sides there were irritation, discontent, and riot. "It is the most unlucky government that ever was," cried the Duke of Somerset when opposing the ballot bill. "Every day brings some new misfortune to the government. Whether one takes a walk through the parks, through Trafalgar Square, or even along the Thames embankment, everywhere evidence is to be found how the government have mismanaged affairs. What a mess they have made of it in the park here and in the park in Ireland! Their army cannot march, and their ships cannot swim. It is a very unfortunate circumstance that the government should go on blundering in that way." During the recess ministers amused themselves by touring about the country contradicting all the statements of their enemies, vindicating their actions in the past, and, as Mr. Disraeli said, living in "a blaze of apology." In spite of all their eloquence, however, the country declined to come to any other conclusion than that arrived at by the Duke of Somerset, that the government had "made a mess of it." Whilst his rivals were busy excusing the failures of the last session, Mr. Disraeli addressed himself but once to the country. It was on the occasion of the dinner given by the Hughenden Horticultural Society. Her Majesty had for some time past been in failing health, and much anxiety was felt by the better classes in the country about her condition. At the same time it must be admitted that there was a large section of the people who grumbled severely at the secluded life led by the queen, and who asserted, being ignorant of the state of her health, that it was the duty of Her Majesty to come forward from her retirement, and to dispense the hospitalities and fulfil the social obligations expected from the throne. The success which had attended upon the elevation of the French republic had caused a feeling among the more ignorant and easily prejudiced in the country in favour of republican institutions; and it was asked both in ribald verse and still more ribald caricature what use was there in possessing a social ornament to the constitution if no state balls or concerts were ever given, if all the royal palaces were closed, if levees and drawing-rooms were never held, and if royal and other illustrious personages who visited our shores were received neither at Windsor Castle nor Buckingham Palace, but had to content themselves with the accommodation afforded by an hotel? If the sovereign was too stricken with grief to carry out the duties imposed upon her by her lofty position, let her abdicate and give place to the heir-apparent. Or better still, shrieked the republican division, let monarchy be abolished, and the simple and economical institutions now in vogue both across the Channel and across the Atlantic be adopted. So sneered and spoke certain among the masses, and their words did not meet with entire disapproval. It was to correct this impression that Mr. Disraeli made a few remarks which created no little sensation at the time. He explained that the sovereign of these realms did not neglect. her constitutional duties, and that it was only from ill health that she was debarred from performing her social duties. "The health of the queen," he said, "has for several years been a subject of anxiety to those about her, but it is only this year that the country generally has become acquainted with the gravity of her condition. I believe I may say there is some improvement in Her Majesty's health, but I fear it will be a long time before it will recover the average condition; and I do not think we can conceal from ourselves that a still longer time must elapse before Her Majesty will be able to resume the performance of those public and active duties which it was once her pride and pleasure to fulfil-I say her pleasure to fulfil, because they brought her into constant and immediate contact with her people. The fact is, we cannot conceal from ourselves that Her Majesty is physically and morally incapacitated from performing those duties; but it is some con to his observation at once fell to the ground. To be physically incapacitated is one thing, to be morally, is a very different matter. Still, in spite of the denial, the subject was not permitted for some time to drop. It suited the malice of certain political opponents to decry Mr. Disraeli, and to make out that the man who was, of all English prime ministers, the most jealous of any tampering with the prerogative, was attempting to bid for republican support by directing a "pointed and precise" attack against the sovereign, in order to tarnish the lustre of the crown. solation to Her Majesty's advisers to know | tated." Mr. Disraeli denied that he had that, with regard to those much higher said "morally," and therefore the objection duties which Her Majesty is called upon to perform, she still performs them with a punctuality and a precision which have certainly never been surpassed, and rarely equalled by any monarch of these realms. There is not a despatch received from abroad, or sent from this country abroad, which is not submitted to the queen. The whole of the internal administration of this country greatly depends upon the sign manual, and of our present sovereign it may be said that her signature has never been placed to any public document of which she did not know the purpose, and of which she did not approve. Those cabinet councils of which you all hear, and which are necessarily the scene of anxious and important deliberations, are reported and communicated on their termination by the minister to the sovereign, and they often call from her critical remarks requiring considerable attention; and I will venture to say this, that no person likely to administer the affairs of this country would treat the suggestions of Her Majesty with indifference, for at this moment there is probably no person living who has such complete control over the political condition of England as the sovereign herself. All who have served her will admit that when her ministers have been selected by her, in deference to what she believes to be the higher interests of the state and the opinion of the country, she gives to them a complete confidence and an undeviating support. But although there never was a sovereign who would less arrogate to herself any power or prerogative which the constitution does not authorize, so I will say there was never one more wisely jealous of the prerogatives and privileges which the constitution has allotted to her, because she believes that they are for the welfare of her people." No sooner had this speech been delivered than attention was at once drawn to the words "physically and morally incapaci VOL. II Before the year closed republicanism in England, however, received a blow which at once crushed its rising efforts. The Prince of Wales, on returning from a visit to the seat of Lord Londesborough, had been attacked by typhoid symptoms, and was lying dangerously ill at Sandringham. When the sad news was made public, the most ardent loyalty was restored to the nation. All the ribald caricatures, all the lying stories which had been so freely circulated, all the sham hostility which had been directed against the throne, at once disappeared and were forgotten. There was only one prayer throughout the countrythat it might please God to restore the heir-apparent to perfect health, and thus create rejoicing in every heart. The interest in all other topics died away-for the one question of the hour, to which alone the nation cared for a reply, was "How is the prince?" As the bulletins were issued they were perused by an eager and anxious crowd, and their contents flashed forth to every town and village in the kingdom. All Europe looked on with astonishment and with reverence. At a time when republicanism was supposed to be in the ascendant, this devotion to the cause of monarchial government, this unfeigned attachment to the royal family, and the sincerity of the grief which the illness of the heir-apparent excited amid all classes 27 of the nation, caused men, who had taught that the influence of a crown was a delusion and a throne a symbol of oppression, to re-consider their opinions, and to admit that in England, at least, the principle of royalty was as firmly settled in the hearts of the people as it was honoured and beloved. Happily, as we know, the prince slowly but steadily recovered, and was shortly afterwards enabled to receive from his future subjects such an ovation as seldom falls to the lot of man. His illness cannot be said to have been sent in vain, since it effectually dispelled the clouds of calumny and disloyalty which had for some little time past been gathering around the throne. The queen, ever sensitive of the attachment of her people, did not permit the loyal sympathy which had been called forth to pass unacknowledged. She thus testified her thanks : "WINDSOR CASTLE, Dec. 26, 1871. "The queen is very anxious to express her deep nation on the occasion of the alarming illness of sense of the touching sympathy of the whole her dear son, the Prince of Wales. The universal feeling shown for her by her people during those painful, terrible days, and the sympathy evinced by them with herself and her beloved daughter, the Princess of Wales, as well as the general joy have made a deep and lasting impression on her at the improvement in the Prince of Wales' state, heart, which can never be effaced. It was indeed nothing new to her, for the queen had met with the same sympathy when, just ten years ago, a similar illness removed from her side the mainstay of her life, the best, wisest, and kindest of husbands. "The queen wishes to express, at the same time, on the part of the Princess of Wales, her feelings of heartfelt gratitude, for she has been as deeply touched as the queen by the great and universal manifestation of loyalty and sympathy. "The queen cannot conclude without expressing her hope, that her faithful subjects will continue their prayers to God for the complete recovery of her dear son to health and strength." the nation in the administration of naval affairs. The abolition of the purchase system, though the reform was to be commended, had caused the army to look upon the government as an aggressive and meddlesome foe. The licensed victuallers, irritated at the interference with the licensing question, were preparing to go over in a body to the Opposition. The American claims, which had meekly been admitted by ministers, had angered and humiliated the country, which very justly felt that the authorities at Washington were presuming on our good-nature—or timidity. THE shadows which coming events cast | Megara had shaken the confidence of before them were deepening and lengthening. The disintegrating influences which a few months later were to shatter and overthrow the Gladstone administration were making themselves palpably felt, and were full of ill omen to all who had the interests of the Liberal party really at heart. It was evident that on the various questions which had arisen there was so much diversity of opinion as to render it hopeless to expect that union could long prevail, and ministerialists present an unbroken front to the attacks of a patient, but vigilant Opposition. As he critically examined his followers before preparing for action, Mr. Gladstone saw the elements of discord in every section, and that mutiny was only watching its opportunity to sound the cry of disaffection. The clergy were fast deserting from his ranks, since they never knew from one session to another whether it was to fall to their lot to share the same fate as that of their brethren of the sister Church in Ireland. The Nonconformists were agitating violently against certain provisions in the education bill, and threatened, unless their demands were complied with, to withdraw altogether their allegiance from the ministry. Several of the Liberal landed gentry were rendered hostile by the clauses of the Irish land bill, fearing that such a measure would eventually lead to a reduction of rent in England, and to a change for the worse in the relations between landlord and tenant. In commercial circles the "sweet simplicity" of the "harum scarum" budgets of Mr. Lowe were adversely commented upon in every bank parlour and almost every counting-house. The loss of the Captain and of the Yet, as if this discreditable state of things had not in itself been sufficient to make the nation sullen and depressed, Mr. Gladstone must needs go out of his way to throw more dirt upon his already amply bespattered administration. The appointment of Sir Robert Collier to a seat at the judicial committee of the privy council, was one of those insolent and infamous jobs only to be expected from a government which was ever lauding the lofty morality of its motives and the single-minded character of its political ambition. It was a job worthy of the worst days of Sir Robert Walpole or the Duke of Newcastle, and based on grounds which even the most brazen attorney who had ever saved his client through a flaw in the indictment, or through quibbles of the most shuffling character, would have hesitated to advance. The subtlest and most unscrupulous of the friends of the prime minister felt themselves at a complete loss how to defend and throw a glamour over so strained and arrogant a proceeding. Sir Robert Collier, the attorneygeneral to the government, had to be pro vided for. A vacancy occurring, he had | sion," wrote the Lord Chief-Justice Cock- So glaring a setting at nought of the spirit of an act of parliament was a proceeding which did not pass unnoticed or uncondemned. Remonstrances against this colourable and manufactured qualification, which had been deemed sufficient to give an ex-attorney-general a seat in the new court of appeal, poured in upon both Mr. Gladstone and the lord chancellor from Liberals of all shades of opinions. "From every member of the legal profes This disgraceful act was to be repeated in another instance, which created almost equal scandal. The rectory of Ewelme, ever since the days of James I., had been annexed to the Regius professorship of divinity of the University of Oxford; but during the last session an Act had been passed severing the rectory of Ewelme from the Regius professorship. Still, when this separation took place, it had been specially stipulated that the rectory should never fall into the hands of one who was not a member of the convocation of the University of Oxford. The meaning of this provision was, of course, very simple; it meant that only a man trained and educated at Oxford should enjoy the fruits of the rectory. But Mr. Gladstone proved himself as equal in evading the spirit of the law in this case as he had been in the Collier appointment. The living of Ewelme became void, owing to the promotion of Dr. Payne Smith to the deanery of Canterbury. Mr. Gladstone then presented a Mr. Harvey, a member of the University of Cambridge, to the vacant rectory. And now the same farce was to be gone through as had been acted with such success by the late attorney-general. The spirit of the law was to be evaded, whilst the letter was strictly to be carried out. As Sir Robert Collier had been appointed a judge to qualify himself for a |