GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



283 









The Session of Parliament. The seventh 

 session of the fourteenth Parliament of the reign 

 of < v >ueen Victoria was opened on Jan. 30, 1900. 

 The royal speech deplored the many valuable lives 

 that had fallen a sacrifice in South Africa without 

 being able to restore the peace recently broken, 

 but exalted the devotion and enthusiasm with 

 which the people had responded to the appeal to 

 resist the invasion of the South African colonies 

 and the heroism of the soldiers in the field and 

 the co-operating sailors and marines, which had 

 not fallen short of the noblest traditions of British 

 military history, also the patriotic eagerness and 

 spontaneous loyalty with which British subjects 

 everywhere had come forward to share in the 

 common defense of imperial interests, and the 

 brilliant courage and soldierlike qualities of the 

 colonial forces. The Samoan treaty with Germany 

 was mentioned, and the accession of the United 

 States to its stipulations regarding Samoa and 

 Tonga. A bill was promised to sanction the 

 scheme of federation adopted by five of the Aus- 

 tralian colonies, the establishment of which great 

 federation would prove advantageous not only to 



Ithe colonies immediately concerned, but to the 

 empire at large. Timely measures were said to 

 have been taken to relieve suffering and prevent 

 starvation in the parts of western and central 

 India where, owing to insufficient rainfall in the 

 autumn, the harvests and pasturage had failed to 

 such an extent as to create a famine. The offers 

 of the native rulers of India to send troops to 

 South Africa were spoken of as gratifying proofs 



;0f loyalty and of devotion to the cause of the 

 empire. No prospect of the diminution of the 

 plague in India was foreseen, though its severity 

 had not increased. The provision for military ex- 

 penditure would be largely increased on account 

 of the great war in South Africa, the lessons 

 derived from which would be important to the 

 military administration, and reliance was placed 

 upon the House of Commons not to shrink from 

 any outlay that might be required to place the 

 defensive preparations on a level with the re- 

 sponsibilities entailed by the possession of so great 

 an empire. At a time when several other nations 

 were perfecting their naval preparations at the 

 cost of increasing sacrifices provision would have 

 to be made for the efficiency of the British navy 

 and coast defenses. For domestic reforms involv- 

 ing large expenditure the time was not propitious, 

 nd the proposals to be made would not be open 

 o this objection. Amendments in the laws gov- 

 erning limited liability companies and in those 

 relating to agricultural tenancies were required. 

 Measures were also proposed for amending the law 

 of ecclesiastical assessments and in regard to edu- 

 cation in Scotland and for the relief of tithe rent 

 payers in Ireland. Attention would be invited 

 to proposals for better enabling local authorities 

 to aid secondary and technical education in Eng- 

 land and Wales; for controlling the contracts of 

 money lenders ; and for the amendment of the fac- 

 tory law, of the law of lunacy, and of the housing 

 of the working classes act. A bill would be 

 brought in framed with the object of lessening 

 of accidents to railway servants in accordance 

 with the recommendations of a commission ap- 

 pointed to inquire into the nature and causes 

 of such accidents. Parliament would be asked 

 to sanction a measure to prevent the injustice 

 of the existing law which appeared to have the 

 effect of disfranchising those serving in South 

 Africa. The bills relating to limited liability com- 

 panies and money lenders had been before Parlia- 

 ment before. The one had repeatedly passed 

 through the House of Lords, and was now brought 



into practical shape by the labors and criticism 

 of lawyers and men of business. The money- 

 lenders bill was rejected in the form in which 

 it was presented in 1899 because the House of 

 Commons would not assent to the tampering with 

 contracts except in cases of proved fraud. The 

 bill for the relief of payers of tithe rent charge 

 in Ireland was a measure long promised to Irish 

 landlords. The measure in aid of secondary and 

 technical education was the financial consequence 

 of the act already passed on the subject. The 

 other measures, none of which were contentious, 

 would only be introduced if there was time to 

 deal with them. 



The debate on the address turned mainly on 

 the war. In the vote on Lord Edmond Vit/.- 

 maurice's amendment condemning the ministry 

 for its incompetency in preparing for and in the 

 conduct of the war the cleavage of the Opposition 

 was revealed by the abstention of 30 Liberals and 

 also of the Irish Nationalists, who would not vote 

 for it because it did not go far enough. The 

 amendment had the effect of uniting the minis- 

 terialists, who rejected it with the crushing ma- 

 jority of 213. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman 

 had a divided party to lead, in which Sir Henry 

 Fowler, Sir Edward Grey, and others ranged them- 

 selves more and more with Lord Rosebery on the 

 popular imperialist side, while Mr. Morley and 

 Mr. Labouchere remained steadfast in their oppo- 

 sition to the war and Sir William Harcourt took 

 little part in the discussions until he came forward 

 to criticise the supplemental war loan. The re- 

 union of the Irish Nationalist factions w T as not 

 so complete but that Mr. Healy came into fre- 

 quent conflict with the majority of his party, in 

 which Mr. Redmond was able to maintain only 

 a slight degree of discipline. The basis of the re- 

 union was the return of the Irish Nationalists 

 to a policy of independent opposition, separating 

 them from their British Liberal allies, who were 

 already, eager to renounce Irish home rule as a 

 practical policy. Lord Salisbury and Mr. Balfour. 

 in apologizing for the mistakes and miscalculations 

 of the war, denied that the Government could have 

 known of the Boer preparations, and complained 

 of the scantiness of the secret service fund and of 

 the interference of the treasury in other depart- 

 ments. Lord Lansdowne's exposition of the Gov- 

 ernment policy of national defense drew criticisms 

 from Unionists and warnings from the Liberal 

 imperialists, represented by Lord Rosebery and 

 Lord Kimberley, as to the inadequacy and tem- 

 porary character of the military measures. A 

 month's training was first proposed for the volun- 

 teers, and this was cut down to fourteen days. 

 The plan of establishing a reserve available for 

 service abroad under certain conditions was con- 

 demned as impairing the original character of the 

 volunteer force without making any substantial 

 addition to the fighting strength of the nation. 

 The reduction of the vote for the Colonial Office 

 was moved by Sir Wilfred Lawson as a protest 

 against the ministerial policy in South Africa, 

 which was described as bringing upon the country 

 discredit, degradation, and demoralization. Sir 

 Robert Reid, Mr. Courtney, and Mr. Bryce sup- 

 ported the motion, but only 52 members, of whom 

 22 were Irish Nationalists, could be mustered 

 against Mr. Chamberlain, who boldly defended 

 his course, and obtained the indorsement of Sir 

 Edward Grey and 39 other Liberals. 



The Irish tithe rent charge bill was intended 

 to remedy the grievance of Irish tithe payers 

 who were still paying tithes at the rate fixed in 

 1872, although English tithes had fallen a third 

 and Irish rents had been cut down twice, while 



