sentences:  Chamberlain arranged for a delegation of 400 branch members and 46 MPs to visit the prime minister William Ewart Gladstone at 10 Downing Street on 9 March 1870, the first time the two men had met.Chamberlain impressed the Prime Minister with his lucid speech, and during the Bill's second reading Gladstone agreed to make amendments that removed church schools from rate-payer control and granted them funding.Liberal MPs, exasperated at the compromises in the legislation, voted against the government, and the Bill passed the House of Commons with support from the Conservatives.