County Franchise movement by way of gaining popularity, it is more than probable that the people would check them so sharply as to take the edge off their appetite for that kind of excitement for some time to come. But Ministers understand the popular mind far better than to tempt it in this direction. That they had been right in discountenancing the proposal was abundantly proved in the House by the large majority which rejected the Bill, and out of the House by the entire acquiescence of the country in the action of its representatives. Even those who desire to promote the interests of the Liberal party hesitate now about embarking in a course of agitation; for, since the results of some recent changes have been observed, they suspect that by so doing they might be only labouring for their adversaries. The agitators who have been trying to get up the new reform cry, and to benefit by it, are the only persons, apparently, who regret the fate of the hapless Bill. Some of their kind will no doubt succeed in rousing the people to action again some day; but they will not do it by offers of electoral reform. That lure will draw no longer. The people who try to agitate with it show that they don't understand their not very respectable business. We wish that agitators in general were as unsuccessful; but they do their work only too effectually sometimes; and we are now suffering, and have yet to suffer, for the agitation which procured for the late Ministry their term of office. The rousing the feelings of class against class, and the inflammation of the selfish desires of particular classes who fancy they can obtain the gratification of them by combined action, have brought our manufactures, our commerce, and now our agriculture, into a most unfortunate condition. One of two results seems to be certainly impending. Either by the continued success of these combinations—and the longer they succeed the more destructive they will be in the end-we shall drive away from among us that preeminence in industry, and consequently that wealth, which have so largely contributed to make us the powerful nation that we have been, and, we hope, are; or the combining operatives, after the experiences of a few years, will, on striking a balance of gains and losses, discover that, years of plenty and years of famine all reckoned, they are at the end of a given period worse off than they would have been if they had worked steadily along at medium wages. They would, without the aid of the combinations, have benefited in time of prosperity, and they have been forced, in spite of combination, to submit to reduction in time of adversity. The difference probably is this, that in prosperous times combination has forced up their earnings more rapidly than in the natural course of things, thereby precipitating the return to evil fortune; and that in adverse times it has aggravated reduction of earnings, and consequent distress, by organising resistance to dispensations which it is not in the power of man to resist effectually. The prosperity has been more suddenly prosperous, and the adversity has been more tediously biting. In a majority of cases, too, it is to be feared that the wages of prosperity have been carelessly spent, and there has been no provision for the time of distress. This is a rather bad account; and there must be added to the side of loss the constant contribution made to the funds of the association. Reckonings like these, we say, may before long make the more thoughtful workmen ask themselves whether, after all, the combination may not have been a mistake. We scarcely think it an advantage to a Government to be faced by a very feeble and dejected Opposition, or by no Opposition at all. Yet, to proceed for a while unmolested is preferable to being set upon in the first week of office by a combination of incongruous factions, which can agree in nothing except hostility to the existing Administration. The latter has often been the fortune of Conservative Governments; but now at last Mr Disraeli's Ministry is able to address itself to its many arduous duties, harassed by no attack from without. Storms will arise ere long, no doubt; but, by the time they come, the governing body will have become acquainted with its work, and occasional strife is the lot of all Administrations. Meanwhile, one marks with pleasure the entire satisfaction evinced by the people at their work in the late election. There is not a sign of their having acted in haste or passion-not a breath of regret for the unsuccessful politicians who have been displaced. It does not appear that we are going to be ruined by extravagance, although certainly the public service will not be allowed to suffer from parsimony: there is no dread felt of our being wantonly involved in war, although we have taken the white feather out of Britannia's helmet. We do not find ourselves the worse for the sudden blight that has come over the various leagues, conferences, communes, and so on; it even seems as if the air were a little purer since they lost their tongues. The believers in Liberal infallibility have had to admit the possibility of a Conservative Ministry coming to power; perhaps, by a strong effort of mind, they may this summer receive the idea of a Conservative rule of some duration. 3 F VOL. CXV.NO. DCCIV. INDEX TO VOL. CXV. Abdication, an act of, 62. Eschylus, the lost Prometheus deliver- Airs, national, 623. ALICE LORRAINE, a Tale of the South Ampère, André Marie, Journal, &c., de, Anderson, Mrs, Sex in Mind and Educa- ANNE, QUEEN, THE HISTORIANS OF THE Annonciade, the Order of the, 496. Armorial shields, 620. Arms, national shields of, 616 et seq. 'Blue Mountains, the, or the Far,' Bolingbroke, character of Marlborough Bonshaw tower taken by the Maxwells, BOOK OF CARLA VEROCK, THE, 194. Bowring, Mr Lewin, and the Minor King Bright, Mr, his return to political life, British Government, the, measures by, for Brown, Tom, his works, 313. Burgrave, the title of, 178. Burnet, account of the Duke of Glouces- Byron, the scepticism of, 227. ASHANTEE, Extracts from the Journal of Caliph, the title of, 178. a Naval Officer, 518. Assyria, royal titles in, 173. Aubusson, the defence of Rhodes by, 492. Austria, the national flag of, 615-the Autobiography, remarks on, 75. Bagréeff, M., husband of Elizabeth Sper. Barbary States, diplomatic forms in the, 72. Bath, the Order of the, 497. Biographies, recent, their character, 443. Campbell, Sir Colin, the relief of Luck- Campbell, Professor, his translation of Cantacuzene, the Princess, 292. Carlaverock Castle, sieges of, 197. Cevennes, the French emigrants from, Chape de St Martin,' the, 608. Charlemagne, the banner of, 609. Chateaubriands, the arms of the, 619. China, diplomatic forms in, 72. Clough, Arthur Hugh, the scepticism of, Clovis, supposed introduction of the flag Club books, their historical value, 194. Concordat, a, definition of, 61. Constantine, the Grand Duke, the con- Credence, letters of, their kinds and forms, Crescent, the, as a national symbol, 618. Crowns, various forms, &c., of, 622. Danebrog of Denmark, the Order of, DATES AND Dates, 625. Declaration of war, forms of, 62. Declarations, form of, 62. DECORATIONS, history, &c., of, 486. Euripides, the picture of Hercules in his Excellency, the title of, 188. Fable, or apologue, the, 250. Flags, national, their origin and history, Fleurs-de-lys of France, the, 610. France, history of the national flag of, FRASER'S BOOK OF CARLAVEROCK, re- Fraser, W., his archæological labours, 196. Garrett Anderson, Mrs, Sex in Mind and Garter, the Order of the, 496. German Confederation, the flag of the, Delhi, incidents of the siege of, 108 et GLADSTONE, Mr, HIS NIGHT ATTACK AND seq.-the storming, 112. Dignity, titles of, 176. Diplomatic forms and correspondence, 56 Part II. 342-Conclusion, 417. Doubt, relations of, to poetry, 225. Elector, the title of, 177. Elephant, the Order of the, 496. Eminence, the title of, 188. Erlaucht, the German title of, 186. ITS RESULTS, 379. Gladstone, Mr, the dissolution of Parlia- ment by, 266-the results of the elec- Gloucester, the Duke of (son of Queen Godolphin, character, &c., of, 308. GRANT, SIR HOPE, his Journal of the Great Britain, the flag of, 614-the Guthrie, Dr, the Autobiography of, 461. Hatti Sherif, a, what, 61. Havelock, General, the relief of Luck- HEATHER, A PIECE OF, 100. Henley, Orator, his career, &c., 315. Herries, Lord, 197. Highness, the title of, 185. Hoheit, the title of, 185. Holland, the flag of, 614. Holt, Sir John, anecdote of, 317. Hospodar, the title of, 178. HUGO, VICTOR, QUATRE-VINGT-TREIZE, Imaun, the title of, 178. Income-Tax, defence of the, 628 et seq. INTERNATIONAL VANITIES No. II., Irish University Bill, the ministerial, Japan, the title of the sovereign of, 192. JAPANESE REVOLUTION, THE ROMANCE OF Johnstone, Sir John, his feud with Lord Johnstones and Maxwells, the feud be- Khan, the title of, 178. Knight, Charles, his "Shakespeare, a KNIGHT OF RHINELAND, A, 641. Landgrave, the title of, 178. La Valette, his defence of Malta, 492. Majesty, the royal title of, 184. Maudsley, Dr, Sex in Mind and Educa- Maxwell, John, Lord, 197-killed by the Mémoire or Memorandum in diplomacy, Merimée, Prosper, Lettres à une Inconnue Merivale, H. C., a Piece of Heather, by, MILL, JOHN STUART, an Autobiography, 75. MINOR KING OF MYSORE, the, 237. MISSING BILLS, THE STORY OF THE, sup- Monseigneur, the title of, 187. MYSORE, THE MINOR KING OF, 237. NEW BOOKS-recent biographies, 443- NEW YEAR'S POLITICAL ASPECT, THE, Nicholas, the Emperor, the conspiracy Nicholson, General, death of, 112. 651. OUR FAIR WIND-SETTING SAIL, 643. Padischah, the title of, 188. |