GREAT BRITAIN. 



317 



new Cabinet were expected to meet in a very 

 different way, were: the disendow ment and 

 disestablishment of the Irish Church ; the 

 disposition of the difficult and complicated 

 Fenian question, and the subject of tenant 

 rights; the claim of the Irish people to in- 

 dependent representation and legislation in 

 regard to local matters ; educational reform. 

 It was not expected, of course, that all these 

 questions could be settled in a single session 

 of Parliament, but they were all pressing 

 for a hearing, and must be disposed of in 

 their order. The Disraeli Cabinet, though able 

 and adroit, had failed to win the confidence 

 and sympathy of the mass of intelligent Eng- 

 lish voters, and they looked to the new Cabinet 

 of Mr. Gladstone to give a fair and legitimate 

 expression to their views on these important 

 questions. The engrossing subject of the Par- 

 liamentary session of 1869 was the Irish 

 Church disendowment and 'disestablishment 

 question. (See ANGLICAN CHTJECHES.) 



The only topic of special moment in its 

 relation to the United States, which was dis- 

 cussed in the British Parliament, was the 

 speech of Mr. Sumner, in the United States 

 Senate, on the treaty negotiated by Mr. Reverdy 

 Johnson in regard to the Alabama claims, and 

 the subsequent rejection of that treaty by the 

 Senate, with but a solitary vote in its favor. 

 A gross misunderstanding of Mr. Sumner 's 

 position and statements (his speech was not 

 published by any of the English papers) led to 

 intense excitement both in Parliament and 

 throughout the nation; but, as the rejection 

 of the treaty precluded for the time any fur- 

 ther negotiation, there was no action taken on 

 the subject in Parliament. Later in the year, 



after Mr. Motley had been received as tho 

 minister from the United States, to succeed 

 Mr. Reverdy Johnson, some correspondence 

 on the subject of the Alabama claims took 

 place between him and Lord Clarendon. 



The commercial condition of the United 

 Kingdom was much better than in previous 

 years. The plentiful crops of 1868, the re- 

 duction in the price of most of the raw mate- 

 rials which were imported for manufacturing 

 purposes, the better and more honest manage- 

 ment of the Public Joint-Stock Companies, 

 and the absence of any considerable causes of 

 political disquietude, were among the causes of 

 a higher degree of commercial prosperity. In 

 1869 the cereal crops were of average amount 

 and good quality, and there were no grounds 

 for apprehending the necessity of an extraor- 

 dinary importation of breadstuff's, which al- 

 ways produces a depression in trade. The 

 Fenian excitement was not as rife as in former 

 years, and, for the first time in the last twenty 

 years, there was a material reduction in the 

 numbers and estimates for the army. 



The railway system of the United Kingdom 

 has been very largely developed. There are 66 

 railways in the kingdom, having an aggregate 

 length in October, 1869, of 13,569 miles. The 

 traffic receipts for the week ending October 31, 

 1869, was 813,696 = $4,068,480 gold, and, as 

 this was about an average week of the traffic, 

 it would indicate an average yearly business of 

 about $210,000,000. Of these 66 railways, 14 

 have an extent of 9,895 miles, and an annual 

 income of $176,826,000 gold. The following 

 table gives some particulars in regard to the 

 great roads of the kingdom up to July, 

 1869: 



Thus, less than half the length of railway of 

 the United Kingdom, 6,263J miles, cost 280,- 

 078,298 = $1,400,391,490; while 48,860 miles 

 of railway in the United States, including the 

 enormously expensive Pacific roads, cost $2,- 

 212,412,719, or about one-third more for nearly 

 eight times the length. 



Statistics for 1868-'69. The Reform Act of 

 1868 materially increased the number of elec- 

 tors. The registration for the election of No- 



vember, 1868, furnished the data for the fol- 

 lowing table of electors in England and 

 Wales : 



