he
Commons had placed and replaced there, in order to declare the policy of
parliament on matters ecclesiastical in Ireland. This involved a meaning
which Mr. Gladstone declared that no power on earth could induce the
Commons to accept. The crisis was of unsurpassed anxiety for the prime
minister. He has fortunately left his own record of its phases:(181)--

_Saturday, July 17._--On the 16th of July the amendments made by
the Lords in the Irish Church bill had been completely disposed of
by the House of Commons. The last division, taken on the disposal
of the residue, had, chiefly through mere lazy absences, reduced
the majority for the government to 72. This _relative_ weakness
offered a temptation to the opposition to make play upon the
point. The cabinet met the next forenoon. We felt on the one hand
that it might be difficult to stake the bill on the clause for the
disposal of the residue, supposing that to be the single remaining
point of difference; but that the postponement of this question
would be a great moral and political evil, and that any concession
made by us had far better be one that would be of some value to
the disestablished church.

By desire of the cabinet I went to Windsor in the afternoon, and
represented to H.M. what it was in our power to do; namely,
although we had done all we could do upon the merits, yet, for the
sake of peace and of the House of Lords, [we were willing], (_a_)
to make some one further pecuniary concession to the church of
sensible though not very large amount; (_b_) to make a further
concession as to curates, slight in itself; (_c_) to amend the
residue clause so as to give to parliament the future control, and
to be content with simply declaring the principle on which the
property should be distributed. The Queen, while considering that
she could not be a party to this or that particular scheme, agreed
that it might be proper to make a representation to the archbishop
to the general effect that the views of the government at this
crisis of the measure were such as deserved to be weighed, and to
promote confidential communication between us. She intimated her
intention to employ the Dean of Windsor as a medium of
communication between herself and the archbishop, and wished me to
explain particulars fully to him. I went to the deanery, and, not