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 Gladstone's Amendment--His other Amendments withdrawn--Mr.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