HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, 1890.
|Free Education.| Free education was given a place in the Government programme of 1891, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Goschen, was able to produce a surplus of £2,000,000 in his Budget—just about the sum estimated as the cost of remitting school fees out of the public funds; half of it was taken in order to render elementary education free from September 1 following.
The mysterious epidemic which, for want of a more precise term, is known by the Italian one of influenza, carried off a very large number of persons in the winter and spring months of 1892, 1893, and 1894. |Death of the Duke of Clarence.| Of these the most distinguished by position was the Duke of Clarence, eldest son of the Prince of Wales, and consequently ultimate heir to the throne of Great Britain. He died on January 14, 1892, shortly before the date fixed for his marriage with the Princess May of Teck.
The summer of 1892 was a period of great political agitation, in preparation for the General Election, which was fixed to take place in July. Mr. Gladstone, notwithstanding his fourscore and two years, set out with no manifestation of failing vigour on his fourth Midlothian campaign. |Mr. Gladstone’s Fourth Midlothian Campaign.| The object nearest to his heart was clearly the concession of Home Rule to Ireland; but there was put forward also on behalf of the Gladstonian Liberal party a scheme of general social legislation, known as the Newcastle Programme, containing a long list of measures, some of them of a very drastic nature, calculated to attract the support of the labouring classes. The indifference felt by the bulk of English and Scottish electors to the establishment of an Irish parliament was overborne by the hopes excited among disestablishers, prohibitionists, eight-hours’-day men, land-law reformers, and other enthusiasts, and their votes went to secure the victory for the cause of Home Rule. The Unionists, who had entered office in 1886 with a majority of 116 in the House of Commons, had suffered so many losses by defection and in by-elections that they could only reckon a majority of sixty-six when Parliament was dissolved. This was changed by the general election, into a minority of forty, which was the exact figure by which was carried, when Parliament re-assembled in August, a vote of no confidence in Lord Salisbury’s Administration, after which Mr. Gladstone proceeded to form his fourth and last Cabinet.
From a Photograph] [by Russell & Sons, Baker Street.
THE ALBERT MEMORIAL CHAPEL, WINDSOR, ON THE OCCASION OF THE FUNERAL OF H.R.H. THE DUKE OF CLARENCE, January 1892.
The Duke’s coffin stands between the tomb of the Prince Consort at the further end and that of the Duke of Albany (who died in 1884) at this end of the Chapel.
On February 13, 1893, the Prime Minister proceeded to fulfil his chief pledge to the electorate by introducing his second Home Rule Bill. |The Second Home Rule Bill.| Mr. Gladstone’s speech lasted two hours and a quarter, a marvellous performance for an octogenarian; and although he failed to excite the same enthusiasm among his followers as was so remarkable on the former occasion, the Bill eventually passed the second reading by 347 votes against 304. But the opposition in Committee was so vigorous and sustained, that the Government resolved to force the Bill through by applying the closure at fixed dates to groups of clauses, so that the whole Bill should be through Committee by the end of July; and this was effected, after animated resistance had been offered to what was denounced as the “gag.”
