Untitled - Electric Scotland

2i2 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP TAIT [en. x.
not have cost you more than 1000, and you do not
seem to be worth a thousand pence. But it is the boast
of the law that it is impartial, and makes no difference
between the rich and the poor. The richest man in the
kingdom would have had to pay no less than that sum
for the same means of obtaining freedom from the
marriage tie. The sentence of the Court is, that you be
imprisoned for the term of one day, and, the assize being
now two days old, you are at liberty to quit the dock."
Such a system, it was a*gued,could no longer be defended.
Hence the Royal Commission of 1850 and the consequent
legislation, Lord Chancellor Cranworth being responsible
in two successive Governments for the introduction of a
Bill. In 1854, and again in 1856, the Bill obtained a
second reading in the House of Lords, and in the latter
a Select Committee.
year it was further reported on by
But it was in each case crowded out in the House of
Commons. In 1857 Lord Cranworth introduced it for
the third time, and the Government announced a firm
intention of carrying it at all costs. The minority against
the Bill, though comparatively weak in numbers, were
strong in determination, and met the measure with stern
opposition at every stage. Bishop
Wilberforce in the
Lords, and Mr. Gladstone in the Commons, used every
weapon to defeat the plan. The difficulty of the subject
was proved by the fact that each of these leaders had
changed his mind during the course of the discussions.
Mr. Gladstone, as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1854,
had shared the responsibility of introducing the very Bill
which he was to oppose so bitterly three years later, 1
and Bishop Wilberforce publicly modified in 1857 the
opinions he had himself expressed
1
Hansard, August 4, 1857, p. 1051.
id., May 19, 1857, p. 523.
ten months before. 2