freely taking notes, propounded a category of questions as to the quality and circumstances of "these anonymous persons." With a half apology for trenching upon the region of "modern history," the right hon. gentleman next proceeded to recapitulate the circumstances of the connexion of the Conservative party with the Roman Catholics. "The right hon. gentleman the First Minister of the Crown says I have burnt my fingers, but," added Mr. Disraeli, holding his hands out across the floor, and shaking them towards the throng at the bar-"but I see no scars. (Cheers and laughter.) The right hon. gentleman opposite has been a pupil of Sir R. Peel. He sat in the Cabinet of Palmerston, who was supposed to be a devoted votary of the policy of concurrent endowment. The right hon. gentleman suddenly-I impute no motives, that is quite unnecessary (laughter)—but the right hon. gentleman suddenly changed his mind and threw over the policy of concurrent endowment -mistaking the clamour of the Nonconformist for the voice of the nation. (Cheers.) The Roman Catholics fell into the trap. They forgot the cause of University education in the prospect of destroying the Protestant Church; and the right hon. gentleman succeeded in his object. The Roman Catholics, having reduced Ireland to a spiritual desert, are discontented and have a grievance; and they come to Parliament in order that we may create a blooming Garden of Eden for them. The Prime Minister is no ordinary man. (Ministerial cheers.) I am very glad that my sincere compliment has obtained for the right hon. gentleman the only cheer which his party have conferred upon him during this discussion. (Opposition cheers and laughter.) The right hon. gentleman had a substitute for the policy of concurrent endowment, which had been killed by the Roman Catholics themselves. The right hon. gentleman substituted the policy of confiscation. (Oh!) You have had four years of it. You have despoiled churches. You have threatened every corporation and endowment in the country. (Cheers.) You have examined into everybody's affairs. You have criticized every profession and vexed every trade. (A laugh.) No one is certain of his property, and nobody knows what duties he may have to perform to-morrow." Although he had been far from willing to make this question the basis of anything like a struggle of party, he had been baffled by the right hon. gentleman himself. "It is the right hon. gentleman himself who has introduced so much passion, and so much, I may almost say, personal struggle into this question. It was the right hon. gentleman who, as the First Minister of the Crown, in introducing a question of a nature somewhat abstruse, and which to the majority of the members of this House must have been not easy at first to comprehend, commenced his harangue by saying, I am introducing a measure upon which I intend to stake the existence of my Government.' (Cheers.) That was, in my opinion, an unwise and rather an arrogant declaration. (Cheers.) I have certainly known instances where Ministers introducing into this House large measures which had been prepared with great care, and

feeling for them as much solicitude as the right hon. gentleman does for this Bill-I have certainly known instances where, after protracted debates, and when opinions appeared to be perhaps equally balanced in this House, Ministers have felt themselves authorized, under such circumstances, to say that they were prepared to stake the existence of their Governments upon the question at issue. But I do not recall an instance of any Minister who, on an occasion similar to the present, prefaced a laborious exposition, which by its very length and nature showed that it dealt with a subject which only the transcendent powers of the right hon. gentleman could make clear and lucid to the House, by saying, 'But I tell you in the first place that I stake the existence of the Government upon it.”” (Cheers.) He trusted the right hon. gentleman had profited by the remarks which had been made in the course of this debate, and that he now felt that upon the occasion of introducing this measure his vein was somewhat intemperate. (Cheers.) "No one wishes to disturb the right hon. gentleman in his place. If the right hon. gentleman intends to carry out a great policy-that of confiscation -(cheers)-I wish at least that he shall not be able to say that he has not had a fair trial for that policy. I wish the House and the country fully to comprehend all the bearings of that policy of the right hon. gentleman. But although I have not wished to make this a party question, although I have no wish to disturb the right hon. gentleman in his seat, although I have no communication with any section or with any party in this House, I may say with any individual of my own immediate colleagues, I must do my duty when I am asked, 'Do you or do you not approve this measure?' (Cheers.) I must vote against a measure which I believe to be monstrous in its general principles, pernicious in many of its details, and utterly futile as a measure of practical legislation." Loud and long-continued applause marked the conclusion of the speech, and finally mingled with the cheers from the Ministerial benches which welcomed the appearance of the Premier at the table.

Mr. Gladstone remarked that two-thirds of the speech just delivered had no connexion with the Bill, and drew down loud cheers by calling on the House to note that though Mr. Disraeli had declared "concurrent endowment" to be dead, it yet lived in his mind, and might revive under his magical touch. The attitude taken by the Government in reference to the Bill was not due to any words of his, but to what had happened during the last three years on Mr. Fawcett's Bill. On the contrary, he deprecated sincerely the introduction of religious heat and party temper into the subject, feeling convinced that it must insure failure, and this led him to animadvert sharply on the tone of Mr. Horsman's speech. Repeating once more the grounds on which the measure had been introduced-the grievance of the Catholics, and the necessity for academic reform in Ireland-he replied to Dr. Playfair's statistics on the matter, pointing out where he had made a mistake in his calculations. To any one with an eye for a situation the history of

the Bill had some dramatic features. He admitted that it had suffered a catastrophe; on its introduction all "the waiters on Providence" in London were in favour of it; now not an individual of the species had a word to say for it. But now the question was, shall the House go into Committee on the Bill? In deciding that, the House ought to have no other motive but to endeavour to do that now which a few years hence it would regret that it had not done. In examining the reasons given why the House should not go into Committee, Mr. Gladstone denied that the Bill would lower the standard of education, urging that the London University—a mere examining body-had certainly raised education. The opposition in Ireland had been exaggerated and misrepresented, but in dealing with a measure like this it would be impolitic and unparliamentary on that account to withdraw the Bill before it had been considered in Committee. The general effect of Mr. Cardwell's speech he entirely endorsed, that the House should go into Committee to compare opinions on all the divergencies of views which had been expressed; and he retorted on Mr. Disraeli that the experience of his Reform Bill showed how effective an instrument Committee may be for transforming a Bill. On two of these points-the banishment of ethics and modern history from the curriculum and the introduction of collegiate members into the Council-Mr. Gladstone stated distinctly that he would not adhere to them, and, with regard to the others, he said generally that the Government would not stand on its dignity, but would meet the House on equal terms. It would welcome any amendments which were improvements, and even those which were not improvements they would accept if the House should desire, so long as they did not impair the vitality of the Bill. Answering the question so often raised-what is the vital principle of the Bill?-Mr. Gladstone said there must be a complete removal of the admitted religious grievance by opening degrees under an impartial and unsectarian authority to men of all opinions, whether educated under the mixed or separate system. The University must be relieved from the monopoly of Trinity College, and must have an independent Governing Body and a competent endowment; and the Faculty of Theology must be separated from it. After some observations in condemnation of the principle of concurrent endowment, which gave him the opportunity of placing on record his belief that it would be a serious error to give the slightest encouragement to a system of separate endowment in Ireland. (reversing the policy of 1869), Mr. Gladstone earnestly entreated the House to meet the threatened agitation by removing the grievance rather than follow Mr. Disraeli's alternative of withdrawing from the task. "The right hon. gentleman opposite (said Mr. Gladstone) told us that he was not anxious to lead what my hon. friend the member for Waterford would describe as his 'ragamuffins' into their present position. He does not wish, he says, to make this a party question. Might I be allowed to fill up the sentence for him by saying that the Irish members almost forced him to do so by

inviting him to their embraces, and that he found himself unable to resist the opportunity? (A laugh.) And what, let me ask, is the character of the division which we are about to witness?-a division which will be watched and examined-(loud cheers from the Opposition benches)-a division which will not only be watched and examined, but which will be remembered and be judged. (Renewed Opposition cheers.) The party which is called the Tory party, the Conservative party, the Church party, the Protestant party, powerful as it is in this House, is not powerful enough to give effect to its wishes by a majority. But there is a hope that, by the accession of those who think we commit a gross injustice by declining to give a separate religious endowment to the Roman Catholics, their minority may be converted into a majority. No doubt there would be concord in the lobby for a few moments, but that concord would end when the tellers come to the table. On what plan of action have you decided? No doubt you will be a formidable body; for all I know, you will be a majority. I see before me a party expectant of office. (Oh, oh!) I mean, of course, by virtue of its position. That is a fair description always to apply to gentlemen who sit in combination on the Opposition benches. I see that party with that repentant rebel from below the gangway, the hon. member for Norfolk (Mr. Bentinck)-(laughter) --an old, inveterate rebel, believed to be incurable, but at last reclaimed. (Renewed laughter.) I always listen to that hon. gentleman with interest. I am no favourite of his. I trust, however, there is no unkind feeling between us, and, indeed, whenever I hear the hon. gentleman begin a course of censure upon myself, I listen with great patience, because I know it will be followed by a much more severe attack upon the right hon. gentleman opposite. (Laughter.) On this occasion the hon. member for Norfolk-the 'right' hon. member for Norfolk he may be in a few weeks-(a laugh)—had made a revelation. I heard him say that he had listened with the utmost pleasure to his right hon. friend the member for the University of Oxford (Mr. Hardy) on the last night of the debate, for he understood him to say that he and those with whom he acted would, under no circumstances, accept office during the existence of the present Parliament-(cheers from the Opposition) that he looked upon it as the most fortunate and most statesmanlike announcement that had emanated from the front bench on his side of the house for many years-(laughter)—and after it he had no hesitation in saying that he would vote against the second reading.' (Cheers.) Well, sir, was that announcement made? I heard the speech of the right hon. gentleman the member for the University of Oxford. I did not hear that announcement— none of us heard that announcement. It is impossible that the gentlemen who occupy the front bench of Opposition, who form her Majesty's Opposition, who bring up their whole forces to overthrow the measure of the Government, can decline the responsibility of taking office. (Cheers.) I believe it is impossible that such an announcement can have been made, and if it has been made, the hon.

gentleman is the victim of his own simplicity in acting upon it. (A laugh.) What is the state of the ease as regards the hon. gentleman? What is to be the policy that is to follow the rejection of the Bill? What is to be the policy adopted in Ireland? Perhaps the Bill of my hon. friend the member for Brighton will find favour, which leaves the University of Dublin in the hands of Trinity College, and which I presume, if passed, will only be the harbinger of an agitation different from that which would follow the passing of the present Bill. It will still leave the Roman Catholic in this condition, that he will not be able to get a degree in Ireland without going either to the Queen's Colleges, to which he objects, or to examinations and a system of discipline managed and conducted by a Protestant board—a board of eight gentlemen, of whom six are Protestants. The other alternative will be the adopting for Ireland a set of new principles, which Parliament has disclaimed for England, not only treating the Roman Catholic majority in Ireland as being the Irish nation, but likewise adopting for that Irish nation the principles which we have ourselves overthrown even within the limits of our own generation. I know not with what satisfaction we can look forward to these prospects. It is rather a dangerous course to tamper with objects of this kind. We have got our plan, for which we are responsible. We are not afraid, I am not afraid, of the charge of my right hon. friend, that we have served the priests. I am ready to serve the priests or any other man as far as justice dictates. [Mr. Horsman-I did not say so.'] I am glad to hear it. I am not ready to go an inch further for them or for any other man-(cheers)-and if the labours of 1869 and 1870 are to be teminated-if where we have earnestly sought and toiled for peace we find only contention-if our tenders of relief are thrust aside with scorn-let us still remember that there is a voice which is not heard in the crackling of the fire or in the roaring of the whirlwind or the storm-the still, small voice of justice, which is heard after they have passed away. To mete out justice to Ireland, according to the best view that with human infirmity we could form, has been the work, I will almost say the sacred work, of this Parliament. ('No, no,' and cheers.) Having put our hand to the plough, let us not turn back. Let not what we think the fault or the perverseness of those whom we are attempting to assist have the slightest effect in turning us from the path on which we have entered. As we have begun, so let us go through, and with firm and resolute hand let us efface from the law and the practice of the country the last-I believe it is the last-of the religious and social grievances of Ireland." (Loud and prolonged cheering.)

Precisely at two o'clock the Premier concluded an address which he had commenced at midnight, and the House divided on the question that the Bill be read a second time. The counting of votes occupied about twenty minutes; and when Colonel Taylor, the Opposition teller, took the paper from the hands of the clerk at the table, a tremendous "Hurrah!" burst from the Conservative