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to the alteration. Mr. Disraeli proposed this amendment, which was accepted: And I do faithfully promise to maintain, support, and defend the succession to the Crown, as the same stands limited and settled by an Act passed in the reign of King William III., intituled "An Act for the further limitation of the Crown and better securing the rights and liberties of the subject." These words were added to the oath of allegiance. The Bill thus amended passed through the House of Commons, and, unlike its predecessor, was accepted by the Upper House and became law.

Napier was in Ireland whilst the Bill was passing through Committee. During the period of discussion he had come to the conclusion, whatever his private opinions might still be on the subject, that under the present circumstances political oaths were valueless. He was somewhat of the same mind as Mr. Speaker Onslow.

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I cannot help observing (said that faithful servant of the House in the eighteenth century) of what little use to a Government the imposition of oaths has ever been. A Government is never secure of the hearts of the people but from the justice of it, and the justice of it is generally a real security. . When men habituate themselves to swear what they do not understand, they will easily be brought to forswear themselves in what they do understand. The like danger is from the frequency of them, which always takes off from the awe of them, and consequently their force. In my opinion no oaths should be appointed but in judicial matters.

Napier wrote to Mr. Disraeli giving his views upon the subject.

I am glad to see (he says, March 9, 1866) that you are over the difficulty as to the Oaths Bill. The feeling has been very prevalent of late that political oaths are valueless and ought to be got rid of as much as possible. It would be in the highest degree inexpedient to prolong the controversy where we must soon have to succumb, whilst in the meantime we would give the enemy favourable occasions of combining all the strength at their command against our half-and-half opposition. We should thus have our weakness exposed and the other party their strength exhibited-I mean on this question. The light in which I view the Bill is simply to get rid of political oaths of a special or separate kind. In this view the ordinary oath of allegiance is the best for all. This implies undivided allegiance to the Queen as supreme governor in foro exteriori.

If you can get words introduced to include the successors according to the Act of Settlement, well and good. But I think you will fail in getting words as to the supremacy that can be satisfactory. Observe, the Roman Catholic oath falls short of the full doctrine, and if you have any limited view of the supremacy in a general oath you may thereby weaken the general law. I should therefore much prefer to have a proviso added after the pattern of that which the Duke of Wellington introduced into the 11 and 12 Vict. c. 108, s. 3, taking the words there as to the supremacy, and adding like words as to the settlement of property and of the Established Church. See 10 Geo. IV. c. 7, ss. 2 and 24. In this form the new Act on the face of it would be simply to regulate political oaths by simplifying the form and reducing the number of oaths, whilst the general law as to the important

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constitutional principles for the security of which special oaths had been required would be expressly saved.

Excuse this suggestion from an old comrade. I think by acting upon it you may remove the scruples, or at least appease the murmuring, of well-meaning men who think that these old defences have any real value at this time. We had to fight the battle of Ministers' money again and again, but we now feel in Ireland that the loss has been a gain. This class of issues is the very worst to fight the real battle upon.

The real battle' was, as Napier well knew, the maintenance of the Irish Church, and any course which led to strength being wasted on side issues was to be deprecated.

291

CHAPTER VIII.

PASSED OVER.

Call you that backing of your friends? A plague upon such backing. Henry IV., Part I. act ii. sc. 4.

AT the death of Lord Palmerston, which occurred towards the close of the year 1865, Lord John Russell succeeded to the post of Prime Minister. His reign of office, however, owing to the opposition encountered by the measure of parliamentary reform introduced by Mr. Gladstone, lasted but a few months, and in the summer of 1866 Lord Derby was called upon to form his third administration. Napier now confidently expected to be reappointed to his old place in the Court of Chancery, and once more to be entrusted with the Seals. To his great disappointment intrigues were set on foot which resulted in barring his path to promotion.

Upon the accession to power of every new Government political adherence has to be rewarded, and it often becomes a matter of great difficulty and embarrassment for a minister to satisfy the

claims of those who have served him well. Napier was no longer in the House of Commons, and therefore, for all purposes of practical parliamentary warfare, since he could not swell the division list his name and influence were comparatively useless. Others who were among the actual combatants of the party, and who now looked for their reward, had to be provided for; thus, before the pressure of their claims, Napier was compelled to stand aside. In the struggle for high office in Ireland cabals and complications had been freely entered into, the result ending in the promotion of Mr. Blackburne, then, as we know, Lord Justice of Appeal, to the office of Lord Chancellor, and of Mr. Abraham Brewster, one of the most distinguished members of the Irish bar, and who afterwards held the Seals, to the vacated post in the Court of Appeal.

To justify their conduct on this occasion, the opponents of Napier, who considered that he had been sufficiently rewarded in the past, and should now make way for less successful men, brought forward as the ostensible reason for their hostility an infirmity to which the ex-Lord Chancellor had long been subject. When quite a young man Napier, whilst staying at his favourite Bray, caught a severe chill, which, owing to the incompetent treatment of a local medical practitioner, flew to his head, and

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