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 Cornetl University Library 
 DA 950.2.E93 
 
 Peel and O'Connell 
 
 3 1924 028 140 766 
 
£13 
 
PEEL AND O'CONNELL 
 
PEEL AND O'CONNELL 
 
 A REVIEW OF THE IRISH POLICY 
 
 OF PARLIAMENT FROM THE ACT OF UNION TO 
 
 THE DEATH OF SIR ROBERT PEEL 
 
 RIGHT HON. G. "skAW LEFEVRE, M.R 
 
 LONDON 
 
 KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., i, PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 
 1887 
 
university! 
 
 LIBRAR 
 
 
 ( TTie rights of U anslation and of reproduction are reserved.) 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 During the last five years I have had frequent occa- 
 sions to look back at the proceedings of Parliament on j 
 Irish affairs since the Act of Union ; my studies con-j 
 firmed the conclusion, which other considerations had : 
 gradually forced upon me, that a complete change was i 
 necessary in the Legislative and Administrative systems ( 
 of Ireland. 
 
 In view of the issues now before the country, I 
 have ventured to expand my notes of the first fifty 
 years after the Union into a narrative of the Irish 
 policy of Parliament. I have not gone further than 
 the year 1850, in part because the death of Sir Robert 
 Peel, who was so largely responsible for that policy, 
 marks a distinct epoch in Irish history, and in part 
 because it is more difficult to write with the same 
 freedom of many subsequent events. 
 
 I have not proposed to write a complete history 
 of Ireland during this period ; my object has been to 
 explain the action of Parliament in respect to Irish 
 afifairs. Neither have I intended to give a full bio- 
 graphy of O'Connell, still less of Sir Robert Peel. 
 They are, however, the two commanding figures of the 
 opposing forces during this time. I have endeavoured 
 to exhibit their views and their policy, and those of 
 some others of the contemporary statesmen, as fairly as 
 possible, by frequent references to their own language. 
 
 It is unnecessary to refer to the numerous authori- 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 ties I have consulted on the first few years of the 
 century. They are very rich in memoirs of statesmen 
 of the day. The same cannot be said of the later 
 years. The letters and papers of Sir Robert Peel, 
 Lord Russell, and the late Lord Derby, have not yet 
 been published. Although four distinct works have 
 been written on the life of O'Connell (by his son, John 
 O'Connell, by Mr. Fagan, Mr. Luby, and Mr. 
 Cusack), they are all very deficient ; they have this 
 in common, that they stop short about the middle of 
 his career, and devote only a few pages to the last half 
 of his life. Mr. Lecky's short sketch of O'Connell, in 
 his " Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland," is by far 
 the most valuable critique that has yet been written on 
 him. A new and popular edition of this work is 
 urgently needed, and could not fail to influence public 
 opinion at the present time. Mr. McCullagh Torrens's 
 " Life of Shell " and " Life of Lord Melbourne " are 
 most excellent contributions to Irish history. The 
 works of Sir C. Gavan Duffy, Mr. Justin McCarthy, 
 Mr. A. M. Sullivan, and Mr. T. P. O'Connor on the 
 Young Ireland party and the Irish famine are also of 
 great interest. In respect of the legislation for Ireland, 
 Mr. R. Barry O'Brien's work, of " Fifty Years of 
 Concession to Ireland," is a mine of wealth. For a 
 wider view of Irish history in combination with that of 
 Great Britain, Mr. Spencer Walpole's latest volumes 
 of his " History of England " are of the greatest value 
 for their accuracy and for their impartial treatment of 
 the subject. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION i 
 
 PART II. 
 WHIG REFORMS "4 
 
 PART III. 
 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT 205 
 
PEEL AND O'CONNELL. 
 
 PART I. 
 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 In the two powerful speeches, which Mr. Pitt delivered 
 in the House of Commons, in 1799 and 1800, on the 
 subject of the union of Great Britain with Ireland, the 
 motives for the measure, and the benefits expected to 
 result from it to both countries, were explained with 
 a stately eloquence, which had rarely been surpassed, 
 and which, by the impression it produced on Par- 
 liament, secured the success of his policy. The settle- 
 ment, he contended, made with Ireland in 1782, by 
 Mr. Fox, so far from deserving the name of a final 
 adjustment, was one that left its connection with Great 
 Britain exposed to all the attacks of party, and all the 
 effects of accident. The ties were not sufficient to 
 unite the two countries in time of peace, still less to 
 consolidate them in time of war. Ireland, he main- 
 tained, was subject to great and deplorable evils, 
 which had deep root in the situation of the country 
 itself, in the character and manners of its inhabitants, 
 in their ignorance, in the unavoidable separation of 
 classes, in the state of property, in its religious dis- 
 tinctions, in the rancour which " bigotry engenders 
 
 B 
 
2 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1800. 
 
 and superstition rears and cherishes." The country was 
 in great want of capital, which could only be supplied by 
 blending it more closely with the industry and capital 
 of its richer neighbour. England was to gain by the 
 Union an increase of strength, and the consolidation 
 of its power against the dangers which threatened the 
 Empire ; Ireland was to gain protection in the hour 
 of danger, increase of commerce, command of English 
 capital, and the avenue to honours, distinctions, and 
 appointments in the general service of the Empire. 
 He admitted that Dublin would lose much by the 
 transfer of the Irish Parliament to England, and the 
 consequent attraction of wealth and fashion to London, 
 but it would gain even more by the increase of its 
 commerce and wealth. 
 
 The United Parliament, Mr. Pitt contended, would 
 be far better able to deal with the difficult questions, 
 which separated classes and sects in Ireland, than the 
 Irish Parliament. While Ireland remained a separate 
 kingdom, full concessions could not be made to the Ca- 
 tholics, without endangering the State, and shaking the 
 constitution of Ireland to its centre. It was more likely 
 also that the united legislature would propose some 
 measure to relieve the lower orders in Ireland from the 
 pressure of tithes, which in many instances operated as 
 a great practical evil. In the course of the last of these 
 speeches he used these words : " In the union of a great 
 nation with a less we must feel that we ought not to 
 be influenced by any selfish policy, or narrow views of 
 practical advantage. We must refute by our conduct 
 the idea, that we have any other object in view, than 
 that of promoting the advantage of both kingdoms. 
 We must also show that we wish to make the Empire 
 more powerful and more secure, by making Ireland 
 more free and more happy. It is with these views 
 alone that the Union can be rendered effective in its 
 objects, and that we can establish mutual harmony and 
 confidence between the two nations." * It is to be 
 * Mr. Pitt's Speeches, vol. iii. pp. 15 and 160. 
 
i8oo.] THE ACT OF UNION. 3 
 
 observed that Mr. Pitt spoke of Ireland as a nation, 
 and that his aim was to make it more free and more 
 happy; by this test, mainly, the success or failure of 
 his great measure for effecting a legislative Union 
 between the two countries must be judged. 
 
 Although it is certain that an overwhelming 
 majority of the Irish people, without distinction of 
 creed, were opposed to the Union, it is highly probable 
 that there were among some influential classes men, who 
 saw in a closer connection with Great Britain, either 
 an escape from present difficulties, or security against 
 future dangers to interests, which they had at heart, or 
 immediate advantages of a definite character. If this 
 had not been the case, it is difficult to suppose that the 
 British Government, of its own authority and power, 
 and by intimidation and force, even with the aid of 
 unlimited expenditure and the grossest bribery, could 
 have effected so great a constitutional change. The 
 Executive in Dublin had doubtless fully appreciated 
 the difficulty of carrying on the administration in the 
 presence of a native Parliament, to which it was not 
 responsible — a difficulty which would be greatly in- 
 creased, when Catholic Emancipation should be ob- 
 tained — and it was favourable to a scheme, which 
 would relieve it of this difficulty and danger. It was 
 also the policy of Pitt to hold out hopes and expecta- 
 tions of benefits, or securities from anticipated dangers 
 to various sections, in a manner which would secure 
 their support, or at least lessen their hostility to the 
 Union. The Protestant members of the State Church 
 in Ireland, or many of the most sagacious among them, 
 not unreasonably felt that the position of their much- 
 cherished Establishment would be greatly imperilled, 
 if it were wholly dependent upon the Irish Parliament. 
 They had already, in 1793, been compelled, under 
 the pressure of public opinion in Ireland, to concede 
 the franchise to Catholics, and to repeal a large part 
 of the penal laws. They were pressed to supple- 
 ment these concessions by complete enfranchisement. 
 
4 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1800. 
 
 Numbering not more than one-eighth of the population 
 of Ireland, they must naturally have feared that the 
 Established Church would be destroyed when full 
 political rights were conceded to the Catholics, who 
 constituted the bulk of the nation. To win their 
 support, they were told that after the Union the 
 Established Church would no longer depend upon the 
 votes of the Irish people, but would be supported by 
 the whole weight of the Protestant population of Great 
 Britain. In fulfilment of this promise, it was made an 
 essential part of the Act of Union that the continuance 
 of the United Church of England and Ireland should 
 be a fundamental part of that measure. 
 
 The Presbyterian ministers of the North of Ireland, 
 an influential class, whose congregations in recent times 
 had been closely allied to the National party, and were 
 warmly disposed towards republican institutions, were 
 conciliated by the hope of a large increase to the 
 Regium Donum (the Parliamentary grant in aid of 
 their salaries), which would make them independent of 
 their flocks.* Lastly, negotiations were opened between 
 the Irish Government and the Bishops and leaders of 
 the Catholic party, and there is no doubt that their 
 hostility was warded off, if their active co-operation 
 was not secured, by the expectation held out to them 
 that the Act of Union would be followed by the repeal 
 of the remaining penal laws, and by the admission 
 of Roman Catholics to Parliament. It was repre- 
 sented that this concession was impossible while 
 Ireland retained its separate legislature, but could be 
 safely made by a Parliament of the United Kingdom. 
 Lord Castlereagh, who was Chief Secretary in Ireland 
 at the time of the Union, was present at a meeting 
 of the Cabinet in London, in 1 799, when the Catholic 
 question was under discussion. He has stated that 
 there was no difference of opinion on the subject, that 
 
 * Two years after the Union these expectations were carried out, 
 and the annual grant to the Presbyterian Clergy was largely in- 
 creased. 
 
iSoo.J MR. PITT'S POLICY. 5 
 
 the Ministers appeared to be unanimous, although they 
 apprehended considerable difficulty on the part of the 
 King. He was empowered to write to the Lord 
 Lieutenant, Lord Cornwallis, that so far as the senti- 
 ments of the Cabinet were concerned, he need not 
 hesitate in calling upon the Catholics in Ireland to 
 support the Union. This was undoubtedly done, and 
 although it was alleged that no distinct pledge was 
 given to them, the expectations held out were such as 
 to induce them to believe that legislation on the sub- 
 ject would certainly be proposed in the United Parlia- 
 ment. About the same time also, the Catholic Bishops 
 in Ireland were consulted on the subject of the en- 
 dowment of their Church. They were informed that 
 the Government would be prepared to make provision 
 for their clergy, under proper regulation, and provided 
 that some voice was conceded to the Government in 
 the election of Bishops. The proposal, with its con- 
 ditions, was assented to by the Bishops, including the 
 four metropolitans.* 
 
 It appears, then, that Pitt intended to connect his 
 great measure with remedial measures of the highest 
 importance. His scheme of policy was a great and 
 far-reaching one. If carried out as a whole, it would, 
 in the opinion of many high authorities, have really 
 united the people of the two countries. It involved not 
 merely the legislative union of the two countries, but 
 also the removal of all penal laws against the Catholics, 
 the payment of their clergy by the State, an increase to 
 the grants to the Presbyterian ministers, and a measure 
 of tithe reform, which would have relieved Catholic 
 tenants of an obnoxious impost by throwing the 
 burden on their Protestant landlords. 
 
 By the negotiations referred to, three important 
 interests in Ireland were induced to favour the Govern- 
 ment policy, or at all events to refrain from active hos- 
 tility to the Union. It has been generally admitted that 
 
 * Speech of Lord Castlereagh in the House of Commons, 
 May 25, 1810. 
 
6 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1800. 
 
 if the weight of the Catholic leaders and the Catholic 
 bishops had been thrown against the Union, it could not 
 have been carried. These leaders, however, did not 
 represent the opinion of the people of Ireland. Though 
 the country was overawed by an immense military 
 force, and was under martial law, making the free 
 expression of opinion difficult, petitions, signed by over 
 700,000 persons, were presented against the measure. 
 
 One great public meeting was permitted to be held 
 in Dublin to protest against the Union. It was the 
 occasion of the first appearance in public of Daniel 
 O'Connell, then a young lawyer, recently called to the 
 Bar. The meeting was attended by many of the 
 ablest lawyers, and most eminent commercial men 
 of Dublin, without distinction of creed. O'Connell's 
 speech was remarkable for his declaration that, as 
 a Catholic, he would rather lose all the privileges, 
 which had been conceded by the Irish Parliament, and 
 revert to the penal laws in their full integrity, confiding 
 in the full justice of their brethren, the Protestants of 
 Ireland, than give up the legislative independence of 
 his country. " The Catholics," he said, " will show 
 every friend of Ireland that they are incapable of 
 selling their country. They will loudly declare that 
 if their emancipation was offered for their consent 
 to the measure, even were emancipation after the 
 Union a benefit, they would reject it with prompt in- 
 dignation. Let every man who feels with me proclaim, 
 that if the alternative were offered him of the Union, 
 or the re-enactment of the Penal Code in all its pristine 
 horrors, he would prefer without hesitation the latter, 
 as the lesser and more sufferable evil ; that he would 
 rather confide in the justice of his brethren the Pro- 
 testants of Ireland, who had already liberated him, than 
 lay his country at the feet of foreigners." In after life 
 he often declared that this speech was the text-book 
 of his political career. " It was the Union," he said, 
 " which first screwed me up to come forward in 
 politics. ... I was maddened when I heard the 
 
iSoo.l O' CON NELL ON THE UNION. 7 
 
 bells of St. Patrick's ringing out a joyful peal for 
 Ireland's degradation as if it was a glorious national 
 festival. My blood boiled, and I vowed on that 
 morning that the dishonour should not last, if I could 
 put an end to it." In spite, then, of the opposition of 
 the great majority of the people, and of nearly all the 
 professional classes who had not been bribed, the 
 measure was carried through the Irish Parliament, by 
 the corruption of its members, on such a scale as to 
 vitiate the transaction, in the opinion of all who believed 
 that the consent of the Irish people was a necessary 
 condition of the Union. 
 
 The measure has been commonly described as an 
 incorporating union of the two kingdoms. It was, in 
 fact, far short of this. It differed essentially from the 
 Act by which the union was effected with Scotland. 
 By the Scotch measure a true incorporating union 
 was effected. The two kingdoms were merged in 
 one, with a new designation, that of Great Britain. 
 There was no vestige of a separate Executive pre- 
 served to Scotland ; that existing before the Union 
 was completely extinguished in a single administra- 
 tion for Great Britain ; the same Secretary of State 
 regulated the affairs of both countries ; there was no 
 separate Privy Council ; the Treasury performed the 
 functions of finance for both. The distinctive laws of 
 Scotland were indeed left undisturbed ; but this did 
 not interfere with the union of the Scotch administra- 
 tion with that of England. In Ireland it was very 
 different. The only effect of the Act of Union was 
 to merge its legislature in that of Great Britain. In 
 every other respect the Executive Government and 
 the administration remained as before. No common 
 designation was found for the United Kingdom. The 
 sovereign continued to be represented in Ireland by 
 the Lord Lieutenant ; a separate Privy Council was 
 retained ; the Irish Executive remained distinct, 
 though subordinate, to that of England, as before the 
 Union ; there was for some years a separate Trea- 
 
8 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [i8oo. 
 
 sury ; and a Budget for Ireland was annually submitted 
 to Parliament. This imperfect union of the adminis- 
 trations of the two countries had been one of the 
 main grounds of protest on the part of the minority 
 of the Irish peers who opposed the measure. "The 
 measure," they said, "recommended by his Majesty 
 was a complete and entire union ; but under the 
 proposed arrangement Ireland will continue to be 
 governed by a viceroy, assisted by an Irish Privy 
 Council ; her purse, her revenues, her expenditure, 
 her laws, will be as distinct as they are at present. 
 Such distinctness of interests proves that they require 
 separate Parliaments, resident in each country to 
 attend to them ; that such union is only nominal, and 
 that it does not effect that complete and entire union 
 recommended, but shows that from the circumstances 
 of the two nations the same is impracticable." * 
 
 It should be noticed that before the Act of Union 
 the Administration, or Executive Government, in 
 Ireland was in no sense native, or Irish ; it was essen- 
 tially English. The Lord Lieutenant, the Lord Chan- 
 cellor, the Chief Secretary, and the Permanent Under- 
 Secretary, were appointed from England, by English 
 Ministers, and were, with rare exceptions. Englishmen. 
 Although, since 1782, the Irish Parliament had the 
 power of initiating legislation, and was freed from the 
 controlling authority of the English Privy Council, yet 
 the Irish Administration was in no sense responsible 
 to it. No hostile vote of the Irish Parliament had 
 any effect upon the position of the Irish Executive. 
 Their relations to one another might be uncomfortable, 
 but there was no recognized responsibility. The 
 policy of the Irish Government was directed in the 
 main from England. The Administration was also 
 exclusively Protestant, and was carried on in the 
 interest of the small minority of the population of 
 
 * Protest against the Act of Union, signed by the Duke of 
 Leinster, Lord Charlemont, Lord Powerscourt, and seventeen other 
 peers of Ireland. 
 
iSoi.J THE IRISH ADMINISTRATION. g 
 
 Ireland, who were members of the Established 
 Church ; all the appointments, from the judges down 
 to the very lowest officials, were made from the ranks 
 of this party. The magistrates were exclusively 
 appointed from it. The municipalities throughout 
 the country were still in the hands of the same class, 
 and were the monopoly of a most intolerant faction. 
 No Catholic could rise to the higher posts in the law. 
 Almost all colleges and schools were still entirely in the 
 hands of members of the Established Church. Catholics 
 were habitually excluded from juries. Although the 
 Irish Parliament had relieved the Catholics of many 
 of their disabilities and from the severest of the penal 
 laws, and had conceded the franchise to them, yet 
 in practice most of these disabilities were still main- 
 tained, and the Catholics had no opportunities what- 
 ever of rising to any position of responsibility and 
 honour in the service of the State. 
 
 After the Union the two Parliaments were united ; 
 but the government of Ireland continued to be carried 
 on as before, in the same interests and on similar 
 principles. The Protestant Ascendency still main- 
 tained its ground in Ireland ; and there was no greater 
 tendency to carry the Catholic Relief measures into 
 practice, than before the Union. Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion, therefore, came to mean, not merely the repeal 
 of laws, still imposing disabilities on the Catholics, but 
 also a complete change in the system of administration, 
 and the taking it from the exclusive hands of the 
 Protestant Ascendency. 
 
 In the General Election which followed the Act 
 of Union, in 1801, the Catholics in Ireland for the 
 first time exercised the right of voting, under the 
 Act of the Irish Legislature of 1793. They were, 
 however, restricted to Protestants in their choice of 
 representatives. They were also in a very dependent 
 condition, and had not yet learned to vote otherwise 
 than by direction of their landlords. The members 
 elected on this occasion belonged almost entirely to the 
 
lO CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1801. 
 
 landlord class : those among them who had voted in the 
 Irish Parliament for the Union were re-elected without 
 much difficulty. In the first Imperial Parliament the 
 Irish contingent was of an eminently Conservative 
 character, and was not opposed to the policy which 
 had so recently been carried out. Mr. Grattan, the 
 most distinguished member of the Irish Parliament, 
 did not seek election. It was not till 1805 that he 
 was returned to the Imperial Parliament, as member 
 for an English nomination borough. There were 
 missing also many of those who had been ornaments 
 of the Irish House of Commons. Sir Lawrence Par- 
 sons, who had moved the rejection of the measure for 
 the Union, was one of the few distinguished members 
 of it who were now re-elected. 
 
 One of the first measures of the United Parliament 
 was a continuation of the Rebellion Act, passed by 
 the Irish Parliament in 1798. The necessity for 
 maintaining martial law was strenuously maintained 
 by all the Irish members who took part in the dis- 
 cussions, with the exception of Sir Lawrence Parsons ; 
 and the objectors were found among the English 
 Liberals, such as Mr. Grey and Mr. Whitbread. The 
 latter very pertinently asked the House to recollect 
 that it was for the first time engaged in deliberations 
 on the affairs of Ireland, and he advised it to be cautious 
 in beginning with a measure so vigorous as that 
 proposed. It passed, however, by a large majority. 
 In the same session a Sedition Act was passed for 
 Ireland, and also an Act indemnifying all who had 
 been concerned in securing and imprisoning persons in 
 Ireland under the suspension of the Habeas Corpus 
 Act. This last measure met with great opposition, 
 and there were many petitions against it from persons 
 in Ireland complaining of perjuries and cruelties. 
 
 It would have been well if these stringent Acts had 
 been accompanied by remedial measures, in accordance 
 with the expectation held out by Mr. Pitt. There was 
 a great opportunity for the United Parliament to take a 
 
i8oi.] MR. PITT'S PROPOSALS. II 
 
 large and generous view of the Irish question, and to 
 connect the Act of Union with a measure of justice to 
 the Catholics, which should strike the imagination of the 
 people. This was undoubtedly the intention of Pitt. 
 He had already, before the meeting of Parliament, 
 written to the Lord Chancellor (Lord Loughborough), 
 informing him of his intention to bring before his 
 Cabinet the questions of Catholic Emancipation, the 
 endowment of the Catholic clergy in Ireland, and a 
 measure for mitigating the hardship of tithes.* The 
 difficulty in the way of this policy was the King. 
 
 George III., among other great mischiefs which he 
 succeeded in effecting during his reign, must be held 
 responsible for the great act of injustice, which, at the 
 outset of the Union, prevented any chance it may 
 have had of being cordially accepted by the Irish 
 people. His obstinacy, at an earlier period of his reign, 
 had been the main cause of the loss of the American 
 colonies. He now did his best to alienate the bulk of 
 the population of Ireland, and to mar the prospects of 
 the Union. When pressed by Mr. Pitt to concede 
 Catholic Emancipation, the King raised a difficulty with 
 respect to his coronation oath, and could not be per- 
 suaded to give way. It is, perhaps, just to the King to 
 add that his views on the subject of his oath had been 
 long known to Mr. Pitt and his other Ministers. In 
 i79S> when the King first learned the extent to which 
 Lord Fitzwilliam had gone in Ireland, in promising 
 Catholic Emancipation, he consulted Lord Kenyon 
 and Sir John Scott on the subject of his oath, and was 
 advised by them, that there was nothing in it so binding 
 on him as to prevent his assenting, in his legislative 
 capacity, to a relaxation of the penal laws against the 
 Catholics. Not satisfied with this answer, he referred 
 the question to Lord Loughborough, the Chancellor, 
 who wrote in an opposite sense. On receiving this 
 the King drew up a memorandum for Mr. Pitt, in 
 
 * Letter from Mr. Pitt to Lord Loughborough, quoted in Lord 
 Campbell's "Lives of the Chancellors," vol. vi. p. 306. 
 
12 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1801. 
 
 which he stated this difficulty as the ground of his 
 objection to the policy. Pitt yielded to him, and Lord 
 Fitzwilliam was recalled. 
 
 Writing later to Mr. Dundas, when the Union was 
 under discussion, the King expressed himself as favour- 
 ably disposed to this measure ; but added that he 
 hoped the Government was not pledged to anything in 
 favour of the Roman Catholics. The reply of Dundas 
 was, " No ; it will be matter for future consideration." 
 It appears also that in a conversation with this Minister 
 about the same time, the King mentioned his scruples 
 as to his oath. Dundas tried to convince him that the 
 oath applied only to the Sovereign in his executive 
 capacity, and not as part of the Legislature. The King 
 replied, " None of your Scotch metaphysics, Dundas ! " 
 With the knowledge of the King's difficulties of con- 
 science, Pitt was scarcely justified in carrying the Union 
 by the representations, which he allowed to be made 
 to the Catholics. He may, however, have hoped, when 
 the time came, to overcome these scruples, in the same 
 manner, as he had done in many other important 
 matters. He may also have hoped that time would be 
 in his favour in removing this difficulty. The King 
 was advanced in years, and his mental condition was 
 precarious. The Prince of Wales had at that time 
 declared himself very favourable to the Catholic claims. 
 Whatever prospect, however, there had been of per- 
 suading the King himself to yield, was prevented by 
 a discreditable and treacherous intrigue within the 
 Cabinet. The Lord Chancellor had been present at its 
 meeting when the Catholic claims were considered, 
 and had made no objection to the communications 
 made to the Lord Lieutenant through Lord Castle- 
 reagh. He was therefore responsible for the expec- 
 tations held out to the Catholics of Ireland, by which 
 the passing of the Act of Union had been secured. 
 But in 1 801, on hearing from Mr. Pitt that it was 
 intended to raise the question of Catholic Emanci- 
 pation in the Cabinet, he communicated this project to 
 
i8oi.] THE KING'S OBJECTIONS. 13 
 
 the King, and informed him that there were many 
 members of the Cabinet opposed to this measure ; he 
 also induced the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 
 Bishop of London to use their episcopal influence with 
 the King, to persuade him to maintain his known 
 objections to the measure. When, therefore, Mr. Pitt 
 approached the King on the subject, he found his 
 royal master already prepared on the subject, and 
 inflexibly determined not to give his consent. 
 
 The King declared that his mind had been made 
 up ever since he came to the throne, in 1760 ; and that 
 if he violated his oath, his throne would properly revert 
 to the House of Savoy, as heirs of the Stuart line. 
 His views are clearly stated in a minute which he 
 wrote on a copy of his memorandum of 1795 • "This 
 paper was drawn up when Earl Fitzwilliam pressed a 
 further emancipation of the Irish Papists, and was trans- 
 mitted to Mr. Pitt, who, having approved it, ought not 
 to have made a similar proposal and seemed surprised 
 when I would not follow him in changing my opinion. 
 His ground of expediency was futile; the more so as 
 every Irish Protestant felt the ruin of the measure if 
 adopted. And I, certainly feeling the duty I owe to my 
 coronation oath, would not have given my assent to 
 any Bill that had but a shadow of putting Papists and 
 Presbyterians in a state of equality with the Church 
 of England." * Lord Malmesbury, in his diary, states 
 that about the 6th or 7th of February, 1801, the King 
 read his coronation oath to his family, asked them 
 whether they understood it, and added, " If I violate it 
 I am no longer sovereign of this country, but it falls 
 to the House of Savoy ; " and General Garth reported 
 that the King had exclaimed he would rather beg 
 his bread from door to door throughout Europe than 
 consent to any such measure.f It does not appear 
 that Mr. Pitt had any oral communication with the 
 King. He tendered his resignation, which was 
 
 * Lord Campbell's " Lives of the Chancellors," vol. vi. p. 300. 
 t Pellew's "Life of Lord Sidmouth," p, 285. 
 
14 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [i8oi. 
 
 accepted without hesitation ; and Mr. Addington, a 
 statesman after the King's own heart, was appointed 
 in his place. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to point out the fallacy as 
 to the oath. On the accession of William III. Catholics 
 sat in both Houses of Parliament in Ireland, and the 
 Act imposing disabilities on the Catholics was passed 
 two years after that sovereign had taken the oath. 
 George III. himself, had already consented to the 
 partial repeal of the penal laws against Catholics by 
 the Irish Parliament in 1793, which was open to the 
 same objection as he now raised. He could scarcely 
 have been ignorant of Pitt's speeches when the Union 
 was under discussion, and those of others of his 
 Ministers, such as Mr. Canning, in which it was 
 assumed that the United Parliament would not main- 
 tain the penal laws. When the Act of Union received 
 the royal assent, the King, on the prorogation of 
 Parliament, had said, " This great measure, on which 
 my wishes have been long earnestly bent, I shall 
 ever consider as the happiest event of my reign, being 
 persuaded that nothing could so effectually contribute 
 to extend to my Irish subjects the full participation of 
 the blessings derived from the British Constitution." 
 It seems possible, therefore, that Pitt might have re- 
 moved the difficulties thus raised, if the King had not 
 been predisposed by the influence brought to bear 
 upon him through Lord Loughborough's intrigue. In 
 spite of the pressure of Pitt, the King would not give 
 way. His tendency to madness was an element in 
 the difficulties of the position. He had an attack of 
 this malady shortly after the resignation of Mr. Pitt; 
 and, on his recovery, sent a message by his physician, 
 " Tell Mr. Pitt I am now quite recovered from my 
 illness ; but what has he not to answer for, who is the 
 cause of my having been taken ill at all ? " Pitt was 
 profoundly affected by this, and determined not to 
 press the question further. He wrote a contrite 
 letter to the King, offering to abandon the Catholic 
 
i8oi.] RESIGNATION OF PITT. 1 5 
 
 question. His overtures, however, were not responded 
 to ; and, indeed, the King very much preferred the 
 mediocrity of Addington to the commanding talents 
 of the great Minister, who had served him for seven- 
 teen years. 
 
 Pitt's conduct in being thus ready to give way upon 
 a question of such magnitude, on which only a few 
 weeks earlier he had resigned office, has given rise to 
 much subsequent criticism, and cannot be satisfactorily 
 explained. His resignation on the Catholic question 
 could only be justified by his conviction of the supreme 
 importance to the State of carrying Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion as a part of the settlement, effected at the Union, 
 and by his determination to use all his efforts, when 
 out of office, to overcome the difficulties opposed to it, 
 and to return to power free to carry out his policy. 
 It was altogether inconsistent with his readiness to 
 resume office without dealing with the question. Nor 
 did his subsequent action justify his resignation ; for he 
 showed no activity in pressing the Catholic question ; 
 nor would he, when restored to the position of Prime 
 Minister in 1804, again face the personal difficulty, 
 and the danger of bringing on another attack of the 
 King's malady, by proposing to him a. Catholic Relief 
 Bill, and he accepted office on the distinct under- 
 standing that he would not raise the question. In 
 1 80 1, however, he appears to have felt that his per- 
 sonal honour was engaged, that the Catholics had a 
 strong moral claim upon him, and that, being unable 
 to fulfil it, he could not for the moment continue as 
 Minister. He consequently resigned office, and was 
 followed in this course by Lord Grenville and Lord 
 Spencer, Mr. Wyndham and Mr. Dundas. Lord 
 Castlereagh, whose honour was equally engaged on 
 behalf of the Catholics, and who had been the prin- 
 cipal medium of communication between them and 
 the Government, remained in office. Lord Cornwallis, 
 the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, resigned with Mr. 
 Pitt, as did also Mr. Canning, who had been brought 
 
1 6 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [i8or. 
 
 into office in 1796, as Under-Secretary for Foreign 
 Affairs, by Pitt, and who had rendered good service 
 in the discussions on the Union. Mr. Pitt was suc- 
 ceeded by Mr. Addington, then Speaker of the House 
 of Commons, who had never made any mark of states- 
 manship, but who commended himself for the post by 
 holding views on the Catholic question, at least as 
 prejudiced as those of the King. It is satisfactory to 
 note that Lord Loughborough gained nothing by his 
 treachery. The King was only too glad of the oppor- 
 tunity for transferring the Great Seal to Sir John Scott, 
 who became Lord Eldon. 
 
 It is impossible to exaggerate the mischief resulting 
 to both countries from this failure of Mr. Pitt to carry 
 out his policy for Ireland in its entirety, by realizing the 
 expectations held out to the Catholics. The English 
 people would doubtless have accepted, without alarm 
 and without question, at the hands of Pitt, and as an 
 essential condition of the Union, a measure of Catholic 
 Emancipation, and even a scheme for the payment of 
 the Catholic clergy. By disconnecting these measures 
 from the Union, all prospect of carrying them was 
 lost for nearly two generations ; henceforth it was 
 impossible to carry either of these proposals without 
 stirring up religious feelings and sectarian animosities 
 in England, and Ireland was allowed to remain under 
 a stigma as impolitic as it was unjust. It was well 
 said by Sir James Graham that " Mr. Pitt was ready 
 to do the right thing at the right time, but genius 
 gave way to madness, and two generations have in 
 vain deplored the loss of an opportunity." * 
 
 After his resignation, Mr. Pitt adopted the unusual 
 course of circulating a memorandum in Ireland to 
 explain his position. It stated that "the Catholics may 
 with confidence rely on the zealous support of all those 
 Ministers who retire, and of many who remain in office, 
 when it can be given with a prospect of success. 
 They may be assured that Mr. Pitt will do his utmost 
 * Sir George Lewis's "Administrations," vol. i. p. 213. 
 
'Soi.J PITT'S EXPLANATIONS. IJ 
 
 to establish their cause in the public favour (though 
 he could not concur in a hopeless attempt to force it 
 now), and prepare the way for their finally attaining 
 their objects." It has been suggested that Mr. Pitt 
 was induced to retire, in part at least, by the difficulties 
 of foreign affairs, and by the necessity of some change of 
 policy, and that the Irish Catholic question was merely 
 a convenient excuse for him. There does not, how- 
 ever, appear to be sufficient ground for this surmise. 
 Nothing can be clearer than Lord Grenville's ex- 
 planation in the House of Lords. " Several of his 
 Majesty's servants," he said, "thought it expedient 
 that the benefits of the Union should be rendered as 
 great and as extensive as possible, by the removal of 
 certain disabilities under which a great portion of the 
 inhabitants of Ireland had laboured. Imagining that 
 this measure could be effectual only by coming from 
 the Executive Government, they proposed it to those 
 who directed his Majesty's counsels. It was not 
 deemed eligible, and they were unable to prevail. 
 Their opinion of its policy remaining unaltered, and 
 still thinking that this measure and this alone would 
 establish the tranquillity and prosperity of the Empire 
 on a permanent basis, they considered themselves as 
 bound to retire." Mr. Pitt himself, in the House of 
 Commons, made a very similar explanation. " We pro- 
 posed a measure which, under the circumstances of the 
 Union, so happily effected, we thought of great public 
 importance and necessary to complete the benefits 
 likely to result from that measure. We felt that 
 opinion so strongly that when we met with difficulties, 
 which rendered it impossible for us to propose it 
 as a measure of Government, we felt it equally incon- 
 sistent with our duty and our honour any longer to 
 remain a part of that Government. I beg to have it 
 understood to be a measure which, if I had remained 
 in office, I must have carried." 
 
 These explanations are most explicit. They show 
 that Pitt's resignation was on a point of honour, and 
 
 c 
 
1 8 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1803. 
 
 not merely on one of policy. They confirm the view- 
 that he must have gone very far in his negotiation 
 with the CathoHcs of Ireland, and that he was morally 
 bound to them to propose a measure of enfranchise- 
 ment, immediately after the Union, and that he could 
 not, as an honourable man, remain in office, if he failed 
 in this respect. Of the grievous error thus made in 
 refusing to the Catholics their full rights under the 
 Constitution, w^e have now abundant proof No imme- 
 diate effect, however, was visible. The Catholic leaders 
 still hoped that Mr. Pitt would speedily return to office 
 and fulfil his promises. Time, they believed, was on 
 their side. The bulk of the population were kept 
 down by the recollections of the terrible scenes of 
 1 798, and by stringent coercive laws. 
 
 In 1803 there occurred an outbreak in Ireland, 
 which gave some alarm to the Government. It was 
 headed by Robert Emmett, a man of good birth and 
 position, but of very extreme opinions. It does 
 not appear to have been in any way due to the non- 
 fulfilment of the promises made at the time of the 
 Union, but to have been connected with the previous 
 revolutionary movement of 1798. Emmett's scheme 
 was to seize the seat of the Government at Dublin, and 
 to raise the population ; but he had neither means nor 
 supporters sufficient to justify even a commencement of 
 such an enterprise, and the affair was put down with 
 the greatest ease. Emmett and a few others were 
 convicted and executed, and order was speedily 
 restored. The outbreak, however, gave rise to an 
 incident of considerable importance in its political 
 bearing. A Catholic peer, and one of the leaders of the 
 Catholic party in Ireland, Lord Fingall, had been con- 
 spicuously active in tendering assistance to put down 
 the outbreak. He had armed his tenantry, and was 
 ready to lead them into the field in support of the 
 Government. As a reward for this loyal action, the 
 Lord Lieutenant proposed to make him a magistrate — 
 a conspicuous honour at a time when no Catholic had 
 
1805.J CATHOLIC PETITIONS. 1 9 
 
 ever been admitted to this position. In transmitting 
 the warrant from the Crown, the Lord Chancellor of 
 Ireland (Lord Redesdale) accompanied it with a long 
 letter, lecturing Lord Fingall on his future conduct 
 as a Catholic magistrate, making a wild and un- 
 qualified attack on all ranks of Roman Catholics, and 
 expressing disbelief -in their loyalty to the Crown. 
 The correspondence on Lord Redesdale's part is a 
 good specimen of the prejudiced feelings of the day 
 among large numbers of educated Englishmen.* y 
 
 The publication of this letter of the Lord Chancellor 
 gave rise to the greatest resentment among the Catholics 
 of Ireland, the more so as this body had refrained, 
 since the Union, from preferring their claims, lest they 
 should embarrass the Government in its foreign diffi- 
 culties. The feeling, thus aroused, led in 1804 to 
 meetings of the leading Catholics of Ireland, at which 
 it was determined to petition Parliament for their relief 
 Mr. Pitt was asked to present their petition, but he 
 refused the task. It was then entrusted to Lord 
 Grenville and Mr. Fox, who, in the following year, 
 moved in the two Houses of Parliament, for the first 
 time since the Act of Union, resolutions in favour of 
 Catholic Emancipation. 
 
 Fox introduced the question in a speech of three 
 and a half hours in length. A part of this powerful 
 speech was devoted to an examination of the effect 
 produced on Ireland by the rejection of Lord Fitz- 
 william's proposals of 1795, and in tracing the con- 
 nection between it and the rebellion of 1798. 
 " Doubts," he said, " have been entertained whether 
 Lord Fitzwilliam was authorized by his Government 
 to encourage the hopes of the Catholics, but that has 
 nothing to do with the present question ; that the 
 expectation did exist is a fact of the greatest impor- 
 tance. When that noble lord was recalled, when a 
 motion was made on the subject in Parliament and 
 
 * The correspondence is given at length in the "Annual Register," 
 1803, pp. 575-89- 
 
20 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1805. 
 
 negatived, the Catholics saw with grief the cup they 
 had looked at with so much eagerness, suddenly dashed 
 from their lips, at the moment they at last expected 
 to enjoy it. The history of that country showed the 
 melancholy consequences of that disappointment — that 
 a connection began to be formed between Ireland and 
 France ; and there is every appearance that the disap- 
 pointment then experienced drove some of them into 
 this connection. All those who wished to revolutionize 
 Ireland were greatly alarmed during Lord Fitzwilliam's 
 administration, and were perfectly convinced that if 
 the measures to be proposed were carried, their inten- 
 tions would be completely defeated. ... I have been 
 told that at the time of the Union no distinct promise 
 of redress was made to the Catholics, and I believe it. 
 No minister could promise that which depended on 
 Parliament. Mr. Pitt could have done nothing more 
 than promise to recommend these claims ; but did not 
 the Catholics believe that through the measure of the 
 Union they would obtain complete redress ? Did 
 they not rely on the promised support of Mr. Pitt ? " 
 He dealt also at length with the coronation oath. He 
 showed that if there was any force in the argument 
 founded on it. Queen Anne must have broken the 
 oath when she consented to the union with Scotland. 
 He concluded by saying, " The Protestant Ascendency 
 has been compared to a garrison in Ireland. It is 
 not in our power to add to the strength of this garri- 
 son, but I would convert the besiegers themselves 
 into the garrison." 
 
 The motion was supported by Mr. Grattan, who 
 had recently been returned by Lord Fitzwilliam for the 
 borough of Malton, and who, at the age of fifty, recom- 
 menced a political life. The occasion was a critical 
 one for him, and he might well feel that his reputation 
 would not bear transplanting to a new sphere so late 
 in life. The failure in the Enghsh House of Commons 
 of Mr. Flood, who had made a great reputation in the 
 Irish Parliament, was a warning to him. Grattan's 
 
i8o5.] MR. GRATTAN ON THE CATHOLIC CLAIMS. 2 1 
 
 manner and style of delivery were very eccentric, and 
 wholly different from anything to which the English 
 members had been accustomed. Many members waited 
 to see what was the verdict of Pitt upon their new 
 colleague. Pitt soon evinced his approval, and from 
 that moment Grattan's success was assured and com- 
 plete. Pitt, in replying, spoke of the speech as 
 splendid in its eloquence ; and it was universally 
 admitted to be one of the most brilliant that had ever 
 been delivered in Parliament. 
 
 It commenced by a happy hit, such as the House 
 always likes. Replying to Dr. Duigenan, one of the 
 leaders of the Protestant Ascendency, Grattan said, 
 " His speech consists of four parts. First, an invective 
 against the religion of the Catholics ; second, an invec- 
 tive against the present generation ; third, an invective 
 against the past ; and fourth, an invective against the 
 future. Here the limits of creation interposed, and 
 stopped the numbers. It is to defend these different 
 generations and their religion that I rise — to rescue 
 the Catholics from his attack, and the Protestants from 
 his defence." At this point Pitt said, " Hear, hear, 
 hear," and the House cheered. " The Parliament of 
 Ireland," Grattan continued — " of that assembly I have 
 a parental recollection. I sat by her cradle ; I followed 
 her hearse. . . . That the Parliament of Ireland should 
 have entertained prejudices on the Catholic question I 
 am not astonished ; but that you — that you should now, 
 at this time of day, throw up dykes against the Pope, 
 and barriers against the Catholics, instead of uniting 
 with the Catholics to throw up barriers against the 
 French — this surprises me ; and, in addition to this, 
 that you should have set up the Pope in Italy to 
 tremble at him in Ireland ; and further, that you should 
 have professed to have placed yourself at the head of 
 a Christian, not a Protestant, league, to defend the civil 
 and religious liberty of Europe, and should deprive of 
 their civil liberty one-fifth of yourselves, on account of 
 their religion — this surprises me ; and also that you 
 
2 2 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1805. 
 
 should prefer to buy allies by subsidies rather than 
 fellow-subjects by privileges ; and that you should now 
 stand drawn out as it were in battalion, sixteen millions 
 against thirty-six millions ; and should, at the same 
 time, paralyze a fifth of your own numbers by excluding 
 them from some of the principal benefits of your con- 
 stitution at the very time you say your numbers are 
 inadequate unless inspired by these very privileges." * 
 His speech was the first of a series of efforts annually 
 made in the British Parliament on behalf of the same 
 cause, till his death in 1820. 
 
 Mr. Pitt, who had resumed office as Prime Minister 
 in the previous year (1804), well knowing that the 
 King's views on the Catholic question were unchanged, 
 opposed the motion. Referring to his action at the 
 time of the Union, and to his resignation on this 
 question in 1801, he said, " Previous to the Union the 
 claims of the Catholics could not have been conceded 
 consistently with a due regard to the Protestant interest. 
 After the Union I saw matters in a different light. 
 Whilst that measure was in contemplation, I did state 
 that the measure would make a material difference, in 
 my opinion, on the Catholic question, but I did not make 
 a distinct pledge. . . . The circumstances which, in 
 1 80 1, made me feel that it was then improper to bring 
 forward this question, and which led to the resignation 
 of that administration, have made so lasting an impres- 
 sion upon my mind, that so long as those circum- 
 stances remain, and continue to operate, I shall feel it 
 a duty imposed on me, not only not to bring forward, 
 but not in any manner to be a party in bringing it 
 forward, or in agitating this question." On the merits 
 of the case, he said, that he observed with pleasure 
 that the application made by the petitioners was not 
 advanced as a claim of right, but as one of expediency. 
 He had never been one of those who held that the 
 term of emancipation was, in the smallest degree, 
 applicable to the repeal of the few remaining penal 
 * "Parliamentary Debates,'' vol. iv. p. 917, 
 
i8o6.] THE WHIG MINISTRY. 
 
 23 
 
 Statutes, to which the CathoHcs were still liable. He 
 declared that he had never given a pledge on the sub- 
 ject, and claimed to be perfectly free and unfettered 
 respecting it. He could not accede to it without safe- 
 guards, such as were not suggested by the petition 
 and its friends. The House of Commons rejected the 
 motion by a majority of nearly three to one.* 
 
 Mr. Pitt died in the following year, and was suc- 
 ceeded by Lord Grenville, with Mr. Fox, as Foreign 
 Secretary, leading the House of Commons. The 
 Ministry was formed partly of the old Whigs, who 
 had supported Fox, in his opposition to the war with 
 France, and who had stood by him in what they con- 
 sidered to be the true principles of liberty, during the 
 whole of that eventful period ; and partly of the new 
 Whigs, as they were called, consisting of Lord Gren- 
 ville and the Whig families, who had separated from 
 Fox at the beginning of the war in order to support the 
 war measures of Pitt. Together these sections were 
 hardly strong enough to form a Ministry ; and it was 
 considered necessary to strengthen it by asking Lord 
 Sidmouth (Addington) to join. But Sidmouth was 
 opposed to the claims of the Catholics. It was a grave 
 question therefore with Lord Grenville and Mr. Fox, 
 whether they were justified in admitting to their 
 Ministry, one who was so opposed to them on the 
 Catholic question, or whether they should even form 
 a Ministry without an express understanding with the 
 King favourable to the Catholic claims. Mr. Fox 
 entered into negotiations on the subject with the 
 Catholics of Ireland. He told them that it was not 
 then possible to carry a measure for their emancipation ; 
 that he " despaired of success in any immediate attempt 
 at remedial measures, unless they could have active 
 support from a quarter in which to look for passive 
 acquiescence was perhaps more than they could reason- 
 ably expect." He promised that steps should be taken 
 to show the good intentions of the Government, by the 
 * Division — 124 for the motion, 336 against. 
 
24 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. ['806. 
 
 removal of Lord Redesdale from the Chancellorship 
 of Ireland, and by the dismissal of those magistrates, 
 whose conduct had been notoriously oppressive ; he 
 advised them not to bring forward their petition at 
 present, as its supporters were certain of defeat, and 
 the new Ministry would be wrecked ; but he promised 
 that whenever they should do so, they might depend 
 on his voice and influence in their support. On this 
 assurance the Catholic leaders were satisfied, and re- 
 solved to act upon Fox's advice, and not press the 
 claims for the moment. The Duke of Bedford was 
 sent as Lord Lieutenant to Ireland, where he did much 
 to conciliate and reassure the Catholics. He removed 
 from the list of magistrates many who had made them- 
 selves conspicuous by their hostility and injustice to the 
 Catholics; and in spite of great pressure put upon him 
 to renew the Insurrection Act, for the purpose of 
 putting down a local agrarian movement, he refused 
 to do so, and restored order by a vigorous application 
 of the ordinary law. 
 
 During the short tenure of office of Mr. Fox, an 
 incident occurred in the House of Commons which gave 
 him an opportunity of stating his views on the Act of 
 Union. On the death of Lord Cornwallis, it was pro- 
 posed, at the instance of Lord Castlereagh, to vote money 
 for a monument to him. This was opposed by an Irish 
 member, on the ground that Cornwallis had been very 
 instrumental in carrying the Union. Fox, while sup- 
 porting the motion, said that he " agreed in thinking 
 the Union one of the most disgraceful transactions 
 in which the Government of any country had been 
 involved." * When called to account for these words, 
 he said " he adhered to any words he had uttered 
 relative to the Union. But when he reprobated a 
 thing done he said nothing prospectively. However 
 bad the measure, an attempt to repeal it, without the 
 most urgent solicitation from the parties interested, 
 should not be made." 
 
 * "Parliamentary Debates," vol. iv. p. 128. 
 
iSo;.] DEATH OF MR. FOX. 25 
 
 Mr. Fox died within a very few months of taking 
 office, and before any opportunity was afforded to 
 him of carrying into effect his promises to the CathoHcs 
 of Ireland. They lost in him their best friend ; one 
 who, throughout a long life, had never failed to sup- 
 port every measure for redressing their grievances, 
 and who had strongly objected to the Union. What 
 might have been the course of events on the Catholic 
 question, had he lived, it is impossible now to say. 
 It is possible that his influence might have induced 
 the Prince of Wales, when Regent, in 18 12, to give 
 way on the question, in which case Catholic Eman- 
 cipation would have been anticipated by twenty years, 
 and many subsequent evils would have been averted. 
 
 Mr. Fox was succeeded as Foreign Secretary by 
 Lord Howick, later and better known as Lord Grey. 
 The years 1806 and 1807 were of importance in 
 Ireland for the commencement of a constitutional 
 agitation on behalf of the Catholics. A number of the 
 leading Catholics met in Dublin, and appointed a com- 
 mittee of twenty-one members, to draw up a petition 
 to Parliament. O'Connell, who had already by this 
 time achieved a reputation at the Bar, as a man of the 
 greatest ability and eloquence, and of great fertility of 
 resource, was a member of this committee, and took a 
 prominent part on behalf of the Catholics. He was 
 soon destined to outstrip all his fellow-workers in the 
 Catholic cause, to become their leader, and, after many 
 long years of untiring labour, to be recognized as the 
 most illustrious Irishman of his day. 
 
 At this early period of the Catholic movement no 
 suggestion was made for the repeal of the Union. 
 The petition prepared by the committee, and presented 
 by Lord Fingall and Mr. Grattan to Lord Grenville's 
 Government, disclaimed any such object. It stated 
 that the Catholics were not unwilling to accept redress 
 of their grievances from any quarter. It declared 
 their willingness to be governed by the United Parlia- 
 ment, if such government proved to be better, or even 
 
2 6 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1807. 
 
 as good, as that of the Irish Parliament. The pre- 
 sentation of this petition, and the knowledge that it 
 was useless to expect the immediate consent of the 
 King to any full measure of relief, induced Lord 
 Grenville's Government to make a proposal to Parlia- 
 ment for securing equality to the Catholics, on a point, 
 where there did not appear to be insuperable difficulties. 
 By an Act, passed by the Irish Parliament in 1 793, 
 Catholics were allowed for the first time to serve in the 
 Army and Navy, to hold commissions and to attain any 
 rank short of that of commander, or general on the 
 staff. The law of England, however, was different, 
 and still retained provisions which excluded Catholics 
 from holding commissions. A Catholic, therefore, in 
 an Irish regiment, coming over with his regiment to 
 England, was disqualified from remaining in the service. 
 In practice this state of the law prevented Irish Catholics 
 from serving in the Army or Navy. 
 
 Lord Howick, on behalf of the Government, and 
 evidently with the object of testing the feeling of 
 Parliament and the country upon the Catholic ques- 
 tion, introduced a Bill to remedy this wrong. His 
 object, he said, was to place before the sons of the 
 Catholic gentry of Ireland their fair objects of ambition, 
 and open to them that career of glory which was synony- 
 mous with the advancement of the interests of the Em- 
 pire. The measure was merely a permissive one. It 
 enabled the Government to give commissions to Ca- 
 tholics ; it left their discretion unfettered. The proposal 
 was strongly opposed by Mr. Perceval. " England," he 
 said, " had already done everything which toleration 
 required, and which the Catholics had a right to 
 demand. It was time to make a stand against the 
 principle of innovation. If not, there would ultimately 
 be extorted from its weakness that which its wisdom 
 would desire to withhold." Mr. Perceval did his utmost 
 to rouse the Protestant feeling of the country against 
 the measure. An unreasoning fear took possession 
 of large numbers of people. The Protestant religion, 
 
I So;.] LORD HO WICK'S BILL. 27 
 
 they believed, was assailed, Those who held this 
 view, either honestly, or with selfish purposes, obtained 
 the ear of the King. By the private and unofficial 
 advice of Lord Eldon and Lord Hawkesbury, he was 
 persuaded to withdraw the consent, which he had 
 already given to the measure. He told his Ministers 
 that, having ascertained that it was of far greater 
 extent than he had conceived it to be, he was now 
 decidedly opposed to it. The Ministers endeavoured 
 to modify the Bill so as to meet the views of the 
 King, but failing in this, they determined to drop it. 
 In doing so they desired, in vindication of their policy, 
 to place on record with the King a minute reserving 
 to themselves as Ministers, first, the liberty of deliver- 
 ing their opinions in favour of the Catholic question, 
 whenever it should come on for discussion in Parlia- 
 ment ; and secondly, that of submitting this question, 
 or any other subject in connection with it, from time 
 to time according to circumstances, to his Majesty's 
 decision. The King, however, would not assent 
 even to this. He called on his Ministers to with- 
 draw the second of these reservations, and to sub- 
 stitute in its place a pledge that they would never 
 again bring forward the measure they had abandoned, 
 or propose anything connected with the Catholic 
 question. The Ministers refused to give this pledge. 
 They would not fetter themselves by any engagement 
 inconsistent with what they might hereafter conceive 
 to be their duty. They resigned their posts, and 
 made explanations to Parliament. Thus a second 
 time the King was able to compel a change of Ministers 
 on the Catholic question, and to refuse a very 
 moderate act of justice to the great majority of his 
 Irish subjects, in flagrant opposition to the expecta- 
 tions held out by his Ministers at the time of the 
 Union, and by means of which in part the measure 
 had been carried. 
 
 Lord Grenville was succeeded by the Duke of 
 Portland, and a Ministry was formed in which were 
 
28 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1807. 
 
 Mr. Perceval and Lord Eldon, Mr. Canning and Lord 
 Castlereagh — the two former bigoted opponents to 
 the CathoHc claims, the two latter strongly in favour 
 of them. Sir Arthur Wellesley was sent to Ireland 
 as Chief Secretary, and the Duke of Richmond became 
 Lord Lieutenant, in place of the Duke of Bedford. 
 The Government as a whole, in spite of Mr. Canning 
 and Lord Castlereagh, maintained a steady resistance 
 to Catholic Emancipation. On the meeting of Parlia- 
 ment, the action of the King, in dismissing his late 
 Ministers, led to a discussion and a hostile motion. 
 It was moved by Mr. Brand, " That it is contrary to the 
 first duties of the confidential servants of the crown 
 to restrain themselves by any pledge from offering 
 to his Majesty any advice that the course of events 
 might render necessary for the welfare and security of 
 any part of the Empire." After a long debate, the 
 motion, which so directly impugned the conduct of 
 the King, was rejected by the narrow majority of thirty- 
 two. * Mr. Perceval, in the course of it, said that the 
 measure of the late Government would not have the 
 effect of rendering the Catholics content. It would 
 lead to other objects, and would not stop short of 
 bringing Roman Catholic bishops into the House of 
 Lords. 
 
 Another proposal for Ireland of Lord Grenville's 
 Government was also nipped in the bud by the change 
 of Government. It had been proposed to increase 
 the annual vote for the Catholic College of Maynooth 
 from ^8000 to ^13,000. The increased sum had 
 actually been voted ; but Parliament had been pro- 
 rogued, and a change of Ministers took place before 
 the full effect was given to the vote on the estimates. 
 Mr. Perceval wished to revert to the previous grant 
 of ;^8ooo ; but as the trustees of the College had 
 already, on the faith of the larger sum having been 
 voted, spent a portion of it, he was compelled to make 
 some advance, and a vote of £^2^0 was submitted to 
 * Division — For the motion, 226 ; against, 258, 
 
i8io.] THE MAYNOOTH GRANT. 29 
 
 Parliament. Mr. Grattan moved that the larger sum 
 be retained. The smaller sum, he said, was wholly 
 inadequate ; by reducing the vote the House would 
 secure the ignorance and prejudices of a great portion 
 of the Catholic clergy. In reply, Mr. Perceval said 
 it was no part of religious toleration to make provision 
 for the education of tolerated sects. If it were so, the 
 ministers of Methodists and Anabaptists would have 
 as good a claim to education as the Catholic clergy. 
 The larger sum was rejected by a considerable majority 
 of members. 
 
 Mr. Canning and Lord Castlereagh, the two 
 members of the Government favourable to the Ca- 
 tholics, did not long retain their positions in the 
 Cabinet. Canning, as Foreign Secretary, was very 
 dissatisfied with the support which his policy received 
 from Castlereagh as Secretary at War, and insisted 
 upon his dismissal, to make way for Lord Wellesley. 
 Lord Castlereagh, thinking himself unfairly treated, 
 challenged Mr. Canning, and a duel took place in 
 which the latter was wounded. As a result, both of 
 these statesmen were compelled to resign in 1809, and 
 the Government thenceforward for some years con- 
 sisted exclusively of men strongly opposed to any con- 
 cessions to the Catholics. On the death of the Duke 
 of Portland, later in this year, Mr. Perceval succeeded 
 as Prime Minister. In 1810 Mr. Grattan again moved 
 for a committee to inquire into the grievances of Catho- 
 lics. It was opposed by the Government, and though 
 supported by an able speech from Castlereagh, was 
 rejected by a majority of nearly two to one.* In the 
 same year it was thought desirable to take powers to 
 interchange the militia regiments between England 
 and Ireland, with the object of quartering in Ireland a 
 military force, not influenced by the local feelings of 
 the country, and which might be relied upon to assist 
 in suppressing any disturbances. In the committee 
 on this Bill, Sir H. Parnell moved a clause enabling 
 * Division — In favour, 109; against, 213. 
 
30 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [i8ia 
 
 members of the Catholic mUitia, so brought into Eng- 
 land in place of English regiments, to attend places of 
 worship of their own religion. It is difficult to credit 
 the fact that this most just clause was rejected by the 
 House of Commons, as was also a similar clause moved 
 in the Lords. Later in the session, Mr. Grattan again 
 addressed himself to the Catholic question. He moved 
 that the petition of the Catholic delegates from Ireland 
 should be taken into consideration. Mr. Perceval 
 opposed the motion. He complained of the spirit of 
 Grattan's speech ; he said it would logically lead to 
 the abolition of tithes, and of the Established Church of 
 Ireland ; he could not conceive a time or any change 
 of circumstances, which would render further conces- 
 sions to the Catholics consistent with the safety of the 
 State. The motion was rejected by 146 to 83, and 
 a similar motion in the Lords met with the same fate 
 by 121 to 62. 
 _, In the autumn of the same year, in consequence of 
 this denial of the Catholic claims, the first serious note 
 in favour of repeal of the Act of Union was struck 
 in Ireland. Up to this time the question had not 
 been raised, either in Parliament or on the public plat- 
 form. On August 8 a requisition was signed by 
 twelve of the grand jurors of Dublin, calling upon 
 the high sheriff to summon a meeting, to consider the 
 expediency of repealing the Act of Union. At this 
 meeting O'Connell made his first speech in favour of 
 Repeal. A petition was unanimously agreed upon, to 
 the effect that the Union had been put to the decisive 
 test of experience, and that it had in no way fulfilled the 
 promises which had been made. The Union, it was 
 said, had produced an accumulation of distress ; instead 
 of cementing, they feared that, if not repealed, it might 
 endanger the connection between the two countries. 
 Grattan was asked to present the petition. He con- 
 sented to do so. " I shall present the petition," he 
 said in his answer, "and support the repeal of the 
 Union with a decided attachment to our connection 
 
i8io.] PETITION FOR REPEAL. 
 
 31 
 
 with Great Britain, and to that harmony between the 
 two countries, without which the connection cannot 
 last. I do not impair either, as I apprehend, when I 
 assure you that I shall support the repeal of the Act 
 of Union. You will please to observe that a 
 proposition of that sort in Parliament, to be either 
 prudent or possible, must wait until it should be called 
 for and backed by the nation. When proposed, I 
 shall then, as at all other times I hope I shall, prove 
 myself an Irishman — an Irishman whose first and last 
 passion was his native country." In accordance with 
 this advice, no action was taken in Parliament, and the 
 w^ords, which have been quoted, were his last on this 
 subject. There can be no doubt that the re-opening 
 of the question in Ireland was due to the neglect of 
 the British Government to fulfil the promises made 
 at the time of the Union, and to the hopelessness of 
 the Catholic population obtaining a redress of their 
 grievances from the United Parliament. Ten years 
 had passed, and no single remedial measure had been 
 enacted ; the Irish Government had been carried on 
 precisely as before the Union ; it was a Government 
 of Protestant Ascendency. The Catholics were ex- 
 cluded from every position of importance ; their rights, 
 even when admitted by law, were denied in practice. 
 It was impossible to point to any single gain which 
 had accrued to Ireland from the transfer of its Legis- 
 lature to London. 
 
 In the following year (181 1), the agitation of the 
 Catholics of Ireland assumed a more definite and 
 national form. Hitherto there had been no effective 
 organization. A Catholic committee of a very informal 
 character had come together, in which the old leaders 
 of the party, consisting chiefly of peers, merchants, and 
 professional men, largely predominated. It was now 
 proposed, on the suggestion of O'Connell, to form a 
 more permanent association, to consist of the existing 
 members of the committee, with the addition of a certain 
 number of persons elected by each county of Ireland, 
 
32 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1811. 
 
 and by each of the Dublin parishes. O'Connell 
 pronounced the scheme to be perfectly legal, and steps 
 were taken for its constitution and assembly. The 
 proposal, however, was held by the Government to 
 be contrary to the terms of the Convention Act of 
 the Irish Parliament of 1793, which prohibited the 
 election of delegates, or their meeting for any purpose 
 whatever. A proclamation was issued, declaring the 
 intention of the Government to enforce the penalties 
 of the Act against all persons, who should assume to 
 elect delegates. The proclamation was disregarded, 
 and the election of delegates was proceeded with, and 
 was carried out everywhere, except in Dublin. Else- 
 where, ten members were elected in every county to 
 the central committee. 
 
 In Dublin the Government intervened to prevent 
 the election. They caused the arrest of five leading 
 merchants who had met for the purpose, and prosecuted 
 them under the Convention Act. They also filed in- 
 formations against Lord Fingall, for presiding over a 
 meeting of delegates, and against the Freeman s Journal 
 and the Evening Post for reporting their proceedings. 
 Dublin juries, however, refused to convict, and verdicts 
 of not guilty were given. The Government then 
 offered to stop further criminal proceedings, if the 
 Association would cease to hold meetings. The answer 
 was a great banquet in Dublin, attended by all the 
 most influential Catholics, and by numerous Protes- 
 tants, including Mr. Curran^and Mr. Grattan. In 
 Parliament frequent discussions took place on the 
 proceedings of the Government in Ireland. Lord 
 Lansdowne and Lord Moira in the Lords, and Mr. 
 Ponsonby and Mr. Ward in the Commons, on two 
 occasions made motions on the subject. In the 
 Commons, Mr. Grattan attacked the Government for 
 its action against the delegates. He contended that 
 the Convention Act was a bad law, calculated by its 
 arbitrary construction and acrimonious provisions to 
 keep alive the worst passions of the people. The 
 
i8[2.J CANNING'S SPEECH. 33 
 
 general sense of the Catholics could only be ascertained 
 by a fair delegation ; such delegations had not un- 
 frequently been permitted in past years without injury. 
 The motion for condemning the action of the Govern- 
 ment was defeated in the Commons by 80 to 43. 
 
 In the next session (18 12), Lord Fitzwilliam in 
 the Lords, and Lord Morpeth in the Commons, moved 
 for committees to inquire into the state of Ireland. 
 They complained of the enforcement of the Convention 
 Act against the Catholic petitioners, of the tampering 
 with juries to secure convictions in political cases, and 
 generally of the denial of rights to the Catholics. The 
 motions were defeated — in the Lords by 162 to 76, 
 and in the Commons by 229 to 135. The debate in 
 the Lower House was marked by the intervention 
 on the Catholic question of Mr. Canning, who during 
 the remainder of his political life took so active a part 
 in it. It was in this debate that he referred in an 
 oft-cited epigram to the Union. He had pointed out 
 that the Act of Union had made it safe to concede the 
 Catholic claims. The Irish Catholics, merged in the 
 whole population of the United Kingdom had ceased 
 to be formidable from their relative, without ceasing 
 to be respectable from their positive, numbers. " Such 
 being the advantages," he said, " derived to the ques- 
 tion by the Union, I am surprised to find that some 
 of the Catholics call for a repeal of the Union. Repeal 
 the Union ! Restore the Heptarchy as soon."* Later 
 in the same session, he again addressed himself to the 
 subject, and in a memorable speech moved that the 
 House should early in the following year take into 
 its serious consideration the state of the laws affecting 
 Roman Catholics, with a view to such a final and 
 conciliatory adjustment, as would be conducive to the 
 peace and strength of the United Kingdom. Lord 
 Castlereagh, who had recently been appointed Foreign 
 Secretary, speaking on behalf of the Government, 
 made a liberal declaration in favour of an inquiry 
 * Speech, February 13, 1812. 
 
 D 
 
34 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1812. 
 
 into the Catholic claims, and the motion was carried 
 t'y 235 against 106. A similar motion by Lord 
 Wellesley was not so successful in the Lords. Lord 
 Eldon moved the previous question, which was carried 
 by a majority of one only, the votes being 126 to 125. 
 Fifteen bishops voted against the committee and only 
 three for it. The Ministers also were divided on the 
 subject, and several of them voted for the inquiry, 
 against their Chancellor. The result showed an 
 advance of opinion on the subject so great, as to make 
 it difficult to understand that seventeen more years were 
 to pass before the question was finally dealt with. The 
 division in the ranks of the Government was the more 
 remarkable as Lord Wellesley, who moved for the 
 inquiry, had earlier in the year resigned his post of 
 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on this very 
 subject. He was of opinion that a policy of con- 
 ciliation should at once be adopted towards Ireland, 
 and that it should be founded on an intermediate 
 principle between instant concession, and eternal 
 exclusion of the Catholics. Lord Castlereagh, who was 
 also favourable to the Catholic claims, but who was 
 always ready to sacrifice them to his self-interest, 
 was his successor at the Foreign Office. 
 
 Later in the year, on the assassination of Mr. 
 Perceval, the Catholic question again intervened as a 
 difficulty in the constitution of a Government, and the 
 hopes of the Irish Catholics revived. The Prince of 
 Wales had not many years previously been very 
 favourable to their claims. In 181 1 he had become 
 Regent, on the illness of his father assuming a serious 
 form ; but for a time he had acted in that capacity 
 under Parliamentary restrictions, on the chance of the 
 King recovering, and he was not able to follow his own 
 policy. These restrictions were now removed, and it 
 was hoped that he would support a Ministry which 
 would be prepared to deal with the question. The 
 Prince, however, had assumed the prejudices of his 
 father together with his power, and now declared 
 
i8i2.] MINISTERIAL CHANGES. 35 
 
 himself adverse to these claims, and equally repugnant 
 to any concession. Thenceforward till 1829, he was 
 a great obstacle to any measure of relief being carried. 
 Lord Liverpool was now invited by the Prince to form 
 a Government. He endeavoured to secure the co- 
 operation of Lord Wellesley and Mr. Canning ; but 
 these statesmen declined to join, unless the Catholic 
 question should be dealt with. Lord Moira was then 
 charged with the task^ and essayed to form a 
 Government with Lord Grenville and Lord Grey ; 
 but again the same difficulty presented itself; and 
 finally Lord Liverpool was again called in, and he 
 formed a Ministry out of the most reactionary section 
 of Mr. Perceval's colleagues. In their joint letter, 
 declining to serve in a Ministry, unless the Catholic 
 question should be dealt with, Lord Grenville and 
 Lord Grey said, "We are firmly persuaded of the 
 necessity of a total change in the present system of 
 Government of Ireland, and of the immediate repeal 
 of those civil disabilities under which so large a pro- 
 portion of His Majesty's subjects still labour on account 
 of their religious opinions. To recommend this repeal 
 is the first advice which it would be our duty to tender 
 to the Prince Regent." Lord Grey, in another letter, 
 added, with reference to the alleged intemperate lan- 
 guage of the Roman Catholics, that great allowances 
 ought to be made to them, especially in view of Lord 
 Fitzwilliam's recall in 1795 and the promises made at 
 the time of the Union. Thus it came about that four 
 of the ablest statesmen of the time. Lord Grenville, 
 Lord Grey, Lord Wellesley, and Mr. Canning, were 
 for some years disabled from accepting ofiice in the 
 Government of their country, on account of the Ca- 
 tholic question — a subjedt which had assumed impor- 
 tance only since the Act of Union had made it an 
 Imperial rather than an Irish question. 
 
 The formation of Lord Liverpool's Government 
 in 181 2 is notable for the appointment as Irish Secre- 
 tary of a statesman, who was destined to play a most 
 
36 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1812. 
 
 important part in Irish politics— Mr. Peel. The son 
 of a very wealthy manufacturer, he had greatly dis- 
 tinguished himself at Oxford, and was from an early 
 age pointed out as one who was certain to reach the 
 highest posts. Guizot has said that Mr. Peel's father 
 (Sir Robert Peel) had urged upon the Government the 
 son's early employment in office, alleging that his 
 natural tendency was towards Liberal principles, and 
 that, if the Tory party wished to secure him, they must 
 put him early into harness.* Mr. Peel was appointed 
 Under-Secretary for the Colonies in 1810, and was 
 now sent to Ireland as Chief Secretary by Lord 
 Liverpool, at the early age of twenty-four ; and he held 
 the post continuously till 18 17. During that period he 
 appears to have lost whatever tendencies he may have 
 had to a liberal policy. He allied himself closely 
 to the Orange party, and became their spokesman 
 and advocate, defending their actions in Parliament, 
 and supporting them in Ireland, with the weight of 
 the Government. He acquired the sobriquet of 
 Orange Peel,f and soon came into violent conflict with 
 O'Connell ; hence arose that personal enmity between 
 the two men, which lasted throughout their political 
 lives, to the serious detriment of both countries. The 
 hostility was not confined to a war of words only ; 
 it nearly led to personal encounter, which might 
 have ended in serious consequences. The days of 
 duelling were not then over, and in Ireland, these 
 hostile meetings on " points of honour " were still very 
 
 * See Guizot, "Sir Robert Peel," p. 34. Sir Lawrence Peel, in 
 his memoir of his brother, has thrown discredit on this story (p. 79). 
 
 ■f Mr. Peel, writing in 181 2 to Mr. Croker, said that "the 
 Governor of the Bank of Ireland remarked with horror that I was not 
 fully impressed with the necessity of toasting the glorious memory." 
 — Croker's " Memoirs," vol. i. p. 47. This deficiency appears to 
 have been soon corrected, for a relative of Sir Robert Peel has informed 
 the writer that the late Duke of Leinster recollected Peel, when 
 Secretary for Ireland, frequently rising after dinner, and standing on 
 his chair with one foot on the table, while drinking to the Orange 
 toast of " The pious, glorious, and immortal memory of William III." 
 
i8i2.] PEEL AND O'CONNELL. 37 
 
 frequent. O'Connell had on a recent occasion been 
 compelled to fight, in consequence of a bitter attack on 
 the Corporation of Dublin, in which he spoke of it as 
 a "beggarly corporation." For this expression, "one 
 of its most needy members," a Mr. D'Esterre, chal- 
 lenged him. They met, and fought with pistols, and 
 D'Esterre was killed. It was believed at the time, that 
 he had been induced to challenge O'Connell, in the 
 hopes of obtaining a reward from the Government, 
 if he should rid the country of so dangerous an 
 agitator. Through the rest of his life, O'Connell felt 
 deeply pained that he had been induced to take this 
 man's life. He settled pensions on D'Esterre's widow 
 and daughter, and never lost an opportunity of befriend- 
 ing them. 
 
 In a speech made in public in 181 5, O'Connell 
 accused Peel of grossly traducing him behind his back 
 in the House of Commons, where he could not be 
 called to account. Peel sent him a challenge for these 
 words, and it was arranged that the duel should take 
 place at Ostend. Another encounter was arranged 
 between their seconds, on account of some misunder- 
 standing in making arrangements for their principals. 
 Peel and his second. Sir Charles Saxton, started on 
 their journey, and arrived at Ostend after seven days' 
 constant travelling. O'Connell and Mr. Lidwill also 
 left Dublin with the same object ; but were arrested in 
 London, at the instance, it is said, of Sir Robert Peel, 
 and were held to bail. Sir Charles Saxton and Mr. 
 Lidwill paid another visit to Ostend, later in the year, 
 with the object of settling their differences. In the 
 encounter, Mr. Lidwill fired into the air, thinking 
 himself under a legal obligation to refrain from more 
 active hostilities. On this, Peel, who had followed 
 them to the Continent with the object of settling 
 another difficulty with Mr. Lidwill, was induced to 
 desist from pressing the matter further.* In 1836, 
 O'Connell refused a challenge from Mr. Stanley, 
 * Croker's "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 77. 
 
38 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1813- 
 
 alleging as a reason that, after his duel with D'Esterre, 
 he had determined never to fight again. In 1846, 
 Peel was with difficulty dissuaded by his friends from 
 sending a challenge either to Mr. Disraeli or Lord 
 George Bentinck. 
 
 Returning to the course of events which followed 
 on the formation of Lord Liverpool's Government, we 
 find that, early in the session of 181 3, Grattan again 
 introduced a measure for Catholic Emancipation. He 
 was supported by Mr. Canning, Lord Castlereagh, 
 Mr. Whitbread, and Lord Palmerston, and the debate 
 was a notable one, on account of the speech of Mr, 
 Plunket, which is said to have made a greater im,- 
 pression on the House of Commons than any speech 
 since that of Mr. Sheridan on the charges against 
 Warren Hastings, in 1787, Mr. Plunket had been one 
 of the chief ornaments of the Irish Parliament during 
 the last two years of its existence, having been elected 
 to it in 1798, at the age of thirty-four. His speechesi 
 against the Union, and his declamations against Lord 
 Castlereagh, were admitted by all to be as powerful 
 achievements of oratory as had ever been delivered 
 in a popular assembly. On the extinction of the Irish 
 Parliament, he was prevented, like others of its best 
 members, by the professional claims on his time, from 
 seeking election to the Imperial Parliament; and it was 
 not till 1807, that he was returned for the short remnant 
 of a Parliament by the borough of Midhurst. In i8i2he 
 was elected by the University of Dublin. He speedily 
 asserted a position in the front rank of the House of 
 Commons, as an orator, rather than as a debater ; his 
 style was more readily adapted to his new audience 
 than that of Grattan ; his eloquence was the most 
 polished and best-reasoned of any speaker of his day. 
 
 All the supporters of the Bill agreed that some 
 
 securities should be insisted on, if it should pass into 
 
 law. On the strength of this, the motion was carried 
 
 by a majority of 40,* and the second reading was also 
 
 * For the Bill, 264; against, 224. 
 
i8i3-] MR. GRATTAN'S BILL. 39 
 
 passed by a majority of 42. In accordance with the 
 undertaking given, the Bill was committed pro forma, 
 and amendments were introduced, at the instance of 
 Mr. Canning and Lord Castlereagh, securing to the 
 Crown a veto on the future appointments of Catholic 
 bishops. It was proposed to constitute a Board of 
 Commissioners, with power to examine into the loyalty 
 of candidates for episcopal dignity, and to exercise 
 some control over their correspondence with the papal 
 authorities at Rome. Mr. Grattan gave a qualified 
 assent to these clauses. In spite, however, of their 
 introduction into the Bill, its first clause, admitting 
 Catholics to Parliament, was rejected by the com- 
 mittee of the House, on the motion of the Speaker, 
 Mr. Abbott, by a majority of 4.* The Bill was conse^ 
 quently withdrawn. 
 
 The question known as the "Veto," thus introduced 
 into the controversy, proved an apple of discord 
 among the Irish Catholics. The discussions to which 
 it gave rise did much to break up the party in favour 
 of the Catholic claims, and to delay for many years 
 the settlement of the question. It had long been sug- 
 gested that a compromise might be effected on this 
 point. It was one on which, as has already been 
 shown, Mr. Pitt had been bent, and on which he con- 
 sulted the Catholic Bishops before the Union. The 
 Bishops had then given their opinion that, on the 
 appointment of prelates to vacant sees, the interference 
 of the Government, to the extent of satisfying itself of 
 the loyalty of the persons to be appointed, was justi- 
 fiable, and might be agreed to.| These negotiations, 
 however, remained secret for some years, and were 
 first disclosed by Lord Castlereagh, in the speech 
 which he made in the House of Commons in 18 10. 
 The question of the Veto was first mooted in relation 
 to the Catholic question in 1808, when Mr. Grattan 
 and Lord Grenville, on moving resolutions in favour 
 
 * Division — For the clause, 247 ; against, 251. 
 
 t Butler's "Historical Memoirs of the Catholics," vol. iv. p. 151. 
 
40 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [i8i3- 
 
 of the Catholics, said that they were authorized by 
 Dr. Milner, who acted as agent in England for the 
 Catholic bishops of Ireland, to state that, in the event 
 of Emancipation being agreed to, they were prepared 
 to assent to a proposal for giving to the Crown the 
 right of negativing the appointment of any bishop. 
 
 Later, in the same year, 1813, the Irish Bishops 
 again considered the question, and (by a majority of 
 twenty-three to three) passed a resolution, declaring 
 that it was inexpedient to make any change in the 
 method of electing the prelates of their Church, which 
 long experience had proved to be unexceptionally wise 
 and salutary. This did not, however, settle the ques- 
 tion ; it was asserted by many that their decision was 
 not final. Two parties were gradually formed in 
 Ireland; the one consisting of the Catholic peers under 
 Lord Fingall, and of the greater number of the older 
 leaders of the Catholics, who were favourably disposed 
 to the Veto ; the other consisting of the more popular 
 section of the party, who were opposed to any con- 
 cession, and who were prepared to defer Emancipa- 
 tion, rather than give way on that point. At the 
 Catholic Board, after the change effected in the Bill, 
 the discussion on the Veto was very stormy. O'Connell 
 led the opposition to it. Mr. Shell, who was second 
 only in personal influence at the Board, was in favour 
 of it ; and there was a great weight of authority 
 in the same direction. Undoubtedly, however, the 
 popular feeling in Ireland was strongly against any 
 control of the clergy by the State. The authority 
 of Mr. Burke was quoted, and was widely circu- 
 lated in the country. In his "Letter to a Peer" he 
 had said on this subject, " Never were the members 
 of one religious sect fit to appoint pastors to another. • 
 Those who have no regard for their welfare, repu- 
 tation, or internal quiet will not appoint such as are 
 proper. ... It is a great deal to suppose that the 
 present Castle would nominate bishops for the Roman 
 Catholic Church of Ireland with a religious regard for 
 
i8i3-] THE VETO. 41 
 
 its welfare. Perhaps they cannot, perhaps dare not, 
 do it." And in his letter to Dr. Hussey he further said, 
 " I am sure that the constant meddling of your bishops 
 and clergy with the Castle, and the Castle with them, 
 will infallibly set them ill with their own body. All the 
 weight which the clergy have hitherto had to keep the 
 people quiet would be lost if this once should happen." 
 It is probable also that the instincts of the Irish people 
 were against the proposal, for the very reasons that 
 made it acceptable to many of the governing class in 
 England, namely, that it would place the Catholic 
 Church more under the control of the Government, 
 and that its tendency, therefore, was anti-national. 
 
 Mr. Sheil made a most courageous defence of the 
 principle involved in the Veto, at the Catholic Board, 
 and was answered by O'Connell. The latter opposed 
 it on two grounds — first, as an Irishman, that this inter- 
 ference would be injurious to public liberty ; secondly, 
 as a Catholic, that it would be destructive of the Catholic 
 religion. " Let the servants of the Crown be con- 
 tent with the patronage they had. It is sufficient for 
 their purpose ; and if this addition be but small, let 
 them leave us this small independence, for this little 
 is our all — and great it is in fact." O'Connell carried 
 his views by an immense majority. The question, 
 however, did not end there. The schism continued. 
 Appeal was made to Rome on the subject ; and in the 
 absence of the Pope, during his captivity in France, 
 Cardinal Quarantotti addressed a rescript to the Irish 
 Bishops, to the effect that, having consulted the prelates 
 of the Church in a special congregation, it was decreed 
 that the Catholics might with satisfaction and gratitude 
 accept and embrace the Relief Bill, with the amend- 
 ments, and that it was highly proper that their prelates 
 should be agreeable and acceptable to the King, and 
 that they should exercise their ministry with his full 
 consent* This view was subsequently confirmed by 
 
 * Butler, vol. iv.. Appendix, p. 518; Letter of Cardinal Quaran- 
 totti to Dr. iPoynter. 
 
42 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [i8i3- 
 
 the Pope Pius VII., who regarded the arrangement 
 proposed, "not only as one not injurious to religion, 
 and a means of averting from it many calamities 
 otherwise to be feared, but also as a likely motive 
 towards the attainment of Emancipation." * 
 
 The Irish Bishops, however, did not consider 
 Quarantotti's rescript as ecclesiastically binding on 
 them. O'Connell's influence prevailed with them, and 
 they pronounced strongly against the Veto, in spite of 
 the influence of the English Catholics, who were enlisted 
 in its favour. The approval of the Pope was ulti- 
 mately withdrawn. As a result, O'Connell's policy pre- 
 vailed, and he triumphed over all difficulties. The older 
 leaders of the Catholic cause, who, like Lord Fingall, 
 had declared in favour of the Veto, were thrust into 
 the background ; they endeavoured to form an inde- 
 pendent association, but without success. The conduct 
 of the Catholic cause in Parliament was taken out of 
 the hands of Mr. Grattan, who had committed himself 
 on this point, and had consequently lost the confi- 
 dence of the bulk of the party. From thenceforth 
 O'Connell became the undisputed leader of the Catholics 
 in Ireland — a position which he never lost, and which 
 gave him absolute power in controlling and directing 
 their policy and action. For some time, however, the 
 Catholic cause suffered both in Parliament and in 
 Ireland by these unfortunate dissensions ; and it be- 
 came necessary for English statesmen to look for other 
 concessions than the Veto, if it were hoped to carry 
 Emancipation against all the difficulties opposed to it. 
 
 During this period of reaction of the Catholic cause 
 O'Connell addressed himself more frequently to the 
 subject of Repeal of the Union. The two questions 
 of Repeal and Catholic Emancipation were mixed up 
 in his speeches. Earnestly anxious as he was to 
 obtain for the Catholics a full recognition of their 
 claims, he found solace for the delay in the feeling 
 that the denial strengthened his case for Repeal, and 
 * Butler vol. iv. p. 544. 
 
i8i3.] REPEAL, NOT SEPARATION. 43 
 
 enabled him to educate the Irish people into a temper 
 of active hostility to the Union. 
 
 " Desiring as I do the repeal of the Union," he 
 said in one of his speeches in 1813, "I rejoice to see 
 how our enemies promote that great object. Yes ; 
 they promote its inevitable success by their very hos- 
 tility to Ireland. They delay the liberties of the 
 Catholics, but they compensate us rrjost amply, because 
 they advance the restoration of Ireland. By leaving 
 a cause of agitation, they have created and they will 
 embody and give shape and form to a public mind and 
 a public spirit." * While advocating Repeal, however, 
 he constantly deprecated separation between the two 
 countries. " Your enemies say that I wish for a sepa- 
 ration between England and Ireland. The charge is 
 false. It is, to use a modern expression, 'as false as 
 hell ; ' and the men who originated it and the men who 
 inculcate it know its falsehood. There lives not a man 
 less desirous of a separation between the two countries. 
 There lives not a man more deeply convinced that the 
 connection between them, based on one king and two 
 separate Parliaments, would be of the utmost value to 
 the happiness of both countries." " Ireland," he added, 
 " lq,y in torpor till roused by the cry of religious liberty. 
 She woyld, I fear, relapse into apathy, if liberty of 
 conscience were soon conceded." 
 
 * Speech of O'Connell in 18 13, quoted by Mr. Lecky, "Leaders 
 pf Irish Opinion," p. 229. I have been unable to find it elsewhere. 
 
44 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1814. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 On news arriving, in 1814, of the capitulation of 
 Paris, and of the overthrow of Napoleon, orders were 
 at once sent from England to the Lord Lieutenant to 
 suppress the Catholic Board, which had continued to 
 exist, in spite of the Government prosecutions. The 
 Board was promptly proclaimed under the Convention 
 Act. It met no more, and thenceforward the meetings 
 held by O'Connell were called aggregate meetings, and 
 no definite organization existed. The hopes of the Ca- 
 tholics fell with the peace ; political lethargy for a time 
 spread through the mass of the people ; the Protestants 
 were relieved of their fears, and became more aggres- 
 sive in their attitude to the Catholics. Peel, in defend- 
 ing the action of his Government for suppressing the 
 Catholic Board, assured the House of Commons that 
 the people of Ireland had been misled, and were not 
 aware of the mischievous tendency of its proceedings. 
 " The mode in which the proceedings of that body had 
 been conducted, the absurd, pitiful discussions that took 
 place in it, the abandonment of the instructions of 
 those who were at the head of the Catholic religion, 
 the pompous titles they had assumed, had now alien- 
 ated the affections of those who had once been their 
 supporters, and had shown them to be the real enemies 
 of the cause of which they had wished to appear the 
 supporters." * How little he was able to appreciate 
 the forces at work in Ireland, and the hold which 
 O'Connell had already obtained on its people, the sequel 
 
 * " Parliamentary Debates," vol. xxviii. p. 31. 
 
i8i4.] THE IRISH CONSTABULARY. 45 
 
 will show. In 18 14 and 181 5 little was effected for 
 Ireland beyond the passing of Coercion Acts. The 
 peace with France brought with it a fall of prices, which 
 bore heavily upon the agriculture of Ireland, where 
 rents had been forced up by the war prices of wheat 
 and other produce. There was added, therefore, to the 
 political grievances an agrarian difficulty, which showed 
 itself in an agitation against tithes, in demands for 
 reduction of rents, and, when redress was denied on 
 these points, in disturbances and outrages. It was 
 not the only occasion in Ireland when agrarian and 
 political grievances have been mingled, and when the 
 Government, unable to distinguish them, or to apply to 
 either of them a suitable remedy, has been compelled 
 to resort to coercion. 
 
 Peel applied to Parliament, in 18 14, for a severe 
 Coercion Act, and later for the renewal of some of 
 the clauses of the Insurrection Act; and during an 
 autumn session a Peace Preservation Act was passed, 
 still further strengthening the powers of the Govern- 
 ment. Under the first of these Acts the Government 
 was authorized to proclaim districts, and to appoint 
 therein paid magistrates and a corps of police respon- 
 sible directly to the Lord Lieutenant. This was the 
 first commencement of the Irish Constabulary, a force 
 which has since become so potent a machine in the 
 hands of the Castle Government.* The Act pro- 
 vided that this force was to be independent of the 
 local magistrates, whose orders were to be disregarded, 
 unless approved by the stipendiary magistrates. The 
 system thus established was a decided step towards cen- 
 tralization ; it increased the power and patronage of 
 the Government, and lowered the position of the local 
 magistrates. It was introduced ostensibly for the 
 purpose of dealing with exceptional disturbances, but, 
 once established in a district, it was never superseded, 
 
 * The first idea of a police force seems to have originated with 
 Sir A. Wellesley, who organized the Dublin police while he was Chief 
 Secretary. 
 
46 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [i8iS- 
 
 and the system was gradually extended over the whole 
 of Ireland. 
 
 So far from legislating in the interest of the 
 tenants, by whom the whole burden of the difficulties 
 caused by the fall of prices was borne, the only 
 measure devised by Peel was one greatly facilitating 
 ejectment, by cheapening the cost of it. In 1815 an 
 Act was passed, providing in the case of holdings of 
 under ^20 per annum, that is in five out of six of the 
 agricultural tenancies, that the Assistant- Barrister at 
 sessions might make a decree of ejectment, at a cost 
 of a few shillings ; two years later the process was 
 further facilitated by an Act making the evidence of 
 the landlord alone sufficient for an ascertainment of the 
 rent due. These two Acts very greatly strengthened 
 the power of the landlords in respect of yearly 
 tenancies, and enabled them to take advantage of the 
 agricultural crisis, and to clear their estates of small 
 tenants. These measures, the constitution of the police 
 force, and an almost annual succession of Coercion 
 Acts, are the only evidences of Peel's constructive 
 statesmanship during the period he held the post of 
 Irish Secretary. During his tenure of office, how- 
 ever, he yearly opposed the motions for Catholic 
 Emancipation, and for inquiring into the state of 
 Ireland, made by Grattan, Parnell, and John Newport, 
 and supported by Canning, Castlereagh, Whitbread, 
 Ponsonby, and nearly all the leading men in the 
 House of Commons. His speeches in these debates 
 showed no glimmer of light, nor any appreciation that 
 remedies were required for the state of Ireland, with 
 the single exception that he deplored the number of 
 absentee landlords, and even hinted that measures 
 might be adopted to compel them to reside on their 
 properties. His most able speech was that in the 
 debate on the Catholic claims in 1 8 1 7 ; it was the best 
 that was made, from this point of view, for many 
 years, and did not receive an adequkte reply till 
 Plunket, four years later, in 182 1, made his second 
 
i8i7.] PEEL'S IRISH POLICY. 47 
 
 great effort on behalf of Catholic Emancipation. 
 Peel's defence of the system pursued in Ireland was 
 based mainly on the necessity of maintaining the 
 Union, and on the obligations contracted at the time 
 of the Union, on behalf of the Irish Protestant Church ; 
 both of which he held would be imperilled by con- 
 cessions to the Catholics. He was strongly opposed 
 to any endowment of the Catholic priesthood, believing 
 that it would practically result in a second Established 
 Church. Though Peel was not in the Cabinet, he 
 was practically responsible for the Irish policy of the 
 Government, and little was heard during this period 
 of Lord Sidmouth, the Home Secretary, who was 
 responsible in the Cabinet for Irish affairs. There 
 is reason to believe that Peel became weary of the task 
 of supporting and defending the Ascendency party in 
 Ireland. In 181 7 he was elected member for the 
 University of Oxford, and took the opportunity of 
 resigning his post in the Government, alleging that 
 his new duties as member would be incompatible with 
 the official work of Irish Secretary. He left Ireland, 
 thoroughly tired of the country and of the office. 
 A competent and friendly critic said of him, that his 
 feelings of relief were not greater than those of the 
 Catholic section of the Irish people at his departure.* 
 It is right to add that Peel gained during the period 
 of his Irish office a great reputation for careful 
 administration. It is probable that, during his long 
 apprenticeship in the varied work of the Irish office, 
 he acquired much of those business habits, and that 
 close application to work, which so greatly distinguished 
 him in after-life. 
 
 Peel remained out of office till 1821. During this 
 period Ireland continued more or less in a disturbed 
 state. No attempt was made by the Government to 
 apply remedies either for its political or agrarian 
 wrongs. In 1819 Mr. Grattan made his last effort on 
 behalf of Catholic Emancipation. He was supported by 
 * Croker's "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 107. 
 
48 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1820. 
 
 Mr. Croker, and his motion was rejected by the narrow 
 majority of two, in a division of 243 to 241. In the Lords 
 a similar motion was rejected by 147 to 106. Grattan 
 crossed over from Ireland again in the following 
 year, intending to renew his efforts ; but illness pre- 
 vented his attendance in Parliament, and he died 
 shortly after his arrival in London. By universal 
 desire he was buried in Westminster Abbey. These 
 brief references to his labours in the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment for the Catholic cause, which he served with 
 what he called himself " a desperate fidelity," include 
 but a small part of the work on which his reputa- 
 tion rests. It was in the Irish Parliament that he 
 made his fame. It was due to his exertions mainly, 
 from the date of his entering into political life in 1775, 
 that Ireland obtained the recognition of the indepen- 
 dence of its legislature in 1782; that its commerce was 
 freed from restrictions ; and that its judges were made 
 irremovable. 
 
 In the Irish Parliament, from 1782 till its extinction 
 in 1800, Grattan was its chief ornament, its most elo- 
 quent, patriotic, and disinterested member ; almost 
 alone among the Protestants of Ireland, he advocated, 
 from the very first, the complete and unqualified emanci- 
 pation of the Catholics. It was in no small degree 
 due to him that the Relief Bill, admitting the Roman 
 Catholics to the elective franchise, was passed by the 
 Irish Parliament in 1793 — a concession which, when 
 we look to the composition of that Parliament, was far 
 greater than that carried by the English Parliament in 
 1829. He supported the admission of Catholics to the 
 I rish Parliament, but was opposed by the English Govern- 
 ment. If this proposal had been carried, there would 
 probably have been no Act of Union. He was also an 
 earnest advocate for reform of the Irish Parliament. 
 In this, again, he was opposed by the British Govern- 
 ment. After repeated attempts to carry these two 
 measures, finding that the Government refused to yield, 
 and that the revolutionary feeling of Ireland was rising 
 
I820.J DEATH OF GRATTAN. 49 
 
 to a point which made the rebellion of 1798 inevitable, 
 he retired from the Irish Parliament. He consented to 
 be re-elected again for the express purpose of taking 
 part in the last debates on the proposal to destroy 
 the independence of the Irish Parliament ; his speech 
 on the second reading of the measure for carrying the 
 Union was worthy of the occasion, of the highest order 
 of eloquence, with every quality of force, indignation, 
 pathos, and trenchant argument. Transplanted later in 
 life to the English Parliament, he fully sustained his 
 I rish reputation, though his style differed so much from 
 that of the eminent men he had there to encounter. 
 There were certain mannerisms of gesture and dialect, 
 and peculiarities of diction which at first detracted from 
 the pleasure of listening to him, but his hearers soon 
 forgot these defects in the keenness of his argument, 
 the elevation of his thoughts, the terseness of his sen- 
 tences, the felicities of expression, and the almost over- 
 abundant flow of epigram and antithesis. 
 
 Though profoundly convinced that a great wrong 
 had been done to his country by the Act of Union, 
 and that the day would come, when the injury effected, 
 both to Ireland and England, would be fully recognized, 
 Grattan did not think it expedient prematurely to re- 
 open the question in the British Parliament. His 
 dying request to his friend, Sir John Doyle, was that he 
 should not attack Lord Castlereagh. " The Union," 
 he said, " has passed ; the business between him and 
 me is over, and it is the interest of Ireland that 
 Castlereagh should be Minister. ... I found the 
 Government in a league to sell my country ; I told 
 them so. I opposed the Union. I stood up for 
 Ireland, and I was right." * His tomb in the Abbey 
 and his statue in St. Stephen's Hall are proofs, that 
 it was even then possible to hold that Ireland ought to 
 have an independent legislature, without losing the 
 claim to imperial honour as a patriot and a statesman. 
 
 In 182 1 another effort was made in Parliament 
 * "Life of Grattan," vol. v. p. SS3- 
 
50 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. l\%z\. 
 
 on behalf of the CathoHcs. Mr. Plunket, who was now 
 the most distinguished survivor of the Irish Parliament, 
 moved for leave to introduce a Bill on the subject, in a 
 speech which equalled in argument and eloquence, if 
 it did not exceed, that which he had made eight years 
 earlier, and which had made his reputation in the 
 House of Commons. He was opposed by Peel, who 
 had been recently appointed Home Secretary, and 
 who in this capacity took a leading part in directing 
 the Irish policy of the Government; but, in face of 
 the opposition of the Government, the motion was 
 carried by one vote only. The Bill, when introduced, 
 was again opposed by the Government. It was sup- 
 ported by Canning, Wilberforce, and Mackintosh, and 
 was carried, on the second reading, by 254 votes to 243. 
 In the House of Lords, Liverpool and Eldon did 
 their utmost against it, the latter saying that there 
 were not three lines in the measure to which he could 
 assent. The Bill was rejected by a majority of 159 to 
 120. The occasion was important, as it was the 
 first of a very long list of cases, in which remedial 
 measures for Ireland, passed by the House of Com- 
 mons, have been rejected by the House of Lords. The 
 position of the Irish Representative Peers had much 
 to do with this. By the arrangements made by the 
 Act of Union, twenty-eight representatives were to 
 be elected by the Irish peers to sit for life in the 
 Parliament of the United Kingdom. The elections 
 have ever since been in the hands of the Protestant 
 peers of Ireland. No Catholic peer has ever been 
 elected ; and no peer known to be liberal in his views, 
 at the time of election, has ever been chosen. As a 
 result, the House of Lords has been leavened and pre- 
 judiced on Irish questions by a number of peers from 
 Ireland, representing only one, and the smallest section 
 of its people, and only one interest, that of landlords ; 
 a body without any popular sympathies, and the deter- 
 mined opponent of every measure of justice to their 
 country. If the Catholics of Ireland had been repre- 
 
i82[.] GEORGE IV. IN IRELAND. 5 I 
 
 sented in the House of Lords in proportion to their 
 numbers, Emancipation would have been carried in 
 182 1. The Irish peers have ever since been the worst 
 element of the Upper House, urging the Tory party 
 to repeated blunders, but doubtless most useful to it in 
 a purely party sense. 
 
 In the summer of 182 1, Ireland was honoured by 
 a visit from George IV., who had recently, on the 
 death of his father, ascended the throne. He was the 
 first English monarch since William III. who had set 
 foot in Ireland. He was received everywhere with 
 extravagant demonstrations of loyalty. With excellent 
 taste, the Catholics refrained during his stay from press- 
 ing their grievances, or even from making the slightest 
 allusion to them. O'Connell himself went out of his 
 way to show his devotion to his Sovereign, and overdid 
 the part so as to draw from Lord Byron a well-known 
 rebuke. Everything was done by the King to give 
 the impression of friendly feeling to the Catholics, and 
 their hopes were again raised, only to be dashed to the 
 ground, when the royal visit was over ; for George IV. 
 never had any intentions of changing his opinions 
 again on the Catholic question. 
 
 Whether as a result of the King's visit, or of the 
 recent success of the Catholic Bill in the House of 
 Commons, a determination was arrived at by the 
 Government to effect a change in the policy of their 
 administration in Ireland, and to constitute the personnel 
 of the Castle in a manner more agreeable to the 
 Catholics. Lord Wellesley, well known for his Catholic 
 sympathies, was sent as Lord Lieutenant. Mr. Plunket, 
 who had carried the Catholic Relief Bill through the 
 House of Commons, was appointed Attorney-General, 
 in place of Mr. Saurin, the ardent advocate of Protestant 
 Ascendency, who for many years had been the main- 
 stay of the administration. On the other hand, Mr. 
 Goulburn, whose Protestant sympathies were equally 
 decided, was appointed Chief Secretary, and all the 
 other partisans of the Ascendency, including Lord 
 
52 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1822. 
 
 Manners, the Chancellor, were left at their posts. The 
 Home Secretary, Lord Sidmouth, privately informed 
 Lord Manners that " conciliation, not concession," was 
 the principle to be adopted by the Irish Government, 
 and that Lord Wellesley was sent to administer the 
 laws, and not to make an alteration of them/" While, 
 therefore, the Executive in Ireland was divided be- 
 tween men of opposing principles, no real change of 
 policy was introduced by the English Government, 
 especially in relation to the Catholic claims. 
 
 Lord Wellesley soon found himself in a false position. 
 He was friendly to the Catholic claims, but he had 
 to administer Ireland according to anti-Catholic laws, 
 and under an anti-Catholic Cabinet. He endeavoured, 
 however, to pursue a policy of conciliation, so far as 
 the narrow limits of his instructions permitted him. 
 As an illustration, it is worth while to notice an inci- 
 dent, small in itself, but of interest as showing the 
 relation of parties in Ireland. It had been the custom, 
 for upwards of a hundred years, to decorate the statue 
 of William III., on College Green, with flowers and 
 flags, on November 12, the anniversary of the battle 
 of the Boyne. This annual demonstration was na- 
 turally displeasing to the Catholics, who formed the 
 great majority of the population of Dublin, and Lord 
 Wellesley, with the approval of the Lord Mayor, 
 directed that it should be discontinued. This slight 
 concession to Catholic feeling caused great indignation 
 among the Protestants. The Corporation of Dublin 
 passed a vote of censure on their Mayor ; in the heat 
 of their wrath, the Guild of Merchants of Dublin 
 met and actually voted a petition to Parliament for the 
 repeal of the Act of Union. Lord Wellesley, for 
 the same reason, was hissed at the theatre. A bottle, 
 supposed to contain some explosive substance, was 
 thrown at him. A riot ensued, which is known by 
 the name of the Bottle Riot. The rioters were pro- 
 
 * Letter of Lord Sidmouth to Lord Manners, December 12, 
 182 1, " Life of Sidmoyth," vol. iii. p, 381. 
 
1822.] FAMINE IN IRELAND. 
 
 53 
 
 secuted, but the Protestant grand jury threw out the 
 Bills of Indictment. All the elements of a social dis- 
 turbance arose, but resulted in nothing worse than 
 a storm in a teapot. 
 
 Meanwhile much more serious events were occur- 
 ring in the south and west of Ireland. The political 
 position there was aggravated by a famine, caused by 
 a failure of the potato crop. Vast numbers of tenants 
 were reduced to indigence. In Clare county alone 
 100,000 persons were supported by charity, and in 
 Cork county more than 120,000. The attention of 
 England was seriously directed to the sufferings of 
 the Irish ; large subscriptions were made to relieve the 
 people, and in London alone the sum of ;^ 2 50,000 
 was raised for this purpose. Disturbances ensued in 
 many parts of Ireland, due rather to the agrarian diffi- 
 culty than to political causes. The first act of the 
 Government on the assembling of Parliament was to 
 apply for fresh powers for the Executive of Ireland. 
 They recommended the re-enactment of the Insurrec- 
 tion Act, and the suspension of the Habeas Corpus 
 Act. These measures were strongly opposed by Mr, 
 Brougham, Mr. Spring Rice, Sir F. Burdett, and 
 others, and by Lord Holland and Lord King in the 
 House of Lords, on the ground that no sufficient case 
 had been made out for measures of such severity, and 
 that an increase of the military force would suffice for 
 dealing with the state of Ireland. The Bill was 
 carried in the Commons by a majority of 195 to 68. 
 
 The Irish Government availed itself vigorously of 
 the powers thus given to it, but without much effect 
 on the condition of the country, for outrages con- 
 tinued, and large bodies of men collected, and were 
 only dispersed, after serious conflicts with the military 
 and police. It is stated in a contemporary account 
 that "the insurgents consisted largely of men who, 
 by the depression of farming produce, had been 
 reduced from the rank of substantial yeomen to 
 complete indigence. By the custom of letting lands 
 
54 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1822. 
 
 in perpetuity, or for any long period of years, many 
 farmers had been induced to expend their whole pro- 
 perty upon buildings and improvements, calculating 
 upon a permanent interest in farms, for which, how- 
 ever, they now paid full rack-rents, or even more. 
 These men readily fell in with any project likely to 
 embroil the country." * 
 
 It is evident, from this and other accounts, that the 
 two concurrent circumstances of the great fall in prices 
 of agricultural produce, due to the peace and the 
 return to a gold currency, unaccompanied by any 
 reduction of rents, and the failure of the potato crop, 
 had reduced the bulk of the population to a condition 
 of despair. No attempt, however, was made to apply 
 any remedies to the agrarian difficulty. Under the 
 Insurrection Act the people were practically handed 
 over to the local magistracy, who, representing one class 
 alone, the landlords, were able to use the whole of 
 the civil and military force of the country to collect 
 their rents. 
 
 Later in the year, application was made to Parlia- 
 ment for a further renewal of the Insurrection Act, 
 and for a greater extension of the constabulary force. 
 The debates on these measures are interesting, as 
 showing a greater desire on the part of members to 
 probe the causes of the disturbances in Ireland. The 
 second of these measures was supported by the Govern- 
 ment, on the ground of the unsatisfactory condition of 
 the Irish magistracy, and the inexpediency of trusting 
 entirely to it for the maintenance of order. Credit 
 was claimed for Lord Wellesley for having purged the 
 list of magistrates of some of its worst members. The 
 measure was attacked on the ground of its highly 
 centralizing tendency, and the enormous power it would 
 concentrate in the hands of the Irish Executive. 
 Mr. Charles Grant, who had held the post of Irish 
 Secretary for two years, in succession to Peel, led the 
 opposition. It is worth while to quote his testimony 
 * Annual Register, 1822, p. [30]. 
 
1822.] COERCION. 55 
 
 as to the method of government long pursued in Ire- 
 land. " Of the great causes," he said, " which had been 
 most operative in producing the past and present state 
 of Ireland, the first was that system of coercive laws 
 to which the Government had recourse upon every 
 emergency. What had been the result ? Security ? 
 No ; it had only excited feelings of ill-will, hatred, and 
 revenge. It had secured a conviction in the minds 
 of the lower classes, that the law was founded on 
 principles hostile to them, and that the Government 
 of England felt at liberty to resort to unconstitutional 
 measures, for the administration of Ireland, which they 
 dared not employ in England. A second cause was 
 the habitual interference of the Government in all the 
 matters of internal police. The continued operation of 
 this cause with the former, the blending of extra- 
 ordinary legislation on matters of general government 
 with extraordinary interference on matters of police, 
 had created a supineness among the gentry and inhabi- 
 tants of the country which could never be sufficiently 
 deplored. That supineness had led the way to humilia- 
 tion, humiliation to want of respect, want of respect to 
 carelessness in the discharge of public duty, and that 
 carelessness to the abuse of all public trusts." The 
 measure was highly unpopular with both parties in 
 Ireland — with the Protestants, because it tended to 
 degrade the position of the landlords and local magis- 
 trates, with the national party, on account of its costli- 
 ness, and its tendency to centralization. 
 
 During the same session a motion was brought 
 forward by Mr. Hume in the House of Commons for 
 the abolition of the Irish Church ; but it received little 
 support. A proposal by Lord Lansdowne in the House 
 of Lords for the commutation of Irish tithes was opposed 
 by Lord Liverpool on the grounds that Parliament had 
 no more right to deal with tithes, than with the rents of 
 landlords, and that the clergy of the Church of Ireland 
 were a most valuable class of men, not merely as 
 clergymen, but as resident proprietors. Another 
 
56 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1822. 
 
 measure was proposed by Mr. Canning (then desig- 
 nated as Governor-General of India) for the admission 
 of CathoHc peers to sit and vote in Parliament. In 
 spite of the violent opposition of Peel, it passed the 
 Commons by the small majority of 235 to 233. In 
 the Lords it was rejected by 171 votes to 129, after 
 a speech of great force from Lord Eldon, who con- 
 tended that the exclusion of Catholics from legislative 
 and judicial power was and ought to be of the essence 
 of our constitutional system. 
 
 Later, on the death, in 1822, of Lord Londonderry 
 — the Castlereagh of the Union, whose last official 
 act had very appropriately been to propose another 
 Coercion Bill for Ireland — Mr. Canning was ap- 
 pointed Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and gave up 
 his intention of going to India. Thenceforward the 
 Catholic question entered into a new phase, for it 
 was admitted to be an open one for members of the 
 Government — one on which they might speak and vote 
 in opposite directions — thus showing a very great 
 advance in the question. Canning, on taking office, 
 resigned his seat for Liverpool, and became a candi- 
 date for Harwich. In his address to this constituency 
 he defended himself for taking office in a Government, 
 which was not prepared to deal at once with the 
 "Catholic question. " He considered this question as 
 hopeless in the then state of the country ; and that 
 it was equally hopeless to form an administration, 
 which should agree upon this measure, and at the same 
 time be competent to carry on the government of 
 the country." This did not save him in the following 
 session from a fierce attack of Brougham, for joining 
 a Government, which was not prepared to concede 
 justice to the Cathohcs. He accused Canning of 
 having exhibited "a specimen, the most incredible 
 specimen of monstrous treachery, for the purpose of 
 obtaining office, that the whole history of tergiversa- 
 tion could furnish." At this point Canning rose and 
 said, " That is false." A scene ensued which nearly 
 
i822.] MR. CANNING. 57 
 
 resulted in the committal to custody of both these 
 distinguished members ; and the excitement was with 
 difficulty allayed. In the course of the discussion, 
 Canning expressed his confidence that the Catholic 
 question would make its way under any Government, 
 which did not actually unite or openly set its counte- 
 nance against it. He defended himself for joining 
 the Government, and denied that he intended to con- 
 vey by his previous explanations, that the question 
 could not be carried without its being made what was 
 technically called a Government question. There is 
 no doubt, in spite of what Canning then said, that the 
 acceptance of office by himself, Plunket, and other 
 leading advocates of the Catholic claims, in a Govern- 
 ment not pledged to carry it, and which was divided 
 on the subject, greatly discouraged its supporters, and 
 tended to delay its ultimate success. 
 
 Notwithstanding the coercive measures of the 
 Government, the winter of 1822-3 was the scene of 
 renewed disturbances in Ireland, similar to those of the 
 preceding year. Notices were widely posted forbidding 
 payment of tithes and rent. The legal remedy for 
 levying distress for rent was rendered ineffectual by the 
 carrying off of stock. When crimes were committed, it 
 was impossible to induce witnesses to come forward, 
 with a view to the detection and conviction of the per- 
 petrators. In the session of 1823 the first effort of the 
 Government was, as usual, to renew the Insurrection 
 Act. This time, some small attempt was made to 
 accompany the measure with a remedy to meet the 
 agrarian difficulty. In spite of Lord Liverpool's 
 declarations in the previous session, it was discovered 
 that the collection of tithes was one of the principal 
 causes of the disturbances in Ireland, and it was 
 thought well to introduce a Bill for their composition. 
 As originally introduced by the Irish Secretary, the 
 measure contained a compulsory clause by which the 
 tithe-receivers might, against their will, be compelled 
 to accept a money payment. This, however, met with so 
 
58 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [i«23- 
 
 much opposition, on the ground that it was a violation 
 of the rights of the Church of Ireland, that it was aban- 
 doned, and the measure finally passed the Commons as 
 a purely permissive one. The House of Lords again 
 distinguished itself, this year by rejecting a measure 
 of Catholic Relief which the House of Commons had 
 passed. It was a Bill to give the elective franchise 
 to the Roman Catholics of England and Scotland — a 
 measure which had been conceded in Ireland in i793 
 by the Protestant Parliament of that country, and in 
 respect of which it would be difficult to conceive what 
 arguments could possibly be urged against its extension 
 to England. The measure passed the Commons by a 
 large majority ; but in the Lords, on the suggestion 
 of Lord Eldon and Lord Redesdale, it was rejected by 
 80 to 73. The same fate was only avoided for another 
 Bill, for making Catholics eligible for certain offices in 
 England, which had also passed the Commons, by its 
 not being proceeded with in the Lords. During the 
 same year, Mr. Brougham, in the House of Commons, 
 presented a petition, signed by two thousand Roman 
 Catholics, complaining of the administration of justice 
 in Ireland ; and in moving that it should be referred to 
 a committee, he attacked the whole system of govern- 
 ment in Ireland. He showed the exclusively partisan 
 character and the corruption of the magistracy, the 
 packing of juries, the malpractices of the sheriffs. He 
 pointed out the abuses of the Civil Bill Courts, of the 
 revenue board, and of the assistant-barristers ; and 
 he complained of the absence of guarantees for judicial 
 purity, such as existed in England. The Secretary for 
 Ireland defended the system. The petition received 
 little support from the Irish members, who evidently 
 sympathized with their Protestant countrymen, and the 
 committee was refused by 139 to 59. 
 
 In the following year (1824), in spite of great 
 improvement in Ireland, owing mainly to a better 
 harvest, the Ministers again asked for a renewal of 
 the Insurrection Act, This course was opposed by 
 
1824.] THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION. 59 
 
 Lord John Russell, who said that the Act was an 
 infringement of a free constitution, and a clumsy con- 
 trivance for the maintenance of order. The Bill, how- 
 ever, was carried by 112 to 23. Lord Althorp then 
 moved for a committee to inquire into the state of 
 Ireland, and suggested, as subjects for consideration, 
 the relation of landlord and tenant, the Church Estab- 
 lishment and tithes, and the financial relations with 
 England. The Government moved an amendment 
 restricting the inquiry into the disturbances in Ireland, 
 and carried it by a large majority. The only further 
 Parliamentary incidents of importance in this year 
 were a motion by Mr. Hume, directed against the 
 Established Church of Ireland, which was rejected by 
 153 to 79, very few of the minority being Irish 
 members ; and a renewed attempt by Lord Lansdowne 
 to carry a measure for the relief of English Catholics 
 similar to that of the previous year, which was again 
 rejected by the Lords by 139 votes to loi. 
 
 While the Catholic cause was thus falling back in 
 Parliament, partly owing to its chief supporters having 
 joined the Government, O'Connell was laying the 
 foundation in Ireland of a much more powerful 
 organization than he had ever previously? succeeded 
 in establishing. The question had temporarily lost 
 ground there, owing to the differences which had arisen 
 about the Veto, and the consequent alienation of many of 
 the leading Catholics from the more popular party. 
 At the close of the year 1822, all vestige of an organi- 
 zation had disappeared, and there was an almost com- 
 plete torpor in the public mind on the Catholic claims. 
 O'Connell now made a renewed effort to push the 
 question to the front. In 1823, with the aid of 
 Mr. Shell, who had already gained a reputation as an 
 able speaker and writer, but who had hitherto been 
 separated from him on the Veto question, he founded 
 the Catholic Association. Some of the leading Catholic 
 peers, such as Lord Killeen, the son of Lord Fingall, 
 Lord Gormanston, and Lord Kenmare, joined it ; and 
 
6o CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1824. 
 
 many of the leading Catholic bishops and members 
 of the priesthood also gave it their support ; chief 
 among these was Dr. Doyle, the Bishop of Kildare 
 and Leighlin — a prelate of ability and energy, possess- 
 ing much literary power, which he freely used for the 
 popular cause. The Association consisted of members 
 paying a guinea each year and of associates paying 
 one shilling ; its executive consisted of a standing com- 
 mittee, of which O'Connell was the head. 
 
 At first the Association attracted but little attention. 
 It was even treated with contempt, as Mr. Shell tells 
 us, by its opponents, and many Catholics themselves 
 spoke of it with derision. At its weekly meetings it 
 was often difficult to obtain a quorum of ten members. 
 O'Connell, however, soon infused a vigorous life into 
 it. He gave up daily to it a large portion of his 
 time, at a great sacrifice of his professional work. He 
 alone conducted all its correspondence, advised all its 
 proceedings, perfected all its organization. He con- 
 ceived the idea of enlisting, on behalf of the cause, 
 the masses of the people, who had hitherto taken no 
 active part. He devised, in the following year, the 
 plan of inviting throughout the country monthly sub- 
 scriptions of one penny, to which he gave the name 
 of the Catholic Rent. At first this was a mere experi- 
 ment, but it struck the imagination of the Irish people ; 
 it gave them immediate interest in the proceedings of 
 the Association, by making them partners in a great 
 movement, which soon spread all over Ireland. " The 
 rent-collecting soon settled into a system ; the collectors 
 became the disciplined, as the rent contributors were 
 the irregular, troops of the Association." * The rent 
 enabled the Association to undertake work of immense 
 importance to the Catholic cause, in the press, in 
 the law courts, by defending persons unjustly accused, 
 and in a vast variety of ways, where their adherents 
 required support and assistance. The number of con- 
 tributors multiplied rapidly. Subsidiary associations 
 
 * ^\'yse's "History of the Catholic Association," vol. i. p. 209. 
 
1824.] THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION. 6 1 
 
 were formed in every parish ; the parish priests every- 
 where became voluntary collectors of the rent, and 
 soon the weekly tribute amounted to no less a sum 
 than five hundred pounds, representing half a million of 
 subscribers, and testifying to the firm hold the question 
 had taken of the hearts of the Catholic population. 
 The Association became an organized embodiment 
 of Catholic opinion ; O'Connell was its dictator ; he 
 was supported by all the bishops, by a priest in every 
 parish^'in Ireland, by thirty thousand rent-collectors, and 
 by one member at least in every Catholic household. 
 Coincident with this movement was a literary campaign 
 of great importance to the cause. In England, Sydney 
 Smith, Jeffrey, and Cobbett, in Ireland Moore and 
 Shell, produced great effect by their brilliant and 
 witty attacks on the Protestant Ascendency in Ireland, 
 and their defence of the Catholic claims, and the 
 cause consequently made rapid progress in the estima- 
 tion of public opinion. 
 
 In 1824 a petition from the new Association, 
 carefully drawn up by Mr. Shell, and presenting the 
 whole case of the Catholics with great force, was 
 presented to both Houses of Parliament by Lord 
 Grey and Mr. Brougham. The petition described at 
 length the injustice and partiality of the whole system 
 of administration in Ireland, the partisan character 
 of the magistrates, the lawless manner in which they 
 exercised their summary powers, the habitual packing 
 of juries, and the mockery of justice in the trials 
 which took place.* It pointed out the growing dis- 
 content in Ireland, and the widening breach between 
 landlords and tenants. In the discussion which took 
 place on this petition, Peel replied that '' he wished to 
 rescue the Catholics of Ireland from the charge of 
 
 * Mr. McCullagh Torrens, in his memoirs of Sheil, says that a 
 learned friend of his used to say that when, as a young man on circuit 
 in Ireland, he hstened to Lord Norbury charging a jury in a capital 
 case or sentencing the prisoner, he felt as though he heard a butcher 
 sharpening his knife. — " Life of Sheil," i. p. 190. 
 
62 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1825, 
 
 having prepared so inflammatory a petition, couched 
 as it was in such unbecoming language ; he discredited 
 all insinuations thrown out against the selection of 
 magistrates, sheriffs, and jurors." 
 
 The Government soon became alarmed at the 
 progress of the Catholic Association, having regard as 
 much to its democratic as to its political tendency. 
 The Irish Secretary therefore, in 1825, introduced a 
 Bill to suppress unlawful associations in Ireland. He 
 frankly admitted that his object was to enable the 
 Government to suppress the Catholic Association. 
 The Convention Act, he said, prohibited all assemblies 
 for the appointment or election of deputies. The 
 Catholic Association had succeeded in evading this 
 Act ; it was under, therefore, no legal control. " It had 
 this peculiarity, that all its members were of one mind. 
 There was no competition of opinion ; no opposing voice 
 was heard. Every decision was unanimous. Under 
 other circumstances the fickleness of the multitude 
 might operate as* a check to the probable evil results of 
 such an association ; but this self-elected body was under 
 no control, and continued to act without resorting else- 
 where for extraneous advice, or receiving fresh acces- 
 sions of authority from the people. Again, in upholding 
 that Association were to be found men of disappointed 
 ambition and considerable talents, who exerted them- 
 selves in exciting the public feeling against the Govern- 
 ment, and in inflaming the population against the 
 laws, and against what they described to be a prodigal 
 and corrupt administration of them. The surviving 
 members of the committee of 1793 — that very com- 
 mittee against which the Convention Act was passed — 
 were now enlisted with the Association ; and there were 
 also found in its ranks men who had been the familiar 
 friends of these traitors of old time — the Tones, 
 Russells, Emmetts. It was no doubt true that in the 
 Association were to be found also a great proportion 
 of the Catholic gentry and aristocracy ; but such a 
 connection was not altogether voluntary on their 
 
i82;.] SUPPRESSION OF THE ASSOCIATION. 63 
 
 part, and a great number of that class were as much 
 alarmed at the proceedings of the Association, as its 
 most determined opponents in Parliament. The 
 Association condescended most strictly to imitate the 
 forms of Parliament. They appointed their com- 
 mittees of grievances, of education, and of finance. 
 They had copied almost verbatim the sessional orders 
 of the House of Commons." Complaint was also 
 made against the Association for issuing its mandate 
 to the priests in every parish of Ireland, calling upon 
 them to use every means in their power to produce 
 a large contribution ; and for its interference with the 
 Courts of Justice by investigating and condemning 
 crimes committed by Catholics against Protestants. 
 
 Attention was called to an address of the Asso- 
 ciation to the people of Ireland, in which it was said, 
 "In the name of common sense, which forbids you to 
 seek foolish resources ; by the hate you bear the 
 Orangemen, who are your natural enemies ; by the 
 confidence you repose in the Catholic Association, who 
 are your natural and zealous friends ; by the respect 
 and affection you entertain for your clergy, who alone 
 visit your beds of sickness and desolation ; by all these 
 powerful motives, and still more by the affectionate 
 reverence you bear for the gracious sovereign, who 
 deigns to think of your sufferings, with a view to your 
 relief; and above all, and especially beyond all, in the 
 name of religion and of the living God, we conjure you 
 to abstain from all secret and illegal societies and 
 Whiteboy disturbances and outrages." This address 
 was denounced as anti- Christian in its language and 
 sentiments. " Was it to be wondered at that a society so 
 formed and so acting should create anxiety and alarm ? 
 Was it possible that the Government could avoid calling 
 upon Parliament to prevent the danger likely to arise 
 from such proceedings ? " In the same spirit Mr. Peel 
 argued that the Association was dangerous, because it 
 interfered with the administration of justice. He con- 
 tended that every Catholic, who had subscribed even a 
 
64 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1825. 
 
 farthing to it, was disqualified from sitting as a juror ; 
 as every peasant in Ireland was said to be a member 
 of the Association, justice was likely to be tainted. "The 
 Association," he said, " imitated and travestied the pro- 
 ceedings of Parliament ; its intentions might be good, 
 but with such machinery how easily it might be con- 
 verted into a political engine of the greatest mischief ! 
 What would be the consequence of establishing the 
 principles on which it was founded — the establishment 
 in all directions of similar associations by individuals 
 for their own protection ? The country would in 
 consequence be filled with confusion and anarchy." 
 The Bill, for suppressing the Association was violently 
 opposed by Brougham, Denman, and Sir H. Parnell. 
 It was supported — one regrets to recall the fact — by 
 Canning and Plunket, showing how connection with 
 their colleagues in office had already warped their 
 judgments, and diverted their natural impulses. " I 
 do not say," said Plunket, " that the Association is 
 illegal in the strict sense ; for if it were, the Irish 
 Government would be able to prosecute, and need not 
 have come to Parliament for a remedy ; but I will say 
 that an Association, assuming to represent the people, 
 and in that capacity, to bring about a reform in Church 
 and State, is directly opposed to the spirit of the 
 British Constitution. I do not deny the right of the 
 people to meet for the purpose of promoting the redress 
 of grievances in Church and State by discussion and 
 petition ; but I do deny that any portion of the subjects 
 of the realm have a right to give up their suffrages to 
 others — have a right to select persons to speak their 
 sentiments, to debate upon their grievances, and to 
 devise measures for their removal, these persons not 
 being recognized by law. This is the privilege alone 
 of the Commons of the United Kingdom, and those 
 who trench upon that privilege act against the spirit 
 of the British Constitution." Canning, in the same 
 spirit, while admitting that the Association had not 
 assumed itself to be a representative of the people 
 
1825.] SUPPRESSION OF THE ASSOCIATION. 65 
 
 of Ireland (which would have brought it within the 
 Convention Act), said that he could not shut his eyes to 
 the fact that such a character had been attributed to it. 
 " Can there," he said, " co-exist in this kingdom, with- 
 out imminent hazard to its peace, an assembly con- 
 stituted as the House of Commons is, and another 
 assembly invested with a representative character as 
 energetic as that of the House of Commons itself ? 
 Ought we not to check the Association in time, before 
 it has acquired strength and maturity ?" After express- 
 ing his strong conviction of the justice and expediency 
 of removing the disqualifications of the Catholics, he 
 stated his opinion that the Catholic question had 
 retrograded in the minds of the people of England in 
 consequence of the proceedings of the Association. 
 Mr. Canning then proceeded to make a long vindica- 
 tion of his own political consistency on the Catholic 
 question, and of the sacrifices he had made for it. It 
 is unnecessary to quote from the speeches against the 
 Bill. The arguments will occur to any one from the 
 line adopted by its supporters. The Bill was carried 
 after a few nights' debate by a large majority ; * it was 
 carried in the Lords, after an opposition from Lord 
 Grey and Lord Lansdowne, by a majority of 146 
 to 44. 
 
 The Catholic Association, on the passing of this 
 measure, made no show of resistance. By the advice 
 of O'Connell, it dissolved itself at once ; but only to be 
 reconstituted under a new title, that of the New Catholic 
 Association, differing slightly from the old Associa- 
 tion, so as to avoid the penal consequences of the 
 new law. O'Connell, in fact, boasted of his power to 
 " drive a coach and six " through any penal Act which 
 could be devised against him. Practically, the new 
 Association carried on the work of the old one with- 
 out hindrance, till Emancipation was secured. The 
 skill of O'Connell was directed at this time not merely 
 to driving a coach and six through penal Acts, passed 
 * Division, February 21— For the second reading, 253; against, 107. 
 
 F 
 
66 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1825. 
 
 against the Catholics, but also to preventing as far as 
 possible the use of any language in the Association, 
 which might lead to penal consequences. The Govern- 
 ment was lying in wait, and was ever ready to avail 
 itself of any opportunity for directing prosecutions for 
 language, which might be construed in a treasonable 
 sense. With the aid of partisan judges and packed 
 juries, it hoped to lay hold of its opponents. O'Connell 
 was nearly caught in these meshes. However careful 
 he was in his language, expressions sometimes fell 
 from him which might be twisted into treasonable 
 matter. After describing, in one of his speeches, the 
 career of Bolivar, the South American patriot, he 
 expressed the hope that, if Parliament would not attend 
 to the Catholic claims, some Bolivar would arise to 
 vindicate these rights. For these words, most innocent 
 as they seem in the present day, and preceded by an 
 "if," which made them refer merely to some hypo- 
 thetical case, he was prosecuted by direction of the 
 Attorney-General, Mr. Plunket ; but, fortunately for 
 him, the grand jury by a majority threw out the 
 Bill. 
 
 The House of Commons, having declared war 
 against the Catholic Association, then proceeded to 
 do its best to secure the objects which the Association 
 had in view. Sir F. Burdett proposed a motion in 
 favour of the Catholic claims. It was seconded by 
 Mr. Croker, and supported by Canning, Plunket, and 
 Brougham, and in spite of the opposition of Peel and 
 others of the reactionary section of the Government, 
 it was carried by the small majority of 13.* The 
 debate was notable for a speech of Canning, in 
 which he gave a history of the Catholic movement in 
 Parliament and of his own connection with it, and of 
 the sacrifices which he had made to the cause. " I 
 have always," he said, " refused to act in obedience to 
 the dictates of the Catholic leaders ; I would never 
 put myself into their hands, and I never will. , . , 
 * Division — 247 for the motion, 234 against. 
 
1825J MR. CANNING'S VINDICATION. 67 
 
 Much as I have worked to serve the CathoHc cause, 
 I have seen that the service of the Cathohc leaders 
 is no easy service. They are hard taskmasters ; and 
 the advocate who would satisfy them must deliver 
 himself up to them bound hand and foot. . . . But to 
 be taunted with a want of feeling for the Catholics ; to 
 be accused of compromising their interests, conscious 
 as I am — as I cannot but be — of being entitled to 
 their gratitude for a long course of active services and 
 for the sacrifice to their cause of interests of my own ; 
 — this is a sort of treatment which would rouse even 
 tameness itself to assert its honour and vindicate its 
 claims. I have shown that in the year 1812 I refused 
 office rather than enter into an administration pledged 
 against the Catholic question. I did this at a time 
 when office would have been dearer to me than at 
 any other time of my political life ; when I would 
 have given ten years of life for two years of office ; 
 not for any sordid or selfish purpose of personal 
 aggrandizement, but for other and far higher views. 
 But is this the only sacrifice which I have made to 
 the Catholic cause ? The House will perhaps bear 
 with me a little longer while I answer this question 
 by another fact. From the earliest dawn of my public 
 life — ay, from the first visions of youthful ambition — 
 that ambition had been directed to one object above 
 all others. Before that object all others vanished into 
 comparative insignificance ; it was desirable to me 
 beyond all the blandishments of power, beyond all the 
 rewards and favours of the Crown. That object was 
 to represent in the House the University in which I 
 was educated. I had a fair chance of accomplishing 
 this object, when the Catholic question crossed my 
 way, I was warned — fairly and kindly warned — 
 that my adoption of that cause would blast my 
 prospects. I adhered to the Catholic cause and for- 
 feited all my long-cherished hopes and expectations. 
 And yet I am told that I have made no sacrifice ; that 
 I have postponed the cause of the Catholics to views 
 
68 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [i8j5- 
 
 and interests of my own ! Sir, the representation of 
 the University has fallen into worthier hands. I rejoice 
 with my Right Honourable friend near me (Mr. Peel) 
 in the high honour which he has obtained. Long may 
 he enjoy the distinction ; and long may it prove a 
 source of reciprocal pride to our parent University and 
 to himself Never have I stated till this hour, either 
 in public or in private, the extent of this irretrievable 
 sacrifice ; but I have not felt it the less deeply. It is 
 past, and I shall speak of it no more." ''' 
 
 We know now from Peel's memoirs, that this 
 debate, and the events of that time, made so much 
 impression on him, that he was convinced that con- 
 cession must be made to the Catholics, though he was 
 not prepared to be a party himself to any legislation 
 in this direction. He sought an interview with Lord 
 Liverpool, and offered to withdraw from the Govern- 
 ment, while concessions were being made. Lord Liver- 
 pool, however, threatened to resign himself sooner than 
 attempt anything ; Peel's offer consequently resulted in 
 nothing, and no change of policy occurred. A Bill 
 founded on the resolution of the House was then intro- 
 duced by Sir F. Burdett, Plunketj Canning, Palmerston, 
 Mackintosh, Sir H. Parnell, and Spring Rice. The Bill, 
 after declaring the Protestant succession, and the Protes- 
 tant Episcopal Church of England and Ireland to be 
 established permanently and inviolably, and stating that 
 the declarations against transubstantiation, the invoca- 
 tion of saints, and the mass, now required in the Par- 
 liamentary oaths, related only to matters of spiritual 
 and religious belief, and did not in any way affect the 
 allegiance of his Majesty's subjects, proposed that they 
 should no longer be taken as qualifications for office 
 or franchise by any of his Majesty's subjects. The 
 Bill then recited, that with respect to the oaths of 
 allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, the Catholics 
 had never objected to any of them, except the oath of 
 supremacy, and to that merely as apprehending that 
 * Mr. Canning's speech, February 15, 1825. 
 
1825-1 CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL. 69 
 
 it might be construed to import a disclaimer of the 
 spiritual authority of the Pope or Church of Rome in 
 matters of rehgious belief, and it proposed a new oath, 
 freed from these difficulties on the consciences of 
 Catholics, but requiring them to disavow any temporal 
 power of the Church of Rome in England, or any 
 intention to subvert the present Church Establishment 
 for the purpose of substituting a Roman Catholic 
 Establishment in its stead. 
 
 Two other Bills were introduced at the same time, 
 with the object of facilitating the passing of the main 
 proposal — the one for disfranchising the forty-shilling 
 freeholders in Ireland, and raising the qualification of 
 voters in the counties to freeholds of ^10 in annual 
 value ; the other providing for the payment of the 
 Catholic clergy by the State, on a scale by which 
 four Archbishops of the Church were to receive ;^i50o 
 a year; twenty-two Bishops ^1000; three hundred 
 deans ;^300 each ; and the clergy stipends varying from 
 £60 to ^200 a year each. It was estimated that the 
 total amount required for this purpose would be 
 ;^2 50,000 a year. The Catholic Relief Bill was carried 
 on the second reading by a majority of 268 to 241, 
 after a debate sustained chiefly by Canning, on the 
 one side, and Peel on the other, speaking as members 
 of the same Government and from the same Bench. 
 The second Bill, for raising the qualification of county 
 voters in Ireland, was carried by 233 to 185, Peel this 
 time also voting against it, in company with Brougham 
 and Denman. The third measure, for paying the 
 Catholic clergy, was introduced by a majority of 205 
 to 162. The two first Bills were carried successfully 
 through the Commons. In the House of Lords, the 
 Catholic Relief Bill was rejected, on the second read- 
 ing, by a majority of 48,* after a long debate in which 
 Lord Liverpool and Lord Eldon led the opposition. 
 
 The Peers divided a little before six in the morn- 
 ing ; after two nights of debate. It is of this division 
 * Division — Content, 130; Not Content, 178. 
 
70 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1825- 
 
 that Lord Eldon wrote to his daughter that " Lady- 
 Warwick and Lady Braybrooke would not let out 
 their husbands to go down to the House to vote for 
 the Catholics, so we Protestants drink daily as our 
 favourite toast, ' the ladies who locked up their hus- 
 bands.'" * There is no doubt that the action of the 
 Lords, in throwing out the Bill, was very popular in 
 the country ; so much so that Lord Liverpool was 
 xirged to dissolve Parliament in order to take advan- 
 tage of this popular feeling, and the Duke of Welling- 
 ton was strongly in favour of this course.f 
 
 The division in the Lords was not a little affected 
 by a speech, earlier in the session, of the Duke of 
 York, then heir to the throne. Prompted, it is be- 
 lieved, by his brother the King, the duke went down 
 to the Lords and made a most violent speech against 
 the Catholic claims. He attributed his late father's ail- 
 ments to his troubles on the Catholic question. He went 
 over the old ground of the coronation oath ; he vowed 
 that, whatever might be his future position, " never, so 
 help him God, would he consent to allow these clairns." 
 The King appears to have taken some umbrage at his 
 brother having spoken of the possibility of his acr 
 cession to the throne. " I have no intention," he said, 
 " to make a vacancy just yet ; " and, in fact, he sur- 
 vived the Duke of York. The duke, however, was 
 greatly loved and respected in the country, and his 
 qpinion carried much weight, especially among the 
 peers. The most was made of the speech by circu- 
 lating copies of it, printed in gold, far and wide 
 throughout the country. " Never," Lord Eldon, wrote, 
 " was anything like the sensation the Duke of York's 
 speech has made. I hear ' The Duke of York and No 
 Popery' is to be seen in various parts. Nine people 
 out of ten in the City of London are determinedly 
 adverse to the claims of the Roman Catholics." \ 
 
 * Lord Eldon's "'Life," vol. ii. p. 550. 
 \ Croker's "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 281. 
 % Lord Eldon's " Life," vol. ii. p. 546. 
 
1825.] aCONNELL AND THE WHIGS. 71 
 
 O'Connell was in London during these debates, and 
 was in the Gallery of the House of Commons during 
 a motion made by Brougham, that he and Sheil should 
 be heard at the Bar of the House against the Bill for 
 suppressing the Catholic Association. Peel, in the 
 midst of an animated speech against the motion, seeing 
 him there, pointedly addressed him by word and gesture, 
 and denounced him as an " attainted traitor." It was 
 generally considered that Peel, in doing so, committed 
 a breach of good taste ; it laid him open to a damaging 
 reply from Brougham. O'Connell, during this visit, 
 appears to have had frequent interviews with some of 
 the Whig leaders, and was induced by them to give 
 his assent to the compromise which was embodied in 
 the two concurrent measures, called the " wings " of the 
 Catholic Bill, with reference to the restriction of the 
 franchise, and the payment of the Catholic clergy. On 
 his return, however, to Ireland, he found that these 
 proposals were so unpopular with all classes of Catholics, 
 that he very promptly withdrew his support from them. 
 In the course of the same year a Committee of the 
 Lords inquired into the state of the disturbed districts 
 of Ireland. The accounts given of the condition of the 
 people, by those examined before the committee, are 
 deeply interesting, even at this lapse of time. O'Connell 
 himself gave evidence at length on the subject, and as 
 to the causes of complaint. He pointed out especially 
 the abuse of legal proceedings, and the degradation of 
 the peasantry and small farmers, resulting from the 
 Eviction Acts of i3f5 and 181 7. These Acts, he 
 showed, for the first time gave to landlords and lessors 
 the power of distraining growing crops, even when they 
 were the subsistence of the family of the cultivator ; 
 they had also removed the exceptions which pre- 
 viously existed to ejectment for non-payment of rent. 
 It was also pointed out that, by the custom of the 
 country, rent was always allowed to be from six months 
 to twelve months in arrears. The power of distress for 
 these arrears of rent was used by landlords to compel 
 
72 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1825. 
 
 their poorer tenants to work for them at any rate of 
 wages. A civil engineer, who had been employed on 
 works in Ireland, gave this illustration. If he wanted 
 a gang of men to work for him at eightpence a day, 
 and they demanded tenpence, he could complain to 
 the landlord that the people were demanding exorbi- 
 tant wages. The landlord, whose interest it was that 
 the work should go on, in order that money might be 
 paid to his tenantry, for the purpose of paying their rent 
 to him, would send instant notice that unless they went 
 to work at eightpence a day all their cattle would be 
 driven to the pound under a distress for rent. There 
 exists, he said, no check to the power of the landlord ; 
 under colour of the law, the landlords do what they 
 please, and they could extract from their tenants every 
 shilling beyond bare existence, which could be produced 
 from the land. The lower orders of peasantry could 
 never acquire anything like prosperity ; they were always 
 in a state of beggary, and the landlords, or middle-men, 
 had it in their power to seize their cows, their beds, 
 their potatoes in the ground, and everything they had, 
 without referring to any tribunal which might perhaps 
 justify resistance, in the impossibility of paying all 
 instantly, and could dispose of the property at any price. 
 The operation of the tithe law was also shown to be 
 most oppressive, especially in the case of the smaller 
 tenants. Pages might be copied from this evidence to 
 show the misery of the tenants, and the harshness of 
 some landlords acting under the protection of the law ; 
 most of the crimes in the south and west of Ireland 
 were traced to these causes. The evidence was entirely 
 without effect upon the Lords. They reported that the 
 establishment of the police had done much to improve 
 the situation in their districts, but no suggestion was 
 made by them to mitigate the evils thus brought to light. 
 In the following year (1826) a general election 
 took place. The Catholic Association, under its new 
 organization, had lost nothing of the force of its 
 predecessor. Its power extended to every parish in 
 
1826.] GENERAL ELECTION. 73 
 
 Ireland. Its ample funds were used to promote the 
 interest of the Catholic cause in every direction ; to 
 protect the people from oppression, to defend those 
 accused before magistrates, and to expose wrong-doers 
 by the publication of proceedings. The organization 
 and its funds were now used for electoral purposes, and 
 for the first time in Irish history for nearly two cen- 
 turies, the Catholics began to assert their power in the 
 elections-. It was determined to attack the Protestant 
 landlords in some of their strongholds. Lord Water- 
 ford's interest in the county of Waterford, and Lord 
 Roden's in the county of Louth, were hitherto 
 unquestioned. The Catholics, unable to send men of 
 their own religion to Parliament, now supported Pro- 
 testant candidates in these counties, who pledged them- 
 selves to vote for the Catholic claims. In Waterford, 
 Mr. Villiers Stuart, a great landowner who supported 
 the cause, and in Louth, Mr. Dawson, a retired 
 barrister of small means, were put forward as candi- 
 dates. They were backed by the clergy and the mass 
 of Catholic voters, and to the consternation of the 
 Protestant party, and in spite of all the landlord 
 interest, used with the utmost rigour, were successful. 
 The enthusiasm thus aroused caused astonishment even 
 to the leaders of the Catholics. In Louth, two days 
 before the election began, there was no idea of a contest ; 
 and yet the moment a friend to Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion was proposed, the whole tenantry of the county 
 simultaneously revolted against their landlords, and, in 
 direct opposition to their personal interests, gave their 
 suffrages to the advocate of religious freedom.* Other 
 successes were obtained by the Catholic Association 
 elsewhere in Ireland, and it was evident that the 
 forty-shilling freeholders could no longer be relied 
 upon by the landowners to vote like so many serfs 
 for Tory candidates. The spirit of independence was 
 infused into them. For the first time also the priests 
 
 * Sheil's speech in Louth, quoted in his "Memoirs," i. p. 281. 
 Mr. Sheil was of great assistance in the return of Mr. Dawson. 
 
74 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1827. 
 
 took an active part in the elections. These successes, 
 however, were followed by severe reprisals on the part 
 of the landlords, whose tenants had revolted. The 
 Catholic Rent was largely used in supporting those 
 who suffered from this cause in the contested counties. 
 In England and Scotland the elections did not 
 result so favourably for the Liberal party. The two 
 questions at issue were the Corn Laws and Catholic 
 Emancipation. The latter, however, was not a popular 
 cry with the English middle classes, and the cause 
 rather lost than gained at the elections. When the 
 new Parliament met, early in 1827, a motion for 
 taking into consideration the Catholic claims was 
 lost by a majority of four in a very full House.* 
 Canning, Plunket, and Brougham were again its main 
 supporters, and Peel and Copley, then Master of 
 the Rolls (better known as Lord Lyndhurst), its 
 opponents. Canning never made a more impressive 
 speech. Nothing could be clearer or stronger than 
 Peel's language ; there was no approach to conces^ 
 sion ; he maintained that to admit Catholics within 
 the walls of Parliament would be dangerous to the 
 constitution ; that in Ireland its only effect would be 
 to increase discord and dissension ; that it would lead 
 to fresh interference by the priests in every election 
 between the Protestant landlords and their Catholic 
 tenants. He would do everything that lay in his 
 power, attempt every course, that promised anything 
 like success, to put a stop to the dissensions in Ireland ; 
 but in his conscience he believed that the course, 
 which was called emancipation, would be attended by 
 the very contrary of any such results. His speech 
 made a great impression on the House. It was the' 
 more remarkable, as Lord Liverpool had a few days 
 before been attacked by a stroke of paralysis, from 
 which, it was certain, he would not recover. The 
 reconstruction of the Ministry was imminent, and it 
 was probable that Mr. Canning would be called 
 * Division — 272 for the motion, 276 against. 
 
1827.] RETIREMENT OF LORD LIVERPOOL. 75 
 
 upon to form a Ministry. Peel's speech therefore was 
 something more than an ordinary attack on the prin- 
 ciple of Catholic Emancipation ; it was an appeal for 
 the leadership of the Tory party ; a bid for the support 
 of the Protestant party in the country. It was clear 
 after this debate that there could be no concert 
 between Peel and Canning in a new Ministry. 
 
 A few days later Lord Liverpool's retirement was 
 announced. He had been Prime Minister for fifteen 
 years — a longer period than any statesman has held 
 that post, either consecutively or at different periods, 
 since Mr. Pitt ; yet he was unquestionably one of the 
 least distinguished in the list of Premiers. His position 
 and success resulted rather from the good sense and 
 tact with which he held together other men, such as 
 Canning, Peel, Huskisson, and Eldon, men who held 
 divergent opinions on many questions, and none of 
 whom were strong enough to form a Ministry, but who 
 were content to serve under a more neutral chief. His 
 pwn political views were of a very limited character ; 
 conservative in the narrowest sense, he was afraid to 
 touch any of the most needful reforms.* On his resig- 
 nation, the expected crisis took place, and a long delay 
 occurred before a new Premier was selected. The 
 Catholic question was the stumbling-block. It was 
 impossible to form an anti-Catholic administration out 
 of the remains of the Cabinet, weakened by the death 
 of Lord Liverpool and by the retirement of Canning. 
 Canning refused to hold subordinate office again under 
 a chief like Lord Liverpool. His claims for the first 
 post in the Government were such, that he was per- 
 fectly justified in claiming that position, or remaining 
 outside the Government. On the other hand, Peel 
 refused to serve under him, alleging that Canning's well- 
 known views on the Catholic question rendered this 
 
 * His Conseryatism is admirably characterized by Paul Courier, 
 who, speaking of his character, said, "■ If he had been present on the 
 morning of the creation, he would have cried, ' Mon Dieu ! con- 
 servons le chaos.'" — Mitchell's " History of Ireland," p. 160. 
 
76 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1827. 
 
 impossible. Six weeks were occupied in negotiations. 
 The King, selfish and false as usual, tried hard to renew 
 the old arrangement with another figure-head like 
 Lord Liverpool, and, when that was found impossible, 
 wavered between Eldon and Canning, deceiving each 
 in turn. 
 
 Canning was quite ready to stand aside, and allow 
 some other Minister to form an anti-Catholic Ministry, 
 and Eldon was quite ready to imdertake the task ; but 
 Peel refused his assistance, well knowing that his posi- 
 tion in the House of Commons would be intolerable. 
 The King ultimately decided to commission Canning to 
 form a new Ministry, with the understanding that the 
 Catholic question was to be an open question. Upon 
 this, the Duke of Wellington, Peel, Eldon, and others 
 declined to be parties to the new Government. Over- 
 tures were then made to the leading members of 
 the Whig party, but in vain. Canning was against 
 them on the subject of reform of Parliament, and of 
 the repeal of the Test Acts, and they could not agree 
 to forego these questions. As a result, Canning's 
 Government was formed without the aid, either of the 
 main body of the Tories, under Wellington and Peel, 
 or of the Whigs, under Grey and Brougham. It con- 
 sisted of sections of both parties. Lord Dudley became 
 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ; Copley, in spite 
 of his recent speech against the Catholics, was made 
 Chancellor ; Plunket was raised to the Peerage as Irish 
 Chancellor ; Mr. Lamb (afterwards Lord Melbourne) 
 became Secretary for Ireland. The King, whether 
 with the knowledge of Mr. Canning or not, is uncer- 
 tain, authorized the Archbishop of Canterbury to 
 inform the Bishops of the Church, that it was his 
 resolution to oppose any concession to the Catholics, 
 and that his opinions were the same as those of his 
 revered father. 
 
 In the explanations which followed upon the con- 
 stitution of the Government, Mr. Peel distinctly 
 asserted that he refused to join on account of the 
 
1827.] CANNING AND PEEL. 77 
 
 Catholic question. For eighteen years, from the com- 
 mencement of his political life, whether in office or out 
 of office, he had constantly offered an uncompromising 
 resistance to the extension of political privileges to the 
 Roman Catholics. He thought that the continuance 
 of these bars, which excluded the Catholics from the 
 acquisition of political power, was necessary for the 
 maintenance of the constitution, and the safety of 
 the Church. He had determined to retire from the 
 public service, if Mr. Canning should be placed at the 
 head of the Government. He gave up office because 
 he could not hold it in connection with any administra- 
 tion likely to forward the claims of the Catholics. Was 
 it probable that the appointment of Mr. Canning would 
 have this effect ? He assuredly thought it would. 
 Looking to Canning's consistency and sincerity, and 
 judging of him as he would wish to be judged himself, 
 he believed it was his intention to press the claims 
 of the Catholics, if not immediately, at least at no 
 remote period. He recalled the language of Canning 
 in introducing, in 1822, the Bill to enable Catholic 
 peers to sit in the Lords. " I solemnly declare that 
 I would not have brought this question forward, had I 
 not felt assured that the reparation which I ask for the 
 Catholic peers is in the name of policy as expedient, as 
 in the name of humanity it is charitable, and in the 
 name of God just." If, in the name of God, it were 
 just, he must believe, confidentt.as he was in Mr. 
 Canning's sincerity, that he would" again introduce that 
 motion ; and what alternative would there remain to 
 him if he continued in office? In conclusion, "he 
 ranked himself among those in whose minds no dis- 
 position to change existed, but who rather found their 
 original belief strengthened by consideration." 
 
 Mr. Canning's reply to Peel was generous in the 
 extreme. He had felt from the beginning of the dis- 
 cussions on the Catholic claims that separation between 
 them was inevitable, and could not be remote. He 
 complained, however, of the hostility exhibited to him 
 
78 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1827. 
 
 by many of his former colleagues, which could not be 
 justified by the Catholic question only. That question 
 would be under the new Government precisely in the 
 same position as in the past. Much as he valued 
 emancipation for the tranquillity of Ireland, he would 
 not provoke the resistance which he feared might be 
 aroused in England. Neither did he despair. If the 
 Catholics comported themselves calmly, he was per- 
 suaded that the mind of the people of England, or of 
 such portion of them as were hostile to the question, 
 would be gradually brought to take a more rational 
 view of the subject. He expected the dawn of a better 
 day, but he would not precipitate it ; he would not for 
 the sake of freedom of conscience force the conscience 
 of others. With these sentiments, he was prepared to 
 say that he would not prematurely stir up the feelings 
 of the people of England for a theoretic, though 
 essential, good. 
 
 Little could Peel have foreseen, that before two 
 years were past he would himself carry a measure, con- 
 ceding to the full the Catholic claims. Had he now 
 stood by Canning, and accepted the same position with 
 reference to this question, which Canning had been 
 content to hold in Lord Liverpool's Government — had 
 he submitted to the question being an open one in 
 the Cabinet — it is probable that a longer delay might 
 have occurred before Catholic Emancipation was 
 carried. Canning, strengthened and supported by the 
 leaders of the Tory party, would not have succumbed 
 so early to the harassing difficulties of his position, 
 and might have restrained his Catholic friends for 
 some time from pushing their claims to the utmost. 
 
 It cannot be held that Canning's own position was 
 satisfactory. He appears either to have been wanting 
 in courage to deal with the Catholic question, or else 
 too ready to sacrifice it, in order to attain the object of 
 his ambition, the Premiership. Whether the King could 
 have been forced, at this time, to give his consent to 
 Catholic Emancipation, may be doubted. When, how- 
 
1827.] CANNING AS PREMIER. 79 
 
 ever, Peel declined to join a Government, based on 
 resistance to this measure, it seems probable that firm- 
 ness on the part of Canning would have compelled the 
 King to give way. Canning rnight have been joined 
 by the Whigs, if he had declared his intention to deal 
 at once with this great question. Emancipation would 
 then have been the crowning achievement of his career. 
 As it was, the position of Canning, midway between the 
 Tories who opposed Catholic Emancipation, and the 
 Whigs under Lord Grey who were strongly in favour of 
 it, and who would join no Government which would not 
 propose it as a Government measure, was an untenable 
 one. The question had reached a point when it could 
 no longer with safety be treated as an open question 
 in the Cabinet. The two opposing parties to Canning 
 practically combined in making his position as uncom- 
 fortable and difficult as possible. 
 
 The change of Government was received in Ireland 
 with very mixed feelings — of delight at the fall of a 
 Ministry of which Eldon was the personification, and 
 which was identified with the system of Protestant 
 Ascendency ; but of grave disappointment that the new 
 Ministry was not prepared to deal with the Catholic 
 question. O'Connell expressed his pleasure at the 
 respite which removal of the Tory Ministers would 
 afford. " If a Liberal and impartial Government," he 
 said, " last but for a month, it would go far to destroy 
 the faith of the time-serving in that affected bigotry 
 which they used as a hand-rope to climb the ladder of 
 preferment." * Shell expressed the general view of the 
 Association, in denouncing, as morally responsible for 
 the perpetuation of agrarian crime, the politicians who 
 persisted in upholding a system, which perverted all 
 forms of justice and poisoned the very spirit of social 
 civilization. He pointed out that when Mr. Peel had 
 not long before been asked in the House of Commons 
 what measure he would substitute for Emancipation, 
 
 * Speech in Catholic Association, April 14, 1827, quoted in 
 " Memoirs of Shell," i. 355. 
 
8o CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1827. 
 
 he honestly stated that he knew of none. There was, 
 however, a disposition to give a fair trial to Mr. 
 Canning, and, at the instance of Sheil, the meetings of 
 the Catholic Association were adjourned for six weeks. 
 
 The new Ministry, as an earnest of a new departure 
 on Irish polity, abandoned a prosecution, which had 
 been commenced by the previous Government against 
 Mr. Sheil, for some ambiguous language used at a 
 public meeting. Canning, it is said, read the speech 
 complained of to his Cabinet, and asked any member 
 to stop him, when he reached any sentence, for which 
 a member of the House of Commons could be called 
 to order. As no one interrupted, he said that his 
 Government could not be a party to a prosecution for 
 a speech, which was not even unparliamentary, and 
 the proceedings were consequently stayed.* He was 
 unable, however, to obtain the King's consent to 
 rectify the grave injustice and professional wrong 
 done to O'Connell, Sheil, and other Roman Catholics 
 by excluding them from the rank of King's Counsel. 
 The King gave way in the case of Brougham, who 
 had been subject to the same exclusion, on account 
 of the part he had taken in the Queen's trial, but he 
 obstinately refused, so long as he lived, to remove this 
 stigma in the case of O'Connell. 
 
 Meanwhile the position of Mr. Canning in Parlia- 
 ment was becoming more difficult and precarious. He 
 was violently attacked by Lord Grey in the House 
 of Lords, where he was inadequately defended by his 
 colleagues. In the House of Commons he was also 
 exposed to frequent attacks, prompted by Peel. The 
 loneliness of his position, thus exposed to attacks from 
 two opposite quarters, perplexed and distressed him. 
 He received no quarter from his old colleagues, he could 
 expect none from his old opponents. The anxieties 
 were such that his health, already enfeebled when he 
 took office, broke down. He died in August, 1827, at 
 
 * The story was told by Lord Melbourne to Mr. Sheil, " Shell's 
 Memoirs," vol. i. p. 360. 
 
1827.] DEATH OF CANNING. 8 1 
 
 the early age of fifty-six, having held for a few months 
 only, the post, which for years had been the object 
 of his ambition. Mr. Canning's name and fame are 
 thoroughly identified with the cause of Catholic Eman- 
 cipation. For nearly thirty years, from the time when 
 he supported Mr. Pitt in carrying the Act of Union, of 
 which he held the full relief of the Catholics to be an 
 indispensable condition, one to which the good faith 
 of England to the Irish Catholics was pledged, he had 
 rarely lost an opportunity of supporting the cause. 
 Many of his most brilliant speeches were made on its 
 behalf ; and he had also sacrificed for it many of the best 
 years of his life, which might otherwise have been 
 passed in office, to the great advantage of the country. 
 It is difficult indeed to reconcile with his constancy to 
 the Catholic cause, his hostility to the repeal of the 
 Test Acts. The same principles of religious liberty 
 and political freedom were involved in both cases. 
 
 An Irishman by descent, though not of Celtic race. 
 Canning had the winning qualities which contact with 
 people of Celtic blood seems not unfrequently to 
 impart to those of English race — wit, humour, imagi- 
 . nation, vivacity, and human sympathy ; these qualities, 
 united with a highly cultivated intellect, gave a charm 
 to his speeches, equally to those who heard or read 
 them. It is to be regretted that he reached the 
 highest post in the Government so late, and held it so 
 short a time — not long enough to impress his policy on 
 the conduct of affairs, nor to develop his ideas for 
 Ireland. It is unfortunate also for his reputation that 
 he gave way to the King on the Catholic question, and 
 that he did not insist upon dealing with it, on taking 
 office. In his hands, it can scarcely be doubted that 
 it would have been treated in a spirit of conciliation, 
 and with a healing force, better and more lasting, than 
 in the case of those, who were later the unwilling 
 instruments of carrying Emancipation. His death 
 was received in Ireland with great demonstrations 
 of regret, in striking contrast with the feeling 
 
 G 
 
82 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1827. 
 
 exhibited a few years previously, on the death of his 
 contemporary, Lord Castlereagh, one who, like himself, 
 had uniformly supported the claims of the Catholics, 
 but without ever making a personal sacrifice for them, 
 and who has always been regarded in Ireland as the 
 most active and unscrupulous agent in the destruction 
 of its native Parliament. 
 
 Mr. Canning was succeeded by Lord Goderich, 
 who formed a Ministry out of the followers of his pre- 
 decessor. But it broke up from sheer inanition before 
 even it could meet Parliament. The King then sum- 
 moned the Duke of Wellington, who formed another 
 coalition Ministry, out of the anti-Catholic party, with 
 the addition of four oir five of the Canningites, includ- 
 ing Huskisson, Palmerston, and Grant. Peel, as Home 
 Secretary, led in the Commons, and Lyndhurst retained 
 the Chancellorship, to the bitter mortification of Lord 
 Eldon ; Lord Anglesey was sent to Ireland as Lord 
 Lieutenant. Catholic Emancipation was again to be 
 an open question in the Cabinet ; but, with Wellington 
 and Peel in their important positions, the main influence 
 of the Cabinet was against the cause. "Other members, 
 said Eldon, were as yet for Protestants, but some 
 were very loose." * No change whatever was made in 
 the administration of Ireland. The Government there 
 was powerless in the face of a great national movement. 
 The Catholic Association was in full swing, and was 
 continually growing in power; early in the following year 
 a series of debates, extending over fourteen days, were 
 conducted by it under the presidency of O'Connell, in 
 which every phase of the Catholic question was dis- 
 cussed. They produced a great effect on public 
 opinion in Ireland. On January 13 a demonstration of 
 a very striking and even solemn character took place. 
 By prearrangement, simultaneous meetings were held 
 in every Catholic chapel in Ireland, at which the 
 whole of the Catholic population attended, and joined 
 in a common protest against the injustice to which 
 they were subject. 
 
 * "Life of Lord Eldon," vol. iii. p. 27. 
 
1 8 28.] THE REPEAL OF TESTS. 83 
 
 On the meeting of Parliament in 1828, Sir F. Burdett 
 moved a resolution in favour of the Catholics. Though 
 opposed by Peel, it was carried by the narrow majority 
 of six. Peel was not more fortunate in his opposition 
 to another great measure of religious freedom. The 
 Dissenters of England were still excluded from all 
 corporations, and from all municipal offices of trust, 
 unless they consented to take the sacrament, according 
 to the rites of the Church of England. The repeal 
 of the Acts, imposing these tests, had long been an 
 object of the Liberal party, and Lord J. Russell was 
 now the champion of the cause, and introduced a 
 measure for this purpose. At the instance of O'Connell, 
 the Catholics of Ireland made common cause with the 
 Dissenters of England. As the main argument used 
 against the repeal of the tests was that it would be a 
 precedent for Catholic relief, there was strong motive 
 for the Catholics moving in the matter. A petition, 
 signed by 800,000 Irish Catholics, was presented to 
 Parliament for the relief of English Dissenters. 
 
 The measure was opposed by Peel and Huskisson, 
 though not in a very hearty manner, and without suc- 
 cess. In the Lords it was supported by the Duke of 
 Wellington, and, strange to say, by most of the bishops. 
 It was vigorously resisted by Lord Eldon, who clearly 
 perceived its bearing on the more important Catholic 
 question. " What is most calamitous of all," he wrote, 
 " is that the archbishops and several of the bishops 
 are against us. What they can mean they best know, 
 for nobody else can tell ; and sooner or later — perhaps 
 in this year, almost certainly in the next — the conces- 
 sions to the Dissenters must be followed by the like 
 concessions to the Roman Catholics. That seems un- 
 avoidable, though at present the policy is to conceal 
 this additional purpose." And when the battle was 
 over, and, in spite of his efforts, the Bill was passed, he 
 wrote, " I am most distressed and fatigued by what has 
 been lately passing in the House of Lords. ... I have 
 fought like a lion, but my talons have been cut off." 
 
84 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. • [1828. 
 
 In the House of Lords, a motion for the relief of the 
 Catholics, proposed by Lord Lansdowne, was not so 
 fortunate as that in the Commons. It was rejected by 
 a majority of 44. The Duke of Wellington, while 
 opposing the motion, used expressions which showed 
 that what was taking place in Ireland, was not without 
 its effect upon the Ministers ; he gave rise to the im- 
 pression that the Government was already considering 
 how to deal with the subject. He balanced the dangers 
 and difficulties of making concessions to the Catholics 
 against those of making no changes, and he thought the 
 latter were the greater. The agitation in Ireland was 
 to be condemned chiefly because it made a settlement 
 difficult. "If the agitation," he said, " would only leave 
 the public mind at rest, the people would become more 
 satisfied; and I certainly think it would then be possible 
 to do something." Before a few months were over, 
 the Duke was himself making use of the agitation for 
 the purpose of overcoming the scruples and objections 
 of his royal master. Shrewd men, like Lord Eldon, 
 gathered from the Duke's speech the shadow of coming 
 events. " O'Connell's proceedings," he wrote, " in 
 Ireland, and the supposed or real ambiguity which 
 marked the Duke of Wellington's speech, have led to 
 a very general persuasion that the Ministry intend, or 
 at least that the Duke intends, next session, to emanci- 
 pate the Roman Catholics as he has the Dissenters ; 
 and the world is uneasy." 
 
 Events soon occurred on both sides of the Channel 
 which were to result in forcing on the Catholic question, 
 and compelling its settlement by those most opposed 
 in principle to it. A division of opinion among the 
 Ministers on a point connected with the question of 
 reform of Parliament — ^namely, the proposed transfer 
 of members from the pocket borough of East Retford 
 to Birmingham, then unrepresented in Parliament — re- 
 sulted in Mr. Huskisson, and other Canningites, leaving 
 the Government. In the consequent changes, Mr. 
 Vesey Fitzgerald was appointed President of the 
 
i828.] THE CLARE ELECTION. 85 
 
 Board of Trade, and this involved his re-election for 
 the county of Clare. The Catholic Association had 
 some time previously, on the motion of O'Connell, 
 decided to oppose the election of any supporter of 
 the Wellington-Peel Ministry. Mr. Fitzgerald was 
 exceptionally popular in his native country with all 
 classes. Though he had been a strong supporter of 
 Toryism of the type of Perceval and Eldon, he had 
 always voted for the Catholic claims. His father, 
 still alive, had given up a lucrative post sooner than 
 vote for the Act of Union, and was the best of land- 
 lords. The son was a man of considerable ability, 
 and had now achieved the honour of a seat in the 
 Cabinet. He felt no doubt as to his re-election. His 
 interest through the landowners was believed to be 
 paramount, and he was supported by the Catholic 
 Bishop. Lord John Russell, who had just carried the 
 repeal of the Test Acts, appealed to O'Connell not to 
 oppose Mr. Fitzgerald, on the ground that the conduct 
 of the Duke of Wellington, in the case of the repeal of 
 the Test and Corporation Acts, had been so fair and even 
 noble, as to entitle him to the gratitude of Liberals, 
 and that by abstaining from opposition, the Irish people 
 would be showing their interest in the assertion of 
 religious freedom throughout the empire.* O'Connell 
 was induced to yield to the advice of the Whig leader, 
 and moved in the Association to rescind its resolution. 
 For once, however, he met with vehement opposition ; 
 he failed to carry his resolution, and the Association 
 stood committed to oppose Mr. Fitzgerald. 
 
 There was great difficulty in finding a good candidate. 
 Some days were lost in negotiations with a Major 
 MacNamara, who eventually declined to stand against 
 a neighbour, to whom he was under great obligations. 
 It was finally decided that O'Connell himself should 
 represent the Catholic cause in the Clare election. 
 The significance of the contest at once became appa- 
 rent. It is difficult in these days to appreciate the 
 * Sheil's Sketches : " The Clare Election." 
 
86 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1828. 
 
 importance attaching to this election, without under- 
 standing the state of dependence on their landlords 
 of the small Irish leaseholders. They were, as a rule, 
 driven up to the poll like cattle ; they were looked 
 upon as certain voters ; to interfere with them, or 
 to canvass them, on the part of any candidate not 
 supported by their landlord, was considered a personal 
 insult, justifying the landlord in calling out and shoot- 
 ing the offender. Fitzgerald was supported by every 
 landowner in Clare, whether Tory or Whig. It seemed 
 almost impossible to succeed against such a candi- 
 date. To defeat him, on the ground that he had 
 joined the Cabinet of Wellington and Peel, would be 
 a victory of national importance, one demonstrating 
 in the most unmistakable way the revolt of the 
 Catholic tenantry from their long bondage. For 
 O'Connell to present himself to the House of Com- 
 mons, as the member for a county, hitherto reckoned 
 on as a stronghold of the Protestant party,, would 
 show that six millions of Catholics were at his back, 
 and would be the strongest of all arguments in favour 
 of their claims, one which Parliament could no longer 
 resist. On O'Connell's side were all the priests in the 
 county, who now for the first time took an active part 
 in the contest. There were also the Catholic tenants, 
 who in the struggle of influence, worldly and spiritual, 
 of public duty and material interests, could be induced 
 to abandon for once their landlords, and vote for the 
 Catholic candidate. O'Connell assured them that 
 there was nothing to prevent his being elected, and 
 he even went the length of saying that he could sit 
 in Parliament, without taking the oath. In any case, 
 if elected, he would demand in person, on behalf of 
 the whole Catholic population, the right which had 
 hitherto been denied to them. 
 
 The contest was most exciting. It was accepted 
 as a test of opinion in Ireland, and both parties exerted 
 themselves to the utmost. The Catholic Association 
 sent its ablest members, such as Mr. Shell, into the 
 
i828.] THE CLARE ELECTION. 87 
 
 county to stir up the people, and to persuade the priests 
 to use their influence. The O'Gorman Mahon, a well- 
 known henchman of the Catholic Association, opened 
 proceedings by proclaiming his readiness to fight any 
 landlords, who should think themselves aggrieved by 
 the canvassing of their tenants. This is said to have 
 given "tone to the contest," in a truly Irish sense. 
 O'Connell and Shell delivered most eloquent speeches 
 to the electofs. The passions of the people were 
 thoroughly aroused by appeals to their manhood, their 
 religion, their patriotism. As a result, the influence 
 of the priests prevailed, and overcame the power of 
 the landowners ; many even of Mr. Fitzgerald's own 
 tenants were induced to vote against him. 
 
 Thirty thousand of the peasantry from the surround- 
 ing districts bivouacked in the streets of Ennis during 
 the six days' contests. A striking scene took place on 
 one occasion, when a priest was addressing ten thousand 
 persons. Suddenly the whole body knelt down and 
 engaged in silent prayer ; the priest had told them that 
 one of his parishioners, who had received money to vote 
 for Fitzgerald, had died suddenly, and he called upon 
 the people to pray to God for the repose of the soul _. 
 
 of this misguided man, and for forgiveness of the j4<tAjt»*w^**» 
 offence he had committed. In view of expected dis-'f;^^.,.**^. 
 turbances, thousands of troops, were poured into the §4^ {PW^ 
 district and surrounded the town of Ennis ; but there yt fe,,,,.^^ 
 never was the slightest excuse for their being called '""TI " 
 into action. Never had a contest been conducted more (f ' 
 quietly. But there was a deep and concentrated feel- 
 ing through the county, animated by the exhortations 
 of the priests, and by the great personal influence of 
 O'Connell himself, who was identifie.d with the Catholi c 
 cause . As a result, O'Connell was returned on July 5, 
 1828, as member for the county, by 2054 votes, to 
 1075 given for Mr. Fitzgerald, or nearly two to one. 
 
 The victory was overwhelming, and produced a 
 most profound impression. It was accepted at once 
 as conclusive proof of the revolt of the tenantry of 
 
88 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1828- 
 
 Ireland, and of the new-born political influence of the 
 priests. It was admitted that in numerous other 
 counties of Ireland the same result must follow, on the 
 same methods and similar exertions. Out of Ulster, 
 the landlords could no longer reckon on their power ; 
 their interest was no longer omnipotent. The victory- 
 raised the hopes of the Catholics throughout Ireland 
 to a high point, and depressed the party of Protestant 
 Ascendency in a corresponding degree." The power 
 of the Catholic Association was enormously increased. 
 The temper of the people in Ireland was such that 
 the Government was thoroughly alarmed ; it felt that 
 practically the whole country was ungovernable. The 
 enthusiasm of the Catholics spread, and even infected 
 the military who were quartered in the country. 
 The soldiers cheered the party processions, and were 
 cheered in return by the people. Lord Anglesey 
 reported to the Government that the forces at his dis- 
 posal were not wholly to be relied on, and that many 
 of the soldiers were under the influence of the priests. 
 Peel himself appears to have been impressed at once 
 by the Clare election. Writing on it in his " Memoirs," 
 he says, "It afforded a conclusive proof, not only that 
 the instrument on which the Protestant proprietors 
 had hitherto mainly relied for the maintenance of their 
 political influence, had completely failed them, but that 
 through the combined exertions of the agitator and the 
 priest, or I should say, rather, through the contagious 
 sympathies of a common cause among all classes of 
 Roman Catholics, the instrument of defence and 
 supremacy had been converted into a weapon fatal 
 to the authority of the landlord. . . . The real diffi- 
 culty was not the violation of the law, but in the novel 
 exercise of constitutional franchises, in the application 
 of powers recognized and protected by the law, the 
 power of speech, the power of meeting, the systematic 
 application of these powers to one definite purpose, 
 viz. the organization of a force which professed to be 
 a moral force, but had for its purpose to encroach, step 
 
i828.] RESULTS OF THE CLARE ELECTION. 89 
 
 by step, on the functions of the regular Government, 
 to paralyze its authority, and to acquire a strength 
 which might ultimately render irresistible the demand 
 for civil equality." * 
 
 In Ulster, Mr. Dawson, the leader of the Protestant 
 party, and the brother-in-law of Mr. Peel, speaking 
 at a dinner in Londonderry, at once admitted that 
 concessions must be made ; the Catholic Association, 
 he said, must be conciliated, as it could not now be 
 crushed. The Duke of Wellington, in a private letter 
 to Dr. Curtis, the Catholic Primate of Ireland, who 
 had appealed to him on the perilous state of Ireland, 
 endeavoured to remove the doubts as to the intentions 
 of the Government. "He saw no prospect," he said, 
 " of a settlement of the Catholic question." In the 
 existing state of opinion in England " it was impos- 
 sible to prevail upon men to consider it dispassionately." 
 If an ultimate arrangement were desired, " it would be 
 better to bury the question for a time in oblivion." 
 This letter got into the hands of the Catholic Associa- 
 tion, and was treated by them as an indication that 
 the Government was prepared to yield. It was the 
 occasion of a letter from Lord Anglesey to Dr. Curtis, 
 in which he said that he disagreed with the Duke, that 
 the question should be buried in oblivion. On the 
 contrary, he thought the time was come for concession. 
 For this and other independent actions he was recalled 
 by the Government. 
 
 Peel during the same autumn had attended nume- 
 rous banquets in Lancashire, where he had posed as 
 the champion of the Protestant cause, without saying a 
 word which would indicate a disposition more favour- 
 able to the Catholic claims. Not the less, however, 
 the Government was on the point of yielding. Even 
 so stout an opponent to the Catholic cause as Lord 
 Eldon admitted gravely that the game was up, though 
 outwardly he maintained a brave appearance. Writing 
 to his daughter, he said, "As O'Connell will not, 
 * Sir Robert Peel's "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 105. 
 
90 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1828, 
 
 though elected, be allowed to take his seat in the 
 House of Commons unless he will take the oaths . . . 
 his rejection from the Commons may excite rebellion 
 in Ireland. At all events, this business must bring 
 the Roman Catholic question, which has been so often 
 discussed, to a crisis and a conclusion. The nature of 
 that conclusion I don't think likely to be favourable 
 to Protestantism. . . . We shall see whether our 
 present rulers have the courage with which Mr. Pitt 
 would have acted under present circumstances. I 
 don't expect it of them." * 
 
 ^ What more conclusive proof of the wisdom of the 
 Catholic Association in respect of the Clare election ! 
 The impression that the Government meant to yield 
 became generally prevalent in England. The fears 
 of Protestants were consequently aroused, and many 
 meetings were held to protest against concession. In 
 Kent, 20,000 persons met on Pennenden Heath, and 
 passed resolutions against the Catholic claims, in spite 
 of a courageous effort of Mr. Shell to obtain a hearing. 
 The example was followed in many parts of the 
 country, and there can be little doubt that the Catholic 
 cause was unpopular. On the other side of the Irish 
 Channel the enthusiasm ran even more strongly in the 
 opposite direction. There the Catholic Association 
 was all-powerful. One sign of this, which, strange to 
 say, caused more alarm to the governing classes in 
 Ireland than almost any other symptom, was the total 
 cessation of crime. It seemed that, in the face of the 
 tremendous issues at stake, the people surrendered 
 themselves completely to the discipline of the Catholic 
 Association, laid aside all independent action, and 
 forgot or postponed all private feuds, in order to give 
 
 * " Life of Lord Eldon," vol. iii. p. 54. Eldon was an excellent 
 barometer of the views of the most bigoted section of the Tory 
 party' — views then shared in by large and influential classes, perhaps 
 the majority, of Englishmen of his day. The writer has followed 
 Miss Martineau's example (in her " History of England ") in quoting 
 from his diary and letters to mark the progress of opinion on 
 Catholic Emancipation. 
 
1829.J THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION. 
 
 9^ 
 
 their best aid to the great cause they all had at heart. 
 Experience has shown that such a mood of the people 
 in Ireland is indicative of deeply stirred passion, and 
 of an irresistible national movement. 
 
 The Association exercised its power with great dis- 
 cretion ; it discouraged any demonstrations of force, or 
 any appearance of military organization ; and it warned 
 the Catholics of Ulster against coming into conflict 
 with the Orange Lodges, who on their part were very 
 provocative of attack. Its behests were obeyed, and 
 large bodies of men who had met together in a semi- 
 military organization were disbanded. The Catholics, 
 in fact, had in effect passed out of the hands of the 
 Government ; the Association was responsible for the 
 peace of the country and for the maintenance of law 
 and order. Its leaders very wisely repudiated all idea 
 of a compromise. They broke off relations with the 
 English Catholics, for suggesting their willingness to 
 entertain the question of securities. O'Connell himself 
 did penance in public for having ever listened to a 
 compromise, and for having assented in 1825 to the 
 disfranchisement of the forty-shilling freeholders. " He 
 had long been convinced and ashamed of his error. 
 He would rather die than again agree to give them up." 
 "If any man dare to bring in a Bill for this purpose the 
 people ought to rebel, if they cannot otherwise succeed." 
 " Sooner than give them up, he would go back to the 
 penal code. They formed part of the constitution; their 
 right was as sacred as that of the king on his throne ; 
 and it would be treason against the people to dis- 
 franchise them. He would conceive it just to resist 
 the attempt with, force, and in such resistance he would 
 be ready to perish in the field or on the scaffold." The 
 Association passed a resolution " that they would deem 
 any attempt to deprive the forty-shilling freeholders of 
 the franchise as a direct violation of the constitution." 
 
 It was under this tension of popular opinion in both 
 countries that Parliament again met on February 5, 
 1829. Lord Anglesey had been dismissed from the 
 
92 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1829. 
 
 Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland at the beginning of the 
 year, not five weeks eariier. There could hardly have 
 been stronger indication of the resolution of the 
 Government to resist the Catholic claims, or at all 
 events of their wish so to appear to the public. Yet 
 it is certain that some time before, the Prime Minister 
 and Peel had virtually come to the conclusion that it 
 was necessary to make the concession. Peel imme- 
 diately, after the session of 1828, had written to the 
 Duke of Wellington expressing his opinion that con- 
 cession must be made to the Catholic claims, and 
 offering to relinquish office in order that the measure 
 might be proposed by some Minister, who was less 
 adverse to concession than he had been. There was 
 less of evil upon the whole in making a decided 
 effort to settle the Catholic question than in leaving 
 it an open question. At the same time, he expressed 
 a very strong opinion that it would not conduce 
 to the satisfactory adjustment of the question that 
 the charge of it in the House of Commons should 
 be committed to his hands. He was resolved, in 
 resigning, not to do so without placing on record his 
 opinion that the public interests required that the 
 Catholic question should be dealt with. His support 
 would be of more use out of office, in reconciling 
 Protestants to the measure.* The Duke practically 
 admitted the necessity for dealing with the question ; 
 but he could not dispense with the aid of Peel in 
 carrying it, and in overcoming the objections of the 
 King. The Duke, however, was a most unwilling 
 convert, and yielded only to the necessities of the 
 moment. Writing to Peel on September 12, he said, 
 " If I could believe that the Irish nobility and gentry 
 could recover their lost influence and the just influence 
 of property without making concessions, I would not 
 move." In a letter also to Dean Philpotts, who urged 
 him to concede nothing, he wrote, " Parliament will 
 
 * Peel to the Duke of Wellington, August 11, 1828, Sir Robert 
 Peel's "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 181. 
 
J 829.] THE KING YIELDS. 
 
 93 
 
 not put down the Association ; they will not even put 
 down rebellion, if it should occur, unless concessions 
 be made." 
 
 The main difficulty of the Ministers now rested 
 with the King. George IV. was in bad health ; he 
 lived in deep seclusion, and was rarely seen by his 
 Ministers ; he was also so irascible and vacillating, and 
 so little to be depended on from day to day, that the 
 Ministers were greatly embarrassed. The Duke of 
 Wellington worked on his fears. " I do not suggest," 
 he wrote, " an impossible hypothesis to your Majesty 
 when I suggest the possibility (I might state it more 
 strongly) of the Roman Catholic tenantry of Ireland 
 refusing to pay tithes or rents. The clergy and the 
 landlords might have recourse to the law. But how 
 is the law to be enforced ? How can they distrain for 
 rent or tithes upon millions of tenants ? This measure, 
 which will most probably be the first of resistance and 
 rebellion in Ireland, will occasion the ruin of your 
 Majesty's loyal subjects residing in that country, and 
 of many in this, and it must be observed that it will 
 give the rebellious a vast resource of money of which 
 your Majesty's subjects will have been deprived."* 
 After a long struggle the King consented to allow his 
 Ministers to insert in his message to Parliament the 
 necessary reforms and the concessions they proposed to 
 make. They showed their appreciation of the King's 
 regard for truth, and their reliance in his good faith, by 
 requiring of him that his consent should be in writing. 
 
 On the meeting of Parliament, the speech from 
 the throne, after referring to the social disorders in 
 Ireland due to the Catholic agitation, and express- 
 ing a determination to put them down, recommended 
 for consideration, whether the civil disabilities of the 
 Catholics should not be removed, consistently with the 
 full and permanent security of the establishments in 
 Church and State. A few days later. Peel resigned 
 
 * " The Duke of Wellington's Despatches and Correspondence," 
 vol. ii. p. 135. 
 
94 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1829. 
 
 his seat as member for the University of Oxford, and 
 submitted himself again for re-election. It was the 
 strongest admission that could be made of a complete 
 change of policy, of a breach of past promises and of 
 a new departure. He was opposed by Sir Robert 
 Henry Inglis in the interest of the Protestant cause, 
 and, in spite of the active assistance of the Whig party, 
 and of the support of nearly all the professors and 
 most eminent members of the University, he was 
 defeated by a majority of 146. He was speedily 
 returned for the borough of Westbury. Even there, 
 however, he had a very narrow escape from defeat ; 
 the Catholic cause was extremely unpopular with the 
 small number of the independent electors of this town ; 
 an opposition to him was threatened, and but for the 
 very fortunate chance that the Protestant candidate 
 arrived on the scene too late to be nominated. Peel 
 himself admits that in all probability he would have 
 been defeated.* 
 
 It was as member for the pocket borough of Sir 
 Manasseh Lopes that Peel moved the Catholic Relief 
 Bill. Before, however, this was introduced, the Govern- 
 ment, in accordance with the line adopted in the King's 
 speech, proposed a measure for the suppression of 
 the Catholic Association. It was not the first occasion 
 of the exhibition of that mixed policy of coercion and 
 concession which has so frequently been adopted to 
 Ireland since the Union. The course of events leading 
 to this double action has always been the same. The 
 demands of Ireland, made in a constitutional manner 
 and advocated by argument and reason, have been 
 refused and neglected, till patience has been exhausted, 
 and recourse is had to more violent measures — to 
 agitation carried to the point of rebellion, or to outrages 
 and agrarian crime. Parliament then recognizes that 
 concession is necessary ; but to appease the public 
 opinion of England, which is wont to be shocked by 
 the excesses of agitation other than its own, it is found 
 * See Robert Peel's " Memoirs," vol. i. p. 342. 
 
1829.] SUPPRESSION OF THE ASSOCIATION. 95 
 
 necessary to accompany or precede remedial measures 
 for Ireland, by coercive measures intended to put 
 down disturbance. 
 
 On introducing the Bill for suppressing the Asso- 
 ciation, Peel said "that it was inconsistent with the 
 exercise of the regular government to allow the con- 
 tinued existence of the Catholic Association. Those 
 who cherished most dearly the hope of seeing a con- 
 ciliatory arrangement of the Catholic claims speedily 
 carried into effect, must feel that the existence of that 
 Association during the discussions, which were about 
 to take place, would in itself oppose an almost insuper- 
 able barrier to the accomplishment of the object they 
 had at heart. The continual discussion of the measures 
 and intentions of the Government in the Association, 
 would render it totally impossible for the legislature to 
 arrive at any satisfactory adjustment of the question." 
 It is difficult in these days to appreciate the force of 
 Peel's arguments. The measure appears to have been 
 proposed rather to save the honour of the Govern- 
 ment, to help them with their Protestant supporters 
 in England, by the appearance of firmness, than on 
 account of any serious need for it as regards Ireland. 
 The concession of the Catholic claims would in any 
 case have necessarily dissolved the Catholic Asso- 
 ciation. To remove the causes of complaint was the 
 only effectual suppression. Apart from them the 
 Association had no existence. It was not a corpo- 
 ration, which could be dealt with by the law ; it 
 embodied the people of Ireland, who had shown 
 that their claims could not safely be denied. 
 
 The Relief Bill passed both Houses without oppo- 
 sition. It was accepted as part of the arrangement 
 which was to result in the concession of all that was 
 demanded — the removal of Catholic disabilities. The 
 concession was too great to justify quarrelling about the 
 methods. The Government, however, was pressed to 
 explain why it had not suppressed the Association under 
 the Act of 1825. The answer given by the Attorney- 
 
96 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1829. 
 
 General was significant. " It was a matter," he said, 
 " of extreme difficulty to draw up a Bill of indictment 
 against seven millions of people. Baffled and hampered 
 as the legal officers of the Crown were, the wisest plan 
 was to confess the real truth, that it was a matter of 
 extreme difficulty to frame such an indictment." The 
 Catholic Association, even before the Bill had passed, 
 dissolved itself. Its functions were at an end ; its 
 objects were attained. It could retire from the scene 
 with dignity, and with all the prestige of success. It 
 formed a great precedent, which was often to be 
 followed both in England and Ireland. The puny 
 effort of vigour in suppressing it, when conceding 
 nearly all that was asked, in no way detracted from 
 the force of the precedent, and only served to em- 
 bitter recollections and to swell the triumph. 
 
 Peel's speech, on introducing the Catholic Relief 
 Bill, which occupied four hours in delivery, is one of 
 those few Parliamentary speeches, which will bear a long 
 after-reading- — which, after the lapse of over fifty years, 
 is still fresh in its interest. It represents the turning- 
 point in a great controversy, an epoch in the liberties of 
 a people, a crisis in the career of a statesman. It affords 
 an interesting study in the psychology of a politician. 
 It is one which no student of modern history, and still 
 less any one engaged in the practical work of politics, 
 should fail to study. It presents many subjects of 
 moment, from which a moral may be drawn for the 
 present time. Peel undertook to vindicate his Govern- 
 ment for giving way to demands which they did not 
 approve in principle, and for recommending a measure 
 inconsistent with their former tenets. He pointed 
 out at great length the divided state of opinion on 
 this subject since the beginning of the century ; and 
 how successive Cabinets had been almost equally 
 balanced on the Catholic claims ; he showed the bad 
 effect of this in paralyzing their action, and in stimu- 
 lating agitation and disturbance in Ireland. Parliament 
 had also been almost evenly divided in opinion about 
 
1 8291 PEEL'S SPEECH ON CATHOLIC RELIEF. 97 
 
 it, as illustrated by the close divisions in the House of 
 Commons on the measures which had been yearly 
 proposed ; it was hard to expect Ministers to fight a 
 battle for the cause, when thus feebly supported in the 
 country ; he pointed out that all the younger men of 
 talent who had entered Parliament during the last ten 
 years were ardently in favour of concession. 
 
 Peel then recalled the fact that in scarcely a single 
 year, since the Union, had Ireland been governed by 
 the ordinary law ; in almost every year coercive powers 
 had been asked for and granted ; but the country con- 
 tinued in a disturbed state. Would Parliament, with 
 its views on the Catholic question, be willing, at the 
 call of a Government opposed to concession, to press 
 a fresh measure of coercion ? But suppose the Asso- 
 ciation put down, what would such a Government do 
 with the elective franchise in Ireland ? He showed 
 the progress of opinion in Ireland ; that after the last 
 general election fifty-two of its members had voted for 
 the Catholic claims, and only thirty-two against it. 
 He had been assured that twenty-three Irish counties 
 were prepared to follow the example of County Clare. 
 A Government constituted on the principle of re- 
 sistance to the Catholics would have the whole or a 
 great majority of the representative and constituent 
 body of Ireland against it. In this case, separated as 
 Ireland was from England, he contended that there 
 would be constituted a moral influence opposed to 
 the local Government, which would render it im- 
 possible to carry it on. But a Government united on 
 the principle of resistance might try another remedy. 
 It might retract the privileges they had already granted, 
 and which they found too powerful for their control. 
 No Government would do that. If they did, it would 
 lead to a struggle which, if pushed to its legitimate 
 consequences, must end in a result little short of a 
 reconstruction of the penal laws. They had already 
 gone too far to render such a course practicable. They 
 had removed the seal from the vessel, and suffered 
 
 H 
 
98 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1829. 
 
 the great spirit to escape. They had no means of con- 
 juring him back again to his former narrow Hmits. If 
 attempted, how could the Government in Munster, 
 Leinster, and Connaught, where the Catholics were in 
 such overwhelming majority, be carried on ? Were 
 they to withdraw trial by jury ? If they left that, the 
 re-enactment of the penal code would be useless, for it 
 would be impossible that the laws could be executed 
 fully, as far as the interference of a jury was necessary, 
 when a great body of the people had an interest in 
 defeating them. Could, again, a policy of resistance be 
 maintained in time of war ? In 1793, at the outbreak 
 of a war with France, the British Government had 
 been compelled to make concessions to the Catholics. 
 Until he saw a bolder man at the head of affairs 
 than Mr, Pitt, until he saw a more Protestant Par- 
 liament than that of 1793, he could not think we should 
 be safe in time of war, with a Government determined 
 on continued resistance. He came to the conclusion, 
 then, that matters could not continue as they were ; 
 the evils of divided councils were very great, and a 
 Government must be formed with one common opinion. 
 A united Government must do one of two things : it 
 must either grant further political rights to the Roman 
 Catholics, or recall those already granted. To deprive 
 the Catholics of what they already had would be 
 impossible, or more mischievous than to grant them. 
 No course, therefore, remained but to concede. 
 
 Peel then explained his proposals. He would repeal 
 all laws which placed the Catholics on a different foot- 
 ing from Protestants in respect of political rights. He 
 would admit Catholics to Parliament on the same terms 
 with Protestants. He would render Catholics admis- 
 sible to all corporate offices in Ireland, and to all posts 
 connected with the administration of justice and the 
 civil service, and to all higher offices of State, with the 
 exception of the offices of Regent, of the Lord Chan- 
 cellors of England and Ireland, and of the Viceroy of 
 Ireland. They would remain excluded from all endow- 
 
1829.] PEELS PROPOSALS. 99 
 
 ments connected with the universities and schools, and 
 from Church patronage. In the new oath the Catholic 
 member would be called upon to swear allegiance in 
 the usual terms — to disclaim the deposing power of 
 the Pope, and the doctrine that his Holiness had any 
 temporal or civil power, directly or indirectly, within 
 the realm ; and solemnly to abjure the intention of 
 subverting the Established Church, and to bind him- 
 self not to employ any of his privileges to weaken the 
 Protestant religion or Government. 
 
 Turning to the securities to be insisted upon, he 
 condemned the proposal for a veto in the Crown on 
 the appointment of Catholic bishops. It would be con- 
 sidered as the commencement of a qualified establish- 
 ment as regards the Catholic Church. He equally 
 rejected the proposal to endow the clergy of that Church. 
 It would necessitate negotiations and compact with the 
 See of Rome, which was incompatible with the dignity 
 and independence of England, and would be a measure, 
 more repugnant to the feelings and principles of this 
 country, than any other proposal which could be devised. 
 On the other hand, he thought it necessary to do 
 something to free the elections in Ireland from that 
 absolute control, which late experience had shown could 
 always be exercised by the influence of the Catholic 
 clergy on the poorer voters. With that object he pro- 
 posed to diminish the number and increase the respec- 
 tability of the voters. The forty-shilling freeholders 
 had been manufactured by the landlords themselves, 
 for no other purpose than to create votes, which should 
 be at their absolute disposal. The instrument they 
 had created had now passed into other and more ener- 
 getic hands ; it was wielded against themselves by a 
 power to which, from its nature, they could oppose no 
 successful resistance. They could not regain posses- 
 sion of the instrument ; it must therefore be destroyed. 
 He proposed to raise the qualifications of the freehold 
 franchise from forty shillings to an annual value oi £10. 
 The two measures were to go together, and to support 
 
lOO CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1829. 
 
 one another. It was also proposed to prohibit the dis- 
 play of insignia of office in any place of worship other 
 than those of the Established Church ; and to forbid 
 the use of Episcopal titles by the Catholic clergy. 
 These and a few other similar restrictions were the 
 securities offered. 
 
 On the question so far as it affected his own per- 
 sonal position, Peel also spoke at length, and gave 
 some interesting information then unknown to the 
 public. He referred to his offers, in 1826 to Lord 
 Liverpool, and again in 1828 to the Duke of Welling- 
 ton, to retire from office, in order that measures for 
 Catholic Relief might be carried by those who believed 
 in them. In the latter case he was told that his 
 retirement would prevent the adoption of the course 
 which he recommended. He resolved, therefore, not 
 to abandon his post, but to take all the personal con- 
 sequences of originating and enforcing, as a Minister, 
 the very measures which he had heretofore opposed. 
 He concluded with the generous words, " The credit of 
 this measure is not mine. It belongs to Mr. Fox, to 
 Mr. Sheridan, to Mr. Grattan, and to an illustrious and 
 Right Honourable friend of mine, now no more (Mr. 
 Canning)." 
 
 On the point of personal honour no one can doubt 
 that Peel's justification was complete. It is impossible 
 to cast a doubt on the sincerity of his motives, and the 
 honesty of his intentions, in remaining in office for the 
 purpose of carrying a measure he had so long opposed. 
 Looking, however, critically at the speech, few can 
 fail to be struck with its general tone of personal vin- 
 dication and of political expediency. The defence of 
 the measure was based on no lofty grounds. There 
 is not a single word to be found, in the whole of the 
 four hours' speech, of sympathy for the many millions 
 of people, on whom he was about to confer the highest 
 political privileges. The speech was addressed to the 
 Protestants of England, and not to the Catholics of 
 Ireland. It virtually amounted to this, that if he were 
 
1829] PEEVS PERSONAL VINDICATION. loi 
 
 assured of a more hearty support in England, suffi- 
 cient to enable him to oppose, with more confidence 
 of success, he would even then have resisted. It was 
 an admission of failure ; a concession to agitation and 
 menace and force, which he would have met with all 
 the power of England, if public opinion had been strong 
 enough to support him. How different in tone from 
 another great speech made nearly twenty years later, 
 when he surrendered, a second time in his political 
 life, a principle which he had contended for through long 
 years, and at the head and instance of a great party ! 
 He then spoke with all the force of conviction ; he 
 had been converted by circumstances, by experience, 
 by argument, to the truth of the great principles on 
 which Free Trade was founded ; and his speech on 
 giving way is to this day a masterpiece of reasoning in 
 favour of it. On Catholic Emancipation there was no 
 such conviction. It is impossible not to read between 
 the lines of his speech the old prejudice, and the real 
 opinions of the statesman, who had begun life as the 
 advocate of the party of Protestant Ascendency in Ire- 
 land. There was no reference to the fact that the Union 
 had only been carried by the expectations held out to 
 the Catholics, that their claims would be conceded ; that 
 faith had not been kept with them ; that for twenty- 
 nine years, almost two generations, the Catholics 
 had been deprived of rights which were their due. 
 How different would have been the tone of Fox, or of 
 Canning, if either of them had been in a position to 
 propose such a measure ! They would have struck a 
 chord in the hearts of the Irish people, which would 
 have done as much as the Bill itself, to evoke content 
 and harmony. 
 
 In Peel's speech not a gleam of such sympathy 
 showed itself. The tone of the Duke of Wellington in 
 the Lords was even worse. He defended the measure 
 on the sole ground of fear of civil war, and the impossi- 
 bility of governing Ireland under the existing state of 
 things. He surrendered at discretion to the Catholic 
 
J02 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1829. 
 
 Association. " It was quite true," he said, " that Ireland 
 had been disturbed for many years ; but circumstances 
 of peculiar aggravation had occurred within the last year 
 or two. Government knew, although not possessed 
 of legal evidence of the fact, that there existed a 
 general organization of the people for purposes of 
 mischief — showing itself by simultaneous meetings in 
 different quarters, attending the footsteps of gentle- 
 men sent from the Catholic Association, and mani- 
 festing the influence of a superior source of authority. 
 That organization had produced a state of society 
 which aggravated the previously existing evils of 
 Ireland. In two instances towns had been attacked 
 during the night by armed bodies of men. The 
 Catholic Association had deliberated on the propriety 
 of putting an end to all dealings with Protestants ; and 
 who doubted but that, if they had adopted that resolu- 
 tion, they would have been able to carry it through, 
 and even to dissuade the people from fulfilling contracts 
 into which they have entered with Protestants ? In 
 such a state of society, trial by jury could no longer 
 be used in the administration of the law. The King's 
 prerogative also was touched. He could not create a 
 peer, for such an act would have produced an election ; 
 while an election in the state of the country was almost 
 sure to end in bloodshed — might occasion a civil war, 
 and, at the best, could only be new triumph for the 
 Catholic Association. It was not fair to say that all 
 this arose from the laws not being executed. There 
 was no tangible violation of the law ; there was no 
 resistance. No troops were employed, because no 
 instance occurred in which the laws could not be 
 enforced in the usual manner. In a case which 
 extended over the whole country, it was impossible to 
 have magistrates at every spot, and ready at every 
 hour to put an end to proceedings so outrageous and 
 disgraceful." 
 
 It appeared, he said, clearly that neither the form 
 of the power, nor the means possessed by the Govern- 
 
i829.] WELLINGTON'S SURRENDER. 103 
 
 merit, were sufficient to extirpate such a state of things; 
 that they must come to Parliament, and that without 
 concession nothing could be effected. This state of 
 things, bordering upon civil war, attended by all the 
 evils of civil war, which had been endured the last year 
 and a half, might have continued much longer to dis- 
 grace the country and the Government. Those at the 
 head of the movement knew that they could not offer 
 effective resistance to the King's Government ; they 
 knew that they would themselves be the first victims 
 of any collision, and they would, therefore, take very 
 good care to avoid it. This state of things might 
 be prolonged for several years without the Govern- 
 ment having an opportunity offered them of effectually 
 putting it down. But even if such an opportunity had 
 been presented, he would have thought it his duty to 
 correct it by other means than force. 
 
 The Duke then adverted, in a well-known and 
 oft-quoted passage, to his own experience of war. 
 " If I could avoid, by any sacrifice whatever, even one 
 month of civil war in the country to which I am 
 attached, I would sacrifice my life in order to do it. 
 If civil war be so bad," he added, " when occasioned 
 by resistance to Government, how much more neces- 
 sary is it to avoid a civil war, in which, in order to 
 put down one portion, it would be necessary to arm 
 and excite the other ? Such must have been the result 
 had we attempted to terminate the state of things to 
 which I have referred otherwise than by conciliation." 
 Lord Anglesey enforced the Duke's arguments by 
 stating that, if England should be again at war, seventy 
 thousand men would hardly suffice for the defence of 
 Ireland, in the present state of its Catholic population. 
 
 The principal Bill encountered much opposition in 
 the country. The House of Commons was flooded with 
 petitions against it ; but there were no leaders of note 
 prepared to support the attack upon it. The one 
 Minister true to his old prejudices. Sir Charles 
 Wetherell, the Attorney-General, who spoke against 
 
104 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1829. 
 
 it, was immediately dismissed from his office. The 
 Bill passed a second reading in the Commons by a 
 majority of 1 73,* and in the Lords by a majority of 
 io5,f the bishops taking an active part against it. 
 
 The Disfranchisement Bill also passed without diffi- 
 culty. The case, indeed, of the forty-shilling freeholders 
 was a hard one. They had, almost wholly, come into 
 existence since the Irish Act of 1793 had conceded 
 the franchise to the Catholics. Many landlords, 
 eager to obtain as much political influence as possible, 
 had subdivided their properties, and let them in very 
 small holdings to a vast number of tenants, to 
 whom they gave leases for life, or for a long term, 
 such as to entitle them at law to the franchise as free- 
 holders. It was only however in a technical sense that 
 they were freeholders ; substantially they were tenants 
 at a rack-rent ; and by keeping a hanging gale over 
 them, that is, by allowing the rent to be always in 
 arrear, the landlords could, by threatening to compel 
 them to pay up, retain their influence over them, 
 almost as much as if they had been yearly tenants. 
 Till the year 1826, these so-called freeholders never 
 ■were free agents in a political sense ; they invariably 
 voted with their landlords. They were practically 
 considered, said Mr. Stanley in 1834, as live stock on 
 the estates. It was stated in evidence, before the 
 committee of 1825, that they were often driven at 
 election time to the county town, with long whips, 
 and were locked up till they had given their votes 
 for their landlords' nominee. In 1826, for the first 
 time, at the instance of the Catholic Association and 
 their priests, many of them had revolted, and shown 
 their independence by voting against their landlords' 
 candidates, in such elections as those of Waterford 
 and Louth. Thence arose alarm on the part of their 
 landlords, and a desire to disfranchise them ; and it 
 was suggested that, as other securities for facilitating 
 
 * Division — For the second reading, 353 ; against, 180. 
 t Division — For the second reading, 217; against, 112. 
 
1829.] DISFRANCHISEMENT. 1 05 
 
 the passing of a Catholic ReHef measure had failed, it 
 would be well to extinguish these voters, who could 
 no longer be relied upon. The Clare election still 
 further confirmed this view of the Protestant landlords. 
 
 Peel made no secret of his political object in 
 making the proposal to reduce this class of voters. 
 They had passed, he showed, from the influence of the 
 landlords to that of the priests ; they were, therefore, 
 dangerous, and must be suppressed, although it was 
 admitted that no corruption, and no misuse of their 
 voting power could be brought against them. The 
 measure for their disfranchisement, in spite of the strong 
 case that could be made for them, was treated as part 
 of the compromise offered by the Government. Strong 
 protests were, indeed, made against it. But even 
 Brougham consented to it, " as the price — the almost 
 extravagant price — of the inestimable good which would 
 result from the main Bill." Sir James Mackintosh 
 described it as one of those tough morsels which he 
 had been scarcely able to swallow. Palmerston and 
 Huskisson opposed it resolutely; but on a division 
 there were only seventeen members in the lobby 
 against it. O'Connell, who had been so ready to 
 express his disapproval on the platform in Dublin and 
 Clare, and who had announced his willingness to perish 
 in the field, or on the scaffold, rather than submit to it, 
 does not appear to have used much effort with his 
 friends in the House of Commons, to induce them to 
 oppose it. He has been severely blamed for this. It 
 should be recollected, however, that he was in no sense 
 a party to the compromise ; he had not been consulted 
 by the Government ; he had very little influence with 
 the Whigs at that time ; he may have felt his impotence 
 to effect any change in this respect, and have thought it 
 was best to take what he could get, and trust to future 
 efforts to undo the mischief. 
 
 O'Connell had come over from Ireland at the 
 beginning of the session. When he learned the deter- 
 mination of the Government to deal with the Catholic 
 
Io6 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1829. 
 
 question, he delayed presenting himself to the House 
 of Commons, lest he should embarrass the Govern- 
 ment. His conduct did not meet with any reci- 
 procal consideration. When the Catholic Relief Act 
 had become law, he presented himself at the table 
 of the House, and asked to be allowed to take the 
 new oath. The clerk presented to him the old oath. 
 It appeared that the Act was drawn, and purposely 
 drawn, so as to exclude him from its relief ; it applied 
 only to members elected after it had come into effect. 
 O'Connell was heard at the bar of the House on his 
 claim to take the new oath, and a motion was then 
 made by Brougham to allow his claim ; but after a 
 long debate the House decided in the negative by 
 190 to 116. Mr. Peel took part in the discussion, and 
 denied that there was any hardship in O'Connell's 
 position. Being a Roman Catholic at the time he was 
 elected member for Clare, he was disqualified by the 
 then existing law ; and he well knew, when he was 
 returned, that such was the law ; there was nothing 
 unjust, therefore, in telling him that as he was elected 
 under the former law, by that law he must abide, and 
 that by it he was excluded from sitting in the House. 
 
 There was a great want of generosity in this action 
 of the Government ; a still greater lack of appreciation 
 of the mode in which to approach and conciliate a 
 people, for whom a great measure was being carried. 
 O'Connell was touched to the quick, and was deeply 
 wounded by this insult to him. The carrying of the 
 Catholic Relief Act was his triumph. It was due to 
 his efforts, his agitation, his influence, that the Irish 
 people had won their cause. To be repulsed by the 
 House of Commons at this moment, when, by the 
 alteration of a word in the Act, he could have been 
 received into the House, was a humiliation, which was 
 felt equally by himself and by every Catholic through- 
 out the world. Peel has stated, in his memoirs, that 
 this action of his Government in refusing to give the 
 benefit of the Relief Act to O'Connell was not due to 
 
1829.] REJECTION OF O' CON NELL. 1 07 
 
 paltry jealousy or to personal pique, as had been im- 
 puted to him, but that it was a deliberate act, determined 
 on in the belief that it was important to the ultimate 
 success of their measure, in view of the hostility of the 
 King, of the Church, and of a majority, as he believed, 
 of the people of England.* In other words, it was 
 necessary to humiliate the great Irish leader, in order 
 to conciliate these various elements of hostility to the 
 Catholic cause. 
 
 It does not appear that in the preparation of the 
 Catholic Relief Bill, or in the course of the long 
 discussions upon it, any communication, direct or in- 
 direct, took place between the Ministers and O'Connell. 
 The Catholics, therefore, were no parties to the 
 arrangement. It was not a compromise which in 
 any way bound them. They were held at arm's-length. 
 Their claims were conceded, not to the force of 
 argument, or as a matter of right and justice, but 
 simply and solely to the political exigencies of the 
 moment — to the threats of force, to the fear of rebellion, 
 to the impossibility of governing Ireland, in the pre- 
 sence of the Catholic Association, and in view of the 
 opinion of its electorate, as shown by the Clare 
 election ; and to the divided state of the House of 
 Commons, making the position of successive Minis- 
 tries most unstable, and paralyzing their powers in 
 every department of government. The measure was 
 also conceded with as little grace as possible, and was 
 accompanied by securities and conditions humiliating 
 to Ireland, and of no permanent value to the cause 
 they were intended to protect. This was mainly due 
 to the fact that the measure was carried by those who 
 disbelieved in its principle, and who would have con- 
 tinued to refuse it if they had the force of the country 
 to support them, and not by those who had long advo- 
 cated the concession on the grounds of justice and 
 policy. 
 
 Peel acted rightly when, in 1828, he offered to 
 * Sir Robert Peel's " Memoirs," vol. i. p. 307. 
 
Io8 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1829. 
 
 resign office in order that the concessions to the 
 Catholics might be carried by those who had not, like 
 himself, been always opposed to them. Not only does 
 the sudden conversion of leading statesmen to a policy, 
 they have for long years opposed, cause a great wrench 
 in the confidence of the public in its political leaders, 
 but it is also, as a rule, of the highest importance that 
 great measures should be in the charge of those who 
 believe in them, and not of those who have spent 
 their lives in conscientiously opposing them.* Peel 
 himself thoroughly and rightly appreciated this ; in his 
 letter to the Duke of Wellington, in August, 1828, 
 in which he had expressed his opinion that the 
 Catholic question should be settled, he had said, " I 
 have been too deeply committed on the question — 
 have expressed too strong opinions in respect to it, 
 too much jealousy and distrust of the Roman Catholics, 
 too much apprehension as to the immediate and 
 remote consequence of yielding to their clairns — to 
 make it advantageous for the King's service that I 
 should be the individual to originate the measure. It 
 may be right to decline negotiation or consultation 
 with the Roman Catholics, but the more you can 
 conciliate them by the mode of proposing the measure 
 the better ; the more of goodwill and of satisfaction 
 that you can extract from it the greater is the prospect 
 that the adjustment will be a permanent one. The 
 very same measures — whether of concession to the 
 Roman Catholics or of security to the Protestants — 
 proposed by one who has taken so decided a part 
 
 * The late Lord Shaftesbury wrote as follows on this subject : — 
 " I thought then, and I have never had reason to alter my opinion, 
 that, good as the Catholic Relief Bill was, Wellington and Peel were 
 not the proper men to carry it. They held ofiSce on it, instead of 
 handing it over to those who had been its advocates. They should 
 have boldly said to the Crown, ' It is a measure that must be passed, 
 but it should be passed by those who agree with it. We are not the 
 men to do it.' And I have often thought in subsequent years that 
 their action inflicted such a deadly blow on confidence in public 
 men that there had never since been a complete recovery." — " Life 
 of Lord Shaftesbury," vol. i. p. 86. 
 
1829.] PEEL'S DEFENCE. IO9 
 
 in opposition to the question as I have, would be 
 regarded in a very different Hght by the Roman 
 Catholics, from that in which such measures would 
 appear to them, if proposed by a person less adverse 
 to concession than I have been." * It is evident 
 from this that he was persuaded against his better 
 judgment, to remain in office, and to co-operate with 
 the Duke of Wellington in carr3ang this great 
 measure. He was influenced mainly by the diffi- 
 culty of obtaining the consent of the King. " I tell 
 you fairly," wrote the Duke, " that I do not see the 
 smallest chance of getting the better of these diffi- 
 culties if you should not remain in office. Even if I 
 should be able to obtain the King's consent to enter 
 upon the course, which it is almost certain I shall 
 not, if I should not have your assistance in office, 
 the difficulties in Parliament will be augmented ten- 
 fold in consequence of your secession, while the means 
 of getting the better of them will be diminished in 
 the same proportion." \ 
 
 Peel concludes his defence by saying that he was 
 firmly convinced that if the Duke of Wellington should 
 fail in procuring the King's consent to the measure, no 
 other public man would succeed, or would prevail 
 with the opposition to be expected in the House 
 of Commons. It was due, then, to the obstinacy of 
 the King that this measure was carried in a manner 
 which made it as little acceptable as possible. 
 
 Looking back at the long struggle for the Catholic 
 cause since the Act of Union, extending over more 
 than a generation, few can fail to be impressed by a 
 sense of the great wrong that was done to Ireland, 
 by not making Catholic Emancipation a condition of 
 the Union. It is difficult to believe that Mr. Pitt 
 could not have persuaded the King to give way by 
 refusing to be a party to carrying the Union without 
 Emancipation. By separating them, and by deferring 
 
 * Sir Robert Peel's "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 285. 
 t Ibid., vol. i. p. 295. 
 
no CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1829. 
 
 the Catholic claims, while he carried the Union, Pitt gave 
 the opportunity to the King to insist on his scruples, 
 and to break faith with the Irish people. He referred 
 the Catholic question also to English and Scotch 
 opinion, which was notoriously adverse to it. There 
 Avas no time during the interval when the English 
 constituencies, if appealed to on the subject, would not 
 have given their verdict against concession, and in so 
 doing, have overridden the opinions of the great 
 majority of the Irish. Even at the close of the 
 contest, it is doubtful whether, on appeal to the con- 
 stituencies, the question would have been carried. 
 
 Twenty-nine years had now elapsed since the Act 
 of Union. What had Ireland gained by the Act ? 
 What had been the effect of it on English politics .•* 
 So far as Ireland was concerned, it was impossible for any 
 one to point out a single advantage which had accrued 
 to its people. The country had been in a disturbed 
 and distracted condition ever since. It had been impos- 
 sible during almost any two consecutive years to govern 
 it by the ordinary law. Every year, with rare excep- 
 tions, brought the demand on Parliament for coercive 
 laws for Ireland, differing only in method and degree. 
 The most common forms were the suppression of trial 
 by jury, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, the 
 prohibition of public meetings, and of the right to 
 carry arms ; but occasionally there was added the pro- 
 vision of martial law, and the curfew clauses. No 
 attempt had been made to apply remedial measures to 
 the country. The grievances which the people suffered 
 under the tithe system were allowed to pass un- 
 checked. No proposal was made to interfere with the 
 arbitrary power of landlords ; on the contrary, the Acts 
 of 1 8 1 5 and 1 8 1 7 greatly increased the powers of land- 
 lords, and facilitated ejectment. During the interval, 
 also, the taxes in Ireland had been nearly trebled in 
 amount, without equivalent benefit to the English Ex- 
 chequer, and without adding materially to the resources 
 and power of the empire. Previous to the Union, the 
 
1829.J IRELAND SINCE THE UNION. ill 
 
 Irish Parliament had rarely voted more than 12,000 
 men for the army ; subsequent to it, the force main- 
 tained in Ireland, during the war with France, was 
 increased to 40,000, and after the peace was never 
 less than 25,000 men. 
 
 During the same period the Irish Government 
 was carried on under the old principle of Protestant 
 Ascendency ; nothing was done to give practical effect 
 to the remedial legislation of the Irish Parliament in 
 1793. All avenues to public offices, or to municipal 
 government, were closed to the Catholics. The magis- 
 tracy was exclusively appointed from Protestants. The 
 Acts of 1 793 might as well have remained in force, for 
 any practical results to them. Catholics were habitu- 
 ally excluded from juries. The people were shown 
 that Parliament and the Government of England 
 would not listen to any claims put forward in a con- 
 stitutional way. It was due to O'Connell, and to him 
 almost alone, that a method was discovered of forcing 
 the hand of the British Government and Parliament. 
 It was by his indomitable courage and perseverance, 
 by his fervid eloquence, and appeals to popular 
 sympathies, that the road to success was pointed out. 
 He alone had conceived the plan of organizing the 
 people of Ireland in a manner which would make 
 it impossible to refuse their demands, and had induced 
 the priests to take a part in politics, and lead their 
 flocks in a political campaign. 
 
 Two results, therefore, of great import, and of 
 lasting effect on Irish politics, accrued from the broken 
 promises of Pitt and the long delay in the concession 
 of the Catholic claims ; the one was that the Irish 
 people were taught that agitation and civil disturbance, 
 verging on civil war, would alone succeed in inducing 
 the Imperial Parliament to give way to their claims ; 
 and the other was the introduction into politics of 
 the Catholic priests in supersession of the landlords. 
 The destruction of the landlords' power, and the 
 substitution for it of that of the priests', was the main 
 
112 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. [1829. 
 
 result of the agitation for Catholic Emancipation. The 
 landlords have never recovered their position. The 
 priests have continually advanced in influence. Even 
 these results might have been modified if the Catholic 
 measure had been dealt with in a different spirit and 
 conceded with a better grace. Everything, however, 
 was done to make it as little a healing measure as pos- 
 sible. The suppression of the Catholic Association was 
 needless and impolitic in the highest degree. The 
 disfranchisement of the forty-shilling freeholders was 
 equally unwise ; it was avowedly for the purpose of 
 preventing the Catholics obtaining political power, and 
 securing representation in the British Parliament in 
 proportion to their numbers. It made an invidious 
 distinction between Ireland and England, and reduced 
 the constituencies of Irish counties to the most meagre 
 proportions. The measure was not only a grave 
 political mistake, it was also a failure. The county 
 constituencies, even thus reduced, were still largely 
 composed of Catholics ; the influence of the priests 
 was not much diminished ; and it will be seen that the 
 representation of Ireland was greatly changed. The 
 sense of injustice resulting from the Act was one of 
 the causes of this. Not less unwise also was the per- 
 sonal treatment of O'Connell already referred to. 
 
 What, again, was the effect of the Act of Union 
 on English politics ? A retrospect will show results 
 equally unfortunate. The Catholic question was the 
 rock on which successive Ministries were driven and 
 wrecked ; and for years it excluded the ablest and best 
 of statesmen from the Government. Apart from Ire- 
 land and the Union there would have been no Catholic 
 question in Great Britain, or at most it would have 
 been one of little importance. It was only in connec- 
 tion with Ireland that it assumed the highest impor- 
 tance among State questions. Mr. Pitt resigned in 
 1801, because he could not persuade the King to assent 
 to the Catholic claims ; with him went the ablest of his 
 colleagues — Lord Grenville, Lord Spencer (who had 
 
1829.] EFFECTS OF THE UNION. 1 13 
 
 organized the fleets which won for England the 
 battles of Camperdown and the Nile), Mr. Wyndham, 
 and Mr. Dundas ; and for three years the govern- 
 ment of the country was carried on by the incapable 
 Ministry of Mr. Addington. In 1807 Lord Grenville 
 and Lord Howick — the successors of Fox — were dis- 
 missed by the King for refusing to sign an under- 
 taking that they would not under any circumstances 
 bring forward the Catholic question. In 18 12, on the 
 death of Mr. Perceval, Lord Liverpool was unable 
 to obtain the co-operation of Lord Wellesley and 
 Mr. Canning in forming a Ministry because they 
 held that the Catholic question must be dealt with. 
 For the same reason, Lord Grenville and Lord Grey 
 were unable to form a Ministry with Lord Moira ; 
 and finally Lord Liverpool was compelled to return 
 to office with a Ministry of Eldons, Sidmouths, and 
 Bathursts. On the death of Lord Liverpool, the 
 Duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel refused to serve 
 under Mr. Canning, because of their grave differences 
 with him on the Catholic question. These instances 
 include nearly all the Ministerial changes within the 
 period ; they show the unfortunate effect of the in- 
 trusion of a purely Irish question. 
 
PART II. 
 WHIG REFORMS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 O'CoNNELL returned to Ireland, after the refusal of the 
 House of Commons to allow him to take the oath, 
 prescribed by the Catholic Relief Act, with his mind 
 embittered against the Government, and with a deep 
 sense of mortification. He felt especially indignant 
 with Peel, to whom he attributed personal hostility. 
 Catholic Emancipation, the main object, thus far, of 
 his political life, had been secured, but only by an 
 agitation, carried to the very verge of rebellion. It 
 had been accompanied by securities and conditions, 
 hateful and humiliating to Ireland, and by indignities 
 to himself. The lesson had been taught that the 
 proudest Government would yield to menace. O'Connell 
 felt under no obligation whatever to the Government 
 or to Parliament to treat the measure as a final com- 
 promise with his country. He issued an address to 
 the electors of Clare, asking for re-election. " In my 
 person," he said, " the county of Clare has been insulted. 
 To you is due the honour of having converted Peel 
 and conquered Wellington. . . . Another victory in 
 Clare is necessary to defeat the insidious policy of the 
 Ministers, who, false to their own party, can never be 
 true to us, and who have not yielded to reason, but to 
 
1829.] aCONNELL RE-ELECTED. II5 
 
 necessity, in granting us freedom of conscience." His 
 address included originally a passage announcing his 
 intention to commence an agitation for repeal of the 
 Union, but on the suggestion of Lord Anglesey, to 
 whom he submitted it, this was struck out. He 
 pledged himself, however, to obtain a repeal of the 
 securities contained in the Relief Act, and especially of 
 the Disfranchisement clauses, which, he said, were a 
 direct violation of the Act of Union. On his way to 
 the county Clare for re-election, he was received at 
 Dublin with acclamation by vast multitudes of people ; 
 a sum of ^50,000 was raised by subscription as a public 
 offering to him ; ;^5ooo was voted by the Catholic 
 Association for the expense of his second election. 
 His journey to Ennis was one long triumphal pro- 
 gress. Peel had hurried a Registration Bill through 
 Parliament, in the hopes that the disfranchisement 
 of the forty-shilling freeholders would prevent his 
 re-election. In spite of this, O'Connell was returned 
 without opposition on July 30. The only attempt at 
 opposition came, singularly enough, from Mr. Smith 
 O'Brien, who bitterly attacked him. In his speeches 
 at Ennis, Youghal, and other places, he raised again 
 the subject of repeal of the Union. On his return to 
 Dublin he determined to reopen this question, and to 
 press it on by the same means he had adopted in the 
 Catholic cause. He founded a new association, of 
 which this was to be the object. The Lord Lieutenant 
 at once suppressed it, under the power conferred on 
 him by the recent temporary Act. A second and a 
 third time O'Connell returned to the charge, starting 
 new associations with altered names, but only to see 
 them immediately suppressed by the Government. 
 
 On the meeting of Parliament in 1830, O'Connell 
 crossed the Channel, and took his seat, as the first 
 Catholic member from Ireland, in the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment. He was at this time close on the age of fifty- 
 five, an age at which very few men have begun 
 Parliamentary life with any success. In his case it 
 
1l6 WHIG REFORMS. [1830. 
 
 was but the commencement of a new and perhaps 
 the most active and brilHant part of his life. His 
 success as a speaker and leader in the House of 
 Commons was never in doubt. For the next ten 
 years he was one of its most active and conspicuous 
 members, leading a small band of Irish members, 
 of whom Mr. Sheil alone was able to give him effective 
 aid. One of his first efforts in the House was to intro- 
 duce a Bill for conferring votes on every taxpayer, and 
 for introducing the ballot and triennial Parliaments. 
 The first of these proposals was denounced at the time 
 as a scheme of universal suffrage. It was, in fact, 
 more nearly approaching to household suffrage, such as 
 has since been adopted. He was in advance of other 
 reformers on these subjects. He only obtained the 
 support of seventeen members, though Lord Althorp 
 pronounced himself as not adverse to the ballot and 
 triennial Parliaments. 
 
 The death of William IV. occurred in June, and, 
 in accordance with the constitutional rule. Parliament 
 was dissolved. In the general election which followed, 
 the Government found that its surrender on the 
 Catholic question had greatly weakened it. It was 
 abandoned by many of its most earnest supporters. 
 Mr. Croker, the Secretary to the Admiralty, was 
 rejected by the University of Dublin for his vote on 
 this question ; and no member of the Government 
 succeeded in being returned for any large or inde- 
 pendent constituency. The result of the elections was 
 very unfavourable to the Ministry. The counties 
 gave a majority against them of three to one ; from 
 the larger towns, represented then by twenty-eight 
 members, only three supporters of the Government 
 were returned. Its strength lay wholly in the smaller 
 constituencies, and in the pocket boroughs. The 
 question most discussed in the English and Scotch 
 elections was the reform of Parliament, but the popular 
 feeling in favour of this measure had not yet reached 
 fever heat. In Ireland the question of repeal of the 
 
I830-] eArL GREY'S MINISTRY. iiy 
 
 Union was not generally mooted on the hustings ; a 
 considerable number of Catholics were returned, but 
 they were not called upon to pledge themselves on this 
 point. The abolition of tithes, the reform of the Irish 
 administration, and the condition of the Church 
 Establishment, were the main topics before the Irish 
 electors. They returned a large majority against the 
 Government. 
 
 When the new Parliament met, it was found at 
 once, that the Tory party was in a minority, and, as 
 often happens, the Government encountered an early 
 defeat, on a question of no great political importance, 
 but which was sufhcient to prove that it had not the 
 confidence of the House of Commons. It was beaten 
 by a majority of twenty-nine on a motion for a com- 
 mittee to inquire into the civil list. The Duke of 
 Wellington determined to resign at once, without 
 anticipating the result of a division on a motion for 
 reform, of which Mr. Brougham had given early 
 notice, and which would certainly have been carried. 
 A new Ministry was formed, with Earl Grey as 
 Premier. It was an unusually strong cast : — Lord 
 Althorp, Lord John Russell, Sir James Graham, 
 Lord Palmerston, and Mr. Stanley, in the House of 
 Commons ; Lord Brougham as Chancellor, Lord 
 Melbourne as Home Secretary, and the Duke of 
 Richmond, in the House of Lords. Lord Anglesey 
 was again sent as Lord Lieutenant to Ireland, and 
 Mr. Stanley became his Chief Secretary, but was not 
 in the Cabinet. 
 
 The formation, for the first time, after nearly thirty 
 years of Tory rule, of a really Liberal Government, 
 following upon the recent concession of Catholic 
 Emancipation, offered a new opportunity, — the second 
 within the century, — of dealing with Ireland in a 
 manner which might reconcile public opinion there to 
 the Union, and effect a real alliance between the two 
 countries. The Catholic Relief Act alone, was wholly 
 insufficient for this purpose ; the application of its 
 
Il8 WHIG REFORMS. [1830. 
 
 principle to the administration of the country was 
 most essential for the good government and content- 
 ment of Ireland. Roman Catholics were now eligible 
 as members of Parliament, and a considerable number 
 of them had already been elected. The introduction 
 of this element made it the more necessary for the 
 Government to consider carefully how the adminis- 
 tration of Ireland could be brought into harmony 
 with the new principle of religious equality, and what 
 other reforms were needed. It has already been 
 shown that even the repeal of the penal clauses 
 against Catholics, in 1793, had been as yet without 
 substantial result. In law restrictions were removed, 
 but in practice they were still enforced. The whole 
 of the Irish administration was conducted on the 
 principle of Protestant Ascendency. During the 
 interval which had elapsed between the passing of 
 the Catholic Relief Act and the resignation of the 
 Tory Government, nothing had been done to indicate 
 the desire or the intention of Ministers to make a 
 change, or to apply in practice the principle of 
 equality, on which their great measure was based. 
 Mr. shell, indeed, and two or three other Catholic 
 lawyers, were raised to the position of King's Counsel, 
 from which, under previous practice, they had been 
 so unjustly excluded. But O'Connell, whose position 
 at the Bar was far higher, and to whom the exclusion 
 had long been a serious professional loss, was, by the 
 express intervention of the King, refused this dis- 
 tinction, to the indignation of Ireland and his own 
 great annoyance. 
 
 It was urgently necessary that the new Government 
 should address itself to the administration of Ireland, 
 and should inaugurate a new policy. The tithe 
 question, the Church Establishment question, the 
 tenure of land, the reform of corporations, and 
 numerous other subjects, were of pressing importance. 
 From the point of view also of party politics, considera- 
 tion was due to Ireland, and especially to the Catholic 
 
1830.] LORD ANGLESEY'S APPOINTMENTS. 1 19 
 
 party. It was by the votes of their representatives 
 that the late Government had been defeated, and that 
 Lord Grey's Government was brought into power. It 
 was by their support only, that the new Government 
 could hope to carry its Reform Bill through the 
 House of- Commons. This section of the Liberal 
 party had, therefore, a right to expect some favour, 
 and to demand some part for Ireland in the new 
 programme which was to be proposed. Looking at 
 what subsequently took place under Lord Melbourne's 
 Government, when the Irish party had endured three 
 years of studied neglect by the more purely Whig 
 Government of Lord Grey, it was quite possible for 
 the new Government to come to very reasonable 
 terms with O'Connell, and through him with the Irish 
 party ; and there can be little doubt that, if this course 
 had been taken, Ireland would have been conciliated. 
 This rare opportunity was thrown away. Lord 
 Anglesey was given carte blanche by Lord Grey as 
 regards Irish appointments. In a conference with 
 O'Connell in London, before leaving for his new post, 
 he announced his intention to make no change in 
 the personnel of the Irish Government. Plunket, 
 indeed, whose claims could not be overlooked, was 
 made Lord Chancellor, but the Tory law officers were 
 to be retained. This was rightly interpreted by 
 O'Connell to mean, that the old system of administra- 
 tion in Ireland was to be continued, and that no 
 change of policy was intended. He was most indig- 
 nant, and plainly intimated to the Lord Lieutenant that 
 it would necessarily involve his putting himself in 
 opposition to the Government. Lord Anglesey was 
 unwilling to come to any terms with the Irish leader, 
 and was resolved to resist his demands. As a result, 
 the Viceroy soon found himself in Ireland in antag- 
 onism to the popular party, and all the popularity 
 which he had acquired, on his recall by the Duke of 
 Wellington, in 1829, was speedily lost. 
 
 But more unpopular than the Lord Lieutenant was 
 
I20 WHIG REFORMS, [1830. 
 
 his Chief Secretary. Mr. Stanley, who afterwards, as 
 Lord Derby, became one of the most famous of Tory- 
 leaders, was then an eminent member of the Whig 
 party, an eager and passionate advocate of the reform 
 of Parliament. He was unquestionably one of the 
 ablest and most eloquent members of the Government, 
 a most skilful and powerful debater, with a caustic and 
 bitter tongue, fearless of his words, and loving the 
 keen encounter with a foe worthy of his steel. He 
 had, however, no sympathy with the Irish people, 
 he had no appreciation of their wants, he had no 
 remedies to suggest. He carried with him to Ireland 
 the prejudices of an English landowner, whose family 
 was largely interested in Irish property, though not 
 resident there. He soon brought the Government 
 into fierce opposition with O'Connell. They hated one 
 another with all the bitterness of natures thoroughly 
 antagonistic, and without a single principle in common. 
 They were fairly matched in Parliamentary ability, 
 in ready attack and defence, and in command of 
 abusive language. Stanley had the finer rapier ; 
 he had advantage of speaking in an assembly, of 
 whose members, nineteen out of twenty, were in 
 thorough agreement with him, and who lustily cheered 
 every bitter repartee and every scornful attack on the 
 Irish. O'Connell spoke to an unfriendly audience ; 
 but his native vigour and his long forensic experience 
 stood him in good stead. His retorts on Stanley 
 seldom failed to hit their mark, or to intensify the 
 feeling of hate between them. 
 
 Stanley was not, at the commencement of the 
 Government, in the Cabinet. Lord Melbourne, the 
 Home Secretary, represented Ireland there, and should 
 properly have directed the Irish policy, and have 
 controlled the actions of the Lord Lieutenant and 
 Chief Secretary ; but Lord Melbourne, though a states- 
 man of enlightened views, who on Irish affairs fully 
 appreciated the necessity of conciliating the national 
 party, and of reversing the principles of the Castle ad- 
 
1830.] STANLEY'S IRISH POLICY. 121 
 
 ministration, of which he had had himself experience as 
 Chief Secretary, was by nature indolent, and, while con- 
 scious of the mistaken policy, which was being pursued, 
 had not energy enough to withstand it.* Stanley 
 had the ear of the Prime Minister, and practically 
 decided Irish questions. Under his, and Lord Angle- 
 sey's auspices, the new Government entirely neglected 
 to propose any reforms for Ireland, and made no 
 change whatever in the methods of its administration. 
 They carried on, without any break, the policy of 
 the Tory Government, by means of Tory agents, 
 whom they retained in office. They showed plainly 
 that they were bent on governing Ireland by the 
 old traditions of Protestant Ascendency, without any 
 concession to the altered circumstances of the day, or 
 to the acceptance by the country of a new principle 
 in the Catholic Relief Act of the previous year. 
 Nothing could be more unfortunate for Ireland, or more 
 injurious to its future relations to Great Britain. The 
 only practical effect thus far of the Relief Act, was 
 the multiplication of evictions resulting from the dis- 
 franchisement of the forty-shilling freeholders, who, 
 now that they were no longer wanted by the landlords 
 for political purposes, were considered an encumbrance 
 on the land. 
 
 The autumn of 1B30 had been attended by a bad 
 harvest, and by a failure of the potato crop, which 
 speedily reduced the population in the south and west 
 of Ireland to a condition of terrible want and suffering. 
 " The peasantry," says a contemporary account, " set 
 up their own uncontrolled law of force ; they banded 
 themselves, in large bodies as well as in small, to enforce 
 
 * Mr. McCullagh Torrens, in his "Life of Lord Melbourne," 
 gives an excellent saying of this cynical but unprejudiced statesman. 
 Speaking later, when some reforms were attempted for Ireland, he 
 said, " It is too bad that when the right thing was done, it was done 
 so tardily and insincerely, as to falsify every reasonable anticipation, 
 and to realize every evil augury. What all the wise men pronounced, 
 has not happened ; what all the damned fools said would happen, 
 has happened." — Vol. i. p. 364. 
 
122 WHIG REFORMS. [1830. 
 
 it ; and, to gain their ends, they shrunk from no deed 
 of blood, whether perpetrated in more open riot or 
 by private assassination. They directed themselves 
 against the tithes of the Church, and the rents and 
 property of the laity. Marching armed to the residences 
 of the clergy, they compelled them to reduce the legal 
 rate of the tithes, or to abandon them altogether. 
 Vengeance was denounced by all manner of threatening 
 notices, not only against the persons who should exact, 
 but against the farmers who should pay it ; and the 
 menaces were carried into execution by murder, rapine, 
 and arson. . . . The peasantry marched in bands, 
 demanding reduction of rents and increase of wages, 
 threatening desolation to the magistrates and gentry 
 who should disobey or endeavour to resist. In some 
 instances they called on the proprietors, at the peril of 
 their lives and property, to meet at a certain time, to 
 make regulations in accordance with their commands. 
 In others they deterred tenants of the refractory pro- 
 prietor from proceeding with their agricultural opera- 
 tions. In others they insisted that no mode of agri- 
 culture should be used but that which should employ 
 the greatest number of hands, such as spade husbandry. 
 ... In the country, as well as in the large towns, 
 crowds were famishing from want of food, and sinking 
 into bodily sickness from want of clothing during the 
 inclemency of the winter. In only two baronies of the 
 county of Mayo, there were stated to be upwards of 
 twenty thousand persons without any visible means of 
 procuring food. The potato crop had failed all along 
 the western coast, and it was estimated that in that 
 district of the island there would almost immediately 
 be at least two hundred thousand persons in want of 
 food, or the means of obtaining it. , . . The rustic 
 agitators, nursed in ignorance, and often rendered 
 desperate by want, demanded the abolition of tithes, 
 the reduction of rents, the increase of wages ; the 
 Dublin agitators, blessed with education, held up tithes 
 as a cruel persecution, and landlords as tyrannical. 
 
1830.] FAMINE IN IRELAND. I 23 
 
 hard-hearted oppressors, and demanded in effect that 
 in their own hands should be deposited all the powers 
 of Government." * 
 
 Looked at by the light of more recent experience 
 and knowledge, this lawlessness, however much to 
 be deplored, should not have been wondered at. 
 The incidence of tithes, it has since been discovered, 
 was harsh and unjust ; the powers of landlords, in 
 respect of rent and evictions, were arbitrary, and in 
 many cases were exercised without consideration, 
 and even with cruelty. The absence of any legal 
 provision in Ireland for the relief of the poor, and the 
 difficulties caused to farmers by the fall of prices, and 
 the depreciation of the currency, contributed to the 
 general distress. No remedies were proposed by the 
 Government. The Ministers contented themselves 
 with applying to Parliament for a vote of ^50,000, to 
 be advanced by way of loan to the distressed districts, 
 and to be expended in making roads, for the employ- 
 ment of the people. They attributed the disorders to 
 the political agitation of O'Connell, and did their best 
 to put this down. It was announced that the trades 
 of Dublin would march in procession through the city 
 on a given day in honour of O'Connell. The Lord 
 Lieutenant, under the powers of the Act of the 
 previous year, issued a proclamation prohibiting the 
 procession, on the ground that " it was calculated to 
 lead to a disturbance of the public peace, and that 
 language of a highly inflammatory character had been 
 used by some of the persons who had signified their 
 intention to attend." A great open-air meeting was 
 immediately held to protest against this action of the 
 Government. O'Connell attended and addressed the 
 people ; he advised them to obey the proclamation ; 
 he assured them that the repeal of the Union was 
 inevitable. "At one time," he said, "Catholic Emanci- 
 pation was far more hopeless in appearance than is now 
 repeal. However, the united force of a class achieved 
 * "Annual Register," 1831, p. 300. 
 
124 IVffIG REFORMS. \\'ilo. 
 
 the one measure ; the united force of a people will 
 achieve the other. By force I mean the force of opinion, 
 the force of reason, the force of justice ; physical force 
 we abhor and abjure. By agitation Ireland has ob- 
 tained civil and religious liberty ; by agitation we have 
 escaped increased taxation ; by agitation we have 
 prevented the abolition of the viceroyalty ; and by 
 agitation we will obtain the repeal of the Union. If 
 the people continue to follow my advice, I promise 
 them to have established, before three months, some 
 club or society in Dublin as will make the English 
 Government restore us our rights." It was arranged 
 that in place of the intended procession two deputies 
 from each trade should march to O'Connell's house, 
 and there present him with an address. 
 
 O'Connell then formed a new association "for the 
 prevention of unlawful meetings, and for the protection 
 and exercise of the sacred right of petitioning for the 
 redress of grievances." This association was pro- 
 claimed by Lord Anglesey. O'Connell then met some 
 of his leading friends, denounced the proclamation, 
 and proposed that he alone should be declared to be 
 in his own person an Irish Association, in substitution 
 for those which had been dissolved. He defied the 
 Government to forbid this ; he threatened legal 
 proceedings against any authorities who should inter- 
 fere with meetings held by him in this capacity. 
 " They may try to put us down by proclamation, 
 but they cannot disperse me. I will be the pacificator 
 of Ireland." In this capacity he subsequently invited 
 some of his friends to a breakfast at an hotel in 
 Dublin. The Lord Lieutenant issued a proclamation 
 forbidding such meetings under any name or device 
 whatever. In spite of this, O'Connell summoned the 
 meeting of a committee of thirty persons, at which 
 a petition for the repeal of the Union was to be 
 determined on. By order of the Government, two 
 magistrates appeared at this meeting, and ordered it 
 to disperse ; and later a prosecution was commenced 
 
1830] PROSECUTION OF aCONNELL. 1 25 
 
 against O'Connell, and some of his leading associates, 
 for holding meetings in violation of the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant's proclamation. An indictment was framed 
 against them, and the grand jury found a true Bill. 
 O'Connell and his friends met the attack by legal 
 artifices and technical defences. They pleaded 
 guilty to parts of the indictment, and demurred to 
 others. It is unnecessary to explain the further pro- 
 ceedings. They ended in O'Connell withdrawing his 
 demurrer, and submitting to a verdict of guilty being 
 entered upon the record ; but, in spite of a bold front 
 put upon the transactions by the Government in the 
 House of Commons, and their positive declaration 
 that the law should take its course, O'Connell was 
 never called up for judgment. 
 
 The Act under which O'Connell had been prose- 
 cuted was allowed to expire ; and the Government did 
 not ask Parliament for its renewal. The expiration of 
 the Act was alleged as justification for abandoning the 
 criminal proceedings. Practically, therefore, O'Connell 
 came off victorious in this long legal contest with the 
 Government. He had asserted the right to hold 
 meetings and to form associations, and the Govern- 
 ment had not dared apply to Parliament for a renewal 
 of the Act under which they had endeavoured to 
 prevent them. Thenceforth and for a long period no 
 attempt was made by the Government to interfere 
 with his proceedings. It was strange indeed that 
 any attempt was made to enforce the Act or to 
 prosecute O'Connell when it was not intended to renew 
 the law. Doubtless the introduction of the Reform 
 Bill, the difficulties which the Government met with, 
 and the political necessity of keeping on good terms 
 with the Irish members, accounted for the sudden 
 abandonment of the policy of prohibiting meetings in 
 Ireland, and enforcing the law against O'Connell. 
 
 It was throughout his political life the boast of 
 O'Connell that the Irish members enabled the Govern- 
 ment to pass its Reform Bill for England. The 
 
126 WHIG REFORMS. [1831. 
 
 second reading of the first Reform Bill was carried, after 
 a seven nights' debate, by one vote only, in a House 
 of 603 voters. There was a considerable majority of 
 English and Scotch members opposed to the measure, 
 and the balance was made good by the Irish members, 
 of whom fifty-three voted for the Bill and thirty-six 
 against it. The Government was subsequently de- 
 feated, on going into committee on the Bill, by a motion 
 of General Gascoigne, directed against the reduction in 
 number of the English and Scotch members. Parlia- 
 ment was thereupon again dissolved. The country 
 was now roused to the highest pitch of excitement ; 
 the agitation reached a point almost equal to that in 
 Ireland in 1828. The Reform movement carried 
 everything before it. 
 
 In the new Parliament the Liberals had a very 
 large majority, and the second reading of a renewed 
 Reform Bill was now carried by 136. What followed 
 is well known — the rejection by the House of Lords ; 
 its reintroduction in the session of 1832 ; the carrying 
 of the second reading in the Lords by a majority 
 of nine ; the defeat of the Government there on a 
 motion to postpone the disfranchising clauses ; the 
 application of the Government for power to create 
 peers ; the refusal of the King ; the resignation of the 
 Government ; the failure of the King to find another 
 Ministry ; the capitulation of the Lords under the 
 threat of creating Peers sufficient in number to carry 
 the Bill ; and the final triumph of the great measure. 
 
 The Irish Reform Bill followed suit, but while 
 English public opinion shaped the one measure, Irish 
 opinion had little share in shaping the other. O'Con- 
 nell strongly attacked the Bill in committee, chiefly 
 because it did not remedy the wrong which had been 
 done by the disfranchising Act of 1829. He showed 
 that, previous to that Act, the counties of Ireland had 
 upwards of two hundred thousand voters ; but that 
 the number had since been reduced to twenty-six 
 thousand. He claimed that Ireland was entitled to 
 
t832.] the IRISH REFORM BILL. I 27 
 
 many more than the five additional members it was 
 proposed to give. He moved many amendments for 
 extending the franchise in various different directions, 
 These amendments were successively defeated at the 
 instance of the Government. The debates on them 
 gave rise to many violent conflicts between O'Connell 
 and Stanley. The latter showed no desire to conciliate 
 the Irish members. In vain O'Connell appealed to the 
 assistance which he and his friends had rendered 
 in carrying the English Reform Act. As amend- 
 ment after amendment was carried against him, his 
 temper grew worse, and he denounced Stanley in 
 violent language, as the Minister responsible for the 
 failure to meet the claims of Ireland, for his overbear- 
 ing and insolent manners, for his want of sympathy 
 with the popular demands of Ireland, and for his policy 
 of exasperation. Stanley replied with even greater 
 bitterness and coarseness ; he said that " O'Connell's 
 speech was disgraceful to a gentleman ; that his 
 object was to seize every opportunity of exciting 
 the Irish people to discontent, and to poison their 
 mind against the Government. His trade was agita- 
 tion ; his sole object personal ambition ; and his end the 
 separation of the two countries." Peel joined in the 
 fight, and protested against giving way to agitation, 
 entirely forgetting his own conduct on Catholic 
 Emancipation in 1829. "I, for one," he said, "will 
 never submit to subject the House to what is nothing 
 less than a vile and degrading tyranny. I will not 
 sit in the House to see its functions thus treated, 
 to hear principles which are fatal to all government, 
 and subversive of the peace of society." O'Con- 
 nell, in an earlier stage of the Bill replying to a 
 taunt of agitation, had said, " The best mode of 
 putting an end to discontent is to do justice to the 
 people. If I know anything upon any subject, it is 
 agitation. I have always found that there never was 
 any real agitation unless where a real grievance existed. 
 I defy you to point out a single instance where a 
 
128 WHIG REFORMS. [1832. 
 
 substantial agitation ever existed without a real 
 grievance." 
 
 Practically, little or no change was made in the Bill 
 in the House of Commons. In the Lords the only 
 amendment made was for restoring the right of voting 
 to the corrupt bodies of freemen in the boroughs — a 
 body of men exclusively recruited from the Protestants. 
 The amendment was strongly condemned by the 
 Irish members, but without effect. Relatively to the 
 English measure, the Irish Bill could not be considered 
 an enfranchisement. Ireland was not treated on terms 
 of equality. The new voters proved to be very few 
 in number. The measure consequently gave rise to 
 much ill feeling in Ireland, and was always quoted as 
 an instance of unequal treatment. It was not till 1850 
 that the House of Commons made some approach 
 to a fair treatment of the Irish franchise ; and it was 
 only in 1884 that the English and Irish franchises 
 were placed on a footing of perfect equality by the 
 establishment of household suffrage in both countries. 
 
 Meanwhile agitation continued and increased in 
 Ireland. It was mainly directed to the subject of 
 tithes. For the moment the whole attention of the 
 people was concentrated on that point. Tithes were 
 at this time collected directly from the tenants, and 
 were apportioned annually with reference to the actual 
 amount of the harvest, and were payable generally 
 in kind. The proceeds went to pay the clergy of 
 the Established Church — the Church of the small 
 dominant minority, not of the people. In 1832 the 
 Irish Church presented to view the more glaring 
 anomalies and absurdities. Its staff of bishops with 
 high salaries was enormous. There were numerous 
 instances of well-paid clergymen without any congrega- 
 tions ; and in vast numbers of cases the average attend- 
 ance at the churches was exceedingly small. The 
 main income of the clergy was derived from tithes. 
 These till very recently had been levied almost ex- 
 clusively upon the smaller farmers, who, out of Ulster, 
 
1 83 1 -J THE TITHE QUESTION. 
 
 129 
 
 were almost without exception Catholics. The tenants 
 of large grazing farms, who were mostly Protestants, 
 had obtained exemption under the following circum- 
 stances. In the time of Queen Anne, much land in 
 Ireland was laid down in grass, and was generally let in 
 large holdings to Protestants. These people, whether 
 Episcopalians or Presbyterians, objected to pay tithes, 
 and invoked the interference of their Protestant repre- 
 sentatives in the Irish Parliament. In 1735 the Tithe 
 Agistment Act, exempting pasture land from tithe — 
 an exemption which tended to encourage the conver- 
 sion of tillage into pasture — was passed by that 
 assembly. This Act had very recently been repealed 
 by the Imperial Parliament.* 
 
 In Ulster the sturdy Protestant tenants had suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining a further mitigation of this impost. 
 They asserted customs for the exemption from tithe of 
 certain crops, such as potatoes and flax, and, by the aid 
 of friendly Protestant juries, they succeeded in effecting 
 their object. In the rest of Ireland the tenantry had 
 not been so fortunate. Hence it arose that the very 
 poorest tenants in the Catholic districts, cultivating only 
 small patches of potatoes, were liable to be called upon 
 to pay their quota to the support of a Church not their 
 own, while Protestant tenants of the same class in the 
 north were exempt. It was of little use to tell the 
 Catholic tenants that the tithe was a charge on the 
 land, which was taken into account when the land was 
 let, and was properly, therefore, a deduction from the 
 rent, and a property or right as much as the rent itself 
 Such an argument might avail for a political economist, 
 but would not content the Catholic cottier, who was 
 called upon to contribute the tenth part of his potato 
 crop to the maintenance of a Church not his own, and 
 which was often deserted and empty, while the Catholic 
 chapel, unsupported by the State, was crowded by poor 
 worshippers, who voluntarily maintained it out of their 
 scanty means. 
 
 * 4 Geo. IV., c. 99, s. 35. 
 
I30 WHIG REFORMS. [1831. 
 
 The clergy as a rule farmed out their interests to 
 tithe-collectors, who had the worst reputations in the 
 country for extreme harshness in the collection of 
 these dues. The ecclesiastical courts which had juris- 
 diction in this matter were most severe. There was 
 a proverb amongst the peasantry, " To go into the 
 ecclesiastical court to contend with a minister, is going 
 to law with the devil in a court held in hell." * Often 
 the tithes could only be collected at the point of the 
 bayonet. Conflicts almost amounting to pitched 
 battles arose between the police and the peasants. 
 When the police were reported on their way to assist 
 in the collection of tithes, the cattle were driven off the 
 land, and were locked up in the owners' houses, where 
 the law would not permit the sheriffs' officers to seize 
 them. There was, in fact, a general strike against 
 tithes, and a determination to be rid of them. The 
 priests denounced them in the Catholic chapels, and 
 condemned the Church on whose behalf they were 
 levied. Another grievance of the same kind was that 
 of Church rates, or Church cess — a tax of an uncertain 
 amount, for the repair of the fabrics of the Established 
 Church and the maintenance of its services, levied by 
 the votes of the Protestant ratepayers, but paid alike 
 by all ratepayers, whatever their religion. 
 
 In the latter part of 1831, the difficulty of col- 
 lecting tithes and Church rates became so great, that 
 the bishops advised their clergy to desist from the 
 attempt,, and to abstain from pressing their claims, 
 until Parliament should deal with the question. Great 
 distress and difficulty consequently prevailed among 
 the clergy. Committees on the subject were appointed 
 by both Houses of Parliament in 1832. To the 
 indignation of O'Connell, no Catholic members were 
 nominated to sit on the Committee of the House of 
 Commons — " as if," he said, " Catholics had nothing to 
 do with tithes except to pay them." Questions of 
 the expediency of the charge, the destination of the 
 * Gustave de Beaumont ; " L'Irlande," vol i., p. 388. 
 
i832.] COMMITTEES ON TITHES. 131 
 
 tithe, and the condition of the Established Church, 
 do not appear to have been entertained by these 
 Committees. The only subject they discussed was 
 how to recover the charge in the interest of the clergy. 
 The Committees of both Houses came to the same 
 conclusion — that the Government should intervene for 
 the assistance of the clergy, by advancing the amount 
 of uncollected tithe, and should take upon itself the 
 duty of collecting the arrears ; and further, that the 
 composition of the tithes, and their conversion into a 
 money payment, should be made compulsory and not 
 permissive. The Government, accordingly, introduced 
 resolutions to enable them to advance ^60,000 to the 
 clergy, and to assume the collection of arrears, and also 
 for the compulsory composition of tithes. 
 
 O'Connell violently attacked these resolutions in 
 the House of Commons. He complained of the in- 
 sulting contempt with which Irish questions were dealt 
 with. "All Ireland," he said, "was combined against the 
 tithe system — all the Catholics, all the Presbyterians, 
 all the Dissenters ; yet how did the Government pro- 
 pose to deal with it ? By substituting the Government 
 for the tithe-collectors ; by making the Lord Lieutenant 
 tithe-proctor-general for all Ireland ; and by keeping up 
 the Protestant Establishment, the most monstrous which 
 ever existed in any country." While denouncing the 
 Established Church, as it stood, he expressed himself 
 favourable to the endowment of all religious bodies in 
 Ireland. " He would give," he said, " to the present 
 clergy of the Established Church the full amount 
 of their Hvings, but he would not continue after their 
 death to pay enormous sums to those who had no 
 spiritual duties. He would levy a tax on all property 
 for the purpose of religion and charity ; by religion 
 he did not mean the Established Church only, or any 
 particular Church, but to a certain extent every Church, 
 and without doubt the Established Church among 
 them. A small glebe ought to be given to every 
 minister." Mr. Shell, who had entered Parliament at 
 
132 WHIG REFORMS. [1832. 
 
 the last general election, supported him in a vigorous 
 speech ; but the measure was carried in spite of their 
 opposition. A proposal of Sheil to abolish Church 
 rates in Ireland was negatived by 79 votes to 18. 
 
 It will be observed that the first effort of the Re- 
 form Ministry of England on the subject of tithes 
 was entirely in the interest of the clergy, and with the 
 object of securing their incomes ; it put the Govern- 
 ment in the position of tithe-collector ; it advanced 
 money of the State to the clergy ; it made the composi- 
 tion of tithes in money compulsory, in order to facilitate 
 their collection. There was not a word in the speeches 
 of Lord Grey and Lord Stanley to indicate any percep- 
 tion that the Catholic tithe-payers had any grievance 
 to complain of, either in the system of tithes, or in the 
 establishment of the Church of the minority. Lord 
 Grey, in the House of Lords, said that "while admit- 
 ting the urgency of effecting some improvement in the 
 mode of making provision for the clergy of Ireland, 
 he would never think of making any such improve- 
 ment, without fully securing to the Church its just 
 rights." 
 
 In the autumn of 1832, after the passing of the 
 Reform Act, Parliament was again dissolved. A general 
 election took place, and a House of Commons was 
 elected under the new franchise — an event of the utmost 
 importance in the history of the country. The Liberal 
 party made nearly a clean sweep of the constituencies. 
 The old Tory party, the opponents of Reform, suc- 
 ceeded in returning less than one-fifth of the members 
 elected. There was a majority against them in the 
 new House of 388. From Ireland, of one hundred 
 and five members, only twenty-three members were 
 returned by the Tory party. For the first time the 
 question of repeal of the Union was raised at the Irish 
 elections. Of the eighty-two Liberals, forty-five were 
 pledged to vote for repeal, a number less than half 
 of the total number of representatives for Ireland ; 
 the remainder were in favour of reforms, such as 
 
I833-] THE REFORMED PARLIAMENT. 133 
 
 the abolition of tithes, the reduction of the Church 
 EstabHshment, the revival of municipal institutions 
 — measures consistent with the maintenance of the 
 Union. During the autumn and winter the resistance 
 of the peasantry to the collection of tithes continued. 
 Twelve thousand attachments were issued in the 
 courts of law for the arrears of tithes, now the pro- 
 perty of the Crown, and it was the fixed resolve of the 
 Government to collect them, even at the point of the 
 bayonet. The attempt to do so was met by active 
 resistance, and a series of encounters took place in all 
 parts of the country throughout the winter, between 
 the police and the military on the one hand, and the 
 peasantry on the other. 
 
 The meeting of the Reformed Parliament, in the 
 beginning of 1833, was another great opportunity 
 afforded British statesmen of dealing with Irish ques- 
 tions, both by legislation and administration, in a 
 spirit of conciliation and justice. There was an 
 enormous majority in Parliament in favour of Lord 
 Grey's Government. It could do almost as it liked, 
 and was no longer hampered by Parliamentary oppo- 
 sition. It had an open field for any changes it 
 might think desirable in its Irish policy. The op- 
 portunity was again thrown away ; the demands of 
 Ireland were disregarded. No approach was made 
 to O'Connell ; he was still held at arm's length. 
 Anglesey and Stanley continued to govern Ireland 
 on Tory lines. The Government had shown its con- 
 fidence in Stanley's policy by admitting him to the 
 Cabinet ; and thenceforward he practically governed 
 Ireland. No attempt had been made to carry the 
 policy of the Catholic Relief Act into administrative 
 action. The demand in Ireland for reforms, especially 
 on the tithe question, was universal. The wise and 
 statesmanlike course for the Government would have 
 been at once to propose those measures of reforms, and 
 to trust to their operation for the restoration of order. 
 But Ministers chose the opposite course ; they asked 
 
134 WHIG REFORMS. [1833- 
 
 Parliament to support them, not in a policy of con- 
 cession, but of coercion. 
 
 In the debate on the Address, O'Connell attacked 
 this policy with the utmost violence ; he described 
 the speech from the throne as " brutal, bloody, and 
 unconstitutional ; " he said that the increase of crime 
 in Ireland was due to misgovernment, and to the 
 refusal of reforms, not to agitation. He denounced 
 the administration of Lord Anglesey and Mr. Stanley. 
 " Never had there been such a persecuting Govern- 
 ment ; they had prosecuted the press, the people, 
 and even the priests, but they had done nothing to 
 restore tranquillity to the people. . . . When Ireland 
 had so many grounds of complaint, had not its people a 
 right to agitate ? Was it not shameful that the first 
 message sent by the Reformed Parliament to Ireland 
 should be one, not of peace, but of war 1 The principle 
 of Protestant Ascendency was manifestly to be main- 
 tained ; the policy of excluding Irish Catholics from all 
 positions of power in their own country was to be per- 
 petuated. Four years had elapsed since the passing of 
 the Catholic Relief Act, but no change had as yet taken 
 place in the system of English government in Ireland. 
 The policy of the Castle was still that no Papist need 
 apply. Did the Government expect that the Irish 
 people could be coerced into law and order as long as 
 Catholic Emancipation was permitted to remain a dead 
 letter — as long as practical justice was denied them ? " 
 He warned the Government that no measures of 
 coercion, however stringent, would be effectual in 
 putting down agitation and restoring peace, until the 
 popular grievances were redressed. 
 
 He enumerated seven grievances in Ireland which 
 required immediate redress. 1. The condition of the 
 police, and of the magistracy, who were entirely re- 
 cruited from the ranks of the Protestants. Of twenty- 
 six stipendiary magistrates appointed by Lord Anglesey, 
 there was not a single Catholic. Of thirty-two in- 
 spectors of police and five inspectors-general, not one 
 
1833.] aCONNELLS COMPLAINTS. 1 35 
 
 Catholic had been appointed. Suppose, he said, a 
 magistracy were established in England professing 
 a religion different from that of the people, and with 
 arbitrary power, and against the members of which 
 it was hopeless to seek redress, no matter what in- 
 justice was committed, what would be the feelings 
 which such a state of things would generate ? 2. The 
 total want of confidence in the administration of justice 
 by the bench of judges. For more than thirty years, 
 he said, the enemies of liberty in Ireland had been in 
 power ; they had filled all the judicial appointments 
 with their political supporters ; promotion had been 
 uniformly withheld from any one who had even signed 
 a petition in favour of Catholic Emancipation, or who 
 had shown any sympathy with the people. 3. The 
 manner of striking juries. The power assumed by 
 the Crown in Ireland, — very different and far greater 
 than that exercised in England, — of setting jurors aside 
 at its discretion, was uniformly exercised to prevent 
 Catholics being on juries, and had placed the adminis- 
 tration of justice entirely in Protestant hands. 4. The 
 abuse of the grand jury system, and the power of im- 
 posing taxes by self-appointed bodies, who were all of 
 one class and religion, and a majority of whom were 
 absentees. 5. The state of municipal corporations 
 in Ireland. The bigotry and exclusiveness of these 
 bodies were well known. Though Catholics had been 
 for years admissible, few had ever been admitted to 
 these corporations, and none had ever been allowed 
 to discharge the duties of these offices. Not a single 
 Catholic had been admitted to the corporation of 
 Dublin for forty years. 6. The grievance of tithes 
 and the Established Church. All the Catholics 
 wanted, he said, was freedom in religious matters. 
 They desired no supremacy, but they insisted upon 
 the extinction of tithes ; and they objected to pay 
 twenty-two bishops and innumerable other Church 
 functionaries for services they did not require. 7. 
 The suppression of meetings by the Government, by 
 
136 WHIG REFORMS. [1833. 
 
 a construction of the law which would never be 
 tolerated in England. Were the meetings, he said, 
 in Ireland more dangerous than those in Birmingham, 
 by means of which reform of Parliament had been 
 obtained ? yet no one thought of suppressing the 
 English meetings. 
 
 Having made this enumeration of grievances, 
 O'Connell warned the Government that no measures of 
 coercion, however stringent, would be effectual in putting 
 down agitation and restoring peace until the popular de- 
 mands were granted. The Whigs, he said, had always 
 proved the bitterest enemies of Ireland. They were 
 only treading in the steps of those who had gone before 
 them. They had rendered themselves liable for all 
 the crime that took place in Ireland. Let them but do 
 justice to Ireland ; let them put down the cry for re- 
 peal of the Union, by showing that it was unnecessary ; 
 let them show that they meant well to that wretched 
 country, and agitation would cease. He concluded 
 by denouncing Stanley as the worst enemy of Ireland 
 that had ever held the office of Chief Secretary. 
 
 Stanley replied that it was idle to talk of measures 
 of concession until the disturbances which disgraced 
 the country were put down. O'Connell, by his violent 
 courses, had made himself responsible for them. To 
 demand the redress of such grievances, whilst the 
 spirit of rebellion remained unquelled, was to ask 
 Parliament not to deliberate, but to crouch before 
 dangers which were threatened. Respect for the law 
 should be first established, attachment to the Govern- 
 ment first secured, and then it would be fitting to 
 consider the question of grievances. How was this 
 respect and attachment to be gained ? By force. A 
 Government to be loved must be feared. He taunted 
 O'Connell with not having ventured in the House of 
 Commons to grapple with the question of repeal of the 
 Union. The Government now told him before the 
 people of Great Britain that his panacea was one 
 which would be resisted to the death with all the 
 power of the Government. 
 
1833.] STANLEY'S POLICY. 1 37 
 
 This speech of Stanley's gives the key-note to his 
 policy for Ireland. It was that of uncompromising 
 hostility to O'Connell ; of resistance by force to the 
 demands of Ireland; of suppression of every symptom 
 of disorder in Ireland, before any ear would be given 
 to her complaints. It drew remonstrances from the 
 more advanced members of the Liberal party in Eng- 
 land. Stanley was too violent in his tone even for 
 Peel, who, while supporting the Government, made 
 important reservations. "He had always dreaded 
 measures of coercion, for he feared that, whilst their 
 effect for good would be temporary, they would leave 
 behind a rankling wound, of which the soreness would 
 be long felt. He had always been in favour of trying 
 the ordinary law in preference to coercion. There 
 is a great evil in coercive measures ; you cannot rely 
 on them for any permanent good ; but there is great 
 risk that they will relax the energy of the ordinary 
 law, and widen the breach between the richer classes, 
 for whose protection they are framed, and the poorer 
 classes, for whose punishment they appear to be in- 
 tended." The argument against coercion could not be 
 more tersely put. Nevertheless Peel supported the 
 Government, and O'Connell's amendment was rejected, 
 after four nights' debate, by an overwhelming majority.* 
 
 The Coercion Bill was introduced by Lord Grey 
 in the House of Lords, and, as might be expected, 
 was carried there without opposition or amendment. It 
 was the most stringent measure of the kind ever in- 
 troduced. It proposed to give power to the Lord 
 Lieutenant to proclaim districts, and to establish 
 martial law ; to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act ; to 
 try prisoners by military tribunals ; to suppress public 
 meetings ; to forbid persons to be out at night from 
 one hour after sunset until sunrise ; and to enable 
 the military to enter houses to search for arms. In 
 the Commons it was introduced by Lord Althorp, 
 in a very half-hearted speech. In fact, it was known 
 * Division — 65/01 the amendment, 301 against. 
 
138 WHIG REFORMS. [1833- 
 
 that in the Cabinet, Lord Althorp, Lord Melbourne, 
 and Mr. Grant had favoured prompt and large 
 measures of conciliation for Ireland, and had with 
 difficulty been persuaded by Stanley to consent to 
 meeting the Reformed Parliament with a stringent 
 Coercion Bill, as their first measure for Ireland. 
 With these views Lord Althorp made but a poor 
 case for his Bill, and it was generally felt that no 
 adequate cause had been assigned for so extreme 
 a measure. Later, however, on the same night, 
 Stanley stepped in to supply the want of vigour 
 shown by his chief. In a speech of extraordinary 
 power he completely carried the House with him. 
 Lord Russell has described this speech as the most 
 surprising instance of what intense earnestness, high 
 intellect, reckless courage, and passionate eloquence 
 can achieve in changing the mood of a popular as- 
 sembly. * Stanley denounced O'Connell in haughty 
 and contemptuous terms. " The curse of Ireland," 
 he said, " was agitation and demagogism ; until this 
 was put down there would be no security for law 
 and order, life and property." O'Connell replied 
 that it was useless to think of restoring order by 
 force until grievances were redressed. " Let tithes 
 be abolished, let rack-renting be prevented, and order 
 will prevail in Ireland. There was a time when a 
 ray of hope dawned on Ireland. It was when the 
 present Parliament first assembled. We saw this 
 reformed House of Commons meet. We knew the 
 people of England were represented here. We 
 believed that they would afford us redress of our 
 grievances — and you give us an Act of despotism." 
 The most remarkable incident of this important debate 
 was the speech of Mr. Lytton Bulwer, afterwards Lord 
 Lytton. " The question," he said, " is how disorder and 
 anarchy in Ireland are to be put down. The Govern- 
 ment say by coercion, tempered by concession. I say 
 by concession, and concession only. I am sure that no 
 * "Life of Lord Melbourne," vol. i. p. 419. 
 
I833-] STANLEY'S POLICY. 1 39 
 
 people on the face of the earth can be governed by 
 the system which the Government now propose — to- 
 day coercion, to-morrow concession. This quick 
 alternation of kicks and kindness ; this coaxing with 
 the hand and spurning with the heel ; this system, 
 at once feeble and exasperating, of allowing the 
 justice of complaint and yet stifling its voice — of 
 holding out hopes and fears, terrors and conciliation, 
 all in a breath — is a system that renders animals and 
 human beings alike not tame but savage ; is a system 
 which would make the most credulous people distrustful, 
 and the mildest ferocious. You flatter yourselves that 
 under the shelter of these laws you will be able with 
 effect to apply your remedial measures. It is just the 
 reverse ; they will blight all your remedies, and throw 
 their withering shadows over all your concessions." 
 
 O'Connell closed the debate by another strong 
 appeal to the House. He taunted the Whigs with 
 inconsistency, in presenting this as the first measure 
 of the Reformed Parliament — a measure which put 
 an end to personal liberty, to the right of petition, 
 to liberty of the press,'and to trial by jury ; he insisted 
 that all constitutional methods had not been ex- 
 hausted. " What had the Government been doing 
 since the previous August ? They had been en- 
 deavouring to enforce the payment of tithes by 
 sending horse and foot into every part of Ireland — by 
 turning the Lord Lieutenant into a tithe-collector. 
 He alone (O'Connell) offered hope to the Irish people 
 ■ — the hope of an Irish domestic legislature. English 
 members might think that a delusive hope. Let them 
 prove it to be so, by showing that they were ready to 
 afford the Irish people kind and paternal protection. 
 Instead of that they turned away the look of kindness. 
 They left all grievances unredressed ; for bread they 
 gave a stone, and they established amongst them a 
 most despotic Authority, acting upon the principle that 
 a Government ' to be loved must first be feared.' " 
 
 The second reading was carried, on a division, 
 
14° WHIG REFQR]\rS. [1833. 
 
 by 363 to 84. Its progress through Committee 
 led to a series of violent conflicts between O'Connell 
 and Stanley. Every clause was stoutly resisted. That 
 permitting the constitution of courts-martial was only 
 carried, after prolonged opposition, by a majority of 
 270 to 130. Some few concessions, mitigating the 
 rigour of the proposals, and providing securities against 
 abuse, were made by Lord Althorp. The chief amend- 
 ment was to the effect that no district should be pro- 
 claimed merely on the ground that tithes were not paid 
 in it. This change produced great dissatisfaction 
 among the Conservative peers, who held that it was 
 almost as mischievous as a declaration that no tithes 
 need be paid. Immediately on the passing of the 
 measure, the Lord Lieutenant issued a proclamation 
 suppressing O'Connell's last Association. This body, 
 however, had anticipated the action of the Govern- 
 ment by a resolution that, from the period of its 
 dissolution by legislative coercion, all its functions and 
 acts should be confided to O'Connell himself; and it 
 will be seen that the suppression had little or no effect 
 upon the agitation. 
 
 In the mean time a remedial measure had been 
 introduced by the Government in the House of Com- 
 mons, proposing to deal to some extent with the griev- 
 ance of the Irish Church Establishment. There were 
 symptoms at the outset of a division of opinion in 
 the Cabinet on this subject. English opinion was en- 
 tirely opposed at that time to any complete measure 
 of reform ; it would not listen to any proposal for the 
 suppression of the Irish Church Establishment, and of 
 the application of its immense endowments to secular 
 purposes ; still less was it prepared for a measure for 
 the concurrent endowment of the Catholic clergy. 
 The scandal, however, of the Protestant Church of 
 Ireland was very great, and a large majority of the 
 Liberal party were willing to cut down its establish- 
 ment to reasonable proportions, by reducing the 
 number of bishops, by suppressing benefices where 
 
1833.] THE IRISH CHURCH. 141 
 
 there were practically no duties, and by applying the 
 proceeds of these reductions to some secular purpose. 
 A measure was brought forward with this object on 
 behalf of the Government by Lord Althorp. The Bill 
 proposed to abolish the Church cess, which was esti- 
 mated to produce about ^70,000 per annum, and to 
 levy a tax on the incomes of the clergy for the mainte- 
 nance of the churches. Twelve out of the twenty-two 
 bishoprics were to be suppressed, and also all benefices 
 where there were fewer than fifty Protestants ; the 
 proceeds from these reductions, estimated at^3, 000,000, 
 were to be devoted to such purposes as Parliament 
 should thereafter think fit. O'Connell, on its intro- 
 duction, supported the measure, because it recognized, 
 he said, an admirable principle — that where there were 
 no spiritual wants there should be no receiving of 
 tithes or other income. 
 
 The proposal in the Bill for appropriating to 
 secular purposes a part of the income and property, 
 theretofore devoted to the Church, met with great 
 opposition. Sir Robert Peel, while favourable to the 
 reform of the Irish Church, objected strongly to the 
 diversion of any part of its property, and held that it 
 ought to be considered just as sacred as any private 
 property. Many of the Whigs equally objected. It 
 became known that this part of the proposal had no 
 chance of being carried through the House of Lords. 
 The Ministers, therefore, determined to withdraw it, 
 and when the clause was reached in Committee, Stanley, 
 himself, moved its rejection. It had never, he said, 
 been the intention of the Government to apply the 
 surplus funds to general State purposes, but rather to 
 objects which would involve religious and general 
 charity ; but he looked forward with alarm to the 
 conflict of hostile opinion on the subject, and he was 
 unwilling to risk the benefits, to be derived from 
 other parts of the measure, by endangering the prin- 
 ciple. From his subsequent action, it seems probable 
 that Stanley had never assented to the introduction of 
 
142 WHIG REFORMS. [1833. 
 
 this clause, and would have resigned sooner than agree 
 to it. O'Connell attacked the Government for sur- 
 rendering this principle with unmeasured reproach. 
 When the Ministers introduced coercion, they promised 
 to accompany it with measures of redress ; they had 
 declared they would stand or fall by these measures. 
 It was on the faith of this they had carried their 
 Coercion Bill, and now they sacrificed the main prin- 
 ciple of their remedial measures in order to keep in 
 office. Stanley denied that the application of the 
 surplus Church property for secular purposes had been 
 a principle of the Bill. The rejection of the clause 
 was not carried without strong protest, and one 
 hundred and forty-eight members voted for its re- 
 tention. The measure, thus amended, was in its 
 main features, and with the exception of the aboli- 
 tion of Church cess, no longer one which interested 
 the majority of the Irish people. It was reduced, in 
 effect, to a reform of the Church of Ireland in its own 
 interest, and a redistribution of its income among its 
 officers. It made that institution a little more defen- 
 sible, in the sense that the number of bishops and other 
 functionaries with no duties whatever were to be reduced. 
 The Establishment itself, the most glaring anomaly of 
 all, would remain, and there would be no longer such 
 gross cases of clerical sinecures. The principle of 
 the appropriation of its surplus property for the benefit 
 of the people of Ireland generally was abandoned. 
 Even thus reduced, it was with some difficulty that the 
 Bill passed the Lords. The Duke of Wellington used 
 his utmost entreaties to avoid a division on it ; but in 
 spite of these, ninety-eight peers voted for the rejection 
 of the Bill, and one hundred and fifty-seven for it. 
 The opponents of the measure succeeded in defeating 
 the Government on an amendment, providing that 
 where no duty had been performed in a parish for three 
 years, the funds from the benefice should be accumu- 
 lated to build a Church there, or a glebe-house. 
 
 The debates on the Coercion Bill and the Church 
 
I833-] THE APPROPRIATION CLAUSE. 143 
 
 Temporalities Bill, and O'Connell's indignant re- 
 proaches to the Government, were not without their 
 effect. It became evident that a large part of the 
 Liberal party was of opinion that the policy pursued 
 towards Ireland was a mistake; and there were grave 
 misgivings in the Cabinet itself. The first evidence of 
 this was the removal of Stanley from the post of Irish 
 Secretary, for which he had shown himself eminently 
 unqualified by his bitter temper and want of sympathy. 
 A more unfortunate selection for the post could not 
 have been made. His action and his violent language 
 had destroyed all hope of conciliating the Irish party in 
 the House of Commons, and the vast majority of the 
 Irish people. He was now appointed Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies ; and Lord Anglesey was re- 
 placed by Lord Wellesley. 
 
 It is only fair to Mr. Stanley to recall the fact that 
 during his few years of office, though he conducted 
 the Government of Ireland on the old-established 
 principle of Protestant Ascendency, he laid the foun- 
 dation of one institution of great ultimate importance, 
 and in which he endeavoured to preserve a position of 
 impartiality as between the rival sects of that country. 
 Nothing had been more degrading, galling, and more 
 permanently mischievous to the Catholic population 
 of Ireland than the provisions of the Penal Code 
 with reference to education. Catholics were forbidden 
 to set up schools of their own, or to be masters or 
 teachers in Protestant schools, or even to teach in 
 private houses any other children, than those belonging 
 to them. It was made illegal to send children or 
 young men abroad, for the purpose of being educated 
 in foreign schools or colleges, and it was only by 
 stealth that the wealthier Catholic families, unable to 
 obtain education at home, were able to smuggle their 
 sons out of the country, to receive instruction conform- 
 able to their religious views, in France or Belgium. 
 In the earlier period of the penal laws, provisions were 
 directed against any education whatever of Catholics. 
 
144 WHIG REFORMS. [1833. 
 
 Later, in the eighteenth century, it occurred to the 
 bishops and other leaders of the Protestant Ascendency 
 that education might be made the means of prosely- 
 tizing ; and, accordingly, various efforts were made, at 
 their instance, by Parliament and by voluntary societies 
 and endowments to promote the instruction of Catholic 
 children ; it was hoped to reduce the influence of the 
 Catholic Church, by making it a condition that these 
 children should be instructed in the doctrines and prin- 
 ciples of the Protestant faith. Catholics were accord- 
 ingly admitted to the schools supported by the State, 
 but only upon the declaration of parents giving full and 
 voluntary consent to their children being instructed in 
 the Protestant religion. 
 
 In 1 781 some relaxation of the penal laws took place. 
 Catholics were for the first time permitted to teach in 
 schools, but only by the leave and licence of the 
 Protestant bishop of the diocese. The Irish Parlia- 
 ment in 1792 removed all other restrictions on Catholic 
 education ; but it still left all endowments in the hands 
 of Protestants, and the State aid was only given to 
 the sectarian schools of the minority. After the Union, 
 between 1 8 1 1 and 1 8 1 7, a further advance was made. 
 It was conceded that it was desirable to promote the 
 education of Catholics' children, and that it was unjust 
 to force upon them, as a condition of it, their instruction 
 in religious principles distasteful to their parents ; 
 public opinion, however, in England, it was thought, 
 could not justify the application of State aid to schools, 
 where the Catholic religion was taught, or even where 
 no religion was taught. A society, therefore, was 
 founded for the purpose of establishing schools with 
 the aid of State funds, upon the principle that the 
 Bible was to be read daily in them, without explanation 
 or comment. This, again, was opposed to the con- 
 scientious views of Catholics, who objected strongly 
 to placing the Bible without comment in the hands of 
 children between the ages of five and fifteen. The 
 desire, however, of the Irish Catholics for education 
 
I833-] IRISH EDUCATION. 145 
 
 was SO great that, much as they objected to the plan, 
 they were prepared to give it a trial. O'Connell 
 became a member of the new body, called the Kildare 
 Street Society ; numerous schools were set on foot 
 throughout the country, and received an annual grant 
 amounting to ^30,000. The Board, however, soon 
 got into difficulties by allying itself with various prose- 
 lytizing bodies, and entirely lost the confidence of the 
 Catholics, so that O'Connell felt himself compelled to 
 sever his connection with it. The benefit of the system 
 mainly accrued to Ulster and the Protestant population 
 elsewhere. Five-sixths of the masters were Protestants, 
 a proportion exactly the reverse of what it should have 
 been. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that Stanley now 
 made an effort to popularize education, in Ireland, apd 
 to establish it on an unsectarian basis. There can 
 be no doubt that the Irish people, Protestant and 
 Catholic, desired a denominational system of education. 
 But English opinion, which at that time insisted upon 
 denominational education for England, would not per- 
 mit of State funds being devoted to the teaching of 
 Catholic principles as part of a school system in Ireland. 
 Stanley, therefore, recognizing this difficulty, proposed 
 a system of mixed education for Ireland, where the 
 State grants would be given for lay subjects only, but 
 where time and opportunity would be afforded for each 
 denomination to give whatever instruction it might 
 think fit for the children of those belonging to it. He 
 declared that the Kildare Street Society was a failure ; 
 that its system was utterly unfitted for the Irish people, 
 and was based on principles repugnant to the Catholic 
 population. He proposed the constitution of a new 
 Board, on which Catholics were to be represented ; 
 schools were to be established, open equally to Catholic 
 and Protestant children ; four days in the week were 
 to be devoted to secular education, and one or two 
 days to the separate religious education of the children ; 
 but this latter was in no way to be provided or paid 
 
 L 
 
146 WHIG REFORMS. [i833- 
 
 for by the State ; the system was to be so managed 
 that there should not be a suspicion of proselytism. 
 The scheme was supported in the House by O'Connell, 
 on behalf of the Catholics. He described Stanley's 
 speech as distinguished by good taste, good feeling, and 
 charitable consideration upon those points in which 
 others might differ from him. He denounced the oppo- 
 sition from Ulster as a farrago of bigotry. He repudi- 
 ated the suggestion that the Catholics would not be 
 content with equality, but were seeking for ascendency. 
 " He, for one, wished to state — and he made the declara- 
 tion in the presence of that God who would judge him, 
 by what he then stated, to eternal weal or woe — that 
 he would be as strenuous an opponent of Catholic 
 Ascendency in Ireland as any Protestant in that country. 
 Ascendency only corrupted religion, and he loved his 
 religion too fondly to wish to see it in the ascendant." 
 
 Stanley's plan was adopted in spite of the opposition 
 of the Protestant party of Ireland. For some time 
 it commanded the support of the Catholic bishops. 
 The weak part of the scheme from the first consisted 
 in the constitution of the Board. The Catholics 
 formed five-sixths of the population of Ireland ; but 
 on the Board of seven members only two were to 
 be Catholics. Of the remaining five, two were re- 
 presentatives of the Presbyterians, and three of the 
 Established Church. It was strong testimony to 
 the moderation of the Catholic party that they were 
 content, in the first instance, with a Board thus con- 
 stituted. The Presbyterians were from the first the 
 main opponents of the scheme. They dubbed it a 
 godless system. They claimed that in a Christian 
 country the Bible, unabridged and unmutilated, should 
 form the basis of education, and they opposed any 
 system which interfered with the inestimable possession 
 and use of the Scriptures in the schools. O'Connell 
 always defended the system, on the ground that it 
 would not deprive Protestant children of the use 
 of the Bible, but would prevent the reading of it 
 
1 833.] STANLEY'S EDUCATION SCHEME. 1 47 
 
 being forced on Catholics in a manner they did not 
 approve of. 
 
 The resistance of the Ulster Presbyterians did not 
 cease with the passing of the measure. By steady 
 pressure upon the Board, directed for several years, 
 they gradually succeeded in persuading it to make 
 concessions to them. These departures from the 
 original scheme gradually alienated the Catholic clergy 
 and bishops. The action of the Board, which at first 
 was perfectly impartial between the various sects, was 
 after a time modified. Their course, in respect to the 
 historical works which they prepared and circulated for 
 the use of the schools, was specially distasteful to the 
 Catholic and National party. They studiously omitted 
 from the history of Ireland any passage or expression 
 reminding the children of the separate national exist- 
 ence or historic traditions of their race and country. 
 National emblems, references to liberty or freedom, 
 and patriotic aspirations were carefully eliminated from 
 the lesson-books. It was even sought to substitute 
 the idea of an English for an Irish birthright* 
 
 Dr. Whately, the Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, 
 one of the stoutest supporters on the Board of the 
 mixed system, and who in other respects was most fair 
 in his policy to the Catholics, was mainly responsible 
 for this most silly attempt to denationalize the Irish 
 children. As a result, the Board and its system 
 equally lost the confidence of the people. Catholic 
 opinion was turned against it, and from 1840 for 
 twenty years there was a steady and persistent hos- 
 tility to it on the part of the Catholic bishops, headed 
 by Archbishop MacHale, but somewhat restrained 
 
 * The Irish children were regularly taught to sing a goody-goody 
 hymn, commencing — 
 
 " I thank the goodness and the grace 
 That on my birth have smiled. 
 And made me in these Christian days 
 A happy English child." 
 
 Barry O'Brien's " Fifty Years of Concession to Ireland," vol. i. p. 195. 
 
148 WHTG REFORMS. [1833. 
 
 from Rome. They demanded a denominational system 
 and more control over the schools. This was steadily 
 resisted by the Government. It was not till i860 that 
 concessions were made to the Catholic opposition. 
 The Board was then reconstituted, and the number of 
 its members was increased to twenty, one-half of 
 whom were to be Catholics. 
 
 It is satisfactory to add that, in spite of the oppo- 
 sition of rival sects, the schools have grown steadily 
 in number, and that the attendance has year by year in- 
 creased. The tendency, however, has been more and 
 more to depart from the original intention. Through- 
 out the greater part of Ireland the schools are, in 
 fact, not mixed, but are separate and practically de- 
 nominational. It is only in a part of Ulster that 
 the schools are under the joint management of 
 Catholics and Protestants, and that the system has 
 remained a mixed one as contemplated by Stanley ; 
 and even in this province the great majority of the 
 schools are for separate denominations. Irish opinion 
 has, in fact, succeeded in asserting itself, against 
 the intentions of the founders of the system and of 
 Parliament, and has adjusted by degrees the educa- 
 tional establishments more nearly to the wants of the 
 people.* 
 
 Looking back at Stanley's plan, it is easy now to 
 see that its main defect consisted in the constitution of 
 a Board with so unfair a representation of the Catholic 
 majority of Ireland. This was due to an unreasonable 
 fear of the Catholics, and in part also to the national 
 prejudice in England against any system under which 
 there was a possibility that Catholic doctrines might 
 be taught at the expense of the State. To secure 
 itself against this, the Imperial Parliament insisted 
 upon an unfair representation of the national party, 
 while, on the other hand, to make the scheme at 
 
 * The story of the various phases of the agitation in Ireland on 
 the subject of national education is told at length in Mr. Barry 
 O'Brien's " Fifty Years of Concession to Ireland," vol. i. pp. 1-200. 
 
i834.] aCONNELL'S MOTION FOR REPEAL. 149 
 
 all acceptable to Ireland, it was compelled to pay the 
 whole cost of primary education in Ireland out of State 
 funds, while in England and Scotland nearly two- 
 thirds of the cost have been borne by local contributions 
 or by school fees. 
 
 In the year following on the retirement of Stanley 
 (1834), O'Connell, with great reluctance and against his 
 better judgment, moved early in the session his first 
 and only resolution in the Imperial Parliament in 
 favour of repeal of the Union. It took the form of a 
 motion for the appointment of a committee to inquire 
 into the means by which the dissolution of the Irish 
 Parliament had been effected, and the effects of that 
 measure upon Ireland, and as to the probable con- 
 sequences of continuing the legislative union between 
 the two countries. His speech was a powerful one, 
 though not one of his best, and not to compare in force 
 and argument with the statement he made on the same 
 subject, a few years later, to the corporation of Dublin, 
 but with many passages of great passion and pathos. 
 It showed that he was almost equally able to hold his 
 own before an educated and a hostile audience in the 
 House of Commons, as before a popular assembly in 
 Ireland, whose passions it was so easy for him to rouse, 
 and with whom he was in such direct sympathy. It is 
 impossible by a short rdsum'e to do justice to the argu- 
 ment, but all who wish to understand the case from the 
 point of view of an Irish Nationalist will do well to 
 study it, and especially the historical arguments and 
 the description of the process by which the Union was 
 carried. He concluded by saying that he advocated 
 repeal that he might prevent separation, which he 
 thought would be a measure fraught with incalculable 
 mischief to both countries. He desired the federal 
 connection of the two kingdoms, that in the hour of 
 common danger they might afford protection to each 
 other. But let her own Parliament be restored to 
 Ireland ; the British Parliament had never shown itself 
 competent to legislate for Ireland; the Union had 
 
150 WHIG REFORMS. [i834- 
 
 been carried by a train of unparalleled crimes ,' the 
 financial and legislative terms on which it had pro- 
 ceeded were impolitic and unjust ; Ireland had been 
 deprived of her constitution, her people stripped of the 
 means of subsistence ; and final separation might, ere 
 long, be the result of obstinate resistance on the part 
 of England. His country had been hitherto governed, 
 not by constitutional law, but in the spirit of despotism ; 
 and he demanded therefore at the hands of England a 
 restoration of her national legislature. 
 
 The debate lasted for several days, but the only 
 speech worthy of survival of the many made against 
 O'Connell's motion was that of Sir Robert Peel. It 
 was adequate to the great occasion, and to the subject, 
 pitched in a lofty tone, but wanting, as were all his 
 speeches on Ireland, in the slightest note of sym- 
 pathy for its people. He declined to follow O'Con- 
 nell through all his historical arguments. He thought 
 it unnecessary to defend the methods by which the 
 Union had been carried. He did not attempt to show 
 that Ireland itself had been benefited by the Union. 
 He put the issue simply on the safety of the empire. 
 The security of the empire, he said, depended on the 
 maintenance of the Union, without which England 
 would be reduced to the condition of a fourth-rate 
 power in Europe, and Ireland to the desolation of a 
 wilderness. It was absolutely necessary that the two 
 countries should be governed and directed by one 
 supreme head and one supreme legislature. He 
 taunted O'Connell with having promised that Catholic 
 Emancipation would content the Irish people with the 
 Union. He pointed out that that concession had only 
 been followed by renewed agitation and by more pre- 
 sumptuous demands. The establishment of a really 
 independent legislature in Ireland would lead to in- 
 calculable evils in the administration of the country. 
 The Executive and Parliament of the empire would 
 be continually coming into collision with each other. 
 The spirit, he said, which pervaded O'Connell's speech 
 
1834-] DEBATE ON REPEAL. 15 I 
 
 was sufficient ground for resisting repeal. There would 
 be no security for the protection of law, property, or 
 individual liberty so long as the slightest degree of 
 influence was exercised by him over the ignorant 
 population of Ireland. The British Parliament had 
 always, he contended, endeavoured to hold the scale 
 of legislation equally between the two countries ; and, 
 supposing the connection to be broken, he would 
 prefer a complete separation to the system that existed 
 before the Union. In truth, he entertained serious 
 doubts whether, if the Union were to be repealed, it 
 would not be the better course to consent at once to a 
 separation, and thus absolve England from the respon- 
 sibility which would otherwise attach to her. The 
 motion was defeated by 523 members to 38. Of 
 the forty members favourable to repeal (including the 
 tellers) only one was an English member. The thirty- 
 nine did not even constitute a majority of the Irish 
 members. O'Connell was undoubtedly discouraged 
 by this result of his Parliamentary action, and he never 
 again mooted the question in the British Parliament. 
 It was not till nearly forty years later that the subject 
 was again brought forward by Mr. Butt. 
 
 The Government had moved, by amendment to 
 O'Connell's resolution, an address to the Crown, re- 
 cording in the most solemn manner the fixed deter- 
 mination of Parliament to maintain unimpaired and 
 undisturbed the legislative Union between Great 
 Britain and Ireland. The address, which was concurred 
 in by the House of Lords, contained also a statement 
 of past policy of the Imperial Parliament to Ireland, 
 and a promise of future policy. As regards the past, it 
 affirmed that Parliament had taken the affairs of Ireland 
 into its most serious consideration, and that various 
 salutary laws had been enacted since the Union for 
 the advancement of the most important interests of 
 Ireland, and of the empire at large. As regards the 
 future it said, " In expressing our resolution to 
 maintain the legislative Union inviolate, we humbly 
 
152 WHIG REFORMS. [1834- 
 
 beg leave to assure your Majesty that we shall per- 
 severe in applying our best attention to the removal of 
 all just causes of complaint, and to the promotion of 
 all well-considered measures of improvement." This 
 formed a solemn pledge to the people of Ireland, that 
 their complaints would be listened to, and their wrongs 
 redressed. 
 
 Those who are versed in the proceedings of the 
 House of Commons, and have watched the effect 
 of great debates, are well aware that often their 
 result is not to be measured merely by the division 
 in the lobbies. A great discussion generally produces 
 effects on the mind of Parliament and of the country, 
 by compelling attention to the whole subject involved. 
 The powerful arguments of O'Connell on the existing 
 wrongs of Ireland, and the failure of the Imperial 
 Parliament to find remedies for them, sunk into the 
 minds of many members, and contributed greatly to 
 the altered tone of the House of Commons on Irish 
 questions during the next six years ; while the 
 deliberate expression of the intentions of Parliament, 
 contained in the address, may have induced the 
 Government to pay more attention to Irish affairs in 
 the future. 
 
 Mr. Stanley had been succeeded as Chief Secretary 
 by Mr. Littleton, a gentlemen of very different tempe- 
 rament, much more friendly to the Irish, and persuaded 
 of the necessity of coming to terms with their leader. 
 He found, on taking up his post in the autumn of 1833, 
 that the tithe war was proceeding with unabated 
 vigour. The Coercion Act made no difference, and the 
 Government was no better able to collect the tithes 
 than the clergy. The arrears were very great, and the 
 Government, under the powers of the Act of 1833, had 
 advanced no less than ^1,000,000 to the tithe-owners, 
 without recovering any substantial amount from the 
 tenants. Mr. Littleton brought the subject before the 
 House of Commons early in 1834. He pointed out 
 the years of chronic war on this subject ; he reminded 
 
1834-3 aCONNELVS PLAN FOR TITHES, 1 53 
 
 the House that the Statute- Book was loaded with 
 enactments for the purpose of enforcing the payment 
 of tithes, the whole of which had proved ineffectual. 
 He showed the harshness of their incidence, and the 
 extreme difficulty of recovering them from the very 
 small tenants. The only way of saving this revenue 
 for the Church was by making the landlords responsible 
 for its collection, and by enabling them to add it to their 
 rent. O'Connell, in the first instance, opposed this 
 proposal, on the ground that tithes should ultimately 
 be wholly abolished. His own plan was that vested in- 
 terests should be preserved, and that every minister of 
 the Established Church should receive the full amount 
 of his tithes for life. He suggested also that glebes 
 should be given to the Catholic priests ; he did not, he 
 said, propose this with any authority, but his plan 
 would be received with gratitude and would pacify 
 Ireland. The Bill, as it stood, could only involve the 
 landlord in the agrarian war in place of the clergy- 
 man. At a later stage of the Bill, he moved, as an 
 instruction to the Committee, that after the charge to be 
 raised in lieu of tithes had been appropriated, so as to 
 provide suitably for the Protestants of the Established 
 Church, the surplus which remained, should be appro- 
 priated to purposes of public utility. In making this 
 proposal he disclaimed any desire to secure any por- 
 tion of the fund for the Catholic Church. He asserted 
 that its members would not accept such a provision, 
 even if it were tendered to them, and stated that his 
 own popularity had already suffered, from his recent 
 unauthorized suggestion that part of the surplus might 
 be applied in the provision of glebes for the Catholic 
 priests. Lord J. Russell expressed much sympathy 
 with O'Connell's views ; he thought that education and 
 charity would be fairly within the scope of legislation, 
 when the results of the Commission on the Church 
 property should be obtained. 
 
 O'Connell, however, was defeated, on a division, by 
 360 to 99. At a later stage of the Bill, when, on the 
 
154 WHIG REFORMS. [1834. 
 
 retirement of Lord Grey and other members of the 
 Cabinet, O'Connell was on better relations with 
 the Government, he was permitted to carry an amend- 
 ment to the Tithe Bill, relieving the tithe-payer of 
 forty per cent, of the impost. The Ministers offered 
 but a feeble resistance, and the amendment was carried, 
 on a division, by 83 to 33. The House of Lords, how- 
 ever, rejected the Bill by a majority of 189 to 122, 
 and thus prevented a compromise with the Irish party, 
 and delayed by some years the settlement of the tithe 
 question. Subsequent events showed how unwise was 
 this action. 
 
 Meanwhile a much wider question was raised, affect- 
 ing the interest and, indeed, the very existence, of the 
 Irish Church as a State Establishment. A motion was 
 brought before the House of Commons by Mr. Ward, 
 declaring the justice and necessity of immediately 
 depriving the Established Church of Ireland of its 
 temporalities, or property. This led to important con- 
 sequences in the constitution of the Government. A 
 large proportion of the Liberal party in the House of 
 Commons, including some of its ablest men, such as 
 Mr. Grote the historian, Mr. Roebuck, Mr. Hume, 
 and others, were known to be favourable to this 
 motion. A majority of the Cabinet was of the same 
 view, and there was great perplexity among its members 
 how to meet the motion. As the majority was un- 
 willing to meet the motion with a direct negative, they 
 proposed to appoint a commission to inquire into the 
 state of the Irish Chuixh, and to report on the relation 
 of supply and demand in respect of its spiritual work. 
 Four members of the Cabinet, Mr. Stanley, Sir J. 
 Graham, the Duke of Richmond, and Lord Ripon, could 
 not even bring themselves to the point of agreeing to 
 an inquiry. They feared its inevitable result would be 
 the alienation of Church property to secular purposes, 
 and they resigned office sooner than incur this risk. 
 Lord Grey remained in the Government for the present, 
 only to leave it on another Irish question a few weeks 
 
i834.] MOTION FOR DISESTABLISHMENT. 1 55 
 
 later. The loss of these members was a most serious 
 blow to the Ministry. It was the first breaking away 
 of the more moderate section of the Whigs ; they never 
 again were united to their former friends, and after a 
 time they joined the Tory party. 
 
 Lord Althorp, in announcing the ministerial 
 resignations to the House, consequent on the in- 
 tention of the Government to appoint a commission 
 of inquiry into the revenues and wants of the Irish 
 Church, appealed to Mr. Ward not to proceed with 
 his motion. That gentleman, however, refused to do 
 so, notwithstanding the assurance of Lord John Russell 
 that the Government would never have parted with 
 colleagues if it had not adopted the principle, the 
 assertion of which had caused these colleagues to 
 retire, namely, that if the property of the Church of 
 Ireland should be found to be more than sufficient for 
 the spiritual wants of the Protestant inhabitants of 
 Ireland, Parliament had a right to deal with the 
 surplus. The motion was proceeded with. In the 
 discussion, Stanley said that the motion and the com- 
 mission involved the same principle, namely, that 
 Parliament had a right to deal with the property of 
 the Protestant Church for other than Protestant re- 
 ligious purposes. To this he would never assent. He 
 held the principle of the Church Establishment to be 
 this, that the State should furnish to every member 
 of that Church, whether residing in a thinly peopled 
 or in a densely inhabited one, the means of religious 
 instruction. The proposed commission involved a 
 principle which tended to the destruction of the Pro- 
 testant Church, and by which the maintenance of a 
 Protestant clergyman in every parish might be made 
 to depend on the precarious and fluctuating list of 
 members residing within it. Sir Robert Peel also 
 opposed, but in a most moderate speech, and the 
 motion was rejected by 369 votes to 1 20. 
 
 The Government, weakened in some respects by 
 the loss of Stanley and Graham, but thrown upon the 
 
156 WHIG REFORMS. [1834- 
 
 support of the more advanced members of its party, 
 had now to determine whether to renew, in whole or 
 in part, the previous year's Coercion Act which was 
 about to expire, or whether to attempt to govern 
 Ireland by the ordinary law. A large section of the 
 Cabinet was most unwilling to renew the Act without 
 great changes. The experience of the past session 
 had shown them what they were to expect from 
 O'Connell and his followers, in the event of their 
 making this proposal. They dreaded a renewal of the 
 conflict ; they knew that it would render other legisla- 
 tion impossible ; they desired above all things to come 
 to terms with O'Connell. Lord Althorp, with his 
 experience of the House of Commons, was especially 
 impressed with this view. Lord Grey, removed from 
 contact with the representatives of popular constitu- 
 encies, and not having to face Irish opinion in the 
 serene atmosphere of the House of Lords, was strongly 
 in favour of renewing the Act in all its vigour. He was 
 supported in this view, in the first instance, by the Lord 
 Lieutenant, Lord Wellesley, who had written officially, 
 expressing his most anxious desire that the Act might 
 be renewed. Mr. Littleton, in his difficult position as 
 Irish Secretary, felt the necessity of coming to a good 
 understanding with the Irish members ; they had been 
 made implacable by the Coercion Act of the previous 
 year, and even the removal of Stanley from the post 
 of Irish Secretary had not mitigated their rancour to- 
 wards the Administration. 
 
 The Coercion Act consisted of four parts — the 
 clauses directed against agrarian disturbances, including 
 the power to proclaim districts, and to supersede the 
 ordinary law, and the Habeas Corpus Act ; the curfew 
 clauses prohibiting persons being out of their homes 
 between sunset and sunrise ; the clauses enabling 
 martial law to be proclaimed ; and lastly, those entitling 
 the Lord Lieutenant to prohibit political meetings. 
 It was to the last two parts of the Act that the opposi- 
 tion of O'Connell and the Irish members was mainly 
 
1834.J DIFFICULTIES IN COERCION. I 57 
 
 directed ; and it was ascertained that they would not 
 oppose the renewal of the first two parts, if the others 
 were abandoned. At the suggestion of Lord Brougham, 
 who also wrote himself, Mr. Littleton communicated 
 with Lord Wellesley, urging him to agree to a course 
 which would be accepted by the Irish members. His 
 firm belief, he said, was that the wider powers, insisted 
 upon by Lord Grey, would be useless, if the Tithe 
 Bill should be passed, and that their enactment would 
 create great difficulties in the carrying of the Tithe 
 Bill, and would stimulate O'Connell to agitation in 
 Ireland by exasperating him and his party. In view 
 of the general political position, a complete union in 
 the House of Commons between the Government and 
 the great mass of the Irish members was of the first 
 importance, and this would be completely effected by 
 restricting the Coercion Bill as suggested. He urged 
 the Lord Lieutenant to write at once to Lord Grey in 
 this sense. Lord Wellesley adopted this suggestion, 
 and urged it strongly in a letter to Lord Grey. Speak- 
 ing of the clauses prohibiting meetings, he said their 
 object was to prevent agitation, as the remote cause of 
 outrage; but "your Lordship cannot forget that they 
 were found useless during the whole course of the agita- 
 tion for repeal of the Union, and that perhaps the happy 
 result of that agitation is in some respects to be ascribed 
 to the moderation of the Government in abstaining from 
 the exercise of the powers which it possessed. The 
 question of the repeal of the Union is quite extinct, 
 and if, as I hope, an efficient Tithe Bill is passed, it 
 will be impossible to revive the agitation, unless a 
 clamour can be raised on some such question as the 
 renewal of the great and extraordinary powers of an 
 arbitrary enactment without evident necessity." 
 
 When Mr. Littleton became aware that the Lord 
 Lieutenant concurred with him in the opinion that 
 the Coercion Bill should be reduced by the omis- 
 sion of the obnoxious clauses, he sought an interview 
 with Lord Althorp. In this Lord Althorp said that 
 
158 WHIG REFORMS. [1834. 
 
 he "feared that Lord Grey would refuse any con- 
 cession, and might even retire if it were pressed. No 
 Government, however, could ask ParHament for an un- 
 constitutional power in Ireland, the necessity of which 
 the Lord Lieutenant had been led to disclaim. Mr. 
 Littleton might entirely rely on it that the clauses should 
 form no part of a new Bill, as he himself was resolved 
 to resign sooner than allow them now to be renewed ; 
 and Lord Grey could not wish that result." Mr. Little- 
 ton then asked whether, as he knew that O'Connell 
 was about to enter immediately on a new course of 
 agitation in Ireland, previously to the threatened 
 renewal of the Coercion Act, it would not be prudent 
 to see him and apprise him that the precise form and 
 extent of the measure were not decided on. Lord 
 Althorp sanctioned this course, cautioning him, how- 
 ever, not to commit himself by any detail. In accord- 
 ance with this arrangement, Mr. Littleton invited 
 O'Connell to come to the Irish office, and there confi- 
 dentially informed him that the Coercion Bill would 
 not be renewed in an objectionable form; that it would 
 be confined to agrarian disturbances, as the Irish 
 Government was of opinion that any other enactment 
 was unnecessary ; that he himself would not vote for 
 any other measure than one directed against agrarian 
 disturbances ; and he warned O'Connell against any 
 agitation in Ireland until he should have seen the 
 new Bill. O'Connell, in his subsequent explanation, 
 supplemented this account of the conversation, by the 
 statement that Mr. Littleton urged him to withdraw 
 the Repeal candidate, who had been started against 
 the Government candidate in the then pending election 
 for the county of Wexford. Mr. Littleton denied this, 
 but admitted that the Wexford election was mentioned, 
 and that he had cited O'Connell's letter to the electors 
 of that town as evidence that he seemed disposed to 
 enter upon a violent opposition. What is certain is, 
 that after this communication O'Connell withdrew the 
 Repeal candidate for Wexford. Whatever may have 
 
1834.J DISPUTES ON COERCION. 159 
 
 actually passed between O'Connell and Littleton at 
 this interview, the latter evidently went far beyond 
 the authority given him by Lord Althorp. 
 
 A few days later a meeting of the Cabinet took place, 
 at which, in spite of the Lord Lieutenant's letter, it was 
 determined, at the instance of Lord Grey, to renew 
 all the clauses of the Coercion Act. Lord Althorp in 
 vain objected. On July i, Lord Grey introduced the 
 Bill, quoting as justification for it the earlier letter of 
 Lord Wellesley, of June 1 1, and suppressing altogether 
 the more recent letter of June 21, in which the Lord 
 Lieutenant had expressed a contrary opinion. The 
 House of Lords, therefore, and the country were left 
 under the impression that the powers asked for were 
 regarded by its Government as indispensable to the 
 peace of Ireland. This led at once to an explosion in the 
 House of Commons. O'Connell, indignant to the last 
 degree, and believing himself to have been tricked and 
 deceived by the Ministers, exposed the whole affair, 
 and repeated at length his version of what had passed 
 between himself and Mr. Littleton, including the im- 
 portant statement that the Lord Lieutenant did not 
 consider the obnoxious clauses of the Coercion Act to 
 be necessary. Mr. Littleton could not deny this, and 
 could only complain of the breach of confidence on the 
 part of O'Connell. The latter defended himself by 
 saying, " The conversation, I admit, was of a confiden- 
 tial character, but that confidence was limited. The 
 understood secrecy was suspended by Mr. Little- 
 ton's treachery, I do not say designedly, but by his 
 actual treachery and deceit on me. He told me that 
 the Irish Government was opposed to the renewal of 
 the clauses ; that the Lord Lieutenant and himself 
 were against their renewal ; that the Bill would not be 
 renewed, but only a short measure for suppressing 
 agrarian outrages introduced instead. I told him that 
 no one could be more anxious than I should be to assist 
 the Government in that object, and that he might 
 reckon on my assistance. In consequence of that con- 
 
l6o WHIG REFORMS. [1834. 
 
 versation I wrote over to the county of Wexford, and 
 the candidate whom I had started there in the Repeal 
 interest decHned the contest. Mr. Littleton secured 
 an advantage over me — my neutrality in the Wexford 
 election, and my support in the debate on the Tithe 
 Bill." Mr. Littleton and his colleagues repudiated the 
 imputation of treachery and deceit, and renewed their 
 complaints against O'Connell for betrayal of confidence. 
 Looking, however, at the matter from the point of view 
 of O'Connell, who had undoubtedly withdrawn his 
 candidate from Wexford, on the assurances given him 
 as to the intentions of the Government, it is not 
 reasonable to condemn him for concluding that he had 
 been deceived, and for exposing what he believed to 
 be an unworthy trick. 
 
 As a result of these disclosures, as soon as it became 
 known that- the Lord Lieutenant was prepared to 
 govern Ireland without the clauses objected to, it was 
 obvious that the House of Commons would never be 
 induced to pass them. Mr. Littleton sent in his resig- 
 nation ; it was not accepted by Lord Grey. Two 
 days later. Lord Althorp himself resigned. He had 
 throughout been opposed to a renewal of the Coercion 
 Act in its entirety, and he could not now support it in 
 the House of Commons, when his opinion had already 
 been made public. Lord Grey, when he found that 
 Lord Althorp could not be persuaded to withdraw 
 his resignation, perceiving that his Government could 
 no longer be carried on without its leader in the House 
 of Commons, that there was no prospect of carrying 
 the Coercion Bill in the form he desired, and that a 
 majority of his Cabinet was against him, determined to re- 
 lieve his colleagues of the difficulty, in which they found 
 themselves, by himself retiring. He sent in his resigna- 
 tion to the King, and in announcing this to the House 
 of Lords, complained, not without reason, of the way in 
 which he had been treated by some of his colleagues.* 
 
 * The most authentic account of this transaction, including all the 
 correspondence, is to be found in the " Memoir of Lord Hatherton " 
 
I834-J RETIREMENT OF LORD GREY. l6l 
 
 Referring to what had passed between O'Connell and 
 the Irish Secretary, he said, " The communications of 
 Mr. Littleton were not only made without my concur- 
 rence, but without my knowledge, and if I had been 
 previously apprised of them, there was no power or in- 
 fluence which I would not have used to prevent them ; 
 for I knew, as the event has proved, that communica- 
 tions of any description whatever, even of the slightest 
 nature, could not safely be made to that quarter. It was 
 not for the honour of the Government, and could not be 
 for the benefit of the country, that any communications 
 should be made to the person in question." Nothing 
 could bring out more strongly the difference between 
 Lord Grey and his colleagues, or the distrust with which 
 the former regarded O'Connell. Any communication 
 with the Irish leader was in Lord Grey's opinion dis- 
 honourable to the Government. Lord Althorp and Mr. 
 Littleton, having to face the Parliamentary difficulty, 
 felt the necessity of coming to terms with O'Connell. 
 
 Looking back at the whole transaction, which is of 
 importance and interest, as ah illustration of the effect 
 of Irish questions on the fate of English Ministries, 
 and also as the first case in which agreement and co- 
 operation was sought between members of the Govern- 
 ment and the leader of the Irish party, it is difficult 
 not to conclude that the proceedings on the part of 
 Lord Grey's colleagues, in their negotiation with Lord 
 Wellesley and O'Connell, were in the nature of a 
 manoeuvre, carried on behind his back, with the object 
 of making his position on the Coercion Bill untenable. 
 Nor can Lord Althorp be quite justified in permitting 
 Mr. Littleton to enter into any communications with 
 O'Connell, until a decision had been arrived at by 
 the Cabinet as to the Coercion Bill. It is also 
 difficult to justify Lord Grey's course, in insisting 
 upon renewing the Act in its entirety, in view of the 
 declared opinion of the Lord Lieutenant, that the 
 (Mr. Littleton). Lord Brougham's account of it in his auto- 
 biography is quite untrustworthy. 
 
 M 
 
l62 WHIG REFORMS. ['834- 
 
 obnoxious clauses were unnecessary, and that he could 
 govern Ireland without them. It is even more difficult 
 to find excuse for his action in basmg his defence ot 
 the Bill on the earlier communication from Lord Wel- 
 lesley, while suppressing the later one in which the 
 contrary opinion was given. That Lord Althorp, Lord 
 Brougham, and Mr. Litdeton were justified in their line 
 of policy cannot now be doubted. It was of the highest 
 moment, with a view to the tranquillity of Ireland, 
 and the passing of remedial measures through the 
 House of Commons, that a conflict with O'Connell and 
 the Irish members should be avoided, and that agree- 
 ment should be come to with them as to the nature 
 of the coercive measure to be applied for. 
 
 It must be admitted that in agreeing to the agrarian 
 clauses of the Coercion Act, and in confining his 
 opposition to those suppressing public meetings and 
 permitting martial law to be proclaimed, O'Connell was 
 most moderate. His co-operation for the administra- 
 tion of Ireland, and for the conduct of business in the 
 House of Commons, was most necessary ; and the 
 sequel showed that it was obtained, not only without 
 sacrifice of any measure of necessity to the Irish 
 Government, but with enormous advantage to the 
 people of Ireland. Lord Grey, in fact, equally with 
 Mr. Stanley, belonged to a school of Whig politicians, 
 of whom there have ever since been exponents, who 
 believe that Ireland is to be governed by force ; that, 
 before any remedies can be applied, all disorder and 
 agitation must be put down ; and who are utterly 
 opposed to any negotiations or agreement with the 
 leaders of Irish opinion. High-minded, liberal, and 
 enlightened as Lord Grey was, and valuable as his 
 services had been to the Liberal party, especially in 
 relation to reforms for England, it cannot be doubted 
 that his retirement was of advantage to the country. 
 His conceptions of policy for Ireland were mistaken and 
 mischievous; they tended to aggravate the mischiefs 
 which he proposed to remove ; and they were founded 
 
1 834-] LORD MELBOURNE'S GOVERNMENT. 1 63 
 
 upon false principles, inconsistent with those on which 
 popular government alone can rest. His government 
 of Ireland during the four years of his Ministry was 
 not to be distinguished from that of his predecessors, 
 and was worse in this sense, that it created deep and 
 bitter disappointment, just in proportion as the hopes 
 and expectations of its people had been raised. 
 
 On the retirement of Lord Grey, Lord Melbourne 
 was appointed Premier. Lord Althorp and Mr. 
 Littleton withdrew their resignations, and the Ministry 
 went on much as before, but without Lord Grey. 
 Lord Duncannon (afterwards Lord Bessborough) 
 was appointed Home Secretary. Thus it happened 
 that a second time within the year a ministerial crisis 
 arose on an Irish question, and was only terminated 
 by the resignation of a Minister, who in other respects 
 had the confidence of his party and of the country. 
 The changes were very grateful to O'Connell. He 
 highly approved the appointment of Lord Duncannon 
 as Secretary of State for the Home Department. 
 He trusted this statesman as one prepared to act 
 honestly and fairly by Ireland, and to administer 
 justice impartially. He gave support to a moderate 
 measure, conceding limited powers to the Irish Go- 
 vernment in proclaimed districts for the purpose of 
 putting down agrarian outrages, but which did not 
 interfere with the free expression of public opinion at 
 meetings. 
 
 Later in the autumn, on the death of Earl Spencer, 
 and the consequent removal of Lord Althorp to the 
 House of Lords, it became necessary for the Govern- 
 ment to find a new leader in the House of Commons. 
 On Lord Melbourne proposing Lord John Russell for 
 this task, the King availed himself of this as an excuse 
 for dismissing his Ministers, alleging as a reason his 
 unwillingness to leave in their hands the framing of 
 any measure for dealing with the Irish Church. The 
 King appears to have succeeded to the scruples of 
 his father and brother on the subject of this establish- 
 
164 WHIG REFORMS. iiS34- 
 
 ment. His fears had, earlier in the year, been worked 
 on by a deputation of the Irish bishops, deprecating 
 any changes in the rdgimz by which they were person- 
 ally such gainers. The King, in reply, assured them 
 that the Irish Church should be preserved unimpaired 
 by him ; and that if any of the inferior arrangements 
 in its discipline required amendment — which, however, 
 he greatly doubted — he hoped it would be left to the 
 bishops to correct them, without interference on any 
 hand. He was completing, he said, his sixty-ninth 
 year, and must be prepared to leave the world with 
 a conscience clear in regard to the maintenance of 
 the Church. " I have spoken," he concluded in tears, 
 "more strongly than usual, because of unhappy cir- 
 cumstances that have forced themselves upon the 
 observation of all. The threats of those who are 
 enemies of the Church make it the more necessary 
 for those who feel it their duty to the Church to speak 
 out. The words which you hear from me are indeed 
 spoken by my mouth, but they flow from my heart." 
 He was now, he thought, in a position to give earnest 
 of his zeal for the Church of Ireland, by dismissing 
 the Ministers who had given indications of their in- 
 tention to tamper with the funds of this institution. 
 His action in so doing was scarcely within the limits 
 of the constitutional exercise of the royal prerogative. 
 There was no reason to suppose that the Ministry had 
 forfeited the confidence of the House of Commons. 
 The retirement of several of the leading Whig states- 
 men from the Cabinet had no doubt weakened the 
 Government, but it still retained the support of a 
 substantial majority of the House of Commons, and 
 of the bulk of the Liberal party in the country. 
 
 The Whig Government, which was put an end to 
 by the King in this summary manner, had lasted, under 
 Lord Grey and his colleagues, for four years ; it had 
 carried the Reform Act, the greatest political measure of 
 the century ; and in the Reformed Parliament had also 
 done most excellent work in legislation for Great 
 
i834] IRISH POLICY OF THE WHIGS. 165 
 
 Britain. As regards Ireland it had been a failure. 
 It had fulfilled no expectation. Under the influence 
 of Stanley it carried on the old traditions of ascend- 
 ency, and had proved itself unable to devise remedial 
 measures. In the autumn of 1834, and before the 
 dismissal of the Government, O'Connell had written 
 a series of letters to Lord Duncannon, the Home 
 Secretary, in deprecation of the Irish policy of Lord 
 Grey. " The Irish people," he said, " complained loudly 
 of the misconduct of the reforming adpninistration 
 (called, for shortness, Whigs) towards them and their 
 country. They alleged that since Lord Grey had 
 come into office nothing had been done for Ireland. 
 Their enemies had been promoted and rewarded, their 
 friends calumniated and prosecuted. Never was there 
 known a more ungenial or hostile domestic administra- 
 tion in Ireland." It is impossible to gainsay this 
 description of the Reform Government of Lord Grey, 
 It was, indeed, most unfortunate for the relations of 
 the two countries that the great waye of popular opinion 
 in the reformed Parliament was allowed to expend itself, 
 vvithout effecting anything for Ireland. O'Connell 
 went on to say that it was his main object to reconcile, 
 if possible, the popular party in Ireland •^ith the Liberal 
 Ministry, to make them part of its strength, and not 
 of its weakness, and in particular to strengthen the 
 Ministry in the approaching collision with the House 
 of Lords. The reform of that House, he added, was 
 essentially necessary to the establishment and security 
 of popular freedom, and to a good understanding be- 
 tween the two countries. How right he was in his 
 forecast of the attitude of the Lords on Irish questions 
 will be made clear by the events of the next few years, 
 
1 66 WHIG REFORMS. [1835- 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 On the dismissal of Lord Melbourne, the King, by the 
 advice of the Duke of Wellington, entrusted Sir Robert 
 Peel with the formation of a new Government. Peel 
 invited Stanley and Graham to join him, but in vain. 
 They refused to enter the new Cabinet, lest their 
 motives in their recent resignations should be miscon- 
 strued. They offered, however, an independent sup- 
 port, so long as the new Ministers should appear willing 
 to carry out Liberal measures, and they promised 
 not to coalesce with the Whigs for the purpose of 
 defeating the Government, unless they saw a legitimate 
 prospect of the formation of another administration, 
 which would better carry their principles into effect. 
 In fact, Stanley and Graham uniformly supported Peel, 
 in office and out of office, till 1841, when they finally 
 joined the Tory party and became members of his 
 second Ministry. 
 
 Peel, without waiting to meet the House of Com- 
 mons as Premier, obtained the consent of the King to 
 a dissolution of Parliament, and a general election, 
 consequently, took place in the early days of 1835. The 
 elections in England resulted in great gains to the new 
 Government. In Scotland and Ireland the ministerial 
 gains were much fewer, and their party was still in a 
 small minority ; but the English counties, in conse- 
 quence mainly of the occupation franchise, which added 
 so largely to the influence of landowners through their 
 tenants, returned to their old party allegiance. Owing 
 to them, the Ministry secured a considerable majority 
 in England, and would have had a majority of the 
 
1835J d CONNELDS DEMANDS. 1 67 
 
 whole House but for Ireland, which turned the scale 
 against them. This was at once clear when, upon the 
 assembling of Parliament, a party contest took place 
 on the election of Speaker, and Mr. Abercromby was 
 elected by a majority of ten against the former Speaker, 
 Mr. Manners-Sutton.* Of English members there was 
 a majority of twenty-three for the Tory candidate, but 
 the balance was turned in the opposite direction by the 
 Scotch and Irish members, and especially by the Irish, 
 of whom there was a majority of twenty against the 
 Ministers. Another test vote was speedily taken on the 
 address, by an amendment moved by Lord Morpeth, 
 expressing dissatisfaction at the dissolution of the last 
 Parliament- — a course by which it was alleged the pro- 
 gress of reform had been interrupted and endangered. 
 The Ministers were again defeated by a majority of 
 seven, although they had a majority of English votes 
 of thirty-two. 
 
 The debate was chiefly remarkable for a speech of 
 O'Connell, in which he practically defined the conditions 
 on which his party would support the Liberals, in turn- 
 ing out the Government, arid in forming a new adminis- 
 tration. He said, that after the rejection in the previous 
 years of his motion for the repeal of the Union, there 
 had been a continually increasing desire and determi- 
 nation among all Liberals to attend to the wants and 
 to alleviate the sufferings of Ireland. There were three 
 demands he would make on the Liberals whenever, by 
 his aid, they should be restored to power. He would 
 demand an amendment of the Irish Reform Act ; the 
 application of the surplus revenues of the Irish Church, 
 after providing for the spiritual wants of the Irish Pro- 
 testants, to purposes of charity and religion for the 
 whole of Ireland ; and lastly, a thorough reform of the 
 Irish corporations, establishing the principle of popular 
 control in all the municipalities of the country. In the 
 recent election, he added, his watchword had been 
 
 * Division — For Mr. Abercromby, 316; for Mr. Manners- 
 Sutton, 306. 
 
1 68 WHIG REFORMS. [i835- 
 
 "repeal," but he now declared that he would suspend 
 that question. His intention was to give time for the 
 three measures he had mentioned. If they were con- 
 ceded, after a fair and ample trial, he would give up 
 repeal ; if they failed, he would resort to it again. 
 
 O'Connell's demands, when regarded by the light 
 of later experience, cannot but appear to be most 
 moderate. He did not even ask for the disestablishment 
 or complete disendowment of the Protestant Church, 
 nor even for an equitable redistribution of its income 
 among all sects, but merely for the reduction of its 
 temporalities to a just proportion to the needs of its con- 
 gregations, and for the application of the surplus funds 
 to other purposes. It is clear that he would have been 
 glad to accept any arrangement by which some ad- 
 vantage, such as that of glebes, could be secured to the 
 Catholic priests. What folly on the part of the Pro- 
 testant party in Ireland, and their Tory friends and 
 supporters in England, not to accept this compromise ! 
 It afforded an opportunity, late as it was, of making 
 the Union acceptable to the bulk of the Irish people. 
 There can be little doubt that a direct compact was 
 arrived at between O'Connell and the leaders of 
 the Whig party — a compact by the terms of which the 
 Irish members were to join in defeating the existing 
 Government of Peel, and in restoring to power Lord 
 Melbourne and the late Ministry ; and in return for this 
 the Liberal party was pledged to carry out two at 
 least of the three reforms which had been indicated 
 by O'Connell. The history of the next six years con- 
 sists mainly, so far as Ireland is concerned, in the 
 efforts of the Whig Ministry to effect these reforms, 
 and in the successful resistance to them by the Tory 
 party through the agency of the House of Lords. 
 
 Sir Robert Peel and his Government clung to office 
 in spite of their two serious party defeats, but it was only 
 to meet their fate upon a more direct issue. It came 
 about in this way. The responsibilities of office, short 
 as their tenure had been, had already shown them that 
 
1835.] THE TITHE QUESTION. 1 69 
 
 it was essential for the peace of Ireland that the tithe 
 question should be settled. They now perceived that 
 the House of Lords had made a great error in throwing 
 out the Tithe Bill in the previous year. Such a measure 
 was even more required in the interest of the clergy of 
 the Irish Church than of the tenants, for tithes were 
 practically irrecoverable, and all the force of the 
 Government had failed to collect them against the 
 universal resistance of the peasantry. 
 
 Their first attempt at legislation was to introduce a 
 Bill, scarcely to be distinguished from that which the 
 Lords had rejected the previous year, for commuting 
 tithes into a land tax, payable by the landlords, and re- 
 coverable by them as part of their rent. In introducing 
 the measure, the Irish Secretary said, " The urgency 
 and magnitude of the evil render it absolutely necessary 
 that Parliament should attempt to rescue society in 
 Ireland from the disorganized state into which it has 
 been thrown by the tithe question. Intimidation has 
 been carried to such an extent as to render it utterly 
 impossible to proceed with the collection of these dues. 
 It is well known that the turbulent man who disobeys 
 the law is rewarded, whilst the peaceable subject is 
 liable to suffer ill treatment in his person, and to have 
 his property destroyed, if he attempts to obey the law 
 by paying tithe." While this measure was being pro- 
 ceeded with. Lord John Russell, as leader of the Oppo- 
 sition, moved a resolution on the subject of the Irish 
 Church, with a view to the application of any surplus 
 revenues, not required for the spiritual care of its 
 members, to the general education of all classes of the 
 people, without distinction of religious persuasion. It 
 was strongly opposed by the Government, assisted by 
 Stanley and Graham. Sir Robert Peel based his argu- 
 ments against it mainly on the ground that the mainte- 
 nance of the Irish Church was a fundamental part of the 
 Act of Union ; that this Act differed from any ordinary 
 law, in that it was a national compact, and embodied 
 the condition on which alone the Protestant Parliament 
 
I/O WHIG REFORMS. [iSjS- 
 
 of Ireland resigned itself and its Church — namely, 
 that the continuance and preservation of the Established 
 Church of Ireland should be deemed and taken to be 
 an essential and fundamental part of the Union. 
 
 In the course of the debate, O'Connell repudiated in 
 the strongest language the policy of endowing the 
 Catholic Church with any of the surplus revenues of the 
 Protestant Church. " Ireland," he said, "did not ask 
 for a Catholic Establishment ; on the part of Ireland he 
 repudiated such an idea. The Irish people desired 
 equality in every respect, except that they would not 
 accept a shilling for their own Church. The voluntary 
 principle had answered every purpose, and they desired 
 no connection with the State." He again asserted his 
 willingness to abandon agitation for Repeal if full 
 justice and equality were granted to Ireland. " How 
 did Parliament endeavour to reconcile the Irish people 
 to the Union ? By showing that they were unwilling to 
 do justice to Ireland. His own opinion was well known. 
 He was ready to give up repeal. The Union never 
 had fair play. He was told the House was disposed 
 to do justice to Ireland. Let them not tell him so, but 
 show it. Let them beware, however, how they dis- 
 appointed the just expectations of Ireland, lest they 
 should instigate its people to appeal to a policy of re- 
 venge." The resolution was carried against the Govern- 
 ment by a majority of thirty-three. Lord John Russell 
 then moved to add a clause to the Tithe Bill, practi- 
 cally carrying into effect the policy thus approved by 
 the House. This again was carried against the Govern- 
 ment by the same majority. Peel at last, and some- 
 what tardily, finding that he had no longer any hope of 
 retaining control over the measures of his Government, 
 tendered the resignation of his Ministry ; and thus for 
 the third time since the Reform Act a Prime Minister 
 was compelled to resign office on its Irish policy. 
 
 Lord Melbourne was again summoned by the King. 
 He formed his Government again substantially on its 
 former lines, with the omission, however, of Brougham, 
 
1835.] MELBOURNE'S SECOND MINISTRY. 171 
 
 who was not reappointed Chancellor. Lord John Rus- 
 sell, as Home Secretary, led the party in the House 
 of Commons ; Lord Palmerston was Foreign Secre- 
 tary. Lord Mulgrave (later known as Lord Normanby) 
 was sent to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant, with Lord 
 Morpeth as his Chief Secretary, and his representative 
 in the House of Commons. 
 
 The first question for the new Ministers was their 
 relations to O'Connell, and whether he should be invited 
 to join them in the Government. The Liberal party 
 had succeeded in defeating the late Government solely 
 by the aid of the Irish vote. It was evident that the 
 new Ministry would be dependent for its existence on 
 the constant support of this section. O'Connell had 
 been very active in his personal exertions during the 
 last six months against the Tory Government ; his in- 
 fluence in Ireland had never been greater ; over forty 
 members had been returned as his personal followers, 
 and might be relied on to vote as he bid them ; among 
 them were his three sons, and three others of his rela- 
 tions, returned simply on this account. He was, in 
 fact, master of the position ; he could make terms for 
 himself, or his party, or for Ireland. If he had shown 
 himself dissatisfied, the new Ministry could not have 
 lasted a week. He was not unambitious of office. 
 Lord Mulgrave, immediately on being appointed Lord 
 Lieutenant, entered into relations with him, and held 
 out expectations that he would be appointed Attorney- 
 General for Ireland.* He might well indeed have 
 expected to be included in the Cabinet, with the office 
 of Irish Secretary ; but, short of this, there was no post 
 for which he was better qualified, or where his powers 
 could have been more fully exercised, than as principal 
 law adviser to the Irish Government. It appears, 
 however, that Lord Mulgrave spoke without authority. 
 
 * The story of the negotiations between the Whig Government 
 and O'Connell is narrated at length, and for the first time in fulness, 
 by Mr. McCuUagh Torrens, in his " Life of Lord Melbourne," vol. ii. 
 pp. 1 1 7-1 2 1. 
 
If 2 WHIG REFORMS. [1835. 
 
 The new Ministers, when consulted, were unable to 
 agree even upon this tardy and inadequate recognition 
 of O'Connell's claims. Some of them even threatened 
 resignation if the appointment were persisted in. The 
 King himself raised difficulties, and expressed himself 
 as greatly alarmed by the proposal. He wrote a 
 strong protest to his Minister ; and Melbourne was 
 obliged to tell the King that there was no intention of 
 employing O'Connell. Mr. Ellice, a well-known con- 
 fidant of the leading Whigs, was instructed to com- 
 municate to O'Connell the unwelcome fact that the 
 Ministers could not carry out Lord Mulgrave's promise. 
 " Many years after," says Mr. Torrens, " Mr. Ellice 
 described how he undertook the task. He waited on 
 O'Connell and told him frankly that he was the bearer 
 of very unwelcome tidings ; that, notwithstanding all he 
 had had done, and had it in his power to do for the 
 Liberal party, his best friends were unable to overcome 
 for the moment the prejudices against him, and unless he 
 consented magnanimously to waive his personal claims, 
 all chance of forming a new Ministry must be aban- 
 doned. O'Connell did not hide his disappointment. 
 He said that he had looked forward with no little pride 
 and satisfaction to the recognition officially of what he felt 
 to be his due. He knew better than those who were 
 jealous of him, the healing and tranquillizing effects that 
 might be produced by his appointment. He added 
 that he wished for it on other grounds. 'He longed 
 for the opportunity of proving to the Protestants of 
 Ireland that when in power he could and would do 
 them justice.' No protestation however warm, or for- 
 bearance however disinterested, would ever disarm the 
 apprehensions of the Protestant Ascendency ; and while 
 these apprehensions lasted, and Catholics were excluded 
 in their own land from their just share in the Govern- 
 ment, peace and contentment there could never be. . . . 
 He had meant to fill the office as it had not been filled 
 for many years, and, with a view to a generous hospitality, 
 he had already made inquiries about a mansion suitable 
 
1835.] COMPACT WITH C CONN ELL. I 73 
 
 for the purpose. Ellice did everything to soothe him, 
 and particularly dwelt on the difificulties of the moment, 
 suggesting that all would be well were time allowed. 
 . . . What O'Connell really thought of the trans- 
 action will never be known ; but that unresentfully and 
 cheerfully he bore his resignation is beyond dispute." * 
 When new writs were moved in the House of Com- 
 mons for the constituencies vacated by the appointment 
 of Mr. Perrin and Mr. O'Loghlen as Attorney and 
 Solicitor General, indicating a complete change of 
 policy of the new Government in the administration of 
 Ireland, O'Connell and his supporters rose from their 
 seats on the Opposition benches below the gangway, 
 and crossed to the Ministerial side of the House, in 
 token of their approbation of the new Ministry. 
 
 The Government, thus commenced, lasted for six 
 years, till 1841 — a period of the utmost importance to 
 Ireland. It represents the only time since the Act of 
 Union when the Government of England was in com- 
 plete harmony and accord with the popular opinion of 
 Ireland, as represented by O'Connell and its other 
 leaders. During nearly the whole of this period the 
 Government was in close compact with O'Connell. 
 He was consulted on all matters relating to Ireland. 
 To all intents and purposes he was a member of the 
 Cabinet on Irish questions. On his part he agreed to 
 suspend his demand for repeal of the Union, and to 
 give a general support to the Government in Parlia- 
 ment, and to aid the Irish in maintaining authority in 
 Ireland. On its part the Government was pledged to 
 introduce and to carry through Parliament remedial 
 measures for Ireland. The chief of these was to be a 
 Tithe Bill, with a clause appropriating the surplus 
 revenues of the Irish Church to secular purposes ; and 
 
 * Mr. Greville says of this transaction, " It is intended to leave 
 O'Connell out of the arrangement, and at the same time to conciliate 
 him and preserve his support. In this they have succeeded. O'Connell 
 has behaved admirably well, and the difficulty with regard to him is 
 at an end." — Greville's " Memoirs," vol. iii. p. 252. 
 
174 WHIG REFORMS. [i835- 
 
 a measure for the reform of the Irish municipahties ; and, 
 not least, it was agreed that a complete change should 
 be made in the administration of Ireland, that practical 
 effect should be given to the Catholic Relief Bill, by 
 taking the Government of Ireland out of the hands of 
 the party of Protestant Ascendency, and identifying it 
 with the nation, by the appointment of men with 
 popular leanings and sympathy, and without regard to 
 their religious persuasions. 
 
 O'Connell issued a manifesto to Ireland soon after 
 the formation of the new Ministry, in which he com- 
 mitted himself fully to its support. "A new day," 
 he said, " begins to shine upon us ; an administration 
 is formed, pledged as well by its political principles as 
 by its political interests, to do justice to the people of 
 Ireland. I now come before the people of Ireland to 
 avow myself the devoted supporter of that administra- 
 tion. ... If I see the Ministry persevere for one year 
 in their determination to do justice to Ireland, I shall 
 give them another trial. If the Ministry deceive us, it 
 will demonstrate that Repeal is our only resource." It 
 will be seen that this compact was fairly kept on both 
 sides during the six years of Lord Melbourne's ad- 
 ministration. On the one hand the Ministry was kept 
 in power during that period solely by the Irish vote. 
 There was no period at which it was not in danger of 
 being defeated on its general policy in party divisions 
 by a majority of the English members. The Irish party 
 turned the scale, and supported Lord Melbourne's 
 Government throughout this period with unswerving 
 constancy. In return for this, the Government pro- 
 posed the measures which had been promised, and 
 carried them through the House of Commons in suc- 
 cessive years. It will be seen how the Tory party, 
 defeated in the House of Commons, used their great 
 majority in the Lords to defeat these measures, to 
 embarrass the Government, and to prevent a cordial 
 feeling between England and Ireland based on prin- 
 ciples of equality and justice. Above all, the new 
 
1835. J THOMAS DRUMMOND. I 75 
 
 Government faithfully carried out its promises as re- 
 gards the administration of Ireland. A complete 
 change was made. The old principles and practice of 
 Protestant Ascendency were put aside. Ireland was 
 administered upon principles in accordance with the 
 Catholic Relief Act. The Government, instead of being 
 the instrument for securing the political supremacy of 
 one sect, for the first time held the balance impartially 
 between all sects. In place of siding uniformly with 
 the landlords against their Catholic tenants, it deter- 
 mined that justice should be equally administered to 
 all, and that no class or interest should be allowed to 
 consider itself above the law, or in a position to impose 
 its terms on those below it. 
 
 In carrying out this policy, the Government had the 
 good fortune to secure, as its principal agent in Ireland, 
 a man of exceptional ability and force of character. 
 Thomas Drummond, a native of Scotland, an Engineer 
 officer of distinction and great scientific attainment, 
 had for some years been employed on the survey of 
 Ireland, and in that capacity had visited every part of 
 the country. His great inventive faculties, called into 
 action by the exigencies of his work, brought him into 
 contact with the most eminent men of science in 
 England, and through them with the political chiefs of 
 the Liberal party. He was subsequently employed in 
 the preparation of details for the Reform Bill, and then 
 for two years as Lord Althorp's private secretary. He 
 was now selected for the post of Under-Secretary to 
 the Lord Lieutenant — a post of great importance, 
 which has become political in its character. A more 
 fortunate selection could not have been made. He 
 was a man of great independence of judgment, 
 tenacity of purpose, and power of work ; ready in 
 action, versatile in expedient, of the greatest moral 
 courage, and of great observance — a quality by which, 
 during his work on the survey, he had become 
 intimately acquainted with the Irish people of all 
 classes ; and, above all, with a great fund of human 
 
176 WHIG REFORMS. [1835. 
 
 sympathy (so especially valuable in dealing with the 
 Irish people), controlled by the principles of justice and 
 impartiality, and tempered by a cool and calm judgment. 
 "It was the rare union of thought and feeling," says 
 Dr. Madden, " of a generous nature with a scientific 
 mind, that won for Drummond the mingled admiration 
 and esteem of so many of the best men of all parties 
 in Ireland. It was this union also that enabled him to 
 acquire his unrivalled knowledge of every class of Irish- 
 men."* Drummond speedily made himself the life and 
 soul of the Irish administration. If credit is due to 
 Mulgrave and Morpeth for the policy of the next four 
 years, it is mainly that they gave full scope to Drum- 
 mond, and adopted and defended his proposals rather 
 than they themselves devised them. 
 
 The first and most important duty of the new 
 administration in Ireland was to enforce a policy of 
 strict impartiality between the various religious bodies. 
 With this object, fitness alone, and altogether apart 
 from religious belief, was made the qualification for ap- 
 pointments under the Government. Eminent Catholic 
 lawyers were for the first time selected for the post of 
 law officers of the Crown, or were raised to the Bench. 
 Catholic magistrates were appointed, not because they 
 were of that faith, but because they were suitable for 
 the duties entrusted to them. The police force had 
 hitherto been the monopoly of the Protestants ; by 
 Drummond's advice Catholics were now admitted to it 
 freely and without question. " The appointment of 
 Catholics," he said, " tends to render the force more 
 popular, and by rendering it more popular it is able to 
 perform its duties much more effectually. In a Catholic 
 population I should prefer a Catholic police." t 
 
 Catholics were also admitted to the duty of serving 
 on juries in criminal cases. Hitherto it had been the 
 invariable practice of the Crown to set aside from the 
 list of persons appoihted by the sheriff to try cases, all 
 
 * Madden's " Irish Leaders " — " Drummond." 
 t McLennan's "Life of Drummond," p. 275. 
 
1835.J DRUMMOND'S POLICY. 1 77 
 
 who were Roman Catholics, or even of Liberal opinions. 
 The effect was highly prejudicial to the administration of 
 justice. The Irish people were never satisfied with the 
 impartiality of the legal tribunals. This practice was 
 now abandoned by the advice of Drummond. Direc- 
 tions were issued by the Government to the Crown 
 prosecutors throughout Ireland, to the effect that they 
 were to discontinue their habit of ordering jurors to 
 stand aside on account of their religious or political 
 opinions. The effect of this was excellent ; confidence 
 revived in the administration of justice and crime 
 greatly diminished. 
 
 Another principle maintained by Drummond was 
 the reliance on the ordinary powers of the law, and the 
 impartial exercise of them, for the maintenance of order 
 and for putting down outrages and crime, rather than 
 the application to Parliament for arbitrary powers to 
 be exercised by the executive, without the restraints 
 and securities which are considered necessary by the 
 Constitution. For this purpose it was decided to re- 
 organize the constabulary, to weed the magistracy of 
 its untrustworthy members, to increase the number 
 of stipendiary magistrates, and to make it clear that the 
 agents of the Government must everywhere be im- 
 partial. Drummond's power of organization was of the 
 utmost value in the case of the police. He made the 
 Irish constabulary what it has ever since been, a 
 semi-military body of the greatest efficiency. A com- 
 petent critic. General Larcom, his successor in the 
 post of Under-Secretary, has said that Drummond con- 
 verted the police into the most effective body of men in 
 Europe ; and that it became under his hand an almost 
 perfect machine, which, like a delicate musical instru- 
 ment, responded at once from the remotest part of 
 Ireland to his touch in Dublin Castle.* It may be 
 doubted whether such a highly centralized system is a 
 wise one for any country ; but under the then conditions 
 of Ireland it was perhaps the best means of maintaining 
 * " Life of Drummond," p. 266. 
 
178 WHIG REFORMS. [1835- 
 
 order, and of securing impartiality in the admini- 
 stration of justice. It may be observed that Drum- 
 mond refused to allow the police to be made use of, 
 to the extent that had previously been the practice, 
 in supporting proceedings for distraint of tenants' effects 
 for rent and tithes. When satisfied that there would 
 be a breach of the peace, the police were ordered to 
 attend tithe sales ; but, as a rule, the executive, under 
 his advice, manifested an unwillingness to allow either 
 police or soldiers to be employed as tithe-proctors. 
 This had an excellent effect in disconnecting these 
 forces with an impost which was odious to the people. 
 With respect to the magistrates, Drummond kept 
 as tight a hand as possible on their proceedings, and 
 extended the system of appointing stipendiary magis- 
 trates. "Grossly," he said, "have the local magistrates 
 abused their power in many, very many, instances ; but 
 their wings are clipped, and I hope and believe there is 
 some chance of justice being better administered soon, 
 and ultimately being well administered. The confidence 
 of the people will be regained ; though given to the 
 Government, it is withheld from the -local courts, and no 
 wonder."* Crown prosecutors were appointed for the 
 several counties in Ireland, and by their employment 
 at the quarter-sessions, many offenders, who escaped 
 through the laxity of the former system, were put to trial, 
 and the proportion of convictions to committals was 
 largely increased. Witnesses were also protected by 
 the Government before and after trials. At the same 
 time, while evidence was daily given to the people that 
 crime would be detected and punished, they were also 
 convinced that the Government was supreme over the 
 magistracy, and would not allow them to commit 
 injustice with impunity, or to excite violence among the 
 people. A Captain Verner was dismissed from the 
 commission of the peace for the county of Armagh for 
 having given as a toast at a public dinner " the battle 
 of the Black Diamond," in commemoration of a lawless 
 * " Life of Drummond," p. 278. 
 
i835-] DRUMMOND'S APHORISM. 1 79 
 
 and disgraceful conflict in 1795, when the Orange party- 
 came into existence. 
 
 Drummond's policy has been better known by the 
 aphorism, " Property has its duties as well as its rights," 
 which he first used in an official letter. An outrage 
 having occurred in Tipperary, the magistrates of the 
 county, thirty in number, headed by Lord Glengall and 
 Lord Lismore, wrote a remonstrance to the Lord 
 Lieutenant on the state of the country, begging that 
 legislation might be passed for conferring upon them 
 exceptional powers. Mr. Drummond replied on behalf 
 of the Irish Government, in a letter in which, after 
 denying that the serious outrages in the county of 
 Tipperary were justly to be ascribed to the existing 
 state of the law, or to the manner in which it was 
 administered, he said, "When the character of the 
 great majority of serious outrages occurring in many 
 parts of Ireland, though unhappily most frequent in 
 Tipperary, is considered, it is impossible to doubt that 
 the causes, from which they mainly spring, are connected 
 with the tenure and occupation of land. But his Ex- 
 cellency feels that it would be quite impossible in this 
 communication either to enter into an examination of 
 the lamentably destitute condition of a cottier tenantry, 
 possessing no adequate means of continuous support, or 
 to advert in detail to the objects for which the formation 
 of such a class was originally either permitted or directly 
 encouraged. If from political changes, or the improve- 
 ments in modern husbandry, these objects are not any 
 longer to be attained by the continuance of such a state 
 of things, his Excellency conceives that it may become 
 matter of serious question whether the proprietors of 
 the soil are not in many instances attempting too rapidly 
 to retrace their steps, when he finds that the number of 
 ejectments in Tipperary in 1837 is not less than double 
 the number in 1833. The deficiency of a demand for 
 labour, and the want as yet of any legal provision against 
 utter destitution,, leave this humble class when ejected 
 without any certain protection against actual starvation. 
 
l8o WHIG REFORMS. [i835- 
 
 Hence the wholesale expulsion of cottier tenants is 
 unfortunately found with the great body of the people 
 to enlist the strongest feelings — those of self-preserva- 
 tion — on the side even of guilt in vindication of what 
 they falsely assume to be their rights. ' Property has 
 its duties as well as its rights ; ' to the neglect of these 
 duties in times past is mainly to be ascribed that 
 diseased state of society in which such crimes take their 
 rise ; and it is not in the enactment or enforcement of 
 statutes of extraordinary severity, but chiefly in the 
 better and more faithful performance of these duties, 
 and the more enlightened and humane exercise of these 
 rights, that a permanent remedy for such disorders is 
 to be found." This letter fell like a bombshell among 
 the Tipperary magistrates. The Lord Lieutenant of 
 the county. Lord Donoughmore, to whom it was ad- 
 dressed, would not allow it to be published. It was 
 so worded, he thought, as to throw the blame upon 
 the landlords of having been the authors of the outrages. 
 Its publication was due to a motion in the House of 
 Commons by Mr. Hume ; it was then disseminated 
 broadcast over Ireland, and was proof to the peasantry 
 that the Government was above even the landlords and 
 magistrates. Some dispute has arisen as to the author- 
 ship of these now celebrated words, " Property has its 
 duties as well as its rights ; " but there is no question 
 that the letter was drafted by Drummond, though 
 approved subsequently by the law officers and the 
 Lord Lieutenant, and he always accepted the responsi- 
 bility for them.* 
 
 By these concurrent lines of policy the state of Ireland 
 was greatly improved, and crime rapidly diminished. 
 It is certain that the happy relations of O'Connell 
 to the Government greatly contributed to the same 
 result. For the first time the support of O'Connell, 
 and of all the popular forces at his command, were en- 
 listed openly and fully on behalf of the administration. 
 
 * See the discussion on this point in McLennan's " Life of 
 Drummond," pp. 334-336. 
 
1835.] MELBOURNE'S IRISH MEASURES. 181 
 
 The Government, instead of holding aloof from the Irish 
 leader, and treating him as a political pariah, was 
 in constant communication with him. When he was in 
 Dublin, Drummond saw him frequently ; he was also, 
 for the first time, a guest of the Lord Lieutenant. 
 The rulers of Ireland have too often forgotten how im- 
 portant it is, in the interest of order, that they should be 
 in a position freely to communicate with the leaders of 
 the national and popular party. It is impossible to 
 govern a country, especially under a Parliamentary 
 system, and to preserve order, if a large majority 
 of the people are so completely alienated, that their 
 leaders are not even allowed to approach the Govern- 
 ment departments. 
 
 Reverting to the proceedings of Lord Melbourne's 
 second Ministry, although it was not till the middle of 
 May that the Government was able to meet Parlia- 
 ment, it then lost no time in bringing forward important 
 measures for Ireland, in pursuance of the understand- 
 ing with O'Connell. Two Bills were introduced and 
 carried through the House of Commons — a Tithe 
 Commutation Bill, with a clause for the appropriation 
 of the surplus revenues of the Irish Church to secular 
 purposes ; and a Bill for the reorganization of the Irish 
 police, by which alone the changes contemplated by 
 Drummond could be carried into effect. Both were 
 rejected by the House of Lords, or were so dealt with 
 by that assembly as to necessitate their abandonment 
 by the Government, and practically the session passed 
 without any legislation of a remedial character, so far 
 as Ireland was concerned. 
 
 The Tithe Bill was not different in principle or 
 substance from that introduced by Sir Robert Peel's 
 Government ; it varied only in respect of the pro- 
 portion of the rent-charge to the existing tithe, which 
 was now fixed at £^0 for every ^100 of the latter. 
 The clause -appropriating the surplus income of the 
 Church to other purposes was moderate in its scope. 
 It was estimated that the suppression of superfluous 
 
1 82 WHIG REFORMS. [i83S- 
 
 bishoprics and of 860 benefices in parishes with few 
 or no Protestants, would result in a fund with an 
 income of rather less than /6o,ooo a year. It was 
 proposed to hand this over to the Commissioners of 
 Education in Ireland, to be applied by them to the 
 religious and moral instruction of all classes, without 
 distinction of religious persuasions ; not a very large 
 proposal in mitigation of the national injustice to Ire- 
 land of the Established Church, and scarcely one which 
 might be expected to rouse the enthusiasm of Re- 
 formers, or to excite any great opposition from those 
 who objected to the policy of dealing with the Church 
 funds ; it led, however, to prolonged party contests in 
 this and succeeding sessions. 
 
 Sir Robert Peel met the proposal with a motion to 
 separate the measure into two, with the object of pass- 
 ing the Tithe Commutation Scheme, and suppressing 
 the appropriation clauses. He contended, with a great 
 array of figures, that after the reduction of the tithes 
 caused by the proposed commutation, and the adequate 
 provision of the clergy of the Irish Church in benefices, 
 which it was admitted should be left undisturbed, there 
 would be no remaining surplus. He maintained that 
 " the surplus was a dishonest pretence, and that what 
 they were asked to do would only tend to encourage 
 delusive hopes, and would ultimately undermine the 
 Protestant Establishment, by destroying the independ- 
 ence of the clergy and making them stipendiaries of the 
 Government, and by holding them out to the public as 
 individuals who interrupt their rights, who crowd and 
 block up the avenues of knowledge, and who appropriate 
 to themselves those funds which ought more properly to 
 be devoted to the purposes of education." The clergy 
 of the Establishment, he said, would be placed in a posi- 
 tion which would be deeply injurious, if not fatal to 
 the interests of their Church. In spite of this and 
 other powerful speeches from Stanley and Graham, the 
 clauses were carried by a majority of 31 in a House of 
 601. In the House of Lords, the appropriation clauses 
 
1836.] MUNICIPAL REFORM. 1 83 
 
 were rejected by a majority of 92 ; the division being 
 41 only for the Government, and 138 against them. 
 The Ministers after this rebuff abandoned the Bill, and 
 allowed the tithe question, with all its embarrassments 
 to the clergy, to stand over. 
 
 In the following year (1836), the Government again 
 introduced their two rejected measures of the previous 
 year, and added to them another most important Bill 
 for the reform of the Irish municipalities, following on 
 the lines of the great measure, which had been carried 
 in the previous year for the reform of the English 
 municipal corporations. With respect to the Tithe 
 Bill, Lord Stanley moved, on its second reading, as an 
 amendment, for leave to introduce a Bill without the 
 appropriation clauses ; this was rejected by a majority 
 of thirty-nine. The only incident of the debate worthy 
 of notice was a speech of O'Connell, in which he 
 abjured and repudiated the idea of the establishment 
 of the Catholic Church in Ireland. If connected with the 
 State, the Church would lose much of its force as against 
 other creeds, and much of its power over the human 
 mind. With respect to the appropriation clause, he 
 said that Ireland had confidence in the good intentions 
 and disposition of the Government, and this con- 
 fidence had produced in Ireland a lull and a pause, not 
 of despair, but of hope and reliance. Who could con- 
 template without dismay the results that might follow 
 in Ireland, if that confidence were removed, and if their 
 hopes were disappointed by the rejection of the Bill ? 
 The Bill met the same fate in the Lords as that of 
 the previous year, and was again withdrawn by the 
 Government. 
 
 On the Bill for reforming the Irish municipalities it 
 was shown that, although a considerable number of cor- 
 porations had become extinct since the Union, about fifty 
 were still in existence. These, however, with rare ex- 
 ceptions, were in the hands of very close bodies, who 
 had a monopoly of them. Although, by the Irish Act 
 of 1793, Catholics had been admitted by law, yet in 
 
184 WHIG REFORMS. C1836. 
 
 practice they were still excluded from their corporations. 
 The freemen recruited their ranks only from Protes- 
 tants. The whole management, therefore, of these 
 bodies was in the hands of Protestants, and no 
 Catholic could obtain admission to or employment by 
 these bodies. It was proposed to sweep away all these 
 monopolies and privileges, and to make the municipal 
 councils elective by the citizens, irrespective of creed. 
 For the seven largest towns a ^10 occupation franchise 
 was proposed, and for the smaller towns a ^5 occupation 
 franchise. The measure met with most persistent oppo- 
 sition. Peel moved to omit the clauses for reconstruct- 
 ing the corporations. He did not vindicate the main- 
 tenance of the existing municipalities in Ireland, but 
 he would not consent to the substitution for them of 
 other elective bodies. In the present state of Ireland 
 he saw no necessity for the continuance of corporate 
 bodies. " Our object," he said, " ought to be, not to 
 assimilate the system of Ireland to that of England, 
 but to ascertain by what system equal privileges and 
 equal laws might be secured to all. If by self-election, 
 as now was the rule with these corporations, one class 
 is practically excluded, that system is defective ; but if, 
 by a principle of popular election, predominance is 
 given to one political party over another, and the 
 administration of justice is left in the hands of the 
 dominant party, then, whatever the theory might be, 
 the principle is calculated to work injustice, and popular 
 election is equally defective as self-election." O'Con- 
 nell, in reply, warned the House of the effect of denying 
 to Ireland the principle of popular self-government 
 which they had granted to England. " England and 
 Scotland," he said, "had secured corporation reform; 
 where was the repealer who would say Ireland was not 
 to have it ? Was there any real union between the 
 two countries ? There was the parchment, it was true ; 
 but the reality was wanting as long as Ireland was 
 treated unequally in such matters. He had been called 
 a professor of agitation, and so he was ; but would 
 
1836.] C CON NELL ON AGITATION. 185 
 
 they make him less so by refusing justice to Ireland ? 
 Agitation was sometimes wholesome. If waters were 
 not agitated they became stagnant, and peaceable poli- 
 tical agitation was essential to freedom. The people 
 were naturally sluggish ; if they were tolerably pro- 
 tected they were apt to become torpid ; and peaceable 
 political agitation was a privilege which wise men 
 would welcome. The people of Ireland were anxious 
 for a repeal of the Union ; they naturally felt a pride in 
 their independent legislature. And there was a period 
 when he was of the same opinion ; but he came now 
 authorized from three provinces of Ireland, to join the 
 House, heart and hand, if they would join him, in 
 pacifying Ireland. There was only one way in which 
 they could or ought to pacify Ireland — by promoting 
 a real union through a reform of her institutions, by 
 treating her fairly, by giving her equal privileges and 
 equal rights. Deny us that, and again union is at an 
 end." 
 
 Stanley answered O'Connell in his usual rough and 
 uncompromising style. "He would not be satisfied 
 that Ireland had equal justice till he saw every man, in 
 whatever station, brought under the control and also 
 under the protection of one and the same law, till he 
 saw life secure, right vindicated, violence restrained, 
 and the law carried into effect for the protection of the 
 people at large. This was his demand for equal 
 justice to Ireland." Peel's amendment was defeated, 
 on a division, by the usual party majority, and the Bill 
 passed through the House of Commons without amend- 
 ment. The Tory party, defeated in the Commons, 
 fell back again upon their allies in the Upper House, 
 where they had an undoubted party supremacy. The 
 Lords altered the Bill in the spirit of Peel's amend- 
 ment. They accepted the clauses abolishing existing 
 corporations ; they struck out those creating popular 
 institutions in their stead. They effected this change, 
 which practically denied municipal institutions to 
 Ireland, by a majority of 203 to 1 19 on a purely party 
 
l86 WHIG REFORMS. [i837- 
 
 division. Lord John Russell, in the House of Com- 
 mons, endeavoured to effect a compromise with the 
 Lords by omitting from the Bill all but the twelve 
 largest towns in Ireland, and with respect to these, he 
 restored the Bill to its original condition. The Lords, 
 however, did not respond ; they rejected the proposal 
 by a majority of nearly two to one. The measure was 
 then abandoned by the Government. 
 
 In the following session (1837), Irish measures once 
 more formed the principal topic in Parliament. Lord 
 John Russell again introduced the Irish Municipal 
 Reform Bill. It was substantially the same as that of the 
 previous year. " I think it right," he said, " to state that 
 I consider it to be a vital question to the Government. 
 I am fully sensible of the evil of bringing forward bills 
 year after year, and suffering them to be defeated and 
 lost, without taking any further step on the subject. I 
 do not think that we could permanently go on, or that 
 we could be fairly entitled to ask for a continuance of 
 the confidence of the House as Ministers, if we 
 suffered principles, against which we decidedly protest, 
 to be applied to the government of Ireland." He then 
 illustrated his policy for that country by quotations 
 from a speech of Mr. Fox in 1797, in which that 
 statesman described the principles of concession on 
 which the government of Ireland should be conducted. 
 " If I found that we had not conceded enough, I would 
 concede more. I would have the Irish Government 
 regulated by Irish notions and Irish prejudices ; and I 
 am convinced the more she is under Irish Government 
 the more she will be bound to English interests." 
 Russell defended Lord Mulgrave's administration ; he 
 showed that it had led to a great decrease of crime 
 in Ireland. He answered the attacks which had been 
 made on the Government for not suppressing the 
 National Association which had been recently founded 
 by O'Connell. He showed that it had come into 
 existence only in consequence of the House of Lords 
 rejecting Irish measures — rejecting them with insult. 
 
1837-3 DEATH OF WILLIAM IV. 1 87 
 
 Before that the people had been quiet, trusting in the 
 justice of the Reformed ParHament. Could they wonder 
 that agitation, which had been so successful in the past, 
 should be renewed when such indignities were com- 
 mitted ? What was the remedy ? To suppress the 
 Association ? No ; to treat Ireland as they treated 
 England. The measure he proposed was no panacea 
 for all the ills of Ireland. The measure itself would 
 be taken as evidence of the spirit in which Parliament 
 was disposed to legislate, and would create confidence 
 in future remedial efforts. Peel, in reply ridiculed the 
 idea of applying the same measures to Ireland as to 
 England ; and said it was no greater insult to refuse 
 municipal institutions to towns in Ireland than it would 
 be to reject a measure for creating such institutions in 
 Birmingham or Manchester. The Bill was carried by 
 a majority of forty-five. In the Lords, the Duke of 
 Wellington moved to postpone consideration of the Bill 
 until after the measures dealing with tithes and the 
 poor law were before them ; and this proposal was 
 carried by a majority of ']'] in a House of 307. The 
 next subject dealt with was the Irish poor law, which 
 was brought before the House of Commons by Lord 
 John Russell. The measure was supported by Peel, 
 and disapproved of but not opposed by O'Connell ; it 
 did not go beyond a second reading. 
 
 Lord Morpeth also again introduced an Irish Tithe 
 Bill. Instead, however, of an appropriation clause, 
 similar to that of preceding measures, it contained 
 a plan for imposing a tax on the Irish clergy of ten 
 per cent, of their incomes, to be paid into a fund for 
 educational purposes. O'Connell supported the Bill 
 as an instalment of justice. But before this measure 
 or the Poor Law Bill could be proceeded with, the 
 death of the King brought Parliament to a close, and 
 a general election ensued. O'Connell again did his 
 utmost on behalf of the Whig Ministry. He issued a 
 manifesto to the electors, calling upon them to rally 
 round the first Ministry which during six centuries had 
 
1 88 WHIG REFORMS. [1837. 
 
 shown a desire to serve the people of Ireland honestly 
 and faithfully. " Ireland," he said, " is ready to amal- 
 gamate with the entire empire. We are prepared for 
 full and perpetual conciliation. Let Cork County and 
 Yorkshire be put on an equal footing ; let Ireland and 
 England be identified. But for this purpose equality, 
 perfect equality of rights, laws, and liberties, is essen- 
 tially necessary. We desire no more, we shall take no 
 less. A real effectual union or no union, that is the 
 alternative." The elections did not substantially alter 
 the relative position of parties in the House of Com- 
 mons. According to the best computations, the Govern- 
 ment had a majority in the new Parliament of thirty- 
 four ; but the weakness of their position consisted in 
 this majority being entirely due to the support of 
 O'Connell and his followers. In England there was a 
 majority of twenty members hostile to the Government. 
 This was redressed by the representatives of Scotland 
 and Ireland ; and the Ministers were still, as in the 
 last Parliament, dependent on the Irish vote for their 
 continuance in office. The alliance still continued ; and 
 after the elections O'Connell dissolved his General 
 Association, saying " that he was still in favour of giving 
 a fair trial to the Union ; that he would confidently 
 entrust the fortunes of the Irish people to the British 
 Parliament. If the results demonstrated the incapacity 
 of Parliament and Government to do full and complete 
 justice to Ireland, then he would unfurl the flag of 
 repeal again, and call upon Ireland to rally round it." 
 
 Four subjects of great importance to Ireland were 
 dealt with in this Parliament — the poor law, the 
 tithe question, the reform of its municipalities, the 
 registration of its voters. The first of these was not 
 a party question as between the Government and the 
 Tory opposition, and it was carried against the will of 
 O'Connell. After the passing of the English Poor Law 
 Act, it was thought necessary to legislate in the same 
 spirit for Ireland. Mr. Nicholls, who had taken an active 
 part in English poor law reform, was sent over to 
 
1838.] POOR LAW REFORM. 189 
 
 ^reland, and drew up a report of a most alarming de- 
 ^scription as to the state of that country. He showed 
 that its population was constantly increasing in a faster 
 ratio than its wealth production and resources ; that, 
 owing to the extreme subdivision of the land, the soil 
 was being exhausted by cropping ; that there was no 
 legal provision for the destitute, that land was a neces- 
 sary of life, and consequently competitive rents were ex- 
 tracted from it ; that mendicancy was universal, and had 
 ceased to be a discredit ; and that there was a general 
 depression of feeling, morally and personally, among 
 the people. He spoke of the desultory and idle habits 
 of a large part of the peasantry ; that as there was no 
 test of destitution, the burden of supporting the poor 
 was an exceedingly heavy one, and fell almost exclu- 
 sively on the lower classes ; while the wealthier classes, 
 and especially the absentees, were exempt from any 
 legal liability or even voluntary contribution. 
 
 In view of these statements, Lord J. Russell, in 
 1837, brought in a Bill to introduce the principle of 
 the English poor law to Ireland, with this difference 
 — that it contemplated relief being given wholly in the 
 workhouses, and in no case to those who refused to 
 enter them. For this purpose it was proposed to build 
 a large number of workhouses in Ireland ; to constitute 
 Boards of Guardians, of which magistrates were to be 
 ex officio members in the proportion of one-third ; and 
 to divide the rates equally between landlords and 
 tenants. O'Connell did not in the first instance oppose, 
 but he objected to the proposal to confine relief to the 
 workhouses. He urged that Government aid should 
 be given to emigration ; he admitted the necessity for 
 some measure, but his judgment was that the proposal 
 would aggravate rather than mitigate the evils of Ire- 
 land. When the measure was reintroduced in 1838, 
 O'Connell met it with direct opposition. He con- 
 tended that men of all classes in Ireland were opposed 
 to it, and that it would stop the flow of charity. 
 The second reading, however, was carried by a large 
 
I90 WHIG REFORMS. [1838. 
 
 majority ; only twenty-five members voted against it, 
 showing that the opinion of the Irish members was on 
 the whole favourable to the project. The measure was 
 carried into effect with extraordinary zeal and rapidity, 
 and in a short time the whole country was divided into 
 districts, and no fewer than one hundred and twenty 
 large workhouses were erected. The workhouse test 
 was speedily applied to pauperism. The system was and 
 always has been exceedingly unpopular with the pea- 
 santry. Whether an Irish Parliament could have dealt 
 with the question in the same manner may be doubted. 
 Later in the session Lord John Russell introduced 
 the sixth Bill for dealing with tithes. It made even 
 greater concessions to the opposition than its prede- 
 cessors. The appropriation clause, on which the 
 Government had come into office, had already been 
 dropped in the previous year. In lieu of it the 
 incomes of the clergy of Ireland were to be taxed to 
 the extent of ten per cent., for the purpose of educa- 
 tion. Even this very small concession to the Irish 
 party was dropped. It was now proposed that the 
 tithe should be commuted into a rent-charge of ^70 
 for every ;^ioo of tithe ; that after the expiration 
 of the life-interests of present holders, it should be re- 
 deemable by the State at sixteen years' purchase, the 
 proceeds to be invested by the Ecclesiastical Commis- 
 sion in land and rent-charges, and the charge itself to be 
 devoted in the future to the payment of the constabu- 
 lary force, education, etc. In introducing his Bill, 
 Lord John Russell said that, anomalous as the Church 
 of Ireland was, he had come to the conclusion that any 
 measure tending to its destruction would involve an in- 
 fraction of the Act of Union, endangering the integrity 
 of the empire, and probably occasioning such a shock 
 in the whole ecclesiastical constitution of these realms as 
 would greatly prejudice the Church of England. " To 
 the people of Ireland, therefore, he might say, it is for 
 your advantage that the principles of the Union should 
 be maintained ; that general advantage would outweigh 
 
1838,] SURRENDER OF THE WHIGS. 19I 
 
 the particular hardships you may complain of in the in- 
 stitutions of your country." In other words, the Union 
 and the maintenance of the Church of Ireland were in- 
 separably connected, and the advantages of the one 
 were so great that the hardship of the other should be 
 cheerfully borne! He added, however, that "while 
 he considered this to be a just argument, he did not 
 expect that it would entirely satisfy the people of 
 Ireland. For that reason he had at all times en- 
 deavoured, by some means or other, to involve the Irish 
 affections in objects connected with the Established 
 Church, in order to provide for that Church an addi- 
 tional security." 
 
 In spite of this declaration of its policy, the 
 Government now proposed to abandon its own 
 proposal for securing a portion of the property of 
 the Irish Church for other purposes ; though a 
 faint semblance of standing by this principle was 
 made in resisting a motion of Sir Thomas Acland, 
 to rescind the former resolution of the House on 
 that subject. The motion was defeated by 317 votes 
 to 298, on a party division ; but after this apparent 
 victory, the Government proceeded to surrender at 
 discretion. The measure was cut down to a simple 
 commutation of tithes into a rent-charge. The rent- 
 charge was fixed at seventy-five per cent, of the tithe ; 
 the clauses for its ultimate redemption were abandoned, 
 on the suggestion of O'Connell, who does not appear 
 to have seriously resisted the surrender by the Govern- 
 ment ; the arrears of tithe were remitted ; the 
 ;^ 1, 000, 000 already advanced to the clergy, in lieu of 
 their tithes, was treated as a gift ; and all claims, either 
 of landlords or tenants, were wiped out. On the third 
 reading of the Bill, Lord John Russell defended this 
 surrender on the ground of the impossibility of carrying 
 the appropriation clause through the House of Lords 
 in the then state of parties ; he contended, therefore, 
 that the wiser policy was to abstain from mooting the 
 question. He thought the Bill would be a considerable 
 
192 IVH/G REFORMS. [1838. 
 
 mitigation of existing evils. He could not expect that 
 the great body of the people of Ireland would be satisfied 
 with the state of the Protestant Church ; but, so far as 
 that Church was concerned, he thought that the measure 
 would make it more secure. The measure thus passed 
 was identical with that introduced by Peel in 1835, 
 and upon which Russell and the Whigs, supported by 
 O'Connell, had defeated Peel's Government by insisting 
 on the appropriation clause. A Tithe Bill without that 
 clause — to which the Government owed its existence 
 — was now carried by Russell. 
 
 Though concurring in the measure, O'Connell was 
 deeply disappointed by the failure to carry the principles 
 of the appropriation clause. He did not escape severe 
 criticism from many of his more ardent followers in 
 Ireland. He defended himself on the ground that 
 the new measure could not be accepted as a final 
 settlement, though it undoubtedly possessed some 
 advantages. The amount of tithes payable was 
 reduced, and the burden was shifted from the tenants 
 to the landlords. He was ready to commence a fresh 
 agitation for the total abolition of tithes. He did 
 not, he said, regret the alliance he had formed with the 
 Government. He was glad of it. It showed he was 
 prepared to make peace between England and Ireland, 
 and he could not be blamed if peace was not estab- 
 lished. He was bound to say that the Government 
 had done their best, but the anti-Irish feeling in England 
 was too strong for them. He would not abandon the 
 alliance as yet. He would still try the plan of giving 
 the Union a trial, and if that experiment proved, as he 
 was beginning to think it would prove, the inability of 
 an English Parliament to do complete justice to Ireland, 
 then he would raise the cry of " Repeal " in a way it had 
 never been raised before, and would rouse the nation 
 to redoubled efforts for legislative independence.* 
 
 * See O'Connell's Public Addresses in Ireland, from August to 
 December, 1838, quoted by Barry O'Brien, " Fifty Years of Conces- 
 sion to Ireland," i. 528. 
 
1 83?.] THE TITHE SETTLEMENT. 
 
 193 
 
 By the abandonment of the apiDropriation clause, 
 the attacks on the Irish Church were for the time 
 brought to an end. The measure as it passed was 
 undoubtedly in the interest of the Church. It con- 
 verted a very uncertain payment from the tenants, 
 which had of late years become almost irrecoverable, 
 into a certain charge, somewhat less in nominal 
 amount, payable by the landlords. The Church was 
 relieved from the odium of collecting the charge from 
 the occupiers of land. It was no longer, therefore, 
 brought into constant conflict with the peasantry of 
 Ireland. The landlords were authorized to add the 
 tithe, as commuted, to their rents, and to collect it from 
 the tenants with their rent. There is much difference 
 of opinion as to how far this was actually carried out. 
 The organs of the popular party unite in saying that 
 this was invariably done. Other writers deny it and 
 state that, as a rule, the landlords paid the new rent- 
 charge without making any addition to their rents. 
 The truth perhaps lies between these statements. 
 Where landlords rack-rented their tenants, it is not 
 likely that they were forbearing enough to pay this 
 rent-charge without increasing their rents. The better 
 class of landlords probably did not add this charge 
 to the rents of their smaller tenants ; but in the case of 
 the larger tenants it is scarcely likely that the landlords 
 neglected to follow the course indicated by law. Ulti- 
 mately, when new adjustments of rent were made, the 
 tithe-charge must have been calculated in the new rents. 
 
 If the Church gained by the commutation, and was 
 spared from present attack, it also lost the opportunity 
 of effecting a lasting compromise. It might have made 
 an arrangement with O'Connell, on terms which would 
 have preserved its main possessions and its position for 
 many long years to come. Its supporters in the House 
 of Lords were wise only for their own generation. 
 The Church, as the net result of what was effected 
 by the Reformed Parliament, came out of the contest 
 strengthened for the time rather than weakened. It pre- 
 
194 WHIG REFORMS. T'SsS- 
 
 sented less glaring anomalies. Its most repulsive fea- 
 tures, the superabundance of highly paid bishops, and 
 the numerous benefices without congregations, were 
 removed. But the most glaring anomaly of all, its exist- 
 ence as a State establishment, the Church of the small 
 minority, supported by State endowments for the benefit 
 of the wealthier classes only, still remained. It was more 
 than thirty years before the question was again mooted, 
 and before English opinion could be forced to see what 
 a shameful injustice its existence involved. 
 
 It must be admitted that English opinion in the 
 early Reformed Parliament was incapable of perceiving 
 this injustice. The Ministers themselves did not feel it. 
 Their attack was half-hearted. They halted between 
 two opinions — that of justice to Ireland, and of respect 
 for the Church, They endeavoured to combine these 
 opinions by taking a small portion of the funds of 
 the Church for the benefit of the whole community of 
 Ireland. They failed, as was to be expected, against 
 the more determined force of those who were imbued 
 with the fanaticism of the Protestant Ascendency in 
 Ireland, and of others who believed that the maintenance 
 of the English Church and of the Union itself were in- 
 volved in the fate of the Irish Establishment. It was 
 no answer, however, to the Irish people, that English 
 opinion could not be brought to view the Irish Church 
 in its true light. This argument only tended to confirm 
 them in their hostility to the Union ; they naturally 
 contended that the effect of the Union had been to 
 commit their affairs to English opinion, and that Irish 
 interests were thenceforth subordinated to English 
 prejudices and English interests. Nor could they be 
 expected to appreciate Russell's argument, that the 
 Union was of such enormous advantage to them that 
 it outweighed the particular hardship of such an insti- 
 tution as the Established Church. O'Connell was 
 using precisely the opposite argument ; he had advised 
 the suspension of the agitation for the repeal of the 
 Union in the hope that the United Parliament, under 
 
1838.] SETTLEMENT OF MUNICIPAL REFORM. 1 95 
 
 a Whig Government, would legislate for Ireland, in 
 accordance with Irish wants and Irish wishes. What 
 wonder, when that hope was not realized, that he should 
 revive the demand for legislative independence ? 
 
 It seems probable that the settlement of the tithe 
 question was part of a virtual arrangement come to 
 between the chiefs of the opposing parties in the 
 House of Commons, and was connected with the other 
 question of municipal reform ; for, on stating his views 
 on the tithe measure. Peel also dealt with the latter, 
 and expressed his willingness to make concessions. 
 He consented, on behalf of the Tory party, to confer 
 corporate institutions on twelve of the largest towns 
 of Ireland ; but he insisted on the franchise being a 
 high one, namely, a ;^io occupation franchise. Russell 
 practically agreed to accept this offer, subject only to 
 a reduction of the franchise to ^^5. On a division in 
 committee, the ^5 qualification was carried against the 
 higher franchise by 286 to 266. In the House of 
 Lords the decision of the Commons was reversed ; the 
 higher qualification was inserted by a vote of 96 to 36. 
 Other important changes were made ; the corrupt body 
 of freemen, the monopoly of the Protestant party, was 
 preserved ; the power of appointing sheriffs was taken 
 from the proposed corporate bodies and vested in the 
 Crown — a point of great importance, as it was the 
 sheriffs' duty to frame the jury lists; and they were 
 the main instruments for packing juries in political 
 causes. Another amendment gave a vested interest 
 to the whole body of town-clerks, bailiffs, and other 
 officers of the corporation ; and various other amend- 
 ments were carefully framed, with the object of taking 
 from the proposed municipalities the control of the then 
 corporate property. Lord J. Russell characterized 
 these amendments as " framed with the interested, 
 narrow-minded, and perhaps factious view, of pre- 
 serving as much power as possible in the old, and 
 giving as little as possible to the new, corporations." 
 in the Commons, the Government, in the hope of 
 
196 IVH/G REFORMS. [>839- 
 
 compromise, assented to some of the amendments and 
 opposed others ; proposing {inter alia) to substitute 
 ^8 instead of ^10 as the qualification. This was 
 rejected by the Lords, and the Bill was again dropped. 
 
 It was not till 1840 that a compromise was finally 
 agreed to. The concession of municipal institutions 
 was confined to the ten principal towns of Ireland ; 
 in all the others the existing corporations were dis- 
 solved. For the ten larger towns, the franchise 
 was fixed at the high qualification of houses of ^10 
 rateable value, restricting the number of voters within 
 most narrow limits ; and most of the reactionary 
 amendments of the Lords were conceded. The com- 
 promise thus agreed to by the Government gave great 
 dissatisfaction to the Irish party; it was considered 
 another surrender to the Tories. The inequality of 
 treatment of Ireland, as compared with England, in the 
 matter of Municipal Reform was brought into strong 
 relief; and it was clear that every effort was made 
 to sustain as far as possible the old and corrupt system, 
 and to secure the ascendency of the Protestant minority. 
 
 Meanwhile important events occurred in the year 
 1839. Though the state of Ireland under Lord 
 Mulgrave (now Lord Normanby) and Drummond had 
 very greatly improved, there were still occasional 
 disturbances and agrarian outrages. Public opinion in 
 England was greatly shocked by the murder, in open 
 day, of Lord Norbury. The perpetrators were never 
 discovered, nor was any cause even assigned for the 
 murder. There was nothing to show that it was 
 agrarian. It caused, however, the attention of England 
 to be turned to the state of rural Ireland, more than 
 would hundreds of similar attacks on obscure people. It 
 was shortly after this that the Tipperary magistrates 
 addressed the Lord Lieutenant in the manner already 
 alluded to, and received in reply the celebrated letter 
 of Drummond, questioning their own conduct as land- 
 owners in provoking agrarian troubles. When this 
 letter became public, the magistrates again met, and 
 
I839-] LORD RODEN'S COMMITTEE. K^^J 
 
 passed a resolution to the effect that the action of the 
 Government had the result of increasing the animosities 
 entertained by the peasantry against the owners of the 
 soil, and had emboldened the disturbers of the peace. 
 It was in part due to this that political attacks were 
 made in both Houses of Parliament against the Irish 
 administration. In the Lords, Lord Roden moved 
 for a committee to inquire into the state of Ireland 
 since 1835. Lord Normanby (Mulgrave), who had 
 already ceased to be Lord Lieutenant, and had been 
 appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies, defended 
 his administration with great vigour. He showed the 
 great reduction of crime. He vindicated his equal 
 treatment of Catholics and Protestants. He justified 
 taking counsel with O'Connell. In face of this defence, 
 and the facts and figures quoted, it is scarcely credible 
 that the Lords should have carried the motion for 
 inquiry by a majority of 63 to 58. 
 
 The Government, thus defeated on the general line 
 of their administration in Ireland, and feeling the im- 
 portance of maintaining their Irish policy unimpaired, 
 proposed in the House of Commons a resolution in- 
 tended to challenge the decision of the Lords. Lord J. 
 Russell moved "that it is expedient to persevere in those 
 principles which have guided the executive Government 
 of Ireland of late years, and which have tended to the 
 effectual administration of the laws and the general 
 improvement of that country." Peel proposed an amend- 
 ment justifying the House of Lords in their committee 
 of inquiry ; and a debate of five nights' duration arose, 
 in which the whole policy of the Government in Ireland 
 was thoroughly thrashed out, and which terminated in 
 the reversal of the Lords' decision by a majority of 
 twenty-four. 
 
 The Committee of the Lords sat and took evidence. 
 Drummond was examined ; even at this lapse of time, 
 his explanation of the policy of the Government, and his 
 exposition of his own views of what were the remedies 
 for the evils of Ireland, are of the greatest interest and 
 
19^ WHIG REFORMS. [1840, 
 
 importance. Drummond's evidence was a fitting record 
 of his views. It was almost his last public work. He 
 had overstrained his nervous system by the stupendous 
 labour he had undertaken for Ireland, and he died 
 shortly after, a victim to his zeal for the cause he had 
 at heart. In the eighty-six years since the Union, no 
 other man engaged in the government of Ireland has 
 made such a mark, or has acquired such a hold upon 
 the affections of the Irish people. He died in 1840, and 
 was buried near Dublin amid universal sorrow. The 
 secret of his great success was his deep fund of human 
 sympathy, guided by a calm and scientific intellect, 
 and sustained by undaunted courage in the face of 
 overwhelming difficulties. 
 
 The Lords' Committee came to no practical con- 
 clusion, but reported the evidence without comment. 
 Lord Brougham, who had throughout Lord Melbourne's 
 second administration been actuated by malevolent 
 feelings to the Government, because he had been passed 
 over for the Chancellorshij^, revived the question of 
 Ireland, and carried a resolution hostile to the Irish 
 administration, by a vote of 86 to 52. Those who 
 now look back to this period can have little hesitation 
 in affirming that the Irish administration by Drum- 
 mond is the one bright spot in the dark picture of 
 English misrule in Ireland, and that nothing could be 
 more ill-advised or mischievous than the action of the 
 Lords in condemning it, and in endeavouring to reverse 
 it. Pending these proceedings, O'Connell gave the 
 most cordial support to the Government. He went 
 over to Ireland and called on its people to rally round 
 the Ministry. His activity was wonderful, and not a 
 day passed in which he did not address the people in 
 public meetings or through the press. Finding, how- 
 ever, that many of his friends were suspicious and 
 alienated from the Government by its failure on the 
 Church question, he founded the " Precursor " Society 
 to advocate the repeal of the Union. He had evidence 
 daily of a growing feeling of hostility to Ireland among 
 
1840.] STANLEY'S REGISTRATION BILL. 199 
 
 the English people. It was with difficulty that the 
 Government held its own in the House of Commons. 
 In the Lords, it was harassed by hostile votes and 
 committees of inquiry ; and the result of the bye- 
 elections which occurred from time to time, showed 
 that the tide of opinion was turning against the 
 Government. There can be little doubt that its 
 Irish policy, beneficent and politic as it was in the 
 highest degree, was unpopular with the majority of 
 voters in England. O'Connell himself was the sub- 
 ject of unreasoning hate and suspicion, and though 
 his support of the Government in the Commons was 
 a condition of their existence, it was the cause of weak- 
 ness in the country, and contributed greatly to the Tory 
 reaction which was soon to sweep away the Government. 
 The session of 1840 gave signs of the approaching 
 disaster. Stanley, impelled apparently by that hos- 
 tility to Ireland which he seldom lost a chance of ex- 
 hibiting, introduced a measure to amend the registra- 
 tion of its voters. His object, professedly to prevent 
 certain loose practices which had grown up in the 
 sytem of registration, had really the design of making 
 it much more difficult for qualified persons to get on 
 the register, and of diminishing still further the already 
 very reduced number of electors in Ireland. O'Connell 
 opposed the measure at every stage with the greatest 
 vehemence. It was a Bill, he said, to trample on the 
 rights of the people of Ireland. The Government also 
 did their utmost against it. Russell denounced it, on 
 the ground that it would throw difficulties in the way 
 of obtaining the political franchise, instead of giving 
 increased facilities for it. Nevertheless, Stanley carried 
 the second reading of his Bill by a majority of sixteen 
 in a very full House.* In committee the Irish members 
 resorted to tactics of obstruction. Three weeks were 
 occupied in long discussions and amendments, in the 
 course of which there were many violent altercations 
 between O'Connell and Stanley. In spite of the 
 * Division — For second reading, 350; against, 334, 
 
2CO 
 
 WHIG REFORMS. [1841- 
 
 opposition of Ministers, Stanley succeeded in defeat- 
 ing amendments to his measure in ten different 
 divisions ; but, beaten by time, and finding he made 
 no progress, he was ultimately compelled to drop the 
 Bill ; the fact, however, remained that he had been able 
 to carry it through various stages, and in repeated 
 divisions, against all the force of the Government. 
 
 In the next session (1841), this subject of bitter 
 feud was again renewed. Stanley reintroduced his 
 Bill. The Government met the attack by bringing in 
 a counter-measure, in which, while applying remedies 
 to the fraudulent registration of voters, which it was 
 the ostensible object of Stanley to prevent, it was pro- 
 posed to lower the Irish franchise, and therefore to add 
 to the number of electors. Stanley and the Tory party 
 were proportionally indignant, and a debate of extreme 
 violence, lasting four nights, took place. O'Connell, in 
 supporting the Government Bill, said the simple ques- 
 tion was whether the House was prepared to pass a 
 measure to abolish the franchise in Ireland, or to 
 extend and increase it. He pointed out how greatly 
 and continually the constituencies in Ireland had been 
 decreasing. " Refuse this measure," — he said, " I 
 threaten you with nothing — I prophesy. I tell you 
 that you are the real repealers, and not I. I tell you 
 that, by this additional insult, you bring the banners of 
 repeal amongst people of the middle class, and some 
 of them of the leading gentry." Lord John Russell 
 supported the Bill on the ground of the real reduction 
 of voters in the Irish constituencies. " With respect 
 to the Act of Union," he said, "he still looked on 
 repeal as the greatest calamity which could happen to 
 both countries. But it was because he was attracted 
 to the Union that he felt bound, as a Minister of the 
 Crown, to see that the Irish people were not wronged." 
 The second reading was carried by the Government by 
 the narrow majority of five ; * but at a later stage they 
 were defeated, in spite of having made large conces- 
 * Division — For second reading, 299 ; against, 294. 
 
1 84 1 . ] DEFEA T OF THE ME LB URNE G VERA' ME NT. 2 O I 
 
 sions, and finally they were compelled to withdraw the 
 Bill. 
 
 This was the last Irish debate of importance in 
 Parliament, during the second administration of Lord 
 Melbourne. The Government was shortly afterwards 
 defeated on a vote of want of confidence in its general 
 policy. The Ministers appealed to the country ; a dis- 
 solution took place ; and the general election resulted 
 in very great gains to the Tory party. On the meeting 
 of the new Parliament, a motion hostile to the Govern- 
 ment was carried by a majority of ninety-one. Lord 
 Melbourne resigned, and Peel was again summoned to 
 form a new Ministry. Thus closed the second epoch 
 in the political history of Ireland since the Act of 
 Union. This period may be divided into two parts — 
 that of the Government of Lord Grey, which was not 
 to be distinguished from a Tory administration so far 
 as Ireland was concerned; and the Government of Lord 
 Melbourne and the more advanced Whigs. It must 
 be admitted that legislation under both was bitterly 
 disappointing to the Irish party. The earlier Whig 
 Ministry had evinced no sympathy for Ireland. Their 
 only recipe for its grievances was force. " A Govern- 
 ment," said Stanley, " to be loved must be first 
 feared ; " he could do nothing for Ireland till all 
 agitation was put down by force. In administration, 
 equally, this Government was thoroughly opposed to 
 any concessions to Catholic opinion ; in its hands 
 the Catholic Relief Act remained a dead letter. No 
 change whatever was made in the administration of the 
 Irish Government ; the old jDrejudices and traditions 
 remained ; Protestant Ascendency reigned at Dublin 
 Castle ; O'Connell was regarded as a dangerous 
 agitator, who was to be kept at arm's length. The 
 violent personal conflicts between Stanley and O'Con- 
 nell in the House of Commons were but an outward 
 sign of a total divergence of policy— of a deep gulf be- 
 tween them on almost every conceivable subject affecting 
 Ireland. It was, indeed, hard upon the Irish that this 
 
202 WHIG REFORMS. [1841. 
 
 should have been their experience of the Government 
 of the Reform Act, and of the first Reformed ParHa- 
 ment. It tended to separate Irish opinion from that 
 of England, and to renew dislike of the Union, and 
 to create hate and distrust of the English Parliament, 
 more than even the conduct of the Tories during their 
 long period of misgovernment from the beginning of 
 the century. 
 
 The second Whig administration was wholly dif- 
 ferent in its treatment of Irish questions, and in its 
 relation to the Irish party. Its members were more 
 advanced in opinion on Irish subjects, could see to 
 some extent the evils under which Ireland laboured, 
 and were sincerely desirous of remedying them. They 
 were dependent on the Irish members for their exist- 
 ence as a Government. Their policy was a matter of 
 bargain as well as of judgment. But they did their 
 utmost to fulfil their part of the bargain ; at a 
 great sacrifice of popularity and of time so valuable to 
 a Reforming Ministry, they carried through the House 
 of Commons in every successive year their measures 
 for dealing with the tithe question, and for securing 
 for Ireland the great benefits of Municipal Government, 
 on the same wide lines as had been conceded to 
 England'. The policy of the Tory party was to fight 
 against these measures in the House of Commons, 
 and, when defeated there, to use their majority in the 
 House of Lords to destroy them, or so to cripple them 
 that they would be ineffective and useless. This 
 policy was eminently successful. The Government 
 was unable to carry its Irish measures without 
 changes humiliating to itself, and destructive of 
 remedial policy. The Church Temporalities Act and 
 the Tithe Commutation Act, intended for the benefit 
 of the Irish people, were really of benefit to the 
 Established Church. The Municipal Reform Act, 
 while professing to reform abuses and to concede 
 popular self-government, abolished fifty-eight out of 
 sixty-eight corporations, and gave a narrow franchise 
 
1841.] MELBOURNE'S IRISH ADMINISTRATION. 203 
 
 to the remainder. The Government dared not appeal 
 to the country against the House of Lords, perfectly 
 aware that their Irish policy was not popular with the 
 mass of English voters. Irish questions of vital im- 
 portance were, therefore, sacrificed to English opinion 
 and to English party tactics — a result which showed 
 distinctly to Ireland the effect of the Act of Union, 
 and tended more than ever to create distrust and hate 
 of that measure. 
 
 On the other hand, Lord Melbourne's administration 
 of Ireland was an immense improvement on all that 
 had gone before. The difference between Stanley and 
 Drummond (the guiding spirit of the Irish Executive) 
 was enormous. A revolution was effected in the 
 traditional practices of the Castle. The new govern- 
 ment was eminently just and liberal. It was based on 
 equality, and rested on a popular foundation. The 
 co-operation of O'Connell was sought and obtained. 
 Order was maintained by the force of public opinion, 
 and not by coercion at the hands of an alien authority. 
 Drummond placed himself in contact with the people, 
 and by an administration which was at once just, firm, 
 and national, upheld the law and gave comparative 
 peace to a long-distracted country. Had the Irish 
 executive been supported by the Imperial Parliament, 
 had Drummond's wise administration been accompanied 
 by healing legislative enactments, the demand for 
 repeal might never have been renewed. But what 
 Melbourne did Peel reversed. What the House of 
 Commons sanctioned the House of Lords condemned. 
 The Irish measures of the Ministry were wrecked. 
 Their policy was defeated, and English public opinion, 
 faithfully reflected at that time by the House of Lords, 
 declared that justice should not be done to the Irish 
 nation. 
 
 O'Connell, on his part, kept faith with the Whigs. 
 He constantly expressed his readiness to test the 
 willingness of the Imperial Parliament to act justly 
 to his country. For six years he loyally supported 
 
204 WHIG REFORMS. [1841- 
 
 the administration. During that period he sus- 
 pended the demand for repeal. He endangered his 
 popularity in Ireland by accepting the compromises 
 which Ministers were forced to make. He saw 
 measure after measure defeated, but he remained 
 steadfast to the Government, recognizing their desire, 
 though plainly seeing their inability to satisfy the 
 reasonable demands of the Irish people. But with the 
 fall of the Ministry his obligations were discharged, 
 and he was left free for the future to pursue his own 
 policy. 
 
PART III. 
 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The third period of the government of Ireland by the 
 Imperial Parliament extended from the formation of 
 the Ministry of Sir Robert Peel, in 1841, until the 
 death of that statesman in 1850, during the whole of 
 which time the influence of the great Tory leader 
 was paramount in the direction of Irish affairs. It is 
 true that his Government only lasted till 1846, when, 
 by a revolt of his party followers, it was defeated on 
 an Irish Coercion Bill ; but, after this reverse till his 
 death. Peel occupied a most commanding position in 
 Parliament, and practically dictated the Irish policy of 
 his successors. The Whigs had learned by their ex- 
 perience under Lord Melbourne's Government that by 
 leaning on the Irish vote they would only acquire 
 unpopularity with the English constituencies. On 
 their return to office, in 1846, they were able to dis- 
 pense with their Irish allies, and rely upon the support 
 of the Peelites. The period was one of very great 
 importance in the history of Ireland. It included the 
 last and greatest of O'Connell's Repeal agitations ; his 
 prosecution by the Government; the growth of the 
 "Young Ireland" party; their resort to physical force; 
 the lamentable events of the Irish famine ; and the 
 remedies for Irish disaffection proposed by Peel. 
 
2o6 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1841. 
 
 Practically, the policy of Peel may be considered as 
 resulting in the defeat and temporary extinction of the 
 Repeal movement, and the carrying of a series of 
 measures for Ireland framed on the ideas of English- 
 men, with the hope and expectation of giving content 
 to Ireland. 
 
 On the defeat of Lord Melbourne's Government, 
 and after the general election, which gave so large a 
 majority to the Tory party, O'Connell appears to have 
 abandoned all hope of legislation favourable to his 
 country, and in accordance with Irish ideas and wishes. 
 He had a profound distrust of Peel, and believed him 
 to be animated by personal hostility. He ceased for 
 some time to attend the sittings of Parliament. He 
 offered himself to the burgesses of Dublin as their 
 first Catholic Lord Mayor, and when elected devoted 
 himself steadily to the duties of that office. He also 
 renewed the movement for Repeal, which had been 
 allowed to subside during the Melbourne Government. 
 Already, a year previously, foreseeing the fall of that 
 administration, he had made the commencement of 
 a new agitation, by founding the Repeal Association. 
 He did so, avowedly, in consequence of the failure of 
 the Whig Government to carry its measures, and 
 because he had lost confidence in their power and 
 capacity for doing anything for Ireland, but not in 
 their good faith and intentions. Speaking at the Repeal 
 Association in January, 1841, he said, " I shall, for my 
 part, vote for the Whigs on all party questions, in order 
 to keep them in ; but I tell them honestly that they 
 have lost altogether the hearts of the Irish people, and 
 nothing but the loud cry for repeal shall henceforth be 
 heard among us. ... I did not resume the Repeal 
 agitation till I saw how utterly unable the Whigs were 
 to effect anything." He had himself, by his compact 
 with the Whigs, and by concurring in the surrender of 
 principle on the tithe question, lost credit and prestige 
 -with some of the most ardent of his supporters. He 
 was severely attacked in the Irish papers by Mr. Shar- 
 
1841.J " YOUNG IRELAND." 207 
 
 man Crawford, and by Father Davern, a well-known 
 Tipperary priest, for his conduct in this respect. 
 Whether owing to this, or to the wise and sympathetic 
 administration of Ireland during six years on the prin- 
 ciples laid down by Mr. Drummond, or to the growing 
 power of the landlords under the restricted franchise, 
 the general election of 1841 resulted in many heavy 
 reverses to the Repealers. This party, over forty in 
 number in the previous Parliament, were reduced to 
 less than half that number in the new House of 
 Commons. The places of others were filled by Whigs, 
 many of them holding office under Lord Melbourne. 
 O'Connell himself was rejected by the city of Dublin, 
 mainly by the votes of the corrupt body of freemen, 
 the retention of whom in the constituency had been 
 one of the achievements of the House of Lords, in the 
 debates on the Irish Reform Act. He speedily found 
 another constituency in the county of TipjDerary, and 
 returned to the House of Commons to find that the 
 Repeal party now consisted of little more than his 
 relatives and immediate followers. 
 
 Meanwhile a new party was arising in Ireland, 
 composed of men of a different stamp from those who 
 had hitherto supported the National cause. O'Connell 
 so completely overshadowed all his contemporaries in 
 eloquence, energy, and political capacity, that he 
 tended to dwarf those who worked with him, and the 
 cause undoubtedly suffered from his monopoly of 
 power. A younger generation, however, was growing 
 up, educated under the influences to which O'Connell 
 had given birth. Thomas Davis, Gavan Duffy, and 
 John Dillon, to be joined later by many notable re- 
 cruits, of whom the most important were Mitchell, 
 Meagher, DArcy McGhee, and Smith O'Brien, formed 
 the nucleus of the "Young Ireland" party, which 
 breathed a new spirit into Irish politics, and brought 
 to the national movement a fervour and intensity of 
 passion, very different from that felt by many of the 
 immediate followers of O'Connell. In 1842, Duffy, 
 
2o8 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1842. 
 
 Davis, and Dillon founded the Nation, a newspaper 
 whose political writing appealed to the national feeling 
 of the Irish, and speedily produced a very important 
 effect. The great object of this paper was to unite 
 Catholics and Protestants on the common platform of 
 Repeal. It appealed especially to the Protestants of 
 Ireland, and endeavoured to arouse among them a 
 national sentiment. It recalled the historic traditions 
 of the country, and revived the separatist idea started 
 by Wolf-Tone. It brought in aid of the movement 
 illustrations drawn from other national revivals, where 
 subject races had been able to assert themselves ; and 
 it stimulated the national sentiment by poetry full of 
 passion and pathos.* The Nation soon became a 
 power in Ireland. O'Connell was not slow to avail 
 himself of the aid of this new party. With this new 
 impulse to aid him, he infused fresh vigour into the 
 Repeal Association. The agitation, which had lan- 
 guished in 1842, broke out again with renewed vigour. 
 The weekly Repeal rent rose rapidly to a considerable 
 sum. O'Connell proclaimed with the utmost confidence 
 that the year 1843 was to be the " Repeal year." He 
 announced his intention of holding a series of meetings 
 for Repeal all over Ireland. With this object in view, 
 he declined to go to England even for the purpose of 
 taking his seat in the new Parliament. He began 
 his campaign by moving in the Dublin Corporation 
 a resolution in favour of Repeal. His speech on that 
 
 * A few of these poems, collected in the " Spirit of the Nation," 
 are among the finest lyrics in the language. Specially beautiful is 
 that of which the opening stanza is^ 
 
 " Who fears to speak of 'Ninety-eight ? 
 Who blushes at the name ? 
 When cowards mock the patriot's fate, 
 Who hangs his head for shame ? " 
 
 This poem, published anonymously, written by a Fellow of Trinity 
 College, Dublin, now in the foremost rank of the University, was 
 read by the Attorney-General in the O'Connell trial as part of the 
 indictment The reading produced a profound impression in court, 
 ail effect not intended by the prosecution. 
 
I843-J THE REPEAL MEETINGS. 209 
 
 occasion was one of the greatest efforts of his life ; it 
 occupied the whole of one day. It presented the 
 entire case of Ireland with a mastery of argument, a 
 completeness of detail, and freshness of reasoning 
 that were truly admirable. He said himself of this 
 speech, " I felt the occasion required a great effort, 
 and I made the effort. This day will be hereafter 
 memorable in the history of Ireland." 
 
 The discussion, which lasted three days, was con- 
 ducted with the greatest fairness. The cause of the 
 Union was sustained by Mr. Isaac Butt, then a rising 
 member of the Bar, and the favourite of the Tory 
 party, but who, not many years later, was to occupy 
 with less power and influence, but with much ability, 
 the position of O'Connell himself as the leader of the 
 Irish Nationalists. In spite of his opposition, the 
 motion was carried by a vote of 41 to 15, in a municipal 
 council consisting mainly of substantial merchants. 
 The movement then spread to the provinces. A 
 series of monster meetings was organized, at which 
 O'Connell addressed immense and constantly increas- 
 ing numbers of people. In the course of three months 
 he attended thirty-one of these great meetings, and 
 travelled over five thousand miles. There was much 
 repetition in his speeches. This, however, was the 
 result of deliberate purpose. He constantly stated his 
 opinion that, in order to make an impression on the 
 popular mind, it was necessary to repeat again and 
 again the same argument, so that it might sink deep, 
 and eventually fructify in popular exertion. He would 
 vary the phrase, but repeat substantially the same 
 matter. Indeed, in some parts, he considered it an 
 advantage that the very wording should be repeated 
 till the phrase should catch and become a popular 
 Shibboleth.* " O'Connell," said one who reported his 
 speeches, "always wears out one speech before he 
 
 * O'Neil Daunt, " Personal Recollections of O'Connell," p. 316. 
 Cobbett preached and practised the same method with the same 
 success. 
 
 P 
 
2IO THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1843- 
 
 gives US another." Those who were with him, through- 
 out his progress, said that there was always a freshness 
 in his manner, and a charm of style which made it 
 delightful to listen to him, and which prevented his 
 repetitions becoming wearisome. 
 
 At Trim, where the first Repeal meeting was held, 
 30,000 persons attended. At Mullingar, a month 
 later, 130,000 were present. At the Hill of Tara, a 
 site of hallowed associations, as the place where in 
 olden times the Kings of Ireland were crowned, not 
 less than 250,000 persons collected. The peasantry 
 flocked there, led by their priests, from miles around. 
 A more impressive sight than the celebration of Mass 
 by numerous priests to distinct bodies of this enormous 
 multitude was seldom seen. A resolution was passed 
 in the name of the Irish people for the restoration of 
 the Irish House of Commons. " The Irish people," 
 it said, " have submitted to the Union as being binding 
 in law, but they declare solemnly that it is not founded 
 on right or on constitutional principle, and that it is 
 not obligatory on their conscience." 
 
 At all these and other meetings, O'Connell spoke 
 with great power and vigour, but with studied modera- 
 tion regarding the methods to be adopted in securing 
 the national ends. He uniformly spoke of the Act of 
 Union as null and void, on account of the means by 
 which it had been carried. He contended that the 
 Sovereign had a constitutional right to call the Irish 
 Parliament together, without further statutory powers. 
 He promised that its constitution and its liberties should 
 be restored to Ireland within the year. This was to 
 be achieved by peaceful demonstration and by the ex- 
 hibition of a people united in their demands, peacefully 
 but imperatively demanding their rights ; he pointed 
 out that at these meetings he had forces around him 
 many times greater than those which had fought at 
 Waterloo. " But do not," he said, " misconceive me. 
 Is it by force and violence, bloodshed or turbulence, 
 that I shall achieve this victory, dear above all earthly 
 
1 843- J THE REPEAL MEETINGS. 211 
 
 considerations to my heart ? No ; perish the thought 
 for ever, I will do it by legal, peaceable, and consti- 
 tutional means alone — by the electricity of public 
 opinion, by the moral combination of good men, and 
 by the enrolment of four millions of repealers. I aro 
 a disciple of that sect, who believe that the greatest of 
 all sublunary blessings is too dearly purchased at the 
 expense of a single drop of human blood." But he 
 predicted that if their demands were refused, there 
 would come those after him who would be less fas- 
 tidious on this point. " He is no statesman," he said, 
 " who expects that might will always slumber amidst 
 grievances continued, and oppressions endured too 
 long. An outbreak will sooner or later be the con- 
 sequence of the present afflicted state of Ireland. I 
 say sooner or later, because I venture to assert while 
 I live myself that outbreak will not take place ; but, 
 sooner or later, if they do not restore to Ireland her 
 self-government, the day will come when they will rue 
 their present policy, and will weep in tears of blood." 
 At the Tara meeting O'Connell developed a scheme 
 by which the people were to ignore and avoid the 
 ordinary courts of the country, and were to agree to 
 refer all their disputes and complaints to arbitration 
 courts, recommended by the Repeal Association. For 
 some time effect was given to these proposals, and the 
 ordinary tribunals were superseded and deserted ; but 
 later the scheme broke down, when it was found that 
 the decisions of these unofficial courts were not legally 
 binding. 
 
 Meanwhile the movement swept everything before 
 it in Ireland. It was greatly assisted by the con- 
 temporaneous temperance movement under Father 
 Mathew, which took a great hold on the people, and 
 to which O'Connell gave every encouragement. The 
 Catholic Bishops gave their countenance and support 
 to both. The priests attended the Repeal meetings in 
 large numbers, led their flocks to them, and acted as 
 agents for the Association, in the collection of sub- 
 
212 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1843. 
 
 scriptions. The Repeal rent, which in 1842 had 
 been no more than ^60 a week, rose to over ^600 
 in 1843, and reached at one time over ^2000. A 
 sprinkHng of magistrates and gentlemen joined in the 
 movement. 
 
 The Irish Government endeavoured to stop this 
 accession of the gentry to the Repeal cause by dis- 
 missing from the magistracy any one who attended 
 the meetings. Sir Edward Sugden, then Lord Chan- 
 cellor of Ireland, removed Lord Ffrench from the 
 roll of magistrates for this cause ; O'Connell and his 
 eldest son, Count Nugent, Mr. Roche (later Lord 
 Fermoy), and several members of Parliament of good 
 families, were treated in the same way. This caused 
 great indignation in Ireland, and led to an immediate 
 increase of the Repeal rent. By way of protest, 
 several magistrates, including Lord Cloncurry, Mr. 
 Smith O'Brien, Mr. Grattan, and others, resigned their 
 commissions of the peace ; and the Repeal Associa- 
 tion received many recruits in consequence of this 
 arbitrary action of the executive. The conduct of the 
 Government was made the subject of attack in both 
 Houses of Parliament. The highest legal authorities 
 in the Upper House, men like Lord Cottenham and 
 Lord Campbell, declared it to be unconstitutional. In 
 their view, meetings to petition for the repeal of the 
 Union were not illegal. As the Repeal meetings, 
 then being held in Ireland, were perfectly orderly and 
 peaceful, no pretence, they said, could be made for 
 treating them as illegal. The Government contented 
 itself with asking for the renewal of an Arms Act, to 
 enforce the registration of fire-arms and restrict their 
 importation. The Bill differed only in detail from a 
 measure which had been passed by the Whigs in 1838, 
 but under a tacit understanding with O'Connell that it 
 was not to be enforced. It was now opposed with 
 vehemence and pertinacity, and a great part of the 
 session was taken up, in the debates which ensued, by 
 the obstinate resistance to it on the part of the Irish 
 
1843.] SMITH O'BRIEN'S MOTION. 213 
 
 members and a section of the Liberal party. O'Con- 
 nell, otherwise engaged in Ireland, was not present. 
 The opposition was led by Mr. Sharman Crawford, Mr. 
 Shell, and Mr. Smith O'Brien, the latter of whom for 
 the first time took a conspicuous part in Irish debates, 
 though he had not yet joined the Repeal party. Later, 
 Mr. Smith O'Brien raised another important motion on 
 the state of Ireland, which lasted for five nights. It 
 was carried on in a calm and temperate spirit, owing 
 greatly to the tone in which the mover opened the dis- 
 cussion. He called attention to the vast assemblages 
 of the people in Ireland, testifying to their grave 
 discontent ; to the great rise in the weekly Repeal rent 
 from ^500 to ,^3000 ; to the fact that the movement 
 had been joined by the middle classes, the Catholic 
 clergy, and by not a few of the aristocracy. He pointed 
 out that while the late Government had found Ireland 
 disturbed and had left it tranquil, the Government of 
 Sir Robert Peel had found it tranquil and had already 
 brought it to a disturbed condition ; he attributed this 
 to their neglect of remedial measures, and to their ad- 
 ministering the Government in the spirit of Protestant 
 Ascendency. He showed that all appointments were 
 now again given to Protestants, and that the Catholic 
 Relief Act was a nullity. He contended that the cry for 
 Repeal, though he did not concur in its policy, was not 
 treasonable ; it was merely the expression of despair 
 of obtaining good government. He pointed out that 
 the weakness of England lay in Ireland ; and that the 
 only way of defeating the machinations of England's 
 enemies was to redress the grievances of Ireland.* 
 
 The grievances of the Irish tenants were made a 
 prominent subject of discussion in this debate, and 
 a demand was made on their behalf for fixity of 
 tenure. Sir Robert Peel, in the course of the 
 debate, dealt with this subject in a passage of 
 great importance. "If you tell the possessors of 
 wealth in Ireland that by the purchase of land he 
 * Hansard, 3rd series, vol. Ixx. p. 630. 
 
2 14 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1843- 
 
 shall not gain the uncontrolled right of property 
 over that land, in my opinion you will strike a fatal 
 blow at the prosperity of the country. But I speak 
 generally of the right of property, and not of the abuse 
 of that right ; and I will not resist inquiring into the 
 peculiarities or abuses of the Irish law. When I 
 assert that the just rights of property ought to be 
 respected, I am far from saying that, if a remedy could 
 be applied to prevent the undue exercise of power in 
 Ireland, I would not give to such a proposition the 
 most attentive consideration. If you tell me that a 
 tenant-at-will improves the property he occupies, re- 
 lying upon the justice and generosity of the landlord, 
 and that, having so improved the property, he gives a 
 vote, or does some other act, hostile to the feelings of 
 the landlord, and is ejected from his tenancy, no com- 
 pensation being made to him for his outlay — if the 
 landlord takes advantage of such hostile vote or act 
 for the purpose of availing himself of any benefit he 
 may gain by taking possession of the land, without 
 affording compensation to the outgoing tenant — that is 
 undoubtedly a gross injustice. I trust and believe that 
 this is a rare occurrence, and if so, it may be difficult 
 to apply a legislative remedy. But if such a case were 
 of frequent occurrence, and a legislative remedy could 
 be safely applied, I think it would be the duty of the 
 House to afford such a remedy." With respect to the 
 political condition of Ireland, he avowed the opinion 
 that there ought to be perfect civil equality and eligi- 
 bility of Roman Catholics for all offices. He claimed 
 credit for not making use of his majority in Parliament 
 to force on Lord Stanley's Registration Bill ; he declared 
 his belief that causes were in operation in Ireland 
 tending to reduce the number of voters, and which 
 would require a remedy. On the Church question 
 (which had been largely dwelt on in the debate) he 
 refused, on behalf of his Ministry or his party, to take 
 any step in the direction of making a provision for the 
 Catholic clergy, which he thought would add to the 
 
I843-] PEEL ON IRISH POLICY. 215 
 
 discontent of Ireland rather than diminish it, nor could 
 he take any such partial and limited step, as that of 
 appropriating a part of the revenues of the Church to 
 other objects. He was prepared to govern Ireland on 
 principles of impartiality and civil equality — to give a 
 substantial and not a fictitious right of suffrage, and to 
 take into consideration the relation of landlord and 
 tenant ; but, on the other hand, to make no altera- 
 tion in the law by which the Church and its revenues 
 would be impaired. While deprecating the resort to 
 coercive measures beyond what was actually neces- 
 sary, he asserted the determination of the Government 
 to do everything that could be done by authority and 
 by power to resist the success of the repeal of the 
 Union. He reminded the Catholics of the concessions 
 already made and of the kindly feeling evinced to 
 them as reasons why they should join in resisting the 
 agitation for Repeal. 
 
 Lord John Russell, in reply, while allowing that it 
 was impossible to concede all the demands of the Irish 
 people, blamed the Government for doing nothing, for 
 waiting to hear the proposals of others, then cavilling 
 at them, and adopting none. He denied the practical 
 equality of privileges between England and Ireland. 
 While he would not destroy the Established Church 
 in Ireland, he thought the Catholic bishops and clergy 
 ought to be put on a footing of perfect equality with 
 those of the Protestant Church. Lord Palmerston 
 also joined in urging the endowment and recognition 
 of the Catholic clergy. The motion was rejected by 
 243 to 164, The debate was of great importance, as 
 showing the tendency of Sir Robert Peel's mind ; he 
 was evidently anxious to find some method of appeas- 
 ing public opinion in Ireland, and of legislating for the 
 benefit of that country. He laid hold of the two im- 
 portant questions, the land and the franchise. It will 
 be seen that he failed to deal with either of them. 
 The immediate outcome of the debate was the ap- 
 pointment of a Royal Commission to report on the 
 
2l6 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1843. 
 
 State of the law and practice in respect of the occupa- 
 tion of land in Ireland, and as to the amendments, if 
 any, of the existing laws, which, " having due regard 
 to the just rights of property," might be calculated to 
 encourage the cultivation of the soil, to extend a better 
 system of agriculture, and to improve the relation be- 
 tween landlord and tenant ; the important results of 
 which will shortly be alluded to. 
 
 In the course of this session. Peel had frequent 
 occasions for expressing his determination to maintain 
 the Union. In answer to a question on this subject, 
 he declared that all the resources of the empire should 
 be exerted to preserve the Union; and he quoted with 
 approval the words of Lord Althorp, " that civil war 
 itself would be preferable to dismemberment of the 
 empire," Being asked by Mr. Bernal Osborne whether 
 he also abided by another declaration of Lord Althorp, 
 that "if all the members for Ireland should be in favour 
 of Repeal he would consider it his duty to grant it," he 
 replied that he was not prepared to abide by any such 
 declaration. Later in the session, Mr. Ward raised a 
 debate on the subject of the Irish Church Establish- 
 ment ; but so little did members think the subject 
 worthy of consideration, so engrossed were they in 
 thinking of the graver issues raised by the Repeal 
 movement, that the House was counted out on the 
 second night of the debate, and the motion dropped.* 
 
 The Government apparently waited for the close 
 of the session before taking more active measures 
 against the Repeal agitation. O'Connell had con- 
 tinued to hold monster meetings in every part of 
 Ireland. Three were held in Connaught — at Ros- 
 common, Clifden, and Loughrea. Another at Mul- 
 laghmast, in Kildare. At this, Hogan, the leading 
 sculptor of Ireland, placed on O'Connell's head an 
 embroidered cap, saying, " I only regret this cap is 
 not of gold ; " and again O'Connell assured the vast 
 multitude gathered there that England could not re- 
 * Hansard, 3rd series, vol. Ixxi. p. 118. 
 
1 843- J THE CLONTARF MEETING. 21 7 
 
 sist the movement — that the Repeal year had come. 
 It appears certain that he himself firmly believed that 
 agitation and moral pressure would secure the success 
 of the national cause. He had won Catholic Emanci- 
 pation a few years earlier by the same means ; he had 
 then pushed the country to the very verge of rebellion, 
 without, however, overstepping the line. The cause 
 of Repeal did not appear to him more hopeless. The 
 difference, however, was this— England was divided 
 on the subject of Catholic Relief, and a large body 
 of Englishmen heartily sympathized with the Irish 
 demand. England was united on the subject of Re- 
 peal and was against the movement. 
 
 A monster meeting was arranged to be held at the 
 Hill of Clontarf, a place not more than two miles from 
 Dublin, and famous in the history of Ireland as the 
 spot where Brian Boru had secured the independence 
 of his country, by defeating the Danish invaders. 
 Sunday, the 8th of October, was fixed for this meet- 
 ing, which was to be the culminating point of the 
 campaign. It was expected that the assemblage of 
 people would be in excess of all previous gatherings. 
 The attorney who drew up the notices for the meeting 
 inserted words referring to the " Repeal Cavalry." 
 When the notice of the Association was called to 
 this, the notices were recalled, and the words omitted. 
 The Government, however, took advantage of the 
 slip, and assuming that the meeting was to have a 
 military character, issued a Proclamation the day before 
 it was to be held, declaring it illegal, and warning all 
 persons against attending it. No sufficient explana- 
 tion has ever been given for the very short notice 
 of proclamation. It was so short that already vast 
 numbers of people were on their way from the ad- 
 joining counties. Fifteen hundred persons had already 
 arrived from England, with the object of taking part 
 in the meeting. It was said by the opponents of the 
 Government that Peel did not really wish to prevent 
 the meeting, but intended to take the opportunity of 
 
2l8 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1843. 
 
 arresting O'Connell and the leaders of the movement, 
 and to force a conflict with the mob, trusting to the 
 large military force then quartered in Dublin, and 
 believing that a collision with the people would result 
 in a salutary lesson. 
 
 On his part, O'Connell felt that to hold the meeting 
 was to run the almost certain risk of a conflict with 
 the armed force of the State, and of a possible 
 massacre. He had frequently told the people that 
 the Government dared not prevent his meetings, that 
 they were perfectly legal, and that no proclamation 
 could make them illegal. He had, in fact, repeatedly 
 challenged the Government to meet him on the field 
 of legality. " Wellington and Peel," he had said, " were 
 ready enough to show their teeth, but they could not 
 bite. And why ? Because the object of Repealers was 
 legitimate and their means peaceful." But he had also 
 pledged himself to resist any effort to put a stop to his 
 meetings. " We shall violate no law, we shall break 
 through no constitutional principle ; if they attack us, 
 we shall be like woolsacks on the walls of a fortification ; 
 and, should they persevere too far, our patience would 
 become exhausted, and human nature would call for a 
 more steady resistance. I do not mean to threaten, but 
 I defy them to break down the vis inertia: of our calm 
 reason." And again at another meeting he had said, 
 " They talk of civil war; but while I live there shall be 
 no civil war. We won't go to war ; we will keep on the 
 right side. But if others invade us, that is not civil 
 war ; and I promise them that there is not a Welling- 
 tonian of them all who would less shrink from that 
 contest than I, if they will force it on us. We are 
 ready to keep the ground of the Constitution as long 
 as they will permit us to do so, but should they throw 
 us from that ground, then Vce victis ! " 
 
 The Committee of the Repeal Association met. 
 O'Connell announced to it his intention to submit. 
 The proclamation, he said, might be illegal, but the 
 time for resistance was not yet ; the Association must 
 
1 843-] O'CONNELVS SURRENDER. 219 
 
 do its best to prevent the meeting, lest there should be 
 a conflict between the people and the armed force of 
 the Government. The committee could hardly do 
 otherwise than act on his advice. An address was 
 issued by O'Connell, stating that, in obedience to the 
 proclamation of the Lord Lieutenant, the meeting 
 would not be held. " We do earnestly," it said, 
 " request or intreat that all well-disposed persons will 
 immediately, on receiving this intimation, repair to 
 their own dwellings, and not place themselves in peril 
 of any collision, or of receiving any ill-treatment what- 
 ever. And we deem it prudent and wise, and, above 
 all things, humane, to declare that the said meeting is 
 abandoned, and is not to be held." By great efforts 
 the crowds of people converging upon Clontarf were 
 as far as possible informed of the abandonment of the 
 meeting, and were turned back. Though great numbers 
 assembled near the place, the meeting was not held ; 
 and on the Sunday morning a large body of troops 
 held the high ground, but there was no opposition and 
 no conflict. The result was, for the moment, a great 
 moral victory for the Government, and it was felt by 
 the Young Ireland party as a profound humiliation. 
 They were powerless, however, to resist the advice of 
 their leader. To have taken an opposite course would 
 have been to court a conflict with the troops, with all 
 the disadvantage of a split in their own ranks. In 
 their view O'Connell should have held the meeting, 
 with all its dangerous consequences, should have offered 
 a passive resistance to the attempts to put a stop 
 to it, and should have asserted his legal right to hold 
 the meeting by action of assault in the law courts. 
 While this was the view of Young Ireland, O'Con- 
 nell's friends in England held that he had acted most 
 wisely, and with a moderation which deserved the 
 gratitude of the Government, in preventing a conflict 
 between the troops and the people. 
 
 The Government, however, did not take O'Con- 
 nell's action in this light, and was in no way appeased 
 
220 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1843. 
 
 by this surrender. Conscious of the advantage it 
 had already achieved, it was determined to press its 
 fullest powers against him. Within a week, warrants 
 were issued for the arrest of O'Connell and six other 
 leaders of the Repeal movement, and criminal proceed- 
 ings were instituted against them, charging them with 
 conspiring to excite discontent and disaffection among 
 Her Majesty's subjects, and hatred and contempt of the 
 Government and the Constitution, in the hopes of 
 bringing about a dissolution of the legislative union 
 between Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 The proceedings thus instituted occupied the atten- 
 tion of Ireland and the law courts for eight months. 
 Every device, with which a long experience of legal 
 chicaneries had familiarized the Government officials, 
 was resorted to in order to secure a conviction. The 
 jury panel was tampered with. Every Catholic was 
 directed to stand aside by the Crown lawyers. As a 
 result, a jury was sworn, composed wholly of partisans 
 on whom the prosecution could confidently rely. The 
 indictment itself — a monster document one hundred 
 yards long, and containing an endless confusion of 
 issues — the proceedings at the trial, the summing-up of 
 the judge, which was more like a speech of a prose- 
 cuting counsel, were all on a par with the jury-packing. 
 The trial was a mock tournament of forensic oratory, 
 addressed on the one hand to the people of Ireland, 
 and on the part of the Crown lawyers to the people 
 of England. 
 
 The result was never doubtful. O'Connell and 
 his colleagues were found guilty. Between the verdict 
 and the sentence, which, as usual in such cases, was 
 postponed till the next legal term. Parliament re- 
 assembled in 1844, and the state of Ireland and the 
 recent State trial, and the conduct of the law officers 
 in connection with it, were the subject of long debates 
 on the address. In the House of Commons, Lord 
 John Russell, on behalf of the Opposition, moved 
 for a committee to consider the state of Ireland. 
 
1 844- J DEBATE ON IRELAND. 22 1 
 
 In a speech of three hours' duration, he contrasted 
 its condition, the policy pursued with respect to it, 
 and the measures passed for it during the Peel 
 Administration, with the six years of the previous 
 Government of Lord Melbourne. The Irish leaders, 
 he said, indignant at the treatment of their country 
 during the last two years, had sought to repeal the 
 Act of Union ; that cry should have been met by 
 inquiry into the real evils, with a view to remedy 
 them. He condemned the legal proceedings. He 
 pronounced as unwarrantable the charges made against 
 O'Connell of having excited the ill-will of the Irish 
 people towards England ; he showed that the Lord 
 Chancellor, Lord Lyndhurst, had recently used lan- 
 guage even more violent, in describing the Irish as 
 "aliens in blood, language, and religion," without 
 protest on the part of those who now constituted the 
 Government. He appealed to Parliament for a more 
 confiding and charitable policy towards Ireland. His 
 own proposals amounted to very little. He advised 
 impartial justice, the eligibility of Catholics to offices, 
 and the extension of the suffrage. He would put the 
 Roman Catholic Church on an equal footing with the 
 Established Church ; but he admitted that there were 
 difficulties in the way of doing that at once. At 
 present, therefore, he would only increase the grant 
 to Maynooth College for the education of Catholic 
 priests. The most difficult of all questions connected 
 with Ireland was that of the land, but he knew of no 
 direct remedy for the great, extensive, and enduring 
 evils which existed under that head ; the way, however, 
 to mitigate the worst horrors, the wholesale massacres of 
 the clearance system, and wholesale retaliatory murders 
 of landlords and agents, would be to render adminis- 
 tration of justice more pure and more independent of 
 landlord influence. 
 
 The debate lasted for nine consecutive nights. 
 It was marked by many speeches of importance, 
 among them that of Sir Thomas Wilde, condemning. 
 
2 22 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1844. 
 
 with all the authority of his great legal reputation, 
 the conduct of the O'Connell prosecution. The in- 
 dictment, the trial, the packing of the jury, the charge 
 of the judge, were all, he said, a disgrace to the 
 law. No weight could be attached to a verdict thus 
 obtained. Mr. Macaulay, among others, devoted a large 
 part of an eloquent speech to denouncing the packing 
 of the jury in the O'Connell trial. If a foreigner, he 
 said, was tried in England, he was entitled to a jury 
 de meditate linguce, composed one half of Englishmen 
 and the other half of men of his own country ; but to 
 O'Connell not even the privilege of a foreigner was 
 conceded. They called the Irish aliens when it suited 
 their purpose, but they denied to them the privilege of 
 alienage — that of a jury fairly composed. The speech, 
 however, which in later times is referred to with the 
 greatest interest is that of Mr. Disraeli — his first con- 
 siderable effort on Irish policy. In a well-known 
 passage he described the Irish as a dense population 
 in extreme distress, inhabiting an island, where there 
 was an established Church which was not their Church, 
 and a territorial aristocracy the richest of whom lived 
 in distant capitals. Thus they had a starving popula- 
 tion, an absentee aristocracy, and an alien Church, 
 and, in addition, the weakest executive in the world. 
 " That is," he added, " the Irish question. What 
 would members say if they were reading of any other 
 country in that position ? They would say the remedy 
 is revolution. But the Irish cannot have a revolution ; 
 and why ? Because Ireland is connected with another 
 and more powerful country. What, then, is the conse- 
 quence ? The connection with England becomes the 
 curse of the present state of Ireland. If the connec- 
 tion with England prevents a revolution, and a revolu- 
 tion is the only remedy, England, logically, is in the 
 odious position of being the cause of all the misery in 
 Ireland. What, then, is the duty of an English 
 Minister ? To effect by his policy all those changes 
 which a revolution would do by force. That is the 
 
'1844-] DISRAELI ON IRELAND. 223 
 
 Irish question in its integrity." The speaker, when 
 reminded of this speech more than thirty years later, in 
 the House of Commons, remarked that although many 
 things had changed in the interval, he saw no reason 
 to alter the views therein expressed. But he had in 
 the interval been connected with many Governments, 
 and had twice been Prime Minister, without making 
 any effort to effect by policy what revolution would do 
 for Ireland by force ; and his efforts when in opposi- 
 tion were mainly directed to prevent this course from 
 being adopted by those in power. 
 
 O'Connell had come from Ireland, pending the 
 delivery of the sentence, in order to take part in the 
 debate. In his speech in the debate on the address 
 he travelled carefully over the whole ground of Irish 
 grievances since the Act of Union ; showed how the 
 promises made had not been kept ; how Catholic 
 Emancipation had been delayed and finally granted 
 in an undignified way, as a thing enforced and ex- 
 torted ; how unequal had been the treatment of Ireland 
 under the Reform Act. He referred to his motion 
 for Repeal in 1834, and showed that, while rejecting 
 it, the House had resolved that the grievances of 
 Ireland should be redressed. He pointed out the 
 failure of Parliament during the succeeding years to 
 carry out its resolve. Looking to the future, he treated 
 the measures proposed by the Government as of 
 little value. He pointed out the direction which 
 legislation must take if Ireland was to be contented. 
 Until there was religious equality there could be no 
 political freedom ; this equality, however, could not 
 be secured by Parliamentary grants ; the Catholic 
 clergy would not accept a pecuniary provision, nor 
 could the Treasury afford an adequate one ; any pit- 
 tance it could give would irritate, and not satisfy. The 
 Parliamentary franchise in Ireland must be extended 
 and its representatives increased ; the law of landlord 
 and tenant should be restored to what it was before 
 the Union ; the financial arrangements between the 
 
2 24 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1844- 
 
 two countries should be revised ; the municipal fran- 
 chise should be brought into equality with that of 
 England ; absenteeism should be dealt with, and 
 should be punished as a crime.* 
 
 Sir Robert Peel's speech in reply on the whole 
 debate was very similar to that of the previous year, 
 already cited. After defending his Government in 
 detail for its conduct in Ireland, he again promised 
 to deal with the franchise question, and with the law 
 of landlord and tenant. On the subject of the Church 
 of Ireland he was uncompromising in his determina- 
 tion to uphold it in its full integrity, not excluding, 
 however, such reforms as might improve its useful- 
 ness. The Legislature at the Union had given the 
 fullest assurances to the Protestants that it would 
 be preserved ; and he could think nothing more un- 
 reasonable than to take from the Church, which 
 submitted to the State, five-sixths of its property 
 for the purpose of transferring it to a Church which 
 refused any such connection. He proposed, however, 
 to give facilities for the endowment of private bene- 
 factors to the Catholic Church, and to increase very 
 largely the grant for public education. He had also 
 given instructions to the Lord Lieutenant, directing 
 him to include in his patronage such Catholics as had 
 not taken part in political agitation. He referred with 
 emotion to the sacrifices which he had made for 
 Ireland, when, in order to carry the Catholic Relief 
 Act, and, as he hoped, to insure her tranquillity, he 
 had risked private friendships and political connec- 
 tions, and had forfeited the cherished representation 
 of that university, where his earliest ambition had been 
 gratified. The motion was defeated, on a pure party 
 division, by a majority of ninety. 
 
 In pursuance of Peel's policy, an effort was now 
 
 made by the Government to deal with the registration 
 
 of Irish voters, and to extend the suffrage to some 
 
 extent. It was admitted that the number of electors 
 
 * Hansard, 3rd series, vol. cxxxix. p. 202. 
 
1844.] PEEL'S IRISH MEASURES. 225 
 
 in Ireland had fallen from 216,000 before the abolition 
 of the forty-shilling freehold franchise, to 52,000 in 
 1832, and 61,000 in 1841 ; 9,000 only having been 
 added in ten years as the result of the Reform Act. 
 The particular proposal, however, did not give satisfac- 
 tion to the Irish members, and the measure was 
 dropped. No further effort was made by Peel to 
 remedy the admitted grievance. A motion directed 
 against the Established Church of Ireland was rejected 
 by a majority of ninety-five, after a vigorous defence 
 of the Church by Peel, who contended that the privi- 
 lege of equal treatment of Ireland with Scotland and 
 England would result in the establishment of the 
 Roman Catholic religion in the former country. He 
 did not believe that religious animosities were gene- 
 rated in Ireland by the Establishment, or would be 
 removed by its extinction ; and he appealed to the 
 Act of Union, and the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, 
 as contracts binding upon the country to maintain 
 the Establishment. 
 
 In the same session the Government carried a 
 measure for amending the law for the supervision of 
 charitable bequests and donations in Ireland. Hitherto 
 such trusts had been regulated by a Board composed 
 almost exclusively of members of the Established 
 Church, although nearly three-fourths of the bequests 
 subject to the Board were for Catholic objects. The 
 Board had also great powers of interfering with the 
 destination of charities, far greater than were allowed 
 by the English law in the case of English charities. 
 It was now proposed to constitute a new Board on 
 which Catholics and Protestants were to be on an 
 equality as to numbers, and to provide that Catholic 
 charities should be dealt with only by the Catholic 
 members of it ; also to enable real or personal property 
 to be held in perpetuity for the building and maintaining 
 Catholic chapels, residences, and glebes. O'Connell, 
 in the first instance, speaking in Ireland, strongly 
 objected to this measure, on the ground that it did 
 
 Q 
 
2 26 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1844- 
 
 not go far enough ; but he was not supported by 
 CathoHc opinion, and in the end the measure was 
 gratefully accepted by the bishops as an instalment 
 of justice. In its practical working it has given satis- 
 faction. A measure was also carried by the Govern- 
 ment, repealing several obsolete Acts of a penal 
 character directed against Roman Catholics. 
 
 In the mean time O'Connell, after his speech on 
 the address, had been received with ovations at great 
 meetings in the centres of industry in the north of 
 England. Resolutions had been unanimously passed, 
 not, indeed, comrhitting the meetings to a policy of 
 repeal, but insisting upon full and complete justice to 
 Ireland. On May 30, after the rejection by the Irish 
 judges of a motion for a new trial, O'Connell and the 
 other leaders were called up for judgment. In spite 
 of an appeal to the House of Lords having been 
 lodged, the Crown lawyers insisted on immediate 
 judgment. O'Connell was sentenced by the Court to 
 imprisonment for twelve months, and to a fine of 
 ;^20oo, and was required to find bail for good behaviour 
 for seven years ; the other defendants were sentenced 
 to somewhat less punishments of the same kind. In 
 pronouncing judgment, Mr. Justice Burton said " the 
 object of the offenders was to obtain a repeal of the 
 Union by means which he could not say were not 
 violent, for excitement, intimidation, and terror were 
 violent means — but without bloodshed. He believed 
 the principal offender had that design rooted in his 
 mind, and that it was by his great influence the country 
 had been preserved from civil war. But he had told 
 the people that if he had found it impossible to succeed 
 he should leave them to themselves, and in case of 
 aggression they would know how to act. The Court, 
 however they might lament it, were bound to consider 
 that exhortations to keep the peace did not take away 
 the character of conspiracy from the proceedings." 
 Never was condemnation passed on a criminal in 
 terms so mild, if not flattering. 
 
1 844 J IMPRISONMENT OF a CON NELL. 227 
 
 O'Connell, on receiving sentence, rose and said, 
 " I will not do anything so irregular as to reply to the 
 Court, but I am entitled to remind the Court that we 
 have each of us sworn, and that I in particular have 
 sworn positively that I was not engaged in any con- 
 spiracy whatsoever. I am sorry to say that I feel it 
 my imperative duty to add that justice has not been 
 done in this case." This short speech elicited cheers 
 from the Bar and the public in Court, which were 
 echoed by the vast crowd outside. In obedience to 
 O'Conneli's wishes, conveyed to them in an address, 
 no further demonstration took place, and order was 
 preserved without difficulty. 
 
 O'Connell and his associates were conveyed to 
 Richmond Bridewell, where they were treated rather 
 as distinguished guests than prisoners. They were 
 allowed to see their friends and families, to com- 
 municate freely with the press, and even at first to 
 receive deputations. They were handsomely lodged in 
 houses belonging to the officers of the prison, and they 
 kept a hospitable board, at which seldom fewer than 
 twenty guests were allowed to assemble. In due course 
 the appeal to the House of Lords came on in July, 
 and was argued by the most distinguished members of 
 the English Bar — Sir Thomas Wilde for O'Connell, 
 Sir W. Follet for the Crown. The judges of England, 
 who were summoned to advise the House of Lords on 
 the subject, were by a large majority of opinion that 
 the verdict should stand. They were, indeed, unani- 
 mously of opinion that six out of- the eleven counts in 
 the indictment, on which O'Connell and his associates 
 had been tried, and which the Irish judges had with 
 equal unanimity pronounced to be good and valid, were 
 bad in law, and could not be sustained ; but seven of 
 the English judges considered the other counts to be 
 good, and though the jury had not been asked to sepa- 
 rate their verdict, they held that the verdict could be 
 sustained at law. Two only of the judges were of an 
 opposite opinion, and considered that the verdict was 
 
2 28 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1844. 
 
 bad, and should be set aside. On this decision of the 
 judges, all hope of a reversal of the judgment was 
 abandoned ; but, to the surprise of every one, the result 
 was otherwise. 
 
 The appellate tribunal of the Lords consisted of 
 five members — the Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst, Lord 
 Brougham (who had always shown extreme hostility to 
 O'Connell), Lord Cottenham, Lord Campbell, and Lord 
 Denman. The first four of these were evenly divided 
 on the subject, not without some imputations of political 
 bias in a matter which had already been the subject of 
 violent party controversy. Lord Denman, the Chief 
 Justice, was in a position more free from such con- 
 siderations. He decided in favour of the accused, 
 and against the opinions of the English and Irish 
 judges. In very strong terms he showed that the 
 selection of the jury had been unfair and even frau- 
 dulent, and that consequently no fair trial had taken 
 place ; that if practices such as had been carried out in 
 this case should be allowed, trial by jury in Ireland 
 would become " a mockery, a delusion, and a snare." 
 He was also of opinion that many of the charges, on 
 which the prisoners had been arraigned, were bad in law, 
 and that the verdict having been given generally, and 
 not on the counts which alone were properly assigned, 
 could not be sustained. This was no mere techni- 
 cality, he said ; to pass sentence for three offences, 
 which might be of very unequal character, when only 
 two had been committed, could not be right. Finally, 
 the judgment was reversed, on the 4th of September, 
 by a majority of three to two. An effort was made 
 by an Irish peer to induce the Chancellor to take 
 the votes of the lay Lords ; but this proposal was 
 resisted as a violation of the long-observed practice 
 in the exercise of the appellate jurisdiction of the 
 House of Lords, of confining judicial causes to the law 
 Lords only. 
 
 The whole proceedings of the Government and of 
 the courts of law in Ireland were, consequently, de- 
 
I844-J RELEASE OF O'CONNELL 229 
 
 clared to be null and void ; to the surprise of every- 
 one in Ireland, the verdict was set aside, and orders 
 were given to release the prisoners. O'Connell and his 
 associates left the Richmond Bridewell in a triumphal 
 car, escorted by a multitude of people. The procession 
 extended for nearly six miles, and more than two hun- 
 dred thousand persons were said to have taken part in 
 it. The enthusiasm and rejoicing extended over the 
 whole of Ireland. O'Connell had again proved to be 
 in the right, and his legal acumen had prevailed over 
 that of the Castle lawyers. An immense sum of money 
 had been wasted over the law proceedings, and the 
 whole course of the Irish law officers and the Irish 
 judges, from the packing of the jury and the charge of 
 the Chief Justice, to the decisions of the Court of 
 Queen's Bench, had been shown to be a long tissue 
 of illegalities, covering, under the pretence of law, the 
 determination to find guilty and to punish the man, 
 whom the vast masses of the Irish people honoured, 
 followed, and obeyed. 
 
 The judgment of the House of Lords has since 
 been generally approved by the ablest jurists who 
 have examined the case. The result at the time was 
 a great humiliation to the Irish Executive and their 
 legal advisers, and the Irish courts of law. The effort 
 to secure the conviction and condemnation of O'Connell 
 by the use of legal chicane, worthy only of the most 
 corrupt periods of judicial subserviency, had failed. 
 " Peel," said Disraeli, " never recovered this blow. . . . 
 Resolute not to recur to his ancient Orangemen, yet 
 desperate, after his discomfiture, of rallying a moderate 
 party to his Ministry, his practical mind, more clear- 
 sighted than far-seeing, was alarmed at the absence of 
 all influence for the government of Ireland." * 
 
 He was, however, not a little favoured by events. 
 
 O'Connell came out of prison an altered man. The 
 
 immense exertions he had gone through in the Repeal 
 
 agitation of 1843, culminating in the anxieties of the 
 
 * " Life of Lord George Bentinck.'' p. 99. 
 
230 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [i844- 
 
 trial, and the excitement of his meetings in England, 
 had hastened the development of disease, which, there 
 is reason to believe, had already commenced. It had 
 been remarked that the defence, which he read to the 
 jury in his trial, had been wanting in his old vigour. 
 He no longer had the power to avail himself of the 
 advantage which the legal failure of the Government 
 afforded him. His proceedings were very different 
 to what they would have been a quarter of a century 
 earlier, if on the Catholic question a similar breakdown 
 of the Government plans had occurred. Age and 
 incipient disease had dimmed his perceptions and 
 slackened his energy. At sixty-nine years of age there 
 are few men equal to conduct a great political move- 
 ment, involving constant appeals to the people. 
 
 During his confinement, the leadership of the 
 Repeal Association had, by the wish of O'Connell, 
 fallen on Smith O'Brien, who had publicly joined the 
 movement only shortly before, and who for the first 
 time announced himself as a Repealer, when he 
 appeared in the Court of Queen's Bench by the side 
 of O'Connell. Though differing in temperament from 
 O'Connell, and wanting the great agitator's power of 
 appealing to the hearts of the people, he had many 
 qualities which fitted him for the task. He inspired 
 the Association with a tone of confidence and self- 
 respect. He summoned the Irish Repeal members 
 from Parliament to take part in the proceedings at 
 Conciliation Hall ; he endeavoured to give to these 
 meetings a character truly representative of Ireland ; 
 he advised that every election, whether to Parliament 
 or to local bodies, should be contested by candidates 
 favourable to the national cause ; he endeavoured to 
 raise the character and quality of these representatives ; 
 he instituted a Parliamentary Committee, which reported 
 on many Irish questions with a completeness of know- 
 ledge, of great importance in educating public opinion. 
 A spirit of calmness and confidence was thus infused 
 into the Association and its followers in the country. 
 
1844-] O'CONNELL ON FEDERALISM. 2^1 
 
 When again in a position to resume command of the 
 Association and of the movement, O'Connell showed 
 weakness and vacillation. He was unable to suggest 
 any programme for future action. He was received at 
 a meeting of the Association with an enthusiasm never 
 surpassed ; but the discussions there led to nothing, 
 and he soon after retreated to his home in Kerry for 
 rest and quiet. The more ardent spirits of the move- 
 ment, who had urged a renewed attempt to hold a 
 monster meeting at Clontarf, and an organization of 
 the Association on the plan of a complete representa- 
 tion of Ireland, were deeply disappointed. The feud 
 between the two wings of the party broke out again ; 
 and in consequence of this and of the inaction which 
 was the result of divided counsel, the cause speedily 
 lost ground. 
 
 After a month's retreat at Darrynane Abbey, 
 O'Connell issued an address to the Association, in 
 which, while throwing cold water on the various plans 
 which had been suggested for taking advantage of the 
 victory gained over the Government, he intimated his 
 preference for a plan of Federalism, as opposed to a 
 simple repeal of the Act of Union. " For my part," he 
 said, " I will own that since I have come to contem- 
 plate the specific differences, such as they are, between 
 Repeal and Federation, I do at present feel a preference 
 for the Federative plan, as tending more to the utility 
 of Ireland, and the maintenance of the connection with 
 England, than the proposal of simple Repeal. But 
 I won't either deliberately propose or deliberately 
 adopt from some other person a plan of Federative 
 Union before I bind myself to the opinion I now 
 entertain. The Federalists cannot but perceive that 
 there has been on my part a pause in the agitation 
 for Repeal since my liberation from unjust captivity." * 
 " Federalism, as it was thus understood," says Sir 
 C. Gavan Duffy, " meant little more than the creation 
 
 * Repeal Association, October 14, quoted by Sir C. Gavan Duffy, 
 ' Young Ireland," p. 213. 
 
232 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1844. 
 
 of a Legislative Council, with fiscal powers somewhat 
 in excess of the fiscal powers of a grand jury, but 
 not authorized to deal with the greatest concerns of 
 a nation, domestic and international trade, the land 
 code, education, national defences, and the subsidies 
 to religious denominations." " Once adopted by 
 O'Connell," he adds, " it would have to encounter 
 the same hostility as his original demand ; ■ and it 
 would have gained no countervailing support, for 
 nothing was more certain than that the men who 
 gave Federalism its chief importance would not enlist 
 under his leadership." O'Connell's proposal created 
 great disappointment, and aroused strong opposition 
 from all the more active men in the movement ; nor 
 did it tend to conciliate that smaller section which 
 had propounded the plan of Federalism. O'Connell 
 was compelled to beat a retreat. At the next meeting 
 of the Association, he stated that his view with respect 
 to Federalism was that it could not be adopted till 
 Ireland had a Parliament of her own, because only 
 then would she be on equal terms with England. He 
 had intended to call on the Federalists to show their 
 hands and to propose their plan ; he hoped for the 
 assistance of the Federalists, and opened the door as 
 wide as possible for them without letting out Irish 
 liberty. Till they produced their plan he would bind 
 himself to nothing ; and he ended by saying that 
 meanwhile he would have nothing to do with them. 
 
 As a matter of tactics, O'Connell's course on this 
 subject must be considered a serious mistake. Fede- 
 ralism might have formed the subject of compromise 
 with the opponents of the national movement, when it 
 was certain that the popular will could no longer be 
 resisted, and that concessions must be made. To 
 adopt it at this juncture was to injure the cause he 
 had at heart, to estrange the most ardent supporters 
 of the national movement, to show weakness in the 
 face of the enemy, to throw away a card which, at 
 the proper moment, might have been one of the utmost 
 
I844-] PEELS ALTERNATIVE POLICY. 233 
 
 value, and to change the issue to another plan, which 
 was at the time as certain to meet with an equal 
 resistance from the opponents of Repeal, while it 
 would attract but few, if any, fresh adherents. 
 O'Connell's disavowal of Federalism destroyed what- 
 ever party existed favourable to this solution of the 
 Irish question, and merged them in permanent hostility 
 to the Irish movement. On the failure and withdrawal 
 of O'Connell's suggestion, no other policy of immediate 
 action was proposed, and the advantage gained by 
 the recent discomfiture of the Government was lost 
 by inaction and divided councils. 
 
 It is necessary now to revert to Peel's alternative 
 policy to repeal of the Union. It cannot be doubted 
 that the Irish question weighed heavily on his mind. 
 He was deeply anxious to do something which should 
 heal as far as possible the difference between Ireland 
 and England. He was quite prepared to break with 
 his old allies, the Orange party ; he perceived that 
 it was impossible to govern the country through them. 
 He determined to deal with three great questions 
 affecting Ireland, in a spirit totally different from any- 
 thing that could have been recommended to him from 
 that quarter, and to act even in a manner opposed to 
 the interests of the landlords. These three questions 
 were the tenure of land in respect of tenants' im- 
 provements, the education of the priests at May- 
 nooth College, and the higher education of those to 
 whom the magnificent endowments of Trinity College 
 were closed. It has already been shown that, in the 
 long debate on Irish policy in 1843, he had promised 
 a Royal Commission on the tenure of land, and had 
 himself hinted at the possibility of measures to restrain 
 the inordinate powers of Irish landlords, when exer- 
 cised with injustice. 
 
 The Commission then appointed, known commonly 
 as the Devon Commission, from its chairman. Lord 
 Devon, was essentially in its constitution a landlords' 
 commission ; no representative of any other interest 
 
234 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1844. 
 
 was upon it, nor any one who was likely to take an 
 independent view of the controversy between landlord 
 and tenant. O'Connell said of it, " You might as well 
 consult butchers about keeping Lent as consult these 
 men about the rights of farmers." Nevertheless, the 
 inquiry brought together a mass of facts, throwing the 
 most valuable light upon the whole subject. The 
 Commission had visited every part of Ireland, and had 
 examined a vast number of witnesses ; and all the 
 facts which in after-years formed the basis of land 
 legislation of a very wide character, were fully laid 
 before the public. " It is admitted on all hands," said 
 the Commissioners, "that, according to the general 
 practice of Ireland, the landlord builds neither dwell- 
 ing-house nor farm-office, nor puts fences, gates, etc., 
 into good order, before he lets his land to a tenant. 
 The cases in which a landlord does any of these things 
 are the exceptions. In most cases, whatever is done 
 in the way of building and fencing is done by the 
 tenant ; and in the ordinary language of the country, 
 dwelling-houses, farm-buildings, or even the making 
 of fences, are described by the general word ' improve- 
 ments,' which is thus employed to denote the neces- 
 sary adjuncts to a farm, without which in England or 
 Scotland no tenant would be found to rent it." The 
 custom prevailing in Ulster in the nature of " tenant 
 right" was fully and minutely described. It was 
 shown that under this custom the tenants claimed and 
 generally exercised the right of disposing of their 
 holdings for valuable consideration, commonly amount- 
 ing to ten or even fifteen years' purchase of the rent. 
 " Anomalous as this custom is," the report said, " if 
 considered with reference to all ordinary notions of 
 property, it must be admitted that the district in which 
 it prevails has thriven and improved beyond other 
 parts of the country ; and although we can foresee 
 some danger to the just rights of property from the 
 unlimited allowance of this 'tenant right,' yet we are 
 sure that evils more immediate and of a still greater 
 
1 844-] THE DEVON COMMISSION. 235 
 
 magnitude would result from any hasty or general dis- 
 allowance of it, and still less can we recommend any 
 interference with it by law." With respect to other 
 parts of Ireland, they pointed out the extreme in- 
 security of the position of tenants, and the discourage- 
 ment to improvement that arose from the want of 
 some certain tenure of the land. They stated that 
 more than one-half of the land was held in yearly 
 tenancies, liable to be brought to an end at six months' 
 notice, and that the remainder was let on leases for 
 lives. They said that these leases, containing generally 
 covenants for renewal on payment of a moderate fine, 
 though manifestly intended to be perpetual, had proved 
 to be a source of frequent litigation ; forfeitures of the 
 right to enforce a renewal daily occurred through the 
 dexterous management of landlords, and covenants 
 treated in some cases for more than "a century as 
 entitling tenants to renewal for ever, had been con- 
 strued by courts of law as not conferring that right." 
 No person, they added, acquainted with Ireland co,uld 
 doubt the importance of encouraging agricultural im- 
 provement, including in that term improvement of 
 the dwellings and farm-buildings as well as the better 
 cultivation of the soil. "In some instances the tenant 
 may have capital which he will readily expend on the 
 land, if he can only be assured that he shall enjoy an 
 adequate return for his expenditure in the length and 
 certainty of his tenure, or can have secured to him a 
 fair compensation for his outlay and labour on quitting 
 the farm. On the other hand, it not unfrequently 
 occurs that the only capital which the occupier of the 
 soil possesses is to be found in the labour of himself 
 and his family ; if you show him in what manner the 
 application of that labour may be rendered most con- 
 ducive to his own comfort and permanent benefit, and 
 assist him with money and materials which his labour 
 cannot supply, you will generally find the Irish tenant 
 ready to co-operate with you in effecting improvements 
 beneficial alike to himself and to the country." 
 
236 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1844. 
 
 " It is because we believe in the concurrent testi- 
 mony of many witnesses that the attainment of these 
 desirable objects is impeded by the feelings of distrust 
 and insecurity that too often prevail amongst the 
 tenant class in Ireland, that we venture to recommend 
 some legislative interference on this point. Although 
 it is certainly desirable that the fair remuneration to 
 which a tenant is entitled for his outlay of capital 
 or labour in permanent improvements should be 
 secured to him by voluntary agreement rather than 
 by compulsion of law, yet, upon a review of all the 
 evidence furnished to us upon the subject, we believe 
 that some legislative measure will be found necessary 
 in order to give efficacy to such agreements, as well as 
 to provide for those cases which cannot be settled by 
 private arrangements." 
 
 Of the condition of -the labourers, they said, "A 
 reference to the evidence will show that the agri- 
 cultural labourer of Ireland continues to suffer the 
 greatest privations ; that he continues to depend upon 
 casual and precarious employment for subsistence ; 
 that he is badly housed, badly fed, badly clothed, and 
 badly paid for his labour. Our personal experience 
 and observation have afforded us a melancholy confir- 
 mation of these statements, and we cannot forbear 
 expressing our strong sense of the patient endurance 
 which the labouring classes have generally exhibited 
 under sufferings greater, we believe, than the people 
 of any other country in Europe have to sustain." 
 Among the means of effecting improvements in the 
 condition of these labourers they specially referred to — 
 " an increased and improved cultivation of the soil, to 
 be effected by securing to the tenants through law fair 
 remuneration for the outlay of their capital and labour." 
 
 " We are convinced," they said, "that, in the present 
 state of feeling in Ireland, no single measure can be 
 better calculated to allay discontent and to promote 
 substantial improvements throughout the country. In 
 some cases, the existence of such a law will incline 
 
1844.] THE DEVON COMMISSION. 237 
 
 the landlord to expend his own capital in making 
 permanent improvements. In others, he may be 
 called upon, on the eviction or retirement of tenants, 
 to provide the amount for which their claims may be 
 established under the Act." While the Commission 
 thus provided the most ample materials on which to 
 found great changes in the law, which all subsequent 
 inquiries have only confirmed and have scarcely added 
 to, and while the logical conclusion to be drawn from 
 their report was undoubtedly the legal recognition of 
 the Ulster tenant-right custom, and analogous protec- 
 tion elsewhere to tenants' improvements and interest, 
 their specific recommendations fell very far short of this, 
 and seem to have been based upon an extremely narrow 
 view of the subject, such as would be held by those 
 accustomed only to the English system, and applicable 
 at best only to large holdings. Though they admitted 
 that evils of great magnitude would result from any 
 attempt on the part of the law to disallow the tenant- 
 right custom existing in Ulster, they failed to point out 
 that the tenants' interests already existing under it were 
 entirely without any protection from the law, and that 
 it was within the legal power of the landlords to con- 
 fiscate this interest, either by ejectment or by raising 
 the rent ; and they suggested no proposal for giving 
 this protection. Their specific proposals were con- 
 fined (i) to giving power to landlord and tenant to 
 register agreements relative to improvements on farms, 
 with power to the assistant-barristers to enforce them, 
 subject to appeal to the Assize Courts ; (2) securing 
 to tenants compensation on disturbance of their 
 holdings for permanent improvements, of which they 
 had given notice at the time of effecting them to their 
 landlords, subject to various formalities — inspection, etc. 
 Compensation, therefore, was to be provided only 
 for prospective improvements, and not for past im- 
 provements and, after formalities, where the landlords 
 would have every opportunity of objecting. It is 
 obvious that such proposals were wholly unsuited to 
 
238 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1845. 
 
 nine out of ten of the Irish tenants, and, if adopted, 
 would have led to no practical result. The Com- 
 missioners also recommended that power should be 
 given for the sale of encumbered estates, in order that 
 land might pass into the hands of those with capital 
 to improve it — a recommendation which was ultimately 
 realized in the Encumbered Estates Act. 
 
 The report was presented in February, 1845, and 
 the chairman. Lord Devon, lost no time in pressing the 
 Government to carry out its suggestions. On May 6, 
 he presented numerous petitions on the subject to the 
 House of Lords. Lord Stanley, who had recently 
 been raised to the peerage during the lifetime of his 
 father, admitted the urgency of the question, and 
 promised legislation on behalf of the Government. 
 " Nothing," he said, "went so much to the root of the 
 social condition of Ireland as the providing greater 
 security to the industrious tenant, and compensation 
 for the permanent, or almost permanent, improvements 
 effected by him during his occupation of the land." 
 A measure with this object was consequently prepared 
 by the Government. It is obvious that such a measure, 
 dealing with the rights of landlords, should have been 
 introduced in the House of Commons, so that it might 
 go ultimately to the Lords with the weight of public 
 opinion resulting from its adoption by the representa- 
 tives of the people. It may be permitted to doubt the 
 earnestness, if not the good faith, of the Government, 
 when they decided to produce such a measure in an 
 assembly of landlords, where the only representatives of 
 Ireland were deeply and personally affected by it. Lord 
 Stanley, however, introduced it in an admirable speech, 
 replete with knowledge of the subject, and with powerful 
 arguments, which would have supported a far wider 
 measure — one little short of the Land Acts of 1870 and 
 1 88 1. He dwelt on the great difference between the 
 English and the Irish land systems, and pointed out the 
 necessity for giving to Irish tenants security for their 
 improvements. " The remedy for the evils of Ireland," 
 
i845.] STANLEY'S TENANT-RIGHT BILL. 239 
 
 he said, " is not emigration, but a system under which 
 the tenant would be induced to invest his labour and 
 capital on the land." The measure, indeed, fell far 
 short of the premises thus laid down, though it ex- 
 ceeded somewhat the recommendations of the Devon 
 Commission. It proposed to secure compensation to 
 tenants for permanent improvements, effected with the 
 consent of the landlords, and even in other cases 
 without their consent, provided the improvements had 
 been effected with the approval of Commissioners, 
 who were to inspect the land, and to give their 
 opinion whether the improvements would be bene- 
 ficial to it, and who would also be empowered to 
 award compensation in case of eviction. It will be 
 observed that the proposal dealt with prospective im- 
 provements only, and necessitated the application to 
 a Commission, when the landlord objected, and before 
 whom the landlord would have the right to appear. 
 
 In explaining and supporting this proposal, Stanley 
 used this striking language. " Imagine the case of 
 any one of your lordships having an estate of ;^20,ooo 
 a year, divided into twenty-acre farms, the owner 
 never visiting the tenants, those tenants holding as 
 tenants-at-will only, paying a rack-rent, and required 
 not only to make good and keep in repair all drains, 
 fences, and outbuildings, but even to build their 
 dwelling-houses. Could that noble lord be surprised 
 to find that no improvement took place in those farms, 
 and that the dwellings of the tenants were mere 
 hovels ? Could he be surprised to find on those 
 farms everything neglected and in ruin ; the land un- 
 productive, the cultivation defective, and the estate 
 peopled, not by an industrious, thriving, and peaceful, 
 but by an idle, a dissolute, and a disturbed people } 
 And yet this, with some honourable exceptions, is not 
 a highly coloured or exaggerated picture of the position 
 of a large portion of the tenantry of Ireland. Then 
 is not this a state of things in which, when it is for the 
 interest of the landlord himself, we should interfere, to 
 
240 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1845- 
 
 give to the tenant some security and encouragement, 
 so that, if he chose to spend his capital and labour in 
 improvements, he should not be turned out of his 
 wretched holding without compensation for his outlay, 
 whether of money or of labour ? " After describing the 
 tenant-right of Ulster, which had been devised to 
 give to the tenants of the north the " security and 
 encouragement " denied their southern countrymen, he 
 said, "What is the case with the rest of Ireland? 
 There the tenant holds by a more dangerous tenure 
 ■ — by the security he derives from the fears of the 
 landlord." No better exposition has ever been made 
 of the condition of things existing in Ireland, and of 
 the cruel state of the law as regards the tenants. 
 
 The proposal, however, to give power to a Com- 
 mission to override the will of landlords was most 
 distasteful to that class in Ireland. They bitterly and 
 obstinately opposed the Bill, under the leadership of 
 Lord Clanricarde and Lord Londonderry. It was 
 read a second time on June 24, in spite of the protest 
 of twenty-one Irish Peers. It was then referred to a 
 Select Committee, on which Lord Clanricarde refused 
 to serve ; and on July 1 5 Lord Stanley abandoned the 
 Bill, " in consequence of the strong feeling manifested 
 against it by the Select Committee and the House." * 
 Thus the most important of Peel's remedial measures 
 ■ — one which, though imperfect and insufficient, yet 
 touched the social grievances of the Irish people — was, 
 naturally enough it must be allowed, rejected by a 
 House of landlords. 
 
 Peel showed far greater earnestness and determi- 
 nation on behalf of the other two measures, by which 
 he hoped to stem the torrent of Irish discontent. 
 Had he shown the same energy in dealing with the 
 land question, and had he staked the existence of his 
 Government upon remedial measures calculated to put 
 
 * The proceedings on this measure are described at length in 
 Mr. Barry O'Brien's "Parliamentary History of the Irish Land 
 Question," pp. 70, 75. 
 
i84S.] THE MAYNOOTH GRANT. 24! 
 
 the Irish tenants in a position of security, he might, 
 even at the eleventh hour, have brought peace to 
 Ireland. It is well recognized now that the ques- 
 tion of the land has been far more at the root of 
 discontent than even the religious animosities caused 
 by an alien Church. The Devon Commission had laid 
 bare all the evils of the Irish land system. Peel had 
 shown, by his speech in 1845, that he was capable of 
 appreciating the facts thus brought before him, and 
 knew that a remedy was needed, wider even than that 
 which he laid before the House of Lords. For what 
 purpose was the Commission appointed if its recom- 
 mendations were to be neglected .'' 
 
 Giving way to the prejudices of the landlords on 
 the land question. Peel determined to press upon Par- 
 liament a measure dealing with a small fringe of the 
 religious question, in a way which arrayed against him 
 the religious feelings of vast masses of his countrymen, 
 without effecting a lasting settlement of the whole 
 question in Ireland. He proposed to increase largely 
 the Parliamentary grant to the Catholic College for 
 priests at Maynooth, and to withdraw the amount from 
 the annual vote of the House of Commons, which 
 constantly gave rise to irritating and offensive dis- 
 cussions. The grant of ;^6ooo a year, originally made 
 in 1795, had been increased in 1813 to ^9000 a year. 
 This, however, was wholly insufficient for the purpose. 
 The college was conducted with a sordid economy, 
 prejudicial to the object for which it was founded, and 
 discreditable to the State. Peel's proposal was con- 
 ceived in a generous spirit. He offered an immediate 
 grant of ^30,000 for the erection of buildings, and an 
 annual grant of ;i^2 1,000 to be included in the consoli- 
 dated fund, so as to avoid the discussion on an annual 
 vote. 
 
 There had been some negotiations between the 
 British Government and the papal court at Rome, 
 the precise nature of which has never been made 
 known, but which gave rise to an alarm in Ireland 
 
 R 
 
242 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1845. 
 
 that a concordat was contemplated, under which, in 
 return for advantages to be conceded to the CathoHc 
 Church, the British Government was to have control 
 over the appointment of the Irish bishops and priests. 
 The rumours to this effect elicited a strong expres- 
 sion of disapproval from all quarters in Ireland, which 
 led to a disavowal by the Government. The papal 
 authorities, however, issued a rescript to the Arch- 
 bishop of Armagh, the Catholic primate, directing him 
 to counsel the clergy of Ireland and their bishops 
 against taking an active part in political meetings. 
 Whether this action of the papal court and the May- 
 nooth proposal were merely coincident, or had some 
 connection with each other, does not appear. It is 
 probable, however, that among the objects which Peel 
 had in view by increasing the Maynooth Grant, was 
 to detach the priests from the national cause. It is 
 difficult to believe that he seriously thought that the 
 increase of the grant would have much effect in quiet- 
 ing public opinion in Ireland, although he frequently 
 defended his policy on this ground. 
 
 His proposal led to vehement and prolonged oppo- 
 sition on the part of English and Scotch members. It 
 roused the Protestant feelings of a large section of the 
 people of Great Britain. Petitions against it poured 
 in by thousands from every part of the country, and 
 there can be little doubt that, if they had been consulted 
 on this question, a large majority of the electors of 
 Great Britain would have rejected the measure. It 
 was, however, carried by a combination of the official 
 Tories and of those members on whom the Govern- 
 ment could rely as steady party supporters, indepen- 
 dent of any popular opinion, and of the Whig leaders 
 and their immediate followers, while it was resisted 
 by a large proportion of the rank and file of the Tory 
 party, and by not a few of the Radical wing of the 
 Opposition. Peel rested his support of the measure, 
 not on the justice of doing something to mitigate the 
 unequal treatment of religious sects in Ireland, but 
 
1845.] PEEL ON THE MAYNOOTH GRANT. 243 
 
 mainly on the ground that the question of principle 
 involved, namely, the education of the Catholic priests, 
 had already been conceded before the Act of Union, 
 and was therefore to be considered as a Parliamentary 
 obligation, which ought to be discharged in a generous 
 spirit ; he also urged that, under the circumstances of 
 the foreign difficulties of the country in relation to the 
 disputes with the United States about the Oregon 
 territory, it was necessary to make an effort to secure 
 tranquillity and content in Ireland. He concluded his 
 speech on the second reading with these remarkable 
 words : " We have been responsible for the peace of 
 Ireland. You must in some way or other break up 
 that formidable confederacy which exists there against 
 the British Government and British connection. I do 
 not believe you can break it up by force. I believe 
 you can do much by acting in a spirit of kindness, 
 forbearance, and generosity. There rises in the far 
 western horizon a cloud, small indeed, but threatening 
 future storms. Ministers were lately called upon to 
 declare that they were prepared and determined to 
 maintain the rights of this country. I own to you that 
 when I was called upon to make that declaration I did 
 recollect with satisfaction and consolation that the day 
 before I had sent a message of peace to Ireland." This 
 long debate is interesting as the occasion of the ddbut 
 on Irish questions of two statesmen destined to take 
 a conspicuous part in them for many years to come — 
 Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright. Mr. Bright opposed 
 the measure. He was against all State endowments 
 of religion ; he considered the Established Church of 
 Ireland the root of all the evils of Ireland ; he was 
 unwilling to support any measure which would tend to 
 bolster up that institution, and which could only be 
 justified on account of its existence.* Mr. Gladstone, 
 on the other hand, supported the measure. He had, 
 however, resigned his post in the Government on the 
 announcement of Peel's intention to propose it, because 
 * Mr. Cobden spoke and voted in favour of the grant. 
 
244 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1845- 
 
 it was wholly inconsistent with the views which he had 
 deliberately published on the relation of a Christian 
 State in its alliance with a Christian Church, and he 
 considered that he ought not to be a party to a 
 material departure from the principles which he had 
 then advocated. He desired to be free to examine 
 the question from an independent point of view ; and 
 he felt the better able, when unconnected with the 
 Government, to give a support to the proposal on 
 the -ground of expediency, and on account of the great 
 numbers and poverty of the Roman Catholic people 
 of Ireland, the difficulty they experienced in pro- 
 viding for themselves the necessaries of life, and the 
 still greater difficulty which they found in providing 
 for themselves preachers of their own faith and in pro- 
 curing means for educating them ; and further, that 
 whatever gave ease and comfort to the professors of 
 the College of Maynooth would tend to soothe and 
 soften the tone of the college itself Lord John 
 Russell, as leader of the Opposition and of the Whig 
 party, heartily supported the proposal of the Govern- 
 ment. He regarded it as a step towards a large and 
 comprehensive scheme for the future payment of the 
 Catholic clergy. " The arguments," he said, " which are 
 so sound and so incontrovertible, to induce the House 
 to found an endowment for the education of the Roman 
 Catholic priesthood, will prove on another occasion as 
 sound and as incontrovertible with respect to an en- 
 dowment for the maintenance of that priesthood." 
 
 The measure passed the second reading by a 
 majority of 147,* and was adopted by the Lords by a 
 majority of more than three to one. Its reception, how- 
 ever, by the country proved the death-blow to the hopes 
 of those who looked forward to the endowment of the 
 Catholic priesthood in Ireland. If a measure so small 
 and so defensible, one which only confirmed a policy 
 long accepted and acted upon by Parliament, one 
 which carried out what might fairly be considered a 
 * For the second reading, 323 ; against, 176. 
 
184S.1 RESULTS OF THE MAYNOOTH GRANT. 245 
 
 part of the arrangement made at the time of the 
 Union, led to such vehement opposition and roused so 
 much of the odium theologicum, what would be the fate 
 of any Ministry which should propose to take into the 
 pay of the Government the whole of the hierarchy and 
 priesthood of the Catholic Church in Ireland ? It 
 became clear that it would be totally impossible to 
 convince the country of the policy of any such pro- 
 posal. Henceforth, therefore, there was only one 
 solution of the religious question in Ireland, only one 
 method of effecting that equality which was so much 
 required, namely, that of levelling down the Protestant 
 Church by disestablishment and disendowment, rather 
 than levelling up the Catholic Church by State grants. 
 Whatever hopes Peel may have had of detaching the 
 Catholic priesthood from the national cause by this 
 necessary and somewhat small act of generosity to 
 Maynooth, were also disappointed. The College of 
 Maynooth has undoubtedly contributed to foster a 
 national spirit among the priests educated there ; and 
 the younger generation have grown up with feelings 
 far more hostile to the Government of Ireland and to 
 the Imperial Parliament than the older generation, 
 who had been educated in France, and who there im- 
 bibed more cosmopolitan opinions, which enabled them 
 often to act rather as mediators between opposing 
 classes in Ireland, than as the advocates of only one.* 
 If Peel, in the opinion of the religious sectaries of 
 England and Scotland, went too far in a policy of con- 
 
 * So early as 1823, Dr. Doyle, the Bishop of Kildare and 
 Leighhn, had pointed out this change. Writing to Lord Wellesley, 
 he said, " The Government of England cannot look to the exertions 
 of the Catholic priesthood . . . The clergy, with few exceptions, are 
 from the ranks of the people ; they inherit their feelings ; they are 
 not, as formerly, brought up under despotic governments ; they have 
 irnbibed the doctrines of Locke and Paley more deeply than those 
 of Bellarmin, or even of Bossuet, on the divine right of kings ; and 
 they know much more of the principles of the constitution than they 
 do of passive resistance." — Letter quoted in " Life of Lord Plunket," 
 vol. ii. p. 127. 
 
246 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [i845- 
 
 ciliation to the Catholics of Ireland, in endowing a 
 college for the education of the priests, he erred 
 in the opposite direction in his other measure for 
 Ireland, that for the creation of colleges for the higher 
 education of the middle classes of the country. Up 
 to that time the Protestant minority had a monopoly 
 of university education. The richly endowed Trinity 
 College at Dublin excluded Catholics from its scholar- 
 ships, fellowships, and professional staff. Catholics 
 had even been forbidden to avail themselves of the 
 college as students, in the palmy days of the penal 
 laws; but the Irish Parliament, in 1793, had relaxed 
 this rule to the extent of allowing Catholics to enter 
 as students ; they were still, however, unable to share 
 in the rewards offered to competitors by scholarships, 
 unless they were prepared to take the sacrament 
 according to the rites of the Established Church. 
 
 Peel was unable or unwilling to force the authorities 
 of Trinity College to abandon their exclusively Pro- 
 testant character ; on the other hand, he felt that he 
 could not persuade the English or Scotch people to 
 agree to the endowment out of State funds of an ex- 
 clusively Catholic university ; he determined, therefore, 
 to apply to higher education the principle of a mixed 
 system, which had been adopted by Stanley in the 
 case of the primary schools, against the wish of the 
 majority of the people of Ireland. It need scarcely be 
 pointed out how illogical was the position of a Minister 
 who proposed this, and who at the same time was 
 giving his utmost support to the then sectarian system of 
 the English universities. In England, the views of the 
 majority were to prevail, and endowments, the greater 
 part of which had been devoted to collegiate and univer- 
 sity purposes, coupled with the condition of maintaining 
 their Catholic character, had been diverted from this 
 original character by the authority of Parliament and 
 converted into Protestant institutions. In Ireland, the 
 majority was to be allowed no voice in the choice 
 of its university system. It was not permitted to 
 
1845.] THE QUEEN'S COLLEGES. 247 
 
 determine the application of existing endowments, 
 which had been exclusively appropriated to the use of 
 the minority, nor was it consulted as to the system to 
 be applied for the benefit of those who were unpro- 
 vided for, in consequence of the exclusiveness of the 
 existing foundations. 
 
 The plan of the Government was to found, out of 
 State funds, at Cork, Galway, and Belfast, three col- 
 leges of a non-sectarian character, which colleges, if 
 they should succeed and take root, were later on to be 
 united together under one university ; for this purpose 
 Parliament was asked to vote a lump sum of ^100,000 
 for buildings, and ^31,000 a year for the professional 
 staff in the several faculties of Arts, Law, and Physic, 
 as should from time to time be established by the 
 Government. Religious teaching was by implication 
 excluded from these benefactions, as no endowment 
 was provided for it. It was, however, to be permitted 
 to any one to endow religious teachers by private 
 donations ; it was to be lawful also for the authorities 
 to set apart lecture-rooms where such religious teachers, 
 as should be recognized by them, might give instruc- 
 tion ; but it was also expressly provided that no student 
 should be compelled to attend any theological lecture 
 or religious instruction other than that approved by his 
 parents or guardians ; regulations, moreover, might be 
 made for securing the due attendance of students at 
 churches or chapels approved by their parents or guar- 
 dians. Nothing would be fairer than this arrange- 
 ment, from the point of view that it was not the duty 
 of the State either to encourage any special sect, or to 
 discourage the teaching of any religious views which 
 the parents might require for their children. It com- 
 pletely secured that no moneys, voted by Parliament, 
 should be used for sectarian teaching. 
 
 Sir James Graham, in introducing the measure, 
 justified it to a large extent on the ground of the 
 impossibility of opening the endowments of Trinity 
 College to Catholics. " Any attempt," he said, " to force 
 
248 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [i84S- 
 
 the Roman Catholics or Dissenters upon the fellow- 
 ships and scholarships of Trinity College would 
 render a revision of its statutes necessary, and would 
 give such an offence to Protestant feeling throughout 
 the empire, that he had no hesitation in saying that to 
 such a proposition the Government would not give 
 the slightest sanction. Trinity College was endowed 
 for the education of priests of the Church of England, ' 
 and he could not consent to have its property invaded 
 or the uses of it disturbed for any consideration 
 whatever." 
 
 In the first instance, the proposal appeared to give 
 satisfaction in Ireland, and was well received by the 
 Irish members. The new colleges were, however, 
 denounced by the representatives of the extreme 
 Protestant party of England, who desired that religious 
 education should be forced upon the students, and 
 that of a quality their parents disapproved. The 
 Catholic bishops of Ireland were also at first divided 
 in their opinion on the subject ; one-half of them were 
 favourable to the scheme. The others, led by Dr. 
 Mac Hale, Archbishop of Tuam, were violently 
 opposed to it. The bishops, as a body, subsequently 
 met, and agreed to accept the measure, provided 
 certain securities were conceded to them. They 
 claimed that a fair proportion of the professors should 
 be Catholics ; that a Board of Trustees, of whom the 
 Catholic bishops of the provinces within which the 
 colleges were situate should be members, should have 
 power to remove any professor or teacher convicted of 
 tampering with the faith or morals of the student, and 
 that Catholic chaplains should be appointed to super- 
 intend the religious instruction of the Catholic students. 
 
 In the ranks of the Repealers there broke out a 
 violent dispute on the subject. The "Young Ireland" 
 party were strongly in favour of the measure. It was 
 in accordance with their general policy that every 
 means ought to be taken to unite the various sections 
 of Ireland, They approved the plan of bringing 
 
1845.] DISSENSION IN THE REPEAL ASSOCIA TION. 249 
 
 Students of different religious views together. They 
 believed that in this union and mixing of classes, 
 hitherto so separate in Ireland, there was the best 
 hope of realizing their aims of a national Parliament. 
 O'Connell took a very opposite view. He refused to 
 allow the question to be withdrawn from discussion in 
 the Repeal Association ; he insisted upon a decision ; 
 he denounced the whole scheme in violent language. 
 " A more nefarious attempt at profligacy and corrup- 
 tion never disgraced any Minister." The discussion led 
 to bitter controversy in Ireland, where Thomas Davis 
 defended the system of mixed education. O'Connell 
 replied by a violent attack on his opponents. " The 
 section of politicians styling themselves the ' Young 
 Ireland' party, anxious to rule the destinies of this 
 country, start up and support this measure. There is 
 no such party as that styled ' Young Ireland.' There 
 may be a few individuals who take that denomination 
 on themselves. I am for ' Old Ireland.' 'Tis time 
 this delusion should be put an end to. 'Young Ire- 
 land ' may play what pranks they please ; I do not 
 envy them the name they rejoice in. I shall stand by 
 ' Old Ireland,' and I have some slight notion ' Old 
 Ireland ' will stand by me." This led to a painful 
 scene, and laid the seeds of disunion and disaffection 
 which ultimately resulted in breaking up the Associa- 
 tion.* No decision was come to by the Association as 
 to the Bill, but it was decided to press for amendments. 
 O'Connell, who had not crossed the Irish Channel 
 for the discussions on the Maynooth Bill, now went to 
 Parliament expressly to oppose the scheme for the 
 new colleges. He stated in the House of Commons 
 that the Catholic bishops were not satisfied with the 
 amendments offered by the Government. Of what use 
 was the expenditure of money if they did not succeed 
 in their object ? They could not succeed if they did not 
 
 * The proceedings of the Repeal Association on this subject are 
 fully described in an interesting chapter of Gavan Duffy's " Young 
 Ireland." 
 
250 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1845. 
 
 attend to the advice of the Irish bishops. He had the 
 authority of the Archbishop of Tuam for saying that 
 the bishops considered the scheme to be a bad one, 
 and the Bill a penal and revolting one, because they 
 were deprived of doing the duty which they owed to 
 the principles of their religion. He thanked Sir 
 Robert Inglis, the member for the University of 
 Oxford, for calling the scheme a " godless scheme of 
 education." " I believe," he said, " that religion ought 
 to be the basis of education, and I came over for no 
 other purpose than humbly to represent the necessity 
 of making religion the basis of education ; to establish 
 it not only as a part, but as a necessary part." Lord 
 John Russell, upon this, said that the declaration of 
 O'Connell was very important ; he feared that, unless 
 the Bill was made acceptable to the Roman Catholics, 
 it would not be of much use to Ireland. If the Bill, 
 after it came out of committee, should still remain 
 under their stigma, it would be likely to produce more 
 prejudice than benefit to Ireland. 
 
 The Ministers refused concessions, and the Bill 
 passed by large majorities. On its third reading, a 
 motion was made, directed against the exclusive cha- 
 racter of Trinity College, and proposing to open its 
 endowments to persons of all creeds. Mr. Sheil, who 
 had differed from O'Connell, and sided on this question 
 with the " Young Ireland " party, made a brilliant 
 speech, in which he advocated mixed education, as 
 particularly desirable in Ireland for soothing religious 
 animosities, and for training youths of different creeds 
 in habits of friendly association ; but he insisted that a 
 mixed secular education ought to be combined with a 
 separate religious instruction, which would be quite 
 practicable. " So long as you keep Trinity College in 
 its supremacy," he said, " you will make your acade- 
 mical education, for all political purposes, an entire 
 failure. Your provincial academies will be marked 
 with all the characteristics of mediocrity, which will 
 only render the elevation of Trinity College more 
 
1 845-] DUBLIN UNIVERSITY. 25 1 
 
 conspicuous by the inferiority with which it will be 
 surrounded." 
 
 Sir Robert Peel replied that his Government had 
 exerted itself to promote equality in Ireland, and in so 
 doing had given umbrage, he feared, to the majority 
 of the people of Great Britain. He admitted that 
 secular instruction would be imperfect without re- 
 ligious instruction ; and he believed that the best 
 mode of effecting this would be to give every facility 
 of affording it, without exciting jealousy, by placing 
 it under the control of the heads of the institutions. 
 This might be an erroneous proceeding on the part of 
 the Government ; but still the principle on which the 
 institutions were founded was that of perfect equality, 
 which he believed would be generally acceptable. 
 The opinion of the Roman Catholic prelates was, in- 
 deed, for the present, against them, and he admitted 
 that their sanction and assent were almost essential to 
 success. With respect to Dublin College, he contended 
 that it was intended to be an exclusively Protestant 
 institution. Ministers were not to be charged with 
 want of equality for not opening it to the Roman 
 Catholics. He concluded by again recalling to mind 
 that he had sacrificed the representation of Oxford, 
 and risked the alienation of friends, because he was 
 determined to do justice to the Roman Catholics, de- 
 claring that there was still no sacrifice that he would 
 not make to do justice between them and the Pro- 
 testants. Lord John Russell, in reply, admitted the 
 merits of the Bill, but pointed out that the higher 
 kind of education was to be obtained solely at the 
 Dublin College, presided over by a body exclusively 
 Protestant ; and that, he insisted, was not equality. 
 The way to give equality would have been either to 
 make a separate institution for Roman Catholics, 
 or to open to them so much of Trinity College as 
 was of a similar value. His motion was defeated by 
 a majority of seventy-seven, and the measure was 
 passed into law. 
 
252 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1845- 
 
 The Queen's colleges were established. They 
 commenced with a fair prospect of success ; not a 
 few Catholic students joined them. In 1850, they 
 were affiliated under a common university. In 1851, 
 the Catholic bishops met in Synod at Thurles, and 
 emphatically condemned the new system, and recom- 
 mended the establishment of a Catholic university. 
 With that object a Catholic college was founded in 
 1854, by the aid of private subscriptions; it drew 
 away a large proportion of Catholic students from the 
 Queen's colleges. Though these colleges have done 
 much useful work, they failed to settle the question, 
 or to meet the wants of Ireland. The Catholic 
 students continually dwindled in numbers under the 
 influence of their Church. It was twenty-five years 
 before Trinity College, under pressure from Parlia- 
 ment, threw open its endowments to persons of all 
 religious denominations. It was then too late as a 
 concession to Catholic opinion. Later, in 1873, 
 Mr. Gladstone staked the fate of his Government 
 on another attempt to settle the question, and was 
 defeated. 
 
 Looking back at the measure of 1845, it is im- 
 possible to regard it as otherwise than an unfortu- 
 nate arrangement. It failed because it halted between 
 two distinct policies. If Trinity College had at the 
 same time been thrown open to Catholics, the measure 
 would have been based on equality. If really Catholic 
 colleges had been endowed by the State, and affiliated 
 with Trinity College to one university, there would 
 also have been equality. The scheme adopted was 
 a compromise, which failed to place Catholics and 
 Protestants on the same educational level, while it pro- 
 voked religious hostility all round. It left the old sting 
 of exclusion of th% Catholics from Trinity College, and 
 it did not provide for the Catholics the same privileges 
 and securities for religious education as the Protestants 
 claimed and enjoyed in Trinity College. It may be 
 doubted what would have been the decision of Ireland 
 
1 845-] RESULTS OF PEEVS LEGISLATION. 253 
 
 itself, if at that time its people had been consulted, 
 under a fair system of representation, as to the prin- 
 ciple on which its university system should be based. 
 "Young Ireland" favoured a mixed system. The 
 Catholic Church desired a distinctly denominational 
 system. It is possible that the Protestants, when 
 thrown on their own resources, and no longer able to 
 rely on English support, would have joined the more 
 advanced section of the Catholics in supporting the 
 mixed system, even if it involved throwing open the 
 endowments of Trinity College. 
 
 The establishment of the Queen's colleges was the 
 last effort of Peel's Government to deal with exclusively 
 Irish legislation. The Maynooth grant gave satisfac- 
 tion within the limits which it proposed. It was, how- 
 ever, at best a sop to the Catholics — an insufficient 
 palliation to the religious inequality which existed in 
 Ireland. If the principle on which it was founded was 
 right, it should have been carried much further, and the 
 Catholic priesthood should have received an endow- 
 ment from the State ; but public opinion in England 
 would not have supported this, and the agitation re- 
 sulting from the smaller measure showed that the 
 wider one was wholly impossible to any Ministry. 
 The measure for higher education, though framed with 
 good intentions, was not based on equality, and failed 
 to give satisfaction to the Catholics, who were the real 
 sufferers from the previous state of things. The 
 two other Irish measures, the Franchise Bill and 
 the Tenants' Compensation Bill, had failed to pass. 
 Nothing, therefore, was done which touched either the 
 political or social grievances of the mass of the people. 
 
254 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1845. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 In the autumn of 1845 there appeared the first 
 symptoms of the calamity, which was to desolate 
 Ireland with famine and disease, and to cause an 
 emigration of its people on a scale of unprecedented 
 magnitude. The season was exceptionally wet, and 
 blight fell upon the potato crop, on which more than one- 
 half of the whole population depended for their very 
 existence. The census of 1841 showed the population 
 of Ireland to be 8,175,000; and in 1845 this number 
 had probably increased to 8,600,000. In the beginning 
 of the century it had been a little over 5,000,000. This 
 rapid increase in the first half of the century, and the 
 low social condition of so large a proportion of the people, 
 has always been a subject of the greatest interest, and has 
 scarcely yet been fully explained. English economists 
 and writers, till within recent years, generally held it 
 to be the natural and necessary result of a system of 
 small agricultural holdings. They held up Ireland as a 
 warning against the system of peasant cultivators and 
 the subdivision of land ; and they prophesied that 
 other countries, such as France, where the law favoured 
 the multiplication of owners of land, " would become 
 pauper warrens, and, along with Ireland, provide hewers 
 of wood and drawers of water for other countries." * 
 Later observers, however, have perceived that these 
 results were not realized in France and other countries, 
 where the ownership of land is greatly divided, and 
 political economists, led by Mr. J. S. Mill, were 
 * McCulloch's "Political Economy," p. 164. 
 
1 845- J LAND TENURE OF FRANCE. 255 
 
 compelled to reconsider the conclusions of the previous 
 generation. 
 
 In France, before the Revolution of 1 789, the general 
 state of the rural population was not very different 
 from that of Ireland, and Arthur Young, in his travels 
 in the two countries, described their conditions as very 
 similar. In France, as in Ireland, the land was held in 
 immense properties, the owners of which were seldom 
 resident, and cared little for their management, or for the 
 well-being of the people upon them ; their tenants were 
 allowed to subdivide their holdings as they liked ; they 
 had no certain interest in them ; they were subject to 
 arbitrary exactions of all kinds ; they had no induce- 
 ment to expend their capital or labour on the land ; and, 
 as a result, they were impoverished and discontented to 
 the last degree. The Revolution produced a great 
 change in these conditions. It gave fixity of tenure to 
 vast numbers of small tenants, and relieved them from 
 feudal burdens ; the great estates were broken up ; 
 entails were abolished ; the properties of the dmigrds 
 were appropriated by the State, and were sold to a 
 large extent to the tenants ; a large part of the com- 
 munal property was also sold in small plots. As a 
 result, a vast number of small properties in land were 
 created, where the occupiers farmed their own land. 
 The law has since confirmed and favoured this division 
 of property, by the process of compulsory partition 
 among the children on the death of the owner. It is 
 now almost universally admitted that the result of these 
 changes in France has been beneficial in the highest 
 degree, economically, socially, and politically. It has 
 stimulated industry and thrift ; it has offered every in- 
 ducement to the peasant cultivators to improve their 
 properties, and to expend their capital and labour upon 
 them. The rural population of France are the most 
 industrious, frugal, saving, and contented cultivators in 
 the world ; while the subdivision of land has not been 
 carried to excess, and the population has increased 
 but very slowly. So far from making the country a 
 
256 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1845. 
 
 " pauper warren," the system of small proprietors has 
 tended to the national wealth. 
 
 In Ireland, the superior power of England stamped 
 out, in 1798, the revolutionary ideas, which had 
 spread from France, as they had to many other 
 countries in Europe, and which, if left to develop, 
 would have produced great social changes, and have led 
 to a settlement between landlord and tenant. The ex- 
 isting system was thus artificially protected and pro- 
 longed. In proportion to its size and population, the 
 owners of land in Ireland were fewer in number than 
 in almost any other country in Europe ; they were in 
 the main of a different race and religion to the occu- 
 piers of the soil ; their titles dated from a time not 
 remote, and still fresh in the memories of the people, 
 when, by a series of confiscations, the native pro- 
 prietors were deprived of their estates ; there was 
 little, therefore, in common between landlords and 
 tenants. A large proportion of the landowners had 
 always been absentees. The Union, by offering so 
 many inducements to the upper classes of Ireland to 
 transfer themselves to the head-quarters of political 
 power and fashion in England, greatly increased the 
 number of these absentees ; it had also, by bring- 
 ing the Irish peers and squires into emulation and 
 competition with the wealthier landlords of England, 
 led them into expenditure far beyond their means. As 
 a result, a very large proportion of Irish landowners 
 were mortgaged to an extent which greatly embar- 
 rassed them, and made it impossible for them to ex- 
 pend capital on their estates. Many of these absentees, 
 and not a few resident owners, let their land for terms 
 of years to middle-men, who relieved them of the risk 
 of collecting rents, and who, in their turn, were in- 
 terested only in making the utmost that was possible 
 out of the holdings during their leases, wholly re- 
 gardless of the ultimate condition of the properties. 
 It was found by these people that by letting the land 
 in very small holdings, at competition rents, the total 
 
1 845.] THE IRISH COTTIERS. 257 
 
 rental in good years could be largely increased. There 
 was added to these causes the inducement given to 
 subdivision by the extension of the suffrage to Catholics 
 in [793. It was discovered by many owners of pro- 
 perty, that political influence was in proportion to the 
 number of tenants they could bring to the poll. The 
 Catholic tenants could at that time be relied upon to vote 
 as the landlords directed. Hence arose an inducement 
 to subdivide tenancies in order to multiply qualifica- 
 tions. The potato lent itself to this process. In pro- 
 portion to the extent of land in cultivation, and the 
 labour devoted to it, the potato would support a greater 
 number of people than any other known crop. As a 
 result of these combined influences, throughout a great 
 part of the west and south of Ireland, every facility 
 was given to the letting of land in small holdings of 
 from half an acre up to five or six acres. On taking 
 possession, the tenant would himself build a mud hut 
 at little cost ; a few weeks of labour sufficed for pre- 
 paring the land for potatoes, digging the crop, and 
 cutting the turf for fuel from the common bog ; the 
 rent was generally paid in labour ; and the spare time 
 was spent in fishing, or in work at a distance. 
 
 The general social condition of this class of small 
 tenants was as low as it was possible to conceive. 
 They constituted nearly half the population of Ireland, 
 and, with rare exceptions, lived in cabins with one 
 room only, which they often shared with their pigs. 
 There was no inducement to them to improve their 
 condition, either from a healthy competition with their 
 neighbours, or from a sense of security in their hold- 
 ings. The class of tenants who were more properly 
 to be reckoned as farmers, whether cultivating very 
 small farms or larger holdings, were equally without 
 any security for their improvements, except such as 
 was afforded to them by the Ulster custom, or by the 
 fears engendered by assassination and outrage in other 
 parts of Ireland. 
 
 It was upon a country in this condition that the 
 
 s 
 
258 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1845. 
 
 calamity of the potato disease suddenly fell in 1845. 
 The disaster was not unprecedented or without warning-. 
 A failure, though not to the same extent, had occurred 
 in 1821-22, and again in 1831 and 1836, and partial 
 failures had often occurred in the south and west of 
 Ireland, leading to grievous loss of life from famine and 
 disease. The potato, in fact, was a precarious crop. It 
 was one which could not be husbanded so as to econo- 
 mize an abundant crop to supply the deficiency of a bad 
 harvest in the following year. It could not even be 
 stored for a whole year's supply ; and in Ireland the 
 months of July and August, coming between the last 
 of the old crop and the first of the new, were known as 
 meal months, when a supply of meal must be obtained 
 for food ; and so also years of failure of the potato 
 were known as meal years. The potato again is heavy 
 in bulk, and is not easily conveyed any distance ; in 
 proportion to wheat in nutritive power, it is seven 
 times heavier ; and consequently it often happened 
 that in parts of Ireland there was distress from failure 
 of the potato, while at no very great distance the 
 crops were abundant. Added to these conditions, was 
 the high protective system of the imperial Parliament, 
 by which the growth of cereals, for which the climate 
 of Ireland was unsuitable, was greatly fostered, in 
 respect of the larger holdings, and imder which the 
 import of the cheaper cereals, such as maize, which later 
 became so large an element of food for the Irish 
 people, was practically prohibited, and their value 
 quite unknown. In this year of the failure of the 
 potato, other crops in Ireland were abundant, and 
 there was a large export of wheat and oats, and also 
 of cattle, the produce of the more substantial farmers ; 
 while the people in the south and west were in the 
 greatest want of the staple food of the peasantry,and, for 
 reasons already explained, had no money with which to 
 buy other food. The English harvest had been de- 
 ficient, and wheat was at a high price, namely, 64.5-. a 
 quarter, in July, 1845. It was obvious early in the 
 
1845.J THE POTATO DISEASE. 259 
 
 autumn that a grave deficiency had occurred in the 
 food of the people of Ireland ; that the potatoes, which 
 had fed over four millions of people in ordinary years, 
 would suffice only for one million ; that the deficiency 
 must be made up in some other way ; that if wheat was 
 to be substituted, three millions of quarters would be 
 required ; and that England itself could not supply this 
 increased demand. 
 
 It was under these conditions that the British 
 Government was called upon to cope with a great 
 emergency in Ireland. It is always easy to be wise 
 after the event ; but, even with this reservation, it is 
 difficult to acquit the Government of want of apprecia- 
 tion of the serious nature of the impending calamity, 
 and of failure to take adequate measures to deal with 
 it. On the first intelligence of the blight, Professor 
 Lindley and Dr. Lyon Playfair were sent to Ireland 
 to report on the cause of the disease, and on the pros- 
 pect of its continuance. Their report fully confirmed 
 the most serious view of the calamity — the impossibility 
 of saving the potatoes already infected, or of preventing 
 the spread of disease among those already stored, and 
 the probability that the next year's crop would also be 
 diseased. 
 
 Peel himself was the first to discern the extreme 
 gravity of the emergency. He summoned a meeting 
 of his Cabinet on the 30th of October, at which he 
 read a memorandum stating fully the existing con- 
 ditions, and the further evils which were threatened. 
 He showed that there was a lamentable deficiency in 
 the ordinary food of the people in many parts of 
 Ireland, and in some parts of England and Scotland ; 
 that potatoes now apparently safe might become 
 infected ; and that they must not exclude from their 
 consideration the contingency of a great calamity. He 
 pointed out that other countries, such as Russia, 
 Belgium, and Holland, where the disease had also 
 appeared in the potato plant, had already suspended 
 their laws imposing duties on foreign grain, and that 
 
26o THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1845. 
 
 some of them were prohibiting the export of potatoes ; 
 he showed the necessity for coming to a conclusion as 
 to the corn laws, either for their modification or 
 suspension, and the difficulty of returning to a policy 
 of protection if the duties should be suspended for a 
 time. Finally, on November 6th, he laid before them 
 his own proposal, namely, that by Order in Council 
 the ports should be opened at once to the import of 
 grain, that the duty on grain in bond should be lowered 
 to one shilling a quarter, that Parliament should be 
 at once summoned for the purpose of obtaining an 
 indemnity, and that the Government should be pre- 
 pared later with a scheme for the admission of maize 
 and British colonial corn at a nominal duty, and for 
 modifying ultimately the duties on other grains. 
 
 The question to be decided was not limited to 
 Ireland. By a coincidence of events, the needs of 
 Ireland for free import of food occurred at the time when 
 the movement in England for free trade was reaching 
 its climax. Popular opinion throughout the country 
 had already declared itself unmistakably in favour of 
 this measure. The agitation for it had been on a scale 
 scarcely less than that in Ireland for the repeal of the 
 Union, and was conducted on the same lines. During 
 the last four years Peel had himself been led to con- 
 clusions favourable to Free Trade, partly by abstract 
 reasoning, and partly by the experience of his own 
 fiscal changes in that direction. Though he had come 
 into power in 1841, pledged to protection, he was no 
 longer able to meet with a direct negative the motion 
 in favour of free trade, and his intention was to 
 submit the subject to the country at the next General 
 Election. The Irish famine precipitated the question, 
 and rendered it necessary to come to a decision upon 
 a much wider policy than that affecting Ireland only. 
 The failure of the potato crop, therefore, was rather 
 the excuse than the cause for making the change at 
 this time. The Irish difficulty might have been met 
 by a temporary suspension of the corn duties, or by 
 
1 845.] IRELAND AND FREE TRADE. 26 1 
 
 admitting, free of duty, maize and other substitutes for 
 potatoes which the poorer classes could afford to 
 purchase. 
 
 Ireland, apart from its present needs, was not 
 specially interested in the adoption of a free trade 
 policy. On the contrary, being a purely agricultural 
 country, an artificial stimulus had undoubtedly been 
 given to its productions by the protective system of 
 the United Kingdom ; the rent of its land had been 
 kept up ; and inducement had been given for the pro- 
 duction of wheat, for which its climate was not favour- 
 able. Peel, himself, in his speech on introducing his 
 motion for the repeal of the corn laws, admitted this : 
 " If there was any part of the United Kingdom," he said, 
 " likely to sufTer from the withdrawal of protection, it 
 was Ireland ; for Ireland had not, as England had, the 
 means of finding employment for her agricultural popu- 
 lation in her manufacturing districts." His argument 
 to his Cabinet was that famine and want in Ireland had 
 in previous cases been met by a suspension of the duty 
 on corn, and that it would be utterly impossible, after 
 suspending these duties for six months, to bring them 
 again into operation ; the impossibility arose, however, 
 not from any difficulty respecting Ireland, but from the 
 state of opinion in England on the question of free 
 trade. 
 
 The Cabinet, by a considerable majority, refused 
 its assent to Peel's proposals, which were supported 
 only by Lord Aberdeen, Sir James Graham, and Sidney 
 Herbert ; the rest objected, either because of their oppo- 
 sition to free trade in corn, or because they were not 
 convinced as to the emergency in Ireland. Stanley 
 led the opposition, on behalf of those who still 
 favoured protection. With respect to Ireland, he had 
 persuaded himself that there was no cause for serious 
 alarm. There had been much injury, he admitted, to 
 the potatoes, and they would fall very short, as the 
 peasantry were bringing their sound potatoes into the 
 market, through fear of their rotting ; but the farmers 
 
262 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [i845- 
 
 would be amply indemnified by their crop of oats, which 
 was immense.* Peel appears to have contemplated 
 resigning at once ; but, on mature consideration, he 
 determined to retain ofifice for the present, and to raise 
 the question again when events should have further 
 developed. The Cabinet, therefore, separated without 
 making any provision to meet the needs of Ireland. 
 
 It reassembled on the 26th of November. In the 
 mean time the reports of the spread of the disease 
 in Ireland were still worse. It was now clear that the 
 potatoes stocked in pits, when apparently sound, could 
 not be relied upon. The Lord Lieutenant reported 
 that when the evil day of scarcity should come, it 
 would come with a fearful rapidity. Peel showed his 
 view of the prospects by the very unusual course of 
 negotiating, through Messrs. Baring, for the purchase, 
 on Government account, of a very large amount of 
 maize in the United States, with the intention of selling 
 it at a low price in the distressed districts of Ireland. 
 This proved to be a most wise course. The high 
 duties on maize had hitherto entirely prevented its use 
 for food, and at first the people, even in their distress, 
 were very averse to it ; it was dubbed as " Peel's brim- 
 stone ; " but after a short time its value was appre- 
 ciated, and it got into such active demand that the 
 price in the open market at one time rose to an 
 equality with that of wheat. The consignment pur- 
 chased by Peel cost ;^ 160,000, and was sold to the 
 people in the poorest districts at half-price. 
 
 In the interval between the meetings of the Cabinet 
 at the beginning and the end of the month, Lord John 
 Russell, in a celebrated letter, addressed from Edinburgh 
 to the electors of the City of London, brought the 
 serious nature of the prospect in Ireland before the 
 public in a very prominent manner. He pointed out 
 how differently a bad harvest affected the supplies of 
 corn and potatoes ; that in the one case it diminished 
 supplies and raised the price, and consequently 
 * Peel's "Memoirs," vol. it. p. 161. 
 
i845.] RUSSELL'S EDINBURGH LETTER. 263 
 
 diminished consumption, and in doing so spread the 
 stock more equally over the year ; while in the other 
 it induced the holders to rush into the market, lest 
 their stock should perish by keeping, and thus at once 
 there was more rapid consumption, and impending de- 
 ficiency, scarcity of the article, and cheapness, render- 
 ing the prospect of ultimate suffering more certain. 
 He then showed the effect of the existing duties on 
 corn ; that they were so contrived that the worse the 
 quality of the grain, the higher the duty. He an- 
 nounced his own complete conversion to the principle 
 of free trade in corn. He had been in past times 
 of opinion that corn was an exception to the general 
 rules of political economy, but observation and expe- 
 rience had convinced him that it was best to abstain 
 from all interference with the supply of food. It was 
 no longer worth while to contend for a fixed duty. 
 He called upon the country, therefore, to put an end 
 to a system which had proved to be the blight of com- 
 merce, the bane of agriculture, the source of bitter 
 divisions among classes, and the cause of bringing 
 fever, mortality, and crime among the people. The 
 Government, he said, appeared to be waiting for some 
 excuse to give up the present corn laws. Let the 
 people; by petition, by address, by remonstrance, 
 afford them the excuse for which they sought. The 
 issue, by the leader of the Opposition, of this mani- 
 festo, advocating a complete repeal of the duties on 
 corn, was of the utmost importance in forcing the 
 Government to a decision. 
 
 On the reassembling of the Cabinet, Peel laid before 
 his colleagues a memorandum in which he stated fully 
 his views as to the measures which should be taken to 
 meet the immediate danger. The ports should be 
 opened for a limited period for the import of corn free 
 of duty ; and Parliament should be summoned at once 
 for the purpose of considering the whole question of 
 protection duties, with a view to their gradual reduc- 
 tion and ultimate extinction. The Duke of Wellington 
 
264 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1845- 
 
 supported him, not because he was persuaded that 
 protection was not essential to the agriculture of the 
 country, and especially to that of Ireland, but because 
 a good government was more important than the corn 
 laws, or than any other consideration, and as long as 
 Sir Robert Peel possessed the confidence of the Queen 
 and of the public, his administration ought to be sup- 
 ported.* A majority of his Cabinet also now supported 
 him, but Stanley and the Duke of Buccleuch declined to 
 accede to his proposals ; and feeling the impossibility of 
 carrying on the government and proposing his measures 
 in the face of the opposition which this defection 
 promised, Peel resigned on December 5. In doing 
 so, he left with the Queen a memorandum to the effect 
 that he would be prepared to support his successor in 
 measures of general conformity with those which he 
 had advised as Minister, and to exercise any influence 
 he might possess to promote their success ; though he 
 subsequently declined to pledge himself to the imme- 
 diate and total repeal of the corn laws. Lord John 
 Russell was invited by the Queen, at Peel's instance, 
 to form a Government, but failed to do so, in con- 
 sequence of the difficulty of composing the differences 
 between two of the leading men of his party. Lord 
 Grey t would not consent to join the new Ministry if 
 Lord Palmerston was to be Foreign Minister, and the 
 latter would take no other post. 
 
 On the failure of this combination. Peel again, on 
 December 20, resumed office as Prime Minister, more 
 free than before to carry out his own policy, and no 
 longer trammelled in any way by past promises to his 
 
 * Lord Beaconsfield, in his "Life of Lord G. Bentinck," p. 61, 
 says that this action of the Duke was due to an intimation from Peel, 
 that if they did not undertake the conduct of the Government, the 
 Queen would be under the necessity of sending for Mr. Cobden and 
 his friends. 
 
 t The present Earl Grey, who had recently succeeded his father, 
 the ex-Premier. Looking at this statesman's independent career, 
 it is difficult to understand that his co-operation in 1846 was con- 
 sidered essential to the formation of a Liberal Government. 
 
1845.J COMMENCEMENT OF FAMINE. 265 
 
 party. Stanley persisted in his resignation, holding 
 that protection ought not to be interfered with, and 
 seeing no reason for its temporary suspension, on 
 account of the Irish difficulty. The Duke of Buccleuch 
 reconsidered his position, and consented to join in 
 carrying out the new policy. Mr. Gladstone entered 
 the Cabinet for the first time in place of Stanley, as 
 Secretary of State for the Colonies, but failing to be 
 re-elected for Newark on taking office, remained out 
 of Parliament for some months. 
 
 This long delay, caused by the ministerial crisis, and 
 by the failure of the Whigs to form a Government, was 
 most unfortunate for Ireland. Nothing was done in 
 the interval to meet the pressing emergency. The 
 ports were not opened to imports of corn, as Peel had 
 intended ; and it must be presumed that when he 
 returned to power, the interval before the meeting 
 of Parliament was so short, as not to justify such an 
 act without legislative sanction. As a result, no 
 relief was given in this direction until months after, 
 when the Corn Law Act passed through Parliament. 
 The pressure on the people in every part of Ireland 
 had already, before the meeting of Parliament, become 
 most serious. As generally happens, want and disease 
 brought in their train agrarian troubles. A minority 
 of landlords on such occasions, either from ignorance 
 of the condition of the people, or indifference, are 
 found prepared to press for their rents, in spite of the 
 impossibility of their being paid, or they are not un- 
 willing to take the opportunity of clearing their 
 properties of the smaller tenants, and hence resistance, 
 leading to outrage and crime. In vain were memorials 
 forwarded to the Government from the Corporation of 
 Dublin and other public bodies in Ireland, praying 
 for the calling together of Parliament, and for the 
 appropriation of money by way of loan for public 
 works, in order that the people might have the means 
 to save them from starvation. At the Repeal Asso- 
 ciation, O'Connell and Smith O'Brien pointed the 
 
266 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. ['846. 
 
 moral of the delay and inactivity of the Government 
 on the repeal question. "If we had a domestic 
 Parliament," said the former on December 8, "would 
 not the ports be thrown open ? would not the 
 abundant crops with which Heaven has blessed her 
 be kept for the people of Ireland ? and would not 
 the Irish Parliament be more active even than the 
 Belgian Parliament to provide food and employment 
 for the people ? . . . If we had a paternal Govern- 
 ment, I should be the first to commend the appro- 
 priation of a portion of the revenues of Ireland to 
 the wants of the people, and this, too, without very 
 strictly considering whether the whole would be repaid 
 or not. We have an abstract claim to such application 
 of the Irish revenues ; but were we to advocate such 
 an arrangement now, we should be mocked and in- 
 sulted." He advocated loans by the English Govern- 
 ment for the purpose of draining estates as a means of 
 giving employment ; and for more permanent remedies 
 he advocated tenant-right, under which the landlord 
 should have a fair rent for his land, but the tenant 
 should have compensation for every shilling he laid 
 out on the land in permanent improvements. 
 
 Nothing, however, was done till Parliament met at 
 the end of January, 1846, for a session memorable in 
 the political and economic history of England. Fore- 
 most among the measures indicated, was a Coercion 
 Rill for Ireland, to meet the serious increase of 
 agrarian crime in some parts of that country. A 
 measure was also proposed for the practical repeal 
 of the corn laws, by the gradual lowering of the 
 duties till 1849, when they were to cease. The 
 first of these was relegated to the House of Lords ; 
 the latter was introduced in the Commons, where 
 it led to protracted debates. It is to be observed 
 that, although the measure was ostensibly brought 
 forward on account of the potato famine in Ireland, 
 there was comparatively little discussion on this 
 subject. The issues mainly turned upon the benefit 
 
1846.] DEBATE ON FREE TRADE. 267 
 
 to be expected by the industrial classes in England, or 
 the losses which might be anticipated to the agri- 
 cultural classes. The Protectionists, however, denied 
 that any excuse could be found for the proposal in the 
 condition of Ireland. The famine, they said, was a 
 delusion and a baseless vision. O'Connell, Smith 
 O'Brien, and the other Irish leaders, with the exception 
 of Mr. Sharman Crawford, took no part in the debates. 
 The resolutions in favour of the Government proposals 
 were carried, after a debate of twelve nights, by a 
 majority of 97,* and the Bill founded on them, after 
 being passed by the Commons, was carried in the 
 Lords by a majority of 47. 
 
 The only speeches in this long discussion now 
 worth attention are those of Sir Robert Peel, ex- 
 plaining and defending his proposal with that lucidity 
 and power of argument for which he was unrivalled ; 
 the attacks on him by Mr. Disraeli ; and the speech 
 of Lord Stanley in the Lords, which alone stated 
 the case in opposition to the proposals with ability 
 and force. Stanley denied that the total repeal of 
 the corn duties was to the advantage of Ireland. 
 He contended that the emergency in that country 
 might have been met by a suspension, rather than 
 a total repeal, of these duties. This seems to have 
 been the opinion of many Irishmen. Speaking at 
 the Repeal Association, Smith O'Brien said, " With 
 respect to the proposal of the Government, I have to 
 remark that it professes to abrogate all protection. It 
 is, in my opinion, a proposal manifestl}'' framed with a 
 view to English rather than Irish interests. About 
 two-thirds of the population of England are dependent 
 on manufactures and commerce, directly or indirectly ; 
 in this country about nine-tenths of the population are 
 dependent on agriculture, directly or indirectly. It is 
 clearly the object of the English Minister to obtain the 
 agricultural produce which the people of this country 
 send to England at the lowest possible price ; that is 
 * Division — For the resolution, 337 ; against, 240. 
 
268 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1846. 
 
 to say, to give as little as possible of English manu- 
 factures or of foreign commodities in return for the 
 agricultural produce of Ireland." O'Connell, on the 
 other hand, strongly supported the total repeal of the 
 corn laws, as he had long advocated in the past. 
 
 It may be doubted whether in ordinary times, or 
 except under the grave pressure of the famine, the 
 Irish members would have supported a measure for 
 the repeal of the protective duties. Ireland at that 
 time grew a considerable amount of wheat and barley, 
 and its other agricultural productions were also en- 
 hanced in price by protection. Free trade has greatly 
 changed the conditions. Wheat and barley have 
 almost ceased to be grown in Ireland. The tendency 
 has been every year for more land to be laid down in 
 grass. The movement has aided the amalgamation of 
 farms. The policy of free trade, therefore, however 
 beneficial to England, as a whole, has not been without 
 some drawback in its effect on the agricultural tenants 
 of Ireland. It has been shown that Peel appreciated 
 the fact that Ireland might suffer from withdrawal of 
 protection, and on this account he proposed to place 
 upon imperial charge the whole cost of the Irish police, 
 which had hitherto been borne in equal proportion 
 by the State and the local rates. He justified this 
 proposal by the benefit that would result from vesting 
 the control of the police absolutely and solely in the 
 executive government — another step in that centralizing 
 tendency which has so conspicuously marked the 
 system of government in Ireland. Far more impor- 
 tant would it have been for that country if, at a 
 time when such momentous changes were being made 
 in the fiscal system, fraught with a revolution in Irish 
 agriculture, some protection should have been given 
 to the tenants, in accordance with the views of the 
 Devon Commission. Peel, however, was either blind 
 to the wants of the Irish tenants, and unable to see the 
 effect on them of his measures, or he was prevented 
 by political difficulties from coping with the question. 
 
1846.] THE COERCION BILL. 269 
 
 Meanwhile the Coercion Bill was introduced in the 
 Lords, where it passed — -as such measures have always 
 passed — without difficulty ; the Whig leaders, Lord 
 Grey and Lord Lansdowne, gave to it their hearty 
 approval and support. Lord Grey, in doing so, said 
 that the Ministers were responsible for the state of 
 things in Ireland ; the issue of the Devon Commis- 
 sion had excited the hopes of its people, while the 
 withdrawal of Stanley's Bill had filled them with 
 despair. The measure was very similar to many 
 previous Acts ; it proposed to give power to the 
 Government to proclaim parts of the country ; where 
 this was done the ordinary law was to be superseded, 
 and arbitrary power was to be given to the magistrates 
 to deal with cases without juries ; compensation to the 
 relatives of murdered persons was to be levied by 
 way of distraint on the occupiers only, the landlords 
 being specially exempted ; and by the curfew clause, 
 persons found out of their homes between sunset and 
 sunrise might be sentenced to transportation for seven 
 years, on the decision of a single magistrate. These 
 last two provisions were too strong for some few of the 
 Lords. Lord Grey protested against them. It was 
 not just, he said, to exempt landlords from payment of 
 compensation ; though they were not the cause of 
 outrages and evils, Ireland never would have got into 
 its present state, the existing state of society there 
 would never have been such as it was, if the landlords 
 as a body had done their duty to the population under 
 them ; . . . the awful state of things in Ireland was a 
 direct consequence of the dereliction of their duty by 
 the upper classes of that country — an historical fact, 
 known not only to England, but to all Europe." With 
 respect to the curfew clause, he pointed out that, from 
 four or five o'clock in the afternoon till past eight on 
 the following morning, during the month of December, 
 no inhabitant of a proclaimed district was to be allowed 
 to set his foot outside the door of his cabin, without 
 rendering himself liable to transportation. He might 
 
270 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1846. 
 
 not even venture from home during that time to visit 
 a friend. Nay, he dared not even go to work in the 
 morning or return from his work in the evening, so as 
 to gain the advantage of the hours of dayhght, without 
 rendering himself liable to arrest, at the will of a police- 
 constable, and to be kept in confinement, in default of 
 proving, what no man could prove, that he was out 
 with innocent intentions.* In committee, he moved 
 to reduce the punishment to one year's imprison- 
 ment, without hard labour, but his amendment was 
 rejected by 38 votes to 7 only ! 
 
 In the House of Commons, the Coercion Bill led 
 to long debates, and to new political combinations 
 which resulted in the fall of the Peel Ministry. Sir 
 James Graham, in introducing it, stated that in thirty- 
 two of the counties in Ireland life and property were 
 as secure as in England, and in eighteen crime was 
 diminishing rather than increasing ; there were only 
 five counties in which crime was rife, for which ex- 
 ceptional measures were necessary — those of Tippe- 
 rary, Clare, Roscommon, Limerick, and Leitrim, with 
 a population of 1,412,000, out of a total for Ireland 
 of 8,171,000; but in these counties crime was very 
 rife, and equalled in amount that in the whole of the 
 rest of Ireland. Lord George Bentinck, who had 
 already taken the lead of the disaffected Tory members, 
 and who, a few weeks later, in combination with 
 the Liberals, defeated the Government, at this early 
 period of the controversy supported the proposal for 
 coercion, and condemned the Government for its 
 dilatory proceedings. " The Protectionist party," he 
 said, " would give its hearty support to the Govern- 
 ment, so long as it showed itself in earnest in putting 
 down murder in Ireland. The blood of every man, 
 who should be murdered hereafter in Ireland, would 
 be on the head of the Minister retarding unnecessarily 
 the progress of a measure like that before the House. 
 The party which he had the honour to act with yielded 
 * Hansard, 3rd series, vol. Ixxxiv. pp. 695-97. 
 
1846.] THE COERCION BILL. 27 I 
 
 to none in love of liberty ; but it would not allow the 
 name of liberty to be prostituted to the protection of 
 broad-day murder and midnight assassination." 
 
 It was not till this measure came on for discussion 
 that O'Connell, Smith O'Brien, and other Irish members, 
 crossed the Channel to take part in opposing it. 
 Differing on many points, and in the general tendency 
 of their policy, as to the means of attaining their 
 common object — repeal of the Union — they had come 
 to an agreement that it was expedient to abstain 
 from taking part in the proceedings of Parliament at 
 Westminster, and to devote themselves to discussing 
 Irish affairs at the meetings of the Repeal Association 
 in Dublin. They made no secret of their policy. 
 Their declarations on this subject, and their absence 
 from Westminster during the debates on the corn 
 laws, had caused grave displeasure to the House of 
 Commons. A call of the House was made, but 
 they disregarded it, and replied that they were attend- 
 ing more important business in Ireland. When, how- 
 ever, the Coercion Bill came on for discussion, they 
 felt bound to attend and enter their protest. The 
 House of Commons took the opportunity of their 
 presence to call upon them to take their share in its 
 business, and nominated. them members of committees 
 on railway bills. Smith O'Brien replied to the sum- 
 mons, that as long as he continued to believe that he 
 could serve Ireland effectually in the House of Com- 
 mons, he shrank from none of its labours ; but, as he 
 held that none but the representatives of the Irish 
 nation should legislate for Ireland, he had no wish to 
 meddle with the affairs of England or Scotland, except 
 in so far as they might be connected with the interests 
 of Ireland, or with the general policy of the empire. 
 He said that, in obedience to this principle, he had 
 abstained from voting on English or Scotch questions, 
 and the same motive now induced him to decline 
 attendance on committees on any private bills, except 
 those relating to Ireland. In another communication 
 
2 72 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1846, 
 
 to the authorities of the House, he said, " Experience 
 and observation at length forced upon my mind the 
 conviction that the British Parliament is incompetent — 
 through want of knowledge, if not want of inclination — 
 to legislate wisely for Ireland, and that any national 
 interests can be protected and fostered only through 
 the instrumentality of an Irish legislature." This pro- 
 test against the authority of Parliament, and against 
 the Act of Union, was held to justify punitive action 
 against him on the part of the House. A resolution 
 was passed to the effect that he had been guilty of 
 contempt of the House, and he was committed to the 
 custody of the sergeant-at-arms. He was imprisoned 
 in a cellar of the House for about a month, when, in 
 spite of his continued defiance and his refusal to 
 submit to the orders of the House, he was released. 
 O'Connell, on his part, obeyed the direction of the 
 House and attended its committee. The occurrence 
 is worthy of notice chiefly for the indication it afforded 
 of a divergence in the policy of O'Connell and Smith 
 O'Brien ; the latter assuming a position far more 
 hostile to the authority of Parliament on Irish affairs 
 than the former. O'Connell has left on record his 
 disapproval of the action of Mr. Fox in 1795, and 
 Mr. Grattan in 1798, in withdrawing from Parlia- 
 mentary life. Speaking in Ireland shortly before the 
 time now referred to, he said, " I have not quitted the 
 Imperial Parliament as a secessor, but merely because 
 I preferred outdoor political labour. I have not said 
 or done anything to bar my returning there at any 
 time that such a step should appear to be the least 
 useful." In fact, on his return to the House of 
 Commons in 1846, he took a very active part in its 
 business, in spite of his failing health. 
 
 On the first reading of the Coercion Bill O'Connell 
 spoke against it. He would not deny the existence of 
 disturbance and crime in certain parts of Ireland, 
 neither would he palliate atrocious attacks against life ; 
 he disputed, however, the efficacy of the remedies 
 
J'846.] 0' CON NELL OR COERCION. 273 
 
 proposed. He called on the Government to look into 
 the real condition of Ireland, and to pass the only- 
 Coercion Act that was required, an Act to coerce the 
 landlords who would not do their duty, and to rescue 
 the people from their present condition. He attributed 
 the outrages which were taking place to the anomalous 
 relations of landlord and tenant, and especially to the 
 legislation passed since the Act of Union, by which 
 many unjust advantages were conferred on landlords, 
 and to the consequent helplessness of tenants. These 
 proved the fertile source of murder, especially that 
 which gave power to distrain for rent on growing 
 crops. There was, he said, in Ireland what was called 
 a starving season, namely, for about six weeks before 
 the new harvest ; and if the growing crops were 
 distrained during this period, the labourers were 
 deprived of their means of subsistence ; they were pre- 
 vented from digging ; if their wives and children came 
 out to take a few potatoes they were consigned to 
 gaol. Crime, he added, was distinctly traceable to this 
 legislation. He suggested, as remedies more potent 
 than coercion, the adjustment of the tenure of land 
 and the securing fair compensation for improvements ; 
 the modification of the law of ejectment, so as to check 
 the cases of wholesale clearance of tenants ; the ex- 
 tension of the Ulster tenant-right custom to the rest of 
 Ireland ; a change in the grand jury laws ; the exten- 
 sion of municipal institutions ; a better distribution of 
 the temporalities of the Church ; and, lastly, a more 
 adequate representation of Ireland in Parliament in 
 proportion to its population.* Lord John Russell, 
 departing from the course adopted by the Whig 
 leaders in the Lords, began to show opposition to the 
 
 * Lord Beaconsfield says that this was O'Connell's last speech 
 in the House of Commons ; that he appeared as a feeble old man, 
 muttering before a table ; that he was in such a state of debility that 
 his voice could not be heard ; and that his speech was written out 
 and sent to the reporters. He has, evidently, transferred to this 
 occasion a speech delivered by O'Connell in the following year, and 
 which was really his last. " Life of Lord George Bentinck," p. 159, . 
 
 T 
 
2 74 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1846. 
 
 Bill, though he was not as yet prepared to vote 
 against it. He thought that a milder measure would 
 have sufficed. He complained that no remedial 
 measures had been promised by the Government. 
 
 Sir Robert Peel, in reply, said that it was not 
 pretended that the measure was a panacea for the 
 grievances of Ireland, and he refused to discuss measures 
 for the permanent relief of that country. The first 
 reading was carried, after many adjournments, by a 
 majority of 274 to 125. The further proceedings on 
 it were postponed till after the passing of the free 
 trade measure. It became clear in the interval that 
 a large majority of the Tory party, under the leadership 
 of Lord George Bentinck and Mr. Disraeli, were 
 determined to take the earliest opportunity of defeating 
 and overthrowing the Government, in revenge for the 
 betrayal of the cause of protection. Mr. Disraeli, in 
 his " Life of Bentinck," has described how the dis- 
 cussions on the Coercion Bill were prolonged day by 
 day and week by week, pending the discussions of the 
 Corn Law Bill by the Lords. The opportunity was at 
 hand for a formidable combination ; the Protectionists, 
 eager to destroy the Government, which had betrayed 
 them ; the Whigs, eager for office and forgetting that, 
 with the responsibility of office, they might find it 
 necessary to propose a similar measure ; the Irish 
 members, inflamed against the Bill and its authors — 
 the combination was irresistible ; and perhaps there 
 was some justification for it, because Peel had by his 
 action lost the confidence of the great majority of his 
 party, and could not long subsist on the forbearance 
 of the Whigs. It was, however, a sorry performance ; 
 it showed party government in its worst aspects. 
 That a Minister, who had carried a measure fraught 
 with inestimable benefits to the country, should be 
 condemned immediately after carrying it, and be 
 driven from office, on a measure which a few weeks 
 before the great bulk of those who now voted against 
 it would have welcomed as necessary and expedient. 
 
1846.] DEFEAT OF PEEL. 275 
 
 was, to say the least, a discredit to Parliamentary- 
 institutions. 
 
 Lord George Bentinck, who, on the introduction of 
 the Bill, had denounced in such strong terms those 
 who should delay the passage of a measure so indis- 
 pensable to the government of Ireland, now found it 
 consistent with his honour and patriotism to oppose it 
 on the second reading. He did not, indeed, find it 
 necessary to state any arguments against the Bill ; he 
 treated the question as one of confidence only in the 
 Government. He refused to entrust any unconstitu- 
 tional powers to the present Government, whose 
 ignorance or double dealing had forfeited the confidence 
 of their friends. He would have preferred a direct 
 vote of want of confidence, but he was glad to have 
 the opportunity of avenging the treachery of Peel and 
 the forty placemen by whom he was supported. Mr. 
 Disraeli expressed himself as loth at any time to pass 
 a Coercion Bill for Ireland, but now more than ever. 
 There was nothing to justify the Government in 
 pressing a measure, which had been introduced so long 
 ago as the previous January. He complained of the 
 organized duplicity of Peel ; and he made no secret 
 that he was determined to avail himself of any 
 coalition or combination to destroy the Government. 
 
 The night came at last when the message reached 
 the Commons that the Lords had passed the third read- 
 ing of the great measure for freeing the food of the 
 people from duty. The same day thefe had come 
 tidings from America, that the dispute between England 
 and the United States, with respect to the Oregon 
 boundary, had been brought to an end by a settlement, 
 which will ever redound to the credit of Peel's Govern- 
 ment. There was no longer any reason for delaying 
 the vote which was to result in the defeat and downfall 
 of the Ministry. The combined forces of Protectionists, 
 Whigs, and Irish met together in the lobby and rejected 
 the Irish Coercion Bill by 292 to 219 — a majority of 73. 
 Of the majority, 80 consisted of Tory members, hereto- 
 
276 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1846. 
 
 fore staunch supporters of the Government, but now 
 led by Bentinck and DisraeH to the overthrow of Peel. 
 The defeat was a crushing one. The division was 
 avowedly on a vote of confidence, and without regard 
 to the merits of the measure itself. 
 
 Peel had no option but to resign, and on the following 
 day he announced his determination, in terms of great 
 dignity and eloquence, and without the slightest touch 
 of acrimony against those who had deserted him and 
 caused his defeat. He stated that he had not proposed 
 the measures connected with the commercial policy of 
 the country, without foreseeing the probability that, 
 whether they were made law or not, they would cause 
 the dissolution of the Government. If his Ministry 
 had failed to carry in all their integrity the measures 
 of commercial policy, which they had recommended, he 
 should have advised the dissolution of Parliament by 
 the Crown. The measures, however, had now become 
 law ; and therefore he could not consent to advise, for 
 the mere existence of the Government, the exercise of 
 that royal prerogative. He thought he ought not to 
 recommend a dissolution, unless he could reckon upon 
 having in the next Parliament the support of a powerful 
 party, united to him by a general concurrence of views 
 on. all great questions ; and in view of the present 
 division of parties, he did not imagine that he could 
 obtain such a result. Adverting then to the Irish 
 measure which was the immediate cause of his defeat, 
 he said that he had brought it forward, not under the 
 idea that it was a measure calculated to improve the 
 permanent condition of Ireland, but because he thought 
 that the vigorous repression of crime was necessary to 
 give effect to the useful legislation of the House on other 
 subjects connected with that country. It would be un- 
 just to infer from that Bill that his policy with regard to 
 Ireland had undergone any change. He still contended 
 that there ought to be established a complete equality 
 of civil municipal and political rights between Great 
 Britain and Ireland ; so that no one, on comparing 
 
1846.] PEEL'S RESIGNATION. 277 
 
 Ireland and its franchises with Great Britain, should 
 be at liberty to say that a different rule was established 
 in the two countries. With respect to the executive 
 administration in Ireland, he thought that the favour 
 of the Crown should be bestowed without reference to 
 religious distinctions ; and he assured those who were 
 about to succeed him that if they acted on that principle, 
 they should have no complaints from him. Then, with 
 respect to the spirit in which legislation should be con- 
 ducted, he was prepared, retaining all the opinions 
 which he had expressed on Irish policy, to co-operate 
 with those who felt that the tenure of land, and the re- 
 lation of landlord and tenant in Ireland, required imme- 
 diate consideration. After adverting with satisfaction 
 to the conclusion of an arrangement with the United 
 States Government as to the Oregon boundary, by 
 which, in the spirit of mutual moderation and concilia- 
 tion, a war had been averted which was in danger of 
 breaking out between them, in spite of their common 
 blood and common language, he concluded by attributing 
 the success of the great commercial measure to Richard 
 Cobden, and closed with these words : " I shall leave a 
 name execrated, I know, by every monopolist who, 
 professing honourable opinions, would maintain pro- 
 tection for his own individual opinion. But it may be 
 that I shall be sometimes remembered with expressions 
 of goodwill in those places, which are the abodes of 
 men, whose lot it is to labour and earn their daily 
 bread by the sweat of their brow ; in such places my 
 name may be remembered with expressions of good- 
 will, when they who inhabit them recruit their ex- 
 hausted strength with abundant and untaxed food, the 
 sweeter because no longer leavened with a sense of 
 injustice." 
 
 No Minister ever gave up office amid such universal 
 feelings of regret and such unbounded gratitude 
 for having carried a great measure. It is impossible 
 to read his speeches without feeling that Peel was 
 thoroughly convinced of the justice, expediency, and 
 
278 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1846. 
 
 high policy of the change which he had made, and 
 that he had arrived at this conclusion after long 
 thought, slowly ripening into conviction, confirmed 
 by the experience of previous measures in the same 
 direction. It appears from his own statement that even 
 during the discussions on the Bill his opinions had made 
 advance. " I will not deny," he said, " that even during 
 these debates my opinions on the corn laws have 
 undergone a change ; but it is this change — that restric- 
 tions which I first believed to be impolitic, I now 
 believe to be unjust, and consequently a sense of this 
 injustice precludes any compromise on my part." Lord 
 George Bentinck, listening to this, whispered to Mr. 
 Disraeli, "He has taken new ground ; that which he 
 believed to be impolitic he now believes to be unjust. 
 Note that ! " * The advance was undoubtedly a great 
 one. It was noted by the country, and was in 
 accordance with its final verdict on protection. 
 
 The Corn Law Bill passed the House of Lords 
 on June 25. The division on the Coercion Bill occurred 
 on the same day, and on the following day Peel resigned. 
 Up to this date, however, nothing had been done to 
 facilitate the introduction of food into Ireland, beyond 
 the purchase of maize already alluded to; the ports had 
 not been thrown open ; and even under the Corn Law 
 Act a duty on wheat was still to be levied, varying 
 from \s. to \os. per quarter, until the time, still distant 
 so far as the Irish distress was concerned, for its com- 
 plete abolition. Measures, however, were passed by 
 Peel's Government for affording relief, by the employ- 
 ment of the people on public works. A grant was 
 made of ^50,000 for this purpose ; a similar sum was 
 voted for the erection of fishing harbours. Loans 
 were made to landowners on easy terms for drainage 
 works. The county authorities were authorized to 
 undertake works for the employment of the people out 
 of money lent by the State, one-half of which only was 
 to be repaid. 
 
 ^ " Life of Lord George Bentinck," p. 204. 
 
1 846.] MEASURES OF RELIEF. 279 
 
 But although these measures were taken, they 
 were tardily put into action. O'Connell frequently 
 called attention to the subject, and complained of the 
 delay. He moved, on the 19th of February, for a 
 committee of inquiry into the distress. He asserted 
 that five millions of people were on the verge of 
 starvation ; that a calamity of the greatest magnitude 
 was impending ; that already fever, the certain atten- 
 dant on famine, had broken out in the south of Ireland. 
 Great evils, he said, required great remedies. The 
 workhouses could not meet the case ; they would 
 make at best but hospitals for the sick. He called on 
 the Government to borrow money on the rents of 
 Irish landlords, and to put a tax of ten per cent, on 
 resident landlords and twenty per cent, on absentees. 
 Sir James Graham (the Home Secretary) could not 
 say that O'Connell had exaggerated the evil ; there 
 would, he admitted, be four months of the year when 
 four millions of people must be fed on other food 
 than potatoes ; a more alarming case, he said, had 
 never been submitted to Parliament. He described 
 the measures the Government were taking. 
 
 Later, in April, it became necessary to introduce a 
 Bill to provide gratuitous medical relief in Ireland for 
 those who were suffering from fever. It was stated that, 
 of 2000 parishes, fever had already appeared in 1 300 ; 
 and fever betokened famine. O'Connell again com- 
 plained of the inactivity of the Government. " They 
 could not point to one single spot in which effectual 
 relief had been administered. Let not a day or hour 
 be lost. He still thought that outdoor relief was 
 but another name for confiscation of property ; but in 
 the present state of Ireland he preferred confiscation 
 to letting the people die of starvation. Make the 
 experiment of outdoor relief for one year. Don't bring 
 in a Coercion Bill against the poorer classes. Coerce 
 the landlords. Compel them to prevent the people 
 dying of hunger. Nothing could do good to Ireland 
 but the total repeal of the corn laws. The existence 
 
28o THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1846, 
 
 of the corn laws had done no good ; they had been 
 concurrent with increasing misery and destitution." The 
 Government, however, would neither open the ports 
 to food, free of duty, nor permit the experiment of out- 
 door relief. They had faith in the system of public 
 works, and by the time they went out of office large 
 numbers of people were employed on them ; by 
 August, 97,000 persons were at work, and altogether 
 about ;^850,ooo were expended, of which something 
 less than half was a grant from the State, while ;^93,ooo 
 were raised by voluntary subscriptions. 
 
 Meanwhile, most serious dissensions had broken 
 out in the Repeal Association. The action of O'Connell 
 in consenting to serve on a committee of the House of 
 Commons, in marked contrast to that of Smith O'Brien, 
 who had submitted to imprisonment sooner than do so, 
 had caused much difference of opinion. The younger 
 and more advanced men of the party sided with 
 O'Brien, and condemned the action of O'Connell. 
 The differences became more acute when, on the 
 formation of the new Whig administration, O'Connell 
 intimated his intention of giving to it his full support, 
 and of allowing the agitation for repeal to subside for 
 the time. This led to a breach in the party. The 
 Nation attacked O'Connell ; and the latter replied by 
 dissociating himself from the Young Ireland party, who, 
 he said, were bent not on simple repeal, but on severing 
 altogether the connection between the two countries. 
 In a celebrated debate in the Association, Mr. John 
 O'Connell, the son of the Liberator, denounced the 
 Nation, which was vehemently defended by Mr. Mit- 
 chell and Mr. Meagher. An attempt was made to 
 stifle the discussion. A rupture consequently took 
 jilace, and the Young Ireland party, with Smith O'Brien 
 at their head, left the meeting, and severed their con- 
 nection with the Association. Thomas Davis, who 
 had long served as the connecting link between the two 
 sections of the party, had died in 1845. The division 
 between these sections had since then continually 
 
1846.] RUSSELL'S MINISTRY. 28 X 
 
 widened. The more advanced section, under Duffy, 
 O'Brien, Meagher, and Mitchell, now formed a separate 
 confederation of their own, In which various clubs of 
 an extreme kind were represented, tending towards. If 
 not openly advancing, a policy of physical resistance ; 
 while O'Connell, expressing openly his abhorrence of 
 force and rebellion, continued to direct the old Asso- 
 ciation. Deprived, however, of the more active spirits, 
 the Association speedily lost ground, and not long after 
 the death of O'Connell, was finally broken up. 
 
 On the resignation of Sir Robert Peel, a Whig 
 Government was formed by Lord John Russell, with 
 Lord Palmerston as Foreign Secretary. The only 
 member of the Cabinet who, In the most remote way, 
 was connected with Ireland was Lord Clanricarde, who 
 had so strongly opposed the very moderate Tenant- 
 Right Bill of the previous Government. Mr. Shell 
 was relegated to the unpolitical post of Master of the 
 Mint. The circumstances under which the Whigs came 
 into power again were very different from those when 
 Lord Melbourne formed his Government in 1835, and 
 when Lord John Russell led the party In the House of 
 Commons. Then they were dependent for their 
 existence on the Irish vote ; they had In face of them 
 a powerful and united Tory party, ready to take 
 advantage of their defeat. Now they were In a 
 minority of the House of Commons ; but the Tory 
 party was split in twain, and the section under Sir 
 Robert Peel might confidently be relied on to support 
 the new Government In Its general policy, so long 
 as it did not exceed certain bounds, sooner than admit 
 to power the main body of the Tories, the Protection- 
 ists, under Bentinck and Disraeli. The position of 
 the Whigs, therefore, was a strong one, and they were 
 not dependent on the Irish vote. They leaned on 
 Peel for support rather than on O'Connell, and the 
 difference was soon apparent In their policy to Ire- 
 land. They had not been many days in office before, 
 unmindful of the rejection of the Irish Coercion Bill, 
 
282 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1846. 
 
 by which they had attained office, they proposed 
 themselves a measure in this direction — a renewal of 
 the Arms Act for a limited period, till the Government 
 should be able to consider the whole subject. It 
 gave rise, however, to much dissatisfaction ; the new 
 ministers were taunted for their inconsistency, and, 
 finally, they were compelled to abandon the Bill. 
 
 The more serious question remained, how to deal 
 with the great and growing distress in Ireland. By 
 the end of July it was clear that disease had again 
 suddenly attacked the potato crop, and was more widely 
 spread even than the previous year. Father Mathew, 
 writing early in August, in a letter often quoted, and 
 jDrinted in the Parliamentary papers, said, " On the 
 27th of last month (July), I passed from Cork to 
 Dublin, and this doomed plant bloomed in all the 
 experience of an abundant harvest. Returning on 
 the 3rd inst. (August), I beheld with sorrow one wide 
 waste of putrefying vegetation. In many places the 
 wretched people were seated on the fences of their 
 decaying gardens, wringing their hands, and wailing 
 bitterly the destruction that left them foodless." * 
 
 Almost immediately on meeting Parliament, the 
 new Government was called upon to make further pro- 
 vision for the coming winter on a larger scale even than 
 the previous year. It had to come to a decision of a 
 momentous character. It adhered to the principle of 
 public works ; but, in order to check the abuses, which 
 had arisen under the system already tried, it determined 
 to put the works practically under the control of the 
 Board of Works of Ireland, while it threw the whole 
 charge for them upon the local ratepayers. The Lord 
 Lieutenant was empowered to summon baronial 
 sessions, and to require them to order such public 
 works as might be necessary for the employment of 
 the people and for their relief. The choice of the 
 works was, to a limited extent, to be left to the sessions. 
 They might point out works which they considered 
 
 * Quoted in Walpole's " History of England," vol. iv. p. 298. 
 
1846.] RELIEF WORKS IN IRELAND. 283 
 
 necessary, but the approbation of the Board of Works 
 was required before the works were undertaken. 
 Practically, therefore, the plan involved the under- 
 taking of public works all over Ireland by the Board 
 of Works of Ireland, and at the cost of local rate- 
 payers ; one of the most extraordinary schemes ever 
 devised by a Government, and one which was certain 
 to result in ruinous waste and other evils. It was 
 determined to give up the plan of purchasing maize on 
 the part of the Government, and to trust to private 
 traders to supply the needs of the people, who by the 
 system of public works would be provided with money. 
 This part of the policy, though severely criticised at 
 first, was eventually most successful, and a vast quantity 
 of maize was, after a short time, imported by merchants, 
 and was sold at a moderate price. The difficulty was 
 that so many of the people had no money with which 
 to buy it. After the adoption of these measures. 
 Parliament was dissolved, and the ministers prepared 
 to meet the coming calamity. 
 
 The winter of 1846-47 was the very worst period 
 of the Irish famine, far exceeding in distress that of 
 the previous year. The potato crop proved to be 
 almost a total failure ; the oat crop also was seriously 
 deficient ; and the loss on these two crops alone was 
 estimated in money at ^16,000,000. It was necessary 
 early in the autumn to set on foot public works on a 
 great scale, under the Act of the previous session. 
 As might perhaps have been expected from the tenor 
 of that measure, the whole duty of carrying it into 
 effect fell upon the Board of Works of Ireland. The 
 grand jurors who were called together to advise as to 
 the works, and who were not in any sense representa- 
 tives of the ratepayers, but were the nominees of the 
 lords-lieutenant of the counties, resented the slight 
 put upon them by the Act, and the interference of the 
 Board of Works. They lent no assistance to the great 
 work which had to be undertaken. It was expected 
 and intended that they would ascertain the amount of 
 
284 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847. 
 
 the destitution in their neighbourhoods, and the cost 
 of relieving it, and would recommend the public works 
 to be undertaken. They neglected these duties ; they 
 contented themselves with presenting indefinitely, and 
 threw upon the Board of Works the sole responsibility 
 of determining what works should be undertaken, what 
 labourers should be employed upon them, what wages 
 should be paid, and every other matter connected with 
 the relief of a whole population. A colossal work, 
 therefore, fell at once upon the Board of Works. Five 
 thousand separate works had to be undertaken at the 
 shortest notice, and the Board had to face the difficult 
 questions, which at once arose upon the delicate points 
 of wages and food, whether task- work should be insisted 
 upon, and what test should be required before employ- 
 ment was given. The number of persons employed 
 rapidly increased; by November in 1846 upwards of 
 280,000 persons were employed, in December 490,000, 
 and by the spring of 1847 the gigantic number of 
 730,000 were receiving wages for labour on these 
 works, representing, with their families, a population of 
 3,500,000, or nearly half of the people of Ireland. The 
 attraction of public pay on works, where there was 
 no practical supervision, and where, in the language 
 of Russell, an " unfair day's wages was given for an 
 unfair day's work," ^' proved to be very great. People 
 abandoned other work in order to draw upon the 
 public purse ; landlords and farmers not only exercised 
 no control over their men, but often urged them to 
 seek employment on the public works ; other farm 
 work was neglected ; the land was not properly culti- 
 vated for the next year's crop. 
 
 To a large extent the works undertaken by 
 agents of the Board, without local knowledge, and 
 without the assistance of the resident gentry, were 
 useless or unnecessary. They consisted chiefly of 
 road-making ; but many of the roads were ill laid out, 
 and often led nowhere. In spite of the number of works 
 * Walpole's '' History of England.'' vol. iv., p. 296. 
 
1 847-] THE BOARD OF WORKS. 285 
 
 in hand, they were often necessarily at a distance from 
 the homes of the people most in need of relief. They 
 failed, therefore, to provide for large numbers of the 
 poorest and weakest of the community. The wages 
 paid, though higher than the average rate, were in- 
 .sufficient to provide for a family at the then price of 
 food. The physical condition of the people, employed 
 on the works, became lamentably low, though but little 
 work was insisted upon. Exposure to the weather 
 and insufficient food contributed to the spread of 
 sickness. A more lamentable break-down of adminis- 
 tration, due to excessive centralization, never was 
 exhibited. 
 
 The expenditure on the part of the Board of 
 Works ultimately reached a total of about £,1 1,000,000, 
 while the works undertaken proved, with few ex- 
 ceptions, to be useless and without value. The 
 Government assistance was largely aided by private 
 subscription. The merchants of London, and the 
 people of England of all classes, freely opened their 
 purses, and much was done in this direction to mitigate 
 the sufferings of the Irish people. The cold of the 
 winter of 1846-47 was unusually great. The deaths 
 from various causes, directly or indirectly connected 
 with the famine, were so numerous that the providing 
 of coffins became a most serious difficulty. By March, 
 1847, it is said that 247,000 persons had already died. 
 The workhouses and hospitals were full to over- 
 crowding with fever patients. The cases of death 
 from starvation were very numerous, and the bad diet 
 and insufficiency of food lowered the vital powers of 
 other large numbers of people, and developed a 
 malignant form of typhoid fever. A tide of emigration 
 set in, and vast numbers of people were landed upon 
 the American continent without any proper provision 
 for their reception, and met with the greatest hardships, 
 while the emigrant ships, then without Government 
 inspection, were overcrowded, and were the cause of 
 numbers dying en route. 
 
2 86 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847. 
 
 Many of the resident landlords, and some of the 
 wealthier absentee owners of land, nobly performed 
 their duties in this terrible crisis, and burdened their 
 properties in the endeavour to aid their tenants and 
 dependents ; but unfortunately there is the highest 
 authority for saying that too often the contrary was 
 the case. Lord John Russell, in introducing his measure 
 for amending the poor law, in 1847, said that, "speak- 
 ing of the owners of land in Ireland as a body, their 
 exertions to meet the crisis had not been so great as 
 they ought to have been. He thought that among 
 the resident landlords there were many who ought to 
 go further than they had yet done in contributions for 
 distress ; " and he gave this as a reason for imposing 
 upon them additional liabilities under the poor law. 
 There is also distinct evidence that some landlords 
 took the opportunity of the distress, and the consequent 
 total inability of their tenants to pay rent, to clear 
 their estates and to get rid of small holdings. This 
 process of clearing properties of the smaller tenants 
 had long been in practice by certain of the Irish land- 
 lords, and had been the fruitful and certain cause of 
 agrarian reprisal and outrage. 
 
 Lord Palmerston, an Irish landlord, with little 
 sympathy for the claims of the Irish tenants, had 
 described this in forcible language in a speech 
 delivered in 1843. "It is vain," he said, "to deny 
 that in the last twenty years the tenants of Ireland 
 have had much to complain of. It is well known 
 that in former times large farms — great tracts of 
 land — were let on leases of sixty-one years, or of 
 three lives, to one individual, who in turn re-let the 
 same land in smaller portions to others, who in turn 
 re-let to a third set, who again re-let to a fourth, 
 and so on ; and thus, in the course of years, the land 
 became covered by multitudes of occupants, greater 
 than was essential to the good cultivation of the 
 soil. This was a class which was greatly increased 
 when the forty-shilling freeholders were in existence ; 
 
1 847 J PALMERSTON ON CLEARANCES. 287 
 
 but at last the landlords, feeling the inconvenience of 
 the system, and not sufficiently reflecting on the in- 
 justice which they were inflicting on others — and, as I 
 maintain, on themselves — when they found the leases 
 of this sort expire, and found on their land great 
 numbers of persons, born and bred there, who were 
 exercising their industry in the narrow limits of some 
 two or three acres of land, turned out wholesale 
 hundreds of families, retaining only that number which, 
 in their theoretical and abstract imaginations, might be 
 sufficient for the advantageous cultivation of the soil. 
 This might be done in England without causing the 
 same degree of suffering and misery. If they removed 
 any portion of the population of England, they would 
 go to Manchester or Birmingham, or some of the great 
 manufacturing districts of the kingdom, and they might 
 at once find profitable occupations. In Ireland there 
 were no manufacturing towns. The people were 
 turned out of their houses, without the chance of 
 obtaining a home ; were driven to perish on the road- 
 side, or to eke out a hungry existence as squatters on 
 the fringe of a bog, or on the outskirts of some neigh- 
 bouring town. This is a great grievance. Cases 
 have occurred where landlords have done this to a 
 great extent ; " and he added, " I hope that the land- 
 lords will abstain from exercising that power which 
 the law gives them, and that, by showing a little more 
 consideration to the peasantry whom they find on their 
 estates, they will seek to do away with that grievance, 
 which is expressed in the somewhat absurd term of 
 ' fixity of tenure.' " * 
 
 The famine and the consequent inability of tenants 
 to pay rent afforded another opportunity and excuse 
 to landlords who desired to clear their properties. 
 In a speech delivered in 1846 by Mr. Poulett Scrope, 
 an English member of large property, who had con- 
 nection with Ulster, and who for many successive 
 years advocated the recognition of tenant-right for 
 * Hansard, 3rd series, vol. Ixx. pp. 281-283. 
 
288 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847. 
 
 Ireland; there is the following description of what was 
 taking place in that country in the midst of famine : 
 " Remember, life is destroyed in Ireland in other ways 
 than by the bullet of the assassin. Life is taken in 
 Ireland by the slow agonies of want, and disease 
 engendered by want, where human beings are de- 
 prived (however legally) of the only means of living, 
 and no resource afforded them in its place. When a 
 landlord clears his estate by driving from their homes 
 hundreds of poor tenants, who have no other possible 
 source of refuge, does he not as effectually destroy 
 their lives (at least, many of them) as if he shot them 
 at once ? It would be a mercy to do so in comparison. 
 Do you deny that the lives of the peasantry are un- 
 protected by law — that they are obliged to protect 
 themselves by these criminal outrages ? I ask you if, 
 since these very discussions began, we have not had 
 proofs — multiplied proofs — of the mode in which the 
 landlords of Ireland are decimating the people of 
 Ireland ? Ay, in the midst of fever and famine, was 
 not a whole village razed by Mr. Gerrard — 400 souls 
 turned out upon the highway — not allowed even to 
 rest in the roadside ditches ? Was not another village 
 razed by the Marquis of Waterford ? Another, I 
 believe, by Mr. Clark, of Nenagh, who was murdered ; 
 another by Mr. Pierce Carrick, who was murdered for 
 the same intention. All these, and numerous other 
 facts of the same kind, are going on at this moment. 
 Even in this morning's papers I see a fresh announce- 
 ment of a clearance of 180 individuals. As leases 
 drop in, landlords consider themselves justified in 
 consolidating their estates, and ejecting the numerous 
 families of tenantry who have occupied under the old 
 leases. Now, I ask, what becomes of these ejected 
 wretches, whose houses are pulled down, who are 
 driven forth from the land where they were born and 
 bred, hunted even out of the roadside ditches, when 
 they take shelter there, as was literally the case in the 
 Gerrard clearances ? Where are they to go ? How 
 
1847] WHOLESALE CLEARANCES. 289 
 
 are they to live ? ... If they squat on another land- 
 lord's estate they are driven off again as nuisances, 
 pests — as people, in one word, who have no right to 
 exist. ... I ask, what becomes of them ? Why, we 
 know on the best authority they wander to the 
 big towns and try to live by beggary. ... Is not 
 an ejectment of this kind tantamount to a sentence 
 of death on a small farmer or cottier, whose only 
 chance of living and maintaining his family is the 
 occupation of a bit of land } Can you wonder at his 
 retaliating on him whom he feels to be his oppressor ? 
 Or can you wonder that thousands, who know them- 
 selves to be exposed to this fate, every day contrive to 
 save themselves from it by a system of outrage and 
 intimidation ? " * 
 
 A specific case of this kind, where the people of 
 a whole village were ejected, was brought before the 
 House of Commons by Sir Robert Peel, on the official 
 report of a Major M'Kee to the Poor Law Board. 
 "It would appear," he said, "from the evidence re- 
 corded that the forcible ejectments were illegal, that 
 previous notice had not been served, and that the 
 ejectments were perpetrated under circumstances of 
 great cruelty. The time chosen was, for the greater 
 part, nightfall on the eve of the new year. The 
 occupiers were forced out of their houses with their 
 helpless children, and left exposed to the cold on a 
 bleak western shore on a stormy winter's night ; 
 some of the children were sick ; the parents im- 
 plored that they might not be exposed, and that 
 their houses might be left till the morning ; these 
 prayers for mercy were in vain, and many of them 
 have since died." Peel, in commenting on this, said, 
 " I know that the law is powerless in procuring redress 
 in such cases, but I know also that the mere statement 
 
 * Hansard, 3rd series, vol. Ixxxvi., pp. 387-394. The previous 
 passages from Lord Palmerston's speech are quoted by Mr. R. Barry- 
 O'Brien, in his "Fifty Years of Concession to Ireland," vol. ii. pp. 
 136-139. 
 
 U 
 
290 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847. 
 
 of the facts in the House of Commons, accompanied 
 with the expression of such feehngs as can alone be 
 excited where such facts are narrated to us, will not 
 be without their influence."* But why was the law 
 powerless ? or why should no remedy have been 
 attempted ? and why had the report of the Devon 
 Commission produced no result ? 
 
 To what extent this process of clearing estates was 
 adopted during the famine years there are no means 
 of ascertaining. What is beyond doubt is that between 
 1845 and 185 1 a vast reduction of the population of 
 Ireland took place, in great part by emigration, 
 whether voluntary or involuntary, and in part also by 
 famine and disease, or by the increased mortality due 
 to the effects of the famine. The population of Ireland 
 in 1 84 1 was 8,175,000 ; by 1845 it must by the normal 
 increase have reached a total of 8,600,000. In 1851 
 it had dropped to 6,575,000 — a difference of more than 
 2,000,000, of whom 1,436,000 only are to be accounted 
 for by emigration. 
 
 The evils connected with the gigantic system of 
 public works, their failure to meet the worst cases of 
 distress, and their interference with the ordinary work 
 of cultivation of the soil, became so manifest and so 
 alarming that it was before long absolutely necessary 
 to change the policy. The Government most wisely 
 and most boldly determined to put an end to the whole 
 of the works, and completely to change their scheme 
 of relief It was proposed to fall back upon the prin- 
 ciple of simple outdoor relief, aad to throw the cost 
 and responsibility for it on the local ratepayers. In 
 other words, the very plan which O'Connell had recom- 
 mended in the first instance was now tardily adopted, 
 after the gigantic failure of the public works. 
 
 On the meeting of Parliament in 1847, Lord John 
 Russell was compelled to admit the failure of his reme- 
 dies of the previous year, and to propose a series of 
 * June 8, 1849, quoted by T. P. O'Connor, "Parnell Movement," 
 P- 95- 
 
1847-] POOR LAW RELIEF. 29 1 
 
 measures for effecting this complete change of policy. 
 The chief of these was the extension of the poor law. 
 Hitherto there was no statutory obligation in Ireland 
 on the poor law authorities to provide relief Such 
 relief as was given, was confined to the sick and aged 
 in the workhouses. No assistance could legally be 
 given out of the rates to the able-bodied, even in the time 
 of famine. The Boards of Guardians were now placed 
 under an obligation to give relief, either in or out of 
 the workhouse, to the aged and infirm, and to all persons 
 disabled from work. When the workhouses were full, 
 outdoor relief was to be given even to the able-bodied, 
 not in money, but in food. The Government also 
 announced their intention to produce measures for facili- 
 tating the sale of encumbered estates, and for the con- 
 version of leasehold tenements into freeholds ; but these 
 did not see the light. In accordance with the main 
 provision and the new policy of the Government, orders 
 were given to discontinue the relief works, by successive 
 reductions of the persons employed on them, spread 
 over a few v.'eeks. This great change was effected with- 
 out difficulty, and by the end of June the number of 
 persons employed on the works was reduced from over 
 700,000 to 28,000, and the expenditure from a monthly 
 average of over £ 1 ,000,000 to an average of £ 1 00,000, 
 till the end of August, when the works were wholly 
 stopped. 
 
 The new principle substituted was that of relief in 
 the shape of food for the really destitute, at the cost 
 of the neighbourhood, and controlled by the local 
 authorities. Relief committees were formed in every 
 divisional district, composed of the magistrates, clergy- 
 men of each persuasion, the poor law guardians, and 
 the three largest ratepayers. These committees were 
 empowered to raise money from the rates. They sup- 
 plied'food gratuitously to those applying for it, subject 
 to two conditions — that the application for it should 
 be personal, save in the case of the sick and impotent, 
 and that the relief should be in the shape of cooked 
 
292 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847. 
 
 food, to prevent abuse on the part of those who might 
 convert the food suppHed to them into money. By- 
 July, this system was completely substituted for that of 
 public works, and upwards of three millions of people 
 were receiving daily rations ; but as the harvest pro- 
 gressed, this number was gradually reduced, and by the 
 end of October it had almost ceased. The harvest of 
 1847 proved to be a good one ; the potatoes, by a rapid 
 and vigorous growth, generally escaped the disease. 
 The famine was stayed through the greater part of 
 Ireland ; the people, no longer attracted by the money 
 payment of wages for little work on useless roads, 
 gradually returned to their ordinary avocations ; the 
 new system worked well ; and at a comparatively 
 small cost vast multitudes were helped over the period 
 of danger, and were better fed and supported than 
 they had been under the previous system. The total 
 cost of the relief thus afforded during the few months 
 it was in operation was no more than ;^i, 550,000.* 
 
 A great deal of discussion in the Session of 1847 
 turned on the proposals of the Government, and on 
 the policy it had adopted of not interfering with 
 the course of trade by importing food and distributing 
 it themselves among the people. A proposal was 
 also made by Lord George Bentinck for advancing 
 ;^ 1 6,000,000 for the construction of Irish railways. 
 Peel supported the Government in rejecting this, and 
 generally approved its policy. He urged it, how- 
 ever, to proceed with its proposal for the sale of 
 encumbered estates, which he described as ten times 
 more important than any other measure. The measure 
 for extending the poor laws also met with much dis- 
 cussion, but ultimately passed, with the addition of 
 a very important clause, which has had most serious 
 effect in Ireland, whenever years of scarcity and want 
 have occurred — one, namely, forbidding the guardians 
 to give relief to any one who occupied more than 
 
 * "The Irish Crisis," by Sir Charles Trevelyan, K.C.B. Mac- 
 millan and Co., 1880. 
 
1847.J O'CONNELLS LAST EFFORTS. 293 
 
 a quarter of an acre of land, until he should give up his 
 holding — a clause which operated in times of distress 
 as an engine for ejectment, without legal process 
 on the part of the landlords ; a clause, which it was 
 found necessary to suspend in future years, whenever 
 there was any general failure of crops. No proposal 
 was made by the Government to meet the very grave 
 cases of general clearances of tenants by their land- 
 lords, which were undoubtedly occurring, or for 
 amendment of the severe ejectment laws passed since 
 the Act of Union, as so frequently recommended by 
 O'Connell, or for securing to tenants the value of 
 their improvements. 
 
 O'Connell had come over from Ireland for the pur- 
 pose of taking part in these discussions. For some 
 time previously, however, it was obvious that his 
 strength was failing. The internal disease, from 
 which he was already suffering, on coming out of prison, 
 was rapidly growing on him. His anxieties, resulting 
 from his relations to the Young Ireland party, were 
 very great. He felt most deeply the distress of 
 Ireland. In his last speech at the Repeal Association, 
 before crossing the Channel, he showed something of 
 his old fire. A royal duke had recently been speaking 
 on the subject of the Irish famine. " Ireland," said 
 this royal personage, " is not in so bad a state as has 
 been represented. ... I understand that rotten pota- 
 toes and seaweed, and even grass, properly mixed, 
 afford a very wholesome food. We all know that 
 Irishmen can live upon anything, and there is plenty 
 of grass in the fields, even if the potato crop should 
 fail." " There," said O'Connell, referring to this speech, 
 " is the son of a king, the brother of a king, the uncle 
 of a monarch ! There is his description of Ireland for 
 you ! Oh, why does he think thus of the Irish people ? 
 Perhaps he has been reading Spenser, who wrote at a 
 time when Ireland was not put down by the strong 
 arm of force or defeated in battle — because she never 
 was defeated — but when the plan was laid down to 
 
294 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847. 
 
 Starve the Irish nation. For three years, every portion 
 of the crops vi^as trampled down by the hoofs of the 
 horses of mounted soldiery ; for three years, the crops 
 were destroyed, the human creatures were found lying 
 behind ditches with their mouths green by eating sorrel 
 and the grass of the field. The duke, I suppose, wishes 
 that we should have such scenes again enacted in this 
 country. And is it possible that, in the presence of 
 some of the most illustrious nobility of England, a 
 royal personage should be found to utter horrors of 
 this description ? I will go over to England to see 
 what they intend to do for the Irish ; whether they are 
 of opinion that the Irish are to feed on grass, or eat 
 mangel-wurzel. If that should be adopted — and may 
 God avert the possibility of an occurrence! — I do not 
 hesitate to say it will be the duty of every man to die 
 with arms in his hands." As one man, the vast 
 assembly rose and cheered the suggestion to the 
 echo.* 
 
 On O'Connell's arrival in England, it was seen at 
 once that his end was not far distant, His face had for 
 some time past acquired an anxious look, very different 
 from its joyous and confident expression of former days. 
 His robust figure had shrunk, and his magnificent voice, 
 which had been of unparalleled range and power, was 
 now so weak that he was scarcely audible. He spoke 
 early in the session on the Irish measures of the Govern- 
 ment, but a great part of what he said was inaudible. 
 The House of Commons, however, felt instinctively that 
 it was his last effort; they listened with awe and respect, 
 while in solemn terms he warned the Government of the 
 very serious nature of the calamity which had befallen 
 his country. " I do not think," he said, " that honour- 
 able members are sufficiently impressed with the horrors 
 of the situation of Ireland. I do not think they under- 
 stand the miseries — the accumulation of miseries — 
 under which the people are labouring. Twenty- five 
 per cent, of the whole population will perish unless the 
 * Cusack's " Life of the Liberator," p. 750. 
 
1847-] DEATH OF O'CONNELL. 295 
 
 House affords effective relief. They will perish of 
 famine and disease unless the House does something 
 speedily and efficacious, not doled out in small sums, 
 not in private and individual subscriptions, but by 
 some great act of national generosity, calculated on a 
 broad and liberal scale. ... It is asserted that the 
 Irish landlords do not do their duty. Several of them 
 have done their duty, others have not ; but recol- 
 lect how encumbered is the property of Ireland, how 
 many of her estates are in Chancery, how many are in 
 the hands of trustees. She is in your hands, in your 
 power ! If you do not save her she cannot save 
 herself. I solemnly call upon you to recollect that I 
 predict with the sincerest conviction that one-fourth of 
 her people will perish unless Parliament comes to their 
 assistance." This speech, delivered on the 8th of 
 February, was his last in the House of Commons. A 
 few days previously, he had written his last letter to 
 the Repeal Association, in which he pointed the moral 
 to be drawn from the neglect of the Government : " It 
 will not be until the death of hundreds of thousands 
 that the regret will arise that more was not done to 
 save a sinking nation. How different would the scene 
 be if we had our own Parliament, taking care of our 
 own people, of our own resources ! But alas ! alas ! 
 it is scarcely permitted to think of these, the only sure 
 preventatives of misery, and the only sure instruments 
 of Irish prosperity." 
 
 O'Connell left England shortly after his speech in 
 the House of Commons, hoping to reach Rome and 
 to receive the benediction of the Pope before his death. 
 He died, however, on the way, at Genoa, on May 15, 
 1847. Born in Kerry in 1775, of a Catholic family of 
 good position, which had supplied many distinguished 
 members to the profession of arms on the Continent, 
 O'Connell had studied for two years in France, at the 
 Catholic colleges of St. Omer and Douay, during the 
 height of the French Revolution. He left France, on 
 the day of the execution of Louis XVI. The revolu- 
 
296 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847. 
 
 tionary excesses, of which he had been a witness, appear 
 to have made a profound impression on him, and influ- 
 enced his views and actions throughout his career. On 
 returning to Ireland he adopted the legal profession, 
 which only a few years before, in 1 793, had been thrown 
 open to Catholics by the Irish Parliament; and after 
 studying law in London for two years, and having been 
 called to the Bar at the Inner Temple, he commenced 
 practice in DubHn,and joined the Munster circuit in 1 798. 
 In the same year he was enrolled in the corps of yeo- 
 manry raised among the Dublin lawyers, and employed 
 in defence of the Government in the rebellion of that 
 year, though he appears to have had some sympathy 
 with the political views of the " United Irishmen," so 
 far as they were constitutional. He had for a short time 
 been a member of this Association. He was nearly 
 getting into trouble with his commanding officer, by 
 positively refusing to obey orders to fire on a number 
 of unarmed persons, who were in the streets after the 
 hour prescribed by martial law.* He acted again 
 in a military capacity in the short outbreak headed 
 by Emmet in 1803. On June 13, 1800, O'Connell 
 attended the great meeting held at Dublin to protest 
 against the Union, and made his first speech, already 
 referred to. From this time, his advance as a lawyer 
 was rapid, and his success was soon assured. For 
 some years he was conspicuous chiefly for an unrivalled 
 power in cross-examining witnesses, due to his great 
 tact and readiness, and to his intimate knowledge of 
 Irish character. The Government still persistently 
 refused to Catholics the rank of King's Counsel, con- 
 ferring precedence at the Bar ; his rise, therefore, was 
 retarded by the fact that he could not be employed as a 
 leader in important cases. Later, however, his repu- 
 tation became so great, that clients were compelled to 
 employ him to lead their cases, in spite of his being 
 inferior in rank to the official leaders of the Bar. His 
 industry in his profession was indefatigable ; he devoted 
 * Cusack's " Life of the Liberator,'' p. 241. 
 
1847-] O'CONNELL. 297 
 
 no small part of his time to giving legal advice and 
 assistance, without reward, to members of his faith 
 unable to pay for it. He was familiarly known to the 
 country people, far and wide, as " The Counsellor." He 
 was equally powerful in addressing a jury, in arguing a 
 difficult legal part before the judges, or in cross-examin- 
 ing witnesses. His speeches were full of pathos and 
 humour, and he kept the Court and the jury alternately 
 in tears and in roars of laughter. His commanding 
 presence and splendid physique, his joyous expression, 
 and his powerful and well-modulated voice contributed 
 not a little to his success. He was soon employed in 
 all the great cases in the Irish Courts, especially those 
 of a political character, where he was always against 
 the Crown. 
 
 Some of O'Connell's speeches in these trials, which 
 have been preserved, are masterpieces of forensic 
 eloquence. His defence of Magee, the editor of the 
 Dublin Post, who was prosecuted for a political libel 
 against the Government, is second only in power and 
 argument to, if it does not equal, the celebrated libel 
 speech of Erskine. There was this difference, that 
 Erskine's speech was addressed to the jury with the 
 object of obtaining a favourable verdict. In Magee's 
 case, O'Connell knew that the jury was packed, and 
 that an acquittal was hopeless ; his speech, therefore, 
 was addressed to the public, and was a vehement and 
 bitter arraignment of the whole policy of the Govern- 
 ment.* The Attorney- General, Saurin, who prosecuted, 
 had been a member of the Irish Parliament, and had 
 strongly opposed the Union. O'Connell, in support of 
 his client, quoted at length from Saurin's speeches on 
 that occasion. Magee published O'Connell's speech 
 in his defence, and on being called up for judgment, an 
 affidavit was filed by the Attorney-General, alleging 
 this publication as an aggravation of the original 
 offence, and claiming from the Court a severer sen- 
 tence. He took this opportunity of answering O'Con- 
 * Pagan's " Life of O'Connell," vol. i. p. 95. 
 
298 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847- 
 
 nell's speech. O'Connells impromptu reply to this is 
 perhaps the finest specimen of scathing sarcasm, con- 
 temptuous retort, and powerful declamation, which has 
 ever been made at the Bar, and is an excellent sample 
 of the advocate at his best. The speech may have 
 added to his reputation, but was scarcely in the interest 
 of his client. The servile judges acted on the sugges- 
 tion of the Attorney-General, and increased the sen- 
 tence, in spite of O'Connell's junior counsel having, at 
 the instance of Magee, repudiated his leader's speech. 
 Many excellent stories are told of O'Connell's ready 
 repartees to the judges. His position was not an easy 
 one. The Irish judges at that time belonged exclu- 
 sively to one political party, that of the Protestant 
 Ascendency, to whom the success of a Catholic barrister 
 was most distasteful, and who were, therefore, disposed 
 to treat him with the utmost hostility and even rancour. 
 O'Connell would not be defeated by them. He met 
 them with a pride and obstinacy equal to their own, 
 and by sheer force of legal and intellectual power, sup- 
 ported by language often bitter and contemptuous in 
 the highest degree, he compelled them to listen and 
 often to give way to him.* Some of his attacks on the 
 Bench appeared to be needlessly rough. He justified 
 their tone, and said that he had adopted it by 
 deliberate calculation and policy ; it was only in this 
 way that he could hope to enable members of the Bar, 
 of his faith, to hold their own against the powerful 
 clique opposed to them, and that it was necessary to 
 show to other Catholics, who had been accustomed to 
 adopt a subservient demeanour to their Protestant 
 fellow-countrymen, that the old order was changed, 
 
 * Mr. Curran said of one of the Irish judges, Mr. Justice Day, 
 that his efforts to understand a point of law reminded him of nothing 
 so much as the attempt to open an oyster with a rolling-pin. This 
 judge once said to O'Connell, " I must not allow you to make a 
 speech ; the fact is, that I am always of opinion with the last speaker, 
 and therefore I will not let you say one word." " My lord," replied 
 O'Connell, " that is precisely why I'll let nobody have the last word 
 but myself "—Luby's " Life of O'Connell," p. 243. 
 
1847-] aCONNELL. 
 
 299 
 
 and that they could meet their opponents on at least 
 equal terms. 
 
 O'Connell's political career may be divided into 
 four distinct periods — his agitation for Catholic Eman- 
 cipation, from 1807 to 1829 ; his action in Parliament 
 during the first Whig administration, from 1830 to 
 1834, when he was in perpetual conflict with Mr. 
 Stanley, the Irish Secretary ; his support of Lord 
 Melbourne's Government from 1835 to (841 ; and his 
 agitation for Repeal, from 1841 till his death in 1847 
 — a total period of forty years. It was during the first 
 of these periods that he gained his unique and pre- 
 eminent leadership of the Irish people, a position 
 which he retained till his death. In the whole history 
 of constitutional agitations there cannot be found 
 any other leader to compare with him in energy 
 and power. O'Connell placed the whole of his great 
 resources, his legal knowledge, his eloquence, his 
 untiring powers of work, entirely at the service of 
 the cause of the Catholics. No one can gainsay 
 his success. He defeated the Government over and 
 over again on points of constitutional law. It was 
 necessary that he should act and speak with the 
 greatest care ; the Government was certain to take 
 advantage of any slip ; it had always the power of 
 packing a jury ; it would have sent him to trial and 
 to prison without any compunction. While he had to 
 conduct his agitation with this constant care, he had 
 also to carry the people with him — to speak to them 
 with a freedom and boldness that would convince them 
 of his honesty and earnestness. His special function 
 during the whole of this period, and, indeed, throughout 
 his life, was to lift the Catholics upwards in the social 
 and political scale, to raise their self-esteem, to give 
 them confidence, to show them that they might stand 
 on an equality with their former oppressors, and might 
 speak boldly in the face of their enemies. This he 
 accomplished almost alone. 
 
 O'Connell determined very early in his career that he 
 
300 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847- 
 
 would conduct a political agitation only ; that he would 
 not countenance or abet any measures which might 
 lead to violence, force, or rebellion. He held firmly 
 by the connection of Ireland with the crown of Eng- 
 land. He had no sympathy whatever with the separa- 
 tists of 1 798, and looked upon most of those engaged 
 in that rebellion as madmen. He regarded Emmet 
 as little better than a lunatic, " who endeavoured 
 to make war on England with ;^i200 and seventy-four 
 men." " I always," he said, " saw that, divided as 
 Ireland is and has been, physical force would never be 
 made an available weapon to regenerate her. I saw 
 that the best and only effective combination must 
 be that of moral force. ... I have combined the pea- 
 santry together in a moral organization." Neither 
 would he agree to any secret societies or conspiracy ; 
 his movement must be above-board, open to all the 
 world, and within the lines of the law. " I learned," 
 he said, " from the example of the United Irishmen 
 the lesson that, in order to succeed in Ireland, it was 
 strictly necessary to work within the limits of the law 
 and the constitution. I saw that fraternities and socie- 
 ties, banded illegally together, never could be safe ; 
 that invariably some person without principle would 
 be sure to gain access into such societies, and either 
 for ordinary bribes, or else, in times of danger, for their 
 own preservation, would betray their associates. Yes, 
 the United Irishmen taught me that all work for 
 Ireland must be done openly and above-board."* 
 
 On the other hand, he gave to the movement a 
 spirit and an impulse, very different from that which 
 had been followed in the past, or was then approved 
 by the older leaders of the Catholic party. Mr. Keogh 
 had for many years been the acknowledged chief of 
 this party, and had nearly been successful in obtaining 
 emancipation in 1795. On the formation of the 
 Catholic Association in 1807, he recommended a 
 dignified silence and a waiting game, pending the 
 * O'Neil Daunt's "Personal Recollections of O'Connell," p. 214. 
 
1 847-] aCONNELL. 301 
 
 lifetime of George III. O'Connell arrayed himself 
 against this policy, and carried the Association with 
 him by a majority of 134 to no. He finally broke 
 with these leaders on the " veto " question in 1810. 
 The Catholic aristocracy and professional men, under 
 Lord Fingall and Mr. Keogh, and the Parliamentary 
 advocates of emancipation, under Mr. Grattan, were 
 in favour of compromising with the British Govern- 
 ment on this point, and were prepared to agree to a 
 concordat between it and the Papal Court, under which 
 the appointment of the prelates of the Irish Church 
 should be subject to the approval of the British 
 Government. O'Connell threw himself heartily in 
 support of the popular feeling in Ireland against this 
 proposal. As a result, the former leaders of the move- 
 ment were set aside, and lost their influence, and 
 O'Connell became the sole leader and director of this 
 great movement. It was at his instance in 1823 that 
 the Catholic priesthood were invited and induced to 
 take a part in the agitation. It was an innovation 
 the expediency of which many had doubt. " We have 
 a power," said O'Connell, " that never yet has been 
 called into the field, one that must coerce the British 
 Government into doing justice to Ireland ; that is the 
 priesthood. . . . Without them we cannot succeed. 
 To succeed we must have them with us. They are 
 not only the natural protectors of the people, they 
 are the only persons who can make them thoroughly 
 sensible of the political degradation into which the 
 laity are plunged." It was at his suggestion also that 
 a great national fund was formed, and was collected 
 mainly through the priesthood, for defending the cause 
 in the law courts, in the press, and before Parliament. 
 It was his eloquence, his stirring appeals to the country 
 at meetings without number, and his written addresses 
 to the people of Ireland, that roused the popular 
 feeling, and created that universal demand which made 
 it impossible for the Government to resist it. 
 
 No one, ever before or since, has had so completely 
 
302 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847. 
 
 at his command the qualities of a great tribune, for 
 conducting a constitutional movement. With his 
 powerful voice, of great compass and beauty, vibrating 
 with sympathy, he could excite his audiences to the 
 highest pitch of enthusiasm, could raise their indigna- 
 tion against the Government to a fever heat, and could 
 also arrest their action at a point just short of violence 
 or insurrection, and inculcate prudence and reserve. 
 His language at times was undoubtedly unrestrained ; 
 his assaults on his opponents were not unfrequently 
 bitter and wanting in taste ; but these were the excep- 
 tions, rather than the rule. His oratory, looked at as 
 a whole, even when addressed to the lowest classes, 
 was of the highest order ; he knew how to touch the 
 hearts of the people ; and he could equally excite their 
 sense of ridicule ; * he had great command of pathos ; 
 his eloquence was persuasive in the highest degree, 
 and not unfrequently dramatic. He was able to fill 
 the popular mind with his own conceptions, and to 
 animate his audiences to a point at which they would 
 follow implicitly his will. His methods appeared to be 
 too rough to those who had formerly conducted the 
 movements. In this respect, however, full justice was 
 done to him many years after the victory was achieved, 
 by Lord Fingall, the acknowledged head of the old 
 Catholic families. Shortly before his death in 1836, 
 Lord Fingall conveyed, through an intimate friend of 
 O'Connell, the message that he desired to make atone- 
 ment for not having always supported him, as he then 
 felt he should have done. He admitted that he had 
 been criminally cowardly in the Catholic movement. 
 " We never understood," he said, " that we had a nation 
 behind us. O'Connell alone comprehended that, and 
 used his knowledge fitly. It was by him that the 
 
 * O'Connell's reply to Vesey Fitzgerald on the hustings at Ennis, 
 in the Clare election, was perhaps the best example of this power. 
 Fitzgerald had made a most eloquent and pathetic appeal, which had 
 produced a great impression. (3'Connell, however, in a few minutes 
 entirely destroyed the effect of it by the dexterous, and not very fair, 
 use of ridicule. — Sheil's Sketches : " The Clare Election." 
 
I847-] CCONNELL. 303 
 
 gates of the constitution were broken open for us. 
 We owe all to his rough work ; and to effect further 
 service for Ireland there must be more of it. I 
 never understood this until they made me a peer of 
 Parliament." * 
 
 Whatever may be thought of the excesses of 
 language and vituperation in which O'Connell not un- 
 frequently indulged, no one can fail to admit that the 
 general moral tone pervading them was excellent. 
 He never lost the opportunity of inculcating that his 
 cause could only be successful by moral means. He 
 denounced outrage and crime. He constantly repeated 
 the phrase that those who committed crime were 
 enemies to the cause of Ireland. He held up to 
 odium the conduct of the insurgents in Canada, and 
 he told the Catholics of Ireland not to follow this 
 example. His scheme was that of peaceful agitation 
 only. He desired the people to be submissive to 
 the laws and loyal to the Crown, but he aimed at 
 making them practically ungovernable. While stir- 
 ring the passions of the people, as no one had ever 
 attempted to do before, he made them shrink from 
 violence. A policy such as this, and methods of 
 the kind he adopted, necessitated an authority on 
 the part of the leader unquestioned and unlimited. 
 After the supersession of the older leaders of the 
 Catholic cause, O'Connell acquired this authority, 
 not without occasional complaint, but without reserve, 
 and he held it till the Catholic cause was gained. 
 The cause of his great influence and authority over 
 his countrymen was not his mere power of speech, or 
 even his deep personal sympathy with them ; it was 
 grounded on his long years of patient labour on their 
 behalf — on the conviction that during this period he 
 had devoted all his great and varied powers to their 
 cause ; that he had fought the Government in every 
 direction —in the law courts, on the public platform, in 
 the press, and, finally, on the hustings — and had always 
 * Pagan's "Life of O'Connell," vol. i. p. 162. 
 
304 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847. 
 
 been successful. He had raised them from a position 
 of degradation to one of equality with their opponents ; 
 and in doing so he secured his influence over the hearts 
 of nearly seven millions of people. 
 
 Just in proportion, however, as O'Connell had 
 obtained this empire over these millions of Catholic 
 Irishmen, and for the same reasons, he was hated by 
 the governing classes of England. His policy and 
 his success crossed their religious prejudices, their 
 imperial instincts, their amottr propre, at every turn. 
 There was no man more universally attacked and 
 abused. He had humiliated their Government. The 
 English sense of law and order was revolted by the 
 repeated outbreaks of crime and outrage in Ireland, 
 which they attributed to his agitation. The process 
 of political agitation was then new to Englishmen. 
 Later, they adopted the method without acknowledg- 
 ment, and without changing their opinions of its great 
 professor. The Reform agitation, and that for the 
 repeal of the corn laws, were conducted on the lines 
 invented by O'Connell, and were successful ; yet the 
 English people would not forgive him for his Catholic 
 agitation, still less for that in favour of Repeal. To a 
 recent time, English historians even have refused to 
 do him justice, and have dwelt only on his defects, 
 without recognition of his great qualities, or of his ser- 
 vices to Ireland. Even so advanced a political thinker 
 as Miss Martineau, one so imbued with Liberal ideas, 
 never speaks of O'Connell but in terms of disparage- 
 ment and contempt, accusing him of habitual unvera- 
 city and want of courage.* His contemporaries in 
 political life pursued him with even greater rancour. 
 They affected to be disgusted with his violent lan- 
 guage and his bitter invective — offences which they 
 were ready to overlook in Brougham, Lyndhurst, and 
 Stanley. They were scandalized by his attacks on 
 
 * Feminine spite could scarcely go further than where Miss 
 Martineau, in speaking of George IV., says that " he was in unreliable- 
 ness a match for O'Connell." — " History of England," vol. ii. p. 206. 
 
18^7-] O'CONNELL. 305 
 
 the House of Lords, forgetting the attitude of that 
 body to Irish questions. They could not forgive him 
 for receiving tribute from the Irish people. Indeed, 
 nothing contributed to O'Connell's unpopularity in 
 England so much as this. He was denounced as a 
 mendicant agitator ; he was popularly known as the 
 " Big Beggarman." * Yet, for services to his country- 
 men in another popular cause, Cobden received as a 
 personal gift, without any one raising an imputation 
 against him, sums not much less than those freely 
 given to O'Connell for labour, longer in point of time, 
 and even more important in its results to Ireland. 
 It may be worth while to recall his own answer to 
 charges on this subject made by Lord Shrewsbury 
 in 1842. "I will not consent," he wrote, "that my 
 claim should be misunderstood. That claim may be 
 rejected, but it is understood in Ireland. For more 
 than twenty years before Emancipation the burden 
 of the cause was thrown upon me. I had to arrange 
 the meetings, to prepare the resolutions, to furnish 
 replies to the correspondence, to examine the case 
 of each person complaining of practical grievances, to 
 rouse the torpid, to animate the lukewarm, to con- 
 trol the violent and the great, to avoid the shoals 
 and pitfalls of the law — to guard against multiplied 
 treachery, and at all times to oppose at every point the 
 powerful and wealthy enemies of the cause. At a 
 period when my minutes counted by the guinea, 
 when my hours were limited only by the extent of my 
 
 * In 1833, one of the leaders of the Ulster Tories, Mr. Gordon, 
 attacked O'Connell in these terms, amid the cheers of the House : 
 " He would refer the House to one who had made money in Ireland, 
 not as the inculcator of Christian truth, but as the minister of sedi- 
 tion. He could refer them to one whose exertions in that character 
 had done more to feed the gibbet and to fill the convict ship than all 
 the other causes that were active in that unhappy country. Nor 
 were such exertions gratuitous ; for the penury of the poor, who had 
 been the dupes of his delusions, was taxed to remunerate his services, 
 and the tribute, as it was called, had been in many cases extorted 
 under the threat of ecclesiastical anathemas in Ireland." 
 
3o6 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847- 
 
 physical and waking powers, when my meals were 
 shortened by the narrowest space, and my sleep re- 
 stricted to the earliest hours before dawn — at that 
 period, and for more than twenty years, there was no 
 day that I did not devote two hours, often much more, 
 to the working out of the Catholic cause, and that 
 without receiving or allowing the offer of any remune- 
 ration even for personal expenditure. For four years 
 I bore the entire expense of the Catholic agitation, 
 without receiving the contribution of others to a 
 greater amount than ^74 in the whole. Who shall 
 repay me for the years of my buoyant youth and 
 cheerful manhood ; for the opportunity of acquiring 
 professional celebrity, and for the wealth which dis- 
 tinction would ensure?"* He never received any 
 remuneration for these long years of service until after 
 the passing of Catholic Emancipation. Thencefor- 
 ward an annual collection was made for him, on a 
 special day, in every parish in Ireland. He gave up, 
 however, his legal practice, at which he was then 
 realizing an income of ^9000 a year, and devoted 
 himself wholly to the service of his country. He re- 
 fused the offer of the Whig Government, in 1838, of 
 one of the highest legal posts, that of Chief Baron 
 of the Exchequer, in Ireland — an appointment which 
 would have been most agreeable to him ; he declined it 
 because he considered that, in the waning popularity of 
 the Whig Government, his continued support of their 
 administration was of the utmost importance to Ireland. 
 His personal expenses connected with his position 
 were very great, and he was unable, in spite of the 
 generosity of the Irish people, to lay by anything ; and 
 although he had inherited a considerable landed pro- 
 perty from a relative, he died leaving his family but 
 poorly provided for. He was justly proud of the fact 
 that he was the only person on whom a voluntary 
 annual tribute was ever bestowed by a nation."}" 
 
 * O'Connell's reply to Lord Shrewsbury, p. 67. 
 
 t General Sir William Napier, a high authority on a point of 
 
I847-J aCONNELL. 
 
 307 
 
 In political history of modern times there is scarcely 
 to be found an instance of treatment similar to that 
 accorded to O'Connell, during and after the period of 
 Catholic Emancipation. He came over to England in 
 1829, with the unlimited confidence of a population, 
 which was then little under one-third of that of the 
 United Kingdom, and over whom he exercised an 
 almost kingly sway. He had sustained almost alone 
 the cause of this people for over twenty years, and had 
 brought it to a successful issue, in spite of every diffi- 
 culty and opposition. Wise and far-seeing statesmen 
 would have done their utmost to conciliate such a 
 leader. Yet Tories and Whigs vied with one another 
 in treating him with indignity or neglect. Peel pur- 
 posely framed the Catholic Relief Act so as to ex- 
 clude him from its immediate benefit, and to invalidate 
 his recent election for Clare, in the vain hope that 
 he might not be re-elected. The Whigs, after bene- 
 fiting by his support in defeating their opponents and 
 carrying Reform, refused to take him into their 
 counsels ; they neglected his claims upon them ; they 
 allowed the old system of Protestant Ascendency to be 
 continued in the administration of Ireland, as though 
 no relief Act had been passed. The later Whig 
 
 honour, wrote of the O'Connell tribute as follows : — " I don't agree 
 that O'Connell gets his money wrongfully or meanly. He has under- 
 taken a great and excellent work, the freeing of his country from the 
 most diabolical and horrible tyranny that ever was endured ; and as 
 he is unable to do it by war he must do it by art. Hence many 
 things he must submit to, many mean acts he must commit, because 
 he has to do with the meanest and lowest of men. You judge him 
 harshly ; he does not do the thing in the noblest way, but he does it. 
 If he did not take the money he would have been driven from his 
 purpose long ago. He is a general, to be provided and paid for the 
 sake of his army and his cause. Don't run him down, or you ruin 
 the only chance of poor starving wretches here, whose fate depends 
 on his success." — " Life of Sir William Napier," vol. i. p. 458. 
 
 Mr. Greville also bore the same testimony. " O'Connell's de- 
 pendence on his country's bounty in the rent that was levied for so 
 many years was alike honourable to the contributors and to the 
 recipient. It was an income nobly given and nobly earned." — The 
 " Greville Memoirs," vol. iii. p. 86. 
 
308 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847- 
 
 Government of Lord Melbourne, though it was en- 
 tirely dependent for its existence upon the support of 
 O'Connell and the Irish Catholic members, was still 
 unwilling to concede his political claims, or to treat 
 him as an equal, and as one entitled to share in the 
 responsibilities and honours and benefits of office. 
 The Whig leaders did not even accord to him the 
 courtesy and social amenities due to a man of his 
 eminence. Some of them refused even to meet him 
 in society. Lord Lansdowne, at whose house there 
 met all the eminent men of the day, never invited him. 
 Guizot says that when he was in England it was with 
 difificulty he succeeded in obtaining an interview with 
 O'Connell, and that it was only by special favour they 
 were invited to meet at dinner, and that after the 
 dinner O'Connell left early, on hearing that other 
 guests were expected, among whom he might be un- 
 welcome. At a court levee which he attended in 1829, 
 the King, on whom, when visiting Ireland in 1820, 
 O'Connell had lavished almost fulsome attentions, 
 turned from him with an oath and refused to recognize 
 him. When the " first gentleman in Europe " could 
 behave in this way, it is not to be wondered at that 
 society in London should follow suit. 
 
 O'Connell appears to have been little affected in 
 his political conduct by these rebuffs. It may be 
 almost doubted whether he did not hold himself too 
 cheap. He would have been fully justified in making 
 the support of his party to Reform conditional upon a 
 change of administration in Ireland, and even upon his 
 own admission to the Cabinet as a pledge for this 
 change. Still more, in the case of Lord Melbourne's 
 Government, he might have insisted on a place in the 
 Ministry. His ambition did not soar higher than the 
 post of Attorney-General for Ireland, and even this 
 was refused to him. Many men in his position would 
 have been induced by this treatment to sow difficulties 
 and intrigues in Parliament. O'Connell did, indeed, 
 on Irish questions most bitterly and most justifiably 
 
1847J O'CONNELL. 309 
 
 oppose Lord Grey's Government ; but on every other 
 question of English and Imperial politics he gave a 
 steady and unvarying support to the Liberal party, 
 and rendered the utmost assistance in carrying re- 
 forms of all kinds. He boasted, with great justice, 
 that the success of the Reform Act was due to the co- 
 operation of himself and the Irish party. He was an 
 ardent supporter of other great reforms, such as negro 
 emancipation, freedom from disabilities for Dissenters, 
 and the admission of Jews to Parliament. He advo- 
 cated free trade in the food of the people, and 
 anticipated even Cobden in demanding the complete 
 abolition of all duty on corn. He was distinctly in 
 advance of his time on all questions of social reform. 
 He was essentially, however, conservative in his 
 general views of the rights of property, and freedom 
 of contract between man and man. In 1843, he 
 expelled William Connor, a gentleman-farmer, from 
 the Repeal Association for recommending a strike 
 against rent till the claims of Ireland were fairly 
 adjusted. He refused any co-operation in his Irish 
 policy from the Chartists ; he risked his popularity 
 in Ireland by denouncing the unwise restrictions 
 of the trades-unions of Dublin, and was for several 
 days hooted by the mob in Dublin on this account. 
 He also refused to receive any support to his cause 
 from the slave-owners of the Southern States of 
 America. In religion, he was at all times a most 
 devout member of the Catholic Church, and was much 
 under the influence of its hierarchy, and in later life he 
 was almost ascetic in his habits ; but his tolerance of 
 the opinions of others was liberal in the best sense, 
 and he never lost an opportunity of giving example 
 to others in this respect. 
 
 It has already been pointed out that O'Connell 
 entered the House of Commons at the age of fifty- 
 five — somewhat late for the commencement of a new 
 career ; it is probable that the House of Commons 
 did not hear him at his best. A long course of plat- 
 
3IO THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. Ii847- 
 
 form oratory was not a good preparation for the more 
 critical and refined audience of English members. 
 He held his own, however, in the front rank with 
 opponents of the highest quality, having to meet in 
 conflict a succession of most eminent statesmen, and 
 with little assistance among his own followers, ex- 
 cept from Shell, who was a rhetorician rather than 
 a debater or statesman. O'Connell, however, was 
 equal to Stanley as a debater, though wanting in 
 his elegance of style ; he was scarcely inferior to 
 Peel in his powerful exposition of a case, and in his 
 logical development of a long argument, as in the case 
 of his speech on the repeal of the Union in 1834, and 
 still more so in his great speech on the same subject, 
 to the Corporation of Dublin, in 1843 ; he was at least 
 the equal of Disraeli in invective and sarcasm, when 
 occasion required these weapons.* These merits, how- 
 ever, were undoubtedly often obscured by breaches of 
 conventional decorum specially displeasing to the 
 House of Commons, by rudeness of language amount- 
 ing sometimes to scurrility, by a certain want of self- 
 respect, and by recklessness of statement, which 
 rendered him occasionally liable to the charge of un- 
 truthfulness. These defects, however, were but small 
 blemishes on his great merits ; and a just retrospect of 
 his statesmanship and speeches must accord to his 
 Parliamentary career a very high position — one which 
 alone would entitle him to rank among the first 
 statesmen of the day. 
 
 O'Connell's first Repeal agitation, in 1830 to 1834, 
 was due, and justly due, to the treatment which 
 Ireland received immediately after Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion—to the failure of Peel, and subsequently of Lord 
 
 * It may be worth while to quote Sir Robert Peel's opinion of 
 O'Connell as a speaker. Some one had said of O'Connell that he 
 was a " broguing Irish fellow," whom no one would listen to. Peel 
 replied, " My own opinion, candidly, is that if I wanted an efficient 
 and eloquent advocate, I would readily give up all the other orators 
 of whom we have been talking, provided I had with me this same 
 broguing Irish fellow." — O'Neill Daunt, p. 55. 
 
1847.] O'CONNELL. 3 1 I 
 
 Grey and Stanley, to carry out the principles of that 
 measure to their logical conclusion in the practical 
 administration of Ireland. There would have been 
 no greater difficulty in Ministers coming to agreement 
 with the Irish leader in 1830 than in 1835. When 
 taunted, in 1833, by Stanley for raising the question 
 of Repeal, O'Connell said, " As long as I could see 
 the utility of the British Parliament, and an immense 
 utility may exist, I should prefer seeing this House 
 doing justice to my countrymen, rather than that it 
 should be done by a local legislature. I repeat it, 
 though this avowal is likely to be turned against me 
 in Ireland ; but I adhere to it, for it is my abstract 
 opinion. If I thought that the machinery of the 
 present Government would work well for Ireland, 
 there never lived a man more ready to facilitate its 
 movements than I am. The only reason I have for 
 being a Repealer is the injustice of the present 
 Government." * It is probable that in this agitation 
 he had no expectation of immediate success, and that 
 he used it as well for the purpose of compelling the 
 Government and Parliament to do justice to Ireland, 
 and to change the policy of its administration, as with 
 the hope of ultimately achieving the restoration of the 
 Irish Parliament. He brought the question of Repeal 
 before Parliament, in 1834, with great reluctance, and 
 only because he was compelled to do so by pressure 
 from Ireland and by taunts in England. He said him- 
 self, " I felt like a man who was going to jump into a 
 cold bath; but I was obliged to make the plunge." f 
 He felt that the question was prematurely forced upon 
 Parliament, and that it would suffer in consequence. 
 The crushing defeat which resulted, and the fact that 
 only a single English member voted for the motion, 
 justified this view, and extinguished for the time all 
 hope or prospect for the cause. " Nevertheless," he 
 said, at a later period of his life, " one solitary good 
 
 * Hansard, 3rd series, vol. xv. p. 893. 
 
 t O'Neil Daunt's "Personal Reminiscences of O'Connell," p. 18. 
 
312 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [i847- 
 
 resulted from the discussion. It forced from the 
 Imperial legislature a pledge to do full justice to 
 Ireland— a pledge they have shamefully violated; 
 and this legislative violation of a solemn pledge adds 
 to the force and weight of the argument for Repeal." * 
 There can be litde doubt also that the discussion 
 which took place on the motion produced a great 
 effect on opinion in England, and compelled a change 
 in policy of the Whig party, resulting in the retirement 
 of Lord Grey and Mr. Stanley, and the subsequent 
 formation of the Melbourne administration. O'Con- 
 nell's bargain with this Whig Ministry was entirely 
 disinterested. It was carried out on his part with 
 perfect good faith, through the whole period from 
 1835 to 1841 ; by his influence the Whigs were kept 
 in power, in spite of the failure of the Government 
 to carry the promised remedial measures through the 
 House of Lords. There can be no doubt that the 
 administration of Ireland by Lord Mulgrave and Mr. 
 Drummond had much to do with the maintenance of 
 this entente cordiale, and if the Government had been 
 equally successful in Parliament, it is possible that 
 Ireland might have been propitiated. 
 
 After the accession of Peel's Ministry in 1841, 
 O'Connell was impelled to renew the Repeal agitation 
 by the failure of the Whigs to carry their Irish 
 measures through the House of Lords ; by his long 
 past experience of Peel's policy to Ireland ; by his 
 personal animosity to Peel ; by the condemnation of 
 the Lords of the Irish administration of Lord Mul- 
 grave and Mr. Drummond ; by his conviction that 
 nothing could be gained for Ireland, except by agita- 
 tion brought to the very brink of civil war. That 
 O'Connell was perfectly justified in mooting the ques- 
 tion of Repeal from a constitutional point of view, 
 no one can now doubt ; he had himself opposed the 
 policy of the Parliamentary measures by which the 
 Union was carried; he had recollected the Irish Par- 
 * O'Neil Daunt's "Personal Reminiscences of O'Connell," p. 81. 
 
1847.] aCONNELL. 313 
 
 liament in its full vigour ; the repeal of the Act wai 
 as proper a subject for discussion both in Parliament 
 and on the platform as any other popular demand. 
 It has been doubted whether, in the commencement 
 of the second agitation for Repeal, he had more hopes 
 of success than in the first ; and whether he did not 
 again aim, by threats of Repeal, at bringing pressure to 
 bear on the Government for a change of policy, and 
 to secure the passing through Parliament of measures 
 he considered essential to Ireland. The success, 
 however, of the movement in Ireland was immense. 
 It roused the popular enthusiasm even more than 
 had the movement for Catholic Emancipation. With 
 the rising tide of popular feeling, his own hopes and 
 expectations increased. He might well conceive 
 that the same methods, which had caused relief for 
 the Catholics, would, in the intensity of public feeling 
 in Ireland, serve him for carrying the greater question 
 of Repeal. He had, perhaps, an exaggerated view 
 of the effects of a popular movement. He con- 
 stantly used the phrase that "there is a moral 
 electricity in the continuous expression of public 
 opinion concentrated on a single point perfectly irre- 
 sistible in its efficacy." Looking to the proportion 
 which the Irish then bore to the people of England, 
 he might not unreasonably think that if he could so 
 consolidate public opinion in Ireland, as to make the 
 country practically ungovernable by the English 
 Government, without resort to force or open rebellion, 
 he might succeed in compelling Parliament to concede 
 his demands. He attempted a task, however, beyond 
 his physical powers, at the age he had attained. He 
 was unable to take advantage of the breakdown of the 
 prosecution, and of the discredit cast upon the adminis- 
 tration of Peel, by the reversal by the House of 
 Lords of the verdict of the packed jury in Ireland, 
 and of the partisan decision of the Irish judges. In 
 his earlier days, there can be little doubt that he would 
 have made great use of this victory ; he might have 
 
314 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1847. 
 
 carried his policy to the point of superseding the 
 British Government throughout the greater part of 
 Ireland. His strength, however, was already spent; 
 he was unable any longer to initiate ; he could not keep 
 under control the more ardent spirits of his party ; he 
 could not prevent a disastrous split among his followers. 
 It is not yet possible, after an interval of forty 
 years, to pass a final judgment on the policy which 
 O'Connell advocated, or the methods which he adopted 
 for the purpose of accomplishing his aims. The close 
 of his life was in unhappy contrast to its general' 
 tenor ; a sense of failure in his last great effort dis- 
 heartened him ; the defection of friends, and the con- 
 sciousness of inability to direct the movement, must 
 have saddened him ; and to this was added the grief 
 caused by the crushing calamity of the Irish famine, 
 which, to a man of his sensitive nature, was almost 
 overwhelming. He, better than any one, appreciated 
 the extent of this terrible crisis, and the effect it would 
 have upon his country. He died under a sense of 
 gloom and despondency which few public men of his 
 station have had to endure. Whatever may have 
 been his faults, history must concede to him the 
 position of the greatest man whom Ireland has pro- 
 duced ; one who lifted a subject race from degradation 
 and servility to a position of equality with its oppressors, 
 who claimed for his country through long years a 
 restoration of those rights of self-government of which 
 It had been unjustly deprived, and who to all ages will 
 be loved by Irishmen for those sympathetic qualities 
 which, for them more than most people, were the 
 necessary conditions of leadership. There are two 
 tests of statesmanship — the one the actual work a 
 statesman accomplishes ; the other what he has striven 
 for, but failed to accomplish. O'Connell will stand 
 such tests better than most, if not all, of his con- 
 temporaries. No one accomplished more for his 
 fellow-citizens, in obtaining their emancipation from 
 laws unjust and mischievous, and in raising their 
 
i847.] aCONNELL. 3 [ 5 
 
 whole status. No one was more uniformly in advance 
 of his time in advocating great changes, tending to 
 the political, material, and moral well-being of Ireland. 
 A better epitaph could not perhaps be written on 
 O'Connell's tomb than his own eloquent words : 
 " Grattan stood over the cradle of his country and 
 followed her hearse. To me it has been given to 
 sound the trumpet of her resurrection, and proclaim 
 to the world that she is not dead, but sleepeth." 
 
3l6 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [[84S. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The death of O'Connell would have produced more 
 serious effects upon the fortunes of Ireland, if it had 
 not been that already his failure of health, on his 
 release from prison, and his consequent inability to 
 control the new elements growing up in the country, 
 had led to dissensions and schisms among the national 
 party. His death left the moderate section of the old 
 Repeal Association practically without a leader, or an 
 efficient exponent of their views. For a time, his son, 
 John O'Connell, acted as his successor, but he was 
 unequal to the task; he had no authority in Ireland 
 except what was due to the name he bore, and he 
 carried no weight in Parliament ; under his leadership 
 the Association melted away, and soon disappeared. 
 The more advanced and active men of the party had 
 already ranged themselves under Smith O'Brien, 
 Duffy, Meagher, and Mitchell, in their independent 
 confederation. This body, no longer influenced by 
 the superior authority of the Repeal Association under 
 O'Connell, now hurried onwards in a course, to which 
 its members had long been logically committed — 
 that of physical conflict with the Government. 
 
 Many circumstances tended to hasten on this issue. 
 The distress in Ireland in the early part of 1847 h^-d 
 been terrible ; famine and consequent fever and emi- 
 gration had diminished its population ; the poverty of 
 some districts was most deplorable ; no attempt had 
 been made by the Government to legislate in the. 
 direction of saving the poorer tenants from the harsh 
 
I848.J O'CONNELL'S SUCCESSORS. 317 
 
 processes of the eviction law ; the Poor Law Act of 
 this year, refusing relief to tenants, who were in the 
 occupation of more than a quarter of an acre of land, 
 added enormously to the number of those who were 
 compelled to give up their holdings. The agrarian diffi- 
 culty, thus brought to a crisis, gave rise to outrages 
 and crime of a most serious character. The Irish 
 Government, as usual, attributed these disturbances 
 to the action of agitators, rather than to the inherent 
 evils of the land system, and to its own neglect of 
 remedial measures. 
 
 Parliament was summoned in November, and the 
 Ministers, forgetting that they owed their position to 
 the rejection of the Coercion Bill of Sir Robert Peel, 
 in the previous year, now brought in a very similar 
 measure. It was based upon the familiar method of 
 enabling the Lord Lieutenant to proclaim districts, 
 within which exceptional powers were given to the 
 Executive, of forbidding the carrying of arms, of com- 
 pelling people to remain at home after dark, and of 
 employing a greater number of police at the charge of 
 the district. Peel gave a hearty support to it ; he 
 disclaimed any wish to triumph over the administra- 
 tion, and he reminded his own friends that the best 
 reparation, that could be made to his own defeated 
 Government, was to assist their successors in passing 
 this measure for Ireland. He admitted that coercion 
 was no remedy for the social evils of Ireland, but he 
 could not postpone it until he had remedial measures 
 before him. Mr. Disraeli, on behalf of the main body 
 of the Tory party, also supported it, endeavouring to 
 distinguish the position from that of the previous year, 
 by pointing out that it was the long delay between the 
 introduction of the Coercion Bill and its second reading 
 which had induced him and his friends to vote 
 against it. The measure was feebly resisted by John 
 O'Connell and a small section of Irish members, but 
 was carried against a minority not exceeding twenty. 
 Smith O'Brien, who was the sole representative of 
 
3l8 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1848. 
 
 the more advanced section of the Irish party, made 
 his appearance in the House on the third reading of 
 this measure, and deUvered a powerful speech against it. 
 
 Meanwhile events were brewing on the Continent 
 which were to produce a powerful effect on Ireland. 
 A revolution broke out in France early in 1848, which 
 swept away the Orleans Monarchy, and replaced it by 
 a Republican Government ; and from this centre a 
 revolutionary wave swept over a great part of Europe, 
 resulting in the overthrow of many existing institutions. 
 It had a rapid effect upon Ireland ; it fomented the 
 disaffection already rife there. Revolutionary papers, 
 such as the United Irishman, were started, advocating 
 rebellion and separation from England. Clubs of an 
 equally advanced and rebellious character were founded 
 in Dublin and other large towns — such as the Emmet 
 Club and the Sarsfield Club. Smith O'Brien, in the 
 Confederation, moved an address, congratulating the 
 French people on their action, and on the establishment 
 of the Republic ; and a deputation was sent over to 
 Paris, consisting of O'Brien and Meagher, to convey 
 their good wishes to Lamartine as the head of the 
 French Government. 
 
 The British Government met these movements 
 with strong measures, calculated to bring the dis- 
 affection to an immediate issue. They prosecuted 
 Smith O'Brien, Meagher, and Mitchell for seditious 
 speeches and writings. They applied to Parliament 
 for a series of measures strengthening the powers of 
 the executive. The first of these was a Bill, appli- 
 cable to the whole of the United Kingdom, for simpli- 
 fying the law of treason — a Bill which, when passed 
 into law, was known as the Treason Felony Act. 
 Smith O'Brien, returning from France, appeared in 
 the House of Commons in time to oppose this measure 
 on its second reading, and, amid great disturbance 
 and most hostile expressions from all sides of the 
 House, delivered against it his last speech in Parlia- 
 ment. " I see in this measure," he said, " a new 
 
1848.] SMITH OBRIEN. 319 
 
 attempt to meet the claims of Ireland by coercion 
 rather than by conciliation. The people will laugh at 
 your attempt to indict a nation. In the year 1842, 
 before I joined the Repeal Association, I felt it my 
 duty to make a last appeal in this House, asking from 
 them what was then called 'justice to Ireland ; ' that is, 
 a series of measures calculated to give satisfaction to 
 the Irish people, consistent with the maintenance of 
 the union between the two countries. You refused 
 that appeal. You have now one other opportunity 
 of meeting the demands of that nation, by yielding to 
 their claims for a separate legislature — for the principle 
 of self-government, as under the ancient constitution 
 of Ireland. ... I have been called a traitor. I do 
 not profess disloyalty to the Queen of England. But 
 if it is treason to profess disloyalty to this House, and 
 to the Government of Ireland by the Parliament of 
 Great Britain — if that be treason, I avow the treason. 
 Nay, more ; I say it shall be the study of my life to 
 overthrow the dominion of this Parliament over 
 Ireland. It has been said that I went to France for 
 the purpose of enlisting French aid — that is to say, 
 armed aid. This is a misapprehension. If I had 
 gone to France asking for aid of an armed kind, 
 believe me, I should have come back accompanied by 
 a tolerably large legion of troops. . . . The language 
 I have held in Ireland and in France to my country- 
 men has been this — that Irish freedom must be won 
 by Irish courage and Irish firmness. I have no desire 
 to impose on my country one description of servitude 
 for another; for I believe that the liberty of Ireland, 
 and its redemption from its present position, were they 
 won by foreign bayonets, could not be retained in its 
 possession by foreign bayonets ; and therefore it is 
 not my desire, or my intention, to place my country 
 under foreign dominion. . . . Now, I avow the fact — 
 I know not whether it be illegal or not — that I have 
 been instrumental in asking my countrymen to arm. 
 There is not a nation, I believe, in Europe, which does 
 
320 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1848. 
 
 not make it part of its duty to instruct its citizens in 
 the use of arms ; and I conceive that it is the peculiar 
 duty of the Irish people to obtain the possession of 
 arms at a time when you tell them you are prepared 
 to crush their expression of opinion, not by argument, 
 but by brute force. I ask them to arm now, for the 
 preservation of order, as well as for the purpose of 
 acquiring their liberties." 
 
 O'Brien then read a resolution, passed at the last 
 meeting of the Irish Confederation : " Resolved, that 
 we hereby repudiate, as a gross calumny, the imputa- 
 tion thrown out upon us by Lord John Russell, that 
 the object of this Confederation is social disorder, and 
 a violent separation from Great Britain ; and we 
 hereby declare that our object is now, as it always 
 was, the legislative independence of Ireland, and 
 thereby the maintenance of social order ; and we 
 desire that such independence may be obtained, if 
 possible, without civil war." He then proceeded : 
 " We have, at the suggestion of the late illustrious 
 leader of the Irish people, recommended our country- 
 men to send to the metropolis of Ireland a national 
 council, to be composed of three hundred persons. 
 With all deference to the Irish members in this House, 
 we do feel that they are not exponents of the Irish 
 nation, one in a hundred of whom only is represented 
 in this House. We are therefore prepared to call 
 upon the people of Ireland to send to Dublin such a 
 board ; and with that body I would recommend the 
 Government to enter into early and earnest negotia- 
 tions, for the purpose of effecting an amicable settle- 
 ment of the question now at issue between the two 
 countries." The latter part of the speech was scarcely 
 audible amid the chorus of frantic yells. Mr. John 
 O'Connell, while voting against the Bill, on the ground 
 that the law was inadequate without it, concurred in 
 execrating many of the speeches recently uttered in 
 Ireland, and in condemning the insane criminality of 
 those who were exciting that country to rebellion. 
 
1848.]' SMITH O'BRIEN. 32 1 
 
 Mr. Bright also spoke and voted against the measure. 
 It passed, however, by a majority of 283 to 24. 
 
 The trials of O'Brien and Meagher for sedition 
 took place shortly after, but in neither case were 
 verdicts obtained by the Crown. The juries were 
 most carefully selected or packed ; but a single 
 Catholic juror in each case escaped the vigilance of the 
 Crown lawyers, and would not join in finding verdicts 
 against them. Mitchell also was tried under the recent 
 Treason Felony Act, and in his case a jury was sworn 
 on which there was not a single Catholic ; twenty 
 Catholics were ordered by the Crown lawyers to stand 
 aside, and the jury finally consisted of twelve Protes- 
 tants of the most Orange dye. They found Mitchell 
 guilty, and he was sentenced to fourteen years' trans- 
 portation. Within two hours after the sentence, he was 
 hurried on board an armed steamer, and was conveyed 
 away from his country. Dublin had been filled with 
 troops to provide against a possible attempt to rescue 
 him. In the House of Commons, an attack was made 
 on the Government for packing the jury in Mitchell's 
 case ; but Lord J. Russell, who had been foremost in de- 
 nouncing this process in O'Connell's case, now defended 
 it, and had the assurance to say that express orders had 
 been given to the Crown lawyers not to order jurors 
 to stand aside because they were Catholics. 
 
 Later in the session. Parliament, under the influence 
 of fear caused by the revolutions in Europe, and by the 
 Chartist movement in England, passed several other 
 Acts for strengthening the powers of the Government in 
 Ireland — a measure for suspending the Habeas Corpus 
 Act, another for the removal of aliens, others for pro- 
 hibiting unlawful oaths, etc., making altogether six 
 coercion Acts in the year. Of remedial measures the 
 Government had promised, at the commencement of 
 the session, a tenants' compensation Bill, a Bill to 
 reform the grand juries, and a measure facilitating the 
 sale of encumbered estates. The first of these, a 
 measure almost identical with Stanley's Bill of 1845, 
 
32 2 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1848. 
 
 was introduced and was referred to a committee, but 
 was not proceeded with further, while a proposal of 
 Mr. Sharman Crawford to extend the tenant-right 
 custom of Ulster to the rest of Ireland was rejected 
 by a majority of 145 to 122. The second never saw 
 the light. The last alone was carried, but proved to 
 be ineffectual. 
 
 After the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, 
 the Irish Government at once took the initiative against 
 the leaders of the various clubs and local organizations. 
 It arrested and imprisoned, by warrants of the Lord 
 Lieutenant, and without any legal process, one hundred 
 and eighteen of these men, including Duffy, Martin, 
 O'Dogherty, and Williams. O'Brien was in Wexford 
 when he heard of these proceedings, and he was soon 
 after joined by Dillon and Meagher. O'Brien appears 
 to have lost his head ; he took the field against the 
 Government without arms or stores or provisions, and 
 with a mere handful of men. He wandered vaguely 
 and without any definite purpose from place to place, 
 followed by about three hundred men, whose numbers 
 were at times increased by bands of peasants, who as 
 speedily melted away, partly from want of food, partly 
 by the advice of the Catholic clergy. No persons of 
 influence or position joined in his enterprise. The 
 priests without exception held aloof from it. Under 
 these depressing circumstances, the outbreak was as 
 hopeless and even absurd as that of Emmet. O'Brien 
 and his few followers made a final attack on a cottage 
 at Enniscorthy, held by a small band of armed police, 
 and, on being repulsed, were compelled to surrender 
 in a garden attached to the cottage under circum- 
 stances which completely extinguished the enterprise. 
 
 O'Brien and his principal comrades were tried for 
 high treason, were found guilty, and were sentenced 
 to death. They declined to accept a commutation of 
 these sentences to transportation for life. It was 
 necessary to obtain an Act of Parliament authorizing 
 their transportation, and they were finally shipped to 
 
1849] PEEL'S PLANTATION SCHEME. 323 
 
 Van Diemen's Land as common convicts. Duffy was 
 twice tried for seditious libel, but on neither occasion 
 would the jury agree, and he was finally released. At 
 one of the last meetings held in Conciliation Hall, 
 John O'Connell pointed to the sad fate of those who 
 had disregarded the counsels of the Liberator, and, 
 drawing a moral from their case, entreated the people 
 of Ireland to sustain him in a constitutional agitation 
 and in peaceful appeals to Parliament. 
 
 In the following session of 1849, the Government 
 again applied for a renewal of the measure suspend- 
 ing the Habeas Corpus Act, and in spite of the 
 opposition of John O'Connell and a small section of 
 Irish members, but supported by Peel and the Tory 
 party, had no difficulty in obtaining it from Parliament. 
 Distress, resulting from the failure of potatoes, still 
 continued in many parts of Ireland, and it was again 
 necessary to make special provisions. A grant of 
 ^50,000 was made by Parliament to the distressed 
 unions, and a further contribution was levied for the 
 same purpose by a general rate in aid over the whole of 
 Ireland. The Bill for this purpose led to very im- 
 portant debates, in which Sir Robert Peel spoke twice 
 at length on the subject of Ireland, and elaborated a 
 plan for dealing with the poorer parts of that country. 
 He recommended the appointment of a commission 
 with vigorous and concentrated control over these 
 districts, and with powers to effect new settlements 
 there on the model of the plantations in Ulster ; he 
 proposed that it should be empowered to buy out the 
 existing landlords, to emigrate the redundant popula- 
 tion, to settle English farmers there, and eventually to 
 resell the land to English capitalists ; he quoted the 
 authority of Lord Bacon for such a plan.* He also 
 urged on the Government the extreme importance of 
 passing an effectual measure for the sale of encumbered 
 estates throughout the whole of Ireland. Mr. Disraeli, 
 in the second debate on this subject, criticised Peel's 
 * Hansard, 3rd series, vol. ciii. p. 179. 
 
324 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [i849- 
 
 project unfavourably : " The characteristic feature of 
 the scheme was that the State was to appropriate 
 to itself those vast regions which were the scenes 
 of so much misgovernment and misery, and which, 
 under a happier management, might lead to the 
 regeneration of Ireland. He could not but infer from 
 the scheme, as developed, that Sir Robert Peel antici- 
 pated a considerable home colonization in Connaught. 
 But he saw great difficulty in the way of planting 
 forced colonies in the west, and extreme dangers in the 
 consequences if they could succeed in so doing. The 
 colonies planted by James I. were sustained in the 
 midst of difficulties by a community of religious feeling 
 and sentiment. But no such element of success could 
 enter into the colonies anticipated in the west. The 
 farmers who would be planted there would be mostly 
 Protestants, and a religious struggle would arise, which, 
 in addition to the adverse claims of the population 
 already on the spot, would render it necessary for the 
 colonists to maintain themselves by force of arms in 
 their new location. Such a state of things would be 
 no step towards the regeneration of Ireland."* The 
 previous debate was notable for an important speech of 
 Mr. Bright, the first of a long series, spread over many 
 years, in which he urged reforms for Ireland. " Ire- 
 land," he said, " had for ages been entirely governed 
 through its landlords. The pernicious principle on 
 which it had been ruled through them was still in 
 practical operation. The pivot on which the Govern- 
 ment of Ireland had turned, and on which it still con- 
 tinued to revolve, was that of force and alms. They 
 had fifty thousand men in that country armed to the 
 teeth to keep the people down, and they were annually 
 voting away large sums of money to keep them alive. 
 Tried by its fruits this system was a palpable failure." 
 He proceeded to review the whole system of real 
 property tenure in Ireland, inveighing against the 
 strict and cumbrous system of entail, the law of 
 * Hansard, 3rd series, vol. civ. p. 190. 
 
1849.J THE ENCUMBERED ESTATES ACT. 325 
 
 primogeniture, and their consequences, the complication 
 of titles, and against the pride and extravagance of the 
 Irish gentry. "In the state of the land question lay 
 the real difficulty of the country. They must free the 
 land and facilitate its transfer ere they could hope 
 to effect anything like a permanent regeneration of 
 Ireland." 
 
 The debate led to the proposal of a fuller and more 
 complete measure for the sale of encumbered estates in 
 Ireland, which had long been urged on the Govern- 
 ment by Sir Robert Peel, and which was now cordially 
 supported by him. It was proposed to appoint a 
 special Commission for the sale of landed estates on 
 the petition of encumbrancers or creditors, and with 
 full power to cut all the legal knots and intricacies 
 in which Irish properties were involved, to give 
 Parliamentary titles to the new purchasers, and to 
 distribute the proceeds among the persons interested. 
 The measure was accepted by all parties without ob- 
 jection. It was believed by its authors that it would 
 have the effect of introducing a new class of owners — 
 Englishmen and Scotchmen, with large capital, which 
 they would be able and willing to expend in improving 
 the land in Ireland. In other words, it contemplated 
 the introduction of the English system of land-owner- 
 ship, where all substantial improvements are effected 
 by the capital of the landlords, and where the tenants 
 supply only the capital sufficient for stocking and 
 cultivating the land, in lieu of the Irish system, where, 
 as a rule, nothing has been done by the landlords, and 
 where the tenants have made whatever improvements 
 have been effected, even in drainage and the erection 
 of houses and farm-buildings. It was a land reform 
 essentially based on English methods and English ideas, 
 and without knowledge of or consideration for Irish 
 methods, or of the rights, which had grown up under 
 the Irish system. It does not appear to have occurred 
 to any one that some protection should be accorded 
 to the tenants in respect of their past improvements. 
 
326 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [i849- 
 
 when they were about to be handed over to new land- 
 lords, who were expected and intended to deal with 
 the land in a different spirit. With full knowledge of 
 the conditions of Irish tenancy laid bare by the Devon 
 Commission, it seems strange indeed that no heed was 
 given to the tenants' interests. Nothing could have 
 been easier than to provide that no sale should take 
 place under the exceptional powers proposed to be 
 conferred, unless some security was provided, sufficient, 
 in the view of the court, to save the tenants from 
 injustice on the part of the new purchasers. No such 
 course was taken, and no thought was given for the 
 tenants' interests ; nor does it appear that any amend- 
 ments were proposed in this sense by Mr. Sharman 
 Crawford or other representatives from Ireland, who had 
 advocated the claims of Irish tenants. 
 
 As a result, most serious consequences followed, the 
 full bearing of which appeared only in later years. 
 Although at law the Irish tenants, whether in Ulster or 
 in other parts of Ireland, were at this time entirely with- 
 out protection for the value of the improvements which 
 they had effected ; yet, under the practice as recognized 
 by the universal custom of the country, and often 
 enforced by the violent methods of agrarian outrage, 
 the landlords did not, or could not, raise their rents, so 
 as to appropriate the tenants' interest. Nowhere was 
 this more clearly understood and acted upon than in 
 Ulster, and the tenant-right custom of that province 
 was enforced by a general combination of the tenants, 
 and its rare breach was generally followed by murder of 
 the agent or landlord. The older class of landlords, 
 in whose families estates had been held for centuries, 
 generally recognized and acted on their moral obliga- 
 tions. Under the Encumbered Estates Act, large 
 numbers of landlords of this class were compelled to 
 sell their properties. The land passed by purchase into 
 the hands of a very different class of owners. So far 
 as the Act contemplated the introduction of English 
 capital and English landlords, it was a failure. In the 
 
1849.J THE ENCUMBERED ESTATES ACT. 327 
 
 eight years following the Act, 3197 properties were 
 sold by the Commission for upwards of twenty millions 
 sterling. They were bought by 7216 purchasers, of 
 whom only 314 were Englishmen or Scotchmen, show- 
 ing that substantially the new purchasers were Irishmen 
 buying with Irish capital. 
 
 These new Irish purchasers were of a different class 
 from the former owners. They bought with a view 
 to investment only, and with the intent of making as 
 much as possible out of the land. They came into 
 possession of the land, without knowing anything of the 
 traditions of the estate, or of 'the former relations of the 
 tenants to their landlords. They felt no compunction 
 in raising their rents to the full rack-rent value of the 
 land, wholly regardless of the tenants' interest. On the 
 other hand, they did not, any more than the older land- 
 lords, expend any capital of their own on the land. The 
 system which had prevailed in Ireland continued as in 
 the past, with this difference, that the tenants had less 
 moral security for any capital in money or labour, which 
 they expended on their holdings, just in proportion as 
 the new class of landlords, ignorant of the traditions of 
 the property, were likely to take advantage of their 
 legal position in screwing up their rents, or in clearing 
 their estates. The measure, therefore, failed in its 
 central idea of introducing the English system of im- 
 proving landlords, who would stimulate the expenditure 
 of capital on the land, while it entailed a vast amount 
 of hardship on individual tenants, by introducing a new 
 class of landlords, unacquainted with the custom of the 
 country, and bent only on making the utmost out of 
 the land, by raising their rents on the tenants' im- 
 provements. 
 
 Peel must be considered largely responsible for 
 this failure. The measure was due mainly to his 
 inspiration. He had appointed the Devon Com- 
 mission. He must have studied its reports sufficiently 
 to justify his Tenants' Compensation Bill of 1845, and 
 he must have known how completely the tenants 
 
328 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1849- 
 
 were at the mercy of the landlords in respect of past 
 improvements. As it was, the measure produced very 
 little good beyond enabling a certain number of mort- 
 gagees and encumbrancers to realize quickly their 
 interests. Many old Irish families were ruined by 
 being compelled to sell at a time, when landed property 
 in Ireland was most seriously depreciated, and when 
 no margin was left for them after payment of the 
 various charges, while their tenants suffered from being 
 handed over to new masters who knew not Joseph. 
 
 In the following year (1850), Lord John Russell 
 introduced two very important measures for Ireland, 
 the one for extending the franchise, the other for 
 abolishing the Lord Lieutenancy, and substituting for 
 it a Secretary of State for Ireland. As regards the 
 first, the results of the Reform Act of 1832 had every 
 year become more unsatisfactory ; the county electors 
 for the whole of Ireland were now diminished in 
 number to less than 30,000. It was proposed to reduce 
 the qualification from _;^5o annual value to £%, which 
 would have raised the number of voters to 264,000. 
 The measure was opposed in the Commons by the 
 main body of Tories, but was supported by PeeL In 
 the Lords, at the instance of Stanley, the qualification 
 was raised to ^15, which would have reduced the 
 proposed enfranchisement by one-half. On its return 
 to the Commons, Lord John Russell offered a com- 
 promise by inserting a ^ 1 2 qualification, by which it 
 was expected that the county electors would be 
 increased to 172,000. This was finally accepted by 
 the Lords, and the measure became law. The debate 
 on the other measure, for suppressing the Lord Lieu- 
 tenancy of Ireland, was an interesting one. Lord 
 John Russell pointed out that few would deny that 
 when two countries were united there ought to be one 
 administration only. This was the opinion of Lord 
 Somers at the time of the union with Scotland. But 
 at the time of the union with Ireland temporary objec- 
 tions existed to the extinction of the Viceroyship. He 
 
1850.J THE LORD LIEUTENANCY. 329 
 
 showed that the existing relations of the administrations 
 of the two countries were unsatisfactory, as there was 
 no Minister specially entrusted with the representation 
 of Ireland in the Cabinet. So much had this inconveni- 
 ence been felt, that a Chief Secretary for Ireland had 
 not unfrequently been placed in the Cabinet, who gave 
 instructions to his own chief, and who was, therefore, 
 the virtual governor of Ireland. The Lord Lieutenant 
 was placed in a very anomalous position ; he was asked 
 for everything, and blamed for everything, without 
 having the power belonging to his situation ; he had 
 the responsibility, but not the freedom and action of a 
 Minister of the Crown ; he was an object of jealousy, 
 resentment, and obloquy to different parties in 
 Ireland. By blending the Irish administration with 
 that of the United Kingdom, the§e feelings would be 
 extinguished. In answer to the objection that the 
 measure might tend to withdraw the nobility and 
 gentry of Ireland still more from that country, he 
 announced that it was the intention of the Queen, 
 from time to time, to visit Ireland, and with that 
 object the residence at Phoenix Park would be main- 
 tained. Peel doubted the expediency of the measure, 
 but was not unwilling to see it tried. He admitted the 
 anomalous position of the Chief Secretary for Ireland 
 since the Union. He objected, however, to the ap- 
 pointment of a fourth Secretary of State specially for 
 Irish business, and considered that the Chief Secretary 
 of State should be responsible for all the three king- 
 doms. The measure was very distasteful to many of 
 the Irish members, who considered that it destroyed 
 the last vestige of an independent and separate adminis- 
 tration in Ireland ; and though it was carried on the 
 second reading by a large majority — 295 to 70 — -it was 
 not further proceeded with, and never saw the light 
 again. 
 
 The speech, which Sir Robert Peel made on this 
 measure, was the last in which he dealt on Irish ques- 
 tions. A few weeks later he was thrown heavily from 
 
330 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1850. 
 
 his horse, while riding on Constitution Hill, and died 
 four days later from the effects of the fall. At the age 
 of sixty-two, he was still in the prime of life ; and 
 though more than forty years had elapsed since his 
 first introduction to official life, there was every reason 
 to hope that he might render much further service to 
 the country. He had never made better or more 
 powerful speeches than those delivered during this last 
 session, and his conduct in an independent position, 
 since his ejection from office in 1 846, had increased his 
 authority and weight with the country. He occupied 
 a position of great power without the restraints of office. 
 Of Peel's policy and action during his long career 
 as an English Minister, and on Imperial questions, 
 common to the United Kingdom, it is difficult to 
 speak in terms too favourable. His financial measures 
 for the reform of the currency, and in relation to the 
 Bank Charter, were of the highest order ; in economic 
 reforms, and in careful administration of the finances 
 of the country, he has never been surpassed, and 
 economists look back to his Government of 1841-46 
 with a sense of reproach to subsequent Govern- 
 ments, which have often professed, but have rarely 
 practised, economy; in foreign affairs he was prudent 
 and sagacious, ever anxious to avoid war by soothing 
 international difficulties ; in questions of social reform, 
 which had not become the subject of party conflict, 
 he was as advanced as any practical statesman of his 
 day ; he carried, when Home Secretary, the great 
 reforms of our penal laws which had long been advo- 
 cated by Mackintosh, Romilly, and Brougham. Above 
 all, he will ever be gratefully remembered for having 
 carried the great measure which opened our ports to 
 the commerce of all the world, and freed the food of the 
 people. To the sound policy of this he had been 
 converted by argument and experience, till he was the 
 chief agent in the greatest of all fiscal and economic 
 reforms, and not merely the unwilling instrument in 
 carrying out a policy which agitation had made in- 
 
1850.J PEEL. 331 
 
 evitable. The same high praise, however, cannot be 
 accorded in relation to Sir Robert Peel in respect of his 
 Irish policy. His connection with Ireland during his 
 long political career was very close. Looking back at 
 his forty years of political experience, it is not too 
 much to say that no statesman of his day had so great 
 an influence on the legislation and administration of 
 Ireland. More than any of his contemporaries, he 
 was responsible for the policy of England to that 
 country during this long period. At the outset of his 
 career he was Irish Secretary for the long term of five 
 years, and already showed his strength of will and 
 character by practically guiding the Irish policy of his 
 Government, for little was heard of the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant or the Home Secretary. He gave his utmost 
 support to the party of Protestant Ascendency, and 
 there was no indication of any views beyond those of 
 the intolerant faction to which he had allied himself. 
 
 The impressions which Peel received in Ireland 
 must have largely imbued his mind during the whole of 
 his political life, and although later he cut himself adrift 
 from the Orange party, and honestly endeavoured to 
 deal with Irish questions from an impartial point of 
 view, he never lost his distrust and dislike of O'Connell 
 and of the Catholic party. Apart, however, from his 
 prejudices, he appears to have been wanting in personal 
 sympathy, a quality so essential for the government of 
 Irishmen. There was a constitutional coldness about 
 him, from which he was never quite free, even in the 
 heat of Parliamentary conflict. Lord Shaftesbury has 
 said of him that he was " like an iceberg with a slight 
 thaw on the surface ; " * and O'Connell, alluding to the 
 same qualities in coarser language, said, " Peel's smile 
 is like the silver plate on a coffin." Later, when 
 Peel was Home Secretary between 1821 and 1827, he 
 was again responsible for the Irish policy of his 
 Government, and was chiefly concerned in directing it, 
 for the Irish Secretary in this case was quite subordi- 
 * "Life of Lord Shaftesbury," vol. i. p. 34 r. 
 
332 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [ 850. 
 
 nate. During this period he must be held mainly- 
 responsible for the refusal of the Catholic claims. After 
 the accession of Canning to the Ministry in [822, Peel 
 was the only prominent member of it in the House of 
 Commons who was opposed to these claims ; it can 
 scarcely be doubted that if he had consented to give 
 way, or if he had refused to be a party to resistance, it 
 would have been impossible to form an administration, 
 on the principle of maintaining the exclusion of the 
 Catholics from Parliament. It was due, therefore, 
 mainly to Peel that England refused these claims at 
 a time when the question was still in the phase of 
 reasonable and constitutional demand. 
 
 On the death of Canning, Peel again consented to 
 become the leader in the House of Commons of a 
 Government pledged to resist the Catholics, and yet, 
 before many months were past, he was compelled to 
 concede to violence and menace what he had refused 
 to argument and reason. To Peel, again, must be 
 attributed the unfortunate measures and policy by 
 which the concession to the Catholics was accom- 
 panied and followed, the restriction of the franchise of 
 Ireland, the exclusion of O'Connell from the benefit 
 of the Act, the denial to him and others of their just 
 claims for precedence at the Irish Bar, and the con- 
 tinuance of the exclusive system of administration in 
 Ireland, on the principles of the Protestant Ascendency. 
 It is certain that the long delay in making the con- 
 cession, the mode in which it was finally effected, 
 the humiliation to the Government in yielding to 
 threats, and the irritating measures with which the 
 Relief Act was accompanied, destroyed whatever 
 prospect there had been that this great measure would 
 tranquillize Ireland, and would make the Union ac- 
 ceptable to its people ; and for this failure Peel, more 
 than any of his contemporaries, must be held respon- 
 sible.* Later, when the Melbourne Government was 
 
 * O'Connell had foretold this in his evidence before the Com- 
 mittee of the House of Lords in 1828. He said, " Unless Emanci- 
 
1 850.] PEEL. 333 
 
 formed, on the basis of an agreement with O'Connell, 
 for carrying remedial measures for Ireland, and for ad- 
 ministering that country on principles the reverse of 
 those so long maintained by the Protestant Ascendency, 
 the attitude of the Tory party must be mainly attributed 
 to Peel. He was during this period their trusted 
 leader, with unquestioned authority. His avowed 
 policy was to make the Irish policy of the Govern- 
 ment the main platform of party attack, to resist their 
 measures to the utmost in the House of Commons, and, 
 when beaten there, to use his majority in the House of 
 Lords for the purpose of defeating them ; and further, 
 to use the authority and weight of that House for 
 the purpose of harassing and weakening the adminis- 
 tration of Ireland by Lord Mulgrave and Mr. Drum- 
 mond. In these efforts he was most successful, but at 
 a very serious cost to the permanent interests of the 
 empire and the relations of the two countries. The 
 course pursued completely alienated the National party 
 in Ireland, which had been appeased by the action of 
 the Whig Government, and led directly to the re- 
 opening of the question of Repeal ; while it delayed, 
 but did not permanently prevent, the passing of the 
 measures which were objected to. If Peel had adopted 
 for Irish questions the same wise policy with which he 
 treated English questions, during the great Liberal 
 impulse following upon the Reform Act of 1831 ; if 
 he had refused to allow Irish questions to be the 
 platform of party strife, and had allowed Lord Mel- 
 bourne's Government to carry out its policy without 
 hindrance, there was still hope that Ireland might have 
 been conciliated, and that a popular feeling might 
 have been created in that country tolerant of, if not 
 favourable to, the Union. 
 
 The reopening of the Repeal agitation was directly 
 due to the action of the Tory party in the House of 
 Lords during these six years, and Peel, who, as leader 
 
 pation is given heartily and cordially, it will only give the Catholics 
 additional power, and leave them the stimulant for exerting it." 
 
334 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1850. 
 
 of the party, might, through his influence with the 
 Duke of Wellington, have prevented the unwise action 
 of the Peers, was responsible for this, and had to reap, 
 when he returned to power in 1841, the evil fruits of 
 what he and his party had sown when in opposition. He 
 recommenced his second period of office by reverting 
 in Ireland to the old exclusive principles of administra- 
 tion, and he gave no promise of remedial measures. 
 The Irish people, therefore, were justified in believing 
 that the old system was restored in its integrity. Later, 
 when the strength of the Repeal agitation became 
 manifest, and when the difficulties of the Government 
 in Ireland were fully disclosed, Peel became conscious 
 that something must be done to appease Ireland. 
 His views underwent a change; they expanded under 
 the necessities of the time. He looked about him to 
 discover what remedial measures could be devised. 
 He broke completely with his former allies, the 
 Orange party, and proposed schemes which were 
 hateful to them. His measures, however, failed to 
 effect permanent good for two reasons — the one that 
 they were too late, that they had been extracted from 
 him only by agitation ; the other that they were not 
 sufficiently in accord with Irish ideas. The grant to 
 Maynooth was an exception to this. Peel cannot be 
 too highly praised for his courage in proposing this, 
 for his firmness in insisting on carrying it against the 
 strong conviction of three-fourths of his own party. 
 But the measure, though laudable in motive, was scarcely 
 worth the great effort and sacrifice made in passing it. 
 It was at best but a sop to the priesthood of Ireland. 
 It could in no way be accepted by the Catholics as an 
 equivalent to the monstrous injustice of the Established 
 Church of the minority in Ireland, while it logically 
 admitted their claims to a far wider measure. 
 
 The appointment of the Devon Commission to 
 inquire into the conditions of the tenure of land in 
 Ireland, and the grievances of tenants, was undoubtedly 
 an important step in the right direction, but only on 
 
i85o.] PEEL. 335 
 
 the assumption that it was not merely with the object 
 of staving off the question, but with the real intention 
 of legislating, when the facts were fully collected. 
 What excuse, however, can be made for the failure 
 or neglect to legislate, when the report and evidence 
 of the Commission showed so clearly the evils of the 
 Irish land system, and the grave injustice of the law ? 
 It is true that legislation on such a subject, involving 
 the adverse treatment of interests, which were then 
 thought to be the indisputable rights of landlords, was 
 difficult, if not impossible, in the face of the House of 
 Lords, an assembly of landlords, where the only Irish 
 interest represented was that which most needed 
 dealing with. A justification, however, of this kind, 
 for failure to legislate, is only a condemnation of the 
 Act of Union ; for it means that it was impossible 
 under the system of Government to carry measures 
 which the interests of Ireland required, and that 
 English legislators could not be induced, through fear 
 of its subsequent effect on English interests, to concede 
 what was so urgently demanded by justice and ex- 
 pediency in Ireland. 
 
 With respect to the famine, and the measures taken 
 to meeting the calamity, the extent of which Peel fully 
 appreciated, it is difficult to acquit his Government 
 of tardiness and inadequacy in its remedies. In view 
 of the report of the Devon Commission, it is difficult 
 to understand why some remedy should not have 
 been devised to prevent the clearances of estates, the 
 cruelty and injustice of which Peel admitted ; still 
 more so, the passing of a measure for the sale of 
 encumbered estates, without some protection for the 
 tenants, was quite unjustifiable. 
 
 The time has not yet come when a final opinion 
 can be expressed on Peel's opposition to the Repeal 
 movement. If England should ultimately determine 
 to reopen the Act of Union, and to give to Ireland a 
 separate legislature for dealing with Irish questions, and 
 which, without separating the two countries or destroying 
 
33^ THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1850, 
 
 the imperial authority, shall satisfy her yearnings for 
 autonomy, history will justly condemn the statesman, 
 who declined to effect a compromise on this question 
 with the greatest of Irishmen, at a time when it could 
 have been effected with the minimum of strain. In any 
 case, however, the proceedings against O'Connell and 
 the principal leaders of the Repeal movement must be 
 condemned. The agitation, as carried on by them on 
 the lines recommended by O'Connell, was certainly 
 not illegal. To prosecute them for their action, and 
 to pack the juries with a view to their conviction, was 
 a strain upon the law and the constitution. It was 
 obviously impossible to obtain a verdict against O'Con- 
 nell from any jury on which a single Catholic was 
 allowed to sit. In other words, of the eight and a half 
 millions of Irishmen, seven millions agreed with him 
 and regarded him as their leader. His action, there- 
 fore, was in the highest sense political, and should have 
 been dealt with politically ; and if it was necessary to 
 restrain and prevent O'Connell's action in the interest 
 of the empire, the case should have been broxight 
 before Parliament and dealt with by special powers 
 obtained from this the highest tribunal of the United 
 Kingdom. 
 
 In dealing with the reputation of a statesman of the 
 type of Sir Robert Peel — one who never attempted to 
 lead or to form public opinion, who seldom took the initi- 
 ative on any great question, but who closely observed 
 and followed opinion, and gave effect to it when it 
 could no longer be resisted — it is necessary to judge 
 not merely by what he effected, but by what he neg- 
 lected to do and by what he successfully resisted. 
 Judging of Peel in this way with respect to Ireland, it 
 is difficult to come to any other than an adverse 
 opinion as to the general drift of his policy. During 
 the forty years that he influenced or determined the 
 policy of England to that country, he did little willingly 
 to unite the two people in more friendly bonds. 
 He was the principal actor in one great concession 
 
1850.] PEEL. 337 
 
 and other smaller concessions ; but the great conces- 
 sion was made too late, and under circumstances 
 and attended by other measures, which destroyed its 
 efficacy as a healing measure, and the minor conces- 
 sions were subject to the same infirmity. He resisted 
 and postponed for many long years other most impor- 
 tant measures, urgently needed for the peace and well- 
 being of Ireland — measures which were subsequently 
 carried, when agitation had wrung from British states- 
 men, what was denied to argument and reason. 
 
 But not the least of Peel's defects as regards 
 Ireland was his want of sympathy for the vast majority 
 of its people. In the long range of his speeches, there 
 is scarcely a single passage in which he addressed the 
 Catholics of Ireland, even when making concessions 
 to them, in a strain of genuine sympathy. As already 
 pointed out, this defect was in part constitutional. 
 Lord Beaconsfield, in a description of Peel, in many 
 respects appreciative and acute, said of him that "by 
 nature he was shy, that his manner was artificial, 
 haughty, stiff, and exuberantly bland," and that he 
 was never quite at ease except in the House of Com- 
 mons.* Peel rarely spoke on the public platform ; he 
 never passed through the ordeal of a contested election ; 
 he had experienced little, therefore, of popular applause, 
 and had felt little himself of popular sympathy. It 
 was to the House of Commons that he devoted his 
 life. There his influence was unrivalled. He had 
 studied its moods through long years, and knew its 
 measure better than any statesman of the present 
 century. His speeches, without ever rising to the 
 highest flights of eloquence, from want of the inward 
 inspiration of passion or imagination, were models of 
 perspicuous reasoning and skilful adaptation to his 
 audience. No one knew better the flaws of his own 
 case, or the strength or weakness of his opponents' 
 arguments. His style was didactic and diffuse, f 
 
 * " Life of Lord George Bentinck," p. 319. 
 t A contemporary of Sir Robert Peel told the writer that, sitting 
 
 Z 
 
338 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1850. 
 
 ranging over the whole field of discussion, and treat- 
 ing or avoiding with the greatest skill the points of 
 difficulty and danger. A distinguished presence and 
 powerful voice contributed to his personal influence 
 in the House of Commons. His power of transacting 
 business in it was unrivalled. His standard of public 
 duty has rarely been equalled, never excelled. Lord 
 Beaconsfield well summed up his qualities in saying that 
 he was the greatest member of Parliament that ever 
 lived. He was also the statesman most representative 
 of the middle classes of England, from whom he had 
 sprung, and who then controlled the House of Com- 
 mons, with all their strength, and many of their weak- 
 nesses, with their caution and lack of enthusiasm, 
 with their religious beliefs and prejudices, their love 
 of order and respect for law, but also their want of 
 sympathy with the ideas of other races. The very 
 qualities which made his success as an English Minister, 
 which secured his influence in the House of Commons 
 and the confidence of those, who were, in his days, the 
 governing classes of England, and which made him 
 safe and in so many respects truly great, as a ruler 
 of the empire, rendered him unfitted to govern with 
 success the Irish people, and deprived his measures 
 for them of healing power. 
 
 on one occasion next to him in the House of Commons, and being 
 about to rise and speak, he asked whether it would be well to be 
 short and concise. The answer of Peel was, " No ; be -long and 
 diffuse. It is all-iraportant in the House of Commons to put your 
 arguments in many different forms." 
 
( 339 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Fifty years had elapsed between the Act of Union 
 and the death of Sir Robert Peel ; it is worth while to 
 consider how far during this time the expectations held 
 out by Mr. Pitt had been realized ; whether mutual 
 harmony and confidence had been established between 
 the two nations, and whether the Empire had been 
 made more powerful and secure by Ireland becoming 
 more free and more happy. The answer, it cannot be 
 doubted, must be in the negative. During the interval, 
 with the exception of two short periods, Ireland had 
 been in a state of feverish agitation ; was the scene of 
 internal discord, and the subject of repression and 
 oppression from without. The two periods of excep- 
 tion to this were the few years immediately succeeding 
 the Union, and those of the second Melbourne Ad- 
 ministration between 1835 and 1841. In the first of 
 these periods the Irish were in a state of expectation, 
 hoping for the realization of the promises held out by 
 Mr. Pitt, and by which the Union had been carried. 
 It was only when it became clear that these promises 
 would not be carried that an agitation arose, which, 
 gaining force year by year, gradually absorbed all the 
 energies of four-fifths of the nation, and eventually 
 forced the hands of the Government and compelled 
 concession. O'Connell and Peel were the respective 
 representatives of the two opposing forces throughout 
 the greater part of this great controversy. It was 
 O'Connell who had organized the Catholics of Ireland 
 into a compact body, and who taught them how to 
 
340 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1850- 
 
 carry agitation to the point of making the country 
 ungovernable without infringing the law. Peel for 
 many years was the leader of the Protestant party in 
 the House of Commons, and without him their cause 
 would have broken down years before the final defeat. 
 
 If Ireland had been left to itself, there can be little 
 doubt that the Catholic Emancipation would have been 
 carried at least a generation earlier. The effect of the 
 Union was to relegate the decision On this Irish ques- 
 tion to the electors of England and Scotland, and to 
 import into it the Protestant prejudices of these people. 
 When the concession was finally made, it was difficult, 
 from an Irish point of view, to conceive a position 
 more humiliating than that of the English statesmen, 
 who were obliged, when yielding, to confess that they 
 had conceded only to agitation and the fear of rebel- 
 lion ; and who endeavoured to cover their retreat in 
 the eyes of the English people, by the petty acts of 
 spite against the Irish leaders, and by the suppression 
 of three-fourths of the Irish electors, which deprived 
 their measure of its grace, and rendered it as little 
 acceptable as possible. 
 
 It is equally difficult to appreciate the want of 
 statesmanship and the official blindness of those, who 
 admitted the necessity of legislation in the interest 
 of the Catholics, but who thought that the mere altera- 
 tion of the law was sufficient. If Ireland alone had 
 dealt with the question, it can scarcely be doubted that 
 the change of law would have been accompanied by 
 a change of administration, and that other institutions 
 — such as the Church, the University, and the Corpo- 
 rations — would have been soon modified in accordance 
 with the new principle of religious equality. The 
 English statesmen, however, whether of the school of 
 Wellington and Peel, or of Grey and Stanley, continued 
 In the old groove, and Imagined that they could govern 
 Ireland on the old principle of Protestant Ascendency, 
 even after the legal recognition of equality by the 
 Catholic Relief Act. What wonder that Ireland con- 
 
i85o.] RETROSPECT. 341 
 
 tinued disturbed, and that the severest of Coercion Acts 
 was of no avail to stem, the discontent or to prevent 
 outbreaks of crime ? 
 
 The short period which followed during the Mel- 
 bourne Administration was the one bright spot of Irish 
 history during the fifty years. For the first and only 
 time there was complete harmony of views between 
 the Government and the Irish leaders. The compact 
 between O'Connell and the Whig statesmen, by which 
 the Whig Government was sustained in power, upon 
 condition of administering Ireland, and legislating for it, 
 in a totally new spirit, was of inestimable value. While 
 it lasted, peace and content prevailed in Ireland. 
 During this period O'Connell and Peel were again the 
 real opposing forces. To O'Connell was mainly due 
 the compact. But for him the Whigs would probably 
 have fallen back on the old methods ; the necessity 
 they felt for his support, the effective manner in which 
 it was rendered, the undeviating honesty with which 
 he carried out his part of the bargain, and the power 
 which he held in reserve of reopening the Repeal 
 question, which he had allowed to subside, kept the 
 Whigs to their promises. To Peel must be mainly 
 attributed the tactics of making the Irish policy of the 
 Government, whether of legislation or administration, 
 the main point of attack during these years,* and of 
 using the House of Lords as the engine for defeating 
 measures which had been accepted by the representa- 
 tives of the Irish people, and passed by the House of 
 
 * Lord Macaulay, in his great speech on the state of Ireland in 
 1844, thus speaks of Peel's policy during the Melbourne Administra- 
 tion : — " During six years an opposition, powerful in numbers, 
 formidable in ability, selected the Administration of Ireland as the 
 object of their fiercest and deadliest attacks. Those Lord Lieutenants 
 who were most popular in Ireland were assailed as no others had 
 ever been assailed, and assailed, too, for those very efforts of their 
 Administration which were the chief causes of the conciliation of the 
 Irish people. Every legislative Act, too, without exception, intro- 
 duced by that Government for the advantage of Ireland, was either 
 rejected altogether or mutilated." — Hansard, 3rd Series, vol. Ixxii. 
 P- 479- 
 
342 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1850. 
 
 Commons. A more foolish and short-sighted political 
 game could not be conceived. Unfortunately, it was 
 as successful as it was mischievous. The Irish policy 
 of the Government was not popular in England, and 
 was the ultimate cause of its defeat at the next general 
 election. But the rejection of the Irish measures by 
 the House of Lords accomplished much more than the 
 defeat of the Ministers who had proposed them ; it 
 destroyed the last chance of the Union being accepted 
 by Ireland as a final settlement. 
 
 On the return of the Tory Government to power 
 in 1 84 1, the antagonism of the two great leaders of 
 opinion on either side of the Irish Channel was again 
 brought into strong relief. It is the necessary con- 
 sequence of the centralizing system effected by the 
 Union that when the Tory party is in power in Eng- 
 land, its allies must also be supreme in Ireland, although 
 it has there the support of only one-fourth of the people. 
 The return to power, therefore, of the Tory party in 
 1 841 was signalized in Ireland by a renewal of the 
 Protestant Ascendency ; this, and the failure of the 
 Whigs to carry their measures, were the motives with 
 O'Connell for the renewal of the Repeal question. 
 The extraordinary outburst of popular feeling in 
 Ireland which this occasioned, and which was a sur- 
 prise even to O'Connell, was due to the pent-up feel- 
 ings of the Irish people. They had learned, by long 
 years of experience, to despise and hate the adminis- 
 tration of their country, and to distrust the Imperial 
 Parliament. They had been taught that it was by 
 agitation only, carried to the verge of civil war, that 
 any concession could be obtained. Peel was again 
 the main opponent of O'Connell. He met the move- 
 ment with courage. Relying on English opinion, he 
 determined to put it down. The methods he adopted, 
 in the perversion and manipulation of the judicial pro- 
 ceedings of Ireland, in order to obtain a conviction of 
 O'Connell and the other leaders of the movement, 
 were unwise, and might have been disastrous had 
 
iSjo.J RETROSPECT. 343 
 
 O'Connell been physically equal to his task. As it 
 was, the temporary suppression of the constitutional 
 agitation for Repeal led to a renewal of the separatist 
 movement under the " Young Ireland" party. 
 
 Meanwhile economic and social changes were taking 
 place in Ireland, of which the causes may also be traced 
 to a great extent to the Union. This measure increased 
 greatly the motives for Irish landlords to become 
 absentees, and to spend their incomes in England ; * it 
 tended to impoverish this class by bringing them into 
 competition with the far wealthier persons of the same 
 class in England. Their poverty and their needs, and 
 their hopes of obtaining political influence in the Im- 
 perial Parliament, induced them to adopt the system 
 of letting their lands to middle-men, who relet in very 
 small lots at competitive rents ; and thus a pauper 
 tenantry was created without any of those restraints 
 upon the increase of population, which are elsewhere 
 afforded by a widely distributed ownership of land, and 
 without those incentives to industry and thrift caused 
 by fixity of tenure. By the growth of this system, by 
 the centralization established by Peel, and by their 
 defeat in the great political agitation on the Catholic 
 question, the landlords lost all their local influence, and 
 came to be regarded only as rent-receivers, without 
 any ostensible function in the social system ; the more 
 hated because they were identified since the union with 
 an alien rule, and were regarded as the garrison by 
 which and for which the administration was maintained. 
 
 * Arthur Young had foretold this. In his "Tour in Ireland," 
 he says, " In conversation upon the subject of a union with Great 
 Britain, I was informed that nothing was so unpopular in Ire- 
 land as such an idea, and that the great objection to it was increas- 
 ing the number of absentees. While it was in agitation twenty Peers 
 and sixty Commoners were talked of to sit in the British Parliament, 
 which would be the residence of eighty of the best estates in England. 
 Going every year to England would by degrees make them residents ; 
 they would educate their children there, and in time would become 
 mere absentees; becoming so they would be unpopular, and others 
 would be elected, who, treading in the same steps, would yield their 
 places still to others." Pinkerton's "Voyages," vol. iii. p. 817, 
 
344 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1850, 
 
 The famine fell upon this abnormal and unhealthy 
 system with fatal effect. Seldom in the history of any 
 country has there been a more lamentable breakdown 
 of administration than in the early measures by which 
 Peel and Russell endeavoured to cope with it. This 
 was due in part to the delay in proposing remedies, 
 caused by the ministerial crisis in Peel's cabinet, and 
 to the necessity for raising the whole question of Free 
 Trade, before determining what should be done for 
 Ireland, and to the further delays caused by the change 
 of Government, and in part also to excessive centrali- 
 zation, and to the unwise endeavour to carry out 
 public works in every part of Ireland by agents of 
 the Government. It is certain that the loss of life 
 which attended the famine might have been to a great 
 extent averted if no such delays had taken place, if 
 Ireland had been allowed the initiative in measures 
 for its relief, and if at an early period, in accordance 
 with the advice tendered by O'Connell, the burthen of 
 relief had been thrown upon the landowners. This was 
 but one of many evidences of the evil of centralization. 
 In no single case could it be said that legislation, during 
 the period referred to, was carried out at the time 
 or in the manner which public opinion in Ireland 
 required it. In almost every case legislation was 
 delayed till agitation made it impossible to refuse, 
 and when the measures of relief were accompanied 
 or preceded by measures of coercion to put down the 
 disturbances which had their origin only in the neglect 
 of remedies. It is not difficult to conceive what 
 would have happened had Ireland been left to manage 
 its own internal affairs, and if the Act of Union had 
 been confined to provisions for the settlement of the 
 common affairs of the two countries. An Irish Par- 
 liament would probably have proceeded onwards in 
 this direction already so wisely commenced by the 
 Parliament of 1793. Under the direction of states- 
 men such as Grattan, Plunket, Parnell, and others, it 
 would have opened the portals of the constitution to 
 
1850.] CONCLUSION. 345 
 
 the Catholics at an early date ; the great subjects of the 
 tithes, the corporations, the Church, and the land, would 
 have been settled by mutual concession before they 
 became such burning questions ; and all the forces 
 of the Irish social system might have been welded 
 together instead of being separated and divided. Of 
 the many bad effects of the destruction of the Irish 
 Parliament and the suppression of autonomy, unques- 
 tionably the worst has been that it induced the Pro- 
 testant minority to look for support in England, 
 and to dissociate itself more and more from its 
 fellow-countrymen in Ireland, and that it tended con- 
 tinually to sectarianize and divide a people, who by the 
 physical conditions of their country, should be one 
 community. 
 
 Another effect of the Union, which was not long in 
 showing itself, was the increased cost of the administra- 
 tion of Ireland, caused, in part by the chronic discon- 
 tent of its people, and in part by the removal of all 
 checli on the expenditure of imperial funds there. The 
 government of Ireland had been very economically 
 carried on, so long as the charge fell directly on its 
 people, and was subject to the control of its Parliament. 
 After the Union, its administration became in time one 
 of the most costly, wasteful, and least efficient in Europe. 
 Although its taxes were largely increased, the expense 
 of governing it increased in a much greater proportion. 
 It was found necessary to double the military forces in 
 Ireland ; and during the war with France, and during 
 times of civil commotion, between 40,000 and 50,000 
 soldiers were quartered there, or nearly four times 
 the a.verage number before the Union. The Irish 
 Constabulary, first established by Peel, in 1814, was 
 gradually increased, till it reached the number of 
 12,000, a highly centralized and semi-military force, 
 which had little effect upon agrarian crime. After 
 paying the cost of administration, the revenues of 
 Ireland did little more than recoup to the imperial 
 exchequer the cost of the army and police maintained 
 
346 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT. [1850. 
 
 there ; and practically no contribution was derived 
 from it in aid of the common expenses of the United 
 Kingdom, or for the army and navy necessary for the 
 maintenance of the Empire. Ireland, therefore, was 
 no source of increased strength to the Empire, but 
 rather the reverse, as in time of war it required an 
 increased force to keep down the spirit of discontent 
 and disaffection. During the same period, also, Irish 
 questions were the constant cause of embarrassment 
 and confusion in English and imperial politics. Of 
 the many changes of Ministries during the fifty years, 
 only two, those in 1830 and 1841, were not directly 
 due to this cause ; and even in these two the out- 
 going Governments owed the loss of confidence 
 in them of the electors of Great Britain to their Irish 
 policy. 
 
 These evil effects, however, of the Act of Union, 
 and the justice of the complaints of the majority of 
 the Irish people, were long in becoming apparent to 
 any important section of the English people. For a 
 time, and owing to a concurrence of circumstances — 
 the waning energies and subsequent death of O'Connell, 
 the serious split in the ranks of the Repeal party, the 
 resort to physical force of the more advanced section, 
 the extreme depression of the people of Ireland, caused 
 by the overwhelming calamity of the famine, and the 
 betrayal of their promises by a section of the Irish 
 Catholic representatives in 1850, — the policy of the 
 repression was successful. Disaffection was driven 
 below the surface ; open agitation for Repeal was 
 checked. For some years no more was outwardly 
 heard of it. But the opinions of the bulk of Irishmen 
 were not altered. They were, if possible, more em- 
 bittered against the Government and against England. 
 Below the surface secret societies increased in number 
 and force. Millions of Irishmen carried with them 
 across the Atlantic, under a forced emigration, a sense 
 of wrong, aggravated by the circumstances under which 
 large numbers of them had been compelled to give 
 
1850.] CONCLUSION. 347 
 
 up their holdings. This laid the seed of future and 
 greater troubles. When Ireland awoke again, after 
 years of resolute government and neglect of remedial 
 legislature, to a renewed agitation, it was in response 
 to a summons from a greater Ireland beyond the seas, 
 embittered by experience and traditions of injustice 
 and wrong. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abercromhy, Mr., elected Speaker, 
 167 
 
 Acland, Sir Thomas, 191 
 
 Act of Union, no advantage to Irish 
 people by, 1 10 ; effect of, on English 
 politicsj 112 
 
 Addington, Mr., appointed, 14 
 
 Althorp, Lord, movss for inquiry into 
 state of Ireland, 59 ; not adverse to 
 ballot and triennial Parliaments, 116; 
 Coercion Bill introduced in Commons 
 by, 137 ; a few concessions made in 
 Bill by, 140 ; Irish Church measure 
 brought forward by, 141 ; against 
 renewal of Coercion Act, 156; sanc- 
 tions interview with O'Connell, 158; 
 resignation of, 160 
 
 Anglesey, Lord, as Lbrd Lieutenant, 
 82 ; recalled by Government for in 
 dependent actions, 89; enforces Duke 
 of Wellington's arguments, 103 ; and 
 O'Connell on repeal of the Union, 
 115; again made Lord Lieutenant, 
 117; Irish appointments by, 119; 
 unwilling to come to terms with 
 O'Connell, 119 ; proclaims new asso- 
 ciation of O'Cdnnell, 124; continues 
 Irish policy on Tory lines, 133 ; re- 
 placed by Lord Wellesley, 143 
 
 Appropriation clause, 142 
 
 Arms Act, opposition to, 212 
 
 Ballot, 116 
 
 Baring, Messrs., 262 
 
 Bedford, Duke of, as Lord Lieutenant, 
 24 
 
 Bentinck, Lord George, supports coer- 
 cion, 270 ; opposes second reading of 
 Coercion Bill, 275 ; and construction 
 of Irish railways, 292 
 
 Board of Works for Ireland and the 
 relief works, 283, 285 
 
 Bottle Riot, 52 
 
 Brand, Mr., 28 
 
 Brougham, attack by, on Canning, 56 ; 
 petition of Catholics presented by, 
 58 ; presents petition from Catholic 
 Association, 61 ; opposes suppression 
 of Association, 64 ; supports motion 
 for Catholic claims, 66 ; supports 
 Catholic claims, 74 ; consents to dis- 
 franchisement, 105 ; motion by, to 
 allow O'Connell to take the new 
 oath, 106 ; and coercion, 157 ; re- 
 vives Irish question, 198 
 
 Bright, Mr., opposes the Maynooth 
 grant, 243 ; urges reforms for Ire- 
 land, 324 
 
 Burdett, Sir F., 66 S introduces Catho- 
 lic Relief Bill, 68 ; moves resolution 
 for Catholics, 83 
 
 Burton, Mr. Justice, and judgment of 
 O'Connell, 226 
 
 Butt, Isaac, and Union tAuse, 209 
 
 Cabinet, treacherous intrigue in, 12 
 Canning, Mr., resignation of, 15 ; duel 
 of, with Lord Castlereagh, 29; speech 
 of, on Catholic question, 33 ; Catho- 
 lic Bill supported by, 50 ; proposes 
 admission of Catholic peers to Parlia- 
 ment, 56 ; Secretary for Foreign Af- 
 fairs, 56 ; attack of Brougham on, 
 56 ; supports suppression of Catholic 
 Association, 64 ; supports motion in 
 favour of Catholic claims, 66 ; vindi- 
 cation of, 67 ; introduces Catholic 
 Relief Bill, 68 ; supports Catholic 
 claims, 74 ; Government of, 76 ; reply 
 of, to Peel, 77 ; position of, not satis- 
 factory, 78 ; as Premier, 79 ; difficult 
 position in Parliament of, 80 ; Shell 
 disposed to give, a trial, 81 ; death 
 of, 81 ; and Catholic Emancipation, 
 81 ; death of, received with great re- 
 gret in Ireland, 82 
 Castlereagh, Lord, 4, 15 ; duel of, with 
 Canning, 29 ; motion of, on Catholic 
 
35° 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 claims carried, 34 ; and Grattan, 49 ; 
 last official act proposal for Coercion 
 Bill, 56 
 
 Catholic Association founded, 59 ; 
 Brougham presents petition of, 61 ; 
 the suppression of the, 63 ; opposition 
 of Bill for suppressing, 64 ; funds 
 used to promote all Catholic causes, 
 73; successes obtained by, 73; ad- 
 journs meetings for six weeks, 80 ; 
 activity of, 82 ; and Mr. Vesey 
 Fitzgerald, 85 ; and the Clare elec- 
 tion, 87 ; power of the, 91 ; proposed 
 suppression of, 94 ; dissolved itself, 
 95 ; and the Duke of Wellington, 
 102; andtheforty-shillingfreeholders, 
 104 ; vote expenses for re-election of 
 O'Connell, 115 
 
 Catholic bishops and endowment of 
 their Church, 5 ; veto of Crown on 
 appointment of, 39 ; resolution of, 
 against the Veto, 40 
 
 Catholic Board, suppression of, 44 
 
 Catholic charities, measure for super- 
 vision of, 225 
 
 Catholic claims. Prince of Wales favour- 
 able to, 12 ; Pitt offers to abandon, 
 14 ; excuse for retirement of Mr. 
 Pitt, 1 7 ; grievous error in refusing, 
 18 ; Mr. Grattan on the, 20 ; consti- 
 tutional agitation for, 25 ; presenta- 
 tion of petition for, 26 ; Lord Howick 
 and, 26 ; Mr. Grattan again moves 
 for inquiry into, 29, 30 ; Prince of 
 Wales adverse to, 34 j conduct of, 
 taken from Grattan, 42 ; Sir F. 
 Burdett proposes motion for, 66 ; 
 and Mr. Canning, 67 ; Peel con- 
 vinced as to, 68 ; violent speech of 
 Duke of York against, 70 ; supported 
 by Canning, Plunket, and Brougham, 
 74 ; king resolves to oppose any 
 concession to, 76 ; resistance of Peel 
 to, 77 ; Lord Eldon on the, 89 ; 
 George IV. consents to consideration 
 of, 93 ; Peel's proposals respecting, 
 98 ; Peel responsible for refusal of, 332 
 
 Catholic Emancipation, 9 ; intrigue of 
 Cabinet against, 12; objections of 
 George IIL to, 13 ; resolutions in 
 favour of, 19 ; Grattan introduces 
 another measure for, 38 ; oppositions 
 of Pitt to, 46 ; last effort of Grattan 
 for, 47 ; not popular with English 
 middle classes, 74 ; Mr. Canning's 
 support of the cause of, 81 ; Peel 
 not convinced in favour of, loi ; 
 main result of agitation for, 112 
 
 Catholic militia, 30 
 
 Catholic priesthood, endowment of, 244 
 
 Catholic Relief Act, concession of, 332 
 
 Catholic Relief Bill, rejected by the 
 Lords, 58, 69 ; Peel moves the, 94 ; 
 passed without opposition, 95 ; 
 opposition of the country to, 103 ; 
 and O'Connell, 106 ; conceded with- 
 out grace, 107 ; Government pledge 
 as to, 174 
 
 Catholic Rent, 60, 74 
 
 Catholics, exclusion of, from service in 
 State, 9 ; exercised for first time 
 right of voting, 9 ; Mr. Pitt refuses 
 to present petition of, 19 ; and Mr. 
 Fox, 23 ; concihated by Duke of 
 Bedford, 24 ; Mr. Fox best friend 
 of, 25 ; hopelessness of, to obtain 
 redress, 31 ; hopes of, raised by visit 
 of George IV., 51 ; petition of, 
 against administration of justice, 58, 
 134 ; Sir F. Burdett in favour of, 83 ; 
 make common cause with English 
 Dissenters, 83 ; Lord Lansdowne 
 proposes measure for relief of, 84 ; 
 education of, 143, 246 ; scheme of 
 Stanley for, 145 ; appointment of, 
 176 ; and Trinity College endow- 
 ments, 247 ; sacrifice of Peel for, 
 251; and equality, 252; the work 
 of O'Connell for, 299 
 
 Church rates or cess, 130 ; proposal 
 of Shell to abolish, 132 
 
 Clanricarde, Lord, and tenant-right 
 Bill, 240 
 
 Clare election, the, 85 ; O'Connell and 
 the, 86 ; result of the, 89 
 
 Clearances, Lord Palmerston on, 286 ; 
 Mr. Poulett Scrope's speech on, 288 
 
 Clontarf Repeal meetings, 217 
 
 Coercion Act, Peel applies for, 45 ; 
 question as to renewal of, 156 ; diffi- 
 culties of, 157 ; determined to renew 
 all clauses of, 159 
 
 Coercion Bill passed, 269 ; debates on, 
 270 ; Smith O'Brien and O'Connell 
 protest against, 271 ; first reading 
 carried of, 274 ; rejection of, 275; 
 resisted by John O'Connell, 317 ; 
 carried, 317 ; six acts passed, 321 
 
 Coercive laws, not remedial measures, 
 applied, no 
 
 Constabulary, Irish, establishment of, 
 45 ; application for extension of, 54, 
 177 
 
 Convention Act, prosecutions under, 32 
 
 Corn laws, 263 ; Smith O'Brien and 
 O'Connell on, 266 ; measure pro- 
 posed for repeal of, 266 ; Stanley 
 and, 267 ; repeal of, carried, 275 
 
 Cornwallis, Lord, 5 ; resignation of, 
 IS 
 
INDEX. 
 
 351 
 
 Coronation oath and George III., ii ; 
 
 and Dundas, 12 ; fallacy as to, 14 ; 
 
 Mr. Fox and the, 20 
 Crawford, Sharman, and tenant-right 
 
 measure, 322 
 Croker, Mr., 47, 116 
 Curtes, Dr., 89 
 
 Davis, Thomas, defends mixed educa- 
 tion, 249 
 
 Davern, Father, and O'Connell, 207 
 
 Dawson, Mr., 73, 89 
 
 Denman, Lord, 64; and the appeaJ of 
 O'Connell, 228 
 
 D'Esterre, duel of O'Connell with, 37 
 
 Devon Commission, 233, 334 
 
 Disestablishment, motion for, 154 
 
 Disfranchisement Bill passed, 104 
 
 Disraeli, Mr., speech on Irish policy of, 
 222 ; and free trade, 267 ; determined 
 to defeat Peel Government, 274 ; 
 opposes Coercion Bill, 275 ; supports 
 Coercion Bill, 317 ; criticizes Peel's 
 scheme, 323 
 
 Donoughmore, Lord, 180 
 
 Dublin University, 251 
 
 Duigenan, Dr., 21 
 
 Duncannon, Lord, as Home Secretary, 
 163 
 
 Drummond, Thomas, appointed Under- 
 Secretary, 175 ; policy of, 177 ; 
 aphorism of, 179 ; death of, 198 
 
 Dundas, Mr., and George III., 12^ 
 
 Ejections, Mr. Poulett Scrope on, 288 
 
 Education of Catholics, 143 
 
 EWon, Lord, 27, 34, 84 ; opposes 
 
 Catholic Bill, 50 ; opposes admission 
 
 of Catholics to Parliament, 56, 76 ; 
 
 opposes Catholic Relief Bill, 69 ; and 
 
 the Catholic cause, 90 
 EUice, Mr., and O'Connell, 172 
 Emigration, 285, 290 
 Emmett, Robert, scheme of, 18 
 Encumbered estates, 238, 291, 292 
 Encumbered Estates Act, 325 ; failure 
 
 of working, 326 
 Established Church, 128 ; Protestant 
 
 fears for, 4 ; O'Connell on the, 131 ; 
 
 motion against, 225 
 
 Famine, Irish, of 1822, 53 ; of 1830, 
 121 ; beginning of, 265 ; worst period 
 of, 283, 285 ; and Peel, 335 
 
 Federalism and O'Connell, 131 ; and 
 Gavan Duffy, 231 
 
 Fingall, Lord, 18, 32, 40, 42 ; and 
 O'Connell, 302 
 
 Fitzgerald, Mr. Vesey, 84 
 
 Fitzwilliam, Lord, 11, 12, 33 
 
 Fixity of tenure. Lord Palmerston and, 
 287 
 
 Forty-shilling freeholders, 104 ; evic- 
 tions of, 121 
 
 Fox, Mr., I ; introduces Catholic ques- 
 tion, 19 ; promises of, to the Catho- 
 lics of Ireland, 23 ; states his views 
 on the Act of Union, 24 ; death of, 
 
 25 
 
 France, land tenure of, 255 
 
 Franchise, the, 3 ; new election under, 
 132 ; Government measure for ex- 
 tending Irish, 200 ; measure for 
 extension of, 328 
 
 Free trade, 260 ; Ireland and, 261 ; 
 Stanley opposes Bill for, 261 ; Rus- 
 sell and, 263 ; debate on, 266 ; a 
 drawback to Ireland, 268 
 
 Gavan Duffy and Federalism, 231 
 George III., injustice of, at outset of 
 
 Union, 1 1 ; withdraws consent to 
 
 Lord Howick's Bill, 27 . 
 George IV. in Ireland, 51 5 yields to 
 
 consideration of Catholic claims, 93 
 Gladstone supports Maynooth grant, 
 
 243 ; enters Peel cabinet, 265 
 Goderich, Lord, successor to Canning, 
 
 82 
 Gordon, Mr., attack on O'Connell by, 
 
 305 
 Goulburny Mr., as Chief Secretary, 51 
 Graham, Sir James, 16 ; and Catholic 
 education, 247 ; introduces Coercion 
 Bill, 270 ; cannot deny great Irish 
 distress, 279 
 Grant, Mr. Charles, on coercion, 54, 
 
 82 
 Grattan, Mr., 10; on the Catholic 
 claims, 21 ; again moves for Catholic 
 claims, 29, 30 ; consents to present 
 Repeal petition, 30 ; attacks Govern- 
 ment, 32 ; introduces another Catho- 
 lic measure, 38 ; conduct of Catholic 
 cause taken from, 42 ; death of, 48 ; 
 exertions of, in Irish Parliament, 48 ; 
 dying request of, 49 
 Grenville, Lord, explanation of, 17, 35 
 Grey, Lord, as Foreign Secretary, 25, 
 35 ; violent attack on Canning of, 
 81 ; ministry of, 117 ; obligations of, 
 to Catholic party, 119; carried on 
 policy of Tory Government, J2I ; 
 and tithes, 132 ; Coercion Bill intro- 
 duced in Lords by, 137 ; in favour 
 of coercion, 156 ; determines to re- 
 new Coercion Act, 159 ; resignation 
 of, 160 ; distrust of, for O'Connell, 
 161 ; retirement of, advantage to 
 country, 162 ; Government of Ire- 
 
352 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 land of, 163 ; the Reform Govern- 
 ment of, 165 
 
 Habeas Corpus Act, persons indem- 
 nified who assisted under suspension 
 of, 10 ; suspended, 321 
 
 Hawkesbury, Lord, 37 
 
 House of Lords reject Irish Bills, 181 ; 
 again reject Irish Bill, 183 ; postpone 
 Municipal Reform Bill, 187 ; reject 
 Municipal Reform measure, 196 ; 
 committee of inquiry into state of 
 Ireland, 197 ; appellate tribunal of, 
 228 ; judgment of, on O'Connell 
 appeal, 229 
 
 How.ck, Lord, and Catholic question, 
 26 
 
 Hume, Mr., motion by, for abolition 
 of Irish Church, 55 ; motion against 
 Established Church of Ireland by, 
 
 59 
 Huskisson, Mr., 82, 83 ; opposed to 
 disfranchisement, 105 
 
 Imperial Parliament, Irish contingent 
 
 Conservative in first, 10 
 Inglis, Sir Robert Henry, 94 
 Insurrection Act re-enacted, 53 ; Duke 
 
 of Bedford refuses to renew, 24 ; re- 
 newal of, s7 
 Ireland, hostility of English people to, 
 
 199 ; inquiry int6 disturbed districts 
 
 of, 71 
 Irish Church Establishment, measure 
 
 to deal with,- 140 ; commission of 
 
 inquiry on, 154 ; and the King, 163 ; 
 
 and Lord J. Russell, 169 ; and Peel, 
 
 224 
 Irish cottiers, 257 
 Irish franchise, the, 128 
 Irish Parliament, 1 1 1 
 Irish Police Bill, 181 
 Irish Poor Law, 187 ; reform of, 189 
 Irish Reform Bill, 126 ; amendment 
 
 made in the House of Lords on, 
 
 128 
 Irish representative peers, 50 
 
 Kenyon, Lord, ir 
 
 Keogh, Mr., 300 
 
 Kildare Street Society, 1 45 
 
 King resolves to oppose any concession 
 to Catholics, 76 ; O'Connell excluded 
 from practising at Bar by, 118 
 
 Lamb, Mr., Secretary for Ireland, 76 
 Land question, Devon Commission on, 
 
 253 
 Land tenure of France and Ireland, 255 
 Lansdowne, Lord, proposes to com- 
 
 mute Irish tithes, 55 ! attempt for 
 relief of English Catholics, 59 ; and 
 the relief of Catholics, 84 
 
 Littleton, Mr., as Chief Secretary, 152 ; 
 and the Coercion Act, 156 ; inter- 
 view of, with O'Connell, 158 ; com- 
 plains of O'Connell's breach of con- 
 fidence, 159 ; sends in resignation, 
 160 
 
 Liverpool, Lord, ministry of, 35 ; op- 
 poses Catholic Bill, 50, 55 ; and 
 Peel, 68 ; and Catholic Rehef BiU, 
 69 ; retirement of, 75 
 
 Lord Lieutenancy, measure for abolish- 
 ing, 328 
 
 Loughborough, Lord, letter from Pitt 
 to, 1 1 ; and the coronation oath, 1 1 ; 
 intrigue of, 13 
 
 Lyndhurst, Lord, 82 
 
 Lytton, Bulwer, speech of, against co- 
 ercion, 139 
 
 Macaulay, Mr., and O'Connell trial, 
 
 222 
 MacHale, Archbishop, 148 ; opposed 
 
 to the new colleges, 248 
 M'Kee, Major, report of, to Poor Law 
 
 Board, 289 
 Mackintosh, Sir James, 50, 68 ; and 
 
 disfranchisement, 105 
 Macnamara, Major, 85 
 Martial law, necessity foif maintaining, 
 
 Martineau, Miss, and O'Connell, 304 
 
 Mathew, Father, movement of, 211 ; 
 on potato disease, 282 
 
 Maynooth grant, 29, 241 ; the papal 
 court and the, 242 ; and Mr. Glad- 
 stone and Mr. Bright, 243 ; results 
 of the, 245 ; and Peel, 334 
 
 Melbourne Government, defeat of, 201 ; 
 Irish administration of, 203 
 
 Melbourne, Lord, and the Irish policy, 
 120 ; appointed Premier, 163 ; second 
 ministry of, 171 ; Irish party the sup- 
 port of, 174 ; Tithe Bill of, 181 
 
 Milner, Dr., 40 
 
 Mitchell, transportation of, 321 
 
 Mixed education, system of, 247, 248 
 
 Moira, Lord, 35 
 
 Morpeth, Lord, 33 ; made Chief Secre- 
 tary, 171 ; introduces Irish Tithe Bill, 
 187 
 
 Mulgrave, Lord, made Lord Lieutenant, 
 271 
 
 Municipal reform, measure for, 195 ; 
 amendments in, 195 ; rejected by the 
 Lords, 196 ; inequality of Irish, com- 
 pared to English, 196 
 
 Municipal Reform Bill, 183 ; the Lords 
 
IiVDEX. 
 
 35; 
 
 reject the, 186; again introduced, 
 186 ; carried, 187 
 
 Napier, Sir William, and the O'Connell 
 
 tribute, 306 
 Nation, foundation of the, 208 ; object 
 
 of the, 208 ; attacks O'Connell, 280 
 NichoUs, Mr., report of, on state of 
 
 Ireland, 189 
 Norbury, Lord, the murder of, 196 
 
 O'Brien, Smith, opposes O'Connell in 
 Clare, 115; motion on state of Ire 
 land by, 213 ; and repeal of corn laws, 
 265, 267 ; protests against coercion! 
 271 ; will not meddle with Scotch 
 and English business, 271 ; imprison 
 ment of, 272 ; leader of Repeal As- 
 sociation, 230 ; opposes Coercion Bill 
 318 ; congratulates French people, 
 318; last speech in Parliament of, 
 318 ; trial of, 321 ; outbreak against 
 Government, 322; tried for high 
 treason and shipped to Van Diemen's 
 Land, 323. 
 
 O'Connell, Daniel, first appearance of, 
 6 ; member of Catholic committee, 
 25 ; first speech of, in favour of re- 
 peal, 30; suggests more permanent 
 Catholic committee, 31 ; duel of, 
 with D'Esterre, 37 ; duel with Peel 
 arranged, 37 ; refuses challenge from 
 Mr. Stanley, 37 ; opposes the Veto, 
 40 ; becomes leader of Catholics in 
 Ireland, 42 ; advocates repeal, not 
 separation, 43 ; loyalty o*f, S I ; founds 
 the Catholic Association, 59 ; advises 
 dissolution of Catholic Association, 
 65 ; prosecution of, 66 ; and the 
 Whigs, 71 ; evidence of, as to dis- 
 turbed districts of Ireland, 71 ; the 
 King and, 80 ; as president of 
 Catholic Association, 82 ; and Lord 
 John Russell, 85 ; stands for Clare, 85; 
 returned member for county Clare, 87; 
 public penance of, 91 ; does not ex- 
 press disapproval of disfranchisement, 
 105 ; presents himself at table of the 
 House, 106 ; not allowed to take new 
 oath, io5 ; not consulted in connec- 
 tion with Relief Bill, 107 ; issues an 
 address to electors of Clare, 1 14 ; re- 
 election of, 115; takes his seat in 
 Parliament, 115 ; first efforts of, in 
 the House, 116 ; excluded from 
 practising at Bar, 118 ; intimates 
 putting himself in opposition to 
 Government, 119; hatred of, and 
 Stanley for each other, 120; proces- 
 sion in honour of, prohibited, 123 ; 
 
 forms a new association, 124; prose- 
 cution of, 125 ; practical victory of, 
 over Government, 125 ; attacks Irish 
 Reform Bill, 126; moves amendments 
 for extending franchise, 127 ; and the 
 committees on tithes, 130 ; denounces 
 the Established Church, 131 ; disre- 
 garded by Reformed Parliament, 133 ; 
 violently attacks the policy of coer- 
 cion, 134 ; grievances of Ireland 
 enumerated by, 134 ; denounces 
 Stanley, 136 ; hostility of Stanley to, 
 137 ; amendment of, rejected, 137 ; 
 reply of, to Stanley on Coercion Bill, 
 138 ; taunts Whigs with inconsistency, 
 139 ; suppression of last Association 
 of, 140; supports introduction of Irish 
 Church Bill, 141 ; accuses Govern- 
 ment of surrendering principle of Bill , 
 142 ; a member of the Kildare Street 
 Society, 145 ; supports Stanley's 
 education scheme, 146 ; motion for 
 repeal by, 149 ; defeat of motion of, 
 151 ; plan for tithes of, 152 ; amend- 
 ment to Tithe Bill carried by, 154 ; 
 Government desire to come to terms 
 with, 156 ; interview of Mr. Littleton 
 with, 158; indignation of, on Coer- 
 cion Act tactics, 159 ; distrust of 
 Lord Grey for, 161 ; moderate con- 
 duct of, on Coercion Act, 162 ; grate- 
 ful for change of ministry, 163 ; 
 deprecation of Irish policy of Lord 
 Grey by, 165 ; demands of, of the 
 Liberals, 167 ; compact of, with 
 Whig leaders, 168 ; repudiates policy 
 of endowing Catholic Church, 170 ; 
 negotiations between Government 
 and, 171 ; disappointment and be- 
 haviour of, 172; compact of Govern- 
 ment with, 173; manifesto to Ireland 
 of, 174; happy relations of Govern- 
 ment with, 1 80; speech on Tithe 
 Bill, debate of, 183 ; on reform of 
 Irish municipalities, 184 ; on imita- 
 tion, 185 ; disapproves Irish Poor 
 Law measure, 187 ; supports Lord 
 Morpeth's Tithe Bill, 187 ; supports 
 the new Whig Ministry, 188 ; objec- 
 tions to Irish Poor Law reform, 189 ; 
 and the carrying of the Tithe Bill, 
 192 ; cordial support of Government 
 by, 198 ; hatred of English people for, 
 
 199 ; opposition of, to Registration 
 Bill, 199 ; franchise measure and, 
 
 200 ; distrust of Peel of, 206 ; elected 
 Lord Mayor of Dublin, 206 ; founding 
 of Repeal Association, 206 ; attacked 
 in Irish papers, 206 ; rejected by 
 city of Dublin, 207 ; returned for 
 
 2 A 
 
354 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Tipperary, 207 ; the " Young Ire- 
 land " party and, 208 ; begins Repeal 
 campaign, 208 ; speech on Repeal of, 
 209 ; Repeal meetings and speeches 
 of, 209 ; disavows violence and blood- 
 shed, 210 ; scheme of arbitration 
 courts and, 211 ; encourages Father 
 Mathevf, 211 ; and the legality of his 
 meetings, 218 ; surrender of, 219 ; 
 warrant issued for arrest of, 220 ; 
 trial and verdict against, 220 ; Lord 
 Russell condemns prosecution of, 
 221 ; speech in debate on address of, 
 223 ; objects to measure as to Catholic 
 charities, 225 ; sentence passed on, 
 226 ; the imprisonment of, 227 ; the 
 appeal to the Lords, 227 ; release of, 
 229 ; an altered man, 230 ; weakness 
 of, in advising Repeal Association, 
 231 ; on Federalism, 231 ; failure of 
 suggestion of, 233 ; Devon Commis- 
 sion and, 234 ; opposed to the new 
 colleges, 24,9 ; attacks " Young Ire- 
 land " party, 249 ; and repeal of 
 corn laws, 265 ; advocates tenant- 
 right, 266 ; supports repeal of corn 
 laws, 268 ; crosses Channel to pro- 
 test against coercion, 27! ; con- 
 sents to serve on committees, 272 ; 
 remedies proposed by, 273 ; com- 
 plains of delay in putting relief 
 measures into action, 279 ; dissociates 
 himself from " Young Ireland " party, 
 280 ; last speech at Repeal Associa- 
 tion, 294 ; last effort in House of Com- 
 mons of, 294 ; death of, 295 ; career 
 as a lawyer, 296 ; defence of Magee, 
 297 ; and the judges, 298 ; political 
 career of, 299 ; and the Catholic 
 cause, 299 ; and the priesthood, 301 ; 
 oratory of, 302 ; Lord Fingall does 
 justice to, 302 ; success by moral 
 means of, 303 i cause of influence 
 over his countrymen, 303 ; cause of 
 hatred of English for, 304 ; Miss 
 Martineau and, 304 ; and tribute 
 from Irish people, 305 ; answer of, 
 to Lord Shrewsbury as to re- 
 muneration, 305 ; refused offer of 
 high legal post, 306 ; treatment of, 
 307 ; supporter of great reforms, 
 309 ; religion of, 309 ; as a debater, 
 310 ; first Repeal agitation of, 310 ; 
 bargain with Whig Ministry, 312 ; 
 second agitation for repeal of, 312 ; 
 impossible to pass final judgment on 
 policy of, 314 ; unhappy close of life 
 of, 314 ; successors of, 316 
 O'Connell, John, denounces the Nation, 
 280 ; as successor to his father, 316 ; 
 
 feebly resists Coercion Bill, 317 ; and 
 Treason Felony Act, 320 ; opposes 
 renewal of Habeas Corpus Act, 323 
 
 O'Gorman Mahon, the, 87 
 
 Orange party, Mr. Peel allied with, 
 
 36 
 Oregon boundary, settlement of dispute 
 as to, 275, 277 
 
 Palmerston introduces Catholic Relief 
 Bill, 68 ; opposed to disfranchise- 
 ment, loj ; and Catholic clergy, 
 215 ; on clearances, 286 
 
 Parnell, Sir H., 29, 64, 68 
 
 Parsons, Sir Lawrence, 10 
 
 Peace Preservation Act passed, 45 
 
 Peasant proprietorship, 255 
 
 Peel, Mr., appointed Irish Secretary, 
 35 ; allied closely to Orange party, 
 36 ; duel with O'Connell arranged, 
 37 ; defends suppression of Catholic 
 Board, 44 ; applies for Coercion Act, 
 45 ; constructive statesmanship of, 
 46 ; Irish policy of, 47 ; resigns post 
 in Government, 47 ; opposes admis- 
 sion of Catholic peers to Parliament, 
 56 ; argument against Catholic Asso- 
 ciation, 63 ; convinced as to Catholic 
 claims, 68 ; denounces O'Connell, 
 71 ; opposes Catholic claims, 74 ; 
 refuses to serve under Canning, 75 ; 
 resistance to Catholic concessions, 
 77 ; attacks on Canning prompted 
 by, 80 ; opposes resolution in favour 
 of Catholiqs, 83 ; and the repeal of 
 tests, 83 ; impressed by Clare elec- 
 tion, 88 ; of opinion that concession 
 must be made to Catholics, 92 ; 
 resignation and re-election of, 94 ; 
 moves Catholic Relief Bill, 94 ; argu- 
 ments for suppression of Catholic 
 Association, 95 ; speech of, intro- 
 ducing Cathohc Relief Bill, 96 ; pro- 
 posals of, 98 ; personal vindication 
 of, 100 ; no sympathy in speech of, 
 for Catholic Relief, loi ; disfran- 
 chisement and, 105 ; denies hardship 
 in refusing oath to O'Connell, 106 ; 
 rejection of O'Connell a deliberate 
 act, 107 ; not the proper man to 
 carry Relief Bill, 108 ; defence of, 
 109 ; protests against giving way to 
 agitation, 127 ; argument against 
 coercion by, 137 ; objection of, to 
 division of Irish Church property, 
 141 ; speech of, against repeal of 
 the Union, I Jo ; opposition of, to 
 Disestablishment, 155 ; entrusted to 
 form Ministry, 166; supported by 
 Stanley and Graham, 166 ; fate of 
 
INDEX. 
 
 355 
 
 Governmenl of, l68 ; the Irish Church 
 question and, 169 ; resignation of, 
 170 ; and Tithe Bill, 1 82 ; on re- 
 form of Irish municipalities, 184 ; 
 ridicules idea of Municipal Bill, 187 ; 
 supports Irish Poor Law measure, 
 187 ; municipal reform of Ireland 
 and, 195 ; justifies committee of in- 
 quiry of Lords, 197 ; ministry of, 
 205 ; influence on Irish affairs of, 
 205 ; distrust of O'Connell for, 206 ; 
 Smith O'Brien on, 213; on griev- 
 ances of Irish tenants, 214 ; on 
 Irish policy, 214 ; anxious to appease 
 Ireland, 215 ; determination to main- 
 tain union, 216 ; and the Clontarf 
 meeting, 217 ; speech on Irish de- 
 bate, 224 ; Irish measures of, 225 ; 
 and the release of O'Connell, 229 ; 
 alternative policy of, 233 ; and the 
 tenant-right Bill, 240 ; the Maynooth 
 grant and, 241 ; conciliatory policy 
 to Catholics of, 245 ; and equality 
 in Ireland, 251 ; results of legisla- 
 tion of, 252 ; and the potato dis- 
 ease, 259 ; proposes to open ports 
 to import of grain, 260 ; free 
 trade proposals of, defeated, 261 ; 
 purchases maize for Ireland, 262 ; 
 views to meet immediate dangers of 
 famine, 263 ; resignation of, 264 ; 
 resumes office again, 264 ; on free 
 trade, 267 ; and withdrawal of pro- 
 tection from Ireland, 268 ; combina- 
 tion against Government of, 274 ; 
 defeat of, 275 ; resignation of, 276 ; 
 measures of relief passed by, 278 ; 
 and ejections, 289 ; opposed to loan 
 for Irish railways, 292 ; opinion of 
 O'Connell as a speaker, 310 ; sup- 
 ports Coercion Bill, 317 ; on grant 
 to disti-essed unions, 323 ; planta- 
 tion scheme of, 323 ; supports En- 
 cumbered Estates Act, 325 ; supports 
 measure for extension of franchise, 
 328 ; not unwilling to trial of sus- 
 pension of Lord Lieutenant, 329 ; 
 last speech on Irish questions, 329 ; 
 death of, 330 ; policy and action of, 
 330; Irish policy of, 331; distrust 
 of Catholic party, 331 ; constitutional 
 coldness of, 331 ; responsible for re- 
 fusal of Catholic claims, 332 ; and 
 Catholic Relief Act, 332; Irish policy 
 of Melbourne Government and, 333 ; 
 responsible for Repeal agitation, 
 333 ; change of views towards Ire- 
 land, 334 ; the Irish famine and, 
 335 ; the prosecution of O'Connell 
 and, 336 ; representation as a states- 
 
 man, 336 ; want of sympathy for 
 Irish people, 337 ; qualities of, 338 
 " Peel's brimstone," 262 
 Penal Code and education, 143 
 Perceval, Mr., 26, 28 ; as Prime Minis- 
 ter, 29 ; opposes motion on Catholic 
 question, 38 
 Philpotts, Dean, 92 
 Pitt, Mr., on the Union, i ; policy of, 
 2 ; far-reaching scheme of, 5 ; pro- 
 posals of, II ; and George III., 11 ; 
 yields to the King, 12 ; scarcely 
 justified in carrying Union, 12 ; 
 tenders his resignation, 13 ; pressuie 
 of, 14 ; and the illness of the King, 
 14 ; inconsistent conduct of, 15 ; un- 
 usual course of, 16 ; explanations of, 
 17 ; refuses to present Catholic peti- 
 tion, 19 ; and Mr. Grattan, 21 ; op- 
 poses motion on Catholic question, 22 
 Pius VII., Pope, and the Veto, 42 
 Plunket, Mr., powerful speech of, for 
 Catholic Emancipation, 38 ; intro- 
 ducesa Catholic Bill, 50 ; appointed 
 Attorney-General, 51 ; supports sup- 
 pression of Catholic Association, 
 64 ; prosecutes O'Connell, 66 ; sup- 
 ports motion for Catholic claims, 66 ; 
 introduces Catholic Bill, 68 ; sup- 
 ports Catholic claims, 74 ; made Irish 
 Chancellor, 76 
 Poor law, landlords and the, 286 ; re- 
 lief, extension of, 291 
 Portland, Duke of, ministry of, 287 
 Potato disease, 254, 258 ; Peel and the, 
 
 259 ; Father Mathew and the, 282 
 " Precursor" Society, 198 
 Presbyterian ministers, conciliation of, 4 
 Presbyterians and education scheme, 146 
 Priesthood and O'Connell, 301 
 Prince of Wales favourable to Catholic 
 claims, 34 ; adverse to Catholic claims, 
 
 3S 
 
 Protestants, the Irish Parliament and, 3 ; 
 administration exclusively, 8 ; ex- 
 emption from tithes, 129 
 
 Public Works for Ireland, 278, 2S4 ; 
 failure of scheme of, 290 
 
 Quarantotti, Cardinal, 41 
 
 Queen's Colleges, 247 ; opposition to 
 the, 248 ; " Young Ireland " party in 
 favour of, 248 ; establishment of the, 
 252 
 
 Rebellion Act, continuation of, 10 
 
 Redesdale, Lord, 19 
 
 Reform Bill for England, 125 ; second 
 
 reading of, 126 ; comparison of, with 
 
 Irish Reform Bill, 128 
 
356 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Reformed Parliament, Ireland disre- 
 garded by the, 133 ; and Irish Church, 
 
 193 
 
 Registration Bill, Stanley's, 199, 200 
 
 ReUef, measures of, 279 
 
 Repeal Association, the, 206 ; new 
 vigour of, 208 ; arbitration courts of, 
 211 ; recruits of the, 212 ; prevents 
 Clontarf meeting, 219; Smith O'Brien 
 leader of, 230 ; weakness of O'Con- 
 nell as to action of, 231 ; O'Connell 
 issues an address to, 231 ; and the 
 Queen's Colleges, 249 ; on the Re- 
 peal question, 265 ; dissensions in 
 the, 280; "Young Ireland" party 
 sever their connection with, 280 ; last 
 speech of O'Connell at, 294 ; disap- 
 pearance of, 316 
 
 Repeal movement, assisted by Father 
 Mathew, 211 ; Government and ac- 
 cession of gentry to, 212 ; meetings 
 not illegal, 212; Smith O'Brien and, 
 213 ; Sir Robert Peel and the, 215 ; 
 England united against, 217 ; Go- 
 vernment declares Clontarf meeting 
 illegal, 217 ; O'Connell and other 
 leaders of, arrested, 220 ; Smith 
 O'Brien and the, 230 ; O'Connell in 
 favour of Federalism rather than Re- 
 peal, 231 ; heavy reverses of sup- 
 porters of, 207 
 
 Repeal, O'Connell starts campaign for, 
 208 ; monster meetings for, 209 ; 
 first agitation for, 310; second agita- 
 tion for, 312 
 
 Repeal rent, 212 
 
 Richmond, Duke of, Lord Lieutenant, 28 
 
 Roden, Lord, committee of, 197 
 
 Russell, Lord John, opposes renewal of 
 Insurrection Act, 58 ; resolution of, 
 on Irish Church, 169 ; adds clause 
 to Tithe Bill, 170; and Irish muni- 
 cipal reform, 186 ; introduces again 
 Municipal Reform Bill, 186 ; Irish 
 Poor Law measure of, 187 ; and Irish 
 Poor Law, 189 ; introduces sixth 
 Tithe Bill, 190 ; and municipal re- 
 form of Ireland, 195 ; and Irish policy 
 of Government, 197 ; denounces 
 Registration Bill, 199 ; and Irish 
 franchise, 200 ; on Irish policy, 215 ; 
 moves to consider state of Ireland, 
 
 220 ; proposals of, on Irish policy, 
 
 221 ; supports Maynooth grant, 244; 
 and the new colleges, 250 ; Edin- 
 burgh letter of, 262 ; and repeal of 
 corn duties, 263 ; shows opposition 
 10 Coercion Bill, 273 ; ministry 
 formed by, 281 ; Irish policy of, 282 ; 
 and amendment of Poor Law, 286 ; 
 
 admits failures of his remedies for 
 Ireland, 290 ; extends Poor Law Re- 
 lief, 291 ; and the trial of Mitchell, 
 321 ; Encumbered Estates Act, 325;- 
 proposes measure for extension of 
 franchise, 328 ; measure for abolish- 
 ing Lord Lieutenancy, 328 
 
 Saurin, Mr., 51 
 
 Scotland, Act of Union of, compared 
 to that of Ireland, 7 
 
 Scott, Sir John, 11, 16 
 
 Scrope, Mr. Poulett, speech descriptive 
 of clearances, 288 
 
 Sedition Act passed, 10 
 
 Shaftesbury, Lord, on the Catholic 
 Relief Bill, 106 
 
 Sharman Crawford and O'Connell, 206 
 
 Shell, Mr., in favour of Veto, 40 ; and 
 Catholic Association, 59 ; petition of 
 Catholic Association drawn up by, 
 61 ; Government prosecution of, 
 abandoned, 80 ; and the Clare elec- 
 tion, 87 ; and the tithes, 132 ; advo- 
 cates mixed education, 250 
 
 Shrewsbury, Lord, answer of O'Connell 
 to, 305 
 
 Sidmouth, Lord, 23, 52 
 
 Spring Rice, Mr. , 68 
 
 Stanley, Mr., Chief Secretary for Ire- 
 land, 117; unpopularity of, 119; no 
 sympathy with the Irish, 120 ; Irish 
 policy of, 121 ; violent conflicts be- 
 tween O'Connell and, 127 ; continues 
 to govern Ireland on Tory lines, 133 ; 
 denounced by O'Connell, 136 ; policy 
 for Ireland of, 137 ; vigorous speech 
 of, on Coercion Bill, 138 ; conflicts 
 of, with O'Connell, 140 ; and the 
 Irish Church Bill, 141 ; removal of, 
 from Irish Secretaryship, 143 ; Irish 
 education scheme of, 145 ; defeat of 
 education scheme of, 148 ; and the 
 motion for Disestablishment, 155 ; 
 and Tithe Bill, 183, 185 ; and muni- 
 cipal reform for Ireland, 185 ; Regis- 
 tration Bill of, 199 ; reintroduces 
 Registration Bill, 200 ; Tenant-right 
 Bill of, 238 ; abandons Tenant-right 
 Bill, 240 ; opposes Bill for free trade, 
 261, 265 
 Suffrage, question of extension of, 224 
 
 Tara, Hill of. Repeal meeting at, 210 
 
 Tenant-right, 234, 237, 240 ; custom, 
 326 
 
 Tenant-right Bill, Stanley introduces, 
 238 ; opposition of Irish peers to, 
 240 ; Stanley abandons, 240 
 
 Tests, the repeal of, 83 
 
INDEX. 
 
 357 
 
 Tithe Agistment Act, 129 
 
 Tithe Bill, rejected by House of Lords, 
 154; and Peel Government, 169; 
 Lord Russell adds clause to, 171 ; 
 Government pledged to carry, 173; 
 Lord Melbourne's Ministry intro- 
 duces, 181 ; Sir Robert Peel and, 
 182; again introduced, 183; Lord 
 Morpeth introduces a, 187 ; Lord 
 Russell introduces sixth, 190; sur- 
 render of the Whigs on, 191; carried, 
 192 
 
 Tithes, principal cause of disturbance, 
 57; agitation against, 128 ; collection 
 of, 130; committees on, 130; com- 
 pulsory composition of, 131; Reform 
 Ministry on subject of, 132 ; resist- 
 ance to Government collection of, 
 133 ; amendment in Coercion Bill as 
 to, 140 ; Mr. Littleton on the subject 
 of, 152 ; settlement of question of, 
 
 193. 19s 
 
 Tory party, Irish policy of the, 202 
 
 Treason Felony Act, 318 
 
 Triennial Parliaments, 116 
 
 Trim, first Repeal meeting held at, 210 
 
 Trinity College endowments and Catho- 
 lics, 247 
 
 Union, Act of, speeches of Pitt on, I, 
 2 ; petitions against the, 6; cause of 
 O'Connell's first appearance, 6 ; es- 
 sential difference from the Scotch 
 union, 7 ; protest against the, 8 ; Irish 
 administration before the, 8 ; Protes- 
 tant Ascendency after, 9 ; general 
 election following the, 9; Pitt scarcely 
 justified in carrying, 12 ; the royal 
 assent and the, 14 ; Mr. Fox's views 
 on, 24 ; first speech of O'Connell 
 in favour of repeal of, 30 ; Grattan 
 supports repeal of, 31; Plunket's 
 speeches against, 38 ; and O'Connell, 
 42 ; and Grattan, 49 ; Dublin mer- 
 chants petition for repeal of, 52 ; de- 
 termination of Peel to maintain, 216 
 
 Union, repeal of, O'Connell reopens 
 question of, 115 ; motion of O'Con- 
 nell for, 149 
 
 Verner, Captain, 178 
 
 Veto question, 39 ; stormy discussion 
 on, 40 ; great majority for O'Connell 
 on, 41 ; and Pope Pius VII., 42 
 
 Villiers Stuart, Mr., 73 
 
 Ward, Mr., 154 ; debate on Irish 
 Church by, 216 
 
 Wellesley, Sir Arthur, as Chief Secre- 
 tary, 28, 34 ; sent as Lord Lieutenant, 
 51 ; false position of, 52, 54 ; ap- 
 pointed Lord Lieutenant, 143 ; and 
 coercion, 156 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, 76 ; coalition 
 ministry of, 82 ; opposes motion for 
 Catholic relief, 84 ; and Dr. Curtis, 
 89 ; and the Catholic concessions, 92 ; 
 surrender of the, 102 ; not proper 
 man to carry Relief Bill, 108 ; re- 
 signation of the, 117; and Irish 
 Church Bill, 142 ; and import of 
 free corn, 263 
 
 Wetherell, Sir Charles, dismissal of, 
 104 
 
 Whately, Archbishop, 147 
 
 Whig Government, 23 ; dismissed by 
 King, 163 ; Irish policy of the, 165, 
 201, 202 ; dependent on Irish vote, 
 188 ; O'Connell's bargain with, 312 
 
 Whigs, the enemies of Ireland, 136 ; 
 relation of O'Connell with, 171 ; 
 close compact of O'Connell with, 
 173; just policy in Irish administra- 
 tion, 175 ; important policy of, 176 
 
 Wilberforce, 50 
 
 Wilde, Sir Thomas, condemns O'Con- 
 nell's prosecution, 222 
 
 William IV., death of, 187 
 
 " Young Ireland " party, the, 207 ; and 
 the Clontarf meeting, 219 ; and the 
 new colleges, 248 
 
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