Several editions of the Bishops' Bible were afterwards published, but it is doubtful whether the ecclesiastical authorities in spite of repeated enactments (Cardwell, Synodalia, pp. 115, 123, 210, 292) ever succeeded in entirely enforcing its public use in the churches.
Mr Forster and Mr Cardwell, as private members in opposition, brought in Education Bills in 1867 and 1868; and in 1868, when the Liberal party returned to office, Mr Forster was appointed vice-president of the council, with the duty of preparing a government measure for national education.
On the resignation of the Gladstone ministry in 1874 he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Cardwell of Ellerbeck, but took no further prominent part in politics.
Cardwell also published in 1854 a new edition of Bishop Gibson's Synodus Anglicana.