future
application of the surplus. A majority of the Lords insisted on casting
out the words of the preamble providing that the residue should not be
applied for purposes of religion, and substituting in one shape or another
the principle of concurrent endowment, so hostile, as Mr. Gladstone judged
it, to the peace of Ireland, and so irreconcilable with public feeling in
England and Scotland.

On July 12, the bill came back to the Commons. The tension had hardly yet
begun to tell upon him, but Mr. Gladstone enters on these days:--

_July 11._--Formidable accounts from and through Windsor. 12.--The
time grows more and more anxious. 15.--This day I received from a
Roman catholic bishop the assurance that he offered mass, and that
many pray for me; and from Mr. Spurgeon (as often from others), an
assurance of the prayers of the nonconformists. I think in these
and other prayers lies the secret of the strength of body which
has been given me in unusual measure during this very trying year.

This was the day on which, amid the ardent cheers of his party, he arose
to announce to the House the views of the government. He was in no
compromising mood. In a short speech he went through the amendments made
by men so out of touch with the feeling of the country that they might
have been "living in a balloon." One by one he moved the rejection of all
amendments that involved the principle of concurrent endowment, the
disposal of the surplus, or the postponement of the date of
disestablishment. He agreed, however, to give a lump sum of half a million
in lieu of private benefactions, to readjust the commutation terms, and
make other alterations involving a further gift of L280,000 to the church.
When the Commons concluded the consideration of the Lords' amendments
(July 16), Mr. Gladstone observed three things: first, that the sentiment
against concurrent endowment in any form was overwhelming; second, that
not only was no disposition shown to make new concessions, but concessions
actually made were sorely grudged; and third, that the tories were eager
to postpone the destination of the residuary property.

V

(M83) On July 16, the bill, restored substantially to its first shape, was
again back on the table of the Lords, and shipwreck seemed for five days
to be inevitable. On July 20, at eleven o'clock, by a majority of 175 to
93, the Lords once more excluded from the preamble the words that t