DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16887#0007
VOLUME LX.--JANUARY TO JUNE, 1871.
THE GLADSTONE CABINET.—1871.
FL-st Lord of the Treasury........ Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone.
Lord Chancellor......... Lord Hatherley.
Chancellor of the Exchequer....... Eight Hon. R. Lowe.
Lord President of the Council...... Marquis of Ripon, K.G. (formerly Earl De Grey and Ripon),
Lord Privy Seal.......... Viscount Halifax.
Home Office .......... Right Hon. H. A. Bruce (now Lord Aberdare).
Foreign Office.......... Earl Granville, K.G.
Colonial Office . . . . . . • ■. . . Earl of Kimberley.
War Secretary......... . Right Hon. E. (now Viscount) Cardwkll.
Indian Secretary......... Duke of Argyll, K.T.
Admiralty.......... Right Hon. G. J. Goschen.
President of the Board of Trade...... Right Hon. Chichester Fortescue (now Lord Carlingford)
President of the Poor Law Board...... Right Hon. James Stansfeld.
Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education . Right Hon. W. E. Forstek.
Chief Secretary for Ireland ....... MARQTTIS of Hartington.
POLITICAL SUMMARY.
PAGE PAQB
bers (" the Colonels"), the abolition of purchase being the
vital change which they mainly resisted. Ultimately the
THE Oueen opened Parliament m person on the 9th of
February. The Royal Speech was of unusual length,
foreign affairs, and particularly the Franco-German war,
occupying many paragraphs. The principal measures of
domestic legislation announced as forthcoming were Bills
for the better regulation of the Army and the auxiliary
land forces of the Crown, on Religious Tests in the Uni-
versities of Oxford and Cambridge, the Adjustment of Local
Burdens, the Licensing of Houses for the Sale of Intoxi-
cating Liquors, and for the Establishment of Secret
Voting.
Before the Meeting of Parliament, Army Reform had
been the subject of much agitation throughout the country,
and at the beginning of the Session the Secretary for War
(Mr. Cardwell) introduced his Army Regulation Bill—
"the object of which was to combine in one harmonious
whole all the branches of our military forces." The pur-
chase of Commissions—the prominent feature of the new
scheme—was to be abolished, and the control of the auxiliary
forces, the Militia and Volunteers, transferred from the
Lords-Lieutenant of Counties to the Crown. Other im-
portant changes were included in the Bill. As a conse-
quence of the abolition of the Purchase System, the
compensation to be paid to officers was calculated as between
£7,400,000 and £8,400,000, spread over a number of years—
" Parliament being invited to compensate officers not only
for the legal value of their Commissions, but also for the
excess of prices beyond the regulated amount which they
had paid in accordance with the usage of the service."
The Bill, which occupied most of the Session, encountered
Government only insisted on the Purchase Clauses and the
transfer of the control over the auxiliary forces, and in this
reduced shape the Bill passed through Committee in the
House of Commons. But in the House of Lords the
Government met with a defeat, and found themselves in a
minority on the Bill, so they determined on a step which
took both Parliament and the nation by surprise—they
advised Her Majesty to abolish Purchase by Royal War-
rant. A vote of censure on the Government for this pro-
ceeding was carried in the House of Lords, but the Bill
itself—now little more than a measure of compensation to
officers—passed without a division, and the Royal Warrant
put an end to the Purchase System.
The Government were not fortunate in their legislation
this Session, the University Tests Bill being the only im-
portant Ministerial measure which passed into law as it was
originally framed. The Licensing Bill introduced by the
Home Secretary (Mr. Bruce) provoked great opposition
both in and out of the House, the feeling being that "the
convenience of customers was treated with as little regard
as the interests of the publicans," and the Licensing Clauses
in it were in the end withdrawn. The same iU-fate befell
Mr. Goschen's Bills for the adjustment of Local Burdens,
and although a Ballot Bill, applicable both to Municipal
and Parliamentary Elections, passed the Commons, it was
rejected by the Lords.
The Budget was another Ministerial failure. Increased
Army Estimates, and the compensation to be paid on the
a long and persistent opposition chiefly from military Mem- ! abolition of Purchase, necessitated an expenditure which
Vol. 60.
THE GLADSTONE CABINET.—1871.
FL-st Lord of the Treasury........ Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone.
Lord Chancellor......... Lord Hatherley.
Chancellor of the Exchequer....... Eight Hon. R. Lowe.
Lord President of the Council...... Marquis of Ripon, K.G. (formerly Earl De Grey and Ripon),
Lord Privy Seal.......... Viscount Halifax.
Home Office .......... Right Hon. H. A. Bruce (now Lord Aberdare).
Foreign Office.......... Earl Granville, K.G.
Colonial Office . . . . . . • ■. . . Earl of Kimberley.
War Secretary......... . Right Hon. E. (now Viscount) Cardwkll.
Indian Secretary......... Duke of Argyll, K.T.
Admiralty.......... Right Hon. G. J. Goschen.
President of the Board of Trade...... Right Hon. Chichester Fortescue (now Lord Carlingford)
President of the Poor Law Board...... Right Hon. James Stansfeld.
Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education . Right Hon. W. E. Forstek.
Chief Secretary for Ireland ....... MARQTTIS of Hartington.
POLITICAL SUMMARY.
PAGE PAQB
bers (" the Colonels"), the abolition of purchase being the
vital change which they mainly resisted. Ultimately the
THE Oueen opened Parliament m person on the 9th of
February. The Royal Speech was of unusual length,
foreign affairs, and particularly the Franco-German war,
occupying many paragraphs. The principal measures of
domestic legislation announced as forthcoming were Bills
for the better regulation of the Army and the auxiliary
land forces of the Crown, on Religious Tests in the Uni-
versities of Oxford and Cambridge, the Adjustment of Local
Burdens, the Licensing of Houses for the Sale of Intoxi-
cating Liquors, and for the Establishment of Secret
Voting.
Before the Meeting of Parliament, Army Reform had
been the subject of much agitation throughout the country,
and at the beginning of the Session the Secretary for War
(Mr. Cardwell) introduced his Army Regulation Bill—
"the object of which was to combine in one harmonious
whole all the branches of our military forces." The pur-
chase of Commissions—the prominent feature of the new
scheme—was to be abolished, and the control of the auxiliary
forces, the Militia and Volunteers, transferred from the
Lords-Lieutenant of Counties to the Crown. Other im-
portant changes were included in the Bill. As a conse-
quence of the abolition of the Purchase System, the
compensation to be paid to officers was calculated as between
£7,400,000 and £8,400,000, spread over a number of years—
" Parliament being invited to compensate officers not only
for the legal value of their Commissions, but also for the
excess of prices beyond the regulated amount which they
had paid in accordance with the usage of the service."
The Bill, which occupied most of the Session, encountered
Government only insisted on the Purchase Clauses and the
transfer of the control over the auxiliary forces, and in this
reduced shape the Bill passed through Committee in the
House of Commons. But in the House of Lords the
Government met with a defeat, and found themselves in a
minority on the Bill, so they determined on a step which
took both Parliament and the nation by surprise—they
advised Her Majesty to abolish Purchase by Royal War-
rant. A vote of censure on the Government for this pro-
ceeding was carried in the House of Lords, but the Bill
itself—now little more than a measure of compensation to
officers—passed without a division, and the Royal Warrant
put an end to the Purchase System.
The Government were not fortunate in their legislation
this Session, the University Tests Bill being the only im-
portant Ministerial measure which passed into law as it was
originally framed. The Licensing Bill introduced by the
Home Secretary (Mr. Bruce) provoked great opposition
both in and out of the House, the feeling being that "the
convenience of customers was treated with as little regard
as the interests of the publicans," and the Licensing Clauses
in it were in the end withdrawn. The same iU-fate befell
Mr. Goschen's Bills for the adjustment of Local Burdens,
and although a Ballot Bill, applicable both to Municipal
and Parliamentary Elections, passed the Commons, it was
rejected by the Lords.
The Budget was another Ministerial failure. Increased
Army Estimates, and the compensation to be paid on the
a long and persistent opposition chiefly from military Mem- ! abolition of Purchase, necessitated an expenditure which
Vol. 60.