though it was proposed to hold voluntary examinations on the two last-mentioned subjects. Mr. Gladstone introduced 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 attention 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-introduced in 1873, Mr. Gladstone announced that the government 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 precedent 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 government? 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. 421 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 deer, Though the herd may have left thee, thy home is still here. 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 parliament. 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, February 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 religious and social grievances of Ireland.' The House divided at two o'clock in the morning, when the numbers were— 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 administration. 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 too 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 construction 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 Chancellor 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 reconstruction of our judicial system with a view to its greater efficiency. The bill proposed to unite in one great tribunal all the higher courts of justice, to economise and distribute without regard to artificial and antiquated divisions 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 1873.1 CONSERVATIVE REACTION. 423 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 administration 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 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 reputation 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 Harcourt, 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 established a stronger and more enduring claim on the gratitude 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 513,000l. During its term of office the government had taken off taxes amounting to 12,000,000l. They had spent 10,000,000l. in the purchase of telegraphs, in accordance with arrangements made by their predecessors. The Franco-Prussian war had led to an increased expenditure on the army of 2,000,000l.; and half the Alabama indemnity had been paid off without the assistance of a loan or the imposition of a tax. And yet, while these results had been obtained 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, 8,000l. had been ex |