241 The first parliamentary election by ballot in England was the return
of Mr. Childers at Pontefract (Aug. 15, 1872) on his acceptance of
the duchy.

_ 242 Life of Grote_, pp. 312, 313.

M121 Finance

243 See Appendix.

M122 Match Tax

244 Writing to Mr. Lowe on his budget proposals, Mr. Gladstone Says
(April 11, 1871): "The lucifer matches I hope and think you would
carry, but I have little information, and that old. I advise that on
this Glyn be consulted as to the feeling in the House of Commons. I
am sceptical as to the ultimate revenue of one million."

245 See _The Match Tax: a Problem in Finance_. By W. Stanley Jevons
(London: Stanford, 1871). A searching defence of the impost.

246 See a speech in the House of Commons by Mr. Childers, April 24,
1873.

247 The estimates of 1874-5 were practically the estimates of the
Gladstone government, showing a revenue of L77,995,000, or a surplus
of L5,492,000. See Lord Welby's letter to Mr. Lowe in _Life of Lord
Sherbrooke_, ii. pp. 383, 384.

_ 248 Economist_, Feb. 8, 1873.

M123 Lowe As Chancellor Of The Exchequer

_ 249 Life of Tennyson_, ii. p. 108.

M124 Speech At Blackheath

250 Mr. Bright had retired from the cabinet on account of ill health in
December 1870.

M125 Case Of Sir Robert Collier

251 34 and 35 Vict. c. 91, sect. 1.

M126 Parliamentary Criticism

252 Selborne's _Memorials_, i. p. 200.

_ 253 Brand Papers._

M127 Ewelme Rectory
M128 Disraeli Takes The Field

254 House of Commons, June 15, 1880.

M129 Escape Of The _Alabama_

255 Walpole's _Russell_, ii. p. 373 _n._

256 See _Rhodes_, iv. pp. 377-86.

M130 American Claims

257 Walpole's _Russell_, ii. p. 370.

258 Sir William Harcourt called the Act "the best and most complete law
for the enforcement of neutrality in any country." See _Hansard_,
Aug. 1, 3, 4, 1870.

_ 259 Life of Childers_, i. p. 173.

M131 The British Commission

_ 260 A Historical Account of the Neutrality of Great Britain during the
American Civil War._ 1870.

261 Franklin, in the negotiations on the recognition of the independence
of the American colonies in 1782, had made the same suggestion of
the cession of Canada by way of reparation and indemnification to
the colonists for losses suffered by them in their rebellion, and
Lord Shel