I must state without any equivocation | power with which they have been invested whatever that what I said at the meeting in a spirit of prudence and patriotism. in the city expresses the literal truth. I When I remember what the constitution believe that for five, six, or seven years, of England is-that the constitution of dating from the period when a nobleman, England proposes to itself two great objects, once a distinguished member of this House to maintain at the same time political liberty [Lord John Russell], took the management and religious freedom-I have no doubt. of foreign affairs in 1859, they were con- that the English people, who will thorducted, to use one of his own famous oughly understand the issue at stake and expressions, as they seldom have been since what is involved in it, will behave in the the accession of the house of Hanover." manner that becomes the descendants of After a few words from Mr. Gladstone a great people, and will prove that they objecting to the tone of "inflated and exaggerated eulogy" which Mr. Disraeli had employed to describe both himself and his policy, the subject dropped. On the eve of the prorogation Mr. Disraeli, at a banquet at the Mansion House presided over by the lord mayor, again (July 29, 1868) addressed a few words to the country. He spoke of the activity of the session and of the various new measures that had been enrolled upon the statutebook. He congratulated his audience upon the friendly relations which existed between England and all foreign powers. But it was his remarks upon the burning question of the hour, the approaching general election, which were listened to with the deepest attention. "It is impossible," he said, "not to be sensible of the great occasion which is now at hand. I think he would not be a wise man, who for a moment would attempt to speak of that occasion in other terms than those which would do justice to its magnitude. But we have been told, in the course of the struggle of the last two years, that the confidence we reposed in the great body of the people was misplaced, and that the moment they possessed the power of the suffrage we should find them giving rein to the wildest ideas, and evidencing that they meant to exercise that power in a manner most dangerous to the institutions of the country. I confess I see no evidence before me which would justify this suspicion. On the contrary, I believe the great body of the people are prepared to exercise the are worthy of the privileges which the present generation has generously and wisely bestowed upon them. Therefore, instead of feeling any apprehension of the issue which the people of the country are called upon to decide, I must express my opinion, knowing how high and how deep the interests affected are, that the decision is safer in their hands than it would have been in a more contracted circle, probably of a more refined and educated character. Over-refinement and over-education lead very often to a perversity of opinion and an affectation of philosophy that do not deal with those vigorous and robust principles upon which the nation is now called upon to decide with the success and completeness which attend an appeal to a larger and more national constituency." We shall see how this confidence was justified. Parliament was prorogued July 31, 1868, and the queen's speech was read by commission. After alluding to the bills that had received the royal assent, to the peaceful condition of Europe, the success of the Abyssinian expedition, and the restoration of comparative quiet to Ireland, the speech thus concluded:-"It is my intention to dissolve the present parliament at the earliest day that will enable my people to reap the benefit of the extended system of representation which the wisdom of parliament has provided for them. I look with entire confidence to their proving Arrangements had been made by which the elections under the new law might take place in the autumn, so that the new parliament might be enabled to hold a short session before the expiration of the year. themselves worthy of the high privilege | carried out to its logical conclusion, would with which they have thus been invested, be degraded into "a mere question of and trust that, under the blessings of police." Divine Providence, the expression of their opinion on the great questions of public policy which have occupied the attention of parliament and remain undecided, may tend to maintain unimpaired that civil and religious freedom which has been secured to all my subjects by the institutions and settlements of my realm." And now began the canvass for the most remarkable general election that had taken place since the election consequent upon the passing of the first reform bill. The country was divided into two distinct camps, and the battle-cry was clear and unmistakable. Was the Irish Church to be severed from the state, or was it to be maintained? That was the allimportant question, and to that issue party hostilities had now been narrowed. Around Mr. Gladstone were those who advocated his policy simply because it was his policy, the Nonconformists who hoped that the downfall of the Irish Church would be the precursor of the overthrow of the Church of England, the Papists who saw the prospect of further advantages to Ireland and to the increase in the influence of their church, and the men who, regarding all religion as a detestable superstition, were only too glad to have an opportunity of making an attack upon any distinct creed. Among such company did the once vehement defender of the alliance between church and state now find himself. Around Mr. Disraeli were rallied the Anglican clergy minus the disloyal and schismatic ritualists, the landed gentry who ever in the hour of her extremity had rallied to the defence of the church, the more respectable class of manufacturers and tradespeople who were averse to government being freed from the restraints of religion, and a few, a very few, of the Liberal party who openly and disinterestedly disapproved of the tactics of their leader, and gave their vote against spoliation and a form of rule which, if The interval between the prorogation of the old parliament and the time appointed for electing the new was busily employed by both parties in the prosecution of their canvass. Mr. Gladstone was the first to throw himself into the contest, and to sound the trumpet which was to cause the walls of the Irish Church to fall down. "You cannot amend the church," he cried to his constituents in his electioneering pilgrimage throughout Lancashire, "in one respect or direction without offending in some other respect or direction, and making the case worse than before. The reason of it is that there is no basis. It is wholly disabled and disqualified for performing the purposes for which it exists; and consequently I spoke in literal truth, and not in mere sarcasm, when I said, 'You must not take away its abuses, because if you take them away there will be nothing left.'” "Let us make a new treaty," said Mr. Bright in Limerick, the city of the violated treaty. "Let us make a new treaty-not on parchment, not bound with an oath. Its end should be this-justice on the part of Great Britain, forgiveness on the part of Ireland. It shall be written in the heart of three nations, and they would pray to the common Father of all, in whose hands were the destinies of nations and of states, that He would make it last for ever and ever." Other prominent Liberals addressed their constituents in similar terms, and the election fever reached its height when in the second week of November a proclamation was issued for dissolving the present parliament, and ordering the writs for a new one to be returnable on the tenth of December next. Mr. Disraeli had taken matters more calmly than his rival. It had been an unusually hot summer, and the prime minister had been content to pass the months of August and September quietly at Hughenden, trimming his roses, and amusing himself by reading the comments and it was the earnest wish of ministers of hostile newspapers on his appointment to do full justice to Ireland. of Lord Mayo as governor-general of India, The address then concluded in the and his recommendation of the Marquis of following words :-"In this state of affairs Abercorn for a dukedom. He did not issue we had reason to hope, and it was generhis address to the electors of Buckingham- ally contemplated by the country, that shire until the first day of October. In we might have tranquilly wound up the that document he laid down the course business of the session, and then asked, he would pursue. Mr. Gladstone, he said, according to the provisions of the great had seized the occasion of an expiring statute which we had just passed, the parliament to recommend a change of the public verdict on our conduct. Had it fundamental laws of the realm, and to been propitious we might, by the favour propose a dissolution of the union between of the sovereign, have continued to serve church and state; to such a policy the Her Majesty and enjoyed an opportunity government would offer an uncompromising of effecting those legal and social improveresistance. He entered upon a compre- ments which are so much required, and to hensive view of the conduct of affairs the necessity of which we had proved we since the accession of the Conservative were not insensible. Had the verdict been government to office in 1866. His policy adverse we should have retired from office. had been distinctly that of Lord Derby, without a murmur, conscious that when we with whom he had worked in unbroken had the opportunity we endeavoured to do harmony for twenty years. Parliamentary our duty, and still prepared, as representing reform, which "had embarrassed and en- one of the great parties of the state, to feebled several administrations," had been co-operate with our rivals in public life satisfactorily settled, "broad in its prin- for the public good. This, the natural ciples, large and various in its provisions, current of events, was to be interrupted. but, as we believe, in unison with the The leader of the Opposition in the House character of the country, and calculated of Commons seized the occasion of an to animate the spirit of the community expiring parliament, which had proclaimed and add strength and stability to the its inadequate representation of the country, state." The matter of Abyssinia, that to recommend a change of the fundamental "legacy of insult and difficulty," had been laws of the realm and to propose a dissoluvictoriously ended. With regard to naval tion of the union between church and state. and military subjects, "The strength of Her Majesty's government offered and will the navy was materially increased, the offer to this policy an uncompromising defences of the country much advanced, resistance. The connection of religion with the soldier admirably armed, and enlist- the exercise of political authority is one ment become so popular that, not only is of the main safeguards of the civilization of the voted number of our forces no longer man. It instils some sense of responsibility in arrear, but many thousand veterans who even into the depositories of absolute power. were about to claim their discharge have But under any circumstances the absence remained in the army. Such great results or the severance of such a tie will lower have, of course, not been obtained without the character and duties of government an increase of our expenditure, but the and tend to the degradation of society. expenditure has been an object of the But it is urged that in the present instance first necessity; and while it has been the application of the new policy is only defrayed without adding to our taxation, to be partial, and that only one portion of it has entailed no burden on posterity." Her Majesty's dominions-Ireland-is for Fenianism had also been practically crushed, the present to be submitted to the revolu exertion by anticipations of the downfall of ecclesiastical systems. These are transient efforts; vain and passing aspirations. The ultimate triumph, were our church to fall, would be to that power which would substitute for the authority of our sovereign the supremacy of a foreign prince, to that power with whose tradition, learning, discipline, and organization our church alone has hitherto been able to cope, and that too only when supported by a determined and devoted people." tion; and on this plea that in Ireland the | gress; the sectarian may be roused to members of the established church form only a minority of the population. If this numerical test is to be accepted, its application cannot be limited to Ireland; and if in a country of entire toleration a local instead of an imperial gauge be adopted, the religious integrity of the community will soon be frittered away. Instead of Ireland being made an exception to the fundamental condition of our constitution, there are many secondary reasons why the established church should be maintained in that country. Its subversion would aggravate religious hostility and party rancour; would suppress a resident class of men whose social virtues are conducive, as all agree, to the welfare of the country, and would further diminish the security of property in a land where its tenure and enjoyment are not as unquestioned as they have hitherto been in other parts of Her Majesty's dominions. But even in Great Britain the spoliation of the Church of Ireland would not be without its effect. Confiscation is contagious; and when once a community has been seduced into plunder, its predatory acts have seldom been single. There are, however, weightier reasons why this new policy should be resisted. The religious liberty which all Her Majesty's subjects now happily enjoy is owing to the Christian Church in this country having accepted the principles of the Reformation, and recognized the supremacy of the sovereign as the representative of the state, not only in matters temporal, but in matters ecclesiastical. This is the stronghold of our spiritual freedom. So long as there is in this country the connection, through the medium of a Protestant sovereign, between the state and the national church, religious liberty is secure. That security is now assailed by various means and on different plans; but amidst the discordant activity of many factions there moves the supreme purpose of one power. The philosopher may flatter himself he is advancing the cause of enlightened pro Unlike Mr. Gladstone, who found that after a few years every constituency which he represented had become wearied and disgusted with that development of his political views which to the ordinary mind appeared like the grossest inconsistency, and consequently declined to return him, the prime minister knew that his seat was assured, and that he need not trouble himself in the matter. On Lord Mayor's day he came up to town, and was vociferously cheered at the Mansion House banquet when he replied to the toast of Her Majesty's ministers. He referred to the reform bill, and gave it as his opinion that the measure would work satisfactorily. Alluding to the desire for spoliation with which the political atmosphere was charged, he begged the city of London to recollect that, as owners of property, they were interested in maintaining the rights of property. The relations between France and Prussia were at that time much strained; and as Lord Stanley had been successful in arranging the dispute with America as to the Alabama claim, the prime minister suggested that the rival powers would do well to invoke the aid of the English foreign secretary to settle their differences. As to the result of the general election he had no fear. His opponents were very confident and very arrogant. "But I have never," he said, "found boastfulness and braggadocio of the slightest utility. Our opponents, indeed, have settled everything. They have exhausted all the arts of unanimous audacity. But I think I have read somewhere that it is the custom of undisciplined hosts on the eve of a battle to anticipate and celebrate their triumph by horrid sounds and hideous yells, the sounding of cymbals, the beating of drums, the shrieks and springs of barbaric hordes. But when all has occurred, it is sometimes found that the victory is not to them, but to those who are calm and collected: the victory is to those who have arms of precision, though they may have made no noise-to those who have had the breechloaders, the rocket-brigade, and the Armstrong artillery." He was not intimidated, and he humorously concluded by hoping that when next year he should be called upon to return thanks for the cabinet, his observations on the political situation might be remembered. Mr. Disraeli again alluded to the political situation on the day of his election (November 19, 1868). He claimed credit for passing the reform bill, he praised the diplomatic skill of Lord Stanley, he defended the expenditure of the government, and he deprecated the haste of Mr. Gladstone in dealing with the question of the Irish Church. Turning to foreign affairs, he asserted that when Lord Derby came into office, thanks to the policy of Earl Russell, England found herself estranged from France, Germany, and Russia. Her relations" were relations of courtesy, but not of confidence." Happily confidence and sympathy now reigned in the stead of the results of the Russell foreign policy. "All our interests," said Mr. Disraeli, "lie in the preservation of the peace of Europe; and we value our influence, because by using it we believe we can assist in the maintenance of that peace." As to Fenianism, he stated what he had always maintained, that it was a plant of foreign growth, and arose out of the American civil war. "In America," he said, "where a great many military men were Irish-and the Irish are a valorous and adventurous people -they had acquired great skill and experience, and they knew that in Ireland there is always a degree of morbid discontent which they believe they might fan into flame, and which might lead to the revolutionary result they desired. The whole nature of the race will account for it. An Irishman is an imaginative being. He lives on an island in a damp climate, and contiguous to the melancholy ocean. He has no variety of pursuit. There is no nation in the world that leads so monotonous a life as the Irish, because their only occupation is the cultivation of the soil before them. These men are discontented because they are not amused. The Irishman in other countries, where he has a fair field for his talents in various occupations, is equal, if not superior, to most races; and it is not the fault of the government that there is not that variety of occupation in Ireland. I may say with frankness that I think it is the fault of the Irish. If they led that kind of life which would invite the introduction of capital into the country, all this ability might be utilized; and instead of those feelings which they acquire by brooding over the history of their country, a great part of which is merely traditionary, you would find men acquiring fortunes, and arriving at conclusions on politics entirely different from those which they now offer." Mr. Disraeli was elected without opposition. The sanguine predictions of the prime minister as to the result of the elections. were not to be fulfilled. In spite of certain prominent reverses, the tone of the country was adverse to the maintenance of a Conservative cabinet. In the English counties the Conservatives, as a rule, headed the poll; but in the boroughs the Liberals, with scarcely any exceptions, added largely to their majority. Scotland and Ireland were also the opponents of the Conservative policy. Several important reverses, however, occurred, which afforded no little consolation to the depressed Conservative interest. Mr. Gladstone was rejected by South-west Lancashire, and had to take refuge in Greenwich; the successful candidates being Mr. Cross, afterwards the ablest |