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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 sustained 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 present 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 afterwards 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 made a

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 resolutions, insisted on adding to them a rider, that the Maynooth grant and the regium donum 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 contention 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, leaving 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 element of disorder, and the confused discussion

1868.]

A RIDER TO THE RESOLUTIONS.

347

ended in the adoption of the following rider to Mr. Gladstone's 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 regium donum be discontinued, 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 English 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 instruction 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

Mr.

in his opinion the best means of effecting that object. 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 compromise 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 Earl 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 foreigncattle 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 ministerialist 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