by Roman Catholic, Baptist, and Wesleyan members, was carried by 38 votes to 3. On May 5, on the motion for going into Committee of Supply, Smith called attention to the operation of the Poor Law within the metropolis, and moved for the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the policy and administration of the law. Now, of the many members who rise "to call attention," only a small fraction succeed in obtaining it, but Smith was one of that number on this occasion. His well-known connection with practical philanthropy, combined with the alarming increase in the number of persons who were receiving relief from the rates, enabled him to make out a formidable case for inquiry, for he was able to show that, whereas in the preceding ten years of general prosperity the population of London had increased 16 per cent, pauperism had risen in the prodigious ratio of 64 per cent. But he was unable to persuade the House to adopt his resolution, which, after a long and interesting discussion, was withdrawn. Twenty-two years later, in 1893, the subject has been revived. A Royal Commission has been appointed to inquire into the administration of the Poor Law in England and Wales, and their labours have already brought to light how immensely the ratio of pauperism has been reduced by the consistency and discrimination in giving outdoor relief, the want of which formed the main burden of Smith's complaint of the state of matters in 1871. Smith's work in the East End had convinced him that the lot of many of the poor who swarmed in the slums of London could only be relieved by removing them to new lands, and this led him to take an active part in the affairs of the East End Emigration Club, in connection with the British and Colonial Emigration A.D. 1871.] FATE OF THE BALLOT BILL. 111 Society. On June 26, 1870, he went down to Gravesend to bid adieu to 1197 emigrants to Canada, passengers in the Ganges and the Tweed. The expenses of about 250 of these were defrayed by himself; but his interest in them was not allowed to drop with their departure, for in 1872 he visited Canada and devoted close inquiry to the resources of that country and the condition of the emigrants there. The Parliamentary and Municipal Elections Bill, or, to use the better known title derived from its most important and debateable provision, the Ballot Bill, was brought in early in the session, but, owing to the prolonged proceedings on the Army Bill, it was not till late in June that progress could be made with it. Mr Gladstone, who for thirty-five years had stoutly resisted the principle of secret voting, now performed on this question a complete change of front, and declared that the bill must pass before the session should be brought to a close. Midsummer Day had gone by, there was still a heavy proportion of the Votes in Supply to be got through, and the Tory Opposition was obstinate. Moreover, there stood on the Notice Paper upwards of 200 proposed amendments to the bill, half of them in names of supporters of the Government. Under these discouraging circumstances Mr Gladstone resorted to the sagacious expedient of calling his party into council in Downing Street, persuaded them to withdraw their amendments, and to agree to a policy-his opponents of course called it a conspiracy-of silence. This proved successful; and although the Government suffered defeat at the hands of two of their own supporters, Mr Harcourt and Mr James, on the proposal to charge election expenses on the rates, they were able to send the bill up in time to be considered by the Lords. Here, however, it was destined to be thrown out by a majority of nearly two to one. This was the closing event of a session which had proved singularly damaging to ministers; and although it is a wellknown maxim of old parliamentary hands not to argue too much from by-elections, the significance of the result of those which took place during the autumn in the immemorial Liberal strongholds of East Surrey and Plymouth could scarcely be overlooked. The Fenian agitation had been overcome, but the chronic restlessness of Irish discontent began about this time to crystallise into a form all the more dangerous to the integrity of the empire because it assumed the guise of constitutional agitation. Home Rule for Ireland began for the 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 in equalities 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 A.D. 1871.] THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 113 anything but 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. H CHAPTER VIII. 1872 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 was 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, 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. 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 members of Parliament in the division lobbies—was one that could never be claimed. Nevertheless the Opposition seem to have been afraid to resist it lest the franchise might, in the general election which seemed not far distant, be used under cover of the ballot against the party which should seek to deny this protection to electors. Hence, in spite of the fact that such well-known Liberals as Mr |