invasion by the House of Commons of the province assigned by
the constitution to the executive," but he perceived no increase in recent
times or in the present House. Then he proceeded (June 8, 1880):--

... Your Majesty may possibly have in view the pressure which has
been exercised on the present government in the case of Sir Bartle
Frere. But apart from the fact that this pressure represents a
feeling which extends far beyond the walls of parliament, your
Majesty may probably remember that, in the early part of 1835, the
House of Commons addressed the crown against the appointment of
Lord Londonderry to be ambassador at St. Petersburg, on (M3)
account, if Mr. Gladstone remembers rightly, of a general
antecedent disapproval. This was an exercise of power going far
beyond what has happened now; nor does it seem easy in principle
to place the conduct of Sir B. Frere beyond that general right of
challenge and censure which is unquestionably within the function
of parliament and especially of the House of Commons.

In the field where mastery had never failed him, Mr. Gladstone achieved an
early success, and he lost no time in justifying his assumption of the
exchequer. The budget (June 10) was marked by the boldness of former days,
and was explained and defended in one of those statements of which he
alone possessed the secret. Even unfriendly witnesses agreed that it was
many years since the House of Commons had the opportunity of enjoying so
extraordinary an intellectual treat, where "novelties assumed the air of
indisputable truths, and complicated figures were woven into the thread of
intelligible and animated narrative." He converted the malt tax into a
beer duty, reduced the duties on light foreign wines, added a penny to the
income tax, and adjusted the licence duties for the sale of alcoholic
liquors. Everybody said that "none but a _cordon bleu_ could have made
such a sauce with so few materials." The dish was excellently received,
and the ministerial party were in high spirits. The conservatives stood
angry and amazed that their own leaders had found no device for the repeal
of the malt duty. The farmer's friends, they cried, had been in office for
six years and had done nothing; no sooner is Gladstone at the exchequer
than with magic wand he effects a transformation, and the long-suffering
agriculturist has justice and relief.

In the course of an effort