ing the interests of the working classes, parliamentary reform, or American slavery. After the dissolution in 1859 he was invited by the liberals of Leeds to come forward with Mr. Baines. Forster, though afterwards regarded as par excellence the conservative type of liberal, was chosen as the candidate of the advanced party. The numbers at the poll were: Baines, 2,343; Beecroft (conservative), 2,303; Forster, 2,280. A little later a vacancy occurred in the representation of Bradford, and, in spite of the distrust of moderate liberals and the leading dissenters, he was chosen by a large majority of liberal electors as their candidate, and was returned without opposition (Monday, 11 Feb. 1861). He continued to represent Bradford until the end of his life. He was returned without opposition at the general election of 1865. In 1868 he was at the head of the poll, after a contest in which all the three candidates, himself, Mr. Ripley, and Edward Miall, were liberals. In 1874 he was again returned at the head of the poll, although the dissenters, who felt bitterly towards him on account of the Education Act, strongly opposed him. Again in 1880 he was returned, also at the head of the poll, and finally, in the election of November 1885, he was returned for the central division of Bradford by a majority of over fifteen hundred.
Forster at once made his mark in the house, and quickly came to be recognised as one of the chief representatives of the advanced liberal party. He took every opportunity of speaking upon reform, which was then exciting little interest, and made effective utterances upon the American civil war. During its course he may be said to have been second only to Bright and Cobden in opposing all attempts to recognise the south or to put obstacles in the way of the union. Especially did he in 1863 denounce the imprudence of permitting Alabamas to be built in English dockyards; but at the same time he was ready enough to defend England against such attacks as the celebrated one delivered by Mr. Charles Sumner. When in 1865 Lord Palmerston died, the government was reconstructed under Lord Russell, and Forster was invited to take office as under-secretary for the colonies. He was at the colonial office eight months under Mr. Cardwell, and among the difficult problems in the solution of which he had to take part was the Jamaica question. Two days after his entry into the colonial office (27 Nov.) he noted in his diary, 'Very bad news from Jamaica of slaughter by the troops, and under martial law.' Had he been out of office he would have been one of the most active members of Mr. Mill's and Mr. Charles Buxton's Jamaica committee; but he probably did still more effective work by urging the despatch of a commission of inquiry to the island, and by influencing the action of the government. To the varied experience gained during these eight months Forster used to attribute much of his deep and lifelong interest in all colonial questions. In the session of 1866 he took an effective part in the great debates on reform. He had made it a condition of his entry into the government that the question should be dealt with immediately. His speech in the great eight nights' debate on the second reading of the bill was of great weight, for the house recognised in him a man who had lived in the midst of a great working population, and who was entitled from his own experience to give utterance to the wishes of the north of England. In the session of 1867 he contributed not a little to the liberalising of Mr. Disraeli's Reform Bill, and he rejoiced as much as any one when that measure passed into law as an act for conferring household suffrage in the boroughs.
In 1867 he made his first visit to the East; he saw Constantinople, Smyrna, Athens, and Corfu, and formed opinions to which he gave utterance when the Eastern question once more became acute. After the general election of November 1868 Mr. Gladstone became prime minister, and Forster was appointed a privy councillor and vice-president of the council. This imposed upon him the main responsibility for carrying the measure for establishing a national system of education, which formed a principal part of the government programme. Before parliament met he successfully defended his seat against a petition, to the great satisfaction of his constituents. In the session of 1869 he took no great part in the debates on the disestablishment of the Irish church, but he gave much time and attention to the successful conduct of the Endowed Schools Bill through the House of Commons. This was a bill which raised no great parliamentary issues, but its importance may be shown from the fact that it dealt with three thousand schools with a gross income of 592,000l. He had also to conduct the preparation of measures against the cattle plague. He was meanwhile carefully considering the measure for providing a national system of elementary education. Various bodies throughout the country concentrated themselves into two, the National Education Union and the League, which met at Birmingham. The Union ostensibly advocated the spread of the voluntary school system, and the League the provision of schools at the cost and under the control of
