trable to advice.' 'You cannot be sure of
him for half an hour.' The force of the movement was broken by cliques
and quarrels, until the spirit of disaffection was no longer formidable.
In August, her Majesty displayed in a marked way her personal interest
in her Irish subjects by a State visit to Dublin. The Queen was
received with enthusiasm, and her presence did much to weaken still
further the already diminishing power of sedition.

[Sidenote: SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS]

The question of education lay always close to the heart of Lord John
Russell, who found time even amid the stress of 1847 to advance it. The
Melbourne Administration had vested the management of Parliamentary
grants in aid of education in a committee of the Privy Council. In spite
of suspicion and hostility, which found expression both in Parliament
and in ecclesiastical circles, the movement extended year by year and
slowly pervaded with the first beginnings of culture the social life of
the people. Lord John had taken an active part in establishing the
authority of the Privy Council in education; he had watched the rapid
growth of its influence, and had not forgotten to mark the defects which
had come to light during the six years' working of the system. He
therefore proposed to remodel it, and took steps in doing so to better
the position of the teacher, as well as to render primary education more
efficient. Paid pupil teachers accordingly took the place of unpaid
monitors, and the opportunity of gaining admittance after this practical
apprenticeship to training colleges, where they might be equipped for
the full discharge of the duties of their calling, was thrown open to
them. As a further inducement, teachers who had gone through this
collegiate training received a Government grant in addition to the usual
salary. Grants were also for the first time given to schools which
passed with success through the ordeal of official inspection.

The passing of the Factory Bill was another effort in the practical
redress of wrongs to which Lord John Russell lent his powerful aid. The
measure, which will always be honourably associated with the names of
Lord Shaftesbury and Mr. Fielden, was a victory for labour which was
hailed with enthusiasm by artisans and operatives throughout the land.
It came as a measure of practical relief, not merely to men, but to
upwards of three hundred and sixty-three thousand women and children,
employed in monotonous tas