The main object of Mr. Baines' Bill was substantially the same as that of the Government Bill of the next year—namely, to reduce the limit of the borough franchise from a rental of £10 per annum, where it had been fixed by the Reform Bill of 1832, to a rental of £6. The measure was, as we said, abortive; its introduction seems indeed to have been only intended to stimulate popular interest in the question of Reform; but the debate has become historical from the great speech in which Mr. Robert Lowe, member for Calne, in Wiltshire, passed at once and beyond all question from the second to the front rank of Parliamentary orators. Mr. Lowe had chosen his opportunity well. In proportion to the popular interest in the question, in proportion to the shortness of its own remaining life, was the dislike of the existing House of Commons to the very name of Reform. Hence from the Whig as well as from the Conservative benches—from all, in fact, except the benches below the gangway on the Liberal side—the cheers rang out as Mr. Lowe, the most impartial of cynics, the narrowest of utilitarians, a Liberal without enthusiasm, a Tory without prejudices, delivered the first of his famous philippics against the democracy of the future. The line of argument that he adopted was, first, to show the vanity of any assumption of an abstract right of all men to have a share in their own government—in other words, to establish one standard by which questions of this kind were to be judged, namely, the standard of public utility; and next, to show that in this case public utility demanded that the qualifications for the franchise should remain as they were. "If these abstract rights to a vote exist," said Mr. Lowe, "they are as much the property of the Australian savage and the Hottentot of the Cape as of the educated and refined Englishman. Those abstract rights are constantly invoked for the destruction of society and the overthrow of government, but they can never be successfully invoked as a foundation upon which government may securely rest." This kind of protest against the doctrine of "abstract rights" was followed by a series of illustrations, immensely relished by the House, of the evils of democracy in other countries and of the ruin it would bring upon England. Mr. Lowe attacked in turn "the sentimental argument," "the fatalistic argument," and "the argument of necessity;" denying that the franchise, when made cheap and vulgar, would elevate the working classes; denying that sooner or later the upper class would have to give way; and denying that the working classes were "thundering at the gates" of the upper class and demanding admission with dangerous noise. The rest of the debate is not specially memorable. Sir George Grey, speaking from the Treasury bench, expressed the feelings of the Whigs when he declared, almost in so many words, that the Government had not made up its mind and when he implied that he at least approached the whole question with reluctance.
But, as we said above, not all the measures proposed in this Session failed to be carried; one at least of great practical importance became law. This was the Union Chargeability Bill, brought in by Mr. Villiers, the President of the Poor Law Board. The object of this Bill was to improve still further the working of the new Poor Law of 1834. The principles of the law were, that while all necessitous persons had a claim to relief, this relief was only to be given on conditions—namely, in the case of the able-bodied, in exchange for labour, and this labour to be given, not at the pauper's own home, but in the workhouse. The increased importance of workhouses led to their being consolidated. Instead of a separate and, probably, ill-appointed house in each parish, a large and well-appointed house was established for Unions of parishes, and these were to be under the control of properly elected guardians and of a central office. It appeared from Mr. Villiers that, however well this system had worked in general, much inequality was caused by the overburdening of some parishes, and the inducement which the landowners and occupiers in some others had to drive away the poor. Hence followed a capricious distribution of the burden of the rates. Mr. Villiers proposed the simple plan—a plan, however, strongly opposed by the strenuous defenders of the strict parochial system—that the Union fund should for the future have to support all the poor within the Union, so that where its administration reached its charges should reach too. This very simple and just measure, denounced by some and applauded by others as the first step towards a system of national rating, was a good deal opposed by members of the Conservative party, but was finally carried both through the Commons and the Lords by considerable majorities. Mr. Villiers acknowledged that he proposed it as an instalment towards the removal of "settlement" altogether—that is, towards allowing a pauper to claim to be taken in to any workhouse, no matter what his domicile or "settlement" might be. Few other measures of importance passed into law during this Session. One at least, however, was important enough: this was the Bill for the concentration of the courts of justice into one great building, the site indicated by the promoters being either one on the Thames Embankment, near the Temple, or the space of ground between the Strand and Lincoln's Inn Fields. The proposal was received with satisfaction by the House, the lawyers, and the country; and every sane man was gratified at the thought that English law would be at last administered in courts that were properly built and decently ventilated. Only a few objectors, led by Lord St. Leonards, found fault with the proposal for paying the cost of the building out of the accumulated "Suitors' Fund" in Chancery. It was thought, however, that the great public convenience to be gained amply justified the wrong done to purely imaginary sufferers. The Bill was passed, and, as all Londoners know, the Carey Street site, between the Strand and Lincoln's Inn, was decided upon. But, as is equally well known, beyond choosing the site and demolishing the houses upon it, and selecting a plan to be modified periodically, nothing was done for many years. In due course, however, the Royal Palace of Justice was completed and opened in November, 1882. Greenwich Hospital was also reformed in this Session. A Public Schools Bill was brought forward, but postponed.
This year was a quiet one in the religious world. In the course of it several interesting measures relating to religious tests and subscriptions were brought into Parliament; and though in the end little or nothing was done towards a practical settlement of the questions raised, still public attention was kept alive to them and to the importance of the convictions and feelings at issue. Thus regarded, as steps in an inevitable road, even abortive Reform Bills and Tests Bills lost in the Commons have a lasting interest and value. The University Tests Bill of 1865 was introduced by Mr. Goschen, then one of the members for the City of London, and the motion for the second reading was seconded by Mr. Grant Duff. The Bill, said Mr. Goschen, did not propose to admit Dissenters to the governing body of the University, although it might lead to that result eventually, but to enable degrees to be conferred without reference to religious tests. It would also go beyond the Cambridge Act and give a vote in Convocation; whilst it would admit to certain privileges and emoluments, to obtain which under the present system the degree of Master of Arts was an essential qualification. He could not believe that these concessions would lower the tone or impair the prestige of Oxford. So far from injuring the University, they would rather widen its basis and make it more useful and acceptable to the country, for he was convinced that no system could flourish that practically excluded one half the population from their traditional seat of learning. In a short effective speech Mr. Grant Duff gave three reasons for his support of the Bill: (1) That it would be beneficial rather than hurtful to the Church; (2) that it was an act of simple justice to the Dissenters, who had been from the beginning of their history altogether excluded from the higher education of England; (3) that it would be useful to the University, by enabling it to understand more fully its duties to the nation and the proper scope of its influence and training. But the time was not yet come for the admission of the principle upon which these arguments were based. Lord Cranborne and Mr. Gladstone, alarmed by certain conclusions advanced in Mr. Goschen's speech and persuaded that the effect of the Bill would be to give over the government of the University to Dissenters, offered a warm opposition to it. The promoters of the Bill, said Mr. Gladstone, openly avowed their desire to separate education from religion, and that was a principle to which he was resolutely opposed. Mr. Gathorne Hardy and Mr. Henley followed suit. Finally, Lord Cranborne's amendment—that the Bill should be adjourned for six months—was negatived by 206 votes to 190. But it was felt that with so small a majority it was useless to push the Bill any farther. If such was the temper of the Commons it was well known that the Lords would make short work of it and the measure was temporarily abandoned.
The Roman Catholic Oaths Bill again brought forward the subject of religious tests, only, however, to afford another triumph to religious conservatism. The object of Mr. Monsell, its introducer, was to alter the form of the oath required from Roman Catholic members of Parliament under the Relief Act of 1829, and to substitute for it the simple oath of the Queen's supremacy. The oath as administered under that Act required a Roman Catholic member to swear that he renounced, rejected, and abjured the doctrine that princes excommunicated or deposed by the Pope or any authority of the See of Rome might be deposed or murdered by their subjects or by any person whatever; that he disclaimed, disavowed, and abjured any intention to subvert the Established Church; and that he would never disturb or weaken the Protestant religion, or the Protestant Government in the United Kingdom. Such an oath, it was argued, was not an anachronism; it was a grievance and a degradation. The oath was, indeed, a remnant of the state of things before Catholic Emancipation, and there could be no doubt that the just and liberal course would have been to oblige all members of Parliament, without exception or variation, to take a uniform oath. A strong and finally successful opposition, however, was advanced. Mr. Whalley's and Mr. Newdegate's Protestant consciences took the alarm; "in the interests of social and political order and the peace of families," they felt themselves bound to resist the measure. Sir George Grey, who supported the Bill, was taunted with his Ultramontane leanings; and, according to Mr. Whiteside, the proposed change affected the Constitution, the Church, and the property of the country! However, by the help of Government support, given, said the Opposition, from electioneering motives, the Bill was read a second time and successfully maintained in committee. Substantially unaltered, it was sent up to the Lords, where, however, a night's debate disposed of it. Lord Derby made a long and powerful speech, appealing to every Tory cry and every Tory prejudice, till the measure assumed such formidable proportions that it frightened even its supporters. Lord Harrowby, Lord Chelmsford, and others followed suit, and, in spite of the efforts on the Liberal side, the Bill was lost on division by twenty-one votes.
A word of notice is called for by some other Parliamentary discussions that took place this year on ecclesiastical matters; but as none led to any practical result, they may be dismissed with a word. Mr. Dillwyn's motion about the Irish Church has been already mentioned; it called forth, as we have said, an emphatic declaration from Mr. Gladstone, and to that declaration is to be traced, in a great measure, his rejection by Oxford University. Mr. Newdegate attempted, but without success, to substitute a rate of twopence in the pound on real property for the existing Church rates. In the House of Lords Lord Lyttelton, with the approval of most of the Bishops, proposed a resolution in favour of an increase of the Episcopate—a subject always dear to the High Church party, but considered by the Evangelical party to be of less importance than a development of the parochial system. The dioceses of Exeter, Winchester, and London were pointed to as those that ought to be relieved by the creation of new bishoprics. The resolution, however, was not put to the vote, nor had it any legislative result.
The end of the Session of 1865 was troubled by certain transactions that caused great tribulation to the Government of Lord Palmerston and proved fatal to the career of one of the highest officers of State. These transactions are commonly grouped together under the name of "the Edmunds scandal." The case of Mr. Edmunds was as follows:—In 1833 Lord Brougham, at that time Lord Chancellor, had appointed Mr. Leonard Edmunds to the post of Clerk of the Patents, at the salary of £400 a year, afterwards increased to £600. In 1854 a quarrel took place between Mr. Edmunds and Mr. Woodcroft, also an official of the Patent Office, and each charged the other with irregularities, mismanagement, or worse. Two lawyers of position—Mr. Hindmarch and Mr. Greenwood, both Queen's Counsel—were appointed to make a full inquiry into the cross-accusations; and their finding was adverse to Mr. Edmunds. The authorities, however, were lenient enough to allow him to resign, on his repaying the sums due to the Treasury. Then arose the question which brought Lord Chancellor Westbury into his unfortunate position. Mr. Edmunds, as well as being clerk in the Patent Office, was clerk in the House of Lords; and it was to his evident interest to resign that post before rumours of his troubles in his other office should reach the ears of the Parliament Office Committee and defeat his chance of a pension. Accordingly the Lord Chancellor himself presented Mr. Edmunds' petition; himself moved that the resignation should be accepted and that the question of pension should be referred to a select committee, of which he was to be one; and this without one word of reference to the grave charges hanging over the head of Mr. Edmunds. The select committee was appointed and recommended to the House that a pension of £800 a year should be conferred on Mr. Edmunds; and this recommendation the House adopted. Meanwhile, the Lord Chancellor appointed his son, the Honourable Slingsby Bethell, to the post in the House of Lords vacated by Mr. Edmunds. Before long, however, the floating rumours about Mr. Edmunds' conduct in the Patent Office had caught the public attention, and Lord Stanley expressed the general uneasiness about the affair in some questions that he addressed to the Attorney-General in the House of Commons. Next night the Lord Chancellor himself took up the matter and, courting inquiry, moved for the appointment of a select committee to examine all the circumstances. The committee sat; reported that the charges against Mr. Edmunds were fully proved by evidence; and, by a majority of one, gave it as their opinion that the Lord Chancellor had failed in his duty when he presented Mr. Edmunds' petition without informing the committee of the facts of the case. But, by way of softening their censure, the select committee added, "that they had no reason to believe that the Lord Chancellor was influenced by any unworthy or unbecoming motives in thus abstaining from giving any information to the before-mentioned committee."
THE FOREIGN OFFICE, LONDON, FROM ST. JAMES'S PARK.
Upon this, the House revoked Mr. Edmunds' pension and there apparently the matter ended. The committee had not condemned the Lord Chancellor; his position remained as before; and yet everybody felt uncomfortable. Hence it was in no lenient mind that the public heard rumours of a fresh scandal, touching the Lord Chancellor still more nearly, in the matter of certain appointments in the Leeds Bankruptcy Court, which Mr. Ferrand brought before the House. The appointment of a select committee followed, and five members were chosen, with Mr. Howes for chairman, to inquire into the whole affair. The result of their investigations, during which all the persons concerned, including the Lord Chancellor, were examined, was to bring to light a most lamentable state of things, the principal facts being the following:—Mr. Wilde, the Registrar of the Leeds Court of Bankruptcy, had been charged, in the year 1864, with improperly passing the accounts of his subordinates, and with borrowing money of them "to the destruction of his independence and efficiency." The Lord Chancellor, through Mr. Miller, the Chief Registrar, called upon him, in May, 1864, to explain the charges; but apparently no satisfactory explanation was forthcoming, for, on the 26th of June, Mr. Miller, by order of the Chancellor, wrote to Mr. Wilde, offering him in a peremptory way the option of resignation, or of appearing in open court to show cause why he should not be dismissed. But Mr. Miller added, without the Chancellor's authorisation, that if Mr. Wilde chose to resign upon a medical certificate, he might perhaps claim a pension; and he took the hint. Mr. Wilde was allowed to retire on a pension, and Mr. Welch was appointed by Lord Westbury to the office he had resigned. Now Mr. Welch was a friend of Mr. Richard Bethell; he was a barrister on the Northern Circuit, and he had money; Mr. Bethell, on the other hand, had, in the month of May, been compelled by his father to resign his post as Registrar in Bankruptcy on account of debt, and money was of importance to him. Here came the scandal. A certain Reverend George Harding gave his evidence before the committee to the effect that, in May, 1864, an arrangement had been made between himself, Mr. Welch, and Mr. Richard Bethell, of the following nature. Mr. Welch was to give Mr. Bethell £500 for his good influences with his father, the Lord Chancellor, and a further £1,000 on receipt of an appointment, one-third of this latter sum to go to Mr. Harding as his share in the transaction. In February, 1865, after Mr. Bethell had been for some time abroad, his claims for a new office were pressed on the Chancellor by Mr. Miller; and hopes were held out that Mr. Welch might be transferred to London, and Mr. Bethell appointed to Leeds. Presuming on this, he went down to Leeds on the 24th, and talked to the officials as if the arrangements were concluded, but meanwhile the Lord Chancellor had changed his mind, and did not appoint his son. The report of the select committee acquitted the Lord Chancellor "from all charge except that of haste and want of caution in granting a pension to Mr. Wilde;" but it went on to say that the inquiry had been a most necessary one. The newspapers were immediately filled with criticisms of the Chancellor's conduct; but Parliament was just about to be prorogued and it was generally supposed that he was to be left free from authoritative censure. But just before the prorogation a motion on the matter was put on the notice-book of the House of Commons by Mr. Ward Hunt, member for Northamptonshire, and afterwards Mr. Disraeli's Chancellor of the Exchequer. He proposed that the Lord Chancellor should be compelled to resign; and a lively debate ensued on the question whether, on the one side, scandalous blunders in the matter of patronage were to be held a capital offence, or whether, on the other side, the blunders were to be held venial and condoned by a comparison of them with the Chancellor's services and successes. The debate ended in the adoption, after the Government had been defeated on the question of adjournment, by a majority of 14 in a House of 340, of an amendment, proposed by Mr. Bouverie, substantially the original vote of censure clothed in milder terms. The next day Lord Westbury resigned, and on the day after made a farewell statement in the House of Lords—a statement in which a genuine contempt for the majority which had condemned him was veiled by language of the most respectful submission. He passed from the Woolsack, to be succeeded by Lord Cranworth, Chancellor for the second time; and the public career of one of the greatest of law reformers closed in disgrace.