Happily these misgivings were falsified in the sequel, and early in 1874 _Punch_ was able to record, amongst other evidences of the satisfactory conclusion of the campaign, the arrival in England of King Coffee's State umbrella. The Gladstone administration may not have been efficient in the conduct of military operations, but in the sphere of Army Reform it deserved well of the country for the abolition of purchase, in the teeth of strong opposition from the Horse Guards' element, and the reorganization of the service on lines which substantially endured for a generation or more. For these improvements we have to thank a civilian, Cardwell, whose name is indissolubly associated with the changes brought about in 1870. The second instalment of Gladstone's scheme for the pacification of Ireland--the Land Act of 1870--was supported by _Punch_, but did not achieve its purpose, since it left the vexed question of dual ownership unsettled; and it was another Irish measure--the University Bill--that brought the Government down. The legislative achievements of the Gladstone Administration had been immense and salutary in many directions, but the universality of its activities undoubtedly contributed to its growing unpopularity and lent force to Disraeli's famous electioneering cry of "plundering and blundering." _Punch_, who had in the main supported Gladstone, advised the Cabinet to resign after their defeat, but the Prime Minister resumed office temporarily and did not dissolve till January 1874. [Illustration: THE HOLIDAY TASK DR. PUNCH: "My dear young friends, you have done next to nothing this half. Therefore, a little task during the vacation will be good for you. You, Master Benjamin, must get up a 'definite policy.' You, Lowe, will write a paper on the 'Application of the _Screw_.' Ayrton, you will have to get by heart the whole 'Book of Etiquette.' Miall, you must attend Church regularly. Whalley, you're going to America--stay there! Plimsoll, you must learn to--ahem--moderate your _transports_. And as for you, William Ewart, the _idler_ you are the better!"] [Sidenote: _England 2,000 Years Hence_] Much had been done in this, the central mid-Victorian age, to abate the evils and abuses which kept the "Two Nations" apart in earlier days. Yet at the opening of the new Disraelian _régime_, with its imperial aspirations, it may not be amiss to reproduce the verses, somewhat in the vein of Thackeray's musings on _Vanitas Vanitatum_, in which Punch bade farewell to the Comet of 1858:-- ADIEU TO THE COMET Dare a bold atom ask, with brain half dizzy, What you will see two thousand years to come, This planet still an ant's nest, black and busy, Or an extinct volcano, white and dumb? Will you behold, if keeping that appointment, (Made for you, Sir, by Airy and by Hind) Men still anointing Kings with holy ointment, And Priests still leading, as the blind the blind.