To what extent does Gladstone's ministry of 1868-74 deserve

There were also social, educational and governmental reforms: the 1869 Municipal Franchises Act was a huge breakthrough for women giving all married women the vote and the 1872 Ballot Act which finally introduced the secret ballot in an attempt to solve the corruption problem. The other reform affecting government issues was the 1871 local government which created a minister that was responsible for public health.  In education the main reforms were the 1870 Education Act and the 1871 Universities Tests Act.  The education act radically reformed the education system on many different levels; firstly board schools would offer non-denominational religious education and would be partly financed from rates; children between 5 and 13 were to attend an elementary school; the creation of boards elected by rate payers where church provisions were not sufficient; this board would be completely in charge of the schools. The 1871 Universities tests act simply allowed Non-Anglicans to teach at Oxford or Cambridge. Socially there was the 1871 Trade Unions Act which gave people to right to strike. The Criminal Law Amendment Act (also in 1871) forbade any kind of picketing thus rending strike action much less effective.  Finally there was the 1872 Licensing Act this limited the number of pubs in certain areas and limited opening hours.  

On paper all these reforms look very impressive and indeed they did solve many problems: The problems in Ireland were thought to have been solved; Non-Anglicans had almost gained equality both socially and legally; Education had taken on a new, better form and the corrupt electoral system had begun to be abolished. However this ministry and there reforms didn’t only bring positive outcomes.

The first thing we must consider before concluding whether Gladstone’s ministry deserved its reputation as a great reforming ministry is the success of the reforms.  The Ballot Act of 1872 still failed to abolish corruption and another bill was passed again in 1873 and the Irish Universities Bill was defeated in parliament. One of the most obvious failure’s however was the Irish Land Act, it did not achieve the 3 F’s and thus the peasants were no more protected then they had been before the act was passed. Indeed another act was passed in 1881 to resolve the situation.

Secondly there is the idea that the government was not just passing reforms at a constant rate throughout the ministry indeed only 4 acts were put to parliament after 1971 and one of them was the Irish Universities Act which was rejected.  Also the government’s defeats in the 1871 by-election prove that maybe the reforms were not as popular as Gladstone and his party would have hoped.

Compromise was another characteristic that evident in the liberal legislation of the time. Nearly all of the acts that were passed by the ministry lacked the passion that one might associate with a great reforming government; instead they were aimed at pleasing the majorities as apposed to solving the problems.  In essence instead of keeping the support of the party it alienated the majority.

Support is an ideal gauge for how great a reforming ministry is, one would largely expect their support and popularity to keep rising, in fact in this case it was quite the opposite. Obviously the radicals and nonconformists within the liberal party were extremely dissatisfied by many of the reforms, especially the education and disestablishment of the Irish church. Almost every reform angered someone with a vested interest in the subject but this is largely expected from any reform. But most importantly it was not enough to keep the electorate satisfied this is highlighted in the 1874 general election result where the Conservatives won by 350 to 242 votes with the Irish Home rule gaining 60 votes.

After taking all this in one can make quite an accurate conclusion of how great a reforming ministry this was.  There were indeed a large number of reforms past by the ministry however they basically finished in the first half of the ministry and most of them had a limited impression on the country. Taking this into consideration it is very hard to deem Gladstone’s 1868-74 ministries as a truly great reforming ministry. Indeed Disraeli’s words after winning the 1874 general election sums up the situation perfectly, ‘we came in on the principle of not harassing the country’.