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ANNUAL REGISTER,

FOR THE YEAR

1870.

PART I.

ENGLISH HISTORY.

CHAPTER I.

1815-1870: an historical parallel-Absorbing interest of the War-Irish Land and Education Bills-Prospects of Trade-Protection agitation-Condition of Ireland -Interest in the Education Question-Speeches of Mr. Bright and Mr. ForsterThe Colonies-Prospects of Law Reform-Opening of Parliament-Absence of Mr. Bright and Lord Clarendon-Leadership of the Conservative party in the House of Lords-The Royal Speech-Its character-Debates on the AddressSpeeches of Lord Cairns, Lord Granville, Mr. Disraeli, and Mr. Gladstone.

"THE prospects with which the year terminated were those of durable peace to this country, and of a general settlement of the affairs of the continent, which, if not altogether framed upon those principles of consent and independence which alone can satisfy the feelings of a friend to national rights, seemed, upon the whole, to promise much practical improvement in the system of Europe. There were, indeed, appearances which a boding mind might regard as presaging an interruption of the calm but that a single event

should produce an immediate change in the state of things which would again set in motion all the armed forces of Europe, and commit its destinies to the chances of war, was scarcely within the compass of the imagination. Such an apprehension could only be suggested by an intimate knowledge of the character and disposition of the French nation, and especially of that army which, though no longer in activity, still held the fate of France in its hands; and the result has afforded an awful example of the danger attending the prevalence of a military spirit, fostered by long war and brilliant achievements."

With the passage that we have here quoted opens the preface to the ANNUAL REGISTER for the year 1815, and, exceptis excipiendis,

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we can find no better introduction to the story that has now to be written, that of the annus mirabilis 1870. Those who still fondly believe in the dying out of wars from among the nations of the earth, and the curious in historic parallels, may alike find in an application of this passage to the events that are now passing before our eyes, matter for grave reflection.

From the middle of July onwards the record of the present year, whether home or foreign, has seemed to bystanders little more than the narrative of the great French and German war, the events and surprises of which are of a magnitude so stupendous as to leave room in the mind for no other subject of contemplation. Even the downfall of the temporal power of the Pope, following immediately as it did, with more than the usual irony of facts, upon the authoritative declaration of his spiritual infallibility, passed comparatively unheeded by. Nay, the very war itself is too near at hand for the eye to realize its true proportions. Only by becoming, in imagination, the readers of some future historical work, and comparing it with any or all of the histories that now stand upon our shelves, can we form an idea of the place that must be found in the world's annals for the catastrophe of Sedan and the siege of Paris.

"The extraordinary events of this new revolution" (we quote again from the same preface, and leave our readers to make the necessary modifications for themselves), "have afforded subjects for narrative rendering the present year in some respects more dramatically interesting, if the expression may be allowed, than any which have preceded it in the long course of political contention. Its rapid changes, and the memorable battle which at once overthrew an imperial throne, and consigned its possessor to perpetual imprisonment, were events singularly adapted to work upon the universal passion for wonder and novelty."

The details of the great events of the past year belong to another portion of this work; to their effects upon English politics and English opinion we shall presently refer.

But even if we turn, unwillingly we confess, from the terrible drama which is being played out within a ten hours' journey from us, to the domestic affairs with which we are for the present concerned, we shall find that the year has had, for Englishmen, an interest and a specialty of its own. It is not always, unfortunately, that the parliamentary session is remarkable for the passing of any one great enactment; seldom, indeed, that it can boast of more than one. But time was found during the last session to carry through two of the most important measures in the history of our recent legislation-the Irish Land Act and the Education Act, and all parties have agreed in doing justice, at all events, to the energy of the Government in effecting so much; and, with reference to the Education Act, to that of Mr. Forster especially, to whose individual exertions the measure is mainly due, and with whose name it will always be associated. It is worthy of note that both these measures were introduced in the course of one week.

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The new year brought with it little or no improvement in the condition or prospects of trade, which seemed incapable of recovering from the shock of 1866. The cotton mills still suffered under an insufficient and dear supply of raw material, and a demand stagnant under the influence of high prices; while the regulations and proceedings of the trades' unions were still the fruitful source of complaint, to the manufacturers of impeded production, to the mechanics of misrepresentation of their alleged objects and tendencies. The approach of the time at which the French commercial treaty might be terminated on notice given by either party had given rise in some quarters to an agitation for the re-establishment of protection, under colour of a demand for reciprocity-i. e. the raising of English or the lowering of French duties. This agitation, however, had nowhere assumed dimensions of any importance, and the only apparent danger to the maintenance of the commercial treaty lay in the political opposition which had lately arisen in France to all measures which had been carried by the exercise of the Imperial prerogative.

The continued commercial depression was to be attributed partly to the discredit which had attached to joint-stock enterprise since the discovery that liability on shares of which only a small part was called up might be practically unlimited. And other causes were to be found in the ruinous litigation entailed by the power of windingup companies, and the series of criminal prosecutions of directors for alleged misrepresentation, which, whether right or wrong in themselves, had necessarily rendered men of commercial experience and reputation cautious in undertaking a hazardous office.

The condition of Ireland was the topic which, to the exclusion of almost all others except the question of Education, occupied the minds of statesmen and the public at the opening of the year. That condition was such as to inspire the utmost uneasiness. When Parliament met, the fear of severe measures, which the Government had avowed their intention to adopt if necessary, and the despatch of additional regiments to Ireland at the close of 1869, had caused a slight lull in the tempest of sedition which had raged there throughout that year. But it was felt and acknowledged that the lull was only for the moment, and that the condition of Ireland was most discouraging and alarming. Whatever was to be hoped or feared from the ultimate results of the one great measure which had been accomplished, and the other which was on the eve of accomplishment, there could unhappily be no doubt that events had proved and were proving that no return of gratitude was immediately to be expected from the Irish people. The reform of the previous session seemed but to give fresh incitement to "landlord-tumbling," and the contagion of crime had spread far beyond the limits of agrarian murder. In one instance an unfortunate man was murdered for selling eggs at a lower price than his neighbours. Disestablishment, without apparently appeasing the Romanists, had irritated the Protestant party, and the prospect and promise of an Irish Land Bill,

while it excited the hopes of tenant-farmers, naturally stimulated them to make demands which soon exceeded all the bounds of reason. The language of treason and disaffection in the Irish newspapers had reached its height, and the first effects of the stirring of the stagnant slough of Irish despond by the dredge of legislation had been to bring all the mud and refuse to the surface at once. It was to be expected that the two great political parties would be divided as to the interpretation to be placed on these signs of the times, and that the Opposition should believe them to be the first fruits of ruin produced by an injudicious policy, while in the eyes of Liberals they were the result of the last desperate effort of the Fenian conspirators, who felt that the ground was being cut from under their feet by wise and resolute reforms, and that when those reforms should come to be understood and operative, their occupation would be gone. This view of the case was forcibly put by Mr. Forster in a speech delivered at Bradford in January. Two things were certain, that the Government did not mean to waver in their policy of conciliation; and that the majority at their back, when Parliament met, would be such as to make it certain that with common prudence and energy they must carry their land measure as they had carried the disestablishing Act. About the provisions of the coming Bill the greatest interest and curiosity prevailed; and legislators, both professional and amateur, reigned supreme to their hearts' content in the columns of the newspapers. Scarcely less interested was the country, at this time, in the promised educational Bill. One of those crises in our domestic history had arrived when it was generally felt that action must be substituted for talk in a matter which had for years been fertile in the latter result. Men of all views and parties were determined to establish, if possible, an efficient system of national elementary education, though as to the best means to that end there was much disagreement. Broadly speaking, the several plans of the Birmingham League and the Manchester Union represented the two main branches of public opinion on the matter, the former, which advocated "unsectarian education," being most in favour in the great towns, the latter in the country districts. Among the principal places where conferences and meetings upon the subject of education were held during the early part of the year, were Leeds, Halifax, Stockport, Worcester, and Shrewsbury. So universal was the consent of feeling that the question must be dealt with in earnest in the coming session, that general dissatisfaction was felt and expressed when Mr. Bright, speaking at Birmingham in the second week in January, more than hinted that the country must be contented if the ministry succeeded in passing their Irish Land Bill, without asking for other important Acts of legislation. "You cannot," he said, using one of those homely but forcible metaphors so closely associated with his oratory, "easily drive six omnibuses abreast through Temple Bar." In marked contrast with this address was a speech delivered by Mr. Forster at Bradford during the ensuing week (to

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which we have already alluded), in which he touched generally upon the different items of the expected ministerial programme, but especially on the question of education, as to which he expressed his hope (adopting Mr. Bright's metaphor) that when the Irish land omnibus had passed through, "Lord de Grey and himself would drive their education omnibus in afterwards." We shall see in another chapter that the promise of this speech was not belied in the fulfilment.

Another question which at the commencement of the year created much interest in the public mind was connected with the colonial policy of the Government, which was the subject of many meetings and much discussion at the time, but will be more fitly treated in a separate chapter of this work. The question of Law Reform, also, as usual, was merely canvassed and debated, but with less hope and spirit than those of which we have spoken. On no subject has been, is, and will be the necessity of reform more pressing. On none is there smaller prospect of it. The dead waste of Carey Street, created by the destruction of hundreds of homes and the eviction of their tenants, had been the one step taken for years in the direction of legal reform-a step apparently considered sufficient in itself to satisfy all demands. Such changes as had been recently effected had worked but badly. The setting apart by the former government of three of the common-law judges, in the face of a dignified protest from the whole bench, for the trial of election petitions, had proved the failure that, in the judgment of all those who understood the matter best, it was always felt that it would prove. And three additional judges having been appointed to give the necessary strength to the body thus weakened, the first vacancy which subsequently occurred in their number was, by the present Government, left unfilled from motives of economy. For the same reason a vacant Lord Justiceship was not filled up for many months, while the arrears of business in the Appeal Court of the Privy Council, which under the present system depends in great measure upon the devotion of the Lords Justices, accumulated every day. The Benchers of the Inns of Court, meanwhile, steadily set their faces against an improved system of legal education, and it seemed that the legal omnibus, too well acquainted with the locality, would make no further attempt on the passage of Temple Bar.

It had been generally hoped that the Queen would this year attend in person to open the parliamentary session, but the state of her Majesty's health, though happily causing no serious uneasiness, was such that she was unable to carry out her expressed intention to appear, and on Tuesday, the 8th February, the session was once more opened by commission. There were some melancholy blanks in the ministerial ranks, more melancholy when considered in the light of subsequent events. Mr. Bright and Lord Clarendon were both absent from illness, the former, as it proved, not to resume his place in the Ministry, which he finally resigned at the close of the year; the latter to reappear for a time, but only to be finally and

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