XXXV. 1835. CHAP. The whole would not average £200 a-year. It in a peculiar manner becomes the Whigs to oppose this mischievous and disastrous revolution. Whig principles consist not in death's-head-and-cross-bones denunciations against those who venture to exercise their civic franchises according to their consciences, nor in prayers for mercy limited to those in heaven, but not to be extended to those on this side the grave. Genuine Whig principles consist in a warm attachment to civil freedom, and the Protestant religion as by law established. This is a vital question, upon which no further compromise can be made. The property set apart by our ancestors to maintain and propagate the Protestant religion is sacred, and ought only to be applied to sacred uses. More than this, those who minister at the altar ought to live by the altar. That principle is high as heaven, and you cannot reach it; it is strong as the Almighty, and you cannot overturn it; it is fast as the Eternal, and you cannot 1 Parl. Deb. unfix it. It is binding on a legislature consisting of 439; Ann. Christian men, and acting on Christian principles, and no consideration on earth should induce you to compromise or destroy it."1* xxvii. 419, Reg. 1835, 180-185. 43. the ques The debate, which was kept up with uncommon vigour Division on and ability on both sides for four nights, was brought to tion, and a conclusion at four in the morning of the 7th April, resignation when the division took place; and there appeared 322 Peel. for the motion, and 289 against it, leaving Ministers in a April 2. of Sir R. minority of 33. This hostile majority, much more considerable than what had occurred either on the choice of a Speaker or on the Address, was on a vital question of general policy, and therefore it left Sir R. Peel no alternative but to resign. A Cabinet Council accordingly was held on the following day, when it was unanimously resolved to have one more trial, and in the event of failure to resign; a determination which was announced in * The above is but the skeleton of Sir James Graham's able speech on this occasion. XXXV. 1835. the House of Commons on the 8th April, after a second CHAP. defeat of Ministers by a majority of 27-the numbers being 285 to 258-on the motion of Lord John Russell, "That it is the opinion of this house that no measure upon the subject of tithes can be satisfactory, or lead to a final adjustment, which does not embody the principle of the foregoing resolution." Sir R. Peel, in making this announcement, said: "The Government being firmly resolved to adhere to the principle of their own bill, and not to adopt the principle of the vote of last night, felt it to be there duty as public men to lay their offices at the disposal of his Majesty. I have been anxious to make this explanation as briefly as I can, and in a manner the least calculated to give offence or excite angry feelings. My whole political life has been spent in the House of Commons; the remainder of it will be spent in the House of Commons; and whatever may be the conflict of parties, I for one shall always wish, whether in a majority or a minority, to stand well with the House of Commons. (Immense cheering from all sides.) Under no circumstances whatever, under the pressure of no difficulties, under the influence of no temptation, will I ever advise the Crown to forego that great source of moral influence which consists in a strict adherence to the spirit, the Parl. Deb. practice, and even the letter, of the constitution." (Im-985. mense cheering from all quarters.)1 xxvii. 984, try, and bourne its Sir R. Peel having thus resigned, in obedience to the 44. principle of the constitution which requires the king's New Minisministers to yield to a hostile majority of the House of Lord MelCommons, when once decidedly pronounced on a vital head. question, nothing remained for the Sovereign himself but April 18. to accept a Ministry from the party which had in this manner got a majority in the House of Commons. Nearly ten days elapsed, however, during which the House was twice adjourned, before the arrangements were completed. At length, on the 18th April, Lord John Russell announced the formation of a new Adminis XXXV. 1835. CHAP. tration in the House of Commons, and Lord Melbourne did the same in the House of Lords. The new Administration was substantially the same as the former which had been dismissed by the King: Lord Melbourne resumed his place as Premier; Lord John Russell as Home, Lord Palmerston as Foreign, Mr Charles Grant as Colonial, Secretary; Mr Spring Rice was Chancellor of the Exchequer; and Lord Auckland, First Lord of the Admiralty. The only material difference was, that Lord 1835, 235, Brougham did not come into office again in any shape: 236; Parl. the Great Seal was put in commission, the three commissioners being the Master of the Rolls, the Vice-Chancellor, and Mr Justice Bosanquet.1 1 Ann. Reg. Deb. xxvii. 1081. Short as it was, the Administration of Sir R. Peel at this juncture was attended with most important effects, and it deserves a consideration much beyond what its XXXV. 1835. 45. of this short tion of Sir duration would seem to warrant in the modern history of CHAP. Great Britain. It marked the period when the reaction had set in against the revolutionary fervour which had forced through the Reform Bill, and when the divided Importance opinions of the country on that great change had come Administrato manifest themselves in the returns of the House of R. Peel. Commons. Already the enthusiasm in favour of the bill had subsided there was no longer to be heard the cry, “The bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill.” Five-sixths of the House of Commons was no longer composed of Liberals. On the contrary, a considerable majority of English members were Conservatives — a majority, though a small one, of those of England and Scotland taken together, were on the same side, and the balance was cast the other way entirely by the Irish Roman Catholic members. This great change in opinion, of course, was not owing merely to Sir R. Peel's Ministry; it was the natural result of reflection and experience upon an intelligent though overheated generation. But the great and lasting effect of his being called to the helm, and of the consequent dissolution of Parliament, was that this change of opinion was let into the Legislature, and the great risk was avoided of four-fifths of the Legislature being of one way of thinking, while a majority of the constituency in Great Britain at least were of another. 46. averted the revolution This change at once disarmed the Reform Bill of its greatest dangers; and for this, though he probably which neither foresaw nor intended it, King William deserves danger of the lasting gratitude of his country. The great and tre- in Great mendous risk was, that with the immense majority of Britain. Liberals which the unexampled fervour of the public mind had introduced into the House of Commons, and the proof recently afforded of the possibility of driving the House of Lords to consent to anything by the threat of creating peers, new and interminable organic changes. might be forced upon the Government, and carried through by the influence of the heated urban electors XXXV. 1835. On any CHAP. upon their representatives in Parliament before the nation. had time to recover from its transports, and thus the constitution be overturned, as it had been in France, at the gallop, no one knew how or by whom. There can be no doubt that it was entirely owing to the firmness of Earl Grey and his Ministry that this danger had hitherto been averted; and though he was overthrown in the attempt, yet he deserves the lasting thanks of the country for having made it. But now, when a majority of British members was returned on the Conservative side, and only a majority of ten, including Ireland, on the Liberal, this immediate danger was at an end. question involving any further organic changes in the constitution, it was very doubtful whether they would have any majority in the House of Commons; and quite certain that, if carried there, the Lords would take courage to throw them out in the Upper House. Thus the popular branch of the legislature, from being so equally divided, was rendered in a great measure powerless either for good or for evil: and this was the greatest possible advantage which could be gained; for it gave the passions time to cool, and let in the still small voice of experience to discriminate between really beneficial reforms, and those which were inexpedient from the hazard with which they were attended. 47. this in re House of their func tions. For the same reason this short Administration, and the Effect of change in the House of Commons with which it was storing the attended, was followed by a most important effect upon the position and influence of the House of Lords. It restored the Upper House to its functions-it brought back the constitution to its mixed character of King, Lords, and Commons, instead of being, as for the preceding three years it had been, Commons alone. The effects of this restoration of the old balance have been very great, and are still sensibly felt. The few occasions on which, since that time, the balance has been again subverted, and measures forced upon the Upper House and the |