1866.] THE REFORM QUESTION. 277 while a bill suspending the habeas-corpus act in Ireland on account of the prevalence of Fenianism, passed through all its stages in twelve hours, the diseased-cattle bill, urgent as it was, and urgently as it was pressed forward, occupied the legislature for more than a week. Amidst all the manifold questions which engaged the attention of parliament during this session, Mr. Gladstone's quality as leader of the House was fully tried. Like Lord Palmerston, he generally remained in the House from the commencement of the sittings to the close of them, however late the hour of adjournment might be. But he did not, like him, slumber during the greater part of the sittings; on the contrary, he listened attentively to every speaker, answered fully every question put to him, spoke on every subject, and exhibited a sensitive and conscientious anxiety to discharge his functions as leader of the House, which his friends feared would soon disable him from the performance of the responsible duties which belonged to him, and with his fall precipitate that of the government of which he was the mainstay. If the ministry had looked merely to its own stability, or to its chances of retention of office, it would not have introduced a reform bill during the first session of a newlyelected parliament, the members of which were still smarting under the recollection of the contests in which they had been engaged, the dangers they had run, the expenses they had already incurred, and the demands on their purses they had still to meet, and who might therefore be expected to regard with little favour a measure the effect of which would be speedily to send them back to their constituents, and compel them again to run the risks and incur the expenses that were so fresh in their remembrance. There can be no doubt that this was the chief cause of the disfavour with which the proposition of the government was regarded by many of those who numbered themselves among the supporters of the administration, and that if Earl Russell and Mr. Gladstone had waited another session or two before introducing their bill, it would have met with a much more favourable reception, and probably have been carried through without much change or difficulty. Nor were there wanting among their colleagues men who, having been introduced into the cabinet by Lord Palmerston, and sharing his feelings with regard to the question of reform, acknowledged, with regret, that it was a question the settlement of which could not be much longer delayed, but wished that it should not be prematurely pressed. There can be no doubt that under ordinary circumstances Lord Russell and Mr. Gladstone would have yielded to considerations based on such strong reasons of expediency. But they felt, and justly felt, that the question had already been hung up too long; that the delay which had occurred with regard to it was damaging to our institutions and to the character of our public men; and therefore that it was not the time to listen to mere considerations of prudence or expediency, but to show the country that there were public men who valued consistency more than place, and were determined, come of it what might, to redeem their pledges in reference to this great and longdelayed question. The measure was submitted to the House of Commons on Tuesday, March 13th, by Mr. Gladstone, who explained its provisions, and asked leave to bring it in. The house, on this occasion, was as crowded in every part, as it had been when the reform bill of 1831 was introduced. As this measure went the way which had been trodden before it by so many other abortive reform bills, it is not necessary that we should enter at length into an examination of its details, but simply content ourselves with giving an outline of its most prominent features. The government proposed to reduce the county franchise from 50l. to 14l., but occupation of property of the value of less than 501. was to include a house as well as land, and the annual value of the house was not to be less than 77. Copyholders and leaseholders were to be placed on the same footing as fortyshilling freeholders. A man having 50l. in the bank might claim a vote either for a county or a borough. Compound householders were to have the franchise in boroughs, and tenants of separate parts of a house, and lodgers paying 101. a year for their lodgings. The borough franchise was to be lowered from 10l. to 77. The question of a redistribution of seats was not dealt with by the bill, and Mr. Gladstone refused to pledge himself absolutely that the government would introduce a measure on that important part of the subject even in the next session. After a debate which was 1866.] THE CAVE OF ADULLAM. 279 adjourned till the following day, leave was given to bring in the bill, and it was read a first time. The bill bore on its surface marks of the ordeal through which it had passed, and of the divided character of the cabinet by which it had been adopted. Though a good and honest measure, it was evidently a compromise. It was impossible to suppose that Earl Russell and Mr. Gladstone, after their previous declarations on the subject, would have willingly proposed a 147. franchise in the counties, or a 71. franchise in the towns. Such proposals were not calculated to rouse in the constituencies of the empire an enthusiasm like that which the reform bill of 1831 awakened, or even such a feeling as would have reconciled the members of the new parliament to a measure which would have the effect of speedily sending them back to their constituents. But, mild and moderate as it was, it was too strong for a section of the liberal party, which did not hesitate, even before the measure was read a first time, and while the question of its introduction was being debated, to declare its uncompromising hostility to it. That party was described and had a name given to it by Mr. Bright which has become historical. Speaking of Mr. Horsman, who with Mr. Lowe had distinguished himself by the vehemence of his opposition to the bill, Mr. Bright said: "The right honourable gentleman is the first of the new party who has expressed his great grief, who has retired into what may be called his political cave of Adullam, and he has called about him every one that was in distress and every one that was discontented. The right honourable gentleman has been long anxious to form a party in this House. There is scarcely any one on this side of the House who is able to address the House with effect, or to take much part in our debates, whom he has not tried to bring over to his party or cabal; and at last the right honourable gentleman has succeeded in hooking the right honourable gentleman the member for Calne. I know there was an opinion expressed many years ago by a member of the treasury bench and of the cabinet, that two men would make a party. When a party is formed of two men so amiable, so discreet, as the two right honourable gentlemen, we may hope to see, for the first time in parliament, a party perfectly harmonious and distinguished by mutual and unbroken trust. But there is one difficulty which it is impossible to remove. This party of two reminds me of the Scotch terrier, which was so covered with hair that you could not tell which was the head and which was the tail of it.' The party thus humorously depicted and named proved to be both more numerous and more formidable than Mr. Bright's description of it gave reason to expect. The Cave, as it was henceforth called, became the retreat of a considerable number of whigs, who, either from dislike to reform, or dread of a new election, were anxious to get rid of the bill. Foremost among these was the right honourable Robert Lowe, who, though he had recently been a member of a cabinet which had ridden into office on the ground of its supposed zeal for parliamentary reform, employed against the bill introduced by his former colleagues with great ability and no little originality of illustration-the worn-out arguments which had been so repeatedly but vainly urged in 1831 and 1832 by Sir C. Wetherell, Mr. Croker, and those who joined them in withstanding the great reform bill. The existence of this party, and the nature of the speeches delivered against the bill by those who composed it, determined the conservative leaders to take a course on which they probably would not otherwise have ventured, and to endeavour to defeat the very moderate attempt made by the government to settle a question so often raised and so often deferred. They summoned a meeting of their supporters for the purpose of considering the manner in which the ministerial proposal should be dealt with. The Earl of Derby was prevented from attending by an attack of illness; but an address was delivered by Mr. Disraeli, which is said to have roused the enthusiasm of his followers; and it was resolved that the bill should be strenuously resisted. But as the conservative party though strong was numerically inferior to that which supported the government, it seemed likely that their opposition to the bill would have no other effect than that of delaying its progress through the House, and perhaps extorting some concessions from the government. It was, therefore, to them a matter of great satisfaction, and of no small dismay to the government, when Earl Grosvenor, eldest son of the Marquis of Westminster, and usually 1866.] THE REFORM BILL OF 1866. 281 regarded as a steady supporter of ministers, gave notico that on the question of the second reading he would propose an amendment to the effect that it would be inexpedient to discuss any bill for the reduction of the franchise until the House should have before it the entire scheme contemplated by the government for the amendment of the representation of the people. This announcement showed that the Palmerstonian whigs were dissatisfied, and ready to combine with the conservatives to defer again the consideration of this often-introduced and long-delayed measure. And it soon became evident that the notice was instigated partly by a natural desire on the part of the representatives of small boroughs to know whether the towns by which they were sent were to be disfranchised or not, partly by a jealousy of the influence which the views of Mr. Bright and his party were supposed to have exercised over the decisions of the cabinet, and partly by the fear that the extension of the franchise, if granted, would be used as a means of obtaining a much larger measure of redistribution than the old whig party was willing to agree to. The combination thus formed could not easily be defeated without making concessions which in the opinion of the leader of the House were calculated to lower the character of the government; which Mr. Gladstone was the last man in the world to compromise, even for the sake of avoiding a defeat. At the same time it was his duty to escape that contingency if it could be done by means that he deemed consistent with the honour of the government. Therefore on the night before the commencement of the Easter recess, in moving that the House at its rising should adjourn to the 9th of April, he gave the following explanations: I will now state the views of the government with regard to certain motions on the paper. With regard to the motion of the member for Bridgewater, that it is not expedient to go into the franchise bill until the House has before it the bill for the redistribution of seats, the government will announce to the House the nature of their proposal as to the redistribution of seats, that the question may be dealt with by parliament. After the second reading of the franchise bill, and before it is committed, they will be prepared to state their intentions with respect to the |