which followed, but also apparently because he deemed it right to speak out upon the whole question, especially as he had been so closely identified with legislation which had secured religious liberty and had removed the civil and political disabilities of his Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, Mr. Gladstone, a month after the publication of the essay, issued a pamphlet on The Vatican Decrees in their bearing on Civil Allegiance. In this he justified his former statements. The sale of the pamphlet was enormous. The disputants who entered the field were many, and included Cardinals Manning and Newman, Bishops Ullathorne, Vaughan, and Clifford, Monsignor Capel, Monsignor Francisco Nardi, Lord Petre, Lord Herries, Lord Robert Montague, Sir George Bowyer, Lord Camoys, and Lord Acton. Among his numerous opponents, of course, were some who charged him with insulting and accusing the Roman Catholics of this country. He absolutely denied any such intention, and when the cries of anger, of surprise, and of rebuke had somewhat subsided he issued a second pamphlet-Vaticanism: an Answer to Reproofs and Replies, in which he reiterated his assertions, saying:

"The Vatican decrees do, in the strictest sense, establish for the pope a supreme command over loyalty and civil duty. To the vast majority of Roman Catholics they are, and in all likelihood will long in their carefully enveloped meaning remain, practically unknown. Of that small minority who have spoken or fitted themselves to speak, a portion reject them. Another portion receive them with an express reserve, to me perfectly satisfactory, against all their civil consequences. Another portion seem to suspend their judgment until it is determined what is a free council, what is moral unanimity, what are declarations ex cathedrâ, whether there has been a decisive and binding promulgation so as to create a law, and whether the claim for an undue obedience need be considered until some act of undue obedience is asked. A very large class, as it seems to me, think they receive these decrees, and do not. They are involved in inconsistency, and that inconsistency is dangerous."

In this ecclesiastical controversy Mr. Gladstone seemed now to be immersed, but he actively engaged in other duties. Other essays appeared from his pen; he spoke at public meetings and at assemblies for the promotion of education; though he seemed so far to have withdrawn from political leadership that not only his former followers, but many Conservatives also, were deploring his abstention from taking a more decidedly prominent part, and were speaking of it in terms of regret. This is not the place to enter into the discussions which engaged him, and the declarations which were made that he was showing a want of discretion in alienating the friendly support of a large num ber of the members of the Roman Catholic Church. In reading the essays themselves one readily perceives that he felt the time had come when it was his duty to speak out, beyond the possibility of mistake. To the essays themselves, which are published in an inexpensive form along with others, we would refer not only for a more complete comprehension of the subject with which he dealt, but as an aid to the study of his mental, and, if we may be excused for the word, of his temperamental characteristics.

Mr. Gladstone, then, was taking only an occasional, though sometimes a prominent, part in parliamentary discussions. The Liberal party was, so to speak, in abeyance; the government of Mr. Disraeli was united, and the Conservatives seemed likely to hold a long lease of power. The country was apparently inclined "to pause and to consider," when to pause was difficult, and to consider was too likely to be interpreted to mean going back. The restless fervour of activity which had carried the late administration forward was not calculated to last; even if it had continued the government would not have been able to drag the country after it when once the national foot began seriously to flag.

We have already seen to what a handsome financial legacy the new government had succeeded; and there were other achievements by which they were able to profit. Perhaps it might not be reasonable to include in these the successful termination of the war in Ashantee;

but at all events the Liberals were out of office before the news of that result could be said actually to belong to them. The fall of the late ministry had been sudden-they seemed to have swiftly slid from power. The appeal to the country had taken the opposition unawares, and they were scarcely ready for the successes of their predecessors.

The very name of Ashantee had to many people something mysterious about it. It was remembered that the Gold Coast had always been associated with thoughts of slavery, of the cruelty of native savage rulers, of bloodshed indulged in as a common ceremony or as a pastime. The Ashantees were the fiercest of the tribes of Western Africa, and lost few opportunities of killing or oppressing the weaker people about them, among whom were the Fantees, under British protection, but incapable of defending the territory or supporting the few troops which garrisoned the forts. Our trading settlements on the Gold Coast, founded in the seventeenth century, had frequently been a source of trouble. They had been relinquished in 1830, after a conflict with the Ashantees, who were afterwards defeated, and a treaty was concluded with them by the governor of Cape Coast Castle, Mr. Maclean, the husband of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.), whose verses of a sentimental and somewhat melancholy cast were once much quoted. This lady, who married Mr. Maclean in 1838, was found dead in her room, with a phial which had contained prussic acid clasped in her hand. No reason could be alleged for this tragic occurrence; and it excited considerable attention, and probably gave greater interest to her poems than their intrinsic merits would have secured.

For some years the affairs of the Gold Coast settlements were administered by a body of merchant traders, but subsequently were placed under the control of the colonial office. In 1863 hostilities again arose, and were brought to an unsatisfactory end, because of the fatal effects of the climate on the troops. Still later some of the settlements were made over to the Dutch in exchange for other territory, but in 1872 these possessions were by treaty transferred to Eng

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land in return for a small sum of money and for the removal of some of the restrictions which former treaties had placed upon the Dutch in Sumatra. The result of this was that the Dutch became involved in a war with the Sultan of Acheen, who was supported by the Malays; and the King of Ashantee, who claimed from England the continuance of a pension or allowance which he had formerly received from the Dutch, occupied the ceded territory, and commenced a desultory war by attacking the Fantees. Then ensued a series of harassing assaults on our garrisons; and though, when the King of Ashantee was met by a small body of English troops and marines, he was signally beaten, it was believed that while his tribe held possession of the open country the other tribes would make common cause with them. It was determined, therefore, to send a large force, which in the cooler season of the year might push on towards Coomassie, the Ashantee capital, Captain Glover, a commander of much experience in dealing with the natives, having collected on the east of the proposed line of advance a number of Houssas, one of the warlike Mahometan tribes of the country.

Such an enterprise as that of marching an English force through a country swarming with savage enemies, and so pestilential, that, unless a successful termination of the war could be achieved within a few months, the men might be stricken down-the army wasted away with fever-required a commander quick in discerning opportunity, skilful in tactics, and of unflinching resolution. There appeared to be little hesitation in naming to this command Sir Garnet Wolseley, an officer who had already given ample proofs of remarkable ability and rapid decision in circumstances of difficulty on several occasions, and notably in his direction of the Red River expedition in 1870. The promptitude, which was this general's characteristic, was shown by his immediately setting out for the Gold Coast in advance of his troops, and there, at the head of small bodies of men, holding the Ashantees in check, and inflicting upon them several defeats while waiting for the arrival of his regiments.

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