first time to be a source of concern to politicians, and the constituencies of England and Scotland heard with relief the following plain bold words spoken by Mr Gladstone at Aberdeen on the occasion of his receiving the freedom of that town. You would expect, when it is said that the Imperial Parliament is to be broken up, that at the very least a case should be made out showing there were great subjects of policy and great demands necessary for the welfare of Ireland which representatives of Ireland had united to ask, and which the representatives of England, Scotland, and Wales had united to refuse. There is no such grievance. There is nothing that Ireland has asked and which this country and England has refused. This country has done for Ireland what it would have scrupled to do for England and for Scotland. . . . What are the inequalities of England and Ireland? I declare that I know none, except that there are certain taxes still remaining which are levied over Englishmen and Scotchmen and which are not levied over Irishmen, and likewise that there are certain purposes for which public money is freely and largely given in Ireland and for which it is not given in Scotland. That seems to me to be a very feeble case, indeed, for the argument which has been made, by means of which, as we are told, the fabric of the united Parliament of this country is to be broken up. But if the doctrines of Home Rule are to be established in Ireland, I protest on your behalf that you will be just as well entitled to it in Scotland: and moreover I protest on behalf of Wales, in which I have lived a good deal, and where there are 800,000 people, who, to this day, such is their sentiment of nationality, speak hardly anything but A.D. 1871.] ANXIETY ON SPIRITUAL MATTERS. 199 their own Celtic tongue-a larger number than speak the Celtic tongue, I apprehend, in Scotland, and a larger number than speak it, I apprehend, in Ireland—I protest on behalf of Wales that they are entitled to Home Rule there. Can any sensible man-can any rational man, suppose that at this time of day, in this condition of the world, we are going to disintegrate the great capital institutions of this country for the purpose of making ourselves ridiculous in the sight of all mankind, and crippling any power we possess for bestowing benefits through legislation on the country to which we belong? Such were the convincing phrases by which all suspicion of Mr Gladstone's indulgence to these proposals was allayed-such the proclamation of resolute purpose to maintain the integrity of Parliament and the realm, which it was the destiny of him who spoke them in later years to minimise, explain away, and retract. Greatly as the pressure on Smith's time, thoughts, and bodily strength had been increased by the growing share he was taking in public affairs, there may be traced in his correspondence and private notes the same earnest anxiety about the spiritual life which always pervaded his thoughts and controlled his action. Thus, at the close of this year, on Advent Sunday, he wrote in his journal: A new Christian year-an attempt to look at my own daily life more narrowly, to try and examine motives as well as actions. Mr Robinson of St John's [Torquay], preaching of the story of Uzziah, referred to the dangers. of prosperity, of selfishness. Uzziah prospered, although called to the throne when the kingdom of Judah was in utter defeat, because he trusted in God: and he became a leper because he defied his laws. A lesson for nations and for individuals, to be read in the history of the Jews, in the history of our own times, and borne out by my own self-knowledge. O God, give me to think of them more, of Thy love to me, and of my duty; and help me to pray always with faith. CHAPTER VIII. 1872. MEETING OF PARLIAMENT UNPOPULARITY OF MINISTERS-THE BALLOT BILL-THE THAMES EMBANKMENT SCHEME AGAIN- MINISTERS were able to lay before Parliament on February 6, 1872, a Queen's Speech which congratulated her faithful Commons on the relative freedom from crime in Ireland, and the remarkable prosperity of agriculture in that country. The Government were unpopular in the country, but had been protected from sinister consequences by the indifference to politics which invariably springs from extraordinary prosperity. The consequences of the financial disasters of 1866 had wellnigh passed away, passed away, the anxiety of the formidable troubles in France had been relieved, and the country had entered on that cycle of prosperity, the knell of which was not to be sounded till, six years later, the City of Glasgow Bank fell with dismal crash. But the opening incident of the session was as inauspicious to the Administration as the close of the last had been. In defending themselves against a Vote of Censure for the appointment, contrary to statute, of their late Attorney-General, Sir Robert Collier, to a seat on the Judicial Committee, Ministers, with a normal or nominal majority of more than 100, were only able to show one of 27. In a second Vote of Censure, moved by one of their own supporters, Mr Dixon, on account of the operation of the 25th section of the Elementary Education Act, they were more fortunate, being able to command the support of many Conservatives, among whom was Mr W. H. Smith, who spoke in deprecation of premature interference with the Act. The Ballot Bill was once more introduced by Mr Forster, and probably there never was a bill secretly more detested by the House of Commons than this one. Contrary as it was to all national custom and parliamentary tradition, men felt ashamed of compelling their fellow-countrymen to accept the protection of secrecy in exercising a right which had always been used with the utmost openness. The measure had an un-British, almost cowardly complexion, and obviously the fair corollary to it-namely, secret voting by |