Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/484

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

GLADSTONE.

467

an Chamber of Deputies, led or imprisoned by King id« and that (it is said) 3,000 of his subjects had own into prison on a charge leal disaffection. Having led the truth of these state- Ir. Gladstone wrote to the Iberdeen, urging his inter- on their behalf ; and that rd's remonstrances proving Lai, he published an indig-

ter on the subject of the

)secutions at Naples, which Lslated into several foreign 8s, and was sent by Lord ton to our ambassadors and s on the Continent, with » forward copies of it to pective courts. In 1858 he d an elaborate work on ("Studies on Bomer and aerie Age," 3 vols.), and in 61, he was solicited to be- candidate, in the Liberal , for South Lancashire, but to forsake his former con- 8. Having been rejected by iversity of Oxford at the election in July, 1865, Mr. tie was returned, being third poll, for South Lancashire, e death of Lord Palmerston, me leader of the House of IS, retaining the Chancel- of the Exchequer in Lord s second administration, n the session of 1866 he

in a Beform Bill, and a

in committee having been June 18, against the Govem- y eleven votes, Mr. Glad- nd his colleagues resigned, isions in the Liberal ranks ed him from defeating Mr. l's Beform Bill, which he osly opposed. In the early the session of 1868, Mr. ne brought forward and through tiie House of Corn- series of resolutions, having r object the disestablishment sendowment of the Irish . These resolutions were 18 of the Irish Church Sus-

pensory Bill, which, on May 22, was read a second time in the Lower House by 812 votes to 258, but was soon afterwards rejected in the House of Peers by a majority of 95. At the general election of 1868 Mr. Gladstone stood as one of the candi- dates for 'South-west Lancashire. After 'a fierce contest, the result of which excited the most intense in- terest throughout the country, he was defeated; but this defeat did not exclude him from the House of Commons, as in anticipation of such an event, the electors of Greenwich had, a few days previously, re- turned him by a large majority, as one of the members for that borough. On the resignation of Mr. Disraeli's Ministry, in Dec, 1868, Mr. Gladstone succeeded that statesman as First Lord of the Treasury. The principal events of his administration were the passing of the Irish Church Disestablish- ment Act (1869), of the Irish Land Act (1870), and of the ElementaiTr Education Act (1870) ; the aboli- tion of Purchase in the Army by the exercise of the Boyal Preroga- tive, in consequence of an adverse vote by the House of Lords on the Army Begulation Bill (1871) ; the negotiation of the Treaty of Wash- ington respecting the Alabama Claims (1871) ; the passing of the Ballot Act (1872) ; and the Judica- ture Act (1873). The principal measure proposed by the Govern- ment in ijie session of 1873, was the University Education ( Ireland ) Bill, which was opposed by the Eoman Catholic members, who, voting on this occasion with the Conservatives, caused the rejection of the Bill by 287 votes against 284 (March 11). Upon this Mr. Glad- stone tendered his resignation to Her Majesty, and Mr. Disraeli was sent for ; but as he declined to take office, Mr. Gladstone, though with reluctance, undertook (March 16) to reconstruct the cabinet. In August, 1873, immediately after the close of the session, the cabinet was

HH 2

Digiti

zed by *

^

/^>j^i