GREAT HKIT.MN \M> IKKLANH. 



Mr. I'riichard-Mor^an's resolution in favor of 



dilishing I li' Church in Wall-* was defeated 



..iiparalnelv -mall majority of :.':(." 



:. Mr. Stansfeld's resolution in favor 

 principle of "one man, one vote" was 

 down, while Mr. lloworth's coimtcr-pro- 

 .11 favor of redist rid ing tin- I'niled King- 



,-e Kngland equal representation 



Ireland in proporl ion to the population 



;:led to pa. On a proposition intro- 



i l.y John Kills approving the reduction 



.lilie hoii-cs Mr. (''niton's aiiieiulinent in 



mpeiisating publicans was adopted by 

 a niMJority of 71. Karlicr in the year the House 



:-.|s had rendered a judicial decision, con- 

 firming that of the court In-low, which was in 

 n. my with the position taken by the Liberals 



'ie delates on tlio license bill In 1890. The 

 Chancellor and his colleagues decided 

 unanimously that a license is given for one year 

 only, and at the end of the year licensing justices 

 may ivfu-e to renew ii in I heir discretion, as the 

 publican has no \e-ted interest in his license, ex- 

 cept from year to year, and no claim can lie for 

 compensation under the provisions of the li- 

 censing acts, notwithstanding the practice that 

 the justices have followed of treating a license 

 one.- granted as a privilege only to be revoked 

 for bad conduct, ana the fact that immense sums 

 have been paid for public houses and loaned on 

 mortgage in the belief that the right was per- 

 manent. 



'o reign Relations. A partial confirmation 

 ' the conditional promise alleged to have been 



le of British naval support to the Triple Alli- 

 ance and revealed in a statement of the Italian 

 Premier was given by Sir James Ferguson in 

 the House of Commons, and in the vague and 

 guarded words of the Marquis of Salisbury, in 

 his speech, on July 29, at the Lord Mayor's ban- 

 quet, when, while disclaiming all knowledge of 

 the terms of the alliance between Germany, 

 Austria, and Italy, and depreciating the impor- 

 tance of written treaties, saying that nations will 

 act together in a great crisis not because they 

 are bound by protocols, but because they are "in 

 unison and cordiality with one another," he de- 

 fined England's position in these words: "Our 

 allies are all those who wish to maintain terri- 

 torial distribution as it is without risking the 

 fearful dangers or the terrible arbitrament of 

 war." The most important acts of the year 

 were the treaty for the delimitation of the re- 

 spective territories and spheres of influence of 

 (in-at Britain and Portugal in South Africa 

 (see CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA) and the 

 agreements to refer to arbitration the lobster 

 and seal fishery disputes with Prance and t In- 

 United States. A diplomatic controversy grow- 

 ing out of the permission of the Turkish Govern- 

 ment to the transjports of the Russian steam 

 volunteer auxiliary fleet to pass through the Dar- 

 danelles, led to a singular naval demonstration 

 that the English was unwilling to avow official- 

 ly. On Sept. 13 a detachment of sailors and 

 marines, with a battery of field pieces and Gat- 

 ling guns, landed atSigri.on the island of Mity- 

 lene. from one of the ironclads of Admiral Lord 

 Kerr's squadron, and torpedo mines were laid in 

 the harbor. The operation was accompanied by 

 a semblance of torpedo drill and sham manoeu- 



vre* of torpedo l,..ai-. and Ix-forc explanation* 

 I'-manded b\ the Turkish Government and 

 given l.y the Foreign nflici- tin- fom- wo* with- 

 drawn. 



Party Politics. The seats in the city of 

 London left vacant by the deaths of Sir ito'lx-rt 

 Koulerand Mr. Baring, and I /ml Kdward Caven- 

 dish's seat for West Derbyshire, were /elained by 

 the Unionists, who in ,-reased their majorities ifi 

 the bye-elections in Aston Manor. Mid-Oxford- 

 shire, and Whilehaven, and held their own in 

 South Dorset. Mr. Bradlaugh's seat for North- 

 ampton \\as retained with an increased majority 

 by the (iladstoniaiis. who made piins also in 

 Paisley and, under unfavorable circumstances, 

 in North Buckinghamshire. In Hartlejxiol, in 

 the Stowmarket division of Suffolk, in liar- 

 borough, and in the Wisbech division of Cam- 

 bridgeshire they caused consternation to their 

 adversaries by electing candidates to succeed 

 Unionists. 



The most important changes in the personnel 

 of the Government were those necessitated by 

 the death of Henry Cecil Raikes, the Postmaster- 

 General, and by William Henry Smith, First 

 Lord of the Treasury and leader of the House 

 of Commons. Mr. Raikes was succeeded, on 

 Sept. 21, by Sir James Ferguson, political Under- 

 secretary of the Foreign Office, and this post 

 was filled by the appointment of James William 

 Lowther. hi November W. H. Smith's place as 

 leader of the House was filled by transferring 

 Mr. Balfour from the Irish Secretaryship to the 

 post of First Lord of the Treasury. 



In their party declarations the Gladstonian 

 Liberals still promised home rule to Ireland, 

 while they sought some issue to make more 

 prominent before their English constituencies. 

 Neither party settled on a leading issue with 

 which to go before the country in the next gen- 

 eral election. Both made vague promises to the 

 labor element, and the Conservative conference 

 at Birmingham, held on Nov. 24, proposed the 

 creation of a labor minister. The disendow- 

 ment of the Church in Wales was adopted as a 

 part of the Gladstonian programme, and the 

 Conservatives decided to oppose it because it 

 would injure religion in Wales and weaken the 

 position of the Church in England. 



Local government in Ireland, on the plan 

 adopted in England and Scotland, had been the 

 alternative offered by the Conservatives and 

 Unionists for Mr. Gladstone's home-rule scheme. 

 The paralysis of the Irish party and the success 

 of the land-purchase measure caused them to 

 renounce this part of their programme, and 

 meet the Gladstonians, who were committed to 

 a home-rule project that would consume the 

 best part of one session at least, with the argu- 

 ment that they had pacified and satisfied the 

 reasonable desires of the Irish people, and would 

 not longer allow the Irish quest ion to interfere 

 with English and Scottish legislation. The Bir- 

 mingham conference made woman suffrage a 

 definite plank in the Conservative platform. 



1 1 ish Parties. When Mr. Parnell. after the 

 scandal of the O'Shea divorce, expressed his de- 

 termination to remain at the head of the Irish 

 party, he was at lir>t sustained in a caucus of 

 Irish members by a majority of 40 or 50. After- 

 ward, when it became known that Mr. Gladstone 





