PRINCESS BEATRICE.
(From a Photograph by Hughes and Mullins, Ryde.)
by Mr. Gladstone’s Bill in 1885, and which sprang from the compromise with the Opposition in December, 1884, effected changes vaster by far than those that shook Society to its foundation in 1832. In 1832, what nearly came to civil war was waged over 143 seats, liberated by disfranchisement for redistribution.[205] In 1885 Mr. Gladstone had 178 seats representing 26·5 per cent. of the representation of the country to redistribute. Of this number more than half—about 96—were given to the counties, whose Electorate had been enormously increased by the absorption of small boroughs, as well as by the extension of household franchise, whereas in 1832, the counties only pulled 56 of the liberated seats out of the scramble. Of the boroughs which Mr. Gladstone disfranchised, 20 had their representation cut down to one member in 1832, and two, Kendal and Whitby—which Lord John Russell created as new boroughs—lost their separate representation in 1885. The great merit of the Bill was that, as far as possible, it created single-member constituencies on the basis of population, which was as close an approach to equal electoral districts as Mr. Gladstone could make. Large towns, instead of being treated as single electoral units with cumulative voting, were cut up into single-member constituencies as nearly as possible equal in point of population. The Bills for Scotland and Ireland were drawn on the same lines, but adapted to local circumstances.
Up to Whitsuntide Government business was sadly in arrears—foreign questions diverting attention from domestic legislation. The fall of Khartoum, the retreat of Lord Wolseley’s advance column in the Soudan, the defeats and disasters of the campaign, the deaths of Generals Gordon, Stewart, and Earle, together with wild rumours of an Arab invasion of Egypt, excited Parliament to a state of high tension. The Government called out the Reserves, announced that they would crush the Mahdi, and ordered the war against Osman Digna to be renewed. The Opposition in the last week of February brought forward a vote of censure on the Ministerial policy in Egypt, calling on Ministers to recognise British responsibility for Egypt and those parts of the Soudan which were necessary for the security of Egypt. Mr. Gladstone evaded any positive declaration of policy, and the Liberal party spoke with two voices, some being for complete withdrawal from Egypt, others being in favour of administering its affairs in the name of the Khedive, but none being bold enough to advocate any permanent course of action. The Ministry were saved from defeat by 302 votes to 288, and this narrow majority was a warning of their coming doom.
A dispute then arose as to the plan adopted for rescuing Egypt from a financial crisis. This plan was embodied in a convention with the Powers and assented to by the Porte, by which a loan of £9,000,000 under International guarantee was advanced to Egypt to save her from bankruptcy, in consideration of which the Powers agreed to suspend the Law of Liquidation and cut down the interest on all Egyptian securities by 5 per cent. That on the Suez Bonds payable to the English Government was, however, reduced by 10 per cent. The arrangement was to last for two years, and if Egypt was still bankrupt in 1887, then her affairs would be subject to an International inquiry. No care had been taken to prevent the International guarantee of the loan carrying with it the right of International intervention in Egypt, though Ministers repudiated the suggestion that it did. The Convention was, however, approved by the House of Commons by a vote of 294 to 246. Soon after this the diplomatic hostility of France, Russia, and Germany, caused Mr. Gladstone’s Government suddenly to limit their responsibilities in Egypt. Operations in the Red Sea were countermanded, the Suakim-Berber railway was stopped, and it was decided to abandon Dongola and fix the Egyptian frontier at Wady-Halfa. Mr. Gladstone, or rather Lord Derby and Lord Granville, had produced the diplomatic isolation of England at a most inconvenient moment, when a dispute with Russia over the Afghan boundary reached a critical stage. The negotiations for settling the boundary had been delayed because the Russian Commissioners under various pretexts avoided meeting Sir Peter Lumsden, the British Commissioner, on the frontier. Meanwhile Russian troops were stealthily advancing and taking possession of the debateable land. English protests against these tactics ended in an announcement from Mr. Gladstone, on the 13th of March, that it had been agreed by Russia that no further advances should be made on either side—the Russians having then occupied Zulficar and Pul-i-Khisti, and entrenched themselves near Penjdeh. Early in April it seemed that the Russian General (Komaroff) on the Kushk, in defiance of the agreement, took Penjdeh. This was resented by Mr. Gladstone as an “unprovoked aggression” on the Ameer, and a violation of a binding pledge to the English Foreign Office. The Government, therefore, called out the Reserves, and asked and received a Vote of Credit for £11,000,000 sterling (27th of April), to enable them to defend the interests and honour of the country against Muscovite perfidy.[206] Mr. Gladstone’s passionate outburst of patriotism, in which he declared that till the aggression at Penjdeh were atoned for he could not “close the book and say we will not look into it any more,” silenced criticism. He was fortunate enough also to carry a large vote of credit for the Egyptian account through the House on the tide of excitement he had raised in asking for the vote against Russia. But his hot fit was soon succeeded by a cool one. He agreed to “close the book” in terms of a compromise by which Russia was permitted to hold all that she had furtively seized, pending a delimitation to be effected in London,[207] the understanding being, however, that Russia would surrender Zulficar to the Ameer. As to Komaroff’s attack on Penjdeh, Russia agreed to submit to the arbitration of the King of Denmark the question whether it constituted a breach of the agreement announced by Mr. Gladstone on the 13th of March, but the inquiry was to be conducted so as “not to place gallant officers on their trial.” The only gratifying incidents in this painful transaction were the generous offers of armed support that were made to England by her autonomous colonies, and by the princes and peoples of India.
It was admitted by Mr. Gladstone that only non-contentious legislation could be taken during the Session. Still, he made one exception. He announced that he intended to renew certain “valuable and equitable provisions of the Irish Crimes Act.” This decision arrived at, after much discussion in the Cabinet, hurried the Ministry to their fate. The Parnellites privately obtained assurances from some of their influential Tory allies that if the Irish votes were so cast as to destroy Mr. Gladstone’s Government, the Tory Government that came after it would allow the Crimes Act to lapse, and would abandon Coercion. The Tory leaders, according to Lord Randolph Churchill, met and resolved to oppose any proposal to renew the Crimes Act or continue coercive legislation for Ireland.[208] But it was desirable for them to avoid the too open manifestation of their alliance with the Parnellites on a question of supporting the Government in upholding law and order in Ireland. Now that the Coalition was ready to strike, a side issue had to be discovered on which united action might be taken without scandal. This was furnished by Mr. Childers. It happened that, after Whitsuntide, the Cabinet was wrangling over something else besides Coercion—namely, the Budget—and the financial situation was not, it must be confessed, a pleasant one. A violent popular agitation in the autumn against the Admiralty, had produced a panic about the weakness of the Navy.[209] Lord Northbrook had then promised to make important additions to the Navy. Some steps were also to be taken to protect British coaling stations abroad—and all this helped to increase the Estimates. The Vote of Credit of £11,000,000 aggravated Mr. Childers’ difficulties. He had, in short, to face a deficit of a million in his accounts for 1884-85, and, with a falling revenue, an expenditure in the coming year of £100,000,000! The country remembering Mr. Gladstone’s furious denunciations of Lord Beaconsfield’s administration for running up public expenditure to £81,000,000 in 1879-80, was profoundly chagrined to find that under an economic Liberal Government, expenditure had been run up in 1885 to £100,000,000. The discussions in the Cabinet as to how the money should be raised ended in the adoption of the principle that Labour as well as Property must share the burden. Mr. Childers, therefore, raised the Income Tax to 8d. in the £, equalised the death duties on land and personal property, putting a special tax on Corporations instead of succession duty, and imposed a stamp duty on moveable securities. These changes, he explained in his Budget speech (April 30th), would
