fought, acquiesced in the free play that his erratic temperament demanded. Something of a cynic, he could laugh about himself or his own classical attainments; but it is agreed that, with all his satire and asperity, Lowe was free from that mean joy in another’s misfortunes--Aristotle’s ἐπιχαιρεκακία--that so often accompanies the masters of epigram and of scorn. ROBERT LOWE, VISCOUNT SHERBROOKE AGAINST THE REFORM ACT: HOUSE OF COMMONS, MAY 31, 1866. The Reform Act of 1866, against which this speech was directed, was introduced by Mr. Gladstone on March 12th of that year. Among other provisions, it proposed to reduce the county franchise from fifty pounds to fourteen; the borough franchise from ten pounds to seven; and included a savings-bank franchise and a lodger franchise. These provisions were not so sweeping as they appeared. It is stated that the Bill would only have enfranchised a few hundreds of people. And among its supporters, Mr. Bright was thought to feel more enthusiasm for its sponsors, Mr. Gladstone and Lord John Russell, than for the measure itself; while Mr. Mill favored it largely because Mr. Bright did. Nevertheless, Mr. Gladstone, during the Easter holidays, stumped the country for it, and at Liverpool made a famous remark about the Government’s “burning bridges and crossing the Rubicon.” Mr. McCarthy pertinently says of this, that it was only true of the speaker; as for the Government, it had to get back over the river again. In his opposition to the Bill, Lowe was the spokesman of the reactionary tendencies of the time,--in which such events as trades unions, strikes, Irish mutterings, socialistic perorations in London, dislike of American principles, and genuine sorrow that the Republic had survived the Confederacy stung to bitter speech the conservatives and the haters of change. Thus Lowe stood for the Aristocratic Principle incarnate; he desired an oligarchy of the brightest and best. With Lowe there stood against this measure of reform not only the rank and file of the Conservative party, but a group of political independents like himself, men of various crotchets, united only in their aversion to change and the encroachments of universal suffrage. This element, which would now, perhaps, be called “mugwump,” was then wittily compared to the adherents who rallied to David in the cave Adullam (1 Samuel xxii., 2): “And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him.” And yet, by sheer force of eloquence, for the moment these had their way; and the Bill failed. As has been said, Lowe’s was the greatest share in the victory. His voice is the voice of Old England, eloquent with a haughty dignity against the incoming of the New. MR. SPEAKER