GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



409 



be submitted to the consideration of the Sultan 

 and the powers. The restoration of Cetewayo 

 was justified as a guarantee of peace and order. 

 Continued improvement in the social condition 

 of Ireland was shown in the sensible diminu- 

 tion of agrarian crime and the regular enforce- 

 ment of the law ; at the same time, the exist- 

 ence of dangerous secret societies called for 

 unremitting vigilance on the part of the Exec- 

 utive. The legislative programme embraced 

 bills on the subjects of a criminal code, crimi- 

 nal appeal, bankruptcy, patents, corrupt prac- 

 tices, perpetuation of the ballot act, etc. The 

 establishment of municipal government in the 

 metropolis was promised, and reforms of local 

 government in other parts of the United King- 

 dom, if time permitted. Other measures, to 

 conciliate the neglected constituencies of Great 

 Britain, were bills relating to police and uni- 

 versities in Scotland, and to education in 

 Wales ; while, as a peace-offering to the Irish, 

 some of their legislative wants, not yet pro- 

 vided for, were to be dealt with. To the 

 tenant-farmers of England and Scotland was 

 extended the promise of compensation for 

 agricultural improvements. 



The fourth session is usually regarded as a 

 critical period in the life of a ministry. The 

 Government had provided itself with a new 

 machinery of legislative procedure, in order to 

 redeem the pledges and bring up arrears of 

 legislation. A debate on the Queen's address, 

 extending over eleven sittings, eight of which 

 were taken up with the discussion of Irish 

 affairs, followed by a long wrangle over the 

 question of admission to Parliament, the free 

 ventilation of Irish grievances, questions with- 

 out end, attacks from the skirmishing "fourth 

 party," and the resort to more obstructive and 

 troublesome tactics by members of the regular 

 Opposition, unchecked by Sir Stafford North- 

 cote, were in a measure the result of cutting 

 loose from the traditions of the House, and 

 introducing stringent disciplinary regulations. 

 Yet the Government was afraid to apply the 

 cloture, though out-of-doors the ministers com- 

 plained of obstruction. 



The novelty of grand committees worked 

 clumsily. Frequent changes in the order of 

 business made by the Government provoked 

 discussion and opposition, and the concurrent 

 activity of the grand committees and the 

 House confused the work of legislation. The 

 procedure of the committees was intended to 

 'be more business-like than the forms of the 

 House, but in the end the committees devel- 

 oped into a mere duplication of the House of 

 Commons. The committee-room is provided 

 with benches for the members of the two par- 

 ties on each side, from which they rise to 

 speak and address the Chair. The experiment 

 of "devolution" was hardly successful. Of 

 the four bills referred to the grand commit- 

 tees, three were sent back to the House of 

 Commons, of which two afterward became 

 law ; but, owing to the pressure of other busi- 



ness, not one had been considered on report at 

 the close of July, while the House of Lords 

 had not received any of those or other minis- 

 terial measures of the first rank. In August, 

 the legislation of the session was rushed 

 through the thin and dwindling House with 

 a precipitant hurry that furnished, in the 

 speeches of the Opposition during the recess, 

 one of the chief points in their arraignment 

 of the Government. The London municipal- 

 ity, criminal code, river conservancy, ballot 

 perpetuation, and criminal appeal bills fell to 

 the ground. The Government sustained sev- 

 eral remarkable defeats, such as the resolu- 

 tions in favor of the reduction of local taxation 

 and of restrictions on cattle-importation on 

 account of foot-and-mouth disease, which were 

 distinctly Conservative proposals, and notably 

 the rejection of the affirmation bill ; also the 

 motion in favor of sixpenny telegrams, the re- 

 jection of Mr. Childers's plan for collection of 

 the income-tax, and the abandonment of the 

 Suez Canal agreement on account of the pub- 

 lic hostility it provoked. The explosives, af- 

 firmation, national debt, and Scotch local gov- 

 ernment board bills interrupted the regular 

 programme announced in the address. The 

 more important of the positive fruits of the 

 session were the agricultural-holdings bill for 

 England and Scotland, the corrupt-practices 

 bill, the bankruptcy bill, the patents bill, and 

 the national-debt bill. 



The Affirmation Bill. On the first day of the 

 session the Speaker read a letter from Mr. 

 Bradlaugh, announcing 'that he would present 

 himself to take the oath. Lord Hartington 

 gave an assurance that the Attorney-General 

 would at once bring in an affirmation bill. Mr. 

 Labouchere, the junior member for North- 

 ampton, engaged that his colleague would take 

 no further step till the fate of the bill was 

 decided. A bill to amend the law relating to 

 parliamentary oaths was accordingly intro- 

 duced, allowing any member who objected to 

 the oath to substitute for it a simple affirma- 

 tion. Notice of opposition was given, though 

 on former occasions Sir Stafford North cote 

 had called upon the Government to settle the 

 question by legislation. The chief obstacle to 

 the bill was that it was supposed to be ex- 

 torted by Mr. Bradlaugh's menaces. Public 

 feeling in the constituencies caused many 

 among the ministerial majority to abstain 

 from voting, and a certain number to vote 

 against the bill. The motion for the second 

 reading was defeated in a very full House, 

 292 against 289. On the following day Mr. 

 Bradlaugh again wrote to the Speaker, claim- 

 ing his right to take the oath. The Speaker" 

 asked instructions, and then Sir" Stafford North- 

 cote moved that " Mr. Bradlaugh be not per- 

 mitted to go through the form of repeating the 

 words of the oath." Mr. Bradlaugh pleaded 

 his cause from before the bar. The motion 

 was carried by a large majority. 



On Mr. Bradlaugh's announcement that he 



