Under the old _régime_ the landlord used to pay one-half of the poor
rate and the occupier the other half. The outcry of the landed interest,
that under the County Councils they would be liable to be robbed by
excessive poor rates, resulted in their share being made a charge on the
Imperial Treasury, by which means they secured a dole of £350,000 a year
out of the £725,000 concerned in the financial arrangements under the
Act. Of the recipients of this _solatium_ it was pointed out by an
observer that the family motto of the Marquis of Downshire, who was
relieved under the Act of liabilities to the extent of more than £2,000,
is--"By God and my sword have I obtained"; while that of Earl
Fitzwilliam, who had to be content with one-half of that amount,
is--"Let the appetite be obedient to reason." The best answer to the
pessimists in whom one suspects the wish was father to the thought, who
prophesied disaster from an Act which they declared would open the door
to peculation and jobbery, is to be found in the Local Government Board
Report for 1903, issued on the expiry of the first term of office of the
County Councils. It expressly declares that in no matter have the
Councils been more successful than in their financial administration,
and goes on to say that the introduction of political differences in the
giving of contracts and the appointment of officers has occurred only in
quite exceptional cases, and it concludes by declaring its opinion that
the conduct of their affairs by the various local authorities will
continue to justify the delegation to them of large powers transferred
to their control by the Local Government Acts.

So much for the working of an Act, of which Lord Londonderry spoke as
one "which the Loyalists view with apprehension and dismay." So far as
certain loss of their supremacy was concerned they might indeed do so,
but it is not for Englishmen to throw stones, since events have proved