372 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



of the Government. Mr. Gladstone accepted 

 Sir Wilfrid Lawson's phrase of ''rescue and 

 retire " as describing his policy. Lord Hart- 

 ington declared that on the Red Sea coast they 

 could not allow anarchy to prevail, nor suffer 

 any other European power to dominate, as it 

 commanded the road to India. In the division 

 the Cabinet was sustained by 311 votes to 262. 

 The proclamations of Gen. Gordon concerning 

 slavery, the price set on Osman Digma's head 

 by Admiral Hewett, the operations of Gen. 

 Graham, and other subjects, gave the occasion 

 for fresh attacks. On March 15 the Govern- 

 ment escaped by the narrow majority of 111 

 against 94 on a vote of censure proposed by 

 Mr. Labouchere for the unnecessary waste of 

 human life in the Suakin operations, which re- 

 ceived unexpected support from Conservatives, 

 a proceeding characterized by Sir William Har- 

 court in an audible exclamation as a " dirty 

 trick." Three weeks later Sir Stafford North- 

 cote provoked a vehement reply from the Pre- 

 mier on a motion to adjourn, prompted by the 

 obstinate silence of the Government concerning 

 Gen. Gordon. Mr. Gladstone's rhetorical and 

 dialectical powers were never so copiously and 

 brilliantly displayed as during this session, but 

 his -frequent use of invective betrayed the in- 

 firmity of age as well as the embarrassment of 

 his position. The next memorable attack on 

 the Government was Sir Michael Hicks- Beach's 

 vote of censure proposed May 12, which elicit- 

 ed from Mr. Gladstone the admission that if 

 Gen. Gordon was in peril the Government was 

 bound to give him all reasonable aid. Mr. 

 Forster and Mr. Goschen, with about thirty 

 Liberals, abstained from voting, while the 

 Irish members supported the motion, leaving 

 the Government a majority of only 28, or 303 

 votes against 275. The protestations of Con- 

 servatives and Independent Liberals on the an- 

 nouncement of the negotiations with France 

 drew from the Premier a pledge that the re- 

 sults should be submitted to Parliament. When 

 the Anglo-French agreement was announced, 

 June 23, he declared that the arrangement was 

 dependent on the decisions of the conference, 

 which would stand or fall as Parliament deter- 

 mined. A vote of censure on the refusal to 

 disclose the financial proposals was offered, but 

 when Mr. Gladstone found a day, in accordance 

 with his promise, the House, on the motion of 

 Mr. Goschen, postponed the discussion as in- 

 opportune. After the failure of the conference, 

 the departure of Lord Northbrook for Egypt 

 to inquire and advise was announced, and on 

 August 12 a vote of credit of 300,000 was ob- 

 tained to enable the ministers to take measures 

 for sending assistance to Gen. Gordon. 



Immediately after the address was voted, Sir 

 Henry Brand, since raised to the peerage as 

 Viscount Hampden, resigned the speakership. 

 Arthur Peel, the youngest son of Sir Robert 

 Peel, was elected his successor, February 26. 



On the llth of February, Mr. Bradlaugh ap- 

 peared at the table and went through the form 



of taking the oath. Sir Stafford Northcote 

 moved that the act be not recognized, which 

 motion was carried by 280 votes to 167. The 

 member for Northampton was, furthermore, 

 excluded from the precincts of the House upon 

 declining to pledge himself not to disturb its 

 proceedings. He accepted the Chiltern Hun- 

 dreds, and was re-elected, whereupon his ex- 

 clusion was again voted, February 21. 



The new Speaker did not once put in force 

 the powers of repression given by the new rules 

 of procedure. The experiment of devolution, 

 or the reference of measures to standing com- 

 mittees for the elaboration of details, though 

 substantially a failure in the previous session, 

 was renewed, subject to a condition that no 

 bills reported from the committees should be 

 considered by the House later than the end 

 of July. It proved less a success than before. 

 Mr. Chamberlain's important measures, which 

 were to be submitted to the Committee on 

 Trade, met with such opposition in the lobby 

 that they were never considered by the com- 

 mittee. Of the bills referred to the law com- 

 mittee, one was abandoned, and another so 

 altered after it was returned to the House 

 that it was lost in the upper house. The Gov- 

 ernment introduced a large number of bills of 

 importance and advanced them to the second 

 reading. The cattle-diseases bill, the govern- 

 ment of London bill, the merchant-shipping 

 bill, the railway regulation bill, a corrupt prac- 

 tices at municipal elections bill, a criminal law 

 amendment bill, a medical acts amendment bill, 

 a purchase of land bill for Ireland, the Irish 

 Sunday-closing bill, an hours of polling bill, 

 and several others were simultaneously pre- 

 sented while the attention of Parliament was 

 entirely absorbed by Egyptian affairs and the 

 struggle over the franchise bill. 



The London government bill, which came 

 next to the franchise bill in the order of im- 

 portance, was introduced by Sir William Har- 

 court, April 8. ' It proposed to transfer to the 

 new municipality, which would include in its 

 jurisdiction the entire metropolitan area as de- 

 fined by the act of 1855, the powers, property, 

 and obligations of the City Corporation, the 

 commissioners of sewers, the Lord Mayor, the 

 Court of Aldermen, the Common Hall, the 

 Ward-Mote, the Metropolitan Board of Works, 

 the magistrates of Middlesex, Kent, and Surrey 

 within the specified limits, the burial boards, 

 and the vestries. The poor-law administration, 

 elementary education, and the police were re- 

 served. The municipal government was to be 

 vested in a Common Council, which could dele- 

 gate its functions to local elective boards, and 

 in a mayor and a deputy-mayor, who should be 

 paid officials. One of the first duties of the 

 municipality would be to acquire for the public 

 the rights of the gas and water companies. 



Mr. Chamberlain's merchant - shipping bill 

 was intended to put an end to the evils that 

 the acts for the protection of seamen had failed 

 to abate. To prevent ship-owners from making 



