enough the men of the North would win, and that when they won they would set free the slaves. The working men of the north were right. After four years of hard-fought war, the North won the victory, and the slaves were set free. The English working man had done something for himself without thinking of himself at all. He had shown that he was capable of standing up for that which he believed to be a righteous cause, however much he might suffer through it. It was impossible to deny to such men as these the rights of citizens. They were surely worthy of having votes to send members to Parliament to make the laws, after showing that, under the most trying circumstances, they knew how to obey the laws. A Parliamentary Reform which should reach them could not now be long in coming.

9. The Last Days of Lord Palmerston.-It was well known that Lord Palmerston would not hear of Parliamentary Reform. Mr. Gladstone, however, declared in its favour, and Mr. Gladstone was likely to have great influence soon. In 1865 a new Parliament was elected. Before it met Lord Palmerston died. He was eighty years of age, and kept brisk and active to the last. He was the most popular man in England, always cheery, and ready to speak a friendly word to every one. But there was work now to be done which needed the hands of younger

men.

10. The Ministry of Earl Russell. The successor of Lord Palmerston was not a young man. Earl Russell, who had once been the Lord John Russell

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who had advocated Parliamentary Reform not long after the Battle of Waterloo was fought, and who had had much to do with the first Reform Bill, became Prime Minister, to advocate a second Reform Bill, the object of which would be to give votes to the working men, as the first Reform Bill had given votes to the tradesmen. Mr. Gladstone was the chief person in the House of Commons. A Reform Bill was

proposed, but the House of Commons did not care about it, and would not have it. The Ministers at once resigned office. They thought that it was so important to reform Parliament that they would not keep in office unless they could do this. Lord Palmerston had stayed in office after proposing a Reform Bill, but they cared about reform, and Lord Palmerston did not.

11. The Conservative Ministry and the Second Reform Bill.-A Conservative Ministry came into office. The Prime Minister was Lord Derby, but the most important minister was Mr. Disraeli. All at once it appeared that though the greater number of the members of the House of Commons did not care about Reform, the working men did. There were meetings held in different parts of the country in its favour. In London a large body of men made up their minds to hold a meeting in Hyde Park, to make speeches about Reform. The Government tried to shut them out. They broke down the railings and held their meeting. The Government found out that it had no right to shut them out. Mr. Disraeli saw that the working men were now in earnest, and that they were determined to have

reform. He determined to be the person to give it to them. When Parliament met he presented a Reform Bill, which did not satisfy anybody. When that would not do he presented another Reform Bill, which was accepted. When it became law everyone who had a house of his own in a town of any size had the right of voting, and almost everyone who lived in the country who had a house which was at least of a moderate size. The working men had got what they wanted. They would now be consulted on the making of the laws.

CHAPTER L.

FROM THE PASSING OF THE SECOND REFORM BILL TO THE END OF LORD

FIELD'S MINISTRY.

(1867-1880.)

BEACONS

1. Irish Troubles.-The year in which the Reform Bill was passed was one of trouble in Ireland. An association was formed, the members of which were known as Fenians, for the purpose of separating Ireland from England. This association had many friends in America, where many Irish were living. An attempt was made to rise in insurrection in Ireland itself. The insurrection was not likely to succeed, as the Irish had scarcely any arms, and no discipline. It happened that when the

Irish collected in the hills it began to snow, and they were unable to remain in the open country. The attempt was easily put down. At Manchester some Fenian prisoners were being carried in a prison van, when some Irishmen rushed at the van, to set them free. A shot was fired, and a policeman was killed. Some of the Irishmen were tried for murder, and hanged.

2. The Irish Church and the Gladstone Ministry. -These things had a great effect on many of the Liberals, and especially on Mr. Gladstone. He thought that it was not enough to keep the Irish down by force, and that it would be right to find out whether the Irish had anything to complain of, in order that it might be remedied. The first thing which he proposed to do was to take away the income of the Protestant Church. The greater part of the Irish people was Catholic, and had to support their priests out of their own pockets, whilst the Protestant clergy were paid by money which the law required Irishmen to pay, whatever their religion might be, and were also treated with more honour by the Government than the Catholic priests were, as if their Church had been the Church of the country. Mr. Gladstone proposed to put an end to this, and to allow both the Catholic and the Protestant clergy to be paid voluntarily by their own congregations. Mr. Disraeli, who was now Prime Minister, as Lord Derby had become too ill to attend to business, objected to this, but the House of Commons agreed with Mr. Gladstone. Parliament was dissolved, and the new Parliament was оп

Mr. Gladstone's side. He therefore became Prime Minister.

3. The Irish Church Act and the Irish Land Act. -The first thing that the new ministry did was to pass a law to take away the money from the Irish Protestant Church. The next thing that it did was to pass a law about Irish Land, and to try to do what was just between landlords and tenants. Some years afterwards there were great complaints in Ireland that enough had not been done. But, at all events, the law was an honest attempt to remedy what was wrong.

4. The Education Act.-Many changes too were made in England. The greatest of these was the introduction of a new system of education. For many years the Government had been enabled by Parliament to do more and more for education. It had given large sums of money to certain Societies, which subscribed money to pay for schools on condition that the children were properly educated. A law was now made to enable the people who lived in a district to set up a school to be paid for by themselves. These schools, which are known as Board Schools, would teach a great many children who had not been taught by the Societies. Parents too, who neglected to send their children to school, were to be made to do so.

5. The Ballot Act.-Another new thing was the introduction of voting by ballot at elections. Before this, every man who voted had to give his vote openly, and many persons were afraid to vote as they thought right for fear of offending either their