It was on the 20th of June, 1886, that the Queen entered on the fiftieth year of her reign. But her Majesty naturally refused to assume that she would live to the end of it, and she accordingly determined that the actual celebration of her Jubilee should be put off till the 20th of June, 1887. Thus it came to pass that 1887 will be known as the Jubilee Year of the Victorian period. It was a year that opened badly for the Government. The sudden resignation of Lord Randolph Churchill at the close of 1886 rendered a reconstruction of the Cabinet necessary. Efforts were made in vain to induce some of the Whig Peers to join the Ministry, but, as we have seen, at last Mr. Goschen was persuaded to accept the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer. The leadership of the Commons was given to Mr. W. H. Smith, who was made First Lord of the Treasury; whilst Lord Salisbury, who held that office, assumed the Secretaryship of State for Foreign Affairs. This involved the enforced retirement of Lord Iddesleigh in somewhat painful circumstances, which were further heightened by his sudden death from heart-disease on the 13th of January. The discreditable intrigue, which began by deposing him from the Leadership of the House of Commons, thus ended tragically. Some of the leaders of the Liberal and Liberal Unionist Parties were also endeavouring to discover some means of reconciling these now hostile factions. Parliament was opened on the 27th of January, and the Speech from the Throne plainly foreshadowed the introduction of a Coercion Bill for Ireland. It hinted at a Land Bill as a possible measure; indeed, had it not done so the alliance between the Government and the Liberal Unionists would have been weakened. Other measures promised were Bills for reforming local government in England, Scotland, and, “should circumstances render it possible,” in Ireland, for cheapening private Bill legislation, and land transfer. An Allotments Bill, a Tithe Bill, a Railway Rates and Merchandise Marks Bill, were also in the programme, which was large and varied. But the debate on the Address showed that no opposed Bills were likely to pass unless the House of Commons reformed its procedure, and to this task the Tory Party had most grudgingly to apply itself. Six sittings were spent on the Address as a general subject of discussion. After that amendments relating to the evacuation of Egypt and the Irish policy announced in the Queen’s Speech were debated. Three Scottish amendments were next brought forward, so that when, at the sixteenth sitting of the House, Mr. Dillon began to denounce jury-packing in Dublin, the Speaker ruled him out of order. A motion for an adjournment was defeated, and a motion to consider the condition of unemployed labourers in England was declared by the Speaker to have been sufficiently discussed after two speeches were delivered. The Closure, so dreaded by the Tories in former Parliaments, was then applied by Mr.