332 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



On the same day, the Government announced 

 in both Houses that as the Parliament would 

 necessarily be dissolved during the year by 

 the expiration of its term of limitation, they 

 had considered it most convenient to hold the 

 elections for the new Parliament at about the 

 time of Easter, the effect of which would be to 

 enable the. new Parliament to meet in May. 

 Parliament would then be prorogued and dis- 

 solved as soon as the essential measures could 

 be finished. The Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 presented his financial statement March llth. 

 The total amount of the deficit on the last year 

 was 3,340,000, due in some measure to war 

 expenditure, but largely traceable to a falling 

 off in the revenue. The total cost of the Zoo- 

 loo war, from first to last, had been 5,138,000. 

 The Chancellor estimated the total income of 

 the next year at 81,560,000, as against an act- 

 ual income for the past year of 80,860,000, 

 showing an advance of 700,000. The actual 

 expenditure of the last year had been 81, 153,- 

 000. For the coming year he estimated it at 

 81,483,000. This would leave as between 

 estimated income and estimated expenditure a 

 balance of 74,000. The accumulated deficit 

 8,100,000 he proposed tj meet by the 

 conversion of 6,000,000 of annuities termi- 

 nable in 1885, and by Exchequer bills for the 

 remaining 2,000,000.. The sum of 600,000 

 would be appropriated from the new sinking 

 fund, and, 800,000 being added to the fixed 

 sum of 28,000,000 now applied yearly to pay 

 the interest of the public debt, the deficit of 

 6,000,000 would thus be met in five years. 

 A bill was passed concerning Parliamentary 

 elections and corrupt practices, and a few other 

 pending measures of more pressing importance 

 were disposed of, after which Parliament was 

 prorogued and dissolved by royal proclamation 

 March 23d. The Queen said in her message of 

 prorogation : 



I can not part from you without expressing my 

 deep sense of the zeal and ability which, during more 

 than _six years, you have consistently displayed in 

 exercising your important functions, nor without ten- 

 dering to you my warm acknowledgments for the use- 

 ful measures which you have submitted for my ac- 

 ceptance, and especially for the manner in which you 

 have upheld a policy the object of which was at once 

 to defend my empire and to secure the general peace. 



My relations with foreign powers are friendly and 

 favorable to the maintenance of tranquillity in Europe. 



I entertain the confident hope that the measures 

 adopted in Afghanistan will lead to a speedy settle- 

 ment of that country. 



I have had much satisfaction in assenting to the 

 acts you have passed for the relief of the distress un- 

 happily prevalent in parts of Ireland ; and, trusting 

 that these measures will be accepted by my Irish sub- 

 jects as a proof of the ready sympathy of the Imperial 

 Parliament, I look forward with confidence to the re- 

 stored prosperity of their country. 



I rejoice to observe the indications of a general 

 improvement in trade, and that the commercial de- 

 pression which I have had to lament appears to be 

 passing away. 



I have witnessed with the greatest sympathy the 

 heavy losses sustained by the various classes con- 

 nected with the cultivation of the soil, and have viewed 

 with admiration the patience and high spirit with 



which they have contended against an almost unpre- 

 cedented scries of disastrous seasons. 



I trust that, with the blessing of Providence, a 

 more favorable harvest may be looked for, and that, 

 from the commission which I issued to inquire into 

 the causes of agricultural depression, suggestions may 

 come which will lead to the more profitable use of 

 agricultural land, and to a higher development of this 

 branch of national industry. 



The electors of the United Kingdom will be called 

 upon forthwith to choose their representatives in Par- 

 liament, and I ferventlv pray that the blessing of 

 Almighty God may guide them to promote the object 

 of my constant solicitude the happiness of my peo- 

 ple. 



The Parliament now dissolved met on March 

 5, 1874, and had reached the age of six years 

 and nineteen days, constituting it the longest 

 Parliament that had sat during the reign of 

 Victoria, except that called by Earl Derby in 

 May, 1859, which sat thirteen days longer. 



The leaders of both parties published their 

 declarations, designed to be influential in the 

 coming elections, immediately on the announce- 

 ment being made that the dissolution would 

 occur near Easter. The Earl of Beaconsfield 

 wrote to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, stating 

 that the measures respecting the state of Ire- 

 land were about to be submitted to the royal 

 assent, and claiming that one of the most diffi- 

 cult problems connected with the government 

 and people of that country had been solved by 

 establishing a system of education open to all 

 classes and creeds. Nevertheless, a great dan- 

 ger distracted Ireland in that a part of its pop- 

 ulation was attempting to sever the consti- 

 tutional tie which united it to Great Britain. 

 After declaring that the strength of the nation 

 depended on the unity of feeling which should 

 pervade the United Kingdom and its dependen- 

 cies, and that the first duty of the Minister 

 should be to consolidate the cooperation of all 

 the parts, the Premier continued: 



And yet there are some who challenge the expedi- 

 ency of the imperial character of this realm. Having 

 attempted, and failed, to enfeeble our colonies by their 

 policy of decomposition, they may, perhaps, now rec- 

 ognize in the disintegration of the United Kingdom a 

 mode which will not only accomplish, but precipitate 

 their purpose. . . . 



Barely in this century has there been an occasion 

 more critical. The power of England and the peace of 

 Europe will largely depend on the verdict of the coun- 

 try. Her Majesty's present Ministers have hitherto 

 been enabled to secure that peace, so necessary to the 

 welfare of all civilized countries, and so peculiarly the 

 interest of our own. But this ineffable blessin" can 

 not be obtained by the passive principle of non-inter- 

 ference. Peace rests on the presence, not to say the 

 ascendancy, of England in the councils of Europe. 

 Even at this moment the doubt, supposed to be in- 

 separable from popular election, if it does not dimin 

 ish, certainly arrests her influence, and is a main reason 

 for not delaying an appeal to the national voice. 



The Marquis of Hartington, the Parliamen- 

 tary leader of the Liberal party, carefully in- 

 dicted the policy of the Government in an ad- 

 dress to the electors of northeast Lancashire. 

 Referring to the manifesto of the Prime Minis- 

 ter, he said: "I seek to evade no issue which 

 the Government can raise ; but it is necessary 





