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A'YORKSIIIRE TALE. By R. D. Blaokmore. .. . 15 124. THE PENNANT FAMILY. ANovel. By Anne Beale. 15 125. POET AND PEER. ANovel. By Hamilton Aide 15 126. THE DUKE'S CHILDREN. ANovel. By Anthony Teollope 20 127. THE QUEEN. By Mrs. Olipuant. Illustrated 25 12-. MISS BOUVERIE. ANovel. By Mrs. Mom-.swoetii 15 129. DAVID ARMSTRONG; OR, BEFORE THE DAWN. ANovel 10 130. HYPATIA. ANovel. By Ciiari.es Kingsley 20 131. CAPE COD AND ALL ALONG SHORE. Stories. By Chas. Noeduoff 15 132. LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. With Extracts from his Speeches. By Edmund Kirke. Illustrated 20 133. CROSS PURPOSES. ANovel. By Cecilia Findlay 10 134. CLEAR SHINING AFTER RAIN. ANovel. By C. G. Hamilton 15 135. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. ANovel. By Jane Austen 15 136. WHITE WINGS : A Yachtiun Romance. By William Black 20 137. CAST UP BY THE SEA. A Storv for Bovs. Bv Sir S. W. Baker. Ill'd. 15 13S. THE MUDFOG PAPERS, &o. Bv Charles Dickens 10 139. LORD BRACKENBURY. ANovel. Bv Amelia B. Edwards 15 140. A MEMOIR OP THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. By his Daughter, Lady Holland 16 141. JUST AS I AM. ANovel. By M. E. Braddon 16- 142. A SAILOR'S SWEETHEART. ANovel. By W. Clark Russell 15 143. THREE VOLUMES OF THE "ENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS." ED- ITED BY JOHN MORLEY. BURNS. By Principal Shairf.— GOLDSMITH. Bv William Black.— BUNYAN. Bv J. A. Frocdf... 15 144. THREE VOLUMES' OF THE " ENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS," ED- ITED BY JOHN MORLEY. JOHNSON. By Leslie Stephen.— SCOTT. By R. H Hutton.— THACKERAY. Bv A. Troli.ope 20 145. THREE RECRUITS. AND THE GIRLS THEY LEFT BEHIND THEM. A Novel. By Joseph Hatton 15 146. THE EARLY' HISTORY" OF CHARLES JAMES FOX. By Geoege Otto Teevelyan. Author of "The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay." 20 147. HORACE McLEAN. ANovel. By Alice O'Hanlon 15 14S. FROM THE WINGS. ANovel. Bv B. H Buxton 15 149. nE THAT WILL NOT WHEN HE MAY". ANovel. Bv Mrs. Oi.iphant 20 150. ENDY'MION. A Novel. By the Earl of Beaoonsfiei.d. (With a Key to the Characters) 15 151. DUTY. Bv Samuel Smiles, LL.D 15 152. A CONFIDENTIAL AGENT. A Novel. By James Payn 15 153. LOVE AND LIFE. A Novel. Bv Charlotte M. Y'onoe 15 154. THE REBEL OF THE FAMILY.' ANovel. By E. Lynn Linton 20 155. DR. WORTLE'S SCHOOL.' ANovel. Bv Anthony Teollope 15 156. LITTLE PANSY. ANovel. By Mrs. Randolph 20 157. THE DEAN'S WIFE. ANovel. By Mrs. C. J. Eii.oart 20 158. THE POSY RING. ANovel. By Airs. Alfred W. Hunt 10 159. BETTER THAN GOOD. A Storv for Girls. Bv Annie E. Ridley 15 160. UNDER LIFE'S KEY. AND OTHER STORIES". By Mary Cecil Hay 15 161. ASPHODEL. ANovel. Bv M. E. Braddon 15 162. SUNRISE. ANovel. Bv William Bi.aok 15 163. THE GLEN OF SILVER BIRCHES. A Novel. By E. O. Blaokburne 15 164. SOCIAL ETIQUETTE AND HOAIE CULTURE 20 105. THE WARDS OF PLOTINUS. ANovel. By Airs. John Hunt 20 166. REMINISCENCES BY THOMAS CARLYLE. Edited by James An- 167. HIS LITTLE MOTHER. AND OTHER TALES AND SKETCHES. By Miss Atu 165. LIFE OF GEORGE IV. Parti. Bv Percy Fitzgerald 20 169. LIFE OF GEORGE IV. Part II. By Peroy Fitzgerald 20 170. INTO TOR SHADE, AND OTHER STORIES. By Mary Cecil Hay.. IS 171. CvESAR. A Sketch. By James Anthony Froude 20 172. MEMOIRS OF PRINCE" METTERNICH. 1773-1S15. Edited by Prince Richard Metternich. The Papers Classified and Arranged bv M. A. De Klinkowstrom. Translated bv Mrs. Alexander Napier. Parti... 20 173. MEMOIRS OF PRINCE METTERNICH. 1773-1815. Part II 20' 174. MEMOIRS OF PRINCE METTERNICH. 1815-1829. Part III 20 175. MEMOIRS OF PRINCE METTERNICH. 1S15-1S29. Part IV 20 176. FROAI EXILE. ANovel. Bv James Payn 15 177. MISS WILLIAMSON'S DIVAGATIONS. Stories. By Miss Tuackerat 15 17S. THOJIAS CARLYLE. By William Howie Wylie 20 (.Continued on tJie page following the end of this work.) Number 365. Published by HARPER & BROTHERS. New York. Price 25 Cts. -Issued Woeklj.— Extra. Copyright, IS81, by Haepek A Brothers. Subscription Price per Year wf 52 Numbers, $10. A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES, FROM THE ACCESSION OF QUEEN VICTORIA TO THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1880, By justin McCarthy, m.p. CONTENTS. Chapter I. A New Reign Opens — II. Some Trembles to the New Reign — III. Decline and Fall of the Melbourne Ministry IV. The Afghan War.— V. Peel's Administration. -VL The Anti-Corn Law League.— VII. Mr. Disraeli.— VIII. Famine and Political Trouble.— IX. Athens, Rome, and London.— X. Palmerston.— XI. The Crimean War.— XII. The Lorcha Arrow. Transportation.— XIII. The Indian Mutiny.— XIV. The End of "John Company."— XV. The Conspiracy Bill!— XVI. Disraeli's First Reform Enterprise.— XVII. Lord Palmerston Again. -XVIII. The Civil War in America.— XIX. The Last of Lord Palmerston.— XX. The New Government.— XXI. Reform. — XXII. Strife at Home and Abroad. -XXIII. Irish Questions.— XXIV. "Reformation in a Flood."— XXV. The Fall of the Great Administration XXVI. Lord Beaconstield. — XXVII. The Congress of Berlin. CHAPTER I. A NEW REIGN OPENS. Before half-past two o'clock on the morning of June 20, 1837. William IV, was lying dead in Windsor Castle, while the messengers were already hurrying ofF to Kensington Palace, to bear to his successor her summons to the throne. With William ended the reign of per- sonal government in England. King William had always held to and exercised the right to dismiss his ministers when he pleased, and be- cause he pleased. In our day we should believe that the constitutional freedom of England was outraged, if a sovereign were to dismiss a minis- try at mere pleasure, or to retain it in despite of the expressed wish of the House of Commons. The manners of William IV. had been, like those of most of his brothers, somewhat rough and overbearing. He had been an unmanage- able naval officer. He had made himself unpop- ular while Duke of Clarence by his strenuous opposition to some of the measures which were especially desired by all the enlightenment of the country. He was, for example, a deter- mined opponent of the measures for the aboli- tion of the slave trade. But William seems to have been one of the men whom increased re- sponsibility improves. He was far better as a king than as a prince. lie proved that he was able at least to understand that first duty of a constitutional sovereign which, to the last day of bis active life, his father, George III., never could he brought to comprehend — that the per- sona] predilections and prejudices of the King must sometimes gix'e way to the public interest. We must judge William by the reigns that went before, and not the reign that came after him, and admit that on the whole he was better than his education, his early opportunities, and his early promise. William IV. (third son of George III.) bad left no children who could have succeeded to the throne, and the crown passed therefore to the daughter of his brother (fourth son of George), the Duke of Kent. This was the Princess Alex- andria Victoria, who was born at Kensington Palace, on May 24, 1819. The Princess was therefore at this time little more than eighteen years of age. The Duke of Kent died a few months after the birth of his daughter, and the child was brought up under the care of his wid- ow. She was well brought up : both as regards her intellect and her character — her training was excellent. She was taught to be self-reliant, brave, and systematical. Prudence and econo- my were inculcated on her as though she had been born to be poor. One is not generally in- clined to attach much importance to what his- torians tell us of the education of contemporary princes or princesses, but it cannot he doubted that the Princess Victoria was trained for intel- ligence and goodness. There is a pretty description given by Miss Wynn of the manner in which the young sover- eign received the news of her accession to a throne. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Ilowley, and the Lord Chamberlain, the Mar- quis of Conyngham, left Windsor for Kensington Palace, where the Princess Victoria had been residing, to inform her of the King's death. It was two hours after midnight when they started, and they did not reach Kensington until rive o'clock in the morning. "They knocked, they rang, thej thumped for a considerable time be- fore they could rouse the porter at the gate ; they were again kept waiting in the court-yard, then turne, I into one of the lower rooms, where they seemed forgotten by everybody. They rang the In II, and desired that the attendant of the Princess Victoria might be sent to inform her Royal Highness that they requested an audience on business of importance. After another delay, and another ringing to inquire the cause, the at- tendant was summoned, who stated that the Princess was in such a sweet sleep that she could not venture to disturb her. Then they said, ' We are come on business of state to the Queen, and even her sleep must give way to that.' It did; and to prove that she did not keep them waiting, in a few minutes she came into the room, in a loose white night-gown and shawl, her nightcap thrown off, and her hair fall- ing upon her shoulders, her feet in slippers, tears in her eyes, but perfectly collected and digni- fied." The Prime- minister, Lord Melbourne, was presently sent for, and a meeting of the Privy Council summoned for eleven o'clock, when the Lord Chancellor administered the usu- al oaths to the Queen, and her Majesty received in return the oaths of allegiance of the Cabi- net ministers and other privy councillors pres- ent. The interest or curiosity with which the de- meanor of the young Queen was watched was all the keener because the world in general knew so little about her. Not merely was the world in general thus ignorant, but even the statesmen and officials in closest communication with court circles were in almost absolute ignorance. The young Queen had been previously kept in such seclusion by her mother, that "not one of her acquaintance, none of the attendants at Kensing- ton, not even the Duchess of Northumberland, her governess, have any idea what she is or what she promises to be." There was enough in the court of the two sovereigns who went before Queen Victoria to justify any strictness of seclu- sion which the Duchess of Kent might desire for her daughter. No one can read even the most favorable descriptions given by contemporaries of the manners of those two courts without feeling grateful to the Duchess of Kent for A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. resolving that her daughter should see as little as possible of their ways and their company. It is not necessary to go into any formal de- scription of the proclamation of the Queen, her appearance for the first time on the throne in the House of Lords when she prorogued Parlia- ment in person, and even the gorgeous festival of her coronation, which took place on June 28, in the following year, 1838. It is a fact, how- ever, well worthy of note, amid whatever records of court ceremonial and of political change, that a few days after the accession of the Queen Mr. Montefiore was elected Sheriff of London, the first Jew who had ever been chosen for that of- fice; and that he received knighthood at the hands of her Majesty when she visited the City on the following Lord Mayor's day. He was the first Jew whom royalty had honored in this country since the good old times when royalty , was pleased to borrow the Jew's money, or order instead the extraction of his teeth. The expan- sion of the principle of religious liberty and equality which has been one of the most remark- able characteristics of the reign of Queen Vic- toria, could hardly have been more becomingly inaugurated than by the compliment which sov- ereign and city paid to Sir Moses Montefiore. The first signature attached to the Act of Allegiance presented to the Queen at Kensing- ton Palace was that of her eldest surviving uncle, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland. The fact may be taken as an excuse for introducing a few words here to record the severance of the con- nection which had existed for some generations between this country and Hanover. The con- nection was only personal, the Hanoverian kings of England being also by succession sovereigns of Hanover. The crown of Hanover was limited in its descent to the male line, and it passed on the death of William IV. to his eldest surviving brother, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland. The change was in almost every way satisfactory to the English people. The indirect connection between England and Hanover had at no time been a matter of gratification to the public of this country, and Englishmen were not by any means sorry to be rid of the Duke of Cumber- land. Not many of George III.'s sons were popular ; the Duke of Cumberland was probably the least popular of all. His manners were rude, overbearing, and sometimes even brutal. Rumor not unnaturally exaggerated his defects, and in the mouths of many his name was the symbol of the darkest and fiercest passions, and even crimes. Some of the popular reports with regard to him had their foundation only in the common detestation of his character and dread of his influence. But it is certain that he was profligate, selfish, overbearing, and quarrelsome. It was felt in England that the mere departure of the Duke of Cumberland from this country would have made the severance of the connec- tion with Hanover desirable, even if it had not been in other ways an advantage to us. Later times have shown how much we have gained by the separation. It would have been exceedingly inconvenient, to say the least, if the crown worn by a sovereign of England had been hazarded in the war between Austria and Prussia in 1866. Our reigning family must have seemed to suffer in dignity if that crown had been roughly knocked off the head of its wearer who happened to be an English sovereign ; and it would have been absurd to expect that the English people could engage in a quarrel with which their in- terests and honor had absolutely nothing to do, for the sake of a mere family possession of their ruling house. Lord Melbourne was the first Minister of the Crown when the Queen succeeded to the throne. He was a man who then and always after made himself particularly dear to the Queen, and for whom she had the strongest regard. He was of kindly, somewhat indolent, nature ; fair and even generous towards his political opponents; of the most genial disposition towards his friends. He was emphatically not a strong man. He was not a man to make good grow where it was not already growing. He was a kindly coun- sellor to a young Queen ; and happily for her- self the young Queen in this case had strong, clear sense enough of her own not to be absolute- ly dependent on any counsel. Lord Melbourne was not a statesman. His best qualities, per- sonal kindness and good nature apart, were purely negative. He was, unfortunately, not content even with the reputation for a sort of indolent good-nature which lie might have well deserved. He strove to make himself appear hopelessly idle, trivial, and careless. When he really was serious and earnest he seemed to make it his business to look like one in whom no human affairs could call up a gleam of inter- est. We have amusing pictures of him as he occupied himself in blowing a feather or nursing a sofa-cushion while receiving an important and perhaps highly sensitive deputation from this or that commercial "interest." Those who knew him insisted that he really was listening with all his might and main ; that he bad sat up the whole night before studying the question which he seemed to think so unworthy of any atten- tion ; and that so far from being wholly absorbed in bis trifles, he was at very great pains to keep up the appearance of a tiifler. Such a masquerading might perhaps have been excusable, or even attractive, in the case of a man of really brilliant and commanding talents. But in Lord Melbourne's case the affectation had no such excuse or happy effect. He was a poor speaker, only fitted to rule in the quietest times. Debates were then conducted with a bitterness of personality unknown, or at all events very rarely known, in our days. Even in the House of Lords language was often interchanged of the most virulent hostility. Lord Melbourne's constant attendance on the young Queen was regarded with keen jealousy and dissatisfaction. According to some critics, the Prime-minister was endeavoring to inspire her with all his own gay heedlessness of char- acter and temperament. According to others, Lord Melbourne's purpose was to make himself agreeable and indispensable to the Queen ; to surround her with his friends, relations, and creatures, and thus to get a lifelong hold of power in England, in defiance of political changes and parties. But he does not appear to have been greedy of power, or to have used any un- fair means of getting or keeping it. The char- acter of the young Sovereign seems to have im- pressed him deeply. His real or affected levity gave way to a genuine and lasting desire to make her life as happy and her reign as successful as he could. The Queen always felt the warmest affection and gratitude for him. Still, it is cer- tain that the Queen's Prime-minister was by no means a popular man at the time of her acces- sion. When tbe new reign began the Ministry had two enemies or critics in the House of Lords of the most formidable character. Either alone would have been a trouble to a minister of far stronger mould than Lord Melbourne ; but cir- cumstances threw them both for the moment into a chance alliance against him. One of these was Lord Brougham. No char- acter stronger and stranger than his is described in the modern history of England. He was gifted with the most varied and striking talents, and with a capacity for labor which sometimes seemed almost superhuman. Not merely had he the capacity for labor, but he appeared to have a positive passion for work. His restless energy seemed as if it must stretch itself out on every side seeking new fields of conquest. The study that was enough to occupy the whole time and wear out the frame of other men was only recreation to him. His physical strength never gave way. His high spirits never deserted him. His self-confidence was boundless. He thought he knew everything and could do everything better than any other man. His vanity was overweening, and made him ridiculous almost as often and as much as his genius made him admired. " If Brougham knew a little of law," said O'Connell, when the former became Lord Chancellor, " he would know a little of every- thing." The anecdote is told in another way, too, which perhaps makes it even more piquant : "The new Lord Chancellor knows a little of everything in the world — even of law." He was beyond doubt a great Parliamentary orator, although not an orator of the highest class. Brougham's action was wild, and sometimes even furious ; his gestures were singularly un- graceful ; bis manners were grotesque ; but of his power over his hearers there could lie no doubt. That power remained with him until a far later date, and long at'tev the years when men usually continue to take part in political debate Lord Brougham could be impassioned, impres- sive, and even overwhelming. If his talents were great, if his personal vanity was immense, let it be said that his services to the cause of hu- man freedom and education were simply inesti- mable. As an opponent of slavery in the colo- nies, as an advocate of political reform at home, of law reform, of popular education, of religious equality, he had worked with indomitable zeal, with resistless passion, and with splendid suc- cess. He was left out of office on the recon- struction of the Whig Ministry in April, 1835, and he passed for the remainder of his life into the position of an independent or unattached critic of the measures and policy of other men. It has never been clearly known why the Whigs so suddenly threw over Brougham. The com- mon belief is that his eccentricities and his al- most savage temper made him intolerable in a cabinet. It has been darkly hinted that for a while his intellect was actually under a cloud, as people said that of Chatham was during a momentous season. Lord Brougham was not a man likely to forget or forgive the wrong which he must have believed that he had sustained at tbe hands of the Whigs. He became the fiercest and most formidable of Lord Melbourne's hostile critics. The other great opponent was Lord Lynd- burst. He was one of the most effective Parlia- mentary debaters of his time. His style was singularly and even severely clear, direct, and pure ; his manner was easy and graceful ; his voice remarkably sweet and strong. Nothing could have been in greater contrast than his clear, correct, nervous argument, and the impassioned invectives and overwhelming strength of Brough- am. Lyndhurst had an immense capacity for work, when the work had to be done ; but his nat- ural tendency was as distinctly towards indolence as Brougham's was towards unresting activity. Nor were Lyndhurst's political convictions ever very clear. By the habitude of associating with the Tories, and receiving office from them, and speaking for them, and attacking their enemies with argument and sarcasm, Lyndhurst finally settled down into all the ways of Toryism. But nothing in his varied history showed that he had any particular preference that way : and there were many passages in his career when it would seem as if a turn of chance decided what part of political life he was to follow. As a keen de- bater he was perhaps hardly ever excelled in Parliament; but he had neither the passion nor the genius of the orator ; and his capacity was narrow indeed in its range when compared with the astonishing versatility and omnivorous men- tal activity of Brougham. As a speaker he was always equal. He seemed to know no vary- ing moods or fits of mental lassitude. Whenever he spoke he reached at once the same high level as a debater. The very fact may in itself, per- haps, be taken as conclusive evidence that he was not an orator. The higher qualities of the orator are no more to be summoned at will than those of the poet. These two men were, without any comparison, the two leading debaters in the House of Lords. Lord Melbourne had not at that time in the Up- per House a single man of first-class or even of second-class debating power on the bench of the Ministry. An able writer has well remarked that the position of the Ministry in the House of Lords might be compared to that of a water- logged wreck, into which enemies from all quar- ters are pouring their broadsides. Tbe law at that time made it necessary that a new Parliament should be summoned on the accession of the new Sovereign. The result was not a very marked alteration in the condition of parties ; but on the whole the advan tage was with the Tories. Somewhere about this time, it may be remarked, the use of the word " Con- A SHORT HISTORY OP OUR OWN TIMES. servative " to describe the latter political part/ first came into fashion. During the elections for the new Parliament, Lord John Russell, speaking at a public dinner at Stroud, made al- lusion to the new name which his opponents were beginning to affect for their party. "If that," he said, " is the name that pleases them, if they say that the old distinction of Whig and Tory should no longer be kept up, I am ready, in opposition to their name of Conservative, to take the name of Reformer, and to stand by that opposition." The new Parliament on its assembling seems to have gathered in the Commons an unusually large number of gifted and promising men. Mr. Grote, the historian of Greece, sat for the City of London. The late Lord Lytton, then Mr. Edward Lytton Bulwer, had a seat, an ad- vanced Radical at that day. Mr. Disraeli came then into Parliament for the first time. Charles Buller, full of high spirits, brilliant humor, and the very inspiration of keen good-sense, seemed on the sure way to that career of renown which a premature death cut short. Sir William Molesworth was an excellent type of the school which in later days was called the Philosophical Radical. Another distinguished member of the same school, Mr. Roebuck, had lost his seat, and was for the moment an outsider. Mr. Gladstone had been already five years in Parliament. The late Lord Carlisle, then Lord Morpeth, was looked upon as a graceful specimen of the liter- ary and artistic young nobleman, who also cul- tivates a little politics for his intellectual amuse- ment. Lord John Russell had but lately begun his career as leader of the House of Commons. Lord Palmerston was Foreign Secretary, but had not even then got the credit of the great ability which he possessed. Only those who knew him very well had any idea of the capac- ity for governing Parliament and the country which he was soon afterwards to display. Sir Robert Peel was leader of the Conservative par- ty. Lord Stanley, the late Lord Derby, was still in the House of Commons. He had not long before broken definitely with the Whigs on the question of the Irish ecclesiastical establish- ment, and had passed over to that Conservative party of which he afterwards became the most influential leader, and the most powerful Par- liamentary orator. The ministry was not very strong in the House of Commons. Its adherents were but loosely held together. Sir Robert Peel, the leader of the Opposition, was by far the most powerful man in the House. Added to his great qualities as an administrator and a Parliamentary debater, he had the virtue, then very rare among Conser- vative statesmen, of being a sound and clear financier, with a good grasp of the fundamental principles of political economy. His high, aus- tere character made him respected by opponents as well as by friends. He had not perhaps many intimate friends. His temperament was cold, or at least its heat was self-contained : he threw out no genial glow to those around him. He was by nature a reserved and shy man, in whose manners shyness took the form of pompousness and coldness. It is certain that he had warm and generous feelings, but his very sensitiveness only led him to disguise them. The contrast be- tween his emotions and his lack of demonstrative- ness created in him a constant artificiality which often seemed mere awkwardness. It was in the House of Commons that his real genius and character displayed themselves. Peel was a per- fect master of the House of Commons. He was as great an orator as any man could be who ad- dresses himself to the House of Commons, its ways and its purposes alone. Sir Robert Peel had little imagination, and almost none of that passion which in eloquence sometimes supplies its place. His style was clear, strong, and stately ; full of various argument and apt illustration drawn from books and from the world of politics and commerce. He followed a difficult argu- ment home to its utter conclusions; and if it had in it any lurking fallacy, he brought out the weak- ness into the clearest light, often with a happy touch of humor and quiet sarcasm. His speeches might be described as the very perfection of good- sense and high principle clothed in the most im- pressive language. Rut they were something more peculiar than this, for they were so con- structed, in their argument and their style alike, as to touch the very core of the intelligence of the House of Commons. They told of the feel- ings and the inspiration of Parliament as the bal- lad-music of a country tells of its scenery and its national sentiments. Lord Stanley was a far more energetic and impassioned speaker than Sir Robert Peel, and perhaps occasionally, in his later career, came now and then nearer to the height of genuine or- atory. But Lord Stanley was little more than a splendid Parliamentary partisan, even when, long after, he was Prime-minister of England. He had very little indeed of that class of information which the modern world requires of its statesmen and leaders. Of political economy, of finance, of the development and the discoveries of mod- ern science, he knew almost as little as it is pos- sible for an able and energetic man to know who lives in the throng of active life and hears what people are talking of around him. He once said good-humoredlv of himself that he was brought up in the prescientific period. He had, in fact, what would have been called at an earlier day an elegant scholarship ; he had a considerable knowledge of the politics of his time in most Eu- ropean countries, an energetic, intrepid spirit, and with him the science of Parliamentary debate seemed to be an instinct. There was no speaker on the ministerial benches at that time who could for a moment be compared with him. Lord John Russell, who had the leadership of the party in the House of Commons, was really a much stronger man than he seemed to be. He had a character for dauntless courage and confi- dence among his friends; for boundless self-con- ceit among his enemies. He had in truth much less genius than his friends and admirers be- lieved, and a great deal more of practical strength than either friends or foes gave him credit for. He became, not indeed an orator, but a very keen debater, who was especially effective in a cold, ir- ritating sarcasm which penetrated the weakness of an opponent's argument like some dissolving acid. The thin, bright stream of argument worked its way slowly out, and contrived to wear a path for itself through obstacles which at first the looker-on might have felt assured it never could penetrate. Our English system of government by party makes the history of Parliament seem like that of a succession of great political duels. Two men stand constantly confronted during a series of years, one of whom is at the head of the Gov- ernment, while the other is at the head of the Opposition. They change places with each vic- tory. The conqueror goes into office ; the con- quered into opposition. It has often happened that the two leading opponents are men of intel- lectual and oratorical powers so fairly balanced that their followers may well dispute among themselves as to the superiority of their respect- ive chiefs, and that the public in general may become divided into two schools, not merely po- litical but even critical, according to their par- tiality for one or the other. For many years Lord John Russell and Sir Robert Peel stood thus opposed. Peel had by far the more origin- al mind, and Lord John Russell never obtained so great an influence over the House of Com- mons as that which his -rival long enjoyed. Lord John Russell was a born reformer. He had sat at the feet of Fox. He was cradled in the principles of Liberalism. He held faithfully to his creed ; he was one of its boldest and keenest champions. He had great advantages over Peel, in the mere fact that he had begun his education in a more enlightened school. But he wanted passion quite as much as Peel did, and remained still farther than Peel below the level of the genuine orator. After the chiefs of Ministry and of Opposition, the most conspicuous figure in the House of Commons was the colossal form of O'Connell, the great Irish agitator, of whom we shall hear a good deal more. Among the foremost orators of the House at that time was O'Connell's im- passioned lieutenant, Richard Lalor Shiel. A reign which saw in its earliest years the application of the electric current to the task of transmitting messages, the first successful at- tempts to make use of steam for the business of transatlantic navigation, the general develop- ment of the railway system all over these coun- tries, and the introduction of the penny -post, must be considered to have obtained for itself, had it secured no other memorials, an abiding place in history. The history of the past forty or fifty years is almost absolutely distinct from that of any preceding period. In all that part of our social life which is affected by industrial and mechanical appliances we see a complete revolution. A man of the present day suddenly thrust back fifty years in life wotdd find himself almost as awkwardly unstated to the ways of that time as if he were sent back to the age when the Romans occupied Britain. He would find himself harassed at every step he took. He could do hardly anything as he does it to-day. Sir Robert Peel travelled from Rome to London 1 to assume office as Prime-minister, exactly as Constantine travelled from York to Rome to become Emperor. Each traveller had all that sails and horses could do for him, and no more. A few years later Peel might have reached London from Rome in some forty-eight hours. It is a somewhat curious coincidence that, in the year when Professor Wheatstone and Mr. Cooke took out their first patent " for improve- ments in giving signals and sounding alarms in distant places by means of electric currents transmitted through metallic circuit," Professor Morse, the American electrician, applied to Con- gress for aid in the construction and carrying on of a small electric telegraph to convey messages a short distance, and made the application with* out success. In the following year he came to this country to obtain a patent for his invention ; but he was refused. He had come too late. Our own countrymen were beforehand with him. Very soon after we find experiments made with the electric telegraph between Euston Square and Camden Town. The London and Birmingham Railway was opened through its whole length in 1838. The Liverpool and Preston line was opened in the same year. The Liverpool and Birmingham had been opened in the year before ; the London and Croydon was opened the year after. The Act for the trans- mission of the mails by railways was passed in 1838. In the same year it was noted as an un- paralleled, and to many an almost incredible, triumph of human energy and science over time and space, that a locomotive had been able to travel at a speed of thirty-seven miles an hour. Steam communication was successfully estab- lished between England and the United States. The Sirius, the Great Western, and the Royal William accomplished voyages between New York and this country in the early part of 1838. The Great Western crossed the ocean from Bristol to New York in fifteen days. She was followed by the Sirius, which left Cork for New York, and made the passage in seventeen days. The controversy as to the possibility of such voyages had no reference to the actual safety of such an experiment. During seven years the mails for the Mediterranean had been despatched by means of steamers. Neither the Sirius nor the Great Western* was the first vessel to cross the Atlantic by means of steam propulsion. Nearly twenty years before, a vessel called the Savannah, built at New York, crossed the ocean to Liverpool, and a voyage had been made round the Cape of Good Hope more lately still by a steamship. These expeditions, however, had really little or nothing to do with the prob- lem which was solved by the voyages of the Sirius and the Great Western. In the former instances the vessel made as much use of her steam propulsion as she could, but she had to rely a good deal on her capacity as a sailer. This was quite a different thing from the enter- prise of the Sirius and the Great Western, which was to cross the ocean by steam propul- sion only. It is evident, that so long as the steam power was to be used only as an auxilia- ry, it would be impossible to reckon on speed A SHORT HISTORY OF OUK OWN TIMES. and certainty 01 arrival. The doubt was wheth- er a steamer could carry, with her cargo and passengers, fuel enough to serve for the whole of her voyage across the Atlantic. The expe- ditions of the Sirivs and the Great Western settled the whole question. Two years after the Great Western went out from Bristol to New York the Cunard line of steamers was estab- lished. The steam communication between Liverpool and New York became thenceforth as regular and as unvarying a part of the business of commerce as the journeys of the trains on the Great Western railway between London and Bristol. Up to this time the rates of postage were very high, and varied both as to distance and as to the weight and even the size or the shape of a letter. The average postage on every charge- able letter throughout the United Kingdom was sixpence farthing. A letter from London to Brighton cost eightpence; to Aberdeen one shilling and threepence half-penny; to Belfast one shilling and fourpence. Nor was this all; for if the letter were written on more than one sheet of paper it came under the operation of a higher scale of charge. Members of Parliament and members of the Government had the privilege of franking letters. The franking privilege con- sisted in the right of the privileged person to send bis own or any other person's letters through the post free of charge by merely writing his name on the outside. This meant, in plain words, that the letters of the class who could best afford to pay for them went free of charge, and that those who could least afford to pay had to pay double — the expense, that is to say, of carrying their own letters and the letters of the privileged and exempt. Mr. (afterwards Sir Rowland) Hill is the man to whom this country, and indeed all civilization, owes the adoption of the cheap and uniform sys- tem. His plan has been adopted by every State which professes to have a postal system at all. Mr. Hill belonged to a remarkable family. His father, Thomas Wright Hill, was a teacher, a man of advanced and practical views in popular education, a devoted lover of science, an advo- cate of civil and religious liberty, and a sort of celebrity in the Birmingham of his day. He had five sons, every one of whom made himself more or less conspicuous as a practical reformer in one path or another. The eldest of the sons was Matthew Davenport Hill, the philanthropic Recorder of Birmingham, who did so much for prison reform and for the reclamation of juvenile offenders. The third son was Rowland Hill, the author of the cheap postal system. Rowland Hill when a little, weakly child began to show some such precocious love for arithmetical cal- culations as Pascal showed for mathematics. His favorite amusement as a child was to lie on the hearthrug and count up figures by the hour together. As he grew up he became teacher of mathematics in his father's school. Afterwards he was appointed secretary to the South Aus- tralian Commission, and rendered much valuable service in the organization of the colony of South Australia. A picturesque and touching little il- lustration of the veritable hardships of the exist- ing system seems to have quickened his interest in postal reform. Miss Martiueau thus tells the Story : "Coleridge, when a young man, was walking through the Lake district, when he one day saw the postman deliver a letter to a woman at a cot- tage door. The woman turned it over and exam- ined it, and then returned it, saying she could not pay the postage, which was a shilling. Hearing that the letter was from her brother, Coleridge paid the postage in spite of the manifest unwilling- ness of the woman. As soon as the postman was out of sight she showed Coleridge how his mon- ey had been wasted, as far as she was concerned. The sheet was blank. There was an agreement between her brother and herself that as long as all went well with him he should send a blank sheet in this way once a quarter; and she thus had tidings of him without expense of post- age. Most persons would have remembered this incident as a curious story to tell ; but there was one mind which wakened up at once to a sense of the significance of the fact. It struck Mr. Rowland Hill that there must be something wrong in a system which drove a brother and sister to cheating, in order to gratify their desire to hear of one another's welfare." Mr. Hill gradually worked out for himself a comprehensive scheme of reform. He put it before the world early in 1S37. The root of Mr. Hill's system lay in the fact, made evident by him beyond dispute, that the actual cost of the conveyance of letters through the post was very trifling, and was but little increased by the distance over which they had to be carried. His proposal was, therefore, that the rates of postage should be diminished to a minimum ; that at the same time the speed of conveyance should be increased, and that there should be much greater frequency of despatch. He rec- ommended the uniform charge of one penny the half-ounce, without reference to the distance within the limits of the United Kingdom which the letter had to be carried. The Post-office authorities were at first un- compromising in their opposition to the scheme. They were convinced that it must involve an unbearable loss of revenue. But the Govern- ment took up the scheme with some spirit and liberality. Petitions from all the commercial communities were pouring in to support the plan, and to ask that at least it should have a fair trial. The Government at length deter- mined in 1839 to bring in a bill which should provide for the almost immediate introduction of Mr. Hill's scheme, and for the abolition of the franking system, except in the case of official letters actually sent on business directly belong- ing to her Majesty's service. The bill declared, as an introductory step, that the charge for post- age should be at the rate of fourpence for each letter under half an ounce in weight, irrespective of distance, within the limits of the United King- dom. This, however, was to be only a begin- ning; for, on January 10, 1840, the postage was fixed at the uniform rate of one penny per letter of not more than half an ounce in weight. Some idea of the effect it has produced upon the postal correspondence of the country may be gathered from the fact that in 1839, the last year of the heavy postage, the number of letters de- livered in Great Britain and Ireland was eighty- two millions, which included some five millions and a half of franked letters returning nothing to the revenue of the country ; whereas, in 1875, more than a thousand millions of letters were delivered in the United Kingdom. The popula- tion during the same time had not nearly doub- led itself. CHAPTER II. SOME TROUBLES TO THE. NEW REIGN. The new Queen's reign opened amid many grim and unpromising conditions of our social affairs. The winter of 1837-38 was one of un- usual severity and distress. There would have been discontent and grumbling, in any case, among the working-class, but the complaints were aggravated by a common belief that the young Queen was wholly under the influence of a frivo- lous and selfish minister, who occupied her with amusements while the poor were starving. It does not appear that there was at any time the slightest justification for such a belief; but it prevailed among the working -classes and the poor very generally, and added to the sufferings of genuine want the bitterness of imaginary wrong. Only a few weeks after the coronation of the Queen a great Radical meeting was held in Birmingham. A manifesto was adopted there which afterwards came to be known as the Chartist petition. With that moment Chartism began to be one of the most disturbing influ- ences of the political life of the country. For ten years it agitated England. It might have been a very serious danger if the State had been involved in any external difficulties. It was backed by much genuine enthusiasm, passion, and intelligence. It appealed strongly and nat- urally to whatever there was of discontent among the working -classes. Its fierce and fit- ful flame went out at last under the influence of the clear, strong, and steady light of political reform and education. The one great lesson it teaches is, that political agitation lives and is formidable only by virtue of what is reasonable in its demands. Thousands of ignorant and miserable men all over the country joined the Chartist agitation who cared nothing about the substantial value of its political claims. They were poor, they were overworked, they were badly paid, their lives were altogether wretched. They got into their heads some wild idea that the People's Charter would give them better food and wages and lighter work if it were obtained, and that for that very reason the aristocrats and the officials would not grant it. The Reform Bill of 1S32 had done great things for the constitutional system of England. It abolished fifty-six nomination or rotten boroughs, and took away half the representation from thir- ty others ; it disposed of the seats thus obtained by giving sixty-five additional representatives to the counties, and conferred the right of returning members on Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and some thirty-nine large and prosperous towns which had previously had no representation. The bill introduced a i'10 household qualifica- tion for boroughs, and extended the county fran- chise to leaseholders and copyholders. But it left the working-classes almost altogether out of the franchise. It broke down the monopoly which the aristocracy and landed classes had enjoyed, and admitted the middle classes to a share of the law-making power, but the working-class, in the opinion of many of their ablest and most influen- tial representatives, were not merely left out, but shouldered out. This was all the more exasper- ating, because the excitement and agitation by the strength of which the Reform Bill was carried in the teeth of so much resistance were kept up by uk>e working-men. Rightly or wrongly, they believed that their strength had been kept in re- serve to secure the carrying of the Reform Bill, and that when it was carried they were imme- diately thrown over by those whom they had thus helped to pass it. Therefore at the time when the young Sovereign ascended the throne the working-classes in all the large towns were in a state of profound disappointment and dis- content, almost, indeed, of disaffection. Chartism was beginning to succeed to the Reform agita- tion. Chartism may be said to have sprung defini- tively into existence in consequence of the for- mal declarations of the leaders of the Liberal party in Parliament that they did not intend to push Reform any farther. At the opening of the first Parliament of Queen Victoria's reign the question was brought to a test. A Radical mem- ber of the House of Commons moved as an amendment to the address a resolution declaring in favor of the ballot and of shorter duration of Parliaments. Only twenty members voted for it ; and Lord John Russell declared that to push Reform any farther then would be a breach of faith towards those who helped him to carry it. A great many outside Parliament not unnatural- ly regarded the refusal to go any farther as a breach of faith towards them on the part of the Liberal leaders. A conference was held almost immediately between a few of the Liberal mem- bers of Parliament who professed Radical opin- ions and some of the leaders of the working-men. At this conference the programme, or what was afterwards known as "the Charter," was agreed upon and drawn up. The name of Charter was given by Mr. O'Counell. Quietly studied now, the People's Charter does not seem a very formidable document. Its " points," as they were called, were six. Man- hood Suffrage came first. The second was An- nual Parliaments. Vote by Ballot was the third. Abolition of the Property Qualification (then and for many years after required for the election of a member to Parliament) was the fourth. The Payment of Members was the fifth ; and the Division of the Country into Equal Electoral Districts, the sixth of the famous points. Three of the points — half, that is to say, of the whole number — have already been made part of our constitutional system. The existing franchise may be virtually regarded as manhood suffrage. JlA IIORT 11ISTOKV OF OUR OWN TIMES. We have for years been voting by means of a written paper dropped in a ballot-box. The prop- erty qualification for members of Parliament could hardly be said to have been abolished. Such a word seems far too grand and dignified to describe the fate that befell it. We should rath- er say that it was extinguished by its own ab- surdity and viciousness. The proposal to divide the country into equal electoral districts is one Btrhich can hardly yet be regarded as having come to any test. But it is almost certain that sooner or later some alteration of our present system in that direction will be adopted. Of the two other points of the Charter, the payment of members may be regarded as decidedly objection- able ; and that for yearly Parliaments as embody- ing a proposition which would make public life an almost insufferable nuisance to those actively concerned in it. The Chartists might be roughly divided into three classes — the political Chartists, the social Chartists, and the Chartists of vague discontent, who joined the movement because they were wretched and felt angry. The first were the regular political agitators who wanted a wider popular representation ; the second were chiefly led to the movement by their hatred of the ''bread-tax.'' These two classes were perfectly clear as to what they wanted : some of their de- mands were just and reasonable; none of them were without the sphere of rational and peaceful controversy. The disciples of mere discontent naturally swerved alternately to the side of those leaders or sections who talked loudest and fiercest against the law-makers and constituted authori- ties. Chartism soon split itself into two general ' divisions — the moral force and the physical force Chartism. A whole literature of Chartist news- papers sprang up to advocate the cause. The I Northern Star was the most popular and influ- ential of them; but every great town had its I Chartist press. Meetings were held at which j sometimes the most violent language was em- ployed. It. began to be the practice to hold torch- light meetings at night, and many men went armed to these, and open clamor was made by the wilder of the Chartists for an appeal to arms. \ A formidable riot took place in Birmingham, where the authorities endeavored to put down a Chartist meeting. The Government began to prosecute some of the orators and leaders of the Charter movement ; and some of these were convicted, imprisoned, and treated with great ' severity. AVide and almost universal discontent among the working -classes in town and country still helped to swell the Chartist ranks. The weav- I ers and stockingers in some of the manufacturing J towns were miserably poor. Wages were low everywhere. In the agricultural districts the complaints against the operation of the new Poor Law were vehement and passionate; and although they were unjust in principle and sus- tained by monstrous exaggerations of statement, they were not the less potent as recruiting agents for Chartism. There was a profound distrust of the middle class and their leaders. It is clear that at that time the Chartists, who represented the bulk of the artisan class in most of the large towns, did in their very hearts believe that Eng- land was ruled for the benefit of aristocrats and millionaires who were absolutely indifferent to the sufferings of the poor. It. is equally clear that most of what are called the ruling class did really believe the English working-men who joined the Chartist movement to be a race of fierce, unmanageable, and selfish communists, who, if they were allowed their own way for a moment, would prove themselves determined to overthrow throne, altar, and all established se- curities of society. An ignorant panic prevailed on both sides. The first foreign disturbance to the quiet and good promise of the new reign came from Can- ada. The condition of Canada was very pecu- liar. By an Act called the Constitution of 1701 Canada was divided into two provinces, the Upper and the Lower. Each province had a separate system of government, consisting of a governor, an executive council appointed by the Crowo, and supposed in some way to resemble the Privy Council of this country; a legislative council, the members of which were appointed by the Crown for life ; and a Representative As- sembly, the members of which were elected for four years. At the same time the clergy re- serves were established by Parliament. One- • seventh of the waste lands of the colony was set aside for the maintenance of the Protestant ! clergy, a fruitful source of disturbance and ill- feeling. Lower or Eastern Canada was inhab- ited for the most part by men of French descent, who still kept up in the midst of an active and moving civilization most of the principles and usages which belonged to mediaeval Fiance. , Lower Canada would have dozed away in its sleepy picturesqueness, held fast to its ancient ways, and allowed a bustling, giddy world, all alive with commerce and ambition, and desire for novelty, and the terribly disturbing thing which unresting people called progress, to rush on its wild path unheeded. But in the large towns there were active traders from England and other countries, who were by no means con- tent to put up with old-world ways, and to let the magnificent resources of the place run to waste. Upper Canada, on the other hand, was all new as to its population, and was full of the modern desire for commercial activity. Upper Canada was peopled almost exclusively by in- habitants from Great Britain. It is easy to see on tlje very face of things some of the difficulties which must arise in the development of such a system. The French of Lower Canada would regard with almost mor- bid jealousy any legislation which appeared like- ly to interfere with their ancient ways and to give any advantage or favor to the populations of British descent. The latter would see injus- tice or feebleness in every measure which did not assist them in developing their more ener- getic ideas. It was in Lower Canada that the greatest dif- ficulties arose. A constant antagonism grew up between the majority of the Representative As- sembly, who were elected by the population of the province. At last the Representative As- sembly refused to vote any farther supplies or to carry on any farther business. They formulated their grievances against the Home Government. Their complaints were of arbitrary conduct on the part of the governors ; intolerable composi- tion of the legislative council, which they insisted ought to he elective ; illegal appropriation of the public money ; and violent prorogation of the provincial Parliament. One of the leading men in the movement was Mr. Louis Joseph Papineau. This man had risen to high position by his talents, his energy, and his undoubtedly honorable character. He had represented Montreal in the Representative Assembly of Lower Canada, and he afterwards became Speaker of the House. He made him- self leader of the movement to protest against the policy of the governors, and that of the Gov- ernment at home by whom they were sustained. He held a series of meetings, at some of which undoubtedly rather strong language was used, and too frequent and significant appeals were made to the example held out to the population of Lower Canada by the successful revolt of the United States. Mr. Papineau also planned the calling together of a great convention to discuss and proclaim the grievances of the colonies. Lord Gosford, the governor, began by dismissing several militia officers who had taken part in some of these demonstrations. Mr. Papineau himself was an officer of this force. Then the governor issued warrants for the apprehension of many members of the popular Assembly on the charge of high-treason. Some of these at once left the country ; others against whom warrants were issued were arrested, and a sud- den resistance was made by their friends and supporters. Then, in the manner familiar to all who have read anything of the history of revolu- tionary movements, the resistance to a capture of prisoners suddenly transformed itself into open rebellion. The rebellion was not, in a military sense, a very great thing. At its first outbreak the mil- itary authorities were for a moment surprised, and the rebels obtained one or two trifling ad- vantages. But the commander-in-chief at onca showed energy adequate to the occasion, and used, as it was his duty to do, a strong hand in putting the movement down. The rebels fought with something like desperation in one or two instances, and there was, it must be said, a good deal of blood shed. The disturbance, however, after a while extended to the upper province. Upper Canada too had its complaints against its governors and the Home Government. The news of the outbreaks in Canada created a natural excitement in this country. There was a very strong feeling of sympathy among many classes here — not, indeed, with the rebel- lion, but with the colony which complained of what seemed to be genuine and serious griev- ances. Public meetings were held at which re- solutions were passed ascribing the disturbances in the first place to the refusal by the Govern- ment of any redress sought for by the colonists. Lord John Russell on the part of the Govern- ment introduced a bill to deal with the rebellious province. The bill proposed i>. brief to suspend for a time the constitution of Lower Canada, and to send out from this country a governor-general and high commissioner, with full powers to deal with the rebellion, and to remodel the constitu- tion of both provinces. There was an almost universal admission that the Government had found the right man when Lord John Russell mentioned the name of Lord Durham. Lord Durham was a man of remarkable char- acter. He belonged to one of the oldest families in England. The Lambtons had lived on their estate in the north, in uninterrupted succession, since the Conquest. The male succession, it is stated, never was interrupted since the twelfth century. They were not, however, a family of aristocrats. Their wealth was derived chiefly from coal-mines, and grew up in later days ; the property at first, and for a long time, was of in- considerable value. Lord Durham was born at Lambton Castle, in April, 1792. Before he was quite twenty years of age he made a romantic marriage at Gretna Green with a lady who died three years after. About a year after the death of his first wife he married the eldest daughter of Lord Grey. He was then only twenty-four years of age. He had before this been returned to Parliament for the county of Durham, and he soon distinguished himself as a very advanced and energetic reformer. While in the Commons he seldom addressed the House, but when he did speak it was in support of some measure of reform, or against what he conceived to be anti- quated and illiberal legislation. He brought out a plan of his own for Parliamentary reform in 1821. In 1828 he was raised to the peerage with the title of Baron Durham. When the Ministry of Lord Grey was formed, in November, 1830, Lord Durham became Lord Privy Seal. He is said to have had an almost complete con- trol over Lord Grey. He had an impassioned and energetic nature, which sometimes drove him into outbreaks of feeling which most of his colleagues dreaded. He was thorough in his reforming purposes, and would have rushed at radical changes with scanty consideration for the time or for the temper of his opponents. lie had very little reverence, indeed, for the majesty of custom. Whatever he wished he strongly wished. He had no idea of reticence, and cared not much for the decorum of office. lie was one of the men who, even when they are thor- oughly in the right, have often the unhappy art of seeming to put, themselves completely in the wrong. None of his opponents, however, denied his great ability. He was never deterred by con- ventional beliefs and habits from looking boldly into the very heart of a great political difficulty. He was never afraid to propose what in times later than his have been called heroic remedies. There was a general impression, perhaps even among those who liked him least, that he was a sort of "unemployed Caesar," a man who only required a field large enough to develop great qualities in the ruling of men. The difficulties in Canada seemed to have come as if expressly to give him an opportunity of proving himself all that his friends declared him to be, or of A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. justifying forever the distrust of his enemies. He went out to Canada with the assurance of every one that his expedition would either make or mar a career, if not a country. Lord Dur- ham found out a new alternative. He made a country and he marred a career. The mission of Lord Durham saved Canada. It ruined Lord Durham. Lord Durham arrived in Quebec at the end of May, 1838. He at once issued a proclamation, in style like that of a dictator. It was not in any way unworthy of the occasion, which espe- cially called for the intervention of a brave and enlightened dictatorship. He declared that he would unsparingly punish any who violated the laws, but he frankly invited the co-operation of the colonies to form a new system of government really suited to their wants and to the altering conditions of civilization. Unfortunately, he had hardly entered on his work of dictatorship when he found that he was no longer a dictator. In the passing of the Canada Bill through Parlia- ment the powers which he understood were to be conferred upon him had been considerably reduced. Lord Durham went to work, however, as if he were still invested with absolute author- ity over all the laws and conditions of the colony. A very CsesaHaying down the lines for the future government of a province could hardly have been more boldly arbitrary. Let it be said also that Lord Durham's arbitrariness was for the most part healthy in effect and just in spirit. But it gave an immense opportunity of attack on him- self and on the Government to the enemies of both at home. Lord Durham had hardly begun his work of reconstruction when his recall was clamored for by vehement voices in Parliament. Lord Durham did not wait for the formal re- call. He returned to England a disgraced man. Yet even then there was public spirit enough among the English people to refuse to ratify any sentence of disgrace upon him. When he landed at Plymouth he was received with acclamations by the population, although the Government had prevented any of the official honor usually shown to returning governors from being offered to him. Lord Durham's report was acknowledged by enemies as well as by the most impartial critics to be a masterly document. It laid the founda- tion of the political success and social prosperity not only of Canada but of all the other important colonies. After having explained in the most exhaustive manner the causes of discontent and backwardness in Canada, it went on to recom- mend that the government of the colony should be put as much as possible into the hands of the colonists themselves, that they themselves should execute as well as make the laws, the limit of the Imperial Government's interference being in such matters as affect the relations of the colony with the mother country, such as the constitution and form of government, the regulation of foreign relations and trade, and the disposal of the pub- lic lands. Lord Durham proposed to establish a thoroughly good system of municipal institu- tions ; to secure the independence of the judges ; to make all provincial officers, except the gover- nor and his secretary, responsible to the Colonial Legislature ; and to repeal all former legislation with respect to the reserves of land for the clergy. Finally, he proposed that the provinces of Can- ada should be reunited politically and should be- come one legislature, containing the representa- tives of both races and of all districts. It is significant that the report also recommended that in any Act to be introduced for this pur- pose a provision should be made by which all or any of the other North American colonies should, on the application of their legislatures, and with the consent of Canada, be admitted into the Canadian Union. In brief, Lord Dur- ham proposed to make the Canadas self-govern- ing as regards their internal affairs, and the germ of a federal union. It is not necessary to describe in detail the steps by which the Government gradually in- troduced the recommendations of Lord Durham to Parliament and carried them to success. In 1840, however, the Act was passed which re- united Upper and Lower Canada on the basis proposed by Lord Durham. Lord Durham did not live to see the success of the policy he had recommended. Within a few days after the passing of the Canada Government Bill he died at Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, on July 28, 1840. He was then little more than forty-eight years of age. He had for some time been in failing health, and it cannot be doubted that the morti- fication attending his Canadian mission had worn away his strength. His proud and sensitive spirit could ill bear the contradictions and hu- miliations that had been forced upon him. He wanted to the success of his political career that proud patience which the gods are said to love, and by virtue of which great men live down mis- appreciation, and hold out until they see them- selves justified and hear the reproaches turn into cheers. But if Lord Durham's personal career was in any way a failure, his policy for the Canadas was a splendid success. It established the principles of colonial government. There were defects in the construction of Lord Dur- ham's scheme, but the success of his policy lay in the broad principles it laid down, and to which other colonial systems as well as that of the Dominion of Canada owe their strength and security to-day. One may say, with little help from the merely fanciful, that the rejoicings of emancipated colonies might have been in his dy- ing ears as he sank into his early grave. The Opium dispute with China was going on when the Queen came to the throne. The Opium War broke out soon after. Reduced to plain words, the principle for which we fought in the China War was the right of Great Britain to force a peculiar trade upon a foreign people in spite of the protestations of the Government and all such public opinion as there was of the nation. The whole principle of Chinese civilization, at the time when the Opium War broke out, was based on conditions which to any modern nation must seem erroneous and unreasonable. The Chinese Governments and people desired to have no political relations or dealings whatever with an}' other State. They were not so obstinately set against private and commercial dealings, but they would have no political intercourse with foreigners, and they would not even recognize the existence of foreign peoples as States. They were perfectly satisfied with themselves and their own systems. The one thing which China asked of Eui'opean civilization and the movement called Modern Progress was to be let alone. The Chinese would much rather have lived without ever seeing the face of a foreigner. But they had put up with the private intrusion of foreign- ers and trade, and had had dealings with Ameri- can traders and with the East India Company. The charter and the exclusive rights of the East India Company expired in April, 1834 ; the chart- er was renewed under different conditions, and the trade with China was thrown open. One of the great branches of the East India Company's business with China was the opium trade. When the trading privileges ceased this traffic was taken up briskly by private merchants, who bought of the Company the opium which they grew in India and sold it to the Chinese. The Chinese Govern- ments, and all teachers, moralists, and persons of education in China, had lor.g desired to get rid of or put down this trade in opium. They considered it highly detrimental to the morals, the health, and the prosperity of the people. All traffic in opium was strictly forbidden by the Governments and laws of China. Yet our English traders carried on a brisk and profitable trade in the forbidden article. Nor was this merely an ordinary smuggling, or a business akin to that of the blockade-running during the American civil war. The arrangements with the Chinese Government allowed the existence of all establishments and machinery for carrying on a general trade at Canton and Macao ; and under cover of these arrangements the opium traders set up their regular head -quarters in these towns. The English Government appointed superin- tendents to manage our commercial dealings with China. Misunderstandings occurred at every new step of negotiation. These misun- derstandings were natural. Our people knew hardly anything about the Chinese. The limita- tion of our means of communication with them made this ignorance inevitable, but certainly did not excuse our acting as if we were in possession of the fullest and most accurate information. The Chinese believed from the first that the superintendents were there merely to protect the opium trade, and to force on China political re- lations with the West. Practically this was the effect of their presence. The superintendents took no steps to aid the Chinese authorities in stopping the hated trade. The British traders naturally enough thought that the British Government were determined to protect them in carrying it on. At length the English Government announced that "her Majesty's Government could not inter- fere for the purpose of enabling British subjects to violate the laws of the country with which they trade;" and that "any loss, therefore, which such persons may suffer in consequence of the more effectual execution of the Chinese laws on this subject must be borne by the parties who have brought that loss on themselves by their own acts." This very wise and proper resolve came, however, too late. The British traders had been allowed to go on for a long time under the full conviction that the protection of the English Government was behind them and wholly at their service. When the Chinese authorities actually pro- ceeded to insist on the forfeiture of an immense quantity of opium in the hand of British traders, and took other harsh but certainly not unnatu- ral measures to extinguish the traffic, Captain Elliott, the chief superintendent, sent to the Gov- ernor of India a request for as many ships of war as could be spared for the protection of the life and property of Englishmen in China. Be- fore long British ships arrived, and the two countries were at war. It was easy work enough so far as England was concerned. It was on our side nothing but a succession of cheap victories. The Chinese fought very bravely in a great many instances ; and they showed still more often a Spartan-like resolve not to survive defeat. When one of the Chinese cities was taken by Sir Hugh Gough, the Tartar general went into his house as soon as he saw that all was lost, made his servants set fire to the building, and calmly sat in his chair until he was burned to death. We quickly captured the island of Chusan, on the east coast of China ; a part of our squadron went up the Peiho river to threaten the capital ; negotiations were opened, and the preliminaries of a treaty were made out, to which, however, neither the English Govern- ment nor the Chinese would agree, and the war was reopened. Chusan was again taken by us; Ningpo, a large city a few miles in on the main- land, fell into our hands ; Amoy, farther south, was captured ; our troops were before Nankin, when the Chinese Government at last saw how futile was the idea of resisting our arms. They made peace at last on any terms we chose to ask. We asked, in the first instance, the cession in per- petuity to us of the island of Hong-Kong. Of course we got it. Then we asked that five ports, Canton, Amoy, Foo-Chow-Foo, Ningpo, and Shanghai, should be thrown open to British trad- ers, and that consuls should be established there. Needless to say that this too was conceded. Then it was agreed that the indemnity already mentioned should be paid by the Chinese Gov- ernment — some four millions and a half ster- ling, in addition to one million and a quarter as compensation for the destroyed opium. The Chinese war then was over for the time. But as the children say that snow brings more snow, so did that war with China bring other wars to fol- low it. The Melbourne Ministry kept going from bad to worse. There was a great Stirling in the coun- try all around them, which made their feebleness the more conspicuous. Indeed, the history of that time seems full of Reform projects. The Parliamentary annals contain the names of vari- ous measures of social and political imp ovement which might in themselves, it would seem, bear witness to the most unsleeping activity on the part of any Ministry. The appointment of the A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 9 Committee of Council to deal with the elementa- ry education of the poor ; measures for general registration ; for the reduction of the stamp duty on newspapers, and of the duty on paper ; for the improvement of the jail system; for the spread of vaccination ; for the regulation of the labor of children ; for the prohibition of the employ- ment of any child or young person under twenty- one in the cleaning of chimneys by climbing; for the suppression of the punishment of the pil- lory ; efforts to relieve the Jews from civil disa- bilities — these are but a few of the many projects of social and political reform that occupied the attention of that busy period, which somehow ap- pears nevertheless to have been so sleepy and do- nothing. How does it come about that we can regard the Ministry in whose time all these things were done or attempted as exhausted and worthless ? One answer is plain. The reforming energy was in the time, and not in the Ministry. There was a just anil general conviction that if the Gov- ernment were left to themselves they would do nothing. Whatever they undertook they seemed to undertake reluctantly, and as if only with the object of preventing other people from having anything to do with it. Naturally, therefore, they got little or no thanks for any good they might have done. When they brought in a measure to abolish in various cases the punish- ment of death, they fell so far behind public opin- ion and the inclinations of the Commission that had for eight years been inquiring into the state of our criminal law, that their bill only passed by very narrow majorities, and impressed many ar- dent reformers as if it were meant rather to with- hold than to advance a genuine reform. In truth, it was a period of enthusiasm and of growth, and the Ministry did not understand this. Lord Melbourne had apparently got into his mind the conviction that the only sensible thing the peo- ple of England could do was to keep up the Mel- bourne Ministry, and that being a sensible peo- ple they would naturally do this. He had grown into something like the condition of a pampered old hall-porter, who, dozing in his chair, begins to look on it as an act of rudeness if any visitor to his master presumes to knock at the door, and so disturb him from his comfortable rest. The operations which took place about this time in Syria had an important bearing on the relations between this country and France. Mo- hammed Ali, Pasha of Egypt, the most powerful of all the Sultan's feudatories, had made himself for a time master of Syria. By the aid of his adopted son, Ibrahim Pasha, he had defeated the armies of the Porte wherever he had encountered them. Mohammed's victories had for the time compelled the Porte to allow him to remain in power in Syria; but in 1839 the Sultan again declared war against Mohammed Ali. Ibrahim Pasha again obtained an overwhelming victory over the Turkish army. The energetic Sultan Mahmoud died suddenly ; and immediately after his death the Capitan Pasha, or Lord High Admiral of the Ottoman fleet, went over to the Egyptians with all his vessels; an act of almost unexampled treachery even in the history of the Ottoman Empire. It was evident that Turkey was not able to hold her own against the formid- able Mohammed and his successful son ; and the policy of the Western Powers of Europe, and of England especially, had long been to maintain the Ottoman Empire, as a necessary part of the common State system. The policy of Russia was to keep up that empire as long as it suited her own purposes ; to take care that no other Power got anything out of Turkey ; and to pre- pare the way for such a partition of the spoils of Turkey as would satisfy Russian interests. Russia, therefore, was to be found now defend- ing Turkey, and now assailing her. The course taken by Russia was seemingly inconsistent ; but it was only inconsistent as the course of a sailing ship may be which now tacks to this side and now to that, but has a clear object in view and a port to reach all the while. England was then and for a long time after steadily bent on pre- serving the Turkish Empire, and in a great meas- ure as a rampart against the schemes and am- bitions imputed to Russia herself. Fiance was less firmly set on the maintenance of Turkey ; and France, moreover, had got into her mind that England had designs of her own on Egypt. Austria was disposed to go generally with Eng- land; Prussia was little more than a nominal sharer in the alliance that was now patched up. It is evident that such an alliance could not be very harmonious or direct in its action. It was, how- ever, effective enough to prove too strong for the Pasha of Egypt. A fleet made up of English, Austrian, and Turkish vessels bombarded Acre; an allied army drove the Egyptians from several of their strongholds. Ibrahim Pasha, with all his courage and genius, was not equal to the odds against which he now saw himself forced to contend. He had to succumb. Mohammed Ali was deprived of all his Asiatic possessions ; but was secured in his government of Egypt by a convention signed at London on July 15, 1840, by the representatives of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, on the one part, and of the Ottoman Porte on the other. The name of France was not found there. France had drawn hack from the alliance, and for some time seemed as if she were likely to take arms against it. M. Thiers was then her Prime-minister: he was a man of quick fancy, restless and ambitious tem- perament. Thiers persuaded himself and the great majority of his countrymen that England was bent upon driving Mohammed Ali out of Egypt as well as out of Syria, and that her ob- ject was to obtain possession of Egypt for her- self. For some months it seemed as if war were inevitable between England and France. Fort- unately, the French King, Louis Philippe, and the eminent statesman, M. Guizot, were both strongly in favor of peace. M. Thiers resigned ; M. Guizot became Minister for Foreign Affairs, and virtually head of the Government; and on July 13, 1841, the Treaty of London was signed, which provided for the settlement of the affairs of Egypt on the basis of the arrangement already made, and which contained, moreover, a stipula- tion by which the Sultan declared himself firmly resolved to maintain the ancient principle of his empire — that no foreign ship of war was to be admitted into the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, with the exception of light vessels for which a firman was granted. Steadily meanwhile did the Ministry go from bad to worse. They were remarkably bad ad- ministrators ; their finances were wretchedly man- aged. The budget of the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer, Mr. Baring, showed a deficiency of near- ly two millions. This deficiency he proposed to meet in part by alteration in the sugar duties; but the House of Commons, after a long debate, rejected his proposals by a majority of thirty-six. It was then expected, of course, that ministers would resign ; but they were not yet willing to accept the consequences of defeat. People be- gan to ask, "Will nothing, then, turn them out of office? Will they never have done with try- ing new tricks to keep in place ?'' Sir Robert Peel took, in homely phrase, the bull by the horns. He proposed a direct vote of want of confidence — a resolution declaring that ministers did not possess the confidence of the House sufficiently to enable them to carry through the measures which they deemed of essential importance to the public welfare, and that their continuance in office under such cir- cumstances was at variance with the spirit of the Constitution. On June 4, 1841, the division was taken ; and the vote of no-confidence was carried by a majority of one. Even the Whigs could not stand this. Parliament was dissolved, and the result of the general election was that the Tories were found to have a majority even greater than they themselves had anticipated. The moment the new Parliament was assembled amendments to the address were carried in botli Houses in a sense hostile to the Government. Lord Melbourne and his colleagues had to re- sign, and Sir Robert Peel was intrusted with the task of forming an administration. We have no more to do with Lord Melbourne in this history. He merely drops out of it. Be- tween his expulsion from office and his death, which took place in 1848, he did little or noth- ing to call for the notice of any one. It was said at one time that his closing years were lonesome and melancholy ; but this has lately been denied, and indeed it is not likely that one who had such a genial temper and so many friends could have been left to the dreariness of a not self-sufficing solitude and to the bitterness of neglect. He was a generous and kindly man ; his personal character, although often assailed, was free of any serious reproach ; he was a failure in office, not so much from want of ability, as because he was a politician without convictions. The Peel Ministry came into power with great hopes. It had Lord Lyndhurst for Lord Chan- cellor ; Sir James Graham for Home Secretary ; Lord Aberdeen at the Foreign Office; Lord Stanley was Colonial Secretary. The most re- markable man not in the Cabinet, soon to be one of the foremost statesmen in the country, was Mr. W. E. Gladstone. It is a fact of some signifi- cance in the history of the Peel administration that the elections which brought the new Minis- try into power brought Mr. Cobden for the first time into the House of Commons. While Lord Melbourne and his Whig col- leagues, still in office, were fribbling away their popularity on the pleasant assumption that no- body was particularly in earnest about anything, the Vice-chancellor and heads of houses held :t meeting at Oxford, and passed a censure on the celebrated " No. 90 " of " Tracts for the Times." The author of the tract was Dr. John Henry Newman, and the principal ground for its cen- sure by voices claiming authority was the prin- ciple it seemed to put forward — that a man might honestly subscribe all the articles and formula- ries of the English Church, while yet holding many of the doctrines of the Church of Rome, against which those articles were regarded as a necessary protest. The great movement which was thus brought into sudden question and pub- licity sprang from the desire to revive the author- ity of the Church ; to quicken her with a new vitality; to give her once again that place as guide and inspirer of the national life which her ardent votaries believed to be hers by right, and to have been forfeited only by the carelessness of her authorities and their failure to fulfil the duties of her Heaven-assigned mission. No movement could have had a purer source. None could have had more disinterested and high-minded promoters. It was borne in upon some earnest, unresting souls, like that of the sweet and saintly Keble, that the Church of England had higher duties and nobler claims than the business of preaching harmless sermons and the power of enriching bishops. Keble urged on some of the more vigorous and thought- ful minds around him, by his influence and his example, that they should reclaim for the Church the place which ought to be hers, as the true successor of the Apostles. Among those wdio shared the spirit and purpose of Keble were Richard Hurrell Froude, the historian's elder brother, who gave rich promise of a splendid career, but wdio died while still in comparative youth ; Dr. Pusey, afterwards leader of the school of ecclesiasticism which bears his name ; and, most eminent of all, Dr. Newman. Newman had started the publication of a series of treatises called "Tracts for the Times," to vindicate the real mission of the Church of England, and wrote the most remarkable of them. This was the Tractarian movement, which had such vari- ous and memorable results. Newman had up to this time been distinguished as one of the most unsparing enemies of Rome. He had never had any manner of association with Roman Catholics ; had, in fact, known singularly little of them. At this time the idea of leaving the Church never, Dr. Newman himself assures us, had crossed his imagination. The abilities of Dr. Newman were hardly sur- passed by any contemporary in any department of thought. His position and influence in Ox- ford were almost unique. There was in his in- tellectual temperament a curious combination of the mystic and the logical. England in our time has hardly had a greater master of argument and of English prose than Newman. He is one of the keenest of dialecticians. His words dispel mists ; and whether they who listen agree or not, A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. they cannot fail to understand. A penetrating, poignant, satirical humor is found in most of his writings ; an irony sometimes piercing suddenly through it like a darting pain. On the other hand, a generous vein of poetry and of pathos informs his style; and there are many passages of his works in which he rises to the height of a genuine and noble eloquence. In all the arts that make a great preacher or orator Newman was strikingly deficient. His manner was constrained, ungraceful, and even awkward ; his voice was thin and weak. His bearing was not at first impressive in any way. A gaunt, emaciated figure, a sharp and eagle face, a cold, meditative eye, rather repelled than attracted those who saw him for the first time. Singularly devoid of affectation, Newman did not always conceal his intellectual scorn of men who made loud pretence with inferior gifts, and the men must have been few indeed whose gifts were not inferior to his. Newman had no scorn for intellectual inferiority iu itself; he despised it only when it gave itself airs. His influence while he was the vicar of St. Mary's at Oxford was profound. No opponent ever spoke of New- man but with admiration for his intellect and respect for his character. Dr. Newman had a younger brother, Francis W. Newman, who also possessed remarkable ability and earnestness. He too was distinguished at Oxford, and seemed to have a great career there before him. But he was drawn one way by the wave of thought be- fore his more famous brother had been drawn the other way. In 1830 the younger Newman found himself prevented by religious scruples from subscribing the Thirty-nine Articles for his master's degree. He left the university, and wandered for years in the East, endeavoring, not very successfully, perhaps, to teach Christianity on its broadest base to Mahometans ; and then he came back to England, to take his place among the leaders of a certain school of free thought. When Dr. Newman wrote the famous Tract "No. 90," for which he was censured, he bowed to the authority of his bishop. But he did not admit any change of opinion; and indeed soon after the gradual working of Newman's mind became evident to all the world. The brightest and most penetrating intellect in the Church of England was withdrawn from her service, and Newman went over to the Church of Rome. To this result had the inquiry conducted him which had led his friend Dr. Pusey merely to endeavor to incorporate some of the mysticism and the symbols of Rome with the ritual of the English Protestant Church ; which had brought Keble only to seek a more liberal and truly Christian temper for the faith of the Protestant; and which had sent Francis Newman into Radical- ism and Rationalism. Still greater was the practical importance, at least in defined results, of the movement which went on in Scotland about the same time. The case was briefly this. During the reign of Queen Anne an Act was passed which took from the Church courts in Scotland the free choice as to the appointment of pastors by sub- jecting the power of the presbytery to the con- trol and interference of the law courts. In an immense number of Scotch parishes the minister was nominated by a lay patron ; and if the pres- bytery found nothing to condemn in him as to "life, literature, and doctrine," they were com- pelled to appoint him, however unwelcome he might be to the parishioners. Now, it is obvious that a man might have a blameless character, sound religious views, and an excellent education, and nevertheless be totally unfitted to undertake the charge of a Scottish parish. The effect of the power conferred on the law courts and the patron was simply in a great number of cases to send families away from the Church of Scotland and into voluntaryism. Dr. Chalmers became the leader of the move- ment which was destined within two years from the time we are now surveying to cause the dis- ruption of the ancient Kirk of Scotland. No man could be better fitted for the task of leader- ship in such a movement. He was beyond com- parison the foremost man iu the Scottish Church. He was the greatest pulpit orator in Scotland, or, indeed, in Great Britain. As a writer on political economy he bad made a distinct mark. From having been in his earlier days the minis- ter of an obscure Scottish village congregation he had suddenly sprung into fame. He was the lion of any city which he happened to visit. If he preached in London, the church was crowded with the leaders of politics, science, and fashion, eager to hear him. Chalmers spoke with a mas- sive eloquence in keeping with his powerful frame and his broad brow and his commanding pres- ence. His speeches were a strenuous blending of argument and emotion. They appealed at once to the strong common - sense and to the deep religious convictions of his Scottish audi- ences. His whole soul was in his wqrk as a leader of religious movements. He cared little or nothing for any popularity or fame that he might have won. The Free Church of Scotland is his monument. He did not make that Church. It was not the work of one man, or, strictly speak- ing, of one generation. It grew naturally out of the inevitable struggle between Church and State. But Chalmers did more than any other man to decide the moment and the manner of its com- ing into existence, and its success is his best monument. On May 18, 1S43, some five hundred ministers of the Church of Scotland, under the leadership of Dr. Chalmers, seceded from the old Kirk and set about to form the Free .Church. The Gov- ernment of Sir Robert Peel had made a weak effort at compromise by legislative enactment, but had declined to introduce any legislation which should free the Kirk of Scotland from the control of the civil courts, and there was no course for those who held the views of Dr. Chal- mers but to withdraw from the Church which admitted that claim of State control. The his- tory of Scotland is illustrated by many great national deeds. No deed it tells of surpasses in dignity and in moral grandeur that secession — to cite the words of the protest — "from an Es- tablishment which we loved and prised, through interference with conscience, the dishonor done to Christ's crown, and the rejection of his sole and supreme authority as King in his Church." CHAPTER HI. Meanwhile, things were looking ill with the Melbourne Ministry. The Jamaica Bill put them in great perplexity. This was a measure brought in on April 9, 1839, to make temporary provision for the government of the island of Jamaica, by setting aside the House of Assem- bly for five years, and during that time empow- ering the governor and council, with three salaried commissioners, to manage the affairs of the col- ony. In other words, the Melbourne Ministry proposed to suspend for five years the constitu- tion of Jamaica. No body of persons can be more awkwardly placed than a Whig Ministry proposing to set aside a constitutional govern- ment anywhere. Such a proposal may be a nec- essary measure ; it may be unavoidable ; but it always comes with a bad grace from Whigs or Liberals, and gives their enemies a handle against them which they cannot fail to use to some pur- pose. In the case of the Jamaica Bill there was some excuse for the harsh policy. After the abolition of slavery the former masters in the island found it very hard to reconcile themselves to the new condition of things. They could not all at once understand that their former slaves were to be their equals before the law. On the other hand, some of the Jamaica negroes were too ignorant to understand that they had ac- quired any rights; others were a little too clam- orous in their assertion. The Imperial govern- ors and officials were generally and justly eager to protect the negroes, and the result was a con- stant quarrel between the Jamaica House of Assembly and the representatives of the Home Government. A bill, very necessary in itself, was passed by the Imperial Parliament for the better regulation of prisons in Jamaica, and the House of Assembly refused to submit to any such legislation. Under these circumstances the .Mel- bourne Ministry proposed the suspension of the constitution of the island. The measure was opposed not only by Peel and the Conservatives, but by many Radicals. The Ministry only had a majority of five in favor of their measure. This, of course, was a virtual defeat. The Min- istry acknowledged it and resigned. Their de- feat was a humiliation ; their resignation an inevitable submission ; but they came back to office almost immediately under conditions that made the humiliation more humbling, and ren- dered their subsequent career more difficult by far than their past struggle for existence had been. The famous controversy known as the "Bed- chamber Question " made a way back for the Whigs into place. Gulliver ought to have had an opportunity of telling such a story to the king of the Brobdingnagians, in order the better to impress him with a clear idea of the logical beauty of constitutional government. When Lord Melbourne resigned the Queen sent for Peel, and told him, with a simple and girlish frankness, that she was sorry to have to part with her late ministers, of whose conduct she entirely approved, but that she bowed to consti- tutional usage. This must have been rather an astonishing beginning to the grave and formal Peel ; but he was not a man to think any worse of the candid young Sovereign for her outspoken ways. The negotiations went on very smoothly as to the colleagues Peel meant to recommend to her Majesty, until he happened to notice the composition of the royal household as regarded the ladies most closely in attendance on the Queen. For example, he found that the wife of Lord Normanby and the sister of Lord Mor- peth were the two ladies in closest attendance on her Majesty. Now, it has to be borne in mind — it was proclaimed again and again dur- ing the negotiations — that the chief difficulty of the Conservatives would necessarily be in Ireland, where their policy would be altogether opposed to that of the Whigs. Lord Normanby had been Lord-lieutenant of Ireland under the Whigs, and Lord Morpeth, the amiable and accomplished Lord Carlisle of later time, Irish Secretary. It certainly cotdd not be satisfactory for Peel to try to work a new Irish policy while the closest household companions of the Queen were the wife and sister of the displaced states- men who directly represented the policy he had to supersede. Had this point of view been made clear to the Sovereign at first, it is hard- ly possible that any serious difficulty could have arisen. The Queen must have seen the obvious reasonableness of Peel's request; nor is it to be supposed that the two ladies in ques- tion could have desired to hold their places un- der such circumstances. But unluckily some misunderstanding took place at the very begin- ning of the conversations on ibis point. Peel only desired to press for the retirement of the ladies holding the higher offices ; be did not intend to ask for any change affecting a place lower in official rank than that of lady of the bedchamber. But somehow or other he con- veyed to the mind of the Queen a different idea. She thought he meant to insist, as a matter of principle, upon the removal of all her familiar attendants and household associates. Under this impression she consulted Lord John Russell, who advised her on what he understood to be the state of the facts. On his advice the Queen stated in reply that she could not " consent to a course which she conceives to be contrary to usage and is repugnant to her feelings." Sir Robert Peel held firm to his stipulation, and the chance of his then forming a Ministry was at an end. Lord Melbourne and his colleagues had to be recalled ; and at a Cabinet meeting they adopted a minute declaring it reasonable " that the great, offices of the Court and situa- tions in the household held by members of Par- liament should be included in the political ar- rangements made on a change in the adminis- tration ; but they are not of opinion that a sim- ilar principle should be applied or extended to the offices held by ladies in her Majesty's house- hold." A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. II In the country the incident created great ex- citement. Some Liberals bluntly insisted that it was not right in such a matter to consult the feelings of the Sovereign at all, and that the ad- vice of the minister, and his idea of what was for the good of the country, ought alone to be considered. Nothing could be more undesirable than the position in which Lord Melbourne and his colleagnes had allowed the Sovereign to place herself. The more people in general came to think over the matter, the more clearly it. was seen that Peel was in the right, although he had not made himself understood at first, and had, perhaps, not shown all through enough of con- sideration for the novelty of the young Sover- eign's position. But no one could deliberately maintain the position at first taken up by the Whigs ; and in point of fact they were soon glad to drop it as quickly and quietly as possible. The whole question, it may be said at once, was afterwards settled by a sensible compromise. It was agreed that on a change of Ministry the Queen would listen to any representation from the incoming Prime-minister as to the composi- tion of the household, and would arrange for the retirement "of their own accord " of any ladies who were so closely related to the leaders of Op- position as to render their presence inconven- ient. The Whigs came back to office utterly discredited. They had to tinker up somehow a new Jamaica Bill. They had declared that they could not remain in office unless they were allowed to deal in a certain way with Jamaica; and now that they were back again in office they could not avoid trying to do something with the Jamaica business. They therefore introduced a new bill, which was a mere compromise, put together in the hope of its being allowed to pass. It was allowed to pass, after a fashion : that is, when the Opposition in the House of Lords had tinkered it and amended it at their pleasure. The bedchamber question, in fact, had thrown Jamaica out of perspective. The unfortunate isl- and must do the best it could now ; in this coun- ty statesmen had graver matters to think of. Sir Robert Peel could not govern with Lady Normanbyj the Whigs would not govern with- out her. The Melbourne Government were prejudiced in the public mind by these events, and by the attacks for which they gave so large an oppor- tunity. The feeling in some parts of the coun- try was still sentimentally with the Queen. At many a dinner-table it became the fashion to drink the health of her Majesty with a punning addition, not belonging to an order of wit any higher than that which in other days toasted the King "over the water," or prayed of Heaven to "send this crumb well down." The Queen was toasted as the Sovereign of spirit who " would not let her belles be Peeled." But the Ministry were almost universally believed to have placed themselves in a ridiculous light, and to have crept again into office " behind the petticoats of the ladies in waiting." On January 16, 1840, the Queen, opening Parliament in person, announced her intention to marry her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe- Coburg-Gotha — a step which she trusted would be " conducive to the interests of my people as well as to my own domestic happiness." In the discussion which followed in the House of Com- mons, Sir Robert Peel observed that her Majesty had "the singular good-fortune to be able to gratify her private feelings, while she performs her public duty, and to obtain the best guaran- tee for happiness, by contracting an alliance founded on affection." Peel spoke the simple truth; it was indeed a marriage founded on af- fection. No marriage contracted in the hum- blest class could have been more entirely a un- ion of love, and more free from what might be called selfish and worldly considerations. The Queen had for a long time loved her cousin, lie was nearly her own age, the Queen being the elder by three months and two or three days Francis Charles Augustus Albert Emmanuel was the full name of the young Prince. He was the second son of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg- , Saalfeld, and of his wife, Louisa, daughter of Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha- Altenburg. Prince Albert was born at the Rosenau, one of his father's residences, near Coburg, on August 26, 1819. Prince Albert was a young man to win the heart of any girl. He was singularly handsome, graceful, and gifted. In princes, as we know, a small measure of beauty and accomplishment suffices to throw courtiers and court ladies into transports of admiration ; but had Prince Albert been the son of a farmer or a butler, he must have been admired for his singular personal at- tractions. He had had a sound and a varied education. He bad been brought up as if he were to be a professional musician, a profession- al chemist or botanist, and a professor of history and belles-lettres and the fine arts. The scien- tific and the literary were remarkably blended in his bringing-up. He had begun to study the constitutional history of States, and was prepar- ing himself to take an interest in politics. There was much of the practical and business-like about him, as he showed in after-life; he loved farming, and took a deep interest in machinery and in the growth of industrial science. His tastes were for a quiet, domestic, and unostenta- tious life — a life of refined culture, of happy, calm evenings, of art and poetry and genial commun- ion with nature. He was made happy by the songs of birds, and'delighted in sitting alone and playing the organ. But there was in him, too, a great deal of the political philosopher. He loved to bear political and other questions well argued out, and once observed that a false argu- ment jarred on his nerves as much as a false note in music. He seems to have had from his youth an all-pervading sense of duty. So far as we can guess, he was almost absolutely free from the ordinary follies, not to say sins, of youth. Young as he was when he married the Queen, he devoted himself at once to what he conscien- tiously believed to be the duties of his station with a self-control and self-devotion rare even among the aged, and almost unknown in youth. He gave up every habit, however familiar and dear, every predilection, no matter how sweet, every indulgence of sentiment or amusement, that in any way threatened to interfere with the steadfast performance of the part he had assigned to himself. No man ever devoted himself more faithfully to the difficult duties of a high and new situation, or kept more strictly to his re- solve. It was no task to him to be a tender husband and a loving father. This was a part of his sweet, pure, and affectionate nature. It may well be doubted whether any other queen ever had a married life so happy as that of Queen Victoria. The marriage of the Queen and the Prince took place on February 10, 1840. The recep- tion given by the people in general to the Prince on his landing in England a few days before the ceremony, and on the day of the marriage, was cordial and even enthusiastic. But it is not certain whether there was a very cordial feeling to the Prince among all classes of politicians. A rumor of the most absurd kind had got abroad in certain circles that Prince Albert was not a Protestant — that he was, in, fact a mem- ber of the Church of Rome. Somewhat unfortu- nately, the declaration of the intended marriage to the Privy Council did not mention the fact that Albert was a Protestant Prince. The re- sult was that in the debate on the address in the House of Lords an unseemly altercation took place — an altercation the more to be regretted, because it might have been so easily spared. The question was bluntly raised by no less a person than the Duke of Wellington whether the future husband of the Queen was or was not a Protestant. The Duke actually charged the Ministry with having purposely left out the word '"Protestant" in the announcements, in order that they might not offend their Irish and Catholic supporters, and moved that the word " Protestant" be inserted in the congratulatory address to the Queen, and he earned his point, although Lord Melbourne held to the opinion that the word was unnecessary in describing a Prince who^was not only a Protestant but de- scended from the most Protestant family in Europe. The lack of judgment and tact on the part of the Ministry was never more clearly shown than in the original omission of the word. A \' the allies made an at- tack almost simultaneously upon the Malakotf and the Sedan. The French soon got possession of the Malakotf, and the English then at once advanced upon the Redan ; but the French were near the Malakoff; the English were very far away from the Redan. The distance our sol- diers had to traverse left them almost helplessly exposed to the Russian Hie. They stormed the parapets of the Redan despite all the difficulties of their attack ; but they were not able to hold the place. The attacking party were far too small in numbers; reinforcements did not come in time ; the English held their own fqr an hour against odds that might have seemed overwhelm- ing; but it was simply impossible for them to establish themselves in the Redan, and the rem- nant of them that could withdraw had to retreat to the trenches. It was only the old story of the war — superb courage and skill of the officers and men : outrageously bad generalship. The attack might have been renewed that day, but the English Commander-in-chief, General Simp- son, resolved not to make another attempt till the next morning. Before the morrow came there was nothing to attack. The Russians withdrew during the night from the south side of Sebastopol. A bridge of boats had been con- structed across the bay to connect the north and the south sides of the city, and across this bridge Prince Gortschakoff quietly withdrew his troops. The Russian general felt that it would be impos- sible for him to hold the city much longer, and that to remain there was only useless waste of life. But, as he said in his own despatch, "It is not Sebastopol which we have left to them, but the burning ruins of the town, which we our- selves set tire to, having maintained the honor of the defence in such a manner that our great- grandchildren may recall with pride the remem- brance of it and send it on to all posterity." It was some time before the allies could venture to enter the abandoned city. The arsenals and powder-magazines were exploding, the flames were bursting out of every public building and every private house. The Russians had made of Sebastopol another Moscow. With the close of that long siege, which had lasted nearly a year, the war may be said to have ended. The brilliant episode of Kars, its splendid defence and its final surrender, was brought to its conclusion, indeed, after the fall of Sebastopol ; but although it naturally attract- ed peculiar attention in this country, it could have no effect on the actual fortunes of such a war. Kars was defended by Colonel Fen- wick Williams, an English officer, who held the place against overwhelming Russian forces, and against an enemy far more appalling — star- vation itself. He had to surrender at last to famine ; but the very articles of surrender to which the conqueror consented became the tro- phy of Williams and his men. The garrison were allowed to leave the place with all the hon- ors of war; and, "as a testimony to the valor- ous resistance made by the garrison of Kars, the officers of all ranks are to keep their swords." The war was virtually over. Austria had been exerting herself throughout its progress in the interests of peace, and after the fall of Sebas- topol she made a new effort with greater success. France and Russia were indeed now anxious to be out of the struggle almost on any terms. If England had held out, it is highly probable that she would have had to do so alone. For this, indeed, Lord Palmerston was fully prepared as a last resource, sooner than submit to terms which he considered unsatisfactory. The Congress of Paris opened on February 2D, 1856, and on March lit) the treaty of peace was signed by the plenipotentiaries of the Great Powers. Prussia had been admitted to the Congress, which there- fore represented England, France, Russia, Aus- tria, Prussia, Turkey, and Sardinia. By the treaty Kars was restored to the Sul- tan, and Sebastopol and all other places taken by the allies were given back to Russia. The Great Powers engaged to respect the indepen- dence and territorial integrity of Turkey. The Sultan issued a firman for ameliorating the con- dition of his Christian subjects, and no right of interference, it was distinctly specified, was giv- en to the other Powers by this concession on the Sultan's part. The Black Sea was neutral- ized ; its waters and its ports were thrown open to the mercantile marine of every nation, and formally and in perpetuity interdicted to the flag of war either of the Powers possessing its coasts or of any other Power, with the exception of the right of each of the Powers to have the same number of small armed vessels in the Black Sea to act as a sort of maritime police and to protect the coasts. The Sultan and the Emperor engaged to establish and maintain no military or maritime arsenals in that sea. The naviga- tion of the Danube was thrown open. Moldavia and Wallachia, continuing under the suzerainty of the Sultan, were to enjoy all the privileges and immunities they already possessed under the guarantee of the contracting Powers, but with no separate right of intervention in their affairs. Out of Moldavia and Wallachia united, after various internal changes, there subsequent- ly grew the kingdom of Roumania. The exist- ing position of Servia was secured by the treaty. During time of peace the Sultan engaged to ad- mit no foreign ships of war into the Bosphorus or the Dardanelles. To guarantee Turkey from the enemy they most feared a tripartite treaty was afterwards agreed to between England, France, and Austria. This document bears date in Paris, April 16, 1S5G ; by it the contracting parties guaranteed jointly and severally the independence and in- tegrity of the Ottoman empire, and declared that any infraction of the general treaty of March 30 would be considered by them as ca- sus belli. The Congress of Paris was remarka- ble for the fact that the plenipotentiaries before separating came to an agreement on the rules generally of maritime war by which privateering was abolished. It was agreed, however, that the rules adopted at the Congress of Paris should only be binding on those States that had acceded or should accede to them. The United States raised some difficulty about renouncing the right of privateering, and the declarations of the Congress were therefore made without America's consenting to them. At the instiga- tion of Count Cavour the condition of Italy was brought before the Congress; and there can be no doubt that out of the Congress and the part that Sardinia assumed as representative of Ital- ian nationality came the succession of events which ended in the establishment of a King of Italy in the Palace of the Quirinal. The ad- justment of the condition of the Danubian prin- cipalities, too, engaged much attention and dis. cussion, and a highly ingenious arrangement was devised for the purpose of keeping those provinces from actual union, so that they might be coherent enough to act as a rampart against Russia, without being so coherent as to cause Austria any alarm for her own somewhat dis- jointed, not to say distracted, political system. All these artificial and complex arrangements presently fell to pieces, and the principalities be- came in course of no very long time an united independent State under a hereditary Prince. But for the hour it was hoped that the inde- pendence of Turkey and the restriction of Rus- sia, the security of the Christian provinces, the neutrality of the Black Sea. and the closing of the Straits against war vessels, had been bought by the war. England lost some twenty-four thousand men in the war, of whom hardly a sixth fell in battle or died of wounds. Cholera and other disea-cs gave grim account of the rest. Forty-one mill- ions of money were added by the campaign to the National Debt. England became involved in a quarrel with the United States because of our Foreign Enlistment Act. At the close of December, 1854, Parliament hurriedly passed an Act authorizing the formation of a Foreign Le- gion for service in the war, and some Swiss and Germans were recruited who never proved of the slightest service. Prussia and America both complained that the zeal of our recruiting func- tionaries outran the limits of discretion and of law. One of our consuls was actually put on trial at Cologne ; and America made a serious complaint of the enlistment of her citizens. Eng- land apologized ; but the United States were out of temper, and insisted on sending our minis- ter, Mr. Crampton, away from Washington, and some little time passed before the friendly rela- tions of the two States were completely restored. There was a feeling of disappointment in this country at the close of the war. Our soldiers had done splendidly; but our generals and our system had done poorly indeed. Only one first- class reputation of a military order had come out ' of the war, and that was by the common consent of the world awarded to a Russian — to General Todleben, the defender of Sebastopol. No new name was made on our side or on that of the French ; and some promising or traditional rep- utations were shattered. The political results of the war were to many minds equally unsatis- fying. Lord Aberdeen estimated that it might perhaps secure peace in the East of Europe for some twenty-five years. His modest expecta- tion was prophetic; indeed, it a little overshot the mark. Twenty-one years after the close of the Crimean campaign Russia and Turkey were at war again. CHAPTER XII. THE LOItCHA " ARROW." — TRANSPORTATION. After the supposed settlement of the Eastern Question at the Congress of Paris a sort of lan- gour seems to have come over Parliament and the public mind in England. Lord John Russell proposed a series of resolutions to establish in England a genuine system of national education, which were of course rejected by the House of Commons. Public opinion, both in and out of Parliament, was not nearly ripe for such a prin- ciple then. One of the regular attempts to ad- mit the Jews to Parliament was made, and suc- ceeded in the House of Commons, to fail, as usu- al, in the House of Lords. The House of Lords itself was thrown into great perturbation for a time by the proposal of the Government to con- fer a peerage for life on one of the judges, Sir James Parke. Lord Lyndhurst strongly opposed the proposal, on the ground that it was the be- ginning of an attempt to introduce a system of life-peerages, which would destroy the ancient and hereditary character of the House of Lords. The Government, who had really no reactionary or revolutionary designs in their mind, settled the matter for the time by creating Sir James Parke Baron Wensleydale in the usual way, and the object they had in view was quietly accom- plished many years later, when the appellate jurisdiction of the Lords was remodelled. ! Sir George Lewis was Chancellor of the Ex- '• chequer. He was as yet not credited with any- | thing like the political ability which he after- wards proved that he possessed. It was the fashion to regard him as a mere bookman, who had drifted somehow into Parliament, and who, in the temporary absence of available talent, had been thrust into the office lately held by .Mr. 1 Gladstone. The contrast, indeed, between the j style of his speaking and that of Mr. Gladstone I or Mr. Disraeli was enough to dishearten any A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. political assembly. Sir George Lewis began by being nearly inaudible, and continued to the last to be oppressed by the most ineffective and un- attractive manner and delivery. But it began to be gradually found out that the monotonous, halting, feeble manner covered a very remarkable power of expression ; that the speaker had great resources of argument, humor, and illustration ; that every sentence contained some fresh idea or some happy expression. After a while, the capacity of Lewis ran the risk of being overrated quite as much as it had been undervalued before. For the present, however, Sir George Lewis was regarded only as the sort of statesman whom it was fitting to have in office just then — the statesman of an interval, in whom no one was expected to take any particular interest. The attention of the public was a good deal distracted from political affairs by the failure and frauds of the Royal British Bank and other frauds, which gave, for the time, a sort of idea that the finan- cial principles of the country were crumbling to pieces. The culmination of the extraordinary career of John Sadleir was fresh in public mem- ory. This man was the organizer and guiding spirit of the Irish Brigade, a gang of adventurers who got into Parliament, and traded on the genuine grievances of their country to get power and money for themselves. John Sadleir em- bezzled, swindled, forged, and finally escaped justice by committing suicide on Hampstead Heath. The brother of Sadleir was expelled from the House of Commons; one of his accom- plices, who had obtained a Government appoint- ment and had embezzled money, contrived to make his escape to the United States ; and the Irish Brigade was broken up. It is only just to say that the best representatives of the Irish Catholics and. the Irish national party, in and out of Parliament, had never, from the first, believed in Sadleir and his band, and had made persistent efforts to expose them. About this same time Mr. Cyrus W. Field, an energetic American merchant, came over to this country to explain to its leading merchants and scientific men a plan he had for constructing an electric telegraph line underneath the Atlantic. He was listened to with polite curiosity. Mr. Field had, however, a much better reception, on the whole, than M. de Lesseps, who came to England a few months later to explain his project for constructing a ship canal across the Isthmus of Suez. His proposal was received with cold- ness, and more than coldness, by engineers, capitalists, and politicians. The political world seemed to have made up its mind for a season of quiet. Suddenly a storm broke out. The Speech from the Throne at the opening of Parliament, on February 3, 1857, stated that acts of violence, insults to the British flag, and infraction of treaty rights, committed by the local Chinese authorities at Canton, and a pertinacious refusal of redress, had rendered it necessary for her Majesty's of- ficers in China to have recourse to measures of force to obtain satisfaction. The alleged offences of the Chinese authorities at Canton had for their single victim the lorcha Arrow. The lorcha Arrow was a small boat built on the European model. The word "Lorcha" is taken from the Portuguese settlement at Macao, at the mouth of the Canton river. It often occurs in treaties with the Chinese authorities. On Octo- ber 8, 1856, a party of Chinese in charge of an officer boarded the Arrow, in the Canton river. They took off twelve men on a charge of piracy, leaving two men in charge of the lorcha. The Arrow was declared by its owners to be a British vessel. Our Consul at Canton, Mr. Parkes, demanded from Yeh, the Chinese Gov- ernor of Canton, the return of the men, basing his demand upon the Treaty of 1843, supple- mental to the Treaty of 1S42. This treaty did not give the Chinese authorities any right to seize Chinese offenders, or supposed offenders, on board an English vessel. It merely gave them a right to require the surrender of the offenders at the hands of the English. The Chinese Governor, Yeh, contended, however, that the lorcha was a Chinese pirate vessel, which had no right whatever to hoist the flag of England. It may be plainly stated at once that the Arrow was not an English vessel, but only a Chinese vessel which had obtained by false pretences the temporary possession of a British flag. Mr. Consul Parkes, however, was fussy, and he demanded the instant restoration of the captured men, and lie sent off to our Plenipo- tentiary at Hong Kong, Sir John Bowring, for authority and assistance in the business. Sir John Bowring was a man of considerable ability. At one time he seemed to be a candi- date for something like fame. He had a very large and varied knowledge of European and Asiatic languages, he had travelled a great deal, and had sat in Parliament for some years. He understood political economy, and had a good knowledge of trade and commerce. He had many friends and admirers, and he set up early for a sort of great man. He was full of self- conceit, and without any very clear idea of po- litical principles on the large scale. Bowring had been Consul for some years at Canton, and he had held the post of chief superintendent of trade there. It would seem as if his eager self- conceit would not allow him to resist the tempta- tion to display himself on the field of political action as a great English plenipotentiary bid-' ding England be of good cheer, and compelling inferior races to grovel in the dust before her. He ordered the Chinese authorities to surrender all the men taken from the Arrow, and he in- sisted that an apology should be offered for their arrest, and a formal pledge given hy the Chinese authorities that no such act should ever be com- mitted again. If this were not done within forty-eight hours, naval operations were to be begun against the Chinese. The Chinese Gov- ernor, Yeh, sent back all the men, and under- took to promise that for the future great care should be taken that no British ship should be visited improperly by Chinese officers. But he could not offer an apology for the particular case of the Arrow, for he still maintained, as was indeed the fact, that the Arrow was a Chinese vessel, and that the English had nothing to do with her. Accordingly, Sir John Bowring car- ried out his threat, and had Canton bombarded by the fleet which Admiral Sir Michael Seymour commanded. From October 23 to November 13 naval and military operations were kept up continuously. Commissioner Yeh retaliated by foolishly offering a reward for the head of every Englishman. This news from China created a considerable sensation in England. On February 24, 1857, Lord Derby brought forward in the House of Lords a motion, comprehensively condemning the whole of the proceedings of the British authorities in China. The debate would have been memorable if only for the powerful speech in which the venerable Lord Lyndhurst sup- ported the motion, and exposed the utter illegal- ity of the course pursued by Sir John Bowring. The House of Lords rejected the motion of Lord Derby by a majority of 146 to 110. On Febru- ary 26 Mr. Cobden brought forward a similar motion in the House of Commons. This must have been a peculiarly painful task for Mr. Cob- den. He was an old friend of Sir John Bowring, with whom he had always supposed himself to have many or most opinions in common. But he followed his convictions as to public duty in despite of his personal friendship. The debate wqs remarkable more for the singular political combination which it developed as it went on, than even for its varied ability and eloquence. Men spoke and voted on the same side who had probably never been brought into such com- panionship before, and never were afterwards. Mr. Cobden found himself supported by Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli, by Mr. Roebuck and Sir E. B. Lytton, by Lord John Russell and Mr. Whiteside, by Lord Robert Cecil, afterwards the Marquis of Salisbury, Sir Frederick Thesiger, Mr. Roundell Palmer, afterwards Lord Selborne, Mr. Sidney Herbert, and Mr. Milner Gibson. Mr. Cobden had probably never dreamed of the amount or the nature of the support his motion was destined to receive. The vote of censure was carried by 263 votes against 247 — a ma- I jority of 16. Lord Palmerston announced two or three days after that the Government had resolved on a dissolution and an appeal to the country. Lord Palmerston understood his countrymen. He knew that a popular Minister makes himself more popular by appealing to the country on the ground that he has been condemned by the House of Commons for upholding the honor of England and coercing some foreign power some- where. In his address to the electors of Tiver- ton he declared that an insolent barbarian, wield- ing authority at Canton, violated the British flag, broke the engagements of treaties, offered re- wards fir the heads of British subjects in that part of China, and planned their destruction by murder, assassination, and poison. That, of course, was all-sufficient. The "insolent bar- barian " was in itself almost enough. Governor Yeh certainly was not a barbarian. His argu- ment on the subject of International Law ob- tained the endorsement of Lord Lyndhurst. His way of arguing the political and commercial case compelled the admiration of Lord Derby. His letters form a curious contrast to the docu- ments contributed to the controversy by the representatives of British authority in China. However, he became for electioneering purposes an insolent barbarian ; and the story of a Chinese baker who was said to have tried to poison Sir John Bowring was transfigured into an attempt at the wholesale poisoning of Englishmen in China by the express orders of the Chinese Gov- ernor. Lord Palmerston 's victory was complete. Cobden, Bright, Milner Gibson, W. J. Fox, Lay- ard, and many other leading opponents of the Chinese policy, were left without seats. Lord Palmerston came back to power with renewed and redoubled strength. A little war with Per- sia came to an end in time to give him another claim as a conqueror on the sympathies of the constituencies. In the Royal Speech at the opening of Parliament it was announced that the differences between this country and China still remained unadjusted, and that therefore her Majesty had sent to China a Plenipotentiary who would be supported by an adequate naval and military force if necessary. The Government, however, had more serious business with which to occupy themselves before they were at liberty to turn to the easy work of coercing the Chinese. The new Parliament was engaged for some time in passing the Act abolishing the ancient jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts respect- ing divorce, and setting up a regular court of law, the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Court, to deal with questions between husband and wife. The passing of the Divorce Act was strongly contested in both Houses of Parlia- ment, and indeed was secured at last only by Lord Palmerston's intimating very significantly that he would keep the Houses sitting until the measure had been disposed of. Mr. Gladstone, in particular, offered to the bill a most strenuous opposition. The year 1857 saw the abolition of the system of transportation. Transportation as a means of getting rid of part of our criminal population dates from the time of Charles II., when the judges gave power for the removal of offenders to the North American colonies. It was first regularly introduced into our criminal law in 1717, by an Act of Parliament. In 1787 a car- go of criminals was shipped out to Botany Bay, on the eastern shore of New South Wales, and near Sydney, the present thriving capital of the colony. Afterwards the convicts were also sent to Van Diemen's Land, or Tasmania ; and to Norfolk Island, a lonely island in the Pacific, some eight hundred miles from the New South AVales shore. Norfolk Island became the penal settlement for the convicted among convicts ; that is to say, criminals who, after transporta- tion to New South Wales, committed new crimes there, might be sent by the Colonial authorities for sterner punishment to Norfolk Island. It looked as if the system ought to be satisfactory in every way and to everybody. The convicts were provided with a new career, a new country, and a chance of reformation. They were usual- ly after a while released from actual durance in | the penal settlement, and allowed conditionally A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. to find employment, and to make themselves, if they could, good citizens. Their labor, it was thought, would be of great service to the col- onists. But the colonists very soon began to complain. The convicts who had spent their period of probation in hulks or prisons gener- ally left those homes of horror with nature so brutalized as to make their intrusion into any community of decent persons an insufferable nuisance. Pent up in penal settlements by themselves, the convicts turned into demons; drafted into an inhabited colony, they were too numerous to be wholly absorbed by the popula- tion, and they carried their contagion along with them. New South Wales and Tasmania began to protest against being made the refuse-ground for our seoundrelism. Only in Western Austra- lia were the people willing to receive them on any conditions, and Western Australia had but scanty natural resources and could in any case harbor very few of our outcasts. The discovery of gold in Australia settled the question of those colonies being troubled any more with our transportation system ; for the greatest enthusiast. for transportation would hardly propose to send out gangs of criminals to a region glowing with the temptations of gold. The question then arose what was England to do with the criminals whom up to that time she had been able to shovel out of her way ? All the receptacles were closed but Western Austra- lia, and that counted for almost nothing. In 1853 a bill was brought in by the Ministry to substitute penal servitude for transportation, unless in cases where the sentence was for four- teen years and upwards. The bill reduced the scale of punishment; that is to say, made a shorter period of penal servitude supply the place of a longer term of transportation. Lord Palmerston was Home Secretary at this time. It was during the passing of the bill through the House of Lords that Lord Grey suggested the introduction of a modification of the ticket-of- leave system which was in practice in the colo- nies. The principle of the ticket-of-leave was that the convict should not be kept in custody during the whole period of his sentence, but that he should be allowed to pass through a period of conditional liberty before he obtained his fidl and unrestricted freedom. Now, there can be no doubt that the principle of the ticket-of-leave is excellent. But it proved on its first trial in this country the most utter delusion. It got no fair chance at all. It was understood by the whole English public that the object of the tick- et-of-leave was to enable the authorities to give a conditional discharge from custody to a man who had in some way proved his fitness for such a relaxation of punishment, and that the eye of the police would be on him even during the peri- od of his conditional release. This was in fact the construction put on the Act in Ireland, where accordingly the ticket-of-leave system was worked with the most complete success under the management of Sir Walter Crofton, chair- man of the Board of Prison Directors. A man who had Sir Walter Crofton's ticket-of-leave was known by that very fact to have given earnest of good purpose and steady character. The system in Ireland was therefore all that its au- thors could have wished it to be. But for some inscrutable reason the Act was interpreted in this country as simply giving every convict a right, after a certain period of detention, to claim a ticket-of-leave, provided he had not grossly violated any of the regulations of the prison or misconducted himself in some outrageous manner. It would be superfluous to examine the work- ing of such a system. A number of scoundrels whom the judges had sentenced to be kept in durance for so many years were without any con- ceivable reason turned loose upon society long before the expiration of their sentence. They were in England literally turned loose upon so- ciety, for it was held by the authorities here that it might possibly interfere with the chance of a jail-bird's getting employment, if he were seen to be watched by the police. The police there- fore were considerately ordered to refrain from looking after them. Fifty per cent, of the ruf- fians released on ticket-of-leave were afterwards brought up for new crimes, and convicted over again. Of those who, although not actually con- victed, were believed to have relapsed into their old habits, from sixty to seventy per cent, re- lapsed within the first year of their liberation. Baron Bramwell stated from the bench that be had had instances of criminals coming before him who had three sentences overlapping each other. The convict was set free on ticket-of-leave, con- victed of some new crime, and re-committed to prison ; released again on ticket-of-leave, and convicted once again, before the period of his original sentence had expired. An alarm sprang up in England. The result of the public alarm and the Parliamentary reconsideration of the whole subject was the bill brought in by Sir George Grey in 1857. This measure extended the provisions of the Act of 1853 by substituting in all cases a sentence of penal servitude for one of transportation, abolished the old-fashioned transportation system altogether, but it left the power to the authorities to have penal servitude carried out in any of the colonies where it might be thought expedient. The Government had still some idea of utilizing Western Australia for some of our offenders. But nothing came of this plan, or of the clause in the new Act which was passed to favor it; and as a matter of fact trans- portation was abolished. How the amended leg- islation worked in other respects we shall have an opportunity of examining hereafter. The Gretna Green marriages became illegal in 1857, their doom having been fixed for that time by an Act passed in the previous session. Thenceforward such marriages were unlawful, unless one of the parties had lived at least twen- ty-one days previously in Scotland. CHAPTER XIII. THE INDIAN MUTINY. In May, 1857, the great Indian Mutiny shook to its foundations the whole fabric of British rule in Hindostan. Throughout the greater part of the north and north-west of the great Indian peninsula there was a rebellion of the native races against English power. It was not by any means a merely military mutiny. It was a com- bination of military grievance, national hatred, and religious fanaticism against the English oc- cupiers of India. The native princes and the native soldiers were in it. The Mohammedan and the Hindoo forgot their own religious anti- pathies to join against the Christian. Let us first see what were the actual facts of the out- break. When the improved (Enfield) rifle was introduced into the Indian army in 1856 the idea got abroad that the cartridges were made up in paper greased with a mixture of cow's fat and hog's lard. It appears that the paper was actually greased, but not with any such material as that which religious alarm suggested to the native troops. Now, a mixture of cow's fat and hog's lard would have been, above all things, un- suitable for use in cartridges to be distributed among our Sepoys ; for the Hindoo regards the cow with religious veneration, and the Moham- medan looks upon the hog with utter loathing. In the mind of the former something sacred to him was profaned ; in that of the latter some- thing unclean and abominable was forced upon his daily use. Various efforts were made to al- lay the panic among the native troops. The use of the cartridges complained of was discontinued by orders issued in January, 1857. The Gover- nor-general sent out a proclamation in the fol- lowing May, assuring the army of Bengal that the tales told to them of offence to their religion or injury to their caste being meditated by the Government of India were all malicious inven- tions and falsehoods. Still, the idea was strong among the troops that some design against their religion was meditated. A mutinous spirit be- gan to spread itself abroad. In March some of the native regiments had to be disbanded. In April some executions of Sepoys took place for gross and open mutiny. In the same month sev- eral of the native Bengal cavalry in Mecrut re- fused to use the cartridges served out to them, although they had been authoritatively assured that the paper in which the cartridges were wrap- ped had never been touched by any offensive material. On May 9 these men were sent to the jail. They had been tried by court-martial, and were sentenced, eighty of them, to imprisonment and hard labor for ten years, the remaining five to a similar punishment for six years. They had chains put on them in the presence of their comrades, who no doubt regarded them as mar- tyrs to their religious faith, and they were thus publicly marched off to the common jail. The guard placed over the jail actually consisted of Sepoys. The following day, Sunday, May 10, was mem- orable. The native troops in Meerut broke into open mutiny. They fired upon their officers, killed a colonel and others, broke into the jail, released their comrades, and massacred several of the European inhabitants. The European troops rallied and drove them from their can- tonments or barracks. Then came the momen- tous event, the turning-point of the Mutiny: the act that marked out its character, and made it what it afterwards became. Meerut is an important military station between the Ganges and the Jumna, thirty-eight miles north-east from Delhi. In the vast palace of Delhi, al- most a city in itself, lived the aged King of Delhi, as he was called — the disestablished, but not wholly disendowed, sovereign, the descendant of the great Timour, the last representative of the Grand Mogul. The mutineers fled along the road to Delhi; and some evil fate directed that they were not to be pursued or stopped on their way. Unchecked, unpursued, they burst into Delhi, and swarmed into the precincts of the palace of the king. They claimed his pro- tection ; they insisted upon his accepting their cause and themselves. They proclaimed him Emperor of India, and planted the standard of rebellion against English rule on the battle- ments of his palace. They had found in one moment a leader, a flag, and a cause, and the mutiny was transfigured into a revolutionary war. The Sepoy troops, in the city and the cantonments on the Delhi ridge, two miles off, and overlooking the city, at once began to cast in their lot with the mutineers. The poor old puppet whom they set up as their emperor was a feeble creature, some eighty years of age. He had long been merely a pensioner of the East India Company. But he was the repre- sentative of the great dynasty whose name and effigies had been borne by all the coin of India until some twenty years before. He stood for legitimacy and divine right; and he supplied all the various factions and sects of which the mu- tiny was composed, or to be composed, with a visible and an acceptable head. If the mutineers flying from Meerut had been promptly pursued and dispersed, or captured, before they reached Delhi, the tale we have, to tell might have been shorter and very different. But when they reached, unchecked, the Jumna glittering in the morning light, when they swarmed across the bridge of boats that spanned it, and when at length they clamored under the windows of the palace that they had come to restore the rule of the Delhi dynasty, they had all unconsciously- seized one of the great critical moments of his- tory, and converted a military mutiny into a national and religious war. This is the manner in which the Indian Re- bellion began and assumed its distinct character. Mutinies were not novelties in India. There had been some very serious outbreaks before the time of the greased cartridges. But there was a combination of circumstances at weak to bring about this revolt which affected variously but at once the army, the princes, and the populations of India. Let us speak first of the army. The Bengal army was very different in its constitu- tion and conditions from that of Bombay or Madras, the other great divisions of Indian Government at that time. In the Bengal army the Hindoo Sepoys were far more numerous than the Mohammedans, and were chiefly Brah- mins of high caste; while in Madras and Horn- bay the army was made up, as the Bengal regi- ments are now, of men of all sects and races without discrimination. Until the very year 38 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. before the Mutiny the Bengal soldier was only enlisted for service in India, and was exempted from any liability to be sent across the seas — across the " black water" which the Sepoy dread- ed and hated to have to cross. No such exemption was allowed to the soldiers of Bombay or Mad- ras; and in July, 1856, an order was issued by the military authorities to the effect that future enlistments in Bengal should be for service any- where without limitation. Thus the Bengal Se- poy had not only been put in the position of a privileged and pampered favorite, but he had been subjected to the indignity and disappoint- ment of seeing his privileges taken away from him. But we must above all other things take into account, when considering the position of the Hindoo Sepoy, the influence of the tremendous institution of caste. An Englishman or Europe- an of any country will have to call his imagina- tive faculties somewhat vigorously to his aid in order to get even an idea of the power of this monstrous superstition. The man who by the merest accident, by the slightest contact with anything that defiled, had lost caste, was excom- municated from among the living, and was held to be for evermore accurst of God. His dear- est friend, his nearest relation shrank back from him in alarm and abhorrence. Now. it had be- come from various causes a strong suspicion in the mind of the Sepoy that there was a deliber- ate purpose in the minds of the English rulers of the country to defile the Hindoos, and to bring them all to the dead level of one caste or no caste. No doubt there was in many instances a lack of consideration shown for the Hindoo's peculiar and very perplexing tenets. To many a man fresh from the waj'S of England the Hin- doo doctrines and practices appeared so ineffably- absurd that he could not believe any human be- ings were serious in their devotion to them, and he took no pains to conceal his opinion as to the absurdity of the creed, and the hypocrisy of those who professed it. Some of the elder officers and civilians were imbued very strongly with a con- viction that the work of open proselytism was part of their duty ; and in the best faith and with the purest intentions they thus strengthened the growing suspicion that the mind of the authori- ties was set on the defilement of the Hindoos. Nor was it among the Hindoos alone that the alarm began to be spread abroad. It was the conviction of the Mohammedans that their faith and their rites were to be tampered with as well. It was whispered among them everywhere that the peculiar baptismal custom of the Mohammed- ans was to be suppressed by law, and Moham- medan women were to be compelled to go un- veiled in public. The slightest alterations in any system gave fresh confirmation to the suspicions that were afloat among the Hindoos and Mussul- mans. When a change was made in the arrange- ments of the prisons, and the native prisoners were no longer allowed to cook for themselves, a murmur went abroad that this was the first overt act in the conspiracy to destroy the caste, and with it the bodies and souls, of the Hindoos. Another change must be noticed too. At one time it was intended that the native troops should be commanded for the most part by native offi- cers. The men would, therefore, have had some- thing like sufficient security that their religious scruples were regarded and respected. But by degrees the natives were shouldered out of the high positions, until at length it became practi- cally an army of native rank and file commanded by Englishmen. If we remember that a Hindoo sergeant of lower caste would, when off parade, often abase himself with his forehead in the dust before a Sepoy private who belonged to the Brahmin order, we shall have some idea of the perpetual collision between military discipline and religious principle which affected the Hin- doo members of an army almost exclusively commanded by Europeans and Christians. We have spoken of the army and of its relig- ious scruples ; we must now speak of the terri- torial and political influences which affected the princes and the populations of India. Lord Dalhousie had not long left India on the ap- pointment of Lord Canning to the Governor- generalship when the Mutiny broke out. Lord Dalhousie was a man of commanding energy, of indomitable courage, with the intellect of a ruler of men, and the spirit of a conquerer. He was undoubtedly a great man. He had had some Parliamentary experience in England and in both Houses ; and he had been Vice-President and subsequently President of the Board of Trade under Sir Robert Peel. He had taken great in- terest in the framing of regulations for the rail- way legislation of the mania season of 1S44 and 184:5. Towards the close of 1847 Lord Dal- housie was sent out to India. Never was there in any country an administration of more suc- cessful activity than that of Lord Dalhousie. He introduced cheap postage into India; he made railways ; he set up lines of electric tele- graph. He devoted much of his attention to ir- rigation, to the making of great roads, to the work of the Ganges Canal. He was the founder of a comprehensive system of native education. He put down infanticide, the Thug system, and he carried out with vigor Lord William Ben- tinck's Act for the suppression of the Suttee, or burning of widows on the funeral pile of their husbands. But Lord Dalhousie was not wholly engaged in such works as these. During his few years of office he annexed the Punjaub ; he incorporated part of the Burmese territory in our dominions ; he annexed Nagpore, Sattara, Jhansi, Berar and Oudh. In the Punjaub the annexation was provoked by the murder of some of our officers, sanctioned, if not actually ordered, by a native prince. Lord Dalhousie marched a force into the Punjaub. This land, the " land of the five waters,'' lies at the gate-way of Hindostan, and was peopled by Mussulmans, Hindoos, and Sikhs, the latter a new sect of reformed Hindoos. We found arrayed against us not only the Sikhs but our old enemies the Afghans. Lord Gough was in command of our forces. He fought rash- ly and disastrously the famous battle of Chillian- wallah : he was defeated. But he wholly recov- ered his position by the complete defeat which he inflicted upon the enemy at Goojrat. Never was a victory more complete in itself or more promptly and effectively followed up. The Sikhs were crushed ; the Afghans were driven in wild rout back across their savage passes ; and Lord Dalhousie annexed the Punjaub. He presented as one token of his conquest the famous diamond, the Koh-i-noor, surrendered in evidence of sub- mission by the Maharajah of Lahore, to the Crown of England. Lord Dalhousie annexed Oudh on the ground that the East India Company had bound them- selves to defend the sovereigns of Oudh against foreign and domestic enemies on condition that the State should be governed in such a manner as to render the lives and property of its popula- tion safe ; and that while the Company performed their part of the contract, the King of Oudh so governed his dominions as to make his rule a curse to his own people, and to all neighboring territories. Other excuses or justifications there were of course in the case of each other annexa- ation ; and we shall yet hear some more of what came of the annexation of Sattara and Jhansi. If, however, each of these acts of policy were not only justifiable but actually inevitable, none the less must a succession of such acts produce a pro- found emotion among the races in whose midst they were accomplished. The populations of In- dia became stricken with alarm as they saw their native princes thus successively dethroned. The subversion of thrones, the annexation of states, seemed to them naturally enough to form part of that vast scheme for rooting out all the religions and systems of India, concerning which so many vague forebodings had darkly warned the land. Many of our Sepoys came from Oudh and other annexed territories, and little reason as they might have had for any personal attachment to the subverted dynasties, they yet felt that nation- al resentment which any manner of foreign in- tervention is almost certain to provoke. There were peculiar reasons too why, if relig- ious and political distrust did prevail, the moment of Lord Canning's accession to the supreme au- thority in India should seem inviting and favor- able for schemes of sedition. The Afghan war had told the Sepoy that British troops are not absolutely invincible in battle. The impression produced almost everywhere in India by the Crimean war was a conviction that the strength of England was on the wane. The Sepoy saw that the English force in Northern India was very small; and he really believed that it was small because England had no more men to send there. In his mind Russia was the great rising and con- quering country; England was sinking into de- cay; her star waning before the strong glare of the portentous northern light. Moreover, Lord Canning had hardly assumed office as Governor- general of India, when the dispute occurred be- tween the British and Chinese authorities at Can- ton, and almost at the same moment war was declared against Persia by proclamation of the Governor-general at Calcutta, in consequence of the Shah having marched an army into Herat and besieged it, in violation of a treaty with Great Britain made in 1853. A body of troops was sent from Bombay to the Persian Gulf, and shortly after General Outram left Bombay with additional troops, as Commander-in-chief of the field force in Persia. Therefore, in the opening days of 1S57. it was known among the native populations of India that the East India Com- pany was at war with Persia, and that England had on her hands a quarrel witli China. The native army of the three Presidencies taken to- gether was nearly three hundred thousand, while the Europeans were but forty- three thousand, of whom some five thousand had just been told off for duty in Persia. It must be owned that, given the existence of a seditious spirit, it would have been hardly possible for it to find conditions more seemingly favorable and tempting. There can be no doubt that a conspiracy for the sub- version of the English government in India was afoot during the early days of 1857, and possibly for long before. The story of the mysterious chupatties is well known. The chupatties are small cakes of unleavened bread, and they were found to be distributed with amazing rapidity and precision of system at one time throughout the native villages of the north and north-west. In no instance were they distributed among the pop- ulations of still-existing native States. They were only sent among the villages over which English rule extended. A native messenger brought two of these mysterious cakes to the watchman or headman of a village, and bade him to have others prepared like them, and to pass them on to another place. There could be no doubt that the chupatties conveyed a warning to all who received them that something strange was about to happen, and bade them to be pre- pared for whatever might befall. The news of the outbreak at Meerut, and the proclamation in Delhi, broke upon Calcutta with the shock of a thunder-clap. For one or two days Calcutta was a prey to mere panic. The alarm was greatly increased by the fact that the dethroned King of Oudh was living near to the city, at Garden Reach, a few miles down the Hooghly. The inhabitants of Calcutta, when the news of the Mutiny came, were convinced that the palace of the King of Oudh was the head- quarters of rebellion, and were expecting the moment when, from the residence at Garden Reach, an organized army of murderers was to be sent forth to capture and destroy the ill-fated city, and to make its streets run with the blood of its massacred inhabitants. Lord Canning took the prudent course of having the king with his prime minister removed to the Governor-gener- al's own residence within the precincts of Fort William. If ever the crisis found the man, Lord Canning was the man called for by that crisis in India. He had all the divining genius of the true statesman — the man who can rise to the height of some unexpected and new emergency ; and he had the cool courage of a practised con- queror. Among all the distracting counsels and wild stories poured in upon him from every side, he kept his mind clear. He never gave way ei- ther to anger or to alarm. If he ever showed a lit- tle impatience, it was only where panic would too openly have proclaimed itself by counsels of whole- sale cruelty. He could not, perhaps, always con- ceal from frightened people the fact that he rather A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. despised their terrors. Throughout the whole of that excited period there were few names, even among the chiefs of rebellion, on which fiercer denunciation was showered by Englishmen than the name of Lord Canning. Because he would not listen to the bloodthirsty clamors of mere frenzy he was nicknamed "Clemency Canning," as if clemency were an attribute of which a man ought to be ashamed. Indeed, for some time people wrote and spoke, not merely in India but in England, as if clemency were a thing to be rep- robated, like treason or crime. For a while it seemed a question of patriotism which would pro- pose the most savage and sanguinary measures of revenge. Mr. Disraeli, to do him justice, raised his voice in remonstrance against the wild passions of the hour, even when these passions were strongest and most general. He declared that if such a temper were encouraged we ought to take down from our altars the image of Christ and raise the statue of Moloch there. If people were so carried away in England, where the dan- ger was far remote, we can easily imagine what were the fears and passions roused in India, where the terror was, or might be, at the door of every one. Lord Canning was gravely embar- rassed by the wild urgencies and counsels of dis- tracted Englishmen, who were furious with him because he even thought of distinguishing friend from foe where native races were concerned. But he bore himself with perfect calmness. He was greatly assisted and encouraged in his counsels by his brave and noble wife, who proved herself in every way worthy to be the helpmate of such a man at such a crisis. He did not for a mo- ment under-estimate the danger ; but neither did he exaggerate its importance. He never allowed it to master him. He looked upon it with the quiet, resolute eye of one who is determined to be the conqueror in the struggle. Lord Canning saw that the one important thing was to strike at Delhi, which had proclaimed itself the head-quarters of the rebellion. He knew that English troops were on their way to China for the purpose of wreaking the wrongs of English subjects there, and he took on his own responsibility the bold step of intercepting them, and calling them to the work of helping to put down the Mutiny in India. The dispute with China he thought could well afford to wait, but with the Mutiny it must be now or never. India could not wait for reinforcements brought all the way from England. Lord Canning knew well enough, as well as the wildest alarmist could know, that the rebel flag must be forced to fly from some field before that help came, or it would fly over the dead bodies of those who then repre- sented English authority in India. He had, there- fore, no hesitation in appealing to Lord Elgin, the Envoy in charge of the Chinese expedition, to stop the troops that were on their way to China, and lend them to the service of India at such a need. Lord Elgin had the courage and the wisdom tD assent to the appeal at once. For- tune, too, was favorable to Canning in more ways than one. The Persian war was of short dura- tion. Sir James Outram was soon victorious, and Outram, therefore, and his gallant compan- ions, Colonel Jacob and Colonel Havelock, were able to lend their invaluable services to the Gov- ernor-general of India. Most important for Lord Canning's purposes was the manner in which the affairs of the Punjaub were managed at this crisis. The Punjaub was under the ad- ministration of one of the ablest public servants India has ever had — Sir John, afterwards Lord Lawrence. John Lawrence had from his youth been in the Civil Service of the East India Com- pany ; and when Lord Dalhousie annexed the Punjaub he made Lawrence and his soldier- brother — the gallant Sir Henry Lawrence— two out of a hoard of three for the administration of the affairs of the newly-acquired province. Af- terwards Sir John Lawrence was named the Chief Commissioner of the Punjaub, and by the promptitude and energy of himself and his sub- ordinates the province was completely saved for English rule at the outbreak of the Mutiny. Fortunately, the electric telegraph extended from Calcutta to Lahore, 'the chief city of the Punjaub. On May 11 the news of the outbreak at Meerut was brought to the authorities at Lahore. As it happened, Sir John Lawrence was then away at Rawul Pindee, in the Upper Punjaub; hut Mr. Robert Montgomery, the Judicial Commissioner at Lahore, was invested with plenary power, and he showed that he could use it to advantage. Meean Meer is a large military cantonment five or six miles from Lahore, and there were then some four thousand native troops there, with only about thirteen hundred Europeans of the Queen's and the Company's service. There was no time to be lost. While the Punjaub held firm it was like a barrier raised at one side of the rebellious movement, not merely preventing it from going any farther in that direction, but keeping it pent up until the moment came when the blow from the other direction could fall upon it. The first thing to be done to strike effectively at the rebellion was to make an attack on Delhi ; and the possession of the Punjaub was of inestimable advantage to the authorities for that purpose. There was no actual reason to assume that the Sepoys in Meean Meer intended to join the re- bellion. There would be a certain danger of converting them into rebels if any rash movement were to be made for the purpose of guarding against treachery on their part. Either way was a serious responsibility, a momentous risk. The authorities soon made up their minds. Any risk would be better than that of leaving it in the power of the native troops to join the rebellion. A ball and supper were to be given at Lahore that night. To avoid creating any alarm it was arranged that the entertainments should take place. During the dancing and feasting Mr. Montgomery held a council of the leading offi- cials of Lahore, civil and military, and it was re- solved at once to disarm the native troops. A parade was ordered for daybreak at Meean Meer ; and on the parade-ground an order was given for a military movement which brought the heads of four columns of the native troops in front of twelve guns charged with grape, the ar- tillerymen with their port-fires lighted, and the soldiers of one of the Queen's regiments standing behind with loaded muskets. A command was given to the Sepoys to pile arms. They had im- mediate death before them if they disobeyed. They stood literally at the cannon's mouth. They piled their arms, which were borne away at once in carts by European soldiers, and all chances of a rebellious movement were over in that province, and the Punjaub was saved. Something of the same kind was done at Mool- tan, in the Lower Punjaub, later on ; and the province, thus assured to English civil and mili- tary authority, became a basis for some of the most important operations by which the Mutiny was crushed, and the sceptre of India restored to the Queen. Within little more than a fortnight from the occupation of Delhi by the rebels, the British forces under General Anson, the Commander-in- chief, were advancing on that city. The com- mander did not live to conduct any of the oper- ations. He died of cholera almost at the begin- ning of the march. The siege of Delhi proved long and difficult. Another general died, anoth- er had to give up his command, before the city was recaptured. It was justly considered by Lord Canning and by all the authorities as of the utmost importance that Delhi should be taken before the arrival of great reinforcements from home. Meanwhile the rebellion was break- ing out at new points almost everywhere in these northern and north-western regions. On May 30 the Mutiny declared itself at Lucknow. Sir Henry Lawrence was Governor of Oudh. He endeavored to drive the rebels from the place, but the numbers of the mutineers were over- whelming. He had under his command, too, a force partly made up of native troops, and some of these deserted him in the battle. He had to retreat and to fortify the Residency at Lucknow, and remove all the Europeans, men, women, and children, thither, and patiently stand a siege. Lawrence himself had not long to en- dure the siege. On July 2 he had been up with the dawn, and after a great amount of work he lay on the sofa, not, as it has been well said, to rest, but to transact business in a recumbent po- sition. His nephew and another officer were with him. Suddenly a great crash was heard, and the room was filled with smoke and dust. One of his companions was flung to the ground. A shell had burst. When there was silence the officer who had been flung down called out, "Sir Henry, are you hurt?" "I am killed.'' was the answer that came faintly but firmly from Sir Henry Lawrence's lips. The shell had wounded him in the thigh so fearfully as to leave surgery no chance of doing anything for his re- lief. On the morning of July 4 he died calmly and in perfect submission to the will of Provi- dence. He had made all possible arrangements for his successor, and for the work to he done. He desired that on his tomb should be engrav- en merely the words, " Here lies Henry Law- rence, who tried to do his duty." The epitaph was a simple, truthful summing-up of a simple, truthful career. The man, however, was greater than the career. Lawrence had not opportunity to show in actual result the greatness of spirit that was in him. The immense influence he exercised over all who came within his reach bears testimony to his strength and nobleness of character better than any of the mere suc- cesses which his biographer can record. He was full of sympathy. His soul was alive to the noblest and purest aspirations. "It is the due admixture of romance and reality,'' he was him- self accustomed to say, "that best carries a man through life." No professional teacher or phi- losopher ever spoke a truer sentence. As one of his many admirers says of him — " what he said and wrote he did, or rather he was." Let the bitterest enemy of England write the history of her rule in India, and set down as against her every wrong that was done in her name, from those which Burke denounced to those which the Madras Commission exposed, he will have to say that men, many men, like Henry Law- rence, lived and died devoted to the cause of that rule, and the world will take account of the admission. During the later days of Sir Henry Lawrence's life it had another trouble added to it by the appeals which were made to him from Cawn- pore for a help which he could not give. The city of Cawnpore stands in the Doab, a peninsula between the Ganges and the Jumna, and is built on the south bank of the Ganges, there nearly a quarter of a mile broad in the dry season, and more than a mile across when swelled by the rains. In 1801 the territory lapsed into the possession of the Company. From that time it took rank as one of our first-class military sta- tions. The city commanded the bridge over which passed the high-road to Lucknow, the capital of our new province. The distance from Cawnpore to Lucknow is about fifty miles as the bird flies. At the time when the Mutiny broke out in Meerut there were some three thou- sand native soldiers in Cawnpore, consisting of two regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and a company of artillerymen. There were about three hundred officers and soldiers of English birth. The European or Eurasian population, including women and children, numbered about one thousand. These consisted of the officials, the railway people, some merchants and shop- keepers and their families. The native town had about sixty thousand inhabitants. The garrison was under the command of Sir Hugh Wheeler, a man of some seventy-five years of age, among the oldest of an old school of Ben- gal officers. The revolt was looked for at Cawn- pore from the moment when the news came of the rising at Meerut : and it was not long ex- pected before it came. Sir Hugh Wheeler ap- plied to Sir Henry Lawrence for help; Law- rence of course could not spare a man. Then Sir Hugh Wheeler remembered that he had a neigh- bor whom he believed to be friendly, despite of very recent warnings from Sir Henry Lawrence and others to the contrary. He called this neighbor to his assistance, and his invitation was promptly answered. The Nana Sahib came with two guns and some three hundred men to lend a helping hand to the English commander. The Nana Sahib resided at Bithoor, a small town twelve miles up the river from Cawnpore. 40 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. He represented a grievance. Bajee Rao, Peish- wa of Poonah, was the last prince of one of the great Mahratta dynasties. The East India Com- pany believed him guilty of treachery against them, of bad government of his dominions, and so forth ; and they found a reason for dethroning him. He was assigned, however, a residence in Bithoor, and a large pension. He had no chil- dren, and he adopted as his heir Seereek Dhoon- doo Punth, the man who will be known to all time by the infamous name of Nana Sahib. According to Hindoo belief, it is needful for a man's eternal welfare that he leave a son behind him to perform duly his funeral rites ; and the adoption of a son is recognized as in every sense conferring on the adopted all the rights that a child of the blood could have. Bajee died in 1851, and Nana Sahib claimed to succeed to all his possessions. Lord Dalhousie had shown in many instances a strangely unwise disregard of the principle of adoption. The claim of the Nana to the pension was disallowed. Nana Sahib sent a confidential agent to London to push his claim there. This man was a clever and handsome young Mohammedan who had at one time been a servant in an Anglo-Indian family, and had picked up a knowledge of French and English. His name was Azimoolah Khan. This emissary visited London in 1S54, and be- came a lion of the fashionable season. He did not succeed in winning over the Government to take any notice of the claims of his master, but being very handsome and of sleek and alluring manners, he became a favorite in the drawing- rooms of the metropolis, and was under the im- pression that an unlimited number of English- women of rank were dying with love for him. On his way home he visited Constantinople and the Crimea. It was then a dark hour for the fortunes of England in the Crimea, and Azimoo- lah Khan swallowed with glad and greedy ear all the alarmist rumors that were afloat in Stam- boul about the decay of England's strength, and the impending domination of Russian power over Europe and Asia. The Western visit of this man was not an event without important conse- quences. He doubtless reported to his master that the strength of England was on the wane ; and while stimulating his hatred and revenge, stimulated also his confidence in the chances of an effort to gratify both. With Azimoolah Khan's mission and its results ended the hopes of Nana Sahib for the success of his claims, and began, we may presume, his resolve to be re- venged. Nana Sahib, although his claim on the Eng- lish Government was not allowed, was still rich. He had the large private property of the man who had adopted him, and he had the residence at Bithoor. He kept up a sort of princely state. He never visited Cawnpore; the reason being, it is believed, that he would not have been re- ceived there with princely honors. But he was especially lavish of his attentions to English visit- ors, and his invitations went far and wide among the military and civil servants of the Crown and the Company. He cultivated the society of Eng- lish men and women ; he showered his civil- ities upon them. He did not speak or even un- derstand English, but he took a great interest in English history, customs, and literature. He was luxurious in the most thoroughly Oriental fashion; and Oriental luxury implies a great deal more than any experience of Western lux- ury would suggest. At the time with which we are dealing he was only about thirty-six years of age, but he was prematurely heavy and fat, and seemed to be as incapable of active exertion as of unkindly feeling. There can be little doubt that all this time he was a dissembler of more than common Eastern dissimulation. It appears al- most certain that while he was lavishing his courtesies and kindnesses upon Englishmen with- out discrimination, his heart was burning with a hatred to the whole British race. A sense of his wrongs had eaten him up. It is a painful thing to say, but it is necessary to the truth of this history, that Ins wrongs were genuine. He had been treated with injustice. According to all the recognized usages of his race and his re- ligion, he had a claim indefeasible in justice to the succession which had been unfairly and un- wisely denied to him. It was to Nana Sahib, then, that poor old Sir Hugh Wheeler in the hour of his distress applied for assistance. Most, gladly, we can well believe, did the Nana come. He established himself in Cawnpore with his guns and his soldiers. Sir Hugh Wheeler had taken refuge, when the Mutiny broke out, in an old military hospital with mud walls, scarcely four feet high, hastily thrown up around it, and a few guns of various calibre placed in position on the so-called intrenchments. Within these almost shadowy and certainly crumbling intrenchments were gathered about a thousand persons, of whom 165 were men of every age and profession. The married women and grown daughters were about 280; the children about the same number. Of the men there were probably 400 who could fight. As soon as Nana Sahib's presence became known in Cawnpore he was surrounded by the mutineers, who insisted that he must make com- mon cause with them and become one of their leaders. He put himself at their disposal. He gave notice to Sir Hugh Wheeler that if the intrenchments were not surrendered they would be instantly attacked. They were attacked. A general assault was made upon the miserable mud walls on June 12, but the resistance was heroic, and the assault failed. It was after that assault that the garrison succeeded in sending a message to Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow, craving for the aid which it was absolutely impossible for him to give. From that time the fire of the mu- tineer army on the English intrenchments never ceased. Whenever a regular attack was made the assailants invariably came to grief. The lit- tle garrison, thinning in numbers every day and almost every hour, held out with splendid obsti- nacy, and always sent those who assailed it scampering back — except, of course, for such as- sailants as perforce kept their ground by the persuasion of the English bullets. The little population of women and children behind the intrenchments had no roof to shelter them from the fierce Indian sun. They cowered under the scanty shadow of the low walls, often at the imminent peril of the unceasing Sepoy bullets. The only water for their drinking was to be had from a single well, at which the guns of the as- sailants were unceasingly levelled. To go to the well and draw water became the task of self-sac- rificing heroes, who might with better chances of safety have led a forlorn hope. The water which the fainting women and children drank might have seemed to be reddened by blood ; for only at the price of blood was it ever obtained. It may seem a trivial detail, but it will count for much in a history of the sufferings of delicately nurtured English women, that from the begin- ning of the siege of the Cawnpore intrenchments to its tragic end, there was not one spongeful of water to be had for the purposes of personal cleanliness. The inmates of that ghastly garri- son were dying like Hies. One does not know which to call the greater — the suffering of the women or the bravery of the men. A conviction began to spread among the mu- tineers that it was of no use attempting to con- quer these terrible British sahibs ; that so long as one of them was alive he would be as formi- dable as a wild beast in its lair. The Sepoys be- came unwilling to come too near the low, crum- bling walls of the intrenchment. Those walls might have been leaped over as easily as that of Romulus; but of what avail to know that, when from behind them always came the fatal fire of the Englishmen ? It was no longer easy to get the mutineers to attempt anything like an as- sault. The English themselves began to show a perplexing kind of aggressive enterprise, and took to making little sallies in small numbers, indeed, but with astonishing effect, on any bodies of Sepoys who happened to be anywhere near. Utterly, overwhelmingly, preposterously outnum- bered as the Englishmen were, there were mo- ments when it began to seem almost possible that they might actually keep back their assail- ants until some English army could come to their assistance and take a terrible vengeance upon Cawnpore. Nana Sahib began to find that he could not take by assault those wretched in- trenchments ; and he could not wait to starve the garrison out. He therefore resolved to treat with the English. The terms, it is believed, were arranged by the advice and assistance of Tantia Topee, his lieutenant, and Azimoolah Khan, the favorite of English drawing-rooms. An offer was sent to the intrenchments, the terms of which are worthy of notice. ''All those," it said, "who are in no way connected with the acts of Lord Dalhousie, and who are willing to lay down their arms, shall receive a safe passage to Allahabad." The terms had to be accepted : there was noth- ing else to be done. The English people were promised, during the course of the negotiations, sufficient supplies of food and boats to carry them to Allahabad, which was now once more in the possession of England. The relief was unspeaka- ble for the survivors of that weary defence. The women, the children, the wounded, the sick, the dying, welcomed any terms of release. Not the faintest suspicion crossed any mind of the treach- ery that was awaiting them. How, indeed, could there be any such suspicion ? Not for years and years had even Oriental warfare given example of such practice as that which Nana Sahib and the graceful and civilized Azimoolah Khan had now in preparation. The time for the evacuation of the garrison came. The boats were in readiness on the Gan- ges. The long procession of men, women, and children passed slowly down ; very slowly in some instances, because of the number of sick and wounded by which its progress was encum- bered. Some of the chief among the Nana's counsellors took their stand in a little temple on the margin of the river, to superintend the em- barkation and the work that was to follow it. Nana Sahib himself was not there. It is under- stood that he purposely kept away; he preferred to hear of the deed when it was done. His faithful lieutenant, Tantia Topee, had given or- ders, it seems, that when a trumpet sounded, some work, for which he had arranged, should begin. The wounded and the women were got into the boats in the first instance. The officers and men were scrambling in afterwards. Sud- denly the blast of a trumpet was heard. The boats were of the kind common on the rivers of India, covered with roofs of straw, and looking, as some accounts describe them, not unlike float- ing hay- stacks. The moment the bugle sound- ed the straw of the boat-roofs bhized up, and the native rowers began to make precipitately for the shore. They had set fire to the thatch, and were now escaping from the flames they had pur- posely lighted up. At the same moment there came from both shores of the river thick showers of grapeshot and musketry. The banks of the Ganges seemed in an instant alive with shot; a very rain of bullets poured in upon the devoted inmates of the boats. To add to the horrors of the moment, if, indeed, it needed any addition, nearly all the boats stuck fast in mud-banks, and the occupants became fixed targets for the fire of their enemies. Only three of the boats floated. Two of these drifted to the Oudh shore, and those on board them were killed at once. The third floated farther along with the stream, re- served for further adventures and horrors. The firing ceased when Tantia Topee and his con- federates thought that enough had been done; and the women and children who were still alive were brought ashore and carried in forlorn pro- cession back again through the town where they had suffered so much, and which they had hoped that they were leaving for ever. They were about 125 in number, women and children. Some of them were wounded. There were a few well - disposed natives who saw them and were sorry for them; who had perhaps served them, and experienced their kindness in other days, and who now had some grateful memory of it, which they dared not express by any open pro- fession of sympathy. Certain of these after- wards described the English ladies as they saw them pass. They were bedraggled and dis- hevelled, these poor English women ; their clothes were in tatters; some of them were wounded, and the blood was trickling from their feet and legs. They were carried to a place called the Savada House, a large building, once A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. *1 a charitable institution bearing the name of Sal- vador, which hail been softened into Savada by Asiatic pronunciation'. On board the one boat which had filiated with the stream were more than a hundred persons. The boat was attacked by a constant fire from botli banks as it drifted along. At length a party of some twelve men, or thereabouts, landed with the bold object of at- tacking their assailants and driving them back. In their absence the boat was captured by some of the rebel gangs, and the women and the wounded were brought back to Cawnpore. Some sixty men, twenty - five women, and four children were thus recaptured. The men were imme- diately shot. It may be said at once, that of the gallant little party who went ashore to attack the enemy, hand to hand, four finally escaped, after adventures so perilous and so extraordinary that a professional story-teller would hardly venture to make them part of a fictitious narrative. The Nana had now a considerable number of English women in his hands. They were re- moved, after a while, from their first prison- house to a small building north of the canal, and between the native city and the Ganges. Here they were cooped up in the closest manner, ex- cept when some of them were taken out in the evening and set to the work of grinding corn for the use of their captors. Cholera and dysentery set in among these unhappy .sufferers, and some eighteen women and seven children died. Let it be said, for the credit of womanhood, that the royal widows, the relicts of the Nana's father by adoption, made many efforts to protect the cap- tive Englishwomen, and even declared that they would throw themselves and their children from the palace windows if any harm were done to the prisoners. We have only to repeat here, that as a matter of fact no indignities, other than that of the compulsory corn - grinding, were put upon the English ladies. They were doomed, one and all, to suffer death, but they were not, as at one time was believed in England, made to long for death as an escape from shame. Mean- while the prospects of the Nana and his rebellion were growing darker and darker. He must have begun to know by this time that he had no chance of establishing himself as a ruler any- where in India. The English had not been swept out of the country with a rush. The first flood of the Mutiny hud broken on their defences, and already the tide was falling. The Nana well knew it never would rise again to the same height in his day. The English were coming on. Neill had recaptured Allahabad, and cleared the coun- try all round it of any traces of rebellion. Have- lock was now moving forward from Allahabad towards Cawnpore, with six cannon and about a thousand English soldiers. Very small in point of numbers was that force when compared with that which Nana Sahib could even still rally round him ; but no one in India now knew better than Nana Sahib what extraordinary odds the English could afford to give with the certainty of winning. Havelock's march was a series of vic- tories, although he was often in such difficulties that the slightest display of real generalship, or even soldiership, on the part of his opponents, might have stopped his advance. He had one encounter with the lieutenant of the Nana, who had under his command nearly four thousand men and twelve guns, and Havelock won a com- plete victory in about ten minutes. He defeated in the same off- hand way various other chiefs of the Mutiny. He was almost at the gates of Cawnpore. Then it appears to have occurred to the Nana, or to have been suggested to him, that it would be inconvenient to have his English captives re- captured by the enemy, their countrymen. It may be that in the utter failure of all his plans and hopes he was anxious to secure some satis- faction, to satiate his hatred in some way. It was intimated to the prisoners that they were to die. Among them were three or four men. These were called out and shot. Then some Se- poys were sent to the house where the women still were, and ordered to fire volleys through the windows. This they did, but apparently with- out doing much harm. Some persons are of opinion, from such evidence as can be got, that the men purposely fired high above the level of the floor, to avoid killing any of the women and children. In the evening five men — two Hindoo peasants, two Mohammedan butchers, and one Mohammedan wearing the red uniform of the Nana's body-guard — were sent up to the house, and entered it. Incessant shrieks were heard to come from that fearful house. The Mohammedan soldier came out to the door holding in his hand a sword-hilt from which tiie blade had been bro- ken off, and he exchanged this now useless instru- ment for a weapon in proper condition. Not once but twice this performance took place. Evidently the task imposed on these men was hard work for the sword-blades. After a while the five men came out of the now quiet house and locked the doors behind them. During that time they had killed nearly all of the English women and child- ren. They had slaughtered them like beasts in the shambles. In the morning the five men came again with several attendants to clear out the house of the captives. Their task was to tumble all the bodies into a dry well beyond some trees that grew near. Any of the bodies that had clothes worth taking were carefully stripped before being consigned to this open grave. When Cawnpore was afterwards taken by the English those who had to look down into that well saw a sight the like of which no man in modern days had ever seen elsewhere. No at- tempt shall be made to describe it here. When the house of the massacre itself was entered, its floors and its walls told with terrible plainness of the scene they had witnessed. The plaster of the walls was scored and seamed with sword- slashes low down and in the corners, as if the poor women had crouched down in their mortal fright with some wild hope of escaping the blows. The floor was strewn with scraps of dresses, women's faded, ragged finery, frilling, underclothing, broken combs, shoes, and tresses of hair. There were some small and neatly sev- ered curls of hair, too, which had fallen on the ground, but evidently had never been cut off by the rude weapon of a professional butcher. These, doubtless, were keepsakes that had been treasured to the last, parted with only when life and all were going. One or two scraps of paper were found which recorded deaths and such like interruptions of the monotony of imprisonment; but nothing more. The well of horrors has since been filled up, and a memorial chapel surround- ed by a garden built upon the spot. Something, however, has still to be told of the Nana and his fortunes. He made one last stand against the victorious English in front of Cawn- pore, and was completely defeated. He galloped into the city on a bleeding and exhausted horse ; he fled thence to Bithoor, his residence. He bad just time left, it is said, to order the murder of a separate captive, a woman wdio had previously been overlooked or purposely left behind. Then he took flight in the direction of the Nepaulese marches; and he soon disappears from history. Nothing of his fate was ever known. Many years afterwards England and India were treated to a momentary sensation by a story of the capture of Nana Sahib. But the man who was arrested proved to be an entirely different person ; and indeed from the moment of his arrest few be- lieved him to be the long-lost murderer of the English women. In days more superstitious than our own popular faith would have found an easy explanation of the mystery which sur- rounded the close of Nana Sahib's career. He had done, it would have been said, the work of a fiend ; and he had disappeared as a fiend would do when his task was accomplished. The capture of Delhi was effected on Septem- ber 20. Brigadier-general Nicholson led the storming columns, and paid for his bravery and success the price of a gallant life. Nicholson was one of the bravest and most capable officers whom the war produced. It is worthy of record as an evidence of the temper aroused even in men from whom better things might have been ex- pected, that Nicholson strongly urged the pass- ing of a law to authorize Haying alive, impale- ment, or burning of the murderers of the women and children in Delhi. He urged this view again and again, and deliberately argued it on grounds alike of policy and principle. The fact is recorded here, not in mere disparagement of a brave soldier, but as an illustration of the manner in which the old elementary passions of man's untamed condition can return upon him in his pride of civilization and culture, and make him their slave again. The taking of Delhi was fol- lowed by an act of unpardonable bloodshed. A young officer, Ilodsou, the leader of the little force known as Ilodson's Horse, was acting as chief of the Intelligence Department, lie was especially distinguished by an extraordinary blending of cool, calculating craft and reckless daring. By the help of native spies, Hodson dis- covered that when Delhi was taken the king and his family had taken refuge in the tomb of the Emperor Hoomavoon, a structure which, with the buildings surrounding and belonging to it, con- stituted a sort of suburb in itself. Hodson went boldly to this place with a few of his troopers and captured the three royal princes of Delhi. He tried them as rebels taken red handed, and borrowing a carbine from one of his troopers, he shot them dead with his own hand. Their corpses, half-naked, were exposed for some days at one of the gates of Delhi. Hodson was killed not long after; we might well wish to be free to allow him to rest without censure in bis untimely grave. He was a brave and clever soldier, but one who unfortunately allowed a fierce temper to overrule the better instincts of his nature and the guidance of a cool judgment. General Havelock made his way to the relief of Lucknow. Sir James Outran), who had re- turned from Persia, had been scut to Oudh with complete civil and military authority. He would, in the natural order of things, have superseded Havelock, but he refused to rob a brave and suc- cessful comrade of the fruits of his toil and peril, and he accompanied Havelock as a volunteer. Havelock was enabled to continue his victorious march, and on September 25 he was able to re- lieve the besieged English at Lucknow. His coming, it. can hardly be doubted, saved the wom- en and children from such a massacre as that of Cawnpore ; but Havelock had not the force that might have driven the rebels out of the field, and if England had not been prepared to make greater efforts for the rescue of her imperilled people, it is but too probable that the troops whom Havelock brought to the relief of Lucknow would only have swelled the number of the vic- tims. But in the mean time the stout soldier, Sir Colin Campbell, whom we have, already heard of in the Crimean campaign, had been appointed Commander-in-chief of the Indian forces, and had arrived in India. He set out. for Lucknow. He had under his command only some 5,000 men, a force miserably inferior in number to that of the enemy ; but in those days an English offi- cer thought himself in good condition to attack if the foe did not outnumber him by more than four or five to one. A series of actions was fought by Sir Colin Campbell and his little force attacking the enemy on one side, who were at- tacked at the same time by the besieged garrison of the residency. On the morning of Novem- ber 17, by the combined efforts of both forces, the enemy was dislodged. Sir Colin Campbell resolved, however, that the residency must be evacuated; and accordingly on the 1 1Kb heavy batteries were opened against the enemy's posi- tion, as if for the purpose of assault, and under cover of this operation the women, the sick, and the wounded were quietly removed to the Dil- koosha, a small palace in a park about five miles from the residency, which had been captured by Sir Colin Campbell on his way to attack the city. By midnight of the 22d the wdiole garrison, without the loss of a single man, had left the res- idency. Two or three days more saw the troops established at Alumbagh, some four miles from the residency, in another direction from that of the Dilkoosha. Alumbagh is an isolated cluster of buildings, with grounds and enclosure to the south of Luck- now. The name of this place is memorable for- ever in the history of the war. It was there that Havelock closed his glorious career. He was at- tacked with dysentery, and died on November 2+. The Queen created him a baronet, or rather af- 42 A SHORT HISTORY' OF OUR OWN TIME*. fixed that honor to his name on the 27th of the same month, not knowing then that the soldier's time for struggle and for honor was over. The title was transferred to his son, the present Sir Henry Havelock, who had fought gallantly under his father's eyes. The fame of Haveloek's ex- ploits reached England only a little in advance of the news of his death. So many brilliant deeds had seldom in the history of our wars been crowded into days so few. All the fame of that glorious career was the work of some strenuous splendid weeks. Haveloek's promotion had been slow. He had not much for which to thank the favor of his superiors. No family influence, no powerful patrons or friends had made his slow progress more easy. He was more than sixty when the Mutiny broke out. He was born in April, 1795; he was educated at the Charter- house, London, where his grave, studious ways procured for him the nickname of" Old Phlos "— the school-boy's "short" for "old philosopher." He went out to India in 1823, and served in the Burmese war of 1824, and the Sikh war of 1845. He was a man of grave and earnest character, a Baptist by religion, and strongly penetrated with a conviction that the religious spirit ought to pervade and inform all the duties of military as well as civil life. By his earnestness and his ex- ample he succeeded in animating those whom he led with similar feelings; and " Haveloek's saints " were well known through India by this distinctive appropriate title. " Haveloek's saints " showed, whenever they had an opportunity, that they could fight as desperately as the most reck- less sinners ; and their commander found the fama flung in his way, across the path of his duty, which he never would have swerved one inch from that path to seek. Amid all the ex- citement of hope and fear, passion and panic, in England, there was time for the whole heart of the nation to feel pride in Haveloek's career, and sorrow for his untimely death. Untimely? Was it after all untimely? Since when has it not been held the crown of a great career that the hero dies at the moment of accomplished victory ? Sir Colin Campbell left General Outram in charge of Alumbagh, and himself hastened to- wards Cawnpore. A large hostile force, com- posed chiefly of the revolted army of Scindia, the ruler of Gwalior, had marched upon Cawn- pore. General Windham, who held the com- mand there, had gone out to attack them. He was compelled to retreat, not without severe loss, to his intrenchments at Cawnpore, and the enemy occupied the city itself. Sir Colin Camp- bell attacked the rebels at one place ; Sir Hope Grant attacked them at another, and Cawnpore was retaken. Sir Colin Campbell then turned his attention to reconquering the entire city of Lucknow. It was not until March 19, 1858, that Lucknow fell completely into the hands of the English. Our operations had been almost entirely by artillery, and had been conducted with consummate prudence as well as boldness, and our loss was therefore very small, while the enemy suffered most severely. Among our wounded was the gallant leader of the naval brig- ade, Sir William Peel, son of the great states- man. Sir William Peel died at Cawnpore short- ly after of small-pox, his death remarked and lamented even amid all the noble deaths of that eventful time. One name must not be for- gotten among those who endured the siege of Lucknow. It is that of Dr. Brydon, whom we last saw as he appeared under the walls of Jel- lalabad, the one survivor come back to tell the tale of the disastrous retreat from Cabul. Practically, the reconquest of Lucknow was the final blow in the suppression of the great Bengal Mutiny. Some episodes of the war, how- ever, w r ere still worthy of notice. For example, the rebels seized Gwalior, the capital of the Maharajah Scindia, who escaped to Agra. The English had to attack the rebels, retake Gwalior, and restore Scindia. The Maharajah Scindia of Gwalior had deserved well of the English Government. Under every temptation, every threat, and many profound perils from the re- bellion, he had remained firm to his friendship. So, too, had Holkar, the Maharajah of the In- dore territory. The country owes much to those two princes, for the part they took at her hour of need ; and she has not, we are glad to think, proved herself ungrateful. »One of those who fought to the last on the rebels' side was the Ranee, or Princess, of Jhansi, whose territory, as we have already seen, had been one of our annexations. For months after the fall of Delhi she contrived to baffle Sir Hugh Rose and the English. She led squadrons in the field. She fought with her own hand. She was engaged against us in the battle for the possession of Gwalior. In the uniform of a cavalry officer she led charge after charge, and she was killed among those who resisted to the last. Her body was found upon the field, scarred with wounds enough in the front to have done credit to any hero. Sir Hugh Rose paid her the well- deserved tribute which a generous conqueror is always glad to be able to offer. He said, in his general order, that "the best man upon the side of the enemy was the woman found dead, the Ranee of Jhansi." It is not necessary to describe, with any mi- nuteness of detail, the final spasms of the rebel- lion. Tantia Topee, the lieutenant of Nana Sahib, was taken prisoner in April, 1859, was tried for his share in the Cawnpore massacre, and was hanged like any vulgar criminal. The old King of Delhi was also put on trial, and, be- ing found guilty, was sentenced to transporta- tion. He was sent to the Cape of Good Hope, but the colonists there refused to receive him, and this last of the line of the Grand Moguls had to go begging for a prison. He was finally carried to Rangoon, in British Burmah. On December 20, 1858, Lord Clyde, who had been Sir Colin Campbell, announced to the Governor- general that the rebellion was at an end, and on May 1, 1859, there was a public thanksgiving in England for the pacification of India. CHAPTER XIV. THE END OF " JOHN COMPANY." While these things were passing in India it is needless to say that the public opinion of Eng- land was distracted by agitation and by oppos- ing counsels. For a long time the condition of Indian affairs had been regarded in England with something like absolute indifference. In the House of Commons a debate on any ques- tion connected with India was as strictly an af- fair of experts as a discussion on some local gas or water bill. The House in general did not even affect to have any interest in it. The officials who had to do with Indian affairs; the men on the Opposition benches who had held the same offices while their party was in power; these, and two or three men who had been in India, and were set down as crotchety because they professed any concern in its mode of govern- ment — such were the politicians who carried on an Indian debate, and who had the House all to themselves while the discussion lasted. The In- dian Mutiny startled the public feeling of Eng- land out of this state of unhealthy languor. First came the passion and panic, the cry for blood, the wholesale executions, the blowing of rebels from guns ; then came a certain degree of reaction, and some eminent Englishmen were found to express alarm at the very sanguinary methods of repression and of punishment that were in favor among most of our fellow-country- men in India. It was during this season of reaction that the famous discussions took place on Lord Canning's proclamation. On March 3, 1S58, the procla- mation was issued from Allahabad to the chiefs of Oudh, and it announced that, with the ex- ception of the lands then held by six loyal proprietors of the province, the proprietary right in the whole of the soil of Oudh was transferred to the British Government, which would dis- pose of it in such manner as might seem fitting. The disposal, however, was indicated by the terms of the proclamation. To all chiefs and landholders who should at once surrender to the Chief Commissioner of Oudh it was promised that their lives should be spared, " provided that their hands are unstained by English blood mur- derously shed;" but it was stated that, "as regards any farther indulgence which may be extended to thera, and the conditions in which they may hereafter be placed, they must throw themselves upon the justice and mercy of the British Government." Read by the light of literalness, this proclamation unquestionably seemed to amount to an absolute confiscation of the whole soil of Oudh ; for even the favored land-owners who were to retain their properties were given to understand that they retained them by the favor of the Crown and as a reward for their loyalty. Sir James Outram wrote at once to Lord Canning, pointing out that there were not a dozen landholders in Oudh who had not either themselves borne arms against us or as- sisted the rebels with men or money, and that therefore the effect of the proclamation would be to confiscate the entire proprietary right in the province and to make the chiefs and landlords desperate, and that the result would be a " gueril- la war for the extirpation, root and branch, of this class of men, which will involve the loss of thousands of Europeans by battle, disease, and exposure." Lord Canning consented to insert in the proclamation a clause announcing that a liberal indulgence would be granted to those who should promptly come forward to aid in the restoration of order, and that "the Governor- general will be ready to view liberally the claims which they may thus acquire to a restitution of their former rights." In truth, it was never the intention of Lord Canning to put in force any cruel and sweeping policy of confiscation. Lord Canning had come to the conclusion that the English Government must start afresh in their dealings with Oudh. He came to the conclusion that the necessary policy for all parties concerned was to make of the Mutiny, and the consequent reorganization, an opportunity, not for a wholesale confiscation of the land, but for a measure which should de- clare that the land was held under the power and right of the English Government. The prin- ciple of his policy was somewhat like that adopt- ed by Lord Durham in Canada. It seized the power of a dictator over life and property, that the dictator might be able to restore peace and order at. the least cost in loss and suffering to the province and the population whose affairs it was his task to administer. But it may be freely admitted that on the face of it the proclamation of Lord Canning looked strangely despotic. Some of the most independent and liberal Eng- lishmen took this view of it. Men who had sup- ported Lord Canning through all the hours of clamor against him felt compelled to express disapproval of what they understood to be his new policy. It so happened that Lord Ellenbor- ough was then President of the Board of Control, and Lord Ellenborough was a man who always acted on impulse, and had a passion for fine phrases. He had a sincere love of justice, ac- cording to his lights; but he had a still stronger love for antithesis. Lord Ellenborough therefore had no sooner received a copy of Lord Canning's proclamation than he despatched upon his own responsibility a rattling condemnation of the whole proceeding. The question was taken up immediately in both Houses of Parliament, Lord Shaftesbury in the House of Lords moved a resolution declaring that the House regarded with regret and serious apprehension the sending of such a despatch, as such a course must preju- dice our rule in India by weakening the authority of the Governor-general and encouraging the resistance of rebels still in arms. A similar motion was introduced by Mr. Cardwell in the House of Commons. In both Houses the ar- raignment of the Ministry proved a failure. Lord Ellenborough at once took upon himself the whole responsibility of an act which was undoubtedly all his own, and he resigned his office. The res- olution was therefore defeated in the House of Lords on a division, and had to be withdrawn in a rather ignominious manner in the House of Commons. Lord Canning continued his policy, the policy which he had marked out for himself, with signal success. Within a few weeks after the capture of Lucknow almost all the large land-owners had tendered their allegiance. Lord A SHORT HISTORY of OUR OWN TIMES. 13 Canning impressed upon his officers the duty of making their rule as considerate and conciliatory as possible. The new system established in Oudh was based upon the principle of recognizing the Talookdars as responsible landholders, while so limiting their power by the authority of the Gov- ernment as to get lid of old abuses, and protect the occupiers and cultivators of the soil. Can- ning, like Durham, only lived long enough to hear the general acknowledgment that he had done well for the country he was sent to govern, and for the country in whose name and with whose authority he went forth. The rebellion pulled down with it a famous old institution, the government of the East India Company. Before the Mutiny had been entirely crashed the rule of " John Company " came to an end. The administration of India had, indeed, long ceased to be under the control of the Com- pany as it was in the days of Warren Hastings. A Board of Directors, nominated partly by the Crown and partly by the Company, sat in Lead- enhall Street, and gave general directions for the government of India. But the Parliamentary department, called the Board of Control, had the right of reviewing and revising the decisions of the Company. The Crown had the power of nominating the Governor-general, and the Com- pany had only the power of recalling him. This odd and perhaps unparalleled system of double government had not much to defend it on strictly logical grounds ; and the moment a great crisis came it was natural that all the blame of difficulty and disaster should be laid upon its head. With the beginning of the Mutiny the impression began to grow up in the public mind here that something of a sweeping nature must he done for the reorganization of India; and be- fore long this vague impression crystallized into a conviction that England must take Indian ad- ministration into her own hands, and that the time had come for the fiction of rule by a trading company to be absolutely given up. In the be- ginning of IS.jS Lord Palmerston introduced a bill to transfer the authority of the Company formally and absolutely to the Crown. The plan of the scheme was that there were to be a president and a council of eight members, to be nominated by the Government. There was a large majority in the House of Commons in favor of the bill ; but the agitation caused by the at- tempt to assassinate the Emperor of the French, and Palmerston's ill-judged and ill-timed Con- spiracy Bill, led to the sudden overthrow of his Government. When Lord Derby succeeded to power he brought in a bill for the better gov- ernment of India at once: but the measure was a failure. Then Lord John Russell proposed that the House should proceed by way of reso- lutions—that is, that the lines of a scheme of legislation should be laid down by a series of resolutions in committee of the whole House, and that upon those lines the Government should construct a measure. The suggestion was ea- gerly welcomed, and after many nights of dis- cussion a basis of legislation was at last agreed upon. This hill passed into law in the autumn of 1858, and for the remainder of Lord Derby's tenure of power his son, Lord Stanley, was Se<-- ret.uy of State for India. The bill, which was called "An Act for the better government of India, " provided that all the territories previous- ly under the government of the East Indian Company were to be vested in her Majesty, and all the Company's powers to be exercised in her name. One of her Majesty's principal Secreta- taries of State was to have all the power pre- viously exercised by the Company, or by the Board of Control. The Secretary was to be assisted by a Council of India, to consist of fifteen members, of whom seven were to be elected by the Court of Directors from their own body, and eight nominated by the Crown. The vacancies among the nominated were to be filled up by the Crown; tho^e among tin- elect- ed by the remaining members of the Council for a certain time, but afterwards by the Secre- tary of State for India. The competitive princi- ple for the Civil Service was extended to its ap- plication and made thoroughly practical. The military and naval forces of the Company were to be deemed the forces of her Majesty. A clause was introduced declaring that, except for the purpose of preventing or repelling actual in- vasion of India, the Indian revenues should not without the consent of both Houses of Parlia- ment be applicable to defray the expenses of any military operation carried on beyond the external frontiers of her .Majesty's Indian pos- sessions. Another clause enacted that whenever an order was sent to India directing the com- mencement of hostilities by her Majesty's forces there, the fact should be communicated to Par- liament within three months, if Parliament were then sitting, or if not, within one month after its next meeting. The Viceroy and Governor- general was to be supreme in India, but was to be assisted by a Council. India now has nine provinces, each under its own civil government, and independent of the others, but all subordi- nate to the authority of the Viceroy. In accord- ance with this Act the government of the Com- pany, the famed, "John Company," formally ceased on September 1, 1858; and the Queen was proclaimed throughout India, in the follow- ing November, with Lord Canning for her first Viceroy. It was but fitting that the man who had borne the strain of that terrible crisis, who had brought our Indian Empire safely through it all, and who had had to endure so much oblo- quy, and to live down so much calumny, should have his name consigned to history as that of the first of the line of British Viceroys in India. CHAPTER XV. THE CONSPIRACY BILL. The last chapter has told us that Lord Pal- merston introduced a measure to transfer to the Crown the government of India, but that unex- pected events in the meanwhile compelled him to resign office, and called Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli to power. These events had nothing to do directly with the general policy of Palmer- ston or Lord Derby. At mid-day of January 14, 18."i8, Lord Palmerston seemed to be as popular and as strong as a minister well could be. But on the evening of January 14, Felice Orsini, an Italian exile, made his memorable attempt to assassinate the Emperor of the French. Orsini lost himself, and he drew the English Govern- ment down at the same time. Felice Orsini was well known in England. He was a hand- some, soldierly-looking man. with intensely dark eyes and dark beard, whose one great object was to endeavor to rouse up the English people to some policy of intervention on behalf of Italy against Austria. After a while, however, he found out that England would do nothing. The English Liberals, with the exception of a very few enthusiasts, were just as much opposed to the principle of intervention in the affairs of other States as the Conservatives. But Orsini set himself to devise some explanation for what was simply the prudent and just determination of all the statesmen and leading politicians of the country. He found the explanation in the subtle influence of the Emperor of the French, and he appears then to have allowed the idea to get possession of him that the removal of the Emperor of the French from the scene was an indispensable preliminary to any policy having for its object the emancipation of Italy from Austrian rule. He brooded on this idea until it became a project and a passion. It transformed a soldier and a patriot into an assassin. On January 14, Orsini and his fellow-conspira- tors made their attempt in the Rue Lepelletier, in Paris. As the Emperor and Empress of the French were driving up to the door of the < Ipeiu- house in that street Orsini and his companions Hung at and into the carriage three shells or bombs shaped like a pear, and filled with deto- nating powder. The shells exploded, and killed and wounded many persons. So minute were the fragments in which the bombs burst that 51(1 wounds, great and little, were inflicted by the explosion. Ten persons were killed. 156 were wounded. It was said at the time that the Or- sini plot frightened the Emperor of tin- French into taking up the cause of Italy. Historical revelations made at a later period show that this is altogether a mistake. We now know that at the time of the Congress of Paris Count Cavour had virtually arranged with the Emperor the plans of policy which were afterwards carried out. and that even before that time Cavour was satisfied in his own mind as to the ultimate cer- tainty of Louis Napoleon's co-operation. Those who are glad to see Italy a nation may be glad to know that Orsini's bombs had nothing to do with her success. Four persons were put on trial as participators in the attempt, three of them having actually thrown the bombs. Only two, however, were executed, Orsini and Pierri ; the other two were sentenced to penal servitude for life. In France an outburst of anger followed the attempt in the Hue Lepelletier ; but the anger was not so much against Orsini as against Eng- land. One of the persons charged along with Orsini, although he was not tried in Paris, for he could not be found there, was a Frenchman, Si- mon Bernard, who had long been living in Lon- don. It was certain that many of the arrange- ments for the plot were made in London. The bombs were manufactured in Birmingham, and were ordered for Orsini by an Englishman. It was known that Orsini had many friends and admirers in this country. The Imperialists in France at once assumed that England was a country where assassination of foreign sovereigns was encouraged by the population, and not dis- couraged by the laws. The French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count Walewski, wrote a despatch, in which he asked whether England considered that hospitality was due to assassins. The Due de Persigny, then Ambassador of France in England, made a very foolish and un- fortunate reply to a deputation from the Corpo- ration of London, in which he took on himself to point out that if the law of England was strong enough to put down conspiracies for assassination it ought to be put in motion, and if it were not, it ought to be made stronger. Addresses of con- gratulation were poured in upon the Emperor from the French army, and many of them were full of insulting allusions to England as the sheltering-ground of assassination. A semi-offi- cial pamphlet, published in Paris, and entitled "The Emperor Napoleon the Third and Eng- land." actually went the ridiculous length of de- scribing an obscure debating club in a Fleet Street public-house, where a few dozen honest fellows smoked their pipes of a night and talked hazy politics, as a formidable political institution where regicide was nightly preached to fanatical desperadoes. Thus we had the public excited on both sides. The feeling of anger on this side was intensified by the conviction that France was insulting us because she thought England was crippled by her troubles in India, and had no power to re- sent an insult. It was while men here were smarting under this sense of wrong that Lord Palmerston introduced his famous measure for the suppression and punishment of conspiracies to murder. The bill was introduced in conse- quence of the despatch of Count Walewski. In that despatch it was suggested to the English Government that they ought to do something to strengthen their law. The words were very civil. Nor was the request they contained in itself un- reasonable. Long afterwards this country had to acknowledge, in reply to the demand of the United States, that a nation cannot get rid of her responsibility to a foreign people by pleading that her municipal legislation does not provide for this or that emergency. The natural re- joinder is, "Then you had better make such a law ; you are not to injure us and get off by say- ing your laws allow us to be injured.'' But the conditions under which the request was made by France had put England in the worst possible ... to it. ( hninoiis questions were put to the Government in both Houses of Parlia- ment. In the House of Commons Mr. Roebuck asked whether any communications b between the Governments of England and Fiance with respect to the Alien Act or any portion of our criminal code. Lord Palmerston answered by mentioning Count Walewski's despatch, which he said should be laid before the House. He 44 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. added a few words about the addresses of the French regiments, and pleaded that allowance should be made for the irritation caused by the attempt on the life of the Emperor. He was asked a significant question — had the Govern- ment sent any answer to Count Walewski's de- spatch ? No, was the reply ; her Majesty's Gov- ernment had not answered it; not yet. Two or three days after Lord Palmerston moved for leave to bring in the Conspiracy to Murder Bill. The chief object of the measure was to make conspiracy to murder a felony in- stead of a mere misdemeanor, as it had been in England, and to render it liable to penal servi- tude for any period varying from five years to a whole life. Lord Palmerston made a feeble and formal attempt to prove that his bill was intro- duced simply as a measure of needed reform in our criminal legislation, and without special ref- erence to anything that had happened in France. The law against conspiracy to murder was very light in England, he showed, and was very se- vere in Ireland. It was now proposed to make the law the same in both countries — that was all. Of course no one was deceived by this explana- tion. The bill itself was as much of a sham as the explanation. Such a measure would not have been of any account whatever as regarded the offences against which it was particularly directed. Lord Palmerston, we may be sure, did not put the slightest faith in the efficacy of the piece of leg- islation he had undertaken to recommend to Parliament. He was compelled to believe that the Government would have to do something; and he came, after a while, to the conclusion that the most harmless measure would be the best. Mr. Kinglake moved an amendment, formally expressing the sympathy of the House with the French people on account of the attempt made against the Emperor, but declaring it inexpedient to legislate in compliance with the demand made in Court Walewski's despatch of January 20, " until farther information is before it of the communications of the two Governments subse- quent to the date of that despatch." Mr. Dis- raeli voted for the bringing in of the bill, and made a cautious speech, in which he showed him- self in favor of some sort of legislation, but did not commit himself to approval of that particular measure. The bill was read a first time. Two hundred and ninety-nine votes were for it ; only ninety-nine against. But before it came on for a second reading public opinion was beginning to declare ominously against it. The fact that the Government had not answered the despatch of Count Walewski told heavily against them. It was afterwards explained that Lord Cowley had been instructed to answer it orally, and that Lord Palmerston thought this course the more prudent, and the more likely to avoid an increase of irritation between the two countries. But public opinion in England was not now to be propitiated by counsels of moderation. The idea had gone abroad that Lord Palmerston was truckling to the Emperor of the French, and that the very right of asylum which England had so long afforded to the exiles of all nations was to be sacrificed at the bidding of one who had been glad to avail himself of it in his hour of need. This idea received support from the arrest of Dr. Simon Bernard, a French refugee, who was immediately put on trial as an accomplice in Or- sini's plot. Bernard was a native of the South of France, a surgeon by profession, and had lived a long time in England. The arrest of Bernard may have been a very proper thing, but it came iu with most untimely effect upon the Govern- ment. It was understood to have been made by virtue of information sent over from Paris, and no one could have failed to observe that the loos- est accusations of that kind were always coming from the French capital. Many persons were influenced in their belief of Bernard's innocence by the fact, which does assuredly count for some- thing, that Orsini himself had almost with his dying breath declared that Bernard knew noth- ing of the intended assassination. Not a few made up their minds that he was innocent be- cause the French Government accused him of guilt; and still more declared that, innocent or guilty, he ought not to be arrested by English au- thorities at the bidding of a French Emperor. The debate was over and all the Conspiracy Bill disposed of before the Bernard trial came to an end ; but we may anticipate by a few days, and finish the Bernard story. Bernard was tried at the Central Criminal Court under existing law ; lie was defended by Mr. Edwin James, a well- known criminal lawyer, and he was acquitted. The trial was a practical illustration of the in- utility of such special legislation as that which Lord Palmerston attempted to introduce. A new law of conspiracy could not have furnished any new evidence against Bernard, or persuaded a jury to convict him on such evidence as there was. In the prevailing temper of the public the evidence should have been very clear indeed to induce an ordinary English jury to convict a man like Bernard, and the evidence of his knowl- edge of an intended assassination was anything but clear. In the midst of the commotion caused by Bernard's arrest Mr. Milner Gibson quietly gave notice of an amendment to the second reading of the Conspiracy Bill. The amendment proposed to declare that while the House heard with re- gret the allegation that the recent crime has been devised in England, and was always ready to assist in remedying any proved defects in the criminal law, "yet it cannot but regret that her Majesty's Government, previously to inviting the House to amend the law of conspiracy by the second reading of this bill at the present time, have not felt it to be their duty to make some reply to the important despatch received from the French Government, dated Paris, January 20, 1858. and which has been laid before Par- liament." It might have been seen at once that this was a more serious business for the Govern- ment than Mr. Kinglake's amendment. In fore- casting the result of a motion in the House of Commons much depends on the person who brings it forward. Has he a party behind him ? If so, then the thing is important. If not, let his ability be what it will, his motion is looked on as a mere expression of personal opinion, interesting, perhaps, but without political conse- quence. Mr. Kinglake was emphatically a man without a party behind him ; Mr. Gibson was emphatically a man of party and of practical politics. Mr. Kinglake was a brilliant literary man, who had proved little better than a failure in the House ; Mr. Gibson was a successful mem- ber of Parliament, and nothing else. When the debate on the second reading came on it began soon to be seen that the condition of things was grave for Lord Palmerston. Every hour and every speech made it more ominous. Mr. Glad- stone spoke eloquently against the Government. Mr. Disraeli suddenly discovered that he was bound to vote against the second reading, al- though he had voted for the first. The Govern- ment, he argued, had not yet answered the de- spatch as they might have done in the interval, and as they had not vindicated the honor of Eng- land, the House of Commons could not intrust them with the measure they demanded. Lord Palmerston saw that, in homely phrase, the game was up. He was greatly annoyed ; he lost his temper, and did not even try to conceal the fact that he had lost it. For a genial and kindly as well as a graceful man, it was singular how com- pletely Lord Palmerston always lost his good manners when he lost his temper. Under the influence of sudden anger, luckily a rare influence with him, he could be actually vulgar. Lord Palmerston, in his reply to Mr. Milner Gibson, showed a positive spitefttlness of tone and temper very unusual in him, and especially unbecoming in a losing man. A statesman may rise as he will, but he should fall with dignity. When the division was taken it appeared that there were 215 votes for the second reading, and 234 against it. The Government, therefore, were left in a minority of 19 ; 146 Conservatives were in the majority, and 84 Liberals. Besides these there were such of the Peelite party as Sir James Gra- ham, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Cardwell, and Mr. Sid- ney Herbert. Lord Palmerston at once made up his mind to resign. His resignation was ac- cepted. Not quite a year had passed since the general elections sent Lord Palmerston into pow- er triumphant over the routed Liberals and the prostrate Manchester School. Not quite a year, and now, on the motion of one of the lieutenants of that, same party returned to their position again, Lord Palmerston is ejected from office. Palmerston once talked of having his "tit-for-tat with John Russell." The Peace party now had their tit-for-tat with him. Lord Palmerston had the satisfaction before he left office of being able to announce the capture of Canton. The operations against China had been virtually suspended, it will he remembered, when the Indian Mutiny broke out. England had now got the co-operation of France. France had a complaint of long standing against Chins on account of the murder of some missionaries, for which redress had been asked in vain. There was, therefore, an allied attack made upon Canton, and of course the city was easily cap- tured. Commissioner Yeh himself was taken prisoner, not until he had been sought for and hunted out in most ignominious fashion. He was found at last bidden away in some obscure part of a house. He was known by his enormous fatness. One of our officers caught hold of him ; Yeh tried still to get away. A British seaman seized Yeh by his pigtail, twisted the tail several times round his hand, and thus made the unfor- tunate Chinese dignitary a helpless and ludicrous prisoner. When it was convenient to let loose Yeh's pigtail he was put on board an English man-of-war, and afterwards sent to Calcutta, where he died early in the following year. Un- less report greatly belied him, he had been ex- ceptionally cruel, even for a Chinese official. The English and French Envoys, Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, succeeded in making a treaty with China. By the conditions of the treaty England and France were to have ministers at the Chinese Court, on certain special occasions at least, and China was to be represented in London and Paris ; there was to he toleration of Christianity in China, and a certain freedom of access to Chinese rivers for English and French mercantile vessels, and to the interior of China for English and French subjects. China was to pay the expenses of the war. It was farther agreed that the term "barbarian'' was no longer to be applied to Europeans in China. There was great congratulation in England over this treaty, and the prospect it afforded of a lasting peace with China. The peace thus procured lasted, in fact, exactly a year. The Ministry of Lord Derby, whereof Mr. Disraeli was leader of the House of Com- mons, was not supported by a Parliamentary majority, nor could it pretend to great intellect- ual and administrative ability. It had in its ranks two or three men of statesmanlike capac- ity, and a number of respectable persons possess- ing abilities about equal to those of any intelli- gent business man or county magistrate. Mr. Disraeli of course became Chancellor of the Ex- chequer. Lord Stanley undertook the Colonies; Mr. Walpole made a painstaking and conscien- tious Home Secretary, as long as he continued to hold the office. Lord Malmesbury muddled on with Foreign Affairs somehow ; Lord Ellen- borough's brilliant eccentric light perplexed for a brief space the Indian Department. General Peel was Secretary for War, and Mr Henley President of the Board of Trade. Lord Naas, afterwards Lord Mayo, became Chief Secretary for Ireland, and was then supposed to be nothing more than a kindly, sweet-tempered man, of whom his most admiring friends would never have ventured to foreshadow such a destiny as that he should succeed to the place Of a Canning and an Elgin, and govern the new India to which so many anxious eyes were turned. Sir John Pakington was made First Lord of the Admiralty, because a place of some kind had to be found for him, and he was as likely to do well at the head of the navy as anywhere else. No Conservative Government could be supposed to get on without Lord John Manners, and luck- ily there was the Department of Public Works for him. Lord Stanley was regarded as a statesman of great and peculiar promise. The party to which he belonged were inclined to make him an object A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 45 of especial pride, because he seemed to have in a remarkable degree the very qualities which most of their leading members were generally accused of wauling. Lord Stanley had a calm, medita- tive intellect. He studied politics as one may study a science. He understood political econo- my. He had travelled much ; not merely mak- ing the old-fashioned grand tour, which most of the Tory country gentlemen had themselves made, but visiting the United States and Canada and the Indies, East and West, lie was under- stood to know all about, geography and cotton and sugar; and he had come up into politics in a happy age when the question of Free Trade was believed to be settled. Lord Stanley was strangely unlike his father in intellect and tem- perament. The one man was indeed almost the very opposite of the other. Lord Derby was nil instinct and passion ; Lord Stanley was all method and calctdation. Lord Derby amused himself in the intervals of political work by translating classic epics and odes ; Lord Stanley beguiled an interval of leisure by the reading of Blue-books. Lord Derby's eloquence when at its worst became fiery nonsense; Lord Stanley's sank occasionally to be nothing better than plati- tude. The extreme of the one was rhapsody, and of the other commonplace. Lord Derby was too hot and impulsive to be always a sound statesman ; Lord Stanley was too coldly meth- odical to be the statesman of a crisis. Both men were to a certain sense superficial and de- ceptive. Lord Derby's eloquence had no great depth in it; and Lord Stanley's wisdom often proved somewhat thin. The career of Lord Stanley did not afterwards bear out all the ex- pectations that were originally formed of him. He proved to be methodical, sensible, conscien- tious, slow. But at the time when he accepted the Indian Secretaryship people on both sides of the political contest looked to him as a new and great figure in Conservative politics. He was not an orator ; he had nothing whatever of the orator in language or in temperament. His man- ner was ineffective ; his delivery was decidedly bad. But his words carried weight with them, and even his commonplaces were received by some of his party as the utterances of an oracle. There were men among the Conservatives on the back benches who secretly hoped that in this wise young man was the upcoming statesman who was to deliver the party from the thraldom of eccentric genius, and of an eloquence which, however brilliantly it fought their battles, seemed to them hardly a respectable sort of gift to be em- ployed in the service of gentlemanlike Tory prin- ciples. The superiority of the Opposition in debating power was simply overwhelming. In the House of Commons Mr. Disraeli was the only first-class debater, with the exception perhaps of the new Solicitor-General, Sir Hugh Cairns; and against him were Lord Palmerston, Lord John Russell, Mr. Gladstone, Sir James Graham, Mr. Sidney Herbert, Mr. Cobden, and Mr. Bright, every one of them a first -class debater; some of them great Parliamentary orators; some, too, with the influence that comes from the fact of their hav- ing led ministries and conducted wars. In no political assembly in the world does experience of office and authority tell for more than in the House of Commons. To have held office con- fers a certain dignity even on mediocrity. The man who once held office, and who sits on the front bench opposite the ministry, has a sort of prescriptive right to be heard whenever he stands up to address the House, in preference to the most rising and brilliant talker who has never yet been a member of an administration. Mr. Disraeli well knew that his party held office only on sufferance from their opponents. If they at- tempted nothing, they were certain to be cen- sured for inactivity; if they attempted anything, there was the chance of their exposing them- selves to the combined attack of all the sections of the Liberal party. Luckily for them it was not easy to bring about such a combination just yet; but whenever it came, there was foreshown the end of the ministry. Lord Derby's Government quietly dropped the unlucky Conspiracy Bill. England and Frunce were alike glad to be out of the difficulty. There was a short interchange of correspondence, in which the French Government explained that they really had meant nothing in particular, and it was then announced to both Houses of Parlia- ment that the misunderstanding was at an end, and that friendship had set in again. We have seen already how the India Bill was carried. Lord Derby's tenure of office was made remark- able by the success of one measure which must have given much personal satisfaction to Mr. Disraeli. The son of a Jewish father, the de- scendant of an ancient Jewish race, himself re- ceived as a child into the Jewish community, Mr. Disraeli had since his earliest years of in- telligence been a Christian. But he had never renounced his sympathies with the race to which he belonged, and tiie faith in which his fathers worshipped. He had always stood up for the Jews. He had in some of his novels seemingly set about to persuade his readers that all of good and great the modern world had seen was due to the unceasing intellectual activity of the Jewish race. Mr. Disraeli had the good fortune to sec the civil emancipation of the Jews accomplished dur- ing the time of his leadership of the House of Commons. It was a coincidence merely. He had always assisted the movement towards that end ; but the success did not come from any inspiration of his ; and most of his colleagues in power resisted it as long as they could. In July, 1858, the long political and sectarian struggle came to an end when Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild was allowed to take his seat in the House of Commons as one of the representatives of the City of London. We have seen how by steps the Jews made their way into municipal office and into the magistracy. At the same time persistent efforts were being made to ob- tain for them the right to be elected to the House of Commons. On April 5, 1830, Mr. Robert Grant, then a colleague of one of the Gurney family in the representation of Norwich, moved for leave to bring in a bill to allow British-born Jews to enjoy all the rights of the British sub- ject, without having to profess the religion of the State. At that time the Jews were unable to take the oath of allegiance, inasmuch as it was sworn on the Evangelists. Nor could they take the oath of abjuration, intended to guard against the return of the Stuarts, because that oath contained the words "on the true faith of a Christian." The debate on Mr. Grant's motion was made memorable by the fact that Macaulay delivered then his maiden speech. The proposal for the admission of Jews to Parliament was supported by Lord John Russell, O'Connell, Brougham, and Mackintosh. Its first reading — for it was op- posed even on the first reading — was carried by a majority of eighteen ; but on the motion for the second reading the bill was thrown out by a majority of sixty-three, the votes for it being 1G5 and those against it 228. In 1833 Mr. Grant introduced bis bill again, and this time was fort- unate enough to pass it through the Commons. The Lords rejected it by a majority of fifty. The following year told a similar story. The Commons accepted ; the Lords rejected. Mean- time the Jews were being gradually relieved from other restrictions. A clause in Lord Deuman's Act for amending the laws of evidence allowed all persons to be sworn in courts of law in the form which they held most binding on their con- science. Lord Lyndhurst succeeded in passing a bill for the admission of Jews to corporate of- fices. Jews had, as we have already seen, been admitted to the shrievalty and the magistracy in the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1848 the struggle for their admission to Parlia- ment was renewed, but the Lords still held out and would not pass a bill. Meanwhile influen- tial Jews began to offer themselves as candidates for seats in Parliament. Mr. Salomons contest- ed Shoreham and Maidstone successively and unsuccessfully. In 1847 Baron Lionel Roths- child was elected one of the members for the City of London. He resigned his sent when the House of Lords threw out the Jews' bill and stood again and was again elected. It was not, however, until 1S50 that the struggle was actually transferred to the floor of the House of Commons. In that year Baron Rothschild presented himself at the table of the House and ottered to take the oaths in order that he might be admitted to take his seat. For four sessions he had sat as a stranger in the House of which he had been duly elected a member by the votes of one of the most impor- tant English constituencies. Now he came bold- ly up to the table and demanded to be sworn. He was sworn on the Old Testament. He took the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy; but when the Oath of Abjuration came he omitted from it the words "on the true faith of a Chris- tian." He was directed to withdraw, and it was decided that he could neither sit nor vote unless he would consent to take the oath of abjuration in the fashion prescribed by the law. Baron Rothschild did not contest the matter any farther. Mr. David Salomons was inclined for a rougher and bolder course. He was elected for Greenwich in 1851, and he presented himself as Baron Rothschild laid done. The same thing followed; he refused to say the words, "on the true faith of a Christian," and he was directed to withdraw. He did withdraw. He sat below the bar. A few evenings after a question was put to the Government by a member friendly to the ad- mission of the Jews, Sir Benjamin Hall, after- wards Lord Llanover: " If Mr. Salomons should take his seat, would the Government sue him for the penalties provided by the Act of Parliament, in order that the question of right might be tried by a court of law?" Lord John Russell replied on the part of the Government that they did not intend to take any proceedings ; in fact, implied that they considered it no affair of theirs. Then Sir Benjamin Hall announced that Mr. Salomons felt he had no alternative but to take his seat and let the question of right be tested in that way. Forthwith, to the amazement and horror of steady old constitutional members, Mr. Salo- mons, who had been sitting below the bar, calm- ly got up, walked into the sacred precincts of the House, and took his seat amongst the mem- bers. A tumultuous scene followed. Half the House shouted indignantly to Mr. Salomons to " withdraw, withdraw ;" the other half called out encouragingly to him to keep his place. The per- plexity was indescribable. What is to be done with a quiet and respectable gentleman who insists that he is a member of Parliament, comes and takes his seat in the House, and will not with- draw ? Mr. Salomons had undoubtedly been elect- ed member for Greenwich by a considerable ma- jority. His constituents believed him to be their lawful representative, and in fact had obtained from him a promise that if elected he would act- ually take his seat. Many members were of opinion, and eminent lawyers were among them, that in the strictest and most technical view of the law he was entitled to take bis seat. Many more were convinced that the principle which ex- cluded him was stupid and barbarous, and that the course he was at present taking was necessary for the purpose of obtaining its immediate repeal. Therefore any idea of expelling Mr. Salomons was out of the question. The only thing that could be done was to set to work and debate the matter. Lord John Russell moved a resolution to the effect that Mr. Salomons be ordered to withdraw. Lord John Russell, it need hardly be said, was entirely in favor of the admission of the Jews, but thought Mr. Salomons' course irregu- lar. Mr. Bemal Osborne moved an amendment I declaring Mr. Salomons entitled to take his seat. A series of irregular discussions, varied and en- livened by motions for adjournment, took place; and Mr. Salomons not only voted in some of the divisions, but actually made a speech. He spoke calmly and well, and was listened to with great attention. He explained that in the course he had taken he was acting in no spirit of contuma- cy or presumption, and with no disregard for the dignity of the House, but that he had been law- fully elected, and that he felt bound to take his seat for the purpose of asserting his own rights and those of his constituents. He intimated also that he would withdraw if just sufficient force were used to make him feel that he was acting under coercion. The motion that he be ordered 46 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. to withdraw was carried. The Speaker request- ed Mr.' Salomons to withdraw. Mr. Salomons held his place. The Speaker directed the Ser- geant-at-arms to remove Mr. Salomons. The Sergeant-at-arms approached Mr. Salomons and touched him on the shoulder, and Mr. Salomons then quietly withdrew. The farce was over. It was evident to every one that Mr. Salomons had virtually gained the victory, and that something must soon be done to get the House of Commons and the country out of the difficulty. But the victory was not technically won for some time after. An action was brought against Mr. Salomons — not by the Government — in De- cember, 1851, to recover penalties for his hav- ing unlawfully taken his seat. The Court of Exchequer decided by three voices to one that the words "on the true faith of a Christian" must be held in law to constitute a specially Christian oath, which could be taken by no one but a Christian, and without taking which no one could be a member of Parliament. The legal question then being settled, there were re- newed efforts made to get rid of the disabilities by an Act of Parliament. The House of Com- mons continued to pass Bills to enable Jews to sit in Parliament, and the House of Lords con- tinned to throw them out. Lord John Russell, who had taken charge of the measure, intro- duced his Bill early in 1858. When it came up to the House of Lords it suffered the usual fate. Then Lord Lucan recommended the in- sertion of a clause in the Bill allowing either House to modify the form of oath according to its pleasure. Lord John Russell objected to this way of dealing with a great question, but did not feel warranted in refusing the proposed compromise. A Bill was drawn up with the clause suggested, and it was carried through both Houses. A Jew, therefore, might be a member of the House of Commons, if it chose to receive him, and might be shut out of the House of Lords, if that House did not think fit to let him in. More than that, the House of Commons might change its mind at any mo- ment, and by modifying the form of oath shut out the Jews again, or shut out any new Jewish candidates. Of course such a condition of things as that could not endure. An Act passed not long after which consolidated the Acts referring to Oaths of Allegiance, Abjuration, and Su- premacy, -and enabled Jews on all occasions whatever to omit the words " on the true faith of a Christian." Thus the Jew was at last placed on a position of political equality with his Christian fellow - subjects, and an anomaly and a scandal was removed from our legislation. About the same time as that which saw Baron Rothschild admitted to take bis seat in the House of Commons the absurd property qualification for members of Parliament was abolished. This ridiculous system originally professed to secure that no man should be a member of the House of Commons who did not own a certain amount of landed property. It had not the slightest real force. Fictitious conveyances were issued as a matter of course. Any one who desired a seat in Parliament could easily find some friend or patron who would convey to him by formal deed the fictitious ownership of landed property enough to satisfy the requirements of the law. As usual with Parliament, this anomaly was allowed to go on until a sudden scandal made its abolition necessary. One luckless person, who probably had no position and few friends, was actually prosecuted for having made a false declaration as to his property qualification. This practically settled the matter. Every one knew that many other members of Parliament deserved, in point of fact, just as well as he the three months' imprisonment to which he was sentenced. Mr. Locke King introduced a Bill to abolish the property qualification hitherto required from the representatives of English and Irish constituencies, and it became law in a few days. CHAPTER XVI. disraeli's first reform enterprise. When Lord Ellenborough abruptly resigned the place of President of the Board of Control he was succeeded by Lord Stanley, who, as we have seen already, became Secretary of State for India under the new system of government. Lord Stanley had been Secretary for the Colo- nies, and in this office he was succeeded by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton. For some time pre- viously Sir Edward Lytton had been taking so marked a place in Parliamentary life as to make it evident that when his party came into power he was sure to have a chance of distinguishing himself in office. His political career had up to this time been little better than a failure. He started in public life as a Radical and a friend of O'Connell ; he was indeed the means of in- troducing Mr. Disraeli to the leader of the Irish party. He began his Parliamentary career be- fore the Reform Bill. He was elected for St. Ives in 1831. After the passing of the Bill he represented Lincoln for several years. At the general election of 1S41 he lost his seat, and it was not until July, 1852, that he was again re- turned to Parliament. This time he came in as member for the county of Herts. In the interval Lytton had succeeded to wealth and to landed estates, and he had almost altogether changed his political opinions. From a poetic Radical he had become a poetic Conservative. It was certain that whatever Lytton attempted he would in the end carry to some considerable success. His first years in the House of Commons had come to nothing. When he lost his seat most people fancied that he had accepted defeat, and had turned his back on Parliamentary life for- ever. But Lytton possessed a marvellously strong will, and had a faith in himself which almost amounted to genius. He seems to have made up his mind that he would compel the world to confess him capable of playing the part of a politician. He was deaf, and his articulation was so defective that most persons who heard him speak in public for the first time found them- selves unable to understand him. Such difficul- ties would assuredly have scared any ordinary man out of the Parliamentary arena forever. But Lytton seems to have determined that he would make a figure in Parliament. He set himself to public speaking as coolly as if he were a man, like Gladstone or Bright, whom Nature had marked out for such a competition by her physical gifts. He became a decided, and even, in a certain sense, a great success. He could not strike into a debate actually going on ; his defects of hearing shut him off from such a per- formance ; and no man who is not a debater will ever hold a really high position in the House of Commons. But he could review a previous night's argument in a speech abound- ing in splendid phrases and brilliant illustra- tions. He could pass for an orator. He actual- ly did pass for an orator. Sir Edward Lytton, as Secretary of the Colo- nies, seemed resolved to prove by active and original work that he could be a practical colo- nial statesman as well as a novelist, a playwright, and a Parliamentary orator. He founded the Colony of British Columbia. He sent Mr. Glad- stone on a mission to the Ionian Islands. There had long been dissatisfaction and even disturb- ance in the Ionian Islands. These seven islands were constituted a sort of republic or common- wealth by the Treaty of Vienna. But they were consigned to the Protectorate of Great Britain, which had the right of maintaining garrisons in them. It seems almost a waste of words to say that the islanders were not content with British government. For good or ill the Hellenes where- ever they are found are sure to be filled with an impassioned longing for Hellenic independence. The people of the Ionian Islands were eager to be allowed to enter into one system with the kingdom of Greece. Their national principles and aspirations, their personal vanities, their truly Greek restlessness and craving for novelty, all combined to make them impatient of that foreign protectorate which was really foreign govern- ment. Many English public men, however, were merely angry with these pestilential Greeks who did not know what was good for them. Sir Ed- ward Bulwer Lytton had not been long enough in office to have become soaked in the ideas of routine. He thought the causes of the com- plaints and the dissatisfaction were well worth looking into. He offered, therefore, to Mr. Glad- stone the office of Lord High Commissioner Extraordinary to the Ionian Islands, and Mr. Gladstone, who had been for some years out of office, acting as an independent supporter of Lord Palmerston's Government, accepted the offer and its duties. The appointment created much surprise, some anger, and a good deal of ridicule at home. Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton had alluded in his despatch to Mr. Gladstone's Homeric scholarship, and this was, in the opin- ion of some politicians, an outrage upon all the principles and proprieties of routine. This, it was muttered, is what comes of literary men in office. A writer of novels is leader of the House of Commons, and he has another writer of novels at his side as Colonial Secretary, and between them they can think of nothing better than to send a man out to the Ionian Islands to listen to the trash of Greek demagogues, merely because he happens to be fond of reading Homer. Mr. Gladstone went out to the Ionian Islands, and arrived at Corfu in November of 1858. He called together the Senate, and explained that he had not come there to discuss the propriety of maintaining the English protectorate, but only to inquire into the manner in which the just claims of the Ionian Islands might be secured by means of that protectorate. The population of the islands, however, persisted in regarding him, not as the commissioner of a Conservative English Government, but as "Gladstone thePhilhellene." In vain he repeated his assurances that he came to reconcile the island? to the protectorate, and not to deliver them from it. The popular in- stinct insisted on regarding him as at least the precursor of their union to the kingdom of Greece. The National Assembly passed a formal resolution declaring for union with Greece. All that Mr. Gladstone's persuasion could do was to induce them to appoint a committee, and draw up a memorial to be presented in proper form to the protecting Powers. In England Mr. Gladstone was attacked in an absurd manner. He was ac- cused not merely of having encouraged the pre- tensions of the Ionian Islanders, but even talked of as if be, and he alone, had been their inspira- tion. National complacency could hardly push sensible men to greater foolishness than it did when it set half England wondering and raging over the impertinence of a Greek population who preferred union with a Greek kingdom to depend- ence upon an English protectorate. There can be no doubt that the people of the islands had under England's protectorate admirable means of communication by land and sea, splendid harbors, regular lines of steamers, excellent roads everywhere, while the people of the kingdom of Greece were hardly better off for all these ad- vantages under Otho than they might have been under Codrus. But the populations of the islands persevered in the belief that they understood better what made them happy than any one else could do. They agitated more strenuously than ever for annexation to the kingdom of Greece. A few years after their wish was granted. The Greeks got rid quietly of their heavy German King Otho, and on the advice chiefly of England they elected as sovereign a brother of the Princess of Wales, the second son of the King of Den- mark. Then Lord John Russell, on behalf of the English Government, handed over the Ionian islands to the kingdom of Greece. The year that followed Mr. Gladstone's mission to the Ionian islands (1859) was one of storm and stress on the European continent. It began with the memorable declaration of the Emperor of the French to the Austrian Ambassador at the Tuileries, that the relations between the two Empires were not such as he could desire. In fact, Count Cavour had had his way. He had prevailed upon Louis Napoleon to expel the Aus- trians from Italy. In the career of Count Cavour our times have seen perhaps the most remark- able illustration of that great Italian statesman- ship which has always appeared at intervals in the history of Europe. Louis Napoleon was simply a weapon in the hands of such a man. When once the French Emperor had entered into a compact with him there was no escape A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. it from it. Cavour did not look like an Italian, at least a typical Italian. He looked more like an Englishman. He reminded Englishman, odd- ly, of Dickens's Pickwick, wilh his large forehead, his general look of moony good-nature, and his spectacles. That commonplace, homely exterior concealed unsurpassed force of character, subtlety of scheming, and power of will. Cavour had determined that France should fight Austria. The war was over, one might say, in a moment. Austria had no generals, the French army rushed to success ; and then Louis Napoleon stopped short as suddenly as he had begun. He had proclaimed that he went to war to set Italy free from the Alps to the tea ; but he made peace on the basis of the liberation of Lombardy from Austrian rule, and lie left Venetia for another day and for other arms. He drew back before the very serious danger that threatened on the part of the German States, who showed ominous indications of a resolve to make the cause of Austria their own if France went too far. He held his band from Venetia because of Prussia ; seven years later Prussia herself gave Venetia to Italy. The English Government had made futile attempts to prevent the outbreak of war. Mean- while the Conservative Government could not exactly live on the mere reputation of having given good advice abroad to which no one would listen, and they determined to try their hand at a Reform Bill. Mr. Disraeli, as leader of the House of Commons, knew that a Reform Bill was one of the certainties of the future, and that whenever Lord John Russell happened to be in power again he would return to his first love in politics, a Reform Bill. He knew also that a refusal to have anything to do with reform would always expose the Tories in office to a coalition of all the Liberal factions against them. Mr. Disraeli had to choose between two dangers. He might risk all by refusing reform ; he might risk all by attempting reform. He thought, on the whole, the wiser course would be to endeavor to take possession of the Reform question for himself and his party. The reappearance of Mr. Bright in politics stimulated, no doubt, this re- solve on the part of Mr. Disraeli. It is not likely that the Prime-minister, Lord Derby, took any active interest in the matter. Lord Derby had outlived political ambition, or he had had per- haps all the political success he cared for. He had station of the highest; he had wealth and influence; he had fame as a great Parliamen- tary debater. Now that Brougham had ceased to take any leading part in debate he had no rival in the House of Lords. He was a sincere man without any pretence ; and, if he did not himself care about reform, he was not likely to put on any appearance of enthusiasm about it. Nor did he set much store on continuing in office. He would be the same Lord Derby out of office as in. But this way of looking at things was by no means suitable to bis energetic and ambitious lieutenant. Mr. Disraeli had not nearly attained the height of his ambition, nor had he by any means exhausted his political energies. Mr. Disraeli, therefore, was not a man to view with any satisfaction the consequences likely to come to the Conservative party from an open refusal to take up the cause of reform. At a time too when must of the Conservatives, and not a few of the Whigs, regarded Mr. Bright as only an eloquent and respectable demagogue, Mr. Disraeli bad made up his mind that the Lancashire orator was a man of genius and foresight, who must be taken account of as a genuine political power. Mr. Bright had for a long time been withdrawn by ill-health from all share in political agitation or politics of any kind. He now returned to public life. He flung himself into a new agita- tion fur reform, and he was induced to draw up a Reform Bill of his own. It was practically a proposal to establish a franchise precisely like that which we have now, ballot and all, only that it threw the expenses of the returning officer on the county or borough rate, and introduced a somewhat large measure of redistribution of seats. Mr. Disraeli knew well enough that the upper and middle classes cared very little about a new Reform Bill. But it was evident that any po- litical party could appeal to the support of the working-classes throughout the country in favor of any movement which promised reform. In short, Mr. Disraeli knew that reform bad to come some time, and be was resolved to make his own game if he could. This time, however, he was not successful. The difficulties in his way were too great. It would have been impossible for him to introduce such a Reform Bill as Mr. Bright would be likely to accept. His own party would not endure such a proposition. Mr. Disraeli's Reform Bill was a curiosity. It offered a variety of little innovations which nobody wanted or could have cared about, and it left out of sight altogether the one reform which alone gave an excuse for any legislation. Lord Grey's Reform Bill admitted the middle-class to legislation, but left the working-class out. What was now wanted was a measure to let the working-class in. Yet Mr. Disraeli's scheme made no more account of the working-class as a whole than if they already possessed the vote — every man of them. The English working-classes cried out for the fran- chise, and Mr. Disraeli proposed to answer the cry by giving the vote to graduates of universi- ties, medical practitioners, and school-masters. Yet we may judge of the difficulties Mr. Dis- raeli had to deal with by the reception which even this poor little measure met with from some of his own colleagues. Mr. Walpole and Mr. Henley resigned office rather than have anything to do with it. Mr. Henley was a specimen of the class who might have been described as fine old English gentlemen. He was shrewd, blunt, and honest, given to broad jokes and to a high- flavored, old-fashioned school of humor. Mr. Walpole was a man of gentle bearing, not by any means a robust politician, nor liberally endowed with intellect or eloquence, but pure-minded and upright enough to satisfy the most exacting. It did not appear to him honorable to support a measure because it had been taken up by one's own party, which the party would assuredly have denounced and opposed to the uttermost if it had been brought forward by the other side. Public opinion admired Mr. Walpole, and applauded his decision. Public opinion would have pronounced even more strongly in his favor had it known that at the time of his making this decision and withdrawing from a high official position Mr. Walpole was in circumstances which made the possession of a salary of the utmost importance to him. Had he even swallowed his scruples and held on a little longer, he would have become en- titled to a pension. He did not appear to have hesitated a moment. He was a high-minded gentleman ; he could very well bear to be poor; he could' not bear to surrender his self-respect. Mr. Disraeli's ingenious Reform Bill was found out in a moment. Some one described its en- franchising clauses as " fancy franchises." Mr. Bright introduced the phrase to the House of Commons, and the clauses never recovered the epithet. It would be useless to go into any of the discussions which took place on this extraor- dinary Bill. It can hardly be said to have been considered seriously. It had to be got rid of somehow, and therefore Lord John Russell moved an amendment, declaring that no, readjustment of the franchise would satisfy the House of Com- mons or the country which did not provide for a greater extension of the suffrage in cities and boroughs than was contemplated in the Govern- ment measure. Lord John Russell's resolution was carried by 330 votes against 291, or a majority of 39. The Government dissolved Parliament, and appealed to the country. The elections took place during the most critical moments of the war between France and Austria. While such news was ar- riving as that of the defeat of Magenta, the de- feat of Solferino, the entrance of the Emperor of the French and the King of Sardinia into Mi- lan, it was not likely that domestic news of a purely parliamentary interest could occupy all the attention of Englishmen. To many the strength of the Austrian military system had seemed the great bulwark of Conservatism in Europe ; and now that was gone, shrivelled like a straw in fire, shattered like a potsherd. In such a condition of things the general election passed over hardly noticed. When it was over it was found that the Conservatives had gained, in- deed, but had not gained nearly enough to enable them to hold office, unless by the toleration of their rivals. The rivals soon made up their minds that they had tolerated them long enough. A meeting of the Liberal party was held at Willis's Rooms to arrange on some plan of united action. Lord Palmerston represented one section of the party, Lord John Russell another. Mr. Sidney Herbert spoke for the Peelites. Not a few per- sons were surprised to find Mr. Bright among the speakers. It was well known that be liked Lord Palmerston little ; that it could hardly be said he liked the Tories any less. But Mr. Bright was for a Reform Bill, from whomsoever it should come ; and he thought, perhaps, that the Liberal chiefs had learned a lessen. The party contrived to agree upon a principle of ac- tion, and a compact was entered into, the effect of which was soon made clear at the meeting of the new Parliament. A vote of want of confi- dence was at once moved by the Marquis of Hartington, eldest son of the Duke of Devon- shire, and even then marked out by common re- port as a future leader of the Liberal party. Lord Hartington had sat but a short time in the House of Commons, and he did not then, nor for many years afterward, show any greater capacity for politics than is shown by an ordinary county member. Nothing could more effectively illus- trate one of the peculiarities of the English po- litical system than the choice of the Marquis of Hartington as the figurehead of this important movement against the Tory Government. He was put up to move the vote of want of confi- dence as the heir of the great Whig house of Devonshire ; his appearance in the debate would have carried just as much significance with it if he had simply moved his resolution without an accompanying word. The debate that followed was long and bitter. It was enlivened by more than even the usual amount of personalities. Mr. Disraeli and Sir James Graham had a sharp passage of arms, in the course of which Sir James Graham used an expression that has been often quoted since. He described Mr. Disraeli as "the Red Indian of debate," who, "by the use of the tomahawk, had cut his way to power, and by recurrence to the scalping sys- tem hopes to prevent the loss of it. " The scalp- ing system, however, did not succeed this time. The division, when it came on after three nights of discussion, showed a majority of 13 in favor of Lord Hartington's motion. The Queen invited Lord Granville to form a Ministry. Lord Granville was still a young man to be Prime -minister, considering how much the habits of Parliamentary life had changed since the days of Pitt. He was not much over forty years of age. He had filled many ministerial offices, however, and had an experience in Parliament which may be said to have begun with his majority. After some nine years spent in the House of Commons, the death of his father called him in 184b' to the House of Lords. He made no assumption of command- ing abilities, nor had he any pretence to the higher class of eloquence or statesmanship. But he was a thorough man of the world and of Par- liament ; he understood English ways of feeling and of acting ; he was a clever debater, and had the genial art — very useful and very rare in Eng- lish public life — of keeping even antagonists in good humor. The Queen had naturally thought, in the first instance, of Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell ; but she found it " a very invidious and unwelcome task" to make a choice between the two statesmen. Her Majesty, there- fore, thought a compromise might be best got at if both could be united under the guidance of Lord Granville, the acknowledged leader of the Liberal party in the House of Lords. The at- tempt was not successful. Lord John Russell declined to serve under Lord Granville, but de- clared himself perfectly willing to serve under Lord Palmerston. This declaration at once put an end to Lord Granville's chances, and to the whole difficulty which had been anticipated. Lord Granville was not in the slightest degree impatient to become Prime-minister, and indeed A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. probably felt relieved from a very unwelcome re- sponsibility when he was allowed to accept office under the premiership of Lord Palmerston. Lord Palmerston was now Prime-minister for life. Until his death he held the office with the full approval of Conservatives as well as Liber- als ; nay, indeed, with much warmer approbation from the majority of the Conservatives than from many of the Liberals. Palmerston formed a strong Ministry. Mr. Gladstone was Chancellor of the Exchequer ; Lord John Russell had the office of Foreign Secretary; Sir G. C.Lewis was Home Secre- tary; Mr. Sidney Herbert, Minister for War. The Duke of Newcastle took charge of the Colo- nies, Mr. Cardwell accepted the Irish Secretary- ship, and Sir Charles Wood was Secretary for India. Lojd Palmerston endeavored to propi- tiate the Manchester Liberals by offering a seat in the Government to Mr. Cobden and to Mr. Milner Gibson. Mr. Cobden was at the time on his way home from the United States. In his absence he had been elected member for Rochdale ; and in his absence, too, the office of President of the Board of Trade in the new Ministry had been put at his disposal. His friends eagerly awaited his return, and when the steamer bringing him home was near Liv- erpool a number of them went out to meet him before his landing. They boarded the steamer, and astonished him with the news that the Tories were out, that the Liberals were in, that he was member for Rochdale, and that Lord Palmerston had offered him a place in the new Ministry. Cobden took the news which related to himself with his usual quiet modesty. He explained afterwards that the office put at his disposal was exactly that which would have best suited him, and in which he thought that he could do some good. He also declared frankly that the salary attached to the office would be a consideration of much importance to him. At the moment he was a poor man. Yet he did not in his own mind hesitate an instant about Lord Palmerston's offer. He disapproved of Palmerston's foreign policy, of his military ex- penditure, and his love of interfering in the dis- putes of the Continent; and he felt that he could not conscientiously accept office under such a leader. He refused the offer decisively, and the chief promoter of the repeal of the corn laws never held any place in an English Administra- tion. Cobden, however, advised his friend, Mr. Milner Gibson, to avail himself of Lord Palmer- ston's offer, and Mr. Gibson, who had never stood out before the country in so conspicuous a posi- tion as an opponent of Lord Palmerston, acted on the advice. Lord Palmerston had not made any tender of office to Mr. Bright; and he wrote to Mr. Bright frankly explaining his reasons. Mr. Bright had been speaking out too strongly, dur- ing his recent reform campaign, to make his presence in the Cabinet acceptable to some of the Whig magnates for whom seats had to be found. It is curious to notice now the convic- tion, which at that time seemed to be universal, that Mr. Cobden was a much more moderate reformer than Mr. Bright. The impression was altogether wrong. There was, in Mr. Bright's nature, a certain element of Conservatism which showed itself clearly enough the moment the particular reforms which he thought necessary were carried ; Mr. Cobden would have gone on advancing in the direction of reform as long as he lived. Not much difference, to be sure, was ever to be noticed between them in public affairs. But where there was any difference, even of spec- ulative opinion, Mr. Cobden went farther than Mr. Bright along the path of Eadicalism. The closing days of the year were made mem- orable by the death of Macaulay. He had been raised to the peerage, and had had some hopes of being able to take occasional part in the state- ly debates of the House of the Lords. But his health almost suddenly broke down, and his voice was never heard in the Upper Chamber. He died prematurely, having only entered on his sixtieth year, Macaulay had had, as he often said himself, a singularly happy life, although it was not without its severe losses and its griefs. His career was one of uninterrupted suacess. His books brought him fame, influence, social position, and wealth, all at once. He never made a failure. The world only applauded one book more than the other, the second speech more than the first. Macaulay the essayist, Macaulay the historian, Macaulay the ballad-writer, Macaulay the Parliamentary orator, Macaulay the brilliant, inexhaustible talker — he was alike, it might ap- pear, supreme in everything he chose to do or to attempt. Macaulay was undoubtedly a great literary man. He was also a man of singularly noble character. He appears to have enjoyed advancement, success, fame, and money only be- cause these enabled him to give pleasure and support to the members of his family. He was attached to his family, especially to his sisters, with the tenderest affection. His real nature seems only to have thoroughly shone out when in their society. There he was loving, sportive even to joyous frolicsomeness ; a glad school- boy almost to the very end. He was remarkably generous and charitable even to strangers; his hand was almost always open ; but he gave so unostentatiously that it was not until after his death that half his kindly deeds became known. He had a spirit which was absolutely above any of the corrupting temptations of money or rank. He was very poor at one time, but it did not seem to have occurred to him, when he was poor, that money was lacking to the dignity of his in- tellect and his manhood; or when he was rich that money added to it. He had certain defects of temper and manner rather than of character. He was apt to be overbearing in tone, and to show himself a little too confident of his splendid gifts and acquirements : his marvellous memory, his varied reading, his overwhelming power of argument. He trampled on men's prejudices too heedlessly, was inclined to treat ignorance as if it were a crime, and to make dulness feel that it had cause to be ashamed of itself. These defects only are worth mentioning as they serve to explain some of the misconceptions which were formed of Macaulay by many during his lifetime, and some of the antagonisms which he uncon- sciously created. Absolutely without literary affectation, undepressed by early poverty, un- spoiled by later and almost unequalled success, he was an independent, quiet, self-relying man, who, in all his noon of fame, found most happi- ness in the companionship and the sympathy of those he loved, and who, from first to last, was loved most tenderly by those who knew him best. He was buried in Westminster Abbey in the first week of the new year, and there truly took his place among his peers. CHAPTER XVII. LOKD PALMERSTON AGAIN. When Lord Palmerston's Ministry came into power a profound distrust of Louis Napoleon pre- vailed almost everywhere. The fact that he had been recently our ally did not do much to dimin- ish this distrust. On the contrary, it helped in a certain sense to increase it. It was to have his revenge for Moscow and the Beresina, peo- ple said, that he struck at Russia: and he made us his mere tools in the enterprise. Now he turns upon Austria, to make her atone for other wrongs done against the ambition of the Bona- partes ; and he has conquered. What next ? Prussia perhaps — or England? The invasion panic sprang up again here in a moment. The volunteer forces began to increase in numbers and in ardor. Plans of coast forti- fication and of national defences generally were thrust upon Parliament from various quarters. A feverish anxiety about the security of the isl- and took possession of many minds that were usually tranquil and shrewd enough. The ven- erable Lord Lyndhurst devoted himself to the work of inflaming the public spirit of England against Louis Napoleon with a vigor of manner and a literary freshness of style well worthy of his earlier and best years. Up to this time there was no evidence in the public opinion of England of any sympathy with Italian independence such as became the fashion a year later. The King of Sardinia, Victor Emanuel, had visited Eng- land not long before, and had been received with public addresses and other such demonstrations of admiration here and there; but he had not succeeded in securing the general sympathy of the English public. The Ministry attempted great things. They undertook a complete remodelling of the Cus- toms system, a repeal of the paper duties, and a Reform Bill. The news that a commercial treaty with France was in preparation broke on the world somewhat abruptly in the early davs of 1860. The arrangement was made in a man- ner to set old formalism everywhere shaking its solemn head and holding up its alarmed hands. The French treaty was made without any direct assistance from professional diplomacy. It was made indeed in spite of professional diplomacy. It was the result of private conversations and an infoimal agreement between the Emperor of the French and Mr. Cobden. Although Mr. Cobden had never held official position of any kind in England, the Emperor received him very cordial- ly and entered readily into his ideas on' the sub- ject of a treaty between England and France, which should remove many of the prohibitions and restrictions then interfering with a liberal interchange of the productions of the two na- tions. Napoleon the Third was a free-trader, or something nearly approaching to it. His cousin, Prince Napoleon, was still more advanced and more decided in his views of political economy. The Emperor was, moreover, a good deal under the influence of the distinguished French econo- mist Michel Chevalier. Mr. Cobden had the as- sistance of all the influence Mr. Gladstone could bring to bear. It is not likely that Lord Palmer- ston cared much about the French treaty proj- ect, but at least he did not oppose it. There were many difficulties in the way on both sides. The French people and the French manufactur- ing bodies were for the most part opposed to the principles of free trade. So were some of the most influential politicians of the country. M. Thiers was an almost impassioned Protectionist. The Emperor of the French had to enter into the engagement by virtue of his imperial will and power, and a strong objection was felt in this country just then to any friendly negotiation or arrangement whatever with Louis Napoleon. As soon as it became known that the treaty was in course of negotiation a storm of indignation broke out in this country. Not only the Conserv- ative party but a large portion of the Liberals condemned and denounced the proposed agree- ment, but the eloquence of Mr. Gladstone and the strength of the Government prevailed against them all. The effect of the treaty, so far as France was concerned, was an engagement virtu- ally to remove all prohibitory duties on all the staples of British manufacture, and to reduce the duties on English coal and coke, bar and pig iron, tools, machinery, yarns, flax, and hemp. England, for her part, proposed to sweep away all duties on manufactured goods, and to reduce greatly the duties on foreign wines. Mr. Gladstone not only succeeded in carrying this part of his Budget, but he carried, too, as far as the House of Commons was concerned, his important measure for the abolition of the duty on paper. The stamp duty was originally imposed with the object of checking the growth of seditious newspapers. It was reduced, in- creased, reduced again, and increased again, un- til in the early part of the century it stood at fourpence on each copy of a newspaper issued. In 1836 it was brought down to the penny, rep- resented by a red stamp on every paper. There was besides this a considerable duty — sixpence, or some suoh sum — on every advertisement in a newspaper. Finally, there was the heavy duty on the paper material itself. The consequence was that a newspaper was a costly thing. Its pos- session was the luxury of the rich ; those who could afford less had to be content with an oc- casional read of a paper. It was common for a number of persons to club together and take in a paper, which they read by turns, the general un- ; derstanding being that he whose turn came last remained the owner of the journal. It was con- ' sidered a fair compensation for his late reception : of the news that lie should come iuto the full A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 49 proprietorship of tlie precious newspaper. The price of a daily paper then was uniformly six- pence ; and no sixpenny paper contained any- thing like the news, or went to a tenth of the dai- ly expense, which is supplied in the one case and undertaken in the other by the penny papers of our day. Gradually the burdens on journalism and on the leading public were reduced. The advertisement duty was abolished ; in 1855 the stamp duty was abolished ; that is to say, the stamp was either removed altogether, or was al- lowed to stand as postage. On the strength of this reform many new and cheap journals were started. But it became painfully evident that a newspaper could not bo sold profitably for a pen- ny while the duty on the paper-material remained. A powerful agitation was set on foot for its re- moval, not on behalf of the interests of newspa- per speculation, but on behalf of the reading pub- lic and of the education of the people. Mr. Gladstone undertook the congenial task of abolishing the duty on paper. He was met with strong opposition from both sides of the House. The paper manufacturers made it at once a question of protection to their own trade. Vested interests in the newspaper business itself also opposed Mr. Gladstone. The high-priced and well-established journals did not by any means relish the idea of cheap and unfettered competition. A good many men were induced to sustain the cause of the paper-making and journal-selling monopoly. The result was that although Mr. Gladstone carried his resolutions for the abolition of the excise on paper, he only carried them by dwindling majorities. The sec- ond reading was carried by a majority of 53; the third by a majority of only 9. The effect of this was to encourage some members of the House of Lords to attempt the task of getting rid of Mr. Gladstone's proposed reform altogeth- er. An amendment to reject the resolutions re- pealing the tax was proposed by Lord Monteagle, and received the support of Lord Derby and of Lord Lyndhurst. Lord Lyndhurst was then just entering on his eighty-ninth year. His growing infirmities made it necessary that a temporary railing should be constructed in front of his seat, in order that he might lean on it and be support- ed. But although his physical strength thus needed support bis speech gave no evidence of failing intellect. Even his voice could hardly be said to have lost any of its clear, light, musical strength. The question which the House of Lords had to face was somewdiat serious. The Commons had repealed a tax ; was it constitu- tionally in the power of the House of Lords to reimpose it? Was not this, it was asked, sim- ply to assert for the House of Lords a taxing power equal to that of the Commons? Was it not to reduce to nothing the principle that tax- ation and representation go together? Lord Lyndhurst entered into a long and a very telling argument to show that although the peers had abandoned their claim to alter a money bill, they had still a right to refuse their assent to a repeal of taxation, and that in this particular instance they were justified in doing so. The Conserva- tive party in the House of Lords can always car- ry any division, and they were resolved to show that they could do something. The House of Lords was in an unusually aggressive mood. Mr. Disraeli in one of his novels had irreverent- ly said of the Lords, that when the peers ac- complish a division they cackle as if they had laid an egg. On this occasion they were deter- mined to have a division. The majority against the Government was overwhelming, and the re- peal of the excise duty on paper was done with for that session. Lord Palmerston promptly moved in the House of Commons for a committee to ascertain and report on the practice of each House with regard to the several descriptions of Bills imposing or repealing taxes. After two months the commit- tee found by a majority of fourteen a series of resolutions to the effect that the privilege of the House of Commons did not extend so far as to make it actually unconstitutional for the Lords to reject a Bill for the repeal of a tax. Mr. Bright, who was a member of the committee, did not assent to this principle. He prepared a draft report of his own in which he contended for the very reasonable view, that if the Lords might prolong or reimpose a tax by refusing their assent to its repeal when that repeal had been voted hy the House of Commons, the House of Commons could not be said to have absolute control over the taxation of the country. The truth is, that if the majority of the House of Commons in favor of the repeal of the paper duties had been any- thing considerable, the House of Lords would never have ventured to interfere. Not a few of the peers felt convinced that the majority of the House of Commons would secretly bless them for their intervention. Lord Palmerston followed up the report of the committee by proposing a series of resolutions to reaffirm the position and the claims of the House of Commons in regard to questions of taxation. Such resolutions were not likely to satisfy the more impatient among the Liberals. An appeal was made to the people generally to thunder a national protest against the House of Lords. But the country did not, it must be owned, respond very tmnultuously to the invitation. Great public meetings were held in London and the large towns of the North, and much anger was expressed at the conduct of the Lords. Mr. Bright threw his eloquence and his influence into the agitation, and Mr. Glad- stone expressed himself strongly in favor of its object. Vet the country did not become greatly excited over the controversy. It did not even enter warmly into the question as to the necessity of abolishing the House of Lords. One indignant writer insisted that if the Lords did not give way the English people would turn them out of West- minster Palace, and strew the Thames with the wrecks of their painted chamber. Language such as this sounded oddly out of tune with the temper of the time. The general conviction of the country was undoubtedly that the Lords had made a mistake, and that it would certainly be necessary to check them if they attempted to re- peat it. But the feeling also was that there was not the slightest chance of such a mistake being repeated. The mere fact that so much stir had been made about it was enough to secure the country against any chance of its passing into a precedent. A course of action which Mr. Glad- stone denounced as a '"gigantic innovation," which Lord Palmerston could not approve, which the Liberal party generally condemned, and which the House of Commons made the occasion of a significantly warning resolution, was not in the least likely to be converted by repetition into an established principle and precedent. This was the reason why the country took the whole matter with comparative indifference. The whole controversy has little political im- portance now. Perhaps it is most interesting for the evidence it gave that Mr. Gladstone was every day drifting more and mote away from the opinions, not merely of his old Conservative as- sociates, but even of his later Whig colleagues. The position which he took up in this dispute was entirely different from that of Lord Palmer- ston. He condemned without reserve or mitiga- tion the conduct of the Lords, and he condemned it on the very grounds which made his words most welcome to the Radicals. The first decided adhesion of Mr. Gladstone to the doctrines of the more advanced Liberals is generally regarded as having taken place at a somewhat later period, and in relation to a different question. It would seem, however, that the earliest intimation of the course Mr. Gladstone was thenceforward to tread was his declaration that the constitutional privi- leges of the representative assembly would not be safe in the hands of the Conservative Opposi- tion. Lord Palmerston, on the other hand, cer- tainly suffered some damage in the eyes of the extreme Liberals. Still, Lord Palmerston's reso- lutions contained in them quite enough to prove to the Lords that they had gone a little too far, and that they must not attempt anything of the kind again. A story used to be told of Lord Palmerston at that time which would not have been out of character if it had been true. Some one, it was said, pressed him to say what he in- tended to do about the Lords and the reimposition of the paper duties. "I mean to tell them," was the alleged reply of Lord Palmerston, " that it was a very good joke for once, but they must not give it to us again." This was really the effect of Palmerston's resolutions. The Lords took the bint: they did not try it again. Even in that year, I860, Mr. Gladstone was able to carry his resolution for removing, in accordance with the provisions of the French Treaty, so much of the Customs duty on imported paper as exceeded the Excise duty on paper made bete at home. Meanwhile the Government had sustained a severe humiliation in another way. They had had to abandon their Reform Bill. The Bill was a moderate and simple scheme of reform. It proposed to lower the county franchise to £10, and that of the boroughs to £6 ; and to make a considerable redistribution of seats. The Bill was brought in on March 1. The second read- ing was moved on March 19. Mr. Disraeli con- demned the measure then, although he did not propose to offer any opposition to it at that stage. He made a long and labored speech, in which he talked of the Bill as "a measure of a mediaeval character, without the inspiration of the feudal system, or the genius of the Middle Ages." No one knew exactly what this meant; but it was loudly applauded by Mr. Disraeli's followers, and was thought rather fine by some of those who sat on the Ministerial side. Long nights of de- bate, more or less languid, followed. Mr. Dis- raeli, with his usual sagacity, was merely wait- ing to see how things would go before he com- mitted himself or his party to any decided opposition. He began very soon to see that there was no occasion for him to take any great trouble in the matter. He and his fiends had little more to do than to look on and smile compla- cently while the chances of the Bill were being hopelessly undermined by some of the followers of the Government. The milder Whigs hated the scheme rather more than the Tories did. Lord Palmerston was well known to be person- ally indifferent to its fate. Lord Palmerston was not so foreseeing as Mr. Disraeli. The leader of the Opposition knew well enough, even then, that a Reform Bill of some kind would have to be brought in before long. Mr. Disraeli probably foresaw, even then, that it might be convenient to his own party one day to seek for the credit of carrying a Radical Reform Bill. He therefore took care not to express any dis- approval of the principles of reform in the debates that took place on the second reading of Lord John Russell's Bill. His manner was that of one who looks on scornfully at a bungling at- tempt to do some piece of work which he could do much better if he had a chance of making the attempt. Meanwhile the Bill was drifting and flounder- ing on to destruction. If Lord Palmerston had spoken one determined word in its favor the Conservatives would not have taken on them- selves the responsibility of a prolonged resistance, and those of the Liberals who secretly detested the measure would not have had the courage to stand up against Lord Palmerston. Very soon they came to understand, or at least to believe, that Lord Palmerston would be rather pleased than otherwise to see the measure brought into contempt. Lord Palmerston took practically no part in the debates. He did actually make a speech at a late period; but, as Mr. Disraeli said with admirable effect, it was a speech not so much " in support of, as about, the Reform Bill." Sir George Lewis argued for the Bill so coldly and sadly that Sir E. B. Lytton brought down the laughter and cheers of both sides of the House when he described Lew is as having " come to bury Ciesar, not to praise him." The measure was already doomed : it was virtually dead and buried. Notice was given of amendment after amendment, chiefly or altogether by professing Liberals. The practice of obstructing the prog- ress of the Bill by incessant speech-making was introduced and made to work with ominous effect. Some of the more boisterous of the To- ries began to treat the whole thing as a good piece of fun. Once an attempt was made to get the House counted out during the progress of the debate. It would be a capital inean^ of re- ducing the whole discussion to an absurdity, some members thought, if the House could actu- 50 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. ally be counted out during a debate on the Re- form Bill. A Bill to remould the whole political constitution of the country — and the House of Commons not caring enough about the subject to contribute forty listeners, or even forty patient watchers, within the precincts of Westminster Palace! When the attempt to count did not succeed in the ordinary way, it occurred to the genius of some of the Conservatives that the ob- ject might be accomplished by a little gentle and not unacceptable violence. A number of stout squires, therefore, got round the door in the lob- by, and endeavored, by sheer physical obstruc- tion, to prevent zealous members from re-enter- ing the House. It will be easily understood what the temper of the majority was, when horse- play of this kind could even be attempted. At length it was evident that the Bill could not pass ; that the talk which was in preparation must smother it. The moment the Bill got into committee there would be amendments on every line of it, and every member could speak as often as he pleased. The session was passing ; the financial measures could not be postponed or put aside ; the opponents of the Reform Bill, open and secret, had the Government at their mercy. On Monday, June 11, Lord John Russell an- nounced that the Government had made up their minds to withdraw the Bill. Thencefor- ward it was understood that Lord Palmerston would have no more of Reform. There was to be no Reform Bill while Lord Palmerston lived. The Queen's speech at the opening of Parlia- ment, on January 24, 1860, mentioned, among other things, the renewal of disturbances in China. The treaty of Tien- tsin, which bad been arranged by Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, con- tained a clause providing for the exchange of the ratifications at Pekin within a year from the date of the signature, which took place in June, 1858. Lord Elgin returned to England, and his broth- er, Mr. Frederick Bruce, was appointed in March, 1859, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni- potentiary to China. Mr. Bruce was directed to proceed by way of the Peiho to Tien-tsin, and thence to Pekin, to exchange the ratifications of the treaty. Lord Malmesbury, who was then Foreign Secretary, pointed out that the Chinese authorities, having the strongest objection to the presence of an Envoy in Pekin, would probably try to interpose all manner of delays and dif- ficulties ; and impressed upon Mr. Bruce that he was not to be put off from going to the capi- tal. Instructions were sent out from England at the same time to Admiral Hope, the Naval Commander-in-chief in China, to provide a suf- ficient force to accompany Mr. Bruce to the mouth of the Peiho. The Peiho river flows from the highlands on the west into the Gulf of Pecheli, at the north- east corner of the Chinese dominions. The capital of the empire is about one hundred miles inland from the mouth of the Peiho. It does not stand on that river, which flows past it at some distance westward, but it is connected with the river by means of a canal. The town of Tien-tsin stands on the Peiho near its junction with one of the many rivers that flow into it, and about forty miles from the mouth. The entrance to the Peiho was defended by the Taku forts. On June 20, 1859, Mr. Bruce and the French Envoy reached the mouth of the Peiho with Admiral Hope's fleet, some nineteen vessels in all, to escort them. They found the forts defended ; some negotiations and inter- communications took place, and a Chinese of- ficial from Tien-tsin came to Mr. Bruce and en- deavored to obtain some delay or compromise. Mr. Bruce became convinced that the condition of things predicted by Lord Malmesbury was coming about, and that the Chinese authorities were only trying to defeat his purpose. He called on Admiral Hope to clear a passage for the vessels. When the Admiral brought up his gunboats the forts opened fire. The Chinese artillerymen showed unexpected skill and precis- ion. Four of the gunboats were almost imme- diately disabled. All the attacking vessels got aground. Admiral Hope attempted to storm the forts. The attempt was a complete failure. Admiral Hope himself was wounded ; so was the commander of the French vessel which had contributed a contingent to the storming party. The attempt to force a passage of the river was given up, and the mission to Pekin was over for the present. It seems only fair to say that the Chinese at the mouth of the Peiho cannot be accused of perfidy.. They had mounted the forts and bar- ricaded the river openly and even ostentatiously. The English Admiral knew for days and days that the forts were armed, and that the passage of the river was obstructed. Some of the Eng- lish officers who were actually engaged in the attempt of Admiral Hope frankly repudiated the idea of any treachery on the part of the Chinese, or any surprise on their own side. They knew perfectly well, they said, that the forts were about to resist the attempt to force a way for the Envoys up the river. It will be easily imagined that the news created a deep sensation in England. People in general made up their minds at once that the matter could not be allowed to rest there, and that the mission to Pekin must be enforced. At the same time a strong feeling prevailed that the Envoy, Mr. Bruce, had been imprudent and precipitate in his conduct. For this, however, it seems more just to blame Lord Malmesbury than Mr. Bruce, who might well have thought that his instructions left him no alternative but to force his way. Be- fore the whole question came to be discussed in Parliament the Conservatives had gone out and the Liberals had come in. The English and the French Governments de- termined that the men who had made the treaty of Tien-tsin — Lord Elgin and Baron Gros — should be sent back to insist on its reinforcement. Sir Hope Grant was appointed to the military command of our land forces, and General Cousin de Montauban, afterwards Count Palikao, co manded the soldiers of France. The Chinese, to do them justice, fought very bravely, but of course they had no chance whatever against such forces as those commanded by the English and French generals. The allies captured the Taku forts, occupied Tien-tsin, and marched on Pekin. The Chinese Government endeavored to negotiate for peace and to interpose any manner of delay, dip- lomatic or otherwise, between the allies and their progress to the capital. Lord Elgin con- sented at last to enter into negotiations at Tung- chow, a walled town ten or twelve miles nearer than Pekin. Before the negotiations took place Lord Elgin's secretaries, Mr. Parkes and Mr. Loch, some English officers, Mr. Bowlby, the cor- respondent of the Times, and some members of the staff of Baron Gros, were treacherously seized by the Chinese while under a flag of truce and dragged off to various prisons. Mr. Parkes and Mr. Loch, with eleven of their companions, were afterwards released, after having been treated with much cruelty and indignity, but thirteen of the prisoners died of the horrible ill-treatment they received. Lord Elgin refused to negotiate until the prisoners had been returned, and the allied armies were actually at one of the great gates of Pekin, and had their guns in position to blow the gate in, when the Chinese acceded to their terms. The gate was surrendered, the allies entered the city, and the English and French flags were hoisted side by side on the walls of Pekin. It was only after entering the city that Lord Elgin learned of the murder of the captives. He then determined that the Summer Palace should be burned down, as a means of impressing the mind of the Chinese authorities generally with some sense of the danger of treachery and foul play. Two days were occupied in the de- struction of the palace. It covered an area of many miles. Gardens, temples, small lodges and pagodas, groves, grottoes, lakes, bridges, terra- ces, artificial hills, diversified the vast space. All the artistic treasures, all the curiosilies, archaeo- logical and other, that Chinese wealth and Chi- nese taste, such as it was, could bring together, had been accumulated in this magnificent pleas- aunce. The surrounding scenery was beautiful. The high mountains of Tartary ramparted one side of the enclosure. The buildings were set on fire ; the whole place was given over to destruc- tion. A monument was raised with an inscrip- tion in Chinese, setting forth that such was the reward of perfidy and cruelty. Very different opinions were held in England as to the destruction of the Imperial palace. To many it seemed an act of unintelligible and un- pardonable vandalism. Lord Elgin explained, that if he did not demand the surrender of the actual perpetrators, it was because he knew full well that no difficulty would have been m:ide about giving him a seeming satisfaction. The Chinese Government would have selected for vi- carious punishment, in all probability, a crowd of mean and unfortunate wretches who had nothing to do with the murders, who perhaps had never heard that such minders were done, and who would possibly even go to their death without the slightest notion of the reason why they were chosen out for such a doom. Most of our actions in the war were unjustifiable; Lord Elgin's was the one for which, perhaps, the best case could be made out by a moralist. It is somewhat singu- lar that so many persons should have been roused to indignation by the destruction of a building who took with perfect composure the unjust in- vasion of a country. The allied powers now of course had it all their own way. England estab- lished her right to have an envoy in Pekin, whether the Chinese liked it or not. China had to pay a war indemnity, and a large sum of money as compensation to the families of the murdered prisoners and to those who had suffered injuries, and to make an apology for the attack by the garrison of the Taku forts. Perhaps the most important gain to Europe from the war was the knowledge that Pekin was not by any means so large a city as we had all imagined it to be, and that it was on the whole rather a crumbling and tumble-down sort of place. The same year saw also the troubles in the mountain terraces of the Lebanon, which like- wise led to the combined intervention of Eng- land and France. The disturbances arose out of the rivalries and quarrels between two sects, the Maronites, who were Christians, and the Druses, who were neither Christians nor Mus- sulmans. The Turkish commander disarmed many of the Maronites near Beyrout, and seems then to have abandoned them to the Druses, who massacred them all. In July the fanatical spirit spread to Damascus. A mob of Turkish fanat- ics made a general attack upon the Christian quarter, and burned the greater part of it down. The consulates of France, Russia, Austria, Holland, Belgium, and Greece were destroyed. Nearly two thousand Christians were massacred in that one day's work. Many of the respecta- ble Mussulman inhabitants of Damascus, the famous Algerian chief Abd-el-Kader among them, were most generous and brave in their at- tempts to save and shelter the unfortunate Chris- tians; but the Turkish Governor of Damascus, although he had a strong military force at his disposal, made no serious effort to interfere with the work of massacre ; and, as might be expect- ed, his supineness was construed by the mob as an official approval of their doings, and they murdered with all the more vigor and zest. The news of the massacre in the Lebanon nat- urally created a profound sensation in England. England and France took strong and decisive steps. They resolved upon instant intervention to restore tranquillity in the Lebanon. A con- vention was drawn up, to which all the Great Powers of Europe agreed, and which Turkey had to accept. By the convention England and France were intrusted with the duty of restoring order. France undertook to supply the troops required in the first instance; farther require- ments were to be met as the intervening Powers might think fit. The intervening Powers pledged themselves reciprocally not to seek for any terri- torial advantage or exclusive influence. Eng- land sent out Lord Dufferin to act as her Com- missioner; and Lord Dufferin accomplished his task with as much spirit as judgment. The Turkish Government, to do it justice, had at last shown great energy in punishing the authors and the abettors of the massacres. The Sultan sent outFuad Pasha, his Minister for Foreign Affairs, to the Lebanon ; and Fuad Pasha showed no mercy to the promoters of the disturbances, or A SHORT HISTORY OF OL'K OWN TIMES. 51 even to the highly-placed official abettors of them. The Governor of Damascus and the commander of the Turkish troops suffered deatli for their part in the transactions, and about sixty persons were publicly executed in the city, of whom the greater number belonged to the Turkish police force. When the intervention had succeeded in thoroughly restoring order the representatives of the Great Powers assembled in Constantinople unanimously agreed that a Christian governor of the Lebanon should be appointed in subordina- tion to the Sultan ; and the Sultan had, of course, no choice but to agree to this proposition. The French troops evacuated Syria in June, 1801, and thereby much relieved the minds of many Englishmen, who had long forgotten all about the domestic affairs of the Lebanon in their alarm lest the French Imperial troops, having once set foot in Syria, should not easily be in- duced to quit the country again. It would hardly be fitting to close the history of this eventful year without giving a few lines to record the peaceful end of a stormy life. Quietly in his Kensington home passed away, in the late autumn of this year, Thomas Cochrane — the gallant Dundonald, the hero of the Basque Roads, the volunteer who lent his genius and his courage to the cause of Brazil, of Chili, and of Greece; a sailor of the Elizabethan mould. Lord Dundonald had been the victim of cruel, although not surely intentional, injustice. lie was accused of having had a share in the famous stockjobbing frauds of 1814 ; he was tried, found guilty, sentenced to fine and imprisonment ; ex- pelled from the House of Commons, dismissed from the service which he had helped to make yet more illustrious than he found it; and de- prived of all his public honors. He lived to see his innocence believed in as well by his enemies as by his friends. William IV. reinstated him in his naval rank, and Queen Victoria had the congenial task of completing the restoration of his well-won honors. It was not, however, until many years after his death that the country fully acquitted itself of the mere money debt which it owed to Lord Dundonald and his family. Cochrane was a Radical in politics, and for some years sat as a colleague of Sir Francis Bur- dett in the representation of Westminster. He carried on in the House of Commons many a bitter argument with Mr. John Wilson Croker, when the latter was Secretary to the Admiralty. It cannot be doubted that Cochrane's political views and his strenuous way of asserting them made him many enemies, and that some men were glad of the opportunity for revenge which was given by the accusation got up against him. His was an impatient spirit, little suited for the discipline of Parliamentary life. His tongue was often bitter, and he was too apt to assume that a political opponent must be a person un- worthy of respect. Even in his own service lie was impatient of rebuke. To those under his command he was always genial and brotherly ; but to those above him he was sometimes want- ing in that patient submission which is an essen- tial quality of those who would learn how to command with most success. Cochrane's true place was on his quarter-deck ; his opportunity came in the extreme moment of danger. Then his spirit asserted itself. His gift was that which wrenches success out of the very jaws of failure ; he saw his way most clearly when most others began to despair. His later life had been passed in retirement. It was his death, on October 30, 18G0, which recalled to the mind of the living generation the hero whose exploits had divided the admiration of their fathers with those of Nelson, of Colliugwood, and of Sidney Smith. A new style of naval warfare has come up since those days, and perhaps Cochrane may be re- garded as the last of the old sea-kings. CHAPTER XVIH. Tin: civil. WAi; in AMERICA. Civn. war broke out in the United States. Abraham Lincoln's election as President, brought about by the party divisions of the Southerners among themselves, seemed to the South the lie- ginning of a new order of things, in which they and their theories of government would no long- er predominate. The struggle became one for life or death between slavery and the principles of modern society. Slavery existed in the South- ern States, though it had ceased long to exist in the North. The two systems were really incom- patible, but the inevitable struggle between the supporters and the opponents of slavery might have been indefinitely delayed if the Southern States, the Slave States, had not decided to se- cede from the Union, to cut themselves adrift from the abolitionist North, and form a slave- holding confederation of their own. The Southern States, led by South Carolina, seceded. Their delegates assembled at Mont- gomery, in Alabama, on February 4, 1801, to agree upon a constitution. A Southern confed- eration was formed, with Mr. Jefferson Davis as its President. Even then war might not have taken place ; the North and South might have come to some agreement but for the impetuous action of South Carolina. This State had been the first to secede, and it was the first to commit an act of war. The traveller in South Carolina, as lie stands on one of the quays of Charleston and looks towards the Atlantic, sees the sky-line across the harbor broken by a heavy -looking, solid square fort, which soon became famous in the war. This was Fort Sumter, a place built on an artificial island, with walls some sixty feet high and eight to twelve feet thick. It was in the occupation of the Federal Govern- ment, as of course were the defences of all the har- bors of the Union. It is, perhaps, not necessary to say that while each State made independently its local laws, the Federal Government and Con- gress had the charge of all business of national interest, customs duties, treaties, the army and navy, and the coast defences. The excited Se- cessionists of South Cnrolina began to bombard the fort. The little garrison had no means of resistance, and after a harmless bombardment of two days it surrendered. The Federal Presi- dent, Abraham Lincoln, had been anxious, if possible, to enable North and South to come to some terms without going to war. After the fall of Sumter, however, there was no prospect of any peaceful settlement of the quarrel. There was an end to all negotiations; thenceforward only strokes could arbitrate. Four days after, President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand men to volunteer in re-es- tablishing the Federal authority over the rebel States. President Davis immediately announced his intention to issue letters of marque. Presi- dent Lincoln declared the Southern ports under blockade. On May 8 Lord John Russell an- nounced in the House of Commons, that after consulting the law officers of the Crown the Gov- ernment were of opinion that the Southern Con- federacy must be recognized as a belligerent power. On May 13 the neutrality proclamation was issued by the Government, warning all sub- jects of her Majesty from enlisting, on land or sea, in the service of Federals or Confederates, supply- ing munitions of war, equipping vessels for priva- teering purposes, engaging in transport service, or doing any other act calculated to afford assist- ance to either belligerent. At first the feeling of Englishmen was almost unanimously in favor of the North. It was thought that the Southern States would be al- lowed quietly to secede, and must Englishmen' did not take a great interest in the mutter, or, when they did, were inclined to regard the Southerners as a turbulent and troublesome set, who had better be permitted to go off with their peculiar institution and keep it all to themselves. When, however, it became apparent that the secession must lead to war, theu many of the same Englishmen began to blame the North for making the question any cause of disturbance to the world. There was a kind of impatient feel- ing, as if we and the world in general had no right to be troubled with these American quar- rels; as if it were unfair to us that our cotton trade should be interrupted and we ourselves put to inconvenience for a dispute about secession. There clearly would have been no war and no disturbance if only the North had agreed to let the South go, and" therefore people on this side of the Atlantic set themselves to find good cause for blaming the statesmen who did not give in to anything rather than disturb the world with their obstinacy and their Union. Out of this condition of feeling came the resolve to find the North in the wrong; and out of that resolve came with many the discovery that the Northern statesmen were all hypocrites. Suddenly, as if to decide wavering minds, an event was reported which made hosts of admirers for the South in England. The battle of Bull Run took place on July 21, ISC] , and the raw levies of the North were defeated, thrown into confusion, and in some instances driven into ignominious flight. This was not very surprising. The South- erners had always a taste for soldiering, and had kept up their State militia systems with an energy and exactness which the business-men of the North had neither the time nor the inclination to imitate. It was not very surprising if some of the hastily-raised Northern regiments of vol- unteers should have proved wretched soldiers, and should have yielded to the sudden influence of panic. But when the news reached England a very fliime of enthusiasm leaped up for the brave South, which, though so small in numbers, had contrived with such spirit and ease to defeat the " Yankees." It is important for the fair un- derstanding and appreciation of the events that followed, to remember that there was, among all the advocates of the South in England, a very general conviction that the North was sure to be defeated and broken up, and was therefore in no sense a formidable power. It is well also to bear in mind that there were only two European States which entertained this feeling and allowed it to be everywhere understood. The Southern scheme found support only in England and in France. In all other European countries the sympathy of people and Government alike went with the North. In most places the sympathy arose from a detestation of slavery. In Russia, or at least with the Russian Government, it arose from a dislike of rebellion. The effect was that assurances of friendship came from all civilized countries to the Northern States except from England and France alone. One of the latest instructions given by Cavour on his deathbed in this year was that an assurance should be sent to the Federal Government that Italy could give its sympathies to no movement which tended to the perpetuation of slavery. The Pope, Pius IX.. and Cardinal Antonelli repeatedly expressed their hopes for the success of the Northern cause. On the other hand, the Emperor of the French fully believed that the Southern cause was sure to triumph, and that the Union would be broken np ; he was even very willing to hasten what he assumed to be the unavoidable end. He was anxious that England should join with him in some measures to facilitate the success of the South by recognizing the Government of the Southern Confederation. He had afterwards reason to curse the day when he reckoned on the break-up of the Union and persuaded him- self that there was no occasion to take account of the Northern strength. Yet in France the people in general were on the side of the North. (Jul}' the Emperor and his Government were on that of the South. In England, on the other hand, the vast majority of what are called the influential classes came to be heart and soul with the South, and strove to bring or force the Gov- ernment to the same side. At first the Northern States counted with ab- solute confidence upon the sympathy of England. The one reproach Englishmen had always been casting in their face was that they did not take any steps to put down slavery, it is easy to un- derstand, therefore, how Mr. Lincoln and his friends counted on the sympathy of the English Government and the English people, and how surprised they were when they found English statesmen, journalists, preachers, ami English society generally deriding their misfortunes and apparently wishing for the success of their iocs. Their surprise changed into a feeling of I. irter dis- appointment. and that gave place u> an angry tem- per, which exaggerated every symptom of ill-will, distorted every fact, and saw wrong even where there only existed au honest purpose to do right. 52 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. It was while this temper was beginning to light up on both sides of the Atlantic that the unfor- tunate affair of the Trent occurred. The Con- federate Government was anxious to have a regu- lar envoy in London and another in Paris. Mr. Slidell, a prominent Southern lawyer and politi- cian, was to represent the South at the Court of the Emperor Napoleon, provided he could obtain re- cognition there ; and Mr. James Murray Mason, the author of the Fugitive Slave Law, was to be despatched on a similar mission to the Court of Queen Victoria. The two Southern envoys es- caped together from Charleston, one dark and wet October night, in a small steamer, and got to Havana. There they took passage for South- ampton in the English mail steamer Trent. The United States sloop-of-war San Jacinto happen- ed to be returning from the African coast about the same time. Her commander, Captain Wilkes, was a somewhat hot-tempered and indiscreet offi- cer. He learned at Havana that the Confeder- ate agents, with their secretaries, were on their way to Europe. He intercepted the Trent. An armed party was then sent on board, and the Confederate envoys were seized, with their secre- taries, and carried as prisoners on board the San Jacinto, despite the protest of the captain of the English steamer, and from under the protection of the English flag. The prisoners were first carried to New York, and then confined in one of the forts in Boston harbor. Now, there can- not be the slightest doubt of the illegality of this proceeding on the part of Captain Wilkes. Mr. Lincoln at once declared that the act of Captain Wilkes could not be sustained. Lord Russell demanded the surrender of the prisoners, and on January 1, 1862, the Confederate envoys were given up on the demand of the British Govern- ment, and sailed for Europe. Unfortunately, however, a great deal of harm had been done in the mean time. Popular clamor in the United States had entirely approved of the action of Captain Wilkes. Lord Palmerston's Government acted, from the first, as if an instant appeal to arms must be necessary. The episode was sin- gularly unfortunate in its effect upon the temper of the majority in England and America. From that moment there was a formidable party in England who detested the North, and a formi- dable party in the North who detested England. The cause of peace between nations lost a good friend at the close of 1861. The Prince Consort died. The death of the Prince, lamentable in everyway, was especially to be deplored at a time when influential counsels tending towards for- bearance and peace were much needed in Eng- land. But it may be said, with literal truth, that when the news of the Prince's death was made known its possible effect on the public affairs of England was forgotten orunthought of in the re- gret for the personal loss. Outside the precincts of Windsor Castle itself the event was wholly un- expected. Perhaps even within the precincts of the Castle there was little expectation up to the last that such a calamity was so near. The pub- lic had only learned a few days before that the Prince was unwell. On December 8 the Court Circular mentioned that he was confined to his room by a feverish cold. Then it was announced that he was " suffering from fever, unattended by unfavorable symptoms, but likely, from its symp- toms, to continue for some time." This latter announcement appeared in the form of a bulletin on Wednesday, December 11. About the mid- night of Saturday, the 14th, there was some sen- sation and surprise created throughout London by the tolling of the great bell of St. Paul's. Not many people even suspected the import of the unusual sound. It signified the death of the Prince Consort. He died at ten minutes before eleven that Saturday night, in the presence of the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and the Princesses Alice and Helena. The fever had become fierce and wasting on Friday, and from that time it was only a descent to death. Congestion of the lungs set in, the consequences of exhaustion ; the Prince fell into utter weakness, and died conscious, but without pain. He knew the Queen to the last. His latest look was turned to her. The Prince Consort was little more than forty- wo years of age when he died. He had always seemed to be in good, although not perhaps robust, health ; and he had led a singularly temperate life. No one in the kingdom seemed less likely to be prematurely cutoff; and bis death came on the whole country with the shock of an utter sur- prise. The regret was universal ; and the deep- est regret was for the wife he had loved so dear- ly, and whom he was condemned so soon to leave behind. Every testimony has spoken to the sin- gularly tender and sweet affection of the loving home the Queen and Prince had made for them- selves. A domestic happiness rare even among the obscurest was given to them. It is one of the necessities of royal position that marriage should be seldom the union of hearts. The "hoice is limited by considerations which do not affect people in private life. The convenience of States has to be taken into account — the possible likings and dislikings of peoples whom perhaps the bride and bridegroom have never seen, and are never destined to see. A marriage among princes is, in nine cases out of ten, a marriage of conven- ience only. Seldom indeed is it made, as that of the Queen was, wholly out of love. Seldom is it even in love-matches when the instincts of love are not deceived and the affection grows stronger with the days. Every one knew that this had been the strange good fortune of the Queen of England. There was something poetic, romantic in the sympathy with which so many faithful and loving hearts turned to her in her hour of unspeakable distress. The controversy about the Trent was hardly over when Lord Russell and Mr. Adams were engaged in the more prolonged and far more seri- ous controversy about the Confederate privateers. Some Confederate cruisers, the Savannah, the Sumter, the Nashville, and the Petrel, scoured the seas for a while as privateers, and did some damage to the shipping of the Northern States. These were, however, but small vessels, and each had only a short run of it. The first privateer which became really formidable to the shipping of the North was a vessel called in her earlier history the Oreto, but afterwards better known as the Florida. Within three months she had captured fifteen vessels. Thirteen of these she burnt, and the other two were converted into cruisers by the Confederate Government. The Florida was built in Birkenhead, nominally for the use of the Italian Government. She got out of the Mersey without detention or difficulty, al- though the American Minister had warned our Government of her real purpose. From that time Great Britain became what an American writer calls without any exaggeration "the na- val base of the Confederacy." As fast as ship- builders could work they were preparing in British shipping yards a privateer navy for the Confederate Government. Mr. Gladstone said, in a speech which was the subject of much com- ment, that Jefferson Davis had made a navy. The statement was at all events not literally cor- rect. The English ship-builders made the navy. Mr. Davis only ordered it and paid for it. Only seven Confederate privateers were really formi- dable to the United States, and of these five were built in British dockyards. We are not includ- ing in the list any of the actual war-vessels, the rams and iron-clads, that British energy was pre- paring for the Confederate Government. We are now speaking merely of the privateers. Of these privateers the most famous by far was the Alabama. It was the fortune of this vessel to be the occasion of the establishment of a new rule in the law of nations. It had nearly been her fortune to bring England and the United States into war. The Alabama was built ex- pressly for the Confederate service in one of the dockyards of the Mersey. She was built by the house of Laird, a firm of the greatest reputation in the ship-building trade, and whose former head was the representative of Birkenhead in the House of Commons. While in process of con- struction she was called the "290;" and it was not until she had put to sea and hoisted the Confederate flag, and Captain Semmes, formerly commander of the Sumter, had appeared on her deck in full Confederate uniform, that she took the name of the Alabama. During her career the Alabama captured nearly seventy Northern vessels. Her plan was always the same. She hoisted the British flag, and thus decoyed her in- tended victim within her reach; then she dis- played the Confederate colors and captured her prize. But the Alabama did not do much fight- ing; she preyed on merchant vessels that could not fight. Only twice, so far as we know, did she engage in a fight. The first time was with the Hatteras, a small blockading ship, whose broad- side was so unequal to that of the Alabama that she was sunk in a quarter of an hour. The second time was with ihe United States ship of war Kearsan/e, whose size and armaments were about equal to her own. The fight took place off the French shore, near Cherbourg, and the career of the Alabama was finished in an hour. The Confederate rover was utterly shattered, and went down. Captain Semmes was saved by an English steam yacht, and brought to England to be made a hero for a while, and then forgot- ten. The cruise of the Alabama had lasted nearly two years. During this time she had contrived to drive American commerce from the seas. The United States Government complained that the Alabama was practically an English vessel. She was built by English builders in an English - dockyard : she was manned for the most part by an English crew ; her guns were English ; her gunners were English ; many of the latter belonged to the Royal Naval Reserve, and were actually receiving pay from the Eng- lish Government; she sailed under the English flag, was welcomed in English harbors, and nev- er was in, or even saw, a Confederate port. Mr. Adams called the attention of the Government in good time to the fact that the Alabama was in course of construction in the dock-yard of Messrs. Laird, and that she was intended for the Confederate Service. Indeed, there never was the slightest doubt on the mind of any one about the business for which the vessel in the Birken- head dock-yard was destined. There was no at- tempt at concealment in the matter. Newspaper paragraphs described the gradual construction of the Confederate cruiser, as if it were a British vessel of war tiiat Messrs. Laird had in hand. Whatever technical difficulties might have inter- vened, it is clear that no real doubt on the mind of the Government had anything to do with the delays that took place. At last Lord Russell asked for the opinion of the Queen's Advocate. Time was pressing ; the cruiser was nearly ready for sea. Everything seemed to be against us. The Queen's Advocate happened to be sick at the moment, and there was another delay. At last he gave his opinion that the vessel ought to be delained. The opinion came just too late. The Alabama had got to sea ; her cruise of nearly two years began. She went upon her de- stroying course with the cheers of English sym- pathizers and the rapturous tirades of English newspapers glorifying her. When Mr. Bright brought on the question in the House of Com- mons, Mr. Laird declared that he would rather be known as the builder of a dozen Alabamas than be a man who, like Mr. Bright, had set class against class ; and the majority of the House applauded him to the echo. Lord Pal- merston peremptorily declared that in this coun- try we were not in the habit of altering our laws to please a foreign State ; a declaration which came with peculiar effect from the author of the abortive Conspiracy Bill, got up to propitiate the Emperor of the French. The building of vessels for the Confederates began to go on with more boldness than ever. Two iron rams of the most formidable kind were built and about to be launched in 1863 for the purpose of forcibly opening the Southern ports and destroying the blockading vessels. Mr. Adams kept urging on Lord Russell, and for a long time in vain, that something must be done to stop their departure. Lord Russell at first thought the British Government could not interfere in any way. Mr. Adams pressed and protested, and at length was informed that the matter was "now under the serious consid- eration of her Majesty's Government." At last, on September 5, Mr. Adams wrote to tell Lord Russell that one of the iron-clad vessels was on A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 58 the point of departure from this kingdom on its hostile errand against the United States ; and added, "' It would he superfluous in me to point oat to your lordship that this is war." On Sep- tember 8 Mr. Adams received the following: "Lord Russell presents his compliments to Mr. Adams, and lias the honor to inform him that instructions have heen issued to prevent the de- parture of the two ironclad vessels from Liver- pool." No more Confederate war-ships sailed from English ports after this. But Lord Russell declined peremptorily to admit that the English Government were in any way responsible for what had been done by the Confederate cruis- ers, or that England was called on to alter her domestic law to please her neighbors. Mr. Adams therefore dropped the matter for the time, intimating, however, that it was only put aside for the moment. The United States Gov- ernment, had their hands full just then, and in any case could afford to wait. The question would keep. The British Government were glad to be relieved from the discussion and from the necessity of arguing the various points with Mr. Adams, and were under the pleasing impression that they had heard the last of it. In the mean time the war had been going bad- ly for the North, and her enemies began to think that her fate was sealed. The Emperor Napo- leon was working hard to get England to join with him in recognizing the South. Mr. Roe- buck had at one time a motion in the House of Commons calling on the English Government to make up their minds to the recognition ; and Mr. Adams had explained again and again that such a step would mean war with the Northern States. Mr. Adams was satisfied that the fate of Mr. Roebuck's motion would depend on the military events of a few days. He was right. The motion was never pressed to a division ; for during its progress there came at one mo- ment the news that General Grant had taken Vicksburg, on the Mississippi, and that General Meade had defeated the Southern General Lee at Gettysburg. That was the turning-point of the war, although not many saw it even then. The South never had a chance after that hour. There was no more said in this country about the recognition of the Southern Confederation, and the Emperor of the French was thencefor- ward free to carry out his plans as far as he could and alone. The Emperor Napoleon, however, was for the present confident and quite content with the suc- cess of his Mexican expedition. Mexico had been for a long time in a very disorganized state. The Constitutional Government of Benito Juarez had come into power, and got into difficulties with several foreign states, England among the rest, over the claims of foreign creditors, and wrongs committed against foreign subjects. Lord Russell, who had acted with great forbearance towards Mexico up to this time, now agreed to co- operate with France and Spain in exacting repa- ration from Juarez. But he explained clearly that England would have nothing to do with up- setting the Government of Mexico, or imposing any European system on the Mexican people. The Emperor of the French, however, had al- ready made up his mind that he would establish a sort of feudatory monarchy in Mexico. He therefore persuaded the Archduke Maximilian, brother of the Emperor of Austria, to accept the crown of the monarchy he proposed to set up in Mexico. The Archduke was a man of pure and noble character, hut evidently wanting in strength of mind, and he agreed after some hesitation to accept the offer. At last the designs of the French Government became evident to the Eng- lish and Spanish Plenipotentiaries, and England and Spain withdrew from the Convention. The Emperor of the French overran a certain portion of Mexico with his troops, be occupied the capi- tal, and he set up the Mexican Empire with Maximilian as Emperor. French troops re- mained to protect the new Empire. Against all this the United States Government protested from time to time. They disclaimed any inten- tion to prevent the Mexican people from estab- lishing an empire if they thought fit; but they pointed out that grave inconveniences must arise if a foreign Power like France persisted in occu- pying with her troops any part of the American continent. However, the Emperor Napoleon, complacently satisfied that the United States were going to pieces, and that the Southern Con- federacy would be his friend and ally, received the protests of the American Government with unveiled indifference. At last the tide in Amer- ican affairs turned. The Confederacy crumbled away — Richmond was taken ; Lee surrendered ; Jefferson Davis was a prisoner. Then the Unit- ed States returned to the Mexican Question, and the American Government informed Louis Na- poleon that it would be inconvenient, gravely in- convenient, if be were not to withdraw his sol- diers from Mexico. A significant movement of American troops, under a renowned general, then flushed with success, was made in the di- rection of the Mexican frontier. There was noth- ing for Louis Napoleon but to withdraw. Up to the last he had been rocked in the vainest hopes. Long after the end had become patent to every other eye he assured an English member of Par- liament that he looked upon the Mexican Empire as the greatest creation of his reign. The Mexican Empire lasted two months and a week after the last of the French troops had been withdrawn. Maximilian endeavored to raise an army of his own, and to defend himself against the daily increasing strength of Juarez. He showed all the courage which might have been expected from his race, and from his own previ- ous history. But in an evil hour for himself, and yielding, it is stated, to the persuasion of a French officer, he had issued a decree that all who resist- ed his authority in arms should be shot. By virtue of this monstrous ordinance Mexican of- ficers of the regular army, taken prisoners while resisting, as they were bound to do, the invasion of a European prince, were shot like brigands. The Mexican general, Ortega, was one of those thus shamefully done to death. When Juarez conquered, and Maximilian in his turn was made a prisoner, he was tried by court-martial, con- demned, and shot. His death created a pro- found sensation in Europe. He had in all his previous career won respect everywhere, and even in the Mexican scheme he was universally regard- ed as a noble victim who had heen deluded to his doom. The conduct of Juarez in thus hav- ing him put to death raised a cry of horror from all Europe ; hut it must be allowed that, by the fatal decree which he had issued, the unfortunate Maximilian had left himself liable to a stern re- taliation. There was cold truth in the remark made at the time, that if be had been only Gen- eral and not Archduke Maximilian his fate would not have aroused so much surprise or anger. We need not follow any farther the history of the American Civil War. The restoration of the Union, the assassination of President Lin- coln, and the emancipation of the colored race from all the disqualifications, as well as all the bondage, of the slave system, belong to American and not to English history. But the Alabama dis- pute led to consequences which are especially im- portant to England, and which shall be described in their due time. CHAPTER XIX. THE LAST OF LORD PALMERSTON. During the later months of his life the Prince Consort had been busy in preparing for another great International Exhibition to be held in Lon- don. It was arranged that this Exhibition should open on May 1, 1862; and although the sudden death of the Prince Consort greatly interfered with the prospects of the undertaking, it was not thought right that there should be any postpone- ment of the opening. The Exhibition building was erected in South Kensington, according to a design by Captain Fowke. It certainly was not a beautiful structure. It was a huge and solid erection of brick, with two enormous domes, each in shape strikingly like the famous crinoline pet- ticoat of the period. The Fine Arts department of the Exhibition was a splendid collection of pictures and statues. The display of products of all kinds from the Colonies was rich, and was a novelty, for the colonists contributed little in- deed to the Exhibition of 1851, and the interven- ing eleven years had been a period of immense colonial advance. But no one felt any longer any of the hopes which floated dreamily and gracefully round the scheme of 1851. There was no talk or thought of a reign of peace any more. The Civil War was raging in America. The Continent of Europe was trembling all over with the spasms of war just done, and the premoni- tory symptoms of war to come. The Exhibition of 18(>2 had to rely upon its intrinsic merits, like any ordinary show or any public market. Poe- try and prophecy had nothing to say to it. England was left for some time to an almost absolute inactivity. Between Palmerston and the Radical party in England there was a grow- ing coldness. He had not only thrown over Re- form himself, but he had apparently induced most of his colleagues to accept the understand- ing that nothing more was to be said about it. He bad gone in for a policy of large expenditure for the purpose of securing the country against die possibilities of French invasion. He had spoken of the commercial treaty with France as if it were a thing rather ridiculous than other- wise. He was unsparing whenever he had a chance in bis ridicule of the ballot. He had very little sympathy with the grievances of the Nonconformists, some of them even then real and substantial enough. He took no manner of interest in anything proposed for the political benefit of Ireland. He was indeed impatient of all "views;" and be regarded what is called philosophic statesmanship with absolute con- tempt. The truth is, that Palmerston ceased to be a statesman the moment be came to deal with domestic interests. When actually in the Home Office, and compelled to turn his attention to the business of that department, he proved a very ef- ficient administrator, because of his shrewdness and bis energy. But as a rule he had not much to do with English political affairs, and he knew little or nothing of them. He was even child- ishly ignorant of many things which any ordina- ry public man is supposed to know. He was at home in foreign — that is, in Continental politics; for he had hardly any knowledge of American affairs, and almost up to the moment of the fall of Richmond was confident that the Union never could be restored, and that separation was the easy and natural way of settling all the dispute. When be read anything except despatches he read scientific treatises, for be bad a keen inter- est in some branches of science ; but he cared little for modern English literature. The world in which he delighted to mingle talked of Conti- nental politics generally, and a great knowledge of English domestic affairs would have been thrown away there. Naturally, therefore, when Lord Palmerston had nothing particular to do in foreign affairs, and had to turn his attention to England, be relished the idea of fortifying her against foreign foes. Lord Palmerston acted sincerely on his opinion, that "man is a fighting and quarrelling animal," and he could see no better business for English statesmanship than to keep this country always in a condition to resist a possible attack from somebody. He differed almost radically on this point from two at least of his more important colleagues, Mr. Gladstone and Sir George Cornewall Lewis. Lord Palmerston's taste for foreign affairs had now ample means of gratification. England had some small troubles of her own to deal with. A serious insurrection sprang up in New Zealand. The tribe of the Waikntos, living near Auck- land, in the Northern Island, began a movement against the colonists, and this became before long a general rebellion of the Maori natives. The Maoris are a remarkably intelligent race, and are skilful in war as well as in peace. They had a certain literary art among them ; they could all, or nearly all, read and write; many of them were eloquent and could display considerable diplomatic skill. They fought so well in this in- stance that the British troops actually suffered a somewhat serious repulse in endeavoring to take one of the Maori palisado-fortified villages. In the end, however, the Maoris were of course de- feated. The quarrel was a survival of a long- standing dispute between the colonists and the 54 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES - . natives about land. It was, in fact, the old story : the colonists eager to increase their stock of land, and the natives jealous to guard their quickly vanishing possession. The events led to grave discussion in Parliament. The Legislature of New Zealand passed enactments confiscating some nine million acres of the native lands, and giving the Colonial Government some- thing like absolute and arbitrary power of ar- rest and imprisonment. The Government at home proposed to help the colonists by a guar- antee to raise a loan of one million to cover the expenses of the war, or the colonial share of them, and this proposal was keenly discussed in the House of Commons. The Government passed their Guarantee Bill, not without many a protest from both sides of the House that colo- nists who readily engaged in quarrels with na- tives must some time or other be prepared to bear the expenses entailed by their own policy. Trouble, too, arose on the Gold Coast of Afri- ca. Some slaves of the King of Ashantee had taken refuge in British territory ; the Governor of Cape Coast Colony would not give them up ; and in the spring of 1863 the King made threat- ening demonstrations, and approached within for- ty miles of our frontier. The Governor, assum- ing that the settlement was about to be invaded by the Ashantees, took it upon him to anticipate the movement by sending an expedition into the territory of the King. The season was badly chosen ; the climate was pestilential ; even the black troops from the West Indies could not en- dure it, and began to die like flies. The ill- advised undertaking had to be given up, and the Government at home only escaped a vote of cen- sure by a narrow majority of seven. Much dis- cussion, also, was aroused by occurrences in Ja- pan. A British subject, Mr. Richardson, was murdered in the English settlement of Japan, and on an open road made free to Englishmen by treaty. This was in September, 18G2. The murder was committed by some of the followers of Prince Satsuma, one of the powerful feudal princes, who then practically divided the author- ity of Japan with the regular Government. Re- paration was demanded both from the Japanese Government and from Prince Satsuma ; the Government paid the sum demanded of them, £100,000, and made an apology. Prince Satsu- ma was called on to pay £25,000, and to see that the murderers were brought to punishment. Sat- suma did nothing, and in 1SG3 Colonel Neale, the English Charge cV Affaires in Japan, sent Ad- miral Kuper with the English fleet to Kagosima, Satsuma's capital, to demand satisfaction. The Kagosima forts opened fire on him, and he then bombarded the town and laid the greater portion of it in ashes. Fortunately, the non-combatant inhabitants, the women and children, had had time to get out of Kagosima, and the destruction of life was not great. The whole transaction was severely condemned by man}' Englishmen, but the House of Commons, however, sustained the Government by a large majority. The Govern- ment, it should be said, did not profess to jus- tify the destruction of Kagosima. Their case was that Admiral Kuper had to do something ; that there was nothing he could very well do when he had been fired upon but to bombard the town ; and that the burning of the town was an accident of the conflict for which neither he nor they could be held responsible. Satsuma finally submitted and paid the money, and promised justice. But there were more murders and more bombardings yet before we came to anything like an abiding settlement with Japan ; and Japan itself was not far off a revolution, the most sudden, organic, and to all appearance complete that has ever yet been seen in the history of nations. In the mean time, however, our Government became involved iu liabilities more perilous than any disputes in Eastern or Southern islands could bring on them. An insurrection of a very serious kind broke out in Poland. It was provoked by the attempt of the Russian Government to choke off the patriotic movement which was going on in Poland by pressing into the military ranks all the young men in the cities who could by any possibility be supposed to have any sympathy with it. The young men who could escape fled to the woods, and there formed themselves into armed bands, which gave the Russians great trou- ble. The rebels could disperse and come together with such ease and rapidity that it was very diffi- cult indeed to get any real advantage over them. The frontier of Austrian-Poland was very near, and the insurgents could cross it, escape from the Russian troops, and recross it when they pleased to resume their harassing operations. Austria was not by any means so unfriendly to the Polish patriots as both Russia and Prussia were. Aus- tria had come unwillingly into the scheme for the partition of Poland, and had got little profit by it ; and it was well understood that if the other Powers concerned could see their way to the restoration of Polish nationality, Austria, for her part, would make no objection. Prussia was still very much under the dominion of Russia, and was prevailed upon or coerced to execute an odious convention with Russia, by virtue of which the Russian troops were allowed to follow Polish insurgents into Prussian territory. It was plain from the first that the Poles could not under the most favorable circumstances hold out long against Russia by virtue of their own strength. The idea of the Poles was to keep the in- surrection up, by any means and at any risk, until some of the great European Powers should be in- duced to interfere. Despite the lesson of subse- quent events, the Poles were well justified in their political calculations. Their hopes were at one time on the very eve of being realized. The Em- peror Napoleon was eager to move to their aid, and Lord Russell was hardly less eager. The Polish cause was very popular in England. Rus- sia was hated ; Prussia was now hated even more. There was no question of party feeling about the sympathy with Poland. There were about as many Conservatives as Radicals who were ready to favor the idea of some effort being made in her behalf. Lord Ellenborough spoke up for Poland in the House of Lords with poetic and impas- sioned eloquence. Lord Shaftesbury from the opposite benches denounced the conduct of Rus- sia. The Irish Catholic was as ardent for Polish liberty as the London artisan. Among its most conspicuous and energetic advocates in England were Mr. Pope Hennessy, a Catholic and Irish member of Parliament ; and Mr. Edmond Beales, the leader of a great Radical organization in Lon- don. Great public meetings were held, at which Russia was denounced and Poland advocated, not merely by popular orators, but by men of high rank and grave responsibility. War was not openly called for at those meetings, or in the House of Commons ; but it was urged that Eng- land, as one of the Powers which had signed the Treaty of Vienna, should join with other States in summoning Russia to recognize the rights, such as they were, which had been secured to Poland by virtue of that treaty. In France the greatest enthusiasm prevailed for the cause of Poland. The Emperor Napoleon was ready for interven- tion if he could get England to join him. Lord Russell went so far as to draw up and despatch to Russia, in concert with France and Austria, a note on the subject of Poland. It urged on the attention of the Russian Government six points, as the outline of a system of pacification for Poland. These were — a complete amnesty ; a national representation ; a distinct national ad- ministration of Poles for the kingdom of Poland ; full liberty of conscience, with the repeal of all the restrictions imposed on Catholic worship ; the recognition of the Polish language as official ; the establishment of a regular system of recruit- ing. There was an almost universal impression at one moment that, in the event of Russia de- clining to accept these recommendations, Eng- land, Austria, and France would make war to compel her. It soon became known, however, that there was to be no intervention. Lord Palmerston put a stop to the whole idea. It was not that he sympathized with Russia. But Lord Palmer- ston had by this time grown into a profound dis- trust of the Emperor Napoleon. He was con- vinced that the Emperor was stirring in the matter chiefly with the hope of getting an op- portunity of establishing himself in the Rhine provinces of Prussia, on the pretext of compelling Prussia to remain neutral in the struggle, or of punishing her if she took the side of Russia. Lord Palmerston would have nothing to do with a proposal of the Emperor for an identical note to be addressed to Prussia on the subject of the convention with Russia. After a while it became known that England had decided not to join in any project for armed intervention ; and from that moment Russia became merely contemptu- ous. The Emperor of the French would not and could not take action singlehanded ; and Prince Gortschakoft' politely told Lord Russell that England had really better mind her own business and not encourage movements in Poland which were simply the work of "cosmopolitan revolution." After this Austria did not allow her frontier line to be made any longer a basis of operations against Russia. The insurrection was flung wholly on its own resources. It was kept up gallantly and desperately for a time, but the end was certain. The Russians carried out their measures of pacification with an unflinch- ing hand. Floggings, and shootings, and hang- ings of women as well as of men were in full vigor. Droves of prisoners were sent to Siberia. Poland was crushed. The intervention of Eng- land had only harmed Poland. It had been carried just far enough to irritate the oppressor, and not far enough to be of the slightest benefit to the oppressed. The effect of the policy pursued by England in this case was to bring about a certain coldness between the Emperor Napoleon and the English Government. This fact was made apparent some little time after, when the dispute between Denmark and the Germanic Confederation came up in relation to the Schleswig-Holstein succes- sion. Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg were Duchies attached to Denmark. Holstein and Lauenburg were purely German in nationality, and a large proportion of the population of Schles- wig, much the larger proportion in the southern districts, were German. There can be no doubt that the heart of the German people was deeply interested in the condition of the Schleswigers and Holsteiners. It was only natural that a great people should have been unwilling to see so many of their countrymen, on the very edge of Germany itself, kept under the rule of the Danish King. In truth, the claims of Germany and Denmark were irreconcilable. Put into plain words, the dispute was between Denmark, which wanted to make the Duchies Danish, and Ger- many, which wanted to have them German. The affairs of Prussia were now in the hands of a strong man, one of the strongest men mod- ern times have known. Daring, unscrupulous, and crafty as Cavour, Bismarck was even already able to wield a power which had never been within Cavour's reach. The public intelligence of Europe had not yet recognized the marvellous combination of qualities which was destined to make their owner famous, and to prove a dis- solving force in the settled systems of Germany, and indeed of the whole European continent. As yet the general opinion of the world set down Herr von Bismarck as simply a fanatical reac- tionary, a combination of bully and buffoon. The Schleswig-Holstein Question became, how- ever, a very serious one for Denmark when it was taken up by Bismarck. From first to last the mind of Bismarck was evidently made up that the Duchies should be annexed to Prussia. War became certain. Austria and Prussia en- tered into joint agreements for the purpose, and Denmark, one of the smallest and weakest king- doms in the world, found herself engaged in con- flict with Austria and Prussia combined. The little Danish David had defied two Goliaths to combat at one moment. Were the Danes and their Sovereign and their Government mad ? Not at all. They well knew that they could not hold out alone against the two German Great Powers. But they counted on the help of Europe, and especially of England. Lord Russell, in multitudinous despatches, had very often given the Danish Government sound and sensible advice. He had declared that if Denmark did not follow England's advice, Eng- land would not come to her assistance in case she were attacked by the Germans. Denmark A SHORT HISTORY OB" OUR OWN TIMES. interpreted this as an assurance that if she fol- lowed England's counsels she might count on England's protection, and she insisted that she had strictly followed England's counsels for this very reason. When the struggle seemed ap- proaching Lord Falmerston said, in the House of Commons, at the close of a session, that if any violent attempt were made to overthrow the rights and interfere with the independence of Denmark, those who made the attempt would find in the result that it would not he Denmark alone with which they would have to contend. These words were afterwards explained as in- tended to be merely prophetic, and to indicate Lord Palmerston 's private belief that in the event of Denmark being invaded, France, or Russia, or some State somewhere, would probably be generous enough to come to the assistance of the Danes. But when the words were spoken it did not occur to the mind of any one to interpret them in such a sense. Every one believed that Lord Falmerston was answering on behalf of the English Government and the English people. The Danes counted with confidence on the help of England. They refused to accept the terms which Germany would have imposed. They prepared for war. Fublic opinion in Eng- land was all but unanimous in favor of Den- mark. Five out of every six persons were for England's drawing the sword in her cause at once. Five out of every six of the small minor- ity who were against war were nevertheless in sympathy with the Danes. Many reasons com- bined to bring about this condition of national feeling. Austria was not popular in England ; Prussia was detested. The Prince of Wales had been married to the Princess Alexandra, the daughter of the King of Denmark, on March 10, 1863. She was not a Dane, but her family had now come to rule in Denmark, and she became in that sense a Danish princess. Her youth, her beauty, her goodness, her sweet and winning ways, had made her more popular than any for- eign princess ever before was known to be in England. It seemed even to some who ought to have had more judgment that the virtues and charms of the Princess Alexandra, and the fact that she was now Princess of Wales, supplied ample proof of the justice of the Danish cause, and of the duty of Kngland to support it in arms. Not small, therefore, was the disappointment spread over the country when it was found that the Danes were left alone to their defence, and that England was not to put out a hand to help them. Lord Russell was willing at one moment to intervene by arms in support of Denmark if France would join with England, and he made a proposal of this kind to the French Govern- ment. The Emperor Napoleon refused to inter- fere. He had been hurt by England's refusal to join with him in sustaining Poland against Russia, and now was his time to make a return. There was absolutely nothing for it but to leave the Danes to fight out their battle in the best way they could. The Danes fought with a great deal of spirit ; but they were extravagantly outnumbered, and their weapons were miserably unfit to contend against their powerful enemies. The Prussian Deedle-gun came into play with terrible effect in the campaign, and it soon made all attempts at resistance on the part of the Danes utterly hope- less. The Danes lost their ground and their fortresses. They won one little fight on the sea, defeating some Austrian vessels in the German Ocean off Heligoland. The news was received with wild enthusiasm in England. Its announce- ment in the House of Commons drew down the unwonted manifestation of a round of applause from the Strangers' Gallery. But the struggle had ceased to be anything like a serious cam- paign. The English Government kept up active negotiations on behalf of peace, and at length succeeded in inducing the belligerents to agree to a suspension of arms, in order that a Confer- ence of the Great Powers might be held in Lon- don. The deliberations of the Conference came to nothing. Curiously enough the final rejec- tion of all compromise came from the Danes. The war broke out again. The renewed hos- tilities lasted, however, but a short time. The Danish Government sent Prince John of Den- mark direct to Berlin to negotiate for peace, and terms of peace were easily arranged. Nothing could be more simple. Denmark gave up every- thing she had been fighting for, and agreed to bear part of the expense which had been entailed upon the German Powers by the task of chastis- ing her. The Duchies were surrendered to the disposal of the Allies. A new war was to settle the ownership of the Duchies, and some much graver questions of German interest at the same time. It was obviously impossible that the conduct of the English Government should pass unchal- lenged. Accordingly, in the two Houses of Parliament notices were given of a vote of cen- sure on the Government. Lord Malmesbury, in Lord Derby's absence, proposed the resolu- tion in the House of Lords, and it was carried by a majority of nine. The Government made little account of that; the Lords always had a Tory majority. In the House of Commons, however, the matter was much more serious. On July 4, 1864, Mr. Disraeli himself moved the resolution condemning the conduct of the Gov- ernment. The resolution invited the House to express its regret that "while the course pursued by her Majesty's Government has failed to main- tain their avowed policy of upholding the integ- rity and independence of Denmark, it has lowered the just influence of this country in the capitals of Europe, and thereby diminished the securities for peace." Mr. Disraeli's speech was ingenious and telling. The Government did not make any serious attempts to justify all they had done. They were glad to seize upon the opportunity offered by an amendment which Mr. Kinglake proposed, and which merely declared the satis- faction with which the House had learned "that at this conjuncture her Majesty had been advised to abstain from armed intervention in the war now going on between Denmark and the German Powers." This amendment, it will be seen at once, did not meet the accusations raised by Mr. Disraeli. It simply asserted that the House was, at all events, glad to hear there was to be no in- terference in the war. Lord Palmerston, how- ever, had an essentially practical way of looking at every question. He was of opinion, with O'Connell, that, after all, the verdict is the thing. He knew he could not get the verdict on the par- ticular issues raised by Mr. Disraeli, but he was in good hope that he could get it on the policy of his administration generally. His speech closing the debate was a master- piece, not of eloquence, not of political argument, but of practical Parliamentary tactics. He spoke, as was his fashion, without, the aid of a single note. It was a wonderful spectacle that of the man of eighty thus in the growing morning pouring out his unbroken stream of easy, effective eloquence. He dropped the particular questions connected with the vote of censure almost im- mediately, and went into a long review of the whole policy of his administration. He spoke as if the resolution before the House were a pro- posal to impeach the Government for the entire course of their domestic policy. He passed in triumphant review all the splendid feats which Mr. Gladstone had accomplished in the reduc- tion of taxation ; he took credit for the commer- cial treaty with France, and for other achieve- ments in which at the time of their accomplish- ment he had hardly even affected to feel an in- terest. He spoke directly at the economical Lib- erals, the men who were for sound finance and freedom of international commerce. The regu- lar Opposition, as he well knew, would vote against him; the regular supporters of the Min- istry would vote for him. Nothing could alter the course to be taken by either of these parties. The advanced Liberals, the men whom possibly Palmerston in his heart rather despised as calcula- tors and economists — these might be affected one way or the other by the manner in which he ad- dressed himself to the debate. To these and at these he spoke. He knew that Mr. Gladstone was the one leading man in the Ministry whom they regarded with full trust and admiration, and on Mr. Gladstone's exploits he virtually rested his case. His speech said in plain words : " If you vote for this resolution proposed by Mr. Disraeli you turn Mr. Gladstone out of office; you give the Tories, who understand nothing about Free Trade, and who opposed the French Commercial Treaty, an opportunity of marring all that he has made." Some of Lord Palmer- ston's audience were a little impatient now and then. " What has all this to do with the ques- tion before the House?" was murmured from more than one bench. It had everything to do with the question that was really before the House. That question was, "Shall Palmerston remain in office, or shall he go out and the Tories come in?" When the division was taken Lord Palmerston was saved by a majority of eighteen. It was not a very brilliant victory : there were not many votes to spare. But it was a victory. The Conservative miss by a foot was as good for Lord Palmerston as a miss by a mile. It gave him a secure tenure of office for the rest of his life. Such as it was, the victory was won main- ly by his own skill, energy, and astuteness, by the ready manner in which he evaded the question actually in debate, and rested his claim to ac- quittal on services which no one proposed to dis- parage. That was the last great speech made by Lord Palmerston. That was the last great occasion on which he was called upon to address the House of Commons. The effort was worthy of the emergency, and, at least in an artistic sense, deserved success. The speech exactly served its purpose. It had no brilliant passages. It had no hint of an elevated thought. It did not trouble itself with any profession of exalted pur- pose or principle. It did not contain a single sentence that any one would care to remember after the emergency had passed away. But it did for Lord Palmerston what great eloquence might have failed to do ; what a great orator by virtue of his very genius and oratorical instincti might only have marred. It took captive the wavering minds, and it carried the division. One cannot study English politics, even in the most superficial way, without being struck by the singular regularity with which they are gov- erned by the law of action and reaction. The succession of ebb and flow in the tides is not more regular and more certain. A season of political energy is sure to come after a season of political apathy. The movement of reaction against Reform in domestic policy was in full force during the earlier years of Lord Palmer- ston's Government. In home politics, and where finance and commercial legislation were not con- cerned, Palmerston was a Conservative Minister. He was probably on the whole more highly es- teemed among the rank and file of the Opposi- tion in the House of Commons than by the rank and file on his own side. Not a few of the Con- servative country gentlemen would in their hearts have been glad if he could have remained Prime- minister for ever. Many of those who voted, with their characteristic fidelity to party, for Mr. Disraeli's resolution of censure were glad in their hearts that Lord Palmerston came safely out of the difficulty. But as the years went on there were manifest signs of the coining and in- evitable reaction. One of the most striking of these indications was found in the position taken by Mr. Gladstone. For some time Mr. Glad- stone had been more and more distinctly identi- fying himself with the opinions of the advanced Liberals. The advanced Liberals themselves were of two sections or fractions, working to- gether almost always, but very distinct in com- plexion ; and it was Mr. Gladstone's fortune to be drawn by his sympathies to both alike. He was of course drawn towards the Manchester School by his economic views ; by Ins agreement with them on nil subjects relating to finance and to freedom of commerce. But the Manchester Liberals were for non-intervention in foreign politics; and they carried this into their sympa- thies as well as into their principles. The other section of the advanced Liberals were sometimes even ffightily eager in their sympathies with the Liberal movements of the Continent. Mr. Glad- stone was in communion with the movements of foreign Liberals, as he was with those of English Free-traders and economists. He was therefore 5G A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. qualified to stand between both sections of the advanced Liberals of England, and give one hand to each. During the debates on Italian questions of 1860 and 1861 lie had identified himself with the cause of Italian unit}' and independence. In the year 1861 Garibaldi came on a visit to England, and was received in London with an outburst of enthusiasm the like whereof had not been seen since Kossuth first passed down Cheapside, and perhaps was not seen even then. At first the leading men of nearly all parties held aloof except Mr. Gladstone. He was among the very first and most cordial in his welcome to Garibaldi. Then the Liberal leaders in general thought they had better consult for their popularity by taking Garibaldi up. Then the Conservative leaders too began to think it would never do for them to hold back when the prospect of a general election was so closely overshadowing them, and they plunged into the Garibaldi welcome. The peerage then rushed at Garibaldi. The crowd in the streets were perfectly sincere, some acclaiming Garibaldi be- cause they had a vague knowledge that he had done brave deeds somewhere, and represented a cause; others, perhaps the majority, because they assumed that he was somehow opposed to the Pope. The leaders of society were for the most part not sincere. The whole thing ended in a quarrel between the aristocracy and the democracy ; and Garibaldi was got back to his island somehow. Mr. Gladstone was one of the few among the leaders who were un- doubtedly sincere, and the course he took made him a great favorite with the advanced Radi- cals. Mr. Gladstone had given other indications of a distinct tendency to pass over altogether from Conservatism, and even from Peelism, into the ranks of the Radical Reformers. On May 11, 1864, a private member brought on a motion in the House of Commons for the reduction of the borough franchise from £10 rental to £6. Dur- ing the debate that followed Mr. Gladstone made a remarkable declaration. He contended that the burden of proof rested upon those "who would exclude forty-nine fiftieths of the working-classes from the franchise •■" " it is for them to show the unwortbiness, the incapacity, and the mis- conduct of the working-class." "I say," he re- peated, "that every man who is not presum- ably incapacitated by some consideration of per- sonal unfitness or political danger is morally en- titled to come within the pale of the constitu- tion." The bill was rejected, but the speech of Mr. Gladstone gave an importance to the de- bate and to the occasion which it would not be easy to overrate. The position taken up by all Conservative minds, no matter to which side of politics their owners belonged, had been that the claim must be made out for those seeking an extension of the suffrage in their favor ; that they must show imperative public need, im- mense and clear national and political advan- tage, to justify the concession; that the mere fact of their desire and fitness for the franchise ought not to count for anything in the consider- ation. Mr. Gladstone's way of looking at the question created enthusiasm on the one side — consternation and anger on the other. Early in the following session there was a motion introduced by Mr. Dilhvyn, a staunch and per- severing Reformer, declaring that the position of the Irish State Church was unsatisfactory, and called for the early attention of her Majes- ty's Government. Mr. Gladstone spoke on the motion, and drew a contrast between the State Church of England and that of Ireland, point- ing out that the Irish Church ministered only to the religious wants of one-eighth or one-ninth of the community amid which it was established. The eyes of all Radical Reformers, therefore, began to turn to Mr. Gladstone as the future Minister of Reform in Church and State. He became from the same moment an object of dis- trust, and something approaching to detestation, in the eyes of all steady-going Conservatives. Meanwhile there were many changes taking place in the social and political life of England. Many eminent men passed away during the years that Lord Palmerston held his almost ab- solute sway over the House of Commons. One man we may mention, in the first instance, al- though he was no politician, and his death in no wise affected the prospects of parties. The at- tention of the English people was called from questions of foreign policy and of possible inter- vention in the Danish quarrel, by an event which happened on the Christmas-eve of 1863. That day it became known throughout London that the author of "Vanity Fair" was dead. Mr. Thackeray died suddenly at the house in Ken- sington which he had lately had built for him in the fashion of that Queen Anne period which he loved and had illustrated so admirably. He was still in the very prime of life; no one had ex- pected that his career was so soon to close. It had not been in any sense a long career. Suc- cess had come somewhat late to him, and he was left but a short time to enjoy it. He had es- tablished himself in the very foremost rank of English novelists — with Fielding and Goldsmith and Miss Austen and Dickens. He had been a literary man and hardly anything else, having had little to do with politics or political journal- ism. Once, indeed, he was seized with a sudden ambition to take a seat in the House of Com- mons, and at the general election of 1S57 he offered himself as a candidate for the city of Oxford in opposition to Mr. Cardwell. He was not elected ; and he seemed to accept failure cheerfully as a hint that he had better keep to literary work for the future. He would go back to his author's desk, he said good- humoredly ; and he kept his word. It is not likely he would have been a parliamentary success. He had no gift of speech, and had but little interest in the details of party politics. His political views were sentiments rather than opinions. It is not true that success in Parliament is incompatible with literary distinction. Macanlay and Grote, and two of Thackeray's own craft, Lord Beacons- field and Lord Lytton, may be called as recent witnesses to disprove that common impression. But these were men who had a distinctly politi- cal object, or who loved political life, and were only following their star when they sought seats in the House of Commons. Thackeray had no such vocation, and would have been as much out of place in parliamentary debate as a painter or a musician. He had no need to covet parlia- mentary reputation. As it was well said when the news of his defeat at Oxford reached Lon- don, the Houses of Lords and Commons together could not have produced "Barry Lyndon" and " Pendennis." His early death was a source not only of national but of world-wide regret. It eclipsed the Christmas gayety of nations. If Thackeray died too soon, it was only too soon for his family and bis friends. His fame was se- cure. He could hardly, with any length of years, have added a cubit to his literary stature. A whole group of statesmen had passed pre- maturely away. Sir James Graham had died after several years of a quiet career ; still a celeb- rity in the House of Commons, but not much in the memory of the public outside it. One, of his latest speeches in Parliament was on the Chinese war of 1860. On the last day of the session of 1861, and when almost all the other members had left the House, he remained for a while talk- ing with a friend and former colleague, and as they were separating Sir James Graham ex- pressed a cheery hope that they should meet on the first day of the next session in the same place. But Graham died in the following Octo- ber. Sidney Herbert had died a few months be- fore in the same year. Sidney Herbert had been raised to the peerage as Lord Herbert of Lea. He had entered the House of Lords because his breaking health rendered it impossible for him to stand the wear and tear of life in the Commons, and he loved politics and public affairs, and could not be induced to renounce them and live in quiet. He was a man of great gifts, and was looked upon as a prospective Prime- minister. He had a graceful and gracious bearing ; lie was an able administrator, and a very skilful and per- suasive debater. He never declaimed ; never even tried to be what is commonly called elo- quent ; but his sentences came out with a singu- larly expressive combination of force and ease, every argument telling, every stroke having the lightness of an, Eastern champion's sword-play. He had high social station, and was in every way fitted to stand at the head of English public af- fairs. He was but fifty-one years of age when he died. The country for some time looked on Sir George Lewis as a man likely to lead an ad- ministration ; but he, too, passed away before his natural time. He died two years after Sir James Graham and Sidney Herbert, and was only- some fifty-seven years old at bis death. Lord Elgin was dead and Lord Canning ; and Lord Dalhousie had been some years dead. The Duke of Newcastle died in 1861. Nor must we omit to mention the death of Cardinal Wiseman on February 15, 1865. Cardinal Wiseman had outlived the popular clamor once raised against him in England. There was a time when his name would have set all the pulpit-drums of no- Popery rattling; he came, at length, to be re- spected and admired everywhere in England as a scholar and a man of ability. He was a devoted ecclesiastic, whose zeal for his Church was his honor, and whose earnest labor in the work he was set to do had shortened his busv life. During the time from the first outbreak of the Civil War in the United States to its close all these men were removed from the scene, and the Civil War was hardly over when Richard Cobden was quietly laid in an English country church- yard. Mr. Cobden paid a visit to his constitu- ents of Rochdale in November, 1864, and spoke to a great public meeting on public affairs, and he did not appear to have lacked any of his usual ease and energy. This was Cobden's last speech. He did not come up to London until the March of 1865, and the day on which he travelled was so bitterly cold that the bronchial affection from which he was suffering became cruelly aggra- vated. He sank rapidly, and on April 2 he died. The scene in the House of Commons next even- ing was very touching. Lord Palmerston and Mr. Disraeli both spoke of Cobden with genuine feeling and sympathy; but Mr. Bright's few and broken words were as noble an epitaph as friend- ship could wish for the grave of a great and a good man. The Liberal party found themselves approach- ing a general election, with their ranks thinned by many severe losses. The Government had lost one powerful member by an event other than death. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Westbury, had resigned his office in consequence of a vote of the House of Commons. Lord Westbury had made many enemies. He was a man of great capacity and energy, into whose nature the scorn of forms and of lesser intelligences entered far too freely. His character was somewhat want- ing in the dignity of moral elevation. He had a tongue of marvellous bitterness. His sarcastic power was probably unequalled in the House of Commons while he sat there ; and when he came into the House of Lords he fairly took away the breath of stately and formal peers by the unspar- ing manner in which he employed his most dan- gerous gift. His style of cruel irony was made all the more effective by the peculiar suavity of the tone in which he gave out his sarcasms and his epithets. With a face that only suggested soft, bland benevolence, with eyes half closed as those of a mediaeval saint, and in accents of sub- dued, mellifluous benignity, the Lord Chancellor was wont to pour out a stream of irony that corroded like some deadly acid. Such a man was sure to make enemies ; and the time came when, in the Scriptural sense, they found him out. He had been lax in his manner of using his patronage. In one case he had allowed an official of the House of Lords to retire, and to receive a retiring pension, while a grave charge connected with his conduct in another public office was, to Lord Westbury's knowledge, im- pending over him ; and Lord Westbury had ap- pointed his own son to the place thus vacated. Thus at first sight it naturally appeared that Lord Westbury had sanctioned the pensioning off of a public servant, against whom a serious charge was still awaiting decision, in order that a place might be found for the Lord Chancellor's own son. A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. The question was taken up by the House of Commons, and somewhat unfortunately taken up in the first instance by a strong political opponent of the Government. On July 3, 1865, Mr. Ward Hunt moved a distinct vote of censure on the Lord Chancellor. The House did not agree to the resolution, which would have branded the Lord Chancellor's conduct as " highly repre- hensible, and calculated to throw discredit on the administration of the high offices of the State." It, however, accepted an amendment which, while acquitting Lord Westbury of any corrupt motive, declared that the granting of the pension showed a laxity of practice and want of caution with regard to the public interests on the part of the Lord Chancellor. The Government were not able to resist this resolution. Lord Palmerston made the best effort he could to save the Lord Chancellor; but the common feeling of the House held that the words of the amendment were not too strong ; and the Government had to bow to it. The Lord Chancellor immediately resigned his office. No other course was fairly open to him. The Government lost a man of singular ability and energy. Many thought, when all was done, that he had been somewhat harshly used. He would, perhaps, have been greatly surprised himself to know how many kindly things were said of him. The hour of political reaction was evidently near at hand. Five years had passed away since the withdrawal of Lord John Russell's Keform Bill ; and five years may represent in ordinary ca'culation the ebb or flow of the political tide. The dissolution of Parliament was near. Lord Derby described the Speech from the Throne at the opening of the session of 1865 as a sort of address very proper to be delivered by an aged minister to a moribund Parliament. The Parlia- ment had run its course. It had accomplished the rare fe.--t of living out its days, and having to die by simple cfHux of time. On July 6, 1865, Parliament was dissolved. The first blow was struck in the City of Lon- don, and the Liberals carried all the seats. Four Liberals were elected. In Westminster the con- test was somewhat remarkable. The Constit- uency of Westminster always had the generous ambition to wish to be represented by at least one man of distinction. Mr. Mill was induced to come out of his calm retirement in Avignon and accept the candidature for Westminster. He is- sued an address embodying his well-known po- litical opinions. He declined to look after local business, and on principle he objected to pay any part of the expenses of election. It was felt to be a somewhat bold experiment to put forward such a man as Mill among the candidates for the representation of a popular constituency. His opinions were extreme. He was not known to belong to any church or religious denomina- tion. He was a philosopher, and English polit- ical organizations do not love philosophers. He was almost absolutely unknown to his coun- trymen in general. Until he came forward as a leader of the agitation in favor of the North- ern Cause during the Civil War, he had never so far as we know, been seen on an Eng- lish political platform. Even of the electors of Westminster, very few had ever seen him before his candidature. Many were under the vague impression that he was a clever man who wrote wise books and died long ago. He was not supposed to have any liking or capacity for parliamentary life. More than ten years before it was known to a few that he had been invited to stand for an Irish county and had declined. That was at the time when his observations on the Irish land tenure system and the condition of Ireland generally had filled the hearts of many Irishmen with delight and wonder — de- light and wonder to find that a cold English philosopher and economist should form such just and generous opinions about Irish ques- tions, and should express them with such a no- ble courage. Since that time he had not been supposed to have any inclination for public lit'' : nor, we believe, had any serious effort been made to tempt him out of his retirement. The idea now occurred to Mr. James Heal, a popular West- minster politician, and he pressed it so earnestly on Mill as a public duty that Mill did not feel at liberty to refuse. Mill was one of the few men who have only to be convinced that a thing is incumbent on them as a public duty to set about doing it forthwith, no matter how distaste- ful it might be to them personally, or what ex- cellent excuses they might offer for leaving the duty to others. He had written things wdiich might well make him doubtful about the pru- dence of courting the suffrages of an English popular constituency, lie was understood to be a rationalist; he was a supporter of many political opinions that seemed to ordinary per- sons much like crotchets or even crazes. He had once said in his writings that the working classes in England were given to lying. He had now to stand up on platforms before crowded and noisy assemblies where everything he had ever written or said could be made the subject of question and of accusation, and with enemies outside capable of torturing every explanation to his disadvantage. A man of independent opinions, and who has not been ashamed to change his opinions when he thought them wrong, or afraid to put on record each opinion in the time when he held to it, is at much dis- advantage on the hustings. He will find out there what it is to have written books and to have enemies. Mill triumphed over all the difficulties by downright courage and honesty. When asked at a public meeting, chiefly com- posed of working-men, whether he had ever said the working-classes were given to lying, he an- swered straight out, "I did;" a bold, blunt ad- mission without any qualification. The bold- ness and frankness of the reply struck home to the manhood of the working-men who lis- tened to him. Here they saw a leader who would never shrink from telling them the truth. They greeted his answer with vehement ap- plause, and Mr. Mill was returned to Parlia- ment by a majority of some hundreds over the Conservative competitor. In many other instances there was a marked indication that the political tide had turned in favor of Liberal opinions. Mr. Thomas Hughes, author of "Tom Brown's Schooldays," was re- turned for Lambeth. Mr. Duncan M'Laren, brother-in-law of Mr. Bright, and an advanced Radical, was elected for Edinburgh, unseating a mild Whig. Mr. G. O. Trevelyan, a brilliant young Radical, nephew of Macaulay, came into Parliament. In Ireland some men of strong opinions, of ahility and of high character found seats in the House of Commons for the first time. One of these was Mr. J. B. Dillon, a man who had been concerned in the Irish Rebellion of 1848. Mr. Dillon had lived for some years in the United States, and had lately returned to Ireland under an amnesty. He at once re- assumed a leading part in Irish politics, and won a high reputation for his capacity and his integrity. He promised to have an influential part in bringing together the Irish members and the English Radicals, but his untimely death cut short what would unquestionably have been a very useful career. Wherever there was a change in the character of the new Parliament it seemed to be in favor of advanced Reform. It was not merely that the Tories were left in a minority, but that so many mild Whigs had been removed to give place to genuine Liberals. Mr. Disraeli himself spoke of the new Parliament, as one which had distinctly increased the strength and the following of Mr. Bright. No one could fail to see, he pointed out, that Mr. Bright occupied a very different position now from that which he had held in the late Parliament. New men had come into the House of Commons, men of integrity and ahility, who were above all things advanced Reformers. The position of Mr. Gladstone was markedly changed. He had been defeated at the Uni- versity of Oxford by Mr. Gathorne Hardy, hut was at once put in nomination I'm- South Lan- cashire, which was still open, and he was elected there. His severance from the University was regarded by the Liberals as his political eman- cipation. The Reformers then would have at their head the two great Parliamentary orators (one of them undoubtedly the future Prime- minister), and the philosophical writer and think- er of the day. This Liberal triumvirate, as they were called, would have behind them many new and earnest men to whom their words would be a law. The alarmed Tories said to them- selves that between England and the democratic flood there was left but one barrier, and that was in the person of the old statesman now in his eighty- first year, of whom more and more doubtful rumors began to arrive in London every day. Down in Hertfordshire Lord Palmerston was dying. Long as his life was, if counted by mere years, it seems much longer still when we con- sider wdiat it had compassed, and how active it had been from the earliest to the very end. Many men were older than Lord Palmerston ; he left more than one senior behind him. But they were for the most part men whose work had long been done ; men wdio had been consigned to the arm-chair of complete inactivity. Pal- merston was a hard-working statesman until within a very few days of his death. He had been a member of Parliament for nearly sixty years. He entered Parliament for the first time in the year when Byron, like himself a Harrow boy, published bis first poems. He had been in the House of Commons for thirty years when the Queen came to the throne. During all his political career he was only out of office for rare and brief seasons. It was only during the session of 1865 that Lord Palmerston began to give evidence that he was suffering severely at last from that affliction wdiich has been called the most terrible of all diseases — old age. Up to the beginning of that year he had, despite his occasional fits of gout, scarcely shown any signs of actual decay. But during the session of 1865 Lord Palmerston suf- fered much for some of the later months. His eyesight had become very weak, and even with the help of strong glasses he found it difficult to read. He was getting feeble in every way. He ceased to have that joy of the strife which in- spired him during Parliamentary debate even up to the attainment of his eightieth year. He had kept up his bodily vigor and the youthful elastic- ity of his spirits so long, that it must have come on him with the shock of a painful surprise when he first found that his frame and his nerves were beyond doubt giving way. and that he too must succumb to the cruel influence of years. The collapse of his vigor came on almost at a stroke. Lord Palmerston began to discontinue his at- tendances at the House ; when he did attend, it was evident that he went through his Parlia- mentary duties with difficulty and even with pain. The Tiverton election on the dissolution of Parliament was his last public appearance. He went from Tiverton to Brocket, in Hertford- shire, a place which Lady Palmerston had in- herited from Lord Melbourne, her brother; and there he remained. The gout had become very serious now. It had flown to a dangerous place; and Lord Palmerston had made the danger greater by venturing, with his too youthful ener- gy, to ride out before he had nearly recovered from one severe attack. On October 17 a bul- letin was issued, announcing that Lord Palmer- ston had been seriously ill, in consequence of having taken cold, but that he hail been steadily improving for three days, and was then much better. Somehow this announcement failed to reassure people in London. Many had only then for the first time heard that Palmerston was ill, and the bare mention of the fact fell ominously on the ear of the public. The very next morn- ing these suspicions were confirmed. It was an- nounced that Lord Palmerston's condition had suddenly altered for the worse, and that he was gradually sinking. Then every one knew that the end was near. There was no surprise when the news came next day that Palmerston was dead. He died on October 18. Had he only lived two days longer he would have completed his eighty-first year. He was buried in West- minster Abbey with public honors on October 27. No man since the death of the Duke of Wellington had filled SO conspicuous a place in the public mind. No man had enjoyed anything like the same amount of popularity. He died 58 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. at the moment when that popularity had readied its very zenith. It had become the fashion of the day to praise all he said and all he did. It was the settled canon of the ordinary English- man's faith that what Palmerston said England must feel. To stand forward as the opponent, or even the critic, of anything done or favored by him was to be unpopular and unpatriotic. Lord Palmerston had certainly lived long enough in years, in enjoyment, in fame. The regret for Palmerston was very general and very genuine. Privately, he can hardly have had any enemies. He had a kindly heart, which won on all people who came near him. He had no enduring enmities or capricious dis- likes ; and it was therefore very hard for ill-feel- ing to live in his beaming, friendly presence. He never disliked men merely because he had often to encounter them in political war. He tried his best to give them as good as they brought, and he bore no malice. There were some men whom he disliked, but they were men who for one reason or another stood persistently in his way, and who he fancied he had reason to believe had acted treacherously towards him. His manners were frank and genial rather than polished ; and his is one of* the rare instances in which a man contrived always to keep up his personal dignity without any stateliness of bear- ing and tone. He was a model combatant ; when the combat was over, he was ready to sit down by his antagonist's side and be his friend, and talk over their experiences and exploits. He was absolutely free from affectation. This very fact gave, sometimes, an air almost of rough- ness to his manners, he could be so plain-spoken and downright when suddenly called on to ex- press his mind. Personally truthful and honor- able of course it would be superfluous to pro- nounce him. But Palmerston was too often willing to distinguish between the personal and the political integrity of a statesman. The gravest errors of this kind which Palmerston had committed were committed for an earlier gen- eration. The general public of 1865 took small account of them. Not many would have cared much then about the grim story of Sir Alexan- der Barnes's despatches, or the manner in which Palmerston had played with the hopes of foreign Liberalism, conducting it, more than once, rather to its grave than to its triumph. These things lived only in the minds of a few at the time wiien the news of his death came, and even of that few not many were anxious to dwell upon them. Lord Palmerston is not to be judged by his domestic policy. Palmerston was himself only in the Foreign Office and in the House of Com- mons. In both alike the recognition of his true capacity came very late. His Parliamentary training had been perfected before its success was acknowledged. He was theref6re able to use his faculties at any given moment to their fullest stretch. He could always count on them. They had been so well drilled by long practice that they would instantly come at call. He understood the moods of the House of Commons to perfection. He could play upon those moods as a performer does upon the keys of an instru- ment. He saw what men were in the mood to do, and he did it ; and they were clear that that must be a great leader who led them just whither they felt inclined to go. Much earnestness he knew bored the House, and he took care never to be much in earnest. He left it to others to be eloquent. Lord Palmerston never cared to go deeper in his speeches than the surface in everything. He had no splendid phraseology ; and probably would not have cared to make any display of splendid phraseology, even if he had the gift. No speech of his would be read except for the present interest of the subject. No pas- sages from Lord Palmerston are quoted by any- body. He always selected, and doubtless by a kind of instinct, not the arguments which were most logically cogent, but those which were most likely to suit the character and the temper of the audience he happened to be addressing. He spoke for his hearers, not for himself; to affect the votes of those to whom he was appealing, not for the sake of expressing any deep, irrepress- ible convictions of his own. He never talked over the heads of his audience, or compelled them to strain their intellects in order to keep pace witli his flights. No other statesman of our time could interpose so dexterously just before the division to break the effect of some telling speech against him, and to bring the House into a frame of mind for regarding all that had been done by the Opposition as a mere piece of po- litical ceremonial, gone through in deference to the traditions or the formal necessities of party, on which it would be a waste of time to bestow serious thought. The jests of Lord Palmerston always had a purpose in them, and were better adapted to the occasion and the moment than the repartees of the best debater in the House. At one time, indeed, he flung his jests and personalities about in somewhat too reckless a fashion, and he made many enemies. But of late years, whether from growing discretion or kindly feeling, he seldom indulged in any pleasantries that could wound or offend. During his last Parliament he repre- sented to the full the average head and heart of a House of Commons singularly # devoid of high ambition or steady purpose ; a House peculiarly intolerant of eccentricity, especially if it were that of genius , impatient of having its feelings long strained in any one direction, delighting only in ephemeral interests and excitements ; hostile to anything which drew heavily on the energy or the intelligence. Such a House natu- rally acknowledged a heavy debt of gratitude to the statesman who never either puzzled or bored them. Men who distrusted Mr. Disraeli's an- titheses, and were frightened by Mr. Gladstone's earnestness, found as much relief in the easy, pleasant, straightforward talk of Lord Palmer- ston as, a school-boy finds in a game of marbles after a problem or a sermon. CHAPTER XX. THE NEW GOVERNMENT. Lord Russell was invited by the Queen to form a Government after the death of Lord Palmerston. According to some rumors the opportunity would be taken to admit the Radical element to an influence in the actual councils of the nation such as it had never enjoyed before, and such as its undoubted strength in Parlia- ment and the country now entitled it to have. The only changes, however, in the Cabinet were that Lord Russell became Prime -minister, and that Lord Clarendon, who had been Chan- cellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, succeeded him as Foreign Secretary. One or two new men were brought into offices which did not give a seat in the Cabinet. Among these were Mr. Forster, who became Under-secretary for the Colo- nies in the room of Mr. Chichester Fortescue, now Irish Secretary, and Mr. Goschen, who succeeded Mr. Hutt as Vice-President of the Board of Trade. Both Mr. Forster and Mr. Goschen soon afterwards came to hold high official position, and to have seats in the Cabinet. In each in- stance the appointment was a concession to the growing Liberal feeling of the day ; but the con- cession was slight and cautious. The country knew little about either Mr. Forster or Mr. Goschen at the time ; and it will easily be imag- ined that those who thought a seat in the Cabinet for Mr. Bright was due to the people more even than to the man, and who had some hopes of seeing a similar place offered to Mr. Mill, were not satisfied by the arrangement which called two comparatively obscure men to unimportant office. The outer public did not quite appreciate the difficulties which a Liberal minister had to encounter in compromising between the Whigs and the Radicals. The Whigs included almost all the members of the party who were really influential by virtue of hereditary rank and noble station. It was impossible to overlook their claims. Some of the Whigs probably looked with alarm enough at the one serious change brought about by the death of Lord Palmerston — the change which made Mr. Gladstone leader of the House of Commons. Meanwhile there were some important changes in the actual condition of things. The House of Commons, elected just before Lord Palmerston's death, was in many respects a far different House from that which it had been his last ministerial act to dissolve. Death had made many changes. There were changes, too, not brought about by death. The Lord John Russell of the Reform Bill had been made a Peer, and sat as Earl Russell in the House of Lords. Mr. Lowe, one of the ablest and keenest of political critics, who had for a while been shut down under the re- sponsibilities of office, was a tree lance once more. Mr. Lowe, who had before that held office two or three times, was Vice-President of the Com- mittee of Council on Education from the begin- ning of Lord Palmerston's administration until April, ISCi. At that time a vote of censure was carried against his department, in other words against himself, on the motion of Lord Robert Cecil, for alleged "mutilation" of reports of the Inspectors of Schools, done, as it was urged, in order to bring the reports into seeming harmony with the educational views entertained by the Committee of Council. Lord Robert Cecil intro- duced the resolution in a speech singularly bit- ter and offensive. The motion was carried by a majority of 101 to 93. Mr. Lowe instantly resigned his office ; but he did not allow the matter to rest there. He obtained the appoint- ment of a committee to inquire into the whole subject ; and the result of the inquiry was not only that Mr. Lowe was entirely exonerated from the charge made against him, but that the reso- lution of the House of Commons was actually rescinded. It is probable, however, that Mr. Lowe felt that the Government of which he was a member had not given him all the support he might have expected. It is certain that if Lord Palmerston and his leading colleagues had thrown any great energy into their support of him, the vote of censure never could have been carried, and would not have had to be rescinded. This fact was brought back to the memory of many not long after, when Mr. Lowe, still an outsider, became the very Coriolanus of a sudden move- ment against the Reform policy of a Liberal Government. On the other hand, Mr. Layard, once a daring and somewhat reckless opponent of Government and governments, had been bound over to the peace, quietly enmeshed in the disci- pline of subordinate office. Yet the former fire was not wholly gone ; it flamed up again on op- portunity given. Perhaps Mr. Layard proved most formidable to his own colleagues, when he sometimes had to come into the ring to sustain their common cause. The old vigor of the pro- fessional gladiator occasionally drove him a little too heedlessly against the Opposition. So com- bative a temperament found it hard to submit always to the prosaic rigor of mere fact and the proprieties of official decorum. The change in the leadership of the House of Commons was of course the most remarkable, and the most momentous, of the alterations that had taken place. From Lord Palmerston, ad- mired almost to hero-worship by Whigs and Con- servatives, the foremost position had suddenly passed to Mr. Gladstone, whose admirers were the most extreme of the Liberals, and who was distrusted and dreaded by all of Conservative in- stincts and sympathies, on the one side of the House as well as on the other. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli were now brought directly face to face. One led the House, the other led the Opposition. With so many points of difference, and even of contrast, there was one slight resem- blance in the political situation of Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli. Each was looked on with a certain doubt and dread by a considerable num- ber of his own followers. It is evident that in such a state of things the strategical advantage lay with the leader of Opposition. He had not to take the initiative in anything, and the least loyal of his followers would cordially serve under him in any effort to thwart a movement made by the Ministry. It came to be seen, however, before long that the Conservative leader was able to persuade his party to accept those very changes against which some of the followers of Mr. Glad- stone were found ready to revolt. In order that some of the events to follow may not appear very mysterious, it is well to bear in mind that the formation of the new Ministry under Lord Russell A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. had by no means given all tlie satisfaction to cer- tain sections of the Liberal party which they be- lieved themselves entitled to expect. Some were displeased because the new Government was not Radical enough. Some were alarmed because they fancied it was likely to go too far for the purpose of pleasing the Radicals. Some were vexed because men whom they looked up to as their natural leaders had not been invited to of- fice. A few were annoyed because their own personal claims bad been overlooked. One thing was certain : the Government must make a distinct move of some kind in the direction of Reform. So many new and energetic Liberals and Radicals had entered the House of Com- mons now, that it would be impossible for any Liberal Government to hold office on the terms which bad of late been conceded to Lord Pal- merston. Mr. Gladstone had always been cred- ited with a sensitive earnestness of temper which was commonly believed to have given trouble to bis more worldly and easy-going colleagues in the Cabinet of "Lord Falmerston. It was to manv people a problem of deep interest to see whether the genius of Mr. Gladstone would prove equal to the trying task of leadership under cir- cumstances of such peculiar difficulty. Tact, according to many, was the quality needed for the work — not genius. Some new men were coming up on both sides of the political field. Among these we have al- ready mentioned Mr. Forster, who had taken a conspicuous part in the debates on the American Civil War. Mr. Forster was a man of consid- erable Parliamentary aptitude ; a debater who, though not pretending to eloquence, was argu- mentative, vigorous, and persuasive. He had practical knowledge of English politics and social affairs, and was thoroughly representative of a very solid body of English public opinion. In the House of Lords the Duke of Argyll was be- ginning to take a prominent and even a leading place. The Duke of Argyll would have passed as a middle-aged man in ordinary life, but he was looked on by many as a sort of boy in poli- tics. He had, indeed, begun life very soon. At this time he was some forty-three years of age, and he had been a prominent public man for more than twenty years. The Duke of Argyll, then Marquis of Lome, was only nineteen years old when he wrote a pamphlet called " Advice to the Peers." A little later he engaged in the famous struggle concerning the freedom of the Church of Scotland, which resulted in the great secession headed by Dr. Chalmers, and the foun- dation of the Free "Church. He became Duke of Argyll on the death of his father in 1847. He did battle in the House of Lords as he had done out of it. He distinguished himself by plunging almost instantaneously into the thick of debate. He very much astonished the staid and formal peers, who had been accustomed to discussion conducted in measured tones, and with awful show of deference to age and political standing. The Duke of Argyll spoke upon any and every subject with astonishing fluency, and without the slightest reverence for years and authority. The general impression of the House of Lords for a long time was that youthful audacity, and nothing else, was the chief characteristic of the Duke of Argyll ; and for a long time the Duke of Argyll did ii good deal to support that impression. After a while he began to show that there was more in him than self-confidence. The House of Lords found that he really knew a good deal, and had a wonderfully clear head, and they learned to en- dure bis dogmatic and professorial ways; but he never grew to be popular amongst them. His style was far too self-assured ; his faith in his own superiority to everybody else was too evident to allow of his" having many enthusiastic admir- ers. He soon, however, got into high office. With his rank, his talents, and his energy, such _a thing was inevitable. He joined the Govern- ment of Lord Aberdeen in 1852 as Lord Privy Seal, holding an office of dignity, but no special •duties, the occupant of which has only to give his assistance in council and general debate. He was afterwards Postmaster-general for two or three years. Under Lord Palmerston, in 1859, Ae became Lord Privy Seal again, and he re- tained that office in the Cabinet of Lord Rus- j sell. There were some rising men on the Tory side. Sir Hugh Cairns, afterwards Lord Chancellor and a peer, had fought his way by sheer talent and energy into the front rank of Opposition. A lawyer from Belfast, and the son of middle- class parents, he had risen into celebrity and in- fluence while yet he was in the very prime of life. He was a lawyer whose knowledge of his own craft might fairly be called profound. He was one of the most effective debaters in Parlia- ment. His resources of telling argument were almost inexhaustible, and his training at the Bat- gave him the faculty of making the best at the shortest notice of all the facts be was able to bring to bear on any question of controversy. He showed more than once that he was capable of pouring out an animated and even a passionate invective. An orator in the highest sense he cer- tainly was not. No gleam of imagination soften- ed or brightened his lithe and nervous logic. No deep feeling animated and inspired it. His speeches were arguments, not eloquence ; instru- ments, not literature. But he was on the whole the greatest political lawyer since Lyndhurst; and he was probably a sounder lawyer than Lynd- hurst. He had above all things skill and discretion. Sir Stafford Northcote was a man of ability, who had an e^fcllent financial training under no less a teacheWian Mr. Gladstone himself. But Sir Stafford Northcote, although a fluent speaker, was not a great debater, and moreover he had but little of the genuine Tory in him. He was a man of far too modern a spirit and training to be a genuine Tory. He was not one whit more Conservative than most of the Whigs. Mr. Ga- thorne Hardy, afterwards Lord Cranbrook, was a man of ingrained Tory instincts rather than con- victions. He was a powerful speaker of the rattling, declamatory kind ; fluent as the sand in an hour- glass is fluent ; stirring as the roll of a drum is stirring ; sometimes dry as the sand and empty as the drum. A man of far higher ability and of really great promise was Lord Robert Cecil, afterwards Lord Cranborne, and now Marquis of Salisbury. Lord Robert Cecil was at this time the ablest scion of noble Toryism in the House of Commons. He was younger than Lord Stan- lev, and he had not Lord Stanley's solidity, cau- tion, or political information. But he had more originality ; he had brilliant ideas ; he was ready in debate; and he had a positive genius for saying bitter things in the bitterest tone. The younger son of a great peer, he had at one time no apparent chance of succeeding to the title and the estates. He had accepted honorable poverty , and was glad to help out his means by the use of his very clever pen. He wrote in several publi- of quarter. For some weeks there was hardly anything talked of, we might almost say hardly anything thought of, in England, but the story of the rebellion that had taken place in the island of Jamaica, and the manner in which it had been suppressed and punished. The first story came from English officers and soldiers who had them- selves helped to crush or to punish the supposed rebellion. All that the public here could gather from the first narratives that found their way into print was, that a negro insurrection had broken out in Jamaica, and that it had been promptly crushed ; but that its suppression seemed to have been accompanied by a very carnival of cruelty on the part of the soldiers and their volunteer auxiliaries. Some of the letters sent home reeked with blood. In these letters there was no ques- tion of contending with or suppressing an insur- rection. The insurrection, such as it was, had been suppressed. The writers only gave a de- scription of a sort of hunting expedition among the negro inhabitants for the purpose of hanging and flogging. It also became known that a col- ored member of the Jamaica House of Assembly, a man named George William Gordon, who was suspected of inciting the rebellion, and had sur- rendered himself at Kingston, was put on hoard an English war vessel there, taken to Morant Bay, where martial law had been proclaimed, tried by a sort of drumhead court-martial, and instantly hanged. Such news naturally created a profound sensa- tion in England. The Aborigines' Protection Society, the Anti-Slavery Society, and other phil- anthropic bodies, organized a deputation, im- mense in its numbers, and of great influence as regarded its composition, to wait on Mr. Card- well, Secretary for the Colonies, at the Colonial Office, and urge on him the necessity of institu- ting a full inquiry and recalling Governor Eyre. The deputation was so numerous that it had to be received in a great public room, and indeed the whole scene was more like that presented by some large popular meeting than by a deputation to a minister. Mr. Cardwell suspended Mr. Eyre temporarily from his functions as Governor, and sent out a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the whole history of the rebellion and the repres- sion, and to report to the Government. The Commission held a very long and careful inquiry. The history of the events in Jamaica formed a sad and shocking narrative. Jamaica had long been in a more or less disturbed condition ; at least it had long been liable to periodical fits of disturbance. What we may call the planter class still continued to look on the negroes as an infe- rior race hardly entitled to any legal rights. The negroes were naturally only too ready to listen to any denunciations of the planter class, and to cations, it was said, especially in the Quarterly put faith in any agitation which promised to se R, vi< "\ the time-honored and somewhat time worn organ of Toryism ; and after a while cer- tain political articles in the Qiiurterhj came to be identified with his name. He was an ultra-Tory ; a Tory on principle, who would hear of no com- promise. One great object of his political writ- ings appeared to be to denounce Mr. Disraeli, his titular leader, and to warn the party against him. For a long time he was disliked by most persons in the House of Commons. His gestures were un- gainly ; his voice was singularly unmusical and harsh ; and the extraordinary and wanton bit- terness of his tongue set the ordinary listeners against him. He seemed to take a positive de- light in being gratuitously offensive. Lord Rob- ert Cecil, therefore, although a genuine Tory, or perhaps because he was a genuine Tory, could not as yet be looked upon as a man likely to render great service to his party. He was just as likely to turn against them at some moment of political importance. He would not fall in with the discipline of the party; he would not subject his opinions or his caprices to its sup- posed interests. Some men on his own side of the House disliked him. Many feared him ; some few admired him ; no one regarded him as a trustworthy party man. Lord Russell's Government had hardly come into power before they found that some trouble- some business awaited them, and that the trou- ble as usual had arisen in a wholly unthought- e them some property in the land. The ne- groes had undoubtedly some serious grievances. They constantly complained that they could not get justice administered to them when any dis- pute arose between white and black. The Gov- ernment had found that there was some ground for complaints of this kind at the time when it was proposed by the Jamaica Bill to suspend the constitution of the island. In 1S65, however, the common causes of dissatisfaction were fresh- ly and farther complicated by a dispute about what were called the "back lands." Lands be- longing to some of the great estates in Jamaica had been allowed to run out of cultivation. They were so neglected by their owners that they were turning into mere bush. The quit-rents due on them to the Crown had not been paid for seven years. The negroes were told that if they paid the arrears of quit-rent they might cultivate these lands and enjoy them free of rent. It may be remarked that the tendency in Jamaica had al- most always hitherto been for the Crown officials to take the part of the negroes, and for the Ja- maica authorities to side with the local magnates. Trusting to the assurance given, some of the ne- groes paid the arrears of quit-rent, and brought the land into cultivation. The agent of one of the estates, however, reasserted the right of his principal, who had not been a consenting party to the arrangement, and he endeavored to evict the negro occupiers of the land. The negroes A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. resisted, and legal proceedings were instituted to turn them out. The legal proceedings were still pending when the events took place which gave occasion to so much controversy. On October 7, 18G5, some disturbances took place on the occasion of a magisterial meeting at Morant Bay, a small town on the south-east cor- ner of the island. The negroes appeared to be in an excited state, and many persons believed that an outbreak was at hand. An application was made to the Governor for military assistance. The Governor of Jamaica was Mr. Edward John Eyre, who had been a successful explorer in Cen- tral, West, and Southern Australia, had acted as resident magistrate and protector of aborigines in the region of the Lower Murray, in Australia, and had afterwards been Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand, of the Leeward Islands, and of other places. All Mr. Eyre's dealings with native races up to this time would seem to have earned for him the reputation of a just and humaneman. The Governor despatched a small military force by sea to the scene of the expected disturbances. Warrants had been issued, meanwhile, by the Cnstos, or chief magistrate of the parish in which Morant Bay is situated, for the arrest of some of the persons who had taken part in the previous disturbances. When the warrants were about to be put into execution resistance by force was offered. The police were overpowered, and some were beaten, ami others compelled to swear that they would not interfere with the negroes. On the 11th the negroes, armed with sticks and the "cutlasses" used in the work of the sugar-cane fields, assembled in considerable numbers in the square of the Court House, in Morant Bay. The magistrates were holding a meeting there. The mob made for the Court House ; the local volun- teer force came to the help of the magistrates. The Riot Act was being read when some stones were thrown. The volunteers fired, and some ne- groes were seen to fall. Then the rioters at- tacked the Court House. The volunteers were few in number, and were easily overpowered; the Court House was set on fire; eighteen per- sons, the Custos among them, were killed, and about thirty were wounded ; and a sort of inco- herent insurrection suddenly spread itself over the neighborhood. The moment, however, that the soldiers sent by the Governor, at first only one hundred in number, arrived upon the scene of disturbance the insurrection collapsed and vanished. There never was the slightest attempt made by the rioters to keep the field against the troops. The soldiers had not in a single instance to do any fighting. • The only business left to them was to hunt out supposed rebels, and bring them before military tribunals. So evanescent was the whole movement that it is to this day a matter of dispute whether there was any rebellion at all, properly so called ; whether there was any organ- ized attempt at insurrection ; or whether the dis- turbances were not the extemporaneous work of a discontented and turbulent mob, whose rush to rescue some of their friends expanded suddenly into an effort to wreak old grievances on the nearest representatives of authority. At this time Jamaica was ruled by the Gov- ernor and Council, and the House of Assembly. Among the members of the Assembly was George William Gordon. Gordon was a Baptist by re- ligion, and had in him a good deal of the fanatic- al earnestness of the field-preacher. He was a vehement agitator and a devoted advocate of what he considered to be the rights of the ne- groes. He appears to have had a certain amount of eloquence. He was just the sort of man to make himself a nuisance to white colonists and officials who wanted to have everything their own way. Gordon was in constant disputes with the authorities, and with Governor Eyre himself. He had been a magistrate, but was dismissed from the magistracy in consequence of the al- leged violence of his language in making accu- sations against another justice. He had taken some part in getting up meetings of the colored population ; he had made many appeals to the Colonial Office in London against this or that act on the part of the Governor or the Council, or both. He had been appointed church-warden, but was declared disqualified for the office in consequence of his having become a "native Baptist;" and he had brought an action to re- cover what he held to be his rights. He had come to hold the position of champion of the rights and claims of the black man against the white. He was a sort of constitutional Opposition in himself. The Governor seems to have at once adopted the conclusion urged on him by others, that Gordon was at the bottom of the insurrec- tionary movement. On October 13 the Governor proclaimed the whole of the county of Surrey, with the excep- tion of the city of Kingston, under martial law. Jamaica is divided into three counties : Surrey, covering the eastern and southern portion, includ- ing the region of the Blue Mountains, the towns of Port Antonio and Morant Bay, and the con- siderable city of Kingston, with its population of some thirty thousand. Middlesex comprehends the central part of the island, and contains Span- ish Town, then the seat of Government. The western part of the island is the county of Corn- wall. Mr. Gordon lived near Kingston, and had a place of business in the city ; and he seems to have been there attending to his business, as usual, during the days while the disturbances were going on. The Governor ordered a war- rant to be issued for Gordon's arrest. When this fact became known to Gordon he went to the house of the General in command of the forces at Kingston and gave himself up. The Governor had him put at once on board a war steamer and conveyed to Morant Bay. Having given himself up in a place where martial law did not exist, where the ordinary courts were open, and where, therefore, he would have been ti'ied with all the forms and safeguards of the civil law, he was purposely carried away to a place which had been put under martial law. Here an extraordinary sort of court-martial was sitting. It was composed of two young navy lieutenants and an ensign in one of her Majes- ty's West India regiments. Gordon was hurried before this grotesque tribunal, charged with high- treason, found guilty, and sentenced to death. The sentence was approved by the officer in command of the troops sent to Morant Bay. It was then submitted to the Governor, and ap- proved by him also. It was carried into effect without much delay. The day following Gor- don's conviction was Sunday, and it was not thought seemly to hang a man on the Sabbath. He was allowed, therefore, to live over that day. On the morning of Monday, October 23, Gordon was hanged. He bore his fate with great hero- ism, and wrote just before his death a letter to his wife, which is full of pathos in its simple and dignified manliness. He died protesting his in- nocence of any share in disloyal conspiracy or insurrectionary purpose. The whole of the proceedings connected with the trial of Gordon were absolutely illegal from first to last. The act which conveyed Mr. Gor- don from the protection of civil law to the au- thority of a drumhead court-martial was grossly illegal. The tribunal was constituted in curious defiance of law and precedent. It is contrary to all authority to form a court-martial by mixing together the officers of the two different services. It was an unauthorized tribunal, however, even if considered as only a military court-martial, or only a naval court-martial. The prisoner thus brought by unlawful means before an illegal tri- bunal was tried upon testimony taken in ludi- crous opposition to all the rules of evidence. Such as the evidence was, however, compounded of scraps of the paltriest hearsay, and of things said when the prisoner was not present, it testi- fied rather to the innocence than to the guilt of the prisoner. By such a court, on such evidence, Gordon was put to death. Meanwhile the carnival of repression was go- ing on. For weeks the hangings, the floggings, the burnings of houses were kept up. The re- port of the Royal Commissioners stated that 439 persons were put to death, and that over six hundred, including many women, were flogged, some under circumstances of revolting cruelty. When the story reached England in clear and trustworthy form an association called the Ja- maica Committee was formed for the avowed purpose of seeing that justice was done. It comprised some of the most illustrious English- men. Men became members of that committee who had never taken part in public agitation of any kind before. Another association was founded, on the opposite side, for the purpose of sustaining Governor Eyre, and it must be owned that it too had great mimes. Mr. Mill may be said to have led the one side and Mr. Carlyle the other. The natural bent of each man's genius and temper turned him to the side of the Jamai- ca negroes, or of the Jamaica Governor. Mr. Tennyson, Mr. Kingsley, Mr. Buskin, followed Mr. Carlyle; we know now that Mr. Dickens was of the same way of thinking. Mr. Herbert Spencer, Professor Huxley, Air. Goldwin Smith, were in agreement with Mr. Mill. The case on either side may be briefly stated. The more reasonable of those who supported Mr. Eyre con- tended that at a terrible crisis Mr. Eyre was con- fronted with the fearful possibility of a negro in- surrection, and that he did the best he could. To this the opposite party answered that in fact the insurrection, supposing it to have been an in- surrection, was all over before the floggings, the hangings, and the burnings set in. Not mere- ly were the troops masters of the field, but there was no armed enemy anywhere to be seen in the field or out of it. They contended that men are not warranted in inflicting wholesale and hid- eous punishments merely in order to strike such terror as may prevent the possibility of any fut- ure disturbance. The Report of the Commissioners was made in April, 1866. It declared in substance that the disturbances had their immediate origin in a planned resistance to authority, arising partly out of a desire to obtain the land free of rent, and partly out of the want of confidence felt by the laboring class in the tribunals by which most of the disputes affecting their interests were de- cided ; that the disturbance spread rapidly, and that Mr. Eyre deserved praise for the skill and vigor with which he had stopped it in the begin- ning ; but that martial law was kept in force too long; that the punishments inflicted were exces- sive; that the punishment of death was unnec- essarily frequent ; that the floggings were bar- barous, and the burnings wanton and cruel ; that although it was probable that Gordon, by his writings and speeches, had done much to bring about excitement and discontent, and thus ren- dered insurrection possible, yet there was no suf- ficient proof of his complicity in the outbreak, or in any organized conspiracy against the Govern- ment; and, indeed, that there was no wide- spread conspiracy of any kind. Of course this finished Mr. Eyre's career as a Colonial Govern- or. A new Governor, Sir J. P. Grant, was sent out to Jamaica, and a new Constitution was giv- en to the island. The Jamaica Committee pros- ecuted Mr. Eyre and some of his subordinates, but the bills of indictment were always thrown out by the grand jury. . After many discussions in Parliament, the Government in 1S72 — once again a Liberal Government — decided on pay- ing Mr.Eyre the expenses to which he had been put in defending himself against the various pros- ecutions ; and the House of Commons, after a long debate, agreed to the vote by a large major- ity. On the whole there was not any failure of justice. A career full of bright promise was cut short for Mr. Eyre, and for some of his subordi- nates as well ; and no one accused Mr. Eyre per- sonally of anything worse than a fury of mistaken zeal. The deeds which were done by his au- thority, or to which, when they were done, he gave his authority's sanction, were branded with such infamy that it is almost impossible such things could ever be done again in England's name. Even those who excused under the cir- cumstances the men by whom the deeds were done had seldom a word to say in defence of the acts themselves. The Queen opened the new Parliament in per- son. She then performed the ceremony for the first time since the death of the Prince Consort. The speech from the throne contained a para- graph which announced that her Majesty had di- rected that information should be procured in reference to the right of voting in the election A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 61 of members of Parliament, and that when the information was complete, '* the attention of Parliament will he called to the result thus ob- tained, with a view to such improvements in the laws which regulate the right of voting in the election of members of the House of Commons as may tend to strengthen oar free instil titions, and conduce to the public welfare." Some an- nouncement on the subject of Reform was ex- pected by every one. The only surprise felt was perhaps at the cautious and limited way in which the proposed measure was indicated in the royal speech. While Radicals generally insisted that the strength of the old Whig party had been suc- cessfully exerted to compel a compromise and keep Mr. Gladstone down, most of the Tories would have it that Mr. Gladstone now had got it all his own way, and that the cautious vague- ness of the Queen's Speech would only prove to be the prelude to very decisive and alarming changes in the Constitution. Not since the in- troduction by Lord John Russell of the measure which became law in 1832 had a Reform Bill been expected in England with so much curiosi- ty, with so much alarm, and with so much dis- position to a foregone conclusion of disappoint- ment. On March 12 Mr. Gladstone introduced the bill. His speech was eloquent; but the House of Commons was not stirred. It was evident at once that the proposed measure was only a compromise of the most unattractive kind. The bill proposed to reduce the county franchise from fifty pounds to fourteen pounds, and the borough franchise from ten to seven pounds. The borough franchise of course was still the central question in any reform measure, and this was to be reduced by three pounds. The man who could bo enthusiastic over such a reform must have been a person whose enthu- siasm was scarcely worth arousing. The peculi- arity of the situation was, that without a genuine popular enthusiasm nothing could be done. The House of Commons as a whole did not want reform. All the Conservatives were, of course, openly and consistently opposed to reform; not a few of the professing Liberals secretly detested it. Only a small number of men in the House were genuine in their anxiety for immediate change ; and of these the majority were too earnest and extreme to care for a reform which only meant a reduction of the borough franchise from ten pounds to seven pounds. It seemed a ri- diculous anti-climax, after all the indignant elo- qcnce about " unenfranchised millions,'" to come down to a scheme for enfranchising a few hund- reds here and there. Those who believed in the sincerity and high purpose of Lord Russell and Mr. Gladstone, and who therefore assumed that if they said this was all they could do there was nothing else to be done — these supported the bill. Mr. Bright supported it ; somewhat coldly at first, but afterwards, when warmed by the glow of debate and of opposition, with all his wonted power. It was evident, however, that he was supporting Lord Russell and Mr. Gladstone rather than their Reform Bill. Mr. Mill supported the bill, partly, no doubt, for the same reason, and partly because it had the sup- port of Mr. Blight. But it would have been hard to find any one who said that he really cared much about the measure itself, or that it was the sort of tiling he would have proposed if he had his way. The Conservatives as a man opposed the measure ; and they had allies. Day after day saw new secessions of emboldened Whigs and half-hearted Liberals. The Ministerial side of the House was fast becoming demoralized. The Liberal party was breaking up into muti- nous camps and unmanageable coteries. Mr. Robert Lowe was the hero of the Opposi- tion thai fought against the bill. His attacks on the Government had, of course, all the more piquancy that they came from a Liberal, and one who had held office in two Liberal adminis- trations. The Tory benches shouted and scream- ed with delight, as in speech after speech of admirable freshness ami vigor Mr. Lowe poured his scathing sarcasms in upon the bill and its authors. Even their own leader and champion, Mr. Disraeli, became of comparatively small ac- count with the Tories when they heard Mr. Lowe's invectives against their enemies. Much of Mr. Lowe's success was undoubtedly due to the manner in which he hit the tone and temper of the Conservatives and of the disaffected Whigs. Applause and admiration are contagious in the House of Commons. When a great number of voices join in cheers and in praise, other voices are caught by the attraction, and cheer and praise out of the sheer infection of sympathy. It is needless to say that the applause reacts upon the orator. The more he feels that the House ad- mires him, the more likely he is to make himself worthy of the admiration. The occasion told on Mr. Lowe. His form seemed, metaphorically at least, to grow greater and grander on that scene, as the enthusiasm of his admirers waxed and heated. Certainly he never after that time made any great mark by his speeches, or won back any of the fame as an orator which was his during that short and to him splendid period. But the speeches themselves were masterly as mere literary productions. Not many men could have fewer physical qualifications for success in oratory than Mr. Lowe. He had an awkward and ungainly presence; his gestures were angu- lar and ungraceful ; his voice was harsh and rasping ; his articulation was so imperfect that he became now and then almost unintelligible; his sight was so short that when he had to read a passage or extract of any kind, he could only puzzle over its contents in a painful and blunder- ing way, even with the paper held up close to his eyes; and his memory was not good enough to allow him to quote anything without the help of documents. How, it may be asked in wonder, was such a speaker as this to contend in eloquence with the torrent-like fluency, the splendid diction, the silver-trumpet voice of Gladstone; or with the thrilling vibrations of Blight's noble elo- quence, now penetrating in its pathos, and now irresistible in its humor ? Even those who well remember these great debates may ask them- selves in unsatisfied wonder the same question now. It is certain that Mr. Lowe has not the most distant claim to be ranked as an orator with Mr. Gladstone or Mr. Bright. Yet it is equally certain that he did for that season stand up against each of them, against them both ; against, them both at their very best; and that he held his own. Mr. Disraeli was thrown completely into the shade. Mr. Disraeli was not, it is said, much put out by this. He listened quietly, perhaps even contemptuously, looking upon the whole episode as one destined to pass quickly away. He did not believe that Mr. Lowe was likely to be a peer of Mr. Gladstone or Mr. Bright — or of himself — in debate. But for the time Mr. Lowe was the master-spirit of the Opposition to the Reform Bill. In sparkling sentences, full of classical allusion and of illustrations drawn from all manner of literatures, he denounced and sat- irized demagogues, democratic governments, and every influence that tended to bring about any political condition which allowed of an ominous comparison with something in Athenian history. The Conservatives made a hero, and even an idol, of him. Shrewd old members of the party, who ought to have known better, were heard to declare that he was not only the greatest orator but even the greatest statesman of the day. In truth, Mr. Lowe was neither orator nor states- man. He had some of the gifts which are needed to make a man an orator, but hardly any of those which constitute a statesman. He was a literary man and a scholar, who had a happy knack of saying bitter things in an epigrammatic way ; he really hated the Reform Bill, towards which Mr. Disraeli probably felt no emotion what- ever, and he started into prominence as an anti- reformer just at the right moment to suit the Conservatives and embarrass and dismay the Liberal party. He was greatly detested lor a time among the working-classes, for whose bene- fit the measure was chiefly introduced. He not only spoke out with cynical frankness his own opinion of the merits and morals of the people " who live in these small houses," but he implied that all the other members of the House held the same opinion, if they would only venture to give it a tongue. He was once or twice mobbed in ! the streets ; he was strongly disliked and dreaded for the hour by the Liberals; he was the most prominent figure on the stage during these weeks of excitement; and no doubt he was perfectly happy. The debates on the bill brought out some speeches which have not been surpassed in the Parliamentary history of our time. Mr. Bright and Mr. Gladstone were at their very best. Mr. Bright likened the formation of the little hand of malcontents to the doings of David in the cave of Adullam when he called about him "every one that was in distress and every one that was discontented," and became a captain over them. The allusion told upon the House with instant effect, for many had suspected and some had said that if Mr. Lowe had been more carefully con- ciliated by the Prime-minister at the time of his Government's formation, there might have been no such acrimonious opposition to the bill. The little third party were at once christened the Adullamites, and the name still survives, and is likely long to survive, its old political history. Mr. Gladstone's speech, with which the great debate on the second reading concluded, was aflame with impassioned eloquence. This speech was concluded on the morning of April 28. The debate which it brought to a close had been carried on for eight nights. The House of Com- mons was wrought up to a pitch of the most in- tense excitement when the division came to be taken. The closing passages of Mr. Gladstone's speech had shown clearly enough that he did not expect much of a triumph for the Government. The House was crowded to excess. The num- bers voting were large beyond almost any other previous instance. There were for the second reading of the bill 318 ; there were against it 313. The second reading was carried by a ma- jority of only five. The wild cheers of the Con- servatives and the Adullamites showed that the bill was doomed. The question now was not whether the measure would be a failure, but only when the failure would have to be confessed. The time for the confession soon came. The opponents of the reform scheme kept pouring in amendments. These came chiefly from the Ministerial side of the House. Lord Duukellin, usually a supporter of the Government, mo«ed an amendment the effect of which would be to make the franchise a little higher than the Gov- ernment proposed to fix it. Lord Duukellin car- ried his amendment. Lord Russell and Mr. Gladstone accepted the situation, and resigned office. The defeat of the bill and the resignation of the Ministry brought the political career of Lord Russell to a close. He took advantage of the occasion soon after to make a formal announce- ment that he handed over the task of leading the Liberal party to Mr. Gladstone. He appeared, indeed, in public life on several occasions after his resignation of office. He took part, some- times, in the debates of the House of Lords ; he even once or twice introduced measures there, and endeavored to get them passed. Lord Rus- sell's career, however, was practically at an end. It had been a long and an interesting career. It was begun amid splendid chances. Lord John Russell was born in the very purple of politics; he was cradled and nursed among statesmen and orators ; the fervid breath of voting liberty fanned his boyhood ; his tutors, friends, companions, were the master-spirits who rule the fortunes of nations; he had the ministerial benches for a training-ground, and had a seat in the Adminis- tration at his disposal when another young man might have been glad of a seat in an opera-box. He must have been brought into more or less intimate association with all the men and women worth knowing in Europe since the early part of the century. Lord John Russell had tastes for literature, for art, for philosophy, for history. for politics, and his asiheticism had the advan- tage that it made him seek the society and appreciate the worth of men of genius and let- ters. Thus he never remained a mere politician, like Palmerston. His public career su strange series of contradictions or paiadoxes. In Ireland he was long known rather as the author of the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill than as 62 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. the early friend of Catholic Emancipation ; in England as the parent of petty and abortive Reform Bills, rather than as the promoter of one great Reform Bill. Abroad and at home he came to be thought of as the Minister who disappointed Denmark and abandoned Poland, rather than as the earnest friend and faithful champion of oppressed nationalities. No states- man could be a more sincere and thorough op- ponent of slavery in all its forms and works ; and yet in the mind of the American people Lord Russell's name was for a long time asso- ciated with the idea of a scarcely concealed sup- port of the slaveholders' rebellion. Much of this curious contrast, this seeming inconsistency, is due to the fact that for the greater part of his pub- lic life Lord Russell's career was a mere course of see-saw between office and opposition. The sort of superstition that long prevailed in our political affairs limited the higher offices of statesmanship to two or three conventionally ac- ceptable men on either side. If not Sir Robert Peel then it must be Lord John Russell: if it was not Lord Derby it must be Lord Palmer- ston. Therefore if the business of government was to go on at all, a statesman must take office now and then with men whom he could not mould wholly to his purpose, and must act in seeming sympathy with principles and measures which he would himself have little cared to orig- inate. The personal life of Lord Russell was consistent all through. He began as a Reform- er ; he ended as a Reformer. CHAPTER XXI. The Queen, of course, sent for Lord Derby. He had no personal desire to enter office once again ; he had no inclination for official respon- sibilities. He was not very fond of work, even when younger and stronger, and the habitual indolence of his character had naturally grown with years, and just now with infirmities. It was generally understood that he would only consent to be the Prime-minister of an interval, and that whenever, with convenience to the in- terests of the State, some other hand could be intrusted with power, he would expect to be released from the trouble of official life. The prospect for a Conservative Ministry was not inviting. Lord Derby had hoped to be able to weld together a sort of coalition Ministry, which should to a certain extent represent both sides of the House. Accordingly he at once invited the leading members of the Adullamite party to accept places in his Administration. He was met by disappointment. The Adullamite chiefs agreed to decline all such co-operation. When it was known that Mr. Lowe would not take office under Lord Derby, nobody cared what became of the other denizens of the Cave. Some of them were men of great territorial in- fluence; some were men of long standing in Parliament. But they were absolutely unno- ticed, now that the crisis was over. They might take office or let it alone; the public at large were absolutely indifferent on the subject. The session had advanced far towards its usu- al time of closing, when Lord Derby completed the arrangements for his Administration. Mr. Disraeli, of course, became Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Com- mons, Lord Stanley was Foreign Secretary, Lord Cranbourne, formerly Lord Robert Ceeil, was intrusted witli the care of India; Lord Carnarvon undertook the Colonies ; General Peel, became War Minister; Sir Stafford North- cote was President of the Board of Trade ; and Mr. Walpole took on himself the management of the Home Office, little knowing what a trou- blous business he had brought upon his shoul- ders. Sir John Pakington boldly assumed the control of the Admiralty. On July 9 Lord Der- by was able to announce to the Peers that he had put together his house of cards. The new Ministry had hardly taken their places when a perfect storm of agitation broke out all over the country. The Conservatives and the Adullamites had both asserted that the work- ing-people in geaeralwere indifferent about the franchise ; and a number of organizations now sprang into existence, having for their object to prove to the world that no such apathy prevailed. Reform Leagues and Reform Unions started up as if out of the ground. Public meetings of vast dimensions began to be held da} f after day for the purpose of testifying to the strength of the desire for Reform. The most noteworthy of these was the famous Hyde Park meeting. The Reform- ers of the metropolis determined to hold a mon- ster meeting in the Park. The authorities took the very unwise course of determining to prohibit it, and a proclamation or official notice was is- sued to that effect. The Reformers were acting under the advice of Mr. Edmond Beales, presi- dent of the Reform League, a barrister of some standing, and a man of character and considera- ble ability. Mr. Beales was of opinion that the au- thorities had no legal power to prevent the meet- ing ; and of course it need hardly be said that a Commissioner of Police, or even a Home Secre- tary, is not qualified to make anything legal or illegal by simply proclaiming it so. The Lon- don Reformers, therefore, determined to try their right with the authorities. On July 23 a num- ber of processions, marching with bands and banners, set out from different parts of London and made for Hyde Park. The authorities had posted notices announcing that the gates of the Park would be closed at five o'clock that even- ing. When the first of the processions arrived at the Park the gates were closed, and a line of policemen was drawn outside. The president of the Reform League, Mr. Beales, and some oth- er prominent Reformers, came up in a carriage, alighted, and endeavored to enter the Park. They were refused admittance. They asked for the authority by which they were refused ; and they were told it was the authority of the Com- missioner of Police. They then quietly re-enter- ed the carriage. It was their intention first to assert their right, and then, being refused, to try it in the regular and legal way. They went to Trafalgar Square, followed by a large crowd, and there a meeting was extemporized, at which res- olutions were passed demanding the extension of the suffrage, and thanking Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Bright, and other men who had striven to obtain it. The speaking was short ; it was not physi- cally possible to speak with any effect to so large an assemblage. Then that part of the demon- stration came quietly to an end. Meanwhile, however, a different scene had been going on at Hyde Park. A large and motley crowd had hung about the gates and railings. The crowd was composed partly of genuine Re- formers, partly of mere sight-seers and curiosity- mongers, partly of mischievous boys, and to no inconsiderable extent of ordinary London roughs. Not a few of all sections, perhaps, were a little disappointed that things had gone so quietly off. The mere mass of people pressed and pressing round the railings would almost in any case have somewhat seriously threatened their security and tried their strength. The rails began to give way. There was a simultaneous, impulsive rush, and some yards of railing were down, and men in scores were tumbling, and floundering, and rushing over them. The example was followed along Park Lane, and in a moment half a mile of iron railing was lying on the grass, and a tu- multuous and delighted mob were swarming over the Park. The news ran wildly through the town. Some thought it a revolt ; others were of opinion that it was a revolution. The first day of liberty was proclaimed here — the breaking loose of anarchy was shrieked at there. The mob capered and jumped over the sward for half the night through. Flower-beds and shrubs suf- fered a good deal, not so much from wanton de- struction as fi'om the pure boisterousness which came of an unexpected opportunity for horse- play. There were a good many little encounters with the police ; stones were thrown on the one side and truncheons used on the other pretty freely; a detachment of foot guards was kept near the spot in readiness, but their services were not required. Indeed, the mob good-humored- ly cheered the soldiers whenever they caught sight of them. A few heads were broken on both sides, and a few prisoners were made by the police ; but there was no revolution, no revolt, no serious riot, even, and no intention in the mind of any responsible person that there should be a riot. Mr. Disraeli that night declared in the House of Commons — half probably in jest, half certainly in earnest, that he was not quite sure whether he had still a house to go to. He found his house yet standing, and firmly roofed, when he returned home that night. London slept fe- verishly, and awoke next day to find things going on very much as before. Crowds hastened, half in amusement, half in fear, to look upon the scene of the previous evening's turmoil. There were the railings down, sure enough ; and in the Park was still a large, idle crowd, partly of harm- less sightseers, partly of roughs, with a consid- erable body of police keeping order. But there was no popular rising, and London began once more to eat its meals in peace. Nothing can well be more certain than the fact that the Hyde Park riot, as it was called, convinced her Majesty's Ministers of the necessity of an immediate adoption of the reform principle. The Government took the Hyde Park riot with portentous gravity. Mr. Beales' and some of his colleagues waited upon the Home Secretary next day, for the purpose of advising him to withdraw the military and police from the Park, and leave it in the custody of the Reformers. Mr. Beales gravely lectured the Government for what they had done, and declared, as was undoubtedly the fact, that the foolish conduct of the Administra- tion had been the original cause of all the dis- turbance. The Home Secretary, Mr. Walpole, a gentle and kindly man, had lost his head in the excitement of the hour. He mentally saw himself charged with the responsibility of civil strife and bloodshed. He was melted out of all self- command by the kindly bearing of Mr. Beales and the Reformers, and when they assured him that they were only anxious to help him to keep order, he fairly broke down and wept. He expressed himself with meek gratitude for their promised co-operation, and agreed to almost any- thing they could suggest. It was understood that the right of meeting in Hyde Park was left to be tested in some more satisfactory way at a future day, and the leaders of the Reform League took their departure undoubted masters of the situation. All through the autumn and winter great meetings were held in the great towns and cities to promote the cause of reform. A most signifi- cant feature of these demonstrations was the part taken by the organized trades associations of working-men. They were great in numbers, and most imposing in their silent united strength. They had grown into all that discipline and that power unpatronized by any manner of authority ; unrecognized by the law, unless indeed where the law occasionally went out of its way to try to prevent or thwart the aims of their organization. They had now grown to such strength that law and authority must see to make terms with them. The capitalist and all who share his immediate interests ; the employers, the rich of every kind, the aristocratic, the self-appointed public in. structors, had all been against them ; and they had nevertheless gone deliberately and stubbornly their own way. Sometimes they, or the cause they represented, had prevailed ; often they and it had been defeated ; but they had never acknowl- edged a defeat in principle, and they had kept on their own course undismayed, and, as many would have put it, unconvinced and unreconciled. While England was thus occupied, stirring events were taking place elsewhere. In the in- terval between the resignation of Lord Russell and the completion of Lord Derby's ministry Austria and Prussia had gone to war, and the leadership of Germany had been decisively won by Prussia. Venetia had been added to Italy, Prussia's ally in the war, and Austria had been excluded from any share in German affairs. English public instructors were for the most part completely agreed about the utter incapacity of the Prussians for the business of war, and the complete overthrow of Austria came with the shock of a bewildering surprise upon the great mass of our people. Just before the adjournment of Parliament for A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 63 the recess a great work of peace was accom- plished. This was the completion of the Atlan- tic cable. On the evening of July 27, 1866, the cable was laid between Europe and America. Next day Lord Stanley, as Foreign Minister, was informed that perfect communication exist- ed between England and the United States by- means of a thread of wire that lay beneath the Atlantic. Words of friendly congratulation and greeting were interchanged between the Queen and the President of the United States. Ten years all but a month or two had gone by since Mr. Cyrus W. Field, the American promoter of the Atlantic telegraph project, had first tried to inspire cool and calculating men in London, Liverpool, and Manchester with some faith in his project. It was not he who first thought of doing the thing, but it was he who first made up his mind that it could be done, and showed the world how to do it, and did it in the end. The history of human invention has not a more in- spiriting example of patience living down dis- couragement, and perseverance triumphing over defeat. The first attempt to lay the cable was made in 1857; but the vessels engaged in the expedition had only got about three hundred miles from the west coast of Ireland when the cable broke, and the effort had to be given up for that year. Next year the enterprise was renewed, and failed again. Another effort, how- ever, was made that summer. The cable was actually laid. It did for a few days unite Europe and America. Messages of congratulation passed along between the Queen and the President of the United States. Suddenly, however, the sig- nals became faint; the, messages grew inarticu- late, and before long the power of communication ceased altogether. The cable became a mere cable again ; the wire that spoke with such a miraculous eloquence had become silent. The construction of the cable had proved to be de- fective, and a new principle had to be devised by science. Yet something definite had been ac- complished. It had been shown that a cable could be stretched and maintained under the ocean more than two miles deep and two thou- sand miles across. Another attempt was made in 1865, but it proved again a failure, and the shivered cable had to be left for the time in the bed of the Atlantic. At last, in 1866, the feat was accomplished, and the Atlantic telegraph was added to the realities of life. The autumn and winter of agitation passed away, and the time was at hand when the new Ministry must meet a new session of Parliament. The country looked with keen interest, and also with a certain amused curiosity, to see what the Government would do with Reform in the ses- sion of 1867. Parliament opened on February 5. The Speech from the Throne alluded, as ev- ery one had expected that it would, to the sub- ject of Reform. " Your attention," so ran the words of the speech, "will again be called to the state of the representation of the people in Par- liament;" and then the hope was expressed that "your deliberations, conducted in a spirit of moderation 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 hand of Mr. Disraeli, people said, was to be seen clearly enough in these vague and ambiguous phrases. How, it was asked, can the franchise be freely extended, in the Reformer's sense, without disturbing the balance of political pow- er unduly, in Mr. Disraeli's sense ? More and more the conviction spread that Mr. Disraeli would only try to palm off some worthless measure on the House of Commons, and, by the help of the insincere Reformers and Adullamites, endeavor to induce the majority to accept it. People had little idea, however, of the flexibil- ity the Government were soon to display. The history of Parliament in out- modern days, or, indeed, in any days that we know much of, has nothing like the proceedings of that extraordinary session. ( )n February 1 1 Mr. Disraeli announced that the Government had made up their minds to proceed "by way of resolution." The great difficulty, he explained, in the way of passing a Reform Bill was that the two great political parties could not be got to agree beforehand on any principles by which to construct a measure. " Let us, then, before we go to work at the con- struction of a Reform Bill this time, agree among ourselves as to what sort of a measure we want. The rest will be easy." He therefore announced his intention to put into the Parliamentary cal- dron a handful of resolutions, out of which, when they had been allowed to simmer, would miracu- lously arise the majestic shape of a good Reform Bill made perfect. The resolutions which Mr. Disraeli proposed to submit to the House were, for the most part, sufficiently absurd. Some of them were platitudes which it could not be worth any one's while to take the trouble of affirming by formal resolution. But most of the reso- lutions embodied propositions such as no Prime- minister could possibly have expected the House to agree on without violent struggles, determined resistance, and eager divisions. The Liberal party, especially that section of it which ac- knowledged the authority of Mr. Bright, would have had to be beaten to its knees before it would consent to accept some of these devices. Mr. Disraeli seems to have learned almost at once, from the demeanor of the House, that it would be hopeless to press his resolutions. On Febru- ary 25 he quietly substituted for them a sort of Reform Bill which he announced that the Gov- ernment intended to introduce. The occupation franchise in boroughs was to be reduced to six pounds, and in counties to twenty pounds, in each case the qualification to be based on rating ; that is, the right of a man to vote was to be made dependent on the arrangements by his local vestry or other rate-imposing body. There were to be all manner of " fancy franchises." There seemed something unintelligible, or at least mys- terious, about the manner in which this bill was introduced. It was to all appearance not based upon the resolutions; certainly it made no refer- ence to some of the more important of their pro- visions. It never had any substantial existence. The House of Commons received with contempt- uous indifference Mr. Disraeli's explanation of its contents, and the very next day Mr. Disraeli announced that the Government had determined to withdraw it, to give up at the same time the whole plan of proceeding by resolution, and to introduce a real and substantial Reform Bill in a few days. Parliament and the public were amazed at these sudden changes. The whole thing seemed turning into burlesque. The session had seen only a few days, and here already was a third variation in the shape of the Government's reform project. To increase the confusion and scandal, it was announced three or four days af- ter that three leading members of the Cabinet — General Peel, Lord Carnarvon, and Lord Gran- borne — had resigned. The whole story at last came out. The revelation was due to the " mag- nificent indiscretion " of Sir John Pakington, whose lucky incapacity to keep a secret has cu- riously enriched one chapter of the political his- tory of his time. In consequence of the necessa- ry reconstruction of the Cabinet, Sir John Pak- ington was transferred from the Admiralty to the War Office, and had to go down to his constitu- ents of Droitwich for re-election. In the fulness of his heart he told a story which set all England laughing. The Government, it would appear, started with two distinct Reform Bills, one more comprehensive and liberal, as they considered, than the other. The latter was kept ready only as a last resource, in case the first should meet with a chilling reception from the Conservatism of the House of Commons. In that emergency they proposed to be ready to produce their less comprehensive scheme. The more liberal meas- ure was to have been strictly based on the reso- lutions. The Cabinet met on Saturday, February 23, and then, as Sir John Pakington said, he and others were under the impression that they had come to a perfect understanding ; that they were unanimous ; and that the comprehensive measure was to be introduced on Monday, the 25th. On that Monday, however, the Cabinet were hastily summoned together. Sir John rushed to the spot, and a piece of alarming news awaited him. Some leading members of the Cabinet had re- fused point-blank to have anything to do with the comprehensive bill. Here was a coil! It was two o'clock. Lord Derby had to address a meeting of the Conservative party at half- past two. Mr. Disraeli had to introduce the bill, some bill, in the House of Commons at half- past four. Something must be done. Some bill must be introduced. All eyes, we may suppose, glanced at the clock. Sir John Pakington aver- red that there were only ten minutes left for de- cision. It is plain that no man, whatever his gift of statesmanship or skill of penmanship, can draw up a complete Reform Bill in ten minutes. Now came into full light the wisdom and provi- dence of those who had hit upon the plan of keeping a second-class bill, if we may use such an expression, ready for emergencies. Out came the second-class bill, and it was promptly re- solved that Mr. Disraeli should go down to the House of Commons and gravely introduce that, as if it were the measure which the Government had all along had it in their minds to bring for- ward. Sir John defended that resolution with simple and practical earnestness. It was not a wise resolve, he admitted ; but who can be cer- tain of acting wisely with only ten minutes for deliberation ? If they had had even an hour to think the matter over, he had no doubt, he said, that they would not have made any mistake. But they had not an hour, and there was an end of the matter. They had to do something ; and so Mr. Disraeli brought in his second-class meas- ure; the measure which Sir John Pakington's piquant explanation sent down into political his- tory with the name of the "Ten Minutes' Bill." The trouble arose, it seems, in this way : Af- ter the Cabinet broke up on the evening of Sat- urday, February 23, in seeming harmony, Lord Cranborne worked out the figures of the bill, and found that they would almost amount to house- hold suffrage in some of the boroughs. That would never do, he thought ; and so he tendered his resignation. This would almost, as a matter of course, involve other resignations too. There- fore came the hasty meeting of the Cabinet on Monday, the 25th, which Sir John Pakington de- scribed with such unconscious humor. Lord Cranborne, and those who thought with him, were induced to remain, on condition that the comprehensive bill should be quietly put aside, and the ten minutes' bill as quietly substituted. Unfortunately, the reception given to the ten minutes' bill was utterly discouraging. It was clear to Mr. Disraeli's experienced eye that it had not a chance from either side of the House. Mr. Disraeli made up his mind, and Lord Derby assented. There was nothing to be done but to fall back on the comprehensive measure. Un- willing colleagues must act upon their convic- tions and go. It would be idle to secure their co-operation by persevering farther with a bill that no one would have. Therefore it was that on February 26 Mr. Disraeli withdrew his bill of the day before, the ten minutes' bill, and an- nounced that the Government would go to work in good earnest, and bring in a real bill on March 18. This proved to be the bill based on the res- olutions ; the comprehensive bill which had been suddenly put out of sight at the hasty meeting of the Cabinet on Monday, February 25, as de- scribed in the artless and unforgotten eloquence of Sir John Pakington's Droitwich speech. Then General Peel, Lord Carnarvon, and Lord Cranborne resigned their offices. For the second time within ten years a Conservative Cabinet had been split up on a question of Reform and the Borough Franchise. It must be owned that it required some cour- age and nerve on Mr. Disraeli's part to face the House of Commons with another scheme and a newly -constructed Cabinet, after all these sur- prises. The first thing to do was to reorganize tin- Cabinet by getting a new War Secretary, Colonial Secretary, and Secretary for India. Before March ,s this was accomplished. The men who had resigned carried with them into their retirement the respect of all their political opponents. During his short administration of India, Lord Cranbourne had shown not merely capacity, for that every one knew he possessed, 64 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. but a gravity, self-restraint, and sense of re- sponsibility for which even Ms friends had not previously" given him credit. Sir John Paking- ton became War Minister, Mr. Corry succeed- ing him as first Lord of the Admiralty. The Duke of Buckingham became Colonial Secre- tary. The administration of the India De- partment was transferred to Sir Stafford North- cote, whose place at the head of the Board of Trade thus vacated was taken by the Duke of Richmond. Then, having thrown their muti- neers overboard, the Government went to work again at their Reform scheme. On March 18 Mr. Disraeli introduced the Bill. As regarded the franchise, this measure proposed that in bor- oughs all who paid rates, or twenty shillings a year in direct taxation, should have the vote ; and also that property in the funds and savings- banks, and so forth, should be honored with the franchise; and that there should be a certain educational franchise as well. The clauses for the extension of the franchise were counterbal- anced and fenced around with all manner of ingeniously devised qualifications to prevent the force of numbers among the poorer classes from having too much of its own way. There was a disheartening elaborateness of ingenuity in all these devices. The machine was far too dain- tily adjusted ; the checks and balances were too cleverly arranged by half; it was apparent to almost every eye that some parts of the mechan- ism would infallibly get out of working order, and that some others would never get into it. Mr. Bright compared the whole scheme to a plan for offering something with one hand and quietly withdrawing it with the other. There was, how- ever, one aspect of the situation which to many Reformers seemed decidedly hopeful. It was plain to them now that the Government were determined to do anything whatever in order to get a Reform Bill of some kind passed that year. They would have anything which could com- mand a majority rather than nothing. Lord Derby afterwards frankly admitted that he did not see why a monopoly of Reform should be left to the Liberals ; and Mr. Disraeli had clear- ly made up his mind that he would not go out of office this time on a Reform Bill. The leading spirits of the Government were now determined to carry a Reform Bill that session, come what would. One by one, all Mr. Disraeli's checks, balances, and securities were abandoned. The fancy franchises were swept clear away. At various stages of the bill Mr. Disraeli kept announcing that if this or that amendment were carried against the Govern- ment, the Government would not go any far- ther with the bill ; but when the particular amendment was carried Mr. Disraeli always announced that Ministers had changed their minds after all, and were willing to accept the new alteration. At last this little piece of for- mality began to be regarded by the House as mere ceremonial. The Bill became in the end a measure to establish household suffrage pure and simple in the towns. The Reform Bill passed through its final stage on August 15, 1867. We may summarize its results thus con- cisely : it enfranchised in boroughs all mule house- holders rated for the relief of the poor, and all lodgers resident for one year, and paying not less than £10 a year rent; and in counties persons of property of the clear annual value of £5, and occupiers of lands or tenements paying £12, a year. It disfranchised certain small boroughs, and reduced the representation of other constit- uencies; it created several new constituencies, atnong others the borough of Chelsea and the borough of Hackney. It gave a third member to Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Leeds; it gave a representative to the Uni- versity of London, It secured a sort of rep- resentation of minorities in certain constituen- cies by enacting that where there were to be three representatives each elector should vote for only two candidates ; and that in the City of London, which has four members, each elec- tor should only vote for three. The Irish and Scotch Reform Bills were put off for another year. We may, however, anticipate a little, and dispose of the Scotch and Irish Bills at once, the more especially as both proved to be very trivial and unsatisfactory. The Scotch Bill gave Scotland a borough franchise the same as that of England; and a county franchise based either on £5 clear annual value of property, or an occupation of £14 a year. The Government proposed at first to make the county occupation franchise the same as that in England. All qualification as to rating for the poor was, how- ever, struck out of the Bill by amendments, the rating systems of Scotland being unlike those of England. The Government then put in £1+ as the equivalent of the English occupier's £12 rating franchise. Some *iew seats were given to Scotland, which the Government at first pro- posed to get by increasing the number of mem- bers of the House of Commons, but which they were forced by amendments to obtain by the disfranchisement of some small English bor- oughs. The Irish Bill is hardly worth men- tioning. It left the county franchise as it was, £12, reduced the borough franchise from £8 to £4, and did nothing in the way of redistribution. While the English Reform Bill was passing through its several stages the Government went deliberately out of their way to make themselves again ridiculous with regard to the public meetings in Hyde Park. The Reform League convened a public meeting to be held in that park on May 6. Mr. Walpole, on May 1, issued a proclamation intended to prevent the meeting, and warning all persons not to attend it. The League took legal advice, found that their meeting would not be contrary to law, and accordingly issued a coun- ter proclamation asserting their right, and declar- ing that the meeting would be held in order to maintain it. The Government found out a little too late that the League had strict law on their side. The law gave to the Crown control over the parks, and the right of prosecuting trespass- ers of any kind ; but it gave the Administration no power to anticipate trespass from the holding of a public meeting and to prohibit it in advance. The meeting was held ; it was watched by a large body of police and soldiers ; but it passed over very quietly, and indeed to curious specta- tors looking for excitement seemed a very hum- drum sort of affair. Mr. Walpole, the Home Secretary, who had long been growing weary of the thankless troubles of his office at a time of such excitement, and who was not strong enough to face the difficulties of the hour, resigned his post. Mr. Walpole retained, however, his seat in the Cabinet. He was a man highly esteemed by all parties ; a man of high principle and of amiable character. But he was not equal to the occasion when any difficulty arose, and he con- trived to put himself almost invariably in the wrong when dealing with the Reform League. He exerted his authority at a wrong time, and in a wrong way; and he generally withdrew from his wrong position in somewhat too peni- tent and humble an attitude. He strained too far the authority of his place, and he did not hold high enough its dignity. He was succeeded in office by Mr. Gathorne Hardy, who left the Poor Law Board to become Home Secretary. The Reform Bill then was passed. The " leap in the dark" was taken: thus did the Prime- minister, Lord Derby, describe the policy of him- self and his colleagues. The phrase has become historical, and its authorship is invariably as- scribed to Lord Derby. It was, in fact, Lord Cranborne who first used it. During the de- bates in the House of Commons he had taunted the Government with taking a leap in the dark. Lord Derby adopted the expression, and admit- ted it to be a just description of the movement which he and his Ministry had made. It is im- possible to deny that the Government acted sa- gaciously in settling the question so promptly and so decisively ; in agreeing tq almost any- thing rather than postpone the settlement of the controversy even for another year. But one is still lost in wonder at the boldness, the audacity, with which the Conservative Government threw away in succession every principle which they had just been proclaiming essential to Conserva- tism, and put on Radicalism in its stead. The one thing, however, which most people were thinking of in the autumn of 1867 was that the Reform question was settled at last, and for a long time. Mr. Lowe is entitled to the closing word of the controversy. The working-men, the majority, the people who live in the small houses, are enfranchised: "We must now," Mr. Lowe said, "at least educate our new masters." While this great measure of domestic reform was being accomplished a great colonial reform was quietly carried out. On February 19, 1867, Lord Carnarvon, Secretary for the Colonies, moved the second reading of the Bill for the Confederation of the North American Provinces of the British Empire. This was in fact a meas- ure to carry out in practical form the great prin- ciples which Lord Durham had laid down in his celebrated report. The Bill prepared by Lord Carnarvon proposed that the provinces of Onta- rio and Quebec, in other words Upper and Lower Canada, along with Nova Scotia and New Bruns- wick, should be joined in one federation, to be called the Dominion of Canada, having a central or federal Parliament, and local or state Legis- latures. The central Parliament was to consist of a Senate and a House of Commons. The Senate was to be made up of seventy members nominated by the Governor-general for life, on a summons from under the Great Seal of Canada. The House of Commons was to be filled by members elected by the people of the provinces according to population, at the rate of one mem- ber for every 17,000 persons, and the duration of a Parliament was not to be more than five years. The executive was vested in the Crown, represented of course by the Governor-general. The central Parliament manages the common affairs ; each province has its own local laws and legislature. There is the greatest possible variety and diversity in the local svstems of the different provinces of the Dominion. The mem- bers are elected to the House of Commons on the most diverse principles of suffrage. In some of the provinces the vote is open ; in others it is given by ballot, in secret. The Dominion scheme only provided at first for the confederation of the two Canadian provinces with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Provision was made, however, for the admission of any other prov- ince of British North America which should desire to follow suit. The newly -constructed province of Manitoba, made up out of what had been the Hudson's Bay territories, was the first to come in. It was admitted into the union in 1 S70. British Columbia and Van- couver's Island followed in 1871, and Prince Edward's Island claimed admission in 1S73. The Dominion now embraces the whole of the regions constituting British North America, with the exception of Newfoundland, which still pre- fers its lonely system of quasi-independence. It may be assumed, however, that this curious iso- lation will not last long; and the Act constitu- tuting the Dominion opens the door for the en- trance of this latest lingerer outside whenever she may think fit to claim admission. The idea of a federation of the provinces of British North America was not new in 1867, or even in the days of Lord Durham. When the delegates of the revolted American Colonies were discussing among themselves their terms of fed- eration, they agreed in their articles of union that Canada, " acceding to the Confederation and joining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into and entitled to the ad- vantages of the Union.'' No answer to this ap- peal was made by either of the Canadas, but the idea of union among the British provinces among themselves evidently took root then. As early as 1S10 a colonist put forward a somewhat elab- orate scheme for the union of the provinces. In 1814 Chief Justice Sewell. of Quebec, submitted a plan of union to the Duke of Kent. In 1827 resolutions were introduced into the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, having relation principally to a combination of the two Canadas, but also suggesting something "more politic, wise, and generally advantageous ; viz., an union of the whole four provinces of North America under a viceroyaltv, with a facsimile of that great and glorious fabric, the best monument of human wisdom, the British Constitution." Noth- ing further, however, was done to advance the A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 66 principle of federation until after the rebellion in Canada, and the brief dictatorship of Lord Durham. Then, as we have already said, the foundation of the system was laid, In 1849 an association, called the North American League, was formed, which held a meeting in Toronto to promote Confederation. In 1854 the Legisla- tive Assembly of Nova Scotia discussed and adopted resolutions recommending the closer connection of the British provinces; and in 1857 the same province urged the question upon the consideration of Mr. Labouchere, afterwards Lord Taunton, and then Colonial Secretary. Mr. Labouchere seems to have thought that the Imperial Government had better not meddle or make in the matter, but leave it altogether for the spontaneous action of the colonists. In the following year the coalition Ministry of Canada, during the Governor-generalship of Sir Francis Head, made a move by entering into communi- cations with the Imperial Government and with the other American provinces. The other prov- inces hung back, however, and nothing came of this effort. Then Nova Scotia tried to get up a scheme of union between herself, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward's Island. Canada offered to enter into the scheme ; and in 1864 Mr. Card- well, then Colonial Secretary, gave it his ap- proval. New conferences were held in Quebec, but the plan was not successful. New Bruns- wick seems to have held back this time. It was clear, however, that the provinces were steadily moving toward an agreement, and that a basis of federation would be found before long. The maritime provinces always felt some difficulty in seeing their way to union with the Canadas. Their outlying position and their distance from the proposed seat of central government made one obvious reason for hesitation. Even at the time when the bill for Confederation was introduced into the House of Lords, Nova Scotia was still holding back. That difficulty, however, was got over, and the Act was passed in March, 1867. Lord Monck was made the first Governor-gen- eral of the new Dominion, and its first Parlia- ment met at Ottawa in November of the same year. In 1869 — we are now somewhat anticipating — the Dominion was enlarged by the acquisition of the famous Hudson's Bay territory. When the Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company, which dated from the reign of Charles II., ex- pired, in 1869, Lord Granville, then Colonial Sec- retary, proposed that the chief part of the Com- pany's territories should be transferred to the Dominion for £300,000 ; and the proposition was agreed to on both sides. The Red River country, a portion of the transferred territory, rose in rebellion, and refused to receive the new Governor. Louis Riel, the insurgent chief, seized on Fort Garry and the Company's treasury, and proclaimed the independence of the settlement. Colonel Wolseley, now Lord Wolseley, was sent in command of an expedition which reached Fort Garry on August 23, when the insurgents submitted without resistance, and the district received the name of Manitoba. Thus the Do- minion of Canada now stretches from ocean to ocean. The population of British North Amer- ica did not exceed one million and a half in 1841, at the time of the granting of the constitution, and it is now over four millions. The revenue of the provinces has multiplied more than twentyfold during the same time. Canada has everything that ought to make a commonwealth great and prosperous. The fisheries of her mar- itime provinces, the coal and iron of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the grain-producing regions of the North-west, the superb St. Lawrence, hardly rivalled on the globe as a channel of com- merce from the interior of a country to the ocean — all these are guarantees of a great future. Equal with Canada in importance are the Australian islands. Australia now consists of five separate colonies — New South Wales, Vic- toria, Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland ; all these are provinces of one vast island, the largest island in the world. New Zealand and Tasmania are other islands of the Australasian group. All these colonies have now representative government, with responsible ministries and parliamentary Chambers. New South Wales is the oldest of the provinces of Australia. Its political life may be said to date from 1853, when it first received what is fairly to be called a constitution. For ten years pre- viously it had possessed a sort of legislature, con- sisting of a single Chamber, of which half the members were nominee, and the other half elected. One of the most distinguished mem- bers of that Chamber for many years was Mr. Lowe, who appears to have learned to hate democratic government from watching over its earliest infancy, as some women imbibe a dislike to all children from having had to do too much nursery-work in their girlhood. Victoria, which was separated from New South Wales in 1851, got her liberal constitution in 1856. The other colonies followed by degrees. The constitutional systems differ among themselves as to certain of their details. The electoral qualification, for example, differs considerably. Generally speak- ing, however, they may be set down as all alike illustrating the principles and exercising the in- fluence of representative government. They have not got on so far without much confusion and many sad mistakes. The constitutional controversies and difficulties in Victoria and in other Australian colonies are a favorite example with some writers and speakers, to show the failure of the democratic principle in govern- ment. But it is always forgotten that the prin- ciple of representative government in a colony like Victoria is, as a matter of necessity, that of democracy. Even those who believe the aristo- cratic influence invaluable in the life of a nation must see that New South Wales and Victoria and Queensland must somehow contrive to do with- out such an influence. An aristocracy cannot be imported; nor can -it" be sown in the evening to grow up next morning. The colonists are com- pelled to construct a system without it. There are many difficulties in their way. It is often carelessly said that they ought to find the work easy enough, because they have the example and the experience of England to guide them. But they have no such guide. The conditions under which the colonies have to create a constitutional system are entirely different from those of Eng- land ; so different, indeed, that there must be a certain danger of going astray simply from try- ing to follow England's example under circum- stances entirely unlike those of England. CHAPTER XXII. STRIFE AT HOME AND ABROAD. On February 16, 1866, Lord Russell told the House of Lords, and Sir George Grey announced to the House of Commons, that the Government intended to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland, and that both Houses of Parliament were to be called together next day for the pur- pose of enabling the Ministry to carry out this resolve. The next day was Saturday, an unusual day for. a Parliamentary sitting at any early part of the session ; unusual indeed, when the session had only just begun. The Government could only excuse such a summons to the Lords and Commons on the plea of absolute urgency; and the word soon went round in the lobbies that a serious discovery had been made, and that a con- spiracy of a formidable nature was preparing a rebellion in Ireland. The two Houses met next day, and a measure was introduced to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland, and give the Lord-Lieutenant almost unlimited power to arrest and detain suspected persons. It seems almost superfluous to say that such a Bill was not allowed to pass without some comment, and even some opposition, in the House of Commons. Mr. Mill spoke against it. Mr. Bright made a speech which has always since been regarded as in every sense one of the very finest he ever delivered. The measure however was run through its three readings in both Houses in the course of the day. The House of Lords had to keep up their sitting until the document should arrive from Osborne to authorize the Commissioners to give the Queen's assent to the Bill. The Lords, therefore, having discussed the subject sufficiently to their satis- faction at a comparatively early hour of the even- ing, suspended the sitting until eleven at night. They then resumed, and waited patiently for the authority to come from Osborne, where the Queen was staying. Shortly before midnight the needful authority arrived, and the Bill be- came law, at twenty minutes before one o'clock no Sunday morning. The Fenian movement differed from nearly all previous movements of the same kind in Ireland, in the fact that it arose and grew into strength without the patronage or the help of any of those who might be called the natural leaders of the people. In 1798 and in 1848 some men of great ability, or strength of purpose, or high position, or all attributes combined, made themselves leaders, and the others followed. In 1798 the rising had the impulse of almost intolerable personal as well as national grievance; but it is doubtful whether any formidable and organized movement might have been made but for the leadership of such men as Wolfe Tone and Lord Edward Fitzgerald. In 1848 there were such impulses as the traditional leadership of Smith O'Brien, the indomitable purpose of Mitchel, and the impassioned eloquence of Meagher. But Feni- anism seemed to have sprung out of the very soil of Ireland itself. Its leaders were not men of high position, or distinguished name, or proved ability. They were not of aristocratic birth ; they were not orators ; they were not powerful wi iters. It was not the impulse of the American Civil War that engendered Fenianism ; although that war had great influence on the manner in which Fenianism shaped its course. Fenianism had been in existence, in fact, although it had not got its peculiar name, long before the Ameri- can War created a new race of Irishmen — the Irish-American soldiers — to turn their energies and their military inclination to a new purpose. Agitation in the form of secret association had never ceased in Ireland. One result of prose- cutions for seditious speaking and writing in Ire- land is invariably the encouragement of secret combination. The suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, in consequence of the 1848 move- ment, led, as a matter of course, to secret associa- tion. Before the trials of the Irish leaders were well over in that year a secret association was formed by a large number of young Irishmen in cities and towns. It was got up by young men of good character and education ; it spread from town to town ; it was conducted with the most absolute secrecy ; it had no informer in its ranks. It had its oath of fidelity and its regular leaders, its nightly meetings, and even, to a limited and cautious extent, its nightly drillings. It was a failure, because in the nature of things it could not be anything else. The young men had not arms enough anywhere to render them formida- ble in any one place ; and the necessity of carry- ing on their communications with different towns in profound secrecy, and by roundabout ways of communication, made a prompt, concerted action impossible. After two or three attempts to ar- range for a simultaneous rising had failed, or had ended only in little abortive and isolated ebulli- tions, the young men became discouraged. Some of the leaders went to France, some to the United States, some actually to England ; and the asso- ciation melted away. Some years after this the " Phcenix" clubs began to be formed in Ireland. They were for the most part associations of the peasant class ; they led to some of the ordinary prosecutions and convictions, and that was all. After the Phcenix associations came the Fe- nians. The Fenians are said to have been the ancient Irish militia. The Fenian agitation began about 1858, and it came to perfection about the middle of the American Civil War. A con- vention was held in America, and the Fenian Association was resolved into a regular organized institution. A provisional government was estab- lished in New York, with all the array and the mechanism of an actual working administration. The emigration of the Irish to America had introduced an entirely new element into political calculations. The Irish grew rapidly in numbers and in strength all over the United States. The constitutional system adopted there enabled them almost at once to become citizens of the Repub- lic. They availed themselves of this privilege 66 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. almost universally. The Irish working-man, •who had never probably had any chance of giv- ing a vote in his own country, found himself in the United States a person of political power, whose vote was courted by the leaders of differ- ent parties, and whose sentiments were flattered by the wire-pullers of opposing factions. He was not slow to appreciate the value of this in- fluence in its bearing on that political question which, in all the sincerity of his American citizen- ship, was still the dearest to his heart — the con- dition of Ireland. The Irish in the States made their political organizations the means of keep- ing up a constant agitation, having for its object to secure the co-operation of American parties in some designs against England. After the Civil War the feelings of almost all the political parties in the States, in the South as well as in the North, were hostile to England. At such a moment, and under such a condition of things, it is not surprising if many of the Fenian leaders in America should have thought it easy or at least quite possible to force the hand of the Govern- ment, and to bring on a war with England. At all events, it is not surprising if they should have believed that the American Government would put forth little effort to prevent the Fenians from using the frontier of the United States as a basis of operations against England. Meanwhile there began to be a constant mys- terious influx of strangers into Ireland. They were strangers who for the most part had Celt- ic features and the bearing of American sol- diers. They distributed themselves throughout the towns and villages ; most of them had rela- tives and old friends here and there, to whom they told stories of the share they had had in the big war across the Atlantic and of the prep- arations that were making in the States for the accomplishment of Irish independence. All this time the Fenians in the States were filling the columns of friendly journals with accounts of the growth of their organization and announcements of the manner in which it was to he directed to its purpose. After a while things went so far that the Fenian leaders in the United States issued an address, announcing that their officers were going to Ireland to raise an army there for the recovery of the country's independence. Of course the Government here were soon quite pre- pared to receive them ; and indeed the authori- ties easily managed to keep themselves informed by means of spies of all that was going on in Ireland. The spy system was soon flourishing in full force. Every considerable gathering of Fenians had among its numbers at least one person who generally professed a yet fiercer devo- tion to the cause than any of the rest, and who was in the habit of carrying to Dublin Castle every night his official report of what his Fe- nian colleagues had been doing. It is positive^ stated that in one instance a Protestant detective in the pay of the Government actually passed himself off as a Catholic, and took the Sacra- ment openly in a Catholic church in order to es- tablish his Catholic orthodoxy in the eyes of his companions. One need not be a Catholic in order to understand the grossness of the outrage which conduct like this must seem to be in the eyes of all who believe in the mysteries of the Catholic faith. Meanwhile the Head Centre of Fenianism in America, James Stephens, who had borne a part in the movement in 1848, arrived in Ireland. He was arrested in the company of Mr. Charles J. Kickham, the author of many poems of great sweetness and beauty ; a man of pure and virtuous character. Stephens was com- mitted to Richmond Prison, Dublin, early in November, 1865 ; but before many days had passed the country was startled by the news that he had contrived to make his escape. The escape was planned with skill and daring. For a time it helped to strengthen the impression on the minds of the Irish peasantry that in Stephens there had at last been found an insurgent leader of adequate courage, craft, and good-fortune. Stephens disappeared for a moment from the stage. In the mean time disputes and dissen- sions had arisen among the Fenians in America. The schism had gone so far as to lead to the set- ting up of two separate associations. There were of course distracted plans. One party was for an invasion of Canada; another pressed for operations in Ireland itself. The Canadian at- tempt actually was made. A small body of Fe- nians, a sort of advanced guard, crossed the Ni- agara River on the night of May 31, 1S6(J, occu- pied Fort Erie, and drove back the Canadian volunteers who first advanced against them. For a moment a gleam of success shone on the attempt; but the United States enforced the neutrality of their frontier lines with a sudden energy and strictness wholly unexpected by the Fenians. They prevented any further crossing of the river, and arrested several of the leaders on the American side. The Canadian authori- ties hurried up reinforcements ; several Fenians were taken and shot; others recrossed the river, and the invasion scheme was over. The Fenians then resolved to do something on the other side of the Atlantic. One venture was a scheme for the capture of Chester Castle. The plan was that a sufficient number of the Fenians in England should converge towards the ancient town of Chester, should suddenly appear there on a given day in February, 1867, capture the castle, seize the arms they found there, cut the telegraph wires, make for Holyhead, but a short distance by rail, seize on some vessels there, and then steam for the Irish coast. The Government were fully informed of the plot in advance ; the police were actually on the lookout for the arri- val of strangers in Chester, and the enterprise melted away. In March, 1867, an attempt at a general rising was made in Ireland. It was a total failure ; the one thing on which the coun- try had to be congratulated was that it failed so completely and so quickly as to cause little blood- shed. Every influence combined to minimize the waste of life. The snow fell that spring as it had scarcely ever fallen before in the soft, mild climate of Ireland. Silently, unceasingly it came down all day long and all night long; it covered the roads and the fields; it made the gorges of the mountains untenable, and the gorges of the mountains were to be the encampments and the retreats of the Fenian insurgents. The snow fell for many days and nights, and when it ceased falling the insurrectionary movement was over. The insurrection was literally buried in that un- looked-for snow. There were some attacks on police barracks in various places — in Cork; in Kerry, in Limerick, in Tipperary, in Louth ; there were some conflicts with the police; there were some shots fired, many captures made, a few lives lost; and then for the time at least all was over. There was, however, much feeling in England as well as in Ireland for some of the Fenian lead- ers who now began to be put upon their trials. They bore themselves with manliness and dig- nity. Some of them had been brave soldiers in the American Civil War, and were entitled to wear honorable marks of distinction. Many had given up a successful career or a prosperous call- ing in the United States to take part in what they were led to believe would be the great national uprising of the Irish people. They spoke up with courage in the dock, and declared their perfect readiness to die for what they held to be a sacred cause. They indulged in no bravado and utter- ed no word of repining. One of the leaders, Colonel Burke, who had served with distinction in the army of the Southern Confederation, was sentenced to death in May, 1867. A great pub- lic meeting was held in St. James's Hall, London, to adopt a memorial praying that the sentence might not be carried out. Among those who addressed the meeting was Mr. Mill. It was al- most altogether an English meeting. The hall was crowded with English working-men. The Irish element had hardly any direct representa- tion there. Yet there was absolute unanimity, there was intense enthusiasm in favor of the mit- igation of the sentence on Colonel Burke and his companions. The great hall rang with cheer after cheer as Mr. Mill, in a voice made stronger than its wont by the intensity of his emotions, pleaded for a policy of mercy. The voice of that great meeting was heard in the Ministerial coun- cils, and the sentence of death was not inflicted. Not many months after this event the world was aroused to amazement by the news of the daring rescue of Fenian prisoners in Manchester. Two Fenian prisoners, named Kelly and Deasy, were being conveyed in the prison van from one of the police-courts to the borough jail to await further examination. On the way the van was stopped by a number of armed Fenians, who broke it open. In the scuffle a policeman was killed. The rescue was accomplished ; the pris- oners were hurried away, and were never after seen by English officials. The principal rescuers were captured and put on their trial for the mur- der of the policeman. Five were found guilty: their names were Allen, Larkin, O'Brien, Con- don or Shore, and Maguire. Allen was a young fellow — a mere lad under twenty. The defence was that the prisoners only meditated a rescue, and that the death of the policeman was but an accident. All the five were sentenced to death. Then followed an almost unprecedented occur- rence. After the trial it was proved that one of the five, Maguire, never was near the spot on the day of the rescue ; that he was a loyal private in the Marines, and no Fenian ; that he never knew anything about the plot or heard of it until he was arrested. He received a pardon at once, that being the only way in which he could he extricated from the effect of the mistaken ver- dict. One other of the five prisoners who were convicted together escaped the death sentence. This was Condon or Shore, an American by citi- zenship, if not by birth. He had undoubtedly been concerned in the attempt at rescue; but for some reason a distinction was made between him and the others. This act of mercy, in itself highly commendable, added to the bad effect pro- duced in Ireland by the execution of the other three men; for it gave rise to the belief that Shore had been spared only because the protect- ion of the American Government might have- been invoked on his behalf. Many strenuous attempts were made to procure a commutation of the sentence in the cases of the other prison- ers. Mr. Bright exerted himself with character- istic energy and humanity. Mr. Swinburne, the poet, made an appeal to the people of England in lines of great power and beauty on behal f of a policy of mercy to the prisoners. Lord Derby, who had then come to be at the head of the Gov- ernment, refused to listen to auy appeal. The remaining three, Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien, were executed. The excitement caused by the attempt they had made and the penalty they paid had hardly died away when a crime of a peculiarly atrocious nature was committed in the name of Fenianism. On December 13 an attempt was made to blow up the House of Detention at Clerkemvell. Two Fenian prisoners were in the Clerkemvell Hotisa of Detention, and some sympathizers outside had attempted to rescue them by placing a barrel of gunpowder close to the wall of the prison, and exploding the powder by means of a match and a fuse. About sixty yards of the prison wall were blown in, and numbers of small houses in the neighborhood were shattered to pieces. Six per- sons were killed on the spot ; about six more died from the effects of the injuries they received; some hundred and twenty persons were wounded. The clumsiness of the crime was only surpassed by its atrocity. Had the prisoners on whose be- half the attempt was made been near the wall at the time, they must have shared the fate of those who were victimized outside. Had they even been taking exercise in the yard, they woidd, in all probability, have been killed. They would have been taking exercise at the time had it not been for a warning the authorities at Scotland Yard received two days before, to the effect that an attempt at rescue was to be made by means of gunpowder and the blowing in of the wall. Iu consequence of this warning the governor of the prison had the prisoners confined to their cells that day; and thus, in all probability, they owed their lives to the disclosure of the secret plan which their officious and ill-omened admir- ers had in preparation for their rescue. It is dif- ficult to understand why the prison authorities and the police, thus forewarned, did not keep a sufficient watch upon the line of prison wall to prevent the possibility of any such scheme being A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 67 put into execution. Five men and a woman were put on trial for the crime. The proceed- ings against the woman and one of the men were withdrawn, three other prisoners were acquitted after a long trial ; one man was convicted and executed. It is not necessary to follow out the steps of the Fenian movement any farther. There were many isolated attempts ; there were many ar- rests, trials, imprisonments, banishments. The phenomena of the Fenian movement did not fail to impress some statesmanlike minds in England. There were some public men who saw that the time had come when mere repression must no longer be relied upon as a cure for Irish discon- tent. While many public instructors lost them- selves in vain shriekings over the wickedness of Fenianism and the incurable perversity of the Irish people, one statesman was already con- vinced that the very shock of the Fenian agita- tion would arouse public attention to the recog- nition of substantial grievance, and to the admis- sion that the business of statesmanship was to seek out the remedy and provide redress. English society was much distressed and dis- turbed about the same time by the stories of outrages more cruel, and of a conspiracy more odious and alarming in its purpose than any that could be ascribed to the Fenian movement. It began to be common talk that among the trades- associations there was systematic terrorizing of the worst kind. Ordinary intimidation had long been regarded as one of the means by which some of the Trades-unions kept their principles in force. Now, however, it was common report that secret assassination was in many cases the doom of those who brought on themselves the wrath of the Trades-unions. For many years the great town of Sheffield had had a' special notoriety in consequence of the outrages of the kind that were believed to be committed there. When a workman had made himself obnoxious to the leaders of some local Trades-union, it oc- casionally happened that some sudden and signal misfortune befell him. Perhaps his house was set on fire ; perhaps a canister of gunpowder was exploded under his windows, or some rudely con- structed infernal machine was flung into his bed- room at midnight. The man himself, suppos- ing him to have escaped with his life, felt con- vinced that in the attempt to destroy him he saw the hand of the union ; his neighbors were of his opinion ; but it sometimes happened, neverthe- less, that there was no possibility of bringing home the charge upon evidence that could satisfy a criminal court. The comparative impunity which such crimes were enabled to secure made the perpetrators of them feel more and more safe in their enterprises ; and the result was that out- rages began to increase in atrocity, boldness, and numbers. The employers offered large rewards for the discovery of the offenders ; the Govern- ment did the same; but not much came of the offers. The employers charged the local Trades- unions with being the authors of all the crimes; the officials of the unions distinctly and indig- nantly denied the charge. In some instances they did more. They offered on their own ac- count a reward for the detection of the crimi- nals, in order that their own innocence might thereby be established once for all in the face of day. At a public meeting held in Sheffield to express public opinion on the subject, the secre- tary of one of the local unions, a man named Broadhead, spoke out with indignant and vehe- ment eloquence in denunciation of the crimes, and in protest against the insinuation that they were sanctioned by the authority or done with the connivance of the trades-organization. Nevertheless the Government resolved to un- dertake a full investigation into the whole condi- tion of the Trades-unions. A Commission was appointed, and a bill passed through Parliament enabling it to take evidence upon oath. The Commissioners sent down to Sheffield three ex- aminers to make inquiry as to the outrages. The examiners had authority to offer protection to any one, even though himself engaged in the commission of the outrages, who should give in- formation which might lead to the discovery of the conspiracy. This offer had its full effect. The Government were now so evidently deter- mined to get at the root of all the evil, that many of those actively engaged in the commission of the crimes took fright and believed they had best consult for their personal safety. Accord- ingly the Commission got as much evidence as could be desired, and it was soon put beyond dispute that more than one association had sys- tematically employed the most atrocious means to punish offenders against their self-made laws and to deter men from venturing to act in op- position to them. The saw-grinders' union in Sheffield had been particularly active in such work, and the man named William Broadhead, who had so indignantly protested the innocence of his union, was the secretary of that organiza- tion. Broadhead was proved to have ordered, arranged, and paid for the murder of at least one offender against his authority, and to have set on foot in the same way various deeds scarce- ly if at all less criminal. The crimes were paid for out of the funds of the union. There were gradations of outrage, ascending from what might be called mere personal annoyance up to the serious destruction of property, then to personal injury, to mutilation, and to death. Broadhead himself came before the examiners and acknowl- edged the part he had taken in the direction of such crimes. He explained how he had devised them, organized them, selected the agents by whom they were to be committed, and paid for them out of the funds of the union. The men whom he selected had sometimes no personal resentment against the victims they were bidden to mutilate or destroy. They were ordered and paid to punish men whom Broadhead considered to be offenders against the authority and the in- terests of the union, and they did the work obe- diently. In Manchester a state of things was found to exist only less hideous than that which prevailed in Sheffield. Other towns were found to be not very far distant from Sheffield and Manchester in the audacity and ingenuity of their trade outrages. The great majority, however, of the Trades- unions appeared after the most searching investi- gation to be absolutely free from any complici- ty in the crimes, or any sanction of them. Men of sense began to ask whether society had not it- self to blame in some measure even for the crimes of the Trades-unions. The law had always dealt unfairly and harshly with the trade-associations. Public opinion had for a long time regarded them as absolutely lawless. There was a time when their very existence would have been an infrac- tion of the law. For centuries our legislation had acted on the principle that the working-man was a sei'f of society, bound to work for the sake of the employer and on the employer's terms. Even down to the period of which we are now writing, there was still a marked and severe dis- tinction drawn between master and servant, mas- ter and workman, in our legislation. In cases of breach of contract the remedy against the em- ployer was entirely civil ; against the employed, criminal. A workman might even be arrested on a warrant for alleged breach of contract and taken to prison before the case had been tried. The laws were particularly stringent in their dec- larations against all manner of combination among workmen. Any combined effort to raise wages would have been treated as conspiracy of a spe- cially odious and dangerous order. Down to 1SL'5 a mere combination of workmen for their own protection was unlawful ; but long after 1825 the law continued to deal very harshly with what was called conspiracy among working-men for trade purposes. Not many years ago it was held that although a strike could not itself be pronounced illegal, yet a combination of workmen to bring about a strike was a conspiracy, and was to be properly punished by law. In 18G7, the very year when the Commission we have described held its inquiries at Sheffield and Manchester, a decision given by the Court of Queen's Bench affirmed that a friendly society, which was also a trades-union, had no right to the protection of the law in enforcing a claim for a debt. It was laid down that because the rules of the society appeared to be such as would operate in restraint of trade, therefore the society was not entitled to the protection of the civil law in any ordinary matter of account. Trades-unions were not al- lowed to defend themselves against plunder by a dishonest member. This extraordinary principle was in force for several years after the time at which we have now arrived in this history. One result of the investigations into the outrages in Sheffield and in Manchester was that public at- tention was drawn directly to the whole subject; the searching light of full, free discussion was. turned on to it, and after a while every one began to see that the wanton injustice of the law and of society in dealing with the associations of working-men was responsible for many of the errors and even of the crimes into which some of the worst of these associations had allowed them- selves to be seduced. It was not, however, the law alone which had set itself for centuries against the working-man. Public opinion and legislation were in complete agreement as to the rights of Trades - unions. For many years the whole body of English pub- lic opinion outside the working-class itself was entirely against the principle of the unions. It was an axiom among all the employing and capi- talist classes that trades- organizations were as much to be condemned in point of morality as they were absurd in the sight of political econo- my. All the leading newspapers were constantly writing against the Trades-unions at one time ; not writing merely as a Liberal paper writes against some Tory measure, but as men condemn a monstrous heresy. Public opinion was equal- ly well satisfied about strikes. Parliament, the pulpit, the press, the stage, philosophy, fiction, all were for a long time in combination to give forth one pronouncement on the subject. A strike was something always wicked and foolish ; abstractly wicked; foolish to the fundamental depths of its theory. But the working-man had often no way of asserting his claims effectively except by the instrumentality of a strike. A court of law could do nothing for him. If he thought his wages ought to be raised, or ought not to be lowered, a court of law could not assist him. Once it would have compelled him to take what was of- fered, and work for it or go to prison. Now, in better times, it would offer him no protection against the most arbitrary conduct on the part of an employer. In spite of law, in spite of public opinion, the Trades-unions went on and prospered. Some of them grew to be great organizations, disposing of vast funds. Several fought out against em- ployers long battles that were almost like a social civil war. Sometimes they were defeated ; some- times they were victorious ; sometimes they got at least so far that each side could claim the vic- tory, and wrangle once more historically over the point. Many individual societies were badly managed and went to pieces. Some were made the victims of swindlers, just like other institutions among other classes. Some were brought into difficulties simply because of the childlike ignorance of the most elementary prin- ciples of political economy with which they were conducted. Still, the Trades-union, taken as a whole, became stronger and stronger every day. It became part of the social life of the working- classes. At last it began to find public opinion giving way before it. Some eminent men, of whom Mr. Mill was the greatest, had long been endeavoring to get the world to recognize the fact that a strike is not a thing which can be called good or bad until we know its object and its history ; that the men who strike may be sometimes right, and that they may have some- times been successful. But as usual in this country, and as another evidence, doubtless, of what is commonly called the practical character of Englishmen, the right of the trades-unions to existence and to social recognition was chiefly impressed upon the public mind by the strength of the organization itself. Many men came at once to the frankly admitted conclusion that there must be some principles, economic as well as others, to justify the existence and the growth of so remarkable an institution. The Sheffield outrages, even while they horrified every one, yet made most persons begin to feel that the time had come when there must not be left in 68 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. the mouth of the worst and most worthless mem- ber of a Trades-union any excuse for saying any longer that the law was unjust to him and to his ■class. A course of legislation was then begun which was not made complete for several years after. We may, however, anticipate here the measures which passed in 1875, and show how at length the fair claims of the unions were recog- nized. The masters and workmen were placed on absolute equality as regarded the matter of contract. They had been thus equal for many years in other countries ; in France, Germany, and Italy, for example. A breach of contract resulting in damages was to be treated on either side as giving rise to a civil and not a criminal remedy. There was to be no imprisonment, ex- cept as it is ordered in other cases, by a county court judge ; that is, a man may be committed to prison who has been ordered to pay a certain sum, and out of contumacy will not pay it, al- though payment is shown to be within his power. No combination of persons is to be deemed crim- inal if the act proposed to be done would not be criminal when done by one person. Several breaches of contract were, however, very proper- ly made the subject of special legislation. If, for example, a man "wilfully and maliciously" broke his contract of service to a gas or water company, knowing that by doing so he might cause great public injury, he might be imprison- ed. It was made strictly unlawful and punish- able by imprisonment to hide or injure the tools of workmen in order to prevent them from do- ing their work ; or to " beset " workmen in order to prevent them from getting to their place of business, or to intimidate them into keeping away from it. In principle this legislation accomplish- ed all that any reasonable advocate of the claims of the Trades-unions could have demanded. It put the masters and workmen on an equality. It recognized the right of combination for every purpose which is not itself actually contrary to law. It settled the fact that the right of a com- bination is just the same as the right of an in- dividual. The civil laws which dealt so harshly for a long time with Trades-unionism dealt unfairly too with the friendly societies, with that strong and sudden growth of our modem days — Co- operation. If working-men can combine effect- ively and in large numbers for a benefit society or for a strike, why should they not also co- operate for the purpose of supplying each other with good and cheap food and clothing, and di- viding among themselves the profits which would otherwise be distributed among various manu- facturers and shop-keepers ? This is a question which had often been put before, without any very decided practical result coming of it ; but in 1844, or thereabouts, it was put and tested in a highly practical manner in the North of Eng- land. The association called "The Equitable Pioneers' Co-operative Store " was founded in Rochdale by a few poor flannel- weavers. The times were bad ; there had been a failure of a savings-bank, involving heavy loss to many classes ; and these men cast about in their minds for some way of making their little earnings go far. These Rochdale weavers were thoughtful men. Most of them were, or rather had been, followers of Robert Owen, a dreamy philanthro- pist and Socialist, who had written books advo- cating a modified form of community of proper- ty, and who bad tried the experiment of found- ing a communistic colony in America, which was entirely unsuccessful, and whose doctrines were followed by a large number of people, who called themselves Owenites, after him. One decidedly good teaching which they had from Robert Owen was a dislike to the credit system. They saw that the shop-keeper who gave his goods at long credit must necessarily have to charge a much higher price than the actual value of the goods, and even of a reasonable profit, in order to make up for his having to live out of his money, and to secure himself against bad debts. They also saw that the credit system leads to almost in cessant litigation ; and, besides, that litigation means the waste of time and money. Some of them, it appears, had a conscientious objection to the taking of an oath. It occurred to these Rochdale weavers, therefore, that if they could get together a little capital they might start a shop or store of their own, and thus be able to supply themselves with better goods, and at cheaper rates, than by dealing with the ordinary tradesmen. Twenty - eight of them began by subscribing twopence a week each. The number of subscribers was afterwards increased to forty, and the weekly subscription to threepence. When they had got £28 they thought they had capital enough to begin their enterprise with. They took a small shop in a little back street, called Toad Lane. After the shop had been fitted up the equitable pioneers had only £14 left to stock it ; and the concern looked so small and shabby that the hearts of some of the pioneers might have well-nigh sunk within them. A neighbor- ing shop-keeper, feeling utter contempt for the enterprise, declared that he could remove the whole stock-in-trade in a wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow-load of goods soon, however, be- came too heavy to be carried away in the hold of a great steamer. The pioneers began by sup- plying each other with groceries ; they went on to butcher's meat, and then to all sorts of cloth- ing. From supplying goods they progressed on to the manufacturing of goods ; they had a corn mill and a cotton mill, and they became to a certain extent a land and a building society. They set aside part of their profits for a library and reading-room, and they founded a co-opera- tive Turkish bath. Their capital of £28 swelled in sixteen years to over £120,000. Cash pay- ments and the division of profits were the main sources of this remarkable prosperity. Not merely did the shareholders share in the profits, but all the buyers received an equitable percent- age on the price of every article they bought. Each purchaser, on paying for what he had bought, received a ticket which entitled him to that percentage at each division of profit, and thus many a poor man found at the quarterly division that he had several shillings, perhaps a pound, coming to him, which seemed at first to have dropped out of the clouds, so little direct claim did he appear to have on it. He had not paid more for his goods than he would have had to pay at the cheapest shop ; he had got them of the best quality the price could buy ; and at the end of each period he found that he had a sum of money standing to his credit, which he could either take away or leave to accumulate at the store. Many other institutions were soon following the example of the Rochdale pioneers. Long before their capital had swelled to the amount we have mentioned, the North of England was studded with co-operative associations of one kind or another. Many of them proved sad failures. Some started on chimerical principles ; some were stupidly, some selfishly mismanaged. There came seasons of heavy strain on labor and trade, when the resources of many were taxed to their uttermost, and when some even of the best seemed for a moment likely to go under. The co-operative associations suffered, in fact, the trials and vicissitudes that must be met by all institu- tions of men. But the one result is clear and palpable — they have as a whole been a most re- markable success. Of late years the principle has been taken up by classes who would have appeared at one time to have little in common with the poor flannel-weavers of Rochdale. The civil servants of the Crown first adopted the idea ; and now in some of the most fashionable quarters of London the carriages of some of their most fashionable residents are seen at the crowded doors of the co-operative store. It may safely be predicted that posterity will not let the co- operative principle die. It has taken firm hold of our modern society. It seems certainly des- tined to develop rather than fade ; to absorb rather than be absorbed. The law was much against the principle in the beginning. Before 1852 all co-operative associations bad to come un- der the Friendly Societies Act, which prohibited their dealing with any but their own members. An Act obtained in 1852 allowed them to sell to persons not members of their body. For many years they were not permitted to hold more than an acre of land. More lately this absurd restriction was abolished, and they were allowed to trade in land, to hold land to any extent, and to act as building societies. The friendly socie- ties, which were in their origin merely working- men's clubs, have been the subject of legislation since the later years of the last century. It may be doubted whether, even up to this day, that legislation has not done them more harm than good. The law neither takes them fairly under its protection and control, nor leaves them to do the best they can for themselves uncontrolled and on their own responsibility. At one time the sort of left-handed recognition which the law gave them had a direct tendency to do barm. An offi- cer was appointed by the Government, who might inspect the manner in which the accounts of the societies were kept, and certify that they were in conformity with the law ; but he had no authority to look actually into the affairs of a society. The mere fact, however, that there was any manner of Government certificate proved sadly mislead- ing to thousands of persons. Some actually re- garded the certificate as a guarantee given by the Government that their money was safe ; a guar- antee which hound the State to make good any loss to the depositors. Others, who were not quite so credulous, were convinced at least that the certificate testified on Government authority that the funds of the society were safe, and that its accounts and its business were managed on principles of strict economical soundness. The Government official certified nothing of the kind. The certificate given to the friendly societies merely certified that on the face of things the accounts seemed all right. Many of the societies were sadly mismanaged ; in certain of them there was the grossest malversation of funds ; in some towns much distress was caused among the depos- itors in consequence. The societies had to pass, in fact, through a stage of confusion, ignorance, and experiment, and it is perhaps only to be won- dered at that there was not greater mismanage- ment, greater blundering, and more lamentable failure. In the summer of 1867 England received with strange welcome a strange visitor. It was the Sultan of Turkey who came to visit England — the Sultan Abdul- Aziz, whose career was to end ten years after in dethronement and suicide. Abdul- Aziz was the first Sultan who ever set his foot on English soil. He was welcomed with a show of enthusiasm which made cool observers wonder and shrug their shoulders. There was an insurrection going on in the Greek island of Crete, which was under Turk- ish rule, and the Sultan's generals were doing cruel work among the unfortunate rebels of that Greek race with which the people of England had so long and so loudly professed the deepest sympathy. Yet the Sultan was received by Englishmen with what must have seemed to him a genuine outburst of national enthusiasm. As a matter of course he received the usual court entertainments; but he was also enter- tained gorgeously by the Lord Mayor and Cor- poration of London ; he went in state to the Opera and the Crystal Palace ; he saw a review of the fleet, in company with the Queen, at Spit- head ; he was run after and shouted for by vast crowds wherever he showed his dark and mel- ancholy face, on which even then the sullen shadow of the future might seem to have been cast. His presence threw completely into the background that of his nominal vassal the Vice- roy of Egypt, who might otherwise have been a very sufficient lion in himself. Abdul- Aziz doubtless believed in the genuineness of the re- ception, and thought it denoted a real and last- ing sympathy with him and his State. He did not know how easily crowds are gathered and the fire of popular enthusiasm is lighted in Lon- don. The Shah of Persia was to experience the same sort of reception not long after; Gari- baldi bad enjoyed it not long before; Kossuth had had it in his time. Some of the newspa- pers politely professed to believe that the visit would be productive of wonderful results to Turkey. The Sultan, it was suggested, would surely return to Constantinople with his head full of new ideas gathered up in the West. He would go back much impressed by the evidences A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 69 of the blessings of our constitutional govern- ment, and the progressive nature of our civic institutions. He would read a lesson in the glass and iron of the Crystal Palace, the solid splendors of the Guildhall. He would learn something from the? directors of the railway companies, and something from the Lord May- or. The Cattle Show at the Agricultural Hall could not be lost on his observant eyes. The result would be a new era for Turkey — another new era: the real new era this time. The poor Sultan's head must have been sadly bemused by all the various sights he was forced to see. He left England just before the public had had time to get tired of him ; and the new era did not appear to be any nearer for Turkey after his return home. Mr. Disraeli astonished and amused the public towards the close of I8G7 by a declaration he made at a dinner which was given in his honor at Edinburgh. The company were surprised to learn that he had for many years been a thor- ough reformer and an advocate of popular suf- frage, and that he had only kept his convic- tions to himself because it was necessary to in- stil them gently into the minds of his political colleagues. "I had," he said, "to prepare the mind of the country, and to educate — if it be not arrogant to use such a phrase — to educate our party. It is a large party, and requires its attention to be called to questions of this kind with some pressure. I had to prepare the mind of Parliament and the country on this question of Reform." All the time, therefore, that Mr. Disraeli was fighting against Reform Bills he was really trying to lead his party towards the principles of popular reform. Some members of the party which Mr. Disraeli professed to have cleverly educated were a little scandalized and even shocked at the frank composure of his confession ; some were offended ; it seemed to them that their ingenious instructor had made fools of them. But the general public, as usu- al, persisted in refusing to take Mr. Disraeli seriously, or to fasten on him any moral respon- sibility for anything he might say or do. That was his way ; if he were anything but that, he would not be Mr. Disraeli ; he would not be leader of the House of Commons ; he would not be Prime-minister of England. For to that it soon came ; came at last. Only the opportunity was lately needed to make him Prime-minister; and that opportunity came ear- ly in 1868. Lord Derby's health had for some time been so weakly that he was anxious to get rid of the trouble of office as soon as possible. In February, 18G8, he became so ill that his con- dition excited the gravest anxiety. He rallied, indeed, and grew much better; but he took the warning and determined on retiring from office. He tendered his resignation, and it was accept- ed by the Queen. It fell to the lot of his son, Lord Stanley, to make the announcement in the House of Commons. There was a general re- gret felt for the retirement of Lord Derby from a loading place in politics ; but as soon as it ap- peared that his physical condition was not actu- ally hopeless, men's minds turned at once from him tu his successsor. No one could now doubt that Mr. Disraeli's time had come. The patient career, the thirty years' war against difficulties, were to have the long -desired reward. The Queen sent for Mr, Disraeli, and invited him to assume Lord Derby's vacated place and to form a Government. By a curious coincidence the autograph letter containing this invitation was brought from Osborne to the new Prime-minis- ter by General Grey, the man who defeated Mr. Disraeli in his first endeavor to enter the House of Commons. That was the contest for Wy- combe in June, 1832. It was a memorable con- test in many ways. It was the last election un- der the political conditions which the Reform Bill brought to a close. The Reform Bill had only just been passed when the Wycombe election took place, and had not come into actual operation. The state of the poll is amusing to read of now. Thirty-five voters all told registered their suf- frages. Twenty-three voted for Colonel Grey, as he then was ; twelve were induced to support Mr. Disraeli. Then Mr. Disraeli retired from the contest, and Colonel Grey, was proclaimed the representative of Wycombe by a majority of eleven. Nor had Wycombe exhausted in the contest all its electoral strength. There were, it seemed, two voters more in the borough who would have polled, if it were necessary, on the side of Colonel Grey. Mr. Disraeli's successful rival in that first struggle for a seat in Parlia- ment was now the bearer of the Queen's invita- tion to Mr. Disraeli to become Prime-minister of England. The public in general were well pleased that Mr. Disraeli should reach the object of his ambition. It seemed only the fit return for his long and hard struggle against so many adverse conditions. He had battled with his evil stars ; and his triumph over them pleased most of those who had observed the contest. The new Premier made few changes in his Cabinet. His former lieutenant, Lord Cairns, had been for some time one of the Lords Justices of the Court of Chancery. Mr. Disraeli made him Lord Chancellor. In order to do this he had to undertake the somewhat ungracious task of informing Lord Chelmsford, who sat on the wool-sack during Lord Derby's tenure of office, that his services would no longer be required. Lord Chelmsford's friends were very angry, and a painful controversy began in the newspapers. It was plainly stated by some of the aggrieved that Lord Chemsford had been put aside because he had shown himself too firmly independent in his selection of judges. But there seems no rea- son to ascribe Mr. Disraeli's action to any other than its obvious and reasonable motive. His Ministry was singularly weak in debating talent in the House of Lords. Lord Cairns was one of the best parliamentary debaters of the day ; Lord Chelmsford was hardly entitled to be called a parliamentary debater at all. Lord Cairns was a really great lawyer ; Lord Chelmsford was only a lawyer of respectable capacity. Lord Chelms- ford was at that time nearly seventy-five years old, and Lord Cairns was a quarter of a century younger. It was surely not necessary to search for ungenerous or improper motives to explain the act of the new Prime-minister in preferring the one man to the other. Mr. Disraeli merely did his duty. Nothing could justify a Minister who had the opportunity and the responsibility of such a choice in deciding to retain Lord Chelmsford rather than to bring in Lord Cairns. No other change was important. Mr. Ward Hunt, a respectable country gentleman of no great position and of moderate abilities, became Chancellor of the Exchequer in the room of Mr. Disraeli. Mr. Walpole, who had been in the Cabinet for some time without office, retired from the Administration altogether. A good deal of work was got through in the session. A bill was introduced to put a stop to the system of public executions, and passed with little diffi- culty. The only objection raised was urged by those who thought the time had come for abolish- ing the system of capital punishment altogether. Public executions had long grown to be a scan- dal to the country. Every voice had been cry- ing out against them. A public execution in London was a scene to fill an observer with something like a loathing for the whole human race. Through all the long night before the ex- ecution the precincts of the prison became a biv- ouac ground for the ruffianism of the metropolis. The roughs, the professional robbers, and the prospective murderers held high festival there. The air reeked with the smell of strong drink, with noise and oaths and blasphemy. The soul took its flight as if it were a trapeze-performer in a circus. The moral effect of the scene as an example to evil-doers was about as great as the moral effect of a cock-fight. The demoralizing effect, however, was broad and deep. It may be doubted whether one in ten thousand of those who for mere curiosity came to see an execution did not go away a worse creature than he had come. Since the change made in 1868 the exe- cution takes place within the precincts of the jail ; it is witnessed by a few selected persons, usually including representatives of the press, and it is certified by the verdict of a coroner's jury. Another change of ancient system was made by the measure which took away from the House of Commons the power of deciding election pe- titions. The long-established custom was, that an election petition was referred to a Committee of the House of Commons, who heard the evi- dence on both sides, and then decided by a majority of votes as to the right of the person elected to hold the seat. The system was open to some obvious objections. The one great and crying evil of our electioneering was then the brib- ery and corruption which attended it. A Parlia- mentary Committee could hardly be expected to deal very stringently with bribery, seeing that most of the members of the Committee were sure to have carried on or authorized bribery on their own account. A false public conscience had grown up with regard to bribery. Few men held it really in hatred. The country gentleman whose own vote, when once he had been elected, was unpurchasable by any money bribe, thought it quite a natural and legitimate thing that he should buy his seat by corrupting voters. Then, again, the decision of a Parliamentary Commit- tee was very often determined by the political opinions of the majority of its members. Acute persons used to say, that when once the Commit- tee had been formed they could tell what its de- cision would be. "Show me the men, and I'll show you the decision," was the principle. It was not always found to be so in practice. A Committee with a Conservative majority did sometimes decide against a Conservative candi- date. A Committee with a majority of Whigs has been known to unseat a Whig occupant. But in general the decision of the Committee was either influenced by the political opinions of its majority, or, what was nearly as bad so far as public opinion was concerned, it was believed to be so influenced. There had therefore been for a long time an opinion growing up that some- thing must be done to bring about a reform, and in 1867 a Parliamentary Select Committee re- ported in favor of abandoning altogether the sys- tem of referring election petitions to a tribunal composed of members of the House of Commons. The proposal of this Committee was, that every petition should be referred to one of the Judges of the superior courts at Westminster, with pow- er to decide both law and fact, and to report not only as to the seat but as to the extent of bribery and corruption in the constituency. The Judges themselves strongly objected to having such du- ties imposed upon them. The Lord Chief Jus- tice stated on their behalf that he had consulted with them, and was charged by them one and all to convey to the Lord Chancellor "their strong and unanimous feeling of insuperable ob- jection to undertaking functions the effect of which would be to lower and degrade the judicial office, and to destroy, or at all events materially impair, the confidence of the public in the thor- ough impartiality and inflexible integrity of the Judges, when in the course of their ordinary du- ties political matters come incidentally before them." Notwithstanding the objections of the Judges, however, the Government, after having made one or two unsuccessful experiments at a meas- ure to institute a new court for the trial of election petitions, brought in a bill to refer such petitions to a single Judge, selected from a list to be made by arrangement among the Judges of the three superior courts. This bill, which was to be in operation for three years as an ex- periment, was carried without much difficulty. It has been renewed since that time, and slightly altered. The principle of referring election pe- titions to the decision of a legal tribunal remains in force, anil it is very unlikely indeed that the House of Commons will ever recover its ancient privilege. Many members of that House still regret the change. They say, and not unreason- ably, that with time and the purifying effect of public opinion the objections to the old system would have died away. A Committee of the House of Commons would have come to regard bribery as all honest and decent men must, in time, regard it. They would acknowledge it a crime and brand it accordingly. So, too, it is surely probable that members of the House of Commons sitting to hear an election petition would have got over that low condition of politi- 70 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. cal morals which allowed them to give, or be suspected of giving, their decision for partisan purposes without regard to facts and to justice. It is right to say that none of the effects antici- pated by the Chief Justice were felt in England. The impartiality of the Judges was never called in question. In Ireland it was otherwise, at least in some instances. Judges are rarely ap- pointed in Ireland who have not held law office ; and law office is usually obtained by Parliamen- tary, in other words, by partisan service. There is not, therefore, always the same confidence in the impartiality of the Judges in Ireland that prevails in England, and it must be owned that, in one or two instances at least, the effect of re- ferring an election petition to the decision of an Irish Judge was not by any means favorable to the public faith, either in the dignity or impar- tiality of the Bench. Of late years some really stringent measures have been taken against bribery. Several boroughs have been disfran- chised altogether because of the gross and seem- ingly ineradicable corruption that prevailed there. Time, education, and public opinion will probably before long cleanse our political system of the stain of bribery. Before long surely it will be accounted as base to give as to take a bribe. The House of Lords, too, abandoned about this time one of their ancient usages — the cus- tom of voting by proxy. A Select Committee of the Peers had recommended that the practice should be discontinued. It was defended, of course, as every antiquated and anomalous prac- tice is sure to be defended. It was urged, for example, that no men can be better qualified to understand the great political questions of the day than members of the House of Peers who are employed in the diplomatic service abroad, and that it is unfair to exclude these men from affirming their opinion by a vote, even though they cannot quit their posts and return home to give the vote in person. This small grievance, if it were one, was very properly held to be of little account when compared with the obvious objections to the practice. The House of Lords, however, were not willing absolutely and forever to give up the privilege. They only passed a standing order "that the practice of calling for proxies on a division be discontinued, and that two days' notice be given of any motion for the suspension of the order." It is not likely that any attempt will be made to suspend the order and renew the obsolete practice. The Government ventured this year on the bold but judicious step of acquiring possession of all the lines of telegraph, and making the con- trol of communication by wire a part of the busi- ness of the Post-office. They did not succeed in making a very good bargain of it, and for a time the new management resulted in the most distracting confusion. But the country highly approved of the purchase. The Post-office has long been one of the best managed departments of the Civil Service. An important event in the year's history was the successful conclusion of the expedition into Abyssinia. A vague, mysterious interest hung around Abyssinia. It is a land which claims to have held the primitive Christians, and to have the bones of St. Mark among its treasury of sa- cred relics. It held fast to the Christian faith, according to its own views of that faith, when Egypt flung it aside after the Arab invasion. The Abyssinians trace the origin of their empire back to the time of Solomon, when the Queen of Sheba visited him. The Emperor or King of Abyssinia was the Prester John, the mysterious king-priest of the Middle Ages. If Sir John Mandeville may be accepted as any authority, that traveller avers that the title of Prester John rose from the fact that one of the early Kings of Abyssinia went with a Christian knight into a Christian church in Egypt and was so charmed with the service that he vowed he would thence- forth take the title of priest. He further de- clared, that "he wolde have the name of the first preest that wente out of the Chirche ; and his name was John." The controversy over Bruce's travels in Abyssinia excited in 1790 a curiosity as to the land of Prester John, which was revived in 1865 by the fact that a number of British subjects, men and women, were held in captivity by Theodore, King of Abyssinia. Among the captives in Theodore's hands were Captain Cameron, her Majesty's Consul at Masso- wah, with his secretary and some servants ; Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, a Syrian Christian and natur- alized subject of the Queen ; Lieutenant Pri- deaux, and Dr. Blanc. These men were made prisoners while actually engaged on official busi- ness of the English Government, and the expedi- tion was therefore formally charged to recover them. But there were several other captives as well, whom the Commander-in-chief was en- joined to take under his protection. There were German missionaries and their wives and chil- dren, some of the women being English ; some teachers, artists, and workmen, all European. The quarrel which led to the imprisonment of these people was of old standing. Some of the missionaries had been four years in duress before the expedition was sent out to their rescue. In April, 1865, Lord Chelmsford had called the at- tention of the House of Lords to the treatment which certain British subjects were then receiv- ing at the hands of Theodore, the Negus, or supreme ruler of Abyssinia. Theodore was a usurper. Few Eastern sovereigns who have in any way made their mark on history, from Ha- roun-al-Raschid and Saladin downwards, can be described by any other name than that of usurper. Theodore seems to have been a man of strong barbaric nature, a compound of savage virtue and more than savage ambition and cruelty. He was open to passionate and lasting friendships ; his nature was swept by stormy gusts of anger and hatred. His moods of fury and of mildness came and went like the thunderstorms and calms of a tropic region. He had had a devoted friend- ship for Mr. Plowden, a former English Consul at Massowah, who had actually lent Theodore his help in putting down a rebellion, and was killed by the rebels in consequence. When Theodore had crushed the rebellion he slaugh- tered more than a hundred of the rebel prisoners as a sacrifice to the memory of his English friend. Captain Cameron was sent to succeed Mr. Plow- den. It should be stated that neither Mr. Plow- den nor Captain Cameron was appointed Consul for any part of Abyssinia. Massowah is an isl- and off the African shore of the Red Sea. It is in Turkish ownership, and forms no part of Abyssinia, although it is the principal starting- point to the interior of that country from Egypt, and the great outlet for Abyssinian trade. Con- suls were sent to Massowah, according to the terms of Mr. Plowden's appointment in 184S, "for the protection of British trade with Abys- sinia and with the countries adjacent thereto." Mr. Plowden, however, had made himself an active ally of King Theodore, a course of pro- ceeding which naturally gave great dissatisfac- tion to the English Government. Captain Cam- eron, therefore, received positive instructions to take no part in the quarrels of Theodore and his subjects, and was reminded by Lord John Rus- sell that he held "no representative character in Abyssinia." It probably seemed to Theodore that the attitude of England was altered and un- friendly, and thus the dispute began which led to the seizure of the missionaries. Captain Cameron seems to have been much wanting in discretion, and Theodore suspected him of in- triguing with Egypt. Theodore wrote a letter to Queen Victoria requesting help against the Turks, and for some reason the letter remained unanswered. A story went that Theodore cher- ished a strong ambition to become the husband of the Queen of England, and even represented that his descent from the Queen of Sheba made him not unworthy of such an alliance. Whether he ever put his proposals into formal shape or not, it is certain that misunderstandings arose ; that Theodore fancied himself slighted ; and that he wreaked his wrongs by seizing all the British subjects within his reach and throwing them into captivity. They were put in chains, and kept in Magdala, his rock-based capital. Consul Cameron was among the number. He had imprudently gone back into Abyssinia from Massowah, and was at once pounced upon by the furious descendant of Prester John. The English Government had a difficult task before them. It seemed not unlikely that the first movement made by an invading expedition might be the signal for the massacre of the pris- oners. The effect of conciliation was therefore tried in the first instance. Mr. Rassam, who held the office of Assistant British Resident at Aden, a man who had acquired some distinction under Mr. Layard in exploring the remains of Nineveh and Babylon, was sent on a mission to Theodore with a message from Queen Victoria. Lieutenant Prideaux and Dr. Blanc were ap- pointed to accompany him. Theodore played with Mr. Rassam for a while, and then added him and his companions to the number of the captives. Theodore seems to have become more and more possessed with the idea that the English Government were slighting him ; and one or two unlucky mishaps or misconceptions gave him some excuse for cherishing the suspicion in his jealous and angry mind. At last an ultimatum was sent by Lord Stanley, demanding the release of the captives within three months on penalty of war. This letter does not seem to have ever reached the King's hands. The Government made preparations for war, and appointed Sir Robert Napier, now Lord Napier of Magdala, then Commander-in-chief of the army of Bom- bay, to conduct the expedition. A winter sitting of Parliament was held in November, 1867, sup- plies were voted, and the expeditionary force set out from Bombay. The expedition was well managed. Its work was, if we may use a somewhat homely expres- sion, done to time. The military difficulties were not great, but the march had to be made across some four hundred miles of a mountainous and roadless country. The army had to make its way, now under burning sun, and now amidst storms of rain and sleet, through broken and perplexing mountain gorges and over mountain heights ten thousand feet above the sea -level. Anything like a skilful resistance, even such re- sistance as savages might well have been expect- ed to make, would have placed the lives of all the force in the utmost danger. The mere work of carrying the supplies safely along through such a country was of itself enough to keep the ener- gies of the invading army on the utmost strain. Meanwhile the captives were dragging out life in the very bitterness of death. The King still os- cillated between caprices of kindness and im- pulses of cruelty. He sometimes strolled in upon the prisoners in careless undress ; perhaps in Eu- ropean shirt and trousers, without a coat ; and he cheerily brought with him a bottle of wine, which he insisted on the captives sharing with him. At other times he visited them in the mood of one who loved to feast his eyes on the anticipatory terrors of the victims he has determined to de- stroy. He had still great faith in the fighting power of his Abyssinians. Sometimes he was in high spirits, and declared that he longed for an encounter with the invaders. At other moments, however, and when the steady, certain march of the English soldiers was bringing them nearer and nearer, he seems to have lost heart and be- come impressed with a boding conviction that nothing would ever go well with him again. One account describes him as he looked into the gath- ering clouds of an evening sky and drew melan- choly auguries of his own fate. Sir Robert Napier arrived in front of Magdala in the begin- ning of April, 1868. One battle was fought on the 10th of the month. Perhaps it ought not to be called a battle. It is better to say that the Abyssinians made such an attack on the English troops as a bull sometimes makes on a railway train in full motion. The Abyssinians attacked with wild courage and spirit. The English weap- ons and the English discipline simply swept the assailants away. Others came on ; wild charges were made again and again ; five hundred Abys- sinians were killed, and three times as many wounded. Not one of the English force was killed, and only nineteen men were wounded. Then Theodore tried to come to terms. He sent back all the prisoners, who at last found themselves safe and free under the protection of the English flag. But Theodore would not sur- render. Sir Robert Napier had therefore no al- A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 71 ternative but to order an assault on his strong- hold. Magdala was perched upon cliff's so high and steep that it was said a cat could not climb them except at two points — one north and one south — at each of which a narrow path led up to a strong gate-way. The attack was made by the northern path, and despite all the difficulties of the ascent, the attacking party reached the gate, forced it, and captured Magdala. Those who first entered found Theodore's dead body inside the gate. Defeated and despairing, he had died in the high Roman fashion — by his own hand. The rock - fortress of King Theodore was de- stroyed by the conqueror. Sir Robert Napier was unwilling to leave the place in its strength, because he had little doubt that if he did so it woidd be seized upon by a fierce Mohammedan tribe, the bitter enemies of the Abyssinian Chris- tians. He therefore dismantled and destroyed the place. "Nothing," to use his own language, " but blackened rock remains " of what was Mag- dala. The expedition returned to the coast al- most immediately. In less than a week after the capture of Magdala it was on its match to the sea. On June 21 the troop-ship Crocodile arrived at Plymouth with the first detachment of troops from Abyssinia. Nothing could have been more effectively planned, conducted, and timed than the whole expedition. It went and came to the precise moment appointed for every movement, like an express train. That was its great merit. Warlike difficulties it had none to encounter. No one can doubt that such difficulties, too, had they presented themselves, would have been en- countered with success. The struggle was against two tough enemies, climate and mountain ; and Sir Robert Napier won. He was made Baron Napier of Magdala, and received a pension. The thanks of both Houses of Parliament were voted to the army of Abyssinia and its commander. The widow of King Theodore died in the Eng- lish camp before the return of the expedition. Theodore's son, Alamayou, aged seven years, was taken charge of by Queen Victoria, and for a while educated in India. The boy was after- wards brought to England ; but he never reached maturity. All the care that could be taken of him here did not keep him from withering and dying under the influence of an uncongenial civilization. No attempt was made to interfere with the internal affairs of Abyssinia. Having destroyed their monarchy, the invaders left the Abyssinians to do as they would for the estab- lishment of another. Sir Robert Napier declared one of the chiefs a friend of the British, and this chief had some hopes of obtaining the sovereignty of the country. But his rank as a friend of the British did not prevent him from being defeated in a struggle with a rival, and this latter not long after succeeded in having himself crowned king under the title of John the Second. Another Prester John was set up in Abyssinia. * CHAPTER XXIH. IRISH QUESTIONS. "The Irish Peasant to his Mistress" is the name of one of Moore's finest songs. The Irish peasant tells his mistress of his undying fidelity to Iter. "Through grief and through danger" her smile has cheered his way. "The darker our fortunes the purer thy bright love burned;" it turned shame into glory, fear into zeal. Slave as he was, with her to guide him he felt free. She had a rival ; and the rival was honored, "while thou wert mocked and scorned." The rival wore a crown of gold ; the other's brows were girt with thorns. The rival wooed him to temples, while the loved one lay hid in caves. " Her friends were all masters, while thine, alas, are slaves'." "Yet,'' he declares, "cold in the earth at thy feet I would rather be than wed one I love not, or turn one thought from thee." The Irish peasant's mistress is the Catholic Church. The rival was the State Church set up by English authority. The Irish peasant re- mained through centuries of persecution devot- edly faithful to the Catholic Church. Nothing could win or wean him from it. The Irish pop- ulation of Ireland — there is meaning in the words — were made apparently by nature for the Cath- olic faith. Half the thoughts, half the life of the Irish peasant, belong to a world other than the material world around him. The supernatural becomes almost the natural for him. The streams, the valleys, the hills of his native country are peopled by mystic forms and melancholy legends, which are all but living things for him. Even the railway has not. banished from the land his familiar fancies and dreams. The "good peo- ple " still linger around the raths and glens. The banshee even yet laments, in dirge -like waitings, the death of the representative of each ancient house. The very superstitions of the Irish peasant take a devotional form. They are never degrading. His piety is not merely sincere; it is even practical. It sustains him against many hard trials, and enables him to bear, in cheerful patience, a lifelong trouble. He praises God for everything ; not as an act of mere devotional formality, but as by instinct, the praise naturally rising to his lips. Old men and women in Ireland who seem, to the observer, to have lived lives of nothing but privation and suffering, are heard to murmur with their latest breath the fervent declaration that the Lord was good to them always. Assuredly this genuine piety does not always prevent the wild, Celtic nature from breaking forth into fierce excesses. Stormy outbursts of passion, gusts of savage re- venge, too often sweep away the soul of the Irish peasant from the quiet moorings in which his natural piety and the teachings of his Church would hold it. But deep down in his nature is that faith in the other world and its visible con- nection and intercourse with this ; his reverence for the teaching which shows him a clear title to immortality. For this very reason, when the Irish peasant throws oft' altogether the guidance of religion, he is apt to rush into worse extrava- gances and excesses than most other men. He is not made to be a rationalist ; he is made to be a believer. The Irishman was bound by ties of inde- scribable strength and complication to his own Church. The State Church set up in Ireland was to him a symbol of oppression. There was not one rational word to be said on principle for the maintenance of such an institution. Every argument in favor of the State Church in Eng- land was an argument against the State Church in Ireland. The English Church, as an institu- tion, is defended on the ground that it repre- sents the religious convictions of the great ma- jority of the English people, and that it is qual- ified to take welcome charge of those who would otherwise be left without any religious care or teaching in England. The Catholics in Ireland were, to all other denominations together, as five to one; the State Church represented only a small proportion of a very small minority. In many places the Protestant clergyman preached to a dozen listeners ; in some places he thought himself lucky when he could get half a dozen. There were many places with a Protestant cler- gyman and Protestant church and absolutely no Protestant worshippers. There had not of late years been much positive hostility to the State Church among the Irish people. So long as the clergyman was content to live quietly and mind his own flock, where he had any to mind, his Catholic neighbors were not disposed to trouble themselves much about him. If he was a sensible man he was usually content to minister to his own people and meddle no far- ther with others. In the large towns he gener- ally had his considerable congregation and was busy enough. In some of the country places of the south and west he preached every Sunday to his little flock of five or six, while the congre- gation of the Catholic chapel a short distance off were covering great part of the hillside around the chapel door, because their numbers were many times too great to allow them to find room within the building itself. In days nearer to our own the miserable hovel had for the most part given place to a large and hand- some church ; in many places to a vast and stately cathedral. Nothing could be more re- markable than the manner in which the volun- tary offerings of the Irish Catholics covered the face of the country with churches dedicated to the uses of their faith. Often contributions came in liberal measure from Irishmen settled in far-off countries who were not likely ever again to see their native fields. Irish Catholic priests crossed the Atlantic, crossed even the Pa- cific, to ask for help to maintain their churches ; and there came from Quebec and Ontario, from New York, New Orleans, and Chicago, from Mel- bourne and Sydney, from Tasmania and New Zealand, the money which put up churches and spires on the Irish mountain -sides. The pro- portion between the Protestants and the Catho- lics began to tell more and more disadvan- tageous!}' for the State Church as years went on. Of late the influx of the Catholic working population into the northern province threatens to overthrow the supremacy of Protestanism in Protestantism's own stronghold. On March 16, 1868, a remarkable debate took place in the House of Commons. It, had for its subject the condition of Ireland, and it was in- troduced by a series of resolutions which Mr. John Francis Maguire, an Irish member, pro- posed. Mr. Maguire was a man of high char- acter and great ability and earnestness. He was a newspaper proprietor and an author ; he knew Ireland well, but he also knew England and the temper of the English people. He was ardent in his national sympathies; hut he was opposed to any movements of a seditious or a violent character. He had more than once risked his popularity among his countrymen by the resolute stand which he made against any agitation that tended towards rebellion. Mr. Maguire always held that the geographical sit- uation of England and Ireland rendered a sep- aration of the two countries impossible. But he accepted cordially the saying of Gwittan, that if the ocean forbade separation the sea de- nied union. He was in favor of a domestic legislature for Ireland, and he was convinced that such a measure would be found the means of establishing a true and genial union of feel- ing, a friendly partnership between the two coun- tries. Mr. Maguire was looked on with respect and confidence by all parties in England as well as in his own country. Even the Fenians, wdiose schemes he condemned, as he had condemned the Young Ireland movement of 184S, were will- ing to admit his honesty and his courage, for they found that there was no stauncher advocate in Parliament for a generous dealing with the Fenian prisoners. A speaker of remarkable power and earnestness, he was always listened to with attention in the House of Commons. It was well known that he bad declined tenders of office from both of the great English parties ; and it was known too that he had done this at a time when his personal interests made his re- fusal a considerable sacrifice. When, therefore, he invited the attention of the House of Com- mons to the condition of Ireland, the House knew that it was likely to have a fair and a trustworthy exposition of the subject. In the course of his speech Mr. Maguire laid great stress upon the evil effect wrought upon Ireland by the existence of the Irish Church. During the debate Lord Mayo, then Irish Sec- retary, made a speech in which he threw out some hint about a policy of equalizing all relig- ious denominations in Ireland without sacrificing the Irish Church. It has never since been known for certain whether he was giving a bint of a scheme actually in the mind of the Government ; whether he was speaking as one set up to feel his way into the opinion of the House of Com- mons and the public; or whether he was only following out some sudden and irresponsible speculations of his own. The words, however, produced a great effect on the House of Com- mons, It became evident at once that the ques- tion of the Irish Church was making itself at last a subject for the practical politician. Mr. Bright, in the course of the debate, strongly de- nounced the Irish Establishment, and enjoined the Government and all the great English parties to rise to the occasion, and resolve to deal in some serious way with the condition of Ireland. Difficulties of the gravest nature he ftdly ad- mitted were yet in the way, but be reminded the House, in tones of solemn and penetrating 72 A SHOBT HISTORY OP OUR OWN TIMES. earnestness, that " to the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." But it was on the fourth night of the debate that the importance of the occasion became fully manifest. Then it was that Mr. Gladstone spoke, and declared that in his opinion the time had come when the Irish Church as a State institution must cease to exist. Then every man in the House knew that the end was near. Mr. Maguire withdrew his reso- lutions. The cause he had to serve was now in the hands of one who, though not surely more earnest for its success, had incomparably greater power to serve it. There was probably not a single Englishman capable of forming an opinion who did not know that from the moment when Mr. Gladstone made his declaration the fall of the Irish State Church had become merely a question of time. Men only waited to see how Mr. Gladstone would proceed to procure its fall. Public expectation was not long kept in sus- pense. A few days after the debate on Mr. Ma- guire's motion, Mr. Gladstone gave notice of three resolutions on the subject of the Irish State Church. The first declared that in the opinion of the House of Commons it was necessary 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. The second resolution pro- nounced it expedient to prevent the creation of new personal interests by the exercise of any pub- lic patronage ; and the third asked for an ad- dress to the Queen, praying that her Majesty would place at the disposal of Parliament her interest in the temporalities of the Irish Church. The object of these resolutions was simply to prepare for the actual disestablishment of the Church, by providing that no further appoint- ments should be made, and that the action of patronage should be stayed until Parliament should decide the fate of the whole institution. On March 30, 1868, Mr. Gladstone proposed his resolutions. Not many persons could have had much doubt as to the result of the debate. But if there were any such, their doubts must have begun to vanish when they read the notice of amendment to the resolutions which was given by Lord Stanley. The amendment proclaimed even more surely than the resolutions the im- pending fall of the Irish Church. Lord Stanley must have been supposed to speak in the name of the Government and the Conservative party ; and his amendment merely declared that the House, while admitting that considerable modi- fications in the temporalities of the Church in Ireland might appear to be expedient, was 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." Lord Stanley's amendment asked only for delay. It did not plead that to-morrow would be sudden ; it only asked that the stroke of doom should not be allowed to fall on the Irish Church to-day. The debate was one of great power and inter- est. Some of the speakers were heard at their Tery best. Mr. Bright made a speech which was well worthy of the occasion and the orator. Mr. Gathorne Hardy was in his very element. He flung aside all consideration of amendment, compromise, or delay, and went in for a vehe- ment defence of the Irish Church. Mr. Hardy was not a debater of keen logical power, nor an orator of genuine inspiration, but he always could rattle a defiant drum with excellent effect. He beat the war-drum this time with tremendous energy. On the other hand, Mr. Lowe threw an intensity of bitterness remarkable even for him into the unsparing logic with which he as- sailed the Irish Church. That Church, he said, was "like an exotic brought from a far country, tended with infinite pains and useless trouble. It is kept alive with the greatest difficulty and at great expense in an ungenial climate and an ungrateful soil. The curse of barrenness is upon it. It has no leaves, puts forth no blossom, and yields no fruit. Cut it down ; why cumbereth it the ground?" Not the least remarkable speech of the debate was that made by Lord Cranborne, who denounced the Government of which he was not long since a member with an energy of hatred almost like ferocity. He ac- cused his late colleagues of having in every pos- sible way betrayed the cause of Conservatism, and he assailed Mr. Disraeli personally in a manner which made older members think of the days when Mr. Disraeli was denouncing Sir Robert Peel. No eloquence and no invective, however, could stay the movement begun by Mr. Gladstone. When the division was called there were 270 votes for the amendment and 331 against it. The doom of the Irish Church was pronounced by a majority of 61. An interval was afforded for agitation on both sides. The House of Commons had only decided against Lord Stanley's amendment. Mr. Gladstone's resolutions had yet to be discussed. Lord Rus- sell presided at a great meeting held in St. James's Hall for the purpose of expressing pub- lic sympathy with the movement to disestablish the Irish Church. Many meetings were held by those on the other side of the question as well ; but it was obvious to every one that there was no great force in the attempt at a defence of the Irish Church. That institution had, in truth, a position which only became less and less defensi- ble the more it was studied. Every example and argument drawn from the history of the Church of England was but another condemna- tion of the Church of Ireland. The more strong- ly an Englishman was inclined to support his own Church, the more anxious he ought to have been to repudiate the claim of the Irish Church to a similar position. Mr. Gladstone's first resolution came to a di- vision about a month after the defeat of Lord Stanley's amendment. It was carried by a ma- jority somewhat larger than that which had rejected the amendment — 330 votes were given for the resolution ; 265 against it. The majority for the resolution was therefore 65. Mr. Disraeli quietly observed that the Government must take some decisive step in consequence of that vote ; and a few days afterwards it was announced that as soon as the necessary business could be got through, Parliament would be dissolved and an appeal made to the country. On the last day of July the dissolution took place, and the elections came on in November. Not for many years had there been so important a general election. The keenest anxiety prevailed as to its results. The new constituencies created by the Reform Bill were to give their votes for the first time. The question at issue was not merely the existence of the Irish State Church. It was a general struggle of advanced Liberalism against Tory- ism. No one could doubt that Mr. Gladstone, if he came into power, would enter on a policy of more decided Liberalism than had ever been put into action since the days of the Reform Bill of Lord Grey and Lord John Russell. The re- sult of the elections was on the whole what might have been expected. The Liberals had a great majority. But there were many curious and striking instances of the growing strength of Conservatism in certain parts of the country. Lancashire, once a very stronghold of Liberal- ism, returned only Tories for its county divisions, and even in most eases elected Tories to repre- sent its boroughs. Eight Conservatives came in for the county of Lancaster, and among those whom their election displaced were no less emi- nent persons than Mr. Gladstone and Lord Hart- ington. Mr. Gladstone was defeated in South- west Lancashire, but the result of the contest had been generally anticipated, and therefore some of his supporters put him up for Greenwich also, and he was elected there. He had been passing step by step from less popular to more popular constituencies. Erom the University of Oxford he had passed to the Lancashire division, and now from the Lancashire constituency he went on to a place where the Liberal portion of the electors were inclined, for the most part, to be not merely Radical but democratic. The contest in North Lancashire was made more interesting than it would otherwise have been by the fact that it was not alone a struggle between opposing principles and parties, but also between two great rival houses. Lord Harting- ton represented the great Cavendish family. Mr. Frederick Stanley was the younger son of Lord Derby. Lord Harrington was defeated by a large majority, and was left out of Parliament for a few months. He was afterwards elected for the Radnor Boroughs. Mr. Mill was defeat- ed at Westminster. His defeat was brought about by a combination of causes. He had been elected in a moment of sudden enthusiasm, and the enthusiasm had now had time to cool away. He had given some offence in various quarters by a too great independence of action and of expres- sion. On many questions of deep interest he had shown that he was entirely out of harmony with the views of the vast majority of his constituents, whatever their religious denomination might he. He had done some things which people called eccentric, and an English popular constituency does not love eccentricity. His opponent, Mr. W. H. Smith, was very popular in Westminster, and had been quietly canvassing it for years. Some of the Westminster electors had probably grown tired of being represented by one who was called a philosopher. Some other prominent pub- lic men lost their seats. Mr. Roebuck was de- feated in Sheffield. His defeat was partly due to the strong stand he had made against the trades- unions ; but still more to the bitterness of the hostility he had shown to the Northern States during the American Civil War. Mr. Milner Gibson and Mr. Bernal Osborne were also un- seated. The latter got into Parliament again. The former disappeared from public life. He had done good service at one time as an ally of Cobden and Bright. Mr. Lowe was elected the first representative of the University of London, on which the Conservative Reform Bill had con- ferred a seat. Mr. Disraeli afterwards humor- ously claimed the credit of having enabled Mr. Lowe to carry on his public career by providing for him the only constituency in England which would have accepted him as its representative. This was the first general election with house- hold suffrage in boroughs and a lowered franchise in counties. Yet curiously enough the extreme democratic candidates, and those who were called the working-men's candidates, were in every in- stance rejected. The new Parliament was to all appearance less marked in its Liberalism than that which had gone before it. But so far as mere numbers went the Liberal party was much stronger than it had been. In the new House of Commons it could count upon a majority of about 120, whereas in the late Parliament it had but 60. Mr. Gladstone, it was clear, would now have everything in his own hands, and the coun- try might look for a career of energetic reform. While the debates on Mr. Gladstone's resolu- tions were still going on, there came to England the news that Lord Brougham was dead. He had died at Cannes in his ninetieth year. His death was a quiet passing away from a world that had well-nigh forgotten him. Seldom has a po- litical career been so strangely cut short as that of Lord Brougham. Prom the time when the Whig Administration was formed without him, he seemed to have no particular business in pub- lic life. He never had from that hour the slight- est influence on any political party or any politi- cal movement. His restless figure was seen mov- ing about the House of Lords like that of a man who felt himself out of place there, and was there- fore out of humor with himself and his company. He often took part in debate, and for many years he continued to show all the fire and energy of his earlier days. But of late he had almost en- tirely dropped out of politics. Happily for him the Social Science Association was formed, and he acted for a long time as its principal guide, philosopher, and friend. He made speeches at its meetings, presided at many of its banquets, and sometimes showed that he could still com- mand the resources of a massive eloquence. The men of the younger generation looked at him with interest and wonder ; they found it hard to realize the fact that only a few years before he was one of the most conspicuous and energetic figures in political agitation. Now he seemed oddly like some dethroned king who occupies his leisure in botanical studies ; some once famous commander, long out of harness, who amuses himself with learning the flute. There were per- haps some who forgot Brougham the great re- A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 73 former altogether, and only thought of Brough- am the patron and orator of the Social Science Association. He passed his time between Cannes, which he may be saiil to have discovered, and London. At one time he had had the idea of actually becoming a citizen of France, being of opinion that it. would set a good example for the brotherhood of peoples if he were to show how a man could be a French and an English citizen at the same moment. He had outlived nearly all his early friends and foes. Melbourne, Grey, Durham, Campbell, Lyndliurst had passed away. The death of Lyndliurst bad been a great grief to him. It is said that in his failing, later years he often directed his coachman to drive him to Lord Lyndhurst's house, as if bis old friend and gos- sip were still among the living. At last Brough- am began to give unmistakable signs of vanish- ing intelligence. His appearances in public were mournful exhibitions. He sometimes sat at a dinner-party and talked loudly to himself of some- thing which had no concern with the time, the place, or the company. His death created but a mere momentary thrill of emotion in England. He bad made bitter enemies and cherished strong hatreds in his active years ; and, like all men who have strong hatreds, he had warm affections too. But the close friends and the bitter enemies were gone alike ; and the agitation about the Irish Church was scarcely interrupted for a moment by the news of his death. The Parliament which was called together in the close of 1868 was known to have before it the great task of endeavoring to govern Ireland on the principle enunciated by Fox seventy years before — that is, according to Irish ideas. Mr. Gladstone bad proclaimed this purpose himself. He had made it known that he would endeavor to deal with Ireland's three great difficulties — ■ the State Church, the tenure of land, and the system of university education. Men's minds were wrought up to the enterprise. The country was in a temper to try heroic remedies. The public were tired of government which merely tinkered at legislation, putting in a little patch here, and stopping up for the moment a little hole there. Perhaps, therefore, there was a cer- tain disappointment as the general character of the new Parliament began to be understood. The eminent men on whom all eyes turned in the old Parliament were to be seen of all eyes in the new. It was clear that Mr. Gladstone would be master of the situation. But there did not seem anything particularly hero-like in the gen- eral aspect of the new House of Commons. Its composition was very much the same as that of the old. Vast sums of money had been spent upon the elections. Rich men were, as before, in immense preponderance. Elder and younger sons of great families were as many as ever. The English constituencies under the new suf- frage were evidently no whit less fond of lords, no whit less devoted to wealth, than they had been under the old. Not a single man of ex- treme democratic opinions had a seat in the new House of Commons. Where any marked change had been made it showed itself in removing such men from Parliament rather than in returning them to it. Mr. Disraeli did not meet the new Parliament as Prime-minister. He decided very properly that it would be a mere waste of public time to wait for the formal vote of the House of Com- mons, which would inevitably command him to surrender. He at once resigned his office, and Mr. Gladstone was immediately sent for by the Queen, and invited to form an Administration. Mr. Gladstone, it would seem, was only begin- ning his career. He was nearly sixty years of age, but there were scarcely any evidences of ad- vancing years to be seen on his face, and he had all the fire of proud, indomitable youth in his voice and his manner. He had come into office at the head of a powerful party. There was hardly anything he could not do with such a fol- lowing and with such personal energy. The Government he formed was one of remarkable strength. The one name upon its list, after that of the Prime -minister himself, which engaged the interest of the public, was that of Mr. Bright. Mr. Bright had not sought office, it had come to him. It was impossible that a Liberal ministry could now be formed without Mr. Bright's name appearing in it. Mr. Gladstone at first offered him the office of Secretary of State for India. The state of Mr. Bright's health would not allow him to undertake the very laborious duties of such a place, and probably in any case it would have been repugnant to his feelings to accept a position which might have called on him to give orders for the undertaking of a war. Every man in a Cabinet is of course responsible for all its acts ; but there is still an evident difference, so far as personal feeling is concerned, between ac- quiescing in some inevitable policy of war and actually directing that war shall be made. The position of President of the Board of Trade was that which had been offered by Lord Palmerston to Mr. Bright's- old friend, Richard Cohden, and it seemed in every way well suited to Mr. Bright himself. Many men felt a doubt as to the possi- bility of Mr. Bright's subduing his personal in- dependence and his outspoken ways to the dis- cipline and reticence of a Cabinet, and Mr. Bright himself appeared to be a little afraid that he should be understood as thoroughly approving of every measure in which he might, by official order, feel compelled to acquiesce. He cautioned his Birmingham constituents not to believe that he had changed any of his opinions until bis own voice publicly proclaimed the change, and he made what might almost be called an appeal to them to remember that he was now one man serving in a band of men; no longer responsible only for himself, no longer independent of the acts of others. Lord Granville was Secretary for the Colonies under the new Administration ; Lord Clarendon Foreign Secretary. The Duke of Argyll was intrusted with the Indian Office. Mr. Cardwell, to all appearance one of the coldest and least warlike of men, was made Secretary for War, and had in his charge one of the greatest reforms of the administration. Lord Hartington, Lord Dufferin, Mr. Childers, and Mr. Bruce had places assigned to them. Mr. Layard became First Commissioner of Public Works. Mr. W. E. Forster had the office of Vice-President of the Council, and came in for work hardly less im- portant than that of the Prime-minister himself. The Lord Chancellor was Lord Hatherley, for- merly Sir William Page Wood. Many years before, when Lord Hatherley was only known as a rising man among advanced Liberals, and when Mr. Bright was still regarded by all true Conservatives as a Radical demagogue, Mr. Bright and Mr. Wood were talking of the polit- ical possibilities of the future. Mr. Bright jest- ingly expressed a hope that whenever he came to be member of a Cabinet, Mr. Wood might be the Lord Chancellor. Nothing could then have seemed less likely to come to pass. As Lord Hatherley and Mr. Bright met on their way to Windsor to wait on the Queen, Mr. Bright re- minded his colleague of the jest that had appar- ently been prophetic. Mr. Gladstone went to work at once with his Irish policy. On March 1, 1S69, the Prime- minister introduced his measure for the disestab- lishment and partial disendowment of the Irish State Church. The proposals of the Govern- ment were, that the Irish Church should almost at once cease to exist as a State Establishment, and should pass into the condition of a free Episcopal Church. As a matter of course the Irish bishops were to lose their seats in the House of Lords. A synodal, or governing body, was to be elected from the clergy and laity of the Church, and was to be recognized by the Govern- ment and duly incorporated. The union be- tween the Churches of England and Ireland was to be dissolved, and the Irish Ecclesiastical Courts were to be abolished. There were vari- ous and complicated arrangements for the pro- tection of the life interests of those already hold- ing positions in the Irish Church, and for the appropriation of the fund which would return to the possession of the State when all these inter- ests had been fairly considered and dealt with. It must be owned that the Government dealt with vested interests in no niggard spirit. If they erred at all they erred on the side of too much generosity. But they had arrayed against them adversaries so strong that they probably- felt it absolutely necessary to buy off some of the opposition by a liberal compensation to all those who were to be deprived of their dignity as clergymen of a State Church. When, however, all had been paid off who could establish any claim, and some, perhaps, who had in strict fair- ness no claim whatever, there remained a large fund at the disposal of the Government. This they resolved to set apart for the relief of un- avoidable suffering in Ireland. The sum to be disposed of was very consider- able. The gross value of the Irish Church prop- erty was estimated at sixteen millions. From this sum would have to be deducted nearly five millions for the vested interests of incumbents; one million seven hundred thousand for compen- sations to curates and lay compensations; half a million for private endowments ; for the May- nooth Grant and the Regium Donum about a million and a quarter. There would be left nearly nine millions for any beneficent purpose on which the Government and the country could make up their minds. The Maynooth Grant and the Regium Donum were to go with the Irish Church, and the same principle of com- pensation was to be applied to those who were to be deprived of them. The Regium Donum was an allowance from the Sovereign for the maintenance of Presbyterian ministers in Ire- land. It was begun by Charles II. and let drop by James, but was restored by William III. William felt grateful for the support given him by the Presbyterians in Ireland during his con- test with James, and indeed had little prefer- ence for one form of the Protestant faith over another. William, in the first instance, fixed the grant as a charge upon the customs of Bel- fast. The Maynooth Grant has been already described in these pages. Both these grants, each a very small thing in itself, now came to an end, and the principle of equality among the religious denominations of Ireland was to be established. The bill was stoutly resisted by Mr. Disraeli and his party. They resisted it as a whole, and they also fought it in detail. They proposed amend- ment after amendment in committee, and did all they could to stay its progress as well as to alter some of its arrangements. But there did not seem to be much of genuine earnestness in the speeches made by Mr. Disraeli. The fact that resistance was evidently hopeless had no doubt some effect upon the style of his eloquence. His speeches were amusing rather than impressive. They were full of good points; they sparkled with happy illustrations and allusions, odd con- ceits and bewildering paradoxes. But the orator had evidently no faith in the cause he advocated ; no faith, that is to say, in the possibility of its success. He must have seen too clearly that the Church as a State establishment in Ireland was doomed, and he had not that intensity of interest in its maintenance which would hare made him fight the course, as he had fought many a course before, with all the passionate eloquence of desperation. One of his lieutenants, Mr. Gathorne Hardy, was more effective as a champion of the sinking Irish Church than Mr. Disraeli proved himself to be. Mr. Hardy was a man so constituted as to be only capable of seeing one side of a question at a time. He was filled with the conviction that the Government were attempting an act of spoliation and sacri- lege, and he stormed against the meditated crime with a genuine energy which occasionally seemed to supply him with something like eloquence. A peculiar interest attached to the part taken in the debate by Sir Roundell Palmer. It was nat- ural that Sir Roundell Palmer should be with Mr. Gladstone. Every one expected in the first instance that he would have held high office in the new Administration. He was one of the very foremost lawyers and the best Parliamen- tary debaters of the day, and the wool-sack seemed to be his fitting place. But Sir Roundell Palmer could not conscientiously agree to the disestablishment of the Irish State Church. He was willing to consent to very extensive altera- tions and reductions in the Establishment, but 74 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. he could not go with Mr. Gladstone all the way to the abolition of the Church; and he therefore remained outside the Ministry, and opposed the bill. If the fate of the Irish Church could have been averted or even postponed by impassioned eloquence something might have been done to stay the stroke of doom. But the fate of the institution was sealed at the moment that Mr. Gladstone returned from the general elections in command of a Liberal majority. The House of Lords were prudent enough not to set them- selves against the clear declaration of national opinion. Many amendments were introduced and discussed ; and some of these led to a con- troversy between the two Houses of Parliament ; but the controversy ended in compromise. On July 26, 1869, the measure for the disestablish- ment of the Irish Church received the royal assent. Lord Derby did not long survive the passing of the measure which he had opposed with such fervor and so much pathetic dignity. He died before the Irish State Church had ceased to live. Doomed as it was, it outlasted its eloquent cham- pion. In the interval between the passing and the practical operation of Mr. Gladstone's bill, on Oc- tober 23, Lord Derby died at Knowsley, the resi- dence of the Stanleys in Lancashire. His death made no great gap in English politics. He had for some time ceased to assert any really influential place in public affairs. His career had been eminent and distinguished ; but its day had long been done. Lord Derby never was a statesman ; he was not even a great leader of a party; but he was a splendid figure-head for Conservatism in or out of power. He was, on the whole, a superb specimen of the English political nobleman. Proud of soul, but sweet in temper and genial in manner ; dignified as men are who feel instinctively that dignity pertains to them, and therefore never think of how to assert or to maintain it, he was eminently fitted by tem- perament, by nature, and by fortune for the place it was given him to hold. His parlia- mentary oratory has already become a tradition. It served its purpose admirably for the time ; it showed, as Macaulay said, that Lord Derby pos- sessed the very instinct of parliamentary debate. It was not weighted with the thought which could have secured it a permanent place in political lit- erature, nor had it the imagination which would have lifted it into an atmosphere above the level of Hansard. In Lord Derby's own day the unanimous opinion of both Houses of Parlia- ment would have given him a place among the Tery foremost of parliamentary orators. Many competent judges went so far as to set him dis- tinctly above all living rivals. Time has not ratified this judgment. It is impossible that the influence of an orator could have faded so soon if he had really been entitled to the praise which many of his contemporaries would freely have rendered to Lord Derby. The charm of his voice and style, his buoyant readiness, his rush- ing fluency, his rich profusion of words, his hap- py knack of illustration, allusion, and retort — all these helped to make men believe him a much greater orator than he really was. Something, too, was due to the influence of his position. It seemed a sort of condescension on the part of a great noble that he should consent to be an elo- quent debater also, and to contend in parliamen- tary sword-play against professional champions like Peel and O'Connell and Brougham. It must count for something in Lord Derby's fame that, while far inferior to any of these men in political knowledge and in mental capacity, he could compare as an orator with each in turn, and — were it but for his own day, were it but while the magic of his presence and his voice was yet a living influence — could be held by so many to have borne without disadvantage the test of comparison. When the Irish Church had been disposed of, Mr. Gladstone at once directed his energies to the Irish land system. Ireland is essentially an agricultural country. It has few manufactures, not many large towns. Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Waterford — these are the only towns that could be called large; below these we come to places that in most other countries would be spoken of as villages or hamlets. The majority of the population of Ireland live on the land and by the land. The condition of most of the Irish tenantry may be painted effectively in a single touch when it is said that they were tenants-at- will. That fact would of itself be almost enough to account for the poverty and the misery of the agricultural classes in Ireland. But there were other conditions, too, which tended the same way. The land of Ireland was divided among a com- paratively small number of landlords, and the landlords were, as a rule, strangers, the repre- sentatives of a title acquired by conquest. Many of them were habitual absentees, who would as soon have thought of living in Ashantee as in Munster or Connaught. The Irish agricultural population held the land which was their only means of living at the mercy of the landlord or his agent. They had no interest in being industri- ous and improving their land. If they improved the patch of soil they worked on, their rent was almost certain to be raised, or they were turned out of the land without receiving a farthing of compensation for their improvements. Of course there were many excellent landlords, humane and kindly men — men, too, who saw the wisdom of being humane and kind. But in the majority of cases the landlords and the agents held firmly by what seemed to them the right of property — the right to get as high a price for a piece of land as it would fetch in open competition. The demand for land was so great, the need of land was so vital, that men would offer any price for it. When the tenant had got hold of his piece of land, he had no idea of cultivating it to the best of his strength and opportunities. Why should he? The moment his holding began to show a better appearance, that moment he might look to having his rent raised, or to being turned out in favor of some competitor who offered higher terms for occupation. Why should he improve? Whenever he was turned out of the land he would have to leave his improvements for the benefit of the landlord or the new-comer. He was, therefore, content to scratch the soil instead of really cultivating it. He extracted all he could from it in his short day. He lived from band to mouth, from hour to hour. In one province in Ireland, indeed, a better condition of things existed. Over the greater part of Ulster the tenant-right system prevailed. This system was a custom merely, but it had gradually come to acquire something like the force of law. The principle of tenant-right was that a man should be allowed to remain in un- disturbed possession of his holding as long as he paid his rent ; that he should be entitled, on giv- ing up the land, to compensation for unexhausted improvements, and that he should be at liberty to sell the " good-will " of his farm for what it would fetch in the market. The tenant was free to do what a man who has a long lease of any holding may do ; he might sell to any bidder of whom his landlord approved the right to enter on the occupancy of the place. Wherever this tenant-right principle prevailed there was indus- try, there was prosperity ; where it did not prevail was the domain of poverty, idleness, discontent, and crime. The one demand of the Irish agri- cultural population everywhere was for some form of fixity of tenure. The demand was neg- lected oy refused by generations of English states- men, chiefly because no statesman would take the trouble to distinguish between words and things; between shadowy, pedantic theories and clear, substantial facts. "Tenant-right," said Lord Palmerston, amid the cheers of an assembly mainly composed of landlords, "is landlord's wrong." Lord Palmerston forgot that the land- lord, like every one else in the commonwealth, holds even his dearest rights of property subject to the condition that his assertion of them is not inconsistent with the general weal. The land- lord holds his land as the ship-owner holds his ship and the railway company its lines of rail; subject to the right of the State to see that the duties of possession are properly fulfilled, and that the ownership is not allowed to become a public danger and a nuisance. Land is, from its very nature, from the fact that it cannot be in- creased in extent, and that the possession by one man is the exclusion of another, the form of property over which the State would most natu- rally be expected to reserve a right of ultimate control. Yet English statesmen for generations complacently asserted the impossibility of any legislative interference with the right of the land- lord, as if legislation had not again and again interfered with the right of the factory owner, the owner of mines, the possessor of railway shares, the shopkeeper ; the right of the master over his apprentice, the mistress in the hire of her maid-of-all-work. If ever there was a creature of law, and of au- thority acting in the place of law, it was the land- lordism of Ireland. It was imposed upon the country and the people. It could not plead in support of any of its alleged rights even that pre- scriptive title which grows up with the growth of an institution that has held its place during all the ages to which tradition or memory goes back. The landlordism of Ireland was, compared with most European institutions, a thing of the day before yesterday. It was the creation of con- quest, the impost of confiscation. It could plead no title whatever to maintain an unlimited right of action in opposition to the welfare of the peo- ple on whom it was forced. At least it could claim no such title when once the time had pass- ed away which insisted that the right of conquest superseded all other human rights, that the ten- ant, like the slave, had no rights which his mas- ter was bound to respect, and that the common weal meant simply the interests and the privileges of the ruling class. The moment the title of the Irish land system came to be fairly examined, it was seen to be full of flaws. It was dependent on conditions that had never been fulfilled. It had not even made the landlord class prosperous. It had not even succeeded, as no doubt some of its founders intended that it should succeed, in colonizing the island with English and Scotch set- tlers. For generations the land-tenure system of Ireland had been the subject of parliamen- tary debate aud parliamentary inquiry. Noth- ing came of all this. The supposed right of the landlord stopped the way. The one simple demand of the occasion was, as we have shown, security of tenure, and it was an article of faith with English statesmanship until Mr. Gladstone's time that security for the tenant was confiscation for the landlord. Mr. Gladstone came into power full of genuine reforming energy and without the slightest faith in the economic wisdom of our ancestors. In a speech delivered by him, during his electioneering campaign in Lancashire, he had declared that the Irish upas-tree had three great branches — the State Church, the Land-tenure System, and the System of Education — and that he meant to hew them all down if he could. On February 15, 1870, Mr. Gladstone introduced his Irish Land Bill into the House of Commons. Mr. Glad- stone's measure overthrew once for all the doc- trine of the landlord's absolute and unlimited right. It recognized a certain property or part- nership of the tenant in the land which he tilled. Mr. Gladstone took the Ulster tenant-right as he found it, and made it a legal institution. In places where the Ulster practice, or something analogous to it, did not exist, he threw upon the landlord the burden of proof as regarded the right of eviction. The tenant disturbed in the possession of his land could claim compensation for improvements, and the bill reversed the exist- ing assumption of the law by presuming all im- provements to be the property of the tenant, and leaving it to the landlord, if he could, to prove the contrary. The bill established a special judi- cial machinery for carrying out its provisions. It allowed the tribunals thus instituted to take into consideration not merely the strict legal con- ditions of each case, but also any circumstances that might affect the claim of the tenant as a matter of equity. Mr. Gladstone's great object was to bring about a state of things by virtue of which a tenant should not be dispossessed of his holding so long as he continued to pay his rent, and should in any case be entitled to full com- pensation for any substantial improvements which his energy or his capital might have effected. Mr. Gladstone, however, allowed landlords, under A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 75 certain conditions, to contract themselves out of the provisions of the bill, and these conditions were so largely availed of in some parts of Ire- land that there were more evictions after the hill had become law than before it had yet been thought of. On this ground the measure was actually opposed by some of the popular repre- sentatives of Ireland. The general opinion, how- ever, then and since was, that the bill was of in- estimable value to Ireland in the mere fact that it completely upset the fundamental principles on which legislation had always previously dealt with Irish land tenure. It put an end to the reign of the landlord's absolute power; it reduced the landlord to the level of every other proprietor, of every other man in the country who had anything to sell or hire. It decided once for all against Lord Palmerston's famous dogma, and declared that tenant-right was not landlord's wrong. There- fore the new legislation might in one sense have well been called revolutionary. The bill passed without substantial alteration. On August 1, 1870, the bill received the Royal assent. The second branch of the upas-tree had been hewn down ; but the woodman's axe had yet to be laid to a branch of a tougher fibre, well calculated to turn the edge of even the best weap- on, and to jar the strongest arm that wielded it. Mr. Gladstone had dealt with Church and land; he had yet to deal with university education. He had gone with Irish ideas thus far. CHAPTER XXIV. ' ' REFORM ATION IN A FLOOD." On June 10, 1870, men's minds were sudden- ly turned away from thought of political contro- versy to a country house near the Gad's Hill of Shakspeare, on the road to Rochester, where the most popular author of his day was lying dead. On the evening of June 8 Mr. Dickens became suddenly seized with paralysis. He fell into an unconscious state.and continued so until his death, the evening after. The news was sent over the country on the 10th, and brought a pang as of personal sorrow into almost every home. Dick- ens was not of an age to die ; he had scarcely passed his prime. Born early in February, 1S12, he had not gone far into his fifty-ninth year. No author of our time came near him in popularity ; perhaps no English author ever was so popular during his own life. To an immense number of men and women in these countries Dickens stood for literature ; to not a few his cheery teach- ing was sufficient as philosophy and even as re- ligion. Soon after his death, as might have been expected, a certain reaction took place, and for a while it became the fashion to smile quietly at Dickens's teaching and his influence. That mood too will have its day and will pass. It may be safely predicted that Dickens will be found to have made a firm place in English literature, al- though that place will probably not be so high as bis admirers would once have claimed for him. Londoners were familiar with Dickens's personal appearance as well as with his writings, and cer- tain London streets did not seem quite the same when his striking face and energetic movements could be seen there no more. It is likely that Dickens overworked his exuberant vital energy, his superb resources of physical health and ani- mal spirits. In work and play, in writing and in j exercising, he was unsparing of his powers. Men who were early companions of his, and who had not half his vital power, outlived him many years. He was buried in Westminister Abbey, although his own desire was to be laid quietly in Roches- ter church-yard. It was held that the national cemetery claimed him. We cannot help think- ing it a pity the claim was made. Most of the admirers of Dickens would have been better pleased to think that he lay beneath the green turf of the ancient church-yard, in venerable and storied Rochester, amid the scenes that he loved and taught so many others to love. Nothing in modern English history is like the rush of the extraordinary years of reforming ener- gy on which the new Administration had now entered. Mr. Gladstone's Government had to grapple with five or six great questions of reform, any one of which might have seemed enough to | engage the whole attention of an ordinary Ad- ministration. The new Prime-minister had pledged himself to abolish the State Church in Ireland and to reform the Irish Land-tenure sys- tem. He had made up his mind to put an end to the purchase of commissions in the army. Re- cent events and experiences had convinced him that it was necessary to introduce the system of voting by ballot. He accepted for his Govern- ment the responsibility of originating a complete scheme of National Education. Meanwhile, there were many questions of the highest impor- tance in foreign policy waiting for solution. It required no common energy and strength of char- acter to keep closely to the work of domestic re- form, amid such exciting discussions in foreign policy all the while, and with the war-trumpet ringing for a long time in the ears of England. Mr. Forster's Education Bill may be said to have been run side by side with the Irish Land Bill. The manner in which England had neg- lected the education of her poor children had long been a reproach to her civilization. She was be- hind every other great country in the world ; she was behind many countries that in nowise pro- fessed to be great. For years the statesmanship of England had been kept from any serious at- tempt to grapple with the evil by the doctrine that popular education ought not to be the busi- ness of a Government. Private charity was eked out in a parsimonious and miserable manner by a scanty dole from the State ; and as a matter of course, where the direst poverty prevailed, and naturally brought the extremest need for assist- ance to education, there the wants of the place were least efficiently supplied. It therefore came about that more than two-thirds of the chil- dren of the country were absolutely without in- struction. One of the first great tasks which Mr. Gladstone's Government undertook was to reform this condition of things, and to provide England for the first time in her history with a system of National Education. On February 17, 1870, Mr. Forster introduced a bill, having for its object to provide for public elementary education in Eng- land and Wales. Mr. Forster proposed to estab- lish a system of School Boards in England and Wales; and to give to each board the power to frame by-laws compelling the attendance of all children, from five to twelve years of age, within the school district. The Government did not see their way to a system of direct and universal compulsion. They therefore fell back on a com- promise, by leaving the power to compel in the hands of the local authorities. Existing schools were, in many instances, to be adopted by the bill, and to receive Government aid, on condition that they possessed a certain amount of efficiency in education, that they submitted themselves to the examination of an undenominational inspect- or, and that they admitted a conscience clause as part of their regulations. The funds were to be procured, partly by local rates, partly by grants from the Treasury, and partly by the fees paid in the paying schools. There were of course to be free schools provided, where the poverty of the population was such as, in the opinion of the lo- cal authorities, to render gratuitous instruction indispensable. The bill at first was favorably received. But the general harmony of opinion did not last long. Mr. Forster found, when he came to examine into the condition of the machinery of education in England, that there was already a system of schools existing under the charge of religious bodies of various kinds — the State Church, and the Roman Catholic Church, and other author- ities. These he proposed to adopt as far as possible into his scheme ; to affiliate them, as it were, to the Governmental system of education. But he had to make some concession to the religious principles on which such schools were founded. He could not by any stroke of author- ity undertake to change them all into secular schools. He therefore proposed to meet the difficulty by adopting regulations compelling every school of this kind which obtained Govern- ment aid or recognition to accept a conscience clause, by means of which the religious convic- tions of parents and children should be scrupu- lously regarded in the instruction given during the regular school hours. On this point the Non-conformists as a body broke away from the Government. They laid down the broad princi- ple that no State aid whatever should be given to any schools but those which were conducted on strictly secular and undenominational princi- ples. Their principle was that public money, the contribution of citizens of all shades of be- lief, ought only to be given for such teaching as the common opinion of the country was agreed upon. The contribution of the Jew, they ar- gued, ought not to be exacted in order to teach Christianity ; the Protestant rate-payer ought not to be compelled to pay for the instruction of Roman Catholic children in the tenets of their faith ; the Irish Catholic in London or Birming- ham ought not to be called upon to pay in any way for the teaching of distinctively Protestant doctrine. Mr. Forster could not admit the principle for which they contended. He could not say that it would be a fair and equal plan to offer secular education, and that alone, to all bodies of the community ; for he was well aware that there were such bodies who were conscientiously op- posed to what was called secular education, and who could not agree to accept it. He therefore endeavored to establish a system which should satisfy the consciences of all the denominations. But the Non-conformists would not meet him on this ground. They fought Mr. Forster long and ably and bitterly. The Liberal minister was compelled to accept more than once the aid of the Conservative party ; for that party as a whole adopted the principle which insisted on religious instruction in every system of national education. It more than once happened, therefore, that Mr. Forster and Mr. Gladstone found themselves appealing to the help of Conservatives and of Roman Catholics against that dissenting body of Englishmen who were usually the main sup- port of the Liberal party. It happened too, very unfortunately, that at this time Mr. Blight's health had so far given way as to compel him to seek complete rest from parliamentary duties. His presence and his influence with the Non-con- formists might perhaps have tended to moderate their course of action, and to reconcile them to the policy of the Government even on the subject of national education ; but his voice was silent then, and for long after. The split between the Government and the Non-conformists became something like a complete severance. Many angry and bitter words were spoken in the House of Commons on both sides. On one occasion there was an almost absolute declara- tion on the part of Mr. Gladstone and of Mr. Miall. a leading Non-conformist, that they had parted company forever. The Education Bill was nevertheless a great success. The School Boards became really valuable and powerful in- stitutions, and the principle of the cumulative vote was tested for the first time in their elec- tions. When School Boards were first estab- lished in the great cities, their novelty and the evident importance of the work they had to do attracted to them some of the men of most com- manding intellect and position. The London School Board had as its chairman, for instance, Lord Lawrence, the great Indian statesman, lately a Viceroy, and for one of its leading mem- bers Professor Huxley. An important peculiar- ity of the School Boards, too, was the fact, that they admitted women to the privileges of mem- bership; and this admission was largely availed of. Women voted, proposed amendments, sat on committees, and in every way took their part of the duties of citizenship in the business of national education. When the novelty of the system wore off' some of the more eminent men gradually fell out of the work, but the School Boards never tailed to maintain a high and use- ful standard of membership. They began and continued to be strictly representative institu- tions. Most of their work even still remains to be done. But, so far as it has gone, there can be no doubt of the success it has achieved. It must, however, be owned that the Gladstone administration was weakened and not strength- ened by its education scheme. One of the first symptoms of coming danger to Mr. Gladstone's 7G A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. Government was found in the estrangement of the English Non-conformists. The Government were a little unfortunate, too, as regarded another great reform — that of the organization of the army. Mr. Caldwell, the War Minister, brought forward a scheme for the reconstruction of the army, by combining under one system of discipline the regular troops, the militia, the volunteers, and the reserve. One most important part of the scheme was the abo- lition of the purchase system for officers' com- missions, and the substitution of promotion ac- cording to merit. Except in certain regiments, and in certain branches of the service outside England itself, the rule was, that an officer ob- tained his commission by purchase. Promotion was got in the same way. An officer bought a step up in the service. A commission was a vested interest ; a personal property. The own- er had paid so much for it, and he expected to get so much for it when he thought fit to sell it. The regulation price recognized by law and the Horse Guards was not by any means the actual price of the commission. It became worth much more to the holder, and of course he expected to get its real price, not its regulation or nominal and imaginary price. This anomalous and ex- traordinary system had grown up with the growth of the English army, until it seemed in the eyes of many an essential condition of the army's ex- istence. It found defenders almost everywhere. Because the natural courage, energy, and fight- ing power of Englishmen, Irishmen, and Scotch- men had made a good army in spite of this un- lucky practice, because the army did not actually collapse or wither away under its influence, many men were convinced that the army could not get on without it. The abolition of the purchase system had been advocated by generations of reformers without much success. But the ques- tion did not become really pressing and practical until Mr. Gladstone, on his accession to power, resolved to include it in his list of reforms. Of course Mr. Cardwell's proposition was bitterly and pertinaciously opposed. The principle of army purchase was part of a system in which large numbers of the most influential class had a vested interest. It was part of the aristocratic principle. To admit men to commissions in the army by pure merit and by mere competition would be to deprive the service of its specially aristocrat- ic character. A large number of the Conserva- tive party set themselves, therefore, not merely to oppose but to obstruct the bill. They pro- posed all manner of amendments, and raised all manner of discussions, in which the same argu- ments were repeated over and over again by the same speakers in almost the same words. Men who had never before displayed the slightest in- terest in the saving of the public money, were now clamorous opponents of the bill on the ground that the abolition of purchase would ren- der necessary the outlay of a large sum for com- pensation to officers thus deprived of their vested interests. This outlay the Liberal Government, usually censured by their opponents on the ground of their pinching parsimony, were quite willing to meet. Mr. Cardwell was prepared to make provision for it. Economy, however, be- came suddenly a weapon in the hands of some of the Conservatives. The session was going on, and there seemed little prospect of the Oppo- sition being discouraged or slackening in their energy. The Government began to see that it would be impossible to carry through the vast and complicated scheme of army reorganization which they had introduced, and Mr. Gladstone was resolved that the system of purchase must come to an end. It was thought expedient at last, and while the bill was still fighting its way through committee, to abandon a great part of the measure and persevere for the present only with those clauses which related to the abolition of the system of purchase. Under these condi- tions the bill passed its third reading in the Com- mons on July 3, 1871, not without a stout resist- ance at the last and not by a very overwhelming majority. This condition of things gave the ma- jority in the House of Lords courage to oppose the scheme. A meeting of Conservative peers was held, and it was resolved that the Duke of Richmond should offer an amendment to the motion for the second reading of the Army Pur- chase Bill. The Duke of Richmond was exact- ly the sort of man that a party under such condi- tions would agree upon as the proper person to move an amendment. He was an entirely re- spectable and safe politician ; a man of great in- fluence so far as dignity and territorial position were concerned ; a seemingly moderate Tory, who showed nothing openly of the mere partisan and yet was always ready to serve his party. When the motion for the second reading came on, the Duke of Richmond moved a cleverly con- structed amendment, declaring that the House of Lords was unwilling to agree to the motion un- til a comprehensive and complete scheme of army reorganization should have been laid before it. But of course the object of the House of Lords was not to obtain farther information ; it was simply to get rid of the bill for the present. The amendment of the Duke of Richmond was adopted. Then Mr. Gladstone took a course which be- came the subject of keen and embittered con- troversy. Purchase in the army was permitted only by Royal warrant. The whole system was the creation of Royal regulation. The House of Commons had pronounced against the sys- tem. The House of Lords had not pronounced in favor of it. The House of Lords had not rejected the measure of the Government, but only expressed a wish for delay and for farther information. Delay, however, would have been fatal to the measure for that session. Mr. Glad- stone therefore devised a way for checkmating what he knew to be the design of the House of Lords. It was an ingenious plan ; it was almost an audacious plan ; it took the listener's breath away to hear of it. Mr. Gladstone announced that as the system of purchase was the creation of Royal regulation, he had advised the Queen to take the decisive step of cancelling the Royal warrant which made purchase legal. A new Royal warrant was therefore immediately issued, declaring that, on and after November 1 follow- ing, all regulations made by her Majesty or any of her predecessors regulating or fixing the prices at which commissions might be bought, or in any way authorizing the purchase or sale of such commissions, should be cancelled. As far as regarded purchase, therefore, the contro- versy came suddenly to an end. The House of Lords had practically nothing to discuss. All that was left of the Government scheme on which the Peers could have anything to say was that part of the bill which provided compensa- tion for those whom the abolition of the system of purchase would deprive of certain vested in- terests. For the Lords to reject the bill as it now stood would merely be to say that such officers should have no compensation. Aston- ishment fell upon the minds of most who heard Mr. Gladstone's determination. After a mo- ment of bewilderment it was received with a wild outburst of Liberal exultation. It was felt to be a splendid party triumph. The House of Lords had been completely foiled. The tables had been turned on the Peers. Nothing was left for the House of Lords but to pass the bill as quickly as possible, coupling its passing, how- ever, with a resolution announcing that it was passed only in order to secure to officers of the army the compensation they were entitled to re- ceive, and censuring the Government for having attained, "by the exercise of the prerogative and without the aid of Parliament," the princi- pal object which they contemplated in the bill. The House of Lords was then completely de- feated. The system of purchase in the army was abolished by one sudden and clever strske. The Government were victorious over their op- ponents. Yet the hearts of many sincere Liber- als sank within them as they heard the announce- ment of the triumph. Mr. Disraeli condemned in the strongest terms the sudden exercise of the prerogative of the Crown to help the Min- istry out of a difficulty; and many a man of mark and influence on the Liberal benches felt that there was good ground for the strictures of the leader of the Opposition. Mr. Eawcett in particular condemned the act of the Govern- ment. He insisted that if it had been done by a Tory minister it would have been passionately denounced by Mr. Gladstone amid the plaudits of the whole Liberal party. Mr. Fawcett was a man who occupied a remarkable position in the House of Commons. In his early manhood he met with an accident which entirely destroyed the sight of his eyes. He made the noble resolve that he would nevertheless follow unflinchingly the career he had previously mapped out for himself, and would not allow the terrible calamity he had suffered to drive him from the active life of the political world. His tastes were for politics and political economy. He published a manual of political economy ; he wrote largely on the sub- ject in reviews and magazines ; he was elected Professor of the science in his own university, Cambridge. He was in politics as well as in eco- nomics a pupil of Mr. Mill ; and with the encour- agement and support of Mr. Mill he became a candidate for a seat in Parliament. He was a Liberal of the most decided lone ; but he was determined to hold himself independent of party. He stood for Southwark against Mr. Layard in 1857, and was defeated ; he contested Cambridge and Brighton at subsequent elections, and at last in 1865 he was successful at Brighton. He was not long in the House of Commons before it was acknowledged that his political career was likely to be something of a new force in Parliament, A remarkably powerful reasoner, he was capable, notwithstanding his infirmity, of making a long speech full of figures and of statistical calculations. His memory was fortunately so quick atid power- ful as to enable him easily to dispense with all the appliances which even well-trained speakers com- monly have to depend upon when they enter into statistical controversy. In Parliament he held faithfully to the purpose with which he had en- tered it, and was a thorough Liberal in principles, but absolutely independent of the expedients and sometimes of the mere discipline of party. If he believed that the Liberal ministers were going wrong, he censured them as freely as though they were his political opponents. On this occa- sion he felt strongly about the course Mr. Glad- stone had taken, and he expressed himself in language of unmeasured condemnation. It seems hard to understand how any independent man could have come to any other conclusion. The exercise of the Royal prerogative was undoubt- edly legal. Much time was wasted in testifying to its legality. The question in dispute was whether its sudden introduction in such a man- ner was a proper act on the part of the Govern- ment; whether it was right to cut short by virtue of the Queen's prerogative a debate which had previously been carried on without the slightest intimation that the controversy was to be settled in any other way than that of the ordinary Par- liamentary procedure. There seems to be only one reasonable answer to this question. The course taken by Mr. Gladstone was unusual, un- expected, unsustained by any precedent ; it was a mere surprise ; it was not fair to the House of Lords ; it was not worthy of the occasion, or the ministry, or the Liberal principles they professed. This great reform could at most have been de- layed for only a single session by the House of Lords. It is not even certain that the House of Lords, if firmly met, would have carried their opposition long enough to delay the measure by a single session. In any case the time lost would not have counted for much ; better by far to have waited another session than to have carried the point at once by a stroke of policy which seemed impatient, petulant, and even unfair. Among the many influences already combining to weaken Mr. Gladstone's authority, the impression pro- duced by this stroke of policy was not the least powerful. The Ballot Bill was introduced by Mr. Forster on February 20, 1871. Its principal object was, of course, the introduction of the system of secret voting. On entering the polling-place, the voter was to mention to the official in charge his name and his place of residence. The official, having ascertained that he was properly on the register, would hand him a stamped paper on which to inscribe his vote. The voter was to take the pa- per into a separate compartment and there pri- A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 77 rately mark a cross opposite the printed name of the candidate for whom he desired to record his vote. He was then to fold up the paper in such a mnnner as to prevent the mark from being seen, and, in the presence of the official, drop it. into the urn for containing the votes. By this plan Mr. Forster proposed not only to obtain secrecy but also to prevent personation. The bill likewise undertook to abolish the old prac- tice of nominating candidates publicly by speeches tit the hustings. Instead of a public nomination, it was intended that the candidates should be nominated by means of a paper containing the names of a proposer and seconder and eight as- sentors, all of whom must be registered voters. This paper being handed to the returning offi- cer would constitute a nomination. Titus was abolished one of the most characteristic and time- dishonored peculiarities of electioneering. Every humorous writer, every satirist with pen- cil or pen, from Hogarth to Dickens, had made merry with the scenes of the nomination day. In England the candidates were proposed and sec- onded in face of each other on a public platform in some open street or market-place in the presence of a vast tumultuous crowd, three-fourths of whom were generally drunk, and all of whom were in- flamed by the passion of a furious partisanship. Fortunate, indeed, was the orator whose speech was anything more than dumb -show. Brass bands and drums not unusually accompanied the efforts of the speakers to make themselves heard. Brickbats, dead cats, and rotten eggs came flying like bewildering meteors across the eyes of the rival politicians on the hustings. The crowds generally enlivened the time by a series of faction fights among themselves. No ceremonial could be at once more useless and more mischievous. The Bill introduced by Mr. Forster would have deserved the support of all rational beings if it proposed no greater reform than simply the abolition of this abominable system. But the ballot had long become an indispensable necessi- ty. The gross and growing corruption and vio- lence which disgraced every election began to make men feel that something must be done to get rid of such hideous abuses. Mr. Bright had always been an earnest advocate of the ballot system ; and partly, no doubt, under his influence, and partly by the teaching of experience and ob- servation, Mr. Gladstone became a convert to the same opinion. In 1809 a committee of the House of Commons was appointed, on the mo- tion of Mr. Bruce, the Home Secretary, to in- quire into the manner of conducting parliamen- tary and municipal elections. Its report was on the whole decidedly in favor of the principle of secret voting. Public opinion came round to the principle at once — the public out-of-doors, that is; for a great many members of both Houses of Parliament were still unconverted. Mr. Forster's Bill was stoutly resisted by the Conservatives. A good many Liberal members liked the ballot, in their hearts, little better than the Tories did. The long delays which inter- posed between the introduction of Mr. Forster's Bill and its passing through the House of Com- mons gave the House of Lords a plausible ex- cuse for rejecting it altogether. The Bill was not read a third time in the Commons until Au- gust 8 ; it was not sent up to the Lords until the 10th of that month — a date later than that usu- ally fixed for the close of the session. Lord Shaftesbury moved that the Bill be rejected on the ground that there was no time left for a proper consideration of it, and his motion was carried by ninety-seven votes to forty-eight. Mr. Gladstone accepted the decision of the Lords as a mere pass- ing delay, and with the beginning of the next session the ballot came up again. It was pre- sented in the form of a Bill to amend the laws re- lating to procedure at parliamentary and munici- pal elections, and it included, of course, the intro- duction of the system of secret voting. The Bill passed quickly through the House of Commons. Those who most disliked it began now to see that they must make up their minds to meet their fate. At the instance of the House of Lords, however, the ballot was introduced as an experiment, and the Act was passed, to continue in force for eight years ; that is, until the end of 1880. We may anticipate matters a little by saying that no measure of reform introduced through all that season of splendid reforming energy has given more universal satisfaction or worked with happier effect than the ballot. The University Tests Bill was one of the great- est measures carried successfully into legislation during this season of unparalleled activity. The effect of this Bill was to admit all lay students of whatever faith to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge on equal terms. This settled practically a controversy and removed a griev- ance which had been attracting keen public in- terest for at least five-and-tbirty years. The Government also passed a Trades Union Bill, moderating, as has already been shown, the leg- islation which bore harshly on the workmen. They established by Act of Parliament the Lo- cal Government Board, a new department of the administration intrusted with the care of the public health, the control of the Poor Law sys- tem, and all regulations applying to the business of districts throughout the country. The Gov- ernment repealed the ridiculous and almost for- gotten Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. The popularity of Mr. Gladstone's Government was all the time somewhat impaired by the line of action, and even perhaps by the personal de- portment, of some of its members. Mr. Lowe's budgets were not popular ; and Mr. Lowe had a taste for sarcasm which it was pleasant, no doubt, to indulge in at the expense of heavy men, but which was, like other pleasant things, a little dangerous when enjoyed too freely. One of Mr. Lowe's budgets contained a proposition to make up for deficiency of income by a tax on matches. The match trade rose up in arms against the proposal. The trade was really a very large one, employing vast numbers of poor people, both in the manufacture and the sale, especially in the east end of London. All the little boys and girls of the metropolis whose poor bread de- pended on the trade arose in infantile insurrection against Mr. Lowe. There were vast processions of match-makers and match-sellers to Palace Yard to protest against the tax. The contest was pitiful, painful, ludicrous ; no Ministry could endure it long. Mr. Lowe was only too glad to withdraw from his unenviable position. It was not pleasant to be regarded as a sort of ogre by thousands of poor little ragged boys and girls. Mr. Lowe withdrew his unlucky proposal, and set himself to work to repair by other ways and means the ravages which warlike times had made in his financial system. Another member of the Administration, Mr. Ayrton, a man of much abil- ity but still more self-confidence, was constantly bringing himself and his Government into quar- rels. He was blessed with a gift of offence. If a thing could be done either civilly or rudely, Mr. Ayrton was pretty sure to do it rudely. He was impatient with dull people, and did not always remember that those unhappy persons not only have their feelings, but sometimes have their votes. He quarrelled with officials ; he quar- relled with the newspapers ; he seemed to think a civil tongue gave evidence of a feeble intellect. He pushed his way along, trampling on people's prejudices with about as much consideration as a steam-roller shows for the gravel it crushes. Even when Mr. Ayrton was in the right he had a wrong way of showing it. The Emperor Napoleon had made war upon Prussia to recover his military popularity, which was much injured by the Mexican expedition and its ghastly failure. He forced the quarrel on the pretext that the Spanish people had in- vited a distant relation of the King of Prussia to become Sovereign of Spain. Louis Napo- leon managed to put himself completely in the wrong. The King of Prussia at once induced his relative to withdraw from the candidature in order not to disturb the susceptibilities of Fiance; and then the French Government pressed for a general pledge that the King of Prussia would never on any future occasion al- low of any similar candidature. When it came to this there was an end to negotiation. It was clear then that the Emperor was resolved to have a quarrel. Count Bismarck must have smiled a grim smile. His enemy had delivered himself into Bismarck's hands. The Emperor had been for some time in failing health. He had not been paying much attention to the details of his administration. False security and self-conceit had operated among his generals and his War Department to the utter detriment of the army. Nothing was ready. The whole system was fall- ing to pieces. Long after France had declared war, the army that was to go to Berlin was only dragging heavily towards the frontier. The ex- perience of what had happened to Austria might have told any one that the moment Prussia saw her opportunity she would move with the direct swiftness of an eagle's flight. But the French army stuck as if it was in mud. What every one expected came to pass. The Prussians cam3 down on the French like the rush of a torrent. The fortunes of the war were virtually decided in a day. Then the French lost battle after battle. The Emperor dared not return to Paris. The defence — for the Prussians soon became the invaders — was carried on with regard to the Emperor's political fortunes rather than to the military necessities of the hour. There were nothing but French defeats until there came at last the crowning disaster of Sedan. The Em- peror surrendered his sword, and was a captive in the hands of his enemies. The Second Em- pire was gone in a moment. Paris proclaimed the Republic ; the Empress Eugenie fled to Eng- land; the conqueror at Versailles was hailed as German Emperor. France lost two provinces, Alsace and Lorraine, and had to pay an enor- mous fine. The sympathies of the English people general- ly were at first almost altogether with Prussia; but when the Empire fell the feeling suddenly changed. It was the common idea that the Prussians ought to have been content with the complete destruction of the Bonapartist Empire and have made generous terms with the Repub- lic. Great popular meetings were held in Lon- don, and in various provincial cities, to express sympathy with the hardly - entreated French. Many persons everywhere thought the Govern- ment ought to do something to assist the French Republic. Some were of opinion that the glory of England would suffer if she did not get into a fight with some Power or other. It came out, in the course of the eager diplomatic discussions which were going on, that there had been some secret talk at different times of a private engage- ment between France and Prussia which would have allowed France on certain conditions to an- nex Belgium. This astounding revelation ex- cited alarm and anger in England. The Gov- ernment met that possible danger by at once pressing upon France and Prussia a new treaty, by which these Powers bound themselves jointly with England to maintain the independence of Belgium and to take up arms against any State invading it. The Government might fairly claim to have thus provided satisfactorily against any menace to the integrity and independence of Belgium, and they prepared against the more general dangers of the hour by asking for a large vote to enable them to strengthen the military defences of the country. But they were serious- ly embarrassed by the manner in which Russia suddenly proposed to deal with the Treaty of Paris. One article of that Treaty declared that "the Black Sea is neutralized; its waters and its ports, thrown open to the mercantile marine of every nation, are formally and in perpetuity interdicted to the flag of war, either of the Powers possessing its coasts or of any other Pow- er," and the Sultan of Turkey and the Emperor of Russia engaged to establish or maintain no military or maritime arsenals on the shores of that sea. Russia now took advantage, of the war between France and Prussia to say that she would not submit to be bound by that article of the Treaty any longer. The Russian statesmen pleaded as a justification of this blunt and sud- den proceeding that the Treaty of Paris had been ignored by other Powers and in a variety of ways since the time of its signature, and that Kussia- could not be expected to endure forever an ar- ticle which bore heavily, directly, and specially upon her. The manner of making the announcement was 78 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. startling, ominous, and offensive. But there real- ly was not much that any English statesman could do to interfere with Russia's declared in- tentions. It was not likely that France and Prussia would stop just then from the death- grapple in which they were engaged to join in coercing Russia to keep to the disputed article in the Treat}'. Austria, of course, would not un- der such circumstances undertake to. interfere. It would have been a piece of preposterous quix- otry on the part of England to act alone. To enforce the Treaty was out of the question ; but, on the other hand, it did not look seemly that the European powers should put up quite tamely with the dictatorial resolve of Russia. The ingenious mind of Count Bismarck found a way of putting a fair show on the action of Europe. At his suggestion a conference of the representatives of the powers which had signed the Treaty was held in London to talk the whole matter over. This graceful little fiction was welcomed by all diplo- matists. The conference met on January 17, 1871, with every becoming appearance of a full belief in the minds of all its members that the Russian Government had merely announced its wish to have the clause in the Treaty abrogated as a matter for the consideration of the European powers, and that the conference was to be assem- bled "without any foregone conclusion as to its results." Then the conference solemnly agreed upon a Treaty abrogating the clause for the neu- tralization of the Black Sea. There was some- thing a little farcical about the whole transaction. It did not tend to raise the credit or add to the popularity of the English Government. We do not know that there was anything better to do ; we can only say that the Government deserves commiseration which at an important European crisis can do nothing better. The American Government now announced that the time had come when they must take some decided steps for the settlement of the Ala- bama claims. Attempts had already been made at a convention for the settlement of the claims. In one instance a convention, devised by Mr. Rev- erdy Johnson, then American Minister in Eng- land, had actually been signed by Lord Claren- don, Foreign Secretary, whose death in June, 1870, was followed by Lord Granville's removal from the Colonial to the Foreign Office. The Senate of the United States, however, rejected this convention by a majority of fifty-four to one, and Mr. Reverdy Johnson resigned his office. The doom of the convention wns chiefly brought about by the efforts of Mr. Charles Sumner, a leading member of the Senate of the United States. Mr. Sumner was a man of remarkable force of character, a somewhat ' ' masterful " tem- perament, to use an expressive provincial word, a temperament corresponding with his great stat- ure, his stately presence, and his singularly hand- some and expressive face. Mr. Sumner had been for the greater part of his life an enthusiastic admirer of England and English institutions. He had made himself acquainted with England and Englishmen, and was a great favorite in Eng- lish society. He was a warm friend of Mr. Cob- den, Mr. Bright, the Duke of Argyll, and many other eminent English public men. He was par- ticularly enthusiastic about England because of the manner in which she had emancipated her slaves and the emphatic terms in which English society al\va} r s expressed its horror of the system of slavery. When the American Civil War broke out he expected with full confidence to find the sympathies of England freely given to the side of the North. He was struck with amazement when lie found that they were to so great an ex- tent given to the South. But when he saw that the Alabama and other Southern cruisers had been built in England, manned in England, and allowed to leave our ports with apparently the applause of three-fourths of the representative men of England, his feelings towards this coun- try underwent a sudden and a most complete change. He now persuaded himself that the sympathies of the English people were actually with slavery, and that England was resolved to lend her best help for the setting up of a slave- owning Republic to the destruction of the Ameri- can Union. Mr. Sumner was mistaken in concluding that love of slavery and hatred of the Union dictated the foolish things that were often said and the unrightful things that were sometimes done by England. His mind, however, became filled with a fervor of anger against England. The zeal of his cause ate him up. All his love for England turned into hate. During all his career Mr. Sumner had been a professed lover of peace ; had made peace his prevailing principle of action ; and yet he now spoke and acted as if he were determined that there must be war between Eng- land and the United States. Mr. Sumner de- nounced the convention made by Mr. Reverdy Johnson with a force of argument and of pas- sionate eloquence which would have borne down all opposition if the Senate had not already been almost unanimously with him. It is right to say that the particular convention agreed on between Lord Clarendon and Mr. Reverdy Johnson does not seem to have been one that the American Senate could reasonably be expected to accept, or that could possibly give satisfaction to the American people. The defect of this convention was that it made the whole question a mere mat- ter of individual claims. It professed to have to deal with a number of .personal and private claims of various kinds, pending since a former settlement in 1853 — claims made on the one side by British subjects against the American Gov- ernment, and on the other by American citizens against the English Government ; and it pro- posed to throw in the Alabama claims with all the others, and have a convention for the gener- al clearance of the whole account. The claim set up by the United States on account of the cruise of the Alabama was first of all a national claim, and this way of dealing with it could not possibly satisfy the American people. The English Government wisely gave way. They consented to send out a Commission to Washington to confer with an American Com- mission, and to treat the whole question in dis- pute as national and not merely individual. The Commission was to enter upon all the various subjects of dispute unsettled between England and the United States ; the Alabama claims, the San Juan Boundary, and the Canadian Fishery Question. The Dominion of Canada was to be represented on the Commission. The English Commissioners were Earl de Grey and Ripon (afterwards created Marquis of Ripon, in re- turn for his services at Washington), Sir Staf- ford Northcote, Mr. Montagu Bernard, Professor of International Law at the University of Ox- ford ; and Sir Edward Thornton, English Min- ister at Washington. Sir John A. Macdonald represented Canada. The American Commis- sioners were Mr. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State ; General Schenck, afterwards American Minister in England ; Mr. J. C. Bancroft Davis, Mr. Justice Nelson, Mr. Justice Williams, and Mr. E. R. Hoar. The Commissioners held a long series of meet- ings in Washington, and at length arrived at a basis of arbitration. The Treaty of Washington acknowledged the international character of the dispute, and it opened with the remarkable an- nouncement that "Her Britannic Majesty has authorized her High Commissioners and Pleni- potentiaries to express, in a friendly spirit, the regret felt by Her Majesty's Government for the escape, under whatever circumstances, of the Alabama and other vessels from British ports, and for the depredations committed by those vessels." This very unusual acknowledgment ought not in itself to be considered as anything of a humiliation. But when compared with the stand which English Ministers had taken not many years before, this was indeed a considera- ble change of attitude. It is not surprising that many Englishmen chafed at the appearance of submission which it presented. The Treaty then laid down three rules. These rules were: "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 in- tended to cruise or to 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 war as above, such vessel having been specially adapted in whole or in part, within such jurisdiction, to warlike use. Secondly, not to permit or suffer either belligerent to make use of its ports or waters as the base of naval opera- tions against the other, or for the purpose of the renewal or augmentation of military supplies or arms, or the recruitment of men. Thirdly, to exercise due diligence in its own ports and waters, and as to all persons within its jurisdic- tion, to prevent any violation of the foregoing ob- ligations and duties." The British Commissioners followed up the acceptance of these three rules by a saving clause, declaring that the English Government could not assent to them as a "statement of principles of international law which were in force at the time when the claims arose;" but that " in order to evince its desire of strengthen- ing the friendly relations between the two coun- tries, and of making satisfactory provision for the future," it agreed that in deciding the ques- tions arising out of the claims these principles should be accepted, " and the high contracting parties agree to observe these rules between themselves in future, and to bring them to the knowledge of other maritime Powers, and to in- vite them to accede to them." The Treaty then provided for the settlement of the Alabama claims by a tribunal of five arbitrators, one to be appointed by the Queen, and the others respectively by the President of the United States, the King of Italy, the President of the Swiss Confederation, and the Emperor of Bra- zil. This tribunal was to meet in Geneva, and was to decide by a majority all the questions submitted to it. The treaty further provided for a tribunal to settle what may be called indi- vidual claims on either side, and another com- mission to meet afterwards at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and deal with the Fishery Question, an old outstanding dispute as to the reciprocal rights of British and American subjects to fish on each other's coasts. It referred the ques- tion of the northern boundary between the Brit- ish North American territories and the United States to the arbitration of the German Emper- or. It also opened the navigation of the St. Lawrence and other rivers. Some delay was caused in the meeting of the tribunal of arbitration at Geneva by the sudden presentation on the part of the American Gov- ernment of what were called the indirect claims. To the surprise of everybody, the American case when presented was found to include claims for vast and indeed almost limitless damages, for in- direct losses alleged to be caused by the cruise of the Alabama and the other vessels. The loss by the transfer of trade to English vessels, the loss by increased rates of insurance, and all imaginable losses incident to the prolongation of the war, were now made part of the American claims. It was clear that if such a principle were ad- mitted there was no possible reason why the claims should not include every dollar spent in the whole operations of the war and in supplying any of the war's damages, from the first day when the Alabama put to sea. Even men like Mr. Bright, who had been devoted friends of the North during the war, protested against this insufferable claim. It was, indeed, a profound mistake. The arbitration was on the point of being broken off. The excitement in England was intense. The American Government had at last to withdraw the claims. The Geneva arbitrators of their own motion declared that all such claims were invalid and contrary to international law. The decision of the Geneva Tribunal went against England. The court were unanimous in finding England responsible for the acts of the Alabama. A majority found her responsi- ble for the acts of the Florida and for some of those of the Shenandoah, but not responsible for those of other vessels. They awarded a sum of about three millions and a quarter sterling as compensation for all losses and final settlements of all claims including interest. The German Emperor decided in favor of the American claim to the small island of San Juan, near Vancou- A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 79 Ter's Island, n question remaining unsettled since the Oregon Treaty. San Juan had for years been in a somewhat hazardous condition of joint occupation by England and the United States. It was evacuated by England, in con- sequence of the award, at the close of Novem- ber, 1873. The principle of arbitration had not thus far worked in a manner calculated greatly to delight the English people. In each case the award had gone decidedly against them. No doubt it had gone against them because the right of each case was against them ; and those who inbuilt to arbitration have no business to com- plain because the decision is not given in their favor. However that may be, it is certain that the effect of the Geneva arbitration was to create a sore and angry feeling among Englishmen in general. The feeling found expression with some ; smouldered in sullenness with others. It was unreasonable and unjust; but it was not altogether unnatural; and it had its effect on the popularity of Mr. Gladstone's Government. The opening of the Session of 1872 was made melancholy by the announcement that Lord Mayo, the Viceroy of India, had been killed by a fanatical assassin in a convict settlement, on one of the Andaman Islands which the Viceroy was inspecting. Lord Mayo had borne himself well in his difficult position, and had won the ad- miration of men of all parties by his firmness, his energy, his humanity, and his justice. CHAPTER XXV. THE FALL OP THE GREAT ADMINISTRATION. Tin: Liberal Ministry continued somehow to fall off in popularity. Mr. Gladstone was pro- foundly serious in his purposes of reform ; and very serious men are seldom popular in a society like that of London. The long series of bold and vigorous reforms was undoubtedly causing the public to lose its breath. The inevitable re- action was setting in. No popularity, no skill, no cunning in the management of men, no qual- ity or endowment on the part of the Prime-min- ister, could have wholly prevented that result. Mr. Gladstone was not cunning in the manage- ment of men. He would probably have despised himself for availing of such a craft had he pos- sessed it. He showed his feelings too plainly. If men displeased him he seldom took the trouble to conceal his displeasure. It was murmured among his followers that he was dictatorial ; and no doubt he was dictatorial in the sense that he had strong purposes himself, and was earnest in trying to press them upon other men. His very religious opinions served to interfere with his social popularity. He seemed to be a curious blending of the English High Churchman and the Scottish Presbyterian. He displeased the ordinary English middle class by leaning too much to Ritualism ; and, on the other hand, he often offended the Roman Catholics by his im- passioned diatribes against the Pope and the Church of Rome. One or two appointments made by or under the authority of Mr. Glad- stone gave occasion to considerable controversy and to something like scandal. One of these was the appointment of the Attorney-general, Sir Robert Collier, to a Puisne Judgeship of the Court of Common Pleas, in order technically to qualify him for a seat on the bench of a new Court of Appeal — that is to say, to become one of the paid members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The statute required that every judge of the Court of Appeal should have been a judge of one of the ordinary courts; and Sir Robert Collier was passed through the Court of Common Pleas in order that he might have the technical qualification. There was not the slightest suggestion of any improper motive on the part of .Mr. Gladstone, or lack of legal or judicial fitness on the part of Sir Robert Collier. On the contrary, it was admitted that Sir Rob- ert Collier had helped the Government out of a difficulty by taking an appointment which sever- al judges had declined, and which had not quite such a position as the traditions of his office would have entitled him to expect. It seemed, however, as if there was something of a trick in the act which thus passed him through the one court in order to give him a technical qualifica- tion for the other. A vote of censure on the Government was moved in the House of Lords, and the universal impression was that it would be carried. The vote of censure was, however, rejected by eighty-nine against eighty-seven. A similar attempt was made in the House of Com- mons, and was defeated ; only, however, by a majority of twenty-seven, a small majority in the House where the strength of the Government was supposed to lie. There can be no doubt that, althougli in neither House of Parliament could any expression of censure be obtained, the "Colliery explosion," as it was called, gave a downward push to the declining popularity of Mr. Gladstone's ■> "ministration. The "liquor interest," too, was soon in arms against him. The United Kingdom Alliance " for the suppression of the liquor traffic " had of late years been growing so strong as to become a positive influence in politics. Its object was to bring about the adoption of legislation which should leave it in the power of a two-thirds majority in each locality to stop altogether, if it were so thought fit, the public sale of intoxicat- ing drinks. The Parliamentary leader of the agitation was Sir Wilfrid Lawson, a man of po- sition, of great energy, and of thorough earnest- ness. Sir Wilfrid Lawson was not, however, merely energetic and earnest. He had a pecul- iarly effective style of speaking, curiously un- like that which might be expected from the ad- vocate of an austere and somewhat fanatical sort of legislation. He was a humorist of a fresh and vigorous order, and he always took care to amuse his listeners and never allowed his speeches to bore them. The Alliance was al- ways urging on the Government and public opin- ion against the drink traffic, and it became clear that something must be done to regulate the trade. Mr. Bruce, the Home Secretary, brought in a Bill which the Alliance condemned as fee- bleness, and which the publicans resented as op- pression. The Bill increased the penalties for drunkenness, and shortened the hours during which public-houses might be kept open on Sun- days and on week-days as well. The effect of the passing of this measure was to throw the publicans into open hostility to the Government. The publicans were a numerous body ; they were well organized ; the net-work of their trade and their Association spread all over the kingdom. The hostile feelings of some were perhaps not unnaturally embittered by the fact that many speakers and writers treated all publicans alike, made no distinction between the reputable and the disreputable, though it was well known that a large proportion of the publicans carried on a respectable trade, and were losers rather than gainers by drunkenness. The natural result of indiscriminate attack was to cause an indiscrim- inate alliance for the purposes of defence. The establishment of a republic in France could not be without its influence on English politics. A certain amount of more or less vague republican sentiment is always afloat on the surface of English radicalism. The estab- lishment of the French Republic now came as a climax. At many of the great meetings which were held in London, and in most of the Eng- lish cities, to express sympathy with the strug- gling republic a good deal of very outspoken re- publicanism made itself heard. There could be no doubt that a considerable proportion of the working-men in the cities were republicans in sentiment. English writers who were not by any means of the sentimental school, but, on the contrary, were somewhat hard and cold in their dogmatism, began to publish articles in "ad- vanced " reviews and magazines, distinctly pcint- ing out the logical superiority of the republican theory. Men were already discussing the pos- sibility of a declared republican party being formed both in and out of Parliament ; not, indeed, a party clamoring for the instant pulling down of the monarchy — no one thought of that — but a party which would avow itself republican in principle, and acknowledge that its object was to bring about a change in public sentiment which might prepare the way for a republic in the time to come. But France, which had given the impulse, gave also the shock that brought reaction. The wild theories, the monstrous ex- cesses, the preposterous theatricism, of the Paris Commune had a very chilling effect on the ardor of English republicans. The movement in Eng- land had, however, one or two curious episodes before it sank into quiescence. In March, 1872, Sir Charles Dilke brought on a motion in the House of Commons for inquir- ing into the manner in which the income and allowances of the Crown are expended. Sir Charles Dilke had been for some months of the preceding autumn the best abused man in Great Britain. His name appeared over and over again in the daily papers. The comic papers caricatured "Citizen Dilke " every week. The telegraph wires carried his doings and speeches everywhere. American correspondents " inter- viewed " him, and pictured him as the future President of England. He went round the towns of the North of England, delivering a lect- ure on the expenses of royalty ; and his progress was marked by more or less serious riots every- where. Life was sacrificed in more than one of these tumults. The working-men of London and of the North held great meetings to express their approval of his principles and conduct. To increase and perplex the excitement, the Prince of Wales fell ill, and if Sir Charles Dilke had personally caused his illness he could not have been more bitterly denounced by some speakers and writers. He was represented as a monster of disloyalty, who had chosen to assail the Queen (against whom, it is only fair to say, he had never uttered a disparaging word) while her eldest son lay struggling with death. The Prince of Wales, given over by all the doctors, recovered ; and in the outburst of public gladness and loyalty that followed his restoration to health Sir Charles Dilke was almost forgotten. But he had been challenged to repeat in the House of Commons the statements that he had made in the countrv. He answered the challenge by bringing forward the motion to inquire into the manner in which the income and allowances of the Crown were spent. There was unmistakable courage in the cool, steady way in which he rose to propose his motion. Sir Charles Dilke knew that every one in that House, save three or four alone, was bitterly opposed to him. It is a hard trial to the nerves to face such an audience. But neither then nor after did he show the slightest sign of quailing. His speech was well got up as to facts, well arranged, and evidently well committed to memory, but it was not eloquent. The warmth of Mr. Gladstone's reply was almost, startling by sheer force of contrast to Sir Charles Dilke's quiet, dry, and labored style. No one expected that Mr. Gladstone would be so passionately merciless as he proved to be. His vehemence, forcing the House into hot. temper again, was one cause at least of the extraordinary tumult that arose when Sir Charles Dilke's friend and ally, Mr. Auberon Herbert, rose to speak, and de- clared himself also a republican. This was the signal for as extraordinary a scene as the- House of Commons has ever exhibited. The tumult became so great, that if it had taken place at any public meeting it would have been called a riot, and would have required the interference of the police. Some hundreds of strong, excited, furi- ous men were shouting and yelling with the ob- ject of interrupting the speech and drowning the voice of one man. The Speaker of the House of Commons is usually an omnipotent authority, but on this occasion the Speaker was literally powerless. There was no authority which could overawe that House. Men of education and po- sition — university men, younger sons of peers, great land-owners, officers in crack cavalry regi- ments, the very elite, many of them, of the Eng- lish aristocracy, became for the moment a merely furious mob. They roared, hissed, gesticulated ; the shrill "cock-crow," unheard in the House of Commons for a whole generation, shrieked once more in the ears of the bewildered officials. It was clear that there was no republican par- ty, properly so called, in the coontrj. Some of the "philosophical Radicals,'' who were most strongly republican in sentiment and conviction, so A SHOKT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. declared in the most explicit words that they would not make the slightest effort to agitate in favor of a republic; that they did not think the difference between a republic and the British Constitution was worth the trouble of a long agi- tation. If a republic were to come, they said, it would come in good time. England could af- ford to wait. When this philosophical mood of mind prevailed among republicans it was clear that the question of a republic had not, as the phrase is, "come up." A new figure did, however, arise about that time in English politics. It was that of the Eng- lish agricultural laborer as a political agitator and member of a trades-union. Por years and years the working-man in cities had played an influential part in every agitation. All the while the rural laborer was supposed to be entirely out ■of the play. No one troubled about him. Some- times a London newspaper sent down a special correspondent to explore the condition of some village, and he wrote back descriptions which made the flesh creep about the miseries of some laborer's family of eight or nine who habitually slept in one room, and in not a few instances in one bed. That was the rural laborer at his worst. At his best he seemed a picture of hard-working, cleanly, patient, and almost hopeless poverty. Mr. Disraeli and the Tory landlords said he was too contented and happy to need a change ; most other people thought that he was rendered too stolid by the monotonous misery of his condition. Suddenly, in the spring of 1872, not long after the opening of Parliament, vague rumors began to reach London of a movement of some kind among the laborers of South Warwickshire. It was first reported that they had asked for an increase of wages, then that they were actually forming a laborers' union, after the pattern of the artisans ; then that they were on strike. There came accounts of meetings of rural laborers — meetings positively where men made speeches. Instantly the London papers sent down their spe- cial correspon dents, and for weeks the movement among the agricultural laborers of South War- wickshire — the country of Shakspeare — became the sensation of London. How the thing first came about is not very clear. But it seems that in one of the South Warwickshire villages, when there was sad and sullen talk of starvation, it occurred to some one to suggest a "strike" against the landlords. The thing took fire some- how. A few men accepted it at once. In the neighboring village was a man who, although only a day-laborer, had been long accustomed to act as a volunteer preacher of Methodism, and who by his superior intelligence, his good char- acter, and his effective way of talking, had ac- quired a great influence among his fellows. This man was Joseph Arch. He was consulted, and he approved of the notion. He was asked if he would get together a meeting and make a speech, and he consented. Calling a meeting of day- laborers then was almost as bold a step as pro- claiming a revolution ; yet it was done some- how. There were no circulars, no placards, none of the machinery which we all associate with the getting up of a meeting. The news had to be passed on by word of mouth that a meeting was to be held and where ; the incredulous had to be convinced that there was really to be a meetin the timid had to be prevailed on to take courage and go. The meeting was held under a great chestnut-tree, which thereby acquired a sort of fame. There a thousand laborers came together and were addressed by Joseph Arch. He carried them all with him. His one great idea — great and bold to them, simple and small to us — was to form a laborers' union like the trades-unions of the cities. The idea was taken up with en- thusiasm. New branches were formed every day. Arch kept on holding meetings and addressing crowds. The whole movement passed, natural- ly and necessarily, into his hands. How com- pletely it was a rural laborers' movement, how little help or guidance it received in its origin from other sources, how profoundly isolated from the outer and active world was its scene, may be understood from the fact that it was nearly six weeks in action before its very existence was known in London. Then the special correspond- ents went down to the spot and turned a blaze of light on it. Mr. Auberon Herbert and other active reformers appeared on the scene and threw themselves into the movement. Meetings were held in various villages, and Mr. Arch found him- self in the constant companionship of members of Parliament, leaders of political organizations, and other unwonted associates. The good-sense of the sturdy laborer never forsook the leader of the movement, nor did he ever show any inclina- tion to subordinate his enterprise to any political agitation. The laborers took the help of politi- cal leaders so far as the mere conduct of the or- ganization was concerned, but they did not show any inclination to allow their project to expand as yet beyond its simple and natural limits. On the other hand, it was clear that, so far as the laborers had any political sympathies, they were with Liberalism and against Toryism. This, too, was a little surprise for the public. Most persons had supposed that a race of beings brought up for generations under the exclusive tutorship of the landlord, the vicar, and the wives of the landlords and the vicars, would have had any political tendencies they possessed drilled and drummed into the grooves of Toryism. The shock of surprise with which the opposite idea impressed itself upon the minds of the Conserva- tive squires found ready and angry expression. The landlords in most places declared themselves against the movement of the laborers. Some of them denounced it in unmeasured language. Mr. Disraeli at once sprung to the front as the champion of feudal aristocracy and the British country squire. The controversy was taken up in the House of Commons, and served, if it did nothing else, to draw all the more attention to the condition of the British laborer. One indirect but necessary result of the agita- tion was to remind the public of the injustice done to the rural population when they were left unenfranchised at the time of the passing of the last Reform Bill. The injustice was strongly pressed upon the Government, and Mr. Glad- stone frankly acknowledged that it would be im- possible to allow things to remain long in their anomalous state. In truth, when the Reform Bill was passed nobody supposed that the rural population were capable of making any use of a vote. Therefore the movement which began in Warwickshire took two directions when the im- mediate effects of the partial strike were over. A permanent union of laborers was formed, cor- responding generally in system with the organi- zations of the cities. The other direction was distinctly political. The rural population, through their leaders, joined with the reformers of the cities for the purpose of obtaining an equal fran- chise in town and country ; in other words, for the enfranchisement of the peasantry. The emancipation of the rural laborers began when the first meeting answered the appeals of Joseph Arch. The rough-and-ready peasant preacher had probably little idea, when he made his speech under the chestnut-tree, that he was speaking the first words of a new chapter of the country's history. A few lines ought, perhaps, to be spared to one of the most remarkable instances of disputed identity on record. A claim was suddenly made upon the Tichborne baronetcy and estates by a man who came from Australia, and who an- nounced himself as the heir to the title and the property. He declared that he was the Sir Roger Tichborne who was supposed to have gone down with the wreck of the Bella, sailing from Rio, in South America, years before. "The Claimant " was curiously unlike what people re- membered Roger Tichborne, not only in face, but in figure and in manners. A slender, deli- cate, somewhat feeble young man, of fair al- though not finished education, who had always lived in good society, and showed it in his lan- guage and bearing, went down in the Bella, or at least disappeared with her; and thirteen years afterwards there came from Australia a man of enormous bulk, ignorant to an almost inconceivable degree of ignorance, and who, if he were Roger Tichborne, had not only forgotten all the manners of his class, but had forgotten the very names of many of those with whom he ought to have been most familiar, including the name of his own mother ; and this man pre- sented himself as the lost heir, and claimed the property. Yet it is certain that his story was believed by the mother of Roger Tichborne, and by a considerable number of persons of un- doubted veracity and intelligence who had known Roger Tichborne in his youth. He utterly failed to make out his claim in a Court of Law. It was shown upon the clearest evidence that he had gradually put together and built np around him a whole system of imposture. He was then put on trial for his frauds, found guilty, and sen- tenced to fourteen years' penal servitude. Yet thousands of ignorant persons, and some persons not at all ignorant, continued, and to this day continue, to believe in him. On January 9, 1873, Louis Napoleon, late Emperor of the French, died at his house in Chiselhurst, Kent. After the overthrow of the Empire the fallen Emperor came to England. He settled with his wife and son at Chiselhurst, and lived in dignified semi -retirement. The Emperor became a sort of favorite with the pub- lic here. A reaction seemed to have set in against the dread and dislike with which he had at one time been regarded. He enjoyed a cer- tain amount of popularity. Louis Napoleon had for a long time been in sinking health. His life had been overwrought in every way. He had lived many lives in a comparatively short space of time. Most of his friends had long been ex- pecting his death from week to week, almost from day to day. The event created no great sensation. Perhaps even the news of his death was but an anti-climax after the news of his fall. For twenty years he had filled a space in the eyes of the world with which the importance of no man else could pretend to compare. His political bulk had towered up in European af- fairs like some huge castle dominating over a city. All the earth listened to the lightest word he spoke. For good or evil, his influence and his name were potent in every corner of the globe. His nod convulsed continents. His arms glittered from the Crimea to Cochin-China, from Algeria to Mexico. The whole condition of things seemed changed when Louis Napoleon fell at Sedan. Some forty years of wandering, of obscurity, of futile, almost ludicrous enter- prises, of exile, of imprisonment, of the world's contempt, and then twenty years of splendid suc- cess, of supreme sovereignty, had led him to this — to the disgrace of Sedan, to the quiet fading days of Chiselhurst. Death was very busy about this time with men whose names had made deep mark on history or letters. Lord Lytton, the brilliant novelist, the successful dramatist, the composer of marvellous Parliamentary speeches, died on January 18, 1873. Dr. Livingstone, the famous missionary and explorer, had hardly been discovered among the living by the enterprise and energy of Mr. Stanley, when the world learned that he was dead. So many false reports of his death had been sent about at different times that the state- ment now was received with incredulity. The truth had to be confirmed on testimony beyond dispute before England would accept the fact that the long career of devotion to the one pur- suit was over, and that Africa had had another victim. John Stuart Mill died on May 8, 1873, at his home at Avignon, where the tomb of his wife was made. "There's a great spirit gone," was the word of all men. A loftier and purer soul, more truly devoted to the quest of the truth, had not mingled in the worldly affairs of our time. His influence over the thought and the culture of his day was immense. Most of Mr. Mill's writings may safely be regarded as the possession of all the future, and he has left an example of candor in investigation and fearless moral purpose in action such as might well leaven even the most thoughtless and cynical generation. A sudden accident — the stumble of a horse — brought to a close, on July 19, the career of the Bishop of Winchester, the many-sided, energetic, eloquent Samuel Wilberforce. He had tried to succeed in everything, and he went near success. He tried to know everybody, and understand everybody's way of looking at every question. A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 81 lie was a great preacher and Parliamentary orator, a great bishop, a wit, a scholar, an ac- complished man of the world ; but he was a good man and good minister always. On the very day after the death of the Bishop of Winchester died Lord Westbury, who had been Lord Chan- cellor ; a man of great ability, unsurpassed as a lawyer in his time, endowed with as bitter a tongue and as vitriolic a wit as ever cursed their possessor. The deaths of Sir Edwin Landseer, the painter, Sir Henry Holland, the famous phy- sician and traveller, whose patients and personal friends were Emperors, Kings, Presidents, and Prime-ministers, and of Professor Sedgwick, the geologist, ought to be mentioned. Nor must we omit from our death-roll the name of Dr. Lush- ington, who, in addition to his own personal dis- tinction, is likely to be remembered as the deposi- tary of a secret confided to him in an earlier generation by Lady Byron — the secret of the charge she had to make against her husband. The whole story was revived before Dr. Lush- ington's death by a painful controversy, but he refused, even by a yes or no, to reveal Lady Byron's confidence. The year which saw so many deaths was a trying time for the Liberal Government. The novelty of the reforming administration was well- nigh worn off, and there was yet some work which Mr. Gladstone was pledged to do. Here and there, when it happened that the death or retirement of a member of Parliament gave an opportunity for a new election, it seemed of late to happen that the election went generally against the Government. The Conservatives were pluck- ing ap a spirit everywhere, and were looking closely after their organization. Mr. Disraeli himself had taken to going round the country, addressing great assemblages, and denouncing and ridiculing the Liberal Government. In one of his speeches Mr. Disraeli had spoken of a new difficulty in Irish politics and a new form of agita- tion that had arisen in Ireland. The Home Rule organization had sprung suddenly into existence. The Home Rule agitation came, in its first organized form, mainly from the inspiration of Irish Protestants. The disestablishment of the Church had filled most of the Protestants of Ire- land with hatred of Mr. Gladstone, and distrust of the Imperial Parliament and English parties. It was therefore thought by some of them that the time had come when Irishmen of all sects and parties had better trust to themselves and to their united efforts than to any English Minister, Parliament, or party. Partly in a petulant mood, partly in despondency, partly out of genuine pa- triotic impulse, some of the Irish Protestants set going the movement for Home Rule. But although the actual movement came into being in that way, the desire for a native Parliament had always lived among large classes of the Irish people. Attempts were always being made to construct something like a regular organization with such an object. The process of pacification was going on but slowly. It could only be slow in any case ; the effects of centuries of bad legis- lation could not by any human possibility be effaced by two or three years of better govern- ment. But there were many Irishmen who, themselves patient and moderate, saw with dis- tinctness that the feeling of disaffection, or at least of discontent, among theglrish people was not to be charmed away even by such measures as the Disestablishment of the Irish Church. They saw what English statesmen would not or could not see, that the one strong feeling in the breast of a large proportion of the population of Ireland was dislike to the rule of an English Parliament. The national sentiment, rightly or wrongly, for good or ill, had grown so powerful that it coidd not be overcome by mere concessions in this or that detail of legislation. These Irish- men of moderate views felt convinced that there were only two alternatives before England : either she must give back to Ireland some form of national Parliament, or she must go on putting down rebellion after rebellion, and dealing with Ireland as Russia had dealt with Poland. They therefore welcomed the Home Rule movement, and conscientiously believed that it would open the way to a genuine reconciliation between Eng- land and Ireland on conditions of fair copart- nership. Several Irish elections took place about the time when the Home Rule movement had been fairly started. They were fought out on the question for or against Home Rule, and the Home Rulers were successful. The leadership of the new party came into the hands of Mr. Butt, who returned to Parliament after a con- siderable time of exile from political life. Mr. Butt was a man of great ability, legal knowledge, and historical culture. He had begun life as a Conservative and an opponent of O'Connell. He had become one of the orators of the short- lived attempt at a Protectionist reaction in Eng- land. He was a lawyer of great skill and success in his profession ; as an advocate he had for years not a rival at the Irish bar. He had taken part in the defence of Smith O'Brien and Meagher at Clonmel, in 1848 ; and when the Fenian move- ments broke out, he undertook the defence of many Fenian prisoners. He became gradually drawn away from Conservatism and brought round to Nationalism. Mr. Butt dropped entirely out of public life for a while; and when he re- appeared it was as the leader of the new Home Rule movement. There was not then in Irish politics any man who could pretend to be his rival. He was a speaker at once powerful and plausible ; he had a thorough knowledge of the constitutional history and the technical proced- ures of Parliament, and he could talk to an Irish monster meeting with vivacity and energy. Al- most in a moment a regular Home Rule party was set up in the House of Commons. Popular Irish members who had been elected previous to the organization of the movement gave in their adhesion to it; and there was, in fact, a sudden revival of the constitutional movement for the satisfaction of Irish national claims, which had fallen asleep after the death of O'Connell and the failure of the Young Ireland rebellion of 1848. The Home Rule movement unquestionably put Mr. Gladstone in a new difficulty. It was now certain that, when Parliament met, an organized Home Ride party woidd be found there ; and a good many strong Conservatives and weak Lib- erals were inclined to hold Mr. Gladstone's Irish policy responsible for the uprise of this new agi- tation. The prospects were on the whole grow- ing somewhat ominous for the Liberal Govern- ment. Not only the Conservative party were plucking up a spirit, but the House of Lords had more than once made it clear that they felt themselves emboldened to deal as they thought fit with measures sent up to them from the House of Commons. When the peers begin to be firm, and to assert their dignity, it may always be taken for granted there is not much popular force at the back of the Government. Parliament met on February 6, 1873. It is a remarkable illustration of the legislative energy with which the Government were even yet filled, that ou the very same night (February 13), at the very same hour, two great schemes of reform, reform that to slow and timid minds must have seemed something like revolution, were intro- duced into Parliament. One was the Irish University Education Bill, which Mr. Gladstone was explaining in the House of Commons ; the other was a measure to abolish the appellate ju- risdiction of the House of Lords, and establish a judicial Court of Appeal in its stead. This lat- ter measure was introduced by Lord Selborne, lately Sir Roundell Palmer, who had been raised to the office of Lord Chancellor, on the resigna- tion of Lord Hatherley, whose eyesight was tem- porarily affected. Great as the change was which Lord .Selborne proposed to introduce, public at- tention paid comparatively little heed to it at that moment. Every one watched with eager interest the development of Mr. Gladstone's most critical scheme for the improvement of university educa- tion in Ireland. Irish university education was indeed in a very anomalous condition. Ireland had two universities : that of Dublin, which was then a distinctly Protestant institution : and the Queen's University, which was established mi a Strictly secular system, and which the heads of the Catholic Church had on that account con- demned. The Catholics asked for a chartered Catholic university. The answer made by most Englishmen was, that to grant a charter to a Catholic university would be to run the risk of lowering the national standard of education, and that to grant any State aid to a Catholic univer- sity would be to endow a sectarian institution out of the public funds. The Catholic made rejoin- der that a mere speculative dread of lowering the common standard of university education was hardly a reason why five-sixths of the pop- ulation of Ireland should have no university ed- ucation of that kind at all ; that the University of Dublin was in essence a State-endowed insti- tution ; and that the Queen's University was founded by State money, on a principle which excluded the vast majority of Catholics from its advantages. Mr. Gladstone's measure was a gallant and a well-meant effort to reconcile the conflicting claims. Mr. Gladstone proposed to establish in Ireland one central university, the University of Dublin, to which existing colleges, and colleges to exist hereafter, might affiliate themselves, and in the governing of which they would have a share, while each college would make what laws it pleased for its own constitution, and might be denominational or undenominational as it thought fit. The Legislature would give an open career and fair play to all alike; and in order to make the University equally applicable to every sect, it would not teach disputed branches of knowl- edge, or allow its examinations for prizes to in- clude any of the disputed questions. The col- leges could act for themselves with regard to the teaching of theology, moral philosophy, and mod- ern history; the central University would main- tain a neutral ground so far as these subjects were concerned, and would have nothing to do with them. This scheme looked plausible and even satisfactory for a moment. It was met that first night with something like a chorus of approval from those who spoke. But there was an ominous silence in many parts of the House, and 'after a while the ominous silence began to be very alarmingly broken. The more the scheme was examined the less it seemed to find favor on either side of the House. It proposed to break up and fuse together three or four existing sys- tems, and apparently without the least prospect of satisfying any of the various sects and parties to compose whose strife this great revolution was to be attempted. There was great justice in the complaint that soon began to be heard from both sides of the House of Commons : " You are spoil- ing several institutions, and you are not satisfying the requirements of anybody whatever." The agitation against the bill grew and grew. The late Professor Cairnes, then in fast failing health, inspired and guided much of that part of the opposition which condemned the measure be- cause of the depreciating effect it would have on the character of the higher education of Ireland. The English Non-conformists were all against it. The Conservatives were against it, and it soon be- came evident that the Irish members of Parlia- ment would vote as a body against it. The cri- sis came on an amendment to the motion for the second reading. The amendment was moved on Mai eh :'. by Mr. Bourke, brother of the late Lord Mayo. The debate, which lasted four nights, was brilliant and impassioned. Mr. Disraeli was exulting, and his exultation lent even more than usual spirit to his glittering eloquence as he taunted Mr. Gladstone with having mistaken '' the clamor of the Non-conformist for the voice of the nation," and declared his belief that the English people were weary of the policy of con- fiscation. When Mr. Gladstone rose to speak at the close of the fourth night's debate it soon became evi- dent thai lie no longer counted on victory. How, indeed, could he? He was opposed and assailed from all sides, lie knew that the Senate of the University of Dublin had condemned his meas- ure as well as the Roman Catholic prelates. He had received a deputation of Irish members to announce to him frankly that they could not support him. His speech was in remarkable contrast to the jubilant tones of Mr. Disraeli's defiant and triumphant rhetoric. It was full of dignity and resolve ; but it was the dignity of 82 A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. anticipated defeat, met without shrinking and without bravado. A few sentences, in which Mr. Gladstone spoke of his severance from the Irish representatives with whom he had worked cordially and successfully on the Church and Land Bills, were full of a genuine and a noble pathos. Mr. Gladstone was the first English Prime-minister who had ever really perilled of- fice and popularity to serve the interests of Ire- land ; it seemed a cruel stroke of fate which made his fall from power mainly the result of the Irish vote in the House of Commons. The result of the division was waited with breathless anxiety. It was what had been expected. The Ministry had been defeated by a small majority ; 287 had voted against the second reading, 2S4 voted for it. By a majority of three the great Liberal ad- ministration was practically overthrown. The Ministry did not indeed come to an end just then. Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues re- signed office, and the Queen sent for Mr. Dis- raeli. But Mr. Disraeli prudently declined to accept office with the existing House of Com- mons. He had been carefully studying the evi- dences of Conservative reaction, and he felt sure that the time for his party was coming. He had had bitter experience of the humiliation of a min- ister who tries to govern without a majority in the House of Commons. He could, of course, form a government, he said, and dissolve in May ; but then he had nothing in particular to dissolve about. The situation was curious. There were two great statesmen disputing, not for office, but how to get out of the responsibility of office. The result was that Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues had to return to their places and go on as best they could. There was nothing else to be done. Mr. Disraeli would not accept responsibility just then, and with regard to the interests of his par- ty he was acting like a prudent man. Mr. Glad- stone returned to office. He returned reluctantly ; he was weary of the work ; he was disappointed ; he had suffered in health from the incessant ad- ministrative labor to which he had always sub- jected himself with an unsparing and almost im- provident magnanimity. He must have known that, coming back to office under such conditions, he would find his power shaken, his influence much discredited. He bent to the necessities of the time, and consented to be Prime-minister still. He helped Mr. Fawcett to carry a bill for the abolition of tests in Dublin University, as he could do no more just then for university educa- tion in Ireland. The end was near. During the autumn some elections, happening incidentally, turned out against the Liberal party. The Conservatives were beginning to be openly triumphant in most places. Mr. Gladstone made some modifications in his Ministry. Mr. Lowe gave up the Chan- cellorship of the Exchequer, in which he had been singularly unsuccessful. Mr. Bruce left the Home Office, in which he had not been much of a success. Mr. Gladstone took upon himself the offices of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer together, following an example set in former days by Peel and other statesmen. Mr. Lowe became Home Secretary. Mr. Bruce was raised to the peerage as Lord Aberdare, and was made President of the Coun- cil in the room of the Marquis of Ripon, who had resigned. Mr. Childers resigned the office of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Mr. Bright, whose health had now been restored, came back to the Cabinet in charge of the mere- ly nominal business of the Duchy. There could be no doubt that there were dissensions in the Ministry. Mr. Baxter had resigned the office of Secretary of the Treasury on the ground that he could not get on with Mr. Lowe, who had not consulted him with regard to certain contracts, and had refused to take his advice. The gener- al impression was that Mr. Childers gave up the Chancellorship of the Duchy because he consid- ered that he had claims on the office of Chancel- lor of the Exchequer, which Mr. Gladstone now had taken to himself. These various changes, and the rumors to which they gave birth, were not calculated to strengthen the public confi- dence. In truth, the Liberal regime was falling to pieces. But it was Mr. Gladstone himself who dealt the stroke which brought the Liberal Adminis- tration to an end. In the closing days of 1873 the Conservatives won a seat at Exeter ; in the first few days of lS7i they won a seat at Stroud. Parliament had actually been summoned for February 5. Suddenly, on January 23, Mr. Gladstone made up his mind to dissolve Parlia- ment, and seek for a restoration of the authority of the Liberal Government by an appeal to the people. The country was taken utterly by sur- prise. Many of Mr. Gladstone's own colleagues had not known what was to be done until the announcement was actually made. The feeling all over the three kingdoms was one of almost unanimous disapproval. Mr. Gladstone's sud- den resolve was openly condemned as petulant and unstatesmanlike ; it was privately grumbled at on various personal grounds. Mr. Gladstone had surprised the constituencies. We do not know whether the constituencies surprised Mr. Gladstone. They certainly surprised most per- sons, including themselves. The result of the elections was to upset completely the balance of power. In a few days the Liberal majority was gone. When the result of the polls came to be made up it was found that the Conservatives had a majority of about fifty, even on the calculation, far too favorable to the other side, which count- ed every Home Ruler as a Liberal. Mr. Glad- stone followed the example set by Mr. Disraeli six years before, and at once resigned his office. The great reforming Liberal Administration was gone. The organizing energy which had ac- complished such marvels during three or four re- splendent years had spent itself and was out of breath. The English constituencies had grown weary of the heroic, and would have a change. So sudden a fall from power had not up to that time been known in the modern political history of the country. Had the Liberal Ministers consented to remain in power a few days — a very few — longer, they would have been able to announce the satisfac- tory conclusion of a very unsatisfactory war. The Ashantee war arose out of a sort of misun- derstanding. The Ashantees are a very fierce and warlike tribe on the Gold Coast of Africa. They were at war with England in 1824, and in one instance they won an extraordinary victory over a British force of about 1000 men, and carried home with them as a trophy the skull of the British Commander-in-chief, Sir Charles M'Carthy. They were afterwards defeated, and a treaty of peace was concluded with them. In 1863 a war was begun against the Ashantees prematurely and rashly by the Governor of the Gold Coast Settlements, and it had to be aban- doned owing to the ravages done by sickness among our men. In 1872 some Dutch posses- sions on the Gold Coast were transferred by pur- chase and arrangement of other kinds to Eng- land. The King of Ashantee claimed a tribute formally allowed to him by the Dutch, and re- fused to evacuate the territory ceded to England. He attacked the Fantees, a tribe of very worth- less allies of ours, and a straggling, harassing war began between him and our garrisons. The great danger was that if the Ashantees obtained any considerable success, or seeming success, even for a moment, all the surrounding tribes would make common cause with them. Sir Garnet Wolseley, who had commanded the suc- cessful expedition to the Red River region in 1870, was sent out to Ashantee. He had a very hard task to perform. Of course he could have no difficulty in fighting the Ashantees. The weapons and the discipline of the English army put all thoughts of serious battle out of the ques- tion. But the whole campaign had to be over and done within the limited range of the cooler months, or the heat would bring pestilence and fever into the field to do battle for the African King. Sir Garnet Wolseley and those who fought under him — sailors, marines, and soldiers — did their work well. They defeated the Ashan- tees wherever they could get at them ; they forced their way to Coomassie, compelled the King to come to terms, one of the conditions be- ing the prohibition of human sacrifices, and they were able to leave the country within the ap- pointed time. The success of the campaign was a question of days and almost of hours ; and the victory was snatched out of the very jaws of ap- proaching sun and fever. Sir Garnet Wolseley sailed from England on September 12, 1873, and returned to Portsmouth, having accomplished all his objects, on March 21, 1874. CHAPTER XXVI. LORD ISEACONSFIELD. Mr. Disraeli was not long in forming a Ministry. Lord Cairns became Lord Chancel- lor. Lord Derby was made Foreign Secretary, an appointment which gratified sober-minded men. Lord Salisbury was intrusted with the charge of the Indian Department. This too was an appointment which gave satisfaction out- side the range of the Conservative party as well as within it. During his former administration of the India Office Lord Salisbury had shown great ability and self-command, and he had ac- quired a reputation for firmness of character and large and liberal views. He was now, and for some time after, looked upon as the most rising man and the most high-minded politician on the Conservative side. The country was pleased to see that Mr. Disraeli made no account of the dislike that Lord Salisbury had evidently felt towards him at one time, and of the manner in which he had broken away from the Conserv- ative Ministry at the time of the Reform Bill of 18G7. Lord Carnarvon became Colonial Secretary. Mr. Cross, a Lancashire lawyer, who had never been in office of any kind before, was lifted into the position of Home Secretary. Mr. Gathorne Hardy was made Secretary for War, and Mr. Ward Hunt First Lord of the Admiralty. Sir Stafford Northeote, who had been trained to finance by Mr. Gladstone, ac- cepted the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Duke of Richmond, as Lord President of the Council, made a safe, inoffensive, and respect- able leader of the Government in the House of Lords. The Liberals seemed to have received a stun- ning blow. The whole party reeled under it, and did not appear capable for the moment of rallying against the shock. To accumulate the difficulties, Mr. Gladstone suddenly announced his intention of retiring from the position of leader of the Liberal party. This seemed the one step needed to complete the disorganization of the party. The Opposition were for a while apparently not only without a leader but even without a policy, or a motive for existence. The Ministry had succeeded to a handsome surplus of nearly six millions. It would be hardly pos- sible under such circumstances to bring in a bud- get which should be wholly unsatisfactory. Mr. Ward Hunt contrived, indeed, to get up a mo- mentary scare about the condition of the navy. When introducing the Navy Estimates he talked in tones of ominous warning about his determi- nation not to have a fleet on paper, or to put up with phantom ships. The words sent a wild thrill of alarm through the country. The sud- den impression prevailed that Mr. Hunt had made a fearful discovery — had found out that the country had really no navy ; that he would be compelled to set about constructing one out of hand. Mr.»Ward Hunt, however, when pressed for an explanation, explained that he really meant nothing. It appeared that he had only been expressing his disapproval on abstract grounds of the maintenance of inefficient navies, and never meant to convey the idea that Eng- land's navy was not efficient, and the country breathed again. Two new measures belonging to the same or- der disturbed for a while the calm which pre- vailed in Parliament now that the Conservatives had it all their own way, and the Liberals were crushed. One was the Bill for the abolition of Church Patronage in Scotland; the other, the Public Worship Bill for England. The Church Patronage Bill, which was introduced by the Government, took away the appoint- ment of ministers in the Church of Scotland from lay patrons, and gave it to the congre- gation of the parish church, a congregation to A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 83 consist of the communicants and "such other adherents" as the Kirk Session, acting under the control of the General Assembly, might deter- mine to allow. Such a measure might have prevented the great secession from the Church of Scotland under Dr. Chalmers in 1S4:1; but it was useless for any purpose of reconciliation in 1874. Its introduction became of some present discussions were remarkable for the divisions of opinion they showed on both sides of the House. Lord Salisbury opposed the Bill in the House of Lords; Mr. Hardy condemned it in the House of Commons. It was condemned as too weak ; it was denounced as too strong. Mr. Gladstone came forward with all the energy of his best days to oppose it, on the ground that it threat- interest to the House of Commons, because it ened to deprive the Church of all her spiritual drew Mr. Gladstone into debate for the first freedom merely to get a more easy way of deal- time since the opening nights of the session, ing with the practices of a few eccentric men. He opposed the Bill, but of course in vain. Mr. ! Sir William llarcourt, who had been Solicitor- Disraeli complimented him on his reappearance, j General under Mr. Gladstone, rushed to the de- and kindly expressed a hope that he would fa- j fence of the bill, attacked Mr. Gladstone vehe- vor the House with his presence as often as pos- J mently, called upon Mr. Disraeli to prove bim- sible; indeed, was quite friendly and patroniz- self the leader of the English people, and in im- ing to his fallen rival. The Bill for the Regulation of Public Worship was not a Government measure. It was intro- duced into the House of Lords by the Archbish- op of Canterbury, and into the House of Com- mons by Mr. Russell Gurney. It was strongly disliked and publicly condemned by some mem- bers of the Cabinet ; but after it had gone its way fairly towards success Mr. Disraeli showed passioned sentences reminded him that he had put his hand to the plough and must not draw it back. air. Gladstone dealt with his late subor- dinate in a few sentences of good-humored con- tempt, in which he expressed his special surprise at the sudden and portentous display of erudi- tion which Sir William llarcourt had poured out upon the House. Sir William Harcourt was even then a distinctly rising man. He was an a disposition to adopt it, and even to speak as if j effective and somewhat overbearing speaker, with he had had the responsibility of it from the first. | a special aptitude for the kind of elementary ar- The bill illustrated a curious difficulty into which gument and the knock-down personalities which the Church of England had been brought, in con- i the House of Commons can never fail to under- sequence partly of its connection with the State. | stand. The House liked to listen to him. He The influence of the Oxford movement had set had a loud voice, and never gave his hearers thought stirring everywhere within the Church, the trouble of having to strain their ears or their It appealed to much that was philosophical, ! attention to follow him. His arguments were much that was artistic and esthetic, and at the I never subtle enough to puzzle the simplest coun- same time to much that was sceptical. One | try gentleman for one moment. His quotations body of Churchmen, the Tractarians as they I had no distracting novelty about them, but fell were called, were anxious to maintain the unity | on the ear with a familiar and friendly sound. of the Christian Church, and would not admit His jokes were unmistakable in their meaning: that the Church of England began to exist with the Reformation. They claimed apostolical suc- cession for their bishops ; they declared that the clergymen of the Church of England were priests in the true spiritual sense. The Evangelicals maintained that the Bible was the sole authori- ty ; the Tractarians held that the New Testa- ment derived its authority from the Church. The Tractarians therefore claimed a right to examine very freely into the meaning of doubtful passages in the Scriptures, and insisted that if the author- ity of the Church were recognized as that of the Heaven-appointed interpreter, all difficulty about the reconciliation of the scriptural writings with the discoveries of modern science would necessa- rily disappear. The Tractarian party became divided into two sections. One section inclined towards what may almost be called free thought ; the other, to the sentiments and the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church. The astonished Evangelicals saw with dismay that the Church as they knew it seemed likely to be torn asunder. The Evangelicals had their strongest supporters among the middle and the lower-middle classes ; the others found favor at once among the rich, who went in for culture, and among the very poor. The law, which was often invoked, proved impotent to deal with the difficulty. It was found impossible to put down Ritualism by law. his whole style was good strong black and white. He could get up a case admirably. He aston- ished the House and must probably even have astonished himself, by the vast amount of eccle- siastical knowledge, which with only the prepa- ration of a day or two he was able to bring to bear upon the most abstruse or perplexed ques- tions of Church government. He had the ad- vantage of being sure of everything. He poured out his eloquence and his learning on the most difficult ecclesiastical questions with the resolute assurance of one who had given a life to the study. -Perhaps we ought rather to say that he showed the resolute assurance which only be- longs to one who has not given much of his life to the study of the subject. Mr. Disraeli re- sponded so far to Sir William Harcourt's stir- ring appeal as to make himself the patron of the bill and the leader of the movement in its favor. Mr. Disraeli saw that by far the greater body of English public opinion out-of-doors was against the Ritualists, and that for the moment public opinion accepted the whole controversy as a dispute for or against Ritualism. The course taken by the Prime-minister further en- livened the debates by bringing about a keen little passage of arms between him and Lord Salisbury, whom Mr. Disraeli described as a great master of jibes and flouts and jeers. The The law was not by any means so clear as some ' bill was passed in both Houses of Parliament, of the opponents of Ritualism would have wished and obtained the Royal assent almost at the end it. Moreover, even in cases where a distinct of the session. condemnation was obtained from a court of law there was often no way of putting it into execu- tion. In more than one case a clergyman was actually deposed by authority, and his successor appointed. The congregation held fast by the delinquent and would not admit the new man. The offender remained at his post just as if noth- ing had happened. It was clear that if all this went on much longer, the Establishment must A measure for the protection of seamen against the danger of being sent to sea in ves- sels unfit for the voyage was forced upon the Government by Mr. Plimsoll. Mr. Plimsollwas a man who had pushed his way through life by ability and hard work into independence and wealth. He was full of human sympathy, and was especially interested in the welfare of the poor. Mr. Plimsoll's attention happened to be come to an end. One party would renounce I turned to the condition of our merchant seamen, State control in order to get freedom ; another and he found that the state of the law loft them would repudiate State control because it proved , almost absolutely at the mercy of unscrupulous unable to maintain authority. and selfish ship-owners. It was easy to insure To remedy all this disorder, the Archbishop a vessel, and once insured it mattered little to of Canterbury brought in his bill. Its object was such a ship-owner how soon she went to the bot- to give offended parishioners a ready way of in- torn. The law gave to magistrates the power voking the authority of the bishop, and to enable of sending to prison the seaman who for any the bishop to prohibit by his own mandate any : reason refused to fulfil his contract and go to practices which he considered improper, or else | sea. The criminal law bore upon him ; only to submit the question to the decision of a judge | the civil law applied to the employer. Mr. specially appointed to decide in such cases. The j Plimsoll actually found cases of seamen sen- tenced to prison because they refused to sail in erazj slops, which, when they put to sea, never touched a port but went down in mid-ocean. Letters were found in the pockets of drowned seamen which showed that they had made their friends aware of their forebodings as to the con- dition of the vessel that was to be their coffin. Mr. Plimsoll began a regular crusade against certain ship-owners. He published a hook called " Our Seamen, an Appeal," in which he made the most startling and, it must be added, the most sweeping, charges. Courts of law were invoked to deal with his assertions ; the author- ity of Parliament was called on to protect ship- owning members against the violence of the irrepressible philanthropist. Mr. Plimsoll was clearly wrong in some of his charges against in- dividuals, but a very general opinion prevailed that he was only too just in his condemnation of the system. Mr. Plimsoll brought in a bill for the better protection of the lives of seamen. It proposed a compulsory survey of all ships before leaving port, various precautions against overloading, the restriction of deck-loading, and the compulsory painting of a load line, the posi- tion of which was to be determined by legisla- tion. This measure was strongly opposed by the ship-owners in the House, and by many oth- ers as well as they, who regarded it as too stringent, and who also feared that by putting too much responsibility on the Government it would take all responsibility off the ship-owners. The bill came to the test of division on June 24, 1874, and was rejected by a majority of only three, 170 voting for it and 173 against. The Government then recognizing the impor- tance of the subject, and the strong feeling which prevailed in the country with regard to it, intro- duced a Merchant Shipping Bill of their own in the season of 1875. It did not go nearly so far as Mr. Plimsoll would have desired, but it did promise to be at least part of a series of legislation which, further developed, might have accomplished the object. Such as it was, how- ever, the Government did not press it, and to- wards the end of July Mr. Disraeli announced that they would not go further that year with the measure. The 22d of July saw one of the most extra- ordinary scenes that ever took place in the House of Commons. Mr. Plimsoll, under the influence of disappointment and of anger, seemed to have lost all self-control. He denounced some of the ship-owners of that House; he threatened to name and expose them ; he called them vil- lains who had sent brave men to death. When interrupted by the Speaker, and told that he must not apply the term villains to members of the House, he repeated again and again, and in the most vociferous tones, that they were villains, and that he would abide by his words. He re- fused to recognize the authority of the Speaker. He shouted, shook his fist at the leading mem- bers of the Government, and rushed out of the House in a state of wild excitement. Thereupon Mr. Disraeli moved " that the Speaker do rep- rimand Mr. Plimsoll for his disorderly behavior." Mr. A. M. Sullivan, one of the Home Rule Mem- bers, returned for the first time at the general election, a man of remarkable eloquence and of high character, interposed on behalf of Mr. Plim- soll. He pleaded that Mr. Plimsoll was seriously ill and hardly able to account for his actions, owing to mental excitement arising from an over- wrought system, and from the intensity of his zeal in the cause of the merchant seamen. He asked that a week should be given Mr. Plimsoll to consider bis position. Mr. Fawcett and other members made a similar appeal, and the Govern- ment consented to postpone a decision of the question for a week. Mr. Plimsoll had offended against the rules, the traditions, and the dignity of the House, and many even of those who sym- pathized with his general purpose thought he had damaged his cause and ruined his individual position. Nothing, however, could be more ex- traordinary and unexpected than the result. It was one of those occasions in which the public out-of-doors showed that they could get to the eal heart of a question more quickly and more clearly than Parliament itself. Out-of-doors it 8+ was thoroughly understood that Mr. Plimsoll was too sweeping in his charges ; that he was entirely mistaken in some of them ; that he had denounced men who did not deserve denun- ciation ; that his behavior in the House of Com- mons was a gross offence against order. But the difference between the public and the House of Commons was, that while understanding and admitting all this, the public clearly saw that as to the main question at issue Mr. Plimsoll was entirely in the right. The country was there- fore determined to stand by him. Great meetings were held all over Eugland during the next few days, at every one of which those who were present pledged themselves to assist Mr. Plimsoll in his general object and pol- icy. The result was that when Mr. Plimsoll appeared in the House of Commons the week after, and in a very full and handsome manner made apology for his offences against Parlia- mentary order, it was apparent to every one in the House and out of it that he was master of the situation, and that the Government would have to advance with more or less rapid strides along the path where he was leading. Finally, the Government brought in, and forcibly pushed through, a Merchant Shipping Bill, which met for the moment some of the difficulties of the case. The Government afterwards promised to supplement it by legislation, regulating in some way the system of maritime insurances. Other things, however, interfered with the carrying out of the Government proposals, and the regulation of maritime insurance was forgotten. The Government seemed for a while inclined to keep plodding steadily on with quiet schemes of domestic legislation. They tinkered at a measure for the security of improvements made by agricultural tenants. They made it purely permissive, and therefore thoroughly worthless. This one defect tainted many of their schemes of domestic reform — this inclination to make every reform permissive. It seemed to be thought a clever stroke of management to introduce a measure professedly for the removal of some in- equality or other grievance, and then to make it permissive and allow all parties concerned to contract themselves out of it. Mr. Cross, the Home Secretary, however, proved a very efficient Minister, and introduced many useful schemes of legislation, among the rest an Artisan's Dwelling Bill, the object of which was to enable local authorities to pull down houses unfit for human habitation and rebuild on the sites. The Government made experiments in reaction here and there. They restored the appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords, which had seemed actually doomed. They got into some trouble by issuing a circular to captains of war vessels on the subject of the reception of slaves on board their ships. The principle which the circular laid down was in substance a full recog- nition of the rights of a slave -owner over a fugitive slave. The country rose in indignation against this monstrous reversal of England's time-honored policy ; and the circular was with- drawn and a new one issued. This, too, proved unsatisfactory. It was impossible for the Gov- ernment to resist the popular demand; some of their own men in the House of Commons fell away from them, and insisted that the old prin- ciple must be kept up, and that the slave-owner shall not take his slave from under the shadow of the English flag. All this time Mr. Gladstone had withdrawn from the paths of Parliamentary life and had taken to polemical literature. He was stirring up a heated controversy with Cardinal Manning, Dr. Newman, and other great controversialists, by endeavoring to prove that absolute obedience to the Catholic Church was henceforward in- consistent with the principles of freedom, and that the doctrine of papal infallibility was every- where the enemy of liberty. Grave politicians were not a little scandalized at the position taken by a statesman who only the other day was Prime-minister. It seemed clear that Mr. Glad- stone never meant to take any leading part in politics again. Surely, it was said, if he had the remotest idea of entering the political field anew, he never would have thus gratuitously given of- A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. fence to the Roman Catholic subjects of the Queen and to all the Catholic Sovereigns and Ministers of Europe. Most of his friends shook their heads ; most of his enemies were delighted. There was some difficulty at first about the choice of a successor to Mr. Gladstone. Two men stood intellectually high above all other possible competitors — Mr. Bright and Mr. Lowe. But it was well known that Mr. Bright's health would not allow him to undertake such laborious duties, and Mr. Lowe was universally assumed to have none of the leader's qualities. Sir Will- iam Harcourt had not yet weight enough ; nei- ther had Mr. Goschen. The real choice was be- tween Mr. Forster and Lord Hartington. Mr. Forster, however, knew that he had estranged the Non-conformists from him by the course he had taken in his education measures, and he withdrew from what he thought an untenable po- sition. Lord Hartington was therefore arrived at by a sort of process of exhaustion. He proved much better than his promise. He had a robust, straightforward nature, and by con- stant practice he made himself an effective de- bater. Men liked the courage and the candid admission of his own deficiencies, with which he braced himself up to his most difficult task — to take the place of Gladstone in debate and to confront Disraeli. A change soon came over the spirit of the Administration. It began to be seen more and more clearly that Mr. Disraeli had not come into office merely to consider prosaic measures of do- mestic legislation. His inclinations were all for the broader and more brilliant fields of foreign politics. The marked contrast between the po- litical aptitudes and tastes of Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Gladstone came in to influence still further the difference between the policy of the new Gov- ernment and that of its predecessor. Mr. Glad- stone delighted in the actual work and business of administration. Now, Mr. Disraeli had nei- ther taste nor aptitude for the details of admin- istration. He enjoyed administration on the j large scale ; he loved political debate ; he liked to make a great speech. But when he was not engaged in his favorite work he preferred to be doing nothing. It was natural therefore that Mr. Gladstone's Administration should be one of practical work; that it should introduce Bills to deal with perplexed and complicated griev- ances ; that it should take care to keep the finances of the country in good condition. Mr. Disraeli had no personal interest in such things. He loved to feed his mind on gorgeous, imperial fancies. It pleased him to think that England was, what he would persist in calling her, an Asiatic power, and that he was administering the affairs of a great Oriental Empire. Mr. Disraeli had never until now had an opportunity of showing what his own style of statesmanship would be. He had always been in office only, but not in power. Now he had for the first time a strong majority behind him. He could do as he liked. He had the full confidence of the Sovereign. His party were now wholly de- voted to him. They began to regard him as infallible. Even those who detested still feared ; men believed in his power none the less because they had no faith in his policy. In the House of Commons he had no longer any rival to dread in debate. Mr. Gladstone had withdrawn from the active business of politics ; Mr. Bright was not strong enough in physical health to care much for controversy ; there was no one else who could by any possibility be regarded as a proper adversary for Mr. Disraeli. The new Prime -minister, therefore, had everything his own way. He soon showed what sort of states- manship he liked best. In politics as in art the weaknesses of the master of a school are most clearly seen in the performances of his imitators and admirers. A distinguished member of Mr. Disraeli's Cabinet proclaimed that since the Con- servatives came into office there had been some- thing stirring in the very air which spoke of imperial enterprise. The Elizabethan days were to be restored, it was proudly declared. Eng- land was to resume her high place among the nations. She was to make her influence felt all over the world, but more especially on the Eu- ropean continent. The Cabinets and Chancel- leries of Europe were to learn that nothing was to be done any more without the authority of England. "A spirited foreign policy ''was to be inaugurated, a new era was to begin. Perhaps the first indication of the new foreign policy w : as given by the purchase of the shares which the Khedive of Egypt held in the Suez Canal. The Khedive of Egypt held nearly half the 400,000 original shares in the Canal, and the Khedive was" going every day faster and faster on the road to ruin. He was on the brink of bankruptcy. His 176,000 shares came into the market; and on November 25, 1875, the world was astonished by the news that the Eng- lish Government had turned stock-jobber and bought them for four millions sterling. The idea was not the Government's own. The editor of a London evening paper, Mr. Frederick Green- wood, was the man to whom the thought first occurred. He made it known to the Prime- minister, and Mr. Disraeli was caught by the proposition, and the shares were instantly bought up in the name of the English Government. Seldom in our time has any act on the part of a Government been received with such general approbation. The London newspapers broke into a chorus of applause. The London clubs were delighted. The air rang with praises of the courage and spirit shown by the Ministry. If here and there a faint voice was raised to sug- gest that the purchase was a foolish proceeding, that it was useless, that it was undignified, a shout of offended patriotism drowned the ignoble remonstrance. The act is of historical impor- tance as the first of a series of strokes made by the Government in foreign policy, each of which came in the nature of a surprise to Parliament and the country. It is probable that Mr. Dis- raeli counted upon making his Government pop- ular by affording to the public at intervals the exciting luxury of a new sensation. The public were undoubtedly rather tired of having been so long quiet and prosperous. They liked to know that their Government was doing something. Mr. Disraeli led the fashion, and stimulated the public taste. The Government tried to establish a South African Confederation, and sent out Mr. Froude, the romantic historian, to act as the rep- resentative of their policy. The Government made some changes in the relations of the India Office here to the Viceroy in Calcutta, which gave much greater power into the hands of the Secretary for India. One immediate result of this was the retirement of Lord Northbrook, a prudent and able man, before the term of his ad- ministration had actually arrived. Mr. Disraeli gave the country another little surprise. He ap- pointed Lord Lytton Viceroy of India. Lord Lytton had been previously known chiefly as the writer of pretty and sensuous verse, and the au- thor of one or two showy and feeble novels. The world was a good deal astonished at the ap- pointment of such a man to an office which had strained the intellectual energies of men like Dal- housie and Canning and Elgin. But people were in general willing to believe that Mr. Disraeli knew Lord Lytton to be possessed of a gift of administration which the world outside had not any chance of discerning in him. There was something, too, which gratified many persons in the appointment. It seemed gracious and kindly of Mr. Disraeli thus to recognize and exalt the son of his old friend and companion in arms. There was a feeling all over England which wished well to the appointment, and sincerely hoped it might prove a success. Another little sensation was created by the in- vention of a new title for the Queen. At the beginning of the Session of 1870 Mr. Disraeli announced that the Queen was to be called "Empress of India." A strong dislike was felt to this superfluous and tawdry addition to the ancient style of the sovereigns of England. The educated feeling of the country rose in re- volt against this preposterous innovation. Some of the debates in the House of Commons were full of fire and spirit, and recalled the memory of more stirring times when the Liberal party was in heart and strength. Mr. Lowe spoke against the new title with a vivacity and a bitter- A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. ness of sarcasm that reminded listeners of his famous opposition to the Reform Bill of 18GG. Mr. Joseph Cowen, Member for Newcastle, who had been in Parliament for some sessions with- out making any mark, suddenly broke into the debates with a speech which at once won him the name of an orator, and which a leading member of the Government, Mr. Gatharne Hardy, described as having "electrified" the House. Mr. Disraeli chaffed the Opposition rather than reasoned with it. He cited one jus- tification of the title, a letter from a young lady at school who had directed his attention to the fact that in " Guy's Geography " the Queen was already described as Empress of India. This style of argument did not add much to the dig- nity of the debate. Mr. Lowe spoke with justi- fiable anger and contempt of the Prime-minister's introducing "the lispings of the nursery" into a grave discussion, and asked whether Mr. Disraeli wished to make the House in general think as meanly of the subject as he did himself. The Government, of course, carried their point. They deferred so far to public feeling as to put into the Act a provision against the use of the Im- perial title in the United Kingdom. There was, indeed, a desire that its use should be prohibited everywhere except in India, and most of the members of the Opposition were at first under the impression that the Government had under- taken to do so much. But the only restriction introduced into the Act had reference to the em- ployment of the additional title in these islands. The unlucky subject was the occasion of a ne\v and a somewhat unseemly dispute afterwards. In a speech which he delivered to a public meet- ing at East Retford, Mr. Lowe made an unfortu- nate statement to the effect that the Queen had endeavored to induce two former Ministers to confer upon her this new title, and had not suc- ceeded. Mr. Lowe proved to be absolutely wrong in his assertion. No attempt of the kind had ever been made by the Queen. Mr. Dis- raeli found his enemy delivered into his hands. The question was incidentally and indirectly brought up in the House of Commons on May 2, 1876, and Mr. Disraeli seized the opportunity. He denounced Mr. Lowe, thundered at him from across the table, piled up a heap of negative evi- dence to show that his assertion could not be true, and at the very close of his speech came down on the hapless offender with the crushing announcement that he had the authority of the Queen herself to contradict the statement. Mr. Lowe sat like one crushed, while Mr. Disraeli roared at him and banged the table at him. He said nothing that night ; but on the following Thursday evening he made an apology, which assuredly did not want completeness or humility. The title which was the occasion for so much de- bate has not come into greater popular favor since that time. The country soon forgot all about the matter. More serious questions were coming up to engage the attention of the public. When Mr. Disraeli was pressed during the debates on the Royal Title to give some really serious reason for the change, it was observed as significant that he made reference more or less vague to the necessity of asserting the position of the Sovereign of England as supreme ruler over the whole empire of India. Mr. Disraeli had purposely touched a chord which was sure to vibrate all over the country. The necessity to which he alluded was the necessity of setting up the flag of England on the citadel of Eng- land's Asiatic Empire as a warning to the one enemy whom the English people believed they had reason to dread. Mr. Disraeli had raised what has been called the Russian spectre. A great crisis was now again at hand. During all the interval since the Crimean War Turkey had been occupied in throwing away every opportu- nity for her political and social reorganization. There bad been insurrections in Crete, in the Herzegovina, in other parts of the provinces mis- governed by Turkey ; and they had been put down, whenever the Porte was strong enough, with a barbarous severity. Russia, meanwhile, was returning to the position she occupied before the Crimean War. She had lately been making rapid advances into Central Asia. Post after post which were once believed to be secure from her approach were dropping into her hands. Her goal of one day became her starting-point of the next. Early in July, 1S75, Lord Derby received an account of the disturbances in the Herzegovina, and something like an organized insurrection in Bosnia. The provinces inhabited by men of alien race and religion, over which Turkey rules, have always been the source of her weakness. Eate has given to the most in- capable and worthless Government in the world the task of ruling over a great variety of nation- alities and of creeds that agree in hardly any- thing but in their common detestation of Otto- man rule. The Slav dreads and detests the Greek. The Greek despises the Slav. The Al- banian objects alike to Slav and to Greek. The Mohammedan Albanian detests the Catholic Al- banian. The Slavs are drawn towards Russia by affinity of race and of religion. But this very fact, which makes in one sense their political strength, brings with it a certain condition of weakness, because by making them more for- midable to Greeks and to Germans it increases the dislike of their growing power, and the de- termination to oppose it. The settlement made by the Crimean War had since that time been gradually breaking down. Servia was an inde- pendent State in all but the name. The Danti- bian provinces, which were to have been gov- erned by separate rulers, united themselves first under one ruler and then in one political system, and at last became the sovereign State of Rou- mania under the Prussian Prince, Charles of Hohenzollern. Thus the result which most of the European Powers at the time of the Con- gress of Paris endeavored to prevent was suc- cessfully accomplished in spite of their inclina- tions. The efforts to keep Bosnia and Herze- govina in quiet subjection to the Sultan proved a miserable failure. The insurrection which now broke out in Herzegovina spread with rapidity. The Turkish statesmen insisted that it was re- ceiving help not only from Russia but from the subjects of Austria, as well as from Servia and Montenegro. An appeal was made to the Eng- lish Government to use its influence with Austria in order to prevent the insurgents from receiving any assistance from across the Austrian frontier. Servia and Montenegro were appealed to in a similar manner. Lord Derby seems to have acted with indecision and with feebleness. He does not appear to have appreciated the imme- diate greatness of the crisis, and he offended popular feeling, and even the public conscience, by urging on the Porte that the best they could do was to put down the insurrection as quickly as possible, and not allow it to swell to the mag- nitude of a question of European interest. The insurrection continued to spread, and at last it was determined by some of the Western Powers that the time had come for European intervention. Count Andrassy, the Austrian Minister, drew up a Note, addressed to the Porte, in which Austria, Germany, and Russia united in a declaration that the promises of re- form made by the Porte had not been carried into effect, and that some combined action by the Powers of Europe was necessary to insist on the fulfilment of the many engagements which Turkey had made and broken. This Note was dated December 30, 1875, and it was communi- cated to the Powers which had signed the Treaty of Paris. France and Italy were ready at once to join it; but England delayed. In fact, Lord Derby held off so long that it was not until he had received a despatch from the Porte itself re- questing his Government to join in the Note, that he at last consented to take part in the re- monstrance. Rightly or wrongly the statesmen of Constantinople had got it into their heads that England was their devoted friend, bound by her own interests to protect them against whatever opposition. Instead therefore of regarding Eng- land's co-operation in the Andrassy Note as one other influence brought to compel them to fulfil their engagements, they seem to have accepted it as a secret force working on their side to en- able them to escape from their responsibilities. Lord Derby joined in the Andrassy Note. It was sent to the Porte. The Ottoman Govern- ment promised to carry out in the readiest manner the suggestions which the Note contained, and did nothing more than promise. After a few weeks it became perfectly evident that she had not only done nothing, but had never intended to do anything. Russia, therefore, proposed that the three Imperial Ministers of the Continent should meet at Berlin and consider what steps should be taken in order to make the Andrassy Note a reality. A document, called the Berlin Memorandum, was drawn up, in which the three Powers proposed to consider the measures by which to enforce on Turkey the fulfilment of her broken promises. It was distinctly implied that should Turkey fail to comply, force would be used to compel her. But, on the other hand, it is clear that this was a menace which would of it- self have insured the object. It is out of the ques- tion to suppose that Turkey would have thought of resisting the concerted action of England, France, Austria, Germany, Russia, and Italy. Unfortunately, however, Lord Derby and the English Government refused to join in the Ber- lin Memorandum. The refusal of England was fatal to the project. The Memorandum was never presented. Concert between the European Powers was for a time at an end. From that moment every one in Western Europe knew that war was certain in the East. A succession of startling events kept public attention on the strain. There was an outbreak of Mussulman fanaticism at Salonica, and the French and Ger- man Consuls were murdered. A revolutionary demonstration took place in Constantinople, and the Sultan Abdul Aziz was dethroned. The miserable Abdul Aziz committed suicide in a day or two after. This was the Sultan who had been received in England with so much official cere- mony and public acclaim. His nephew Murad was made Sultan in his place. Murad reigned only three months and was then dethroned, and his brother Ilamid put in his place. Suddenly the attention of the English public was called away to events more terrible than palace revolu- tions in Constantinople. An insurrection had broken out in Bulgaria, and the Turkish Govern- ment sent large numbers of Bashi-Bazouks and other irregular troops to crush it. They did not, however, stay their hand when the insurrection had been crushed. Repression soon turned into massacre. Rumors began to reach Constanti- nople of hideous wholesale murders of women and children committed in Bulgaria. The Con- stantinople correspondent of the Daily A r ews in- vestigated the evidence, and found it but too true. In a few days after accounts were laid before the English public of the deeds which ever since have been known as "the Bulgarian atrocities." Mr. Disraeli at first treated these terrible sto- ries with a levity which jarred harshly on the ears of almost all his listeners. It was plain that he did not believe them or attach any im- portance to them. He took no trouble to ex- amine the testimony on which they rested. He therefore thought himself warranted in dealing with them as if they were merely stories to laugh at. Mr. Disraeli had always the faculty of per- suading himself to believe or disbelieve anything according as he liked. But the subject proved to be far too serious for light-minded treatment. Mr. Baring, the English Consul, sent out spe- cially to Bulgaria to make inquiries, and who was supposed to be in general sympathy with Tur- key, reported that no fewer than twelve thousand persons had been killed in the district of Philip- popolis. The defenders of the Turks insisted that the only deaths were those which took place in fight — insurgents on one side, Turkish sol- diers on the other. But Mr. Baring, as well as Mr. MacGahan, the Daily Xncs correspondent, saw whole masses of the dead bodies of women and children piled up in places where the corpses of no combatants were to be seen. The women and children were simply massacred. The Turk- ish Government may not have known at first of the deeds that were dune by their soldiers. But it is certain that after the facts had been forced upon their attention, they conferred new honors upon the chief perpetrators of the crimes which shocked the moral sense of all Europe. bO A SHORT HISTORY OE OUR OWN TIMES. Mr. Bright happily described the agitation which followed in England as an uprising of the English people. At first it was an uprising with- out a leader. Soon, however, it had a chief of incomparable energy and power. Mr. Gladstone came out of his semi- retirement. He flung himself into the agitation against Turkey with the impassioned energy of a youth. He made speeches in the House of Commons and out of it; he attended monster meetings in-doors and ont-of-doors; he published pamphlets, he wrote letters, he brought forward motions in Parlia- ment; he denounced the crimes of Turkey, and the policy which would support Turkey, with an eloquence that for a time set England aflame. After a while no doubt there set in a sort of re- action against the fervent mood. The country could not long continue in this white-heat of ex- citement. Mr. .Disraeli and his supporters were able to work with great effect on that strong, deep-rooted feeling of the modern Englishman, his distrust and dread of Russia. Mr. Gladstone had in his pamphlet, "Bulgarian Horrors, and the Question of the East," insisted that the only way to secure any permanent good for the Chris- tian provinces of Turkey was to turn the Turk- ish officials, "bag and baggage," out of them. The cry went forth that he had called for the expulsion of the Turks from Europe, and that the moment the Turks went out of Constantino- ple the Russians must come in. Nothing could have been better suited to rouse up reaction and alarm. A sudden and strong revulsion of feel- ing took place in favor of the Government. Mr. Gladstone was honestly regarded by millions of Englishmen as the friend and the instrument of Russia, Mr. Disraeli as the champion of England, and the enemy of England's enemy. Mr. Disraeli? By this time there was no Mr. Disraeli. The 11th of August, 1876, was an important day in the Parliamentary history of England. Mr. Disraeli made then his last speech in the House of Commons. He sustained and defended the policy of the Government as an Imperial policy, the object of which was to main- tain the Empire of England. The House of Commons little knew that this speech was the last it was to hear from him. The secret was well kept. It was made known only to the newspapers that night. Next morning all Eng- land knew that Benjamin Disraeli had become Earl of Beaconsfield. Everybody was well sat- isfied that if Mr Disraeli liked an earldom he should have it. His political career had had claims enough to any reward of the kind that his Sovereign could bestow. If he had battled for honor, it was but fair that he should have the prize. Coming as it did just then, the announce- ment of his elevation to the peerage seemed like a defiance flung in the face of those who would arraign his policy. The attacks made on Mr. Disraeli were to be answered by Lord Beacons- field ; his enemies had become his footstool. CHAPTER XXVII. THE CONGRESS AT BERLIN. Lord Beaconsfield went down to the coun- ty which he had represented so long, and made a farewell speech at Aylesbury. The speech was in many parts worthy of the occasion. Unfortu- nately Lord Beaconsfield soon went on to make a fierce attack on his political opponents. The controversy between Lord Beaconsfield and Mr. Gladstone, bitter enough before, became still more bitter now. The policy each represented may be described in a few very summary words. Lord Beaconsfield was for maintaining Turkey at all risks as a barrrier against Russia. Mr. Gladstone was for renouncing all responsibility for Turkey and taking the consequences. The common expectation was soon fulfilled. At the close of June, 1876, Servia and Montene- gro declared war against Turkey. Servia's strug- gle was short. At the beginning of September the struggle was over, and Servia was practical- ly at Turkey's feet. The hardy Montenegrin mountaineers held their own stoutly against the Turks everywhere, but they could not seriously influence the fortunes of a war. Russia inter- vened, and insisted upon an armistice, and her demand was acceded to by Turkey. Meanwhile the general feeling in England on both sides was growing stronger and stronger. Public meet- ings of Mr. Gladstone's supporters were held all over the country, and the English Government was urged in the most emphatic manner to bring some strong influence to bear on Turkey. On the other hand, it cannot be doubted that the common suspicion of Russia's designs began to grow more keen and wakeful than ever. Lord Derby frankly made known to the Emperor Alexander what was thought or feared in Eng- land, and the Emperor replied by pledging his sacred word that he had no intention of occupy- ing Constantinople, and that if he were compelled by events to occupy any part of Bulgaria, it should he only provisionally, and until the safe- ty of the Christians should be secured. Then Lord Derby proposed that a Conference of the European Powers should be held at Constanti- nople in order to agree upon some scheme which ] should provide at once for the proper govern- ment of the various provinces and populations I subject to Turkey, and at the same time for the maintenance of the independence and integrity of the Ottoman Empire. The proposal was ac- cepted by all the Great Powers, and on Novem- ber 8, 1876, it was announced that Lord Salis- bury and Sir Henry Elliott, the English Ambas- sador at Constantinople, were to attend as the representatives of England. Lord Beaconsfield was apparently determined to recover the popularity that had been some- what impaired by his unlucky way of dealing with the massacres of Bulgaria. His plan now was to go boldly in for denunciation of Russia. He sometimes talked of Russia as he might of an enemy who had already declared war against Eng- land. The prospects of a peaceful settlement of the European controversy seemed to become heav- ily overclouded. Lord Beaconsfield appeared to be holding the dogs of war by the collar, and only waiting for the convenient moment to let them slip. Every one knew that some of his col- leagues, Lord Derby, for example, and Lord Car- narvon, were opposed to any thought of war, and felt almost as strongly for the Christian prov- vinces of Turkey as Mr. Gladstone did. But people shook their heads doubtfully when it was asked whether Lord Derby or Lord Carnarvon, or both combined, could prevail in strength of will against Lord Beaconsfield. The Conference at Constantinople came to nothing. The Turkish statesmen at first at- tempted to put off the diplomatist of the West by the announcement that the Sultan had granted a Constitution to Turkey, and that there was to be a Parliament at which representatives of all the provinces were to speak for themselves. There was, in fact, a Turkish Parliament called together. Of course the Western statesmen could not be put off by an announcement of this kind. They knew well enough what a Turkish Parliament must mean. It seems almost super- fluous to say that the Turkish Parliament was ordered to disappear very soon after the occasion passed away for trying to deceive the Great Eu- ropean Powers. Evidently Turkey had got it into her head that the English Government would at the last moment stand by her, and would not permit her to be coerced. She refused to come to terms, and the Conference broke up without having accomplished any good. New attempts at arrangement were made between England, Russia, and others of the Great Powers, but they fell through. Then at last, on April 24, 1877, Russia declared war against Turkey, and on June 27 a Russian army crossed the Danube and moved towards the Balkans, meeting with com- paratively little resistance, while at the same time another Russian force invaded Asia Minor. Eor a while the Russians seemed likely to car- ry all before them. But they had made the one great mistake of altogether undervaluing their enemies. Their preparations were hasty and imperfect. The Turks turned upon them unex- pectedly and made a gallant and almost desper- ate resistance. One of their commauders, Os- man Pasha, suddenly threw up defensive works at Plevna, in Bulgaria, a point the Russians had neglected to secure, and maintained himself there, repulsing the Russians many times with great slaughter. For a while success seemed alto- gether on the side of the Turks, and many peo- ple in England were convinced that the Russian enterprise was already an entire failure; that nothing remained for the armies of the Czar but retreat, disaster, and disgrace. Under the di- recting skill, however, of General Todleben, the great soldier whose splendid defence of Sebasto- pol hud made the one grand military reputation of the Crimean War, the fortunes of the cam- paign again turned. Kars was taken by .i-- sault on November 18, 1877; Plevna surrender- ed on December 10. At the opening of 1878 the Turks were completely prostrate. The road to Constantinople was clear. Before the Eng- lish public had time to recover their breath and to observe what was taking place, the victorious armies of Russia were almost within sight of the minarets of Stamboul. Meanwhile the English Government were tak- ing momentous action. In the first days of 1878 Sir Henry Elliott, who had been Ambassa- dor in Constantinople, was transferred to Vienna, and Mr. Layard, who had been Minister at Mad- rid, was sent to the Turkish capital to represent England there. Mr. Layard was known to be a strong believer in Turkey ; more Turkish in some respects than the Turks themselves. But he was a man of superabundant energy: of what might be described as boisterous energy. The Ottoman Government could not but accept his appointment as a new and stronger proof that the English Government were determined to stand their friend ; but they ought to have ac- cepted it, too, as evidence that the English Government were determined to use some pressure to make them amenable to reason. Unfortunately it would appear that the Sultan's Government accepted Mr. Layard's appointment in the one sense only, and not in the other. Parliament was called together at least a fort- night before the time usual during recent years. The Speech from the Throne announced that her Majesty could not conceal from herself that should the hostilities between Russia and Turkey unfortunately be prolonged, " some unexpected occurrence may render it incumbent on me to adopt measures of precaution." This looked ominous to those who wished for peace, and it raised the spirits of the war party. There was a very large and a very noisy war party already in existence. It was particularly strong in Lon- don. It embraced some Liberals, as well as nearly all Tories. It was popular in the music- halls and the public-houses of London. The men of action got a nickname. A poet of the music-halls had composed a ballad which was sung at one of these caves of harmony every night amid the tumultuous applause of excited patriots. The refrain of this war-song contained the spirit-stirring words : We don't want to fight, but, by Jingo, if we do, We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too. Some one whose pulses this lyrical outburst of national pride failed to stir called the party of its enthusiasts Jingoes. The name was caught up at once, and the party were universally known as the Jingoes. The term, applied as one of ridi- cule and reproach, was adopted by chivalrous Jin- goes as a name of pride. The Government ordered the Mediterranean fleet to pass the Dardanelles and go up to Con- stantinople. The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that he would ask for a supplementary estimate of six millions for naval and military purposes. Thereupon Lord Carnarvon, the Co- lonial Secretary, at once resigned. He had been anxious to get out of the Ministry before, but Lord Beaconsfield induced him to remain. He disapproved now so strongly of the despatch of the fleet to Constantinople and the supplement- ary vote, that he would not any longer defer his resignation. Lord Derby was also anxious to resign and, indeed, tendered his resignation, but he was prevailed upon to withdraw it. The fleet meanwhile was ordered back from the Dar- danelles to Besika Bay. It had got as far as the opening of the Straits when it was recalled. A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. 87 The Liberal Opposition in the House of Com- mons kept on protesting :igainst the various war measures of the Government, hut with little ef- fect. While all this agitation in and nut of Parliament was going on, the news came that the Turks, utterly broken down, had been com- pelled to sign an armistice, and an agreement con- taining a basis of peace, at Adrianople. Then, following quickly on the heels of this announce- ment, came a report that the Russians, notwith- standing the armistice, were pushing on towards Constantinople with the intention of occupying the Turkish capital. A cry of alarm and indig- nation broke out in London. If the clamor of the streets at that moment had been the voice of England, nothing could have prevented a dec- laration of war against Russia. Happily, how- ever, it was proved that the rumor of Russian advance was unfounded. The fleet was now sent in good earnest through the Dardanelles, and anchored a few miles below Constantinople. Russia at first protested that if the English fleet passed the Straits Russian troops ought to oc- cupy the city. Lord Derby was firm, and terms of arrangement were found — English troops were not to be disembarked and the Russians were not to advance. Russia was still open to nego- tiation. Probably Russia had no idea of taking on herself the tremendous responsibility of an occu- pation of Constantinople. She had entered into a treaty with Turkey, the famous Treaty of San Stefano, which secured for the populations of the Christian provinces almost complete indepen- dence of Turkey, and was to create a great new Bulgarian State with a seaport on the JEgean Sea. The English Government refused to recog- nize this treaty. Russia offered to submit the treaty to the perusal, if we may use the expres- sion, of a Congress ; but argued that the stipu- lations which merely concerned Turkey and herself were for Turkey and herself to settle be- tween them. This was obviously an untenable position. It is out of the question to suppose that, as long as European policy is conducted on its present principles, the Great Powers of the West could consent to allow Russia to force on Turkey any terms she might think proper. Tur- key meanwhile kept feebly moaning that she had been coerced into signing the treaty. The Gov- ernment determined to call in the Reserves, to summon a contingent of Indian troops to Europe, to occupy Cyprus, and to make an armed landing on the coast of Syria. All these resolves were not, however, made known at the time. Every one felt sure that something important was going on, and public expectancy was strained to the full. On March 28, 1878, Lord Derby announced his resignation. Measures, he said, had been re- solved upon of which he could not approve. He did not give any explanation of the measures to which he objected. Lord B-eaconsfield spoke a few words of good feeling and good taste after Lord Derby's announcement. He had hoped, he said, that Lord Derby would soon come to oc- cupy the place of Prime-minister which he now held; he dwelt upon their long friendship. Not much was said on either side of what the Gov- ernment were doing. The last hope of the Peace Party seemed to have vanished when Lord Derby left his office. Lord Salisbury was made Foreign Minister. He was succeeded in the India Office by Mr. Gathorne Hardy, now created Lord Cranbrook. Colonel Stanley, brother of Lord Derby, took the office of Minister of War in Lord Cranbrook 's place. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach had already become Secretary for the Colonies on the resig- nation of Lord Carnarvon. The post of Irish Secretary had been given to Mr. James Lowther. Lord Salisbury issued a circular in which he de- clared that it would be impossible for England to enter a Congress which was not free to consider the whole of the provisions of the Treaty of San Stefano. The very day after Parliament had adjourned for the Easter recess, the Indian Gov- ernment received orders to send certain of their troops to Malta. This was\a complete surprise to the country. It was made the occasion for a very serious controversy on a grave constitutional question in both Houses of Parliameut. The Opposition contended that the constitutional prin- ciple which left it. for Parliament to fix the num- ber of soldiers the Crown might maintain in England was reduced to nothingness if the Prime- minister could at any moment, without even con- sulting Parliament, draw what reinforcements he thought fit from the almost limitless resources of India. The majority then supporting Lord Beaconsfield were not, however, much disposed to care about argument. They were willing to approve of any step Lord Beaconsfield might think fit to take. Prince Bismarck had often during these events shown an inclination to exhibit himself in the new attitude of a peaceful mediator. He now interposed again, and issued invitations for a Congress to be held in Berlin to discuss the whole contents of the Treaty of San Stefano. After some delay, discussion, and altercation, Russia agreed to accept the invitation on the con- ditions proposed, and it was finally resolved that a Congress should assemble in Berlin on the ap- proaching June 13. Much to the surprise of the public, Lord Beaconsfield announced that he himself would attend, accompanied by Lord Salisbury, and conduct the negotiations in Berlin. The event was, we believe, without precedent. Never before had an English Prime-minister left the country while Parliament was sitting to act as the representative of England in a foreign cap- ital. The part he had undertaken to play suited Lord Beaconsfield's love for the picturesque and the theatrical. His journey to Berlin was a sort of triumphal progress. At every great city, almost at every, railway station, as he passed, crowds turned out, drawn partly by curiosity, partly by admiration, to see the English states- man whose strange and varied career had so long excited the wondering attention of Europe. Prince Bismarck presided at the Congress, and, it is said, departed from the usual custom of diplomatic assemblages by opening the proceed- ings in English. The use of our language was understood to be a kindly and somewhat patron- izing deference to the English Prime-minister, whose knowledge of spoken French was supposed to have fallen rather into decay of late years. The Congress discussed the whole, or nearly the whole, of the questions opened up by the recent war. Greece claimed to be heard there, and, after some delay and some difficulty, was allowed to plead in her own cause. The Treaty of Berlin recognized the complete independence of Roumania, of Servia, and of Montenegro, subject only to certain stipulations with regard to religious equality in each of these States. To Montenegro it gave a seaport and a slip of territory attaching to it. Thus one great object of the mountaineers was accomplished. They were able to reach the sea. The treaty created, north of the Balkans, a State of Bulga- ria — a much smaller Bulgaria than that sketched in the Treaty of San Stefano. Bulgaria was to be a self-governing State tributary to the Sultan and owning his suzerainty, but in other respects practically independent. It was to be governed by a prince whom the population were to elect with the assent, of the Great Powers and the con- firmation of the Sultan. It was stipulated that no member of any reigning dynasty of the Great European Powers should be eligible as a candi- date. South of the Balkans, the treaty created another and a different kind of State, under the name of Eastern Roumelia. That State was to remain under the direct political and military authority of the Sultan, but it was to have, as to its interior condition, a sort of "administrative autonomy," as the favorite diplomatic phrase then was. East Roumelia was to be ruled by a Christian Governor, and there was a stipulation that the Sultan should not employ any irregular troops, such as the Circassians and the Bashi- Bazouks, in the garrisons of the frontier. The European Powers were to arrange in concert • with the Porte for the organization of this new State. As regarded Greece, it. was arranged that the Sultan and the King of the Hellenes were to come to some understanding for a modification of the Greek frontier, and that if they could not arrange this between themselves, the Great Pow- ers were to have the right of ottering, that is to say, in plain words, of insisting on, their media- tion. Bosnia and the Herzegovina were to be occupied and administered by Austria. Rou- mania undertook, or in other words was com- pelled to undertake, to return to Russia that portion of Bessarabian territory which had been detached from Russia by the Treaty of Paris. Roumania was to receive in compensation some islands forming the Delta of the Danube, and a portion of the Dobrudscha. As regarded Asia, the Porte was to cede to Russia, Ardahan, Kars, and Batoum, with its great port on the Black Sea. The Treaty of Berlin gave rise to keen and adverse criticism. Very bitter indeed was the controversy provoked by the surrender to Russia of the Bessarabian territory taken from her at the time of the Crimean War. Russia had re- gained everything which she had been compelled to sacrifice at the close of the Crimean War. The Black Sea was open to her war vessels, and its shores to her arsenals. The last slight trace of Crimean humiliation was effaced in the resto- ration of the territory of Bessarabia. Profound disappointment was caused among many Euro- pean populations, as well as among the" Greeks themselves, by the arrangements for the rectifi- cation of the Greek frontier. Thus, speaking roughly, it may be said that the effect of the Con- gress of Berlin on the mind of Europe was to make the Christian populations of the south-east believe that their friend was Russia, and their enemies were England and Turkey ; to make the Greeks believe that France was their especial friend, and that England was their enemy ; and to create an uncomfortable impression every- where that the whole Congress was a lire-ar- ranged business, a transaction with a foregone conclusion, a dramatic performance carefully re- hearsed before in all its details, and merely en- acted as a pageant on the Berlin stage. The latter impression was converted into a conviction by certain subsequent revelations. It came out that Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Sal- isbury had been entering into secret engage- ments both with Russia and with Turkey. The secret engagement with Russia was prematurely divulged by the heedlessness or the treachery of a peison who had been called in at a small tem- porary rate of pay to assist in copying despatch- es in the Foreign Office. It bound England to put up with the handing back of Bessarabia and the cession of the port of Batoum. It conceded all the points in advance which the English peo- ple believed that their plenipotentiaries had been making brave struggle for at Berlin. Lord Bea- consfield had not then frightened Russia into ac- cepting the Congress on his terms. The call of the Indian troops to Malta had not done the business ; nor the reserves, nor the vote of the six millions. Russia had gone into the Congress because Lord Salisbury had made a secret en- gagement with her that she should have what she specially wanted. The Congress was only a piece of pompous and empty ceremonial. By another secret engagement entered into with Turkey, the English Governmeri't undertook to guarantee to Turkey her Asiatic possessions against all invasion on condition that Turkey handed over to England the island of Cyprus for her occupation. The difference, therefore, between the policy of the Conservative Govern- ment and the policy of the Liberals was now thrown into the strongest possible relief. Mr. Gladstone, and those who thought with him, had always made it a principle of their policy that England had no special and separate interest in maintaining the independence of Turkey. Lord Beaconsfield now declared it to be the cardinal principle of his policy that England specially, England above all, was concerned to maintain the integrity and the independence of the Turk- ish Empire ; that in fact the security of Turkey was as much part of the duty of English states- manship as the security of the Channel Islands or of Malta. For the moment the policy of Lord Beacons- field seemed to be entirely in the ascendant. His return home was celebrated with great pomp and circumstance. He made a conquering hero's progress through the streets of London. Arrived A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. at the Foreign Office, he addressed from the win- dows an excited and tumultuous crowd, and he proclaimed, in words which became memorable, that he had brought back "Peace with Honor." At this moment he was probably the most con- spicuous public man in the world, unless we make one single exception in favor of Prince Bismarck. He had attained to a position of almost unrivalled popularity in England. He ought to have fol- lowed classic advice and sacrificed at that mo- ment his dearest possession to the gods. No man without sacrifice could buy the lease of such a position and the endurance of such a success. Meanwhile, so far as could be judged by exter- nal symptoms, and in the metropolis, Mr. Glad- stone and his followers were down to their low- est depth, their very zero of unpopularity. The majority of the London newspapers were entirely on the side of Lord Beaconsfield. In the prov- inces, on the whole, Liberalism still remained popular. Mr. Gladstone would still have been sure of the cheers of a great provincial meeting. But there came a day in London when, passing with his wife through one of the streets, he was compelled to seek the shelter of a friendly hall- door in order to escape from the threatening dem- onstrations of a little mob of patriots boister- ously returning from a Jingo carnival. During the excitement caused by the prepara- tions for the Congress of Berlin a long career came quietly to a close. On May 28, 1878, Lord Russell died at his residence, Pembroke Lodge, Richmond. He may be said to have faded out of life, to have ceased to live, rather than to have died, so quiet, gradual, almost im- perceptible was the passing away. He had not for some time taken any active part in public af- fairs. Now and then some public event aroused his attention, and he addressed a letter to one of the newspapers. To the last moments of his life Lord Russell refused to surrender wholly his concern in the affairs of men. The world lis- tened respectfully to these few occasional words from one who had borne a leader's part in some of the greatest political struggles of the century, and who still from the very edge of the grave was anxious to offer his whisper of counsel or of warning. His had been on the whole a great career. He had not only lived through great changes, he had helped to accomplish some of the greatest changes his time had known. His life was singularly unselfish. He was often ea- ger and pushing where he believed that he saw his way to do something needful, and men con- founded the zeal of a cause with the eagerness of personal ambition. He never cared for mon- ey, and his original rank raised him above any possible consideration for enhanced social dis- tinction. He had made many mistakes; but those who knew him best prized most highly both his political capacity and his personal char- acter. His later years were made happy and smooth by all that the love of a household could do. He had lost a son, a young man of much political promise, Lord Amberley, who died in 1876; but on the whole he had suffered less in his later time than is commonly the lot of those who live to extreme old age. The time of his death was in a certain sense appropriate. His public career had just begun at the time of the Congress of Vienna; it closed with the prepara- tions for the Congress of Berlin. Why did not Lord Beaconsfield sacrifice to the gods his dearest possession, his political majority, immediately after the triumphal return from Ber- lin ? The opinion of nearly all who pretended to form a judgment was, that at that time the great majority of the constituencies were with him. It is said that he was strongly advised by some of his northern supporters not to put tlie country then to the cost of a general election. Whatever the reason may have been, the ex- pected dissolution did not take place, and from that time Lord Beaconsfield never had any chance of a successful appeal to the country. From that time the popularity of his Government began to go down and down. Trade was depressed. The badness of trade and the general depression were no fault of the Administration, but the Govern- ment aggravated every evil of this kind by the strain on which they kept the expectation of the country. Their domestic policy had not been ! successful. They had attempted many large measures, and failed to carry them through, j They had not satisfied the country party, to whom ; they owed so much. The malt tax remained a \ grievance, as it had been for generations. The Government had got into trouble with the Home Rule party. Mr. Pamell, a young man but late- ly come into Parliament, soon proved himself the most remarkable politician who had arisen on the field of Irish politics since the day when John Mitchel was conveyed away from Lublin to Bermuda. The tactics adopted by Mr. Par- nell annoyed and discredited the Government. The country blamed the Ministry, it scarcely knew why, for the manner in which the policy called obstructive had been allowed to come into force. It was evident that a new chapter in Irish agitation was opening, and those who dis- liked the prospect felt inclined to lay the blame on the Government, as if, because they happen- ed to be in office, they must be responsible for everything that took place during their official reign. Most of all, the Ministry suffered from the effect produced upon the country by the smaller wars into which they plunged. The first of these was the invasion of Afghan- istan. The Government determined to send a mission to Shere Ali, one of the sons of Dost Mohammed, and then the ruler of Cabul, in order to guard against Russian intrigue by establishing a distinct and paramount influence in Afghanis- tan. Shere Ali strongly objected to receive either a mission or a permanent Resident. The mission was sent forward. It was so numerous as to look rather like an army than an embassy. It started from Peshawur on September 21, 1878, but was stopped on the frontier by an officer of Shere Ali, who objected to its passing through until he had received authority from his master. This delay was magnified, by the news first received here, into an insolent rebuff. The Envoy was ordered to go on, and before long the mission was turned into an invasion. The Af- ghans made but a poor resistance, and the Eng- lish troops soon occupied Cabul. Shere Ali fled from his capital. One portion of our forces oc- cupied Candahar. Shere Ali died, and Yakoob Khan, his son, became his successor. Yakoob Khan presented himself at the British camp, which had now been established at Gandamak, a place between Jellalabad and Cabul. Here the Treaty of Gandamak was signed on May 5, 1879. The Indian Government undertook by this treaty to pay the Ameer .£60,000 a year, and the Ameer ceded, or appeared to cede, what Lord Beaconsfield called the "scientific fron- tier," and agreed to admit a British representa- tive to reside in Cabul. On those conditions he was to be supported against any foreign enemy with money and arms, and, if necessary, with men. Hardly had the country ceased clapping its hands and exulting over the quiet establish- ment of an English Resident at Cabul when a telegram arrived announcing that the events of November, 1841, had repeated themselves in that city. The tragedy of Sir Alexander Burnes was enacted over again. A popular rising took place in Cabul exactly as had happened in 1841. Sir Louis Cavagnari, the English Envoy, and all or nearly all the members of his staff, were mur- dered. There was nothing to be done for it but invade Cabul over again, and take vengeance for the massacre of the English officers. The Brit- ish troops hurried up, fought their way with their usual success, and on the Christmas-eve of 1879 Cabul was again entered. Yakoob Khan, ac- cused of complicity in the massacre, was sent as a prisoner to India. Cabul was occupied, but not possessed. The English Government held in their power just as much of Afghanistan as they could cover with their encampments. They held it for just so long as they kept the encampments standing. The Treaty of Gandamak was, of course, nothing but waste paper. The war in South Africa was, if possible, less justifiable; It was also, if possible, more dis- astrous. The region which we call South Africa consisted of several States, native and European, under various forms of authority. Cape Colony and Natal were for a long time the only English dominions. The Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic were Dutch settlements. In 1848 the British Government had established its authority over the Orange River Territory, but it afterwards transferred its powers to a provi- sional Government of Dutch origin. The Trans- vaal was a Dutch Kepublic with which we bad until quite lately no direct connection. In 1852 the English Government resolved that its oper- ations and its responsibilities in South Africa should be limited to Cape Colony and Natal, and distinctly recognized the independence of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal lie- public. Besides these States of what we may call European origin, there were a great many native communities, some of which had enough of organization to be almost regarded as States. The Kaffirs had often given us trouble before. The most powerful tribe in South Africa was that of the Zulus. Natal was divided from Zulu territory only by the river Tugela. The ruler of the Zulu tribe, Cetewayo, was much in- clined to a cordial alliance with the English, and although he did not owe his power in any direct sense to us, yet he went through a form, in which our representatives bore their part, of accepting his crown at the hands of the English Sovereign. He was often involved in disputes with the Boers, or Dutch-descended occupants of the Transvaal Republic. Other native tribes were still more directly and often engaged in quarrels with the Boers. The Transvaal Re- public made war upon one of the greatest of these African chiefs, Secocoeni, and had the worst of it in the struggle. The Republic was badly managed in every way. Its military op- erations were a total failure ; its exchequer was ruined ; there seemed hardly any chance of maintaining order within its frontier, and the prospect appeared at the time to be that its South African enemies would overrun the whole of the Republic, would thus come up to the bor- ders of the English States, and possibly might soon involve the English settlers themselves in war. Under these conditions a certain number of disappointed or alarmed inhabitants of the Transvaal made some kind of indirect proposi- tion to England that the Republic should be annexed to English territory. Sir Theophilus Shepstone was sent out by England to ascer- tain whether this offer was genuine and na- tional. He seems to have been entirely mis- taken in his appreciation of the condition of things, and he boldly declared the Republic a por- tion of the dominions of Great Britain. Mean- while there had been a controversy going on for a long time between Cetewayo and the Transvaal Republic about a certain disputed strip of land. The dispute was referred to the arbitration of England, with whom Cetewayo was then on the most friendly terms. Four English arbitrators decided that the disputed strip of territory properly belonged to the Zulu nation. Meanwhile, Sir Bartle Frere was sent out as Lord High Commissioner. From the momeut of his first appearance on the scene the whole state of affairs seems to have undergone a com- plete change. Sir Bartle Frere kept back the award of the arbitrators for several months, un- willing to hand over any new territory uncon- ditionally to Cetewayo, whom he regarded as a dangerous enemy and an unscrupulous despot. During this time a hostile feeling was growing up in the mind of Cetewayo. He appears to have really become mastered by the conviction that the English were determined to find a pre- text for making war on him, for annexing his territory, and for sending him to prison, as had been done with another South African chief, Langalibalele, in 1874. Sir Bartle Frere was a man who had many times rendered great ser- vice to England. He had been Chief Commis- sioner in Sciude from 1852 to 1859, and had shown great ability and energy during the In- dian Mutiny. Since that he had been one of the Council of the Viceroy of India ; he had been for some years Governor of Bombay, and he had been appointed to the Council of the Sec- retary of State here at home. He had been sent upon an important mission to the Sultan of A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. Zanzibar in 1872, the object of which was to endeavor to obtain the suppression of the slave- trade, and he succeeded. Sir Bartle Frere seems to have been really filled with that imperial in- stinct about which other men only talked. His was a strong nature with an imperious will and an inexhaustible energy. He was undoubtedly conscientious and high -principled according to his lights. He appears to have been influenced by two strong ambitions — to spread the Gospel and to extend the territory of England. In Africa his mind appears to have become at once possessed with the conviction that alike for the safety of the whites and the improvement of the colored races it would be necessary to extend the government of England over the whole southern portion of that continent, and to efface the boun- daries of native tribes by blending them all into one imperial confederation. Cetewayo's position made him a rival to Sir Bartle Frere's policy, and Sir Bartle Frere ap- pears to have made up his mind that these two stars were not to keep their motion in one sphere, and that South Africa was not to brook the double rule of the English Commissioner and the Zulu king. Sir Bartle Frere kept the award of the four English arbitrators in his hands for some months without taking any action upon it, and when he did at length announce it to Cete- wayo, he accompanied it with an ultimatum de- claring that the Zulu army must at once be dis- banded and must return to their homes. This was in point of fact a declaration of war. The Eng- lish troops immediately invaded the Zulu coun- try, and almost the first news that reached Eng- land of the progress of the war was the story of the complete and terrible defeat of an English force on January 22, 1879. Not within the memory of any living man had so sudden and sweeping a disaster fallen upon English arms. Englishmen were wholly unused to the very idea of English troops being defeated in the field. The story that an English force had been sur- prised and out-generalled, out-fought, completely defeated by half- naked savages, came on the country with a shock never felt since at least the time of the disasters of Cabul and the Jugdulluk Pass. Of course the disaster was retrieved. Lord Chelmsford, the Commander-in-chief (son of the Lord Chelmsford just dead, who had been twice Lord Chancellor), only wanted time, in homely language, to pull himself together in order to recover his position. The war soon came to the end which every one must have ex- pected — first the defeat of the Zulu king and then his capture. Cetewayo's territory was divided amongst the leading native chiefs. A portion of it was given to an Englishman, John Dunn, who had settled in the country very young.and who had become a sort of potentate among the Zulus. line melancholy incident made the war mem- orable not only to England but to Europe. The young French Prince Louis Napoleon, who had studied in English military schools, had attached himself as a volunteer to Lord Chelmsford's staff. During one of the episodes of the war he and some of his companions were surprised by a body of Zulus. Others escaped, but Prince Louis Napoleon was killed. The war, although it had ended in a practical success, was none the less regarded by the Eng- lish public as a blunder and a disaster. Even the Afghan enterprise, objectionable though it was in almost every way, did not affect the pop- ularity of the Government so much as the Zulu war. The plain common-sense of England held that Sir Bartle Frere, however high and consci- entious his motives may have been, was in the wrong from first to last, and that the cause of Cetewayo was on the whole a cause of fairness and of justice. On the Government fell the burden of Sir Bartle Frere's responsibilities, without Sir Bartle Frere's consoling and self- sufficing belief in the justice of his cause and the genuineness of his enterprise. The distress in the country was growing deep- er and deeper day by day. Some of the most important trades were suffering heavily. The winter of 1878 had been long and bitter, and there had been practically no summer. The manufacturing and mining districts almost every- where over the country were borne down by the failure of business. The working-classes were in genuine distress. In Ireland there was a forecast of something almost approaching to famine. When distress affects the trade and the population of a country, the first impulse is always to find fault with the reigning Govern- ment. The authority of the Government in the House of Commons was greatly shaken. Sir Stafford Northcote had not the strength neces- sary to make a successful leader. The result was that the House was becoming demoralized. The Government brought in a scheme for uni- versity education in Ireland, which was nothing better than a mutilation of Mr. Gladstone's re- jected bill. It was carried through both Houses in a few weeks, because the Government were anxious to do something which might have the appearance of conciliating the Irish people with- out going far enough in that direction to estrange their Conservative supporters. The measure thus devised had exactly the opposite effect from that which was intended. It estranged a good 89 many Conservative supporters; it roused a new feeling of hostility aniung the Non-conformists, and it did not concede enough to the demands of the Irish Catholics to be of any use in the way of conciliation. It was plain that the man- date, to use a French phrase, of the Parliament was nearly out. The session of 1879 was its sixth session; it would only be possible to have one session more. Loader and louder grew the cry from the Liberal side for the Government at once to go to the country. Thus the winter passed on. Two or three elections which occur- red meantime resulted in favor of the Conserva- tives. There was a little renewal of confidence among the friends of Lord Beaconsfield, and a sudden sinking of the spirits among- most of the Liberals. Parliament met in February, and the Government gave it to be understood that they intended to have what one of them called "a fair working session." Suddenly, however, they made up their minds that it would be convenient to accept Mr. Gladstone's challenge, and to dis- solve in the Easter holidays. The dissolution took place on March 24, 1880, and the elections began. With the very first day of the elections it was evident that the Conservative majority was al- ready gone. Each succeeding day showed more and more the change that had taken place in public feeling.- Defeat was turned into disaster. Disaster became utter rout and confusion. When the elections were over it was found that the Conservative party were nowhere. A majority of some hundred and twenty sent the Liberals back into power. No Liberal statesmen in our time ever before saw themselves sustained by such an army of followers. There was a mo- ment or two of hesitation — of delay. The Queen sent for Lord Hartington, she then sent for Lord Granville ; but every one knew in advance who was to come into office at last. 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Thomson, D.D., Forty-five Years a Missionary in- Syria and Palestine. 140 Illustrations and Maps. 8vo, Ornamental Cloth, $6 00; Sheep, $7 00 ; Half Morocco, $8 50 ; Full Morocco, Gilt Edges, $10 50. For the preacher, the Sunday-school teacher, every Bible student and Christian home, the work will prove a rare treas- ure. There is no work that can come even near taking its place. — Christian Advocate, N. Y. Students of the daily life, the personal and geographical environments of Jesus and his disciples, will find the work invaluable. — N~. Y. Herald. A book like Dr. Thomson's carries the reader back to the time of the Saviour, and makes the best of commentaries for the Bible to-day. — N. Y. Journal of Commerce. The scholar will find an abundance to interest him in every chapter, while the style is so clear and graphic that the child may read it with attentive interest. — Observer, N. Y. His work is more than a mere geographical description of Palestine, though he has given much attention to that depart- ment ; or a mere delineation of Eastern manners, though it would be difficult to find anywhere else so graphic and accu- rate a portraiture of the daily life of the Orientals. * * * Al- most every book in the Bible has been laid under tribute, ■at in some degree illuminated by his treatment. * * * After studying this volume we feel that a pilgrimage to Jerusalem would not add much to the conceptions regarding it which we have obtained from these pages. — Christian at Work, N.Y. Every Christian family ought to have it beside the family Bible, as the best key to its proper understanding furnished by modern Christian scholarship. — Baptist Weekly, N.Y. Dr. Thomson has studied the field with painstaking care ; and, studying in the light of the Scriptural narrative, he has collected a store of detailed and general knowledge such as can be found in no other existing work. — Boston Traveller. Dr. Thomson is a pleasant writer, and to all lovers of de- scriptive reading, as well as to Bible students, his book will prove welcome. — Boston Post. The information which may be derived from Dr. Thomson's careful and authentic descriptions of the manners and cus- toms, the natural products, and common sights of the Holy Land, is fresh and true, and is not to be found in the works of other writers, who have not, as a rule, possessed the advan- tages, the scholarship, or the Biblical knowledge of this vet- eran authority. — Athenccum, London. THE LAND AND THE BOOK ; or, Bibli- cal Illustrations drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and Scenery, of the Holy Land: Central Palestine and Phoenicia. By Wm. M. Thomson, D.D., Forty-five Years a Missionary in Syria and Palestine. 130 Illustrations and Maps. 8vo, Ornamental Cloth, $6 00; Sheep, $7 00 ; Half Morocco, $8 50 ; Full Morocco, Gilt Edges, $10 50. He has seen and felt what he describes, and his narration is a series of pen-pictures. — Chicago Journal. With the enthusiasm of a convert, and the self-denial of a Crusader, he has gone over all the spots hallowed by the feet of saints and pilgrims from the earliest day. His descriptions are fresh and vigorous, his style simple and perspicacious, and the whole subject-matter instinct with information. — Boston Commonwealth. This is the most beautiful part of the land, and the portion richer in historical incidents and the remains of the past. * * * Or the many attractive volumes on Palestine this is certainly the most desirable. — Central Christian Advocate, St. Louis. We have in these two volumes the accumulated treasury of all the information concerning the land of the Bible which the labors of the present generation have yielded. — Lutheran Quarterly, Gettysburg. Dr. Thomson writes with all the enthusiasm of a life-long believer, yet at the same time temperately and with due re- gard to the work of other travellers and explorers. In his first chapter he takes leave of Jerusalem, passing on thence to Bethlehem, the City of David, the birthplace of our Lord and Saviour. Travelling onward he visits and describes Nablus, Samaria, and the Samaritans ; thence he goes to Nazareth, where our Lord lived the greater part of his life on earth, and gives a full and very interesting description of this old town and its associations. Advancing northwardly, he explores the vicinity of Tiberias and the Lake of Gennesareth, and termi- nates his journeyings at Tyre and Sidon on the shore of the Mediterranean. * * * We can hardly wish for our readers a greater treat than the possession of this and the previous vol- ume by the same author. They will increase the value of every library which has them not, and will furnish pure and lasting satisfaction to all students and intelligent readers of Holy Scripture. — The Guardian, N. Y. He has illustrated the Book from the Land, and in showing the connection which unites them has imparted a vital, an imperishable interest, to both. For a popular account of the manners and customs, as well as the scenery of the Holy Land, it is not only not approached by any similar publica- tion, but it leaves little or nothing to be desired. — N. Y. Mail and Express. Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. JfcF" Harper & Brothers will send either of the above works by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United Slates, on receipt of the price. CHAKLES DICKENS'S WORKS. HARPER'S HOUSEHOLD EDITION. Harper's Household Dickens, Complete. la 16 volumes, Paper, $14 00 ; Cloth, $22 00. In 8 volumes, Cloth, $20 00 ; Imitation Half Morocco, $22 00 ; Half Calf, $40 00. OLIVER TWIST. The Adventures of Oliver Twist. With 28 Illus- trations by J. Mahoney. Svo, Paper, 50 cents ; Cloth, $1 00. MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. With 59 Illustrations by F. Barnard. Svo, Paper, $1 00 ; Cloth, $1 50. THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP. The Old Curiosity Shop. With 54 Illustrations by Thomas Worth. Svo, Paper, 75 cents ; Cloth, $1 25. DAVID C0PPERFIELD, The Personal History of David Copperfield. With Portrait of Author, and 61 Illustrations by F. Bar- nard. Svo, Paper, $1 00; Cloth, $1 50. D0MBEY AND SON. Dombey and Son. With 52 Illustrations by W. L. Sheppard. 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