U2 EPPING FOREST. 



John Stuart Mill thereupon moved a resolution that 

 "the Society, considering the Bill introduced by the 

 Government as in direct opposition to the principles for 

 the assertion of which the Society was constituted, do 

 resist it to the utmost." An amendment on this was 

 moved by Mr. Andrew Johnston, then member for the 

 county of Essex, " that the principle of the Bill may be 

 held to be the assertion that some settlement is desir- 

 able, and that therefore it is not desirable to oppose the 

 Second Reading. " On a division the amendment was 

 rejected by a single vote only. Mr. Fawcett accordingly 

 gave notice to move the rejection of the Bill on the 

 Second Reading. This determination of the Society to 

 refuse the proposed compromise, and to oppose the Bill, 

 led to its withdrawal by the Government. It was also 

 found to be against the Standing Orders of Parliament 

 to introduce such a Bill without notices. 



In the following session another effort was made 

 to force the Government to take steps for the pre- 

 servation of the Forest. Mr. Cowper Temple moved 

 that it was expedient that measures should be adopted, 

 in accordance with the address to the Crown of the 

 previous year, for keeping open those parts of Epping 

 Forest which had not been inclosed with the assent of the 

 Crown, or by legal authority. The motion was opposed 

 by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Lowe, who 

 urged that the Government had fairly performed their 

 promises of the previous year by the proposals in Mr. 

 Ayrton's Bill. He contended that this measure was 

 one of conciliation, the result of negotiation with the 



