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PALMERSTON AT EIGHTY YEARS OLD.

country by a great party who hoped to rule it," he did not detain the house for long on the points immediately at issue, but, dropping the Danish matter altogether, went straight into a history of the financial triumphs of his government. What has this to do with the question? asked impatiently the Tories. But it had all to do with the party question, for it decided the votes of doubting men who, caring little about Schleswig-Holstein, cared a great deal about English finance. Anyhow, it commanded success, for the government got a majority of eighteen, and this renewed their lease of power.

To the King of the Belgians Lord Palmerston shortly afterwards wrote (August 28, 1864):

"I have many apologies to make to your majesty for not having sooner thanked you for your letter of the 15th June. We were at that time in the midst of an engrossing session of parliament, and the unequal contest between Denmark and Germany was still undecided, though with little hope that right could prevail over might. The Danish government, both under the late and under the present king, undoubtedly committed many mistakes, both of commission and omission, and they showed throughout these affairs, from beginning to end, that inaptitude to deal with great concerns which might, perhaps, have been expected from a nation shut up in a remote corner of Europe, and not mixed up or practised with the general politics of the world. It was, however, an unworthy abuse of power by Austria and Prussia to take advantage of their superior enlightenment and strength to crush an antagonist utterly incapable of successful resistance; and the events of this Danish war do not form a page in German history which any honourable or generous German hereafter will look back upon without a blush. I wish that France and Russia had consented to join with us in giving a different direction to those affairs; and I am convinced that words from three such powers would have been sufficient without a recourse to blows. One consequence is clear and certain, namely, that if our good friend and neighbour at Paris

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were to take it into his head to deprive Prussia of her Rhenish provinces, not a finger in England would be stirred, nor a voice raised, nor a man nor a shilling voted to resist such retribution upon the Prussian monarch; and when France and Italy shall be prepared to deliver Venetia from the Austrian yoke, the joy with which the success of such an undertaking will be hailed throughout England will be doubled by the recollection of Holstein, Lauenburg, Sleswig, and Jutland."

That autumn Lord Palmerston became eighty years old. He was endowed, as one of his biographers tells us,1 with an excellent constitution, and had been very temperate both in eating and drinking; but he maintained his freshness, both of mind and body, to a great degree by the exercise of his will. He never gave anything up on the score of age. At anyrate, he never owned to that as a reason. He used to go out partridge-shooting long after his eyesight was too dim to take a correct aim, and he persevered in his other outdoor pursuits. Twice during this year, starting at nine o'clock and not getting back till two, he rode over from Broadlands to the training stables at Littleton, to see his horses take a gallop on Winchester race-course. rode down in June to Harrow speeches, and timed himself to trot the distance from Piccadilly to the head-master's door, nearly twelve miles, within the hour, and accomplished it. On his eightieth birth-day, in October, he started at half-past eight from Broadlands, taking his horses by train to Fareham, was met by engineer officers, and rode along the Portsdown and Hilsea lines of forts, getting off his horse and inspecting some of them, crossing over to Anglesey forts and Gosport, and not reaching home till six in the evening-an instance of such combined energy both of mind and body as cannot in the nature of things be very common at four

score.

He

The government was not likely to be condémned by the nation for having refused to embroil itself in a foreign war. English

The Hon. Evelyn Ashley.

sympathy with the Danes was genuine, and took the form of contributions to a fund for the wounded, and of meetings at which much indignation was expressed against the bullies of Europe who joined in oppressing a small nation unable to maintain its rights in the unequal conflict.

Though the war in America had seriously affected more than one branch of industry, and there was still great distress in various parts of the country, the comparative repose from any great military or naval operations had left a good national balance-sheet to be presented to parliament.

The sessions of 1863 and 1864 had not, it is true, been marked by striking examples of legislation, but there were some attempts and also some achievements which indicated a distinct line of social and political progress. A troublesome conflict had for some time been carried on against the rebellious and hostile Maori, chiefs in New Zealand, but this was finally concluded in 1864, and the course of legislation was only interrupted by rumours and anticipations of probable entanglements with the Polish or the Danish or some other question.

It is well at this stage of our inquiries to note that among the proposals brought before parliament, but failing to achieve any immediate legislative result, were some chat had a very definite relation to the rapid advances which were shortly to follow, and to the position which Mr. Gladstone was soon to occupy at the head of the Liberal party. The measure brought forward by Lord Westbury, the lord-chancellor, to consolidate the statute law of the kingdom was one important alike to all parties and entailed a vast amount of labour, so that it had to be divided and made the subject of separate proposals for succeeding sessions in which the laws of successive historical periods were to be dealt with. The laws as they stood were contained in forty-four thick folio volumes of acts of parliament, all of which required to be carefully and critically examined, digested, and summarized. Probably not six men in Eng

land would have been as competent to undertake the work as Lord Westbury, who was scarcely less famous for his keen judgment and wide attainments than for the power of incisive sarcasm and stinging invective often delivered in tones so smooth that they for a moment covered the barb which afterwards rankled all the more for the momentary concealment. Another proposition, to commence a similar consolidation of the common law by examining and briefing the enormous mass of judicial decisions contained in the records from the time of Edward II., extending to something like twelve hundred volumes, opened an almost appalling prospect, and, of course, could only be dealt with by considering arrangements for employing a large number of specially qualified persons to compare, revise, and finally reduce the tedious and often contradictory reports to a series of consistent accounts. The plan had been considered, and doubtless, unless the lawyers in parliament had succeeded in their opposition to such an attempt at simplification, the lordchancellor would have urged it in later sessions until he carried the scheme into effect; but before that time arrived he had given occasion to his political and official enemies (of whom he had many, and perhaps a few personal ones also), and had retired from the high office which he had so ably sustained and yet in which he had done nothing that became him better than his leaving of it. But this subject we shall presently glance at in another aspect. Among other topics of agitation in relation to changes in the law, that of the abolition of capital punishment had for some time been made prominent by its advocates, and though the government was not prepared to bring in a measure that would put an end to sentences of death, the necessity for some inquiry into the subject was obvious enough. A commission was appointed in 1864 composed of men who had devoted attention to the question, and though they did not all hold the same opinions on other points, they mostly agreed that some change was required in providing for greater distinctions between the crime of manslaughter and that of murder in order to prevent juries from acquitting per

EDUCATION-MR. LOWE-LORD ROBERT CECIL.

sons accused of the capital offence rather than that they should be sentenced to death when there were circumstances which, pleaded in extenuation, made such a punishment too severe. Some alterations designed to meet the demands of justice were introduced, and in reference to that part of the inquiry dealing with the method of inflicting capital punishment, it was decided that executions of criminals should take place within the walls of the prison, and in the presence of a small number of witnesses, so that the horrible and demoralizing scenes which were presented at public executions might be avoided. This latter recommendation was adopted and became law in 1868.

The claims of education were not altogether neglected amidst other demands during the session of 1864. There had been a commission of inquiry into the condition of public schools, and in 1864 the report was presented. Eton, Winchester, Westminster, St. Paul's, Merchant Taylors', Shrewsbury, Harrow, and Rugby schools had been under examination, and the conclusion come to by the commissioners was, that while the course of study pursued in these institutions was sound and valuable in its main element, it was wanting in breadth and flexibility defects which in many cases destroyed, and in all cases impaired its value as an education of the mind. These schools, though in a different degree, were too indulgent to idleness, or at least struggled ineffectually against it, and consequently they sent out a large proportion of men of idle habits and empty uncultivated minds. The commission, however, highly praised the discipline and moral training afforded in these establishments. The report called direct attention to the alleged defec ́s in education, and this led to many improvements being made both in those which, like Merchant Taylors' and St. Paul's, were under the direction of a corporate body, and to the institutions which were capable of being directly controlled by the government through the action of the revised code of education, which, however, was long in passing through parliament, in consequence of the alterations made in the original measure which was in

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1862 introduced into the House of Lords by Earl Granville and into the Commons by Mr. Lowe. The original code gave aid by way of government grants to voluntary efforts to educate the children of the labouring part of the population. The grants were capitation grants, grants to certificated teachers and to pupil-teachers. Many schools were supported by the united aid of charitable subscriptions, the school-pence paid by the children, and the government grants; but it was found that the schools which received the largest amount in grants were by no means the most efficient, and it was proposed to make the government aid by capitation grants only, some of them to depend on examinations, and others on the reports of inspectors. There were of course considerable difficulties in the way of those who had the administration of the code, and, as Mr. Lowe was vice-president of the council of education, it fell to him to place the various religious bodies of the country under equal advantages as regarded the distribution of grants. In 1864 this difficulty was increased by the hostility of the opposition in parliament, and by the continued jealousies of those outside who were advocates of the voluntary system, or the support of schools without any government grant whatever, as the only way of avoiding the support of the authority of the state to teach religion in schools. Mr. Lowe was not likely to be charged with want of vigour in administering his office, nor could he justly be charged with want of efficiency. Some of those who were associated with him thought him rather too vigorous, nor was he remarkable for that amiability of temper which could brook contradiction. His speeches were often exhaustive, displayed thorough knowledge of the subject under discussion, and were not unfrequently rather cantankerous. was the very man to carry out, with effect, the provisions of such a measure as the revised code under its new aspect, and those members of the Conservative party who were opposed to those provisions disliked him accordingly. Among them was Lord Robert Cecil, whose abusive style of criticism too often found its readiest expression in accusations, preferred in the most acrid terms with which constitu

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tional ill-humour and some reading supplied | insulting, was not the result of knowledge or

him. Lord Robert Cecil was, so to speak, an anachronism. With the temper (which, it had more than once been declared, he inherited from his ancestor, the famous treasurer of Queen Elizabeth), and a manner of exhibiting it which, if he had lived in the times to which it was more appropriate, would have rendered him liable to a "countercheck quarrelsome" not in vogue in the present age, he had entered political life with qualifications that the extreme Conservatives regarded with interest and with some expectations. It was soon discovered, however, that he was of too intractable a disposition to submit to the discipline which is essential to one who aspires to lead. Afterwards, when he had by a certain prestige and by his personal abilities attained distinction, it was painfully obvious that his reckless declarations and angry but deliberately offensive expressions were more likely to be mischievous to his avowed comrades than to those whom he intended to injure. It may have been that his peculiarly uncontrollable temper was the more alarming to his friends, because it was a smouldering and not a fiery one. "Lord Robert's acrid temper is not explosive," wrote an observer on the occasion we are now referring to; "there are no eruptions; it is, if we may so say, a sort of chronic low fever."

It would only be charitable to say that this fever was at a height when Lord Robert Cecil rose to bring against Mr. Lowe a charge so serious that it could only have been justified by investigations which could not fail to establish some foundation for it. It was: "That in the opinion of this house the mutilation (mutilation was the acrid word) of the reports of her majesty's inspectors of schools, and the exclusion from them of statements and opinions adverse to the educational views entertained by the committee of council, while matters favourable to them are admitted, are violations of the understanding under which the appointment of inspectors was originally sanctioned by parliament, and tend entirely to destroy the value of their reports." This charge, which was made in a tone and manner that gave sinister emphasis to words in themselves

of reasonable inquiry. There were comparatively few members in the house, for many on the ministerial side had gone out thinking there would be a couple of hours' debate before a division; but the opposition pushed for an early decision, and the motion was carried by 101 to 93-a result which, as Mr. Disraeli afterwards said, showed that Mr. Lowe had not been supported by his government as he should have been. It was with natural indignation that, a few days afterwards, he announced that he regarded the vote as a direct charge against him of want of veracity, and that he had resigned his office. He had by that time learned that the so-called "mutilated" reports shown to members were some reports, attached to which were certain marks made by a clerk entirely without his (Mr. Lowe's) knowledge. Lord Robert Cecil thereupon observed, that "if this explanation had been given on the night when the vote was taken the result would have been different." It is not pleasant to dwell upon the tone of mind and temper which could lead a man to say this without any expression of regret that an accusation so injurious, and preferred apparently with such inveterate animosity, should have rested only at most on a surmise which a few words would have refuted. At anyrate Mr. Lowe abandoned his office, which was worth £2000 a year, and a committee of inquiry, the appointment of which he demanded, so entirely exonerated him that the resolution voted by the house was rescinded. It was not quite unnatural that the man who had been thus left unsupported by his colleagues should retire with some bitter feelings, nor that he should afterwards, on some important occasions, be found independently opposing the government which had neglected him.

It may be seen that the events, and the disposition of forces, so to speak, which took place during the period now under our view, distinctly indicated that some striking changes and rapid advances must be soon expected. It is for this reason that more space than might seem properly to belong to them has been devoted to a narrative of occurrences which at this

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