[44] The limit of abatement was also raised from incomes of £200 to £300, and the abatement itself from £60 to £80. The duty on coffee and chicory was reduced, and shops and warehouses were exempted from house-tax.
[45] This was founded on the 19th of May, 1870, in the Bilton Hotel, Sackville Street, Dublin. The chief Conservatives present were Mr. Purdon (Lord Mayor of Dublin), Mr. Kinahan (Ex-High Sheriff of Dublin), Major Knox (proprietor of the Irish Times), and Captain (afterwards Colonel) King-Harman. Mr. Butt moved the chief resolution, which was unanimously carried, affirming that “The true remedy for the evils of Ireland is the establishment of an Irish Parliament with full control over our domestic affairs.”
[46] Lord Russell in this letter, says:—“It appears to me that if Ireland were to be allowed to elect a Representative Assembly for each of its four Provinces of Leinster, Ulster, Munster, and Connaught, and if Scotland in a similar manner were to be divided into Lowlands and Highlands, having for each Province a Representative Assembly, the local wants of Ireland and Scotland might be better provided for than they are at present.” There was reason to suppose that the Birmingham School of Radicals in 1886 had almost summoned up courage to adopt the Home Rule scheme which the veteran Whig statesman propounded in 1872.
[47] Burma, As it Was, As it Is, and As it Will Be. By J. George Scott (“Shway Yoe”). London: Redway, 1886-7. P. 34.
[48] The British representative at Mandalay, besides complaining of perpetual encroachments on the Arakan frontier, declared that he was not allowed to see the King of Burma unless he took off his shoes and sat before him on the floor in his stockings.
[49] See a letter written by Mr. Hayward to Mr. Gladstone, in the correspondence of Mr. Abraham Hayward, Q.C., Vol. II., p. 252.
[50] What their motive was for this act has not yet been clearly stated. It was said at the time that they thought by opposing it to induce the Protestants to let it pass. Their opposition, however, as explained by themselves, was (1), The Bill did not endow a Catholic University. The Tories had promised to do so in 1866, and therefore the Catholics might profitably wait till Mr. Disraeli returned to power. (2), The Bill, by endowing Professorships of academical subjects—not including History and Philosophy—was really one for founding a new “Godless college.” (3), Other students than those trained in affiliated colleges—scholars educated by private study, in fact—were admitted to degrees. (4), As the constitution of the new University stood, the Catholics would have to wait for many years ere they could command even a large minority in the new University constituency.
[51] They were Mr. Fawcett, Mr. Horsman, who had approved of the Bill at first, Mr. Bouverie, Mr. McCullagh Torrens, Mr. Aytoun, Mr. Akroyd, Mr. Foster, Mr. Auberon Herbert, and Mr. Whalley.
[52] These clauses do not seem to have been essential to the main object in view, which was to give the Catholics a chance of getting University degrees of high status, and a fair share of the University endowments of the nation. The new “Godless” chairs were not needed if the Catholics did not want them, for the Protestants could always get their instruction in Trinity College.
[53] Sir William Stirling Maxwell was a representative of the most popular phase of Toryism, and in a special sense reflected the mind of his party in hankering after Lord Derby as a leader. Writing to Mr. Hayward in September, 1872, he says of Lord Derby:—“I know no man whose daily talk reflects more constantly the good sense and fairness of his speeches. It is some consolation to those who still believe that Conservatism may have some backbone left to have a prospective leader with so much ballast in his character.” The Conservatives did not trust Mr. Disraeli’s Conservatism even in 1873, just because they suspected it lacked backbone and ballast.