On the 16th of February Parliament was opened by Commission, the Royal Speech being read by the Lord Chancellor. As the Queen did not attend, it was decided by the Cabinet to propose that Parliament should wait upon her, and present their Address in reply to the Royal Speech, to her personally--a somewhat unusual, though not unprecedented, proceeding when the Queen is herself absent from the opening of Parliament. The Speech was in style a little flabby, especially where it touched on the Irish Church Question. No measure of Disestablishment was definitely promised, but it was announced that Parliament must take in hand the task of “the adjustment of the ecclesiastical arrangements of Ireland.” The Speech promised reduced estimates,[294] hinted at the restoration of Habeas Corpus to Ireland, and it embodied Mr. Austin Bruce’s pledges in Renfrewshire to bring in a Scottish Education Bill. Perhaps it was because Ministers strove after brevity that they omitted from the Speech many measures to which it was generally known they were committed, _e.g._, Mr. Bruce’s Bill for dealing with Habitual Criminals, Mr. Goschen’s Poor Law Bill, Mr. Forster’s Middle Class Education Bill, the Bill abolishing University Tests, a Bill to establish Municipal Government in Counties, and a Bill abolishing Imprisonment for Debt. The Address was moved in the House of Commons by Mr. Cowper, selected as a compliment to the Whigs, and Mr. Mundella, who was chosen to please the Radical artisans. The debate on the Address was a tame business. The leaders of the Opposition, desirous of posing as magnanimous adversaries in defeat, offered no serious criticism. The Government leaders had, therefore, virtually nothing to reply to. Previous to the moving of the Address Mr. Gladstone gave notice in the House of Commons that on the 1st of March he should move that the Acts relating to the Irish Church establishment, and to the Maynooth Grant, and also the Resolutions of the House of Commons of 1868 be read; that the House should resolve itself into Committee to consider these Acts and Resolutions. Mr. Forster, too, gave notice of his Middle Class Education Bill. The Attorney-General gave notice of a Bankruptcy Bill; Mr. Goschen announced Bills amending the law assessing Occupiers Holding for short terms, and equalising the Assessment of Metropolitan Property; and the Home Secretary announced his Bill for the more effectual Prevention of Crime. Whatever might be said of the Ministry, it was obviously bent on making its mark on the Statute book. The House of Lords, indeed, began to take alarm at the extreme activity of the Commons. They complained that they were not entrusted with work till after Easter, when the Commons sent them their Bills to revise in the dog days, and Lord Salisbury angrily threatened to obstruct Bills if they were not sent up to the Peers in time for full discussion; but the fault was really that of their Lordships.