on becoming a Minister of the Crown. He said, "Mr. Gladstone, soon after he proceeded to the formation of his Administration, asked me to join him in the Government. I have reason to know that he made that proposition with the cordial and gracious acquiescence of her Majesty the Queen. As you know, I had very strong reasons for refusing to change my seat and place in the House of Commons. The arguments which were used to induce me to change that opinion were arguments based entirely upon what was considered best for the interests of the great Liberal party, and for the public service. And I was obliged to admit, looking at them from that point of view, that they were not easily to be answered." The right honourable gentleman, in further detailing the circumstances under which he accepted office, said that Mr. Gladstone proposed that he (Mr. Bright) should accept the position of Secretary of State for India; but having twelve years ago suffered so much in his health as to cut him off for two years from public labours, he declined accepting the heavy work of the India department. He still entertained the same views on Indian affairs as he had expressed in times past, especially in 1858; but he believed that public opinion had not yet sufficiently advanced to apply those views to the government of India. He therefore said that if he was to accept any office it would be that of President of the Board of Trade, in which he might perhaps do a little good and prevent some harm. At least that office would not so engage him as to render him unable to take some reasonable part in the great public questions which might come before the House of Commons. Although he came before them in a new character, he had not the smallest intention of getting rid of his old one. He hoped that the time had now arrived-it had only recently arrived-when a man might, perhaps, without difficulty act as an honest Minister of the Crown and at the same time as an honest and devoted servant and councillor of the people. "But," said the right honourable gentleman, "I shall have to ask your patience and your lenient judgment of my conduct in regard, it may be, to the questions which I am not now able to specify, but which must come on for consideration and discussion. An Administration, as you know, is composed of some fourteen or fifteen members of the two Houses of Parliament. The questions which the Government itself may propose, and the questions which may be submitted to Parliament by others, will require to be discussed and consulted upon by members of the Cabinet; and you know that unless there be harmony amongst the members of any Administration there must necessarily be failure and disaster. It is therefore possible that in seeking the maintenance of this harmony the members of the Administration may appear at times to take a different line to that which they have taken when unconnected with the GovernIf there should be any such occasions-if any one of my constituents should find that I have on any occasion to come been in a lobby different to that in which at some former period I have

ment.

been found, let him have such patience as he can; let him understand this, that until I say I have changed my views my views remain unchanged, and that the different course which I am compelled to take is one which does not affect principle so much as time and opportunity, or that it is a temporary or inevitable concession to the necessity of maintaining harmony of discussion amongst the members of the Government. I must ask you to look always at the general results."

On the 29th of December, the House of Commons having again met, the Members of the Cabinet and others who had been reelected by their constituencies were sworn in and resumed their

seats.

The Ministers who took the oath and subscribed the roll were -The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, First Lord of the Treasury; the Right Hon. H. C. E. Childers, First Lord of the Admiralty; the Right Hon. Robert Lowe, Chancellor of the Exchequer; the Right Hon. E. Cardwell, Secretary of State for War; the Right Hon. W. E. Forster, Vice-President of the Committee of Council for Education; the Right Hon. G. J. Goschen, President of the Poor Law Board; the Right Hon. A. H. Layard, Commissioner of Works and Buildings; Mr. Stansfeld, 'Third Lord of the Treasury; Captain Vivian, Lord of the Treasury; and Lord J. Hay, Lord of the Admiralty.

Several more writs were moved for members who had accepted office, and various notices of motion having been given for the re-assembling of the House, it was once more adjourned until the 16th of February.

In surveying the transactions of the year which have now been recorded, we find the same chequered aspect of prosperity and disaster, of progress and reaction which, according to the usual course of human affairs, marks these successive periods of our national history. Upon the whole, the year 1868 compares not disadvantageously with those which preceded it in our recent annals. It was marked by no signal misfortune, no conspicuous public calamity; it was a time, indeed, of keen political struggle and excitement, but unattended by disturbance of the public tranquillity. On the other hand, it was signalized by some events which will be always remembered with satisfaction. Among these the most conspicuous was the Abyssinian Expedition, the complete success of which redounded not more to the honour of our arms than did the spirit of self-abnegation and humanity in which it was undertaken to the credit of our policy. The result of this enterprise was unquestionably to raise the prestige of the British name in the estimation of the civilized world. The year was remarkable also for the election of a new Parliament upon a widely extended basis of representation, an event regarded by some with auguries of hope, by others with prognostications of danger; it may however be stated with satisfaction, that the first experience at least of the new household suffrage was calculated to mitigate present anxiety,

whatever the ulterior consequences of the Reform Act of 1867 may develope in after times. The retirement from office of Mr. Disraeli's Cabinet and the accession of that of Mr. Gladstone, including in its ranks a large proportion of Parliamentary experience and ability, was the earliest fruit of the new electoral constitution. The internal repose which throughout this year the kingdom enjoyed was subject to no exception even in Ireland. The Fenian outrages which only twelve months before had produced a general feeling of nervous irritation were almost forgotten, although the murder of Mr. D'Arcy M'Gee in Canada, and the attempted assassination of the Duke of Edinburgh in Australia, illustrated the reckless malignity of the more fanatical members of the Fenian body. In Ireland the conspiracy was suspended or dormant; though it would be presumptuous to suppose that disaffection had permanently ceased. The political quietude which, notwithstanding the occurrence of the elections, prevailed throughout the United Kingdom was not to be attributed to exceptional prosperity. The commercial depression which had lasted since the Spring of 1866 still continued to be felt, and a low rate of interest prevailed, which indicated both the stagnation of regular trade and the natural indisposition of capitalists to embark in speculative adventures. In the last days of the year the announcement that the Lancashire cotton-mills were about to work half-time proved that one of the chief branches of English industry was still suffering from want of demand. The traffic returns of railways exhibited a similar want of elasticity; but the gradual cessation of the controversies on revenue and capital which were eagerly prosecuted in the early part of the year indicated an improvement in the condition of the companies, as the financial confusion of their affairs was gradually disentangled. While an unusually productive harvest cheapened food and diminished the necessity for purchases of foreign grain, the hot and dry summer which ripened the wheat crop was extremely unfavourable to the production of roots and fodder, though even this inconvenience was partly compensated by the peculiar mildness of the winter.

The fluctuations in the value of money throughout the year were singularly small, and the rate of interest maintained a very low level. At the commencement of 1868 the bank rate was only two per cent., and it continued at that amount without change until November, when it was advanced, in consequence of a partial drain arising from foreign loans and investments, to two and a half. In the beginning of December a further advance was made to three per cent., which rate continued till the end of the year. The rate of discount of the Bank of France continued at 21 per cent. throughout the year. The variations in the value of the public funds were also inconsiderable. The lowest price of consols was on January 1, when they opened at 913-92; the highest was reached in June, when they were quoted at 95 ex. div. But the cheapness of money was due not so much to increase of circulation as to deficiency of demand, and the latter is to

be attributed to the still continuing want of confidence after the terrible shocks it underwent from the catastrophe of 1866. Money was forthcoming on easy terms to those who could offer good security, but the spirit of enterprise was utterly damped by the experience of past failures, and the appetite of the public for investments, excepting those of the most solid and familiar kind, was destroyed. Towards the close of the year, symptoms of a disposition to invest money in foreign and colonial securities began to manifest themselves, but great caution was observed by the majority of the monied classes, and any tendency to speedy revival was promptly followed by a reaction, which indicated the sensitive condition of public feeling.

According to the evidence afforded by the Board of Trade returns, the commercial transactions of the country indicated a sound and healthy state of trade. The total declared value of exports for twelve months ending December 31st, 1868, amounted to 179,463,6447. against 180,961,9237. in 1867. The value of the imports for eleven months ending November 30th was 217,520,3657. against 208,526,0557. in 1867. The supply of cotton was good, and there was at the end of the year a fair store of it in the north of England. In this respect there was a happy contrast to the last week of 1867. An important advance was effected during the year in the machinery of commercial intercourse. The science of telegraphy made much progress, and the construction of railways rapidly proceeding in different parts of the world, tend to open new avenues for the exchange of commerce, and to enable England to send her productions into the very heart of distant countries. New discoveries of the precious metals were made in various regions; of gold in South Eastern Africa, in Brazil, Canada, and New Zealand; and of silver in Colorado, Nevada, California and South Western America. In Ceylon also some gold was discovered under circumstances which gave promise of considerable supplies. Some was also found in certain streams in China.

The year was distinguished by some remarkable atmospheric phenomena and by violent convulsions of nature. Within the limits of the United Kingdom storms and gales of unusual violence occurred. As the summer was one of the hottest and driest on record, the early part of the winter was marked with the occurrence of destructive storms in the British seas, and with an excessive rainfall in December, which produced extensive inundations in certain districts of England. In other parts of the world tempests of extraordinary violence were reported. In March a terrific cyclone swept over the Mauritius, the effect of which, according to the account transmitted to the Colonial Office by the Governor, was to render no less than 50,000 persons houseless. The more abnormal convulsions of nature, volcanoes and earthquakes, were also unusually prevalent.

On January 3 Vesuvius exhibited great activity, sending forth an immense quantity of lava, with loud detonations. With some

intermissions, the volcano continued to vomit forth its fiery stream for several weeks, characterized by a remarkable periodicity, seemingly indicating some kind of lunar influence. After a period of comparative rest, the mountain became violently agitated in the month of October, and again with still greater vehemence in November. Streams of lava flowed over from the crater, invading cultivated land and doing considerable damage to the villages. Houses and farm lands were overwhelmed, and a large chestnut forest was set on fire. The lava current flowed with a breadth of 130 yards, and a depth of about twelve. Six million cubic metres of lava were estimated as being thrown up in a few days. Before the close of November the eruption died away, and this seemed to be the signal for an outbreak of Mount Etna, which for a brief period put forth a very grand display. Associated with volcanoes comes the subject of earthquakes, and of these the year exhibited several, including the dreadful catastrophe in Peru and Ecuador. Shocks of earthquake were even felt in the British isles, and almost universally throughout the world. On the 27th of March the island of Hawaii, in the Sandwich group, was violently convulsed. A tidal wave, sixty feet in height, swept in from the sea, destroying villages, and drowning both people and cattle. Shocks of more or less violence affected the whole of the group. The great mountain, Manna Loa, broke out into a dreadful eruption, ejecting fire, rocks, ashes, and molten lava. The vibrations of the earth threw down churches, and other buildings, and killed many people. In August a shock of earthquake was felt at Gibraltar, being the first time for many years, and the phenomenon was repeated towards the close of the year. But the most dreadful visitation was in Peru and Ecuador, where a tremendous earthquake took place on the 13th of August, overthrowing numerous cities, and destroying many thousands of lives. The earth rocked with frightful violence, crags fell from the summits of the Andes, immense tidal waves rolled in upon the land, sweeping whole towns from their foundations, and stranding ships of war and merchant vessels far above high-water mark. The ocean was heaved into immense waves, which extended their undulations over the whole of the Pacific, breaking in huge rollers on the shores of California, the Sandwich Islands, Japan, and New Zealand. About the same time the vibrations which for three-quarters of a year had affected the island of St. Thomas, in the West Indies, came to an end. On the 21st of October an earthquake of considerable violence visited California, damaging the city of San Francisco and causing some loss of life. At length, on the 30th of October, a little before eleven at night, England itself was visited with a very palpable shock, which particularly affected the western counties and was felt with great distinctness in South Wales. A slight shock was reported to have previously visited Ireland. Accounts reached this country of an earthquake at Taranaki, in New Zealand, with the destruction of 5000l. worth of property.