e
discussion of legal measures, and was indeed so absolutely master of
the Chamber when such measures came under discussion, that the
Liberal Government, during the years from 1868 to 1874, and again from
1880 till 1885, could carry no legal reforms through the House of
Lords except by his permission, which, of course, was never given when
such reforms could seem to affect any political issue. Yet the
vehemence of his party feeling did not overcast his judgment. It was
mainly through his interposition (aided by that of Archbishop Tait)
that the House of Lords consented to pass the Irish Church Bill of
1869, a measure which Cairns, of course heartily disliking it,
accepted for the sake of saving to the disestablished Church a part of
her funds, since these might have been lost had the Bill been rejected
then and passed next year by an angrier House of Commons. Of all the
members of Disraeli's two Cabinets, he was the one whom Disraeli
himself had been wont most to trust and most to rely on. In January
1874, when Mr. Gladstone's suddenly announced dissolution of
Parliament startled all England one Saturday morning, Disraeli, who
heard of it while still in bed, was at first frightened, thinking that
the Liberal leader had played his cards boldly and well, and would
carry the elections. When his chief party manager came to see him he
was found restless and dejected, and cried out, "Send for Cairns at
once." Lord Cairns was sent for, came full of vigour, hope, and
counsel, and after an hour's talk so restored the confidence of his
ally that Disraeli sat down in the best spirits to compose his
electoral manifesto. As everybody knows, Cairns's forecast was right,
and the Tories won the general election by a large majority.

For political success Cairns had several qualities of the utmost
value--a stately presence, a clear head, a resolute will, and splendid
oratorical gifts. He was not an imaginative speaker, nor fitted to
touch the emotions; but he had a matchless power of statement, and a
no less matchless closeness and cogency in argument. In the famous
controversies of 1866, he showed himself the clearest and most
vigorous thinker among the opponents of reform, more solid, if less
brilliant, than was Robert Lowe. His diction, without being
exceptionally choice, was pure and precise, and his manner had a
dignity and weight which seemed to compel your attention even when
the matter was uninteresting. A voice naturally neith