man was absent from office as short as possible. While upon this subject, I beg to say that, although I did not presume to give any advice to Her Majesty as to whom she should send for, as this is a peculiar right of the Crown with which no one ought to interfere, yet in speaking of the difficulties of the position in which Her Majesty was placed, I did give my opinion that I thought the cause for the resignation of the right honourable gentleman and his colleagues was hardly adequate to the great event which had occurred. It appeared to me that, under the circumstances of the case, the right honourable gentleman was scarcely justified in the course he pursued, because we must remember that the unfortunate University Bill had been unpopular in this House from the beginning, and that a large section of the Liberal party opposed it on the same grounds on which it was opposed by honourable gentlemen on this side of the House-namely, that it sacrificed the educational interests of Ireland to the claims of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. When we took that line in debate it was with a complete anticipation that every gentleman connected with the Roman Catholic interest in Ireland would support Her Majesty's ministers. But I said it was possible that the right honourable gentleman, in consequence I will not say of a hasty, but, as I think, of an unfortunate expression he used a month ago when he introduced the Bill, might feel his honour concerned so far as to be obliged to resign office. As regards his honour a statesman cannot be too nice and scrupulous; but I thought the right honourable gentleman's honour was vindicated by the act of resignation, and that he might return to office without the slightest difficulty. I am quite aware that the counsel I humbly recommended to Her Majesty in these negotiations may have been disappointing to some of my supporters in this House, and to many of my supporters in the country; but I would fain believe that, when they have given a mature and an impartial consideration to all the circumstances, they will not visit my conduct with a verdict of unqualified condemnation. I believe that the Tory party at the present time occupies the most satisfactory position which it has held since the days of its I.e., that it was a cabinet question. greatest statesmen, Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville. It has divested itself of those excrescences which are not indigenous to its native growth, but which in a time of long prosperity were the consequence partly of negligence, and partly perhaps, in a certain degree, of ignorance of its traditions. We are now emerging from the fiscal period in which almost all the public men of this generation have been brought up. All the questions of Trade and Navigation, of the Incidence of Taxation and of Public Economy, are settled. But there are other questions not less important, and of deeper and higher reach and range, which must soon engage the attention of the country. The attributes of a Constitutional Monarchy,whether the aristocratic principle should be recognised in our Constitution, and, if so, in what form ?—whether the Commons of England shall remain an estate of the realm; numerous but privileged and qualified, or whether they should degenerate into an indiscriminate multitude ?—whether a National Church shall be maintained, and, if so, what shall be its rights and duties?-the functions of corporations, the sacredness of endowments, the tenure of landed property, the free disposal and even the existence of any kind of property-all those institutions and all those principles which have made this country free and famous, and conspicuous for its union of order with liberty, are now impugned, and in due time will become great and burning' questions. I think it is of the utmost importance that when that time-which may be nearer at hand than we imagine-arrives there shall be in this country a great constitutional party, distinguished for its intelligence as well as for its organisation, which shall be competent to lead the people and direct the public mind. And, Sir, when that time arrives, and when they enter upon a career which must be noble, and which I hope and believe will be triumphant, I think they may perhaps remember, and not perhaps with unkindness, that I at least prevented one obstacle from being placed in their way, when as the trustee of their honour and their interests I declined to form a weak and discredited Administration. PART V. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Between the years 1860 and 1864 Mr. Disraeli delivered several speeches on the Church of England of great interest and value, which were afterwards collected and republished under the title of Church and Queen.' I have here given the most interesting of them. THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE CHURCH ON ACT OF UNIFORMITY ON CHURCH POLICY. Nov. 14, 1861. Oct. 30, 1862. JUNE 9, 1863. Nov. 25, 1864. THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE CHURCH. [At the annual meeting of the Oxford Diocesan Church Societies, held at Aylesbury, November 14, 1861, the Bishop of Oxford presiding, Mr. Disraeli spoke as follows:-] MY Y LORD BISHOP, I have great pleasure in seconding the resolution which has been proposed by the Venerable Archdeacon Bickersteth. Your lordship has with such comprehensive clearness placed before this meeting the object of the diocesan societies, and the venerable archdeacon has with such lucid precision stated to us the results of their operations, that it will not be necessary for me to weary this meeting with much detail. Although each of these societies has an independent constitution, and proposes to itself a specific object, they, in fact, form one great whole. They propose to provide the people of this diocese with education upon those principles which we believe to be sound and true; to provide for the spiritual supervision of the population of this diocese, and to supply the deficiencies of our parochial system wherever it is incomplete or inadequate. Lastly, they propose to provide for the people of this county sufficient and decorous means of worshipping Almighty God. These, then, are the three great purposes at the attainment of which a Church should always aim-education, spiritual supervision, and public worship. It will be clear, therefore, to all present that if these societies were perfectly developed and powerfully supported, they would greatly increase the influence of the Church of England in these three counties; and I conclude that none of those who now hear me will deny that increasing the influence of the Church of England is a means of promoting the welfare of our population, both here and hereafter. Are these societies, then, perfectly developed |