DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16885#0007
VOLUME LVIII.-JANUARY TO JUNE, 1870.
THE GLADSTONE CABINET.—1870.
First Lord of the Treasury........ Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone.
Lord Chancellor........' Loud Hatherley (formerly Sir W. Page Wood).
Chancellor of the Exchequer....... Eight Hon. R. Lowe.
Lord President of the Council...... Earl De Grey and Ripon (now Marquis of Ripon, R r'..).
Lord Privy Seal.......... Earl of Kimberley.
Home Office....... Right Hon. H. A. Bruce (now Lord Aberdare).
Foreign Office.......... Earl of Clarendon, K.G.
Colonial Office......... Earl Granville, K.G.
War Secretary....... . ... Right Hon. E. (now Viscount) Cakdweli,.
Indian Secretary......... Duke of Argyll, K.T.
Admiralty....... . . . Right Hon. H. C. E. Childers.
President of the Board of TraiL-...... Right Hon. J. Bright.
Postmaster-General ........ Marquis of Hartingtox.
President of the Poor La'w Board...... Uight Hon. G. J. Goschen.
Chief Secretary of Ireland........ Right Hon. Chichester Fortescue (now Lord Caruxgford).
POLITICAL
THE Session of 1870 was opened, by Commission on
the 8th of February, the Queen being unable,
through indisposition, to take part in the proceedings of the
day. As was the case in the previous year, a measure
which solely affected Ireland, proved to be a prominent
topic of the Eoyal Speech—the Irish Land Bill. In 1869
the Irish Church Bill absorbed the chief share of the atten-
tion of Parliament. In 1870 the Irish Land Bill occupied
many nights, and gave rise to many discussions, but the
interest it aroused was but languid compared with the
excitement which attended the various stages of the Dis-
establishment Act.
On the 15th of February Mr. Gladstone introduced the
Bill in a " splendid " speech of three hours' duration. Into
the details of the measure it seems hardly necessary to
enter. Generally it may be said that its object was to pre-
vent landlords turning out their tenants without giving
them compensation for eviction : reversing what was then
the presumption of the law, it presumed all improvements
to be the property of the tenant, and left it to the landlord
to prove the contrary. That some such measure was wanted
was conclusively shown by the division on the second
reading of the Bill, when 453 members voted for, and only
11 against it—certainly Mr. Gladstone used no exagger-
ation when he spoke of " the handful of opponents."
The Bill received some alterations in Committee, but the
amendments proposed by the Opposition were mostly nega-
tived. It passed the Commons on the 30th of May, and on
the 12th of July it returned to them considerably amended
by the Conservative Lords. Of these amendments, some of
which were opposed to the principles of the Bill, the great
SUMMARY.
majority were reversed by the Lower House, and on the 1st
of August the Irish Land Bill received the Boyal assent.
Ireland at this time was in a very disturbed state. (See
" Cartoons," pp. 101,111, 141.) The Government were fully
sensible of the necessity for vigorous measures in dealing
with Fenians, agrarian assassins, demagogues, and seditious
writers, and brought forward on the 17th of March a strong
Bill for the repression of crime ('' Peace Preservation Bill "),
which only found thirteen opponents on the second reading,
and speedily passed into law.
Perhaps the most important result of the Session was
the Government Education Act, introduced and carried
through by Mr. W. E. Forster, the Vice-President of the
Committee of Council of Education. The following is an
epitome of the Bill as originally framed :—■
"The measure was based upon the principle of direct compulsion as
regarded the attendance of children, and, to effect this, power was to be
given to each School-Board to frame bye-laws compelling the attendance at
school of all children from rive to twelve years of age within their district.
The Schools formed by the Bill would be subject to three regulations :—
' 1. It must be shown that they possess a certain amount of efficiency in
education before a Government grant will be made. 2. They will be re-
quired to submit to the examination of an undenominational Inspector.
S. a " conscience clause " will be attached as a condition of the receipt of
Government assistance. The management of the Schools would be vested
in Boards, to be locally elected. The School fees would not be abolished.
Power would, however, be given to the School-Boards to establish free
Schools in localities where the poverty of the inhabitants rendered them
desirable, and in the paying Schools the Boards would also have the power
to grant free tickets to children whose parents were unable to pay the fees,
care being taken that no stigma accompanied their possession. The Bill
proposed to supplement the funds, necessary to carry out the scheme, by
local rates and by grants from the public treasury, in the estimated propor-
tion of one-third from each source, the remaining third coming from the
school fees. If the charge upon the poor-rate under this head should exceed
in any parish threepence in the pound, a special additional grant would be
Vol. 58.
THE GLADSTONE CABINET.—1870.
First Lord of the Treasury........ Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone.
Lord Chancellor........' Loud Hatherley (formerly Sir W. Page Wood).
Chancellor of the Exchequer....... Eight Hon. R. Lowe.
Lord President of the Council...... Earl De Grey and Ripon (now Marquis of Ripon, R r'..).
Lord Privy Seal.......... Earl of Kimberley.
Home Office....... Right Hon. H. A. Bruce (now Lord Aberdare).
Foreign Office.......... Earl of Clarendon, K.G.
Colonial Office......... Earl Granville, K.G.
War Secretary....... . ... Right Hon. E. (now Viscount) Cakdweli,.
Indian Secretary......... Duke of Argyll, K.T.
Admiralty....... . . . Right Hon. H. C. E. Childers.
President of the Board of TraiL-...... Right Hon. J. Bright.
Postmaster-General ........ Marquis of Hartingtox.
President of the Poor La'w Board...... Uight Hon. G. J. Goschen.
Chief Secretary of Ireland........ Right Hon. Chichester Fortescue (now Lord Caruxgford).
POLITICAL
THE Session of 1870 was opened, by Commission on
the 8th of February, the Queen being unable,
through indisposition, to take part in the proceedings of the
day. As was the case in the previous year, a measure
which solely affected Ireland, proved to be a prominent
topic of the Eoyal Speech—the Irish Land Bill. In 1869
the Irish Church Bill absorbed the chief share of the atten-
tion of Parliament. In 1870 the Irish Land Bill occupied
many nights, and gave rise to many discussions, but the
interest it aroused was but languid compared with the
excitement which attended the various stages of the Dis-
establishment Act.
On the 15th of February Mr. Gladstone introduced the
Bill in a " splendid " speech of three hours' duration. Into
the details of the measure it seems hardly necessary to
enter. Generally it may be said that its object was to pre-
vent landlords turning out their tenants without giving
them compensation for eviction : reversing what was then
the presumption of the law, it presumed all improvements
to be the property of the tenant, and left it to the landlord
to prove the contrary. That some such measure was wanted
was conclusively shown by the division on the second
reading of the Bill, when 453 members voted for, and only
11 against it—certainly Mr. Gladstone used no exagger-
ation when he spoke of " the handful of opponents."
The Bill received some alterations in Committee, but the
amendments proposed by the Opposition were mostly nega-
tived. It passed the Commons on the 30th of May, and on
the 12th of July it returned to them considerably amended
by the Conservative Lords. Of these amendments, some of
which were opposed to the principles of the Bill, the great
SUMMARY.
majority were reversed by the Lower House, and on the 1st
of August the Irish Land Bill received the Boyal assent.
Ireland at this time was in a very disturbed state. (See
" Cartoons," pp. 101,111, 141.) The Government were fully
sensible of the necessity for vigorous measures in dealing
with Fenians, agrarian assassins, demagogues, and seditious
writers, and brought forward on the 17th of March a strong
Bill for the repression of crime ('' Peace Preservation Bill "),
which only found thirteen opponents on the second reading,
and speedily passed into law.
Perhaps the most important result of the Session was
the Government Education Act, introduced and carried
through by Mr. W. E. Forster, the Vice-President of the
Committee of Council of Education. The following is an
epitome of the Bill as originally framed :—■
"The measure was based upon the principle of direct compulsion as
regarded the attendance of children, and, to effect this, power was to be
given to each School-Board to frame bye-laws compelling the attendance at
school of all children from rive to twelve years of age within their district.
The Schools formed by the Bill would be subject to three regulations :—
' 1. It must be shown that they possess a certain amount of efficiency in
education before a Government grant will be made. 2. They will be re-
quired to submit to the examination of an undenominational Inspector.
S. a " conscience clause " will be attached as a condition of the receipt of
Government assistance. The management of the Schools would be vested
in Boards, to be locally elected. The School fees would not be abolished.
Power would, however, be given to the School-Boards to establish free
Schools in localities where the poverty of the inhabitants rendered them
desirable, and in the paying Schools the Boards would also have the power
to grant free tickets to children whose parents were unable to pay the fees,
care being taken that no stigma accompanied their possession. The Bill
proposed to supplement the funds, necessary to carry out the scheme, by
local rates and by grants from the public treasury, in the estimated propor-
tion of one-third from each source, the remaining third coming from the
school fees. If the charge upon the poor-rate under this head should exceed
in any parish threepence in the pound, a special additional grant would be
Vol. 58.