The majority in the Lords wreaked its vengeance for the
Warrant on Monday. Even the pleasure of punishing, or seem- ing to punish, Mr. Gladstone could not induce much more than half the Peers to attend ; but in a House of 244, the vote of cen- sure was passed by a majority of eighty, or 162 to 82. Lord Derby utterly repudiated his own advice to issue the Warrant, saying it was a warning, not a counsel, and seventeen of the Tory Peers who had condemned Purchase also condemned the Govern- ment, as did the Whig Earl Russell, who has thus at last formally separated himself from his ancient colleagues. Having thus relieved their minds with a hearty constitutional "damn," the Peers passed the Army Bill unaltered, and without any division against the clauses which withdraw the patronage of the Militia from the great county magnates. And so the long battle ends, as usual, in the victory of the reforming side.
