A.D. 1868.]

THE REVIVALISTS.

143

South-West Lancashire-a genuine working-man constituency-where his chief opponent had sustained a striking reverse, the result of the poll in that division being :

Before passing from the events of this eventful year 1868, allusion may be made to one of its notable features-the Revival movement. For as long as history bears witness to human progress, there is ample evidence of the recurrence of storms of spiritual disquiet which agitate the community by mingled waves of fear and fervour, and, passing away as rapidly as they came, make way for periods of tranquillity, to be disturbed again by similar outbreaks. The form of such agitations varies as much as the personnel of the chief movers in them, but their general characteristics remain the same- -apprehension of impending judgments, imperious call to instant repentance, fervid exhortation, and physical excitement, producing manifestations claimed to be of divine origin and spiritual nature. One of these storms was passing over the masses of this land at this time, and it is interesting to note the quiet respectful attention, not unmingled

with suspicion, which it commanded from one so earnestly concerned in religious life as Smith

was.

On July 20, 1868, he wrote to one of his sisters

Yesterday afternoon I went to hear Lord Radstock at the Revival meetings at the Polytechnic, and although he is very earnest, I doubt the ultimate value of his work.

In another letter of this date to his sister Augusta, there is a little bit of melancholy but practical philosophy. He has been discussing a plan for affording pecuniary relief to some poor relations, and observes :

It is a sad thing they should have this trouble in their old days, but it is just another example of the mistake of unsatisfactory marriages. Sooner or later the inevitable breakdown occurs, and the heart had better have been broken at first, if such a thing was possible.

CHAPTER VI.

1868-1869.

PETITION AGAINST MR SMITH'S RETURN-THE TRIAL AND VERDICT -SMITH'S MAIDEN SPEECH-DEBATE ON PAUPERISM-SMITH'S MISTRUST OF CHARITABLE DONATIONS-ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATING HIS PRINCIPLES OF GIVING-THE TELEGRAPH BILL-DE

BATES ON DISESTABLISHMENT OF THE IRISH CHURCH.

THE decree which banished Mill from public life and ushered Smith into it was not to pass unchallenged by the friends of the former. Before the twenty days allowed by statute for lodging petitions had elapsed, one had been filed against the Conservative member for Westminster. Under the law as it then stood candidates were much more in the hands of their agents than they are now, for there was no statutory limit to expenses, and the agent had to be supplied with money according to his discretion; and not the chief agent only, but a whole troop of assistant agents and active partisans besides.

VOL. I.

K

Certainly there had been no niggardliness shown in the supply. While the published expenses of the Liberal candidates, Grosvenor and Mill, only amounted together to £2296, 2s. 7d., those of the Conservative, Smith, mounted up to the huge total of £8900, 17s. 7d. There had also been lamentable indiscretion on the part of one of Smith's warmest well-wishers, Mr Grimston, to whom, indeed, it was greatly owing that Smith had consented to come forward again for Westminster. Mr Grimston had brought up to London a tenant of his brother (the Earl of Verulam), one Edwards, in order that he might act as a sub-agent. This Edwards had already undergone eighteen months' imprisonment for his part in the malpractices which brought about the disfranchisement of the borough of St Albans. No doubt this worthy must have possessed some special qualities which caused his services to be in request, and no doubt Grimston believed he was doing his friend a good turn in securing him an indefatigable sub-agent, but in fact his zeal very nearly brought about the loss of the seat. The petition was on the grounds of bribery, treating, and undue influence by the candidate and by other persons on his behalf.

As for Smith himself, he wrote to his wife

A.D. 1868.] PETITION AGAINST HIS RETURN.

147

on December 9 with a perfectly clear conscience as to his own actions:

From what I hear, I think it likely the Petition will be presented, but it is not certain yet, and I do not think they have any matter which cannot be explained honourably and to all the world. I am very much less concerned about it than I wass-indeed I cannot be said to be at all so.

Parliament assembled on December 10, and Smith duly took his seat for Westminster. The proceedings on the petition against his return did not begin till February 12, when the case was opened before Mr Baron Martin at the Sessions House, Westminster, but was afterwards removed, first to the Lords Justices' Court and then to the Court of Exchequer,—a change rendered necessary by the crowds of persons seeking admittance, and by the intense local excitement attending the proceedings. Mr Hawkins, Q.C., and Mr Serjeant Ballantine were counsel for Mr Smith, and Mr Fitzjames Stephens, with Messrs Murch and Littler as juniors, for the petitioners. The trial lasted for seven days, and the cross-examination of witnesses did not fail to produce instances of humour of the sort peculiar to two kinds of case-election petitions and actions for breach of promise of marriage. For example, one wit