preserved throughout a certain con- scientiousness, and certain feelings of honour, which prompted him to state the whole truth when he found that his crime could no longer be concealed. His first step in guilt led to a series of others. According to his own con- fession, he forged at least ten deeds, which he secretly negotiated, and thus raised the enormous sum of 150,000/., of which, during the lifetime of his father, he expended no less than 70,0001. on the improvement of the Roupell-park estate. At length his father, feeling his end approaching, determined to inform his family of the circumstances we have mentioned. He said to his wife, in the presence of William Roupell, ‘I must throw away all delicacy, and do \ 1862.] WILLIAM ROUPELL. - 201 _ it. He then took his son into his private room, opened his bureau, took out his will, to which a codicil was attached, and told William to write another from his dictation. He informed him that his first intention had been to leave his property to be divided between his wife and children; but having since reflected on the risk it ran of being badly managed, and having confidence in his ‘son’s ability as a man of business, he had determined to leave it _ to him, on the condition of his making an annual payment from it to his brothers and sisters. William Roupell was thunderstruck. He felt that the proposed codicil would lead to the detection of his frauds and forgeries. He interrupted his father, telling him that he was at that moment too ill to attend to these details; that the hour was late ; that it would be impossible to find the witnesses re- quired to make the deed valid, and therefore that it would be better to wait tillanother day. In this way he succeeded in preventing the execution of the codicil till his father’s death, which happened only a few days after. He then came to the house, and obtained without difficulty from the housekeeper the keys of his father’s private drawers. In them he found the will, of which he took possession, and at once forged another will, by which the Roupell-park estate and the greater part of the property were bequeathed to his mother, and by which he was made joint-executor with her. Butthe signatures had tobe forged as well as the will. He therefore went to an old servant of the family of the name of Muggeridge, nearly ninety years old, to whom he gave five pounds to be spent in mourning, and took a receipt for that sum, and then carefully copied the signature into the will. He forged his father’s name with the quill and ink that his father had been accustomed to use; he copied that of Muggeridge with another quill, and wrote his own signature with a gold pen; thus making as much difference as possible in the three signatures. Having done this, he went to his mother, and told her that he had persuaded his father to destroy the will of 1850, containing the words, ‘My son called William Roupell ’—words which exposed his mother’s shame and his own illegitimacy—and to make another will, giving the whole of the property to her and himself, in full confidence that they would fulfil his wishes and intentions for the benefit of the family. = 202 THE FRENCH TREATY. {Cuap. III. William Roupell easily persuaded his mother to carry out the pretended intentions of his late father by making a deed of gift, conferring the greater part of the estates on him- self. He thus became possessed of an enormous property, and soon obtained that social position which the possession of large landed property generally commands. He stood for the borough of Lambeth, and by a lavish expenditure of money he obtained the seat. His return was petitioned against; and some proposals for the compromise of the petition were received by him with a lofty indignation, which would have been very natural and very edifying ina man of pure and ‘unsullied virtue. At length the collapse _ came. By gambling and extravagance he quickly ran through his large fortune. Finding detection inevitable, he burnt the true will, and fled the country. Huis youngest brother, the rightful heir of the property which he had fraudulently appropriated, followed him to Spain. What passed between them is not known; but the result of their interview was'a determination on his part to return to England, and meet the charges against him. He accord- ingly came back, attended service in Richmond church, was apprehended and committed for trial. His brother having brought an action against a person named Waite, who had purchased Norbiton-park farm, near Kingston, from William Roupell, the latter was removed from the place of his confinement and put in the witness-box, where, under oath, he gave a full account of his fraudsand forgeries. He was afterwards tried before Mr. Justice Byles at the Central Criminal Court. He there pleaded guilty to the charge of forgery, and was sentenced to penal servitude for life. A man well able to judge of the truth of his assertion, said to _ the author of this work respecting William Roupell, ‘ He obtained his seat for Lambeth by the expenditure of 10,0007.; and if he were released from his prison, and would expend another 10,0001., he would again be the representative of Lambeth.’ Such assertions as these ought to be weighed. If they rest on any solid foundation, they show that much yet remains to be done before our representative system can be said to be in a satisfactory condition. We have already seen the distress which prevailed in the manufacturing districts; the heroic cheerfulness with 1862.] CONDITION OF FACTORY OPERATIVES. 203 which the cotton operatives bore the privations to which they were exposed; and the noble generosity with which contributions and supplies of every sort were sent up for their relief from all parts of the kingdom. But there was _ one feature in this liberality that we did not then remark, because it had not begun to manifest itself fully till towards the close of this year. The contributions which were sent came not only from landowners and men of great wealth, but also from those who had very little to give, and who were obliged to deny themselves in order that they might give. Out of their deep poverty many of the ill-paid agricultural labourers of the south, depriving themselves almost of the necessaries of life, supplied the wants of those whose poverty was even greater than their own. Nor was this calamity, so nobly endured and so nobly met, so fruit- ful of moral and religious advantages, withoutits attendant benefits of other kinds. It was remarkable that during the enforced temperance of this period there was a marked diminution in the number of deaths, throughout the dis- tricts most affected by the famine. Another satisfactory circumstance attending it was the establishment of schools for the instruction of adults, who gladly devoted the time thus placed at their disposal to procuring for themselves that elementary education which they had not been able to obtain in their youth. Sewing-schools were also estab- lished in all parts of the manufacturing districts, by which that most useful, but hitherto much-neglected branch of female education was taught; so that many a woman who had previously been unable to mend a hole in her child’s shirt, before the conclusion of the famine, became an accomplished sempstress, able to instruct her own daughters in the useful art she had thus acquired. In this and in many other ways good came out of evil, and the famine left behind it beneficial as well as injurious traces. Meanwhile the government was not idle. Amongst other means of diminishing the distress of the manufac- turing districts, it attempted to secure a better and more scientific cultivation of the cotton plant in India and the other dependencies of the British empire. It also endea- voured to introduce the use of better machinery for the cleansing of it; to promote the construction of railways, 204: THE FRENCH TREATY. (Cap. III. and the improvement of the roads and the means of trans- port from the interior to the sea-board. By these efforts, aided by those of private individuals, stimulated to in- ~ creased exertion by the high price which the cotton com- manded, the supply was slowly increased; and though it was not probable that it would be adequate to the demands of this country as long as the civil war lasted, it served to improve our manufacturing prospects, and to give employ- ment to many distressed factory operatives. Thus, not only in the Hast Indies, but in the West Indies algo, in Australia, in New Zealand, and even in countries lying outside the British empire—such, for instance, as Brazil— a great impulse was given to the cultivation of the cotton plant, and hopes were entertained that at the end of some years, if the war should still be prolonged, our cotton supply would be equal in quantity, if not in quality, to that we had been accustomed to receive. Attempts were also made by blockade-runners to obtain supplies of cotton from the southern states; and notwithstanding the strict watch which was maintained by the Northern belligerents, light swift steamers, constructed for the purpose, managed. to elude their vigilance or escape their pursuit. But the cost and risk were too great even at the high prices which American cotton then commanded. While, however, the high price of cotton stimulated pro- duction elsewhere, it had a noteworthy effect in Africa. The supply from that quarter, instead of increasing with the rise of the price, ceased altogether. The natives of those countries, like children, were only willing to work under the stimulus of necessity. The increase in the price of their cotton enabled those who carried the cotton to the shore to support themselves without labour for some time; and. they ceased from working until their hoards were exhausted. In consequence of the efforts we have mentioned there was a very perceptible diminution in the number of those who were dependent on public and private charity. ‘The worst was evidently past; and though the factory opera- tives complained somewhat bitterly of the dirt and inferior quality of the ‘ Surat,’ and the greater difficulty with which its manufacture was attended, they were glad to obtain the means of supporting themselves under every dis- | 1862.] THE ALABAMA, 205 advantage and difficulty, and to look forward to a time when, the struggle in America being brought to a con- clusion, they would once again be supplied with their favourite material. Thus there was a gradual return to the habits of manly independence by which the population of the manufacturing districts had always been distin- guished; and on the other hand care was taken that, on Christmas-day at least, every one of those who were still obliged to depend on charitable support should have a good English Christmas dinner of roast beef and plum- pudding. They were also cheered by the knowledge that the sympathy felt, and the assistance given, proceeded not from England only, but that there was scarcely any part of the world whence help and good-will did not come to them. But no assistance was welcomed with greater satis- faction than that which was transmitted to them from the - northern states of America, from which, notwithstanding the demands made on its resources by the war, and the irritation caused by the countenance and encouragement given to the rebel states by some of our countrymen, large and liberal relief was sent to the suffering population of our manufacturing districts. But while that relief was crossing the Atlantic, there also came across it the voice of loud and angry complaint on account of the mischief which was being done to the commerce of the United States by the Alabama, and by some other vessels which had been constructed in the dockyards of Mr. Laird, « shipbuilder of Birkenhead, and which, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the American minister, Mr. Adams, had been allowed to escape from the Mersey, had been fitted up as privateers, and had done and were still doing enormous damage to the shipping of the United States, seizing their merchant-vessels, appropriating the more valuable and portable portion of the cargoes they | ‘contained, and then burning or sinking them. It was alleged, on the part of the Americans, that our government had been guilty of culpable remissness, if not of actual ill- intention, in allowing the departure of these vessels; and , they demanded compensation for the damage done by them to their shipping. To these demands the English govern- ment replied by insisting that all proper care had been taken by them; that no civil or international law had been 206 THE FRENCH TREATY. (Cap. III. violated ; that no proofs of the character and destination of this vessel had been laid before them that would have warranted them in detaining her; and that they could not, under any circumstances, be fairly held responsible for the damage they had done. These replies by no means satis- fied the American government and people; but it would clearly have been the height of folly on their part at such a moment to add England to the number of their enemies, and to force her to throw the weight of her arms and in- fluence into the scale of the rebel states—an example which would probably have been followed by France, and per- haps by other European countries; they therefore prudently allowed their claim to remain dormant for the present, promising themselves, however, to revive it at some future and more convenient season. Severe as were the sufferings of our manufacturing population, and greatly as our commerce with the United States had diminished, there were many indications that the wealth of the country as a whole had not been seriously affected by this great local calamity. The advantages of free trade, the results of the French treaty and of the great changes that had been made in the tariff, enabled the country to go through this severe trial with little injury, and left us at the close of the year 1862 with almost undi- minished resources. The manner in which the distress that prevailed in the manufacturing districts during the period of the American civil war was borne by their inhabitants was in no slicht degree owing to the moral and material results of societies which had been established throughout them, and which were known by the name of ‘codperative societies.’ We have already seen that it was especially in these districts that chartism had sprung up and flourished, and that with chartism socialistic and communistic theories largely mingled. As the absolute impossibility of obtaining the charter became more and more evident, and as each suc- cessive attempt to agitate for it brought nothing but ruin on those by whom it was made, the thoughts of the more intelligent of the working classes were more and more turned towards the realisation of those socialistic and com- munistic ideas with which their minds had been imbued; and their faith in these ideas was a great advantage to them, 1862.] COOPERATION. 207 for the magnificent hopes they inspired served to support and carry forward those who held them through difficulties under which they would otherwise have fainted. The following extract from their first programme will show the spirit in which they entered on their undertaking, and the visionary hopes by which they were animated : ‘That as soon as practicable this society shall proceed to arrange the powers of production, distribution, education, and government; or, in other words, to establish a self- supporting home colony of united interests, to assist other societies in establishing such colonies.’ It is instructive to note what was passing in the mind of one of the greatest thinkers and writers of our own or any other country at the time when these simple but practical and earnest-minded men were thus engaged. Just before the Rochdale codperators began their store at the close of the year 1843, Thomas Carlyle published to the world this thoughtful question, written, no doubt, some time before: * A question arises here, Whether in some ulterior, perhaps some not far distant stage of the “chivalry of labour,” your master-worker may not find it possible, and needful, to grant his workers permanent interest in his enterprise and theirs? So that it become in practical result, what in essential fact and justice it ever is, a joint enterprise; all men, from the chief master down to the lowest overseer and operative, economically as well as loyally concerned for it? Which question I do not answer. The answer, near or else far, is perhaps, Yes;—and yet one knows the difficulties. Despotism is essential in most enterprises: I am told they do not tolerate “freedom of debate”’ on board a seventy-four! Republican senate and plébiscite would not answer well in cotton mills. And yet observe there too, freedom, not nomad’s or ape freedom, but man’s free- dom, this is indispensable. We must have it, and will have | it! To reconcile despotism with—well, is that such a mystery? Do you not already know the way? It is to make your despotism just. Rigorous as destiny; but just too as destiny and its laws. The laws of God: all men obey these, and have no “freedom” at all but in obey- ing them. The way is already known, part of the way; a courage and some qualities are needed for walking in it. 208 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. We quote these words to show how ideas similar in character, though diversely expressed, were at the same time passing through the minds of thoughtful men of very different culture. Various abortive attempts had been made from time to time to realise the ideas on which the codpera- tive societies were founded; but they had failed chiefly through the moral and industrial defects of those by whom they were tried. At length an attempt was made at Rochdale by men who, though extremely poor and almost destitute of book-learning, were endowed with the qualifi- cations necessary for carrying the enterprise they undertook to a successful issue. The example thus set was followed in all the large towns of the manufacturing districts. But we shall best comprehend the nature of this great move- ment by fixing our attention on the origin and progress of the Rochdale society, which served as a pattern to the rest, by whom its rules and methods were almost exactly copied. It was at the close of the year 1843 that the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Codperative Store was first established. The new poor-law had prevented the working men of that town from looking, as they had previously been accustomed to do, to parochial relief as a resource on which, in case of loss of work, they might always fall back. The failure of the Rochdale Savings Bank, recently plundered by its actuary to the extent of 70,000/., had destroyed all faith in that hitherto popular institution ; and the Rochdale working men, at least such of them as looked beyond the present moment, seemed to have no alternative left to them but that of spending their little savings in drink or hiding them ‘ in an old stocking, to be brought out of its place of con- cealment when the day of distress came on them. It was ‘ under these circumstances that twenty-eight Rochdale flannel-weavers managed to scrape together a sovereign each for the purpose of establishing a shop in which they “ might purchase genuine groceries and other necessaries at a moderate price, dividing among themselves whatever profits might remain at the end of the year. The views: by which they were actuated are very clearly exhibited aim_an account which they shortly after published, of the lofty aims with which they made this very humble experi- ment. ‘The objects of this society are the social and intellectual ~ 1863.] COOPERATION, 209 advancement of its members. It provides them with groceries, butcher’s meat, drapery goods, clothes, shoes, clogs, &c. There are competent workmen on the premises to do the work of the members and execute all repairs. The capital is raised in one pound shares, each member being allowed to take not less than five and not more than a hundred, {payable at once, or by instalments of three shillings and threepence per quarter. The profits are divided quarterly, as follows: first, interest at five per cent. per annum on all paid-up shares; second, two and a half per cent. off net profits for educational purposes; the re- mainder to be divided among the members in proportion to money expended. For the intellectual improvement of the members there is a library consisting of more than 3000 volumes. The librarian is in attendance every Wednesday and Saturday evening from seven to half-past eight o’clock. The news-room is well supplied with newspapers and periodicals, fitted up in a neat and careful manner, and furnished with maps, globes, microscope, telescope, &c. The news-room and library are free to all members. A branch reading-room has been opened at Oldham Road, the readers of which meet every second Monday in January, April, July, and October, to choose and sell the papers.’ It may provoke a smile to find ‘social and intellectual advancement’ placed in juxtaposition with ‘ groceries, butcher’s meat, drapery-goods, clothes, shoes, clogs, &e.’ And yet the connection between these two categories of objects is in reality very close. Men must be provided with necessaries, or they will be unable to make social and intel- lectual advancement; and the more abun dantly they are sup- plied with them, and the more completely they are released from all care and anxiety about them in the future, the more time will they have at their disposal for moral, intellectual, and spiritual cultivation, and the better inclined will they be to devote that time to them. There are, no doubt, instances in every class and in every society in which prosperity panders to the lowest passions and vices of our nature; but every advance of civilisation helps to correct this tendency —to diminish the number of cases in which the leisure and the opportunities which prosperity brings with it are abused, and to enlarge the number of those in which they are rightly employed. At all events, any person who doubts this needs VoL. III. P eal £10 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. only to go into one of the news-rooms connected with the great central codperative establishments of the manufactur- ing districts on a Saturday afternoon in order to be con- vinced that there are great numbers of persons by whom the advantages which these establishments have placed within their reach are duly valued and usefully employed. And this leads us to speak of the educational branches of these establishments, which in the eyes of their founders formed a most important part of them. The books in the libraries and the newspapers in the reading-rooms have been selected with a care and judgment which, considering the antecedents of those by whom they have been chosen, is truly marvellous. It is a sort of social and philosophical commonplace to associate increased wealth with licentiousness, corruption, and decay ; to point to Tyre or Babylon and to Rome as proofs that the increase of wealth and the consequent com- mand of many luxuries are the harbingers of decay and the forerunners of moral and political dissolution; and in the same spirit the enemies of these codperative institutions have been profuse in their predictions of the evils that would flow from them, and in their assertion that their prophecies have been actually fulfilled with regard to them, supported by cases in point, which they bring forward in proof of these allegations. It must be remembered, how- ever, with regard to the cities which we have mentioned above that it was not their wealth, but the excessive ine- quality of its distribution, that brought them to the dust. When the opulence of the few stands out in portentous contrast with the wretchedness of the many; when on one hand there is superabundance, and on the other starvation —here riotous licentiousness, and there cowering down- trodden servility ; when every Dives looks out on a thou- ' gand Lazaruses,—then it is that the wealth is the cause of dissolution and the forerunner of ruin. But the case now under our consideration is the very reverse of this. The tendency of codperation is not, indeed, to diminish the ~ capital of the employer, but to increase that of the labourer, und to insure a more equal distribution of wealth. One of the chief reasons why the Rochdale Pioneers became the advanced guard of a great and astonishing progress is, that they neither desired to pull down other classes, nor 1863.] COOPERATION. 211 to raise themselves out of their own class, but to raise themselves by elevating the class to which they be- longed; to level up, not to level down. ‘These men,’ as Mr. Cobden observed to the author in conversation about the first Rochdale Pioneers, not long before his death— ‘these men would have succeeded in anything they under- took.’ They were men of courage and men of. business. Their aim and ambition was, that the working class should be well fed, well clad, well housed, well washed, well edu- cated ; in a word, that in the highest and best sense of the term they should be respectable. If any taint of the social- istic and communistic theories in which the society origi- nated still adhered to them, it was rapidly removed by the practical realities with which they had to deal. The prodigious and rapid growth of the establishment at the head of which they were placed required considerable administrative ability, and it was forthcoming. To their honour it should be mentioned, that far from being ac- tuated by any desire to monopolise the advantages they enjoyed, they were animated by a generous spirit of pro- selytism, which led them to put themselves to con- siderable trouble and expense in communicating to in- quirers from all parts of the kingdom the results of their experience, and aiding them in the formation of. new societies. The following extract from a paper they printed at an early period of their history, in order to send to all those who applied to them for information ~ with a view to the formation of new societies, illustrates the spirit of generosity and wisdom by which they were animated :— ‘1. Procure the authority and protection of the law by enrolment. 2. Let integrity, intelligence, and ability be the indis- pensable qualifications in the choice of officers and mana- gers, and not wealth or distinction. 3. Let each member have only one vote, and make no distinction as regards the amount of wealth any member may contribute. 4, Let majorities rule in all matters of government. 5. Look well after money matters. Punish fraud, when duly established, by the immediate expulsion of the de- frauder. Pao es 212 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. III. 6. Buy your goods as much as possible in the first mar- kets; or if you have the produce of your industry to sell, contrive if possible to sell it in the best. 7. Never depart from the principle of buying and selling for ready money. 8. Beware of long reckonings. Quarterly accounts are the best, and should be adopted when practicable. 9. For the sake of security, always have the accounted value of the ‘fixed stock’ at least one-fourth less than its marketable value. 10. Let the members take care that the accounts are properly audited by men of their own choosing. 11. Let committees of management always have the authority of the members before taking any important or expensive step. 12. Do not court opposition or publicity, nor fear it when it comes. 13. Choose those only for your leaders whom you can trust, and then give them your confidence.’ Of all these suggestions, that which perhaps is most worthy of attention, because it gave a character of sim- plicity and stability to the institution, was the 7th. It has always seemed to the author of this work that it most strikingly exhibited the wisdom and courage of those by whom this great society was first established; for up to that time credit had been the rule in Rochdale; and it is hardly possible for a person not acquainted with the habits of the place before 1843, to estimate the hardihood of those who established a shop for the sale of the necessaries of life in which it was arule admitting of no exception, that every article purchased must be paid for across the counter at the time of its delivery. The moral consequences of this : wise regulation were immense ; hundreds of pounds, which up to the period of the foundation of these institutions went into the pocket of the publican, now went to pay for the groceries, the butcher’s meat, or the clothing required ~ for the family, or were invested in the funds of the codpera- tive establishment. Asa proof of the great and rapid success that has at- tended the institution thus founded, we may refer to the following statistics, compiled from tables published in the almanacs of the Rochdale societies : 1863.] COOPERATION. 213 Number of Amount of Business Gre Profits made. members. funds, 28 £28 ——— ances 74 181 £710 S32 600 2,299 13,179 889 1,400 11,0382 44,902 3,106 3,450 37,710 152,083 15,906 These numbers sufficiently exhibit the progress of the society during the first and most critical year of its exist- ence. After it had been carried on for seven years, it was found that more money was offered for investment than could be profitably employed in the store. The directors therefore were forced to consider what was to be done with their surplus capital. They could not continue to pay five per cent. on it, as they were obliged to do by their rules, when it was not yielding them anything like that amount. They must therefore either find profitable employment for it, or refuse to receive it. They determined on adopting the former of these two alternatives; and as at the time great complaints were made of the quality of the flour that was sold in the shops, much of which was said to be adulterated, it was determined in 1850 to establish a new society, to be called the Rochdale Codperative Corn-mill Society, for which a substantial mill was erected in Weir- street, Rochdale. The spirit by which the first codperators were animated is illustrated by the fact that they determined not to erect the building by contract, thus incurring an additional ex- pense of about 1000/.; but they cheerfully paid this differ- ence, in the assurance that every man who had laboured in the construction of their mill had received a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work, and they added that they be- lieved the money had been well spent, because the building was better and more substantial than it would have been if it had been erected by contract. The following short statement, compiled from the same sources as the one we have already given, exhibits the progress made by this second codperative society : 214 THE FRENCH TREATY. (Crap. ITE. ‘ Year. saith of Business done. Profits made. 1850 es me 2 tee 1851 £2,163 Account mislaid. 1855 4,626 £28,085 £1,376 1860 26,618 133,125 10,164 The success of these two societies produced great confi- dence in the codperative principle, and a general desire among the working classes to invest their savings in them ; _ which compelled the leaders of the codperative movement to consider what farther employment could be found for the funds thus forced on them. Accordingly in the year 1854 a manufacturing society was formed on the same general principles as the store and the corn-mill society, which seemed likely to prove equally successful. At first they carried on their operations in rooms hired for the purpose, and on the 22d of April in the year 1859 they laid the first stone of a cotton-factory of their own, which they completed without borrowing a penny, and with a large balance always in the bank. It was universally admitted to be one of the largest, best-constructed, and best-fitted in the borough of Rochdale, a town which was by no means behind its neighbours in the size and excellence of its factories. This great work was scarcely finished, when its owners found themselves in a position to commence another factory alongside of the first. These two establishments together cost nearly 100,000/., besides the amount of capital required for their working. Unfortunately, before they were completed and filled with machinery, the Ame- rican civil war broke out, and prevented the experiment of a codperative manufactory from having the same fair trial that had been given to the other codperative experiments, and which they had passed through so triumphantly. The cotton famine rendered the newly-erected factories almost ‘ useless and entirely profitless. It compelled a great num- ber of the shareholders to part with their shares to persons who were not so fully imbued as themselves with the ori- ginal spirit of codperation, and who purchased them simply as a speculation. One of the results of this change of proprietorship was, that a rule of the society which gave 1863.] COOPERATION. 915 the operatives a share in the profits of the concern was abrogated, and has never since been restored. But these great works were far from absorbing the whole of the capital, which codperation multiplied to an extent that seemed almost magical. In the year 1860, while the first factory was still incomplete, a codperative sick and burial society, founded on thoroughly sound prin- ciples, and carrying on its operations upon the extended scale necessary to insure the successful working of such - institutions ; a codperative Turkish bath ; and lastly, in the year 1861, a land and building society, were established. The capital of these various institutions in the year 1861 was thus estimated : Cooperative store eR OE he Sik, epee a. deOd, 000 Corn-mill . . ° e © e ° ° ° 29, 9 62 Manufacturing society 4 : : : - 71,695 Land and building society . , ‘: . ° - 1,000 Turkish bath . ; : é ; : “ . 300 Total . F » « 142,342 Deduct loans from store to other societies . . + 16,613 Leaving anet.capitalof . : : : HAS beOn lao This capital consisted of money, or stock purchased by money, and worth considerably more than its cost price. Now let us pause for a moment to contemplate the pro- gress that codperation had made in Rochdale alone within the brief period of seventeen years which had elapsed since its first commencement. In the year 1844 the whole codperative capital was 28. In the year 1850, which was the date of the commencement of the corn-mill, it was 2,299/.; in the year 1854, in which the manufacturing society was founded, it had increased to 11,144/.; and in the year 1861 it had risen to 125,7291. It must be remembered, however, that these amounts are far from representing the whole of the financial codperative progress that had been made in the one town of Rochdale. Several other societies had come into existence within the borough of Rochdale, or in its immediate neighbourhood, which, though independent of the original society, and _ perhaps not so clearly recognising the principles on which it was founded, nevertheless received and developed the resources of the working classes, tended to raise them ecm 216 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. ITE morally, socially, and intellectually as well as materially, and must not therefore be left out of our account in esti- mating the progress that codperation had made in Rochdale at the period of which we now speak. But though that period is the one on which we have fixed for giving an account of codperation, because at this time it had undergone a full and complete trial, in a most satisfactory manner, we must remember that the codpera- tive principle had by no means reached its highest deve- lopment even in the place in which it was first tried successfully. Since then the original pioneers society has made great and remarkable progress. A commodious cen- tral store has been erected near to the humble one which was occupied by the original pioneers, with a splendid library, containing above 9000 well-selected volumes, and a no less splendid news-room, supplied with almost every important periodical. In addition to this, there are no fewer than eleven substantial, well-built branch stores, each doing a large amount of business, and haying a con- venient news-room and a small reference-library of its own. At the time when the American war commenced, the example so successfully set in Rochdale had been fol- lowed in almost all the great manufacturing towns. The had provided the working classes who inhabited them with a safe investment for their savings, from which they received five per cent. regularly paid to them besides pro- fits; they had also taught them habits of frugality, tem- perance, patience, sobriety, and self-reliance; and to this it was in no'small degree due that when the cotton famine did come upon the working classes of the manufacturing districts, it found them prepared to bear it with a firmness and resolution which extorted the admiration of the civi- lised world. During that famine the original society flourished in spite of the heavy drain caused by the with- drawal of their deposits by many of the members, who were compelled by want of work to fall back on these resources. ‘They of course underwent some temporary inconvenience, and during these trying years there was a diminution in the amount of their business and their pro- fits. But this was merely a temporary reverse; and as soon as the famine ceased, and indeed even before it had ceased, the societies resumed their onward course, doing 1863.] COOPERATION. 217 more business, obtaining greater profits, and paying larger dividends than ever. During the severest distress, when there was a kind of run on them for money, there was never the slightest hesitation or delay in paying those who wished to withdraw their money in accordance with the rules of the societies. And this was the case not in Roch- dale only, but in almost every part of the manufacturing districts in which codperative societies had been founded on the Rochdale model. In the year 1864 there was a new and important development of the codperative prin- ciple. A wholesale codperative society, established in Balloon-street, Manchester, commenced business on the 15th of March, supplying the different codperative societies throughout the North of England. This society was a new step in the progress of codperation, tending to connect the different codperative societies disseminated throughout the North of England. The principle described by the term ‘coéperation,’ has been more recently adopted by the members of the civil service in the metropolis. It has been extended, though not yet with marked success, to agriculture; to which, however, it seems peculiarly applicable, combining the ad- vantages which have arisen from the extreme subdivision of properties in France with those which have resulted from the employment of large capitals in carrying out agricultural operations and improvements in England. It does not fall within the sphere of this work to endeavour to forecast what the future of codperation may be; but it is quite within its province to endeavour to interpret the true character and tendencies of the movement; and the writer of this work submits that its scope has been most fully described by the phrase which the genius of an eminent French writer has employed—‘ the organisation of labour ;’ a phrase which has been supposed to indicate something dangerous and revolutionary, but which really has no such import; meaning, in fact, that a time is coming when the constant wants of a continually increasing population will have to be met by a disciplining of industry, under which each capital will find its best employment, and each man will have the place appointed to him which he is the most competent to fill, and the work assigned to him which he can best perform to his own advantage as well as to the 218 THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. TIT. general benefit of the community. It is an idle fear that codperation will attack property, or try to destroy large capitals. Codperation, by giving every man a property of his own, makes it the interest of every man to uphold the sacredness of property; by making every man to a certain extent a capitalist, it leads him to respect capital, and to perceive that if there are some enterprises that can be well and safely conducted by a number of small capitalists com- bining their resources to make a large capital, there are many others in which it is essential that the capital should be concentrated in the hands of a single individual, able to act on his own responsibility. By making the same man at once capitalist and workman, employer and employed, codperation enables him to comprehend and make allow- ance for the difficulties of the employer’s position, and in this way tends to palliate, if not altogether to remove, those unhappy trade disputes which have often been attended with most mischievous consequences to the popu- lation of the manufacturing districts. In the next place, codperation has supplied the manufacturing operative with a means of mental development and self-education greatly needed, and of the very highest importance. It has been remarked, and with great truth, that the continued repeti- tion of the same operation, carried on throughout the greater part of a lifetime by the factory operative has an evident tendency, unless it is very strongly counteracted, to produce in him a spirit of detail calculated to lower and contract the understanding. Now codperation provides an antidote to this evil. The man whose life is spent in making the heads for pins or in watching the flight of the shuttle as it carries the thread backwards and forwards across the loom—finds himself at the meetings of his co- operative society in the position of a partner in a great concern, which extends its operations to the uttermost ends of the earth, and is thus led to combine a spirit of widely- extended generality with skill and excellence in detail. The codperative society of Rochdale was originally established under the Friendly-Societies act; and those who took it for a model imitated it in that respect. But as the society increased in magnitude, it was found that the act, designed as it originally was for societies of much smaller dimensions and of a very different character, seri- 1863.] COOPERATION. ~ 219 ously cramped and impeded the operations of those codpe- rative societies that took advantage of its provisions. It therefore became a question with the managers of the Rochdale and other codperative societies whether they should place themselves under the Limited-Liabilities act, or try to procure such amendments of that statute as would adapt it to their purpose. They chose the latter course, chiefly because the former would have involved them in much trouble in reference to the collection and payment - of income-tax. They therefore determined to apply to parliament for such amendments of the Friendly-Societies act as would adapt it to meet the circumstances of codper- ative societies. Several leading and influential members of parliament aided them in the attainment of this object. Foremost among these was the late Mr. Sotheron Estcourt, who took charge of their bill, showed a very lively interest in the matter, and bestowed great pains in promoting the objects and wishes of his codperative clients. Before the year 1852 all codperative societies, following the example of the Rochdale society, were enrolled under the Friendly-Societies act, which prevented them from deal- ing with any persons except their own members. In that year they obtained an act entitled the ‘Industrial and Provident Societies act, 1852,’ giving power to societies to carry on trade as general dealers, and to sell to non-mem- bers, but still maintaining certain disabilities, among which was that of limiting their occupation of land to a single acre. In 1855 the act of 1852 was amended by another act, which gave them some farther powers, but still limited them to a single acre. In 1862 another act was passed which was styled the ‘Industrial and Provident Societies act, 1862,’ and enabled them to hold more than an acre of land, thus putting codperative societies nearly on the same footing as joint-stock limited-liability companies. In 1867 another act was passed, entitled the ‘ Industrial and Provi- dent Societies act, 1867 ;’ interpreting some ambiguous clauses of the preceding act, mainly relating to the payment of income-tax by the members of codperative societies. Since this period the act of 1862 has undergone a farther amendment, by which the societies are allowed to hold land to any amount they may find necessary, to trade in land, to build, and to mortgage. Thus slowly and gradually has 220) THE FRENCH TREATY. [Cuap. IIL the legislature permitted to these societies the same full liberty of trading which it had long before accorded to in- dividuals, but of which, for want of capital, individuals belonging to the class that has created these societies could not fully avail themselves. CHAPTER IV. THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. Durine the last weeks of 1862 and the commencement of 1863, London was a prey to a panic caused by criminals known by the name of garrotters. Hvery newspaper con- tained accounts of robberies they had committed, either by knocking down their victim with a life-preserver, or de- priving him of consciousness by a sudden and skilful application of their fingers to his throat, which promptly , brought him to the ground in a state of insensibility. These outrages were committed not in dark lanes or sequestered places, but in Oxford-street, in Piccadilly, in places over which the gas shed a flood of light, and police- men made regular rounds. Such was the panic that these street-robberies caused, that people living in the most frequented part of London were afraid to leave their houses after dark, or, sallied forth armed with revolvers or other means of defence. London was as unsafe in the winter of 1862 as it had been in the days of Charles the Second; and the public fear exaggerated the danger, so that at night the streets were nearly empty, the places of amusement deserted, and every man as he walked along eyed his fellow-passengers with suspicion, and prepared himself for a life-and-death struggle. The papers exhorted the public to defend themselves without scruple or hesita- tion against these assaults. The art of boxing was revived, and became a part of fashionable education ; life-preservers, sword-sticks, daggers, revolvers, and large fierce dogs, were in great request. The blame of this state of things _ was cast on ticket-of-leave men and the ticket-of-leave system. It was urged that our treatment of convicts was much too indulgent; that the lot of the criminal was far preferable to that of the pauper and of the honest labourer ; and so the question, ‘What is to be done with our 222 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap. IV. criminals ?’ which had been asked some years before, was now again asked, with increased earnestness and alarm. It was a question discussed in every journal and in every society. But it was a question more easy to be asked than to be answered. Our criminals must be kept, they must be fed; they could no longer be transported; the prisons would not contain all who were sent to them. Some such expedient as that of the ticket-of-leave system must be re- sorted to, and there, for the present, the matter rested. However, in consequence of the universal outcry, the police force was strengthened and put more on the alert; the practice of garrotting became less frequent; the alarm subsided, and London gradually resumed its old habits. But public opinion demanded with great insistence and unanimity that henceforward the lot of the honest labourer, and the pauper whom age, sickness, or misfortune had brought to the unionhouse, should be better than that of the man who was under punishment for the crimes that he had committed. There was also a strong feeling that the ticket-of-leave system had been carried too far, and that a more careful surveillance ought to be exercised over those who enjoyed the benefit of it. Karly in the beginning of the year Mr. Lincoln, the pre- sident of the United States of America, took a step which elicited some enthusiastic demonstrations of approval in this country. After much hesitation he launched a pro- clamation ordering the emancipation of all slaves within the ten rebel states, and declaring that such persons, if of suitable condition, should be received into the armed service of the United States, to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels. He based this act entirely on military considerations, which he believed to be warranted by the condition of the States, and solemnly invoked the considerate judgment of man- kind and the gracious favour of Almighty God. This declaration, however, was regarded with very unfriendly eyes by Lord Russell, who, on the receipt of a, despatch from Lord Lyons enclosing a copy of it, wrote him a letter to be communicated to the American government, in which he characterised the proclamation of the president as a document of a very strange nature. He observed that it professed to emancipate all slaves in places where the 1863.] ENTRY OF PRINCESS ALEXANDRINA. 223 government of the United States could not exercise any jurisdiction or make emancipation a reality, while it did not decree the emancipation of slaves in any states or parts of states occupied by the federal troops, and subject to the jurisdiction of the government of the United States, and where therefore emancipation, if decreed, might be carried into effect. He farther insisted that the proclamation made slavery at once legal and illegal, and made slaves punishable or rewardable for running away from their masters, according to the locality of the plantation to which they belonged and the loyalty of the state in which they might happen to be. Hence he argued that there seemed to be no declaration of a principle adverse to slavery in this proclamation ; that it was a measure of war, and a measure of war of a very questionable kind. The English minister concluded his communication by saying, that as President Lincoln had thrice appealed to the judgment of mankind in his proclamation, he ventured to say that he did not think it would or ought to satisfy the friends of abolition, who looked for total and impartial freedom for the slave, and not for vengeance on the slaveholder. But, whatever Harl Russell might say or think, the friends of abolition in England regarded this act of Presi- dent Lincoln with favour, and received it with demonstra- tions of sympathy and approval. They saw that, whatever the motive that dictated the proclamation, its effect would be the entire abolition of slavery if the Northern States triumphed. It was evidently impossible that if slavery were abolished in the ten confederate states, it could hold its ground in the small portion of the union to which the president’s proclamation did not apply. Accordingly it soon became evident that the old anti-slavery spirit that had animated Macaulay, Wilberforce, Clarkson, and Brougham, was not dead. Meetings were held in the largest available rooms of the metropolis, Liverpool, Man- chester, and most of the chief towns of the kingdom. Before the hour of the meeting at Exeter Hall had arrived, it overflowed into the large rooms below, thence into the adjacent street, out of which a fourth meeting arose in the immediate neighbourhood. All these meetings fermented with anti-slavery enthusiasm, excited to a still higher pitch of effervescence by some small and ineffective 224 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. ([Cuap. IV. attempts at a counter-demonstration in favour of the Southern States. | At the commencement of this session the Prince of Wales took the oaths and his seat asa peer of the realm. After having been admitted with the usual formalities, he retired to lay aside the ducal robes which he had worn during the ceremony, and then returning with the Duke of Cambridge took his seat on the cross benches, where he continued during the debate on the address in answer to the royal message. In both houses that address was adopted after undergoing some not very important criticisms. On Saturday the 7th of March the prince took part in a pageant of a very different kind. On that day the streets of London were crowded as they had never been crowded before; for it was an occasion that appealed very powerfully to the sympathy and curiosity of our country- men and countrywomen—the public entrance of the Prin- cess Alexandrina, the affianced bride of the Prince of Wales, into the metropolis on her way through it from Gravesend to Windsor Castle, where she was to be married to the prince on the following Tuesday. It is needless to say that not only almost every Londoner was in the street or in some place of advantage to view the procession, but that millions from all parts of England, taking advantage of the improved means of conveyance furnished by the railways, flocked to the metropolis. Great preparations had been made for the event; 40,0007. had been voted for the purpose by the corporation of London; triumphal arches, splendidly decorated, had been erected along the line of procession. Such was the anxiety to ob- tain a good view of the princess that a single seat in a window was let for 30J. The gas companies were unable to meet the demands made on them in connection with the illuminations by which the event was to be celebrated. The reception which the youthful princess met with on her way through the city, though respectful, was boisterous and tumultuous, and several people were crushed to death beneath the human deluge that rushed towards the carriage in which she was conveyed. ‘These misfortunes were due partly to the enormous number of those who were anxious to catch a glimpse of the princess, but chiefly to the 1363.] THE BUDGET. 225 exceedingly bad arrangements that had been made by the corporation of London, who, confiding in their own ability to maintain order, had stubbornly refused the offers that had been made them of the assistance of a body of police and of a military force. Owing to their obstinacy and bad management many lives were sacrificed, and those of the prince and princess had almost been placed in jeopardy. Public opinion therefore loudly demanded the reform of the corporation; and the government, well aware how much it was needed, brought in a bill for the purpose. But it was strenuously resisted by the civic authorities, and the attempt failed through the neglect of those who had the charge of the bill to comply with the standing orders of the House of Commons. On the day fixed for the wedding, the marriage-ceremony was performed with be- fitting pomp, and was attended by all those royal and dis- tinguished persons, ambassadors, ministers, and others, that such an event as the wedding of the heir to the throne was sure to bring together. But amongst all the persons who were present in that splendid and glittering throng none attracted so much attention and interest as the bereaved Queen, who, sitting in a gallery just over the altar of St. George’s chapel, looked down in her widow’s weeds on the wedding of her firstborn. The event was celebrated with rejoicings in every part of the kingdom. The parliamentary proceedings of this year were devoid of public interest and historic importance, with the excep- tion of the budget, introduced by the chancellor of the exchequer on the 15th of April. Mr. Gladstone’s previous financial statements had been so interesting, that the cir- cumstance that he was now to make another was sufficient to collect a multitude to hear it. But it was not possible always to produce budgets like that which was associated with the French treaty. Besides, the war that was being carried on in America, and the distress that prevailed in the manufacturing districts, would not allow opportunity for the exercise of much financial ingenuity. Consequently the budget, though open to little or no objection, was not of a character to excite great interest. Mr. Gladstone’s statement was, like his budget, perfectly plain and un- ambitious. He did not indulge in any of those disquisi- VOL. III. 226 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. {Cuar. LY. tions on the philosophy of taxation which had given such a charm to his previous financial addresses. Nevertheless he spoke for three hours, during the whole of which time he managed, as he had done on former occasions of the same kind, to command the unflagging attention of his audience. The chief feature in this budget was the reduction of the duty on tea to one shilling in the pound; and as the large- ness of the tea-duty had at the time of the last budget been the grievance on which the opposition more especially harped, the reduction left them almost without any ground. of complaint. Some of its less important details were strenuously resisted, especially a provision, which seems to be a very fair and just one, for imposing a license-duty on clubs as well as on public-houses. In favour of this pro- posal it was urged that the club was to the rich man what the public-house was to the poor man, except that it was less necessary. It therefore seemed only equitable that the former should contribute to the support of the exchequer as well as the latter. But this reasoning did not commend itself to an assembly almost all of whose members were also members of the institutions which it was proposed to tax; and this provision, as well as one for the taxation of charities and some other less important financial proposals, was eventually abandoned. The remarks made by Mr. Gladstone towards the con- clusion of his address on the state of the trade of this country with the United States and with France have an abiding and historical interest: ‘T come now, sir,’ he said, ‘to consider a subject which is always of great, and which is also at this moment of painful interest; I mean our trade with the United States. It is of great interest because of its importance to the country; and it is at present of painful interest because the reduction it has undergone bears melancholy witness to the secondary action of those far greater and more frightful calamities which afflict the continent of North America. And I shall proceed to state the condition of our trade with France, because this is the first occasion of a financial statement on which I have had it in my power to exhibit one full year of the working of the commercial treaty with France, and of the altered system it has in- troduced. 1863.] THE BUDGET. 227 ‘The value of British goods exported to the United States in 1859 was 22,553,000/1.; in 1862 it had fallen to 14,398,000/., and thus exhibited a decrease of 8,154,0001. The value of foreign and colonial goods exported to the United States from this country had during the same period increased. In 1859 it had been only 1,864,0000.; in 1862 it had increased to 4,052,0007. The augmentation was as much as 2,188,000/.; but nearly the whole of it was represented by the single article of cotton-wool, which amounted in value to no less than 1,712,0007. However, deducting the increase on our foreign and colonial goods from the decrease upon our own export of British goods, there remains an aggregate diminution in our export trade to the United States of about 6,000,0002. ‘T will take next the case of our trade with France; and here it will be my pleasant duty to point to a very different state of things. The year 1859 was the last full natural year before the treaty of commerce. In that year the value of British commodities exported to France was 4,754,0007. In the year 1860 the treaty was concluded, _ and it took effect almost wholly as regarded our imports, but on a very few articles as regarded our exports. The value of British goods exported to France in 1860 was 5,200,000. ; and thus showed an increase of about 500,0002, In 1861 the treaty took effect as regarded its provisions relating to the duties on imports into France. It came into operation late in the year, namely, on the 1st of October. A very large augmentation appeared in our exports; but a part of this was due to the concurrence of a very bad harvest in France with a large supply of corn in the markets of this country. In consequence we sent a great quantity of corn to France; but in order to a more just calculation, I shall not take this article into account. After striking-off the sum of 1,750,0000. for an excess in the export of corn, I find that in 1861 the value of British goods sent to France rose to 7,145,0002. It thus showed an increase of 2,391,000/. over what it had been the last year anterior to the treaty. Then came the year 1862, with the treaty in operation from its beginning to its | close. ‘The value of British exports during the .year now amounted to 9,210,000. It thus showed an increase of 4,456,000. In other words, the amount of British goods Q2 228 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap. IV. sent to France had about doubled under the operation of the treaty of commerce. ‘But the figures I have named by no means set forth the whole extent of the advantage which the trade of England and France has derived from the treaty; for an augmenta- tion of exports still more remarkable took place in foreign and colonial produce; and I need hardly remind the com- mittee that the foreign and colonial produce which we sent to France is something that we have ourselves obtained elsewhere in exchange for British produce. It therefore follows that every increase in the export of foreign and colonial produce from this country constitutes or represents effectively a corresponding increase in the export of British manufactures. The value of foreign and colonial produce sent to France in 1859 was 4,800,000/.; whereas in 1862 it amounted to no less than 12,614,0007. Accordingly the total amount of exports to France, which in 1859 was 9.561,0001., had in 1862 gone up to no less than 21,824,000/. In fact, while we had a decrease in the total trade to the United States of 6,618,000/., that decrease was a good deal more than made up by the increase in the trade to France, for the augmentation in the French trade was 12,268,0001.’ Although this speech was spoken under circumstances not so favourable as some of those financial addresses that Mr. Gladstone had already delivered; although it did not announce such great changes as those which were con- nected with the introduction of the treaty of peace; although it did not contain those ingenious disquisitions on the philosophy of finance which had given a special interest to his previous budget-speeches; there was none of them that was more striking in the delivery, or that produced a more powerful effect on those who heard it. The moment he concluded, the house, by one spontaneous and instinctive movement of approval, rose to express its admiration of the wonderful ability which, on a dry question of figures, could keep the house for three hours hanging on the lips of the speaker. The name and the misfortunes of Poland had often stirred the heart of the English nation; but never, perhaps, had British sympathy for the misfortunes of that unhappy country been more energetically manifested than by the 1863.] POLAND, 229 representatives of the British people in the earlier part of the session of this year. The question was brought for- ward in the House of Commons by Mr. P. Hennessy, a conservative, an Irishman, and a Roman Catholic. Speak- ing with the eloquence of deep emotion, he depicted in glowing colours the writhings of Poland under the cruel tyranny of the Grand-duke Constantine; he mentioned that since the commencement of the year upwards of 14,000 men and women had been craminmed into one single ' dungeon in Warsaw; he stated that the conscription had been carried to such an extremity, that out of a population of 184,000, only 683 persons were left to carry on the trade of the country; that the Count Andren Zamoyski had been punished by banishment for the crime of having presented a petition couched in the most respectful lan- guage; that Poland was threatened with extermination, her barracks and fortresses transformed into political prisons, the houses of her citizens surrounded and invaded in the dead of night, and the flower of her youth torn from their beds to be swallowed up in the Russian army. These statements produced their intended effect. There was a good deal of difference of opinion as to the course that should be adopted ; but there was no difference what- ever in the loud cry of disgust and indignation which proceeded from every side of the house, and which made itself heard even in the palace of the czar. Mr. Disraeli, Lord Palmerston, Lord J. Russell, Mr. Walpole, Mr. Stans- feld, and Lord Robert Cecil vied with one another in the expression of their detestation of the barbarities that Russia had committed. So far as the House of Commons was concerned, the debate ended with the somewhat lame and impotent con- clusion of leaving the matter in the hands of the govern- ment. But this resolution did not satisfy the more ardent spirits; an agitation on the subject was commenced ; a great meeting, attended by a large number of members ot both houses, was held in the Guildhall. The language used in this assembly was more indignant and outspoken than that which had been employed in the House of Com- mons; but it did not go the length of recommending that we should embark in a war with Russia; indeed, such a step on our part would have been an act of madness. It 830 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap. IV. was in the last degree unlikely that, even with the assistance of France, we could penetrate into Poland; and even if we could, it was quite certain that the Poles would be crushed. by the vast and neighbouring armies of her powerful oppressor long before we could afford her any succour. All that England could give ‘to Poland was her moral aid; and that she gave in no stinted measure, and with a deep sigh of sorrow that it was not in her power to render a more efficacious assistance. A good deal of public indignation was also expressed both in and out of parliament at the seizure of British ships by cruisers of the Northern States, especially at the behaviour of Captain Wilkes in the Trent affair, and at the manner in which his conduct had been sanctioned by the congress, the admiralty, and the people. These grievances were the subject of long debates, which were carried forward in a somewhat angry tone. Mr. Roebuck brought the matter before the house, relating in some detail the sub- stance of an alleged conversation between the French emperor and himself, in which the former stated not only that his feeling in favour of the recognition of the Southern States was the same as it had always been, but that it was now stronger than ever; that he was ready in all things to act with England; and that, more than in any other thing, he was ready to act with her as regarded America. Mr. Roebuck subsequently withdrew his motion, on an assurance from Lord Palmerston that the matter was receiving the careful consideration of the government. This year the defenders of church-rates gained a more unequivocal triumph than they obtained in the two previous years. As we have seen, in 1861 the numbers were equal, and the bill rejected by the speaker’s casting vote. In 1862 there was a majority of one against it; but in 1863, the majority of the opposing party rose to ten. We have already mentioned that since the elimination of parliamentary reform from the place it had occupied in the queen’s speeches, law reform was the only organic change which the government was prepared to propose. The measures that were brought forward in fulfilment of the pledge thus given were, a bill for the amendment of the bankruptcy laws, and another for the registration of titles to real estates. We have already seen what the author of 1863. ] LAW REFORM. ‘ 231 the former bill, Lord Westbury, thought of the first of these measures after it had undergone due parliamentary manipulation, and the other was not a whit more fortu- nate. Undeterred, however, by the treatment they had received in previous sessions, he determined to introduce another of still greater importance, requiring much more labour to prepare and to conduct it through the house, and likely to encounter a far greater amount of hostile criticism and amendment. The measure to which we refer was one for the consolidation of the statute law as contained in forty-four thick folio volumes of acts of parliament, many of which were obscure, obsolete, or contradictory. The work of examining, compressing, and digesting this pro- digious mass of statutes had been already commenced, and the chancellor proposed that steps should now be taken to carry it forward more rapidly and effectually. He also proposed to attempt the consolidation of the common law, as contained in a vast number of recorded judicial decisions, commencing at the end of the reign of Edward II., and carried down to our owntime. Of course such an immense mass of long and often conflicting judgments and opinions, contained in eleven or twelve hundred volumes of reports, the number of which was every day increasing, required an immense amount of attentive consideration. Lord West- bury proposed to appoint competent persons to examine, compare, revise, and expurgate these reports, and to remove from them all decisions that were obsolete or contradictory. For this purpose he suggested that they should be divided into three classes; the first extending to the revolution of 1688 or the commencement of the reign of Queen Anne ; the next to the end of the reign of George III.; and the last to be carried down to the period at which his bill was introduced. The measure was a vigorous and honest at- tempt to effect a reform of the first necessity and importance; but it was one that was sure to encounter a strong oppo- sition from the lawyers, who, though comparatively few in number in the upper house, formed a very considerable proportion of the lower. And this opposition was not likely to be balanced by any enthusiasm for a measure which, however useful, was not calculated to call forth much public sympathy or much zealous support. A bill designed to put our volunteer force on a more B52) « THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap. IV. satisfactory and better-defined footing was a due recog- nition of the efforts that had been made to raise and keep up that body and of the success that had attended them. The first volunteer rifle-corps was formed at Cheltenham in 1852, with the sanction of the Queen, conveyed in a letter from Sir G. Grey to Earl Fitzhardinge just before the Russell administration retired, in 1852. But the move- ment did not obtain much extension till the breaking-out of the war between France and Sardinia on the one hand, and Austria on the other, in May 1859. Two days after the Emperor Napoleon quitted Paris to put himself at the head of the French army, a notice was issued from the War Office sanctioning the formation of volunteer rifle and artillery corps under the provisions of the act Geo. III. chap. 54. From this time the movement spread rapidly, and volunteer corps were formed in almost all of the most considerable towns of the kingdom. As the existence of these bodies enabled the government to maintain a smaller force than they would otherwise have deemed necessary, they encouraged it by all the means in their power. It was to effect this object, and to silence some murmurs that had proceeded from the volunteers, that the government introduced the measure to which we have referred. It led to a farther extension of the volunteer system, and stimu- lated those who belonged to the volunteer corps to improve themselves in their drill and to practise shooting, so as to become nearly equal, and in some respects even superior to the rifle corps of the regular army, over whom they had the advantage of more cultivated intelligence. We have already intimated that the legislative work done in the course of this session was exceedingly small. A great part of it was spent in discussions on the distress that prevailed in the manufacturing districts; and Mr. Glad- stone succeeded in carrying a measure the general scope of which may be gathered from its somewhat complicated title of ‘The Union Relief Acts Continuance Bill; ’ allowing the application of money raised on the security of the rates to the purpose of paying wages to distressed operatives ‘employed in the construction of roads and other public works. This was done at the earnest request of the work- men themselves, who petitioned the government to relieve them by giving them work rather than by supporting them 1863. ] DEATH OF THACKERAY. 233 in idleness. The Prison-Ministers bill secured to Roman Catholic prisoners the attendance and ministrations of priests of the communion to which they belonged. Another measure, of which Lord Westbury was the author, and which redounds greatly to the honour of his disinterested- ness, enacted that the advowsons of no fewer than three hundred and twenty benefices in the patronage of the lord chancellor should be sold, and the proceeds devoted to the augmentation of the income of their incumbents. The government failed in an attempt to obtaina grant of money for the purchase of the buildings which had been erected for the reception of the articles sent to the International Exhibition of 1862. During the session the ministry lost, in Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, one of its most diligent and useful members ; a man remarkable for the solidity of his attainments. Up to the time of his death he filled the office of minister-of-war with great efficiency. During a visit he made to his constituents he was seized with a sudden.attack of illness, that speedily proved fatal. ‘The speech delivered at the prorogation of parliament: was marked by the ominous omission of the clause in which the sovereign was generally made to announce to the legis- lature that her relations with foreign states were friendly and satisfactory. The cause of the omission of this usual assurance was the danger of war that existed in many quarters. ‘There was a possibility of our being drawn into _ taking part in the struggle going on in America; there was intelligence that hostilities with Japan had either been already begun, or were hourly expected to commence ; our diplomatic relations with Brazil were interrupted; a war was being carried on in New Zealand against the Maories ; and finally, a serious dispute had arisen between France and Austria respecting Poland, in which, if it should be carried farther, the strong public feeling that existed in this country in favour of oppressed Poland would hardly allow us to remain neutral. At a later period complications arose between Denmark and Germany, which seemed at one time likely to involve this country. On the eve of Christmas-day, one whose name was familiar as a household word, whose books were in every library, and had been read with interest by everybody, suddenly disappeared. On the morning of the 24th of 284: THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. ([Caap. IV. December, William Makepeace Thackeray was found calmly sleeping his last sleep. His was a mind that saw the ugly side of human nature, and depicted it with vividness and exaggeration, cynically placing it in the clearest light, yet with no cynical intent, for his nature overflowed with benevolence and kindly humour; and if he painted vice in its darkest colours, it was only to make men hate it more intensely. His portraits were indeed drawn in somewhat sombre colours, but there was withal in them a truenegs to life that had made him not a few enemies among those who fancied that they saw their own likeness in his delinea- tions of character. But their enmity did not survive his death ; and the unexpected intelligence of that event, coming as it did afew days after the report of a speech he had delivered at the Charterhouse full of rich humour and right feeling, was received with universal regret at a season which his works had contributed in no small degree to cheer and enliven. By the desire of his family his funeral was strictly private; but there stood by the open grave to which the body of the great humourist was com- mitted his friend and literary rival, Charles Dickens, as well as most of the literary celebrities of the day. Three years before, Thackeray and Dickens had been chief- mourners at the interment of Douglas Jerrold; now one of them followed the other to his last resting-place, into which he also was shortly to descend. It was very fortunate, considering the circumstances in which the inhabitants of the manufacturing districts as well as of other parts of the kingdom were placed by the civil war still raging in America, that the harvest of this year was abundant almost beyond precedent. From all quarters most cheering accounts had been received. The grain-crops were excellent both in quality and quantity, and the result was a considerable diminution in the prices of almost all the necessaries of life, as well as a healthy im- pulse to the industry and commerce of the country, which . was thus assisted to rise out of the distress under which many of her districts had been suffering so long and so severely. The year 1864 opened with very general apprehensions that the dispute which had arisen between Denmark on the one hand, and Prussia and Austria on the other, with 1864.] SYMPATHY WITH DENMARK. 235 regard to the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein would end in a war, into which this country might not improbably be drawn. Harl Russell, as foreign secretary, was doing his best, by appealing to the faith of treaties, to induce the two great powers who were claiming Schleswig-Holstein in the name of Germany, to moderate their proceedings; but to very little purpose, although in his communications with them he employed language which was almost menacing. Public opinion, however, expressed itself very decidedly ‘ against interference in a cause which England had no direct interest in maintaining, and she was consequently placed in the position of a warmly-interested looker-on, while the Danes were heroically contending against the enormously superior forces which the two great German powers brought into the field. But the sympathy of this country was shown, by large private contributions for the relief and assistance of the Danish soldiers wounded in the unequal conflict. Much of the time of parliament was occupied by debates on the question involved in this war, to the exclusion of many important questions which urgently demanded its attention. In the House of Lords the Earl of Derby strongly condemned the policy of the foreign secretary, which he characterised by two expressive words, long re- membered and frequently repeated, ‘meddle and muddle.’ However, the English generally knew little and cared less about the merits of the question at issue, but their sympa- thies were warmly excited by the spectacle of a little power like Denmark opposed to the armies of two great powers such as Prussia and Austria; and they were disposed to conclude, without much examination, that the small power must needs be right, and the two great powers wrong, as it was quite certain, that whether right or wrong they could take whatever they chose to demand. The debates on the question were much more remarkable for the warmth and vehemence with which they were conducted, than for the light they threw on the merits of the question at issue. | They did not, however, prevent parliament from dis- cussing some measures of considerable interest and import- ance. Foremost among these, though attracting much less attention in this country than it deserved, was the 236 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap. IV. Government-Annuities bill, introduced by Mr. Gladstone, and designed to provide, under the management and secu- — rity of the government, a great general life and health — insurance institution founded on sound principles, and which, it was hoped, would ultimately supplant the num- berless sick and burial clubs and friendly societies insti- tuted for the same object, but which being for the most part based on thoroughly unsound principles, were either then bankrupt, or were sure at some future and not very distant time, to be placed in the position of being unable to meet the engagements into which they had entered with their members, and were consequently staving off the in- evitable day by inducing young members to become con- tributors. Great opposition was offered to the plan by the societies which it was designed to supersede. The budget of the year 1864 obtained the same attend- ance and attention that the financial statements of Mr. Gladstone had hitherto commanded. It was true that it did not, and, under the circumstances in which the country was placed, could not propose to carry out the great and brillant financial operations by which some of his previous budgets had been distinguished. However, nothing could be more satisfactory than the statement he was able to make. Our gross exports and imports amounted to 4:44,000,0001., being about three times as much as they had been in the year 1842, the year in which the great financial reforms so boldly originated by Sir Robert Peel, and so ably carried on by Mr. Gladstone, were commenced. The revenue was estimated at 69,460,000/., and the expenditure at 66,890,0001., placing at the disposal of the chancellor a surplus of 2,570,0002. With this surplus he proposed to take off from the income tax a penny in the pound, to reduce the fire-insurance duty from three shillings to one shilling and sixpence so far as stock-in-trade was con- cerned, to grant a relief from taxation to the extent of 3,000,0001.; but he successfully resisted an agitation which was carried on for the repeal of the tax on malt, and was supported in that resistance by 347 votes to 99. He sub- sequently consented to a remission of the duty on malt used for the consumption of cattle. An agitation for the entire abolition of capital punish- ment had been carried on for some time, and had now 1864.] CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS. ysy) acquired so much strength that the government was induced to issue a royal commission to inquire into the nature and operation of the laws by which the punishment of death was appointed to be inflicted, as well as into the - manner of its infliction, and to report whether it was de- sirable that any alteration should be made in these respects. The commission was composed of men who had paid atten- tion to the subject, and who represented the different opinions which were entertained with regard to it. It was almost unanimously admitted by the persons who composed the commission that some change was required in the interest of the country and of justice, because in the present state of the law, juries, in spite of their oaths, fre- quently acquitted persons accused of murder, not because proofs of their guilt were wanting, but because there were extenuating circumstances which in their opinion rendered the punishment of death too severe. In dealing with the question of the manner of inflicting capital punishments in the cases in which it was thought proper that they should still be retained, the commission recommended that the penalty of death should be inflicted within the walls of the prison in the presence of a small number of spectators, in order to avoid those demoralising and disgusting scenes which often attended and disgraced public executions. These recommendations were subsequently adopted. The subject of education was first brought under the attention of parliament during this session by the presen- tation of a report by the public-school commissioners, in which they stated that after a careful examination of the following institutions— Eton, Winchester, Westminster, St. Paul’s, Merchant Taylors, Shrewsbury, Harrow, and Rugby—they had come to the conclusion that while the course of study pursued in these schools was sound and valuable in its main element, it was wanting in breadth and flexibility, defects which in many cases destroyed and in all impaired its value as an education of the mind. They reported that all these schools, though in different degrees, were too indulgent to idleness, or at least strug- gled ineffectually against it, and that consequently they sent out a large proportion of men of idle habits and empty uncultivated minds. On the other hand the commission spoke in terms of high praise of the discipline and moral 238 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuar. IV. training afforded in these establishments. Much that was contained in these reports was already known, but they had the effect of drawing more general attention to the condition of these institutions, and of many others that were established on similar principles; and thus caused efforts to be made for their improvement, and especially for the cure of those removable evils, the existence of which this inquiry had placed beyond doubt. One very important defect in the education given in these great seats of learning was placed in a clear light by Mr. Cobden, in a speech which he delivered to his consti- tuents at Rochdale towards the close of this year. Speaking of the undergraduates of Oxford and Cambridge, who were in fact the élite of the public schools, he said: ‘I will take any undergraduate now at Oxford or Cambridge, and I will bring him to a map of the United States and ask him to put his finger on Chicago, and I will undertake to say he will not go within a thousand miles of it. Yet Chicago is a place of 150,000 inhabitants, from which one or two millions of people in our own country are annually fed. These young gentlemen know all about the geography of ancient Greece and Egypt. Now I know I shall be pelted with Greek and Latin quotations for what I am going to say. When I was at Athens, I walked ont one summer morning to seek the famous river, the Ilissus, and after walking some hundred yards or so up what appeared to be the bed of the mountain torrent, I came upon a number of Athenian laundresses, and I found that they had dammed up this famous classical river, and were using every drop of its water for their lavatory purposes. Why then should not these young gentlemen, who know all about the geography of the Ilissus, know also something about the geography of the Mississippi? ’ But while the question of the education of the upper and middle classes of English society was being carefully investigated, that of the education of the working classes was not neglected. It was placed at this moment under the vigorous ‘administration of Mr. Lowe, who was en- deavouring to put the various religious communions of the country on a footing of perfect equality so far as related to the distribution of the grants made under the authority of the educational department of the privy-council. In 1864. ] MR. LOWE. 239 doing so he incurred much obloquy and hostility from the conservative party, and a great effort was made to remove him from the position he occupied. Lord Robert Cecil accused him of tampering with the reports of the in- spectors, and suppressing statements opposed to his own views, and moved, ‘That in the opinion of this house the mutilation of the reports of her, Majesty’s inspectors of schools, and the exclusion from them of statements and Opinions adverse to the educational views entertained by the committee of council, while matters favourable to them are admitted, are violations of the understanding under which the appointment of inspectors was originally sanctioned by parliament, and tend entirely to destroy the value of their reports.’ This resolution, notwithstanding a very able defence made by Mr. Lowe, was carried by 101 to 93—numbers which were supposed to show that Lord Palmerston had not done all he might have done to save his colleague from this censure. Mr. Lowe at once resigned his office of vice-president of the educational department, and procured the appointment of a committee, which fully exonerated him from all blame in the matter. Thus one of the ablest men in the government was com- pelled to retire from it with a mind somewhat. irritated against those of his colleagues who appeared to have neglected to give him on this occasion the support he con- sidered he had a right to expect from them, and whom in the sequel he made to feel the consequences of this conduct. On Wednesday the 13th of April a remarkable debate took place on the second reading of Mr. Locke King’s county franchise bill. Lord Palmerston strongly opposed the measure, delivering a speech against organic changes, which would have proceeded with a better grace from the back benches of the opposition than from the leader of the liberal party. It was evident, however, that the premier did not carry with him the sympathies and support of his party to the views which he thus expressed; for when the house came to a division on the question of the second reading, the numbers were : Perera TeACINE ys ot ww, tate oe 227 Against . ri ; : : : . . . , . 254 Majority against the second reading . «6 + =» 2 240 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap, IV. About a month later, Mr. Baines’ bill for lowering the franchise in the boroughs, which, like the kindred reform proposed by Mr. Locke King, had frequently been before the house, was again brought under discussion. Mr. Glad- stone seized this opportunity of showing that he did not share the opinions that the prime minister had expressed. on this question. Lord Palmerston had argued against that proposal on the ground that the people were not anxious for organic reforms, and were not agitating for innovations. Mr. Gladstone, with evident reference to this argument, said: ‘We are told that the working classes do not agitate; but is it desirable that we should wait till they do agitate? In my opinion, agitation by the working classes upon any political subject whatever is a thing not to be waited for, not to be made a condition previous to any parliamentary movement, but, on the contrary, to be deprecated, and, if possible, prevented, by wise and provi- dent measures. An agitation by the working classes is not like an agitation by the classes above them, haying leisure. The agitation of the classes having leisure is easily con- ducted. Every hour of their time has not a money value ; their wives and children are not dependent on the appli- cation of those hours to labour. But when a working man finds himself in such a condition that he must abandon that daily labour on which he is strictly dependent for his daily bread, it is only because then, in railway language, the danger-signal is turned on, and because he feels a strong necessity for action, and a distrust in the rulers who have driven him to that necessity. The present state of things, I rejoice to say, does not indicate that distrust; but if we admit that, we must not allege the absence of agitation on the part of the working classes as a reason why the parliament of England and the public mind of England should be indisposed to entertain the discussion of this question.’ Notwithstanding this support, Mr. Baines’ motion was defeated by a majority of 272 against 216. This was only what Mr. Gladstone had anticipated. His object was to place distinctly on record his decided opinion in favour of those organic changes which the head of the government had so strongly deprecated. From this day he was looked up to by the earnest liberals as their future champion, and 1864.] THE PERMISSIVE BILL. 24] as the framer of the next reform bill. They anticipated that the time was at hand when that question would be brought forward under more favourable auspices, and with a widely different result. Two measures very advantageous to the working classes were adopted in the course of this session. The first, proposed by Lord Derby, enacted that in every railway leading into the metropolis provision should be made for the accommodation of the working classes by cheap trains. This proposal was made mainly on the ground that the railways to which it applied had destroyed a large number of the habitations of the labouring classes, compelling them to reside at greater distances than before from the places at which they worked. Lord Derby contended that it was only just that these railways should compensate those classes by affording them increased facilities for going to and returning from their work. The measure was accepted by the government, and was the first step in a system which has proved a great boon to those for whose benefit it was adopted, and a source of no small profit to the rail- Way companies themselves, who have since found it to their interest greatly to extend the principle on which this important enactment was based. The other boon granted to the working classes was an act for applying to several other trades the regulations which already applied to women and children working in factories. ; A vote of censure on the government for its conduct in reference to Denmark was carried in the House of Lords by a majority of nine; but a similar motion proposed by Mr, Disraeli in the lower house was rejected by a majority of eighteen. Thus a liberal ministry, with a conservative chief and a large share of conservatism entering into its composition, maintained its ground against the conservative opposition to the end of the session. It is now time that we should notice one of the most remarkable agitations carried on in this or any other country. For some years societies had existed composed of | persons pledged to abstain from the use of all intoxicating liquors, and who endeavoured to persuade others that the use of these liquors, so far from being conducive to health, as had hitherto been generally supposed, were injurious to it. These opinions spread very rapidly in England, and VOL, IIL R 242 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap. IV. especially in the manufacturing districts, though they were shiefly confined to the working classes. In the United States of America they obtained still greater currency ; so much so, that Neal Dow, the mayor of Portland, U.S., had succeeded in carrying a law for the state of Maine, of which that town was the capital, and which is known by the title of the ‘Maine liquor law.’ This law was passed in 1851. In 1852 Nathaniel Card, a member of the Society of Friends, a pledged total abstainer, but who had not hitherto taken an active part in promoting the views of the advocates of total abstinence, wrote to Mr. Neal Dow for information respecting the Maine liquor law. The reply that he received to this communication made him resolve to endeavour to establish in England an organisation to agitate in favour of a similar measure. He succeeded in inducing Mr. Alderman Harvey of Salford, Mr. James Simpson of Fox Denton, Mr. J. Brotherton, M.P. for Sal- ford, and Mr. Pope, a young barrister, to embark with him in the proposed agitation, and to form with some others a ‘provisional committee. In February of the following year they opened offices in Manchester, and came before the public, with Mr. Walter C. Trevelyan as president, Mr. Har- vey as chairman, Mr. Pope, honorary secretary, and Mr. T. B. Barker, who has ever since been the soul of the agitation, as working secretary. The first step this committee took was to endeavour to unite those who were favourable to the movement throughout the country into a general council, of which Father Mathew, Mr. Silk Buckingham, the Earl of Allanton, and several others whose names had become widely known on account of the efforts they had made to promote the cause of temperance, be- came vice-presidents. On the Ist of June, 1853, the council was constituted; and in October next a great inaugural meeting was held, at which the following propositions were unanimously adopted as a basis for the agitation, and as indicating the character and scope of the movement. ‘1. That it is neither right nor politic for the state to afford legal protection and sanction to any traffic or system that tends to increase crime, to waste the national resources, to corrupt the social habits, and to destroy the health and lives of the people. 1864. } THE PERMISSIVE BILL. ° 243 ‘2. That the traffic in intoxicating liquors as common beverages is inimical to the true interests of individuals, and destructive to the order and welfare of society, and ought therefore to be prohibited. ‘3. That the history and results of all past legislation in regard to the liquor traffic abundantly prove that it is impossible satisfactorily to limit or regulate a system so essentially mischievous in its tendencies. ‘4, That no considerations of private gain or public revenue can justify the upholding of a system so utterly wrong in principle, suicidal in. policy, and disastrous in results, as the traffic in intoxicating liquors. ‘5. That the legislative prohibition of the liquor traffic is perfectly compatible with rational liberty, and with all the claims of justice and legitimate commerce. ‘6. That the legislative suppression of the liquor traffic - would be highly conducive to the development of a pro- gressive civilisation. ‘7. That, rising above class, sectarian, or party consi- derations, all good citizens should combine to procure an enactment prohibiting the sale of intoxicating beverages, as affording the most efficient aid in removing the appalling evils of intemperance.’ The methods adopted by this body to promulgate its principles aud promote its objects were: 1. Lectures and public meetings. 2. Hssays, tracts, placards, handbills, and periodical publications, including a weckly organ, the Alliance News (price ld.). 3. Petitions and memorials to parliament, to govern- ment, to local authorities, and to religious bodies. 4, House-to-house canvasses, to ascertain the opinions of heads of families and other adult members. 5. Conference of electors, ministers of religion, Sunday- i teachers, the medical profession, and other important odies. Nothing in this agitation was more striking than the success which attended the public meetings held by the Alliance. They were usually convened in the largest buildings in the cities, towns, and villages in which they were held; they were frequently called and presided over by the mayors of the towns in which they were held; were R 2 24.4 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. (Cuar, IV. freely open to all classes ; discussion was invited, resolutions submitted embodying the principles and aims of the asso- ciation: and in nearly all cases were affirmed by enthu- siastic and unanimous votes. Resolutions and memorials from public meetings were continually sent to the home office, and to various in- fluential members of her majesty’s government, urging them to bring in a comprehensive measure, dealing with the whole licensing question, and giving the ratepayers of each parish a power of veto on the local issue of licenses by a vote of two-thirds. In the year 1855 the executive offered prizes of one hundred guineas, fifty guineas, and twenty guineas, for the three best essays of those sent in, advocating and defending the principles and policy of the organisation. The essay that gained the first prize was written by Dr. F. R. Lees, and published in 1856. It constituted a volume of 320 pages, and an edition of 11,000 was rapidly sold off. Second and third editions followed, large issues of which were absorbed. Subsequently, to meet the still increasing applications, a condensed edition of the prize-essay argu- ment was issued; and since then two other editions have been called for, making in all upwards of 100,000 copies. In addition to these, a sequel to the argument, containing an answer to all objections, and a history of the Maine law, written by the same author, was issued by the Alliance, and several large editions of it have been called for. In June, 1857, a conference of 400 clergymen and other Christian ministers of all denominations was held in the town-hall Manchester during three days. The circular convening the conference received the written sanction of not less than 11,000 ministers of religion. Amongst the resolutions adopted by this assembly was the following declaration : ‘We, the undersigned ministers of the gospel, are con- vinced by personal observation within our own sphere, and authentic testimony from beyond it, that the traffic in in- toxicating liquors as drink for man is the immediate cause of most of the crime and pauperism, and much of the disease and insanity that afflict the land; that everywhere, and in proportion to its prevalence, it deteriorates the moral character of the people, and is the chief outward 1864.} THE PERMISSIVE BILL. 945 obstruction to the progress of the gospel; that these are not its accidental attendants, but its natural fruits; that the benefit, if any, is very small in comparison with the ‘bane; that all schemes of regulation and restriction, how- ever good so far as they go, fall short of the nation’s need and the nation’s duty; and that, therefore, on the obvious principle of destroying the evil which cannot be controlled, the wisest course for those who fear God and regard man is to encourage legitimate efforts for the entire suppression of the trade, by the power of the national will, and through the force of a legislative enactment.’ This declaration received the adhesion in writing of upwards of 3000 minis- ters of religion. During the years 1858 and 1859 a system of house-to- house canvass was adopted in numerous localities in Eng- land, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; the result of which was as follows :— Favourable to the permissive prohibitory liquor law « 147,821 Neutral . : : F ; < x : : . 982,140 - Opposed . ‘ ; e : : : ‘ ~ 11,594 This expression of opinion was in every case recorded in writing, on printed papers explanatory of the principle and object of the proposed law; the canvass was conducted by voluntary agency; and all replies to the queries were care- fully scrutinised by local committees of clergymen, Sunday school teachers, and other well-known and respectable per- sons having the confidence of the community ; the results being immediately published, and all inquiries frankly re- sponded to. At the annual council-meeting of the Alliance in October ' 1857 a draft of suggestions for a permissive prohibitory liquor law was adopted, and put into extensive circulation ; at the council-meeting in 1863 it was confirmed; and in the session that followed, a bill founded on it was sub- mitted to the House of Commons. The preamble of the bill set forth, that ‘Whereas the sale of intoxicating liquors is a fruitful source of crime, immorality, pauperism, disease, insanity, and premature death, whereby not only the individuals who give way to drinking habits are plunged into misery, but grievous wrong is done to the persons and property of her majesty’s 246 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. ([Cuap. IV. subjects at large, and the public rates and taxes are greatly augmented; and whereas it is right and expedient to confer upon the ratepayers of cities, boroughs, parishes, and townships, the power to prohibit such common sale as aforesaid: be it therefore enacted,’ &c. The bill went on to provide that, on application of any district, the votes of the ratepayers shall be taken as to the propriety of adopting the provisions of the act; but that a majority of at least two-thirds of the votes taken shall be necessary in order to decide that question in the affirma- tive. The act itself would, when once adopted in any district, prohibit within that district all traffic in intoxi- cating liquor for common purposes. The first reading of the bill, though strongly opposed, was carried by a large majority, after a brief debate. The second reading, as expected, was defeated by a large majority, but forty members voted and paired off in favour of the bill, This was a much larger number than had . been expected by the promoters of the measure. Petitions in favour of the bill were sent in, bearing upwards of 482,000 signatures; whilst the opposing petitions were but few, and chiefly emanated from interested parties. In 1869, on the motion for a second reading of the bill, 94: voted and paired in its favour (an increase of 54). The large number of persons who were engaged in the agitation, the wealth and social position of many of them, the enormous funds which had been subscribed to support the!Alliance, and the influence which it exercised in the election of members to parliament, obtained for its pro- posals a very attentive and respectful consideration. It was felt by many who were not prepared to go the full length of the permissive bill, that something needed to be done to reduce the immense amount of pauperism and crime which was distinctly traceable to drinking habits which the public-houses engendered. Others were of opinion that the principle of local control which the per- missive bill embodied was the only one calculated to con- tend with the gigantic evils which the liquor traffic was producing, and were willing that the bill should be read a second time in the hope that amendments would be intro- duced in committee which would modify those features in it which they regarded as affording a too-violent remedy 1864.] THE PERMISSIVE BILL. 247 for an evil so justly complained of, and so generally ad- mitted. But the only distinct counter-plan suggested was that of Mr. Bright, who, while approving the bill, stated what he thought would be a wiser way of dealing with the great social sore which it sought to heal. *You can make no change,’ he said, ‘from where you are, unless you intrust to the municipal council, or some committee of the municipal council in the various boroughs, the power of determining the number of licenses for the sale of wine, spirits, or beer. ‘If you were to intrust it to the council instead of the full vote of rate-payers, as proposed by the bill, I think you would avoid everything like a sudden and violent inter- ference with property ; you would also avoid the capricious action which might take place if two-thirds of the rate- payers were to judge this question ; and you would give to the whole body of the rate-payers, through their represen- tatives in the municipal councils, the determination of a question which every day is becoming more important with the great masses of the people of this country. I know no proposal which could be made from the point where we now stand to the point of the bill of my honourable friend, except the one I have suggested. Generally the municipal councils in this country perform their duties with admir- able success, and there has been no bill passed in this country that has been more successful than the one which they have passed to reform the corporations. If they had this farther power, I think it would add to their influence and dignity; and in all probability the opinions of the people would be fairly carried out in reference to this question. But there is another question. Honourable gentlemen opposite may say that this could not be done in the rural districts, where there are no corporations, and therefore my suggestion could not apply. But I think if it were attempted in the towns, and it was found more advantageous and successful than the present system, something could be found before lone to extend the new system to the agricultural districts as well; but if that should be found impracticable, it is no reason for debarring the towns from the benefit. ‘I should not have brought such a question as this before the House; and I am not so sanguine of the result 248 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Caap. IV. of these changes as what I may call the temperance party in the House. I have not that faith in any act of the legislature. I believe in the effect of the instruction of the people, and of the improvement that is gradually taking place among them. I think that drunkenness is not on the increase, but rather is declining; and I hope, whether the law be altered or not, we shall find our work- ing classes becoming more and more sober than in past times. But as I have on many occasions been before the public favouring the efforts of the advocates of temperance, I have felt bound to state the reasons why I cannot give my vote in favour of this bill, and to suggest what the House might do by way of giving to the people, through their municipal councils, control over this question. By doing this, you might promote temperance among the people, and at the same time avoid a great and manifest injustice to thousands of persons now engaged in the trade, whose property would be rendered uncertain, if not altogether destroyed, if the bill of the honourable gentlemen should receive the sanction of the house.’ The leaders of the Alliance were by no means dis- heartened by a defeat which they had fully foreseen, and which was less decided than they had expected it to be, and they carried forward their agitation with renewed vigour. Taking advantage of the annual meetings of the Social Science Congress, they there obtained a full dis- cussion of the subject in all its bearings. A committee of the Convocation of the province of Canterbury, to which the question was submitted, made a report entirely in accordance with their views and opinions. They waited on candidates at contested elections, and gave their sup- port, without reference to political sentiment, to those who promised to vote for the permissive bill, and in many instances succeeded in turning the elections in their favour, They raised a guarantee fund, first of 50,0001., and after- wards of nearly 100,000. In a word, they diffused infor- mation, and prosecuted their agitation with a degree of vigour and success which has been only rivalled by the great anti-corn-law agitation, and with legislative and other results which, though falling far short of their aims, have exercised a great and beneficial effect on the habits of the people of this country, and have counteracted in no 1864.] THE SHEFFIELD FLOOD. 249 small degree the individual, domestic, social, and national evils that drunkenness has produced. During the night of Friday the 11th of March the town of Sheffield was visited by a terrific calamity. An enor. mous reservoir had recently been constructed at Bradfield, about eight miles from the town, to supply it with water. It was formed by the construction of an embankment across the valleys of Stunnington and Linley, hemming in a body of water which covered‘ seventy acres, and varied from forty to eighty or a hundred feet in depth. The engineer by whom the dyke was constructed, as well as those employed under him, enjoyed a high reputation for skill and knowledge of their profession, and no doubt or suspicion seems to have arisen with regard to its sufficiency to sustain the enormous weight of water that pressed on it. The engineer, who had the care of the works, left the em- bankment apparently in good condition at six o’clock on the evening on which the accident happened. A violent gale was driving large waves against the embankment; but it showed no signs of giving way. Scarcely, however, had he quitted the works when a farm-labourer, crossing the dyke, observed a crack in it, which he mentioned to some navvies who were engaged in making repairs. They at once pursued, overtook, and brought back the engineer, who ordered the weir by which the water overflowed to be blown up with gunpowder to allow it to escape more rapidly. Unfortunately this part of the work was so solid as to defy all their efforts. The engineer and his men then returned to the crack, which they found greatly enlarged, and which they passed only just in time to escape being carried away. Down went the embankment, and off went two million tons of water in mad career through the valley, sweeping away bridges, factories, warehouses, work- shops, houses, cottages with all their inhabitants, like so many children’s toys. They were first violently tossed to the top of the mighty flood, and then sank beneath it. Though it rushed on with great rapidity, yet so circuitous was the channel that it was past midnight when it reached Sheffield. Shortly before twelve o’clock it burst upon the village of Malin Bridge, a little above Sheffield. A whole row of cottages was dashed down in a moment, and the in- habitants of the adjacent houses could distinguish the faces > 290 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap. IV, and the voices of their neighbours as they were whirled away past them. A man named Watson was observed holding his wife clasped to his bosom, while she held her infant in her embrace. In vain did some of those whu were near make frantic efforts to lay hold of them and save them. They were driven on a wall, which gave way at the moment they approached it, and down they went amidst a mass of timbers that threatened every moment to dash them to atoms. They were then. borne against another wall with so violent a shock as to compel the poor fellow to quit his hold of his wife and child. Left to himself, he managed to keep his head above water, and was at length carried to a window, through which he was dragged by the occupant of the house to whom it belonged. After the torrent had swept past, the corpses of his wife and of five sisters, all adults, were taken to the house of his widowed mother, living on the side of the hill below which his house had stood. The poor old woman laid them out and watched beside them. In another house situated close by the same place, nine out of ten of the inmates were killed, and the tenth saved himself by breaking through the plaster and slates and clambering on to the roof. ‘There were many wonderful escapes, many acts of heroic devotedness, much presence of mind exhibited in the midst of this sudden calamity ; but the loss of life was appalling. Up to Tuesday evening 187 bodies had been found, of which 99 were laid side by side in ghastly rows at the workhouse, on the Saturday following, still awaiting identification. The English people have been generally, and perhaps not unjustly, regarded as a cold, calculating, phlegmatic, undemonstrative race. It has been said too, that, as a consequence of this temperament, their sympathies with the oppressed nationalities of the Continent, though un- questionably deep and sincere, have seldom been strongly manifested. But the visit of Garibaldi seemed to give the lie to the estimate that was usually formed of them, and to astonish even the most excitable of their continental neigh- bours. Never probably was a warmer reception given in England or any other country to the hero of a hundred fights than was awarded the liberator of Italy. From his first landing at Southampton, or rather before his landing, SS 1864.] GARIBALDIS VISIT TO ENGLAND. 251 he was assailed by the well-meant but often troublesome and intrusive homage of his admirers. But the enthusiasm swelled to the highest pitch, when, yielding to an almost resistless compulsion put on him, he so far did violence to his own modest nature as to make a public entry into London. For four mortal hours did the carriage of the Duke of Sutherland struggle on from Waterloo station to Stafford House, stemming the human sea that overflowed every street through which he had to pass, amidst crowds composed of all classes, from the highest to the lowest, all vying with each other in the attempt to exhibit their admiration for his character. He remained in London ag the guest of the Duke of Sutherland, receiving the homage of the first nobility of the land, basking in the smiles of royalty, and followed wherever he went by shouts and acclamations. Pressing entreaties came from almost all the principal towns in England that he would honour each of them with a visit. He was perplexed by these invi- tations. He could not accept all, and could not select any without giving offence to the rest. The fatigue of receiv- ing and answering addresses, and responding to the de- monstrations that met him at every turn, soon began to tell on a constitution, enfeebled by many hardships as well as by a wound he had recently received. He found it necessary to make his escape as speedily as possible from an idolatry which was likely to prove seriously in- jurious. Therefore, after having remained about three weeks in England, the greater part of which time was passed in comparative seclusion, he was conveyed to his home in the island of Caprera in the yacht of the Duke of Sutherland, who accompanied him on his voyage. Another event which occurred in this year stirred the public mind almost as deeply, though in a very different way. The body of a gentleman still breathing, but too frightfully wounded to be able to give any account of the way in which he came there, was found in the middle of the North London Railway, near the Milford-Arms Tavern, about ten o’clock on the night of Saturday, July the 9th. The first and natural supposition was that he had either jumped or fallen from one of the carriages. But facts soon came to light which negatived this supposition. A carriage which had recently come from Fenchurch Street was 252 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. (Crap. IV. saturated with blood, and contained a crushed hat, a walking-stick, and a small leathern bag. These discoveries left no doubt that the dying man had been murdered in this carriage, and then thrown from it by his murderer. It was found that his name was Briggs; that his hat and a valuable watch and gold chain, as well as an eye-glass, all of which he had with him at his departure from home, were missing; and there could be no doubt that the crime had been com-_ mitted for the sake of these articles. But who was the murderer? This was a question which was asked with great interest throughout the kingdom. Every man felt that he might be the victim of a similar attack; and for a long time after the commission of the crime, if two men found themselves alone in a railway carriage, they looked at each other with suspicion, and each held himself in readiness to maintain a life-and-death struggle with his peaceful and well-intentioned companion. ‘The clue to the detection of the person who had committed this crime was very slight at first, but was carefully followed by the police, stimulated in their inquiries by the offer of large rewards. It was ascertained that a man who seemed to be a foreigner had exchanged Mr. Briggs’s chain for another at the shop of Mr. Death, jeweller, in Cheapside. A number of minute circumstances combined to fix suspicion of the crime on a young German named Franz Miiller, who had hitherto borne a good character for steadiness, industry, and mild- ness of disposition, and who for some weeks past had been talking of emigrating to America. A cabman named Matthews brought a paper ring-box with Mr. Death’s name printed on it, which Miiller had given to one of his children as a plaything; and Mr. Death stated, that having given in exchange for Mr. Briggs’s chain one of less value, he had added a ring to make up the difference. ‘There was strong reason for believing that the hat found in the blood-stained compartment had belonged to Miiller. These circumstances afforded a moral certainty of his guilt; but it was doubttul whether they were sufficient to procure a legal conviction, and even if they were, how could he now be taken? He was already far on his way to America, and there could be no doubt that as soon as he arrived there he would hurry off to some remote part of that great continent, where it would be impossible to discover him. These difficulties, 1865. ] THE MORIBUND PARLIAMENT. 258 however, did not discourage the police who were on Miiller’s track. The City of Manchester, a swift steamer, was despatched in pursuit of him, having on board two ex- perienced officers, carrying out a warrant for his apprehen- sion and all necessary appliances for obtaining his arrest under the extradition treaty between this country and the United States. The steamer arrived some time before the Victoria which carried out Miiller, and when he attempted to land he was at once apprehended with Mr. Briggs’s hat in his possession. After a fair, full, and patient inves- tigation, he was convicted and executed, confessing, at the last moment, that he had perpetrated the crime for which he suffered. The year ended under decidedly happier auspices and with better prospects than those under which it had com- menced. The distress in the manufacturing districts had so sensibly abated that the relief committees were able greatly to diminish the number of their meetings, and the amount of aid distributed to the distressed operatives. The session of the year 1865 commenced on Tuesday the ?th of February. The war-clouds that had overhung Hurope during a great part of the last year were dissipated, but hostilities on a small scale were still carried on by this country against Japan and the Maories of New Zealand. The queen was once more absent, and there was con- sequently again an absence of that ceremonial which attends the opening of parliament by the sovereign in person. A small party of ladies in the body of the House of Lords and in the galleries were almost the only persons present except the peers who were appointed to act as commissioners and to present the royal message. It contained nothing that was not already notorious; spoke in confident terms of the continuance of peace, announced a persistent neutrality as the settled policy of our government in reference to the civil war in the United States, and expressed an approval of a proposed combination of our North American colonies in a single confederacy. The home measures to which it referred were of an unimportant character; and on the question of parliamentary reform and of other organic changes it was entirely silent. It was discussed as such a speech might be expected to be discussed by a parliament whose views it echoed with tolerable fidelity. All men, 254 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap. IV, even the most strenuous reformers, saw that it would be useless to bring forward the improvements they desired in a parliament which had reached its lastsession. The great age that Lord Palmerston had attained rendered it certain that he could not continue much longer at the head of the government; and therefore the eyes of all men were turned towards the parliament that would have to be elected in the course of this year, and which would probably com- mence its sittings in the year following under the auspices of a new premier, if not of a new administration. The royal message was described by Lord Derby as being the sort of speech likely to be addressed by anaged minister to a moribund parliament, whose dissolution was certain ; so that the best thing its advisers could do was to find it some gentle occupation, and to take care that its dying moments should not be disturbed by any unnecessary excitement. Still, the notices of bills and motions given in the lower house on the first days after its meeting were sufficiently numerous to find the house ample employment during the whole of a long session; so that if kept without excitement, it need not be kept without work. It was well understood, however, that many of these notices were given rather in the hope of propitiating the constituencies than in the expectation of their being seriously discussed by the house. But there were some practical and useful measures, which those who brought them forward fully intended to carry through. Among these may be mentioned the Union- chargeability bill, read a second time on the 22nd of April, which established a better and more economical system of management in the different unions of the kingdom, made a@ more equal repartition of rates, and, which was much more important, relieved the poor from grievous hardships which up to this time the law of settlement had inflicted on them. It sometimes happened in parishes which belonged to a single proprietor or to a small number of proprietors, that in order to prevent the men who laboured on their property from gaining a settlement on it and ac- quiring a right to be supported from the rates, they would not allow a single cottage to be erected within the parish ;: so that the poor drudges who tilled the ground were: obliged to walk a distance of four or five miles to and from 1865. ] IRISH-CHURCH QUESTION. 255 the place in which they laboured. It is true that this was an extreme case, which did not often occur, but there were many parishes in which there was an approach to this state of things; and of course it was not only attended with serious hardship to the peasants who were obliged to undergo this great and needless fatigue, but was also shamefully | unfair to the parishes which had not been benefited by their labour, but which were compelled to support them in illness and old age. The bill of Mr. Villiers applied avery simple remedy to this state of things. Instead of making each separate parish support its own paupers by rates that were equal throughout the parish, itrequired each separate union of parishes to support its own paupers by rates that were equal throughout the union; thus making the area of relief coincident with the area of management. The bill also put an end to a great deal of litigation between different parishes, which had arisen out of the state of the law that previously existed. It is true that the measure did not go far enough, and did not wholly arrest the evil with which it dealt. It still left untouched the difference of rates between contiguous unions; which might indeed be remedied to some extent by their enlargement, a change which for many other reasons was desirable. However, the measure passed its second reading by a majority of 203 against 131. An amendment brought forward by Mr. Bentinck to facilitate in certain cases the alteration of the limits of existing unions was opposed by Mr. Villiers on the part of the government, and rejected by the house. The bill eventually passed, and was the principal work accom- plished during the session. On the evening of Tuesday the 28th of March Mr. Dil- lwyn moved a resolution affirming that the state of the Trish church was unsatisfactory and called for the early attention of her majesty’s government. The motion was opposed by Sir G. Grey, who stated that the government was not prepared to bring forward a measure calculated to produce the result that Mr. Dillwyn desired—the entire abolition of the Irish establishment. After Mr. Hardy had spoken at some length and with great animation against the motion, Mr. Gladstone rose and entered into a full ex- amination of the question of the Irish church. He frankl admitted that its state was unsatisfactory, but he added 256 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap. IV. that having regard to the difficulties which stood in the way of the removal of the anomalies it presented, and which he could not help recognising, he was not prepared to give his assent +0 the proposition, ‘that this question calls for the early attention of the government.’ ‘This declaration, to which subsequent events gave great significance, in- timated that Mr. Gladstone, who had always been a firm and intelligent supporter of the Irish as well as the English church, believed that the days of the former of these insti- tutions were numbered; that the government would at some future period be compelled to face the difficult question of its disestablishment; and that the introduction of a measure for that purpose was only a question of time. It caused those who held views similar to those he had enun- ciated to, regard him as the future leader of their party whenever the problem should be ripe for solution. It was generally felt on all sides that as soon as the retirement of Lord Palmerston from office occurred—and his great age showed that that day could not be very far distant—the consideration of this Irish grievance would occupy a fore- most place in the attention of the country and of the legisla- ture. For the present, however, the subject remained in abeyance. The budget of this year presented features which were all the more gratifying because they were exhibited in the face of the distress which, though rapidly diminishing, still existed in the manufacturing districts. The national expenditure for the financial year was estimated at 66,189,0001.; while the revenue was expected to amount to 70,170,0001.; so that there would probably be a surplus of no less than 4,031,0007. Of course with so large a balance, there was room for a considerable remission of taxation. Passing by some minor changes which it was proposed to make, we come to those which were most im- portant. The duty on tea was to be reduced to sixpence in the pound; the income-tax to be lowered from sixpence to fourpence in the pound ; the insurance duty, in conformity with a resolution which the House of Commons had passed on the 21st of March, was to be laid on all insured property at a uniform rate of one-and-ninepence, besides which the shilling duty on all policies was to be replaced by a penny stamp, and a penny receipt stamp for the payment of the 1865.] REDUCTION OF THE FRANCHISE, 2507 money. It was expected that these reductions would afford a relief of taxation amounting to 5,420,0001., of which 3,778,000/. would take effect during the present financial year; leaving a surplus of 253,0001. Mr. Baines again brought forward his measure for the reduction of the franchise, on Wednesday, 3rd of May, to some fourteen or fifteen members. The smallness of the attendance seemed to show a want of interest in the subject, which was in some degree accounted for by the general feeling that prevailed of the inutility of introducing such a measure in a parliament which, being near its end, was not likely to pass this fragment of reform. The debate was chiefly remarkable for a speech delivered by Mr. Lowe. Though he had been a member of this ministry, and though his views on most questions agreed with those of his late colleagues, yet he differed from them and the liberal party generally on this subject, and made a very able speech in opposition to the motion. It was applauded to theecho by the conservative party, as well as by some of those who, professing to desire and pledged to support parliamentary reform, really abhorred and dreaded it as much as its avowed opponents. When the subject again came before the house on the 8th of May, there was a large gathering of members, and everything betokened a close division. This was due not so much to any extraordinary interest taken in the question, as to the proximity of the general election, and the knowledge that this measure was the one which was likely to be the working question of the coming election. The debate on it was therefore of a very animated character. Sir G. Grey, speaking on behalf of the government, main- tained that he and his colleagues had fully redeemed their reform pledges; but declined to give any promise as to the course which the government would take with regard to the measure in the next session. Mr. Gladstone sat by in silence. It was reported that his colleagues had extorted. from him a promise not to speak on the question. But there was no truthin the statement. He had delivered his testimony on this subject during the preceding session in the most distinct manner, and it was not necessary that he should renew itnow. Ona division, the previous question, moved by Lord Elcho, was carried by 288 votes to 214. During the remainder of the session the members of the VOL. ITI, 8 258 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap. IV. house were speaking rather to their constituents than to the gentlemen, generally very few in number, who sat in the house. arly in the month of June they were putting forward their claims and opinions in addresses to the con- stituencies they represented, or which they hoped to represent in the next parliament. The house therefore was fitfully full and empty; members rushing down by rail to their constituents, and hurrying back again to the metropolis whenever any question in which those con- stituents took an interest was before the house. Bills were passed with even greater rapidity than is usual towards the end of a session. One question, however, being of a personal nature, filled the house and brought on a severe party struggle. Lord Chancellor Westbury had shown himself a most effective law-reformer. He had also shown himself to be, both before and since his appointment to his high office, but. more especially since, a master of biting sarcasm, which told all the more severely on those against whom it was levelled in consequence of the soft and mellifluous tones in which it was delivered; so that his blows were not inaptly compared to those of a mailed hand covered with a velvet glove. His law reforms had rendered him very unpopular with many members of his own profession, without having procured for him much favour with the public. He had been led—in one instance by good-nature, and in another by carelessness—to allow a member of his family to make use of his patronage, in a manner calcn- lated to damage his office and lower his character. Un- fortunately the charges that were made against him, instead of undergoing a calm and judicial investigation, were considered by the House of Commons; and were taken up there, as such matters too frequently are, not so much with a desire to vindicate the character of public men, as with the purpose of inflicting a blow on the party and the government to which Lord Westbury belonged. That he had been guilty of reprehensible laxity there can be no doubt. But this might to a certain extent be ex- cused in consideration of the immense demand which the duties of his high office must make on its holder, as well as the special and most honourable labours which Lord Westbury had undertaken. But even if his conduct had 1865.] LORD WESTBURY. 254) been less excusable, the manner of his condemnation was such as reasonable men could hardly approve. The fol- lowing resolution was moved by Mr. Ward Hunt, who afterwards filled the office of chancellor of the exchequer: ‘That the evidence taken before the committee of the House of Lords in the case of Leonard Edmonds, and laid before this house, shows a laxity of practice and a want of caution on the part of the lord chancellor in sanctioning the grant of retiring pensions to public officers over whose heads grave charges are impending, and filling-up the vacancies made by the retirement of such officers, whereby great encouragement has been given to corrupt practices; and that such laxity and want of caution, even in the absence of any improper motives, are in the opinion of the house highly reprehensible, and calculated to throw dis- credit on the administration of the high offices of state.’ Mr. Bouverie moved the ‘ previous question.’ The defence offered on behalf of the chancellor was received, not with the demeanour of men engaged in the calm and judicial examination of an important question very seriously affecting the character of a person in high office, but with continual interruption, loud shouts of de- risive langhter, and importunate cries for a division. It was evident that a large portion of the members had come up not to judge, but to condemn or acquit. If the division had taken place a week earlier, the supporters of the ministry would have been in the majority, and Lord Westbury would have been absolved; as it was, the con- servative whip had been more successful than the liberal whip; or rather, perhaps, the desire to brand Lord West- bury was stronger than the desire to clear him. It was evident the vote of censure would be carried. Lord Pal- merston endeavoured, by moving an adjournment, to evade the blow aimed at the government, knowing that it would be supported by many members who were not prepared to vote with Mr. Bouverie, and that if it should be carried, the crowd which had been brought up with so much diffi culty to vote on this question would be dispersed over the kingdom, and could not be collected again. The adjourn- ment was, however, rejected by 177 voices to 163; and Lord Palmerston adroitly accepted the division as repre- senting the feeling of the House with regard to Mr § 2 260 TUE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap. IY. Bouverie’s motion, and thus avoided a still more signai defeat. Lord Palmerston did not hesitate to declare, that in his opinion Lord Westbury had been unfairly dealt with. It still remained to be seen in what manner the chancellor would treat the censure. It was announced that his state- ment would be made on Wednesday the 5th of July. On the evening of that day Lord Westbury took his seat as usual on the woolsack; and there was a very large con- course both of peers and of strangers to hear the expected explanations. When Lord Westbury rose he was listened to with a deep and respectful attention, which was main- tained throughout his speech. He explained that he had desired to resign his high functions from the time that the charges, which had drawn down on him the censure of the House of Commons, had been first brought forward, be- cause he thought that it was not fit that a person on whose conduct any shadow of suspicion rested should retain the high office that he held; but that his intention had been combated by Lord Palmerston, who pointed out that if such a precedent were once given, the lord chancellor might be driven from office by any malicious or unscrupulous person who might think proper to bring a charge against him. He said that he had yielded to these considerations, and. continued to hold his office till yesterday. He con- cluded his explanation in these words: ‘ I have made this statement, my lords, simply in the hope that you will believe, and that the public will believe, that I have not clung to office, much less that I have been influenced by any base or unworthy motive. With regard to the opinion which the House of Commons has pronounced, I do not presume to saya word. I am bound to accept the decision. I may, however, express the hope, that after an interval of time calmer thoughts will prevail, and a more favourable view will be taken of my conduct. Iam thankful for the opportunity which my tenure of office has afforded me to propose and pass measures which have received your lord- ships’ approbation, and which I believe—nay, I will venture from experience to predict—will be productive of great benefit to the country. With these measures 1 hope my name will be associated. I regret deeply that a great measure which I had at heart—I refer to the formation of 1865.] LORD WESTBURY. 261 a digest of the whole law—I have been unable to inaugu- rate; fur it was not until this session that the means were afforded by parliament for that purpose. That great scheme I bequeath, already prepared, into the hands of my suc- eessor. As to the future, I can only venture to promise that it will be my anxious endeavour, in the character of a private member of your lordships’ house, to promote and assist in the accomplishment of all those reforms and im- provements in the administration of justice, which I feel yet remain to be carried out. I may add, in reference to the appellate jurisdiction of your lordships’ house, that I am happy it is left in a state which I think will be found satisfactory. There will not be at the close of the session a@ single judgment in arrear, save one in which the argu- ments, after occupying several days, were brought to a conclusion only the day before yesterday. In the Court of Chancery, Iam thankful to be able to inform your lord- ships, I do not think there will remain at the end of this week one appeal unheard, or one judgment undelivered. I mention these things simply to show that it has been my earnest desire, from the moment I assumed the seals of office, to devote all the energies I possessed, and all the industry of which I was capable, to the public service. My lords, it only remains for me to thank you, which I do most sincerely, for the kindness which I have uniformly received at your hands. It is very possible that by some word inadvertently used—some abruptness of manner—I may have given pain, or have exposed myself to your unfavourable opinion. If that be so, I beg you to accept the sincere expression of my regret, while I indulge the hope that the circumstance may be erased from your memory.’ It was generally felt that nothing he had done in his office, and he had effected much, better became him than his manner of leaving it; and that he had thus fully atoned for the errors into which he had fallen. At twelve o’clock on the day following this scene, par- hament was prorogued with the formalities usual on such occasions, prior to its dissolution; and now men’s thoughts were at once turned towards the election of the new par- liament. Much had been said for months past of ‘the great conservative reaction’ which was alleged to be going 262 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Omap. IV, on, and some isolated conservative victories were pointed. to in proof of its reality. The result of the general elec- tion, however, did not bear out these assertions; it pro- duced a considerable change in the personnel of the House of Commons: one hundred and eighty members of the old parliament were replaced by the same number of new members. The city of London sent four liberals; West- minster returned Mr. Mill and Lord Grosvenor, the former being at the head of the poll. At Birmingham Mr. Bright denounced the ministry as having climbed into office under the pretence of devotion to parliamentary reform, and having afterwards violated all its pledges. He did not hesitate to declare that its chiefs had purposely betrayed the cause they undertook to defend, and that its less emi- nent members had tamely acquiesced in that betrayal. But while he was thus severe on the government, he did not spare the leader of the opposition. He described Mr. Disraeli as being one who would have been a statesman if his powers had been directed by any ennobling principle or idea, but who unhappily preferred a temporary and. worthless distinction, as the head of a decaying party fighting for impossible ends, to the priceless memories of services rendered to his country and to freedom, on which only, in our age, an enduring fame could be built up. Of all the elections of this period the one which excited the most intense interest was that for the university of Oxford. Mr. Gladstone was opposed by Mr. Hardy, and preparations had been made for bringing him forward. immediately as candidate for South Lancashire. His defeat at Oxford was as ardently desired by the liberal party as by the most vehement of the Oxford conserva- tives. They felt that as long as he continued to represent the university he would be continually subject to anti- liberal influences. Butif he should become member for South Lancashire, the influences to which he would be exposed would be of a directly contrary nature. Hitherto, they said, he has been held back; now he will be urged forward, These hopes and aspirations were not disap- pointed. Assoon as it became evident that he would be defeated at Oxford, Mr. Gladstone hastened down to Lan- cashire, and lost no time in presenting himself as a can- didate for the southern division of that populous and 1365.] MR. GLADSTONE’'S DEFEAT AT OXFORD. 263 important county. It was on Tuesday, the day of the great weekly Manchester market, when he arrived, and the exchange of that city was crowded, as it usually is on that day, by the merchants and manufacturers, not only of the cotton metropolis, but of all the great sur- rounding towns and districts of which Manchester is the emporium. About three o’clock it was announced that Mr. Gladstone had arrived in Manchester, as a candidate for the representation of the southern division of the county ; and that he was going to deliver an address to the electors in the great room of Free-trade Hall. In afew moments that room was crowded by an eager audience, the enthu- siasm of which was roused to the highest pitch when Mr. Gladstone commenced his speech by saying, ‘I stand before you unmuzzled.’ The shout that arose as soon as these words were uttered was the expression of a tri- umphant perception of the false move which had been made by those who had taken off the muzzle that had hitherto hindered Mr. Gladstone from giving unreserved utterance to his liberal sentiments, and from fully following out his liberal instincts. And they had good reason for their exultation. There can be no doubt that the pride and delight which Mr. Gladstone took in representing his own university often acted as a restraint on him, and pre- vented him from expressing his own strong convictions as fully as he would otherwise have done, for fear of need- lessly increasing the dissatisfaction with which he knew that the course he often felt himself compelled to take was regarded by many of his old supporters. It was therefore a fortunate circumstance for the nation, though a most untortunate circumstance for the conservative party gene- rally, that at this critical period the Oxford tories took off the muzzle from Mr. Gladstone, and severed ties which had hitherto fettered his liberty of speech and action. The liberal party throughout England felt that Mr. Gladstone’s defeat was a gain to their cause, and rejoiced at his re- jection. The contest, however, in South Lancashire was a hard one. Mr. Gladstone stood third on the poll, and was only returned by a small majority over the third con- servative candidate. But while the liberal party had gained a large accession of strength by obtaining the free guidance of an earnest 264 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuap. IV, and highly able leader, that gain had been toa great extent counterbalanced by the loss of one of its ablest and purest champions. Few events have ever occurred in this country that have caused a deeper or more widely-spread sorrow than the death of Richard Cobden, which happened in the earlier part of this year. He was a victim to his over- anxious desire to fulfil his public duties. He came to Rochdale in the month of November, 1864, in order to give his constituents an account of his stewardship during the past session. He was suffering from a bronchial affection, which rendered it in the highest degree dangerous for him to speak at all, or even to visit at that time of the year a place the climate of which is so inclement as that of Roch- dale. And one at least of his friends strongly remonstrated with him against the imprudence of which he was intend- ing to be guilty. Nevertheless he went, and addressed a very large and crowded meeting at great length and with all his usual earnestness and eloquence. From the effects of that exertion he never recovered. The next spring he was recommended by his medical advisers not to ge to London till the weather had become genial and settled; and he so far yielded to their advice as to keep at home till near the end of March ; but he was nervously anxious to show his constituents that he was not negligent of his duty as their representative. This feeling impelled him to take his seat in the House of Commons at as early a period as ' possible. The day on which he went up to London hap- pened unfortunately to be, perhaps, the very coldest of the year. He was exposed to the blast of a biting east wind, which produced a severe and immediate aggravation of his bronchial symptoms, under which he rapidly sank. It is scarcely possible for those who have not enjoyed the privi- lege of personal communication with this great man to un- derstand the nature of that power which he exercised over his contemporaries, and of which he made so magnificent a use for the benefit of his fellow-men. His vast services were in no small degree due to the fascination which his character and demeanour enabled him to exercise over indi- viduals in private conversation, and over multitudes by his speeches. Itall had its basis ina clear understanding, and a thoroughly good heart combined with much energy and determination. The eloquence with which he was gifted 1865.] DEATH OF MR. COBDEN. 265 sprang from an earnest desire to convey into the minds and hearts of others the strong convictions and the high and noble feelings by which he was animated. Hence there was nothing artistic or artificial in his speeches. His art was not to conceal art, and that simply because he had no art to conceal; all with him was natural and unaffected. Accord- ingly his speeches had no formal exordium or peroration. He perhaps never stood up to address any assembly with- out an earnest purpose in addressing it. He said what he thought and felt with regard to the subject on which he spoke; and when he had finished what he had to say on it hesat down. The feeling which occupied and might almost be said to have engrossed his mind, was a strong desire to benefit his fellow-creatures, and especially his fellow-coun- trymen ; for though eminently cosmopolitan, he was no less eminently patriotic. The author of this work well remem- bers how in the last conversation he ever had with him, Mr. Cobden expatiated with warm satisfaction on the great in- crease that had taken place in the number of persons em- ployed in the printing and publication of newspapers since the abolition of the stamp and paper duties, which he him- self had so powerfully helped to remove, and how he dwelt with especial gratification on the fact that this increase in the number of persons employed had been followed by a great rise in the payments by which their labour was remunerated. ‘The reader of this work has already enjoyed an opportunity of perusing the noble tribute of just acknow- ledgment paid to his services in the cause of free-trade by Sir R. Peel. A still more heartfelt and earnest tribute was paid to his memory by his intimate private friend and poli- tical associate, Mr. Bright, who was persuaded so far to do violence to his own feelings and wishes as to go down to the House of Commons on the evening on which it was understood that Lord Palmerston and Mr. Disraeli would refer to the loss which the legislature and the country had suffered by the death of Mr. Cobden. After the leaders on both sides of the House had warmly eulogised the deceased statesman, all eyes were naturally, turned to the bench occupied by his friend and political ally; and Mr. Bright, endeavouring to master the emotions by which he was agitated, thus responded to the fecling of the House: ‘Sir, the present moment is too near the scene in which 266 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuar. IV. I have witnessed the passing away of one of the kindest and purest spirits that ever breathed, for me to be able to express what I feel; but I hope to be able to have some other opportunity of pointing out to some portion of his countrymen the lesson which is to be gathered from the life of him who has passed away. After a close friendship of many years, I never knew how much I loved him till I lost him.’ And the strong firm-set man sat down and wept. The tears he shed were worthy of him who dropped them, and of him whose remembrance drew them forth. Indeed, the long and unbroken friendship of these two distin- guished men was highly honourable not only to them but to the age they illustrated. Many attempts were made to create jealousies and ill-feelings between them; many a time was the one extolled at the expense of the other, for this very purpose; but these attempts failed to cast a shade on the pure and disinterested friendship which bound them together. In less than a fortnight after the death of Cobden came — the assassination of President Lincoln, shot in his private box at Lord’s theatre, Washington, by an actor named Booth, who after the commission of his crime leapt on the stage brandishing a dagger and exclaiming Sic semper tyrannis! and then galloped away on a horse which stood ready saddled and bridled outside the buildmg. The news of this odious crime, coming as it did at the moment of the triumph of the policy which the murdered president had so vigorously carried out, produced in England a strong and general feeling of horror and indignation. The Queen wrote to Mrs. Lincoln, ‘as a widow to a widow,’ a letter full of kindly sympathy. In both Houses of Parliament addresses were unanimously voted, and the leaders of both parties vied with each other in expressing their horror of the crime, and their sympathy with the American govern- ment and nation. At a later period of this year another death occurred under very different circumstances. The premier was now in the eighty-first year of his age, and though he suffered. occasionally from attacks of gout, he still maintained all the strength and sprightliness of his character, and fulfilled the duties of his position with that tact and good humour which had always distinguished him, undergoing an amount 1865.] DEATH OF LORD PALMERSTON. 267 of labour which at his age seemed almost miraculous. Ex- cept when prevented by the gout, or kept away by other business, he was almost always in his place in the House of Commons from the commencement to the close even of its most protracted sittings, and affording an example of assiduity and attention to business which few of the youngest members imitated. During the autumn of this year he had shown some symptoms of failing health, but they were not of a nature to cause serious uneasiness. On Thursday, October 19th, he was confined to his bed by what seemed a slight cold, caught through riding impru- dently in an open carriage without an overcoat. On the Monday following it was rumoured that his indisposition had taken a serious turn; but the report was promptly contradicted. Next day a bulletin was issued, stating that he was improving steadily; but in the afternoon of the same day it was announced that he had become worse; and on the following morning that he was gradually sin.ing; about eleven o'clock he expired. As he died during the recess, there was, of course, no opportunity afforded for a notice of his death by the legislature at the time when it occurred ; but the public press made up for this deficiency by its comments on the services and character of the departed statesman, who for nearly forty years had occu- pied a very prominent and important position in this country, and had presided over its destinies after having passed the fourscore years allotted by the Psalmist to man. Arrangements were made for his interment in the vault belonging to the family in Romsey Abbey church, but they were set aside by the special desire of the Queen, in order that his remains might rest where so many other statesmen reposed, in the ancient Abbey of Westminster. Almost every public man in the country took some oppor- tunity of eulogising the deceased premier. As to the appointment of his successor there could be no doubt or hesitation. Harl Russell’s age, his great services, his high reputation, his honourable character, gave him irresistible claims to the vacant place. Equally, of course, Mr. Glad- stone became leader of the ministry in the House of Com- mons. These changes afforded a sufficient guarantee that the question of parliamentary reform and of other much-needed changes would not be allowed to remain 268 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuar. IV. hung up as it had been during Lord Palmerston’s admi- nistration. For a long time past the relations between the employers of labour and the labouring classes had been becoming more and more unsatisfactory, and in this year they were at length brought to an issue in one great and important branch of the national industry—the iron trade. ‘he de- mand had long been growing less, the profits of the trade had greatly diminished, and many iron-masters had failed, owing, as was alleged, to the pressure of foreign competition. Under these circumstances the masters determined on a re- duction of wages throughout the iron districts; and this resolution had been carried out before the end of the year 1864. Of course the reduction caused much discontent, and numerous meetings of the working men were held, at which the matter was discussed. The result of these dis- cussions was that the South-Staffordshire iron-workers accepted the conditions proposed by the masters, while the North-Staffordshire men refused to submit to them. ‘The latter therefore struck, and were supported in their strike by the contributions of those who had consented to continue to work at the reduced prices. The masters at once saw that the North-Staffordshire men thus aided would probably carry their point, and that if they did, the South-Stafford- shire masters would have a demand made on them for a rise of wages, and would be compelled to yield in their turn. In order, therefore, to prevent the South-Stafford- shire men from helping their North-Staffordshire fellow- workmen, the South-Staffordshire masters determined to codperate with their northern confréres, and to meet the union of workmen by a combination of masters, and the turn-out of the north by a lock-out in the south. Then came proposals for arbitration; conferences between masters and men; unsuccessful attempts at arbitration under the auspices of Lord Litchfield, the lord-lieutenant of the county; emigration to the United States, Australia, New Zealand. Meanwhile 70,000 men were out of employ- ment, and 100,000. a week which had been paid in wages was diverted into other channels. This was not only a great mischief but a great danger. The masters therefore invited the men to return to their work for the present, promising to leave the amount of wages to be settled afterwards by 1865.] OUTBREAK OF RINDERPEST. 26) arbitration. The men on the other hand insisted that the arbitration should precede their return to work. In such a contest the masters had the advantage which belongs to more cultivated intelligence and to the comparative small- ness of their numbers, which facilitated combination. But the market-price of labour is regulated by the laws of de- mand and supply, and is very little influenced either by strikes or lock-outs. The masters, as appears by the result, had miscalculated it, and were forced to yield, first at Newcastle, then at Cleveland; at length the Staffordshire masters found themselves left to fight their battle with the men without farther assistance; then the South-Stafford- shire masters yielded ; and at last the North-Staffordshire masters, finding that they could not maintain the contest alone, followed their example; and so the dispute ended, not without heavy loss to both the contending parties, pro- ducing a greater willingness on both sides to submit their differences to arbitration, instead of settling them by the clumsy expedients of strikes and lock-outs. ‘Before the general election was weli over, the country was alarmed by the intelligence that a disease of the ox- tribe known on the Continent by the name of the steppe- murrain, or rinderpest, had appeared in this country. The disease seems to have been first brought into England by some cattle imported from Holland; and it spread rapidly. Attention was at once directed to the means to be adopted. for repressing itsravages. The London cowkeepers met in the end of July to establish a society intended to prevent the spread of the infection. The government took up the matter, and on the 2nd of August the privy-council issued descriptions of the symptoms of the disease, and directions respecting the precautions to be adopted in order to prevent it from spreading. The alarm was increased by the circuni- stance that when the same complaint visited England a hundred and twenty years before, it was computed that no fewer than 40,000 head of cattle had perished by it, and there seemed to be strong reasons for apprehending that its ravages at this time would be at least equally serious. Towards the end of October it was announced that the cattle attacked with the disease during the past week, so far as they had come under the notice of the inspectors, were 1873, and that during the short time that had elapsed 270 THE PALMERSTON MINISTRY. [Cuar. IV. ~ since the first outbreak of the pest the whole number re- ported to be attacked by it was 17,673, of which 6866 had been killed, 7912 had died, 2047 were still under treatment, and 848 had recovered. Commissioners who had been ap- pointed to inquire into the origin, nature, and extent of the disease, recommended by a majority that for a limited time all movements of cattle from one place to another should be stopped; and they gave their opinion that if this regula- tion were enforced, the murrain must speedily disappear, and that nothing short of this would be sufficient to eradi- cate the evil. Nevertheless, it continued to spread, and before the end of the year 73,559 had been attacked, out of which 55,422 had died or been killed. The strong measures that had been taken were, however, beginning to tell on it, and the number of cases was steadily diminishing. In other respects the condition of the country was prosperous and promising. Peace and order had prevailed throughout the year, and everything betokened the continuance of these blessings. It is true that heavy autumnal rains had considerably damaged the harvest, and diminished the amount of its yield, which, combined with the cattle-plague, had caused a great rise in the price of provisions. But the hardship thus suffered was to a considerable extent compensated by abundance of employment and a high rate of wages. The termination of the struggle between the Northern and Southern States allowed the free importation of American cotton, to the great relief of the manufacturing industry of the country ; and the only cloud in the political firma- ment was the bitter feeling roused by the ravages which the Alabama, and other privateers fitted out in this country, had committed on the merchant-ships of the United States. On the other hand, the navies of England and France had met, not, as heretofore, to contend in furious and bloody strife, but to exchange mutual civilities and hospitalities at Cher rbourg and Portsmouth. CHAPTER Y. THE REFORM BILL OF 1867, Tus American civil war had left behind it a root of bitterness which it required all possible care and modera- tion on the part of our government to prevent from spring- ing up, and creating very serious complications. A large and very influential portion of the English people had manifested a most decided sympathy with the Southern insurgents. This feeling was more deeply resented by the inhabitants of the Northern States because it was entirely unexpected. They had thought that in a struggle which had its origin in the progress of anti-slavery principles, which evidently tended to abolish slavery throughout the Union, they would have the warm Sympathy and earnest support of anti-slavery England; and in proportion to the confidence with which they had reckoned on this support was their disappointment when they found that the sympathies of the majority of the governing classes of England were on the side of the South. This feeling was greatly increased when they saw privateers built in English shipyards preying on their commerce, and English blockade-runners defeating the vigilance of their cruisers, supplying their adversaries with arms, and enabling them to prolong the contest; and their exasperation was increased by the conviction that the sympathy and assist- ance which Englishmen afforded to the South was prompted by a desire to weaken the greatest republic that the world had ever seen, and to diminish or destroy her diplomatic influence. The animosity thus excited was not long in manifesting itself. In the beginning of the year 1866 a motion to the following effect was submitted to the Senate of the United States: ‘ Whereas England refuses to settle 272 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. Y. the Alabama claims, the presidentis requested to withdraw the American minister from England, and issue a procla- mation of national non-intercourse.’ It is true that the resolution was rejected by a majority of more than two to one; but that such a motion should have been ‘seriously entertained was a circumstance calculated to awaken fears that the question at issue would not receive in America that calm and dispassionate consideration by which alone it could be hoped that a satisfactory settlement of the differences between the two nations could be effected. While the two governments were involved in the dis- cussion of this unhappy difference, a noble-minded American was showing to both countries a more excellent way. Mr. Peabody, a native of the United States, who had long resided in England, where he had realised a vast fortune, determined to devote a large portion of it to the benefit of the country in which he had thus prospered. In the month of March 1862 he placed in the hands of trustees in whom he had confidence the sum of 150,0002. for the benefit of the poor of the metropolis, In his letter, conveying to them an intimation of his purpose, he stated that there were some fundamental principles from which it was his solemn injunction that they should never under any circumstances depart. First and foremost, there was the limitation of its uses absolutely and exclusively to such purposes as might be calculated directly to ameliorate the condition or augment the comforts of the poor who, either by birth or established residence, formed a recognised portion of the population of London. Secondly, that there should be a rigid exclusion from the management of this fund of any influences calculated to impart to it a character either sectarian as regarded religion, or exclusive in relation to local or party politics. In addition to these essential conditions, he conveyed recommendations which he sub- mitted to the judgment of the trustees, without absolutely limiting their discretion. He suggested that at least a portion of the fund might be applied to the construction of such improved dwellings for the poor as would combine the utmost possible degree of the essentials of health- fulness, comfort, social enjoyment, and economy. In the beginning of the year he added to what he had previously given a second donation of 100,0001.; thus raising the 1866. MR. PEABODY. 273 amount of his gifts to the poor of this country to no less a sum than a quarter ofa million. The trustees to whose management this immense fund was committed were recommended to erect school-houses where they were required, and to take care that they should be well sup- plied with books, periodicals, and newspapers, so that the inhabitants of the localities in which they were erected might enjoy opportunities of availing themselves of these ‘advantages; lectures were to be organised, and the tenants encouraged to establish codperative stores for supplying themselves with coals and other necessary articles ; and he farther desired his trustees to publish annually in the Lon- don newspapers, during the month of February reports of the progress of the buildings which might be erected, of the receipts and expenditure connected with them, as well as with the general management of the funds intrusted to’ them. A moderate rent was to be paid by the tenants of the buildings, by which a large and progressively increasing income would be furnished, which Mr. Peabody wished to be applied to the improvement of the dwellings of the working classes of the metropolis and its immediate vicinity. At the end of the year 1868 Mr. Peabody added another 100,000/. ; thus raising the amount of his donations to the poor of this country to 350,000/., besides gifts amounting in all to two million dollars, which were made by him to form an educatron-fund for the people of America. The discrimination which guided him in the application of his bounty was little less remarkable than the likerality he showed in bestowing it. Certainly nothing was more needed, or more likely to conduce to the welfare of the people of the metropolis, than the improvement of those human styes in which a large portion of the class he desired to elevate were lodged ; and which, notwithstanding the reports in which Dr. Letheby and others had shown their poisonous impurity, continued to exist in a very slightly improved condition until the noble-minded Ameri- can inaugurated his well-considered measures for improving the moral and physical atmosphere breathed by the poor of London. His enlightened benevolence was recognised by all classes, from the Queen on the throne to the hum- blest of her subjects; and when he died England and VoL. III. T 274 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. V. America vied with one another in doing honour to his memory. At the commencement of the year the London Gazette announced that a treaty based on free-trade principles and somewhat similar in its provisions to that which had been entered iato with France, had been concluded with the Austrian government. Thus the principles of Cobden and Bright were steadily gaining ground; the commerce of England was being greatly extended, and that not only without injury to other nations, but greatly to their ad- vantage; increasing their wealth, and imparting to them those civilising influences which free commercial inter- course exercises on the countries between which it is carried on, and binding them every day more strongly together by cords of peace, which it would soon become difficult, if not impossible, to sever. The formal opening of the new parliament took place on the lst of February. The Houses, as usual on such occasions, were occupied with the swearing-in of their members, and other preliminary formalities until Tuesday the 6th of that month; when the Queen, for the first time since the death of her husband, opened the session in person. There was therefore a more than usual interest excited by the event, and a very great multitude congre- gated to witness the procession. There was some deyia- tion§ made on this occasion from the ordinary ceremonial. The old gilded state carriage was replaced by one equally handsome and of more modern build. But the eight cream-coloured horses, according to time-honoured custom, drew the Queen from her own palace to that of the legislature. The weather was propitious, and the recep- tion of her majesty by the people as cordial and hearty as it had ever been. The royal robes were laid on the chair of state, but the Queen did not wear them, and the speech was read for her by the lord chancellor. It was stated at the time that this procedure was in accordance with pre- cedents afforded by Queen Hlizabeth, whose custom it is said to have been to address her parliaments through her lord chancellor. As the royal lady stood by the throne, sad and motionless, with downcast eyes, it was evident to the spectators that the long interval that had elapsed since the death of her consort had not sufficed to assuage the 1866.] PARLIAMENT OPENED BY THE QUEEN. 275 heavy sorrow which weighed on her heart. The speech delivered on this occasion promised measures on the subject of capital punishment, of the amendment and con- solidation of the bankruptcy and other laws, of the system of the public audit of branches of receipt and expenditure, for the amendment of the law relating to certain classes of legal pensions, and for the alteration of the oaths taken by members of parliament with a view to getting rid of un- necessary declarations and of invidious distinctions between members of different religious communities. It also con- tained the following reference to the question of parlia- mentary reform : ‘IT have directed that information should be procured in reference to the rights of voting in the election of members to serve in parliament for counties, cities, and boroughs. When that information is complete, the attention of parlia- ment will be called to the result thus obtained, with a view to such an improvement in the laws which regulate the rights of voting in the election of members of the House of Commons, as may tend to strengthen our free institutions, and conduce to the public welfare.’ This paragraph showed that the change of the head of the cabinet had produced the change in its public policy which had been anticipated. However, the subjects which chiefly occupied the attention of parliament at its first meeting were the cattle-plague, the conduct of Governor Eyre of Jamaica, and the efforts that had been made to obtain the liberation of Consul Cameron and other Kuropeans who had for some time been kept in captivity by the king of Abyssinia, and who, it was feared, would not be released by that barbarian unless some very strong measures were adopted by the British government. Of all these questions, that relating to the cattle-plague was the most pressing; for all the efforts that had hitherto been made to repress it had proved ineffectual, and it was necessary that parliament should be appealed to, to grant the powers that were required in order to put an end tw its ravages. Accordingly, on Monday the 12th of February Sir George Grey moved for leave to bring in a bill to amend the laws relating to contagious or infectious diseases in cattle or other animals. After enumerating the measures which the government had adopted, he stated T 2 276 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. V. that they had been led to the conclusion that the only effectual way to check the progress of the disease was to slaughter the infected animals, to regulate the movement of live cattle by railway and road, and to kill and dispose of the hides of all cattle coming to this country at the point of their debarkation. He then stated in detail the means by which he intended that these objects should be effected, the amount of compensation that it was proposed to give to the owners of the slaughtered cattle, and the rules under which they were to be killed. He meant to limit the bill till July 1867, and some special restrictions it contained till April 15th, with power to the queen in council to extend their duration. Penalties were also im- posed by the bill on those who should violate its provisions. He proposed that the cost of carrying the act out should be defrayed by a rate of five shillings a head on all cattle above one year old. He stated that it would be open to the House to divide the bill into two parts, in order that those portions of it about which there was no difference of opinion might be passed at once. Mr. G. W. Hunt, an experienced practical agriculturist, was listened to with much attexztion on this question. He admitted that the bill was stringent, but contended that it was not stringent enough for the emergency that had arisen. He recom- mended that from the Ist to the 25th of March there should be no movement of cattle on road or railway, and that infected animals should be killed in local slaughter- houses provided for the purpose. He recommended re- laxations of the rules at certain periods of the year, in order to meet the necessity of stocking the land. The urgency of the matter led all parties to coincide in the ex- pediency of carrying the measure forward as speedily as possible. Accordingly the bill brought in on Monday was read a second time on Wednesday ; a bill brought forward by Mr. Hunt being also, by agreement, read on the same day. On Thursday the House went into committee. Several amendments were moved, and all withdrawn or negatived, except one brought forward by Mr. Hunt, and embodying his recommendations, which was’ carried by a majority of 264 to 181. Of course this was decisive in favour of his proposal; still the House went on discussing the provisions of the measure with great prolixity, and 1866.j THE REFORM QUESTION. 277 while a bill suspending the habeas-corpus act in Ireland on account of the prevalence of Fenianism, passed through all its stages in twelve hours, the diseased-cattle bill, urgent as 1b was, and urgently as it was pressed forward, occupied the legislature for more than a week. Amidst all the manifold questions which engaged the attention of parliament during this session, Mr. Gladstone’s quality as leader of the House was fully tried. Like Lord Palmerston, he generally remained in the House from the commencement of the sittings to the close of them, however late the hour of adjournment might be. But he did not, like him, slumber during the greater part of the sittings; on the contrary, he listened attentively to every speaker, answered fully every question put to him, spoke on every , subject, and exhibited a sensitive and conscientious anxiety to discharge his functions as leader of the House, which his friends feared would soon disable him from the per- formance of the responsible duties which belonged to him, and with his fall precipitate that of the government of which he was the mainstay. If the ministry had looked merely to its own stability, or to its chances of retention of office, it would not have introduced a reform bill during the first session of a newly- elected parliament, the members of which were still smart- ing under the recollection of the contests in which they had been engaged, the dangers they had run, the expenses they had already incurred, and the demands on their purses they had still to meet, and who might therefore be expected to regard with little favour a measure the effect of which would be speedily to send them back to their constituents, and compel them again to run the risks and incur the expenses that were so fresh in their remembrance. There can be no doubt that this was the chief cause of the dis- favour with which the proposition of the government was regarded by many of those who numbered themselves among the supporters of the administration, and that if Harl Russell and Mr. Gladstone had waited another session or two before introducing their bill, it would have met with a much more favourable reception, and probably have been carried through without much change or diffi- _ culty. Nor were there wanting among their colleagues men who, having been introduced into the cabinet by Lord | 278 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuar. Ve Palmerston, and sharing his feelings with regard to the question of reform, acknowledged, with regret, that it was a question the settlement of which could not be much longer delayed, but wished that it should not be prema- turely pressed. There can be no doubt that under ordinary circumstances Lord Russell and Mr. Gladstone would have yielded to considerations based on such strong reasons of expediency. But they felt, and justly felt, that the question had already been hung up too long; that the delay which had occurred with regard to it was damaging to our insti- tutions and to the character of our public men; and there- fore that it was not the time to listen to mere considerations of prudence or expediency, but to show the country that there were public men who valued consistency more than place, and were determined, come of it what might, to redeem their pledges in reference to this great and long- delayed question. The measure was submitted to the House of Commons on Tuesday, March 13th, by Mr. Gladstone, who explained its provisions, and asked leave to bring it in. The house, on this occasion, was as crowded in every part, as it had been when the reform bill of 1831 was introduced. As this measure went the way which had been trodden before it by so many other abortive reform bills, itis not neces- sary that we should enter at length into an examination of its details, but simply content ourselves with giving an outline of its most prominent features. The government proposed to reduce the county franchise from 50/. to 14/., but occupation of property of the value of less than 50/. was to include a house as well as land, and the annual value of the house was not to be less than 7J. Copyholders and ~ leaseholders were to be placed on the same footing as forty- shilling freeholders. A man having 50/. in the bank might ' claim a vote either for a county or a borough. Compound. householders were to have the franchise in boroughs, and tenants of separate parts of a house, and lodgers paying 10/. a year for their lodgings. The borough franchise was to be lowered from 101. to 7. The question of a redistribution of seats was not dealt with by the bill, and Mr. Gladstone refused to pledge himself absolutely that the government would introduce a measure on that important part of the subject even in the next session, After a debate which was 1866. ] THE CAVE OF ADULLAM. Abs adjourned till the following day, leave was given to bring in the bill, and it was read a first time. The bill bore on its surface marks of the ordeal through which it had passed, and of the divided character of the cabinet by which it had been adopted. Though a good and honest measure, it was evidently a compromise. It was impossible to suppose that Harl Russell and Mr. Gladstone, after their previous declarations on the subject, would have willingly proposed a 14/. franchise in the counties, or a 71. franchise in the towns. Such proposals were not calcu- lated to rouse in the constituencies of the empire an enthu- siasm like that which the reform bill of 1831 awakened, or even such a feeling as would have reconciled the members of the new parliament to a measure which would have the effect of speedily sending them back to their constituents. But, mild and moderate as it was, it was too strong for a section of the liberal party, which did not hesitate, even before the measure was read a first time, and while the question of its introduction was being debated, to declare its uncompromising hostility to it. That party was de- scribed and had a name given to it by Mr. Bright which has become historical. Speaking of Mr. Horsman, who with Mr. Lowe had distinguished himself by the vehe- mence of his opposition to the bill, Mr. Bright said: ‘The right honourable gentleman is the first of the new party who has expressed his great grief, who has retired into what may be called his political cave of Adullam, and he has called about him every one that was in distress and every one that was discontented. The right honourable gentleman has been long anxious to form a party in this House. There is scarcely any one on this side of the House who is able to address the House with effect, or to take much part in our debates, whom he has not tried to bring over to his party or cabal; and at last the right honourable gentleman has succeeded in hooking the right honourable gentleman the member for Calne. I know there was an opinion expressed many years ago by a member of the treasury bench and of the cabinet, that two men would make a party. When a party is formed of two men so amiable, so discreet, as the two right honourable gentle- men, we may hope to see, for the first time in parliament, a party perfectly harmonious and distinguished by mutual 280 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. V. and unbroken trust. But there is one difficulty which it is impossible to remove. This party of two reminds me of the Scotch terrier, which was so covered with hair that you could not tell which was the head and which was the tail of it.’ : The party thus humorously depicted and named proved to be both more numerous aud more formidable than Mr. Bright’s description of it gave reason to expect. The Cave, as it was henceforth called, became the retreat of a con- siderable number of whigs, who, either from dislike to reform, or dread of a new election, were anxious to get rid of the bill. Foremost among these was the right honour- able Robert Lowe, who, though he had recently been a member of a cabinet which had ridden into office on the ground of its supposed zeal for parliamentary reform, employed against the bill introduced by his former col- leagues—with great ability and no hittle originality of illustration—the worn-out arguments which had been so repeatedly but vainly urged in 1851 and 1832 by Sir C. Wetherell, Mr. Croker, and those who joined them in withstanding the great reform bill. The existence of this party, and the nature of the speeches delivered against the bill by those who composed it, determined the conservative leaders to take a course on which they probably would not otherwise have ventured, and to endeavour to defeat the very moderate attempt made by the government to settle a question so often raised and so often deferred. They sum- moned a meeting of their supporters for the purpose of considering the manner in which the ministerial proposal should be dealt with. The Earl of Derby was prevented from attending by an attack of illness ; but an address was delivered by Mr. Disraeli, which is said to have roused the enthusiasm of his followers; and it was resolved that the bill should be strenuously resisted. But as the conservative party though strong was numerically inferior to that which supported the government, it seemed likely that their opposition to the bill would have no other effect than that of delaying its progress through the House, and perhaps extorting some concessions from the government. It was, therefore, to them a matter of great satisfaction, and of no small dismay to the government, when Karl Grosvenor, eldest son of the Marquis of Westminster, and usually 1866.] THE REFORM BILL OF 1866, 281 regarded as a steady supporter of ministers, gave notice that on the question of the second reading he would pro- pose an amendment to the effect that it would be inexpe- dient to discuss any bill for the reduction of the franchise until the House should have before it the entire scheme contemplated by the government for the amendment of the representation of the people. This announcement showed that the Palmerstonian whigs were dissatisfied, and ready to combine with the conservatives to defer again the consideration of this often-introduced and long-delayed measure. And it soon became evident that the notice was instigated partly by a natural desire on the part of the representatives of small boroughs to know whether the towns by which they were sent were to be disfranchised or not, partly by a jealousy of the influence which the views of Mr. Bright and his party were supposed to have exer- cised over the decisions of the cabinet, and partly by the fear that the extension of the franchise, if granted, would be used as a means of obtaining a much larger measure of redistribution than the old whig party was willing to agree to. The combination thus formed could not easily’ be defeated without making concessions which in the opinion of the leader of the House were calculated to lower the character of the government; which Mr. Gladstone was the last man in the world to compromise, even for the sake of avoiding a defeat. At the same time it was his duty to escape that contingency if it could be done by means that he deemed consistent with the honour of the government. Therefore on the night before the commencement of the Haster recess, in moving that the House at its rising should adjourn to the 9th of April, he gave the following explanations: ‘I will now state the views of the government with regard to certain motions on the paper. With regard to the motion of the member for Bridgewater, that it is not expedient to go into the franchise bill until the House has before it the bill for the redistribution of seats, the govern- ment will announce to the House the nature of their pro- posal as to the redistribution of seats, that the question may be dealt with by parliament. After the second reading of the franchise bill, and before it is committed, they will he prepared to state their intentions with respect to the 282 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. (Cuar. V. franchise of Scotland and Ireland, and the questions con- nected with the redistribution of seats. They will be put in the form of bills, and laid before the House for the purpose of giving it information. After that, they pro- pose to proceed with the franchise bill for England and Wales until its fate is determined. As for the motion of the noble earl opposite (Grosvenor), it is their intention to resist it, because they regard it, as far as they can judge, as a motion of want of confidence in the adminis- tration.’ Earl Grosvenor, who happened at the moment to be sitting on the opposition benches, rose and inquired whether Mr. Gladstone would really persistin giving no information until after the second reading. Mr. Gladstone, in a firm and resolute tone answered, ‘ Unquestionably.’ At a later period of the evening Mr. Gladstone availed himself of the opportunity afforded him by a discussion on electoral statistics to appeal to the House, and through it to the country, to admit to the franchise the 400,000 men on whom the bill proposed to confer it. His speech was in fact a call on those to whom the bill gave votes, and on those who thought them entitled to receive it, to come forward and give their support to the government measure during the Haster holidays. This call was responded to by Mr. W. E. Forster, who had recently been appointed under- secretary to the colonies, and who had scarcely spoken since his acceptance of office until this moment, when he earnestly and very effectively supported the appeal of his leader. That appeal met with a tolerably hearty response. The friends of the government worked hard out of doors from the time that the House rose till the period of its re- assembling. At Birmingham Mr. Bright plainly told a large meeting that their representation in the House of Commons was a sham and a farce; and that if they wanted an effective reform bill they must take the matter into their own hands, and bring a strong pressure from without to bear on the legislature. Mr. G'adstone delivered two ad- dresses at Liverpoolion the same subject, in which he de- clared that he and his colleagues were determined to stand or fall by their franchise bill; that they had crossed the Rubicon, and burnt their ships- On Thursday the 12th of April the question of the 1866.} EARL GROSVENOR’S AMENDMENT. 283 second reading of the bill was brought forward by Mr. Gladstone. Earl Grosvenor then moved the amendment of which he had given notice. The question raised by the franchise bill had been so often discussed, that it was hardly to be expected that anything new could be said on the subject. Men’s thoughts were therefore turned rather to the division than to the debate. It was generally ex- pected that, notwithstanding the combination of parties by which the amendment was supported, the government would triumph; but as the debate dragged on night after night, rumour continually diminished the expected majority. At length, about three in the morning of Saturday the 28th of April, the division came off. A large crowd watched in Westminster-hall till this late, or rather early, hour, to know the result. The numbers were announced to be— For the amendment . : ‘ : : . ° . 31d Against . , ; - , > ‘ ; ss > S18 Majority in favour of the government. . «.« + 5 The bill was then read a second time. This division was one of the largest, perhaps the very largest, that had ever occurred. Out of of 658 members, in- cluding the speaker, 631 had voted. The excitement in the House was unparalleled, and broke forth in loud shouts of triumph, not from the conquering ministerialists, but from the conservatives and the party of the cave. The opposi- tion had good grounds for their exultation, and the minis- terialists for their depression: for the victory of the government was worse than a defeat. Their majority was so small as hardly to leave a prospect of carrying the measure; and yet, having a majority, they were obliged, after all the pledges they had given, to proceed with the bill, to dissolve, or to resign. Intense interest was felt to know which of these courses they would adopt. 'The consequence was, that at the time of the commencement of business on Monday afternoon the House was crowded, in anticipation of a statement which Mr. Gladstone had announced that he intended to make. He rose shortly before five o’clock, and informed the House that the government would proceed with the bill; that on Monday evening next leave would be asked to introduce the distribution-of-seats bill; that bills for Scotland and Ireland would be brought in on the same 284 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. V. evening, and would be proceeded with at the same time with the franchise bill. The House received these announce- ments in silence. The decisive battle between the two parties was still to be fought. On Monday the 7th of May the struggle took anew shape. On that day the whole of the government plan of reform was laid before the House. Besides the franchise bill, which, as we have already seen, had been very fully discussed, the promised bill for the redistribution of seats, and the Scotch and the Irish bills were brought forward. The redistribution bill did not wholly deprive any borough of its franchises, and did not alter the number of members in the House of Commons; but by taking one member from some small boroughs that had hitherto sent two represen- tatives to parliament, and by grouping small boroughs to- gether, it diminished the number of members by forty-nine. Of the seats thus obtained it gave twenty-six to counties, or to the divisions or subdivisions of counties, and an additional member each to Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Salford. It divided the borough of Tower Hamlets, giving two members to each of its divisions, It made Chelsea and Kensington a borough returning two members, and gave a member each to Burnley, Staleybridge, Graves- end, Hartlepool, Middlesborough, Dewsbury, and the Uni- versity of London. The remaining seven seats were allotted to Scotland and Ireland. At the same time Mr. Gladstone announced that the Queen would not be advised by the present government to prorogue parliament until these measures should have become law. On Monday May 14th the redistribution bill was read a second time, in a House consisting of some nine or ten members. Mr. Gladstone announced at the close of the debate, in reply to a question put by Sir S. Northcote, that he would, on behalf of the government, accede to a proposition to combine the franchise and redistribution bills, and submit them to one committee on that day fortnight. Accordingly, at the specified time the two bills were committed together, Mr. Gladstone proposing, and the committee accepting, some amendments which were required in order to effect their amalgamation. We will not weary our readers by tracing the progress of the bill through committee ; suffice it, there- fore, to say, that after a defeat on a motion of Sir R. 1866.] RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS. 285 Knightley, that ‘it be an instruction to the committee that they have power to make provision for the better pre- vention of bribery and corruption,’ the measure floated on till Monday 18th of June, when the clause was reached’ which enacted a rental franchise in boroughs. Lord Dun- kellin, usually a supporter of the government, moved as an amendment on this clause that rating should be substituted for rental, on the ground that this alteration would oppose an insurmountable ‘barrier to universal suffrage,’ while it would admit the best-qualified of the working class to the franchise. On this motion the House divided, and the numbers were : For the amendment . e , : , ° ‘ elo Against . ‘ . ° . , ° . ° . . 304 Majority against the government Ot et ae ee! The announcement of these numbers was received by the opposition and the cave with shouts even more deafening than those which had been raised when it was found that the second reading had been carried by a majority of five only. re consequence of the absence of the Queen in Scotland, some days elapsed before the determination of the cabinet could be known; and the House was during that period kept in suspense, not knowing whether the government would determine to resign, to dissolve, or to go on with the bill. At length, on Tuesday, June the 26th, it was announced in both Houses that ministers had decided on adopting the first-mentioned course, and that the Queen, after urging some objections, had acquiesced in the pro- priety of their decision; and that consequently they only held office till their successors could be appointed. In the House of Commons Mr. Gladstone gave the following statement of the reasons which had determined him and his colleagues to tender their resignations : ‘The question before the government was, whether they ought to resign their offices, or whether they should accept the vote that had been come to, and endeavour to adapt it to the framework of their measure of reform. When we came to examine the effect of the motion, we were struck with the difficulty of adopting any form of rating franchise that would express the scale of suffrage which we had laid 286 | THE REFORM BILL OF 1867, [Unap. V. down as the basis of our measure. We found that a six- pound rating frachise would operate to create a great divergence of franchise in boroughs and parts of boroughs. And it was found that in sixteen boroughs about the same number of persons would have been admitted to the suffrage at a six-pound rating franchise as was contemplated by the government. Therefore, by accepting the vote there would have been a breaking-up of the framework of the measure. But besides this, the government had to consider the previous history of the bill, especially with reference to the pledges given from time to time—advisedly and deliberately given —to stand or fall by the measure. That is a pledge which should rarely be given by a government, but it has been given by this government under the deepest conviction of public duty in regard to dealing with the question of reform, and with respect to the character of public men and of par- liament. Therefore it was that the life of the administration was attached to the life of the measure they proposed. We have felt a sincere desire to conciliate those who are opposed to reform even at the expense of those who are devoted to it, and we have done so by making the number of those to whom the suffrage was to be extended less than that pro- posed by the bill of 1860. Therefore it was that we con- sented to make changes in the procedure on the measure, and we brought in a redistribution bill in deference to the opinion of the House and in opposition to our own. These two provisions were objected to—a clause relating to lease- holds in boroughs and a detail of the county franchise; and they were withdrawn, though the withdrawal of the latter was opposed by a vote of their own supporters. Looking to the rejection of Lord Grosvenor’s amendment by a majority of only five; to the success of Sir R. Knightly’s instruction ingrafting the subject of bribery and corruption, which was carried against the government by ten; to Captain Hayter’s amendment, which was intended to frustrate the bill; to Lord Stanley’s motion without notice to take the clauses of the redistribution bill first, which was supported by 280 members; to Mr. Walpole’s motion to make the county franchise 201. instead of 14., which was only rejected by fourteen; to Mr. Hunt’s motion for making the county franchise a rating franchise, which was negatived by only seven; and to Lord Dunkellin’s motion to a like effect as 1866.] A MINISTRY FORMED BY LORD DERBY. 287 to the borough franchise, which was carried by & majority of eleven ;—looking, I say, at all this the government found it impossible to carry on the bill, and we had no alternative but a resignation, and a persistence in our resignation.’ Mr. Gladstone said there was no alternative but that of resignation. But there surely was another course open to him and his colleagues, which, though he was silent with respect to it, was much in the minds and apprehensions of his hearers,—the alternative of an appeal to the country by a dissolution of parliament. But this alternative was really excluded by the disunion which prevailed in the cabinet itself, containing as it did members of the old whig party, who had given a reluctant assent to the intro- duction of the measure, but who shared to some extent the feeling that was entertained against it by the party to which they belonged, and were not therefore prepared to make strong efforts or great sacrifices in order to force the measure forward. An administration was formed by Lord Derby, of which the following were the principal members constituting the new cabinet : First Lord of the Treasury - « Earl of Derby. Lord Chancellor . Lord Chelmsford. Lord President of the Council . - Duke of Buckingham. Lord Privy Seal . : P - « Earl of Malmesbury. Chancellor of the Exchequer. . Mr. Disraeli. Home Secretary . : - . Mr. Walpole. Foreign Secretary . ° . . Lord Stanley. Colonial Secretary . , > . Earl of Carnarvon. War Secretary . : ° : . General Peel. Indian Secretary ‘ : ; . Viscount Cranbourne, President of the Board of Trade . . Sir S. Northcote. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster . Earl of Devon. Postmaster-general . . > . Duke of Montrose. First Lord of the Admiralty 2 . Sir J. Pakington. Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; . Marquis of Abercorn, Chief Secretary for Ireland. ‘ . Lord Naas. Woods and Forests. ; ; . Lord J. Manners. While England was engaged in watching these events, a war, short, fierce, and decisive, had been waged between Prussia and Italy on the one hand, and Austria on the other, which raged and swept-by like a tornado, ending in a peace dictated by Prussia; so that parliament, occupied 288 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuar. Y. by the reform question, had hardly time to consider the bearings of the contest on the interests of this country before it was terminated. It was not till Monday July 9th that Lord Derby had so far overcome the difficulties attendant on the formation of a conservative administration as to be able to make his ministerial announcement in the House of Lords. On that day the gilded chamber of the peers was filled with an illustrious audience, for among those who had come to listen to the opening statement of the new premier were the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke of Edin- burgh. - Lord Derby had lost much of that buoyant and impetuous vigour which in former times obtained for him the title of ‘the Rupert of debate.’ His voice, his manner, and his whole bearing proved that age and infirmities were coming on him, and that in taking office he had yielded reluctantly to an overwhelming sense of duty. However, he girded himself up resolutely to the work that was before him, and with great skill and tact made the an- nouncements which his position required him to make. Referring to the reform question, he said that he and his colleagues were entirely free and unpledged on that subject, and that he should be especially observant of an axiom laid down by Earl Russell, that no government should undertake a measure of reform without seeing a fair pos- sibility of being able to carry it; and this he believed. could only be done by an understanding anda joint action between the two great political parties in the state. He added, that he did not deny the existence of anomalies in our constitutional system, and that there were many persons who did not possess the franchise that were fairly entitled to it; but he was afraid that those who professed to be most ardent in the cause of reform would not be con- tented with any measure which was likely to be carried in parliament. He should be glad, however, if any oppor- tunity occurred for passing a safe and satisfactory measure. He promised the earliest attention of the government to the law of bankruptcy, the administration of the poor-law, and the condition of workhouses—a question to which public attention had recently been drawn by a gentleman who, for the sake of obtaining information with regard to it, had disguised himself and passed a night in the casual- 1866.] ATTEMPTED MEETING IN HYDE PARK. 238? svard of one of these establishments amidst the vagrants ‘who happened to tenant it on that occasion. Under the circumstances in which ministers were placed, their best, indeed their only, course was to wind up the business of parliament as speedily as they could. But this was not effected till the 10th of August, on which day it was prorogued by commission, with the usual formalities. While ministers were thus engaged, demonstrations were made outside, which probably exercised a considerable influ- ence on the policy that they determined to adopt. The failure of the franchise bill of the late administration made it abundantly evident to those who regarded themselves as unjustly excluded from the franchise, that their claims would never be conceded by the legislature unless, as in 1832, they took the matter into their own hands,and showed in an unmistakable manner both to friends and foes that they were thoroughly in earnest, and that whatever con- servative reaction there might be among the enfranchised classes, it did not extend to those who were denied a share in the election of representatives to the House of Commons. Several associations were formed for the purpose of giving a plain and practical contradiction to the statement indus- triously circulated that the people were indifferent on this question. The most active and important of these asso- ciations was the Reform League, which owed much of its efficiency to the energy of Mr. Beales, a highly respectable barrister, who had been appointed to be its president. This body endeavoured, by holding outdoor meetings and in other ways to agitate in favour of the measure from which it took its name. Unfortunately, as generally hap- pens in such cases, meetings that were composed of peaceable, orderly, well-intentioned persons, who assembled only to press in a constitutional manner a claim which they conceived to be founded on manifest justice, were also attended by a multitude of roughs, pickpockets, and other bad characters, ready to take advantage of the meetings and to serve their own criminal purposes by creating disorder and confusion. Thecouncil of the league thought that one of the most effectual means they could adopt for promoting their own views was to display their numbers and determination to the upper and influential classes by _ holding a monster meeting in Hyde Park, and Mr. Beales VOL, III. G 290 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867, [Curap. Ve assured his colleagues and associates that this might be done without any violation of the law. On the other hand, the government determined to prevent the proposed meet- ing from being held. A notice forbidding it was issued, signed by Sir Richard Mayne, the head of the London police. Mr. Walpole, an excellent, accomplished, amiable man, but somewhat deficient in the firmness required in the holder of the office he filled, especially at a crisis like the present, thought, and his colleagues thought with him, that the purposed demonstration was likely to disturb the public peace, and lead to riot and disorder. However, Mr. Beales and. his associates conceiving that they had a legal right to hold their meeting in the Park, determined to disregard the notice of the chief commissioner and the prohibition of the government. Accordingly, on the 23d of July nume- rous processions with bands of music converged on the Marble Arch. The gates had been closed at five o’clock. A large body of police guarded the Park, and an immense crowd of spectators assembled about the arch to see what would occur. The appearance of the first detachment of the procession was welcomed with loud cheers, showing that the crowd sympathised with the reformers, and a line was at once opened through it, by which Mr. Beales, Colonel Dickson, and other members of the council of the league advanced towards the gate and made a formal de- mand for admission, which was refused. Mr. Beales then asked by whose orders he was excluded ? and he was in- formed that it was by the authority of Sir Richard Mayne. Seeing that farther remonstrance would be useless, he turned away, and led the procession towards Trafalgar- square, where a meeting was duly held, and resolutions in favour of reform, and votes of thanks to Messrs. Gladstone and Bright for their fidelity to a cause which others had basely deserted, were carried unanimously. The meeting then dispersed, and those who composed it quietly retired. Nothing could be more orderly and praiseworthy than their conduct. They had asserted what they had been advised to be a legal right, and they had adopted what they con- ceived to be the best and most practical mode of exposing the falsity of the statement which had been made over and over again, that the working classes were indifferent to the franchise. They hoped and believed that their example 1866. ] THE PARK RAILINGS. 291 would be followed in the other great towns of the kingdom, and that parliament would be made to see that not only in the metropolis but throughout the kingdom the exclusion of the working classes from the franchise was really re- garded as a substantial grievance, and that they were pre- pared to use all legal and constitutional means to enforce their claim to it. But while the procession was on its way towards Trafalgar-square the crowd that remained behind was not disposed to allow the matter to end in this peace- ful manner. On either side of the Marble Arch they laid hold of the Park railings, which were not very strongly fixed, and swayed them to and fro till they succeeded in overturning them. They then rushed over them into the Park, bearing down the resistance which the comparatively small number of police within it offered to them, did much mischief to the flowers and shrubs, and remained masters of the Park till the approach of night obliged them to retire to their respective homes. The conduct of these persons was, somewhat unjustly, attributed to the league. No doubt their procession was in some degree calculated to produce the consequences that actually resulted from it; yet it is only just that a distinction should be drawn between the orderly conduct of the persons who took part in the procession, and the riotous behaviour of sympathising onlookers. But it is probable that the latter had more influence than the former. It opened ‘the eyes of the government more than all the numerous peaceful demon- strations that were made at the time, and convinced them that a settlement of this great question could not much longer be delayed, and that if they wished to retain office, they must make up their minds to grant a considerable exten- sion of the suffrage. As we said with regard to the reform bill of 1832, that it was really carried by the mob of Bir- mingham and the other parts of the kingdom, so we may Say with equal truth of the reform bill of 1867, that it was mainly carried by the Hyde-park rioters. Parliament had trifled with this question till the people showed in an un- mistakable manner that it could not be trifled with any longer without serious danger; and after haying rejected Mr. Gladstone’s bill it ended by passing a much stronger measure under the auspices of men who had all along dis- played their hostility to every attempt at reform. And ua 292 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. V. they were right in determining to make this tardy conces- sion. These large gatherings and the conduct they displayed were ascribed by the opponents of reform to the influence of a little knot of agitators, and they argued that the persons who were guilty of the conduct we have related had thereby shown their sovereign unfitness for the franchise. But wise and thoughtful men saw that these gatherings and disturbances were the expression of a strong feeling that could not safely be despised. They knew that neither Mr. Beales nor any of his associates could stir these multitudes as they had done, unless there were real and deeply-felt grievances at the bottom of the demand for reform made in this violent and unpleasant manner, and they also knew that if any class was suffering from the action of real * wrongs, the only way to get them redressed was to allow the voice of that class to be heard in parliament by grant- ing the franchise to a large portion at least of the persons composing it. The result showed that this might be done without danger to the state, and that a House of Commons elected to a great extent by persons belonging to the class represented by the members of the reform league and the Hyde-park rioters might be composed of men of very moderate opinions and strong anti-revolutionary feelings. The reform question at this moment occupied so pro- minent and important a position in the eyes of the nation and of the legislature, that it has been necessary that we should follow out its history, which in fact forms the politi- cal and parliamentary history of the year, to its conclusion. We must now revert to one necessary portion of the parlia- mentary work of this as of every other year,—the financial statement of the chancellor of the exchequer, to which now, as on former occasions, the genius of Mr. Gladstone gave an interest which none before or after him had been able to impart to it. This statement, like most of those which had recently preceded it, was of a highly satisfactory character. ‘The estimated revenue was 67,575,0001.; the estimated expenditure 66,225,0000. ; leaving a surplus of 1,350,0002. The chancellor of the exchequer proposed to repeal the duties on timber and pepper; to put the wine duties on a fairer footing, by making them to depend on the percentage of alcohol they contained; to lower the duty on stage-coaches and post-horses from a penny to a 1866.] MONETARY PANIC, 293 farthing a mile, in order to enable them to compete with railways on more equal terms. These reductions would leave a balance of 788,0001., which Mr. Gladstone proposed. should be applied to pay off a portion of the national debt. He pointed out that the expense of our present armament and the interest of debts incurred in past years, formed 83 per cent. of the national expenditure, and that consequently the amount devoted to the civil charges was only 17 per cent. of the whole. He dwelt on the possible effects of the exhaustion of our coal-fields; and on the financial measures that should be adopted in order to maintain the commercial Supremacy of the country in case that event should occur. The new government wisely,and indeed almost necessarily, _ adopted the financial proposals of their predecessors. The failure of the old and, as it had hitherto been re- garded, respectable and well-established firm of Overend, Gurney, and Co., which had recently been put on the foot- ing of a joint-stock limited-liability company, caused a panic in the City such as had rarely, if ever, occurred be- fore. It took place on the 10th of May, and was followed by an immediate rise of the Bank of England rate of discount, which was already as high as 8 per cent., to the still higher rate of 9. Bankruptcy after bankruptcy ensued. The English Joint-stock Bank failed; and this failure was speedily succeeded by that of the great railway contractors Peto and Betts. In dire sequence to these followed the fall of the firms of Shripton, another great railway con- tractor; of the Imperial Mercantile Credit Association; of the Consolidated Discount Company ; and the consequence of these failures was that multitudes of other firms suddenly found themselves on the verge of bankruptcy. Under these circumstances the government acted with a promptitude and decision which probably saved the country from still greater disasters. The very same night, in the House of Commons Mr. Gladstone announced that, after numerous conferences with bank directors and other persons capable of advising him with regard to the conduct that should be pursued in this crisis, he had determined to suspend the Bank-charter act. The Bank, in order to afford as much relief as possible, had that day raised its loan and discount to something over 4,000,000/., and had consequently reduced their reserves to about 3,000,0000. 294, - THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. V. The decision of the government had the effect of allaying the panic; and though many serious failures followed, public confidence was gradually restored, and the crisis terminated. _ No event that happened in the course of this year excited more attention or evoked stronger feelings than the conduct of Governor Byre in 1865, which was discussed with very great earnestness in parliament, in the press, and by the English people generally during this year. In suppressing an insurrection in Jamaica, he had sanctioned the trial of several of those who were alleged to have taken part in the insurrection by young and inexperienced officers, whose sentence of death had been followed by the immediate execution of the condemned persons. But the case which excited the greatest amount of attention, and brought on Governor Hyre the most severe condemnation in this country, was that of George Wilham Gordon, a man of colour, occupying a respectable position and a member of the House of Assembly,—a fact which certainly entitled him to some consideration. We give the circumstances which attended this man’s execution, and the reasons which, in his opinion, justified it, im the words of the governor himself : ‘T find everywhere,’ he wrote, ‘the most unmistakable evidence that George William Gordon, a coloured member of the House of Assembly, had not only been mixed up in the matter, but was himself, through his own misrepresenta- tions and seditious language addressed to the ignorant black people, the chief cause and origin of the whole rebellion. Mr. Gordon was now in Kingston; and it became necessary to decide what action should be taken with regard to him. Having obtained a deposition on oath that certain seditious printed notices had been sent through the post-office, directed in his handwriting, to the parties who had been leaders in the rebellion, I at once called upon the custos to issue a warrant and capture him. For some little time he managed to evade the capture; but finding that sooner or later it was inevitable, he proceeded to the house of General O’Connor and there gave himself up. Tat once had him placed on board the Wolverine for safe custody, and con- veyed to Morant Bay.’ There the unfortunate man was tried by court-martial, 1866.] GOVERNOR EYRE, 298 and hanged, with the sanction of the governor, whose con- duct was afterwards approved by the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly of the Island. In England, how- ever, it was generally regarded in a very different light. Gordon, though a man of colour, was a British supject, and as slavery was abolished, he was as much a British subject, as much entitled to any protection the law affords to British subjects, as any white man in the United Kingdom. If he could legally be dealt with in this manner, then in case of an insurrection taking place in England, any member of the _ British parliament might be seized, carried off to some place in which martial Jaw had been proclaimed, tried by court- martial, and hung immediately after. To most people in England the conduct of Governor Eyre appeared to be utterly indefensible. The only excuse that it seemed pos- \ sible to make for it, was, that there might be danger of a \rescue. But in Gordon’s case there could be no such danger, for he was on board a British man-of-war, where he might have been detained, and allowed time and opportunity to prepare his defence, and summon witnesses who might per- haps have proved that he had not been guilty of the conduct attributed to him. The Russell government yielded to the feeling that generally prevailed by issuing a commission to inquire into the matter, recalling Governor Hyre, and sending out Sir H. Storks, aman of very different character, toreplace him. Nothing more fully showed the sort of justice which was dealt to Gordon and the other accused persons than a letter addressed to Mr. Charles Buxton, M.P., by Lieutetant Brand, an officer who had sat on one of these courts, the spirit of which may be judged by the following extract :\‘If you have a spark of gentlemanly or generous feeling ahs you will contradict your letter relative to my court, or { shall expect you to give me satisfaction in a way more suited to my tastes. And you know, sir, that it ig a damned towardly thing for you to write officers (who did their best, and whose acts were fully approved by their superiors), cown, when you well know they are not allowed to write in ainewspaper,’ &c. 7 The admiralty of the conservative government showed their opinion ‘of Mr. Brand’s conduct—as, of course, any admiralty must have done—by at once suspending him, and recalling him; but they could not bring to life again 296 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. "[Cuap. ¥. those who had suffered in conformity with the sentence of his ‘court.’ It ought to be added, that he subsequently — apologised in the fullest and handsomest manner to Mr. Buxton. There was nothing in his conduct that affected his character as an officer and a gentleman; but there was much to disqualify him from sitting in judgment in a trial for life and death. The view we have taken of Governor Eyre’s conduct was, we believe, that of an overwhelming majority of the people of this country; but it 1s only just to the governor to set against the general condemnation of the very characteristic apology of one whose opinions are always entitled to respectful consideration. ‘All thelight,’ wrote Thomas Carlyle, ‘that has yet reached me on Mr. Eyre and his history in the world goes steadily to establish the conclusion that he isa just, humane, and valiant man, faithful to his trusts everywhere, and with no ordinary faculty for executing them; and his late services in Jamaica were of great, perhaps incalculable value, as certainly they were of perilous and appalling difficulty ; somewhat like the case of “ fire” suddenly reported in the ship’s powder-roon in mid ocean, where the moments mean the ages, and life and death hang on the use or misuse of the moments ; aad, in short, that penalty and clamour are not the things the governor merits from any of us, but honour and thanks, and wise imitation, should similar emergencies arise, o1 the great scale or on the small, in whatever we are goveyning. The English nation has never loved anarchy, nor was wont to spend its sympathy on miserable mad seditions, especially of this inhuman and half-brutish type; but always loved order and the prompt suppression of seditions, and reserved: its tears for something worthier than the promoters of such delirious and fatal enterprises who had got their wages for their industry. Has the English nation, then, chaaged alto-~ gether ? I flatter myself it has not—not yet quite; but only that certain loose and superficial portions of it have become a great deal louder, and not any wiser, than they formerly used to be. At any rate, though much averseat any time, and at this time in particular, to figure on committees or to run into public noises without call, I do at once feel that as a British citizen I should and must make you welcome to my name for your committee, and to whatever good it can do you; with the hope only that many other British men 1366.] GOVERNOR EYRE. 297 of much more significance in such a matter will at once or gradually do the like; and that, in fine, by wise effort and persistence, a blind and disgraceful act of public injustice may be prevented, and an egregious folly as well; not to say, for none can say or compute, what a vital detriment throughout the British empire is such an example set to all colonies and governors the British empire has.’ The reply we have to make to this apology for Governor Hyre is, that the feelings of the English people were not drawn out towards those who were guilty of participating in the insurrection and the enormities by which it was attended, but towards those who were, or at any rate who might have been innocent. They did not sympathize with proved guilt, but they feared that many might be con- demned by young officers like Lieutenant Brand on mere loose suspicion; on evidence which might have been re- butted by contradictory evidence, if opportunity had been afforded for its production. They did not think it right , that any one man, however black his skin, should suffer unjustly or without full proof of his guilt. And as for the analogy of the fire breaking out in the powder-room, that did not apply to Mr. Gordon, who had voluntarily yielded himself up to justice; who was as well secured on board the Wolverine as if he had been inan English prison ; and who therefore without any danger at all might huve been re- served for fair trial, and deliberate execution, if on such trial he was found to have deserved it. Meanwhile funds were raised on the one hand for the prosecution of Mr. Hyre, and on the other hand for his defence; and in due time the case was brought before the court of Queen’s Bench, where Mr. Justice Blackburn delivered a charge which induced the grand jury not to find the bill; but Lord Chief-Justice Cockburn subsequently stated that if he had been aware that the law would have been laid down as it was understood to have been stated, he should have felt it his duty to attend in his place in court and to have declared his views of the law to the jury. He added, and Justice Blackburn assez.ted to the truth of the assertion, that almost on the eve of the delivery of the charge Mr. Justice Black- burn had been of opinion that the removal of Mr. Gordon was unjustifiable; though in the charge itself he had given a different opinion. 298 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. V. Some other ineffectual attempts were made to procure the legal condemnation of the act of Governor Eyre, and as he had been put to considerable expense in consequence of these proceedings, the conservative government decided that he should be reimbursed from the public funds. This determination was perhaps justifiable, inasmuch as the charges against Mr. Eyre had fallen to the ground; for it would be hardly fair to allow a person in his position to be put to heavy and perhaps ruinous expenses on account of acts which the great tribunals of this country had decided not to be illegal, and which therefore must be regarded by the government as warrantable, whatever their private opinion as to their lawfulness might be. The year 1866 was signalised by a great scientific exploit —the successful laying of the electric telegraph across the Atlantic ocean. The Great Eastern steamship, accom- panied by the screw steamers Albany and Medway, was employed to carry the cable from the island of Valentia, situated on the western coast of Ireland. Every precaution that the experience of the previous attempts furnished had been taken to insure success. For the first six days all went well; the sea was calm, the cable ran out steadily, the electric tests were perfect, and messages passed back- wards and forwards between the land and the Great Eastern as she proceeded. On the 18th of July, when the vessel was about six hundred miles from her port of departure and one thousand from Newfoundland, a ‘foul fuke’ or entanglement of the cable appeared. Fortunately it was discovered in time. The running-out of the cable was stopped before the fluke entered the paying-out ma- chinery. The knot was carefully and patiently disentangled amidst heavy rain and a strong wind blowing; and after some delay the vessel proceeded on her voyage, and safely reached Newfoundland on the 29th of July; the cable having been laid down in good order, and transmitting messages sent by it in a quite satisfactory manner. Having _ thus accomplished the main object of her voyage, the great ship next proceeded, with the assistance of the vessels that had attended her, to endeavour to pick up the cable which had previously been laid, to splice it, and then carry it forward to the place where the other had been landed. Some idea may be formed of the skill, patience, and perse- 1866. ] THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH. 299 verance with which this operation was carried out by a simple statement of the various attempts that were made to effect the object, and the success which at last crowned them. The Atlantic cable squadron left Newfoundland a few days after it had succeeded in laying the cable. On the 10th of August the Albany, assisted by the Terrible, succeeded in laying hold of the broken cable in latitude 51° 27’ 30" N. long., 38° 50’ W., and brought it up to the surface, but lost it again through the breaking of the chain. - At midnight on the 15th the Great Hastern laid hold of it and brought it up five hundred fathoms, but in attempting to fasten it to buoys she also lost the rope and cable. On the 17th she once more succeeded in laying hold of it, and raised it to her bow sheaves, but in attempting to bring it on board it parted, owing to the roughness of the sea at the time. On the 19th she grappled it again, raised it eighty-six fathoms from the bottom and buoyed the bight. On the same day the Albany laid hold of the cable, but lost it again. On the 26th the Medway laid hold of it, and held it for three days, at the end of which time it parted. In the night of the same day the Albany grappled it, raised it to the surface, and attached it to buoys. On the 27th the Great Eastern secured it to a buoy, and brought on board two miles of it. On the Ist of September she grappled the cable in two places, and it was also brought up by the Medway two miles to the west of her. On the Ond of September the splicing was accomplished, and the paying-out commenced. But we will tell the rest of the story in the words of Mr. Deane, who at the time gave # minute account of the whole transaction : ‘Then came the splicing of the recovered cable with the coiled one in our tanks, and the very delicate operation of passing the cable round from the bow to the stern of the ship. This successfully accomplished, the order was given “ full speed ahead ;”’ and we soon had our screw clear and the cable streaming out in the wake of the ship; and so by eight o’clock in the morning (scarcely any one, | think, had turned-in that night) we were safely paying-out again, and the ship’s head was once more towards the shore of Newfoundland. ‘Our voyage after this, the great success of the expedi~ tion, was still prosperous and free from disaster. At a speed 500 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. (Cup, Y. not exceeding on the average from five to five and a half miles an hour (our engineers had been taught by experience to prefer the safe progress of the tortoise to that of the hare), we continued to pay-out the cable from the time of passing overboard the happily-made splice on the morning of September 2nd, until early dawn on the 8th. No fault had occurred, and nothing but the promptings of a natural anxiety that such should not occur had even suggested one; and as the day broke, and a glorious sunrise poured a flood of gold along the wake of the good ship still heading west- ward, it lighted up a scene of singular peace and beauty. One might well feel its sentiment to be akin to that in- fluence which we may surely hope for the great work so near its accomplishment,—‘ peace on earth.” The long line of broken headlands and cliffs and inland mountains, seen distantly on each side, told us that we were in Trinity bay. In company were her Majesty’s ships Terrible and Lily, the Margaretta Stevenson, the Hawk, and the governor of Newfoundland on board the Medway ; and the huge Great Hastern, which now for a second time within two months was bearing into the little land bay of Heart’s Content a fragile thread of more than golden worth, to be a mighty chain between the old world and the new. ‘As if to curb a too exultant feeling, it was some thirteen miles distant from the entrance of our longed-for haven that the only “fault” of any moment occurred. At six o’clock, almost as a message from Ireland was flashing through the wire, the arrow of light became darkness on the scale) of the dynamometer—an indication too well known to the electrician—but, thanks to thetesting arrange- ment introduced, and for the first time practised during the present expedition, by Mr. Willoughby Smith, the dis- covery of “ dead earth”? (that béte noire of the testing-room ) was instantly made; the faulty part of the cable—unlike some defaulters—had not even succeeded in reaching the sea before detection ; and to stop the ship’s way, to cut the cable just forward of the ship’s paying-out machinery, to make a splice with a fresh length coiled in the after-tank, and to recommence paying-out, were a mere matter of loss of the few hours occupied in these operations. Indeed, when we sat down to breakfast in the grand saloon the ship was already under weigh, and the alarm of 1866.] MR. BRIGHT DEFENDS HER MAJESTY. SOL “dead earth” already a matter for a grim “ cabalistic ” joke. iy By about eleven o’clock we were just off the entrance to Heart’s Content, and the large paddle-box boats of the Terrible, which had on the previous occasion rendered such efficient service in landing the shore-end, were brought under the stern of the Great Eastern ; the cable was cut and passed to the boats, and these soon conveyed the end to the Medway, on board which ship the shore-end was coiled.’ Towards the close of the year a regrettable accident occurred. On the 30th of December flames burst forth from, a paint-room situated in the north-east end of the Crystal Palace, and seized the dry timber of the flooring. As it hap- pened to be Sunday, there were fewer persons than usual about the palace when the fire was discovered, and some time elapsed before a sufficient number could be collected to endeavour to extinguish the flames, which had taken hold of the dry woodwork forming the floor of the palace ; and notwithstanding all the efforts that could be made by the employés of the palace and by the members of the fire- brigade, who arrived as soon as possible, a large portion of this great and beautiful national structure had been destroyed. During the autumn and winter of this year the reform agitation was industriously prosecuted. The example set by the metropolis was followed in the provinces, and a very active agitation set on foot, having for its chief object to compel the ministers, in whose reforming intentions the mass of the people placed little confidence, to retire, and make way for another government, which would command the con- fidence of reformers. The most remarkable of these demon= ‘strations was that held at Birmingham on the 27th of August, attended by Messrs. Bright, Schofield, and Beales, and, as was stated in the journals of the period, by 250,000 persons ; at Manchester another monster one was held, the number attending which was variously estimated at from 100,000 to 150,000; and lastly, one at St. James’s Hall, London, at which, Mr. Ayrton having censured the Queen for not affording the people, gathered in large numbers in front of her window, some mark of recognition, her majesty was defended by Mr. Bright, who, referring to the words Mr. O02 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. V. Ayrton had used, said: ‘1 am not accustomed to stand up in defence of those who are possessors of crowns ; but I could not sit and hear that observation without a sensation of pain. I think there has been by many persons great Injus- tice done to the Queen in reference to her desolate and widowed position; and I venture to say this, that a woman, be she the queen of a great realm, or be she the wife of one of your labouring men, who can keep alive in her heart a great sorrow for the lost object of her life and affection, is not at all wanting in a great and generous sympathy for you.’ These remarks were received with tremendous cheering, which showed that zeal for reform was not mingled in the minds of those who attended the meeting with any feeling of disaffection to the sovereign, or with any desire to subvert monarchical government’; and the loyal feeling that animated. the assembly was still farther manifested by its refusal to hear Mr. Ayrton when he attempted to explain the language he had employed. 3 The weather during the year was, on the whole, damp and chilly. The harvest, which commenced with the pros- pect of a good crop, was retarded and seriously damaged by heavy autumnal rains. Cholera, typhus, and other zymotic diseases made considerable ravages among the population of the kingdom, and especially that of the metropolis. The cattle-plague, which we have seen spreading so rapidly at the beginning of the year, continued to prevail during its earlier months; but gradually yielded to the vigorous measures which were adopted to check its progress. The Fenian conspiracy, more injurious to individuals than formidable to the state, prosecuting its objects rather by secret assassination than by open war, had rendered neces- sary another suspension of the habeas-corpus act in Ireland, and was mainly noticeable as a symptom of the unhealthy condition of the body politic in Ireland, and the necessity of remedies being applied to the evils of that country more searching and more thorough than any that had hitherto been administered. The year 1867 commenced amidst great pauperism, des- titution, and consequent discontent, in many parts of the kingdom, and especially in the eastern portion of its great metropolis. Hven in prosperous times these districts..of London are sunk in chronic poverty ; but in periods of dis- 1867.]} BEGINNING OF THE YEAR 1867, 503 tress, such as they were now passing through, that poverty became absolute destitution. The monetary derangements which the Russell administration met with so much prompti- tude and decision were not entirely removed for some time after the crisis had passed, and aggravated fearfully the wretchedness of this part of the metropolis. Thousands were unemployed ; and the inclemency of an exceptionally severe winter aggravated the misery which the commercial depres- sion had caused. The disputes between employers and em- ployed; the reduction of wages, which was a natural and necessary consequence of the state of trade, leading to strikes on the one hand, and lock-outs on the other, intensified tho suffering. It was computed at this time that at least 30,000 of the inhabitants of this brick-and-mortar wilderness de- pended on public and private charity for their subsistence. Many of those who were just above them were rapidly sinking to the same level, dragged down not only by the causes that had produced the poverty by which they were surrounded, but by the burden of rates varying from four shillings and sixpence to six shillings and sixpence in the pound, which were indispensably requisite for the support of the pauper population. This state of things necessitated some changes in the poor-law. The great mass of starving labour which crowded these eastern districts was brought there to a great extent for the service of those who dwelt in the wealthier and happier quarters of the great city ; and it was only reasonable that they who profited by their labour in times of prosperity should contribute to their support in seasons of adversity. | Owing to divisions of opinion in the cabinet the question of reform had been left in suspense by the government, but at the last moment Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli had suc- ceeded in persuading their colleagues to consent to the in- troduction of a measure dealing with that difficult question, and inspiring them with the hope that it might be so framed and so carried as to strengthen instead of weakening the conservative party. They were no doubt right; for neither the nation nor the House of Commons would have consented to leave the question any longer in abeyance, and the ministry would not have retained office a single fortnight after the commencement of the session if it had declined. to deal with it. But the difficulties they had to contend 304 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. V. with were serious indeed; and most of all difficult was the position of Mr. Disraeli, as head of the government, in the House of Commons. The leader of a party that had all along dreaded and opposed any extension of the suffrage, regarded with jealousy and suspicion by many of those whose support was essential to the success of his enterprise, opposed by a large though divided majority, hampered by declarations he had made in opposing the numerous reform bills which the liberal party had brought forward,—he was in a position which must necessarily task to the utmost his dexterity both as a framer and as a con- ductor of the measure. However, he rose to the difficulty, and met it with consummate ability. Two plans had been suggested: one of a bolder character, which was ultimately laid before the house; the other more moderate, which, in deference to the objections made to the former, was brought forward in the first instance. The following passage in the royal speech at the open- ing of the session was the first authoritative announce- ment that the ministry had decided to grapple with the question : ‘Your attention will again be called to the state of the representation of the people in parliament; and I trust that your deliberations, conducted in a spirit of modera- tion and mutual forbearance, may lead to the adoption of measures which, without unduly disturbing the balance of political power, shall freely extend the elective franchise.’ The phrase ‘the balance of political power’ was one that was very frequently repeated by Mr. Disraeli in the earlier debates on the bill. It was vague, but not unmeaning. The idea it was intended to convey was, that the bill was not to impair the influence in the election of members which the territorial aristocracy enjoyed; and therefore that if it did not strengthen the conservative party, it would not weaken it. The ministry was profuse in its promises of legislation. Their programme for the session included colonial con- solidation, metropolitan water-works, investigation of the law of trades-unions, extension of the factory acts to other trades, improvement of the mercantile marine, of the navi- gation laws, of the pecuniary arrangements of embarrassed railways, of the treatment of the sick and distressed in the 1867.} MR. DISRAELI. 505 metropolis, of the relations between Irish landlords and. tenants, the amendment of the law of bankruptcy, and the consolidation of the probate, divorce, and admiralty courts. It seemed that ministers were determined to show them. selves to be not inferior in energy and activity to their predecessors. They must also be commended for the promptitude with which they entered on the work of parliamentary reform. The session commenced on Tuesday the 5th of February ; on the following Monday Mr. Disracli made his statement, of the manner in which he and his colleagues proposed to deal with the question. Often as the subject had been brought forward, there was still as much anxiety as ever to hear the ministerial explanation, the same uncomfortable crowding of all parts of the house, the same early attend- ance of members, the same eagerness to obtain places in the speaker’s and strangers’ galleries, the same affluence of peers and illustrious personages. Mr. Disraeli began his address by laying down, amidst the loud laughter of the opposition, that, in the opinion of the government, par- hamentary reform should no longer be a question which ought to decide the fate of ministers. He based this opinion on the failure of all parties in the state to deal with the question. Successive governments, in 1852, 1854, 1858, 1859, 1860, and 1866, had brought in reform bills, and had not been able to carry them. He then went on to state that before 1832 the working classes had a certain power in the representation: they could return two mem- bers in Preston, in Coventry; and in many other boroughs they had considerable influence as freemen. In 1852 these rights were abolished ; and he thought now, as he thought then, that the abolition of them was a grave error, which he proposed to rectify. He announced that he meant to proceed by way of resolution. Mr. Hunt gave notice of a bill on the subject of rating, which was intended to pave the way for the consideration of the government plan of reform. The following were the resolutions on whith that plan was to be based : ‘This house having, in the last session of parliament, assented to the second reading of a bill entitled “A bill to extend the right of voting at elections of members of par- liament in England and Wales,” is of opinion : VOL. IIL. x 806 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. (Car. V. ‘1. That the number of electors for counties and boroughs in England and Wales ought to be increased. ‘2 That such increase may best be effected by both reducing the value of the qualifying tenement in counties and boroughs, and by adding other franchises not de- pendent on such value. ‘3 That while it is desirable that a more direct repre- sentation should be given to the labouring class, it is con- trary to the constitution of this realm to give to any one class or interest a predominating power over the rest of the community. ‘4, That the occupation franchise in counties and boroughs shall be based on the principle of rating. ‘5. That the principle of plurality of votes, if adopted by parliament, would facilitate the settlement of the borough franchise. ‘6, That it is expedient to revise the existing distribu- tion of seats. ‘7 That in such revision it is not expedient that any borough now represented in parliament should be wholly disfranchised. ‘8. That in revising the existing distribution of seats this house will acknowledge as its main consideration the expediency of supplying representation to places not at present represented, and which may be considered entitled to that privilege. ‘9. That it is expedient that provision should be made for the better prevention of bribery and corruption at elections. ‘10, That it is expedient that the system of registration of voters in counties should be assimilated as far as pos- sible to that which prevails in boroughs. ‘11. That it shall be open to every parliamentary elector, if he thinks fit, to record his vote by means of a polling- paper duly signed and authenticated. ‘12. That provision be made for diminishing the dis- tances which voters have to travel for the purpose of recording their votes, so that no expenditure for such purpose shall hereafter be legal. ‘13, That a humble address be presented to her majesty, praying her majesty to issue a royal commission to form and submit to the consideration of parliament a scheme | } 4 1867. ] THE ISLINGTON RESOLUTIONS. 307 for new and enlarged boundaries of the existing parlia- mentary boroughs where the population extends beyond the limits now assigned for such boroughs; and to fix, subject to the decision of parliament, the boundaries of such other boroughs as parliament may deem fit to be represented in this house.’ While these resolutions were being submitted to the House of Commons, a meeting of working men’s trades- unions was being held at the Agricultural Hall, Islington, and at which 20,000 persons were computed to have been present. Mr. Disraeli’s resolutions were read to them by Mr. P. A. Taylor, who algo informed them of the purport of his statement. After the meeting had received this information, the following resolutions were submitted, and adopted : ‘1. That this meeting consider it their duty to distinctly declare that no measure for the improvement of the repre- sentation of the people in parliament will be satisfactory which is not based upon the principle of the people them- selves being directly and personally represented, instead of such representation being virtual and sectional; and that such direct and real representation can only be effected by means of residential and registered manhood suffrage, pro- tected in its free and honest exercise by the ballot. ‘2. That this meeting desires most earnestly to press on the liberal members of the House of Commong the absolute necessity, as they regard the peace and welfare of the country, of not consenting to any measure of reform designed to evade the full and just rights of the people to be directly represented in their own branch of the legis- lature, ‘3. That in the opinion of this meeting the statements made in the House of Commons this evening on the subject of reform in the representation of the people in parliament are eminently unsatisfactory, and complete the proof of the present government being unworthy of the confidence of the country.’ , Thus the two schemes of reform—the conservative scheme and the radical scheme—were placed face to face with each other; and the latter had at least the advantage of being clear, definite, and intelligible, based on a plain principle, and making a fearless and consistent application x 2 308 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuar. V. of it. The programme of each of the two extreme parties was put before the country, and it remained to be seen which of the two would prevail, or whether some middle course would be adopted. In the meantime the House of Commons calmly waited the introduction of the resolutions of which Mr. Disraeli had given notice. When the 25th of February, the day appointed for the consideration of them, arrived, the house was once more filled by a densely- packed and earnest crowd of members and spectators. —He asked me what I should want for doing it; and I asked him if 20/. would be too much. He said no, he should think not. I said I would do it. ‘Did you tell him how ?—No. ‘ How was it Crookes came into the matter P—I saw him on the following day, and told him I had got the job to do Linley. He asked me whom I had seen, and I told him it had seen Broadhead, and that we were to have 20/. ‘What did he say to that?—He said he thought we should not get 201. I saw him again the week following. We went to Broadhead’s to see what we were to have. Crookes saw him alone. When he returned to me, he said we were to have 15].; that was all he would give. I then went upstairs to Broadhead, and he told me he would not give more than 15/. for the job. I agreed to do it. I got 3l. from him, and bought a revolver. Crookes had a revolver. ‘How did you do this murder?—We followed Linley from one place to another; and as we found there was no chance of shooting him with a revolver, Crookes got an air-gun. ‘Where ?—I do not know. ‘What did you do with the air-gun ?—That was what Crockes shot him with. ‘Was Crookes a good shot P—He was a pretty good shot to hit Linley where he did. ‘Had you seen Crookes shoot with an air-gun before ?— I had seen him shoot rabbits in Eccleshall-wood. ‘How long did you follow Linley about before he was shot P—F ive or six weeks. ‘How often did you go after him to find an opportunity of shooting him ?—Nearly every night but Sunday night. ‘Where was he shot at last ?>—In Scotland-street. Lin- ley was in the back room of the Crown Inn. We followed him from the American Stores to the Crown. ‘Did you go into the public-house >—No, I went into the 334 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867, [Cuar. V. back yard to look. I could see into the room where Linley was sitting. He sat with his left hand to the window. It was about nine o’clock at night—just dusk. Crookes was in the street, and I went and told him where Linley was. There were other persons in the room with Linley. Crookes came and looked at Linley, and then refused to shoot. He had his air-gun with him. ‘What did he do with the air-gun?—He would not shoot ; there was no exit. ‘No exit from the yard P—No. ‘What did you do ?—I went through the yard and found away out. I told him this. He said there were too many people about. (A pause.) ‘What did you say P—I told him he must either shoot Linley, or I would shoot him. ‘What did he say ?—He said there was no chance. I said I would do it myself, and risk it. He replied that I must not attempt; I might miss him. He would risk it, ‘Well? (A pause. )—He shot him.’ The witness, in answer to further questions, narrated the flight of himself and his companion, and the payment of the blood-money. After a long examination, the witness was taken into custody. Subsequently Crookes was examined. As he stepped into the witness-box, Broadhead said to him in a loud voice, ‘Tell the truth, Sam ; tell all.’ Mr. Overend cautioned Broadhead not to interfere in any way with the witness while he was giving his evidence ; and warned Crookes that unless he made a full disclosure he would probably be tried for his life. The witness confirmed the evidence of Hallam; but stated more distinctly than he had done, that his instruc- tions from Broadhead were to wound Linley, not to kill him; adding, that he had intended to shoot him under the shoulder, but that as Linley was at the time leaning for- ward in earnest conversation, the ball glanced from the shoulder on to the back of the head, and thus inflicted a wound which eventually proved fatal. Farther investigations carried on at Manchester and se- veral of the largest manufacturing towns revealed outrages scarcely less atrocious than those which Mr. Overend had succeeded in bringing to light at Sheffield. One brick- 1868.] TRADES-UNION OUTRAGES. 399 maker who dismissed union-men had his shed burnt by naphtha, and much valuable property consumed. Other masters give up business from fear of being assassinated. Thousands of needles were put into brickmakers’ clay to injure the hands of non-union men who refused to obey the tyrannical behests of the union. Persons employed to protect property from these and other attempts were shot at, wounded, and even murdered; a favourite mare was roasted to death in a slow agony, lasting for more than two hours. Such were the means by which some of the Manchester unionists sought to enforce compliance with their tyrannical orders; and those in other places were not far behind them. The indignation which the conduct of these fiends natur- ally rouses must not be allowed to blind us to the fact that the outrages of which they were guilty were the results of class legislation, arising from a want of proper repre- sentation in parliament of the class of which the trades- unions were composed. The protection of the law was refused to these societies even when they confined them- selves to objects which were clearly legitimate, and the consequence was that they attempted to compass their aims by means which were illegitimate. If the law would not protect them, they would defy the law. Thus it always happens that injustice is as pernicious to those whose in- terests it is designed to advance as to those against whom it is employed. To this fact the eyes of the legislature have been opened, thanks in no small degree to the in- vestigations of the trades-union commissioners; and the result of legislation founded on justice has been that out- rages such as those we have recorded have become almost or altogether things of the past. The session of 1868 found the Derby government, as the session of 1867 had left it, face to face with a liberal party greatly superior in numbers, but too divided to be easily combined in any movement for its overthrow. Mr. Dis- raeli therefore continued to employ the tactics which had hitherto enabled him to escape a fatal defeat, dexterously evading the questions on which the opposition would be likely to unite against him. The Irish and Scotch reform bills had still to be passed, and the desirableness that they should be carried through parliament by the same admi- 036 THE REFORM BILL OF 15867. [Cuap. V. nistration that had superintended the English bill formed a plausible excuse for the still farther retention of office by the ministry of a minority. It was a state of things wholly without parallel in the history of the country; but it was urged that the circumstances in which they had been placed by the errors and divisions of their opponents were also unprecedented. As the session had been formally opened in the autumn of 1867, the two houses had only to take up their business where they had left it and as they had left it. They com- menced their sittings on Thursday the 18th of February, on which day Mr. Disraeli with praiseworthy promptitude introduced a bill having for its object the more effectual prevention of corrupt practices at parliamentary elections. The plan he proposed was to create a court composed of three eminent members of the legal profession, with a salary of 20001. per annum each, who were not only to decide on all election petitions, but to hear appeals from the decisions of revising barristers. The health of Lord Derby had long been failing ; he was weary of the duties of office, which, indeed, his growing infirmities disabled him from discharging with his wonted ability and efficiency. His resignation had long been ex- pected, and it was formally announced on the 25th of February in the upper house by Lord Malmesbury, and in the lower by his son, Lord Stanley. It was added that the Queen had commanded Mr. Disraeli to form, if possible, a new administration, and that he had accepted the task. An adjournment, as a matter of course, was agreed to in the Commons: but the Lords continued their sittings in order to pass a bill for the suspension of the habeas- corpus act in Ireland. Mr. Disraeli carried out the com- mands that had been given him by inducing his colleagues to remain in office, with the exception of Lord Chelmsford, who was succeeded in the chancellorship by Lord Cairns. Of course he himself became first lord of the treasury, and Mr. Ward Hunt took the office of chancellor of the exe chequer. When the House of Commons again met, on the Friday after the day of its adjournment, a farther ad- journment to the following Thursday was asked for by Lord Stanley, and somewhat reluctantly conceded by Mr. Gladstone. 1868.] THE PREMIERSHIP OF MR. DISRAELI. 337 Mr. Disraeli had attained the height of his ambition ; he now stood the foremost man in that very assembly which had once covered him with shouts of derision. The alteration that had taken place in the personnel of the , ministry brought with it little change in its policy. The infirmities of Lord Derby had for some time past pre- vented him from taking an active part in the direction of the government, and had caused him to devolve the whole guidance of affairs on his skilful lieutenant. The only real change, therefore, was, that Mr. Disraeli, who had alt along been the real chief of his party, now became its recognised leader, no longer fettered by the necessity of consulting the nominal head of the government. If he felt elated by his elevation, he carefully concealed the feel- ing, and spoke with the air of a man who bore his honours meekly, and was heavily oppressed by the burden of the responsibility laid on him. When he addressed the House of Commons for the first time after his appointment, he said that he succeeded to the place and policy of the Earl of Derby. He might have said that he carried on the policy which he himself had inaugurated before he occu- pied his present position. He added, that he would pursue a liberal policy ; and when the House laughed at the state- ment, he qualified it by saying emphatically, a truly liberal policy; a declaration at which the House laughed still more loudly. He then proceeded to explain that the policy he meant to describe by the term ‘liberal’ was one that would not shrink from any changes required by the wants of the age, but would never forget that it is our happy lot to dwell in an ancient and historic country, rich in traditionary influences that are the best security for order and liberty, and the most valuable element of our national character and strength. It can hardly be denied that these declarations were somewhat vague, and might have been made with at least equal truth by the leader of the opposition. Mr. Bouyerie moved an adjournment, in order to enable him to express his opinions on the state of parties in the House. He asked, ‘Why are the conservatives now in power? Simply because the liberal party, though an un- doubted majority in this House, and representing a vast, preponderance of opinion in the country, does not deserve VOL, III. Z 308 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. VY. to be called a party. That may be an unpalatable truth, but it is a truth notwithstanding. We have leaders that won’t lead, and followers that won’t follow. Instead of an ° organised party, we are little better than a rabble.’ When the legislature got fairly to work after the inter- lude caused by the changes that had taken place in the ministry, the affairs of Ireland once more demanded and obtained a large share of its attention. It was felt that the Fenian agitation—base, cowardly, and contemptible as it was in itself—was the.outward symptom of a deep-seated social and political cancer, which must at any cost be eradicated. The subject was brought forward by Mr. Maguire, who, in a speech of remarkable force and elo- quence, proposed that the House should resolve itself into a committee to take into its immediate consideration the condition of Ireland. The motion was resisted by the ministry ; who, in opposing it, clearly showed that, while they admitted the evils to which Ireland was a prey, they had no policy to propose which was calculated to deal with them effectually. In the course of the debate Mr. Glad- stone let fall the word ‘disestablishment,’ and the thunders of applause which the expression elicited showed that a very large party in the House felt that the measure thus indicated was a necessary preliminary to the application of the other remedies for the chronic and inveterate maladies of Ireland, and made it evident that if Mr. Gladstone would propose it, he would obtain the strong, earnest, and united support of the great liberal party—both in the House and the country. Mr. Disraeli, who followed him, met the enthusiastic demands of the opposition party with a firm declaration of his determination to resist with all his power any attempts that might be made to overthrow the Irish church, and with an ingenious argument in favour of the union between church and state. The debate was the most important of the session, we may almost say of the generation ; it marked out the ground on which the two parties, now opposed to one another, were to fight out their battle. Mr. Maguire’s motion was withdrawn ; but in accordance with the views he had announced the leader of the opposition gave notice, amidst the loud cheers of his sup- porters, of his intention to move the following resolutions : ‘l. That in the opinion of this House it is necessary 1868. ] MR. GLADSTONE’S RESOLUTIONS. 339 that the established church of Ireland should cease to exist as an establishment, due regard being had to all personal interests and to all individual rights of property. ‘2. That, subject to the foregoing consideration, it is expedient to prevent the creation of new personal interests by the exercise of any public patronage, and to confine the operations of the ecclesiastical commisssioners of Ireland to objects of immediate necessity or involving individual rights, pending the final decision of parliament. ‘3. That a humble address be presented to her Majesty, humbly praying that, with a view to the purposes aforesaid, her Majesty will be graciously pleased to place at the dis- posal of parliament her interest in the temporalities of the archbishoprics, bishoprics, and other ecclesiastical dignities and benefices in Ireland and in the custody thereof.’ The resolutions thus announced were brought forward by Mr. Gladstone on Monday the 30th of March. He began by formally moving that the acts relating to the Irish church should be read. Whereupon, to the dismay of the House, Colonel Knox moved that the Act of Union should be read. Hventually it was agreed that only those clauses of it relating to the Irish church should be read, which was done accordingly. Mr. H. EH. Surtees requested that the Act of William and Mary prescribing the corona- tion oath should be read; and his request was complied with. Mr. Gladstone then moved that the House should go into committee on the resolutions of which he had given notice. Lord Stanley then moved the following resolution : ‘That this House, while admitting that considerable modifications in the temporalities of the united church in Ireland may, after the pending inquiry, appear to be expe- dient, is of opinion that any proposition tending to the disestablishment or disendowment of that church ought to be reserved for the decision of the new parliament.’ In speaking on his motion Mr. Gladstone said: ‘ If I were asked as to my expectation of the issue of the struggle, I begin by frankly owning that I, for one, should not have entered into it’ unless I believed that the final hour was about to sound. I hope the noble lord will forgive me if I say that, before Friday last’ (the day on which Lord Stanley gave notice of his resolution), ‘I thought the thread of the remaining life of the Irish established church Z 2 o40 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuar. V. was short... Since Friday last at half-past four o’clock, and since the few moments that he stood at the table, I regard it as shorter still. The issue is not in our hands. What we have had and have to do is to consider well and deeply before we take that first step in an engagement such as this; but having entered into the controversy, we must quit ourselves like men, and make every effort to remove the scandal and calamity of the relations between England and Ireland, and use our best exertions to build up with the cement of honour and concord the noble fabric of the British empire.’ | : Lord Stanley advocated the resolution of which he had given notice on the ground that it would leave the action of the parliament that was about to be elected by the new and enlarged constituencies perfectly free and unfettered. On the other hand, the resolution, and the government that put it forward, were severely assailed by their former colleague, but now bitter opponent, Lord Cranbourne. He said that the leader of the opposition offered them a policy ; the foreign secretary offered them a paltry excuse for delay. He maintained the principle of a state church, and would not desert that principle when applied to Ireland. He denounced the attitude assumed by ministers as being neither wise, firm, nor creditable; and as for the amend- ment of Lord Stanley, it was too clever by half. He said that he was prepared to meet the motion of Mr. Gladstone by a direct negative, but not to fight in the dark by sup- porting an amendment, which if carried would merely keep the cards in the hands of ministers to shuffle just as con- venience or exigency might suggest. On the following evening Mr. Gathorne Hardy defended the Irish church in a speech powerfully effective, not only on account of its ability, but still more from the fervid and almost religious earnestness with which it was delivered. He said that the cry against it was a party cry, and that if it were abolished to-morrow, other grievances far more substantial would be put forward. Mr. Bright, in the course of the same even- ing, remarked that the impression left on the ministerial benches by the speech of Lord Stanley was far from com- fortable, and that Mr. Hardy had endeavoured to neutralise it by a speech which at some future stage of the debate would probably be answered by the first minister of the 1868. ] MR. DISRAELI’S LETTER. B41 crown. He said there was confusion and chaos in the House ; a government in a minority, and an opposition that was no opposition at all. In approaching the considera- tion of the question before the House he declined to admit that the disendowment of the Irish church would inflict wrong on the half million of members of the episcopal church in Ireland. That body had ludicrously failed as an engine of conversion. It had not made Catholics Pro- testants, but it had made Catholics more intensely Roman than they were in any other country of Europe. He urged that there was nothing dangerous nor terrible in the leap which the House was invited to take. If the effort were made, the hobgoblin would vanish, like protection, the balance of power, and many other things that used to frighten the tory party. ‘In my opinion,’ said Mr. Bright, ‘the changes of our times are the glory of our times, and I believe that our posterity will look on them as the natural and blessed growth of truth and intelligence.’ On the third night Mr. Roebuck expressed a hope that the trick which had been played by the liberal party in 1859 and 1866 would not again be resorted to. Mr. Disraeli, on the last night of the debate, talked of having fathomed a conspiracy between Ritualism and Popery to overthrow the throne. In his reply Mr. Gladstone stated that if hig plans should be adopted, nearly two-thirds of the property of the Irish church would remain in the hands of its ministers, and it would be placed in a position as free as any dissenting body in this country. At the close of this, the fourth night of the debate, two divisions took place in which government was defeated by majorities of 60 and 56. A passage in the premier’s speech having called forth much remark, an explanation of it was given in the follow- ing letter, addressed to the Rey. A. Baker, one of his constituents, who had written him on the subject, and published in the Times. *‘ Hughenden Manor, Maundy Thursday, 1868. ‘Rev. Sir,—I have just received your letter, in which, as one of my constituents, you justify your right to ask for some explanation of my alleged assertion that the high- church ritualists had been long in secret combination, and 842 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. (Cua. V. were now in open confederacy, with Irish Romanists for the destruction of the union between church and state. I acknowledge your right of making this inquiry; and if I do not notice in detail the various suggestions in your | letter, it is from no want of courtesy, but from the neces- sity of not needlessly involving myself in literary contro- versy. You are under a misapprehension if you suppose that I intended to cast any slur on the high-church party. I have the highest respect for the high-church party. I believe there is no body of men in this country to which we have been more indebted from the days of Queen Anne to the days of Queen Victoria for the maintenance of the orthodox faith, the rights of the crown, and the liberties of the people. Insaying this I have no wish to intimate that the obligations of the country to the other great party in the church are not equally significant. I have never looked upon the existence of parties in our church as a calamity. I look upon them as a necessity, and a beneficial necessity. They are the natural and inevitable conse- quences of the mild and liberal principles of our ecclesias- tical polity, and of the varying and opposite elements of the human mind and character. When I spoke I referred to an extreme faction in the church of very modern date, . that does not conceal its ambition to destroy the connec- tion between church and state, and which I have reason to believe has been for some time in secret combination, and is now in open confederacy, with the Irish Romanists for the purpose. The Liberation Society, with its shallow and short-sighted fanaticism, is a mere instrument in the hands of this confederacy, and will probably be the first victim of the spiritual despotism the Liberation Society is now blindly working to establish. As I hold that the dissolu- tion of the union between church and state will cause permanently a greater revolution in this country than foreign conquest, I shall use my utmost energies to defeat these fatal machinations. Believe me, rev. sir, ‘ Your faithful member and servant, ‘B. DIsRAgLi.’ The Easter holidays had now arrived, and little work had been done in the course of the session. The late period at which it commenced, the illness of Lord Derby and his 1868. ] END OF THE ABYSSINIAN WAR. 343 consequent absence from his place in the House of Lords, the long interval which had been asked and granted for carrying out the changes which his retirement rendered. necessary, the debates on Mr. Maguire’s motion and Mr. Gladstone’s resolutions, had so occupied the time that should have been given to legislation, that, with the exception of the bill suspending the habeas-corpus act in Ireland, little had hitherto been effected. The bribery bill, the bankruptcy bill, the Irish reform bill—all of them measures introduced by the government—were in a state of suspended animation; and even the army and navy estimates had been delayed beyond the usual time, the latter having been postponed owing to the illness of Mr. Corry, the minister who had the charge of them, till after Haster. The indispensably-necessary business had been pushed on at intervals as well as circumstances would allow. At the close of the Easter vacation the House of Com- mons proceeded with the business of the session, the govern- ment making no sign, and giving no explanation of the course they intended to adopt. The budget was brought forward as usual. The interest which Mr. Ward Hunt’s financial statement excited was lessened by the necessity of making provision for the cost of the Abyssinian expedi- tion—a necessity which rendered impossible any of those financial operations which under more propitious circum- stances he might have attempted. The introduction of the budget was soon followed by the news of the decisive termination of the Abyssinian war. The army of the Emperor Theodore had been routed, Magdala taken, he had fallen by his own hands, the captives had been recovered, and Sir Robert Napier and his troops, having achieved all they had been sent to accomplish, were returning. Meanwhile, after a discussion extending over eleven nights, the house divided on Mr. Gladstone’s first resolu- tion on the 380th of April, when the numbers were : For Mr. Gladstone’s resolution 4 4 : F Fer 3ou Against . . : i : : , : . 265 Majority against the government : ett» anie, My. Lhaials at once said that the vote at which the committee had now arrived had altered the relations he- 344 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuar. V. tween the government and the House of Commons; and therefore, as it would be necessary that they should con- sider their position, he proposed that the House should adjourn to the following Monday; an arrangement adopted with Mr. Gladstone’s concurrence, who, however, placed on the paper a notice pledging the House to go on with the second and third resolutions on Monday before pro- ceeding with the committee of ways and means. On the day named the premier announced the intentions of government to a densely-crowded and eagerly-expectant House. He stated that he had waited on the Queen, and laid before her the position of the government, of the different parties in the House and the country; and he had concluded by telling her that the advice which the ministers were prepared to offer her was, that she should dissolve parliament, and take the opinion of the country on the conduct of the government and on the question at issue. At the same time he had represented to her majesty that there were important occasions on which it was de- sirable that the sovereign should not be embarrassed by personal claims; and that if she was of opinion that the question at issue could be more satisfactorily settled, and the interests of the country better promoted, by the imme- diate retirement of the present government from office, they were prepared to quit her service. He had then tendered his resignation to her majesty, who took a day to consider what had been said to her, and then announced that it was her pleasure not to accept the resignation of her ministers, and declared her readiness to dissolve parliament ‘as soon as the state of public business would permit. Under these cirumstances he advised her majesty that although the representatives of the existing constituencies were no doubt as morally competent to decide on the ques- tion of the disestablishment of the Irish church as the representatives of the new constituencies, still it was the opinion of ministers that every effort should be made for appealing, if possible, to the new constituencies ; and he stated that if the government had the cordial codperation of parliament, he was advised by those who were expe- rienced in this matter that it would be possible to make arrangements by which the dissolution might take place in the coming autumn. With regard to the second and third 1868.] MR. DISRAELI’S EXPLANATIONS. 345 resolutions on the Irish church, having disapproved of the first, he of course disapproved of the second and third, which he looked upon as corollaries to the first. With a view to the despatch of business, however, he would not enter into protracted and formal discussions upon them, though he should offer them a hearty negative; but he would be happy to devote the earliest possible day at the disposal of the government for their consideration. Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Lowe, and Mr. Bright, all condemned the course pursued by the government as unconstitutional, and contended that after the severe defeats they had sus- tained they had no right to recommend a dissolution, but ought at once to have given in their resignations. The subject was again brought up on the following day in consequence of an apparent discrepancy between the statement made by the Duke of Richmond in the House of Lords and that made by Mr. Disraeli in the House of Commons. Mr. Gladstone questioned the prime-minister with regard to it, and received from him the reply that there was not the slightest intentional difference between his original and his subsequent statement of what took place. ‘When,’ said he, ‘I attended her majesty at Osborne, after acquainting her majesty with the position of the government, I at once recommended that in the present state of affairs, not only in justice to the government, but for the sake of the country and the great issue at stake, parliament should be dissolved immediately, or as soon as the state of public business permitted.’ Mr. Bright. ‘Did you recommend an appeal to the pre- sent constituencies ?’ Mr. Disraeli. ‘The honourable member has interposed with a matter that has nothing to do with the question. I recommended the dissolution absolutely and unequivocally, without reference to any particular circumstance, as soon as the state of public business should permit. I said after- wards that I had hoped that by giving up all other bills which we had introduced, and by confining our attention to supplemental reform measures, if the house acted cordially with me, a general election might take place by an appeal to the new constituencies. As I was the person who had audience of her majesty, I think my statement should be taken; but if any of my colleagues elsewhere has madea 346 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuar. V. statement which conveyed a different impression, the logical procedure would be, that that colleague should be called upon to explain the discrepancy.’ Thus Mr. Disraeli, though really in a considerable minority, had the House of Commons as much under his control as if he was the leader of a large majority; for if they did not accept the measures he placed before them, he might allege that they had compelled him to make his appeal to the existing constituencies, in which case it would be necessary to dissolve the new parliament at a very early stage of its existence, in order that the new constituencies might exercise the franchises that had been conferred on them. This was the rod which circumstances and his own dexterity had placed in the hands of the prime-minister, by whom it was sure to be employed with great effect. Several members tried to extract some pledge or explanation with regard to the power of dissolution with which the Queen had intrusted him; but all these attempts were skilfully parried and put aside. Mr. Gladstone's two remaining resolutions were subsequently put and carried, ministers declining to divide against them. Then followed a scene such as has seldom been witnessed in the House of Commons. Mr. Aytoun, a Scotch member, not satisfied with the success of Mr. Gladstone’s well-considered resolu- tions, insisted on adding to them a rider, that the Maynooth erant and the regium donwm should be discontinued. In vain did Mr. Gladstone explain that this was a matter for after-consideration, and referred to his own previous decla- rations of approval of the course which this ill-timed motion indicated. Mr. Aytoun persisted, and the bone of con- tention he had thrown down brought out at once the differences of opinion that existed in the liberal ranks. The ministers seeing that their work was being effectually done by their opponents, walked out of the House, leaying the opposition to fight out this civil war, which they did amid bellowing, screeching, cheering, yelling, and vehement gesticulation; and their anger was raised to the highest pitch, when Mr. Disraeli, who had now returned to the House, said that his expectations had been realised, and that the gentlemen on the opposite side of the House were now quarrelling over their booty. This sarcasm introduced a new clement of disorder, and the confused discussion 1868. ] A RIDER TO THE RESOLUTIONS. 347 ended in the adoption of the following rider to Mr. Glad- stone’; resolutions : ‘4, That when legislative effect shall have been given to the first resolution of this committee respecting the established church in Ireland, it is right and necessary that the grant to Maynooth and the regiwm donum be discon- tinued, due regard being had to all personal interests.’ The navy estimates, brought in on Monday, the 11th of May, three months after the usual time, were fully discussed ; Captain Mackinnon pointing out some serious defects in the construction of our ironclads; and Mr. Corry, in a speech of three hours, going through the estimates, and leaving no important item unexplained or undefended. On Wednesday, the 13th, Mr. Gladstone had given notice of a bill based on his Irish-church resolutions, which was on the order of the day; but as it was a quarter to six before it could be brought forward, it was necessarily deferred. The Scotch reform bill, which was now being hurried through as speedily as possible, in order that it might be passed before the dissolution, rendered necessary some important modifications of the Hnglish bill already passed. In order to give Scotland a fair share in the representation, the government proposed to increase the number of members in the House. It was generally felt that the number was already too great, and required diminution rather than increase. Mr. Baxter therefore moved, before the House went into committee on the bill, that it should be an in- struction to the committee that instead of adding to the number of the House, they should have power to disfranchise boroughs in England having by the census returns of 1861 fewer than 5000 inhabitants ; a provision which would have the effect of disfranchising ten boroughs. Now one of the features of the reform bill of 1867, on which Mr. Disraeli had descanted with peculiar satisfaction, was that it did not disfranchise a single borough. This boast Mr. Baxter’s amendment ruthlessly swept away; and therefore it was proposed by Sir R. Knightley that the ten seats required for Scotland should be obtained by taking a seat from every borough whose population was below 12,000. Mr. Disraeli at once submitted to the decision of the House that the number of its members should not be altered, and warmly supported Sir R. Knightley’s amendment, as being 348 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. V. in his opinion the best means of effecting that object. Mr. Gladstone, on the other hand, gave his support to Mr. Baxter’s motion, which was carried against the government by 217 votes to 196. The same evening the government suffered a still more damaging defeat. Mr. Bouverie moved that the rate-paying clause should be struck out. Now this clause had been repeatedly upheld by the premier as a ‘vital principle’ of the bill; when therefore it was struck out in a thin house by a majority of 22, Mr. Disraeli moved that progress should be reported, in order that the government might have time to consider the position in which this decision placed them. Here, then, was another ministerial crisis. It passed over, however, as easily as many that had preceded it. Mr. Disraeli stated, that in his opinion the decision of the House would seriously affect the operation of the reform act; in which the principle of » the payment of rates was recognised as a condition of the possession of the household suffrage in the united kingdom; but he entertained a hope that he should be able to induce the committee to reconsider their determination, and with this view he would propose on Monday the addition of a proviso, that no elector in Scotland should be allowed to exercise the franchise who was not rated to the poor and had not paid his rates. Before the day arrived a compro- mise had been made, and resolutions embodying it, moved by the Lord Advocate, were agreed to. The Irish reform bill, the boundary bill, the registration bill, the bribery bill, and other measures which it was thought necessary to pass before the dissolution, were pushed forward as rapidly as possible. On the other hand, Mr. Gladstone’s suspensory bill passed the Commons without much farther opposition ; and though its rejection was moved in the upper House by Harl Grey, and discussed in one of the ablest debates that has ever been carried on in that House, extending over three nights, the amendment was defeated on a division by 192 votes to 97. During the concluding portion of the session two bills occupied a considerable share of the interest and attention of the House of Commons: the first of these was the bribery bill, with regard to which the House finally reverted to the plan originally proposed, but protested against by Chief Justice Cockburn in the name of the bench, that the jurisdiction of the House over these cases 1868. ] MR. DISRAELI'S MANIFESTO. ~ 349 ’ should be transferred to the judges; and in this shape the bill finally passed. The other measure was the foreign- cattle bill, which, after having engaged a large share of the attention of the legislature almost from the commencement of the session, and after having been assailed from all quarters, was finally talked out for want of sufficient time to devote to its consideration. While parliament was engaged night after night in the exciting political game which was being played out between the two great parties, a measure of much public importance and utility was making its way through the House with comparatively little notice—the bill which authorised the government to purchase the electric telegraphs from the various private companies by which they had hitherto been worked, and to unite them in one great national system. At length the business of parliament was sufficiently transacted to allow the appeal to be made to the new con- stituencies; and so on the last day of July parliament was prorogued with a view to its dissolution. And now commenced the canvass for decidedly the most remarkable general election that has taken place since that which followed the passing of the reform act of 1832. Some months, however, had yet to elapse before the necessary preliminaries could be settled, the various changes required by the acts lately passed be carried out, and the electoral struggle actually commence. The manifesto of the minis- terialist party was published by the prime-minister in an address to the electors of Buckingham, which was of course intended not for them only, but for the great body both of county and borough electors throughout the kingdom. It commenced, as was natural and allowable, with a glorification of his own cabinet. They had dealt with the vexed question of parliamentary reform by a settlement broad in its principles, large and various in its provisions, and calculated in their opinion to animate the spirit of the community, and add strength and stability to the state. They had obtained the sympathy and confidence of the various courts and powers, and used the influence of England for the maintenance of peace and the interests of civilisation. They had vindicated the honour of the crown and the cause of humanity and justice in Abyssinia. They had materially increased the strength of the navy, much 350 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. Cuap. V.] advanced the defences of the country, armed the soldiers with an admirable weapon, rendered the military service popular, and by placing the control of the military expendi- ture in the hands of a single individual commenced a reform which would conduce to greater economy both in peace and war. They had baffled in Ireland a conspiracy formed by foreign military adventurers, and had pursued a policy of sympathy, conciliation, and justice towards that country. Under such circumstances Mr. Disraeli had thought that he and his colleagues might have been allowed tranquilly to wind-up the business of the session; and then to have asked, in accordance with the provisions of the great statute which had just been passed, the public verdict on their conduct. He complained, however, that this natural current of affairs had been interrupted, and that the leader of the opposition had seized the occasion of an expiring parliament, which had proclaimed its inadequate representa- tion of the country, to recommend a change in the funda- mental laws of the realm, and propose a dissolution of the union between church and state. He announced that her majesty’s government would offer an uncompromising resistance to this policy; and insisted that the connection of religion with the exercise of political authority was one of the main safeguards of the civilisation of man. He argued at some length and with great ingenuity in favour of the maintenance of this principle in Ireland where the members of the established church were a small minority, as well as in England and Scotland where they perhaps constituted the majority. As the views of the leader of the conservative party with regard to the questions which were to decide the fate of the government and much else besides, were stated in this document with energetic terseness, we place them before the reader in the words of its author. ‘It is urged that in the present instance the application of the new policy is to be only partial; and that only one portion of her majesty’s dominions, Ireland, is for the pre- sent to be submitted to the revolution; and on this plea, that in Ireland the members of the established church form only a minority of the population. | “Vast ‘If this numerical test is to be accepted, its application cannot be limited to Ireland; ard if, in a country of entire 1868.] MR. DISRAELIS ADDRESS. 851 toleration, a local instead of an imperial gauge be adopted, the religious integrity of the community will be frittered away. Instead of Ireland being made an exception to the fundamental condition of our constitution, there are many secondary reasons why the established church should be maintained in that country. ‘Its subversion would aggravate religious hostility and party rancour; would suppress a resident class of men whose social virtues are conducive, as all agree, to the welfare of the country; and would farther diminish the security of property in a land where its tenure and enjoy- ment are not as unquestioned as they hitherto have been in other parts of her majesty’s dominions. ‘ But even in Great Britain the spoliation of the church in Ireland would not be without its effect. Confiscation is contagious; and when once a community has been seduced into plunder, its predatory acts have seldom been single. ‘There are, however, even weightier reasons why this new policy should be resisted. ‘The religious liberty which all her majesty’s subjects now happily enjoy is owing to the Christian church in this country having accepted the principles of the reformation, and recognised the supremacy of the sovereign as the representative of the state not only in matters temporal, but in matters ecclesiastical. This is the stronghold of our spiritual freedom. So long as there is in this country the connection through the medium of a Protestant sovereign between the state and the national church, religious liberty | is secure, ‘That security is now assailed by various means and on different pleas; but amidst the discordant activity of many factions there moves the supreme purpose of one power. The philosopher may flatter himself he is advancing the cause of enlightened progress; the sectarian may be roused to exertion by anticipations of the downfall of ecclesiastical systems. These are transient efforts; vain and passing aspirations. The ultimate triumph, were our church to fall, would be to that power which would substi- tute for the authority of our sovereign the supremacy of a foreign prince; to that power with whose traditions, learn- ing, discipline, and organization our church alone has 352 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. V. hitherto been able to cope, and that too only when supported by a determined and devoted people.’ ) This manifesto was issued on the lst of October; that of Mr. Disraeli’s great rival was dated on the 9th of the same month; and addressed to the electors of South-west Lancashire, for the representation of which division Mr. Gladstone was a candidate; and it stated with great clear- ness the policy of that great party of which he was the leader, and the issue which was placed before the con- stituencies of the empire. After going over the various questions which were placed before the country, he gave the following concise summary of his views on the Irish-church question : ‘Rest as we are, by common consent we cannot. Hndow- ment of all, after the events of the last session, is out of the question. Retrenchment or mutilation of the existing church by reduction of its spiritual offices has been pro- posed by a royal commission; but I do not learn from the latest and most authentic declarations of the ministry, that they adopt that, or indeed any other, method of proceeding. We of the opposition, gentlemen, have done our part. The matter now rests with you. One path at least lies before you, broad, open, and well defined. One policy has advo- cates who do not shrink from its avowal. It is the policy of bringing absolutely to an end the civil establishment of the church of Ireland. It has received the solemn sanction of the representatives whom the nation chose in 1865. For this line of action, the only one just, and the only one available, I confidently ask your approval.’ A man who occupied a very prominent and important place in our history passed away on the 7th of May, in the 90th year of his age,—Henry Lord Brougham and Vaux: H. Brougham, as he continued to the last, in defiance of all etiquette, to sign himself. It is hardly possible for those who have not seen this extraordinary man in the days of his matured power, fully to comprehend the strong energy, the indomitable perseverance, the inde- fatigable industry with which he laboured and fought against that tory domination which pressed so heavily on this country from the close of the war in 1815 to the end of 1830, or the audacity with which he braved the dis- pleasure of the court of George IV. in defending his 1868.] THE ABERGELE CATASTROPHE. 3a03 queen. These efforts won him the honour of representing the county of York, and made him one of the first men in the kingdom. When the vehement tribune of the people was suddenly transformed into lord high chancellor he discharged his new functions with marvellous diligence. But the atmosphere of the lower House was more con- genial to his ardent temperament than the calm and quiet dignity of the upper chamber. And when he lost the chancellorship, he felt, and showed that, his proper place was not that of a peer; displaying a restless and con- suming energy that for want of fitting employment often- times expended itself in ways that did not tend to elevate his character or raise his reputation. But the services that he had rendered during his younger days and when lord chancellor entitle him to the gratitude of his country, and have secured for him a prominent place in the history of the earlier portion of the nineteenth century. Seldom perhaps has a more frightful accident happened in any country than that which occurred on the Chester and Holyhead railway, near Abergele, on the 19th of August in this year. The limited Irish mail, one of the swittest trains in the kingdom, known to the people who lived near the line of railroad which it traversed by the name of the ‘ Wild Irishman,’ was rushing up the slight incline between the Abergele and Llandulas stations at a speed of more than thirty miles an hour, when it met some wagons from a luggage-train which had been carelessly allowed to run down the incline. One of these wagons was loaded with barrels of petroleum. The violence of the collision that ensued broke the barrels, the vapour from the oil thus released reached the furnace of the locomotive, and in a moment the engine and the foremost carriages of the train were enveloped in a fierce flame which speedily reduced them and their occupants to ashes. The engine- driver, who had leaped from the train a moment before the collision, aided by the guard and some of the passengers, succeeded in uncoupling that part of the train that came from London and pushing it beyond the reach of the flames. But a composite carriage, two first-class carriages, a second-class carriage, and a luggage-van were consumed, and all within them perished. Indeed, such was the in- tensity of the heat, and so suffocating the vapour emitted, VOL. IIT, AA 304 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Caar. V. that an hour elapsed before it was possible to approach them. No fewer than thirty-three persons perished by this terrible disaster. A thorough and searching investi- gation of the causes of the accident was, of course, insti- tuted, and it was found that a heavy luggage-train was due at the Llandulas station, and had to be shunted there only about a quarter of an hour before the Wild Irishman swept by like a whirlwind, and it was manifest that a little delay in labouring up the incline, a break-down of the heavily-laden engine, or a mishap in the hasty shunt- ing, were things which might at any time cause a frightful catastrophe. But at the Llandulas station the operation of shunting had to be performed at the top of the incline, up which the Irish train might be rushing at the very moment amidst the hurry and trepidation which the know- ledge of its proximity was calculated to produce. When these facts became generally known, it was natur- ally asked: Ought not circumstances so likely to lead to fearful accidents to be avoided by allowing a longer interval between the trains? Ought there not to be the means of communicating with the preceding station by telegraph, so that in case of such a casualty as had occurred, the express-train might be stopped? Should not some special precautions be taken for the safe conveyance of a substance so inflammable as petroleum? The accident also drew attention to the practice of locking the doors of railway carriages—a practice long since denounced by Sidney Smith with his usual humour and ability, but which was continued in spite of all his wit and arguments. A few days after the accident the village of Abergele was the scene of a sad and solemn rite. The poor charred remnants of thirty-three bodies were committed to one huge grave in the humble churchyard. Though the per- sons who had so terribly perished were wholly unconnected with the village, and it was only by the accidental circum- stance of the collision having occurred near the station that they were to be interred there, every token of sym- pathy and respect was displayed by the inhabitants. The shops were closed, a dead silence reigned throughout the neighbourhood, and a large number of the inhabitants followed the relatives and friends of the deceased to the grave, where the impressive service for the dead was duly 1868.] THE GENERAL ELECTION. 309 performed over the ashes—literally the ashes—of those who had been so suddenly plunged into eternity. The proclamation announcing the dissolution of the parliament, and summoning the electors to choose their representatives, was issued on the 11th of N ovember. In the electoral battle there were many casualties. Mr. Mill was defeated at Westminster, and his place was supplied by an eminent bookseller; Baron Rothschild was rejected , by the city of London; Mr. Roebuck was beaten at Shef- field by Mr. Mundella ; Mr. Gladstone, while the contest » in Lancashire, in which he was unsuccessful, was still un- * decided, was returned for Greenwich without expense, and without solicitation on his part; Mr. Milner Gibson was defeated at Ashton-under-Lyne ; Sir Wentworth Dilke lost the seat he had occupied for Wallingford, but his son was / elected for Chelsea, though opposed by Dr. Russell, the able and popular historian of the Crimean war; Mr. Miall contested Bradford unsuccessfully, but was shortly after- wards elected to represent it. The result was, on the whole, a very decided majority for the opposition, though there were many conservative victories of a very striking and remarkable description ; none of which perhaps caused greater surprise than the return of eight conservatives for the county of Lancaster, being the whole of the represen- tatives of the various divisions of the county, once fore- most in its liberalism among the counties of England. Scarcely less remarkable or more unexpected were the triumphs achieved by the conservatives at Bolton, Black- burn, and several other boroughs of the manufacturing districts. Another circumstance falsified a great number ot predictions that had been very confidently uttered. The effect of the new reform bill, under which this election took place, was to place the majority of the votes in the greater number of constituencies in the hands of the working classes, and it had been very unhesitatingly affirmed that they would make use of the power thus confided to them to send to parliament men of their own class, or at all events men of violent and revolutionary views and opinions. But what was the fact? These pro- phecies were completely falsified by the event. There were indeed a good number of what were termed working-men’s candidates; many of them, too, men of great ability, who AA 2 356 THE REFORM BILL OF 1867. [Cuap. V. would have been able to throw much valuable light on many questions discussed in the House of Commons. There were Mr. Ernest Jones, Mr. Mason Jones, Mr. Greening, Mr. Beales, Dr. Kenealey, Mr. Hartwell, Mr. Odger, Mr. Bradlaugh. But these gentlemen were, without a single exception, completely defeated, and the House of Commons which was actually returned was the wealthiest House of Commons tkat had ever assembled ; and although elected to carry out the policy which Mr. Gladstone advo- cated, it was very far indeed from being an assembly likely to yield to any violent or revolutionary impulses, or to make headlong and dangerous changes. On the contrary, perhaps no parliament ever sat that was more disposed to cive a calm, independent, and unprejudiced consideration to the measures submitted to it. So much for the pre- dictions that had been so long and so freely uttered with regard to the consequences that would follow from a large extension of the franchise. Before the new parliament assembled the Disraeli ministry had ceased to exist. It was evident that the de- cision of the country was decidedly against it, and that the policy of the opposition would be supported by a majority of something like 120 in the new parliament. The only question therefore for ministers to consider was, whether they should meet parliament and undergo an inevitable de- feat, or bow to the feeling of the country and resign at once. This question was discussed at a cabinet-council held on Tuesday the 1st of December, and the conclusion to which it came was in favour of the latter alternative. It was a wise and proper decision, saving much valuable time as well as the expenditure of much useless energy. Mr. Gladstone was sent for to form a new administration. Of course, after the result of the general election, he had little difficulty in executing the task confided to him, and it was soon announced that he had succeeded in forming a ministry of which the following were the chief members : First Lord of the Treasury . ; . Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. Lord Chancellor... : . . Lord Hatherley. Lord President of the Council - . Earl de Grey. Lord Privy Seal . : ae ‘ . Earl of Kimberley. Chancellor of the Exchequer : . Mr. Lowe. Home Secretary . j ; . Mr. Bruce. Foreign Secretary : : . Earl of Clarendon. > 1868.] MR. GLADSTONE’S CABINET. 357 Colonial Secretary : : ’ . Earl Granville. War Secretary . ; : é - Mr. Cardwell. Indian Secretary . . « Duke of Argyle. President of thé Board of Trade . . Mr. Bright. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster . Lord Dufferin. Postmaster-general . . The Marquis of Hartington. First Lord of the Admiralty ; . Mr. Childers. Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . P . Karl Spencer. Chief Secretary for Ireland . ‘ . Mr. Chichester Fortescue. Woods and Forests. : » Mr. A. H. Layard. Few governments have ever been more popular than this administration at the time of its accession to office. This was chiefly due to the presence in it of Messrs. Gladstone and Bright, in whom the overwhelming majority of the nation had oreat confidence, and who on every occasion in which they appeared in public were objects of the warmest demonstrations of the favour and confidence with which they were regarded, CHAPTER VI. THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. l'HE new parliament was opened by royal commission on Thursday, December the 10th. The first business done by the House of Commons was to re-elect the speaker. As the retirement of the late ministry had rendered a party struggle unnecessary, and as there was no business that urgently pressed for transaction, the swearing-in of mem- bers and other preliminary formalities having been gone through, and the motions rendered necessary by the acceptance of office on the part of the new ministers having been duly made and carried, the House rose for the Christmas vacation. The business of the session of 1869 commenced on Tues- day the 16th of February. The upper House, indeed, sat before that day, but only as a matter of form. The royal speech, read by the lord chancellor, contained the following reference to the proposed legislation on the subject of the Trish church: ‘ The ecclesiastical arrangements of Ireland will be brought under your consideration at a very early date; and the legislation which will be necessary in order to their final adjustment, will make the largest demands on the wisdom of parliament. Iam persuaded that in the prosecution of the work you will bear a careful regard to every legitimate interest which it may involve ; and that ou will be governed by the constant aim to promote the welfare of religion through the principles of equal justice ; to secure the action of undivided feeling and opinion in Treland on the side of loyalty and the law; to efface the memory of former contentions, and to cherish the sympa- thies of an affectionate people.’ Some unimportant criti- cisms were made on the speech ; but the only remark that excited much interest or attention was the announcement made by Mr. Gladstone that he would introduce the govern- 1309.] THE IRISH-CHURCH BILL. 359 ment measure dealing with the question of the Irish church on the Ist of March. A complaint of a somewhat unusual kind issued from the House of Lords. It was a ery for more work, raised by Lord Cranbourne—now become, by the death of his father, Harl of Salisbury and a member of the upper chamber of the legislature. He complained, and other members of the House complained with him, that while the Commons had more work before them than they could hope to get through, the peers had nothing to do. Lord Granville promised to find them employment, and began by at once placing before them a bill for the repression of crime, and holding out a hope of following it by a bank- ruptey bill. On the 1st of March the new premier, according to pro- mise, introduced his great measure for the disestablishment and partial disendowment of the Irish church, in a speech of three hours’ duration; which Mr. Disraeli described as eloquent, full, adequate, and not containing one unnecessary word. The plan which this speech explained was the following: On the lst of January, 1871, the Irish church would cease to be recognised by the state; though the date might be altered if the House should think it necessary to change it. On the second reading of the measure, subsequently fixed for the 18th of the month, the technical disendow- ment was to commence. On the final passing of the bill, the Irish ecclesiastical] commission was to come to an end, and to be succeeded by a new commission which was to carry out the transition from the present state of the church to that of a free episcopal church. During the transitional period no new vested interests were to be created. The crown was to resign the right of appointing Irish bishops, and the Irish bishops were to lose their seats in the House of Lords. A synodal or governing body, representing the clergy and the laity of the Irish church, was to be elected ; and alter being recognised by the queen in council as a duly- constituted representative body, was to be legally incor- porated by the government. 360 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VI. The union between the churches of England and Ireland was to be formally dissolved, all the Irish ecclesiastical courts to be abolished, and the ecclesiastical law to remain provisionally in force as a voluntary compact, until it should be altered by the church itself. | These were the principal provisions of the bill. There were many others, relating to vested interests, to the fulfil- ment of duties, the principles on which the property of the church should be divided, the administration of it for the future, the disposal of the churches, and the management and appropriation of the revenues which would remain after all claims had been satisfied. Mr. Gladstone thus concluded the speech by which the measure was introduced to the House of Commons. ‘T believe I have now gone through the chief of these almost endless arrangements; and I have laid, as well as I am able, the plans of the government before the com- mittee. I will not venture to anticipate the judgment of the committee; but I trust it will be of opinion that it is at any rate a plan loyal to the expectations we held out on a former occasion, and loyal to the people of England who believed our promises. I hope also that the members of the committee may think that the best pains we could give have been applied in order to develop and mature the measure; and I say that with great submission to the judgment of gentlemen on this and on the other side of the House. It is a subject of legislation so exceedingly complex and varied, that I have no doubt there must be errors, omissions, and many possible improvements; and we shall welcome from every side, quite irrespective of differences of opinion on the outlines of the measure, suggestions which, when those outlines are decided on, may tend to secure a more beneficial application of those funds to the welfare of the people of Ireland. ‘T trust, sir, that although its operation should be strin- gent, and although we have not thought it either politic or allowable to attempt to diminish its stringency by making it incomplete, the spirit towards the church of Ireland as a religious communion in which this measure has been considered and prepared by my colleagues and myself has not been a spirit of unkindness. Perhaps at this time it is too much to expect to obtain full credit for any declaration 1869.] MR. GLADSTONE’S SPEECH. 361 of that kind. We are undoubtedly asking an educated, highly respected, and generally pious and zealous body of clergymen to undergo a great transition; we are asking a powerful and intelligent minority of the laity of Ireland in connection with the established church to abate a good part of the exceptional privileges they have enjoyed; but I do not feel that in making this demand on them we are seeking to inflict an injury. I do uot believe that they are exclusively or even mainly responsible for the errors of English policy towards Ireland: 1 am quite certain that in many vital respects they have suffered by it. I believe that the free air they will breathe under a system of equality and justice, giving scope for the development of their great energies with all the powers of property and intelligence they will bring to bear, will make that Ireland they love a country for them not less enviable and less beloved in the future than it has been in the past. As respects the church, I admit that, almost without exception, I do not know any country in which so great a change, so great a transition, has been proposed for the ministers of a religious communion who have enjoyed for many ages the preferred position of an established church. I can well understand that to many in the Irish establishment such a change appears te be nothing less than ruin and destruc- tion. From the height on which they now stand the future is to them an abyss, and their fears recall the words used in King Lear when Edgar endeavours to persuade Gloucester that he has fallen over the cliffs of Dover, and says: “Ten masts at each make not the altitude Which thou hast perpendicularly fell ; Thy life’s a miracle.” And yet but a little while after, the old man is relieved from the delusion, and finds that*he has not fallen at all. So, I trust that, when the fictitious and adventitious aid on which we have too long taught the Irish establishment to lean is removed, it will place its trust in its own resources, in its Own GREAT MISSION, in all that it can draw from the energy of its ministers and members, and the high hopes and promises of the gospel that it teaches, and will find that it has entered upon a new era of existence—an era bright with hope and potent for good. 362 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cirap. VIL ‘At any rate, I think the day has certainly come when an end is finally to be put to that union, not between the church and religious association, but between the establish- ment and the state, which was commenced under circum- stances little auspicious, and has endured to be a source of unhappiness to Ireland and of scandal and discredit to England. This measure is in every sense a GREAT measure; ereat in its principles, great in the multitude of its dry technical but nevertheless interesting details, and great as a testing measure, for it will show for one and all of us of what mettle we are: made. Upon us all it brings a great responsibility. We upon this bench are especially charge- able—nay, deeply guilty, if we have either dishonestly, or even prematurely or unwisely challenged so gigantic an issue. I know well the punishments that follow rashness in public affairs, and that ought to fall on those men— those Phactons in politics—that, with hands unequal to the task, attempt to guide the chariot of the Sun. But the responsibility passes beyond us, and rests on every man who has to take part in the discussion and the decision on this bill. Every man approaches the discussion under the most solemn obligation to raise the level of his vision and extend its scope in proportion to the greatness of the matter in hand. The working of our constitutional government is itself on its trial; for I do not believe there ever'was a time when the wheels of legislative machinery were set in motion under conditions of peace and order and constitu- tional regularity, to deal with a question greater and more profound. And more especially, sir, is the credit and fame of this great assembly involved ; this assembly, which has inherited through many ages the accumulated honours of brilliant triumphs, of peaceful but courageous legislation, is now called upon to address itself to a task which would indeed have demanded all the best energies of the very best among your fathers and ancestors. I believe it will prove to be worthy of the task. Should it fail, even the fame of the House of Commons will suffer disparagement; should it succeed, even that fame, I venture to say, will receive no small, no insensible addition : Mr. Disraeli emphatically declared that the opinion of the opposition remained unchanged; they still believed that disestablishment was a political error, and that disen- 1869.] DEBATE ON THE SECOND READING. 363 dowment, especially when accompanied by secularisation, was mere and sheer confiscation. He said that under ordinary circumstances he should have opposed the intro- duction of the bill; but that looking to the verdict of the country at the general election, which he interpreted to mean that Mr. Gladstone should have an opportunity of dealing with the question of the Irish church, he thought that the premier ought not to be precluded from sub- mitting his policy to the House, and he therefore advised his friends not to oppose the motion for the introduction of the measure; but he asked for a delay of three weeks before the second reading. This delay Mr. Gladstone declined to concede; and it was ultimately agreed, as has already been mentioned, that the second reading should be proposed on the 18th of March. Perhaps an abler and more eloquent debate never was carried on in the House of Commons than that on the second reading of this measure. Not to mention speakers of less importance who took part in it, there was Mr. Dis- raeli, who moved that the bill should be read that day six months, and who, though of course aware that he was playing a losing game, delivered one of the most forcible speeches he ever pronounced in the House of Commons. On the same side Dr. Ball spoke with the volubility for which his countrymen are remarkable, and with an ability which threw into the shade all the able efforts he had previously made. Mr. Miall delivered his views on the other side with the authority which his long and consistent advocacy of the change now about to be efiected gave him, and who was listened to by all parties with a respectful attention seldom accorded by the House to one known as a strong partisan. Mr. Bright gave the measure the support of his high reputation and splendid eloquence. The interest he took in the question made him surpass himself, and the conclusion of his speech, in which he claimed for the bill before the House the support of the Supreme Being, as to a measure which was in accordance with His glorious attri- butes of truth, justice, and mercy, was delivered with a manifest earnestness and sincerity which made perhaps as profound an impression as anything that ever was uttered within the walls of parliament. He was followed by an antagonist in every way worthy of him—Sir Roundell . 864 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. (Cnar. VI. Palmer, whose conscientious conviction on this question had prevented him from joining a ministry whose political views were in other respects in harmony with his own opinions, and who had declined the chancellorship and a peerage, to which the services he had rendered to the liberal party had given him an undeniable claim, rather than con- sent to a measure which he disapproved. He commanded the attention to which his high character and the noble sacrifice he had made entitled him no less than the force and eloquence with which he urged his opinions. Ad- mitting the existence of the discontent, he denied that the remedy proposed for it by the government was the right one. Admitting that the existence of the established church in Ireland was a grievance, he argued that the grievance might be removed without a confiscation of the property of the Irish church. He was answered with not unequal eloquence by the solicitor-general, Sir J. Coleridge, who, however, after a brief and respectful reply to the argu- ment of Sir R. Palmer, applied himself to the evidently moro congenial task of pointing out the necessity that existed for the measure, and the advantages it was calculated to pro- duce. The case for the bill was ingeniouslyand ably put by Mr. Lowe, the chancellor of the exchequer, who met the powerful argument of Sir R. Palmer by asking the House if they would consent to disestablish the Irish church and to leave it in possession of 16,000,000/. worth of property without connection with the state, and without check even . from the ecclesiastical courts. He urged that the effect of such a settlement would be to found a theocracy of tre- mendous power—a fresh element of anarchy in Ireland. Replying to some arguments which Dr. Ball had urged against voluntaryism, he said that if they wanted to see the voluntary system in operation, it might be seen working most effectually in Ireland. There was to be seen the spectacle of the state church on the one side, and the nation on the other. There the state church was not the national church, and the national church not the state church. Whatever religious life existed in Ireland was to be found where the voluntary system prevailed, while coldness and apathy existed in the richly-endowed districts of Ireland. It was said that the question at issue was 4 religious one, and that the church was ‘a bulwark against 18€9.] DEBATE ON THE SECOND READING. 069 popery.’ But it was no part of the dut of the govern- ment to raise bulwarks against any religion. Mr. Walpole spoke amidst the attention that a high and just reputation combined with great amiability is sure to command in the House of Commons, and thus summed up his objections to the measure: ‘It will, for the first time in our history, destroy the securities hitherto taken by the state for the extension of the ordinances of religion to all parts of the country, and divert the funds devoted to that purpose to other purposes for which they were never intended. It will be the first step towards ecclesiastical communism. It will unsettle the laws of ecclesiastical property in England and Scotland, and perhaps too of all other kinds of pro- perty, but especially of corporation property. It will overthrow a solemn compact between two independent legislatures. It will impede religious progress and stir up endless discord in Ireland.’ But of all the speeches against the bill, decidedly the ablest and the most eloquent was that which was delivered by Mr. Gathorne Hardy towards the close of the long debate, and it was received by the party which he represented with applauses far louder and more rapturous than had been bestowed on the colder and more argumentative address of their leader. He could discover no reason for this attack on the Irish church but jealousy like that which animated Haman. He denied that the church was a badge of conquest; he rather regarded it as an imperial light, as a recognition by the executive of the superior tenderness of the Almighty, as a token of the Protestantism of the.sovereign, as a keeping alive in the dark places of Ireland the lamp of the reformation. He maintained that the bill instead of restoring peace and concord in Ireland would revive agitation and increase discontent. He ran rapidly over the chief features of the disendowment scheme, in order to show that they would fail to soften the irritation of those who would feel them- selves specially aggrieved by the measure. He said that the gift of churches and glebes called for no gratitude. The purchase of the tithe rent-charge was a puzzle, the treatment of Maynooth a mockery, the church body a delusion, the proposed disposal of the surplus for the foun- dation of new religious endowments, and their seizure for imperial purposes, both violations of the pledges of last 366 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [CHap. VI. year. He ended by drawing a highly-coloured picture of the condition of Ireland, in which he represented the insti- tutions of the country as satisfactory, freedom complete, law as justly administered as in England; but the people discontented without any real cause, sympathising with crime, and influenced, not for good, by the priesthood. He concluded, amidst the loud cheering of the opposition, by insisting that an interval of peace and industry, and not a destructive measure such as that which was now brought forward—a measure wrong in the sight of God and opposed to the interests of the empire— was the real panacea for the evils under which Ireland | was suffering. | It was close on one o’clock on the fourth evening of the debate that Mr. Gladstone at length rose to make his reply. He began it by remarking that Mr. Hardy had shown his fiiness for a task which Burke had disclaimed—that of drawing an indictment against a whole nation. Yet even in a picture of the Irish people so unjust as to amount to a libel, serious evils were admitted, for which Mr. Hardy had no remedy. But the government, recognising the existence of an Irish question, the result of years of pre- vious misgovernment, had a remedy which they proposed of necessity piecemeal. He passed over the comments that had been made on the details of the bill as being irrelevant to the question of the second reading. Only he intimated that the payment of the Maynooth grant and the regium donum out of the church property were open ques- tions. Running over the four nights’ debate he failed to discover any rival plan that had been proposed in the place of that brought forward by the government. The proposals of the commission had been entirely thrown aside, and the opposition had either no plan at all, or else the old plan of levelling up. The only plan that had been put forward was that of Sir Roundell Palmer, of disestablishment with little or no disendowment. This plan Mr. Gladstone dis- cussed at considerable length. He said, in the course of his argument on it, that he differed altogether from the ideas of church property on which it was founded. When property had been given for purposes that had not been attained and could not be attained, it was the duty of the legislature to see that it was not wasted, and when it became 1869.] THE SECOND READING CARRIED. 367 mischievous; to take it away. But he took a much larger view of church trusts, holding that this property had been given for the general benefit of the nation. The House divided about twenty minutes past two o’clock, when the numbers were: For the second reading . . ° , ° . 368 Against . : : d ° : : ° . 230 _ Majority for the government ‘ ; -« HS These numbers showed conclusively, what indeed had been known before, how signal was the victory which the new administration had won on the appeal that had been made to the country. But the numerical superiority only indi- cated very imperfectly the gain on the liberal side. The introduction of a great measure had restored its party discipline, and had changed Mr. Bouverie’s ‘rabble’ into a disciplined army. A late commencement of the session, and an early Easter, somewhat retarded the general legislation of the House of Commons. There were a great number of bills, but they were only in the bud. Many of these were govern- ment measures, multitudinous poor-law bills, which Mr. Goschen was trying to pass; an endowed-schools bill, which Mr. Forster was striving with all his might to push forward; the mutiny bills urgently demanding renewal; a university-tests bill, promoted with small chance of success during this session by Mr. Coleridge; the bankruptcy bill, so often brought forward by different administrations, and still likely to be deferred; the army and navy estimates all inarrear. In addition to this, notwithstanding the majority of 118 on the second reading of the Irish-church bill, it was likely that the discussion on that measure in committee would be so prolonged as almost to monopolise the govern- ment nights of the session; and withal there was Ireland still so agitated by Fenianism as to render it not impro- _ bable that another coercion bill would have to be passed. Such were the prospects with which the houses of parliament returned to their work after the Easter vacation. The reception of Mr. Lowe’s budget on the 8th of April formed a very striking contrast to that which had been 368 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Caar. VI. accorded to those of Messrs. Gladstone and-Disraeli when those gentlemen filled the office of chancellor of the exchequer. There was no stir, no crowding either in the House, or the galleries, or the approaches ; no eager curi- osity to hear the financial statement. Nevertheless, seldom has a chancellor of the exchequer produced a more satis- factory budget. Considerable reductions, chiefly in the military and naval departments, enabled the chancellor of the exchequer to, pay all the expenses of the past year, including the balance of the amount due on account of the Abyssinian war—which it now appeared had cost the country from first to last 9,000,0002.—and to retain a surplus of 32,000/. By improvements in the manner of collecting the taxes and by changes in the time of collecting them this year, he hoped to add 3,350,000/., thus raising the surplus to 3,382,0007. The change in the time of collecting the taxes caused some discontent, which was allayed by the removal of a penny from the income tax, the abolition of a shilling duty left on corn when the protective duties were taken off, the abolition of the fire insurance duty, and the repeal of some of the assessed taxes. It was announced that these financial operations would produce an ultimate remission of taxation to the amount of 3,060,0002., of which 2.940,0001. would be taken during the present year. It does not fall within the province of this work to follow the fortunes of the Irish-church bill through committee, or to relate the attempts, successful or unsuccessful, that were made to amend it. The bill went forward more rapidly than could have been expected considering the magnitude of the changes it wrought, and the hostility with which it was regarded both in and out of parliament. This was | partly due to the circumstance that the word of command _ had been given to the members of the ministeriaf side to | leave the task of answering the speeches against the bill to | ministers. The consequence was that the attempts made to talk against time were foiled as much by the silence of the ministerialists as by the hopelessness of defeating the measure, and the manifest inutility of prolonging the resistance made to it. There was little reason to wish for delay, and those who wished for it without reason soon talked themselves out. Thus on the last day of May the question of the third reading of the measure was brought 1869.] THE IRISH-CHURCH BILL. 369 forward, and after a dreary debate the House divided at one o'clock, when the numbers were: Forthethirdrending . . . . . 4 . 361 Against . _. ‘ ; F eae as . Saal re Baer Majority forministers.. . . . . . 114 And naw came the question, what will the lords do with the bill? It was well known that if the members of the upper house had felt themselves fully at liberty to vote according to their wishes, it would have been rejected in that assembly by a majority almost as great as that by which it was carried in the lower House. But the peers had so often experienced the evil results of setting them- selves against the clearly-pronounced wishes of the people, that it was commonly expected that the more prudent of them would yield at once with a good grace instead of yielding to compulsion at some future time, and would pass a bill which had come up from the commons by a majority that rendered resistance to the popular will evidently — hopeless. Nevertheless there was a strong party in the upper house who were determined at any risk to vote against a measure which they regarded as a destructive inroad on the constitution; and it was known that they would be encouraged in their resistance to it by the veteran leader of the conservative party, who, though enfeebled by age and illness, was ready to employ the influence which his reputation, his talents, and his position gave him, in making a last fight against a measure which he regarded with abhorrence. The debate in the House of Lords was sure to derive additional interest and animation from the circumstance that the Irish prelates who had seats in the House, were likely to take an earnest part in the debatcs on a measure which involved their political extinction. The English prelates, too, could hardly be silent with regard to a change which so strongly affected the sister church, and must be very displeasing to their most reverend and right reverend brethren, whose status it lowered, and whose interests it affected in various ways. The bill was read a first time asa matter of course. ‘The question of the second reading was proposed in a very full house on Monday June the 14th. The ministers themselves seemed to bring for- ward with reluctance a measure excluding some of their VOU. III. BB 370 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VI. colleagues from the seats they occupied in the House. Lord Granville, pale, agitated, and nervous, performed the work of explaining its nature with a pain which he could not conceal. His colleagues by their countenances and attitudes seemed to show that they shared the feelings of their leader. The archbishop of Canterbury expressed his opinion with regard to the question with a dignity and moderation that did honour to his high place. He said: ‘The episcopal bench intend in this crisis to do what they consider in their consciences to be wisest and best; agreeing neither with those who urge them to accept the measure as it stands, nor with those who advise them to reject it without con- sideration. I was glad when I heard the hope held out to us that any amendments made by your lordships would be seriously considered by the government and the House of Commons. The curse of Ireland has been the constant religious and political agitation on which the voluntary system subsists, and itis my earnest desire not to encourage another agitation of the sort in that country. Your lord- ships have been told, that if you give the bill a second reading, you will only show yourselves powerless as a branch of the legislature; but the men who say that are the very persons whose action would reduce you to power- lessness. I, in common with the other members of the episcopal bench, am sincerely attached to the Irish church. We have the same truths at heart, and we desire the union that exists between it and the English church to be continued, because we feel that the same blow that falls on the Irish church also falls on ourselves. Therefore, although we do not approve of the bill in its present shape, we desire that it may be fairly considered, and, if possible, so altered and amended as to be converted into a good measure.’ It was in the course of this debate that Lord Derby ad- dressed for the last time the house in which he had long exercised unrivalled influence, and of which he had been SO conspicuous an ornament. Those who most differed from his opinions could not refuse the homage of their admiration to the talents, the consistency, and the earnest- ness of the veteran statesman as he protested almost with his last breath against a measure which seemed to him to be certainly fraught with destruction to the highest and 1869. ] THE IRISH-CHURCH BILL. 371 holiest interests of his country. ‘My lords,’ he said, after having lifted up against the measure the fecble remnants of a voice which once rang through that hall,— my lords, fam an old man, and, like many of your lordships, past the allotted span of threescore years and ten. My official life is at an end, my political life ig nearly closed, and in the course of nature my natural life cannot be long.’ He thus concluded his denunciation of the bill: ‘If ¢ be for the last time that I have the honour of addressing your lordships, I declare that it will be to my dying day a satisfaction that I have been able to lift up my voice against the adoption of a measure the political impolicy of which is equalled only by its moral iniquity.’ This was the last speech that the great earl delivered in the House of which he had so long been facile princeps. His work there was done ; all that for which he had go long fought was passing away; the democratic deluge he had so long apprehended had entered. He lived to witness the passing of the bill for the disestablishment of the Irish church, but not to watch the operation of the dreaded measure. He died on the 23rd of October, in the 72d year of his age. The discussion was carried on with that ability which, , on nights of great debate, generally distinguishes the | oratory of the House of Lords. The division took place at | three o’clock on the morning of June 19th in the very — fullest house that ever assembled, there being no fewer than three hundred and twenty-five peers who recorded their votes personally, besides eighteen who paired. The two English archbishops stood near the throne, and looked on, while the division was taking place. The archbishop of Dublin, with thirteen English and two Irish bishops, voted against it. One prelate alone, the bishop of St. David’s, voted in favour of it. When the numbers were reckoned, they were found to be: Contents : d é A . y : ees 4!) Non-contents b é : 2 / } k . 146 Majority . etd is ‘ amine) Tots. 32 So far the measure was safe; but it still had to pass through a committee, the majority of whose members regarded it with a disfavour bordering on detestation. Betore the House went into committee, a preliminary BB2 372 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuar. VI. debate took place on the question of concurrent endow- ment, led off by Earl Grey, who strongly condemned the voluntary system, and contended that the Roman Catholics and the Presbyterians should be endowed out of the re- venues which at present belonged to the Irish establish- ment; and in order to carry out his views, objected to the postponement of the consideration of the preamble; but though supported by the bishops of Oxford and St. David's, he withdrew his motion in deference to a very generally- expressed opinion against it. Then the bill went into committee. It was there laboriously considered and freely amended; seldom, perhaps never, have the lords expended more pains on any measure than on this; and it must be acknowledged that the government showed every dispo- sition to conciliate them, and even to encourage them to alter the bill with a view to its substantial improvement. On the morning of July 7th it passed through the com- mittee, who, in the opinion of the archbishop of Canterbury, had made ‘a good bill of it.’ Others thought they had ereatly injured its efficiency. Numerous amendments had been introduced, giving, or at least designed to give, better terms to the disestablished and disendowed church, and the question of the disposal of the surplus revenues of that church was relegated to a future session. Of course it was not expected that the government and the House of Commons would accept all the amendments that had been introduced into the measure, and it was still doubt- ful whether the bill would be carried or lost. The changes made in the bill were so great and numerous, that it was not likely the government would accept them; and on the other hand it could hardly be supposed that the lords would have made them without intending to maintain many of them. While this question was still in suspense, the lords again displayed that spirit of exaggerated conservatism which they had manifested on so many occasions, and which tended to put them more and more out of harmony with the spirit of the age and the demands of the country. Harl Russell had introduced a bill for legalising life-peerages. It had passed through committee, and was brought forward for the third reading. Lord Malmesbury therenpon moved an amend- ment, that it should be read a third time that day three 1869. ] THE IRISH-CHURCH BILL. 573 months, which was carried by a majority of twenty-nine. The rejection of this measure coming at such a crisis tended to. increase the unpopularity of the peers, and to aggravate the gravity of the situation by cutting off all hope of such a strengthening of the liberal element in the House of Lords as might enable the government to carry its measures without serious mutilation. The third reading of the Irish-church bill came before the House of Lords on the 12th of J uly. Lord Clancarty proposed that it should be read a third time that day three months, but withdrew his motion at the instance of Lord Derby, who urged that it would be better to throw on the House of Commons the responsibility of rejecting the ‘reasonable amendments’ which their lordships had made in the bill. Some important changes were effected in it. A motion of Lord Devon’s, setting aside an amendment in virtue of which the Irish bishops were to retain their seats in the House during their lives, was carried by 108 to 82 votes. A proviso proposed by Lord Stanhope, the object of which was to purchase residences and glebe-houses for the archbishops, bishops, and clergy of the Roman-Catholic church and for the ministers of the Presbyterian body, was supported by Lords Houghton, Russell, and Westbury ; but though opposed on behalf of the Catholics by Lord Granard, and on behalf of the government by Lord Granville, it was carried by 121 to 114. The bill then passed ; Lord Redesdale handing in a protest from Lord Derby. While the struggle was going on in the House of Lords the liberal party out of doors remained judiciously quiet, only intimating their wish that the bill should pass un- changed in very measured language; but no sooner was the struggle in the upper House over than they began tv agitate the country strongly in favour of the bill as it originally stood. At Manchester the executive committee of the National Reform Union held a meeting under the presidency of Mr. George Wilson, the veteran chairman of the Anti-Corn-law League, at which it was resolved that all the branches of the union should be invited to meet for the purpose of passing resolutions and sending up petitions against the amendments made by the House of Lords. At Bradford an open-air meeting, said to have been attended 874 TUE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuar. VI. by between 10,000 and 15,000 persons, was called by the mayor in compliance with a requisition presented to him. Large and important meetings were held at Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh, and a great number of other towns in all parts of the kingdom. On the evening of the 15th of July Mr. Gladstone ex- plained the course which the government proposed to take with respect to the lords’ amendments. He stated that he intended to restore the preamble to its original form, and retain the date that was first fixed for bringing the bill into operation. With regard to the third amendment, relating to annuities to curates, he should propose to agree to some modification. The fourth, which related to a tax on ecclesiastical incomes, he should propose to disagree with. The fifth, which had been inserted for the protec- tion of annuitants, he should propose to accept with amend- ments. The sixth, which related to the fourteen years’ commutation, as it might be called, he should propose to disagree with; but he should bring forward an addition to the clause as amended by the House of Lords, the nature of which he should explain at the proper time. The seventh, which reserved the conditions of payments for the glebe-houses, &c., he should move to disagree with. The tenth, which related to the disposal of the residuary surplus dependent on the preamble, he should also move to disagree with ; but he should propose to insert words which would secure to parliament the control over the surplus in the interval of its being realised. Lastly, he should move that the clause providing for what was called ‘concurrent en- dowment’ should be struck out. He afterwards explained that in disagreeing with the amendment relating to the . Ulster glebes, he should propose to agree to an amendment offering 500,000/. to the church body in lieu of all private benefactions; and he explained the nature of the proviso he intended to move in order to secure to parliament a control over the surplus during the interval of its being realised. There were three divisions in the course of the evening, in all of which the government proposals were sustained by large majorities. Other motions made by Mr. Gladstone were adopted without a division, with the exception of a few modifications, which he consented to make in compliance with the representations of Sir R. 4869,]) THE IRISH-CHURCH BILL. O75 Palmer and others. The farther consideration of the lords’ amendments was adjourned. Meanwhile the agitation out of doors was industriously kept up. Deputations from the various places where meet- ings had been held waiting on Mr. Gladstone with promises of support and strong exhortations to resist the amend- ments of the lords, were assured by him that the govern- ment would stand by their engagements, and maintain the principles of the bill, but would at the same time give due consideration to all that could be urged in favour of the amendments that had been made init. Meetings continued to be held in London and in most of the large towns of the empire for the double purpose of inducing the government to insist and the lords to yield. On the 16th of July the discussion was resumed and concluded. There were two divisions. In the first the _ amendment relating to the Ulster glebes was rejected by a majority of 104. Then a long debate ensued on the ques- tion of the appropriation of the surplus; a part of the ministerial plan which gave rise to more objections than any other. Many of the supporters of the government pleaded for its being reserved for farther consideration, and suggested other appropriations of the money. Ona division, the original plan was maintained by a majority of seventy-one; and as this majority, though large, was smaller than any which the government had hitherto ob- tained, the result was received with loud cheering not only from the opposition but from some of the ministerial benches. Another proposal having been agreed to, a com- mittee composed of the principal members of the govern- ment was nominated to draw-up the reasons of the House for their dissent from the lords’ amendments. The bill came back into the upper House on the evening of the 20th of July. Lord Granville, whose duty it was to introduce the matter, endeavoured to propitiate their lord- ships by the studied moderation of his tone. The debate, however, was long and warm. LHarl Grey attacked the government with more than his wonted vehemence. Karl Russell, though on the whole supporting them, spoke with some acerbity. Lord Shaftesbury, after announcing that he intended to vote with ministers, in order to prevent worse consequences, denounced the bill as the most violent 376 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuar. VI. and revolutionary measure ever submitted to parliament since the Reformation. The Duke of Argyll began by promising to abstain from irritating remarks, but forgot his promise before he concluded his speech. The lord chancellor spoke with a warmth and asperity that strongly contrasted with his usually mild demeanour; and the violence of the discussion culminated in a speech from Earl Winchelsea, who talked rampant nonsense till he was pulled down by some of his friends. The House had not recovered from its excitement when the division took place, by which the amendments made in the preamble by the lords and disagreed with by the commons were maintained by a majority of seventy-eight. Lord Granville at once moved the adjournment of the debate, to allow him an opportunity of consulting his colleagues in reference to the course they would pursue in consequence of this decision ; but two days after, he announced that a conference had taken place between Lord Cairns and himself, at which a compromise had been effected. In virtue of this under- standing it was agreed that the bill should come into opera- tion, as originally intended, on the Ist of January 1871; and some other slight alterations were made, rather calcu- lated to save the honour of the House of Lords than to alter the character of the measure or benefit the Irish church. The proposed compromise was willingly accepted by the opponents of the measure, who were weary of an opposition that was evidently hopeless, and glad to escape the responsibility which the rejection of such a bill would have involved. ‘The Earl of Bandon and the Bishop of Tuam delivered a formal testimony against the bill in the name of the Protestants of Ireland; but it was now safe, and all that remained to be done was, for the commons to give their formal sanction to the compromise which the government had effected. This they did on the evening of the 23d of July. Mr. Gladstone explained the nature and effect of the changes that had been made in the measure, the chief of which was the commutation, the effect of which would be to throw an additional charge of a quarter of a million on the fund to be placed at the disposal of the commissioners. He congratulated the House on the satis- factory character of the settlement; praised the moderation and ability with which the debates had been conducted on 1869. ] A POLITICAL CALM. 377 both sides of the House; eulogised Lords Granville and Cairns for the manner in which they had negotiated the compromise ; and concluded by expressing an earnest hope that the now disestablished church would develop qualities which it had not displayed in the days of its establishment, that a new career would open before her, and that God would speed her forward in the fulfilment of her high mission. Sir Roundell Palmer expressed his satisfaction that the question was at last settled. Mr. Disraeli silenced the murmurs of his supporters by declaring that the com- promise was a wise, well-considered, and conciliatory ar- rangement. On the 26th of July the royal assent was given, and the bill became law. The political storm was followed by a political calm. The energy of parliament, so long kept on the stretch, seemed at once to collapse. Mr. Gladstone’s health gave way. He was obliged to absent himself for some time from the sittings of the House, and came back looking fearfully 11], and scarcely equal to the task of making a short explana- tion. Much necessary business that still remained to be done was pressed forward as rapidly as possible, and several measures of no small value were passed before the session was brought to a close. The assessed-rating act, which did away a grievance irritating to thousands, was not seriously opposed even by those members of the conserva- tive party who the year before had regarded it as a most objectionable measure. The bankruptcy question, which had so often been brought forward, was at length settled in a manner calculated to promote the interests ai the honest trader. The abolition of imprisonment fo . debt, coupled with a retention of imprisonment for fraud, after haying been many years called for in vain, was now effected. The endowed-schools bill, the vanguard of a larger measure of education, received from both houses a candid and care- ful consideration, with an evident desire on all sides to make it a really good act, so that the large resources of the institutions it was designed to reform might be more widely available for the purposes to which they had been consecrated. A cattle-disease bill, and the repeal of the fire-insurance duties, two highly useful measures, were also carried through in the course of the session. Thus the first parliament elected after that great extension of the 378 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. (Cuar. VIL franchise, which had been regarded with such alarm, and which the head of the ministry under whose auspices it was carried, described as a leap in the dark, had laboured soberly, diligently, wisely; and had certainly not shown the slightest tendency to favour that partial legislation for the working classes which many persons had predicted would be the inevitable consequence of the extension of the franchise. Soon after the prorogation of parliament, it was an- nounced that, preparatory to the approaching disestablish- ment of the Irish church, a synod would be summoned, to be composed of clergy and laity in equal numbers, which was to determine what the future constitution of that communion should be. This announcement was hailed with general satisfaction ; and England as well as Ireland watched with interest the manner in which this body attempted to deal with the very difficuls and delicate question which would be referred to its consideration, which was, in fact, nothing less than the reconstitution of the Irish episcopal church. Thus we see that the work of legislative progress, which had been suspended during the administration of Lord Palmerston and the party struggles that had ensued on his decease, was now resumed and vigorously carried forward. This was due partly to the changes which the reform bill of 1867 had effected, partly to the character of the prime- rainister and some of his colleagues; but in some degree also to causes which lay deeper. The course of political legislation may be compared to that of a river; now rushing rapidly forward, now almost stagnating in a lake; now resuming its impetuous progress, and now sluggishly meandering through the plain. Thus the reforming energy of Earl Grey was followed by the polite insouciance of Lord Melbourne; succeeded by the more laborious and pains- taking administrations of Peel, Russell, and Aberdeen ; followed in their turn by the ‘ rest-and-be-thankful’ liber- alism of Lord Palmerston, which paved the way for the energetic activity of the Gladstone cabinet. It was well known to be the intention of ministers to follow up their Irish-church act by another measure dealing | with the Irish land-question, and there was a general ‘ anxiety to learn the principles on which they would attempt 1869. ] SPEECH OF MR. BRIGHT. 3719 to solve a problem that seemed to be even more difficult and delicate than that with which they had so firmly and successfully grappled in the preceding session. Of all the members of the government, Mr. Bright was the one who was supposed to have studied this question most deeply, and whose competence to deal with it was most widely acknowledged both in England and Ireland. When, there- fore, it was announced that he was about to address his constituents early in this year, it was expected that his speech would contain a programme of the general principles on which the government measure would be based; and the desire to hear him, which his oratorical fame inspired, was increased by the expectation that the speech would not, so much be an address to the men of Birmingham as a manifesto of the policy of the government with regard to the most important question of the coming session. And this expectation was not disappointed. After referring to the Irish-church act of the last session, he thus spoke on the Irish land-question : ‘There may be, and there seems to be, a general opinion that there is another grievance; an Irish grievance, but not a Catholic grievance, which affects the north the same as the south—a cry from the whole of Ireland that the government and the parliament should do something to place the social condition of the country in a more satis- factory state than it has hitherto been. Now this land- question is avery awkward question. I have often travelled along a road and seen a hilla mile off that looked very steep, and I wished I was on the other side of it; but in coming to the foot of the hill the slope appeared much more gradual, and I got over it without the difficulty I had anticipated. The Irish land-question is not at all that sort of question. It has looked to me a difficult question for twenty years; for during all that time I have had it before me, and I have considered it; and Iam, I will say if you like, modest enough to confess that when I get nearer the question, and endeavour to discover how it is to be dealt with, it appears to me steeper and more difficult than ever — it did before. ‘What are the circumstances of Ireland, as they may be stated in a sentence or two? The land of that great island is, as you know, in the hands of very few proprictors. I 350) THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap, VI. suppose half the population of Ireland are cultivators of the soil; but unfortunately they are what are called tenants at will. The owners for generations past, with sundry exceptions which need not be mentioned, have done nothing for the cultivation of the soil. They have let the land ata given rent, and twice a year at least they have received the rent; and that is the chief part of the duty they have per- formed as regards their land. On the other hand, the tenants have done very little compared with what they might have done, though quite as much as could be expected from people who had no security for anything they might do. ‘Thus the industry, the fortune, the home, the life itself of the cultivating population have been at the mercy of the owner of the land and of his agents who had the management of his property. And there is another point —the owners are not the same people as the occupiers. I think that Mr. Huxley, who is a great authority, denies altogether—and I have no wish to dispute what he says— that there is any difference of race between the people of Ireland and the people of England. I hope that is true. I have always been of opinion that if there were any differ- ence of race, the difference of condition arises ten thousand times more from a difference of treatment, from a difference of politics and law, than from any difference of race. But the occupiers and owners mostly differ very much also in religion; and although there is no reason why a Protestant landowner and a Catholic tenant, or a Catholic landowner and a Protestant tenant, might not be the best friends, yet, — when we have had a perpetual war for two hundred years in Ireland on this very question of Protestantism and Catholicism, you may be quite sure that that has done something to poison the relations between the owner and the occupier of the soil. Then this proprietary right in Ireland has its origin mainly in confiscation, and has been created and was only to be justified by conquest. And in addition to the original evil, the proprietors had not sense enough to see that that evil was sufficient for them, but they added to it a hundred years of the most odious cruelty and persecution during the existence of the penal laws. Therefore the original grievance was made ten times more bitter than it would otherwise have been by the persistent folly of the proprietary class, working as they did through 1869. ] SPEECH OF MR. BRIGHT. 381 a corrupt parliament in Ireland, and also through the governing power in Great Britain. ‘Now in Ireland, as I daresay most of you know, land is not only the great industry, but, with some exceptions in the north of Ireland, it is almost the only industry of the country, and there has been an excessive competition for it; and the struggle for life and the means of living has placed the occupier almost at the mercy of the proprietor of the soil. Thus we have gone on through suspicion and hatred and wrong, anda social war has been waged in some parts of the bitterest and most painful character; and at last parliament is called in, not merely to give any kind of right or justice to the tenants themselves, but it may be to secure the interests and the property of the proprietors of the land. I donot know myself whether, if I were an Irish- man, I should be more anxious for legislation as a tenant than I should be for legislation as a landlord. I think it absolutely necessary for the united kingdom that we should, if possible, put an end to the reign of discord in Ireland, and take away from us the disgrace of maintaining order by an armed force of police and military, I suppose seldom falling lower than 30,000 men. Iconsider this Irish land- question one of the greatest and most difficult that was ever considered by an administrator, or that ever was sub- mitted to a parliament. * My views on it have been explained in this hall in past times ; and it will not be necessary, nor would it be right, for me to go into any details with regard to it, when pro- bably before the end of next month, whatever propositions the government may submit to the House of Commons will be fully and freely explained to all the people of the three kingdoms. Butif I might say a word to people who are apt to criticise very much everything which a government does—I do not ask them to approve beforehand, but I ask them merely to give to the propositions, whatsoever they may be, that same solemn and conscientious consideration which I believe these propositions have received, and will receive, from the members of the government. This is not a question for party. I have no objection to as much party as you like when the time is fitting for it; but under the present condition of Ireland, I should say that a party fight was an Bnpatriotic fight. I say that it is not a question 382 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cmar. VI. for class and party contest; itis a question for conscientious patriotism ; and every man should consider it as though the prosperity, the peace, and the unity of the empire depended on its wise solution. J have often spoken upon this Irish question here and elsewhere. I blamed the leaders of parties in the House of Commons three years ago. Four years ago nearly, when the habeas-corpus act was suspended —I think in 1866—I blamed Mr. Gladstone, then the leader in the House of Commons of the ministry of Lord Russell; J blamed Mr. Disracli, leading the opposition, because they did not, in some way or other, bring before the House pro- positions which should settle in some way what is under- stood to be the Irish question. But I knew then that it could not be dealt with fairly by an unreformed parlia- ment. Ilaboured, as you know, much for reform; for I had great faith in a wider franchise and a freer representa- tion. The Irish difficulty was to me one of that complicated and gigantic character that could never be dealt with by a class; it seemed to me to demand the will, and the sense of justice, and the power, which dwell only in a nation, for properly disposing of it. ‘And now, when to a large extent the nation is called in; when every householder in every borough has a vote for his representative in parliament, I feel—it may be that Iam over-sanguine—that great results are to follow from our legislation with regard to this great question. The imperial parliament can do just as much by way of legislation for treland, with its hundred Irish members, as an independent Trish monarchy or an Irish republic could do, or as could be done for Iveland if Ireland were one of the states of the ereat confederation of the West.’ (A voice: ‘No.’) ‘Some gentleman doubts that. Iam not saying that it has done it or will do it; but I say that the imperial parliament, with a hundred honest representatives for Ireland on its benches, can do all this. What have we done? In con- junction with her representatives, we have already given to Ireland free churches and free schools, and I hope that before long we shall give them free land and a free vote. Ireland, as you well know, is not the most wealthy island in the world ; but we can buy from her all she wishes to scll at a higher price than any other nation can give, and we can sell her all she wishes to buy at a lower price than 1869.] INCREASE OF PAUPERISM. 383 any other nation. We may fail; but I hope not. Good efforts, and honest efforts, often succeed. We propose, then, a new conquest of Ireland, without confiscation and without blood, with only the holy weapon of a frank and generous Justice, which is everywhere potent to bring to- gether nations that have been long separated by oppression and neglect. Now from this new policy we hope for great changes in Ireland,—not that Ireland is to be made a paradise, but that Ireland shall be greatly improved. It may be—probably it is, or will seem like—the language of great exaggeration, if I quote the lines of Pope in one of the most exquisite poems in our language: “Then crime shall cease and ancient fraud shall fail, Returning Justice lift aloft her scale; Peace o’er the realm her olive- wand extend, And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend.” I say that this may appear the language of great exagyer- ation ; butif we are able to suppress conspiracy; if we are t able to banish agrarian crime; if we can unbar the prison- | doors; if we can reduce all excess of military force; if we can make Ireland as tranquil as England and Scotland now are,—then at least, I think, we may have done some- thing to justify the wisdom and the statesmanship of our | time.’ While the condition-of-Ireland question was thus at last receiving a full and enlightened attention, the condition- of-England question was demanding it no less impera- tively. That pauperism, which the new poor-law seemed for the moment to have mastered, had for some time past been growing up again; and at the beginning of this year its increase in all parts of the kingdom, and especially in London, had become so portentous as to demand the careful and immediate attention of the government and the legis- lature. Returns made to the House of Commons, giving a “comparative statement of the number of paupers of all classes (except lunatic paupers in asylums, and vagrants) in receipt of relief on the last day in each week,’ showed that the number of persons in receipt of relief in England and Wales, from the first week in November, 1868, to the corresponding week in November, 1869, had risen from 384 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cmar. VL 936,680 to 955,483. This increase was entirely in the number of out-door paupers, that of in-door paupers having slightly diminished, and was still going on. In other words, about five per cent. of the population of England was dependent upon the compulsory contributions of the rest; and there was good reason to fear that the proportion would soon become larger. Such a state of things demanded an investigation of its causes, and an endeavour to remove them. One remedy was obvious enough, and had often been strongly pressed —the remedy of emigration. It would transfer that labour which could not find employment in England to colo- nies in which it was greatly needed. But there was a serious difficulty in the way of the application of this remedy. Many of those who were reduced by the want of employment to the condition of paupers were accustomed to a kind of labour not required in the colonies. A Man- chester weaver or spinner, for instance, would be a very helpless and useless being in the backwoods of Canada, or in the sheep-walks and gold-diggings of Australia; and it would be more for the interest of all parties concerned that he should wait at home for better times, than that he should be deported to a colony where he would be as help- less and dependent as in the mother country. The second session of the newly-reformed parliament was opened on the 10th of February, by commission. The royal message announced that a proposal would be made to the legislature to amend the laws relating to the occupation and acquisition of land in Ireland, in a manner adapted to the peculiar circumstances of the country, and calculated to bring about improved relations between the classes con- cerned in Irish agriculture, which collectively constituted the great bulk of the nation. The message also intimated that a bill had been prepared for the enlargement, on a comprehensive scale, of the means of national education. Two such measures must necessarily occupy a large share of the time devoted to legislation; nevertheless the message _ announced that other measures of great importance would be introduced by the government: bills for the improve- ' ment of the constitution and procedure of the superior tribunals both of original and appellate jurisdiction; for the settlement of the question of religious tests in the 1870.] MR. GLADSTONE ON IRISH LAND BILL. 385 universities of Oxford and Cambridge; for the extension of the incidence of rating, and for the placing of the col- lection of large sums raised locally for various purposes ona simple and uniform footing; for amending the laws regulating the granting of licenses for the sale of fer- mented and spirituous liquors; for regulating the suc- cession of real property in case of intestacy ; for amending the laws imposing certain disabilities on the members of trade-combinations, which were complained of as pressing untairly on them; and lastly, for consolidating and im- proving the statutes relating to the merchant shipping. Such was the legislative programme of the government. Probably no previous administration had proposed to deal with so large a number of difficult and important questions in a single session. Mr. Bright had illustrated the diff- culty of the task they had undertaken by comparing it to the attempt to drive six omnibuses abreast of each other through Temple Bar. His colleague, Mr. Forster, had suggested that the six omnibuses might safely follow one another; but the event showed that Mr. Bright had formed a more correct estimate of the difficulty and delicacy of the task which the government had undertaken. Mr. Gladstone too, though quite ready to face the position which he and his colleagues had created, was perfectly well aware of the formidable nature of the work before him, at least if we may judge by the promptitude with which he introduced his first measure, and that which under existing circum- stances was the most important—the Irish land bill. . He asked leave to bring it in on Tuesday, 15th February. An immense audience had gathered to hear his explanation of the measure. That explanation we will give in the pre- mier’s own words, with such abridgment and condensation as the length of his remarks and the smallness of our Space render necessary. * In the first place, the bill proposes the enlargement of the power of the limited owner in regard both to lease and rate. Assistance will be given by loans of public money to occupiers disposed and able to purchase the cultivated. lands now in their occupation where the landlords are willing to sell. Facilities will also be given to landlords, by means of loan, to prepare waste lands for occupation, by the making of roads and the erection of necessary VoL. II. oe 386 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cusp, VI. buildings; and to assist purchasers of reclaimed lands, upon the security of the seller and buyer, or the provision of other security of an adequate nature. These transac- tions will be managed by the board of works in Dublin. With regard to occupation, the new law will be adminis- tered by a court of arbitration and a civil-bill court, with an appellate tribunal consisting of two, and in case of necessity three, judges of assize; the judges having power to reserve a case for a court for land causes in Dublin, to be composed of equity and common-law judges. ‘At present there are four descriptions of holdings in Treland which I have thought it my duty to keep specially in view. The first of these is known as the Ulster custom. This custom, where it exists, the bill will convert into a law, to which the new courts will give effect. Thesecond class of holdings are those which prevail under customs and usages other than that of Ulster; and these too are to be legalised, subject to the restriction that the tenant may claim the benefit of them as an absolute right only in cases where he is disturbed in his tenancy by the act of his landlord, if he has not been evicted for non-payment of rent, and has not sub-let or sub-divided his holding without the landlord’s consent. All arrears of rent and all dam- ages done by the tenant to the farm may be pleaded by the landlord as a set-off, and the landlord may bar the pleading of any such custom, if he chooses to give his tenant a lease for not less than thirty-one years. ‘ Where the buildings are not connected with any custom there will be a scale of damages for evictions. In the case of holdings above fifty pounds a year, the parties may contract themselves out of the scale of damages, on the landlord giving a thirty-one years’ lease, and undertaking to execute necessary improvements. ‘In cases of eviction the following will be the scale of damages: If the holding is not valued in the public valuation over 10/. a year, the judge may award the holder a sum not exceeding seven years’ rent; between 102. and 507. a year, a sum not exceeding five ycars’ rent; between 501. and 100/. a year, a sum not exceeding three years’ rent; and above 100/. a year, not exceeding two years’ rent. 1870.] MR. GLADSTONE ON IRISH LAND BILL. 387 ‘ In addition to this, the question of permanent buildings and the reclamation of land will have to be dealt with. ‘ For the purpose of promoting improvements, advances of money will be authorised to landlords, to enable them to defray any charge raised against them in the way of improvement in the case of tenants retiring by an act of their own. The principle on which I propose to deal with improvements is, that they must have a rentable value and be suitable to the holdings, and the burden of proof will be laid on the landlords. In other words, improvements should be the work of the tenant, and the landlord should show that they are not necessary; and the measure will not be limited to future improvements, but will be extended to those already made. No claim will be allowed for any improvement made twenty years before the passing of the act, unless it is an improvement of the nature of a perma- nent building, or a reclamation of land; nor if the tenant holds under an existing lease or contract which forbids it; and in the case of past improvements the court may take into consideration the terms for which, and the terms on which, they have already been enjoyed by the tenant. No claim will be allowed in respect of improvements contrary to a future contract voluntarily entered into by the tenant, and which are not required for the due cultivation of the farm. ‘As to lands under lease, a landlord may exempt his lands from being subject to any custom except the Ulster custom, provided that he agrees to give his tenant a lease for thirty-one years ; but the lease must leave to the tenant at the close of that term a right to claim compensation under three heads—namely, tillages and manures, perma- nent buildings, and reclamation of lands. ‘From the moment the bill is passed every Irishman will be absolutely responsible for every contract into which he enters. Non-payment of rent will be held asa bar to any claim on the landlord, reserving, however, discretion to the courts in certain cases. Notices to quit will have to be for twelve months instead of six, and date from the Jast day of the current year; and the notice must have a stamp duty of two shillings and sixpence. ‘ The bill also proposes to deal with the question of the county cess, which it will assimilate to the poor-rate, In cco2 358 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuar. VI. every new tenancy it will have to be paid in moieties by | landlord and tenant, as the poor-rate is now paid, and in: ' every old tenancy under 4/1. a year the occupier will be at once relieved. ‘Such are the principal provisions of our bill. The government are far from believing it to be a perfect mea- sure; and invite in thorough good faith the co-operation of all parties to make it as nearly perfect as possible ; for their desire is that it should become a great gift to Ireland, and be the means of putting an end to the grievances and sufferings that have so long been associated with the tenure of land in that country. I am sanguine in the hope that it will pass, not as the triumph of a party, but as a great work of good-will for the common good of our common country, and that its result will be to diffuse the blessings of peace, order, and industry over a smiling land.’ Mr. Hardy, who in the absence of Mr. Disraeli acted as leader of the conservative party, showed every disposition to receive the measure thus placed before the House in a fair and candid spirit. He promised that the party he represented would approach the consideration of the bill with the single object of making it just, practical, and conciliatory, and he readily agreed to the proposal made by Mr. Gladstone that the question of the second reading should be fixed for the 7th March; in fact, the feeling of the House was decidedly in favour of a measure which grappled with the Irish difficulty in a bold and statesman- like spirit. | The debate on the second reading commenced, as had been agreed, on the 7th March; and as there was no party struggle, it was carried on without much animation till the 11th of that month. Mr. Disraeli, who had been pre- vented by illness from attending the House of Commons, appeared in his place, though evidently still suffering, and. spoke ably, wittily, and moderately against the bill. At the conclusion of the debate it was read a second time without opposition. But though the principle of the bill was favourably received, it was inevitable that the details of such a mea- sure should be jealously scrutinised; for it was felt, that though the bill was intended to meet the peculiar circum 1870.] THE EDUCATION BILL. 389 stances in which Ireland was placed, it would scarcely be possible long to withhold from the English tenant the privileges and advantages bestowed on his Irish confrére. Accordingly three hundred notices of amendments were given. In order to gain time for their consideration, as well as that of the other numerous and important mea- sures that were to be submitted by the government, it _ was agreed, at the suggestion of the prime-minister, that morning sittings should be holden. The bill went through committee with only such alterations as the government, consented to accept, and was then carried up to the House of Lords, and read there a first and second time without opposition. Several amendments were made in committee, to which, with one exception, the government and the House of Commons agreed; and this important measure became law on the Ist of August. The bill by which it was proposed to deal with the question of national education was introduced only two days after the Irish land bill by Mr. Forster, to whose department the question belonged. The necessity for such a bill was great and evident. After all that had been said and done in reference to this question, two-thirds of the juvenile population of the country were without elementary education ; and the question for the consideration of the government and the legislature was, how this large residue should be brought under instruction; and in order that this might be effected it was necessary not only to provide new schools, but also to overcome the reluctance and indifference of parents. The explanation given by Mr. Forster of the scheme by which the government proposed to meet these objects was briefly this: . ‘It is our purpose to secure by enactment that there shall be efficient school provision in every district of England where itis wanted. The districts will be the civil parishes ; and having divided England into districts, steps will then be taken to ascertain the educational provision and their wants. If we find that in any district the educational facilities afford a due amount of primary secular instruction, that district will be let alone as long as it continues to be supplied with educational facilities. I now come to the condition of the schools which may be entitled to govern- ment aid. The first stipulation will be, that they should 300 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VI. be efficient according to the standard which parliament from time to time may set up. In the second place, the inspection will be no longer voluntary; and it will be required that every school shall submit to an inspection without any denominational conditions. A conscience- clause will also be attached to every school as the condition of any grant. This condition will also apply to every kind of grant, whether for building or for any other purposes. These are the broad principles on which the bill is framed ; and I trust they will secure not only the approval, but the support of parties opposite. They must recollect that this conscience-clause will apply to every kind of school, whether Church of England or of any other persuasion. I now come to what many will think the most important part of the bill—compulsory provision of schools. I do not believe that any central authority can undertake to supply schcols all over England; and as voluntary local efforts have failed, we must supply what is wanted by local taxation under local management, to be supplemented by a government grant, but with central supervision and inspec- tion. For this purpose there will be a power to unite parishes together; for the requirements of the town and country districts are so different, that it is absolutely necessary to have some power of the kind; but it is not contemplated to make the area of the school unions the same as that of the poor-law unions. Next with respect to the local boards of management, who are to elect them? We have come to the conclusion that in towns the town- council will be the best agency to elect school boards, and in the country the select vestries; but if there is no select vestry, then the vestry. With respect to parents, I will first state that we are not prepared to give up school fees ; it will not be necessary nor advantageous. But there will be a power in exceedingly poor and destitute districts to set up free schools, subject to the approval of the central boards, and also to give free tickets, but with due care that they attach no social stigma. I know that the question of local rates is a very delicate matter; but I believe the money will be the best expended of all, and will eventually tend to decrease the other rates. The rate will not be a special one, but will be levied with the poor-rate; and there will be a power in this bill, wherever this charge exceeds threepence in the 1870.] MR. FORSTER ON THE EDUCATION BILL. 391 pound, that it should be supplemented by a grant. The _local boards will have a discretion either to establish fresh schools, or to assist the existing schools; but if they assist one, they must assist all, and not select any one for the bestowal of their fayours. With respect to the knotty point of religious instruction, having inserted a most ex- tensive clause, we will not interfere with the discretion of the local boards. The next question is the most difficult of all. It is, how to secure the attendance of the children. The bill places before the House the principle of compulsion, the feeling in favour of which is, I believe, rapidly gaining ground; and it has already been established in the factory and short-time industrial schools. In them the plea of the value of the children’s time is not admitted as valid to prevent them from being educated. The principle must be applied to all trades and manufactories alike, and will require a large army of inspectors to enforce it. To effect compulsory attendance, power will be given to school boards to frame bye-laws to compel attendance between the hours of twelve and five, unless reasonable cause can be alleged. These bye-laws will be approved by central authority, and laid before parliament. The question of the number of attendances will be left as a detail for the local board to decide. These are the provisions of the bill, and in them the government has attempted to carry out what they believe to be the duty of the central executive—to see that every child in the country has the means of education placed within its reach. Having done this, they have pro- vided that the work, as regards its details, should be done by the local authorities, under the inspection and, if need be, the compulsion of the central executive on behalf of the state. The system may be described as the education of the people’s éhildren by the people’s executive, under the control and supervision of the people’s representatives.’ Seldom has an important government measure been received in a more candid spirit than was displayed towards the bill thus explained and introduced. Sir J. Pakington, who had displayed a warmer interest in the education question than any of his party, was most hearty and unreserved in his expressions of approval; and his remarks were as cordially cheered by the members who sat behind him as by those who occupied the ministerial benches. 592 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. (Cuar. VI. Almost the only blemish he seemed to discover in it was, that it did not provide for the appointment of a minister of public instruction. Some supporters of the government complained that the bill did not go far enough, and wished all dogmatic teaching to be banished from schools supported by public money. But even this party was not disposed to reject a bill attempting to provide a system of national education, and boldly grappling with the ‘religious difficulty,’ which had proved fatal to so many previous attempts to settle this great question. In the interval between the first and second reading of the bill two societies had been formed, representing the two antagonistic views that were taken with regard to it—the Educational League and the Educa- tional Union. These two bodies strove by meetings and other means to influence the public, and through them the House of Commons and the government, in favour of their respective views. Both agreed in professing a desire to give to every child in the country, as far as possible, an elementary education, to continue state aid to existing schools, and to respect the conscientious religious scruples of parents. But the league proposed to provide for the ‘ local support of schools from the rates alone; the unio: insisted that they should be supplemented by subscriptions and by the children’s pence. The former was in favour of enforcing attendance at school by direct compulsion, the latter by indirect compulsion ; the former insisted that there should be no religious teaching in rate-supported schools, the latter recommended a general conscience-clause. When the second reading came on, Mr. Dixon, who was at the head of the league, proposed an amendment embodying the views of that association; but, finding that the feeling of the House was against him, he attempted to withdraw it - the majority, however, insisted that it should be put and negatived, after which the bill was read a second time without a division. The favourable reception which the bill experienced was owing to the generally felt wish that this important. ques- tion should at length be settled by a fair compromise. The evident desire of the government that the measure should be a national and not a party one communicated itself to the majority of the members, and caused them to deal with it in the same spirit of candour and equity in 1870.] THE EDUCATION BILL. 393 which it had been introduced. But the chief struggle that arose was with regard to the religious teaching in the rate-supported schools. There were in fact three different parties representing three different opinions on this question. The first demanded that distinct dogmatic teaching should be allowed; the second contended for the reading of the Bible only; the third insisted that the instruction’ should be exclusively secular. It must not, however, be supposed that the persons holding the last-mentioned view were all of them, or even most of them, hostile to the impartation of religious instruction. Their contention was that the duty and responsibility of giving that instruction, or seeing that it was given, belonged to the parents, and it was desirable that they should be made to feel that this was the case, and not be led to look to others for that teaching which it was their own peculiar province to impart or to super- intend. Meanwhile the necessity for doing something speedily was strongly enforced by the result of an inquiry into the extent and value of the primary education afforded in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, and Liverpool. In Bir- mingham, it was found that the number of children who ought to have been under education, that is to say who were between the ages of three and thirteen, was 83,000, and the number of these actually being educated was only 26,000. In Leeds, out of 58,000 of school-age, only 19,000 were at school; at Manchester, out of 60,000, there were 25,000; and at Liverpool, out of 90,000, there were only _ 30,000. Government remained silent, desiring, as Mr. Gladstone explained, ‘to reserve to themselves the ad- vantages of consideration for as long a time as possible, because every day multiplied the expression of opinion and feeling in the country.’ At length, on the 16th of June, Mr. Gladstone broke the silence which heand his colleagues had so long maintained, and announced that they had determined to adopt a motion of which Mr. Cowper Temple had given notice, to exclude all catechisms and distinctive dogmatic formularies from schools founded by rates, to place voluntary schools under the committee of council, making a maximum increase of 50 per cent. in the grants to them. On the other hand, no more grants were to be made after a certain time, to be fixed in the bill, towards 394 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. (Cuap. VI. the erection of new schools. On the motion of Mr. Disraeli the discussion of the measure thus amended was deferred till June 20th. The first division at length took place on the question of going into committee, which was carried by 421 to 60. The bill was in committee from the 24th June till the 27th July, when the report was brought up, and it received its last amendments. In its general outline it was the same measure as when presented to the committee ; but it had been very carefully considered, and many important improvements made in its machinery, with the concurrence of government. ‘The compromise adopted by ministers was maintained. The denominational system was continued but not extended. Religious inspection was withdrawn; but religious instruction was permitted, under certain re- gulations, on the understanding that the state was not in future to be called on to aid in paying for it; and that it was not in any case to be enforced on the child of an objecting parent. The concessions of the government were, however, far from satisfying Messrs. Dixon and Miall, who expressed their disappointment when the question of the third read- ing was brought forward on the 22nd of July. The latter gentleman especially spoke in a very acrimonious tone, complaining that he and his friends had been ‘led through the valley of humiliation,’ and quoting the proverb ‘ once bit, twice shy.” His complaints called up Mr. Gladstone, who in the course of his reply to them said: ‘If m honourable friend has been bitten, by whom is it? Ifhe has been bitten, it is only in consequence of expectations which he has himself chosen to entertain—expectations not justified by the facts. We have been thankful to have the independent, and honourable support of my honourable friend, but that support ceases to be of value when accompanied by re- proaches such as these. I hope my honourable friend will not continue that support to the government one moment longer than he deems it consistent with his sense of duty and right. For God’s sake, sir, let him withdraw it the moment he thinks it better for the cause that he has at heart that he should do so. So long as my honourable friend thinks fit to give us his support we will co-operate with him for every purpose that we have in common; but when we think his opinions and demands exacting, when 187U.] THE EDUCATION BILL. . 395 we think that he looks too much to the section of the com- munity which he adorns, and too little to the interests of the people at large, we must then recollect that we, who have assumed the heavy responsibility of the government of this great country, must endeavour to forget the parts in the whole, and to propose to ourselves no narrower object than the welfare of the empire at large.’ Tt was fortunate that the committee had nearly concluded its arduous labours when the war between France and Prussia broke out. Had this event occurred at an earlier period, it would no doubt have exercised a very distracting and mischievous influence on the consideration of so com. plicated a measure. It was also a matter of congratulation, that as the foundations of a national system of education had now been laid, we might hope in any future war in which we might be engaged, to have the advantage of an educated soldiery—an advantage the value of which had been recently illustrated by the war between Prussia and Austria, and which was speedily destined to receive farther and still more signal illustration in the war that had now commenced. The bill was received by the peers with a remarkable unanimity of approbation, and went through the House of Lords without any important alteration. We are not yet sufficiently distant from the period of the passing of this great measure to be able to predict its future working with full confidence ; but there can be no doubt that it is the greatest educational step in advance that has yet been taken; and though a measure of so diffi- cult and complicated a nature will probably require many amendments, the nature of which must be determined by experience of its working, yet it so far settles the question as to leave no room for any other measure on the subject of anything like equal magnitude and importance. In some places it has been already so successfully worked that there is scarcely a single child of the school-age who is not receiving elementary instruction. In other places little has yet been done, because the immense amount of labour thrown on the educational department has prevented it from establishing school-boards in many parts of the country, and especially in its more thinly-populated districts. But the results which have thus far attended the intro- duction of the act in places where it has been sufficiently 396 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuapr. VI. tested seem to afford a promise and a guarantee of future success. Jt isindeed much to be regretted that Mr. Bright was disabled by illness from taking a part in the prepara- tion of a measure, in the framing of which his assistance would have been highly valuable. It is probable that if he had taken part in the discussion held on it in the cabinet and the legislature, the agitation that afterwards arose would have been prevented. The last days of the session were marked by an earnest and well-meant effort to avert the unhappy war between France and Prussia, which brought on the former of these two countries such a series of unparalleled calamities’ and disasters. Unhappily the two governments were far too blinded by passion to be influenced by the efforts made on pe part to prevent them from rushing into this sanguinary olly. Parliament was prorogued on the 10th of August. Much of the legislation brought forward by the government had been abandoned for want of time for its due consideration. But two measures of inestimable value—each of them of far greater importance than the whole of the legislation of parhament during the period that had elapsed between the commencement of the Palmerston and the Gladstone administrations—had been carried ; and there was reason to expect that they would be followed in the next session by others of scarcely inferior magnitude and value. Within a month after the prorogation, news arrived in England which spread grief and horror through every household. The Captain, one of the finest and most costly of our iron-clad ships of war, had gone down off Cape Finisterre, with all hands on board except a few sailors, who managed to escape in a boat. A trial of the sailing qualities of twelve of her majesty’s ships had been made, and none of them had passed through it more satisfactorily than this ill-fated vessel, which had been built on a new plan, under the direction of Captain Coles. After it was over she was on her way with the other ships of the fleet to their appointed rendezvous off the coast of Spain. A violent gale commenced, which compelled the ships to lower their topsails. When the day broke only ten ships out of the eleven which composed the squadron could be discerned from the deck of the Admiral’s vessel. The Captain-had 1871.] WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND PRUSSIA. O97 overturned. With her went down above five hundred men, all belonging to the naval service, and many of them distin- guished by professional or scientific acquirements, or by important services. At the commencement of 1871 the attention of our countrymen was engrossed by the terrible struggle which was being carried on in France, and especially by the siege of Paris. At the outbreak of the war public opinion of this country had strongly condemned the conduct of the French Government in its negociations with Prussia. But the ca- lamities that had fallen on the French people had excited a general feeling of sympathy for our ally, whohadsuffered ter- rible reverses, and was now maintaining a hopeless struggle for the defence of his beleaguered capital. It was felt that France had made a full atonement for the recklessness with which the war had been commenced by the overthrow of the Empire, and that the King of Prussia, having solemnly declared that the war he was waging was not against the French people, but against the Imperial Government, ought to agree to reasonable terms of peace, when that government had been repudiated and swept away by the French people. Mingled with this feeling was a dread of the ambition of Prussia, and alarm at its prodigious aggrandisement. Her unscrupulous conduct in reference to the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein was not forgotten, and, though England would have regarded with feelings of satisfaction the constitution of a united Germany, she was not prepared to regard with a like feel- ing the(establishment of a Prussianised Germany. How- ever, she had neither the wish nor the opportunity to interfere in the struggle which was being carried on so near to her own coasts, and the only way in which our sympathy with our French neighbours was manifested was by the raising a large sum of money to purchase supplies of food for the starving inhabitants of Paris. Meanwhile, Russia was taking advantage of the helpless condition of France to re-open the Crimean question. The treaty of 1856 had left her in a very humiliating position. While the other European nations were at liberty to have as many ships as they thought fit in the waters that washed their coasts, Russia was bound by that treaty to have on 598 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuar. VI. the Black Sea not more than six ships of war, and those of a very small size. She therefore resolved to seize the opportunity afforded by the helpless condition of France to enable her to get rid of this stipulation. At first the czar was about to proceed in complete disregard of his treaty obligations; but, finding that this course would be strongly disapproved, not only by England, but by victorious Germany, he agreed to submit the matter to a conference of the great European powers in London. The conference was delayed for some time, in order to give M. Jules Favre, the French minister of foreign affairs, then shut up in Paris, an opportunity of taking part in its discussions ; but, after a considerable time spent in negociating a safe- conduct for him, he came to the conclusion that his presence was more necessary in Paris than in London, and as France sent no other plenipotentiary, the conference, after waiting from the 3rd to the 26th of January, pro- ceeded to consider the business for which it had been convened. The chief results of its discussions were these :— The neutralisation of the Black Sea stipulated for by the treaty of 1856 was abrogated, but the Porte was allowed to open the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus to the ships of friendly and ailied powers whenever their presence ap- peared to be necessary for the maintenance of the treaty. ‘Thus a question, the raising of which at such a moment caused no little alarm and indignation, was quietly disposed of to the satisfaction of all parties. Probably, if these terms had been proposed before the commencement of the Crimean war, that terrible and deadly conflict might have been avoided. The British Parliament assembled this year at a critical moment. An armistice between the French and the Ger- mans had just been agreed on, and an assembly convoked at Bordeaux for the purpose of deliberating on the terms of the treaty, by which it was hoped that the truce might be converted into a lasting peace. The session was opened on the 9th of February. Among the measures recom- mended in the Queen’s speech to the attention of the legislature, were bills ‘ for the better regulation of the army and the auxiliary land forces of the Crown ;’ ‘on religious tests at Oxford and Cambridge, on ecclesiastical titles, on the disabilities of trades combinations, on tle courts of justice 1871.] WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND PRUSSIA. 399 and appeal ;’ ‘on the adjustment of local burdens, and on the licensing of houses for the sale of intoxicating liquors.’ It also promised, on ‘an early day,’ a measure for the establishment of.secret voting. The negociations which had been carried on during the recess naturally engaged the first attention of the legis- lature, and the conduct of the government was subjected to the ordeal of that severe criticism to which every government in turn, which has to deal with important foreign affairs, is exposed. Its attitude in reference to the original dispute between France and Prussia was strongly condemned, and it was alleged that by expressing in the first instance a more decided disapproval of the French demands, it might have prevented the war. But the conduct of the government in reference to the Russian demands was still more strongly censured. Sir R. Peel, in particular, distinguished himself by the severity of his strictures. He dwelt, amidst the loud laughter of the House, on the frequency with which the word ‘ ventured ’ occurred in the foreign correspondence of the government, and contrasted the deferential language of the present foreign minister with the spirited tone adopted by Lord Palmerston in his diplomatic papers. The debate indicated the public feeling on the subject, which was cleverly illus- trated and excited by an anonymous pamphlet entitled ‘the Battle of Dorking,’ in which a veteran, who had escaped from the destruction of the English army in this battle, is represented as recounting to his grand-children in 192] the glory and greatness of England before this imaginary defeat. The contemplation of the ease with which the Germans had overcome the armies of France raised an alarm. It was supposed that our influence on the continent would be annihilated now that our military impotence was revealed. The nation loudly demanded that our army should be in- creased, and that our forces, if inferior in numbers, should be at least equal in efficiency to those of the great conti- nental powers. These alarms were entirely groundless. There never had been a period when this country had less reason to apprehend an attack from any quarter. France, conquered, humiliated, bound hand and foot, bleeding at every pore, and loaded with a war indemnity such as no nation had ever borne before, burning with a desire to 4.00 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuar. VI. avenge her defeat and recover her lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, could not be suspected by the most excited imagination of an intention to attack as. Germany, Italy, and Russia too, now that the Black Sea question was settled, were animated by the most pacific sentiments towards us, and were neither singly nor collectively able to cope with our navy. ‘The balance of power,’ the cause or the pretext of so many wars, was tumbled in the dust. Nevertheless, the necessity for a firm attitude towards foreign powers, of holding ‘ dignified language, of main- taining a spirited policy,’ had so completely gained hold of the public mind, that it was impossible even for a ministry as strong as Mr. Gladstone’s then was to withstand the pre- valent feeling, and the government so far yielded to itas to increase the army estimates from 12,965,000/., which they were in 1870, to 15,851,7001., being a difference of almost three millions. Atthe same time the militia was raised to its full strength, and the volunteer movement encouraged by an additional grant of 73,0001. The government was not sorry to avail itself of the prevailing excitement, in order to carry out a much-needed military reform, the first step in which must be the abolition of that system of purchase by means of which the longest purse could carry it over the most brilliant military genius. This question had been strongly agitated during the recess, and Mr. Trevelyan, MP) ttor Hawick district, had distinguished himself by the zeal and assiduity with which he had advocated it, but it is probable that the government would not have grappled with an abuse so intertwined with the whole of our military system if the events which had occurred on the continent had not paved the way for it. To some it may seem strange and almost paradoxical to say that there could be much difficulty in abolishing a practice which every man out of the army condemned, and which scarcely any man in the army, not interested in its continuance, would justify. But the reader of this work will have had frequent occasion to remark that a small knot of persons, well organised and banded together to defend abuses, in the maintenance of which they are interested, will generally hold their ground, at least for a time, against the calm and dispassionate condemnation of the great body of the people. In this instance the system was defended as every time-honoured 1871.] REORGANISATION OF THE ARMY. 401 absurdity before it had been defended. High authorities were cited in favour of it, the efliciency of the army was asserted to depend on it, and it was predicted that if it were abolished the glory of the British arms would have departed. On Thursday, the 16th of February, Mr. Cardwell, with commendable promptitude, brought forward his plan. Though the chief object of his measure was the substitution of promotion by merit for promotion by purchase, it also provided for a thorough reorganisation of the army by combining the different forces of which it was composed— the regulararmy, the militia, the reserves, and the volunteers, The introduction of a bill which involved a largely in- creased military expenditure caused the army estimates to be discussed with unusual interest, excitement, and fre- quency. It now became evident that in order to carry their measure during the session, the government would be obliged to sacrifice their scheme of reorganisation and content themselves with effecting the abolition of purchase. And even after this had been done, Mr. Cardwell was obliged to remind the military men, who were the chief obstructors, that the over regulation prices paid for com- missions were illegal, and to intimate to them that jf their obstructive proceedings were carried further the law would be put in force. This hint had the desired effect ; the bill made its way through the Commons and was passed by 289 votes to 231. N otwithstanding the largeness of this majority it was decided, at a meeting held at the Carlton Club, that the measure should be opposed in the House of Lords, and the Duke of Richmond moved a resolution to the effect that the House desired to see the whole of the government plan before dealing with the question of the abolition of purchase. In fact the duke required ministers to put back into the bill the provisions which the opposi- tion of his friends in the lower House had compelled them to take out of it. N otwithstanding the manifest unreason- ableness, not to say factiousness, of thig proceeding, the duke’s resolution was carried by a majority of 25. Had this vote been maintained the bill would have been lost for the session. The second reading was not absolutely re- fused, but a condition was imposed with which it would have been impossible to comply. The opponents of the bill were greatly jubilant, but their triumph was short-liyod, VOL. ILI. DD 4.02 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VI. Two days after this victory was gained both Houses were crowded in all parts in expectation of an announcement of the course the government intended to take. It was gene- rally expected that the action of the Lords would be firmly and resolutely met. Greatly to the delight of the supporters of the government and not less to the dismay of their opponents, Lord Granville in the upper House and Mr. Gladstone in the lower, pointed out that the success of the Duke of Richmond’s motion did not necessitate the loss of the bill, but only its postponement, and that any peer might still move the second reading of it. They further stated that purchase being legalised not by statute, but by royal warrant, the government had advised the Queen to cancel | the warrant, the consequence of which would be the abo- \ lition of purchase on the 1st of November. Seldom has the House of Commons rung with a more triumphant cheer ' than this announcement elicited. It placed the majority of the House of Lords in a very embarrassing dilemma. The chief object of the bill had been effected; purchase created by one exercise of the royal prerogative was destroyed by another, and the government measure thus became a bill for compensating officers for the losses they would sustain through that abolition of purchase which was now a fait accompli. Under these circumstances the Lords censured ministers by a majority of 80, and quietly passed the bill. If nothing more than this had been done during the session the government would have richly deserved the gratitude of the nation. It had stormed a stronghold of class interest, which, if not attacked by a powerful government, might have continued for many years to impair the efficiency of ourarmy. But this was not the only measure of public interest and importance that they carried through during this session. The University Tests Bill, the nature and object of which are sufficiently described by its title, brought forward in 1870, was revived this year. Though it met with some opposition : in the lower House from Messrs. Stevenson and Fawcett, who desired to make it more efficient, and in the upper House from Lord Salisbury, who proposed to substitute a new test for that which the bill abrogated, it was carried through both Houses without any important alteration. The Heclesiastical Titles Bill put an end to the intolerant 1871.] THE BUDGET. 403 provisions which had been introduced into the measures which the ‘papal aggression’ provoked. The Trade Union Act carried out the recommendations of the cemmis- sion appointed to inquire into that important question, and aimed at putting an end to trades disputes by a system of impartial justice both to employers of labour and those employed by them. The Local Government Act extended to small towns and villages the administrative advantages which had hitherto been enjoyed only by those cities and boroughs that possessed municipal corporations. The budget of this year, which had a somewhat curious history, was thus introduced by Mr. Lowe :— ‘I estimate the excess of expenditure over revenue at 2,713,0007. The house tax and some other sources of income will not be available after this year. The sum of 600,000/. taken this year for the abolition of purchase in the army will probably be doubled next year. Whatis to be done? ‘There is no surplus revenue. The government will not increase the national debt. I can indeed show a way in which, without imposing fresh burdens, we could raise upwards of two millions—that is, by the abolition of exemptions of agricultural horses, licenses in Ireland, charitable and collegiate funds, and dividends belonging to foreigners residing abroad, making altogether 2,100,000. But I do not propose to do this. Nor would it be wise to disturb the customs duties. But there is a tax which could be touched. I allude to the probate, legacy, and succession duties. ‘The probate duty has many faults. It is charged on property bequeathed by will, but if a man dies intestate it is charged in the proportion of three to two. This law, I suppose, was made by lawyers, who thought it right to puxish a man for going out of the world without mak‘ag a will. I propose to abolishit. I propose to rate all personal property lable as intestate on a two per cent. duty. Ifan Englishman dies in France having property in England, his property would pay probate duty, but the legacies would not pay legacy duty; but if an Englishman had property in France he would pay legacy duty but not probate duty. I propose to sweep away these anomalies, and to enact that where a man pays probate duty he shall pay legacy duty, and where he pays legacy duty he shall pay probate duty. { now come to the succession duties. The son now pays one Di Di2 4.04: THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuar. VI. per cent., a brother three per cent., the descendants of a crandfather five per cent., and persons of non-consanguinity ten per cent. I think it fair to propose an increase of the succession duties. When Mr. Gladstone imposed these duties he estimated that they would reach 2,000,0001. Lord Cairns thought it would be 4.000,0002., and Sir Richard Malins estimated it at 8,000,0007. This was eighteen years ago; but it only reached 750,0002. Therefore I think the duty will bear an increase both on real and personal pro- perty, and I propose to make the first lineal descendant pay two per cent. instead of one; 1 would raise brothers to three and a half; then for the next of kin, five, and the next ten per cent. This would give 1,200,000/., including the probate, succession, and legacy duties. The next tax 1 have to propose is one on lucifer matches. They are used in a most dangerous manner. Gentlemen who are directors in fire insurance companies will be glad of this tax. I propose to put a halfpenny stamp on every box of 1800 matches, a penny stamp on a box containing 100 wax lights, and a penny stamp on every box of 100 fusees. I expect to receive this year from the tax 550,0007. From the probate and legacy duties I only expect 300,000/., making altogether 850,0002. There will therefore still remain a deficiency of 1,950,0002. It is my intention to raise that sum by the income tax. I regret that I am obliged to do this, but the money must be had, and there is no other way in which it can be obtained with so little disturbance to trade. But there is this difficulty. When the income tax was first imposed, a penny yielded 750,000/.; now a penny yields 1,550,0002., and there would still be a deficiency of 42,0001. I propose therefore for the future to impose the income tax by a percentage. At present the tax is 4d. im the pound. This would be 17. 13s. 4d. in the 1007. If I add to that 10s. 8d., thus making it up to 27. 4s. Od. in the 100/., that would give me 2,800,0007. in addition to the sum already received. The effect of what I propose will be that the legacy, probate, and succession duties would yield this year an addition of 350,0007.; matches, 550,0001., and the ad- ditional income tax 1,800,000/.’ It would have been difficult to have framed any budget that would have occasioned more general dissatisfaction than that which was thus laid before the House of Commons. 1871.) AGITATION FOR A REPUBLIC. 4.05 The long-suffering income-tax payers would have grumbled and paid as they had hitherto done under all the vicissi- tudes through which the impost had passed. But the mystifi- cation and puzzling which it was alleged that the percentage would occasion excited strong censure. The ‘ death duties’ as they were denominated, roused a very formidable opposi- tion, but of all of Mr. Lowe’s proposals that which excited the strongest disapprobation was that for a tax on lucifer matches. When the intentions of government respecting it came to be known, there swarmed forth from the lowest parts of London thousands of poor girls who earned a miserable subsistence by means of some industry connected with the production of the articles on which this tax was to be laid. They filled the approaches to the two Houses and besought the members to reject the proposed impost. The evident poverty and distress of those who made this appeal pleaded powerfully on their behalf. Their petition was favourably received, and its prayer being in evident accordance with the general sentiment of the House and the country, was promptly granted. The succession dutic3 shared the fate of the match tax, and the loss thus occa- sioned was made up by the addition of another penny to the income tax. The triumph of the republic in France encouraged the hopes and stimulated the exertions of those who desired the establishment of the same form of government in England. Public meetings were held in many places, and especially in the manufacturing districts, at which this object was openly avowed. ‘The leaders of the agitation asserted, though, as was afterwards shown, erroneously, that the Queen had never paid income tax. They contrasted the sums received by her and the other members of the royal family with the modest salary of the President of the United States, forgetting that the ques- tion between a monarchy and a republic is not a question of money, inasmuch as it would be quite easy to find a per- son willing and competent to discharge all the duties of royalty for a sum as small, or even smaller, than that which is paid to the chief magistrate of the great Ame- rican Republic, but that the large allowances which the representatives of the English nation have from time ta time voted to the sovereign, haye been intended as manifestas ; i 4.06 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuar. VI. tions of the loyalty of those whom they represent, and expressions of a desire on the part of the nation that the court should be maintained in dignity and splendour. Un- fortunately some of those who thus felt and thought, injured a good cause by the manner in which they advo- cated it, and, instead of meeting the republican agitation with the weapons of reason and argument, or treating their proceedings with disregard, they in some instances dis- played their loyalty by assailing them with lawless violence, which were attended by serious and even fatal results. The agitation thus carried on, and thus opposed, was at its height when an event occurred which showed how little the deep-rooted attachment of the English people to their monarchical institutions, and to the person and family of the sovereign, had been shaken by it. Never, perhaps, in any country did any announcement evoke stronger or more general expressions of sympathy and sorrow than the news that the Prince of Wales was suffering from an attack of the disorder that had proved fatal to his illustrious father. He had spent a few days at the seat of Lord Londesborough, near Scarborough, and it was supposed that while there he had been exposed to a poisonous effluvium proceeding from a badly-trapped drain. The rumour was indeed promptly contradicted by Lord Londesborough’s medical attendant, who stated that the sanitary arrangements of the mansion had been carefully examined before the prince’s visit, and had been found to be in the best order. Be this as it may, itis certain that several of those who were inmates of the house during the time had been attacked by typhoid symptoms, more or less severe, and one of them, the Earl of Chesterfield, had sunk under the disease. The prince himself began to show similar symptoms shortly after his return to Sandringham. At first his in- disposition seemed to be slight, but it soon assumed a serious character, and his condition became exceedingly critical. Unfavourable rumours respecting him had before been industriously circulated, had obtained too ready a credence, and had somewhat impaired his popularity. But when it became known that his illness was really dangerous, there was an unparalleled outburst of loyal sympathy. For some time, while he was between life and death, it seemed as though the whole nation had 1871]. ILLNESS OF THE PRINCE OF WALES. 407 become one great family, whose hope and chief stay was stricken with dangerous illness, Every bulletin was expected in every town and village of the kingdom with intense anxiety, and as the telegraph flashed the tidings to the farthest extremities of the earth, Englishmen in every country were anxiously waiting for the latest intelligence, and went away joyful or dejected, according as the tidings conveyed were hopeful or unfavourable. The attention of all civilised nations was drawn to this striking manifesta- tion of loyalty, which produced everywhere a strong feeling in favour of monarchical government and English institu- tions. The sympathy and anxiety reached their culmi- nating point on the 14th of December, the anniversary of the death of the Prince Consort, and when it was found that the day had passed over with a change for the better rather than for the worse, the nation breathed more freely, _ and hoped more sanguinely. Meanwhile, in every church, and in almost every other place of worship throughout the British Empire, special prayers were offered on behalf of the Prmce and his widowed mother, and continued to be offered up till his convalescence was established. On the 19th of December the object of so many fervent prayers and so much heartfelt sympathy was so far restored to health that the Queen and other members of the royal family felt themselves at liberty to quit Sandringham, and from that time, notwithstanding some untoward symptoms, the progress of the prince’s recovery, though slow, was steady and unbroken. The Queen thus expressed her sense of the loyal sympathy which had been manifested towards herself and the prince throughout this trying period :— ‘Winpsor Castiz, Dec. 26, 1871. “The Queen is very anxious to express her deep sense of the touching sympathy of the whole nation on the occasion of the alarming illness of her dear son, the Prince of Wales. The universal feeling shown for her by her people during those painful, terrible days, and the sympathy evinced by them with herself and her beloved daughter, the Princess of Wales, as well as the general joy at the improvement in the Prince of Wales’ state, have made a deep and lasting impression on her heart, which can never be effaced. ' It 408 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VI. was indeed nothing new to her, for the Queen had met with the same sympathy when, just ten years ago, a similar illness removed from her side the mainstay of her life, the best, wisest, and kindest of husbands. ‘The Queen wishes to express, at the same time, on the part of the Princess of Wales, her feelings of heartfelt gratitude, for she has been as deeply touched as the Queer by the great and universal manifestation of loyalty and sympathy. | ‘The Queen cannot conclude without expressing her hope that her faithful subjects will continue their prayers to God for the complete recovery of her dear son to health and strength.’ Having thus conveyed her thanks to her subjects, her Majesty determined also to make a public demonstration of her gratitude to the Almighty for the great mercy He had shown towards her and the prince. A solemn thanksgiving service was held in St. Paul’s, at which the Queen, the Prince, and the rest of the royal family attended, but which was chiefly memorable on account of the ardent demon- strations of loyalty and personal attachment to the Queen made by millions of her subjects who crowded every place commanding a view of the route by which the procession went to and returned from the great metropolitan cathe- dral, and whose conduct on the occasion cannot be better described than in the Queen’s own words :— ‘BuckrncHam Pazace, Feb. 29, 1872. ‘The Queen is anxious, as on a previous occasion, to ex- press publicly her own personal very deep sense of the reception she and her dear children met with on Thursday, February 27, from millions of her subjects on her way to and from St. Panl’s. ‘Words are too weak for the Queen to say how very deeply touched and gratified she had been by the immense enthusiasm and affection exhibited towards her dear son and herself, from the highest down to the lowest, on the long progress through the capital, and she would earnestly wish to convey her warmest and most heartfelt thanks to the whole nation for this great demonstration of loyalty. ‘The Queen, as well as her son and her dear daughter- 1872.] SIR R, COLLIER. 409 in-law, felt that the whole nation joined with. them in thanking God for sparing the beloved Prince of Wales’ life. ‘The remembrance of this day, and of the remarkable order maintained throughout, will for ever be affectionately remembered by the Queen and her family.’ One of the first subjects that engaged the attention of Parliament at the commencement of the session of 1872 was the appointment of Sir R. Collier as a judge of the new Court of Appeal, in defiance, as was alleged, of the spirit and intention of the statute by which the court had been created. A clause of the act provided that judges of the new court should be chosen from those who were already judges of one of the law courts. In accordance with this provision Mr. Gladstone offered the appointment to three of the judges of these courts, whom he considered to be qualified to fill the office; but as the offer was refused by all of them he felt that it would be lowered in public estimation if it were hawked about any more. Under these circumstances, the attorney-general, Sir R. Collier, having been informed of the difficulty in which the government was placed by these refusals, offered himself for the vacant post, though he might fairly hope, by waiting, to obtain the higher prefer- ment of lord chancellor or chief justice of one of the -eourts. But as he had nod yet been raised to the judicial bench, he did not possess the qualification required by the act. To get over this difficulty he was appointed to a vacant puisne judgeship in the Court of Common Pleas, and after having held it for only two days was transferred to the Court of Appeal. The manner of this appointment was certainly calculated to make an unfavourable impres- sion. It was thought by many of the opponents of the government and by some of its supporters, that the spirit and intention of the statute had been grossly violated ; and this feeling was strengthened when a letter from Lord Chief Justice Cockburn appeared, strongly condemning the manner in which the appointment had been made, and was followed by another from the chief justice of the Common Pleas, protesting against the manner in which his court had . been treated. ‘The opportunity thus afforded of inflict- ing a damaging defeat on the government was too tempting 410 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. _ [Cuar. VI. to be allowed to pass unimproved. Votes of censure were, therefore, proposed in both chambers of the legislature. In the upper House ministers triumphed by the narrow majority of two, in the lower by twenty-seven. Perhaps no question whatever had been so much or so often before the House of Commons as that of vote by ballot. None had been more earnestly pressed by the Radical party, or more strenuously resisted by the Con- servatives. Addison, in a letter dated February 2, 1708, mentions that the House of Commons was then engaged in a project for deciding elections by balloting. The question then went under, to emerge again soon after the peace of 1815, when it attracted so much public sympathy and support, that, as we have already seen, Lord J. Russell, in bringing forward the Reform Bill, deemed it necessary to apologise for the absence from it of any provision relating — to the ballot, on the ground that it was desirable to consider the two measures separately. During the first session of the reformed parliament in 1833 it was embodied in a bill brought forward by Mr. Grote, the historian of Greece, then member for the city of London, and was the subject of a long series of annual motions proposed by him, and after his withdrawal from parliament by Mr. Berkeley. It was one of the points of the people’s charter, and the one, per- haps, of all others to which the Chartists attached the greatest importance, and it met with a large amount of support from the Liberal party generally. Lord J. Russell generally opposed it; but when provoked by the intimi- dation and corruption practised at elections, he some- times used language which led some’ to hope and others to fear that he would become a convert to it. On the other hand, Sydney Smith had strongly condemned it in one of the ablest, wittiest, and most argumentative of all his writings. However, the question slowly but steadily made way in public opinion. Mr. Gladstone had formerly opposed it; but the evidence taken on the elections of the year 1868 before a committee of the House of Gom- mons, of which Lord Hartington was chairman, and which made converts of many who had formerly been opponents of the measure, convinced him that the time was come when legislation on the question should not be any longer delayed. Accordingly, in 1871 the ques- 1872.] THE PERMISSIVE BILL. 411 tion was referred to in the Queen’s speech, and a bill for its settlement was brought forward by the government, which, after having passed the Commons, was rejected by the Lords, on the ground that it was brought before them ata period of the session too late to admit of its being duly considered by them. This year it again went through the lower House, and was read a second time by the peers; but an amendment was carried in committee making secret voting optional. This amendment would evidently have nullified the object of the bill, and was rejected by the Commons; the Lords yielded, and the bill was even- tually adopted nearly in the form in which it had been originally introduced—establishing that system of secret voting with which we are all familiar, and abolishing public nominations of candidates and declarations of the resnlt of the polling, formalities which had become quite useless, but were fruitful causes cf riot and disorder. A proviso had been introduced by the Lords, enacting that the bill should only remain in force to the close of the year 1880, unless parliament should see fit to continue it; and there can be no doubt that, after the experience we have had of its ad- vantages, all parties will agree in perpetuating the system thus introduced. Another question, not inferior in importance though very different in character, was also dealt with by the legislature in the course of the present year. The agitation carried on by the United Kindom Alliance for the total and im- mediate suppression of the liquor traffic had indeed failed to attain its object, but it had made a deep impression, and effected a great change in public opinion with regard to the use and utility of alcoholic liquors. It had also drawn general attention to the enormous amount of crime, pau- perism, and misery they produced, and the prodigious ex- penditure they caused in police, prisons, workhouses, &ec. The Alliance had collected and diffused through the land an immense amount of evidence, and had asked for and obtained the large sum of 100,0001. to enable it to agitate with greater vigour. The publicans, who, in the first in- stance, had treated its efforts with derision, were now be- coming seriously alarmed at the progress of the agitation. On the other hand, the leaders of the Alliance, ‘without bating one jot of their demands, readily lent the influence 412 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VI. of their powerful organisation to any measure tending to restrain that drunkenness which they hoped radically to cure. The publicans professed to desire measures tending to discourage drunkenness: the men of the Alliance wanted to get rid of the drink. The publicans pleaded the interests of their trade: the Alliance men urged the interests of the public. The publicans sued for compensation: their oppo- nents demanded retribution. It was impossible to devise a compromise which would be accepted by two parties so diametrically opposed to each other. But the agitation had so far prevailed, that it had become needful that the ques- tion should be dealt with by the government. Accordingly Mr. Disraeli’s administration had framed a measure on the subject, which their defeat at the last election had pre- vented them from producing. Their successors in 1871 brought forward a measure dealing with the question, but being unable to carry it during that session they passed a temporary measure, giving the home secretary a veto on all licences granted by the magistrates, and reintroduced their bill in the session of 1872. Though not prepared to go the lengths of the Permissive Bill of the Alliance, nor even to admit the principle which that measure embodied of giving the public, in some way or other, the control of public-houses, they were fully aware of the evils that attended the liquor traffic. They left to the magistracy the power of granting or withdrawing licences under certain regulations; they pro- tected publicans from vexatious appeals, they directed that a register should be kept of offences committed in public-houses, increased the penalties for drunkenness, provided securities against the adulteration of intoxicating. liquors, and shortened the hours during which public- houses were to remain open both on Sundays and week days. The bill was carried notwithstanding the opposition of the publicans. The enforcement of its early closing regulations led at first to disturbances, chiefly directed against hotels for the entertainment of travellers, which necessarily remained open after the other public-houses were closed: but these disorders were not of a very serious character, were confined to one or two places, and were easily suppressed. The law was enforced without difficulty, though not without giving bitter offence to the 1872.] TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 413 publicans, whose resentment was afterwards manifested in a manner very disastrous to the ministry by which the measure had been carried. The treaty of Washington and the proceedings to which it gave rise constitute an important era in the history of the werld. We have already had occasion to refer to the ill fecling produced in America by the ravages which the Alabama and other privateers that had escaped from our ports had committed. That feeling had become so strong that the United States government, which from its consti- tution is peculiarly accessible to every impulse of popular feeling, could not disregard it, and sensible men on both sides of the Atlantic desired to see something done to allay it. Mr. Reverdy Johnson, who came to this country as the representative of the United States, commenced a negociation for the settlement of the question, which seemed likely to lead to the desired result. Unfortunately he accepted a great number of invitations to banquets in the chief towns of England, and used language at them which was intended to express the sentiments of friendship and good will which he felt towards England, but which gave great umbrage to his countrymen, and caused him to be recalled. The treaty he was negociating shared the unpopularity of the negociator, and was rejected by an almost unanimous vote of the United States Senate. His successor was Mr. Motley, the historian of the Nether- lands, who, in conjunction with Mr. Fish, the foreign secretary of the United States, renewed the interrupted negociations. As the constitution of the United States required that everything relative to them should be refer- red to the Senate, it was thought best that they should be carried on at Washington, and that commissioners appointed by our government should go thither. It was understood on both sides that an effort should be made to settle the questions at issue between the two governments on broad principles applicable to disputes that might arise at any future time. Our government was blamed here for being over-eager to entertain the claims of the American government, and for not pressing more strongly counter-claims that were raised for damage done in Canada by Fenian raiders, who, it was alleged, had been rather encouraged than checked by the United States 414 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuar. VE. government. These censures were altogether groundless. It was of the utmost importance to England not to leave unsettled a claim which was sure to be pressed at the moment which would be most inconvenient for us, and there was not a shadow of foundation for the assertion that the American government had violated international obli- gations in dealing with the Fenians. Our government therefore displayed a wise moderation in not urging unsus- tainable claims, and providing for the settlement of the question at issue between the two governments by arbitra- tion, thus establishing a precedent applicable to all future disputes between civilised nations. The English govern- ment facilitated the conclusion of the treaty by a hearty and unreserved expression of regret at the escape of the Alabama and other privateers from our ports, and at the ravages committed by them on the American merchant shipping. The commissioners on both sides agreed that the decisions of the arbitrators on the cases to be submitted to their judgment were to be governed by the following rules of international duty, which the American commis- sioners submitted as a fair expression of the recognised law of nations :— . ‘1. That a neutral government is bound, first, to use due diligence to prevent the fitting out, arming, or equipping within its jurisdiction of any vessel which it has reasonable ground to believe is intended to cruise or carry on war against a power with which it is at peace; and also to use like diligence to prevent the departure from its jurisdiction of any vessel intended to cruise or carry on a war as above, such vessel having been specially adapted, in whole or in part, within such jurisdiction to warlike use. ‘2. Not to permit or suffer. either belligerent to make use of its ports or waters as the base of naval operations against the other, or for the purpose of the renewal or aug- mentation of military supplies or arms, or the recruitment of men. ‘3. To exercise due diligence in its own ports and waters, and as to all persons within its jurisdiction, to prevent any violation of the foregoing obligations and duties. ‘Tt being a condition of this understanding, that these obligations should in future be held to be binding inter- nationally between the two countries,’ 1872.] TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 415 The English commissioners, in accepting these rules, and agreeing that the decisions of the arbitrators should be governed by them, denied that our government had in any way failed in the performance of international duties, or had neglected to use every proper precaution to prevent the departure of the privateers; on the contrary, they maintained that they had even gone beyond those duties by purchasing ships which were suspected, though with- out a proof, to be designed to be employed in the same manner as the Alabama. But after the terms had been fully arranged and the treaty ratified, a difficulty arose which at one time seemed likely to prove fatal to it. The English negociators had all along understood, and believed that they had clearly made it to be understood by the American negociators, that the arbitrators were only to take into their consideration the amount of the actual and direct damage done by the privateers, whose depredations had given rise to the treaty ; but the American government set up a claim for indirect damages—that is to say, for the expense that the United States had been put to and the losses they had sustained in consequence of the failure of our government to prevent ; the privateers from quitting our ports. These indirect claims were made under the three following heads: 1, The lossesin the transfer of the American commercial marine to the British flag. 2. The enhancement of the payment of insurances. 8. The prolongation of the war, and the addition of a large sum to the cost of it. These claims were firmly resisted by the English com- missioners, and at length virtually waived by the American overnment. When all the questions arising out of the negociations had been satisfactorily settled, arbitrators were appointed in accordance with the stipulations of the treaty. They were—Count Frederic Sclopis, for Italy, President ; Chief Justice Cockburr, for England; Mr. Charles Francis Adams, for America; M. Jaques Staempli, for Switzerland, and Viscount Itajuba, for Brazil. They met on the 15th, and again on the 19th of June, when they formally rejected. the indirect claims. The discussions were carried on with occasional adjournments till the 25th of December, when af 416 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. (Coar, VL. Uy A+ the president delivered the decision of the tribunal. I¢ was agreed that in the case of the Alabama and the’ Florida, Great Britain had failed to fulfil the duties pre- scribed by the first and third rules of the treaty, but that in the cases of the Retribution, the Sumter, the Nash- ville, the Tallahassee, and the Chickamauga, she had not failed. The tribunal awarded 15,000,000 dollars, or about 3,000,000/., for the satisfaction of all claims. \ Another award made this year, in acoomieene with the stipulations of the Washington treaty, was also against us. The right to the possession of the island of San Juan was referred to the arbitration of the Emperor of Germany, who decided that it belonged to the United States. These two disputes, which a few years before would probabl have led to a long and bloody war, were now decided by a judicial tribunal, whose award involved no humiliation’ of the party against which they were given, While our diplomatic relations with the nited States of America were thus placed on a satisfactory footing, those with France were somewhat impaired in consequence of. the approach of the time when the treaty negociated by Mr. Cobden would expire. The French government, though actuated by the most friendly spirit towards our own, was compelled by the great increase of taxation which their disasters and their prodigious war indemnity necessitated, to introduce some modifications into a treaty framed under very different circumstances. The president of the French republic, M. Thiers, and his minister of finance, M. Pouyer-Quertier, both vehement protectionists, were naturally opposed to the free-trade principles on which the treaty was based, and wished to carry the inroads on those principles even further than the necessities of their country required. However, great allowance was properly made on this side of the water for the difficulties by which the French government and nation were surrounded, and the changes that were proposed to be made, though highly objectionable, produced no abatement of the cordial feeling which had now for a long time subsisted between the two nations. On both sides, too, efforts were made to maintain ' the free-trade character of the treaty, and contributed in no small degree to bring about the retirement, first of M, Pouyer-Quertier and afterwards of M. Thiers. 1872-3. ] THE ‘COAL FAMINK,’ 417 The close of the year 1872 and the commencement of 1873 was a period of strikes, rumours of strikes, arising from a general demand on the part of the working classes for increased wages and shorter hours of labour. There were strikes of agricultural labourers, masons, bricklayers, painters, plasterers, metal-workers—in a word, almost every trade connected with building; threatened strikes of bakers, causing serious uneasiness, and, lastly, strikes of metropolitan policemen and gasmen, creating very great alarm. Five of the chief participators in the last-men- tioned strike were indicted for a conspiracy, tried before Judge Brett, convicted, and sentenced to be imprisoned for twelve months. The severity of this sentence excited a good deal of compassion for men whose conduct would otherwise have been regarded with general indignation. But the most serious of all the strikes that happened about this time was that of 10,000 coliiers in Wales, drawing after it the compulsory idleness of 60,000 men engaged in the iron trade. ‘The consequences of the cessation of labour of so large a number of persons engaged in one branch of industry was very serious. The price of coals, which for a great number of years had been steadily increasing, was now suddenly doubled, producing what was not in- correctly described at the time as a ‘coal famine.’ For- tunately for the poorer classes of our countrymen, the winter of 1872-3 was exceptionally mild, and therefore the scarcity of fuel thus produced was less severely felt than it would have been if the winter had been more rigorous. In connection with this subject Sir W. Armstrong delivered an important speech at Newcastle, in which he drew the attention of the English people to the rapid increase that was taking place in the consumption of coal, and to the waste which was a principal cause of that increase. He stated that our consumption of coal was accelerating at the rate of 4 per cent. compound interest per annum, and that if this increase continued our stock of coal, large as it is, would be exhausted, and therefore, that if the enhanced price of that commodity should prove to be the means of pro- ducing more care and economy in its use, it would be an ulti- mate advantage. He also stated that the coal annually raised was consumed in nearly equal proportions under three great| divisions. 1. Domestic consumption; 2. Steam- VOL, IIT, EE 418 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuar. VI. engine consumption; and 3. Iron making and other manu- facturing processes.’ He suggested various means by which this precious article of daily consumption might be economised, and suggested the increased use of machinery and the diminution of the number of men directly em- ployed in getting coal, as a means by which the supply might be equalised with the legitimate demand. The commencement of 1873 was marked by the illness and sudden death of one who, though a foreigner, had for many years filled a large space in the eyes and in the affec- tions of the English people. On the 9th of January the Kmperor Napoleon III. terminated his chequered and eventful life at Chiselhurst, whither he had retired after his liberation from captivity in Germany. The long time that he had resided in this country, the intimate relations he had invariably laboured to maintain, and, on the whole, had succeeded in maintaining, with the English government, the admiration with which his high-souled empress was generally regarded, and the misfortunes which had overclouded his latter days, combined to produce a very strong feeling of regret at his decease, and to evoke a much warmer manifestation of sympathy throughout England than was made in the country which he had so long ruled, and in which he had once enjoyed such un- bounded popularity. The fifth session of the parliament elected in 1868 com- menced on the 6th of February, 1873, and was inaugurated by a royal speech, delivered by commission, which con- tained the following announcements and promises of legis- lation :— ‘A measure will be submitted to you on an early day _ for settling the question of University Education in Ire- land. It will have for its object the advancement of learning in that portion of my dominions, and will be framed with a careful regard to the rights of conscience. ‘You will find ample occupation in dealing with other legislative subjects of importance, which for the most part have already been under your notice in various forms and at different periods. Among these your attention will speedily be asked to the formation of a Supreme Court of Judicature, including provision for the trial of appeals. ‘Among the measures that will be brought before you, 1873. ] DUBLIN UNIVERSITY BILL. 4.19 there will also be proposals for facilitating the Transfer of Land, and for the amendment of our system of Local Taxation, of certain provisions of the Education Act of 1870, and of the General Acts regulating Railways and Canals; together with various other bills for the improve- ment of the Law.’ The large majority given to the Liberal party at the last election was an expression of national confidence in Messrs. Gladstone and Bright, and more especially in their ability to deal with inveterate evils that afflicted Ireland, and to unite that country to Great Britain, not only by _ legislative enactments but by ties of loyalty to her sove- reign and attachment to her institutions. The govern- ment had responded to these expectations by bringing forward measures of justice to Ireland comprised under three heads. 1. The disestablishment of the Irish Church. 2. The settlement of the land question. 38. The enact- ment of a national system of education under which the rights of conscience would be fully respected. Two of these objects had been fully effected, and it was hoped that the present parliament would crown its labours by carrying out the third. Accordingly, as we have already seen, the subject occupied a prominent place in the Queen’s speech, but the government did not propose to deal at once with the whole of so large and difficult a question, but only with that portion of it that related to the highest kind of education—that imparted in universi- ties, leaving the other part of the question to be con- sidered in a future session. The object of the bill now introduced was to create a new university in Dublin, no longer, as at present, identified with Trinity College, but of which that college, together with others already in existence, or hereafter to be brought into existence, should form a part, each standing in reference to the new uni- versity on a footing similar to that on which the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge stand to their respective uni- versities, except so far as the peculiar circumstances of Ireland, and especially the preponderance of the Roman Catholic religion, seemed to render necessary peculiar safeguards. Among these safeguards was a provision excluding from the new university the teaching not only of theology but also of mental and moral philosophy, EE 2 420 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. {Cuap. VI. though it was proposed to hold voluntary examinations — on the two last-mentioned subjects. Mr. Gladstone intro- duced the bill in a remarkably able and argumentative speech, which quite carried away the House; and it was thought at first that the bill would command almost unanimous support. But when the measure came to be deliberately scanned, objections were raised against it which had not at first presented themselves, and it soon came to be seen that the bill would encounter the strong opposition of the Irish Roman Catholic hierarchy, while many Irish Protestants were also induced to oppose it through an utterly unfounded fear that the Catholic claims would be conceded. The combination of these two hostile parties in opposition to the measure greatly endangered it. Another bill, which had the recommendation of being approved by the governing body of Trinity College, had been brought in by Mr. Fawcett in 1872, when the atten- tion of the government, and especially of the prime minister, was engrossed by the Irish Land Bill, and pressed with so much pertinacity that the cabinet determined to make it a question of confidence, and when it was re-intro- duced in 1873, Mr. Gladstone announced that the govern- ment would stake its existence on it. Mr. Horsman, whom we have already seen embarrassing the Liberal party, of which he was a professed member, made a strong and bitter speech against the government measure, in the course of which he thus referred to it. ‘This is a bill which nobody wants, nobody accepts—which settles nothing, and muddles everything. The Protestants do not want it; the Catholics refuse to accept it, and Mr. Gladstone ought to put an agreeable termination to an ugly business by withdrawing a measure so impossible. There is no pre- cedent for proceeding with a bill so universally condemned, and why should parliament have this bill thrust down its throat against its will as a vote of confidence in the govern- ment? Has any English or Scotch member ever gone through the hypocrisy of professing to feel confidence in the government on this question? When the country understands the bill such a vote will be regarded as a vote of confidence in Cardinal Cullen and his priests. Any member who gives such a vote will meet with speedy extinction from his constituents.’ 1873.) DUBLIN UNIVERSITY BILL. 42] Farther in the debate the chancellor of the exchequer thus referred to Mr. Horsman’s attack :— ‘There is always a consolation in these matters that there are found some faithful spirits when others prove false to us. There are those who will not leave their friends in the hour of the darkest adversity. I have one in my mind of whom I will not speak in prose, but rather whose conduct I will describe in the language of the poet— “Come rest in this bosom my own stricken decr, Though the herd may have left thee, thy home is still here. Here, at least, is a smile, which no cloud can o’ercast, And a heart and a hand all thine own to the last.” ‘The House will see that I am not too highflown in the panegyric I give when I read this letter: ‘‘ Mr. Gladstone has introduced a measure of University Education which does him great honour, and when perfected by amendment in committee, it takes its place in the statute book, it will be a noble crowning to the work of the present parlia- ment. We must all come to its consideration with an earnest desire to acknowledge the large and generous spirit with which the government has addressed itself to the subject, and co-operate with the high purpose it has in view ; and as the erroneous impression conveyed by Mr. Gladstone’s allusion to Sir R. Inglis and the Pope could not pass without notice, I have written this letter with a view of getting it out of the way before we come to the real business.” That letter is dated 7, Richmond Terrace, Hebruary 15, and is signed by ‘‘ Edward Horsman.””’ (Loud cheers and laughter. ) The debate on the question of the second reading was thus concluded by Mr. Gladstone :— ‘To mete out justice to Ireland, according to the best view that with human infirmity we could form, has been the work, I will almost say the sacred work, of this parlia- ment, Having put our hand to the plough, let us not turn back. Let not what we think the fault or the perverseness of those whom we are attempting to assist have the slightest effect in turning us from the path on which we have entered. As we have begun so let us go through, and with firm and resolute hand let us efface from the law and the practice of this country the last—I believe it is the last—of the re- ligious and social grievances of Ireland.’ 422 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VI._ The House divided at two o’clock in the morning, when the numbers were— For the second reading of the bill . . . . ,. 284 Against . : ¢ ; ‘ ‘ : o SBT. Majority against the second reading ‘ : 3 As Mr. Gladstone had distinctly declared that the government would stand or fall by their measure, he and his colleagues at once resigned their offices, and Mr. Disraeli was sent for by the Queen to form a new admin- istration. By Mr. Gladstone, wearied as he was with the labours of an office which under his conscientious discharge of its duties had become a burden almost to6 heavy to be borne, and which was seriously telling on his health, the fall of the administration was regarded as a welcome relief. But Mr. Disraeli, who had led the opposition to the defeated bill, and thereby forced the government to resign, declined to attempt the construc- tion of a ministry, and Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues were thus compelled by a feeling of loyalty to the Queen and a sense of duty to retain their offices. The Irish University Bill of the government being set aside for the present session, that of Mr. Fawcett was reduced to a measure for the abolition of tests in the existing University, and in that shape was carried. The government was more fortunate in regard to another measure of at least equal importance. On the same evening on which the Dublin University Bill was explained to the House of Commons by the premier, the Judicature Bill was brought forward in the House of Peers by Lord Chan- cellor Selborne. It was based on the report, issued in 1869, of a commission which had been appointed to inquire into the subject, and its object was to effect a complete recon- struction of our judicial system with a view to its greater efficiency. The bill proposed to unite in one great tri- bunal all the higher courts of justice, to economise and distribute without regard to artificial and antiquated divi- sions the whole judicial system of the country, to put an end to the distinction between law and equity, so productive of vexatious annoyance and extravagant expense, in virtue of which suitors were sent from court to court without being able to obtain redress of their wrongs, and it laid the: 1873.] CONSERVATIVE REACTION. 4.23 foundation for further law reforms. The bill aimed at making the greatest possible change in substance with the least possible change in forms and arrangements—the lord. chief justice of England, the chief justice of the Common Pleas, and the chief baron of the Exchequer, to retain the positions and the precedence they already enjoyed, and the existing division of courts was also to be allowed to remain as far as it did not interfere with the due and efficient ad- ministration of justice. The bill also provided for the long demanded reform of the appellate jurisdiction nominally belonging to the House of Lords, though really exercised only by its legal members. It was proposed that this jurisdiction should be formally transferred to a tribunal composed of the lord chancellor as its head, the chief justice of England, the chief justice of the Common Pleas, the chief baron, the master of the rolls, and other judges, not exceeding nine in number. It was intended in the first instance that the bill should only apply to England, but the public opinion both of Scotland and Ireland was so strongly pronounced in favour of the admission of those countries to a participation in the benefit of the measure, that the government was unwilling to resist a claim in itself so reasonable; but finding that this change would give rise to a question. of privilege which might endanger the success of the measure, they determined to abandon for the present an improvement which was sure at no distant date to be adopted. The bill was carried through both Houses without having undergone any important change, and thus another great reform was added to those which the ministry had already effected. The loss* of time, prestige, and influence which the government had suffered through its defeat on the Irish University Bill paralysed its action, and prevented further important legislation during the remainder of the session. Men’s minds were now turned towards the general election which was certain to take place in the course of the year 1874, and both parties were already preparing for it. The Conservatives pointed to a great number of victories, won at, isolated elections, as proofs that a Conservative reaction was going on, and ministers confiding in the great measures they had carried, and in the further improvements they intended in due time to submit to the country, hoped to 424. THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VI. obtain, if not a larger, at least a more compact and united band of supporters in the next parliament. The prime minister took, in addition to the office of first lord of the treasury, that of chancellor of the exchequer: and it was at once inferred that he was meditating another of those great financial operations which had established his reputa- tion as the first financier of our age. Mr. Bright was induced to re-enter the cabinet as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Messrs. Lyon Playfair and Vernon Har- court, who, like him, represented sections of the Liberal party which had been dissatisfied with the educational policy of the government, also took office under Mr. Gladstone. These appointments were generally regarded as indicative of a contemplated change in the policy of the government, or of an attempt to transform into allies some of those whose opposition to the government had been most formidable ; but the author has the highest authority for declaring in the strongest manner that Mr. Gladstone was not in any degree influenced by such motives in the selection of these gentlemen, but that they were chosen simply on account of their fitness for the positions to which they were appointed, and their ability to defend the policy of the administration of which they became members. By no part of its policy had the government estab- lished a stronger and more enduring claim on the grati- tude of the country than by its financial operations. When it first took charge of the finances the expenditure of the country exceeded its revenue by 513,0001. During its term of office the government had taken off taxes amounting to 12,000,0002. They had spent 10,000,000I. in the purchase of telegraphs, in accordance with arrange- ments made by their predecessors. The Franco-Prussian war had led to an increased expenditure on the army of 2,000,0002.; and half the Alabama indemnity had been paid off without the assistance of a loan or the imposi- tion of atax. And yet, while these results had been ob- tained by the increase of the national resources, and by the application of a rigorous economy to every department of the public service, there had been no lack of proper liberality on the part of the government. The army had been increased by 14,000 men, 8,000/. had been ex- 1873.] DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT. 425 pended in the purchase of pictures, collected by the late Sir R. Peel, and 50,0001. had been devoted to the acquisition of valuable antiquities for the British Museum ; 26,000,000Z. had been applied to the diminution of the national debt, and yet Mr. Gladstone was able to announce, at the com- mencement of the year 1874, that the government had at its disposal a surplus of 5,000,000/., and intended to sub- mit to parliament a plan involving a total repeal of the income tax, improved local administration, and a substantial boon to the consumer. When that year commenced, the interest of the country was languidly fixed on the trial of a claimant to the Tichborne baronetcy and estates, which was rendered re- markable by the portentous impudence of the claim, the recklessness with which it was advocated, and the enor- mous cost and length of the proceedings to which it had given rise. It was known that a general election would take place in the course of the year, but as it was supposed to be still at least three months distant; the thought of it did not dispel the political torpor which had brooded over the country. The announcement that the parliamentary session would commence on the 5th of February, and the rumour that it would be opened by the Queen in person, had no other effect than to excite a considerable demand for places to witness the ceremony. Suddenly the electric telegraph flashed through the country the intelligence that Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues had recommended an immediate dissolution, that their advice had been adopted by the Queen, that Mr. Gladstone’s address to the electors of Greenwich was already issued, and that in a fortnight the fate of the government would be decided, and the general election nearly ended. There is no reason to suppose that when the notices announcing the com- mencement of the session on the 5th of February, a disso- lution was contemplated. The resolution seems to have been taken afterwards for the purpose of ascertaining whether or no the ministry retained the confidence of the country, or whether the Conservative reaction which seemed to be indicated by many isolated elections would bear the test of a general election. It was felt by the government that it was necessary, without further loss of time, to put an end to a state of things which paralysed the action 426 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuar, VI. of the government and encouraged the House of Lords to reject measures on which the House of Commons had bestowed much time and labour. | Whatever may be thought of these reasons, it must be admitted that the decision based on them was advan- tageous to the country. It compressed into a fortmght the political agitation which would otherwise have been spread over months. It prevented much serious inter- ruption of public and private business, greatly diminished. the expenditure at the elections, saved the candidates from a prolonged uncertainty, and probably did not seriously affect the result. At all events it did not prevent the elec- toral battle from being fairly fought out. The prevailing torpor was instantly changed into the most lively efferves- cence. Candidates hastened to the places they hoped to represent, and the battle at once commenced. Mr. Glad- stone carried his election at Greenwich, but a Mr. Boord, a local distiller, hitherto almost unknown beyond the limits of his own borough, headed the poll. Mr. Bright, with his two Liberal colleagues, was returned for Birmingham without opposition, and expressed his acknowledgments in a speech which showed that, notwithstanding his recent illness, he was still England’s greatestorator. Mr. Forster, though repudiated by a large number of his warmest friends, was returned triumphantly at Bradford. Other members and supporters of the ministry were less fortunate. But we will not enter further into the details of the contest; suf- fice it to say that the Conservative party, which before the dissolution had been in a minority of about sixty-five, could reckon in the new parliament on a compact majority of at least sixty. How are we to explain this great Conservative victory ? How to account for this decisive defeat of a ministry which, in accordance with the clearly expressed will of the nation, had disestablished the Irish Church, settled the Trish land question, carried a national system of education, almost banished from our parliamentary elections the riot, disorder, drunkenness and corruption that had hitherto disgraced them, regulated our public-houses, dealt vigor- ously with the vexed and knotty question of legal reform, increased the efficiency of the military and civil service, and so well administered the finances of the country that after 1874.) CAUSES OF LIBERAL DEFEAT. 427 effecting repeals of taxation to the amount of 12,000,000/. it could announce a surplus exceeding 5,000,0001., promise to repeal the income tax, largely benefit the general con- sumer, and deal with the perplexed subject of local self- government and taxation—how, I say, are we to account for the summary rejection of a government which had already done so much and which promised so much more in the next parliament ? The answer we make to these questions is, that the merits we have enumerated were the chief cause of the defeat we have described. The progress made was too rapid, not for the interest of the country but for the popu- larity and permanence of the government. Lvery great political change, while it benefits multitudes, injures or offends a few, whose sharp resentment is often more than a match for the languid gratitude of the many who are benefited, and so the force of the reaction 1s proportioned to the rapidity of the progress. Multitudes who at the last election supported Mr. Gladstone because he advocated the changes they desired, supported the opponents of further change. The disestablishment of the Irish Church alarmed the clergy, who feared that: the Liberal party would make an assault on the English Church. Both the clergy and the Roman Catholic priesthood dreaded that the same party would substitute for the mixed system of education adopted in 1870, a national system of secular or at least undenominational instruction, and the Anti-State Church party was offended because this had not been done already. The economy of the government irritated many whose profits it diminished or whose hopes it blighted. The disorganised state of the Liberal party gave a great advantage to its opponents. Most of the great questions on which its members were united were disposed of, and lesser questions were coming to the front respecting which much diversity of opinion existed. In parliament and out of parliament, in spite of the warnings and exhortations of their leader, each section of the Liberal party pressed forward its particular question and would not hear of its postponement. While they were thus divided, their opponents were thoroughly united. Depre- cating change in general, they presented an unbroken front to the advocates of diverse and sometimes contra- 4:28 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VI. dictory changes. To all these causes of defcat must be added that proverbial popular fickleness and political ingratitude which will continue until a better education shall have taught the masses to make a more conscientious and consistent use of the electoral franchise. There can be litle doubt that many voted against the ministry from no other motive than an unreasoning love of change. The elections being terminated, all that remained to be done was to decide whether ministers should at once resign or meet the new parliament. Many warm supporters of the government were anxious that Mr. Gladstone should lay before the legislature and the nation the financial measures which he nad sketched out in his electioneering addresses. But the general opinion, so far at least as it could be col- lected from the public journals, was in fayour of an immediate resignation, and Mr. Gladstone was especially anxious to be at once released from his honourable but laborious position. On Monday, the 16th of February, the cabinet met informally at his private residence; he warmly recommended an immediate resignation. ‘There was some difference of opinion, but the majority agreed with the premier that the interruption of public business which would be caused by a prolonged retention of office should be avoided. They therefore resolved to tender their re- signations, which were accepted, and Mr. Disraeli was sent for by the Queen to form a new administration. The year that had recently expired had been peculiarly fatal to men conspicuous for their abilities in almost every walk of human excellence. Philosophy suffered an irre- parable loss through the death of John Stuart Mill; the science of geology was deprived of one of her most eminent teachers by the death of Professor Sedgwick, and the medical art by that of Sir H. Holland. The Church lost her brightest ornament by the accident which instantaneously took away Bishop Wilberforce, and the legal profession suffered a loss scarcely less heavy by the decease of Lord Westbury; art mourned Landseer, and literature her ennobled child Lord Lytton. It is now time that we should turn our attention to the course of events which had occurred in the Church since the date at which we last referred to them. During the 1874.] TRACTARIANISM. 429 period preceding that of which this work treats, great religious activity was manifested by the dissenters, with whom almost all the stirrings of religious thought which then occurred in the country originated. The rise of the evangelical party was no exception to the truth of this statement, for it was nothing else but a gradual penetra- tion into the Church of principles which had been pro- claimed by Wesley and others outside her pale. But from the time of the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832 the tide turned. The intellectual and spiritual activity which seemed to have deserted the Church when she was in safety, re-appeared in the hour of danger. We have already traced the origin and diffusion of Tractarianism, and have shown its connection with the reform struggle, and the efforts which it made to withstand the advancing tide of religious and political liberalism, which threatened, like an all-devouring deluge, to overwhelm and break down the barriers which had hitherto protected the Church. And we have now to follow the further developments of this movement, which modified, and was modified by, the religious liberalism to which it was originally antagonistic. Tractarianism had a twofold character. It was at once doctrinal and ssthetic; and each of these aspects contri- buted to obtain for it the adhesion and energetic support of many youthful and generous spirits. The doctrinal , principle of Tractarianism was the authority of the Church | enforced by the right of dispensing or withholding the | two sacraments—regarded as being ‘ generally necessary to | salvation ”— by an ordained priesthood tracing, as was | affirmed, its spiritual descent through a long succession | of bishops to those on whom the apostles had laid their consecrating hands, thereby transmitting an authority and a sacredness which continued in full force and efficacy to the present day. But the ground on which this authority was based, the alleged consent of the primi- tive Church, was distinctly opposed to the celebrated dictum of Chillingworth,—‘The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants.’ The Tractarians were at once brought into collision with the evangelical party, most of whom accepted the doctrine of apostolical succession as an opinion which was sanctioned by certain warrants of holy writ. Thus the saying above quoted was 430 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VL ’ brought into discussion. The Tractarians denied the truth of it, maintaining that the New Testament derived its authority from the Church, and pointing out that the faith once for all delivered to the saints must have existed as a body of doctrine during the long interval that elapsed between the resurrection of Christ and the appearance of the earliest of the books that formed the New Testament. And they further stated, that when the canon was formed, the test that was applied to every book for which a place was claimed in the sacred volume, was its conformity to the pre-existing body of doctrine. Thus a fierce contro- versy arose between the advocates of the supremacy of the Church and the maintainers of the supremacy of Scripture. The evangelical party, though greatly shocked by the statements of their antagonists, had very little to urge in _ reply to them. Their main position was, that the Scriptures were their own best proof, that they commended them- selves to the mind of every man who read them in a right spirit as being the true Word of God, and that if their antagonists did not recognise the evidence of their divine inspiration and paramount authority, it was simply be- cause they did not rexd them in a proper spirit. Such assertions had some plausibility when applied to many parts of the Psalms, to the prophetic writings, and to the greater part of the New Testament; but they seemed to be hardly borne out by such passages as those which record the murder of Sisera or Hglon, or the slaughter of the worshippers of Baal by Jehu. Such actions might, perhaps, be defended as justifiable under the circumstances in which their perpetrators were placed; but they could scarcely be urged as manifest proofs of the divine origin and inspiration of the books which contain them. How- ever, the controversy thus commenced raged long and violently, and led many of the Tractarians, in their zeal for the authority of the Church, to use language tending to disparage the authority of Scripture. No one more distinguished himself by his bold—we may almost say reckless—treatment of this subject than Mr., now Dr., Newman, in many of his writings, but especially in his tract on ‘Scripture Difficulties.’ It would be very unjust to a good and great man to attribute to him the origin of views which he vehemently and pertinaciously combatted ; 1874.] ‘ESSAYS AND REVIEWS.’ 431 but there can be no doubt that he employed arguments which were necessary to the maintenance of the position he had taken up, but which tended to unsettle men’s minds with regard to the authority of Scripture, and to facilitate the spread of views which were silently making their way | in spite of all the efforts he put forth to resist them. The study of German theology had for some time past been extending at Oxford, and as early as 1840 the works of Kant, Spinoza, Schleiermacher, Hegel, &c., had been eagerly read, and had produced a disposition to advance much further in the free criticism of the Scriptures than Dr. Newman was disposed to venture. The result of these studies showed itself in a very able article that appeared in the Edinburgh Review, as well as in lectures and sermons published by Mr. Stanley, now Dean of Westminster ; in Wilson’s Brompton Lectures, Professor Jowett’s work on the Kpistles to the Thessalonians, Galatians, and Romans; in Professor Baden Powell’s Unity of Worlds; and in a volume entitled Essays and Reviews, published in 1860. This book was made up of seven essays, each of which bore the name of its author. In the first of these the human race was represented as one man, whose mind was formed by the beliefs and doctrines of successive ages, and whose religious and intellectual development is still pro- ceeding. ‘The second was a review of the writings of Baron Bunsen. It stated that the Bible account of the origin of the human race is partly traditional and partly imaginary ; that the longevity of the patriarchs is fabulous; that the - famous prophecy of Isaiah, ‘ He is despised and rejected of men, &c,’ does not apply to the Messiah; that the Book of Daniel is the work of some patriotic bard, written in the reign of Antiochus; that ‘justification by faith’ simply means the peace of the soul; that regeneration implies the first strivings of the powers of the human soul; that salva- tion expresses the victory of virtue over vice and error; that hell is a figure of remorse, and heaven an image of the accomplishment of the love of God towards us. Though this essay professed to be a review of the works of Bunsen, the writer of it evidently adopted the views of their author. In the next essay, the principles which Niebuhr had applied to the documents from which he derived the History of Rome were applied no less boldly to the documents from 4.3.2 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VI. which we derive the history of the Hebrews. The fifth essay assailed the Mosaic cosmogony. ‘The sixth was com- paratively inoffensive. The seventh recommended the inter- pretation and criticism of the Bible in the same manner and with the same freedom as any other book. There was little that was original in these essays. The views they put forward had been enunciated in substance by writers outside the pale of the Church, if not outside the pale of Christianity. But what attracted general attention to this book, obtaining for it the admiring eulogiums of some and the indignant denunciations of others, was the fact that the essays it contained were the work of distinguished members of the national church—of men holding high positions in the University of Oxford or in the great public schools of the kingdom; of the Rev. Dr. Temple, the head-master of Rugby, and now Bishop of Exeter; of the Rev. Dr. Williams, vice- principal of St. David’s College, Lampeter; of the Rev. Baden: Powell, Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford; of Mr. Goodwin, a layman distinguished by his high attainments and Biblical learning; of the Rev. Mark Pattison, then tutor, and soon after principal of Lincoln College, Oxford; and, lastly, of the Rev. J. B. Jowett, Regius Professor of Greek in the same university. A short preface stated that each of thesé gentlemen was responsible only for his own work, yet there was a unity of thought running through them which seemed to prove a foreknown general agreement of principle among them. A still more audacious exposition of rationalistic views had been published by Dr. Colenso, Bishop of Natal, entitled, The Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua critically examined. In this work the Bishop endeavoured to show that the books he criticised were full of errors, that large portions of them were ‘ unhistorical,’ or, in plain English, fabulous. A work of this nature proceeding from the pen of a bishop holding his bishopric and ministering at the altars of the Established Church, provoked a loud outery, which was rendered louder still by the appearance of the Lissays and Reviews soon after. Hence followed appeals to the ecclesiastical tribunals, and ultimately to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. This tribunal, inheriting, as it did, the traditions of the Star Chamber and the 1874.]} REV. CHARLES VOYSEY. 433 Court of High Commission, was, nevertheless, the Court by which all questions of this kind had to be decided ; the decisions it gave were not calculated to raise its character or inspire confidence. In 1861, the Rev. Isidore Heath, prosecuted by the Bishop of Winchester, for the publication — of a work similar in character to the Hssays and Reviews, was convicted and deprived of his benefice. On the other hand, proceedings instituted by the Bishop of Salisbury against Dr. Williams, and by a clergyman named Fendall against Mr. Wilson, both writers in the Essays and Reviews, who had gone far beyond Mr. Heath in the advocacy of rationalistic views, were unsuccessful. Dr. Colenso was tried and condemned to deposition by his Metropolitan, the Bishop of Capetown and two of his suffragans, sitting with him as assessors; but this sentence was reversed by the Committee of Council on the ground of the in- validity of the letters patent under which the various episcopal sees in South Africa had been created. An attempt made by the trustees of the episcopal fund to withhold the payment due to Dr. Colenso from that fund was equally unsuccessful. The question was raised before Lord Romilly, who decided it in the bishop’s favour. Far as Dr. Colenso and the authors of Lssays and Reviews had gone in the ways of rationalism, another divine had trodden them with a still more fearless step. The Rev. Charles Voysey, vicar of Healaugh, in the county and diocese of York, attracted public attention in 1864 bya strongly-worded criticism of the teaching contained in 2 Samuel xxi. and xxiv. These strictures were followed by a periodical publication of Mr. Voysey’s sermons, under the title of the Sling and the Stone, a work which openly assailed every cherished belief of Christendom. But if Mr. Voysey industriously demolished, he also attempted no less industriously to build up. He dwelt with great earnestness on the love and fatherhood of God and on the perfect safety which, as he maintained, all men enjoyed everywhere in time and eternity, under the protection of the Supreme Being. He taught the doctrine of human progress, and insisted that men could only learn what God is by being themselves upright, pure, and loving. He not only preached and published these doctrines, but proclaimed their absolute irreconcileableness with the creed of Chris- VOL. III. FF 434 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VI. tianity. It was no wonder that the ecclesiastical world protested loudly against such teaching being tolerated in the pulpits of the Church of the Thirty-nine Articles ; and that the Archbishop of York being called on to prevent the continuance of such a scandal in his diocese, with evident reluctance, proceeded against Mr. Voysey. Passing over the preliminaries, we come to the real trial, which com- menced in London on the 24th of June, 1869. Many persons of eminence, and amongst them Dr. Stanley, Dean of Westminster, contributed to a fund raised for Mr. Voysey’s defence. That fund being insufficient, he pleaded his own cause, and endeavoured to show that there was nothing in his teaching that contradicted the express words of the Articles or the Liturgy. But he was sentenced to be deprived of his benefice unless he recanted the opinions he had advanced, which of course he would not consent to do. We now turn our attention to a very different religious development which had been going on contemporaneously with that whose history we have concisely narrated. The eesthetic side of Tractarianism had contributed as powerfully as its dogmatic side to give impetus and power to the movement. The writers of the Tracts for the Times were generally men of great classical learning, of refined and poetic minds, in whom the imagination had been culti- vated at the expense of the reasoning faculties, They were ardent admirers of the beautiful in history, poetry, sculpture, painting, and architecture;—but most espe- cially of the ecclesiastical architecture of the Middle Ages, which had fallen into unmerited neglect. Their good taste was shocked by the manner in which our cathedrals and churches had been disfigured by ugly additions and fittings introduced into them in modern times. Thus to restore the old churches and build new churches in better taste became one of the characteristic objects of the movement; and many who cared little about the doctrines of the Tractarians were drawn towards them by the good taste they displayed while they were repelled by the narrow views and puritanic prejudices of the evangelical party. Under such influences, the old high-backed pews ridi- culed by the Times as ‘lidless boxes,’ and by Mr. Paget as cal plan of campaign be to put the electorate into] good temper before the General Election, they cer- tainly deserve credit for yesterday’s humorous per- formance. The care they took to separate Lord Rosebery from his dear friend and colleague, Sir William Harcourt, by the long distance intervening between the Albert Hall and Derby, is eminently Provocative of mirth. By this simple expedient, what might have easily ended in a tragic duello Was given a comic appearance ; the two lions roared, but not being within hearing distance of each other, neither was under compulsion to stigmatise his rival as a bore. But the clever purveyors of thisf entertainment made one mistake ; while Lord Rose- bery was surrounded by the élite of his party, Sir William Harcourt had to put up with “my friend, Sir Thomas Roe.” It may have been thought, per- haps, that the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer, being such a host in himself, did not require the same amount of influential backing as the ex-Premier. To do him justice, Sir William Harcourt is very much superior to Lord Rosebery as a platform Speaker. We cannot imagine the Knight of Mal- wood prattling about Pharaoh in the inane style with which the Lord of Dalmeny yesterday tried to create laughter. The audience may well have asked themselves whether the puerile stuf to which they were listening really emanated from one who, before he became Prime Minister, enjoyed and de- served the xeputation of a wit. Tf the disaffected and disloyal Irish—happily, a steadily diminishing factor in the population—desired to cross the At- lantic, it is very certain that the English Pharaoh would not only “let them go,” but wish them God- speed. We admit, however, that Lord Rosebery surpassed this flight of leaden-winged humour in his eulogy on the Irish people at large. They have | THE DEATH OF TORYISM. he “Spectator” remarks: We read political history very differently from Mr. Morley. He regards the new Administration as registering the death of Liberal Unionism. We read it as registering the death of Toryism. Perhaps both names have disappeared, but the one thing which as disappeared, is Toryism. We have long held and maintained in these columns that its end was | approaching. Its life was doomed as svon as Mr. Gladstone succeeded, in 1885, in carrying (household suffrage in the counties. When the im Tory Governm ent of 1886 came in, with the Libe- ral Unionist party supporting it from outside, and giving so much useful yet conditional sup- | port—-on which support it was really dependent the old Toryism received its second warning. ‘And now itis dead. Individual Tories may sur- vive, but the alliance with Liberal Unionism has completely terminated the epoch of the old Tory Governments. For the future Tories can never again rule in England. . . . We may fix the moment of the final dissolution of ‘Tory- ism as that when Mr. Chamberlain rose in the een se on Wednesday, in Mr. Balfour’s absence, 8 the representative figure of the Liberal Union- cab in the new Government, to give his hearty Isupport to Mr. Asquith’s Factory Bill, and to ge it the aid of the Unionist party. The Radi- al papers may cry out as they please that Mr. Chamberlain is renouncing the creed of his early Siig hl and may ridicule him for foreing himself a dy rnasty which knows not Joseph. The truth is ie a “very different direction. It is he who has icarried the popular spirit to its final victory, and has done so by the very self-restraint which has enabled him to renounce that travesty of popular doctrines which he once supported. ... We believe that the last infusion of a larger popular element into the Conservative party has brought about the final triumph of the Liberal Aprinciple over the old Toryism; and that that triumph has been effected by the agency of that Liberal Unionist earnestness and moderation at which Mr. John Morley only scoffs. PERSONNEL OF 1HE New MINISTRY. 1874.] INNOVATIONS IN THE CHURCH. 435 ‘dozing pans,’ together with the ‘three-deckers,’ as they - were called, and other ugly and ridiculous church furni- ture, were silently but swiftly supplanted by fittings more in harmony with the style of the buildings into which they had been introduced, and with the services carried on in them. The psalms and canticles, which had hitherto been read in almost all churches, even in London, begun to be chaunted. Hymns of a more poetical character gradually supplanted the religious doggrel of Sternhold and Hopkins, or Tate and Brady. These changes were not effected without loud and angry protests from those in whose minds the old fashions were associated with ideas of sacredness, and those which replaced them with medi- zeval doctrine. Still, in spite of all opposition, good taste prevailed, and was improved by a careful study of those grand minsters that stud our land, and churches began to rise in various places which vied with the old churches, and were fitted up with a tasteful magnificence which extorted the admiration even of those who feared that the revival of medieval architecture might in some unexplained way lead to a revival of medieval doctrine. And they were so far right in their suspicions that, owing to the circumstances we have already explained, the two developments went on together. Though there was no necessary connection between medieval doctrines and medizeval architecture, yet, owing to the form and direction which the Tractarian movement assumed, they did as a matter of fact go on together. The men who found so much to admire in those ages, which they had once regarded as ‘dark,’ began to regard all connected with them as admirable. The medieval church suggested the medieval ritual. The clergyman ministering in one of those new and splendid basilicas, felt, that in his surplice of modern cut, he was a sort of living anachronism amidst all the gorgeous mediwvalism by which he was surrounded, and began to desire vestments that harmonised with the temple in which, and the altar at which, he ministered. He was further prompted to carry out this desire by the consideration that the habits for which he sighed tended to distinguish the service of the eucharist from the other services of the church, and to elevate, in the eyes of the multitude, that sacrament which was the FF 2 436 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuar. VI. | keystone of his system of doctrine, and which had fallen into a neglect greatly deplored by the religious school to which he belonged. The desire thus awakened seemed ‘ to be warranted by the rubrics prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer, which directed that ‘the ornaments of the church and the ministers thereof, at all times of their ministrations, shall be retained and be in use as they were in this Church of England, by the authority of Parliament, in the second year of King Edward VI.’ It seemed highly probable that the vestments in question had been in use at that period, and eminent lawyers and antiquarians gave their opinion that this was the case. The consequence of all this was, a gradual increase in the ceremoniousness with which the services, especially the eucharistic service, were celebrated, and the re-introduction into our churches of ornaments which had not been used in them since the Restoration. These innovations, warmly championed by a few, were condemned by the overwhelming majority of churchmen, and those who practised them were denounced as Ritualists. Various ineffectual efforts were made to put them down, both in and out of Parliament; and with this view a society—which took the title of the Church Asso- ciation, composed chiefly of persons belonging to the Evangelical party in the Church—was formed for the avowed purpose of stamping out rationalism and ritualism, but especially the latter: for though the former laid its axe to the very root of evangelicalism, yet, as the latter more palpably presented itself to the eye, it excited a keener hatred and a more strenuous opposition. The Church Association, in its attempts to put down Ritualism, relied not so much on the force of argument as on the force of money. ‘That party, whose peculiar boast it had hitherto been that the weapons of their warfare were not carnal, entered the field trusting in the very carnal weapon of 00,0001. Proceedings were taken by this wealthy society in the Ecclesiastical Courts. Of course, those who were assailed by it felt that they could not contend with an adversary whose wealth enabled him to purchase the very best legal assistance, while they had no means of retaining counsel at all. Some of them allowed judgment to go against them by default, others pleaded their own cause. Decisions so obtained naturally did not command the 1874.] ADVANCE OF RITUALISM. 437 respect with which Englishmen are wont to regard the decisions of a legal tribunal. The feeling with which an unequal struggle is generally regarded was powerfully evoked by the spectacle of a poor clergyman contending against a great and wealthy association commanding the best advice. The consequence was, that while individual | Ritualists suffered—one of them even to death—Ritualism gained ground ; the persecuted clergymen were regarded as martyrs, and the popular feeling against them rapidly | abated. The principle by which the Court of Appeal-seems ° to have been guided in its decisions—if any principle is to be traced amidst the varying, and apparently conflicting, judgments of a tribunal whose members were changed every time that a case was brought before it—was that of great indulgence with regard to doctrinal uniformity, and a strictness that would have astonished Laud himself with regard to ritual uniformity. Thus during the period over which this work extends there were no fewer than six distinct schools or parties in the Church: the old orthodox High Church party, stillembracing the majority of the clergy, and keeping aloof from the strifes and prosecutions to which we have referred, except when it found itself or its practices interfered with by them; the Evangelical party, the best members of which repudiated the Church Association; the Broad Church party, of which Dr. Arnold and Dr. Hampden had been the first leaders; the Rationalistic and Ritualistic schools, com- prising a large number of young and energetic clergymen and laymen; and, lastly, the Tractarians, who still adhered to the principles originally laid down in the Tracts for the Times, without adopting the developments to which they had given rise. These parties shaded away into each other, and each might be subdivided into several different schools, the ultimate ramifications of which it would be useless and impossible to trace. While the Church was torn by the struggles and contro- versies we have narrated, another movement was being carried on in her bosom which attracted much atten- tion from men of all classes and opinions. It was generally known as the free and open church movement, set on foot and carried on mainly through the exertions of Mr. Edward Herford, the coroner of Manchester. Mr. Herford had 4.35 THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. Cuap. VI. been brought up as a Unitarian, and while he belonged to that communion had distinguished himself by his interest in Sunday schools, and his zeal in promoting various useful institutions. In his maturer years he had embraced with warmth and earnestness the doctrines of the Church; but was distressed to find how little she was in anything but in name the church of the nation, and especially how com- pletely the working classes had become estranged from her. He at once began to consider the cause of this alienation. He found that in every part of the kingdom the sittings in the old parish churches, which had once been open to all parishioners alike without distinction of person, had in many instances been appropriated to the wealthier inhabit- ants, who, though they had no legal right to the pews they occupied, had excluded all others from them, and in some instances had put locks on the doors to prevent any one from entering them when they were absent from church. {n this manner the poor had been gradually excluded from all but a few remote sittings, which were the hottest places in the church in summer, and the coldest in winter, and in which it was often difficult either to see or to hear the officiating minister. In the locality in which Mr. Herford himself resided matters were still worse. Owing to the rapid growth of the population, churches had been erected for which little or no endowment had been provided, and im which the income of the minister depended on the pew- rents. ‘The consequence was, that the system of exclusion, which in other parts of the country existed in spite of law, iad here been legalised, and the exclusion of the poor was more complete, and the distinction between the pews and the free sittings more ostentatiously invidious, than in any other part of the kingdom. Mr. Herford at once saw that this was the cause of the evil which had so much shocked and grieved him; and he devoted himself with indomitable energy and perseverance to the endeavour to remedy it by insisting that all the sittings in churches should be free, and open to every parishioner, and that nothing should be placed in them which would imply a right to prevent its being occupied by any one who might find it vacant. Mr. Hertford did not contend that this change should be carried out at once in all churches. As a lawyer, he was naturally disposed to regard vested interests even when they had 1874.] MR. HERFORD. 439 been improperly created, and he wished to see the clergy placed in a position of independence by deriving their sup- port from fixed endowments rather than from any pre- carious sources of income. But he earnestly contended that the offertory collected during the communion service, in accordance with the rubrics of the church, afforded a means of support to the clergy which was far preferable to pew-rents; and in order to bring this opinion to the test of practical experience, he actively promoted the erection of the church of St. Alban, Manchester, in the midst of a poor population, the seats of which were to be free and open to all, and in which the support of the minister, the yarious expenses connected with the due performance of the services, and the maintenance of the fabric, were to be provided for by offertories collected in the church: a design zealously and ably carried out by the Rev. J. E. Sedgwick, the first minister of the district in which the church was erected, under circumstances of peculiar diffi- culty and discouragement. Early in the year 1852, Mr. Herford started a periodical, The Church of the People, the name of which indicated with energetic conciseness the object he sought to attain. In 1857 he set on foot a free and open church association for the purpose of endeavour- ing to procure the gradual adoption of his views in existing churches, and their immediate adoption in those which might be erected at any future time. He laboured with untiring diligence to promote this object, by letters to various periodicals, by discussions at church-congresses, and in various other ways. The system thus originated and urged forward has been carried out in twelve churches in Manchester alone, and in a great number of churches in other parts of the manu- facturing districts. In many old parish churches through- out the kingdom pews illegally appropriated) have been restored to the parishioners; in others the weekly offertory has been established in lieu of pew-rents. In numerous new churches, in which the pew-rent system would have been adopted, the free and open system has been preferred, in consequence of the protests made by Mr. Herford and those associated with him; and ina still larger number a compromise between the two systems has been effected, in virtue of which one half of the church, and that at least 440 ‘THE GLADSTONE MINISTRY. [Cuap. VI, as advantageously situated and as convenient as the other moiety, has been made free and open to all alike. Thus the labours of Mr. Herford have produced a great effect, and caused a largely increased attendance of the working class, not only in churches but also in many nonconformist chapels, in which Mr. Herford’s views have been adopted. In no period in the history of this or any other country has the progress of the nation been so great or so manifest as in that whose history we have attempted to narrate. By the census of 1831 the population of England and Wales was 13,897,187. The enumeration of 1871 showed a population of 22,704,108. Consequently, during the interval there had been an increase of 8,806,921. This increase had been tolerably steady and uniform. In the first decade it was 2,016,961; in the second, 2,013,461 ; in the third, 2,138,615; and in the fourth, 2,637,884. Thus, although there can be no doubt that a time must come when the population of this country will cease to increase, there is no indication at present that we are approaching it. But the population has not only much augmented, it is maintained with greater ease, is far better fed, housed, clad, and educated, at the close of the period than it was at its commencement. We may farther remark, that the increase we have noted has taken place principally in the metropolis, in the great manufacturing towns of the north, in the mining districts, in the chief commercial ports, and lastly, in the places mostly resorted to for sea-bathing, recreation, and health. At the commencement of the period embraced by this History about one person in ten received elementary education, and that in very many in- stances of a most imperfect character; before its close, provision had been made for the inauguration of a national system intended and calculated to secure at least a sound elementary education for almost every child in the king- dom. At the commencement of this period the population was decimated by zymotic and other diseases arising from unwholesome food and the neglect of sanitary precautions; at the close of it these diseases had to a great extent dis- appeared, because the causes that produced and propagated them had been partially removed, and in the cases which still remain they have lost much of their virulence, and are less fatal in their consequences. At the commence- 1874.] NATIONAL PROSPERITY. 441 ment of the period the paupers constituted a very large part of the population of the kingdom; at its close, the proportion, though still far too large, had greatly diminished. If it should be asked, how it. has come to pass that the same country which at the end of the year 1830 was with great difficulty supporting a population of thirteen millions, should now be maintaining in comparative plenty a popula- tion of more than twenty-two millions? the answer is, that this great result has been produced by freer trade, wiser legislation, improved institutions, a better education of the people, a wider diffusion of information through the press and by means of public meetings, the post office, and the electric telegraph, by the better and swifter conveyance of goods and persons, by the extra- ordinary extension and perfection of our mechanical pro- cesses; by the improvements that have been introduced into our agricultural operations, through which the pro- duce of the land has been enormously increased; by the facilities that have been afforded for the profitable employ- ment both of large and small capitals. And if it should farther be asked, what is the great secret of this marvellous progress, and what the best guarantee for its continuance P the answer is: It is to be found in the liberty that is enjoyed by every man of bringing before his fellow- citizens whatever he may deem to be for the public ad- vantage, with a prospect of obtaining a fair consideration of the merits of his proposals, and with a security that no important improvement will be rejected for want of due consideration. A still stronger guarantee of the continued development of national prosperity is to be found in the more moral and religious character of our legislation, as it has become the more distinct utterance of public opinion and national will. At the commencement of the period we have been treating, Iveland’s cry for justice was treated with insolent derision; at the close of it the maxim, ‘Be just, and fear not,’ has become the cardinal principle of our legislation; and its unflinching application, as exem- plified in the Irish land bill, the trades-union bill, and many other recent measures of legislation, is the recognised. panacea of our social evils, the mainspring of onr won- drous progress. 4.4.2 THE GLADSTONE MINISTLY. [Cuapr. VI, That progress is well calculated to inspire us with feelings of hope and confidence. Much of it has been effected amidst circumstances of passion, prejudice, and party spirit, that seemed ill calculated to produce any beneficial result; and yet our course has been one of steady, rapid, and almost unvarying improvement; con- firming and illustrating the saying of the greatest of England’s poets : ‘ There’s a Divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will.’ INDEX. i Sa AxspootaH Kuan, ii. 90. Abercorn, Marquis of, Lord-lieu- tenant of Ireland, iii. 287. Abercromby, Mr., Speaker, i. 334. Aberdeen, Harl of, Foreign Secre- tary, ii. 60; Prime Minister, 382 ; resigns, ili. 35. A Abergele, Railway accident at, iil. 353. Abolition of Capital Punishment Bill, ii. 38, 45, iii. 76, 237. Abyssinia, Our captives in, ili. 275, 325 ; relief of, 343. Acre, Capture of, ii. 41. Adams, Mr. Charles Francis, iii. 415. Affghanistan, War in, ii. 88. Agricultural distress, i. 380, 396, li. 326. Akbar Khan, ii. 91. Alabama, The, ili. 205, 270; claims settled, 416 (and see 424). Albert, Prince, of Saxe-Gotha, ii. 34, 39; originates International Exhibition, 352, 364 ; and pub- lic affairs, iii. 16, 48; at Man- chester Art Exhibition, 94; speech on education, 95 ; death, 187. Alexandra, Princess Princess of ). Aliens’ Registration Bill, ii. 303. Alma, Battle of the, iii. 8. Althorp, Lord, i. 33, 48, 57, 113, 202, 216; and the Birmingham political union, 183; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 60; resigns, but afterwards retains office, 299, 302 ; Earl Spencer, 326.. America, Civil War in, iii. 183; effects of in England, 190, 195. (see Wales, Anesthetics, Discovery of, ii. 234. Annuities, Government, iii. 236. Anti-corn-law Association, the, ii. 180. Anti-corn-law League, ii. 178; dis- solved, 250. Antigua, Abolition of slavery in, i. 259. Apostolical succession, i. 279. Appeal, New Court of, iii. 409. Apprenticeship of negroes, i. 256. Arbitration of international dis- putes, ii. 322, 361, 111. 416. Argyll, Duke of, Privy Seal, ii. 382, iii, 88, 142; Indian Secretary, 357. Armstrong, Sir W., speech of, at Newcastle, iii. 417. Army, Length of service in, bill for limiting the, ii. 246 ; organi- zation, 377 ; promotion in, iii. 43; administration, Mr. Roe- buck’s inquiry into, 35, 44; abo- lition of purchase in the, 75, 400, 402. Arnold, Dr., i. 273, ii. 112. Arthur, Colonel, ii. 6. Ashley, Lord (see Shaftesbury, Earl! of ). Atlantic Telegraph, The, iii. 118, 131, 298. Attwood, Thomas, i. 183, ii. 280. Auckland, Lord, i. 290, 359 ; Governor-general of India, ii. 92 ;. First Lord of the Admiralty, 231. Austria, Treaty of commerce with, iii. 274; war with France and Italy, 139, 144; war with Italy and Prussia, 287. 4.4.4 Azoff, Sea of, British operations in, ill. 60, 61. Barnes, Mr. , ili, 257. Balaclava, ili. 11; railway at, 54. Ballot, The, i. 262, 380, ii. 361, ili. 410; carried, "411. Baltic, British fleet in the, ili. 25 operations of, 32, 53. Bank Charter, The, i, 251, 416, ii. 123, ili. 116. Bankes, Mr., ii. 154. Banks, Extension of, i. 416. Baring, Mirch JT; elected, i, 232s Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1. 359, ii. 45, 116, 156. Barrackpore, Mutiny at, ii. 101. Barry, Mr. “» 1, 395. ‘ Bashaws,’ The, i, 318. Bath, Riots at, i. 197. Bean assaults the Queen, ii. 88. Beckwith, Major, i. 197. Bedford, Incendiarism at, 1. 205. Belgian independence, bs 37. Belvoir Castle, Attack on by mob, i. 180. Bentinck, Lord George, ii. 226, 237; death of, 309. Berkeley, Mr. H., Ballot, iii, 419. ‘ Birkenhead,’ The, foundering of, uu. 384, Birmingham, Chartist riots at, ii. 280 ; reform meetings at, i, 18, 182, 216. Birney, Ee Ain oe Bishops, mode of electing, ii. 257 ; unpopularity of the, i. 172, 197. Black Sea, neutralization of, abro- gated, iii. 398, Blackstone, Mr., Blandford’s, Bill, i. 33. ‘ Blanketeers,’ The, i. 11. Bomarsund, Capture Jig eID g gs Bosanquet, ‘Tustice, i. 361. Bosquet, General, iii. 57. Bousfield, Execution of, iii. 76. Bowring, Dr. vy dle bees Braintree and the church-rates, ii. 106, 392. ii. 361; and the el 2. Marquis of, Reform INDEX. Brereton, Colonel, i. 198, 196, 205. Brett, Judge, iii. "417. Brewster, Sir D., 4. 269; Bribery and Corruption, i. 261, 322, ii. 86. Briggs, Mr., murdered, iii. 251. Bright, Mr., ii. 186 ; on Crimean war, iii. "93 ; defeat at Man- chester, and address, 89 ; on re- form, 132 : on taxation, 146 ; on Liquor Bill, 247 ; speech at Birmingham, 316 ; on Irish Land Bill, 379; at Board of Trade, 357; advocates vote by ballot, 410 ; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 424; returned for Birmingham without opposition, 426. Bristol, Riots at, i. 188, 205. British Association established, a 268. Brotherton, Mr., ii. 242. Brougham, Mr., ’ Blection O11. 38 § introduces Reform Bill, 49; Lord Chancellor, 48 ; Lord, recom- mends a dissolution, 123 ; speech in favour of Reform Bill, 166, 181; and the Times, 317; and Lord Durham, ii. 8; denounces slavery, 14; speech on the Bed- chamber qe 24 ; supports Slave Bills, ; opposes Factory Bill, 248 ; date of, iii. 352. Bruce, Mr., Home Secretary, li. 356. Brunow, Baron, iii. 6. Buckingham, Duke of, Lord Privy ‘ Seal, 60; resigns, 63 ; First Lord of the Admiralty, 379; Lord President of the Council, iii. 287. Buckingham, Mr. Silk, i. 253. Budget, The, i. 247, 320, 382; il, 31, 45, 75, 116, 147, 218, 238, 260, 320, 329, 354, 357, 381, 387 : lil. 20, 46, 83, 144, 153, 177, 225; 236, 256, 292, 367, 403. Buller, Sir J, Y.,iittaee Burdett, Sir F., 1. 126, 405; sup- ports reform, 11, 187. INDEX. Barke, Edmund, opposes reform, i. 2 Buxton, Mr., i. 254. Byng, Mr., i. 179. CazuL, ii. 88. Caleraft, Hon. J., i. 109. Cambridge, Duke of, iii. 44. Cambridge, Incendiarism at, i. 205. Campbell, Attorney-General, i. 359 ; Lord, ii. 231; Lord Chancellor, iii. 142; death of, 183. Campbell, Sir Colin (see Clyde, Lord). Campbell, Sir J. (see Campbell, Lord). Canada, Discontent in, i. 402, 414; insurrection in, ii, 5, 316; Do- minion of, 45. Canning, George, Ministry of, i. 17. Canning, Lord, Postmaster-general, iii. 38. Canning, Sir Stratford (see Stratford de Redcliffe, Lord). Canrobert, General, commands French Crimean army, lili. 8 ; resigns, 55. Canterbury election, The, ii. 20. Canterbury, Incendiarism at, i. 205. Canton captured, ili. 122. Capital punishment, Laws of, i. 394; proposed abolition of, ii.38, 45, iii. 76, 237. ‘Captain,’ H.M.S., Loss of, iii. 396. Cardwell, E., Indian Secretary, iii. 38; Irish Secretary, 142; War Secretary, 847 ; introduces Bill for reorganization of the army, 401. Carlisle, Earl of, Privy Seal, i. 290; Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, iii. 38,142. Carlyle, T., Petition of, on Laws of Copyright, ii. 82; on coopera- tion, iii. 207; on Jamaica in- surrection, 296. Carnarvon, Earl of, i. 215; Colonial Secretary, iii. 287; resigns, 309. Carpue, Dr., i. 184. 445 Carrickfergus, Cartwright, Mr., opposes Reform Bill, i. 109. Catholic Emancipation, i. 20, ii. 167 ; Bill, i. 28. Cattle-plague, The, iii. 269 ; reme- dies for, 275. ‘Cave of Adullam,’ 279. Cawnpore, Massacre at, iii. 107. Ceylon, ii. 316. Chadwick, Edwin, 1. 310, 312, iii. 126. Chandos, Marquis of, i, 156, 380, 396. Charter, The People’s, ii. 270; pe- tition in favour of, 281, 287 ; failure of, 296. Chartists, The, ii. 34, 39, 184, 189, 270; meeting of, at Kennington- common, 294. Chatham, Earl of, opposes Reform Bill, i. 43; opposes American Stamp Act, 5. Chaworth, Miss, and Lord Byron, i. 180. Chelmsford, Lord Chancellor, iii. 122, 287. Childers, Mr., First Lord of Ad- miralty, iii. 357. China, Our policy towards, ii. 37; war with, 75, iii. 84, 122; ended, 131; atrocities in, 88. Cholera, i. 205, 233, ii. 306, iii. 302. Christopher, Mr., ii. 68. Church-rates, i. 305, 407, i. 106, iii. 193, 230. Church reform, i. 272, 339, 388, iii. 433. Citale, Battle of, ii. 2. Civil-list, The, i. 42, 59, ii. 5. Civil-Service reform, iii. 127. Civil War in America, iii. 183; effects of in England, 190, 195. Clanricarde, Marquis of, Post- master-general, ii. 231. Clarendon, Lord, ii. 231; Ferign Minister, iii. 38, 356. Clerk, Sir G., ii. 160. Corruption at, i. The, iii. 4.4.6 Clontarf meeting prohibited, ii. 136. Clyde, Lord, at Balaclava, iii. 11 ; at Lucknow, 108 ; Commander- in-chief in India, 132. Coals, great rise in price of, iii. 417. Cobbett, William, i. 53, 232 ; pro- secution of, 138 ; death of, 282. Cobden, Mr., ii. 186; speech on Corn-laws, 72; on agricultural distress, 163; on income-tax, 264; on Mr. Hume’s Chartist resolution, 301 ; on Chinese War, iii. 84; defeated at Huddersfield, 91; refuses office, 142; death, 264. Cockburn, Lord Chief Justice, iii. 409, 415. Codrington, General, iii. 63. Coercion Bill, The, i. 239 ; results of, 241, 265, 294; renewal of, 295. Colborne, Sir J., ii. 5; Governor of Canada, 10. Colchester, Lord, Postmaster-gene- ral, ui. 122. Colenso, Dr., iii. 432. Coleridge, S. T., i. 330. Coles, Capt., drowned, ili. 396. Collier, Sir R., appointment of, as Judge of Court of Appeal, iii. 409. Colonies, Our policy towards the, ii. 315; and our convicts, ii. 81. Colvin, Sir J. R., Proclamation of, ii. 104. Commercial crisis, 1ii. 298 Compound householders, ii. 318. /, 7 Cdhservative reaction, iii, 423. }-7 _ Convicts, Our, it. 80. Conyngham, Lord, Postmaster-gene- ral, 1. 290. Cooperative Societies, iii. 206. Copyright, Law of, ii. 38, 81. Corn-laws, The, i. 10, ii. 46, 98, 103, 175, 189 ; agitation against, i. 12; repealed, ii. 226, 250. Coronation of Queen Victoria, ii. 16 ; of William IV., 1. 156. INDEX. Corporation reform, i. 361, 391; in Ireland, 368, 382, 384, 403. Corry, Rear-Admiral, iii. 26. Cottenham, Lord Chancellor, ii. 231. Cotton Famine, The, iii. 195, 203. Courtenay delusion, The, ii. 19. Courvoisier, Trial of, ii. 40. Coventry, Riots at, i. 197. Coxwell, Mr., the aeronaut, iii. 199. Cranbourne, Lord, Indian Secretary, ili. 287; resigns, 309; speech on Irish Church, 340. Cranworth, Lord Chancellor, ii. 382, iii. 38. Crawford, Mr. Sharman, ii. 269. Creation of peers to pass Reform Bill, i. 222. Crimean War, The, iii. 2; mal- administration of, 34; cost of, 46, 79, 83; end of, 69 (see 397). Crimea, Winter in the, iii. 14. Criminals, Disposal of our, iii. 80, 222; extradition of, 121. Croker, Mr., speech on Reform Bill, 1-07: Crystal Palace, The, ii. 369, iii. 79; fire at, 301. Cumberland, Duke of, i. 225; as- sault on, 179; and the Orange lodges, 377. Cunningham, Mr., i. 360. DaruLineTon, Earl of, ii. 51. Darwin, Professor, ii. i. Davis, Mr. Jefferson, iii. 184. Deceased Wife’s Sister Bill, ii. 323, 341, De Grey, Earl, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, ii. 60; Lord President of the Council, iil. 356. Delhi, Massacre at, iii. 103; siege of, 106. Denison, Mr. Evelyn, ii. Speaker, ili. 94. ? Denmark, War with Prussia, iii. 234. Derby, Earl of, defeated at Preston, i. 49 ; supports Lord J. Russell’s Reform Bill, 94; speech on Ire- land, 114, 235; Colonial Secre- DOs INDEX. tary, 242 ; resigns, 290 ; speech on Irish Tithes Bill, 293 ; Pre- mier, ii. 377, iii. 122, 287 ; speech on Crimean War, 30; on life-peerages, 75; resigns, 140, 336 ; death, 371. Derby, Riot at, i. 180. Devizes, Fires at, i. 205. Devon, Earl of, iii. 287. Dickens, Charles, ii. 1. Dillwyn, Mr., and the Irish Church, iii, 255. Disfranchisement of rotten boroughs, G5, 143,145, 187. Disraeli, Mr., ii. 237 ; speech on Corn-laws, 215; on agricultural distress, 313 ; on free-trade, 326 ; on state of the country, 323, 326, 353 ; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 379, 381, iii. 122, 287% on Indian Mutiny, 112, 125; intro- duces Reform Bill, 133, 136; resigns, 140; introduces Corrupt Practices Bill, 336; Premier, 336; letter on Irish Church, 341; address to his constituents, 349 ; resigns, 356 ; again Premier, 428. Dissenters admitted to university degrees, i. 304. Distress in the country, i. 32, 51, 319, 381, 396, ii. 18, 34, 61, 82, 97, 163, 173, 204, 253, 326, 3538, iii. 43, 195, 202, 232, 302, 383; measures for alleviating distress in Ireland, ii. 233, 237. Divett, Mr., i. 306. Divorce, Law of, ili. 99. ‘Dorking, The Battle of,’ iii. 399. Drainage of London, iii. 129. Drummond, Lieut., i. 200. Drummond, Mr., assassinated, ii. 99. Dublin University Bill, iii. 419; thrown out, 421. Dufferin, Lord, iii. 357. Duncannon, Lord, i. 359. Duncombe, Mr., and opening letters in Post-office, ii, 133; and the ballot, 273. Dundas, Mr., i. 182. 44:7 Dundas, Rear-Admiral, iii. 53. Durham, Earl of, Governor-general of Canada, ii. 6; recalled, 10. ‘Durham Letter,’ Lord J. Russell’s, ii, 350. Eacte, William, i. 272. Eastern Question, The, ii. 41, 393, iii. 397 East-India Company, renewal of charter, 1. 251, 252; abolished, iii. 126, 131. Ebrington, Lord, i. 182, 290 ; ad- dress to the King, 216. Ecclesiastical Commission, i. 307, 339, 388, ii. 246. Ecclesiastical legislation, ii. 337. Ecclesiastical Titles Act, ii. 353, 355, iii. 402. Economy, i. 59, 246, ii. 332. Edmonds, Leonard, Case of, iii. 259. Education, ii. 99, 387 ; grants, 26, 246 ; and public schools, iii. 237; speech of Prince Albert on, 95 ; Bill, 390. Eglinton, Lord, Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, iii. 122. Egypt, Pasha of, ii. 41. Eldon, Lord Chancellor, supports Reform Bill, i. 160; opposes Irish-Church Bill, 244. Election petitions, ii. 10. Elgin, Earl of, Postmaster-general, - hii, 142. Eliot, Lord, Irish Secretary, ii. 60. Ellenborough, Lord, proposes plan of reform, i. 212 ; Board of Con- trol, ii. 60, iii, 122; Governor- gen. of India, ii. 96; recalled, 114 ; resigns, iii. 124. Elphinstone, General, ii. 89. Emigration, ii. 103. Encumbered Estates Bill, ii. 270, 315. Enfranchisement of new boroughs, i, 67, 226. England, General, ii. 95. Enlistment Bill, iii. 78. Erskine, Mr., supports reform, i. 9. 448 ‘Essays and Reviews,’ iii, 431; authors of, 432. Eupatoria, Landing at, iii. 7. Evans, Col., elected at Westminster, i. 250 ; in Spain, 402, 405, 417. Evans, Sir de Lacy, iii. 75, 170. Exeter, Bishop of, speech on pre- lacy, i. 174, 176. Eyre, Governor, iii. 294, Factory Laws, The, i. 259, ti. 82, 103, 114, 240, 343. Fairman, Col., i. 380. Falmouth, Bribery at, ii. 86. Famine, ii. 205. Favre, M. Jules, iii. 398. Fawcett, Mr., iii. 420, 422. Felony, Laws of, i. 392. Fenian conspiracy, The, iii. 327. Ferguson, Mr. A., i. 359. Ferrand, Mr. Busfield, ii. 72. Fielden, Mr., ii. 240. Fish, Mr., iii. 413. Florida, The, iii. 416. Follett, Sir W., i. 369; Solicitor- general, ii. 60. Fordwich, Lord, ii. 20. Forster, Mr., introduces Education Bill, iii. 389; returned for Brad- ford, 426. Fortifications, Our, iii. 169, 194. Fox, C. J., supports reform, i. 10. Fox, W. J., ii. 300. France, Alliance with, against Rus- sia, ili. 2, 33. France and Austria, War between, iii. 139, 144. France and Prussia, War between, ili. 395. France and the Eastern Question, ii, 415 France, Revolution in, i. 267. France, Treaty of commerce with, ili, 152, 171, 416. Franchise, Reduction in the, il. 354, 360, 380, iii. 183, 240, 257. Francis, Mr., supports reform, i. 10. 302, 36, ii. INDEX. Francis, John, attacks the Queen, ii. 88. Frauds at the Admiralty, ii. 383. Freedom of the Press, i. 44. Free-trade, ii. 47, 57, 166, 192; with France, iii. 416, Free and Open Church movement, lil, 437. French, Emperor of the, visits the Queen, iii. 45; visit of the Queen to, 52, 130; friendship of, towards England, 116 ; attempt. to assassinate the, 118 ; death of, 418. French, King of the, visit of the Queen to, ii. 104; dethroned, 267. Frost, the Chartist agitator, ii, 283. Froude, R. H., i. 273, 277. Futtehpore, Battle of. iii. 107. GARIBALDI, General, visits England, iii. 250. Garrotters, iii. 221, Gascoyne, General, i. 112, 131, 202. General Election, i. 130, 231, 333, ii. 3, 55, 252, 298, 382, iii. 87, 139, 362, 355, 426. Germany, Emperor of, visits Eng- land, ii. 143. Ghilzies, The, ii. 89. Ghuznee, captured, ii. 96. Gibson, Mr. Milner, ii. 157; at Board of Trade, iii. 143. Gladstone, Mr., ii. 60, 161, 327 ; and Maynooth, 145; succeeds Lord Stanley, 176; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 382, iii. 20, 38, 142; speech on Budget, 153, 225; speech on Irish Church, 1. 349, iii. 255, 360 ; defeated at Oxford University, 262; intro- duces Reform Bill, 277.; resigns, 285; opposes Mr. Disraeli’s Re- form Bill, 313; resolutions on Irish Church, 338; address to his constituents, 352; Premier, 356°; speech on Irish Land Bill, 385 ; introduces Dublin Univer- INDEX. sity Bill, 420; resigns, but afterwards retains office, 422 ; advises dissolution of Parlia- ment, 425; elected for Green- wich, 426; resigns, 428. Glaisher, Mr., the aeronaut, iii. 199. Glenelg, Lord, i. 359.; resigns Co- lonial Secretaryship, ii. 10, 13. Gloucester, Duchess of, death, iii. 94. Gloucester, Duke of, opposes Reform ,_ Bill, i. 168. Gordon, George William, and the Jamaica insurrection, iii, 294, Gordon, Mr. R., i. 360. Gorham, Rev. G. C., ii. 333, Gortschakoff, Prince, iii. 6. ~ Goulburn, Mr., i. 399; Chancellor of the Exchequer, ii. 60, 116, 238. Government of the country, The, iii. 143, Graham, Sir J., i. 244, 290, ii. 37, 327 ; speech on Irish Church, i. 345; Home Secretary, ii. 60; on free trade, 354; on Crimean War, iii. 23; First Lord of Ad- miralty, ii. 382, iii. 38. Grant, Mr, C. (sce Glenelg, Lord). Granville, Earl, ii. 382, ili, 38, 142; interview with the Queen, 141; Colonial Secretary, 357. Greased cartridges, The, iii. 100. Greece, Our policy towards, ii. 3438, Greville, Mr., i. 187, Grey, Earl, Premier, i. 453; pro- poses first reading of Reform Bill, 160 ; speech on second reading of Reform Bill, 162, 168, 210; speech on the prelacy, 175 ; re- -signs, 215, 300; recalled, 221 ; death, ii. 176. Grey, Earl (second), (see Howick, Lord). Grey, Mr., supports Reform Bill, i, 9 pe Grey, Sir G., i. 360, iti. 142; Home Secretary, ii. 231, iii. 38 ; Chan- cellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, iii. 142. Grosvenor, Lord R., iii. 50, VOU. It, 44,9 Grote, Mr., and the ballot, i. 263, 380, ili. 410; and the Irish Church, i. 289. Guiana, British, ii. 316, Guiergevo, Battle of, iii. 2. Gwalior, iii. 111. Hasuras Corpus Act, Suspension of, ii. 268. Haddington, Earl of, ii. 60. Halcomb, Mr., i. 257. Hall, Sir B., iii. 38. Hallam, Mr., iii. 151. Hampden, Dr., ii. 256; Bishop of Hereford, 258. Hanover separated from England, ii. 3. Hansard, Messrs., and parliamen- tary papers, 1.413 ; action against, ii. 35. Harcourt, Mr. Vernon, iii. 424. Hardinge, Sir H., i. 183 ; Secretary at War, ii. 60; Governor-general of India, 114. Hardy, Mr. Gathorne, Home Secre- tary, iii. 319; speech on Irish- Church Bill, 365. Hardwicke, Earl of, Privy Seal, iii. 122. Harewood, Lord, i. 224. Harrowby, Lord, i. 207, iii. 38. Hartington, Marquis of, Postmaster- general, iii. 357, Hartley colliery accident, The, iii, 188. Harvey, Mr. D. W., ii. 4. Harwich, Bribery at, ii. 86. Hatherley, Lord Chancellor, iii. 356. Hatherton, Lord (Mr. Littleton), 1. 234, 361; introduces Irish Tithe Bill, 293 ; and Mr. O’Connell on Coercion Bill, 297. Havelock, General, iii. 107; re- lieves Lucknow, 108 ; death of, 109. Hawes, Mr., Under Colonial Secre-. tary, ii. 259, 318. Hay, Col. Leith, i. 359, Head, Major, i. 5, Hearsay, General, iii. 101. Heath, Rev. I., iii, 432. GG 450 Henley, Lord, i. 272. Henley, Mr., iii. 122. Herbert, Mr. Sidney, War Minisier, ii. 382, iii. 13, 142; Colonial Secretary, 38. Hereditary peerages, Abolition of, in France, i. 1703; proposed in England, 172, 203. Herford, Mr. Edward, iii. 437. Herries, Mr., ii. 379; on income- tax, 357. Hertford, Corruption at, i. 323. Hetherington, Henry, ii. 275. Hewley, Lady, ii. 127. Heywood, Mr. J., ii. 338. Hill, Mr., introduces penny postage, ii. 32. Hobhouse, Sir J. C., Irish Secretary, 1. 242; resigns his seat, 250 ; Indian Secretary, 359 ; Board of Control, ii. 231. Hodges, Mr., i. 340. Hodgkinson, Mr., and compound householders, iii. 318. Hodgson, Col., Pamphlet of, on India, iii. 113. Holland, Sir H., death of, iii. 428. Holland, Lord, i. 359. Holyoake, G. J., ii. 235. Horsman, E., Irish Secretary, iii. 388; opposes the Dublin Uni- versity Bill, 420. House-tax, i. 249. Houses of Parlisment burnt, i. 327; rebuilt, 395. Howe, Lord, Dismissal of, i. 185. Howick, Lord, i. 257, ii. 44, 98, 160; War Secretary, i. Karl Grey, ii. 177; Secretary, ii. 231. Howley, Dr., Archbishop of Canter- bury, 1. 168 ; assault on, 198. Hudson’s Bay Company, ii. 318. Hume, Mr., i. 79, ii. 298, 322, 328 ; presents an address to the King, i. 179; on Orange lodges, 383; on limitation of income-tax, li, 263, 358. Hunt, Mr., agitates against Corn- laws, i. 12; arrested: at Man- chester, 16; elected at Preston, Colonial 359 3 | INDEX. 49; supports Lord J. Russell’s Reform Bill, 80; defeated at Preston, 232. Hunt, Mr. G. Ward, iii. 276, 286. Huskisson, Mr., supports reform, i. 19; resigns, 20. Huxley, Mr., ii. 1. Hyde-park riots, iii. 50, 289, 319. ImprisonMENT for debt, i. 394; abolished, ii. 144, iii. 377. Incendiarism in the country, i. 52, 180, 205. Income-tax, ii. 76, 148, 153, 357; proposed increase of, 263; ex- tended to Ireland, 391 ; increase in, iil. 21, 404. Tndia Bill, The, iii. 118, 124, 126. India, Our policy towards, i. 253; war in, ii. 88 ; government of, 392; mutiny in, iii. 100; our policy in, 114; government of, 118, 126, 132. Ingleby, Sir W., proposes reduction of malt-tax, i. 248. Inglis, Sir R., ii. 37 ; opposes Lord Russell’s Reform Bill, i. 76. Inkermann, Battle of, iii. 12. International Exhibition, ii. 352, 363, iii. 196. International Law, iii. 71. Intoxicating liquors, Sale of, iii. 241 Tron trade, Strike in the, iii. 268. Ireland, State of, i. 236, ii. 22, 104,135, 174, 226, 254, 268,302, 314, ili. 338, 379, 441; Orange lodges in, i. 876, 383, 384 ; po- tato disease in, il. 174; distress in, 233, 237. | Irish Church Bill, The, i. 242, ii, 172, iii. 8358 ; in the Lords, 369. Irish Church, the motion for reduc- tion of revenues of, i. 286, 341, iii. 255 ; commission on, i. 291; andthe Irish prelacy, 324; speech of William IV. on, 525; dis- establishment of, iii. 338. Trish Arms Bill, ii. 226. Trish Colleges, ii. 170. Irish Land Bill, iii. 385. INDEX. Irish measures, ii. 18, 22, 37, 268, 314, 329, iii. 419. Irish municipal reform, i. 368, 382, 384, 403, ii, 18, 38, Irish Poor-law, ii. 18. Irish Registration of Voters Bill, ii. 43 Trish Tithe Bill, i, 293, 303, 373, 085, ii. 18. Istalif, Capture of, ii. 94. Itajuba, Viscount, iii, 415. Italy, Revolution in, ii. 319 3 war with Austria, iii. 189, 144, 287, Jamatoa Bill, The, ii. 23, 29. Jamaica, Insurrection in, iii, 294. Japan, War with, iii. 253. Jellalabad, ii. 89. Jews, Admission of, to Parliament, lil. 255, 348, 361, iii. 100. Jews’ Disabilities Bill, i. 265, 321, li, 45, 172, 255, 386, 392, iii, 129. Johnson, Mr. Reverdy, iii. 413. Jones, W., the Chartist agitator, ii. 283. Judicature Bill, iii, 422, Jugdulluk Pass, ii. 92. KAEraT, Battle of, iii. 2. Kars, iii. 65. Keble, Rev. J., i. 277. Kelly, Mr. Fitzroy, ii, 45. Kenyon, Lord, i. 224. Key, Sir J., proposes repeal of window tax, i. 249. Kyber Pass, The, ii. 92. Kimberley, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, ii. 356. King, Lord, attacks the Church, i. yg Be King, Mr. Locke, ii. 354,360, 380. Knatchbull, Sir H., ii. 60. Koord Cabul Pass, The, ii. 88. Lasovongrs, Mr., i. 360; President of Board:of Trade, ii. 312. Lamb, Mr. George, i. 392. Landseer, Sir E., death of, iii. 428, Lansdowne, Lord, i. 359, ii, 231. 451 | Law-courts, The, iii, 191. Law lords and lay lords, ii. 138. Law reform, i. 392, ii. $4) 323, 363, iii. 230, 258. Lawrence, Sir H., iii. 102; death of, 107. Layard, Mr., iii. 39; Woods and Forests, 357. Lay lords and law lords, ii. 138, Lee, Rev. J. P., ii. 256 ; Bishop of Manchester, 258. Lefevre, Mr. Shaw, Speaker, ii. 57 Letheby, Dr., on condition of the poor, ili, 92. Lewes, Bribery at, ii. 86. Lewis, Sir Cornewall, Chancellor of the Exchequer, iii, 46, 83; Home Secretary, 142 ; death, 233. Liberation Society, The, ii. 340. Licensing Bill, iii. 412. Life-peerages, iii. 72, 372. Lincoln, Mr., Proclamation of, iii. 222 ; assassination of, 266. Liquor Laws, The, iii. 241, 411, Littleton, Mr. (see Hatherton, Lord). Liverpool, Corruption at, i. 323. Local Government Act, iii. 403. London, Bishop of, speech on the prelacy, i. 174 ; postponement of sermon at Westminster, 198 ; supports Reform Bill, 208. London. University, i. 340. Londonderry, Lord, assault on, i. 172, 178, 179; proposed for Rus- sian ambassador, 337. Lonsdale, Earl of, ii. 379. Lords, The, reject Reform Bill, i. 170. Lords, House of, abolition of, pro- posed, 2033 position of, iii. 1; and supply, 165. Lowe, Mr., iii. 239; speech on Re- form Bill, 322; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 356 ; his Budget, 403, Lowther, Lord, ii. 60. Lucan, Lord, iii. 11. Lucknow, revolt at, iii, 102, 105; relief of, 108, Lyell, ii. 1, 4.52 Lyndhurst, Lord, opposes Reform Bill, i, 166, 211; Lord Chan- cellor, 327, ii. 60; and law re- form, i. 392. Lytton, Lord, ii, 1; death of, iii. 428. Macautay, Lord, i. 257, ii. 1, 71, 231, 252; death, iii. 148. Mackinnon, Mr., motion on census, i, 147, iii. 162. Mackworth, Major, i. 191, 195. Macnaughten, Sir W., ii. 90. M‘Naughten shoots Mr. Drummond, ii. 99, Maidstone, Lord, ii. 11. Malakoff, The, iii. 57 ; capture of, 62. Malmesbury, Earl of, iii. 287 ; Foreign Secretary, ii. 379, iii. 122. Malt-tax, The, i. 248. Mamelon, The, iii. 57. Manchester, Anti-corn-law agitation at, ii. 178; bishopric of, 246, 256; art exhibition at, i. 94 ; free and open church movement in, 439. Manners, Lord J., ii. 3879, iii. 122, 287. Marriage laws, The, i. 308, 339, 386, ii. 87, 328, 341. Marriage of the Queen, ii, 34, 39. Massey, Mr., iii. 161; chairman of committecs, 162. Matches, tax on lucifer, iii. 404. Maule, Mr. Fox (see Lord Panmure). Mayhew, Mr. H., iii. 80. Maynooth Grant, The, ii. 145, 167. Mazzini, J., ii. 133. Medical discoveries, ii. 234. Meerut, Mutiny at, iii. 102. Melbourne, Lord, opposes Reform Bill, i. 165; Home Secretary, 178; Prime Minister, 302, 359 ; resigns, 326, ii. 9, 24, 60; re- stored, 24. Mentschikoff, Prince, iii. 8. Miall, Mr., on education, iii, 394. Miles, Mr. P., ii. 122, 164. Militia Bill, ii. 377, 380. INDEX. Mill, Mr. J. S., on Civil-Service reform, iii. 127; death of, 428. Milton, Lord, ii. 55; refuses pay- ment of taxes, i. 217, 225. Mine Laws, ii. 83. Minto, Earl of, i. 359, ii. 231. Molesworth, Sir W., and Orange lodges, i, 8835; censures Lord Glenelg, ii. 13; on our colonial policy, 317 ; First Commissioner of Works, 382. Monetary crisis, i. 416, iii. 293. Montrose, Duke of, ii. 122; master-general, 287. Morpeth, Lord, i. 360, ii. 43, 55, 231. Motley, Mr., iii. 413, Municipal reform, i. 361, 391 ; Treland, 368, 383, 384, 403, li. 18, 37. Munster, Earl of, i. 220. Murchison, Sir R., ii. 1. Murphy, the lecturer, iii. 325. Murray, Mr. J. A., i. 359. Musters, Mr., Seat of, burnt,i. 180. Musters, Mrs., and Lord Byron, i. 180. 1df, Post- Naas, Lord,. on spirit- -duties, il. 359 ; Trish Recess iii, 122, 287. Nana Sahib, iii. 105. Napier, Sir C., war in Scinde, ii. 114; commands Baltic fleet, iii. 22, 26, 53; dinner to, 22 ; turn of, 32. National Debt, Reduction of, ii. 387 ; ill. 495, Navigation Laws, The, ii. 240, 267, 311, 312, 328, 354. Navy, ’ Reconstruction of, ili. 136. Neptune, Discovery of the planet, i, 251. Nesselrode, Prince, Russian . Minis- ter, ili. 6. New boroughs, i. 67, 151, 201. Newcastle, Duke of, assault on, i. 172, 178; castle of, burnt, 180 ; Colonial Secretary, ii, 382, iii. 142; War Secretary, 6; speech INDEX. 453 on Crimean War, 31; malad- ministration of, 37. Newman, J. H., i. 273, 277, il. 110 ; iii. 430. Newport, Chartist riots at, il. 283. Newspapers, Increase of, i. 228 ; registration of, 401 ; stamp-duty on, 397. New Zealand Bill, The, ii. 381. New Zealand, Outbreak in, ii. 170 ; war in, iii. 253. Nicholas, Emperor of Russia, Death of, iii. 42. Nichols, Sir Jasper, ii. 92. Nightingale, Miss Florence, iii. 13. <‘Non-intervention,” iii. 29. Norbury, Lord, assassinated, ii, 22. Northcote, Sir 8., President of the Board of Trade, iii. 287. Nott, General, ii. 95. Nottingham, Riots at, i. 180 ; bri- bery at, ii. 86. O’Brien, Bronterre, ii. 277. O’Brien, Mr. Smith, ii. 267. Obstruction of Reform Bill, i. 154. O’Connell, Daniel, organises Catholic Association, i. 21; elected for Clare, 24, 31; agitates for Repeal of Union, 55, 285, ii. 135; con- viction of, i. 56; speech on Re- form Bill, 98; on Ireland, 116, 234; address on Coercion Bill, 295; speech on Coercion Bill, 297 ; reprimanded by the Speaker, ii. 11; on Irish Reform, 88, 44 ; prosecuted, 136 ; death of, 247. O'Connor, Feargus, ii. 276; his land scheme, 290; opposes free- trade, 291 ; elected for Notting- ham, 293; speech on Mr. Hume’s Chartist resolution, 302. Oken, Professor, i. 268. O’Loughlin, Mr., i. 359. Oltenitza, Battle of, ili. 2. Opening letters in the Post-office, il. 133. Opium, ii. 75. Orange lodges in Ireland, i. 376, 383. Ord, Mr., i. 360. Oregon, li. 171. Orsini attempts to assassinate French Emperor, ii. 118. Oude, Annexation of, iii. 105; re- volt in, 105 ; reconquest, 110. Outram, Sir J., iii. 108. Overend, Gurney, and Co., Failure of, iii. 293. Owen, Sir J., i. 187. Owens, Mr. J., ii. 369. Oxford attempts to assassinate the Queen, ii. 39. Oxford Tracts, The, i. 278, ii. 107. Oxford University election, The, iii. 262. Paxrneton, Sir J., Colonial Secre- tary, ii. 379 ; First Lord of Ad- miralty, iii, 122, 287. Palgrave, Sir F., i. 362. Palmer, Sir Roundell, iii. 363. Palmer, Wm., i. 277. Palmer, the murderer, iii. 77. Palmerston, Lord, speech on Reform Bill, i. 86 ; popularity of, ii. 42, iii. 88 ; Foreign Secretary, i. 359, ii. 42, 231, 343 ; dismissed, 371, 372; Home Secretary, 3582; speech on Crimean War, iii. 24 5 Prime Minister, 38, 142; vesigns, 121; death, 267. Panmure, Lord, i. 860 ; War Secre- tary, iii. 38. Papal aggression, ii. 348. Paper Duty, The, repealed, ii, 164, 170, 181. Paris, Treaty of, iii. 70, 75 5 siege of, 397. Parke, Sir James (sce Wenslydale, Lord). Parnell, Sir H., i. 859; motion to inquire into Civil List, 42, 59. Patriotic Fund, The, ili. 29. Paulton, Mr., ii. 182. Paupers, Relief of, iii. 254, 383. Paxton, Mr., ii. 365. Peabody, Mr. Geo., iii. 272. Peace, iii. 69, 75. Peel, General, War Secretary, iil. 122, 287 ; resigns, 309. — - —-, 454 Peel, Sir Robert, supports Catholic | emancipation, i. 22, 28; Home | Secretary, 40; speech on Reform Bill, 88, 151, 202; Speech on dissolution, 127; opposes ballot, 263 ; Prime Minister, 327, ii. 60 : speech on Irish Church, i. 353 ; resigns, 357 ; speech on municipal reform, 368 ; banquet to, li. 14; and the Ladies of the Bedchamber, 24 ; speech on free-trade, 57, 324, 327; speech on Corn-laws, 64 ; proposes income-tax, 78; favour of, 105, 231; speech on the budget, 120, 147 ; speech on the Bank Charter, 124 ; on Maynooth Grant, 167, 168; supports re- peal of Corn-laws, 209 ; resigns, 228 ; speech on Factory Bill, 242 ; death, 344; his pictures pur- chased for the nation, 424, Pellisier, Gen., commands French army in Crimea, iii. 55. Penny postage, ii. 32. Penrhyn, Bribery at, ii. 86. Pension List, Inquiry into, ii. 4, Perceval, Arthur, i. 277. Permissive Liquor Bill, iii. 241,411. Perrin, Mr., i. 359. Persia, War with, iii, 86 3 peace, 88. Peterloo massacre, The, i. 14, Phillips, Mr., defends Courvoisier, li. 40. Phillips, Mr. Mark, ii. 179. Pitt, Wm. (see Chatham, Earl of). Pitt, The younger, Supports parlia- mentary reform, i, 7; Prime Minister, 8; opposes reform, 8. Playfair, Lyon, iii, 424, Poisons, Sale of, iii. 78, 100. Poland, i. 838 ; sympathy with, iii. 228, Political Unions, Formation i es 187. Pollock, Sir F., ii. 60, ! Pollock, General Sir G., ii. 92. Ponsonby, Mr., contests Dorset, i. 160, 187, Poor, Condition of the, iii. 92; re- lief of the, 254, INDEX, Poor-law, The, i. 309, 409 ; Irish, il. 18 ; Commissioners, 247, Popular excitement on rejection of Reform Bill, i. 171, 216, Porchester, Lord, opposes Reform Bill, i. 208. Portman, Lord, ii. 4, Post-oftice, Opening letters in the, il. 133 ; Sunday delivery of letters, 341, Postponement of royal dinner at Guildhall, i. 40, Poulter, Mr., unseated, ii. 12. Potato disease, The, ii. 174, 314. Princess Royal, birth of, ii. 39. Pritchard, Mr., Consul at Tahiti, ii, 141. Privilege of parliamentary papers, i. 413, ii. 35, Procession to the King, i. 178. Proclamation against reform meet- ings, i. 98, 188. Protection, i. 10, ii. 47, 57, 166, 190, 216. Prorogation of parliament, i. 186, 402, ii. 140, 173, iii. 52, 261, 289, 378, 396. Prussia, King of (sce Germany, Em- peror of). Prussia, war with Austria, iii, 237 ; war with France, 395. Public Schools, iii. 237, Pugilism, iii. 172, Purchase in the army, iii. 75, 400, 402, Pusey, Dr., i. 277, ii. 109. *Quatiry !’ ii. 201. Queen Dowager, The, ii. 325. Ravnor, Lord, id, 184. Raglan, Lord, ii. 4; death, 52, 59. Railways, i. 419 ; regulation of, ii. 130, iii. 2415 extension of, ii. 143. . Rating, Law of, iii. 305. Reading, Bribery at, ii. 86. Rebeccaites, The, ii. 131. Reciprocity, ii. 222, Redan, The, iii. 56. Redpath the forger, iii. 79, INDEX. Reform, Agitation for, i. 12. Reform Bill, Marquis of Blandford’s, 1.33 ; Mr. Brougham’s, 43 ; Duke of Wellington’s, 29's Lord John Russell’s, 49, 57 ; first reading of, 101 ; reception of by the country, 102; second reading of, 109; ltsrations in, 111; dropped, 120; general election upon the, 130 ; reintroduced, 133 ; second reading, 137 ; opposition to, 143; progress in committee, 144; third reading, 157 ; in the Lords, 189 ; rejection, 170; popular feeling on, 171; third introduction of, 200; passage of, 207, 225; royal assent, 227 ; of 1854, iii. 17; agitation for amendment, 132; Mr. Disraeli’s, 136 ; Lord John Russell's, 159 ;- withdrawn, 164 ; Mr. Gladstone’s, 277; de- feated, 285 ; agitation for, 301 ; Mr. Disraeli’s, 304, 310; altera- tions in, 321; passed, 325; Scotch, 347. re ti) History of, in reign of Charles I., 1. 2; Cromwell, 3; George IT., 4; IIL, Dewy. auee: William IV., 34. Reform meetings, against, 1. 13. Reform of county franchise, li. 354, 360, 871, 380, iii. 183, 257; of borough franchise, 183, 241, 257. Reform, Resolution in favour of, in House of Commons, i. 182. ‘Register!’ ii. 201. Registration of births, deaths, mar- riages, i. 387. Relations between the Crown and the Ministry, i. 372. Repeal of the Union advocated, i. 285, ii, 135. Retrenchment, i. 59, 246, ii. 332. Ricardo, Mr., ii. 159, 240. Richmond, Duke of, resigns Post- master-generalship, 1. 200. Rinderpest, The, iii. 269; reme- dies for, bees Riots, i. 52, 172, 180, 188, 251, Proclamation 455 ii. 280, 283; in Ilyde-park, iiie 50, 289 ; St. George’s cliurch, London, 147, Ripon, Earl 1,11. 757, G0, 156 ; Privy Seal, i. 244; resigns, 290. Robson the forger, iii. 79. Roebuck, Mr., ii. 85, 153 ; inquiry into army matters, iii. 35, 44. Rolfe, Mr., i. 359. Roman Catholic aggression in Eng- land, ii. 348. Rome, ‘Our relations with, ii. 303 Rose, Sir H., Proclamation of, iii. 110. Rothschild, Baron, ii. 255, 343; admitted to parliament, iii. 129, Roupell, Wm., iii. 200. Russell, Dr., Zimes’ correspondent, iii, 28, Russell, Lord John, supports re- form, i. 17; Reform Bill of, 49, 57, 101; dropped, 1203; rein- troduces ” Reform Bill, 133; speech on creation of new mem- bers, 153; and the Birmingham Political Union, ee explains third Reform Bill, 200 ; speech on Irish Church, 341 ; 3; on mu- nicipal reform, 3862; Colonial Minister, ii. 10; ‘announces alteration in Corn-laws, 46; speech on Corn-laws, 59, 68; opposes income-tax, 80; speech on Irish Church, 172; fails to construct cabinet, 1/5; "Premier, 231; speech on Mr. Hume’ 8 Teso- Intion on Chartism, 298 ; ‘ Dur- ham letter’ of, 350; introduces new Reform Bill, 371, iii. 17, 159 5 Foreign Secretary, i. 382, ill. 142; and the Vienna Con- ference, 41, 46, 68. Russell, Lord William, murder of, i. 40. Russia, Emperor of, visits England, ii, 141; death, iii. 41. Russia, War with, ii. 404, iii, 2; declared, 25 ; ended 69 (and see 397). Russia and Turkey, ii. 394, iii. 2, 9 Yv 456 Ryder, Dr., Bishop of Lichfield, i. 198. SADLEIR, Mr. James, expelled the House of Commons, iii. 82. St. Albans, Disfranchisement of, ii. 380. St. Arnaud, Marshal, iii. 5; death, 8 St. Leonards, Lord (Sir E. Sugden), 1, 232, 290, ii. 60; Lord Chan- cellor, 379. Sale, General, ii. 89. Salisbury, Marquis of, Privy Seal, ii. 879; Lord President of the Council, iti. 122. Salomons, Alderman, ii. 361. Sandon, Lord, election of, at Liver- pool, i. 187, 232. Sanitary Commission, ii. 306. Sanitary measures, iii. 129. San Juan question, The, iii. 416. Sardinia unites against Russia, iii. 43 ; war with Austria, 139, 144 ; King of (see Italy), 147. Savoy annexed to France, iii. 144. Saxony, King of, visits Queen of England, ii. 148. Schleswig-Holstein War, The, iii. 234, Scinde, Annexation of, ii. 113, 114, iii, 111. Sclopis, Count Frederic, iii. 415. Scott, Sir W., Death of, i. 229, ii. 81. Sebastopol, Siege of, iii. 7, 9; bombardment of, 55, 61; cap- tured, 64. Secularism, ii. 235. Sedgwick, Professor, death of, iii. 428 Selborne, Lord, Judicature Bill, introduced by, iii. 422. Sepoys, Mutiny of, iii. 100. Settlement, Law of, ii. 220. Seymour, Lord, i. 360. Seymour, Sir Hamilton, ii. 396. Shaftesbury, Earl of (Lord Ashley), contests Dorset, i. 160, 187 ; in- troduces Factory Bill, 260 ; in- troduces Mines Bill, ii. 83; on INDEX, education, 99; and the Factory Acts, 115, 343. Sheffield, Bursting of reservoir at, lil. 249 ; trades-unions at, 332. Sheil, Mr., speech on education, ii. 28. Sherbourne, Fires at, i. 205. Sheridan supports reform, i. 9, Sibthorp, Colonel, i. 206. Silistria, Siege of, iii. 2. Simpson, General, iii. 59. Sinope, Battle of, ii. 403. Slavery, Abolition of, i. 254; ii. 13, 23; in Africa, 13, 30. Slaves, Emancipation of, in the United States, iii. 223. Slave-trade, The, in Brazil and Portugal, ii. 30. Smith, Baron, accused of neglect of duty, i. 284. Smith, Mr. V., i. 360. Smith, Rev. Sydney, ii. 207; speech on House of Lords, i. 218 ; on vote by Ballot, iii. 410. Soap-duty, The, i. 397. Somerset, Duke of, First Lord of Admiralty, iii. 142. Somerset, Lord Fitzroy (see Raglan, Lord). Somerset, Lord Grenville, ii. 60. Soult, Marshal, ii. 17, 141. Southey, The poet, i. 330. Spain, Our policy towards, i. 402, 405, 417. Speaker, Election of, i. 131, 234, 335, iii. 94, 358. Spencer, Earl, death of, i. 326. Spencer, Earl (2d), Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, iii. 357. Spottiswoode Committee, 10. Spring Rice, Mr., i. 290, 359. Staempli, M. Jaques, iii. 415. Stafford, Corruption at, i, 323. Stanley, Lord, speech on Irish Church, i. 351; proposes Irish Registration Bill, ii. 38, 43; Colonial Secretary, 60, iii, 122 Foreign Secretary, 287. Stanley, Mr. (see Derby, Earl of). Stanley, Dean, iii. 434, The, ii, INDEX. Stanley, E. J., i. 359 Steam vessels, Introduction of, i. 419, Stephens, Rev. J. R., ii. 278. Stewart, Mr. R., i. 360. Stockdale v. Hansard, 34, Strangers’ Gallery in House of Com- mons, i. 286, 395. Stratford de Redcliffe, Lord, ii. 397. Strickland, Sir G., on apprentice- ship of slaves, ii. 14. Strikes for increased wages, &c., iii. 417. Sudbury, Rejoicings at, i. 180. Suffield, Harl of, attacks the bishops, “L174. Sugar at The, ii. 49, 120, 153, 157, 232, 238, 259, Sugden, Sir E. (see St. Leonards, Lord). Sumter, The, iii. 416. Sunday trading, Suppression of, iii. 50. Supply and the House of Lords, iii, 165, Sussex, Duke of, supports Reform Bill, i. 168; moves address, li. 4, Sutton, Mr. Manners, re-elected Speaker, i. 234 ; defeated, 334. Sveaborg, Bombardment of, iii. 53, Sydenham, Lord, i. 359, ii. 179; (Jovernor- general of Canada, 10. Syria taken by Pasha of Ezypt, li. 41. i415, ii, Tauri, Island of, and France, ii. 141. Tara, Meeting at, ii. 136. Taylor, Sir Herbert, i. 222. p77 Mee thie! ii, 313, 330 ; . v5 ting in, ui. 145. | Tchernaya, the, i iii. 60. Telegraph, Submarine, to France, ii. 348 ; Atlantic, iii. 118, 131, 298. Telegraphs, purchase of, iii. 424, Tenuyson, Mr., i. 263, 322. Tenterden, Lord, opposes Reform Bill, i. 168, YOL. IIT. 457 Thackeray, ii. 1, iii. 234. Thiers, M., opposes Treaty of Com- merce with England, iii. 416. Thom, as ‘ Sir W. “Courtenay, ii. 19. Thompson, Alderman, i. 145, ii. 37. Thomson, Mr. Poulett (see Syden- ham, Lord) Thornley, Mr, i187. Tichborne Trial, The, iii. 425. Tithe Bill, i. 293, 303, 373, 386. Tithe Commutation Bill, iy 308, Tithes, Collection of, i. 245, 293. Toll-gates, h. 131. Townley, Mr. Paha Cys Tractarianism, Progress of, iii. 429, 434, Traets for the Times, i. 273, ii. 107; tit. 434, 437. Trades-unions, ili. 330. Trades-unions Commission, iii. 332 (and see 403). Traktir Bridge, Battle of, iii. 60. Transportation of criminals, iii. 81. Trelawney, Sir J., iti. 176. Tremenhere, Colonel, i. 339. ‘Trent,’ Seizure of the, iii, 185. Triennial Parliaments, i, 264, 322, | *Trimmers,’ i. 207. Truck system, ii. 73. Turkey and Russia, it. 394, iii. 2. Turnbull, Mr., iii. 176. Turnpike Laws, The, ii. 181, Unrrarrans, ii. 127, United Kingdom Alliance, iii. 417. United States, Disputes with, iii. 78, 416; Civil War in, 183; the Trent, dispute, 185. University reform, ii. 338, iii, 419. University Tests Bill, iii. 402, 422. Viororra, Queen, Reign of, ii. 1, et seq.; address to, 43; coronation of, 16; marriage of, 34, 39 ; Visit to the King of the French, 104 ; attempted assassination of, 39, 88; letters from, iii. 407, 408. Vienna Conference, The, iii. 41, 46, 68. Villafranca, Peace of, iii. 144, HH 458 Villiers, Mr., ii. 68, 71, 160, 223. Vincent, the Chartist agitator, ii. 275, 283. Violence of reform mobs, i. 130. Volunteer Movement, The, iii. 146, 231. Voysey, Rev. Charles, iii. 433. Vyvyan, SirR., ii. 15 ; opposes Re- form Bill, i. 109, 131; re-elected, 232. Waxktey, Mr,, ii. 4. Wales, Prince of, his marriage, iii. 224; serious illness of, 406; thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s for recovery of, 408. Wales, Princess of, public entry into London, iii. 224, Wales, great strike of colliers in, iii, 417. Walewski, Count, and the Orsini affair, iii, 119, 123. Wallace, Mr., ii. 32. Walpole, 8. H., Home Secretary, ii. 379, iii, 122, 257; resigns, 319. Ward, Mr., attacks revenues of Irish Church, i. 286. War panics, ii. 261, iii. 146, 169, 233. Warrington, Captain, i. 205. Warwick, Riots at, i. 197. Washington, Treaty of, iii. 413. Watson, The Hon. Mr., ii. 20. ‘ Waverers,’ The, i. 207. Wellesley, Lord, Lord-lieutenant of Treland, i. 295. Wellington, Duke of, Premier, i. 18 ; opposes Catholic Emancipa- tion, 20 ; supports it, 28 ; speech against reform, 38, 166, 209; unpopularity of, 41, 179 ; speech on charge against the bishops, 178 ; forms ministry, 327 ; popu- larity of, ii. 18 ; opposes Slave Bills, 30 ; Commander-in-Chief, 246 ; death, 385. INDEX. Wensleydale, Lord, iii. 72. Westbury, Lord Chancellor, iii. 1833 and law reform, 231, 258; re- signs, 260; death of, 428. West-India Islands, State of our, ii. 259. Westminster Election, The, i. 405. Wetherell, Sir C., opposes reform, i, 30 ; dismissed, 30; speech on Lord J. Russell's Reform Bill, 84; on the publicagitation, 184 ; as- saulted at Bristol, 189; defeated at Oxford, 232. Wharncliffe, Lord, ii. 60 ; opposes Reform Bill, i. 165; moderates his opposition, 207. Wheeler, Sir H., iii. 106. Wilberforce, William, i. 266. Wilberforce, Bishop, death of, iii. 428. Wild, Brigadier, ii. 92. Wilks, Captain, and the ‘Trent,’ iii. 185. William IV., reign of, i. 57 ; coro- nation of, 156 ; unpopularity of, 221; death of, 418, ii. 3. Williams, T., the Chartist agitator, ii, 284. Williams, General, defends Kars, iiis 65. Wilson, Mr. George, ii. 198. Windham, Colonel, iii: 63. . Windham, Mr., opposes reform, i. 9. Window-tax, i, 249, 11. 333. Wiseman, Cardinal, ii. 349. Wolseley, Sir C.,elected at Birming- ham, i. 13; arrested, 13. Wood, Mr. C., i. 360; Chancellor of the Exchequer, ii. 231; Board of Control, 382, iii. 38. Worcester, Riots at, i. 197. Wordsworth, i. 330, ii. 1, 82. Wortley, Hon. §., ii. 55. Wynn, Mr. C. W., i. 96. Yorke, Captain, i. 187. THE END. BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS, zc! rt Wane ay 4 FF VB &, A Hors had Pye Vv a oll ] ati laa y G4 Dp : on Y gf AG oo Tp ae ; ’ Y v) oh tl for ise nc —- hd Meany [blo g, fe bbe I Ls ‘ Y zi " } f f see bheg, Wha 6 feofe. Nt Grnart un. Lat , ma. y a 4 P aft Ay *3 Lo Un. Ae Bn mmen df Ante) Aeewerd - VA | réts “4 ) x Pay. Y hp is Q- Dp Car et .— Wa THE ALABAMA CLAIMS. _— oa TO THE EDITOR OF THE STANDARD, ~~ Stz;—Lord Rosebery, in his most able and iat ing speech at Manchester, speaking of ‘Arbitrating. National Disputes as a means of settling them, said — “When I recollect that we had to pay three millions: of money under the Alabama Claims, which the Americans have been totally unable to find any reci- pients for, I confess I am rather sceptical as to the merits of that method of proceeding.” are Will you kindly allow me to point out Lord Rose- | bery’s error. The Americans are able_to find more than enough recipients for the money. Some of the claimants will only receive a ‘per-centage on their claims. How he could say that we have totally ”. failed to find any recipients I cannot imagine, ae | _ Perhaps he has observed that English claimants have filed and are proving their claims in London, and infers» that the money is ging.» besging in America only, |The Fund is being distributed to a nationalities whose claimants have suffered losses when they were entitled to. ‘the protection of the United States in the premices, There are those who say, in natural justice, Englishmen © ought not to be allowed com pensation for acts done wrongfully by thew Government, as adjudged. But whether or not individual recipients. could be found, “totally ” or partially, does not make the Arbitration wrong, since the award was made by payment of a lump. sum absolutely to the United States Government as a Goyernment, . ons .. tam, Sir, your obedient servant, . a A. rn WAGNER, a Face of arr Court of Commissionersof AJabama ¢ aims, at London, Ys Literature of the Victorian Axe. But looking at the literature of this century, which is really such, looking at the higher literature of this age of Victoria, I think we may account it as chief among ‘the felicities of her wonderful reign.’ As 1 turn over the pages of Macaulay, Lecky, Freeman, of Wordsworth, ‘'ennyson, Browning, of Carlyle, Newman, Mill, of Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, I seem to see there the old national characteristics, the characteristics which have made England great, most vividly dis- played. Yes, upon those pages, and upon the pages of the literature of this age in general, literature in its proper sense, I discern the quality I spoke of just now, virtus, man- liness, virility, as clearly manifested as in the literature of the age of Anne or of Elizabeth. It appears to me that, if we study the great writers of the age of Victoria, one lesson we may derive from their books is a lesson of love for our country and of confidence in her future. In all his writings, says Mr, Lilly, his 4 2 RE se BBS (03-22 MIN1 | | ML 702 www. oolibrisystem.com Li