I have the opportunity of showing some of you how cordially I sympathize in all your concerns.

Give my kind love to your wife, with many thanks for her note. If she will take the trouble of providing you with such a silk gown as is suitable to the occasion, I shall have great pleasure in paying for it.

Believe me always,

Your affectionate mother,

E. DENMAN.

297

CHAPTER XVII.

DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S MINISTRY-DENMAN M.P. FOR

NOTTINGHAM AGAIN.

A.D. 1828 TO 1830. ET. 49 TO 51.

Lord Goderich resigns-Duke of Wellington succeeds, January 1828— Lord Eldon left out of the new ministry-The reason why-Policy of concession in matters of religious liberty-Repeal of Test and Corporation Acts, 1828-Of Catholic Disabilities, 1829-Denman's delight at Catholic Emancipation-Letter on it to his eldest daughter, Mrs. Wright-The Duke's position-Peel's position-Party rancour -The conversion of Saint Peel-Denman at Holkham in Christmas Vacation of 1829-30-Letter to Mrs. Wright-Coke's anecdotes of Fox-Burke and Windham-Dinner at Lord Petre's, 1790-Fox demolishes the confectionary Bastille-Burke implacable-Windham first opposes, then joins Burke-Finally re-unites with the Whigs Coke of Holkham in his seventy-eighth year-Routine of life at Holkham House-Its pictures-Sir Joshua's 'Fox'-Denman at Covent Garden with his children, January 1830-Letter to Mrs. Wright-Ferocious Dubashes '-Fanny Kemble as 'Juliet'-'Cock Robin'-Walk home through the snow-Extract from letter to Mrs. Hodgson-Further criticism on Fanny Kemble's 'Juliet '-Pasta and Mademoiselle Mars as 'Desdemona '-'Othello' at the Théâtre Français-Rogers' account of the struggle between the Classicists and Romanticists at Paris-Letter to Mrs. Wright resumed-Political aspects of the time-Ministry weak-Peel irretrievably damagedProspects of law reform-The Whigs-The Ultra-Tories-The old 'House of Mumpsimus '-Lord Wynford and the Duke of Cumberland -Continued ill-feeling of George IV. against Denman-Avoids a personal interview with him as Common Serjeant-Town talk as to this-Brougham's letter on it to Lord Grey, January 10, 1830-Attacks on King in the 'Times'-Shaky position of the Wellington Ministry -Sir J. Scarlett's law reforms-Legal Terms fixed-Welsh Judicature abolished-Three English judges added-Death of George IV.

and accession of William IV., June 26, 1830-French Revolution of July-Its effect on England-Eldon's forebodings-Temper of the country-Dissolution (July 24) and General Election-Denman triumphantly returned for Nottingham-Anecdotes of his canvass— Brougham for Yorkshire-His astonishing canvass-Just exultation at his victory-Denman's letter to Merivale, August 25, 1830-Doubts as to expediency of vote by Ballot, but no doubt that it should be tried if desired as a protection.

AFTER Canning had been destroyed by Wellington and Grey'1 a feeble attempt was made by Lord Goderich to carry on the administration. It soon failed, as all men foresaw it must, and on January 8, 1828, Lord Goderich resigned. The Duke of Wellington was sent for, and, after some delay, succeeded in forming a ministry, with Lyndhurst as Chancellor, and Peel as Secretary of the Home Department and leader of the House of Commons.

Lord Eldon, to his great indignation, had not been consulted as to the new arrangements, nor requested to take part in the ministry, even as President of the Council the only thing done to propitiate him was the reappointment of Wetherell as Attorney-General in the place of Scarlett.2

:

The reason of the old Chancellor's exclusion soon became apparent. The Duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel were both convinced that some concession to the spirit of the times, especially in matters bearing upon religious liberty, had become imperatively necessary, and the first step taken in pursuance of this reluctant

1 Hookham Frere's epigram.

2 Wetherell retired soon after the passing of the Catholic Relief Bill, and was succeeded by Scarlett, who continued in office till the formation of the Whig ministry in November 1830.

and tardy conviction was the Government measure for the relief of the Dissenters by the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, the third reading of which was finally carried in the House of Lords, by a large majority, before the end of April 1828.

Lord Eldon recounts with pious indignation how the Government, to their shame be it said, had got the archbishops and most of the bishops to support this revolutionary bill;' he also records how he himself had fought against it like a lion,' though, as he expresses it, my talons had been cut off,' by which playful figure he apparently alludes to his desertion by the dignitaries of the Church.

The stout old Tory champion was too keen-sighted not to discern clearly what must inevitably follow on this fatal first step in the path of liberality and justice. What they (i.e. the archbishops and bishops) can mean,' he says, 'they best know, for nobody else can tell; and sooner or later, perhaps in this very year— almost certainly in the next-this concession to the Dissenters must be followed by a like concession to the Roman Catholics.'5

The prophetic foreboding was verified to the letter. Wellington and Peel, having to choose between a civil war in Ireland and the political emancipation of the Catholics, decided on the latter alternative, and when Parliament met, on February 5, 1829, the King's speech, to the amazement and dismay of all staunch

3 Twiss's 'Memoirs of Lord Eldon,' vol. iii. p. 37.

4 Ibid. p. 44.

Ibid. p. 38.

Protestants, was found to contain a paragraph recommending the Legislature to review the laws which impose civil disabilities on His Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects.'

What followed is matter of familiar history, and need only be glanced at here. Lord Eldon, representing the alarmed bigotry of the country (he was entrusted with no less than 900 petitions against the Bill), declared in the House of Lords that, 'If he had a voice which would sound to the remotest corner of the empire, he would re-echo the principle which he most firmly believed, that if ever a Roman Catholic was permitted to form part of the Legislature of this country, or to hold any of the great executive offices of the Government, from that moment the sun of Great Britain would be set.'6

Times had so far changed that even in that assembly of peers and prelates the solemn warning was received with an irreverent laugh, and, after infinite debate, and the bitterest display of party animosity both in and out of Parliament, the third reading of the Relief Bill was, on April 10, 1829, carried in the House of Lords by a majority of 213 against 109, and, three days later (April 13), after many hysterical protests of the King to the old ex-Chancellor that he was miserable beyond what words could express, that he was in the state of a man with a pistol presented to his breast, and much other maudlin stuff of the same kind, it finally received the royal assent and became one of the laws of the land.

6 Twiss's 'Memoirs,' vol. iii. p. 63.