The Confederates, naturally anxious to harass the commerce of their
enemies, endeavoured from the commencement of hostilities to purchase
armed cruisers from builders of neutral nations. In June 1862 the
American minister in London drew Lord Russell's attention to the fact
that a vessel, lately launched at Messrs Laird's yard at Birkenhead, was
obviously intended to be employed as a Confederate cruiser. The
solicitor to the commissioners of customs, however, considered that no
facts had been revealed to authorize the detention of the vessel, and
this opinion was reported in July to the American minister, Charles
Francis Adams. He thereupon supplied the government with additional
facts, and at the same time furnished them with the opinion of an
eminent English lawyer, R. P. Collier (afterwards Lord Monkswell), to
the effect that "it would be difficult to make out a stronger case of
infringement of the Foreign Enlistment Act, which if not enforced on
this occasion is little better than a dead letter." These facts and this
opinion were at once sent to the law officers. They reached the queen's
advocate on Saturday the 26th of July; but, by an unfortunate mischance,
the queen's advocate had just been wholly incapacitated by a distressing
illness; and the papers, in consequence, did not reach the attorney- and
solicitor-general till the evening of the following Monday, when they at
once advised the government to detain the vessel. Lord Russell thereupon
sent orders to Liverpool for her detention. In the meanwhile the
vessel--probably aware of the necessity for haste--had put to sea, and
had commenced the career which made her famous as the "Alabama."
Ministers might even then have taken steps to stop the vessel by
directing her detention in any British port to which she resorted for
supplies. The cabinet, however, shrank from this course. The "Alabama"
was allowed to prey on Federal commerce, and undoubtedly inflicted a
vast amount of injury on the trade of the United States. In the autumn
of 1862 Adams demanded redress for the injuries which had thus been
sustained, and this demand was repeated for many years in stronger and
stronger language. At last, in 1871, long after Lord Palmerston's death
and Lord Russell's retirement, a joint commission was appointed to
examine into the many cases of dispute which had arisen between the
United States and Great Britain. The commissioners agreed upon three
rules by which they thought neutrals should in future be bound, and
recommended that they should be given a retrospective effect. They
decided also that the claims which had arisen out of the depredations of
the "Alabama" should be referred to arbitration. In the course of 1872
the arbitrators met at Geneva. Their finding was adverse to Great
Britain, which was condemned to pay a large sum of money--more than
L3,000,000--as compensation. A period of exceptional prosperity, which
largely increased the revenue, enabled a chancellor of the exchequer to
boast that the country had drunk itself out of the "Alabama" difficulty.
Lord Russell's second ministry.
In October 1805 Lord Palmerston's rule, which had been characterized by
six years of political inaction at home and by constant disturbance
abroad, was terminated by his death. The ministry, which had suffered
many losses from death during its duration, was temporarily
reconstructed under Lord Russell; and the new minister at once decided
to put an end to the period of internal stagnation, which had lasted so
long, by the introduction of a new Reform Bill. Accordingly, in March
1866 Gladstone, who now led the House of Commons, introduced a measure
which proposed to extend the county franchise to L14 and the borough
franchise to L7 householders. The bill did not create much enthusiasm
among Liberals, and it was naturally opposed by the Conservatives, who
were reinforced by a large section of moderate Liberals, nicknamed, in
consequence of a phrase in one of Bright's speeches, Adullamites. After
many debates, in which the Commons showed little disposition to give the
ministry any effective support, an amendment was carried by Lord
Dunkellin, the eldest son of Lord Clanricarde, basing the borough
franchise on rating instead of rental. The cabinet, recognizing from the
division that the control of the House had passed out of its hands,
resigned office, and the queen was compelled to entrust Lord Derby with
the task of forming a new administration.
Lord Derby's third ministry.
For the third time in his career Lord Derby undertook the formidable
task of conducting the government of the country with only a minority of
the House of Commons to support him. The moment at which he made this
third attempt was one of unusual anxiety. Abroad, the almost
simultaneous outbreak of war between Prussia and Austria was destined to
affect the whole aspect of continental politics. At home, a terrible
murrain had fallen on the cattle, inflicting ruin on the agricultural
interest; a grave commercial crisis was creating alarm in the city of
London, and, in its consequences, injuring the interests of labour;
while the working classes, at last roused from their long indifference,
and angry at the rejection of Lord Russell's bill, were assembling in
their tens of thousands to demand reform. The cabinet determined to
prohibit a meeting which the Reform League decided to hold in Hyde Park
on the 23rd of July, and closed the gates of the park on the people. But
the mob, converging on the park in thousands, surged round the railings,
which a little inquiry might have shown were too weak to resist any real
pressure. Either accidentally or intentionally, the railings were
overturned in one place, and the people, perceiving their opportunity,
at once threw them down round the whole circuit of the park. Few acts in
Queen Victoria's reign were attended with greater consequences. For the
riot in Hyde Park led almost directly to a new Reform Act, and to the
transfer of power from the middle classes to the masses of the people.
Reform, 1867.
Yet, though the new government found it necessary to introduce a Reform
Bill, a wide difference of opinion existed in the cabinet as to the form
which the measure should take. Several of its members were in favour of
assimilating the borough franchise to that in force in municipal
elections, and practically conferring a vote on every householder who
had three years' residence in the constituency. General Peel,
however--Sir Robert Peel's brother--who held the seals of the war
office, objected to this extension; and the cabinet ultimately decided
on evading the difficulty by bringing forward a series of resolutions on
which a scheme of reform might ultimately be based. Their success in
1858, in dealing with the government of India in this way, commended the
decision to the acceptance of the cabinet. But it was soon apparent that
the House of Commons required a definite scheme, and that it would not
seriously consider a set of abstract resolutions which committed no one
to any distinct plan. Hence on the 23rd of February 1867 the cabinet
decided on withdrawing its resolutions and reverting to its original
bill. On the following day Lord Cranborne--better known afterwards as
Lord Salisbury--discovered that the bill had more democratic tendencies
than he had originally supposed, and refused to be a party to it. On
Monday, the 25th, the cabinet again met to consider the new difficulty
which had thus arisen; and it decided (as was said afterwards by Sir
John Pakington) in ten minutes to substitute for the scheme a mild
measure extending the borough franchise to houses rated at L6 a year,
and conferring the county franchise on L20 householders. The bill, it
was soon obvious, would be acceptable to no one; and the government
again fell back on its original proposal. Three members of the cabinet,
however, Lord Cranborne, Lord Carnarvon and General Peel, refused to be
parties to the measure, and resigned office, the government being
necessarily weakened by these defections. In the large scheme which the
cabinet had now adopted, the borough franchise was conferred on all
householders rated to the relief of the poor, who had for two years
occupied the houses which gave them the qualification; the county
franchise was given to the occupiers of all houses rated at L15 a year
or upwards. But it was proposed that these extensions should be
accompanied by an educational franchise, and a franchise conferred on
persons who had paid twenty shillings in assessed taxes or income tax;
the taxpayers who had gained a vote in this way being given a second
vote in respect of the property which they occupied. In the course of
the discussion on the bill in the House of Commons, the securities on
which its authors had relied to enable them to stem the tide of
democracy were, chiefly through Gladstone's exertions, swept away. The
dual vote was abandoned, direct payment of rates was surrendered, the
county franchise was extended to L12 householders, and the
redistribution of seats was largely increased. The bill, in the shape in
which it had been introduced, had been surrounded with safeguards to
property. With their loss it involved a great radical change, which
placed the working classes of the country in the position of
predominance which the middle classes had occupied since 1832.
Disraeli prime minister.
The passage of the bill necessitated a dissolution of parliament; but it
had to be postponed to enable parliament to supplement the English
Reform Act of 1867 with measures applicable to Scotland and Ireland, and
to give time for settling the boundaries of the new constituencies which
had been created. This delay gave the Conservatives another year of
office. But the first place in the cabinet passed in 1868 from Lord
Derby to his lieutenant, Disraeli. The change added interest to
political life. Thenceforward, for the next thirteen years, the chief
places in the two great parties in the state were filled by the two men,
Gladstone and Disraeli, who were unquestionably the ablest
representatives of their respective followers. But the situation was
also remarkable because power thus definitely passed from men who,
without exception, had been born in the 18th century, and had all held
cabinet offices before 1832, to men who had been born in the 19th
century, and had only risen to cabinet rank in the 'forties and the
'fifties. It was also interesting to reflect that Gladstone had begun
life as a Conservative, and had only gradually moved to the ranks of the
Liberal party; while Disraeli had fought his first election under the
auspices of O'Connell and Hume, had won his spurs by his attacks on Sir
Robert Peel, and had been only reluctantly adopted by the Conservatives
as their leader in the House of Commons.
Irish Church.
The struggle commenced in 1868 on an Irish question. During the previous
years considerable attention had been paid to a secret conspiracy in
Ireland and among the Irish in America. The Fenians, as they were
called, actually attempted insurrection in Ireland, and an invasion of
Canada from the United States. At the beginning of 1866 Lord Russell's
government thought itself compelled to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in
Ireland; and in 1867 Lord Derby's government was confronted in the
spring by a plot to seize Chester Castle, and in the autumn by an attack
on a prison van at Manchester containing Fenian prisoners, and by an
atrocious attempt to blow up Clerkenwell prison. Conservative
politicians deduced from these circumstances the necessity of applying
firm government to Ireland. Liberal statesmen, on the contrary, desired
to extirpate rebellion by remedying the grievances of which Ireland
still complained. Chief among these was the fact that the Established
Church in Ireland was the church of only a minority of the people. In
March 1868 John Francis Maguire, an Irish Catholic, asked the House of
Commons to resolve itself into a committee to take into immediate
consideration the affairs of Ireland. Gladstone, in the course of the
debate, declared that in his opinion the time had come when the Irish
Church, as a political institution, should cease; and he followed up his
declaration by a series of resolutions, which were accepted by
considerable majorities, pledging the House to its disestablishment.
Disraeli, recognizing the full significance of this decision, announced
that, as soon as the necessary preparations could be made, the
government would appeal from the House to the country. Parliament was
dissolved at the end of July, but the general election did not take
place till the end of the following November. The future of the Irish
Church naturally formed one of the chief subjects which occupied the
attention of the electors, but the issue was largely determined by wider
considerations. The country, after the long political truce which had
been maintained by Lord Palmerston, was again ranged in two hostile
camps, animated by opposing views. It was virtually asked to decide in
1868 whether it would put its trust in Liberal or Conservative, in
Gladstone or Disraeli. By an overwhelming majority it threw its lot in
favour of Gladstone; and Disraeli, without even venturing to meet
parliament, took the unusual course of at once placing his resignation
in the queen's hands.
Abyssinian war.
The Conservative government, which thus fell, will be chiefly
recollected for its remarkable concession to democratic principles by
the passage of the Reform Act of 1867; but it deserves perhaps a word of
praise for its conduct of a distant and unusual war. The emperor of
Abyssinia had, for some time, detained some Englishmen prisoners in his
country; and the government, unable to obtain redress in other ways,
decided on sending an army to release them. The expedition, entrusted to
Sir Robert Napier, afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala, was fitted out at
great expense, and was rewarded with complete success. The prisoners
were released, and the Abyssinian monarch committed suicide.
Disraeli--whose oriental imagination was excited by the
triumph--incurred some ridicule by his bombastic declaration that "the
standard of St George was hoisted upon the mountains of Rasselas." But
the ministry could at least claim that the war had been waged to rescue
Englishmen from captivity, that it had been conducted with skill, and
that it had accomplished its object. The events of the Abyssinian war,
however, were forgotten in the great political revolution which had
swept the Conservatives from office and placed Gladstone in power. His
government was destined to endure for more than five years. During that
period it experienced the alternate prosperity and decline which nearly
forty years before had been the lot of the Whigs after the passage of
the first Reform Act. During its first two sessions it accomplished
greater changes in legislation than had been attempted by any ministry
since that of Lord Grey. In its three last sessions it was destined to
sink into gradual disrepute; and it was ultimately swept away by a wave
of popular reaction, as remarkable as that which had borne it into
power.
Gladstone's first ministry.
Irish land.
Elementary education.
It was generally understood that Gladstone intended to deal with three
great Irish grievances--"the three branches of the upas tree"--the
religious, agricultural and educational grievances. The session of 1869
was devoted to the first of these subjects. Gladstone introduced a bill
disconnecting the Irish Church from the state, establishing a synod for
its government, and--after leaving it in possession of its churches and
its parsonages, and making ample provision for the life-interest of its
existing clergy--devoting the bulk of its property to the relief of
distress in Ireland. The bill was carried by large majorities through
the House of Commons; and the feeling of the country was so strong that
the Lords did not venture on its rejection. They satisfied themselves
with engrafting on it a series of amendments which, on the whole,
secured rather more liberal terms of compensation for existing
interests. Some of these amendments were adopted by Gladstone; a
compromise was effected in respect of the others; and the bill, which
had practically occupied the whole session, and had perhaps involved
higher constructive skill than any measure passed in the previous
half-century, became law. Having dealt with the Irish Church in 1869,
Gladstone turned to the more complicated question of Irish land. So far
back as the 'forties Sir R. Peel had appointed a commission, known from
its chairman as the Devon commission, which had recommended that the
Irish tenant, in the event of disturbance, should receive some
compensation for certain specified improvements which he had made in his
holding. Parliament neglected to give effect to these recommendations;
in a country where agriculture was the chief or almost only occupation,
the tenant remained at his landlord's mercy. In 1870 Gladstone proposed
to give the tenant a pecuniary interest in improvements, suitable to the
holding, which he had made either before or after the passing of the
act. He proposed also that, in cases of eviction, the smaller tenantry
should receive compensation for disturbance. The larger tenantry, who
were supposed to be able to look after their own interests, were
entirely debarred, and tenants enjoying leases were excluded from
claiming compensation, except for tillages, buildings and reclamation of
lands. A special court, it was further provided, should be instituted to
carry out the provisions of the bill. Large and radical as the measure
was, reversing many of the accepted principles of legislation by giving
the tenant a _quasi_-partnership with the landlord in his holding, no
serious opposition was made to it in either House of Parliament. Its
details, indeed, were abundantly criticized, but its principles were
hardly disputed, and it became law without any substantial alteration of
its original provisions. In two sessions two branches of the upas tree
had been summarily cut off. But parliament in 1870 was not solely
occupied with the wrongs of Irish tenantry. In the same year Forster, as
vice-president of the council, succeeded in carrying the great measure
which for the first time made education compulsory. In devising his
scheme, Forster endeavoured to utilize, as far as possible, the
educational machinery which had been voluntarily provided by various
religious organizations. He gave the institutions, which had been thus
established, the full benefit of the assistance which the government was
prepared to afford to board schools, on their adopting a conscience
clause under which the religious susceptibilities of the parents of
children were protected. This provision led to many debates, and
produced the first symptoms of disruption in the Liberal party. The
Nonconformists contended that no such aid should be given to any school
which was not conducted on undenominational principles. Supported by the
bulk of the Conservative party, Forster was enabled to defeat the
dissenters. But the victory which he secured was, in one sense, dearly
purchased. The first breach in the Liberal ranks had been made; and the
government, after 1870, never again commanded the same united support
which had enabled it to pursue its victorious career in the first two
sessions of its existence.
Black Sea neutrality.
Army purchase.
Towards the close of the session of 1870 other events, for which the
government had no direct responsibility, introduced new difficulties.
War unexpectedly broke out between France and Prussia. The French empire
fell; the German armies marched on Paris; and the Russian government, at
Count Bismarck's instigation, took advantage of the collapse of France
to repudiate the clause in the treaty of 1856 which neutralized the
Black Sea. Lord Granville, who had succeeded Lord Clarendon at the
foreign office, protested against this proceeding. But it was everywhere
felt that his mere protest was not likely to affect the result; and the
government at last consented to accept a suggestion made by Count
Bismarck, and to take part in a conference to discuss the Russian
proposal. Though this device enabled them to say that they had not
yielded to the Russian demand, it was obvious that they entered the
conference with the foregone conclusion of conceding the Russian claim.
The attitude which the government thus chose to adopt was perhaps
inevitable in the circumstances, but it confirmed the impression, which
the abandonment of the cause of Denmark had produced in 1864, that Great
Britain was not prepared to maintain its principles by going to war. The
weakness of the British foreign office was emphasized by its consenting,
almost at the same moment, to allow the claims of the United States, for
the depredations of the "Alabama," to be settled under a rule only
agreed upon in 1871. Most Englishmen now appreciate the wisdom of a
concession which has gained for them the friendship of the United
States. But in 1871 the country resented the manner in which Lord
Granville had acted. Whatever credit the government might have derived
from its domestic measures, it was discredited, or it was thought to be,
by its foreign policy. In these circumstances legislation in 1871 was
not marked with the success which had attended the government in
previous sessions. The government succeeded in terminating a long
controversy by abolishing ecclesiastical tests at universities. But the
Lords ventured to reject a measure for the introduction of the ballot at
elections, and refused to proceed with a bill for the abolition of
purchase in the army. The result of these decisions was indeed
remarkable. In the one case, the Lords in 1872 found it necessary to
give way, and to pass the Ballot Bill, which they had rejected in 1871.
In the other, Gladstone decided on abolishing, by the direct authority
of the crown, the system which the Lords refused to do away with by
legislation. But his high-handed proceeding, though it forced the Lords
to reconsider their decision, strained the allegiance of many of his
supporters, and still further impaired the popularity of his
administration. Most men felt that it would have been permissible for
him, at the commencement of the session, to have used the queen's
authority to terminate the purchase system; but they considered that, as
he had not taken this course, it was not open to him to reverse the
decision of the legislature by resorting to the prerogative. Two
appointments, one to a judicial office, the other to an ecclesiastical
preferment, in which Gladstone, about the same time, showed more
disposition to obey the letter than the spirit of the law, confirmed the
impression which the abolition of purchase had made. Great reforming
ministers would do well to recollect that the success of even liberal
measures may be dearly purchased by the resort to what are regarded as
unconstitutional expedients.
1872-1874.
In the following years the embarrassments of the government were further
increased. In 1872 Bruce, the home secretary, succeeded in passing a
measure of licensing reform. But the abstainers condemned the bill as
inadequate; the publicans denounced it as oppressive; and the whole
strength of the licensed victuallers was thenceforward arrayed against
the ministry. In 1873 Gladstone attempted to complete his great Irish
measures by conferring on Ireland the advantage of a university which
would be equally acceptable to Protestants and Roman Catholics. But his
proposal again failed to satisfy those in whose interests it was
proposed. The second reading of the bill was rejected by a small
majority, and Gladstone resigned; but, as Disraeli could not form a
government, he resumed office. The power of the great minister was,
however, spent; his ministry was hopelessly discredited. History, in
fact, was repeating itself. The ministry was suffering, as Lord Grey's
government had suffered nearly forty years before, from the effect of
its own successes. It had accomplished more than any of its supporters
had expected, but in doing so it had harassed many interests and excited
much opposition. Gladstone endeavoured to meet the storm by a
rearrangement of his crew. Bruce, who had offended the licensed
victuallers, was removed from the home office, and made a peer and
president of the council. Lowe, who had incurred unpopularity by his
fiscal measures, and especially by an abortive suggestion for the
taxation of matches, was transferred from the exchequer to the home
office, and Gladstone himself assumed the duties of chancellor of the
exchequer. He thereby created a difficulty for himself which he had not
foreseen. Up to 1867 a minister leaving one office and accepting another
vacated his seat; after 1867 a transfer from one post to another did not
necessitate a fresh election. But Gladstone in 1873 had taken a course
which had not been contemplated in 1867. He had not been transferred
from one office to another. He had accepted a new in addition to his old
office. It was, to say the least, uncertain whether his action in this
respect had, or had not, vacated his seat. It would be unfair to suggest
that the inconvenient difficulty with which he was thus confronted
determined his policy, though he was probably insensibly influenced by
it. However this may be, on the eve of the session of 1874 he suddenly
decided to dissolve parliament and to appeal to the country. He
announced his decision in an address to his constituents, in which,
among other financial reforms, he promised to repeal the income tax. The
course which Gladstone took, and the bait which he held out to the
electors, were generally condemned. The country, wearied of the ministry
and of its measures, almost everywhere supported the Conservative
candidates. Disraeli found himself restored to power at the head of an
overwhelming majority, and the great minister who, five years before,
had achieved so marked a triumph temporarily withdrew from the
leadership of the party with whose aid he had accomplished such
important results. His ministry had been essentially one of peace, yet
its closing days were memorable for one little war in which a great
soldier increased a reputation already high. Sir Garnet Wolseley
triumphed over the difficulties which the climate of the west coast of
Africa imposes on Europeans, and brought a troublesome contest with the
Ashantis to a successful conclusion.
Disraeli's second ministry.