Mr. Gladstone's tenure of office was signalised by a long series of domestic reforms, the most momentous of which was the Education Act, introduced in 1870 by Forster, the Vice-President of the Council of Education, for providing sufficient school-accommodation for the whole infant population of the country, and making the attendance of all children at school compulsory.
The Ballot.
Another important measure was the introduction of the secret ballot at parliamentary elections. This act tended to diminish bribery, by depriving the buyer of votes of the power of ascertaining whether the elector with whom he had trafficked had kept his word or no; but it was far from destroying it altogether, and actually enabled many corrupt voters to sell their promise to both sides. It was not till stringent penalties were imposed, both on the briber and the bribed, by laws passed ten years later, that English parliamentary elections attained their present high standard of purity.
The Franco-German war.
The leading event of this period in the sphere of foreign affairs was the great Franco-German war of 1870-71, in which England preserved a strict neutrality. The French Emperor had provoked the contest in the most wanton way, in the hope of making firm his tottering throne. His defeat and capture at Sedan (September 1, 1870) swept away a power which had, since its first creation in 1852, formed a public danger to Europe from its purely selfish and personal policy. When Bismarck substituted united Germany for imperial France as the chief state of the continent, the world was the gainer.
Russia and the Treaty of Paris.
But the fall of Napoleon III. affected English interests in the East in a less satisfactory fashion. The united power of France and Great Britain had hitherto compelled Russia to abide by the stipulations of the treaty of Paris, [64] but the moment that the fall of the Emperor was known, the Czar issued a declaration that he should no longer consider himself bound by its terms. He began to rebuild his Black Sea fleet, and to refortify Sebastopol, and the English government could not resent the affront.
The "Alabama" arbitration.
About the same time, England was involved in an awkward dispute with the United States, who, ever since the American civil war, had been clamouring for compensation for the ravages committed by the Alabama on Northern shipping. [65] Lord Derby's cabinet had staved off the question, but in 1870 the language of the Americans grew so threatening, that the Liberals had to choose between submission or the chance of a war. They took refuge in a middle course, preferring to refer the liability of England for the doings of the Alabama to a court of arbitration, composed of foreign lawyers. But in the principles laid down, on which the arbitrators were to give their decision, so much was conceded to the Americans, that the result, if not the amount, of the award was a foregone conclusion. The referees met at Geneva, and compelled England to pay £3,000,000, which sufficed not only to pay all the claims made against the Alabama, but to leave a handsome surplus in the American treasury (1872).
Cardwell's military reforms.