The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-30 00:00:00

The Division on the Reform Dlll.

(From the Times.)
The late hour at which the division was taken on
the Franchise Bill on Saturday morning precluded
the possibility of any account of the close of this
remarkable party contest appearing in our Satur-
day's impression. Indeed, nothing but the most
zealous and most sustained efforts enable us to lay
before the public full reports of the debate and the
actual result of the Division, and to effect this the
reports bad to be transmitted from the House of
Commons to this office at intervals of every five
minutes. The last, in fact, were only given to the
printer at 10 minutes past 4 Oh Saturday, and at 5
o'clock the Times was being loaded into the vans
which convey it to the early morning mails for dis-
tribution throughout the country. Such a feat,
we believe, is without a parallel in the history
of modern journalism. Only those who are ac-
quainted with the elaborate internal organisation
required for the production of a daily morning
paper can appreciate the rapidity with which all
its intricate combinations of intellectual and me-
chanical labour must have been employed before
a result so extraordinary could have been accom-
plished. The division itself is now a matter of his-
tory—but of history so important and interesting
that a few words about it anditsincidents will even
now not be uninteresting.

The attendance of spectators in Palace-yard and
Westminster-hall to see the members pass into the
House of Commons was smaller than might have
been expected—certainly much smaller than assem-
bled on the first night of the debate. The leading,
members of both sides were of course easily recog-
nised, and both were pretty equally applauded. Mr.
Gladstone was very warmly received, though he
hardly appeared to notice it, sitting back in an open
carriage, and looking careworn and pale. Mr. Dis-
raeli, who came a few minutes before, was quite as
warmly cheered as Mr. Gladstone, the only differ-
ence being that whereas Mr. Gladstone was only
cheered, several hisses mingled with the applause
given to the Conservative chief. Beyond this there
was no manifestation of hostile feeling to any one,
and very little signs of feeling at all. On the night
of the opening of the debate the spectators had all
left Palace-yard by 7 o'clock. It was not so, how-
ever, on Friday evening, but, on the contrary the
numbers continued to increase as the night wore on,
and as the time for the expected division drew nigh
there was probably a greater number of people in
and about the lobbies, Westminster-hall, and Pa-
lace-yard than were ever before seen there at so late
an hour. It is scarcely 'necessary to say that in the
house itself all the seats allotted to strangers, and
those set aside for peers, peers' sons, and visitors of
distinction were densely crowded—in fact, only two
in the gallery facing the Speaker were unoccupied,
and these were reserved for the Prince of Wales
and the Duke of Cambridge. The body of the house,
however, was by no means full, and contrasted
strongly with the crowded attendance of the previous
day, when Mr. Lowe opened the debate. Neither
did the numbers show the slightest tendency to,in-
crease as Lord Cranborne proceeded, and when he was
followed by a number of smaller speakers the atten-
dance was at one time so small that apparently any
mischievously inclined member might have moved
that the house be counted, though, of course, there
were so many members in attendance that the mo-
tion would have effected nothing beyond showing
how for a time the interest in the debate had flagged
within the walls of Parliament itself. The lull of
excitement, however, was but short, and arose more
from the necessity which members felt of fortifying
themselves in the supper-room against the fatigue of
what they were sure would be an unusually long and
exciting sitting. By 9 o'clock the tide of members
set steadily back again, and before 10, when Mr.
Disraeli was expected to rise, every place was
crcea ded. Never did the house present a more
thronged appearance or more earnest and interested
aspect. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cam-
bridge had both taken their places in the Speaker's
gallery, both the side galleries were crammed with
members, and all below the bar was absolutely
blocked by a crowd so great that they frequently
transgressed the traditional limits within which they
are not supposed to be present, and were only kept
back by occasional cries of " Bar, bar." Mr. Disraeli
did not bring his speech to a close till one o'clock ;
the tumult of applause with which he was greeted
lasted some minutes, and during this time his Royal •
Highness the Prince of Wales left the house. Mr.
Gladstone spoke for almost precisely two hours,
with great fluency, but at the same time with won-
derful calmness. Nothing could exceed the atten-
tion and deference with which the Chancellor was
listened to, and even the cheering of the Govern-
ment members who sat behind him was less fre-
quent than usual, though when it did break forth it
was loud and vehement. Mr. Gladstone spoke till
ten minutes past three, and on resuming his
seat, amid the most prolonged cheers, was as pale,
and seemed almost as much exhausted, as though on
the point of fainting. When at last the applause
ceased, the excitement became intense, though
silence was most rigidly preserved whilst the Speaker
rose, and rather hastily read over the words of
Lord Grosvenor's amendment, to which there was
the usual alternately tumultuous reply of " Ayes"
and " N o e s . " The two-minute sand-glass was then
turned, and the division bells rang all over the
House till the last and most distant of the straggling
members were brought within the bar. At the same
time the Speaker's gallery, and all the parts which
are technically supposed to be in the House, were
cleared of strangers, the Duke of Cambridge being,
among others, ejected, in accordance with old cus-
torn, which allows none but members to be actually
within the precincts or body of the House itself
while a division is being taken. The question was
then again put, and with the same uproarious result
of negatives and affirmatives, and when the last of
these shouts had died away the Speaker said, " Ayes
to the right and Noes to the left," and the House
began to divide. The great crowd of members filed
out very slowly into their respective lobbies, one by
one, and the whole process of taking the division
occupied nearly 20 minutes. The four Tellers—
Lord Grosvenor and Lord Stanley for the Opposi-
tion, and Mr. Brand and Mr. W. P. Adam for the
Government—were the last to leave the House, and
almost immediately after their departure both parties
began to return, much more rapidly than they had,
quitted. Before half had taken their seats it was
known through the efforts of an enthusiastic Con-
servative, who had been at the pains to count the
members, that no less a number than 315 would
vote for the amendment, and against the bill. The
greatest anxiety was everywhere evinced to find out
what the number of Government supporters would
be, but nothing transpired on this subject till
the returns were actually read in the house.
As soon as the members had taken their places the
Tellers gave their returns to the clerk of the house,
who, after having read them, called the Tellers for-
ward, who came up to the chair with the three usual
deep reverences. According to the usual custom
the returns were handed to the whipper-in of• the
party who has the majority, and when the papers
were placed in the hands of Mr. Brand the
cheering of the Government members was tre-
mendous. An almost complete silence, however,

fell upon them when the numbers were read and
the majority was seen to be Sao small as to make
the decision a virtual defeat ()f the Government
measure. On the other hand, the excitement and
enthusiasm of the Opposition seemed to know no
bounds, and such a scene ensued of waving bats
and handkerchiefs and loud cheering as has pro:
bably seldom been witnessed on any Division in
the House of Commons. Conspicuous also on the
Government side were the cheers of the Libe!al
members who had opposed the Bill, and who vied
in their manifestations of delight with the members
of the Opposition. The brief sentence with which
Mr. Gladstone, when silence was at last restored,
announced his intention of fixing the course of Pub"
lie business this evening was hailed with
almost
similar cheers, and was evidently taken by the Op-
position as implying that some modification or re-
consideration of the Franchise Bill might then be
submitted to the House. In a minute afterwaras
all hurried to get away, and the members streamed
into Palace-yard, where, notwithstanding the
lateness of the hour, a large crowd was collected.
These people cheered with the most perfect anPa
tiality the leaders of both parties. Not a symptom
of angry feeling seemed to be manifested towards
any one. The analysis of the Division List gives
the following results :

VOTED FOR GOVERNMENT.

Liberals ...
Conservatives

(Conservatives.)
Robert J. Harvey Sir G. Bowyer.
VOTED AGAINST GOVERIvMENT.
Conservatives
Liberals