trates, penalties for misconduct, in public-houses were increased, and the hours during which public-houses might be kept open were shortened. Eleven at night was fixed as the closing time for public-houses in the country, and midnight for those in London. But the passing of the bill did not end the agitation either of those whose interests were affected unfavourably by it or of those who deemed it as offering inadequate encouragement to the cause of temperance. It contributed to reduce the popularity of Gladstone's government and to drive the brewers and their clients into the ranks of the conservatives, with disastrous result on the fortunes of the liberals at future polls. The conservative government of 1874 disappointed a very general expectation among its supporters that it would repeal Bruce's licensing laws, but only very slight modifications were allowed by Mr. (now Viscount) Cross's Licensing Act of 1874.
On the question of church disestablishment in England and Wales, which was always threatening to come, but did not come during Bruce's official career, within the liberal programme of legislation, Bruce's tone was somewhat uncertain, lie held that the section of his party which pushed that question to the front was ill-advised, and that to raise it was merely to excite within the party discord, which would make it difficult for the government to carry measures of which all liberals approved. But a defiant attitude on his part on one side or the other would have done mischief. He knew well, thanks to his residence in Wales, the forces in favour of disestablishment that had to be reckoned with. Although tolerant and philosophic in matters of religion, he was personally a convinced member of the church of England. In the summer of 1873 the unpopularity which Robert Lowe (afterwards Viscount Sherbrooke) [q. v.], the chancellor of the exchequer, then incurred led Gladstone to assume, in addition to the duties he was already discharging, those of Lowe's post, and to invite Bruce to make way for Lowe at the home office. Bruce was offered in exchange one of three appointments—the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland, the vice-royalty of Canada, and the lord presidentship of the council. He chose the last, and was immediately raised to the peerage (22 Aug. 1873) under the title of Baron Aberdare. He did not, however, hold this great office long; the cabinet determined upon a dissolution in the following January (1874), and their party was heavily defeated at the polls. Gladstone's government resigned, and Lord Aberdare's official political life ended.
Thenceforth Lord Aberdare's public career was devoted to educational, economic, and social questions, many of which had been pressed on his attention while at the home office. In 1875 he delivered an important address on crime and punishment at the Social Science Congress. On 20 Jan. 1876 he was elected F.R.S. In the same year he became chairman of the commission on noxious vapours, in 1882 of another on reformatory and industrial schools. But such topics did not exhaust his interests. In 1881 he became president of the Royal Geographical Society, in succession to Sir Rutherford Alcock [q. v. Suppl.], and he occupied from 1878 to 1892 the president's chair of the Royal Historical Society, in which he succeeded Earl Russell. In 1882 he became chairman of the National African Company, a politico-commercial company formed by Sir George Taubman Goldie for the purpose of organising and extending commerce, civilisation, and exploration in West Africa. With the development of West African commerce Aberdare was thenceforth closely connected. In 1886 the National African Company bought out two French companies which had tried to invade the territory in which it was working. An existing objection which was felt by the English government to giving a charter to a company whose territorial rights were disputed was thus removed, and the National African Company received a charter under the name of the Royal Niger Company. Over its operations Aberdare actively presided till his death, in alliance with Sir George Taubman Goldie (who was the moving spirit of the enterprise). The work proved congenial to Aberdare, and probably prolonged his life. In 1899 the Royal Niger Company was taken over by the government, and when the transfer was under discussion in the House of Lords on 24 May 1899, Lord Salisbury paid a handsome tribute to Lord Aberdare's high administrative ability in conducting the company's affairs. Subsequently Lord Salisbury pointed out that the efforts of Lord Aberdare and his fellow-founders of the Niger Company 'succeeded in reserving for England influence over a vast territory, full of wealth and full of inhabitants, which there is every prospect in the future will yield a rich harvest to the British empire. But for the Niger Company much, if not all, of this territory would have passed under another flag, and the advance that we have made in stopping inter-tribal wars, in arresting slave-raiding, and in diminishing the liquor traffic would not have come to pass.'
During the last years of Lord Aberdare's
