GREAT BRITAIN. 



329 



418 = $2,900,000 per annum, sustaining two 

 archbishops and twelve bishops from the 

 church rates and taxes paid largely by those of 

 a, different faith. This compulsory support of 

 the Irish Established Church by Roman Catho- 

 lics and the dissenting bodies has been, for 

 many years, a constant source of complaint by 

 the oppressed parties, and though Parliament 

 has repeatedly attempted their pacification by 

 the Maynooth College and other grants to the 

 Catholics, and the Regium Donum and similar 

 gifts for educational and religious purposes, to 

 some of the dissenting bodies, yet it has held 

 most tenaciously to the Establishment, which 

 has afforded lucrative positions to so many of 

 the English clergy and the younger sons of the 

 nobility, that they were unwilling to have it 

 abolished. It is just this relic of ancient 

 wrong that Mr. Gladstone determined to as- 

 sail. His attack brought down upon him a 

 torrent of denunciation from the Conservatives, 

 who, raising the cry of "No popery," attempt- 

 ed to create the impression that the Liberal 

 leader was in the interest and pay of the Pope; 

 others predicted that this was but the entering 

 wedge to the entire subversion of the Establish- 

 ment throughout the British empire. The 

 House of Lords were, very naturally, indig- 

 nant at what seemed to them a breach of privi- 

 lege. But Mr. Gladstone persisted, and on the 

 30th of April, carried his resolution, " that the 

 Irish Church, as an Establishment, should cease 

 to exist," through the Commons, defeating the 

 Government by a majority of 65. Disraeli, 

 however, though fighting bitterly Mr. Glad- 

 stone's position, refused to resign, and, while 

 protesting his desire for reform and improve- 

 ment in the Established Church of Ireland, 

 avowed his belief that the mass of voters in the 

 United Kingdom would not sustain a measure 

 so radical as Mr. Gladstone had proposed, and 

 that the fact could only be determined by an 

 appeal to the enlarged body of voters which 

 would be made in the autumnal election. As 

 it was evident that the House of Lords would 

 only yield to the disestablishment of the Irish 

 Church under a very strong pressure from the 

 Commons, and as, moreover, he desired time 

 to mature fully his plans, and to see how far 

 he would be sustained by the new Parliament, 

 Mr. Gladstone did not attempt to coerce the 

 Disraeli ministry into resignation, but content- 

 ed himself with bringing forward a bill to 

 restrain the making of any new appointments 

 to fill vacancies, and the building, rebuilding, 

 or enlarging any church edifices or property 

 in Ireland, during the year ending August 1, 

 1869. This bill passed; and early in July 

 Parliament was prorogued, and the canvass 

 for a new election commenced soon after in 

 earnest. There had been no election so excit- 

 ing or calling out so much feeling as this since 

 the first after the passage of the previous Re- 

 form Bill in 1832. The excitement in some of 

 the cities and larger boroughs culminated in 

 violence and occasionally in bloodshed. Par- 



liament was dissolved in October, and writs 

 for the new election issued. The voting took 

 place, with a few exceptions, on the 26th of 

 November. The result was a majority for 

 the Liberals of about 112. It had been cus- 

 tomary for the ministry previously in power 

 to retain their position till the assembling of 

 the new Parliament, and thus enable their suc- 

 cessors to organize their new Cabinet with less 

 difficulty; but Mr. Disraeli chose to depart 

 from this custom, and tendered his own resig- 

 nation and that of his associates to her Majesty 

 on the 2d of December, 1868, at the very 

 moment when he knew it would put his suc- 

 cessors to the most inconvenience. He accom- 

 panied this act by a manifesto which breathed 

 a spirit of defiance. 



The Queen, on the receipt of the resigna- 

 tion of the Disraeli ministry, immediately sent 

 for Mr. Gladstone and requested him to orga- 

 nize a new ministry. This in the recess of 

 Parliament was a matter of some difficulty, 

 the more from the fact that the Liberal party 

 was in reality a coalition of several factions 

 differing widely in their views on many of the 

 questions likely to come before them. He was, 

 however, successful, and soon after announced 

 his Cabinet as follows: Right Hon. William 

 Ewart Gladstone, First Lord of the Treasury ; 

 Right Hon. Lord Hatherley, Lord High Chan- 

 cellor ; Right Hon. Earl de Grey and Ripon, 

 Lord President of the Council ; Right Hon. 

 Earl of Kimberley, Lord Privy Seal; Right 

 Hon. Henry Austin Bruce, Secretary of State, 

 Home Department ; Right Hon. Earl of Clar- 

 endon, Secretary of State, Foreign Depart- 

 ment; Right Hon. Earl Granville, Secretary 

 of State, Colonial Department; Right Hon. 

 Edward Cardwell, Secretary of State, "War 

 Department ; his Grace the Duke of Argyle, 

 Secretary of State, Indian Department ; Right 

 Hon. Robert Lowe, Chancellor of the Ex- 

 chequer; Right Hon H. Childers, First Lord 

 of the Admiralty; Right Hon. John Bright, 

 President of the Board of Trade ; Right Hon. 

 Chichester Fortescue, Chief Secretary for Ire- 

 land; Right Hon. Marquis of Hartington, 

 Postmaster-General ; Right Hon. G. Joachim 

 Goschen, President of the Poor-Law Board. 

 Hon. Austin Henry Layard (the explorer of 

 Nineveh) was appointed Commissioner of 

 Works and Public Buildings, but without a seat 

 in the Cabinet ; Sir Robert Collier, Attorney- 

 General; Sir John Duke Coleridge, Solicitor- 

 General; and Earl Spencer, Lord Lieutenant 

 of Ireland. 



The minister from the United States to the 

 court of St. James, Hon. Charles Francis 

 Adams, having continued in that important 

 and responsible position for about seven years, 

 asked to be recalled early in 1868. His request 

 was granted, and Hon. Reverdy Johnson, then 

 United States Senator from Maryland, was nom- 

 inated and confirmed as his successor. Mr. 

 Johnson, soon after his arrival in England, 

 commenced anew the negotiations which had 



