will necessarily bring many questions of public policy under your

review.

"The condition of Ireland permits me to believe that you will be spared the painful necessity which was felt by the late Parliament for narrowing the securities of personal liberty in that country by the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act.

"I recommend that you should inquire into the present modes of conducting Parliamentary and municipal elections, and should consider whether it may be possible to provide any further guarantees for their tranquillity, purity, and freedom.

"A measure will be brought under your notice for the relief of some classes of occupiers from hardships in respect of rating, which appear to be capable of remedy.

"You will also be invited to direct your attention to Bills for the extension and improvement of education in Scotland, and for rendering the considerable revenues of the endowed schools of England more widely effectual for the purposes of instruction.

"A measure will be introduced for applying the principle of representation to the control of the county rate by the establishment of financial boards for counties.

"It will be proposed to you to recur to the subject of bankruptcy, with a view to the more effective distribution of assets and to the abolition of imprisonment for debt.

"The ecclesiastical arrangements of Ireland will be brought under your consideration at a very early date, and the legislation which will be necessary in order to their final adjustment will make the largest demands upon the wisdom of Parliament.

"I am persuaded that, in the prosecution of the work, you will bear a careful regard to every legitimate interest which it may involve, and that you will be governed by the constant aim to promote the welfare of religion through the principles of equal justice, to secure the action of the undivided feeling and opinion of Ireland on the side of loyalty and law, to efface the memory of former contentions, and to cherish the sympathies of an affectionate people.

"In every matter of public interest, and especially in one so weighty, I pray that the Almighty may never cease to guide your deliberations, and may bring them to a happy issue."

It will be observed that the terms in which the question of the Irish Church was referred to were so general as to avoid conveying any challenge to the opponents of the Government.

The Address in answer to the Royal Speech was, as usual, the first business of the two Houses. It was moved in the House of Lords by Lord Carysfort, who briefly reviewed the several topics adverted to by Her Majesty. He expressed his approval of the moderation of Turkey, and predicted advantage to Greece herself from submission to the decisions of the Conference. He referred briefly to the satisfactory results of Mr. Reverdy Johnson's mission, and, leaving the New Zealand question to the noble lord who was to follow him, he, as a staunch Protestant, congratulated the

Empire on the national conscience having been at length awakened on the great subject of the Irish Church. The Irish Protestant Church had never taken root in the affections of the Irish people. The chances of its developing would be greater for the withdrawal of this "unhealthy fostering by the State;" and this change would go far to remove any relics of discontent in that part of the United Kingdom.

Viscount Monck, in seconding the Address, said we had just passed through a great crisis in our country's history, and as great a transfer of political power had been effected as has, in other countries, been attended with the downfall of dynasties, and the effusion of blood. If we have taken "a leap in the dark," we have been fortunate enough to alight on our feet. This result need not be a cause of surprise. During the last thirty years the unenfranchised had a large influence in bringing about the passing of measures which were generally admitted to be reforms. The political education they had received in the course of the agitation for those measures had entitled them to a political privilege, the happy results of which were seen in the recent general election. After reviewing other matters mentioned in the Speech, the noble lord said he had no authority to state what would be the details of the measure respecting the Irish Church; but, as an Irishman and a Churchman, he felt it his duty to lay down certain principles as indispensable to an efficient settlement of the question. In the first place, the disestablishment of the Irish Church must be of such a nature that the disconnexion of the Church from the State must be final and complete. The Church must be left perfectly free to adopt her own organization and form of government. The true interests of the Irish Church concur in the present demands of justice and policy. Nothing has been so injurious to the extension of the influence of the Protestant Church in Ireland as her connexion with the State. He did not desire to fight under false colours, and, quite apart from the circumstances of the case, he was, as a Churchman, opposed to the connexion of the Church with the State. With these views he did not share the gloomy apprehensions entertained by some as to the future of the Church in Ireland. With his experience in Canada of the beneficial effects of throwing the Church on her own resources, he could not share any such belief. He had too great faith in the vitality of his religion to doubt for a moment that the means of support would be forthcoming, and he looked forward to a noble future for the Church, when she was relieved from the opprobrium of injustice.

Lord Cairns said it was satisfactory that the language of the Address was framed in a manner to prevent dissent or division. He doubted whether the end proposed by the Conference, if agreed in by the great Powers, might not have been attained by direct representations to Greece, without resort to so hazardous a machinery. On the intimation that Parliament would not be

asked to sanction a further suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, he presumed that information on the state of Ireland which made a suspension of the Act no longer necessary would be supplied at the proper time. He supposed that the passage in the Speech relating to the changes contemplated in respect to Parliamentary and municipal elections did not imply an intention to legislate directly, or to issue a Royal Commission of inquiry, but rather to recommend a Committee of Parliament-a somewhat unusual suggestion in a Royal Speech. As for the clause about rating, he awaited information on the hardships of the present system. He was surprised at the absence of any promise of a measure on primary education. He could not go into the subject of the Irish Church without further light as to the Government plan than was afforded by the rather fortuitous collocation of nouns and adjectives in which the Speech alluded to it. If, however, Lord Monck's expression of opinion on the matter represented the views of the Government, they must look on the question as something Utopian, and as one which had only a remote relation to Ireland. He hoped that at any rate the measure would, when produced, be produced as a whole, and not in instalments. Finally, he appealed to the Government not to let the time of the House be wasted, as sometimes it had been, up to Whitsuntide.

Earl Granville was grateful for the tone of Lord Cairns' observations; but he thought the criticism on the reference in the Speech to the intention of the Government to propose a Parliamentary Committee on elections uncalled for. Such a suggestion was by no means unprecedented. He was somewhat astonished, too, at Lord Cairns' apparent ignorance that the present arrangements about rating had caused any hardship. He should follow the noble lord in not anticipating the information which the House would very speedily have before it on the subject of the Government measure respecting the Irish Church. The preliminary resolutions would be moved in the other House on the 1st of March. The Address was then agreed to without a division.

In the House of Commons, previous to the moving of the Address, Mr. Gladstone gave notice that on the 1st of March he should move that the Acts relating to the Irish Church Establishment and to the Grant to Maynooth College, and also the Resolution of the House of Commons in 1868, be read, and that the House should then resolve itself into a Committee to consider of the said. Acts and Resolutions.

The Address was moved by Mr. H. Cowper, who dwelt at some length on those paragraphs of the Speech which referred to the Convention with the United States, remarking that though it might be at present doubtful how it would be received in the United States, it was not so easy for the Americans-who, if there were any injury in the case, had been largely injured-to approach the subject with the same moderation as ourselves. Mr. Cowper expressed his gratification that the suspension of the Habeas Corpus

Act would be no longer necessary in Ireland; and at the promise of a Bill for the establishment of County Financial Boards, which, with no slur on the magistracy, he held to be irresistible, on the principle that representation and taxation go together. He approved too the proposed inquiry into the mode of conducting Parliamentary and municipal elections, as the first result of which he anticipated the abolition of nominations, and he thought it could not fail to be decisive as to the fate of the Ballot. On the Irish Church question, Mr. Cowper said that the Liberal party, having by Mr. Gladstone's teaching made up its mind that the Establishment was a main obstacle to the prosperity and contentment of Ireland, had determined to do away with it. They knew that there were difficulties; but he left those difficulties with confidence in Mr. Gladstone's hands; and, looking to the large amount of statesmanlike ability, practical knowledge, legal skill, and common sense contained within the House, there was no need that a settlement should be so hopeless and lengthy as many feared and some hoped. The action of the Liberal party on this subject had been received as a message of peace by the large class in Ireland who regarded her connexion with England as her greatest misfortune.

The Address was seconded by Mr. Mundella, the newly-elected member for Sheffield, who expressed approval of the general policy of the Government.

Mr. Disraeli commenced by remarking that the recent rule of not introducing controversial topics into the Address was peculiarly fitting in the case of a new Government, which had acceded to power from the unmistakable desire of the country that it should have an opportunity of endeavouring to settle the Irish Church question. And on this ground he deprecated a partial and desultory discussion of a matter which ought to be put before the House in a complete form, and with all the knowledge and responsibility arising from Ministerial exposition. He admitted that no Government could come before the House with stronger prima facie claims to consideration on this question than the present, and he hoped that when the Ministerial statement was made it would be received in a spirit worthy of its importance. Passing to the paragraphs relating to foreign affairs, Mr. Disraeli expressed his confidence that so long as our foreign policy was conducted, not in selfish isolation, but in a spirit of sympathy, Her Majesty's relations with foreign powers would always be "friendly," and went on to find some fault with the Government for not informing Parliament how the interposition between Turkey and Greece had been brought about. The reasons for resorting to a Conference ought to have been explained, for the interposition might have been effected by ordinary diplomatic means; and one consequence of mentioning it would have been that papers would have been promised. The result, however, had met with general approbation, and he hoped it would be a moral lesson to the systematic disturbers of that part of Europe, and that for the future the Turkish Government would be left at liberty to

develope the energies of the country. As to the convention with America, if the determination were left to the opinions of wise and moderate men it might be hoped that a complete understanding would be effected between the two countries; and he shared cordially in the satisfaction expressed at the possibility of withdrawing from the Irish Executive the extraordinary powers it had for some time possessed in the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. In the paragraph relating to the Estimates, Mr. Disraeli noticed with approval the recognition of the correct principle that they would be framed "with a due regard to efficiency," for mere curtailment of expenditure without reference to efficiency was most unwise, and led to no saving in the end. He asked next for some explanation of the paragraph recommending an inquiry into the mode of conducting Parliamentary and municipal elections, which he assumed to contemplate an inquiry by both Houses. To require mention in a royal Speech, Mr. Disraeli maintained it ought to be an inquiry by a royal Commission; for if a Parliamentary inquiry was intended, it was contrary to all precedent that it should find a place in the Speech from the Throne. He appealed to general experience whether the Election Petitions Act of last Session had not already furnished an important guarantee for the purity and freedom of election, and he urged that the Act should be allowed fair play, for the full effect of the searching inquiries under it could not be felt until the next general election. Lastly, Mr. Disraeli regretted that no mention was made in the Speech of a general measure of education, and expressed his surprise that the Government should seem to think it a subject which could be passed over and postponed sine die. He concluded with a confident anticipation that the new House, by the fair and business-like spirit in which it would discuss the measures laid before it, would justify the wisdom of recent legislation and merit the confidence of the country.

After some observations by Mr. White, who took notice of the omission from the Speech of any notice of the recent revolution in Spain, Mr. Gladstone addressed the House, and in reference to the topic touched upon by the last speaker, remarked that no permanent government had as yet resulted from the revolution in Spain, and that it would not be convenient to express satisfaction with a work which was not complete; at the same time, there was no doubt that the Government and the people of this country sympathized keenly with the recent movement in Spain. He acknowledged the fairness of Mr. Disraeli's speech. The recent Conference, designed to prevent an outbreak of war by purely moral means, was a sign of advancement in civilization on which he congratulated the House. An absence of intrigue was all that was needed to carry this example further. He eulogized warmly the perfect single-mindedness and unselfishness displayed by all the Powers concerned. As to the paragraph on the American negotiations though it might not be couched in tones of extreme confidence the Government had no doubt that the subject would be