On the 21st of March parliament was prorogued to the 30th of April. On the same day the dissolution took place, which was to test the opinion of the country for or against the ministry.
GENERAL ELECTION.
The election was attended with great excitement, and resulted in a great increase of members supporting the ministry. Many of the Manchester school were thrown out; not because of their economical philosophy, but because of their supposed readiness to sacrifice national honour and justice for the temporary and passing advantage of the manufacturing interest. Mr. Cobden lost the representation of the West Riding of York, Mr. Bright and Mr. Gibson lost that of Manchester, and the followers of these gentlemen fared no better than their chiefs.
RE-ASSEMBLING OF PARLIAMENT.
On May 7th the houses resumed business. It was announced by the ministry that the Princess Royal was betrothed to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. The house made provision for the princess.
The abolition of “ministers’ money” in Ireland was accomplished, after a determined opposition by Mr. Disraeli in the commons, and the Earl of Derby in the lords. The tax so called was a source of heart-burning and contention in Ireland, a country afflicted by so many causes of social, political, and religious disputes, that it might be supposed parliament would have eagerly adopted any course to remove some of those occasions of discontent. The Derby-Disraeli opposition was overborne by large majorities, although the final struggle in the lords was ended by only a majority of seventeen.
Long and violent debates ensued on an attempt by Lord Palmerston to remove the ineligibility of Jews to sit in parliament. In the commons his lordship triumphed, but in the lords was defeated. Sir F. Thesiger in the commons and the Earls of Derby and Shaftesbury in the lords, were the leading opponents of the measure. The Jews were much excited by this defeat, and were, it was alleged, resolved to put forth their great wealth to agitate the question on an extended scale: the temper of the country would have been favourable to such an attempt.
Lord John Russell made another effort to obtain the admission of Jews, but failed. The exasperation felt by the Jewish community now reached a degree of great intensity, and the public sympathized with what was considered their wrongs. Much indignation was felt against certain Irish Roman Catholic members of parliament, who, in the supposed interests of their own church, opposed the emancipation of their Jewish brethren.