franchise of Scotland and Ireland, and the questions connected with the redistribution of seats. They will be put in the form of bills, and laid before the House for the purpose of giving it information. After that, they propose to proceed with the franchise bill for England and Wales until its fate is determined. As for the motion of the noble earl opposite (Grosvenor), it is their intention to resist it, because they regard it, as far as they can judge, as a motion of want of confidence in the administration.'

Earl Grosvenor, who happened at the moment to be sitting on the opposition benches, rose and inquired whether Mr. Gladstone would really persist in giving no information until after the second reading. Mr. Gladstone, in a firm and resolute tone answered, Unquestionably.'

At a later period of the evening Mr. Gladstone availed himself of the opportunity afforded him by a discussion on electoral statistics to appeal to the House, and through it to the country, to admit to the franchise the 400,000 men on whom the bill proposed to confer it. His speech was in fact a call on those to whom the bill gave votes, and on those who thought them entitled to receive it, to come forward and give their support to the government measure during the Easter holidays. This call was responded to by Mr. W. E. Forster, who had recently been appointed undersecretary to the colonies, and who had scarcely spoken since his acceptance of office until this moment, when he earnestly and very effectively supported the appeal of his leader.

That appeal met with a tolerably hearty response. The friends of the government worked hard out of doors from the time that the House rose till the period of its reassembling. At Birmingham Mr. Bright plainly told a large meeting that their representation in the House of Commons was a sham and a farce; and that if they wanted an effective reform bill they must take the matter into their own hands, and bring a strong pressure from without to bear on the legislature. Mr. G adstone delivered two addresses at Liverpool on the same subject, in which he declared that he and his colleagues were determined to stand or fall by their franchise bill; that they had crossed the Rubicon, and burnt their ships.

On Thursday the 12th of April the question of the

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second reading of the bill was brought forward by Mr. Gladstone. Earl Grosvenor then moved the amendment of which he had given notice. The question raised by the franchise bill had been so often discussed, that it was hardly to be expected that anything new could be said on the subject. Men's thoughts were therefore turned rather to the division than to the debate. It was generally expected that, notwithstanding the combination of parties by which the amendment was supported, the government would triumph; but as the debate dragged on night after night, rumour continually diminished the expected majority. At length, about three in the morning of Saturday the 28th of April, the division came off. A large crowd watched in Westminster-hall till this late, or rather early, hour, to know the result. The numbers were announced to be

This division was one of the largest, perhaps the very largest, that had ever occurred. Out of of 658 members, including the speaker, 631 had voted. The excitement in the House was unparalleled, and broke forth in loud shouts of triumph, not from the conquering ministerialists, but from the conservatives and the party of the cave. The opposition had good grounds for their exultation, and the ministerialists for their depression: for the victory of the government was worse than a defeat. Their majority was so small as hardly to leave a prospect of carrying the measure; and yet, having a majority, they were obliged, after all the pledges they had given, to proceed with the bill, to dissolve, or to resign. Intense interest was felt to know which of these courses they would adopt. The consequence was, that at the time of the commencement of business on Monday afternoon the House was crowded, in anticipation of a statement which Mr. Gladstone had announced that he intended to make. He rose shortly before five o'clock, and informed the House that the government would proceed with the bill; that on Monday evening next leave wo ld be asked to introduce the distribution-of-seats bill; that bills for Scotland and Ireland would be brought in on the same

evening, and would be proceeded with at the same time with the franchise bill. The House received these announcements in silence. The decisive battle between the two parties was still to be fought.

On Monday the 7th of May the struggle took a new shape. On that day the whole of the government plan of reform was laid before the House. Besides the franchise bill, which, as we have already seen, had been very fully discussed, the promised bill for the redistribution of seats, and the Scotch and the Irish bills were brought forward. The redistribution bill did not wholly deprive any borough of its franchises, and did not alter the number of members in the House of Commons; but by taking one member from some small boroughs that had hitherto sent two representatives to parliament, and by grouping small boroughs together, it diminished the number of members by forty-nine. Of the seats thus obtained it gave twenty-six to counties, or to the divisions or subdivisions of counties, and an additional member each to Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Salford. It divided the borough of Tower Hamlets, giving two members to each of its divisions. It made Chelsea and Kensington a borough returning two members, and gave a member each to Burnley, Staleybridge, Gravesend, Hartlepool, Middlesborough, Dewsbury, and the University of London. The remaining seven seats were allotted to Scotland and Ireland. At the same time Mr. Gladstone announced that the Queen would not be advised by the present government to prorogue parliament until these measures should have become law. On Monday May 14th the redistribution bill was read a second time, in a House consisting of some nine or ten members. Mr. Gladstone announced at the close of the debate, in reply to a question put by Sir S. Northcote, that he would, on behalf of the government, accede to a proposition to combine the franchise and redistribution bills, and submit them to one committee on that day fortnight. Accordingly, at the specified time the two bills were committed together, Mr. Gladstone proposing, and the committee accepting, some amendments which were required in order to effect their amalgamation. We will not weary our readers by tracing progress of the bill through committee; suffice it, therefore, to say, that after a defeat on a motion of Sir R.

the

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RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS.

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Knightley, that it be an instruction to the committee that they have power to make provision for the better prevention of bribery and corruption,' the measure floated on till Monday 18th of June, when the clause was reached which enacted a rental franchise in boroughs. Lord Dunkellin, usually a supporter of the government, moved as an amendment on this clause that rating should be substituted for rental, on the ground that this alteration would oppose an insurmountable barrier to universal suffrage,' while it would admit the best-qualified of the working class to the franchise. On this motion the House divided, and the numbers were:

For the amendment
Against.

Majority against the government

The announcement of these numbers was received by the opposition and the cave with shouts even more deafening than those which had been raised when it was found that the second reading had been carried by a majority of five only.

In consequence of the absence of the Queen in Scotland, some days elapsed before the determination of the cabinet could be known; and the House was during that period kept in suspense, not knowing whether the government would determine to resign, to dissolve, or to go on with the bill. At length, on Tuesday, June the 26th, it was announced in both Houses that ministers had decided on adopting the first-mentioned course, and that the Queen, after urging some objections, had acquiesced in the propriety of their decision; and that consequently they only held office till their successors could be appointed. In the House of Commons Mr. Gladstone gave the following statement of the reasons which had determined him and his colleagues to tender their resignations:

'The question before the government was, whether they ought to resign their offices, or whether they should accept the vote that had been come to, and endeavour to adapt it to the framework of their measure of reform. When we came to examine the effect of the motion, we were struck with the difficulty of adopting any form of rating franchise that would express the scale of suffrage which we had laid

down as the basis of our measure. We found that a sixpound rating frachise would operate to create a great divergence of franchise in boroughs and parts of boroughs. And it was found that in sixteen boroughs about the same number of persons would have been admitted to the suffrage at a six-pound rating franchise as was contemplated by the government. Therefore, by accepting the vote there would have been a breaking-up of the framework of the measure. But besides this, the government had to consider the previous history of the bill, especially with reference to the pledges given from time to time-advisedly and deliberately given -to stand or fall by the measure. That is a pledge which should rarely be given by a government, but it has been given by this government under the deepest conviction of public duty in regard to dealing with the question of reform, and with respect to the character of public men and of parliament. Therefore it was that the life of the administration was attached to the life of the measure they proposed. We have felt a sincere desire to conciliate those who are opposed to reform even at the expense of those who are devoted to it, and we have done so by making the number of those to whom the suffrage was to be extended less than that proposed by the bill of 1860. Therefore it was that we consented to make changes in the procedure on the measure, and we brought in a redistribution bill in deference to the opinion of the House and in opposition to our own. These two provisions were objected to-a clause relating to leaseholds in boroughs and a detail of the county franchise; and they were withdrawn, though the withdrawal of the latter was opposed by a vote of their own supporters. Looking to the rejection of Lord Grosvenor's amendment by a majority of only five; to the success of Sir R. Knightly's instruction ingrafting the subject of bribery and corruption, which was carried against the government by ten; to Captain Hayter's amendment, which was intended to frustrate the bill; to Lord Stanley's motion without notice to take the clauses of the redistribution bill first, which was supported by 280 members; to Mr. Walpole's motion to make the county franchise 201. instead of 14., which was only rejected by fourteen; to Mr. Hunt's motion for making the county franchise a rating franchise, which was negatived by only seven; and to Lord Dunkellin's motion to a like effect as