i855-] Death of Peel to Resignation of Aberdeen. 393 King of a resolution in favour of the assimilation of the county to the borough franchise, which he moved on the 27th of April, led to an important discussion, in the course of which Disraeli said that the Reform Act contained one great deficiency a want of consideration of the rights of the working classes to the franchise, and he professed that the Government would be ready to consider any well-devised plan for repairing the deficiency. The debate on the whole was encouraging, and so were the numbers 149 votes for the resolution, and 202 against. Milner Gibson continued his efforts to obtain a repeal of the taxes on knowledge, and was evidently gaining strength. On the 22nd of April he proposed " That arrangements be made that will afford a repeal of the paper duty." The debate was adjourned to the I2th of May, and on a division there were 107 votes for, and 195 against. In nothing was the foresight of the Radicals better illustrated than in their proposals with regard to Irish affairs. Crawford was amongst the first to insist that it was essential to the well-being of that country that the system of land tenure should be amended. He introduced a bill to secure tenant right, which, after being once talked out, came on for second reading on the 5th of May, when it was defeated by 107 to 57. Amongst those who were wise enough to vote for it were Cobden, Bright, and Walmsley, but they were wise before their time ; it wanted distress, disturbance, and almost revolution, to convince the English Parliament that Irish ideas ought to be represented in Irish legislation. The Parliament was prorogued and dissolved on the 1st of July, and it was remitted to the constituencies to settle finally whether or not the food of the people should be taxed for the advantage, nominally of the agricultural community, really for that of the landowners. Even before the dissolution arrange- ments had been commenced for some combination by which the Tory Government should be displaced, and they went on more actively immediately after that event. On the 2ist of July Russell had expressed his opinion that the Peelites had three courses before them first, to stand aloof, as they had
