tinuance of politico-ecclesiastic State officials is not to the advantage of either Church or State, and he moved its rejection, but on a division he was defeated by 273 against 61 votes.

In addition to these two speeches in the Session of 1875, Mr. Richard addressed several important questions to the Government, of which the principal were, South African affairs, India in her relations with Burmah, and the bombardment of Carthagena.

In the month of September, 1875, Mr. Richard attended the Third Annual Congress of the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Laws of Nations, held at the Hague, which was largely and influentially supported, and amongst whom were, several of the members of the Dutch Ministry, and the proceedings awakened much interest in Holland, the Queen receiving its members as guests at the Royal Palace, and a generous and unbounded hospitality was displayed by the Government to the members of the Association.

The President of the Congress was David Dudley Field, of New York, assisted by Sir Travers Twiss as VicePresident. The programme of the Congress was confined to subjects under the head of Private and Public International Law, the sub-divisions of which were numerous; but the chief interest centred in the important questions of international arbitration and disarmament, and on the former Mr Richard gave an interesting address, in which he showed there were limits to its exercise, and that it was not an infallible panacea for all international disputes.

Dr. Miles, of Boston, U.S.A., presented a paper on an International Tribunal, Dr. Jencken, of London, on Disarmament, and Professor Birbeck, on Non-intervention; and upon these various phases of the peace question, interesting discussions followed, and the result was the adoption of two resolutions, the one on International Arbitration, which referred in cordial terms to the action of

L

several Legislatures in acclaiming the principle, and of its adoption by several States; and the second resolution which deplored the enormous and ever-increasing Armaments, and dwelt upon their disastrous results, and urged the Governments to effect a mutual reduction of them. Both these resolutions were drafted by Mr. Richard, and proposed by him at the Congress, and were adopted.

PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS.

In the Session of 1876, a determined but unsuccessful effort was made by a small but courageous minority against the persistent policy of extravagantly increasing the national Armaments during a period of profound peace. During the two years that Lord Beaconsfield's Government had been in office the military expenditure had increased £2,300,000, and with the prospect of further increase, Mr. Richard, assisted by Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Mr. Pease, Mr. Rylands, and Mr. Jacob Bright, took the opportunity when the Estimates were submitted, to raise a protest by the following amendment :

"That, in the opinion of this House, the interests of the Nation do not demand an increased expenditure in the land forces."

This motion was made by Sir Wilfrid Lawson in one of his happiest speeches, which was seconded by Mr. Richard, who did not hesitate to charge the military class with the condition of affairs, not in England alone, but in the Councils and Parliaments of Europe generally, where their influence is directed to keep up the fatal system of rivalry in Armaments, and creating a burden too heavy to be borne.

On a division the motion was rejected by a majority of 192 votes against 63. Defeated by a majority, said Mr. Richard, closely connected, either personally or by family

relations with some of the Services, into whose hands these enormous sums are poured in increasing proportions year by year.

Again, on May 15th, Mr. Richard raised his voice in the House of Commons, on behalf of Economy, by supporting the resolution of Mr. Rylands, against any increase in the income tax; and in doing so, he justly observed how both parties in the House were tarred with the same brush, and he twitted the Liberal Party with their professions for Retrenchment, which they scatter to the winds when called upon to put them to the test. He compared the clamours of the Services for increased expenditure, to the daughter of the horse-leech, whose cry continually was "Give, Give;" and that however much is given, it was like pouring water into a sieve, for the country had nothing to show for it, which he proved by stating that from 1856 to 1875, a period of twenty years, 550 millions sterling had been spent on defence, and still the military authorities declare England is defenceless.

Towards the end of June he brought before Parliament the state of our relations with China, and submitted the following motion, in an interesting speech :

66 'That, having regard to the unsatisfactory nature of our relations with China, and to the desirability of placing those relations on a permanently satisfactory footing, the House is of opinion that the existing Treaty between the two countries should be so revised as to promote the interests of legitimate commerce, and to secure the just rights of the Chinese Government and people."

This Resolution was supported by Mr. Mark Stewart, Sir George Campbell, Sir George Balfour, and Sir Charles Dilke, and on behalf of the Government, Mr. Bourke, approving of the general object in view, and promising steps should be taken in the direction indicated, the Resolution was withdrawn.

In the same Session, the Government of Lord Beaconsfield brought in a Bill to make further provision for Elementary Education, and on June 19th, during the debate on the second reading, Mr. Richard addressed the House, on

behalf of the Nonconformists, who were decidedly opposed to the Measure, on the ground that it would promote not national, but sectarian education; in fact, a continuance of the system of giving religious instruction in schools supported by public money, and he gave notice of his intention to raise this question by a distinct protest on going into Committee, and accordingly on July 10th, he moved the following amendment :—

"That, in the opinion of this House, the principle of universal compulsion in education cannot be applied without great injustice unless provision be made for placing Public Elementary Schools under public management,"

and after a prolonged debate, it was rejected on a division by a majority of 218 votes.

Throughout the discussions in Committee on this Measure, Mr. Richard frequently took part, sometimes supporting and at other times opposing the propositions of the Government, and, on the third reading, on August 5th, dissatisfied with the results, he recorded his emphatic protest against it as the worst Bill, the most unjust, the most reactionary, and the most tyrannical in spirit that had been brought before Parliament, since Lord Bolingbroke proposed his Schism Bill, in the reign of Queen Anne; for its object was to put the education of the people into the hands of the Church of England by discouraging and suppressing all kinds of education. He was supported in debate in this final resistance to the Measure, by Mr. Cowen and Mr. Burt, but on a division the Bill was carried by 119 to 46 votes.

At the close of the Session, which had been an active and an anxious one for Mr. Richard, he left England to attend the Conference, held in September, at Bremen, on International Law, at which he met many representatives to the Conference from Germany, France, Austria, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and on most of the subjects considered, he gave the weight of his knowledge and experience, and on the question of the principles of Inter

national Law which ought to govern the intercourse of Christian with non-Christian peoples, introduced by Dr. Thompson, of Berlin, he spoke at some length in support of the recommendations proposed. The subject of International Maritime Law was introduced by Professor Sheldon Amos, and four propositions submitted in favour of the reforms indicated by the Congress at Paris in 1856, and Mr. Richard supported this view, and after an interesting discussion, the Conference decided to defer their further consideration until the following year.

THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION.

In May 1877, Mr. Richard was elected to the honourable position of Chairman of the Congregational Union for England and Wales, in succession to Dr. Aveling, which he accepted with considerable reluctance, partly owing to the distractions arising out of the Eastern Question, and to the heavy task, amid all his anxieties, to prepare an inaugural address worthy of the occasion.

Conscious however that it was an imperious call to public duty, he did not shrink, however great the sense of weariness might be, from obeying the summons and grappling with the heavy task imposed upon him, of preparing and delivering the Address from the Chair, and nobly did he discharge it. The subject he chose, or rather the title which he gave to it was, "The Relations of the Civil and Spiritual Powers in various countries in Europe," and it proved a masterly survey of the ecclesiastical condition of Europe, dealing successively with the relations of Church and State in France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium, and Switzerland, and he shewed the character and vastness of the conflict the Nonconformists were engaged in, and pointed out the teaching lessons to be derived therefrom, reversing the