The Opposition suffered from the defection or lukewarmness of some of the wiser peers--Cranbrook, Cairns and Wemyss--and finally withdrew on the unofficial but opportune publication in the _Standard_ of the outline of the Government's Redistribution Scheme. _Punch_ gives his own account of the incident, according to which the whole Cabinet was mesmerized into revealing the Government plans, and summed up the whole business in his cartoon, "'Bill' the Giant-killer." The little Franchise Bill is seen blowing his horn before a castle (the House of Lords) with Lord Salisbury, as a huge Ogre, looking over the battlements and dismayed to find that his castle is not impregnable against Truth. In this context we may note that the payment of members was foreseen by _Punch_ in a burlesque "Thumb-nail Summary for 1884," printed in the first issue of that year. Under July we read:-- Newly elected Parliament meets for the first time, and commences a campaign of active legislative reform by abolishing the Speaker. The "Payment of Members Bill," involving a State income of £2,000 a year, the right to a stall at West End Theatres on first nights, family railway tourist-tickets during the summer season, and free dining for self and friend at the Holborn Restaurant while Parliament is in Session, carried without a division. The "Payment of Members Bill," being thrown out by the Peers, the House of Lords is abolished by a short comprehensive Act, framed for the purpose, in one sitting. Much aristocratic distress prevails towards the end of the month, and gangs of hungry Peers infesting the public thoroughfares are prosecuted daily by the Secretary of the Charity Organisation Society, and ultimately shipped to a Coral Island in the Pacific. Mr. Gladstone's seventy-fifth birthday on December 29, 1884, was welcomed in a set of verses in which the eulogy is only tempered by a faint reserve as to his lack of youthful resolution and his excess of caution. Had the anniversary fallen a few weeks later, _Punch_ might have found it harder to pay such generous homage, for on February 7 appeared the unlucky cartoon which assumed that Gordon had been relieved. Yet even then, when the truth became known and while raising the cry of "Too late," _Punch_, though condemning delay and caution, deprecated party rancour:-- Not this the hour to echo faction's cry Of half-exultant chiding, or to ply The Party-phraser's venomed word-lash. No! But laggard wills, counsels confused and slow Should need no sharper spur, no keener goad Than this to urge them on plain Honour's road. [Sidenote: _The Tragedy of Khartoum_] _Punch's_ contribution to the Gordon "Memorial" was an ode from which we may quote one stanza:--