1881-1887.
Imprisonment of Irish Members of Parliament--Assassination of
Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke--Prevalence of Outrages
in Ireland--A New Coercion Bill--Trial and Execution of the
Phoenix Park Murderers--The Dynamite Conspiracy--Corrupt
Practices Act--The Affairs of Egypt--General Gordon sent to
Khartoum--Gordon Besieged--Inaction of the Government--Relief of
Khartoum Undertaken--Too Late!--Death of Gordon--Lord Wolseley's
Campaign--Abandonment of the Soudan--Mr. Gladstone's Reform
Bill--The Question of Redistribution of Seats--The Frontier
Question in Afghanistan--Defeat of Ministers on the Budget and
their Resignation--Lord Salisbury's First
Administration--Dissolution of Parliament--The Irish Party and
the Balance of Power--Mr. Gladstone's Third Administration--His
Conversion to Home Rule--Rupture of the Liberal Party--The Home
Rule Bill Rejected--Dissolution of Parliament--Unionist
Victory--Lord Salisbury's Second Administration--Lord Randolph
Churchill Resigns--The Round Table Conference.
[Sidenote: Imprisonment of Irish Members.]
The effort made by the Government to conciliate the hostility of the
people of Ireland by the Land Act did not at first offer much prospect
of success. There was no diminution in the tyranny of the Land League or
in the number of cruel outrages traceable to that organisation. A
Cabinet Council was summoned hurriedly early in October 1881, the result
of which was the arrest of Mr. Parnell and two other members of
Parliament under the Protection of Life and Property Act, and their
imprisonment in Kilmainham. They remained in confinement as "suspects"
until May 2, 1882, when they were released unconditionally, a step which
led to the immediate resignation of Earl Cowper, the Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, and his Chief Secretary, Mr. Forster.
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Elliott & Fry._
HERBERT SPENCER.
Born in Derby 1820. Educated as a Civil Engineer, but abandoned that
profession in favour of literature and philosophy. He was one of the
earliest exponents of the doctrine of evolution.]
[Sidenote: Assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke.]
There was great jubilation over this among the Nationalists. It was a
distinct surrender on the part of the Government to the party of
separation: and the suppressed Land League was revived openly under the
name of the National League. The response to the new policy of
conciliation and condonement came in terrible fashion. Earl Cowper and
Mr. Forster had been succeeded in the Lord Lieutenancy and Chief
Secretaryship by Earl Spencer and Lord Frederick Cavendish. On May 6 the
last-named gentleman, a brother of the present Duke of Devonshire, after
attending the installation of his chief, took a car to drive out to the
Chief Secretary's Lodge. Overtaking Mr. Burke, a permanent official at
the Castle, Lord Frederick dismissed his car and walked on with him
through the Phoenix Park. It was a fine spring evening, between seven
and eight o'clock; just as they were passing an opening in the trees on
their right, giving a view of the Viceregal Lodge, two men came along
the path to meet them. One of them, Brady, a man of immense size and
strength, stooped down as if to tie his shoe-lace. As the two gentlemen
passed him, he sprang erect, gripped Mr. Burke by the waist, and stabbed
him in the back. The other ruffian, Kelly, slashed Burke across the
throat as he fell. Lord Frederick, attempting to defend his friend with
an umbrella, received a fatal thrust in the breast from Brady's knife,
and fell dead also.
[Illustration: _Orlando Norrie._} {_From the Royal Collection._
DISTRIBUTION OF EGYPTIAN WAR MEDALS BY HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AT WINDSOR,
November 21, 1882.]
On the 8th of the following month a gentleman called Walter Bourke,
riding with a soldier as escort near Gort, was shot at, and both were
killed; and in like manner, on the 29th, Mr. Blake, a land agent, and
his steward, Mr. Keene, were murdered by concealed assassins near Lough
Rea. Ireland had come to a desperate condition; it was garrisoned with
not less than 20,000 cavalry and infantry and 20,000 mounted
constabulary, yet the Executive seemed powerless to cope with an almost
universal conspiracy against life and property. The murdered Cavendish
was succeeded as Chief Secretary by Mr. G. O. Trevelyan, and the first
act of the Government was to introduce a fresh Coercion Bill, of
extraordinary severity, creating special tribunals for the trial of
suspects and criminals, conferring rights of search on the police, and
giving further powers for dealing with incitement to crime. The Bill was
vehemently opposed by Mr. Parnell and his party; nevertheless, the
Government pursued their apparently hopeless policy of conciliation by
introducing and carrying through the Arrears of Rent Bill, whereby about
two millions of money was applied to release Irish tenants of a moiety
of the liabilities which the Land League had forbidden them to fulfil,
and the balance of arrears was wiped out at the expense of landlords.
[Illustration: _Sir J. D. Linton, P.R.I._} {_From the Royal Collection._
1. The Queen.
2, 3. The Bride and Bridegroom.
4. Prince of Wales.
5. Grand Duke of Hesse.
6. Princess Beatrice.
7. Princess of Wales with her three daughters.
8, 9. Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
10, 11. Duke and Duchess of Teck.
12. Duke of Cambridge.
13. Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar.
14. Princess Victoria of Hesse.
15. Archbishop of Canterbury.
16. Dean Wellesley.
17. King of the Netherlands.
18, 19. The Bride's Parents.
20. Queen of the Netherlands.
THE MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF ALBANY AND PRINCESS HELEN OF WALDECK AND
PYRMONT AT ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR, April 27, 1882.]
[Sidenote: Trial and Execution of the Phoenix Park Murderers.]
The additional powers conferred on the police by the Crimes Act of 1882
resulted in the capture of the gang who had planned and carried out the
murders in the Phoenix Park. In January 1883 seventeen persons were
arrested in Dublin, and on one of them, Farrell, turning informer, it
came out that they were members of a secret society. Their principal
object had been to make away with Mr. W. E. Forster when he was Chief
Secretary, and on various occasions he had escaped assassination by what
seemed the narrowest chances. Among those arrested was James Carey, who
had given the signal for the murder of Burke by raising a white
handkerchief, and who turned Queen's evidence. He was allowed to go free
after the trial, while five of his gang were hanged, the remainder being
sentenced to various terms of penal servitude. Finally, this bloody
chapter was brought to a close in the murder of Carey himself, by a man
named O'Donnell, who had travelled in the same ship with him to Cape
Town. O'Donnell was brought home to England and hanged early in
December.
[Sidenote: The Dynamite Conspiracy.]
While the trial of the Phoenix Park assassins was proceeding, another
formidable conspiracy was brought to light. A gang of Irish-Americans
had come to this country with the object of terrorising the Government
by a series of explosions of nitro-glycerine. On the evening of March
15, 1883, part of the Local Government Board Offices in Whitehall was
wrecked by the explosion of a canister of dynamite placed inside one of
the balustrades. Simultaneously, another explosion took place at the
office of the _Times_, in Printing House Square. By the help of
informers, the police were enabled to arrest a number of persons in
London, Birmingham, and Glasgow, all of whom were brought to trial, and
most of them proved to be active agents in a heinous conspiracy against
life and property. The formidable power which modern explosives had
brought within the reach of secret societies made it necessary to make
the law dealing with such crimes more stringent, and Sir William
Harcourt, the Home Secretary, on April 9, introduced a Bill to cope with
what he termed "the pirates of the human race." He assured the House
that the danger was so grave and imminent that the Bill must pass
through all its stages on that day. It was read a first, a second time,
passed through Committee, and was read a third time, all within little
more than an hour. Taken up to the Lords on the same evening, it was
dispatched there with equal promptitude, and received the Royal Assent
next day--an example of rapid legislation almost without parallel.
[Sidenote: Corrupt Practices Act.]
A much-needed boon was conferred this year (1883) upon Parliamentary
candidates in the passage of the Corrupt Practices at Elections Bill.
The old and evil electioneering traditions were put an end to now by the
statutory measure introduced by the Attorney-General, Sir Henry James
(now Lord James of Hereford); a statutory and moderate limit to
candidates' expenses, based on the number of electors in each
constituency, was fixed, which might not be exceeded on pain of voiding
the election.
[Sidenote: The Affairs of Egypt.]
The Government were called upon early in 1884 to realise the full weight
of the responsibility they had assumed in regard to Egyptian affairs.
The Mahomedan Arabs of the Soudan had been brought under Egyptian rule
in 1870; gross misgovernment had brought about bitter disaffection, and
the troubles of Lower Egypt before and during Arabi's revolt, afforded
these wild tribes an opportunity for throwing off the yoke. Mohamed
Ahmed appeared among them as the Mahdi, or Redeemer, who, besides being
a religious enthusiast, was a daring and skilful commander in the field.
In 1883 the Egyptian Government sent an army of about 11,000 men under
command of Colonel Hicks, a retired officer of the Indian army, to
restore the Khedive's authority in the Equatorial Provinces. This force
was attacked on November 1 in a rocky defile; for three days they
defended themselves; on the fourth their ammunition was all spent, and
every man in the Egyptian army, with many British officers, perished. Of
course, this tremendous victory was accepted by the Arabs as complete
proof of the Mahdi's divine mission: the insurrection spread like
wildfire, and the Khedive, acting under advice of the British
Government, decided not to attempt the re-conquest of these provinces.
[Illustration: MARINE ENGINES IN THE ERECTING SHOP AT CLYDEBANK.
The Clydebank works cover an area of 75 acres, and employ 6,500
workmen.]
[Sidenote: General Gordon sent to Khartoum.]
But the relief of Sinkat, Tokar, Khartoum, and other stations,
garrisoned by Egyptian troops under command of European officers, was
imperative. Expeditions to the relief of the two places first named were
attacked by the Arabs and cut to pieces, and instructions were
telegraphed for the immediate evacuation of Khartoum. But in Khartoum
there were not less than 11,000 persons, many of them Christians and
many in the Egyptian civil service, and to transport these safely down
the Nile would be an operation of exceeding difficulty and hazard.
General Gordon, commonly called "Chinese Gordon," a man of remarkable
character, happened to be in London at the time, preparing to start for
the Congo in the service of the King of the Belgians. He had been
Governor of the Soudan in 1874, under Ismail, and to him the British
Government appealed in their perplexity. He readily consented to throw
up his engagement under the King of the Belgians, and to proceed to
Khartoum, telegraphing to the garrison of that place: "You are men, not
women. Be not afraid. I am coming." Meanwhile, the Mahdi had scored
another signal success. Baker Pasha, formerly a well-known officer in
the English cavalry, advanced in January, with a force of 3,500, to the
relief of Tokar and Sinkat; he was attacked near Trinkitat and
overwhelmed; his half-trained Egyptians fled, and were cut down to the
number of 2,200, and sixteen European officers perished. Then Sinkat
fell, the throats of all the garrison being cut, and Tokar surrendered.
[Illustration: SHEARS FOR CUTTING HOT SLABS OF STEEL.
These shears, photographed at the works of the Glasgow Iron and Steel
Company, are capable of cutting through solid steel slabs 4 feet wide
and 12 inches thick. The slabs travel over the "live rollers" in the
floor to and from the shears. The use of steel in large quantities, both
for shipbuilding and for the making of rails, was rendered possible by
the introduction of the "Bessemer Process" (named after its inventor,
Sir Henry Bessemer) in 1860. Steel which had hitherto cost £50 or £60 a
ton, now cost but £7 or £8, and rapidly superseded iron. The Bessemer
"Converter" has, however, itself given place to the Siemens open-hearth
furnace.]
The safety of Lower Egypt being threatened by the Mahdi's continued
success, the British Government undertook the defence of a frontier line
drawn through Souakim. General Graham ascended the Nile with about 4,000
troops, and inflicted a severe defeat on the Arabs, under Osman Digna,
at El Teb, on February 29. Again, on March 11, Graham attacked Osman
Digna's camp at Tamai, captured, and gave it to the flames.
[Illustration: LAUNCHING AN ATLANTIC LINER AT MESSRS. HARLAND AND
WOLFF'S, BELFAST.]
[Illustration: FRAMING AND PLATING SHEDS, SHOWING MACHINERY FOR DRILLING
HOLES IN STEEL PLATES FOR SHIPBUILDING.
The works of Messrs. Harland and Wolff, which, some forty years ago
covered two or three acres, and employed a couple of hundred men, now
cover nearly eighty acres, and pay wages amounting to £12,000 to £14,000
per week. The tonnage of the vessels built during 1896 amounted to
81,000 tons, considerably more than the output of all the five
Government yards.]
[Sidenote: Gordon Besieged.]
General Gordon reached Khartoum on February 18. Finding that things were
even worse than he expected, he decided to avail himself of the services
of Zebehr Pasha, and telegraphed to Cairo for the Government to allow
him to come. Sir Evelyn Baring strongly advised that consent should be
given, but Zebehr was of evil repute as a slave-driving chief; stringent
instructions were sent from London that he was on no account to be
employed, and that if he attempted to join Gordon he was to be detained
by force. The Mahdi's forces invested Khartoum on March 23. Gordon, who
had to contend with treachery inside the walls, as well as the open
enemy outside, displayed extraordinary energy and ingenuity in defence,
continuing to send urgent appeals for assistance, both for Khartoum and
for Berber, which was also beleaguered. Berber fell before the end of
May; still the British Government turned a deaf ear to Gordon's
messages. At last the gallant General appealed from the Government to
the "millionaires of England and America" to send him money enough to
raise 2,000 or 3,000 Turkish troops to save Khartoum. It is, perhaps,
well that by the beginning of May the enemy had gathered so closely
round Khartoum that Lord Granville's response never reached Gordon. It
was to the effect that Her Majesty's Government was not prepared to
supply either Turkish or any other troops for military expeditions, and
Gordon was reminded that the mission he had undertaken was of a pacific
nature! But the spirit of the British people was galled by the
indifference shown by the Government to the fate of their devoted
servant; expressions of indignation grew louder and more frequent both
in Parliament and in the press, and, at last, early in August, a vote of
credit for £300,000 was obtained for the purpose of "preparations, as
distinct from operations," for a possible expedition to Khartoum. Lord
Wolseley went out to view the military aspect of affairs, and before
long a strong force was ascending the Nile.
[Illustration:
A. Col. Frank Rhodes.
B. General Sir Herbert Stewart (mortally wounded).
C. Col. Talbot.
_R. Caton Woodville._} {_From the Royal Collection, by permission of the
Artist._
TOO LATE!
After a gallant dash across the desert, the small force under General
Stewart arrived within striking distance of Khartoum only to find that
Gordon was dead.]
[Sidenote: Too Late!]
Too late! Help had been withheld too long. On the last day of the year a
tiny scrap of paper reached the British head-quarters on the
Nile--"Khartoum all right. C. G. Gordon. December 14, 1884"; but on
February 5, 1885, arrived a telegram in London announcing that the place
had fallen. When Parliament opened, on the 19th, Mr. Gladstone
endeavoured to excuse the Government for their undoubted share in the
disaster. "General Gordon contentedly forbore," he said, "indeed more
than contentedly--he determinedly forebore--to make use of the means of
personal safety which were at all times open to him." The words seemed
to be swept from the Prime Minister's lips by a hurricane of indignant
exclamations, and he withdrew them. They meant that Gordon might have
escaped down the river in a steamer, leaving the loyal Egyptians in
Khartoum to their fate. He was not that kind of man. Party discipline
prevailed to protect the Government from overthrow on a vote of censure:
they managed to put into their lobby 302 against 288.
Khartoum fell on January 26, 1885, after a siege of 317 days, and after
the garrison and townsfolk had endured extreme privations for several
weeks. Gordon was shot down near the palace, and a horrible massacre
followed, in which it was reckoned about 4,000 people were butchered.
[Illustration: _Lowes Dickinson._} {_By permission of the Artist._
GENERAL CHARLES G. GORDON, 1833-1885.
Served in the Crimean War, and in China in 1860-62. In 1862 he took
command of a small and heterogeneous force which, as "The
Ever-victorious Army," suppressed the Tai-ping rebellion and saved the
Chinese empire. The story of his mission to Khartoum in 1884 is told in
these pages.]
[Sidenote: Abandonment of the Soudan.]
Lord Wolseley's expeditionary force, amounting to about 14,000 men,
inflicted several defeats on the Mahdi's troops, notably at Abu Klea and
Gubat. But the British losses were exceptionally severe, not only on
account of the invincible courage of the Arabs and their desperate mode
of fighting, but because of sickness and climate. For example, out of
General Stewart's desert force of 2,000, no less than thirty officers,
including General Stewart himself and 450 men perished. The Mahdi died
of fever in July, and the Government decided on withdrawing from the
Soudan and fixing the frontier of Egypt at the second Nile cataract.
[Sidenote: Mr. Gladstone's Reform Bill.]
It is necessary at this point to revert to the session of 1884. Mr.
Gladstone had resolved on a further extension of the Parliamentary
electorate by carrying out the equalisation of the county and borough
franchise. His Bill was received by the Conservative Opposition with
that half-hearted resistance which comes of inward disapproval, tempered
by dread of alienating the new electors, whom they were not strong
enough to exclude. In the end they took their stand on the ground that
no such Reform Bill should pass without a corollary measure
redistributing seats. It passed the Commons, but the House of Lords
declined to consider it until they had the redistribution scheme before
them. In vain Lord Granville pledged the Government to introduce a
Redistribution Bill the following year, if their Lordships would allow
the Franchise Bill to pass at once. Lord Salisbury declared that he was
not going to discuss redistribution with a rope round his neck. At last,
after much wrangling, after the usual denunciations of the House of
Lords on public platforms, and after sundry processions and
demonstrations in London, it was agreed to hang up the Franchise Bill,
prorogue Parliament, and call it together in the autumn to consider the
complete scheme. This was done accordingly; the Franchise Bill was
passed, and the Redistribution Bill read a second time, and the
Committee stage postponed till after the Christmas recess.
[Illustration: _Baron H. von Angeli._} {_From the Royal Collection, by
permission of Mr. Franz Hanfstaengl._
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN WEARING THE SMALL IMPERIAL CROWN, 1885.]
[Sidenote: The Afghan Frontier.]
But before that subject could be taken up again, the troubles of the
Government had multiplied. Not only had Khartoum fallen, thereby
rendering the Nile expedition as fruitless as it was costly, but the
violation by the Russians of the Afghan frontier, seemed to render war
with Russia all but inevitable, if our treaty engagements were to be
held sacred. "The House will not be surprised," said the Prime Minister,
referring to the defeat of the Amir's troops by General Komaroff, "when
I say, speaking with measured words in circumstances of great gravity,
that to us ... this attack bears the appearance of an unprovoked
aggression." Still more profound grew the conviction that the country
was on the eve of a great war when, on April 27, Mr. Gladstone came down
to the House to ask for a vote of credit for £11,000,000. But he did not
tell the House, in the course of a magnificent and most stirring speech,
that the Government practically had averted the danger by recalling Sir
Peter Lumsden, the British Commissioner in Afghanistan, thereby
condoning the offence of the Russians which he (Mr. Gladstone) had
denounced already as "unprovoked aggression."
[Sidenote: Defeat and Resignation of Ministers.]
All Parliamentary business, it was understood, including, the
redistribution of seats, was to be speedily disposed of in order to make
an early appeal to the constituencies under the new franchise. But, in
an unlucky hour for his colleagues, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr.
Childers, decided to include in his Budget provision for increasing the
duties on beer and spirits. There is no more perfectly organised body
than the Licensed Victuallers; none whom ordinary members are more
unblushingly anxious to conciliate on the eve of a general election.
Early in June the Government were beaten on Mr. Childers' proposal by a
majority of twelve votes, and resigned.
[Illustration: _R. Caton Woodville._} {_From the Royal Collection._
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS BEATRICE TO PRINCE HENRY OF BATTENBERG, AT
WHIPPINGHAM CHURCH, July 23, 1885.
The Queen and the bride are accompanied on either side by the Prince and
Princess of Wales. The bridegroom is supported by Prince Francis Joseph
of Battenberg and Prince Alexander of Bulgaria. The Bridesmaids are the
Princesses Louise, Victoria and Maud of Wales, Princesses Marie,
Victoria and Alexandra of Edinburgh, Princesses Irene and Alix of Hesse,
and Princesses Victoria and Louise of Schleswig-Holstein. The Archbishop
(Benson) of Canterbury and Canon Prothero officiate.]
[Sidenote: Lord Salisbury's First Administration.]
The Queen accepted Mr. Gladstone's resignation by telegram, and
entrusted Lord Salisbury with the task of forming a new Cabinet. No easy
duty on the brink of a general election, even had the Conservative Party
been at Peace within itself. But it was far from being so: a determined
revolt was being conducted by Lord Randolph Churchill and his
sympathisers--the "rapier and rosette" Tories--against Sir Stafford
Northcote's ineffective leadership. Amiable, cultivated, experienced,
and sagacious as he was, Northcote had failed to gain the confidence of
the combative spirits in his party, who recognised their real captain in
the brilliant but erratic Churchill. Lord Salisbury solved the
difficulty of uniting these discordant elements by removing Northcote to
the Lords, with the title of Earl of Iddesleigh and the office of First
Lord of the Treasury, placing Churchill in the Cabinet as Secretary of
State for India, and committing the leadership of the Commons to Sir
Michael Hicks-Beach as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
[Illustration: REPRESENTATIVE COINS OF THE REIGN.
1, 2. Sovereign, first issue.
3. Florin, first issue.
4. Crown piece, 1845.
5, 6. "Godless" florin (the words "Dei Gratiâ" being omitted from
the legend).
7. Sovereign, second issue.
8. £5 Piece, Jubilee issue.
9, 10, 11. Double florin, half-crown and shilling, Jubilee issue.
12, 13. Half-crown, new issue.
14, 15. Florin and shilling, new issue.
16. Maundy fourpenny piece.
17. Bronze penny, 1870.
*** The Queen's head is the same (except in scale) on all coins of the
same issue.]
This "Cabinet of Caretakers" had but a short existence. The new Ministry
met Parliament on July 6, and finished the necessary work of the session
in six weeks. It was understood that Parliament was to be dissolved in
time for a general election in November. It proved a restless autumn. In
almost every constituency canvassing and speech-making went on without
intermission for three months, Mr. Gladstone leading the van with his
third Midlothian campaign. He gave no countenance to the demand for
Irish Home Rule; on the contrary, he implored the British electors to
return such a Liberal majority as should render his party independent of
the Irish vote in Parliament. In response to this flashed out a general
order from Parnell, directing Irishmen in English and Scottish
constituencies to vote solid against the Liberals, who had "coerced
Ireland and deluged Egypt with blood." The Irish leader's policy was to
keep the two great parties balanced by the Home Rule vote, and the
result of the elections was as nicely adjusted as that skilled tactician
could have desired; 335 Liberals returned to the new Parliament were
exactly balanced by 249 Conservatives and 86 Home Rulers.
[Illustration: A COIN NO LONGER SEEN.
The copper Penny of the early years of the reign.]
[Sidenote: Mr. Gladstone's Third Administration.]
Of course, when Parliament re-assembled in February 1886, it was merely
a question of how many weeks or days should precede the downfall of a
Ministry in such a hopeless minority in the Commons. Meanwhile strange
rumours had been in circulation that Mr. Gladstone had decided to accept
the doctrine of Home Rule for Ireland, against which he and his party
had fought hitherto with as much obstinacy as the Conservatives. On
December 16 the sketch of a scheme attributed to him appeared in some of
the newspapers, and, in spite of an ambiguous disclaimer from himself,
people gradually became aware that Mr. Gladstone had resolved to
extricate his party from their subjection to the Irish party in
Parliament by the astounding expedient of granting the essence of their
demands.
[Illustration: The BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE ACROSS THE MENAI STRAITS.
Designed by Robert Stephenson and Sir William Fairbairn, and opened in
1850. It is 1,571 feet in length, and 100 feet above the water. The
widest spans are each 470 feet.]
Lord Salisbury's Government fell on January 25: Mr. Gladstone became
Prime Minister, and in his Cabinet were included some of his colleagues
who had pronounced most emphatically and most recently against Home
Rule, although the Lords Hartington, Derby, and Selborne stood
significantly aloof. The mine was laid: the only indication of the
coming explosion was the resignation, on March 26, by Mr. Chamberlain
and Mr. Trevelyan of their seats in the Cabinet. The train was fired on
April 8, when Mr. Gladstone introduced his Bill for the better
government of Ireland. The permanent furniture of the House of Commons
does not permit of more than some 400 out of its 670 members being
seated within its walls. An attempt was made to admit the presence of a
larger number to hear the explanation of this most momentous measure;
even so, only seventy or eighty additional seats could be provided by
filling the floor of the chamber with chairs. Probably there never was
such a scene of anxious expectation in the modern history of Parliament.
[Sidenote: Dissolution of Parliament.]
The division on the second reading was taken on June 7, the
corresponding Monday to that on which Mr. Gladstone's previous
Administration had fallen in 1885. Ninety-three Liberals voted against
the Bill, and Ministers were left in a minority of thirty. The Liberal
party was rent from summit to base, not less completely than the
Conservatives had been torn asunder by the action of their leader in
1846. The Prime Minister advised the Queen to dissolve Parliament.
Sudden and sharp was the appeal; firm and not to be misunderstood was
the response. Mr. Gladstone went out on his fourth Midlothian campaign,
and encountered no difficulty in retaining his own seat, as no opponent
came forward to challenge it. But the country turned a deaf ear to his
appeal. It preferred to listen to Lord Randolph Churchill's
characteristic denunciation of the Home Rule Bill, than which he vowed
that "the united and concentrated genius of Bedlam and Colney Hatch
would strive in vain to produce a more striking tissue of absurdities."
He declared that the real reason they were asked to accept such a
measure was only, "to gratify the ambition of an old man in a hurry."
The result of the elections showed 316 Conservatives, 78 Liberal
Unionists, 191 official Liberals, and 85 Parnellites: or a majority in
the new House of 113 against Mr. Gladstone's Irish policy.
[Sidenote: Lord Salisbury's Second Administration.]
When the Queen sent for Lord Salisbury, he invited Lord Hartington to
join him in forming a coalition Cabinet; but the time for that was not
yet--a purely Conservative Ministry, therefore, was formed. Everything
promised fair for the endurance of Lord Salisbury's second
Administration, but a rude shock was in store for it almost on the
threshold of its career.
[Illustration: THE FORTH BRIDGE.
This bridge, rather more than a mile in length (the principal spans
being 1,710 feet each), was designed by Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin
Baker. It was commenced in 1883, and opened by the Prince of Wales in
1890. It contains about 44,500 tons of Siemens steel, and cost over
£2,000,000.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Thiele, Chancery Lane._
THE TOWER BRIDGE: THE RAISING OF THE BASCULES ON THE OPENING DAY.
The bridge, which cost over £830,000, was commenced in 1886, and opened
by the Prince of Wales, June 30, 1894. The bascules each weigh 1,000
tons.]
[Sidenote: Lord Randolph Churchill Resigns.]
[Sidenote: The Round Table Conference.]
By far the most striking figure in the Conservative ranks of the House
of Commons was Lord Randolph Churchill. He became Chancellor of the
Exchequer in the new Cabinet and leader of the House of Commons. Right
well he led it through the six weeks of autumn session following on
the elections. His admirers were delighted--his critics reconciled--by
his adroit exchange of the manners of a political bravo for those of
a responsible statesman; and that, too, without sacrifice of power in
debate or pungency in retort. What was the dismay of Ministerialists
when, in a moment of caprice, impatient because he could not get
exactly his own way on a question of military and naval expenditure,
Churchill threw up his office and left the Cabinet! This happened in
December 1885; active negotiations were going on at the time for the
redintegration of the old Liberal Party. Mr. Chamberlain and Sir George
Trevelyan, as Unionists, had consented to confer with Sir William
Harcourt and Mr. John Morley, as Home Rulers, at a "round table," under
the presidency of Lord Herschell (also a Home Ruler). In the opinion of
most people, the return of at least half the Liberal Unionists to their
former allegiance might be expected, as the outcome of this conference.
The stability of the Ministry, therefore, was peculiarly jeopardised
by any appearance of internal disunion at this juncture. The crisis
passed over in safety. Mr. Goschen, an old colleague of Mr. Gladstone,
having been First Lord of the Admiralty in his first Administration,
now determined to throw in his lot with the Unionists, and accepted the
office vacated by Lord Randolph. The Round Table Conference separated
without having found a basis of agreement, and the main body of Liberal
Unionists remained staunch in support of Ministers.
The question still remained--who was to lead the House of Commons? The
answer was a remarkable one. Mr. W. H. Smith, in spite of the mediocrity
of his powers of oratory, had risen to very high office in successive
Conservative Cabinets. As a man of business his reputation was
unsurpassed, and he had secured the respect and confidence of all
sections of the House of Commons by his well-known indifference to
office and independence of its emoluments. Upon him the choice fell; he
exchanged the post of Secretary for War for that of First Lord of the
Treasury, and justified his appointment by leading the House of Commons
with admirable temper and judgment during five trying sessions.
[Illustration: _From Photograph_} {_by E. Ward._
MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL AND BARTON AQUEDUCT.
The Canal, 35-1/2 miles long, which has made Manchester practically a
sea-port, was commenced in 1887 and opened by Her Majesty the Queen in
1893. It cost 15-1/2 million pounds. The Bridgwater Canal is carried
across it in a swinging aqueduct at Barton. The lower illustration shows
the aqueduct partially swung open; the ends of the water-way are of
course closed and a barge may be seen therein, whilst the horse drawing
it is on the tow path above. The Ship Canal is seen beneath.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by E. Ward, Manchester._
BARTON AQUEDUCT.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Valentine & Sons, Dundee._
THE ROYAL PROCESSION ON JUBILEE DAY PASSING HYDE PARK CORNER.]