Lord Selborne made a very spirited speech, in which he
proved that the title of 'Queen' has long been officially used in the Statute Book of India, complimented Lord Cairns on the delicacy with which he had picked up in the course of his speech, as with an elephant's proboscis, the minutest as well as the most considerable arguments which it was desirable to deal with, and showed that ' Emperor ' and Empress,' in the pre- sent state of Europe and America, no more suggest the "ruler of rulers" than do 'King' and 'Queen ;' and lamented the mis- guided counsels which had led the Government to propose "gilding refined gold." Lord Rosebery was very amusing, on a title which he said was to be labelled "for external application only " ; and after a speech from Lord Carnarvon, which does not read very enthusiastic for the new title, the House divided, showing 91 for Lord Shaftesbury's resolution, and 137 against it,—majority, 46. At least two hundred Peers of full age did not give any vote at all. As compared with other recent divisions on momentous matters, the division, too, was certainly a small one. On the Irish Church question, in 1869, three hundred and twenty- five Peers voted, without counting the pairs, whereas in this division there were, without counting the pairs, only 228 votes given. The number of pairs was but thirteen.
