GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



365 



demarkation between imperial and local inter- 

 ests. Meanwhile the House of Lords had ap- 



pointed a select committee to inquire into the 

 workings of the land act. Mr. Gladstone then 

 suspended the reform of parliamentary pro- 

 cedure, to carry through a resolution condemn- 

 ing the inquiry as "tending to defeat the op- 

 eration of the land act and injurious to the 

 good government of Ireland." This retarded 

 for weeks the serious work of the session. 

 The budget, reports of the departments, and 

 other business delayed action on the new rules 

 of procedure; but when the House was ap- 

 proaching the point of a decision on the first 

 rule, which embodied the principle of cloture, 

 by a bare majority, the uncertain attitude of 

 many Liberals betokened that the best chance 

 of success was in delay. Irish matters were 

 taken up and engrossed the attention of Par- 

 liament to the end of the session. The Gov- 

 ernment in the mean time recovered the polit- 

 ical strength which it was losing in the field of 

 legislation by engaging in the war with Egypt. 

 (See DISCIPLINARY POWERS OF LEGISLATIVE AS- 

 SEMBLIES, etc.) 



The composure of Parliament was ruffled at 

 the outset by a renewal of the Bradlaugh ques- 

 tion (see " Annual Cyclopsedia " for 1881). Mr. 

 Bradlaugh presented himself with the new 

 members to take the oath. Sir Stafford North- 

 cote again moved that he be not allowed to 

 " go through the form of repeating the words 

 of the oath," which was carried by a majority 

 of 286 to 228, placing the junior member for 

 Northampton in the same position in which he 

 stood during the previous session. This time 

 the Government opposed the motion, and Mr. 

 Bradlaugh made a plea, in which he offered to 

 take the Ohiltern Hundreds and stand again if 

 the House would make an affirmation law. 

 Three weeks afterward his colleague, Labou- 

 chere, moved for the issue of a new writ of 

 election for Northampton, but by a nearly 

 unanimous vote the House refused to declare the 

 seat vacant. Then Mr. Bradlaugh advanced to 

 the table, drew out a copy of the New Testa- 

 ment, recited the oath, and signed the formu- 

 la, which he passed to the Clerk. Ordered by 

 the Speaker to withdraw below the bar, he did 

 so, declaring that he had taken the oath ac- 

 cording to law and would now take his seat. 

 He accordingly turned about after just stepping 

 outside and occupied a seat until he was again 

 ordered out. The next day, during the ad- 

 journed debate on his case, while Sir Stafford 

 Northcote's motion to render his position still 

 more intolerable, by denying him entrance into 

 the building, was under consideration, Mr. 

 Bradlaugh took a seat within the House, from 

 which he rose, though directed to withdraw, 

 to assert his right to be heard as a sitting 

 member, and then retired upon a repetition of 

 the Speaker's order. Sir Stafford Northcote 

 then made a motion of expulsion, which was 

 carried by an overwhelming majority. The 

 constituency of Northampton did not desert 



their champion. A large vote was cast, and 

 Bradlaugh came out a third time at the head 

 of the poll. Without waiting for him to pre- 

 sent himself, Sir Stafford Northcote moved to 

 reject an amendment in favor of an optional 

 affirmation law, to which the House agreed. 



Several acts were passed relating to the de- 

 tails of public administration, some of them of 

 especial significance. The conveyance of pack- 

 ages by the post-office, which has long been 

 the practice on the Continent of Europe, but 

 which in America is considered to be peculiar- 

 ly a function of private enterprise, was author- 

 ized in the parcels-post bill. The maximum 

 weight of postal packages is seven pounds. The 

 charges for forwarding and delivery range from 

 3d. to 9^., according to weight. The numer- 

 ous functions of the British post-office are 

 further increased by an act adding to the busi- 

 ness of the postal savings-banks that of pro- 

 viding old-age annuities, or life-insurance. De- 

 posits made indifferently at any of the 6, TOO 

 post-offices opened for savings-bank business 

 are applicable, according to previous acts, to 

 the payment of debts and transfer of money 

 all over the United Kingdom, and, when they 

 have accumulated to a certain amount, they 

 can be invested by the Post Office authori- 

 ties, at the desire of the depositor, in Govern- 

 ment bonds. By the new law, the Post-Office 

 undertakes the payment of deferred annuities 

 and life-insurance policies ; and money to meet 

 the annual payments on these may be depos- 

 ited at any time in any post-office, the excess 

 drawing the usual small interest. 



A measure which realizes free trade in land, 

 for which the Radicals have vehemently agi- 

 tated, was introduced in the House of Lords by 

 Lord Cairns, the former Tory Chancellor, and 

 passed the House of Commons without a debate. 

 The settled-land bill, supplementing previous 

 legislation on the subject, enables tenants for 

 life to sell the estates under restrictions requir- 

 ing the proceeds to be invested so as to secure 

 the interests of the remainder-men. The mon- 

 eys are placed in the custody of the trustees 

 of the settlement, or of the court, but may be 

 applied in any way the limited owner selects, 

 and to his profit, so long as the interests of 

 the heirs are not impaired. For the sale of the 

 principal mansion and park, the consent of 

 the trustees or the court is requisite. 



The married women's property act com- 

 pletes the revolution of the common-law prin- 

 ciple regarding the status of the feme-covert, 

 by which her land passed into the possession of 

 the husband for life, and her personalty became 

 his absolutely. The new act is clear and thor- 

 ough. All property, of whatever kind, be- 

 queathed to a married woman, or acquired by 

 her own efforts, is placed beyond all control 

 of the husband, and belongs as absolutely to her 

 as though she were single; but she is made 

 responsible for her debts incurred before or 

 after marriage, must support her children if 

 the husband is unable, and must support hiin ? 



