Chapter XXVIII: THE REIGN OF VICTORIA (continued)

Parliamentary Reform--Mr. Disraeli's Resolutions--Mr.
Lowe's Sarcasms--The "Ten Minutes" Bill--Lord John Manners'
Letter--Ministerial Resignations--Mr. Disraeli's Statement--The
Compound Householder--The Fancy Franchises--Mr. Gladstone's
Exposure--Mr. Lowe and Lord Cranborne--The Spirit of Concession--Mr.
Gladstone on the Second Reading--Mr. Gathorne Hardy's Speech--Mr.
Bright and Mr. Disraeli--The Dual Vote abandoned--Mr. Coleridge's
Instruction--The Tea-Room Cabal--Mr. Gladstone's Amendment--His
other Amendments withdrawn--Mr. Hodgkinson's Amendment--Mr.
Disraeli's _coup de théâtre_--Mr. Lowe's Philippic--The County
Franchise--The Redistribution Bill--Objections to It--The
Boundaries--Lord Cranborne and Mr. Lowe--Mr. Disraeli's
Audacity--The Bill in the Lords--Four Amendments--Lord Cairns's
Minorities Amendment--The Bill becomes Law--The "Leap in
the Dark"--_Punch_ on the Situation--The Scottish Reform
Bill--Prolongation of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act--Irish
Debates--Oaths and Offices Bill--Mr. Bruce's Education Bill--The
"Gang System"--Meetings in Hyde Park--Mr. Walpole's Proclamation
and Resignation--Attempted Attack on Chester Castle--Attack on the
Police Van at Manchester--Explosion at Clerkenwell Prison--Trades
Union Outrages at Sheffield--The Buckinghamshire Labourers--The
French Evacuation of Mexico--The Luxemburg Question--The Austrian
Compromise--Creation of the Dual Monarchy--The Abyssinian
Expedition--A Mislaid Letter 433