famous phrase, "the streak of silver sea," he "distributed blame with
great impartiality between both belligerent powers."

Among the business transacted in the session of 1870 was the following:
All appointments to situations in all Civil Departments of the State,
except the Foreign Office and posts requiring professional knowledge,
should be filled by open competition; and the royal prerogative that
claimed the General Commanding-in-Chief as the agent of the Crown be
abolished, and that distinguished personage was formally declared to be
subordinate to the Minister of War. Mr. Gladstone announced the
intention of the government to release the Fenian prisoners then
undergoing sentences for treason or treason-felony, on condition of
their not remaining in or returning to the United Kingdom. The Premier,
alluding to the enormity of their offenses, said that the same
principles of justice which dictated their sentences would amply
sanction the prolongation of their imprisonment if the public security
demanded it. The press and country generally approved this decision of
the Premier, but some condemned him for the condition he imposed in the
amnesty. The religious test imposed upon all students entering at the
universities was abolished, and all students of all creeds could now
enter the universities on an equal footing. Heretofore special
privileges were accorded to members of the Established Episcopal Church,
and all others were cut off from the full enjoyment of the
universities.

A bill to establish secret voting was rejected by the Lords, but was
passed the next session. The House of Lords, emboldened by their success
in throwing out the voting bill, defeated a bill to abolish the purchase
of commissions in the army, but Mr. Gladstone was not to be turned from
his purpose, and startled the peers by a new departure--he dispensed