The Civil Service Reform Act 1871 was another case of Gladstone implementing important changes needed for a more efficiently run country. It was much needed as the country under-going 2 major reforms (namely The Education Act 1870 and The University Test’s Act 1871). With Support of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Robert Lowe. He introduced a principle that made sure recruitment into the Civil Service would be done by examination. This ensured that a complimentary well-organised Civil Service would eventually come into place complimentary of the people who were competitive enough for such a job. Another necessary act came under intense criticism from the aristocracy who previously dominated the Civil Service; the foreign office was also excluded from this new act as Gladstone’s Foreign minister openly stated his refusal to endorse such an act in his department. This shows Gladstone trying to implement his values of equality of opportunity for those who deserved the position more than the ones who just bought themselves the post of Civil servant.
The Trade Union Act 1871 effectively secured the position of Trade Unionists, It effectively set a number of rules and rights they had such as, the right to strike, recognition as a legal body, the right to buy, protect and funds. However, it did arouse concern from some Trade Union leaders who saw the Criminal Amendment Act as contradicting The Trade Union Act as it stated that while Trade Unions could organise strike any kind of picketing would be forbidden. This virtually rendered any future strikes they may wish to implement would be ineffective. Arguably this was Gladstone’s most major miscalculation in home affairs as it lost him the support of the majority of workers. However, this fully explains Gladstone’s attitude towards liberalism. His methods implemented his religious views, which was non-violent which is why he forbade picketing. The loss of such a large and important sector of society such as the working class would be very harmful. However, it did not stop Gladstone implementing more Acts’ they were necessary. And it seems that he was setting a pace for gradual reform rather than just allowing Trade Unions to do whatever they wish. At a time when Britain was prospering and where workers were a very important class in society this was a much-needed reform. It defined and secured the age long wishes of British workers and Trade Unionists.
The Public Health Act 1872 was the only real attempt Gladstone made to improve conditions for normal citizens. At a time where the population was increasing especially in the cities, they began to overcrowd. Illnesses, poverty and terraces where the many features of the large towns and new Industrial areas of Britain. Many people took it that Gladstone was too interested with the Irish problem and that he was too disinterested with the common well being of British citizens. To some extent these were true. Gladstone focused his efforts on bringing fairness to Ireland introducing a series of forms and reacts to help make the Anglicans and the majority Catholics equal. The local health boards also thought that their duty was to keep costs to the absolute minimum. This was a typical example of Benthamite contradiction. But the act was a total compliment to Gladstonian liberalism; he wanted to remove as much injustice as possible as he could from Ireland even if it meant the loss of his Prime Ministerial position.
The Ballot Act 1872 was a measure taken to make elections as fair as possible. The majority of elections had much corruption, bribery and intimidation. Elections were still carried out by a Public show of hands. If you were a worker spotted voting for the rival companies representative, you could very well be intimidated, injured or sacked. When The Ballot Act 1872 was passed it did not totally remove corruption from elections. So much as a free beer in the pub could be enough to ensure a vote. However it did certainly cut the amount of corruption in elections down as it made voting more organised by making elections secret. It was however in 1883 in the Corrupt Practices Act 1833 in Gladstone’s 2nd period in office that Corruption was successfully controlled. Again The Ballot Act 1872 did arouse opposition from the landlords and employers who could no longer effectively control the way their employers and tenants voted. Lord Hartington of the right-wing liberals was a severe critic of the act. This act reduced corruption accordingly in the elections. The Politicians from now on would know where they stand whether they were supported by the majority or not. In the view of Gladstonian liberalism it gave everyone an equal opportunity to vote for whom he wished therefore conforming to his beliefs.
The Licensing Act 1872 tried to deal with the widespread popularity of drunkenness (a common feature of mid 19th century Britain). Gladstone and his home secretary Henry Bruce, looked upon this as a Moral Issue and sought to limit people’s drinking times by reducing the number of public houses and controlling the amount of profits the brewers made. The original bill was a fierce version of the final bill, which came to be The Licensing Act 1872. The main reason for weakening the strength of the bill was because of the huge amount of potential opposition from the, breweries, public houses and most of all, the drinkers themselves, a large sect working class already unsupportive of Gladstone’s reforms, most obviously the Trade Union Act 1871. The act forbade adulteration of beer (adding salt to beer to make drinkers thirsty was the most common idea). The opening of public houses in towns past 12 ’o’ clock, and in the rural areas at 11 ‘o’ clock and giving the magistrates the power to close some pubs, and issue licences for places where they thought there were too many pubs. There were a few near riots when police tried to enforce the closing hours. Brewers bitterly resented what they saw as an attack on their independence and profit. Others disliked the attack because it interfered with personal liberties. The Bishop of Peterborough voiced his opinion in the lords by saying he’d prefer to see “England free” rather than “England Sober”. The brewers threw all their influence behind the Conservatives. "We have been borne down in a torrent of gin and beer," Gladstone complained. One can see Gladstone saw this issue from the Benthamite virtues of efficiency and economy in a way. It certainly was a moral problem and the large profits made by breweries were worrying especially when sometimes they did it through corrupt means i.e. adding salt to beer to increase thirst and profits. It was even more worrying when the majority of the working class would spend all their money at the public houses and still lived in poor conditions. However, the lack of acts improving the well being of British citizens was minimal and can also be contradictory to the Benthamite perspectives. However, these reforms were necessary to improve the ability of the worker and to keep them sober during work time to increase as much the efficiency of the output of the worker, which is why public houses were closed at a certain time.
The Judicature Act 1873 dealt with the poor legal processes, which were slow and inefficient. It had even developed piecemeal from medieval times. There were seven major courts in the nineteenth century. Under this act successfully prepared by Lord Selbourne, he united all of the major courts into one Supreme Court of Judicature, thus simplifying the situation greatly. This reform was the least controversial Liberal reform but there were some objections by the Lords because it lost its right to act as a final court if people were unsatisfied by a decision made by a lower court. This totally conforms with Gladstone’s policy of Benthamite of efficiency as we can see that basically the Judicial system went a new reform to simplify the system by uniting the major courts into one.
The Cardwell army reforms went to eliminate the inefficiencies and disorganisation of the British army, which began to show through the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny. It can be said that these army reforms were dealing with Problems similar to what the Civil Service Reform Act 1871. The main problem was that army recruitment was based on wealth rather than ‘brains’. Any wealthy young person could pay for a position as officer in the army. Cardwell’s reforms abolished the purchasing of commissions. Commissions would from now on be based on promotion or merit. They also made the Martini-Henry rifle the standard for British infantry. Service in the army was cut from 12 years overseas to 6 years overseas and half in the reserves. Cardwell divided Britain into 69 districts each of these had its own county regiment. And one regiment went abroad. Instead of numbering regiments they were named after the county i.e. Durhams. Flogging was abolished in peacetime. The Commander in Chief who was also the cousin of the queen and duke of Cambridge was made subordinate to the secretary of war. Troops were withdrawn from Britain’s self governing colonies i.e. Australia, New Zealand and Canada were encouraged to raise their own forces. The different sections of the war department were all combined under one roof in the war office. The reforms as almost always came under opposition by the aristocracy who lost its privilege of buying places in the army. The queen also considered the army reforms unwise but however Gladstone persuaded the queen to issue a royal warrant to the same effect. As a result of the reforms, the more humane and civilised British army became much more efficient and organised raising a better kind of recruit and a larger and much more efficient reserve of soldiers. The results of these reforms became effective in practice also. In 1882 Britain would be successful in Egypt. Gladstone’s specific beliefs of tolerance were integrated firmly into the army this is evident by the abolishment of flogging in peacetime and the reduction of time’s in the British army abroad. They also conformed to his ideas of equality of opportunity by eliminating the purchasing of commissions and removing troops from colonies with a white Anglican majority. His policy that included efficiency was also another reason for abolishing the purchasing of commissioning positions and reducing the influence of incompetence posed by such people as the Duke of Cambridge.
One can see that from these various reforms Gladstone bought himself opposition in nearly every Act he passed. They were certainly necessary; all of them were imperative as Britain was going through an Industrial revolution. To be able to cope with the changes the industrial revolution would bring and in a hope to bring morality and justice to society is what bought him to address acts. Most of which came under criticism from the aristocrats, right-wingers and the working classes. Education was imperative for Gladstone’s hopes for equality without some sort of basic education he wouldn’t be able to achieve this. It certainly was an achievement in 1890 primary education became compulsory and free. Whether Gladstone had stated from the beginning "My mission is to pacify Ireland". Among his first measures was the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, recognition that it was inappropriate to have a formal link between the state and a denomination supported only by a small minority of the Irish people. Gladstone’s Land Act 1870 gave greater security to some Irish tenants, and those who left their holdings could claim compensation for improvements they had made. However, the act proved unsatisfactory in practice, and agitation for land reform steadily increased, Gladstone did try as much as possible to for fill his dreams in Ireland, to some of the British public he was seen to be only interested in Ireland, there was never any successful attempt in Gladstone’s first administration to improve the lives of ordinary British people. It can be said the best achievements of Gladstone’s was removing the privileges wealthier classes had over ordinary people such. Organising the judicial, military, Civil Service and education systems, and removing the widespread corruption in elections.
