Chapter XI: Part 11

The thrift test and the character test, which previous inquirers had found it almost impossible to establish on a satisfactory basis, were defined on the loosest lines. The pensioner must not, during the preceding twenty years, have been sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment without the option of a fine; he must not, during the same period of time, have been in receipt of poor-law relief 'other than medical relief or unless under circumstances of a wholly exceptional character'; and he must have 'endeavoured to the best of his ability, by his industry and by the exercise of reasonable providence, to make provision for himself and those immediately dependent on him.'

The extreme vagueness and the extreme elasticity of such provisions are sufficiently manifest; and it is difficult to see how they can give any real assistance in practical legislation; while they leave the door open to the largest and most lavish expenditure. I have endeavoured in a minority report to deal with these questions at somewhat greater length than my present space will admit; but a few pages may suffice to give an outline of the case of those who believe the new policy to be both mistaken and dangerous.

Nothing is more certain or more cheering in the condition of modern England than the extraordinary diminution that has taken place, during the present generation, in pauperism. It began with the reform of the poor law in 1834; and although it has been found possible to relax greatly the stringency of the poor-law regulations that were then made, it has steadily continued. Much of this is due to the increase in the rate of wages which has taken place in most departments of English industry, and which has been accompanied by a great decrease in the cost of most of the chief necessaries of life, as well as by a considerable reduction in the hours of work. Sir Robert Giffen, in the very remarkable paper which he published, in 1883, on the condition of the working classes in England during the preceding fifty years, has shown that in every class of work in which it is possible to make a comparison the wages of the labourer have in these fifty years risen at least 20 per cent., and in most cases between 50 and 100 per cent.; and he has clearly demonstrated that no other section of the community has obtained so large a proportion of the increase of the national wealth, and improved in so great a degree in material prosperity.

But the mere increase of wages is but one element of this improvement. The very mainspring of the prosperity of the great masses of the British working classes is to be found in their increased sobriety, and in the habits of thrift and providence that have followed the spread of education. The statistics of the Friendly Societies, the Industrial and Provident Societies, the Building Societies, the savings-banks, and of countless other institutions, created by voluntary working-class effort for the purpose of insuring against sickness or death, and providing working-class investments, attest in the clearest manner the rapid growth of provident and thrifty habits among the wage-earning classes. In no other respect is the improvement of the nation so marked and so indisputable and no element in the national character is more important to its prosperity and to its enduring greatness. In the evidence that was brought before our Committee, it was shown that since 1849 the pauperism of Great Britain had been reduced from 62.7 per 1,000 to 26.2 per 1,000, if lunatics and vagrants are included, to 22.8 per 1,000, if lunatics and vagrants are excluded.

The first, and most vital, condition of any sound legislation for the relief of poverty is that it should not impair these industrial qualities, or weaken these vast voluntary organisations of self-help which are their result. Can it be said that the old-age pension policy is compatible with this condition?

It proposes to open, in addition to the existing system of poor relief, a new fund, amounting to many millions of pounds a year, and drawn from compulsory taxation for the purpose of subsidising simple poverty; a fund to which it is to be rather creditable than otherwise to resort; a fund which is intended to deal, not with exceptional calamity, but with that which springs from the mere efflux of time, and which is, beyond all others, the most normal and most easily foreseen. It proposes to teach the whole working population to look to the State, and not to themselves, for the provision for their old age, and for the old age of those who might be dependent on them, and thus to destroy the most powerful of all motives to thrift--the very mainspring of productive and self-sacrificing industry. And it proposes to do this at a time when wages are higher than they have ever been before; when voluntary societies for securing the poor from want are flourishing and increasing as they have never done before; when the rapid decline of pauperism is one of the most marked and most universally recognised signs of national improvement. Can it be seriously believed that the addition of many millions a year to the State funds directly employed in the relief of poverty will, in the long run, tend to diminish pauperism or to encourage self-reliance and thrift?

Mr. Chamberlain and the other more considerable advocates of old-age pensions clearly see that if such pensions are to be of real value they must discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving; and they believe that they may have the effect of stimulating, instead of weakening, thrift. For this purpose several schemes have been devised.

The most popular Continental method of achieving this end is by a law obliging the working man in early life to insure against old age, and by supplementing the income derived from this insurance by a State subsidy. In Germany, where this system is actually carried out, the old-age pension is derived from three sources--viz. compulsory insurance by the workers, compulsory contribution by the employer, and a State subsidy. Compulsory insurance found for many years a powerful English advocate in Canon Blackley; and it has been recommended by a recent inquiry in Holland, which, however, refused to propose any system of old-age pensions. According to the best accounts, the German system has been far from successful either economically or politically; and it has certainly not prevented Socialism from becoming one of the great dangers of the State. Into this question, however, it is needless to enter, as it is now universally admitted in England that compulsory insurance for old age is an impossibility; for it would certainly be repudiated by the working classes.

A large group of proposals are to the effect that old-age pensions should be granted to all poor persons over the age of sixty-five whose total income is less than 10_s._ a week, provided that a certain portion of that income consists of a fixed annuity acquired by their own industry and thrift. It is urged that in most of the great branches of industry a deserving man in his earlier and stronger years could easily earn such an annuity; and it is suggested that the State should double it, or add to it sufficient to make it up to 10_s._ a week, or supplement it by a fixed grant of 2_s._ 6_d._, or 5_s._, or even 7_s._ a week.

The objections to such schemes are very serious. It is obvious that if they encourage a workman to save up to the amount required to secure a pension, they would have a directly opposite effect as soon as that amount had been attained. The first result of any addition to his income would then be to disqualify him for a pension. It is also obvious that the pensioner of sixty-five would have a strong inducement to abstain from the work he could easily do, and that if he continued to do it he would compete on exceptionally favourable terms with the workman who, though he had passed the prime of life, was not yet entitled to a pension, restricting his means of employment and beating down his wages. Many of the most necessitous and deserving poor would also be left unrelieved.

Although it is true that in the more flourishing trades men could easily in early life save out of their wages a sufficient sum to acquire this annuity, there are large fields of industry in which such a saving would be almost or absolutely impossible. We have had melancholy evidence of how utterly insufficient most forms of women's wages are to provide the needed margin. The same thing is true of the agricultural labourer in the more depressed districts in England and in large tracts of Ireland and Scotland. Even in the more remunerative employments innumerable special circumstances would prevent a thrifty and deserving man from obtaining this annuity. Certainly no one is more deserving of compassion and State aid than the widow and young orphans of a working man; but the scheme we are considering would not only not help them, but would most seriously injure them. It is a direct incentive to the workman to sink his savings in an annuity which would terminate with his own life.

The whole policy, indeed, of attempting to turn all working-class savings into this one channel is a false one; and it has been shown that no kind of saving is in fact less popular among working men than the purchase of a deferred annuity. I may here be allowed to quote a few lines from my own report:

'In the infinitely various conditions of a working-man's life thrift will take many forms, and an attempt to prescribe a single form is eminently injudicious. The whole life-plan of a farmer whose farm will remain with him to the end will be different from that of an artisan or a domestic servant whose power of earning a livelihood depends entirely upon his physical strength. The former will probably find it most profitable to expend his savings on the improvement of his farm. Where the system of peasant proprietorship prevails most agricultural thrift is directed to the purchase and enlargement of farms. In Ireland it is largely directed to the purchase of tenant right, or to enabling the younger members of the family to emigrate.

'Nor is it true that even the artisan will find the purchase of an annuity the best thing to be aimed at. To buy a house or some furniture; to start a small business; to expend his savings in tiding over periods of slack or failing work; to avail himself of the advantage which some fluctuation in the market gives to the man who can transport himself promptly to a new locality or a new business is often far more to his advantage. Above all, money expended in settling his family is often his best policy as well as the course which is most beneficial to the community. At present a large proportion of working men look forward to their children to help them in their old age, and make it a main object of their lives to place them in a position to do so. It does not seem to me a wise thing for the State either to emancipate children from this duty or to induce every married working man to sink his savings in an annuity which will end with his life and from which his widow and children can derive no benefit. It is certainly not for the advantage of the country that in selecting between alternative ways of providing for old age he should be induced to choose that which throws the greatest burden on the State. With the vast increase of population, with the great fluctuations of modern industry, and with the rapid development of the colonies, it is extremely desirable both in the interest of the working men and of the State that they should be induced to transfer themselves from congested towns and from exhausted industries to new fields. A general pension system would certainly contribute most powerfully to prevent them from doing so.'

It has been proposed by others that the pension fund should be placed in the hands of Friendly or Benefit Societies, and that they should be intrusted with its administration, or that subscription to such societies for a certain number of years should be taken by the State as the thrift test. On the first proposal it is sufficient to say, that these great voluntary societies are themselves opposed to it; for if they were directly subsidised by the State, they would be obliged to submit to a State control of their management and their finances which they do not desire. It is observed that only a very small proportion of the subscribers to these societies ever find it necessary to come upon the poor rates; and if a system of old-age pensions were confined to these limits, it would act in the most unequal manner. Their members are drawn in a far larger proportion from the lucrative and flourishing trades than from those which are struggling and underpaid. Few women belong to them. In Ireland, which is the poorest part of the Empire, Friendly Societies scarcely exist; and the same thing is true of large districts in Wales and Scotland. The main result of such proposals would be to concentrate the new State fund for the relief of poverty on the richest parts of the Empire, and on the trades that need it the least.

The extreme difficulty of finding any efficient test of thrift is very evident; and those proposed by a large number of the advocates of old-age pensions are so easy as to be almost worthless. Some consider it sufficient that a man has for a certain number of years not been in receipt of poor-law relief, except medical relief or relief granted under 'exceptional circumstances.' Others would accept the mere fact that a man has lived to be sixty-five, as the drunken and disreputable workman seldom lives so long. A large number of resolutions have condemned Mr. Chaplin's report on the grounds that old-age pensions ought not to be confined to the 'deserving' poor; that they ought to begin at an earlier age than sixty-five; that they ought to be administered by a body totally unconnected with the poor law, so as to carry with them no taint of pauperism or eleemosynary relief. They ought, it is said, to be universal; to be looked on as a matter of strict right; to be considered as of the same nature as the pension given to the soldier or the Civil Servant.

It is obvious that all this may carry us very far. It is estimated that some of the most popular proposals would involve an annual expenditure of considerably more than twenty millions of pounds--making allowance for the saving that might be effected in the ordinary poor-law relief, but not counting the cost of administration. And this expenditure would be a growing one; and once accepted it could hardly be withdrawn. The vast addition to the national debt that might follow a great European war or the great shrinkage of the national income that might easily follow some revolution in trade or manufacture, might render the burden of taxation incomparably more serious than at present; but once the great mass of the population had learned to regard State support in old age as their normal prospect and their inalienable right, it would be impossible, without producing a social revolution, to recede. All the advantages gained by generations of economical administration of the national finance would be nullified; while the certain result of this crushing addition to taxation would be to weaken incalculably the spirit of thrift, providence, and self-reliance, and at the same time to lower wages, by removing one of the great considerations by which they are regulated. And this reduction of wages would fall not only on the recipient of the pension, but also on multitudes who would never live to attain it. Nothing can be more certain than that a general system of pensions attached to the labour of the wage-earner must lower wages, at least among all those who are approaching the pension age; while it would prevent or retard their natural increase over a far wider area.

It would also most certainly bring with it the gravest danger of corruption. It would not be easy to secure the pure and the impartial administration of these vast funds; but the political dangers would be much more serious. It is proposed that the pension system should be first introduced on a small scale, but gradually extended till it included all the aged poor, or at least all who were deserving. Such a question would infallibly pass into the competitions of party warfare. It would become in most constituencies one of the most prominent of electioneering tests. Rival candidates would be competing for the votes of a wage-earning electorate who had a direct pecuniary interest in increasing or extending pensions and in relaxing the conditions on which they are given. Can it be doubted that in many cases their first object would be to outbid one another, and that national and party politics would soon be forced into a demoralising race of extravagance?

I cannot conclude without protesting against the supposition that those who think with me are indifferent to the great evil of old-age destitution and propose nothing for its relief. The committees which have most clearly pointed out the dangers of old-age pensions have also urged, that within the lines of our present poor-law system it is quite possible to do much, by an improved classification, to distinguish among the recipients of poor-law relief between the respectable and the worthless. Much has already been done, and in the most important unions the guardians have introduced a large amount of classification by merit. As I have already said, the immense majority of the respectable aged poor are now relieved only in their own homes or in comfortable infirmaries. The severe test of absolute destitution has in practice been greatly relaxed; there is a legal provision preventing those who are receiving help from Friendly Societies from being disqualified for relief; husbands and wives are no longer separated in the workhouse; and in some unions of which we had evidence much more has been done. This, however, depends too much on the will of particular Boards of Guardians, and there are in consequence great inequalities of treatment. The condition of the deserving poor may be greatly improved by relaxation in points of hours, discipline, and visitors, and by workhouse arrangements securing more universally that paupers who have lived respectable lives should not be obliged to mix with the drunken, the disreputable, and the hopelessly idle. And, though extensions of outdoor relief should be carefully watched, and entail great dangers, yet under wise and strict administration something more may be done in this direction.

But all this should be regarded as essentially poor-law relief, and not as the recognition of a claim of right for services supposed to have been rendered to the community. No form of State Socialism is more dangerous than the doctrine which has been countenanced by Prince Bismarck, and which is making many disciples in England--namely, that an industrious man, who has pursued his course in life with perfect independence, made his own contracts, chosen his own work, and been paid for it by stipulated wages, is entitled, if he fails in obtaining a sufficiency for his old age, to be placed as a 'soldier of industry' in the same category as State servants, and to receive like them, not on the ground of compassion, but of right, a State pension drawn from the taxation of the community. There is no real analogy between the relief that is very properly granted to such workmen in their destitution, and the pensions--largely of the nature of deferred pay--that are given by the State or by private employers, under the terms of distinct contracts, and for specific services duly rendered, to those who have entered into their employment and placed themselves under their control.

INDEX

Aberdare Commission, 303

Addington, 273

American Revolution, 34-37, 55-57, 77, 78

Anne, Queen, 295

Anti-Semite movement, 116-121, 123-125, 128

Arnold, Dr., 251

Australia, 58

Austria, 116, 145

Bacon, 28, 94, 101

Bayard, Mr., 48

Bayle, 97

Beaconsfield, Earl of (B. Disraeli), 126, 151, 153, 207, 211, 214,
215, 217, 283;
imperialism, 46;
policy regarding Eastern Crisis, 222;
relations with Lord Derby, 223;
Queen Victoria's regard for, 296

Beer, George, 56

Bentham, J., 43, 101

Bernard, Claude, 121

Bismarck, Prince, 288, 289, 317

Blackley, Canon, 310

Blennerhassett, Lady, 131-133, 145, 148, 149

Blomfield, Bishop, 263

Bossuet, 96-98

Boulanger, General, 116

Bright, 207, 208

British Empire, growth, 51, 53, 64;
defence, 61, 65;
unity, 45, 48, 51, 62, 67

Browning, Robert, 105, 251

Buckle, H.T., 29, 100-102, 251, 269

Burke, Edmund, 28, 54, 55, 151, 295

Butler's 'Analogy,' 91, 92

Caird, Principal, 294

Canada, 59, 60

Canning, 151, 174, 188, 189, 198, 199;
attitude towards Catholic Question, 156, 160, 161, 166-170, 172, 188;
quoted, 213

Cardan, quoted, 10

Carlyle, Thomas, 47, 91, 216, 247, 251;
school of, 29;
style, 105;
characteristics, 106-113;
teaching, 107, 108, 110-115

Caroline, Queen, 295

Castlereagh, Viscount, 156, 157, 160, 161, 167, 169, 170, 188

Catherine, of Russia, Empress, 291, 295

Catholic Emancipation, 78-86, 152, 153, 157-174, 187-190, 193, 194, 197;
_see also under_ Ireland

Cato, 15

Chamberlain, Joseph, 303-304, 309

Charlemagne, 17-19, 266

Charlemont, 73, 81

Chartism, 108, 115

Chatham, Lord, 85, 86, 138, 151, 157-160, 165, 186, 273

Chaucer, 18, 117

Chivalry, 17, 19, 295

Chrysostom, Dio, 16

Church, Dean, 250, 265

Clarendon, Lord, 244, 246, 280

Cobden, Richard, 44, 46, 62

Colenso, Bishop, 272

Coleridge, 22, 96, 112, 147

Colonial policy of Great Britain, 43-46, 52, 53, 55-61

Colonies, British:
defence, 49, 56, 65;
federation, 63, 64;
governors, 52, 54, 60;
representation, 51, 65, 66;
trade, 47, 56, 63-65, 225;
value of, 47-50;
attachment to the Crown, 277

Comte, 100

Constant, Benjamin, 142, 144, 148

Constitutional sovereignty, 277

Co-operation, 108, 217, 299

Croker, 177, 178

Crusades, 18, 19, 266

Curchod, Mlle., _see_ Necker, Mme.

Curwen's Act, 177

Dalling, Lord, 151

Darwin and his teaching, 90, 101, 114, 247, 251

Davies, Sir John, quoted, 70

Delane, J.T., 243

De Quincey, 107

Derby, 14th Earl of, 201, 202, 204-206, 208-210, 212, 214, 215

Derby, 15th Earl of:
career, 200, 205-213, 215, 217, 218, 222-224, 234, 235;
views on Church questions, 205, 210, 214, 232, 233;
on Reform Bill, 210;
Indian policy, 205, 209, 210;
foreign policy, 212, 213, 217-224;
colonial policy, 208, 224, 225, 228-230;
attitude towards Home Rule, 234;
contemporary opinion of him, 206-209, 211-213, 219, 220;
marriage 215;
interest in social questions, 205, 206, 212, 216, 217, 224, 235;
in working men, 205, 206, 210, 216, 217, 237;
tastes, 239, 240;
conversation, 240, 241;
estimate of his talents and character, 202-204, 207, 209, 212, 217,
219-224;
speeches, 202, 205, 211, 212, 214, 215, 217, 222-224, 229, 234-236

Dicey, Professor 89

Disraeli, B., _see_ Beaconsfield

Duigenan, 169, 174

Eastern Question, Lord Derby's views on, 218-223

_Edinburgh Review_, 242, 243, 246, 247

Education, popular, 108, 185

Eldon, Lord, 160, 174, 189, 190, 192, 253

Elizabeth, Queen, 291, 295;
inscription on tomb of, 187

Ellenborough, Lord, 208, 209

Emerson, R.W., 96, 104

Emigration, 49, 50, 53, 108

Erasmus, 257

'Essays and Reviews,' 90

Faber, 250

Factory legislation, 108

Federation, 63, 64, 225

Feudalism, 17, 69, 110

Fitzwilliam, Lord, 85

Flood, 73, 81

Foster, Leslie, 195

Fox, 158, 162, 174

France, 73, 97, 98, 116

Franklin, Benjamin, 94

_Fraser's Magazine_, 104

Free Trade, 44, 45, 47, 63, 64, 78, 225

French Revolution, 28, 37, 38, 82, 139, 141, 142

Froude, J.A., 251, 269

Galdos' 'Gloria,' 117

George II., 295

George III. and Catholic Emancipation, 85, 86, 157-162, 194

George IV., as Prince Regent, 162, 163, 165, 166;
as King, 188-191, 194

German literature, 146, 147

Germany, 106, 107, 116, 118, 145, 260, 262, 310, 317

Gibbon, 3, 134, 263, 264

Giffen, Sir Robert, 307, 308

Gladstone, W.E., 214, 246, 249, 250, 283, 286-288

Goethe, 107, 147

Gordon, General, 286

Goulburn, 196, 197

Grattan, 78, 81, 82, 84, 161, 163, 164, 166, 168-171, 174, 186, 187,
195, 197

Grenville, George, 36, 56, 57

Grenville, Lord, 158, 161, 162, 166

Greville, Charles, 206, 207, 209, 243

Grey, Lord, 166, 280

Grote, 251, 269

Guizot, 151, 244

Gustavus III., King of Sweden, 138

Hallam, A., 96, 251, 269

Harcourt, Sir William, quoted, 290

Hastings, Warren, 54, 55

Haussonville, M. d', 134, 138

Hawkesbury, Lord, 161

Hawtrey, Provost, 265

Heber, Bishop, 255

High Church movement, 90, 92, 249-251, 270

Hippisley, Sir John, 163, 169

Historians, qualities requisite, 2, 4-6, 10-12;
motto for, 10;
scientific school, 2-4;
literary, 3;
methods, 7, 8, 22, 23;
applied to religion, 97-99;
eighteenth century, 22, 23;
fatalist school, 29, 30;
individualist school, 29, 31

History:
biographical element, 7, 9;
individual influences, 12, 13;
fiction and, 20;
accident as affecting, 31, 100;
of institutions, 27, 28;
of revolutions, 29, 30, 34-38;
speculations, 32, 33;
advantages of studying, 38-40;
moral lessons, 40, 42

Hobbes, 94, 98, 99

Home Rule, _see under_ Ireland

Homer, 16, 22

Ideals, varying popular, 14-19

Imperial Institute, 43

Imperialism, 46-51, 63, 64, 296

India, 44, 46-48, 54, 55, 57, 58, 61, 62, 277

Ireland (_see also_ Ulster):
invasions, 69;
rebellions, 71, 82, 83, 85, 157;
influence of the Reformation, 70;
under the Stuarts, 71;
trade, 71, 72, 75, 78;
effects of English Revolution, 71, 72;
of American Revolution, 77, 78;
of French Revolution, 82;
Young's views on, 76, 77;
Catholics and Protestants, 70-79, 81-87;
Volunteer movement, 78, 87;
political agitation, 77, 78, 82, 87, 88;
union with Great Britain, 74, 75, 81, 83-85, 157;
Catholic Emancipation, 81-86, 157-174, 189, 194-198;
corruption, 175-179, 181, 183;
discontent, 165, 183, 184, 189, 194;
tithe commutation, 185-187;
Church disestablishment, 214, 215, 250, 283;
land tenure, 70, 75-77, 86, 87;
landlords, 75-77, 79, 86, 87;
Home Rule, 25, 87-89, 234, 246, 286, 296;
Queen Victoria's visit, 290, 291;
present condition, 86, 87;
representation in Parliament, 86

Irish Acts of Parliament,
of settlement, 71;
octennial, 77;
of 1793, 85, 158, 159;
of union, 74, 75, 81, 83-85

Irish Parliament, 71, 72, 74, 75, 77-83, 85

Irishmen, United, 81, 84, 85

Isabella of Spain, Queen, 295

Italian art, 103

Italy, 97, 98, 145, 146

Jefferson, quoted, 37, 38

Jeffrey, 107

Jewish type,
stability of, 120, 121;
trade, 118, 119, 121;
writings, modern investigation of, 8, 9, 257-259, 261, 262, 271, 272

Jews,
calumnies against, 117, 118;
characteristics, 118-130;
code, 121;
compared with other tribes, 119;
continuity of race, 119, 120;
distinguished, 126-129;
persecution of, 116-121, 123-126;
return of, to Palestine, 129, 130;
Milman's 'History of the', 257, 258, 262, 272

Kant, Immanuel, 92, 147, 247

Keats, John, 256

Keble, John, 250, 270

Kruger, President, 226-228

Landor, Walter Savage, quoted, 22

Leroy, Beaulieu, M. Anatole, 116-128

Lewis, Sir G. Cornewall, 45, 153, 246, 273

Liverpool, Lord, 156, 166, 168, 182, 188, 192-194, 197-199

Lloyd, Dr., 192

Locke, 96, 101

Lockhart, 255

Loughborough, Lord, 186

Louis Napoleon, _see_ Napoleon III.

Lyall, Sir Alfred, 240

Macaulay, Lord, 3, 6, 8, 55, 204, 246, 251, 268, 269, 272, 273

Macleod, Norman, 294

Malmesbury, Lord, 206, 210

Manchester School, 44, 45, 47, 50, 299

Marie Antoinette, Queen, 140, 141

Martin, Sir Theodore, 287

Masson's 'Life of Milton,' 132

Melbourne, Lord, 282, 296

Mill, James, 43, 55

Mill, John Stuart, 90, 96, 206, 210, 251

Milman, Dean,
career, 253, 256, 262, 263, 271-274;
dramatist, 253;
poet, 254, 255;
translator, 256;
hymns, 255;
historian, 257-270;
critic, 252, 256-261, 263-267, 269;
learning, 269;
style, 268, 269;
views on miracles, 258-260;
on German criticism, 260-262;
on Christianity, 268;
on Tractarian movement, 270;
on clerical subscription, 271;
Mr. Reeve and, 246;
Dean Stanley and, 271;
friendships, 252, 273;
private correspondence, 253;
social gifts, 272, 273;
characteristics, 252, 253, 257, 265, 266, 268, 269, 271, 272-274;
works, 252-270, 272, 273;
portrait, 274

Milman, Arthur, 252

Milner, Bishop, 163, 164

Milton, 132

Mohammedanism, rise of, 32, 101

Molyneux, 74

Monasticism, 24

Montesquieu, 132, 136

Montmorin, Mme, de, 139

Moral standard, changes in, 14-19, 266

Murray, 254

Napoleon I., 142-146, 149

Napoleon III., 280, 288

Narbonne, Louis de, 138-141

Necker, Mme., 134, 135, 142

Necker, Monsieur, 133, 138, 140, 144, 146, 149

Necker, Germaine, _see_ Staël, Mme. de

Newcastle, Duke of, 45, 189

Newman, Cardinal, 90, 96, 249-251, 269, 270

O'Connell, 164, 165, 171, 174, 189, 192, 193, 286

Old-age pensions, 307, 309, 311-316;
proposals for, 300, 309, 310, 313;
Royal Commission, 303;
Rothschild Committee, 304, 305;
Chaplin Committee, 305, 307

Orangemen, 84, 173, 189, 190

Palestine, return of Jews to, 129, 130

Paley, 95, 260

Palmerston, Lord, 46, 178, 206-209, 211, 246, 279-282

Parker, editor of Peel Correspondence, 153, 156, 192

Parnell, C.S., 186

Parnell Commission, 88, 89

Parsons, 73, 84

Pasteur, 121

Pauperism, diminution of, 298-309

Peel, Sir Lawrence, 156

Peel, Sir Robert,
education, 154, 155;
career, 151, 153-156, 168, 172, 177, 187, 188, 194;
abolition of Corn Laws, 152, 153;
Irish Secretary, 156, 157, 167, 174-187;
relations with O'Connell, 174;
correspondence, 153, 173, 175-185, 189, 190, 191, 197-199;
Croker and, 177, 178;
advocates unsectarian education for Ireland, 185, 190;
Catholic Emancipation, 152, 153, 168-174, 187, 189-191, 193-195, 197-199;
financial measures, 187, 194, 195;
patronage, 178-183, 191, 192;
police force organised, 184, 185;
Home Secretary, 188-198;
parliamentary skill, 152, 153, 157, 181, 191;
debating powers, 172, 173;
Queen Victoria and, 282, 286;
recantations, 152, 153, 187, 193, 194;
estimate of his character and abilities, 151-154, 156, 157, 172, 181, 191

Perceval, 155, 156, 159-161, 165, 166

Pitt, William, _see_ Chatham

Pliny, quoted, 102

Plunket, 84, 168, 174, 188

Pobedonosteff, 117

Pole, Wellesley, 168

Poor-law relief,
improvement in, 316, 317;
principles of, 298, 299

Portland, Duke of, 159-161

Portugal, Jews in, 120, 121

Prince Consort, 278-280, 282, 284

Prince Regent, _see_ George IV

Prison reform, Carlyle's views on, 114

Pusey, 250

'Quarterly Review,' 256, 257

Rationalism in Europe, author's History of, 103

Redesdale, Lord, 175, 181, 182, 186

Reeve, Henry:
education, 243;
career, 243, 245, 246;
editor of _Edinburgh Review_, 242, 246, 247;
historical knowledge, 246;
views on Home Rule, 246;
linguistic talent, 243;
literary judgment, 246, 247;
religious and philosophical views, 247;
political and social influence, 242, 244-246;
friendships, 243, 244, 247, 248;
writings of, 242-244, 247;
closing days, 248

Reform Bills, 210, 211, 213

Reformation,
causes of the, 29, 30;
effect in Ireland, 70

Revolution,
American, 34-37;
effects of, in Ireland, 77, 78

Revolution,
English, effect of, in Ireland, 71, 72;
on trade, 72, 74

Revolutions, history of, 29, 30, 34-38

Richmond, Duke of, 165, 167, 187

Ristori, Mme., 245

Rocca, 148, 149

Rogers, Sir Frederick, 45, 46

Roumania, anti-Semite movement in, 116, 118

Rousseau, 96, 132, 136

Ruskin, 251

Russell, Lord John, 46, 47, 211-213, 241, 246, 263, 280, 281, 285

Russia, anti-Semite movement in, 116-118, 124

Salisbury, Lord, 276, 296

Saurin, 165, 168, 169, 174, 183, 188

Schiller, 147

Schleswig-Holstein question, 281, 284, 285

Scotland, Act of Union with, 74

Shaftesbury, Lord, 206, 217

Shelley, P.B., 256, 257

Sidmouth, Lord, 158, 188

Smith, Goldwin, 44, 151

Socialism, 299, 310

Spain, 73, 97, 98, 117, 120, 121, 124, 125

Spencer, Herbert, 90, 109, 247

Staël, Baron de, 138, 140, 142

Staël, Mme. de., parentage, 133, 134;
personal appearance, 135;
career, 134-138, 142, 145, 148-150;
devotion to her father, 138;
friendships, 138, 139, 142, 145;
literary works, 136, 141, 142, 145-150;
Napoleon I., views on, 143, 144;
political influence, 139, 140, 142, 144;
religious views, 136, 149;
travels, 145, 146;
characteristics, 136, 137, 141, 145, 148, 149

Stanley, Dean, 251, 260, 271, 294

Stanley, Lord, _see_ Derby, 15th Earl of

Stockmar, Baron, 278

Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 254

Tait, Archbishop, 283

Talleyrand, 134, 139, 142, 144

Taxation of American Colonies, 34-36, 56, 57;
democratic principles of, 300

Taylor, Sir Henry, 45, 46

Tennyson, Lord, 90, 251

Tocqueville, 242-244

Trade,
Colonial, 47, 56, 63-65;
Indian, 47;
Irish, 71, 72, 75, 78;
Jewish, 118, 119, 121;
affected by English Revolution, 72

Transportation to Australia, 58

Transvaal affairs, 225-232, 286

Trinity College, Dublin, 90-92, 96-100, 103

Ulster, 70, 77, 78, 83, 84

United Irishmen, 81, 84, 85

Voltaire, 7, 96, 121, 135

Volunteer movement in Ireland, 78, 87

Victoria, Queen:
relations with her Ministers, 279-283, 286-288, 296;
memorandum on foreign affairs, 279, 280;
political influence, 277, 278, 280, 282-286, 288;
patronage, 278;
views on foreign policy, 279-281, 283-286;
on Irish Church disestablishment, 283;
on women's suffrage, 294;
on Home Rule, 296;
wide experience, 276, 279, 287;
letters, 288, 289;
journals, 292, 293;
widowhood, 275, 292, 296;
moral influence, 291, 292;
rule of, 275, 277-279, 281-284, 293-295;
popularity, 289-291, 293, 296, 297;
characteristics, 274-276, 279, 281-283, 287-294, 296, 297;
jubilees, 290, 296, 297;
visit to Ireland, 290, 291;
closing days, 296, 297

Walpole, Spencer, 151

Ward, 250

Watts, 274

Wellesley, Lord, _see_ Wellington, Duke of

Wellington, Duke of, 160, 161, 166, 167, 188-190, 198, 272, 289

Whateley, Archbishop, 92-96, 100, 251

Women rulers, 295

Working classes, improvement in their condition, 300, 301, 308

York, Duke of, 194, 197-199

Young, Arthur, 76, 77

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