THE IRISH UNIVERSITY BILL that the Americans were much more popular than the British, owing to the severe neutrality of Great Britain in the FrancoPrussian War, and could have predicted the result of the arbitration before it was declared. During the session of 1872 the Government steadily lost The Ballot ground, partly from the reasons we have mentioned, partly from Act. discontent at smaller matters, such as the appointment of Sir Robert Collier to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and of Mr. Harvey to the Rectory of Ewelme. Disraeli said at Manchester: "As I sit opposite the Treasury bench, the Ministers remind me of one of those marine landscapes, not very unusual on the coasts of South America. You behold a range of exhausted volcanoes; not a flame flickers upon a single pallid crest, but the situation is still dangerous. There are occasional earthquakes, and ever and anon the dark rumblings of the sea." One of these earthquakes was the Ballot Act, which, promised in the Queen's Speech of 1870, was rejected by the Lords in 1871, and finally passed in 1872. Although in some particulars it was not consistent with sound political theory, and with the highest standard of political morality, which demands that an elector shall not be ashamed to declare his opinions in public, the Ballot Act has been a success and strengthened the parliamentary system. No one would now propose to abolish it. University The Government eventually fell on the question of Irish Gladstone's University Education. On his entry upon office in 1868 Irish Gladstone had determined to devote himself to the removal of Scheme. Irish discontent. He had disestablished the Irish Church, reformed the land laws, and now intended to deal with the problem of higher education. The granting of Home Rule, which was part of the same scheme, was to come at a later period. The University of Dublin, which was really the same as Trinity College, had opened its doors to Catholics as early as 1794. A few attended, but all places of honour and emolument were reserved for members of the Irish Church, which had been disestablished in 1869. Mr. Gladstone's Bill, which attempted the solution of the difficulty, was introduced on February 13th, 1873. It proposed to establish a new University of Dublin, which was to be a teaching as well as an examining body. It was to include Trinity College, the Catholic University of Dublin, and the Queen's Colleges of Cork and Belfast, which were unsectarian. The money for its endowment was to be found by Trinity College, the Consolidated Fund, and the Irish Church surplus, and was to amount to £50,000 a year. But to these arrangements, which Rejection of the were not very wise or statesmanlike, two were added which made it impossible that the Bill should pass. By one of these any teacher might be dismissed who, in speech or writing, wilfully gave offence to the religious opinions of any member, and by the other the University was to have no chairs of theology, modern history, or of moral and mental philosophy. The colleges of which the University was composed might, indeed, teach these subjects, but they would not be taught authoritatively by the University. Mr. Gladstone's speech in introducing these measures was so persuasive that it was thought on all hands that the Bill was University sure to pass. It was wrecked, however, by the opposition of Bill. Disraeli Cardinal Cullen, the head of the Catholic hierarchy of Ireland. The Cardinal said that the Bill was in flat opposition to what the Catholics had been working for in Ireland for years. It continued the Queen's Colleges and set up another Queen's College in the shape of Trinity College with a large endowment; it perpetuated the mixed system of education to which he had always been opposed, while no endowment or assistance was given to the Catholic University; the Council could appoint professors to teach English literature, geology or zoology who might be dangerous men in Catholic eyes. The Bill was rejected by 287 votes to 284, its principal opponents being Fawcett, Patrick Smyth, Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice and Disraeli. After this division Gladstone was of opinion that the Cabinet ought to resign, and as they agreed with him he went to the Queen for that purpose. The Queen, of course, sent for Disraeli ; but he was unwilling either to accept office in the present Parliament or summon a new one. Thus, a week after their defeat, the Liberal Cabinet determined to remain where they were, although nothing could be worse for the country than the continuation in power of a weak and discredited Ministry. Even in this condition they were able to pass the Judicature Bill, which was due to the genius and industry of Lord Selborne. His plan was to unite all the superior courts in one Supreme Court of Judicature and give to every court the power of administering equity. The Courts of Chancery, Queen's Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer remained as divisions of the High Court, but the judges of one division had power to sit in any other. He also established a Court of Appeal, consisting of nine judges and sitting in three divisions, whose decision should be final. In July, in consequence of some irregularity in the public accounts, the details of which need not detain us, the Cabinet GLADSTONE'S SURPRISE DISSOLUTION was remodelled, and Gladstone became Chancellor of the Exchequer as well as Prime Minister. Dissolution. It was natural that Gladstone, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gladstone should desire to construct a great budget and carry out ideas Decides for which had long been in his mind, but which he had not been able to bring to maturity. He proposed to abolish the income tax and the duty on sugar, and make up part of the deficit by raising the succession duties and the duty on spirits. He could not, however, obtain all the money he required unless he could reduce the Estimates for the army and navy. To this Cardwell and Goschen strongly objected, and Cardwell said that he could only give way if the country sanctioned the new policy. This confirmed the Prime Minister in his determination to dissolve, a step he had, for other reasons, long contemplated. He felt it was intolerable to carry on a Government unless not only the House of Commons but the country was firmly on his side. This was not the case, for, since 1872, the Opposition had won twenty seats, and the latest contest, at Stroud, proved unfavourable. It was understood that Parliament was to meet on February 8th, and members of Parliament, and even members of the Government, were taking a comfortable holiday. Suddenly, on January 24th, 1874, Gladstone's address to his Liberal constituency appeared in the morning papers, and the world knew Defeat. that a dissolution was imminent. The result of the election was a great surprise, both at home and abroad, but it was decisive. Gladstone had been informed by Lord Wolverton, the chief whip, that he was sure of an increased majority, and the Diplomatic Body had informed their Governments that the Liberals were sure to win. The Conservative majority was fifty, exclusive of the Irish Home Rulers, who held aloof from both parties. Gladstone, following what he believed to be the proper constitutional usage, was reluctant to leave office without meeting Parliament, but yielded to the advice of his colleagues, and on February 17th this memorable Government ceased to exist. It perished because it was too good for the age and the circumstances with which it had to deal; but the spirit of human actions, even when they fail, often lives after their seeming decease, and leads to greater successes than their premature triumph might have achieved. Alexander Reforms. CHAPTER II RUSSIA AND THE EAST THE policies pursued towards Europe by the Emperor Nicholas II.'s Great of Russia and his son Alexander II. were very different. The former attempted by aggressive means to raise Russia to a position of supremacy; the latter endeavoured by a course of important internal reforms to elevate his country to an equality with other civilised peoples, and emulate the example of Peter the Great by bringing his empire into close connection with the rest of Europe. The first of such measures was the liberation of the serfs, which, whatever inconveniences it may have brought with it, was absolutely necessary if Russia were to fall into line with European civilisation. The second was the introduction of universal military service for fifteen years, which served, as it has served in Germany, to elevate the intelligence of the nation and form the basis of a national education. Other steps were the extension of the railway system, both for industrial and military purposes; reform of the taxes, by which the privilege of exemption was taken away from the nobles and approach made towards establishing equality of rank; reform of law and justice; encouragement of commerce and industry; and the improvement of education and culture. The Brussels Alexander also contemplated, what his successor Nicholas II. brought to being, the extinction, or at least the diminution, of war, by the general adoption of principles of International Law. For this purpose a congress, held at Brussels in 1874, laid the foundations of an improved international code for the conduct of wars. These efforts to reduce armaments and mitigate the evils of war do not produce immediate effect and are often misunderstood. They are attributed to a crafty device to induce Powers to deprive themselves of the means of defence in order that they may fall an easier prey to their neighbours. But the seed, once sown, begins to grow, and the bread is cast upon the waters, although someone else may find it after many days. Alexander pursued a similar magnanimous policy in his relations with the East. The friendship formed with Turkey by the assistance of the Grand Vizir, Mahmoud Pasha, was not RUSSIAN EXTENSION IN ASIA interrupted by the sudden fall of this Minister; indeed, in the difficult question in regard to the Bulgarian Patriarchate, which arose shortly afterwards, both Powers adopted a similar policy. The Bulgarians were the most active and most promising branch of the southern Slavs. They are more solid, more laborious, and more trustworthy than the Servians. It is difficult to unravel the intricacies of the origin of the Position of races inhabiting the Balkan Peninsula. The history of any one Bulgaria. of these peoples written by any other is too much infected by racial jealousy to be trustworthy. The Servians maintain that the Bulgarians are not Slavs at all, but a Mongol race who have adopted the Slavic language and customs; the Bulgarians declare that they are Slavs who were conquered by Mongols, and received their name and a certain tinge of their language. However this may be, those who have most carefully studied the situation are of opinion that, if Constantinople is to be held by any of the Balkan races, the Bulgarians have most claim to it and would occupy it with the greatest advantage to the civilisation of the world. The Bulgarians professed the Eastern form of Christianity, generally known as the Greek Church, and were under the authority of the Greek Patriarch who lived in the Fanariote Quarter of Constantinople, so called after the Fanar, or lighthouse, the most conspicuous building in it. As the Greeks were their principal rivals, were of an overbearing disposition, and always laid claim to the possession of Constantinople, which the Bulgarians desired for themselves, and as the Bulgarian Church was an ancient and distinguished community, dignified by a literature, churches and traditions of its own, they wished to have an independent Patriarch and throw off the yoke of the Greeks ; and the Sultan and the Tsar were agreed in granting these privileges. During the reign of Alexander the Russians extended their Russia in confines far over the plains of Central Asia. This development Asia. began with the conquest of Siberia, which was inaugurated by Peter the Great and continued by Nicholas I. Step by step Russia advanced into the country of the Kirghizes, defending its acquisitions by building fortresses as it proceeded, and in 1843 the great horde of that people submitted to Russian authority. This was succeeded by long wars with the Khan of Khokand, in the 'fifties and 'sixties, which had the object of extending Russian power in the valley of the Syr Daria, the ancient Jaxartes, and of conquering the important commercial city of Tashkend. When the country was subdued, it was incorporated with the Russian |