The debate of Thursday night ended in two great victories
for Government. After Mr. Gladstone had explained that he gave up the leasehold-voting clause, Lord Stanley—at the instigation, it may be presumed, of Mr. Disraeli—descended to a trick. He proposed, without warning, that the House should postpone the franchise clauses till the redistribution had been arranged,—a measure intended simply to delay the Bill. The Adullamites would not all follow him, four Conservatives voted against him, and he was beaten on the division by 287 to 260. This result daunted the party, which is farther reluctant to turn out the Go- vernment just as war has begun, and Mr. Walpole's motion to raise the county qualification from 14/. to 20/. rating, equivalent to 24/. rental, was thrown out by 297 to 283. Government has given way on the grouping, the borough franchise can be carried, though by a small minority, and the impossibility of passing the Bill this a.asion is therefore changed into a certain improbability.
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